The 30-year-old star's character in the film is of an uptown Delhi girl and a key part of the film was shot in the city, with Delhi University being the main hub, where a chunk of the film was extensively shot. On that note, she really liked the atmosphere of the Delhi University campus while shooting for her upcoming film, 'Half Girlfriend.' Being a Mumbai girl, Shraddha was keen on exploring Delhi University, which has grown into becoming one of the largest universities in India. She went on an exciting tour of the campus and had a rather engaging interaction with the students of the various colleges there. The movie also stars Arjun Kapoor and is slated to release on 19th May 2017. (ANI) Go on a cruise or hop on a train or board a flight and travel to various destinations like London or Singapore to indulge in art, and merge with the picturesque places that host museums and galleries, say experts. Ratna Chadha, Chief Executive, TIRUN, India representative for Celebrity Cruises, and Gursahib Singh Sethi, Co-Founder, travel app Travkart.com, suggest a few places: * London, England: The Victoria and Albert Museum in London showcases applied arts from around the world, including furniture, jewellery, fashion, glasswork, ceramics and sculpture. The Tate Britain is another art museum you must visit when you make a trip to London. The building contains the largest collection of British art in the world, with pieces dating from the 1500s to modern times. The National Gallery, located in Trafalgar square, is also a delight to visit as it hosts over 2,300 works of art. Cruise enthusiasts can visit the National Maritime Museum in Greater London to browse through paintings that focus on the many moods of the sea and the travails of navigation. * Florence, Italy: The Galleria dell'Accademia houses the renowned David' by Michelangelo, besides other sculptures by the artist and a collection of breath-taking Renaissance paintings. The Uffizi, on the other hand, is located near the sparkling Arno River and must be visited if you wish to behold the world's most fascinating collection of Italian Renaissance art. Very close to the Uffizi gallery is the Loggia dei Lanzi, an open-air museum that showcases antique sculptures. Built in the 14th century, this museum is very easily accessible as it requires no entry fee. * Singapore: The best Asian contemporary art can be enjoyed at the Singapore Art Museum, which was inaugurated in 1996. Pay a visit to the National Gallery to indulge in an extensive collection of Singaporean and Southeast Asian art that dates from the 19th century, all the way down to modern times. Another building that houses priceless pieces of art is the Peranakan Museum, dedicated to the culture of Peranakans - descendants of Straits Born Chinese. The items displayed at the museum include carved wedding bands and stunning ceremonial costumes. * Aarhus, Denmark: Aarhus is Denmark's second-largest city and a buzzing cultural hub. A walk down the city's streets will lead you to discover a seemingly endless number of galleries where you can spend hours browsing through art. The ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, established in 1859, is one of the largest art museums in Northern Europe. You can visit the ten-storey building to observe the museum's large art collection as well as special exhibitions of Danish artists. The roof of the museum features an iconic rainbow panorama basement, while the gallery in the basement is influenced by Dante's The Divine Comedy. * Paris, France: History and art are present at every corner of the city, and vacationers can begin with a visit to the Muse Carnavalet, which is a tribute to the history of Paris. The Muse Picasso, as the name suggests, allows one to browse through the works of Pablo Picasso and the Maison Europenne de la Photographie is dedicated to modern photographic art. Visitors also throng the famous Louvre museum, which has become a central landmark of the city. Another art museum, the Muse d'Orsay, showcases works by remarkable artists including Van Gogh, Manet, Cezanne and Renoir. * The block printing art and fresco paintings on Havelis of Mandawa, Fatehpur, and Nawal garh are sure to mesmerize those exploring Rajasthan. * Those travelling to south, will get a chance to experience the awe inspiring paintings with subtle colours, detailed refinement and gesso work depicting the scenes from Hindu mythology. The brilliant art skills carried out on clothes in Mysore will surely mesmerize the art enthusiast. --IANS nn/rb/vt ( 625 Words) 2017-04-03-16:18:08 (IANS) The jawan was on his way to Delhi and was caught at security check with the grenades. According to sources, the 17 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles jawan who hailed from Darjeeling, said that he was unaware of the grenades in his possession. The soldier is currently being questioned. Further details are awaited. (ANI) The rescued people claimed that they were duped by their agent with the promise of employment in Iraq and further informed that many people like them are still stranded there. "Earlier 35 people were rescued and came back to India and this time we are 33. The agent deceived us by promising for giving jobs and took us to Iraq. More people like us are still there," said a rescued person. They arrived at Indira Gandhi Airport (IGI) after efforts by both state and central government. Earlier also, 11 nurses hailing from Kerala have been safely evacuated from conflict hit city Kirkuk in Iraq. Meanwhile, an Indian Catholic priest Father Tom was abducted by ISIS some months ago in Yemen and the India government is still trying very hard to get him back to India.(ANI) The teachers, facing axe following the Supreme Court verdict last week, today sought clarification from Chief Minister Manik Sarkar within 72 hours over the plan of his government to secure their income and livelihood. The apex court on March 28 last upheld the decision of High Court of Tripura regarding termination of jobs of 10,323 government school teachers terming the procedure illegal, unfair and unconstitutional. However, till date the chief minister did not react on the verdict of the Supreme Court and the follow up plan of his government to manage the situation. On the other hand, teaching learning in most of the rural schools has collapsed. The teachers were not attending classes and in few cases the students humiliated them in the campus. The affected teachers of 10,323 had formed an association and held its first meeting here. They told the media that immediately after the judgement of Supreme Court, Tripura Education Minister Tapan Chakraborty assured the government would remain with the victim and nobody would be jobless as long as the Left Front government is in power. The minister further had stated that as soon as the chief minister returned from Tamil Nadu, the government would review the situation and announced its plan of action against the "inhuman judgement "of the Supreme court. But the chief minister came three days ago, yet he neither issued any statement for the victim nor reacted on the situation, which became a cause of concern for the teachers, said president of the organisation Bimal Saha. "We are giving him three more days to clarify the government's stand on the issue and assure us how our livelihood will be secured after December this year. We have been provided job by the government but if there was any flout or mistake committed, had been done by the government only, we are not responsible," Mr Saha stated. He warned unless the chief minister did not clarify the stand of the government regarding the future of the affected teacher within the stipulated time, the government would be responsible for any unwanted situation or event. Meantime, then Chief Secretary Dr S K Panda in a statement yesterday said he had very limited role in framing the employment policy and execution of the earlier court orders regarding appointment of the teachers. In the statement, he shifted the responsibility to the then Secretary (Education), Secretary (Law) and Education Minister Tapan Chakraborty explaining the rule of his administration as Chief Secretary, which further erupted controversy regarding implications of the appointment of teachers.UNI BB AD1029 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0108-1214160.Xml A 25-year-old German tourist was allegedly raped by a three-member unidentified men in an inebriated condition while she was having a sun bath near the tiger caves at the tourist resort of Mamallapuram, about 55 km from here, last evening. The visiting tourist, who had come down to India on a holiday, had filed a complaint with the All Women Police Station at Mamallapuram. She said she was staying in a nearby resort and had come down to the beach for having a sunbath when the incident occurred. She said that the trio, who were under the influence of alcohol, draggedher into the nearby casuarina grove and raped her. She said after some time, she managed to escape and contacted the German Embassy, which alerted the police. The woman tourist was sent to the government hospital for medical examination. Senior police officials, including the Mamallapuram DSP, visited the spot. Police sources said special teams were formed to nab the culprits. "The investigations are on. We are trying to track the culprit based on the detailed given by the German tourist," the sources added. UNI GV 1055 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0275-1214188.Xml Pakistani Army initiated indiscriminate firing of small arms, automatics and mortars at 9:30 a.m. on the Indian Army posts. The Indian Army posts are retaliating strongly and effectively and the firing is presently on. No casualties have been reported so far in the incident. This is the second ceasefire violation in less than 24 hours. A civilian was injured when Pakistan violated ceasefire along the LoC on Sunday. This comes after India had on March 9 summoned the Deputy High Commissioner of Pakistan and expressed deep concern over continued ceasefire violations in Jammu and Kashmir. (ANI) In a sudden development, MDMK General Secretary Vaiko today surrendered before a court and later remanded in judicial custody for 15 days in connection with a sedition case filed against him in 2009. When Mr Vaiko produced himself before the court and filed a surrenderpetition,13th Metropolitan Magistrate Gopinath offered to release him on bail. But Mr Vaiko refused to move a bail plea, following which he was remandedin judicial custody. Mr Vaiko's surrender was seen as an attempt to expedite the trial in the casefollowing the delay in committing the case to the Sessions Court for trial, despitefiling of chargesheet in 2010 itself. The Thousands Light Police slapped sedition charges on him for his allegedremarks during the release of Vaiko's book 'Naan Kutram Sattugiren' (I am accusing you), which was a compilation of his letters to the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2009 on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue, at a function held at Rani Seethai Hall in the city. While being escorted to Puzhal prison, Mr Vaiko appealed to his party workers and supporters not to stage any agitation to condemn his arrest and cause inconvenience to the public. He also appealed to the MDMK workers not to visit him in jail.UNI GV 1445 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0275-1214484.Xml He said that Mr Shah would address a meeting of the party works in the city. Mr Shah visit assumes significant because the state unit of the party is making efforts to spread its wings in Telangana. Dr Laxman said that the people all over were endorsing the style of functioning of the party-led government at the Centre besides its programmes and schemes for the country's good. Even in Muslim dominated areas in Uttar Pradesh, the people, in a big way, supported the BJP in the recent Assembly polls, he said. UNI SMS PS ADG 1804 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0421-1214736.Xml Addressing a public gathering at the main venue of 'Namami Brahmaputra' here, Ramdev said, "Assam has all the qualities and history behind it to be on the top." "The government under the Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal is working hard to make Assam among the top states in next five years. I am committed to work for the state to reach the top and have already started it from Tezpur," he said. Ramdev said his organisation will build schools, hospitals, 'gaushalas', and create employment opportunities in the state in five years. "If we work together, we can achieve it," he added. He also exhibited several yoga asanas to the delight of the audience, making Union MoS Babul Supriyo, who was also present, join him in the asanas. Supriyo, who did not make any speech due to inclement weather, sang a few couplets from his popular Hindi film songs. Chief minister and several of his ministerial colleagues were also present on the occasion.UNI SG BM -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0214-1215306.Xml In an all Indian final, the first such meetingaway from India, second seeded Vikram Malhotra wore down a spirited fightback from compatriot and third seeded Mahesh Mangaonkar to annexe the title in the North of Scotland Open, a PSA world Tour event , today. Reports received here said, in line with the seedings, Vikram won but only barely. Such was the resolve of Mahesh who started off in a flourish winning the opening game and the the third, before losing the closely contested match. Vikram finally got the better of his good friend winning 3-11, 11-8, 6-11, 13-11, 11-4 to lift the title. This was the first all-Indian final in a PSA event in a foreign soil,though it had come earlier but at home when Saurav Ghosal and Ritwik Bhattacharya had featured in two PSA events held in India.UNI GV 2055 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0275-1215286.Xml U.S. President Donald trump on Sunday asserted that he would go all alone to restrain North Korea's nuclear weapons program if China fail to change the situation. As per the CNN, Trump quoted saying that if Beijing won't help solve the matter, then "we will" do it alone. "China will either decide to help us with North Korea or they won't," Trump said in an interview to an American Daily newspaper, reported CNN. "If they do, that will be very good for China, and if they don't, it won't be good for anyone." Trump administration has always highlighted its concern over the North Korean nuclear threat. Moreover, Trump has always argued that China is responsible for the continued nuclear proliferation in North Korea. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson even visited China last month to build pressure on the North Korea's neighbour for help in mitigating the threat. Meanwhile, Trump will also host Chinese President Xi Jinping this week in the U.S., where this matter intends to be raised. This year, Pyongyang has fired numerous missiles. (ANI) While the European left is largely struggling where it holds power, Portugal's government alliance stands out as a remarkable exception; it is raising wages and gaining popularity and yet delivering the lowest budget deficit in living memory.The unlikely alliance of centre-left Socialists and two far-left parties has overcome deep scepticism since it was formed in 2015, achieving stability and maintaining economic recovery at a time of political uncertainty across Europe.Even President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, a conservative, acknowledges its running of a country that left an international bailout programme only in 2014. "I have been surprised," he said in February. "Frankly, I didn't think it would be as resilient as it has shown itself to be in the past year."The government is a minority Socialist administration rather than a coalition, with the party filling all ministerial posts. However, it relies on support from the Communists and Left Bloc for its parliamentary majority, breaking a taboo that had kept the far left out of power since the 1974 return of democracy.Portuguese are warming to the government as it unwinds some austerity polices imposed under the bailout, although this comes at the cost of heavy cuts to longer-term public works spending.Prime Minister Antonio Costa has acknowledged the balancing act. "Budgets can't be managed with miracles, they are managed with rigour, hard work and careful management," he said.Voters' trust in the alliance has more than doubled - albeit from a low level - and the Socialists, who were in power when Portugal had to seek the 2011 bailout, are benefiting most.Polls put support for Costa's Socialists at 42 percent, up 10 points from their share of the vote in the 2015 election and close to a level that would give them a majority in parliament were the country to vote again.Most European governments of the left can only dream of such ratings. In France, polls have put the candidate of the ruling Socialists, Benoit Hamon, in fifth place for the first round of presidential elections with support around 10 percent.In Italy, Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni's party is around five points adrift of the anti-establishment 5-Star movement, while Greece's ruling Syriza party lags conservatives by twice that.Portugal's experience may be of interest in Germany, where the Social Democrats are exploring options for a coalition after elections in September. Along with the Greens, they have sounded out the leftist Linke party, shunned so far at a national level due to its origins in the defunct East German communist party.THE CONTRAPTIONToday, some Portuguese fondly refer to the alliance as 'geringonca', or 'the contraption'. But in 2015 the far-left's inclusion raised fears on financial markets that fiscal policy would go off the rails, reversing tough reforms and budget cuts during the 2011-2014 bailout by the European Union and IMF.To win support from the Communists and Left Bloc, Costa agreed to increase workers' pay in western Europe's poorest country. Last year, the government already raised the minimum monthly wage to 530 euros ($570) from 505 euros a year earlier. It will continue rising till it reaches 600 euros in 2019, the last year of the government's current term.State sector salaries and pensions are also being increased in stages, while the alliance is slowing a privatisation drive pursued by the previous centre-right government.Despite this generosity, the alliance succeeded in lowering the deficit. It fell last year to 2.1 percent of gross domestic product - lower even than a target agreed with Brussels - from 4.4 percent in 2015. The National Statistics Institute forecasts it will drop again to 1.6 percent this year.The European Commission has expressed optimism that Portugal can soon exit an EU excessive deficit procedure imposed after it breached the bloc's budget rules.Three years of economic growth have boosted revenue. While the rate remains modest - the Bank of Portugal forecasts it will reach 1.8 percent this year, thanks to rising investment and exports - it compares with a four percent contraction in 2012.Unemployment has also dropped from a peak of 17.5 percent in 2013 to 10.5 percent in the last quarter of 2016, while a crackdown on tax evasion has likewise increased state income.Nevertheless, the popular public pay increases have not been funded entirely by higher revenue, with the budget savings also demanding spending cuts. Much of the burden has fallen where voters may not notice the effect immediately: public investment. The government slashed this by 16.5 percent last year, to just 1.8 percent of GDP, the lowest proportion since 1960.AECOPS, the main construction industry association, warns against the danger of false savings. "Through drastic cuts in public investment to reduce the deficit, the government has contributed decisively to the degradation to construction activity and prevented the recovery of the sector," AECOPS chief Ricardo Pedrosa Gomes told Reuters.Economists have also expressed concern about any further cuts to state spending on the likes of hospitals and schools.In Greece - which unlike Portugal is still in a bailout programme after seven years - the IMF has warned that decaying infrastructure is hampering growth while basic public services such as transport and health care are being compromised.Costa has promised to raise public works spending this year by 20 percent. "It's necessary to invest more, but with prudence in order not to upset the balance of our public accounts," he said in a recent speech.TENDING TO TRUSTPortugal has another problem, a debt burden that at 130 percent of GDP is proportionately the third biggest in Europe after Greece and Italy. The EU is pressing for this to be cut.Still, voters are willing to credit the alliance. In the EU's latest Eurobarometer survey, the number of Portuguese who "tend to trust" their government jumped to 39 percent in late 2016 from just 15 percent at the time of the 2015 election.Support for the Communists and Left Bloc has slipped since the election when they won 8.25 and 10.2 percent respectively. But the Socialists are now just about the most popular mainstream centre-left party in western Europe. Their gains have come at the expense of the centre-right Social Democrats who ruled from 2011 to 2015 and emerged the biggest party in the last elections, only to be outflanked by the alliance.Centrist voters - who doubted in 2015 the alliance could tame the excessive spending that many blame for Portugal's debt crisis - appear to be regaining confidence in the Socialists.All broad policy elements, including budgets and the pace of social policies like raising the minimum wage, were agreed by the alliance before the election.Costa's job in achieving internal harmony may also have been made by easier by the fact that the far left is represented by two parties competing for votes. "The Socialists prefer to negotiate with both of them, in other words creating a dynamic of rivalry between the two smaller parties that helps to moderate them," said political analyst Marina Costa Lobo.Likewise, the lack of a formal coalition also helps by allowing all three parties to maintain their own identities. That means the Left Bloc and Communists can continue to push for a renegotiation of Portugal's debts, even though this is not included in the agreement with the Socialists, thereby posing no threat to the government's efforts to control the budget.There are risks, not least if the euro zone debt crisis were to reignite, but it's a case of so far, so good. "In principle, the longer this continues, especially for the electorate on the left, showing positive results in economic terms, the better," said political analyst Antonio Costa PintoREUTERS CJ PR1217 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0400-1214261.Xml Reacting to Russia supporting Taliban's calls for withdrawal of foreign troops from the country, Afghanistan said that Kabul has the sovereignty to decide the matter and that no one else has the right to dictate terms or issue instructions regarding the same. The remarks were made by Presidential spokesman Shah Hussain Murtazawi, reports Khaama Press. He said that the issue relates to the Afghan nation and it is up to the Afghan Government to decide regarding the presence of foreign forces or forces belonging to international allies. This comes as the Russian special envoy for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov earlier endorsed Taliban militants group's call for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Afghanistan. "Of course it's justified" for the Taliban to oppose the foreign military presence," Kabulov said during an interview. Kabulov further added "Who's in favor? Name me one neighboring state that supports it." The latest remarks by Kabulov come in the wake of concerns by U.S. officials regarding the growing attempts by Moscow to strengthen links with the Taliban group. Last week, U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said Washington is concerned Russia's presence in Afghanistan and its interactions with Taliban fighters Authorities in US military had earlier accused Moscow of supporting the Taliban insurgency, a claim Russia refuted as an attempt to tarnish the image of the country. (ANI) Iran's state-run IRNA news agency quoted Ambassador to Pakistan Mehdi Honardoost as saying that Islamabad had contacted Iranian officials before issuing the no-objection certificate (NOC) to Sharif to lead the coalition, reports Dawn. "But [that] did not indicate that Iran was satisfied with this decision or it had accepted the same," the envoy said. Noting that Tehran had informed Islamabad that Iran would not become part of such a military alliance, Honardoost further said that Iran had not been extended an offer to join a coalition of this sort in the first place. He proposed that all important Islamic countries come together to form a "coalition of peace" in order to resolve their issues "rather [than] forming a controversial military alliance". In 2015, Saudi Arabia had announced the formation of a 34-state Islamic military coalition to combat terrorism and Pakistan was made a member of the coalition. Riyadh and its Gulf Arab neighbours have been locked in months of warfare with Iran-allied rebels in neighbouring Yemen, launching hundreds of air strikes there. This alliance was announced with the Islamic State pledging to overthrow the monarchies of the Gulf and mounting a series of attacks on Shia Muslim mosques and security forces in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. (ANI) A senior administration official told The New York Times on Sunday that Kushner, 36, is visiting the war-torn country on the invitation by General Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff. However, the purpose of Kushner's visit was not immediately clear. Kushner has been acting as a shadow diplomat, and his portfolio includes China, Mexico, Canada and the Middle East, The Washington Post said. The President, in fact, has specifically tasked Kushner with brokering peace in the region. He also recently emerged as the head of the Office of American Innovation, a team tasked with bringing a more business-minded approach to overhauling the federal government. Since taking office, Trump has spoken infrequently about Iraq or his policy there, a CNN report said. His comments last week that the US is "doing very well in Iraq", which remains besieged by violence, drew particular notice and criticism. The visit by Kushner comes after US military officials acknowledged that Washington was likely behind an airstrike that killed scores of Iraqi civilians in Mosul on March 17. The incident renewed concern about civilian deaths in the wake of the US-led air campaign against the IS. --IANS ksk/vm ( 245 Words) 2017-04-03-11:24:09 (IANS) Pakistan resumed the repatriation of Afghan refugees today, sending nearly 1,200 people back across the heavily guarded northern Torkham border, an official at the United Nation's refugee body said.Pakistan is home to the world's second largest refugee population, with a total of 2.5 million Afghans living there. Many have been in Pakistan since the Soviet invasion in 1979.Relations between the two countries have deteriorated significantly in recent years. Kabul and Islamabad blame each other for terrorist attacks on either side of the border.After a series of attacks in Pakistan left more than 130 people dead in February, Islamabad shut down its border crossings with Afghanistan and began planning to build a fence along the 2,500 km border.Human Rights Watch has accused the UN of allowing Pakistan to forcibly evict Afghan refugees in violation of international law. Rights activists say they expect little change this year in either Pakistani policies or the inability of the Afghan government and aid groups to support the tide. Pakistan denies systematic harassment of the refugees by its authorities. It claims the country has demonstrated great generosity in hosting the Afghans despite its own economic limitations. The Afghans going home now are leaving voluntarily, it says.However, the Afghans complain about constant harassment and a lack of citizenship rights for those who have spent decades living and working in Pakistan."My family moved to Pakistan in the early '80s," said Abdul Wahab, who lived in Islamabad for more than 30 years. "My father sold carpets and operated a successful shop. He made sure he always paid his taxes. But we could not have a bank account or own property."Despite growing up in Pakistan, Wahab said, the weight of being a second-class citizen was too much to bear. In early 2016, before Pakistan began sending back Afghan refugees, Wahab packed up his carpets and moved the business back to Kabul. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) confirmed that voluntary returns resumed after a suspension due to winter weather. Asked whether Pakistan's hard-handed approach toward Afghans living within its borders for nearly 40 years had spurred the exodus, UNHCR representative Samad Khan said the reasons were varied. "Some move for economic purposes or to unite with their families and others are moving due to border restrictions which have impacted their families," he said. According to Khan, 370,000 refugees volunteered to return in 2016 after Pakistan announced new repatriation plans. Human Rights Watch estimates another 200,000 undocumented refugees were shipped back to Afghanistan, where conflict and economic crisis have left the government struggling to maintain basic living standards"We have sent back 194 families today and they are all voluntary returnees who registered for return," Khan said. A UNHCR spokeswoman in Geneva said officials do not know how many refugees may return to Afghanistan this year, but that so far around 24,000 Afghans in Pakistan have "expressed an interest" in returning in April and May.REUTERS SHS BL2142 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0329-1215342.Xml Germany has no plans to introduce an 'Islam law' codifying the rights and obligations of Muslims, a government spokesman said today, dismissing an idea floated by allies of Chancellor Angela Merkel ahead of federal elections in September.Merkel, who will seek a fourth term in what is expected to be a close-fought ballot, has come under fire for opening Germany's doors to refugees, more than one million of whom - mostly Muslims - have entered the country over the past two years.Seeking to boost support for the chancellor's conservatives, senior Merkel ally Julia Kloeckner stoked the integration debate at the weekend by calling for stricter rules for Islamic preachers and a ban on foreign funding of mosques.Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert dismissed the idea, which Kloeckner - who is deputy leader of the chancellor's Christian Democrats (CDU) - and other senior party members want to enshrine in an Islam law."Such a law is now not an issue for government business," Seibert told a news conference, stressing the high regard Merkel's ruling coalition has for religious freedom in Germany.While stopping short of calling for an Islam law, Merkel said in her weekly podcast on Saturday that refugees in Germany must respect tolerance, openness and freedom of religion.The message backed up a less compromising tone on integrating migrants that Merkel set at a CDU party conference in December, when she called for a ban on full-face Muslim veils "wherever legally possible".By talking tougher on integration, Merkel is also seeking to reclaim support her party lost last year over her refugee policy to the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which punished the CDU in regional elections in 2016.The AfD has lost voter support this year, hurt by infighting that has sent its ratings down to around 8 percent from a high of 15.5 per cent at the end of 2016.In the Netherlands, Prime Minister Mark Rutte used a similar tactic to win re-election this year, seizing back the initiative from anti-Islam populist rivals by matching some of their tough rhetoric on immigration.He told the country's half-million ethnic Turks that they should integrate and accept Dutch views on freedom of speech or "get lost" after some had been filmed behaving aggressively toward a reporter during a demonstration."Our norms and values are all or nothing: you can't pick and choose," he said in response to the footage in an interview last September.REUTERS SHS BL2247 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0329-1215404.Xml A meeting of the Washington-based Organization of American States to discuss Venezuela's political crisis today has been canceled, a spokesperson for the regional group said."The meeting for today has been canceled, we were notified by the permanent council," the spokesperson said, without giving details on why the meeting was called off.However, the cancellation of the meeting comes as Bolivia, an ally of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, assumed the chair on Monday of the OAS permanent council, which was meant to debate the crisis.REUTERS SHS BL2252 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0329-1215418.Xml US President Donald Trump moved to reset US relations with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi today after the prior Obama administration's strained ties, giving him firm backing and vowing to work together to fight Islamic militants."I just want to let everybody know in case there was any doubt that we are very much behind President Sisi. He's done a fantastic job in a very difficult situation. We are very much behind Egypt and the people of Egypt," Trump said in an Oval Office meeting with the Egyptian leader.The trip was Sisi's first official US visit since being elected president in 2014. Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama, never extended an invitation.Obama froze aid to Egypt for two years after Sisi, then a general, overthrew President Mohamed Mursi in mid-2013 after mass protests against Mursi's rule. Mursi, a Muslim Brotherhood member, had been elected the previous year.The one-on-one meeting between Trump and Sisi, followed by a separate gathering with top aides, showed how intent the new US president is on rebooting the bilateral relationship and building on the strong connection the two presidents established when they first met in New York last September."I just want to say to, Mr President, that you have a great friend and ally in the United States, and in me," Trump said.Sisi said he appreciated that Trump has been "standing very strong ... to counter this evil ideology."While Trump noted the United States and Egypt "have a few things" they do not agree on, he made no public airing of US concerns about human rights in Egypt.Rights groups have called for the release of Aya Hijazi, an Egyptian-American who works with street children and was arrested in May 2014 on human trafficking charges.Hijazi has been held in custody for 33 months in violation of Egyptian law, which states that the maximum period for pretrial detention is 24 months.Human rights groups have estimated that Sisi's government has detained at least 40,000 political prisoners.Egypt has long been one of Washington's closest allies in the Middle East, receiving 1.3 billion dollars in US military aid annually. It is fighting an Islamist insurgency in Sinai in which hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and police have been killed.A US official said Sisi would find a White House ready to soften US criticism of Egypt on human rights and to work on counter-terrorism but unwilling to provide additional aid to the most populous Arab nation."He's going to get an end to finger-wagging. We're not giving him any more money," said the US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity before Sisi's meetings with Trump."He's going to be disappointed because he wants more assistance and he's not going to get it," the official added, saying it was not yet clear whether Egypt would escape a cut in its foreign aid as part of the Trump administration's plan to cut the overall State Department budget by 28.7 per cent. REUTERS SHS BL2315 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0329-1215421.Xml Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-02 01:34:38|Editor: yan Video Player Close KHARTOUM, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Sudan and France on Saturday discussed the security situation in Darfur and exit of the United Nations - African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) from the region. A French delegation headed by deputy permanent representative to the United Nations Alexis Lamek on Saturday held talks in Khartoum with Sudan's foreign ministry under-secretary Abdul-Ghani Al-Naeem. "The French delegation discussed UNAMID's activity and its exit strategy in light of the positive developments and improvement of the situation in Darfur, which necessitates reducing the size and forces of the mission according to outcomes of the joint work group," said Sudan's Foreign Ministry in a statement. "Al-Naeem conveyed to the French delegation efforts of the Sudanese government and partners to tackle the conditions of displaced people in Darfur region together with efforts of the regular forces to collect the arms in the region," according to the statement. The Sudanese official further urged France to play a bigger positive role to support the peace efforts in Sudan. In February 2015, a tripartite committee composed of Sudan's government, the UN and the African Union, was formed with the aim to reach a deal on UNAMID's exit from Darfur. UNAMID took over the peacekeeping task in Darfur from the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) on December 31, 2007. The UNAMID is considered the second biggest peacekeeping mission in the world, after the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It consists of over 20,000 personnel of military, police and civilian components, with a budget of 1.4 million U.S. dollars in 2013. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 01:47:53|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close ROME, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Gilbert F. Houngbo has become the sixth president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and is expected to start his new job on Monday. Houngbo became new president on Saturday after his predecessor Kanayo F. Nwanze ended his term on Friday, but Houngbo will officially take the office on Monday, Jinkang Wu, a special adviser to the president, told Xinhua on Sunday. According to IFAD's online introduction, Houngbo was born in Togo and has spent more than 30 years working to improve the lives of some of the world's most vulnerable people. From 2008-2012, he was Togo's prime minister. IFAD, a specialized agency of the United Nations, was established as an international financial institution in 1977 and is dedicated to eradicating rural poverty in developing countries. Based in Rome along with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and UN World Food Programme (WFP), IFAD currently has 176 members all over the world. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 05:18:45|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close MEXICO CITY, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Three men were shot dead early Sunday in Mexico's famed Caribbean resort of Cancun, local media reported. The shooting occurred around 6:30 a.m. at the Santino Bar located in downtown Cancun, an area popular with tourists staying along the hotel strip. Witnesses said at least five armed men entered the bar, threatened customers and shot a man in the head in an execution-style killing. He was believed to be the manager or owner. As they were leaving the bar, the presumed hit men also fired on a group of taxi drivers stationed outside the establishment. One of the drivers was shot dead in his vehicle and another died on the way to the hospital, according to regional daily La Jornada Maya. Another three people were injured, the daily said. On Friday, some 600 military troops were dispatched to the region, 300 to Cancun, as part of a plan to fight organized crime in the country's No. 1 tourism destination. According to official figures, 33 such killings have been registered in Cancun so far this year, for an average of nearly three killings a week. Officials acknowledge that the country's most powerful drug cartels, including the Sinaloa, Gulf, Zetas and Jalisco New Generation, operate along the Cancun-Riviera Maya corridor, home to Mexico's best known beaches. Cancun officials said the armed men left a message in one of the taxis indicating the Jalisco New Generation Cartel took responsibility for the attack. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 08:16:57|Editor: ying bu A woman puts her hand on her malnourished child waiting their turn to get treatment at a therapeutic feeding center in Sanaa, capital of Yemen, on April 2, 2017. Some seven million of people in Yemen could be put at risk by famine in 2017, Jamie McGoldrick, UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen warned on March 28. McGoldrick said that an alarming 18.8 million of Yemeni people -- almost two thirds of the population -- need some kind of humanitarian or protection support, UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq told a daily briefing. (Xinhua/Mohammed Mohammed) Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 07:59:02|Editor: ying Ecuador's ruling party candidate Lenin Moreno (L), accompanied by his wife, takes part in the second round of the presidential elections in Quito, capital of Ecuador, on April 2, 2017. Ecuadorians went to the polls on Sunday to vote in a tightly contested runoff between ruling party candidate Lenin Moreno and the opposition's candidate Guillermo Lasso. (Xinhua/Santiago Armas) QUITO, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Both sides declared victory in Ecuador's presidential runoff Sunday, as contradictory exit polls placed each candidate in the lead. Meanwhile, the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), which had a special observer mission there, called on the political parties to wait for the official preliminary results, expected to be announced at 8 p.m. local time. In the capital Quito, Lenin Moreno, of the ruling progressive PAIS Alliance, told supporters that while on the campaign trail, "we already sensed the considerable advantage we were going to have. That is why we proclaimed this victory from before, because we were in touch with the people." Conservative rival Guillermo Lasso, speaking from the southwestern coastal city of Guayaquil, his hometown, announced to his supporters, "today a new Ecuador has been born. Democracy, liberty and valor have won, you have won, Ecuador has won. "Starting today, there is a president who is going to promote national unity," said Lasso, who is making his second run for the presidency. According to polling firm Perfiles de Opinion, Moreno garnered 52.2 percent of the votes versus 47.8 percent for Lasso. However, another pollster, Cedatos-Gallup, said its survey showed Lasso securing 53.02 percent of the votes, against 46.98 percent for Moreno. SYDNEY, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Australia's Victorian government has said that it will install pedestrian safety measures in the wake of a rampaging motorist who killed six people in Melbourne. Premier Daniel Andrews said that a public siren system and retractable bollards would be installed across Melbourne's CBD to warn the public of, and protect from, impending terror attacks or other potential threats. Six people were killed in January and more than 30 injured when a driver ploughed into pedestrians in the pedestrian-only section of the Bourke Street Mall. Dimitrious Gargasoulas, the accused driver, has been charged with six counts of murder over the incident and is awaiting trial. "Bourke Street calls us to make changes in honour of the memory of those who died and to honour the sacrifice and the service of so many who came to their aid," Andrews told reporters on Monday. "The world is changing, it is a different environment today than it was even five or 10 years ago and we need to respond to events that have happened on the other side of the world, and tragically events like Bourke Street." Andrews said he would work closely with Melbourne's Lord Mayor Robert Doyle and Victoria Police to implement the new measures. "We want to get this right. We have been working on it for some months and we'll have further exciting announcements to make soon," he said. "Everything from bollards, planter boxes -- those sort of permanent things -- but with a technological angle, so bollards that can come up and down when needed, controlled from a central point... then of course sirens and other warning devices, they're being looked at very closely as well." "It may well be a very effective way of making sure in the event people need to take cover and need to take evasive action." Andrews said the cost could be up to 7.5 million U.S. dollars but it is a small price to pay for safety. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 08:49:08|Editor: Liangyu Video Player Close Smoke rises from the blast site of a factory warehouse in Anqing city, east China's Anhui province, April 2, 2017. Five people were killed and three others were injured after a blast set the warehouse of Wanhua oil company on fire on Sunday evening. The fire was put out three hours later. (Xinhua/Ma Jiyun) HEFEI, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Five people were killed and three others were injured after a blast set a factory warehouse in east China's Anhui province on fire on Sunday evening. The blast was heard at about 5:20 p.m. Sunday in the Wanhua oil company in the Anqing city, according to the city's publicity authorities. The fire was put out three hours later. Rescuers managed to save three people, leaving five others trapped at the scene. The five people were found on the early morning of Monday and all confirmed dead. Among the three rescued, two are receiving treatment in hospital while the third, with minor injury, was discharged. Monitor close to the factory didn't find serious air pollution after the accident, while measures have been taken to handle the water pollution resulted by the blast. Cause of the blast is being investigated. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 09:19:12|Editor: ying Video Player Close SYDNEY, April 3 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump's promise to "rebuild" his country's military could have significant economic benefits for Australian state Victoria, it has been revealed. Six Melbourne-based companies will this week lobby the Trump administration for lucrative contracts in an attempt to grab a piece of the 70 billion U.S. dollars funding increase. The companies will appeal for the contracts as Christopher Pyne, Australian minister for defence industry, prepares to speak to senior U.S. defence officials and members of Congress about Australian manufacturing. The defence industry currently contributes 6.1 billion U.S. dollars to the Victorian economy every year, employing more than 7, 000 people. Marand, a manufacturing company based 30 km southeast of Melbourne in Moorabin, is expected to generate 750 million U.S. dollars in revenue from its part in the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program, for which it produces vertical tails. Sentient Vision, based in Port Melbourne, is another company competing for the contracts, with the technology company having previously impressed the Royal navy and British government with its Visual Detection and Ranging (ViDAR) technology which detects small objects on the ocean's surface. The Victorian government has pushed manufacturers towards the defence industry market following the demise of automotive manufacturing in Australia. The federal government has invested 150 billion U.S. dollars in local defence capability in the last 10 years. Pyne, who will be the keynote speaker at the G'Day USA: US-Australia Dialogue on Defence Industries event, said the investment has been a key part in increasing Australia's defence exports. "This will be an excellent foundation for us to grow our exports in defence industry, with close allies such as the United States a prime focus of local Australian companies," Pyne told News Limited on Monday. Among the other companies hopeful of getting the U.S. contracts is Integra Packaging which produces crates, boxes, anti-corrosive shrink wrap and reusable packaging for over 500 clients in the defence sector. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 09:39:14|Editor: ying Video Player Close HANOI, April 3 (Xinhua) -- A middle-aged women rushed out to clear chairs spread onto the pavement surrounding her noodle stall when she saw a police patrol car coming. "Comrades, quickly remove the stands near the power poles," the speaker on the patrol car boomed. Along the narrow Hang Dieu Street nearby Hanoi's Old Quarter, street vendors with fear on their faces urgently shuttered their opened stands, lifting down the tiny shop signs hung on nearby trees. The Vietnamese capital Hanoi, like many other cities of Vietnam, has been engrossed in an iron-fist "sidewalk campaign" these days, which was launched in early March and aimed at recovering the pavements for pedestrians. Local authorities initially reported encouraging results of the campaign, with street vendors expelled from their sidewalk stands, illegal structures demolished, chairs and tables of cafes and eateries set outside the shops seized, while vehicles in no-parking zones were towed away. "The pavement looks more spacious now and pedestrians feel more secure when walking. To some extent, traffic has become more disciplined," Do Quang Thai, a state employee working in an office near the city's downtown Tran Hung Dao Street told Xinhua. "The local authorities seem to be more serious this time than ever before," the 30-year-old man said optimistically, adding that a similar campaign was launched in 2008 but did not last. To emphasize the authorities' determination, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, in his latest cabinet meeting, commended the efforts of localities who rolled up their sleeves for the common goal. Vietnamese Minister of Public Security General To Lam also urged police nationwide to lend a helping hand to authorities in the campaign. However, not everyone is happy with the hard-and-fast campaign, especially those relying on the sidewalks to eke out a living. For decades, pavements in big cities in general, and Hanoi in particular, have been ideal places for vendors to sell vegetables, fruits, flowers and domestic goods, which constituted the so-called "sidewalk economy" and has provided decent incomes for thousands of Vietnamese households. According to United Nations Development Programme's Vietnam Human Development 2015 Report, up to two-thirds of the country's labor force were employed in the informal sector, of which the sidewalk economy is the dominating part in major cities. "I don't know what to do in the future. My six-member family relies solely on my business selling noodles," street vendor Tran Thi Cuc said, while sneakily selling noodles at lunchtime on Doi Can Street. With nervous eyes, she scanned the streets saying: "It's the police patrol's lunch time in this area, so they hopefully won't be on the lookout right now." It has been five years since the 41-year-old woman and her husband moved from a small village in their native central Thanh Hoa province to Hanoi. Every month the couple managed to send money home for Cuc's 80-year-old mother who has been taking care of her three children. "We were asked to abandon our stall without any proper notice. We are unable to change our business overnight," Cuc told Xinhua. "Right now, if the police chase me, I'll run away, but would soon return to doing my job. There's no other choice for me, since I can't afford renting a shop," she said, powerlessly. With street vendors being a common feature in developing countries, including Vietnam, Ed Weinberg, an American residing in Vietnam for five years, said the latest campaign was somewhat regrettable. "Personally, one of the things I love most about Hanoi is the cafes by the West Lake. Now the shop owners are not allowed to place seats outside where customers can drink coffee and view the lake at the same time, and it's really a pity," said Weinberg. He went on to admit that Hanoi is increasingly overcrowding, but "there are so many simple ways to make your day more beautiful, natural and connected. And the street is part of that." Hanoi, as well as many other cities, might not have fully considered the actions' impacts when it initially tried to fast-track its goal of becoming a well-organized city. "Shall poor people like us still have a place to run a business in the modern cities in the future?" Cuc questioned, with both hope and sadness in her voice. Now, as more and more problems arise from the campaign's over-enthusiasm and haste, urban governments are urgently seeking for measures to win the public confidence - the only way to maintain their goals. Successful case studies of developed countries have been made by the local media to advise the policymakers. Under a pilot scheme, southern Ho Chi Minh City has legalized sidewalk businesses on some specific streets and areas, such as Nguyen Van Chiem Street and Bach Tung Diep Park. In the same vein, Hanoi is also exploring the feasibility of such an initiative. "I pray for a suitable and legal way to survive in this bustling and overcrowded city," said Cuc, the female noodle vendor, somewhat despondently. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 10:24:20|Editor: ying Video Player Close SYDNEY, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Trucks will soon be banned from the streets of Melbourne's inner-western suburbs to force them onto a new tollway. Trucks will be banned from a popular detour through main suburban streets in Yarraville in Footscray 24 hours a day, seven days a week once the new Western Distributor is completed in 2022. The heavy vehicles will instead have to pay a toll to access the Port of Melbourne, Australia's largest container port, which was sold in 2016 for 8.4 billion U.S. dollars. Luke Donnellan, Victoria's Roads Minister, downplayed the impact of the ban, saying it would save "truck drivers time and money by avoiding 17 sets of traffic lights and reducing vehicle wear and tear." "The freight industry needs an efficient connection to the Port - one that has been specially designed for heavy vehicles - not suburban streets," Donnellan told Fairfax Media on Monday. The ban is facing resistance from the Victorian Transport Association (VTA) who said the ban would put financial pressure on operators already struggling with toll increases and higher registration fees. The VAT's opposition to increased tolls was supported by trucking magnate Lindsay Fox who slammed the increases as "extortion." Fox, the owner of Australia's largest freight company, said he was preparing to take legal action against Transurban, the operator of Melbourne's CityLink toll road, who announced that daily fees for heavy vehicles would be increased from 9.1 U.S. dollars to 19.8 US dollars. The increases are to cover the costs of Transurban's share of the CityLink widening project. "Let the judge decide. It's very much like extortion. You're paying for something you're not getting," Fox told News Limited on Monday. "I think it's a disgrace. If the government allows it to happen, it will completely throw the whole system out of control. Where in the world do you pay the fee for going on a freeway system that won't be built for another 12 months?" "The roads were designed for traffic. Streets are no different to the veins that run in your body. When the blood stops, you die." Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 10:59:23|Editor: ying Video Player Close PHNOM PENH, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen on Monday called for authorities and armed forces to beef up security during the lunar New Year, which will be celebrated from April 14 to 16. "The authorities and armed forces across the country must do their best to protect the people during the New Year celebrations," he said in a speech during the inauguration ceremony of a road on the southern outskirts of capital Phnom Penh. Meanwhile, he called on people to refrain from splashing water on each other, throwing bags of water on travelers, and painting charcoal or powder on other faces on the occasion. He also appealed to bus companies and taxi drivers not to raise fees during the holiday period that would see millions of Cambodians travel from Phnom Penh to their hometowns in various provinces. The prime minister also urged vehicle drivers to drive carefully in order to avoid traffic accidents on the occasion. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 11:19:25|Editor: ying Video Player Close BANGKOK, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Nine policemen were injured by gunmen at a road checkpoint in southernmost Thailand on Monday, police said. The unknown gunmen in a pickup truck opened fire in a wee hour onto the policemen at the checkpoint near a roadside market in Krong Pinang district of Yala province, about 1,100 km south of the Thai capital. The policemen, two of whom were seriously wounded, were rushed to hospital while their assailants have remained at large. The latest attack on government personnel by insurgent gunmen followed last Thursday's attack at a police station in a neighboring Narathiwat province which killed one policeman and injured a few others. WELLINGTON, April 3 (Xinhua) -- An 11th person has been taken to hospital with typhoid in New Zealand's biggest city as a probe into the outbreak of the potentially deadly disease continues, the health authorities said Monday. The cases were all linked and were members of a Pacific island church community in Auckland, said Auckland Regional Public Health Service (ARPHS) clinical director Dr Julia Peters. ARPHS was following up with 60 people who had been in contact with the patients, Peters said in a statement. "It is a localized outbreak," said Peters. "Knowing that the cases are connected as gives us a clear direction but this is still a serious situation and we are following up other connections." Auckland recorded about 30 cases of typhoid a year, but they were usually individual cases where someone had been infected overseas. "This is a local outbreak and at this stage we do not know how or when it got into Auckland," said Peters. ARPHS was trying to find the source, but it was not always possible to identify the source as some people could carry the disease for some time without passing it on. Typhoid was spread primarily through food and water, but could be spread from person to person. Symptoms included a high fever developing over several days, headaches, general weakness and muscle aches. Stomach pain and constipation were also common, but some people got diarrhea. Typhoid was potentially fatal, but could be treated with antibiotics. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 12:33:59|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close BELGRADE, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Aleksandar Vucic, incumbent prime minister of Serbia, declared victory Sunday evening in the country's presidential elections, pledging to continue reforms, European integration and anti-corruption efforts, along with good relations with China and Russia. Vucic won 57.03 percent of votes in the presidential elections, according to the first official preliminary results of Republic Electoral Commission (RIK) based on 56.56 percent of counted votes. Voter turnout was around 54 percent, according to RIK. Vucic expressed his satisfaction with the fact that he won such a great number of votes in tough conditions. "I am very proud of the fact that we won huge support of Serbian citizens," he said. "It is important that Serbia shows where it wants to go, and that this victory is clean." The preliminary results also showed that former ombudsman Sasa Jankovic came in second with 14.89 percent. Comedian and political activist Luka Maksimovic won 9.04 percent of votes, while former Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic won 5.33 percent. The RIK will announce the final results of the elections 96 hours after the polls are closed. TO CONTINUE EU PATH & TRADITIONAL FRIENDSHIPS In a speech delivered at his Progressive Party's headquarters, Vucic said Serbia has achieved a lot since 2014 when he became prime minister, stressing the importance of continuing the fight against corruption and strengthening of democratic institutions. "For me, it is important that the elections showed that the large majority of people are for the continuation of reforms and Serbia's integration to the European Union (EU), along with maintaining traditional friendships with Russia and China, as well as continuation of hard work," Vucic said. He said that the new government will be formed in about two months, during which he will continue to be the prime minister. "Results of the elections show that it's clear there cannot be instability here, and that Serbia will get even stronger and absolutely secure," Vucic said, pledging to diligently and dedicatedly work on creating a more successful and modern Serbia. He said in next two months he is scheduled to visit China once more as the prime minister. PEOPLE'S SUPPORT Experts said that election results have proven people's support for the reforms and austerity measures of the government of Vucic, despite criticism from both pro-EU and anti-EU oppositions. Professor Vladimir Vuletic of the Faculty of Political Sciences of the Belgrade University said the results came expectedly and the biggest mystery was who will stand out in these elections as the new leader of the opposition, and this person might be Jankovic, the second-ranked candidate. He said there should be no major changes in Serbia's political scene and Serbia will "continue politically in the same way as it did, both in foreign and domestic issues." Sociologist Milan Nikolic said the opposition lost the elections because they did not come out united, but proposed several candidates. Economist Vladimir Krulj said that the election results provided an answer to the question that media frequently asked: Do citizens support the economic policy of Vucic's or not? Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 12:44:02|Editor: ying Video Player Close People work in a zone affected by the landslide in Mocoa, Colombia, on April 2, 2017. Rescue work keeps on going in Colombia's southwest city of Mocoa, in the department of Putumayo, early Sunday, following a tragic mudslide that devastated 17 neighborhoods and killed 207. (Xinhua/Juan Zamara Perini) by Sylvia B. Zarate MOCOA, Colombia, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Rescue work keeps on going in Colombia's southwest city of Mocoa, in the department of Putumayo, early Sunday, following a tragic mudslide that devastated 17 neighborhoods and killed 207. Efforts to locate the scores of people still missing are continuing, said Carlos Ivan Marquez, director of the National Disaster Risk Management Unit (UNGRD). "We have a major challenge, which is to search for the missing. But there are 400 experts looking through the (river) basins and by air, via helicopters, and by inflatable boats, to make the effort more effective," he said. To bolster the rescue operations, the government has mobilized police force and army forces, he said. President Juan Manuel Santos "has activated a system where more than 1,500 people are working" to rescue those in peril or recover the bodies of victims, said Marquez, adding "203 injured people are being treated, and we have evacuated those who needed to be with the help of the air force." In the meantime, at the Normandia Cemetery in Mocoa, a city in Colombia's Amazonian region, the bodies of the flood victims continue to arrive, accompanied by bereaved families. At the cemetery, Robinson Lopez, of the National Organization for Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon, called on Colombians and others to express their solidarity with the victims. In the wake of the tragedy, Mocoa "is in need of humanitarian aid, medicine, water, food, housing and shelters for the people who lost everything," said Lopez. Carlos Lopez, a local resident, recalled how a heavy downpour on Friday night turned into a natural disaster in just a matter of hours. "It began to rain heavily that night. Rains in Mocoa are quick, but that day they lasted more than three hours, and I realized a catastrophe was taking shape when they called me (to return home)," said Lopez, the resident who was on the other side of the river at the time. "I returned to cross (the river), but I couldn't because the river had grown too large; I had to wait. We never imagined the disaster and catastrophe we were going to find in the morning ... the number of dead and injured," he added. The Colombian Family Welfare Institute (ICBF) reported that even though its two orphanages in Mocoa were washed away by the wall of water that hit the town, all children were relocated and none of them were hurt. "The most important thing is to guarantee the wellbeing of minors, and that is why we are letting the community know that the ICBF's doors are open to attend to and protect children in need of help at this time," said Carol Burbano, the ICBF regional director for Putumayo. President Santos returned to Mocoa on Sunday to head the recovery efforts, accompanied by his wife Maria Clemencia Rodriguez, who has been put in charge of attending to local children separated from their parents. "Sadly, there are 47 bodies" of minors, said Santos, adding he was also traveling with the head of the ICBF, Cristina Plazas, to ensure the young victims of the tragedy are well attended to. "We have brought clothing, blankets, towels and have already begun the psychological and social attention," said Santos. Chinese President Xi Jinping sent on Sunday a message of condolences to President Santos over the tragic disaster. The Chinese people would like to offer help in disaster relief and post-disaster reconstruction, Xi said, adding that he also believed that the Colombian people will definitely be able to overcome the aftermath of the disaster and rebuild their homeland under the leadership of President Santos and his government. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 12:59:06|Editor: ying Video Player Close GHAZNI, Afghanistan, April 3 (Xinhuya) -- Four security personnel have been killed after their vehicle came under attack in the eastern Ghazni province on Monday, an Afghan security official said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 13:09:45|Editor: Mengjie Video Player Close BEIJING, April 3 (Xinhua) -- A total of 5.3 million Chinese visited 150 major cemeteries to honor their deceased relatives Sunday, the first day of the three-day holiday for the Tomb-Sweeping Day which falls on Tuesday. The number of people visiting burial sites across the nation increased by 34.2 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA). The cemeteries deployed 33,000 service staff, 76.6 percent more than a year earlier, to maintain order during heavy traffic, helping disperse 899,000 vehicles, up 43.5 percent year on year. Tomb-Sweeping Day, or Qingming, falls early April, when Chinese people commemorate their deceased loved ones by visiting tombs and offering sacrifices. Modern and more eco-friendly ways of honoring the deceased have emerged in recent years, such as "Internet tomb-sweeping" and sea-burials. The ministry said no severe accidents were reported on the day. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 13:14:46|Editor: Mengjie Video Player Close HANOI, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's imports of pesticide reached some 180 million U.S. dollars in the first quarter of 2017, up 7.5 percent year-on-year, the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said on Monday. During the period, China came top as the largest supplier of Vietnam, accounting for over 50 percent of the expenditure. In March alone, Vietnam spent nearly 58 million U.S. dollars on importing pesticide. In the first two months, the value of Vietnam's pesticide imports from China rose by 29.4 percent as opposed to the largest decrease of 44.6 percent in imports from Malaysia. Meanwhile, pesticide imports from India, Germany and Thailand also saw significant increase of 25 percent, 35 percent and 17 percent, respectively, according to the ministry. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 13:29:48|Editor: ying Video Player Close MOSCOW, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Russian and Belarussian experts Monday started a five-day observation flight over the Polish territory, a Russian official said. The flight, with a maximum range of up to 1,400 km, will be carried out along the coordinated route by a Russian An-30B jet in accordance with the Treaty on Open Skies, said Sergei Ryzhkov, head of the Russian Defense Ministry's Nuclear Risk Reduction Center. Polish experts on board the plane are in charge of controlling the observation equipment, he added. During the same period, experts from Denmark, Sweden and Britain will conduct an observation flight over Russia, according to Ryzhkov. The Treaty on Open Skies was signed in March 1992 and became one of the major confidence-building measures in Europe after the Cold War. It took effect in 2002 and currently has 34 state parties, including Russia and most members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 13:44:12|Editor: Mengjie Video Player Close HELSINKI, April 3 (Xinhua) -- At the beginning of every Chinese class, Meri Rokkonen and her Finnish classmates would rise to greet the teacher, an oriental courtesy unfamiliar to a Western classroom. "It is beautiful and elegant," said Meri, a Lapland University student in her 20s. The indescribable atmosphere would last till the end of the class, giving her an overwhelming sense of joy. The teacher, Ma Yujing, a slim, middle-aged woman with a classic appeal, wanted her students to perform the ritual to understand a Chinese tradition of honoring the teacher and respecting the truth. Ma, from China's Liaoning Normal University, arrived in Finnish Lapland which lies right on the Arctic Circle, three months ago, when the patch of land was locked in polar night. Yet, teaching three courses, two on mandarin and another on Chinese culture, she was too busy to feel blue. Unlike universities in other countries, Lapland University grants Ma the freedom to design her own courses. "I would tell my students stories and origins of every Chinese character," Ma said. "They reflect the ancient wisdom of the Chinese people." Lapland, a "mystical and magic" region with Aurora Borealis and arctic wildness, has been experiencing a Chinese craze due to the arrival of an increasing number of Chinese tourists, said Tran Que Nhu, a Chinese-born Vietnamese and another student of Ma. According to statistics from Lapland's tourist bureau, Chinese is the most spoken language among tourists arriving in Rovaniemi, the capital of Lapland and also the hometown of Santa Claus. "I don't know since when almost every restaurant and shop in Lapland has signs written in Chinese," said Tran. As a student majoring in tourism, she saw great career opportunities in the boom of Chinese tourists and signed up for Ma's both courses. Unlike Tran, Meri attended the course because she was attracted by the beauty of the Chinese calligraphy and was curious about the ancient civilization. "The more I learn Chinese, the more I am fascinated by its culture." What is lucky for fans of China like Meri is that more and more Chinese music and movies have found its audience in Finland. "My favorite Chinese character is Hua Mulan," Meri said, referring to a legendary woman warrior from the Southern and Northern Dynasties in Chinese history. As a matter of fact, cultural and people-to-people exchanges have always been a bright spot in bilateral cooperation since China and Finland established diplomatic relations in 1950. The flourishing interaction between the Chinese and Finnish people is expected to receive a boost as Chinese President Xi Jinping pays a state visit to the Nordic country from Tuesday to Thursday. Finnish media hail it as the year's most significant visit. "On streets or in the gym, many strangers approached me to ask questions about Chinese language and culture," said Ma. "It is rare for the Finnish people, who were known to be very reserved." Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 13:49:13|Editor: Mengjie Video Player Close HAVANA, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Cuba's Chinese residents on Sunday paid tribute to their ancestors and dearly departed as part of the traditional Qingming Festival, also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day. Dozens of Cuban families of Chinese descent went to the Chinese cemetery in Havana laden with offerings of food, drink and flowers. "For the descendants of the Chinese, this day is important because it means spending time with our ancestors and offering them what we can. We bow to them (and) we burn symbolic money and incense so that they have prosperity in their afterlife," said Mercedes Wong, who observes the traditional festival. The Qingming Festival is unique in Cuba as the offerings feature classic Caribbean fare, such as roasted pigs, famed Havana Club rum and the national flower, the White Ginger, known here as the butterfly flower due to its delicate winglike petals. "It is very important to maintain these traditions because the Chinese here in Cuba played a very important role in the independence of the country in the 19th century, and therefore the young people should follow that example," retired general Guillermo Chui told Xinhua. Qingming is customarily celebrated on the first day of the fifth solar period of the traditional Chinese calendar, or 15 days after the Spring Equinox, which usually means it falls on April 4 or 5. However, in Cuba it is celebrated on the first Sunday in April. At the cemetery, the various organizations and societies that make up the Chinese community in Cuba laid floral wreaths in honor of their ancestors in front of a sign that illustrates the struggle of the Chinese on the island. "It is a day to honor our ancestors, but it is a happy day because the gates of heaven are open and we offer drink, food and paper money to burn, and that energy goes to our ancestors," Mitzy Espinoza said. Qingming, which means "clear and bright," also marks the arrival of spring and a farewell to the winter season. Earlier in the day, members of the Chinese community also paid tribute to ancestors, who fought in Cuba's wars of independence, at a monument in their honor in Havana. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 14:24:56|Editor: Mengjie Video Player Close PALM BEACH, the United States, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Laurie Barnes is one of the few people who get to do what they love, and get paid for it. She has worked for decades as a curator to promote Chinese art in Palm Beach, a southern Florida town where not so many Chinese people live. And yet Barnes, in her 60s now, feels rewarded for helping American people understand China a little more every day. "I tell people that the 20th century is the American century, the 19th century was the British century, but the 21st century is going to be the Chinese century. So I think everyone in the world should be interested in Chinese culture because it's China's time," said Barnes. IN LOVE WITH CHINESE CULTURE When she was a kid, Barnes would go for six weeks in the summer time to her grandparents' house in the Washington D.C. area. She loved visiting museums, including her favorite Freer Gallery of Art then. "There was just something magical about Chinese art that really spoke to me," she said. Later she decided to make it a career to learn about the objects she knew little about when she was a child and help other people appreciate them. She started working for the Norton Museum of Art in Palm Beach in 2006 as Elizabeth B. Mcgraw curator of Chinese art, hoping to help expand the museum's Chinese collection and make them more accessible to the public. The museum has had a Chinese collection for over half a century. Over the years, the collection grew from the initial 125 objects to about 600, ranging from delicately-carved jade, paintings, Buddha statues, and a few porcelain pieces. Barnes said the exhibition came into being because the museum's founder Ralph Norton wanted to represent something other than Western art, and chose to focus on Chinese art. One of Barnes' responsibilities as a curator is to present the permanent collection to visitors in an accessible way. It is not an easy job in a city that is traditionally American. "In Chinese culture, dragons can bring good luck, they are not scary," Barnes told a group of visitors, most of whom were kids, in front of two dragon roof ridge fascia panels. They are made of earthenware, decorated with amber, the eyes of the dragon glaring in the light. Barnes compared the dragons to "puppy dogs playing with flaming jewels," which almost immediately brought the school-aged children intimacy with this legendary animal from the Far East. "This is my kids' first time to see this type of exhibition in a museum, I think they are enjoying it, the dragons are cool for my son," said Fabiola Williams, a young mother visiting with her two kids. "If you can get people to start looking, and give them some information, create a story around it, they will enjoy it," said Barnes, adding that she tried to engage a wide spectrum of people. The museum launches special programs on important Chinese holidays such as the Chinese New Year and the Mid-Autumn Festival. Scott Benarde, the museum's director of communication, told Xinhua that over 2,000 people came in one day for the Chinese New Year last time, while 600 or 700 people came for the Mid-Autumn festival. "I would say people are interested," said Benarde. "It"s hard not to walk into our Chinese collection and look at that giant head of a Buddha, and just not be awed and thrown, no matter who." MAKING CHINESE CULTURE MORE EXCITING However, Barnes still sees visitors walking past precious objects not knowing the value in them. To make Chinese art more exciting, she also launches special exhibitions and lecture series that highlight the collection. She once ran an exhibition on the impact of tea culture worldwide since many of her favorite pieces of ceramics are connected with tea. She chose eight tea countries to focus on but emphasized China's influence. "In terms of the impact of tea and impact of ceramics, to my mind, all roads lead back to China, and I made the exhibition that way," she said. The exhibition was well-received. "There are still people coming up to the entrance desk and saying 'who did that exhibition. I'll never forget it. It was one of the greatest exhibitions I've ever seen,'" Barnes said. She spent three years of her life on it and felt really gratified to have that kind of public response. Barnes also likes to talk about a rabbit pendant made of jade in public tours. "It's so tiny that people would never look at it unless I do. So I try to tell people how it would have been used, who would have used it, why jade is important to the Chinese people," she said. If she's not in the exhibition hall talking and answering questions, she will be in the office to study more about each object. Her office is a wonderland for anyone interested in art. In just five square meters, she fit in as many Chinese elements as possible. The wooden floor has a bamboo layer on it, which reminds one of the decorations of a traditional Chinese tea house. A Gongfu tea set was placed on the table beside the computer while several porcelain tea cups and mini Zisha (purple clay) tea pots were laid out neatly on the bookshelf. The books, including ones on ceramics that she published, art auction catalogs, and Chinese art and history chronicles, took the rest of the space. Closer U.S.-China cultural exchanges in recent years have made Barnes' research work more exciting. The museum's Chinese collection comes primarily from dealers in the early 20th century without context. Sometimes the curators are not sure whether an object is real or fake. The important archaeological discoveries in China in recent years have been incredibly helpful for Barnes to study the collection. "The excavation of imperial kilns in Jingdezhen really changed our understanding of 14th century and early 15th century ceramics," said Barnes. She is now working on an exhibition of porcelain from Jingdezhen, a city in China's Jiangxi Province famous for porcelain making, looking for ways to tackle the challenge that the American public don't know how to appreciate broken pieces. "I think with anything, if you can get people to start looking, and give them some information, create a story around it, they will enjoy it," said Barnes. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 16:00:11|Editor: ying Video Player Close TOKYO, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said Monday that Japan's ambassador to South Korea, who was ordered to return to Tokyo, will return to Seoul on Tuesday. Ambassador Yasumasa Nagamine was recalled from Seoul on Jan. 9 as part of a protest by Tokyo against a "comfort woman" statue erected in South Korea's port city of Busan, dedicated to women and girls forced to work in Japan's wartime brothels. The statue was erected in front of the Consulate General of Japan in Busan by a citizens' group advocating for the rights of Korean women who were coerced by the Imperial Japanese Army into sexual slavery during World War II. Speaking at a briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kishida said that the move to return Nagamine to his post was necessary ahead of a presidential election in South Korea on May 9 and in light of the fact that Japan needed to focus more efforts to prepare for the next administration. Kishida admitted that recalling Nagamine as a protest to the statue did not lead to its removal. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 16:05:12|Editor: ying Video Player Close ANKARA, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Two police officers were wounded early Monday over bomb attack in Turkey's southern province of Mersin, state run Anadolu Agency reported. Terrorists have thrown explosive materials at a patrolling police vehicle, injuring two police officers. The explosive had likely been controlled by a remote control, Mersin Governor Ozdemir Cakacak said. The security forces have launched an investigation. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 16:20:14|Editor: ying Video Player Close SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Troops of India and Pakistan Monday exchanged heavy fire and targeted each other's positions on Line of Control (LoC), dividing the disputed region of Kashmir, officials said. Defense officials said the exchange started at around 9:30 a.m. local time in the morning and went on for some time. There were so far no reports of any casualty or damage on Indian side. On Saturday a junior commissioned officer of Indian army was killed in a blast in the area. Last year saw a surge in skirmishes near LoC between the two countries. Apart from troop casualties, the firing has claimed civilian lives on both sides, besides prompting migrations of residents from frontier areas. Both New Delhi and Islamabad accuse each other of resorting to unprovoked firings and violating cease-fire agreements. And both sides maintain that their troops gave befitting reply. Kashmir, the Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan, is claimed by both in full. Since their independence from Britain, the two countries have fought three wars, two exclusively over Kashmir. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 17:05:20|Editor: ying Photo taken on March 22, 2017 shows a China-donated primary school in Gwadar, Pakistan. Gwadar, an poorly-known port town previously in Pakistan has been becoming a new economic engine for the country with the construction of a free zone co-built with China. (Xinhua/Liu Tian) by Liu Tian ISLAMABAD, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Gwadar, an poorly-known port town previously in Pakistan has been becoming a new economic engine for the country with the construction of a free zone co-built with China. "We have finished 60 percent of the first-phase construction for the port's free zone, which is expected to be completed by the end of this year, one year earlier than we planned," Hu Yaozong, deputy general manager of the Gwadar Free Zone Company, told Xinhua in a recent interview. Chinese engineers and their Pakistani counterparts are working around clock in the construction site with the hope of seeing the free zone is open to operation as early as possible. The free zone is a key step towards developing the Gwadar port into an important regional hub that will benefit not only south Asia, but also the countries in central Asia and the Middle East. The free zone, which covers about 923 hectares of land and will be developed in four phases. It is designed to take advantage of Balochistan's rich fishery and mineral resources to develop relevant industries for overseas market and to develop light industry for the domestic consumption. As a part of the light industry plan, China's Linyi overseas market, a comprehensive shopping mall project, will soon be introduced into the free zone. "It is quite alike the renowned Yiwu small commodities market in China. The Linyi market in Gwadar will develop an overseas warehouse so as to make their goods not only available in the Pakistan market, but also in markets around the region," said Hu. According to Hu, the first round of investment has almost completed with projects on fishery and electric motors settled and business center enterprises moved in. The second-phase construction of the free zone is featured with a huge stainless steel factory, which, Hu added, would create a considerable number of jobs for locals in Gwadar, which has a population of less than 100,000. With the further development of the port and free zone, work forces in other villages around Gwadar are expected to flow into Gwadar. According to the deputy general manager, a training school donated by China will be completed soon. After short-term training, local people are expected to find a position in the developing Gwadar, he said. Munir Ahmad Jan, director general of the Gwadar Port Authority (GPA), also shows high expectations on Gwadar's future. Besides Chinese and Pakistani investors, a lot of investors from other countries have come to the GPA to consult on business opportunities in the free zone, he said. In 2016, the Pakistani government issued a financial act which ensured a 23-year tax exemption policy for the Gwadar free zone in a bid to attract more international investors. Jan said that as businesspeople have seen the bright future of the Gwadar port, a lot of Pakistani real estate investors came to Gwadar to purchase land. He said the land prices now in Gwadar are increasing fast and real estate related industries have witnessed real momentum in the small city. "We feel that Gwadar's free zone area needs further expansion and we have requested for more area," said the official. "China and Pakistan have an equally long history, but China developed rapidly due to sincere Chinese leadership and now it has become the leading economy in the world. We shall try to maximize our experiences, cooperation and assistance from China to develop our own country and improve common people's lives," Jan told Xinhua. The development of the Gwadar port is not only in the economic field, but also at a broader social level. A vessel carrying construction material from a China-donated emergency center reached Gwadar in March. The medical center, which will come into service as early as in May, is designed to carry out basic diagnosis and treatment, conduct small surgeries and emergency rescues. It will initially be operated by Chinese medical teams and be gradually handed over to the Pakistani side in the future. In September last year, a China-donated primary school came into use in Gwadar. The school had planned to enroll about 150 pupils, but more than 300 students of different grades attend the school as many locals believed that the school had better teachers and facilities. "We are very thankful to the Chinese people who have long been very active in Pakistan's infrastructural development. I think our relationship will be further strengthened with the passage of time because of the sincere leadership on both sides," Jan concluded. PHNOM PENH, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Nearly six months after the Cambodian Health Ministry banned surrogate pregnancies, Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen has approved an exit strategy allowing babies born to Cambodian surrogates to leave the country, the Cambodia Daily reported on Monday. Chou Bun Eng, secretary of state with the Interior Ministry, confirmed on Sunday that Hun Sen had signed off on the strategy, more than a month after it was put forward for his approval. "Yes, he already dropped (it) back. He approved," Bun Eng was quoted as saying by the newspaper. The strategy will be a temporary measure allowing foreign parents to take their babies born to Cambodian surrogates out of the country, she said, adding that it will apply to babies already born and to unborn children being carried by Cambodian women. Dozens of foreign couples have been left in legal limbo, uncertain when or if they might be united with their babies, since the government placed a ban on commercial surrogacy in October. Bun Eng said the strategy would involve court procedures and cover only existing surrogacy cases. "We put out this program addressing those who are currently pregnant and those who already gave birth," the Cambodia Daily quoted her as saying. "It is a solution for the cases that already exist." She said parents would have limited time to use the exit strategy. Bun Eng warned that parents who do not step forward to use the exit strategy would face serious consequences. "If they try to hide, they have no rights to take the babies out," she said. "If they tell us, they have the rights, because we want this exit strategy to be able to allow them to take (babies) with them." Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 17:15:21|Editor: Mengjie Video Player Close NEW DELHI, April 3 (Xinhua) -- India Monday announced the release of its 15 fishermen by Iran, who were arrested in October last year while they were on their way to Sharjah from Bahrain. "I am happy to inform that Iran has released our 15 fishermen from Tamil Nadu. They were detained with their 3 Bahraini boats," External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted. The External Affairs Minister also thanked the Indian Embassy in Tehran, appreciating its "good work" for facilitating the release of the arrested fishermen from the southern state of Tamil Nadu. The Indian fishermen, working for some Baharainians, were detained for entering Iranian waters without permission. They were said to be confined to their boats since their arrest last year. The release of the Indian fishermen came a week after India released from its custody a British citizen of Iranian origin, who was facing charges in this country. Post the release of 15 fishermen, Iran now has in its custody another 22 Indian fishermen, held between August 2016 and January 2017. MANILA, April 3 (Xinhua) -- At least 31 Philippine soldiers, including two military officers, have been wounded in fresh clash with Muslim militants in the southern Philippine Sulu province, the military said Monday. Col. Cirilito Sobejana of the Philippine Army said that a lieutenant colonel and a lieutenant were among those hit by shrapnel from explosives fired by more than 100 Abu Sayyaf militants during a heavy fighting that broke out Sunday in a remote town in Sulu province. He said the firefight lasted about half an hour, adding that the bandits were forced to flee from pursuing troops. Sobejana said the two officers and the rest of the injured soldiers are now in stable condition and recuperating in local hospitals. "Most of the wounded soldiers were hit by the grenade," he said, claiming that majority of those injured sustained only "minor injuries". Philippine Army was also able to find the body of one Abu Sayyaf who was killed during the firefight. His identity is yet to be known. Abu Sayyaf is one of the smallest and most violent jihadist groups operating in the southern Philippines notorious for kidnappings, bombings and attacking civilians and the army. The group, numbering about 500, has been sowing terror in the southern Philippine region since the early 1990s. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the military to launch an all-out offensive against the Abu Sayyaf bandits operating mostly in the hinterlands of southern Philippine provinces of Sulu and Basilan. NEW DELHI, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Somali pirates have hijacked an Indian cargo ship with 11 crew members onboard, local media reports said Monday. The ship named Al Kaushar according to New Delhi based television news channel -- India Today -- was hijacked on Saturday while on its way to Al Mukala port in Yemen from Dubai. All the crew members are said to be Indians from Mandvi in Mumbai (Maharashtra). Reports said captain of the ship had informed owners of ship as well as authorities in Dubai about the incident. Indian officials so far have not issued any statement about the hijacking. The officials in navy and ministry of external affairs have been notified about the hijacking, reports said. Pirates often attack cargo ships in international waters in absence of patrolling. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 18:55:34|Editor: ying Video Player Close JERUSALEM, April 3 (Xinhua) -- An international human rights organization on Monday accused Israel of barring human rights workers from entering the Gaza Strip for documenting abuse in the besieged Palestinian enclave. The 47-page report, released by Human Rights Watch, accuses Israel of "systematically" blocking researchers from traveling into and out of Gaza, even where the Israeli security services make no security claims against them as individuals. The report also accuses Egypt of preventing its workers and workers of the Britain-based Amnesty International from entering Gaza from its border since 2012. The group charged that this practice calls into question Israel's proclaimed commitment to investigate possible war crimes during its 51-day-long military campaign in Gaza in 2014. In a statement released on Monday, the group urges the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor's office to take note of the restrictions in the context of its ongoing preliminary examination of the Palestine situation. "If Israel wants the ICC prosecutor to take seriously its argument that its criminal investigations are adequate, a good first step would be to allow human rights researchers to bring relevant information to light," said Sari Bashi, Israel and Palestine advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. "Impeding the work of human rights groups raises questions not just about the willingness of Israel's military authorities to conduct genuine investigations, but also their ability to do so," she added. Israel and Egypt have imposed a blockade on Gaza, home to about two million people, following Hamas winning in the 2006 elections in the Strip. Under Israel's restrictive policy, only a very limited number of people and goods are allowed in and out of Gaza. The office of Israel's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT,) the body who regulates access to Gaza, denies it prevent access of any human rights workers. A statement by COGAT said about 1,000 people cross through Israeli crossings every day for various of purposes, including for human rights work. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 18:59:58|Editor: ying Video Player Close PHNOM PENH, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia will send a group of 23 demining experts, along with 12 mine sniffing dogs, to Israel this week for a mine clearance mission, Heng Ratana, chief of the Cambodia Mine Action Center, said on Monday. "This will be the first time that Cambodia sends demining experts to Israel," he told Xinhua, adding that the move comes following the request from the Israeli government. The Israeli side would cover all expenses for the group, he said, adding that they would leave Cambodia for Israel between April 4 and 9. Ratana said the Cambodian demining experts would work with their Israeli counterparts for a four-month mine clearance mission. "It will also be a good chance for both sides to exchange experience in mine clearance," he said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 19:05:36|Editor: ying Video Player Close By Yoo Seungki SEOUL, April 3 (Xinhua) -- South Korean green activists and lawyers on Monday revealed serious pollutions inside the U.S. military base in the heart of the country's capital city, which they described as the "tip of an iceberg". Green Korea United, green activist group, and Lawyers for a Democratic Society, an advocacy group composed of liberal attorneys, held a joint press conference in Seoul along with the association of residents to recover Yongsan U.S. Army garrison. They disclosed 84 oil spill incidents, which had happened inside the Yongsan garrison in Seoul from 1990 to 2015. The data were obtained from the Pacific Command of the Pentagon through the Freedom of Information Act, a U.S. law that allows for the full or partial disclosure of information controlled by the U.S. government. The 84 cases included 7 "worst" pollutions in which at least 3.78 tons of oil was leaked. The number of cases with "severe" oil spill of over 0.4 tons was 32 in the past 25 years. The severity of contamination was defined according to the U.S. forces' own standard. It was "the most conservative data", said Yoon Sang-hoon, secretary general of the Green Korea United, given that the source of contamination inside the Yongsan base has never been investigated. Six of the 14 known pollution incidents, made public by the parliament, the environment ministry and local media, were not included in the documents offered by the Pentagon, indicating the still hidden contamination inside the Yongsan base. The concealment of environmental pollutions by U.S. soldiers stationed here escalated anti-U.S. sentiment among South Koreans as seen in the 2000 incident where a civilian worker of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) ordered a spill of hundreds of bottles of formaldehyde, known as one of the most hazardous carcinogens, into a drain. At the time, Green Korea United filed a complaint against the USFK worker as the toxic substance led directly into the Han River running throughout the capital Seoul. The incident served as a motive for "The Host," a 2006 South Korean blockbuster monster film directed by Bong Joon-ho. The green activists initially asked for a wide range of information, including the list of hazardous waste treated in the Yongsan garrison, the basic environmental information and the budget for environmental remediation, but the Pentagon only provided documents on oil spills. The disclosure of oil leaks would be the "tip of an iceberg" in the colossal contamination the U.S. forces will leave behind, before moving to their new base in Pyeongtaek, Shin Soo-yun, the head of peace ecology team at Green Korea United, told Xinhua. The U.S. bases, including the USFK headquarters and the Eighth U.S. Army, both in Yongsan, and the 2nd Infantry Division to north of Seoul, are scheduled to be moved to a new garrison in Pyeongtaek, 70 km south of Seoul, by the end of 2018. The relocation plan, which kicked off in early 2005, was delayed by two more years last year. Asked about the ongoing installation of a U.S. missile shield, called Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) in South Korean territory, the green activist said hearings must be first held to listen to what residents living near the THAAD deployment site say. The U.S. forces have claimed no harm of the X-band radar to human body and environment, but the activist said the U.S. side should be held responsible for proving its harmlessness. The AN/TPY-2 radar is known to emit super microwaves, detrimental to human health and the conservation of nature. The environment ministry of South Korea had conducted three surveys of environmental contamination inside the Yongsang garrison since May 2015, but it has refused to make the findings public. The appeals court upheld the lower court's ruling on Dec. 14, 2016 to order the ministry to disclose the findings, saying the disclosure of information and the public discussion on issues like the land pollution in the U.S. military base would contribute to national interests. But, the ministry appealed again to the Supreme Court. The Seoul city government has pumped up contaminated underground water around the Yongsan base as part of cleanup efforts. Two oil pollution incidents, which occurred in 2001 and 2006 around the garrison, were caused by the source from inside. According to the city government's monitoring data, toxic substances were found at hundreds to thousands times the purification standard around the base. Around the Noksapyeong subway station in the southern part, the level of benzene was detected in underground water at almost 600 times the standard in 2016. The concentration surged to as high as over 2,800 times in 2011. Near Camp Kim in the garrison's northern part, total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) was found at concentrations over 500 times the standard in 2016. The level was 8,633 times the purification standard in the previous year. Other pollutants that risk causing cancer were found around the two purification facilities, set up by the Seoul city government to clean them up. "It is urgent to share information on contaminations inside the Yongsan garrison to look again into the base and draw up remediation and public health schemes," said Kim Hui-jung, environment professor at Kangwon National University who warned against little information on how much polluted the U.S. base is. The Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), signed in 1966 between South Korea and the United States, neither offer South Koreans the right to investigate or access the U.S. military base when pollution accident occurs on the base, nor guarantee information sharing or access to information by South Koreans. Kwon Jung-ho, attorney at the Lawyers for a Democratic Society, said the 2003 SOFA annex on environment is of little help as it is not legally binding, demanding the revision of the SOFA as rapidly as possible. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 19:10:37|Editor: Mengjie Video Player Close VIENTIANE, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Full steam ahead for the China-Laos railway construction, Laos has speeded up machinery import from China, local daily Vientiane Times reported Monday. Hundreds of trucks carrying machinery and equipment for construction of the China-Laos railway have entered Laos after being delayed at the border. A special lane has now been allocated at the Mohan-Boten border crossing point to facilitate the passage of the trucks, project coordinator in northern Lao province Luang Namtha, Chanthachone Keolakhone told Vientiane Times on Friday. A taskforce team was set up last week to man the special truck lane. It will inspect and approve the imported items, which are exempt from tariff payments in Laos. Authorities in charge met last Tuesday and Wednesday in Oudomxay and Luang Namtha provinces of northern Laos to discuss ways to accelerate the railway construction. They planned to speed up the import of machinery and equipment and arrange for compensation and resettlement for people who will have to relocate to make way for the railway. Preparations are now underway to start the boring of tunnels, and work is expected to begin before the upcoming rainy season, Deputy Minister of Public Works and Transport Lattanamany Khounnivong said on Friday. "Tunnel entrances are being prepared for boring. We expect to begin boring before the rainy season and once the rain comes we can work inside the tunnels," said Lattanamany. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 19:20:39|Editor: ying Video Player Close JAKARTA, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian government reaped some 135 trillion rupiah (about 10.1 billion U.S. Dollars) of funds which would be used as additional tax revenue from the recently closed-down tax amnesty program, falling short from the initial target set at 165 trillion rupiah (about 12.3 billion U.S. Dollars). The nine-month program that began in July last year ended up in unexpected figures with several targets failed to complied with during the tax amnesty period. As of the program's closure time at Friday midnight, Indonesian tax office recorded 4,854.6 trillion rupiah (about 364.3 billion U.S. Dollars) worth of unreported assets declared by almost 1 million taxpayers taking part in the program. "Learning from these figures, the taxation director general office has to improve itself. Indonesia is still lagging in tax compliance," Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulynai said to address the closing of tax amnesty program. She added that even though the figures have not met the targets, result from the tax amnesty program was considerably good. According to the minister, additional tax funds raised from Indonesian tax amnesty program was higher than outcomes of similar program in other countries. The minister said the closure of amnesty program also marks the beginning of a tax compliance era in Indonesia where no one can escape from tax. In the event the ministry launched a Kartin1 card for taxpayers that holds taxpayer's identity, combined with several social assurance purposes. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 19:30:40|Editor: ying Video Player Close COLOMBO, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The Sri Lankan government on Monday said that while it will investigate certain crimes which took place during the war between Tamil Tiger rebels and the military, it will not agree to a war crimes probe. Government spokesman Dr. Rajitha Senaratne told reporters in the Northern Jaffna town that if there is a war crimes probe then the Tamil Tigers, also known as the LTTE, must also be investigated. "Who do we investigate in the LTTE? Are there any leaders? We will go for a good settlement," the Minister said. He said that the main objective of the government is to ensure the final settlement following 30 years of war, gives equal status to all Sri Lankans. The Minister also said that powers will be devolved to the provinces to ensure the people in the respective areas look after the development of the areas. Sri Lanka defeated the Tamil Tigers in May 2009 after 30 years of war but the military has been accused of committing war crimes during the finales stages of the war. The government has initiated a reconciliation process to address the main causes behind the conflict and ensure non-recurrence. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 19:35:40|Editor: ying Video Player Close BANGKOK, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn will preside over a ceremony for the promulgation of the current draft constitution on April 6, also the day to commemorate the establishment of the Chakri Dynasty, the Bureau of the Royal Household said on Monday. The bureau said in an announcement that the ceremony will be held at Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall from 3 p.m. on Thursday, during which the draft constitution will be presented to the king for signing and then be passed to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. The Bureau of Royal Scribes and Royal Decorations under the cabinet secretariat will then read out the royal announcement on the promulgation of the new constitution. The current draft constitution was passed in a referendum in August last year, which was a part of the ruling junta's road map to a general election that was promised to be held later. Prime Minister Prayut will announce the event formally on Tuesday after a cabinet meeting, Thai deputy prime minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said to reporters. After the draft constitution is promulgated and then becomes the 20th constitution of Thailand, the country's Constitution Drafting Committee will complete the draft of so called organic laws, which will finally make way for a general election. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 19:40:05|Editor: ying Video Player Close KATHMANDU, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Nepal government on Monday relocated two one-horned rhinoceros from the country's central-south to the far-west, in a bid to maintain variation, prevent epidemic danger and increase the population of the endangered species. The two rhinos were relocated from Chitwan National Park to Shuklaphanta National Park. Altogether five rhinos, one male and four females, are scheduled to be transferred this week. The relocation is for the long-term survival and safety of one-horned rhinos, Ram Chandra Kandel, chief conservation officer at Chitwan National Park, told Xinhua. "We have transferred two rhinos today while remaining three will be sent by this week," the official said. National park officials, personnel from Nepali Army and Nepal Police, tamers and representatives from various governmental and non-governmental organizations assisted in transferring the rhinos. Officials said the Shuklaphanta National Park has all necessities, including good habitat and water for the rhinos. This relocation is part of the decision of Nepalese Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation in 2015 to transfer 30 one-horned rhinos in total from Chitwan National Park to two national parks within three years. Five rhinos have already been transferred from Chitwan National Park to Bardiya National Park in March last year. Chitwan National Park, located some 150 km from the capital city, is renowned for protection of one-horned rhinoceros, Royal Bengal tiger and Gharial Crocodile. According to Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, out of total 645 rhinos in Nepal, 605 are in Chitwan National Park. In 2001, the national park transferred four rhinos to Shuklaphanta National Park and the rhino population has doubled within one and half decade. After the translocation of rhinos, Shuklaphanta will transfer swamp deer to Chitwan National Park. South African President Jacob Zuma addresses a business meeting in Harare, Zimbabwe, Nov. 3, 2016. (Xinhua) CAPE TOWN, April 3 (Xinhua) -- South African Parliament Speaker Baleka Mbete has said she would ensure that requests for a no confidence motion against President Jacob Zuma be given appropriate consideration. Mbete arrived in South Africa on Sunday after cutting short her trip to Bangladesh, citing recent requests for a debate on a no-confidence motion against Zuma as the reason. On March 30, Mbete's office received a letter from the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) requesting for a motion of no confidence in Zuma. The letter indicated that the motion be scheduled when Parliament reconvenes. Later on the same day, a similar request was received from the Leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) for the National Assembly to be convened for a special sitting to debate and vote on a similar motion. The opposition has approached the Western Cape High Court to compel Parliament to urgently schedule a motion of no confidence in Zuma, who has been under fire for drastically reshuffling the cabinet in the early hours of Saturday. The reshuffle, which affected 10 ministers and 10 deputy ministers, including former Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, has drawn criticism and prompted calls for Zuma to step down. When a motion of this magnitude is called and is in line with the Parliament's rules, it must be scheduled and must receive priority, Mbete said in a statement. "I will, therefore, as of today, begin a process of consultation contemplated in the Rules in the consideration of the requests submitted. I envisage that the consultation should be concluded as soon as possible," said Mbete. She said that once the consultation process is concluded, her office will duly write to all the parties involved to advise them of the outcome. For a vote of no-confidence motion to be successful, it requires 201 of the 400 National Assembly MPs to vote in its favor. 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 MPs of the ruling African National Congress. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 19:55:08|Editor: ying Video Player Close MADRID, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The bacteria "xylella fastidiosa" has emerged as a possible threat to olive trees in Europe and was detected on the Spanish island of Mallorca in October 2016, prompting fears for the island's extensive and picturesque plantations. Xylella was first detected in North America and reached Italy in 2013, leading to the destruction of thousands of acres of olive trees in an attempt to combat the infection, which so far has no cure. The Spanish "El Mundo" newspaper has described "xylella" as the "ebola for olive trees," while others have made comparisons with the "phylloxera," pest which ravaged European vineyards in the late 19th century. Speaking in an interview with Xinhua, Sebastian Solivellas, president of the Mallorca Olive Oil Region, took a less catastrophic view of xylella, although he admitted the plague was now well established on the island and others in the Balearic chain. "We tried to stop it spreading over the island but we took samples and discovered that it was already all over Mallorca, and not just in Mallorca, but also in Menorca and Ibiza," he told Xinhua. He explained the bacteria must have been imported as it has no other way of crossing open water and explained the island was applying a "containment" policy, which meant a tree was burned if it as discovered to be infected, but Solivellas was opposed to the widescale "eradication" policy which had been applied in Italy. He said such a policy would be "a disaster as it would mean destroying 1,000 year old trees, which have a lot of history and also a countryside which feeds us," because as well as providing oil, the olive trees on the island were a key part of Mallorca's attraction to tourists. "It is the countryside which brings many people to visit Mallorca and we feel that destroying the countryside would be worse than the infection itself," he commented. The president of the Mallorcan olive oil producing region was less pessimistic about the bacteria than others, and told Xinhua that xylella can live inside a tree for a long time without its presence being felt. "It is when the tree needs water or has another illness that the bacteria is activated and that is when the tree suffers... A lot of people believe that if it has been here for a long time and we didn't know about it, so if there hasn't been a disaster up to know, here is no need for there to be on in the future," he considered. Solivellas also gave his solution to best controlling xylella; "having the plantations well looked after and healthy is the best we can do, because like all plagues it always attacks the oldest and weakest trees... I want to be positive as the data shows that we can think like that. It is another pest, one that has had more publicity that others, but those of us who work in the country are used to dealing with them," he concluded. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 19:55:09|Editor: ying Video Player Close MANILA, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Monday that the ongoing talks between the Philippine government and the rebels in Hague in the Netherlands made no progress. Talks to end the 48-year-long insurgency in the Philippines did not start as scheduled on Sunday after Duterte reportedly imposed some conditions before the government can agree to reopen the talks with the leftist rebels. "They have not made any progress because I have some conditions to impose before we go back (to the negotiating table)," Duterte said in a speech at the Malacanang presidential palace. Duterte did not elaborate on the preconditions that he imposed. But government sources said Duterte raised bilateral ceasefire, territory and taxation as preconditions for the resumption of the talks. Government chief negotiator Sylvester Bello told reporters in the Netherlands that they are in talks with their rebel counterparts to thresh out the issue. He said both sides are still working on the agenda setting for the latest round. So far there are no words yet whether the talks have opened on Monday. Last month, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza announced that the government and the rebels have agreed to resume the talks and to restore their separate unilateral ceasefire before the fourth round of talks begins. The talks are supposed to kick off on Sunday and end on Thursday. Fresh talks hit a snag in February after Duterte scrapped the peace talks that he initiated and ordered his military to launch an all-out war against the rebels. The on-and-off peace negotiations with the rebels, which started in mid-1980s, are dogged by old issues that prevented the negotiations to move forward like the refusal of the government to free all political detainees and alleged violations of the truce agreements. Duterte has rejected the rebels' demand for the release of all political prisoners, which he says should only come at the end of the peace talks. Nevertheless, Duterte has expressed confidence that he could make the rebels agree to a peace agreement during his term which ends in June 2022. The rebels have been trying to overthrow the government since 1969. The conflict peaked in the 1980s, under the government of Ferdinand Marcos. However, military operation coupled with an internal split crippled the underground organization. The number of guerrillas dwindled from 26,000 in the mid-1980s to less than 4,000 this year, according to the military. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 20:05:48|Editor: ying Video Player Close NAIROBI, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Somali pirates have hijacked an Indian commercial ship with 11 crew members on board off the coast of Somalia, a regional maritime official confirmed on Monday. John Steed, the regional manager of Oceans Beyond Piracy, a non-government organization, said the Indian-flagged vessel was heading to Somalia shores from Dubai, the United Arab Emirates at the time of hijack.. "We have received information about the hijack of Indian vessel with 11 crew members on board. All crew are Indians and were hijacked off the coast of Somalia on April 1," Steed told Xinhua by telephone. There were no details of the crew or destination but some reports said that attack happened some 50 km south of the port town of Hobyo. The latest hijacked comes two weeks after the pirates hijacked oil tanker en route to Mogadishu but released the boat reportedly without conditions. No ransom demand has been put forward so far. Somali pirates tend to be well-armed with automatic weapons and Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG) and sometimes use skiffs launched from mother vessels, which may be hijacked fishing vessels or dhows, to conduct attacks far from the Somali coast. Since Somali piracy is largely a hijack-for-ransom business, it relies heavily on onshore support for infrastructure that provides food, water, fuel and the leafy narcotic khat to the militiamen who guard the hijacked ships throughout the ransom negotiation process. The Horn of Africa has itself also suffered considerably from the impact of piracy. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 20:05:48|Editor: ying Indian army and paramilitary troopers stand guard at site of a militant attack on a vehicle carrying paramilitary troopers of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) at Panthachowk area in outskirts of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir, April 3, 2017. At least six paramilitary troopers of CRPF and a 10-year-old girl were wounded Monday in a militant attack in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said. (Xinhua/Javed Dar) SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir, April 3 (Xinhua) -- At least six paramilitary troopers of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and a 10-year-old girl were wounded Monday in a militant attack in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said. According to police militants fired upon a vehicle carrying CRPF personnel at Panthachowk area in outskirts of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Kashmir. "Militants today late afternoon attacked a CRPF vehicle near Panthachowk, which has resulted in wounding six of our men," Rajesh Yadav, Srinagar based spokesman of CRPF told Xinhua. "All the wounded have been removed to army base hospital." A police spokesman said the girl was hit by a bullet in the area during the firing. "She has been hospitalised," the spokesman said. On Sunday evening an Indian policeman was killed and 10 others including three CRPF personnel were wounded in a grenade blast in Srinagar. The joint contingent of police and CRPF were withdrawing from the area after daylong duty when it came under attack. So far no militant outfit has claimed responsibility of the attack. Four Indian army troopers were wounded in the city on Saturday after militants attacked an army convoy. Separatist movement and guerilla war challenging New Delhi's rule is going on in Kashmir since 1989. Gunfight between militants and Indian troops takes place intermittently across the region. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 20:10:49|Editor: Mengjie Video Player Close NANJING, April 3 (Xinhua) -- As people gathered to sweep tombs on Tomb-sweeping Day, some may find it hard to get one. Suzhou city in eastern China's Jiangsu province has banned the sale of tombs to people without a local hukou (household registration), unless there are "particular reasons." "Those who are not Suzhou citizens should get approval from the civil affairs authorities before they can buy a tomb here," said Zhang Jihong, vice head of the civil affairs bureau of Suzhou. Due to an aging society and urbanization, some cemeteries are already full. Many of the tombs do not belong to Suzhou citizens. The civil affairs bureau estimates that more than 6 million people will go to Suzhou to sweep tombs for their deceased relatives. Many of the visitors are from Shanghai where the price of a tomb is almost double that in Suzhou. Also, there were no public cemeteries in Shanghai more than 30 years ago, so many chose Suzhou instead. The policy was widely discussed online. "After the house purchase restrictions for the living, officials are turning their eyes to the dead," said Youming on Sina Weibo. "People can not only speculate on houses but also on tombs," said netizen Xingzhiyin. Zhang hopes that public can understand the policy well. Suzhou had a similar policy in 2004, but it was not well implemented. Now that there are few spaces left in the cemeteries, the policy has been reiterated. "But we are not keeping all the non-locals outside," Zhang added. "For instance, those whose spouses are buried in Suzhou can still use the same grave after they die." The civil affairs authorities are also considering the demands of young people who have obtained a Suzhou hukou and need tombs for their non-Suzhou parents. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 20:20:50|Editor: ying Video Player Close by Xinhua writer Qu Junya Feng Wuyong BEIJING, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The most recent move by the Abe administration to add a highly controversial course of bayonetting to secondary school education has raised further concern about Japan's flagrant retrogression to pre-war militarism. Bayonetting is undoubtedly an actual melee combat means popular during wartime. Still part of the regular training for the Japanese Self-Defense Force servicemen, it is now listed among the fight art courses that can be offered in Japan's secondary schools. Japanese media reports said the Ministry of Education added the course in the end of March to a former version of drafted school course guidelines, under an increasing pressure from the far right forces. What's more, the Abe government meanwhile approved a document not to rule out the textbook use of Imperial Rescript on Education, an edict to promote emperor-oriented and militaristic education. The imperial rescript, along with another one for soldiers and sailors, had formed two pillars of the education in Japan before and during the Second World War. The moves highlight Abe government's longtime indulgence of nationalist, imperialistic-styled school education. In the recent land deal scandal that hit Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife, they are found both to be advocates of such education in a kindergarten in Osaka, west Japan. Although there has so far been only one public secondary school in Japan offering the course of bayonetting, people are worried that, under encouragement by the government and promotion by senior military and government officials, there could be more and more education institutions blatantly introducing and opening the course to educate Japanese school children to become bellicose militarists. Bayonet charge remains a painful reminder of the bloody battlefields that Japan forced upon its neighbors' territories before and during the Second World War. No one would like to imagine what could happen next in Japan, after similar moves taken by Japan one after another, particularly including the active service beginning on March 22 of the helicopter-carrying destroyer Kaga. Kaga is one of Japan's four "aircraft-carrier like" destroyers, whose size is on a par with Japan's largest postwar naval vessel Izumo that was commissioned in 2015. Kaga bears a name the same as Japan's wartime aircraft carrier that joined the December 1941 sudden attack on the Pearl Harbor of the United States, while Izumo was a former fleet flagship in aggression against China during wartime. From relaxing post-war pacifist constitution that bans its military from fighting abroad to ambitious overseas military presences, and now from the military to national eduction, the steps taken by the Abe administration reveal Japanese far rightists' attempt to revive pre-war militarism. To its neighbors, Japan's ambition perils peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific and even the rest of the world. File photo shows Egyptian fishermen, who were held captives by Somali pirates, are greeted by relatives as they arrive at Ataka port near Suez August 23, 2009. (Xinhua) NAIROBI, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Somali pirates have hijacked an Indian commercial ship with 11 crew members on board off the coast of Somalia, a regional maritime official confirmed on Monday. John Steed, the regional manager of Oceans Beyond Piracy, a non-government organization, said the Indian-flagged vessel was heading to Somalia shores from Dubai, the United Arab Emirates at the time of hijack.. "We have received information about the hijack of Indian vessel with 11 crew members on board. All crew are Indians and were hijacked off the coast of Somalia on April 1," Steed told Xinhua by telephone. There were no details of the crew or destination but some reports said that attack happened some 50 km south of the port town of Hobyo. The latest hijacked comes two weeks after the pirates hijacked oil tanker en route to Mogadishu but released the boat reportedly without conditions. No ransom demand has been put forward so far. Somali pirates tend to be well-armed with automatic weapons and Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG) and sometimes use skiffs launched from mother vessels, which may be hijacked fishing vessels or dhows, to conduct attacks far from the Somali coast. Since Somali piracy is largely a hijack-for-ransom business, it relies heavily on onshore support for infrastructure that provides food, water, fuel and the leafy narcotic khat to the militiamen who guard the hijacked ships throughout the ransom negotiation process. The Horn of Africa has itself also suffered considerably from the impact of piracy. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 20:40:53|Editor: Mengjie Video Player Close MACAO, April 3 (Xinhua) -- A recent meeting between Macao and Chinese mainland's police force had discussed about law enforcement cooperation on fighting economic crime, drug and tele-communication fraud, the special administrative region's security authorities said on Monday. Macao's office of Secretary for Security told the press that the 20th police work meeting between Macao and Chinese mainland had been held in Xiamen on Friday. Macao's Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak and China's Vice Minister of Public Security Chen Zhimin led the two sides to review the works in 2016 and exchange ideas for cooperation in 2017. According to the office, the cooperation between the two sides in 2016 had fruitful results, including cross-border crime prevention, marine safety coordination and border control. The joint operations in fighting drug smuggling, economic crimes and terrorism had effectively curb criminal activities, with many major cases investigated and solved. Last year, the two sides also studied the joint customs clearance procedure in Zhuhai-Macao pass of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, with all related regulations and facilities under development. In terms of the plan for 2017, both sides will strengthen coordination in dealing with security risks and challenges, including tele-communication fraud, illegal stay and immigration; continue the preparation work for joint customs clearance; promote the cooperation in technical level such as law enforcement issue in international metropolis and hi-tech police expertise training. The meeting also decided to push forward the realization of mutual legal assistance in criminal matters between Macao and Chinese mainland. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 20:45:54|Editor: Mengjie Video Player Close SHANGHAI, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Weeks before the Chinese Qingming Festival, which falls on Tuesday, many young people in Shanghai waited in line for hours to have a bite of a century-old snack. Qingtuan, a sweet green rice ball, is a must-have offering for the ancestral rituals of Qingming Festival in the Yangtze River region. Thanks to social media and e-commerce, the traditional snack, almost gone among young Chinese who work far from home, is gaining popularity. Qingming Festival, or Tomb-sweeping Day, falls on the 108th day after the winter solstice. Chinese traditionally honor their ancestors by sweeping their tombs on this day. Instead of making Qingtuan by hand like their mothers or grandmas, young people buy them with a smartphone app or simply queue up at Xinghualou, a famous bakery in Shanghai, which sells the Qingtuan stuffed with dried meat floss and yolk. "I saw my friend posting pictures of tempting Qingtuan on WeChat. It is a must-try that's definitely worth the long wait," said 28-year-old Yu Sheng, in the line. Qingtuan at Xinghualou are sold at 50 yuan a box (about 7 U.S. dollars), with six balls in each. "One can only purchase four boxes at most," reads a notice in the store. Last year when Xinghualou decided to reintroduce the snack with a new taste, people had to wait for up to six hours to get some. This year, it takes at least two to three hours on weekdays. "As many as 300,000 Qingtuan balls with the new stuffing can be sold in our three main stores in a single day," said Zhi Jing with Xinghualou. "Our sales of Qingtuan have more than doubled in March compared with last year's 10 million yuan." Young foodies also shared stories with buying or tasting Qingtuan on social media. "I waited for two hours in the rain," said netizen Ayuesansan. Scalpers have also appeared, charging at least ten yuan for queuing up. A box of Qingtuan is sold for as much as 70 to 100 yuan on Alibaba's online sales platform Taobao.com, with people in northern China attracted by this snack they had never heard before. "I'm from north China, and I tried a Qingtuan for the first time today. It's very sweet and yummy!" said BigFayFay on Weibo, a Twitter-like service. Qingtuan are now also sold for the first time at convenience stores, popular with young people. "We are surprised to find their overwhelming popularity," said staff with Laiyifen, a snack chain that has over 2,000 stores across China. The tradition of eating Qingtuan at Qingming Festival can be traced back to the Zhou Dynasty (1046 B.C.-256 B.C.) over 2,000 years ago, according to Zou Kunxing, who has been making the traditional cuisine for decades in Suzhou city in eastern China's Jiangsu Province. "A legend goes that the ritual to eat Qingtuan is related to Hanshi Festival or Cold Food Day, usually one to two days before the Qingming Festival. Food such as Qingtuan are prepared for the day when all families don't start a fire and stop cooking, in memory of Jiezitui, a virtuous official who died in a fire," said Zou. "To make a Qingtuan, first, you need to get wormwood grass that only grows in April and then smash it into juice. Then, you mix the juice with glutinous rice, and make it into a rice ball. After, you fill the rice ball with red beans and a nip of lard oil as the stuffing. Finally, you steam it," Zou said. "We make stuffing with sesame too, or minced vegetable and meat in regions such as Zhejiang." In Jingning She Autonomous County in Lishui city, eastern China's Zhejiang Province, Lan Xiangmei, 62, is making Qingtuan at home. "I learned how to make Qingtuan from my mother when I was a child, and now I teach my daughter. Every family in the county makes Qingtuan for Qingming," she said. "Compared with new flavors, I prefer the traditional ones with red beans, sesame, or dried bamboo shoots with minced meat, which taste the same as what I had in my childhood." In 2008, the Chinese government made Qingming Festival a public holiday to preserve the tradition. The Qingming Festival is among the 24 solar terms --important astronomical points on the Chinses calender -- listed by the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in November last year. "Chinese people are now paying more attention to traditional festivals, and food we eat for the festivals are coming back and gaining popularity," said Pan Renqing, a restaurant manager in Hangzhou. "Making old snacks with new stuffing can help attract more young people, but it is more important to pass down and reinvigorate the traditional ritual," said Zhou Sannan, who has been making Qingtuan in Suzhou for over two decades. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 20:45:54|Editor: ying Video Player Close NEW DELHI, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Monday reiterated his allegations of tampering of electronic voting machines (EVM) through sophisticated software to rig polls and challenged the country's independent Election Commission of proving it too. "We urge the Election Commission to reveal the EVM software to the country. Give us an EVM and we will prove tampering," Kejriwal, also the chief of Delhi's ruling anti-graft Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), told the media. The former civil sevrant-turned-politician's allegations came following reports that a test of an EVM in the central state of Madhya Pradesh appeared to show it printing out votes for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regardless of what button was pressed. The Election Commission has already transferred two top officials in the state over the apparent mistakes made by the EVM in Madhya Pradesh, where by-elections will be held for parliamentary seats, and said it was sending more officials from Delhi to oversee the vote. In fact, the problem came to the fore in a video widely circulated on social media in India. A spokesman for Election Commission said it had requested "a detailed report" from local officials and that two teams would visit there and stay until the final votes of the April 9 by-elections are counted. The Election Commission had earlier dismissed allegations of EVM tampering made by Kejriwal, apart from some other political parties, post-assembly elections in the northern states of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the later two states being won by the BJP decisively. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 20:45:54|Editor: ying Video Player Close TOKYO, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Japan's education ministry has approved recently a new version of education guidelines, which includes for the first time jukendo, or "way of the bayonet" in the physical education curriculum for middle school students, sparking condemnation from the public. The guidelines, expected to be implemented in fiscal 2021 for middle schools, suggest that schools should provide students with martial art lessons such as judo, kendo and jukendo so as to give students better access to so-called traditional Japanese culture. Critics, however, point out that it is inappropriate to teach students jukendo in schools, as jukendo is in essence "a killing art," with practitioners thrusting blunted wooden bayonets to their opponents, targeting often vital parts of the human body such as chest and throat. There have also been concerns that as bayonet fight was a training item for the Japanese Imperial Army before and during WWII, bringing it to schools could revive nostalgia for militarism in Japan. "Bayonet fighting is not a well-recognized sport item like judo or sumo. It is not appropriate for our time now and is terrifying," said Ryuichi Yoneyama, governor of Niigata, central Japan, in a tweet. He added that as jukendo needs special equipment and is not suitable for compulsory education, the adoption of jukendo in the education guidelines, pushed by some lawmakers from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, could only "remind people of nostalgia for Japan's past militarism." Curriculum guidelines are a standard issued by Japan's education ministry that specifies materials taught at elementary, junior and senior high schools in Japan. The standard, though not a law, is legally binding to some extent. Jukendo was not included in the draft version of the guidelines released in February by the education ministry for soliciting public opinions, but added later upon strong request of All Japan Jukendo Federation, and Masahisa Sato, a lawmaker from the ruling LDP, among others, according to local reports. The guidelines, upon release of the draft version, have also sparked great controversy for requiring elementary and junior high schools to teach in classes that China's Diaoyu Islands and a group of disputed islands currently under the control of the Republic of Korea, are "inherent" territory of Japan. China has stressed that the Diaoyu Island and its adjacent islets are inherent Chinese territory and China has firm resolve and will to safeguard its territorial sovereignty. "No matter what it does or says, the Japanese side cannot change the fact that the Diaoyu Islands belong to China," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying at a recent press conference. China urges the Japanese side to respect history and facts, teach the young generation correct historical views, and stop making trouble on relevant issues, Hua said. Curriculum guidelines for elementary, junior high and senior high schools are revised roughly every 10 years in Japan, according to local reports. The new guidelines will be fully implemented for elementary and junior high schools from fiscal 2020 and fiscal 2021, respectively. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 21:00:56|Editor: ying Video Player Close KIEV, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday called for more efforts to consolidate a newly-declared ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, Poroshenko's press service said. At a phone conversation, the three leaders also stressed the importance of continuing implementation of the Minsk ceasefire agreement, the press service said in a statement posted on the Ukrainian presidential website. The newly declared ceasefire came into force in eastern Ukraine at midnight on Saturday. Since then, the intensity of fighting has dropped, but the conflicting parties have reported about sporadic violations of the truce. The conflict between government troops and pro-independence rebels in eastern Ukraine has been underway since April 2014, claiming some 10,000 lives. The 13-point Minsk agreement, outlining the steps needed to end the conflict, was reached in February 2015 in talks involving leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 21:20:59|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close A Korean protester holds a banner during a rally to oppose the plan to deploy Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) in front of the Defense Ministry in Seoul, South Korea, March 7, 2017. (Xinhua file photo/Lee Sang-ho) SEOUL, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Civic and religious groups in South Korea are moving to oppose the deployment of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system in their territory as they believe it hurts peace on the Korean Peninsula as well as the region and the world. Five elder leaders of advocacy and religious groups held a press conference in Seoul Monday to make public their six-day trip to the United States in protest against the ongoing installation of THAAD in southeast South Korea. They plan to visit Washington, D.C. and New York, holding press conferences with U.S. journalists, meeting with U.S. peace activists and Korean-Americans living there. During their visits, the elder leaders would explain why they are fighting against the THAAD deployment in South Korea and why the U.S. anti-missile system is not aimed at nuclear threats from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). "Peace will never be achieved by force of arms. It can be done on mutual trust and dialogue," said Ahn Chungsuk, advisor for the Catholic Priests Association for Justice, a religious group composed of Catholic fathers. Ahn said the THAAD deployment would damage peace in Northeast Asia and the world while dampening efforts to reconcile with the DPRK, demanding the Korean Peninsula issue be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy. Seoul and Washington agreed in July last year to deploy one THAAD battery in the country's southeast region by the end of this year. The installation date was brought forward as an early presidential election here comes closer following former President Park Geun-hye's impeachment and arrest. Two mobile launchers and other first elements of THAAD were delivered to a U.S. military base in South Korea at night on March 6. One THAAD battery is composed of six mobile launchers, 48 interceptors, an X-band radar and the fire and control unit. Late last year, the deployment date was advanced to some time between June and August, and it was put forward further to April ahead of the presidential election on May 9, according to local media speculations. The South Korean government, which is being led by Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn serving now as acting leader, is suspected of hurriedly pushing the THAAD installation to politicize security issues during the election campaign period. Voters here tended to support conservative candidates in the past presidential races when tensions mounted on the peninsula. Conservative voters are now supporting the THAAD deployment based on ungrounded beliefs that THAAD is capable of intercepting DPRK missiles targeting South Korea. "Escalating tensions between people, between the two Koreas and between countries in Northeast Asia is THAAD," said Ahn Jaewoong, reverend member of executive committee at the National Council of Churches in Korea. He said the power of candlelit rallies would be centered on oppositions to THAAD in South Korea, noting that the deployment decision, made without going through proper procedures, should be cancelled and re-negotiated. Among about 1,500 civic groups that had led the Saturdays candlelit demonstrations to remove Park from office, some are moving to refocus the people power on the reversal of the THAAD installation decision that was made by the impeached president. "The power of candles will be centered on oppositions to THAAD. People must determine the fate of THAAD. The final decision must be relayed to next government," said Yang Gun-mo, spokesperson of the 2017 Democracy and Peace Forum, a local civic group. Lee Samyeol, the civic group's co-chair, said ordinary people were duped into believing that THAAD in South Korea can shoot down incoming missiles from the DPRK, claims made by both the South Korean and U.S. governments. Civic group activists and religious figures, he said, should make efforts to let people know the truth about the U.S. missile shield that is designed to intercept incoming missiles at an altitude of 40-150 km. Pyongyang has a technology which is able to avoid the intercepting range of THAAD. Most of DPRK missiles targeting South Korea fly at an altitude of less than 40 km. Regional countries including China and Russia have strongly opposed the THAAD deployment in South Korea as it breaks strategic balance in the region and damages security interests of regional countries. "THAAD will make (South) Korea become part of the U.S. strategy to contain China (through the regional missile defense networking)," said Lee Raekyung, chairperson of TheTomorrow, a local civic group. Lee added it would put South Korea in a big danger from various perspectives, such as Seoul's loss of Beijing as a friend which is growing fast with great potentials. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 21:31:00|Editor: Yamei Video Player Close People mourn for the deceased in the 1976 Tangshan earthquake in front of a memorial wall in Tangshan, north China's Hebei Province, April 3, 2017. Tomb-Sweeping Day, or Qingming, falls early April, when Chinese people commemorate their deceased loved ones by visiting tombs. (Xinhua/Mu Yu) BEIJING, April 3 (Xinhua) -- For more than 2,500 years, the Qingming Festival, or Tomb-sweeping Day, has been an occasion for Chinese to mourn the deceased and worship their ancestors. Today, although there have been changes, the tradition is well preserved. COMMEMORATION Shi Yukun has spent 15 hours flying from Birmingham to Kaifeng in central China's Henan Province via Frankfurt and Beijing. "To me, Qingming is an important holiday second only to Spring Festival," he said. Shi remembered that when he was young, the entire family would plan a trip several days before the festival. They prepared sacrifices and went to the graveyard in groups. "The little ones knelt down in front of the tomb while the adults performed rituals of worship," he said. "The children also had their tasks: folding the burning paper. The fastest would be rewarded during the picnic." Shi went to the United Kingdom seven years ago. "Only after I went out did I feel the emotional attachment of Chinese people to their ancestral home. Qingming Festival is a carrier of such a feeling," he said. In western China's Qinghai Province, retired railway construction worker Zhang Shenglin brought alcohol to his former colleagues' tombs as always. Every Qingming, he will drink and talk with them. "Seven of my fellow workers died in construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, four in my arms," he said. Zhang, 62, was a worker in 1974 when they started digging a tunnel on a 3,800-meter-high mountain. "We spent three years to complete the tunnel, but some people died from floods during construction or were killed by falling stones," he said. "I miss them so much." JOB OPPORTUNITIES Shi and Zhang are among the hundreds of thousands of Chinese mourning the dead on Tomb-sweeping Day, which falls on Tuesday. A cemetery in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province, swarms with people, where Yang Xue and more than ten volunteers offer help to visitors, directing traffic and providing consultation. "We will be working here for ten days," she said. Yang is a first-year student from the funeral institute of the Changsha Social Work College. "I feel professionally close to the festival," she added. The institute, founded in 1995, is the first of its kind in China. Subjects for students range from funeral oration and management to embalming. A few years ago, the students were reluctant to talk about their major. But the situation is changing. "With the development of society, humanism is increasingly important to customers, and the old funeral workers are already outdated," said Su Lihui, a teacher with the institute. "Therefore, our graduates are in need." Su told Xinhua that in 2016, there were more than 900 posts offered to more than 200 graduates. On average each student had four options. Xiao Yang (not her real name) transferred to the funeral institute from the business school. "I had worries before," she said. "But the more I learn, the more I feel that taking care of people when they have completed their journey in life is a respectable profession." TAKING CARE OF THE LIVING The change of people's mind has had good effect. In the Taosheng village of Nanchang, capital of eastern China's Jiangxi Province, Xiong Houzi and 300 other fellow villagers boarded a bus to the cemetery, carrying flowers. The scene formed a sharp contrast with several years ago, when villagers burned sacrifices, usually made of paper. "We wore our worst clothes, for fear that the fire and smoke would stain or even damage our dress," Xiong said. But this time they were smartly dressed. After the mourning they go hiking. "Burning paper televisions and cars couldn't do any good for the deceased," said Li Xiangyuan, Party chief of the Quanzi community in Linyi city, eastern China's Shandong Province. "If you are a good child, take good care of your parents when they are alive," he said. To encourage people to fulfill their filial duty, he put up a list on a billboard, honoring the good deeds of villagers. "Changes are obvious," said an unnamed old man. "Take money as an example. In the past one was a good child if he gave his parents 200 yuan (29 U.S. dollars) a year for living. Now we can receive 1,000 to 2,000," he said. "Being good to us now is better than anything else." Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 21:31:00|Editor: ying Video Player Close NAIROBI, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Kenya has set aside additional funds to revitalize counter-terrorism initiatives at the grassroots amid evolution of a menace which threatens the country's future stability and economic growth, officials said on Monday. Director of National Counter-terrorism Centre, Martin Kimani said Kenya will invest in new technological tools and community-led interventions to combat violent extremism effectively. "Our security services have already increased investments in intelligence gathering and other operational capabilities in order to degrade Al-Shabaab and other terrorist networks that have attacked us in the past," Kimani said in Nairobi during the 2nd anniversary of Garissa University terrorist attack that claimed 148 lives in northeast Kenya. Heavily armed militants from Al-Shabaab stormed the only university in northern Kenya at dawn on April 2, 2015 and massacred 142 students and six security officers. Kimani said Kenya was forced to go back to the drawing board and re-organize its security architecture after the terrorist attack that elicited worldwide condemnation. "Since the Garissa University attack, Kenya has invested heavily in social, political and economic tools to defeat terrorism. This war requires close collaboration among our security agencies, civilians, religious and community leaders," Kimani said. He noted the launch of a national strategy on countering violent extremism by President Uhuru Kenyatta in September 2016 has re-energized the war against terrorism. "We even have county led action plans to fight extremism and radical ideologies. At the same time, the state is addressing the issue of unemployment, poverty and under-development that make our youth vulnerable to radicalization," said Kimani. He added that community policing, enhanced border patrols and lengthy jail terms for terror suspects and their financiers have minimized the threat to manageable levels. Terrorist attacks inside the Kenyan soil have declined significantly for the last one and a half years thanks to sophisticated intelligence gathering and harmonious relationship between security officers and civilians. The Leader of Majority in Kenyan Parliament, Aden Duale attributed the slump in terrorist attacks to better policing, technology and community involvement in efforts to root out violent extremism. "After the Garissa attack of April 2015, Kenya developed a more coherent, broad and well funded counter-terrorism strategy whose impact is visible," said Duale. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 21:36:01|Editor: ying Video Player Close SOFIA, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Bulgaria firmly holds the position that the European Union (EU) should maintain its unity and integration, the country's caretaker Deputy Prime Minister Deniza Slateva said here on Monday. Some of the five scenarios for the future development of the EU that were recently proposed by the European Commission are unacceptable for Bulgaria, Slateva said at a roundtable discussion. "We stand on the position that the EU should maintain its unity and integration; that regional cooperation and cohesion policy can not remain in the background at the expense of other policies," Slateva said. Meanwhile, she said that Bulgaria, which joined the EU on Jan. 1, 2007, should begin debate on its contribution to the EU development. "It seems that in recent years we have been increasingly speaking about the EU as a donor of European funds," said Slateva, who is responsible for the preparation of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU in 2018. At different levels, including management level, there was no debate about the role of Bulgaria in the EU and the direction of the reforms, Slateva said. Bulgaria should clarify for itself how it would contribute to overcoming the enormous growing distrust between EU citizens and EU institutions, she added. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 21:46:02|Editor: ying Video Player Close NAIROBI, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Kenya has doubled the inflow of foreign direct investments to 2.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2016 from 1.4 billion dollars in 2015, but remained below par with other East African competitors, such as Tanzania, which managed to attract three times more, trade officials said Monday. Moses Ikiara, Chief Executive officer of Kenya Investment Authority (KenInvest), a government body tasked with attracting domestic and foreign investors, said despite the near doubling of the investment inflows, Kenya's per capita foreign investment inflows remained at 13.8 dollars compared a regional average of 35.3 dollars. "The target is to have at least 32 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) driven by both private and public investment by 2030 and to have the private sector investment to rise to over 24 percent of GDP by 2030," Ikiara said during the launch of public discussions on a draft national investment policy. Kenyan officials are targeting fresh investment inflows from large foreign multinational firms seeking to set up regional headquarters to serve the regional export market in Africa. Government officials say the government values private investment, which justifies the need to have a properly laid out national investment policy, to encourage expansion of local and foreign investment. "The situation is not rosy for Kenya in this region even though we have seen good growth. We are still behind Tanzania and Mozambique in attracting foreign investment. We must catch up and overtake them," Ikiara told investors attending the launch of the public discussions on the draft policy. The authorities want the investment policy to lay down rules of engagement, including the incentives that the foreign investors could be entitled to, including a review of the minimum capital investment requirement of 100,000 dollars to spur the growth of the local economy. Ikiara said new measures to boost market entry of the foreign and domestic investors included injecting transparency and providing investment incentives tied to having the foreign investors acquiring local business partners, training the local workforce and other measures that improve the work environment. Ikiara outlined the immediate priorities of the new investment policy as the review of the minimum capital requirements. HANOI, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The sobbing cries and non-stop questions of her five-year-old son, like invisible needles, repeatedly stabbed at Tran Thi Mai Anh's heart. The 29-year-old woman living in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi could not soothe her son with tangible answers. It was all she could do to contain her tears from cascading down her face. "Mommy, I miss grandma so much. Can we go to visit her? Where is she now? Why doesn't she want to see me anymore?" the boy kept on asking his mum again and again when he woke up in the morning on a cold, rainy day, just a few days ahead of the Qingming (Tomb-Sweeping festival), or Thanh minh as its known locally. The truth is that Mai Anh's (as she's known in her family) mother died a few months ago, and her child, too young to understand what "death" truly means, simply thought that his grandma went away, far away from him, and that she did not want to see him again. Of course, the little boy also did not know that his innocent questions and tears unintentionally ripped his mother's heart out. Memories of her now departed mother still living with her and taking care of her son, came painfully flooding back to Mai Anh. The young mother decided to bring her child to visit his grandma's resting place in a cemetery in the suburb of Hanoi on the occasion of Thanh Minh. On their way to the cemetery, she kept on explaining to her son, although unsure if the youngster could fully understand or not, that his grandma had already gone to another world. "Thanh Minh is not really a big festival in Vietnam, but it is of great importance, spiritually, as it is a time for family members to go and visit their deceased relatives' burial places," Mai Anh told Xinhua at the gate of the cemetery "Here they pay their respects and show remembrance for their beloved ones," Mai Anh, added, clutching her son to her side and carrying a bag full of religious offerings. Thanh Minh is believed to have originated from China. In Vietnam, nobody knows exactly when it was first observed in the country, but it is a custom quite obviously familiar with many generations of Vietnamese people. In his famous epic poem, "The Tale of Kieu", Nguyen Du, a celebrated Vietnamese poet from the 17th Century who wrote the ancient writing script of Vietnam, also mentioned Thanh Minh practices in Vietnam. Accordingly, the festival is celebrated in the springtime, specifically in the third month of the lunar year, when the sky and the earth wake up after a long hibernation in winter, and begin to shed their bleakness in preparation for brighter hues and warmer climes, in which trees and wild grasses grow quickly. For these reasons, in the month in which Thanh Minh lies, people often go to visit the graves of their deceased relatives, and clean the plots by picking off the wild grass. Offerings are also prepared to worship the deceased, including flowers, cakes and candy, votive paper, and incense sticks. "In my parents' and grandparents' time, Thanh Minh was solemnly celebrated, especially in the rural areas, where communal life was highly respected and traditional customs were strictly followed," Mai Anh told Xinhua. However, she said that many people of her generation or younger, especially those living in urban areas, could not undertake Thanh Minh practices due to their busy working schedules. "They say they have no time to travel to far-off cemeteries where their deceased relatives are resting in peace. Instead, they buy items to make offerings at their home altars," Mai Anh explained. In the cemetery, the white granite-covered grave of Mai Anh's mother lies amid rows of graves of different sizes and colors. The young mother arranged all the items for worship from the bag on the grave's alter, including flowers, fruits and votive paper and then burned the incense and placed them in the incense holder. The air was filled with faint smoke and the fragrant scent of the incense. Mai Anh stood in silence, clasping her hands together on her chest while uttering words of prayer, just as if she were talking with her dearly departed mother. She also told her young boy to do the same. Clasping his hands, like his mother, and looking at the picture of the compassionate-looking old woman on the front wall of the grave, the little boy murmured: "Grandma, how are you? I miss you so much. I hope you are resting here in peace, and you will bless me and my mum, ok?" Cemeteries throughout the country are crowded with visitors throughout the lunar month of March, especially on Thanh Minh day, which falls on April 4 this year. While the elderly are busy praying for their deceased relatives at the graves, children are instructed to follow the practices as well. They are also asked to plant incense sticks in nearby graves, which are considered to be the neighbors of their deceased ones. "So far, I think I've come to understand the full meaning of Thanh Minh festival thanks to my mother's teaching, and I'll keep preserving this custom and its benevolent practices, even when I'm busy with work," Mai Anh vowed, adding that she will also teach her son more about the meaning of Thanh Minh when he grows up. "He should know the saying, When you drink water, remember the source'," said the young mother. In a nearby area, Hoang Thi Tam, a 92-year-old elderly woman was arranging the religious artifacts on a large plate to be offered to her ancestors, while her children and grandchildren cleaned the graves. "In the past, every year during the festival, my family members used to get together and pay a visit to our ancestors resting in this cemetery. It was a time for all of us to show our respect to our ancestors, and also a time for our family reunion," Tam said. According to Tam, Thanh Minh is the most important annual festival to her as it is the only occasion in the year that she can go to "visit" her beloved parents and take care of their graves as well. The old woman, whose eyes reflected her sorrow, told Xinhua that, "Life has changed drastically. Everyone seems to be busier with work in today's modern life. Now we rarely gather all family members together to celebrate Thanh Minh, because the younger ones are often absent due to their jobs or their studies." "In any circumstance, I still encourage my children and grandchildren to go home and join the family in celebrating Thanh Minh festival. It is one of the ways for them to show their respect for our ancestors, and also a time for our family reunion," said the elderly lady, assuredly. Pointing to a finished, but empty tomb nearby, Tam told Xinhua that it will be her resting place when the time comes. "I bought a plot for my grave a few years ago. My children were shocked at first and strongly opposed to my idea. But later, they agreed with me after listening to my explanation," she said. In the past, in Vietnam, when cemeteries were located next to the paddy fields, and there was plenty of unused land for graves, people never thought of buying places to build a tomb for themselves. However, in recent years the rapid industrialization of the country has turned many villages and paddy fields into big cities with tall buildings, and areas for cemeteries have become scarce. As a result, there is a new trend of people purchasing a plot of land with empty graves built inside reserved for their living family members. Pointing to the neatly built graves that have yet to receive coffins, Tam said: "Old people like me want to know in advance the place where they will rest in peace after they die. It's a comforting desire, not strange at all." Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 22:16:07|Editor: ying Video Player Close NAIROBI, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Kenya and Seychelles on Monday inked agreements that will see the two countries expand their ties in trade and security. President Uhuru Kenyatta, who held bilateral talks with visiting President Danny Faure of Seychelles, said they reached a deal to have the two countries cooperate in tourism development by partnering the agencies managing the sectors in the respective countries. Addressing a joint news conference after holding bilateral talks in Nairobi, Kenyatta said Kenya and Seychelles each have tourism products they are famous for and it will make economic sense if they partnered to promote each other. "It is both our ambitions and intention to ensure that we do everything that we can to deepen regional trade investment and to grow our regional economies by working together," he told journalists. The East African nation is known for its safari tourism while the Indian Ocean nation of Seychelles is known for its beach destinations. The two countries reached an agreement that will see Kenya export more human capital and agricultural products to Seychelles. Kenyatta also revealed that Seychelles wants to employ Kenyan teachers to join other Kenyans working in other sectors in the island nation, adding that Kenya Airways will also increase its flights to Seychelles to help enhance the close cooperation between the two nations. Kenyatta said there a sizeable Kenyan diaspora in Seychelles and the Seychellois have long ties with Kenya. "What we are doing now is to improve Government to Government ties," said Kenyatta as he thanked the important role Seychelles has played as a strategic security partner in dealing with piracy and drug trafficking. On his part, Faure said it makes more economic sense for his country to import beef and poultry from Kenya instead of countries like Brazil. He said Seychelles will support Kenya in developing its maritime sector especially the fishing industry, which Kenya has paid little attention to since independence. Faure announced that Seychelles will support Kenya to make the port of Mombasa to develop the capacity to act as a fish trans-shipment port. He said his nation is ready to work with Kenya to develop its blue economy and to improve the security of its Exclusive Economic Zone. "We can help you develop your fisheries sector and your defence sector specifically coast guard," said Faure. Faure said he has reached a deal with Kenyatta that Kenya and Seychelles will put a framework for a two-centre destination where the two countries will work jointly to promote their tourism products. He said the renewed partnership between Kenya and Seychelles is informed by the fact that it is a new age and today Africa is different from the Africa of the 1950s. "It is an era where we need more transformational leadership that can translate the freedom of our people into shared prosperity," he said. PYONGYANG, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Official media of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Monday slammed U.S. daily newspaper The Wall Street Journal for calling for "regime change" in the DPRK in order to check the development of its nuclear program. The Korean Central News Agency said in a commentary that a March 27 issue of the U.S. newspaper "let out such flurry of nonsense that the U.S. should set a regime change in the DPRK as a clear-cut policy target in order to check its nuclear development." "For the DPRK this sounds as nothing but a scream made by those frightened by the invincible might of the DPRK," said the commentary. It added that the invincibility and solidity of the DPRK government are fully guaranteed by the single-minded unity of its people and the DPRK army, as well as the "Labor Party's powerful military muscle with nuclear force as its pivot." "However, the U.S. fails to understand this reality... It is the main cause of the repeated political and military setbacks the U.S. has sustained for the past several decades," it said. LONDON, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The first of four Royal Navy support ships, each the length of three jumbo jets has arrived at a port in Cornwall, the ministry of defense (MOD) announced Monday. The 39,000-tonne tanker, RFA Tidespring, which can carry up to 19,000 cubic meters of fuel and 1,300 cubic meters of fresh water, will join the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, a civilian-manned fleet which provides support for British warships, helping the Royal Navy to maintain its operations around the world. It is expected to enter service before the end of the year. The new Tide Class tankers will provide key support to the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers when they come into service, alongside the wider fleet. Systems to be installed include communications equipment, self-defense weapons and armour needed to allow the ship to operate in the most challenging environments. The new support and supply ships have flight decks able to accommodate large Chinook helicopters. by Maria Spiliopoulou ATHENS, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Greece expressed solidarity with Russia after the blast at St. Petersburg metro system that caused ten deaths on Monday. "Shocked at today's deadly explosion in the St. Petersburg metro, Greece stands with the people of Russia and their government, expresses its deep condolences to the families of the victims and wishes the injured a speedy recovery," read a statement issued by the Greek foreign affairs ministry. Greece's General Consulate in St. Petersburg is monitoring developments closely in cooperation with Russian authorities, according to the statement. DAR ES SALAAM, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Tanzania signed a 245-million-U.S.-dollar budget financing agreement with the European Union (EU) on Monday aimed at supporting strategic development projects in the next four years. Doto James, the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Finance and Planning, said the 2016-2020 grant will effectively start to be implemented in the 2016/17 fiscal budget. "The grant we have signed today (Monday) is to improve the country's management in agriculture, industrial development, health and infrastructure," said James. Under the agreement, he said, the government of Tanzania will receive 60 million U.S. dollars from the EU as first installment for the 2016/17 fiscal year budget, adding that the remaining funds will be disbursed every fiscal budget. James said the budget support will play an important role in complementing domestic resources for financing priority expenditures under the five-year development plan phase II. Tanzania is on a path to rapid industrialization and aims to reach a middle income by 2025. To ensure that this growth is sustainable the government has to guarantee that it optimally captures potential revenues for the national budget. By Abu Hanifah JAKARTA, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia has carried out massive connectivity infrastructure projects in 10 new destinations designated to attract foreign visitors so as to meet with government targets in tourism sector which has been set as the nation's new core industry. Those projects were intended to support the works of Tourism ministry in assuring the access, comfort and safety for visitors visiting the new destinations developed across the country, an official at transportation ministry said. "The projects would be accelerated, become part of our pilot projects to support tourism ministry, to involve state-run firms, regional government's firms and private sector as well," a special staff at economy and transportation investment section at the transportation ministry Wihana Kirana Karya said recently. All of the connectivity projects would be built with world-class standards, highly expected to eventually maximizing economic value in the respective areas that host the new destinations, he added. "All facilities and features in those projects would world-class ones, including the terminals, toilets, runways, airports, quarantine, immigration and information desks," Wihana said in a national tourism coordination meeting here. He added that parts of those projects have been underway at present, among others were railway tracks and bridges to support Lake Toba destination in North Sumatra province, sea transport system serving in the capital city's new destination of Pulau Seribu. For Tanjung Kelayang destination located in Bangka Belitung province, the transportation ministry also carries out projects to improve features in provincial airport that includes terminal, runway works and flight safety instruments upgrade. "In Southeast Sulawesi province's Wakatobi destination, projects to expand the capacities of several airstrips serving flights to small islands around the popular diving destination have also been carried out," he said. Transportation ministry has also set plans to further enhance road facilities, build new train transportation service linking tour sites in neighboring provinces of Yogyakarta and Central Java which has ultimate destination of world's largest Buddhist temple of Borobudur. Besides that, the ministry also has set dredging project plan in Central Java capital's harbor of Tanjung Mas to facilitate cruise ships. Airport capacity expansions would also be conducted in destinations of Bromo Tengger in East Java, Labuan Bajo in East Nusa Tenggara, Mandalika in West Nusa Tenggara and Morotai in North Maluku provinces. Indonesia now has upgraded 27 airports in several regions across the country to serve international flights, including 5 ones in Jakarta, Surabaya, Bali, Makassar and Medan designated to provide world-class services. According to the data released by the transportation ministry, Indonesia now provides 25 international flight routes directly connecting 26 Indonesian cities with 12 overseas countries, served by 43 international airlines. Through all of efforts constituting all elements in the country, wrapped in Indonesia Incorporated drive to support tourism sector, Southeast Asia's largest economy aims to welcome 20 million foreign visitors and earnings of more than 24 billion U.S. Dollars by 2019. BAKU, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan can increase their commodity turnover by several times in the coming two or three years, visiting Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said Monday. The relevant documents and agreements signed between the two countries promise great benefits for both sides, Nazarbayev was quoted by the Azerbaijan State News Agency as saying during a meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev. Nazarbayev said he and Aliyev had already started preliminary talks to determine prospects and opportunities for the two countries under the new international situation. "There are no unresolved issues between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan," he said. Aliyev also said he discussed many issues with Nazarbayev, adding that their talks proved that the two countries have common positions in many areas. "We enjoy active political interaction. We have good prospects in economic and transport spheres. We discussed these issues in details and we will continue the talks further with delegations," said the Azerbaijani president. "Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan do a lot to strengthen regional cooperation through certain transport and energy projects," he added. Nazarbayev arrived here late Sunday for a state visit to Azerbaijan. The relations between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have enjoyed rapid development since the two ex-Soviet republics established diplomatic ties in August 1992. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-03 23:26:16|Editor: Liangyu Photo provided by Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Dec. 21, 2016 shows top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un (unseen) recently guiding a firing training among multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) batteries selected from large combined units of the Korean People's Army. (Xinhua/KCNA) PYONGYANG, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Monday denounced the U.S. Congress for passing bills on escalating economic and financial sanctions against Pyongyang, saying it would only "harden the retaliatory will" of the DPRK army and people. The new measures taken by the U.S. Congress against the DPRK were the products of die-hard conservative forces of the U.S. steeped in inveterate repugnance and hostility toward the country, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry was quoted by the Korean Central News Agency as saying. On March 29, the International Relations Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives passed a "bill on escalating sanctions with respect to transactions relating to North Korea (the DPRK)," a "bill on re-listing the DPRK as a terror-sponsor" and "resolutions denouncing the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) development of North Korea." On March 31, the U.S. Treasury Department announced what it called a list of targets of additional sanctions, the spokesman recalled. "The reckless actions taken by the U.S. Congress and Treasury Department against the backdrop of U.S.-led joint military drills for aggression are driving the tense situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of a war," he said. "It only hardens the retaliatory will of the army and people of the DPRK to settle accounts with the U.S. to the end," he added. ISLAMABAD, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan on Monday summoned an Indian envoy over a recent cross-border firing that killed one civilian, the Foreign Ministry said. The Director General on the South Asian desk at the Foreign Ministry Mohammad Faisal summoned the Indian Deputy High Commissioner J.P. Singh and condemned the unprovoked ceasefire violation by the Indian forces along the Line of Control(LoC) in Kashmir on April 1, a statement said. The statement said an 18-year old civilian Muhammad Attique Qureshi was killed in the firing at Chirikot sector. "The deliberate targeting of civilians is indeed condemnable and contrary to human dignity and international human rights and humanitarian laws," it said. The Director General urged the Indian side to respect the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding, investigate this and other incidents of ceasefire violations, instruct the Indian forces to respect the ceasefire, in letter and spirit and maintain peace on the LoC. 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. HARARE, April 3 (Xinhua) -- China on Monday donated 12,173 tonnes of rice to Zimbabwe to assist vulnerable people that were affected by drought which wreaked havoc last year. Public Service, Labor and Social Welfare Minister Prisca Mupfumira said the donation, which follows Zimbabwe's international food aid appeal in 2016, would also be distributed to families that were affected by floods in February this year. Speaking at the signing ceremony with the Chinese Embassy, Mupfumira said the rice was expected in the country by June. In response to the appeal, China in 2016 already donated 19,000 tonnes of rice which had been distributed to the needy throughout the country. "Today we are witnessing another contribution from China where they are donating 12,173 tonnes of rice to Zimbabwe. We appreciate the gesture made by China," the minister said. The donation comes after China on March 31, 2017 handed over 1 million U.S. dollars to Zimbabwe to help thousands of families affected by floods that hit the southern parts of the country in February. The Red Cross Society of China also donated 50,000 dollars while the Chinese community in Zimbabwe chipped in with 10,000 dollars to assist the flood victims. Mupfumira said the Zimbabwe government had distributed 481,073 tonnes of maize to the needy since October last year. Heavy rains that were worsened by Cyclone Dineo in February left 271 people dead, another 128 injured and nearly 2,000 homeless in Zimbabwe. The deaths were caused by lightning strikes, drowning and landslides, according to the Civil Protection Unit. 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. TIRANA, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Remittances in the Albanian economy amounted to 615 million euros in 2016, a growth by 17 million euros, or 2.8 percent, over 2015, the Bank of Albania (BoA) said Monday. In the last two years, remittances have recorded a slight recovery, following a gradual decline during the financial crisis. The first half of 2016 saw a decline in remittances but the situation improved in the second half when the remittances marked a positive trend. BoA experts said in the latest report published Monday that the higher inflows of remittances were reported in the last quarter, reaching 165 million euros. However, such figures are far from the peak of remittances at 950 million euros per year reported a decade ago. Experts attributed the decline to the truth that Albanian immigrants abroad have reduced the amount of money they send back to Albania after they settled down in the cities where they live. It's a change compared with the situation 10 years ago, when in most of the cases, Albanian immigrants sought wealth overseas with their spouses and children left home. But the slight growth of recent years can be attributed mainly to the definitive return of many Albanians from emigration, a return which is associated with the repatriation of the savings they have collected abroad. According to the Bank of Albania, 2016 was also positive for foreign direct investment, which broke the record of 2013 with a value of 959 million euros. The flow of foreign direct investment grew by 17.2 percent over 2015 and these facts are seen by economy experts as positive signals indicating a positive economic performance in 2017. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 00:41:28|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close DAR ES SALAAM, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Trade volumes between Tanzania and Uganda were exceedingly low, a senior Tanzanian government official revealed on Monday. Ramadhani Mwinyi, Permanent Secretary for Tanzania's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, said that as of last year the volume of trade between the two countries amounted to only 98 million U.S. dollars. "This trade volume is very low compared to our deep rooted bilateral relations. I am sure we will all agree that this is a challenge and we all need to work on it," Mwinyi said. Various sectors from the two countries should find out why trade between Tanzania and Uganda was so low, not reflecting the reality of their cooperation and historic ties since the 1960s, Mwinyi said during a three-day bilateral talk being held in the east African nation's northern tourist town of Arusha. Nearly 70 officials - 40 of them from Tanzania and the rest from Uganda-- were attending the talks of the first session of the Joint Permanent Commission of cooperation set up in 2007 between the two countries. The Commission was set up in 2007 but has never met ever since with officials playing it down, saying the two countries cooperated through various regional platforms including the East African Community. Areas of cooperation being discussed include utilities, transport, communication, industry, trade and investment, tourism, fisheries, monetary and fiscal policies, monitoring and surveillance of Lake Victoria. Others were agricultural modernization, fisheries development and disease control, health sector, education and training and environment and water resources as well as matters pertaining to security. Mwinyi said the Commission was convened following a directive made by Tanzanian President John Magufuli and President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda during the latter's official visit to Tanzania in February this year. "The directive indicates that our leaders are committed to re-activating our cooperation in a more meaningful manner. They wanted the Commission to be convened as soon as possible to discuss all areas of cooperation between our countries," said Mwinyi. Patrick Mugoya, Permanent Secretary for Uganda's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said several agreements will be signed by the two countries at the end of the talks on Wednesday. Enditem KHARTOUM, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Sudanese capital Khartoum on Monday hosted a regional workshop, organized by the Committee of Intelligence and Security Services in Africa (CISSA) to discuss the "Phenomenon of Mercenary, Foreign Terrorists Fighters and Negative NGOs and its Implications on Security and Stability in Africa." Sudan's Vice-President Hassabo Mohamed Abdul-Rahman, 27 representatives of CISSA countries as well as representatives of regional and international organizations, African Union Commission and African research and studies centers attended the opening session of the workshop. "Terrorism, negative non-governmental organizations, extremism and mercenary are issues that need to be strongly confronted as they have become standing and expected security threats in our countries and the world," said the Sudanese vice-president when addressing the workshop. "The issue of mercenary, terrorism and negative NGOs came due to security tensions and need further cooperation among the security organs in the African countries, exchange of experiences and coordination with the security bodies in the CISSA Member States," he noted. He further urged importance of uniting the efforts of the African continent to find solutions for the issue of mercenary and foreign fighters, saying "terrorists do not work for national issues, but they target civilians, prisoners of war and paramedics. They commit the various crimes for money together with crimes prohibited by international laws and conventions." He accused the armed movements in Sudan's Darfur region of being mercenaries who are fighting in other countries such as Libya and South Sudan. Chief of Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS), Mohamed Atta al-Moula Abbas, for his part, said that "the growing phenomena of mercenary and activities of extremism, terrorism and Negative NGOs have crippled the development and stability in many African countries." "Negative phenomena constitutes one of the main reasons behind the suffering of our African peoples and crippling of economic and social development. It is time to transform our decisions and words into actions to combat these phenomena," he noted. He reiterated the importance of convening the workshop at a time when many African countries are facing very complicated security circumstances and developments, calling for regional and international cooperation to face these threats which are growing everyday. Meanwhile, CISSA's Executive Secretary, Shimelis Woldesemayat, addressing the workshop, urged for importance of working out plans and strategies to confront the phenomenon of mercenary and terrorism which has become a nagging issue for the African continent. He stressed the need for regional and international cooperation and coordination to curb up these phenomena and threats, urging the security bodies in CISSA countries and the international community to work together to face terrorist phenomena via enacting laws, raising the awareness with the danger of terrorists and promoting for dissemination of security and stability in the countries of the African Continent. "CISSA meetings and workshops have become important platforms for members of the region to discuss and share prospective and experiences on common security threats confronting the region and strategizing on ways of combating such threats," noted Woldesemayat. LUSAKA, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The Zambian government on Monday dismissed reports that it already has had a decision on its membership to the International Criminal Court (ICC) as well as accusations that its public hearings on the matter was a waste of resources. Last month, the government started holding public hearings to get views from citizens on the country's membership to the international court following a resolution adopted by African leaders at the African Union (AU) Summit where they called for a collective withdrawal from the ICC after accusing the court of only targeting African leaders, although the decision is non-binding . But some stakeholders have accused the government of wasting public resources on a matter whose outcome was pre-determined as it already has a position and have since demanded that the public hearings be stopped. The situation was exacerbated by revelation by a top official from the ruling Patriotic Front (PF) who said President Edgar Lungu wants Zambia to remain in ICC. Mumbi Phiri, the deputy secretary general of the ruling party told local media that Lungu told a recent meeting of the party's central committee that he wanted Zambia to remain in the international court. But Minister of Justice Given Lubinda said the government has not yet taken a position on the matter. He said in a live interview on state broadcaster, the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation that the government has decided to consult stakeholders in order to maintain the tenets of democracy and get views from the public. Zambia, he said, wanted to take a report to the AU in June this year which represents views from stakeholders and that it will not halt the public hearing meetings as demanded by some stakeholders. "Government is very surprised that the same people who championed the cause of participation, the cause of consultation are today turning around saying don't consult us," he said. The government decided to take the root of consulting stakeholders because it did not want to be misunderstood on the matter. The government is currently holding public hearings in 30 of the country's districts while a national symposium will be held on April 11-12 before coming up with a final document to be taken to the AU summit in June. by Eric J. Lyman ROME, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Italy, one of Europe's long laggards in non-cash payments, is unexpectedly emerging as one of the continent's leaders when it comes to digital payments tied to smart devices. According to Valeria Portale, director of the Mobile Payment and Commerce section at the Politecnico University of Milan, 17 percent of all digital payments in Italy are now processed via "mobile commerce," which is higher than just 14 percent in the United States or Britain. The term "mobile commerce" refers to the small but fast-growing digital payment sector that uses of mobile devices in lieu of credit cards to process payments. Via wireless technology, consumers are able to finish a payment anywhere with their phones. The capability won "mobile commerce" a fame of "a retail outlet in customers' pocket." Portale says such "mobile commerce" is on a positive trend in Italy. "It's a positive trend. I think Italians still love cash, but maybe for some people they love their mobile phones even more," Portale said. "So Italy is showing relatively higher rate when it comes to the percentage of digital transactions processed via mobile commerce methods," explained the expert on mobile payment. But compared with burgeoning mobile payment, the overall use of electronic payments in Italy still lags behind most of the European Union (EU) countries. Despite an increase of over 50 percent between 2015 and 2016, Italy still ranked 25th among the 28 European Union members states, dropping a notch after being passed by Hungary last year. The only EU member states that use electronic payments less than Italy are Bulgaria, Romania and Greece. And the growth is also slower than the EU as a whole. Denmark is the EU member with the highest level of digital transactions, followed by Sweden, Finland and Britain. The average Dane makes more than 300 digital payments per year, compared with just 43 in Italy, Portale said. "Cash is still the king on Italy," Portale told Xinhua. "Italians still prefer to use cash, businesses still prefer cash. It's changing, but it's changing slowly." Ferdinando Maria Ametrano, a digital payments expert with Milano-Bicocca University, attributed Italians' unwillingness in non-cash payments to the lack of faith in institutions. "There's a psychological comfort from having cash. It's something real, something people can hold in their hands," Ametrano said in an interview. But too much cash transactions could have adverse effects on Italian economy, including tax evasions and the oversize underground economy, as cash transactions are much more difficult to trace. Italy's underground economy is already among the largest in the industrialized world. According to information released last year by the Italian National Statistics Institute (ISTAT), Italy's underground economy hit 211 billion euros (226 billion U.S. dollars) in 2014, which accounted for about 13 percent of the country's economy. Tax officials say the massive underground economy is one of the main challenges Italy need to deal with in its efforts to balance its national budget. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 02:01:38|Editor: Liangyu European Council President Donald Tusk speaks during a press statement after receiving a letter signed by British Prime Minister Theresa May at European Council in Brussels, Belgium, March 29, 2017. British ambassador to the European Union (EU) on Wednesday handed the Brexit letter to European Council President Donald Tusk, officially triggering the two-year countdown to Britain's exit of the bloc. (Xinhua/Ye Pingfan) LJUBLJANA, April 3 (Xinhua) -- There is no doubt that the first "Brexit summit," during which European Union (EU) leaders are expected to adopt their "Brexit guidelines," on April 29 will be a show of unity, European Council President Donald Tusk said here on Monday. Tusk made his confidence clear when meeting Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar in Ljubljana after the first feedback on his draft Brexit guidelines, according to the Slovenian Press Agency. Tusk stressed the importance of unity among the 27 member states of the European Union (EU27) in the Brexit talks. "Our most important asset is the unity of our member states," he added. Tusk and Cerar agreed at their meeting on Monday, held as part of Tusk's working visit to Slovenia, that the EU27 should be united in the negotiations with Britain as it prepares to leave the bloc. Cerar told the press after meeting Tusk that during the Brexit talks, protecting the interests of Slovenian citizens, especially those living in Britain, would be considered. "What we want is that the United Kingdom remains an important partner of the EU as well as Slovenia," he said, adding he hoped Brexit would not change this. He warned that the EU should not forget about other challenges and projects such as economic development, increasing employment, security, welfare, migration, and modernization of the EU. Tusk and Cerar also talked about EU membership prospects of the Western Balkan countries and the migration crisis. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 02:17:14|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close A handout photo provided by Jordanian Royal Palace shows King Abdullah II (R) of Jordan meeting with British Prime Minster Theresa May in Amman, capital of Jordan, on April 3, 2017. King Abdullah II of Jordan and visiting British Prime Minister Theresa May discussed cooperation in the military field and regional issues on Monday, state-run Petra news agency reported. (Xinhua/Jordanian Royal Palace) AMMAN, April 3 (Xinhua) -- King Abdullah II of Jordan and visiting British Prime Minister Theresa May discussed cooperation in the military field and regional issues on Monday, state-run Petra news agency reported. The discussions were focused on developments of the peace process, the crisis in Syria and efforts to combat terrorism. The two leaders stressed the need for intensified regional and international efforts to fight terrorism which threats global peace and security. The king voiced appreciation for British support to Jordan in addressing challenges of hosting a large number of Syrian refugees. May voiced her support for Jordan and commended the kingdom's role in maintaining peace and stability in the Middle East. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 02:27:16|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close OUAGADOUGOU, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The Burkina Faso government on Monday said measures have been taken to reaffirm the State's authority in the northern part of the country prone to jihadist attacks. Three ministers of the government made this public to education stakeholders including pupils' parent association, trade union and private school promoters, during a special meeting in the capital Ouagadougou on Monday, a governmental release said. Security minister Simon Compaore chaired the meeting in the presence of minister of territorial administration and decentralization Simeon Sawadogo and education minister Jean Martin Coulibaly. Appropriate security measures have been taken to restore an atmosphere which enables the successful conduct of socio-economic and educational activities in northern Burkina Faso, according to the release. The measures include a setting up of a structure to provide psychological care to people affected by terrorist attacks. Burkina Faso authorities also consider developing training programs for education in conflict and emergency situations. The special training is essentially for teachers and principals of educational structures, the release said. The measures have been taken as education stakeholders in the north increasingly disapprove of increasing insecurity in the region. In early March, unidentified armed individuals killed a school principal as they broke into Koursayel's school, a village in the Soum province in the northern region. Over the past few years, a series of terrorist attacks have been registered in the northern Sahel region of Burkina Faso close to the border with Mali and Niger. Enditem KIEV, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed a law to ratify a Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA), thus completing the approval of the deal from the Ukrainian side, the presidential press service said Monday. The agreement is expected to increase the trade turnover between the two countries, facilitate the inflow of foreign investment in Ukraine and create new jobs, spurring the economic growth, said the statement on the Ukrainian presidential website. The CUFTA will enter into force on the first day of the following month after the date on which both parties have notified each other of its approval, the statement said. To take effect, the deal must be approved by the Canadian Senate in the final reading and the Governor General of Canada. Under the CUFTA, which was signed in July 2016, Ukraine and Canada agreed to eliminate duties on 86 percent and 99.9 percent of respective current imports. In 2016, the bilateral trade between Ukraine and Canada stood at 246.3 million U.S. dollars, up 4.1 percent from the year before. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 02:32:17|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close MOGADISHU, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Somali militants on Monday recaptured Elbur town in central Somalia after Somali government and the African Union peacekeeping (AMISOM) forces pulled out. Elbur District Commissioner Nur Hassan Gutale told reporters that the joint forces withdrew from the town on Monday morning, allowing the heavily armed Al-Shabaab fighters to return. "Ethiopian troops under AMISOM and Somali National Army (SNA) withdrew from their bases in Elbur town, a strategic town in Galgudud region this morning, the withdrawal was made by AMISOM first, and then government forces as they could not stay there alone because they were not prepared," Gutale said. He accused AMISOM troops of not informing them of the unexpected pullout from the town which allowed the insurgents to enter without any resistance. The reason for the troops' withdrawal from the town was not clear. "They did not inform us that they are leaving and this is a sudden decision. Al-Shabaab militants recaptured the town and our forces are in an area west of the town," the government official said. Gutale added that Galmudug State Administration will take action against the militants in the coming week. "The enemy group (Al-Shabaab) will target civilians, therefore, we are working to flush them out of the town and liberate the town," he added. Local residents said the militants who have waged near-daily attacks against government and AU bases in Somalia hoisted their black banner on the top buildings to alert the locals about their return to the town. The residents said the allied forces backed by tanks and armored vehicles were seen heading to Dhusamareb, the regional capital of Galgaduud region. The allied forces have been in Elbur town since 2014 after several residents had fled the town due to fear inflicted by the insurgents. Enditem SKOPJE, April 3 (Xinhua) -- European Council President Donald Tusk Monday called on Macedonia's political class to work towards finding a way out of the protracted political crisis that is holding it back from the Euro-Atlantic path. At a joint press conference with Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov, visiting Tusk said Macedonia's political class should find a solution based on democratic principles, decency, and common sense, adding that Macedonia would have EU support once it solved the crisis. Speaking about the country's European Union (EU) accession process, Tusk said: "Working towards EU and NATO membership has consistently proved to be a factor of unity, unity that is so needed in your country today. I therefore hope that you will continue to follow this internal compass and avoid anything that could further fuel tensions, also along ethnic lines." Macedonia held general elections on Dec. 11 but parties here have failed to form a new government, as the two main political camps, namely the conservative VMRO-DPMNE and SDSM, deeply divided over the issue. With the most votes, the VMRO-DPMNE was first mandated to form a government, but failed the mission within a deadline. Thus, it should be the SDSM's turn to make the attempt after it reached an agreement with ethnic Albanian parties and managed to secure 67 seats. However, President Ivanov rejected to mandate SDSM leader Zaev to form a new government, claiming Zaev's government would support "a platform undermining Macedonia's sovereignty." At the press conference with Tusk, the Macedonian president reiterated his stance on the necessity of eliminating the legal and political obstacles for the new government not to be contested by any party or on any basis. "A blackmailed government means an unstable government with a short life span and negative consequences," Ivanov said at the press conference. According to Ivanov, the so-called "Tirana platform" jeopardizes the independence of the country, puts conditions on the establishment of a parliamentary majority, and disturbs good neighborly relations, inciting inter-ethnic tensions and manipulating the citizens. Ivanov noted that the focus should be placed on the reforms needed for the country to make progress towards EU integration. Earlier, the head of the SDSM Zoran Zaev told reporters that he expected Tusk to put forward precise suggestions for a way out of the political crisis in Macedonia. "I believe (the suggestions) will be in line with our request for peaceful and swift power transfer, respect of the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia, respect of the established majority in Parliament," Zaev told reporters. Tusk's visit to Macedonia comes after the visit of two other senior EU officials -- Federica Mogherini and Johannes Hahn -- who also appealed to the political class here to end the political deadlock. BERLIN, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Officials at the German embassy in Turkey "will finally get access to Deniz Yucel" on Tuesday, said Federal Foreign Office spokesman Sebastian Fischer on Monday. This development comes seven weeks after Deniz Yucel, a German-Turkish correspondent for German newspaper Die Welt, was jailed on charges of propaganda and inciting the public to violence. He denies the charges, for which he faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. When asked whether it would be a one-off visit, Fischer said "this remains to be seen." Turkey has confirmed the statement in a verbal note. Fischer said Germany would try and support Yucel via the consul-general. He added that the access that had been granted was considered to be good news and "a step forward." Yucel could be held in pre-trial detention for up to five years before being tried. The German government is also seeking access to five other Germans jailed following the failed July 2016 coup attempt against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. MINSK, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The Minsk subway will operate in a increased vigilance mode, the press secretary of the enterprise Minsk subway Andrei Kuzmin told local media on Monday. The official said that now Minsk subway is working in a mode of increased vigilance after a metro explosion took place earlier on Monday in Russia's Saint Petersburg. He added that this regime would not affect the traffic schedule of trains and passengers. The Belarusian Foreign Ministry is trying to find out whether Belarusian citizens are among the victims of the explosion in St. Petersburg. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who is visiting St. Petersburg on Monday, expressed his condolences over the metro explosion in St. Petersburg at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the press service of the Belarusian president said. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 02:52:21|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close WARSAW, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The Polish foreign ministry expressed its condolences on Monday to the families of the victims of a bomb blast on a subway train in St. Petersburg, Russia also on Monday. "We express our most sincere condolences to the Russian society over the bomb blast in subway in St. Petersburg, in which innocent people were killed," the ministry statement said. "We strongly condemn any forms of terrorism and violence." Earlier the same day, Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski, while visiting Luxembourg, expressed compassion for the families who had lost their loved ones. At least 10 people were killed and 50 injured in the explosion. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 03:21:48|Editor: ZD Video Player Close Policemen and firemen stand outside the metro station where a blast went off in St. Petersburg, Russia, on April 3, 2017. Two subway stations were hit by explosions with destructive elements in the Russian city of St. Petersburg Monday and so far at least 10 people have been reported killed and 50 others injured, according to Russian media. (Xinhua/Sputnik) ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Russian Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said at least 10 people had been killed and 37 others were injured in an explosion of an unknown explosive device with destructive elements in St. Petersburg. The explosion took place around 14:40 in a train carriage on the runway between the metro stations Technological Institute and Sennaya Ploshchad (Square) in Line 2 in St. Petersburg, the second largest city of Russia on Monday. Witnesses in nearby carriages told Xinhua that they heard a tremendous thud before realizing there was an explosion. "I was right in a carriage near the front. The train came to a halt after a big bang. I got off the train, only to find the door in the rear carriage had been deformed by the explosion," a young man named Pavel told Xinhua, "I went over and saw wounded passengers, and then I started helping them along with others." Photos and videos published on social media show that the explosion site was covered in a heavy smoke with debris scattering around, and the wounded were lying on the platform waiting for further rescue after first aid treatment. According to Xinhua reporters, people kept heading to the Sennaya Ploshchad (Square) station after the explosion, where a security cordon surrounding the station was set up by the police. Ambulances, fire engines and helicopters were mobilized to assist the on-site rescue. All subway stations were closed at 3:40 p.m. local time (12:40 GMT) in St. Petersburg after evacuating all passengers. At least 10 death tolls and 50 injuries were previously reported by Russian media. No Chinese citizens have been reported in the casualties so far. The Chinese embassy and consulate in Russia are further verifying relevant information. In addition, another explosive device was reportedly found at the metro station "Ploshchad Vosstaniya", which did not explode. St. Petersburg authorities announced three days of mourning in the city while Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was holding a meeting outside St. Petersburg, expressed condolences to the injured and families of the deceased. Local authorities have decided to provide 23 million rubles (about 408,000 U.S. Dollars) for assistance to the families of those killed and injured, Interfax news agency quoted the press service for Deputy Governor Anna Mityanina as saying. Russia's Investigative Committee (IC) has opened a criminal case on the explosion. "Despite the fact that the criminal case has been launched under Article 205 of the Russian Criminal Code (terrorist act), the investigators will probe other potential causes of the incident," IC's spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said. According to an official statement by the IC, a group of experienced investigators and criminologists from the central office of the Investigative Committee was sent to St. Petersburg. Initial investigative actions are being carried out. The prosecutor's office in St. Petersburg has also begun an investigation in connection with the explosion. The prosecutor of the city Sergei Litvinenko has already arrived at the scene to coordinate the actions of law enforcement agencies, according to a statement from the Prosecutor General's of Russia Office. "We will do everything we can to clarify all the points that contributed to the commission of the terrorist act, so that this does not happen again in the future," TASS quoted Representative of the Prosecutor General's office Alexander Kurennoy as saying. Earlier in the day, Putin said that Russian law enforcement agencies are working to determine circumstances of the explosion, and all possible causes are being considered, including terrorism. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 03:32:28|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close VIENNA, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The Austrian unemployment rate dropped 1.8 percent in March, marking an apparent change of trend in the country's labor market, the Public Employment Service Austria (AMS) stated on Monday. The drop means that by the end of March, a total of 430,758 people in the country unemployed, 7,896 fewer than March of last year. Actually, 354,072 people were registered as unemployed, a year-over-year drop of 3.7 percent, the largest seen in the past five years. Notable in the figures is that the number of persons enrolled in further schooling or training, counted among the overall jobless persons, also increased a significant 7.9 percent. By Austria's own calculation, its unemployment rate is thus presently 8.9 percent. Meanwhile, the number of available jobs saw a significant 44.5 percent increase to 53,142. Significant improvements were recorded in the construction and production of goods sectors, AMS head Johannes Kopf noted. Still problematic however was unemployment in the 50-and-over age bracket, which saw an increase of 5 percent reaching 107,362 persons. Kopf said the figures represent a change in the long-standing trend of rising unemployment, and indicate that an economic upswing is in progress. Social Affairs Minister Alois Stoeger also saw the figures as a positive sign, and pointed out the "Action 20,000" initiative implemented by his ministry to tackle the problem area of unemployment among people aged 50 and over. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 04:07:34|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close LONDON, April 3 (Xinhua) -- A process that could help millions of people by turning sea water into drinking water was announced Monday by scientists in Manchester. The wonder material, graphene, is at the heart of the new process. Scientists at the university have developed graphene-based membranes capable of sieving common salts. Their new research demonstrated the real-world potential of providing clean drinking water for millions of people who struggle to access adequate clean water sources. The new findings at the University of Manchester were published Monday in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. A spokesman at the university said: "By 2025 the United Nations (UN) expects that 14 percent of the world's population will encounter water scarcity. "This technology has the potential to revolutionise water filtration across the world, in particular in countries which cannot afford large scale desalination plants. "It is hoped that graphene-oxide membrane systems can be built on smaller scales making this technology accessible to countries which may not have the financial infrastructure to fund large plants without compromising the yield of fresh water produced." Graphene-oxide membranes developed at the National Graphene Institute in Manchester have already demonstrated the potential of filtering out small nanoparticles, organic molecules, and even large salts. Until now, however, they couldn't be used for sieving common salts used in desalination technologies, which require even smaller sieves. Previous research at the university found that if immersed in water, graphene-oxide membranes become slightly swollen and smaller salts flow through the membrane along with water, but larger ions or molecules are blocked. The Manchester-based group has now further developed these graphene membranes and found a strategy to avoid the swelling of the membrane when being exposed to water. The pore size in the membrane can be precisely controlled which can sieve common salts out of salty water and make it safe to drink. The university spokesman added: "As the effects of climate change continue to reduce modern city's water supplies, wealthy modern countries are also investing in desalination technologies. "When the common salts are dissolved in water, they always form a 'shell' of water molecules around the salts molecules. This allows the tiny capillaries of the graphene-oxide membranes to block the salt from flowing along with the water. Water molecules are able to pass through the membrane barrier and flow anomalously fast which is ideal for application of these membranes for desalination." Professor Rahul Nair, at the University of Manchester said: "Realisation of scalable membranes with uniform pore size down to atomic scale is a significant step forward and will open new possibilities for improving the efficiency of desalination technology. "This is the first clear-cut experiment in this regime. We also demonstrate that there are realistic possibilities to scale up the described approach and mass produce graphene-based membranes with required sieve sizes." Jijo Abraham and Dr. Vasu Siddeswara Kalangi were the joint-lead authors on the research paper. Abraham said: "The developed membranes are not only useful for desalination, the atomic scale tunability of the pore size also opens new opportunity to fabricate membranes with on-demand filtration capable of filtering out ions according to their sizes." Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 04:12:35|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close LA PAZ, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Bolivian President Evo Morales will return to La Paz from Havana on Wednesday after he underwent a surgery to remove a benign nodule in his throat, Vice-President Alvaro Garcia Linera said on Monday. "President Morales will return to Bolivia on Wednesday...in the afternoon or in the evening. He will complete his recovery in the country," Garcia Linera told a press conference, adding that he had spoken briefly with Morales by phone. Morales travelled to Cuba on Thursday and received the operation on Saturday, with a small benign tumor being removed from his vocal chords, after it gave him trouble speaking. Morales has left the hospital and is resting in Havana, while receiving constant monitoring and care. The vice-president said that the intervention saw "very good results," although Morales would need up to a week of rest "to give his voice a complete rest." Garcia also said the president would resume his usual political activity and speeches, and confirmed Morales' attendance at a ceremony for the anniversary of the department of Tarija on April 15. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 04:27:39|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close CARACAS, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Venezuela's ombudsman, Tarek William Saab, said Monday the rule of law continues to operate in the country and he considers the "impasse" between the prosecutor-general and the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) concerning the National Assembly is over. In a statement, Saab said that there was no "rupture of the constitutional order." "If it was a country without separation of powers and without freedom of expression, how could the speech of chief prosecutor, Luisa Ortega Diaz, have been broadcast on state television," he said. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court issued a ruling allowing it to take over the parliamentary powers of the National Assembly, claiming that the opposition-held Assembly had not been complying with judicial decisions. The decision was roundly criticized around the region as removing the separation of powers and threatening Venezuela's democracy. Ortega Diaz and the TSJ had been at loggerheads since Friday when Venezuela's prosecutor-general called the act a "rupture" of constitutional order. Protests quickly built up as the opposition took to the streets and President Nicolas Maduro asked the TSJ to reverse the decision on Saturday. Saab tried to place a positive spin on these events, claiming that Maduro and Ortega Diaz had held a long meeting to resolve their differences and that it showed the country's authorities "have undone new attempts to besiege our country by those national and international sectors which seek to generate conflict." PARIS, April 3 (Xinhua) -- French President Francois Hollande on Monday called the explosion in the Russian city of St. Petersburg a "tragic event,", stressing the necessity of "continued vigilance" amid high terrorism risks. In a statement released by his office, Hollande "expresses solidarity with the Russian people," and said "ready to respond to any help request of assistance,"to help the Russian authorities. He will talk with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin "very soon," it added. In a separate statement, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault expressed "France's solidarity with Russia and all ... support and condolences to the families of the victims." No information was available "at this stage" to confirm whether French national were among the victims, Ayrault added. "We are in contact with the Russian authorities and verifications are ongoing," the French top diplomat said. Earlier on Monday, blasts hit two subway stations in the Russian city of St. Petersburg. At least 10 people have been killed and 50 others injured, according to Russian media. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 04:52:48|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close KIGALI, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Rwandan refugees in various countries were Monday called on to voluntarily repatriate amid concerns of the looming deadline for the implementation of the cessation clause. Rwanda estimates that about 280,000 Rwandans could be still living as refugees across 20 countries in the world with the biggest number of them, close to 245,000, living in the DR Congo. Speaking at a meeting in Kigali, the UNHCR Representative in Rwanda, Azam Saber, said "We would like to encourage more Rwandan refugees living abroad to return home because Rwanda is safe and because the Government of Rwanda is welcoming them." The tripartite meeting attracted officials from Rwanda, Congo Brazzaville and the United Nations' Agency for refugee affairs (UNHCR). It discussed a roadmap agreed upon by the parties on joint sensitization campaign on voluntary repatriation and local integration of refugees in the host country. There are about 10,000 Rwandan refugees in Congo Brazzaville, according to Rwandan officials. Saber, noted that nearly 5,600 Rwandan refugees in Congo Brazzaville were born in exile, of which over 4,000 are going to school and university, illustrating a relatively young age of the refugee population in that country. Seraphine Mukantabana, Rwanda's Minister of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs, called on the refugees to consider voluntary repatriation before December 31, 2017. The sensitization campaigns targets refugees who fled the east African country between 1959 and 1998. The minister reiterated that upon arrival in Rwanda, the returnees will get a sum of 250 U.S. dollars per an adult person to support their resettlement, while children are entitled to 150 U.S. dollars. The money is given through UNHCR. Rwanda has already prepared Nyarushishi camp in Rusizi district to receive the returnees, she said. Antoinette Dinga-Dzondo, Congo Brazzaville Minister of Social Affairs, Humanitarian Action and Solidarity said each Rwandan refugee has option to choose among solutions and no one would be forced to return. "Once one has chosen a given option we examine whether he meets the criteria for them to opt for the voluntary repatriation, or reintegration to retain refugee status," she said. Several avenues were employed in the awareness campaign through churches, civil society, and youth forums, according to the officials. By December 31, 2017, any Rwandan who won't be home will not be considered as a refugee. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 05:02:50|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close HAVANA, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Cuba's official workers' confederation, CTC, called on Monday for Cubans to turn out in force for International Workers'Day, on May 1st, in defense of socialism and to show support for the revolution and its leaders. "The Workers' Confederation of Cuba (CTC) and its unions call on all Cubans to celebrate International Workers' Day, in an atmosphere of joy, unity and commitment in defense of our socialism, under the central motto of "Our strength is unity," read a statement published by the official newspaper "Granma." The CTC also called on the people to defend the reforms promoted by President Raul Castro in order to "upgrade" the national economic model and elevate national productivity and efficiency. "On this May Day, we will ratify the firm conviction that, through our own efforts and proven ability to fight and win, we will continue to carry out the process of updating the socio-economic model that...we have chosen with the goal of developing the country," added the official text. The CTC also expressed Cuba's desire to support Venezuela and its leaders, as well as all leftist movements in Latin America, in their efforts to achieve a better world. It will mark Cuba's first May Day celebration since U.S. President Donald Trump took office and shifted the open and positive stance that characterized his predecessor Barack Obama. Last year, rallies in Cuba for International Workers' Day were attended by union representatives from over 60 countries. US President Donald Trump speaks about signing executive orders on trade policies in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, March 31, 2017. (AFP PHOTO/SAUL LOEB) WASHINGTON, April 3 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on Monday vowed support to each other, while pledging to fight terrorism together. "I just want to let everybody know in case there was any doubt that we are very much behind President El-Sisi. He's done a fantastic job in a very difficult situation," Trump told El-Sisi at a White House meeting. "And I just want to say to you, Mr. President, that you have a great friend and ally in the United States and in me," Trump added. Though mentioning that they "have a few things that we don't agree on," Trump emphasized that he and El-Sisi "agree on so many things." For his part, El-Sisi said that he had "a deep appreciation and admiration" of Trump's "unique personality, especially as you are standing very strong in the counter-terrorism field. " The Egyptian leader condemned terrorism as an "evil ideology" that kills innocent lives and brings devastation to communities and nations. He also vowed that Egypt will strongly support Trump in "bringing an effective strategy in the counter-terrorism." "And I'm quite confident you will be able to bring a solution to this issue," he added. In response, Trump said that the U.S. and Egypt will work together in fighting terrorism. "We will do that together. We will fight terrorism and other things. And we're going to be friends for a long, long period of time," Trump said, adding that the U.S. has "a great bond" with the people of Egypt. El-Sisi, who took office in 2014, is on his first official visit to the U.S. Trump's predecessor Barack Obama did not invite El-Sisi for a visit and even temporarily suspended U.S. aid to the Arabic country citing U.S. concerns about human rights situation in Egypt. Trump and El-Sisi first met last September when the Egyptian leader attended the opening session of the UN General Assembly. COPENHAGEN, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The Danish government has earmarked 250 million Danish kroner (35.88 million U.S. dollars) as part of its aid efforts to support the victims of the conflict in Syria, local media reported on Monday. The aid is aimed at emergency humanitarian assistance, as well as more long-term development initiative in Syria and neighboring nations dealing with the massive influx of refugees fleeing the violence, according to the Danish newspaper The Cophenhagen Post. "The situation for Syria's civilian population is become increasingly desperate and over 11 million Syrians are either internally displaced or have fled the country," Minister for Development Cooperation Ulla Toernaes was quoted as saying. "Meanwhile, just a fraction of the humanitarian needs for Syria have been financed. So we are now setting aside a quarter of a billion kroner to help the many people who are affected by the war -- in and outside Syria's borders," said the minister. The aid was announced just ahead of next week's international Syria conference in Brussels, where about 70 nations, civil societies, the UN and the EU will discuss the future of Syria and ensure that donors live up to their promises to support the victims of the civil war. Denmark has donated over 2 billion kroner to Syria in aid since 2011, according to the paper. (1 U.S. dollar = 6.97 Danish kroner) ST. PETERSBURG, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin laid flowers at the subway bomb explosion site to commemorate victims in St. Petersburg on Monday. Interfax reports said Putin arrived at Technologichesky Institute station entrance to lay flowers, expressing his condolences to the families of the victims. 11 people were killed and 45 injured in the explosion that occurred in St. Petersburg subway between Sennaya Ploschad and Technologichesky Institute stations on Monday, Russian Minister of Health Veronika Skvortsova said to reporters. Meanwhile, the UN Security Council on Monday condemned "in the strongest terms" the terrorist attack in St. Petersburg, Russia which killed at lest 10 people. In a press statement, the 15-nation council expressed deep sympathy and condolences to the victims and their families, and also to the people and government of Russia. "The members of the Security Council underlined the need to bring perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism to justice," said the statement. The members of the Security Council also stressed that those responsible for these killings should be held accountable and meanwhile urged all states to cooperate with Russia in this regard. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 06:02:24|Editor: Mu Xuequan Video Player Close WASHINGTON, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The United States on Monday condemned the attack on the metro system in St. Petersburg, Russia, while pledging to provide assistance to Russia in its investigation. "The United States condemns this reprehensible attack and act of violence," White House spokesman Sean Spicer told a news briefing, while extending "our deepest condolences to the loved ones who have been killed and injured." At least 11 people have been killed and dozens of others wounded in an explosion that took place Monday in a train carriage on the runway between the metro stations Technological Institute and Sennaya Ploshchad (Square) in St. Petersburg. The exact causes and who were responsible for the attack remain unknown pending an official investigation. Russian officials described the bombing as an act of terror. "Attacks like these on ordinary citizens just going about their lives remind us that the world must work as one to combat violence in all forms," Spicer said, adding that the U.S. is prepared to offer assistance to Russia that it may require in investigating this crime. U.S. President Donald Trump was earlier briefed on the attack on the St. Petersburg Metro, Spicer said. Trump, speaking before having a lunch with visiting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in the White House, called the bombing a "terrible thing." "Terrible. Terrible thing. Happening all over the world," Trump said in response to a media question, without making further comments. Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-04 06:08:02|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close TEHRAN, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Iran strongly condemned Monday terrorist attack in Russia's St. Petersburg subway stations, Tasnim news agency reported. Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi expressed sympathy with the families of the victims, saying "We once again remind the necessity for joint international efforts for seriously confronting terrorism regardless of motivations behind it." On Monday, a powerful bomb explosion rocked subway stations in the Russian city of St. Petersburg in which 11 people were killed and some 47 others injured. Enditem iStock/Thinkstock(CHICAGO) -- Chicago police officials said Sunday they expect more people to be charged in connection with the alleged sexual assault of a 15-year-old Chicago girl that was streamed on Facebook Live. A 14-year-old boy faces charges of aggravated criminal sexual assault and making and disseminating child pornography in connection to the case, and Police Commander Brendan Deenihan said in a press conference that an arrest warrant has also been issued for another teenage boy, and police expect to charge others, including one adult. "The detectives working with Facebook have executed several social media search warrants and we were able to eventually identify two of these offenders and secure arrests warrants for them," Deenihan announced. "One of the offenders [the 14-year-old] ... has now been charged," he said. "There's a second juvenile warrant that is out there and we expect that individual to be arrested soon and then additionally we still have several other offenders that we need to specifically identify and are arrested as well." About 40 people viewed the attack live, and none of them reported it, police said. Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson led off the press conference with passionate words about the victim. "As a father of young women myself, I am so inspired by her strength, and while I know the emotional wounds caused by this savagery will take long to heal, I'm hopeful that her story can be an inspiration to so many other young women who are victimized by bullying and sexual assault," Johnson said. Johnson said that he was first approached by the 15-year-old girl's mother, who she said "had been missing for more than 24 hours" and then showed him "snapshots of a video which depicted her daughter being sexually assaulted live on the internet." "No woman should ever be treated the way this young woman was," Johnson said. Johnson, who has become a recognizable face nationally due to the press conferences he's given regarding Chicago's shooting epidemic, also scolded those who participated. "Due to the graphic content that I observed, I don't want to go into the details of what was on the video but I want to tell you the young [men] responsible, they should be ashamed of themselves," Johnson said. "Theyve humiliated themselves, humiliated their families, and now they're going to be held accountable for what they've done," he added. The case is not the first high profile crime broadcast live on Facebook this year to come out of Chicago. Earlier in the year, a man was tortured in a Facebook Live video, before eventually escaping his captors. That case was categorized as a hate crime, and had strong racial overtones, with four black suspects binding and attacking a white special-needs teenager. The four suspects charged in connection with the attack all pleaded not guilty in February to the charges. ABC Breaking News | Latest News Videos Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Jack missing in Highway Re-route case Warner was expected to be called as a witness for cross-examination by attorneys for the HRM and Kublalsingh at the hearing of their constitutional claim filed on August 3, 2012. At the end of the testimony by former deputy CEO of the National Agricultural Marketing and Development Corporation (NAMDEVCO) Alvin Seereram, Senior Counsel Russell Martineau, co-lead counsel for the Attorney General, said attempts had been made to contact Warner by telephone, email and letter by attorneys for the State, but he had not responded. As a result, Kublalsinghs and the HRMs attorneys will not be able to challenge Warner on the evidence he gave on affidavit. They will now file submissions to advise trial judge Justice James Aboud on how he should treat Warners affidavit evidence. In previous testimony, retired Chief of Defence Staff Major General Kenrick Maharaj testified that it was the minister who directed the army to go to the protest site. In his evidence yesterday, Seereram denied giving permission to the HRM or Kublalsingh to occupy the land used as their protest camp in Debe. It is not true that I gave permission to set up the camp, he said in response to questions put to him by Kublalsingh and the HRMs co-lead counsel, Fyard Hosein, SC. He also testified that NAMDEVCO planned to use the land used by the protesters as part of a packing house on the site. The land was owned by NAMDEVCO, he said. Seereram also said he spoke with Kublalsingh on the day the camp was set up, April 20, 2012, and told him he would have to vacate the site immediately. He admitted, however, that NAMDEVCO did not issue formal notices to quit to either Kublalsingh or the HRM members. Kublalsingh, who testified in January, claimed he and the group had the permission of the man in charge of NAMDEVCO to set up the camp. They are contending that the Government contravened their rights to life, security, enjoyment of property, to freedom of expression and freedom of association by building the highway without consulting them properly. As part of their claim, Kublalsingh and the HRM also contend they had a legitimate expectation that the Government would abide by the findings of a study by a team set up by the Joint Consultative Council for the Construction Industry (JCC) and led by former Independent Senator Dr James Armstrong. Work on the highway to Point Fortin has stopped and its main contractor, the Brazilian firm Construtora OAS, was fired from the $7 billion project last year. The Government is seeking a new contractor. In March, Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan said no decision would be made on the Debe to Mon Desir segment of the highway extension without consultation with the HRM. He made the statement after meeting with Kublalsingh and the HRM. According to the minister, the contentious segment was not a priority due to financial constraints. SEX ATTACK ON BOY, 7 The boy told police officers that after the man committed the act in a washroom at a recreation ground in Plymouth, Tobago, he was given a dollar. A medical examination confirmed that the boy had been sexually molested and investigators believe that the act has happened before with the same man who is said to be known to the child. According to reports, the child was at the recreation ground playing with other children when, at about 5.30 pm, he was approached by the man. The child said he was led into the toilet near the recreation ground and assaulted. After the man left, the child reported the incident to a relative who took him to the Scarborough Police Station. He was then examined by a doctor. A report was made to the Child Protection Unit and a search was carried out for the suspect who is believed to have gone into hiding. Residents of the area also began searching for the man but he has not yet been found. Yesterday, police advised parents with children to look out for the suspect and to exercise all the necessary precaution. Krysis yet to give police statement Head of the Islamic Front Umar Abdullah made the confirmation yesterday saying Wakeel has reservations about it. There is no meeting with the police, Abdullah said. He has reservations about it and he must be very careful. Yesterday (Saturday) we had a lengthy meeting with members of the so-called Unruly group. On Friday, National Security Minister Edmund Dillon and several senior police officers walked through several well-known hotspot areas in the crime-ravaged area. During that tour, Abdullah accompanied Wakeel to meet the officials among them Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Wayne Dick and Acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams. While at Crown Trace, Wakeel promised to reveal all he knew about crooked police officers and where the illegal guns are. Days earlier, Wakeel had posted several videos on social media of himself singing about shootings and gang violence. Yesterday Abdullah said he advised Wakeel to refrain from such actions and the young man agreed. I advised him to stop making such statements on Facebook. So, there is an agreement. It is good to bring about that peace. We have a lot of things planned - two programmes are coming soon. You will hear more about it in the days to come. Abdullah said that either today or tomorrow, a press release would be sent to media houses for coverage of the issue. The press conference will be on Friday after juma (Islamic prayers). We are still deciding a venue. Unruly ISIS and the Rasta City gangs are warring and police said most of the killings in Enterprise are due to conflicts between the rival gangs. Police confirmed that investigators are yet to obtain statements from Wakeel. Efforts to contact National Security Minister Edmund Dillon for comment proved futile as all calls went unanswered. End of an era Howe had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in April 2007. In paying tribute to Howe, Public Administration and Communications Minister Maxie Cuffie said, His passing underscores the ending of the era when the West Indian Diaspora was more closely aligned to the countries of the region. He continued, He helped the assimilation of the West Indian Diaspora. He did so while remaining true to both his nationalities. Cuffie described Howe as the voice of the post-colonial era. He was a respected, centralising and unifying force of the wider immigrant community. In extending his condolences to Howes family, friends and colleagues, Cuffie said, He was a for a long time a solitary but outspoken voice for the TT and the West Indian community in the United Kingdom. Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal said, Howe was a socially conscientious Trinidadian civil rights activist who provided decisive and inspirational leadership to West Indian immigrants in Britain and in TT during the late 1980s. He said people must recognise and be inspired by Howes, courageous struggle against institutional racism in the United Kingdom. Moonilal also said Howe maintained an abiding interest in the land of his birth. He said evidence of this can be found in the documentary The Gathering Storm, which focused on the social crisis and critical contribution to the West Indian cause. Moonilal concluded, Regrettably, he will not be able to report on the decay in TT under this PNM (Peoples National Movement) regime. Former parliamentarian Raffique Shah said he first met Howe in the 1970s just before the Black Power Riots and they formed a friendship that lasted a lifetime. Shah said many people do not know that Howe also championed the cause of Indian immigrants in Britain in the 1970s with respect to housing. Shah also remembered Howe as a die-hard Renegades person. Movement for Social Justice leader David Abdulah said he was close to Howe personally and politically. Abdulah remembered Howe as a very perceptive journalist. Howe, christened Leighton Rhett Radford, was born in Moruga. The son of an Anglican priest, he first moved to England at the age of 18, arriving on the SS Antilles at Southampton. While he initially intended to study law at Middle Temple, Howe left the law for journalism. He returned to Trinidad where his uncle and mentor, CLR James, inspired him to combine writing with political activism. He had a brief spell as assistant editor at the Trinidad trade union paper, The Vanguard, before returning to the United Kingdom where he served as editor of the magazine Race Today from 1973 to 1985. His successor as editor, Leila Hassan, eventually became his third wife. Howe became a member of the British Black Panther Movement, and in the summer of 1970 took part in a protest against the frequent police raids of the Mangrove restaurant in Notting Hill, where he worked on the till. The restaurant had become a meeting place for black people, serving as what Howe called the headquarters of radical chic. Howe and eight othersthe Mangrove Ninewere arrested for riot, affray and assault. He and four of his co-defendants were acquitted of all charges after a 55-day trial in 1971. In 1977, Howe was sentenced to three months imprisonment for assault, after a racially motivated altercation at a London Underground Station, but was released upon appeal after protests over his arrest. In 1982, Howe began his broadcasting career on Channel 4s television series Black on Black, later co-editor with Tariq Ali of Bandung File and later White Tribe, a look at modern- day Britain and its loss of Englishness. In October 2005, Howe presented a Channel 4 documentary Son of Mine, about his troubled relationship with his 20-year-old son Amiri, who had been caught handling stolen passports, shoplifting, and accused of attempted rape. He was a keynote speaker at the 2005 Belfast Film Festivals Film and Racism seminar and presented his documentary Who You Callin a Nigger? at the festival. On October 19, 2005, Howe got involved in an angry debate with American comedian Joan Rivers (now deceased) on the BBC Radio 4 programme Midweek, where he appeared to promote this documentary. The dispute began when Howe suggested that Rivers was offended by the use of the term black. Rivers objected strongly to the suggestion that she was racist and accused Howe of having a chip on his shoulder. Howe was married three times and had seven children. His daughter Tamara was a director of production for London Weekend Television. Defence Force slams conspiracy theories in soldiers death Samaroo was found dead on Tuesday last week in his quarters at Camp Cumuto. He had a single bullet wound to his head and police have determined that his death was as a result of suicide. However, there have been calls from Opposition Senator, attorney Gerald Ramdeen, his colleague Wayne Sturge and most recently Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh to have an independent inquiry conducted into Samaroos death to prove that foul play was not involved. In a statement to the media yesterday, the TTDF called on members of the public to desist from making false and unsubstantiated remarks and to allow his relatives, friends and co-workers to grieve in peace. However Ramdeen, admitting that he has not been retained by Samaroos family to seek their interest, told Newsday yesterday that the TTDF has failed to address questions which have been raised in the public domain. Senator Sturge has already indicated to the Chief of Defence Staff that if an independent inquiry is not carried out it would be pursued in court, Ramdeen said. The TTDF has a duty in law to hold an independent inquiry into the death of any soldier. It seems very curious that the TTDF has not answered any questions that are lingering in the public domain. And while everyone respects the loss of life, there is a duty on the part of the Chief of Defence Staff, the Attorney General and the Ministry of National Security to not only do what is right, but what is lawful in this situation. It had been suggested by Ramdeen that Samaroos body bore bruises, that three of his ribs were broken, and the gun which he is said to have use to kill himself had not been found. The TTDF denied this saying the autopsy confirmed that Samaroo died as a result of a single gunshot wound to the head and there were no other marks of violence on his body. The TTDF said the public must be reminded that in similar occasions in the past, the death of any service member which occurs on a military establishment automatically triggers a Board of Inquiry. Such an inquiry is a compulsory requirement of the Defence Act and serves as an internal investigation geared towards finding the cause(s) of a serious incident and, by extension, improving the organisations systems, processes and procedures. Samaroo was cremated on Saturday at the Caroni Cremation Site. Ryu Dan Dojo preaches peace in Enterprise That was one of the messages by the Ryu Dan Dojo Youth Empowerment Centre on Saturday evening when members held a peace walk in the streets of crime-ravaged Enterprise, Chaguanas. It was awesome, said Sensei Marva John-Logan. It is as though the people were waiting for someone to take an initiative like this. They came out and we showed we are against the crime and we want peace. People were chanting peace and unity from their homes. John-Logan is one of the founders of the centre a community-based martial arts academy located at Boodram Street, Enterprise. From 4 pm on Saturday, scores of people gathered at the Bandstand at Railway Road then proceeded through the streets with the hope of promoting positivity in the community. We went Enterprise Street, Bhagaloo Street, Crown Trace, Scott Road, we made the full circle. The public could expect more of this. We are trying to keep the community vibrant with positivity. Our message is, there is hope and one can change his/her life. The theme of the event was Unity in the Community, We are stronger together against crime and Violence. The centre partnered with the Enterprise Community Council and other NGOs to host the event. THA chief promises action to mitigate fallout from Galicias removal The 13-year-old Galicia is the only vessel that transports cargo between Trinidad and Tobago daily, however since the charter contract expired, the vessel has been on a month-to-month contract with the port. In a statement to the media yesterday, Charles said the THA will treat the issue as a top priority and will keep the public informed as the situation progresses. I do understand that there will be public concern, Charles said. Measures are being put in place to treat with our cargo transport needs in the short term. Charles said he has spoken with Minister of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan who has indicated that interim plans are being made to ship bulk cargo to the island once the vessel is removed from the route. A stakeholders meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday to further discuss the issue. Meanwhile, Minority Leader in the THA Watson Duke said his party, the Progressive Democratic Patriots, has been very vocal on the issue previously. We have been complaining incessantly for quite a while, Duke said. We raised this issue publicly in the media, we raised it on the streets, we raised it with the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, we raised it in the House and all we can say is at last the writing is on the wall. Now what will Tobago do come Good Friday? What will Tobago do? In the interim, Duke said he is calling upon both the Central Government and the THA to meet immediately and deal with the issue with a level of urgency. It seems as though every time Tobago has a busy season, the cargo boat is not working and the passenger boat is not working. Why is it that every year we have to treat with this calamity? It is a question of management. We are tired of the bad management in Tobago. We are calling upon the THA, we are calling upon the central Government to ensure that the goods coming to Tobago after Good Friday is not hauled on any barge. We do not want any barge. Let them hire a boat to conduct business in a dignified manner between Trinidad and Tobago. Chairman of the Tobago Division of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce Demi-John Cruickshank said the members of the Chamber are expected to meet today to discuss the way forward. Political Leader of the Tobago Forwards Christlyn Moore could not be reached for comment. Under the former Peoples Partnership government, the Super- Fast Galicia began its inter-island cargo service on July 7, 2014 and $48 million was paid for an initial 12-month charter. Notes of discord for Tobago jazz event On Friday, the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) issued a statement indicating that they are aware of plans to host the event titled Tobago Beach Jazz. The EMA said it has been in contact with the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) to discuss the concerns with the hosting of the event at the proposed venue, given the importance of the site as a sea turtle nesting habitat and further, that the nesting season which spans March to September annually, has commenced. The EMA said it will facilitate discussion with the THA and the event organisers to find alternatives including a suitable location not currently identified as a sea turtle nesting site. When contacted, event promoter Carl Beaver Henderson told Newsday yesterday that he while he has not yet held any discussions with the EMA on the matter, he has been invited to todays meeting. He said even though the venue is not on the beach itself, they have plans to fence the compound to ensure that nobody wanders onto the beach. Henderson said the event is expected to begin at 10 am and end at about 8 pm and he is aware that The turtle watch people will be there and will be conducting turtle patrols. He said that he has previously held discussions with SOS Tobago and they have already given advice on where to point lights and the colour of lights that should be used and all this was taken into consideration. Just one week ago at the launch of the event Henderson, when questioned, said the event was previously backed by the late owner of the Mt Irvine Hotel, Bob Yorke, hence the change in venue. Unfortunately Mr Yorke has passed on and there is a new change of the guard at the hotel, Henderson said. Out of respect for the new management, they are in transition mode so I could not disappoint people. This show is all about clientele appreciation. We are going to reshape the production and this has come about because we are listening to our clients. However, Mount Irvine Bay Hotel has issued a press release indicating that they would not be hosting the event this year and is in no way affiliated with Hendersons event. All reports of any entity, organisation, or venue purporting to be the new home of Jazz on the Beach are false, erroneous and inaccurate, the release said. SWRHA: Non-nationals should pay fee for health care Both SWRHA chairman Dr Alexander Sinanan and deputy chairman Valerie Alleyne-Rawlins were responding to a query by San Fernando East MP Randall Mitchell at the SWRHAs public board meeting at the San Fernando City Hall Auditorium, Harris Promenade, San Fernando on Wednesday last. Mitchell had asked whether patients from areas in south had to compete with non-nationals for bed space and if there was a policy governing free health care at public institutions for foreign nationals. Sinanan said the SWRHA had begun to clamp down on non-nationals seeking health care at those public health centres under its supervision including the health centre at Icacos which is a major entry point for non-nationals from the South American mainland. In the current economic climate where we realise that our resources are becoming more and more scarce, we have actually started looking at documenting how many non- nationals are coming here especially since we service the south west region, Sinanan said. Within recent months we have had non- nationals seeking treatment and once they are stabilised they have had to fund their own treatment. Alleyne-Rawlins was more pointed in her remarks saying governments policy had to change in keeping with international and regional practices saying CARICOM nations such as Barbados and Jamaica charged a fee for use of their public health institutions. The mere idea as nationals we pay a health surcharge and non-nationals pay nothing, we have raised this concern as an issue because not only in the first world countries but right here in the CARICOM countries, next door in Barbados and right up to Jamaica, anyone one of us become ill, we would have to pay for our care, she said. And while we are not denied access, you have to pay a fee and we feel that it is time for government policy that says that non-nationals should pay a fee for service for our health care, Alleyne-Rawlins said, and called on Mitchell to use his Cabinet status as Housing Minister to support the SWRHA in its request for a change in policy. We would be happy if you would support us in getting the government to agree to a certain charge for non-nationals to receive health care, she said. Meanwhile, Sinanan said his speech which he titled Trimming the Fat - was indicative of the Authoritys desire to cut down on the wastage of valuable resources while trying to strengthen our primary care services. Help for hurting families In a release, the ministry said it continues to increase its efforts to reach out to hurting individuals and at risk families and has been partnering with various agencies that are also lending support to families and individuals who are victims of domestic violence, homicide, suicide, abuse and incest. Support services are also provided for children with behavioural problems (with parental support), grief and bereavement, family dysfunction, relationship/marital discord, elderly abuse, crisis intervention resulting from natural disasters, and fatal accidents. The division is staffed by a cadre of highly-skilled and trained professionals, the release said. Family Services offices are located at the ministrys Social Welfare offices in Couva, Chaguanas, Tunapuna, San Juan, Arima, Princes Town, Rio Claro, San Fernando, Penal and Point Fortin. The National Family Services Division can be reached at 794-7483 or 784-5538. Psychosocial support is also available at ChildLine on 800- 4321 within the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), and the Childrens Authority on 800 2014 or 996 - 2014. They facilitate a 24-hour help line for children and persons up to 25 years to discuss personal and privates issues with trained counsellors, take part in outreaches, educational and information fairs/events in communities and schools, and serve as the National Student Hotline for the Ministry of Education in collaboration with the Gender Affairs Unit of the OPM. Counselling and psychosocial support services are also provided by Families in Action on 628-6333. It also manages the National Domestic Violence Hotline, 800- 7283 (SAVE) on a 24-hour basis. Others include the Rape Crisis Society of Trinidad and Tobago on 627- 7273 (North Office), 657-5355 (South Office), Trinidad and Tobago Innovative Parenting Support on 664-1520, and Lifeline Trinidad and Tobago on 645-2800 or life@lifelinett. com Patients getting good public health care At the launch of the first TT Neurology Conference held at the Trinidad Hilton Conference Centre yesterday, Deyalsingh said in a population of 1.3 million people, 42 percent of the population is in the public out-patient clinics. This amounts to approximately 45,937 patients per month. He said the satisfaction level far exceeds the level of dissatisfaction. In our out-patient clinics, 551,000 people pass through our public sector. Even if you have a hundred complaints a month, that is .21 percent, Deyalsingh said. Even if you have 200 complaints a month that is .42 per cent. Therefore, the other 99 percent are receiving an acceptable level of care and this is what the data will show. He continued, Our Accident and Emergency Department for 2016 saw 370,248 people which is a phenomenal figure. But what is the dissatisfaction rate? Less than one percent. And all of this is being provided free of charge to the patient. We are taking a bad situation and making it better. Deyalsingh said public health systems around the world are faced with high demands and this country is no different. He said as Minister of Health, he concerned about the lack of data. We have no reliable data on strokes or on epilepsy and what I am doing is focusing on that. I just recently got Cabinet to approve 27 new positions in IT (information technology) just dedicated to data gathering. This bad situation we are confronted with is an opportunity to make it better. The public health system in TT, as elsewhere, suffers from poor brand recognition and poor brand equity. Deyalsingh said his ministry has been formulating policies and a public health response to things such as stroke and other NCDs (non-communicable diseases). Apart from that, we have been strengthening the NCD and cancer registries. The cancer registry is about 75 percent up and running for the first time. We are going to start the NCD registry very soon on stokes and gathering data on cardiovascular diseases so that with data we can formulate policy. Policies driven by evidence, driven by data. He said the NCD programme is going to drive a shift in the way citizens think about public health care. For far too long we thought about health being the building of hospitals, but if you dont tackle NCDs you will have to build a new hospital in every community. Also in attendance at the conference were program director Avidesh Panday, neurology specialist Dr Anil Ramlackansingh, consultant at the Oxford Centre for Enablement, England, Dr Nicola Paul and Dr Dave Ojar. Rambachan disappointed with Deyalsingh Recalling that the motion was successfully passed with full support from both the Government and Opposition, Rambachan said Deyalsingh gave an assurance last April that steps would be taken to implement the decision relevant to the motion. Rambachans motion was entitled the Initiation of a Programme in schools to meet the needs of children with ADD)/ADHD. He indicated that recently, in response to a question in the House regarding the behaviour of a child at the Santa Rita RC School, Rambachan said Education Minister Anthony Garcia described the student as having an ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder). He added that, ODD is one aspect of ADHD. Rambachan indicated that research done by Douglas Riley, Ph.D, suggested that 40 percent of children with ADHD also develop ODD. I am disappointed that despite assurances made, the Minister and the Ministry has been lethargic in implementing the relevant programmes, Rambachan said. He added, I remain convinced that a lot of the behaviours in schools are as a result of children with ADD/ ADHD. Al-Rawi seeking to establish Intellectual Property Authority He said intellectual property is not new to this country but it is the one area of the ministry which earns revenue, adding that between 1996 and 2005 it earned about $18 million but this jumped to US$49 million between 2006 and 2015. Al-Rawi was delivering the feature address at a ceremony on Friday marking the signing of an MOU between the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) and the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs. He said this countrys cocoa finds itself on British shelves as a much sought after product. He lamented that the country is under-exploiting the area of patents which has been in the single digits with low percentages of local patents being registered as opposed to foreign patents. Al-Rawi said the MOU achieves the very thing that is missing - the marketing of the countrys intellectual product in a structured way which can redound to the benefit of the country. He said the country has been talking about diversification but had not made as much progress on it because some might argue that the country has been afflicted with the curse of oil. He said the good news about being in the current economic climate is that it has to focus very sharply on the realities of diversification. Al-Rawi said the work that can be driven out of the exploitation of intellectual property is multi-dimensional. He said one of his personal ambitions for the ministrys Intellectual Property Office will be to see it develop into an Intellectual Property Authority which, he said, under a different formula would provide for its expansion as the IPO is well supported by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). He said between 1996 and 2016 it has produced a consistent revenue surplus despite being understaffed and under-sized before the two ministries were joined. He hoped to see the development of the Intellectual Property Office into an Intellectual Property Authority before the end of his term. Also speaking at the function was Professor Dyer Narinesingh, President of UTT who said the MOU is a step in the right direction but instead of being consigned to a filing cabinet, he said people were needed to make it work. Narinesingh said that for this country to move forward it must stop thinking selfishly and get the private and public sectors as well as educational institutions and community based organisations to come together. Marriage debate continues Speaking in the House on March 6, Rowley said the firm was hired at a cost of $14.7 million over a two-year period. According to the October 2016 agreement which outlines the terms of the firms engagement, collaboration with the Government to deal with TT citizens recruited as foreign terrorist fighters with the Islamic State terrorist group (ISIS/ISIL); assisting Governments efforts to diversify the economy and increasing this countrys profile amongst leading figures in the United States Senate and House of Representatives, are some of the initiatives the DC Group will be undertaking on the Governments behalf. At that time, Rowley said it was necessary to hire this firm because certain behaviours of the former Peoples Partnership administration, put TT in a very bad situation with our largest trading partner (US). Rowley did not say what those behaviours were. National Security Minister Edmund Dillon and Foreign and Caricom Affairs Minister Dennis Moses will field questions from Caroni East MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh and Naparima MP Rodney Charles on contraband and deportees, respectively. Before the House sits, the Public Accounts Enterprises Committee (PAEC) will sit from 10 am in a public hearing to examine the audited financial statements of the Estate Business Management Development Corporation (EMBD) for the period 2008 to 2010. Last Friday, the EMBD announced the dismissal of Gary Parmassar as its CEO. The Senate sits on Tuesday from 1.30 pm at Tower D of the Portof- Spain International Waterfront Centre to debate on the International Financial Organisations (Corporacion Andina de Fomento) Bill, 2017. This bill was passed in the House on March 15. Ramnarine: Credit to PP for BP investment Ramnarine said in early 2013 BPs Vice President Andy Hopwood announced at the TT Energy Conference, in Port of Spain, that the company planned to invest US$6 billion in the next five years. Similar announcements have also been made by other BP executives since 2013, he stated. According to Ramnarine, BPs capital expenditure was approximately US$ 5.5 billion. He said BPs confidence in this country was driven by the provision of a favourable and stable fiscal regime which was provided from 2011 to 2015, under the PP. Unfortunately, these fiscal incentives have been roundly criticised by the current Government, Ramnarine claimed. While he was happy to learn that the Angelin project has advanced, Ramnarine said this was a project that should have been approved since late 2016. He claimed the delay in this project was related to the non-finalisation of a new contract between BP and NGC (National Gas Company). The Angelin project is therefore late and this is cause for concern. He said Government needs to also ensure that, like the BP Juniper platform, the BP Angelin platform is fabricated in La Brea. Anything less than this would be a blow to the La Brea community. Trump to China: Deal with North Korea or the U.S. will In what is the strongest indication yet that the Trump administration is planning to take definitive action against North Korea for its continued threats and pursuit of nuclear weapons delivery systems, the president himself warned China if it would not deal with its belligerent neighbor, Washington would. In an exclusive interview with the Financial Times, Trump said the U.S. will take unilateral action to eliminate the nuclear threat from North Korea unless China increases pressure on the regime in Pyongyang, the paper noted. The ultimatum comes less than a week before Trump is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida. What to do about North Korea, as well as trade, is high on the list of discussions. China has great influence over North Korea. And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they wont, Trump said in the Oval Office, FT noted. If they do, that will be very good for China, and if they dont, it wont be good for anyone. (RELATED: North Korea Could Kill 90% Of All Americans By Dropping EMP Nukes From Orbiting Satellites.) Nevertheless, Trump was clear that the U.S. was ready and willing to act if China failed to step up and use its influence over Pyongyang to convince the reclusive Stalinist country to abandon its quest for nuclear-tipped ICBMs. When asked if Trump would agree to a grand bargain where Beijing would apply pressure to its neighbor in exchange for the removal of U.S. troops from South Korea later on, Trump responded, Well, if China is not going to solve North Korea, we will. That is all I am telling you. As noted by Zero Hedge, China already has taken some punitive action against North Korea over the latters continued testing of ballistic missiles. In February, Beijing banned all coal imports from Pyongyang, effectively depriving North Korea of a principal source of income, as nearly all its coal exports are sent to China. But that doesnt appear to be satisfactory for the Trump administration. FT noted further that the administration views North Korea as the most important and imminent threat after being told by outgoing President Barack Obama that since he took office in 2009, the North has substantially increased its long-range missile technology and nuclear weapons. White House Deputy National Security Advisor K. T. McFarland told the FT, there is a real possibility that North Korea will be able to hit the U.S. with a nuclear-armed missile by the end of the first Trump term. Recently the National Security Council completed a review of options regarding North Korea that Trump ordered shortly after his inauguration, two people familiar with the review told the FT. One of them also said that the review was hastened so it would be completed in time for Trumps one-on-one with Xi. When asked if the U.S. would need Chinese assistance to deal with North Korea, Trump insisted that wasnt the case, saying it was totally possible to handle North Korea alone. When pressed he said, I dont have to say anymore. Totally. What President Trump is trying to do here is press the Chinese hard by warning them what comes next if they dont help or join with the U.S. to deal with this problem, Dennis Wilder, a former CIA China analyst who served as President George W. Bushs top White House Asia aide told the FT. The administration has not ruled out a pre-emptive strike on North Korea, having said that all options are on the table. (RELATED: Is a preemptive strike against North Korea imminent?) Trumps comments come just days after Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson both made clear the White House was growing impatient with North Koreas ballistic missile tests. For his part, Tillerson during a recent visit to South Korea and China said further talks with North Korea would be a waste of time and non-productive, just as theyve always been. The policy of strategic patience has ended, he said, noting a pre-emptive strike would be considered if the Norths missile development reached an unacceptable level, The New York Times reported. Mattis, at a conference in London, declared, Right now, [North Korea] appears to be going in a very reckless manner and that has got to be stopped, NBC News noted. J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for NaturalNews.com and NewsTarget.com, as well as editor of The National Sentinel. Sources: ZeroHedge.com FT.com NYTimes.com NBCNews.com Prophecy.news Submit a correction >> Nickelodeon Brazil and Nick Jr. Brazil today, Monday 3rd April 2017, started to premiere and show Nickelodeon's brand-new animated preschool series! Locally titled), the series introduces viewers to Nickelodeon's first-ever Princess, and airs weekdays at 09:00 on Nickelodeon Brasil and weekdays at 11:00 (encores at 15:30 and 19:30 and 23:00) on Nick Jr. Brasil.In, preschoolers will set off on thrilling adventures in a kingdom far away where there lives a Princess Knight! Nickelodeon's new animated preschool series follows Nella, an unconventional 8-year-old who possesses the royal qualities of a princess, like compassion and grace, while also embodying the courage and determination of a brave knight. Whenever a problem arises, Nella embarks on daring quests to save her kingdom through her unique ability to transform from a princess into Nella the Princess Knight.(40 half-hour episodes) features a social-emotional curriculum promoting self-confidence, inclusiveness and compassion for others.Nella is a confident 8-year-old princess who likes dancing at extravagant balls just as much as she likes meeting fire-breathing dragons. She transcends traditional roles and expectations through her ability to transform into Nella the Princess Knight, protecting her kingdom with the help of her friends: Trinket, Nellas glamorous unicorn and best friend; Sir Garrett, a loyal and adventurous knight; and Clod, Garretts trusty steed.In the series premiere, "Princess Nella's Orc-hestra"/"The Blaine Game" (#101), a wild orc disrupts Nella's concert. Later, Blaine thinks he can do everything better than Nella, and sets out to prove it by finding the famous pink polka-dotted dragon egg.Robert Vargas (head writer,) serves as an executive producer onand the series is created by Christine Ricci (curriculum advisor,). It is the newest show to join Nicks top-ranked preschool roster, airing alongside hit series likeand also debuted on Nickelodeon Latinoamerica today. Locally titled, the series airs during Nickelodeon Latin America's popular preschool programming block, Nick Jr. Latinoamerica.Nickelodeon launchedglobally on Nick Jr. USA on Monday 6th February 2017 , and will be rolling out the series internationally in spring 2017. We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. House of Representatives (HoR) President Ageela Saleh has appointed Gaddafis loyalist Mohamed Belgassem Zway as his Maghreb affairs adviser, reports say. Mohamed Belgassem Zway was Muammar Gaddafis close aid until the fall of the former Libyan ruler in 2011. He was arrested and put to trial after the 2011 revolution for working with the Gaddafi regime. He was released in June 2013 after a court acquitted him along with Abdulati Al-Obeidi, Gaddafis former foreign minister. Another Libyan court renewed charges against Belgassem Zway in July 2015 and sentenced him to 12 years in prison. He was a year later freed on medical reasons, Libya Herald reports. HoR is opposed to UN-backed Government of National Accord installed in Tripoli. The Egyptian army Sunday announced it killed a senior member of the Islamic State group (IS) in the Sinai Peninsula last month in army bombardment. The army identified the IS official as Salem Salmy al-Hamadeen, Aka Abu Anas al-Ansari, said to be one of the founders of the group. Following the results of the air raid on March 18 and upon the security apparatuss investigation, it was revealed that Salem Salmy al-Hamadeen, Aka Abu Anas al-Ansari, was killed, army spokesperson said in a statement. IS appeared in Egypt in 2014 after local militant group, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis pledged allegiance to global terrorist group and dubbed itself Wilayat Sinai. The then Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis militant group stepped up attacks against the Egyptian army and security forces in 2013 after incumbent president al-Sisi toppled first democratically elected and Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. Attacks have caused death of more than 500 Egyptian forces according to state figures. Thousands of Jihadists have been also killed. Though attacks have been staged in the restive province, capital Cairo and other cities have also witnessed attacks. The group claimed responsibility for the subside bomb attack against a Coptic Christian Church in December in Cairo. French paper, LExpress, highlighted the role played by Mohammed VI Institute for the Training of Imams in boosting Moroccos clout in the continent and championing a moderate and tolerant Islam against the threat of extremism. Promoting the lofty values of tolerance inherent to Islam is a praiseworthy endeavor pursued by the Institute in a bid to counter calls for extremism at the local and international level, underscores the French newspaper. The Institute, located in Rabat, has been offering training to Imams and preachers from different African countries such as Mali, Cote dIvoire, Nigeria, Chad as well as European countries, including France, adds the same source, noting that 50 Frenchman out of a total of 1195 students are currently receiving training on the genuine precepts of Islam. The reform of the religious sphere is a key part in Moroccos counter terrorism strategy. The Institute, which trains Imams, Murshideen and Murshidat (male and female preachers), is a vector of religious diplomacy aiming to counter the terrorist threat that feeds on extremist interpretations of religions with a view to destabilize the region. The paper also highlights that Morocco is becoming a hub for spreading tolerant Islam, noting that French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and Minister for Endowments and Islamic Affairs Ahmed Toufiq signed an agreement in 2015 to offer training within the institute to Imams of French mosques. Morocco also launched the Mohammed VI Foundation for African Ulemas, an academic institution based in Fez that aims at uniting the efforts of Muslim scholars to promote tolerant Islam and counter extremism and radicalization on the continent. Neil Gorsuch will very likely become a Supreme Court Justice, but only after Republicans ban the SCOTUS filibuster forever. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images The mystery did not last long: After much speculation about whether Democrats would be able to get the Senate votes they needed to launch and sustain a filibuster against placing Neil Gorsuch on the Supreme Court, Chris Coons of Delaware became the 41st to pledge to vote against any motion to move forward with the confirmation. That means when the full Senate votes on Gorsuch later this week, Mitch McConnell will have to fulfill his threat to go with the nuclear option to eliminate the filibuster altogether for SCOTUS nominations. It is important to note that voting against a filibuster (i.e., voting for cloture to cut off debate and proceed to a confirmation vote) does not necessarily mean supporting the nuclear option. Indeed, it is very unlikely the Democrats opposed to a Gorsuch filibuster (so far, Senators Bennet, Donnelly, Heitkamp, and Manchin) will vote with Republicans to end SCOTUS filibusters forever. So its important that McConnell keep virtually all Republicans onboard, and the conservative interest and advocacy groups deeply invested in Gorsuchs confirmation will police that vote carefully. The procedure is explained by Chad Pergram: The Senate Judiciary Committee meets Monday to vote the Gorsuch nomination out of committee and dispatch it to the floor. Actual debate on Gorsuch begins in the Senate on Tuesday. Also on Tuesday, McConnell files a cloture petition to end debate on Gorsuch. By rule, cloture petitions require an intervening day before theyre ripe for a vote. So a vote to end debate on Gorsuch likely comes Thursday. After it fails, McConnell will go nuclear: All McConnell must do is make a point of order that the Senate only needs a simple majority (51 votes) to end debate on a Supreme Court nominee. Naturally, whichever GOP senator is presiding over the chamber would rule against McConnell. After all, thats not the precedent. But McConnell would then appeal that ruling, forcing another vote. At that stage, the Senate is voting to sustain the ruling of the presiding officer. But if 51 senators vote no, the Senate has rebuked the chairs ruling and set a new precedent. Only 51 yeas are then necessary to break a filibuster on a Supreme Court nominee. In the unlikely event the GOP loses two senators, Mike Pence will be standing by to supply the 51st vote. The Senate would then re-take the failed cloture vote on Gorsuch. Presumably Gorsuch secures 51 yeas to end debate. And then Democrats, fuming at the GOPs political artifice, would require the Senate to burn off 30 hours before a final vote to confirm Gorsuch on Friday night. The Senate usually grants opponents of an issue 30 hours of debate once the body votes to end debate. So we are looking at Gorsuchs being confirmed late Friday or perhaps over the weekend, if everything goes as planned, before senators head off for a two-week Easter recess. Republican senators will go home with major worries over a possible government shutdown and their failed Obamacare repeal-and-replace legislation. But they can express satisfaction in having completed their 13-month project of keeping Barack Obama from replacing Antonin Scalia on the Court, and instead confirming a Justice who seems to be the next best thing to Scalia among most conservatives. All it took was breaking every available precedent, once with Merrick Garland and then with Gorsuch. And down the road, when a future Democratic president prepares to make Supreme Court nominations, Republicans might regret it all. Neil Gorsuch. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Neil Gorsuch is almost certainly going to be the next Supreme Court justice, but the battle over how he gets there is going to be close. On Sunday, a third Democratic senator, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, announced his support for Gorsuch, but several hours later Democrat Jon Tester of Montana said he would vote against him. That means four more votes are needed to block Gorsuch, and eight Democrats remain undecided. If Democrats manage to hold up Gorsuchs nomination, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is expected to go nuclear, changing Senate rules so Gorsuch can be confirmed with a simple majority. The ten Senate Democrats facing reelection in states President Trump won were supposed to be key to preventing a filibuster of Gorsuchs nomination, and conservative groups spent $10 million on ads meant to pressure them into supporting him. But the campaign has had mixed results. The three Senate Democrats who oppose the filibuster Donnelly, Heidi Heitkamp, and Joe Manchin all hail from red states and are up for reelection next year. But while Trump carried Montana by 21 points, Senator Tester said he cant back Gorsuch: This is why I cannot support Judge Gorsuch's nomination to the Supreme Court: https://t.co/Q0nFBOJpCv pic.twitter.com/UiTvIHVrdY Senator Jon Tester (@SenatorTester) April 3, 2017 The six other red-state Democrats Claire McCaskill, Sherrod Brown, Bill Nelson, Bob Casey, Tammy Baldwin, and Debbie Stabenow had already announced their opposition to Gorsuch. The eight Democratic senators who are still undecided appear to have varied reasons for remaining noncommittal. Senators Ben Cardin and Patrick Leahy have said theyll ultimately vote against Gorsuch, but they suggested they may join with Republicans on the procedural vote because theyre against filibustering Supreme Court nominees. Mark Warner and Chris Coons have expressed doubts about Gorsuch and his ability to overcome the filibuster, but havent explained where they stand. Michael Bennet, Dianne Feinstein, Bob Menendez, and Angus King (an independent who caucuses with Democrats) have offered few clues about how theyll vote. We should have a final answer by the end of the week. The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to refer Gorsuch to the full Senate on Monday. Republicans plan to have three days of formal debate, followed by a confirmation vote on Friday. Sunday on Meet the Press, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer predicted the filibuster of Gorsuch would hold, saying, Its highly, highly unlikely that hell get to 60. He suggested that rather than changing Senate rules, Trump should nominate a less conservative judge. Each side didnt get their nominee, Schumer said, referencing President Obamas pick, Merrick Garland, who didnt even get a hearing. Lets sit down and come together and we will produce a mainstream nominee, he said. Unsurprisingly, McConnell did not seem open to that idea. What I can tell you is Neil Gorsuch will be confirmed this week, he said later on the show. How that happens really depends on our Democratic friends. Its a lot to handle, but thats why the American people elected him. Photo: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images Jared Kushner, President Trumps son-in-law and adviser, took an unannounced trip to Iraq this weekend at the invitation of General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. According to the New York Times, which broke the story, its unclear what he hoped to gain from the trip. Its hard to keep track, but Iraq wasnt previously listed on Kushners to-do list. President Trump has publicly tasked Kushner with brokering peace in the Middle East, and hes also been involved in discussions with Mexico, Canada, and China. Last week Kushner was put in charge of the newly created White House Office of American Innovation, which is supposed to overhaul the federal bureaucracy, reimagine Veterans Affairs, modernize technology used by the federal government, develop transformative infrastructure projects, and fix the opioid crisis, among other tasks. Hes also playing a major role in preparations for President Trumps meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this week. Even before his trip to Iraq, some in the White House were questioning Kushners ability to tackle all of these tasks. A pro-Israel operative who works with the White House told Politico that they had high hopes for Kushner, but theyve been replaced by deep concern that Jared is not the person we thought he was that this guy who is supposed to be good at everything is totally out of his depth. Apparently theyre forgetting that the 36-year-old has extensive experience running the real-estate company he inherited, as well as the New York Observer. Surely hell have no trouble revamping the federal government while handling all of our most sensitive diplomatic interests. This post was update to remove a quote from Reuters, which has retracted its story. Mitch McConnell. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images After Antonin Scalia died, in February of 2016, Mitch McConnell justified his decision to blockade the vacancy on the grounds that neither party would approve a Supreme Court justice during an election year. (The truth is that there was simply little precedent for this either way.) McConnell was simply acting on a principle that, he explained, had been understood by all sides but never ratified in a formal way. Sunday, Chuck Todd asked a question that exposed McConnells ruse quite elegantly. Why not ratify the principle? You can see the exchange above. SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL: You dont fill Supreme Court vacancies in the middle of a presidential election. Thats what Joe Biden said back in 1992. And hes the chairman of the Judiciary Committee. CHUCK TODD: So is this the policy? Should that be the policy? SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL: We knew exactly CHUCK TODD: Should that be the policy going forward? Are you prepared to pass a resolution that says, In election years, any Supreme Court vacancy, and have it to be the sense of a Senate resolution that say, No Supreme Court nominations will be considered in any even-numbered year. Is that where were headed? A good test of any principle is whether the person claiming it is willing to make it apply to all circumstances going forward. If McConnell were willing to make fill no election-year vacancies a formal rule, it would hardly prove his good faith he might have embraced the rule as a post hoc rationale for his power play but it would be at least consistent with the idea McConnell was acting in good faith. And he would be binding himself, and his party, to the rule he forced Obama to follow, that a president may fill only those Supreme Court vacancies that occur during the first three years of a four-year term. But instead McConnell simply brushed off the idea of making it a rule: SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL: Chuck, with all due respect, thats an absurd question. We were right in the middle of a presidential election year. Everybody knew that neither side, had the shoe been on the other foot, would have filled it. But that has nothing to do with what were voting on this year. Why dont we talk about what were voting on this week. And thats this extraordinarily well-qualified nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court. So, no rule. McConnell blockaded the Supreme Court vacancy because he had the votes to do it. Theres no principle guiding Supreme Court nominations other than: Does the president have 50 Senate votes? Instead of trying to understand the Calvinball rules, Democrats should work within the order that exists. Which means they have to filibuster Neil Gorsuch, and let McConnell formally eliminate the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations, so that they can confirm their nominees with 50 votes, too. Go nuclear. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Senate Democrats appear set to mount a sustainable filibuster against Neil Gorsuchs nomination to the Supreme Court. If they follow through, the GOP will have two choices: Withdraw Gorsuchs nomination and replace him with a more moderate jurist, or kill the filibuster on Supreme Court appointments, and ratify Trumps pick with a simple majority vote. Considering the Republican Partys habit of putting its ideological goals over institutional norms for the last few years (and/or decades), the smart money is on door No. 2. This fact has produced a good deal of hyperventilating in the upper chamber, as each party laments how the other teams intransigence threatens to destroy the Senate. If the Senate decides to destroy even further the Senate, theyre gonna also begin the process of destroying the Supreme Court, Tennessee Republican Bob Corker recently said. Its not surprising that lawmakers would characterize the conflict over Gorsuch in these melodramatic terms. But the notion that the abolition of the filibuster would constitute the destruction of the Senate is rather odd. Not only is the filibuster absent from our Constitution, it plainly contravenes that documents intentions for the upper house. The framers did consider including a supermajority requirement for judicial appointments and legislation, but decided against it. Instead, they concluded that a supermajority should only be required for the impeachment of presidents; expulsion of senators; ratification of treaties; overriding of a presidential veto; and amending the Constitution. So, the filibuster is less a vital part of our constitutional system than a (long-standing) affront to the intentions of our founders one that was repeatedly used to block anti-lynching laws and delay civil-rights legislation. And yet, as the Gorsuch fight has progressed, mainstream news outlets have taken to framing the abolition of the filibuster as an objectively bad thing. A new Bloomberg article titled, Nuclear Bid to Confirm Gorsuch May Radically Change Washington exemplifies this trend: Its called the nuclear option for a reason it would destroy one of the few restraints that still distinguishes the Senate from the more raucous, majority-rule House. The Senate is often referred to as the worlds greatest deliberative body, and the power the filibuster gives to the minority is what forces that deliberation. Eliminating it would create a ripple effect across Washington, deepening the partisanship. Going nuclear would immediately poison a chamber that requires consensus to operate efficiently. Senators warn that if Democrats retaliate, the dispute between the parties may escalate further. Republicans could choose to eliminate the 60-vote threshold not just for presidential nominees but for legislation, so that bills could pass with a simple majority. Such a change would remove the last vestige of the Senates long tradition of debate and compromise, turning it into a smaller version of the House and fundamentally transforming the way laws are made. These passages are descriptive, not argumentative, but the prose is loaded: The nuclear option would poison the Senate, rob it of its status as the worlds greatest deliberative body, remove the last vestige of tradition, and make the upper chamber raucous, like the House. Certainly, one can muster positive arguments for the filibuster, as a safeguard against unqualified Supreme Court nominees or an inducement to compromise. Bloombergs concern that majority rule in the Senate would encourage the hyperpartisanship thats been threatening our governments ability to function is understandable. But the Republican Party did not need to abolish the filibuster to take the nations credit rating hostage for partisan ends in 2011; or to shut down the government in 2013; nullify Barack Obamas power to appoint Supreme Court justices in 2016; or to nominate a racist reality star for the presidency that same year. In fact, far from inducing high-minded compromise and deliberation, the filibuster empowered the GOP to routinely block Obamas nominees to judicial seats the party wished to keep open, or to federal agencies that they wished to abolish. The strongest case against the filibusters abolition that Supreme Court justices are so powerful, its worth retaining a supermajority check on the presidents discretion draws the lions share of its present power from the GOPs radicalism. In the current context the argument goes: If the Democrats kill the filibuster, Trump could replace Ginsburg with someone not merely ultraconservative (i.e., Gorsuch) but also crazy or unqualified. But this is a dilemma that only exists if we assume that 50 Republican senators would rubber-stamp the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Andrew Napolitano (or, more realistically, Jared Kushner). In other words, its a worry that testifies more to the brokenness of the GOP, than the soundness of the filibuster. All of which is to say: Yes, hyperpartisanship is a threat to the proper functioning of our government. But the filibuster is demonstrably not an effective palliative for that problem. What troubles our system isnt that it has too few checks on majority rule, but that an ideologically and procedurally radical right-wing party has near total control of the federal government, even as a majority of voters routinely reject it in national elections. Against the (kinda bizarre) premise that the filibuster has been a trusty bulwark against dysfunctional partisanship, theres a strong case that the parliamentary maneuver undermines other conventional notions of good governance. As Matt Yglesias wrote in 2009, the filibuster adds a gratuitous check to a system already overloaded with procedural obstacles to responsive government, while also weakening legislators accountability: At the end of the day the main problem with a supermajority requirement has little to do with specific partisan or ideological concerns. One simply needs to note that bicameralism, plus an independently elected president, plus the congressional committee syste, plus a fairly robust system of federalism, plus a fairly robust institution of judicial review constitutes a political system that already has a ton of veto points. The main aggregate impact of all this piling-on of veto points upon veto points is to make it easier than it should be for interest groups to block broad-view reforms.* Adding a supermajority requirement in the senate on to all of that exacerbates the existing pathologies of the system. It also allows each individual senator to drive a harder bargain in the horse-trading and log-rolling sweepstakes in a manner that rarely serves the public interest. Perhaps most important of all, it tends to undermine democratic accountability by blurring the relationship between election results and policy outcomes what you want is for election winners to be held responsible for the results, but to do that you cant let the losers play a major role in shaping policy. Similarly, you should want candidates to be held responsible for their ideas, not to embrace policies with a kind of wink-wink youll never get 60 votes for that sub rosa understanding that its not meant to be taken seriously. As Alex Seitz-Wald has noted, for these and other reasons, the filibuster was not just rejected by our founding fathers, but by everyone else who ever sat down to design a legislative system: Presumably, if the filibuster were such a brilliant ideas, other democracies would follow our lead when setting up their own legislature. That hasnt happened. Looking at state legislatures, the same is true. In the rare instances when supermajorities are required, like in California, where you need two-thirds of the votes to raise taxes, the effect has been disastrous. Say we had an opportunity to start over and build a government from scratch, would we create a filibuster? This is isnt just a thought experiment, and the answer is no. The U.S. largely drafted the postwar constitution of Japan and Germany, but included no supermajority requirements. Finally, its worth noting that the filibuster is an inherently conservative mechanism and its abolition would be good for the progressive movement. The Senates supermajority requirement makes it very difficult to pass major social legislation. But as the untimely death of Trumpcare just demonstrated, it isnt the primary obstacle to a major rollback of the welfare state under Republican rule. The filibuster did not kill George W. Bushs plan for Social Security privatization, and it didnt save Obamacare welfare retrenchment did. If all the Democrats get out of their attempt to block Gorsuch is the (beginning of) the end of the filibuster in all its forms that would be a win in its own right. Angela Merkel and Ivanka Trump. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images After winning the presidential election, Donald Trump faced enough pressure and media scrutiny over the unprecedented conflicts of interest between his business and his public office to force him to construct an edifice of separation between the two. I will be holding a major news conference in New York City with my children on December 15 to discuss the fact that I will be leaving my great business in total, he promised in December. His children would take charge of the business, the president-elect promised, saying, I hope at the end of eight years Ill come back and say, Oh you did a good job. What he promised was never remotely sufficient to dispel the potential for corruption. But he has increasingly decided the facade is no longer even necessary. ProPublica reports that Trump has inserted a new clause into his business agreement allowing him to withdraw money from any of his holdings at any time for any reason he deems fit. This is the most recent iterative step in the slow dismantling of the Potemkin wall. Leaving his business in total has previously been amended to allow for quarterly reports by Eric Trump. In December Trump promised, No new deals will be done during my term(s) in office. In January, that pledge was scaled back to simply mean no new foreign deals. Accordingly, Trumps company announced a massive expansion of its domestic hotel business. There are 26 major metropolitan areas in the U.S., and were in five, Trump Hotel chief executive Eric Danziger said in January. I dont see any reason that we couldnt be in all of them eventually. Trump promised in January he would donate any profits at his hotels that came from foreign governments. When reporters found two months later that he had failed to do so, his organization promised the donations would happen at the end of the calendar year. The main problem with Trumps separation, of course, is that it operates on his say-so. Without access to his tax returns, the extent of his business conflicts is a matter of guesswork to the public. And, with the president enjoying an idiosyncratic exemption from the strict conflict-of-interest requirements that bind other federal employees, the only enforcement mechanisms lie in Congresss hands. Congress could require Trump to release his tax returns, but the Republican majority has voted down even these halting steps. Indeed, Jason Chaffetz, who chairs the House Oversight Committee, gave a series of blanket defenses for Trumps self-enrichment. Trump, he explained, is already rich, surely has no interest in getting richer, and his potential self-enrichment would not affect average Americans, who in any case do not care. The Republican Congress has granted Trump unlimited license to use his office to enrich himself and his family, and to enmesh his family in the business of governing. A man who loves investigative reporting. Photo: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images President Trump has access to the classified findings of the most powerful spying apparatus on planet Earth. But he still prefers to get his daily intelligence briefings from Steve Doocy. Two weeks ago, James Comey confirmed that the FBI is in the midst of a months-long investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russian hackers. Two days later, the Republican tasked with leading the Houses investigation into Russian hacking called a press conference to discuss an entirely difference subject. After meeting with officials on White House grounds, Devin Nunes discovered that Trump transition officials had been incidentally surveilled when they contacted certain foreign agents and that the names of those Trump officials had not been redacted from intelligence reports. For the past 12 days, conservative media outlets have worked diligently to convince their audiences that Nuness claim is a bigger story than Comeys. And on Monday morning, Fox & Friends reported this blockbuster: The official who decided to unmask the names of Trump associates in intelligence reports was very high up. FOX NEWS ALERT: New details on @adamhousley's report; sources telling him the official who 'unmasked' Trump associates is 'very high up' pic.twitter.com/nowhUIIDSb FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) April 3, 2017 When private citizens get incidentally surveilled by contacting foreign agents who are the subjects of legal surveillance their names are normally masked in intelligence reports. However, operatives can unmask those names if doing so is necessary to comprehend the intelligence described in a given report. The discretion for determining when unmasking is appropriate lies with high-ranking officials in each agency (at the NSA, 20 people have the authority to unmask). Thus, to say that the unmasking was ordered by someone very high up is to say that it was, almost certainly, ordered by someone with the legal authority to make that call. Which seems like the opposite of blockbuster news. However, Bloombergs Eli Lake suggests that the official in question was former national security advisor Susan Rice, whose immediate proximity to Barack Obama makes the story a bit more interesting: White House lawyers last month discovered that the former national security adviser Susan Rice requested the identities of U.S. persons in raw intelligence reports on dozens of occasions that connect to the Donald Trump transition and campaign, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter. Still, as Lake notes, there is little reason to question the legality of Rices actions. The standard for senior officials to learn the names of U.S. persons incidentally collected is that it must have some foreign intelligence value, a standard that can apply to almost anything. This suggests Rices unmasking requests were likely within the law. Regardless, Foxs report contained other interesting tidbits: According to an anonymous source who spoke with the network, the Trump team was incidentally surveilled even before the mogul won the GOP nomination; the conversations recorded had nothing to do with Russia; the reports were widely circulated within the Obama administration; and the way the unmasking was handled was unprecedented. The president instantly endorsed Foxs report. literally within seconds pic.twitter.com/xxUWf1y3zv Gideon Resnick (@GideonResnick) April 3, 2017 Two hours later, Trump forwarded the networks information to the FBI, via a Twitter tag. .@FoxNews from multiple sources: "There was electronic surveillance of Trump, and people close to Trump. This is unprecedented." @FBI Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 3, 2017 The president had already highlighted the same story, which Fox broke on Friday, over the weekend. Wow, @FoxNews just reporting big news. Source: "Official behind unmasking is high up. Known Intel official is responsible. Some unmasked.... Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 1, 2017 ..not associated with Russia. Trump team spied on before he was nominated." If this is true, does not get much bigger. Would be sad for U.S. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 1, 2017 As the president has frequently insisted, one should treat news stories based on a single anonymous source with skepticism. But the strange thing about the rights narrative on this whole surveillance story is that, even if its core allegations are true, its far from clear that they would flatter Trump or his associates. Foxs report does not allege that illegal surveillance took place. So, if Trump aides were incidentally surveilled starting in early 2016, then that means they were in contact with targets of foreign surveillance from the early days of the moguls campaign. Which is a bit odd. Whats more, if the degree of unmasking was unprecedented, this may have merely reflected the unprecedented fact that the FBI had cause to suspect a major presidential campaign was colluding with a foreign power. After all, if the goal was, instead, to use the surveillance state to undermine Trumps campaign as the president implicitly alleges why would Barack Obama have withheld public disclosure of the FBIs investigation until after Election Day? Finally, many former Obama administration officials have admitted that they sought to spread intelligence on the Trump campaign throughout the government before his inauguration, because they were concerned that the new president might try to meddle with an ongoing investigation into his associates. To view such a measure as unreasonable on its face, one would need to forget that the FBIs investigation of the Trump campaign is now a publicly known fact. But then, of course, encouraging such amnesia may be the whole point. As Marissa Mayers days at Yahoo are drawing to an end, her almost-former employer is inching toward finally closing that deal with Verizon. (Everybody pause and say a prayer that nothing else over at Yahoo gets hacked in the next few weeks.) According to a report today from Business Insider, once Verizon acquires it, the plan is to merge Yahoo with AOL. From there, a source told BI, the newly merged companies will get a, um, snazzy new name. Drumroll please . introducing (reportedly) Oath. Oath. Oath. OATH! Its a word that has the built-in ability to stop looking and sounding like a real word if you type it and say it enough times. (Oath. Oath. A thousand times Oath.) Verizons acquisition of Yahoo should be complete by the end of April, though theres still plenty of time for either party to back out of it. At that point, assuming the deal is a success, Yahoos name will also cease to be Yahoo. Instead, the company has indicated it will be going by Altaba, Inc., from that point forward. So technically, the artist formerly know as Yahoo, soon to be known as Altaba, will be merging with AOL to form Oath. Heres hoping somebody over at Verizon sets them up on a playdate with Tronc. Kids whose parents gave them silly names need to stick together. Marble or beach? Photo: Hanna Olin Mansson Weekend With is an ongoing Instagram series that features people we like photographing places wed like to be. Follow @thecut on Instagram to join in, and tag your photos with #weekendwith when you travel somewhere new. Its like when you impulsively cut your hair in a desperate action for change, photographer Hanna Olin Mansson explains that she has yearly identity crises, and this year it lead her to take a trip to Costa Rica. But I went 9,749 kilometers overseas with one backpack and to warm [weather] instead, to hopefully do something useful and challenging. Mansson describes herself as an instant-noodle lover, full-time Instagram nerd, and as confused as every 20-something-year-old. Currently based in Stockholm, Sweden, her Instagram usually only gets as tropical as the cracked coconuts or sliced bananas on the breakfast trays in her Stockholm bedroom. After getting out of her home that she describes as a gray cave in the winter, she stayed in Costa Rica volunteering for several months. Though the photos Mansson posted on Instagram were simple, the trip was experience rich, and her eye for detailed, humorous captions made for an informative photo guide. I was prepared that Costa Rica would be rich in nature. The greenest country on earth Id been told. Zero objections to that. I see now why the Costa Ricans/Ticos claims to be the happiest people on the earth. Arizona governor Doug Ducey signed one of the countrys most restrictive abortion laws. Photo: MIKE THEILER/AFP/Getty Images Texas is far from the only state weighing numerous unusually restrictive anti-abortion laws. Last week, Arizona governor Doug Ducey signed into law a handful of bills that restrict abortion and medical research, including one that requires doctors to do everything in their power to resuscitate an aborted fetus if its born alive. The law which will take effect this summer, according to the Arizona Daily Star defines a fetus that is born alive as one that is breathing, has a heartbeat, or shows definite movement of voluntary muscles. If any of these conditions are observed, doctors must see that all available means and medical skills are used to promote, preserve, and maintain the life of such fetus or embryo. The law also mandates that neonatal emergency equipment and trained staff be on hand for any abortion at or after 20 weeks of pregnancy. But according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data from 2013, those types of abortions are rare; 66 percent of abortions are performed before 8 weeks, and 92 percent are before 13 weeks. Planned Parenthood, one of the countrys largest abortion providers, doesnt perform abortions after 20 weeks. Doctors who testified during the hearing for the bill said standard practice is to provide comfort for the fetus and the mother, and that it would be cruel to operate on a fetus if its life cant be saved. But under the new law, doctors can only stop treatment once they rule that death is imminent. It makes exceptions only in cases when a condition diagnosed before birth will result, with reasonably certainty, in the death of the unborn child within three months after birth. Lawmakers who oppose the law said it takes choice away from doctors and families. Government does not belong there, Democratic representative Mitzi Epstein told the Arizona Republic. Ivanka may not have been home to witness the protests against her, but her neighbor was. Photo: Pool/Getty Images On Saturday night, hundreds of LGBTQ protesters held yet another dance party, this time in front of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushners house in Washington, D.C.s Kalorama neighborhood. Members of WERK for Peace twerked on cars and held signs urging Ivanka to get natural, but, as the Hill points out, its not clear whether Ivanka and Jared were home to witness the protest. (Ivanka was last seen in New York City on Friday, celebrating her youngest son Theodores birthday.) The First Daughter might not have been there, but the Daily Mail captured Dianne Bruce who lives across the street from Ivanka and Jared watching the whole thing from her front steps while bundled in fur, sipping a glass of white wine, and wearing a serene smile. Photo: MARY F. CALVERT/Mary F. Calvert for DailyMail.co Maybe she believes in climate science, or maybe she just wants her parking spot back. The reversible inhibition of sperm under guidance (RISUG) male-contraceptive injection. Photo: Sumit Dayal/Bloomberg via Getty Images Doctors in India have developed a new male-contraceptive injection that would provide men with years of fertility control and has been found to be safe, effective, and easy to use in human trials. But although the injection would ease the contraceptive burden on women and cut down on birth-control costs, drugmakers are showing little interest in the discovery. As Bloomberg reports, the new male-birth-control method called reversible inhibition of sperm under guidance (RISUG) is 98 percent effective at preventing pregnancy, doesnt have any major side effects, and could cost as little as $10 in poor countries. Invented by Sujoy Guha, a biomedical engineer in India, RISUG uses a polymer gel thats injected into sperm-carrying tubes in the scrotum and acts as a buffer to sperm. It can be reversed with a second shot that breaks down the gel, and after years of successful human trials, scientists are set to submit it for regulatory approval in India soon. The affordable method could take a sizable chunk out of the $10 billion market for female contraceptives and the $3.2 billion market for condoms worldwide, two areas that are currently dominated by pharmaceutical giants Pfizer Inc., Bayer AG, and Merck & Co. That could be why drugmakers arent rallying to support RISUG. (Representatives for those companies also told Bloomberg that they arent actively researching male birth control.) In fact, only a U.S. nonprofit has stepped up to help with the development of the technology so far. Per Bloomberg: The fact that the big companies are run by white, middle-aged males who have the same feeling that they would never do it plays a major role, said Herjan Coelingh Bennink, a gynecology professor who helped develop the contraceptives Implanon and Cerazette as head of research and development in womens health for Organon International from 1987 to 2000. If those companies were run by women, it would be totally different. The burden of contraception largely falls on the shoulders of women across the world. According to the World Health Organization, nearly 225 million women around the world have unmet contraceptive needs, and a United Nations report found that almost 60 percent of married women used birth-control pills or another form of modern contraception in 2015. On the other hand, only 8 percent of women in the UN report relied on their male partner using condoms. Maxine Helfmans muse, Keiryel Mcfail. Photo: Maxine Helfman I wish I knew, Maxine Helfman says when asked why she prefers to shoot in small-town America. As her dog barks in the background, she pauses to think. Part of it is Im drawn to things that are current, but timeless, [where] you really dont know if it was shot today or 30 years ago. For this series, she returned to two of her favorite settings in Texas: the abandoned Trinity College campus in the tiny hamlet of Tehuacana, Texas (population under 300), and the town of Wortham, which is comparatively urbane home to a little over 1,000 souls. Helfman was inspired by the way her mother dressed in the 50s and 60s for the homespun-looking fashion in these images. In those days, women, when they came home, would take off what they had on and get in their slip. It was almost like what yoga pants are today, she says. I grew up without very much, so it was a lot of hand-me-downs. Its not fashion, its real clothes. Nobody is standing behind you un-creasing every wrinkle, as they would on a photo shoot. She would know: After working as a prop stylist for shoots, Helfman made a hard 180 from the exactitude of her commercial work when she became an art photographer. This career, she says, has been about having to break all of the rules that I learned in the commercial world, and she wants her photography to feel like real life, as opposed to a fashion shoot. Helfman has become known for images that splice together opposing eras while examining ongoing questions of gender and race. Her project Historical Correction cast African-Americans in portraits inspired by Flemish paintings, while Fabrication was a series of boys wearing vintage-looking dresses. For this series, she worked with her muse, Keiryel Mcfail, a professional hair braider she met through a hair-and-makeup artist she worked with on a shoot. Mcfail has inhabited many different characters over the course of their work together. She can look like ten different people. She can look like shes 16, or like shes 40, Helfman marvels of her range. Romantic as they may be, her images arent about rosy-lensed nostalgia or feeling frozen in time theyre meant to confront the present. I feel like the timelessness also ties into a lot of issues that were still dealing with. Like racial issues. Especially with these single female characters isolation and struggle and strength, she says. How did it feel to be a black woman in Birmingham in the 50s? How did it feel to walk down the street and not feel safe? You look at what was happening during the civil-rights movement, when people would get dressed in some of their best clothes to come to a protest and the violence they endured. You cant not recognize that. *A version of this article appears in the April 3, 2017, issue of New York Magazine. Photo: Maxine Helfman Photo: Maxine Helfman Photo: Maxine Helfman Photo: Maxine Helfman Photo: Maxine Helfman Photo: Maxine Helfman Photo: Maxine Helfman Photo: Maxine Helfman Photo: Maxine Helfman Photo: Getty Images New Yorks Sex Diaries series asks anonymous city dwellers to record a week in their sex lives with comic, tragic, often sexy, and always revealing results. This week, a law student whos dating her former TA, among others: 26, straight, single, UES. Day One 9:45 a.m. I overslept. In a panic, I race over to my law building to turn in my midterm with just minutes to spare. As Im leaving the building, I run into Luke, my teaching assistant turned FWB. He was the teaching assistant for one of my classes last year, and when I made the first move one night in the library, he was into it. Then we hung out over the summer we were both interning at the same firm and have been seeing each other off and on ever since. We agree to go out later tonight to celebrate the end of midterms. 11:52 a.m. I work part-time at a law office downtown. I show up and find out that my supervising attorney is working from home, which means I can too. With nothing to do for the rest of the day, I text my best friend, Christine, who works a couple of blocks away, to see if she wants to grab lunch. Noonish Meet up with Christine for ramen near her office building. Christine is telling me about her new lover from Belgium who apparently enjoys bondage and fisting. Thats not really for me. Christine calls me vanilla, but I enjoy my sex life as it is. She has a thing for kinky Europeans. I prefer salt-of-the-earth, all-American men. 6:30 p.m. Meet up with Luke for tacos and beer the perfect post-midterm remedy. My roommate is out of town. Luke and I are definitely having sex. 8:50 p.m. Before were even through the door of my apartment, Luke is biting my neck and grabbing my ass. When we get inside, he pushes me against the kitchen counter, pulls down my leggings, and fucks me against the cabinets. Luke was in the Army before enrolling in law school; his physical fitness and stamina are herculean. I come twice. Even though I have an IUD, I make him pull out. 9:42 p.m. Luke asks to spend the night and I acquiesce. Were both into travel shows we watch an episode of Parts Unknown while snuggling in bed. 10:30 p.m. Quickie after we finish an episode. Im on top, my favorite position. I dont come, but he does. Fall asleep comfortably satisfied. Luke is respectful and makes sure he doesnt hog the covers. Day Two 8 a.m. Luke and I wake up around the same time and then we go at it doggy style for 30 minutes. An orgasm is the perfect start to the day. 10:30 a.m. I make Luke breakfast. We chat about law-school drama and our upcoming summer internships. He leaves after breakfast to go pick up his daughter. His daughter is the only reason we arent regularly dating. Lukes ex-girlfriend is very possessive of their child and gets jealous when Luke dates. Im not about to insert myself into that drama. 7:30 p.m. Dinner with Christine and a group of friends. Were all 20-somethings living in the city. Some of us are in graduate school, others are working at their first or second jobs; we all met in college at Fordham and have been living in the city for a while. 10:25 p.m. Bar hopping through Williamsburg. Were doing shots of Jameson. Ive needed a night out like this law school has turned me into a recluse. Midnight At a club, Im grinding with my friend Nadeem. Ive always found him boyishly attractive. Nadeem goes in for a kiss and I drunkenly reciprocate. Christine is dancing next to us with a Spaniard in his early 30s. 2 a.m. Nadeem and I make out in an Uber back to his place. We get up to Nadeems loft, and I start giving him a blow job. After coming, he mentions having sex we choose to smoke a joint and kiss some more instead. 3:32 a.m. Back in my own bed. Im going to regret drinking so much tomorrow, but Im pleased that I finally got to make out with Nadeem. Day Three 7 a.m. My body hates me. 8:20 a.m. I order Seamless from a nearby bodega: a breakfast sandwich, two glazed doughnuts, potato chips, and a Sprite. Noon Im young enough that my hangovers dont last all day. I dive into paperwork for the law firm while munching on glazed doughnuts. 5 p.m. Nadeem texts me saying that last night was wild. Im a little disappointed when he doesnt mention getting together again. Maybe I gave bad oral? Ive been attempting to wean myself off random hookups. They always lead to nothing and distract from more important things. 6:30 p.m. Make myself a quick stir-fry for dinner. I watch another episode of Parts Unknown; Ive always been attracted to older men. Men my age can be trifling. Grab my new vibrator and test it out. I imagine myself fucking Anthony Bourdain in Morocco. I come twice and hit the sheets. Day Four 9 a.m. Waking up at a normal hour feels heavenly. 12:50 p.m. My mom calls and goes through her laundry list of weekly questions. Am I eating properly? How are my finances? Am I dating? Even though Im squarely in my mid-20s, my mom supports me financially and emotionally. My dad died when I was a toddler, so its been just my mom and me for a long time. My mom lives in Virginia, but flies out to visit me every other month. I liken our relationship to Gilmore Girls, as cliche as that sounds. My mom and I chat for a couple of hours about random things. 2:30 p.m. Get off the phone with my mom and see a text from Luke. He asks if I want to spend the day together next weekend with the possibility of a sleepover. He offers to make homemade pasta. I quickly reply yes. Maybe Im being too eager, but I really enjoy Lukes company. Its possible Im overthinking the daughter situation. Day Five 11 a.m. I get a text from Nadeem between classes. He wants to go for drinks later this week. Maybe the blow job wasnt terrible? 2:30 p.m. While at the law office, I get a phone call. I check my cell and I am surprised to see its my ex-boyfriend Edward. Hes in town for a lecture series at Columbia and wants to grab dinner tonight. A year has passed since weve seen each other, and its been two years since we ended our relationship. I met him during a summer abroad in Scotland, and we dated for nearly two years while he was a professor here in the city (thankfully, not at Fordham) before deciding to end things. I was very much in love with him, and devastated by the breakup. 5:45 p.m. I run out of my office building and get a blowout at a hair salon where I have a membership. Spend the rest of the evening getting ready. Im spending an insane amount of time on my appearance, but I want to look my best when I see Edward. 7 p.m. Edward picks me up in a car. Id describe him as Dylan McDermott with salt-and-pepper hair. At 46, hes in amazing physical shape and one of the most brilliant men I have ever met. My mother might not have been overly happy about our relationship, but she supported me nonetheless. 9:50 p.m. Dinner is going fantastic: Were chatting like old friends. I tell Edward about Luke and he suggests not writing him off. The only reason I didnt stay with Edward is because hes a confirmed bachelor never married and never going to be. He also doesnt want children, which was the deal-breaker for me. 10:15 p.m. We finally leave the restaurant and Edward invites me back to his hotel for a nightcap. I must be a drunk on Champagne because I agree. Midnight It doesnt take long for the nightcap to turn into fondling. A few moments later, Edward is eating me out on top of the coffee table in the hotel room. Im not normally into oral, but he is a pro at making me come this way. We have sex every which way until were both a tangle of limbs on the bed. During pillow talk, Edward mentions that he misses me. My heart soars, but still: I remember how much our breakup hurt. I change the subject before we both fall asleep. Day Six 6:06 a.m. Edward has an early lecture to attend, and I need to get back to my apartment and get ready for class. But first, we order room-service pastries and coffee. I tell him Im going to be in London for the summer, and he says he will be too. We promise to set a date to meet up. 7 a.m. On my Uber ride home I feel weirdly reflective. Hearing Edward say he misses me made me so happy, but Im not about to stake my heart on him again. 10:46 a.m. I focus on my classes for the rest of the morning. My supervisor is still working from home, so that means I can head back to my apartment after my class. 12:30 p.m. Bump into Luke again. He has the rest of the day off and is wondering if I want to hang out. Im still feeling emotionally sensitive over Edward hanging out with Luke will make me feel better. 1:42 p.m. At my place, Luke and I moot (lawyer talk for practice) an oral argument he has tomorrow. We spend most of the afternoon working, and Im surprised at how comfortable it feels. 5 p.m. Were both starving, so we order Seamless and eat sushi with our hands, on the floor. Luke mentions his ex-girlfriend is seeing someone and my ears perk up. 8:45 p.m. I smoke a joint while Luke drinks some wine. We end up having sex, tender and slow, in my bed. I come once, then let him come in me. Even though I ask him to stay, he goes back to his apartment. He has the argument early in the morning and wants a good nights sleep. We kiss a little before he leaves. 9 p.m. I get a text from Nadeem asking what Im up to, but Im not feeling it and dont respond. An early night in wont do any harm. Day Seven 7 a.m. Wake up to a paragraph-size text from Luke. He says he wants to be serious about our relationship now that his ex-girlfriend is occupied. He has feelings for me, and hes wondering if I have them for him. Im a little giddy at the idea of having Luke as a boyfriend. I text yes to everything then cheerfully get ready for another day of classes. 8:05 a.m. I text Christine about Luke and Edward on my commute to school. She and I make plans to get drinks so we can psychoanalyze the hell out of this situation. 3 p.m. Another text from Nadeem asking me what Im up to. I text back that I had fun the other night but dont want to pursue anything. He doesnt respond. Think I just lost a friend? 8 p.m. My roommate and I eat a Trader Joes Indian dinner while catching up. Shes met Luke before and approves. Luke texts me that he won his case and is thrilled about my response. We make plans to prepare and strategize everything about our relationship this weekend. What? Were lawyers. Its what we do. Want to submit a sex diary? Email sexdiaries@nymag.com and tell us a little about yourself. Photo: Getty Images Fancasting the forthcoming HBO adaptation of Elena Ferrantes Neapolitan Novels which will kick off with an eight-episode series based on the first book, My Brilliant Friend was no easy feat. For one thing, the series follows characters across their whole lives, so unless you go the Im Not There route, you need a whole range of differently aged actors who could plausibly play the same person. Second, its pretty hard to find real-life actors who can capture the vividness and power of Ferrantes prose. (That, and if the series wants to evoke mid-century Italy, it should probably be cast entirely with Italian actors, preferably unknowns.) With that disclaimer in mind, heres our attempt at starting to fill out the cast with some familiar Hollywood faces. Dafne Keen as young Lila When we first meet Lila, she is described as a wild, almost feral child with a special set of gifts. Dafne Keen who had her big-screen breakout clawing bad guys to death as Wolverines mini-me in the Uber-violent Logan should have no problem terrorizing neighborhood children with her unpredictable, rock-throwing ways. Photo: Joe Schildhorn/BFA.com/BFA NYC Kaya Scodelario as teen/20s Lila Skins mysterious, troublemaking girl-of-few-words Effy is one of the few TV teens who could give teenage Lila a run for her money. Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images Eva Green as adult Lila Given the French actresss experience playing characters with a dark (often magical) side, Green is one of the few Hollywood actresses who would be able to capture adult Lilas bewitching intensity. And please, dont tell her shes beautiful. Photo: Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic Kiernan Shipka as young Elena When it comes to portraying hypercompetent, introspective, wise-beyond-their-years youths with the weight of the world on their shoulders, youve gotta call in a pro. Weve already watched Shipka mature through the ages on Mad Men; here, she would have a chance to bring her trademark sensitivity to a different stage of the teenage life cycle. (For even-younger Elena, you could always cast Designated Survivor star Mckenna Grace, Shipkas junior doppelganger). Photo: Rebecca Sapp/Getty Images for Santa Barbara I Saoirse Ronan as teen/20s Elena In Brooklyn, Ronan took us on a powerful, emotional journey as a young woman from a working-class background who harnessed her ingenuity, tenacity, and courage to build a new life for herself. Sprinkle in a little bit of the calculation she showed off in Atonement (and ditch the Irish accent), and thats our teenage Elena to a T. Photo: Alessio Botticelli/GC Images Kate Winslet as adult Elena While Lila is arguably the flashier part, Elena carries the weight of the narrative on her shoulders and serves as the audiences proxy. In the past decade or so, Winslet has excelled at playing troubled women who find their desires rebelling against the traditional confines of domestic life (see Little Children and Revolutionary Road). She definitely has the acting chops to embody Elenas many layers and internal contradictions to create a character we can empathize with and relate to, even if we dont always agree with her choices. And just for fun (totally ignoring the passage of time) Photo: Mike Windle/Getty Images Diego Luna as Nino Even though hes grown up since his Y Tu Mama Tambien days, Luna still has a boyish charisma. You can definitely imagine him as the sort of cerebral, floppy-haired, sleazeball charmer you would have pined after in college (although, as we saw in Rogue One, just because hes cute doesnt mean he ought to be trusted). Photo: Marc Piasecki/Getty Images Bobby Cannavale as Stefano Who better to portray the volatile, violent son of Don Achille than one of Boardwalk Empires most notorious gangsters? Photo: Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic/Getty Images Rami Malek as Enzo Enzo is a solid citizen loyal, dependable, hardworking but it always seems like theres more to him than meets the eye. The appealing Malek would be able to convey the characters fundamental goodness, while still making him something of an enigma. Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images Mark Ruffalo as Antonio Elenas first boyfriend is a classic Mark Ruffalo character: a sweet, well-meaning underdog who gets forced into doing some very bad things. Photo: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images Ansel Elgort and Miles Teller as Michele and Marcello Solara The roles these two were born to play. 15 Awesomely Crazy '80s Horror Movies Every Horror Buff Needs To See - https://t.co/RV0vOO2iTe pic.twitter.com/HSFVkj6zrF Screen Rant (@screenrant) 1 april 2017 14. SLEEPAWAY CAMP : Angela Baker, a traumatized and very shy young girl, is sent to summer camp with her cousin. Shortly after her arrival, anyone with sinister or less than honorable intentions gets their comeuppance. PUMPKINHEAD : After a group of bikers accidentally murder a young boy named Billy Harley his father Ed harley is devastated and the only thing he wants is revenge and goes to an old woman who is said to be a witch and conjures a demonic creature known as pumpkin head and with Revenge on his Mind unleashes him upon the bikers. 8. THEY LIVE : Nada, a down-on-his-luck construction worker, discovers a pair of special sunglasses. Wearing them, he is able to see the world as it really is: people being bombarded by media and government with messages like "Stay Asleep", "No Imagination", "Submit to Authority". Even scarier is that he is able to see that some usually normal-looking people are in fact ugly aliens in charge of the massive campaign to keep humans subdued. 4. RE-ANIMATOR : A medical student and his girlfriend become involved in a bizarre experiment into reanimating the dead conducted by the student's incorrigible housemate in this campy sendup of an H.P. Lovecraft story. The emphasis is on humour but once the dead walk, there is gore aplenty. 1. THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD : When a bumbling pair of employees at a medical supply warehouse accidentally release a deadly gas into the air, the vapors cause the dead to re-animate as they go on a rampage through Louisville, Kentucky seeking their favorite food, brains. favorite 80's horror movie? and what's your favorite ''crazy/over-the-top'' horror movie? I forgot to add this. It's also from today's episode. THIS WEEK'S GUESTS Monday, April 3 Day of Hot Topics; View Your Deal with hottest items at affordable prices. Tuesday, April 4 Day of Hot Topics. Wednesday, April 5 Helen Hunt (Shots Fired). Thursday, April 6 Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine & Alan Arkin (Going in Style); T.I. (T.I. And Tiny: The Family Hustle). Friday, April 7 Kurt Russell (The Fate Of The Furious). Reply Thread Link It's both astonishing and yet not surprising that Fox News STILL employs Bill O'Reilly. Oh to be a racist white man making millions on a racist news network. Reply Thread Link He's acting like a de factor Secretary of State. It's fucking BS. The Dems have enough votes to filibuster Gorsuch. Reply Parent Thread Link He looks so out of his fucking depth. PATHETIC. Reply Parent Thread Link Do they? Because 3 Dems already said they would vote for him. Reply Parent Thread Link omg this gif ahahahahahahah Reply Parent Thread Link like can he stay there? please? Reply Parent Thread Link Trompas taking credit for declaring April Sexual Assault Awareness month like that hasn't been established for years and years...And of course, the irony is not lost on me that he's doing so. Reply Thread Link lmao they think they're so slick Reply Parent Thread Link Blackwater is some demon shit, I swear. They're fucking evil. Reply Parent Thread Link Also known as Betsey DeVos's brother. Reply Parent Thread Link Prince is a real piece of work Reply Parent Thread Link the devos family is full of evil Reply Parent Thread Link Every single piece of news that drops, I wonder "Is THIS it? Is THIS what finally rids of us Trump?" Reply Parent Thread Link Hundreds of protesters descend on Ivanka's $5 million DC home (well, she is part of the administration) while neighbor watches in delight. pic.twitter.com/mrOUuRMCqj Mike Sington (@MikeSington) April 2, 2017 i'm the neighbour i'm the neighbour Reply Thread Link Her neighbor has a wine glass ready and the fur coat on. LOVELY! I THINK WE ARE ALL HER IN SOME RESPECT. Reply Parent Thread Link lol she needs to be a meme Reply Parent Thread Link omg her neighbour Reply Parent Thread Link nice Reply Parent Thread Link i don't understand that Laganja reference on the sign Reply Parent Thread Link omg is that neighbor standing on her front stoop in a fur coat and drinking champagne? Omg I LIVE Reply Parent Thread Link lmao oh my goddddd Reply Parent Thread Link That neighbor, nnnn. Reply Parent Thread Link Nah. Trump lost in DC bigly. Plus she looks elated. Reply Parent Thread Link We are all the neighbor. I would get a lawn chair and hand out lemonade and cookies. Reply Parent Thread Link I can't believe that hideous thing is $5 million Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Lol the woman with the wine glass, I'm dying Reply Parent Thread Link I'm deceased @the neighbor Reply Parent Thread Link Cersei in a fur coat lol Reply Parent Thread Link wine glass and fur coat what kind of petty rich yt shit is this lmao Reply Parent Thread Link lmao she is really enjoying the show, got her wine and everything Reply Parent Thread Link I'd be the neighbor that would order the protesters some food in intervals, like a variety of food from Domino's. Spending about $500. Why not if I can afford a $5 million house? Sitting on my little porch, feet up, laughing at the chaos. Reply Parent Thread Link Lmao that woman is also me. Reply Parent Thread Link Fucking IRL Lucille. Reply Parent Thread Link I voted for Resist. Reply Parent Thread Link def off topic (sorry OP!) but still political, and maybe interesting for some of you. as anyone heard about what's going on in hungary? Reply Thread Link we're getting news up here because the former liberal party leader is connected to the university, it's fucking scary ngl (if that's what you're referring to, if not my apologies) Reply Parent Thread Link yeah exactly that. i'm really worried! i dont even know how to describe how i feel.. :( Reply Parent Thread Expand Link What's happening over there? I haven't been tapped into the news sector today. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link so did the guy get immunity or not? Reply Thread Link well fuck Reply Parent Thread Link yikes Reply Parent Thread Link He doesn't have anything juicy. That's why he publicly asked for immunity, Trump publicly backed him asking for immunity and they turned him down. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link it's going to be glorious. Reply Parent Thread Link republicans will go nuclear then shit in the streets when dems take back the senate and get to confirm/deny whoever they want. Reply Parent Thread Link And McConnell will talk about how unfair it is that Dems don't play by the rules, the same way he's doing now. I hope they never live down refusing to give Garland a hearing. Reply Parent Thread Link I have lost all hope that good things will happen in this administration. Expect the worse lol. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Is that a smile or is he just so stupid he doesn't know how to keep his mouth closed? Reply Parent Thread Link The latter. He's totally a gapper. Reply Parent Thread Link HOLY PHOTOSHOP! Reply Parent Thread Link lol mine right below yours Reply Parent Thread Link what in the meitu hell... Reply Parent Thread Link their portraits are so bad and they dont even realize it Reply Parent Thread Link This looks like an Instagram "model" airbrushed it. Reply Parent Thread Link lmao bish Reply Parent Thread Link lol Reply Parent Thread Link i think she looks pretty! it's a pretty photo. as an official portrait..uhms... i wish i had her ring tho! Reply Parent Thread Link that photoshop, that ring, those ed sheeran eyes Reply Parent Thread Link what kind of season 5 legal drama pulling below average numbers cast photo realness Reply Parent Thread Link This Uncanny Valley realness. Reply Parent Thread Link yes the planes of one's face are so unattractive, let's just wish them away Reply Parent Thread Link Anyone know why Melania Trump's portrait was taken in front of the Muppet Babies Window? pic.twitter.com/EOLfwfBggE Sasha Stewart (@ArtfulStew) April 3, 2017 Can we talk? Reply Thread Link omg Reply Parent Thread Link how do u even figure that out omg Reply Parent Thread Link WTF @ Whoopi being racist about Kim Jong's name Anyway, I feel like Trump is getting even more unstable lately with his tweets about Hillary and at the FBI. Also, I really hate the term 45 for him. It sounds cool, like a spy or something, and just reminds me that yes he is the 45th president. I just call him Trump or Donald Trump. I would never refer to him as President Trump. Reply Thread Link I mean, after all of Whoopi's messiness, are you REALLY surprised? Reply Parent Thread Link same about the 45 especially since clinton and the bushes call each other 41, 42, 43 respectively as an inside joke Reply Parent Thread Link Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- President Donald Trump welcomed Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to the White House Monday to discuss economic and security matters. This meeting was al-Sisi's first official state visit since he took power through a military coup in 2013. In a press conference Monday afternoon, Trump said he looks "forward to a very long and strong relationship" with the Egyptian president as they work to defeat together ISIS in the Middle East. Later this afternoon, he told reporters weve made great progress today with Egypt, really great progress. "I just want to say to you, Mr. President, you have a great friend and ally in the United States," Trump said. Al-Sisi has been criticized by human rights organizations for his record of abuses, including imprisoning dissidents, banning protests and outlawing his opposition, the Muslim Brotherhood. Former President Barack Obama did not invite al-Sisi to the White House, and other Western leaders have spoken out against political repression under the Egyptian president. This is the first White House visit by an Egyptian head of state since President Mubarak in 2009. The White House would not rule out whether the two leaders plan to discuss human rights. Trump and al-Sisi have been friendly since they met during the campaign in September, when Trump called al-Sisi a "fantastic guy. Al-Sisi also praised Trump after their meeting Monday, expressing his deep appreciation and admiration for Trumps unique personality and praised his tough stance on terrorism. Very strongly and very openly, you will find Egypt and myself always behind you in this, in bringing about an effective strategy in counter terrorism, al-Sisi said with the assistance of a translator. Trump did not answer shouted questions from reporters on the Muslim Brotherhood and the FBI investigation into his campaigns possible ties with Russia. Copyright 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. OPEC, which has far exceeded the average life of cartels, is on the brink of failure. Though cracks have been developing in the cartel since the start of the current oil crisis, the group has managed to stay together so far. Nevertheless, the success of the current OPEC deal for production cuts will decide its future as a cartel. What is a cartel? A cartel is a group of like-minded producers, who act in concertor collusionto achieve a shared goal of increasing their profits by means of restricting supply, fixing prices, or destroying their competition by illegal means. The average life of the 20th Century cartels has been 3.7 to 7.5 years, according to various studies by Margaret Levenstein and Valerie Suslow. In the past two centuries, cartels have been able to influence prices by an average of 25 percent. History of OPECs success in boosting oil prices Since its inception, OPEC has been fairly successful in boosting prices by various means. A few of the price increases, however, were due to reasons other than direct OPEC action, nevertheless benefitting their members. Though the 1973 oil embargo was brought on by political reasons, OPEC used the production cuts of the embargo to boost oil prices from $3 a barrel in 1973 to $12 a barrel in 1974. The 1979 energy crisis was not a brainchild of OPEC. The production dropped due to the Iran-Iraq war, and the price of oil doubled in about 12 months, again benefitting OPEC members. OPEC was able to boost prices using production quotas and production cuts following the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997. What has OPEC done to support oil prices in the current oil crisis? OPEC, as any cartel would, has used two strategies to influence oil prices. However, both have been unsuccessful in achieving their objectives. Related: These Fundamentals Point To Higher Oil Prices In 2014, Saudi Arabia, the de facto leader of OPEC, attempted to stifle the competition of the shale oil drillers by keeping their production intact. As a result, oil prices plummeted to multi-year lows of about $27 a barrel in February 2016. The drop in oil prices saw 119 North American oil and gas producers file for bankruptcy from the beginning of 2015, according to Haynes and Boone, LLP. U.S. oil production dropped about 883,000 barrels a day by August 2016, after topping out at 9.7 million barrels a day in April 2015. Nevertheless, the price decrease went well below OPECs expectations. Meanwhile, many shale oil drillers used a combination of better technology and hedging to continue pumping oil, despite the low prices. As its first strategy failed to effect the U.S. shale oil production to the extent presumed, OPEC then adopted a second strategy of cutting production. On November 30, OPEC sealed a deal to cut production after months of difficult negotiation. Though prices bounced and broke out of the $52 levels a strong resistance they could not reach the $60 levels preferred by OPEC members. However, this modest rally in crude oil prices rejuvenated the U.S. shale oil drillers, and U.S. oil production is now on the rise. As a result, crude oil has dipped again and is hovering near the $50 per barrel level. The market believes that if crude oil prices remain above $50 per barrel, U.S. shale oil production will increase. For this reason, OPEC is finding itself in a catch-22 situation: It is losing market share to the U.S. shale oil drillers, but it is unable to propel prices considerably higher. It is losing its ability to influence prices above a certain level. Related: What Gold Can Tell You About Oil Prices What happens if the Cartel fails in its objective A cartel is able to hold its members only when it fulfills their objective of higher prices, which has not been the case with OPEC. The member nations will now look to fulfill their objective by cheating and acting individually, according to their requirement. Saudi Arabia, which was the leader of OPEC and the price setter of the world, is losing its clout in OPEC. Even in the current round of production cuts, most of the work is being done by Saudi Arabia, whereas the other members are shying away from their designated quotas. OPEC has far outlived the average lifespan of a cartel, but if the OPEC members dont regroup and act together, chances are that the cartel will come to an end very soon. By Rakesh Upadhyay for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Oil prices rallied more than 4 percent over the past week on rising expectations of an extension of the OPEC deal. Kuwait and several other OPEC members voiced support for an extension and a growing number of analysts see an extension as likely. Some experts even think OPEC has no choice but to roll over the cuts for another six months. But the IEA threw cold water on the notion that an extension would lead to higher oil prices. The IEAs executive director Fatih Birol told Reuters last week that keeping the cuts of 1.2 million barrels per day in place for another six months might not resolve the supply problem this year. There is a tremendous amount of stock in the markets and to expect a major increase in the price is not very realistic," Birol said. U.S. crude stocks still stand at a record high and even if they begin to come down it will take an extended period of time to bring them back in line with more typical levels. But aside from the inventory problem, the IEA says that any price increase would simply spark new supply, a development that would quickly bring prices right back down. That echoes a call from Goldman Sachs, which has maintained that the OPEC cuts will not engineer higher prices. Goldman went further recently, saying that even extending the cuts might be self-defeating. Goldman says an extension beyond June is not necessary and is probably ill-advised. The IEA argues that it isnt just a U.S. shale problem. Supply is set to come online from other non-OPEC producers, namely, Brazil and Canada. "If we see the prices go up as a result of any push from the producers ... we will see more oil coming to the market, not just from the U.S.; we will also see Brazilian and Canadian oil coming to the market." Related: What Is Putin Planning For Ukraine? But Mr. Birol might have misspoke. The IEA has projected increases in output from Brazil and Canada this year, regardless of whether or not prices go up in response to OPEC. Canada could add around 150,000 bpd this year, new supply coming from projects that began years ago. New oil sands projects are not exactly viable in todays market, but Canadian producers are still finishing up projects started in the pre-2014, $100 oil environment. Over the next five years, Canada will add nearly 1 million barrels per day. Brazil could be a larger headache for the oil market. Pre-salt projects are finishing up and could add 230,000 bpd this year. Brazil will add around 1.1 mb/d over the next five years, the IEA predicts. Unlike Canada, Brazil could have a much larger upside as its massive offshore reserves are still largely undeveloped. More importantly, after years of state ownership, Brazils offshore is enjoying a wave of interest from oil majors particularly Royal Dutch Shell after the government privatized and liberalized the sector last year. So, some of the new supply from Canada and Brazil is coming whether the oil market is prepared for it or not. New shale supply from the U.S. will be much more contingent on short-term fluctuations in oil prices. And those price movements will depend on what OPEC does in May. Related: Maduros Last Stand: Military Takes Over Struggling Oil Sector Despite the newfound optimism from oil traders regarding OPECs resolve, the cartel will play it close to the vest until the last minute. OPEC members have an interest in being cagey, as each will hold out support for a deal in order to exact concessions, as Ellen R. Wald argues in a recent article on Investing.com. Saudi Arabia will likely withhold support for a deal in order to pressure lagging OPEC members, threatening them with lower prices unless they step up. Russia too could scuttle an extension if it backs away from cooperation, and the threat of such an outcome grants them leverage in negotiations. The same is true for Saudi Arabia vis-a-vis Russia. In the meantime, as is often the case, OPEC will try to jawbone the market, offering investors morsels of confidence in order to talk up oil prices. But little will be known for certain until May. That wont stop the market from hanging on their every word. For now, hopes are rising that an extension will be agreed to, pushing WTI back up above $50 per barrel. By Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Three Mediterranean EU countries and Israel agreed on Monday to continue pursuing the development of a gas pipeline project that could link gas fields offshore Israel to Cyprus, Greece, and Italy, and potentially help the EU to diversify supplies away from Russia. The energy ministers of Cyprus, Israel, Italy and Greece agreed to initiate discussions on an intergovernmental accordance on the EastMed Pipeline, Cyprus' Minister of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism, Georgios Lakkotrypis tweeted on Monday after meeting with his counterparts in Israel. The pipeline could be completed in 2025, but the parties will try to speed up the project, Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said after the meeting, as quoted by Reuters. This is going to be the longest and deepest subsea gas pipeline in the world. Its a very ambitious project, The Jerusalem Post quoted Steinitz as saying. European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, Miguel Arias Canete, who attended the ministerial summit, said in a statement: In the next decades, gas flows from the eastern Mediterranean region will play a vital role in the energy security of the European Union. The Commission strongly supports the construction of the necessary energy infrastructure and developing a competitive and liquid gas market in the region. IGI Poseidon, the company that has completed the feasibility study, sees a final investment decision on the project by 2020, chief executive Elio Ruggeri told Reuters. According to Ruggeri, the pipeline would cost $5.3 billion (5 billion euro) to reach the Greek gas system, and $6.4 billion (6 billion euro) to reach the Italian system. Related: Russia Reaches 2/3 Of Oil Output Cut Target IGI Poseidona 50/50 joint venture between Greeces DEPA and Italys Edison SpAsaid on Monday that it welcomed the support to the EastMed Pipeline Project given by Italian Energy Minister Carlo Calenda and Israeli Minister Steinitz and confirms its endeavor to advance Projects development activities in accordance with the existing European framework for expediting Project of Common Interest. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: India is wagging its finger at Iran for delaying the license decision on a major gas field. Asias second-biggest oil market will reduce the amount of crude that it imports from Iran by 20 percent in financial 2017/18, media reported, quoting sources from the Indian oil sector. The field in question, Farzad B, is estimated to contain over 350 billion cu m of natural gas, with its productive life seen at 30 years. Indian giant ONGC has submitted a $3-billion bid for the development of Farzad B, but Tehran is taking its time, waiting for rivaland potentially betteroffers. As a result, New Delhi has instructed local refiners to shrink the input from Iran to 190,000 barrels daily from 240,000 bpd close to half of the total daily import rate for Iranian crude for the period from April 2016 to this February. In fact, Iran managed to get to the #3 spot among the top crude oil exporters to India, after Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Tehran, however, appears to be unfazed. Evidently bolder now that it is once again on the global market and can choose among bidders for its oil and gas fields, the Iranian state oil company has struck back by threatening to reduce the massive discount it offers Indian importers, from 80 percent to 60 percent. Iranian media recall that India was one of few countries that remained trade partners to Iran during the sanction years, supplying the country with a variety of otherwise inaccessible goods. Now that Irans fortunes have changed, it made clear its intention to expand its oil and gas industry as quickly as possible, apparently at the best possible price as well. For Indian refiners, the Hindu notes, it is a bit risky at this moment, while OPEC shrinks production in a bid to stimulate prices. With Iran cutting the discount, they might find it difficult to find economical alternatives to the supplies from Tehran. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Malaysias state oil and gas company Petronas announced the loading of the first liquefied natural gas cargo from a floating production facility over the weekend. The facility is located off the eastern coast of Malaysia and the cargo is bound for a client in South Asia, most probably South Korea, according to media. Reuters reported late last week that the loading of the 144,000-cu-m Seri Camellia tanker had started at the Petronas Floating LNG Satu. The Satu facility is estimated to have cost Petronas $10 billion, going into operation last year. Thanks to the floating facility, the Malaysian company beat other energy majors such as Shell and Japans Inpex, which are also working on floating LNG production projects. Petronas has shaped up to be one of the leaders in LNG: besides its local LNG operations, the company has a massive, $27-billion LNG project in Canada, the Pacific NorthWest LNG, which has faced several delays because of local environmentalist opposition and cost considerations. The Canadian project is a partnership with four other Asian companies, including China Petrochemical Corp, Japan Petroleum Exploration Corp., Indian Oil Corp. and Bruneis national energy company, and will open a new route for Canadian gas to Asian markets the biggest consumers of LNG currently. Yet the global LNG market has seen a massive influx of supply over the last year or so, mainly from Australia and the U.S., and this has naturally affected pries, putting a question mark over some projects, such as the Canadian one. Between 2014 and now, LNG prices on the spot market in Asia have fallen about 70 percent, to $5.50 per million Btu. Related: Russia Reaches 2/3 Of Oil Output Cut Target The Satu floating production facility, however, has proved resilient. Compared to another two projects, Shells Prelude FLNG and Inpex Ichtys facility, both in Australia, it has cost less: Prelude has a tag of $12 billion and the Ichthys project is valued at $37 billion. Both Australian projects have met with cost overruns and delays. By Irina Slav More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Russian oil giant Rosneft on Monday launched drilling of Russias northernmost offshore well in the East Arctic shelf, with a video conference at which Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the start of drilling. For the first time in history, drilling will be carried out on the Eastern Arctic continental shelf. The resource potential for the Laptev Sea alone, according to experts, reaches 9.5 billion tons of oil equivalent, Rosneft chief executive Igor Sechin said, as quoted by TASS news agency. Rosneft started drilling the Tsentralno Olginskaya-1 well at the Khatanga license area. In the East Arctic, Rosneft holds licenses for 9 projects, in the Chukchee Sea, East Siberian Sea, and Laptev Sea. After the Khatanga area drilling, Rosneft will also drill in the Black Sea this year, and in the Barents Sea next year, and will return to drilling in the Kara Sea in 2019, Sechin said during the video conference with Putin. Speaking to reporters, Sechin said that Rosneft could resume drilling in the Kara Sea in 2019 in partnership with Exxon, TASS reports. [Speaking about drilling in the Kara Sea], I was referring to our joint venture in partnership with Exxon. This joint venture operates, all the works are being carried out in compliance with the schedule. In accordance with that plan we are to start the next qualitative stage of work on this province in 2019, Sechin said, as quoted by TASS. Related: Oils Central Bank To The Rescue! Following the U.S. and EU sanctions against Russia over the annexation of Crimea, Exxon shelved its plans to take part in the exploration and exploitation of Russias Arctic shelf. Exxon was estimated to have lost more than $1 billion from the sanctions. The sanctions, however, have not discouraged Russia from pursuing its Arctic projects and resource exploration. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Grenade explosion killed police officer in IHK SRINAGAR: A grenade explosion killed a police officer and injured 10 other security personnel in Indian-held Kashmir on Sunday, police said, hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the volatile region. The incident took place in the Nowhatta area of Srinagar near the 14th century Jamia Masjid. "One police man died while 11 personnel have suffered injuries, some of them critically," a police officer said. During his visit, Modi asked the youth of the picturesque region to "choose between tourism and terrorism". "People of Kashmir have two roads in front of them: Tourism and terrorism so much blood has spilled, but nothing has been achieved. If anybody has lost anything, it is the mother who lost her son. If tourism would have been made the focus in the last 40 years, Kashmir would be the hub of tourists," Modi, whose party rules the disputed state in an alliance, said. Earlier, Modi inaugurated the tunnel which was opened for public on Sunday. Built at a staggering cost of INR 25,190 million on the only road link between Indian held-Kashmir and mainland India, the 9.27 km long tunnel, with state-of-the-art facilities and security equipment, will cut down the distance between Srinagar and Jammu by 30km with officials claiming that it will save fuel worth INR 999 million every year. "Let me tell the youth of Kashmir Valley what is the strength of a stone. On one side, misguided youth are throwing stones and on the other side, there are youth breaking stones to build Kashmir's future," he said, referring to a wave of anguish that swept the Kashmir region following the killing of three civilians by Indian forces last week. Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party has come under criticism for handling protests in Kashmir with an iron hand with New Delhi plainly refusing to acknowledge the political aspirations behind the street protests that left close to a hundred protesters dead in last year's uprising, and, instead, blaming Pakistan for fanning the unrest. "Those on the other side can't control themselves. I want to show the people of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir how Jammu and Kashmir can develop. Let those people see what development is so that they know the exploitation that they have suffered from those controlling them," Modi said while addressing a public rally in the Hindu-majority Jammu region of the state. Armed encounters between security forces and rebels fighting to end Indian rule over Kashmir have become more frequent since massive protests last year, sparked by the killing in July of popular commander Burhan Wani. Large parts of the Kashmir valley observed a virtual shutdown on Sunday following a call by separatists protesting Modi's visit. Rebel groups have for decades fought roughly 500,000 Indian soldiers deployed in the region, demanding independence or a merger of the territory with Pakistan. The fighting has left tens of thousands, mostly civilians, dead. The violence since last summer, largely in the form of troops firing on civilian crowds with pellet guns after protesters throw stones, has left 84 civilians dead and more than 12,000 civilians and security force personnel wounded. In addition to increased security, Modi's government has tried wooing the local population with the promise of a better future through investment, job creation and infrastructure development. Modi said the new tunnel would not only help farmers in the region take their produce to the capital in less time and avoid weather disruptions, but would potentially double tourism in the state. PPP to review its decision to form electoral alliances with PTI ISLAMABAD: There is resentment within the Pakistan Peoples Partys (PPP) ranks over its leaderships decision to form electoral alliances with the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) at the local level despite Imran Khans repeated outbursts against PPP leaders during public meetings and news conferences. Mr Khans latest tirade against the PPP came at a public meeting in Chakwal districts Talagang area on Sunday, where both parties have entered into a seat adjustment for a Punjab Assembly by-election. But the outburst has angered the PPP leadership so much that some office-bearers now want the party leadership to reverse its decision before polling day. Farhatullah Babar, the PPP spokesperson, called for reviewing the decision to make seat adjustments with the PTI under the present circumstances. Personally, I would like to revisit the electoral alliance with the PTI, but a decision can only be taken by the party, he said, vowing to raise the matter at a meeting of the partys Central Executive Committee, scheduled to be held in Larkana on Wednesday. Mr Babar said Imran Khans self-righteousness and stubborn refusal to look inward only serves to diminish him. One may pity a person who diminishes himself so persistently. At the public meeting on Sunday, Mr Khan lashed out at the PPP leadership particularly former president Asif Zardari even when he was reminded by party spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry that they had a seat adjustment with the PPP in the area. During his speech, Mr Khan created an embarrassing situation not only for the PPP, but for Mr Chaudhry as well, when he not only refused to stop criticism of the PPP leadership, but also told the gathering what Mr Chaudhry had whispered in his ear. Dismissing his concerns, Mr Khan said he had just been told the party was in alliance with the PPP in Chakwal and that he should not criticise them. However, he added, it didnt matter to him and that he would continue to raise his voice against the corrupt irrespective of their party affiliation. Imran Khan has been alleging that the PPP and the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) have entered into a deal to save each other from accountability. The PTI chief made this claim while referring to a slew of court decisions in favour of PPP leader Dr Asim Hussain, former minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi, model Ayyan Ali and ex-Sindh home minister Sharjeel Memon. The PTI chief even sees the return of PPP chief Asif Zardari as the result of a deal. There had been an unannounced ceasefire between the PPP and the PTI over the past few months since they had a common viewpoint over the Panama Papers issue and both parties were seen cooperating during parliamentary proceedings. But during a news conference last week, the PTI chief had ruled out the possibility of an alliance with the PPP, saying it is not possible till Asif Zardari is head of the PPP. The by-election in Punjab Assemblys constituency PP-23 (Chakwal-IV) will be held on April 18. The seat had fallen vacant after the death of PML-N MPA Malik Zahoor Anwar in February. Speaking to repoters, Punjab PPP president Qamar Zaman Kaira said that in future, we shall be careful while deciding on an electoral alliance with the PTI in any constituency. The PPP leader said he was surprised to see Mr Khan abusing the PPP while speaking at a place where both parties had joined hands to give the ruling party a tough time. He said the PPP had extended its support to PTI as a goodwill gesture at the request of the PTI and other opposition parties. Mr Kaira regretted that the PTI chief had no regard for anyone, saying: What can we do when Imran does not listen to his own party men, and even embarrasses them publicly. Fawad Chaudhry of the Tehrik-i-Insaf said his party had not entered into any formal alliance with the PPP. The alliance in Chakwal was a seat adjustment at the local level and has nothing to do with the PTIs policies, he added. Asked if local seat adjustments had been made without seeking the permission of Imran Khan, who had recently declared that the PTI would not enter into any alliance with the PPP under the leadership of Mr Zardari, the PTI leader said that principles did not apply at the micro-level since local political dynamics played a major role in decisions regarding seat adjustments. Meanwhile, PPP Senator Saeed Ghani responded to the PTI chief in the same coin, saying: Imran Khan has turned into a psychopath. In a statement released on Sunday, Senator Ghani levelled allegations of corruption against Imran Khans father, saying he was dismissed from service. Now, Mr Ghani said, Imran Khan wanted others to forget his fathers sins by raising a hue and cry and levelling false accusations. From Greg Swank, 12-4-2 You are about to read a list of 45 goals that found their way down the halls of our great Capitol back in 1963. As... 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. The holiday revelers, about 150 strong, gathered at East End Brewing Company to enjoy a different sort of Christmas celebration, neither family gathering nor office party. Rather, this soiree was hosted by Walnut Capital for the tenants of its trendy Bakery Living apartment complex at Bakery Square in Shadyside. To underscore how responsive it is to the millennials who largely form the Bakery Living community, Walnut Capital presented each with the perfect New Age favora pair of gift cards for Uber. For those who remember the days when landlord-tenant relationships centered on security deposit disputes and leaky furnaces, the focus by Walnut Capital and other developers on kicky new services may seem startling. Yet its that very emphasis that has driven extraordinary growth in the apartment sector. That growth is particularly important because it comes amid prolonged sluggishness in the single-family housing market, which only now is beginning to shake to life. Thus, its the hot apartment sector that continues to be a key provider of residential support for the regions economic momentum. Uncertainty in the Single-family Market When the mortgage scandals struck in the mid-2000s, shock waves rolled through the nation; southwestern Pennsylvania hardly was immune. With respected industry veterans going to jail and old-line financial institutions socked with hundreds of millions in fines, there was very little available financingor stomachfor new single-family housing starts. In 200810, the six-county area of southwestern Pennsylvania saw a total of 8,933 housing starts, according to Tall Timber Group, which tracks permits and starts. Compare that to the total for the first three years of this century, when the region saw 14,084 single-family housing starts. Thats a decline of more than 36 percent. The 2,778 total for 2010 was the lowest for any year this century. Uncertainty in the single-family market had still another impact. It persuaded baby boomers and empty nesters, who might have been expected to swap out too-spacious homes for more appropriate quarters, to hang on to their properties a little longer. Baby boomers want something right for todays living, says Helen Hanna Casey, president and CEO of Pittsburgh-based Howard Hanna Real Estate Services, the third-largest real estate company in America. They want to right size, not downsize. Market wide, the (residential) communities we offer are very popular, but we dont have a lot of them, and we dont have a lot of new condominiums. I think boomers are having to look longer for what they want, so theyre staying in their homes longer. The market is a little more static than it could be and should be because of lack of inventory. Its still a great marketespecially if your house meets the needs of todays buyers. For the single-family market, its a double whammy: not much in the way of new construction, fewer than expected existing homes on the market. Thus, inventory is tight. Thats had a salutary effect on the value of existing homes. According to Zillow, an online real estate database company, the average home in Allegheny County will be worth $140,000 in November 2017, up from about $100,000 a decade earlier. But as far as activity in the market, forget it. The single-family market is depressingly dull, says Jeff Burd, Tall Timber Group president. Its been flat for an extended period of time its a crazy thing. Homes here arent built for seniors. Its not a friendly environment for people in danger of falling. Yet Pittsburgh has one of the highest retention rates. Youre seeing lingering fear from the financial bust that people couldnt sell their homes if they put them on the market. Slowly, however, the market is rising to meet the needs of boomers. Among the developments filling the void is Edgewater at Oakmont, a community along the Allegheny River that mixes detached single-family homes (in the $350,000$800,000 range), townhouses and condominiums. When Murrysville-based Kacin Properties acquired the former site of Edgewater Steel operations in 2006, it decided to minimize its risk by constructing only contracted units. Kacin, which developed the Summerset at Frick Park complex in Squirrel Hill, neednt have 170 completed, occupied homes with only a little room left on the 34-acre property for expansion. Were two to three years ahead of where we projected wed be, notes Jason C. Corna, Kacins director of marketing and sales and managing broker for Edgewater Realty. Edgewater has attracted a mix of buyers, but most are local and from a dominant demographic. We do have a high rate of empty-nesters, Corna confirms. Some have left the suburbs for something thats more city-like. We figured if we could replicate something like Summerset within a walkable town, it would be even more successful. Also in the works is a community called Pinnacle at Adams, which Traditions of America is developing in Butler County. The Radnorbased company already has built several successful local adult communities, including Sewickley Ridge and Summer Seat, in Allegheny County, but Pinnacle at Adams will offer homes beginning at $350,000 that are a little larger and offer such natural amenities as outdoor fitness stations and an on-site pond for kayaking and canoeing. Says Janette Hawkins, Traditions of America marketing director: We think people have been waiting for an opportunity like this, where they have a little more space but still have low maintenance. Pinnacle will appeal to people who like to be outdoors and have those amenities right within their community. Pittsburgh has been a very good market for Traditions. Were definitely planning on a couple more projects out there. A Perfect Storm for Apartments The same factors that have depressed the single-family market have fueled an amazing, if not unprecedented, boom in the development of apartment units. The multi-unit market bottomed out in 2010 when, according to Tall Timber Group, only 92 units were started in the region, barely enough for one healthy block party. But output rose in each of the next five years. From 2013 to 2015, developers launched 7,451 apartment unitsfigures that hadnt been seen in this century. Some developers found apartments were the only things they could get financed, Burd says. Insurance companies fell in love with them. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were happy to finance them. Millions of people around the country lost their homes. So the rental market got a boost. And you had a generation coming out of college, finding pretty good jobs, and they werent looking to buy homes. Plus the natural gas business was renter-friendly. So you had a perfect storm from a building standpoint. Another force in the apartment boom has been the success of the region in landing cutting-edge companies that are attracting millennials and paying them well. The drivers for it are folks relocating here, Burd agrees. Theyre doctors, engineers, they work for Google, Uber, Apple. They come from urban places and theyre looking for urban settings. Those units are not having problems filling up. Our new residents arent looking for permanent digs just yet. They dont need the big space, Casey says. One space downstairs that is open is great for them because they love gathering spaces. They love walking spaces. They want Wednesday Wine Night in the lobby, package pick-up service. They want to have a community. Shadyside-based Walnut Capital is among the developers that have stepped up big time to meet the emerging needs of this new generation of apartment hunters. Of the roughly 2,500 units Walnut Capital has developed, more than 1,000 have been delivered to market in the last four years, including the signature Bakery Living on the site of the former Reizenstein Middle School. Todd Reidbord, president of Walnut Capital, acknowledges that occupancy rates in the regions apartment market have softened a bit. I cant remember a building boom like this, but you have to remember that we went 50 years without building anything of significance. Weve always been a little conservative here. Weve seen 100 percent occupancy here for the last 50 years. For the first time, were seeing 1015 percent vacancy. Its the new normal. Burd notes that if the apartment market was overheated, theres a cool-down ahead. Hes projected the number of 2016 apartment starts at 1,985. If thats correct, it will be the first year since 2013 with fewer than 2,000 starts. If I had to sum it up in one word, Id say we are slightly overbuilt, but I think were as overbuilt as well get. There still are 3,000 or 3,500 units in the pipeline, but indications are some of those are on the shelf. And if the region continues its success in attracting young professionals, the apartment market will stay healthyno ifs, ands or gluts. Theres a little bit of overbuilding now, but well eventually catch up with it, Reidbord predicts. The real challenge is to offer opportunities for business to locate here. If they come, apartments will follow. East Liberty-Shadyside is the epicenter of Pittsburghs new apartment wave, featuring both Bakery Living and the three-building Mosites Co. complex known as Eastside Bond. Together, these developments, only a stones throw apart, have introduced more than 700 rental units over the past few years. One of the attractions of the neighborhood is its proximity to Oaklands universities and tech sector, the source of so much of the regions vitality. Pitt is a national institution now. People come from all over the world to live and study there, notes Walnut Capitals Todd Reidbord. These arent people who default to apartments. These are people who choose to live in apartments. They want all the services and dont want to be doing it themselves. Because those services are more important to them than spacious quarters, many Bakery Living tenants opt for smallish units of 400600 square feet priced from $1,100 to $1,300 per month. We have units in the $2,500$3,000 range, Reidbord says, but we dont rely on them. Rather than hunker down in their units, residents of Bakery Living and Eastside Bond socialize in large community areas, work out in swimming pools and fitness centers, grill in fire pits and chill in theater roomsall amenities that the complexes provide. For Dave DeBor, a Bakery Living resident, the services go even farther. DeBor, who works in admissions at Carnegie Mellon University, travels to campus each morning via the shuttle bus service that Walnut Capital offers all its East End tenants. When he works from home, DeBor checks into one of Bakery Livings personal work nooks. I still get separation of work and life, which is really nice, he says. DeBor is so enamored of the community hes found that hes signed on with Brandbassadors, a group of tenants who use social media to familiarize others with Bakery Living. The whole idea is to get people out of their units and engaged with one another, he says. The units are nice, dont get me wrong, but its the amenities that add value. CAMBRIDGE A Cambridge man was jailed Friday night after he allegedly attacked a woman as she held a young child, police said. Gordon O. Roberts, 24, of Plains Road, faces four charges for the Friday night incident at a home he shared with the victim, according to State Police. He was charged with aggravated family offense, a felony, misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child and criminal mischief and non-criminal harassment, records show. Roberts was accused of hitting the victim as she held a 6-month-old baby, and taking a phone from her when she tried to call for help. He was arraigned and sent to Washington County Jail for lack of bail. GRANVILLE State Police arrested three people, one of them a Vermont woman believed to be a major heroin dealer in Vermont and eastern New York, on Friday when seizing a significant amount of heroin and crack cocaine. Included in one of her alleged sales was a powerful painkiller known as Fentanyl, which has been blamed for numerous drug overdose deaths, authorities said. We knew Fentanyl has been here. Now we have proof, Washington County District Attorney Tony Jordan said. The alleged dealer, Lesley M. Fontaine, 40, of Fair Haven, Vermont, was charged with eight felonies when police arrested her on a road in Middle Granville on Friday, seizing 200 bags of heroin and 8 grams of crack when taking her into custody, police said. Fontaine was arrested as part of a year-long interstate investigation by State Police in New York and the Vermont Drug Task Force and Washington County Drug Task Force into drug sales on both sides of the state line, an investigation that included allegations that she sold drugs in Washington County on three occasions over the past year. Police believe she was selling narcotics in the Rutland, Vermont area, and had connections to New York City to re-supply for sales in the Granville area as well. This case was a great example of (State Police) Investigator D.J. Mosher working tirelessly to address the drug problem in our region and getting great cooperation from the Washington County Sheriffs Office and Vermont State Police, Jordan said. State Police lured her over the state line on Friday to be picked up on a grand jury indictment warrant in Washington County Court, and found her to have more drugs when the vehicle she was in was stopped at the intersection of Fox and Butler Roads in Middle Granville, just west of the state line. With her at the time were Tykesha Williams, 21, of Great Bend, New York, and Neal Wilday, 36, of Granville, according to State Police. Wilday was driving the vehicle, and both he and Williams face two felony counts each of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance for alleged possession of the heroin and crack that was seized Friday. Fontaine faces three counts of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance, and five counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance, police said. She has a history of drug arrests in at least two other states, including Vermont, officials said. All three were arraigned and sent to Washington County Jail for lack of bail. State Police plan to seized the 2006 Audi sedan that Wilday drove. Each faces up to 9 years in state prison on each felony charge. GLENS FALLS A neighbor had just tried to rape her in her home, nearly choking her to death. She was devastated and wasnt sure what the months to come would bring. More than a year later, the man who attacked her is in prison for decades, and the victim said she has a second family in the people who investigated the case, prosecuted her rapist and helped her through an act of unspeakable violence. But to Warren County District Attorney Kate Hogan, the one most deserving of credit was the victim, who was honored Monday for her courage in confronting her rapist and helping authorities lock him up. What happened when she went to help a neighbor was horror no one should go through, Hogan said in giving the victim an award as part of the annual Warren-Washington counties observance of National Crime Victims Rights Week. She represents the innocent victim who was never going to let this bother her. The Glens Falls woman was one of 14 people and three local agencies honored for their assistance to crime victims during an event at The Queensbury Hotel. Her attacker, Michael Butkiewicz, was convicted of attempted rape, first-degree sexual abuse and lesser charges and is serving a 29-year prison sentence. She said the Glens Falls Police Department, District Attorneys Office and Sexual Assault Support Services of Warren County provided constant support from the moment she came forward. What was a horrible experience really turned out to be very empowering, she said. Without everybody around me, I couldnt have survived so well. Also honored Monday was the family of Kevin Jenks, a Glens Falls man who was killed last summer; a Hudson Falls woman who chased a burglar out of her home; and numerous police officers who were credited for their work. Among the honorees were: Hudson Falls resident Erin Brisbin, who along with her neighbors chased and caught a man who burglarized her home last July 14. State Police Investigator David Mosher and State Police investigators from Herkimer, for their role in arresting the men who killed Jenks. Glens Falls Police Sgt. Miguel Chico, for his work in the Butkiewicz rape case. Chico credited the woman for her strength. Shes the real hero in this case, he said. Washington County sheriffs Deputy Bobby Sullivan, recognized for his efforts in establishing a program in Washington County schools to combat drunken driving and for his efforts serving as a mentor to youths in his hometown of Salem. You make a huge difference in your community, Jordan told Sullivan. Hudson Falls Police Detective Scott Gillis, for his role in investigating a child sexual assault case that Washington County District Attorney Tony Jordan said initially appeared questionable. Whitehall Police Detective Frank Hunt for his tenacious and persistent efforts during crime investigations. Fort Edward Town and Village Justice Joseph Malvuccio and his clerk, Sharon Underwood, for their efforts in establishing and operating a domestic violence court in Fort Edward. Former Warren County sheriffs Lt. Lee Corsones and Capt. Michael Gates, for their assistance to crime victims. State Police investigators from the Greenwich station, who were honored with the Bruce Hamilton Award by Washington County Sheriff Jeff Murphy for their assistance to other agencies in the county. State Police Senior Investigator Robert Stampfli accepted the award. The sheriffs offices from Warren and Washington counties were recognized by Sexual Assault Support Services. WHITE CREEK -- Firefighters from around southern Washington County were called out to battle a barn fire early Monday. The fire on Route 313 was reported just after 2 a.m. by residents of the property, according to the Washington County Department of Public Safety. Firefighters were able to keep the fire from jumping to a nearby home. The barn housed sheep, and Channel 10 news reported several sheep died. Firefighters from White Creek, Cambridge and Shushan were among those called out. More details will be posted when they become available. A storm in Lebanon: Dozens of masked Hezbollah men are documented in nighttime operation to arrest drug dealers in Beirut; Opponents of the organization: This is what a country that has given up its authority in favor of the "tiny state" looks like'; Hezbollah: Photos are of 'the young supporters of the organization,' who were told to stop. A set of unusual pictures came out on the tailend end of last week from the southern suburb of Beirut, which is in effect a Hezbollah stronghold. The photographs show men wearing black during a raid in the Palestinian refugee camp Bourj el-Barajneh. Those who published these photos on social media claimed the men were members of the Shi'ite terror organization who had set out to catch drug dealers and drug users, in addition to other lawbreakers. The force apparently included dozens of Hezbollah members and was presented as the organization's "social security department." Up until the end of last week, the members of this force had not been seen. The images of the men caused an uproar by Hezbollah opponents, who saw them as another sign that the Lebanese state was losing its ability to rule over Hezbollah. "This is what a country that has given up its authority in favor of the 'tiny state' looks like," said Ashraf Rifi, Lebanon's former justice minister and one of the most vocal opponents of Hassan Nasrallah's Hezbollah organization. Rifi said that the pictures testify for the umpteenth time how the very existence of Hezbollah goes against the state and its institutions. The Lebanese newspaper An-Nahar asked Hezbollah's information bureau if the organization believes it has the right, regardless of how powerful it has become, to take the country's place on its missions. Hezbollah responded by saying that "The pictures that were distributed belong to the young supporters of the organization, who were eager to help the security forces and carried out this activity without coordination with Hezbollah. Hezbollah has contacted them to have them desist, and the matter is now resolved." Sources in Hezbollah told the Lebanese channel MTV that the struggle against drugs is within the jurisdiction of the state and not under Hezbollah's authority. U.S. backed Syrian forces repelled a major counter-attack by Islamic State militants holding out at the country's largest dam and in the nearby town of Tabqa, the group and activists said on Sunday. The dam is a key strategic target in the military campaign to isolate and capture the Syrian city of Raqqa, 40 km (25 miles) to the east and Islamic State's biggest urban stronghold. The U.S.-backed group said militants attacked their positions north-east of Tabqa and at an airbase to the south of the town where dozens of their fighters were killed; but the coalition of Kurdish and Arab militias was making slower advances in a village east of the town. Jehan Sheikh Ahmad, a spokeswoman for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), spearheaded by the powerful Kurdish YPG militia, said the militants were stepping up their resistance as SDF forces got closer to encircling the town and the dam. Hundreds of families with their cattle, property, motor bikes and vans continued on Sunday to flee from villages under Islamic State control. The U.S.-backed forces say at least 7,000 people have taken shelter in their areas since the campaign to capture Tabqa. Many are also fleeing air strikes on civilian areas in Raqqa province that have left dozens dead according to activists and the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Last month strikes believed to be conducted by the U.S.-led coalition hit a bakery and a local market in Tabqa town with dozens of civilians killed. Another raid that hit a school sheltering displaced people near Raqqa also killed scores. US President Donald Trump is granting more and more freedom to the Pentagon in conducting US military operations and silently increasing the number of US troops around the world. In the three months of his presidency, Trump has given the US Department of Defense significant control over US military operations around the world, in contrast to what military officials called former President Barack Obama's "micromanagement." The US is also quietly increasing its troop deployments around the world, and using loopholes to avoid technically exceeding troop caps. In Iraq and Syria, Trump authorized the deployment of additional US ground troops, without any public debate. From now on, the US military command will stop disclosing the exact number of troops stationed in Syria and Iraq. Thanks to the decade-old Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) brought into effect after the 9/11 attacks, the White House has the power to dispatch troops without Congressional debate, and classify them as "temporary," according to ABC News. Temporary troops are not counted toward the overall numbers officially deemed to be serving in a country. What is not known are the true intentions of the White House, or the ultimate result of ramping up military operations. A final and decisive defeat of the chaos-inducing terror groups that have sprawled around the world is surely to be desired. But as US military intervention, including toppling governments, is seen as directly contributing to their formation, its unclear whether unfettered boots on the ground will really be a solution. Talks between Israel and the US on curbing settlement building have reportedly been suspended after negotiations failed to yield an agreement. Israel Radio reported Sunday that the negotiations were put on hold after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jason Greenblatt US President Donald Trumps special envoy and working groups on both sides failed to reach understandings on the issue. There was no immediate confirmation of the report, which comes days after the Israeli government announced self-imposed settlement restrictions. On Thursday, Netanyahu told members of the security cabinet that Israel would curtail construction in West Bank settlements as a goodwill gesture to Trump. The Prime Ministers Office said overnight Thursday-Friday any future construction would be limited to existing settlement boundaries or adjacent to them. In response to new curbs on West Bank construction, Israeli settlement supporters hoped for the best and expected the worst, tempering their initial euphoria at US President Donald Trumps election. Pro-settlement leaders who advocate Jewish control of the entire West Bank went as far as to cautiously welcome the governments announcement Thursday that construction would be largely restricted to developed areas of existing Jewish communities in the West Bank. Others hoped the restrictions did not amount to a freeze on settlement building. You need to understand that people built up an expectation that there would be a new president, the old era would end, and wed be able to do whatever we want, Yesha Council foreign envoy Oded Revivi told JTA on Sunday. All of a sudden, reality doesnt look like our expectations. Much of the Israeli right anticipated Trump would give Israel a freer hand in the West Bank than had his predecessor, Barack Obama. But since being elected, Trump has backed off his pledge to move the US Embassy in Jerusalem to Tel Aviv and made moves toward the final status agreement he has said he wants to broker between Israel and the Palestinians. Most of the world considers all Israeli construction in the territories it captured in the 1967 Six-Day War illegal. But Israel disputes this and allows government authorized settlements on land not demonstrably owned by Palestinians. While Israel stopped establishing new settlements in the early 1990s, it has retroactively approved outposts and let existing settlements expand. On Friday, Revivi put a positive spin on the policy, saying the Yesha Council, which is the main umbrella group for the settlements, would keep an eye on the West Bank which he referred to by its biblical name, Judea and Samaria to make sure these plans come to fruition. Meanwhile, several right-wing lawmakers worried that the restrictions amounted to a suspension of settlement building. Yehudah Glick, a Knesset member in the ruling Likud party who lives in a settlement, held out hope in a tweet Friday that this was not the case. I hope, in contrast to the commentators, that the government did not decide on a freeze on settlement construction, he said. We cannot accept this. Construction in Judea and Samaria is important for those who want peace. Bezalel Smotrich, an often inflammatory Jewish Home party lawmaker who also lives in a West Bank settlement, suggested Israels political right had lowered its expectations too far. This morning, on my [news feed] and according to the commentators the right wing claims that the cabinet decided yesterday on construction [in the West Bank], the left claims that there is a freeze, Smotrich, an often inflammatory Jewish Home lawmaker, tweeted Friday. Unfortunately this time the commentators on the left are correct. The right is willfully blinded. Judy Simon, the former tourism coordinator for the settlement Beit El and a teacher there, said she has lost faith in the governments commitment to the settlement enterprise since Trump took office. Here we have most pro-Israel government weve had [in Washington] in a decade, some say decades, and yet building is still being limited. What that says to me is the king has no clothes, she told JTA Sunday. But God promised this is our land forever, and God never reneges on his promises, unlike some politicians. It seems that despite the warnings of the UN and US, Israel is poised and ready to continue its construction of settlements for years to come, according to RIA Novosti political analyst Vladimir Ardayev. In an opinion piece for RIA Novosti , Russian political analyst Vladimir Ardayev focused on Israel's ongoing construction of settlements, which he said shows no sign of abating despite the cautionary words of both the United Nations and the Trump administration. His remarks came after the Israeli government gave the green light to the construction of a new settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank for the first time in more than two decades. Additionally, Jerusalem approved the further expansion of Israel's settlement construction despite President Trump's previous request that it suspend settlement activity. About 2,000 houses will be built in the West Bank's Shiloh area, in line with an Israeli government decision; the houses will accommodate residents of the Amon outpost, who were evacuated from the illegal outpost of Amona. Ardayev recalled that in December 2016, the UN Security Council adopted resolution No. 2334, which demands that Israel should stop its settlement activity in the West Bank. Jerusalem was quick to say that it will not adhere to the resolution, which was described as a "shame" by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Welcome Guest! You Are Here: The currency had been up by as much as 0.8% at 20.9358 per dollar at about 8:50 a.m. ET. "This morning we have informed the White House that I will not attend the meeting scheduled for next Tuesday with the @POTUS," Pena Nieto tweeted, according to an online translation. That followed a tweet sent earlier on Thursday morning from Trump's personal Twitter account that said: "The U.S. has a 60 billion dollar trade deficit with Mexico. It has been a one-sided deal from the beginning of NAFTA with massive numbers of jobs and companies lost. If Mexico is unwilling to pay for the badly needed wall, then it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting." Pena Nieto was initially scheduled to meet with Trump next Tuesday in what would have been the duo's first bilateral meeting since the new US administration took office. Mexican opposition figures had urged Pena Nieto to cancel the meeting to protest Trump's demand that Mexico pay for a wall on its border with the US, according to reports on Wednesday. In a recorded address that was nationally televised, Pena Nieto said, "I regret and reject the decision of the US to build the wall." Lithuania's defense minister and military communications officials told The Guardian that they were "taking very seriously" Russia-organized propaganda efforts to undermine stability in the Baltics, which consist of Lithuania and its northern neighbors, Latvia and Estonia. "Russia is a threat," Lithuanian Defense Minister Raimundas Karoblis told The Guardian. "They are saying our capital Vilnius should not belong to Lithuania because between the first and second world wars it was occupied by Poland." "There are now reports that Klaipeda never belonged to Lithuania, that it was a gift of Stalin after the second world war," Karoblis said. Klaipeda is Lithuania's third-largest city. "There are real parallels with Crimea's annexation [from Ukraine] ... We are speaking of a danger to the territorial integrity of Lithuania," Karoblis added. Lithuanian officials said attempts to dispute or alter history could be a prelude to offensive action, similar to more than a decade of such disinformation efforts in Ukraine that led to Russia's annexation of the Crimean peninsula. Prominent Russian politicians have challenged Lithuania's right to exist, and television and social-media campaigns have charged that Vilnius is mistreating ethnic Russians or laid claim to parts of Lithuania, which does not border Russia but abuts Kaliningrad, a Russian semi-exclave on the Baltic Sea. Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested or justified Russian action in the past on the basis of defending Russian speakers abroad, which some of those groups have embraced. The Lithuanian military's strategic-communications department has noticed the creation of Facebook pages for "statelets" in the Baltics another development reminiscent of the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Recent developments in Russian military capabilities have given more weight to fears over looming kinetic actions. Lithuania's intelligence service said in its annual threat assessment that Moscow last year upgraded its military in Kaliningrad, reducing lead times for any attack and potentially preventing NATO reinforcements. Vilnius said Moscow was able to launch an attack on the Baltics with as little as 24 hours' notice. Russia has recently deployed nuclear-capable missiles to Kaliningrad, which prompted protests from Lithuania. Moscow is making its biggest push into the Arctic and running its submarine force at the highest operational tempo since the fall of the Soviet Union. "This is a signal to NATO to improve its decision speed," Lithuanian Defense Minister Raimundas Karoblis told reporters during the presentation of the report. "NATO's reaction time is not as fast as we would like it to be." Moscow, for its part, denounced recent reports about its capabilities in the Baltics as "total Russophobia," but other NATO members and neighboring countries have been stepping up their military activities in Eastern Europe, which is already bristling with offensive and defensive weaponry. Germany is to lead a contingent of 1,000 troops from NATO states to Lithuania. Battle groups led by the UK and Canada will also take up positions in Latvia and Estonia. More than 1,100 troops 900 of them from the US recently took up position in Poland, which plans to buy $7.6 billion worth of Patriot air-defense missiles to counter Moscow, in a move that was greeted with Russian ire. "This is a mission, not a cycle of training events," said US Army Lt. Col. Steven Gventer, who heads the battle group in Poland. "The purpose is to deter aggression in the Baltics and in Poland ... We are fully ready to be lethal." Finland, which is not a NATO member but has a long, bloody history with its Russian neighbor, is beefing up its military force as well. The US has deployed dozens of helicopters and thousands of pieces of military equipment to Germany in recent weeks to underscore Washington's "rock-solid commitment to Europe." French jets have also shadowed Russian fighters in the skies above the Baltics, identifying and observing Russian planes in international airspace along NATO's northern border. Heightened tensions between NATO and Russia in Europe come as relations between the military bloc and the US have become more contentious with the arrival of President Donald Trump. Trump and other US officials have emphasized that NATO countries need to step up their defense spending or risk US pullback from the alliance. At least one NATO member Estonia which sits at the northern edge of the Baltics, has thrown in with Trump on the issue of NATO commitments. The intelligence reports obtained by Rice, who served under President Barack Obama from 2013 to 2017, "were summaries of monitored conversations primarily between foreign officials discussing the Trump transition, but also in some cases direct contact between members of the Trump team and monitored foreign officials," Bloomberg's Eli Lake reported on Monday. National-security experts say Rice's reported requests to identify who was speaking with the foreign officials before Trump was inaugurated were neither unusual nor against the law especially if, as Lake reported, the foreign officials being monitored were discussing "valuable political information" that required the identity of the people they were speaking to, or about, to be uncovered. "The identities of US persons may be released under two circumstances: 1) the identity is needed to make sense of the intercept; 2) if a crime is involved in the conversation," said Robert Deitz, a former senior counselor to the CIA director and former general counsel at the National Security Agency. "Any senior official who receives the underlying intelligence may request these identities," Deitz said, noting that while "the bar for obtaining the identity is not particularly high, it must come from a senior official, and the reason cannot simply be raw curiosity." Documents showing that Rice made those requests were uncovered by the National Security Council's senior director for intelligence, Ezra Cohen-Watnick, according to Lake's reporting. Cohen-Watnick was involved in providing documents related to the incidental surveillance of members of Trump's transition team to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes about two weeks ago, though it is unclear if they are the same documents mentioned in Lake's reporting. Nunes, a California Republican, told reporters last month that he briefed Trump on the documents because he was concerned about the potential "unmasking" of US persons caught up in routine surveillance, though he said he had no evidence that such unmasking had been unwarranted or illegal. A source of concern to some, however, has been why some of Trump's associates who had been caught up in the surveillance and later unmasked, such as former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, had their names leaked to the press. Lake, for instance, has argued that the "selective leaking of monitored communications of US persons is a police-state tactic." But former NSA Director Michael Hayden, who also served as the principal deputy director of national intelligence and the director of the CIA, cautioned against "automatically assuming that the US person was party to the conversation" that may have prompted an unmasking. "My life experience suggests that the overwhelming proportion of these cases of incidental collection is not information to or from an American, but information about an American," Hayden said. "In this case, it is very likely in most instances two foreigners talking about the Trump transition." Lake's article follows a Fox News report citing "a source" who said the official who sought to identify the people who were speaking with monitored foreign agents was "very well known, very high up, very senior in the intelligence world." Trump on Monday praised Fox's "amazing reporting on unmasking and the crooked scheme against us," which he said showed that "there was electronic surveillance" of his inner circle during the transition. A carefully documented process As Nunes has told reporters and as Lake has reported, there is no evidence that Trump and his team were directly surveilled. The move by Rice, if she had probable cause, could likely be viewed as routine and expected of high-level intelligence officials, said Paul Pillar, a 28-year veteran of the CIA and former executive assistant to the CIA's deputy director for intelligence. "There is an unavoidable tension between, on one hand, restricting information to protect the privacy of US persons and, on the other hand, sharing enough information with the consumers of intelligence so that the intelligence report in question is comprehensible and useful," Pillar said in an email. "And if the report is not that, why bother collecting and disseminating the information in the first place? "The producer of the report, usually the NSA, tends to err on the side of restricting the information, while a senior consumer's natural tendency is to want more information." Steve Slick, a former CIA operations officer and NSC official who now heads the Intelligence Studies Project at the University of Texas at Austin, agreed that the consumer of the report would often require more information to understand the significance of the intelligence. "By definition, any report that the NSA elects to disseminate is relevant to a foreign or national-security issue," Slick said. But it is "often not possible for a consumer or reader to fully understand the significance of a report without knowing precisely which US person may have been communicating with the foreign official," he added. "The national security adviser, or a member of his/her staff, or perhaps a morning intelligence briefer, would convey that request to the originating agency with an explanation of who wishes to know the identity and why," Slick said. "In my experience, legitimate requests are promptly granted, and less defensible requests (or requesters) are challenged." Hayden largely echoed that assessment. "The NSA is notoriously conservative in revealing US identities in its reporting," Hayden said. "Obviously, a request from the national security adviser to unmask an identity would be given great weight. That said, it is not automatic and goes through a carefully documented process at the NSA before an identity is unmasked." An effort to divert attention from the Trump-Russia probe Pillar, who is now a nonresident senior fellow at Georgetown University's Center for Security Studies, said Rice may have even been motivated to request identities in order to constrain her own communications. "If Ms. Rice was communicating with members of Trump's team regarding transition matters and she learns from intelligence that some such members also are communicating with the Russians, she would want to know exactly who is doing that so she can be extra careful in her own talks, lest something she says gets relayed to Moscow," Pillar said. At least one member of Trump's transition team had his conversations picked up incidentally during routine surveillance of Russia's ambassador to the US, Sergey Kislyak, last year: Flynn, the former national security adviser. He was forced to resign in February after reports surfaced that said he spoke with Kislyak about US sanctions on Russia despite telling Vice President Mike Pence that he hadn't. The FBI has been examining whether Trump associates colluded with Russian officials to undermine Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election. The probe into Trump's ties to Russia is part of the bureau's broader investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election, FBI Director James Comey said during a House Intelligence Committee hearing last month. "This whole story strikes me as just more of the effort to divert attention from the issue of the relations that Trump and his associates have had with Russia, and as part of the diversion to try to suggest impropriety of some sort on the part of the Obama administration," Pillar said. "In other words, it's a continuation of an effort to salvage something from Trump's baseless charges about Obama wiretapping him." The White House has tried repeatedly, with varying degrees of evidence, to validate Trump's explosive claim made last month that Obama wiretapped his phones at Trump Tower during the election. A former Obama administration official responsible for the Defense Department's Russia policy, for instance, came into the White House's crosshairs last week for what it has characterized as her admission that Obama-era officials were collecting intelligence on Trump and his transition team. Pillar said that "an important thing to remember is that we are dealing with foreign intelligence intelligence on Russian activities and indeed, Russian activities that strike close to the heart of our democratic processes. It's called an ice shelf because it's floating on the ocean. It's normal for ice shelves to calve big icebergs, since snow accumulation gradually pushes old glacier ice out to sea. But this piece of floating ice off of Antarctica's prominent peninsula is colossal more than 1,100 feet (335 meters) thick and roughly 2,000 square miles (5,180 square kilometers) in area and it's destabilizing quickly, likely accelerated by rapid human-caused global warming. Satellite images suggest the crack began opening up around 2010 and lengthened more than 18 miles (29 kilometers) by 2015. By March 2016, it had grown nearly 14 miles longer. In November, a team of scientists in NASA's Operation IceBridge survey flew over the rift to confirm it's at least 70 miles long, 300 feet wide, and one-third of a mile deep. Now another group of researchers this time at Swansea University in the UK say the entire block of ice is hanging on by 12 miles of unfractured ice. How long until it snaps off? "If it doesn't go in the next few months, I'll be amazed," Adrian Luckman, a glaciologist at Swansea University, said in a January 6 press release. "It's so close to calving that I think it's inevitable." Here's how the crack has progressed: Right now, researchers have limited satellite coverage of the area; NASA's Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite, or ICESat, mission ended in 2009, and the next similar satellite, ICESat-2, isn't scheduled for launch until 2018. (President-elect Donald Trump's team has said it plans to strip NASA of funding for such earth science missions, which date back to the formation of the space agency 59 years ago.) That's why estimates of the crack vary somewhat, forcing researchers to fly over the region for confirmation. NASA's program for this, which is funded through 2019, is (poetically) called IceBridge. "Rifting of this magnitude doesn't happen so often, [so] we don't often get a chance to study it up close," Joe MacGregor, a glaciologist and geophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, previously told Business Insider in an email. MacGregor was more hesitant in December with his estimate for when Larsen C's iceberg would calve. "Maybe a month, maybe a year," he said. "The more we study these rifts, the better we'll be able to predict their evolution and influence upon the ice sheets and oceans at large." But scientists agree the iceberg will calve at some point and sooner rather than later. When the block does break off, it will be the third-largest in recorded history. MacGregor said it'd "drift out into the Weddell Sea and then the Southern Ocean and be caught up in the broader clockwise ... ocean circulation and then melt, which will take at least several months, given its size." Computer modeling by some researchers suggests the calving of Larsen C's big ice block mightdestabilize the entire ice shelf, which is about 19,300 square miles roughly two times as large as Massachusetts via a kind of ripple effect. MacGregor downplayed this possibility, saying that other "computer models predict that the eventual calving of this iceberg won't affect the overall stability of the ice shelf." Luckman backed this up. "We would expect in the ensuing months to years further calving events, and maybe an eventual collapse, but it's a very hard thing to predict, and our models say it will be less stable," Luckman said in the release, adding that it won't "immediately collapse or anything like that." However, a rapid ice shelf collapse would not be unprecedented. In 2002, a large piece of the nearby Larsen B ice shelf snapped off, but within a month and quite unexpectedly an even larger swath of the 10,000-year-old feature behind it rapidly disintegrated. The rest of Larsen B may splinter off by 2020. If there's any good news about the rift in Larsen C, it's that the ice shelf "is already floating in the ocean, so it has already displaced an equivalent water mass and minutely raised sea level as a result," MacGregor said. "Melting of the resulting iceberg won't change that contribution." The San Diego-based company has attracted $300 million in funding and a heady valuation thanks to a pipeline of what could be revolutionary treatments to regenerate hair, skin, bones, and joints. It offers the promise of reversing conditions related to aging by regrowing hair on balding heads, smoothing out wrinkles, and regenerating cartilage to worn-down joints in people with osteoarthritis. If that seems to be too good to be true, the company is well aware. "We get that reaction from anyone who actually listens to our story," CEO Osman Kibar told Business Insider in January. That skepticism has only grown with the company's valuation, which is now one of the highest for a private biotech company. The firm's list of backers lacking as it does specialist healthcare investors and secrecy over its science have also raised questions. Then there's Theranos, the onetime $9 billion startup that has fallen from grace and now casts a pall over the healthcare-startup space. Cevdet Samikoglu, Samumed's chief financial officer, understands all of that. In fact, he asked many of the same questions. Samikoglu met Kibar more than 30 years when they both attended Robert College, a high school in Istanbul. Kibar had worked in venture capital, launched a company that later sold to pharma giant Novartis, and eventually created an incubator where he came across the technology that would become the backbone for Samumed. Samikoglu signed on as an investor in Samumed initially in 2007, at which point he asked the same question. "I'd basically badger [Kibar] with that question time and again," Samikoglu said. "When I came on board, the first few months I was kind of thinking about that, 'I can't believe we're sitting on this, I can't believe the potential of it.'" Unlike Theranos, Samumed has been open about presenting its data, and before it gets to the market, the treatments will have to be approved by the FDA. In the end, Samikoglu simply became too busy to think about it. "We might be sitting on a molecule that already has the answer," he said. "But taking that and making it into a drug is a decade-long struggle." Heres the science Your body is equipped with something called progenitor stem cells. These cells are in charge of repairing and replenishing specific organs in the body. For example, a mesenchymal stem cell of the osteoblast lineage can go in and repair bone that's damaged. That process has something to do with the WNT pathway, a set of proteins that tell these stem cells to spring into action. "By dialing up or down various WNT genes or WNT processes, you can trigger any one of these progenitor stem cells down a certain lineage," Kibar said. As we get older, our WNT levels start to get out of balance, Kibar said. Take the example of mesenchymal stem cells. "If the WNT activity levels can no longer increase such that it's not making enough bone, now you develop osteoporosis." What Samumed hopes to do is manipulate the pathway that makes these progenitor stem cells spring into action, so that they don't cause these diseases. For example, Samumed has a treatment for androgenetic alopecia, a common form of hair loss. The idea is that by using the treatment, people with alopecia will be able to regrow some of their lost hair follicles, which are the layer of cells and connective tissue that envelop the root of a hair and are critical for its growth. So far, the data looks promising. A phase-two trial (the stage at which drugs are stacked up against a placebo control to see if they're safe and work as intended) presented in 2016 to the American Academy of Dermatology looked at the effects of a topical treatment called SM04554 in about 300 men ages 18-55. The men were split into three groups: a placebo group, a group given a .15% dose of the treatment, and a group given a .25% dose of the treatment. At the end of 135 days, those given the lower dose saw the most hair growth with an increase of roughly 10%. Those on the higher dose saw an increase of about 7%. And those on the placebo, not surprisingly, continued to lose hair. In a second study, 49 men were split into the same three groups. They had the skin on top of their heads biopsied at the beginning, after 90 days, and at the end of the 135-day trial. That gave the researchers a peek into what was happening at the hair-follicle level. They found that those taking the two doses had greater hair-follicle growth than the placebo group, confirming what the other study saw on the surface, Samumed chief medical officer Yusuf Yazici told Business Insider. In the second study, those on the .25% had slightly more follicle growth than the .15% group. To get an even better picture of how the treatments work long term, Samumed is setting up another phase-two trial that will include both doses to figure out which one is the best to use in a phase-three study that could set the treatment up for approval with the FDA. Samumed will have to show that the treatment works better than placebo in regenerating hair. And even then there is still some skepticism about how long the effects will last. "Can you generate a long-lasting tissue that can negotiate its way through to aging, fibrosis, damage, and stay put all these years?" Dr. Shahin Rafii, a professor of genetic medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College told Business Insider. Rafii is one of the scientific founders of Angiocrine Sciences, a company using endothelial cells to repair tendons and treat lung diseases. While Samumed's hair-loss program might have the most data to date, its osteoarthritis program is the closest to getting into a phase-three trial, Yazici said. That program is trying to regenerate cartilage in the knee to replace what's lost in patients with osteoarthritis, a condition that affects 30 million Americans. If it's successful, it could be the first treatment to regrow cartilage. Samumed has seven drugs in human clinical trials up to phase two and plans to be in 10 disease areas by the end of 2017. Samumed is also applying its WNT-activating technology to treatments for colon cancer, degenerative-disc disease, and tendinopathy, as well as to cosmetics in order to wipe out wrinkles. Secrecy and privacy When Kibar first asked Samikoglu to sign on about seven years ago, and he decided to relocate from New York to California, his wife asked, "How long will this adventure last in San Diego?" At the time, he told her that he expected it to be a few years before the company was able to get to an initial public offering. Now, it's looking like the company might not go public until it can get an approved product and start generating revenue, Kibar said at the Forbes Healthcare Summit in December 2016. "In an ideal world, I think every biotech company would want to remain private so they can focus only on the science, without thinking about what the market requires," Samikoglu said. "We are that lucky company." In an ideal world, I think every biotech company would want to remain private so they can focus only on the science. The $12 billion valuation Samumed has right now is based on the $300 million it has raised over the years. The valuation grew based on its lead compound, with the rest of the pipeline thrown in as a "freebie," Kibar said. The valuation is among the highest in biotech. Stemcentrx, a cancer-drug company, had a $5 billion valuation before it was bought by AbbVie in a $10.2 billion deal. And Moderna Therapeutics is edging up on a $5 billion valuation, according to Stat News. Samumed has backers who aren't traditional life-sciences investors, including high-net-worth individuals and sovereign funds. Finian Tan, whose firm Vickers Venture Partners is the only VC to fund Samumed, told Bloomberg that he expected his investment to pay off even more than his early investment in Chinese tech giant Baidu. "Ive always been radical," he told Bloomberg. "For us, its all about home runs. The lack of well-known healthcare specialist investors has led to some skepticism, along with comparisons to blood-testing company Theranos, which raised $725 million and had a $9 billion valuation before The Wall Street Journal published an investigation that questioned the accuracy of Theranos' blood test and led to its clinical labs getting shut down. Samumed is also keeping the nitty-gritty of how it is able to apply its WNT technology close to its chest, and that has raised some eyebrows. "To summarize our secretiveness, we don't disclose our targets, we don't disclose our chemical structures," Kibar said. When it comes to data, the company is big on presenting at conferences and plans to publish later-stage trials in academic journals. "We're basically telling everyone, here's proof that it works," Kibar said. "How it works you just need to wait a little longer, because we want to build as much a head start as we can." The key difference is that Samumed is being public about its data. It presents at medical conferences, where it gets peer-reviewed as part of the vetting process, Kibar said. And before it gets on the market, it will have to be approved by the FDA. "Ultimately, we will live or die with the strength of our data," Kibar said. "Because we are in the business of therapeutics, we don't have the luxury of not sharing data with the regulatory agencies." The promise and pitfalls of treating diseases related to aging In the past few years, there's been a fair amount of interest in companies like Samumed that are trying to treat diseases of aging. Unity Biotechnology, which is working on treatments that act on senescent cells (cells that have permanently stopped dividing that have been linked to conditions as varied as heart conditions and eye problems) in October raised $116 million from investors including Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. In 2013, Google founded Calico, a biotechnology company devoted to learning how to extend the human lifespan. And over the past few decades, researchers have made strides to understanding more about stem cells and regeneration. There have been a number of setbacks, and there's no guarantee this new wave of companies won't fail as well. Still, researchers are optimistic. "If you hit any one of these, you're going to be helping literally tens of millions of people," "If you hit any one of these, you're going to be helping literally tens of millions of people," Dr. Robert Lanza, chief scientific officer at Astellas Institute of Regenerative Medicine, told Business Insider. Astellas is working on treatments for blindness using stem cells. To make that or other treatments a reality, Lanza is pulling together leaders and scientists in the regenerative-medicine world to stack the deck in his favor. "We're in a good position to make a difference," he said. Ned David, president of Unity, told Business Insider that he found Samumed's approach thoughtful. Like Samumed's work on the WNT pathway, treatments that remove senescent cells are still in the experimental stages. "The tragedy for either one of those biologies would be that you picked an indication, eggs in one basket, bet everything on red. Then you flip the data card, you flip the wrong patients, chose the wrong molecule, or didn't dose right, and the whole company dies and the science is set back a decade," David said. "That's a social tragedy." So that way, if you spread everything out, go after really different drugs, your odds go up, the thinking goes. In the fallout from his error-riddled presentation, his so-called findings were discredited in close to every way possible: The paper was retracted. Wakefield was stripped of his medical license, found guilty of "abusing a position of trust as a medical practitioner," and found guilty of "dishonesty" in his studies. You wouldn't have known it from looking at TicketTailor.com, however, where the tickets (which were listed as sold out as of the time of this piece's publication) were being sold. Here's how they described the film, called "Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe": In his ongoing effort to advocate for children's health, Wakefield directs this documentary examining the evidence behind an appalling cover-up committed by the government agency charged with protecting the health of American citizens. The website also stated that guests "will have the privilege of attending a panel discussion with several well-known experts in the field, including Andrew Wakefield." Wakefield attended one of President Trump's inaugural balls last week, where he broadcast a video of himself calling for a "huge shakeup" of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Trump himself mistakenly suggested that vaccines were harmful in 2012; he met with Wakefield this summer. Business Insider reached out to the contact information listed on TicketTailor's site as well as to members of the Facebook group but did not immediately receive a response. The lawsuit filed by Tesla in California state court alleges that Anderson stole "hundreds of gigabytes of data" that included sensitive company information for Aurora Innovation. The lawsuit identifies Urmson as a "business partner" of Anderson's at Aurora Innovation, and alleges that the pair collaborated on "Tesla premises" using Anderson's Tesla-issued laptop. Googles exec departures on Google's behalf for regulations that would allow fully self-driving cars to drive on public roads without steering wheels or pedals. We can't be sure Urmson left Google because it was gearing up to pursue a different strategy than its steering-wheel-less pod cars. But whatever Aurora Innovation plans to release going forward may provide some insight as to why Urmson stepped down as CTO. Google declined to comment for this article. "The deal's closure and the vote on measures (demanded by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund) will happen... on the condition that there be significant steps in the meantime on (reducing) debt," Tsipras told the Greek daily Ethnos in an interview published Sunday. Negotiations between Athens and its eurozone and IMF creditors have dragged on for months over disagreements on debt relief and budget targets for the country. Among the measures reportedly demanded by Greece's creditors are additional pension cuts, a reduced tax-exemption ceiling, and further deregulation of the energy and labour markets. They are also pushing for a major asset sale at the state Public Power Corporation, Greece's largest electricity provider and a near monopoly, in the interests of increasing competition in the sector. The impasse has held up the latest instalment of Greece's 86-billion-euro ($91 billion) bailout, agreed in 2015, which it needs for debt repayments in July. "There will be new developments in the coming days," government spokesman Dimitris Papadopoulos told Greece's TV Saki on Sunday. "We are in the final stretch". Representatives for Greece's creditors said progress had been made in certain areas but would not confirm that both sides were close to a deal. The last such deadlock over Greece, which followed the election of Tsipras in early 2015, nearly saw Athens expelled from the euro. With the European Union already reeling from Brexit, Tsipras argued that Greece's current rescue programme -- its third since 2010 -- would collapse if his government were to fall. The Bank says, Ghanas current total electricity generation capacity is higher than the amount demanded. According to the Country Director of the World Bank, Henry Kerali the review should help the country save any extra charges to be borne in allowing more power producers. With the pending power generation plants still to come online, it will still go to increase the excess capacityWe think it is right for the government of Ghana to review the Power Purchase Agreements that were signed, he said. There are about eight power producers operating in the country which are generating an additional power estimated at 400 megawatts. The figure is however expected to increase to about 3500 megawatts with the coming in of the pending power producers. In responding to the governments quest of becoming a net exporter of power, Mr. Kerali also cautioned that the relatively cheaper tariffs charged by neighbouring Cote dIvoire and Burkina Faso place them in an advantage over Ghana. The NPP government has already commenced review of the various power deals under the erstwhile NDC government. The Committee, led by Lawyer Philip Addison has among others revealed that the country was shortchanged in commission levied by the power company, AMERI. The recommendation has been a renegotiation of the contract or a complete abrogation. READ ALSO:Ameri Power Plant has no operating license According to the committee, Ghana paid an additional 150 million dollars in commission. A key pillar in our strategy is a tremendous focus on the youth segment. About 60-70 per cent of the population in this country is below 25 years of age, signalling an impressive pool of talent and immense capacity just waiting to be tapped into; and the current trend in the use of digital media among our growing young population fully underscores the vital importance of supporting this segment, Chief Executive Officer of Busy, Praveen Sadalage said at the launch of JUMP in Accra. The ICT company, which has operations in Zambia, Cameroun, Uganda, and Ghana, has partnered with more than 40 universities and colleges across its markets resulting in a student ambassador programme with more than 1,500 students in order to prepare and equip undergraduates for life after university through internships, mentorship and special projects. Through its graduate development program, the company has recruited some of the best and brightest recent graduates who account for 50 per cent of its staff compliment in its markets. These ambitious young professionals, who yearn for recognition and career advancement, are at the forefront of some of our most disruptive and next generation digital products and services. Operating such a young organisation is vital to maintaining a competitive advantage as it offers us invaluable insight into the segment, Yemi Lawal, Regional Marketing Director, Youth Segment said. Head of Marketing for BusyInternet, Linda Narh explained that, JUMP is a unique online content platform with categories in Education, Entrepreneurship, Self-improvement, and Lifestyle. Mrs Narh emphasised that the key focus is on providing free access to educational content through the creation of an e-library and creating an environment where young and upcoming entrepreneurs are supported through various initiatives. As part of the education category we will launch the JUMP Academy which will provide students with a wide array of study notes and a series of video lectures from reputable local lecturers. She added. Deputy Minister of Education-designate, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum who represented sector Minister Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh said it is exciting for me that a significant 4G operator like BusyInternet is launching this youth programme in collaboration with Private and Public Universities in Ghana; a programme that gives both Undergraduate and Graduates and opportunity to gain valuable work experience. Dr Adutwum added that an online portal with the potential of offering our young people with such a wide array of educational, life changing and credible alternatives is a very welcomed initiative and you will have the support of my Ministry in this project. He also rubbishes claims by the Addison Committee, set up by Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko, that the contract was overpriced by some $150 million, According to him, an international accounting and auditing firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers, declared that the deal had value for money, hence it does not lie in the mouth of the Addison Committee alone to proclaim it did not have value for money. Addressing journalists in Accra on April 3, Dr Donkor said Value for money is essential; it is about whether the project gives good value to the Ghanaian, both as a consumer and future owner of the plant. He further expressed surprise that members of the Addison Committee think they are more qualified to make pronouncements on value for money regarding the AMERI deal than a globally credible firm such as PricewaterhouseCoopers. Although the committee claims of absence of a legal opinion, Dr Donkor says the Attorney Generals Department was strongly represented throughout the negotiations. We will pledge our support to the government as long as the issues of energy are being resolved in the national interest, but if they introduce partisanship in this way, much against our wish, we will be forced to respond. Dr. Donkor further disclosed that, the committee visited Dubai and AMERI Energy paid for their hotel, AMERI energy paid for their flight tickets. Members of the Addison Committee, visited Dubai, they had meetings with AMERI even after this report was written. We will want to ask, who paid for their tickets? Who paid for the hotel accommodation that they used? If you are going to investigate someone, do they pay for your tickets and pay for your accommodation and host you? The 17-member Philip Addison committee which investigated the agreement concluded that the deal was inflated by $150million by the Mahama administration. The deal was for the supply of gas turbines to Ghana, which were to provide additional power to the national grid to ease the biting load shedding exercise that plagued the country at the time. According to former Power minister, Dr. Kwabena Donkor, the Turkish firm paid the hotel bills and plane tickets when members of the committee traveled outside the country to investigate it over the contract signed in 2015. The Addison committee charged to review, restructure and recommend areas of amendment of the Ameri power deal, has recommended that the deal be re-negotiated or abrogated on grounds of fraud, after it emerged that Ghana was made to pay 150 million dollars extra in commission to Africa & Middle East Resources Investment Group LLC (Ameri Energy) for the construction of the power plant. Ameri in its agreement with Government dated February 10th, 2015, charged Ghana significantly higher than what it was charged by the Turkish registered company PPR, which financed and executed the project, the committee said. Speaking to the media on the development at a press conference Monday, Dr. Donkor urged the government to be candid with Ghanaians on the issue. Members of the Addison Committee, including Mr Addison, visited Dubai, they had meetings with AMERI even after this report was written. We will want to ask who paid for their tickets. We want to ask; who paid for their tickets, who paid for their hotel accommodation? We have the evidence that Ameri energy paid for the hotel that they used, paid for their tickets. According to the public relations officer of WAEC, Agnes Teye-Cudjoe, the institution has implemented more stringent measures to ensure that such leakages are prevented, and has said it will enforce the WAEC laws if anyone involved in the action is caught. READ MORE: WAEC releases results of private WASSCE candidates Agnes Teye-Cudjoe in an interview with Accra-based to Citi FM said WAEC has outlined some new regulations established. "Supervisors and invigilators are not supposed to send mobile phones to the examination hall because we all know what mobile phones can be used for. We also have security details on the supervisors bags and we also have combination padlocks on them so that people cannot easily open these bags," she said. She warned, "we have the WAEC law in place so if anybody is found culpable, the law will take over and the person will be prosecuted. "If any member of staff is found culpable, we have sanctions that can be taken against the person." These measures and warnings come in the wake of the numerous examination papers that have leaked in recent times." she said. In 2016, a number of subjects including Oral English, Integrated science, and Social Studies were cancelled due to the examination papers leaking to the public. This year, 289, 207 final year students from public and private senior high schools are sitting for the WASSCE. Meanwhile, Minister of Education, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh has instructed heads of second cycle institutions not to prevent final year students from writing the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) due to unpaid school fees. READ MORE:NUGS warn against WASSCE leaks "When i started they said my beats will take me no where but i never listened to them. Today the same beats has bought me a mansion ,2 other mansion (building in progress) ..Just yesterday my wife told me she wanted to start a small business which i am supporting her and all Lazy people. can say is its a container lol . We like it and please dont stop criticizing cuz that will make us build the biggest club in Ghana right under your fucken nose..Thank you for reading !! Foolish bloggers !!!" This is coming following a recent comment by the RCCG General Overseer who mentioned in his preaching that romantic relationships built on social media are not expected to last. Let me tell you clearly, if you get a wife through the Facebook, you will lose her through the Youtube. You can quote me. Any marriage that is concocted through the Facebook is going to crash through the Youtube, no doubt about that, a tweet by the church's Twitter handle reads. In his response to this, Alimi advised the clergyman to worry more about grooming his fold spiritually in an Instagram comment posted today. He said, I personally think Pastor Adeboye should stick to cunning his congregation. Rather than becoming a relationship counselor. Alimi's criticism for clergymen is hardly a new development having directed some of his blunt views to the likes of Prophet T.B Joshua, Bishop David Oyedepo and others. Recently, he mocked embattled Omega Fire Ministries Worldwide head huncho, Apostle Johnson Suleman for his involvement in a sex scandal. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the corpse was seen on March 24. The Police Public Relations Officer in the State, Mr El-Mustapha Sani, who confirmed the incident, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday that the remains of the teenager had since been buried according to Islamic rites. Sani, however said, We have arrested another teenager, 16-year old (names withheld), who was a friend of the deceased. The suspect was said to have gone to the family house of the deceased and asked his mother to refund some money the deceased had allegedly stolen from his mother. The mother of the deceased was said to have refunded N 1,500, which was rejected by the mother of the suspect, alleging that the money was more than that. The suspect reportedly went to the family house of the deceased on the fateful day and told his mother to come and carry his remains. Sani further said that the mother of the suspect was now at large. For many years, Ghana and Singapore have enjoyed very good bilateral relations, and it is for this reason that Dr. Koon informed President Akufo-Addo about Singapore's intention to increase invest in Ghana. Aside the good bilateral relations that both countries enjoy, Dr Koh Poh Koon, indicated that officials from the two countries continue to co-operate in many other areas of mutual benefits to them. We have today received 650 officials from Ghana for capacity building and training over the years in areas such as education and economic policy making. And, this is something that we are happy and continue to support and to work closely with Ghanaians officials, he said. The Singaporean Minister of State for Trade and Industry noted that there is an increasing desire for companies based in his country to invest in Ghana. He explained that what we see today, in opening and extension of the plan by Olam International, is a testament to the kind of desire for companies to continue to expand their operations in Ghana. On top of that, the pupil to pupil ties have also increased. We now have Singaporean students from the university doing their internship in this country. From all levels, from the government to the people, we are witnessing deepening ties. In view of Dr. Koon, there are several other areas for Ghana and Singapore to connect and work together, and is, thus, hopeful that more companies from his country would continue to support the growth and development of Ghana in meaningful ways. In welcoming the delegation, President Nana Akufo-Addo noted that their visit has come at an appropriate time when the people of Ghana have happily received the directions and policies contained in the Asempa budget, which was read by the Finance Minister, Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta. The President reiterated his pledge of making Ghana an investment-friendly country, and pointed out that his government is doing all it can to clean up the business environment for investors to come and put their money in. We are taking measures in terms of taxation, monitoring and policy, along all these lines with the goal of attracting investment in Ghana, the president stated. He described Singapore as a country that has won the administration of the world through its achievements. The President told Dr. Koon that Singapore is a country that has won the administration of the world for their achievements, which you have been able to undertake in this last 50 to 60 years and, especially, in this country, there is a great admiration for what you have done. The achievements of Singapore, according to President Akufo-Addo, have built a desire in the hearts of many countries, especially Ghana, to try to replicate. 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). A 17-member ministerial committee inaugurated by the Minister of Energy Boakye Agyarko on February 1, 2017 and tasked to probe the controversial AMERI Power Agreement has recommended for a review of the emergency power deal. The committee said the previous government through sole-sourcing questionably procured the power deal and has concluded that it was not only grossly unfair to the interest of Ghana, but could also be considered as fraud. The committee in a report said, AMERI Energy plant have no license to operate in Ghana. The committee chaired by lawyer Philip Addison recommended to the government that it should call back owners of the company for renegotiation. But the former Power Minister, Dr. Kwabena Donkor addressing the media said government can abrogate the AMERI deal if it believes the deal was fraudulently signed. He said the Mahama administration negotiated one of the lowest tariffs for Ghana as far as emergency power deals are concerned. "The normal thing in the energy sector is that emergency plants cost more, the tariffs in the emergency [deals] are higher, and, yet we were able to negotiate a tariff under emergency conditions that is lower than all other tariffs which were established under normal conditions," he said. Meanwhile, former Deputy Minister of Energy and Petroleum John Jinapor said the committee tasked to probe the controversial AMERI power agreement is political. He said the committees report is inaccurate and political. The World Bank has also urged Ghana to review the AMERI power plant deal over concerns of generation capacity excesses. According to the Unit, the figure represented an increase of 42.9 per cent while rape cases also increased from thirty-eight in 2015 to fifty-six in 2016. The occasion, which was mainly for stock taking and interactions, was attended by the members of the various divisions of the Police Service. These included the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit, the Motor Transport and Traffic Department, as well as commanders of allied security agencies. DCOP Ampiah- Bennin indicated that murder cases recorded during the same period reduced to 39 as against 49 in the year 2015. Robbery cases also reduced from 156 to 79, he added. Possessing narcotic drug cases dropped from 71 in 2015 to 38 in 2016, with cases of theft also reducing from 4,024 to 3,703, he said. In all, DCOP Ampiah- Bennin said 18,679 cases were reported in 2016 as against 18,676 in the previous year. This is in support of the construction of the Police Intelligence and Professional Standards (PIPS) Headquarters at the Nima Police Station in the Greater Accra Region. Mr Tang Hong, said his donation is coming after a former Director-General of PIPS, COP Joana Osei-Poku (Rtd) asked him for support to construct the facility. READ ALSO: Ghana records over 2000 road accidents in 2017 He was accompanied by COP Joana Osei-Poku (Rtd). The Inspector-General of Police (IGP) David Asante-Apeatu who received the donation on behalf of the Police administration expressed the Services appreciation to Mr Tang Hong for his kind gesture. He said the donation would be used judiciously for the intended purpose. He said a previous donation of motorbikes totalling 52 made on separate occasions in 2016 by the same person to the Police has also helped the Service to be more efficient. Mr Asante-Apeatu further called on corporate organisations, philanthropists and other institutions to emulate the shining example of Mr Hong. The dinner, attended by the Jackson family, afforded the two leaders an opportunity to discuss global issues, promoting peace and justice across the world, and improving the lives of African people. READ ALSO: Ken Agyapong vows to commit suicide if Mahama is not jailed President Mahama is in Chicago to deliver a series of lectures at the University of Chicago, the Chicago State University and the Northwestern University. He will also interact with the Ghanaian Community in the Chicago Area and meet other groups. PRESS CONFERENCE BY ADANSI PATRIOTS ON K.T HAMMOND HAS BEEN SNUBBED?We act on behalf of Nananom of the Adansi Traditional Area, the youth of Adansi and the people of Adansi Asokwa Constituency to congratulate His Excellency Nana Addo Danquah for his electoral victory and subsequent swearing in as the President of the Republic of Ghana.Ladies and gentlemen we have called you here to express our dismay and disappointment about the decision of the President H.E Nana Addo Danquah Akufo to exclude our MP, Hon K.T Hammond from the list of ministers nominated to serve in his government.Even though we are aware of the constitutional provision that, the President reserves the sole prerogative to appoint and sack ministers, we think the snub of Hon K.T Hammond, the MP for Adansi Asokwa is very unfair and an indictment on the people of Adansi Asokwa and the Adansi Traditional Area at large.For the records Hon. K.T Hammond is the most experienced Member of Parliament on our bench except Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu who has served one more term than KT and Hon. Kennedy Ohene Agyapong who has served the same number of years with Hon. K.T Hammond in the house.He is not just a senior Member of Parliament but a very vibrant and knowledgeable member. We are aware of his contributions to the party in the erstwhile Kufuor government as a deputy minister and his hard work during our eight years stay in opposition. He has been among the few vocal and effective members of Parliament who exposed corrupt practices in the erstwhile John Mahamas government which contributed largely to the massive victory of NPP in the December elections.Besides he was up to the task, fought every battle for Nana Addo and has supported every decision of the leadership of NPP which ensured our victory. Simply put, he has been phenomenal. With these and many other achievements, nananom, the people and of the youth of Adansi particularly Adansi Asokwa were hopeful that K.T was definitely going to be appointed as a Minister to serve in the government of Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo.Even though we became skeptical when Nana mentioned the first and second batches of his nominees without the mention of KT, we were still hopeful that he was going to make the last list of nominations. But with 50 substantive ministers appointed we assume the appointmens are done. Our K T did not make the list. We find this incredible.We accept that not every NPP supporter or not all the millions of the people who voted NPP to power, not even all the members of Parliament were going to be appointed as ministers but its obvious to all by now that Hon. KT Hammond has been singled out for an unfair treatment. On the national scene, we can count the number, who have now made it to ministerial list, who worked harder than our KT.Even though it is not conceivable that a deputy minister could sell a ship and for that matter any national asset without the authority of government, it was KT who single handedly battled the NDC to restore the reputation of the NPP when in the noise surrounding the drill ship broke out.For those who have cared to read the report of the Judgement Debt Commission, they would have seen that not a single adverse finding was made against him but the whole nation is aware that it was our KT who stood firm.It is he who has gone to court to challenge the wrong findings of the Justice Apau Commission on behalf of the NPP family. He is defending the NPP both in the high court and the Court of Appeal as we speak. The Asiedu Nketiah gimmick was all that it was, a political gimmick and nothing more.In his fight against the NDC corruption, KT was sued in libel by some of those he challenged for tampering with the nations resources. He took the battle to the NDC and the results was that the whole of the national and regional NDC apparatus pitched camp at Adansi Asokwa in a concerted effort to remove him at the general election as a member of Parliament.The President, the Vice President, Asiedu Nketiah, Betty Mould Iddrisu, Koku Anyidoho and all those who matter in the NDC were at Adansi Asokwa. By Allahs grace, he sailed through with increasedi majority in the midst of all the scare mongering by some top members of the regional hierarchy of his own party. We know of other areas in which KT also greatly helped to secure victory for the party.What then is the reason why of all people in Parliament our KT has been left out. Even NDC members are baffled. How can a material like our KT be snubbed in such a denigrating by the President? What is his crime? The nation wants to know.We of the Adansi Asokwa Constituency, the Chiefs and the people of the traditional area require some answers. KT deserves better than this.We wish the President and government well. In a statement, Tester called the nominee, Judge Neil Gorsuch, "a smart man" but said "that doesn't make him right for a lifetime appointment to the US Supreme Court." "With Judge Gorsuch on the bench," Tester added, "I am deeply concerned that dark money will continue to drown out the voices and votes of citizens, the Court will stand between women and their doctors, and the government will reach into the private lives of law-abiding Americans. "These are not Montana values, which is why I cannot support this nomination." Tester's statement didn't mention the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia, a talking point some Democrats have used to justify trying to block Gorsuch's confirmation to the Supreme Court seat left vacant since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. It also made no mention of Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee to fill the seat, whom Republican leaders did not grant a hearing. Democrats have vowed to filibuster Gorsuch's confirmation. If they do, Republicans would need 60 votes to move forward, meaning at least eight Democrats would have to vote with them. Tester was viewed as a necessary pick-off for Republicans for Gorsuch to get past the 60-vote threshold. Republicans have already scooped up three Democratic senators who were facing pressure from constituents in their Republican-leaning states: Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, and Joe Donnelly of Indiana. But Tester's opposition makes it increasingly likely that the confirmation battle could feature a fundamental change in US politics. If the filibuster holds, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell could employ the "nuclear option" changing Senate rules to allow Supreme Court nominees to be confirmed with a simple majority instead of 60 votes. McConnell has expressed reluctance to do so but hasn't ruled out the option. As the animal behaviorist Frans de Waal has argued, humans tend to judge animal intelligence in limited and unfair terms and often bungle the experiment. While labs at Yale and Duke, and around the world, are studying this question, for now we have data on at least one metric: working intelligence. In his book "The Intelligence of Dogs," Coren featured the results of a lengthy survey of 199 dog-obedience judges. The responses, he said, were remarkably consistent. However, he noted that many judges said that there are exceptions in every breed and that a lot comes down to training. Here's what he found: TOP TIER the brightest working dogs, who tend to learn a new command in less than five seconds and obey at least 95% of the time. 1. Border collie2. Poodle3. German shepherd4. Golden retriever5. Doberman pinscher6. Shetland sheepdog7. Labrador retriever8. Papillon9. Rottweiler10. Australian cattle dog SECOND TIER excellent working dogs, who tend to learn a new command in five to 15 exposures and obey at least 85% of the time. 11. Pembroke Welsh corgi12. Miniature schnauzer13. English springer spaniel14. Belgian TervurenT15. SchipperkeT15. Belgian sheepdogT17. CollieT17. Keeshond19. German short-haired pointerT20. Flat-coated retrieverT20. English cocker spanielT20. Standard schnauzer23. Brittany spanielT24. Cocker spanielT24. Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever26. WeimaranerT27. Belgian MalinoisT27. Bernese mountain dog29. Pomeranian30. Irish water spaniel31. Vizsla32. Cardigan Welsh corgi THIRD TIER above-average working dogs, who tend to learn a new trick in 15 to 25 repetitions and obey at least 70% of the time. T33. Chesapeake Bay retrieverT33. PuliT33. Yorkshire terrierT36. Giant schnauzerT36. Portuguese water dogT36. AiredaleT36. Bouvier des FlandresT40. Border terrierT40. Briard42. Welsh springer spaniel43. Manchester terrier44. SamoyedT45. Field spanielT45. NewfoundlandT45. Australian terrierT45. American Staffordshire terrierT45. Gordon setterT45. Bearded collieT51. American Eskimo dogT51. Cairn terrierT51. Kerry blue terrierT51. Irish setter55. Norwegian elkhoundT56. AffenpinscherT56. Silky terrierT56. Miniature pinscherT56. English setterT56. Pharaoh houndT56. Clumber spaniel62. Norwich terrier63. Dalmatian FOURTH TIER average working dogs, who tend to learn a new trick in 25 to 40 repetitions and obey at least 50% of the time. T64. Soft-coated wheaten terrierT64. Bedlington terrierT64. Smooth-haired fox terrierT67. Curly-coated retrieverT67. Irish wolfhoundT69. KuvaszT69. Australian shepherdT71. SalukiT71. Finnish SpitzT71. PointerT74. Cavalier King Charles spanielT74. German wirehaired pointerT74. Black-and-tan coonhoundT74. American water spanielT78. Siberian huskyT78. Bichon FriseT78. English toy spanielT81. Tibetan spanielT81. English foxhoundT81. OtterhoundT81. American foxhoundT81. GreyhoundT81. HarrierT81. Parson Russel terrierT81. Wirehaired pointing griffonT89. West Highland white terrierT89. HavaneseT89. Scottish deerhoundT92. BoxerT92. Great DaneT94. DachshundT94. Staffordshire bull terrierT94. Shiba Inu97. MalamuteT98. WhippetT98. Chinese shar-peiT98. Wirehaired fox terrier101. Rhodesian ridgebackT102. Ibizan houndT102. Welsh terrierT102. Irish terrierT105. Boston terrierT105. Akita FIFTH TIER fair working dogs, who tend to learn a new trick in 40 to 80 repetitions and respond about 40% of the time. 107. Skye terrierT108. Norfolk terrierT108. Sealyham terrier110. Pug111. French bulldogT112. Brussels griffonT112. Maltese terrier114. Italian greyhound115. Chinese crestedT116. Dandie Dinmont terrierT116. VendeenT116. Tibetan terrierT116. Japanese chinT116. Lakeland terrier121. Old English sheepdog122. Great PyreneesT123. Scottish terrierT123. Saint BernardT125. Bull terrierT125. Petite Basset GriffonT125. Vendeen128. Chihuahua129. Lhasa apso130. Bullmastiff SIXTH TIER the least-effective working dogs, who may learn a new trick after more than 100 repetitions and obey around 30% of the time. 131. Shih Tzu132. Basset houndT133. MastiffT133. Beagle135. Pekingese136. Bloodhound137. Borzoi138. Chow chow139. Bulldog140. Basenji141. Afghan hound Again, there are exceptions. Coren talks in his book about a trainer who managed to win obedience competitions with multiple Staffordshire bull terriers (No. 94). There are also, again, other ways of measuring intelligence. Coren tells us about a Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever (No. 24) he owned that was in some ways too smart for competitions. "He was so bright and attentive that he read my every motion, head turn, and even the direction that I was looking with my eyes, as a command," he wrote in an email. "That made him very difficult to compete with in obedience trials, since, for instance, a glance with my eyes in the direction of the high jump might be interpreted by him as a command and that would send him off, taking the jump beautifully of course, but nonetheless disqualifying us from that round of competition." De Waal, in "Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?" defended the Afghan hound (No. 141), saying that they may not be unintelligent but rather independent-mined, stubborn, and unwilling to follow orders. The provision is called a "double trigger." Most companies offer their top execs a so-called "single trigger" provision, which means they get a handsome payout if the company gets acquired. A "double trigger" is when executives get a payout if they sell their company, and they are guaranteed a handsome severance plus large chunks of their unvested stock if they are quickly terminated by the acquired company after the deal closes. Double triggers are insurance policies. A double trigger is a pretty common provision But Yahoo's Both execs and the rank-and-file will instantly cash out of years worth of unvested stock options and, in at least some cases, will also be entitled to cash payments if Verizon dismisses them within one year after the deal closes. It's yet another wrinkle in an already tumultuous merger because the double trigger may be acting like a reverse incentive. Some execs on Mayer's leadership team are apparently consulting with lawyers as to what kinds of things would get them fired after the acquisition, according to another person close to the company. This person believes that some of the execs are actually "trying to get fired" by Verizon should the deal close so they can walk with their big payday. The double trigger does not cover an employee fired for cause. As for those execs who may be "trying" to get fired, it's not hard to understand why. Working at Yahoo is exhausting, with the constant public scrutiny, changes in leadership and strategic direction and layoffs and, now, this acquisition, several former employees have told us. If an exec could leave the job without walking from a lot of money, that's appealing. Stay golden While we don't know the details of what every employee will get under their double-trigger provisions, Yahoo did give a clue when it publicly disclosed how the double-trigger works for several of its top named executive officers. According to this chart included in a Yahoo SEC filing about the deal, CFO Ken Goldman, head of sales Lisa Utzschneider and top lawyer Ron Bell will each get over $1.2 million in cash plus millions worth of stock if they are terminated after the deal: These top execs will get the bulk of four years worth of their stock grants if they are let go within a year of being acquired. Specifically, they'll get the remaining unvested portions of the stock granted to them in 2014 and 2015 (albeit most of those grants will already be vested), and they'll get about 24 months worth of their unvested stock granted to them in March, 2016, although they may lose some of their performance-based stock grants. Performance-based stock makes up about half the stock grants for these execs. The retention plan appears to be working The double-trigger appears to be working as an incentive to keep Yahoo staffers from quitting en masse in the months before the sale. Yahoo's headcount has remained fairly stable at about 8,500 employees over the past couple of quarters, according to one of the people we talked to. But ironically, that could prove troublesome for Verizon once the deal closes. Most large acquisitions involve significant cost cutting, as the newly merged companies eliminate redundant jobs. And given that Yahoos headcount has long been considered bloated for a business of its size, and that Verizon-owned AOL already offers many of the same services as Yahoo, Verizons game plan likely involves a fair degree of post-merger cost cutting. It will be interesting to see if Verizon swallows the cost of laying off Yahoo staff, cuts staff in its other businesses, or just grits its teeth for a year. It's also unclear how long Mayer will really stick around under her new boss, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong. While Mayer has consistently said that she plans to stay at Yahoo after the deal closes, Mayer and her soon-to-be-new boss Armstrong have a notoriously cantankerous relationship that stems from back at their days at Google, Vanity Fair's Sarah Ellison recently reported. The two of them still greatly dislike one another, one of the two people we talked to told us. Armstrong is the man orchestrating the Yahoo deal on behalf of Verizon. Verizon bought AOL in 2015. Verizons negotiation tactics 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! It was gathered that the deceased identified as Enyioma Okwudiri was shot dead by the gunmen around 9pm on Saturday, April 1. The assailants also reportedly killed another 38-year-old man, Nanman Lamak, who was with Okwudiri at the time of the attack. According to reports, the bank worker owned a guest house in the area, known as Benex Hotel, and was on his way to drop off two guests he carried in his Honda Civic car when they were attacked. Lamak, the second deceased, and another lady, were said to be in the car when the gunmen, who were in another car, cornered them. Sources said the two men were shot multiple times. "They cornered the vehicle, shot Okwudiri and Lamak continuously until they died. The gunmen did not take anything from them, not even their phones," a source told Punch. It was learnt that the lady with them, who was spared by the gunmen, has been arrested by policemen from the Okigwe Area Command. ALSO READ: Gunmen kidnap man of God in Rivers According to an eyewitness, the gunmen also killed two other persons at Njeagwake Okigwe town. The victims were said to have been shot dead while they were making use of an Automated Teller Machine (ATM). Sunday Sun reports that Father Zuni, a 52-year-old priest who had served for 30 years, left the parishioners in shock when an investigation showed that he had flouted his oath of celibacy and got married to two women with grown children. It was gathered that though one of the women is late, the second wife is still alive and even has a new baby for the priest and was the one who blew the whistle over the secret marriage is said to be nursing a child for the embattled priest. When Sunday Sun visited the Queen of the Apostles parish, some parishioners confirmed the report which they said was initially thought to be mere rumour. Some of the parishioners said they were shocked to learn of a petition to the Bishop of Kaduna Archdiocese, Bishop Ndagoso Manoso, that two women had children for their parish priest, an act considered to be an abomination and grave sin against the Catholic doctrine. They pointed out that in order to cover up the priests sin from spreading to the larger public, the Archdiocese allegedly organized a send off for the embattled priest to a remote village in Jaba Local Government Area of the state. A parishioner who spoke on the condition of anonymity said: During the send-off, the priest was not allowed to make a farewell speech, and many people refused to take photographs with him. There was little or no felicitation with him because most of the time he was seen standing aloof under a mango tree without anybody going close to him. Nobody can say when the priest committed the alleged sinful act. If it happened before his ordination, he wouldnt have been ordained, so probably it was after his ordination, and you know, God does not sleep, no matter the length of cover-up, one day the bubble will burst. And the bubble has burst now. Other parishioners, however, insist that the embattled Father Zuni has been sacked from the priesthood because of the grievous sin he has committed. Bishop Manoso who also confirmed the incident said Father Zuni actually committed the sin and has brought serious embarrassment to the entire archdiocese. On how the bubble burst over the secret marriage of the priest, Bishop Manoso said the woman at the center of the storm confronted him with a baby said to belong to Father Zuni, and after due investigation by his office, it was confirmed that the priest was her secret husband. It is very unfortunate that this thing had to happen in my diocese. It is not an easy thing for me; if I tell you what I have been going through in the past few weeks over this issue, it has not been easy for me. Father Zuni was my classmate; we spent seven years in the seminary. At a time, he proceeded to Kaduna polytechnic and read Accounting. But this thing happened and nobody knew. But he has to face the sanction. We sacked and disrobed him because what he did is no longer compatible with his vocation as a priest. It was not true that he was transferred to any village. He was about to be transferred on a normal routine, but when I heard this story, I had to cancel the transfer and sacked him. It is true that he had affairs with two women and they both had children for him, but one of the women is late already. We are not God, we did not know on time until now that he was having affairs with two women. The church said the priest has to go because the church doesnt allow priests to marry. So he had to go and look after his children and his matrimonial home. You can now imagine what the priest is going through, either spiritually or psychologically. He must be going through hell on earth. This is my concern for him now. The woman and the kids will be going through trauma also. I have been trying to see how I can help him, but I dont think I have the skills to help him. But he needs help to come to terms with reality. By December, he will be 30 years in the priesthood, and he is now 54 years old; so at this age, what can he do with his life? Nobody can employ him now. He spent seven years in the seminary and 30 years in the priesthood, and that is 37 years, so what can he do with his life at 54? According to a Hausa online news platform, Filter, Maishayi who sells bread and tea in the area, abducted the boy identified only as Aminu and subjected him to repeated anal sex till he lost consciousness. The victim later died from his injuries in a hospital while receiving treatment while the suspect who had initially gone into hiding, was traced and arrested by some youths in the area who were bent on lynching him but for the timely intervention of the police that saved his life. Confirming the incident, a child rights activist in the community, Comrade Zakari Adam Y. Kontagora said Maishayi was a known homosexual in the town and for a long time, he had been shielded from prosecution by the elders of the town who always prevented justice being carried out on him, with the action leading to the death of the young boy. It was gathered that a teenage suicide bomber was about to infiltrate a crowd at a wedding ceremony when the dog attacked her. She reportedly detonated the explosive while trying to free herself from the grip of the dog - both the bomber and the dog were killed in the blast. Police said the dog belonged to a resident of the neighbourhood where the wedding took place. According to a deputy superintendent of police, Victor Isuku, the incident occurred around 7:30 a.m. at Belbelo community of Jere LGA of Borno. Her said: "Information just received indicate that today at about 0733hours (7.33am), a female suicide bomber with IED strapped to her body, attempted to infiltrate a wedding ceremony gathering in Belbelo community of Jere LGA. "She was however prevented by a watch dog, so she had to detonate the IED to kill herself and the dog. "The dog was owned by resident in the locality" Isuku added that normalcy has since been restored in the area and "no further casualty was recorded apart from the dog." ALSO READ: 3 suicide bombers killed in Borno It was however not clear if the dog was trained in bomb detection. The incident occurred few hours after three suicide bombers blew themselves up at two different locations near the spot the wedding took place. The Commissioner for Health and Humanity, Dr Manya Dogo, made this known at a news conference after the state executive council meeting in Kaduna . He said the state government had placed disease and notification officers across the 23 local governments on alert. He added that the state government had directed hospital medical directors to report any case of meningitis and promptly treat those infected. The commissioner said that the state Drugs Management Agency was ordered to make drugs available for the treatment of meningitis. On mass vaccination against the disease, Dogo said that could only be done when there was an epidemic. He urged the public to quickly visit hospital when experiencing symptoms like headache, stiffness of neck and high fever and also advised against overcrowding. In another development, the state Ministry of Health had presented a proposal on care of elderly persons, especially those suffering from diabetes and hypertension. According to the commissioner, the proposal, when approved will provide cash cover for the beneficiaries, in collaboration with pharmaceutical company. There was an outbreak of meningitis in some states of the federation, especially in the north, including the Federal Capital Territory in March. Buhari is also meeting with House of Representatives Speaker, Yakubu Dogara who is said to have arrived the Villa before Saraki. The president had, on Wednesday, March 29, set up a committee to resolve the conflict between the executive and the legislature. The two arms have been at odds with each other following the refusal of some of Buhari's officials to honour invitations by the Senate. The Senate also expressed its anger at Buhari's failure to remove Ibrahim Magu from the position of acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) despite a rejection from Senators. Mr. Rasheed Akintunde, the Commissioner of Police (CP) in Jigawa, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday as part of the commands achievements for March 2017 in Dutse. Akintunde said that the police intercepted the items from the arrested suspects in Mallam Madori Local Government Area of the state. He explained that the Indian hemp was found inside a vehicle with registration number XB 572 AKK during a stop-and-search on vehicles plying the Mallam Madori Yobe Highway by some policemen from the state command. The CP said that investigations revealed that the suspects loaded the substance from Kwanar Ganduje in Kano State en-route Mallam Madori Local Government for sale in Gashua in Yobe. After a serious scrutiny of the substances compressed into hard plates by the suspects, we discovered them to be Indian hemp. Our investigations revealed that that the substances were worth N4.5 million, Mr. Raji Oyewumi asked a Federal High Court in Abuja to set aside the decision of the Senate, Punch reports. In the motion filed on March 31, Oyewumi stated that the upper chamber violated the principle of lis pendis as the decision was taken when his substantive suit relating to the Senate's proceedings on Magu's confirmation was pending. The report said the substantive suit with number FHC/ABJ/CS/102/2017, which was filed on February 13, 2017, sought to stop the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and 10 other senators being investigated or prosecuted, from participating in the processes of confirming Magu by the Senate. In the main suit, the lawyer had argued that Magu would not be accorded a fair hearing by the Senate since the 11 senators were being investigated by the EFCC under Magu. The 11 senators including Saraki are said to be the 1st to the 11th defendants to the suit. The 10 other senators, also named along with Saraki as defendants, are Godswill Akpabio, Jonah Jang, Aliyu Wammako, Stella Oduah, Theodore Orji, Rabiu Kwankwaso, Ahmed Sani, Danjuma Goje, Joshua Dariye and Adamu Abdullahi. ALSO READ: Magu is a man of integrity Ozekhome says Also listed as defendants in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/102/2017 are the Clerk of the National Assembly, the Senate, the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN) and Magu. The suit filed against the Head of Service of the Federation, was dismissed because it was filed out of time. Makolo instituted the suit on grounds of alleged denial of promotion since 1992. In his ruling, the judge, Justice Edith Agbakoba, held that there was merit in the respondents arguments that the claimant had filed the suit `off time. This ruling followed the preliminary objections filed by the Head of Service of the Federation and the Nigeria Immigration Service, challenging the competence of the court to hear the suit. She also held that promotion was not automatic or a right, saying that it is a privilege. According to Agbakoba, there is no merit in the claimants argument of the continuous injury he complained about. The suit is incompetent and statute barred, the matter is hereby struck out and dismissed. I make no order as to cost, the judge ruled. NAN reports that the claimant was seeking elevation to the rank of Deputy Comptroller-General of Immigration. Makolo prayed the court to compel his employers to promote him to the rank of Deputy Comptroller General, which he claimed to deserve. Other respondents listed in the suit are the Nigeria Immigration Service, the Chairman, Code of Conduct Bureau; the Chairman, ICPC and the Minister of Interior. The aggrieved officer alleged that the respondents unjustly denied him promotion over the years by keeping him in the limbo. The claimant prayed the court to direct the respondents to issue him a letter of special promotion and decorate him with the new rank. Makolo also urged the court to declare that the neglect of the respondents to address the `wrongs, he officially complained about on its merits, amounted to an act of gross misconduct that could compromise national interest. Meanwhile, reacting to the ruling, the claimant who represented himself in court, said he would obtain the judgment to see if there would be any remedy in law. I will get the judgment, review it and look at what the law says. Any opportunity under the law will be pursued to its logical conclusion, Makolo said. Also reacting, counsel to the HOS, Mr I. Hamman, said that the judgment was a fair one. He said that the case of the claimant was dismissed because it was not filed within the three months limitation period prescribed by law. It is a fair judgment as that is the requirement of the law. The drivers, under the umbrella of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) had warned on Sunday that there would be no going back on the strike. The commencement of the strike was confirmed to Pulse by South-West NUPENG Chairman, Alhaji Tokunbo Korodo. The strike is ongoing already," Korodo said when asked if the industrial action would still hold as planned. Korodo had earlier said that NUPENG would proceed with the strike because no positive response had been received from the government. Tanker drivers around the country are expected to shun fuel depots until their demands are met. Their complaints include poor salaries, poor employee welfare, bad roads and insecurity on the highways among other things. ALSO READ: NUPENG shuts down Total over sacked workers Gov. Godwin Obaseki made the request when the Zonal Coordinator of NIS , Zone G, Mrs Chizoba Dibi, paid him a courtesy call at Government House in Benin on Monday He, however, said the state lacked the statistics of the returnees to enable the government re-integrate them into the society. I am not comfortable with the way the issue of returnees is being handled. The state has no record or statistics of those that have come back; we dont have the benefits of re-settling them ; we feel this should be corrected, he said. The governor urged the NIS to furnish his administration with the statistics of returnees who are from the state so that better arrangement for their welfare could be made. We are dealing with the root causes of migration and are creating opportunities for our youths to be gainfully employed. We have added the teaching of vocational and technical education in our schools to equip our youths with the needed skills so that they can be self reliant, Obaseki said. He also pleaded for the collaboration of the service in tackling the rising issue of security threats of some foreigners posing as herdsmen to wreak havoc in some communities across the state. Earlier, Dibi, the Zonal coordinator of Zone G, comprising Edo, Bayelsa, Anambra, Delta and Enugu states, said the visit was to intimate the governor of recent developments in the service. She said the service would soon embark on e-registration of foreigners in the country in order to create a demographic record for them. Dibi said the zone , through its passport offices, had issued a total of 20, 896 e-passports to citizens in the country between January and February this year. The zonal coordintor also said that the service was doing a lot in tackling human trafficking and other related immigration issues in the states within its jurisdiction. Obaseki made the clarification via a statement released by his Chief Press Secretary, John Mayaki on Sunday, April 2. It is highly displeasing, troubling, and quite unfair to the governors person and image to categorize him among those who have had scandals on account of the often questionable reports from the opposition party, the statement read. Mayaki explained further that the governor had, in 2016, sworn an affidavit declaring his certificates missing to the best of his knowledge, as required by the Electoral Act 2010. However, those rightly threatened by his profile and educational attainments, which stood in sharp contrast to those of their own candidates for the same election, chose to seek refuge in deliberate misrepresentation of the contents of the affidavit until the governor later produced the original copies, the statement added. Obaseki eventually discovered that the certificates were with his cousin in New York. I have found them. The truth is that I have not had any reason to look for them in the last 25 years. I know that I kept them somewhere in a safe box and I had photocopies, Obaseki said on Wednesday, August 17, 2016. When I needed them for the exercise, I couldnt find them, so I swore to an affidavit that I cant find the originals. I said I cant find them; here are the photocopies. I took the photocopies to the institutions that issued them and they certified the photocopies. So, when the whole controversy started raging, my cousin called me from New York and said, but your originals are here. I said please send them to me now, he added. According to Punch, which obtained the details of the new amendments, four consolidated bills before the House are seeking to further empower the EFCC to fight crime, insulate the anti-graft agency from interference by the Presidency and enhance its financial autonomy. One of the bills, sponsored by a member from Cross River State, Mr. Bassey Ewa, proposes to raise the two-year term for economic and financial crimes offenders to 20 years. In the new bill, Section 18 of the Principal Act is amended to prescribe tougher punishments for economic and financial crimes. "All convicted persons shall serve an imprisonment of a term not less than 20 years and have their ill-gotten property, accounts or investment confiscated by the government," the new subsection (C) reads. The proposal also states that the option of plea bargaining or returning the full amount stolen would not exclude the convict from penalty. Subsection (d) says: "Where the accused person, upon investigation, accepts to refund the total amount standing in his/her name and willing to plea bargain, he or she shall be convicted for not less than two years." It also states that a company found guilty of economic or financial crimes, will be barred from doing business in Nigeria for 50 years. "Any company found guilty of offences under this Act, both its assets and finances shall be frozen and the company blacklisted from doing business in Nigeria for 50 years," the subsection (e) adds. ALSO READ: Reps to probe aviation activities at Kaduna Airport to ensure safety Another amendment proposes to remove the power of appointing the Chairman of the EFCC from the President and to be vested directly in the hands of Nigerians. We should try and understand how the parliament works. I wish I had such powers these powers you give me I wish I had them. The President or Speaker is first among equals they are just presiding officers but unfortunately you know the legislative arm is the youngest people dont understand, people give us this powers that we have, decisions that are taken in plenary is decision of all but I have a role to be able to convey the message," Saraki said when asked about Ndumes suspension while speaking with journalists at the Presidential Villa on Monday, April 3. Bako, who ruled Akwa Ibom State during the Sani Abacha regime, said after all the advice from various quarters, the final decision on issues is taken by Buhari. Speaking to The Sun, the ex-military leader noted that the President is a man of integrity who would not be told what to do by anybody. Bako said: "Well, one thing I want you to take home is that under the Nigerian system, there is no government that we did not say that it had been hijacked. "Just think back! All the past governments were accused of the same weakness of being hijacked by a cabal. "If it is working well, it is the cabal that is making it work well and if it is not working well, it is the cabal that is making it not to work well. "But each of the presidents we have had in the past or the president that we have now, they are all men of integrity that take decisions on their own. "So, the issue of hijacking the administration does not arise. I believe that in the final analysis, the decision is the one taken by the president. "I used to remember those days when we were in government house as military administrators, after all the advice from all the quarters, I would say look I am the number one citizen in this state and this what I want to do. "No matter the number of policy advice or whatsoever, the president has the final say. This means that it is not likely that a government can be that hijacked by a cabal. Etiebet also said that Buhari has laid a foundation for growth and development in the country. If anybody is saying Buhari is not performing, that person is a mad man because, within two years, he has laid a foundation for growth, foundation for development, he said during an interview with Vanguard. We must have that foundation first. For 56 years of our independence, that foundation was not there and that is why you see things like this. So with this foundation laid, we are now going to have something to stand on to develop. Let me tell you, I worked with President Muhammadu Buhari when he was not yet President. He was a presidential candidate under ANPP when I was the national chairman and I see a man, who is very sincere and committed to the development of Nigeria; who feels the pains of why Nigeria is like this after so many years of independence. A man, always in a state of melancholy feeling the pains of how Nigerians have squandered our resources, about the enormous corruption that Nigeria has found itself in. And when you see him, you would feel his pains too about the overwhelming problems of Nigeria; how Nigerians behave the way they are behaving. It is for this reason he ran for the presidency three times; it was the fourth time God heard his prayers, our prayers and brought him to save Nigeria. And he has come and you know the enormous achievements he has made. Could you imagine where Nigeria would have been by now if he did not come? Maybe Boko Haram would have hoisted its flag in Aso Villa. They were already in Abuja. You saw all the bombings in Abuja, the previous governments with all the money they allocated, they put them in their pockets, sending soldiers so callously empty handed to be killed in the field. They were not sincere and honest in their dealings. They did not love Nigeria, all the money that was given to them to fight insecurity; they put it in their pockets and used the balance to buy people for the elections, he added. It's no mean feat, considering his age and the State from where he scooped the gong. Fresh faced Abiola is sole administrator for Agege Local Government Area. He was handed the role alongside other local government administrators on June 13, 2016, by Lagos Governor Akinwunmi Ambode. I have confidence in God and Im equally confident that my political leaders are there for me. I also have confidence in the staff of the local government. By the special grace of God, we will deliver, Abiola said upon his swearing-in. Those who work with Abiola in Agege LGA say he still keeps a level head and is stealthily delivering on his promises. As the youngest LGA boss in Lagos, Abiola has surrounded himself with other younger Nigerians who have a point to prove to the older generation of politicians. Youth involvement in politics is key to national development. Nobody is too young or too inexperienced to run," Abiola said after he was conferred with the City People award. Abiola is also social media savvy. He interacts with Agege LGA dwellers and receives feedback from his constituents on how to improve their neighborhoods, through his social media handles. Septic tanks across public schools in Agege have been emptied; thanks to feedback from communities and Abiola has taken education to the grassroots. He is also working hard at making Agege cleaner and greener. His governance style is hands-on. Folks attest that the young LGA boss is also approachable and accessible. Abiola attended the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus Nursery and Primary School. His secondary education came from the government college, Ketu and the Folbim High School. Abiola obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from the University of Lagos and learnt the political ropes while serving as Special Assistant on New Media and publicity to Lagos House Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa. In a society where gerontocracy still reigns supreme, Gbenga Abiola is no doubt doing more to demand youth inclusion in government than thousands of hashtags on social media will achieve. Hes become the face and voice of a disenchanted young population in Nigerias commercial capital. The group, APC Young Patriots, made the comment via a statement released by Coordinator, Comrade Dominic Alancha. The statement reads: As a respected group in the APC, we can no longer afford to watch and treat as a party affair, this iniquitous assault contrived to smear our distinguished Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki. We will do everything possible within our influence as party members and courageous Nigerians to defend the institution of the Senate and protect the dignity of Saraki. We had deliberately refused to speak out on these misguided attacks since it started, thinking that one day, a good sense of reasoning will prevail on those vilifying him for making a strategic move to occupy the office of the Senate President. We fear that this ridiculous mugging which has now taken a dangerous dimension as some mischievous individuals are found to be encouraging affronts against the Senate is capable of jeopardizing democracy. This unfortunate development is sad, painful, unfair and now getting worse, as some so-called eminent persons in the country have been wooed to instigate public actions to smear and harass the leadership of the Senate. The growing penchant for manipulating the constitution is creating chaos and tension in the polity judging from the recent face-off between the Senate and the executive. We urge Nigerians to rise up in the defence of our democracy. We have watched with serious consternation how some senior lawyers and individuals led by Prof. Itse Sagay and Mr Femi Falana have been trying to ridicule the institution of the Senate and its members. We found this very offensive and disingenuous. We are using this medium to avert their minds to the future implications of their action and the possibility of giving vent to a fascist state. We will henceforth not tolerate any attempt to ridicule the Senate, while every attack on its leadership will be met with equal and more virulent responses. We appeal to double-faced individuals masquerading as defenders of the poor and anti-corruption fighters, but who in the real sense of it are pro-establishment agents to desist. We will never allow anyone to derail our hard earned democracy. We wish to encourage Dr Saraki and the Senate not to be deterred in performing their tasks as graciously defined by section 4 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended). We are mindful of the giant strides the Senate is making in passing several important bills for economic recovery and the good governance of our nation. The latest amendment to the Electoral Act as passed by the Senate will indeed revolutionized our electoral process and give many of us a great opportunity to contest elective positions in 2019. ALSO READ:Buhari holds secret meeting with Saraki He offered this advice in a press statement issued today, April 3, 2017, Linda Ikeji's Blog reports. Mohammed gave the address following a recent enlistment of 27 medical students of the University of Medical Sciences and Technology (UMST), Sudan by the terror group. ''According to the report, the students were recruited by one Mohammed Fakhri Al-khabbas, a former UMST student from Middlesborough, United Kingdom. "Many of the students are children of reputable doctors in the UK. Their Social Media accounts also revealed them as praising Jihadists and championing ISIS' cause," the minister said in a statement. How's your 2017 going? And what's up with your 2017 resolutions? I dunno if you're keeping up with any of them, but Netflix is doing three times than they were doing this time last year. In Q1 of 2016, Netflix's purchases were less than $40 million, so how in the world did they make so much just one year later? The key word: The "World". Netflix has been pushing their services so much in the past year, and even touching down in Nigeria officially. Currently, almost 50% of Netflix users are outside the U.S. And the best part? They don't even look like they are stopping. They have Spanish and Portuguese offerings and soon, English will no longer be the dominant language of their shows. What plans do they have in Nigeria though? Netflix funds original shows that have gone on to be successful like, from Marvel's Luke Cage, to Stranger Things. On the movie side of things, there's iBoy, and of course Beasts of No Nation, a movie based on a book by Uzodinma Iweala. It doesn't look like they are working on creating original content for the local audience. Iroko TV has the local side of things on lockdown. Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! Vucic won about 55 percent of Sunday's vote, far above the 50-percent threshold required to win in the first round, the results based on more than 90 percent of polling stations released by the state electoral commission showed. Two obstacles for EU membership talks, started in 2014, seem to have been removed. Vucic's predecessor Tomislav Nikolic, a pro-Russian member of his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), is likely to retire from political life. And ultranationalist Vojislav Seselj, who was burning European flags to show his opposition to Serbia's EU bid, won less than five percent of the vote. But Vucic, a 47-year-old hardline nationalist turned a pro-European, still has to overcome the reluctance of a large part of his electorate, who cleave to historic ties with Moscow and are not passionate about joining the EU. Vucic, prime minister since 2014, has time as the next parliamentary election is only due in 2020. "Vucic was a candidate taking into account EU membership talks which require notably changes to the constitution and maybe new prerogatives for the president," said political analyst Jadranka Jelincic. "We will see a sort of 'presidentialisation' in Serbia," independent analyst Boban Stojanovic told AFP. "I expect Vucic will have the final say in all decisions." 2022 horizon Serbia's next government will be led by a prime minister who would be a person of trust who would not overshadow Vucic. It would also have to follow the political "direction" that Vucic says voters chose in electing him. "The vast majority of Serbia's citizens are for the continuation of reform, for Serbia to keep to its European path and maintain the links that we have with Russia and China," a thrilled Vucic said late Sunday. "Vucic also expects to be the president who will lead Serbia into the European Union, which is a plausible hypothesis around 2022" when his mandate will expire, Loic Tregoures, a Balkans specialist, said in an analysis published by The Conversation website. Both Russian President Vladimir Putin and EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn congratulated Vucic on Monday. Putin said Vucic's victory "testifies to the wide support for your efforts aimed at resolving current economic and social problems ... and pursuing a constructive, balanced foreign policy," a Kremlin statement said. "Looking forward to working with new president as partners and friends on EU accession," Hahn said in a tweet. Vucic "has been presenting himself as a pro-European ever since he took power, and gave significant signs of his involvement, such as the 2013 Belgrade-Pristina agreement" on normalisation of ties with Kosovo, Tregoures said. Unlike most EU members, Serbia refuses to recognise the independence of Kosovo, its former province populated mostly by ethnic Albanians, declared in 2008. Normalisation of ties between Belgrade and Pristina is key regarding the path to EU accession. With Belgrade currently negotiating judicial and fundamental rights with Brussels, no EU official voiced reserve over Vucic's campaign despite opposition claims he is authoritarian and controlling the media with an iron fist. But after his win Serbia's divided opposition seemed weak. The South American territory, which is administered as a region of France, has been in the grip of industrial unrest for the past 10 days, with representatives of the Guianese calling for the area to be given "special status". "We demand 2.5 billion euros ($2.7 billion) immediately," said Olivier Goudet, a spokesman for the grouping of unions, who had earlier met with France's overseas territories minister Ericka Bareigts. With less than three weeks to go before French presidential elections, Bareigts had urged the strikers to quickly come to an agreement. Bareigts "acts like she doesn't know that we are 50 years behind, that we are suffering, that we see poverty in our country," said Goudet, promising further strikes Monday. France made its 1.085 billion euros offer on Saturday, mostly for "emergency measures" but with some of the cash paid over 10 years. The proposals include investments in health, education and infrastructure, and the deployment of extra police and construction of a prison. French Guiana immediately described the proposals as "unsatisfactory" and the collective behind the strikes called for a "special status" for the territory in talks with Bareigts. "With another system, we could decide for ourselves what is good for us," rather than "asking permission for everything" from France, collective member Davy Rimane told AFP. In a referendum in January 2010, French Guiana voted firmly against autonomy. "But this crisis is the expression of the failure of this referendum," said Gauthier Horth, another member of the collective. Striking workers have set up barricades on several roads and forced the postponement of the launch of an Ariane rocket carrying a Brazilian telecoms satellite. The rally was organised by several Chinese associations in France, and as with previous rallies held over the past week, there were sporadic skirmishes between protesters and security forces. Some of the demonstrators threw bottles, eggs and fruit, prompting the police to respond with tear gas during clashes that lasted more than an hour, according to an AFP photographer. On March 26, Liu Shaoyo, 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. But the dead man's family disputes the police version of the incident, saying that there was no domestic dispute and that he was shot without warning after a neighbour called the police about shouting. The police are investigating the incident, and Beijing has called on Paris to "guarantee the safety and legal rights and interests of Chinese citizens in France. "We want to maintain pressure and support the family to establish the truth and fight police violence," said Sacha Lin Jung of the Chinese Residents in France association, one of the protest's organisers. Fillon metal racket "We thought it was an April Fool's joke," Jerome Baude told AFP, describing his surprise at receiving a 68-euro ($64) fine on Saturday for protesting outside a rally by the Republicans party nominee Fillon. Baude was among 15 people rapped for "making noise harming the peace or public health" for banging on pots and pans outside a hall where Fillon gave a speech in the northern city of Calais last month. "We are stunned," Baude, a trade unionist said. "It's a way of stopping people, who usually never protest, from getting off the couch." The French word for pots -- casseroles -- is also used as a slang term for the skeletons in a politician's closet. Since January, when Fillon was revealed to have paid his wife and two of his children for suspected fake jobs as parliamentary assistants, his rallies have drawn sporadic saucepan protests. Hamon's income on tour Socialist candidate Benoit Hamon dispatched three teams of campaigners to crisscross France promoting his controversial proposals for a universal basic income. The caravans will tour 100 towns over the next three weeks to try to sell voters on the plan to pay all the poor and lowly-paid a living wage -- a scheme that would eventually be extended to all citizens. The campaigners will use a device to simulate how much each voter stands to gain. "Many people think this measure is only meant for those who do not have work," Hamon said of the plan, which he says would cost 35 billion euros ($37 billion) a year but economists say could cost several times that. Artists against Le Pen A group of around 100 actors, musicians and other cultural figures published an open letter in the leftist Liberation daily calling on voters to bar a possible victory by Le Pen. The signatories of the letter, who include actress Lea Seydoux and Israeli filmmaker Amos Gitai, said France's vibrant arts scene was based on the freedom "to think and create, to invent and assert and to interpret and criticise the world as we see it". "A president Marine Le Pen would end that," they declared. Polls currently show Le Pen and centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron running neck-and-neck in the first round of the election on April 23, with Macron handily beating Le Pen in the May 7 runoff. No 'normal president' Macron told Le Monde newspaper that unlike his former mentor President Francois Hollande, he would not strive to be a "normal president". Fillon has dubbed Hollande's former economy minister "Emmanuel Hollande", claiming the two are cut from the same Socialist cloth. "I don't claim (to want) to be a normal president. I will be a president who leads," Macron said in an attempt to distance himself from Hollande. Hollande won the election in 2012 as a "normal" successor to the irascible Nicolas Sarkozy, but his regular-guy image came to be equated with weakness, making him very unpopular. Dijsselbloem, who is also the Dutch finance minister, has been facing calls to step down since he suggested in an interview in a German newspaper that southern European countries blew their money on "drinks and women". In the wake of the controversy, the parliament had invited the head of the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers to discuss the stalled Greek bailout at this week's plenary session in Strasbourg. Expectations were that MEP's would use the opportunity to harshly criticise Dijsselbloem. "Unanimous condemnation by the European Parliament against Jeroen Dijsselbloem for umpteenth refusal to answer questions on sacrifices made by our citizens," European Parliament chief Antonio Tajani posted on Twitter. MEP Gianni Pittella, the head of the left-of-centre S&D group, said Dijsselbloem's refusal to attend was "a further slight after his previous shameful remarks". "He should resign," Pittella added. In a letter on Thursday, Dijsselbloem said he was unable to attend the hearing because of a scheduling conflict. In an interview with Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung last month, Dijsselbloem said that while coming to the aid of eurozone partners is important, "I can't spend all my money on drinks and women and then ask for help." The words stung in the southern European countries of Portugal, Greece and Cyprus that have all received eurozone bailouts in recent years, with Spain's banks also receiving support. Dijsselbloem, 50, holds one of Europe's most influential positions, chairing the meetings of finance ministers from the 19-country eurozone. In a televised address, Cartes called on lawmakers and political leaders from across the political divide to join in a dialogue along with church leaders. "I propose to open a broad debate, the only condition for which is the will to come to an agreement for a lasting democracy," he said. A left-wing opposition activist was shot and killed by police in a raid on his party's offices after the riots erupted late Friday. Protesters had earlier broken into the Congress in anger after senators loyal to Cartes approved the reform. Cartes is seeking to amend the constitution to enable himself to run for office again in 2018 after his current term ends. 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. After the Senate sidestepped opposition resistance and approved the bill, it was due to be voted on Saturday in the Chamber of Deputies, where the president has a majority. That vote was postponed after the violence, but was expected to go ahead on Tuesday. Civil groups opposed to the reform called for a vigil outside Congress on Monday to protest ahead of that vote. The conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government believes the crash was no accident and has been conducting a new probe into the incident, which Polish and Russian investigators earlier attributed to human error and bad weather. A fresh analysis of the evidence, which includes recordings of the conversations between the pilots and the control tower, "enabled prosecutors to formulate new charges against the two air controllers, who are Russian citizens, as well as against a third person present in the tower at the time," Polish Deputy Prosecutor General Marek Pasionek told reporters. He said the individuals were guilty of "deliberately causing a catastrophe... that resulted in the deaths of many people." Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov immediately responded that "of course we cannot agree with such statements." "You know that an investigation is also ongoing on the Russian side. The circumstances of this tragedy, this catastrophe, are already very well elucidated and investigated," he told reporters. In addition to former president Lech Kaczynski -- the twin brother of PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski -- many senior state officials including the central banker and military chief of staff died when the plane came down in Smolensk, western Russia on April 10, 2010. Polish prosecutors had already pressed charges against the two Russian air controllers in 2015: one for "being directly responsible for having endangered air traffic" and the other for "unintentionally causing an air traffic disaster". Prosecutors on Monday added that fragments of the plane will be sent next month to four labs abroad to check for traces of explosives. Polish justice officials have also been exhuming the remains of the victims to establish the cause of death. Warsaw has repeatedly asked Moscow to return the wreckage of the plane, but Russia says it will only do so once its own inquiry is over. Last month, Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz, who believes the crash was the result of a Polish-Russian conspiracy, accused former Polish premier and current EU President Donald Tusk of "diplomatic treason" over an earlier probe into the crash. According to a report by CNN, the twin explosions also left at least 50 injured in the city. It was also reported that one of the explosions took place on a subway car at the Sennaya Ploshchad station. Confirming the blast, spokesman of President Valdimir Putin, Dmitry Peskov, said the President visited the city earlier on Monday, but that he was now in the nearby city of Strelna. I have already spoken to the head of our special services, they are working to ascertain the cause, Peskov reportedly said, at a meeting with Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko. President Putin has reportedly expressed his condolences to the victims and is talking to the FSB security services about the investigation, according to state media. It was further reported that all of St. Petersburgs metro stations- Victory Park, Electrosila, Moscow Gate, Frunzenskaya, Technological Institute, Sennaya Ploshchad, Gostiny Dvor, have been shut at the entrance and exit points. The "Al Kausar" is the third vessel to be hijacked in less than a month off the coast of Somalia as experts warn that ships have lowered their guard in the five years since the height of the piracy crisis. The Indian cargo ship was carrying items such as wheat and sugar from Dubai via Yemen to Somalia's Bossaso port when it came under attack, owner Isaak Them told AFP. "The vessel was hijacked on Friday (March 31) from mid-sea. One of the crew members called me on Saturday evening and informed me about the hijacking," said Them. "We have asked those who loaded their goods in the vessel in Dubai to make efforts to salvage our crew and the vessel." The president of the Kutch Seafarers Association, Adam Them, from the western state of Gujarat where the vessel originated, told AFP that the pirates had already made ransom demands. "We got a call from one of the crew members today that the pirates have demanded money from the owners of the goods in the vessel," he said. "Negotiations are on. The crew member further informed that five gunmen were onboard the vessel ... However, nobody has been hurt." Mohamed Samater, a security official from Puntland on the northeastern tip of Somalia, confirmed that a ship had been hijacked, but did not have further details. Piracy resurges Somali pirates began staging attacks in 2005, seriously disrupting a major international shipping route and costing the global economy billions of dollars. At the peak of the piracy crisis in January 2011, 736 hostages and 32 boats were held. Though anti-piracy measures ended attacks on commercial vessels, fishing boats have continued to face attacks sporadically. However on March 13, pirates seized the Aris 13 oil tanker and eight Sri Lankan hostages in the first attack on a large merchant vessel by Somali pirates since 2012. The pirates claimed to be driven by anger over illegal fishing in Somali waters which has long been seen as a key grievance behind piracy in the country. While some hostages have been held for as long as five years, the pirates released the Aris 13 and its crew just four days after it was seized. A week later a local cargo dhow was hijacked and taken out to sea, with the Oceans Beyond Piracy NGO warning it may be used as a "mother ship" for further attacks against larger vessels. "We have seen a number of attacks over last few weeks which seems to confirm what we have always thought - that the pirates haven't gone away but have merely been doing other things," said John Steed -- a former British army officer with Oceans Beyond Piracy, who has spent years negotiating the release of piracy hostages in Somalia. He attributed the resurgence to a "reduction in precautions taken by shipping companies" such as travelling without armed guards, closer to shore and at slower speeds than recommended. She will remain the leader of the Western Cape during the internal party probe. "For those claiming legacy of colonialism was ONLY negative, think of our independent judiciary, transport infrastructure, piped water," she wrote on Twitter last month. DA leader Mmusi Maimane said at a press briefing in Cape Town that disciplinary proceedings had begun against Zille, but that she would not be suspended during the investigation. "Our party has always stood for the principle of freedom of speech. This case is not about freedom of speech. Our party has stood for South Africans from all walks of life," he said. "People can express a view but does that view do damage or harm to the interests of the organisation, which is what this is." The DA, which won 22 percent of the vote in 2014's general election, has been gaining popularity as it tries to shed its image as a "white" party. But efforts to broaden its appeal among black voters have been bruised by social media scandals, and the party has struggled to present itself as a credible alternative to the ruling African National Congress (ANC). "For Democratic Alliance black members, uncertainty remains on where the party stands on racism and on the treatment of white and powerful leaders," the ANC's Western Cape office said in a statement. "Maimane has not shown the same passion in putting South Africans first above Helen Zille who singlehandedly put him where he is," it said. "The DA should have suspended Helen Zille as premier." If the DA upholds the misconduct charge against Zille, sanctions could include temporary suspension, a fine of up to $3,700 (3,500 euros), community service or permanent expulsion from the party. "There is preliminary evidence that there is a strong case to be made," Maimane said. "I've got to build an organisation that reflects South Africans. In that instance premier Zille has the right to answer. "It is personal, I have respect for premier Zille, she has served this country with distinction -- it would be incorrect to suggest that she hasn't. The opposition call came as the ruling ANC's own integrity commission delivered Zuma a stinging rebuke over last week's cabinet reshuffle, saying it was "deeply perturbed" by the lack of consultation, according to local media. The commission will reportedly once again call on the president to step down when he meets the party graft watchdog on April 9. Zuma last week removed Pravin Gordhan from the top job at the treasury in a purge of cabinet critics that sent the rand currency tanking and triggered accusations that he was promoting graft. After holding emergency talks in Johannesburg on Monday, six opposition parties agreed to organise mass protests against Zuma as well as continuing to lobby for the vote of no confidence. "Opposition parties are fully behind the motion of no confidence in Jacob Zuma," said Mmusi Maimane, leader of the the main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA). The DA and the third largest opposition party, the leftist Economic Freedom Fighters Party (EFF), wrote to the national assembly speaker requesting an urgent sitting to debate the no-confidence motion. Parliament is currently in recess. Speaker Baleka Mbete, who is also the chairwoman of the ANC, cut short an official trip to Bangladesh and returned home on Sunday to consider the opposition request. "I am alive to the extreme challenges and sense of anxiety our young democracy is going through at this moment," Mbete said on Sunday. Zuma has survived several no-confidence votes in recent years. "When other motions of no confidence failed, we were not facing the crisis that we are facing currently," said the president of the African Christian Democratic Party, Kenneth Meshoe. "Now it is not only members of the opposition that acknowledge that we have a crisis, but members of the ruling party." "This is not an academic exercise, we are serious about this," said Maimane. "We are working to remove Jacob Zuma." With 249 seats, the ANC commands a strong majority in South Africa's 400-member parliament. For a no-confidence vote to pass, the opposition will require a simple majority -- meaning it will need to secure at least 50 votes from the ANC. Zuma's sweeping cabinet overhaul exposed deep divisions within the ANC party and DA sources are confident that they can recruit enough support from ruling party MPs. Assange, who has been holed up in Ecuador's London embassy since 2012, had a personal stake in the race: opposition candidate Guillermo Lasso had threatened to kick him out of the embassy within 30 days if he won the election. The 45-year-old Australian buoyantly turned that threat around on Lasso as official results showed the conservative ex-banker on track to lose. "I cordially invite Lasso to leave Ecuador within 30 days (with or without his tax haven millions)," he wrote on Twitter. That was a reference to WikiLeaks's accusation that Lasso is linked to the Panama Papers tax haven scandal. "Assange yes, Lasso no," he added in Spanish. Assange fled to Ecuador's embassy in June 2012 to avoid arrest and extradition to Sweden, where he faces a rape allegation. The WikiLeaks founder, who denies the allegation, says he fears Sweden would send him to the United States to face trial for leaking hundreds of thousands of secret US military and diplomatic documents in 2010. Outgoing President Rafael Correa, a fiery critic of the US, granted Assange asylum. Moreno, Correa's former vice president, has vowed to uphold it. The National Electoral Council said Moreno had 51.07 percent of the vote to 48.93 percent for Lasso, with 94.2 percent of precincts reporting. "One of my greatest ambitions is to organise free and transparent elections in 2021 and pass the baton to another Nigerien whom the Nigeriens will have chosen," the president said in an interview on state television on the occasion of the first anniversary of his inauguration for his second mandate on April 2, 2016. The constitution of Niger limits the president to two terms of five years. Issoufou, 65, was re-elected in March last year following the end of his first term, albeit in elections boycotted by the opposition. "Me, I am a democrat at heart (...) I don't have the arrogance to think that I am an irreplaceable providential man," the head of state said. According to Issoufou "Niger needs strong democratic institutions," and for this there needed to be alternations in power. If he succeeds, he will be the first democratically elected president of the vast west African country to ensure a peaceful transition of power to a new head of state. His predecessor Mamadou Tandja was overthrown in 2010 by a military coup for having modified the constitution in order to remain in power at the end of his two legal five-year terms. Niger, one of the poorest countries in the world but rich in uranium, has never experienced a real democratic transfer of power since its independence in 1960. The democratic process begun in 1993 has often been interrupted by military coups. In recent years, Niger has been hit by attacks from Boko Haram Islamists, whose insurgency has spilled over from neighbouring Nigeria, but despite its porous borders the country is an island of stability in a troubled area. The dinner was hosted by UN envoy Espen Barth Eide for Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, who met for the first time since talks were suspended in February. A UN statement issued afterwards said more "groundwork" needed to be done after the two leaders "had an open and constructive exchange about the challenges experienced over the last months". It said the pair "exchanged ideas about the way ahead". "As the two leaders will be abroad in the coming days... Mr Eide, will be continuing his interaction with them in order to lay the groundwork for the resumption of the negotiations as soon as possible," said the statement. The four-hour dinner was held at the Ledra Palace Hotel in the buffer zone in the divided capital, Nicosia. Outside the venue, scores of Greek and Turkish Cypriots chanted for a "solution now". Anastasiades and Akinci have been engaged in fragile peace talks since May 2015 that observers saw as the best chance in years to reunify the island. But the UN-backed process came to a standstill in February in a row over Greek Cypriot schools marking the anniversary of an unofficial 1950 referendum supporting union with Greece. Akinci suspended his participation over the Cyprus parliament's approval of a move for Greek Cypriot schools to commemorate the poll. Since the bill passed, a climate of trust between the sides has deteriorated, with each blaming the other for the impasse. But MPs are expected to amend the bill, allowing the education minister, rather than parliament, to decide on such issues. Much of the progress in recent talks was based on the strong personal rapport between Anastasiades and Akinci, leader of the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. And there will be obstacles in place even when the negotiations resume as the leaders are still far apart on core issues such as power sharing, territorial adjustments and property rights. Also added in to the mix is Greek Cypriot presidential elections next February and the Republic's search for oil and gas -- new drills are expected in June -- which Ankara wants to see stopped until peace talks have reached an outcome. The eastern Mediterranean island has been divided since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded the northern third in response to an Athens-inspired coup seeking Enosis, the term for political union between Greece and Cyprus. After a failed referendum on a UN peace plan in 2004, the Cyprus Republic now headed by President Anastasiades joined the European Union as a divided country. Putin told Vucic his victory "testifies to the wide support for your efforts aimed at resolving current economic and social problems ... and pursuing a constructive, balanced foreign policy," the Kremlin said in a statement Monday. A hardline nationalist who became a pro-European, Vucic wants to negotiate Serbia's accession to the EU but keep close ties with the country's traditional ally, Moscow. The 47-year-old, who will have a five-year term as president, won about 55 percent of the vote held Sunday, far above the 50-percent threshold required to win in the first round, according to the IPSOS research institute. In Serbia the president's post is largely ceremonial but analysts say Vucic will use it to consolidate his grip on power, including with his eventual pick for prime minister. The Kremlin said Putin had "expressed confidence that (Vucic's) work as head of state will promote the further development of the Russian-Serbian strategic partnership." When asked by reporters whether Putin's support for Vucic had helped him win the election, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov replied: "Putin did not elect the president of Serbia. The Serbs elected their president. They were the ones who voted." Putin hosted Vucic at the Kremlin last week, where they discussed bilateral relations. Nye County Public Works Director Tom Bolling and his road crews have been quite busy over the last year, with a variety of repair, maintenance and improvement projects addressing an array of streets throughout the county. To keep the public and county officials apprised of what is happening, Bolling provided the Nye County Commission with an update on current and future projects during its Tuesday, Nov. 1 meeting. The Quad-Cities Chamber of Commerce still is recruiting area business and community leaders for its annual trip April 26-28 to Washington, D.C. Over the three days, participants will meet with federal officials to discuss issues impacting the Quad-City region's business growth. Guests can meet with all six members of the Quad-Cities' congressional delegation and various federal officials and attend a formal reception with elected officials. Jillian McCleary, the chamber's vice president of communications, said the trip traditionally involves about 30 participants and there still is room for more to register. Attendees can customize their trip to meet with leadership from those agencies of most importance to their business, such as the departments of Commerce, Economic Development Administration, Transportation or the Pentagon. The trips is an opportunity for local leaders to convey how policy being developed at the federal level impacts their local businesses. McCleary said the group will advocate on this specific set of priorities: Investment in transportation and infrastructure investment including continued support for the Interstate 74 and 80 bridges, and passenger rail service between the Quad-Cities and Chicago. Providing policy support to ensure the Rock Island Arsenal is a successful and valuable national asset. Strengthen long-term energy production and access including a Federal Investment Tax Credit for nuclear energy, investing in and improving access and management of the energy grid, and streamlining the hydropower licensing process. Enacting trade policies that provide access to foreign markets and ensure U.S. businesses are not disadvantaged. Establish a formal process and designate involved agencies to work with communities, businesses and homeowners to appeal flood maps and mitigate flooding impact. "If you're a business owner even if you're not a member of the chamber but you're interested from a business perspective in these issues, you should think about going," McCleary said. Registration fee for the trip includes access to three days of meetings and a dinner reception with legislators at Phoenix Park Hotel. The cost is $550 for chamber members, $650 for non-members. For reservations, visit quadcitieschamber.com. For more information call Henry Marquard, the chamber's government affairs director, at 563-823-2692. Police: Man sold pot near Davenport school A Cahokia, Illinois, man was behind bars Monday after police say he sold marijuana to a 14-year-old near an elementary school in Davenport. Darryl Merritt, 20, faces charges of distributing drugs near a school, a Class B felony punishable by up to 25 years in prison, and controlled substance violation, a Class D felony punishable by up to five years in prison. Merritt was booked into the Scott County Jail around 3:30 p.m. Friday, according on online records. Bond was set Saturday at $50,000 cash or surety. A preliminary hearing is slated for Friday. Davenport police allege in an arrest affidavit filed in Scott County District Court that Merritt sold marijuana to the teen in a parking lot at 1939 W. 4th St., around 11:30 p.m. March 4. The parking lot is directly across from Monroe Elementary School, according to the affidavit. The drug deal was captured on surveillance video from a nearby school, according to the affidavit. Tara Becker Early-morning shooting reported in EM A man was shot twice in the back during an early morning shooting outside of a home in the the 1300 block of 10th Avenue in East Moline, according to police. Police responded to the shooting around 1:51 a.m. Monday. The man was taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Police believe the shooting is related to an argument between the man and someone he knew. Investigators are interviewing witnesses and gathering more information. Anyone with information can contact the East Moline Police Department at 309-752-1555 or Crime Stoppers at 309-762-9500. You can also text tips to Crime Stoppers. Text QCTIP, plus your message, to 274637 (CRIMES). Tara Becker Reward offered in theft of wheelchair lift Crime Stoppers of the Quad-Cities is offering a reward of up to $1,000 for any information leading to the arrest of the person or persons who stole a wheelchair lift from a military veteran. Moline police said in a news release that the theft happened sometime between 5 p.m. Saturday and 4 a.m. Sunday. Police say a KARMER brand wheelchair lift was stolen from the rear of a 2003 Chevrolet Trailblazer while it was backed into a driveway of a home in the 2900 block of 11th Avenue. The lift was bolted to the SUVs hitch and the unit as a whole was not visible from the street, according to police. Anyone with information is asked to call the Crime Stoppers tip line at 309-762-9500. Times staff Sheriffs office investigates EM home invasion The Rock Island County Sheriffs Office is investigating a home invasion where shots were fired. Deputies were dispatched about 10:30 p.m. Friday to a home on 180th Street North in East Moline. According to the sheriffs office, witnesses reported that four men who were armed forced their way into the home during a party or gathering. The four men reportedly robbed several party goers of personal possessions before leaving the home, according to the sheriffs office. The Rock Island County Emergency Service Team responded and secured the home. The sheriffs office was assisted by the Illinois State Police, East Moline Police Department, Hampton Police Department, and the Illinois Crime Scene Unit. The investigation is ongoing. Times staff A Cahokia, Illinois, man was behind bars Monday after police said he sold marijuana to a 14-year-old near an elementary school. Darryl Merritt, 20, faces charges of distributing drugs near a school, a Class B felony punishable by up to 25 years in prison, and controlled substance violation, a Class D felony punishable by up to five years in prison. Merritt was booked into the Scott County Jail around 3:30 p.m. Friday, according on online records. Bond was set Saturday at $50,000 cash or surety. A preliminary hearing is slated for Friday. Davenport police allege in an arrest affidavit filed in Scott County District Court that Merritt sold marijuana to the teen in a parking lot at 1939 W. 4th St., around 11:30 p.m. March 4. The parking lot is directly across from Monroe Elementary School, according to the affidavit. The drug deal was captured on surveillance video from a nearby school, according to the affidavit. One person was shot in the back twice in early morning shooting in East Moline. East Moline police were called at 1:51 a.m. to the 1300 block 10th Avenue after a report of a shooting. Upon arrival police found a male who had been shot twice in the upper back outside of a residence. The victim was transported to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The shooting is believed to be related to an argument between the victim and someone he knew. Investigators are interviewing witnesses and gathering more information. The case is still under investigation by the East Moline Police Department. Anyone with information can contact the East Moline Police Department at 309-752-1555 or Crime Stoppers at 309-762-9500. You can also text tips to Crime Stoppers. Text QCTIP plus your message to 274637 (CRIMES). DES MOINES Gov. Terry Branstad wont be in attendance when President Donald Trump sits down with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this week. Attending and participating in the meeting between the heads of state would be inappropriate and premature because Branstad has not received Senate confirmation to be Trumps ambassador to China, the governor said Monday. Trump and Xi are scheduled to meet Thursday and Friday in Florida. Instead of joining the presidents, Branstad will be in Washington through Thursday to meet with members of the U.S. Senate and officials with the State Department to prepare for his confirmation hearings, which could be as soon as late this month. Although his name was submitted to the committee Jan. 20, no hearing date has been scheduled for Branstads conformation. A spokesman for the committees top Democrat, Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, told qz.com thats because the committee has not received all of the paperwork Branstad submitted some time ago. Whenever the hearings are scheduled, Branstad said he will be prepared. Hes studying to learn as much as I can in preparation for that. His has an ambitious schedule while in Washington, with meetings with Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, congressional leaders not on the committee and State Department representatives. Obviously, this is one of most important assignments because China is the largest country in the world, but also second only to the United States in terms of their economy, he said. I also respect and recognize this is a different role than Ive had as governor, he said. Now I will be representing the United States. Branstad believes he has an advantage in that he has visited China six times and has a personal relationship with Xi, who calls him old friend. A sister state relationship was formed with the Chinese province of Hebei in Branstads first year as governor in 1983. I think I have the unique opportunity to show that I am truly a friend of China, he said. Branstad hopes his long-term friendship and relationship with the leadership of China and the Chinese people will help (him) communicate some of the issues that we need to get resolved between our two countries. And there are many. DES MOINES Carletta Knox Seymour, a Cedar Rapids businesswoman who is president of the Iowans for Gun Safety board, said Monday her group is concerned that human rights are being overlooked for gun rights in legislation that would establish stand-your-ground immunity and, among other things, prevent local governments from enacting their own gun measures. She said that House File 517, which passed the Iowa House, overreaches and should be drastically scaled back by the Iowa Senate. Opponents said of special concern is a provision that removes a gun owners duty to retreat if his or her life or property is threatened, pointing to research indicating gun homicides increased by 31 percent in other states after stand-your-ground legislation was enacted that potentially carries a racial bias. Black people are far too often perceived as threatening simple because they are black. Stand your ground gives legal sanction for racism, the Rev. Erin Gingrich of the First Unitarian Church in Des Moines told a Statehouse news conference. We must not legislate evil. Along with calls to reject the stand-your-ground provision, gun safety advocates are opposed to parts of the bill that prevent local governments from banning weapons in public places and pre-empt other local restrictions and that allow children to possess a handgun while under direct supervision of a parent or guardian. They also advocated yearly criminal history checks for anyone seeking a permit to acquire and carry a firearm. Kids are going to die if we dont do something about this bill, said Dr. Amy Shriver, a pediatrician at the Blank Childrens Clinic in Des Moines. Sen. Dan Dawson, R-Council Bluffs, the Senate floor manager of the gun bill, said Monday he expects the Senate will make primarily technical revisions to HF 517 and send it make to the House for consideration during floor debate that could take place Tuesday or Wednesday. He did not envision any changes advocated by Iowans for Gun Safety being adopted. A Scott County District Court judge dismissed one of six counts in the lawsuits filed by four former employees against United Neighbors Inc. and Executive Director Evelyn Nelson. Judge Mark R. Lawson agreed Monday with the defendants' attorney, Ralph W. Heninger, that plaintiffs' claim to personal property was being heard in the wrong venue and was improperly filed. "Under the law, a replevin (personal property claim) action cannot be joined with any other action, so we know this is not properly played," Lawson said. "The question is what we do about it and to me, the easiest thing to do is dismiss count three without prejudice and have you go down to small claims court and file it separately, where it probably should have been filed in the first place." The recovery of personal property is one of a combination of six claims filed by former Executive Director Ida Johnson, Tonya Williams and Theresa Fuller including breach of contract, tortious interference with contract, an Iowa wage claim, negligence and defamation. The fourth lawsuit, brought by Patricia Williams, contains three counts: an Iowa wage claim, defamation and negligence. Referencing Iowa Code, Heninger argued that in replevin cases, there can be "no joinder of any cause of actions and not of the same kind." "My initial reaction was to force them to start over with new causes of action that are clearly delineated and segregated as required by the Code," Heninger said. Anthony Bribriesco, attorney for the plaintiffs, told Lawson that the defendants have conceded the property does not belong to them and rather than return the property, they are requiring his clients to go the legal route to recover it. "The defendants, the board of United Neighbors and Evelyn Nelson have the personal property of my clients," Bribriesco said. "Mr. Heninger will concede they have the personal property of my clients and they know this is not United Neighbors property." Lawson said that dismissal is not a remedy for replevin cases, but because of the inability to sever the count and remand the claim through the electronic document management system, the court is left with no option other than dismissing the claim with the option of refiling in small claims court. Bribriesco said he would refile the claim unless the parties can agree upon returning the property. Although Bribriesco was disappointed in the outcome, Lawson ruled in his favor in the motion to strike and the request for more information in Patricia William's claim of defamation. Heninger argued the statements Nelson made to the board that were in question were not specified as oral or written, to whom they were directed and were not specific as far as content, making it difficult to answer the claims. But going through the claim, Lawson said it was evident the statements Nelson made were orally communicated and because the case was in the early stages of discovery, the pleading notice was sufficient, so he denied the motion to strike. Neither Nelson, members of the United Neighbors board of directors nor the plaintiffs were present at Monday's hearing. SPEARFISH - As a students first photograph rises from the developer, Steve Babbitt once again gets to witness the students face light up with excitement. Steve says that expression of wonder is still one of his greatest rewards after teaching 25 years. Steve Babbitt, professor of photography at Black Hills State University, was recently honored by Arts South Dakota and Governor Dennis Daugaard with the Outstanding Service in Arts Education Award. The award recognizes lifetime achievement by individuals who have made significant contributions to arts education as teachers, mentors, or catalysts. When accepting his award in Pierre earlier this year, Steve said he is proud to be counted among so many hardworking, dedicated, and inspiring teachers in South Dakota. I have, without a doubt, the best job in the world. My job as a teacher gives me the great opportunity to walk students to the edge of creativity and discover something about themselves that they previously didnt know, said Steve. Steve started teaching at BHSU in 1994. At the time, there were two photography classes at the University. He has since developed the photography program into a major in the mass communication and art departments. Hes helped expand BHSU facilities from a small office and darkroom into two large darkrooms, a matting-framing area, a digital lab, an alternative, historic photography processes lab, a large studio, and a classroom and a photography gallery specifically for exhibiting students work. In the beginning, Steve had 30 photo students a year. Now he and associate photography professor Jerry Rawlings teach 200 students a year. Steve has created 13 new photography courses and a new bachelor of fine arts (BFA) in photography degree, considered the gold standard in arts education. Steves current and former students, many of whom chose to make the trip to Pierre to see their professor accept his award, say Steve stands out as the teacher who has most impacted their lives and learning. One example is Julieanne Morse. Julieanne was deployed to Afghanistan during her third year of college at BHSU. When she told her family and friends of her impending deployment, she also shared the news with her mentor and photography professor Steve Babbitt. Steve suggested she take self-portraits while preparing for deployment to build a portfolio for a senior-level class in Contemporary Issues. Julieanne heard from Steve throughout her time overseas and he encouraged her to continue capturing images for the portfolio. Julieanne says using photography during deployment and looking back on those photos now, helped her with reintegrating back into life in the states. Steve received his bachelor and masters degrees in fine art, with specialization in photography, from the San Francisco Art Institute. When he thinks about those who have helped him find his way as an artist and as an educator, he says he remembers those whove helped him teach and think in creative ways. From Steves fourth grade math teacher, Mr. Ambrosi, who taught his class math by making ice cream, to the genius and creative mind of Mr. Neu of the erosion control company Steve worked for when he was 20, to studio photographer Marshall Berman, first Steves teacher and then his employer who mentored Steve as a creative person, Steve affirms he was taught by many creative and inspiring individuals. An art educator helps all of us to see and think from a different point of view. I hope Ive helped my students think in new and creative ways, to not always look for the easy path to a solution, but to search within themselves for ways to tap into their own potential, said Babbitt. Steve says photography has become an extension of his existence in the world. In addition to teaching, Steve produces his own photographic art and regularly participates in national and international juried exhibitions. His images can be found in the collections of The Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France; The Getty Museum Library, Malibu, California; The Dahl Fine Art Center, Rapid City, South Dakota and the San Francisco Art Institute. For his entire career, Steve has served on boards and committees promoting local artists and expanding art in communities and schools. He received the Volunteer of the Year Award from the Spearfish Arts Center for spearheading and building a successful art gallery in the community. Regardless of the day, the lesson or the student, my goal when I walk into a classroom is to be the best teacher that I can be and make my students want to be the best they can be as well, said Steve. Great teachers translate passion for their subject matter into an incredible learning experience that students will remember the rest of their lives. To learn more about the new bachelor of fine art (BFA) degree at BHSU or the photography program, visit www.BHSU.edu/academics PIERRE - Sand County Foundation, the South Dakota Cattlemen's Association and the South Dakota Grassland Coalition are proud to announce the finalists for the 2017 Leopold Conservation Award which honors South Dakota landowner achievement in voluntary stewardship and management of natural resources. The finalists are: Cammack Ranch of Union Center, a cow/calf ranch with 10,000 grazing acres owned by Gary and Amy Cammack. The Cammack family has implemented rotational grazing, constructed windbreaks, and planted over 30,000 trees on their ranch. Center of the Nation Cattle Company of Newell, a 106-year old, fourth generation cow/calf ranch owned and managed by Jeff and Steve Smeenk, along with their wives Kim and Kay. The Smeenks practice rotational grazing and enhance sage grouse and other wildlife habitat on their land. Blue Bell Ranch of Clear Lake, a cattle ranch owned and managed by Herb and Beverly Hamann. The ranch has an excellent diversity of native vegetation, and the grazing rotations consider ecological impacts to accommodate wildlife needs at critical times, such as nesting. 777 Ranch of Rapid City, a grass-fed bison cow/calf ranch owned and managed by the Hillenbrand family. The Hillenbrand's take a holistic management approach on the ranch, caring for the bison herd as well as the plants, soil, wildlife and water resources. The family also hosts a variety of seminars on holistic management and community education. Given in honor of renowned conservationist Aldo Leopold, the Leopold Conservation Award recognizes extraordinary achievement in voluntary conservation. It inspires other landowners through these examples and provides a visible forum where farmers, ranchers and other private landowners are recognized as conservation leaders. In his influential 1949 book, "A Sand County Almanac," Leopold called for an ethical relationship between people and the land they own and manage, which he called "an evolutionary possibility and an ecological necessity." Award applicants are judged based on their demonstration of improved resource conditions, innovation, long-term commitment to stewardship, sustained economic viability, community and civic leadership, and multiple use benefits. The 2017 award recipient, who will receive $10,000 and a crystal depicting Aldo Leopold, will be announced in late-April and recognized at the South Dakota Cattlemen's Association's Annual Convention on November 29. "SDCA is pleased to honor the tradition of South Dakota's leadership in voluntary conservation through the Leopold Conservation Award and we thank these farm and ranch families for making conservation a priority," said Larry Stomprud, President of the South Dakota Cattlemen's Association and a cattleman from Mud Butte. "Our lengthy list of sponsors and partners for the SD Leopold Conservation Award indicates the broad interest South Dakotans have in preserving our state's abundant natural resources and the SD Grassland Coalition is proud of the success and sustainability we are able to achieve on our working lands through a variety of stewardship practices, including those implemented by our finalists," said Jim Faulstich, Chairman, South Dakota Grassland Coalition. The Leopold Conservation Award in South Dakota is possible thanks to generous contributions from many organizations, including: Belle Fourche River Watershed Partnership, Bad River Ranches, South Dakota Cattlemen's Association, Daybreak Ranch, Ducks Unlimited, South Dakota Farm Bureau Federation, First Dakota National Bank, South Dakota Grassland Coalition, South Dakota Department of Agriculture Resource Conservation & Forestry, South Dakota Discovery Center, South Dakota Department of Game, Fish & Parks, Millborn Seeds, Mortenson Family, Professional Alliance, South Dakota State University College of Ag and Biological Sciences, The Nature Conservancy Western Dakotas Program, Partners for Fish & Wildlife, South Dakota Pheasants Forever, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, South Dakota's Conservation Districts, and World Wildlife Fund Northern Great Plains. Proposed cuts to the National Endowment for the Arts and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting under President Donald Trump's proposed budget would significantly alter the ability of South Dakota artists and public radio to pursue their goals. And the proposed cuts could also limit the ability of state residents to experience art and culture and reduce their access to public broadcasting programming, according to members of the state arts and information communities who are lobbying against the proposed cuts. The president recently released his proposed $1.15 trillion spending plan for the federal government for fiscal year 2018. His proposals which still need congressional input and approval include the total elimination of the NEA and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and severe funding cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which operates public radio and TV stations. The NEA budget in 2016 was $148 million; the budget for the NEH was roughly the same, while the CPB budget was $445 million. Combined, government spending on those groups makes up only .02 percent of the estimated $3.9 trillion the federal government spent during the current fiscal year, according to The Washington Post. Here is a closer look at how the proposed cuts to those agencies may play out. The annual financial report from the South Dakota Arts Council showed $784,000 in funds received from the National Endowment for the Arts with a projected state contribution of $845,635 for the year 2017. By comparison, the agency saw $753,000 from the NEA and $836,913 from the state in 2016. Additionally, the NEA has awarded 15 grants to arts groups in Rapid City alone totaling $425,000 since 1998. All grants by the NEA to South Dakota groups can be viewed at apps.nea.gov/grantsearch. Patrick Baker, director of the state Arts Council, would not speculate about how the proposed cuts in the Trump budget plan would specifically affect arts organizations, but he did note that many groups received grants from the SDAC that provided operational support. "The result would mean having to try to fund a season or a project with less SDAC funds than perhaps were leveraged in the past," Baker said. Some area arts groups first expressed worry in January about Trump's preferences to boost funding for the military and Veterans Affairs at the expense of funding for the arts. The groups said then that while arts organizations in Rapid City were careful to find funding from multiple sources, to ensure a drop in one would not doom them, several made it clear that they would feel pressure were the proposed budget to go forward. "If the state funds are cut, we'll all feel that," Nicholas Johnson, executive director of the Performing Arts Center of Rapid City, said in January. "It would be a loss." And though the perception of the NEA is of an organization that primarily benefits large cities such as New York or Los Angeles, in reality the cuts would have a greater effect on rural states like South Dakota. "People need to realize that since we're a rural community, not a Nashville or a New York City or a San Francisco, we don't have as many wells to draw from," Pepper Massey, executive director of the Rapid City Arts Council, said then. "Their support is crucial to all of us." That effect would carry over to average South Dakotans, according to Baker. The SDAC's most recently completed annual report showed that for every dollar of funding contributed by the NEA for partnerships with state arts councils, that $1 is joined by another $9 from other public and private sources on national average, or closer to $14 in locally generated matching funds in South Dakota's 2016 federal fiscal year. "Those figures don't include indirect spending associated with arts programming and projects that receive support from SDAC anything from meals purchased to transportation used during an arts outing so there is also a benefit for other businesses not directly related to the arts," Baker said. The 2012 Arts & Economic Prosperity IV study showed that nonprofit arts and cultural organizations and their audiences spent nearly $97 million in South Dakota in a year, supporting jobs and generating government revenue. South Dakota Public Broadcasting would be significantly affected and programming could be cut if Trump's proposed budget passes as is, according to Executive Director Julie Overgaard. The CPB currently provides SDPB about $1.66 million, or 22% of the local budget for its nine TV stations and 11 radio stations. "So we would either have to figure out a way to raise that money or cut expenses by that amount," Overgaard said. "A reduction in local programming would be something wed have to look at." Overgaard added that this would cut what local South Dakotans who were regular listeners or viewers would have access to. "If you enjoy seeing high school fine art and sporting activities, hearing the history of our state, or keeping up with the news of the day, those are the things we're most committed to providing no matter where they live in the state," Overgaard said. "For some South Dakotans, that's the only service they get." Overgaard added that they provide emergency alerts, amber alerts, and news on weather-related issues. "I think people don't think of them but they sure count on them when they need them," Overgaard said. Other services provided by SDPB include four free over-the-air channels, including a 24/7 PBS Kids channel. "That's critical preschool education for 6-year-olds, and you don't have to pay to get it," Overgaard said. The President's budget request was only the first step in the federal fiscal year 2018 appropriations process, and Congress still holds constitutional authority to appropriate funds from federal agencies. It is likely that it will be some time before the NEA, NEH and CPB will become a focus of funding discussions. In the meantime, supporters of South Dakota arts programs, as well as state agencies, have time to make their case for their relevance to South Dakotans. Baker said that two representatives of the SDAC traveled to Washington, D.C., last week along with state Artist Laureate Dale Lamphere of Sturgis and a representative of the statewide arts advocacy nonprofit Arts South Dakota. "One of the main purposes of this trip was to meet with South Dakota's representatives in the Senate and House to help convey the importance of the arts and creativity in the lives of South Dakotans they represent, as well as provide information about the impact of public funding for the arts in our state," Baker said. Baker further suggested that South Dakota residents interested in making their voices heard on the issue contact Arts South Dakota. "South Dakotans can stay informed and get tips on how to have their voices heard through Arts South Dakota," Baker said. Overgaard, meanwhile, said that all stations are watching the issue closely and encouraging supporters to visit protectmypublicmedia.org to sign a petition to keep SDPB funded. "I think they can also communicate to their congressional representatives and let others know of their support," Overgaard said. Overgaard said she was hopeful that when Congress puts forth a budget that it would not be as drastic as the one Trump has proposed. "We're a long way from this being done, and we're anticipating this going well into the summer before weve got it, so people should stay engaged and pay attention," Overgaard said. She added that she hoped other national programs facing cuts would also be protected. "Public broadcasting isn't the only one under the gun right now," Overgaard said. "It's not as if I want to win and want someone else to lose. I hope that key programs are able to be saved." Law enforcement agents uncovered various illegal drugs and around $70,000 in cash at a Rapid City home Friday, the city Police Department said Monday. The Unified Narcotics Enforcement Team confiscated almost 1.5 pounds of methamphetamine, nearly half a pound of marijuana and drug paraphernalia with trace amounts of cocaine from a home at 840 N. Spruce St., said police spokesman Brendyn Medina. The meth had a street value of about $68,000. The homeowner, Linda Pastian, 54, of Rapid City, was arrested for distribution of a controlled substance, according to a release. Pennington County Jail records on Monday showed she had posted bond and been released from jail. UNET primarily investigates drug-related offenses in Pennington, Fall River, Custer and Meade counties. Editor's note: This is the second installment in a three-part series examining how President Donald Trump's proposed $1.15 trillion spending plan for fiscal year 2018 would affect residents and programs in West River South Dakota. Part 1 ran Sunday, showing how his budget would boost the military and Veterans Affairs but cut rural water systems and other local programs. The final segment in the series runs tomorrow, and all of the material is available at rapidcityjournal.com. Scott Engmann maneuvered around a murky puddle near the back entrance of the former Garfield Elementary School in Rapid City on Thursday and glanced up at a worker hammering into the roof above. A few minutes later, he peered down into the foundation of a single-family home being built nearby. In the middle of the busy construction site the largest project in the 27-year history of Black Hills Area Habitat for Humanity Engmann was both excited about how the project may help people and apprehensive about how President Donald Trump's proposed budget would eliminate a key funding pipeline for similar projects in the future. Engmann, the executive director of the local Habitat group, is eager to see the completion of the project in North Rapid City that will transform the abandoned school into 12 affordable apartments and include construction of eight single-family homes on the surrounding property. He knows that under the 2018 spending plan put forward by President Trump, money for future projects like the Garfield school transformation may be hard to find. In 2015, Black Hills Area Habitat for Humanity was awarded $274,703 in funding from the Community Development Block Grant program, a federal effort within the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The money was for infrastructure improvements to the Garfield site, at 925 Dilger Ave. on the city's north side, including the installation of water and sewer line connections, pavement, curbs and underground electrical utilities. If it werent for the CDBG money that helped finance those improvements, though, Engmann said the project may never have gotten off the ground. We have no other tool to use outside of this CDBG, Engmann said in a Journal interview. This is city infrastructure enhancement that these dollars went to support. Without that being compensated, we wouldnt be able to put the eight homes there or repurpose the school. Soon, though, Engmann may be forced to face such a reality. Within the proposed Trump administration budget is a 13.2 percent decrease in funding for HUD, to $40.7 billion. Incorporated into those cuts is the complete elimination of the CDBG program, which was allotted $3 billion in federal funding in 2017. South Dakota received nearly $5.2 million from the CDBG program in 2016. The Rapid City Community Development Division, the city department tasked with receiving and overseeing the disbursement of CDBG funds to local organizations, received $433,518. Barb Garcia, manager of the city Community Development Division, said that if the CDBG program is eliminated, her job and her four-person department also could be eliminated. Beyond that, though, Garcia said the move would be a setback for low-income citizens and future affordable housing projects throughout Rapid City. All of the services we have funded are to help those that are in our lowest income group, Garcia said. To lose those funds would be devastating to a community like ours. Each year, local organizations, including the Black Hills Area Habitat for Humanity, Dakota Land Trust, Behavior Management Systems and Youth & Family Services, apply for funds from the Community Development Division, depending on their anticipated needs. Over the past 10 years, the agency has had an average of $472,517 available each year to award to local organizations. To ensure it achieves HUDs stated goal to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all, the money comes with a few stipulations. First, only 20 percent of the cash can go to administrative costs such as paying the salaries of the Rapid City Community Development Division team. Of the remaining 80 percent, only 15 percent of those funds are available for public service programs such as Meals on Wheels and Behavior Management Systems, which could also be slashed or eliminated by the CBDG cut. The remaining money is then restricted to housing, public facilities and infrastructure work. To receive those funds, at least 51 percent of the people served by the applicant organization must qualify as low to moderate income (a household income below 80 percent of the area median income). Garcia said that number is closer to 97 percent for organizations receiving funding in Rapid City. Since 2007, Engmann and Black Hills Area Habitat for Humanity have received $493,700 in CDBG funding, allowing the organization to build more than 50 new homes. In the Garfield project, Engmann said the addition of new residents and increase in property value will generate more than $330,000 in tax revenue for local governments over the next 10 years. Its a massive investment of taxpayer dollars, and were seeing those dollars come right back to the bottom line of our community, Engmann said. Calling the CDBG program one of the only flexible funding sources the city has to serve people with the greatest needs, Engmann hoped members of Congress would shoot down the budget proposal. There needs to be some common sense here. Everybody is going to feel it. Though the Dakota Land Trust has received just $105,000 in CDBG funding in the last 10 years, Executive Director Joy McCraken said it is still very useful for land acquisition and controlling the costs of affordable housing developments. Accepted applicants who move into Dakota Land Trust homes typically pay just $25 per month to lease the land where they live instead of having to buy the land and home together. It is very upsetting that when Congress wants to cut the budget, that theyre always targeting the programs that assist low-income people, McCracken said. The benefit of home ownership is a factor that many dont realize is an economy booster because families are more apt to stay in the workforce. McCracken said small cuts to the CDBG program have been proposed and successfully passed in prior years, but that Trump's proposed cuts feel more threatening. It is very upsetting because one of these times theyre probably going to be successful, she said. Behavior Management Systems, which has provided behavioral health care to the Black Hills and western South Dakota since 1948, serves more than 11,000 people within a 20,000-square-mile area. Since 2006, it has received $386,770 in CDBG money, funding that, if eliminated, would adversely affect another pressing issue in Rapid City: providing mental health care. We save our clients, which ultimately helps save the county over a million dollars a year in what would be the cost of psychotropic medication, said state Senator and Behavior Management Systems Chief Executive Officer Alan Solano in a Journal interview. In the first 11 months of 2016, BMS helped 309 clients get access to free medication valued at nearly $1.3 million. Of those 309 clients, 254 were categorized as extremely low income (income below 30 percent of the area median income) and 37 as low income. If we lose the program, of course the concern for us will be the health and welfare of our clients and ensuring that they can have access to the medications for their illness, Solano said. That would be a cost to BMS that I would not be able to cover. Solano said he was fearful of what would happen if his organization were unable to find other forms of funding. In the worst case scenario, we would have clients that would be at risk of whether or not they afford or get access to the right medication. After meeting in executive session and with no public input, the Fall River County Commission voted to allow guns into its courthouse except on days when court is in session. Others, including the Seventh Judicial Court that presides over Fall River and Pennington counties, are concerned about such a significant change in public safety policy. After meeting in executive session, the commission voted 3-2 on March 21 to allow county employees and others to bring guns into the courthouse on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. The only testimony apparently came from other county employees. The commissioners did this by waiving a provision in state law that prohibits firearms in courthouses on the days when judges are not presiding in a courtroom. But by making this decision largely in secret and without the benefit of public testimony, the commission has raised questions about how it governs, its priorities and now the future of civil and criminal hearings in Hot Springs. The Seventh Judicial Court did not hold court cases there on Friday, won't on Monday and possibly won't for an indefinite period of time a significant consequence of this shoot-from-the-hip policy change. Court hearings are typically held on Mondays and Fridays. The discussion to change the policy was initiated after County Commissioner Paul Nabholz said he inadvertently brought a Swiss Army knife into the courthouse and subsequently learned that state law gives counties the option of not enforcing a gun ban on days when court is not in session. This lead to a series of executive sessions before the provision in state law was waived. Among the justifications for the change was this comment by Commissioner Joe Falkenburg, who said "This is still the West," although he did add, "But I wonder how people feel." In apparent recognition of the importance of the public when making public policy, the commission said it will be discussed at its meeting on Tuesday, even if it is coming after the fact. That doesn't mean, however, that citizens can't express their outrage at the proceedings that preceded the vote. If the county commission wants to allow guns in the courthouse, it needs to take a more serious approach and establish a set of rules to govern the policy. Should county employees be required to take gun and self-defense training? Should guns be kept in secure locations? Should visitors have to disclose they are armed when they enter the courthouse? Is it OK to bring an automatic weapon to the courthouse? How will the county notify the public when it is a gun-friendly day or gun-ban day? When the state Legislature considered allowing guns in the capitol building in its recent session, the legislation required those who wanted to arm themselves to do the training to get an enhanced gun permit and register with capitol security. Even with those provisions, the governor vetoed the legislation. The Fall River County Commission needs to reconsider this matter in public meetings. Executive sessions are typically reserved for personnel issues, pending litigation or contractual matters, contract negotiations and certain business matters none of which would apply to a meeting about gun policy. While we respect the right to bear arms, it is not an unlimited right and not everyone believes that guns alone guarantee enhanced security. Therefore, a vigorous debate on the pros and cons of such a policy change is necessary so that everyone's voice is heard before a public vote is held. Ex-BTA Bank top managers plead guilty to embezzlement MOSCOW, April 3 (RAPSI) Former top managers of the Kazakh BTA Bank involved in a criminal case against banks ex-chairman Mukhtar Ablyazov have pleaded guilty to embezzlement, RIA Novosti reported Monday. Their trial has begun in the Specialized Criminal Interdistrict Court of Almaty. Three former top managers of the bank, ex-Chairman of the Board Saduakas Mamesh, former First Deputy Chairman of the Board Zhaksylyk Zharimbetov and ex-Director for Lending Issues Kairat Sadykov are in the dock. Ablyazov is being tried in absentia. On Monday, prosecutors read indictment claiming that Ablyazov had organized a criminal group to embezzle BTA Banks funds. According to prosecution, companies controlled by Ablyazov purchased the banks shares on money from loans illegally received from the bank. Therefore, Ablyazov and his accomplices increased the bank stock. The increase in the bank's capital gave the appearance of BTA Banks success and enticed investors and depositors, prosecutors believe. As reported earlier, the total amount of damage caused exceeded $7.5 billion. Zharimbetov pleaded guilty to charges, while Sadykov and Mamesh pleaded guilty in part. Interestingly, Ablyazov also stands charged with embezzlement, forgery of documents and abuse of office in Russia. He has been arrested in absentia. BTA Bank ex-chairman fled to the UK after the Kazakh government acquired a stake in BTA Bank in 2009 and the bank came under the control of its sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna. He was granted political asylum in Britain in 2011. However, he remained a fugitive from justice since February 2012. His whereabouts remained unknown until he was detained on July 31, 2013 near Cannes, France. Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine are all seeking his extradition. In October 2015, French authorities approved Ablyazovx extradition to Russia. In December 2016, French Conseil d'Etat, highest administrative government body, overruled prime-ministers decision to extradite Ablayzov and released the tycoon from jail. Bills on protection of doctors and patients submitted to State Duma Context Russian Supreme Court backs bill on protection of doctors and patients MOSCOW, April 3 (RAPSI) - Bills on protection of medical professionals and patients have been submitted to the State Duma, press service of Deputy Speaker of the parliaments lower house Irina Yarovaya announced on Monday. The documents drafted by Yarovaya and Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Health Dmitry Morozov with contributions from Health Minister Veronica Skvortsova have been supported by Russias Supreme Court and government. Bills stipulate criminal and administrative punishment for obstructing authorized activity of doctors by restraining, threatening and impeding access to patients. Such actions would result in criminal punishment if they caused harm to a patients health of medium gravity, grievous harm or a patients death. Currently, failure to provide health care is punishable by imprisonment of up to 4 years. It would be rightfully to introduce adequate liability for those who bars doctors from providing medical assistance, Yarovaya stated. Moreover, hooligans obstructing driveway of ambulances would face such administrative penalties as driver's license revocation for up to 2 years and fines of up to 30,000 rubles ($532). According to the Health Ministry, over 1,000 illegal acts connected with violence against health professionals in duty status including ambulance medics were committed in 2016, the statement of Yarovayas press office reads. GLENDIVE, Mont. Spring calves are everywhere at the beautiful Lassle Ranch Simmentals in eastern Montana.New calves start a new year for Clay and Marianne Lassle, who run the LRS seedstock operation with their daughter, Sarah Thorson and her husband Ryan, along with their two young daughters and ranch helpers, Grace and Harper.The ranch uses both A.I. and embryo transfer to provide the best genetics from the top sires.We are still calving. All our A.I. calves are born, and we are just waiting on the last few bull-bred cows, said Sarah.All their embryo calves were born up at their cooperator herd in Grass Range, MT, before they started calving the rest of the herd at the LRS home ranch.Mike Fleharty, the owner of the herd where we put in embryos, purchased several bulls from us at our bull sale this year, Sarah said. Hopefully, we will have an opportunity to see some of our new embryo calves when we deliver Mikes bulls to him in a few weeks.LRS keeps the bulls purchased from their February bull sale in the new feedlot, where they are fed and taken care of.After the first of April, the Lassles and Thorsons will be busy delivering these bulls to their new homes, where they will be ready to go to work.Dr. Kyle Voss, our veterinarian, will be out next week to perform breeding soundness exams on the bulls and then we will start delivering them to their new homes, Sarah said.Spring calving season is always a bit unpredictable for commercial and purebred producers alike in eastern Montana with variable spring weather.Warm, sunny days can be followed by freezing cold, damp weather and even spring blizzards without much, and sometimes very little, notice.This is the kind of weather that has been occurring at LRS and throughout eastern Montana over the past few weeks. Temps throughout the region rose into the 60s the day before a cold blast of snow, accompanied by strong winds, hit.Calving season was going well until we received a big snowstorm on March 6, Sarah said. We had some nice weather the day before, and the storm came on so quickly, that our cows were all spread out. They were caught off guard, and many were away from their windbreaks, so we had a rough few days here at the ranch.In addition, the two big groups of calves were due to start calving with the AI calves on March 9. That meant most of the heifers and cows at LRS were birthing during the cold snowstorm, putting extra pressure on the families to watch for calvers and keep the newborn calves warm and get them up and moving as soon as possible.A lot of the calves had a rough start being born in a snowstorm, but they are coming around and starting to bloom, she added.Sarah said they are pleased with the quality of calves so far, both bulls and heifers.For some of the breeding, they used the bull LRS Iconic 303C (that was sold in last years LRS bull sale to Gibbs Farms in Alabama), and are pleased with those calves.We are very happy with how those calves are looking so far, as well as the calves from several of the other new sires we used last spring, Sarah added.After calving, there will be branding, along with new calf vaccinations, ear tagging and other pre-conditioning, as well as preparing for the upcoming breeding season.We will have a busy few weeks in May and June, she said.They will be branding the first Saturday in May, and will then start A.I.-ing heifers Memorial Day weekend.As soon as the heifers are A.I.d, they will start flushing cows for embryo transfer, and will be putting in embryos around June 10.Ryan usually stays in Billings with Grace and Harper so they can finish out the school year, while I spend two weeks at my Mom and Dads helping Dad synchronize and breed cows every day, Sarah said. My sister and brother (Stephanie Schultz and her husband Scott, with their two daughters, Sheyenne and Savannah; and Travis Lassle and his wife Alix, with their son, Sawyer) both A.I. as well, so they help out when they can.After branding, the first-calf heifers will be moved to their first summer pasture, and the LRS familes will be set up to A.I. the heifers in that pasture, as well.Another group of about 60 cows will move up to one of the pastures at neighbor Arvid Corneliusons place, where the cows will be A.I.d. The rest of the cows will be at the home ranch headquarters, until they finish A.I.ing. At that time, the final group of cows will be moved to pastures. The mature cows with heifer calves will go to what we call our Clear Creek pastures, and the remaining mature cows with bull calves will go to pasture that we lease across the road from Arvids place, Sarah said.Planting season is also right around the corner.LRS is situated along the Yellowstone River in eastern Montana, which provides irrigation for excellent hay, corn and other crops.The families will be planting about 70 acres of field corn and alfalfa hay this spring, and all of it is under irrigation.We usually take three cuttings of alfalfa. The first cutting we usually green chop, and the other two cuttings are baled, Sarah said.In September, their corn will be chopped for silage for the herd.In September, we will also wean the bull calves, while we wean the heifer calves in late October, she said.After that, it is all about getting ready for the 2018 LRS bull sale. It is a careful, planned march up to the next sale, the second Thursday in February at the ranch, but it gets especially busy around Christmas week.There is daily feeding of rations, usually always done by Clay, sending data to the respective breed associations including the American Simmental Association (mostly done by Marianne), taking photos, videos, putting together the catalog, preparing the bulls for sale with clipping, semen testing and much more.Sarah and Ryan continue their full time jobs at GENEX Beef, a leading U.S. and Canada bull genetics company.Sarah, the U.S. beef marketing and education manager at GENEX, has been busy educating producers this month.I was in Bassett, Neb., last week and taught an A.I. class on how to breed cows to 13 beef producers from South Dakota and Nebraska. Sarah said.The first week in April I am headed to Springfield, MO, to teach an A.I. class to producers there. She added she enjoys teaching A.I. classes.It is always fun for me when I see the light bulb go on for someone when they are learning something new.Meanwhile, Grace and Harper are looking forward to a fun summer ahead.Grace will take Midnight, her heifer, and Thunderbolt, her steer, to the American Junior Simmental Association North Central Regional in Huron, SD, the end of June, Sarah said.Grace is also looking forward to the Muddy Boots Jackpot show, which is a special show put on by one of the 4-H Clubs in Glendive, MT. Harper is looking forward to the Muddy Boots show, as well, because they have an Orphan Calf class. Then Grace will finish out the summer showing at the Montana Fair in Billings - in her first year in 4-H.Sarah wanted to thank everyone for following along with her reports this past winter, saying she enjoyed reporting and hearing from readers.(As this is Sarah and Ryan Thorsons and Clay and Marianne Lassles final report, The Prairie Star would like to sincerely thank both families at Lassle Ranch Simmentals for all their kindness in showing us their operation and new feedlot and barn, and for all their reports and photos this year. We wish them the best of luck with their operation this summer and in the future, and wish Grace and Harper the best with their 4-H and other shows this year.) HELENA A tax that would increase the price of a package of cigarettes by $1.50 got approval from the Senate on Tuesday. The tax would to help pay for raises for direct health care workers who take care of the elderly and disabled in their homes. It would also for the first time charge a tax on e-cigarettes and vaping products. Senate Bill 354 is carried by Sen. Mary Caferro, D-Helena. It passed the Senate on a 27-22 vote and now moves over to the House. Lawmakers who supported the tax said it would reduce the amount of people who smoke and lower health care costs caused by tobacco-related diseases. Those who voted against it said would harm the poorest Montanans, who tend to smoke more than people who earn more. The tax is estimated to raise $71.3 million in year 2020 and $70.6 million the following year, due to a predicted drop in the number of people who smoke. Increased wages for direct care workers will cost about $34 million a year and the hourly wage would increase by $5.60 for those working in nursing homes and $6.26 for those in other settings. Direct care wages start around $9 an hour. The rest of the cigarette tax revenues to smoking cessation and prevention efforts, as well as a Medicaid account, maintaining state-owned buildings and the state's general funds. A pack of Marlboro Reds would jump from about $6.63 to $8.13 under the tax, which would go from $1.70 to $3.20. Montanans buy 43.4 million packs of cigarettes a year. An ounce of snuff sells for about $3.20, and between the increased tax and expected price increases, that amount is projected to double if the bill goes into effect. About 12.3 million ounces of snuff are sold in the state each year. Montana last raised its tobacco tax 12 years ago. The number of children who smoke has dropped by half since then. Caferro said the money will go to people who "do the important work in our community taking care of our elderly and people who have disabilities" and that less people starting smoking in their youth would lower health care costs down the road. The state spends $441 million a year to care for people who have tobacco-related diseases, Caferro said. That works out to $770 a household. An estimated 1,600 Montanans die each year from tobacco-related diseases. This tax hits where it does the most good with kids and hopefully it brings down the cost of health care and saves money and saves lives. This saves money by preventing people from starting in the first place and also targets the money to give raises to direct care workers who do very important work." Those who voted against the tax called it regressive and targeted at poor people. "It is on other blue-collar people, on my people," said Sen. Eric Moore, R-Miles City. "You try running a baler for 16 hours and try to stay awake without snuff." Senate Majority Leader Fred Thomas, of Stevensville, said the bill would take the cost of smoking for an individual from $1,233 to $1,781 a year. "Talk about regressive." Senate President Scott Sales, R-Bozeman, offered strong opposition to the bill. He said people will find ways to buy cigarettes from other states and the revenue won't be enough to support the wage increases. "You always get less of what you tax more. This isn't a panacea. This is bad tax policy and we're going to come to regret it on so many fronts." Sales said if the Legislature really cared about health it should not raise taxes on snuff and smokeless tobacco, which he said is healthier than smoking cigarettes because it isn't nicotine that's bad, but the inhaling of smoke. "It's much healthier, it really is. I'm not saying it is a healthy thing to chew, but compared to smoking it is much healthier. It's less harmful to you than smoking cigarettes." Sales told the Senate that his son, who smokes, called him in a panic the day before the vote to say that the price of cigarettes will jump to $8-$9 a pack "The first thing out of my mouth was 'You need to quit smoking,' " Sales said, adding he has family who has died of lung cancer. But he also said that smokers who die earlier can save the government money, not cost more. "The dirty little secret is that if we were going to be honest smokers would probably save us money in the long run. The dirty little truth is smokers really have a reduced life expectancy. They die in their 60s and 70s. They don't end up in a Medicaid-funded old-folks home until they're 105 at taxpayers' expense." Sales said he wasn't advocating smoking but called for an "honest discussion about the whole subject matter." He also said the extra money isn't needed because the recent revenue forecasts show the state can expect an extra $105 million coming in over what was expected at the start of the session. Steve Baldwin and Scott S. Powell Are those pushing the Trump/Russian collusion conspiracy living in Alice in Wonderland or what? Accepting this conspiracy narrative requires both the suspension of common sense and the collective amnesia about the history of Democrats' actions that have earned favor from Soviet and Russian leadership over past decades and right up to the present. Vladimir Putin is shrewd, calculating, and fairly predictable. If he were serious about influencing the outcome of the November 2016 U.S. presidential election, he would not have favored the relatively unknown and impulsive Donald Trump, who had no history of doing favors for Putin or Russia. It is far more likely Putin would have chosen to help Hillary Clinton -- the known, predictable, progressive candidate with a history of helping Russian interests. By doubling down on drama rather than facts, leaders of the Democratic Party show disdain for nearly half the country who voted for Trump and a seditious inclination to destroy his presidency. What can you say about a party that hasn't learned anything from humiliating defeats -- an unprecedented string of national losses at the polls in the last three elections? Overall, on the state level the Democratic Party is now at its weakest point in nearly 100 years. On the national level, Trump garnered a significant margin of victory in the states' tally of Electoral College votes because people wanted change and they simply could not get over the chain of deceit and dishonesty exhibited by standard-bearer Hillary Clinton. Before leaving office on January 20, 2017, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, whose job it was to review and consolidate the findings of all the U.S. intelligence agencies, reported there was no evidence of Russian hacking the 2016 presidential election. Conveniently ignored by the major media is the fact that it is physically impossible for the Russians or anyone else to hack our national elections because the U.S. does not have a nationwide vote tallying system. Each state controls its elections, but the various counties in each state generally have their own election counting systems. While these counties and states may post election results on their websites, the vote tabulation part of most county election systems are generally not online and not vulnerable to being hacked. And now, nearly five months since the election, not a single state or county has reported any "hacking" of its respective vote tabulation systems. The majority of today's pundits appear to be either in denial or ignorant of the evidence and long history of Russia and its predecessor, the U.S.S.R., having had far more substantial ties with the Democrats than with the Republicans. So let's take a stroll down history's memory lane with a mind to assessing the plausibility of the Trump/Russian collusion conspiracy. The most egregious compromise of U.S. national security occurred in the Democratic administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt during World War II. CIA documents that became available in the 1980s, the 1995 release of the Venona Intercepts -- the FBI recordings of Soviet embassy communications between 1944-48, and files released from KGB, GRU, and Comintern archives in Moscow in the 1990s show that over 300 Americans were wittingly and unwittingly spying on behalf of the USSR during this time. The result was that almost everything the USA did during WW II, and for nearly a decade afterwards, was known by the Soviets. Even though FDR was repeatedly warned about Soviet penetration of his government, he chose to do nothing about it -- perhaps because of his naivete and denial; perhaps because the USSR was considered beyond reproach as the first socialist ideal type society; and most certainly because the U.S.S.R. was an important an ally in World War II in the struggle to defeat Hitler and the Nazis. At the end of World War II, FDR attended the Yalta conference with two of his closest advisors -- Alger Hiss and Harry Hopkins. The answer to the question of why FDR made major concessions at Yalta that ensured Stalin's consolidation of power over all Eastern Europe is now better understood from the Venona Intercepts and other Soviet intelligence documents that confirm that Harry Hopkins, like Alger Hiss, was a Soviet agent. Hopkins was FDR's closest advisor and was even referred to as "Deputy President." He was in the words of Soviet NKVD officer Iskhak Akhmerov, "the most important of all Soviet wartime agents in the United States." FDR also gave Stalin $11.3 billion (equivalent to $150 billion today) in the Lend Lease aid program, which funded military hardware and weapons that were used to crush resistance in Eastern European countries after the war. After World War II, the Truman administration's decisions to abandon General Chiang Kai-Shek and support the Communist leader Mao Tse-tung in his quest to conquer China, were heavily influenced by holdovers from FDR's State and Treasury Departments. In addition to Hopkins and Hiss, dozens of these officials, all Democrats such as Lauchlin Currie, Harry Dexter White, John Patton Davies, Noel Field, John Abt, Lee Pressman, and Owen Lattimore, to name a few -- were later exposed as highly influential spies and agents of influence for the Soviet Union and the Communist cause by the Venona intercepts and Soviet archive files. Hayden Peake, the nonpartisan curator of the Central Intelligence Agency's Historical Intelligence Collection is on record noting in the case of the FDR government (whose staff largely remained intact for some time under the Truman administration until Truman instituted the Loyalty Program in March, 1947) that, "no modern government was more thoroughly penetrated." Fast forward 35 years, and we find new patterns of similar political sympathy and alignment among Democrats. In 1980, Ronald Reagan was elected president on platform of peace through strength that included modernizing the nuclear missile deterrent systems both in the U.S. homeland and in NATO countries in Europe. The Soviets immediately countered Reagan's initiative by launching a major active measures and propaganda campaign and providing funding and leadership through various front organizations for what came to be known as the "nuclear freeze movement." The Democratic Party was quite vocal in support of this movement, even though its objectives were aligned with the positions of the Soviet Union and its communist front groups operating in the U.S. such as the World Peace Council and the U.S. Peace Council. In the early 1980s, Democrats introduced resolutions in Congress and in state legislatures all over the U.S. in support the "nuclear freeze" position. In addition to opposing nuclear deterrent modernization, the Democrats also opposed most every aspect of the Reagan military buildup, which was the key to demoralizing the USSR and causing its collapse. The Democrats tried to curtail Reagan administration efforts to aid anti-Soviet resistance movements around the world, cutting off all funding for the Nicaraguan resistance, even in the face of intelligence that the Soviets intended to build a military base in Nicaragua. Fortunately, by this time the centrally planned socialist Soviet system was failing and could not keep up with the West economically or militarily. By 1989 the Iron Curtain was collapsing with the Baltic nations of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia and other Eastern European countries asserting their independence. The Cold War was over a year later. Fast forward again to more recent times, and we find that both Obama and Clinton made concessions to the Russians, which resulted in ties far more substantial than those of any of Trump's former advisors. In 2009, the first year of his administration, Obama's preference for appeasing Russia over strengthening NATO was revealed for all to see in his unilateral cancellation of a hard-won pact (negotiated by the Bush administration over a number of years) to deploy a new generation of NATO defensive missile systems in the Czech Republic and Poland. The decision was announced (perhaps not coincidentally) on September 17, 2009 -- the exact 70th anniversary date of the Russian invasion of Poland. Then there was the infamous comment made by Obama at the end of his first term to the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev when he thought he was off-mic: "This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility." That comment was part of a larger conversation about nuclear weapons and, incredibly, Obama was referring to dismantling part of the U.S. nuclear arsenal in order to appease Russia. When the Russians annexed the Crimean peninsula and undertook subversive military action in eastern Ukraine, Obama found reasons not to arm anti-Russian factions in either area. When it came to Syria, there was the infamous "Red Line" that Obama refused to enforce. Instead, Obama proposed to partner with Putin in bombing the Syrian resistance. Also noteworthy is the fact that during the 2012 presidential election, the entire Democratic Party apparatus mocked Republican nominee Mitt Romney as a "cold war relic" for saying that the Russians still posed a threat to the USA. In the first year of his second term, Obama had no response when Russia violated the terms of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with the United States by building a new medium-range system, known as the Yars M Missile, which was banned under the treaty. More noteworthy during this time was Obama's secret nuclear deal with Iran -- Russia's most important ally in the Middle East -- which paved the way for Iran to develop nuclear weapons, not to mention Obama's concession to sweeten that deal by turning over approximately $150 billion to Iran, even while acknowledging the potential for these resources to fund terrorist operations all over the Middle East. Then there was the controversial $400 million payment that Obama released and sent to Iran in January 2016, just as four American hostages were released, followed by several more planeloads of Euros, Swiss Francs, and other currencies totaling another $1.3 billion delivered to Tehran over the next month. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's favorable relationship with Russia was seen in the actions of both the Clinton Foundation and in her official capacity as Secretary of State. She, along with other Obama officials, signed off on an agreement that allowed Russia to purchase 20% of America's uranium supply -- a deal that was likely greased by a $2.35 million donation to the Clinton foundation made by banks and individuals connected to the Russian government, and by a $500,000 fee to Bill Clinton for a Moscow speech paid by people with ties to Russian intelligence. Clinton's campaign chairman, longtime Democrat operative John Podesta, essentially became a business partner with the Russian government when he joined the board of an energy company called Joule Unlimited, whose largest investor was a Russian government investment fund called Rusnano, an entity created in 2007 with connections to Putin. It has been alleged that Posdesta was working with this Russian-controlled fund at the same time he was advising Secretary of State Clinton. In 2016, John Podesta's brother, Tony, was paid $170,000 by the Russian Government to represent Russia's largest bank, Sberbank, for the purpose of lobbying the Obama administration to end the sanctions imposed on Russia after its seizure of Crimea. Had Hillary won the presidential election, the Podestas would likely have played key roles in her administration. Lastly, there are the nagging questions about why a number of Russian oligarchs and officials gave large sums of money to the Clinton Foundation, and what they expected to get in return. In conclusion, there is a long history of Democrats' collusion with the Soviet Union and now Russia. If Putin and Russia wanted to influence the 2016 presidential elections, they would obviously have favored helping the connected, on-the-take, progressive establishment candidate Hillary Clinton, not the brash and unpredictable businessman from New York with minimal dealings that advanced Russian interests. Steve Baldwin is former Director of the Council for National Policy and former three-term California State Assemblyman, 77th district. Scott Powell is senior fellow at Discovery Institute. Reach them at scottp@discovery.org or scbaldwin7@gmail.com America must return to conservative principles of less government,reduced taxes, less spending and a balanced budget! Cut,cap and balance! This Account Has Been Suspended. Please contact Web Services. Guwahati : Assam BJP unit on Sunday has issued a show cause notice to its a legislator after the saffron party lost a municipality board in middle Assam. The saffron party issued the show cause notice to its MLA after the party had lost the Hojai municipality board in the middle Assam and it was newly formed with the help of AIUDF, Congress, Independent and other dissidents of BJP. The chairman of the BJP-led municipality board was faced no confidence motion on Saturday and the saffron party had lost its control in the municipality board after not able to show the majority. State BJP unit general secretary Vijay Kumar Gupta said that, following direction by the Assam BJP unit president Ranjit Kumar Das, the party has issued a show cause notice to Shiladitya Dev, BJP MLA of Hojai constituency after he defied the party instruction and made mispropaganda against the party. The party also asked the MLA to submit answer within seven days. 'The party issued show cause notice to the legislator about the incident of no confidence motion against Chaturthi Biswas, Chairman of Hojai Municipality board on April 1, and thereafter he defied the party instruction and disobeyed. The MLA also made mispropaganda against the party and other office bearers of the state BJP unit,'A Vijay Gupta said. (Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath) Guwahati, April 2 : Assam governor Banwarilal Purohit on Sunday inaugurated a two day seminar on Sanskrit titled 'Sanskrit its present state and future in Assam, at Phanidhar Dutta Memorial Hall of Gauhati University. Attending the function as a chief guest which was organised by Sanskrit Bharati Assam, the Assam governor said that Sanskrit is an important subject that not only enlightens, it also enhances one's knowledge base. He urged upon the students to use this subject to become wise at the same time as a tool to know our rich antecedents. He also said that Sanskrit is a language which has a prominence in the land of Assam which is predominantly a confluence of all sacred saints and gurus. Speaking on the occasion, Vice Chancellor of Tezpur University Mihir Kanti Choudhury also exhorted on the need of including Sanskrit in the school curriculum. He also pointed out a definite connection between science and Sanskrit. The governor assured all support to Sanskar Bharati in taking Sanskrit to a great height and wished success in all its future endeavours. Director of Sanskrit Promotion Foundation, New Delhi Chand Kiron Saluja, Dr. Dibyajyoti Mahanta President of Seminar Organizing Committee, Organizing Secretary, Sanskar Bharati Bhaben Saikia and a host of other dignitaries were also present in the function. (Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath) Guwahati, April 2 : In a major fillip to the tourism sector of the state, Centre has sanctioned an amount of Rs 98.35 crores for a Heritage Circuit for Assam. Union Minister of State for Tourism and Culture Dr Mahesh Sarma announced this while taking part in a meeting with the Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal in Guwahati on Sunday. This amount which has been sanctioned for development of the Tezpur, Majuli and Sivasagar circuit under the scheme of Swadesh Darshan includes development of a composite tourist infrastructure in Majuli , comprising of an interpretation centre near Kamalabari ghat, log huts, watch towers, cafeteria, elevated walkway, solar illumination, landscaping etc. worth Rs 61.26 crores, development of Ranghar, Joy Sagar and Talatal Ghar in Sivasagar and development of Kanaklata Udyan and Bamuni Hills in Tezpur. The first instalment of Rs 19.67 crores against the sanctioned amount was released by the Government of India on March 31, 2017. Development of this heritage circuit will give a tremendous boost to Assam Tourism in the background of the publicity that Assam has received in the run up to and during the Namami Brahmaputra festival. Also in a major development, the Tourism Ministry has decided to transfer the rights of Brahmaputra Ashok Hotel presently managed by ITDC to the Assam government. All necessary modalities to formalize the transfer of rights will be executed within next 15 days. The Tourism Ministry has also decided to work collectively to enlist Majuli in the coveted list of World Heritage Site. Already Tourism Ministry has engaged the Archaeological Survey of India to prepare the dossier for submitting the same to UNESCO. The Tourism Ministry has also sanctioned Rs 2 crore for the Namami Brahmaputra festival organized for the first time by the Assam government to glorify the river Brahmaputra as well as to promote tourism, economy and civilization of the state at global arena. Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has expressed his gratitude to the Union government for this gesture and has expressed hope that the Tourism Ministry will continue to provide support to the State Government in developing Assam as prime tourist destination. The Assam government has also submitted a memorandum to the Union Tourism Minister on various issues concerning development of tourism sector in the state to which the Minister assured to look into the same positively. State Finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, ATDC Chairman Jayanta Malla Baruah, Chief Secretary to the Government of Assam VK Pipersenia, DGP Mukesh Sahay and several senior officials of the state government were present in the meeting. Representing Government of India, Regional Director, Tourism was also present alongwith the union minister among others. (Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath) Guwahati: Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Sunday said that India showed him a bigger horizon of religion. While speaking at the civic reception hosted by the Assam government to felicitate his visit to Assam on the occasion of Namami Brahmaputra festival at ITA Machkhowa in Guwahati, the Dalai Lama said that Indian thoughts are very helpful to understand reality. The Tibetan spiritual leader also advised the gathering to put reasons over faith while embracing religion. The Dalai Lama further stressed on secular and ethical education as the key to development and human peace. 'Religion is entirely an individual choice. Change of religion sometimes creates more confusion. Therefore it is always better keep original faith and try to understand about the value of religious teachings for peace and happiness. It is always better to carry out closer conduct and understand the teachings of other religions before changing one's own religion,'A the Dalai Lama said. While I was in Tibet, I thought Buddhism as the best religion. But after coming to India and interacting with people belonging to different faiths, I realized that all religions are good as all of them have emphasised on human love and compassion,aA the Dalai Lama commented while speaking on inter-religious faith. 'Change is always in the mind of the people as most of the problems are created by them. Main issue before humanity today is to bring peace and happiness in the world. Human intelligence shouldnt be controlled by negativity but by compassion andlove', the Nobel Laureate for Peace stated. The Dalai Lama who also interacted with the people and gave reply to their queries spoke volumes about Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal as a practical, determined and active leader and expressed confidence that under his leadership the state would make giant strides. Earlier, the Dalai Lama also visited the festival venue at Kachomari Ghat and offered his obeisance to the Brahmaputra. Assam governor Banwarilal Purohit who also graced the programme expressed the hope that with the blessings of the Dalai Lama the Chief Minister would be able to perform more resolutely to bring about a significant development to the state and soon Assam would be one of the top ranked states of the country. Lauding the initiative taken by Government of Assam to glorify the Brahmaputra and thereby to promote culture, civilization, rich potential and resources of the state, the Assam governor hoped that the festival would take the people closer to the Brahmaputra. Purohit also advised the state government to call all the senior officials from the districts to the venue of Namami Brahmaputra festival and administer them the oath of total transparency in administration. Purohit alongwith other dignitaries released the brochure of 'Festival of Faith'A, which the Assam government in joint association with India Foundation proposes to hold in the month of May, 2017. Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal while speaking on the occasion lamented the fact that inspite of enormous contribution and presence, Brahmaputra is most often negatively projected in the country as the river that causes flood and erosion. 'This is a gross injustice to the Brahmaputra,'A Sonowal said. Stating that the Brahmaputra's contributions to the state's life and economy is immeasurable, Sonowal said that state Government is organizing Namami Brahmaputra to showcase the rich potential and possibility of this river to augment Assam's tourism, culture and economy. Underlining the importance of more and more research on Brahmaputra by the new generation to promote the river in the world arena, the Assam CM said that the people of Assam owe a lot to the Brahmaputra for fertility of its soil and rich civilization. Further saying that the government would promote economy without affecting bio-diversity and ecology, Sonowal vowed to make Assam as an organic hub of the country. He also urged the people to takes steps for glorifying the Brahmaputra and letting people know about its contribution to Assam in a more vigorous way. Assam Finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma delivered the welcome speech, the vote of thanks was delivered by state Industry and Transport minister Chandra Mohan Patowary. Chief Secretary of the Assam government VK Pipersenia, DGP Mukesh Sahay and Director General, Assam Rifles Lt. Gen. Shokin Chauhan were also present in the programme. (Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath) Guwahati : Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Sunday had an emotional reunion after meet a person who along with four colleagues escorted him to India from India-China border during his flight from Tibet in 1959. The Dalai Lama had gone emotional after he meet Naren Chandra Das, one of the five Assam Rifles personnel at an interactive session of the ongoing Namami Brahmaputra festival in Guwahati. After meet Naren Chandra Das, now retired, the Dalai Lama said that thank you so much. "I am very very happy to meet such an old member of the Assam Rifles who escorted me to India 58 years ago," the Dalai Lama said. The Dalai Lama also welcomed the man. After meet the Tibetan spiritual leader, 76-year old Naren Chandra Das, then rifleman of the Assam Rifles said that, it's a remarkable moment in his life to meet the Dalai Lama after 58 years. Dressed in his Assam Rifles uniform, Naren Chandra Das said that, he and his colleagues led by their section commander Naik Debu Singh Gurung, were ordered to move to the international border to receive a special guest and bring him to Tawang. "Following order, we were armed with 303 rifle and move to the international border and escorted him on foot," Das said. "I was joined the Assam Rifles in 1957, and move to the international border to receive the Dalai Lama with my four colleagues," Das said. "We were noticed that, a man came to the international border on horse riding and we immediately rushed to the border to receive him," Naren Chandra Das said. "We were not allowed to talk with the Dalai Lama. We were escorted the Dalai Lama onward journey to Tawang on foot. Our duty was only guard and escort him," Das said. Naren Chandra Das also said that, two of his four colleagues were later died in 1962 China-India war. Naren Chandra Das was retired in 1982. (Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath) Guwahati : At least three militants belonging to the anti-talk faction group of United Kukigram Defence Army (UKDA) (Martin group) were killed and another militant injured during a fierce gun fight with army and police in Assam's hills district Karbi Anglong on Sunday, officials said. Karbi Anglong district SP V Shivaprasad Ganjala said that, the encounter took place at Jullian village, about 17 km north east from Manja in the district. Based on intelligence input, the troops of 15th Gorkha Rifles and the Assam police team led by Karbi Anglong Additional SP had jointly launched operation at the remote area in Singhasan hills on Sunday morning about presence of a militant group at the area. 'When the troops reached the area, the militants had started fire and bullets were exchanged lasting for couple for hours,'A the top Assam cops said. During the gun battle, three militants were killed and another militant of the group injured. Security personnel had recovered huge cache of arms and ammunition from the encounter area. The slain militants are yet to be identified. 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Show tolerance of others opinions Dear Editor: It is extremely sad that some of the members of our community did not practice tolerance of other... Expand womens rights Dear Editor: I say this every election year, When it comes to the abortion argument, I am neither a Hatfield... Pregnancy is a choice Dear Editor: Thank you Timothy Kern and David McArthur for the biblical and statistical facts on abortion. As a... Ten people have been killed in an explosion on the metro in the Russian city of St. Petersburg, state-run media TASS reported. You have permission to edit this html. Edit Close Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. Mikhail Red triumphed at Tokyo Film Festival at the back end of 2016 when he picked up the Asian Future Award for his sophmore effort, Birdshot. Mikhail, along with producing partner Pamela Reyes, has now returned to Japan, bringing his film to Osaka Asian Film Festival as part of the New Action! Southeast Asia Special Program. Birdshot is a mystery-thriller centered around two violent events. In one, Maya, a young girl raised by her elderly father on an isolated farm shoots and kills an endangered and protected Filipino eagle. In the other, rookie cop Domingo investigates the disappearance of a group of farmers who had protested the stealing of their land by corrupt government officials. As Domingo is increasingly compromised by the corruption and police brutality he encounters, Maya is touched by the supernatural, otherworldly elements of her countryside home. Both characters paths will ultimately lead to a terrifyingly violent conclusion. Mikhail proved an interesting young talent with his experimental, city-set debut, Rekorder. In Birdshot he relocates to the mysterious beauty of the Filipino countryside for a film that proved one of the highlights of Osakas diverse program. I caught up with Mikhail for the first time since Rekorder to talk about the road to getting Birdshot made, the film, and his upcoming projects. Why the long break after REKORDER? Mikhail Red (MR): Well, with Rekorder if you remember, I went through the whole local film festival process which is where you submit a script and they give you seed money. It was very micro budget, so with my second film I wanted to try something else. We wanted to go the whole international grant route, so we went to project markets and took a long time developing the script. Pamela Reyes (PR): And in terms of developing the budget, its ten times the size of Rekorder, so its really ambitious. It took some time just to find money. And, I think in terms of Mikhails writing style, you take some time right? MR: Yeah, but for Birdshot it was actually quite fast compared to Rekorder. But we also took our time with the technical side. Rekorder is a bit more guerilla, more gritty. This ones a bit more conventional and classic, and so thats why we took our time with the post production with the sound and the grading. How did you handle the step up from guerilla-filmmaking to dealing with a bigger budget? MR: If the scale is bigger, the problems are bigger, so its still challenging for a young filmmaker. It doesnt get easier with more money. PR: For me if you have more budget, it shows more in the film. I guess if theres more budget theres more problems but its easier than having none at all! Will you go 10 times bigger again on the next one? Actually, we might be scaling down a bit. For me, there were too many people this time around on set and it kind of slowed things down. On Rekorder I was used to just moving around the city with a small camera and no permits, but this time it was my second feature film but my first time shooting with a two-camera setup so it was difficult for me. How did you get the idea for Birdshot? I saw an article years ago, I think maybe even during the time for Rekorder I had that idea in my head, where a father and son shoot and accidently kill an eagle. But over the years it has happened again and again, and people get jailed for it. In fact, the eagle used in the movie is kept in captivity because its a gun-shot survivor so thats why it cant fly and thats why it was easy to shoot from distance. The eagles are kept in a sanctuary on an island and we had to film there, so thats why the budget is bigger and more ambitious; we had to jump to different locations to shoot those scenes. And the bus incident was also taken from a real-life incident? Are you familiar with the Maguindanao Massacre where a bus full of journalists were stopped in the middle of nowhere? They disappeared and were eventually found in a shallow mass grave. I think the perpetrators even used mud and soil to put over the convoy and the bodies. It was very disturbing for me and it kept lingering in my head. In fact, I had a short film that also dealt with themes like that and I incorporated the two themes together. And the script was co-written with your cousin? MR: The way I work is I start with a very detailed sequence treatment. I usually write it in English, and it goes straight to the pitching and project markets because its already translated. Then I get a cowriter to help me flesh it out and work with the Filipino dialogue. Its always easier to bounce around your ideas instead of checking it yourself; you know to get a different perspective on it. And theres a female character in the movie, the main character, so I wanted a female perspective, so I worked with my cousin. I like working with different people depending on the style of the project and the story. REKORDER was very much a city movie, set in Manila, where youre from and dealing with situations and locations there but this film is set deep in the countryside, did you have to a lot of research on the area and the customs of the farmers there? MR: The way I see the story of Birdshot is almost like a parable. You have these very symbolic characters and this isolated environment, so I wanted something like that where you have this strange fictional land that doesn't even have a name and then you have these two characters, four characters actually [Maya and her grandfather and Domingo and his tough, veteran partner], it's a two-on-two tug of war. I wanted that sense of isolation, theres also magical realism. It was an intentional choice to do something different and as a young filmmaker Im still exploring and trying things with each film. For the location we had to ask around with a government agency, the department of agriculture, because we had a very specific PR: ...he had a very specific look in mind for the farm and we had to look all over the Philippines and eventually they found it in Isabela, which is like a 10 to 12 hour drive from Manila. So when we got there we had to drive to bring 100 people there. MR: Its a strange coincidence because in my head I was imagining vast cornfields. Its rare for a Filipino film to feature cornfields, its usually rice paddies, so I wanted something more alien. And behind the cornfields I wanted a mountain range in the background so with that very specific image in mind I communicated with the Department of Agriculture and they pointed to the map, to Isabela which coincidentally has a very small population of Filipino eagles, up north. Because there are only two islands where you can find them, Isabela I think has 34 pairs of eagles left and Davou where the majority of eagles are kept. So it was this strange coincidence that what I was imaging visually turned out to be the real habitat of these eagles. What was it visually about that farm? MR: Well, I was thinking about that climactic scene and I wanted a shootout to happen in the cornfields. I also wanted the scarecrow in the film as a silent witness to things. If you think about the first scene hes the one who sees the bus pass by the farm and that's like one of the locations where scarecrows are used. It was more of a cinematic choice and then turned out to be accurate because that's where the eagles actually live. Is there a Hollywood influence in there too? MR: Exactly, theres this Western theme to it, which plays a big part in the films I watch. I watch a lot of Westerns. And also Korean cinema, Memories of Murder is one of my favourite films, so theres this whole police story running parallel to this more ethnic local story. Talking about different genres, theres a classic horror element to certain scenes, was there horror influences at work? Yeah, in fact I have a few ideas for script developments, one about an American serial killer, so thats in development, and going around project markets. It has a horror vibe but with a very socially relevant backstory because its set under martial law, so yeah I like to mix genre with socially relevant subject matter. On the subject of socially relevant subject matter, the police in this film are particularly brutal MR: For me thats how it is in the Philippines, I actually tried to make them a bit more neutral and put a good police character in there. You can sort of see that Mendoza (the veteran cop) has become this morally grey character, he wants to survive, hes not really a bad guy, he treats Domingo sometimes as a partner. So I didn't want to make them all villains, in fact everyones a victim of circumstance in this film. Everyone is a victim in this story. Did you want to make a statement and directly criticize the police? You can see that even in Rekorder I have an issue with authority. Rekorders main character is the same as Domingo, hes not really a bad guy but ends up being chased by the police due to circumstance. And that's really one of my worst fears, the good guy getting into trouble and ending up being the bad guy. You found this new actress, Maya Joy Apostol, whos fantastic in the film. MR: We wanted a fresh face because these veterans surround her in the film. I mean John Arcilla is well known because of Heneral Luna and Metro Manila, he was even in The Bourne Legacy. And Arnold Reyes, you might have seen him in Graceland and hes done a lot of independent films. So we wanted this fresh youth. And she was a big hit, even in Tokyo on the red carpet! We still havent shown this film locally so we hope it helps her with her career. Her distinctive costume, that striking red color, what was the thought behind it? MR: The color red appears a lot in the film, which has this almost desaturated look. The film is all earth colors, but red is always striking and if you want to pay attention you can see that color everywhere. The shirt she has around her neck is red, and in the forest you can see this red shape moving. Even the ghost, and the evidence that Domingo finds is red. PR: In terms of purpose, the farmers in the fields wear that kind of shirt, so you can put it over your head because its very hot, so you have to cover your face with it, and they wear long sleeves to cover there arms. MR: We were very precise with this film, compared with Rekorder. Rekorder is more what happens naturally, its what you see in the city, and what we ended up recording, that's it. In Birdshot, we purposefully designed everything from the props to the color scheme. What are you working on next? PR: Were working on Mikhails third feature. Its called Neo Manila and it was actually part of the South East Asian Film Financing Forum where we pitched the project. MR: Its about a mother and a son, they're unrelated, and theyre involved in this drug war in Manila. I guess you can think of it as a reverse Leon the Professional, this time the older character, who is involved with the death squad, is a women and instead of the young girl you have an orphan son. So yeah, it's a mother/son story in the Philippine drug war. PR: We want to shoot it soon because of the subject matter; the drug war and the extra-judicial hearings in the Philippines, which are very relevant. MR: I think either way its happening this year because we have a lot of different options for financing. In terms of scale I guess it's a bit smaller than Birdshot, but its more bleak, a bit darker, closer to Rekorder but theres more action in it. And the horror film? Actually, that's been around for a while, almost as long as Rekorder. It has had a few different titles, it was originally a period film then we made it a contemporary film so you know things started changing, but the basic concept was there, its about an American serial killer in the Philippines, the Black Dahlia basically. There was a prime subject in the Black Dahlia case in Hollywood, then there were rumors that he stayed in the Philippines. During that time there were very similar murders. You confuse it with the martial law killings, so youre not sure whats going on. Its interesting because it's great cover for a serial killer to thrive in a third world society. So weve been developing that for more than a year, it's a bit more ambitious so its taking longer. Neo Manila is the more urgent film. It was back in 2004 that Turkish writer and star Cem Yilmaz caught our attention with his very silly - and very fun - scifi comedy G.O.R.A. The story of a Turkish carpet salesman kidnapped by extraterrestrials and plunged into an alien conflict the easiest pitch on G.O.R.A. is to describe it as a sort of Turkish Spaceballs with ringmaster Yilmaz sharing the same sort of broad, slapstick sense of humor as Mel Brooks. Yilmaz was already a pretty significant star in Turkey on release and G.O.R.A. proved a major hit, pushing him to further heights. A more ambitious film by far than the vast majority of local productions, it wasn't just funny but had fantastic production values and great VFX work that won fans around the globe. In the years since Yilmaz has continued to expand his personal brand. There have been more overt comedies, of course, tapping into multiple genres with a scifi sequel (A.R.O.G.) arriving in 2008 along with more drama oriented offerings and live performances. But now Yilmaz is taking on the role of G.O.R.A. protagonist Arif Isik once again for the upcoming Arif V 216. In production now with a release date set for early 2018 - no doubt to allow for the VFX work required - they have already released an extended first trailer for the film and it's looking pretty damn great. Take a look below! "Briefing the Supreme Court: Promoting Science or Myth?" | Main | Latest SCOTUS order list includes one complicated capital case grant As reported in this local article, "mass killer Dylann Roof will plead guilty to state murder charges on April 10, sparing his nine victims' loved ones a second grueling death penalty trial and ensuring he spends the rest of his life in prison." Here is more: Roof, 22, was convicted in January of 33 federal charges, including hate crimes, and sentenced to death for killing nine black worshippers at Emanuel AME Church. However, 9th Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson also was pursuing the death penalty for nine state murder charges, proceedings that had been on hold since the end of Roof's federal trial. She let families of Roof's victims know early Friday she is accepting a guilty plea instead. "I write with great news that the states case is ready to wrap up. As I told you towards the end of trial and in other updates, at this point our goal is to provide an insurance policy to the federal conviction and sentence. The most effective way to do that is to secure a guilty plea for a life sentence and get the defendant into federal custody," Wilson wrote in a letter obtained by The Post and Courier. Reached Friday, Wilson said the move will take the death penalty off the table in the state case and assist with moving the white supremacist along to federal prison. "The goal is to get him into federal custody so their sentence can be imposed," she said. She had no further comment on the decision, saying her letter speaks for itself. After his April 10 plea, Roof likely will be moved from the Charleston County detention center to a federal Bureau of Prisons facility. Male prisoners sentenced to death usually are housed at a prison in Terre Haute, Ind., site of the federal execution chamber. Loved ones of those killed have waited since the gut-wrenching federal trial's close to find out Wilson's plans. Many don't support the death penalty on religious grounds and several said they didn't want to go through a second trial. The Rev. Sharon Risher, whose mother died in the shooting, was among them. Wilson called to tell her the news. "I totally appreciated that," Risher said. "I'm feeling glad we don't have to endure another trial. I believe in my heart that this is the right thing to do. He won't ever be able to step outside again. He won't ever feel the sun on his skin again." The deadline to sign up for this free community event that is open to all is Nov. 16. Kennebunk Post "We need to invest in our kids," said resident Brenda Robinson. "That's how we keep graffiti out of Waterhouse Center and mischief out of the downtown on Saturday night." The suspect in a Sunday afternoon slaying remains at large today, following a fatal shooting that brings San Francisco's homicide count for the year up to 16. Police say that the fatal shooting occurred at 2:38 p.m. Sunday, on the first block of Jones, Street, which is between Market Street and Golden Gate Avenue. According to the San Francisco Police Department, the male suspect shot the 31-year-old male victim, since identified by the San Francisco medical Examiner's office as Antonio Stanberry, He was pronounced dead on arrival, police say. Police say this this is SF's 16th homicide for the year, following the death of Lian Xiu Wu in a triple shooting at Broad Street and Plymouth Avenue last week. 24-year-old Vallejo resident Jonathan Santos was arrested by the SFPD that same day for the crime, and remains in custody without bail as of Monday morning. Related: Troubled SF Corner Site Of Triple Shooting, City's 15th Homicide Of 2017 It's time again for Food & Wine Magazine's annual list of the Best New Chefs in the country, an honor that ranks up there in the industry with the James Beard Awards and Bon Appetit's Best New Restaurants list when it comes to career-making for up-and-coming chefs. And this year's San Francisco honoree is Val Cantu of two-year-old Mission spot Californios, as the magazine announced in a press release today. All ten honorees fly to New York for the annual party tomorrow, April 4 they're flown in on a Monday because it's a traditional industry night off and they'll all be featured in the mag's July issue, and at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen in June. Cantu previously was named a Chronicle Rising Star in 2016, and Californios earned a Michelin star right out of the gate in its first year, 2015. Cantu specializes in incorporating Mexican flavors and influences into high-end, modern, California cuisine. "This is our favorite time of year at FOOD & WINE, when we get to celebrate our latest class of Best New Chefs," says Editor-in-Chief Nilou Motamed. "For me, theres a special thrill in getting to share the news with our winners nothing beats that moment of surprise and pure joy, when they realize their careers are about to change forever." Criteria for the honor include running one's own kitchen, as an executive chef, for less than five years, which sometimes leads to relatively seasoned talents getting the honor in the middle of their careers. Last year's honorees, for instance, included relatively new and self-taught Lazy Bear chef David Barzelay, and Ravi Kapur, who opened Liholiho Yacht Club in 2015, but had previously spent two years as executive chef at Prospect and eight years in the kitchen at Boulevard, ultimately as its chef de cuisine. But a list past years' honorees is a who's-who of the national food scene, proving that this list does a lot to catapult chefs' careers, including people like, in recent years, Saison's Joshua Skenes, Benu's Corey Lee, Meadowood's Christopher Kostow, and, in years' past, Thomas Keller, Nancy Oakes, and Stuart Brioza. "Its no surprise that this years class has really pushed the envelope, reimagining what restaurant cooking means in 2017," says Motamed. Here's the full online announcement of this year's class of 10, and closer to the release of the July issue each chef will get a full profile, with a few recipe highlights as well. Below, the complete list. Jay Blackinton, Hogstones Wood Oven, Orcas Island, WA Val Cantu, Californios, San Francisco Peter Cho, Han Oak, Portland, OR Nina Compton, Compere Lapin, New Orleans Diego Galicia and Rico Torres, Mixtli, San Antonio Sarah Hymanson and Sara Kramer, Kismet, Los Angeles Jordan Kahn, Destroyer, Los Angeles Angie Mar, The Beatrice Inn, New York Yoshi Okai, Otoko, Austin Noah Sandoval, Oriole, Chicago Previously: Two SF Chefs, Ravi Kapur And David Barzelay, Named Food & Wine Best New Chefs Go Eat This: Kanpachi Crudo at Californios A man is in police custody today, after he allegedly took to a rooftop to shoot Tenderloin pedestrians with a pellet gun. Police were called to the 600 block of Larkin Street, which is between Ellis and Eddy Streets, at 6:14 p.m. Saturday on reports of a shooting. According to the San Francisco Police Department, when they arrived they learned that a man had been "shooting at passerby from a rooftop," injuring a 41-year-old man in the leg. He was transported to San Francisco General Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police say. Police located and arrested the alleged shooter, a 31-year-old man who they say had been shooting at people with a pellet gun from his elevated position. He remains in custody as of this morning, according to the SFPD. As of publication time, they did not have any additional details on the case to share, including any motive behind the attack. This website is intended for U.S. visitors only. SIOUX CITY | Colorful characters, scandalous situations and a backhanded acknowledgement to Sioux City's wonderfully wicked past. Does this whet your appetite? Jason Nelson hopes so. The manager of Sioux City's Bodega 401 has a lot riding on his bar's historic name. Named after a bar originally owned by John Arensdorf, the man acquitted in the 1886 murder of The Rev. George C. Haddock, Bodega will be profiled in the Wednesday Sioux City Journal. However, Bodega -- located at 401 Pearl St. -- isn't the only bar that carries a historical moniker. Pearl's Wine & Booze's is located to the north of Bodega. While the 417 Pearl Street martini bar shared the name of the street, the street may have been named after a woman who was employed in the world's oldest profession. We can't confirm it but that's the longstanding rumor. On the other hand, The Diving Elk (1101 Fourth St.) was named after the famous diving elks who performed at Sioux City's Riverside Park from 1900 to 1920. In addition, Half Moon Bar & Grill (714 So. Lewis Blvd.) is named after the warmly-remembered Half Moon Inn, which was known as a place where stockyard workers could eat and drink economically. However, longtime Sioux Cityans may also recall the original Half Moon Lake, a small body of water that was on the north end of what is now the Pulaski Little League Park. The city filled in this crescent-shaped lake in the early 70s to make room for the ball park. SIOUX CITY | The City of Sioux City is offering developers Rick Bertrand and Casey Fenton an agreement worth $1.5 million for the construction of an 80-home development on the north side. The developers plan to transform the site of a former borrow pit near 28th Street and Floyd Boulevard into Chestnut Hill, a development targeted to families and retirement-age residents, a $17-to-$21-million investment. Along with 80 town homes, the development will include the construction of a new street connecting Chestnut Avenue to Floyd Boulevard. Traffic will access the development from the north by the Chestnut Avenue extension, which will turn east into a new street called Blue Drive that will let out onto Floyd Boulevard. Homes will be located along Chestnut Avenue and Blue Drive, as well as two short streets branching off to the west from Blue Drive that will lead to cul-de-sacs. The City Council on Monday will vote on the agreement, which includes an $800,000 economic development grant and $700,000 in new residential development "DIG" funds, with payments staggered throughout the construction process. The development met with several voices of opposition early on in the rezoning process, as a half-dozen people shared concerns about traffic and local prairie preservation at the Planning and Zoning Commission level. But approval of the rezoning and a preliminary plat breezed through at the City Council level on unanimous votes with little discussion. Bertrand has said he expects to have streets complete on the development by the end of the summer. Reinvestment district presentation In other business Monday, city economic development staff plan to make a presentation to the council on Sioux City's Reinvestment District proposal. Council members requested such a presentation during last week's meeting in the wake of Mayor Bob Scott's comment two weeks ago that instead of allowing a developer to construct a five-story, 150-room Courtyard by Marriott hotel adjoining the Sioux City Convention Center, the city would be better served turning the venue into a rec center for children's sports. Council members also said there seem to be misconceptions about the project circulating in the public. Sioux City's bid for $14 million in future state hotel and sales taxes through the Iowa Economic Development Authority's Reinvestment District program includes three projects: Ho-Chunk Inc.'s Virginia Square, a $21 million Courtyard by Marriott hotel built next to the Sioux City Convention Center, and an ag expo and learning center on the site of the former John Morrell pork plant. The project has been in the works for two years, and staff are working toward final approval. 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. SIOUX CITY Inge Auerbacher will always associate the aroma of almonds with the smell that emanates from a smashed bed bug. Auerbacher learned about the odor similarities of the tree nut and the parasitic insect during her time at the Theresienstadt (Terezin) concentration camp near Prague, where she and her family lived for three years until Russian forces liberated the Nazi-controlled compound in May 1945. We shared bunk beds and of course the conditions were very crowded; no privacy, she said. Of course a lot of vermin rats, mice, fleas, bed bugs those were our companions. The 82-year-old Holocaust survivor also said Terezin was rampant with diseases dysentery, scarlet fever, tuberculosis and typhus to name a few. They were only allowed to shower twice a year at most with permission, had to use outdoor latrines as restroom facilities and rarely ate. Of the estimated 15,000 children who were held at Terezin, just 1 percent survived. We had very little of everything, I mean youve seen the films; I dont have to tell you, Auerbacher said. You were always afraid you were being sent to the east you know about Auschwitz; they kept it from us. Auschwitz was the Nazi concentration camp where more than a million of the estimated 6 million Jews who were killed during the Holocaust lost their lives. Auerbachers best friend at Terezin, a 10-year-old girl named Ruth, was taken to Auschwitz along with her family. Considering everything she has seen and been through in her life, Auerbacher, a retired chemist, cant comprehend why hate, intolerance of others and a disdain for diversity are things she views as growing sentiments here in America and other parts of the world. Everybody wants to come to America because we are good people, we have good hearts and we think of other people, she said. It was the (melting pot) experiment that worked and thats what makes America great. Its all the different races, religions the blending or not-blending, theres separation certainly but each one brings in something special. The octogenarian is hoping to share her message about acceptance and tales from her varied life this week in Sioux City, where she will headline several events throughout the community for Tolerance Week. The main thing is, this Tolerance Week, is to recognize and appreciate other religions, other ethnic backgrounds get to know somebody who isnt like you, Auerbacher said. Tolerance Week was created in 2005 by Jerry and Kathy Weiner after they saw the documentary "Paper Clips," a film featuring middle-school children in Tennessee who collected 6 million paper clips to represent the 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis. I feel you cant just talk about the word tolerance just give it lip service you got to live it, eat it, feel it, you know? Auerbacher said. Auerbacher arrived in Sioux City Sunday, where she was greeted at the Sioux Gateway Airport by the cast and crew of The Star on My Heart, an original play based on her life and memoirs. An enhanced edition of I Am a Star: Child of the Holocaust, the first book in her memoir trilogy, is set to be re-released by Penguin Books in the coming months. The airport greeting caught Auerbacher, who travels the globe delivering lectures and promoting her work, entirely off-guard, and she said it made her feel like a "princess." You should have seen the kids all at the airport, it was so touching, she said. The Star on My Heart will be performed Friday through Sunday at the Sioux City Community Theatre, 1401 Riverside Blvd.; however, the show opens at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Orpheum Theatre, 528 Pierce St., where Auerbacher will speak after the performance. Although the play touches on her time in the concentration camp, Auerbacher said the opening scene is set in the Grasslands Hospital now called Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, New York, where she spent two years on bed rest battling tuberculosis after contracting it at Terezin. Auerbacher said everyone always thinks her life was easier after being rescued from the camp, but she considers her struggles with tuberculosis just as vital to her story. I fought off two big villains in my life, to tell you the truth, she said. (Adolf) Hitler and a little tiny bug which wanted to kill me a bacteria and I won. Hope is the most important thing; hope, dont ever lose hope. SIOUX CITY | A Sioux City man has pleaded not guilty to shooting another person in a Wal-Mart parking lot. Luis Lira, 22, entered his written plea Monday in Woodbury County District Court to charges of first-degree robbery, reckless use of a firearm, felon in possession of a firearm and possession of a controlled substance. According to court documents, Lira was asked by Kelsey Kritzer to come with her to a March 9 meeting in which she was to collect money from two people who owed her a drug debt. When the subjects arrived at the parking lot at the Singing Hills Wal-Mart, Lira walked to the passenger side of the subjects' car and demanded the money, then pointed a handgun at them. The victims sped away, and Lira fired at the fleeing car. One of the bullets struck the driver in the back of the right shoulder. Lira and Kritzer were arrested March 15. Kritzer, 24, of Sergeant Bluff, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree robbery. Maas assaulted his mother on May 12 at her Sioux City home after she refused to go with him to pick up another person. After she offered him money for a cab, he hit her repeatedly in the face and tried to strangle her. STORM LAKE, Iowa | A 14-year-old Schaller, Iowa, male was arrested March 31 on a class C felony sexual exploitation charge and serious misdemeanor charge of dissemination of obscene materials to a minor. The Storm Lake Police Department said the teen was released to his parent pending a court appearance. On March 29, police had met with a 16-year-old girl who alleged she sent multiple sexually oriented videos to her boyfriend, the 14-year-old male. When they broke up, the male reportedly disseminated the videos to friends, who allegedly continued to share the videos with an unknown number of recipients. The Storm Lake Police Department has served search warrants on multiple cellphones and additional search warrants are pending. The investigation is continuing, the police department said in a news release. The Storm Lake Police Department has been assisted in the investigation by the Buena Vista County Attorney's Office and the Storm Lake School administration. SIOUX CITY The Sioux City Gordmans store is one of up to 57 locations that may be saved from closure. In March, the Omaha-based retailer declared bankruptcy and announced plans to liquidate all 105 of its stores, including its store in Sioux Citys Lakeport Commons, where it serves as an anchor tenant for the shopping center. Last Thursday, Stage Stores Inc., a Houston-based specialty department store chain, announced that one of its subsidiaries had successfully acquired a minimum of 50 Gordmans store leases with the rights to add an additional seven stores to the deal. While the company does not plan to finalize which locations will remain open until Friday, documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Omaha show that the Sioux City store is in the preliminary list of locales to remain open. In a release announcing the deal, Michael Glazer, CEO and president of Stage, spoke highly of the transaction. We believe the Gordmans business model offers great potential and, without the burden of a high level of debt, unprofitable locations and an oversized infrastructure, we expect the Gordmans business will be accretive to our earnings, he said. Gordmans stores are a natural complement to Stage, bringing beneficial diversification and scale to our business, while creating synergies through the use of our current infrastructure. "By acquiring Gordmans, we believe that we have an opportunity to benefit from its off-price competencies, deep connection with a youthful customer, and strong home and gifts businesses," he continued. "We are pleased to enhance our store portfolio with the most desirable Gordmans locations, giving Stage a strong Midwestern presence in markets generally larger than those we serve today. Additionally, Glazer noted Stage would retain the Gordmans name and as many employees as it could. Black Diamond Group Limited rents and sells modular space and workforce accommodation solutions. It operates through two segments, Modular Space Solutions and Workforce Solutions. The Modular Space Solutions segment provides modular space rentals to customers in the construction, real estate development, education, manufacturing, health care, financial, government, and defense industries in North America. Its products include office units, lavatories, storage units, large multi-unit office complexes, classroom facilities, banking and health care facilities, custom manufactured modular facilities, and blast resistant structures. This segment also sells new and used space rentals units; and provides delivery, installation, project management, and ancillary products and services. The Workforce Solutions segment provides workforce housing solutions, including rental of accommodations and surface equipment, and provision of turnkey lodging and travel management logistics services in Canada, the United States, and Australia. This segment also provides associated services, such as installation, transportation, dismantlement, and sale of used fleet assets. This segment primarily serves the resource, infrastructure, construction, disaster recovery, and education sectors. company also provides specialized field rentals to oil and gas industries. Black Diamond Group Limited markets its rental assets, custom sales, and ancillary products and services through in-house sales personnel, its website, social media, web campaigns, and its digital marketplace. The company was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada. Deckers Outdoor Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, designs, markets, and distributes footwear, apparel, and accessories for casual lifestyle use and high-performance activities. The company offers premium footwear, apparel, and accessories under the UGG brand name; sandals, shoes, and boots under the Teva brand name; and relaxed casual shoes and sandals under the Sanuk brand name. It also provides footwear and apparel for ultra-runners and athletes under the Hoka brand name; and fashion casual footwear using other plush materials under the Koolaburra brand. The company sells its products through department stores, domestic independent action sports and outdoor specialty footwear retailers, and larger national retail chains, as well as online retailers. It also sells its products directly to consumers through its retail stores and e-commerce websites, as well as distributes its products through distributors and retailers in the United States, Europe, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, Latin America, and internationally. As of March 31, 2022, it had 149 retail stores, including 75 concept stores and 74 outlet stores worldwide. The company was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Goleta, California. Economy April 3, 2017 Marty Hart-Landsberg Those who advocate freeing the market claim that doing so will encourage competition and thereby increase majority well-being. These advocates have certainly had their way shaping economic policies. And the results? According to several leading economists, the results include the growing monopolization of product markets and steady decline in labours share of national income. Neither outcome desirable. The economists David Autor, David Dorn, Lawrence F. Katz, Christina Patterson, and John Van Reenen did not actually seek to examine the consequences of decades of neoliberal economic policies. Rather they sought to understand why there has been a decline in the U.S. labour share since the 1980s particularly in the 2000s. (See the figure below.) What they found was evidence that sales have become increasingly concentrated in a small number of firms across many industries. And, that those industries where concentration rises the most have the sharpest falls in the labour share. Thus, the [overall] fall in the labour share is mainly due to a reallocation of labour toward firms with lower (and declining) labour shares, rather than due to declining labour shares within most firms. The Growing Monopolization of the U.S. Economy The authors calculated sales concentration in six large sectors manufacturing, retail trade, wholesale trade, services, finance, and utilities and transportation for the years 1982 to 2012. They used two different measures of sales concentration: the fraction of sales in an average industry accounted for by its four largest firms (CR4 with Sales) and by its twenty largest firms (CR20 with Sales). The results are illustrated in the figure below. As the authors explain: There is a remarkably consistent upward trend in concentration in each sector. In manufacturing, the sales concentration ratio among the top 4 increases from 38% to 43%; in finance, it rises from 24% to 35%; in services from 11% to 15%; in utilities from 29% to 37%; in retail trade from 15% to 30% and in wholesale trade from 22% to 28%. Over the same period, there were similar or larger increases in CR20 for sales. The authors explain this growth in concentration by the rise of so-called superstar firms. These firms are characterized by rapid productivity growth and their dominance comes from the ways in which technological change has made most markets winner take most. In other words, innovative firms are able to quickly assert market dominance thanks to the diffusion of new competitive platforms (e.g. easier price/quality comparisons on the Internet), the proliferation of information-intensive goods that have high fixed and low-marginal costs (e.g., software platforms and online services), or increasing competition due to the rising international integration of product markets. And thanks to first mover advantages, this success builds upon itself, allowing superstar firms to further strengthening their market position. Whatever the reason, clearly market competition has strengthened monopoly power, especially in manufacturing, finance, utilities, and retail trade, all sectors where the top four firms now account for at least 30 per cent of average industry sales. Labours Declining Share of National Income It is the rise of these superstar firms, according to the authors, that best explains the decline in labours share of national income. They test and reject several other explanations. For example, some economists argue that international trade is key. But the authors point out that it is not just import-competing industries in which labours share is falling; it is also falling in non-traded sectors like retail trade, wholesale trade, and utilities. Other economists point to the decline in capital costs, which they believe has encouraged firms to increase spending on capital goods, leading to falling labour shares in all industries. But the authors find no support for this. In fact, they find that the unweighted mean labour share across firms has not increased much since 1982. Thus, the average firm shows little decline in its labour share. All of this points to the growth of superstar firms as the key to explaining labours declining share of national income. According to the authors, superstar firms have a lower labour share than do most other firms. One reason is that these firms tend to enjoy significant markup pricing power which allows them to boost their profits without adding labour. Another is that they also tend to enjoy great economies of scale; with a relatively fixed amount of overhead labour, they are able to boost production without a commensurate increase in employment. The authors calculated concentration measures for employment (CR4 with Employment, CR20 with Employment) much as they did for sales; see above figure. As they note: Again, we observe a rising concentration in all six sectors for 1982 to 2012, although employment concentration has grown notably more slowly than sales concentration in finance, services, and especially in manufacturing. The pattern suggests that firms may attain large market shares with a relatively small workforce, as exemplified by Facebook and Google. And as these firms increase their market dominance, labours overall share tends to fall. As the authors explain: those industries where concentration rises the most have the sharpest falls in the labour share [Thus] the fall in the labour share is mainly due to a reallocation of labour toward firms with lower (and declining) labour shares, rather than due to declining labour shares within most firms. In fact, the strength of this negative relationship between market concentration and labours share grew stronger over the period of study. A Look Behind the Curtain These results are important, suggesting that capitalisms motion itself is driving labours declining share. However, I think that there is good reason to believe that the underlying dynamics at work are different from those highlighted above. To state it bluntly, superstar firms are driving down labours share because they are increasingly using strategies of profit maximization that have them replace direct labour with contract labour, franchising, and supply chains. superstar firms are driving down labours share because they are increasingly using strategies of profit maximization that have them replace direct labour with contract labour, franchising, and supply chains. Over most of the post-war period, until the late 1970s, large corporations tended to directly employ the workers needed to produce the goods or services they sold. But starting in the 1980s, and especially in the 2000s, these firms began actively shedding employees and hiring smaller firms to carry out the tasks that were once done in-house. This enabled these lead corporations to greatly expand production and boost profits with a minimal increase in direct employment. David Weil calls this strategy fissuring the workplace and his book, The Fissured Workplace: Why Work Became So Bad for So Many and What Can Be Done to Improve It , documents how this has become the preferred strategy of most of our major companies. Here, from Weils book, are three examples of fissured workplaces: A maid works at the San Francisco Marriott on Fishermans Wharf. The hotel property is owned by Host Hotels and Resorts Inc., a lodging real estate company. The maid, however, is evaluated and supervised daily and her hours and payroll managed by Crestline Hotels and Resorts Inc., a national third- party hotel management company. Yet she follows daily procedures (and risks losing her job for failure to accomplish them) regarding cleaning, room set- up, overall pace, and quality standards established by Marriott, whose name the property bears. A cable installer in Dayton, Ohio, works as an independent contractor (in essence a self-employed business provider), paid on a job-by-job basis by Cascom Inc., a cable installation company. Cascoms primary client is the international media giant Time Warner, which owns cable systems across the United States. The cable installer is paid solely on the basis of the job completed and is entitled to no protections normally afforded employees. Yet all installation contracts are supplied solely by Cascom, which also sets the price for jobs and collects payment for them. The installer must wear a shirt with the Cascom logo and can be removed as a contractor at will for not meeting minimum quotas or quality standards, or at the will of the company. A member of a loading dock crew working in Southern California is paid by Premier Warehousing Ventures LLC (PWV) a company providing temporary workers to other businesses based on the total time it takes him and members of his crew to load a truck. PWV, in turn, is compensated for the number of trucks loaded by Schneider Logistics, a national logistics and trucking company that manages distribution centers for Walmart. Walmart sets the price, time requirements, and performance standards that are followed by Schneider. Schneider, in turn, structures its contracts with PWV and other labour brokers it uses to provide workers based on those prices and standards and its own profit objectives. At one time, large corporations like Marriott, Time Warner, and Walmart directly employed the workers that laboured on their behalf. But no more. Now, these large corporations are able to escape paying many of those who work for them the wages and benefits offered to their other employees. Instead, their salaries are paid by other smaller firms, whether they be independent businesses, temporary work agencies, or franchise owners, or in more extreme cases so-called independent contractors. And because these second-tier businesses operate in highly competitive markets, with substantially lower profit margins than the lead corporations they service, these workers now receive far lower salaries with few if any benefits and protections. As Weil summarizes: This [business strategy] creates downward pressure on wages and benefits, murkiness about who bears responsibility for work conditions, and increased likelihood that basic labour standards will be violated. In many cases, fissuring leads simultaneously to a rise in profitability for the lead companies who operate at the top of industries and increasingly precarious working conditions for workers at lower levels. This strategy is the domestic counterpoint to the globalization strategies of the large multinationals like Dell Computers and Apple. And it has come to dominate and structure U.S. labour markets. As the Wall Street Journal explains: Never before have American companies tried so hard to employ so few people. The outsourcing wave that moved apparel-making jobs to China and call-center operations to India is now just as likely to happen inside companies across the U.S. and in almost every industry The contractor model is so prevalent that Google parent Alphabet Inc., ranked by Fortune magazine as the best place to work for seven of the past 10 years, has roughly equal numbers of outsourced workers and full-time employees, according to people familiar with the matter. About 70,000 TVCs an abbreviation for temps, vendors and contractors test drive Googles self-driving cars, review legal documents, make products easier and better to use, manage marketing and data projects, and do many other jobs. They wear red badges at work, while regular Alphabet employees wear white ones Companies, which disclose few details about their outside workers, are rapidly increasing the numbers and types of jobs seen as ripe for contracting. At large firms, 20% to 50% of the total workforce often is outsourced, according to staffing executives. Bank of America Corp., Verizon Communications Inc., Procter & Gamble Co. and FedEx Corp. have thousands of contractors each Janitorial work and cafeteria services disappeared from most company payrolls long ago. A similar shift is under way for higher-paying, white-collar jobs such as research scientist, recruiter, operations manager and loan underwriter. Two labour economists, Lawrence F. Katz and Alan B. Krueger, recently published a study of the rise of so-called alternative work arrangements, which they defined as temporary help agency workers, on-call workers, contract workers, and independent contractors or freelancers. They found that the percentage of U.S. workers with alternative work arrangements rose from 10.1 per cent [of all employed workers] in February 2005 to 15.8 per cent in late 2015. (See the figure below). That is a huge jump, especially since the percentage of workers with alternative work arrangements barely budged over the period February 1995 to February 2005; it was only 9.3 in 1995. But their most startling finding is that all of the net employment growth in the U.S. economy from 2005 to 2015 appears to have occurred in alternative work arrangements. Looking behind the curtain shows that the decline in labours share is the result of a brutal process of work restructuring that affects a rapidly growing percentage of U.S. workers. Reversing the decline will require both a broader awareness of the negative social consequences of the private pursuit of profit and a far stronger labour movement than we have today. The gravity of the existential threat we face from Islamic Jihad is truly of epic proportions. It is essentially a battle pitting free-civilized man against a totalitarian barbarian. What is at stake is the struggle for our very soul - namely who we are and what we represent. The lives that were sacrificed for individual rights and freedoms that we've come to cherish are being chiseled away from right under our noses by the stealth jihadists. And many of us are in denial and totally clueless. The left's appeasement and pandering to evil is nothing new. What makes their utopian delusions so infuriating and unpardonable is that it is not only they who will have to pay the consequences, and deservedly, so, they are thwarting and undermining our best efforts at resistance and are thus dragging us down in the process as well. By Peter Lancz,, the head of the Raoul Wallenberg World Campaign Against Racism. Katherine Reynolds Chandler ("Kate"), 67, died at 1 PM, Saturday, April 1, 2017, at her home in St. Mary's City, Maryland after battling Stage 4 Ovarian Cancer for 2 years. She was born October 10, 1949 at Fort Gordon in Augusta, Georgia to Harold K. (Deak) and Elizabeth H (Beth) Reynolds. She married Roy F ("Rocky") Chandler on May 5, 1976. Surviving Kate are her sister, Sue Reynolds, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and her brothers Kim Reynolds of Washington DC, and John Reynolds of Nashville, Tennessee. Kate's father, mother, brother Kenny, and husband preceded her in death. She completed her M.A. and Ph.D. in English Literature at The Pennsylvania State University with a dissertation in fiction of the Romantic period, but her research had turned to nature/environmental literature as a professor of English at St Mary's College of Maryland, where she has taught since 1996. In addition to her contributions to the English department, she helped to found the Environmental Studies program, through which she has mentored many students in their cross-disciplinary senior projects. She joined with students and faculty in promoting interdisciplinary ideas and activities, and helped create the Campus Community Farm, which brought her great joy and pride. Kate co-edited the first collection of critical essays on Terry Tempest Williams, "Surveying the Literary Landscapes of Terry Tempest Williams". She received the Norton T. Dodge Award for Teaching Excellence in 2011. Kate was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and an active member of the Lexington Park Ward. Over many years in the church, she served in numerous leadership capacities, including President of the Relief Society, where she worked to secure the welfare of women and families. She also presided over the children's organization and was a loving Sunday School teacher, blessing the lives of hundreds in the church. She was an example of Christlike service to everyone who knew her. Kate was a great daughter, great wife, great friend, great colleague, great teacher, and especially a great sister who will be missed every day. She was one of a kind. Kate requested no memorial service. Memorial contributions may be made in her name to Hospice of St Mary's, P. O. Box 625, Leonardtown, Maryland 20650. Arrangements by the Brinsfield Funeral Home, P.A. Hundreds gathered in San Francisco's Castro District on Friday night, March 31, only a few hours after news broke that Gilbert Baker had died at age 65. The Castro was the neighborhood where, in 1978, Baker created the iconic Rainbow Flag, now the worldwide symbol for LGBT equality and pride. Baker meant for the flag's colors to represent the diversity of LGBT people. A few months later Harvey Milk, the first openly gay member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, rode in that year's Pride Parade--then called Gay Freedom Day. Milk and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated at San Francisco City Hall before the year was over. Long time gay activist Cleve Jones was a personal friend to Baker and Harvey Milk. Both Jones and Baker were portrayed in the recent ABC TV historical drama "When We Rise." Related: Gilbert Baker: The Man Behind the Rainbow Flag Cleve Jones. Photo by Steven Bracco. "He was a veteran, a drag queen, a sister, a revolutionary, and a hippie," Jones said as he addressed the crowd at Harvey Milk Plaza in the Castro. "He dedicated his life to the movement. He saw the struggle for LGBT equality as part of the larger social justice movement." Jones led mourners in a moment of silence for Baker, asking people to think of Baker's mother, who survives him. Ken Jones, another community activist, stood quietly and teary eyed during the moment of silence. Ken Jones was also portrayed in "When We Rise." "We need moments like this where we can come together and comfort each other through our pain and sorrow with our presence, our community," Ken Jones told SFGN. "If truth be told, Gilbert Baker is free. Free from all pain and sickness. Free from every oppression. Free, just like the flag that watches over us all the days of our lives." Baker's work touched many LGBT people across the generations. Steven Bracco, a 31-year-old gay man in San Francisco, spoke to SFGN about his experience raising the Rainbow Flag in a "When We Rise" sequence which recreated the first time the flag was raised nearly forty years ago. "It was an honor to have been part of this incredible recreation," Bracco said. "I'm incredibly grateful to have been part of this experience. The Pride Flag is a symbol of our community and it's important that we remember who created it. We have Gilbert Baker to thank for this symbol that is recognizable worldwide." Photo by David-Elijah Nahmod. Throughout his life Baker remained a humble man who saw the bigger picture. A former member of The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgencehe was Sister Chanel 2001Baker once marched in a Pride Parade in a loincloth. With his body painted pink, he carried a pink cross and called himself Pink Jesus. Virulently anti-gay activist Rev. Jerry Falwell saw a photo of Pink Jesus and used it as weapon against the gay community. Baker never appeared in public as Pink Jesus again. Related: Miami Beach Hosts Creator of Rainbow Flag Gilbert Baker You are responsible for what you do and say, Baker said in 2012. The Moral Majority took a picture of Pink Jesus and used it as a tool that I had no control over they raised millions to stop the gay agenda with that picture. That made me wake up. When you do a piece of art it can be used against you. The 49 LGBT people who were murdered last summer at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, were also honored at Friday's rally in the Castro. San Francisco journalist David Bogachik, an emigre from the Ukraine, carried a Rainbow Flag with the words Somos Orlando--We Are Orlando--written across it. The words were written in Spanish to remember the fact that most of the people who died at Pulse were Latinx. After the rally, mourners marched down Castro Street chanting We Remember Gilbert Baker. Several people held a long rectangular Rainbow Flag at the head of the march which had the words Rise and Resist sewn across it. "Gilbert will always be remembered," said Sister Merry Peter of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. "He gave away the Rainbow so the whole world could share it." (WB) Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund CEO Aisha Moodie-Mills on Friday sharply criticized North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper for signing a controversial law that replaces House Bill 2. The governor threw the LGBT community under the bus, Aisha Moodie-Mills told the Washington Blade on Friday after she spoke at the opening of an LGBT rights conference in the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo that the Gay and Lesbian Victory Institute is co-organizing. Moodie-Mills spoke with the Blade less than a day after Cooper signed the HB 2 replacement bill. The bill that Cooper signed prohibits municipalities, state agencies and the University of North Carolina from the regulation of access to bathrooms, locker rooms and showers unless they have the Legislatures expressed permission. It also bans municipalities from enacting LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination measures that would apply to private businesses or public accommodations. The law sunsets the second provision on Dec. 1, 2020. HB 2 which then-Gov. Pat McCrory signed in March 2016 banned transgender people from using public restrooms consistent with their gender identity. It also prohibited municipalities from enacting LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination measures. Im just completely dismayed and disgusted and disappointed by the governor, Moodie-Mills told the Blade. It was the LGBT community that ultimately pushed Roy Cooper into victory and he would be wise to remember that, she added. Im disheartened but Im not surprised. At the end of the day opportunism is not partisan. Moodie-Mills: LGBT community will not forget The Associated Press earlier this week reported North Carolinas economy will lose $3.76 billion over the next 12 years because of HB 2. Cooper signed the HB 2 replacement law which the North Carolina Legislature approved earlier in the day days after the NCAA said it would not consider the state as a host for champion events through 2022 unless it changes the statute. I get that hes looking out for himself, Moodie-Mills told the Blade. It is unfortunate that he threw the people who thought they were his friends under the bus. Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin and Equality North Carolina Executive Director Chris Sgro, who campaigned for Cooper, are among the other advocates who sharply criticized him for signing the HB 2 repeal bill. Moodie-Mills told the Blade that Coopers LGBT supporters will not forget this moment. What were seeing is really seeing LGBT political power at play, said Moodie-Mills. I think that what is going to happen, and the governor will see this, is that our memories are long and chickens always come home to roost and we will not forget. - Michael K. Lavers with contribution from Chris Johnson, Washington Blade courtesy of the National LGBTQ Media Association Le Collectif Cheikh Yassine a organise un certain nombre dactivites et de festivites pour les enfants de Gaza sous le theme La joie des enfants de Gaza pour lAid . Ces activites ont commence le premier jour de lAid et continue jusquau 4eme jour de lAid dans la bande de Gaza. Plusieurs activites, ont ete organisees parmi lesquelles : des competitions recompensees par des prix, des jeux, des animations et des chants presentes par un groupe ainsi que des distributions de cadeaux et daides financieres. We can't seem to find the page you are looking for. You may have typed the address incorrectly or you may have used an outdated link. Welcome back to a new feature series on Sprudge, Going Somewhere Solo, in which we profile the people behind the new wave of so-called nano-roasters, the tiniest of new coffee concerns pushing quality and entrepreneurship in a big way. These are seasoned coffee pros whove struck out on their own (often in unexpected places) to launch roasting enterprises outside of the traditional coffee shop format, instead growing their businesses within collaborative spaces, home offices, garages, and of course, online. This weeks spotlight is on Deaton Pigot, an Australian coffee professional with an extensive CV whose most recent role is as the founder of Take Flight Coffee in Los Angeles, California. Hi! Tell us what your roasting business is called and where youre located. Hi there! My company is called Take Flight Coffee roasting out of Los Angeles, California since July 2016. What equipment are you currently roasting on? I have access to two roasters: a mid-90s Probat L12 and a mid-60s Probat G60. Who else is involved in the business right now? Im a sole practitioner and at the time of this I have four staff members on board: Chelsea Pigot, Customer Relations Manager; Douglas Meils, Roaster and Quality Control Specialist (formally of Intelligentsia and Handsome Coffee fame); Eric Freeman, Production; Dalton Sargent, Production. In March, I will have a Sales Person on full time as well. Whats your background in the coffee industry? I have had a coffee job of some sort for 24 years which is crazy to think, so I will put in point form my background from when it started to get really interesting for me. National Barista Trainer and Coffee Quality Control, Lazumba, Wollongong, Australia Roaster and Retail Manager, Bewleys Coffee, Dublin, Ireland Roaster and Quality Control Specialist, Intelligentsia Coffee, Los Angeles, USA Operations Manager and Green Coffee Buyer, Tobys Estate Coffee, Brooklyn, USA Founder, Take Flight Coffee, Los Angeles, USA How are you currently sourcing your coffees? What do you look for? I do all my own sourcing. Over the years I have made fantastic relationships at origin and I firmly believe maintaining these relationships is an integral part of my business. In my first 12 months of operations, I expect that most of my offerings will be from direct relationships that I have established over time. Aside from working with people who I like and admire all through the supply chain, what I look for in coffee is sweetness and well-articulated flavors that people can grab on to. The sweeter the coffee the more we have to work with as roasters. Whator whoinspired you to go out on your own with roasting? Is there a coffee (or other) company you admire and would love to grow up to be like? My family. They are all small business owners, so I have had the idea that I would own my own business since I was in high school, I guess its in my blood. I have had an ever-evolving business plan since I was 24 years of age and with some savings behind me it was time to pull the trigger. As for companies I admire, coffee or otherwise, I am not sure. I love all things tech, so Tesla is close to my heart. I guess my father, he in his own way has a rags to riches story (for outback Australia). The focus he had for the 30+ years of running his own practice was unwavering; he had a knack of finding the right talent to build strength in his organization as it continuously grew. By the time he retired from his business he ended up having to put on four partners to handle the business he ran on his own. As a kid you dont get it, but looking back at what he did and how he did it, it really is inspiring to me. What kind of risks have you taken in striking out on your own to launch an independent roasting business? Did you make any unusual decisions? Rolling the dice with my life savings with no outside investment and no real fallback is the risk. Deciding to have a design-forward approach to my brand and actually deciding that I can make this happen all while being a vagabond roaster. Not having my own roof over my head is kinda daunting, something that will change this year. How are you reaching customers without a retail cafe? Do you plan to have one someday? Where can people buy your coffee? In a lot of ways I feel lucky that I have been in America now for 10 years (this October). I have met so many people and as a result have hit the ground running in some respects. Getting outside of that circle is now phase 2, which of course social media and my website are helping with. Hitting the pavement, introducing myself to potential customers as the founder, buyer, roaster, production guy, and janitor grabs attention. I dont think retail puts you on the map, I would much rather build out a roastery, with a tasting room, lab, a lounge room, and focus on what I am most passionate about, buying and roasting coffee. The Counter Culture business model if you will. It strikes us as a measurement of where the specialty industry is now that many small roasters are now cropping up across the landscape without a physical location to hang a shingle on. How will you stand out from others competing for shelf space in the worlds decreasing multi-roaster cafes? It is exciting to see that shift happen; I consult for businesses about just this type of thing. I can help companies who are getting their toes wet for the first time or businesses that are well-established and want that extra something to help them keep moving quality forward. Im becoming kinda busy doing it and I am absolutely loving helping out and seeing people have ah ha moments when I explain roasting and the correlating taste in the cup is goosebump-inducing. Even though there is a lot of movement towards roasting, the world is not that small. I always look back to Australia where I am from and note that, if Sydney and Melbourne can cope with the saturation of coffee businesses there in a population less than greater Los Angeles, then I know that there is room in the US for us all. Standing out will come from experience, patience, but most of all relationships and maybe an Australian accent? For every new roastery opening, there are countless cafes, restaurants, office spaces, apartment buildings, and home coffee users. The multi-roaster cafe (which I love) only makes up 0.000001% or something of what is out there. Lastly, how would you describe your vibe in general? Is there a kind of music you like to listen to when you roast, do you wear lucky shoes, etc.? Is blue collar chic still a thing?! I like to mess around a bit, I am probably singing too loud around the warehouse, tapping out rhythms to the sound of the roasters drum rotating. I do have lucky shoes actually! Allsaints, theyre sure to fall off me if I have to move too fast but I cant stop wearing them. Ive had to resole them half a dozen times if not more. Thanks, Deaton! Learn more about our featured Going Somewhere Solo roaster, Take Flight Coffee, by visiting their official website , or follow them on Facebook Instagram , and Twitter Liz Clayton is the associate editor at Sprudge Media Network. Read more Liz Clayton on Sprudge. Drachan Hanover, given perfect rating by Wally Hennessey, scored a repeat victory in Pompano Parks $10,000 Open Handicap Pace on Sunday night (April 2), stopping the teletimer in 1:51.2. The five-year-old son of Jeremes Jet out-rushed Heart Felt (Bryce Fenn) when the wings folded and went on to post panels of :26.4 and a well-rated :56.1 before livening up the pace on the backside with a third panel in :28.2 and sealing the issue with a :26.4 finale. Heart Felt did finish second while Sing For Me George (Kevin Wallis) finished third. Pointsman was next in the mile while Alta Jerome was fifth in the classy sextet of pacers. Drachan Hanover and driver Wally Hennessey winning on April 2 at Pompano Park. (Skip Smith) In a post-race interview, driver Hennessey remarked, This is a very classy racehorse and he showed that tonight. Hes very smart, too. He was all business leaving out of the gate and then had the sense enough to relax during the second quarter. Once we reached the half in soft time (:56.1), I felt very confident that he could get home. He really accelerated midway on the backside and he was full of race in the lane. He won in a bit faster time last week, but I thought he may have even been a bit sharper tonight with that final quarter. Trained by Marcel Barrieau for Nova Scotia owners Llyod Maclean and Kenneth Rankin, Drachan Hanover won for the fourth time this year to send his earnings to $30,440 in 10 starts. Lifetime, Drachan Hanover has earned $446,682 to go along with a 1:50.1 mark in South Florida. Off at 1-2, Drachan Hanover paid $3 to his multitude of backers. The $8,000 Open 2 Pace went to Rockntouch, under the direction of driver Mickey McNichol. This five-year-old gelded son of Rock N Roll Heaven got picture perfect handling from McNichol by stalking Winyard Hanover (John MacDonald) through fractions of :26.3, :55.3 and 1:23.4 before using his customary burst home in this case :27.3 to score by one and a quarter lengths over that that paacesetter with St Lads Lotto (Wally Hennessey) third, two lengths away. Fritzie Pic Up Man, last for the first five-eighths of the journey, rallied for fourth while Rock N Row finished fifth after a mild first-over backside bid. Rockntouch won for the third time this year to push his 2017 earnings to $20,775. Lifetime, Rockntouch, owned by Salvatore Promuto along with the Fred Monteleone Stable, has banked $127,195 on the strength of a 16-10-9 scorecard in 69 starts to go along with a Pompano Park mark of 1:51.2. Off at 6-5, Rockntouch returned $4.60 to win. In other Sunday night action, American Hustle, a lightly raced three-year-old American Ideal colt, stretched his winning streak to four for Kevin Wallis, overcoming the outside eight post to score in 1:51.3, a new lifetime mark. Coming into the 2017 season with one win on his card and a qualifying mark of 2:00.4 as a two-year-old with meager earnings of $1,368, American Hustle now has produced new lifetime marks in each of his five wins this semester, lowering his 1:55.1 mark, set in his seasonal debut six weeks ago, to the aforementioned 1:51.3 on Sunday night. Owned and trained by Bryan Lawrence of Hanover, Ont., American Hustle now has earnings of $14,656 while steadily moving up the ladder. As the 4-5 toteboard favourite, American Hustle paid $3.60 to his multitude of backers. Racing continues on Monday night with Sailer Eddie looking to extend his winning streak to three in the featured $10,000 Open Handicap for trotters. Sooo Handsome, just a nose away from Sailer Eddie last week, is also in to go along with Boli, Tater Twister, Dog Gone Lucky and Prairie Fortune, returning to the racing wars after a week off. Pompano Park will offer a $10,000 guaranteed pool on the Pick-4 as part of the USTA Strategic Wagering Program on races six through nine. Post time is 7:30 p.m. (With files from Pompano Park) Bill Popfinger got to see Wise Hanover race only once last year, but he liked what he saw. After shutting down the filly trotter because of concern regarding a tendon, the trainer is looking forward to seeing Wise Hanover in action again. The three-year-old will make her seasonal debut Tuesday in the third of three Bobby Weiss Series divisions for female trotters at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono. Last year, Wise Hanover won a division of the Pennsylvania All Stars at Pocono before being sidelined. We were afraid she was going to bow the tendon if we went onward, so we had to pack our bags, said Popfinger, who trains Wise Hanover for owner Bill Mulligan. Fortunately we havent had any problems this year. Shes a big filly and shes always had good speed. Weve still got some hope. Wise Hanover is a daughter of Donato Hanover out of the mare Whistle Hanover. She was purchased for $15,000 at the 2015 Standardbred Horse Sale. Popfinger trained Wise Hanovers half-sister, stakes-winner Pucker Up Hanover, for Mulligan several years ago. Wise Hanover, pictured in victory (Curtis Salonick) We took one more shot with the family, Popfinger said. She was reasonable at $15,000. It wasnt a bad deal. Shes going to make a nice filly. I dont think shes going to be a superstar, but if she has a good year she could make some decent money. Wise Hanover, who spent the winter in Florida with Popfinger, will start Tuesday from Post 5 with Tom Jackson in the sulky. Wise Hanover is 6-1 on the morning line; Whambamthankumaam is the 5-2 choice in the event for conditioned three and four-year-old female trotters. I think coming out of Florida she might not be at her very best the first start, Popfinger said. When they come out of Florida, even if its a warm day, the air is a lot heavier. It takes them a race or two to get acclimated to the climate here. Popfinger also sends out Mulligans She Matters in the first Weiss division. She Matters and driver Jim Marohn Jr. are 4-1 on the morning line. Abbies Celticlass is the 3-1 favourite. The favourite in the second division, at 5-2, is Keystone Angel. Looking ahead, Popfinger is pleased with the development of several two-year-olds as they prepare for this season. Creampie Hanover, a Goshen Yearling Sale purchase, is a full sister to Breeders Crown elimination winner and Jim Doherty Memorial runner-up Chezatter. Another Goshen buy, filly Ocarina Hanover, is by Wishing Stone while Standardbred Horse Sale purchase Wesley Hanover is a colt by Cantab Hall. I think they have potential, Popfinger said about the horses, all owned by Mulligan. You never know at the end what theyre going to be nowadays, but they have great attitudes and are good gaited, so you think you have a little potential. This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com. To celebrate the New Jerseys Month of the Horse, Fair Winds Farm in Cream Ridge, New Jersey will open its doors to visitors on Sunday, June 25 from 1 to 4 p.m. The fourth annual free open house will be held at the farm, 74 Red Valley Road in Cream Ridge, and will allow visitors to see the inner workings of this successful Standardbred breeding farm, where 2011 Hambletonian winner Broad Bahn was bred and raised. Visitors will be able to tour Hogan Equine clinic, where top flight Standardbred and Thoroughbred athletes are treated by surgeon Dr. Patty Hogan, and get a tour of the farm via horse drawn wagon. There will be demonstrations on the life of the Standardbred, featuring a young foal (baby horse) and his mother, along with half million-winning racehorse Mighty Young Joe and his trainer Stacy Chiodo. Other Standardbreds will show their talents off the track in under saddle disciplines, jumping, trail riding and more. For those that just want a horse to pet, retired racehorses and goodwill ambassadors Independent Act (Indy) and his pal Osbornes Shy Cam (Ozzy) will be on hand to say hello and pose for selfies. Farrier Tom Mulryne will demonstrate how to care for a horses feet and have free lucky horseshoes for visitors to take home. Horse centric exhibitors will also be on hand, including Rutgers Equine Science Center, Open Space Pace, Standardbred Pleasure Horse Organization, New Jersey Equine Advisory Board, Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association of New Jersey and Rutgers Cooperative Extension. Other equine educational groups are expected to join and will be announced closer to the event. The Hearts and Horseshoes 4H Club will be back with their friendly rabbits. The event will be held rain or shine. Refreshments will be available for purchase. There is ample parking available, but few paved surfaces, so visitors should wear sensible shoes and strollers may have a rough ride. Please leave dogs at home. For more information, call 732-780-3700 or email [email protected]. (USTA) Stephen Baldwin Stars in Powerful New Film Production about the Thief on the Cross Digital download of unique 60-minute, one-man filmed stage production releases on ChristianCinema.com April 4 NEW YORK, April 3, 2017 / Standard Newswire / -- Actor Stephen Baldwin brings to life the powerful story of the thief on the cross in a new unique filmed stage adaptation, "Heaven, How I Got Here: A Night with the Thief on the Cross," available for digital download on ChristianCinema.com beginning April 4. Unlocking the Bible and LIGHTBEAMedia, a contemporary Christian content provider founded by Baldwin and Mike Lindell, inventor of MyPillow, have partnered in the development of this extraordinary 60-minute film. The one-man performance shares a deeply moving narrative based on Pastor Colin Smith's book, " Heaven, How I Got Here: The Story of the Thief on the Cross ." A special sneak peek of the film will debut April 4 at 8 p.m. EDT / 7 p.m. CDT during the premiere of " National Bible Bee Game Show " hosted by Kirk Cameron, available on Facebook Live at ChristianCinema.tv and on Digital HD at ChristianCinema.com Set 2,000 years after his death, Baldwin captivates audiences in "Heaven, How I Got Here: A Night with the Thief on the Cross" with an emotionally compelling first-person account of one individual who wrestled with deep despair and shame. The production lays out the stark reality of the thief's salvation: he never went to church, he never made a contribution in the offering plate, he never memorized a Bible verse, and he never served the poor. He hung on the cross at the brink of death, and in an act of desperation he called out to Jesus and was saved. "I have done many performances throughout my career but perhaps none has so personally impacted me as my role as the thief," said Baldwin. "Pastor Colin Smith's masterful story of the real-life struggles and thoughts of a man that ultimately found himself dying just a few feet from Jesus will leave viewers walking away considering their own life. If Jesus could save the thief just hours before he died, there is hope for anyone, no matter what their circumstances might be." Based on the story of the crucifixion of Jesus found in Luke 23, this poignant account of redemption and grace weaves together the biblical events of the crucifixion and imagines the details of the life of the thief. He recounts the events of that day as he experienced them then, and as he looks back later from the perspective of his new life in heaven. The performance invites viewers into a believable environment as temporary "visitors" to heaven. One of Baldwin's most powerful lines of the play says it best: "I did a lot of 'stuff' on earth; and yet of all the people here (in heaven), Jesus chose me as your tour guideup here, we all have a story; on that (last) day, I had breakfast with the devil and supper with the Savior." Baldwin plays multiple characters in this narrative, each one unique, moving and entertaining. He performed the initial run of the one-man play in 2015 at The Orchard Evangelical Free Church in Arlington Heights, Illinois, to sold-out crowds of over 5,000. The enactment was adapted and directed by Timothy Gregory, founding artistic director of Chicago's Provision Theater Company. Initial reviews claim Baldwin delivers "the performance of his career." The digital download of "Heaven, How I Got Here: A Night with the Thief on the Cross" is available April 4 on ChristianCinema.com for $9.99. For additional information, visit www.christiancinema.com Stephen Baldwin landed his breakthrough role in "The Usual Suspects" in 1995. His subsequent roles included "Bio-Dome" (1996) and Barney Rubble in "The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas" (2000). From January to March 2008, Baldwin appeared on Donald Trump's "Celebrity Apprentice, Season 7" on NBC. In September 2006, Baldwin released his book entitled "The Unusual Suspect," which details highlights from his personal life, career, days of drug abuse, and ultimately, his turn to becoming a born-again Christian after the 9/11 attacks. Baldwin can most recently be seen in the faith-based films, "God's Club" (2015) and "The Apostle Peter: Redemption" (2016). He is also co-founder of LIGHTBEAMedia with MyPillow Inventor Mike Lindell. Visit landed his breakthrough role in "The Usual Suspects" in 1995. His subsequent roles included "Bio-Dome" (1996) and Barney Rubble in "The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas" (2000). From January to March 2008, Baldwin appeared on Donald Trump's "Celebrity Apprentice, Season 7" on NBC. In September 2006, Baldwin released his book entitled "The Unusual Suspect," which details highlights from his personal life, career, days of drug abuse, and ultimately, his turn to becoming a born-again Christian after the 9/11 attacks. Baldwin can most recently be seen in the faith-based films, "God's Club" (2015) and "The Apostle Peter: Redemption" (2016). He is also co-founder of LIGHTBEAMedia with MyPillow Inventor Mike Lindell. Visit stephenbaldwin.com for more information. As many of you may already know, my husband, Trey, and I decided to live and work from Los Angeles for the month of March. Im going to do another post about why and how we could do that, what it was like, etc. And if you have questions about that, leave them in the comments or hit me up on IG, and Ill try to work those answers into that post. But this post is all about awesome things to do and places to eat that we discovered during our trip. Its mostly focused on east/central Los Angeles (Silver Lake, Echo Park, Hollywood, Downtown), but its also got a lot of things all over the place too. So if you are making a trip to LA soon and want to hear my recommendations, here you go! First, lets start with things to do. I feel like I always start my travel recommendations with places to eat, and trust me, I have plenty of those to share with you too. Ha! But first, here are a bunch of different and super fun things to do while in LA. Los Angeles County Museum of Art There are tons of great museums and attractions to check out. I personally loved visiting LACMA. They often have great special exhibits, so if you plan to visit, check their site to see if there is one you are interested in and buy tickets ahead if needed. There was an exhibit I wanted to see, but it was already sold out for ALL of March when I checked the first week we got there. So it pays to buy tickets ahead on those if youre interested. The La Brea tar pits are in the same area and really fun to check out too if you are visiting LACMA. And if possible, I recommend going around sunset so you can enjoy the museum, and then go check out the outdoor lightings (above) in the dark. Although they are cool during the day too. The Grove / The Americana If you are looking to shop, you might consider checking out one of these two outdoor shopping areas. They are in slightly different areas and very similar (so you dont necessarily need to go to both). There are lots of shops (think Top Shop, the Container Store, etc.) and cute spots to eat or grab a quick coffee or treat. I personally like to hit up Sprinkles if possiblecupcake lover for life over here. And they also both have theaters, so if you want to catch a movie later on, its pretty convenient. We went to the Americana and saw Logan when it first came out because we are both big X-Men fans, and my celebrity crush will forever be Hugh Jackman. Amoeba Music Great place to go record shopping. They also have pretty good but random in-store concerts now and again. This is very close to other fun shopping (like Urban Outfitters and Free People) and lots of restaurants. So would make a good brunch + record shopping morning. Its also very close to the walk of fame and Chinese Theatre if you want to go be a tourist and do that. I am never afraid of being a tourist in citiesin fact I usually LOVE doing touristy things. So, of course I went and checked that out one night even though I used to live about four blocks from there. Its just fun to walk along and see all the stars and find ones that you are a big fan of. I loved Breaking Bad, so of course I had to stop and get a picture of Bryan Cranstons star. Griffith Observatory If youve never been, I highly recommend checking out the observatory. The building itself is beautiful and you can check out some of the telescopes they have. But even if that sounds too science-y to you (its not, its cool, geez), there are also just really amazing views of the city that you can enjoy from the observatory. Totally worth the $4 parking just for that. If you are wanting to catch a show at the planetarium, check their website before you go because you can only buy tickets when you arrive, and youll want to get in line with enough time to make the show you are wanting to see. Griffith park also has great hikes you can take and see beautiful views of the city. I personally like getting to do something physical or in nature even when visiting bigger cities, and I love that LA totally has this option in a few areas. The hikes are pretty moderate, totally doable for a family and many you can take dogs on leashes on, or even push a stroller on the trails. You will want to wear appropriate shoes, but the hikes are great for any level. So if you dont think youre an experienced hiker, dont let that stop you! Groundlings If you like improv or you just like laughing (and if you dont who are you?!), check out a show at the Groundlings theatre. This is a theatre and school that many famous comics have come from. Many of their shows feel similar to SNL funny, short skits! The Comedy Store There are quite a few great spots to catch some standup. Trey and I went to the Comedy Store one night and saw so many hilarious people, and then randomly Louis C.K. showed up and did a set. Whoa. This is totally the kind of thing that can happen in a city like LA since so many people are there working in TV and film, but I still kind of cant believe that we got to see one of our favorite comedians so randomly. It was awesome! The Largo This venue has lots of really awesome shows, so check their site out for a calendar. We went to see a live taping of the podcast, How Did This Get Made, which we love and being in the live audience was even better. SO much fun! So do some research if you are planning a trip to LA because there is probably a comedian, band, or other show that you are already a fan of that you can see while in town. OK, lets talk about beaches. Rosies Beach Since we were traveling with one of our dogs, we decided to check out Rosies in Long Beach one weekend. This is a dog beach, meaning you can let your dog off their leash (provided they can get along with the other dogs that are present). Even if you arent bringing your dog, I would totally still recommend this beach as you can just watch all the cute dogs running around. Im sort of a crazy dog-lover, so this was one of my favorite things we did on our trip because it was so fun to watch my Midwest pup enjoy the ocean. El Matador Beach If you have time to go check out the Malibu area, I would. Its beautiful and much less crowded than some of the other beaches that are closer to LA. We went with a few friends to the El Matador beach, and it was just breathtaking. While we were in the area, we also hung out and got lunch at the Malibu Cafe, which felt kind of like the Midwest to me. It has BBQ options and yard games. Really cute spot to hang out with friends for a leisurely lunch before or after visiting the beaches nearby. Laguna The Laguna area and beaches are about an hour out of LA. In between La and San Diego. So this is a bit of a drive, but its a really pretty drive, and the beaches and the town are really cute and less crowded. So we really enjoyed it. Are you ready for some food/drink recommendations yet? Good! Because I have a LOT. Im going to divide these up into a few categories so its a bit easer to read. But first, coffee. Here are a few recommendations for great coffee shops and light/quick breakfast options. Matcha Bar I bet you can guess what they serve. Lots of hot and cold tea options and also pastries. I got a matcha latte with turmeric added, and it was delicious! Civil Coffee Probably my favorite more traditional coffee shop we visited. Just good coffee, but they serve all the staples as well. Also great pastry and quick breakfast options, I especially loved their breakfast sandwich! Kindness & Mischief Another great coffee shop just down the street from Civil. Smaller and very chill, would be a great place to get a little work in if you bring your laptop. Mr Holmes Bakehouse Known more for their pastries (known for the Cruffincroissant, muffin) than their coffee (although the coffee was good too!). Really fun, rotating flavors for filled donuts and other delicious pastries as well. Its really cute too, check out their IG feed. Intelligentsia Ive always loved Intelligentsia coffee, as they serve it at lots of coffee shops across the country (including some in Springfield), and their location in Silverlake did not disappoint. There was also lots of outdoor seating, so a great spot to meet a friend or do some computer work if the weather is nice. And its LA, so its nice basically 99% of the time. Moon Juice I recently got their cookbook, and its super inspiring, so I had to visit one of their locations while in LA. Its more about juice and plant-based food and drink options. I actually forget what I got the morning I went, some kind of latte that was really delicious but very different from a traditional latte. I also got a few of their dusts and a plant-based protein powder that I am currently using and enjoying for morning smoothies at home. And heres a few brunch, lunch, and more casual dining options. Kitchen Mouse Awesome brunch. I really loved this spot, and its super vegetarian/vegan friendly as well. Yum! Sqirl Really unique and delicious breakfast/brunch options. I keep meaning to buy their cookbook too. I was checking it out while waiting in line, and it looked awesome. The Standard This is a hotel downtown that has a beautiful vintage/modern/yellow restaurant inside that is totally worth checking out. Good breakfast, but the real treat is probably the atmosphere. Bottega Louie I only stopped in for a few macarons, but I would have loved to grab a meal here as well. So beautiful and based on the DELICIOUS macarons I had, Im sure everything is amazing. Jitlada Loved this casual little Thai spot, excellent lunch option if you like Thai (my favorite!). Orochon and Daikokuya Ramen! If you are looking for good ramen, check out either of these (they are within walking distance from each other). Daikokuya is the original ramen joint and was recommended to us by a lot of people. But when we arrived, there was over an hour wait time, and we were already really hungry. So we decided to try out Orochon instead, and we LOVED it. We were able to get in right away, and the ramen did not disappoint. Cute, casual spot inside a shopping area that had other things to check out before and after. If you like burgers Umami Burgers are awesome, and I love their falafel (vegetarian) burger option as well. Shake Shack is delicious and totally lives up to the hype in my opinion also have been to and love their NYC location. And of course, when in California, one must visit an In-And-Out Burger at least once while on your trip. Best drive through option, and they even offer a pup patty, which is the patty only (no salt) in case you are driving through after a visit to the dog beach and your pups hungry too. OK, lets talk dinner and drink options. The following were my favorite spots for a night out. Gracias Madre Expect long waits (get a reservation in advance if you can), but this plant-based (vegan friendly) Mexican spot is totally worth it. Delicious food and amazing drinks. We loved it! Cafe Birdie Super cute, small plates style spot. Great food, great drinks. Sawyer Very similar to Cafe Birdie in their interior decor. We loved the drinks here so much that after popping in for just a drink, we came back another night for dinner and that was awesome as well. Pine & Crane More on the casual side, but totally night-out worthy. I recommend the dumplings, sweet potato fries (super unique!), and the scallion pancake. Kettle Black Really cute, Italian spot. I felt the decor and drinks felt a little art-deco meets speakeasy meets greenhouse in a way. Trust me, its pretty inside. And this was just a great little spot for dinner or drinks. Mama Shelter A hotel and restaurant / bar in Hollywood. They have an indoor bar and lounge area as well as a rooftop. I highly recommend heading up to the rooftop because youll get a great view of the city, and you can even see the Hollywood sign. Yummy food and drinks here. I recommend the sticky, glazed cottage fries (not your average fries, more like housemade thick potato chips). Sugarfish We were hesitant at first because they have so many locations (sometimes that indicates a place is going to feel more like a chain than a unique spot), but we ended up loving it! I think we had sushi three or four times while in LA, and this was Treys favorite spot by a lot. Im not a big sushi person, I usually go for cooked rolls or other menu items, but Trey is all about it, and he loved this spot. The Little Door A friend of ours actually booked us dinner here as a gift (shes the BEST friend, I know!), and it was amazing. So unique and romantic inside, it almost feels like youre in a courtyard or forest. And the food was delicious. This is a great upscale date night spot if you are in need of a special dinner out. Good Luck Bar We really wanted to try Tiki Ti while we were in town since its sort of a must-go-to for any tiki lovers out there. But, they were closed for the month. So another awesome rum bar, nearby Tiki Ti, that we decided to try out instead was Good Luck Bar. Would totally recommend checking out both if you canvery fun inside and great drinks. Los Angeles is a BIG city, so there is no shortage of great places to go and things to do. These are just some of the things I personally did, so I feel good recommending them all to you guys, but dont be afraid to just explore if you are planning a trip and wont be near any of the areas that I was in. Its one of my favorite cities in the world, so Im sure youll have a great experience regardless. Thanks for letting me share! xo. Emma Credits // Author and Photography: Emma Chapman. Photos edited with either the NEW A Beautiful Mess actions or A Color Story for iPhone pictures. By Delana Isles IN ITS latest denial to release funds for Michael Misicks living expenses, the Supreme Court cited his lavish 50th birthday party, his massive re-election campaign, and number of other expensive habits he has maintained since being returned to the TCI. The March 23 judgement followed an application by Misicks lawyer Queens Counsel Jerome Lynch and a subsequent hearing held on February 17. The matter was heard before Chief Justice Margaret Ramsay-Hale with Special Prosecutor for the SIPT cases Andrew Mitchell Q.C. representing the Crown. Misicks application sought a variation of the 2011 Restraint Order granted by former Chief Justice Gordon Ward, in order for him to have money to live on, pay outstanding debts and to take care of his children. The Order was granted pursuant to the Proceeds of Crime Ordinance 2007 and prohibits the disposal of Misick's assets wherever they are in the world and in whosoever's name those assets may be held. Last week, the former premier took to social media to bemoan the Courts ruling, posting that he has been unable to maintain his living arrangements at the Alexandria Resort or take care of his minor children. Misick also suggested that the courts refusal to release his money is a denial of his human rights and flies in the face of the presumption of innocence to which he is entitled. This is not the first time the former premier has applied for the release of his funds to cover reasonable living expenses since he was extradited to the Turks and Caicos Islands from Brazil. In that first instance in 2014, his application to vary the order was denied until he could provide the court with an affidavit of his assets, that he tell the court how he supported himself while he lived in the Dominican Republic when he first left the TCI IN 2009 as well as in Brazil in 2014, how he paid his legal fees in fighting the extradition proceedings and for the court to be satisfied that he did not have access to any other source of funds. Special Prosecutor Helen Garlick, who had represented the Crown in that instance, had told the court that the prosecution was not satisfied that Misick did not have an undisclosed source of funds. Misicks lawyer had claimed that the former premier was being supported by friends and family, to which the court requested affidavits from those persons. At the 2014 hearing, presided over by former Chief Justice Edwin Goldsbrough Misick was granted a release of some $199,000 held in escrow by Misick & Stanbrook for legal fees, however the requested affidavits were never provided as such the Order was varied. A second variation of the Order was filed on February 2, 2016, when Misick attained the age of 50 and became entitled to a lump-sum payment and monthly pension payments. This sum is estimated at $500,000 currently with a sum of $8,000 falling due every month. The former premier sought a variation of the Order so that he could pay his strata fees at the Alexandria Resort, including arrears, to avoid his utilities being disconnected. It was accepted by the court at the that the monthly strata fee was an integral expense for the maintenance of the unit which was caught by the terms of the 2011 Order but that utilities such as water and electricity should be regarded as living expenses. In response to the application, Garlick reminded Misick & Stanbrook (who represented the former premier) that Misick had not yet complied with the 2011 disclosure order. In June 2016 Garlick sought Misick's consent to the variation of the 2011 Order, to which his lawyers indicated that they had no objection in principle to substituting the Restraint Order and would be seeking to agree a variation of the Order to provide a monthly sum for living expenses. However, while the lawyers provided (October 2016) the Crown with an affidavit of Living Expenses and asked that the restraint order be varied to allow Misick access to the pension payable to him by the TCIG, the Crown eventually refused to consider it on the grounds that Misick had still had not complied with the order made by Goldsbrough. Misick's Evidence According to Court documents, in order to advance his renewed application to the Court for a variation to the Order, Misick filed an (undated) Affidavit of living expenses on February 1, 2017 wherein he sought to account for how he supported himself in the Dominican Republic and Brazil. In his affidavit, he states that he had access to about $350,000 from April 2009 to October 2011 when he lived between the TCI and the Dominican Republic. The money came from the following sources: his monthly salary of about $12,000 from the TCI Government from April to August 2009; monthly rental income of about $5,000 from Grace Bay Plaza up until June 23, 2011; a $202,000 loan from Lofton Misick which was secured by a charge over his unit at the Alexandria Resort; $2,000 per month from Arlington Musgrove; $2,000 per month from Don Gardiner; and $2,000 from his friend and former member of his Cabinet, McAllister Hanchell. Court documents further revealed that in the period between April 2009 and January 2011, his expenses amounted to about $243,600 which he itemised as follows: US$3000 per month on house rental in DR; US $300 per month on electricity in DR; US $300 per month on a housekeeper in DR; US $1000 per month on a driver in DR; (e) US $2000 per month child support; US $2000 per month for a housekeeper in TCI; US $1,500 per month for the maintenance of the former Premier's residence; and miscellaneous US$2500 per month. Between January 2011 and October 2011, court documents showed that Misick's stated expenses appeared significantly reduced: US$ 2500 per month on house rental in DR; US$30 per month on electricity; US$300 per month on a housekeeper in DR; US$1000 per month on a driver in DR; $2000 per month in child support; and miscellaneous US$1000 per month. During the period October 2011 to January 2012, when he moved to Brazil, he asserts that he survived on the money which remained, which was some $30,000 and continued to pay child support of $2000. From January 2012 to December 2012 he stated that he survived on the generosity of Roy Devereux who he had befriended in Brazil while staying at a hotel. He further asserted, according to court documents, that he lived with Devereux rent free from January to December 2012 who also provided him with "pocket money" over the relevant period of about $40,000. He asserts that he continued to pay child support out of this sum. He stated that when he was arrested and jailed in Brazil, his mother and his brothers, Ariel and Phillip, gave him $50,000 to cover his legal fees. After he was released from jail in March 2013, he received $6,000 from Messrs. Gardiner, Musgrove and Hanchell and lived at his attorney's apartment at no additional cost. He was re-arrested in April 2013 and remained in prison in Brazil until he was extradited to the TCI in January 2014. Since his release on January 13, 2014 with a condition of residence at the Alexandria Resort, Misick asserted that he has been in receipt of a monthly allowance of $700, paid first by his mother from until October 2015 until her demise and after by his brother Washington. He asserted that he also receives financial support from various friends, to wit Arlington Musgrove, Don Gardiner, McAllister Hanchell, Jahmal Misick and Garnett Jolly, in the sum of approximately $2,700 per month. Affidavits were provided by Washington, Lofton and Ariel Misick (the former premiers brothers); Garnett Jolly, Arlington Musgrove and Don Gardiner (Misick's cousins); Jahmal Misick (Misick's nephew) and Roy Devereux which were filed to provide evidence of the third parties in support of Misick's assertions in intended compliance with the 2014 Order made by CJ Goldsbrough. In light of this compliance, in February the former premier again asked the Court to vary the restraint order to make the following financial provisions for himself and his children in the following terms: US$ 1425.07 for strata fees; US$ 50 for strata telephone connection; (c) US$108 for strata TV connection; US$ 175.66 for strata insurance fees; (e) US$305 for strata electricity; US$121.24 for strata water connection and fees; US$2000 for child support of four younger children; US$ 2775 for son in college; US$1000 for food and general living; US $150 for phone; US$500 for gas; and US$800 for housekeeper and upkeep of his residence. With respect to his outgoings Misick told the court that he is in arrears in the amount of US$90,177.74 with respect to the strata fees including utilities and that he is only able to take care of some of the aforementioned expenses. The Lawyers Submissions Jerome Lynch QC, who appears for Misick in the February application, pressed all of the points contained in Misick's third Affidavit including his request that reasonable sums for child support be allowed. Lynch at once accepted that Mildred Rivas's (one of Misicks childrens mother) request to be allowed the sum of $10,000 was not a proper claim. The lawyer submitted to the court that Misick has been relying on people helping him up until now and that there are no hidden assets and that given the circumstances, the court should permit him access to reasonable sums for his living expenses and cease his dependency on his family and friends. The lawyer also submitted to the court that Misick is currently living at the Alexandria Resort with no water and no electricity, that he will have nowhere to live if he has to leave and that he should be permitted to use the pension funds to settle the arrears of strata fees inclusive of power, water and telephone, money to pay his strata fees going forward, sufficient funds to meet his living expenses and assist with his son's education in the United States. He submitted too that the Court should be astute to preserve the asset which the Strata Corp may seek to sell in order to recover its arrears. In his response, Queens Counsel Andrew Mitchell, for the Crown, reminded the court that it is for Misick to persuade the Court that there are no funds other than the pension monies on which he can rely to meet his financial needs. Pointing to one example to demonstrate the inherent implausibility of Misick's assertion that he does not have access to any undisclosed funds, Mitchell pointed to the former premiers proposed wedding in 2013 to his then fiancee Tatjana van de Merwe, which on the evidence in the possession of the Crown would have cost at least US$12,800. The prosecutor also pointed to Misick's apparent expenditure in 2016 as evidence of undisclosed assets. He noted that during 2016, Misick celebrated his 50th birthday with a lavish party held at a public venue at which international music stars performed. He also flew to the Dominican Republic in May to receive private medical care, ran for election in December and, on the face of it, mounted a comprehensive election campaign and got engaged again at which time he presented his new fiancee with a valuable engagement ring. In reference to the engagement ring, the prosecutor told the court that he does not have any evidence that Misick purchased the ring. With respect to the third party affidavits, Mitchell submitted to the court that none of them make sufficient disclosure to discharge Misick's burden of satisfying the Court that he does not have undisclosed assets. Lynch, in responding to Mitchell's submissions with respect to the particular issues not covered in Misick's affidavit told the court that Misick received medical treatment in the DR free of cost, that his friends paid for his 50th birthday party, that the bar was in all of the events a cash bar, that the musicians who performed did so for free and that his campaign was funded by friends and supporters and that the details of their contributions were provided to the Integrity Commission. The Crown, he submitted, could have found out how Misick's campaign had been funded by asking the Commission. Judges Decision In her decision, the Chief Justice found that Misick bears the burden of persuasion in satisfying the Court that it would be just to vary the Order. She added that more particularly, he must persuade the court that he has no other funds to which he can have recourse and to do this he would have to show the source of the funds which have allowed him to live without any visible means of income outside of the Islands between 2009 and 2014, celebrate his 50th birthday in lavish style and campaign for re-election in 2016. "It appears to me that, to discharge his burden, he would have had to go further in these proceedings than he has in seeking to rely on the unsupported affidavits of his family and friends. She noted that to rebut the inference arising from the unexplained transfers of wealth to Musgrove, Lofton Misick and Rivas, which is that persons in and outside of TCI hold funds for Misick which have not been disclosed, cogent evidence of the source of the funds ostensibly provided by them would have had to be exhibited - bank transfers, cheque payments or bank statements that would demonstrate from any verifiable source that the payments that have allegedly been made to Misick have actually been made by the affiants and that they were made out of their own resources. She added: "Even if I were to accept that any or all of the affiants provided him with funds, in the absence of any supporting exhibits, there is nothing to dispel the inference that these were disbursements from funds held in their names which he transferred to them while he held the strings of TCIG's financial purse and which they hold on his behalf and over which, in practice, he has control. The Chief Justice pointed out that Misick would also have to provide evidence with respect to the costs of his party, his election campaign, his medical expenses, who paid for them and from what sources to persuade the Court that he had not in fact been able to call on undisclosed assets to pay for them. Absent cogent evidence to show how his birthday party and his campaign were financed, the inference to be drawn from his activity is that he has access to undisclosed assets, the judge noted. She said that she does not find it inconsistent with such an inference that Misick has steadfastly refused to pay the strata fees and related expenses at the Alexandria. Adding: "On his own case, notwithstanding the generosity of his friends, he made a choice to pay a housekeeper instead of his utilities and to celebrate his birthday and pursue re-election rather than pay what he owes, heedless of the consequences. I, therefore, refuse the application to vary the order to allow for Mr Misick's personal living expenses. She also refused to vary the order to settle any of his outstanding debt as well to pay child support fees. She said that there is no independent evidence that Misick has been paying maintenance for any of his other children. BY OLIVIA ROSE MINISTER of Health, Agriculture and Human Services, Honorable Edwin Astwood on Thursday dispelled rumors that Haitians are being forced to eat from garbage dumps in the Turks and Caicos Islands. The Minister`s comments follow the circulation of a video purportedly originating from an investigative story by the international news network Aljazeera. The almost two minute news story, produced in 2015 was resurrected recently and made its way on social media where it went semi-viral. The video details the hardship and plight many Haitian migrants face after their treacherous sea journey to the Turks and Caicos shores in search of a better life. In the video several Haitian migrants were seen scavenging through garbage at a dumpsite on Providenciales in search of food and other useful discarded household items. Aljazeera journalist, Nick Spicer who interviewed several migrants in Providenciales said: "They came here because they wanted to work in the many luxury hotels on the Turks and Caicos Islands. "Now they live in a dump, they eat the meals the wealthy visitors are too full to finish, and wear the clothes the people throw away, some cover their faces to keep off the flies, but one man says he also feels shame. One Haitian migrant during the interview said: "Nobody here gives a damn about Haiti, not the Haitian Government, not the United States and not the people here; they consider Haitians to be animals. However, the Environmental Health Department within the Ministry of Health advised residents, visitors and the international community that the story "Haitians forced to eat from garbage dumps in the Turks and Caicos Islands is not true. The release stated: "There are no Haitian nationals in the Turks and Caicos Islands who are forced or were forced to eat from any dump sites in the TCI. The Department further noted that over the last several years it has made significant improvements to the solid waste management facilities throughout the country, especially the sites in Grand Turk and Providenciales. "The dump sites on Providenciales and Grand Turk are both fully enclosed to prevent unauthorized entry as well as to provide improved containment and security. "You will note from the publication that the dumpsite is not representative of the current dumpsites on either Grand Turk or Providenciales. "The Turks and Caicos Islands does not support or encourage persons whether legal or illegal residents or visitors, to eat from the dump. It further stated that all communication regarding such should be disregarded and treated as falsified information. BY OLIVIA ROSE TWO FEMALE employees of the Ministry of Border Control and Labour were arrested on suspicion of forged work permit documents on Monday March 27. The investigation is part of a joint crackdown launched by detectives of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force Financial Crime Unit and the Integrity Commission. The Crime Unit launched an investigation into a number of allegations of forged Turks and Caicos Islands work permits that have been issued to a number of persons within the Haitian and Dominican Communities. According to the Police, detectives along with members of the Integrity Commission, on Monday March 27, conducted a number of searches at various locations. They discovered that after valid work permits expired, payments would be made through an agency for renewal and instead of receiving renewed valid work permits these nationals were issued with forged work permits. The Two females, ages 28 and 47 were arrested on suspicion of Uttering Forged Document. Director of the Integrity Commission, Eugene Otuonye has since said: "This is primarily a Police operation and the Integrity Commission is an interested partner that is working in the background of the investigation. Also weighing in on the arrests Minister of Border Control and Employment, Hon Sean R. Astwood, issued a statement echoing similar sentiments. He pointed out that since it is a police matter he did not want to comment prematurely, in an effort to avoid influencing the outcome of the investigation. The Border Control and Employment Minister said: "I can confirm that persons were arrested and released on bail. Astwood emphasized that his Government supports a corruption free public service and any activity that would lead to the accomplishment of this state of being. He further urged other workers to work together with police. "I want to encourage the many honest and hard working men and women under my Ministry to continue to uphold the principles of integrity without fail and will cooperate fully with the RTCPF and Integrity Commission. "We are working tirelessly to address all customer service issues in the Department of Border Control and Employment Services. The Minister pointed out that his ministry is currently undergoing a vigorous restructuring exercise to improve the delivery of quality of services to enhance the customer service experience. "We have a customer service department that will receive some additional manpower and we are computerizing and streamlining processes to reduce the wait time for birth certificates, death certificates, work permits, Labour clearances, and other essential documents. "This is an ongoing process and the public should see improvement in these services in the very near future. According to Police more arrests are expected to be made as the probe continues. By Daisy Handfield FORTY-THREE Dominican poachers were arrested on March 16 and charged on March 27 in the Magistrates Court in Providenciales, after they were found with a large quantity of fish on a fishing vessel. The suspects all plead not guilty and were remanded until April 3, 2017. The white vessel, bearing the name Captain Blaze, about 80 ft long, contained a number of dinghies and over 39,000 pounds of mainly fish. The men are facing charges for the use of breathing apparatus to take marine products, possession of undersized Nassau Grouper, possession of parrot fish, using unlicensed commercial fishing vessel, possession of spear gun, taking marine products by use of spear gun, using any vessel to conduct fishing, engaged in commercial fishing in the Mouchoir Banks without a license and taking marine products without a licence. According to a Police statement issued during the time of the incident, as Marine Police approached the vessel, the men attempted to evade capture and as a result, officers took action to bring the vessel to a stop. The boat was eventually towed to the Marina at the Provo Shipyard, where officers from the Department of Environment and Coastal Resource (DECR) and Marine Officers jointly initiated an investigation and removed the marine products and other items, which were handed over to DECR. The men were arrested on suspicion of illegal fishing and taken into custody. Mr Kevin Clarke, Police PR, in an interview with this publication praised the Marine Division for successfully carrying out the operation. He said: "Hats off to the officers of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Marine Police who were able to capture these poachers. "Although it was challenging and dangerous, no one was injured during the process, he said. THE fifth and last supplementary bill for financial year 2016-2017 was on Monday (March 27) passed in the House of Assembly with majority support. The majority of the monies, some $356,629 from the recurrent expenditure and $2.26M from capital expenditure, will go towards acquiring properties that the Turks and Caicos Islands Government has been renting for several years. Two of those buildings are the Carlos Simmons building that was has been rented by TCIG for more than 15 years, and the other is the Sammy Been Plaza. Premier Sharlene Cartwright Robinson, who presented the Bill to the House, noted that the Government will be completing to purchase of the Sammy Been Plaza - the entire sum of which is $2.3M. She stated: "We are looking to recover this investment in no more than seven years but to also save a minimum of 384,000 in rent. She also thanked those Opposition members who supported the Bill, noting that there is wisdom in a government acquiring assets. "I know that a lot of the time governments before us would have felt a bit cold feet about acquiring properties and reducing rent for those persons who would have invested. It is our business and our job to create the economic activity that there would be a private sector that would be willing to rent from these buildings once the Government vacates them. While all of the Opposition members supported the Bill, George Lightbourne PNP elected member for Grand Turk North - was very critical of the monies being taken from allocations for major projects, particularly for Grand Turk. He pointed to the Mega One Triton boat, which has been an eyesore for years, and the allocation of $700,000 in the 2016-2017 budget for its removal as being a failure of the new government in its first one hundred days. "After almost 100 days in office, we have seen no real effort was made to move that boat and so I am very saddened that no attention is apparently being paid to Grand Turk by this government the boat that so much work and attention was put into by the previous administration, is going to be left on the beach. "A prudent government would have included in the supplementary additional funding to go to $700,000 to move that boat (Mega One Triton). As she explained on March 22, when the estimates for the supplementary appropriations was first tabled in the House, the money is being taken from several projects that did not have successful bidders or where there was no response to tenders as well as savings in other areas of the budget which would have been lost when the 2016-2017 financial year comes to an end on March 31. Meanwhile, another portion of the supplementary allocation is going towards the housing and repatriation of the 40 plus Dominican poachers who were caught in TCI waters recently, while another portion of the money will be to be used to settle a number of litigations against the Government. By Daisy Handfield APPROXIMATELY 80 local and international delegates attended an Investment Symposium hosted by the National Insurance Board, as part of their 25th year anniversary. The three-day event was conducted at the Beaches Resort in Providenciales from Monday (March 28, 2017) to Thursday (March 30, 2017) and featured a range of delegates from the Turks and Caicos, other Caribbean countries and the United States. The TCI Cadet Corp performed a stellar flags and national anthems parade, Youth Explosion champions from the Wesley Methodist School gave a riveting show of culture including song, dance and costumes. A prayer for singleness of heart among the nations and delegates was brought by Fr. Tellison Glover of the Anglican Church. The Deputy Chairman of the NIB, Floyd Seymour brought a warm welcome and the event was chaired by Obrien Forbes, well known charismatic MC. Hon Sharlene Cartwright-Robinson, Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands delivered a keynote address, reminding the audience that the NIB has the largest accumulation of assets in the country of over $200m, but pointed out that there is a serious responsibility expected by Boards as by 2050 the resources of the plan would be completely depleted without innovative strategies. The Premier said intervention is required and promised that her Administration will be looking at ways the National Insurance plan can be bolstered and built so that is always able to respond to its contributors. Greetings also came from Reginald Thomas, CIESS with Vote of thanks by NIB CEO, Walter Gardiner. Diandra Mills, Investment Manager for the National Insurance Board told this publication that NIB was pleased to be hosting this Investment Symposium and that she hoped the participants found the information useful. She said: "The National Insurance Board is celebrating its 25th anniversary and as part of the celebrations, we have agreed to host a regional social security investment forum. The forum is on the governance, the framework and the strategy of social security institution. We have invited delegates from the social security boards around the Caribbean region. We have actuaries, accountants, auditing firms, and we have speakers and presenters from the United States, as well as local and regional bodies from the Caribbean and the TCI. The Investment Manager emphasised that social security is very important in every country and that the more education delegates receive on governance and strategy and formulating policies, regarding social security is beneficial to the entire country. "I think it will be really beneficial because we are grasping on the knowledge of these experts and whatever they can give us, in terms of their knowledge from investing fields and we really are drawing on their expertise to help us to propel our funds forward, she said. National songs were brought by the NIB Choir with remarks coming from Mr Reginald Thomas, who flew in from Mexico and is the Director of the Inter-American Centre for Social Security Studies. The Vote of Thanks was delivered by CEO of the NIB, Mr Walter Gardiner. BY DELANA ISLES HER MAJESTYs Privy Council has dismissed an appeal by Akita Holdings Ltd against the Turks and Caicos Islands Government in a civil recovery case. The ruling, which was handed down in London on Monday (March 27), affirms the 2014 decisions of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal. Akita Holdings Ltd. holds the majority of the land where its fuel storage and related facilities in South Dock, Providenciales resides, on trust for the Government. In September 2014, the then Chief Justice Edwin Goldsbrough ruled that Akita Holdings had obtained the land in breach of fiduciary duties owed to the Government by its owner and former Minister of Natural Resources, McAllister Hanchell. The Government was found to own almost 70 per cent of the land and to be entitled to the profits earned through the use of the land. The Court ordered that a further hearing should take place to assess the value of the damages due to the Government to account for the ownership interest and profits owed to the Government. In the Privy Councils ruling, in addition to dismissing Akitas appeal, they ordered Akita Holdings to pay the Government's costs of the appeal. The case has now been returned to the Supreme Court in order for the Chief Justice to carry out an assessment of damages, which was originally ordered. In response to the judgement, Attorney General, Rhondalee Braithwaite-Knowles stated: "After Akita Holdings unsuccessful appeals have delayed matters by two and a half years, the Government is now looking forward to valuing and recovering the damages due to it on behalf of the people of the Turks and Caicos Islands." The governments claim against Akita had formed part of the civil recovery program, which was carried out and completed two years ago. The appointment of a civil recovery team was a key recommendation of the Report of the 2009 Commission of Inquiry. The Facts The property in question is made up of four parcels of land on Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands registered at the Land Registry with title numbers 60605/13, 92, 96 and Hanchell is a Belonger. In August 2003, he was appointed Minister for Works, Utilities and Communication of the TCI, as such, he was a member of the TCIs Executive Council and remained a Government minister until 2008. At that time the Crown Land Policy entitled a belonger to apply for and be granted a Conditional Purchase Lease ("CPL) over Crown Land subject to certain conditions, including the obligation to pay rent and develop it in accordance with the terms of the CPL. If those conditions were satisfied, the belonger became entitled to purchase the freehold title at a discounted rate, in this case 50 per cent of the open market value. In 2004 Hanchell applied for and was granted a CPL over the land. In setting the sale price under the CPL, the Government relied on a 1998 valuation which gave its open market value as $150,400, resulting in a discounted price of $75,200. Unknown to the Government, Hanchell had recently obtained a private valuation of the property in its unimproved state at $500,000. A further private valuation in February 2006, after commencement of development, valued it at $1,200,000, apportioning $600,000 to the value of the bare land and $600,000 to the development so far carried out. The development was substantially completed in accordance with the CPL. Before exercising his right to buy, Hanchell transferred the right to the appellant ("Akita), a TCI company jointly owned by himself and his brother. In December 2006, Akita acquired the freehold title, having paid the discounted price of $75,200. After the sale, development of the property continued, in part funded by bank loans, amounting eventually to some US$3.9m, charged on the property. In November 2008, a private valuation report for Hanchell following further development valued the property with improvements at $4,250,000. The Proceedings The Attorney-General (acting on behalf of the Government) issued proceedings against Akita. The basis of the claim was expressed in the alternative as for unjust enrichment or unconscionable receipt. Unjust enrichment was put as a claim for US$174,800, being the difference between the price paid ($75,200) and the price which would have been paid on the undisclosed valuation ($250,000). The claim of unconscionable receipt relied on the assertion that the price paid represented only 30.08 per cent of the price which should have been paid, with the result that Akita holds 69.92 per cent of the land on trust for the government, which was accordingly entitled to that proportion of the value of the land, including a proportionate share of any benefits made by the (Akita) that are attributable to its use of the land. Reference was also made to the fact that the improvements had been financed by bank loans secured on the land. The relief claimed by the government was a declaration that the property was held on constructive trust for the payment of sums due, an account of the benefits received by the Akita by reason of the 69.92 per cent of the land that it holds on trust for the Government; and restitution of $174,800 with interest. The matter came before the Chief Justice Goldsborough who on September 5, 2014 gave judgment for the government. Having found the facts as summarized above, he turned to the appropriate remedy (paras 40ff), which he described as being "to trace the value of the benefit obtained by (Akita), the starting point being to determine "the nature of the asset held by it. He identified the asset as the land itself, which he regarded as "a mixed asset as described in Foskett v McKeown [2001] 1 AC 102. This was on the basis that the value put into its purchase by Akita represented "but a proportion of its value; the balance having come "from the property of the (Government), the proportions being 30.02% to 69.92%. Having cited extracts from Lord Milletts speech relating to such mixed assets, He ruled that the Government is entitled to recover the value of that proportion of the land for which it has not received value (69.92 per cent) that being the value of the unimproved land and the same percentage of the current value of the improved land insofar as the improvements are attributable to Akitas use of the land. Akita was ordered to account to the Government for the benefit of its use of the land for which it has not received value. The Ministry of Health, Agriculture & Human Services is pleased to welcome Dr. Erica Wheeler, Advisor, Human Resources for Health of the PAHO/WHO, Barbados Office, to the Turks and Caicos Islands. This visit spans from the 27th - 31st March 2017, and is to conduct an assessment of the TCI's human resources for health in accordance with our 2020 vision for health care. During her visit, she will meet with multi-sectoral stakeholders that impact the health system and its human resources. The aim is to gather information about the current human resources for health situation including education and training needs as well as discuss Turks and Caicos Islands capacity to develop human resources for health policy and plan. THOUSANDS of women from countries around the world gathered at the United Nations Headquarters in New York during March 12th 18th 2017, for the 61st Session of the Commission on the Status of Women under the theme, "Womens Economic Empowerment in the changing world of work. A team of three persons namely Deputy Secretary, Mrs. Bridgette Newman, Gender Affairs Coordinator Mrs. Carolyn Dickenson and Acting Executive Administrator to the Minister, Ms. Kamala Roberts joined colleagues from other Overseas Territories under the United Kingdoms delegation. The conference was seen as an important opportunity to evaluate the progress made in the implementation of agreed conclusions from the fifty-eighth session (2014), on Challenges and achievements in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals for women and girls. It also allowed persons to take stock of the progress made in achieving goals outlined in (CEDAW) Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women as well as provide critical reflection on the direction to be taken in gender equality programming. The TCI delegation participated in several meetings at the UK Mission to the United Nations, chief among which was a Ministerial session held on Tuesday, March 13th with other Overseas Territories counterparts and was chaired by GEO Director, Hilary Spencer. The session also allowed for the reaffirmation of our commitment to gender equality and equity goals in the sub region. The main session focused on (CEDAW) Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against women and what member states were doing to end violence against women and girls, promote gender equality and the rights and protection of women and girls as well as strengthening the family initiative. The team was particularly delighted to share some of the achievements of women in the TCI, which were also highlighted in the recently presented CEDAW Report. Colleagues from Bermuda were eager to hear about strategies that had been successfully implemented in the TCI to bring about such positive outcomes. The TCI delegation was also privileged to attend a reception in honour of His Excellency, Mr. Matthew Rycroft, the United Kingdoms Permanent Representative to the United Nations where they were able to interact with personnel from the United Kingdom and United Nations. Plenary sessions were also organized to facilitate exchange of experiences and best practices at both a national and international level. These discussions were focused on a number of sub topics with emphasis being placed on "ending violence against women and girls. Outside of the events planned by the UN to the UK Mission, the team attended a number of other sessions, which included; Women and work: Expanding leadership, Pay Equity and Economic Power, Strengthening Spaces, working to end violence against women, Gender and work in the Global Economy: 21 Nations, Womens Economic Empowerment- Grassroots Rural Womens Perspective and Wanted: Economic Empowerment and Equality, not the Sex Trade. Commenting on CSW61, Gender Affairs Coordinator Mrs. Carolyn Dickenson stated; "The conference was an awesome experience, as the team was able to hear firsthand some of the challenges and experiences of women who continue to fight for gender equality and economic empowerment of both women and girls. It also gave us a greater sense of appreciation for the many achievements and successes of women here in the Turks and Caicos Islands who continue to play leading roles in all spheres of public and private life. The legal fight over the Cowlitz Indian casino is officially over. The U.S. Supreme Court Monday denied to hear an appeal challenging the tribes right to have a reservation on 156 acres of property near La Center. The decision comes just weeks before the scheduled opening of the tribes brand new, $510 million Ilani Casino Resort on the reservation, which is expected to bring 1,000 jobs to the area. The Confederated Tribes of Grande Ronde and Clark County dropped out of the case in November, following the City of Vancouvers withdrawal earlier in 2016. That left opponent group Citizens Against Reservation Shopping, La Center card room owners and three private landowners in the suit. While the Cowlitz Tribe was a party in the case, the suit was actually filed against the U.S. Department of the Interior, which took the land into trust on behalf of the tribe in 2015. The action turned the land into a reservation. This is a triumphant moment for The Cowlitz Indian Tribe because it marks the end of a 160-year journey back to our homeland and the beginning of a new journey, where centuries of Cowlitz Tribal heritage and traditions will unite and thrive, here, on our own reservation, said a press release from Cowlitz tribe chairman William Iyall. Now, in leading large-scale, privately-funded investments in economic growth, the tribe looks forward to delivering on our commitments to our 4,100 members, employees and the community where we live and work. Speaking for county sheriffs statewide, Cowlitz County Sheriff Mark Nelson confirmed in a weekend letter that they will continue to reject Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer requests for possible illegal aliens. Without naming the Trump administration, the letter in effect tells the government to back off one aspect of immigration enforcement. Nelson said the association is choosing the U.S. Constitution over the demands of a federal agency. But the action could make the association vulnerable to a loss of federal funds. The detainers are requests to police to hold people for 48 hours beyond their scheduled jail release time if they are suspected of being federal criminal aliens. In the strongly worded March 31 letter, Nelson reminded ICE that the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in April 2014 ruled the practice violates the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Let there be no mistake: Sheriffs support and cooperate with ICE in their efforts to identify and deport criminal aliens. Preventing crime and holding criminals accountable are key duties of our elected positions, wrote Nelson, writing as president of the Washington State Sheriffs Association. But we also swore an oath to follow the law and obey the constitution. To do our duty we must balance all interests. ICE did not immediately respond to the letter. But ICE spokeswoman Rose Richeson said detainers are a safe, timely way for federal agents to gain custody of individuals while theyre still in custody. Without them, ICE agents must locate the individual, sometimes confronting them in public. She said all law enforcement jurisdictions handle detainer requests differently. In a phone interview Monday, Sheriff Nelson said ICE is asking law enforcement to violate the constitution and peoples rights. The arbitrary labeling of sheriffs as being uncooperative does nothing to serve the purpose of public safety or protect our communities. Sheriffs need to uphold what is legal and what is right and not bend to political pressure or convenience. The public expects us to enforce the law while obeying the law, Nelson wrote in the letter. The sheriffs letter was prompted after a meeting of elected Washington State sheriffs where many voiced disappointment and surprise that several sheriffs offices had been listed on a Department of Homeland Security report stating that they limited their cooperation with ICE. This insinuates we are not upholding our sworn oath to keep communities safe. This is absurd and an insult to each countys duly elected chief law enforcement officer, the letter reads. The Department of Homeland Security recently released its first Declined Detainer Outcome Report, which lists jurisdictions that had some of the highest volumes of declined detainers. The report is supposed to be released weekly under an executive order by President Donald Trump. Some of the Washington counties who had declined to honor detainers in February were Cowlitz, Clark, Skagit, King, Jefferson, Whatcom and others. Nelson called the reports a shaming list, saying that ICE is claiming that elected officers are threats to their communities. Its frustrating for a sheriff, a career law enforcement officer committed to life to this effort of protecting this community to have someone say that the decision we make and what were doing is a threat to public safety, Nelson said. Im sorry, but were in the position were in because of the court decision. And Im not saying whether thats good, bad, right, wrong, thats not mine to say. But its mine to live by. Our request to immigration is work with us, talk with us and dont threaten us, because this is not the way were going with. Richeson said DHS is working with the Department of Justice to develop a process to allow the government to withhold federal funding from the jurisdictions that dont comply with ICE. She said that being placed on a weekly detainer report however, did not automatically mean a jurisdiction would have federal funds withheld. Nelson said losing federal assistance would have a serious impact. It affects the guy on the street or our ability to put a guy on the street. Its a real thing for us, he said. IANS 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. hidden By Anita Gurumurthy The vexatious question about what to do with the normative ideals enshrined in law, when society undergoes paradigmatic change, is not new. Justice Brandeiss dissenting opinion in the US Supreme Court in 1928 is one of the more notable dissents in American history. The case Olmstead versus United States, 277 US 438 (1928) concerning wiretapping by federal agents, bears uncanny parallels to contemporary conjuncture. Only that nearly a century ago, the American judicial system was grappling with whether tapping telephone conversations would comprise an invasion of privacy. In his dissent, Brandeis avers that even though the letter of the 18th Century Constitutional law does not explicitly protect citizens from wiretapping, its spirit must be adequate to new conditions and purposes, tackling the new forms that evil takes. He argues that the evil of wiretapping technology allowed government to use subtler and more far-reaching means of invading privacy than before. By using the information so tapped for its own ends, the Government becomes a lawbreaker and cannot declare that in the administration of the criminal law the end justifies the means. Brandeis also underlines that the greatest dangers to liberty lie in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding. In the early 20th century, phones could replace the brute force of breaking into the private space. The anatomy of present times is the digital-data paradigm. And so, we must examine our liberties in the context of what computational and network power does to the social contract between citizens and the state. If times of telephony made governments evil, the surveillance quotient under digital technologies confer no less than Godly command to the state. As governments collect data from us, the transfer of the data creates a huge asymmetry of information and power, leading to the absolute or totalitarian state. What does data related power mean? The concurrent ability to know the individual and her private sphere in microcosmic granularity and to process this knowledge for its macroscopic vastitudes is what distinguishes digital age surveillance. It means the possibility to know, as in the case of the Chinese government, precisely which woman is flouting the one-child policy, and when the policy is abandoned, who the millions of women are that must get their intrauterine device (IUDs) removed. This is raw power. Little wonder then that governments are tempted to play God. The dictum in the data age is not the need to know; it is the instinct to harvest the knowable, and the cunning to shape the known. As the citizen becomes more and more legible to the state, the state becomes more and more opaque to the citizen. Government open data reveals less about the true nature of democratic governance, and as has been pointed out time and again, adds up to nothing more than gesture politics. Big Data techniques can allow politically motivated messages to be planted strategically and delivered virally, creating myths that crowd out the real issues needing deliberation, public interest mediation and norm development. Brandeiss men of zeal in current times may even be well meaning, but their deep faith in the digital-data apparatus can unleash the greatest dangers to liberty, undermine rule of law and disrupt democratic institutions. Unlike times of wiretapping, when American authorities needed human agents to listen in, digital intelligence today is an agent in its own right. Research by MIT points to how FBIs face recognition systems are trained on data sets that under-represent some demographics and hence incorrectly identify black people more frequently than white. But given that black people are more likely to have facial-recognition software used to identify them, it is clear that the due process of law to discern their likeness in situations of crime is programmed to be prejudicial. Rule by data is thus a real threat to our democratic futures. The fact that 87 lakh job cards under the MNREGA scheme have been removed by the Ministry of Rural Development, as a cleansing drive reflects the absolute power of the state to take decisions without pre-decisional hearing. What is clear is that the technological precision and effectiveness of state intrusion into citizens lives the capability to identify, track, manipulate and control individuals today far outweighs the social and technological capability to manage or eliminate the risks. As global society struggles to come to grips with this emerging digital-data paradigm, the greed for data has become part of the race for geo-political supremacy. The result, as the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Privacy has remarked, is a short-shrifting of the right to privacy in the digital age. At the global level, the terror card has been used to justify global programmes such as PRISM. At the national level, as the Special Rapporteur argues, unduly disproportionate, privacy-intrusive laws have been drafted and rushed through the legislative process of States with clear political majorities to legitimise practices that should never have been implemented. Aadhaar as a digital age invention This brings us to Aadhaar, the unique ID system introduced in 2009, legitimated through the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, benefits and services) Act, 2016. A unique citizen ID is that one piece of data which allows the government the prowess to piece together multiple fragments of an individuals life in order to produce a singular narrative. Your unique ID, when introduced into databases, can allow different databases to talk to each other, allowing particular personas representing you to be assembled at will by the state. This, it can be argued, may be technically useful for enhancing the quality and reach of welfare delivery. But what is critical is that in the absence of a data protection law and privacy rules, there is no accountability structure for use and abuse of citizen data. This is why the seeding of Aadhaar to databases can bestow unchecked power upon the already powerful bureaucrats, politicians, corporate actors, and other vested interests who can exploit people by accessing information about them. Despite Supreme Court rulings that have clarified that Aadhaar enrolment is not mandatory, more and more services are being sought to be linked to Aadhaar. Not just welfare services PDS, NREGA, pensions, mid-day meals and scholarships but also, PAN card, income tax, cell phone numbers (by 2018) and train tickets bookings online. De facto, everyday citizenship is thus mediated through Aadhaar, something that makes opting out of Aadhaar a Hobsons choice, while conferring inordinate power to the state. A 5-judge bench had noted in 2015 that Aadhaar did pose challenges to right to privacy, "the fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution of India, and more particularly, the right to liberty under Article 21 (which) would be denuded of vigour and vitality." Experts have argued that the mission creep here from establishing identity which may be useful within proportional limits for effective last mile delivery of welfare to allowing agencies to hold the number through seeding, is extra-legal. Section 8(2)(b) of the Aadhaar Act is categorical that an agency requesting authentication "ensure(s) that the identity information of an individual is only used for submission to the Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR) for authentication". So, what should constitute a reasonable expectation of privacy in the digital age? In the Philippines case of Ople versus Torres, 1998, the Supreme Court struck down the Administrative Order that sought to implement the National Computerised Identification Reference System. The Court held that citizens needed assurance that personal information will only be processed for unequivocally specified purposes, to prevent fishing expeditions by government authorities. The Court observed that possibilities of abuse and misuse of the PRN, biometrics and computer technology are accentuated since individuals lack control over what can be read or placed on their ID, much less verify the correctness of the data encoded. New technologies therefore threaten the very abuses that the constitutional Bill of Rights seeks to prevent. What scholars studying privacy urge is that the stakes for privacy in the digital age be understood for the social, rather than individual, value of privacy. This would include the freedoms that Brandeis referred to as core to the pursuit of happiness freedom of beliefs, thoughts, emotions and sensations, which have profound implications for a society that is diverse. The individual needs to be let alone so that, as a society, we can safeguard the dignity and integrity of all. Privacy also has a public value. It is a precursor to freedoms of speech and association and democratic participation non-negotiable for limiting government power. Finally, privacy, in these times, when personal data is assembled by unscrupulous third parties for private gain, must also be seen as a collective good that cannot be divided. These ideas exhort a deeper thinking about what may be frameworks for data related policies. The way Aadhaar works currently, without being grounded in a such an articulation of privacy, is a dangerous case of the tail wagging the dog, where the techno-capability to track is being offered to us as the justification to do so. The author is with IT for Change, an NGO that works at the intersections of digital technologies and development tech2 News Staff Two technology firms based out of San Francisco and Texas have been securing Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad's website while boosting its reach online, enabling easy access to its users. CloudFlare works like a shield between the user and original host of the website and the internet. In this case, alqalamonline.com and rangonoor.com are the offending websites and they're hosted by SiteGround, a web hosting company based out of Bulgaria. CloudFlare protects the sites from DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks and other such hacking attempts. According to a detailed report by DNA, Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has enrolled both the websites for protection against DDoS and other malicious, script-based attacks via CloudFlare since March 2014. The report indicates that the websites in question are hosted on 104.18.56.73 and 104.27.132.179 IP addresses. Both these IP addresses are linked to CloudFlare, which is based-out of California. CloudFlare also caches the website so that it can load faster, as detailed by Mumbai-based cyber security researcher, Dinesh Bareja. Vanessa Royale, a representative for CloudFlare told DNA that the company is not hosting the websites. She added that "IP addresses may appear in a DNS (Domain Name System) query since we are a reverse proxy." Royale refused to comment on CloudFlare's customers or the company's plans. She tried to slip the issue of CloudFlare protection by stating that CloudFlare is not responsible for hosting any terrorist websites and that terminating a customer will only result in a slower site that's a little easier to hack. Royale is essentially stating that CloudFlare is protecting the terrorist websites but that it isn't hosting them so it isn't such a big deal. It's quite likely that CloudFlare isn't even aware that the site it's protecting is a terrorist website and it's unlikely to deliberately provide safe harbour to terrorists. However, the company's response is rather tame. The report confirmed that both websites were running on 77.104.156.63, an IP address managed by SiteGround. The websites are managed by a web administrator called Muhammad Tariq Siddique from Karachi, reveals the report. One thing to note is that American companies are barred from performing financial transactions with designated terror organisations and JeM has been denounced by the UN and the USA since 2001 for its activities. JeM is the same group responsible Parliament attack in 2001, Pathankot air force base attack and the Nagrota camp attack. The terror outfit has also enrolled help from LimeStone Networks for hosting other domains like musalmanbachay.com, fathulijawaad.com and sadaemujahid.com, as part of its online propaganda in the form of videos of terrorists hailed as martyrs, quranic verses, poetry on war and propaganda articles. These domains provide soft propaganda and introduce young children and teenagers to the thought-process of JeM ideology. Both these companies have been painted as favourites for the Islamic State, al-Qaeda, Hezbollah and other extremist groups. Despite all this, law enforcement authorities in the United States have not taken any action against CloudFlare and Pakistani authorities only briefly shut down JeM's online publications after the Pathankot attack. hidden A global alliance of tech industry and academic organisations unveiled plans on Monday to work together to combat the spread of "fake news" and improve public understanding of journalism. The News Integrity Initiative will launch with $14 million from Facebook, the Ford Foundation, Mozilla and others, based at the City University of New York's journalism school, which will coordinate research, projects and events. "We want to bring the conversation past just talking about media and to bring the public in," said Jeff Jarvis, who heads CUNY's Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism. "We want to go beyond the fake news discussion and get to what I hope is a flight to quality." Fake news became a serious issue in the US election campaign, when clearly fraudulent stories circulated on social media, potentially swaying some voters. Concerns have been raised since then about hoaxes and misinformation affecting elections in Europe, with investigations showing how "click farms" generate revenue from online advertising using made-up news stories. Better tools Facebook and Google have stepped up efforts to root out misinformation, Jarvis said, adding that helping the public understand the difference between fraudulent news and serious journalism will constitute an important element of the effort. "We have to equip the public with better tools and better discussions," he said. The initiative's mission is "to advance news literacy, to increase trust in journalism around the world and to better inform the public conversation," a statement said. The founding funders include Facebook and the Craigslist founder Craig Newmark's philanthropic fund along with the Ford Foundation, the John S and James L Knight Foundation, the Tow Foundation, AppNexus, Mozilla and Betaworks. Campbell Brown, a former NBC and CNN journalist hired early this year to head the Facebook news partnerships team, said the social network is looking at the issue "holistically." "We think news literacy is a global concern. It is important for people to be able to identify misleading news content, be discerning about the news that shows up on Facebook and everywhere else," she said. "This is not a problem that we could ever solve alone." Facebook and Google have already taken steps to cut off advertising revenues to news sites promoting misinformation. Facebook has also ramped up efforts to flag news stories that may be false, and has launched a "journalism project" that aims to support the news ecosystem. "We have to look at this globally, so we are going to be supporting a lot of organisations around the world addressing the challenges," Brown said. Facebook joined the project as part of its effort toward "helping people make more informed decisions when they do encounter false news," she said. Other partners include Arizona State University, the International Center for Journalists, the News Literacy Project, the Trust Project, and the public relations group Weber Shandwick. Denmark's Constructive Institute at Aarhus University is also taking part, along with the European Journalism Centre in the Netherlands, the Colombia-based Fundacion Gabriel Garcia Marquez para el Nuevo Periodismo Iberoamericano, the Hamburg Media School and Hans-Bredow-Institut in Germany, the Polis media department at the London School of Economics, France's Sciences Po university, the Hong Kong-based Society of Publishers in Asia, the Walkley Foundation in Australia, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and UNESCO. The move is one of many efforts to crack down on fake news. In February, a group of 37 French and international media outlets, supported by Google, launched "CrossCheck," a fact-checking platform aimed at detecting fake information that could affect the French presidential election. AFP PTI The government on Friday approved the transfer of HMT Watches Ltds 208.35 acres land at Bengaluru and Tumkur in Karnataka to Indian Space Research Organization (Isro) on payment of Rs1,194.21 crore. The Union cabinet at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi also cleared the transfer of Bangalore (Global Warehouse) 1 acre land of HMT Ltd to Gas Authority of India Limited (Gail) on payment of Rs34.30 crore and applicable taxes and duties. The sale/transfer of land of HMT Watches Ltd, a Central Public Sector Enterprise at Bengaluru and Tumkur to other Central Government entities viz. Isro and Gail will free the productive resources and ensure better utilisation of the scarce land resources in larger public interest. The proceeds from sale of land will be deposited by the company in government accounts against the loans and advances, after meeting the immediate liabilities and accounting for tax liabilities arising out of the transaction, an official statement said. HMT Watches, which was a pioneer in manufacturing watches and once known as the Time keeper of India, had to shut its operations due to mounting losses with no scope for revival in the current competitive economic scenario. In January 2016, the government decided to close down the company with offer of VRS/VSS to all their employees. PTI Indian auto industry will need to seek clarity from "other influencers" like the Supreme Court or NGT on health related issues in future and not just the government as things are "getting more complicated" here, according to Mercedes-Benz. The German luxury car maker also said the Supreme Court ban of BS-III vehicles is a lesson to be learnt by the industry to avoid recurrence of similar confusion when BS-VI norm is implemented in 2020. "We are realising that even if you obey everything strictly by the law that does not mean that the Supreme Court or any other body like the NGT cannot bring up issues that are pertinent and impact health in a negative way," Mercedes-Benz India MD & CEO Roland Folger told PTI. However, Folger said he was "positively surprised" by the ban on BS-III vehicles as it proved the company's "point that there will be a heightened level of awareness about environmental issues". Seeking positives from the apex court's decision, he said: "I think that learning from this when we look forward to 2020 for the introduction of BS-VI, we cannot rely only on policy. I think that is the biggest learning from this issue." In the past, it was predominantly between the government and policy makers that the industry had to associate with, which has now changed, he said. "It is getting more complicated that you have to think more ahead of time and you cannot only take the indication from the government only...We need to seek clarity from other influencers now, whether that is the Supreme Court or the NGT. That is the biggest lesson learned for us," Folger said. Calling for self introspection in the industry after the BS-III ban, he said: "If somebody else isn't asking the question we have to ask these questions beforehand. We have to come clear and clarify these points when we bring this issue forward." With the apex court putting health concerns on priority, he said: "It encourages us to think ahead towards the future that with the same kind of forward planning, BS-VI will happen and our vehicles will be in place ahead of time." He, however, added: "For future changes, we hope any ambiguity related to the implementation of BS VI norms shall be clarified within the required time-frame, for the successful introduction of BS-VI norms, which will be financially and technically more challenging." Last week, observing that health of the people is "far, far more important" than the commercial interests of the manufacturers, the Supreme Court banned sales of BS-III vehicles in the country from April 1. The ban impacted over 8 lakh vehicles. tech2 News Staff HMD Global, the company that is making Nokia smartphones is planning to launch the flagship, Nokia 9 in coming months. According to a new tip reported by Nokia Power User. the company may be planning to include Iris scanner to the upcoming flagship smartphone. The report hinted at an entire list of specifications that are rumoured to come with Nokia 9. This is in contrast to the lack of any official statements from HMD Global regarding the release of the smartphone. Nokia 9 is expected to sport a 5.5-inch QHD OLED display panel while running on Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 with Adreno 540 GPU. The quality German glass made by Carl-Zeiss used by original Nokia is expected to make a comeback with Nokia 9 where 22MP Dual-lens camera module will be equipped with Carl-Zeiss optics and a 12MP front camera. Nokia 9 will come with 6GB RAM and two storage variants of 64GB and 128GB internal storage. The smartphone will sport a 3,800 mAh battery along with Qualcomm Quick-Charge 4 support. HMD Global will also include an Iris scanner like the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ in addition to the usual fingerprint scanner. Nokia 9 is also expected to come with IP68 certification along with Nokia OZO audio enhancements. One thing to note here is that there is nothing official about this tip like the previous tips reported so we can't confirm about how many things will actually make the cut or if Nokia 9 will actually launch. PTI US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley on Sunday said Russia was "certainly" involved in the US presidential election last year and the matter would be addressed once the probe is completed. Russia was "involved in" interfering in the US presidential election, she said. "Certainly I think Russia was involved in the election. There is no question about that. I think when they finish with all of this process, yes, they need to address Russia. They need to act... We do not want any country involved in our elections ever. And so once that information comes out, I expect that will be handled accordingly," Indian-American Haley told ABC News in an interview. Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied that his country meddled in the 2016 US Presidential election. "I can tell you that in my dealings with Russia in particular at the United Nations, we beat up on them because we thought that what they did with Crimea and what is happening in Ukraine is wrong. We called them out for it," she said. Haley, the first Indian-American to hold a Cabinet level position in any presidential administration, made her first Sunday talk shows appearance in her capacity as the US Ambassador to the UN. She was responding to questions on the general impression that the US is being soft on Russia, which she strongly denied. "What we have said is that they are not being helpful in the way that they and Iran are covering up for Assad. We do not think that is helpful. We need their pressure when it comes to dealing with ISIS, and we also need their pressure when it comes to dealing with China and North Korea. "So there is certain things that we do work with Russia on and then there is certain things when they do something wrong, I have no problem calling them out on it," Haley said. "But again nobody is talking to me about that at the United Nations. What everybody is talking about at the United Nations is what is going to happen with North Korea? How are we going to deal with the crisis that we are seeing in Syria? What are we doing to wage the war on ISIS?" she said. US President Donald Trump and the administration agree that Russia's involvement in Ukraine is wrong. "I think that if you listen to what he said about the elections, of course we do not want any country involved in our elections. So that is going to happen. I think that Russia is very aware that they are on notice when it comes to certain issues. "They are very aware that we do want to try and defeat ISIS together, if that is at all possible, along with our allies. There is no love or anything going on with Russia right now. They get that we are getting our strength back, that we are getting our voice back, and that we are starting to lead again," she said. Haley demanded more action from China on North Korea. The US, she said, no longer takes the excuses from China that they are concerned, too. "They need to show us how concerned they are. They need to put pressure on North Korea. The only country that can stop North Korea is China. They know that. I think that you saw when Secretary Tillerson went to Beijing, that was a way of putting pressure. "You are going to see President Trump meet with President Xi (Jinping) and a lot of conversation and the most important conversation will be how we are going to be dealing with the non-proliferation of North Korea," Haley said. China, she said, has to cooperate. "This is now down to do we want to continue to see these ballistic missile attacks from North Korea or does China want to do something about it? This is all about the fact that they need to have action. And we are going to continue to put pressure on China to have action. That will be shown in multiple ways. "What we are going to do is say China, you know that you are the only one that is doing this. We appreciate that you stopped coal going into North Korea, but we know it is going in other ways. At some point, we need these definitive actions by China condemning North Korea and not just calling them out for it," Haley said. China and Russia play very different roles, she said. "They both are getting involved across the world in all different pockets. Their tentacles are everywhere, she said. Russia is doing it through elections and through military actions and through trying to get involved in conversations. "China is doing it economically. If you look at their infrastructure, they are everywhere in the world now and they want to continue to do that so that they have a stronghold," Haley observed. "What we need to do is say that is fine, if they are going to continue to do that, they are also going to have to be accountable for the things that they are responsible for. We do think North Korea is one of those that they need to be held accountable for," said the top American diplomat. tech2 News Staff As the launch for Xiaomi's next flagship draws closer, we are seeing more leaks emerging. In the past we had heard that it will feature the new Snapdragon 835 chipset, a dual camera setup and more. Today we have a more scoop around the device including some alleged hands-on pictures. Let's go through them one by one. Firstly there is the official box for the handset. Two different Weibo accounts have leaked two different coloured boxes of the handset. Both the boxes also have different specifications. The specifications include a 5.15-inch display, Snapdragon 835 processor clocked at 2.45GHz, 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. For the cameras there is a 30MP sensor with optical image stabilisation at the back and an 8MP camera on the front. The box also mentions a 4,000mAh battery, dual SIM slots, and a USB Type-C port. The second box which is the white one, mentions a 5.15-inch display with a 2.5D glass, a Snapdragon 835 processor with no mention of the clock speed. RAM on this version is 3GB while storage is 64GB. Even the camera is different, as the box mentions a 12MP rear shooter and a 4MP ultra pixel sensor on the front just like the Mi 5. Even the battery is smaller rating at 3,200mAh. Rumours suggest the white box is probably the base variant while the black box is the higher 'Pro' variant. Then we have an image of white and black front glass panels of the device. We can see that handset will have narrow bezels although the area on top and bottom are going to be fairly large. There are a bunch of openings above the display which are of course for the camera, earpiece and light sensors. It is being speculated that there is a third hole which could be for an iris scanner, but we have our doubts about that. Below the display is the opening for the front home button which has an oval shape. It is quite large and rumours suggest that the Mi 6 will feature an underglass ultrasonic fingerprint scanner used on the Mi 5S but with a fast sensor. Finally there are a couple of leaked images of the handset itself, but this one is apparently the Mi 6 Plus. The leaked highly-glossy black coloured variant shows the front panel of Mi 6 Plus with narrow bezels. The physical home button placed below the display will also house the fingerprint scanner. At the back we can see a dual-camera setup with dual a LED flash arrangement. These to cameras are said to be a pair of 12 MP Sony IMX362 sensors. Rumoured specifications of the Mi 6 Plus include a 5.7-inch full HD display, a Snapdragon 835 SoC with 4 GB of RAM while some also suggest 6 GB and 8 GB RAM variants. Other rumoured features include 64GB and 128GB storage options, going all the way up to 256 GB, and 8MP front camera, Android 7.0 Nougat with the latest edition of MIUI and a 4,500 mAh capacity battery. Pricing is said to start at 2,599 Yuan (Rs 26,000 approx) going all the way up to 3,499 Yuan (Rs 35,000 approx). The Government of Maharashtra has joined hands with Lenovo to provide technology for the first phase of The Village Social Transformation Mission. The initiative, announced by the Honble Chief Minister in August 2016, aims to transform 1000 villages affected by drought or social challenges into model villages by 2018. Under the partnership, Lenovo will provide 110 tablets with a view to bring technology based efficiencies in Health, Education, Water Conservation and Irrigation programmes. Lenovo tablets will be used by rural development fellows who have been specifically hired to take the mission forward. The first phase will cover 100 villages that will cover talukas and gram panchayats of Aurangabad, Nagpur and Wardha districts. The Chief Ministers Fellowship members will own the social transformation and will work with the local Government (Gram Panchyats) and Corporates/NGOs and the State Government. The State governments are taking a number of proactive measures to ensure Digital India becomes a reality, said Rahul Agarwal, MD & CEO, Lenovo India at the ceremony held in Pune. We believe that technology implementation at the grass root level is the key to a successful transformation story of our country. The initiative by the state government is a step in the right direction to meet the goal of self-sustainable development and empowering the citizens by technology. The initiative fits well into Lenovos CSR strategy and vision for providing technology for quality education that includes skill training and learning practical aspects of sustainable development through technology based platforms. Cloud-based storage has become essential nowadays, driving enterprise and corporations exploring solutions to build up better storage infrastructure. Kingston, the independent world leader in memory products, today, announced Data Center 400 (DC400) SSD, the latest solid-state drive to its range ofenterprise solutions. DC400 SSD is an entry-level enterprise drive designed for server use in datacenters especially for customers who deploy a rip-and-replace strategy. It is ideal for read-intensive applications such as boot, web servers and lower data rate operational databases and analytics especially in datacenter mixed workload environments where endurance and reliability are important. The DC 400 SSD is available in India at MRP of INR 19,999/- for 480GB, INR 35,000/- for 960GB and INR 60,000 for 1600GB (1.6 TB). DC400 SSD offers superior quality of service for data center customers whose workload environment calls for sustained IOPS and consistent low latency. An expanded on-board DRAM acceleration cache enables high, sustained IOPS to increase performance over a wide range of read/write workloads. Standard as well as user-adjustable over-provisioning improves random IOPS performance and endurance while enterprise firmware improves latency and delivers consistently low data access times under steady-state workloads. Additionally, DC400 SSD features enterprise-class reliability with end-to-end data path protection and firmware-implemented power-loss protection (pFAIL). Kingston is proud to offer our next generation entry-level enterprise SATA SSD to our data center and corporate customers looking for consistent application performance, stringent quality of service requirements and all-around reliability, said Nathan Su, Flash Memory Sales Director, APAC Region, and Kingston. DC400 SSDs combination of high IOPS, low latency and advanced data protection gives server IT managers and decision makers the perfect front-loading server storage option that they can deploy with confidence. DC400 SSD is available in 400GB, 480GB, 800GB, 960GB, 1.6TB and 1.8TB capacities2. The 400GB, 800GB and 1.6TB capacities areperformance optimized with greater IOPs for faster application performance and reduced storage latency. The 1.8TB capacity read-intensive optimized model is factory-tuned for read-intensive workloads. To further help companies and organizations out, Kingston offers industry-leading sales support through its Ask an Expert program. It also offers the Kingston SSD Manager, a free, downloadable toolbox to monitor drive health, status and disk usage. Panasonic announced recent appointments and changes in its senior management team, including two strategic management promotions from India. Mr. Daizo Ito, who is currently the Chairman, Panasonic India, and Regional Head for the India, South Asia, Middle East and Africa (ISAMEA) for Panasonic Corporation, has been appointed as the Senior Vice President, Eco Solutions Company In Charge of Global Marketing. Mr. Manish Sharma, President & CEO, Panasonic India and South Asia, and Executive Officer, Panasonic Corporation, has been entrusted with the role of Vice President Appliances Company of Panasonic Corporation. With this additional responsibility, he has become the only Indian to be a part of companys global team. The elevations, effective immediately, are part of the companys global organizational shift in preparation for new business initiatives and future growth. With the new key position in the global appliances business, Mr. Manish Sharma will take charge of shaping the global business plans and driving profitable growth along with sustainable business development for the appliances division. Mr. Daizo Ito has been working with the leaders of each market to drive the strategic growth of Panasonic across the ISAMEA region. The new appointments recognize the strong performance of Daizo Ito and Manish Sharma, who have both played pivotal roles in shaping Panasonics growth trajectory. Mr. Daizo Ito, Senior Vice President, Eco Solutions Company In Charge of Global Marketing said, India has been playing a vital role in Panasonics development globally over the past few years and is rapidly emerging as one of the strongest markets. We aim to make India a focal point of Panasonics expansion plans and make it a manufacturing hub, with investments on products, talent, marketing and manufacturing, we aim to strategically leverage our expertise and resources in India for the benefit of other emerging markets. I thank the Board for giving me this opportunity and reposing faith in me. I look forward to continue working closely with all colleagues and steer the organization through its next phase of evolution. Commenting on the new roleI am honored to be part of the global management team and work with the pioneers in the industry. It is a big opportunity for me to play a significant role in Panasonics business strategies and align the global strategies with Indian operations. This re-affirms the focus on India as a growth hub for the corporation. I am looking forward to working closely with the global team to deliver on our strategy for the medium and long term growth of the company. Central to these management transitions is Panasonics strategy of blending its deep-rooted Japanese expertise with the localization of products and technologies to match domestic requirements through a global alignment of top level executive evaluation system, effective April 1, 2017. Panasonic is focused on expanding business and promoting organic, geographically diverse growth in the ISAMEA region. Ito joined Panasonic Corporation (then Matsushita Electric Industrial Company) in the year 1977 and has been with the company for the last 4 decades. Led by his philosophy to drive the companys growth by Indians and for Indians the company has achieved several milestones in its journey in India. Mr. Manish Sharma, joined Panasonic in 2008 and has been instrumental in spearheading the growth and transformation of Panasonic India from a consumer-electronics company to a technology solutions company. In his current role as the president, he leads Panasonic in India including group and sister companies and the group support operations to drive profitable growth along with strategy planning and sustainable business development across businesses. He is also credited with transforming Panasonics smartphone business in India. He is the first Indian and the youngest to be appointed to the post of Executive Officer in the 98 year history of Panasonic Corporation. @Technuter.com News Service Smartron today announced the appointment of Amit Boni as the Vice President, Sales and Marketing. In this role, he will be responsible for overall brand building and heading the sales & marketing functions for Smartron. Amit with his rich experience in telecommunications & diversified Industrials space and has been credited for significant contributions in catalyzing growth of the telecom industry in India. Before joining Smartron Mr. Boni has played a vital role in Motorola for seven years at various senior executive positions including India head and was instrumental in scaling Motorola Mobilitys business, shaping the future of handset in the retail & e-commerce segment in India Amit will be responsible for sales and marketing efforts and his experience in building tech product brands makes him a perfect fit for Smartron. Along with experience, he brings with him new age thinking and a challenger mindset, we are positive that he will help us build Indias first true global product tech and IoT brand in the right direction and be a key internal stakeholder as we move towards realising our vision. said Mahesh Lingareddy, Founder and Chairman, Smartron. On his joining as VP, Sales and Marketing with Smartron, Amit Boni said, Its a great honor to join Smartron, the company that truly designs and engineers product in India. I am very excited to be a part of this company and work towards shaping the future of this authentic brand. Britain says only Gibraltar, UK people can decide future British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, left, speaks with Luxembourg\'s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn during a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the EU Council building in Luxembourg on Monday. AP, Brussels : British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson says Gibraltar's status can only be changed by the territory's people and U.K. citizens, as the enclave becomes an issue in Brexit negotiations. Johnson said Monday that Gibraltar's sovereignty "is not going to change and cannot conceivably change without the express support and consent of the people of Gibraltar and the United Kingdom." He spoke in Luxembourg where EU foreign ministers are meeting. Britain's departure from the European Union, likely in 2019, is not on the agenda. Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis told Sunday's El Pais newspaper that Madrid insists it should get a veto over any agreements regarding the strategic enclave on Spain's southern tip, as Britain prepares to leave. There will be no change to Gibraltar's sovereignty without Britain's consent, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Monday, while his Dutch counterpart called for calm after a British politician raised talk of defending the outpost. "The sovereignty of Gibraltar is unchanged and is not going to change, and cannot conceivably change without the express support and consent of the people of Gibraltar and the United Kingdom, and that is not is going to change," Johnson said on arrival at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg. A former leader of Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative party said she would even be prepared to go to war to defend the territory, as then prime minister Margaret Thatcher did with Argentina over the Falkland Islands 35 years ago. Asked by reporters if Gibraltar could become a military issue, Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders urged everyone to keep their cool in Britain's exit negotiations from the EU. "You can now see how difficult the divorce is," Koenders said. "Let us be cool and carry on and not use too harsh language. Let us negotiate, I think that's the most important." Dalai Lama fled to India after failed armed rebellion: China PTI, Beijing : China said the Dalai Lama fled to India from Tibet in 1959 after a "failed armed rebellion", rejecting his remarks that he had no other option but to escape due to increased Chinese military action. "As it is known to all, the 14th Dalai Lama is an anti-China separatist who have long lived in exile following a failed armed rebellion by the reactionary group of high-ranking feudal serf-owners in Tibet in March 1959," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said yesterday reacting to his comments. "His remarks which serve his anti-China separatist purpose have no trace of facts at all," the Ministry told PTI in a written response to a query about his comments. About his stay in India, the Ministry said, "the Chinese government is resolutely opposed to any country's support and facilitation for the 14th Dalai group's anti-China separatist activities". The 81-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader recalled, on Saturday, during his visit to Assam that "On March 10, 1959, there were huge demonstrations in Lhasa", the Tibetan region's capital. "Chinese military action also increased. I had no option but to escape. On March 17, I fled." Minorities reject Suu Kyi`s party National League for Democracy (NLD) party leader Aung San Suu Kyi leaves the parliament building after a meeting with members of her party in Naypyitaw. AFP, Yangon : Aung San Suu Kyi's one-year-old government won a string of seats in Myanmar by-elections Sunday but was bruised by losses in ethnic minority areas. The voting to fill 19 seats in the national and regional parliaments was seen as a test of the democracy icon's popularity after a bumpy first year in office. Her National League for Democracy (NLD) stormed to power in a historic 2015 poll that ended half a century of brutal military rule. But disillusionment with the administration has grown as the young government struggles to push through democratic reforms, kick-start the economy and ease unrest along the borders. The NLD's comfortable majority was never threatened by Saturday's by-elections, with less than five percent of the population eligible to vote in races held mostly to fill seats emptied by politicians who took on ministerial posts. Results that trickled in Sunday showed the party is still strong in its heartland areas. But it revealed a measure of discontent among Myanmar's ethnic minorities, who have long struggled under the rule of the Bamar majority to which Suu Kyi belongs. The NLD fared well in its strongholds around the commercial capital Yangon and in central regions further north, winning seats in nine races, according to results announced by Union Election Commission chairman Hla Thein. But it faced losses in more remote areas, including in ethnic minority regions where insurgent violence has continued despite Suu Kyi's promise to bring peace after decades of strife. The most embarrassing defeat was in the southern state of Mon, where the NLD lost a lower house seat to its main opposition-the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). The NLD had comfortably won that race just over a year ago when it trounced the USDP nationwide. The NLD sparked mass protests in Mon last month by naming a local bridge after Suu Kyi's father-a move seen as emblematic of the Bamar elite's steamrollering of minority cultures. The NLD also came up short in a race in Rakhine, a western state embroiled in ethnic and religious conflict. That lower house seat was taken by the chairman of the local Arakan National Party, a politician known for his hardline stance against the Muslim Rohingya. The one-million strong Rohingya live mostly in Rakhine and are loathed by many Buddhists, who see them as outsiders. World Autisms Awareness Day observed Chittagong bureau : World Autisms Awareness Day was observed with holding rally and bringing out colorful processions in port city Chittagong. The district administration of Chittagong, Social Welfare Department arranged the programs in association with NGOs working in Chittagong. Deputy Commissioner of Chittagong Shamsul Arefin inaugurated the programs of World Autisms Awareness Day at Chittagong Shishu Acade-my premises as chief guest. The Deputy Director of the Social Welfare Department in Chittagong Bondona Das delivered welcome speech. Among others, S M Morshed Hossain, Dr Bashona Mohuri, Jesmin Sultana Paru, Nasrin Sultana Nargis, Moham-mad Azizul Haque Newton, Manjur Morshed Feroj, Mahabubul Haque addres-sed the function. Addressing the function Shamsul Arefin said, "We have to be aware about autism.'' District budget for reducing regional disparity stressed BSS, Rajshahi : Speakers here underscored formulation of district budget for ensuring balanced development across the country. Development activists and members of the civil society at a discussion here viewed that formulation of people's participatory national budget is important for reflecting the aspirations of the people and their empowerment. ActionAid, Bangladesh and District Budget Movement (DBM) jointly organized the discussion at a city hotel on Sunday. In the meeting, various issues, like budget decentralization, peoples' participation in the budget formulation process, budgetary allocation for the marginalized community and their access to the public services were discussed elaborately. ActionAid Country Director Farah Kabir addressed the meeting as focal person elaborating the aspects of formulating district budget. Director of Barendra Unnayan Prochesta Foyzullah Chowdhury, Editor of Daily Sonali Sangbad Liakat Ali, Editor of Daily Sonar Desh Akbarul Hassan Millat, Executive Director of Sachetan Hasinul Islam and Scientific Officer of Bangladesh Silk Development Board Saiful Islam also spoke on the occasion. During his concept paper presentation, Prof ANK Noman of Department of Economics of Rajshahi University said decentralised budgeting process could be the effective means of attaining the goal of a democratic budget. Highlighting various aspects of the democratic budget he urged the concern authority for formulating district-wise budget from next year. This can ensure smooth development of all parts of the country. Prof Noman emphasised on identifying the local needs to include those under budgetary allocation for reducing disparity. He called for prioritizing infrastructure development, creation of investment-friendly atmosphere and availability of business related support in the next national budget. Liakat Ali demanded special allocations for surface water-based irrigation projects and emphasized preservation of river waters before it goes to sea and protecting Rajshahi's agriculture from adverse impacts of climate change. Some vital projects of the region like agro-based export processing zone and the North Rajshahi Irrigation Project should be brought under budgetary allocation, he stressed. German team chief calls on Speaker German delegation chief and President of German Parliament Prof Dr Lammert Norbert called on Jatiya Sangsad (JS) Speaker and President of 136th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the city on Monday. Describing the IPU Assembly as the largest get together, Chaudhury said, "Bangladesh has reached at rare height with participation of representatives of the parliaments and associate organizations of different countries (in the IPU assembly)." They held talks about various issues of mutual interests and parliamentary activities and electoral process of Bangladesh, financial and social empowerment of women, social safety and international terrorism. Praising the economic development of Bangladesh, delegation chief and president of German Parliament, Prof. Dr. Lammert Norbert said, "German is a true friend and development partner of Bangladesh and has been working for its development for long time." Terming terrorism as a global problem, he stressed the need for concerted efforts to effectively fight the menace internationally. Chaudhury, also Commonwealth Parliamentary Association's (CPA) executive chairperson, expressed gratitude towards the people as well as the government of German to recognize Bangladesh as an independent country in 1972. She also called upon the investors of German to invest in the special economic zone in Bangladesh and in jute, readymade garments, industries, power and energy, renewable energy and leather sectors. Films can help make militancy-free society Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu said films had a great role to play in creating a society free of militancy and which was healthy and aesthetic. The minister said this on Monday while speaking at a meeting on the "National Film Day" on the premises of the Film Development Corporation (FDC). The minister recalled the role of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in establishing the FDC in the mid-50s and said its establishment had inspired the nationalist movement to a great extent. Therefore, he said, the nation remembers Bangabndhu's contribution on this day. He also thanked the Prime Minister for announcing April 3 as "National Film Day" and expressed his best wishes for all film artists, producers, directors and technicians involved with the medium. The minister said films were involved with our life. "It helps us recollect our past, enjoy our present and makes us dream of our future," he said. Inu said films need to make people free of superstition, communalism and inequality. He recalled that the film industry which had made a revival under the tenure of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would gain further momentum with the initiative of all concerned. The meeting was participated by Chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on information ministry AKM Rahmatullah, Convener of the celebration committee "NayakRaj" Abdur Razzak, Managing Director of FDC Tapan Kumar Ghosh, Director General of Bangladesh Television, Haroon-ur-Rashid, Principal Information Officer (PIO) Kamrun Nahar, eminent artists Hasan Imam and Anjana Rahman, President of film directors' association Mushfiqur Rahman Gulzar and other renowned persons of the medium. Consolidating land for cooperative farming Dr. M. Aminul Islam Akanda : The cooperative farming in Bangladesh was practiced with pooling of one or a few resources. By and large, a two-tiered cooperative system was applied with its primary one at villages and the federation at Thana level, as per the advice of Dr Akhter Hameed Khan in the late 1950s. Some supply-side factors like irrigation infrastructures and subsidized inputs were the motivating factors in organizing farmers. Weren't those input-recipient societies failed to turn into 'vigorous local institutions'? Their outreaches were limited to a number of pilot projects without any nation-wide socio-political goals until 1960s. However, a sudden wave was witnessed after the independence of Bangladesh. Many organizations launched experimental projects following the 'Cooperating Farming Seminar' at the Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development (BARD) in 1972. This might be as a reflection of endorsing cooperative farming in the first five-year plan under 'socialistic pattern of economy'. Not that all, the cooperative ownership was earlier recognized as a separate type resource ownership in article 13(b) in the constitution of Bangladesh. The cooperative faming in Bangladesh was not successful for excessive experimentations, problems follow-on policies and numerous implementing agencies. Mr. Jasim U. Ahmed in his research (Bangladesh Journal of Agricultural Economics - BJAE, 1-1:88-106, 1978) found most of the experimental projects as closed within two years after commencing for financial loss. Similar ill fate was for a few societies formed by the Bangladesh Agricultural University. They had differential resource pooling for only 'plot-to-plot irrigation' to 'all post-tillage operations as single unit farm'. Professor Muhammad Yunus and Sir Fazle Hossin Abed also tested cooperative approach in delivering credit to the poor, failure of which let them to adopt group-based microcredit. Was the fate unalike for the Integrated Rural Development Program (IRDP) of 1972? The IRDP, which was transformed into the Bangladesh Rural Development Board in 1982, turned into a failure. Wasn't that the early age of stagnating cooperative farming? Many farmers were found to prefer simple cooperatives without collectivizing the distribution of returns (BJAE, 3-1:27-50, 1980). Didn't it indicate a failure in pooling resources? Small and medium farmers in non-land pooling cooperatives often enlarged farm size with rented-in land. They could bend tenancy terms less exploitative using subsidized inputs and irrigation in cooperative farming areas. How long could subsidies favor tenants? The situation was initially changed after opening out of private investment on irrigation system. Professor Koichi Fujita in his agrarian stories in the book 'Rethinking Economic Development' presented the shallow tube well (STW) owners as water-lords in early 1990s. He found an over-investment trap in 1999 and lately a competitive irrigation market. On the other hand, sharecropping turned unfavorable to tenants while the 1984 land reform approved one-third share for land, as per my research published in the Journal of International Farm Management (4-2:1-12, 2008). This was a case study under a scenario of strong demand for rented-in land in 2004. However, in a recent field visit, I observed larger supply of landed-out land from absentee farmers and an extensive practice of flexible cash renting. Rural land market was derisive during the trialing of cooperative farming. It turned into distressed one with an increase in real land price and a fall in capital (land value) output ratio, as per my other article in the Journal of Land and Rural Studies (2-2:36-53, 2014). This trend created high intension of holding land among all types of farmers in the early 1990s. Subsequent hyper hike in land prices made the market desirous even with a very high capital output ratio. Landowners were benefited not from crop output but from capital concentration on farmland until 2013. The stagnation (falling price) thereafter, in addition, offered outrageous low return to landowners. Now, tenancy terms are neither favorable to tenants or to landowners. The tenant is not in a position to accept exploitative terms for easy option in non-farm earning. Many absentee landowners are not worried of return but of managing extant borders of farmland. Would any negotiations solve this boarder-losing problem as per the Coase theorem? The answer is negative under weak-defined sanction and protection rights. Won't any trustworthy agreement persuade them in consolidating farmland? Meanwhile, leasing or cash renting made tenancy terms favorable for commercial farming. Some 'potato projects' is easily accumulating large areas, which is different from raising farm size with rented-in land by cooperative farmers earlier. Did the farmers consolidating either land or labor get marginal returns? Hasn't it let the cooperative activities to change into managing inputs and selling farm products? Accordingly, recent model of the comprehensive village development programs practices collectivizing activities within individual operations. How far does this model differ from growers cooperatives in Japan? Many people, knowingly or unknowingly, argue for large scale farming in Bangladesh following Japanese model. Mr. M. A. Jabber in his column (Bangladesh Observer, 16 September 1974) clarified that cooperative farming in its true sense was never introduced in Japan. The growers' cooperatives intensified activities into marketing and financial services. I have visited a few large paddy fields during his stay in 2005. Those were operated by farmers belonged to growers' cooperatives but were created with leased land. The Japanese Agricultural Cooperative (JA) became the major player in farming community after legitimating the 'farmland should be owned by farmers' in the Agricultural Land Act of 1952. When industrialization-led migration created many absentee farmers, the classical farming was found inefficient in their small scattered plots. The 'farmland consolidation projects' was undertaken to enlarge paddy plots after enacting the Agricultural Basic Act in 1961. The regulated rent was the tool of consolidating farmland that was organized by group of farmers. Subsequently, the focus changed from 'possession' to 'use' for increasing the number of retiring farmers. The revised agricultural land act in 2009 allowed a number of non-farm industries to operate consolidated farmland with at least one full-time farmer in the corporation. In April 2014, more non-farming entities were encouraged to start commercial farming. All 47 prefectural governments launched the 'farmland consolidation bank' as an intermediary between renters and landowners. Could such a farmland consolidation system be applied in Bangladesh? This is a land-scare country with 15 million farm holdings. It has average cultivated area of 0.51 hectare per farmer scattered into six plots. Farmers here have not migrated a lot and are active in farming. Japan, long after a downtrend of typical farmers, justified its changes into corporate commercial farming. Bangladesh in any consolidation practices must keep active farmers as active like Japanese did until 2008. Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal in his book 'Asian Drama' even argued for a modified form of welfare capitalism in South Asian agriculture. Will any intensive pooling of resources for cooperative farming fail again? It has a little possibility in this age of low 'agency problem' between owners and users in either tenancy or irrigation market. The regulatory framework for cooperatives exists which can be customized for consolidating farmland. Many absentee farmers might be happy with providing leasable land and many labor-surplus farmers with small piece of land might prefer leaving for non-farm earnings. What is essential is a 'land operation reform' to ensure marginal factor returns and property rights. Any periphery zoning, in addition, would be effective for conservation of farmland. (Dr. M. Aminul Islam Akanda, Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Comilla University, Email: [email protected]) Unique move to stand by deprived children WHILE launching a global campaign, titled - "100 million for 100 million" at the capital's St Joseph Higher Secondary School on Sunday Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi has urged Bangladesh's youths to stand beside the disadvantaged children and help them get education and protect them from exploitation. We appreciate the Nobel Laureate for selecting Bangladesh for the campaign's launching venue. Considering Bangladesh to be his second home is indeed an added honour for us. According to the campaign documents, there are more than 100 million child labourers now in the world, of which 5 million are in slavery. More than 100 million children are out of school and a staggering 2 million have been killed in military conflicts in the last 10 years. Satyarthi, who is also the Chairperson of the Global March against Child Labour, remarkably mentioned that young people have become more pro-active in raising their voices against exploitation, violence, and denial of their rights worldwide. He further stated that around hundred million young people have unending potentials to make the world a better place. Given their power, energy and idealism, if we fail to harness their strength and idealism, they will otherwise become frustrated, intolerant and violent. Very much in tuned with his sharp observations, we have seen how young people have recently been misguided and radicalised in some parts of the world, including Bangladesh. Apart from physical and social abuse, there are many examples of the phenomenon of injustice that children all across the world face today. For instance, child labour is one such example of injustice faced by children in Bangladesh and many other African and Asian countries. Poor parents often force their children into jobs in order to provide for themselves and sometimes even their families. This is a problem that parents should put out as much effort as they can to provide for their children's basic needs so that children do not have to settle for hard factory work, cleaning people's windscreens and shoes. They spend hours in the market selling goods or begging in the streets. On the topic of ensuring education, some USD 22 billion is needed to ensure education for children in primary schools every year. This amount is almost the same as three-and-a-half days of global military expenditure. We believe Mr Kailash Satyarthi has taken the very good initiative but greater attention from developed nations and organized sector are needed to bring those children out of forced labour market. The need of the hour is to stand united against all unfair practices and injustices shown to our children here and abroad. We see income gap is widening creating more discrimination to poor children. The degree of indiscretion and injustice witnessed globally - the reality is that the world is not doing enough to safeguard the present and the future of those children and others who are falling into the line. This must end. Govt fund for private sector power plant raises questions BANGLADESH Energy Regulatory Commission has decided to provide Tk 1,184 crore in equity to a joint venture company from Electricity Maintenance Fund of Power Development Board, as per a report in a local daily. The fund was created to help increase PDB's capacity for low-cost power generation and maintenance of its power plants to reduce the overall power supply cost, said officials. The Commission has already given its consent to hand-over the money in equity for Bangladesh-China Power Company Limited. In February 2011, the Commission created the fund with 5.17 percent of bulk power tariff for increasing PDB's capacity in low-cost power generation as well as for proper maintenance of power plants. On March 27, the Commission issued a letter to the Secretary, Power Division givin its nod to provide the money after amending the guidelines for utilisation of the fund, said officials. BCPCL, set up under a government policy to facilitate private entrepreneurs to sell bulk electricity from its power plants to the PDB, will use the fund for financial closure for its 1,320MW coal-fired power project, they said. The company is a 50/50 joint venture of North West Power Generation Company Limited - an enterprise of the Power Development Board and China National Machinery Import and Export Company. The project cost has been estimated at Tk 19,840 crore with a debt equity ratio of 80:20. EXIM Bank of China will provide Tk 15,972 crore under a credit agreement. The 50 percent of the equity for each of the joint venture parties would pay Tk 1,984 crore. The maintenance fund has so far accumulated about Tk 5,600 crore as the Power Development Board puts into the fund about Tk 1,000 crore a year; which increases with the increase in Power generation. It is completely unacceptable that a private firm be given public funds to further profit from the public by selling electricity. It goes against the guidelines for setting up the fund in the first place - in fact the guidelines are being amended to suit the action of BERC, which in itself should raise questions of partiality. Why should a private firm be given public funds when it will make profits from selling electricity to the same public by charging higher rates? Electricity rates are already at an all time high. Instead of using the funds to lower the cost of production or funding low cost methods, it is being used to facilitate a private company's funding. Public funds can't be used to satisfy the profiteering motive of private business. This is not acceptable and in our view the government must review the decision to protect public interest. No explosive found: 7 held in Mymensingh Police arrested seven suspected militants from a house in Kalibari area of Mymensingh town on Monday afternoon. Staff Reporter : Members of law enforcing agencies in a drive detained seven persons from a a house owned by a local Awami League leader in Kalibari area of Mymensingh town on Monday afternoon, said Chowdhury Abdullah Al Maumn, Deputy Inspector General (Mymensingh Range) of Police. We could not find any explosive dives there unlike in the recent militant dens in Sylhet and Moulvibazar districts, the DIG said. We are trying to collect more information the police official said. The detained men were identified as Shahidul Islam, 35, Ashiqur Rahman, 19, Masum Ahmed 30, Nasir Uddin, 23, Al Amin, 25, Roman Mia, 25, and Hasan Shamim, 25, said our local correspondent after quoting Nurul Islam, Superintendent of Police (SP) of Mymensingh. "On an information that suspected militants holed up inside a one-storey building at Bhabanipur Lodge in Boro Kalibari area, Police conducted a two-hour drive at the house from 12:30pm on Monday," the police official said. He said bomb making equipment, objectionable books, CDs and computers were recovered from their possession, the SP said, Police initially asked them to surrender, but they did not comply. Then the law enforcers broke into the house and detained the seven, the SP said. No firearms or explosives were found in the house. But a large number of bank cheques, computers and other books were found in the house, he said. The Police Headquarters has recently sent a list of nearly 5,000 suspected militants to all district police chiefs. They are conducting special drives across Bangladesh to apprehend the militants. Female cop 'commits suicide SI under watch for 'provocation' Staff Reporter : A female police constable has allegedly committed suicide by setting fire to herself at Gouripur upazila in Mymensingh district. The deceased has been identified as Halima Khatun, 25, Constable of Police. She was daughter of Helal Uddin Akand from Netrakona district, said Delwar Ahmed Hossain, Officer-in Charge (OC) of Gouripur Police Station. Halima poured kerosene on her body at an abandoned barrack of the police station and set fire to herself on Sunday afternoon, the OC said. She was admitted to Mymensingh Medical College Hospital first. "She was taken to Bhaluka Upazila Health Complex when her condition deteriorated while being transferred to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. She died at the Health Complex around 7:15pm," the OC said. A policeman of the Gouripur Police Station, requesting anonymity, said Halima 'committed suicide for the recent extra-marital relations with Sub-Inspector 'Mizanur Islam recently". Mizan is married and has a child. Mymensingh Superintendent of Police Syed Nurul Islam said that the sub-inspector was kept under watch. Nurul Islam also said that he talked to Halima at Mymensingh Medical College Hospital, but her statement was not clear. "But the report of love affair is true. A three-member probe body was formed to investigate the incident, the SP said. Filing a case was under process, he said. The body was buried in her village in Netrakona district in the afternoon, he said. No decision yet over blocking FB, says telecom secy The government has neither taken any decision nor given any directive to block social networking site Facebook after midnight, said Posts and Telecommunications Division secretary Shyam Sunder Sikder. "It won't be wise to block Facebook now as it's not only used by children but also by many others for various purposes, including business and overseas communication...there'll be a technical problem if it is blocked now," the secretary told UNB. Shyam Sunder said this following media reports over blocking Facebook for 6 hours since midnight. The Cabinet Division has sent a letter to the Posts and Telecommunications Ministry seeking opinion whether Facebook could be blocked from 12 am to 6 am in the interest of children, he said. Following the Cabinet Division's letter, the ministry concerned sent a letter to the Bangladesh Telecommunications and Regulatory Commission (BTRC) and the BTRC will come up with its opinion in this regard soon, he added. During the DCs' conference last year, the deputy commissioner's discussed the use of Facebook by students after 12 am which hampers their academic activities. PM unaware of BNP mayors' suspension: Quader Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader on Monday said the Prime Minister is not aware of the suspension of mayors of Rajshahi and Sylhet cities and Habiganj municipality as the Local Government Ministry took the decision. "It's the Local Government Ministry's jurisdiction to suspend mayors. As the ministry has taken the decision, they can say better what the reason and logic behind it. But, so far I know the Prime Minister doesn't know about such a major policy decision," he said. Quader, also the Road Transport and Bridges Minister, came up with the remarks while talking to reporters after inaugurating the 8.5-km Matuail-New Town-Konapara RCC road at Demra in the city. He also claimed that there is no political link behind the decision of the mayors' suspension. Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC) mayor Mosaddek Hossain Bulbul and Sylhet City Corporation (SCC) mayor Ariful Haque Chowdhury were suspended for the second time on Sunday, hours after they took charge through legal battles. As the apex court delivered verdicts in their favour last month, the BNP-backed mayors went to their respective offices on Sunday morning. The government suspended RCC mayor Bulbul on May 7, 2015 as well since he had been charged with criminal offences, while Ariful Haque on January 7, 2015 as he had been made accused in the murder case of former Finance Minister SMA Kibria. Besides, Habiganj municipality mayor GK Gaus was suspended again on Sunday as he had also been charged with the murder of Kibria. HC orders to produce Oishee to observe mental status BSS, Dhaka : The High Court (HC) yesterday ordered prison authorities to produce Oishee Rahman, sentenced to death for killing her parents, before it on April 10 to observe her mental status. A High Court division bench comprising Justice Jahangir Hossain and Justice Md. Jahangir Hossain passed the order while holding hearing on her jail appeal and death reference in the case. The court came up with the order as her lawyer claimed Oishee was mentally unstable during the killing. Deputy attorney general Zahirul Haque however, raised objection about the matter, saying she is all aware about the proceedings of the case and the concerned trial court convicted her after observing her mental status. Dhaka Metropolitan Speedy Trial Tribunal-3 on November 12, 2015, sentenced Oishee to death for killing her parents Mahfuzur Rahman and Swapna Rahman in 2013. According to the case documents, the convict sedated her parents before knifing them to death. The court had also sentenced her friend Mizanur Rahman Rony to two-year rigorous imprisonment for giving her shelter after committing the crimes. On August 16, 2013, police recovered the bodies of Inspector Mahfuzur Rahman of special branch (SB) of police and his wife Swapna Rahman from their Chamelibagh residence in the capital. Customs Intelligence seizes BMW car in Gulshan bdnews24.com : The Customs Intelligence has seized a BMW car, which has been brought to Bangladesh using the 'Carnet de Passage' facility that allows tourists to enter one country from another with their vehicles without paying duties. The blue 525-i, seized from the capital's Gulshan, has a false registration number, officials say. The owner, businessperson Rukhsana Ameer, did not cooperate with the officials, when they conducted the operation on Mar 30, Moinul Khan, chief of Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID), told bdnews24.com on Monday. "She covered the car with a dark piece of cloth and refused to hand the CIID officials seized the car at 10pm. The seizure came after Bangladesh Road Transport Authority confirmed that the car's documents were forged, the CIID chief said. He said formal charges would be pressed under Customs and Money Laundering Acts after the investigation. A cartel is engaged in selling those vehicles with forged documents and false number plates and craft ways for people to dodge tariffs. India attacks on Nigerians`'racial` BBC Online : Envoys from African nations in the Indian capital, Delhi, have condemned the handling of recent attacks on Nigerian students in the city. In a statement, the African Heads of Mission said the attacks were "xenophobic and racial". Indian authorities had failed to "sufficiently condemn" the attacks or take "visible deterring measures", the envoys added. The students were attacked last month in Greater Noida, close to Delhi. Five Nigerian students were attacked by crowds, while another was beaten by a mob inside a shopping mall. The violence was prompted by the death of a local teenager due to a drug overdose. His parents blame Nigerian students for giving him the drugs. Police say five people have been arrested over the violence and India's Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj has promised an "impartial" inquiry. But the African Heads of Mission said that the response was inadequate, and called for an investigation by the UN Human Rights Council. They also called for "strong condemnation from the highest political level (both nationally and locally) of the government of India, as well as expediting legal actions against the perpetrators". The attack on one student inside the shopping mall was recorded on mobile phone cameras by other shoppers and widely circulated on social media. The victim told Indian reporters he had been beaten with rods, bricks and knives. He said that no one had helped or even called the police. Many Indians have reacted with shame online. But there have been a number of incidents in recent years in which people from African nations living in India have faced apparent discrimination or violence. In May 2016 a Congolese man was beaten to death in Delhi after an argument over an auto-rickshaw. Three months before that, a Tanzanian student was assaulted and partially stripped by a mob in the southern city of Bangalore. The Undead Archives I have finally salvaged my pre-Blogger TDR archives and added them into Blogger. They are almost totally in the form of one giant post for each month. And the formatting strayed from the originals. Sorry. But historians everywhere can rejoice that this treasure trove of my thoughts is restored to the world. The best bang for your buck! This option enables you to purchase online 24/7 access and receive the Sunday, Tuesday & Thursday print edition at no additional cost * Print edition only available in our carrier delivery area. Allow up to 72 hours for delivery of your print edition to begin. Print edition not available for Day Pass option. Hurricane Update: Fears arise that Gov. Ron DeSantis may reroute Hurricane Ian from Florida coast to Martha's Vineyard Study: People who define themselves by what they stand against, are usually afraid to tell people what they stand for Liz Cheney: Voters need to ask themselves, why they are so out of touch with their politicians White House: IRS toy guns for children are now politically correct, mandatory BREAKING: Biden's economic sanctions on the U.S. to be partially lifted prior to November election GOP's new slogan for midterms: Make Dissent Patriotic Again PSA: Due to high gas prices police departments will now be responding and making arrests via Zoom. NYT: Roe vs Wade to be renamed the "Don't Say Fetus" law Democrats insist on carrying unwanted presidency to term Elon Musk went to bed thinking he owns Twitter. Then the mail-in ballots arrived at 2am... Obama: "If you like your information you can keep your information" Fact checkers reveal Biden handler not a real Easter bunny Biden 2021: you'll save $0.16 on 4th of July BBQ! Biden 2022: you'll save a ton of $$ if you don't eat this 4th of July! Disney to buy Epstein Island for new theme park The Biology Underground is like the Weather Underground, except they are real biologists and they've had to go underground "Psssst. Hey you, kid. Ya wanna watch a Disney movie with me?" "I am not suicidal," says COVID-19 after being contracted by Hillary Clinton Trans-swimmer Lia Thomas's trophy is smaller than for male swimmers, and only 73% gold Sources: U.S. now considers majority of U.S. citizens a threat to U.S. BREAKING: Russian General claims he was beaten up outside Ukrainian bio lab by two Nazis who poured vodka and caviar over him and yelled "This is NATO Country!" Global warming news: 100,000 Russian migrants fleeing climate change about to march into Ukraine Future headline: Donald Trump to buy CNN for one dollar Georgia Governor Stacy Abrams feels honored to be the new Supreme Court justice President Biden: 'Vote for me or I'll shoot this foot' Fact checkers give Pinocchio's speech four Bidens Fauci: The only thing we have to fear, is a lack of fear itself! Study: Most people have had sex more violent than January 6th Facebook permanently bans Facebook from Facebook for violating Facebook community standards New remake of the 1950's horror movie Them to be titled Them/They Teachers Union: Idea that CRT is being taught in K-12 just a conspiracy theory by white supremacists trying to maintain their systemically racist police state Xze/She/He who controls the past controls the future; Xze/She/He who controls the present controls the past S ocialists vow to fight against Critical Socialism Theory A more perfect Soviet Union: the Party pretends it unites us, and we pretend we are united Biden solves border crisis with free direct flights from Central America to major metropolitan areas Critical race theory: destroy the world of systemic racism, build a world of systemic race-baiting In the future everyone will get canceled for fifteen minutes Biden proposes bill to spend two trillion dollars on more money printing factories Social unity: They pretend to hold elections and we pretend we voted Immigrants to Texas and Florida from New York and California break down and cry when they realize all their sacrifices for a better tomorrow were based on lies China anal swabs detect new 'silent but deadly' transmission of covid-19 variant Social science breakthrough: 'White' is the new way of saying 'Bourgeois' Biden administration swat teams make sweeping arrests of underground female-only track meets 'Green energy' to be renamed 'blackout energy' for easier comprehension of climate complexities New children's game: Rock, Paper, Scissors, Science Texas: Biden administration sends emergency wind turbines to help fight the blackouts BREAKING: Biden signs executive order canceling the number 45 ATTENTION: It is your duty to report anyone who says this is no longer a free country. Fact-checking commissars are monitoring all state-approved social media platforms for your convenience OUT: If you don't vote, you can't complain! IN: If you didn't vote Democrat, you can't complain! Social media justice: followers removed from pro-Trump accounts will be added to Biden's Twitter account Fact check: a democratic election is the one in which votes are counted until Democrats win JUST IN: China bans Twitter for being too totalitarian Pelosi introduces new House rule to replace 'gender' terms like mother, daughter, father, son with the word 'comrade'; the only acceptable pronoun will also be 'comrade' Sources: Biden transition team demands access to White House basement to begin renovations BREAKING: President Trump pardons America for its past Prime Minister Modi: to avoid accusations of racism India will change its name to Cleveland Biden creates Antifascist Librarian Justice Committee; the first book scheduled for burning is Fahrenheit 451 Media study: 148% of Americans believe voter fraud doesn't exist 2020 Election forecast: if Joe Biden emerges from the basement on Election Day and sees his shadow, expect four more years of Trump BREAKING: President Trump pardons Corn Pop Toobin, though on administrative leave, is still pulling for Biden Chinese whistleblower: Biden-20 was genetically engineered in a Wuhan lab Nancy Pelosi sponsors a bill to create the office of removal of the President New college humanities major: Critical Trump Studies Opinion: Joe Biden is just an idea CNN: Biden took a solid second place in the debate, while Trump only came next to last Having ordered that all Californians switch to electric cars by 2035, Gov. Gavin Newsom follows up by mandating them to have electricity by 2035 Election 2020: Joe Biden pledges to a peaceful post-election transfer of power to George Soros Out: Flatten the curve. In: Flatten the country. Breaking: the Democrat Party has finished transitioning from being the party of JFK to being the party of Lee Harvey Oswald Paradigm shift in Chromatics: Study shows Indigo (#3F00FF) mixed with Jamaic (#C0FF01) yields Black (#000000) Study: the trouble with wokeism is eventually you run out of victims Stacey Abrams refuses to concede to Harris; declares herself Biden's VP Election 2020: Spunky former presidential candidate wins VP slot by a head Churches in many states to hold services in opened up pubs and bars Election 2020: Xi Jinping still undecided on vice president for Joe Biden Reports: Republicans pounce on 'Republicans pounce' reports Minneapolis launches online looting app to combat Covid-19 DNC study finds lockdowns no longer necessary as the economy is now being destroyed more effectively by looters and rioters With America in lockdown, China offers to host Democrat primary Bernie Sanders tests negative for President In related news, Joe Biden follows other candidates in withdrawing from race and endorsing Joe Biden New York Governor Cuomo shuts down all 'non-essential' business, surprised to find himself out of a job Biden commits to picking a woman as running mate as long as she passes his sniff test Joe Biden's coronavirus prevention tips: always rub hand sanitizer on young girls before sniffing and fondling them Russian lawmakers warned that the American Democrats are meddling to re-elect Putin Joe Biden promises lucrative board member jobs as door prizes to get people to his rallies Democrats now worried they might even lose the illegal alien vote Soleimani's remains FedExed back to Iran and now no one knows what happened to the box BREAKING: massive search underway in Iran after Soleimani's boxed FedEx'd remains stolen off front porch Liz Warren harshly critical of Biden's suggestion to coal miners that they should learn to code, offers to have them trained as romance novelists instead Pelosi: "First we have to impeach Donald Trump before we can find out why we impeached him." Schiff calls his Amazon Alexa to testify: 'She knows absolutely everything' Iran answers to new Reagan statue in Berlin by erecting Obama statue at Tehran airport where he delivered pallets of cash California accepts award for most progressive environmental policies; further progressive developments to be announced as blackouts permit BREAKING: Romney DNA test reveals he is 1/1024th Republican California Governor Gavin Newsom blames electricity blackouts on Ukrainian kulaks, vows revenge Rat falling from White House ceiling fears for his life, begs reporters for protection, offers a tell-all memoir Latest UN climate report shows this month so far has seen the scariest climate pronouncements on record Climate science: there's no need for climate protests in China because China is already communist Islamic clerics split on whether Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib should be traveling around the world without an accompanying male relative Dem candidates call for the Beatles' song 'Get Back' and the 'White Album' to be banned; surviving two white guys of the group must pay reparations Bond's number is up: next 007 will be a black woman, played by Barack Obama NYT: moon landing was one small step for Man, one giant leap for White Male Supremacy HURRICANE WATCH: Tropical storm Barry has records sealed, once offshore expected to change name to Barack Trump politicizes the 4th of July, declares it henceforth to be called the 45th of July, or July the Trumpth Barack Obama critical of Trump for failing to insert 'I, me, my' into his 4th of July speech: "very unpresidential!" Congressional Democrats: John Dean's testimony proves Trump is Nixon in disguise and must be impeached Bernie Sanders admits to being a millionaire, promises to eat himself if nominated International Women's Day observed, women only paid 73% of attention afforded to men Democrats: anti-Semitism means never having to say you're sorry AOC: aborting babies helps preserve the planet for the next generation Bernie Sanders launches presidential campaign, promises to "build a great big beautiful Iron Curtain" around America if elected West Virginia renames itself Eastern Kentucky to avoid further embarrassment from Virginia BREAKING: Justice Ginsburg released from hospital after breaking 3 ribs at late night bar brawl in Adams Morgan DNA news: Senator Warren tanking in latest totem polls Orwell studies: 84% of academics believe problems raised in 1984 can be fixed with solutions from Animal Farm Progress in gender justice: online dating industry issues recommendations for men to wear body cameras, bring attorneys as chaperones Study: the only people who don't know what socialism is are the socialists Poll: 1 in 3 #FightFor15 activists believe movement is related to lowering the age of consent across America CNN expert: Kavanaugh confirmation will increase global warming by 3 degrees Harry Reid comes forth to say Judge Kavanaugh didn't pay any taxes in high school Hollywood to America: If you've got a flag on the Moon, you didn't plant that; some other country made that happen Protest march in straight jackets against Trump ends in chaos as participants try but fail to free themselves HEADLINES YOU WILL NEVER SEE: California Gov. Jerry Brown single-handedly stops wildfires in his state by issuing an immediate statewide ban on wildfires San Francisco closes all Planned Parenthood clinics after sting operation catches employees using plastic straws Vegan mother undergoes experimental surgery to force her breasts to produce almond milk With none of his emails answered, frustrated Nigerian man commits suicide and leaves $100bn fortune to charity California gives new meaning to strawman argument as caped Strawman battles supervillains in restaurants, bars, and fast food joints Violence increases in Mexico as cartels switch from smuggling drugs to plastic straws to San Francisco Obama proposes a Paris Economic Change agreement among nations to address how world will cope with future runaway economic warming Stormy Daniels plans border visit to give migrant children freebies San Francisco: man dumping off 20 lbs of human waste in plastic bag on street corner cited for using non-biodegradable plastic bag BREAKING: ICE renamed Planned Citizenship, immediately absolving it of all criticism Senate Democrats demand Supreme Court nominee not be unduly influenced by U.S. Constitution BREAKING: In 2018, Obama and Biden can finally celebrate Recovery Summer IG Report: the FBI broke the law, but since there was no criminal intent, no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case Pelosi on Trump's MS-13 "animals" comments: "Four legs good, two legs bad" Iran nuclear talks set to resume between the United States and John Kerry Report: The Mueller investigation has finally determined that the lyrics to Louie Louie are not about Trump and Russian collusion MARKETS: Demand for carbon credits spikes as Hamas seeks to undo damage to Earth's atmosphere caused by burning 10,000 tires on Gaza border BREAKING: After state reassignment surgery Pennsylvania will henceforth be known as Transylvania Experts: If we don't act now, unicorns will be extinct in just ten years. Children will ask, "Mommy, what's a unicorn?" Women and minorities will be forced to seek alternative hallucinations Korean war must continue: Hawaiian federal judge declares Trump's peace effort unconstitutional New York: feminists march on Broadway, demand the street be given new, non-misogynistic name Experts: California's planned transition of all state jobs from citizens to illegal aliens by 2020 will help to avoid bankruptcy and save money for social programs for illegal aliens Putin: If I didn't want Hillary to be president she would be dead Doritos maker PepsiCo to introduce snack line for women; new Doritas chips will be 77% as big as Doritos and won't make any scary 'crunchy noises' TMZ: Tooth Fairy accused of sexually assaulting millions of children, outs self as Transgendered Tooth Recovery Specialist RUSSIA COLLUSION: Trump offers Putin to trade Rep. Maxine Waters for two unnamed members of the State Duma Ikea founder dead at 91; his coffin arrived in a box with confusing instructions and took 3 hours to assemble This Thanksgiving ex-president Obama continues with his tradition of apologizing to turkeys everywhere for the injustice they suffered since America's founding Oslo, Norway: 2017 Nobel Peace Prize goes to advocacy group about which you'll forget immediately after reading this headline Cambridge, MA, library to replace racist 'Cat in the Hat' with inclusive 'Che in a Beret' Millions of men worldwide eagerly await broadcast of Hugh Hefner's funeral, solely for the articles Bill Gates offers to pay for Trump's wall on condition he gets to install Windows Bernie Sanders introduces single-payer public transportation bill to end America's unequal, unfair, and expensive private transportation system DNC embroiled in controversy after official Twitter account accidentally 'likes' pictures of US Constitution and Bill of Rights Hurricane Irma hits Cuba, causes millions of dollars worth of improvements to property and infrastructure Climate study: extreme weather may be caused by unlicensed witches casting wrong spells in well-meaning effort to destroy Trump Ex-president Obama declares Irma "Hurricane of Peace," urges not to jump to conclusions and succumb to stormophobia CNN: Trump reverses Obama's executive order banning hurricanes ISIS claims responsibility for a total solar eclipse over the lands of American crusaders and nonbelievers When asked if they could point to North Korea on a map many college students didn't know what a map was CNN: We must bring America into the 21st century by replacing the 18th century Constitution with 19th century poetry Pelosi: 'We have to impeach the president in order to find out what we impeached him for' BREAKING: As of Saturday July 8, 2017, all of Earth's ecosystems have shut down as per Prince Charles's super scientific pronouncement made 96 months ago. Everything is dead. All is lost. Life on Earth is no more. DNC to pick new election slogan out of four finalists: 'Give us more government or everyone dies,' 'Vote for Democrats or everyone dies,' 'Impeach Trump or everyone dies,' 'Stop the fearmongering or everyone dies' Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power" is humanity's last chance to save the Earth before it ends five years ago Experts: The more we embrace diversity the more everything is the same BOMBSHELL: TMZ offers Kathy Griffin $5 mil to keep any future sex tape private DEVELOPING: CNN, WaPo, NYT anonymous sources say Vladimir Putin may have ties to Russia BREAKING: Manning and Snowden have come out with strong condemnation of Donald Trump leaking classified information to Russia Gun store goes into lockdown over report an "active university professor" roving the grounds Dozens injured at Ralph Lauren & Louis Vuitton headquarters after Ivanka calls in missile strikes on rival fashion houses BOMBSHELL: Evidence proves Donald Trump conspired with his campaign to defeat Hillary Clinton University ranked "very intolerant of free speech" fights the accusation by banning the study and all involved Concerned that Russians don't consume enough alcohol in the month of March, Russia's Orthodox Church makes St. Patrick's Day official holiday Grassroots group calls for "The Million Regulators March" on Washington, supported by all who fear the loss of their betters telling them what to do Experts: Starbucks CEO Schultz's hiring of 10,000 Muslim refugees likely to blow up in his face Will the groundprog be frightened by its own shadow and hide - or will there be another season of insane protests? Trump signs executive order making California and New York national monuments; residents have two days to vacate Women's March against fascism completed with 400,000 fewer deaths than anticipated Feminist historians uncover ghastly concentration camps where so-called "housewives" were forced to live inauthentic lives slaving away in kitchens Dictionary of the future: Global Warming was a popular computer simulation game, where the only way to win was not to play "Anti-fascist" groups violently protest misspelling of their original name, "aren't-we-fascists" Post-inauguration blues: millions of democrats distraught as the reality of having to find real jobs sets in "Journalism is the continuation of war by other means" is exposed as a fake quote by mainstream media journalists Congressional Democrats: "We cannot just simply replace Obamacare with freedom because then millions of Americans will suddenly become free" Schoolchildren jailed for building only white snowmen Obama's reckless attacks on Russia serve as recruitment tool to create more Russian hackers Hillary: "I lost, so I'm going to follow our democratic traditions, poison the wells, and scorch the earth" Children in Venezuela cook and eat their Christmas toys Hillary: "I can hack Russia from my bathroom" Hillary suggests to counter "fake news" with government newspaper called "Truth" ("Pravda" for Russian speakers) BREAKING: Millions of uncounted votes found on Hillary's private voting machine in her Chappaqua bathroom New York Times: Fidel Castro world's sexiest corpse After years of trial and error, CIA finally succeeds with the "waiting it out" technique on Fidel Castro Post-election shopping tip: look for the PoliticsFree label at your local grocer to make sure you don't buy from companies that don't want your business anymore In Hillary's America, email server scrubs you Obama transfers his Nobel Peace Prize to anti-Trump rioters Democrats blame Hillary's criminal e-mail server for her loss, demand it face prison Afraid of "dangerous" Trump presidency, protesters pre-emptively burn America down to the ground Clinton Foundation in foreclosure as foreign donors demand refunds Hillary Clinton blames YouTube video for unexpected and spontaneous voter uprising that prevented her inevitable move into the White House Sudden rise in sea levels explained by disproportionately large tears shed by climate scientists in the aftermath of Trump's electoral victory FBI director Comey delighted after receiving Nobel Prize for Speed Reading (650,000 emails in one week) U.N. deploys troops to American college campuses in order to combat staggeringly low rape rates Responding to Trump's surging poll numbers, Obama preemptively pardons himself for treason Following hurricane Matthew's failure to devastate Florida, activists flock to the Sunshine State and destroy Trump signs manually Tim Kaine takes credit for interrupting hurricane Matthew while debating weather in Florida Study: Many non-voters still undecided on how they're not going to vote The Evolution of Dissent: on November 8th the nation is to decide whether dissent will stop being racist and become sexist - or it will once again be patriotic as it was for 8 years under George W. Bush Venezuela solves starvation problem by making it mandatory to buy food Breaking: the Clinton Foundation set to investigate the FBI Obama captures rare Pokemon while visiting Hiroshima Movie news: 'The Big Friendly Giant Government' flops at box office; audiences say "It's creepy" Barack Obama: "If I had a son, he'd look like Micah Johnson" White House edits Orlando 911 transcript to say shooter pledged allegiance to NRA and Republican Party President George Washington: 'Redcoats do not represent British Empire; King George promotes a distorted version of British colonialism' Following Obama's 'Okie-Doke' speech, stock of Okie-Doke soars; NASDAQ: 'Obama best Okie-Doke salesman' Weaponized baby formula threatens Planned Parenthood office; ACLU demands federal investigation of Gerber Experts: melting Antarctic glacier could cause sale levels to rise up to 80% off select items by this weekend Travel advisory: airlines now offering flights to front of TSA line As Obama instructs his administration to get ready for presidential transition, Trump preemptively purchases 'T' keys for White House keyboards John Kasich self-identifies as GOP primary winner, demands access to White House bathroom Upcoming Trump/Kelly interview on FoxNews sponsored by 'Let's Make a Deal' and 'The Price is Right' News from 2017: once the evacuation of Lena Dunham and 90% of other Hollywood celebrities to Canada is confirmed, Trump resigns from presidency: "My work here is done" Non-presidential candidate Paul Ryan pledges not to run for president in new non-presidential non-ad campaign Trump suggests creating 'Muslim database'; Obama symbolically protests by shredding White House guest logs beginning 2009 National Enquirer: John Kasich's real dad was the milkman, not mailman National Enquirer: Bound delegates from Colorado, Wyoming found in Ted Cruzs basement Iran breaks its pinky-swear promise not to support terrorism; US State Department vows rock-paper-scissors strategic response Women across the country cheer as racist Democrat president on $20 bill is replaced by black pro-gun Republican Federal Reserve solves budget crisis by writing itself a 20-trillion-dollar check Widows, orphans claim responsibility for Brussels airport bombing Che Guevara's son hopes Cuba's communism will rub off on US, proposes a long list of people the government should execute first Susan Sarandon: "I don't vote with my vagina." Voters in line behind her still suspicious, use hand sanitizer Campaign memo typo causes Hillary to court 'New Black Panties' vote New Hampshire votes for socialist Sanders, changes state motto to "Live FOR Free or Die" Martin O'Malley drops out of race after Iowa Caucus; nation shocked with revelation he has been running for president Statisticians: one out of three Bernie Sanders supporters is just as dumb as the other two Hillary campaign denies accusations of smoking-gun evidence in her emails, claims they contain only smoking-circumstantial-gun evidence Obama stops short of firing US Congress upon realizing the difficulty of assembling another group of such tractable yes-men In effort to contol wild passions for violent jihad, White House urges gun owners to keep their firearms covered in gun burkas TV horror live: A Charlie Brown Christmas gets shot up on air by Mohammed cartoons Democrats vow to burn the country down over Ted Cruz statement, 'The overwhelming majority of violent criminals are Democrats' Russia's trend to sign bombs dropped on ISIS with "This is for Paris" found response in Obama administration's trend to sign American bombs with "Return to sender" University researchers of cultural appropriation quit upon discovery that their research is appropriation from a culture that created universities Archeologists discover remains of what Barack Obama has described as unprecedented, un-American, and not-who-we-are immigration screening process in Ellis Island Mizzou protests lead to declaring entire state a "safe space," changing Missouri motto to "The don't show me state" Green energy fact: if we put all green energy subsidies together in one-dollar bills and burn them, we could generate more electricity than has been produced by subsidized green energy State officials improve chances of healthcare payouts by replacing ObamaCare with state lottery NASA's new mission to search for racism, sexism, and economic inequality in deep space suffers from race, gender, and class power struggles over multibillion-dollar budget College progress enforcement squads issue schematic humor charts so students know if a joke may be spontaneously laughed at or if regulations require other action ISIS opens suicide hotline for US teens depressed by climate change and other progressive doomsday scenarios Virginia county to close schools after teacher asks students to write 'death to America' in Arabic 'Wear hijab to school day' ends with spontaneous female circumcision and stoning of a classmate during lunch break ISIS releases new, even more barbaric video in an effort to regain mantle from Planned Parenthood Impressed by Fox News stellar rating during GOP debates, CNN to use same formula on Democrat candidates asking tough, pointed questions about Republicans Shocking new book explores pros and cons of socialism, discovers they are same people Pope outraged by Planned Parenthood's "unfettered capitalism," demands equal redistribution of baby parts to each according to his need John Kerry accepts Iran's "Golden Taquiyya" award, requests jalapenos on the side Citizens of Pluto protest US government's surveillance of their planetoid and its moons with New Horizons space drone John Kerry proposes 3-day waiting period for all terrorist nations trying to acquire nuclear weapons Chicago Police trying to identify flag that caused nine murders and 53 injuries in the city this past weekend Cuba opens to affordable medical tourism for Americans who can't afford Obamacare deductibles State-funded research proves existence of Quantum Aggression Particles (Heterons) in Large Hadron Collider Student job opportunities: make big bucks this summer as Hillarys Ordinary-American; all expenses paid, travel, free acting lessons Experts debate whether Iranian negotiators broke John Kerry's leg or he did it himself to get out of negotiations Junior Varsity takes Ramadi, advances to quarterfinals US media to GOP pool of candidates: 'Knowing what we know now, would you have had anything to do with the founding of the United States?' NY Mayor to hold peace talks with rats, apologize for previous Mayor's cowboy diplomacy China launches cube-shaped space object with a message to aliens: "The inhabitants of Earth will steal your intellectual property, copy it, manufacture it in sweatshops with slave labor, and sell it back to you at ridiculously low prices" Progressive scientists: Truth is a variable deduced by subtracting 'what is' from 'what ought to be' Experts agree: Hillary Clinton best candidate to lessen percentage of Americans in top 1% America's attempts at peace talks with the White House continue to be met with lies, stalling tactics, and bad faith Starbucks new policy to talk race with customers prompts new hashtag #DontHoldUpTheLine Hillary: DELETE is the new RESET Charlie Hebdo receives Islamophobe 2015 award; the cartoonists could not be reached for comment due to their inexplicable, illogical deaths Russia sends 'reset' button back to Hillary: 'You need it now more than we do' Barack Obama finds out from CNN that Hillary Clinton spent four years being his Secretary of State President Obama honors Leonard Nimoy by taking selfie in front of Starship Enterprise Police: If Obama had a convenience store, it would look like Obama Express Food Market Study finds stunning lack of racial, gender, and economic diversity among middle-class white males NASA: We're 80% sure about being 20% sure about being 17% sure about being 38% sure about 2014 being the hottest year on record People holding '$15 an Hour Now' posters sue Democratic party demanding raise to $15 an hour for rendered professional protesting services Cuba-US normalization: US tourists flock to see Cuba before it looks like the US and Cubans flock to see the US before it looks like Cuba White House describes attacks on Sony Pictures as 'spontaneous hacking in response to offensive video mocking Juche and its prophet' CIA responds to Democrat calls for transparency by releasing the director's cut of The Making Of Obama's Birth Certificate Obama: 'If I had a city, it would look like Ferguson' Biden: 'If I had a Ferguson (hic), it would look like a city' Obama signs executive order renaming 'looters' to 'undocumented shoppers' Ethicists agree: two wrongs do make a right so long as Bush did it first The aftermath of the 'War on Women 2014' finds a new 'Lost Generation' of disillusioned Democrat politicians, unable to cope with life out of office White House: Republican takeover of the Senate is a clear mandate from the American people for President Obama to rule by executive orders Nurse Kaci Hickox angrily tells reporters that she won't change her clocks for daylight savings time Democratic Party leaders in panic after recent poll shows most Democratic voters think 'midterm' is when to end pregnancy Desperate Democratic candidates plead with Obama to stop backing them and instead support their GOP opponents Ebola Czar issues five-year plan with mandatory quotas of Ebola infections per each state based on voting preferences Study: crony capitalism is to the free market what the Westboro Baptist Church is to Christianity Fun facts about world languages: the Left has more words for statism than the Eskimos have for snow African countries to ban all flights from the United States because "Obama is incompetent, it scares us" Nobel Peace Prize controversy: Hillary not nominated despite having done even less than Obama to deserve it Obama: 'Ebola is the JV of viruses' BREAKING: Secret Service foils Secret Service plot to protect Obama Revised 1st Amendment: buy one speech, get the second free Sharpton calls on white NFL players to beat their women in the interests of racial fairness President Obama appoints his weekly approval poll as new national security adviser Obama wags pen and phone at Putin; Europe offers support with powerful pens and phones from NATO members White House pledges to embarrass ISIS back to the Stone Age with a barrage of fearsome Twitter messages and fatally ironic Instagram photos Obama to fight ISIS with new federal Terrorist Regulatory Agency Obama vows ISIS will never raise their flag over the eighteenth hole Harry Reid: "Sometimes I say the wong thing" Elian Gonzalez wishes he had come to the U.S. on a bus from Central America like all the other kids Obama visits US-Mexican border, calls for a two-state solution Obama draws "blue line" in Iraq after Putin took away his red crayon "Hard Choices," a porno flick loosely based on Hillary Clinton's memoir and starring Hillary Hellfire as a drinking, whoring Secretary of State, wildly outsells the flabby, sagging original Accusations of siding with the enemy leave Sgt. Bergdahl with only two options: pursue a doctorate at Berkley or become a Senator from Massachusetts Jay Carney stuck in line behind Eric Shinseki to leave the White House; estimated wait time from 15 min to 6 weeks 100% of scientists agree that if man-made global warming were real, "the last people we'd want to help us is the Obama administration" Jay Carney says he found out that Obama found out that he found out that Obama found out that he found out about the latest Obama administration scandal on the news "Anarchy Now!" meeting turns into riot over points of order, bylaws, and whether or not 'kicking the #^@&*! ass' of the person trying to speak is or is not violence Obama retaliates against Putin by prohibiting unionized federal employees from dating hot Russian girls online during work hours Russian separatists in Ukraine riot over an offensive YouTube video showing the toppling of Lenin statues "Free Speech Zones" confuse Obamaphone owners who roam streets in search of additional air minutes Obamacare bolsters employment for professionals with skills to convert meth back into sudafed Gloves finally off: Obama uses pen and phone to cancel Putin's Netflix account Joe Biden to Russia: "We will bury you by turning more of Eastern Europe over to your control!" In last-ditch effort to help Ukraine, Obama deploys Rev. Sharpton and Rev. Jackson's Rainbow Coalition to Crimea Al Sharpton: "Not even Putin can withstand our signature chanting, 'racist, sexist, anti-gay, Russian army go away'!" Mardi Gras in North Korea: "Throw me some food!" Obama's foreign policy works: "War, invasion, and conquest are signs of weakness; we've got Putin right where we want him" US offers military solution to Ukraine crisis: "We will only fight countries that have LGBT military" Putin annexes Brighton Beach to protect ethnic Russians in Brooklyn, Obama appeals to UN and EU for help The 1980s: "Mr. Obama, we're just calling to ask if you want our foreign policy back. The 1970s are right here with us, and they're wondering, too." In a stunning act of defiance, Obama courageously unfriends Putin on Facebook MSNBC: Obama secures alliance with Austro-Hungarian Empire against Russias aggression in Ukraine Study: springbreak is to STDs what April 15th is to accountants Efforts to achieve moisture justice for California thwarted by unfair redistribution of snow in America North Korean voters unanimous: "We are the 100%" Leader of authoritarian gulag-site, The People's Cube, unanimously 're-elected' with 100% voter turnout Super Bowl: Obama blames Fox News for Broncos' loss Feminist author slams gay marriage: "a man needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle" Beverly Hills campaign heats up between Henry Waxman and Marianne Williamson over the widening income gap between millionaires and billionaires in their district Biden to lower $10,000-a-plate Dinner For The Homeless to $5,000 so more homeless can attend Kim becomes world leader, feeds uncle to dogs; Obama eats dogs, becomes world leader, America cries uncle North Korean leader executes own uncle for talking about Obamacare at family Christmas party White House hires part-time schizophrenic Mandela sign interpreter to help sell Obamacare Kim Jong Un executes own "crazy uncle" to keep him from ruining another family Christmas OFA admits its advice for area activists to give Obamacare Talk at shooting ranges was a bad idea President resolves Obamacare debacle with executive order declaring all Americans equally healthy Obama to Iran: "If you like your nuclear program, you can keep your nuclear program" Bovine community outraged by flatulence coming from Washington DC Obama: "I'm not particularly ideological; I believe in a good pragmatic five-year plan" Shocker: Obama had no knowledge he'd been reelected until he read about it in the local newspaper last week Server problems at HealthCare.gov so bad, it now flashes 'Error 808' message NSA marks National Best Friend Day with official announcement: "Government is your best friend; we know you like no one else, we're always there, we're always willing to listen" Al Qaeda cancels attack on USA citing launch of Obamacare as devastating enough The President's latest talking point on Obamacare: "I didn't build that" Dizzy with success, Obama renames his wildly popular healthcare mandate to HillaryCare Carney: huge ObamaCare deductibles won't look as bad come hyperinflation Washington Redskins drop 'Washington' from their name as offensive to most Americans Poll: 83% of Americans favor cowboy diplomacy over rodeo clown diplomacy GOVERNMENT WARNING: If you were able to complete ObamaCare form online, it wasn't a legitimate gov't website; you should report online fraud and change all your passwords Obama administration gets serious, threatens Syria with ObamaCare Obama authorizes the use of Vice President Joe Biden's double-barrel shotgun to fire a couple of blasts at Syria Sharpton: "British royals should have named baby 'Trayvon.' By choosing 'George' they sided with white Hispanic racist Zimmerman" DNC launches 'Carlos Danger' action figure; proceeds to fund a charity helping survivors of the Republican War on Women Nancy Pelosi extends abortion rights to the birds and the bees Hubble discovers planetary drift to the left Obama: 'If I had a daughter-in-law, she would look like Rachael Jeantel' FISA court rubberstamps statement denying its portrayal as government's rubber stamp Every time ObamaCare gets delayed, a Julia somewhere dies GOP to Schumer: 'Force full implementation of ObamaCare before 2014 or Dems will never win another election' Obama: 'If I had a son... no, wait, my daughter can now marry a woman!' Janet Napolitano: TSA findings reveal that since none of the hijackers were babies, elderly, or Tea Partiers, 9/11 was not an act of terrorism News Flash: Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) can see Canada from South Dakota Susan Rice: IRS actions against tea parties caused by anti-tax YouTube video that was insulting to their faith Drudge Report reduces font to fit all White House scandals onto one page Obama: the IRS is a constitutional right, just like the Second Amendment White House: top Obama officials using secret email accounts a result of bad IT advice to avoid spam mail from Nigeria Jay Carney to critics: 'Pinocchio never said anything inconsistent' Obama: If I had a gay son, he'd look like Jason Collins Gosnell's office in Benghazi raided by the IRS: mainstream media's worst cover-up challenge to date IRS targeting pro-gay-marriage LGBT groups leads to gayest tax revolt in U.S. history After Arlington Cemetery rejects offer to bury Boston bomber, Westboro Babtist Church steps up with premium front lawn plot Boston: Obama Administration to reclassify marathon bombing as 'sportsplace violence' Study: Success has many fathers but failure becomes a government program US Media: Can Pope Francis possibly clear up Vatican bureaucracy and banking without blaming the previous administration? Michelle Obama praises weekend rampage by Chicago teens as good way to burn calories and stay healthy This Passover, Obama urges his subjects to paint lamb's blood above doors in order to avoid the Sequester White House to American children: Sequester causes layoffs among hens that lay Easter eggs; union-wage Easter Bunnies to be replaced by Mexican Chupacabras Time Mag names Hugo Chavez world's sexiest corpse Boy, 8, pretends banana is gun, makes daring escape from school Study: Free lunches overpriced, lack nutrition Oscars 2013: Michelle Obama announces long-awaited merger of Hollywood and the State Joe Salazar defends the right of women to be raped in gun-free environment: 'rapists and rapees should work together to prevent gun violence for the common good' Dept. of Health and Human Services eliminates rape by reclassifying assailants as 'undocumented sex partners' Kremlin puts out warning not to photoshop Putin riding meteor unless bare-chested Deeming football too violent, Obama moves to introduce Super Drone Sundays instead Japan offers to extend nuclear umbrella to cover U.S. should America suffer devastating attack on its own defense spending Feminists organize one billion women to protest male oppression with one billion lap dances Urban community protests Mayor Bloomberg's ban on extra-large pop singers owning assault weapons Concerned with mounting death toll, Taliban offers to send peacekeeping advisers to Chicago Karl Rove puts an end to Tea Party with new 'Republicans For Democrats' strategy aimed at losing elections Answering public skepticism, President Obama authorizes unlimited drone attacks on all skeet targets throughout the country Skeet Ulrich denies claims he had been shot by President but considers changing his name to 'Traps' White House releases new exciting photos of Obama standing, sitting, looking thoughtful, and even breathing in and out New York Times hacked by Chinese government, Paul Krugman's economic policies stolen White House: when President shoots skeet, he donates the meat to food banks that feed the middle class To prove he is serious, Obama eliminates armed guard protection for President, Vice-President, and their families; establishes Gun-Free Zones around them instead State Dept to send 100,000 American college students to China as security for US debt obligations Jay Carney: Al Qaeda is on the run, they're just running forward President issues executive orders banning cliffs, ceilings, obstructions, statistics, and other notions that prevent us from moving forwards and upward Fearing the worst, Obama Administration outlaws the fan to prevent it from being hit by certain objects World ends; S&P soars Riddle of universe solved; answer not understood Meek inherit Earth, can't afford estate taxes Greece abandons Euro; accountants find Greece has no Euros anyway Wheel finally reinvented; axles to be gradually reinvented in 3rd quarter of 2013 Bigfoot found in Ohio, mysteriously not voting for Obama As Santa's workshop files for bankruptcy, Fed offers bailout in exchange for control of 'naughty and nice' list Freak flying pig accident causes bacon to fly off shelves Obama: green economy likely to transform America into a leading third world country of the new millennium Report: President Obama to visit the United States in the near future Obama promises to create thousands more economically neutral jobs Modernizing Islam: New York imam proposes to canonize Saul Alinsky as religion's latter day prophet Imam Rauf's peaceful solution: 'Move Ground Zero a few blocks away from the mosque and no one gets hurt' Study: Obama's threat to burn tax money in Washington 'recruitment bonanza' for Tea Parties Study: no Social Security reform will be needed if gov't raises retirement age to at least 814 years Obama attends church service, worships self Obama proposes national 'Win The Future' lottery; proceeds of new WTF Powerball to finance more gov't spending Historical revisionists: "Hey, you never know" Vice President Biden: criticizing Egypt is un-pharaoh Israelis to Egyptian rioters: "don't damage the pyramids, we will not rebuild" Lake Superior renamed Lake Inferior in spirit of tolerance and inclusiveness Al Gore: It's a shame that a family can be torn apart by something as simple as a pack of polar bears Michael Moore: As long as there is anyone with money to shake down, this country is not broke Obama's teleprompters unionize, demand collective bargaining rights Obama calls new taxes 'spending reductions in tax code.' Elsewhere rapists tout 'consent reductions in sexual intercourse' Obama's teleprompter unhappy with White House Twitter: "Too few words" Obama's Regulation Reduction committee finds US Constitution to be expensive outdated framework inefficiently regulating federal gov't Taking a page from the Reagan years, Obama announces new era of Perestroika and Glasnost Responding to Oslo shootings, Obama declares Christianity "Religion of Peace," praises "moderate Christians," promises to send one into space Republicans block Obama's $420 billion program to give American families free charms that ward off economic bad luck White House to impose Chimney tax on Santa Claus Obama decrees the economy is not soaring as much as previously decreeed Conservative think tank introduces children to capitalism with pop-up picture book "The Road to Smurfdom" Al Gore proposes to combat Global Warming by extracting silver linings from clouds in Earth's atmosphere Obama refutes charges of him being unresponsive to people's suffering: "When you pray to God, do you always hear a response?" Obama regrets the US government didn't provide his mother with free contraceptives when she was in college Fluke to Congress: drill, baby, drill! Planned Parenthood introduces Frequent Flucker reward card: 'Come again soon!' Obama to tornado victims: 'We inherited this weather from the previous administration' Obama congratulates Putin on Chicago-style election outcome People's Cube gives itself Hero of Socialist Labor medal in recognition of continued expert advice provided to the Obama Administration helping to shape its foreign and domestic policies Hamas: Israeli air defense unfair to 99% of our missiles, "only 1% allowed to reach Israel" Democrat strategist: without government supervision, women would have never evolved into humans Voters Without Borders oppose Texas new voter ID law Enraged by accusation that they are doing Obama's bidding, media leaders demand instructions from White House on how to respond Obama blames previous Olympics for failure to win at this Olympics Official: China plans to land on Moon or at least on cheap knockoff thereof Koran-Contra: Obama secretly arms Syrian rebels Poll: Progressive slogan 'We should be more like Europe' most popular with members of American Nazi Party Obama to Evangelicals: Jesus saves, I just spend May Day: Anarchists plan, schedule, synchronize, and execute a coordinated campaign against all of the above Midwestern farmers hooked on new erotic novel "50 Shades of Hay" Study: 99% of Liberals give the rest a bad name Obama meets with Jewish leaders, proposes deeper circumcisions for the rich Historians: Before HOPE & CHANGE there was HEMP & CHOOM at ten bucks a bag Cancer once again fails to cure Venezuela of its "President for Life" Tragic spelling error causes Muslim protesters to burn local boob-tube factory Secretary of Energy Steven Chu: due to energy conservation, the light at the end of the tunnel will be switched off Obama Administration running food stamps across the border with Mexico in an operation code-named "Fat And Furious" Pakistan explodes in protest over new Adobe Acrobat update; 17 local acrobats killed White House: "Let them eat statistics" Special Ops: if Benedict Arnold had a son, he would look like Barack Obama AD GOES HERE CHESTER The wake of a police officer killed in the line of duty last November could end up costing the Chester School District over $20,000. On Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016, hundreds of people gathered in the Chester High School gymnasium to pay their respects to Officer James Brockmeyer, 22, who died from injuries he suffered in a crash after a high-speed chase. Students attended school for three hours that morning and were dismissed early so the community could prepare for the wake and funeral. But the Illinois State Board of Education has denied the schools claim for an interrupted school day and views Nov. 3 as a day of non-attendance. That means the school district wont be supplied over $19,000 of general state aid funding for that day, along with potentially thousands of dollars in transportation reimbursement, said Regional Superintendent of Schools Kelton Davis. So even though that was a day staff was there, students were there, it will not qualify for them to receive their general state aid check as a day of attendance, Davis said. Under state statute, a school can claim a day of attendance for less than five hours of attendance under certain circumstances namely, if theres bad weather or if the students safety is at risk. The State Board ultimately decided that Nov. 3 didnt meet those criteria, but Davis said one could argue that it did. They literally were shutting down streets in the community, Davis said. (Students) had to get out of the building for the preparation for the wake that afternoon, so I think it could have been interpreted that for the safety and wellbeing of the kids, you really had to get them out of there. The circumstances were beyond the schools control, as there is no other venue in the community large enough to have hosted the event, Davis said. $20,000 may be a drop in the bucket compared to the $2.6 million in delayed payments owed by the state to the Chester School District, but it could still go a long way. Thats a teachers aide. That is a full-time, paraprofessional salary and benefits for that single position, Davis said. Davis has reached out to State Senator Paul Schimpf, R-Waterloo, and State Rep. Jerry Costello II, D-Red Bud, for help with the matter. Schimpf felt the school met the requirements for attendance on the day of the wake and personally made phone calls to the ISBE, Davis said. Schimpf negotiated a possible solution where the district could apply for a statutory waiver for retroactive payment in the fall. But theres no guarantee the waiver would pass, and there are huge delays in state funding already, Davis said. Meanwhile, Costello sponsored House Bill 1254, which would identify the emergency use of schools for funeral services as a qualifying interrupted school day. Schimpf has paved the way for the bill to move forward in the Senate, Davis said. Davis said that the bill would benefit rural communities throughout the state. He said even though the school day was shortened, that time wasnt wasted. I will tell you that those kids participated in preparations. Many volunteered putting flags out on the parade routes, preparing the school, working along with the community, and when the governor came to Chester to the funeral, he not only spoke to the family of the fallen officer but also to those kids and the volunteers. Theres a bigger lesson learned here, that not all learning is necessarily in that classroom, Davis said. For those two extra hours, these kids have learned an invaluable life lesson. Jason Stoker, 34, is charged with first-degree murder in Brockmeyer's death. Stoker allegedly led Brockmeyer on a high-speed chase, which allegedly resulted in Brockmeyer crashing his car. Brockmeyer died in the crash. CARBONDALE Four candidates for the position of chancellor of Southern Illinois University Carbondale will visit campus for multi-day interviews beginning next week. Each candidate will participate in a public forum for students, faculty, staff and community members. The interviews will also include meetings with student government representatives, multiple faculty and staff groups, campus leaders and System President Randy Dunn. Interview dates and details on public forums for each candidate follow. J.S. (Jeff) Elwell, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, will interview April 10-12. His public forum will be at 8:45 a.m., April 11, in John C. Guyon Auditorium in Morris Library. George W. Hynd, president of Oakland University in Michigan, will interview April 18-20. His public forum takes place at 8:45 a.m., April 19, in Guyon Auditorium in Morris Library. William Bradley Colwell, interim chancellor of SIU Carbondale, will interview April 24-26. His public forum will be at 8:45 a.m., April 25, in Guyon Auditorium in Morris Library. Carl A. Pinkert, vice president for research and economic development at the University of Alabama, interviews April 26-28. His public forum is at 8:45 a.m., April 27, in Guyon Auditorium in Morris Library. The finalists were identified following a national search that attracted 31 applicants and nominees. A 20-member search committee, chaired by College of Science Dean Laurie Achenbach and made up of students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members, recommended the finalists to Dunn. All of the finalists bring significant academic and administrative experience to the table, Dunn said. They also understand the challenges as well as the opportunities we face at SIU Carbondale. We are looking for a strong leader and effective manager who is not afraid to tackle tough issues and who can work collaboratively on and off campus to shape a shared vision for the universitys future, Dunn added. Brief background on each of the candidates follows. The position description and additional information about the candidates are available at chancellor.siu.edu/search. An SIU alumnus, Elwell is a professor of theater and speech, and has served as dean at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga since 2012. Previously, he was provost and special assistant to the chancellor for strategic initiatives at Auburn University at Montgomery in Alabama, founding dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication at East Carolina University in North Carolina, chair of the Department of Theatre Arts at the University of Nebraska, chair of the Department of Theatre at Marshall University in West Virginia, and director of theater at Mississippi State University. Productions of his plays have been featured in numerous New York and regional venues, and he has been active in professional organizations and as a producer and director. He holds a bachelors degree in English from California State University, Bakersfield; a masters degree in communication/theatre from the University of Southwestern Louisiana; and a doctoral degree in speech communication/theater from SIU Carbondale. Hynd has been president of Oakland University, where he also serves as a professor of psychology, since 2014. His previous roles include serving as provost and executive vice president of academic affairs at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, senior vice provost and dean and director of the Mary Lou Fulton Institute and Graduate School of Education at Arizona State University, dean of the College of Education at Purdue University in Indiana, and associate dean for research and external affairs in the College of Education, director of the School of Professional Studies and chair of the Division for the Education of Exceptional Children at the University of Georgia. Working in the field of clinical child neuropsychology, Hynd has written, co-authored and edited 11 books as well as numerous book chapters and journal articles. He holds bachelors and masters degrees in psychology from Pepperdine University in California and a doctoral degree in education from the University of Northern Colorado. In addition to serving as interim chancellor since 2015, Colwell is a professor in the universitys Department of Educational Administration and Higher Education. Before coming to SIU, he served as dean of the College of Education and Human Development at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. He was also associate dean for academic and student affairs in the College of Education and Human Services and chairman and director of graduate studies for the Department of Educational Administration and Higher Education at SIU. He has also worked as an attorney at Miller, Tracy, Braun & Wilson, Ltd., in Monticello, Illinois. Colwells academic focus is on legal, policy and school management issues, and he has published more than 50 papers and nearly 60 articles, book chapters and monographs. He holds a bachelors degree in political science from Anderson University in Indiana and a law degree as well as masters and doctoral degrees in educational administration from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. An SIU alumnus, Pinkert has been a vice president for research and economic development and professor of biological sciences at the University of Alabama since 2013. Previously, he was associate vice president for research, interim head of the Department of Pathobiology and associate dean for research and graduate studies in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Auburn University in Alabama. He has also held academic roles and directed research units at the University of Rochester, University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Missouri. Pinkert has been principal or co-investigator on grant-funded projects that received more than $31 million in external support. He holds a bachelors degree in zoology from Colorado State University, a masters degree in animal science from SIU, and a doctoral degree in animal science/reproductive physiology from the University of Georgia. CARBONDALE The executive director of The Womens Center warns that without state funding in the next three months, the agency that provides services to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault across eight Southern Illinois counties may be forced to shut its doors. If we dont see a budget for FY17 we will be closing, Cathy McClanahan said Monday. We see no other option. The fiscal year 2017 budget ends June 30, and McClanahan said that because the nonprofit agency has not received any state funding since December, it will soon burn through most of its savings and local donations to make payroll and pay overhead costs. McClanahan said that funding for domestic violence shelters was left out of the fiscal year 2017 partial year budget that the General Assembly passed on June 30. Therefore, The Womens Center has not received any state money for its domestic violence shelter since July 1, though it received some federal grant dollars through December. In a typical year, the center receives $494,000 annually through its contract with the Department of Human Services, she said. McClanahan said she is holding out hope that was an oversight legislators will correct. The state money the agency received between July and December was for its rape crisis center, as sexual assault services were funded in the latest stopgap budget deal. For the current fiscal year, the organization has received $55,000 for the services it provides to sexual assault victims, compared to previous recent years in which it received about $194,000, she said. Though funded in fiscal year 2017, rape crisis services were not funded in fiscal year 2016, so much of the roughly $5.8 million allocated on June 30 was used to pay back bills from the previous years, said Polly Poskin, executive director of the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault, which subcontracts with Illinois agencies that provide services to sexual assault victims and their families on behalf of the state. The state funding crisis has left social service agencies scrambling to find ways to continue services to victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault, she said. Poskin said that statewide, about 32 employees were laid off in the previous fiscal year because of the state budget impasse. The hideous thing that happens is the biggest factor in recovering from sexual assault is that the support youre receiving is consistent, predictable and stable, she said. It might be the only consistent, predictable and stable thing in a persons life. When a staff person leaves the survivor has to start over. Its a huge setback in that individuals life. Statewide, rape crisis centers, including The Womens Center, served just more than 18,000 people last fiscal year, counting crisis calls and in-person counseling. About 9,000 survivors were seen in person, and about 38 percent of those individuals were age 17 or younger, Poskin said. The Womens Center provided services to 1,100 domestic violence survivors and 205 sexual assault survivors in fiscal year 2016, McClanahan said. Roughly a third of the sexual assault victims who received services at The Womens Center that year were children or adolescents, and the largest percentage were young adults between the ages of 17 and 29, McClanahan said. The youngest client staff saw that year was 9 months old, and the oldest over age 65, she said. On Saturday, at a town hall meeting hosted by state Sens. Paul Schimpf and Dale Fowler, McClanahan pleaded with them to sign on to an appropriations bill in the Senate that would provide funds for domestic violence shelters, given that they did not receive a fiscal year 2017 allocation. We cant survive without this, she told the senators, whose meeting focused on the spring legislative session. The Womens Centers domestic violence shelter in Carbondale houses up to 40 women and their children, she noted. The organization serves the following eight counties: Johnson, Saline, Gallatin, Franklin, Williamson, Perry, Union and Jackson. The only other emergency shelters for domestic violence victims in the region are located in Cairo and Olney. A shelter in Centralia closed in February, she said. Schimpf and Fowler were seated in January, and both said they were unaware that domestic violence programs did not receive stopgap funding for fiscal year 2017, and agreed to research the matter further. Weve been there 11 weeks now, said Fowler, R-Harrisburg, of the freshman senators tenures in Springfield. This is important information we need, and thank you for bringing that to the table Schimpf, R-Waterloo, told her he was really disappointed to hear domestic violence shelters were not part of the June 30 stopgap appropriation. Thats something that, if that had been on my watch, I would have been very disappointed in myself. In February, The Associated Press reported that, according to interviews and documents the news agency reviewed, Illinois officials waited more than five months to let domestic violence program directors know that their funding had been excluded. The Associated Press reported at the time that no one knows or would say why about $9 million in funding for domestic violence shelters and programs was not included in the stopgap budget that took effect July 1. The Associated Press article referenced a letter that Human Services Secretary James Dimas sent to providers in late 2016 acknowledging there was some confusion about funding in the stopgap funding measure; he said it would be fully paid when available. That has yet to happen. McClanahan requested that Schimpf and Fowler sign on to the funding measure, Senate Bill 1695, to help address the financial emergency facing domestic violence shelters. The bill would allocate $9 million to shelters statewide, and allow The Womens Center to remain operational, McClanahan said. We need a budget, but in the interim, this would help us tremendously, she said. D uring the past three years, it seems as if time has slowed down. I know thats not scientifically possible, but still something has change... Isaiah Owens staged his first funeral at age 5, burying a matchstick in a casket made from an empty beer can lined with toilet paper. As he grew older, his passion blossomed and he began to hold real funerals, including one for a neighbors beloved dog. While others found Owens curiosity with death and its traditions unnerving, the Branchville native said he had simply found his calling in life. It is that calling that has made Owens the subject of a documentary honoring African-American funeral traditions. I am excited and really humbled that this has come to pass at this particular point in my career, while Im still alive, and after all of these years of sacrifice and hard work, the master embalmer and restorative artist said. Homegoings, the debut feature documentary from New York independent filmmaker Christine Turner, explores the culture and history of death and mourning by blacks, as told through the eyes of Owens, owner of Owens Funeral Home in Branchville and Harlem, N.Y. The film will have its world premiere during a screening Thursday, Feb. 28, at New Yorks Museum of Modern Art. Homegoings will be featured in the International Selections section of Documentary Fortnight 2013, the MoMAs annual showcase of recent nonfiction film and media. The documentary is also part of MoMA Selects: POV, an homage to the Public Broadcasting Systems longest-running showcase for independent nonfiction film. Homegoings will make its broadcast premiere on PBSs POV this summer. This represents death coming out of the closet, because in the documentary, youre faced with the fact that youre going to die, Owens said. And for those people who have lost loved ones and look at the documentary, theyll be able to sit and cry for those people that theyve probably needed to cry for a long time ago. Owens said he hopes viewers also gain a sense of their own mortality, and that the realization leads them to express their wishes while they still can rather than leaving their grieving loved ones to make those final decisions. African-American people died with the belief in the resurrection, so the excitement over the resurrected body is one of the things that really kinds of helps, he said. As a Christian person, I believe that Jesus Christ died and was buried and resurrected. I think he took the sting out of death at that particular time for me and other people. Although death is not something I want to run into this second, Im aware of Christs presence with me as I even go through death. The filmmaker said she contacted Owens after reading an article about him in The New York Times. Turner said she was intrigued by the man who has spent more than four decades not only caring for the dead, but for those left behind, as well. As he began to tell me more of his story, I became further intrigued and realized that there was a making of a film here, Turner said. Death is something thats so taboo in our culture, and I thought that this could be a really interesting way of bringing it to the forefront. The film harkens back to a time when blacks were refused service at white funeral homes and subsequently had to find ways to honor their dead. In the film, Owens demonstrates the historical traditions among African-American undertakers, who took pride in caring for their own. What I love about what I do is having the ability to watch the people speak about my service for them, Owens said. Its their joy and excitement at a time when it should be just the opposite. When your grandmother or your mother has been stricken with cancer and winds up being 60 pounds and unrecognizable, how nice it is to walk in the funeral home and see her back at 250 pounds and looking glamorous and fabulous? While restoring complimentary features to emaciated cases is among the handiwork Owens performs for the dead, he is also described in the film as a superb caretaker for the living. For the 10,000 funerals that I have conducted, I have 10,000 families that pretty much love me and ... will always cherish in their hearts the feelings that I gave to them at the time that was most difficult for them, Owens said. When you come to me, Im gonna take care of you and fix your broken heart. I dont know how it happens, but I just kind of know the things to do. Turner said Owens sees his job as serving the living and the dead. I think thats what makes him so exceptional, she said. Hes a really warm person whos great with people. Its a family business, where Owens is joined by his wife, Lillie, and two of their six children, Isaiah Christopher and Shaniqua. Lillie has allowed me to become who I am. She never second guesses me, Owens said. I spend an awful lot of time working in the business, and she never hounds me and actually works right with me. Shes probably my greatest asset. Another daughter, Lauren, has just applied to mortuary school. Shell do good, and, hopefully, theyll be able to keep this business around, Isaiah Owens said of his children and the funeral home he began in 1970, after moving to New York in 1968 to train as a mortician when he was 17. Turner finished filming the hour-long documentary in 2012 after almost four years. Part of the film was shot in Branchville, where Owens 96-year-old mother, Willie Mae, still works two days a week at the funeral home. Its so special for me to still have her. I feel extremely blessed, Owens said. Ive seen so many people in my career who lost their mother at a young age. To see her still getting to work and transferring the calls back to New York is just a blessing from the Lord. Turner said Homegoings helped her develop her own voice while giving one to family members who lost loved ones in the film. The funeral services that I covered in the film tended to be more celebratory in nature. Theyre really about celebrating the life of a particular person. I always saw them as a combination of both sad and happy, but also cathartic, she said. Death is a universal thing. Theres a way that people can connect with it. Even if they come from completely different backgrounds, theres a familiarity. The best films often reflect back on the audience. It was important to really give voice to the people in the film, because ... the experience of talking was very therapeutic. Turner said she is honored to have her passion project featured at the MoMAs Documentary Fortnight. I felt a strong sense of responsibility in protecting the subject matter, so I wanted to do the film with as much respect and dignity as I could. That was always my goal, Turner said. I also wanted to show that this has been a tradition in the community for a very long time. Making the film constantly reminded me of the preciousness of life. Were so involved in our work and everything else thats going on that we dont often stop and just remember how lucky we are to be here. Contact the writer: dgleaton@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5534. Online Orangeburg Consolidated School District Five trustees are developing a $64 million budget for the upcoming school year. During a work session March 30, Deputy Superintendent for Finance and Operations Donnie Boland presented the board with a preliminary budget for the year. This is kind of a conservative prediction, Boland said. Changes can still be made to the proposed budget. It will go through three readings before it becomes final. The district is projecting revenues for fiscal year 2017-18 will total $63.9 million. Thats almost $180,000 more than it expects to receive this year. Of that, more than $25 million will come from local taxes. The district will be reimbursed more than $10 million from the state for property tax relief and other taxes. The district is also anticipating a $394,498 decrease in federal and state funds, a cost of $391,774 to fund the 2 percent increase in retirement contributions, cuts to career and technology education that will cost the district $163,504 and a loss of K-12 lottery money totaling $412,692. The district is considering about $9 million in projects for the upcoming year. They include: $1 million to fix heating, ventilation and air conditioning in the Howard Middle School gym. $1.8 million for renovations of the district office. $3.6 million to completely replace the HVAC system at Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School. Boland said the district also plans to get rid of the old PVC drain pipes at O-W to modernize the school. Other projects in the budget include the repaving of O-Ws parking lots, improvements to the O-W auditorium, security enhancements, purchasing two activity buses and repairing roofs at Bethune-Bowman. Boland said school districts will also need to pay back money they were overpaid for the Child Development Education Program. The state has asked for $168,720 from District Five to repay the extra it was given. A proviso in the state budget would forgive the money. Were kind of holding on right now until the final determination is made of whether districts will have to pay that money back, Boland said. In the House version of the states budget, there is $100 million allocated toward school districts in an areas with a poverty index of 80 percent or higher. Boland said District Five could qualify for a portion of that money. The methodology has not been determined in distributing these funds, but we qualify, he said. Also at the meeting: Sen. John Matthews, D-Bowman, presented representatives from Bethune-Bowman a $500,000 check for Mohawk Mania, the schools summer enrichment program. Principal Lekekia Lewis and Mohawk Mania Director Jacqueline Hogges were present to accept the check. We are proud of the work that Mohawk Mania has done over the last two years, trustee Vernon Stephens said. We can actually see the results in our children. The board approved first reading of a policy for reimbursing district employees for travel expenses while out of the district on school business. The policy also increases the maximum amount that can be claimed for meals during travels from $25 to $62 for in-state travels and $72 for out of state travel. Stephens said this is not for board members. Solely this is employees as they travel to do the business of Orangeburg Consolidated School District Five, Stephens said. After careful consideration looking back, we saw that the appropriations were not up with the times. All expenses claimed will be reviewed by the employees supervisor and approved prior to their submission to the Finance Office for payment. If you want to know why Trumpcare failed and why most other Republican ambitions for entitlement reform will come up short, look no further than the commentary of Eugene Robinson in Mondays Washington Post. Robinson penned the following: You dont have to be a policy wonk to recognize that replacing income-based subsidies with less generous across-the-board tax credits would mean a net transfer of resources from poorer people to wealthier people. There you have it. The reduction (not even the elimination) of government subsidies constitutes a wealth transfer from those who were receiving the subsidies to those who were paying for the subsidies. And Robinson doesnt even mention the wealth transfers from the sick to the healthy and from the old to the young that would have resulted from eliminating the Obamacare mandate that requires the young and healthy to subsidize, through higher insurance rates, the old and ill. Even without the Freedom Caucus self-immolation, the Democratic drumbeat of taking from the poor to benefit the rich was enough to make a lot of Republicans queasy. We have known for decades the ironclad rule of American politics that, once granted, government benefits are almost impossible to eliminate. Now we know why. Its not just that the recipients of benefits constitute a powerful and motivated interest group to resist any reduction in benefits and to challenge any politician daring to suggest that taxpayers cannot continue to fund ever-expanding subsidies. No. It is taking from the poor and giving to the rich. It is immoral. Heck, it might even be theft. As Robinson opines, not even Ronald Reagan or Barry Goldwater would have suggested anything so extreme. To borrow from Robinson, it doesnt take a policy wonk to understand that subsidies must be paid for by someone, whether in the form of increased taxes, mandated purchase of over-priced health insurance, or payment of fines (oops, taxes) for failing to comply with the mandate. The great success of Obamacare, we have been told ad nauseam, is that millions of previously uninsured people now have health insurance. True enough, but only because others are paying much or all of the premiums. Robinsons claim that a shift from subsidies to less-generous tax credits is a cruel transfer of wealth is of a piece with the progressive mantra that all people have a right to health care. All along, by this view, the poor had a right to demand that the wealthy pay their doctor and hospital bills. Obamacare simply put things right. Progressives reject the distinction between positive and negative rights, but fiscal realities have a way of confirming that the difference is real. Negative rights guarantees against government interference with individual liberty come at no cost to the government beyond restraint. Positive rights guarantees of health care, housing, food, etc. require government resources. It is wonderful to have a generous government, but we must remember that governments have no resources of their own only what taxpayers are willing and able to provide. When subsidies become entitlements, as they almost always seem to (witness the farm programs adopted in the 1930s), we are left to only three alternatives: increase taxes, increase the federal debt, or reduce government services. All of these have their limits, but entitlements are forever. So Republicans face an almost insurmountable challenge in reforming the welfare/subsidy state.If curtailing entitlements, even if unsustainable, constitutes taking from the poor and giving to the rich, as Robinson concludes, it will be a hard sell, even for Republicans. Easier and politically safer to kick the can down the road and leave it for others to worry about. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. By Azernews By Amina Nazarli The heads of Azerbaijani, Georgian and Kazakh railway agencies gathered in Baku on April 1 to discuss mutual issues on Trans-Caspian International Transport Route. As part of the meeting of the Union of Legal Entities of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route Association, a protocol signing ceremony was held. 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. The protocol was also signed by Head of the Baku International Sea Trade Port Taleh Ziyadov, Head of the Aktau International Sea Trade Port Abay Turikpenbayev and Head of the Batumi Sea Port Murat Jumadillayev. The parties approved the regulations on membership in the Union of Legal Entities of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route Association, composition of a working group on development of the transport route, action plan for 2017, the Union charter and its logo. 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 Route. Speaking at the event, Gurbanov said that single tariffs for cargo transportation along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route will be determined in the near future. 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. Alpysbayev, talking to reporters on the sidelines of the event, said that the staff of the association will be fully formed until late 2017. The associations staff will include representatives of all its member organizations, he said, noting 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. Talking about Kazakhstans new Kuryk port, he said that the country plans to export over 450,000 tons of gas oil via the new port and then through Azerbaijan and Georgia until late 2017. 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. By Azernews By Laman Ismayilova An Azerbaijani delegation has participated in the Fiestalonia Milenio international festival in Spain. The creative team Gunxan Art led by a member of Azerbaijan's Artists Union Gunel Guseynova represented the country at the festival. Young talents, including Adil Demirtash, Laman Karimli, Leyla Pirmamedova, Jafarova Maryam, Fatima, Abdulraghimbeyli, Wafa Yuzbashiyeva, Arzu Ibragimbekhova and Firangiz Tariverdiyeva successfully performed in Spain, Azertag reported. Gunxan Art was awarded with three first and three second places, cup and diplomas, Trend Life reported. International festivals and contests Fiestalonia firstly are a huge amount of unforgettable emotions that each participant receives. International competitions, held under the brand Fiestalonia contribute to the preservation and a popularization of national traditions, ethnic culture of different nationalities and the strengthening of international relations. These cultural activities are directed to the propagation of peace, friendship, fraternal relations and world nations solidarity by means of folk art of dance, singing and music, rich traditions and respected national standards of self-expression and communication. By Azernews By Laman Ismayilova Baku on the eve of one of the biggest Christian holidays Easter will host an Easter Charity Bazaar for the eighth consecutive year. During the traditional Bazaar to be organized at the Russian Information and Cultural Center (RICC) on April 6-7, participants will be able to buy gifts, decorations, handicrafts, souvenirs, jewelry and paintings presented by several artists. Archbishop of Baku and Azerbaijan Eparchy Alexander Ishein, as well representatives of a number of embassies accredited in Azerbaijan will attend the opening of the event on April 6, Trend Life reported. All funds raised from the Easter Charity Bazaar will be spent for the needs of orphans. Easter is a Christian festival which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. According to the New Testament, Jesus died on the cross on Good Friday, and came back to life three days later. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Sunday, which also marks the end of Lent, the 40-day period of fasting which begins on Ash Wednesday. Maundy Thursday is the Thursday before Good Friday and commemorates the Maundy and Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles. Many churches hold special services on Easter Sunday. Easter traditions throughout the world differ from country to country. In many central and eastern European countries decorating eggs in beautiful patterns is especially popular. For instance, in Poland, families prepare a blessing basket the day before Easter, Filled with colored eggs, sausages, bread, and other food, baskets are taken to church to be blessed. In Sweden children dress up as Easter witches wearing long skirts, colorful headscarves and painted red cheeks, and go from home to home in their neighborhoods trading paintings and drawings in the hope of receiving sweets. In Russia, the neighbor or loved one of a person pierces the branch of the soft blooms, kept on the latter's shoulder. In the Czech Republic, the males of a family spank females with a homemade whip decorated with ribbons. The spanking is lighthearted and is believed to bring health over the next year. On Easter Monday, the President of the United States holds an annual Easter egg roll on the lawn of the White House for young children. Azerbaijan enjoys a tolerant atmosphere for different nations and religions. The national policy is defined on the principles of tolerance and coexistence of various nationalities, ethnic groups and religious minorities. Many religious confessions co-exist there. There are 1,834 mosques, 12 churches and 6 synagogues functioning in Azerbaijan. The government has created all conditions for religious worship in the country. By Azernews An official welcome ceremony was held for President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, who is on an official visit in Azerbaijan. A guard of honor was arranged for the Kazakh President in the square decorated with the national flags of the two countries on April 3, Azertac reported. The chief of the guard of honor reported to President Ilham Aliyev. Then, President Aliyev greeted President Nazarbayev. The chief of the guard of honor reported to the Kazakh president. The national anthems of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan were played. President Aliyev and President Nazarbayev reviewed the guard of honor. The Kazakh president saluted the Azerbaijani soldiers. State and government officials of Azerbaijan were introduced to President Nursultan Nazarbayev, and members of the Kazakh delegation were introduced to President Ilham Aliyev. The guard of honor marched in front of the presidents to the accompaniment of a military march. The Presidents posed for official photos. Following the official welcome ceremony, President Aliyev and President Nazarbayev held a one-on-one meeting. By Azernews By Amina Nazarli A round table entitled "Russia-Azerbaijan: 25 Years of Diplomatic Relations: Partnership Strategy" kicked off in Baku April 3, organized by the North-South Political Center and Baku International Policy and Security Network (Baku Network) analytical center jointly with Trend News Agency. Russian and Azerbaijani experts, politicians and public figures, media representatives of the two countries were invited to participate in the event, which was timed to the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Azerbaijan. The round table was opened by Gulnara Mammadzade, moderator of the event, director of the Baku Network analytical center and Angelika Trapeznikova, executive director of the North-South political center. Trapeznikova said that the attention paid to thet event by the embassies, the Azerbaijani government and representatives of civil society testifies to its importance. "On behalf of the Russian expert community, I will express a common opinion that it is possible to more effectively counter modern challenges through cooperation," Trapeznikova added. Matanat Baghiyeva, representative of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration, in turn said that the event not only contributes to the formation of good-neighborly relations between Russia and Azerbaijan, but also helps outline new ways of cooperation. Assistant to the Russian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Oleg Murashev was also among those who attended the event. He said that today the relations between Azerbaijan and Russia are actively developing in various spheres, including the economic sphere. A sincere dialogue between the leaders of Azerbaijan and Russia plays a huge role in strengthening relations between two countries, Murashev said. Elkhan Alasgarov, PhD, head of the expert council of the Baku International Policy and Security Network (Baku Network), also attended the event. Addressing the event, Alasgarov said that the friendly and trusting relations have been established between Azerbaijan and Russia thanks to mutual understanding between the two leaders. He added that the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will become the main guarantee of establishing stability in the region, which is in the interests of all countries. Over the past 25 years, the level of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Russia has grown significantly, Igor Seleznev, Ph. D., senior research fellow of the Institute of Social and Political Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences, said. Maintaining stability and security has become one of the important issues of cooperation between Moscow and Baku in the Caspian region, Seleznev said. Recently, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu said that he considers Azerbaijan to be an outpost of security in the Caspian Sea at a meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart Zakir Hasanov. Seleznev also added that the status of the Caspian Sea is an important issue, and the Caspian littoral states havent been able to reach an agreement yet regarding its status. It is encouraging that all sides are interested in maintaining stability in the Caspian Sea, he said. Baku and Moscow are expanding cooperation in the Caspian Sea, including in the military and military-technical field, as well as in the sphere of fighting international terrorism, he added. Protection of the Caspian environment is another important area of ??the interstate cooperation, Seleznev said. The Caspian Sea has a vulnerable ecosystem, and that includes energy projects implemented at sea, as well as. He added that preserving Caspian biodiversity is an important issue for the countries of the region. Speaking at the event, political scientist, MP Rasim Musabayov said that Baku considers participation in integration projects initiated by Moscow, in the context of political and economic benefits. "Baku considers its participation in all integration projects initiated by Moscow, in the context of its political and economic benefits, but observes it objectively not in all projects," he said. It is necessary to recall today the joint risks of the two countries, especially in the field of security in the Caucasus and the Caspian, Musabayov said. "The two countries are developing cooperation in the military-technical sphere, but Azerbaijan is developing its own independent defense industry," he added. The expert also noted that good relations between Russia and Turkey is a plus for Azerbaijan, as Baku has close allied relations with Turkey and wants to have good-neighborly relations with Russia. "Certain actions on the part of Azerbaijan also helped to remove the recent tension in the relations between Moscow and Ankara, we do not ask for anything from Moscow, we are ready to pay for everything. We can be the third partner in several formats, for example, with Turkey, while implementing any projects, as a bona fide partner, with financial responsibility," he said. In turn, Trofimchuk Gregory, chairman of the Expert Council of Research Support Foundation Workshop of Eurasian Ideas said that I would like to see the past years become a strong foundation for the future Azerbaijani-Russian relations and a new start, but not a symbol of a fading post-Soviet friendship. Azerbaijan is important for us in all respects including economic, military-political, humanitarian and strategic, both from regional and international views, he said. Baku is more a global partner of Moscow than a regional one, from whom Moscow has much to learn, especially in the confessional area, where Moscow has some problems. "Russia should understand the importance of Azerbaijan as one of the key figures of the Turkic world. Russia needs to study closer contact with the Turkic world using an example of Azerbaijan," said Trofimchuk. He believes that after the last exacerbations in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, a dangerous and indistinct situation has developed, which Moscow should not let down on its own. At the same time, Baku is now striving for compromises on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, including the creation of a peace platform between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the willingness to discuss the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, the expert a dded. According to Trofimchuk, the coming years will not be easy, as today there is a threat of destabilization of the South Caucasus region and other complex regional situations, given the high concentration of unresolved problems in the post-Soviet area. By Azernews By Rashid Shirinov Voter frauds and intimidation have engulfed the parliamentary elections held in Armenia on April 2. The vote was the first since constitutional changes turned the country into a parliamentary system in 2015. Opposition politicians complained of a string of voting irregularities in Sunday's election, including violations of ballot secrecy and multiple voting. Representatives of local and international election monitoring groups, as well as journalists revealed hundreds of violations during the elections, while cases of government resources being illegally used in the election have also been documented. The Prosecutor General's office of Armenia has investigated about 2,000 reports on the violations during the voting, and 392 of these reports contain criminal elements, Interfax reported. By and large, these reports are with respect to attempting to vote more than once, open voting, and obstructing the work of proxies and journalists during the election. The Prosecutor General's Office reported that criminal cases have already been launched into six facts, related to double voting attempt. The observers of the Citizen Observer initiative, in turn, revealed 1,918 violations during the elections, Aysor website reported. Of the total volume, 1,147 cases were recorded during the voting process, while the rest after the voting Moreover, international observers Atom Egoyan and Eric Nazaryan noted certain election violations having visited six polling stations, Armenian media stated. During a live broadcast, they showed a list, which contained notes indicating the number of votes cast for a specific party. A person sat at the ballot box and made notes, and later reported the number of voters to his party, Nazaryan said. Another fact of fraud was observed by Armenias Radio Liberty correspondent Sisak Gabrielian, who was attacked near the polling station and the headquarters of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia in Yerevan. The correspondent noticed that first, the voters went to the headquarters of the candidate from the Republican Party of Armenia Hakob Beglaryan, then they received money there and then voted. When shooting a video, a group of people in the headquarters attacked the journalist and seized the phone. Besides, the candidate from the Free Democrats party, Styopa Safaryan, told reporters that some technical equipment at polling stations, including the cameras, didnt work. Moreover, many voters came to polling stations with "accompanying persons", who were guiding them. It was a well-prepared deliberate process for the implementation of fraud," he noted. President Serzh Sargsyan's Republican Party was leading with 50.43 percent of the vote, while the opposition coalition behind Gagik Tsarukian - a former arm wrestler and one of the ex-Soviet state's wealthiest men - was trailing with 28.29 percent, according to preliminary results. The nationalist Dashnaktsutyun were at 6.88 percent, leaving them also set to enter parliament By Azernews By Kamila Aliyeva The European Union will recognize any decision about the political future of Syria, which will be approved by all Syrians both inside the country and beyond, the head of EU diplomacy Federica Mogherini said at the EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg, RIA Novosti reported. The United States and the European Union have consistently demanded Assad stand down in any peace deal. But last week Washington signaled it would no longer focus on Assad's ouster as it concentrates on the fight against terror groups such as Islamic State. Asked what this meant for EU policy, Mogherini said she believed it "would be impossible" to return to the status quo in Syria. "After nearly 7 years of war it seems completely unrealistic to believe that the future of Syria can be the same as it used to be in the past, but Syrians are those to decide it, and this is clear," she said adding that a political agreement on governance, power distribution and transition must be achieved by the Syrians. She noted that "any decision that would be acceptable to all Syrians who are in the country and beyond, including the opposition negotiating in Geneva will get our support." The decision is to be made by all Syrians," Mogherini concluded. Mogherini will co-host with the United Nations a two-day conference on Syria's future in Brussels focused on the disastrous humanitarian situation in the country after a war which has claimed more than 320,000 lives and displaced more than half the population. Armed conflict continues in Syria since March 2011. Government troops are confronted by militants of different armed rebel groups. Russia has begun airstrikes on terrorist facilities in Syria since 30 September 2015. The Russian military involvement follows an official request from President Bashar Assad to President Vladimir Putin. By Azernews By Rashid Shirinov New cases of serious violations in the parliamentary election of April 2 in Armenia are being reported. The Prosecutor General's Office of the country has already launched criminal cases into six facts of fraud, related to double voting attempt, and a suspect on one case was arrested. Radio Azatutyun.am reports that ballot papers were took out of the polling station in Zangak kindergarten in Armenias second largest city of Gyumri. Arus Hovhannisyan, who is a candidate from the Tsarukyan block, told journalists that near the polling station she noticed a group of women, handing out bulletins and accompanying people to the station. The process was led by a middle-aged woman, known as the Black Ano. Back in October 2016, in elections to local government, residents of Gyumri told journalists that the woman provides votes for the ruling Republican Party of Armenia. Ano did not deny that she brings people to the polling station: I bring them from homes and I will bring again. Styopa Safaryan, a candidate from the Free Democrats party told 1in.am that, as in previous years, the parliamentary election had many violations. This election, unfortunately, is not much different from all previous elections in terms of quality. It was a choice of money and all witnessed this. The society voted by choosing the money, said Safaryan. We do not recognize the results of the exit poll. In general, we take no poll seriously, he added. Safaryan noted that his party is waiting not for the official results by the Central Election Commission, but for the data from its members at precinct election commissions. Armenian publicist Musa Mikaelyan also notes the fraud in yesterdays election, noting that scams have already become a tradition of elections in Armenia. Serzh Sargsyan cannot be re-elected without any violations or falsifications The traditional elections could have been prevented only through non-traditional strategy and behavior, he writes. Besides, Arsine Khanjyan, Canadian actress of Armenian origin, who acted as observer in the election, regretted that she couldnt witness a transparent and clean election. Violations recorded by observers were refused to register. I had the impression that the observers were in despair, as they didnt have freedom for the exercise of their powers, Khanjyan said. President Serzh Sargsyan's Republican Party is leading with 49.12 percent of the vote, while the opposition coalition behind Gagik Tsarukian - a former arm wrestler and one of the ex-Soviet state's wealthiest men - is trailing with 27.32 percent, according to preliminary results. The block Yelk is third with 7.77 percent, while the nationalist Dashnaktsutyun is at 6.57 percent, leaving them also set to enter parliament. Copart Muscat Auctions and Al Ahlia Insurance a top insurance company in Oman have partnered to streamline the motor accident salvage sales process through operational efficiency and engagement with potential buyers. The signing ceremony was attended by Lloyd East, MD - Al Ahlia Insurance and regional CEO - RSA (Middle East), Richard Byford, claims director - Al Ahlia Insurance and Carlos Sabugueiro, CEO - Copart (Middle East, India and Africa). "We are excited to work with a reputable and successful business like Copart," said East. "In addition to improving our experience with the salvage disposal process, this agreement helps us gain quality vendors and innovative solutions that will benefit the Oman insurance industry in the mid to long term by improving transparency and competition." Sabugueiro said, "It is an honour to join hands with Al Ahlia (RSA) here in Oman. Our operations are growing in strength and scale. Our buyer network, which includes regular bidders from across the GCC, Europe and Africa, is also increasing." Al Ahlia has been a frontrunner in launching initiatives that not only strengthen the operations but also benefit the industry. This strategic supply chain initiative is underpinned by efficient systems; professionalism and global reach that will help Al Ahlia better manage the last mile of the claims process. Al Ahlia Insurance is part of the multi-national RSA Insurance Group that has a legacy of over 300 years in insurance and operates in over 100 countries globally. TradeArabia News Service Gulf Bank, a top bank in the region, was recently honoured with the Excellence in VIP Customer Service Award from Kuwaits Public Relations Association. Kuwaits Minister of Social Affairs and Labour Hend Al-Subaih and the chairman of Kuwaits Public Relations Association, Jamal Al Nasrallah presented the award to Gulf Bank representative, Meshari Shehab, assistant general manager Priority Banking. Upon receiving the award, Shehab said: We are proud to be recognized for our efforts in Priority Banking customer service and would like to thank Kuwaits Public Relations Association for this recognition. The Excellence in VIP Customer Service award affirms the success of Gulf Banks strategy to provide its valued customers with services tailored to their needs. With Gulf Bank Priority Banking, customers enjoy a personalized and preferential treatment coupled with a suite of Banking and investment products and services designed to meet their financial goals. The awards aim at underscoring the importance of customer service and public relations that require unique skills and high experience, and at highlighting the efforts invested in the fields of public relations and customer service across all industries, from the public and private sectors. A judging committee was formed to select the winners. It consisted of international and local public relations and customer service experts. The evaluation was based on international standards in regards to the level of client servicing and the ability to meet the clients needs. The event also featured a number of workshops about the strategies of public relations and customer service targeted at employees of ministries and organizations, in addition to a small exhibition area where participants showcased their products and services. The Kuwait Public Relations Award is one of the most prestigious events in Kuwait. The main objectives of the association is to promote the role of the State of Kuwait in public relations practice and functions, to create channels of cooperation with international and regional public relations associations, and to raise awareness of the importance of this industry. TradeArabia News Service The arrival of the new industrial revolution - or Industry 4.0 - promises considerable opportunities for inclusive and sustainable development for both manufacturers and governments, according to a new report. The report, titled Delivering the Sustainable Development Goals - seizing the opportunity in global manufacturing, was developed jointly by PwC, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (Unido) and the Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit (GMIS). It explores the relevance for manufacturing businesses of achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - also called the Global Goals - and examines how global manufacturing organisations can align their strategy with SDGs. Greater sustainability can help manufacturing and industrial businesses unlock trillions in growth opportunities. At the same time, governments will turn to business to help them shape and implement policy measures that advance sustainable economic growth and inclusive prosperity, said the report. The report states that SDGs offer tremendous economic opportunities for global manufacturing players and businesses at large, if captured and applied as part of long-term and inclusive growth strategies. A systematic, collaborative relationship between governments and manufacturers is therefore vital for the successful achievement of the global development agenda. It also aligns with the Business and Sustainable Development Commissions flagship report Better Business, Better World issued in earlier this year at Davos, Switzerland, showing how pursuing the global goals could raise trillions in new market opportunities in ways that extend prosperity to all. The report revealed that sustainable and inclusive business models could unlock economic opportunities worth at least $12 trillion a year by 2030 and generate up to 380 million jobs, mostly in developing countries. But that the total economic prize from implementing the global goals could be anywhere between two and three times larger still, assuming that the benefits are captured across the whole economy and accompanied by much higher labour and resource productivity. Dr Anil Khurana, partner, strategy and innovation at PwC and a member of the organising committee at GMIS, said: The SDGs offer businesses - including manufacturers - a unique opportunity to set their course towards a genuinely sustainable long-term strategy, one in which they can align better with governments and regulators, use energy and other resources much more efficiently, lower their costs and improve their innovation in terms of both products and production methods. The countdown has already begun in the race to achieve the SDGs, but global manufacturing should see it as a long-term play. CEOs therefore have much to consider and many moving parts to assimilate when it comes to the SDGs, but if they can meet these challenges, the rewards that await them are considerable indeed, he added. Ludovico Alcorta, director, United Nations Industrial Development Organization, said: Building vibrant and systematic partnerships with industry is a vital prerequisite for the successful implementation of todays transformative agenda toward accelerating poverty reduction and sustainable development. Government and business must work together to create clear policy frameworks and incentives to ensure that profits are translated into sustained economic growth, social inclusion and environmental protection, he said. Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 9 will foster strong, sustainable and balanced growth and prosperity by creating jobs and mainstreaming cleaner industrial solutions. But leveraging industrys potential to create lasting development results calls for new forms of partnership that put forward innovative business models that respond to commercial priorities while also delivering on the development front, he concluded. The inaugural GMIS will conclude today (March 30) at the Paris-Sorbonne Abu Dhabi, UAE. A joint initiative by the UAE Ministry of Economy and the Unido, and co-hosted with the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development, the summit will be held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces. The summit is the worlds first global gathering for the manufacturing community, bringing together leaders in business, government and civil society to shape a vision for the sectors future, it stated. TradeArabia News Service Eng Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansoori, Minister of Economy, held several bilateral meetings discussing trade and economic ties with senior officials from around the world on the sidelines of the ongoing 7th annual Investment Meeting (AIM 2017) in Dubai, UAE. The event opened yesterday (April 2) and will conclude tomorrow (April 4), at the Dubai World Trade Centre. The prominent figures he met included Rustam Minnikhanov, President of Tatarstan, as well as the ministers of economy, foreign trade and industry of Moldova, Costa Rica and Panama. Among the UAEs representatives were Ministry of Economy officials Abdullah Al Saleh, undersecretary for foreign trade and Industry; Abdullah Sultan Al Fan, assistant undersecretary for industry affairs, and other senior officials and advisors. During the meetings, Eng Al Mansoori emphasised the UAE's commitment to deepening economic and trade ties with the various countries of the world, citing the UAEs policy of economic openness policies and its ongoing efforts exerted to further diversify the economy and attract quality investments that add value to the national economy and drive the states vision of transforming into a diversified and sustainable knowledge-based economy, said a statement. In his talks with President Minnikhanov, Eng Al Mansoori explored ways to bring their current economic and trade relations to higher levels reflecting the mutual goals of their countries and their full capabilities, it said. The two sides emphasised the importance of enhancing their exchange of visits and economic delegations and their participation in economic events organized by the two parties, due to the direct impact of these activities in enhancing communications between their respective business communities, it added. They also agreed to take a closer look at the major incentives, facilities and investment opportunities their countries offer. For his part, President Minnikhanov emphasised his country's keenness to advance economic and trade cooperation with the UAE and explore potential bilateral economic and investment partnerships between the public and private sectors to serve their mutual interests. Al Mansoori also met with Moldova's Vice-Premier and Minister of Economy, Octavian Kalmyk, to discuss prospects for cooperation and ways to explore promising business opportunities in their respective markets. Talks centred on sectors prioritised under the economic agendas of both countries, such as infrastructure, agricultural products, food, and information and communication technologies. The meeting also followed up to the results of the fruitful visit of a UAE delegation to Moldova at the beginning of this year. Attendees touched on the outcomes of the agreement on a number of steps for further advancing cooperation. These strategic actions include the signing agreements for encouraging and protecting investments, avoiding double taxation, forging a technical and economic cooperation agreement, and extending direct flights between the two countries, the last of which will have a great impact in promoting trade and tourism exchange, said a statement. Eng Al Mansoori also spoke with Alexander Mora, Minister of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica. They focused on several areas of mutual interest, most notably agriculture, aviation, tourism and infrastructure. The two sides emphasized the importance of exchanging visits at the governmental and private levels to learn about the most important opportunities for establishing partnerships between their business communities, it said. During the meeting with Augusto Arosemena Moreno, Minister of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Panama, on the other hand, the two sides underscored the availability of numerous investment opportunities particularly in logistics, aviation and tourism which can advance economic and trade cooperation between the two countries, it stated. TradeArabia News Service Gulf Aluminium Rolling Mill (Garmco), the Bahrain-based international aluminium rolling mill, has appointed Mohammed Essa, the current general manager of operations, as its interim chief executive officer. Essa has over 30 years of work experience in the company. He joined Garmco in 1985 as a material tester in laboratory and served in key departments such as sales and marketing, operations and quality control, said a statement from the company. Mahmood Al Soufi, chairman, Garmco, said: We are confident that Essas experience with the company and his close working relationship with the executive team will ensure continuity and a smooth transition; and the company will stay the course with the existing strategic plan. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our departing CEO, Jean-Baptiste Lucas for his contribution over the past two years and wish him the best of luck in his future endeavours. He leaves behind a strong management team and strategy that will be taken forward by our interim CEO, he added. Garmco is the first and one of the largest downstream aluminium facilities in the Middle East for rolling, cutting and fabricating aluminium. With an annual production capacity of 165,000 tonnes, the company specialises in producing high-quality flat rolled aluminium products in various sizes and alloys, including sheets and coils. These products are exported to key markets around the world stretching from Australia to the US to over 2,000 customers in more than 45 countries, it stated. Meanwhile, work on a $55-million capacity expansion project at the company is on track with the first cast expected in July, and a gradual ramp-up towards full commissioning by the end of November, according to a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication. The new plant will provide Garmco with the capability to cast an additional 120,000 tonnes of aluminium slab products, added a company statement. Moreover, once the slabs are rolled, the finished products will exceed customer quality requirements whilst improving operational safety and reducing production costs, it stated. TradeArabia News Service Microsoft recently brought together industry experts and prominent technology decision-makers at a media event in Dubai, to demonstrate how Gulf-based organisations can use cloud services to protect themselves against cyber threats. The GCC region has, over the past decade, become a hot zone for cyber attacks, due to the acceleration of Internet and mobile penetration and relatively high average net worth among its citizenry. In 2017, the popularity of the Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to increase the number of endpoints available to cyber criminals and hacktivists, leading to a marked surge in breaches, the company said. As the regions enterprises and public bodies continue to adopt technologies like cloud computing to digitally transform their businesses, Microsoft believes service providers and their customers will need to address the demand for fresh policies and procedures that consider the evolving threat landscape. Cyber attacks are responsible for widespread disruption and losses in productivity and growth. Global estimates vary, but figures are routinely reported in the range of hundreds of billions of dollars. One estimate predicts the global cyber-security market to be worth more than $120 billion in 2017 a 35-fold increase over the past 13 years and to reach more than $1 trillion cumulatively over the next five years. The threat landscape evolves with the technology ecosystem and so cybersecurity is a top priority for Microsoft, said Mohammed Arif, Windows & Devices Business Group Lead, Microsoft Gulf. As targets for attacks grow, we expect the number of breach attempts to increase. The Microsoft cloud incorporates security at every level and in every scenario. We encrypt data to the highest standard, whether at rest or in transit to or from our data centres. Whatever the size or nature of your organisation, we can tailor a cyber-security solution that keeps you safe but allows you to operate, meaning security does not get in the way of your growth," he said. The Dubai event gathered Microsoft experts who discussed the companys security portfolio and the emerging threats and counter-threat solutions in the region. Additionally, representatives from National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi and Emirates airline, participated in a panel discussion about the challenges Gulf businesses face as they try to address the shifts in the threat landscape. Past high-profile attacks across the GCC have propelled cyber security from the IT office to the boardroom, and it now tops the C-level agenda. The participants explained how they had adopted Microsoft solutions to help protect their digital assets and employees. In the past year, Microsoft has taken steps to further strengthen its security platform, with the introduction of services such as Microsoft Cloud App Security, Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (WDATP) and Office 365 Advanced Security Management. Intelligence is at the heart of services such as Azure Security Centre, Microsoft Advanced Threat Analytics and WDATP. Enterprise-grade security in Windows 10 and the Microsoft Surface range is enabling enterprises to take ownership of their security infrastructure. Surface Enterprise Management Mode (SEMM) allows users to modify privileges, lock out suspicious sessions, and control hardware configuration and operating system behaviour. With the Creators Update, Windows 10 continues to broaden and deepen its security features. The new Windows Defender Security Center, combines security and health options in one place making easier for users to control Windows 10 device security and health options. For enterprise customers, the Creators Update will continue to bring new tools and capabilities that help simplify IT making it easier to better deploy, manage and support Windows 10 devices and to help stomp security threats, said the company. Microsofts SQL Server continues to lead the market, with its advanced data security features and new capabilities for Azure Security Centre (ASC) and Operations Management Suite (OMS). The platform helps organisations protect data, and detect and respond to sophisticated threats across cloud and datacentre resources. SQL works together with OMS and ASC to act on real-time intelligence from Microsofts network of global threat-monitoring and insights, giving customers greater visibility into their own security configuration, as well as insights into potential redundancy in their data, it said. Office 365 Secure Score is a new security analytics tool that helps IT professionals assess the strength of their current Office 365 security configuration. Its threat intelligence, available later this year, provides near real-time insight into the global threat landscape, to help customers stay ahead of cyberthreats. Many companies in the Middle East are ill-equipped to defend against major cyber-attacks, according to research by Symantec and Deloitte. The report suggests that more than two thirds of organisations in the region lack the internal capabilities to protect themselves against sophisticated intrusion methods. Additionally, 70 per cnet of regional IT decision-makers admit having less than full confidence in their companys cybersecurity policies, it said. But Middle Eastern companies are increasingly rising to the challenges posed by cyber attacks, expanding their IT departments and promoting greater awareness of threats. Current estimates value the Middle East cybersecurity sector at $25 billion over the next 10 years, and Microsoft is responding by building a robust ecosystem of security partners across the region, the company said. As governments and enterprises around the world continue to recognise the cost and productivity benefits of digital transformation, a holistic, managed approach to security has become more critical than ever before, added Arif. That is why we are collaborating with partners, customers and governments to combat the regions threat landscape. We want to give businesses and governments peace of mind, so they can focus on doing what they do best innovating. - TradeArabia News Service Dubais favourite multi-dimensional dining destination, Coya Dubai, in conjunction with Create Art Gallery, will welcome Ethiopian artist Workneh Bezu Kassa to its collective next week. On April 10 Kassa will welcome invited guests, curious art collectors and budding art appreciators to be taken on an immersive artistic tour through Coya Members Club. Showcasing his top pieces from six differently themed collections, Kassa will be showcasing his versatility through different mediums to include everything from acrylics and oils to pencil and watercolor. Art is the fundamental necessity for me. Art is the modality that reflects a thought. My life is art, art is nature. Through art, my soul is expressed in this world; I dont think I could survive without art. For me I need art like the air I breathe, my dreams are revealed through my art, my paintings are like prayers, they give me relief when Im feeling low. They allow me to speak to people, says Kassa. The event, from 7 pm to 9 pm, will be complemented with generous portions of canapes from the outlets award-winning menu which presents the best flavours and tastes of Peru. - TradeArabia News Service Despite international efforts to address food insecurity, around 108 million people in the world were severely food insecure in 2016, a dramatic increase compared with 80 million in 2015, according to a new global report on food crises released in Brussels. The report, whose compilation required integrating several measurement methodologies, represents a new and politically innovative collaboration between the European Union and USAid/Fewsnet, regional food security institutions together with UN agencies including the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Food Programme and Unicef. The dramatic increase reflects the trouble people have in producing and accessing food due to conflict, record-high food prices in local markets in affected countries 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, says 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. "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 mobilised 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. Most critical situations are worsening This year, the demand for humanitarian and resilience building assistance 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 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 not only to save people's lives, but also to pull them back from the brink of famine, 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 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. 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. - TradeArabia News Service An Emirates Airline plane suffered slight damage during pushback in Singapore on Thursday, a Wam news agency report said quoting an Emirates spokesman. The flight EK405 was scheduled to fly from Singapore to Dubai. In a statement, the spokesman said: "Engineering inspections determined that some repairs will be required and as a result all our affected passengers have now been rebooked on alternative flights." A CNBC report, meanwhile, said Singaporean budget carrier Scoot made contact with the Emirates aircraft while taxiing during early hours at the Changi Airport, Singapore. A Changi Airport spokesperson said there were no injuries. Al Manshar Rotana Kuwait has welcomed its new Front Office Manager, Michael Farag who will be responsible in ensuring well-organised operation of the hotels front office. Farag brings with him 15 years of hospitality experience and has worked in several Rotana Hotels. He started his hospitality career in Egypt as front office agent in 2005 before moving to the UAE. He continued his way up to success till he was appointed as front office manager at Rotana Hotels in July 2015, where he handled room configuration during a hotel pre-opening. In his new role, Farag will be in charge of supervising all front office services and personnel to ensure guests receive apt, efficient and personalised service. Part of his responsibility is to maintain a smooth relationship between the management and guests by attending to guest complaints, requests and enquiries. - TradeArabia News Service Oman Air will be adding to its exclusive portfolio of on-board products with a brand new collaboration with Roja Perfumes exclusively available to First and Business Class guests. These exquisite perfumes will join a range of hand-picked cosmetics, perfumes and accessories available on Oman Air. On a special event under the patronage of Sayyid Hamad Bin Thuwaini Al Said, the new perfume, Amber Aoud from Roja, was inaugurated on March 22 and attended by distinguished guests as well as media representatives, together with senior officials from Oman Air and Muscat Duty Free. Abdulaziz Al Raisi, executive vice president, Product and Brand Development, said: Oman Air is delighted to be able to offer our guests the opportunity to buy the exclusive Amber Aoud perfume from Roja. The brand is an excellent fit with our own quality product, having carved out a niche for itself as being one of the finest perfumes available. Here at Oman Air we work very hard to ensure that we are providing our guests with the absolute best and that which encompasses every detail of their on-board experience including the products that we sell on our aircraft. Oman Air Sinbad Gold, Silver and Blue members who purchase Roja Parfums onboard will receive an exclusive discount of 10 per cent, 7 per cent and 5 per cent respectively. Roja Perfumes, created by English born Roja Dove in 2001, are famous for using only the best quality materials and have established themselves as the finest perfumes in the world. The perfumer Dove is renowned for having one of the worlds most famous noses. Each Roja Parfums flacon is hand finished with bottles manufactured in France and made from only the purest and clearest glass. The gold detail on the glass is screen-printed by hand in England through a process that takes three days to complete. Each perfume cap, the symbol of Roja Parfums, is set by hand using fourteen Swarovski crystals in a process that takes five days to finish. The scents are only available in some of the worlds finest department stores, including Londons famous Harrods. Oman Airs Product and Brand Development team is highly trained in selecting each individual product available on board the airline. A great deal of care and in-depth research is undertaken to ensure that they reflect the award-winning standards of the airline and Oman Airs unique personality and on-board service are enforced. - TradeArabia News Service Have an event, trend or general energy happening youd like to see in the Energy Journal newsletter? Send it to Star-Tribune energy reporter Heather Richards at heather.richards@trib.com. Sign up for the newsletter at www.trib.com/energyjournal. This week in numbers Friday oil prices: West Texas Intermediate (WTI) $50.85, Brent (ICE) $52.83 Natural gas weekly averages: Henry Hub $2.99, Wyoming Pool $2.56, Opal $2.61 A hard year for coal Friday was an anniversary that people in Wyoming didn't celebrate. On March 31, 2016, hundreds of coal miners were laid off. More layoffs followed, and bankruptcy cases stretched into this year. But though times were hard, and coal remains under many of the same pressures that drove the bust, those most affected by the layoffs are hopeful for the days ahead. The Star-Tribune visited Gillette and Wright recently to talk to the people of coal country about how they've fared since the bottom of the bust. Energy independence President Donald Trump announced his energy strategy Tuesday, which included the first step in a campaign promise: the repeal of the Clean Power Plan. Semantics matter here. The president can't undo a rule that went through the lengthy public comment and study period required by law. What he can do is tell the Environmental Protection Agency to review the plan. Billed as a way to save the beleaguered coal industry, a rewrite of the CPP has wide appeal in Wyoming. The rule would have helped natural gas to take more of the market share for electricity by penalizing carbon dioxide emissions, most of which come from coal burning power plants. The president's actions immediately sparked pushback from environmental advocates, marking what many expect to be the first onslaught of legal actions against this administration as it attempts to undo the myriad climate change and clean energy policies developed under the previous administration. Cheney on board The president's move to undo the CPP came with a number of other mandates, including an end to the coal lease moratorium put in place by the Department of the Interior under President Barack Obama. In the days after the coal moratorium, many in Washington lent their approval to the president's decision, including Wyoming's freshman representative, Liz Cheney. Plumes 12 miles long It's been some time since missile silos and groundwater pollution near Cheyenne have taken center state. Last week, Sen. John Barrasso raised the issue of cleaning up in Wyoming before a committee in D.C., arguing that it is the federal government's responsibility to address the problem. Wyoming was home to seven crucial missile sites in the Cold War. Now the chemicals used to clean those missiles are running beneath the soil like a contaminated river in the state's groundwater. The science of public opinion More than half of Wyomingites agree that climate change is happening. Less than 40 percent believe humans caused it. A new study from Yale University tracked opinions on climate science nationwide. The study also asked questions about policy, whether research dollars should be funneled into renewables and if government should strictly limit carbon dioxide emissions. Wyoming was below national averages in some categories, but majority opinion was that the issue of climate change should be addressed in some way. Kheta Court luncheon and style show A spring style show and luncheon, sponsored by Kheta Court No. 59, Ladies Oriental Shrine of North America, will be held April 8 at First Christian Church, 520 CY Ave. Lunch will be at noon and the style show, with fashions from Fashion Crossroads, will be at 1 p.m. Tickets for the lunch and style show are $10. This event helps with the Courts charitable giving projects. For more information or tickets, call Linda at 262-4565 or Mary at 234-2951. Dem Forum April 8 Two views of Wyomings 2017 legislative session, which just ended, will be offered to the Democratic Womens Forum at its April 8 luncheon at the Ramkota Hotel. Meeting for buffet and program at noon, members will hear from Rep. Debbie Bovee (D) of Casper and Phoebe Stoner, executive director of the Equality State Policy Center of Wyoming. They will be providing their perspectives on bills passed during the recent session, and how the legislation is expected to affect people in Casper and throughout the state. This is the first year of a two-year term for Bovee, who was elected last November to represent House District 36. A Wyoming native, born in Laramie, Debbie received both bachelors and masters degrees from the University of Wyoming, she taught elementary children in Guernsey, Torrington and Casper, and for the past 10 years she worked with special education teachers, retiring in 2015. Originally from rural northeast Ohio, Stoner was drawn to Wyoming by her interest in environmental issues. Phoebe moved to Jackson in 2012 after studying biology at Lewis and Clark College. In the past year she joined the Equality State Policy Center, a non-partisan organization that advocates for transparency and citizen participation in our state government. She lobbied on that organizations behalf during the last legislative session. The Democratic Womens Forum luncheon meetings are open to all persons interested in attending, regardless of gender. The buffet costs $15 per plate, which includes tax and gratuity. Reservations should be made by Wednesday, April 5, by calling Jerre at 234-8625. Beekeepers meet April 13 Thinking about become a beekeeper? Or do you already have hives? Join us to learn about bees and meet area beekeepers. Natrona County Beekeepers Association will meet at 7 p.m., on Thursday, April 13, in the basement of the College Heights Baptist Church, 600 West 21st Street. Flycasters meet April 12 The monthly meeting of the members of Wyoming Flycasters is held the second Wednesday of every month at 7 p.m., at the Izaak Walton League Lodge, 4205 Fort Caspar Rd. Interested persons are encouraged to come and consider joining. Annual membership fee is $30. Wyoming Flycasters is dedicated to educating and assisting new or old fly fisher men and women in Wyoming and conserving waters and habitat for Wyomings wildlife and fisheries. Republican women host fun and fashion Join the Natrona County Republican Women at 10 a.m., on Saturday, April 15, at the Ramada Plaza, 300 W. F St., for a breakfast buffet, style show, auction and door prizes. Tickets are $40 in advance, credit cards accepted at mkt.com/ncrwgiftshop or mail checks to NCRW, PO Box 52062, Casper 82605; and $50 at the door, where credit cards, checks, cash are accepted. RSVP before April 13. Call 307-215-9749 or email NCRWMEMBER@gmail.com. Membership dues of $30 to NCRW can also be paid at that time. Casper Charla meets Would you like to practice conversational Spanish or help others learn? Come and join the Casper Charla! Te gustaria platicar en espanol? Ven y charla con nosotros! Todos son bienvenidos! Come and join us on the second Wednesday of each month this spring. We meet at a different restaurant each month and partake in food, drink and conversation. All levels of Spanish are welcome, from beginning to native-speakers. Nos reunimos los miercoles en varios restaurantes en Casper. Ven por una copa, un antojito o simplemente una charlita. Wednesday, April 12, 5-7 p.m.: La Costa; Wednesday, May 10, 5-7 p.m.: La Cocina. NARFE social April 25 Casper Chapter #358 of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association will have a no-host Social Meeting at noon on April 25, 2017 in the meeting room at the Casper Senior Center, 1831 East 4th Street. Chili cook off in May Harley Owners Group Oil City Chapter 3533 presents the 2nd annual Chili Cook Off open to the public and all ages from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., on May 13 at Oil City Harley Davidson, 831 N. Glen Rd. Admission is $5. A 50/50 raffle and loads of fun is promised. Civil Air Patrol meets Civil Air Patrol meets from 7 to 9 p.m. the first Tuesday of the month at Casper National Guard Armory, 5905 CY Ave. For more information, call 259-0855. Stammtisch at Applebees The Casper German Stammtisch is meeting weekly on Thursdays at Applebees from 6:30 to 8 p.m. New this year on the second Thursday of each month we will focus on speaking German! All ability levels are welcome, as long as they are eager to hear German. Archaeologists meet Wednesday The monthly meeting of the Casper Chapter of the Wyoming Archaeological Society will be held at 7 p.m., on Wednesday, April 5, on the ground floor of the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Building, 2211 King Blvd. Please use the entrance on the east side of the building. Following a brief business meeting, Dr. Jason Toohey, assistant professor at the Department of Anthropology, director of the Callacpuma Archaeological Project, and fellow of the UW Center for Global Studies at the University of Wyoming, will present a program entitled The Callacpuma Archaeological Project: Investigating Long Term Social and Political Development in the Northern Peruvian Andes. Visitors and potential new members are welcome. Please contact Mavis Greer, chapter president, at mavis@greerservices.com, if you have any questions. Kheta Court luncheon and style show A spring style show and luncheon, sponsored by Kheta Court No. 59, Ladies Oriental Shrine of North America, will be held April 8 at First Christian Church, 520 CY Ave. Lunch will be at noon and the style show, with fashions from Fashion Crossroads, will be at 1 p.m. Tickets for the lunch and style show are $10. This event helps with the Courts charitable giving projects. For more information or tickets, call Linda at 262-4565 or Mary at 234-2951. Dem Forum April 8 Two views of Wyomings 2017 legislative session which just ended will be offered to the Democratic Womens Forum at its April 8 luncheon at the Ramkota Hotel. Meeting for buffet and program at noon, members will hear from Rep. Debbie Bovee (D) of Casper and Phoebe Stoner, executive director of the Equality State Policy Center of Wyoming. They will be providing their perspectives on bills passed during the recent session, and how the legislation is expected to affect people in Casper and throughout the state. This is the first year of a two-year term for Bovee, who was elected last November to represent House District 36. A Wyoming native, born in Laramie, Debbie received both bachelors and masters degrees from the University of Wyoming, She taught elementary children in Guernsey, Torrington and Casper, and for the past 10 years she worked with special education teachers, retiring in 2015. Originally from rural northeast Ohio, Stoner was drawn to Wyoming by her interest in environmental issues. Phoebe moved to Jackson in 2012 after studying biology at Lewis and Clark College. In the past year she joined the Equality State Policy Center, a non-partisan organization that advocates for transparency and citizen participation in our state government. She lobbied on that organizations behalf during the last legislative session. The Democratic Womens Forum luncheon meetings are open to all persons interested in attending, regardless of gender. The buffet costs $15 per plate, which includes tax and gratuity. Reservations should be made by Wednesday, April 5, by calling Jerre at 234-8625. Beekeepers meet April 13 Thinking about become a beekeeper? Or you already have hives? Join us to learn about bees and meet area beekeepers. Natrona County Beekeepers Association will meet at 7 p.m., on Thursday, April 13, in the basement of the College Heights Baptist Church, 600 West 21st Street. Flycasters meet April 12 The monthly meeting of the members of Wyoming Flycasters is held the second Wednesday of every month at 7 p.m., at the Izaak Walton League Lodge, 4205 Fort Caspar Rd. Interested persons are encouraged to come and consider joining. Annual membership fee is $30. Wyoming Flycasters is dedicated to educating and assisting new or old fly fisher men and women in Wyoming and conserving waters and habitat for Wyomings wildlife and fisheries. Casper Charla meets Would you like to practice conversational Spanish or help others learn? Come and join the Casper Charla! Te gustaria platicar en espanol? Ven y charla con nosotros! Todos son bienvenidos! Come and join us on the second Wednesday of each month this spring. We meet at a different restaurant each month and partake in food, drink and conversation. All levels of Spanish are welcome, from beginning to native-speakers. Nos reunimos los miercoles en varios restaurantes en Casper. Ven por una copa, un antojito o simplemente una charlita. Wednesday, April 12, 5-7 p.m.: La Costa; Wednesday, May 10, 5-7 p.m.: La Cocina. Republican women host fun and fashion Join the Natrona County Republican Women at 10 a.m., on Saturday, April 15, at the Ramada Plaza, 300 W. F St., for a breakfast buffet, style show, auction and door prizes. Tickets are $40 in advance, credit cards accepted at mkt.com/ncrwgiftshop or mail checks to NCRW, PO Box 52062, Casper 82605; and $50 at the door, where credit cards, checks, cash are accepted. RSVP before April 13. Call 307-215-9749 or email NCRWMEMBER@gmail.com. Membership dues of $30 to NCRW can also be paid at that time. NARFE social April 25 Casper Chapter #358 of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association will have a no-host Social Meeting at noon on April 25, 2017 in the meeting room at the Casper Senior Center, 1831 East 4th Street. Chili cook off in May Harley Owners Group Oil City Chapter 3533 presents the 2nd annual Chili Cook Off open to the public and all ages from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., on May 13 at Oil City Harley Davidson, 831 N. Glen Rd. Admission is $5. A 50/50 raffle and loads of fun is promised. Civil Air Patrol meets Civil Air Patrol meets from 7 to 9 p.m. the first Tuesday of the month at Casper National Guard Armory, 5905 CY Ave. For more information, call 259-0855. Stammtisch at Applebees The Casper German Stammtisch is meeting weekly on Thursdays at Applebees from 6:30 to 8 p.m. New this year on the second Thursday of each month we will focus on speaking German! All ability levels are welcome, as long as they are eager to hear German. Grizzly bears continue to expand their range amid an ongoing effort to turn over management of the bears from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to the states of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, a federal official said. Weve seen an 11 percent change in increasing range in just a couple of years, Frank van Manen, head scientist of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team, said last week at a meeting in Jackson. Since coming under the protection of the Endangered Species Act, grizzlies have steadily expanded their habitat outward from the populations core in Yellowstone National Park. The fringes of the grizzly range, van Manen said, are typically occupied by dispersing young boar bruins. Typically, he said, theres a multiyear lag before female bears will fill in territories already settled by males. Given what weve seen in the Wind River Range (with male bears), I wouldnt be surprised if females were close behind within a matter of five years, van Manen said. The Wind River Range is located in west-central Wyoming, southeast of Yellowstone. Van Manen anticipated continued expansion into the Wyoming Range, a livestock-dense landscape where he said bear conflicts with livestock and humans are inevitable. Bears are simply entering a landscape where the potential for conflict is greater, he said. Twenty-seven percent of grizzly range within the region is now outside a demographic monitoring area where bear numbers are assessed annually. The population of grizzlies within the monitoring area has fallen for two consecutive years, from about 750 animals to 690. But van Manen noted that grizzly numbers outside the monitoring area are not counted and said he is confident the population is now at the highest point in decades. Since listing, theres no doubt that we are now at a point that we have the largest population size, he said. Center for Biological Diversity attorney Andrea Santarsieri said that he was concerned by the decline in grizzly numbers, and worried that hunting could soon occur near the Yellowstone and Grand Teton park boundaries if states gain management authority. We are made to believe that hunting and management are synonymous, Santarsieri said. I would say that theyre not. Agencies here are touting a recovered population, and we got where we are today without hunting. A final rule to delist the Yellowstone-area grizzly bear as a federally protected endangered species will be released as early as June, federal officials said at the meeting. They know the exact time Brandon Machado died: 2:45 p.m. on Feb. 17. They know he was shot in his home and that someone else was there at the time. Beyond that, his family isnt certain about much. Six weeks after Machados death, theyre still waiting to know what happened the night of his death. They want to see his autopsy report, find out who witnessed the shooting and learn where the police investigation now stands. Machado had lived in Casper for 12 years while working various jobs and earning a degree in biology. He loved fishing, hiking and the Broncos. He was shot in his home on North Jackson Street the night of Feb. 16 and died of his wounds the next day. A woman who was also in the house that night was shot as well, though she lived. No arrests have been made in the case. And Casper police arent saying much, the family said. They feel their concerns arent being heard and that many of the departments answers are patronizing. Theyve constantly put us off, said Diana Sanders, Machados mom. Theyve give us no information whatsoever. Investigations Lt. Chris Hadlock said the department has been doing the best it can to keep the Sanders informed, though he understands the familys frustration. However, officers also have to make sure any information theyre giving out is accurate. Currently, investigators are waiting for analysis of evidence collected at the scene to come back from the state crime lab. If you dont have the total picture and you throw information out there, you could be wrong, he said. This is a very complicated case. Machados case highlights a dynamic that can develop between investigators and victims families. Police often want to limit the release of information for investigative reasons, while family members want immediate answers. Casper police Chief Jim Wetzel said police cant always release information to victims or victims families because it could compromise the integrity of the investigation and its chances in court. Police often have to be vague about the status of the case because releasing too much information to the family too soon could influence how witnesses and potential suspects act. It can expose what we have and dont have in our hand, he said. The familys criticism of the police departments communication follows the testimony of women who said they felt ignored by the officers investigating their sexual assault cases. One woman said that the only way she could get information about her case in which a local doctor was eventually charged was to hound the detectives with calls and emails and visits to the police department. Now, Machados family says theyre being forced to go through the same hassle. They feel like they would know even less if they werent pushing for answers. Not once has someone from the department reached out with information without prodding from the family, they said. Detectives still havent interviewed Machados stepfather, Butch Sanders, who said he spoke with dispatchers and someone who was in the house the night of the shooting. For three days, they didnt know who the lead detective on the case was. Most of the officers and detectives they met were polite and kind, the family said, but the lack of information and poor communication is infuriating. Conversations with the department became more tense sometimes escalating into yelling matches as the family continued to press for updates. Last week, they emailed an extended list of questions to the lead detective. They never got a response. While they recognize investigators cant share all information with them, they wish they had at least received a response recognizing that police received the email. We know were not going to get answers, said Amber Sanders, Machados younger sister. But we want them to know we have questions. The family met with detectives again about a week after Machado died. They had some questions: Who had the detectives interviewed? How was the investigation going? What were the next steps? They were very defensive, Amber Sanders said. The family tried to be as helpful as possible. They emailed the detective a list of contacts who might be useful to interview, including Machados best friend, who had spoken with him that same evening. Hadlock, the investigations lieutenant, said investigators welcome and have followed up on any information the family has offered. He said he understands the familys frustrations waiting for test results from the crime lab is frustrating for officers, too. We just need to be patient with what we need to put together so we can do the best with the case that we can, he said. The Sanderses acknowledge that the police cant tell them everything. But they just wish the detectives and their supervisors would reach out more regularly without the family having to prod them. Even if it were just a quick phone call once a week to say that the case is proceeding, that would mean something. In the meantime, the Sanders family will continue to meet once a week to determine what the next steps are in handling Machados death. We just want justice for Brandon, Diana Sanders said. Were consumed by this. Casper police arrested six people Friday who allegedly traveled together from the Chicago area to attempt to use fake credit cards for cash advances at Casper banks. Casper police arrested Chevelle Carter, Lisa Cotton, Darneisha Perry, Latifah Muhammad, Stacey Walker and a man whom police have yet to identify Friday in connection to a string of reported attempted frauds at local banks. On Friday, a Casper police detective was investigating reports of people attempting to use fraudulent credit cards for cash advances at a number of local banks, according to arrest affidavits. All of the attempted advances were rejected. About 3:30 p.m. Friday officers responded to the Bank of the West on South Wolcott after bank employees reported that a woman was attempting to use a fraudulent credit card. An officer stopped the woman, later identified as Lisa Cotton, as she left the bank. In response to the officers questions, Cotton said she knew attempting to receive cash advances with fraudulent cards was illegal but that she was thirsty for money, according to her arrest affidavit. A short time later, another officer located the SUV that the suspects were using as it drove down Second Street. The officer stopped the vehicle near Pizza Ranch, but as he approached the drivers window the vehicle sped off, the affidavits state. The officer briefly pursued the vehicle as it moved west on Second Street at a high rate of speed, ignoring red lights and swerving across the center line. The officer soon stopped the pursuit because it posed a danger to the public, the affidavit states. Troopers with the Wyoming Highway Patrol later located the SUV as it traveled south on Interstate 25 and pursued the vehicle through multiple counties before stopping it. The five suspects in the car were then taken back to Casper. Two of the suspects refused to tell officers their real names or dates of birth, and most denied any allegations that they had attempted credit card fraud. Deputies with the Platte County Sheriffs Office later recovered a credit card skimmer, which investigators believe the suspects threw out of their vehicle during the chase. Police continue to investigate the case, the affidavits state. Investigators are collecting video surveillance from the banks and will later search a computer found in the suspects vehicle. Carter was booked into the Natrona County Detention Center on suspicion of eluding police, not having a drivers license and reckless driving, among other traffic violations. The four women and the unidentified man were booked on suspicion of conspiracy to commit credit card fraud, possession of a forgery device and unlawful use of a credit card. Walker and the unidentified man also face a potential charge of interference for lying about her identity. All the suspects were expected to be formally charged Monday afternoon in Natrona County Circuit Court. Uber launched its service in Wyoming within hours of Gov. Matt Mead signing a new law on March 3 that legalized and regulated transportation network companies. One of our cultural values here at Uber is make magic, said Brian Gebhardt, Ubers general manager for Frontier States. That Uber was available across the entire state at that time was magical. But what Uber sees as a testament to their commitment to Wyoming and intent to follow state law has left taxi operators and their supporters less than enchanted. Uber is, in my opinion, a semi-legal taxi operation that has spread around the globe like a virus, Casper Cabs owner Tom Elliott told Casper City Council in March. The service works like this: Individuals who want to drive for the company sign up online. People looking for rides sign up with a credit card, and when they want to start a trip they open an application on their smartphone and put in their location and intended destination. Drivers see the request and one driver will accept it and pick up the rider. Uber charges the rider and passes some of that money on to the driver while keeping a share for itself. Uber does not consider itself a taxi company but rather a technology platform that connects drivers classified as independent contractors rather than employees with riders and generally sees itself as immune from regulations that govern cab service. By the book But the company did things by the book in Wyoming, the 47th state its become active in, even if Gebhardt acknowledges Uber still doesnt believe the book applies. Do we believe the taxi ordinances do not apply to us? Yes, we believe that, he said. But... it made sense to approach it from a perspective of lets not run into any issues. Despite that belief, Uber spokesman Nathan Hambley still suggested in an email that competitor Lyft, which recently began operating in Jackson, Cheyenne and Laramie, was not following the law. I checked the secretary of states website for evidence of a business registration thats been issued to Lyft and couldnt find anything, Hambley said. Id be interested to know if they took all the appropriate steps to get up and running like we did. A Lyft representative said the company was unaware of any compliance issues in Wyoming. Whether or not Uber could have launched without the new law, Gebhardt said it helped allow us not to have any P.R. problems that weve experienced or could experience. A statewide regulation also means that there is consistency from city to city and that a driver who picks up a rider in Laramie can take her to Cheyenne without any problems, he added. Gebhardt made his first trip to Cheyenne in September to meet with legislators and local government and business officials. By the time the legislative session began in January, there was a bill explicitly permitting companies like Uber to operate in Wyoming with 12 co-sponsors from both parties. It passed the House 52-6 and sailed through the Senate unanimously. While most bills passed by the Legislature dont take effect until July, special language was inserted into the Uber bill to allow it to immediately become law. To prepare, the company sent representatives to cities around Wyoming to meet with interested drivers at coffee shops and ensure their paperwork including background checks were in order. That meant riders could begin using the service right away. But even with service technically turned on across the state, there are still times when no drivers are available in given areas, including larger cities like Casper. We always try to underscore to both riders and drivers that it is early in the process please have patience, Gebhardt said. Its going to continue to be a process as we evolve and increase that reliability. He said that Uber does not release specific numbers on how many people are using the service in a given region but that the company had done hundreds of rides since launching in early March. As a largely rural state, Wyoming poses unique challenges for a company that started in densely populated cities like San Francisco and New York City. Those cities ensure enough riders and drivers to build a critical mass. That means fares will be slightly higher in Wyoming, Gebhardt said. Uber will work differently in Wyoming in other ways, too. The ETAs might be a little longer than in a dense urban environment, he said. On the drivers side, its the idea that youre not always going to have constant rides and you really need to be in tune with the local rider base. Drivers can choose when to be available, and Gebhardt said that rather than trying to drive full-time it might make more sense to schedule around popular events or the weekend rush when people leave bars. Be ready on Thursday night and less ready at 11 a.m. on Thursday, he said. Uber has been plagued by a series of negative stories recently, including a video of the companys CEO, Travis Kalanick, arguing with a driver complaining about falling fares, accusations of sexual harassment among corporate employees and a lawsuit in which Google accuses Uber of stealing trade secrets related to self-driving vehicles. That comes on top of ongoing complaints by taxi industry officials like Elliott, who worry that the corporation will push out local transportation businesses with deep ties to the community. However, company officials see the Wyoming launch as a major bright spot. Hambley said Uber had set up an account with the Department of Revenue to make sure sales tax from fares was directly deposited and ensuring that its local business registration was fully approved before launching. There have been some challenging whispers out there, Gebhardt acknowledged. But we really want to get the positive story out. Concerns expressed Elliott, the Casper Cabs owner, and his supporters dont see it as a positive story. Tipsy Taxi, now renamed Safe Ride, was Elliotts brainchild. It provides vouchers for drunk people to get home safely from bars for free. Elliott also said Casper Cabs provides free rides for some community events and for other charitable reasons. Hes worried that Uber may push local companies like his out of business. Unlike Uber drivers, he said, Casper Cabs drivers go through background checks performed by the Casper Police Department. He said he found it especially galling that Uber did not need to follow local ordinances. Do we have laws here in Casper or not? Elliott asked Council. Can I operate my business in the same manner as Uber? City Manager V.H. McDonald said that Casper had no say over what Uber did in the city. The state level preempts the local governments from doing any kind of enforcement or oversight, he explained. State Rep. Pat Sweeney, R-Casper, was one of the few dissenting votes on the Uber bill and spoke earlier this year about his misgivings about the company. But Gebhardt, who grew up in Montana, said Uber can be a boon to rural communities and cities with few regular taxi operators. Most of us have been impacted one way or another by impaired driving and this is a way where drivers can make a few extra bucks on the side but also more keep people safe, he said. For now that argument seems to be winning out, and few elected officials have sided with Elliott. While Casper Mayor Kenyne Humphrey was sympathetic to his complaints at the Council meeting, she was also interested to learn more about the service. I just pulled up Ubers website and it looks like I can sign up now, Humphrey said. Five simple questions, so I might need to test that out. LARAMIE A manager at Laramies regional airport says its too soon to panic over a Trump administration proposal to eliminate subsidized air service to rural communities. The city would be among 112 communities nationwide that could lose out if the Essential Air Service subsidies are eliminated. Airport manager Jack Skinner said the program has been on the chopping block before. He said hes concerned but optimistic. The subsidy allows SkyWest Airlines to operate out of Laramie, which is home to the University of Wyoming. Mayor Andi Summerville said the city would need to provide $2 million to the commuter airline if the subsidy goes. The airport served more than 29,000 passengers in 2016. To not have air service to the states only four-year institution is almost unthinkable, Summerville said. They bring in potential business prospects, donors to the university and athletes for our teams. The loss of that air service would be an absolutely detrimental blow to our economy. President Donald Trumps proposal is part of his budget plan. Its an early step in a lengthy budget process and is expected to run into opposition in the Senate, where lawmakers from rural states have helped keep the program alive despite several previous attempts by budget-cutters to kill it. Critics of the program say the subsidies are too expensive for a relatively small number of passengers served. Eliminating it would save about $175 million a year, according to the Trump administration. WASHINGTON Wondering when Supreme Court nominations became so politically contentious? Only about 222 years ago when the Senate voted down George Washingtons choice for chief justice. This years brouhaha sees Senate Democrats and Republicans bracing for a showdown over President Trumps nominee, Neil Gorsuch. Its the latest twist in the political wrangling that has surrounded the high court vacancy almost from the moment Justice Antonin Scalia died in February 2016. We are in an era of extreme partisan energy right now, said University of Georgia law professor Lori Ringhand. In such a moment, the partisanship will manifest itself across government, and theres no reason to think the nomination process will be exempt from that. It hasnt been in the past. Each side has accused the other of unprecedented obstruction. Republicans wouldnt even hold a hearing for Merrick Garland, President Obamas nominee. Democrats are threatening a filibuster, which takes 60 votes to overcome, to try to stop Gorsuch from becoming a justice. If they succeed, Republicans who control the Senate could change the rules and prevail with a simple majority vote in the 100-member body. As she lays out in Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings and Constitutional Change, the book she co-wrote, Ringhand said, There were more rejected nominees in the first half of the nations history than in the second half. That controversy has been partisan in many cases, back to George Washington. Confirmations have been episodically controversial, said Ringhand, who is the Georgia law schools associate dean. The level of controversy has ebbed and flowed. John Rutledge, a South Carolinian who was a drafter of the Constitution, was the first to succumb to politics. The Senate confirmed Rutledge as a justice in 1789, a post he gave up a couple of years later to become South Carolinas chief justice. In 1795, Washington nominated Rutledge to replace John Jay as chief justice. By then, Rutledge had become an outspoken opponent of the Jay Treaty, which sought to reduce tensions with England. A year after ratifying the treaty, the Senate voted down Rutledges nomination. WASHINGTON The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations says theres no question Russia was involved in the U.S. presidential election and insists President Trump would fully support strong action against the Kremlin once investigations are complete. Speaking in television interviews Sunday, Nikki Haley contended there is no contradiction between her tough stance and Trumps repeated public statements seeking to minimize Russias role. She joins Defense Secretary James Mattis as Trump administration officials who have forcefully called out Russia for its actions during the 2016 U.S. campaign. We dont want any country involved in our elections, ever, Haley said. We need to be very strong on that. Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied his country meddled in the 2016 contest between Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton. While Trump himself has said he believes Russian operatives hacked Democratic Party emails during the election, he has repeatedly lambasted as fake news any suggestion that he or his staff had connections to Russia. Trump continued his attacks over the weekend, tweeting: 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 added Sunday: The real story turns out to be SURVEILLANCE and LEAKING! Find the leakers. U.S. intelligence agencies report that Russia tried to help Trumps campaign effort. The FBI as well as congressional committees are investigating whether the Russian government coordinated with Trump associates during the campaign. The White House is also trying to quell a firestorm over its behind-the-scenes role in helping the Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee, Rep. Devin Nunes, view secret intelligence reports that he says pointed to inappropriate leaking. These photos captured a day in the life of the Arizona Daily Star in June of 1972. At that point, the newspaper was still located at 208 N. Stone Ave. They would move into the building where they are located today, 4850 S. Park Ave., in 1973. 1 of 21 1 Star newsroom Star newsroom (1972) 2 Star newsroom Star newsroom (1972) 3 Star Women's Department Star Women's Department (1972) 4 Star 4 p.m. meeting Managing Editor Frank Johnson's 4 p.m. meeting. 5 Star editorial department Star editorial department (1972). 6 Star newsroom Star newsroom (1972). 7 Star Sunday office Star Sunday office (1972). 8 Star library Star library (1972) 9 Star composing room Star composing room (1972) 10 Managing editor Frank Johnson's office Managing Editor Frank Johnson's office (1972) 11 Star newsroom Star newsroom (1972) 12 Star reporters Star reporters (1972) 13 Star newsroom Star newsroom (1972) 14 Star newsroom Star newsroom (1972) 15 Star copy desk Star copy desk (1972) 16 Star copy desk Star copy desk (1972) 17 Star library Star library (1972) 18 Star newsroom Star newsroom (1972) 19 Star sports department Star sports department 20 Star city desk Star city desk (1972) 21 Star library Star library (1972) Close 1 of 21 Star newsroom Star newsroom (1972) Star newsroom Star newsroom (1972) Star Women's Department Star Women's Department (1972) Star 4 p.m. meeting Managing Editor Frank Johnson's 4 p.m. meeting. Star editorial department Star editorial department (1972). Star newsroom Star newsroom (1972). Star Sunday office Star Sunday office (1972). Star library Star library (1972) Star composing room Star composing room (1972) Managing editor Frank Johnson's office Managing Editor Frank Johnson's office (1972) Star newsroom Star newsroom (1972) Star reporters Star reporters (1972) Star newsroom Star newsroom (1972) Star newsroom Star newsroom (1972) Star copy desk Star copy desk (1972) Star copy desk Star copy desk (1972) Star library Star library (1972) Star newsroom Star newsroom (1972) Star sports department Star sports department Star city desk Star city desk (1972) Star library Star library (1972) We've collected a few front pages from newspapers.com to give you a look at some April 3 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. Several weeks ago, the Road Runner came across a fairly common downtown Tucson scene: a compact car was parked just west of the East Congress Street/Sixth Avenue intersection with its trunk jutting out over the white line and across the Sun Link streetcar track. The driver of the blocked streetcar was frantically making calls and jotting down the vehicles information while his passengers twiddled their thumbs inside. With no small amount of exasperation, he told the Road Runner that yes, after nearly three years of streetcar service, such incidents still occur with regularity. Just then, a woman carrying a steaming pie from Empire Pizza approached the car and responded nonchalantly to the drivers entreaties to quickly move, seemingly oblivious to the stress and delay she had caused. With no apparent haste, she got in and drove away, with the streetcar fast on her tail. It turns out that exact spot is at the epicenter of streetcar blockages, a problem officials say persists but has improved dramatically since July 2014, the first month of service. Sun Link started closely tracking such incidents in January 2016, and the Road Runner obtained a years worth of blockage data, which contained some interesting details. The most interesting has to do with where the above scene took place. Between January 2016 and January 2017, the range for which detailed data is available, there were 232 track blockages that added up to 1,758 minutes or nearly 30 hours of delay. Of those, 76, or nearly one-third of all incidents, occurred near the Congress-Sixth intersection and added up to over 12 hours of delay. The two other major hotspots were along the 300 block of East Congress and Main Gate Square, near the University of Arizona campus. So, what the heck is going on there? Steve Bethel, the streetcars general manager, had some insight. First off, parallel parking on the left side of the street does not necessarily come naturally to many people. Additionally, the spot is often used by people looking to enjoy Tucsons nightlife, and their attention to pesky details like parking inside white lines might be lacking. To address the large number of obstructions, both spots are already designated for compact cars only. Additionally, Bethel said Park Tucson has signs ordered to make the spot east of the intersection a pickup and dropoff location in the evenings, when many of the blockages occur. You wont be able to park there long term, he added Something else that jumped out from the data was that emergency vehicles were involved in about 44 percent of all blockages, or 101 incidents. That added up to 723 minutes of delay, for an average of 7.2 minutes per incident, well under the 10.2 minute average for personal vehicles. The Road Runner spoke with Tucson Fire Department Assistant Chief Joe Gulotta to understand those numbers. The Tucson Police Department did not respond to a request for comment on the matter. First off, Gulotta said that if an emergency vehicle is blocking the tracks, theres a good reason. While there are certainly a handful of traffic stops involved in the blockages detailed in the data, there are numerous instances of police and fire personnel responding to drug overdoses and other medical emergencies, vehicle accidents, fights, and even a stabbing and shooting. If we have to block the train in order to provide public safety rescues, we will, but with the understanding that were not going to do it any longer than we possibly need to, Gulotta said, adding that his firefighters look for places to park that allow for prompt responses without blocking the tracks. But such spots are often wanting in downtown, where the two main east-west arterials have two lanes apiece and parking designed for personal vehicles, not massive firetrucks. Theres not a lot of space along Congress, Gulotta said. Indeed, all but one of the blockages along the narrow 300 block of Congress, one of the three hotspots revealed by the data, involved emergency vehicles. The longest, a 65-minute delay, featured a drunk individual fighting with police, according to the data. Despite the challenges of operating emergency vehicles downtown, Bethel said Sun Link and first responders have come a long way. Its been a very cooperative relationship between (them) and our needs to keep moving, he added. Sun Link and city officials have a number of disincentives at their disposal to discourage obstructive parking. Sun Link supervisors, as well as TPD and Park Tucson employees, can write tickets for infractions, and theres a tow company on standby for the particularly noncompliant. However, the incidents detailed in the data dont often result in citations being written, and the tow truck is canceled before it arrives more often than not, though the data show that at least five and possibly more cars were towed, spelling hefty impound fees for violators. Even though blockages remain an issue, Bethel said the rates seen in Tucson are not outliers when compared with streetcar systems elsewhere in the country. Furthermore, drivers are getting better at coexisting with the streetcar than they were when the service started. Were in way better shape in Tucson than they are in most places, he said, though he noted earlier that I dont think youre ever going to see it going totally away. DOWN THE ROAD Starting at 5:30 a.m. Tuesday, South Sunset Boulevard south of West Ajo Way (Arizona 86) will be closed around the clock through early May. South Kinney Road and South Sheridan Avenue are the suggested alternate routes. On Friday, Tucson Estates Parkway will close for about five weeks, with Kinney providing a detour to West Bopp Road. The closures are intended to accommodate work to widen Arizona 86. Starting Monday evening, crews will begin installing underground electrical lines at the East Grant Road-First/Euclid Avenue intersection. Work will proceed in night shifts, from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m., through Friday. Shifting lane, turn and speed restrictions will be in place during the work, which is a part of the second phase of the Grant Road Improvement Project. Help India! This is the second of the three-part series of stories documenting caste discrimination against Dalit, Bahujan and Adivasi students /faculty at the Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala. Read part one here By Amit Kumar, Twocircles.net Support TwoCircles When Manjusha KA became a faculty at the School of Gandhian Thought and Development Studies at the Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, it was a special moment for her, as well as the University. For Manjusha, this was the result of a seven-year period which saw her rise from a lower division clerk at the State Schedule Caste Development Department to the position of Assistant Professor and became the first member of the faculty from the Adivasi community. Six years later, Manjusha, who belongs to Ullada (medical healers) a Scheduled tribe, continues to remain the only Adivasi faculty in the campus, and she believes that this is not a good indicator. In these six years, she has to face discrimination, both subtle and outright, and has realised that discrimination against people from marginalised communities is deeply embedded in the academic system. In a conversation with Twocircles.net, in her office at the School of Gandhian Thought, we discussed cases of caste discrimination in the campus, including that of Deepa Mohanan and Vivek Kumaran. Manjusha pointed out that while the number of students from marginalised communities has surely been showing an encouragingly expanding trend, the same cannot be said about the faculty in these campuses. This, along with the fact that more often than not, the administration plays to the whims and fancies of the government, makes it even more difficult for these students to avail justice. Take Deepas case for example. She has been fighting for so long, but what justice has she got? It is clear that the administration has tried time and again to protect the accused, she says. Viveks case is also familiar to Manjusha since he is a student at the same centre where she teaches. In her own situation, the discrimination is not always straightforward, probably because as a member of the faculty, she believes she is in a slightly more powerful position. But when Manjusha looks back at her six-year tenure, she realises that the signs were there since the time she joined. Do you see my nameplate on the top of the door? I had to pay for it after the university kept delaying providing it to me for a long time. I had to wait for weeks to get an office room too. These may not appear to be big issues for a lot of people, but when you are the first Adivasi faculty in the campus, it is difficult to not notice such things happening only with you, she says. But beyond these issues, Manjushas problem of facing discrimination ran much deeper. She has been pursuing her Ph.D. via correspondence from the Tata Institute of Social Science, and her submission is due this August. Last October, she applied to her director, Roy C Matthews, for a months leave to do her field work in Kerala, and was expecting it to be sanctioned. Every University has provisions which allow faculty to pursue further studies and allows them to take leave for the same. My case was no different. At least that is what I thought, she says. Initially, her leave was accepted, but within a few days, for some inexplicable reason, it was cancelled. He went to the Vice Chancellor (VC) and discussed faculty shortages at the Centre and appealed to him for my leave was to be cancelled, she says. I had submitted all the necessary documents and had even said that I would be ready to go for leave on half-pay or zero pay. This was not my personal trip, it was for my field work for Ph.D. And yet, it was denied, she says. When asked if this has ever happened to other faculties, Manjusha said, No. Universities have special provisions for hiring part-time teachers, guest faculty to ensure that the students do not suffer because of existing faculties taking leave for studies. Incensed by what had happened to her after five years of service, Manjusha filed a written complaint to the VC via post, alleging harassment at the hands of the Matthews. Apart from the issue of the leave, Manjusha also pointed out the anomalies over the conduct of examinations, publication of results and other issues with adequate document proof. During the 2015 academic year, all but one student from the Centre had cleared the exams, and this was the status when the final results were sent to the administration. However, when the results were announced, six students had failed and of course, a majority were Dalit students. Someone had clearly tampered with the final result tally. I pointed out all these in my complaint, says Manjusha. Following the complaint, Manjusha was finally given leave for three weeks, and of course, she had to take a pay cut for this period. Taking note of her complaint, a three-member inquiry committee was instituted by the administration. Despite all the proof being made available, the committee took three months to submit its report. Why? The accused is retiring on March 31, and this is a clear attempt to save his career, Manjusha adds. To make matters worse for Manjusha, the findings of the committee were never tabled in front of the administration. Initially, when this correspondent met Manjusha she had said that the report will be tabled on March 27, four days before Matthews was scheduled to retire. However, the report was delayed again for unknown reasons, and as of now, Matthews has retired with full benefits and sans a blemish on his academic record. It is clear to see why one person is being protected to such great lengths. Matthews proximity to the Left parties has helped him all his life, Manjusha states. He joined on a temporary basis as a Project officer in 1995, Manjusha says, showing me a copy of his letter of appointment, A year later, his experience as a Project Officer was deemed good enough for him to be appointed as an Assistant Professor, she adds. In all these years, he has authored one paper and that was also related to a seminar. I have authored more than 20 papers, yet continue to remain the same position, she says. Manjusha says that she has learned over the past six years that even if the authorities do hire faculty from the marginalised communities, they expect the candidates to be absolutely obedient, passive and mostly remain quiet. If you want to see how effectively casteism works in a campus, just take a look at how any administration reacts when a student from the marginalised community points out the anomalies of the higher-caste officials, Manjusha says. A lot of my colleagues often remind me how lucky I am as an Adivasi to have such a nice job. It is not luck, it is my hard work, and there are a lot more among our communities who deserve these opportunities, she adds. Help India! New Delhi, (IANS): Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) has announced a tutor programme to help the students coming from deprived sections with the preparations of their B.A. and M.A. entrance tests. Amid all of the unrest in the campus, we should take every small initiative (for) those who aspire to be in the JNU These classes will be given free of cost to students belonging to economically weak and deprived sections, Rama Naga, the former Joint Secretary of JNUSU, said in a Facebook post on Sunday. Support TwoCircles The programme will start from April 5 and interested candidates can register themselves for the tuition at the JNUSU office in the campus. The classes will continue till first week of May. The union has also asked the senior students to volunteer to tutor the aspirants for the preparatory exams. Help India! TCN News Aligarh : The two-day second International Conference and first Global Islamic Reconciliation Summit today started at J N Medical College auditorium, Aligarh Muslim University. The conference threw light on challenges faced by the Muslim community across the world. Support TwoCircles AMU Vice Chancellor Lt. Gen. Zameeruddin Shah (Veteran) attended the event as the Chief Guest. Mr. Shah emphasized on the promotion of education among Muslim community. He asserted that people should give up sectarian hatred and work wholeheartedly for the unity. General Shah also appealed the intelligentsia and the Aligarh fraternity, in particular, to rededicate themselves for the revival the glorious Aligarh Movement with fresh energy and vigor in the true spirit of the vision and mission of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. Senior Fellow of CPECAMI, Dr. M Zaki Kirmani threw light on the objectives of the conference in view of the critical situation being faced by the Muslim Ummah, in his welcome note. Addressing the gathering of intellectuals and delegates from different parts of the country and abroad, Prof Rashid Shaz, Director CPECAMI and ISESCO Ambassador said, This is no ordinary conference but a wake-up call for all those who care about the future of humanity. Renowned Islamic scholar from Japan, Ahmed Shizaki Yuki shared his concern about the present global scenario in respect to the Muslim community. Prof. Syed Mohammad Ali Naqvi, Chairperson, Department of Shia Theology, AMU said that it is imperative to forego our internal sectarian differences and work together to extricate the Ummah from the present difficult situation. Dr. Zafrul Islam Khan, editor and publisher of The Milli Gazette asked thinkers and religious leaders to reformulate a sustainable strategy for peace and harmony. Noted social activist and economist, Lubna Sarwath and Dr Kausar Fatima lamented marginalization of Muslim women and appealed for a fresh look for their empowerment and upliftment in the light of Islamic injunctions. Maulana Asghar Imam Mahadi Salafi, Secretary General of the Jamiat Ahle Hadees Hind; Maulana Khalilur Rahman Laskar, General Secretary Markazul Maarif Assam; Dr. Ameen Usmani of Islamic Fiqh Academy, New Delhi; Ms. Saira Shah Halim and Dr. Mujtaba Farooq, former President of Welfare Party of India also addressed the inaugural session, laying emphasis on intra-religious dialogue and understanding, in order to instil confidence in the Ummah and promote a sense of bonding and cohesiveness in the true spirit of universal Islam. The two-day program dedicated to restoring confidence among the Muslims and their faith allies will address some of the major policy issues: Muslims and their Faith Allies in 2030 A Future Road map, the Idea of a New Aligarh: Spearheading the Second Aligarh Movement, the Future of Science Education in Madaris: Reviving the Qurtaba Model and the Muslim Personal Law as well as the major Policy Announcements during the Reconciliation Summit. Help India! Agartala, (IANS): The BJP on Monday accused the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) of not respecting democratic federalism besides misuse and non-utilisation of central funds by the Left government in Tripura. While talking to the media, Bharatiya Janata Partys Tripura unit President Biplab Kumar Deb said the CPI-M did not even follow court verdict. Support TwoCircles How the Left Front runs its government in Tripura through illegal means was proved by the judgement of the Supreme Court which cancelled the jobs of 10,323 government teachers, Deb said. The BJP leader said central ministers, including Radha Mohan Singh and J.P. Nadda, highlighted the failure of the state government in many sectors and non-utilisation and misuse of central funds. Tripuras ruling CPI-M on Sunday alleged that BJPs central ministers were spreading misinformation about the Left government in the state in a bid to dislodge it. BJPs central ministers visiting Tripura almost every week provide imaginary facts (about) the Left government, CPI-M central committee member Bijan Dhar told reporters on Sunday evening. The central ministers slandering is part of their efforts to dislodge the Left government unethically, Dhar said adding that there was an attempt to build an economic blockade against Tripura. He said the partys state committee decided on Saturday and Sunday to campaign against the central governments undemocratic steps over the coming months. After the victory in Uttar Pradesh, some leaders can dream that they can wash away Tripuras Left parties. This is a distant dream only, the CPI-M state Secretary said. When the CPI-M has been demanding 200 days of work in a year in MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act), the BJP government is trying to scuttle the scheme. He accused the BJP of trying to break other political parties on religious and economic lines. Help India! New Delhi, (IANS): African Heads of Mission have strongly condemned last weeks attack on Nigerian nationals in Greater Noida, calling it xenophobic and racial in nature, and kept open the possibility of taking the matter to international human rights bodies for an independent investigation if the government failed to take legal action against the perpetrators or took sufficient or visible deterring measures to avoid repeat of such incidents. A statement issued after a meeting of the envoys representing 54 countries of the African continent following the incident and dated March 31 said: As regards the recent unfortunate incident in Greater Noida, the African Heads of Mission strongly condemn the incident and express their deep concern and also take note that these reprehensible events, both outstanding and unresolved cases against Africans, were not sufficiently condemned by the Indian authorities. The meeting unanimously agreed that those reaccumulated attacks against Africans are xenophobic and racial in nature. Support TwoCircles The attack on four Nigerian students took place on March 27 night in Greater Noida, some 40 km from the Indian capital, following protests over the death of a Class 12 student of a residential colony there due to drug overdose. Some people who were holding a candle-light vigil for the student attacked the Nigerians, suspecting them of drug-running. The day after the incident, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay described the incident as deplorable and in his weekly media briefing on March 30 said: It is clear that such criminal acts are completely unacceptable and have been condemned. He said said that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has spoken to Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath about this while Minister of State for External Affairs M.J. Akbar spoke to the Acting High Commissioner of Nigeria. Law enforcement authorities of the district have made arrests and a large number of people are under watch. The investigation is on and the law of the land will prevail, Baglay stated. In their joint statement, the African Heads of Mission said they reviewed previous such incidents of attacks on African nationals and concluded that no known, sufficient and visible deterring measures were taken by the Government of India. They equally expressed their expectations for strong condemnation from the highest political level (both nationally and locally) of the Government of India, as well expediting legal actions against the perpetrators, the statement said. They agreed to take further actions including the call for an independent investigation by the Human Rights Council as well as other human rights bodies, and also to comprehensively report the matter to the African Union Commission, it concluded. The row between Spain and Britain continues to heat up as the Spanish foreign minister urges the UK not to 'lose its temper' over Gibraltar. Alfonso Dastis' comments come after former Conservative leader Lord Michael Howard said Prime Minister Theresa May is willing to 'go to war' over the British Overseas Territory's future. The former home secretary compared his current party leader to Margaret Thatcher, who declared war on Argentina in 1982 over the Argentinian invasion of the Falkland Islands, in the wake of Spain's bid to vie for increased sovereignty over the Rock. Mr. Dastis said the Spanish Government was 'surprised' by the tone of Mr. Howard's comments. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has reaffirmed the British Government's status over the British Overseas Territory, saying any change in the governance of the Rock remains with the People Of Gibraltar. 'Like a cuckolded husband' The President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, has been attacked by Gibraltar's Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, for acting like a 'cuckolded husband who is taking out the children' due to his inclusion of the Rock in upcoming Brexit negotiations. He added: 'Spain is trying to bully Gibraltar. We simply will not let that happen.' US President Donald Trump has also come out in favour of Britain's position. In response to clarification over his remarks, Lord Howard said: ''I can see no harm in reminding them what kind of people we are (in relation to Britain defending the Falkland Islands 35 years ago).' But Mrs May has reaffirmed the Chief Minister Brexit will not affect the British Overseas Territory's status. 'A bargaining chip' She has refused to enable the European Union to use the Rock as a 'bargaining chip' in upcoming discussions. On Friday, provisional negotiating guidelines were produced which suggested Spain intends to veto any future trade deal between the UK and the EU. This is due to Spain's long-standing claim over Gibraltar, which dates back to 1713, when the Rock became a British colony following the War of Spanish Succession in between 1701-1714. The Treaty of Utrecht (1713) culminated in Spain surrendering sovereignty of the Rock to Britain in order to help end the war. 'Uncertainty' Due to uncertainty over the Rock's future in a post-Brexit Britain, the people of Gibraltar voted overwhelmingly in favour of remaining in the EU, with Stronger In winning 96% of the vote in last year's EU Referendum there. However, the Spanish Government wants this dispute to be resolved during the Brexit negotiations . Most recently, Spain has also stated it would not veto an independent Scotland's accession to the EU if it chooses to become an independent country. However, there have been concerns Spain is not willing to discuss territorial claims in Morocco despite their criticism over Britain's claim to Gibraltar. There are also anxieties over the impact a closed border between Spain and Gibraltar will have on travel, trade and jobs in both places. Many Spaniards travel to Gibraltar to seek employment and vice versa. Former Labour foreign secretary Jack Straw said this situation 'reeks of nineteenth century jingoism.' Joe Scarborough, the host of morning show Morning Joe, was riled up by White House Press Secretary Sean Spicers hostile standoff with American Urban Radio Networks reporter April Ryan (who is a black woman, by the way), because lets face it, Spicers conduct was highly unprofessional and he was unnecessarily mean to the woman for asking him a simple question. So, Scarborough sought out the opportunity to humiliate Spicer on his show and bring him down a notch. He spoke with one of his friends over at the White House (who remained nameless) and apparently Spicer is not President Donald Trumps favourite cabinet member. In fact, he often berates him for the mundane minutiae of how he presents himself. He screamed at him for wearing a light suit The way Scarborough describes it, Trump talking to Spicer is like the scene in Step Brothers at the Catalina wine mixer in which Rob Riggle tells Will Ferrell to change his face. Trump supposedly yelled at Spicer for being too weak, which might have been why he got red in the face talking to Ryan, losing his cool whilst defending his mean, angry boss to a woman who kept shaking her head, which he certainly did not like. Scarborough added that after berating Spicer for his perceived weakness, Trump screamed at him for wearing a light suit. Imagine Spicer trying to save face as the giant baby President mocks the colour of his suit. Ever since Trump said that back in January, Spicer has been seen wearing only black suits. The comments about Spicer being too weak apparently came after his very first briefing as Press Secretary, in which he contested reporters facts about the number of attendees at Trumps inauguration ceremony. He told the journalists that the most people ever turned out to see the inauguration, when actual hard photographic evidence suggests drastically otherwise. Spicer simply said, Period, before storming off the podium without having answered a single question from the press. New York Times reporter seems to have set Trump off After Spicers first press conference, Maggie Haberman, who writes for The New York Times, reported that Trump wanted his Press Secretary to be in command and project strength, before adding that he did neither. Something clicked in Trumps head when he read that tweet, and it sent him right to Spicers doorstep with a fire in his belly. Scarborough believes that after that first briefing and the first earful from Trump, Spicer shouldve just quit and told the President, this job is just not for me. Oh, if only. But hes far too entertaining for that. The world needs Spicer. He brings joy. Attorneys for Donald Trump made a case for immunity in a court filing last week. They assert that the president should be immune from the defamation lawsuit against him based on the supremacy clause of the US constitution. They contend that it would distract the president from the performance of his duties which could be detrimental to the president, and the nation as a whole. The lawsuit A defamation lawsuit was filed by Summer Zervos, a contestant on The Apprentice. In October of 2016, she claimed that Donald Trump kissed and groped her in a hotel room in 2007. Trump's denial of the accusations was included in several tweets calling the charges false, made up and nonsense. When a request for a retraction of his statements was made by Summer's lawyer, Gloria Allred, there was no response which led to the filing of the lawsuit just days before inauguration. The lawsuit claims that Trump was aware that the statements he made would result in "threats of violence, economic harm, and reputational damage" to his accusers. Allred also said that Zervos was willing to end the lawsuit if he retracted his statements and acknowledge that she was being truthful. The case for immunity The lawyer for Summer Zervos said that the president is not immune from their defamation lawsuit. Citing the Supreme Court ruling in the 1997 Clinton V Jones case, Allard said that the Supreme court had addressed the issue of legal immunity and had made a unanimous determination that no one including the President of the United States was above the law. The president's attorneys argue made the case that Legal precedents There are legal precedents that speak to the issue of presidential immunity. As far back as 1962, President John F. Kennedy settled a lawsuit against him for his role in a traffic accident that occurred before he became president. The judge had ruled at that time that he could be sued like any other person. More recently, in the 1990s President Clinton was sued for his alleged actions before he took office. Because of the supreme court ruling in the Bill Clinton case, the president is not automatically shielded from civil lawsuits according to Samuel Issacharoff, a law professor. Many travelers believe that if they have visited the forts and palaces of cities like Jaipur and Udaipur, then they have explored the entire state of Rajasthan. But Rajasthan, also known as The Land of the Kings, also contains other delights. One of them is the Blue City of Jodhpur, named as most homes here are coloured blue. Yes, Jodhpur also has a fort and many palaces, and theyre breathtaking. But that's just the beginning. Read on to find out more about what youll see in this jewel of a city if you choose to go exploring there. The Blue City has so much to offer. 1. The royal side of Jodhpur Jodhpur is a heritage city in Rajasthan, full of palaces, forts and many stunning mansions, some of which date back 500 years and were once home to many court members of the kingdom of Marwar (see #3 below). The most impressive palace is the Umaid Bhawan Palace. This is the home of Gaj Singh, the current king of Jodhpur, and is one of the most luxurious palaces one can find in India. It is also a hotel, operated by Taj Hotels. Its 347 rooms start at $1,000 per night and go up to $4,000 per night. You can also visit the palace museum and its collection of vintage cars, which covers 20% of the whole palace complex. You can also check out other palace hotels like the Ajit Bhawan, the Hari Mahal and the beautiful Bal Samand Lake Palace, which is a 17th-century palace built on an artificial lake under the supervision of Maharaja Jaswant Singh I. 2. The jaw-dropping mountain fort of Mehrangarh Mehrangarh Fort is another stunning location worth a visit. This massive castle is still in good shape centuries after it was built, and even has a small standing army (now a part of its management). The fort was built in the 15th century by King Rao Jodha to replace the old fort in Mandore due to continuous wars. Today, Mehrangarh Fort welcomes thousands of travellers on a daily basis, who come to view its amazing collection of paintings, palanquins, armory and small interior palaces. An entry ticket costs just $1.50, so Mehrangarh is definitely worth exploring. 3. The Cuisine of Marwar Marwar was the name of the kingdom which once encapsulated many districts of Rajasthan, including Jodhpur. The local cuisine of Jodhpur is still called Marwar cuisine, as it's different from all other types of food throughout india. Because Jodhpur is a desert area, its food requires less water and can last for serval days. Marwar cuisine is generally presented as a big supper, served on steel thali (plates). A huge variety of vegetarian food is available, ranging from Dal baati churma Pyaaz kachori Mirchibada Kichdi Sweets include besan chaaki and ghevar. These dishes may look like tongue twisters, but if you dine at local restaurants like Gypsy Thali or Janta Sweet Home, you can taste this unique cuisine from Jodhpur and experience it for yourself. 4. The blissful safari tour of Bishnoi Village Bishnoi Village Safari is a half-day tour of some villages just outside of Jodhpur city. The villagers are famous for their craftsmanship and love of animals. The tour starts with a trip to one of the villages, where you can experience the life of the Bishnoi people, who are very polite and welcome guests with open hearts. The Bishnoi follow very strict principles which include cherishing wild animals and protecting nature. Thus, on this trip you'll spot many blackbucks and chinkaras, which are endangered species, near beautiful Guda Lake. Visit Jodhpur in 2017 and you won't be disappointed So, a holiday in Jodhpur in 2017 will not only allow you to visit the must-see sites like Mehrangarh Fort and Umaid Bhawan Place, but it will welcome you as a royal guest of the state of Marwar. Author Bio Jatin Chhabra is a New Delhi based travel blogger who has travelled more than 3000 km in search of interesting tourist sites in India. He is the only blogger in India to cover more than 20 Stunning Stepwell like Chand Baori, Rani Ki Vav, etc from Northers to Southern India. The Vietnam War ended over 40 years ago, yet the conflict has undoubtedly shaped modern day Vietnam. This fascinating country, that still remains united under the banner of Communism, has unfiltered reminders of the war peppered throughout. For lovers of history, especially of the military variety, Vietnam is a compelling place to visit. Wandering the streets of the former capital of South Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon (confusingly even the locals use both names interchangeably) is a history lesson itself. Always, found amongst the French architecture and Buddhist pagodas is the portrait of Vietnams enduring hero: Ho Chi Minh. Billboard after billboard, poster after poster there seems to be an infinite supply of images of this bearded Communist revolutionary. The unifier of North and South known as Uncle Ho to the Vietnamese proudly presided over muffled Government messages which emanated from loudspeakers. These odd hallmarks are fantastically Cold War-esque and seem to relate romantically to a time of espionage and ideological rivalry. The Cu Chi Tunnels. Just outside the city is the Cu Chi Tunnels - a must visit attraction. The opportunity to crouch through the narrow tunnels and passageways utilised by the Viet Cong gives new perspectives on the ingenuity and tactical genius of these guerrilla fighters. Nguyen, a soft-spoken and reserved tour guide, informed me that the tunnels had been widened so clumsy and lanky foreigners, like myself, could fit through them. The Viet Cong, however, had to navigate through the tunnels on their stomachs and with full combat equipment. Despite lacking modern weapons, these Communist fighters based in South Vietnam were formidable opponents. At the Cu Chi Tunnels there is a display that shows how fake ant hills were created to house air holes used to give oxygen to the men underground. There are also accounts of how the Viet Cong countered American sniffer dogs by littering the tunnels with captured clothes worn by US troops - meaning that the dogs considered the scent to be from friendly forces. The brutal, almost medieval-looking traps are also there to see - with sharpened bamboo spikes featuring in most. The barbarity of the contraptions was evident when I learned that they were not meant to kill but to maim. A wounded soldier would slow his comrades down while the prospect of activating one of these traps would provide a sickening psychological impact on any future patrols. The War Remnants Museum After factoring in many coffee breaks and visits to French bakeries, a visit to the War Remnants Museum in the centre of Ho Chi Minh City is an excellent way to expand your knowledge of the Vietnam War. Unsurprisingly, the museum takes a pro-Vietnamese stance and despite some obvious bias, it was refreshing to try to comprehend the conflict from angles not usually explored in the West. The museum boasts an impressive collection of firearms, photographs, films and vehicles. Although the exhibits on the devastating impacts of Agent Orange (a chemical sprayed by the Americans) was particularly sobering. The misery caused by this chemical on veterans, on both sides, and civilians, some of whom were born with severe birth defects, is poignantly displayed. Vietnam is a nation forged by war and even after the US withdrew in the 1970s the nation saw further conflict with neighbouring Cambodia and China. Despite reminders of war being prominent in everyday life, Vietnam is more than a foreign battlefield - it is a mesmerising country that seems to have a knack to surviving the most insurmountable odds. The country proudly displays the red flag of Communism, the hammer and sickle as well as the iconic Ho Chi Minh yet, in some parts of the major cities, rampant advertising and the presence of Western multinationals make it indistinguishable from a Capitalist nation. By absorbing the history of warfare in Vietnam, the present day oddities and past atrocities can begin to be understood. Your digital subscription includes access to all content on our agricultural websites across the nation. Access unlimited content and the digital versions of our print editions - This Week's Paper. The operation of law enforcers is connected with the riots that broke out in the country after the Senate secretly voted for an amendment to the constitution, allowing the president to be re-elected for a second term. Dramatic situations during Paraguay protest The Head Of State Horacio Cartes, dismissed the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the head of the police of the country. Now the department is conducting an internal investigation. As noted, the party's office is far from the riots, the center of which was the building of the Congress. Protests In Paraguay began in the middle of the week when the decree allowing the re-election of the head of state began to be discussed by lawmakers. Until Friday, all these actions were peaceful and the police were limited only to the protection of administrative buildings. The situation changed dramatically after the members of the congress by secret ballot allowed the incumbent head of state, Oracio Cartes, to participate in the second consecutive presidential race. Protests continue, along with police reactions Mass riots in Paraguay continued for the second day. To control the crowd police began to fire at people with rubber bullets and among the victims were two members of the congress, who were in the thick of things. Horacio Cartes was elected president for a five-year term in 2013. In the course of the campaign, behind him were extremely powerful people in Paraguay and now they are interested to see if Cartes will continue to lead the country for another five-year plan. The opposition insists that changing the constitution for the sake of re-electing the president will override the fundamental democratic principles. Paraguay: one of the rare countries In Paraguay, the president is prohibited from being elected for a second term. Such a radical restrictive measure was introduced after the overthrow of the dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner, who ruled the country from August 15, 1954, to February 3, 1989. Such norms once were in many other countries of Latin America, but the people coming to power first of all made efforts to abolish these norms and get more time at the head of the state. Cambridge, Massachusetts has joined a handful of other cities and passed a resolution demanding that Congress impeach President Donald Trump immediately. The call for impeachment is based upon a conflict of interest relating to Trump's business interests while serving as President, which is prohibited under the Constitution. Trump, whose rants on Twitter claiming that President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower have continued, resigned from "all" of his business interests the day before is inauguration as President. Trump's positions and business holdings As reality has it, Trump did not give up his business interests, per se. He resigned from managerial and "hands-on control" of his business interests, but he still retained ownership of his business interests. Trump, who was visited by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes after he "viewed" classified documents on White House grounds, even went so far as to hand over control of his business interests to his sons Eric and Donald Trump, Jr. And so even though Trump does not have direct, "hands-on control" of his business interests for the duration of his presidency, he has a close, working relationship with those who do, namely his two sons. This is why the Cambridge City Council has reservations about Trump's business interests. It is not as if Trump has turned control of his business interests over to impartial entities. He has turned over his business interests to his two sons, over whom he has emotional and psychological control. The situation is analogous to one in which the pilot has turned over the plane's yoke wheel and controls to the co-pilot while still sitting in the cockpit and giving directives to the copilot. The Emoluments Clauses According to the Cambridge City Council's resolution, Trump is in violation of the Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Clauses of the United States Constitution. As the situation stands now, Trump still is attaining a profit, or emolument, from his domestic and foreign business interests even though he has turned over the management and control of such interests over to his sons. Under the Constitution, the grounds for impeaching the President must be "high crimes or misdemeanors." Whether or not a violation of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution rises to the level of a "high crime and misdemeanor," remains to be seen. In the meantime, a colonial Massachusetts city will send its Trump impeachment resolution to Congress and America will see what transpires. Whatever happens, it promises to be interesting. Because extradited Mexican Drug Lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman had escaped two times from prisons in Mexico and once in the United States, U.S. Prison authorities are not allowing him to flee again while under their custody. They have put in place extremely strict measures which the lawyers of the drug lord claim caused Guzman to hear things. Very strict detention rules According to the legal team, their client could not even shake their hands. El Chapo could not purchase bottled water. Guzman could not tell the time if it is night or day in his solitary confinement cell. He has also been denied access to a Spanish-speaking priest, New York Daily News reported. However, prosecutors insisted last week that the stringent regulations must remain intact. They also brushed aside that claim by lawyers that El Chapo has started to hear things. The prosecutors said what Guzman heard was the radio of a prison employee, but his lawyers said he heard Mexican music. Daring escape El Chapo was extradited in mid-January to the U.S. to face six separate indictments after he was recaptured. In 2001, he made his first and successful escape from a Mexican prison by hiding in a laundry cart. Guzman, who headed the Sinaloa Cartel, escaped the second time in July 2011 from the Altiplano prison near Mexico City through a hole in his shower. It led to a mile-long tunnel where there was a motorbike that he used to reach a residential construction site. He was recaptured at the town of Los Mochis six months after the daring escape Only El Chapo The very strict rules only apply to El Chapo, according to his legal team made up of Michelle Gelernt, Edward Zas and Michael Schneider. Other detainees at Supermax, the federal prison in Colorado where Guzman is incarcerated, could exercise and watch TV in their cells. However, the lawyers admitted that the 59-year-old Mexican drug lord could exercise by himself at his Metropolitan Correctional Center cell and he was recently allowed by jail guards to watch DVDs. These prison conditions were cited by El Chapos legal team in asking Brooklyn Federal Judge Brian Cogan to give the human rights organization Amnesty International the chance to inspect the jail conditions. The lawyers also asked the court to allow Guzman to be released to the general jail population. An Instagram post asserting that 14 young ladies had vanished in Washington D.C. circulated all around the web. It has caused distress and turmoil. American citizens have loudly expressed their concerns on how the youth is seeming to disappear in mass numbers dramatically. Theres some relief to the chaos. The post is erroneous. The whole thing was a hoax. Any child vanishing leaves every right to worry. The concern gets worse when multiple children turn up missing all at once. However, at no time lately have 14 Teenage Girls gone missing in Washington, D.C. area all at once in one day. What exactly is happening in DC? Since March 19, police in the D.C. area have delivered 22 fliers concerning missing individuals. Half of these individuals were adolescents. Since Sunday, six of these adolescents have been discovered. Five still were absent to this day. Law enforcement in Washington D.C. have said that there hasnt been an increase in missing people in their locale. Since executing the strategy of delivering fliers, Commander Chanel Dickerson of the Youth and Family Services division commented that her station has actually exceeded its ability to close cases more rapidly. Why was this hoax all over Social Media? Multiple social media accounts from prominent figures all over America are what caused the major spread of the hoax. After the post listing the girls supposedly missing, prominent names like Russell Simmons and LL Cool J shared the post. The stars' massive following reviewed the share causing millions to believe that 14 little girls vanished randomly all in one day. Once the celebrities were made aware of the posts inaccuracies, they deleted their posts but the hoax had already taken effect on the nation. Recording artist Kehlani expressed her views in response to the hoax. After finding out the whole thing was fake she said on her Instagram, While handing-off data about this, we must be watchful we hand-off the right information in light of the fact that these are all people groups you ladies. She removed the post with the hope that America wont prey on the lives of its youth just to receive a response. #Pure Lithium 6 is a substance that turns an ordinary atom bomb into a hydrogen bomb, and it can accelerate the impact of the bomb by nearly a thousand times. So when intelligence agencies across the world were confronted with an online ad that was offering 22 pounds of the destructive substance on a monthly basis, this from a port within China, they pounced. Selling in an area called Dandong, China, there was even a phone number listed in ad, according to a report from the New York Times on Monday. Furthermore, the identity of the seller was traced to the identity of the third secretary in the Beijing #North Korean Embassy. Lithium for sale Nuclear and military intelligence experts claim that this leftover lithium sale indeed proves that #North Korea must have created so much of the valuable substance that it may have already become an #advanced nuclear power. This is what President Trump was briefed on last week by intelligence officials who are familiar with the machinations of bombs. And so the world is waiting for President Trump's meeting with #President Xi Jinping of China in Florida this week, where officials claim that his number one agenda will be asking, or pressuring, China to sign onto the most extreme and confrontational set of sanctions ever imposed on the North for its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs. On Sunday the president told The Financial Times If China is not going to solve North Korea, we will. That is all that I am telling you. And nobody really knows exactly what Trump who is prone to a changeable and at times opaque style means when he says that he will solve the problem. If China does nothing to halt #the nuclear issue than Trump won't find much leverage or luck in the handbook of the previous four US presidents, who tried an unsuccessful mix of negotiations, threat and sanctions to press the North into abandoning its program. Over time, North Korea continues to progress, step by step, in the face of overwhelming odds brought on by the United States and its allies. Whilst the president insists that he will solve the North Korea problem, some of his closest aides are not sure whether the objective of complete, verifiable, irreversible disarmament is feasible anymore, even though it was a cornerstone of the Bush and the Obama offices. New strategy for the North needed Last week, Michael Morell, a former director at the CIA, along with James Winnefeld Jr, mused on the website The Cipher Brief about the changing objective of the #North Korea policy. They wrote that the United States needs to change the "fundamental objective of our policy, because North Korea will never willingly give up its program." This belief that this was even possible is the biggest flaw in the United State's strategy with the country. They argue that the US and China should both free themselves of the idea of denuclearizing North Korea and instead engage in methods of deterrence, one of the most old fashioned diplomacy policies in history. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation reported Monday it is seeking assistance from authorities in Mexico and Central America to locate a missing High School Student. TBI has issued an Amber Alert for Elizabeth Thomas. It is suspected that she was allegedly abducted by her instructor Tad Cummins. The agency made the demand through the FBI. A week ago, the Associated Press said that the department got a tip that Cummins' vehicle may have been seen in Corpus Christi, Texas. However, there are currently no reports of seeing 15-year-old Elizabeth Thomas or 50-year-old Tad Cummins south of the U.S. Before the teacher and student disappeared, there seemed to be an underlying relationship between them that was consensual and no one knew about it. Evidence of intimate affairs The situation escalating from the actions of Cummins and Thomas is one of many happening in America. This one is just more public due to it consisting of an abduction. The United States is beginning to have a disturbing trend of under-age school students being abused, seduced or coerced sexually by their teachers. District Attorney Brent Cooper reported to People Magazine that Tad Cummins and Elizabeth Thomas communicated via email with each other. He described the messages as intimate in nature and very inappropriate to be between a 15-year-old and her teacher. School records from January 23 report that one of Thomas peers saw Cummins and the high school student kissing. When the following week came around, police told Thomas' dad about the situation. Everyone in town knew, by then, what allegedly happened with his daughter and her teacher. Whats happening now Tad Cummins has been placed on Tennessee's Top 10 Most Wanted list since the kidnapping. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation also has a warrant out for his arrest. Culleoka Unit School, located in Maury County, has terminated his employment. Anyone who has any information pertaining to the abduction is asked to contact TBI. There is a $1,000 compensation for anyone providing any tips that will lead Cummins into police custody. A new report by CNN indicates that the Coalition led by the US to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria has unintentionally killed masses of civilians. Operation Inherent Resolve, birthed almost three years ago, has been under formal review since American officials were made aware that more and more innocent people were losing their lives as a result of coalition-authorized air and artillery strikes. The civilian body count continues to rise Earlier this week, the head of Iraqi civil forces in Mosul told CNN that as of now, 141 bodies have been found there. The coalition has stated that they are currently reviewing 43 additional reports of innocent deaths- 23 from Iraq, and 20 from Syria. Sources indicate however that 12 of 17 such reports have lacked credibility, which makes sifting though claims and data to find accurate figures that much more difficult. In a statement, the US-led task force said they "regret the unintentional loss of civilian lives resulting from coalition efforts to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria," adding that they express "deepest sympathies to the families and others affected by these strikes." Avoiding civilian deaths is proving to be difficult According to reports, the coalition is aware of more than 18,600 artillery or airstrikes having taken place between August of 2014 and early this year. Officials say one reason for the heightened threat to civilian safety is a new ISIS tactic in which the terrorists force civilians into buildings, using them as human shields. In an interview with CNN, Donatella Rovera, a senior crisis response adviser, indicated that "In a densely populated residential area, the risks for the civilian population become enormous." US Col. Joseph Scrocca reportedly told CNN correspondents that the US was making adjustments to deal with this new tactic, but officials also stated that although ISIS has started using human shields and the civilian death toll is climbing, coalition forces can't just stop attacking the terrorist organization altogether. US claims 'values' will make a difference In a congressional hearing earlier this week, CNN reports that General Joseph Votel of US Central Command said US military leaders hold the key to stopping Civilian Casualties. He asserted that the values of the American military would allow leaders on the ground to make the right decisions where civilians were involved. The Associated Press reports that an officer who was arrested for killing 6-year-old Jeremy Mardis in November of 2015 was finally sentenced after over a year of legalities. A spokeswoman for Attorney General Jeff Landry said that former officer Derrick Stafford of Louisiana will serve 40 years for manslaughter, and then an additional 15 years for attempted manslaughter. At his current age of 33, these concurrent sentences mean he more than likely will not be a free man until sometime after his 88th birthday. Reports indicate shots were not necessary The circumstances that led to the boy's killing are a clear example of the officer's use of excessive force. Video from an officer's body camera indicates that the child's father, Christopher Few, was unarmed and unthreatening when Stafford and another police officer, Norris Greenhouse, Jr., fired 18 rounds into the vehicle he was sitting in. Both Stafford and Greenhouse, Jr. were subsequently arrested, though reports claim Greenhouse's trial isn't slated until sometime later this year. Prosecutors and the accused have two different versions of events According to a testimony by Stafford, he didn't know the boy was in the car when he fired his weapon, and he also didn't see Christopher Few's hands in the air. He claimed that he only shot at the car because he feared the driver was going to back up and attempt to run over Greenhouse. However, prosecuting attorneys claim that both Stafford and Few actually fired at the car from a safe distance and that neither man was in harm's way. AP reports that the other two officers present at the scene didn't fire their weapons at all. In fact, Marksville Police Lt. Kenneth Parnell, the officer who captured the shooting via body camera, testified that he didn't fire because he wasn't in life-threatening danger. Cop's defense couldn't justify claims Stafford's defense reportedly tried to place the blame on Few, suggesting that it was his reckless driving that led to the high-speed chase that ended with Few ramming into one of the officer's vehicles and prompting gunfire. Prosecutors were quick to point out that no matter the events leading up to the murder, none of the actions taken by the father could justify taking the life of an innocent child. In an interesting spin-off of what could be considered more common circumstances, both former officers are black, and Few and his now deceased son, white. It's official, the Paris climate change agreement is a "bad deal" for the United States, said the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Scott Pruitt. Pruitt went on to say that the U.S. should continue to discuss global warming activity but that is all. The head of the EPA announced Sunday that he was uncertain if America would remain in the global pact. The international pact is an agreement with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that addresses greenhouse emissions. One hundred and ninety-five countries worked on the negotiations for the 2020 UNFCCC in Paris, France. The agreement went into effect on November 4, 2016. Laurent Fabius, France's foreign minister and head of the Paris Conference, said that the signing of the agreement was a historic turning point in trying to reduce global warming. Trying to reduce global warming President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week, cutting the Clean Power Plan, a major factor in the U.S.' ability to meet its requirements for the Paris agreement. Trump also removed former President Barack Obama's carbon emis policies. Trump did not address any firm commitment to stay or leave the agreement, but Sean Spicer, White House Spokesman, did say that a decision was going to be announced before the G7 summit. White House officials are in the process of getting information from fossil fuel companies about the negative and positive aspects of staying in the Paris agreement. Is climate change man-made? EPA head, Pruitt, said that China and India signed the agreement but were not required to reduce emissions. Each country, under the agreement, offers a nation strategy meeting its own reduction of gas emission goals. When asked to clear up the statement made last month regarding carbon dioxide emissions not being the primary factor to climate change, Pruitt said human activity was also accountable for climate change. Pruitt wants to find out how much humans are actually contributing to climate change and how much CO2 emissions that causes, along with measuring that quantity. On Tuesday, Donald Trump signed an executive order that launched an attack on the Clean Action Plan. Implemented by former U.S. President Barack Obama, the plan regulates power plants in 47 states. It aims to reduce carbon emission 32 percent by 2030. The policy also ceases the prohibition of selling coal-mining leases on federal lands. Each state has its own goals set based on its current needs. The executive order Trump has signed challenges a commitment the U.S. must declare to the Paris agreement. The president traveled all the way to the Environmental Protection Agency to tamper with some of Americas most pertinent safeguards to the environment. He has now ordered EPA chief, Scott Pruitt, to begin reviewing how to dismantle the plan. Pruitt and Trump have both scrutinized the Paris agreement involving nearly 200 countries. An administration official announced on Monday, In terms of the Paris agreement, whether we stay in or not is still under discussion. Eco-friendly voices Energy experts and leaders from both the Democratic and Republican parties are speaking out against the measures Donald Trump has taken. They understand the executive order seeks to dismember the Clean Power Plan. Each party strongly believes that the plan is Americas first limits set on dangerous carbon pollution ever. Theyre calling it an action leading the U.S. backwards to a time of excessive pollution instead of into the future to a clean energy economy. Trumps views, pledges, and promises The president has ridiculed the Clean Power Plan in the past. Along with other regulations, Trump thinks its placing a burden on Americas employment rate and coal industry. They both currently face a competitive market when it comes to solar, wind and natural gas. Trump attended an event last week and addressed that he had already eliminated some regulations. He asserted that the new executive order would go continue to be implemented. He praised coal miners in attendance with him at the EPA. He acknowledged their strife over the past two years as he pledged a future of clean coal. He stated, I made them this promise. We will put our miners back to work. Today Im putting an end to the war on coal. The executive order also lifts prohibition on the sale of new coal leases just like the Clean Power Plan. It will also remove restrictions on energy production and return power to the states. Visits by two world leaders will take the political spotlight this week but the Oval Office will be distracted by developments within his own political party while other issues hang over the White House as the Administrations sword of Damocles. Egypt On Monday Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, President of Egypt, will make his first official visit to Washington and it will mark an important step in President #Donald Trumps plans in regards to the Middle East. While no official announcement has been made as to the themes for the visit newspapers speculate that it will include arms sales, the Egyptian opposition Muslim Brotherhood which the el-Sissi government hopes the Oval Office will label as a terrorist organization and also developments in the ongoing situation between Israel and the Palestinians. These themes would strain the diplomatic capacity of any Administration but the occupant of the Oval Office also has his thoughts on domestic issues as well as an even more important visit later in the week. GOP Over the weekend White House director of social media Dan Scavino Jr. ensured that internal Republican Party matters will remain in the spotlight when he called for a primary challenge to Freedom Caucus member Justin Amash of Michigan. This call was in response to the Freedom Caucuss role in the withdrawal of Paul Ryans proposed bill for the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act. This defeat also resulted in a number of tweets by the President criticizing the Caucus. As discussions have begun on the proposed budget Scavinos call marks an escalation in the Republican conflict and potentially makes future negotiations for other legislation even more difficult for both Houses. Tellingly President Trump has yet to make an open call to the one group that could most assist in the passage of legislation in both Houses, the Democrats. The fate of Ryans American Health Care Act showed that the GOP is too highly divided for at least the near future, yet the only moves by the White House in preparation for future legislation only make its job harder. Investigations At the same time the investigations into the alleged Russian hacking of the presidential election continue with the potential to create even more havoc and distractions for the White House. While the intelligence community works towards completing its task the Senate and House Intelligence Committees will continue on their respective roads. The House Committee in particular will have to confront the behaviour of its Chairman, Republican Devin Nunes, who between mysterious meetings and cancelled sittings has put into doubt his neutrality and therefore that of the Committee as a whole. On the other hand the Senate Committee sees open cooperation between the GOP and Democrat members to ensure transparency and impartiality on their own investigations. This then is the background leading up to the diplomatic end of week finale for the Oval Office. China Next weekend Chinas President Xi Jinpin will be a guest of President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort. This meeting is of prime importance as the subject matter will doubtlessly include action against Pyongyangs provocations and also the commercial agreements between the two countries in the light of Fridays new executive orders covering international trade. In anticipation, the Oval Offices national security aides have completed a review of its policy in regards to North Korea but this may have been pre-empted by President Trumps tweet on the weekend that he was prepared to take action on his own against the recalcitrant Kim Jong-un if necessary. No response has yet come from Beijing on this statement. Normally these matters on their own would ensure a busy and delicate week for Washington but the first eleven weeks of the Trump Administration have shown us almost anything is possible and many around the world are wondering what could possibly happen to distract Donald Trump and the world during the next seven days. While the Oval Office tries to concentrate on the two important visits this week by Egypt and Chinas Presidents its mind will also be on the Senate. A vote in that House will have major consequences not only for the Supreme Court but also for the legislative future of the presidency. Vacancy This week The Senate will decide on the confirmation of Neil #Gorsuch to fill the vacancy in the Supreme Court created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia last year. When #Donald Trump nominated the judge of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Colorado the Democrats reacted in anger as the Republican majority had refused to even consider Barack Obamas replacement for the position. With the Republicans holding only a single seat majority in the Senate this ensured a bitter battle for the confirmation. Filibuster After the confirmation hearings the matter is now the subject of a formal debate in the Senate and all the past conflicts are coming home to roost. The confirmation hearings failed to ensure that enough Democrats would vote for Gorsuch to avoid a time wasting filibuster in the House. Now Senate Leader Mitch McConnell and his fellow Republicans will need to consider their options to allow the matter to be finalized as soon as possible. Undoubtedly they will be researching the Senate regulations as they did when they banned Democrat Elizabeth Warren from reading a letter by Coretta Scott King during the debate for the confirmation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions but this may well have long term consequences for Republican ambitions to reshape the future Supreme Court as other Justices resign. Midterms The Republican leadership is also well aware of popular protests against White House legislation such as the Moslem ban and the proposed repeal of the Affordable Care Act, supported by record low popularity for a President in his first three months in Office. These issues transfer into worries for next years midterms where the Republican face the possibility of losing at least the Senate majority. This in turn would mean any change of regulations now would impact on the second half of President Trumps term and thus delay or block any future legislation or even any future nominations to the Supreme Court. Tactics In addition to this consideration, the Republicans will also need the cooperation of the Democrats to avoid a government shutdown for budget reasons at the end of the month. Without forgetting Donald Trumps proposed budget which is opposed by some Republicans, as well as all the Democrats. Mitch McConnell and his closest confidants will now need to carefully consider their options. They can force the confirmation and thus ensure further delays on other issues further on down the track. Or they can negotiate with the Democrats to reduce the delays as much as possible for the confirmation and the other matters to be debated in the near future. Whatever solution they find will be sure to at least anger the occupant of the White House who has little patience for the tactics of politics. Yet these are the realities that he should have expected when he decided to run for office two years ago. In any case, the Senate will continue to be a bitter battlefield between Republicans and Democrats and without doubt continue to be a source of frustration for Donald Trump for what will seem to him to be a very long time. This too is one of the prices that those in power in a Democracy must pay. Numbers always count, especially for the President. Since the election of Donald Trump, critics have not held back their thoughts of the new president. After a week that included Trump's first speech to Congress and more news exposing the president's ties to Russia, comedian Bill Maher decided to chime in. Maher on Trump During the 2016 presidential election, the candidacy of Donald Trump was first thought of as nothing more than a joke. The former host of "The Apprentice" was able to defy the odds, moving past the Republican primary and then defeated Hillary Clinton to become the new president. Since then, Trump's time in the White House has been marred by constant controversy, including what influence Russia had on his campaign, and what role they currently play in his administration. In addition, Trump has made several controversial political proposals that have come under fire. These issues and more were highlighted during the March 3 edition of HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher." In routine fashion, host Bill Maher kicked of Friday's show with an opening monologue and he didn't hold back his criticisms of Donald Trump. "This Russian spy novel we all have been reading sure turned out to be a real page turner," Maher said. "The National Security Advisor had to step down because he was lying about talking to the Russians," Maher pointed out, before adding, "Now the attorney general, a 1000-year-old cracker named Jeff Sessions, had to recuse himself from the investigation." Not stopping there, Maher mockingly asked, "Does Trump know anyone who doesn't talk to the Russians?" before noting, "it's like six-degrees of Kevin Putin." "What is with this administration? They meet with the Russians more than the Olympic doping committee." @BillMaher #RealTime pic.twitter.com/pAWQdNtSE6 Real Time (@RealTimers) March 4, 2017 Bill Maher continued to rip into Donald Trump, highlighting the aforementioned scandal involving the Kremlin. "They meet with the Russians more than the Olympic doping committee," Maher joked, while adding, "the National Security Advisor, his campaign manager, his son-in-law, and now his attorney general have met with the ambassador to Russia." "Trump promised to get tough on crime. Especially after the #Oscars when black people robbed those white folks of their gold." @BillMaher pic.twitter.com/LB5M5RecXS Real Time (@RealTimers) March 4, 2017 "Trump is pissed off because all this Russia talk poured cold water on his his big day," Bill Maher said, before the comedian referred to the president as "Potty train Trump." The liberal atheist host continued to put his foot on the gas, trolling the commander in chief for getting praise from the media for reading off a teleprompter. "He read words off a teleprompter in front of adults," he said, before stating it's "the same thing the Olsen twins did when they were seven." In closing, Maher said, "it was an hour of mostly bullsh*t. They said he lied 51 times, which was low for him." Moving forward As Bill Maher continues to pull no punches in his attack on Donald Trump, the divide between the political left and right, as well as the media doesn't appear to be ending anytime soon. While Trump has only been in office for just over a month, the tension in the White House has reached a fever pitch, with critics ready to pounce at any minute. "13 Reasons Why" is a teen drama with a difference, and early reviews are giving the Netflix series that tackles bullying and suicide the thumbs up. It can be difficult to talk about a serious issue in a way that's still entertaining, but Brian Yorkey's adaptation of the 2007 book by Jay Asher largely succeeds at both. '13 Reasons Why' -- the series The premise for "13 Reasons Why" is a series of 13 cassette tapes -- she deliberately rejects digital technology in favor of old-school devices -- that Hannah Baker, (played by Aussie actor Katherine Langford,) records and leaves on the eve of committing suicide. The tapes detail the 13 reasons for her suicide, each involving a different person who has to listen to the tapes, then pass them along to the next one on the list. We follow as Clay Jensen, (played by Dylan Minnette,) number 11, works his way through the cassettes, listening in horror as the whole truth of the puzzle begins to come together. It's a story that unfolds in bits and pieces between flashbacks and the present, as Hannah's grieving parents sue the school for failing to protect their daughter. There are a lot of twists and turns in how "13 Reasons Why" fits together that keeps "13 Reasons Why" interesting, like a whodunit murder mystery. Teen suicide The series is being praised for its unflinching look at a difficult topic. The situations and motivations depicted in "13 Reasons Why" are realistic, including bullying in a high school social scene that favors the jocks, the role the internet plays in turning isolated incidents into social nightmares, sexual harassment and assault. It isn't any one single incident or reason that tips Hannah over the edge, but a collection of things that leaves one person feeling completely isolated and beyond help. Tragically, it is a realistic portrayal of teen suicide. Selena Gomez, who acts as executive producer for "13 Reasons Why" was originally intended to star in the show. But, as the series development dragged on, it became clear that she would no longer be able to play the high school sophomore. Selena's had some hard times herself, and she opens up about what motivated her to stay with the project even after casting wasn't in the picture in a post-show episode that's included with the release of Season 1. As in the book, no one really emerges as the good guy in "13 Reasons Why," although there are a lot of surprises along the way. Whether it was through a failure of courage or completely callous brutality, everyone on the list has made a contribution to the dark conclusion of Hannah's story. Not even Hannah is portrayed as an angel. She makes bad decisions, is silly, thoughtless, and sometimes doesn't stick up for her own friends when she should. In short, she emerges as a real teenager. Be forewarned: the portrayal of Hannahs' suicide in the Netflix production isn't for the squeamish. Solid performances Katharine Langford and Dylan Minnette hold down the center of "13 Reasons Why" with solid performances. Langford nails the increasingly saddened and bewildered Hannah as she watches her life spin out of control, ultimately becoming numb to her own fate. Kate Walsh is also strong in the role of Hannah's mother. Of the adult roles, Derek Luke isn't entirely convincing as the school counselor -- we're never quite sure why he is first seemingly unconcerned, then suddenly concerned, by what ends up as his role in Hannah's suicide. A bit of a spoiler: The ending of "13 Reasons Why" may seem a little unsatisfying to those who have already read the book. The Netflix version, after all, is only the end of Season 1. Unlike the book, which simply ends with Clay passing along the tapes to the next person, the TV series finishes on a dramatic note, one that potentially sends various characters in different directions -- directions that could obviously be explored in Season 2. "13 Reasons Why" is streaming now on Netflix. Amanda Roberts and her daughter make dumplings at home in Shenzhen. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY Every time Amanda Roberts comes across a delicious dish, the first thing she thinks is "How can I turn this into a dumpling?" From bacon-cheeseburger to bleu-cheese ribeye steak fillings, the American author of two cookbooks Crazy Dumplings and Crazy Dumplings II has been on a quest to put the tastes of home in classic Chinese dough wrappers. Roberts, 35, and her husband Seth Anderson moved to China in 2010 to seek a new lifestyle and adopt a Chinese girl. They first lived in Hunan, one of two provinces in China known for their spicy cuisines the other being Sichuan. Roberts soon started spending a lot of time in the kitchen after constantly telling restaurants "bu yao la" (no spicy) and then watching the dishes come out drowned in peppers. She even learned how to deal with a whole chicken with the head still on. The idea of making her own American dumplings came to her during a Chinese New Year. She was on the bus back to Changsha after spending a whole week eating New Year foods, "but also missing foods from home," she said. Recipes started popping into her head, and she made a list of possible fillings. She had at least 20 by the time she got to Changsha and started experimenting the next day. Aside from the burger and steak fillings, she created dumplings with America's favorite Chinese dishes, such as Peking duck and General Tsao's chicken dumplings. She also gave dumplings a new nickname: the perfect vehicles for leftovers. When she put her first cookbook Crazy Dumplings on Kickstarter in 2014, she had slim hopes. Maybe there were some brave chefs on the fundraising platform who'd want to try her pizza or S'more dumpling recipes, the author thought. "We ended up reaching our goal in about a week," Roberts said. "It was a huge surprise. I was so thrilled." By the end of the campaign, she had raised $8,936, almost 300 percent of her original $3,000 goal. Roberts said the backers come from all over the world with the same kind of love for Chinese food. There are also some expats like herself. With the success of the first book, she couldn't get dumplings off her mind, but coming up with new ideas for fillings got more difficult. Luckily, her fans came to her with ideas. By pledging $40 or more, a backer could submit an idea. Backer Jason Tubbs requested something with duck and pears, so Roberts created honey pear duck dumplings. "I hope he also likes honey," said Roberts. Kathleen Doerr likes Thai yum muah salad, so Roberts created Thai yum muah beef dumplings by finely chopping the salad and stuffing it into a dumpling. The second campaign, which finished last year, did even better, raising 400 percent of its goal. If there's one thing Roberts has learned, it's that nothing brings people together like food. She and Anderson and their daughter she arrived home last December now live in Shenzhen. What started as a two-year expat trip turned into a seven-years-and-counting stay with many more to come, and of course, more crazy dumplings. 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 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 In celebration of World Autism Day on Friday, China's 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 headquarters. 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 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. VCCI Chairman Vu Tien Loc addresses the workshop on February 28 launching a report on rating good and bad regulations of 2016__Photo: http://vcci.com.vn , , , A list of 114 good regulations and 123 bad regulations was selected among 9,297 nominations sent in by people and organizations from many state agencies, associations and the business community in response to the rating of regulations concerning business activities first ever launched in Vietnam.The above result was announced at a seminar held by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) 14 months after the launch of the rating in December 2015, which aims to applaud good regulations and point out inappropriate ones for change.A panel of 16 experienced business law experts was formed to pick out the list based on 10 criteria for assessment of laws and regulations, said Dau Anh Tuan, Director of VCCIs Legal Department at the seminar.The criteria include necessity, rationality, consistency, enforceability, transparency, compliance cost, guarantee of business freedom, promotion of competition, control of harassment, and compliance with regulations concerning promulgation and effect of legal documents.Of these 237 nominated regulations, 79 lie in laws, accounting for 33 percent; 75 belong to decrees, making up 32 percent, 69 lie in circulars, representing 29 percent, and the rest come from other documents.If classified by good or bad category, laws account for to 34 percent of nominations for good regulations and just 24 percent of nominations for bad regulations, while sub-laws make up for 70 percent of nominations for bad regulations, Tuan said.This showed that, from the view of the business community, the quality of sublaws, including decrees and circulars, is poorer than that of laws, Tuan noted.According to VCCI, the rating was conducted to gather feedbacks from the business community on legal regulations and policies, a task assigned to VCCI by the Government in the two resolutions on improving the business environment - Resolution No. 35 of 2016 and Resolution No. 19 of 2017.Its outcomes will be presented at a meeting to be held later this year between the Prime Minister and the business community.Based on the above list, a shortlist of 30 best regulations and 30 worst regulations was presented at the seminar. However, according to VCCIs representative, by December 2016, five of these bad regulations had been amended and many others are being considered for amendment.1. Abolishing the crime of conducting illegal business (the 2015 Penal Code);2. Issuing a list of trades and sectors banned from business investment or subject to conditional business (the 2014 Investment Law);3. Removing the 15-percent cap on businesses advertising, marketing, and sales promotion activities (the 2014 Law on Corporate Income Tax);4. Annulling the regulation requiring real estate businesses to sell houses and construction works via real estate trading floors (the 2014 Law on Real Estate Business);5. Reducing the tax declaration frequency from once a month to once a quarter for enterprises earning a turnover of between VND 200 million and VND 500 million (Decree No. 91/2014/ND-CP);6. Exempting domestic investors from all investment procedures, except cases of investing in projects subject to investment approval (the 2014 Investment Law);7. Permitting the use of charter capital as proof of satisfaction of the regulation on the legal capital for conducting real estate business and exempting real estate businesses from registering for determination of the required legal capital amount (Decree No. 76/2015/ND-CP);8. Granting house ownership rights to foreigners like Vietnamese citizens (the 2014 Housing Law);9. Implementing the principle of precedence in application of investment conditions to foreign investors (Decree No. 118/2015/ND-CP);10. Annulling the requirement on practice certificates and certification of legal capital in dossiers of application for establishment of enterprises (the 2014 Enterprise Law);11. Permitting foreign investors to buy less than 51 percent of shares or capital contributions at enterprises operating in non-conditional business areas without having to carry out investment registration procedures (the 2014 Investment Law);12. Expanding the scope of real estate business operations of overseas Vietnamese and foreign-invested enterprises (the 2014 Law on Real Estate Business);13. Increasing speed limits and safety distances applicable to motor vehicles (Ministry of Transport Circular No. 91/2015/TT-BGTVT);14. Allowing enterprises to use self-printed invoices if receiving no reply from tax offices within five days after submitting a request therefor and placing responsibility for the failure to give such a reply on heads of tax offices (Ministry of Finance Circular No. 26/2015/TT-BTC);15. Expanding the eligibility to social housing support to employees of enterprises located inside or outside industrial parks and households and individuals subject to land recovery or house relocation or dismantlement under law but not yet allocated residential land or houses as compensation (the 2014 Housing Law);16. Permitting a person to concurrently act as director of more than one joint stock company (the 2014 Enterprise Law);17. Reducing the ordinary corporate tax rate from 25 percent to 22 percent from January 1, 2014, and to 20 percent from January 1, 2016 (the 2013 Law Amending a Number of Articles of the Law on Corporate Income Tax);18. Eradicating the routing of health insurance-covered medical examination and treatment (the 2014 Law on Health Insurance);19. Permitting a limited liability company or joint stock company to have more than one at-law representative (the 2014 Enterprise Law);20. Permitting insurance businesses to open branches in the Vietnamese territory (Ministry of Finance Circular No. 194/2014/TT-BTC);21. Permitting the hire and hire-purchase of future real estates (the 2014 Law on Real Estate Business);22. Simplifying procedures for registration and establishment of cooperatives to be similar to those for establishment of enterprises (Ministry of Planning and Investment Circular No. 03/2014/TT-BKHDT);23. Shifting the function of providing training for transport business executives to business associations (Ministry of Transport Circular No. 60/2015/TT-BGTVT);24. Exempting construction permits for under-7-story houses with a floor area of under 500 square meter which are built under urban or housing development projects whose 1:500-scale detailed plans have been approved by competent authorities (the 2014 Construction Law);25. Removing the chapter on insurance contracts (the 2015 Civil Code);26. Prohibiting courts from refusing to settle civil cases for reason of unavailability of applicable laws (the 2015 Civil Code and 2015 Civil Procedure Code);27. Increasing the agricultural land assignment duration from 20 years to 50 years (the 2013 Land Law);28. Lessening the conditions for convening a general assembly of shareholders (the 2014 Enterprise Law);29. Setting clear principles on investment procedures: (i) to refrain from requiring additional papers other than prescribed ones (ii) to request dossier supplementation only once, and (iii) to regard consulted units failure to reply as consent (Decree No. 118/2015/ND-CP); and30. Permitting disinvestment below par value or book value upon equitization of state-owned enterprises or divestment of state capital (Prime Minister Decision No. 51/2014/QD-TTg).1. Disallowing printing establishments to coordinate with others in conducting lay-out designing, printing and post-print processing (Decree No. 60/2014/ND-CP);2. Requiring the inclusion of detailed terms on the category, quantity, quality and shelf life of personal protective equipment in labor contracts (Decree No. 05/2015/ND-CP);3. Requiring petrol and oil traders to seek agreement from fuel dispenser sellers before hiring others to repair fuel dispensers with devices sealed with lead seals (Ministry of Science and Technology Circular No. 15/2015/TT-BKHCN);4. Requiring enterprises to declare the grade-4 codes of their trades or sectors when carrying out enterprise establishment procedures or investment procedures (Decree No. 78/2015/ND-CP);5. Requiring enterprises to seek approval from state agencies for their price declarations (Ministry of Finance Circular No. 16/2014/ND-CP);6. Requiring enterprises to apply for a certificate of changes in business registration contents (Decree No. 78/2015/ND-CP);7. Requiring owners of offshore investment projects to seek permission from state agencies before carrying out procedures to terminate their projects (Decree No. 83/2015/ND-CP);8. Requiring import permits for a number of machines and equipment for post-print processing (Decree No. 60/2014/ND-CP);9. Requiring public notary offices to change their names if relocating their head offices (the 2014 Law on Notary);10. Requiring business licenses for doing cargo transport business without direct collection of freights (Ministry of Transport Circular No. 63/2014/TT-BGTVT);11. Imposing certain conditions on heads of printing establishments (Decree 60/2014/ND-CP);12. Requiring passenger cars of 9 seats or less to be equipped with fire extinguishing devices (Ministry of Public Security Circular No. 57/2015/TT-BCA);13. Allowing each pesticide trader to register only one active ingredient concentration for each form of a finished-product pesticide (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Circular No. 21/2015/TT-BNNPTNT);14. Requiring printing establishments to record and keep information on the acceptance of orders for layout designing, printing and post-print processing according to set forms (Decree 60/2014/ND-CP);15. Prohibiting the use of color photocopiers for commercial purposes (Decree 60/2014/ND-CP);16. Permitting the import of goods of plant origin on the basis of exporting countries registration of import with Vietnam (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Circular No. 12/2015/TT-BNNPTNT);17. Restricting the rates of Vietnamese students at foreign-invested education institutions (Decree 72/2012/ND-CP);18. Requiring shipping agents to have legal staffs (Decree 30/2014/ND-CP);19. Requiring traders importing passenger cars of 9 seats or less to obtain letters of authorization from manufacturers (Ministry of Industry and Trade Circular No. 20/2011/TT-BCT);20. Requiring enterprises providing passenger transport services to have a certain number of cars (Decree No. 86/2014/ND-CP);21. Disallowing accounting service enterprises to be organized in the form of joint stock company and requiring at-law representatives and directors or directors general of limited liability companies operating in the accounting sector to be practicing accountants (the 2015 Accounting Law);22. Imposing certain conditions for establishment of social networks (Circular 09/2014/TT-BTTTT);23. Requiring households engaged in nomadic business or mobile business to send notices to tax offices and market management agencies of the localities where they register their head offices and where they conduct business activities (Decree No. 78/2015/ND-CP);24. Restricting an employees maximum overtime hours at 200 hours per year (the 2012 Labor Code).- HCM CITY The UKs National Oceanography Centre sent a delegation to HCM City for the international maritime exhibition INMEX Vietnam which ended on March 31. The visitors, marine scientists and executives, had a booth at the three-day expo and organised seminars and networking sessions. This is the first time that NOC has come to Southeast Asia with such a delegation, Kevin Forshaw, NOCs associate director for innovation and enterprise, said. NOC collaborates extensively with industry, transferring its knowledge and developed technology to improve business operations and help drive innovation for new product development. Key themes within the NOCs global partnerships programme will be to promote resilience to climate change, food and energy security, Blue Economies and innovation in marine technology. NOC is home to Europes largest fleet of autonomous and robotic vehicles and also manages two state-of-the-art scientific research vessels. Viet Nams maritime industry has tremendous potential as many experts acknowledge. It has a favourable geographical location, with 3,200 kilometres of coast, 127 ports, 1,900 kilometres of navigable inland waterways, and proximity to major international maritime routes. With the Governments support and private investments, the maritime industry is set to develop and grow rapidly, according to experts. VNS HA NOI Up to 38 per cent of Malaysian enterprises chose Viet Nam as their favoured expansion destination in Southeast Asia, the United Overseas Banks (UOB) Asian Enterprise Reports 2016 shows. The report, released last Friday, states that 61 per cent of the surveyed Malaysian firms want to invest in Viet Nams manufacturing, 60 per cent are interested in healthcare and pharmaceuticals, and 38 per cent want to put money in the construction and real estate sector over the next three to five years. The companies said the key factors influencing their choice of expansion destination were stable/improving political and economic climate (41 per cent); large and growing customer demand (40 per cent); favourable tax and regulatory environment (35 per cent); strong local business connections (32 per cent); and Government incentives (28 per cent). Asian enterprises look to expand overseas in order to increase sales, raise competition in the domestic market, limit growth in the domestic market, diversify products and services and control costs. Viet Nam is an attractive destination for investors because of its stable political environment, favourable economic conditions and attractive demographics, the report said. Viet Nam is also forging ahead for international economic integration through participation in multilateral economic initiatives and free trade agreements, such as those with the European Union, Eurasian Economic Union and South Korea. In 2016, the UOB conducted a survey of Asian enterprises in mainland China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand to explore how they are capitalising on business opportunities based on global and regional economic trends and trade flows. The research also examined the challenges Asian businesses are facing, their strategies and plans to fuel the next stage of growth, and their preferences and considerations when expanding regionally. A total of 2,500 business leaders key financial decision-makers of Asian enterprises participated in the research. Businesses that were included in the survey had to be in operation for at least three years. VNS HCM CITY In a move to welcome the start of the summer season, Vietjet has announced the start of three golden days, in which one million promotional tickets will be on sale, priced from as low as zero dollars, at www.vietjetair.com. The promotion, which is available on all domestic routes, continues Monday through Wednesday from noon to 2pm. Tickets may be used from May 1 to December 20. Payment can be made with debit and credit cards, including Visa, MasterCard, JCB, KCP and American Express, as well as ATM cards issued by 29 banks in Viet Nam that have been registered for internet banking. To prepare for coming trips this summer, April is the best time for travellers to hunt for affordable tickets, the airline said. With promotional tickets good throughout the year, Vietjet is expected to offer its passengers with a memorable and exciting travel season. VNS HA NOI Japans Kawasaki Flora Auction Market Company Limited plans to invest in a Lat floriculture to supply flowers to Japanese and European countries. The company wants to co-operate for up to 50 years in a Lat and the entire Lam ong province, said former Counsellor from Vietnamese embassy in Japan ao Ngoc Canh. In the first year, the firm plans to grow flowers in a 10-20ha site, and then expand to a 50ha place after three years and 100-200ha after the fifth year. Established in 1961, Kawasaki Flora owns production bases in 12 Japanese provinces and in foreign countries such as Colombia and Kenya in order to provide fresh flowers for its stores across Japan. According to Viet Nam Cooperative Alliance President Vo Kim Cu, the organisation will create favourable conditions for the bilateral partnership. However, Japanese company needs to elaborate specific plans in terms of co-operation forms, shares, investment and responsibilities of two parties based on the principle of mutual benefits. He also suggested the company make use of land sources to invest in vegetable cultivation and other agricultural activities. Earlier, a Lat was working with Japanese OTA Floriculture Auction Company Limited and local agencies to establish a flower trading centre in the city. The centre will be set up at the bottom of Mimosa Pass, a gateway to a Lat, on an area of 16.6ha with maximum purchasing capacity of 2.5 million flower branches per day and is expected to trade 550 million flower branches per year. Once operational, the facility will serve as a trading platform for flower farmers and consuming units to supply flowers to markets with transparent prices. Lam ong Province has a total flower growing area of 7,760ha with an annual output of more than 2.4 billion flower branches, of which a Lat and its neighbourhood make up 70 per cent of acreage and production. a Lat has built a common brand called a Lat Flower used by some 110 grower households. Earnings from the local floriculture sector currently reach VN750 million (US$33,000) per hectare annually. VNS HA NOI The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has added pepper to the list of commodities traded on the Viet Nam Commodity Exchange (VNX), according to the ministrys Decision 1071/Q-BCT issued last week. The pepper products to be traded on the VNX include black and white pepper under code H.S 090411, and black and white ground pepper under code H.S 090412. Trading on the exchange will allow Viet Nams pepper industry to enhance its global trading activities, according to the Viet Nam Pepper Association (VPA). Vietnamese pepper accounts for 60 per cent of total pepper volume trading on the global market, meaning the price of Vietnamese pepper has always exerted a significant influence on global pepper prices. Pepper traded on the VNX will also connect to worldwide commodity exchanges, allowing for the transparency of information being exchanged, reducing risk during trading and offering insured pricing, according to the VPA. Since 2014, the Vietnamese Government has planned to build an exchange for pepper, with the co-operation and support of the Indian Government. The two countries have discussed the building of co-operation mechanisms and technical support, so that the two sides, which are the two largest pepper producers in the world, can co-ordinate in the regulation of the global pepper market. In the first two months of this year, Viet Nams export volume of pepper reached about 16,000 tonnes, earning US$112 million. These figures represented a year-on-year reduction of nearly 20 per cent in volume and 36 per cent in value. The reduction was due to the global pepper price, which dropped by 20 per cent against the same period last year. Viet Nams largest pepper export markets in the first two months included the US, India, Germany and the UK, accounting for over 41 per cent of total pepper exports. In 2016, Viet Nams pepper exports reached 177,893 tonnes, earning $1.43 billion, an increase of 35.3 per cent in volume and 13.5 per cent in value, year-on-year. According to the Ministry of Industry and Trades target in 2017, pepper will be in the group of 13 export items with export values of over $1.5 billion. The local pepper industrys export turnover this year is expected to reach $1.6 billion, up 13 per cent over 2016. With the latest decision, pepper has become the third commodity traded on the VNX, joining rubber and coffee. VNX has been licensed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade to operate with total charter capital of VN150 billion. MoITs Legal Department has proposed the Government amend some regulations on goods trading on commodity exchange to create favourable legal conditions for the operation of the VNX. VNS HCM CITY There is a huge opportunity for Vietnamese firms to invest in agriculture in their countries and export agricultural produce to other markets, Cambodian and Myanmarese officials have said. Meach Yady, chief of agricultural marketing at the Cambodian Department of Planning and Statistics, said his country had invested a lot in agriculture but the sector had not developed commensurately. He was speaking at a meeting held on Friday in HCM City to introduce the International Exhibition and Conference on Agriculture, Livestock, Aquaculture, Fisheries for Cambodia and Myanmar. Cambodia imported large quantities of fisheries products, animal feed, fruits and vegetables, dairy and other agricultural products from Viet Nam, he said. There is great potential for investment in the agricultural and agri-business sectors. The Government is modernising logistics and infrastructure and streamlining the process to facilitate business processes. Vietnamese firms could invest in growing rice, cassava, maize, mung beans, vegetables, rubber, livestock and fisheries, he said. Businesses could invest in expanding fragrant rice cultivation or rice milling targeting niche and specific markets and in the rice seed industry. Besides, investment to produce quality inputs such as fertilisers and pesticides to increase productivity was also neccessary because farmers complained about the poor quality of imported inputs and possibly fraudulent labelling by unreliable suppliers, he added. The cassava sector needed investment to make quality chips and pellets complying with international standards for export to China and Korea, while mung bean production had been hampered by the poor quality of seeds and therefore required investment in seed production. He also called on Vietnamese firms to invest in vegetable production and processing as his country imported large volumes from Viet Nam. Investment in harvesting equipment and post-harvest processes was required to reduce losses during harvest and transportation. Many Vietnamese firms have invested in Cambodia, mostly in rubber, cassava and sugarcane, and his country wanted them to invest in more sectors, he said. U Hnin Oo, vice president of the Myanmar Fishery Federation, said his country wanted to boost exports of fisheries, but few of its processing facilities met EU markets. Since Viet Nam was strong in fisheries exports, his country wanted to co-operate with Vietnamese firms, he said. Besides fisheries, livestock breeding also offered investment opportunities for Vietnamese investors, he added. According to the Myanmar Livestock Federation, with a population of around 54.5 million and increasing income, Myanmar offers opportunities in livestock and animal feed production. Investment in livestock production could be 100 per cent foreign invested or joint ventures with local individuals or relevant Government departments or organisations. VNS BOX International exhibitions The exhibitions -- two of them, to be held from August 2 to 4 in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh and from September 27 to 29 in Yangon in Myanmar -- will offer Vietnamese firms a good opportunity to understand more about Cambodian and Myanmars markets and explore business and investment opportunities. The events are expected to attract 80-100 exhibitors each and 2,500 trade visitors, according to Minh Vi Exhibition and Advertisement Services Co,Ltd, the organiser. Ten Vietnamese firms took part in the expos last year and the number is expected to be higher this year. In addition to showcasing the latest technologies and equipment, as well as agriculture, livestock and fisheries products, the biggest international agricultural exhibitions in Cambodia and Myanmar also feature business matching between suppliers and distributors and professional conferences and seminars to help participants understand the investment opportunities in the two markets. VNS HA NOI The low-cost carrier Vietjet recorded revenue of more than VN27.49 trillion (US$1.21 billion) in 2016, up 39 per cent year-on-year, according to its audited financial results released on Monday. Last year, Vietjets pre-tax profit also experienced a significant yearly rise of 113 per cent to approximately VN2.5 trillion. The airlines total assets reached more than VN20 trillion, surging 67 per cent from the same period last year while its equity capital rose 120 per cent year-on-year to VN4.73 trillion. Vietjet attributed the encouraging performance to its efforts in launching new domestic and international routes, exploiting existing ones and technical innovation to cut operating costs. According to the data, the airline made up 41 per cent of the market share. This year, the airline plans to launch an additional 26 new routes including four domestic ones, bringing its number of routes to 86. In a separate report, published earlier in February, Vietjet said it transported more than 14 million passengers in 2016, effectively contributing to the development of Viet Nams aviation industry. The airlines operations also registered strong performance in safety and reliability compared to other airlines in Asia-Pacific. It operated a total of 84,535 flights, accounting for 121,213 flight hours last year. "All of this guarantees Vietjets development under international standards and its professional human resources who will oversee the airlines steady and sustainable growth," the airline said. In a move to welcome the start of the summer, Vietjet has announced the start of three golden days, in which one million promotional tickets will be on sale, priced from as low as zero dollars, at www.vietjetair.com. The promotion, available on all domestic routes, continues Monday through Wednesday from noon to 2pm. Tickets may be used from May 1 to December 20. VNS HA NOI Global investment firm KKR, through its Asian Fund II, has reached an agreement to invest US$250 million in Masan Group Corporation and its branded meat platform Masan Nutri-Science. Masan Group announced on Monday that this is KKRs second investment in the Masan Group after its two-round financing in Masan Consumer worth a combined $359 million in 2011 and 2013. Last year, KKR divested its entire holding in Masan Consumer to the Vietnamese group. The latest transaction includes a $100 million purchase of secondary shares of Masan Group from PENM Partners and a $150 million primary investment in Masan Nutri-Science for a 7.5 per cent stake, Masan Group said in the statement. The Danish private equity firm, through its PENM II, is Masans biggest foreign stakeholder with a 5.3 per cent holding worth around $126 million. Commenting on PENMs $100 million sales of Masan shares to KKR, Hans Christian Jacobsen, managing partner of PENM, said, Masan has been PENMs most successful investment in Viet Nam and we look forward to continue partnering with them through our other funds and serving on their board of directors. According to Masan, Viet Nams $18 billion meat industry lacks productivity and is highly fragmented which lead to consumers paying more for less. The company is aggressively expanding in the animal feed and meat industry. In 2015, Masan bought into two major animal feed makers, Vietnamese-French cattle feed firm Proconco and Agro Nutrition Joint Stock Company (Anco) to form Masan Nutri-Science Co Ltd, making it the second largest animal feed manufacturer. In 2016, Masan completed its integrated (feed-farm-food) branded meat platform by entering into pig farming and becoming meat processor Vissans strategic partner. The agreement with KKR which has significant agricultural experience is expected to hep Masan Nutri-Science accelerate its strategy to become the first integrated consumer meat platform in Viet Nam. This investment underscores our commitment to Viet Nam in particular and to ASEAN generally, said Ashish Shastry, a member of KKR and head of KKR Southeast Asia. Vietnam holds great promise with its growing economy and favourable demographic trends. KKR is committed to investing in the market by partnering with leading companies such as Masan Nutri-Science. The transaction is subject to customary corporate and regulatory approvals. VNS Although Vietnamese apparel company movement toward the stock market is an inevitable trend in a market economy, only 30 businesses of the sectors total of 6,000 have listed so far. Photo dautuchungkhoan.vn Although Vietnamese apparel company movement toward the stock market is an inevitable trend in a market economy, only 30 businesses of the sectors total of 6,000 have listed so far. Analysts say that most domestic garment and textile companies are concerned about the possibility that if they list, foreign investors could corner large chunks of their shares or even attempt hostile takeovers. Many companies also fear their shares would not get fair value if listed now, because the sector faces many challenges. Last year was a hard one for the sector, with results much worse expected, including just US$28.3 billion worth of exports, a year-on-year increase of 5.6 per cent. In addition, the years target had been adjusted down from $31 billion to $29 billion, after major importers, including the US, the EU and Japan, reduced demand for garment and textile products. Listed companies did not escape the downturn: Soi The Ky Joint Stock Company saw after-tax profits plummet by 60 per cent to less than VN29 billion ($1.28 million), Thanh Cong Textile Garment Investment Trading Joint Stock Companys after-tax profit was down 25 per cent to VN114 billion ($5.06 million). This year, the sector is expected to face many challenges as well, including a lack of support from tax policies, since several important trade deals such as the EU-Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement and the Trans-Pacific Partnership will not come into effect. Lastly, competition will only become fiercer, as other countries march ahead thanks to their conducive tax policies and exchange rates. The instability in the EU economy is also expected to have an impact. Local investors bid for HCM City airport expansion Early last month the Civil Aviation Administration of Viet Nam (CAAV) submitted plans to expand HCM Citys Tan Son Nhat Airport to the Ministry of Transport for approval. The work is estimated to cost around VN19.35 trillion ($860 million) and is part of the Governments goals for 2020. According to the proposal, the airfields current runways will remain unchanged, though a new way will be added. Two quick exit taxiways will be built between the runways, while extra taxiways will be added to facilitate aircraft movement. The existing apron will be expanded to an area of 19.97 hectares on land belonging to the defence ministry. Another apron will be built in front of a planned bimodal terminal that will expand Tan Son Nhats parking capacity from 83 aircraft to 89 aircraft. The expansion plan has attracted lots of interest from airport developers. Lien Thai Binh Duong Import Export Company (IPP) became the latest investor to join the race to build terminals 3 and 4. IPP has been a partner of the CAAV for several years and is also a major shareholder in the Southern Aviation Service Company (SASCO). The company promises to complete the construction within 18 months if it gets the contract. Earlier, a joint venture company ATAD Steel Structure Corporation and Nam Viet A Development and Construction Investment Company also submitted a bid to the Ministry of Transport. However, Vietjet Aviation Joint Stock Company had been the first to evince interest. The countrys largest low-cost carrier made a bid to build terminal 4 with a capacity of 10 million passengers a year on a 21 hectare site. It also wants to set up a VN3.048 trillion aviation technical services complex on a 30ha site at the airport. This will include a cargo terminal with capacity of 300,000 tonnes a year, a facility to repair and maintain aircraft and another to provide catering services to airlines. The Governments policy of calling for private participation in major infrastructure projects seems to be paying off. It also indicates the strong growth in the financial and technical capabilities of domestic players, which allows them to bid for large and important infrastructure works. The plan to expand Tan Son Nhat International Airports capacity to 45 million passengers a year is likely to be realised soon, experts said. VN gets new energy efficiency labeling rule On March 9 Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc issued a Decision on four categories of appliances and vehicles that must comply with energy efficiency norms. A roadmap for implementation of the new regulations is also in the new policy. Cars and many kinds of equipment must carry energy efficiency labels and meet minimum energy efficiency norms from April 25. The vehicles for which fuel efficiency labels are mandatory are cars with seven seats or less. But for cars of between seven and nine seats, the labelling will become compulsory from January next year. For motorbikes, compulsory labelling will begin in 2020. The other categories are household appliances like fluorescent lamps, ballasts, air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines, electric cookers, electric fans, TVs, LED lights and water heaters, and office and commercial equipment like photocopiers, computer monitors, printers, freezers, and laptops. Industrial equipment like transformers and electric motors will also come under the purview of the new regulation. The Government will also encourage voluntary fuel and energy efficiency labeling for vehicles and appliances other than these. In April 2012, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) issued a Circular on efficiency labelling for electrical appliances and equipment based on the Law on Energy Efficiency and Conservation that took effect in 2010. Manufacturers and importers of the appliances and equipment listed in the Prime Ministers decision, officially known as No 04/2017/Q-TTg, and those voluntarily affixing energy-efficiency labels must follow the approved procedures for registration, evaluation and certification. Energy labelling aims to enable consumers to identify energy-efficient products, discard low-efficiency appliances, reduce energy consumption and protect the environment. The most popular products to be certified and stamped include air conditioners, refrigerators, television sets, washing machines, electric fans, rice cookers, and lighting equipment. However, the new regulation reveals many practical difficulties. A large number of export-import businesses complain its implementation is cumbersome, costly, time-consuming and even impracticable. Now they will have to test the same product more than once to get the certification since it is only valid for 6 months. But there are too few energy testing laboratories in the country. Many experts warn life will become harder for enterprises, causing damage costing hundreds of billions of ong due to a discrepancy among the rules on testing for customs clearance. They say it adds yet another difficult administrative procedure and thus adversely affects the competitiveness of businesses. Taking cognisance of the criticism, the MoIT has recently issued Circular No 36/2016/TT-BCT to replace Circular 07/2012/TT-BCT on energy labeling for vehicles and equipment. The new circular aims to remove regulations and terms which caused difficulties to businesses. Accordingly, businesses will take responsibilities for their announcements and energy self-labeling products quality. The circular also allows pilot testing for energy self-labeling by independent testing organisations and laboratories of both domestic and foreign producers; not limited to testing on energy labeling in independent testing organisations. Companies are allowed to use the results of energy efficiency tests done once for each model, whether produced domestically or imported if they are the same model, with their validity being unlimited. The amendments mean the labeling requirements are expected to be met without much difficulty. VNS HAU GIANG Viet Nam Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing Limited in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Hau Giang has owned up responsibility for polluting the environment, affecting nearby households. Chung Waifu, the companys general director, has sent a report to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environments inspection team about the pollution, including during a trial run of its waste treatment plant on March 7, the provinces Department of Natural Resources and Environment said on Sunday. In it, the company admits to causing noise, dust and a bad odour affecting nearby households. The pollution was caused by coal dust from a coal warehouse. The company plans to install anti-dust nets around the warehouse and plant trees behind it to prevent the dust from blowing around the neighbourhood. The work is expected to be completed by April 17. Sound proofing will be done to reduce the noise from its coal-fuelled power plant before April 13. The company will also set up a deodorising machine to neutralise the smell emanating from a fry-mud storage and mud tank at its wastewater treatment plant. The Mai Dam Town Peoples Committee said around 60 households were affected by the stench. Le Thi Hong, 50, a resident of the town in Chau Thanh District, said she is afraid the malodour and coal dust would threaten the health of her family, especially her five year-old niece. Nguyen Van Thai, 63, who lives near the Mai Dam River in the towns Phu Xuan Commune, said the stench and noise have reduced, but he is still worried about the water pollution. Many local residents get itches when they use the river water for washing, he said. ao Trong Ngu, director of the provinces Centre for Environmental Monitoring, said the centres facilities are linked to an automatic environmental monitoring station at the company for monitoring data. The department is developing an automatic environmental monitoring system in the province. Last month the ministry asked the company to furnish details of its trial operation of the treatment plant after the media reported about complaints by local residents. It also sought the provinces collaboration in monitoring the plants trial operation. VNS HCM CITY Women from across the country have been invited to take part in Miss Ocean Vietnam 2017, an event to encourage environmental protection. The contest will feature women aged 18 to 35 who are high school graduates and at least 1.65 metres tall. The organisers of the beauty event said they had invited a group of experts in the field to select 30 candidates for the contests final round in Phan Thiet City. At the semifinals scheduled in early September, the contestants will compete in the categories of talent, swimsuit, and question-and-answer sessions. They will also take part in social and charity activities to encourage people, particularly youth, to protect the environment and promote the countrys sea tourism. American stylist Henri Hubert, who has more than 35 years of experience in fashion, and his staff of Vietnamese designers and models will help lead the contestants during the event. The final night will take place on October 27 at the outdoor theatre Fishermens Show in Phan Thiet. The winner will receive gifts worth VN3 billion (nearly US$ 132,000). The contests selective rounds will begin in April in Ha Noi and HCM City. ang Thu Thao, 19, from the Mekong River Delta province of Can Tho, was crowned the first Miss Ocean Viet Nam in 2014. VNS HCM CITY HCM City will hold many activities on April 6 to commemorate the death anniversary of the Hung Kings, known as the nations founders. Officials from the citys Party Committee, Peoples Council, Peoples Committee and Fatherland Front Committee will take part in incense-offering rituals at the Hung Kings memorial area in District 9s Long Binh Ward. The Department of Culture, Sport and Tourism has prepared music and martial arts performances. Followed the main ceremony in District 9, Suoi Tien, am Sen and Tao an parks will hold events for visitors to pay tribute to the Hung Kings. A traditional camp, arranged by the Historical and Cultural Park, Youth Union and other authorities, will also be held for the ninth time. It will include a book fair, martial art performances and folk games, among others. The death anniversary of the nations founders is one of the countrys official holidays. VNS MOSCOW A Vietnamese bistro in Moscow hosted an April Fools Day contest, challenging competitors to eat a giant bowl of pho. Fifteen men, including both Russian and Vietnamese, joined the competition, which required attendees to finish a pho bowl consisting of 1.3kg noodle, 600g beef, 100g chopped onion and cilantro, and 3 litres of broth within 45 minutes. The organiser, the Vietsoul Cafe & Bistro, even had a healthcare team to take care of competitors if they violently failed to eat a bowl nine times bigger than a normal portion. When the competition started, everyone was very eager to conquer the challenge. Each of them had their own method to eat the noodle: some used chopsticks, some others had fork and spoon, and some even used a plastic straw. Before the bell even rang, one competitor gave up, as the huge portion looked far too large. The 5,000-ruble (US$89) first prize was granted to a Russian man, Terin Andrey Alexandrovich, who ate 4kg of his 5kg bowl. Another Russian man, Pan Alexandre Sergeyevich, has won the 3,000-ruble ($54) second prize, while a Vietnamese one, Nguyen Tien Minh, bagged the third prize worth 2,000 ruble ($36). Representatives of the Vietsoul Cafe & Bistro said they will continue to organise other similar events to promote Vietnamese cuisine among local Russian people. VNS HA NOI The Investigative Police Agency of the Ministry of Public Security will prosecute two additional suspects related to the embezzlement case against former PetroVietnam Construction (PVC) chairman, Trinh Xuan Thanh. In a report sent to the Government e-portal on Friday, the agency reported that it would detain and prosecute the former chairman of the management board, cum general director of PVCs Kinh Bac Investment and Installation Company, o Van Hong, and former deputy general director of PetroVietnam Construction Joint-Stock Corporation, Nguyen Manh Tien. The report noted that the agency is expanding its criminal investigation against Thanh and Vu uc Thuan, former PVC general director, on suspicion of embezzlement and for alleged violations of State regulations on economic management that caused about VN3.3 trillion (US$142 million) in losses for PVC. Hong and Tien are charged with being accomplices in the intentional violation of State regulations on economic management that resulted in serious consequences. An international arrest warrant for Thanh was issued last September after he fled the country. VNS By An Phuong It has been eight years since Ly Van Hap, a retired official, made use of his ancestors land and opened a wet market for poor vendors on T1 Street in HCM Citys Tan Phu District. Before the market launched, many vendors in the area had to sell food illegally along May 19 Canal. Their stalls were often removed by authorities, according to Hap, who is known by his nickname Nam Hap. Peoples lives were miserable then. Since many couldnt afford to pay the fines or set up new stalls, I thought opening a market would be worth doing, he said. Ward authorities also encouraged him to use his ancestors land, a decision that he has never regretted. To be eligible to take part in the market, each vendor pays a VN30,000 (US$1.3) daily fee for electricity, cleaning and garbage. Sometimes, I waive the fee for vendors who cant pay or for those stalls that dont take up much space, Nam Hap said. The market opens at 4am every day and is busiest around 7am after parents drop off their children at school. VNS Photo Van Chau Though his health is not as good as it once was, every morning the 70-year-old walks to the market and cleans the floor. Vendors are responsible to clean up their own areas, and I ensure that public spots are free of dirt and trash, he said. Though wet markets are typically humid and have walls stained with dirt, Nam Haps market is clean, airy and dry because of high ceilings. We couldnt afford high, quality ceilings the first six years, he said. It was only a year and a half year ago that I collected used corrugated sheets from a garage in Binh Chanh District and set up the ceilings. Now, vendors no longer need to worry about rain dripping from leaking umbrellas that served as the roof. The market opens at 4am every day and is busiest around 7am after parents drop off their children at school. VNS Photo Van Chau Nguyen Thi Lun, Nam Haps 66-year-old wife, said that maintaining the market and helping other people were her husbands chief passions. Since both of them have experienced financial hardships, Lun and Nam Hap understand how difficult life can be for poor vendors. Though they feel lucky to have inherited 800sq.m of land from their grandparents, they were happy to share it with other locals. Pham Thi Ly, a vendor from the northern province of Nam inh, recalled the hard times of the past when she had to often move to another spot to avoid penalties for encroaching on the sidewalk. Im so thankful to have met Nam Hap through my friends. Ever since my small business became more stable six years ago, my family has had a higher income, Ly said. In fact, some vendors have done so well that they have left the market and bought a house. Hue, a vendor from the northern province of Bac Ninh, said the number of vendors in recent years had fallen to around 20 or 30, from 40 to 50 in the past. Some vendors were able to buy a house, and others invested their savings in a bigger business and left the market, Hue said. Her only complaint today is that some vendors in the area still sell their food illegally on the sidewalk. I understand that visitors can find it easier to buy food from these vendors since they dont have to park their bikes. And they can earn more money on the sidewalk, so I dont have the right to ask them to join us, Nam Hap said. Nam Hap, a retired official, opened a wet market for poor vendors on 800 square metres of his own land eight years ago. VNS Photo Van Chau In the past, there were rumours at times that I launched the market for money, he added. But Nam Hap earns only enough to run the market smoothly, while the remaining revenue goes to charity. Every year, I organise a holiday trip not only for my family and friends but also for the vendors, he said. We travel to neighbouring cities like Vung Tau or provinces in the Mekong Delta. For those who cannot go, he throws a party in the city. Besides offering a more stable life to vendors, Nam Hap is proud that there have been fewer accidents between vendors and pedestrians or motorists since the sidewalks are now free of vendors. He isnt sure about the future of the market, but plans to maintain it as long as the vendors want it. Initially, my family was not fully supportive because they were afraid we couldnt take our land back, he said. But years have passed and theyve all agreed that helping other people while we can is the most important thing. Even today, the market has no official name, but everyone calls it Nam Haps Market, reflecting the respect and love they have for their own Prince Charming. VNS HA NOI Public concern is once again inspiring changes to education programmes in schools, with calls for more sex education to be included in the curriculum so that children can better protect themselves from sexual abuse. Recent reports of children being sexually abused in different parts of the country have highlighted the growing problem. The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) estimates that around 2,000 Vietnamese children face violence and abuse annually, of whom 1,200 suffer sexual abuse. Among these, more than 13 per cent are girls under the age of six. But the real number of Vietnamese children being sexually abused may be much higher, said MoLISA deputy minister ao Hong Lan. Education experts have criticised the fact that children in Viet Nam learn about sex education too late, which makes them more vulnerable to abuse. Dr Vu Thu Huong from the Primary Education Department under Ha Noi National University of Education said that under the current education programmes, children begin sex education in fifth grade. Its too late nowadays, as many children start puberty early. They experience puberty before being taught about sex education, which is supposed to provide them with the understanding and skills to deal with major physical and mental changes they will experience during puberty, she said. Moreover, sex education in schools is inadequate. Current topics include the reproductive cycle and the formation of the human body, as well as advice on raising children. Sex education must include information on ejaculation, spermatorrhoea, masturbation, gender identity and especially advice on how children can protect themselves from and respond to sexual abuse, Huong said. Many parents and adults usually avoid awkward questions about sex from kids, which may lead children to consider such topics taboo. Ultimately, children facing problems may remain silent instead of alerting others. Sex education must be made available for children aged three to 16, covering a range of complicated subjects depending on the age of the child, she said, adding that adequate education could help children recognise threats of sexual abuse and be able to inform parents as soon as they feel they are in an uncomfortable situation. Lecturer Pham Thanh Nam from the University of Education under Ha Noi National University, said that in school, children are taught about the reproductive system rather than a healthy attitude to sex. From the age of three, children begin to explore their bodies, and this is the time for families and teachers to provide them with information so that children can form a healthy understanding about sex, which will in turn help protect them from abuse. Learn more at school Le Thi Lan Anh, head of Ha Noi-based Institute for Research on Educational Development, said that sex education was normally taught in biology class and teachers had not received proper training, Kinh te & o thi (Economic and Urban Affairs) newspaper reported on Friday. Teachers often felt ashamed or embarrassed when talking to children about sex. The curriculum was disjointed, resulting in children failing to understand why a boys voice breaks or girls menstruate. Ngo Thi Thanh, principal of Nam Tu Liem Primary School in Ha Noi said that in her school sex education was integrated in classes on morality, life skills or extra-curricular activities. The school organised outdoor activities and invited healthcare workers to talk to fourth and fifth graders about sex education. Ta Ngoc Tri, vice head of the Primary Education Department under the Ministry of Education and Training, said that sex education was regulated as part of extra-curricular activities at schools from primary to high schools. In 2014, the ministry issued a circular on life skills education which also included sex education and encouraged schools to develop child abuse prevention programmes. Professor Nguyen Minh Thuyet, chief editor of the National Education Programme said that the new programme would pay more attention to sex education. Sex education could be directly taught in biology class, legal knowledge or integrated into literature classes. To protect children from child abuse, teaching sex education at schools is not enough, Thuyet said, emphasing the role of the family. In many cases, children suffered abuse from family members. While waiting for the new education programme to be implemented next year, schools agree that teachers should receive more training on sex education. VNS The Criminal Investigation Police Department has joined forces with police in the northern province of Bac Ninh to detain a group of people for threatening the chairman of the provincial Peoples Committee and several other officials, Major General Ho Sy Tien, director of the department, announced Saturday. HA NOI The Criminal Investigation Police Department has joined forces with police in the northern province of Bac Ninh to detain a group of people for threatening the chairman of the provincial Peoples Committee and several other officials, Major General Ho Sy Tien, director of the department, announced Saturday. Last month, deputy chairman of the Bac Ninh Peoples Committee, Nguyen Huu Thanh, sent a letter to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Minister of Transport Truong Quang Nghia informing them that he and other officials had been threatened for ending a sand dredging project in the Cau River. The Prime Minister asked the Ministry of Public Security to investigate and report back to him by the end of last month. The arrests appear to be the result of the investigation. As reported by tuoitrenews.vn, three sand exploitation projects along the waterway were approved in 2014 and executed by the Vietnam Inland Waterways Administration (VIWA). But Ha Luu Company, the contractor hired by VIWA to carry out one of the three, was found to be taking advantage of the project to illegally exploit sand, causing serious damage to local dams and riverbanks. VNS The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs announced on Sunday that it will temporarily stop enrolling workers from 58 districts to work in South Korea this year. Photo vieclamhanquoc.vn HA NOI The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs announced on Sunday that it will temporarily stop enrolling workers from 58 districts to work in South Korea this year. The announcement said that workers in the fishery sector in coastal provinces which were affected by sea environmental problems last year would not be enrolled. The districts included Nghi Xuan, Cam Xuyen, Loc Ha, Thach Ha and Ky Anh in Ha Tinh Province, Bo Trach, Ba on and ong Hoi in Quang Binh Province. These districts have over 60 workers living illegally in South Korea. The ministry said it will continue to ban workers from the districts whose the number of illegal workers living in South Korea does not decrease this year, and will remove the ban for districts with decreasing number of illegal workers in South Korea. VNS HA NOI Three Colombian nationals involved in property theft in Ha Noi have been arrested at the Cau Treo International Border Gate in central Ha Tinh Province. The arrested are Rodriguez Cuervo Luis Alexander, 40; Zuga Galvez Jaime Alberto, 39; and Nino Nino Fidel, 41. The three were arrested while completing emigration procedures to travel to Laos on Saturday. According to Ha Nois Criminal Police Division, the three men immigrated to Viet Nam in 2006. They usually visited commercial banks in large cities, observing customers who withdrew money. They then called their accomplices to stalk the customers, caused accidents on purpose and took advantage of customers carelessness to steal money. On February 22 this year, the men stole VN1.7 billion (US$75,600) from a local living on Ha Nois Hang Tre Street. After that, they kept on moving to other Vietnamese cities or countries. Ha Nois Police Department had issued a national arrest warrant for the criminals. The police are expanding their investigation after the arrests. VNS QUANG NGAI Twenty-eight fishermen from central Quang Ngai Province were rescued fromthe waters off the Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago after their boat capsized on March 29. The fishermen were taken to the control room of the Ca Na border guard station in central Ninh Thuan Province on Monday morning. The boat, captained by Quang Ngai-based Huynh Minh Dung, was swept away by a windstorm. It hit some rocks and broke up while it was anchored to catch octopus in the waters off a Lat Island. Some fishermen jumped off the boat to escape. The accident was discovered by Tran Van Hung, owner of another boat, who was fishing nearby. Hung approached the capsized boat while calling for two other boats, owned by Bach Van Gioi and Nguyen Ba Cong, both residing in Ninh Thuan Province, to rescue the fishermen. He also reported the accident to the authorities of a Lat Island. The capsized boat sunk, destroying 11 oil containers and 8 tonnes of octopus, leading to a loss of some VN5 billion (US$220,000). Transportation is being organised to take the fishermen back to Quang Ngai Province, Major Ta Duy Chinh, head of the Ca Na border guard station, said. VNS WASHINGTON Jared Kushner, the son-in-law and top aide to US President Donald Trump, is in Iraq on an official visit, a senior administration official said Sunday. Kushner was travelling with General Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who had invited him, the official said. Additional details of the trip were not immediately available, though the fight against the Islamic State group was sure to top the agenda. The United States is leading an international coalition fighting the IS group, launching air strikes to assist Iraqi forces on the ground. Since last month, the forces have been engaged in a grinding battle for west Mosul, sending more than 200,000 civilians fleeing for safety. Kushner, like his father-in-law, has no previous experience in government but has risen stratospherically to become one of the most powerful men in Washington. Valued by Trump for his discretion and loyalty, the baby-faced 36-year-old is officially a White House senior adviser with far-reaching influence over domestic and foreign policy. His wife Ivanka, the 35-year-old first daughter, also plays a key role in advising the president. She officially became assistant to the president last week, after being a regular presence in the White House since Trumps election. AFP MOCOA, Colombia Devastating mudslides in the Colombian town of Mocoa killed at least 254 people, 43 of them children, President Juan Manuel Santos said on Sunday, in yet another sharp rise in the death toll. Santos, who traveled to the southern town to personally oversee relief operations, warned the toll could keep climbing. "Unfortunately, these are still preliminary figures," he wrote on Twitter. "We offer our prayers for all of them. We send our condolences and the entire countrys sympathies to their families." Survivors described gruesome scenes in the remote southern town, as rescuers kept up a bleak search for victims in the muck and debris. Covered in mud, 38-year-old Marta Gomez told of going to search for her missing niece -- and making a chilling find instead. "I went to look for my niece, but I couldnt find her. I dug and dug and found what turned out to be a babys hand. It was horrible," she said in a shelter set up for the newly homeless. As she stood in line waiting to register for government assistance for those who lost their houses, she said she had given up on finding her niece. "The mud took her away. Ill never see her again," she said, clinging to the leash of her equally muddy German shepherd. Rescuers worked in stifling heat under a cloudy sky in the remote Amazon town, the capital of Putumayo department. The debris left by the mudslides was everywhere: buried cars, uprooted trees, childrens toys and stray shoes sticking up out of the mud. Popes prayers The torrent of mud, boulders and debris struck the town with little warning late on Friday after days of heavy rains that caused three area rivers to flood. It swept away homes, bridges, vehicles and trees, leaving piles of wrecked timber. Most of the hardest-hit neighbourhoods in the town of 40,000 are poor and populated with people uprooted during Colombias five-decade-long civil war. A "profoundly saddened" Pope Francis said he was praying for the victims. Santos declared an emergency to speed up aid operations. Health authorities said they had dispatched sanitation specialists in hopes of preventing outbreaks of disease. An unexpected offer of help also came from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a leftist rebel group engaged in a historic peace process with the government. It said FARC members were prepared to help rebuild the town. People screamed, others cried Marta Ceballos, a 44-year-old street vendor, said she lost everything, but is thankful her family is alive. "Dear God, I dont want to even remember that," she said. "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. Its all too, too difficult," she said. "The only things I fortunately did not lose were my husband, my daughters and my nephews," she said. No preparations Electricity and running water have yet to be restored to Mocoa. Local authorities said repairing the electrical substation would take time. 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. "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. The previous month, 10 people lost their lives in a mudslide in the north of the country. The Pacific rim of South America has been hard hit in recent months by floods and mudslides, with scores killed in Peru and Ecuador. Climate change can play a big role in the scale of such natural disasters, 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. AFP SAINT PETERSBURG - Around 10 people were feared dead and dozens injured yesterday after an explosion rocked the metro system in Russias second city Saint Petersburg, according to authorities, who were not ruling out a terror attack. President Vladimir Putin said investigators were looking into all possible causes for the explosion -- "accidental, criminal and first of all ... terrorist". Pictures screened on national television showed the door of a train carriage blown out, as bloodied bodies lay strewn on a station platform. Emergency services vehicles rushed to the scene at the Technological Institute metro station, a key transport hub. Andrei Kibitov, a spokesman for the Saint Petersburg governor, said: "We dont know the exact number of those killed, but it is about 10 people." He added that about 50 people were injured, two of which were undergoing emergency surgery. The blast caused scenes of confusion, with traffic blocked on Moskovsky Prospect, a busy throughfare and emergency vehicles rushing to the station. "My mom was in the metro, I dont know whats happened to her, I cant get hold of her," one woman, Natalia, said outside the station as she was trying to make a phone call on her mobile. The spokesman for Russias national anti-terrorism committee (NAK), Andrei Przhezdomsky, said in televised remarks that the blast occurred at 2:40pm local time (1140 GMT) and that it was looking into its causes. Przhezdomsky said "the blast happened in a train carriage between the stations Technological Institute and Sennaya (Square)", which are next to each other on a busy line in the city centre. The metro network announced it was shutting down entirely after evacuating all passengers and Russias Investigative Committee also launched a probe into the blast. The Moscow metro also tweeted that it was "taking additional security measures" as required by law in such situations. Putin 'condolence' Putin, who was holding a meeting near Saint Petersburg in his official Strelna presidential palace, offered "condolences" to those hurt in the blast. While there was no immediate indication as to what caused the blast, Russias security services have previously said they had foiled "terrorist attacks" on Moscows public transport system by militants, some of whom were trained by Islamic State jihadists in Syria. And Russias public transportation systems have been targeted by attacks in the past. In 2013, Russia was hit by twin suicide strikes that claimed 34 lives and raised alarm over security at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games. A bombing at the main railway station of the southern city of Volgograd killed 18 people on while a second strike hit a trolleybus and claimed 16 lives. A suicide raid on Moscows Domodedovo airport that was claimed by Islamic insurgents from the North Caucasus killed 37 people in January 2011. That strike was claimed by the Caucasus Emirate movement of Islamist warlord Doku Umarov. Russia beefed up its security over the holiday period in the wake of the attack on the Berlin Christmas market that killed 12. Authorities placed heavy trucks at road intersections to block off areas where public festivities were taking place after the attack in the German capital that was claimed by the Islamic State group. - AFP Mobile phones have increasingly become the repository for the details that drive our everyday lives. But Virginia Tech researchers have recently discovered that the same apps we regularly use on our phones to organize lunch dates, make convenient online purchases, and communicate the most intimate details of our existence have secretly been colluding to mine our information. Associate Professor Daphne Yao and Assistant Professor Gang Wang, both in the Department of Computer Science in Virginia Techs College of Engineering, are part of a research team to conduct the first ever large-scale and systematic study of exactly how the trusty apps on Android phones are able to talk to one another and trade information. Yao will present the teams findings in Dubai at the Association for Computing Machinery Asia Computer and Communications Security Conference on April 3. "Researchers were aware that apps may talk to one another in some way, shape, or form, said Wang. What this study shows undeniably with real-world evidence over and over again is that app behavior, whether it is intentional or not, can pose a security breach depending on the kinds of apps you have on your phone. The types of threats fall into two major categories, either a malware app that is specifically designed to launch a cyberattack or apps that simply allow for collusion and privilege escalation. In the latter category, it is not possible to quantify the intention of the developer, so collusion, while still a security breach, can in many cases be unintentional. In order to run the programs to test pairs of apps, the team developed a tool called DIALDroid to perform their massive inter-app security analysis. The study, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency as part of its Automated Program Analysis for Cybersecurity initiative, took 6,340 hours using the newly developed DIALDroid software, a task that would have been considerably longer without it. First author of the paper Amiangshu Bosu, an assistant professor at Southern Illinois University, spearheaded the software development effort and the push to release the code to the wider research community. Fang Liu, a fifth year Ph.D. candidate studying under Yao, also contributed to the malware detection research. Our team was able to exploit the strengths of relational databases to complete the analysis, in combination with efficient static program analysis, workflow engineering and optimization, and the utilization of high performance computing. Of the apps we studied, we found thousands of pairs of apps that could potentially leak sensitive phone or personal information and allow unauthorized apps to gain access to privileged data, said Yao, who is both an Elizabeth and James E. Turner Jr. '56 and L-3 Faculty Fellow. The team studied a whopping 110,150 apps over three years including 100,206 of Google Plays most popular apps and 9,994 malware apps from Virus Share, a private collection of malware app samples. The set up for cybersecurity leaks works when a seemingly innocuous sender app like that handy and ubiquitous flashlight app works in tandem with a receiver app to divulge a users information such as contacts, geolocation, or provide access to the web. The team found that the biggest security risks were some of the least utilitarian. Apps that pertained to personalization of ringtones , widgets, and emojis. App security is a little like the Wild West right now with few regulations, said Wang. We hope this paper will be a source for the industry to consider re-examining their software development practices and incorporate safeguards on the front end. While we cant quantify what the intention is for app developers in the non-malware cases we can at least raise awareness of this security problem with mobile apps for consumers who previosuly may not have thought much about what they were downloading onto their phones. Written by Amy Loeffler OMAHA, Neb. Waterloos Gordmans store will remain open, according to documents filed over the weekend in U.S Bankrupcty Court in Omaha. The Waterloo store at Crossroads Center mall is one of 57 stores listed as locations Stage Stores Inc. wants to continue operating. The Houston-based department store chain won an auction last week to buy the company out of bankruptcy. Stage Stores plans to close all of Omaha-based Gordmans metro area stores, with the exception of one in Council Bluffs, while keeping open all other stores in Nebraska. The other stores in Iowa to remain open are Des Moines, Coralville, Davenport, Cedar Rapids and Sioux City. What stores close or stay open ultimately will be up to the judge overseeing the case, so the list could change slightly. Its likely Stage Stores will simply assume the leases of Gordmans stores it plans to keep open. Gordmans filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on March 13, and initially it looked like all of its stores would close. Stage Stores has said it plans to keep the Gordmans name and will hire a significant portion of the companys retail staff. Stage has stores in 38 states, but the vast majority of them are in the South and on the East Coast. Most of the Gordmans it plans to keep open are in states where it either has no stores or very few. For example, Stage plans to keep open all six Gordmans in North and South Dakota, where it currently has no presence, while it plans to close all five Gordmans locations in Oklahoma and all four in Ohio, two states where it already has a combined 67 stores. If youre in the mood to make something easy and delicious for supper, just reach for one of these recipes provided by one of CVHGs favorite chefs. Chef William Gerstenberger of Crossroads Hy-Vee has created these week-night wonders that appeal to both comfort lovers and sophisticated palates. And because no one likes cleaning up a mess, these dishes are mostly made in one pot. MONDAY Shrimp Pho Vietnamese Noodle Soup Pho 8 ounces rice noodles, thin or pad thai style 1 teaspoon whole coriander seeds teaspoon ground cloves teaspoon ground black peppercorns 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil 2 tablespoons minced ginger root tablespoons garlic paste 8 cups chicken broth 2 stripslemon peel 2 tablespoons soy sauce 2 tablespoons fish sauce 2 tablespoons lime juice 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce 1 teaspoon cinnamon 8 cups bok choy stem, thinly sliced 1 pound 26-30 count raw shrimp, peeled, shelled and tail-off Prepare rice noodles according to package directions and set aside. In a large soup pot, add toasted sesame oil and heat for about 1 minute until its starts to shimmer. Add ginger, garlic paste and stir for 30 seconds to release flavors. Stir in chicken broth, lemon peel, soy sauce, fish sauce, lime juice, hoisin and cinnamon. Bring mixture to a boil, then add shrimp and bok choy. Turn down to a simmer. When shrimp turns a pinkish/opaque white, about 3 to 4 minutes. Taste to check seasonings. Add salt, pepper and soy sauce, as needed. Divide rice noodles evenly between 4 large bowls and ladle the soup in to each bowl. Serve with optional garnishes: thinly sliced onions, jalapeno slices, fresh cilantro, lime wedges, sriracha hot sauce, fresh bean sprouts and fresh Thai basil. Serves 4. TUESDAY Spaghetti & Meatball Pie Youll need: one 9-inch spring form pan, or 9- by 13-inch casserole dish 1 pound cooked spaghetti pasta 2 cups marinara sauce, homemade or jarred 2 eggs, beaten 1 small yellow onion, chopped 3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided 20 small meatballs (small), homemade or frozen 4 ounces cream cheese 1 cup fresh vegetables, such as zucchini, optional Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray the 9-inch pan with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside. In a large bowl, soften cream cheese in the microwave for 15 seconds. Add eggs and whisk until smooth and combined. Add pasta, sauce, onions, meatballs and half of the mozzarella cheese; stir to combine. Pour half of the spaghetti mixture into the springform pan or casserole dish. Add remaining spaghetti mixture and top with remaining mozzarella cheese. Press everything down to make it compact. Cover springform pan with foil and bake for 55 minutes. Remove foil and broil until cheese is golden brown on top. Remove from oven and let rest for 15 minutes. Serves 8 to 10 people. Serve with a nice merlot. WEDNESDAY Pork Chops with Swiss Chard and White Beans 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 4 boneless pork chops (about thick) 1 teaspoon paprika 1 bunch Swiss chard, stems thinly sliced and leaves torn into bite-sized pieces (about 5 cups) 1 medium onion, chopped 16 ounces cannellini beans, rinsed 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 2 cloves crushed garlic 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Season pork with paprika, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Cook pork for 3-5 minutes a side. Transfer to platter and tent with foil. Reserve the skillet. Add the onion, beans, chard leaves, salt and pepper and cook on medium heat. Toss the chard frequently for about 2-3 minutes) and or until wilted. Take the pork and return back to skillet and mix everything together. Continue cooking for 1-2 minutes heat through. Serves 4. Serve with a chilled Chardonnay crusty hard bread. THURSDAY Tandoori Chicken Curry 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 1 small onion, chopped 2 cloves garlic 3tablespoons red curry 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon paprika 1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger 2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into bite-sized pieces 1 teaspoons granulated sugar 1 tablespoon tomato paste 1 cup plain yogurt Salt to taste 3/4 cup coconut milk Squeeze of lemon 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Sautee' onion until lightly browned. Stir in garlic, curry paste, cinnamon, paprika, ginger, sugar and salt. Continue stirring for 2 minutes. Add chicken pieces, tomato paste and coconut milk. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and cayenne pepper. Simmer 5 more minutes. Serve over cooked white rice and naan Tandoori-style bread. FRIDAY Beef Stroganoff 3 pounds sirloin, cubed 1 large bag egg noodles, cooked according to directions 3 cups sliced mushrooms 2 cups frozen peas (optional) 1 yellow onion, diced 2 small cans beef stock 2 small cans mushroom soup (do not add water) 2 cups sour cream cup dry sherry wine Spritz of Worcestershire sauce Salt and pepper, to taste cup butter Melt butter in a very large skillet; add cubed sirloin. Brown beef, then add onions and mushrooms. Saute 5 minutes, then add beef broth and soup. Reduce heat to low and cook for 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and stir in sherry. Add Worcestershire sauce and sour cream. Sour cream will serve to thicken the sauce mixture. Add peas and continue cooking for another 5 minutes. Add noodles to skillet and gently fold to mix together. Serve immediately. Serves 6 to 10. WATERLOO After initially kicking off negotiations with Area Education Agency 267 the same week a bill was introduced in the Legislature to scale back public sector collective bargaining rights, teachers and other staff were back for do-over this week. The bill passed, temporarily derailing negotiations between AEA 267s Education Association and the agency. Many past subjects of bargaining were made permissive unless both sides agree on them and other subjects, like insurance, are now illegal to bargain on. But Rob Hirst, co-chair of the associations bargaining committee, proposed all of the now permissive language be retained in the master contract. In addition, the association proposed establishing a labor management committee to develop an employee handbook that will govern our working relationship with the same force as the master contract, he said. Frankly, we are determined not to allow a group of politicians to dictate how we treat one another locally. Hirst added, Benefits, procedures and supplemental pay have been negotiated in good faith and should not be lost due to changes in the law. They also proposed an increase of $650 on the $33,660 annual base salary . The association represents 371 teachers, librarians, therapists, psychologists, nurses, audiologists, speech-language pathologists, social workers and others with titles such as consultant, coordinator, or specialist. AEA 267 staff work with schools in the 18 north and northeast Iowa counties covered by the agency. The proposal is for the contract that will go into effect July 1. Karl Kurt, AEA 267s assistant chief administrator and human resources director, proposed no increase in base salary and removing all permissive and illegal topics from the contract. He suggested, though, that the groups adjourn their meetings after the initial bargaining to have a conversation about the permissive items and employee handbook. We have an interest in treating our employees fairly, Kurt said following the bargaining session. They provide excellence services, and we want to honor the work they do. CEDAR FALLS Peter Gorog, a Holocaust survivor who became an engineer before fleeing Communist Hungary and went on to work with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, will speak at University of Northern Iowa on Tuesday night. He will be the keynote speaker at the ninth annual Norman Cohn Family Holocaust Remembrance and Education Lecture. His life after the war would be worthy of a lecture invitation by itself, said Stephen Gaies, director of UNIs Center for Holocaust and Genocide Education. Hes had a full lifetime several times over, and so I think people may be interested to hear what he has to say. The lecture will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Curris Business Buildings John Deere Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public. Gorog was born Peter Grunwald in Budapest, Hungary in 1941. German forces invaded Hungary just three years later. He and his mother, Olga, spent the time between the invasion in March 1944 and January 1945, when Budapest was liberated by the Soviet Army, trying to evade Nazi forces and Allied air raids. After World War II, he continued to grow up in Communist Hungary, changing his family name in 1962 to Gorog for fear of anti-Semitic discrimination. Gorog earned a degree in electrical engineering and helped with the design of the first Hungarian-made computer. Gorog defected to the United States in 1980 and worked on NASA projects, including the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope. He retired in 2014. Gaies said the early years of the lecture invited a variety of speakers, including artists and scholars, but in 2012, turned more attention to inviting the Holocaust survivors themselves. Its an aging generation and we want to give people a chance to meet Holocaust survivors while they are still there, Gaies said, noting four of the last six speakers were survivors of the 1930s and 1940s-era genocide. We really consider this to be a rare opportunity. He said there remain only two living survivors in Iowa, and though they had been active speakers in the past are no longer able to get out and keynote events. During Gorogs visit to Iowa, he also will meet with students at Holmes Junior High School and Urbandale Middle School to talk about his life experiences. Gorogs visit is made possible in part by the Office of Survivor Affairs of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. WATERLOO Residential contractors in Waterloo must pass a city test before building a garage, roofing a house or performing other jobs. But the licensing hurdle one that doesnt apply in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Cedar Falls or most other Iowa communities is facing questions from a former City Council candidate and small business owner. Michael Anthony, who recently moved back to Waterloo after running a bail bonds company in Cedar Rapids, has been asking city leaders to rescind the testing requirement he sees as hurting competition and keeping some skilled tradespeople out of business. Im a Republican that is more of Libertarian and I believe in cutting regulations and allowing the markets to work in doing the regulation and not government, Anthony said. Once you open up the market youll have other contractors coming in to work on property which is better for the taxpayer and the consumer. Anthony also sees the testing requirement, which carries a $50 fee, as hurting minorities and persons returning from prison with learned skills who cant find work. Waterloo has the highest unemployment rate for blacks in Iowa and it also leads the state in the disproportionate number of minorities in prison, he said. (The city) can help address this issue by getting rid of the exam and opening up the market. Randy Barth, of Cedar Falls, ran his own contracting business in Des Moines and worked for another licensed contractor in Waterloo. While he wants to work on his own, hes not thrilled with the idea of paying the fee or taking the test. I think if the inspectors are fine with you working and know you, you shouldnt have to go through the test and expense, he said. You still have to be bonded and have insurance and get inspected, so its not like youre going to have a full end run if you dont have testing. Iowa currently has a statewide licensing program for electrical, plumbing and heating contractors who are required to pass tests to ply their trades. But the law leaves licensing for general construction contractors up to the local jurisdictions. Only three of Iowas 15 most populous cities require testing for residential contractors Davenport, Council Bluffs and Waterloo. None of Waterloos current City Council members were in office when the testing requirement was adopted in 1998 following a rash of complaints, mostly on roof repairs following major hail damage. Councilman Ron Welper, who worked as a handyman at the time, recalled the process, which added the testing but grandfathered in existing contractors. I think the reason we did it was shoddy workmanship, he said. We had people putting on roofs and we had nothing butcomplaints about the workmanship. Anybody could go to Menards and buy a hammer and call themselves a contractor. Local builder Reed Hunemuller, a member of the citys general contractors board who endorsed the testing in 1998, still believes its a good idea. Every time there was a slowdown in the economy and there were layoffs, guys would pick up a hammer, get in their truck and become a contractor, he said. There was a lot of shoddy work and it was giving decent contractors bad names. Waterloo had great intentions at the time to make it more professional and provide more accountability, he said. It did help resolve some problems, but surrounding cities didnt follow suit. Hunemuller believes the issue should be addressed at the state level, similar to states like Minnesota which has a statewide residential contractor licensing program. Im not a big government guy by any means, he said. But its always amazed me that the plumber has to (pass a test), along with the heating guy and the electrician, but the guy who is responsible for the whole job does not. When it comes to hiring someone to put a $100,000 addition on your house or build a new half million dollar home, you dont need it, he added. A contractor is responsible for it for a lot of years after its done. Jay Iverson, executive officer for the Home Builders Association of Iowa, did not believe theres support in Des Moines for statewide contractor licensing now. Before my time we surveyed our 1,900 members and it ended up being about a third in favor, a third against, and another third didnt care, he said. I worked on licensing issues with a couple of other associations and Gov. (Terry) Branstad was always against adding to the levels of bureaucracy. Iverson noted there have been a number of bills introduced in the Legislature this year to remove licensing and educational requirements for a number of other professions, making it unlikely new requirements would be supported for builders. Several councilmen Anthony contacted with his concerns said theyd not had enough input or background at this point to weigh in on the testing merits. I have heard it is harder to get and do work in Waterloo than other communities, said Councilman Steve Schmitt. I would like to hear that we, the city, work with developers and contractors to get things done. Mayor Quentin Hart said he was also unfamiliar with the situation until recently, but noted Anthony made some good points. As with any of our ordinances or processes were constantly taking a look at ways for improvement, he said. I certainly dont want there to be anything making it harder to do business in Waterloo. Grout presents new exhibits CEDAR FALLS The Grout Museum District and UNI Center for Holocaust and Genocide Education will present Facing Prejudice and Dr. Seuss Wants You from Tuesday through June 3 at the Grout, 503 South St. Facing Prejudice was a collaborative effort between the University of Cincinnati and UNI CHGE. Dr. Seuss Wants You is an original exhibit that explores unexpected elements of the writing of Dr. Seuss. CultureFest plans set WATERLOO The annual CultureFest, a free family event at the Waterloo Center for the Arts, is set for 5 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, with special performances and demonstrations, information booths and international food sampling. The Waterloo Center for the Arts annual All-School Art Exhibition also will be on display. The exhibition is a display of more than 1,000 works of art by K-12 students in the Waterloo public and parochial schools. The 2017 event will feature a variety of exhibits, performances and special activities all relating to the theme of celebrating and embracing our communitys cultural diversity. Voters in 2016 gave Republicans full lawmaking control in Iowa and the nations capital. Iowa Republicans have been far more productive than their federal counterparts thus far. The 2016 election resulted in all-Republican control of the Iowa Capitol the governors office, Iowa House and Iowa Senate for the first time in 20 years. It also resulted in the same power structure in the U.S. Capitol GOP control of the White House and both chambers of Congress for the first time since 2006. But despite both possessing unfettered control, Republicans in Des Moines have had far greater legislative success than Republicans in Washington. At the Iowa Capitol, Republicans have been flying through their agenda. With roughly two-thirds of the legislative session completed, Statehouse Republicans have approved multiple pieces of significant legislation that have been on the partys wish list for years. Iowa Republicans have dramatically reduced the collective bargaining rights of public employees, created an identification requirement at the polls for voters and addressed lawsuit reform in multiple areas by limiting the amount of damages individuals can seek in cases involving workplace injury, creating new guidelines for asbestos-caused ailments and making it more difficult to sue animal feeding operations for noise and odor nuisances. There are more big bills on the GOP agenda moving through the chambers, including a ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, a measure to stop all state funding to womens health care providers that perform abortions, most notably Planned Parenthood, and medical malpractice reform that would cap claims. The promise that I made to my caucus, the promise Ive made to my voters and supporters in my district is that were going to focus on policies that create a new legacy of opportunity here in Iowa, and were not going to let them down, Senate Majority Leader Bill Dix told me a few weeks ago at the sessions first key legislative deadline. Iowa Republicans are keeping that promise to their voters. Republicans in Washington are having a more difficult time. President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress have taken a few big swings at policy changes, but so far have come up empty. It started with Trumps travel ban, which he said was necessary to protect the U.S. from terrorism and impacted largely majority-Muslim countries. The original ban was struck down by the courts, and a rewritten ban has suffered the same fate, although the appeals process continues. And the federal GOPs attempt at health care reform fell flat when Republicans could not muster enough votes to approve legislation to repeal and replace the health care law implemented by Democrats when they had complete lawmaking control in 2009 and 2010. National Republicans say their next target is tax reform, which will be another monumental undertaking. They also face critical votes on funding the federal government and raising its borrowing authority. I think we have to do some soul-searching internally to determine whether or not we are even capable as a governing body, Republican U.S. Rep. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota told the Associated Press after the health care bill failed. It bears noting here congressional Republicans have a slightly more challenging task because the minority party in the U.S. Senate Democrats, in this case can use the filibuster to stall some legislation. And federal Republicans have plenty of time to accomplish their agenda. While Iowas legislative session is scheduled to end in April, Congress remains in session for most of the year. But looking at the early returns, Iowa Republicans have been much more successful in taking advantage of their newfound authority than their national counterparts. If the Iowa House of Representatives has its way, the public would be denied pertinent information audio, video and transcripts of 911 calls involving injured victims of crimes or accidents. Instead, they would be considered confidential medical records and exempt from the state open records law. In addition, any calls involving juveniles younger than 18 automatically would be confidential. House File 571 was recently approved in the House and by a Senate committee. Rep. Dean Fisher, R-Montour, said its a response to an Associated Press and USA Today Network story concerning suppressed reports regarding a series of tragic gun accidents in Tama County that killed two teenage girls and critically wounded another and her mother within a year beginning in late 2014. The AP/USA Today coverage was part of a nationwide investigation of 1,000 accidental shootings involving minors during a 2 1/2-year period, which included an average of more than one fatality per day. The Tama County incidents were not publicly revealed until the AP made an open records request. In one of the accidents, a family was preparing for a deer hunt prior to Christmas when their teenage son stumbled and his muzzle loader discharged, fatally hitting his 12-year-old sister. In the other fatality, a 13-year-old girl died after her father took a rifle from a locked safe, it fell and discharged, shooting her in the head. In the third instance, days prior to Thanksgiving 2015, a mother was doing dishes when she heard a gunshot, felt a sting in her leg and then saw her 14-year-old daughter bleeding profusely. The accident occurred when a .40-caliber handgun discharged when her older brother tried to remove a bullet from its chamber. The bullet narrowly missing the girls spine but left six holes in her stomach and intestines. Emergency responders saved her life, rushing her to a hospital 20 miles away for immediate surgery. She spent 10 days in intensive care. Charges were not filed in any of the cases. Tama County E911 Director and Emergency Management coordinator Mindy Benson, who had to release the calls to AP, told Fisher a statewide restriction was needed against making such information public. These grieving families simply wanted their privacy, Fisher said. Yet two of the families spoke to The Associated Press hoping to improve gun safety awareness. In another 911 case, Fayette County recently released calls from last summer in the death of 4-year-old boy who accidentally shot himself. The calls revealed the ambulance was delayed in arriving because the closure of a key road added five miles to the trip. Randy Evans, director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, called the cases spot-on for making such information available in the public interest. While legislators are concerned about medical privacy, he maintained theyre ignoring the unintended consequences of suppressing the 911 recordings, hampering the publics efforts to hold government officials or private citizens accountable for their actions. Fisher, though, maintained privacy should outweigh the publics right to know, that 911 calls warrant the same confidentiality as patients medical records. If Im laying on the floor with a heart attack and my wife calls 911, Fisher said, does the public need to know that? No. However, that example belies the intent of this bill as it relates to injured victims of crimes or accidents. Sen. Jeff Danielson, D-Waterloo, a Cedar Falls firefighter, was one of two senators to vote against the bill in a committee hearing. He believes it will have a chilling effect regarding police accountability to the public. We should be opening up our decision-making process, he said. Evans agreed. Sealing off those records will make it ever more difficult to hold public officials accountable. That includes incidents involving police body cameras, which shed light on the use of force. Yet the Iowa Department of Public Safety and Burlington Police Department have refused to release body camera video and other investigative records in a 2015 officer-involved shooting resulting in the death of a 34-year-old Burlington mother. The Iowa Public Information Board, which enforces public records and meetings laws, has sought the release. A hearing is expected within a month. We believe the public has a right to know about the actions of taxpayer-funded agencies, whether laudatory, as with the life-saving actions in one Tama County shooting, or open to review as in the case of the Elgin detour or Burlington shooting. When doors are closed to such information, public accountability ultimately becomes the victim. At least 10 people were killed in a blast on the St. Petersburg metro Monday, three state-run Russian news agencies said. Authorities say the explosion is a terrorist attack. An explosion tore through a train as it was traveling between two stations in Russia's second-biggest city, injuring dozens more. A second device was found and defused at another station, Russia's Anti-Terrorism Committee said. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which led to the shutdown of the city's metro system. President Vladimir Putin, who had been in St. Petersburg earlier in the day, said all causes were being investigated, including terrorism. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev described the explosion as a "terrorist act." Latest developments The blast was caused by an unidentified explosive device It happened in a train car as it passed through a tunnel The train's conductor possibly saved lives, committee said Dozens were injured, several in critical condition, authorities said A second device was found at another metro station and disabled News agencies' death toll one less than previous Health Ministry report The blast happened just after 2:30 p.m. (7:40 a.m. ET) as the train was traveling in a tunnel from Sennaya Ploshchad to Tekhnologichesky Institut stations in the city center. In the confusion, initial reports suggested there were two blasts. Investigators are seizing items relative to the investigation, questioning witnesses and metro employees and working to confirm the number of dead and injured, Russia's Investigative Committee said in a statement. The train's conductor possibly saved lives, the committee said, because rather than stop the train after the blast, he continued on to the next station, which allowed passengers to evacuate and rescuers to tend to victims. Photographs show the facade of one of the cars ripped off and passengers running from the Tekhnologichesky Institute station as it filled with smoke. Victims said they helped each other escape the train. Bodies were seen strewn across a station platform outside the train. Rescuers carried bandaged and bloodied victims out of the station. Investigation underway A spokesman for the National Anti-Terrorism Committee said the blast was caused by an unidentified explosive device in one of the train's cars. "So far, we say it was an unidentified explosive device as investigators and the Federal Security Service's bomb specialists are to establish the exact cause of this explosion," Andrei Przhezdomsky told state-run Russia 24. A second device was found at another metro station -- Revolutionary Square -- and was disabled, the committee said in statement. At least three dozen people have been hospitalized, six of whom had critical injuries, the health ministry said. Other agencies in St. Petersburg gave differing numbers for the dead and injured. Authorities closed down the entire metro system, whose five lines carry 2.3 million people a day. 'We expected death' Passengers described the horror in the aftermath of the blast. "In the metro car, everyone expected death, if I can say that. After the explosion, everyone expected consequences. Then we were taken out, and people began to help each other, brought others out. Most were covered in blood," a passenger on the train told state-run TASS. Another passenger at the Sennaya station, Stanislav Listyev, said he felt the explosion and saw smoke coming out of the tunnel. "I was going down the escalator at Sennaya Square at about half past 2, and at that moment I felt an explosion wave underneath. Everything was filled with smoke, people started panicking. So the trains stopped and almost immediately the evacuation started," he told CNN. Putin statement Putin expressed condolences to the victims and is talking to the security services about the investigation, according to state media. "The reasons for the explosion are unknown, so it's too early to talk about it. The investigation will show what happened," Putin said, at the beginning of a meeting with Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko. "Naturally, we always consider all options -- both domestic and criminal, primarily incidents of a terrorist nature." Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin had been in St. Petersburg speaking at a media event. Viktor Ozerov, chairman of the defense committee in the Federation Council, said that the choice of St. Petersburg as a target may have been tied to Putin's visit. "The choice of the place and the timing of these blasts is not accidental. The president of Russia is in [St. Petersburg]. The media forum is taking place there. There are many journalists," Ozerov said. Medvedev said victims would be provided with "all necessary assistance." He said in a Facebook message: "My most sincere condolences to the families and friends of the victims of the explosion." Russia was once a hotspot for terror attacks, but the country has experienced relatively few in recent years. In December 2013, a suicide bombing at a train station in Volgograd killed at least 16 people. The following day, in the same city, a suicide bombing on a trolley bus killed 14 people. In 2010, two female suicide bombers blew themselves up at two Moscow metro stations, killing 40. They were linked to the Chechen insurgency. And in 2002, Chechen rebels killed 170 people in a theater hostage situation in the capital, Moscow. CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story attributed the terrorism motive to the Russian prosecutor general. It was the city's prosecutor general. CNN's Schams Elwazer, Donie O'Sullivan, Mariya Ilyushina, Radina Gigova, Nick Thompson and Eliott C. 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outside of the Lascaux IV Caves Museum in Montignac, France designed by Norwegian firm Snhetta in collaboration with SRA Architectes and Duncan Lewis Scape Architecture alongside scenographer Casson Mann, worked closely with a team of archaeologists to create a holistic museum and educational experience. The new International Centre for Cave Art (Centre International dArt Parietal) in Montignac, France has officially opened its doors to visitors on Friday with an immersive educational experience of the prehistoric Lascaux cave paintings. Image Luc Boegly + Sergio Grazia The Lascaux IV Caves Museum features the 20,000-year-old paintings which are known as the finest examples of art from the Paleolithic period- revealed by archaeologists as the 'Sistine Chapel of Prehistory' due to their spiritual and historical significance. Encompassing a total of 8,365 square-metre floor space, the building is stretched out along the edge of an agricultural territory marked by human activity and a thick forest whose dense and tall vegetation plunges the undergrowth into the shade. Image Luc Boegly + Sergio Grazia Snhetta and SRA Architectes designed an interpretation center featuring state-of-the-art experiential storytelling technology paired with a facsimile of the caves. Inside the museum, visitors discover the caves in a unique way that reveals a sense of wonder and mystery, as if they, too, were the first group of adventurers to stumble upon the cave paintings. Image Luc Boegly + Sergio Grazia The Lascaux IV Caves Museum is located on the border of the Vezere valley and the Lascaux hill. The Vezere valley in Dordogne, France, is conceived as a mecca of prehistory. The site contains about 15 major sites, all on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The Lascaux cave has one of the most important groups of Paleolithic rock wall art, both by its number and by the exceptional quality of its works. Image Luc Boegly + Sergio Grazia ''By framing the experience of the cave replica in contemporary design, the approach counters the potential trap of artifice: the materiality and geometry of the approach allows the visitor to understand that they are in the presence of a reproduction, without distracting from the power of its impact,'' said Snhetta. ''The form and materiality of the museum have a monolithic, sober expression, speaking to the surrounding nature and the massive rock formations embedded in the hill, with a new public, agricultural landscape unfolding around it.'' Image Luc Boegly + Sergio Grazia A visitor experience is carefully sequenced. Beginning in the lobby, visitors ascend by a lift to the belvedere out on the roof, where they can enjoy a magnificent panoramic view of Montignac and the Vezere Valley. Image Luc Boegly + Sergio Grazia They then descend a gentle slope towards the cave facsimile, which follows the incline of the roof towards the edge of the forest until reaching the entrance to the replica. The winding path through the landscape and gradual descent back down to grade facilitates a mental transition through time and space, creating an experience similar to that of the caves first discoverers in 1940. Image Eric Sole Inside the cave facsimile, the atmosphere is damp and dark, re-creating the humidity within the caves. Sounds are muffled; the temperature drops to about 16 degrees Celsius. Image Luc Boegly + Sergio Grazia This sequence is dedicated to contemplation, allowing people an experience of the sanctuary that once was. Lights flicker just as the animal fat lamps of Paleolithic times did, revealing the layers of paintings and engravings on the surface of the walls. Image Luc Boegly + Sergio Grazia The interpretive center that follows provides interactive exhibitions to teach the rich history of the Vezere Valley and cave paintings. Casson Manns installations are enhanced by digital learning experiences, employing new technological devices and interactive screens to offer the findings of the most recent research from expert pre-historians and archaeologists. Image Dan Courtice Visitors can engage with a device known as the Companion De Visite specially designed for the museum. The interactive digital companion device (CdV) liberates the gallery spaces from text panels blending art, history, culture and contemplation by offering layers of additional information and views into the virtual reality of the past. Image Eric Sole The first exhibition space in the interpretive center is The Workshop (LAtelier de Lascaux), with 8 hanging rock wall fragments, where visitors can examine the paintings more closely. Image Luc Boegly + Sergio Grazia This space also provides information on the history of the caves, their discovery, why the real cave is now closed, and how the artists of 20,000 years ago worked. Image Eric Sole The Cave Art Theatre (Le theatre de lart paretial) presents a three-act play using light, sound, movies and objects to give life to the story of Lascauxs cave art. In the Cinema, visitors wear 3D stereoscopic glasses for a 3D film on a digital voyage through the cave. Image Eric Sole In the Imagination Gallery, (La galerie de limaginaire), visitors are able to explore the influence of prehistoric cave art on modern and contemporary artists. This content has been curated by John Paul Jouary, professor, philosopher and author, whose work is devoted to the relationship between Paleolithic art and the art of our time. Image Luc Boegly + Sergio Grazia As a striking, contemporary addition to the landscape of the Vezere Valley, Lascaux IV frames a new experience of some of the finest known examples of prehistoric art, and offers profound new ways of understanding the rich heritage of its site. Image Eric Sole The project is forged of a combination of low-tech and high-tech elements, from the meticulously hand-painted replica to virtual-reality exhibitions, engaging its visitors in a contemporary (re)discovery of the art of our ancestors. Image Luc Boegly + Sergio Grazia Weaving together physical and interpretive concepts and spaces, the holistically conceived center unites Paleolithic art with contemporary approaches to spatial and experiential storytelling. Image Luc Boegly + Sergio Grazia Snhetta recently completed a soaring mirrored- cabin in Sweden and a rippling-stainless steel expansion to Lillehammer Art Museum and Lillehammer Cinema in Norway. Snhetta is currently working on the King Abdulaziz Centre for World Culture, which nears completion in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. The firm is currently working on a checkered-looking Banque Libano Francaise headquarters in Beirut. > via Snhetta Apr 3, 2017 | By Benedict Researchers at the University of Sydney are using 3D printing to create coral prosthetics, artificial structures that can support unhealthy sections of the Great Barrier Reef. Overheated and acidic seawater has damaged and bleached large sections of the huge coral reef system. 3D printed coral could help prevent coral bleaching, which has destroyed large areas of the Great Barrier Reef (Image: AFP) The Great Barrier Reef is one of the southern hemispheres most incredible sights. Visible from outer space, the coral reef system is the world's largest single structure made by living organisms, and stretches over 1,400 miles. That could all change, however, because the Great Barrier Reef is under threat like never before. Researchers say that rising water temperatures, pollution-caused acidification, and more frequent storms have caused coral bleachingthe loss of endosymbiotic algae from the coralto be more widespread than ever before, especially in Northern sections of the reef. Fortunately, scientists are doing all they can to fight the effects of coral bleaching using every tool available to them3D printers included. Dr. Renate Ferrari and associate professor Will Figueira of the University of Sydney are currently using virtual 3D modelling and 3D printing to assess the state of the reef and create coral-mimicking 3D printed structures that can be used to support it. Dr. Ferrari and Figueira have developed something they call the Ecological 3D Modelling Hub, a virtual 3D map that can be used to monitor and measure the Great Barrier Reef and identify where environmental changes are having the biggest negative impact. Images for this unique map were obtained using photogrammetry 3D scanning techniques, and the accuracy of the visual information lets the researchers carry out important preservation work. That preservation work includes making 3D printed artificial sections of coral which could act as a habitat for fish (which eat coral-killing algae) and a structure for coral to grow on. Previously, cinder blocks or deliberately sunk ships had been used as artificial reefs, but these 3D printed versions are much more like a natural reef structure. Youre providing the exact same structure that an actual natural reef provides, because we got the models from the reefs before they bleached, Ferrari told The Guardian. We are literally replicating it. Other researchers, like Australian architect James Gardiner, have also attempted to make 3D printed coral structures to support the Great Barrier Reef, but Dr. Ferrari and Figueiras research is unique in its use of 3D scanning and 3D mapping technology to identify parts of the system most in need of support. The Great Barrier Reef in happier times (Image: Getty Images) The 3D printed coral prosthetics have already been tested in water, but the Sydney researchers are now looking to scale up their project. To implement their 3D printed coral on a large scale, they estimate that theyll need around 150,000 AUD, an investment they think is well worth making. Crucially, the researchers are more optimistic about the Great Barrier Reefs chances of survival than some other researchers, who say that the effects of climate change have caused unalterable damage to the once-spectacular organic system. Coral reefs have been around for hundreds and hundreds of years, Ferrari says. Because of the connectivity of the Great Barrier Reef, this type of approach will still work. You put the reefs down and the coral larvae will arrive from other parts of the reef. The researchers believe that, as long as the worlds governing bodies meet their goals on climate change, the Great Barrier Reef can build on the healthiness of its southern section to restore some of the former glory to its largely bleached northern section. If 3D printing could help that restoration come about, it would be a huge victory for environmentalists everywhere. Posted in 3D Printing Application Maybe you also like: Apr 3, 2017 | By Tess Last year we covered a story about Boston-based fashion label Ministry of Supply, which was bringing technology into mens business fashion by way of 3D knitting. At the time, the startup launched its first fifty 3D knitted blazers, which were notable for being seamless, wrinkle-proof, and even sweat-wicking. Now, Ministry of Supply has debuted its first in-store 3D robotic knitting machine at its Boston flagship location, meaning that customers can now order and customize their 3D printed blazers on the spot. Ministry of Supply was founded by two MIT graduates, Aman Advaniand and Gihan Amarasiriwardena, who saw the need to create comfortable, activewear-inspired work clothes after wearing restrictive, non-breathable suits themselves. As Advani explains: Were the first generation going to work that grew up [wearing] Nike dry-fit, Under Armour and [all of these] performance technology brands that we take for granted now. So when we showed up for our first day of work and were told we had to wear these super stiff, dry-clean-only, non-breathable, sweat-stain-inducing suits, we just didnt tolerate it. Their solution? To develop 3D printed garments that not only look great but also feature an optimized build, and draw from the temperature regulating materials NASA uses for astronaut suits. To create its innovative pieces (which so far are limited to blazers), Ministry of Supply is using technology developed in partnership with Shima Sheiki, the makers of the first computerized 3D knitting system. The 3D robotic knitting machine is capable of turning out blazers that are wrinkle-proof, seamless, sweat-wicking, flexible, and even machine washable. Customers at Ministry of Supplys Boston flagship store will even be able to choose what color they want their blazer to bepicking and combining various different yarnsand can select their preferred cuff and button colors. (The brand is till working on its plan to offer custom-fit blazers.) Once the order is placed, the in-store 3D knitting machine can get to work, as it is capable of printing a whole garment in about an hour and half. The printing is followed by a few post-processing steps, which include setting the fabric and verifying the garment. At the moment, the time it takes to 3D print a blazer is rather restrictive, but Ministry of Supply says its machine can run overnight, which will allow the company to catch up on back orders. Impressively, the new 3D printer has established Ministry of Supply as one of, if not the first company to 3D print a full, large garment in store. While other clothing companies are exploring the technology and 3D printing smaller accessories such as ties, Ministry of Supply is one step ahead, offering its clients 3D knitted blazers on the spot. Considering the novelty of the technology as well as the suits innovative features, the 3D printed garments arent overly expensive, retailing for about $345 apiece. Another notable benefit of the brands technology is that it is able to construct garments while cutting back on material waste. That is, while the companys founders estimate that traditional suit-making processes throw out 35% of the suits materials, a 3D knitted suit only generates a few grams of waste, in the form of extra yarn bits. The made-to-order philosophy also helps to reduce waste. At the moment, Ministry of Supply has nine retail locations, though only one of them features an in-store 3D robotic knitting machine. Ultimately, the brand is hoping to have between 10 and 12 stores, which offer clients a unique retail experience. It might, however, be awhile before 3D knitting machines are installed at all of them, as the heavy equipment (weighing 3,000 lbs) had to be maneuvered into the Boston flagship using an industrial crane. Installing the 3D printer is a significant part of Ministry of Supplys plan to grow its brand, as it hopes to ship 100,000 units this year. As Advani explains, he believes his company is at the forefront of a fashion revolution. We use the analogy that we are chefs who have this incredible oven that no ones been able to tap into, and its our job to figure out how to scale that experience and squeeze the most out of it. We think that in a couple of years, it could be a real part of our supply chain, he said. Posted in 3D Printing Technology Maybe you also like: Scottm wrote at 4/3/2017 12:24:36 PM:How does knitting qualify as 3d printing? You should include potters wheels to. Apr 3, 2017 | By Tess The South Korean government has announced a plan to put 41.2 billion won (the equivalent of $37 million) towards the development and expansion of 3D printing technology this year. The funding, which will come from South Koreas Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP), will help to advance and support the countrys growing additive manufacturing industry. 3D printing technology has been identified by the South Korean Ministry of Science as having strong potential for the growth and evolution of the nations manufacturing industry. That is why its 2017 budget will be put towards supporting various 3D printing businesses, which in turn will help to increase demand for the technology and advance South Koreas manufacturing competitiveness. "The 3D printing industry is the core technology that will bring about innovation in the manufacturing realm and create a new market by changing the paradigm of the industry," commented Kang Seong-joo, an official from the ICT ministry. "It is important for ministries to cooperate to actively deal with the fast-changing global trend. The funding announcement follows an earlier release by the South Korean government, which identified 3D printing as a significant emerging technology sector. Also included on the list were artificial intelligence, flexible displays, hyper-plastics, robotics, and a few more. According to the government, these technologies are primed for boosting the national economy and ushering in the fourth industrial revolution. On a global scale, the 3D printing market is expected to reach $30.2 billion won ($27 million) by the year 2022, with an annual growth rate of 28.5% between the years 2016 and 2022. To help bolster its own 3D printing industry, South Korea announced last year it would be offering significant tax exemptions to companies undertaking 3D printing R&D. South Koreas MSIP is reportedly aiming to promote 3D printing technologies across a variety of sectors. For instance, it will be helping the military and manufacturing industries to 3D print components, as well as assisting the medical industry in the additive manufacturing of artificial bones and prosthetic devices. In the medical sector especially, South Korea has made important headway for the integration of 3D printing technologies. In May of last year, the Korean government announced it would be exploring fast-track approvals for 3D printed medical devices in order to have the innovative devices available to patients as quickly as possible. With the new $37 million in government funding, it seems likely that well see more innovations and breakthroughs coming out of South Koreas 3D printing industry. Posted in 3D Printing Technology Maybe you also like: Intut wrote at 4/4/2017 6:51:23 AM:Good. For people who love design and architecture, looking at some homes is something like gazing at the rugged Greek Isles, a rolling Western mountain range, or the point where the white Hawaiian sand meets the strong blue Pacific Oceanthey are just so beautiful it hurts. Of course, no human-made structure is a real match for the majesty of the natural world, but some of them come pretty close. A prime example is this California Wine Country homenew, but with classic details, rustic materials, and a perfect siting that make it a timeless beauty. Houzz at a Glance: Location: Healdsburg, Sonoma County Designers: Jute Interior Design (interior design); ARC Design (architecture); Lucas & Lucas (landscape architecture) You would be hard-pressed to identify this as a new home just by looking at it. The stone walls, rustic wood doors and old olive trees growing in front make it seem timeless. The owners wanted it that way, and were inspired by the age-old farmhouses that dot the French countryside. Vineyards circling the property complete the picture. "Inside, they used plaster walls and refused to put in things like recessed lighting," says Alison Davin, the interior designer. "It appears to be a very old house that was updated over the years." Some of those imagined updates would be the metal doors and windows. "There are definitely modern elements and clean lines that make the project feel more contemporary," Davin says. The front door, the one guests use, opens to the formal living room and dining room. In this context, we are talking country formal, not black tie. "We had long conversations about how they were going to use this space," Davin says. "It's a room where you would have a big meal, like Thanksgiving dinner, then gather on the sofa and chairs." Given the new-house-as-old-house mentality, the team installed a woodstove. "In a really old country house, this is perhaps what you have for heat, not a fireplace," Davin says. The other end of the room is dominated by a spectacular view, and Davin didn't want the decor to get in the way. She selected a long draper's-style table (a long, narrow table that would have been used for cutting fabric in turn-of-the-century suit factories). Its metal legs are there but not there. Same for the skinny metal chairs with perforated backs that don't stop the eye on its way out to the hills and the grapevines that snake over them. Davin likes the tabletop as much as the legs. "It's an English burled wood called pippy oak," she says. "To me, it feels light and airy." The other side of the house has a more casual living space. "This room opens up to the kitchen, and it's their hangout space," Davin says. "It also opens to the pool, barbecue and outdoor seating area." Here's how casual the room really is: The ottoman is upholstered for beings both two- and four-legged. "The dog usually sleeps here," she says. "Every bit of furniture and fabric in here is indestructible and dog friendly. In this space you have people coming in and out from the pool, and you don't want to be worrying about where you sit or step." A small office is equipped with an L-shaped desk. Its pieces were custom designed by Davin, and she added a leather strap detail between the inverted V-shaped legs. The narrow shelves above one desktop are filled with the vintage nozzle and bottle collection of one of the owners. "I love these pieces," Davin says. "It's a collection that's really unique, and the old nozzles have a really pretty patina." Upstairs, a pass-through to the master bedroom has become a small library space. There's a built-in daybed, which makes a great place for comfortable reading. A vintage library ladder allows the owners access to the books on the uppermost shelves. "This is the only place in the house we have color on the walls," Davin says. "To me, it almost gives it a British feeling." Nearly everything is weathered (what's another dent or scratch?) or bulletproof. "This house is a good example of how you achieve interiors whose materials are nearly indestructible, but still have it feel pulled together and elegant at the same time," Davin says. // This article was originally published on Houzz. How to Decorate in French Country Style Find a Multipurpose Ottoman Store Your Library in a Beautiful Bookshelf Although Thompson didnt name the costar, she did say she confronted producers over the request. There was a wonderful actress I was working with on Brideshead Revisited, and the producers said, Will you lose some weight? the two-time Oscar winner recalled. And she was absolutely exquisite. And I said to them, If you speak to her about this again on any level, I will leave this picture. You are never to do that. Its evil whats going on out there, and its getting worse, she added. In addition to Thompson, the 2008 film also starred Hayley Atwell, who confirmed Thompsons story in 2008. I went round to Emmas one night and she was getting very angry that I wasnt eating all the food she was giving me, Atwell said. I told her why, and she hit the roof. In the interview with Skavlan, Thompson joked that Hollywoods obsession with being thin has kept her from living there. I never moved to the U.S. I couldnt. Every time I have to go to Los Angeles I think, Oh, God, Im too fat to go there, theyre not going to let me in, she said. I think they are saying to me when I arrive, You are fat, and you are old. Go home. Thompson also doesnt mince words when it comes to the French fashion industry. The French fashion industry said they would get rid of size 0, and then, you know, they didnt. The anorexia theres so many kids, girls and boys now, and actresses who are very, very thin into their 30s, who simply dont eat, she said. They dont eat. Sometimes there are just some subjects that you absolutely have to make noise about, because its so tedious and its gone on and on. Thompson has a reputation for being protective of younger actors. In an interview with Good Housekeeping in 2007, Kate Winslet, who starred with her friend Thompson in 1995s Sense and Sensibility, said, Emma Thompson told me, If you ever lose weight, I will never talk to you again. Card-free ATM access is something more and more banks are providing, although Wells Fargo, with its 13,000 ATMs nationwide, is the first major bank to introduce it at all of its locations. Wells Fargo spokesman Jonathan Velline, head of branch and ATM banking, told the Washington Post that the new system is more secure than keeping a piece of plastic stuck in your wallet. With a bank card, a thief needs only the four-digit PIN. With card-free access, a thief would have to steal your smartphone, hack into it, hack into the Wells Fargo app on your phone and then figure our your PIN. Customers can log into the Wells Fargo app either with a thumbprint or by typing in their online banking password. The eight-digit password the app generates expires within 30 minutes. Card-free ATM access and card-free payment options in general are gradually catching on, said Sarah Grotta, head of debit card research at Mercator Advisory Group. PayPal has a phone app that allows subscribers to pay for goods without digging for their wallet, as do Apple Pay and Android Pay. JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America have also introduced card-free options at some of their ATMs. Registrate con tu numero de celular Este es un servicio exclusivo para suscriptos de ABC. Username Recibir las noticias A continuacion, te rediccionaremos al chat con la linea de ABC que te enviara los mensajes. Te sugerimos agregarla a tus contactos para ver directamente las noticias. 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. Celebrating 10th anniversary of Institution Mixte Mahanaim on 21st April, 2017 Bayonne, NJ, USA 3 Apr, 2017 Fr.O.M. Haiti [Friends of Mahanaim Haiti] has announced that they will be organizing a charity gala called S.O.S Supporting Our Students to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Institution Mixte Mahanaim (IMM). IMM is a co-ed school in Grande Saline, Haiti founded by Rev. Lemaire Alerte and local Haitian leaders, and the organization will celebrate the anniversary with a historic Mahanaim Showcase and Dinner. The dinner will be held on Friday, April 21, 2017 at 1081 Broadway in Bayonne, New Jersey. Tickets are now available online. 100% of the proceeds from the event will go to benefit the school, said a spokesperson of Fr.O.M. Haiti. Our mission is to building self-sufficient communities and providing affordable quality education. The event is an annual black-tie gala, sure to be a memorable evening at Chandelier Catering. The organization is welcoming everyone to join and support them. The fundraiser dinner will play a major role in helping the community, and will have fruitful implications for the future. Fr.O.M. Haiti is an organization dedicated to the progression of Haiti. The organization has supported Institution Mixte Mahanaim, a pillar in the Grande Saline community. Prior to the formation of the school, public education was only afforded up to the sixth grade in the town. IMM now educates grades K through 12. Knowledge, strength, empowerment, growth, self-sufficiency and faith are the cornerstones that lay the foundation of this remarkable organization that consists of dedicated individuals working relentlessly day and night for the betterment of the community, as well as leaders of the future. To purchase tickets to this amazing fundraiser or make a donation, use the following link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/from-haiti-presents-sos-supporting-our-students-a-fundraising-dinner-tickets-32557873476?aff=eac2 Media Contact Company Name: FromHaiti Contact Person: Emmanuel Altenor Email: emmanuelaltenor@gmail.com Phone: 862.432.0472 Country: United States Website: www.fromhaiti.org Clean TeQ Holdings Limited (ASX:CLQ) is a world leader in water treatment and resource recovery technology and the Australian leader in biological air purification. Clean TeQ develops technologies in-house and partners with leading technology suppliers worldwide. The Company offers a range of business models to potential clients including licensing our technology, building and commissioning complete installations (both transportable and fixed), and building and operating installations in joint ventures, in return for a share of revenues generated through resources recovered. Clean TeQ will also acquire mining assets where its technologies can make exploitation of uneconomic ore bodies or re-processing of tailings profitable. For more information about Clean TeQ please visit the Company's website Partners with Unionpay International Perth, April 3, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Flexiroam Limited ( ASX:FRX ) is pleased to announce that its wholly owned subsidiary, Flexiroam Asia Limited ("Flexiroam") has signed a partnership agreement with UnionPay International ("UPI"). UnionPay is a global payment network that serves the world's largest cardholder base. With a wide range of payment services available to businesses and consumers, UPI provides access to cost-efficient and secure payment solutions that are tailored to the needs of the local market. Flexiroam has signed a one-year marketing agreement with UPI which will see Flexiroam and UPI collaborating through a sales and marketing campaign. Flexiroam will be providing bonus data for UnionPay Cardholders who purchase Flexiroam X top-up data credits. UnionPay Cardholders will receive data bonuses from Flexiroam upon successful transaction. Managing Director of Flexiroam, Jef Ong adds "UnionPay is a growing payment network with international customer bases which Flexiroam can leverage on. This partnership will provide us with exposure to financial institutions which UnionPay is in partnership with. This is also in line with Flexiroam's expansion into the China market as UnionPay is the main financial service provider in China." "Seamless connectivity while travelling is becoming a priority among travellers. We are pleased to partner Flexiroam to offer affordable voice and data roaming services to UnionPay Cardholders. This added service will allow them to stay updated on various UnionPay privileges, and complement a range of other travel benefits to bring about more convenience", said Wenhui Yang, General Manager, UnionPay International, Southeast Asia. ABOUT UNIONPAY INTERNATIONAL UnionPay International (UPI) focuses on supporting the growth of UnionPay's global payments business. In partnership with more than 1000 institutions worldwide, UPI has enabled card acceptance in 160 countries and regions with issuance in more than 40 countries and regions. UnionPay International provides high quality, cost effective and secure cross-border payment services to the world's largest cardholder base and ensures convenient local services to a growing number of global UnionPay cardholders and merchants. For more information about UPI, please visit http://www.unionpayintl.com. About Flexiroam Ltd FLEXIROAM Limited (ASX:FRX) is a leading telecommunications company offering universal voice and data services for mobile users globally. Its flagship data roaming product, FLEXIROAM X has coverage in over 100 countries with 4G speed in over 56 countries. FLEXIROAM is an asset light telecommunications company that does not own physical infrastructure yet is able to connect to around 580 network operators globally. FLEXIROAM aspires to be a household name in borderless mobile broadband service in Asia and beyond. Please visit https://www.flexiroam.com Youanmi Project Significant Cobalt Mineralisation Associated with Extensive Lateritisation at Currans Well Perth, April 3, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Venus Metals Corporation Limited ( ASX:VMC ) continues its evaluation of the Youanmi Project in the Murchison Mineral Field of Western Australia. HIGHLIGHTS - Analysis of drilling data at Currans Well has revealed thick intersections of cobalt mineralisation in drill holes, - Intercepts include: CWRC025 16m @ 869 ppm (0.09%) Cobalt from 16 metres Including 4m @ 1483 ppm (0.15%) Cobalt MYOV151 2.13 m@ 980 ppm (0.10%) Cobalt from 0.3 metres 94CUR0041 5m @ 586 ppm (0.06%) Cobalt from 17metres And 6m @ 552 ppm (0.06%) Cobalt from 26 metres - The geological settings at Currans Well can be comparable with the Clean TeQ Holdings Limited ( ASX:CLQ ) "Syerston Cobalt Project" where the surficial deposit hosted is within lateritic stratigraphy, overlying metal rich ultramafic rocks. - Cobalt mineralisation is associated with anomalous Copper and Nickel in the near surface environment, eluding to secondary enrichment. - Numerous historical drill hole samples have not been assayed for Cobalt. - Extensive, untested, Ferruginous Laterites/Duricrust (see Figure 1 in the link below) at VMC Currans Well and Manindi East will be tested utilising a systematic RAB drilling programme as soon as possible. Introduction The Company's tenements cover over 524 km2 of the Youanmi greenstone belt and host a number of high-quality exploration targets, including the substantial Southern Cross Vanadium Inferred Resource (JORC 2012) (refer ASX release 6th February 2015). Analysis of the southern Youanmi project area shows a highly anomalous intercepts of Cobalt, associated with Copper and Nickel at Currans Well Prospect. Currans Well Cobalt-Nickel Prospect The Currans well area (E57/1011) overlies a structurally complex wedge on the southern margin the Youanmi greenstone belt and gabbro's of the Youanmi intrusion. The area hosts a number of Nickel-Copper-PGE prospects including Vidure, Merlot and Malbec (see Figure 2 in the link below). Substantial areas of ferruginous lateritic duricrust, mottled zone and upper saprolite overlie, and potentially mask, the subsurface nickel-copper mineralisation at Currans Well. Base metal mineralisation was first discovered at Curran's Well in drill hole MYDD044 (WMC 1973), with a 1.22m intersection of massive sulphides, which returned assays of 2.2% Ni and 0.14% Cu from 136.64 metres depth. BHP followed-up this drilling in 1985, with another hole collared at a nearby location: PW0076 7.06 metres @ 1.46% Copper, 0.36% Nickel & 5 gpt Silver from 120.5 metres Including 0.71 metres @ 7.01% Copper. 0.80% Nickel & 21 gpt Silver from 122.35 metres) (refer ASX release 2 November 2015). Other notable intersections recorded in historical drill holes, at Vidure and Malbec prospects, include: 94CUR42 40m @0.44 ppm Pd, 0.10 ppm Pt and 0.13% Cu from the surface 94CUR41 40m @ 0.38 ppm Pd, 0.09 ppm Pt and 0.16% Cu from the surface CNRC015 7 m@ 0.97% Ni, 1.44 ppm PGE (Pt+ Pd+ Au) and 0.49% Cu from 129m A recent review of historical data at Currans Well area has revealed thick intersections of Cobalt mineralisation in drillholes and elevated Cobalt in surface sampling. Cobalt mineralisation associated with anomalous Copper and Nickel in the 'near surface environment' and is interpreted to be related to secondary enrichment associated with lateritic processes and the presence of elevated base and specialty metals (Such as Cobalt) in the underlying source rocks, namely the ultramafic stratigraphy. The geological setting (Cobalt mineralisation in weathered lateritic layer overlying metal rich ultramafic rocks) can be correlated across the Currans Well area. The best intersections in drill holes include: CWRC025 16m @ 869 ppm (0.09%) Cobalt from 16 metres Including 4m @ 1483 ppm (0.15%) Cobalt *Assays of Cu 0.25% & Ni 0.28% downhole. MYOV151 2.13 m@ 980 ppm (0.10%) Cobalt from 0.3 metres *Assays of Cu up to 0.77% & Ni 1.12% downhole. 94CUR0041 5m @ 586 ppm (0.06%) Cobalt from 17metres And 6m @ 552 ppm (0.06%) Cobalt from 26 metres *Assays of Cu up to 0.23% & Ni 0.22% downhole. Several historical surface grab samples have recorded more than 200 ppm cobalt, with a peak Cobalt value of 1490 ppm reported for a grab sample CW01 collected from Malbec prospect (see Figure 3 in the link below). Figure 1 (see the link below) shows the extensive outcrop of these untested Ferruginous Laterites and Duricrusts, which overlie mineralised ultramafic rocks. These units have been identified over an area covering more than150 km2 and include the outcrop at Currans Well, Manindi East and Pincher Well where the Company is currently drilling a strong IP anomaly for Zn. These potentially Cobalt enriched lateritic duricrusts represent a compelling target and an exploration program is presently being developed by Venus Metals to systematically test the lateritic duricrust by utilising shallow RAB drilling. The Company advises that Dr Tamal Pal has joined in VMC exploration team as Project Geologist. He worked with Ivanhoe Australia's Cu - Au + Mo - Re Cloncurry Project (2007- 2012) as a Project / Exploration Geologist. Dr Pal did research on the "genetic model for the SEDEX-type Zn-Pb rich Rajpura-Dariba deposit, Rajasthan, India". He was recommended by Douglas Kirwin, previous Executive Vice-President, Ivanhoe Mines. To view tables and figures, please visit: http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/RY9BW1MO About Venus Metals Corporation Limited Venus Metals Corporation Limited (ASX:VMC) is a West Australian based Company with a focus on gold, base metals, vanadium and lithium exploration projects. The Company aims to increase shareholder value through targeted exploration success on its projects. The Company's major gold project is the Youanmi Gold Mine, located 500km north-east of Perth. The Youanmi Gold Mine is now jointly owned by Venus Metals (30%) and Rox Resources Limited (70%); Indicated and Inferred Resource of the mine is in excess of 3 million ounces of gold. Together with Marcus Blackmore Gift $10 Million to National Institute of Complementary Medicine for Research Sydney, April 3, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Blackmores Limited ( ASX:BKL ) ( BLMMF:OTCMKTS ) and the Blackmore Foundation, Marcus and Caroline Blackmore's personal philanthropic trust, have each gifted $5 million to the National Institute of Complementary Medicine (NICM) at Western Sydney University (WSU) to further natural health research. The $10 million will be paid over seven years. NICM is a global leader in complementary medicine research and policy and has been ranked by the Australian Research Council as operating at higher standards than world's best-practice. This $10 million donation, officiated on Friday at NICM, is Blackmores' most significant investment into research and development in the history of our company. As Marcus said: "As industry leaders, Blackmores believes it is our responsibility to invest in complementary medicine research and to support innovation in this field. NICM is a world-class research facility, and we are very proud to provide this untied donation to help advance science and innovation in complementary medicine. Blackmores' gift to the University will not only support the Australian research community in furthering the country's global leadership in this area, most importantly, it will contribute to the knowledge base, which in turn, will help improve public health." Ultimately, this research will advance the global evidence-base of complementary medicine and take scientific findings into practical healthcare solutions that will improve public health. Over the past 12 months, Blackmores has engaged in 24 active research projects, clinical trials and scholarly activities across Australia and Asia. In 2015 we made a significant, unencumbered donation of $1.3m to Sydney University's Medical School to fund The Maurice Blackmore Chair of Integrative Medicine over five years. Blackmores is enormously proud of the legacy that this gift to NICM will make towards the advancement of complementary medicine research, innovation, and research translation, and the contribution this will make to the wellbeing of the community. About Blackmores Limited Blackmores Limited (ASX:BKL) (OTCMKTS:BLMMF) is Australia's leading natural health brand. Its quality range of vitamin, minerals, herbal and nutritional supplements, and continued support of the community and environment, are among the many reasons Blackmores is the most trusted name in natural health. Uni of Adelaide is founding partner of Climate-KIC Australia Monday, 3 April 2017 The University of Adelaide has today been announced as a founding partner of a national initiative aimed at better positioning entrepreneurs, developers and low carbon technology start-ups to bring their climate solutions to market. Known as the Australian Climate Knowledge and Innovation Community (Climate-KIC Australia), the University of Adelaide has committed to becoming one of two founding partners in the state, along with the Government of South Australia. Climate-KIC Australia is a public-private-research innovation partnership aimed at helping accelerate innovative climate solutions to market, fostering the growth of emerging businesses and creating new jobs. Based on the successful European model, Climate-KIC Australia will bring together forward-thinking businesses, entrepreneurs, research, investors, and government to help our nation transition to a low-carbon economy. Innovations developed through Climate-KIC Australia will assist in helping Adelaide to become the world's first carbon neutral city, as well as helping the state achieve its net zero emissions target and build climate resilience. The University of Adelaide will this week host the official launch of the South Australian commitment to Climate-KIC Australia. "The University of Adelaide is excited to be a founding partner of the Climate-KIC Australia initiative. Its strong focus on using entrepreneurship and innovation to find solutions for one of the worlds greatest challenges is a perfect fit with the University's strengths and objectives," said Professor Noel Lindsay, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Entrepreneurship) at the University of Adelaide. "We're pleased to play our part in supporting the states sustainability agenda, and we look forward to working with state governments throughout Australia, other universities and the private sector to find solutions that meet sustainability goals and promote jobs, and diversify the economy." South Australia's Climate Change Minister, Ian Hunter, welcomed the launch of Climate-KIC Australia. "Climate change is the biggest challenge and the biggest opportunity of our time, and being part of this innovative community will help further position South Australia to harness opportunities to attract investment, innovation and jobs," Mr Hunter said. "South Australia is internationally recognised for responding to climate change. Being part of Climate-KIC Australia will help position us at the forefront of a growing global investment in renewables and clean technology industries. "Because of our size and connectedness, South Australia is the perfect place to test new climate change solutions and the impact they can make." Along with the State Government, the University of Adelaide will provide a strong focus for Climate-KIC Australia in South Australia. Climate-KIC Australia will work in close collaboration with EIT-Climate KIC (Europe), which was established six years ago by the European Unions European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). EIT-Climate-KIC is Europes largest climate public-private partnership, comprising more than 250 partners across large corporates, small medium enterprises, government and academic institutions. It has so far delivered more than 1.8bn in climate innovation investment capital. The CEO of Climate-KIC Australia, Christopher Lee, said: "Similar to its European counterpart, Climate-KIC Australia will form a key part of a structured, cohesive and effective response to climate change in Australia bringing together the best to enable climate innovation to form the foundation of the future Australian economy." Climate-KIC Australia will explore renewable and low carbon energy pathways, develop blueprints for more sustainable, low-carbon cities and undertake initiatives to encourage low-carbon innovation and entrepreneurship in these specific areas. The idea is to increase the market capitalisation for start-ups and increase the rate of commercialisation of climate change technologies, products and services. It will also assist in building an appropriately skilled workforce and attracting and retaining talent in South Australia. Mr Hunter said South Australias participation in Climate-KIC Australia would open up international collaboration opportunities with Europe for South Australia. New markets for climate products, services and technologies developed through Climate-KIC Australia will also be opened up in the Asia-Pacific region over the longer term. For more information visit http://climate-kic.org.au Contact Details Media Release in Space Copernicus LSTM passes PDR The Land Surface Temperature Monitoring (LSTM) programme led by Airbus, has successfully passed the Preliminary Design Review (PDR). in Defence Roke introduces new CC1 digital platform Roke is digitising dismounted Command and Control (C2) and Situational Awareness (SA) through Charlie Charlie One (CC1), a secure, networked and intuitive tactical End User Device (EUD) ecosystem. in Defence BAE Systems awarded 80m Typhoon avionics support contracts BAE Systems will continue to service and support the Eurofighter Typhoon aircrafts avionics for the platforms founding nations air forces in Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom and Italy, for the in Aerospace Loganair looks to renew aircraft fleet by 2023 Loganair has announced a series of new multi-million-pound agreements as it moves to complete the renewal and futureproofing of its aircraft fleet by the end of next year. in Aerospace Air Partner launches Broker Academy Global aviation services provider, Air Partner, has launched a Broker Academy to develop the next generation of private jet, group charter and cargo brokers and support the industrys recovery. in Aerospace Babcock HIOWAA contract extended Babcock and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance (HIOWAA) have announced a three-year contract extension to keep the helicopter emergency medical service up in the sky saving lives. AMC provides airpower orientation to Congressional staff members Nearly 45 congressional staff members representing legislators from across the United States attended the 2017 Rapid Global Mobility Airpower Orientation hosted by Air Mobility Command here March 31, 2017. This airpower orientation is an opportunity for us to educate those who represent the American people, said Brig. Gen. Jon Thomas, the director of Strategic Plans, Requirements and Programs for Headquarters AMC. During the orientation, congressional staff members saw C-130 Hercules, C-5 Galaxy and C-17 Globemaster III aircraft static displays and learned about the Air Forces only contingency response wing during a ground demonstration. Subject matter experts from AMC and crews from the Connecticut Air National Guards 103rd Airlift Wing and the 436th AW from Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, discussed C-130 and C-5 modernization while providing the congressional staff members an aircraft tour. The C-5 modernization program includes upgrading the avionics to improve communications, navigation and surveillance/air traffic management compliance as well as adding new safety equipment and installing a new autopilot system. The program, which is scheduled for completion in 2018, also involves modifying C-5A/B/Cs into the C-5M Super Galaxy by upgrading to the F-138 commercial engine. This engine delivers a 22 percent increase in thrust, a 30 percent shorter takeoff roll, a 58 percent faster climb rate and will allow significantly more cargo to be carried over longer distances. The C-5M modernization program provides the American taxpayer exceptional value, said Gen. Carlton D. Everhart II, the AMC commander, during the orientations opening remarks. Recently, one of these aircraft flew from Travis Air Force Base, California, to Yokota, Japan. Its the only airlifter in the inventory that can make the flight nonstop, which means we can put the American flag on the ground in hours versus days. Subject matter experts discussed fleet utilization with the Congressional staff members at the 305th Air Mobility Wings C-17 static display. Airmen from the 621st Contingency Response Wing from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, provided a ground demonstration to explain how they rapidly deploy anywhere in the world to deliver capabilities to points of need. AMCs expeditionary Airmen maintain a presence at 77 locations in 22 countries around the world; and enable all nine combatant commanders, every day of the year, Everhart said. They enable global access for our allies and joint partners often they are the first in and the last out. Discussions with AMC subject matter experts helped increase the congressional staff members overall understanding of AMC. [The CRWs mission] is incredible, said Kristen Johnson, a legislative fellow from Sen. Tom Cottons office. I didnt realize how many components from language capabilities to intelligence went into the mission. While touring the C-17 static display, congressional staff members also spoke with aeromedical evacuation teams from the 459th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron here and the 43rd AES from Seymour-Johnson AFB, North Carolina, and received a firsthand look at AMCs aeromedical evacuation mission. Congressional staff members learned about the Transportation Isolation System, which would aid in removing joint service members from harms way should a worst-case scenario outbreak occur. The TIS is an amazing capability, said Dave Judson, a defense fellow from Sen. John Cornyns office. To provide that level of care in that [quick] response time all over the world is amazing. Aeromedical evacuation is a tremendous mission priority, said Everhart. I will divert cargo, fuel and delay missions to save one life. If we can get a patient to high-level care in the first golden hour they have a 98 percent chance of survival. From aeromedical evacuation to building bases from the ground up, the 2017 Rapid Global Mobility Airpower Orientation provided congressional staff members with a behind-the-scenes look they might not receive otherwise. If the tanker isnt there, all those other things that are done by fighters and bombers just dont get done, Thomas said. When you go forward to an expeditionary airfield somebodys got to be there for those airlifters to land, offload their cargo, and get back out of there. All of those mission sets may not be readily visible to a congressional staffer or member who is just serving their constituents, but if we can give them something that they can [latch] onto thats what makes this worthwhile. The orientation also gave congressional staff members the opportunity to meet the Airmen behind the mission. Every single one of those crew members has their own individual and unique story about how they contribute and how they have contributed throughout the world, Thomas said. We call them war stories, but they can be peace stories they can be humanitarian assistance stories or they can be no-kidding, hair-raising combat stories. But, all of those stories at the human level resonate. The Arctic Care 2017 exercise kicked off on March 28 with the opening of clinics and other villages throughout the island started receiving services on March 29, as service members work to provide all citizens on Kodiak Island various medical and veterinary services. Kodiak Island lies off the coast of southern Alaska. Arctic Care 2017 is an Office of the Secretary of Defense-sponsored, Air Force Reserve Command-led training event coordinated with the Kodiak Area Native Association and civil authorities in Kodiak, Alaska. Training is a very important mission here, said Navy Reserve Lt. Cmdr. Donna Meador, officer in charge of the Kodiak clinic. We are training with other service members to include Army, Air Force, and Navy. Meador said teamwork is an important aspect of all military operations, and for all military members participating in Arctic Care 2017, this is no different as there was a very short turnaround time to set up all of the clinics for patient care. Im really impressed with the teamwork. Everybody has come together, and its like weve been working together for years and years. Everybody jumped right in, Meador said. Gaining Experience Another important aspect of this exercise is setting up and using the medical equipment that all the services deploy with. One of the biggest benefits is for our enlisted and officers to be able to put their hands on the equipment that we are going to use when we are deployed, said Navy Reserve Cmdr. Darryl Simms, subject matter expert for dental services at Arctic Care 2017. They have to break it down and set it up. Also, they have to use equipment that they normally dont use. Not only are training and teamwork important to the military members participating in the exercise, but also the sense of pride knowing that valuable services are being provided to Kodiak Islands citizens. Being able to work with the joint services and treat patients that are very appreciative is a really good benefit for me, Simms said. Get AfricaFocus Bulletin by e-mail! Format for print or mobile South Africa: Rising Outcry for Zuma to Go AfricaFocus Bulletin April 3, 2017 (170403) (Reposted from sources cited below) Editor's Note "We call on Ministers and leaders of the ANC who care about the future of democracy and the Constitution to speak up and call on the President, in the best interests of the country, to step down. We call on the parliamentary leadership of the ANC, supported by all opposition parties, to insist that parliament be recalled immediately to debate a motion of no-confidence, proposed by the ANC leadership in parliament. We call on all members of Parliament to unite and support a motion of no-confidence." - Statement by the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, March 31, 2017 The outcome is uncertain. But political observers are unanimous that the events of last week mark a dramatic public display of lack of confidence in South African President Jacob Zuma, including within the highest ranks of the ruling African National Congress. First came the death of highly respected and beloved liberation icon Ahmed Kathrada, one of those closest to Nelson Mandela in prison and in struggle. This was followed within days by a unilateral cabinet reshuffle by President Zuma, including the ouster of Treasury officials seen as the major barrier to further expansion of corruption and patronage by Zuma and his allies. This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains (1) the March 31 statement by the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, (2) the short remarks by Kathrada's widow Barbara Hogan, herself a political prisoner under apartheid, who served with distinction as Health Minister in a decisive phase of the battle against HIV/AIDS, and (3) an article noting the potential impact of the cabinet reshuffle on a contested nuclear power deal with Russia, one of many points at which corruption in the Zuma administration has intersected with energy policy. Several additional articles of related interest from the South Africa press include: "Stakes for South Africa's democracy are high as Zuma plunges the knife," The Conversation, March 31, 2017 http://tinyurl.com/lsqtxsb "Steven Friedman on What SA Can Do to Get Rid of Zuma," Daily Vox, April 1, 2017 http://tinyurl.com/k88wvnl "Reporter's Notebook: The Day South Africa woke-up," Daily Maverick, April 1, 2017 http://tinyurl.com/md2vmvm "Isolated Zuma faces revolt over Pravin Gordhan's axing," Sunday Times, April 2, 2017 http://tinyurl.com/khyxjxm "'Choose between Zuma or country' - SACP dares ANC," eNCA, April 2, 2017 http://tinyurl.com/lxmervs For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on South Africa, visit http://www.africafocus.org/country/southafrica.php In particular, see "South Africa: State Capture & Energy Policy" http://www.africafocus.org/docs17/saf1701.php ++++++++++++++++++++++end editor's note+++++++++++++++++ Media Statement: Honour Kathrada, defend our democracy Nelson Mandela Foundation and Ahmed Kathrada Foundation March 31, 2017 http://tinyurl.com/l5kl8w4 The Ahmed Kathrada Foundation and Nelson Mandela Foundation are shocked and deeply saddened by the unilateral announcement by the Presidency that the memorial service in honour of the late Ahmed Mohamed Kathrada has been postponed indefinitely. This decision was without any consultation with his wife Barbara Hogan, the Kathrada family, and the Kathrada Foundation. We view this conduct by the President, on the anniversary of the humble letter written to him exactly one year ago, by our beloved Isithwalandwe comrade Kathrada, as totally unacceptable. The memorial service would have been the ideal opportunity for the state to pay tribute to the memory of Ahmed Kathrada. For three quarters of a century Ahmed Kathrada, a revolutionary, selflessly sacrificed his life in the interests of the people. He has deservedly taken his rightful place alongside the many giants of our democratic revolution; a symbol who people here and abroad have come to love and adore. Ahmed Kathrada passed away in the early hours of Tuesday morning, 28 March, and on Wednesday at his funeral, people gathered from all walks of life, young and old, men and women, including stalwarts in their numbers, to name a few: Graca Machel and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela The surviving Rivonia trialists Andrew Mlangeni and Dennis Goldberg The last surviving leader of the 1956 Women's March Sophie Williams De Bruyn The life-long friend of Ahmed Kathrada, Laloo Chiba, who together with others spent time with him on Robben Island Members of the Sisulu and Tambo families George Bizos Former speakers of the National Assembly, Frene Ginwala and Max Sisulu Former Presidents Mbeki and Motlanthe Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng Religious leaders from all faith communities Leaders of all sectors of business, labour and civil society. In addition to our dismay at the indefinite postponement of the official memorial in honour of comrade Kathrada tomorrow, we have awoken to the news this morning that five ministers and three deputy ministers have been removed from office. They include Minister Pravin Gordhan and his deputy Mcebisi Jonas, who have worked tirelessly to stabilise our economy in the face of self-induced political instability. They and others, in our view, have been removed for protecting the country from corruption and looting, and speaking truth to power. They were not even shown the courtesy of being informed of their removal and they learnt of their removal through the media. This decision of the President, using presidential prerogative and, as we have learnt, without the support of the Deputy President or the Secretary General of the African National Congress, follows on the heels of the decision of the Constitutional Court in the disastrous SASSA debacle around the continuation of payment of social grants the SABC debacle where the recommendations of parliament were largely ignored South Africa being summoned to the Hague to explain the violation of its obligations at the International Criminal Court The President joining a court application by the Minister of Finance that attempts to interfere with our financial institutions. We are angered and outraged by the choices, and the consequences, of the decision of the President, including retaining ministers who have been found glaringly wanting in executing their responsibilities, and putting narrow interests ahead of the interest of our country and its people. Contrary to the populist narrative that the President is furthering an agenda of radical economic transformation, the opposite is true. The consequences of last night's announcement have the dramatic result that our scarce resources will be diverted to servicing debt and irrational procurement decisions, rather than delivery of services. The Foundations call on the leaders and ordinary members of the African National Congress (ANC) across the country, leaders and members of the liberation movements and progressive civil society formations to build a new consensus that brings together all South Africans demanding accountability and ethical governance. We call on Ministers and leaders of the ANC who care about the future of democracy and the Constitution to speak up and call on the President, in the best interests of the country, to step down. We call on the parliamentary leadership of the ANC, supported by all opposition parties, to insist that parliament be recalled immediately to debate a motion of no-confidence, proposed by the ANC leadership in parliament. We call on all members of Parliament to unite and support a motion of no-confidence. We call on the people of South Africa in their mass formations to take to the streets and to make their views known. We support the rallying calls resounding across South Africa for all South African citizens to make their voices heard and take action to safeguard the future of all our children.: "The people united will never be defeated!" "Our Country is not for sale!" Statement by Barbara Hogan at Kathrada memorial service, April 1, 2017 http://tinyurl.com/kgmehac For video of the 7-minute statement, see http://tinyurl.com/my54zaj "I'd like to pay a special tribute to the Kathrada family, who are sitting here with us at the moment. We felt, both myself and the Kathrada family, that when Mr K was buried on Wednesday it was one of the most fitting tributes, in the style and traditions of our mass democratic movement, that Mr K could ever have been given. And so the enormous spirit that engulfed the country at the time of his passing and his funeral was both calming and comforting, and gave us inspiration about the fighting spirit of our country. "We welcomed a commemoration service hosted by the Presidency because that is what is befitting of a giant of our country. But let me say that last night, when the news began to filter through, about the dastardly deeds that were being done in dark corners, many of us in the family began to have second doubts whether we would want a commemoration under the auspices of a president who has clearly gone rogue. Who has clearly defied his own party. You have a deputy president saying, clearly and forthrightly today, that the removal of the finance minister and his deputy was based on a dubious intelligence report. You have the secretary-general of the ANC saying loudly and clearly: the list of ministers who are to be replaced did not come from the ANC, it came from another side. "What does that mean to us? It means that the president is not applying his mind in making a decision about one of the most critical issues in our country, and that is a decision about a team of people who are going to lead our country. Surely that is an indictment on the president, when his own party is rejecting him. His own party rejects what he has done. If this is not a defining moment in our country, nothing will ever be a defining moment. "Looking to citizens of our country, I think all of us are utterly dismayed. We live in this country, we love this country and we have hopes. The majority of people live desperate lives of poverty and marginalisation. That a president can think to withdraw a finance minister and his deputy from an incredibly important international roadshow, to think that he thinks he could just do that and there is no consequences for the poor, shows what an inept president we have. "For the ordinary citizens of this country, it is time for your voices to be heard. This is not a time for petty differences amongst us to divide us. Our sworn enemies - and we all have our little fights in the progressive movement - can no longer be enemies. We have to form a broad, mass democratic alliance here to take on the forces of evil, and the rogues, and the thieves who want to steal our country from us. We need to say to people that if there are ANC councillors in their ward, they need to call that councillor and ask them what they are doing. You can no longer say, 'Oh, that's another sphere of government.' You represent the ANC, you've got to be accountable. We need to say to people, 'call on your ANC MPLs. Ask them what they're doing.' And your MPs as well. Call your MPs. When they were sworn in as MPs and MPLs, they swore an oath to the Constitution. "Party loyalty is important, but when we are in as grave a situation as we are in today, the Constitution that we love and fought for, must take precedence over any lingering notion that party loyalty is above anything. I do not say this lightly. As Kathy said in his letter to the president, he remained silent even though there were many things that worried him. 'But,' he said, 'there is a moment in which you have to break the silence.' And this is the moment in which ANC MPs sitting in Parliament need to look into themselves and ask, 'what is the constitutional duty that is imposed upon us in terms of this Constitution?' "There are two clauses around the Presidency in this Constitution which deal with a president that is not behaving presidentially. The Constitution provides a basis for remedying that fact. This is not silly issues of factional battles in the ANC, these are greater and grander projects about the accountability of our leadership to the rank-and-file of our people. And so I call on everyone here not to remain silent, not to sit on the fence and not to remain looking after your own narrow, self-interest. The country needs to be taken back. A country united is never divided. And this country is not for sale. Thank you." Zuma's cabinet reshuffle opens the door for nuclear deal in South Africa March 31, 2017 Hartmut Winkler, Professor of Physics, University of Johannesburg http://tinyurl.com/k5veabk South Africa has just witnessed a game changing cabinet reshuffle with the firing of five ministers and several deputy ministers. This included the Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and his second-incharge Mcebisi Jonas. The three ministries with the most critical impact on the energy sector have all been affected, significantly increasing the chances of the country opting for a highly controversial nuclear energy programme. In the energy portfolio, former minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson has been replaced by cabinet newcomer Nkhensani Kubayi. The minister's removal might have been driven by her recent passivity around the nuclear build. The second ministry affected is Public Enterprises, which supervises the state electricity utility Eskom, and has a new deputy minister. But the most crucial change is in the National Treasury which is now in the hands of two perceived Zuma loyalists. Malusi Gigaba, former home affairs minister, is the new finance minister and Sifiso Buthelezi his deputy. Former finance minister Gordhan had been under particularly severe attack from Zuma supporters for his reluctance to endorse excessive expenditure demands. He was viewed as a stumbling block by those that stood to benefit from mega-projects. The biggest of these is the R1 trillion nuclear new build. The cabinet reshuffle can therefore be viewed as a desperate bid by the Zuma faction, and associated beneficiaries such as the Gupta family, to drive the pro-nuclear agenda. The expectation is that the nuclear procurement plan will now receive the National Treasury's blessing and will be given the go-ahead. This is despite the dangerous financial burden it would impose on the country, and the massive resultant debt repayment obligations. Nuclear versus renewable debate When the plan to develop a 9.6 GW nuclear production capability was first mooted in 2011, it didn't seem to be a particularly bad idea. But the scheme rapidly became controversial. The Russian nuclear industry with businesses linked to a faction within the ANC started to exert excessive influence on key people in government, and Zuma in particular, to force through the nuclear build. The faction was most visibly represented by "tenderpreneurs" business people who enrich themselves through government tenders, often dubiously. The pro-nuclear lobby soon began to attack on a second front, directing their energies at South Africa's burgeoning renewable energy industry. The country could rightfully boast that its renewable energy programme, started in 2012, was hugely successful. Driven by the Department of Energy, it had seen multiple mediumscale wind and solar energy farms springing up all around South Africa. These early successes led to academic studies as well as the country's 2016 draft Integrated Resource Plan for Electricity recognising the renewable energy potential. They concluded that the country could be energy self-sufficient without nuclear for at least the next 20 years. But in a surprise move last year Eskom announced that it would no longer sign electricity purchase agreements with independent power producers. This threatened to squash nascent renewable enterprises, which rely on Eskom for their power distribution. The peculiar objection raised was that the electricity distributor couldn't afford the long-term purchase of renewable energy. These concerns were voiced by former Eskom CEO, Brian Molefe, who subsequently resigned after compromising allegations were made against him, as well as his successor, Matshela Koko. Their argument appeared to be based on the comparatively high feedin tariffs of R2.60/kWh from the earliest round of solar power station contracts. They chose not to consider that the renewable energy plants in planning or under construction would be delivering power to Eskom at approximately R0.78/kWh. This is cheaper than current electricity production from coal. It's also much cheaper than the projected cost of nuclear energy once loan repayments and decommissioning costs are factored in. A desperate bid South Africans should expect a massive public relations campaign claiming that the massive investment in nuclear will repay itself in the long term. Another fallacious key narrative that's likely to be pushed very hard is that there are "base load" requirements that other energy sources cannot address. It's also now more likely that the final version of the 2016 energy plan, due at the end of March, will be modified to propose an immediate need for nuclear. The nuclear versus renewable debate has become visibly entangled in the country's political machinations. This means that it's highly improbable that the majority of South Africans would ever support the nuclear option. The contest for control of the government is already leading to street protests and the threatened impeachment of the president. There's no doubt that attempts to build nuclear plants will be challenged by all sectors of society. Taking a longer term view, it's not to be expected that the construction projects, which typically take a decade or even longer to come to fruition, will see completion. The projects may well have to be cancelled, as happened in Austria in 1978. The new more malleable finance minister may also find it hard to effect an expensive undertaking particularly given the massive demands for funds from other sectors such as education and social welfare. The expected rating downgrade could also lead to vastly increased borrowing costs. South Africa's energy sector is perhaps at its most fluid and unpredictable stage it's ever been in. AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic publication providing reposted commentary and analysis on African issues, with a particular focus on U.S. and international policies. AfricaFocus Bulletin is edited by William Minter. AfricaFocus Bulletin can be reached at africafocus@igc.org. Please write to this address to subscribe or unsubscribe to the bulletin, or to suggest material for inclusion. For more information about reposted material, please contact directly the original source mentioned. For a full archive and other resources, see http://www.africafocus.org An outbreak of Marburg virus disease (MVD) was declared in Ghana on 7 July 2022, after a test on an index case who died 24 hours after presenting to a health facility in the Ashanti region with symptoms of Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers (VHF) returned positive after his death. Apparently, he gets VVIP treatment and all luxury amenities in Indias most dreaded prison Tihar Jail. We have seen in the Bollywood fiction movies that don gets VVIP treatment and five stars facilities by the jailor. However, here its not a movie. Since underworld don Rajendra Nikalje alias Chhota Rajan deported from Bali in Indonesia his family having holiday time with him in Tihar Jail. The police personal from the jail on the condition of anonymity confirmed that the former friend turn foe of Indias Most wanted Don Dawood Ibrahim is enjoying luxurious lifestyle in jail as compared to his other inmates. He told, Dreaded don who has more than 70 cases of murder, half murder and extortion is being provided with a television with a loudspeaker. He plays loud music on it which irritates many of his adjacent cell inmates. He is also provided with all sorts of facilities from food to clothing. Rajans family frequently visits him and spiritually he is high at peace in prison. His family is being treated as most VVIP guest in jail. His VVIP treatment can also be confirmed by the letter written by Bihars underworld don turn politician, former RJDs MP from Siwan Mohammad Shahbuddin, who is also lodged nearby to Nikaljes cell. The Siwan muscleman is furious over Rajan being provided a TV in his cell. Shahabuddin, in his complaint, has told the jail officials that loud music being played inside Rajans lockup is troubling him. Chhota Rajan was brought to India from Bali, Indonesia in October 2015. Why Chhota Rajan getting special treatments? If we believe on rumours then Chhota Rajans deportation and arrest was a big political gimmick played to help him get back to his native soil. Moreover, he would be helping government and Intelligence agencies to trace the location of Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar. Because bringing back Dawood was PM Narendra Modis poll promise in 2014. Chhota Rajan is known as patriotic don for his anti-Muslim stand after the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blast. The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered three cases of extortion and murder believed to be carried out by the Chhota Rajan gang. The CBI took over the investigation into the cases on Maharashtra governments request. The first case of extortion was lodged in April, 1999. It was alleged in the complaint that during the period from March 2, 1999 to April 8, 1999, the accused persons identifying themselves as Rohit, John, Ashok, etc of Chhota Rajan gang made calls to the complainant and threatened him with dire consequences to extort money to the tune of Rs. 25 lakh, said the CBI officer Gaur. The provisions of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act were applied in the case later, he said. In the second extortion case that dates back to July 31, 2004, Gaur said the accused had barged into the office of the complainant in Mulund, Mumbai. They posed as members of Chhota Rajans gang and assaulted the complainant and his employee. They also demanded money at gun point. The murder case was registered against two unidentified persons at Tilak Nagar police station in Mumbai. On October 7, 1998, Bala Kotiyan was shot dead at Navgrah Hotel where he had gone with his friend. Rajan, 55, is facing more than 70 criminal charges. He was arrested by the Indonesian police in Bali on October 25, 2015. After the Maharashtra government decided to hand over his dossier to the CBI on the eve of his deportation to India on November 6, 2015, reports began to surface that Rajan had spoken of a nexus between Mumbai Police officials and gangster Dawood Ibrahim, the main accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case. Yesterday, the writer has explained the first three phases of the Hinduism, and here he starts with the fourth phases. The fourth phase that began 2,000 years ago witnessed the rise of chronicles such as Ramayana, Mahabharata and Puranas, where stories are used to reconcile the worldview of householders and hermits, and create the now familiar Hindu worldview. We are introduced to a fully developed mythosphere where the world has no beginning (anadi) or end (ananta), with multiple heavens and multiple hells, governed by action and reaction (karma), where all societies go through cycles of birth and death, just like all living creatures. This phase witnesses the rise of temples and temple rituals. We also see the rise of monastic Vedantic orders that frown upon the body and all things sensory, as well as occult Tantrik orders that explore the body and all things sensory. We also see the mingling of the Old Nigama parampara, where divinity is seen as formless with new Agama parampara, where divinity takes the form of Shiva and his sons, Vishnu and his avatars, and the Goddess and her many manifestations. With new orders and traditions emerging, we also see the consolidation of jati system (or caste, a European word), community groups based on vocation that isolate themselves by not intermarrying. Many academicians see caste as an essential feature of Hinduism designed to favour upper castes, an accusation that Hindutva rejects. Many Hindutva scholars insist caste has a scientific and rational base, and has nothing to do with politics or economics. The fifth phase is 1,000 years old, and it witnessed the rise of devotion (bhakti) as a doctrine, where devotees passionately connected with deities through emotional songs, composed in regional languages, often bypassing the temple system. This was the time when a rigid caste hierarchy had entrenched itself firmly, basing itself on the doctrine of purity with some castes being seen as impure and unworthy of touch. They are even denied access to the community well. It is also the time when Islam enters India, peacefully in the south via sea-traders and violently in the north via Central Asian warlords, who destroy Buddhist monasteries and Hindu temples, which are also centres of political power, and eventually establish their rule, often resisted by Hindu kings such as Rajputs in the North, Ahoms in the East, Marathas and the Vijaynagar Empire in the Deccan. Hindutva sees the arrival of Islam and the rise of Delhi and Deccani sultanates, followed by Mughal rule, as marking the end of the great Hindu culture, a theme that Marxist historians declare to be paranoid communal propaganda. The latter highlight only Hindu-Islamic collaboration, going to the other extreme, argue non-Marxist historians. The sixth phase is 300 years old when Hinduism responded to the rise of European power in the subcontinent, and the consequent arrival of Christian missionaries, and the rational scientific discourse. Some Hindutva scholars do not differentiate between the two. This age saw European scholars trying to make sense of Hinduism using both scientific methods as well as the Judeo-Christian lens. For them, monotheism was the true religion, and scientific; polytheism was pagan mythology. They started a massive exercise of translating and documenting the Hindu way of life. They looked for a holy book, a prophet, and, more importantly, a purpose. Eventually, to organise the complexity, they began defining Hinduism as Brahminism, distinguishing it from Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. This Orientalist framework continues to inform global understanding of Eastern faiths via schools, colleges and media. A fluid oral culture thus got fixed by the 19th century. Hindus, newly educated in the Western ways, felt a deep sense of shame and embarrassment when asked about their customs and beliefs. Some decided to reform Hinduism to satisfy the colonial gaze. Others reframed it seeking out the true essence of Hinduism and rejecting later corrupt practices. Still others rejected Hinduism itself and saw all religion as a dark dangerous force to be replaced by rationality and a scientific temper. It is in this phase that Hindutva arose as a counterforce that challenged what they saw as the relentless and unfair mockery of all things Hindu at European, and later at American and Indian universities. Hindutva saw Marxism as well as all other Western discourses as just another form of the Christian discourse, seeking to wipe out all trace of the Hindu way of life, doing what Islam had done in Central and South East Asia in past centuries. (The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.) Suppression by Thimerosal of ex vivo CD4 T cell response to flu vaccine and induction of apoptosis in primary T cells, Gourgeon, M, et al, 2014. Prenatal exposure to Thimerosal persistently impairs the serotonergic and dopaminergic systems in the rat brain, Narita, M, et al, 2012. A final caveat before you read the list. It is about 100x harder to get a study criticizing a vaccine published, than a study claiming Thimerosal is safe, published. The double standard is beyond belief. One might have an I love Hg! study rife with financial conflicts of interest, substitution errors, type I and type II errors and even basic arithmetic mistakes but almost any journal will publish it. One might have a study critical of thimersol that is perfection, checked, double checked, case controlled, blinded, extensively footnoted and still maybe one in 20 journals might have the courage to publish it. All of the published peer reviewed research listed below had to meet the the highest possible scientific bar in order to make it to print. Essentially no one, except a fool, would knowingly and willingly allow their child, especially their infant (pre 2004 all newborns injected w Thimerosal via the pointless and dangerous Hep B vaccine), to be injected Thimerosal. Like many parents, I assumed all the Hg was taken out of vaccines in 2000, big mistake, it wasnt. As far as Hallydays grossly erroneous claim: there is no evidence Thimerosal is dangerous please take a peek at the following THIRTY studies. There are about thirty more I could have included, but you get the point. Dr. Hallyday made myriad factual errors in her post. Thimerosal was never exonerated. Ethylmercury is not harmless. Thimerosal can and DOES accumulate in some peoples brains. Many people, especially boys with a family history of immune disorders cannot efficiently excrete ethyl mercury / Thimerosal. This subset of boys have highly sensitive central nervous systems (Herbert, Deth) poor methylation abilities and suboptimal immune systems. Tragically this subset of children are unusually intelligent (Deth) and are robbed of this gift via Thimerosal induced brain damage. This cohort falls under the umbrella of regressive autism. These are infants and toddlers who reached all milestones on time, but usually ahead of schedule, yet experienced a catastrophic loss of skills and speech after a severe adverse vaccine reaction. Alycia Halladay, PhD, recently posted an essay on the STAT website entitled Lets Focus on the Real Environmental Factors Linked to Autism . Thimerosal compromises human dendritic cells maturation, IL-2 production and chemokine release, Loisen, E, et al, 2014. Increased susceptibility of ethylmercury induced mitochondrial dysfunction in subset with autism, James, J., et al, 2015. Case control study of mercury burden in children with autism, Kartinzel, J, et al, 2007. Effect of Thimerosal on neurodevelopment of premature rats, Hui Ying, Du et al, 2013 Altered antibodies in ASD children related to blood mercury, Mostafa, G, et al, 2007 Severity of Autism Associated with toxic metal body burden and red blood cell glutathione levels, El Dhar et al, 2013. Levels of blood mercury and inflammation related neuropeptides are correlated in children with autism. Al-Ayadhi et al, 2015. Blood level of mercury related to diagnosis of autism, R Hitlan, 2007. Role of Mercury in Pathogenesis of autism, 2002. Mercury, lead and zinc in baby teeth of children with autism vs. controls. Adams, J., et al, 2011. Altered urinary porphyrins and mercury exposures as biomarkers for Egyptian children autism, El Barra, 2010. Neurotoxic effects on mouse brain after intermittent neonatal administration of Thimerosal, Shan Tang, et al, 204. Thimerosal in infant rats increases overflow of glutamate- aspartate in prefrontal cortex, Majewska, M, et al, 2011. Thimerosal is a mitochondria toxin in human astrocytes, Baskin, D, et al, 2011. Maternal Thimerosal exposure results in aberrant cerebellar oxidative stress, Zavacki, A., et al, 2011. Embryonic exposure to Thimerosal causes abnormal early development of serotonergic neurons, Teshiro, Y, et al, 2011. Thiol modulated mechanisms of cytotoxicity of Thimerosal and inhibition of DNA topoisomerase, Hasinoff, B., et al, 2007. Porphyrinuria in childhood autistic disorder: Implications for environmental toxicity, Lathe, R, et al, 2006. Comparison of blood and brain mercury levels in infant monkeys exposed to vaccines containing Thimerosal, Clarkson, T, et al, 2005. Thimerosal induces neuronal cell apoptosis by causing cytochrome c and apoptosis inducing factor release from mitochondria, Gupta, S., et al, 2005. Mitochondrial mediated Thimerosal induced apoptosis in a human neuroblastoma cell line, Kiningham, K, et al, 2005. Thimerosal Neurotoxicity is associated with glutathione depletion: protection with glutathione precursors, Jernigan, S., et al, 2004. Activation of methionine synthase by insulin like growth factor 1 and dopamine: a target for neurodevelopment toxins and Thimerosal, Deth, R, et al, 2004. Thimerosal induces DNA breaks, caspase 3 activation, membrane damage and cell death in human neurons and fibroblasts, Didenko, V, et al, 2003. Biochemical and molecular basis of Thimerosal induced apoptosis in T cells: a major mitochondrial pathway, Gupta, S, et al, 2002. Neuroblastoma cells: cobalamin and GSH dependence and inhibitory effects of neurotoxic metals and Thimerosal, Deth, R, et al, 2016. Russia, not a paragon if consumer protection, banned Thimerosal from all vaccines in 1980. Sure, partly because their pharma lobby is small but also in part because it was the right thing to do. My veterinarian scolded me after I told her I discovered my sons vaccines contained Hg. She literally said to me word for word, Katie whats wrong with you? That stuff is poison. Most vet practices been Thimerosal free for 20 years! The awful irony- my cat never received Thimerosal vaccines, but my son did. It is shameful that the NIH, CDC and WHO refuse to call for a ban on Thimerosal. But Thimerosal is a lot cheaper than its safer substitutes and pharma runs the show. The symbiotic relationship between pharma and the NIH / CDC has created a revolving door for personnel. You work on vaccines at the NIH? Resign, wait 365 days (only because the law requires it) and take an extremely well paid job at Pfizer doing the same thing you were doing at the NIH, using all your insider knowledge to promote and sell vaccines, and, most importantly, push for more vaccine mandates. Severe autism did demonstrably decrease after Hg was banned from vaccines in Denmark. The Thorsen study, yes the vaccine/ autism study conducted by a wanted criminal who embezzled a million + $ from the dupes at the CDC, is a joke for more reasons than one. Thorsen showed that autism increased after the withdrawal of Hg in vaccines by adding the in patient psychiatric population to the post test numbers. Voila increase! In the pre test Thorsen counted only the out patient ASD population. Again the ubiquitous double standard. Oh how the Dr. Hallydays of the world wring their hands and bemoan about the unethical scientific work of Dr. Andrew Wakefield. Yet all are strangely silent regarding the truly criminal behavior of CDC autism research partner Poul Thorsen and his girlfriend/ boss (I am 100% serious) CDC autism expert Diana Schendel. CDC supervisor Schendel approved her married boyfriends grants, never recusing herself from Thorsen business despite the obvious conflict of interest. You dont believe me? Want to read scores of love letters via CDC e-mails to and from Thorsen and Schendel? No, these are not private hacked e-mails, but CDC e-mails. This illicit and grossly unprofessional, and just plain gross, relationship was conducted on CDC time and was subsidized with our tax dollars. When it was discovered Thorsen stole much of the CDC money he claimed to have spent on autism research he immediately scrambled back home to Denmark. Guess who was right behind him? Diana Schendel quit her CDC and moved to Denmark with her embezzler boyfriend. Yet, incredibly, the CDC would have us believe that this odious chain of events neither taints Thorsens research nor the CDCs leadership? Dr. Hallyday has been in the field of autism research for 20 years. The fact that she laments the lack of research into environmental factors astonishes me. While at Autism Speaks, Dr. Hallyday assisted in the selection of autism research grants for almost 10 years. Hallyday helped spend over $300 million on autism science. Why did she do so little to push environmental science forward? It is the medias fault that Autism Speaks has spent less than 10% of its science budget on environmental research? The media did not have a seat at Autism Speaks grant selection committees. To make matters even worse, much of the environmental research funded under Hallydays watch is meaningless also rans science- old fat moms causing autism. But lets take a closer look at the environmental factors Dr. Hallyday does believe are causing autism: 1) Supposedly a massive amount of pregnant women are knowingly taking valporic acid despite the fact it has long been established this is dangerous to fetuses. Right, thats a really big and really common problem. Absurd, probably less than 1% of ASD causation. 2) OLD MOMS! One would expect better from a female scientist to fall into the old moms cause autism trap. Pathetic. Dr. Hertz-Pincho the preeminent autism epidemiologist found that no more than 3-4% of the rise of autism can be attributed to older parents. 3) Air Pollution. There is some truth to this because there are many autism hot spots near coal burning power plants but air pollution is not driving the explosion of autism. 4) Extreme Illness/Infection during pregnancy. Come on. This happens but is rare. The biggest danger to most pregnant women is the Hg containing flu shot. The Hg passes right through the unbiblical cord to babys brain. Mothers with vulnerable immune systems often have infants with similar immune systems and it is the babies who are most susceptible to illness /infection post adverse vaccine reaction. Ask 10 autism moms if their ASD child had a lot of ear, eye or sinus infections as a baby and 6 will say yes. Ask them if their infants had bad vaccine reactions, the same 6 will say yes. We need to study issues THOSE issues, concerns of families living autism, rather the pet interests of academics. 5) FAT MOMS! It is such a banal, hackneyed argument. OK, newsflash, it is not healthy to be obese. Obese people are more likely to have autoimmune issues, hence vulnerability to autism. This issue probably accounts for 2% of autism. So Dr. Hallyday believes with more research into OLD, FAT, drug taking moms living near coal burning power plants we will uncover the major causes of autism? Come on. That is the best we can do? I hope non ASD parents are reading this and gain some insight in our families disgust with much of the autism research community. We dont want to waste your hard earned taxed dollars, we want research that actually accomplishes something and provides actionable preventative value. At the end of her post Dr. Hallyday complains that by focusing on vaccines we fail to prioritize or fund more effective treatments. I find that comment sadly ironic given the fact Dr. Hallyday had literally 100s of opportunities to champion innovative treatment studies while at AS. Whenever AS Science was presented with a research study on treatment for severe GI pain, they rejected it, whenever AS Science had the opportunity to treat common ASD autoimmune conditions they rejected it, when AS Science had the opportunity to fund work on better and safer diagnosing of ASD/ GI disease they rejected it, when AS Science had the opportunity to help prevent regressive autism they rejected it, when AS Science had the opportunity to research causes and treatment for common and debilitating environmental allergies affecting the ASD population they rejected it......Dr. Hallydays advocacy for more treatment research is disingenuous. By all means, we need to invest more money in environmental science research. Dr. Hallyday could start with her own organization. The Autism Science Foundation conducts no environmental research I am aware of. Sorry, no one outside of academia considers the old, fat moms cause research worthwhile. The Simons Foundation generously funds millions of dollars of autism research and conducts no environmental science research. Cold Springs Harbor conducts no environmental research and the NIH invests a only a tiny amount of their autism budget on environmental triggers. Rather than blame parents of vaccine injured children for the lack of progress in environmental research I would encourage Dr. Hallyday to advocate for the funding of substantive environmental science at CSH, Simons, the NIH, and naturally, at her own organization as well. Katie Wright is Contributing Editor to Age of Autism. By Anne Dachel This is far better than most Newsweek coverage of vaccine safety in the past. They actually mentioned William Thompson by name and said that research may have been altered. Sadly, Jessica Wapner and Newsweek fail to tell us ANYTHING about what actually went on at the National Press Club meeting. If there were fifteen speakers, including Robert Kennedy, Jr., shouldnt we hear something that they had to say? (The video did nothing to add to the story.) Shouldnt Newsweek have covered the event, not just the rally outside? The one statement that said volumes was this: The stated purpose of the event is to protest the biased media coverage, exploitation by the pharmaceutical industry That charge of biased media coverage would of course include Newsweek and all the other mainstream news outlets whove never honestly and thoroughly covered this controversy. Vaccine skeptics rally in D.C. today at a protest headlined by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. By Jessica Wapner Vaccine fears are on display today in Washington, D.C. A group called Revolution for Truth is leading an anti-vaccine event that includes a rally outside the National Press Club and talks by at least 15 speakers. The day will culminate with a speech by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an outspoken opponent to vaccines and founder of the World Mercury Project. The stated purpose of the event is to protest the biased media coverage, exploitation by the pharmaceutical industry and government protection that, the group says, perpetuate the use of what it says are dangerous inoculations. Friendship With Neighbors the Only Way to Go: Patriarch Sako On a visit to the parish of St Thomas Apostle in Sarcelles, north of Paris, the Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans launched an appeal to the international community. What is most urgent in his view is the recreation of a civil state in Iraq and to rebuild all the villages of the Nineveh plain retaken from ISIS. Where is the battle for Mosul up to at the moment? Why has it caused so many civilian deaths? Louis Raphael Sako: Military operations in the western part of the city are extremely complex. There are 400,000 people living in a quarter where houses are built right against one another, separated only by narrow streets. When we were children in Mosul, we were able to jump from one terrace house to another! So the neighborhood is very densely populated. In addition, the jihadists use the inhabitants as human shields. They are ready to commit suicide at any price, causing the greatest number of deaths possible so as to sow panic around the world. What is the situation in the zones that have already been liberated? LRS: The Nineveh plain is nearly entirely liberated, including the nine Christian cities. Those furthest to the north, which are inhabited mainly by Chaldeans, were liberated by Kurdish Peshmergas. In two villages, Bashika and Teleskof, which are located in a reasonably secure zone, around 250 families have started to return and to rebuild. At Batnaya to the north of Mosul, 80% of the houses have been destroyed but 300 are still intact and the families who desire to return have registered to do so. The biggest problem is in the south of the Nineveh plain and in the Syrian Catholic villages. This zone remains contested by Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds. Considering that they have made many sacrifices, the Kurds want to stay in the villages that they have liberated. The same for the Shiites Two days after the liberation, I went to meet the Iraqi generals to tell them that the Christians belong to this land which is in a way their promised land". What proportion of the displaced and the refugees are likely to return to their villages? LRS: Among the Christians, I estimate that 80% of the displaced in Iraq would like to return home. At Baqofah, near Batnaya, around forty families have already returned to their homes. Others are waiting for the end of the school year to do so. But there are still many obstacles, including the destruction as well as political disorganization. We do not oblige anyone to remain but we fear that if the families do not return then the demographic balance of the region will be overturned. How to assist in the rebuilding? LRS: The most urgent thing is to de-mine the fields and villages and to clear the roads. We need organizations like L'Oeuvre de l'Orient (Work of the Orient) and others to help finance the restoration of houses. All the villages destroyed by ISIS need to be rebuilt, not just the Christian villages! Spiritual and human support is also important. It helps Iraqis to persevere and continue to have hope. Politically, the international community needs most of all to support the reconstruction of the country on a citizenship basis. An end to sectarian laws that make Christians second-class citizens, either kuffars (evildoers) or dhimmis (protected ones), is necessary. We don't accept this. What is needed is a civil status, i.e. a state that is separate from religion. Some politicians are beginning to adopt this language on television, which is also what I heard at Al Azhar. I often repeat to politicians whom I meet in Baghdad that without a civil status Islam has no future. No progress will be possible. Muslims cannot continue to live like as if it were the desert in the 7th century. They have to accept that the world has changed and that there are no more majorities and minorities, that we are no longer a danger for them. They need to recognize pluralism and diversity as an opportunity. How to bring Iraq out of its communitarian enclosure? LRS: It will be a long path! I feel it myself. The two houses that belong to my family in Mosul were looted by our neighbors. Psychologically, it is difficult. Today, we are all contaminated by a Bedouin spirit. Instead of identifying as Iraqis, we turn in on our ethnic communities where each person wants to be the head. Our communities themselves are also divided. Muslims between Sunnis and Shiites, Christians among Assyrians, Armenians, Chaldeans, etc. This mentality needs to change. Moreover, we feel that the Muslims themselves are tired of these absurd wars, which have caused thousands of deaths, unnumbered ruins and more than four million displaced people and refugees. Some Christians, particularly those who have left the country, are not realistic. They want a province, an autonomous region, and blue helmet to protect them It is impossible! I think that the observers sent by the European Union to the villages will warn of the risk of attacks and reassure the Christians. Beyond that, the only way forward is to rebuild friendship with our neighbors. Tomorrow, I will go to Mosul to bring aid to 4,000 families of displaced people. We cannot remain indifferent to the suffering of the people. UN Representative Extends New Year Greetings to Assyrians in Iraq Baghdad -- On the occasion of the Babylonian-Assyrian New Year, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq (SRSG), Mr. J Assyrian New Year Festival in Australia Draws 10,000 Fairfield, Australia -- The Assyrian Universal Alliance (AUA) together with the Assyrian Australian National Federation (AANF) hosted one of the most successful Assyrian New Year Festivals in the last decade. Thousands of people were in attendance at Fairfield showground to celebrate the Assyrian culture. The Festival started at 10:00 am and the music and dancing continued till the 10:00 pm close. The formal proceedings began with the official opening of the Dr. Donny George Exhibit at 1:30 pm. The Dr. Donny George Exhibit was established to highlight Assyrian contributions to the advancement of civilization. This year however, the organisers of the exhibit, The Assyrian Cultural & Social Youth Association ACSYA together with The Young Assyrians TYA, saw it fit to use the exhibit as a platform to raise awareness of the ongoing genocide perpetrated against the Assyrian nation in both Iraq and Syria. The exhibit demonstrated the destruction in the Assyrian towns and villages in Nineveh plains in Northern Iraq and Khabour region in North East Syria by ISIS, in a clear and concise manner how the events in Iraq and Syria amount to genocide according to the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The customary New Year Program commenced at 2:00 pm, with both the Australian and Assyrian national anthems performed by Mrs. Marlen Shukur, who was accompanied by a string trio. A blessing prayer followed by Reverend His Beatitude Mar Meelis Zaia, Metropolitan of the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East. The Hon. Chris Bowen MP, Federal Member for McMahon, Shadow Treasurer. ( AINA) After welcoming the attendees, the Master of ceremonies Miss Melanie Alkhas, a member of The Young Assyrians of the AUA invited Mr. Hermiz Shahen, Deputy Secretary General of the Assyrian Universal Alliance, to officially welcome the guests. Mr Shahen extended a warm welcome to representatives of the Local, State and Federal Governments for their attendance and support over the years. He also thanked representatives of Armenian, Coptic, Greek, Jewish, Italian, Mandean, Vietnamese and Assyrian organisations from Sydney and Melbourne and guests from USA and Iraq for their attendance. Mr. Shahen spoke about the Assyrians the creators of civilization, are one of the most widely scattered indigenous peoples in the four corners of the world and it is unfortunate that very little is known in the West about them, their language, or their traditions, more importantly perhaps, their contributions to human civilization that has been neglected due to the repressive regimes in the Middle East. Mayor Frank Carbone, Fairfield City Council. ( AINA) "I now wish to speak directly to all the members of the Australian parliament. The urgent establishment and enforcement of a safe haven in the Assyrian heartland is the only viable solution to preserving the Assyrian people from extinction. I call on you to push for the official recognition of the current atrocities perpetrated by ISIS against the indigenous Assyrians and other ethnic minorities of Iraq and Syria on religious, cultural and ethnic grounds, as a crime of genocide. Be the ones to take the first step towards justice and lead other nations on this rightful path. How long can you remain silent while ISISs brutality continues? If we do not act now, history will condemn us, and there will be no excuse for our failure". Mr Shahen said. Mr. David M. David, President of the Assyrian Australia National Federation welcomed the attendees. Speaking in the Assyrian language he stressed the importance of this national day for all Assyrians. Other guest speakers were; Senator the Hon. Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, Minister for International Development and the Pacific, representing the Prime Minister of Australia; The Hon Malcolm Turnbull MP; Mr Chris Hayes MP; The Hon. Luke Foley MLC, NSW Opposition Leader; The Hon. Chris Bowen MP, Shadow Treasurer, representing the Hon Bill Shorten MP, Leader of the opposition. The Hon Tanya Davies, MP; Mr. Guy Zangari MP; Dr Hugh McDermott MP; Mr Frank Carbone, Mayor of Fairfield City Council; Reverend The Hon. Fred Nile MLC , President of the Christian Democratic Party. The Hon. Luke FOLEY, MLC, Leader of the Opposition, Shadow Minister for Western Sydney. ( AINA) All speakers praised in their speeches the role of the Assyrian Universal Alliance in its continued deliberations and meetings with the Australian government. They talked about the inevitability of the Assyrian peoples struggle to obtain their full rights and freedom in Iraq. They blessed this great occasion, expressed their appreciation of the D. Donny George Exhibit that was organised by the Young Assyrians and conveyed pride in the Assyrian civilization. Other guests included Mr. Nick Lalich MP; The Hon. Sophie Cotsis, MLC; Inspector Meznaric representing Superintendent Peter Lennon, Fairfield Police Station; Dr Stavros Kyrimis, Consulate General of Greece in Sydney. ( AINA) The conclusion of the official opening program saw many awards presented to the various sponsors. The 2017 Friend of Assyria Award was presented to Mr Jude Simion, Chief Operating Officer of the Barnabas Fund Australia. The award was granted in recognition of their practical aid provided for persecuted Christians, and acting on behalf of the persecuted Church, to be their voice -- making their needs known to Christians around the world and the injustice of their persecution known to governments and international bodies. The Barnabas Fund has financially supported most of the Assyrian refugees arriving from Syria and Iraq by covering the cost of their flight. The Hon Tanya Davies, MP, Member for Mulgoa, Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Women, and Minister for Ageing. ( AINA) The 2017 Young Assyrian Australian of the Year Award was presented to a talented young Assyrian, Ms Nahren Anweya from USA, in recognition of her selfless devotion and tireless efforts to promote the Assyrian national cause nationally and internationally, spreading awareness on the genocide occurring against the indigenous Assyrians of Iraq and Syria and for her mission, as an activist, to promote the unity and protection of all Assyrians and Yezidis. ( AINA) The 2017 Australian Assyrian of the Year award was presented to Mr Wilson Younan, the Executive Producer, Assyrian Language Program at Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) Australia, for providing a professional news and current affairs program informing the listeners of local, as well as international news, and events that concern the Assyrian community". He helped to take the Assyrian voice further by reaching the entire world through the SBS - Radio program and deliver news to and from our Assyrian community in any country they live. At 6:00 pm, a dramatic arts piece was performed by Assyrian Youth. The theatrical piece simulated some sacred rituals presented by ACSYA to bless the festivity which used to be performed before the arrival of King and Queen of Assyria. The Festival ended with a beautiful display of Fireworks at 9:00 pm accompanied with live music. South African Airways Cargo (SAA Cargo) general manager Tleli Makhetha is a man with an infectious laugh, but he also does not beat around the bush when it comes to outlining current market conditions. 2016 was probably one of the toughest years for airfreight and therefore for us, he says. His thoughts are reflected in cargo figures for the 2015/2016 financial year, which show a 13% year-on-year demand decline to 114,000 tonnes. But it is not just the cargo side of the business that is facing up to tough market conditions the overall airline group registered a loss of ZAR1.5bn ($114.8m) during the 2015/2016 financial year, although this was an improvement on the ZAR5.6bn loss registered the year before. Makhetha goes on to outline a range of reasons why cargo demand took a hit in 2016, with currency effects playing a big role in performance. Currency effects In terms of the intra-African market our major destinations, which are Nigeria and Angola, are oil-based economies, he explains. Because of the collapse of the oil price, there were two problems. First, the people were not as wealthy as they were, so the consumption of South African goods has suffered and we move a lot of cargo into those areas. Second, the shortage of foreign exchange means that the [South African] retailers were having low sales but also facing problems repatriating their money from those countries. So the exports from South Africa into Nigeria literally almost collapsed, and that hit us big time in terms of volumes. It was not just retailers that faced issues in repatriating money from Nigeria and Angola; the airline industry also took a hit. Last year, IATA revealed that Nigeria and Angola were two of the five countries with the highest amount of funds being blocked from repatriation. According to IATA statistics, Nigeria was blocking $591m in airline funds, while Angola was blocking $237m. Makhetha says currency also had another negative impact on SAA Cargos performance in 2016, with the strong South African rand over the last couple of months of the year having an effect on the conversion rate and export demand. When you are selling in dollars and pounds and then convert that into our local currency then we are getting less money than we had anticipated. We report in terms of rands so the strong currency really did not help our revenue and also did not help South African exports. Droughts hit perishables Makhetha says that the country also suffered from droughts in 2015 and 2016, which had an impact on the export of perishables. Looking forward, we seem to be over the worst of the drought and I think that you will see the perishables market recover in the coming months, he says. But I do not expect that the recovery is going to be dramatic. People that used to import perishables from South Africa, in the last two years, when we had the drought, found alternative sources, so our market will recover fairly slowly. So all of those things combined made the trading environment [in 2016] quite a challenge we really felt it, without sounding too dramatic about it. It is not just external factors that have affected SAA Cargos performance over the last 12 months; some internal changes have also had an impact. Makhetha explains that over the last couple of years the passenger side of the business has axed services to Beijing, Mumbai and Abu Dhabi, which had a big impact on cargo volumes and revenues. The decision makes sense when you take into account the overall picture, because on the passenger side these routes were not profitable, he explains. Creating efficiencies To combat the difficult market conditions, Makhetha says the cargo division has been carefully analysing its cost base, trying to create efficiencies and moving closer to its customers. Creating efficiencies is the starting point. We try to do more with what we have and try to eliminate any duplication in our business processes. The second area for improvement is really to get closer to customers even more aggressively than we did before. They are facing the same challenges as us, so we sit down with them and almost start re-designing our process and our offering with the customers. Our customers, the freight forwarders, not only use SAA Cargo but also other airlines as well, so if you are the one closest to your customers in terms of your processes then you are more likely to win that business. The airline has also been keeping an eye on costs, with its workforce numbers down slightly on previous levels, and it has also been more circumspect when it comes to flying its four Boeing 737-300Fs. We did well in terms of containing our costs that is the only thing that really saved us as cargo, Makhetha explains. Our workforce numbers were slightly down and we did quite a bit of cost cutting where we could and that really helped. For instance, we were more circumspect when flying our freighters and we actually reduced [flying] hours quite dramatically, to keep the operating costs down. We did not actually stop any routes but we restricted frequencies where we could and where we could tag on some of the regional destinations, we would. We looked at a lot of our contracts as well suppliers, service providers. The cost containment was quite positive. It is an ongoing process because you dont want to cut today and then get those costs back in tomorrow. Freighter fleet With regards to its freighter fleet network, Makhetha says there are no current plans to add new aircraft or destinations at the moment because of the current volatility in the market place. He explains that the carrier has been looking to add new destinations over the last couple of years, but the market has been changing so quickly that it has gone back to the drawing board when it comes to the new routes. He says the airline had been considering adding a new flight to Tete in Mozambique, to cater for new mining projects that were being launched, but in the end the investors pulled out of the projects and the plans for new services were scrapped. B737 aircraft have been proving popular with the e-commerce industry, but Makhetha says that at the moment there is not enough demand to fly the daily services that this sector requires. We have spoken about [e-commerce] and it is something we have to look at. The challenge with the regional market is that some of the markets are so thin and for e-commerce you need to fill the plane every day. If you look at the southern Africa region, the only places where we can sustain maybe three flights a week are into Lusaka in Zambia and Harare in Zimbabwe. We take a lot of flowers out of those places but in terms of filling the aircraft both ways on a daily basis, it would be a big challenge and isnt really possible. On the passenger front SAA is taking delivery of A330-200 aircraft, which will be used to launch services to Sao Paulo and Accra. However, Makhetha says the aircraft are not very cargo friendly because of payload limitations. Volatile market Looking ahead, Makhetha says it appears that the demand situation will remain volatile, although there are some positives. As well as an improvement in perishables in line with the ending of the drought, oil and gas prices do appear to be creeping back up and certain areas of the automotive industry in South Africa are performing well. The mix of cargo carried from the country is also improving. Nobody seems certain in terms of trade, he says. So the freight forwarders are not committing and I would suppose the shippers are also not committing. The South African economy has a growth rate of around 1%, which is very low for our type of economy, so that has had some impact on the ability of people to buy goods. I think the one positive is that the mix of goods that are being exported out of South Africa is actually a nice spread, not entirely reliant on perishables or automotive, so that gives us a hedge. Unlike in the past, when South Africa was predominately an economy that exported perishables, we now do quite a lot of automotive and quite a bit of pharma as well. He adds that the Nigerian economy is also becoming more balanced as other sectors look to fill the void left by the declines experienced in the oil and gas market. Horses for courses The airline has also been looking to pick up one-off business, such as flying horses to Mauritius. Makhetha explains that because of African horse sickness, which is a highly infectious and deadly disease, importers from the Middle East and Asia quarantine their horses on the island, where the disease does not exist, before flying them on to their final destination. There is also a huge horse racing scene on Mauritius. The carrier has also been picking up project business. Project cargo is not as consistent as other cargo but if there is a project going on we try to understand what the shipper is looking for and try working with the agent to come up with a solution for the shipper, he says. We have to understand exactly where the shipper is coming from and work as closely as possible with the forwarder without angering the forwarder not going behind their back. Staying on the transport of animals, SAA Cargo recently opened a new pet facility for domestic pets at Cargo OR Tambo International Terminal. The lounge is specially designed for the pets comfort and safety, ensuring they experience a stress-free environment during their journey, the airline says. In addition, the facility also minimises any environmental factors that are likely to cause distress. Makhetha says the facility has been a success so far: We have always handled pets but we did not have a bespoke area for them before. The market has really warmed up, it is actually doing well for us. Not only is it a good initiative for the cargo business, it is a good initiative for the passenger business; if you are a pet friendly airline, people like you. Its not going to be a huge money spinner, but it will all add up. The company is also considering other investments in cargo infrastructure, but given the current tough market conditions every investment is highly scrutinised. We are pushing for investment to upgrade our facility in Johannesburg, not expanding the space, but modernising in terms of the handling and the warehouse logistics. We are in the process of appointing consultants to re-design the space, he says. Share this story March 31, 2017 GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip Yousef al-Ghariz, adviser to Mohammed al-Emadi, Qatar's ambassador to the Palestinian territories and head of the Qatari Committee for Reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, told Al-Monitor that the committee is in constant communication with the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah to carry out its work in Gaza. He said the committee coordinates with Egypt and Israel on the delivery of raw materials for construction projects and discussed its involvement in addressing various emergencies in Gaza in particular, paying the salaries of public sector employees and tackling the energy crisis. Ghariz has served in government posts, including as Gaza minister of public works and housing for Hamas from 2012-14, as well as in academia, heading the Department of Engineering, Planning and Information Systems at Gazas University College of Applied Sciences. Ghariz has also headed the Environment Quality Authority. Al-Monitor interviewed Ghariz March 23 in his office in Gaza City. Al-Monitor: Qatar's Gaza Reconstruction Committee started work in the Gaza Strip in 2012. What are the main projects it has completed since then? How much did they cost? Ghariz: The committee started work in October 2012 and has played a key role in implementing Qatars $407 million grants program. Since then it has carried out a large number of projects. The most important have been building constructions, many of them residential, worth $160 million. The biggest is Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani City, in Khan Yunis, which includes more than 3,000 housing units. There are also projects worth $155 million to tarmac and upgrade roads, most importantly the Salaheddin Road, which runs from the south to the north of the Strip, fully upgrading and equipping a 30-kilometer [19-mile] stretch of it. There is also a project to repair 40 kilometers [25 miles] of the al-Rashid coastal road as well as smaller side roads. The committee has also implemented health projects worth $17.5 million, including building the Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Hospital for rehabilitation and artificial limbs in Gaza City. That comes on top of agricultural and livestock projects worth $7 million, efforts to reconstruct 1,000 housing units at a cost of $50 million and other infrastructure projects valued at $17 million. Al-Monitor: Qatar has supported a variety of projects in Gaza, from infrastructure to paving roads, renovating destroyed buildings and supporting municipalities. What are the committees criteria for selecting projects? Ghariz: Priorities for projects are set by a joint committee [of Palestinian government and Qatari Foreign Ministry representatives] in coordination with the Ministry of Public Works and Housing to identify the priorities of the Gaza Strip, start the tendering process and implement projects to the greatest possible benefit of local residents. Al-Monitor: The Qatari projects require raw materials and other essentials that are not available in Gaza. How are they acquired? Does Israel play a role in facilitating their import? Ghariz: The biggest challenge facing the committee is getting hold of the necessary raw materials for its projects. Given the blockade and the repeated closure of the border crossings in recent years, the committee has liaised with outside parties in order to bring in the required raw materials in two stages. First, in coordination with Egypt, a joint committee including the Consolidated Contractors Company, a major Egyptian construction firm, and Egypts Ministry of Housing and Urban Communities in 2013 organized to bring in the necessary materials for these projects through the Rafah crossing. The second stage, launched Nov. 17, 2014, saw coordination within a joint committee involving Israel and the Palestinian Authority [PA] along with the efforts of Robert Serry, UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process. The resulting agreement has been in operation since the last war with Israel, in 2014, but the Israeli side is preventing the delivery of all the materials needed for the Qatari projects. Al-Monitor: What is the role of the PA, represented by the Public Works Ministry, in monitoring Qatari projects in the Gaza Strip? Ghariz: The Ministry of Public Works and Housing is the authority tasked by the Palestinian government with monitoring Qatari-funded projects. It is also the technical authority for work that has been completed and is in charge of overall supervision of how the work is proceeding in terms of monitoring and follow-up. Al-Monitor: How does the Qatari committee deal with one government in the West Bank and another in the Gaza Strip? Which one does it liaise with? Ghariz: The committee cooperates largely with the Palestinian consensus governments Ministry of Public Works and Housing [in Ramallah]. The Qatari ambassador, Mohammed al-Emadi, has good relations with all sides and meets regularly with various officials in both the West Bank and Gaza. Al-Monitor: The Qatari committee has on several occasions intervened at points of crisis in Gaza, most recently to help resolve the electricity crisis. Was this step taken on the initiative of the committee, or was it a direct intervention from the Qatari state? And why is Qatar so concerned with this? Ghariz: The committee is an implementing authority controlled by the Qatari Foreign Ministry. It is responsible for carrying out everything related to grants for the reconstruction of Gaza or any other grants the emir of Qatar charges it with implementing, such as one to provide $12 million worth of fuel to run the Gaza power plant for three months or the emirs grant last August to pay Gaza public sector workers. Al-Monitor: Qatars projects in Gaza have provoked some Palestinian leftist factions, such as the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Palestinian People's Party, because of the role Qatar plays in the region and accusations that it uses its projects for political goals. Are there political incentives and goals behind these projects? Ghariz: The reality shows that Qatars aim with these projects and its aid to Gaza is to help the Palestinian people by strengthening their steadfastness and easing their suffering. All the projects that Qatar has funded are in the framework of reconstructing Gaza and easing the impact of the blockade. Its projects serve thousands of Palestinians and provide them with numerous work opportunities to guarantee them a dignified life despite the difficult conditions the territorys residents face. Al-Monitor: How does the committee respond to accusations that it is currying favor with Hamas and the authorities it runs in Gaza at the expense of the PA in Ramallah? Ghariz: The Qatari committee works with all parties that are related to the work of reconstruction in order to complete its tasks in the Gaza Strip. In particular, it works with the Palestinian Ministry of Public Works and Housing and its minister, Mufid al-Hasayneh. This is one of the ministries of the consensus government headed by [Prime Minister] Rami Hamdallah. The committee is equally close to all sides and doesnt get involved in any internal Palestinian political disputes. Al-Monitor: The Qatari committee helped find a solution to the public sector salaries crisis in Gaza by paying the wages of public servants there. What is your view of this? What are the possible final solutions? Ghariz: The state of Qatar played a clear role with direct orders from the emir to pay sums of money to public sector workers in the Strip by providing a grant to cover the costs of public employees in August 2016, at a cost of $34 million. This was paid through the Gaza reconstruction committee in direct coordination with the United Nations. Qatar is continuing its efforts to bring together Palestinians and achieve reconciliation, which is the best way to solve all the crises facing the Strip, including the public sector wage crisis. Al-Monitor: Is the committee thinking of broadening the scope of its work to include the West Bank in the future? Ghariz: The committee was set up with a clear goal, which is in the name reconstruction in Gaza, due to the repeated attacks it has faced from Israel in recent years. Despite that, Qatar has also achieved much with projects in the West Bank through its various institutions in different areas, including housing, health and agriculture. Al-Monitor: The Qatari ambassador, Emadi, travels regularly between Ramallah, Gaza and Jerusalem. How can we describe his relations with Israel in terms of making your work easier? Is there political coordination between you on the economic level? Ghariz: The coordination between the committee and Israel is purely technical. It aims at making it easier to bring in raw materials for projects the committee is implementing and avoiding obstacles in the completion of these projects, as well as guaranteeing that they continue in a way that delivers the greatest benefits to the people of Gaza. April 3, 2017 Ever since it was announced in late March that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi would be coming to Washington April 3 to meet with President Donald Trump and hold a series of meetings with US decision-makers, there has been talk about a number of things on his agenda. Although Sisi and his accompanying delegation will likely discuss many issues during their visit to the US capital, one of the most critical and important issues for Cairo will be attempting to persuade the new administration to classify the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. Attempts at getting the US Congress to slap this label on the group during former President Barack Obamas term were not successful, after bills proposed in both the House and Senate in early 2016 failed to garner enough support. The Senate bill was proposed by former presidential candidate Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas. Statements from the parliamentary and political delegation accompanying Sisi, whose members arrived in Washington on March 30-31, show that they will be focusing on communicating with congressmen who voted in favor of the aforementioned bills, along with other legislators, in an effort to get congressional support for labeling the Brotherhood a terrorist group. During this visit, concerns about the Muslim Brotherhood will be a top priority, unlike the past. In the era of former Presidents George W. Bush and Hosni Mubarak, the group was a secondary concern to Cairo when it came to bilateral ties with the United States, and under Obama no real progress was made in this regard. The Muslim Brotherhood, it turns out, is not standing idly by. The group has been making efforts to confront these attempts since February 2016, when calls for labeling the group took a serious turn domestically in the United States. The Brotherhoods efforts originated from Egypt, since the group has no real organization within the United States. While some of the groups listed in proposed legislation against the Brotherhood are US organizations such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Islamic Society of North America and the Islamic Circle of North America they have responded to accusations individually, since they do not follow Brotherhood directives and have no organizational relationship with the group. The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, however, has responded in light of its conflict with the Egyptian regime, particularly since it is the primary target of Cairos efforts to have the group labeled a terrorist organization. Al-Monitor reviewed the means used by the Muslim Brotherhood to confront the regimes lobbying in Washington, which involved contacting decision-makers in the US Congress, State Department and White House, and has obtained an official document issued by the group laying out its response to the terrorism label. An active Brotherhood member in Egypt told Al-Monitor that this document has been sent to people in the US administration and government decision-making circles after Trump took office, specifically in recent weeks, in preparation for Sisis visit. The Brotherhood member, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear for his personal safety, said the document was prepared in March 2016 as a primary means of defending against accusations directed at the group. He said that the document is the official response used by the Muslim Brotherhood, and the most relied-upon [means] among the leadership for officially defending the group. He said, Its difficult for the Brotherhood leadership to take action at the individual level within the United States to defend the group in Egypt, especially after the arrival of Trump. The source, who is affiliated with the so-called historical leadership represented by Mahmoud Hussein and Mahmoud Ezzat, said that this document was also sent to some official agencies in London in response to an investigation opened in the United Kingdom into the Brotherhoods position on the issue of violence and terrorism. According to the source, the document played a role in freezing the investigation and preventing the group from being labeled as a terrorist organization in the United Kingdom. He added that a law firm and academic studies center helped prepare the text, yet declined to name them for security reasons. Below, Al-Monitor examines the most important points laid out in the 69-page document. It includes legal, historical and political commentary, in addition to the text of the bill proposed in Congress last year that promoted the documents drafting. In the first part of the document, titled Responding to the Draft Law of the US Congress to Include the Brotherhood on the List of Terrorist Organizations, the group refutes what is stated in the bill from its point of view, specifically the reasons the bill relied upon for listing the group. The first part of the document is divided into five sections: first, the listing of the group as a terrorist organization in Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Russia; second, the establishment of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna and its growth throughout the world; third, the groups religious principles, especially those that talk about dying in the way of Allah (which those proposing the US bill considered to be evidence the group forced religion through jihad); fourth, responding to the bills claim that because al-Qaeda leaders follow the Brotherhood this means the group targets the United States; and fifth, accusations that the Brotherhood committed violent crimes against the Egyptian government in 2015. In the first section, the document relies on historical narratives to address the reasons the Brotherhood was labeled a terror group in each of the countries listed. For example, in Russia the issue was attributed to the Brotherhoods support for Muslims of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Serbian war in the mid-1990s. In the UAE and Saudi Arabia, it argues the group was targeted due to the Arab Spring revolts and fears that the revolution would be exported there. For Egypt and Syria, it refers to the former coups in those countries and the Brotherhoods opposition to the regimes that emerged from the coups. In the second section, the document stresses the legality of the establishment of the Muslim Brotherhood at the time, referring to the establishment of other Islamic and Christian associations. It notes that the group is not the only one with a religious background formed in the 1920s. While it claims the establishment of branches outside Egypt has been legal, it does not go into details in this regard. The third section, focusing on the concept of jihad, is the longest section of the documents first part. The main idea of this section is that the Brotherhoods concept of jihad does not depart from the conventional concept of war and the right of legitimate defense based on international humanitarian law and the United Nations Charter. It notes that Banna formulated the concept of constitutional jihad, i.e., confronting autocratic rulers with peaceful and legal methods, whereby elections are the path to change. It is worth noting in this regard that the document says there are groups comprising the Brotherhood, therefore it is not a standalone organization. It is not a single organization, but rather many organizations and groups in each state. They are linked by an intellectual and cultural framework, not a regulatory one. Each group is independent, depending on the circumstances of each country, the document notes. It adds that Brotherhood members are estimated to number tens of millions in sixty countries, including the United States. Cooperation with the mother group in Egypt happens in a general cultural-political framework that respects the independence of each state. The document bases its defense on the idea that the Brotherhood seeks a democratic environment, and that is the reason for fighting despotic Arab regimes. As for its relations with al-Qaeda, the document cites attacks made by al-Qaeda leaders such as Ayman al-Zawahri against the Brotherhood, also writing that the Islamic State has considered it an infidel group. The document claims these omissions are a deliberate concealment of facts by the Senate bills drafters. In the fifth and final section of the first part of the document, the Brotherhood denies that it committed the violence attributed it, claiming instead that the current Egyptian regime has committed crimes against the group and its members. It recounts a number of incidents, foremost what took place at Rabia al-Adawiya Square and Fatah Mosque in August 2013. It concludes with the groups vision on elections, the constitution and the law. The document clearly refers to the so-called Nedaa Kenana Statement that emerged in the summer of 2015 and was a source of great controversy and concern among Western circles about the future of the group. The Brotherhood defends this statement, saying that it spoke of the right to legitimate defense and was reviewed by religious scholars in nearly 20 countries it also says it was not aimed at calling for violence. The second part of the document, titled Peacefulness in the thought and behavior of the Muslim Brotherhood, addresses similar issues to the first part, but goes deeper into the groups history to explain how the Brotherhood has dealt with other religious communities. It clarifies the groups position on the Egyptian regime in the mid-20th century, quoting the speeches of Brotherhood founder Banna, and addresses its position on the Sept. 11 attacks. The document then responds to what it calls individual incidents in its history, such as the killing of Mahmoud El Nokrashy Pasha by young Brotherhood members in the 1940s. This part of the document addresses what happened in Egypt since the January 25 Revolution until last year, discussing arrests, forced disappearances and torture, in addition to other matters the group considers violations against the Egyptian opposition. The document claims that Congress or the US government supporting the Egyptian regime would threaten US national security, saying that authoritarian regimes manufacture terrorism that threatens America. The Muslim Brotherhood concludes the document by saying it remains the strongest [group] on the Egyptian political scene, and is still capable of engaging in any democratic political competition despite all the deadly blows it receives. The group will soon return to the scene, it notes. This document reveals the large role played by the historical Brotherhood leaders and shows that the group, as represented by this stream, is ready to return to work in the Egyptian political arena once it has the opportunity to do so. It also shows the Brotherhood is still counting on major powers to support this return. One major question will be raised through Sisis visit: Which side will be able to best convince the US administration, decision-makers and politicians? And can Egypt succeed in having the Brotherhood in Egypt classified as a terror group if it is not able to get the worldwide group as a whole labeled as such? The coming days might reveal the answers, as the conflict between the two sides continues in the political corridors of Washington. Editors note: Quotations from the Brotherhood document have been translated by Al-Monitor from the original Arabic version. April 3, 2017 While Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi received the red carpet treatment for his White House debut April 3, the mood was markedly cooler at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. The top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., introduced a bipartisan resolution along with four other members that takes the former military chief to task for his intolerance of dissent. The resolution notably puts Egypt on notice that US economic and military aid will remain tied to progress on meaningful political reform, human rights and fundamental freedoms. The United States should support Egypt as it addresses security threats and economic growth. However, genuine reform and the opening of space for peaceful political dissent and civil society activity is integral to Egypts stability and security, Cardin said in a statement. We cant stay silent, in Egypt or elsewhere, when crackdowns on the media, civil society and political opponents take place. Simultaneously, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations panel on the Middle East, wrote a letter to President Donald Trump asking him to raise the arrest of Egyptian-American Aya Hijazi with Sisi. Hijazi, the head of a nongovernmental organization (NGO) that took care of street children, has been imprisoned since May 2014 amid a crackdown on civil society. Egypts security, stability and economic recovery will be jeopardized without improvements in human rights, fundamental freedoms, and space for civil society, Kaine wrote. We are concerned that Egyptian authorities continue to use the facade of combatting terrorism to shut down NGOs, target media, and silence and imprison thousands of peaceful political activists. Six senators signed Kaines letter, including Republican Marco Rubio of Florida and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the top Democrat on the Senate panel that controls foreign aid spending. Leahy helped write current restrictions on aid to Egypt and may be able to count on support from his Republican counterpart, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a sharp critic of new restrictions on NGOs that the Egyptian parliament approved late last year. Closing crucial channels for peaceful expression and association and the delivery of much-needed food and health services will only exacerbate Egypts problems and threaten long-term stability, Graham wrote in a Dec. 1 statement with Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz. Should President Sisi sign into law this draconian legislation, we will endeavor to strengthen democratic benchmarks and human rights conditions on US assistance for Egypt in fiscal years 2017 and 2018. The statements contrast sharply with the messaging from the Trump administration, which is seeking a reset with Sisi after President Barack Obama kept his distance following the 2013 military intervention against the democratically elected Mohammed Morsi. You have a great friend and ally in the US and me, Trump told Sisi. The Egyptian leader in turn assured his host of his deep appreciation and admiration of your unique personality. Any potential discussion of unpleasant topics such as reports of widespread extrajudicial killings and political imprisonment would be raised in a "private, more discreet way," a senior Trump administration official assured reporters ahead of Sisis visit. "We believe it's the most effective way to advance those issues to a favorable outcome," the official said. Ironically, the congressional pushback is being reinforced by some of Sisis own putative allies. The nonprofit Coptic Solidarity in particular has been lobbying lawmakers and the State Department ahead of the presidents visit to continue tying foreign aid to progress on human rights. Mr. al-Sisi will likely present a whitewashed image of Egypt during his visit, Coptic Solidarity said in a statement ahead of the presidents visit. Yet he has overseen a large-scale crackdown on civil liberties. Copts and other religious minorities, the media and human rights advocates are experiencing oppression unseen even under the Mubarak dictatorship. The warning is especially notable from a group that shares Cairos goal of seeing the United States designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group because of its members inflammatory rhetoric. Many of Coptic Solidaritys US members are first-generation immigrants who fled Egypt when President Anwar Sadat traded Saudi largesse for Wahhabi influence, said director of development and advocacy Lindsay Vessey, and they fear the same cycle repeating itself. Vessey acknowledged that Sisi had made positive overtures to the Coptic community, such as visiting Christmas masses and calling for a religious revolution in a speech at Al-Azhar University. But she noted that violent attacks against Copts are on the rise along with blasphemy convictions and forced conversions of minors. The message that we want everyone to know is that we are for a strong, stable Egypt, Vessey told Al-Monitor. Were against the persecutions and the discrimination. April 3, 2017 About 25 miles north of Egypts southern governorate of Aswan, dozens of workers are racing against time to complete the North African countrys largest and first-of-its-kind grid-connected solar power park. The $3.5 billion project, which is located in Aswans village of Benban, consists of 41 solar power plants with a total capacity of 1.8 gigawatts. The project began in 2015 and will be completed by 2018. With the completion of this project, Aswan will become the countrys solar energy capital and will constitute a new energy basket in the Middle East region, said Mohamed el-Husseini, the head of the Investment Unit in Aswan governorate and one of the supervisors of the project. Husseini added that the project is expected to be one of the largest solar generation facilities in the world and would make a dramatic turnaround in the field of renewable energy in Egypt. The Benban project will transform the countrys energy sector, fulfill energy self-sufficiency and solve Egypts power crunch for good, Husseini told Al-Monitor. The Benban solar development complex is built on an area of 14.4 square miles that was dedicated to the state-run New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) in accordance with a decree issued by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in 2014. The NREA divided the site into 41 separate plots and made them available to developers and companies to carry out individual projects. Prior to construction, the NREA signed long-term usufruct agreements lasting for 25 years with the project companies. The 41 projects on the Benban site will be connected to the Egyptian high-voltage network through four new substations, which have already been established by the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company. These substations will be connected to an existing 220-kilovolt line that passes near the Benban site at a distance of approximately 7.5 miles. Once the project is completed, the energy generated from the solar power plants will be directly connected to the national grid and then distributed across the country. Officials estimate the projects generated power to equal 90% of the electricity generated by Egypts high dam. Aswan's governor, Maj. Gen. Magdy Hegazi, said that Aswan has been chosen to host such a giant project due to its perfect solar location. With between 9 and 11 hours of sunshine per day and high temperatures reaching up to 55 Celsius degrees [131 F], Aswan offers excellent conditions for solar energy, the governor said. Hegazi added that the giant project would create 20,000 job opportunities over the four-year period of construction and would provide 6,000 permanent job opportunities once construction works are concluded. The government, Hegazi also noted, had agreed with companies operating in the project to give priority to the citys inhabitants for employment. Upper Egypt, which includes the city of Aswan, has the highest rates of unemployment and poverty in the country. According to a 2013 poverty indicator report released by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, Aswan ranked seventh in poverty in Upper Egypt with about 39% of its inhabitants living in poor conditions. We have also set up a committee to ensure that the majority of the projects workers are from the people of Aswan, the governor said. A total of 39 local and international developers have been selected by the Egyptian government to start solar power plants in the area. The companies were chosen after they had met the first round of the governments feed-in tariff requirements and strict deadlines. On March 8, Egyptian company Infinity Solar and German-based companies ib vogt GmbH and Solizer GmbH & Co. KG announced that they secured a 64.1 megawatt peak (MWp) solar power plant project in Benban. According to a statement from ib vogt GmbH, The Infinity 50 Solar Park will comprise a 64.1 MWp solar array over an area of 98.6 hectares with almost 200,000 solar panels mounted on a state-of-the-art horizontal tracking system. Once operational, the plant is expected to produce over 110,000 MWh [megawatt hours] per year, equivalent to the electricity required to power almost 69,000 homes, while preventing over 1,293,000 trillion of CO2 emissions in the course of its 25-year lifetime. The statement quotes Anton Milner, managing director of ib vogt GmbH, as saying, "We are very pleased to have secured this project and to have been one of the very few consortia able to successfully qualify for the landmark Egyptian round one program." For years, Egypt has invested billions to accelerate the modernization and expansion of its power plant capacity and networks. Also, the country has recently been focusing on the expansion of renewable energy projects in order to meet increasing power demand, diversify the national energy mix and improve the environmental and climate footprint of the power sector. To fulfill such goals, Egypt has initiated a program offering feed-in tariffs for wind or solar projects up to 50-megawatt (MW) capacity with an initial aim of securing 2,000 MW of wind capacity, 2,000 MW of solar capacity from installations greater than 500 kilowatts (kW) and a further 300 MW of solar capacity from installations below 500 kW. The government has rolled out this scheme with the aim of securing 20% of its energy generation from renewable sources by 2022. Under this scheme, state-owned transmission system operator Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company offers a long-term power purchase agreement with a price guarantee for 20 years (for wind) and 25 years (for solar). The NREA makes available, according to the program, multiple plots of land for usufruct arrangement, and each individual plant is expected to have its own contractual arrangements and be designed, developed, financed, constructed and operated as a standalone project. The sun is Egypts best safe haven amid lack of energy supply, said Hani el-Nokrashy, a solar energy expert. The country has to exploit to the maximum this privilege and use it to generate electricity and solve its power crisis, the expert added. Nokrashy also said that Egypt can then start to export solar energy to world countries and make huge revenues that give a push to the national economy. This abandoned treasure has to finally be made use of, he added. April 3, 2017 With less than two weeks left before a critical referendum on switching Turkeys parliamentary system to a presidential one, the gloves are coming off and a former president is being dragged into the ring. Abdullah Gul, a founding member of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) who stepped down as president in 2014 after serving a single seven-year term, has come under fire for refusing to speak up in favor of the measure that would concentrate power in his successor Recep Tayyip Erdogans hands. The controversy erupted when Gul declined to take part in an April 1 campaign rally in his native Kayseri, where Erdogan was due to speak. Erdogan decided not to go either, leaving Prime Minister Binali Yildirim to address the crowd. Gul cited his decision not to participate in any political events as the reason for his absence, but Erdogans allies were not satisfied. The 'no' voter failed to surprise, noted Duvardibi TV, a news portal whose main purpose seems to be to discredit Erdogans enemies, perceived or real. Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the far-right Nationalist Action Party who is backing Erdogan, joined the chorus of rebukes. He suggested that Gul had displayed ingratitude to his former boss. When Gul campaigned to become president in 2007, Erdogan had joined him in Kayseri. Gul should have returned the favor and gone to Kayseri to support Erdogan, Bahceli observed. Not everyone agreed. Abdullah Gul is a prestigious figure who led Turkey when it was closest to democracy. Full stop! tweeted Asli Aydintasbas, a prominent Turkish columnist and fellow at the European Center for Reform. As two-term foreign minister, Gul was seen as the driving force behind Turkeys bid to join the European Union and the architect of many of the democratic reforms that prompted the EU to open full membership talks with Ankara in 2005. Gul is also widely credited with being a moderating influence over Erdogan when the latter was prime minister. His consensus-seeking style drew a sharp contrast with Erdogans street brawling machismo, but together they formed a winning team. The accepted wisdom is that Guls departure from politics allowed Erdogan to indulge his worst instincts and Turkey has paid a heavy price. By the same logic, Guls return could prove to be Turkeys salvation, as many hoped he would take over as prime minister and chairman of the AKP when Erdogan became president. But scenting a threat to his authority, Erdogan saw to it that he was pushed aside, and Gul did not put up a fight. The steely determination that drove Gul to break ranks with the founder of Turkeys Islamist movement, Necmettin Erbakan, in 1998 and to steer fellow moderates toward the soon-to-be-formed AKP appeared to have deserted him. When Erdogan began cracking down on opponents in the wake of the Gezi Park protests that engulfed the country in 2013, Gul made little effort to stop him. And in 2014, Gul found himself signing a draconian law that allowed authorities to effectively censor the internet without judicial review. Guls silence some call it complicity was attributed to fears of provoking Erdogan and risking his plans to switch jobs with him. Whatever the reasons, Gul has said little about the steady reversal of all the reforms he so lovingly put into place. The growing consensus is that Gul has become irrelevant. But Erdogan clearly does not think so. Why else would he seek his support? And why do pro-Erdogan commentators relentlessly attack him with such outlandish claims as Gul being in league with Fethullah Gulen, the Pennsylvania-based imam blamed for helping orchestrate the failed July coup? Gul is one of the few figures the AKP base would likely gravitate toward should Erdogan lose his iron grip. A split seems unlikely, but there is growing worry within the AKP ranks over Erdogans increasingly authoritarian turn. Perhaps more critically, there is frustration over a perceived unfair division of spoils, with Erdogans tight circle of fellow Black Sea natives allegedly benefitting the most. Gerald MacLean, a British academic who wrote a recent biography on Gul, noted that the former president is a patient man and people from Kayseri are renowned for their wiles. Gul may well be playing the long game. And as the Turkish adage goes, The dervish who is patient attains his goal. April 3, 2017 Since the signing and implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), European businesses have shown great interest in re-entering Iran. Trade between Iran and the EU has already notably picked up. Last year, European exports to Iran amounted to 8.3 billion euros ($8.9 billion), approximately 28% higher than the year before. Meanwhile, European imports grew by some 345%, amounting to 5.5 billion euros ($5.8 billion) mostly driven by largely resumed oil shipments from Iran. But despite the uptick in trade, economic relations between Iran and the EU are still below pre-sanctions levels. In 2011, before the imposition of stringent nuclear-related sanctions including the previous EU oil embargo, EU exports to Iran amounted to more than 10 billion euros ($10.7 billion), while imports were as high as almost 18 billion euros ($19.2 billion). Europeans eager to return to Iran are facing two main obstacles. For one, huge challenges remain within Iran, including a poor regulatory environment and standards able to support international trade, insufficient managerial skills in many local companies, widespread corruption, and questions concerning the rule of law. European officials and business leaders also appear particularly worried by uncertainty regarding the future course of US policy. To decision-makers in Europe, the question of paramount concern is whether the administration of US President Donald Trump may go after European firms engaged in the Iranian economy. Before the signing of the nuclear deal in 2015, the administration of US President Barack Obama had applied sanctions against non-US individuals and entities commercially engaged with Iran. These secondary sanctions resulted in heavy fines for a series of banks and businesses from Europe. The US Department of Justice forced European banks to pay penalties of more than $15 billion for violating secondary sanctions. In light of these losses, many European firms are weighing their options before investing on a larger scale in the Iranian economy and thereby committing to dealing with the country for a longer period. Since his inauguration in January, Trump has not repeated his campaign rhetoric that his number-one priority is to dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran. But uncertainty over US policy toward Iran remains, especially as Washington has in the past few weeks and months already taken several steps against Tehran. In January, Rex Tillerson, then a nominee for secretary of state, announced his intention to conduct a full review of the nuclear deal during his Senate confirmation hearing. In February, Iran was put on notice by then-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who later resigned, while the White House introduced new sanctions in response to an Iranian missile test. Moreover, ahead of this years annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) meeting, held March 26-28, several US lawmakers announced further sanctions legislation targeting Iran over its ballistic missile program, human rights record and alleged support for terrorism, among other issues. These measures remain largely symbolic. The full review of the nuclear deal and putting Iran on notice have no legal consequences. The sanctions imposed by the White House are in line with JCPOA provisions, while Sen. Ben Cardin, a supporter of the congressional push for new sanctions, has stressed that the sanctions bills are consistent with the nuclear deal. Notably, addressing the AIPAC summit this year, Trump administration officials and senior leaders of the Republican Party did not bring up any steps against the nuclear deal. Vice President Mike Pence told the gathering, America will no longer tolerate Irans efforts to destabilize the region and jeopardize Israels security, and promised that Trump will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. However, Pence made no reference to the nuclear deal. Meanwhile, House Speaker Paul Ryan described the JCPOA as an unmitigated disaster and discussed potential new sanctions against Iranian airlines and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Yet with regard to the nuclear accord, Ryan merely vowed to tighten the screws on Iranian compliance and rigorously enforce this deal. These statements are in line with Trumps earlier stated commitment to rigorously enforcing the JCPOA. As such, for the time being, it does not appear that the United States intends to unilaterally cease to comply with the nuclear deal. Thus, it can be reasonably assumed that the United States is unlikely to apply secondary sanctions on European firms and other businesses that wish to engage in economic exchanges with Iran green-lighted by the JCPOA. These removed restrictions include several banking, insurance, energy and other sanctions, which were waived and/or terminated with the implementation of the JCPOA. The first litmus test in this regard will be the extension of sanctions waivers by the Trump administration in May, a key US obligation under the JCPOA. However, beyond the likely extension of these waivers, future US policy toward Iran remains unclear. From a strategic point of view, both a unilateral US abrogation of the JCPOA and a re-imposition of previous non-nuclear sanctions carry potentially significant political costs. Considering their commitment to the nuclear deal as well as their own commercial interests, major US allies including JCPOA signatories such as France and Germany would certainly not see such measures positively, as long as Iran abides by the nuclear deal. But in light of the Trump administrations warmer relations with Israel and Saudi Arabia as well as Washingtons perception of Iran as a major problem in the region, a tougher stance by Washington can be expected. As a consequence, while the Trump administration appears interested in continuing to implement the JCPOA, the overall momentum of Iran-US relations has already shifted toward the more confrontational. This leaves European officials and business leaders in a difficult position. Politically, European leaders strongly advocated for the JCPOA, with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini stressing that there should be no doubt that the EU stands firmly by the deal. With the change in Washington, Tehran has also begun to more greatly appreciate the importance of the EU in preserving the JCPOA. However, it should not be forgotten that Europes means to enforce the nuclear deal should relations between Tehran and Washington further deteriorate are rather limited. As such, economic exchanges between Iran and the EU can be characterized as having entered a wait-and-see mode. At the minimum, European business leaders will want to be certain about the ongoing US commitment to the JCPOA. As the Trump administrations approach to Iran is only beginning to take shape, both in terms of staffing and policy, the wait-and-see stage will likely prevail at least until May, if not longer. April 3, 2017 Iranian officials announced that registration for the May 19 presidential election will start April 11. Ali Asghar Ahmadi, the head of the election center at Irans Interior Ministry, stated April 3 that the presidential candidates will have the opportunity to register for the election from April 11-15. Soon after the end of registration, the Guardian Council, which is tasked with vetting the candidates, will study the candidates political backgrounds and announce whether they are eligible to run in the election. In the 2013 presidential election, the Guardian Council unexpectedly disapproved of the candidacy of Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who had twice before served as president of Iran. The disqualification prompted criticism from moderates and Reformists. Currently, none of the likely presidential candidates have announced their decision to run. Moderates and Reformists have formed a coalition and announced that their sole candidate is incumbent President Hassan Rouhani. However, Rouhani himself hasnt said a word about his decision, though his entourage has said he will surely run for president. In the opposing conservative camp, the hard-liners' goal is to reach consensus on a single candidate. The possible conservative candidates are as follows: Ebrahim Raisi, the custodian of the holy shrine of Shiite Imam Reza; Saeed Jalili, the former chief of Irans nuclear negotiations team; Mohsen Rezai, the former chief commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps; Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the mayor of Tehran; Rostam Ghasemi, the former oil minister under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; and Ezzatollah Zarghami, the former head of Irans state TV. However, hard-liners under the leadership of Ayatollah Taghi Mesbah Yazdi are more inclined to see Raisi as the only candidate of conservatives. They have already started campaigns to pressure other possible candidates to withdraw in favor of Raisi. Although Raisi himself hasnt spoken about his candidacy, sources close to him have said he will announce his final decision April 6. His decision might be tied to the conservatives April 5 coalition summit, when they will declare their five candidates. Based on this mechanism, the four other candidates will withdraw in favor of the one who has the greatest chance of victory. Despite this, some news reports allege that certain candidates, like Jalili, don't want to leave the race in favor of a single conservative candidate, which might be Raisi. Moreover, former hard-line President Ahmadinejad, who was advised by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei not to run in the election, has encouraged his former vice president, Hamid Baghaei, to nominate himself. Ahmadinejad has increasingly tried to distance himself from the conservatives to attract the grey voters. It is noteworthy that the segments of Iranian society that aren't amenable to conservative views do not usually vote, but when they do, they have changed election results, like the 2013 presidential election that led to Rouhanis victory. Without naming Raisi, who is a member of the Guardian Councils monitoring committee, Ahmadi, the head of the election center at Irans Interior Ministry, said that all individuals who have a direct role in the presidential election must resign before registering their candidacy. Meanwhile, on April 3, Irans Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri warned the media about publishing false reports and insulting the candidates during the election. Montazeri said he has ordered prosecutors across the country to monitor cyberspace second by second. In Iran, news websites and channels are very popular and have majorly impacted the results of recent elections. We are informing all the persons who intend to enter the race, and all the people who have activities in this arena, not to degrade and insult others and violate the law. And if they do, they shouldnt complain [about their] site [being] blocked, Montazeri said. April 3, 2017 Gaza is being inundated by a flood of demands for a violent response to the assassination of senior Hamas military leader Mazen Faqha. At the same time, a bitter argument is underway between the militant and pragmatic branches of Hamas over the implications of a retaliatory operation against Israel. Faqha, who was released from an Israeli prison as part of the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner-exchange deal, was responsible for setting up an operational infrastructure for Hamas in the West Bank. He was killed under mysterious circumstances March 23 near his home in Tel al-Hawa in northern Gaza. Hamas claims that a special Israeli unit infiltrated the Gaza Strip to assassinate Faqha. Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman addressed these accusations for the first time April 2, saying, Hamas is known for its internal assassinations. He then went on to recommend that Hamas conduct an internal investigation. Hamas is indeed investigating. Ever since the assassination, it has conducted a far-reaching manhunt in Gaza to search for suspects. The local Interior Ministry announced that Hamas security forces had taken into custody several people suspected of collaboration with Israel, and that they will soon be brought to trial for treason and assisting the enemy in wartime. Motivation among Hamas activists to respond to Faqha's assassination intensified after a March 27 video speech that Khaled Meshaal, the outgoing head of Hamas political bureau, delivered to a demonstration in Gaza's al-Katiba Square, in the presence of all of Hamas' political leadership. "The conflict with the occupier [Israel] remains open. The military and political leadership of Hamas is ready to meet the occupier's challenge," Meshaal said. Soon after the demonstration, Gaza was plastered with posters quoting Meshaal and promising retaliation. The leaders of the movement did not even hide what form the anticipated retaliation would take. In a sermon this weekend, Ismail Haniyeh, who is slated to take over for Meshaal as head of the political bureau, said, "Revenge for Faqha's assassination will not end by settling accounts with the people who carried out the killing. We will also reach the people who sent them." He went on to warn that the blood of Hamas activists is not cheap, and that there will be severe repercussions for the assassination. Haniyeh was hinting at something that a Hamas video distributed via social networks said openly. The movement would avenge itself in an action targeting the heads of Israel's security establishment, depicting them in crosshairs in the video. These included Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot, Mossad director Yossi Cohen, Shin Bet director Nadav Argaman, former head of military intelligence Aviv Kochavi and Oz Brigade Commander Col. David Zini. Another web video listed Israeli targets overseas, including ambassadors. A senior Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officer told Al-Monitor on the condition of anonymity that Meshaal's comments have sent Hamas into a dizzying spiral, which could result in another round of violence. These calls for a response and the "challenge" posed by Meshaal have led to a debate between the various factions, and it is not clear how it will end. According to the IDF officer, senior members of the group indeed tried to act with discretion immediately after the assassination to put things in the proper perspective even without abandoning the possibility of retaliatory action. But ever since the speeches by Meshaal and Haniyeh, "Hamas is rushing down a slope, which could end in disaster as far as they are concerned." Al-Monitor has learned that there has been a bitter debate within Hamas over the last week, pitting the movement's hawkish and pragmatic wings against each other. The question is what the implications will be for Gaza in general and Hamas in particular if the military wing does launch a retaliatory operation in response to the assassination. Top activists may boast that they can strike at the leadership of Israel's security establishment, but the fact is that if they really plan to meet Meshaal's challenge, they wont be able to do it directly from the Gaza Strip. Instead, they will probably have to use the same terrorist infrastructures that Faqha established in the West Bank and launch the operation from there. This is not the first time that members of the pragmatic wing of Hamas have claimed that Meshaal, who does not live in Gaza, has issued orders to activists in the Hamas military wing without having to deal with the cost or any other implications that these orders might have on Gaza. One Hamas member told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that Meshaal got Gaza entangled in a war with Israel before. The Hamas member mentioned Operation Cast Lead (December 2008-January 2009), which took place while the political leadership of Hamas was based in Damascus. Meshaal prodded the military wing to embark on a conflict, which ended with hundreds of casualties and thousands more wounded, while delivering a severe blow to Gaza's infrastructure. A few weeks after that bloody conflict, senior Hamas members Ghazi Hamad and Ahmed Yousef traveled to Syria to blame Meshaal and the other members of the political bureau for the consequences of that war. These two leaders of the pragmatic wing of Hamas told the political bureau explicitly that it had brought disaster on the movement. Once again, the leaders of the pragmatic wing of Hamas have serious criticism of Meshaal, but it is limited to carefully worded remarks during internal discussions among the movement's leadership. They warn that if Hamas trades discretion for an especially violent attack, all of its most recent efforts to achieve reconciliation with Egypt, such as quiet along the border crossings, would be lost. The Israeli security source also said, "Now that Meshaal is about to complete his term as head of the Hamas political bureau, he doesnt care about leaving a trail of chaos in Gaza, since he will not have to bear the cost." According to him, now that he is about to leave office, the Hamas leader stands to benefit from another round of violence in Gaza. It would be considered the grand finale of his term, while his successor would be left to deal with the consequences. April 3, 2017 Leave it to the Jordanians to put up a good show. Jordan is second to none when it comes to pomp and ceremony, adhering to protocol, exhibiting discipline and providing the perfect stage for the annual ritual. The 28th Arab League Summit on March 29 in the Dead Sea region, attended by heads of state, in addition to prime ministers and special representatives, was almost flawless. But it was also overwhelmingly ceremonial and banal. Seventeen resolutions, none of which was controversial, had already been approved by Arab foreign ministers two days before. It was no surprise that Arab leaders, representing the 22-strong Arab League, delivered speeches often punctuated by platitudes and worn-out cliches and approved the resolutions before they were scurried off to their planes perched on the tarmac of Ammans international airport. And then they were gone. Amman hailed the summit as a historic success. King Abdullah II appeared elated by the top-notch organization and the high-level attendance. Jordan had succeeded in imposing the agenda that it wanted: mainly reinstating the Palestinian issue as top and urgent priority, second only to the fight against extremism and terrorism. The final communique urged countries not to move their embassies to Jerusalem and condemned Israels unilateral measures in the Holy City and its expropriation of Palestinian lands. Amman was also successful in underlining the need to provide assistance to countries hosting Syrian refugees, Jordan being one of the biggest. Aside from this, Abdullah was able to facilitate a side meeting between Saudi monarch King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, ushering in a thaw in relations between the two countries. A trilateral meeting bringing Abdullah, Sisi and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas prepared the ground for the visits by the three leaders to Washington this month. Sisi met President Donald Trump on April 3 and Abdullah will meet him on April 5. With the Arab Summit reiterating its commitment to the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative and to a comprehensive settlement as a strategic choice, it is hoped that the three leaders will convey a united message to Trump on the need to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in accordance with the two-state solution. Israel did not comment on the summits denunciations of its actions and the peace offerings, but its reply came in the form of an announcement on March 30, one day after the Dead Sea meeting, to build a new settlement in the West Bank. As expected, there were no momentous resolutions by Arab leaders at the summit. Jordan was hoping to provide a platform that would offer the minimum common denominator for an accord on divisive issues such as Syria, Libya, Iraq and Iran. In that regard, it had succeeded to a certain extent as was reflected by the final communique. Bitter foes, like the leaders of Egypt and Qatar, attended the meeting, although Sisi walked out when Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani delivered his speech. There were awkward moments, like when Lebanese President Michel Aoun stumbled and fell face down on the stage as leaders huddled together for the ceremonial photo, or when cameras caught a few leaders napping during speeches. The final communique stressed the need for a political solution in Syria, based on UN resolutions and Geneva I principles, but avoided any mention of the future of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Jordan had rebuffed requests from Egypt, Algeria and Iraq to allow the Damascus government to be at the summit, but it also did not invite representatives of the Syrian opposition. The summit sent a positive message to Iraq and its government in the hope of swaying Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi away from Iranian influence. It called on the Iraqi government to initiate a political process that achieves national reconciliation and safeguards citizens rights without exclusion or discrimination. And on Libya, Jordan resisted pressures from various parties and allowed the head of the Government of National Accord, Fayez al-Sarraj, to fill Libyas seat at the summit. The final communique urged Libyan parties to solve their differences and achieve national reconciliation based on the Sukhairat agreement of December 2015. This was an important victory for the beleaguered Sarraj government, which is fending off physical and political attacks by local rivals and regional countries. Without naming Iran, Arab leaders condemned foreign interference in their internal affairs and attempts to stir up sectarian tensions. Such an ambiguous phrase was meant to satisfy both Saudi Arabia, which sees Tehran as a major regional threat, and members maintaining good ties with Iran such as Oman. There were calls for steps to be taken to implement previous resolutions on building economic integration, increasing inter-Arab trade and investments, and creating job opportunities for Arab youth. The leaders also reiterated their support for the Arab League and its institutions, but such calls are repeated at every summit meeting and little work is ever done to achieve any of these goals. Jordanians, along with other Arab citizens, now numbering over 300 million, have little faith in the 72-year-old Arab League and its crippled institutions. The majority believes the organization has become a reflection of Arab countries differences rather than their unity and commitment to common action. Attempts to restructure the Arab League, as a symbol of the Arab political order, have been met with failure. And when it comes to dealing with regional challenges, such as Arab-Israeli wars, the Palestinian issue, Iraqs invasion of Kuwait and the reverberations of the Arab Spring, the Arab League has repeatedly exhibited ineptitude. So it was no surprise that on social media Arabs mocked the fact that the Arab summit was being held in the lowest point on earth, and that efforts to resuscitate common Arab action are being done in the Dead Sea. April 3, 2017 QUNEITRA, Syria On March 19, an Israeli drone strike targeted and killed Yasser al-Sayed, a fighter with the little-known Golan Regiment, a faction within the pro-government National Defense Forces in Quneitra, in southern Syria. While the reasons behind the drone strike are still shrouded in mystery according to senior sources within the Golan Regiment, Sayed was a fighter with no particular rank it briefly shone a spotlight onto a group that is somewhat unique in both its creation and its location. The Golan Regiment came into existence in 2014; based in Quneitra province, it is the first pro-government armed group made up of former Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters. Following years of fighting against the Syrian army and its allies in one of the countrys most sensitive areas Israel on one side, the Syrian army and its Hezbollah and Iranian allies on the other dozens of FSA fighters sought amnesty from the government to then turn their weapons on those they previously fought alongside. Today, the National Defense Forces-linked Golan Regiment can be found fighting not just on the front lines in Quneitra and the Golan Heights, but also in Hama and Jobar in Damascus, fighting side by side with the very people they used to fight against. Standing behind his desk in the groups headquarters in Khan Arnabeh, Quneitra, Majid Hammoud cuts a formidable figure. In 2011, Hammoud, a soldier in the Syrian army, defected after consistently bad treatment by his superiors and the Syrian authorities. By the end of the year, he, along with his brother, had gathered several dozen men and other former army soldiers from his hometown and set up an opposition faction known as Liwa al-Mutasim, one of the numerous factions in the south that fell under the umbrella of the FSA. I was angry at the army and the police, he told Al-Monitor. My house was attacked by the authorities, and my brother, who was in the army at the time, was jailed for six months. He said, We gave everything for the army, and no one cared about us, no one took care of us thats why I defected. Many of those who joined him had the same issues with the security forces, while also swept up by the revolutionary mood that had taken the country. Ahmad Kabboul, a former FSA fighter and now member of the Golan Regiment, told Al-Monitor why he defected from the Syrian army in 2011. I was a soldier and I got injured in the leg while serving, he said. The army wouldnt allow me to get the wound checked out and I suffered. He said, At the same time I heard what Majid was doing so I decided to join him, adding that his superior officer in the army was the main reason behind his defection. As an opposition group, Liwa al-Mutasim operated in Jabata, Khan Arnabeh, Madinat al-Baath, Bir Ajam, Breika and the areas along the separation fence between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Liwa al-Mutasim formed a loose coalition with other FSA factions in the area, and together they began to gain control on the ground, taking over towns and villages along the border. But for Hammoud, there were question marks over some of the other opposition groups they were fighting alongside. Some groups wouldnt even fight, they would come to the battlefield after the clashes had ended, take pictures and videos next to destroyed buildings and tanks, and then send them back to their financiers in Jordan or the Gulf states in order to collect their paychecks, he said, referring to Alwiya al-Furqan, an Islamist group that operates in Quneitra. Others didnt seem to have a problem working with the Israelis. In one commander's meeting with an Israeli agent, he promised help with refugees, medical aid, fuel, food, ammunition and logistics. In return, the Israelis wanted the opposition to stay on the Syrian side of the fence and not point its weapons toward Israel, Hammoud noted. I was shocked. For us, working with Israel is a red line. Jordanian-backed Southern Front sources told Al-Monitor that no relations between its factions and Israel exist, dismissing the claims made by Hammoud. He is an opportunist and a liar, said one military source. He is a traitor and a regime agent. While the same sources do admit that Israeli aid both food and medical has made its way on a regular basis into opposition-controlled areas along the border, they deny it is through contact between their factions and Israel. Israel is operating in areas where Jabhat al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham are in control, not the Southern Front, the Southern Front source said. For Hammoud and the other former FSA fighters, it was a combination of factors that convinced them to switch sides. They pointed to the corruption within the opposition groups, the fact they were being ordered to carry out battles according to the whims of their foreign financiers and the idea that some groups had few qualms about working with Israel. It was at that point they decided to make contact with the government again. Toward the end of 2013, Hammoud got in touch with the mayor of Khan Arnabeh a relative of his asking to rejoin government-controlled areas. Following around eight months of negotiations between Hammoud and members of the security apparatus, dozens of fighters from Liwa al-Mutasim left opposition-controlled areas and handed themselves over to the government. Those who did not follow Hammoud merged with other opposition groups. Today, the Golan Regiment operates in one of the most sensitive areas in Syria. Israel has made it clear it considers anything related to the Syrian government in the area a threat to its border, including the presence of its allies, whether it is Hezbollah or localized pro-government militias such as the Golan Regiment. In addition, an array of opposition groups ranging from the Southern Front to more extremist elements such as Ahrar al-Sham and al-Qaeda-affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra are of serious concern for the residents within government-controlled areas. Jumping into an armored pickup, Hammoud and several of his fighters head toward an outpost belonging to the Golan Regiment. Hammoud pulls up to an abandoned, half-finished building site that has been refashioned and fortified into a military position. Sandbags and oil barrels line the floors, creating small windows just large enough for rocket-propelled guns to fit through. Suddenly, a barrage of explosions can be heard in the distance, close to the separation fence. The walkie-talkie crackles and a Golan fighter radios through, informing the fighters that armed groups have just hit residential buildings next to Khan Arnabeh. Immediately a handful of fighters disappear in pickups, and soon the dull thud of outgoing rockets can be heard. We are good at what we do and the army relies on us to stop the opposition from penetrating the front lines in Quneitra, precisely because some of our groups used to be with the opposition groups, said Mohammad Zeidan, a fighter who joined the Golan Regiment in 2014. Majid and the others know who they are personally, know how they think and how they fight. He added, This helps our fight against them." April 3, 2017 WASHINGTON Bonding over their common interest in fighting terrorism, US President Donald Trump warmly welcomed Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to the White House on April 3, pledging to focus on areas of cooperation rather than chide the repressive leader on human rights and political reform. We agree on so many things, Trump, relaxed and smiling, said at a brief photo session with Sisi on April 3. I just want to let everybody know, in case there was any doubt, that we are very much behind President al-Sisi. Hes done a fantastic job in a very difficult situation. We are very much behind Egypt and the people of Egypt. Sisi returned the admiration, praising Trumps strength and determination to fight terrorism, and expressing confidence in Trumps ability to achieve an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal that has eluded the last half dozen of Trumps predecessors. I have had a deep appreciation and admiration for your unique personality, especially as you are standing very strong in the counterterrorism field, Sisi, speaking through a translator, said. You will find Egypt and myself always beside you in bringing about an effective strategy in the counterterrorism effort. Referring to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, Sisi continued: You will find me supporting you very strongly and very earnestly in finding a solution to the problem of the century, and I am quite confident that you will be able to bring a solution to this issue. We will, Trump agreed. We will do that together. Egypt under Sisi is more repressive and economically distressed than ever, and efforts by the past two US administrations to urge reforms have failed and damaged US-Egyptian relations, said Egypt expert Eric Trager. Look, the Sisi government is certainly the most repressive in Egypts contemporary history, Trager said on a call with journalists hosted by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy on April 3. There are tens of thousands of Egyptians in prison right now, significant police brutality, significant restrictions on media. He continued, But the reason this is the case is because the government has seen itself as being in a kill or be killed struggle with the Muslim Brotherhood since the overthrow of Mohammed Morsi in July 2013. And it fears that any political opening could lead to the spark that produces its demise. Trager said, Now the question, of course, is, given that Egypt today is more repressive than it was six years ago and economically worse off, why has the Sisi government actually proven more durable than anything that followed [Hosni] Mubaraks ouster? And the answer is that the Egyptians have learned by and large over the last six years that uprisings tend to make things worse, not better. And so the mood within Egypt, despite the repressiveness and despite the economic hardship is one that is hoping that the Sisi government can get things right. Mideast expert Robert Satloff agreed that Sisi and Trump will bond over their common interests in fighting radical Islamist extremism and advancing a Middle East peace agreement. Trump is seeking validation from a Middle East leader for his approach to fighting terrorism, and Sisi is looking for reassurance from the American president that America accepts the Egyptian regime as it is, said Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East policy. I think the key area of overlap between President Sisi and President Trump really is their common focus on fighting radical Islamist extremism, Satloff said on his institutes press call April 3. For President Trump, President Sisi really will be the poster child for partnership with the United States in the battle against radical Islamic extremism. There really is not another leader of stature in a major Middle East country that rises to level of President Sisi. And I think on this issue, President Trump and President Sisi will be arm in arm. What does Egypt want from the United States? If you ask senior Egyptian leaders they would like President Trump to finally bury the stake in the heart of the conspiracy idea that America is conspiring to undermine the regime in Egypt, Satloff said. There is a common, popular idea in Egypt, fed by conspiracy-minded media, fed by elements of the government, that America, going back two administrations, has been out to undermine the Egyptian regime through NGOs, through democracy promotion, Satloff said. In the Egyptian mindset, they see this as some nefarious plot to undermine the regime. What [Egyptian leaders] want most of all is confirmation from President Trump that America embraces the Egyptian regime as it is, Satloff said. Yes, reforms are needed, yes, there is room for improvement. But at its fundamental, America embraces this regime and is putting an end to the idea of fundamental change. If they get that and they can walk arm in arm, president to president, that will be viewed as turning a page in the relationship and restoring a strategic partnership. Egypt also seeks economic assistance from the United States, which may be a harder ask during the Trump administration, which has pledged to cut foreign aid. Egypt wants assistance, but our cupboard is bare, Satloff said. It will be a tough sell even to maintain the same level of assistance. Trager said, Where the rubber will hit the road, is Sisi will likely ask for more economic aid and more military aid and I think this will be difficult for President Trump to meet. Ultimately, we are likely to see a relationship between Cairo and Washington that is more positive in terms of the optics and relationship between the two presidents, Trager said. But I dont think that we are going to see a substantial deepening of ties because, from Cairos viewpoint, so much of that is tied to the request for more aid. Critics of Sisis repressive regime and US policy toward Egypt say Trump has an opportunity to rethink what it is getting for its decades of support to the Egyptian government. Robert Kagan, a Brookings Institution scholar, and Michele Dunne, a former US diplomat with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, wrote in the Washington Post: The United States has a long record of blindly supporting whoever happens to hold the reins of power in Cairo. It has ignored their failings and looked the other way while they drove Egypt further into an economic and political ditch. Its time to get off autopilot, Kagan and Dunne, who co-chair the bipartisan Working Group on Egypt, continued. President Trump should ask some hard questions about what the United States has been getting for the $77 billion it has already spent. He might press Sisi to change his counterterrorism tactics to make them more effective and less repressive. He might insist that Sisi release arrested Americans and stop trashing the United States in the no-longer-free media. Asked if Trump raised human rights concerns behind closed doors with Sisi on April 3, the White House declined to say, although press secretary Sean Spicer alluded to candid discussions that included areas of concern as well as cooperation. The two presidents had an honest discussion focused on areas of cooperation, Spicer said at the White House press briefing. It was a candid dialogue during which they discussed both areas of cooperation and of concern. Human rights are always an issue of concern to the United States, and theyre first and foremost in our discussions, a senior administration official, speaking not for attribution, said in a White House background briefing March 31. Our approach is to handle these types of sensitive issues in a private, more discreet way. And we believe its the most effective way to advance those issues to a favorable outcome. April 3, 2017 DIYARBAKIR, Turkey Myriad allegations of rights violations in Turkish prisons have marked the aftermath of last years coup attempt as thousands of suspected putschists, political dissidents and journalists landed behind bars. In December, a senior UN official said torture seemed to have been widespread in the days after the coup attempt, while reports of ill-treatment have continued to date, including overcrowded wards and denial of medical care and sufficient food. The story of the overcoat of Cumhuriyet and Al-Monitor columnist Kadri Gursel detained in late October and still awaiting charges has made headlines both in the Turkish and foreign media. To help her husband keep warm, Gursels wife had to buy several coats before getting the right one as prison authorities rejected coats because of their color, hood or button shapes. Another prominent journalist, Ahmet Sik, was kept in solitary confinement and denied drinkable water for three days, according to his lawyer. Similar accounts are coming from lawyers and relatives across the country. In Diyarbakir, the largest city of the mainly Kurdish southeast, a man who has a brother in jail told Al-Monitor that the prison authorities barred visitors who wore green or navy clothes, supposedly to tell them apart from prison guards and soldiers. There was that visitor with a green shirt and they had him take it off and go see his relative half-naked in the middle of the winter. I myself was not allowed to wear a navy coat, the man said on condition of anonymity. Taking books to inmates is also a problem, he added. Inmates have complained of strip searches, arbitrary restrictions on the time they can spend in common areas, deliberate cuts of heating and hot water, applications to prison authorities left unanswered, bad and insufficient food, overpriced and out-of-date food at prison canteens, denial of treatment to those who fall sick of that very food and denial of medical care in general. On March 31, Sezgin Tanrikulu, a deputy for the main opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP), brought up a harrowing allegation about a pregnant woman who was detained in Ankara and left to deliver her baby alone in the police station. In a written parliamentary question to the prime minister, seen by Al-Monitor, he demanded information on reports that the woman gave birth alone, shouting and screaming in pain, without any doctor or nurse present and without even water to clean up, that people held in the adjacent room heard the screams that echoed in the police station throughout the night, that the police officers cared nothing and took the woman to a doctor only after she gave birth alone. The same day, another CHP deputy, Baris Yarkadas, drew attention to two other examples from what he said was an explosion of human rights violations in jails. Citing information from inmate families who had contacted him for help, Yarkadas said a prosecutor with both his wrists broken is held in solitary confinement in a jail near Ankara, with prison management ignoring requests to give him a cellmate who could help with his daily needs. In Istanbul, meanwhile, a woman has been incarcerated with her 8-month-old child, and the prison authorities refuse to accept even toys for the baby, he said. It was in this atmosphere that dozens of Kurdish inmates, charged or convicted for links with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), launched a hunger strike in six prisons across the country in February to protest oppression and unlawful practices by the prison authorities. Yet little seemed to change, and on March 30, top Kurdish politicians announced they were joining the hunger strike. Among them was Selahattin Demirtas, the co-chair of the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP), who has been behind bars since November, along with about a dozen other HDP members of parliament. In a joint statement from a high-security prison in the northwestern province of Edirne, Demirtas and HDP lawmaker Abdullah Zeydan said they were protesting the inhumane practices of the prison authorities and their complete lack of good intention to end the hunger strikes. This was the highest-profile outcry from the prisons so far, and it seemed to work surprisingly fast. The following day, Demirtas announced the hunger strike at the Edirne prison had ended after the prison administration agreed to engage in dialogue to resolve the problems. Yet the hunger strikes in other jails are continuing. The day the strike in the Edirne prison ended, inmates in a jail in Hatay announced they were launching one. About 85 prisoners in four jails remain on hunger strike. Ahmet Ozmen, the head of the Diyarbakir Bar Association, said political prisoners were the main victims of rights violations and urged the authorities to take steps to end the hunger strikes. He told Al-Monitor the prisons had become overcrowded in the massive crackdown after the coup attempt. Ankara has blamed the putsch on followers of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, calling them the Fethullah Gulen Terrorist Organization (FETO), but the crackdown has engulfed government opponents of all stripes. A prison for 750 people, for instance, is holding about 1,700 inmates. Up to eight people stay in cells for three or four inmates, with mattresses thrown on the floor or bunk beds crammed into tiny rooms, Ozmen said, adding that the most common complaints were limited availability of hot water and bad and too little food. He drew attention to a legislative decree issued by the government after the putsch, which requires a prison official to be present at FETO suspects meetings with their relatives and lawyers, in addition to audio and visual recordings of those meetings. Some prisons have extended the practice to all inmates, and cameras are now a standard fixture in their meeting rooms, Ozmen said. This amounts to an eradication of the right to defense, he lamented. The problem of overcrowding must be resolved in the shortest possible time, and the privacy of lawyer-client meetings must be ensured. April 3, 2017 Turkey is really feeling the heat as parties involved in the Syrian war deliberate the future of key cities once the Islamic State (IS) is forced out. For months now, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been citing Raqqa and Kurdish-controlled Manbij as Turkeys primary military and political targets in Syria. Turkey has been feverishly trying to persuade the United States to work with the Turkish army and the Free Syrian Army in the final thrust to Raqqa, instead of the Kurdish nationalist Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Syria and its military arm, the People's Protection Units (YPG). But developments aren't matching Turkeys expectations. There are strong indications that US President Donald Trump plans to work with the PYD/YPG. What then? How would Turkey perceive this and how would it be reflected in Turkish politics? Cengiz Tomar, a professor at the Middle East Research Institute of Marmara University, doesn't expect Turkey to stand idly by. If the Trump administration marches on to Raqqa with the PYD/YPG, as indicated now, it will be perceived as the clearest sign of the US intention to set up a secular Kurdish state subservient to it by slicing chunks of land from Turkey and Iran," Tomar told Al-Monitor. "It is likely that while the PYD/YPG are preoccupied with Raqqa, Turkey may well turn on to Manbij or Afrin to cleanse the PYD/YPG from these critical areas. Raqqa is a pivotal city that affects political balances and calculations. The city and its environs, with an estimated population of 800,000, have been in IS hands since January 2015, serving as the group's main military base and de facto capital in Syria. It appears IS leaders and their families settled there. It is also a key hub of roads. Because of its proximity to Iraq, IS is able to move its forces to Iraq and back easily. Raqqa naturally has been a vital target in the fight against IS. Former US President Barack Obama had made a deal with the PYD and the YPG, and despite Turkey's objections, the United States supplied the Kurds with heavy weapons. This situation has not changed under Trump. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), led by the YPG and supported by the international coalition, is advancing toward Raqqa and about to besiege the city. Nobody seems to know when the Syrian civil war will end or what a new Syria will look like, but there are signs of what is being discussed, or whispered. In northern Syria, Kurdish cantons are now accepted as a fact of life. Turkey opened a corridor to al-Bab through the Kurdish cantons, preventing them from linking to each other, at least for the time being. Apart from a few exceptions, western Syria is now mostly controlled by the Syrian regime, which is supported by Russia and Iran. The likelihood of IS being ousted from Raqqa is growing, and questions are being raised about the city: Who will control it after IS is expelled and what will the city's position be in the new Syrian structure? The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the PYD have never denied that they would like Raqqa under their control. Murat Karayilan, a senior PKK leader, confirmed the Kurdish movement's aspirations in Syria in an ANF News interview back in December. The rise of the Kurds in the Middle East cannot be stopped. South Kurdistan [the Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq] is about to declare independence. Today, Rojava [the Democratic Federal System of Northern Syria] and its SDF ally control 29% of the Syrian territory. Action against Raqqa is in progress. If they also take Raqqa, that will be 40%. Nobody can deny this," Karayilan said. A few days later, PYD co-chair Salih Muslim voiced the same goal in more diplomatic language when he said he hoped Raqqa would become part of the Kurdish systems of cantons established at Rojava. Muslim said Raqqa should be in "friendly hands" or the federal system in northern Syria, with numerous autonomous administrations, would be threatened. Don't forget that it was the Syrian Democratic Council (SDF's political wing), spearheaded by the PYD, that declared the Democratic Federal System of Northern Syria in December. Although this federation is not yet recognized by the Syrian regime, Russia or the United States, the PKK/PYD wants to secure a key role in Syria's restructuring. As to who will enter Raqqa and hold on to it, the Kurdish forces undeniably hold the upper hand. Of course, Turkey is strongly opposed to the PYD controlling Raqqa and expanding the Kurdish political sphere and legitimacy. Given the fluidity of international power balances, it's hard to predict whether Turkey will have an opportunity to take over the Kurdish areas. But Turkey obviously has such intentions. A Trump-PYD alliance would further complicate the sensitive policies Turkey is trying to harmonize with the United States and Russia. At the very least, US-Turkey relations would be further endangered. Finally, such a development would heighten Turkeys fears and concerns of being besieged and then split. Any existing contacts between the Turkish state and the Kurdish movement would be slammed shut, ruling out a new peace process. In turn, this would mean constriction of an already-shaky Turkish democracy. April 3, 2017 It took Naftali Bennett, HaBayit HaYehudi chairman and right-wing icon of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus government, almost three days before he issued his first hint of criticism about the decision to rein in construction in the settlements. On the evening of April 2, he tweeted, This was a missed strategic opportunity. Instead of laying out alternatives we were passive. Bennett was referring to what took place March 30, when the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet convened for an urgent meeting. It was close to midnight when the Cabinet made public its decision to establish a new West Bank settlement for the settlers evacuated from the Amona outpost. The decision made it into the weekend newspapers just before deadlines and was of historical significance: It will be the first new settlement established in 20 years. It was at 2 a.m., after the newspapers had closed, when another decision was made public: Construction in the settlements would be curbed, according to an outline drawn up by Netanyahu himself. New construction would be limited to built-up borders of existing settlements or adjacent to them. Netanyahu had requested the support of the ministers for the restriction, and the Cabinet authorized it unanimously. Even Bennett agreed, as did his fellow party member and justice minister, Ayelet Shaked. No, the decision is not the result of an agreement with the US administration. No such agreement has yet been reached. Contacts through President Donald Trumps people have not borne fruit, and the distances between the sides are not negligible. Anyone on the Israeli right who thought that Trumps election signaled the onset of the Messianic era was simply wrong. Thus, to pave the way for the establishment of a new settlement for the Amona evacuees, Netanyahu volunteered to declare a curtailment of construction in the outline he made public. Netanyahu had explained to the ministers that this was Trumps request, a request that ought to be fulfilled. According to an Israeli diplomatic source, wind of something Trump had said had reached Israel. When Trump's associates asked him what he would do if the Israelis and Palestinians failed to reach a peace deal, Trump said, according to the source, Then Ill do what I understand should be done. Netanyahu doesnt really want to find out the hard way what the president understands should be done. This strange turn of events, in which Israels most extreme right-wing government offers to limit West Bank settlement construction, is the tip of a giant iceberg of important events taking place under the radar. The bottom line is that Netanyahu clearly knows how challenging the coming year will be. It might be even more difficult than the bad old days he spent dueling with President Barack Obama. He knows that Trump is determined to deliver the ultimate deal. While Netanyahu officially expressed his support for a two-state solution in his famous 2009 Bar Ilan speech, he has no real faith in the process or any desire to carry out significant concessions to achieve that goal. Netanyahu would be willing to gamble all his pension money on zero chances for achieving an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. Therefore, Netanyahus game is to orchestrate the events of the coming year in such a way that the blowing up of diplomatic contacts between Israel and the Palestinians, and the sooner-or-later diplomatic dead end, will be the obvious fault of the Palestinians, not Israel. That is the whole story in a nutshell. Netanyahu knows he has no other option, assuming he will still be in power when it happens. Netanyahu has identified two basic problems in the Trump era that need to be addressed: The first is that, as opposed to Obama, who needed to be pushed into advancing a diplomatic process, Trump is the pusher. Obama was spurred into a process against his will by top advisers, including Rahm Emanuel and George Mitchell in his first term and by former Secretary of State John Kerry in his second term. Trump, however, is self-driven. He is the driving force behind the energies of his international negotiations representative, Jason Greenblatt. The new American president is full of motivation with everything connected to the Middle East and truly wants to put an end to the conflict, proving to the whole world that he is the ultimate deal maker. This problem leads to the second problem: With Obama, Netanyahu could say, No thank you, and remain alive. Both times that the peace process fell through under Obama, he registered disappointment and simply cut contact. It was only in his last days as president that Obama pushed the UN Security Council to adopt Resolution 2334, reaffirming the illegality of the settlements. If Netanyahu would have known that that would be the only price he would have to pay for running wild for almost a decade, he would have grabbed the deal with both hands. Trump, as opposed to Obama, does not live in the orderly world of checks and balances that usually govern American presidents with everything connected to Israel. Instead, the new president does what he feels like. He is not beholden to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. He does not fear the Jewish lobby. He is not susceptible to the sophisticated restraint systems that Israel created for American presidents in recent decades. Trump is unpredictable and aggressive, and Netanyahu will go to great lengths to placate him. Netanyahu wants to make sure that Israel wont be blamed for the inevitable dead end of any negotiations or explosion of the entire process. That is why the Cabinet hurried to close ranks with Netanyahu. First and foremost, a gesture of goodwill toward the president was in order. There is, however, a third problem. Netanyahu basically used two tactics in the Obama era: Wear them down and deny everything. At the time, Netanyahu was involved in multiple diplomatic contacts, sometimes even simultaneously for example, the secret London channel, the Kerry channel, the settlement construction freeze during the Mitchell-Hillary Clinton era. In all of them, Netanyahu retained some wiggle room through surefire denial. The Americans backed him up. Clinton can surely testify to the wear-them-down approach, as can Kerry. Netanyahu haggled over every inch of land, disputed every comma. He took his English-English dictionary to the discussions to examine the essence of every term in the most precise way. Netanyahu would agree and then retract his agreement; he would ponder and deliberate, weighing the pros and cons of every idea, and then change his mind. In short, he made the Americans sorry they had ever been born. All that is not possible in the Trump era, a highly placed Israeli Cabinet minister told Al-Monitor on the condition of anonymity. That is clear to Netanyahu, and its also clear to us. The presidents patience is limited, he wants to see results, he responds to events quickly and in unexpected ways. We all share a gloomy feeling that soon well come to miss Obama. movie theater.JPG How do you prefer watching new movies these days? In a theater or streaming from the comfort of your own home? (AL.com) The tension between Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and Alamo Drafthouse boss Tim League has recently led to an important discussion of whether or not Netflix is a threat to the theatrical movie experience. Frankly, we're long past "if" it's a threat. It's huffed and puffed plenty, and just about blown the house down. Yet Hollywood continues to churn out movies at its normal piece, relying on the theatrical distribution model for the time being, that is, until streaming becomes the primary method to watch basically everything -- even movies simultaneously released in theaters. Tim League, co-founder and CEO of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas, recently refuted Netflix CEO Reed Hastings' claims that the movie business hasn't innovated in the last 30 years. , in which he takes up for the theatrical experience, saying "Cinemas are in the business of offering an incredible, immersive experience that you simply cannot duplicate at home." League cites filmmakers' preference to have their work first seen on a big screen in a theater, instead of consuming via streaming service, what he calls "a less-than-ideal environment." He acknowledges that his industry hasn't show the vision and innovation as Netflix, but takes issue with Hastings' claim that the only thing theaters have on streaming is that "the popcorn tastes better, but that's about it." League makes plenty of solid points, defending his industry with the logic and romanticism you might expect. Seeing a film of any kind -- massive blockbuster or intimate indie -- in a dark and packed theater creates a unique and in-the-moment experience you absolutely cannot recreate in your living room. Despite the advances in screen and sound technology that continue to enhance our home viewing experiences, it will likely never match the picture size and sound quality you'll find in your local multiplex. But those technological advances will only keep making the choice that much more difficult, even for fervent film fans scared of seeing the theatrical tradition become novelty. League makes a strong case but fails to acknowledge the flaws in the current cinematic setup, namely that it's a risk every time you buy an (expensive) ticket that someone else could ruin your night out at the movies. Or, for that matter, you could ruin someone else's. People talk, sometimes quite loudly, at movies. They check their phones. Those phones that aren't silenced ring during pivotal parts of a given movie. You can't pause it for a bathroom break. Snacks cost boatloads of money at the concession stand. That isn't to say you aren't distracted at home. League makes that point clearly. "Our best and most talented, passionate filmmakers vehemently do not want their films to be viewed first and foremost on a phone, on the train to work, while checking email, while chopping vegetables for the evening meal, on mute with subtitles while rocking a baby to sleep, or while dozing off before bed," he writes, noting these habits often occur when folks stream content on Netflix. True enough, but at some point, we must decide which becomes the lesser of two evils, which is an unfortunate way to consider it. Regardless of what the filmmakers might want, the consumer will forever decide how they absorb the content. If that means binge-watching a show or pausing a film at a crucial moment only to come back several hours (or days) later, so be it. Everyone has their own preference of the ideal film-going experience. As someone who grew up seeing as many films as I could on a big screen -- back when it only cost $3.75 per matinee ticket -- I'll always love movie theaters. I'll go out of my way to see movies in that format, for better or worse. But even as an old school film fan, I can admit the prospect of streaming films in the comfort of my own home where I can control the environment and limit the distractions really excites me. For the movie podcast , we discussed this with Huntsville filmmaker , who adamantly stands with the theatrical experience. , and please share your thoughts in the comments below. Graphic by Ramsey Archibald/rarchibald@alcom; photos by Tamika Moore/tmoore@al.com and courtesy of SpringHouse, Cotton Row Restaurant, Acre and Chucks Fish By Bob Carlton Last year, we embarked on a fun but ambitious project: Find the best restaurant in every county in Alabama. Thats 67 counties, from Autauga to Winston and all the others in between. (We did say it was ambitious!) Our thought was, in each county, we would find the best restaurant to go with your family or your spouse or a group of friends to celebrate a big occasion, or just to get out and enjoy a great meal. In some counties, that might be a fancy, white-tablecloth restaurant, and in others, it may be something much more casual, like a barbecue joint or a meat-and-three. Continue reading to see what we found. And when you get to the end, well tell you more about how we came up with our list. PLEASE NOTE: Some restaurants on this list have closed since this story first published in April 2017. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Uncle Mick's Cajun Cuisine Autauga: Uncle Mick's Cajun Cuisine, Prattville Mickey Thompson opened Uncle Micks in downtown Prattville in 2009, and the cafeteria-style serving line features such classic Cajun dishes as crawfish etouffee, seafood gumbo, red beans and sausage, and alligator and sausage sauce piquante. Address: 136 West Main St., Prattville. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Fisher's Upstairs at Orange Beach Marina Baldwin: Fisher's Upstairs at Orange Beach Marina, Orange Beach Bill Briand, a New Orleans native and two-time James Beard Foundation Award semifinalist for best chef in the South, celebrates his Louisiana roots and his new Lower Alabama home at this casual but upscale Orange Beach restaurant that has become a favorite for locals and tourists alike. (Actually, Fishers is two restaurants in one space -- with the more laid-back Fishers Dockside down below and the more elegant Fishers Upstairs above.) The Fishers Upstairs dinner menu includes roasted Bon Secour oysters, braised pork cheeks, seared jumbo scallops and braised Mississippi rabbit with pappardelle pasta. Address: 27075 Marina Road, Orange Beach. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of River City Grill Barbour: River City Grill, Eufaula A casual lunch and dinner spot in historic downtown Eufaula, River City Grill offers a selection of chicken, steak, seafood and pasta dishes, including chicken Madeira, grilled ribeye and New Orleans redfish. Address: 209 East Broad St., Eufaula. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Bob Carlton | bcarlton@al.com Bibb: Sawmeal Restaurant, Brent The Sawmeal Restaurant has been keeping hungry people happy for as long as we can remember. The daily buffet features a smorgasbord of meats, vegetables and desserts, and theres an all-you-can-eat Saturday night seafood special with crab legs, shrimp, oysters and catfish. Address: 6880 Alabama Highway 5, Brent. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Charlie B's Restaurant Blount: Charlie B's Restaurant: Oneonta Charlie Bs Restaurant -- also known as Charlie Bs, the Lunch Place -- offers a rotating selection of meats and veggies that includes beef tips and rice, fried chicken livers, pork chops, turnip greens, stewed tomatoes, macaroni and cheese and hash brown casserole. Address: 300 Sixth St. South, Oneonta. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Hilltop Grill Bullock: The Hilltop Grill, Union Springs A Bullock County tradition since 1949, The Hilltop Grill -- or The Grill, as it is more commonly known to regulars -- is best known for its barbecue, but the menu also includes hamburgers, sandwiches and salads. Address: 18627 U.S. Highway 82, Union Springs. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Bates House of Turkey Butler: Bates House of Turkey, Greenville A favorite stop of beach-bound travelers headed south on I-65 -- as well as those headed north on their way home -- Bates House of Turkey has been around since 1970, when that stretch of the interstate between Montgomery and Mobile was finished. The menu features all turkey all the time, including a smoked turkey sandwich on a sesame-seed bun and an old-fashioned roasted turkey dinner with cornbread dressing and cranberry sauce. So dont go expecting to get a burger. Address: 1001 Fort Dale Road, Greenville. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Classic On Noble Calhoun: Classic On Noble, Anniston After running a successful catering business called Classic Catering, the husband-and-wife culinary team of David and Cathy Mashburn opened their Classic On Noble restaurant in downtown Annistons 123-year-old Levy and Clark building. The dinner menu features jumbo lump Maryland crab cakes, grilled Alaskan salmon and Classic On Nobles signature shrimp and grits. Address: 1024 Noble St., Anniston. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Milano's Grille Chambers: Milano's Grille, Valley Greek immigrant John Couscos opened his first restaurant in Athens, Tenn., in 1976, and the restaurant business eventually led him and his wife, Pam, to the small, Eastern Alabama town of Valley, where they opened Milanos Grille. The Italian- and Greek-inspired menu features Greek-style chicken, a gyro platter, house-made lasagna and veal parmesan, as well as house specialties such as fettuccine alfredo, Cajun chicken pasta and shrimp scampi. Address: 373 Fob James Drive, Valley. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Mountain Parkway Grill Cherokee: Mountain Parkway Grill, Leesburg Situated along Highway 68 between Collinsville and Leesburg, the Mountain Parkway Grill is a family-friendly restaurant with a menu that includes grilled steaks and chops, fried chicken and catfish, pulled pork barbecue and sliced brisket, as well as a childrens menu that includes chicken fingers and grilled cheese sandwiches. Open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays only. Address: 85 Overlook St., Sand Rock. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Bertolone Italian Cafe Chilton: Bertolone Italian Cafe, Clanton Bertolone Italian Cafe is a relatively new restaurant from Sonia Bertolone of Joes Italian Pizza, Pasta & Caffe in Alabaster. The menu is inspired by recipes passed down from Sonias late father, Giuseppi Joe Bertolone, who died in 2013, and it includes such classic Italian dishes as lasagna, eggplant parmigiana, fettuccine alfredo and spaghetti and meatballs. Address: 605 Second Ave. North, Clanton. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Ezell's Fish Camp Choctaw: Ezell's Fish Camp, Lavaca Commercial fisherman Charles Agnew Ezell Jr. opened Ezell's Fish Camp in a dogtrot cabin on the banks of the Tombigbee River in 1954, and more than 60 years later, folks near and far flock to the little town of Lavaca in Choctaw County for fried catfish and hush puppies. The down-home decor features picnic tables and ladder back chairs, with deer heads and big fish mounted on the walls and relaxing views of the river on the back porch. Address: 776 Ezell Road, Lavaca. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Big Mike's Steakhouse Clarke: Big Mike's Steakhouse, Thomasville Big Mike is Mike Cole, and he and his buddies Scott Powell and Caine Conway pooled their combined 30 years of restaurant experience to open Big Mikes Steakhouse in Thomasville almost four years ago. Last year, the Alabama Cattlemens Association took notice, selecting Big Mikes tender, juicy ribeye as the states best steak. But theres more to Big Mikes than just steak. The menu also includes teriyaki chicken, ahi tuna, crab legs and fried and grilled oysters. Address: 33215 U.S. Highway 43, Thomasville. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Cassinelli's Clay: Cassinelli's, Ashland Cassinellis is the place to go in Ashland to grab a Cuban sandwich, muffuletta, Reuben or a Philly cheesesteak, as well as their Italian dinner specials. Address: 83084 Alabama Highway 9, Ashland. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Marie's BBQ House Cleburne: Marie's BBQ House, Heflin A roadside stop just this side of the Georgia state line off I-20, Maries BBQ House is family-owned eatery thats more than just barbecue. The quick-serve menu also includes a fried chicken sandwich, a chicken salad croissant, a BLT and a prime rib sub, as well as a selection of salads. Address: 1414 Almon St., Heflin. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of The Rawls Coffee: The Rawls, Enterprise Located in the historic Rawls building in downtown Enterprise, The Rawls offers a regionally influenced and seasonally inspired dinner menu that includes such entrees as sauteed shrimp with organic grits and Conecuh Sausage, oven-roasted chicken with butternut squash and Brussels sprouts, and grilled Certified Angus ribeye with garlic mashed potatoes and sauteed greens. Executive chef and owner Bill Schleusner grew up in Birmingham, graduated from The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., and honed his cooking skills working for Birmingham chefs Frank Stitt at Bottega and Chris Hastings at Hot and Hot Fish Club before he and his wife, Daphne, opened The Rawls. Address: 116 South Main St., Enterprise. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of George's Steak Pit Colbert: George's Steak Pit, Sheffield A Sheffield staple for more than 60 years, Georges Steak Pit was founded in 1956 by original owners George and Vangie Vafinis, and their son, Frank Vafinis, has carried on the family tradition. An old-school steakhouse with candles and white tablecloths, Georges offers a selection of steaks, chops, chicken and fish, as well as appetizers such as fried calamari, Greek meatballs and oysters Rockefeller. The house favorite is Georges Special Ribeye, a 12-ounce, hand-cut steak that is grilled over hickory wood in Georges well-seasoned open pit. Address: 1206 South Jackson Highway, Sheffield. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Bob Carlton/bcarlton@al.com Conecuh: The Shrimp Basket, Evergreen In a town teeming with fast-food chains, The Shrimp Basket is one of a couple of the original location that opened in Gulf Shores in 1993. And for hungry beach-bound travelers, its a sure sign that youre getting close to the Gulf. The menu features steamed, fried, grilled and blackened shrimp, as well as raw oysters, fried crab claws and red beans and rice with Conecuh Country owns Conecuh Sausage. Address: 64 Liberty Park Place, Evergreen. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo by Joey McClure Coosa: The Landing at Parker Creek, Equality An open-air restaurant and bar on the northwestern shore of Lake Martin, The Landing at Parker Creek is a lazy-day-on-the-lake dining destination that is accessible by car or boat. The made-from-scratch menu feature smoked wings, chicken or pork nachos, shrimp salad and barbecue sandwiches, plates and ribs, as well as a house-ground burger, a brisket Reuben, a bone-in Duroc pork chop and a hand-cut ribeye steak. You might also recognize the owner -- former Birmingham television and radio sportscaster Herb Winches. The Landing at Parker Creek is open Thursdays through Sundays during the lake season, which runs from spring to early fall. It reopens this year on April 21. Address: Parker Creek Marina Road, Equality. For more information, go here. Read our story about the Landing at Parker Creek. Don't Edit Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Ofelia's Italian Restaurant Covington: Ofelia's Italian Restaurant, Andalusia A quaint, off-the-beaten-path restaurant, Ofelias is open for lunch and dinner, with a menu that features such traditional Italian dishes as baked lasagna, chicken parmesan and spaghetti and meatballs. Address: 401 River Falls St., Andalusia. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of It Don't Matter Family Restaurant Crenshaw: It Don't Matter Family Restaurant, Highland Home Located just south of Montgomery on U.S. 31, It Dont Matter Family Restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week, offering a Southern-style buffet that features fried chicken, chicken and dumplings, potato salad, squash casserole, fried okra and cornbread. Guests may also order from a menu that includes burgers, sandwiches and steaks. Address: 18700 U.S. Highway 331, Highland Home. For more information, go here. UPDATED at 10:12 a.m. CDT on Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2018, to correct address. Don't Edit Bob Carlton | bcarlton@al.com Cullman: Carlton's Italian Restaurant, Cullman Carlton Stafford first opened a pizza place on U.S. 31 in Cullman in 1972, and 18 years later, Stafford rebranded his pizza business as Carlton's Italian Restaurant. Carlton's moved several times before settling in its current location in downtown Cullman in 2007. The Blaylock family bought the restaurant in 2009 and continues to own and operate Carlton's. The restaurant is best known for its signature lasagna and its thin-crust pizzas, but the menu also features Maine lobster ravioli, fettuccine carbonara, Tuscan pasta and cheese manicotti, as well as a selection of sandwiches that includes a Philly cheesesteak, a meatball sandwich and pimento cheese with bacon. Save room for a slice of cinnamon roll cheesecake for dessert. Address: 208 Third Ave. SE, Cullman. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Hoppergrass Dale: Hoppergrass, Ozark Hoppergrass -- thats grasshopper backwards, in case you were wondering -- offers a meat-and-veggie buffet during the week at lunchtime and a larger dinner menu on the weekends. Customer favorites include catfish and cheese grits and banana pudding for dessert. Address: 129 East Ave. North, Ozark. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Bob Carlton | bcarlton@al.com Dallas: Tally-Ho Restaurant, Selma Tucked away in a residential neighborhood in the historic Civil War and Civil Rights battleground city of Selma, the Tally-Ho is one of those destination restaurants that you probably couldnt find without benefit of a GPS or a friendly resident to show you the way. Believed to date back as far as the 1940s, the Tally-Ho still has its original log cabin entrance, and favorites on the surf-and-turf menu included French onion soup, fried Gulf crab claws and chargrilled ribeye steak. Address: 509 Mangum Ave., Selma. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Wildflower Cafe DeKalb: Wildflower Cafe, Mentone This fun and funky little restaurant in tranquil downtown Mentone has a little something for everyone -- from carnivores to vegans. At lunchtime, youll find soups, salads, wraps, quiche and tomato pie, and the dinner menu features shrimp and grits, the Black n Blue prime rib, and grilled or blackened wild-caught salmon. Sides include garlic smashed potatoes, roasted butternut squash and sauteed vegetables. And, oh, those desserts -- triple-layer carrot cake, peanut butter pie and strawberry- and/or chocolate-covered crepes. Address: 6007 Alabama Highway 117, Mentone. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Our Place Cafe Elmore: Our Place Cafe, Wetumpka Open since 2001, Our Place Cafe offers a fine-dining experience in a quaint and casual small-town setting. The family-owned restaurant is housed in an old, two-story brick building, with dining available on both levels. The dinner menu includes New Orleans-style catfish filets, crab cakes, filet mignon and the restaurants signature Eggplant Delacroix, which is two fried eggplant medallions served over angel hair pasta and topped with sauteed shrimp and crab meat. Address: 809 Company St., Wetumpka. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Fire Steakhouse Escambia: Fire Steakhouse, Atmore If youre not the gambling type, youve likely driven right on by Atmores Wind Creek Casino & Hotel and youve never known that the property also includes an upscale steak and seafood restaurant thats just right for a casual night out or for a special occasion. Seafood selections include a one-pound Maine lobster tail, Cedar Plank Atlantic salmon and a seafood pot pie with lobster, shrimp, scallop, crab and salmon. Steaks include a filet mignon, ribeye and New York strip, as well as prime rib. One of executive chef Peter DAndreas signature dishes is the barbecue shrimp and grits with sauteed spinach, andouille sausage and butter sauce. Fire Steakhouse also has a location at Wind Creek in Wetumpka. Address: 303 Poarch Road, Atmore. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Kati Thai Cuisine Etowah: Kati Thai Cuisine, Gadsden Since opening six years ago, Kati Thai Cuisine has become the to-go Thai restaurant for diners in the Gadsden area and throughout eastern Alabama. The unassuming restaurant is near Noccalula Falls, and customers sing the praises of the drunken noodle, a rice noodle sauteed with onions, basil and a choice of tofu, chicken or pork in a spicy chili garlic sauce. The pineapple fried rice -- jasmine rice stir-fried with chicken, shrimp, onion, bell pepper, carrots, pineapple, raisins, cashews and curry powder is a popular chefs special. Address: 102 Eble St., Gadsden. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Ben Flanagan | bflanagan@al.com Fayette: Sam's Smoke House, Fayette After hed had enough of politics, former Fayette County commissioner Sam Henderson decided to hop from the skillet to the smoker, so to speak, and opened his Sams Smokehouse barbecue joint in the mid-1990s in a cement block and wood-frame building on Columbus Street in downtown Fayette. Sams is famous for its hickory-smoked chicken wings and ribs, the latter of which are served dry with an optional mustard-based sauce on the side. Address: 460 Columbus St., Fayette. Read our story about Sam's Smokehouse. Don't Edit Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Taylor's Restaurant Franklin: Taylor's Restaurant, Russellville Taylors Restaurant is a family owned and operated meat-and-three thats open weekdays for lunch and dinner. In addition to the daily specials, dinner plates include smoked chicken, barbecue, hamburger steak and catfish. Regulars rave about Dorothy Taylors made-from-scratch pies and cakes. Address: 808 Ronnie McDowell Ave., Russellville. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Jared Boyd | jboyd@al.com Geneva: Zack's Family Restaurant, Slocomb Zack's Family Restaurant in Slocomb is a sister restaurant of the Zack's in Dothan, which was recently named the winner of AL.com's statewide search for Alabama's Best Meat-and-Three. Although Zack's founders Zack and Dianne Whaley sold their Slocomb location to new owners last year, the menus are pretty much the same at both locations. Our Alabama's Best Meat-and-Three judges Haley Laurence and Jared Boyd raved about almost everything at Zack's, from the Southern hospitality to the country-fried steak. They were especially fond of the pear cobbler (pictured above), which is packed with so much gooey goodness that it's only available a couple of days a week. Address: 160 West Slocomb St., Slocomb. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Image courtesy of PB's BBQ Lounge/Southfork Restaurant Greene: PB's BBQ Lounge/Southfork Restaurant, Eutaw PBs BBQ & Lounge/Southfork Restaurant, theyre proud to say, is where the food you eat cant be beat, and the soul food menu includes not only pulled pork barbecue, ribs and chicken, but also chicken livers, catfish and fried pork chops. Address: 1085 County Road 208, Eutaw. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Birmingham News file | Frank Couch Hale: Pie Lab, Greensboro Befitting its name, Pie Lab began as a small-town social experiment when a group of fresh-out-of-college kids moved to the Black Belt and opened a pie shop in an old pool hall in the small town of Greensboro in hopes of bringing the community together over slices of pie. The college kids have grown up and moved on, but new owners Seaborn and Kelley Whatley have kept that vision alive, serving scrumptious pecan and lemon icebox pies, as well as lunch specials such as fried green tomato bacon panini and creamy tomato basil soup. Address: 1317 Main St., Greensboro. For more information, go here. The Pies That Bind: A Slice of Life in Alabama's Black Belt. Don't Edit Kelly Kazek | kkazek@al.com Henry: Huggin' Molly's, Abbeville Jimmy Rane, also known as the Yella Fella in those Great Southern Wood commercials, grew up in Abbeville, and he still has a nostalgic love for his hometown, much of which he has restored to look like it did when he a kid growing up here. That includes Huggin Mollys, a small-town diner and ice cream shop named after a larger-than-life local legend who, according to lore, hid in the shadows and jumped out and hugged her unsuspecting prey. One of the favorite dishes on the menu is Mr. Tonys Spaghetti, which is based on a secret family recipe passed down from Ranes late father, Anthony J. Rane. Address: 129 Kirkland St., Abbeville. For more information, go here. The witch legend behind Abbeville's Huggin' Molly's. Don't Edit Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Hunt's Seafood Restaurant & Oyster Bar Houston: Hunt's Seafood Restaurant & Oyster Bar, Dothan One of the oldest restaurants in Alabamas Wiregrass region, Hunts Seafood Restaurant & Oyster Bar started out in the 1960s as a three-stool oyster bar. Fifty or so years later, after several renovations and additions, it has grown into a full-service restaurant that seats about 200 guests. In addition to oysters, the menu features grouper, salmon, crab cakes and steaks. Address: 177 Campbellton Highway, Dothan. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of The Docks Jackson: The Docks, Scottsboro Part of Scottsboros Goose Pond Colony Resort, The Docks is a casual, family-friendly restaurant where guest may enjoy a view of the Tennessee River while they dine on seafood, steaks, chicken and burgers. In addition to the regular menu, nightly specials include prime rib, Alaskan snow crab leg and all-you-can-eat catfish. The restaurants signature dish is the shrimp and grits, made with jumbo Gulf shrimp, Falls Mill stone-ground grits and andouille sausage. Address: 1165 Ed Hembree Drive, Scottsboro. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Tamika Moore | tmoore@al.com Jefferson: Highlands Bar and Grill, Birmingham Inspired by the culinary masters of France but deeply rooted in chef-and-owner Frank Stitt's native Alabama, Highlands Bar and Grill has set the standard for fine-dining restaurants across the South since it opened in 1982. The number of distinguished Highlands alumni who have gone on to open restaurants of their own is almost as impressive as the list of accolades Stitt and his staff have accumulated over the past 35 years -- including being a James Beard Foundation Award finalist for the most outstanding restaurant in America for a record nine years in a row. Be sure to order the baked grits, a staple on the Highlands' menu, and save room for one of pastry chef Dolester Miles' delicious desserts. Miles, like server Goren Avery (pictured above), has been at Highlands since the restaurant opened, and she is a two-time James Beard finalist for the best pastry chef in America. Address: 2011 11th Ave. South, Birmingham. For more information, go here. Eight things to know about Highlands Bar and Grill. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of J's Country Squire Lamar: J's Country Squire, Sulligent Expect to be treated like family when you walk into Js Country Squire, where proprietor Jay Mixon and his friendly staff serve steak and catfish with all the trimmings baked potatoes, coleslaw and hushpuppies. Desserts include caramel pie, strawberry pie and hot fudge cake. Address: 4551 U.S. Highway 278, Sulligent. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Odette Lauderdale: Odette, Florence Florence native Celeste Pillow learned the ropes of the restaurant business while living in Manhattan before she came home to open Odette about four years ago on North Court Street, a couple of doors down from Florence fashion designer/innovator Billy Reid's clothing store. With its downtown ambiance and inspired menu, it's no wonder that Odette which Pillow named in honor of her paternal great-grandmother -- has fast become a favorite of Florence's creative crowd, from artists to musicians. Executive chef Josh Quick, who last year won the Alabama Seafood Cook-Off, puts a clever twist on the Southern food classics, including barbecue pork skins, deviled eggs with pimento cheese and bacon, cast-iron-seared pork loin and pork belly, and sauteed catfish with roasted root vegetables. Address: 120 North Court St., Florence. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Dot's Soul Food Restaurant Lawrence: Dot's Soul Food Restaurant, Hillsboro Dorothy Dot Williams has been sharing her love for cooking with her satisfied customers for more than 15 years. Her Dots Soul Food menu features all the Southern essentials, including fried chicken, catfish, meatloaf, chicken and dumplings, collard greens, candied yams, fried okra, steamed cabbage and macaroni-and-cheese. Address: 18152 Alabama Highway 20, Hillsboro. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Acre Lee: Acre, Auburn Acre executive chef David Bancroft, a two-time semifinalist for the James Beard Foundation Award for best chef in South, brings a fresh, modern approach to classic Southern dishes at this rustic but sophisticated farm-to-table restaurant in the heart of downtown Auburn. Acre has its own vegetable garden on site, and Bancroft sources his meats and seafood from local ranchers and Alabama fishermen. The Acre menu, which changes depending on what's available and in season, features starters such as crunchy oyster lettuce wraps with pickled peppers and fried green tomatoes with Gulf crab and pimento cheese, and entrees such as roasted Gulf snapper with creamed popped corn and collard green dumplings and crispy chicken breast with spring peas and heirloom carrots. Address: 210 East Glenn Ave., Auburn. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of LuVici's Limestone: LuVici's, Athens Located in a former warehouse in downtown Athens, LuVicis prides itself on its progressive Southern menu and its friendly, small-town hospitality. Executive chef Randy Missildine honed his culinary skills in Louisiana, where he got a crash course in Creole and Cajun cooking, and its reflected in his signature dish, the Bayou Skillet Chicken, which is a grilled chicken breast smothered with Creole cream sauce, andouille sausage and sauteed mushrooms. Its one of the Alabama Tourism Departments 100 Dishes to Eat in Alabama Before You Die. Address: 105 North Jefferson St., Athens. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Jake's Fish Camp Lowndes: Jake's Fish Camp, Lowndesboro An off-the-beaten-path treasure that overlooks the Pintlala Creek in rural Lowndes County, Jake's Fish Camp has been around since 1970. It's more of a beer joint and social club than a restaurant, but while you're shooting pool or throwing darts, the Jake's crew will be happy to serve you a cold beer or Coca-Cola and a burger or a barbecue, steak or hot ham-and-cheese sandwich. (No, there's not any fish on the menu.) Jake's Fish Camp is open weekends only, with live music on most of those nights. Address: 125 Jake's Landing Road, Lowndesboro. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Tiger Pause Cafe Macon: Tiger Pause Cafe, Tuskegee Located on Tuskegees downtown square, the Tiger Pause Cafe is about five minutes from Tuskegee University and named in honor of the schools Golden Tigers sports teams. Drop in for coffee or a smoothie, as well as sandwiches and the cafes popular hot dogs. Address: 117 Westside St., Tuskegee. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Cotton Row Madison: Cotton Row, Huntsville Cotton Row is the flagship restaurant of chef James Boyce's Boyce Restaurant Group, which also includes Huntsville's Commerce Kitchen and Pane e Vino Pizzeria and Galley and Garden in Birmingham. Boyce and his wife, Suzan, opened Cotton Row on the Courthouse Square downtown in 2008, transforming a three-story brick building that dates back to 1821 into one of Alabama's top dining destinations for new Southern cuisine. The seasonal menu is constantly changing, but favorites include the oven-roasted Gulf red snapper and the herb-crusted Colorado rack of lamb. For dessert, try the peanut butter and jelly in phyllo, which was recently one of the "Most Amazing Eats in Alabama" by the Food Network. Address: 100 Southside Square, Huntsville. For more information, go here. Three things Cotton Row chef James Boyce always keeps in his fridge. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of ruralswalabama.org Marengo: The Red Barn, Demopolis If you're traveling through Marengo County along U.S. 80, you can't miss The Red Barn because, well, it's a barn and it's bright red. Inside, the 60-some-odd-year-old barn looks like something out of the Old West, with creaky wooden floors and a wagon-wheel chandelier. The hearty menu features chicken wings, potato skins, fried pickles, pork chops, steaks and fried chicken, as well as seafood selections such as grilled salmon, fried oysters and fried, broiled or grilled shrimp. Address: 901 U.S. Highway 280, Demopolis. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Toll Gate Cafe Marion: Toll Gate Cafe, Hamilton Toll Gate Cafe is a tribute to the town of Hamiltons original name in 1821, when the Alabama Legislature set up the states first toll road and the community became known as Toll Gate. The cafe, which opened in 2014, features lunch daily specials such as creamy chicken and rice casserole and hamburger steak with gravy and onions, as well as chicken teriyaki stir fry and spicy chicken pasta at suppertime. Address: 224 First Ave. SW, Hamilton. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Rock House Eatery Marshall: Rock House Eatery, Guntersville Located in an old, stone-built house thats nestled among the trees, Guntersvilles Rock House Eatery has been serving its inspired Southern cuisine since 2009. The dinner menu features pasta, pizzas, steaks, chops, chicken and seafood, and at lunchtime, the signature sandwiches include the Rock Star, with slow-roasted sirloin and jalapeno slaw on a French roll, and the Rock House chicken salad, which is available on a croissant or wheat berry bread. Address: 1201 Gunter Ave., Guntersville. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Dauphin's Mobile: Dauphin's, Mobile The latest dining venture from former Alabama and NFL football star-turned-restaurateur Bob Baumhower, Dauphin's puts the "up" in upscale dining, offering a breathtaking view of Mobile Bay from the 34th floor of downtown Mobile's Trustmark Building. The name is an homage to the Port City's French founders ("Dauphin" was the title given to the heir to the throne of France), as well as to Baumhower's old NFL team, the Miami Dolphins. Executive chef Steve Zucker's menu features classic coastal dishes with Caribbean and Creole influences, including Ono Island tuna, pecan-encrusted fish, fried green tomato with Alabama shrimp, and Gumbo Z'Herb, Zucker's tribute to New Orleans chef Leah Chase's famous Holy Thursday dish, with greens, Conecuh Sausage, ham hocks and beef brisket in a seasoned pot liquor. Address: 107 St. Francis St., Mobile. For more information, go here. Bob Baumhower transforms former Bienville Club into lavish restaurant. Don't Edit Don't Edit Photo courtesy of David's Catfish House Monroe: David's Catfish House, Monroeville A Monroeville institution since 1986, Davids Catfish House was a favorite of To Kill a Mockingbird author Harper Lee, as well as out-of-towners hoping to catch a glimpse of the famously reclusive writer before she died. But its the catfish, cheese grits, coleslaw and hushpuppies that keep visitors and locals coming back. Davids, which has four other locations in South Alabama, also serves shrimp, oysters, steaks and burgers. Address: 145 U.S. Highway 84, Monroeville. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Central Montgomery: Central, Montgomery Located in a 120-year-old former warehouse with exposed brick, 16-foot ceilings and gas lanterns, the aptly named Central is in the center of Montgomerys downtown restaurant and entertainment district. Executive chef Brandon Burlesons New Orleans and Caribbean influences help define the restaurants modern Southern menu, which features such dishes as herb-encrusted hickory salmon, chicken-fried quail stuffed with goat cheese and cornbread, and a Cajun-style fettuccine with crawfish, shrimp, scallops and Conecuh Sausage. Address: 129 Coosa St., Montgomery. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo by Art Meripol Morgan: Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q, Decatur Perhaps Alabama's most renowned barbecue restaurant, Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q goes back to 1925, when 6-foot-4 railroad man Bob Gibson started selling his soon-to-become-legendary smoked meat in his backyard. More than 90 years later, Gibson's grandson, Don McLemore, and McLemore's son-in-law, Chris Lilly, are the keepers of the flame. Their 'cue has won just about every award imaginable, including a record four grand championship at the Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest. While most folks in Alabama think of barbecue as pulled pork or a slab of ribs, Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q is best known for its smoked chicken, which is cooked over hickory wood and then dunked in a mayonnaise-and-vinegar-based white sauce that Bob Gibson invented. Another customer favorite is the barbecue-stuffed baked potato, which comes loaded with butter, sour cream, shredded cheese, chives and crumbled bacon and is topped with your choice of chicken, turkey, pork or brisket. Address: 1715 Sixth Ave. SE, Decatur. For more information, go here. Read our story about Big Bob Gibson Bar-B.Q. Don't Edit Bob Carlton | bcarlton@al.com Perry: The Shack, Marion The Shack, a Perry County hangout not too far off U.S. Highway 5 in Marion, is best known for its burgers and barbecue, but the menu also includes such pub grub as catfish sandwiches, Philly cheesesteaks, chicken wings and jalapeno poppers. Wednesdays are Oyster Night, with raw, grilled and fried oysters by the dozen. Address: 20555 Alabama Highway 183, Marion. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Barrigas Grill Pickens: Barrigas Grill, Reform This Mexican restaurant on U.S. Highway 82 in Reform offers a fairly extensive menu that features fajitas, burritos, tacos, nachos, quesadillas and salads, as well as specialty dishes such as stuffed poblano peppers, ranchero shrimp and grilled fish. Address: 402 First Ave. East, Reform. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Sister's Restaurant Pike: Sister's Restaurant, Troy Siblings Pat Rogers and Geraldine Umbehagen opened their down-home restaurant on U.S. 231 in Troy 20 years ago, and the daily lunch menu features such dishes as baked chicken, fried pork chops and country-fried steak. Sisters also offers a country buffet on Thursday nights and Sundays after church, as well as a seafood buffet on Friday nights. If you still have room for dessert, the banana pudding is legendary. Address: 13153 U.S. Highway 231, Troy. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Jon Boy's Smoke House Randolph: Jon Boy's Smoke House, Roanoke In business for nearly 20 years, Jon Boys Smoke House is mainly known for its barbecue, including pork plates and sandwiches, ribs and chicken, all smoked with locally cut pecan wood. The menu also features ribeye steaks, hand-pattied burgers, fried catfish, grilled and fried shrimp and fried oysters, as well as weekday lunch specials such as fried chicken, spaghetti and chicken and dressing. Address: 102 Lafayette Highway, Roanoke. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Thai Thai Cuisine Russell: Thai Thai Cuisine, Phenix City Tucked away in a strip shopping center off the East 280 Bypass, Thai Thai Cuisine is a favorite of diners in search of authentic Thai cuisine in the Phenix City area. The comprehensive menu features spring rolls, Thai dumplings, drunken noodles, pineapple fried rice and a variety of curry dishes, as well as house specialties such as the Golden Temple Duck and Choo Chee Salmon. Address: 1112 East 280 Bypass, Phenix City. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Fox Valley Restaurant Shelby: Fox Valley Restaurant, Maylene Fox Valley Restaurant, now approaching its 27th year in business, is a hidden culinary gem in the small Shelby County town of Maylene. Regulars rave about the crab cakes, which the Food Network calls one of the "Most Amazing Eats in Alabama" and are available as both an appetizer or an entree. Address: 6745 Highway 17, Maylene. For more information, go here. UPDATE: Fox Valley Restaurant closed on June 24, 2017. Owner on Fox Valley closing: "It's not an easy decision to make after all these years." Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Casa Del Sol St. Clair: Casa Del Sol, Springville Casa Del Sol means House of the Sun, and this popular Mexican restaurant on U.S. 11 has brought a lot of sunshine to diners in the Springville area. Included among the nachos, tacos, burritos and quesadillas are such house specialties as the Guerrero Pizza Quesadilla (two flour tortillas stuffed with grilled chicken or steak, chorizo, refried beans, grilled onions and shredded cheese), Tacos de Pescado (fish tacos with grilled tilapia, avocado, lettuce, cheese and pico de gallo), and Palmeras (grilled chicken or steak with onions and bell peppers, served over Mexican rice and topped with queso). Address: 6468 U.S. 11, Springville. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Don't Edit Bob Carlton/bcarlton@al.com Sumter: Touch of Home Bakery, Livingston Known for miles around for its freshly baked breads, cakes, pies and pastries, Touch of Home Bakery in Livingston serves breakfast and lunch five days a week. The daily lunch specials -- all of which are served with the bakerys house-made rolls -- include meatloaf, lasagna, fried catfish, poppy seed chicken, roast beef, taco salad and chicken pot pie. By all means, get a caramel cake, peanut butter pie or loaf of sourdough bread to take home with you. Address: 90 North St., Livingston. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Buttermilk Hill Restaurant and Bar Talladega: Buttermilk Hill Restaurant and Bar, Sylacauga The old South meets the new in this quaint and comfortable restaurant thats located in a more-than-century-old Victorian house in downtown Sylacauga. The dinner menu features Gulf shrimp and grits, New Zealand rack of lamb and oven-roasted chicken with goat cheese cream. Address: 300 East Third St., Sylacauga. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of SpringHouse Tallapoosa: SpringHouse, Alexander City A fine-dining establishment in a rustic setting, SpringHouse is nestled on a hilltop in the Russell Crossroads development near Lake Martin, where Rob McDaniel, a five-time semifinalist for the James Beard Foundation Award for best chef in the South, has been serving his progressive Southern cuisine since the restaurant opened eight years ago. "As with a lot of the stuff this building represents -- in preservation and Southern culture and everything that we are proud to have as our background -- that's what I would like to represent with the food," McDaniel says. Address: 12 Benson Mill Road, Alexander City. For more information, go here. SpringHouse chef humbled by James Beard Foundation Award recognition. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Chuck's Fish Tuscaloosa: Chuck's Fish, Tuscaloosa Chucks Fish is named for the late, great Charles Chuck Morgan II, who grew up in Mountain Brook and earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Alabama before he went on to a long and influential career as a civil rights lawyer who was absolutely fearless in challenging the Southern white establishment. Although he really wasnt much of a fisherman, Morgan once reeled in a 30-pound king mackerel to win a fishing tournament with his buddy and fellow civil rights champion Julian Bond. That big fish became known as Chucks Fish. So in 2006, when Morgans son, restaurateur Charles Morgan III, opened an upscale seafood restaurant in downtown Tuscaloosa, he just had to call it Chucks Fish. He has since opened a location in Birmingham and one in Mobile. And now that you know the story behind Chucks Fish, here are a few of the dishes you can expect to find on the menu: parmesan-crusted grouper, sauteed red snapper, blackened fish tacos, stuffed shrimp and crab cakes, plus grilled ribeye and paneed chicken for landlubbers. The sushi bar features nearly 40 different sushi rolls, including the Roll Tide, with eel, avocado, cucumber and smoked salmon. No wonder Chucks is one of Nick Sabans favorite restaurants and the place where he takes his top recruits to eat when they come to T-Town for their official visit. Address: 508 Greensboro Ave., Tuscaloosa. For more information, go here. The story behind how Chuck's Fish got its name. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Black Rock Bistro Walker: Black Rock Bistro, Jasper A white-tablecloth restaurant in a blue-collar town, the cozy, 75-seat Black Rock Bistro brings a taste of New Orleans to Walker County, where chefs and co-owners Greg and Lindsey Kilgore, who met while attending culinary school in Birmingham, relocated after leaving the Big Easy on the eve of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Their Cajun- and Creole-influenced menu features Louisiana redfish, fried or blackened Delta catfish, crawfish pie and Lowcountry shrimp and grits. The signature dish is Catfish Pontchartrain, a breaded catfish filet stuffed with Gulf shrimp and andouille sausage and finished with a Creole pan sauce. Address: 313 19th St. West, Jasper. For more information, go here. Read our story about the Black Rock Bistro. Don't Edit Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Sullivan's Steakhouse Washington: Sullivan's Steakhouse, Chatom A family-owned, small-town restaurant that opened in 2015, Sullivans Steakhouse is more than just steaks. The menu also includes catfish, chicken, oyster po boys, Philly cheesesteaks and jalapeno poppers. Open Thursdays through Saturdays only. Address: 17150 Jordan St., Chatom. For more information, go here. Don't Edit AL.com file photo Wilcox: GainesRidge Dinner Club, Camden Located in a two-story antebellum house that was built in the late 1820s, GainesRidge Dinner Club has operated as a restaurant and catering service since 1985. Although it is also available for private events, the restaurant is open to the public Thursday through Saturday nights. The menu features shrimp cocktail, fried crab claws, ribeye steaks, blackened snapper, shrimp scampi, fried catfish and charbroiled chicken. The restaurants famous Black Bottom Pie is included on the Alabama Tourism Departments list of 100 Dishes to Eat in Alabama Before You Die. And one more thing: Legend has it that the old house is haunted, so if a ghost interrupts your dinner, dont be too alarmed. Address: 933 Alabama Highway 10, Camden. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Photo courtesy of Chef Troy's Talk of the Town Restaurant Winston: Chef Troy's Talk of the Town Restaurant, Double Springs Chef Troy is Troy Hill, who, after working in restaurants in Huntsville for more than a decade, opened his own Chef Troy's Talk of the Town Restaurant in the humble little burg of Houston in 2009. The restaurant is open for breakfast and lunch Sundays through Wednesdays and remains open for dinner Thursdays through Saturdays. In addition to burgers, barbecue, steaks and seafood, the Talk of the Town menu features such signature dishes as chipotle corn chowder, Cajun fried green beans, a Philly cheesesteak omelet, an andouille sausage po' boy and Cajun shrimp and cheese grits. Desserts include watermelon pie, Butterfinger cake and Reese's Peanut Butter Cup cake. That is what we're talking about! 4815 Country Road 63, Houston. For more information, go here. Don't Edit Bob Carlton | bcarlton@al.com Here's how we did it The idea of traveling all over Alabama for several weeks to eat at restaurants in each of the 67 counties was enticing but not realistic. So when we started compiling our list of the best restaurant in every county in Alabama, we began with the places that we knew about, had been to, and could vouch for. Then, for some of the other counties, we asked our reliable sources for recommendations on their favorites. Beyond that, we scrolled through hundreds of reviews on TripAdvisor, Yelp, Zomato, Google and Facebook. We did not include the big national chains in our search, and we tended to favor those restaurants that have been around for at least five or more years over those that have been open only a year or so -- although that was not always the case. (Quite honestly, some of the rural counties did not have a lot of dining options.) Anyway, we took all of that into consideration before settling on one restaurant for each county. It wasnt an exact science, but we tried our best to come close to it. We encourage you to pay these restaurants a visit while youre out traveling the state, and when you do, please be sure to tell em we sent you. Don't Edit Tamika Moore | tmoore@al.com Acknowledgements We could not have taken on such a mammoth project without a lot of help. Many thanks to AL.com's Haley Laurence, who, in her travels, has eaten at restaurants, cafeterias, barbecue joints and pizza places all over the state, and to our colleague and resident food guru David Holloway, whose knowledge of Coastal Alabama is invaluable. Thank you, too, to many unnamed others whose opinions on food and restaurants we trust. We're also grateful to Elizabeth Hoekenga Whitmire for her help and patience in seeing this project to the end, and to Ramsey Archibald, whose title graphic was the icing on the cake, so to speak. A shout-out, too, to all the photographers, including our own Tamika Moore, Joe Songer and Ben Flanagan. Also, the Alabama Tourism Department's I Love Alabama Food website was a great resource for background information on the history of some of the restaurants, as was the Alabama Living online magazine. And finally, a tip of the cap to all the restaurants, chefs, servers and restaurateurs who continue to keep us happy and make us proud. Don't Edit Don't Edit You might also like . . . Alabama's Most Romantic Restaurants 50 essential Birmingham restaurants Alabama's best meat-and-three Alabama's best barbecue sandwich Alabama's best pizza Alabama's best barbecue ribs Alabama's best cheeseburger McCalla.jpg The Church of the Highlands began holding worship services on Sunday, April 2, 2017, at McAdory Middle School, 5450 Yellow Jacket Boulevard in McCalla. (Church of the Highlands Facebook) Alabama's largest church has added a branch in McCalla. The Church of the Highlands began holding worship services on Sunday, April 2, at McAdory Middle School, 5450 Yellow Jacket Boulevard in McCalla. More than 1,700 people attended the first two services held on Sunday at McAdory Middle School. Services will be held weekly on Sundays at 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. About 40,000 people a week attend services at 16 branch locations of Church of the Highlands, including the main campus in Irondale. All services feature live praise bands on site, with video streaming of Senior Pastor Chris Hodges preaching from the main campus. The Church of the Highlands was founded in February 2001 and met in the fine arts auditorium at Mountain Brook High School. In 2007, the church opened its $15 million main campus with a 2,400-seat sanctuary on Grants Mill Road near Interstate 459. rooster roosting on march 27.jpg Marcia Martin posted this photo of the rooster roosting on the gas meter behind DQ Grill and Chill on University Boulevard in Mobile last week. (Facebook photo) No one knows what his name was in his previous life, before he started roosting behind the DQ Grill and Chill on University Boulevard near the University of South Alabama in Mobile - if he ever had one. But from now until his dying day, a recently rescued rooster will be known as Blizzard, the blended ice cream concoction made famous at Dairy Queen. It's a fitting name for the mixed-breed rooster whose feathers are black and white, like an Oreo. The rooster had taken up residence near the DQ drive-thru about a week ago. "I felt sorry for him," said manager Audrey Wright, who said she and others had called the City of Mobile Animal Shelter, but no one ever came to pick him up. All week, customers would come in and ask, "Do you know you have a rooster out there?" she said. The employees would joke that one of the restaurant's chickens got out. "We became quite fond of him," Wright said. "We threw out bread crumbs for him. He kind of became our mascot. Rebecca Wright holds Blizzard, the rooster she and her mother-in-law, Stacey Wright, rescued last week from the DQ Grill and Chill on University Boulevard. (Courtesy Stacey Wright) Meanwhile, Marcia Martin, a member of the Mobile Bay Area Backyard Chicken Club, posted a photo of the rooster on the group's Facebook page, alerting the more than 2,000 members that there was "a rogue rooster" who appeared to be roosting on the gas meter behind the DQ. That post sent several members to the Dairy Queen, in hopes of catching the rooster. Sharron Fobes, who serves on the club's advisory board, identified him as an "Easter egger/Americana barred rock mix. Absolutely beautiful crow!" After seeing the comments for several days, Rebecca Wright messaged her mother-in-law, Stacey Wright: "Let's go catch him." It was already after 9 p.m., but both of the chicken enthusiasts knew that during the day it would be "next to impossible" to capture him. When he's roosting, Stacey Wright said, he doesn't want to get down, and he can't see well at night, so it's "the perfect time" to catch him. They drove from Chunchula, where they both live, equipped with a kennel in the bed of their truck and a large flashlight. As they expected, the bird was quietly roosting on the gas meter. But when they woke him up, he ran. After he roosted again, they cornered him in a bush. "My daughter-in-law grabbed him by the feet and picked him up," said Stacey Wright. "He was super sweet. We held him, and he didn't try to fly away again." When told about the rescue on Monday morning, Audrey Wright at DQ said she was "so happy" the rooster had been caught and relocated. He's now free-ranging on 20 acres in the country with Stacey Wright's other chickens. His wings had been clipped, leading Stacey to believe that he had been someone's pet. "They either dropped him off, or he got out somehow from around the neighborhood," she said. "That's where he felt comfortable." Fobes said she thought it might have been a prank. "Someone got a rooster from the flea market and then turned it loose." Though hens are legal in the city of Mobile, roosters are not allowed. The DQ rooster is the third one to be rescued around Mobile in recent months, including a hen at Five Guys on Airport Boulevard (nicknamed "Five Guys Felicia") and another hen at a business on Hillcrest Road ("Hillcrest Hilly"). Both chickens were rescued and re-homed. And now, after a blizzard of activity over the past week, Blizzard the rooster can roost in peace once again. aerial.PNG An aerial view of the proposed extension of Interstate 759 into East Gadsden, terminating at U.S. 431 and U.S. 278. (City of Gadsden) House Minority Leader Craig Ford (D-Gadsden) speaks at a press conference on a proposed extension to Interstate 759 in Gadsden Monday, April 3, 2017. State Rep. Craig Ford and Gadsden city officials this morning said a two-mile extension of Interstate 759 into East Gadsden will be a reality in the "very near future." Ford, standing with Gadsden Mayor Sherman Guyton, said they have been assured by Gov. Robert Bentley that engineering studies should begin within a week to a month's time, and that the project is on a "fast track" with the Alabama Department of Transportation. Ford (D-Gadsden) said the extension would link the 4.5-mile interstate spur with U.S. 431 where it meets U.S. 278. It's a project that Ford said has been in the works for at least two years through his office, and much longer for Gadsden city officials. The announcement was made at the Joe Ford Center at Gadsden State Community College's campus, which adjoins the proposed route for the extension. Guyton said the route is one that was previously settled on through local input and ALDOT studies and is "the least disruptive and most favorable." "This will open up economic development, it will provide safety, it's going to help our two-year college system," Ford said. "If you can get an 18-wheeler from Hokes Bluff to I-59 without stopping, you're going to create jobs." Guyton said Bentley and the Alabama Department of Transportation "are committed to seeing this project through to completion." Ford said he and Guyton consulted with Bentley two weeks ago and have had other discussions about the project. Three of the Gadsden area's largest employers - Goodyear, Gadsden Regional Medical Center and Gadsden State Community College - are in East Gadsden, along with several large recent retail developments. "The extension of I-759...will improve traffic flow, lead to safer travel in the downtown Gadsden area, improve public safety and support future economic development," Guyton said. In a news release, ALDOT Director John Cooper said after an exact route is determined, right-of-way acquisition will begin with relocation of utilities to follow. "As with all of our work at this time, funding is an issue that will affect the timeline for how long it takes to develop plans and begin construction," Cooper said. Ford said he isn't concerned about any uncertainty surrounding Bentley's continued position in Montgomery delaying the project. the special counsel overseeing Bentley's impeachment investigation plans to issue a written report to the House Judiciary Committee on April 7 and a report will be made to the House of Representatives in May. Ford also said he isn't concerned of a public perception at the timing of the announcement, saying there was no "quid pro quo" in Bentley's support. "The governor knows this is the right thing to do," he said. "This is something we've been working on for three years." A homicide investigation is underway after a 20-year-old man was shot to death Sunday night in Auburn. Officers responded about 10:20 p.m. to a call of shots fired in the 800 block of Bedell Avenue, said Lee County Coroner Bill Harris. When police and paramedics arrived on the scene, they found Tyquavious Delp Jackson wounded outside of a home there. Harris said Jackson had been shot multiple times. Efforts to revive him failed, and he was pronounced dead on the scene. The death is being investigated as a homicide by the Auburn police and the Lee County coroner. Jackson's body has been taken to the Alabama Dept. of Forensic Sciences medical examiner's office in Montgomery for an autopsy. Anyone with any information on this case, or who may have seen something in this area, is asked to call the Auburn Police at 334-501-3140 or the Auburn Police tip-line at 334-246-1391, or the Auburn Police 24-hour non-emergency number at 334-501-3100, or the Lee County Coroner's Office secret witness line at 334-745-8686. How rising debts, pesticides and erratic rainfall are pushing some farmers in southern India to suicide. Karnataka, India Farmers have worked the land of southern India for more than 10,000 years, making use of its fertile soil and abundant rains. Mahatma Gandhi placed Indian farmers at the centre of his vision for independence. In his 1909 book about Hind Swaraj (Indian Home Rule), he argued that farmers had managed with the same kind of plough as existed thousands of years ago and that rural India remained untouched by the corruptions of modernity. India achieved its independence in 1947 and in the 1960s, in order to feed its growing population, it embraced the Green Revolution and introduced modern technologies, chemical fertilisers and pesticides to its agriculture. In the 1990s, the country embarked on a series of neoliberal economic reforms, deregulating the markets and opening them up to international trade. Free from foreign domination and working in a modern, developing country, it seemed as if the farmers of India could finally work for themselves, and enjoy the fruits of their labour. Yet millions of Indian farmers barely make a living, and many are choosing to end their lives: hundreds of thousands have committed suicide in the past three decades. In the southern state of Karnataka, more than 1,000 farmers killed themselves in 2015. About 90 of them were from the sugarcane-growing district of Mandya. While the data for 2016 is still unavailable, some 200 suicides had already been reported by the month of July. There is no single explanation for this wave of suicides, but there are several common elements. The growing level of personal debt is one of them. Alongside countless other farmers throughout India, sugarcane growers are struggling to earn enough to survive and are being forced to borrow money to continue farming. The crisis doesnt just affect the farmers, but the widows and children they leave behind, as well as relatives and fellow farmers, who also fall into the cycle of debt. Its part of being a sugarcane grower, they say. Sugarcane was once one of the most profitable crops, they explain. But, things have changed. IN PICTURES: Stories of survival Widows of Indias farmer suicides Shivannas story The Mandya district appears as an expanse of lush, tilled plains where sugarcane fields stretch as far as the eye can see. Shivanna was a 35-year-old sugarcane farmer from the village of Sadolalu, a few kilometres from the town of Mandya. He was the sole breadwinner in his family and supported seven people: his parents, his wife who suffers from thyroid problems, his two children and his sick brother and his wife. One day in July 2015, after dropping his son off at school, he drove into town and bought a bottle of alcohol and some pesticide. After lunch, he went off to his fields as usual. At 5pm, he called his niece, telling her that he had drunk the pesticide and that he wanted to see her one last time. The whole family rushed to the field, but by the time they arrived and took him to the hospital, he had died. No one knew, but Shivanna was heavily in debt. His debts amounted to six lakhs (about $9,240), and it would have taken him six harvests on the five acres (about two hectares) of land he owned and leased, with an average profit of 20,000 rupees ($308) an acre, just to break even. He would not share his troubles with anyone, Shivannas mother Savithriamma says. He was a responsible person who didnt drink alcohol, she says. He was very happy that his second child was a girl. He did all the work, took her to the temple, the astrologer, everything, his mother recalls. Thats why he bought the liquor, to bring himself to do what he did. The family learned about the extent of his debt after his death. They were left in financial ruin, and now face years of poverty to pay back the money owed. To make matters worse, they had to borrow more to organise his funeral. Shivannas wife was forced to sell her jewellery, including her thaali, the golden necklace Shivanna had tied around her neck at their wedding. Now, all they have left is a single female buffalo. They get by selling the milk it produces. Only to plant the fields, it would cost him 25,000 rupees ($385) per acre, for the seedlings and the labour, his father Kempegowda says, explaining that Shivanna had no relatives who could help him in the field and was therefore forced to hire labourers to help with the work. He used expensive NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) chemical fertilisers, such as urea and Suphala, the mainstays of the Green Revolution. These cost tens of thousands of rupees an acre and are known to deplete the soil, reducing the yield and forcing the farmer to increase the amount used over time. Harvesting the crop and transporting it to the factory where it is crushed to make sugar costs more money. All these outlays ate into Shivannas profits, and he was forced to borrow money to cover the mounting expenses and eventually had to take out more loans to pay for his previous ones. When in 2014 his crops failed due to insufficient rain, he suffered a loss of one lakh ($1,540). The following year, the price paid by the factory dropped from 2,000 rupees ($30) a tonne of sugarcane to 1,500 rupees ($15), some of which wasnt even paid; factories can take months to make payments, and when he died in July 2015, Shivanna was still waiting to be paid for his January harvest. READ MORE: On the Cancer Train of Indias pesticides How debt happens Rathnammas house is located in the village of Chalegowdan Doddi, a short motorbike ride from Shivannas home. Her husband, Mariappa, committed suicide at the age of 45, after accumulating more than seven lakhs ($10,781) in debt. He said he was going to have a coffee at someones house, she remembers, and then he left and never came back. We found his body in his barren field. There had been no water because of drought, so he hadnt been able to plant any sugarcane. Now Rathnamma works as a labourer, harvesting sugarcane for other farmers, and so does her son who was in his final year of college, but had to drop out after his father died. There are no good public colleges around, so we sent him to a private one, which cost us 15,000 rupees ($231) a year, Rathnamma says. Now, we need him to work in the fields, otherwise how are we ever going to repay the debts? In 2015, the Karnataka Janashakthi (KJS), a group of local researchers, farmers and activists, produced a report on the suicides of sugarcane growers in the Mandya district, reaching the conclusion that central to most of them are the issues of indebtedness and economic insecurity. A sugarcane farmer can hope for a yield of 40 tonnes an acre, with input costs of about 40,000 rupees ($616) for things such as seedlings, labour and fertilisers. The maximum price currently paid by factories is 2,500 rupees a tonne ($38), with about 800 rupees ($12) a tonne going to harvesting and transport costs, meaning a final profit of 28,000 rupees ($431) for 40 tonnes. That would be considered a good profit. But yield can decrease to as little as 30 tonnes of sugarcane an acre and the price paid by factories can drop to as low as 1,700 rupees a tonne ($26). In such a situation, the farmer would suffer a loss of 13,000 rupees ($200). With such narrow profit margins, which dont allow for costs, such as hiring a tractor or leasing the land, it is easy to fall into debt. According to the KJS report, the average debt of the farmers who committed suicide was five lakhs ($7,701), a considerable amount when compared to the average debt of about 18,000 rupees ($277) per capita for the general population of Karnataka. It appears as though agricultural production [of sugarcane] is not a profitable one, the study concludes. But the farmers, who still perceive it to be the most profitable crop, prefer sugarcane to other crops or food staples, with which they could feed their families. The stories of Shivanna and Rathnamma demonstrate how multifaceted the debt epidemic among farmers is. Shivanna was the only breadwinner in a family of eight, while Mariappa was trying to pay for his sons private college education, so that he might get a degree and, with it, a different life. The debts they accumulated didnt only come from farming; they included education, healthcare and housing expenses. That is because, in order to guarantee a degree of security for their families, those fortunate enough to have some land often use it to grow sugarcane. The alternative is to work for other farmers, as Rathnamma is now forced to do. We are paid two rupees per bundle of sugarcane, says Kammalamma, a 55-year-old labourer who was harvesting crops in the village of Madhar Halli. On a good day, I can earn 200 rupees (about $3). But at least I always take some money home: the farmers earn much more, but they can also lose everything if the crop fails. READ MORE: Indias food security act Myths and reality Changing climate factors Farmers also complain that the monsoon is becoming erratic, with less rain falling at the right time, threatening entire crops of sugarcane, a plant that requires a lot of water. With only about 42 percent of the Mandya district irrigated by the Krishna Raja Sagara dam, farmers are largely at the mercy of increasingly unreliable weather patterns, and many decide to dig their own wells. Prasana is a 32-year-old sugarcane grower from the village of Hulivana. His grandfather had dug a small water cistern which has helped his family survive the unexpected droughts. Prasanas brother also helps on the land, making the work much faster and the costs lower. Prasana tries to not use chemicals. Instead, he saves on costs by using his cows to plough the land and produce manure for fertiliser. I managed so far only because there is a water cistern here, he says, otherwise, it would have all dried up. I was always scared of taking loans, but now there is not enough water [to keep the water cistern full], so I will have to borrow one lakh ($1,540) to dig my own bore well. Droughts are intensifying and occurring more often. In November 2016, the Karnataka government estimated the losses suffered by the agricultural sector over the last two years to be more than 12,000 crores ($1.85bn). Water has become another input cost in the farmers quest for security whether through crop failure due to lack of rainfall or the debts incurred to irrigate farms. And the security Indian farmers are looking for is even harder to find it in the globalised markets of the 21st century. READ MORE: Green innovation saves the textile industry in India The global sugarcane picture The financial policies and reforms of the past decades have modernised Indias economy, opening its markets up to foreign competition. As a result, small-scale Indian sugarcane growers find themselves competing with large-scale industrialised plantations in countries such as Brazil, the worlds largest sugar producer, often making it cheaper to import sugar from abroad than to buy it locally from Indian farmers. Another central element of these neoliberal reforms has been to reduce the role of government in the economy, reducing subsidies and deregulating prices to let the forces of the market work freely, causing wild fluctuations in the price of commodities, including sugar. When, in recent years, the Indian government attempted to subsidise sugar exports in order to help the factories sell off their stocks and, in turn, be able to pay farmers and buy more sugarcane from them, World Trade Organisation members such as the European Union and Brazil objected on the grounds that such subsidies distort the global sugar market. By subsidising exports, India reduces its domestic sugar stocks and helps local producers by propping up local prices above global levels. But that forces sugar producers in countries like Thailand, Australia, Colombia, Guatemala and Brazil to reduce their own output and adjust exports in future harvests, or face even deeper losses because of depressed prices, said Elizabeth Farina, president of the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association, in a statement in 2014. The Indian sugarcane farmers have, in the words of KJS activist Vashu Hu, been left to subsidise agriculture out of their own pocket, or with their debts. With official forecasts predicting that 600 million Indians 40 percent of the countrys population will live in cities by the year 2031, activists say that farmers are being abandoned. In the past, farmers worked with their relatives and their cows, Hu says, which even gave them manure to fertilise the fields those families had an organic relationship with agriculture. But the changes brought about by modernity have broken this organic relationship, and this break has in turn affected not only the families, but also our society, in which nobody cares about what happens to farmers. Beirut, Lebanon Lebanese parliamentary elections are expected to take place in May 2017. The last elections were held eight years ago, in 2009. Although the parliament term in Lebanon is four years, elections have been postponed twice since 2013 under the pretext of deadlock over electoral law, fear of instability and security unrest. In November 2014, in an unconstitutional move, the Lebanese parliament renewed its mandate for a second time, granting itself an additional 31 months, ending in June 2017. The country had already entered a political deadlock in May 2014, when the presidential seat became unoccupied after the end of former President Michel Suleimans term. This situation continued for two years and half until the election of President Michel Aoun in October 2016. This recent election of a president of the republic gave hope that institutional life was gradually coming back to Lebanese politics. However, despite the high hopes, most indicators today suggest that the parliamentary elections will be postponed again, given that the main leaders of the country have not yet been able to agree on an electoral law that satisfies everyones wishes. OPINION: What will a new president mean for Lebanon? However, regardless of the date the elections will take place or the law that will be adopted; the majority of Lebanese voters will probably choose the same traditional sectarian leaders and their proposed candidates once again. The Lebanese system is based on the idea that sectarian leaders represent communities, they defend their interests and they regulate their conflicts. This will happen at a time when corruption has reached unprecedented levels, leaders have proved yet again their unwillingness to solve any of the most basic and pressing problems such as electricity supply, housing, water or unemployment. The re-election of the same leaders will happen while the majority of the Lebanese are unable to find a job in the country, have no access to good public education or hospitalisation and are struggling to make ends meet. This is a time when neoliberal policies have become clearly entrenched; privatisation is discussed as the only solution for the electricity crisis, bank loans are being promoted as the answer to the housing crisis and wealth is more and more concentrated in the hands of a few. In fact, the upcoming elections will be the first parliamentary elections after the rubbish crisis of 2015 when the #You_Stink movement managed to mobilise tens of thousands of angry Lebanese on to the streets, who accused the political elites of drowning the country in rubbish and corruption. Despite all these conditions, the majority of the people will vote again for these same politicians. At first sight, this seems to be a puzzle. Why would voters once again choose representatives who have performed so badly? For many liberal commentators, the problem is understood at the individual level. They suggest that Lebanons predicament lies in its bad leaders and, therefore, a solution to the countrys problems would be to bring new blood to the positions of power. They criticise the short-sighted voters who blindly follow their sectarian leaders and consider that new and independent alternatives should be available for the enlightened citizens who do not identify with this corrupt sectarian system and who want change. Therefore, it is expected that a number of independent candidates will be standing in the upcoming elections, presenting themselves as qualified, honest and non-sectarian alternatives. However, regardless of the qualifications and qualities of these candidates, the majority of the voters will still prefer the traditional leaders. This is not because voters are naive, blind followers or are unaware of the corruption of their leaders. This is rather because voters are very aware of the structure of the Lebanese system. They see that voting for a few independent candidates is unlikely to solve any problem within the current structure of the Lebanese system. Let us revisit this system to clarify what I mean. INTERACTIVE Lebanon: At the crossroad The end of the civil war was declared in 1989 with the signing of the Taif Agreement. This came to reinforce Lebanons consociational formula of the post-independence National Pact and to adjust the sectarian balance of power. The Taif Agreement was based on a reading of the civil war as a sectarian confrontation. It presumed that the Lebanese society is deeply divided along sectarian lines, and thus needed solutions that addressed these divisions to prevent the resumption of conflict. This led to a re-adoption of consociational prescriptions that allocate seats according to sects. The essence of consociationalism, as explained by its famous theorist Arend Lijphart, is that negotiation and decision-making should only happen at the level of leaders who are the representatives of their sectarian communities. Lijphart argues that in deeply-divided societies, such as Lebanon, contact between groups in society is a bad idea and conflict can only be contained at the elite level. Therefore the Lebanese system is based on the idea that sectarian leaders represent communities, they defend their interests and they regulate their conflicts. Although this assumption of communal conflict and sectarian divides has been repeatedly criticised and debunked, adopting such a sectarian power-sharing system reinforced the idea that power does not lie within the state but is rather in the hands of communal leaders whose job is to negotiate it within state institutions. Within such a political system, networks of sectarian patronage flourished while state institutions weakened to the point that most of their functions were being fulfilled through non-state channels. Sectarian leaders became not only the sole representatives of their communities but also the main providers of services, jobs and security. The development of such alternative modes of non-state welfare created allegiance to the leaders who, while pursuing their personal interests, also provide for their loyal followers. These provisions need not be strictly material, but are also increasingly linked to security and protection, as noted by Lebanese sociologist Fawwaz Traboulsi who argues that in the aftermath of the civil war, Lebanon has moved from a system of clientelism to a mafiocracy, where monopoly over violence is not in the hands of the state. Therefore, the stronger the leader is, the more protection and benefits his constituency expect to have. Thus, in a time when corrup, but strong, traditional leaders are providing security, services and material incentives to their constituencies, can independent candidates really compete with them? How would candidates running for elections as independents, without a political party or organisation, be able to compete with well-established sectarian parties and leaders who have a long history of power and clientelistic networks? READ MORE: Lebanons election system Why would voters give up on their powerful sectarian leaders and go for independent individuals who are definitely weaker within the existing Lebanese system? This, of course, does not say that voters are essentially sectarian and thus prefer sectarian leaders. This is rather to suggest that, in the absence of a state that provides the basic economic and security rights to its citizens, it is illogical for voters to chose candidates who are unable to fulfil these roles. For this reason, independent candidates can only make it if they adopt the logic and the functioning of the Lebanese system as it is, and thus build alliances, direct or indirect, with the traditional leaders. However, it then becomes illogical to consider that such alliances can be a step towards reforms since the very logic of the Lebanese formula strives on the weakness of the state and the concentration of power outside of it. Therefore, the argument that proposes that the arrival of good people to the parliament can be a first step to changing the system from within seems utopic. If power is not within the state, change cannot come from inside the state. And if independent candidates are unorganised individuals who do not belong to broader political groups, voters are rational to consider that they do not provide serious alternatives. Therefore, it is not a matter of evil leaders and good alternatives. The problem in Lebanon is deeply rooted in its very structure. The assumptions on which the system is based have entrenched vertical sectarian division and flourished by masking horizontal class divisions. Leaders in Lebanon can only be leaders by making sure that the state remains weak and welfare and security remain distributed through non-state channels. Any attempt at organising from below and proposing a serious alternative will quickly be marginalised or crushed. We have recently seen some variations of this with both the popular protests of 2015 and the Beirut Madinati municipal campaign in 2016, when leaders of all sectarian groups united in order to safeguard their beloved Lebanese formula. The Euphrates Shield reached its natural limits, but Turkey is not ready to leave Syria, according to analysts. On March 29, Turkeys Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announced the successful completion of the Euphrates Shield military operation in northern Syria, but suggested the country may launch other cross-border campaigns in the future. Turkish analysts told Al Jazeera that Yildirims announcement was not surprising as it came after the operation reached its natural limits but insisted that they do not expect Turkey to leave the region anytime soon. Yildirims announcement was merely an acknowledgement of the situation on the ground, Atilla Yesilada, a political analyst with Istanbuls Global Source Partners, told Al Jazeera. At the moment Turkey has little room for manoeuvre in northern Syria in both diplomatic and military terms. At the beginning of the 216-day operation, which was launched against ISIL and Kurdish forces last August, Turkish forces took the border town of Jarablus and cleared ISIL fighters from a roughly 100km stretch of the border. In late February, Turkey announced that it also took control of Al Bab, an ISIL stronghold. In practice, the Euphrates Shield came to an end nearly a month ago, when Turkeys sphere of influence in Syria the triangle between Jarablus, Al Rai and Al Bab was surrounded by American marines to its east, Russian soldiers to its west and the Syrian regime forces to its south, said Metin Gurcan, a Turkish security analyst and a research fellow at the Istanbul Policy Center (IPC), Sabanci University. OPINION: The Sheriff of Manbij US makes debut in the Syrian War Transactional alliances In early March, the US deployed a relatively small force to the outskirts of Manbij a town east of Al Bab in what the Pentagon called a reassure and deter mission. This development, according to Gurcan, brought an end to Turkeys plans to clear Kurdish forces from this strategic Syrian city and expand its influence further east. And when Russia announced that it was setting up a military base in Afrin to train Kurdish forces, Ankara realised it cannot move west either, he added. Turkey is now in a situation where Russians control the west of the Euphrates River and the US controls the east - and neither party seems to be supportive of Turkey's needs and interests in the region. by Atilla Yesilada, political analyst Turkeys unsuccessful transactional alliances with these global powers drew the end date of the Euphrates Shield Operation forward, according to analysts. The Turkish government formed transactional alliances with both Russia and the United States, but failed to pull either party completely to its side in Syria, Yesilada said. Both the US and Russia are steadily deepening their ties with the Syrian Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) and its Arab allies who operate under the umbrella of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Ankara believes that they are doing so at Turkeys expense, and says the YPG is directly linked to the PKK, an armed group that has been fighting a four-decade bloody conflict in Turkey. So, Turkey is now in a situation where Russians control the west of the Euphrates River and the US controls the east and neither party seems to be supportive of Turkeys needs and interests in the region, Yesilada said. The operation simply reached its natural limits, he said. Turkey realised that it could not achieve anything more in that area without clashing with the US, Russia or the Syrian regime. But this does not mean that Turkey is ready to leave Syria completely, he added. Turkey does not have the luxury to say it is now done with Syria. At a crossroads According to analysts, Turkey is now at a crossroads and needs to decide whether it is going to keep its troops in northern Syria. The Turkish government did not clarify this yet, but we have every indication to believe that Turkey is determined to stay in Syria, even after the end of Euphrates Shield, Gurcan said. While waiting for an opportunity for a second cross-border operation, Turkey is now going to start a post-conflict reconstruction effort in the towns that it took from ISIL. Since September 2016, Turkey had been sending Syrian refugees back to Jarablus and other towns that it captured. According to analysts, it plans to send at least 10,000 refugees who are currently residing in the Turkish town of Kilis back to their hometowns in northern Syria by May this year. Turkey wants to send these people back, not only for humanitarian reasons, but also to consolidate its influence in the region by providing support and protection for these returnees, explained Gurcan. But it all depends on what Russia is planning to do about Idlib. In the near future, Russia and its allies are expected to turn their attention completely to Idlib, the countrys last rebel-held province, according to analysts. If Russia decides to attack Idlib, it will need to determine a new area for it to transfer the rebel fighters and their families after the end of the battle, Gurcan said. Putin may allow these people to move into the Turkey-controlled area between Jarablus, Al Bab and Al Rai. READ MORE: Idlibs rebel split A crossroads for Syrian opposition So in a way, it may allow Turkey to continue its presence in this triangle on the condition that it hosts and controls undesired rebel elements. Yesilada, on the other hand, argued that after taking complete control of Idlib, Russia under pressure from the Syrian regime might force Turkey to retrieve completely from the region. Turkey will be forced to support the rebels in Idlib in a future battle against the regime, Russia and their allies, Yesilada explained. At the end of this battle, I do not think Russia will choose to send these rebels to Syrian towns controlled by Turkey. It will tell Turkey to retrieve its troops from northern Syria, and take Idlibs rebel fighters into Turkey. A new military alliance of rebel groups in northern Syria aims to consolidate military control over Idlib province, the western part of Aleppo province and parts of Latakia province, according to a Free Syrian Army (FSA) commander. Two sources from FSA have confirmed to Al Jazeera that the new military operation room, under discussion, will be supported by the Friends of Syria a coalition of the US, Turkey, Western European and Gulf states which have supported the Northern Fronts operations room, known by its Turkish acronym MOM. The commander said that the rebel forces will fight against the Syrian regime in northern Syria. He denied media reports that their goal would be to attack Hayet Tahrir al-Sham, a Salafist alliance dominated by Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (JFS, formerly known as al-Nusra Front) which formally renounced its affiliation to al-Qaeda in 2016. The FSA commander confirmed that the funding and logistical support for rebel factions in northern Syria which the CIA froze in February have been restored to a certain extent. Another FSA source told Al Jazeera that Turkey and the US are still to decide what form the new rebel command will assume and added that pressure is exerted on other rebel factions to join it. He also said that in January the CIA told FSA factions it was funding not to join the Moscow-sponsored Astana talks in which Turkey participated along with Russia, Iran and the Syrian regime. High-level US officials did not attend the talks. READ MORE: The battle for Raqqa explained The FSA is a loose umbrella of what are seen as moderate rebel groups. Previous attempts to establish unified command failed as the FSA succumbed to factionalism and internal disagreements. Among the groups joining the new formation are Failaq al-Sham as well as FSA-affiliated Tajamo Fastaqim, Jaish al-Mujahideen and Jaish Idlib. Fadlallah Haji from Failaq al-Sham has been chosen as its leader. In January, a number of these groups, including Tajamo Fastaqim and Jaish al-Mujahideen, joined the ranks of the influential Islamist Ahrar al-Sham movement seeking its protection from attacks by JFS. While Ahrar al-Sham has not yet clarified its position on the newly formed unified command, according to Syrian analyst Ahmad Aba Zeid, those factions will continue their association with the movement. Syrian analyst Mohamed al-Abdullah told Al Jazeera that Ahrar al-Sham might be a key factor in the success of the unified command. Ahrar al-Sham will be the factor making or breaking this unification. If Ahrar al-Sham refuses to join, I dont think this [unification attempt] will be successful. As we all know, Ahrar al-Sham is the main military force in the region, he said. Abdullah also explained that the rebel factions do not have much of a choice about joining the new operations room and that not doing so would mean a confrontation with the US. The move to unify rebel factions in northern Syria came just a few days after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited Turkey. Earlier last week, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announced the end of Turkeys Euphrates Shield operation in Syria, suggesting there might be future operations with Turkish involvement in Syria. According to Aba Zeid, it is possible that the new unified command is part of negotiations between the US and Turkey in which the participation of Turkish-backed Syrian forces in the battle for Raqqa is also on the table. Ankara and Washington have disagreed on how to proceed with the anti-ISIL operation in Syria and specifically the capturing of Raqqa. Turkey has protested US support for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and their likely alliance for the battle for Raqqa. Ankara considers the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG), which dominates the SDF, a terrorist organisation and has argued that Kurdish domination of Raqqa would be problematic for the majority of Arab residents of the city. OPINION: Implications for a Syrian transition under Assad In March, US troops were deployed in Manbij, east of the territory controlled by Turkish forces and their FSA allies in northern Syria, in order to stop their progress eastward and prevent clashes with the SDF. Abdul Majeed Barakat, political adviser of FSA forces which were included in the Euphrates Shield operation, told Al Jazeera that Turkey had planned a unified rebel army under the name Al Jaish Al Watani or Jaish Al Tahrir. That force was supposed to lead a second phase of Turkeys operations in Syria which was to focus on Idlib province. Barakat said that a number of meetings were held in Ankara between the Turkish authorities and rebel commanders to discuss the issue. According to the FSA commander, an agreement could not be reached on how to form an army out of all the factions that participated in the meetings and, therefore, the decision was made to have a unified command under the support of the MOM. Maya Goodfellow is a writer and researcher. Her work mostly focuses on politics, and 'race' and racism in the UK. As far-right ideologues are significantly influencing politics across the globe, journalists have been left to question how they should cover so-called populist politicians and figures, some of whom are in power Donald Trump and Narendra Modi and some who arent Nigel Farage and Marine Le Pen. The challenges facing journalism are significant. The 24-hour news cycle demands rapid response. This urgency can lend itself to poor reporting, misguided conclusions and intensify the temptation to indulge wildly sensationalist narratives. It can, put crudely, become a choice between being first or being accurate. This seeming need for constant reporting is paired with shrinking newsrooms and plummeting profits. Meanwhile, the social media echo chamber and growing distrust of institutions and journalists, seen as a homogenous mass lumped in with the elite, is thought to be curbing media influence. These shifts are incredibly important and also require the left to strategise about how to counter the far rights huge online power. Yet considered, careful and well-researched journalism has not ceased to be important. As media outlets struggle to keep themselves afloat, they must begin to resist far-right populist tendencies. So the question is, what is the best way to do that? Normalising xenophobia The Guardians Martin Belam has pointed out that when far-right politicians such as US President Donald Trump lie, the media feel obliged to prove them wrong. This puts them on the back foot, dedicating precious time to defensive fact-checking instead of actively spreading truth. The latter, Belam argues, should be the medias focus. The pitfalls of reporting on the far right arent solely the product of the changing media landscape. There is a tendency to glamorise and sensationalise hardliners. Not long after Trump was elected, the London Evening Standard a paper, owned by a Russian oligarch, which is distributed free of charge around London ran a story looking at the faces of Americas young alt-right pack. Accompanied by glitzy photos of far-right figures, the article described them as stars celebrities and cast a supposedly innocent glance over their fashion choices. Milo Yiannopoulos and Tomi Lahren were fawned over as icons to be examined, intrigued by and even lusted after. There was little serious intellectual engagement with their toxic platform. This temptation to sensationalise and glamorise the far right should be actively resisted by serious journalists. But profiles of far-right figures even of those who dont hold office have proliferated in recent months. As senior editor at Novara Media, Ash Sarkar, has pointed out, this form of reporting does not allow for the considered coverage that in-depth research and data analysis provide. The far right is not born in a vacuum. Research shows it thrives when it gets exposure, like weeds, sunlight nourishes them. by Instead, through profiles, far-right figures are treated as woefully misguided or as mere characters on the stage of politics. All the while, their abhorrent views and the real-life effect their politics have go unquestioned. Similarly, the views of aggressively xenophobic, anti-Muslim ethno-nationalist politics like the National Fronts Marine Le Pen are, at times, normalised in the media. A recent article by Britains public broadcaster, the BBC, described Le Pen as a nationalist who is unabashedly opposed to immigration, before going on to say: But there is no hint in her of the far-right ideology that clung to members of her fathers generation. This is, essentially, an acceptance of Le Pens own branding; she wants to detoxify her image and the idea that she isnt a far-right ideologue despite her anti-Muslim politics does just that. Journalists must refuse to cover the far right in this way, constantly second-guess themselves, and give space to marginalised voices who are consistently written out of the debate unless they are being talked about. The author of the Evening Standards alt-right profile defended their puff-piece claiming those who demur that engaging with this group is giving them a platform ignore the fact that they have already seized their own. The far right is not born in a vacuum. Research shows it thrives when it gets exposure, like weeds, sunlight nourishes them. But even when theyre not in power, the far right gets a lot of coverage. In the UK, after he stepped down as UKIP leader, newspapers gave significant attention to Nigel Farages views over other party leaders on Brexit. This is born of a temptation to turn news into sensationalist drama, but it helps normalise and magnify his message. WATCH: Americas media under Trump An ominous start Claims of balance are often built on unsteady foundations: for instance, if 99 percent of scientists say climate change is human-made and one percent argues otherwise, these points of view shouldnt be treated as equal. Far-right parties dont tend to start out with huge amounts of support but theyre regularly given a platform simply in the name of balance. This airtime ironically sanitises them, and from this, they gain further mainstream platforms on which to spread their ideas. The media should be a service: providing necessary information to the public and journalists should be aware that giving disproportionate weight to hardliners can become tantamount to helping spread their propaganda. Thats not to say they dont do their own publicity, but this shouldnt be validated in the realms of the media. This is also evident by the way the far-right is reported on when it isnt in power. In many countries, the anti-migrant right have moved politics on to their territory. In the Netherlands, for instance, although support for Geert Wilders Party for Freedom was vastly overstated in the media, his xenophobic narrative was co-opted by right-wing parties. Reporters must critically analyse far-right narratives When the far right obsessively fixates upon and racialises issues such as migration and security, all the while claiming to be the voice of the people, media focus often serves to legitimise this narrative and consequently skew the political debate. A London School of Economics report found in 2014 that across Europe, the far right is regularly depicted as the alternative to the elitist governance of our societies. In Greece, the report found that even when left-wing Syriza topped the polls, the media regularly referred to Golden Dawn as the real shock to the system. This is part of a wider shift in certain places, such as the UK, where research shows that the BBC panders to the right. In part due to ill-informed reporting and in part due to acceptance of the far-rights propaganda, these extreme parties are portrayed as symbolising the people. This plays a significant role in shifting and sustaining political rhetoric. As Cas Mudde, an expert on the far right, has noted, it is frequently white working-class men, who are seen as representative of the populous, who have been disenfranchised. This is, again, the wholesale acceptance of one of the central tenets of the far rights own narrative. It homogenises the white working-class and erases working-class people of colour, whose views are treated as unimportant. This matters because the media frames reality. In much the same vein, when the media allow racial stereotypes to seep into their reporting they reinforce the very ideas of us and them that allows far-right politics to flourish. The media should actively refuse to dramatise and glamorise hardline figures. Journalists and reporters must critically analyse far-right narratives instead of as often happens in covert ways reiterating them. And when the media isnt delivering, the public have a right to demand that they do. Maya Goodfellow is a writer and researcher. Her work mostly focuses on politics, and race and racism in the UK. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy. The UK government is trying to scapegoat Silicon Valley companies to hide its own intelligence and security failures. In the wake of the Westminster attack, the three most powerful politicians in Britain have all called for access to encrypted WhatsApp messages which they say might have prevented Khalid Masood from plowing his hire car down the sidewalk of Westminster Bridge, before stabbing to death an unarmed police officer in the courtyard of the Mother of all Parliaments. First it was the Home Secretary Amber Rudd, then it was the Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, and finally it was the Prime Minister, Theresa May. This is first of all a nonsensical request. WhatsApp encryption is end-to-end, meaning the message is encrypted the moment it leaves the phone until it arrives at the recipients. Even WhatsApp, through whose servers millions of these automatically encrypted messages pass each day, cannot read the message once it is in transit. WhatsApp is being blamed because Masood is said to have used the app just minutes before the attack took place, and because blaming WhatsApp deflects from the failings of ministers to keep Britains most important buildings safe from even the most low-tech terrorist attack. Using the attack to extend surveillance powers This is not to blame the police themselves, who do brave and important work but to lay blame at the feet of the politicians who assign their budgets and thereby limit or invest in their capabilities to stop terrorism. Police chiefs had already written to the government in November 2015 warning that further cuts to police numbers would make London more at risk of a Paris-style attack. Forty thousand police officers have been laid off since 2010. Gareth Thomas, Vice President of the Police Superintendents Association, wrote that In the fight against all types of terrorism, we know that the long-term answer lies in families and in communities and therefore, in neighbourhood policing. This is what can defeat terrorism; cyber intelligence often only helps us find it. Like any large institution, the intelligence community in Britain is by no means monolithic in opinion and it is by no means certain whether more cyber-surveillance powers are even necessary. There are intelligence professionals who believe calls for more surveillance powers are unhelpful. READ MORE: Social media distortion after Westminster attack Former cyber-security chief Major General Jonathan Shaw has already publicly warned that the attack should not be used, in his words, to extend surveillance powers. In private, British intelligence professionals are like any European or American security service they know that if absolutely necessary they can access the contents of WhatsApp conversations, though by means they are obviously not so keen on revealing in any detail. Instead of presenting this debate in an honest way, May is siding with the hardliners in the security community, not to mention long-term allies and part of her notoriously cliquey inner circle. by A clue as to what these methods might be came recently via WikiLeaks. Despite all the bluster from the UK, our allies in the CIA already have ways of getting around WhatsApp encryption should they really require essentially by hacking the phones before the messages are even sent. Siding with hardliners Instead of presenting this debate in an honest way, May is siding with the hardliners in the security community, not to mention long-term allies and part of her notoriously cliquey inner-circle. The most frequent proponent of more surveillance powers, who undoubtedly has a hand in this most recent push, is a figure whose career is intimately connected with Theresa May. Civil servant-cum-spy, known as Whitehalls top securocrat, the mysterious Charles Farr, is considered hawkish by colleagues, and was the mastermind of the notorious Snoopers Charter, which has been called one of the most extreme surveillance laws ever passed in a democracy. Farr has made it his mission to turn Britain into a surveillance state. One official has called Farrs view of himself simply messianic. He is heavily sponsored by May. In the closing months of the last government, she rushed to Farrs defence against his critics. READ MORE: UK targets WhatsApp encryption after London attack In siding with her hardline friends in the intelligence community, and not listening to the more moderate voices with similar expertise, May is not only misdirecting from her own failings notably on police cuts, but continuing a long tradition of do something policymaking. The do something doctrine demands that something must be done in the wake of a terrorist attack. Whether this newly conjured policy makes sense, has any substantive merit, or will make Britain safer, is entirely irrelevant. It is far more important to just do something. It is for this reason that 13 terrorism Acts of Parliament have been passed in Britain since 2000 each more intrusive than the last. In that same time there have been just five education Acts, three health Acts, and only three housing Acts. Explaining this disparity in legislative focus only makes sense when you consider the grip of do something politics on Britains elite. In this case, asking for WhatsApp encrypted message access is a nonsensical request, and nor does it reflect anything but the more hardline desires of certain unpopular figures within the security services. It is a superficial ploy and it has worked. Front-page headlines the day after the calls were made included Tech giants face terror crackdown, Internet giants hide terrorists final note, Apps rapped over secret terror texts and on the front page of Britains most popular tabloid, What side are you on, WhatsApp?. There was little serious discussion of the fact that police chiefs had warned repeatedly that police cuts would have a knock-on effect on counter-terrorism efforts; very handy for May, of course given it was she who, as Home Secretary, oversaw these cuts in the first place. Alastair Sloan covers international affairs, politics and human rights for a variety of British newspapers and magazines. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy. Egypts Sisi has long been hopeful about Donald Trumps presidency, but his optimism may soon be curbed. On Monday, President Trump will welcome Egyptian President General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to the White House the first time an Egyptian president will have visited Washington since Hosni Mubaraks visit in 2010. Although Egypts state media is widely optimistic about the prospects of the visit, Sisi is likely plagued by creeping concerns and frustrations in light of Trumps actions since his inauguration a little more than two months ago. Encouraged by Sisis meeting with Trump in New York City last September, which was accompanied by the release of an official statement from Trumps campaign emphasising that under a Trump Administration, the United States of America will be a loyal friend, not simply an ally, that Egypt can count on in the days and years ahead, the Sisi regime developed unrealistic expectations for what a Trump administration would mean for Egypt. A transcript released following a phone call between the two presidents three days after Trumps inauguration indicated that the new US president praised Cairos efforts to combat terrorism and reiterated his commitment to continue providing military aid to this country. These promises also increased Egypts hopes about a mutually beneficial relationship with the Trump administration. Sisi also believed that the incoming Trump administration would treat Egypt favourably following Egypts decision, after a phone call between Trump and Sisi in late December, to withdraw a draft resolution it had submitted to the UN Security Council condemning Israeli settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian Territories. State of mass confusion Despite its attempts to win the new US administrations good graces, Trump has yet to offer any reassurances to the Sisi regime on the most pressing issues. The 2018 budget that Trump recently submitted to Congress, which entails a massive 29 percent cut (from $38bn to $27.1bn) to the State Departments budget from which American aid to Egypt is derived left Cairo in a state of mass confusion. Only securing Israels $3.1bn annual aid, American officials have indicated that funds earmarked for Egypt, Jordan, and other countries are still being evaluated which must serve as a significant shock to Cairos leaders. READ MORE: Trump urged to mention Egypt prisoners as he meets Sisi After all, Egypt was optimistic upon Trumps arrival in Washington, expecting that his administration would restore the preferred method of financing arms purchases known as cashflow favourable to the Egyptian government. Economics, political challenges within Egyptian society, and the ongoing counterterrorism dilemma in the Sinai leave no significant cards in hand for Egypt to play with the new Trump administration, making Cairo's prospects even worse. by Restrictions on military aid Former President Obama had temporarily suspended the substantial military aid Egypt receives from the US since Sisis crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood after rising to power in 2013. In so doing, the Obama administration prevented Egypt from securing forward contracts for large military deals and revoked its rights of first refusal and subsequent payment. After a year-plus long freeze, Obama restored aid to Egypt in 2015, but he refused to allow the country to buy military equipment on credit and earmarked future aid for specific activities related to US counterterrorism goals. When Trump moved into the White House, some overly optimistic Egyptian officials speculated that he would increase Egypts $1.3bn worth of annual military aid, allowing it to quickly purchase and take delivery of more advanced weaponry. However, contrary to Egypts hopes, Trump has yet to offer any indications that he will change any of the conditions Obama imposed on Cairo in 2015. Sisi must also be agitated by the reference to a future role for the Egyptian military in the regional military alliance formation, which was suggested during discussions on confronting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS), the intractable crises in Syria and Iraq, and combating Shia Iranian influence. Since Egypts army is a national, non-sectarian army composed of Muslims and Copts, joining such a formation could be risky. READ MORE: How Sisi is destabilising Egypt This point is linked to reports indicating that, in the quest to determine the makeup of Middle Eastern military alliances, US officials have not ruled out asking states such as Egypt, Jordan, and Morocco to contribute thousands of their own soldiers and enter into US-directed alliances with the Gulf states to confront Irans influence, preserve stability in the Middle East and the Gulf, and perform an active role in the broader regional war on terror. These conversations also seek a broader anti-terror role for Sisis army, which to date has been limited only to Egyptian territory. The Muslim Brotherhood ban Egypt is also frustrated by Trumps stalled promise to confront the Muslim Brotherhood. Like the Egyptian regime, Trump is hostile towards Islamist political groups particularly the Muslim Brotherhood and during his campaign had accused Hillary Clinton of helping force out a friendly regime in Egypt and replace it with the radical Muslim Brotherhood. Since Trumps inauguration, Cairo has welcomed initiatives adopted in Congress to pass a draft resolution designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terror group and hailed Secretary of State Rex Tillersons testimony to the Senate in which he equated the Brotherhood to ISIL and al-Qaeda. A hopeful Egypt pressed the Trump administration to expedite designation of the Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation, which would significantly affect the groups legitimacy, sources of financing, and international influence; nonetheless, Trump has yet to move in this direction. He is still able to surprise us whenever he wants by issuing executive orders but Trump has yet to list the entire Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation, primarily owing to the serious and costly regional consequences such a decision would have for Washington. Moreover, though recent developments suggest that Trump may in fact designate the Egyptian wing of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation, he does not appear very determined to do so. As such, some experts speculate that Trump may place only two Islamist militant groups, the Hasm Movement and the Revolution Brigade, on the terror list avoiding altogether a decision to designate the broader Muslim Brotherhood organisation as a terrorist group. OPINION: Zahra Mahmoud Hussein 100 Days without my father In light of the heightened tensions in the Middle East, Trumps team realises Cairo cannot contribute much to solve the major regional crisis. Although the Trump administration praised President Sisis call for reform and religious revolution within Islam, and Egypts recent loan and aid agreements with the IMF and the World Bank, Trumps team understands that Egypts status is diminishing while the regional roles of states such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Turkey are expanding. In sum, economics, political challenges within Egyptian society, and the counterterrorism dilemma in the Sinai leave no significant cards for Egypt to play with the new Trump administration, making Cairos prospects even worse. Mohamed Elmenshawy is Washington Bureau Chief for Alaraby Television Network and a columnist for Shorouk, an Egyptian Daily. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy. Russia accused of bombing central hospital in Maaret al-Numan in Idlib province, injuring several people. Suspected Russian fighter jets have bombed a hospital in a city in the northern province of Idlib, wounding several people, a rescue group said. At least ten people were injured when three strikes targeted the main hospital in Maaret al-Numan on Sunday evening, destroying the building, a Syrian Civil Defence official told Al Jazeera. At around 7:30pm last night suspected Russian warplanes targeted the hospital, destroying most of the building. As our rescue team were inspecting the damage and rescuing those injured another air strike struck the hospital, injuring at least ten people, he told Al Jazeera. Most of the emergency and surgery rooms have been destroyed. Rescuers evacuated the hospital and transferred the patients to other medical facilities, the official, identifying himself only as Hamid, added. The Syrian Civil Defence, a rescue group also known as the White Helmets, operates mostly in opposition territory. For the past week, Idlib has been targeted by ongoing air strikes, and after yesterdays attack, one of its main hospitals has been mostly destroyed and can no longer function, Majd Khalaf, another member of the Syrian Civil Defence, told Al Jazeera. Hospitals targeted Last week, a hospital in Syrias Hama province, supported by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) was also hit in an air strike, MSF reported on Friday. Latamneh hospital in northern Hama governorate was targeted by a bomb dropped by a helicopter, which hit the entrance of the building. Information collected by the hospital medical staff suggests that chemical weapons were used. Immediately after the impact, patients and staff reported suffering severe respiratory symptoms and burning of mucous membranes symptoms consistent with an attack using chemicals, MSF reported on their website. The group said at least two people were killed as a result of the attack, including Doctor Darwish, the hospitals orthopaedic surgeon. At least 13 people were transferred for treatment to other facilities. The loss of Dr Darwish leaves just two orthopaedic surgeons for a population of around 120,000, Massimiliano Rebaudengo, MSFs head of mission in northern Syria, said. Over the past year, MSF has received reports of at least 71 attacks on at least 32 health facilities, which it runs or supports in Syria. Hospital staff struggle to respond The Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations (UOSSM), another medical organisation, released a report on Sunday that said at least 107 hospitals examined in Aleppo, Idlib, Latakia, Hama, Deraa, Quneitra, and Homs were targeted at least once by direct or indirect air strikes. Some hospitals were hit as many as 25 times. The average hospital was attacked three times, UOSSM said in the report. More than half of all hospitals staff had no training to prepare for or respond to air strikes, or to document air strikes; and one third of the hospitals staff had no experience in occupational safety or risk management. European observers also report pressure on civil servants in elections won by President Serzh Sarksyan. The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has criticised Armenias weekend election, saying it was tainted by instances of vote-buying and interference. President Serzh Sarksyans ruling Republican Party of Armenia won Sundays elections, official results showed, laying the foundation for a new parliamentary system of government. The OSCE said in a statement the elections were well-administered and fundamental freedoms were generally respected. But, it added, they had been marked by organisational problems and undue interference in the process, mostly by party representatives. It also noted some pressure on civil servants as well as private sector employees. The elections were tainted by credible information about vote-buying, and pressure on civil servants and employees of private companies, OSCE said in the statement. With 100 percent of the vote already counted, official results show the Republican Party won with 49.12 percent votes. The opposition Tsarukyan Alliance, led by wealthy businessman Gagik Tsarukyan, gathered 27.32 percent. Central Election Commission chairman Tigran Mukuchyan said the figures were based on results from all 2,009 polling stations. He said nothing about violations of election rules. The prosecutors office said it had been reviewing media reports of violations during the voting and counting process. Opposition parties said they had also filed complaints on irregularities to the prosecutors office, but gave no further details. The election was Armenias first under a new constitution, approved in a December 2015 referendum. Parliament, rather than voters, will elect the president for the first time in 2018. The new system reduces the presidency to a ceremonial post and increases the powers of the prime minister. Under the new amendment, the courts have the power to try any civilian accused of threatening the security of the state. Bahrains king on Monday approved a constitutional amendment granting military courts the right to try civilians. Military courts in Bahrain were previously limited to trying members of the armed forces or other branches of the security services and could only try civilians under a state of emergency. Under the new amendment, the courts have the power to try any civilian accused of threatening the security of the state. The official BNA news agency said on Monday that King Hamad had approved the amendment to Article 105(b) of Bahrains constitution. The move coincided with a decision by the kingdoms top court to reduce the jail sentence of the leader of main Shia opposition faction, Sheikh Ali Salman, who had been convicted of inciting hatred and insulting the state. Salmans sentence was cut from nine years to four years in prison. The constitutional amendment was approved weeks ago by both the 40-seat upper house of parliament, appointed by the king, and the 40-seat elected lower house. Authorities have justified the move as necessary to fight what they say are Iran-linked anti-government cells that have targeted the state. The kingdom accuses the opposition of working with predominantly Shia Iran to incite unrest in the kingdom. Tehran has consistently denied involvement. Second device deactivated as investigators open case on terrorism charges over explosion in St Petersburg. At least 11 people have been killed and dozens wounded after a bomb blast ripped through a train carriage in the metro system of Saint Petersburg, Russias second city, according to officials. Russian authorities opened a criminal case over Mondays explosion on charges of a terrorist act, but said they would also consider all other possible causes. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing. According to Russian media reports, investigators suspect that the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber who left an explosive device at a metro station, and then boarded the train with another device in a backpack. Ambulances and fire engines descended on the central Sennaya Ploshchad metro station after the blast at around 2:40pm (11:40 GMT). READ MORE: Russia to overhaul national security after plane bomb Russian media initially reported that there were two explosions, but officials later said that there was only one blast which happened as the train was moving between the Sennaya Ploshchad and the Tekhnologichesky Institut stations. Hours later, police found and deactivated a second explosive device at another metro station, one of the citys busiest, sending a wave of fear across St Petersburg. After a few hours of differing casualty tolls, the National Anti-Terrorism Committee said the death toll was 11, with another 45 people being treated for wounds in hospitals. A huge hole was blasted in the side of the carriage, with metal wreckage strewn across the platform. Passengers were seen hammering at the windows of one closed carriage. Everything was covered in smoke, there were a lot of firefighters, Maria Smirnova, a student on a train behind the one with the bomb, told a Russian TV station. Firefighters shouted at us to run for the exit and everyone ran. Everyone was panicking. Social media users also posted photographs and video from the scene of the blast, showing people lying on the floor and a train with a mangled door nearby. Russian media reports that there were 2 blasts at St.Petersburg metro https://t.co/rLHb8k6P07 pic.twitter.com/DUaVJR17Wg Liveuamap (@Liveuamap) April 3, 2017 Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was visiting St Petersburg, his hometown, to attend an economic forum, offered his condolences to the victims families. I have already spoken to the head of our special services. They are working to ascertain the cause [of the blast], the Russian president said. The causes are not clear. Its too early. We will look at all possible causes, terrorism as well as common crime, he added. He later laid flowers outside the station where the damaged train arrived after the explosion. Authorities in St Petersburg closed all of the citys metro stations following the blast. About three million people in Russias second-largest city use the metro daily. We also understand that security is being beefed up on the Moscow metro system and other transportation hubs in big Russian cities, Al Jazeeras Rory Challands, reporting from the capital, said. The Russians are preparing themselves for a potential series of attacks and they are doing what they can at the moment to try to prevent any more incidents like this from happening. For years, Russian cities, including their transportation systems, had faced bomb attacks from Chechen fighters and other groups in the Caucasus, but gradually they decreased. At least 38 people were killed in 2010 when two female suicide bombers detonated bombs on packed Moscow metro trains. A suicide raid on the capitals Domodedovo airport that was claimed by fighters from the North Caucasus killed 37 people in January 2011. Security analysts pointed out recently that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group had been threatening Russia, and had claimed responsibility for an attack in Chechnya that killed six Russian soldiers. Russia is a staunch ally of Syrias President Bashar al-Assad and has been bombing rebel-held areas since September 2015. According to monitoring groups, Russian air raids in Syria have killed more than 10,000 people, including nearly 4,000 civilians. Simon Mabon, a lecturer in international relations at Lancaster University, told Al Jazeera that the blast in St Petersburg had the hallmarks of a number of different groups, but the ultimate goal is to cause fear and strike at the heart of the Russian state. Tropical Cyclone Debbie clears away from Queensland and New South Wales, allowing residents to return home. The clean-up operation has got under way across eastern Australia after the passage of Tropical Cyclone Debbie. Despite drier conditions over the weekend, flood waters remained high, but they are now starting to recede. Residents and business owners have been returning to thick mud, piles of debris and ruined property. While the worst of the weather is over, with Cyclone Debbie moving out to sea on Saturday, the daunting task facing those affected is just beginning. The flood-ravaged people of northern New South Wales and southeastern Queensland have also been faced with raw sewage, rats and snakes. Military and emergency personnel continued to work to restore essential services such as water and electricity in affected towns, where hundreds of homes have been deemed uninhabitable. The Insurance Council of Australia has estimated the damage bill could reach Aus$1bn ($770m), as people braved mud-caked streets to begin clearing out homes and shops, with mountains of ruined possessions piled on pavements. New South Wales State Emergency Services Deputy Commissioner Mark Morrow said it would be a long haul for towns such as Lismore and Murwillumbah that were inundated by floods. The mud, combination of chemicals, raw sewage, paint which gets into everything. Two to three metres above floor level. Nothing escaped this. It was a very, very big flood, he said. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said seeing the damage up close was heartbreaking, as he toured Lismore. Seeing it first-hand and the impact, treasured possessions, all of a lifes work, all of the assets of a business flung out on to the pavement that is gut-wrenching stuff, he said. The cyclone dumped more than a metre of rain on parts of Queensland and the huge volume of water is still slowly spilling down river systems, with Rockhampton next in the firing line. As floodwaters creep closer to the city, those waters are expected to peak at around nine metres on Wednesday morning. The floods may not be as bad as initially feared but Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said: We do want to stress to the people of Rockhampton that you still need to make your flood preparations. We are not out of the woods yet. There is still a long way to go, she added, stressing that 300 schools in the state had been damaged and needed repairs. Thankfully, the weather for Queensland and New South Wales looks largely dry for the rest of this week as the remnants of Debbie head towards New Zealand. However, the impact of the storm will be felt for many months to come. As thousands of political prisoners languish in Egyptian prisons, US president says he strongly backs Sisis leadership. US President Donald Trump on Monday put concerns about Egypts human rights abuses aside as he welcomed Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to the White House. Ahead of the meeting, senior US officials had said the issue of human rights violations in Egypt would not be addressed publicly during Sisis visit, which was widely condemned by rights groups and protesting campaigners. Speaking to reporters after their meeting, Trump said he strongly backed Sisis leadership and that they would work together to fight against terrorism. I just want to let everybody know that we are very much behind President Sisi; he has done a fantastic job in a very difficult situation, Trump said. You have a great friend and ally in the United States and in me, Trump told Sisi, the first Egyptian president to visit the White House in almost a decade. For his part, Sisi said he appreciated that Trump has been standing very strong to counter this evil ideology. Egypt is battling an internal conflict in Sinai, and hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and police have been killed fighting armed groups. Cairo and Washington are expected to forge closer ties under Trump following years of tension under the administration of ex-President Barack Obama. Obama temporarily halted military aid to Egypt shortly after Sisi led the overthrow of democratically elected president Mohamed Morsi, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, in 2013. His administration also repeatedly criticised the Egyptian governments crackdown on political opponents. READ MORE: Al Jazeera reporter spends 100th day in Egyptian jail Yehia Ghanem, Al Jazeeras Middle East analyst, said that Sisi had sought to visit the White House long before Trumps election as US president last November. Sisi believes such a visit to the Oval Office will enhance his legitimacy, which has been a question of doubt because of the way he took over power through a bloody coup detat. Unforgivable repression Since the July 2013 coup, a police crackdown against the Muslim Brotherhood which maintains it is peaceful but has been designated by Egypts government as a terrorist group has left hundreds dead and tens of thousands in jail. Last year, a UN investigation found that Egypt engages in the continuous persecution of women, human rights activists and journalists. Human rights groups estimate that at least 40,000 political prisoners have been detained by Sisis government. Inviting Sisi for an official visit to Washington as tens of thousands of Egyptians rot in jail and when torture is again the order of the day is a strange way to build a stable strategic relationship, Sarah Margon, Washington director at Human Rights Watch, said before the meeting. READ MORE: Trump urged to mention Egypt prisoners as he meets Sisi The White House said Egypts human rights record would be raised behind closed doors, but some analysts raised doubts about the US administrations commitment to focus on the issue. I dont think [overall] it will be addressed because I think the Trump administration is for these types of policies that incarcerate Islamists in a place like Egypt and other activists who have been against the Sisi government, Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeeras senior political analyst, said. The repression in Egypt is, really, unforgivable but the Trump administration is more than happy to do so, he added. At the end of the day, the US administration, including under Obama and [George W.] Bush, would not make Egypt an enemy because of human rights if anything, human rights have always been sidelined in favour of security and other cooperations between the US and Egypt. In fact, between the US and most totalitarian regimes in the Middle East, state interest and security has always trumped human rights. Financial assistance As well as meeting Trump, Sisi will see the top officials at the World Bank and IMF, where he will pitch for help with his countrys ailing economy. 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, driven away foreign investors and hampered its recovery. READ MORE: Egypts alternative facts The North African country 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. Rights group says Israel is blocking access for researchers to Gaza, compromising efforts to document violations. Israel has been barring entry to and from the besieged Gaza Strip for human rights workers and researchers, according to a new report by international rights organisation, Human Rights Watch (HRW). In the report, titled Unwilling or Unable: Israel Restrictions on Travel to and from Gaza for Human Rights Workers, the US-based organisation expressed concerns over the restriction of entry to human rights workers who require access to the strip in order to investigate possible crimes committed during the 2014 Israeli assault on Gaza. For the last two decades, Israel has kept the strip mostly closed off, with exceptions for humanitarian circumstances, Sari Bashi, Israel and Palestine advocacy director at HRW, told Al Jazeera. Bashi added that last year Israel allowed about 12,000 entries from the Gaza Strip to the occupied West Bank and Israel, but categorically denies that access to Palestinian and foreign human rights workers who want to document abuses on the ground in Gaza. The report also calls into question the Israeli militarys claim to rely on human rights organisations as a vital source of data for their investigations into potential crimes and rights violations committed during the war. HRW said such restrictions on entry raises questions not just about the willingness of Israels military authorities to conduct genuine investigations, but also their ability to do so. Those restrictions affect nearly every aspect of life in Gaza, including the ability of human rights workers to document violations of human rights and international humanitarian law (IHL) and to advocate for their remediation, the report said. According to the report, Israel systematically denies access to HRW workers and researchers, and has been doing so ever since it imposed a siege on the strip in 2008. Gaza, whose population amounts to two million, has been under a decade-long blockade imposed by Israel following the 2007 electoral victory of the Hamas movement in the strip. READ MORE: Gaza I still have nightmares about the war The restriction is not only imposed on human rights workers, but also on university representatives, journalists, and academics alike. by Samir Zaqout, director of Al Mezan Center for Human Rights Gaza shares border crossings with Israel, as well as Egypt. The Rafah crossing, bordering Egypts northern Sinai is also predominantly blocked by Egyptian authorities, allowing limited access for humanitarian reasons. Asked how many workers were denied entry during the previous years, Bashi said, It is easier to say how many were allowed in. According to Bashi, only one HRW staff researcher was allowed entry in 2011, to document violations of human rights against Israel. Along with Israel, the report casts the blame on Hamas and neighbouring Egypt, but says the main responsibility lies with Israel as the main controller of the strips borders. Israel maintains sole control over Gazas territorial waters and airspace. The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutors ongoing investigation into violations of international human rights law includes analysing whether crimes falling under ICC jurisdiction have been committed, the group said. But the Israeli authorities claim that their investigations meet international standards and that they rely on human rights organisations to notify them of potential violations. READ MORE: Gaza: 100,000 hours of isolation A spokesperson for the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), an Israeli military unit that is responsible for civilian matters in the occupied territories, told Al Jazeera that Israeli authorities allow Gaza residents, internationals and Israelis pass through Erez Crossing into the Gaza Strip and from it on a daily basis. The Coordination and Liaison Administration to the Gaza Strip (CLA) coordinates over 1,000 crossing daily for trade and business purposes, medical treatment, academic studies abroad, participation in conventions and advanced studies and more, the spokesperson said, via email, citing coordination with many human rights organisations such as Doctors Without Borders, and others. But local human rights activists say otherwise. Samir Zaqout, director of Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, a Gaza-based human rights organisation, told Al Jazeera that tens of foreign workers have been denied entry into the strip, describing the act as a violation of human rights. The restriction is not only imposed on human rights workers, but also on university representatives, journalists, and academics alike, he said, adding that they, along with other local organisations, are in constant and dire need of expert assistance. The strict conditions and restrictions are compromising our efforts as a human rights organisation to document abuses on the ground adequately, Zaqout said. We cannot even think about applying for permits to bring foreign workers in, we are not even allowed to start the process. The strips northern Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing with Israel, said Zaqout, is controlled by Israel and does not permit entry to foreign journalists and activists either. Zaqout explained that as one of the most important conflict areas in the world, foreign students who want to work with organisations such as Al Mezan in Gaza, are also barred from entering the strip. Israel is scared to grant these entry permissions. Everyone, who ever came to Gaza, regardless of their background, witnesses the struggle and the reality of the people in Gaza, he said. Since the siege, Gaza has witnessed three Israeli wars in the past 10 years, experiencing food, water, and power shortages. The enclave has been dubbed the worlds largest open-air prison. READ MORE: Will Israel be put on trial for war crimes? Israel has also blocked human rights workers and activists from entering the occupied West Bank and Israel. In March, the Israeli parliament passed a bill allowing border officials to turn away foreigners who support the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. One of the movements founders, Omar Barghouti, was arrested by Israeli authorities on suspicion of tax evasion last month. In a statement issued two days ago, Barghouthi said the arrest is an attempt to tarnish his reputation. BDS said that there has been an ongoing campaign to silence the movement. Also last month, Hugh Lanning, head of the UK-based Palestine Solidarity Campaign, was denied entry into Israel. Bahjat el-Helou of the Independent Commission for Human Rights, a national rights institution in Palestine, told Al Jazeera that over a span of 10 years, the commission has rarely been able to bring human rights workers in. In the last year or so, we managed to bring two experts for three days, which is not enough. Were suffering hugely from a lack of development, our skills need improvement through training workshops, we cannot advance without them and need the expert help from abroad, he said from his office in Gaza. We have a lack of training opportunities. As a national commission, we dont only document Israeli violations, but also the local authorities activities, he added. Helou said that the commissions workers arent able to visit the occupied West Bank office either, as an alternative to bringing experts into the strip. Additionally, they do not sit in on collective human rights sessions that take place in the West Bank. Our contribution and participation is significant as a national commission for human rights, he explained. Were positive of our colleagues abilities in the West Bank, but we are the ones who live the struggle [in the strip]. There is no one who can tell the story better than us, he said. Right-wing Lasso says he would contest the results after partial counting showed him trailing rival Moreno. Right-wing opposition candidate Guillermo Lasso alleged fraud in Ecuadors presidential runoff election and said he would contest the result after a partial count showed him losing. Leftist government candidate Lenin Moreno had claimed victory in Sundays vote, bucking a shift to the right across South America as Lassos supporters took to the streets in protest. Theyve toyed with popular will, we are going to defend the will of the Ecuadoran people in the face of an attempted fraud that aims to install what would be an illegitimate government, Lasso said. A Moreno victory would come as a relief for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange after Lasso vowed to remove him from the Ecuadorean embassy in London if he won the runoff. Moreno, a paraplegic former vice president, had secured 51.07 percent of the votes compared with Lassos 48.93 percent, with just over 94 percent of votes counted, according to the electoral council. It has not yet declared a winner. Right-leaning governments have come to power in Argentina, Brazil, and Peru recently as a commodities boom ended, economies flagged and corruption scandals grew. Lasso, a former banker, had promised to denounce embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, an ally of Ecuadors current government. A bitter Lasso disputed the results on Sunday night. He cited the first round of the election in February, when final results took days to come out and his supporters massed in front of the electoral council to guard against what they said were fraud attempts. WATCH: Ecuadors indigenous hope for a better president (2:33) Moreno won 39.36 percent of the vote in the elections first round on February 19, falling just short of the 40 percent and 10-point lead necessary to win outright. Lasso won 28.9 percent of the first rounds votes, but was expected to pick up more votes after conservative Congresswoman Cynthia Viteri, who finished third in the first round, threw her support behind him. Street protests On Sunday, hundreds of Lasso supporters swarmed in front of the electoral council offices in the capital Quito and coastal city Guayaquil, Lassos hometown, chanting no to fraud and no to dictatorship. Al Jazeeras Daniel Schweimler, reporting from Quito, said Moreno was already celebrating victory. Moreno was singing along with the outgoing Rafael Correa. Hes absolutely convinced he is the president-elect, he said. Both sets of supporters are out on the streets and while clashes have been reported, police are keeping both sides apart. Things are tense but relatively peaceful. Moreno, who has been in a wheelchair since losing the use of his legs two decades ago after being shot during a robbery, would become one of the worlds rare presidents to use a wheelchair if he takes office on May 24. Lenin, as he is commonly referred to by his supporters, was already celebrating a victory that would extend a decade of leftist rule. From now on, lets work for the country. All of us, Moreno told flag-waving supporters in the mountainous capital Quito. Custodian and two others arrested after 20 people were stabbed and beaten to death near Punjabs Sargodha. The custodian of a shrine in Pakistan has been charged with murder and terrorism, police said, after allegedly torturing and killing 20 people with knives and clubs. Abdul Waheed and two others were arrested outside the Ali Muhammad Gujjar shrine near Sargodha in the Punjab province late on Saturday after they drugged the devotees before beating them with sticks and stabbing them to death, police said. They [the trio] will be presented in court today [Monday] for us to obtain a judicial order for physical custody, so that we can continue our investigation, local police officer Nusrat Ali told Al Jazeera. A terrorism charge has been included in the charge sheet. The 50-year-old Waheed told police he killed the worshippers because he thought they might kill him one day, Arshad Abbas, an investigator in the case, told AFP news agency. Some officials said Waheed had mental health problems and had used violence on followers before. Visits to shrines and offers of alms for the poor and cash to custodians remains a very popular custom in Pakistan. Many believe this will help get their prayers answered. Pervaiz Haider, a doctor at a Sargodha hospital, said most of the dead were hit in the back of the neck. There are bruises and wounds inflicted by a club and dagger on the bodies of victims, he told Reuters news agency. Chief of the local police station Shamsher Khan said Waheed was found sitting outside the shrine when authorities reached the location. He had a dagger dripping with blood on him, said Khan. He told us not to come near him otherwise he will attack us But we managed to arrest him and the two other men who were sitting outside the shrine with him. The whole shrine was filled with bodies. There were 20 dead bodies, including three women and 17 men. Remains found 40km south of Cairo could be of Egypts first attempt to build a smooth-sided pyramid, officials say. A top antiquities official said that an Egyptian excavation team has discovered the remains of a new pyramid that dates back to the 13th Dynasty, some 3,700 years ago. The head of the Ancient Egyptian Antiquities Sector, Mahmoud Afifi, said in a statement on Monday that the remains were located north of King Sneferus bent pyramid in the Dahshur royal necropolis, about 40km south of Cairo. Owing to the bent slope of its sides, the pyramid is believed to have been ancient Egypts first attempt to build a smooth-sided pyramid. The necropolis was the burial site for courtiers and high-ranking officials. Adel Okasha, the head of Dahshur necropolis, said that the remains belong to the inner structure of the pyramid, including a corridor. Other remains included blocks showing the interior design of the pyramid. Latest attack highlights increased piracy in the region after Somali pirates hijacked an oil tanker last month. Pirates have hijacked an Indian commercial ship off the coast of Somalia, the second attack in weeks after years of inactivity by pirates, industry and security sources said. United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), which coordinates the management of all merchant ships and yachts in the Gulf of Aden area, said on Monday it had received information that a vessel en route to Bosasso from Dubai had been hijacked in the vicinity of Socotra (Island). A spokesman said UKMTO was unable to confirm the location of the vessel, which he identified as Al Kausar, or what had taken place, and that investigations were ongoing. We understand Somali pirates hijacked a commercial Indian ship and [it is heading] towards Somalian shores, Abdirizak Mohamed Dirir, a former director of the anti-piracy agency in Somalias semi-autonomous Puntland region, told Reuters news agency. READ MORE: Somalia pirates Anger fuels return of ship attacks Somali pirates hijacked an oil tanker last month, the first commandeering of a vessel since 2012, but released it after a fight with the Puntland marine force. Somalis have been angered recently by foreign fishermen flooding into their waters, some of whom have been given licences to fish there by the Somali government. Graeme Gibbon-Brooks of UK-based Dryad Maritime Security said industry sources had told him the Indian vessel was en route to Bosasso from Dubai when it was hijacked on Saturday. The pirates were on board and were taking the ship and its 11 crew members to Eyl in Puntland, he said. Gibbon-Brooks told AP news agency on Monday that the hijackers wanted a ransom for the crew. READ MORE: The other side of Somalias pirates Indias ministry of external affairs told Reuters it could not confirm the hijack but some local Indian media reported the ship was called Al Kaushar. In a separate incident that highlights increased pirate activity, UKMTO said on its website that early on Monday, six skiffs had approached a vessel and that ladders and hooks were sighted. The vessel raised alarm, prompting armed guards to take position and the skiffs left, leaving the vessel unharmed, UKTMO said. As Jacob Zuma faces backlash over the sacking of ex-finance minister Pravin Gordhan, agency cuts countrys rating grade. Credit rating agency Standard and Poors (S&P) has downgraded South Africas rating to junk status, as the countrys currency continued to slide following a major cabinet reshuffle. In an unscheduled review that prompted a sell-off in South African assets, S&P on Monday cited the impact of divisions in the government of President Jacob Zuma that led to leadership changes, including the departure of former Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan. This has increased the likelihood that economic growth and fiscal outcomes could suffer, said S&P, which cut its rating by one notch to BB+ its highest non-investment grade mark and also assigned Africas most industrialised economy a negative outlook. The rand, which has fallen 3 percent against the US dollar since the Friday night shake-up, tumbled further after the downgrade. S&P also said that political risks will remain elevated this year, and that policy shifts are likely, which could undermine fiscal and economic growth. Following S&Ps announcement, South Africas Treasury expressed its commitment to a responsible fiscal path. South Africa is committed to a predictable and consistent policy framework, which responds to changing circumstances in a measured and transparent fashion, it said in statement. Moodys, another ratings agency which has South Africa two notches above junk status, is expected to deliver a review on Friday. Reshuffle backlash Zuma, the head of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), has faced widespread criticism for replacing Gordhan with Malusi Gigaba, a former home affairs minister. All of South Africas main opposition parties have condemned the move, as has deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa, an ANC member, and the communist partners in the ANCs coalition government. Shortly after his appointment, Gigaba stressed the need to maintain South Africas investment grade status. READ MORE: Malusi Gigaba Need to radically transform economy The country 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. South Africas opposition parties on Monday vowed to press ahead with a no-confidence vote against Zuma, who has survived several no-confidence votes in recent years. The opposition call came as the ruling ANCs own integrity commission delivered a stinging rebuke over Zumas cabinet shuffle, saying it was deeply perturbed by the lack of consultation, according to media reports. With 249 seats, the ANC commands a strong majority in the 400-member parliament. For a no-confidence vote to pass, the opposition would have to secure a simple majority meaning it would need to secure at least 50 votes in favour by ANC politicians. Analysts say they believe the no-confidence vote is unlikely to pass. Moves by the EU to offer Spain a veto over Gibraltars future trade relations with the bloc trigger fury in the UK. Tensions are rising between the UK and Spain in a row over the future of Gibraltar, as the UK embarks on negotiations to leave the European Union. The dispute intensified since the circulation of the EUs draft Brexit negotiating guidelines on Friday appeared to offer Spain a right of veto over Gibraltars future trade relations with the bloc. The move prompted fury in the UK, where ministers described it as utterly unacceptable. A former leader of the UKs Conservative party, Michael Howard, said on Sunday that British Prime Minister Theresa May would even be prepared to go to war to defend the territory, as Britain did with Argentina over the Falkland Islands 35 years ago. Howards comments followed an interview on Sunday by Michael Fallon, the UKs defence secretary, in which he said: Gibraltar is going to be protected all the way because the sovereignty of Gibraltar cannot be changed without the agreement of the people of Gibraltar, and they have made it very clear they do not want to live under Spanish rule. OPINION: Is Brexit Britain suffering from an imperial hangover? Voters in Gibraltar, a strategically important rocky outpost at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea, rejected the idea of Britain sharing sovereignty with Spain by 99 percent to 1 percent in 2002, but overwhelmingly backed remaining in the EU in Junes Brexit referendum. Spain ceded Gibraltar to Britain in 1713, but has long called for it to be returned. Spains Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis on Monday called for calm. Tone of comments The Spanish government is a little surprised by the tone of comments coming out of Britain, a country known for its composure, Dastis said during a conference in Madrid. But the British government was angered further after Spain appeared to ease its opposition to an independent Scotland becoming a member of the EU, saying it would not immediately block such a move. The Scottish independence drive now resuscitated by the prospect of Britains departure from the EU is highly controversial in Spain because of the secessionist movement in Catalonia. As a result, Madrid has long been seen as an obstacle to an independent Scotland joining the EU after Brexit. But its foreign minister, Alfonso Dastis, threw that in doubt on Sunday. Initially, I didnt think we would block it, he said in an interview published in El Pais. Dastis did stress that Madrid would not welcome the disintegration of the UK and said that Scotland would have to apply for EU membership, a process fraught with uncertainty that is likely to take several years. OPINION: If Scotland leaves, England will lose the Brexit game Gibraltars leader scolded EU Council President Donald Tusk on Monday for giving Spain a right of veto over the future relationship between the British enclave and the EU. Mr Tusk, who has been given to using the analogies of the divorce and divorce petition, is behaving like a cuckolded husband who is taking it out on the children, Gibraltars Chief Minister Fabian Picardo told Reuters news agency in an interview. Picardo said Spain was trying to bully Gibraltar and that the EU was allowing the bullying to happen, and said Gibraltar would not allow itself to become a bargaining chip in the Brexit negotiations. We are not going to be a chip and we are not going to be a victim of Brexit as we are not the culprits of Brexit: we voted to stay in the European Union, so taking it out on us is to allow Spain to behave in the manner of the bully, he said. Picardo said the EU should remove the reference to Gibraltar from the draft guidelines. Removal of the reference to Gibraltar would be a sign of good faith and goodwill, he said. US president says trade could be a lever in getting China to take a tougher stance over North Koreas nuclear ambitions. US President Donald Trump held out the possibility on Sunday of using trade as a lever to secure Chinese cooperation against North Korea and suggested Washington might deal with Pyongyangs nuclear and missile programmes on its own if need be. The comments, in an interview published on Sunday in the Financial Times, appeared designed to pressure Chinese President Xi Jinping in the run-up to his visit to Trumps Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida this week. China has great influence over North Korea. And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they wont. And if they do that will be very good for China, and if they dont it wont be good for anyone, Trump was quoted as saying, according to an edited transcript published by the newspaper. OPINION: Beijing looks for edges on cooperation with Trump Asked what incentive the US had to offer China, Trump replied: Trade is the incentive. It is all about trade. Asked if he would consider a grand bargain in which China pressured Pyongyang in return for a guarantee that the US would later remove troops from the Korean peninsula, the newspaper quoted Trump as saying: Well, if China is not going to solve North Korea, we will. That is all I am telling you. It is not clear whether Trumps comments will move China, which has taken steps to increase economic pressure on Pyongyang but has long been unwilling to do anything that may destabilise the North and send millions of refugees across their border. It is also unclear what the US might do on its own to deflect North Korea from the expansion of its nuclear capabilities and from the development of missiles with ever-longer ranges and the capacity to deliver atomic warheads. READ MORE: Whats on Kim Jong-uns mind? Trumps national security aides have completed a review of US options to try to curb North Koreas nuclear and missile programmes that includes economic and military measures but leans more towards sanctions and increased pressure on Beijing to rein in its reclusive neighbour, a US official said. Although the option of pre-emptive military strikes on North Korea is not off the table, the review prioritises less-risky steps and de-emphasises direct military action, the official added, saying it was not immediately known if the National Security Council recommendations had made their way to Trump. The White House declined comment on the recommendations. Robert Kelly, an associate Professor of Political Science at Pusan National University, South Korea, told Al Jazeera that some people predict the US might in some way attack North Korea. Most people assume it could be some kind of an air strike. Ground options would certainly spark a major war, I dont think that is what the Trump people want. It is hard to see what naval action could happen, so I presume the Trump people mean air strikes, drones, bombings and things like that, but the North Koreans have been preparing for an American air strike for decades the US bombed North Korea heavily during the war. Any air strike would not be pinpoint or surgical or short it would probably take several days, if not weeks. The North Korean military might feel compelled to respond. The North Korean militarys prestige in the system and its access to the North Korean budget which is very small is all predicative in its ability to protect the state, so there will be a lot of pressure inside North Korea to do something if the campaign dragged on, Kelly said. I dont know how much Trump cares about what China thinks but if the Americans went over the heads of the Japanese and the South Koreans that would immediately end the alliance of the two of them, mostly because if the North Koreans did strike back they would not be able to hit the US; they would probably strike back on the American allies and that is Japan and South Korea, so we would need their approval to do it, he added. Trump and Xi are also expected to discuss Chinese ambitions in the South China Sea, through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year, when they meet on Thursday and Friday. China claims most of the resource-rich South China Sea, while Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims on the strategic waterway. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spoke on Sunday with Chinas top diplomat, State Councilor Yang Jiechi, about Xis visit and other issues of bilateral and regional importance, a State Department official said on condition of anonymity. Chinas foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday about the call that Yang had described the meeting between Xi and Trump as being of great significance for peace, stability and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region and the world at large. Tillerson told Yang that the US would do its utmost to ensure that the meeting had positive results, the ministry said. Trumps deputy national security adviser, Kathleen Troia McFarland, said there was a real possibility North Korea could be capable of hitting the United States with a nuclear-armed missile by the end of Trumps four-year term, the Financial Times reported. McFarlands estimate appeared more pessimistic than those of many experts. The typical estimates are that it will take five years or so, said Siegfried Hecker, a former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the US and a leading expert on North Koreas nuclear programme. OPINION: Small hands, big missiles Trumps dangerous adolescence Such estimates are notoriously hard to make both because of the scarcity of intelligence about North Korea and uncertainty about how high a success rate Pyongyang might want for such missiles. John Schilling, a contributor to the 38 North North Korea monitoring project, said Pyongyang might have missiles capable of limited strikes on the US mainland by the end of Trumps term, but it will most likely be a bit later than that. I doubt that any missile they could put into service by the end of 2020 will be very reliable, but perhaps it doesnt have to be one or two successes out of six launches against the US would be a political game-changer to say the least, Schilling said. Washington DC As the White House prepared to roll out the red carpet for President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, a parody lookalike of the Egyptian leader showed up at the Washington Monument, a few blocks away. Wearing an oversized mask of Sisi, the impersonator was part of a vigil held on Sunday to draw attention to the thousands of political prisoners languishing in Egyptian prisons. The man under the mask kept quiet as he tore up protesters banners with gloves stained red to resemble blood. Others were more vocal, condemning President Donald Trumps decision to meet Sisi and criticising the US support for his government. Were giving $1.5bn to an autocrat who has killed thousands of people, who has imprisoned tens of thousands of people, including Americans, said Mohamed Soltan, an American who was jailed in Egypt for nearly two years. Were here to shed light on their plight. With Trump calling Sisi a fantastic man after meeting him in September last year, activists are worried that human rights abuses in Egypt will be overlooked with a new leadership in the White House seeking to strengthen ties with the country. The Obama administration temporarily halted military aid to Egypt shortly after Sisi led the overthrow of democratically elected president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. It also repeatedly criticised the governments crackdown on political opponents, including the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. Trump, on the other hand, appeared to praise Sisis leadership in an interview with Fox Business when he said Sisi took control of Egypt, and he really took control of it. Americans jailed A White House official said on Friday that the new administrations approach is to handle sensitive issues such as human rights in a private, more discreet way than previous presidents have done. The official did not say whether Trump would bring up the case of the imprisoned American NGO worker Aya Hijazi when he meets Sisi. Hijazi could face a life sentence in Egypt after being accused of running a child sex trafficking ring and using children in anti-government protests. Human Rights Watch has called the case a travesty of justice and her supporters say she was running a childrens charity before her arrest in 2014. READ MORE: Egypts alternative facts According to #FreedomFirst, the campaign that Soltan is spearheading, at least seven American citizens are currently imprisoned in Egypt. We need to tell the world what kind of man Trump is bringing to the White House, Soltan, who was jailed after attending a sit-in against Morsis removal in Cairos Rabaa al-Adawiya square, told Al Jazeera. Hundreds of people were killed as security forces dispersed the protest on August 14, 2013. Soltans father, a Muslim Brotherhood official, was also arrested and imprisoned. Mass trials have since been held for thousands of Brotherhood supporters, and hundreds have received death sentences or lengthy prison terms. Soltan fears that with Sisi getting a warm welcome in Washington, Egyptian security forces will feel even more emboldened and empowered, that the whole world is behind them. Besides Trump, Sisi will meet officials at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, which both have extended loans to Cairo. He will also meet representatives of the American chamber of commerce and major US companies to discuss investment opportunities in Egypt. Abdallah Hendawy, a lecturer on global affairs at George Mason University, told Al Jazeera that at a time when Egypts relationships with Gulf Arab states are deteriorating, Sisi is looking for a new economic lifeline and a new strategic ally. A major reason why the new US administration seems willing to take on that role, Hendawy said, is that Trump needs a regional ally as he pushes on with his anti-terror agenda. Trump doesnt pay attention to human rights, he said. He is looking for support as people accuse him of being anti-Islam. He sees Sisi as a reformist who counters jihadi rhetoric someone to support his fight against what he calls Islamic fanaticism. As Jan Tomasz Gross addressed a crowd Sunday night, a single image was projected behind him. About 30 Polish peasants and uniformed officials stood with farm tools in a desert-like field. Near the end of his lecture, Gross drew attention to the previously unmentioned image, inviting the crowd of about 50 to look closer. Skulls laid at the feet of the Polish peasants. He said the desert-like ground was not sand, but rather the ashes of hundreds of thousands of slaughtered Jewish residents. He said the peasants standing above were rifling through the ashes to try to find Jewish gold and jewels. Those involved in the crime were opportunists, he said. Where the opportunity arose, they were not shy to take it. Gross, a Polish-born professor at Princeton University, is known for his work looking into the role of Polish people in the massacre of Jewish Poles during World War II and the Holocaust, said Norman Goda, a professor with the Center for Jewish Studies. On Sunday night in Smathers Library, Room 100, Gross talked about his work and how historians can use first-hand accounts to build their studies. Goda said he wanted to bring Gross to UF because of the impact of his work. After Gross released his 2002 book Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland, which challenged the national narrative about the Holocaust in Poland, he received backlash, including the country filing a criminal libel investigation against him. The Polish narrative surround- ing the Holocaust was that Germans committed most of the atrocities in the country. Makaelah Barrett, a 20-year-old UF international studies junior, said she cried while reading Gross book. She came to the event to hear more about his reaction to being shunned by his own country and community. Its so exciting just to see him go against the grain of the Polish culture, she said. When asked about the backlash he received, Gross shrugged. You cant please them all, he said. Contact Romy Ellenbogen at rellenbogen@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter at @romyellenbogen Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now Jan Tomasz Gross Three panelists spent two hours explaining U.S. health cares cur- rent state and its possible future at UFs Levin College of Law on Friday. About 142 people gathered at the college to discuss health policy under President Donald Trumps administration. The UF Journal of Law and Public Policy hosted the event with UFs Health Care Law Society. Panelists included Diane Ung and Myla Reizen, health care lawyers from the national firm Foley & Lardner LLP, and Carol Gormley, Florida House Speaker Richard Corcorans deputy chief of staff for policy. Jonelle Joseph, a UF sociology sophomore, said she attended to gather data for a project about how the health care system failed people of lower socioeconomic status. I feel like I definitely learned a lot about where health care is going, the 19-year-old said. James Roberts, the senior vice president of UF Health Shands who also spoke at the event, said Trumps proposed federal budget, released March 16, cuts nearly $13 billion from the Department of Health and Human Services. The White Houses website lists $12.6 billion being cut from the department. During the panel, speakers discussed efforts to dismantle and replace the Affordable Care Act, which was instituted in March 2010 by former President Barack Obama and requires Americans to be insured, allows people up to 26 years old to use their parents health care and requires insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions. Gormley said conflicts about health policy in Congress are caused partly by Democrats and Republicans refusing to work together, such as divisions over the Affordable Care Act and its possible replacement. It is possible for any angry person to reach a lot of people with anger and without much thought, debate or analysis, she said. I think thats affecting our elections, its affecting our policymakers once theyre in office and what theyre capable of doing. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now Correction: This article has been updated to reflect that the 2017 TEDxUF event was the eighth annual, not the fourth and that admission for the event was capped. When Ahmed Shareef speaks English, his native Arabic tongue slips out, eliciting strange looks from peers. Its why the Kuwaiti-born UF student often hesitates when called upon to speak. That and being asked to repeat himself. But as of Saturday, after attending TEDxUF and hearing how the assistant director of UF Multicultural and Diversity Affairs deals with being mocked for her Spanish accent, Shareef feels empowered to speak up. I learned to step up and speak, even if I dont fully like my accent, the 18-year-old said. The UF English Learning Institute student was one of about 1,200 people who attended the eighth annual TEDxUF conference in the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. The event featured nine speakers who gave TED-style presentations on topics ranging from the battle against mosquito-borne illnesses to the effects of street art on a community. The conference, which cost about $21,000 to produce, was free to the public, but it might not be next year, said Alex Touchton, the events curator. Shareef, who emigrated from Kuwait to learn English last fall, said he related to Diana Moreno, who spoke about navigating identity in higher education. The events theme was transparency, an abstract topic that could elicit all kinds of talks, Touchton said. The theme should be abstract so its never confining, the UF chemistry and linguistics senior said. Touchton said TEDxUF 2018 organizers might have to charge attendees for the event if they dont get enough sponsors. This years event had fewer attendees than last year due to admission being capped, with about 1,600 people in the audience. I firmly believe that ideas should not cost money, but its really difficult for us to get sponsorships since were a student organization, the 22-year-old said. The event also had three dancing acts and a poetry performance, as well as an art exhibit and two activity rooms for people to share ideas. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now A project called Art in Progress, where four UF students created a painting while hearing the talks, also took place at the conference. Erin Cooper, a UF English senior, said she teared up during UF professor Ryan Duffys talk about gratitude. Duffy, a UF psychology professor, shared a story about how his mom once thanked his deaf sister for giving her the ability to feel empathetic. He challenged the audience to thank those who might be going through a hard time, because they need it the most. When you think about it, its something everyone can do every day, but for whatever reason, we dont, Cooper, 21, said. Chantel Cummings, a UF political science and history freshman, said her favorite talk was LB Hannahs, a genderqueer parent who has to correct people about their identity in order to feel authentic. Im a Christian, but it was interesting because I hold a different perspective, the 18-year-old said. Contact Jimena Tavel at jtavel@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter at @taveljimena At the conference, four UF students from different art departments created a painting inspired by the talks. "It's relaxing," said Maddy Nave, a UF art junior with a specialization in print. "You just have to say yes to what everyone else is doing." Gainesville Police arrested a man Saturday for racing his truck on West University Avenue while he was drunk. Robert Michael Latner Robert Michael Latner, 27, sped a gray 2004 Nissan Frontier, passed an officer and swerved into the right lane to pass another car, according to an arrest report. As the officer pulled behind Latners car, which was stopped at a red light at 3400 W. University Ave., Latner yelled at the other cars driver. Lets go! Green light! Green light! Latner yelled while hitting his hand against the outside of his truck, according to the report. Both drivers inched forward across the stop bar, despite the light being red, with the intention of racing, police said. When the light turned green, the drivers raced westbound on West University Avenue, reaching 65 mph, according to the report. Latner swerved to avoid hitting a curb. Police stopped him on Northwest 36th Street, and he told an officer he sped to impress girls, according to the report. His speech was slurred, and he smelled like alcohol, police said. He admitted to drinking two beers at The Social at Midtown, according to the report. He refused to finish field sobriety exercises, and his blood-alcohol levels were .142 and .148. Police arrested Latner for driving under the influence and racing on a highway. Authorities took him to the Alachua County Jail, where he was released Saturday afternoon on a $12,500 bond. Latner declined to comment. Contact Meryl Kornfield at mkornfield@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter at @MerylKornfield Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now Gainesville Police arrested a Georgia man Friday for going to local businesses and selling nonexistent ad space. Gregory Steve Greenwood Gregory Steve Greenwood, 65, told managers at The Brass Tap, Blaze Pizza, Burrito Famous, The WingHouse Bar and Grill, Pho Hanoi, World of Beer and Millers Ale House on March 21 through March 30 that he was selling advertising space for the local Holiday Inn Express and Comfort Inn, according to an arrest report. He said the ads would be passed out to hotel guests with their room key, and the managers agreed to pay him $180 each, totalling $1,260. Greenwood gave the managers a fake contract, police said. He also passed out business cards under the fake name Chuck Brooks and signed the contracts with that name. When police found Greenwood at Bento Cafe, located at 3841 SW Archer Road, on Friday, he told them he was selling ad space for the hotels but hadnt had any contact with the hotels. He admitted he took money from the businesses and knew no ads would be placed, according to the report. Police found 16 other contracts from businesses in Ocala, Lake City and Live Oak. Greenwood was arrested on charges of grand theft and scheming to defraud and obtain property. Authorities took him to the Alachua County Jail, where he remains as of press time in lieu of a $40,000 bond. Contact Meryl Kornfield at mkornfield@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter at @MerylKornfield Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now When a liberal speaker comes to UF, theres conservative outcry. How come we never get any conservative speakers? they say. They claim to be suffocated by safe spaces, when their safety was never actually threatened. Yet when theres opposition to a conservative speaker, those on the other side of the political spectrum are called snowflakes and crybabies. In what seems like an attempt to cover its a-- over complaints, Accent Speakers Bureau invited Ben Shapiro, the former editor-at-large of Breitbart, to speak today. While fake news might seem like something President Donald Trump came up with, Shapiro was spewing it years ago. He perpetuated the idea that a group named Friends of Hamas was contributing to Chuck Hagels campaign. In a 2007 article he wrote, The Palestinian Arab population breeds terrorism, anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism. Its insensitive to invite someone to speak when he demonizes whole populations regularly. UF students have committed to protesting the speaking engagement, and their voices should be heard. Our tuition dollars go to these speakers through student fees, which means that each and every student has chipped in for these speakers. According to Alligator archives, Accent is paying $15,000 of Shapiros $20,000 speaking fee. What kind of message does it send when speakers who make UF students feel unsafe are paid using student fees? If this is considered partisan and political, so be it but when a person on the left speaks on campus, conservatives have no reason to fear. The speaker comes and goes but does not actually threaten the majority. In this case, Shapiros rhetoric can make people unsafe. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, there has been a dramatic rise in anti-Muslim hate groups, and attacks on Muslim communities can come within hours of an incendiary speech by Trump. Its not an overstatement to say that Shapiro could have similar effects. Although Shapiro is not a Trump fan, he and the president do have something in common: a history of hateful rhetoric. Aside from riling up conservatives with misinformation, Shapiro has impacted minorities with unrestrained hate. During one of his TV appearances, he repeatedly misgendered Zoey Tur, and he has exhibited other transphobic behaviors, yet Accent thought it was appropriate to bring him to UF this month: Pride Awareness Month. He also stated that Black Lives Matter is a threat to black men and called the killing of Mike Brown fully justified in videos on his website, the Daily Wire. One of his speeches is called Truth is a Microaggression. Theres no room for dialogue when someone believes that a group doesnt have the right to exist and there is no basis of respect. Accent should be more conscious of who it invites to campus. When it comes to people who perpetuate intolerance and outright violence against minority communities like Shapiro, what kind of message is it sending to students who are part of those communities? One that says they are not valued at UF. Inviting conservatives to be impartial without regard for what they said about those who are LGBTQ+, Muslim or any other marginalized identity is insensitive, especially when tuition money is being used. Using student fees to pay for a speaker like Shapiro makes it seem like Accent is oblivious to the makeup of our Student Body. Nicole Dan is a journalism and political science junior. Her column appears on Mondays. I recently read a collection of short essays by Oliver Sacks titled Gratitude. These essays, particularly My Periodic Table, got me thinking about my own experiences, and this got me writing about my life. This piece doesnt stack up against the marvelous work of Sacks, but its where Ill start. A lover of the sciences, Sacks mentions his adoration of the elements, matching their atomic numbers with his recent birthdays (e.g., mercury for 80, thallium for 81). In the essay Mercury, Sacks is 79 (I am gold, he remarks). In My Periodic Table, he just turned 82 and has a little lead casket containing radioactive element No. 90. Ive never quite understood chemistry; I often joke with my friends that science is something I admire from afar. Its something I deeply respect and enjoy learning about, but not something I do actively. Still, after I read Sacks piece, I wanted to know what element corresponded to my age now 20, soon to be 21 and what that means for me. Element No. 20 on the periodic table is calcium. I had to Google all of this, including the following information from the Royal Society of Chemistry website: Calcium is essential to all living things, particularly for the growth of healthy teeth and bones. I had ideas for some metaphors behind this, but I worried Id come off trite or insincere. I didnt want to superficially connect my 20 years to calcium. I thought, though, that with some mindfulness and introspection, I could try. Twenty, like most years, has been quite mixed. I learned about myself, my friends and my family. I felt stress, fury, ecstasy, hurt, inspiration, sorrow, gratitude, love and indifference. Yet even in this year's similarity to other years, it has felt different in that everything has felt necessary. All of the events that occurred the feelings that burned, the tears that fell and the laughs that burst felt essential. In retrospect, they have been necessary for my healthy growth. This brings me to another amazing read by another inspiring individual: When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi. In it he says, You cant ever reach perfection, but you can believe in an asymptote toward which you are ceaselessly striving. This is what I want to do, and what I think I am doing now: striving toward an infinite end, and determining what that end is. That is what Kalanithi did, and even in death, he is a force of light. With the messages of Sacks and Kalanithi in mind, Ive concluded that maybe what Ive experienced at 20 are essential to me, the way calcium is essential to life. The feelings-at-20 help define the asymptote. Alternatively, they might muddle up the asymptote even more, and itll take years or decades to uncover it. Thats OK. Its all part of the process. I couldnt resist a quick peek at the future. I looked up element No. 21. Its scandium, and the Royal Society of Chemistry says its mainly used for research purposes. That actually seems to line up, doesnt it? Another year of research, of trying to figure it out or messing it up even more. I cant wait. Mia Gettenberg is a UF criminology and law and philosophy junior. Her column appears on Mondays. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now In something of a puff piece, Politicos Annie Karni largely exonerates Democratic attorney Jamie Gorelick of the seemingly unpardonable sin of representing Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner as they work their way through federal conflict of interest laws. Karni thinks she gets it, Gorelick sees herself as part of a time-honored Washington tradition of well-respected lawyers representing clients from the opposite party, I dont pass my clients through a 100 percent values alignment litmus test, confirms Gorelick. If people want to come to me and get good, principled, ethical advice, and they want to follow it, then I will take them on as a client. The first twenty paragraphs in the Politico piece deal with the vitriol from Democrats who are shocked at Gorelick for consorting with the Trumps. Only in the twenty-first paragraph does the reader learn that Gorelick has long been a bete noir of the right. Writes Karni dismissively, Rush Limbaugh for years has falsely blamed her for instituting a wall between law enforcement and intelligence agencies when she served in the Justice Department, making it easier for the lead 9/11 hijacker to enter the country. Falsely? The wall is just one of many grievous offenses against the Republic for which Gorelick stands accused -- including, as even Karni admits, a $26 million payday from Fannie Mae -- but there is nothing false about her involvement with it. On Wednesday, March 24, 2004, CIA Director George Tenet and former Clinton national security adviser Sandy Berger testified before the 9/11 Commission. Evaluating their testimony was Jamie Gorelick, one of only ten commissioners. Berger had already been apprehended stealing and destroying documents that the commission was expected to review. The commission members, at least the Republicans, did not know this. Gorelick surely must have. It was Tenet, a Clinton appointee held over by Bush, who first introduced the wall to the public. But you also had systemically a wall that was in place between the criminal side and the intelligence side, Tenet testified. Whats in a criminal case doesnt cross over that line. Ironclad regulations, so that even people in the criminal division and the intelligence divisions of the FBI couldnt talk to each other, let alone talk to us or us talk to them. In her response to Tenet, Gorelick acknowledged the wall and claimed to have used brute force in her attempt to penetrate it, but she took no responsibility for its creation. The task of assigning credit was left to Attorney General John Ashcroft. In fact, he was the first witness to call attention to the inherent conflict in Gorelicks double agency. The single greatest structural cause for Sept. 11 was the wall, Ashcroft testified before the commission on April 13, 2004. He was referring here to the same memo that Tenet had, one issued in 1995, which provided instructions on the separation of certain foreign counterintelligence and criminal investigations. These instructions, as Tenet noted, disallowed FBI agents from communicating with intelligence gatherers at the CIA and elsewhere. Full disclosure, Ashcroft continued, compels me to inform you that its author is a member of the commission. That author, of course, was Gorelick. We predicted Democrats would use the 9/11 Commission for partisan purposes, and that much of the press would oblige, thundered a Wall Street Journal editorial. But color us astonished that barely anyone appreciates the significance of the bombshell Attorney General John Ashcroft dropped on the hearings Tuesday. For all their passion, the Journal editors themselves failed to see the significance of the Ashcroft revelation. The Clintons and their allies had handed Gorelick, an inexperienced functionary, a $5 million a year job as vice-chairman of Fannie Mae. She then gave that job up to join the 9/11 Commission despite a work history that, when exposed, would embarrass the Democrats. If any one person was in a position to know how badly this all stunk it was FBI agent Steve Bongardt. He did not testify before the 9/11 Commission, but he knew something about the wall. In the summer of 2001, Bongardt became aware that known terrorist Khaled al-Mihdhar was in the United States. Citing the wall that allegedly prevented intelligence gatherers from cooperating with criminal investigators, FBI headquarters informed Bongardt that none of its many agents on the criminal side could pursue Mihdhar. Instead, that task was left to one lone FBI intelligence operative who was himself new to the job. According to Lawrence Wright, who covered this story for the New Yorker, Bongardt called the wall a bureaucratic fiction. That it was. Someday somebody will die -- and, Wall or not, the public will not understand why we were not more effective, Bongardt emailed his superiors in 2001. That someday came just weeks later when Mihdhar joined eighteen other hijackers in their terrorist September 11 attack on America. Bongardt was in a good position to know how fictional the wall could be. From July 1996 to November 1997, he headed the FBI Missile Team that was forced to collaborate with the intelligence operatives of the CIA on the investigation into TWA Flight 800, the 747 that blew up off the coast of Long Island in July 1996. According to the CIA theory, an internal explosion blew the nose off the doomed 747. The noseless fuselage then tilted back and rocketed upright for nearly a mile. According to the CIA, this zoom climb confused the hundreds of excellent eyewitnesses the FBI interviewed into thinking they had seen a missile. According to a CIA memo from April 29, 1997, Bongardt sent the CIA a blistering critique of the working CIA theory. He wanted to know why the CIA analysts failed to account for the eight witnesses who saw an object hit the aircraft or the numerous witnesses who saw that object move from east to west, the opposite direction of TWA 800. In all, he cited some thirty problem witnesses whose accounts did not begin to square with the agency scenario. In his conclusion, Bongardt hit the CIA hard. He recommended that the CIA withdraw its conclusions until it could meet several conditions, any one of which would have unraveled the CIA scenario. These included the integration of radar data, the validation of key witnesses, and the reconciliation of the thirty problem witnesses with the zoom climb scenario. At the time, Bongardt likely did not know that the newly minted CIA director George Tenet had already signed off on the CIA theory. A month earlier, the politically wired Tenet had sent FBI director Louis Freeh a letter assuring him that what these eyewitnesses saw was the crippled aircraft after the first explosion had already taken place. The same day that the CIA analysts reported on Bongardts dissent, they went back into the problem witness files and started doctoring them to make them fit the accident scenario. This is easily proved. Incredibly, the official who oversaw the FBI investigation and its coerced collaboration with the CIA was the one whose memo allegedly prevented that cooperation in the first place, Jamie Gorelick. Does anyone wonder why the Clintons awarded her with a $26 million sinecure at Fannie Mae? Or why Gorelick sought shelter by cozying up to the Trumps, who likely know none of this. They make things up, Gorelick told Politico. They say I caused 9/11, and that I caused the financial crisis. I know there are people that say that, but no legitimate person has ever said that. Ms. Karni, if you want to know whos legitimate and who is not, contact me. I will hand you the biggest story of your career. Jack Cashill is the author of TWA 800: The Crash, The Cover-Up, The Conspiracy (Regnery, 2016) Are those pushing the Trump/Russian collusion conspiracy living in Alice in Wonderland or what? Accepting this conspiracy narrative requires both the suspension of common sense and the collective amnesia about the history of Democrats actions that have earned favor from Soviet and Russian leadership over past decades and right up to the present. Vladimir Putin is shrewd, calculating, and fairly predictable. If he were serious about influencing the outcome of the November 2016 U.S. presidential election, he would not have favored the relatively unknown and impulsive Donald Trump, who had no history of doing favors for Putin or Russia. It is far more likely Putin would have chosen to help Hillary Clinton -- the known, predictable, progressive candidate with a history of helping Russian interests. By doubling down on drama rather than facts, leaders of the Democratic Party show disdain for nearly half the country who voted for Trump and a seditious inclination to destroy his presidency. What can you say about a party that hasnt learned anything from humiliating defeats -- an unprecedented string of national losses at the polls in the last three elections? Overall, on the state level the Democratic Party is now at its weakest point in nearly 100 years. On the national level, Trump garnered a significant margin of victory in the states tally of Electoral College votes because people wanted change and they simply could not get over the chain of deceit and dishonesty exhibited by standard-bearer Hillary Clinton. Before leaving office on January 20, 2017, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, whose job it was to review and consolidate the findings of all the U.S. intelligence agencies, reported there was no evidence of Russian hacking the 2016 presidential election. Conveniently ignored by the major media is the fact that it is physically impossible for the Russians or anyone else to hack our national elections because the U.S. does not have a nationwide vote tallying system. Each state controls its elections, but the various counties in each state generally have their own election counting systems. While these counties and states may post election results on their websites, the vote tabulation part of most county election systems are generally not online and not vulnerable to being hacked. And now, nearly five months since the election, not a single state or county has reported any hacking of its respective vote tabulation systems. The majority of todays pundits appear to be either in denial or ignorant of the evidence and long history of Russia and its predecessor, the U.S.S.R., having had far more substantial ties with the Democrats than with the Republicans. So lets take a stroll down historys memory lane with a mind to assessing the plausibility of the Trump/Russian collusion conspiracy. The most egregious compromise of U.S. national security occurred in the Democratic administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt during World War II. CIA documents that became available in the 1980s, the 1995 release of the Venona Intercepts -- the FBI recordings of Soviet embassy communications between 1944-48, and files released from KGB, GRU, and Comintern archives in Moscow in the 1990s show that over 300 Americans were wittingly and unwittingly spying on behalf of the USSR during this time. The result was that almost everything the USA did during WW II, and for nearly a decade afterwards, was known by the Soviets. Even though FDR was repeatedly warned about Soviet penetration of his government, he chose to do nothing about it -- perhaps because of his naivete and denial; perhaps because the USSR was considered beyond reproach as the first socialist ideal type society; and most certainly because the U.S.S.R. was an important an ally in World War II in the struggle to defeat Hitler and the Nazis. At the end of World War II, FDR attended the Yalta conference with two of his closest advisors -- Alger Hiss and Harry Hopkins. The answer to the question of why FDR made major concessions at Yalta that ensured Stalins consolidation of power over all Eastern Europe is now better understood from the Venona Intercepts and other Soviet intelligence documents that confirm that Harry Hopkins, like Alger Hiss, was a Soviet agent. Hopkins was FDRs closest advisor and was even referred to as Deputy President. He was in the words of Soviet NKVD officer Iskhak Akhmerov, the most important of all Soviet wartime agents in the United States. FDR also gave Stalin $11.3 billion (equivalent to $150 billion today) in the Lend Lease aid program, which funded military hardware and weapons that were used to crush resistance in Eastern European countries after the war. After World War II, the Truman administrations decisions to abandon General Chiang Kai-Shek and support the Communist leader Mao Tse-tung in his quest to conquer China, were heavily influenced by holdovers from FDRs State and Treasury Departments. In addition to Hopkins and Hiss, dozens of these officials, all Democrats such as Lauchlin Currie, Harry Dexter White, John Patton Davies, Noel Field, John Abt, Lee Pressman, and Owen Lattimore, to name a few -- were later exposed as highly influential spies and agents of influence for the Soviet Union and the Communist cause by the Venona intercepts and Soviet archive files. Hayden Peake, the nonpartisan curator of the Central Intelligence Agencys Historical Intelligence Collection is on record noting in the case of the FDR government (whose staff largely remained intact for some time under the Truman administration until Truman instituted the Loyalty Program in March, 1947) that, "no modern government was more thoroughly penetrated." Fast forward 35 years, and we find new patterns of similar political sympathy and alignment among Democrats. In 1980, Ronald Reagan was elected president on platform of peace through strength that included modernizing the nuclear missile deterrent systems both in the U.S. homeland and in NATO countries in Europe. The Soviets immediately countered Reagans initiative by launching a major active measures and propaganda campaign and providing funding and leadership through various front organizations for what came to be known as the nuclear freeze movement. The Democratic Party was quite vocal in support of this movement, even though its objectives were aligned with the positions of the Soviet Union and its communist front groups operating in the U.S. such as the World Peace Council and the U.S. Peace Council. In the early 1980s, Democrats introduced resolutions in Congress and in state legislatures all over the U.S. in support the nuclear freeze position. In addition to opposing nuclear deterrent modernization, the Democrats also opposed most every aspect of the Reagan military buildup, which was the key to demoralizing the USSR and causing its collapse. The Democrats tried to curtail Reagan administration efforts to aid anti-Soviet resistance movements around the world, cutting off all funding for the Nicaraguan resistance, even in the face of intelligence that the Soviets intended to build a military base in Nicaragua. Fortunately, by this time the centrally planned socialist Soviet system was failing and could not keep up with the West economically or militarily. By 1989 the Iron Curtain was collapsing with the Baltic nations of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia and other Eastern European countries asserting their independence. The Cold War was over a year later. Fast forward again to more recent times, and we find that both Obama and Clinton made concessions to the Russians, which resulted in ties far more substantial than those of any of Trumps former advisors. In 2009, the first year of his administration, Obamas preference for appeasing Russia over strengthening NATO was revealed for all to see in his unilateral cancellation of a hard-won pact (negotiated by the Bush administration over a number of years) to deploy a new generation of NATO defensive missile systems in the Czech Republic and Poland. The decision was announced (perhaps not coincidentally) on September 17, 2009 -- the exact 70th anniversary date of the Russian invasion of Poland. Then there was the infamous comment made by Obama at the end of his first term to the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev when he thought he was off-mic: This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility. That comment was part of a larger conversation about nuclear weapons and, incredibly, Obama was referring to dismantling part of the U.S. nuclear arsenal in order to appease Russia. When the Russians annexed the Crimean peninsula and undertook subversive military action in eastern Ukraine, Obama found reasons not to arm anti-Russian factions in either area. When it came to Syria, there was the infamous Red Line that Obama refused to enforce. Instead, Obama proposed to partner with Putin in bombing the Syrian resistance. Also noteworthy is the fact that during the 2012 presidential election, the entire Democratic Party apparatus mocked Republican nominee Mitt Romney as a cold war relic for saying that the Russians still posed a threat to the USA. In the first year of his second term, Obama had no response when Russia violated the terms of the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with the United States by building a new medium-range system, known as the Yars M Missile, which was banned under the treaty. More noteworthy during this time was Obamas secret nuclear deal with Iran -- Russias most important ally in the Middle East -- which paved the way for Iran to develop nuclear weapons, not to mention Obamas concession to sweeten that deal by turning over approximately $150 billion to Iran, even while acknowledging the potential for these resources to fund terrorist operations all over the Middle East. Then there was the controversial $400 million payment that Obama released and sent to Iran in January 2016, just as four American hostages were released, followed by several more planeloads of Euros, Swiss Francs, and other currencies totaling another $1.3 billion delivered to Tehran over the next month. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clintons favorable relationship with Russia was seen in the actions of both the Clinton Foundation and in her official capacity as Secretary of State. She, along with other Obama officials, signed off on an agreement that allowed Russia to purchase 20% of Americas uranium supply -- a deal that was likely greased by a $2.35 million donation to the Clinton foundation made by banks and individuals connected to the Russian government, and by a $500,000 fee to Bill Clinton for a Moscow speech paid by people with ties to Russian intelligence. Clintons campaign chairman, longtime Democrat operative John Podesta, essentially became a business partner with the Russian government when he joined the board of an energy company called Joule Unlimited, whose largest investor was a Russian government investment fund called Rusnano, an entity created in 2007 with connections to Putin. It has been alleged that Posdesta was working with this Russian-controlled fund at the same time he was advising Secretary of State Clinton. In 2016, John Podestas brother, Tony, was paid $170,000 by the Russian Government to represent Russias largest bank, Sberbank, for the purpose of lobbying the Obama administration to end the sanctions imposed on Russia after its seizure of Crimea. Had Hillary won the presidential election, the Podestas would likely have played key roles in her administration. Lastly, there are the nagging questions about why a number of Russian oligarchs and officials gave large sums of money to the Clinton Foundation, and what they expected to get in return. In conclusion, there is a long history of Democrats collusion with the Soviet Union and now Russia. If Putin and Russia wanted to influence the 2016 presidential elections, they would obviously have favored helping the connected, on-the-take, progressive establishment candidate Hillary Clinton, not the brash and unpredictable businessman from New York with minimal dealings that advanced Russian interests. Steve Baldwin is former Director of the Council for National Policy and former three-term California State Assemblyman, 77th district. Scott Powell is senior fellow at Discovery Institute. Reach them at scottp@discovery.org or scbaldwin7@gmail.com In his 1941 review titled "No, Not One" of Alex Comfort's novel No Such Liberty, George Orwell explains that the protagonist of the story is put before a tribunal because he has "declared that he will not fight against the Nazis, thinking it better to 'overcome Hitler by love.'" Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose. Notwithstanding the bestial attacks in Germany, the carnage against Christians throughout the world, the brutal rapes and assaults being propagated by jihadist "refugees," the institution of child marriage throughout the Islamic world, the frightening increase in global anti-Semitism, and the censoring of free speech, it is clear that Orwell's prescient essay needs to be reiterated as he asks that we "consider ... facts which underlie the structure of modern society and which it is necessary to ignore if the pacifist 'message' is to be accepted uncritically." Orwell asserts that "civilisation rests ultimately on coercion. What holds society is not the policeman but the good will of common men, and yet that good will is powerless unless the policeman is there to back it up. Any government which refuse[s] to use violence in its own defence would cease almost immediately to exist[.]" Yet we see Germany, France, and Sweden unraveling because the police have lost control as Muslim communities become no-go zones and law and order are abandoned. Soeren Kern describes the more "than 40 problem areas" (Problemviertel) across Germany. These are areas where "large concentrations of migrants, high levels of unemployment, and chronic welfare dependency, combined with urban decay, have become incubators for anarchy." In fact, "the problem of no-go zones is especially acute in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Germany's most populous state." Speaking of the Nazi scourge, Orwell maintains that "since pacifists have more freedom of action in countries where traces of democracy survive, pacifism can act more effectively against democracy than for it." Fast-forward to the jihadist scourge that besets the world today. Does not pacifism, by default, become pro-jihadist? Shall we call it pacifism of the soul that the Netherlands finds a courageous man like Geert Wilders guilty of free speech for pointing out the dangers of the Muslim immigration? Orwell also takes great issue with the "calculated campaign of deception" of news media and asserts that "no event is ever correctly reported in a newspaper." He emphasizes that it gives him "the feeling that the very concept of objective truth is fading out of the world. After all, the chances are that those lies, or at any rate similar lies, will pass into history." Echoes of fake news, indeed! Since "[p]acifism is only a considerable force in places where people feel themselves very safe ... turn-the-other cheek pacifism only flourishes among the more prosperous classes or among workers who have in some way escaped from their own class. The real working class, though they hate war ... are never really pacifist, because their life teaches them something different." Currently, with few exceptions, the elites in Europe appear to have no compunction about inundating villages with refugees, with dire results for their own citizens. Each time pictures are shown of Germans and Swedes who welcomed the refugees, one must wonder if they have finally come to their senses after the Cologne rapes, of the murders of young women, of the palpable fear that has gripped Europe. Then again, "to abjure violence it is necessary to have no experience of it." Clearly, the lessons of the Nazis have faded as European leaders engage in grotesque contortions to distort the facts on the ground. Will the Europeans who are now experiencing such unadulterated violence begin to push back against their elite leaders? The idea of moral equivalence is not new. Orwell asserts that before one "raises a squeal because two thousand internees have only eighteen latrine buckets between them, one might as well remember what has happened the last few years in Poland, in Spain, [and] in Czechoslovakia." Hence, "[i]f one clings too closely to the idea that 'those who fight Fascism become Fascist themselves formula, one is simply led into falsification.'" The fact is that "the ordinary short term case for pacifism, the claim that you can best frustrate the Nazis by not resisting them, cannot be sustained. If you don't resist the Nazis you are helping them, and ought to admit it." Merely substitute jihadists for Nazis, and Europe is engaging in existential suicide. So, 76 years later, the world finds itself in the same conundrum the name of the enemy is jihadist fascism, and "the notion that you can somehow defeat violence by submitting to it is simply a flight from fact." As Orwell explains, "the choice before human beings is not, as a rule, between good and evil but between two evils. You can let the Nazis rule the world; that is evil; or you can overthrow them by war, which is also evil. There is no other choice before you, and whichever you choose you will not come out with clean hands." We only have the chance of choosing the lesser evil and of working for the establishment of a new kind of society in which common decency will again be possible." Orwell asserts that "to look down your nose at the people who actually keep you out of [Hitler's] clutches ... is a highbrow variant of British hypocrisy, a product of capitalism in decay[.]" Pacifists hate violence sadly, they do not acknowledge that violence is "integral to modern society," no matter how much they wish it away. Similar to the Nazi desire to rule the world, the jihadist wants to form a global caliphate. As a result, "[t]he whole population of the world is involved in it, from the Esquimos to the Andamanese, and since one must inevitably help one side or the other, it is better to know what one is doing and count the cost." Until the world acknowledges this, the greater evil will win out. Eileen can be reached at middlemarch18@gmail.com. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking as it is commonly known, has been at the heart of Americas energy boom and drive for energy independence. The process injects fluids under pressure into porous rock that comprises vast shale formations that reside under much of the continental U.S. The rock fractures under the pressure, releasing the oil and natural gas trapped inside, which is extracted to heat Americas homes, fuel its cars, and run its factories. Not only has the process created jobs, put downward pressure on energy prices, and reduced our dependence on foreign energy, it also has helped the environment. Natural gas is the cleanest of fossil fuels and its increasing abundance thanks to fracking is largely responsible for reducing so-called greenhouse gas emissions beyond the environmentalists wildest dreams. You would never know it from the anti-fracking claims of greenies, who blame it for everything from tainted drinking water to earthquakes, with Hollywood chiming in with films showing that fracking, by releasing gas trapped in shale, makes tap water flammable. Now a federal judge has overturned a $4.2 million jury award granted to plaintiffs claiming harm from fracking, noting that the claims on which the suit was based are guesswork based on questionable science. As the Hill reports: Judge Martin Carlson wrote that the evidence presented at last years jury trial by a pair of families in Dimock, Pa., was spare, sometimes contradictory, frequently rebutted by other scientific expert testimony, and relied in some measure upon tenuous inferences. He said there were multiple weaknesses in the case, along with serious and troubling irregularities in the testimony and presentation of the plaintiffs case -- including repeated and regrettable missteps by counsel in the jurys presence, necessitating that Carlson vacate the jury award against Cabot Oil and Gas Co. At the height of the fracking revolution, the movie Promised Land was made, citing the false claims of anti-fracking opponents as gospel and exploiting their unfounded fears fanned by devotees of junk science. It is science fiction, particularly the scene where water is set on fire. As Investors Business Daily editorialized: As the U.S. changes the balance of power by exporting some of its abundant natural gas resources, a Hollywood propaganda film debuts claiming the technology making it possible will poison America's small towns. 'Promised Land," a film that does nothing to alter Hollywood's stereotype of businessmen, particularly energy industry executives, as greedy plunderers of the planet, opens this week in selected theatres. As documentary filmmaker Phelim McAleer, who is working on his own documentary, "FrackNation", has pointed out, the inspiration for the film was a spate of news reports about alleged ground water contamination from fracking wells in Dimock, Pa. "Promised Land" is set in rural Pennsylvania. The film depends on junk science for its story line. The mixture used to fracture shale is in fact a benign blend of 90% water, 9.5% sand and 0.5% chemicals such as the sodium chloride of table salt and the citric acid of the orange juice you had for breakfast. Shale formations in which fracking is employed are thousands of feet deep. Drinking water aquifers are generally only 100 feet deep. There is a lot of solid rock between them. A scene in the movie shows a character setting fire to tap water. The inspiration for that was a video produced by Wolf Eagle Environmental Engineers in Texas that showed a flaming house water pipe and claimed a gas company had polluted the water. But Texas State District Judge Trey Loftin ruled in a lawsuit that the video was a fraud and that Wolf Eagle had connected the house gas pipe to a hose and then lit the water. The film, financed by Arab oil interests linked to OPEC, which fears Americas energy liberation, is similar to another cartoonish depiction of frackings alleged horrors, Gasland. Fortunately for Americas energy and economic future, real science is triumphing over junk science in the courts, in the economy, and in the halls of political power The Trump administration has recently and rightly decided to repeal an Obama administration rule on fracking. According to The Hill: The Trump administration is planning to repeal former President Barack Obamas landmark 2015 rule setting standards for hydraulic fracturing on federal land. Justice Department lawyers revealed the decision late Wednesday in a filing with the Denver-based Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, where the federal government under had been fighting against the oil and natural gas industry and conservative states to get the rule reinstated. The rule set standards in three areas for federal-land fracking: integrity of well casing, storage of waste fluids and public disclosure of the chemicals used. It was written in part to respond to suspicion and anger from the public regarding the controversial oil and gas extraction technique, which has grown exponentially and been behind the boom in domestic energy production and resulting low prices. The rule was designed to burden the oil industry with excessive reporting requirements which would allow the EPA to delay and derail new exploration and drilling. It was designed to kill fracking, a key part of Americas energy resurgence, based on unfounded environmentalist fears. As Investors Business Daily commented on the Obama fracking rule enacted in 2015: When the Obama administration recently released its new regulations on fracking -- regulations that it said were needed to keep up with the advance and success of the decades-old technology to meet public safety needs -- the Independent Petroleum Association of America and Western Energy Alliance immediately filed suit, saying that the new regs were based on "unsubstantiated concerns" that lacked any scientific basis. "Hydraulic fracturing has been conducted safely and responsibly in the United States for over 60 years," noted IPAA president Barry Russell, who also pointed out the impact of the new regulations on job and economic growth. Fracking has produced an oil and natural gas boom, making them energy sources of the future, not the past. The Obama administration doesn't like fracking and wishes that fracking would just go away so it can go on subsidizing the Solyndras of the world. But Russell is right: Fracking is safe, and the new study proves that any concerns are politically motivated fear-mongering. Published online in late March in Environmental Science and Technology, the study focused on 11,309 drinking wells in northeastern Pennsylvania. It found that background levels of methane in well water are unrelated to the location of oil and gas wells drilled using fracking technology. Fracking simply doesnt threaten our drinking water. Nor does it cause earthquakes, which became a minor issue in the 2016 election thanks to fringe presidential candidate Jill Stein. The earth moved for environmental extremists when a 5.6 magnitude earthquake struck Oklahoma. As soon as the first aftershock, the greenies were in full voice blaming fracking, the technology that has fueled Americas oil and natural gas boom. Oklahoma state regulators ordered 37 disposal wells used by frackers shut down and Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein tweeted: Fracking causes polluted drinking water + earthquakes. The #GreenNewDeal comes with none of these side effects, Oklahoma. #BanFracking Hydraulic fracturing, the technical term, does not cause earthquakes nor has there ever been evidence that it contaminates drinking water. Fracking has been used in oil and gas production in Oklahoma since 1949 and now, more than six decades later, the chicken littles of the left are claiming it now causes major destructive earthquakes? Disposal wells do sometimes disturb the earth, but does not cause major destructive earthquakes, according to a study by the National Research Council, part of the National Academies of Science: Does hydraulic fracturing -- the process of forcing water, sand and a few chemicals down the bore hole and into shale formations -- cause earthquakes? The National Research Council (NRC), part of the National Academies of Science, says the answer to that would be no, fracking does not cause earthquakes. Thats according to a new study just released by the NRC titled Induced Seismicity Potential in Energy Technologies. The study found that out of a sample size of 35,000 oil and gas wells that have been horizontally fracked, earthquakes have been detected -- get ready -- in one instance. One. Which is statistically dead zero. But what about those earthquakes in Ohio? And the ones down in Arkansas? That was from fracking, right? No, it wasnt. It was from injecting wastewater from Marcellus drilling deep underground into what are called injection wells -- a method of disposing leftover fracking water. There are over 30,000 active injection wells in the United States. When an injection well is located near or over a fault and fluid is forced down into the well and the fluid leaks into the fault, guess what happens? An earthquake. According to the NRC study how many earthquakes have resulted from those 30,000 injection wells? Eight. Once again, statistically zero. It is fracking that has produced a boom in the production of natural gas, a fossil fuel, that has produced a significant reduction in the U.S. of so-called greenhouse gases. As the Washington Times reported: White House senior advisor Brian Deese cheered the falling carbon dioxide levels without mentioning the outsize role played by natural gas, as the cleaner-burning fuel increasingly overtakes coal in electricity generation. For those of you who are not breathlessly following the most recent data that has come out, I would note recent data that weve seen suggests or finds that for the first half of 2016, energy sector emissions in the United States are actually down 6 percent from last year, and 15 percent from 2005, said Mr. Deese. And theyre at their lowest level in nearly 20 years. He said nothing about the U.S. natural gas boom, an omission that critics say has become par for the course as the Obama administration highlights renewable energy and emissions restrictions without acknowledging the role of fracking in natural gas extraction. To add dishonesty to injury, his administration is bragging about the reduced CO2 emissions of [the] U.S. industry without crediting the fracking for natural gas, a fossil fuel, that largely caused it, said Alex Epstein, author of the book The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels. Fracking itself is in fact saving the environment by reducing the emission of greenhouse gases the greenies hate. It does not slice and dice birds en masse, including endangered species, like wind turbines, nor does it fry them to a crisp like solar panel farms have done. And it does not cause major disastrous earthquakes. Fracking is causing an energy boom that is key to Americas economic and job growth. Thanks to Trumps repeal of this and other unnecessary energy rules, Americas drillers are free to do what they do best. Drill, baby drill. Daniel John Sobieski is a freelance writer whose pieces have appeared in Investors Business Daily, Human Events, Reason Magazine and the Chicago Sun-Times among other publications. Abortion can now be stopped in states that no longer want it to take place. The way for doing it is simple, and we have our liberal-left friends to thank. Many sanctuary cities and states have shown us the way. Sanctuary cites simply refuse to obey immigration law and will not turn over apprehended illegal aliens to ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). They don't like the law, so they ignore it in order to protect illegals from being deported. Any state that has a conservative governor and legislature should just declare itself a sanctuary state for the protection of the unborn. No abortion would be allowed. It only makes sense that if a sanctuary city or state can choose the immigration law to ignore and expect no repercussions, a state can be a sanctuary state for the unborn and ignore the prevention of an abortion as being illegal. This state actually has more solid ground to stand on when logic is applied. The case that made abortion the law of the land was Roe v. Wade in 1973. In the ruling, the Court admitted it lacked the expertise to determine when life begins and to certify the personhood of a fetus. The Court states in the decision: [Texas] argues that the fetus is a 'person' within the language and meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment... If this suggestion of personhood is established, the appellant's case (or Roe's case) collapses, for the fetus' right to life is then guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. The Court clearly states that if personhood is established, then Roe has no case, and the unborn have all rights covered in the Fourteenth Amendment, which include life. Can a case for personhood be made? Absolutely. A vast majority of states have laws that consider it a double-homicide when a pregnant woman is murdered. This means that the unborn child is seen as a murder victim just like the mother. How can one be a victim of a crime and not be a person? In my home state Ohio, the law reads: At any stage of pre-natal development, if an "unborn member of the species homo sapiens, who is or was carried in the womb of another" is killed, it is aggravated murder, murder, voluntary manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, negligent homicide, aggravated vehicular homicide, and vehicular homicide. Ohio Rev. Code Ann. 2903.01 to 2903.07, 2903.09 (Anderson 1996 & Supp. 1998). The medical field supports the case for fetus personhood. A fetus was discovered to have a tumor on his heart that was serious and life-threatening. The decision was made to operate and remove the tumor while the baby was still in the womb. The operation was a success, and the child is a healthy boy now over three years old. In August of 1999, a photo captivated America. It was a photo that some liberal media sources chose to ignore. The image shown the tiny hand of a 21-week-old fetus bent around the finger of the surgeon, Dr. Joseph Burner, who successfully operated at Vanderbilt University on the fetus in the womb to repair a spina bifida lesion. This fetus was a medical patient. How can one be a medical patient and not be a person? A better case can be made for personhood of an unborn child than can be made for illegal immigrants to have a right to protection and access to public services. So why not sanctuary states that protect the unborn and ignore the right to abortion? If the left can thumb their noses at immigration laws with sanctuary cities and states, then conservatives should be able to do the same with regard to abortion. Maybe individuals could get in on this sanctuary strategy. One could declare his home a sanctuary home and then pick the one law he or she would like to ignore, like maybe paying income tax. Come to think of it, Rev. Al Sharpton seems to have already done this. Rasmea Odeh, a terrorist convicted and sentenced to ten years in prison for murdering two Hebrew University students in 1970, received a standing ovation at a Palestinian conference in Chicago that was sponsored by a radical leftist Jewish group. Odeh is being deported from the U.S. for failing to disclose her criminal conviction when she entered the U.S. in the 1990s. She was set to be retried after a judge threw out her original conviction but agreed to leave the country rather than go to prison. If Odeh's name sounds familiar, it should. She was one of the main organizers of the "Day Without A Woman" strike that took place last month. As a counterpoint to her appearance, a memorial event was held in the same hotel at which she was speaking for the two Jewish students she helped murder. Washington Times: "We need you to continue resisting Trump's agenda and to continue challenging the Zionists and to continue providing your solidarity and support to the Palestinian and Arab national movement," said Odeh, a featured speaker at the leftist Jewish Voice for Peace conference at the Hyatt Regency. Not far away at the same hotel complex, the mood was far more subdued as mourners remembered the two Hebrew University students killed in the 1969 bombing in Tel Aviv, which earned Odeh a decade in an Israeli prison before she was released in a prisoner exchange. She entered the U.S. more than 20 years ago after giving false answers on her visa application, saying she had not been detained by police, charged with crimes, or incarcerated. Odeh, 69, agreed last month to leave the country in exchange for no jail time. "As we learn that the killer will soon be deported from our country, we feel justice has been served, even if just partially," said Assaf Grumberg, Midwest associate director of Stand With Us. "She tried to deceive everyone, hoping her lies would save her. She tried to erase the memory of her victims while hoping she would become a victim herself. She failed." Stand With Us was rebuffed earlier this month in its attempt to hold a memorial at the same hotel as the JVP national members' meeting. The pro-Israel group responded by reserving a hotel suite and holding the ceremony anyway. The remembrance included remarks from rabbis and evangelical pastors, as well as statements from the families of Edward Joffe and Leon Kanter, the students killed in the supermarket bombing. "Who knows what Edward and Leon would have been, who knows what gifts they and their children could have given to the world?" said Peggy Shapiro, Stand With Us Midwest director, in prepared remarks. "They were robbed of their lives and futures by a killer who is speaking at this very venue." There was no mention of the deadly bombing during Odeh's speech, which came as part of the final plenary session at the three-day conference. Instead, the applause was thunderous as the 69-year-old Odeh took to the podium after a glowing introduction by Rabbi Alissa Wise, a JVP deputy director. The rabbi's introduction of Odeh included this gem: "Rasmea will be leaving us within a few months, but we know that in a short period of time she'll have another Arab women's committee going somewhere, and her legacy of principled resistance to Israeli-U.S. crimes against Palestinians and all other oppressed communities will be honored and continue," said Ms. Wise. The war against Islamic extremism has two fronts: the war against ISIS, AQ, and all the odious groups who have chosen to murder innocents in the name of Islam and the war at home against those who support the terrorists and resist efforts to combat them. As we see here, those who fall into the latter group are not necessarily Arabs or Muslims. And while Western supporters of terrorism are nowhere near a majority, they speak with an outsized voice, magnified by if not sympathy, then certainly "understanding" by the media. It's an open question whether Western nations so divided can survive. A website named Crime in Wrigleyville + Boystown (cwbchicgao.com) has proved to be invaluable in understanding the breakdown of civil order in Chicago. Its unflinching gaze allows the facts to speak. Often, it is simultaneously heartbreaking and amusing. One important aspect of civil society is the rule of law, enforced by police, courts, and a penal system. But what does "law and order" really mean here? Plead Guilty To Robbery, Get Probation (Welcome To Cook County!) Participation in two armed robberies of women in Lakeview has earned 20-year-old Jwan Farley a cakewalk sentence: Two years probation and a curfew from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Be sure to read the whole thing in order to get the background story here and experience a taste of Crime in Wrigleyville + Boystown. Defying a strong wave of conservative electoral victories throughout the region, Ecuador's election declared left-wing Lenin (yes, Lenin) Moreno the winner over his more conservative rival, Guillermo Lasso. This, despite a shriveling economy and a big oil bust that has deprived government coffers of money. Sure, you can just dismiss it as "Ecuadoreans are stupid" and "people get the government they deserve." You can even add "keep the illegals out." But in this case, the argument for naked leftist fraud is fairly strong. The Washington Post has a first-rate report showing several details about how bad it was: With more than 97 percent of voting acts counted, Moreno garnered 51 percent of the vote while conservative banker Guillermo Lasso stood at just under 49 percent. A difference of about 224,000 votes separated the two candidates with a smaller number of ballots still left to count. The Post reports that exit polls showed Lasso winning. One of them was from a pollster that predicted with pinpoint accuracy the results of the primary. The Post also noted that the government took three days to tally the primary results but had its narrowest of victories all ready within hours of the final election. The Post also reported that there was vote-flipping in one precinct. The mega-trends on voter direction, the economy, and the oil bust, as well as these Post details about the election itself, signal some hard questions that need to be resolved. What's more, I met with Ecuadorean human rights activists last month in Washington, a city that has many Ecuadoreans and Ecuadorean-Americans, and they told me the government was using Venezuelan CNE election officials as advisers for their effort. Those Chavista thugs are well known for just the sort of fraudulent moves described above, particularly vote-flipping. Jimmy Carter was unavailable for comment. There are some implications for the U.S. in this fraud-fest. Number one: Julian Assange, the chief WikiLeaker holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy to tweak the U.S., is a happy man. Had Lasso won, he would have been booted back to Sweden, where he is wanted on a rape charge (admittedly flimsy), which would open the door to him getting shipped to the states as soon as he touched down in Stockholm. That ought to mean something to Democrats and the rabid left busy spinning conspiracy theories about Russia, because Assange of course, is the key to ascertaining Russian meddling in U.S. elections. If Democrats are serious, they are going to demand this. If they are not, well, they will wring their hands and put out press releases about human rights and rule of law. How serious do you think they are? Gloria Allred has attained notoriety as an aggressive lawyer who represents purported victims and often obtains large settlements for them from wealthy parties. Right now, she is representing women who claim that Bill Cosby sexually assaulted them. Wikipedias article on her names a few of the famous cases she has handled (citations omitted): But now the red pump is on the other foot. LawNewz reports: In the wake of news that shes under investigation by the California State Bar, famed attorney Gloria Allred shot back in a short, punchy statement. But so did a former client. On Friday, LawNewz.com confirmed that the State bar of California is investigating after receiving a complaint about possible professional misconduct. This is still a developing story, the exact allegation remains unknown, and no disciplinary charges havent even been filed. . Allred, for her part, alleges that a former client tried to shake her down for more money. Not only that, but she claimed Friday that the state bar didnt tell her about the investigation. Heres the full statement, obtained by LawNewz.com: Someone has attempted to shake me down by threatening to report me to the State Bar unless I paid him a large sum of money. I have refused to pay this individual any amount of money. I will not be threatened or bullied by false accusations. The State Bar is required to notify lawyers in the event of any investigation. We have not been notified by the State Bar of any complaint or any investigation. I have a spotless record with the State Bar in the more than 40 years that I have been an attorney. I have no intention of allowing anyone to harm my reputation by making allegations against me which have no merit. I have no way of knowing the merits of the case at hand. But Allred, who has become wealthy and famous by suing the wealthy and famous, may be seeing the judicial process in a new light. California governor Jerry Brown has staked out a position as the leader of the opposition to President Trump, squandering hundreds of thousands of dollars on legal fees to former A.G. Eric Holder's law firm in order to harass Trump and obstruct his policies. He even devoted part of his State of the State speech to a pledge to fight deportation of illegal aliens. There is even talk of secession, though Brown has not thrown his support openly to the neo-Confederates of California. But all such talk of going it alone evaporated when California broke the "permanent" drought purportedly caused by global warming (Brown's favorite panic button), and the state's long-term neglect of its infrastructure imperiled hundreds of thousands of people downstream from the Oroville Dam. Given the degree and extent of hatred voiced toward Trump by highly placed Californians, and given the accusation that he is "irrational" and "vindictive," they must have been expecting little or no help from the federal government to help undo the damage of the state's neglect. But noooo. Christopher Cedalago of the Sacramento Bee reports: President Donald Trump announced Sunday more than a half-billion dollars would be coming to California to help cover the damage from the winter storms, including $274 million for repairs to the Oroville Dam spillway. The fulfillment of the fourth presidential declaration for damage from the winter storms totals an estimated $540 million. Gov. Jerry Brown appealed for financial assistance last month in Washington. Brown met with Robert Fenton, acting administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as part of the Democratic governor's outreach to the new administration and congressional Republicans who control federal spending. Disaster relief is generally viewed as a dispassionate function of government. But Trump's repeated rebukes of the state and its policies from threats to defund "sanctuary cities" that shield unauthorized immigrants to warnings to withdraw federal funding from the University of California, Berkeley, over violent protests there have inflamed fears that California would be punished for its strong independent streak. Gratitude, however, is not part of Brown's make-up. Even as Brown met to discuss storm damage and transportation and infrastructure projects, he didn't refrain from criticizing the Republican-led effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act and Trump's proposed wall along the U.S. Mexico border. For all the trepidation, Trump has come through on the storm damage requests each time the Brown administration has asked him. President Trump did not even mention the $60 billion or more Brown is squandering on his half-fast so-called "bullet train" that will use conventional tracks and speeds obtained a century ago over parts of its route, and therefore will be uncompetitive with airlines, as travel time between San Francisco and Los Angeles will be roughly five hours, making day trips difficult. I hope and pray that President Trump will find a way to kill the absurd waste of money and redirect those funds to highways, dams, and other capital facilities Californians actually need. But he is not willing to punish Californians in the process. Trump outclasses Brown by wide margin. Consumer confidence is at a 16-year high. Small business confidence is at a twelve-year high. Business confidence on the whole is surging since the election. Trump has surrounded himself with a large number of people who were very successful in the private sector. President Obama had few top advisers who got their experience in the private sector. According to Politifact, only 8% of Obama's Cabinet had private-sector experience. Trump has met with multiple industry groups, union leaders, black ministers, etc. Many of these people and groups actively opposed Trump in the election, but he appears willing to meet anybody. Most of the public reaction from the attendees is overwhelmingly positive, but we rarely see any significant reports on the meetings on the nightly news or in newspapers. One can only imagine the coverage if people were trashing Trump after the meetings. The public would be hard pressed to find positive stories on Trump's first 75 days. What we get instead of positive stories is Russia all the time. The Obama administration essentially started the leaks before the election about Trump collusion, and the media and Democrats have run with it. Adam Schiff especially likes to spread rumors instead of facts, and the media treat him like an objective congressman. We have been told that Russia has tried to meddle in elections for a long time, so why haven't the Democrats and the media had stories and investigations before now? FBI director Comey wanted to denounce Russia meddling in 2013, but Obama stopped it. Why? We have repeatedly been told that the FBI, Justice Department, and IRS are independent, and that Obama didn't interfere with their operations. He obviously did exercise considerable control. We have seventeen intelligence agencies, many of which are monitoring Russian contacts with Americans, and yet not one story has appeared relating to Obama, Kerry, Hillary, Podesta or anyone surrounding them. There are only stories involving Trump. Why no leaks or stories involving other people? A recent AP story asserts that Roger Claar, the mayor of Bolingbrook, Illinois, is having trouble because he backed Trump. Democrats lost over 1,000 seats since 2010. How many front-page stories point out their losses because they backed Obama and his policies? President Trump is doing many things to give power and money back to individuals and businesses throughout the United States. He is an outsider, and politicians from both parties, along with seasoned bureaucrats and lobbyists, are fighting him every step of the way because they want to protect their power and riches. Instead of the media holding the powerful's feet to the fire, they are supporting these people every day by trying to destroy Trump. Our freedoms are at stake, and Trump must succeed for them to be maintained. It would help if the media were more balanced. When I was young, there were three people of import who held me spellbound when they spoke: William F. Buckley, Jr.; Reverend Billy Graham; and Venerable Bishop Fulton J. Sheen. Each one of them seemed to hold within himself a palpable, direct line to God. Each one taught lessons that left you leaning back in your chair, contemplating some great life-changing concept that often evoked an epiphany. To top things off, each one spoke with such authority, held such charisma, and exuded such a vibrant personality that nary anyone that drew breath could ignore him. Recently, I had occasion to recall Bishop Sheen with my friend Sr. Mary. Though I grew up Protestant (and still am), there was always silence in my house when Sheen's television show, Life is Worth Living, came on. It is estimated that his show, which originally ran opposite Milton Berle (then known as "Mr. Television" because of his enormous popularity) on Tuesday nights in the 1950s, drew as many as 10 million viewers. Later, he had another program, The Fulton Sheen Program. (To be clear, I was born well after Sheen's original shows and saw them only in reruns, which continued on broadcast stations through the 1990s. Later, they were shown on EWTN, the global Catholic network.) What was particularly striking is that although Sheen's shows were taped years before, they always seemed applicable to current events. His subjects were deep and diverse. I can name no one else, for instance, who was talking about Fyodor Dostoyevsky on television in 1956. Sheen taught his audience thus: In [Dostoyevsky's] works he describes Communism that is to come. He describes it ... in Crime and Punishment. For one of the characters is Raskolnikov, the individual Communist. Raskolnikov does not believe in a distinction between right and wrong; good and bad. But he's interested in the masses. He's concerned about the poor. He wants to build up a social system. He's concerned with the proletariat. And this new social system that loves the masses must be built up; but it in order to build it up ... you have to have money. So he kills an ... old woman pawnbroker to get money to establish his Socialistic state. And he argues, 'She was vermin anyway.' You see the system? You kill one; you aid a thousand of the masses. That's simple arithmetic, and that's Communism. No concern whatever for the individual person. All that matters is the Party-state. The totalitarian structure[.] ... [A]nd as for individuals, wherever they be ... let them be wiped out. All that matters is the regime that professes to love the poor and tramples them. More than ever in its history, America needs to hear Sheen's words and others. They need to hear Billy Graham's Crusades, like this one, where he educated his audience on the Red Guard Revolution in China, telling them, "You'll find a lot of the sayings of Mao Zedong have been taken right out of the Bible and applied to Communism...or to his brand of Communism." (Reverend Graham is 98 years old; his son Franklin has taken over his ministry.) Sept. 8, 1963. Billy Graham set the all-time record attendance for the L.A. Coliseum: 134,254 They need to watch William F. Buckley, Jr. as he explains the House Un-American Activities Committee routing out Communists in post-WWII Hollywood: You can't just say, 'Oops I'm sorry that I was supporting Stalin during the period when he killed 15 million people.' You've got to say, 'I am sorry and I want to prove that I'm sorry by cooperating ... and the most concrete way to do that is to show that you are willing to identify ... [for instance] the other Ku Klux members, the other members of the Nazi movement, the other members of the Communist party. The topics these men covered and the lessons they shared are more important to the welfare of America now than when they were originally spoken. They were all standard-bearers of their time, a time that seems long ago but is still oh, so relevant today. All three men helped educate a generation and drove back the invading Communist-Socialist-Fascist all-consuming blob that eventually became today's Democratic Party. An old George Jones song laments the loss of so many great country stars. It was titled "Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes?" It also seems an appropriate question when remembering these intellectual and spiritual titans these three men I admire most, a terrestrial trinity of thinkers who kept the barbarians at bay, at least for a while. (Note: Sheen passed away in 1979, Buckley in 2008.) Susan D. Harris can be reached at www.SusanDHarris.com. Journalist and activist Mike Cernovich reports that former White House national security adviser Susan Rice obtained intelligence reports showing the identities of innocent Americans who incidentally spoke to foreign officials under security sweeps for spying or intelligence activities. Under U.S. law, U.S. persons are protected from such disclosure, which could be dry cleaners asking envoys to pick up their laundry or wrong number phone messages spilling their guts about their mothers-in-law. If such U.S. persons get swept up in surveillance, they are protected. But only if they remain "masked," which is the law of the land. Cernovich says the White House counsel's office has confirmed that Rice was one of the few officials with the authority to make the requests to unmask the innocent Americans caught up in surveillance dragnets. There was no national security reason to do so, but she did. It makes a lot of sense if the aim is political, and White House spokesman Sean Spicer has pointed out that their goal was "to leak stuff." Based on White House logs, she did, during the transition, back when angry miserable Obama White House officials frowned in a group photo for the cameras. The White House counsel's office disclosed these logs to House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes, who has been as responsible a steward of America's secrets as anyone (and said nothing). But it would mean that Rice has to have been responsible for the illegal leaking to the press of the legitimate activities of people like her NSC successor, Mike Flynn, for political rather than national security purposes. This would be true whether she did it herself or dispatched a flunky like fellow NSC official Ben Rhodes or Joe Biden's NSC man Colin Kahl to execute the dirty-tricks skullduggery. It's par for the course. Rice was the speaker of the infamous phony White House talking points on why four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, were slaughtered in Benghazi on 9/11/12, repeatedly stating for the press that the attack on the U.S. compound was the act of a spontaneous crowd that got out of control over a video and not the pre-planned, lethally executed al-Qaeda terrorist attack it was. After that, she went on to support the admittedly phony narratives about the Iran deal, which her buddy Ben Rhodes, a creative writing major, cooked up out of thin air, just as he did the Benghazi talking points. Cernovich reports that New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman (caught on WikiLeaks being in the tank with Obama) had the information and chose to sit on it to protect the former president. But based on the White House counsel act, the news nevertheless got out. The story meshes well with what FBI director James Comey told the House Intelligence Committee in response to Nunes's request for information on leaks last March 20. Comey told the committee that only 20 people would have had access to the names of innocent Americans caught up in the spy dragnet during the transition. Rice was one of them. Rice, like Rhodes, has the farthest of far-left backgrounds and the highest of malice against the incoming president. Rhodes never was able to pass a background check to obtain a security clearance and continues to mock and berate Trump & Co., as if he thinks he owned the job and now they took it. Another coeval at NSC, Colin Kahl, who was attached to Joe Biden, seems to have laid out the diabolical plans for picking off Trump's lieutenants one by one. The tweets he issues are unbelievable. Here is one: The 2nd essential step is purging or marginalizing the Axis of Ideologues in the West Wing: Bannon, Miller, Anton, Gorka, KT McFarland.14/ Colin Kahl (@ColinKahl) March 11, 2017 With a pattern of malice and mishandled security information centered on NSC dead-enders, the one thing we can see is that there is a coterie of illegal leakers who will compromise national security to enact their political aims. Devin Nunes pointedly asked Comey whether he knew that illegally leaking national security secrets is a jail-time offense. The FBI director said yes. It's time to start investigating this arrogant abuse of power. Comey has not stated whether he is investigating these people or not, and this is proper. But with these dead-enders clearly threatening the Trump presidency, it's time to see a hard hand come out against these deep-staters who don't know when to leave office and who subscribe to the leftist situational ethics of "by any means necessary." They are poison for our republic, and if they are not removed, they will destroy the Trump presidency. A few days ago, I was on local Spanish radio talking about politics. The host asked me about Russia meddling in the 2016 elections. I replied with a few points. First, the Russians, or USSR, or the evil empire, as we anti-communists used to call them, have always tried to interfere with elections. That's what commies do. They hate people who vote in free elections. Second, the Russians had no influence in changing the vote on November 8, unless you want me to believe that Putin didn't know that California, Illinois, Virginia, and New York were part of the Union. In other words, Mrs. Clinton won those rather easily! What Russian dropped the ball in those states? What secret Russian agent wasn't told about the vote in those states? It's time for some adult from the few remaining to call on Democrats to drop this nonsense about Russia and Trump. I write this as someone who did not support Mr. Trump in the primaries. I did vote for Mr. Trump because the Clinton option was simply unacceptable for the U.S. Maybe Andy McCarthy's post should be required reading for the angry left this week: So now, there is just one very inconvenient problem for the "Russia hacked the election" narrative, the tireless media-Democrat harangue since November 8: Everything of substance that is known to the U.S. government about Russian meddling was already known in those pre-election weeks when Clinton and the Democrats were hailing the legitimacy of the process. They've changed their tune not because the facts changed, but because they lost. And what's their story now? It's pretty much the same one they scalded Trump for telling. They peddle a three-part rigged election claim: (1) foreign interference, not by illegal aliens who may have voted but by Russians who did not affect the voting process; (2) one-sided press coverage they mean the Russian propaganda press and the WikiLeaks release of DNC and John Podesta e-mails, which they'd now have you believe had more influence on Americans than did the Democrat-media complex and the grudging State Department release of Hillary Clinton's own e-mails; and (3) the corruption that lifted a low-character candidate who should not have been allowed to run but who received extraordinary government assistance not from the Obama Justice Department but from the Putin regime. The story is never going to fly. That's correct. It ain't gonna fly no matter how many leftists continue to put this cream in their Starbucks coffee. The Democratic Party has a lot of problems, from losing all federal power in 2016 to getting wiped out in state legislatures during the Obama years. They need to grow up and start acting serious. P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter. IRS commissioner John Koskinen did not make a good impression at hearings of the House Oversight Committee on the agency's targeting of conservative groups. He was arrogant and unresponsive and made snide comments about GOP members of the committee. Although appointed by the president to a term that ends this November, Koskinen has said he will step aside if the Trump White House requests it. If that's the case, you would think Koskinen would be one of the first Obama holdovers to lose his job. But more than 60 days into the Trump administration, Koskinen is still pulling down a generous government salary and will actually testify before the Senate Finance Committee this week. There are two major reasons Koskinen is still in charge of the IRS: Democrats are slow-walking Trump nominees through the confirmation process, and Trump himself has failed to name dozens of under-secretaries and assistant secretaries in various federal departments. The Hill: Some Republicans lawmakers have asked President Trump to ask for Koskinen's resignation. The commissioner's term expires in November, but he has said he would step aside sooner if asked by the president. But more than two months into Trump's presidency, Koskinen is still in office, and the White House has not given a definitive answer about his future. Koskinen will be in the spotlight in the coming weeks ahead of the April 18 tax-filing deadline. He is scheduled to speak at the National Press Club on Wednesday and before the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday. Former President Obama nominated Koskinen to lead the IRS in 2013, not long after it was revealed that the agency had subjected Tea Party groups' applications for tax-exempt status to extra scrutiny and delays. Koskinen had not previously worked at the IRS and had a background as a turnaround specialist. Many Republicans accuse Koskinen of impeding congressional investigations into the political-targeting scandal. They argue that he made false and misleading statements under oath and didn't comply with a subpoena. During the last months of Obama's presidency, some House Republicans pushed for a vote on Koskinen's impeachment, despite reservations from House GOP leadership. With a record like that, it's no wonder House Republicans have been calling for the commissioner's resignation. But the internal vetting of dozens of nominees is going a lot slower than in previous new administrations, and Democrats aren't helping matters any by taking their time confirming nominees the White House already sent up. But in Koskinen's case, could it be that he and Trump have a personal connection that goes back decades? "My impression is that the administration is of two minds on this" and it's still figuring out how to address the issue, said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. His group and other conservative organizations recently had a meeting with White House officials where the topic of Koskinen's future was discussed. Fitton noted that Trump and Koskinen have a personal connection, which could make Trump hesitant to act. Koskinen and Trump first met each other in the 1970s. At the time, Koskinen worked for a firm that managed non-rail assets of Penn Central, which had filed for bankruptcy. One of those assets was the Commodore Hotel, which Trump purchased in his first big business deal. Trump may not want to bull-rush his old friend out of a job, but I think it's more a question of the administration's curious delays in nominating executive department officials. An example is the Pentagon. Trump has filled exactly one of 52 positions, and there have been delays on other nominees because the paperwork from the White House has been slow in coming. The president has the statutory authority to fill 4,000 jobs. Given Trump's promises to actually shrink government, it shouldn't surprise us if one reason for the delays in nominating executive department employees is the president's desire to find out how many of those jobs are actually necessary to the functioning of government. Eventually, after Jared Kushner's review of the structure of government, the president may decide to lop off dozens perhaps hundreds of these agencies and departments, making filling a vacancy unnecessary. But there is wide agreement in the Republican Party to fire John Koskinen sooner rather than later. Were excited to announce that amm.com is now part of fastmarkets.com. A new look and an improved experience means you can still stay ahead of this fast-moving metals market with price data, news and market intelligence right here on Fastmarkets. Discover more than 2000 prices, news and analysis in primary and secondary metals markets. We cover base metals, industrial minerals, ores and alloys, steel, scrap and steel raw materials. If you already have a Fastmarkets account, youll still have uninterrupted access to your markets by logging in with your current details. British and Spanish monkeys fight over Gibraltar and slave rights Former Tory party leader Lord Howard has assured the people of Gibraltar that Theresa May would show the same resolve as Mrs Thatcher did over the 1982 Falklands Conflict. Why is Howard saying the country is prepared to go to war with Spain over The Rock, a British territory? Because the Spanish worked a clause into draft EU negotiations giving them a veto in any Brexit deal and Gibraltar is ours. Talking to Sky News, Howard recalled when another woman prime minister sent a taskforce halfway across the world to protect another small group of British people against another Spanish-speaking country. And Im absolutely clear that our current woman prime minister will show the same resolve in relation to Gibraltar as her predecessor did. It is fighting talk. But is Howards jingoism wrong? Labours shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry says it is. Inflammatory comments like those by Michael Howard will not help Britain get what it needs from these difficult Brexit negotiations, she says. Lib Dem leader Tim Farron picked up the smell of traditional Tory nationalism and British imperialism. In only a few days the Conservative right are turning long-term allies into potential enemies, he said. I hope this isnt a sign of the governments approach to the long negotiations to come. Brexiteers have gone from cheering to sabre-rattling for war in four days, it is absolutely ludicrous. Howard later told Channel 4 News: I think it was ill-advised of the EU to insert that reference to Gibraltar in their draft guidelines. Since they have done it, I can see no harm of reminding them of what sort of people we are. And arent the Spanish to blame for any looming row? Gibraltar was ceded to Britain in perpetuity when Spain signed the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, after an Anglo-Dutch naval force captured it in August 1704 as part of the War of the Spanish Succession. That was an international fight involving Spain, France, Great Britain and their allies to work out which of them was the ultimate colonial power. Britain got Gibraltar and, among other things, the rights to slave trading in Spains American colonies. Since then The Rock has endured 15 sieges by Spain. But now the fight is over fishing rights, cheap ciggies and The Rocks 10% corporation tax, which Madrid sees as unfair competition. In 2013, Boris Johnson, the then London mayor and now Foreign Secretary, saw Spanish newspapers report that Spain was seeking a united front with Argentina against Britain, joining their respective claims to Gibraltar and the Falklands. HMS Illustrious is about to bristle into view on the southern coast of Spain, complete with thousands of Royal Marines and other elite commando units, guffed Johnson. I hope that one way or another we will shortly prise Spanish hands off the throat of our colony. The issue is further complicated by Madrids claims to Ceuta and Melilla two Moroccan ports across the water from Gibraltar as its own. There is no treaty ceding ownership of those territories nor the Islas Chafarinas, Perejil, Penon de Alhucemas and Penon de Velez de la Gomera, which all lie in Moroccan waters. And Gibraltarians want to be British. Referendums in 1967 and 2002 resulted in Gibraltarians rejecting moves for Spanish sovereignty. If the Spanish claim The Rock, they become an occupying power. And surely ceding Gibraltar would bring the Falklands into play. Lastly, 96% of the Rocks 30,000 inhabitants endorsed the EU in the referendum last June. But that doesnt mean they want to be ruled by Spain. Gibraltars chief minister Fabian Picardo tells media: The prime minister said we will never enter into arrangements under which the people of Gibraltar would pass under the sovereignty of another state against their freely and democratically expressed wishes, nor will we ever enter into a process of sovereignty negotiations with which Gibraltar is not content. The prime minister said we remain absolutely dedicated to working with Gibraltar for the best possible outcome on Brexit and will continue to involve them fully in the process. Gibraltarians see themselves as British. They want to remain under British control. But times change. Is The Rock, looming by the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea, as strategically important as it once was? Margaret Thatcher was prepared to enter into talks over Gibraltar. No shots fired. The future would be sorted out by lawyers and bureaucrats. Can a backroom deal be done now after Brexit? If it cant, is war with a key ally really on the cards? The belligerent rhetoric is painful stuff. Maybe we should let those other Gibraltarians decide The Rocks fate? The story goes than the British will leave Gibraltar when the last of its irritating Barbary Macaques dies. Wouldnt it be apt if animal rights becomes the biggest issue in a modern European row. Its the kind of thing we get excited about these days. Paul Sorene Posted: 3rd, April 2017 | In: Politicians, Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink (ANSA) - Rome, April 3 - The parents of Giulio Regeni, Claudio and Paola, on Monday appealed to Pope Francis to bring up the case of the Italian student tortured and murdered in Cairo when he visits Egypt on April 28-29. "We are sure," Paola Regeni said in a press conference at the Senate, "that the pope cannot fail to remember Giulio on this trip, joining our concrete bid for truth to finally get peace". The Regenis said that 14 "surreal" months had passed with no satisfactory response from Egypt over the abduction and murder of their son. They noted that Cairo Prosecutor-General Nabil Ahmed Sadek had promised them he would hand over video footage of when their son was last seen at a metro stop, as well as "the entire file on Giulio", but "none of this has happened yet". The Regenis' lawyer urged Egypt to "emerge from its outrageous silence" on the case. The chair of the Senate human rights committee, Luigi Manconi, said "it was a State murder, there's no excuse for Egypt's inertia". Italy has been pressing Egypt to work harder to fins the truth about Regeni, a Cambridge doctoral student doing reearsch into Egyptian trade unions. Regeni, 28, went missing in the Egyptian capital on January 25, 2016, on the heavily policed fifth anniversary of the uprising that ousted former strongman and president Hosni Mubarak. His severely tortured, mutilated body was found on February 3 in a ditch on the city's outskirts. Egypt has denied speculation its security forces, who are frequently accused of brutally repressing opposition, were involved in the death of the Cambridge doctoral student. Egyptian and Italian prosecutors have been working on the case but Rome has yet to send a new ambassador to Cairo in protest at the lack of progress. On March 23 Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano said he had asked Egyptian counterpart Sameh Choukry "in a very clear and frank way" to see that all files on Regeni requested by Rome prosecutors "be sent as soon as possible". Earlier last month Rome prosecutors said Cairo police who tracked Regeni from December 8 2015 to January 22 2016 gave false and reticent accounts of their activities. Explaining a fresh request for information from their Cairo counterparts, namely the testimony of five other agents involved in keeping tabs on the tortured and murdered Italian student, the Rome prosecutors said they have already obtained five pieces of testimony and have now filed a request for the other five. Investigators said their probe had taken them to members of a "public apparatus" and in particular individuals who had a place where they could keep Regeni for at least a week - a safe place, certainly not a home, where they could torture him far from prying eyes. At a meeting with Alfano earlier last month, Shoukry reiterated that Cairo would do its "all" to get at the truth about the Cambridge doctoral student from northeastern Italy, Alfano said after the meeting. Egypt, Alfano said, "wants ties with Italy to be fully restored", referring to the current lack of an ambassador in Cairo, because of the case. Alfano said Cairo was "prepared to retrieve the truth out of any drawer it might be in, giving a helping hand until the end to find those responsible for the murder". At the end of January the deputy head of the Egyptian parliament's foreign affairs committee, Tarek El Khouly, repeated that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi wants to find the people who tortured and murdered Regeni. "I think there is an order from the Egyptian political leaders, from the president in person, to the general prosecutor to discover who killed Regeni, whoever that may be," El Khouly told ANSA. "I think that, in any part of the world, mistakes are made by security apparatus. Perhaps it is a crime concerning an Egyptian security apparatus, perhaps not," said El Khouly, adding that the Regeni case had been politically "exploited" in both Egypt and Italy and urging a "separation" between Italy-Egypt ties and the case. It recently emerged that the head of the Egyptian street sellers' trade union secretly filmed Regeni for the Cairo police in December 2015. The union official, Mohammed Abdallah, said he had agreed to do his patriotic duty because Regeni was a "spy". BERLIN - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday that Rome must not allow asylum seekers who arrive in Italy to illegally cross the border to other parts of Europe. "The illegal crossing of the border to France, Germany and Switzerland cannot be the solution," Merkel told a press conference in Berlin with the premiers of Slovakia and the Czech Republic. "We must find a reasonable solution and we are not halfway yet... We must maintain dialogue with Italy so that it performs its tasks". Vucic wins Serbian presidential elections with 55.13% 'I will be the president of all,' incumbent premier says (ANSAmed) - BELGRADE, APRIL 3 - Premier Aleksandar Vucic has won a clear victory in Sunday's presidential elections in Serbia, taking 55.13% of preferences with 91.39% of votes counted. The former ombudsman Sasha Jankovic trailed far behind with 16.26% of the vote, followed by the young anti-establishment figure Luka Maksimovic, alias Ljubisa Preletacevic Beli, with 9.43% of the vote, former foreign minister Vuk Jeremic with 5.64% and the ultranationalist leader Vojislav Seselj with 4.47%. "I will be everyone's president," said Vucic, adding that he would "fight for the good reputation of Serbia". The president of the electoral commission Vladimir Dimitrijevic has confirmed that voting took place in an atmosphere of calm and that no significant irregularities were reported. (ANSAmed). Central Mediterranean migrant route to be closed, Tusk says EC President says exploring ways to return to normal on Schengen (ANSAmed) - BRUSSELS, APRIL 3 - Europe must close the central Mediterranean migrant route in the same way that it has shut off the so-called Balkan route, European Council President Donald Tusk said on Monday. "With a reduction of 98% the migration route through the western Balkans has been virtually closed. We need to keep it closed forever. And we need to achieve the same result on the central Mediterranean route," said Tusk after meeting with the Slovenian Premier Miro Cerar in Lubliana. "Given the positive development of the situation I can understand Slovenia's reluctance to maintain, albeit temporarily, internal controls on the Schengen borders," he added. "We are exploring all the ways to return to normality as soon as possible," Tusk said. On January 25 the European Commission recommended authorisation by the European Council for Austria, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway to maintain the temporary controls in force on some internal Schengen borders for a further three months. (ANSAmed). ROME - Interior Minister Marco Minniti has signed an agreement with Libya's main tribal leaders in support of the project to boost control of the Libyan coast in order to stem the departure of migrants and refugees to Italy, media sources reported. Minniti summoned the tribal leaders from the southern Fezzan area responsible for controlling 5,000 km of Libya's land border in order to promote peace in the area as a precondition for stemming migrant trafficking. The meeting came on the heels of the memorandum signed by Premier Paolo Gentiloni and his Libyan counterpart Fayez Mustafaal-Sarraj on February 2 committing Italy to forming a new Libyan coast guard. The 10 motorboats that Italy is renovating for Libya should be ready at the end of this month. Israel is blocking access to Gaza, Human Rights Watch says NGO wants to verify violations. Israel says security at risk. (ANSAmed) - TEL AVIV, APRIL 3 - Israel is "systematically" preventing human rights activists from entering and leaving the Gaza Strip, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said in a new report released to the media. The restrictions allegedly interfere with the activists' efforts to "document and combat rights abuses, violations of international humanitarian law and war crimes" particularly during the 2014 Gaza war, the report says. HRW has also denounced Egypt for closing the Rafah security checkpoint and Hamas for preventing people from entering or leaving for a week. The NGO has asked the court in The Hague to open investigations into "possible war crimes" in Palestine from June 2014. Israel has said that all the entrances to Gaza represent a threat to its security. "We emphasise that Gaza is under the control of the terrorist group Hamas, which carries out explict action against the security of Israel," the Israeli coordinator for activities in the Palestinian territories told reporters. (ANSAmed). If youre considering a subscription to the Disney Plus streaming service, you may be wondering how much it costs. The service is available on both YEREVAN, APRIL 2, ARMENPRESS. The results of 143 polling stations have already been counted, Armenpress reports secretary of CEC Armenia Armen Smbatyan informed. Below are the results of the 143 polling stations. Yelk bloc 4.29% Free Democrats Party 0.62% Armenian Renaissance Party 3.18% Tsarukyan bloc 23.04% Congress-PPA bloc 109% Republican Party of Armenia 55.59% Communist Party of Armenia 0.40% Ohanyan-Raffi-Oskanyan bloc 2.3% Armenian Revolutionary Federation 9.77% YEREVAN, APRIL 3, ARMENPRESS. The Ministry of Defense of Artsakh Republic told Armenpress the situation was relatively calm in the Artsakh-Azerbaijan line of contact. The Ministrys announcement says: On April 2 and overnight April 3 the situation was relatively calm in the Artsakh-Azerbaijan line of contact. The Azerbaijani forces violated the ceasefire regime 16 times by firing more than 150 shots from various caliber small arms at the Armenian positions in the Artsakh-Azerbaijan line of contact. The Defense Army forces of Artsakh refrained from taking countermeasures and continued confidently fulfilling their military duties. YEREVAN, APRIL 3, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian and Cypriot foreign ministers Edward Nalbandian and Ioannis Kasoulides exchanged telegrams on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of establishing diplomatic ties between Armenia and Cyprus, the foreign ministry of Armenia told ARMENPRESS. In his message, Edward Nalbandian mentioned the special place of Cyprus for Armenia, as a brotherly country, with which we are tied not only with the numerous historic-cultural relations dating back to centuries, but also the close inter-state relations anchored on deep mutual respect and warmth. Armenias FM underscored that during the quarter century the Armenian-Cypriot partnership was built on solid foundations, and the two countries have wide mutual understanding on important international and regional issues. Edward Nalbandian greatly highlighted the traditional warm relations formed between Armenia and Cyprus and expressed conviction that we will succeed in deepening these relations through joint efforts for the benefit and welfare of our two brotherly peoples. The foreign minister of Cyprus mentioned in this message that the friendly and brotherly relations, as well as the strong cooperation between our states are much deeper that during the past 25 years, and stressed that it is not only common values and traditions that Cyprus and Armenia have, but they are also connected with numerous historic and cultural ties. Minister Kasoulides underscored that in this present period of numerous challenges, Cyprus will continue to work in the direction of further deepening relations with Armenia, by creating new opportunities for cooperation for the benefit of the two brotherly peoples. The FM of Cyprus stressed that we have created strong foundations for active bilateral relations, which will bring success during further cooperation. YEREVAN, APRIL 3, ARMENPRESS. On April 3, as of 00:30, most of the 2000 reports over mass media examined by the task group of the Prosecutor Generals Office of Armenia related to technical issues over the organization of the voting, such as the equipment of voting rooms, operation of technical devices, overcrowding in polling stations, failure of operation of camera devices, violation of the activity of commissions in polling stations, the Office told Armenpress. 392 out of 2000 reports contained criminal elements of electoral essence. 121 out of 392 reports related to voting instead of other person or double voting, 115 related to obstructing the exercise of free will of the voter, 77 concerned violation of voting secrecy, 63 related to hindering the activity of media representative, trustee, observer, commission, 15 cases related to giving bribes, and 1 concerned violation of procedure on forming the voting list. The respective bodies are tasked to carry out investigative operations to clarify the circumstances of the abovementioned reports. Already criminal cases were launched over 6 cases, related to double voting attempt, a suspect on 1 case is arrested. As a result of checking operations, separate reports are already denied over which information will be released individually. Additional information will be provided over the investigation results. YEREVAN, APRIL 3, ARMENPRESS. The Kanaker-Zeytun administrative districts investigative department of the Investigative Committee launched a criminal case on an attempted double voting in the 3/22 polling station, the Investigative Committee told ARMENPRESS. A citizen, identified as M. Martirosyan, cast his ballot in the 3/22 polling station during the election, and afterwards intentionally returned to the same polling station to vote again. When checking his identity, the voter registration device signaled the alarm as the passport had been already registered. Martirosyan left the polling station afterwards. A criminal case has been launched, as the case contains criminal elements under the Criminal Code. Investigation is underway. As of 09:00, April 3, the district departments of the Investigative Committee received 154 materials on electoral offenses of the April 2 election. Criminal proceedings were launched based on 6 of the materials. One person has been detained. The criminal proceedings relate to double voting attempts. Three criminal cases have been launched in Yerevan, and three in provinces. YEREVAN, APRIL 3, ARMENPRESS. A number of Turkish lawmakers of German Bundestag expressed their opinions over the upcoming constitutional referendum in Turkey in an interview with the German Bild am Sonntag news agency, reports Armenpress. In their comments the lawmakers urged to maintain democracy and freedoms in Turkey. Social-Democratic party lawmaker Cansel Kiziltepe said: We all need to protect democratic values and raise our voice for freedom of speech. Green party Co-Chairman Cem Ozdemir, in his address to the Turks living in Germany, who are eligible to vote, called to vote against the constitutional referendum. Dont take the freedom you have here from the hands of your families and friends living in Turkey, he said. Green party lawmaker Ozcan Mutlu also called on to vote against the referendum. Say yes to democracy, and no to constitutional referendum, Mutlu said. The voting of Turkish citizens living abroad for the constitutional referendum has already launched. In Germany the process started on March 27. Here 1 million 400.000 citizens of Turkey are eligible to vote. They can vote until April 9 in 13 cities of Germany. YEREVAN, APRIL 3, ARMENPRESS. Today is a remarkable day: 25 years ago, on April 3, 1992, the Republic of Armenia and the Russian Federation established diplomatic relations, reports Armenpress. Armenias Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian published an article in on this occasion. We, with my Russian colleague and my friend Sergey Lavrov, opened a photo exhibition of archival documents in Moscow in February. This is the first one among the expected ceremonies dedicated to this important event. The established diplomatic relations opened new page for the two brotherly peoples. We, if it can be said so, have never been in different sides of barricades. During the history, our fathers, grandfathers together participated in war for many times, Nalbandian said. The Armenian FM said today the Armenian-Russian allied, strategic partnership is an exemplary model of cooperation, it is among the successful ones in post-Soviet space. The intense political dialogue of the two states is being ensured at the highest level, during the last 10 years more than 100 meetings of the leaders of both countries were held. An effectively coordinated work is being carried out in foreign policy platforms, in the frames of CSTO, CIS, UN, OSCE and other international organizations. A close cooperation exists in security field, the governments, parliaments and other structures of the two states are in close ties. Russia is a key trade-economic partner, an important market for goods exported from Armenia. The Russian investments passed 3 billion USD threshold, more than 2000 companies with Russian capital are operating in Armenia. The relations of two countries are successfully developing in energy field. A long-term program on economic cooperation has been signed. Armenias joining the EAEU created additional opportunities for economic development, Nalbandian said, stating that the big Armenian community in Russia has a great contribution to strengthening the bilateral ties. The FM highly appreciated Russias efforts on the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, including also with a status of OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairing country. It is due to Russias efforts, that on May 12, 1994 the ceasefire agreement was signed between Nagorno Karabakh, Azerbaijan and Armenia. It enabled the sides to pass to the conflicts political settlement stage. The Minister said despite Azerbaijans steps on hindering the implementation process of the agreement, as well as the large-scale military operations launched in April, 2016, Armenia, together with Russia, as well as with the remaining OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairing countries, continues making efforts aimed at stabilizing the situation, creating conditions for moving forward the negotiation process, settling the conflict exclusively through peaceful means. The joint statements of the heads of two countries, adopted in March during Armenian President Serzh Sargsyans visit to Moscow, highlight the significance of the diplomatic relations of 25 years between Armenia and Russia. The sides affirmed the desire to further strengthen the allied relations which is in accordance with rooted interests and desires of Russia and Armenia, Edward Nalbandian said. YEREVAN, APRIL 3, ARMENPRESS. Allied and strategic partnership relations between Russia and Armenia have become really all-embracing by the time the two countries mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, Russias Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Novoye Vremya newspaper, TASS reported. April 3, 2017, marks a significant event the 25th anniversary since the Russian Federation and the Republic of Armenia established diplomatic relations. This date emblematizes a new stage in Russian-Armenian ties that have a history of several centuries, Lavrov said, adding that the political dialogue, parliamentary ties are developing between the two states, inter-governmental commissions on economic and defense cooperation, as well as inter-parliamentary commission are working. The allied and strategic partnership relations between the two countries are really all-embracing, Lavrov said. The Russian FM stated Russia is Armenias leading trade-economic partner. Despite the unstable situation of global economy, last year the trade turnover grew by 6% and reached 1.34 billion USD, including due to the increase of supplies of Armenian agricultural products to the Russian market, the Minister said. He said new horizons opened after Armenia joined the Eurasian Economic Union. We are working together on adapting the republics economy to the rules of the Eurasian Economic Union, he said. Lavrov stated Russia welcomes Armenias contribution to providing humanitarian aid to Syrian people. He said Russia and Armenia are closely cooperating in leading multilateral platforms. As for the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Lavrov said Moscow remains the active participant in the conflict settlement. According to him, the conflict settlement depends on the political will of Armenia and Azerbaijan and their readiness for compromise solutions. Jointly with the United States and France we are helping the parties to reach sustainable solution to the conflict, Sergey Lavrov said. YEREVAN, APRIL 3, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and President of Russia Vladimir Putin exchanged congratulatory addresses on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of establishing diplomatic ties between Armenia and Russia, the Presidents Office told ARMENPRESS. President Sargsyan said in the letter: Dear Mr. Putin, I sincerely congratulate you on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Russian Federation. In the history of the ages long relations of friendship, brotherhood and mutual assistance of Armenia and Russia, this significant event opened a new qualitative phase, established the foundation of allied strategic partnership between Armenia and Russia. It is highly important that the policy of further strengthening bilateral cooperation is greatly supported by the societies of our countries, and the atmosphere of mutual understanding and trust in the meetings with you enables to make and realize decisions distinctive to true allied spirit. Today, the relations between Armenia and Russia are on the highest level, they stand out with active political dialogue, effective coordination of actions in regional and international platforms, joint efforts for ensuring peace and security in the South Caucasian region. We have made important decisions in the direction of advancing joint projects in the economy, humanitarian and other fields, inter-parliamentary and inter-regional ties are gaining momentum. Russia and Armenia have solid contributions in strengthening cooperation in the Eurasian integration process, CSTO, CIS and in other multilateral structures. All this undoubtedly inspires trust, that the comprehensive Armenian-Russian cooperation which has great potential, will continue to deepen in the future through our joint efforts, by encompassing new fields of fruitful partnership, which, without a doubt, is in line with the interests and desires of the peoples of Armenia and Russia. Dear Mr. Putin, I sincerely wish you good health, successes in your activities, and to the brotherly people of Russia welfare and prosperity. YEREVAN, APRIL 3, ARMENPRESS. 47 calls were made to the Hot Line of the Police operational headquarters from 08:00-24:00 on April 2. 12 of the calls were responded with consultations, 1 has been sent for inspection, 30 have been sent for corresponding district inspections and 4 have been sent for solving under the judicial code. The reports related: 18 overcrowding in polling stations 7 vote buying 4 ballot fraud 1 violence or physical attack 1 open voting 1 coercion 1 guided voting 1 obstruction of voting 1 obstruction of observer 1 inspection 11 consultation YEREVAN, APRIL 3, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and Russias President Vladimir Putin exchanged congratulatory messages on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Russia, reports Armenpress. In his congratulatory message, Vladimir Putin said: Dear Mr. Sargsyan, I sincerely congratulate you on the occasion of 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Armenia. In the past years, relying on the good traditions of friendship and mutual respect that connect the peoples of Russia and Armenia from the ancient times, we managed to raise the Russian-Armenian relations to a high level of partnership cooperation. The political dialogue is dynamically developing, large-scale joint projects are being implemented in trade-economic, scientific-technical, humanitarian and other spheres. The joint participation of our countries in the Eurasian economic processes, the coordination of our efforts aimed at resisting the current threats and regional security challenges give a good result. Our last talks in Moscow allowed to outline new, prospective directions of joint work. I am convinced that the further strengthening of entire complex of Russian-Armenian ties on bilateral base, as well as within the frames of the EAEU, CSTO, CIS and other multilateral structures, are in accordance with our common interests, contribute to ensuring peace and stability in South Caucasus and the Eurasian space in general. Dear Mr. Sargsyan, I sincerely wish you good health, success, and welfare and prosperity to the brotherly people of Russia. YEREVAN, APRIL 3, ARMENPRESS. On April 3, as of 12:00, the Central Electoral Commission of Armenia convened an extraordinary session during which it summarized the results of 2009 polling stations and formed a protocol of preliminary results of the voting, reports Armenpress. The CEC recorded the following results, and all members signed the protocol, there is no note of any specific opinion: Yelk bloc 122.049 votes or 7.77 % Free Democrats Party 14.746 votes or 0.94 % Armenian Renaissance Party 58.277 votes or 3.71 % Tsarukyan bloc 428.965 votes or 27.32 % Congress-APP bloc 25.975 votes or 1.65 % Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) 771.247 votes or 49.12 % Communist Party of Armenia 11.745 votes or 0.75 % Ohanyan-Raffi-Oskanian bloc 32.504 votes or 2.07 % Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) 103.173 votes or 6.57 % The protocol covers also the votes of candidates of regional lists. 2009 polling stations operated in 13 electoral districts nationwide on April 2. 1 million 577.323(or 60.93%) eligible citizens cast their votes. The preliminary results show that 4 political forces have passed the minimum required threshold: RPA is leading, then comes Tsarukyan bloc, Yelk bloc, the ARF. YEREVAN, APRIL 3, ARMENPRESS. The changes in the Electoral Code of Armenia and the technical innovations increased the level of trust among citizens even more regarding the election results, Sergey Lebedev, chairman of the CIS executive committee, head of the CIS observer mission told reporters, presenting the assessment of the observer mission representatives. We began our work since March 14, meaning in terms of time we had the chance to follow the preparation works of the election and the voting itself. Our committee has scrutinized the new Electoral Code, and we would like to say that innovations were made which are seen for the first time among CIS countries, thats why we were also waiting to see how these innovations would act during the election, he said. The head of the observer mission mentioned that the observer group included a group of diplomats, experts, representatives of various structures and others. The observer group has monitored all provinces. I would like to mention the assistance of the Central Electoral Commission as well as agencies responsible for the election, since we were receiving what we needed, materials which were necessary for studies, meaning we had a rather good, comprehensive understanding regarding the election and the preparation works. I think the innovations which were used during the election, were aimed at holding the election more free, open and transparent. Of course, certain overcrowdings, technical issues also happened, relating to the device identification, however those werent the type of difficulties which would impact the election process. Members of the commission were immediately able to resolve the situation, he said. Sergey Lebedev said they have been to over 1215 polling stations, where other observers contributed to understanding the situation. We were at the polling stations also during certain period of time of the vote counting. Also as a positive side I would like to mention the presence of observers in polling stations, with whom we were also cooperating, we were asking whether or not they have noticed violations. And the assessment, which we have regarding the election process, is also based on cooperation and interaction with observers. We can say that the election were overall held calm and organized, the introduced innovations, which were aimed at improving the process, contributed to the transparency of the process and exceeded even Western countries, who were teaching us how to correctly organize elections. I would like to underscore that we are guided by the legislation of the country where we are carrying out the observing. We do not give any political assessment. For us, it was important to observe the overall process, to what extent it is democratic, to what extent the citizens right to free expression of will is ensured. We did it, and, overall the organization of the election allows to conclude that the citizens right to free expression of will is maintained, and the election was held free and transparent, he said. Lebedev noted that certain polling stations were located in the 2nd floors of buildings, which posed a difficulty for the elderly and people with disabilities. He proposes to use the example which exists in CIS countries territory, which is to have mobile voting booths, which members of the commission would take to those areas were elderly and people with disabilities live, facilitating their participation in the election. YEREVAN, APRIL 3, ARMENPRESS. Armenias foreign minister Edward Nalbandian and Russias foreign minister Sergey Lavrov exchanged telegrams on April 3 on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between Armenia and Russia, the foreign minister told ARMENPRESS. In his message Nalbandian noted that the past 25 years became a period of consistent development of bilateral inter-state ties, based on the principles which are in the foundation of the Friendship, cooperation and mutual aid agreement and the Allied partnership declaration between Armenia and Russia. Minister Nalbandian emphasized that the Armenian-Russian allied strategic relations are based on a solid legal-contractual field, stand out by active dialogue on the highest level, wide coordination of foreign policy, constructive partnership in multilateral international and regional platforms, productive cooperation in the fields of security, military and military-industry. Nalbandian mentioned that active relations exist between the governments, parliaments and different ministries of the two states. Fruitful cooperation in the commercial, energy, transport, innovation and mining fields are being enhanced, important investment programs are being realized, inter-regional ties gain momentum every year, partnership in humanitarian and other fields is being consistently developed. Edward Nalbandian said Armenia appreciates Russias mediation efforts, including as an OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair, for the exclusively peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict. Armenias FM underscored the significant contribution of the Armenian community of Russia in the strengthening of friendly relations with Russia. Nalbandian expressed conviction that joint efforts on all levels with be aimed at the continuous development of bilateral allied relations in the future also. Sergey Lavrov underscored in his message that since the establishment of diplomatic relations the multilayer ties between the states have developed steadily based on historic traditions of friendship and mutual understanding, and through joint efforts they were elevated to the level of allied partnership. A strong legal-contractual field is formed, huge investment programs are being realized, humanitarian ties are being expanded. Russia and Armenia are active participants of the Eurasian integration process, they have significant contribution in strengthening partnership within CSTO and CIS. Lavrov was pleased to state that the stances of Moscow and Yerevan match or are very close over main issues of the international agenda, which according to Lavrov clearly reflected the results of the latest official visit of minister Nalbandian to Russia. Lavrov emphasized that a mechanism of regular consultations is established between the foreign ministries, active dialogue is maintained, which enabled to not only compare positions, but also to effectively combine efforts within global and regional platforms, including UN, OSCE, BSEC. Minister Lavrov mentioned that the joint successes during the previous quarter century are the guarantee for further discovering the potential of the Russian-Armenian relations for ensuring key interests of the countries peoples, maintaining peace and stability in the Transcaucasia region. YEREVAN, APRIL 3, ARMENPRESS. The new Electoral Code allowed holding a better election in Armenia. In an interview with Armenpress Eduard Sharmazanov, spokesman of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), said there had been shortcomings, but in terms of technical equipment, the votes of people werent lost, double voting was ruled out. Assessing the voting results, Sharmazanov said the public gave its vote of confidence to the Republican Party which is obliging and enables to continue the already started reforms. I dont consider this as a victory since victories are in the battle field. This is very obliging, Eduard Sharmazanov said. He congratulated the remaining three political forces that passed the minimum required threshold and expressed hope that all MPs, regardless of political affiliation, will do everything so that the state and national interests are better served in Armenia. Asked how many seats the RPA will have in the Parliament, Sharmazanov said the Central Electoral Commission will count this. It is a fact that the Republican Party recorded a success and fully has a right to form a government, he said. The Central Electoral Commission on April 3, as of 12:00 convened an extraordinary session during which it summarized the results of 2009 polling stations and formed a protocol on preliminary results of the voting. According to the protocol, 4 political forces enter the Parliament: the RPA is leading with 49.12%, then comes Tsarukyan bloc (27.32%), Yelk bloc (7.77%) and the ARF (6.57%). YEREVAN, APRIL 3, ARMENPRESS. On April 1 Shirakatsi Lycee launched Shirakatsi Days festival, which marks with individual projects presentation by tenth graders. During the Festival opening ceremony the scholarship certificates were handed over to the students studying in Diploma program. For one year the tenth graders have choosen, studied, and explored a topic, which was important and dear for them, met their own interests, and enabled innovation within the scope of that topic, Ucome told Armenpress. The individual project is the final research work performed by MYP graduates as well as a base for all other activities they still have to perform later in Lycee or any higher educational institution. The presentation of the individual projects was also marked by another important news: the Lycee established scholarships for the Diploma program students, the highest of which is sponsored by Ucom. When handing the 100% scholarship certificate to Armine Karapetyan, Hayk Yesayan, the Director General at Ucom, stressed: For Ucom within the frames of its corporate social responsibility stands out due to its investments into the educational projects, we couldn't remain impartial in regards to this event. By handing this 100% scholarship certificate to Armine Karapetyan we once again want to emphasize that regardless of the financial possibilities of the child's parents and relatives, as well as the place of their residence, being smart, showing good performance and knowledge, having desire for education and perseverance, - are all rewarding. That is a good base for entering a big world and a perfect opportunity to be useful to that world. After the tenth grade, the Lycee students face a very important decision: to choose further education in accordance with the national curriculum, or dare crossing streak to continue education as per Diploma program. And before that very important step we, the Lycee administration, encourage them to be bold and make the decisive step, being guided not by money, but knowledge and self-confidence for the rest of their lives. So far, only those students had the possibility to study in Diploma program, who were able to pay for their tuition, but now with the availability of scholarships, it became possible for the children, who lack finances, but have great potential and desire to get education of an international level, High School Director Zaruhi Ghaltakhchyan said. YEREVAN, APRIL 3, ARMENPRESS. Lidia Ermoshina - Chairperson of Belarus Central Commission on Elections and Holding Republican Referenda, who is included in the CIS observer missions group, positively assesses the parliamentary election held in Armenia on April 2, reports Armenpress. I would like to express my respect and admiration to the work of the Central Electoral Commission of Armenia and their overall system that had a difficult task, and, in my opinion, they successfully implemented it. I also want to express my admiration to voters who regardless of anything came and assisted this electoral process. I have no doubt over the truthfulness of the results, she said. However, she also talked about shortcomings, such as the absence of providing unimpeded environment for disabled people, presence of overcrowdings due to new technical devices and etc. There were overcrowdings almost in all polling stations. The crowds that emerged due to technical issues created difficulties for monitoring. It is understandable that these are probably our problems, not the voters, Lidia Ermoshina said, stating that in line with this the election passed smoothly. YEREVAN, APRIL 3, ARMENPRESS. A welcoming ceremony was organized for elected locum tenens Archbishop Garegin Bekchyan at St. Mary Church of Istanbuls Armenian Patriarchate, Armenpress reports Istanbul-based Agos periodical informs, adding that apart from Bekchyan and Chairman of the Religious Council of the Armenian Patriarchate Bishop Sahak Mashalian no other cleric attended the ceremony. Prior to the start of the ceremony, the doors of the church closed and the Patriarchate informed that there is no permit for the ceremony. The doors of the church again opened only after the arrival of Bekchyan and Mashalian. Nearly 50 people attended the ceremony. A prayer was offered for Bekchyan following which the locum tenens gave a speech, mentioning that the future steps should be taken calmly. A meeting is expected to be organized later which will be attended by Bekchyan, Mashalian and General Vicar Aram Ateshian, as well as some other community representatives. Locume tenens Garegin Bekchyan returned to Istanbul on April 2. Despite arrangements had been made to host Bekchyan at the Patriarchate, His Holiness preferred not to go there. Archbishop Garegin Bekchyan has announced that he has great expectations from the meeting with Ateshian. YEREVAN, APRIL 3, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan sent a condolence letter to the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin on the occasion of the tragic explosion claiming numerous lives that occurred on April 3. As Armenpress was informed from the press service of the Armenian Presidents Office, the President of the Republic expressed conviction that the municipal and federal bodies of the RF will spare no efforts to reveal the reasons of the tragedy. President Sargsyan asked to convey his sympathy and solidarity to those who have lost relatives or friends, as well as wished speedy recovery to the injured. YEREVAN, APRIL 3, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan sent a congratulatory message on April 3 to Aleksandar Vucic on being elected as President of Serbia. As Armenpress was informed from the press service of the Armenian Presidents Office, President of the Republic of Armenia wished success and new achievements to the newly-elected President Vucic in this high and responsible position. Emphasizing the fact that the centuries-old friendship between both people is based on the historical and cultural commonalities, which serves as a solid basis for further expansion of intergovernmental relations, President Serzh Sargsyan stressed the importance of cooperation with Serbia, both on bilateral and multilateral platforms. YEREVAN, APRIL 3, ARMENPRESS. Manhunt is announced against two people suspected in organizing the St. Petersburg metro blast, Armenpress reports a law enforcement source told Interfax. According to preliminary reports ten people were killed by an explosion inside a metro train at the Sennaya Square station in St. Petersburg. An unidentified device exploded in a train car. Rescue workers and law enforcement personnel are working at the scene. Evacuation is underway at a blast-hit subway station. Seven metro stations in the city have been closed following the blast. Russias President has received the reports of law enforcement forces over the blast in St. Petersburg metro. Russian Investigative Committee assessed it a terror act. Armenian President Sargsyan has already expressed condolences over the attack. MFA Armenia reports of Armenians among the injured. YEREVAN, APRIL 3, ARMENPRESS. Board Chairman of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) Tigran Sargsyan and President of Moldova Igor Dodon discussed issues of expanding trade and economic cooperation in Kishinev. As Armenpress was informed from the press service of the EEC, Tigran Sargsyan emphasized that Moldavian goods are rather famous in the EAEU market, while Moldavan businessmen have opportunities to expand their exports to the EAEU member states. We have an economic union aiming to ensure the four freedoms free movement of goods and services, labor and financial resources. A lot of citizens of Moldova live and work in the EAEU member states, while our business wants to be in active trade with your Republic, Tigran Sargsyan said. The President of Moldova noted that during the recent years the possible formats of cooperation with the EAEU have been discussed in the republic. Moldova has FTA with the CIS member states, but it is necessary to also seek for new formats for strengthening cooperation with the EAEU. Igor Dodon stated that the signing of the memorandum of understanding and cooperation is a serious step in that direction which will allow that Moldavian business to retain its positions. The sides signed the memorandum at the end of the meeting. Commenting on the signing of this document, Tigran Sargsyan stressed that its a document containing only constructive components of cooperation. Our position is that the relations between the EU and the EAEU must complement each other instead of excluding, Tigran Sargsyan stated. Igor Dodon and Tigran Sargsyan also attended the opening of the forum Eurasian Economic Union: Opportunities and prospects. In a departure from usual protocol, Daniel Weiss, the Metropolitan Museums president, handed Kelly Crow of the Wall Street Journal a detailed scoop (published online this afternoon) about his revised plans for the museums capital projects, which entail the sequential replacement of skylights in the European galleries, renovation of the British galleries and musical instrument galleries, and possible renovation of the galleries for Africa, Oceania and the Americas. Whether and when the $600,000 renovation and gallery expansion of the Southwest Wing for modern and contemporary art, designed by David Chipperfield, will get off the drawing boards remains to be seen. It was to have been the next big construction project after this: Usually announcements of major capital plans (or revisions thereof) are made after the board has had time to discuss them and act. The board meets tomorrow (Wednesday). The undue haste perhaps was driven by the sense that theres an urgent need for damage control and crisis managementan emergency response to counter the downbeat narratives that have developed around the museums leadership transition and financial shortfalls. It makes the point that Weiss has confidently hit the ground running as the museums interim chief executive officer. (Campbell relinquished the CEO role in announcing his resignation, but is to remain as director until June 30.) If, as Crow suggests, Weiss presentation tomorrow to the Mets board might be seen as an audition by Mr. Weiss for the top job at the nations premier encyclopedic museum, he appears to have flubbed his entrance by going public on the capital-plan revamp before assembling the trustees. Then again, there may have been a flurry of phone calls to get the board on board in advance. UPDATE 3/22: Ken Weine, the Mets chief communications officer, told me today that all of the planned projects and their timing were discussed at the January board meeting and the next day at our all-staff meeting. But according to Crows report, Dans plans were to be presented to the Mets board of directors on Wednesday [today].Weiss said he plans to suggest that the museum tackle several renovation projects one at a time, rather than attempt to overlap them. Why is it important to turn public perceptions around quickly? There are a lot of half-truths and innuendoes in the air, due, in part to recent articles in the New York Post and Vanity Fair that I mentioned in my last post. This negative buzz is bad for the Mets reputation and damaging to the fragile morale of staffers who have survived cutbacks and endured a reduction in benefits. One encouraging bit of news in the WSJ piece is that Leonard Lauder has explicitly stated that his promised gift [of 78 Cubist works] isnt in jeopardy because of the stalled contemporary-art wing. Other Lauder-related good news that didnt make it into Crows piece is the Mets announcement today that Stephanie DAlessandro, the well respected modern art curator at the Art Institute of Chicago, will join the Met in May as Leonard Lauder Curator of Modern Art and Curator in Charge of the Leonard Lauder Research Center for Modern Art. She succeeds Rebecca Rabinow, now director of the Menil Collection, Houston. Back in April, when I asked Weiss whether there was a chance that the Southwest Wing project might be scuttled, he had asserted unequivocally: No. Im not sure that he would be so certain about that today. I am also wondering whether Campbell, increasingly barraged by negative assessments of his leadership, might decide jointly with the board that it could be best to end his tenure sooner than scheduled, rather than prolonging a lame-duck directorship. Finally, Im no more a fan of WSJ First releases of important information than I was of Times First policies. Its especially surprising that theres still no general press release late tonight of the news published by Kelly mid-afternoon. Builders who are sitting on hughe stockpile of unsold houses offering some 15-20 per cent discounts. Mumbai: Builders in Mumbai have lined up a range of attractive discounts for home buyers, reason large number of unsold units lying idle. A report published in The Financial Express claims that house developers are offering some 15-20 per cent discounts. The offers do not stop here. A home buyer will get a free house in Alibaug for buying an apartment in upmarket Chembur that will already be offered on a 15-20 per cent discounted price, according to the report. The price of these apartments in Chembur are priced 15-20 per cent lower compared to the going rate 18 months back, FE quoted Amit Wadhwani, as saying. Wadhwani is director at Sai Estate Consultant that is a channel partner for the said offer. Tata Group's realty arm Tata Housing in not behind in offering homes on discounted prices. The company has come up with a cash-back offer of up to Rs 10 lakh for projects in Kalyan, Bhandup, Mulund and Thane and under the jurisdiction of Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority. Price of the houses developed by Tata Housing have fixed in the range of Rs 70 lakh and Rs 4 to 5 crore. The Pune-based Kolte Patil Developers has a unique scheme under which it is offering homes at launch prices even if the projects are near to completion. The concession amounts to a 15-20 per cent discount in the realty market. Government's note ban decision last year and biggest ever tax reform the Goods and Tax Services have affected the property market with home buyers postponing their plans to purchase home. Due to which the stock or inventory of these houses went up by a huge number. "At the last count, there were 6.7 lakh unsold residential units across the country with 1.55 lakh in MMR alone," FE report said. Apart from that, houses under high-end category were hardest hit as with the number of total launches dropped by 50 per cent to 12,000 units in 2016. Infosys co-founder had yesterday said compensation hike to U B Pravin Rao was not 'proper'. New Delhi: Shares of Infosys fell by over 1.00 per cent today after fresh row erupted between the founders and the Board of the company over the pay hike to Chief Operating Officer U B Pravin Rao. The shares of Infosys slipped by 0.94 per cent to Rs 1,011.25 apiece in early trade on the BSE. At NSE, shares of the company went down by 1.15 per cent to Rs 1,010.45. Infosys founder N R Narayana Murthy yesterday said that the compensation hike to Chief Operating Officer (COO) U B Pravin Rao approved by the board in February was not "proper" and "will likely erode the trust and faith of the employees in the management and the board". "The impact of such a decision (compensation hike) will likely erode the trust and faith of the employees in the management and the board," he said. Infosys Board passed Rao's pay hike with 67 per cent of votes, while 33 per cent voted against it. Only 24 per cent of promoters voted in favour of the compensation hike, and rest of them abstained from voting. Murthy also said that given the current poor governance standards at Infosys, the targets for variable pay may not be adhered to if the board wants to favor a top management person. She may be a huge Bollywood star but that has not stopped this busybee from always making time for her close friends. It is a royal treat for us whenever we get our hands on this divas pictures. Be it old pictures or the latest ones, we love to see her. Yes, we came across some unseen pictures of Deepika Padukone and they were nothing less than marvelous. Have a dekko! As we all know, last year, Deepika Padukone took off to Sri Lanka to attend the wedding of her BFF, Srila Rao, and fortunately, we stumbled upon these pictures from the wedding. Lets admit, these pictures are giving us serious friendship goals and they are drool-worthy. In one picture, Deepika is doing what any best friend does and that is to be the perfect bridesmaid and doll up the bride. In another such picture, Deepika is seen giving a speech, in what may be the bridesmaid speech, while the onlookers listen intently. But for us, the best picture is of Srila Rao sitting on Deepikas lap and posing for the cameras. Aww, we go! But amid all the dosti, lets not forget how fashionably stunning Deepika looks, isnt it? Looks like this wedding was a dream wedding for the guests because where else will you spot Deepika Padukone as the bridesmaid. If this was not enough, her alleged boyfriend, Ranveer Singh, also attended the wedding and had a great time with Deepikas friends. Currently, Deepika is busy shooting for Sanjay Leela Bhansalis Indian period drama, Padmavati, which also stars Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor. After Sanjay Leela Bhansali was assaulted on the sets of Padmavati in Jaipur, the shooting of the film was stalled but the shooting will commence, soon. The actress is sure about wanting to do this one thing before her death and it's too adorable. Mumbai: Bollywood stars often keep getting asked about their marriage plans. Be it the 24-year-old Alia Bhatt or the 51-year-old Salman Khan. Alia recently made news when she said that she would want to settle down early in her life. However, it doesnt seem that even at 31, Deepika Padukone has any plans to get married soon. The way the actress career is going ahead after recently debuting in Hollywood with xXx: return of Xander Cage and with the big budget Padmavati in her kitty, Deepika might want to focus on her career and not settle down now despite rumours of marriage with rumoured boyfriend Ranveer Singh surfacing once in a while. While Deepika is yet to talk about her marriage plans, the actress is sure about wanting to have a lot of babies. In a recent interview with Rajeev Masand for a television channel, the actress said, "The one thing I've got to do before I die is definitely have lots of babies. That's what I want to do." Incidentally, when Hollywood star Vin Diesel had arrived in India during the promotions of xXx: Return of Xander Cage, Deepika was asked about rumours of their link-up. The actress had joked that there was romance going on between the two and that they have amazing babies, but it was all in her head. The actress does seem to love babies too much. We wonder what Ranveer has to say about it. A police official informed that a two-member team of the Ludhiana police has left for Mumbai with the arrest warrant. Rakhi Sawant had made news recently for an MMS video clip , which she claimed was not of hers. Ludhiana: A local court here has issued an arrest warrant against Bollywood actress Rakhi Sawant for allegedly making objectionable remarks against sage Valmiki, who wrote the mythological Hindu epic 'Ramayana'. The warrant was issued on March 9 on the basis of a complaint filed against her for allegedly hurting religious sentiments of Valmiki community with her comments on a programme on a private television channel last year, police said today. "By doing so she has hurt the religious sentiments of a large number of his followers," the complaint said. "A two-member team of the Ludhiana police has left for Mumbai with the arrest warrant," a police official said. Sawant had failed to appear before the court during the last hearing held on March 9 despite the court issuing her repeated summons. The next hearing of the case is scheduled for April 10. After shooting several films in Punjab over the years, the superstar is back in the state for Imtiaz Ali's film. Mumbai: Some of the most popular films of Shah Rukh Khan, be it 'Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge', 'Veer-Zaara', 'Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi' have been shot in Punjab and have done brilliant business at the box-office. Shah Rukh is back in Punjab, this time for the shoot of the Imtiaz Ali directorial opposite Anushka Sharma. Fresh pictures and a video of the couple shooting in Ludhiana and Amritsar have made its way to the fan pages on social media. We see Anushka dressed in Punjabi attires during the shoot while Shah Rukh looks cool dressed in casual wear. The team had previously shot for an extended schedule in various cities of Europe like Amsterdam, Budapest, Lisbon, Prague and others during the month of October. The film is slated to release on August 11 and has also been in the news for its clash with Akshay Kumars Toilet- Ek Prem Katha which has now been pushed ahead. Imtiaz Alis film has also been in the news for the various titles it has been given. While the working title of the film earlier was The Ring, several reports claimed that the film could now be titled Rehnuma or Raula. Shah Rukh Khan had recently posted an interesting picture from his car while Imtiaz was leaving on a cycle after their discussions and it seems that they discussed the next schedule of the film that is happening in Punjab right now. While on the show, Ellen asked Evans if he may be stepping away from the role of Captain America. On Monday, Captain America: Civil War actor Chris Evans appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Rumours that the actor is planning on giving up his shield after Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers 4 (untitled) have been doing the rounds. Similar pronouncements were made after the release of Captain America: Civil War last year. While on the show, Ellen asked Evans if he may be stepping away from the role of Captain America. According to JustJared.com, the actor said, My contract is up that (Avengers) is the end of my contract. It is also being reported that Evans character (Steve Rogers) would be killed and his friend in the series, Bucky Barnes, would take over as Captain America. Earlier as well, 11 nurses hailing from Kerala had been safely evacuated from conflict hit city Kirkuk in Iraq. 33 Indians who were stuck in Iraq's Erbil arrive in India after being rescued. (Photo: Twitter | ANI) New Delhi: 33 Indians who were stuck in ISIS captured Erbil in Iraq, arrived in India on Monday after being rescued by the Indian government. The rescued people claimed that they were duped by their agent with the promise of employment in Iraq and further informed that many people like them are still stranded there. "Earlier 35 people were rescued and came back to India and this time we are 33. The agent deceived us by promising for giving jobs and took us to Iraq. More people like us are still there," said a rescued person. They arrived at Indira Gandhi Airport (IGI) after efforts by both state and central government. Earlier, 11 nurses hailing from Kerala had been safely evacuated from conflict hit city Kirkuk in Iraq. Meanwhile, an Indian Catholic priest Father Tom was abducted by ISIS some months ago in Yemen and the India government is still trying very hard to get him back to India. The jawan was on his way to Delhi and was caught at security check with the grenades. Srinagar: A soldier was arrested on Monday morning at Srinagar airport, after two grenades were found in his baggage. According to an NDTV report, police said the jawan, Gopal Mukhiya, was about to board a flight to Delhi when a check revealed that he was carrying grenades. The jawan serves near the Line of Control (LoC) in the Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir, where 19 Indian soldiers were killed by Pakistan terrorists on September 18. According to ANI, the 17 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles jawan who hails from Darjeeling, initially said that he was unaware of the grenades in his possession. But later, he retracted his statement, and claimed that he was taking grenades to Delhi to cause 'blast in rivers' to catch fish. On being pressed however, the jawan admitted the involvement of junior level officers and said he was just a 'courier' for the grenades. "Necessary action will be taken against him. I am heading to the airport now," Jammu and Kashmir DGP SP Vaid told the media in Srinagar. The soldier had entered the airport without being stopped because there is no checking for the army at the entry, the NDTV report said. Just yesterday, 1 policeman was killed and 14 injured in a grenade attack on Sunday by militants in Nowhatta area of old Srinagar. The attack came hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Srinagar to inaugurate the Jammu-Srinagar tunnel, the longest in India. After massive UP win, Modi govts focus on Karnataka, Tamil Nadu. New Delhi: After winning the battle for Uttar Pradesh Assembly with an impressive margin, the Narendra Modi government has now decided to train its eyes on regaining its former southern bastion of Karnataka and making gains in Tamil Nadu. The government has decided to engage the services of two private companies to spread the message of Modi governments people friendly policies. Interestingly, the move comes after successfully utilsing the services of these companies in the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand polls. Sources stated that the saffron outfit is eager to regain lost ground in the only sourthern state in which it has ever tasted power. Karnataka Assembly polls are likely to be scheduled mid next year. After the demise of AIADMK supremo J. Jayalalitha in Tamil Nadu, the saffron outfit is trying hard and is hopeful to make some gains in the crucial sourthern state, sources said. Their services may also be utilised in Tamil Nadu where the BJP is trying hard to create inroads, sources added. It is learnt that the PMO is directly monitoring the entire exercise as regaining power in the region is now considered to be the the foremost priority area of the Narendra Modi Government. Sources stated that the engagement of these companies would be done through the Directorate of Field Publicity in the Union information and broadcasting ministry. It is believed that the services of private companies were utilised for door to door campaigning before the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. Sources stated that apart from Narendra Modis charisma and saffron outfits organisational backing, the contribution of this door to door campaigning has also bee appreciated, hence the need was felt to replicate it in Karnataka. The Modi governments achievements like Demonetisation, Kisan Credit card and Digitial India, people centric policies like Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Jan Dhan Yojna, Swachchha Bharat Abhiyaan and Make in India and issues of national concern are likely to be brought before the people ahead of state Assembly polls. This awareness campaign by the government will be a separate exercises than what is conducted at political level by the BJP itself, sources added. It is also understood that peoples views regarding governments policies and local leaders are also likely to be collected from the electorate in the area. The three-member EC team headed by Andhra Pradesh CEO Bhanwar Lal is arriving in MP on Monday for the purpose. The political leaders and media persons were fully satisfied with the fresh demo given by the EC team, reports said. Bhopal: A five-member team of Election Commission on Sunday began a probe into the Fridays incident of a malfunctioning electronic voting machine during a demo in Bhind in Madhya Pradesh ahead of an Assembly byelection in the region. The team headed by commission director Mukesh Meena visited the strong room, where the EVMs are stored, in the district headquarters town of Bhind and gave demo of the voting machines to the representatives of different political parties and media to dispel their doubts. The team discussed this matter with the outgoing Bhind district collector T.Illeyaraja and SP Anil Singh. Preliminary probe into the Fridays incident by state CEOs office here has disclosed that demo of an old voting machine led to the fiasco, sources said. Mr Meena said they were not probing the incident. We are here to give demo of the voting machines to clear all confusions. We are not here to probe the EVM malfunctioning incident, he told the reporters on the sideline of the demonstration of the voting machines. Sources in the state CEOs office disclosed to this newspaper that a three-member technical committee accompanying the team has scrutinized the malfunctioned EVM. The political leaders and media persons were fully satisfied with the fresh demo given by the EC team, reports said. Meanwhile, the MP government on Sunday appealed to EC to review its decision to transfer 19 officers in Bhind district, saying that the move would demoralize the administration. In a related development, MP government on Sunday appointed new district collector and SP for Bhind and the EC appointed a three-member team to oversee the April 9 by-elections to Ater and Bandhavgarh assembly constituencies in the state. The development comes in the wake of demand by Congress to appoint election officers from other states to oversee the two assembly by-elections raising apprehensions over free and fair polls under the stewardship of MP CEO Saleena Singh. The three-member EC team headed by Andhra Pradesh CEO Bhanwar Lal is arriving in MP on Monday for the purpose. States fear a loss of several thousand crores of rupees due to the ban on liquor vends. New Delhi/Mumbai: Thousands of watering holes, iconic clubs and swanky pubs went high and dry as authorities went full steam to enforce a Supreme Court order banning liquor sale along highways while states gauged revenue losses. In Delhi, 100 restaurants, liquor vends and bars, including those in five-star hotels, along the six national highways passing through the state stopped serving alcohol. In Maharashtra, the liquor ban on highways has affected at least 1,000 hotels. Overall in Kerala, one of the highest liquor consuming states, 1,956 liquor bars and toddy shops have been affected. Kerala is looking at revenue losses as well as the tourism industry being affected. In Chennai, over 35 star category hotels serving liquor in and around the city and around 250 elsewhere in Tamil Nadu were affected, it is estimated. In Karnataka, the states Wine Merchants Association is considering meeting chief minister Siddaramaiah with a representation to denotify state highways. In Goa, some 30 per cent of liquor outlets have shut down following the Supreme Court order. CM Manohar Parrikar met traders to look at their issues on Saturday. Burendi's had accused 5 men of dragging her out of her cab and slapping her. However, she later retracted her claim. Noida: Maria Burendi, the 24-year-old Kenyan national who had lodged a false complaint of assault, is now all set to be deported to Kenya, on account of her long-expired student visa. We have examined Burendis documents and we found that her student visa had expired a long time ago. We will initiate the process and in a weeks time, she will be deported to Kenya, Dharmendra Singh, senior superintendent of Police, Gautam Budh Nagar, told the Hindustan Times. In the wake of racist attacks on Nigerian nationals at a mall in Greater Noida, Burendi's had accused 5 men of dragging her out of her cab and slapping her. However, she later retracted her claim. She also confessed that she had made the story up. According to her complaint, while she was on her way to her apartment at Omicron society, her taxi was stopped, she was pulled out and assaulted by 5 unidentified men. While fingers were pointed at the police for their inability to provide adequate security to foreign nationals, there was a disparity between the woman's story and the GPS data of the taxi that she had travelled in. The African Student's Association also issued an apology for the "cooked up" story. The Kenyan Embassy also accepted the veracity of the police investigation, but the police did not press charges against Burendi, since they did not want to stretch the matter. Reportedly, officials from the High Commission visited Alstonia apartment, where Burendi stays, and after realising that her complaint was fake, they were inclined to take action against her. Vicks talks about their rights through a special mother-daughter bond The advertisement sends the message across through a child who hasn't had the most ideal childhood that most others do before she meets her new mother. (Photo: Youtube/VicksIndia) Television advertisements have always been known to send across strong messages in the most interesting ways. Recently, the new Vicks advertisement touch upon a very important subject through a mother-daughter bond and it already has people talking because it has gone viral. It has been only a few days but the new video has already gone viral because it touches upon a very important subject in times like today through a mother-daughter bond. While it starts of with a child not having the most ideal childhood with an absent father and sick mother, she is later adopted and given a good life. However, it is later revealed that her mother is a transgender and has been facing issues with her rights but has beaten the odds to give her daughter a good life. The video, which keeps viewers at the edge till the end without revealing the message, has already garnered a lot of support with over three million views. It is interesting to see how various mediums are being used to support the rights of the LGBT community in India to raise awareness about the difficult lives they lead because they cant even get their basic rights. Watch the video here: Acting on a court order, the JNU administration had started the process of installing CCTV cameras across the campus. New Delhi: The JNU administration filed a complaint alleging that JNUSU office-bearers removed a CCTV camera installed in the university campus and manhandled workers, following which an FIR was registered. Acting on a court order, the JNU administration had started the process of installing CCTV cameras across the campus. The security officer of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) complained that as soon as some workers reached the corridor outside Brahmaputra hostel to install CCTV cameras, several students reached the spot and started sloganeering. Later, JNUSU President Mohit Pandey, General Secretary Satrupa Chakravarty and union members Amal Pullarkkat, Dileep Yadav and Abhay reached there and started arguing with the workers. The argument turned in to a minor scuffle, as the workers claimed that they were pushed around by the students and one of them got hurt. The students also pulled down the ladder used for installation work and Mohit went outside the main gate and dismantled a CCTV camera, which the workers claimed was worth Rs 32,000. The CCTV installation team left the spot after which the University administration was informed about the incident. On the basis of the complaint, an FIR has been registered on the charges of wrongful restraint and mischief causing damage at Vasant Kunj (North) police station. Out of the 272 MCD seats, 210 tickets have been given to new faces; a majority of them are highly-educated youth. New Delhi: Battered and shattered Congress, which is trying hard to consolidate its vote bank in the upcoming municipal elections, got a major bolt on Monday with senior party leader and former minister A.K. Walia threatening to quit the party. He alleged irregularities in ticket distribution for the April 23 polls. I have written a letter to Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken, complaining against irregularities and violation of party rules in ticket distribution and if things do not change, I will quit the party, Mr Walia said. Sources said Mr Walia, who served as a state minister in the Sheila Dikshit government, was unhappy over the party cancelling the ticket given to a woman candidate and replacing her with another for the MCD elections. The veteran Congressman has alleged that the party is ignoring ground efforts by party workers and fielding outsiders in his area in the MCD elections. Dr Walia commands big support in East Delhi. As a medical doctor, he was the health minister in the Congress government in Delhi and has held several other portfolios in a long career. Out of the 272 MCD seats, 210 tickets have been given to new faces; a majority of them are highly-educated youth. Delhi Congress spokespe-rson Sharmistha Mukherjee said that though only 136 seats have been reserved for women, the DPCC has also fielded women from general wards by giving eight more seats, to take the number of women candidates in the fray for the MCD elections to 144. Meanwhile, DPCC head Ajay Maken told this newspaper that party would wait and watch. This is not the first time something like this has happened. The AAP has been facing dissent as well. On this particular issue, the party will see. Lets wait, he said. Several other Congress leaders alleged irregularities in ticket distribution with former deputy speaker and three-time MLA Amrish Singh Gautam on Monday quitting party and joining the BJP. The veteran politicians threat to quit his party exposes deep differences in the party. Out of the 24 bikers who were arrested for rash driving on EEH, four were not even wearing helmets. Mumbai: The Pant Nagar police, Ghatkopar arrested 24 bikers and seized their bikes for allegedly speeding and driving rashly on the Eastern Express Highway (EEH) during the night intervening night of Saturday. The police had deployed a team at Kamaraj Nagar stretch, EEH after receiving several complaints from local residents about bikers creating noise and racing in the night. Out of the 24 arrested bikers, four were riding bikes without helmets. The police booked the bikers, all of whom were young men, for rash driving under the relevant sections of the IPC. The Pant Nagar police had put barricades near the Kamraj Nagar police chowky on Saturday night. The Pant Nagar police officials, along with beat marshals and detection officers were on the spot from Saturday night till early Sunday morning. When the cops asked the bikers to slow down, they tried to sped away. Police claim that 15 bikers tried to flee from the spot but were caught by the beat marshals after a chase. The police caught 24 bikes and 41 people, who were over speeding on the EEH and rash driving. The accused were brought to the Pant Nagar police station. Police inspector Tushar Kale said, We caught 24 bikers while they were rash driving at Kamraj Nagar on the EEH. They were granted bail on Sunday morning. The pillion riders were not booked. We have seized their bikes and will not hand it over to them without the courts order. The police had booked 24 bikers, while 17 were accompanying the bikers under section 279, 336, 188 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code for rash and negligent driving and disobeying a public servant. The bikers were also booked under relevant sections of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988. The woman is a professional carrier, and she had been in the business since past few years, sources said. Mumbai: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officials nabbed a woman passenger minutes after she landed from an Ethiopian airliner in Mumbai and seized 2.85 kilogrammes of cocaine worth Rs 17.1 crore on Monday morning. The 27-year-old woman, Khiangte Lalthlamuani, is a native of Meghalaya and she had travelled to Togo and Ethiopia before coming to Mumbai, the NCB sources said. She went from Lome in Togo to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. We have learnt that she picked up the contraband from outside the airport in Ethiopia and left for Mumbai. After we received a tip-off, we laid a trap outside the international airport and arrested the woman, said an NCB officer on condition of anonymity. When the officials checked her luggage, they found cocaine stuffed inside capsules that were kept in her hand baggage, NCB officials added. The woman is a professional carrier, and she had been in the business since past few years, sources said. The preliminary investigation also revealed that she had not only acted as a carrier for supplying drugs within India but also in many other countries. The investigators are yet to identify the source of the banned contraband and the identity of the person who was going to receive it from her. The woman is not cooperating with the investigation and is being evasive, the officials added. In the recent past, we have seen that drugs have changed hands outside the airports as it reduces the risk of being caught for the carrier if his or her identity is compromised. Hence we wanted to act swiftly, said the officer. The woman has been booked under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS). She has been remanded to NCB custody for further investigation. Aldrin was the second man on the moon, piloting the Apollo 11 and following Neil Armstrong onto the lunar surface in 1969. Melbourne, Florida: 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 , with the Command Pilot rating 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. Aldrin was chosen for the crew of Apollo 11 when he landed on the Moon his first words on were Beautiful view. The campaign aims to build awareness about children primarily through social media. Dhaka: Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi on Sunday launched his child rights campaign in Bangladesh aimed at mobilising millions of children from affluent families globally to speak up for their underprivileged peers. "Together we can make a difference," said 63-year-old said while launching his '100 Million for 100 Million' campaign at Saint Joseph Higher Secondary School here attended by ministers and rights activists and students from prosperous families. He said 100 million children were exposed to trafficking, slavery and other forms of violence "while 100 million youths want to change the world." President Pranab Mukherjee launched the campaign in December last year in New Delhi. The campaign aims to build awareness about children primarily through social media. Satyarthi, who intends to mobilise 100 million youth and children for 100 million underprivileged children across the world to end their plight, described the campaign as the "globalisation of compassion". "We want to create a new civilization. Income gap is widening gradually. Only eight people own wealth amount of half of the total population of the world," he said in his address at Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly here. Satyarthi said the income inequalities should be reduced first to build a peaceful planet "where all children, all women of the world will get same facilities". "Corporate leaders are powerful but you (parliamentarians) are more powerful than any forces of society," he said, asking parliament members to take actions to end particularly the children's plight around the world. Satyarthi shared 2014 Nobel Prize for Peace with Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai. Speaking to the Financial Times, Trump claimed Brexit would be positive for both sides of the negotiating table. European Union and United Kingdom flags fly above the EU Commission offices in London (Photo: AP) London: US President Donald Trump praised the European Union (EU) for doing "a very good job" in uniting after Britain's decision to quit the bloc, in a Financial Times interview published on Sunday. "I would have thought when it happened that more (countries) would follow, but I really think the European Union is getting their act together," Trump said of Britain's decision to leave the European Union. The US president praised the bloc for doing "a very good job in bringing it back together" since the shock referendum result in June. He lauded the EU for adopting "a different spirit for holding together" in recent months. Trump's comments are a departure from his prediction in January that "other countries will leave" the bloc following Brexit, which he then described as a "great thing". His remarks in a joint interview to The Times and Bild newspapers came ahead of his inauguration, sparking an angry reaction among European leaders. The EU "has no need for outside advice", French President Francois Hollande said bluntly, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the time told reporters "We Europeans have our fate in our own hands". 'A great deal' Speaking to the Financial Times, Trump claimed Brexit would be positive for both sides of the negotiating table. "I actually think it is going to be a great deal for UK, and I think it is going to be really, really good also for the European Union," he was quoted as saying. Trump was joined on the presidential campaign by Nigel Farage, a key player in the Brexit referendum who urged US voters last year to side with the anti-establishment candidate. Britain last Wednesday initiated the process for quitting the EU, a move that prompted a more formal response from the White House. "We respect the will of the British electorate and her majesty's government in taking steps of departing the European Union. ... Whatever future the UK-EU relationship looks like, we want the UK to remain a strong leader in Europe," White House spokesman Sean Spicer said. Bitter feelings nonetheless linger between Washington and Brussels, captured on Thursday when European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker joked he was ready to encourage US independence movements if Trump failed to tone down his Brexit support. "The newly elected president is delighted to see Britain leave" the European Union, Juncker said in Malta. "If he carries on, I am going to promote the independence of Ohio and Austin, Texas,'" he said in German at a congress of the European People's Party (EPP). Police said Myers left the scene and later called to report a hit-and-run and confessed when interviewed. The victim had been living in the small southwestern Idaho city of Nampa with his family. (File Photo) Nampa, Idaho: An Idaho man who struck and killed a renowned Australian humorist with his pickup truck will be sentenced in May after pleading guilty to vehicular manslaughter and leaving the scene of a crash. The Idaho Press-Tribune reports that 20-year-old Tristian Myers pleaded guilty last week in the death last October of Leslie Nassar. He had been living in the small southwestern Idaho city of Nampa with his family. Nassar was a well-known social media and technology-engineering figure in Australia. He ran a satirical news column for Crikey, an online magazine, and a comedic Twitter feed called Department of Australia. Police said Myers left the scene and later called to report a hit-and-run and confessed when interviewed. Nassar's young daughters were with him at the time. They suffered minor injuries. The visa problem began around early 2016 and Indian companies in Singapore have been advised to hire local talent. Nasscom president R Chandrashekhar (right) said that all Indian companies received communication on fair consideration. (Photo: PTI) Singapore/New Delhi: Singapore has joined the list of countries after the US to cut down on work visas issued to Indian IT professionals, prompting India to put the review of Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) on hold, citing violation of the trade pact. According to a media report, the visa problem began around early 2016 when no new visas were being issued. Indian companies in Singapore have been advised to hire local talent. Top Indian companies like HCL, TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Cognizant and L&T Infotech have their offices in Singapore. All Indian companies have received communication on fair consideration, which basically means hiring local people", said Nasscom president R Chandrashekhar. Sources told Hindustan Times that Singapore has imposed several conditions making it difficult for companies to hire resources from India. This is blatant violation of CECA and India has put the review of this trade pact on hold. According to the Singapore government, it is necessary to gauge what the Indian industry has received from the agreement before adding to its scope. But recently, Singapore has begun exercising caution in letting foreign professionals work there. In US, President Donald Trump had said that he would not allow Americans to be replaced by foreign workers, in an apparent reference to companies wherein people hired on H-1B visas, including Indians, displaced US workers India had said it is engaged with the Donald Trump administration as well as members of the US Congress on concerns regarding the H1B visa issue, amidst apprehension that there may be a clamp down on it which can hurt Indian IT industry. There was indication that President Trump is set to sign an order overhauling work visa programmes like H1B. The H1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in specialised fields. The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year. During his campaign, Trump had promised to increase oversight of H-1B and L-1 visa programmes. British Airways acknowledged the incident but Behroozi complained her mother did not receive any compensation or an apology. London: An elderly woman, not allowed to use the bathroom on a 13-hour British Airways flight on December 22, ended up wetting herself. According to a report in Daily Mail, a stewardess even went as far as blocking the woman in the middle of aisle and cited health and safety reasons for not letting 87-year-old Kocharik Tsamouzian use the toilet. Tsamouzian had been asking to use the toilet shortly since she boarded the flight from Los Angeles, bound for London. Following the refusals, Tsamouzian was extremely distressed and sat with wet clothes till the journey ended. She did not have extra clothes to change into and spent the remaining journey crying. The flight was also delayed by 90 minutes on the runway. Tsamouzians daughter, Aida Behroozi, who lives in West London was quoted as saying, I went to pick my mother up from Heathrow Airport and she arrived in tears. Behroozi was very angry that her mother was repeatedly denied access to the washroom and that the air hostess even stood in front of her seat to prevent her from getting up. British Airways acknowledged the incident but Behroozi complained that her mother did not receive any compensation or an apology. She vowed that she would not fly with them again. A spokesman for British Airways said, Our highly trained cabin crew always work to make our customers as comfortable as possible, but Civil Aviation Authority safety rules stipulate everyone must remain seated with their seatbelts on after the aircraft has started moving. This is not the first time British Airways has shown unprofessional behaviour. There have been other complaints about them running out of food, not having enough cots for babies and cutting down on customers privileges. A group of schoolgirls returning from a trip on February 23 were not given free tap water on a three-hour flight from Naples to London Gatwick. They were told that theyd have to pay by card but they had only cash. In another incident, a woman complained that British Airways gave her only one cot for her twin baby daughters on a 10-and-a-half-hour flight. She claimed that she had booked the flight to Mexico and asked for the arrangements months ago. Putin said investigators were looking into whether the explosion was a terror attack or if there might have been some other cause. At least 38 people were killed in 2010 when two female suicide bombers detonated bombs on packed Moscow metro trains. (Photo: AP) St Petersburg: An explosion ripped through a subway train in the Russian city of St. Petersburg on Monday, killing at least 10 people and injuring 50 others, the city's governor told Russian television. The blast came as Russian President Vladimir Putin was visiting the city, his hometown. Witnesses on the subway said the blast spread panic among passengers, who ran toward the exits. Putin, speaking from Constantine Palace in St. Petersburg, said investigators were looking into whether the explosion on the train was a terror attack or if there might have been some other cause. He offered his condolences to the families of those killed. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast. Within two hours, Russia authorities found and deactivated another bomb at a separate busy St. Petersburg subway station, Vosstaniya Square by the Moscow railway station, Russia's National Anti-Terrorist Committee said. The unidentified explosive device went off at 2:20 p.m. on a train that was leaving the Technology Institute station and heading to the Sennaya Square station, the agency said. Social media users posted photographs and video from the Technology Institute subway station, showing injured people lying on the floor outside a train with a mangled door. Frantic commuters were reaching into doors and windows, trying to see if anyone was there, and shouting "Call an ambulance!" "Everything was covered in smoke, there were a lot of firefighters," Maria Smirnova, a student on a train behind the one where a bomb went off, told the Dozhd television channel. "Firefighters shouted us to run for the exit and everyone ran. Everyone was panicking." The St. Petersburg subway immediately shut down all of its stations and the national anti-terrorism body said security measures would be tightened all key transport facilities across Russia. Maxim Liksutov, Moscow's deputy mayor, said that included tightening security on the subway in the Russian capital. St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city with over 5 million residents, is the country's most popular tourist destination and the two stations affected by the blast are some of the subway's busiest. Nataliya Maksimova was running late for a dentist appointment and entered the subway near the explosion site shortly after the blast. "If I hadn't been running late, I could have been there," she told The Associated Press. Putin was in St. Petersburg on Monday for talks with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, and went ahead with the talks after appearing on Russian television to speak about the attack. "Law enforcement agencies and intelligence services are doing their best to establish the cause and give a full picture of what happened," Putin said. St. Petersburg governor Georgy Poltavchenko was overseeing the rescue effort. Russian transport facilities have been the target of previous terror attacks. Two suicide bombings in the Moscow subway on March 29, 2010, killed 40 people and wounded more than 100 people. Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov claimed responsibility for that attack by two female suicide bombers, warning Russian leaders that "the war is coming to their cities." The high-speed Moscow-to-St. Petersburg train was also bombed on Nov. 27, 2009, in an attack that left 26 dead and some 100 injured. Umarov's group also said he ordered this attack. Russian airports have also been hit by attacks. On Jan. 24, 2011, a suicide bomber hit Moscow's Domodedovo Airport, killing 37 people and wounding 180. The same airport in August 2004 saw Islamic suicide bombers board two airplanes and bring them down, killing a total of 90 people. The authorities order churches to install cameras at the gates, rostrums, offering boxes, and other places. This comes three years after a campaign to tear down crosses and churches. The authorities tighten their grip over religious activity. Wenzhou (AsiaNews/Agencies) Wenzhou is known as Chinas Jerusalem because of its large Christian population, as well as its many churches and religious buildings. Late last year, the authorities in Zhejiang province issued an order requiring CCTV camera in all Wenzhou churches. Installation began just before the start of the Lunar New Year holiday in January. Some Christians have tried to resist government officials trying to install surveillance cameras on their churches for "anti-terrorism and security purposes" This clash with the citys one million Christians comes three years after the authorities launched a campaign to remove crosses and demolish churches. During the controversial campaign in 2014, deemed by many as "virtual religious persecution", government officials took down 360 crosses and demolished one church. The new policy too has met again with resistance among the faithful. Government officials came to the churches and put up cameras by force. Some pastors and worshippers who didnt agree to the move were dragged away, a Christian in Wenzhou said, without saying when it occurred. Some people needed to be treated in hospital after fighting the officials, he added. Despite strong opposition from churchgoers who claimed the surveillance infringed their privacy, churches were told to install cameras at gates, rostrums, offering boxes and other places, US-based China Aid has reported. Many parishioners declined to comment the camera order due to the issues sensitivity. Security cameras in Wenzhou churches are part of a series of country-wide policies implemented by Beijing to increase control over religious activities. by Sumon Corraya Taharem Kaderi, a brilliant eighth grader, talks about his holy war. In 2014, his parents went on an Islamic pilgrimage and came home changed. After that, the life of 14-year-old changed, radicalised along with others. He rejoiced at the news of the Dhaka massacre that left nine Italians dead, and for a while, lived with the cafe terrorists. Dhaka (AsiaNews) Taharem Kaderi is in his teens. Instead of going to school, doing his homework, playing with friends after school, he became a militant. Now he is in a correction facility for minors, on terrorism charges. Taharem knew about the attack in the Gulshan cafe by Islamic extremists that killed 22 innocent people, including nine Italians. He told the magistrate in section 164 that he was excited about the attack, as well as other militant actions. Now terrorism has become Bangladeshs foremost issue. For the past three weeks, law enforcement have carried out raids on a daily basis on terrorist hideouts, killing more than ten as well as several civilians. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the July 2016 attack against the Holey Artisan Bakery Cafe, in Dhakas Gulshan district. In his testimony, Taharem, a brilliant eighth grader in a famous school, described how he, his twin brother, and their parents became suicide bombers. Until then, the family led a good life before becoming involved in terrorism. To avoid arrest, his father took his own life when police stormed their home. His mother is in custody, whilst his brother is missing, and he does not know where he is. For Bangladesh, 2016 was the countrys worst year for terrorism, with police mobilised to find people affiliated with terrorist groups. On 10 October, the authorities carried out a raid in a four-storey building in Azimpur, Dhaka, during which they arrested Taharem Kaderi, his mother and other militants. What follows is the teenagers confession to the court (Text edited by AsiaNews). My real name is Taharam Kaderi. I am 14. My assumed name is Anik alias Muaz, alias Ismial. I attended grade eight at Uttara Milestone School and College. I have a twin brother; his name is Afiq Kaderi. He is also involved with militant groups. His assumed name is Nabil. He attended the same school as me. We used to live in a house in Sector 13, Uttara, in Dhaka. My fathers name is Tanvir Kaderi. He was involved with a militant group. His assumed name was Jamshad alias Abdul Karim alias Toushif Ahmad alias Shiper. He gained masters degree from Dhaka Collage. He used to work for the Dutch Bangla Mobile Banking. He also worked for two other organisations in the Robi and Kallol group. He left those jobs and started his own home delivery business in Uttara. My mothers name is Fatima alias Abadatul alias Asha. She is also involved with a militant group. Her assumed name is Khadiza. She got a masters degree from Dhaka University, the countrys foremost university. She worked for international NGOs Save the Children and Muslim Aid. We were a very happy family. In 2014, my father and mother performed the Hajj pilgrimage. After their return, I noticed that their behaviour had started to change. We used to live in Uttara, Dhaka. Major Jahid (killed in gun fight) and Mouinal Hassan alias Musa (Fugitive of Gulshan Cafe Attack) spent long days with my father. My father and they prayed together at a mosque in Uttaras Sector 13. They would later go for a walk. Through my father, I was introduced to Major Jahid and Musa. I called them uncle. My twin brother and I went to pray at the mosque at the Life School, also in Uttara. Uncle Musa was our tutor in math, English and science. Major Jahid Rashad alias Rajsh also came to our house. One night my father dreamt that he was in a desert with a weapon. He discussed his dream with an imam who advised him not to share it with others. Later we heard my father was encouraged to perform jihad (war/struggle for Islam) by Major Jahid. Major Jahid, his wife and their daughter Pinky, Musa and his wife often came in our house. Major Jihad [also] lived in Uttaras Sector 13. We also visited their home along Musas family. On April 2016, we started our journey for Jihad. At first, my father was not for jihad, but later he agreed. We told our relatives and neighbours that we are going to Malaysia. Before starting the journey on jihad, my father said almost every day that where we were going would be a jungle or a confined situation. We left our home in Uttara and moved to Pallabi, Dhaka. Before the Jihad, my brother and I made a pledge to go on jihad to our father by touching our hands. When we were in Pallabi, Basaruzaman Chocklet, Musa and Rashad alias Rash visited our home. Rash introduced us to Basaruzaman and Akifuzaman who was killed in Kalyanpur during an anti-militants raid by the RAB*. I asked my father during that raid, are they our brothers? My father replied, yes, they are your brothers. Uncle Musa is 38, bearded, medium health. He wore shirt and pants. Musa, Chocklet and Rash regularly discussed jihad as an article of faith in Islam with my father. They frequently visited our home. They gave us videos about the Syria war, which we watched it. They gave us Dabiq magazine. There were some issues of Dabiq in the Bengali language as well. During Ramadan, Rash asked my father rent another house. My father rented one in Bashundhara, near the Apollo Hospital. After we moved, Chocklet and four men came to the house. Their assumed names were Sad, Mamun, Umor, Alif and Shuvo. A few days later Tamim Chowadhory and Marjan came to the new house. The same day, Jahanger and his wife, son Shuvo and Ridoy visited with Chocklet. Uncle Jahanger told us that he had robbed two places. The robbery money was used for organisational work. One day, Tamim, Marjan and Chocklet visited the house and brought weapons in a bag. The bag was full of weapons. They stayed in a locked room to discuss and did not come out. There were seven rooms, including four bathrooms. Tamim and more four men stayed in one room. I, my brother Ador and our father stayed in the drawing room. My mother and Shuvo stayed in another room. I heard people chatting that Alif and Umor carried out many operations. They went to Kusthia, a southern district where they killed a Christian or a Hindu. They said us they had trained for Jihad. The uncles informed us that they were going to carry out a big operation but we didnt know what. On the day of the attack at the Holy Artisan Bakery, Sad, Mamun, Umor, Alif and Shuvo went out at 5.30 pm with shoulder begs. They hugged each other and said, We shall meet in Heaven, Inshallah. After the five of them left, Tamim and Chocklet also went out. As he was going out, uncle Chocklet advised my father to leave the house as soon as possible, even before evening. Two days earlier, uncle Jahanger and his family and Ridoy had also left that house. We took iftar food** and went to Pallabi, Dhaka, by a taxi cab. When my father reached Pallabi, he was very worried. He said: Its been a long time and I have not heard any news. He advised us to pray for the operation and that the police not catch them. Few moments later, I saw online bdnews24.com report shooting at Holy Artisan Bakery. I then understood where the operation was. In the morning, police published pictures of those involved in the operation at Holy Artisan Bakery. My father told us, A great operation has been completed. Your brothers have become martyr. Then we all said, Alhamdulillah (Praise be to God). Various media later published the pictures of the attackers of Holey Artisan Bakery. At that time, I found out that Sad was Nirbash Islam, a student at Monash University in Malaysia; Mamun was Rohan Ibna Imtiaz, a student of BRAC University; Umars real name was Khairul Islam Payal Badhan; Alif s real name was Safual Islam Ujjal; and Shuvo real name was Mir Salaho Mobashor. After the attack, we all were very happy. a few days later, Rash informed us that Chocklet was missing. Rash advised us to change house. So we moved to a house in Rupnagar from Pallabi. Somebody told us to rent another house in Azimpur, Dhaka, and stay in both house. Last August, we moved to the house in Azimpur. Chocklet and his wife Marjan visited us. Police carried out a raid at Paikpara, Narayanganj. At that time, Major Jahid came to our home with a bag. Tamim Ahmad Chowdhury and his two allies were killed at Pikpara. Major Jahid told us that he had escaped from Paikpara. Later Major Jahid, his wife Pioty stayed at the house. Uncle Jahid was killed in Rupnagar on the day he came to our house. On 10 October, at 6.30 somebody knocked our door. I tried to see through the doors spy hole. My father also looked. We saw many people outside the door. My father gave me a gun and a sharp weapon. He told me to keep it for yourself. My father asked the people [outside the door] who they were. They said they were the police. My father asked them to show their ID card. They showed their ID card. He opened door. Police asked why we were slow to open the door. They asked the family to be together. They asked my name. I said, I am Rasal. My father said he was Jamshad. Police took my fathers mobile phone. They also wanted to know Piotys name. They started searching our whole house. When my father tried to go into another room, the police caught him. I pushed police. At that time aunt Pinky wounded a policeman with a knife. I also attacked the police with a knife. The agents eventually stopped me and brought me in a room. When they left, my father closed the door. At that moment, an agent shouted, They have weapons! They have weapons, and tried to get out of the room. My father showed a knife, and took me in front of police. He kept the sharp object near my throat. I told him father that it hurt. My father said, Son, if you die, you will be a martyr. If you dont die, Allah will give you the best reward. An officer eventually took me to the balcony. In the meantime, my mother and other women attacked the police with chili powder. Police tried to defend themselves with mattress. Later I heard the sound of shooting. A few moments later, other agents joined in the raid. They broke the door and rescued me and the other officers. When police took me out, I saw my fathers dead body in a pool of blood, his throat was cut. I also saw aunt Pioty dead and my mother in a pool of blood. My father probably killed himself because he had told us that if the police caught him he would commit suicide. Police found four guns, bullets and other weapons. My brother was not with us at the Azimpur house. My father had moved him to another place, but I dont know where that is. * Rapid Action Battalion ** Iftar is the evening meal during Ramadan after breaking their fast at sunset. This morning, the Chaldean primate visited two refugee camps on the outskirts of the city. The Hammam al-Halil camp hosts 25,000 people. The patriarchate delegation delivered aid and money. "We are not infidels, Kuffar, said the Primate of the Chaldean. The goal is to save the Iraqi mosaic". Erbil (AsiaNews) Chaldean Patriarch Mar Louis Raphael Sako today visited two refugee camps on the outskirts of Mosul, for Muslims only, handing out aid and money raised by the Iraqi Church in recent weeks. "We told them that we want to remain united, we want to help them, that we are not infidels . . . 'Kuffar'. We must insist on this word; they must understand that we are not infidels he said to AsiaNews. "They told us that the Islamic State (IS) is the real 'kuffar', unbelievers who have sullied the name of Islam." The Chaldean primate travelled this morning to Hammam al-Halil, a refugee camp located about 15 minutes outside of Mosul, a city in northern city that has been an IS stronghold. The camp houses 25,000 Muslim refugees. On behalf of Iraqi Catholics, the Patriarch delivered aid for about 3,000 people. The Church delegation then visited a second refugee camp, 20 minutes away from Mosul, which is home to at least 11,000 people, all Muslims. Here too he handed out aid to a thousand families, as well as money for medicines and other basic necessities. "The two camps are located not far from Mosul, the prelate noted. We wanted to go to the citys outskirts to see the situation for ourselves. However, we couldnt because of shelling and heavy fighting" between the Iraqi army and Jihadi militias entrenched in the western sector. In February, after months of intense fighting, the government successfully drove Daesh from east Mosul, on the right bank of the Tigris River. The army offensive began on 17 October and took nearly five months to overcome Jihadi resistance in the area. Now the goal is to take complete control of the city, notwithstanding the need to protect civilians from the effects of the offensive. Some of Iraqs oldest churches and some of the most important monasteries are in Old Mosul, in the western sector. There buildings date from the fifth, sixth, and seventh century and are part of the countrys religious, cultural and historical heritage. The military offensive underway in the west has killed at least 4,000 people and destroyed 10,000 houses in what many activists and local religious call "a real tragedy." The new refugees will join those already displaced, about 3.5 million people, and the number is expected to rise considering that there are still 400,000 people in west Mosul. Speaking about the situation in Hammam al-Halil Mar Sako said it was terrible. People are devastated; men and women are suffering, desperate." "We came to tell them that we are close to them, to show them our solidarity, the patriarch added. We believe in the same God. These refugees told us to come back to Mosul, that without Christians it is not the same city." As he left the camp, the Chaldean leader saw "four more buses" with dozens of families that had fled the violence consuming Mosul. Finally, "We must rebuild confidence to save Iraqs religious, ethnic and cultural mosaic, Mar Sako said. Actions like these help rebuild confidence and lift up people who feel low and humiliated." (DS) The judges reject administrative court decision issued last January. At the center of the dispute control of Tiran and Sanafir islands, on the Red Sea. Uninhabited and desert, they have enormous strategic value for the control of navigation in the Red Sea. The Parliament will take a final decision on the matter. Cairo (AsiaNews / Agencies) - An Egyptian court annulled a previous ruling that blocked the transfer of sovereignty of two (disputed) islands to Saudi Arabia. According to judicial sources, the court of law for urgent appeals has rejected the decision of the High Administrative Court last January. Previously, the decision to transfer the two uninhabited islands of Tiran and Sanafir, on the Red Sea, had sparked fierce controversy in the Land of the Pharaohs. In the past, the court had ruled on the disputed islands with the Saudis; Also in this case the judges ruling is liable to a counter-appeal. Moreover, it is for the Parliament to rule definitively on the matter and in should it be the case give approval to the transfer of sovereignty. Tiran and Sanafir, located at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba, were promised to Saudi Arabia during an official visit by Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi about a year ago. In return, Riyadh agreed to grant an billion dollar aid package to Cairo. The decision of the Head of State had raised strong controversy at home, with the Nationalists taking to the streets "to defend" the territorial integrity and allegations of violations of the Constitution. The two islands in question, uninhabited and desert, lack resources but are rich in strategic value as they are located the Red Sea shipping route in both directions. Granted by Saudi Arabia to Egypt, these two islands have been used as a weapon in the Israeli-Arab war, impeding navigation to Israeli shipping. Israel occupied the islands along with the Sinai until the signing of the peace agreements between Cairo and Tel Aviv known as the Camp David Accords. Article 5 of the agreements expressly states that the islands will not host any military presence, let alone be used to prevent the free movement of ships. In January, the High Administrative Court had denied the transfer because the government failed to provide sufficient evidence that the islands were originally the property of the Saudis. Yesterday, the court called upon to rule on "urgent" issues that are likely to bog down the whole judicial system, has upheld the appeal filed by Lawyer Ashraf Farahat. "The administrative court - said the lawyer - has no authority to rule on issues of sovereignty." An explosion rocks St Petersburgs Tekhnologicheskiy Institut station at 2.30 pm local time. Smoke is reported at the Sennaya Ploshchad station. A third unexploded device was found at Ploshchad Vosstaniya station. For President Putin, it is too early to say if it is terrorism. St Petersburg (AsiaNews/The Moscow Times) At least ten people have died and 50 were wounded in an explosion on the St Petersburg Metro. Russian authorities confirmed that the blast took place at the city's Tekhnologicheskiy Institut metro station at approximately 2:30 pm local time. Initial reports indicated that a second device had exploded on a metro car at the Sennaya Ploshchad station. Police later clarified that only smoke had been seen in the area. Government sources have reported that a third unexploded device was found at the Ploshchad Vosstaniya station. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is in St Petersburg to meet Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, said that it was too early to call the incident a terrorist attack but that it would be among the security services' first lines of enquiry. The president also confirmed that he was in close touch with the head of Russia's Federal Security Service. In view of the situation, the St Petersburg metro has been closed, whilst the Moscow metro is still operating with extra security measures in place, officials announced on Twitter. by Shafique Khokhar Shrine custodian drugged and tortured the victims before killing them. Rivalry over the shrines custody is the probable trigger. For activists, the problem is ignorance and lack of freedom, which lead to superstitions. Sargodha (AsiaNews) Twenty people were murdered yesterday at a Sufi shrine near the city of Sargodha, in Pakistan's Punjab province. The dead were found near the shrine with clear signs of torture. Four of them were women, and 11 belonged to two families. Two men and two women survived but are in serious condition. The main suspect is the shrine's custodian, Abdul Waheed, who acted with the help of two accomplices, Ali Zafar and Sanaullah. Waheed, a retired government official, and his accomplices have been arrested. According to witnesses, Waheed drugged the victims before torturing them. Police said that rivalry over the custody of the shrine might be the cause of the murders. Prosecutors noted that the main suspect appeared to be in a state of paranoia and psychosis. According Kakkazai Amir, a Muslim writer and social media analyst, ignorance and lack of religious education are behind the tragedy. "Every Thursday, that fake holy man danced naked with his followers," he said. The custodian said he had "heard Gods voice" during his work for the Election Commission of Pakistan. In order to "make God happy," he decided to kill all of his followers. Ignorance is such, according to Kakkazai, "that even the wounded devotees still believe he was right, and that the killings were a sign from God that all the martyrs would go to heaven. To avoid such incidents, the government should monitor this type of religious psychopaths. A proper religious education must be imparted so that no one can blackmail Muslims in matters of religion. Human rights activist Naumana Suleman, of Bytes for All Pakistan, spoke to AsiaNews about the event. "When respect for believers of non-majority religions and legitimate freedom of expression are discouraged, blind faith grows, leading to incidents like this." According to Naumana, people are afraid to express themselves differently from the prevailing opinion. This promotes superstition and keeps people from reporting injustice, as did the neighbours who did not report the growing violence at the shrine. "It is the responsibility of the State to create a supportive environment, where those who differ are respected and freedom of expression is not discouraged. This would give people room to think and speak in a reasonable manner, without fear of violence. It would help the naive not to be manipulated. An investigation must be carried out and the culprits brought to justice." For human rights activist Basharat Masih, ignorance is the basis of such "darkness in society". The government should adopt restrictive policies to control these bodies to ensure the honesty of spiritual leaders and prevent such crimes. "These are places of rape, drugs and other crimes, he added. The government should meet out exemplary punishment. Local governments should have more power to monitor them, discuss on a monthly basis the monitoring and ensure community involvement. Usually these places are created by local organised crime and flourish because of lawlessness." Faisalabad-based Human Rights Pakistan Focus (HRFP) strongly condemned these "inhuman" killings, calling for proper tools and policies to monitor these practices and spiritual leaders who entrap, brainwash and manipulate believers. HRFP president Naveed Walter too is alarmed by the lack of controls over violence at various local shrines. Saddened by the loss of precious lives, he said that as the number of shrines increases so should the surveillance. According to HRFP, the suspects should be severely punished, and the government should adopt an overall approach to monitoring activities in Pakistani shrines and see what is taught in them. by Stefano Caprio Rome (AsiaNews) - On April 1, in the days when the winter snows melt, one of the greatest "prophets of the thaw", the poet and writer Yevgeny Yevtushenko passed away. His death comes as Russia tries to find a way to the "thaw" after yet another long political and cultural stagnation. The fame of this great poet goes back to the sixties, when uncertainties in Khrushchevs post-Stalinist Soviet Union led people to organize evenings of poetry and literature in the Moscow Polytechnic Museum, of which Yevtushenko was one of the main leaders . In 1952, at just 20 years old, he had become one of the youngest member of the Union of Writers of the USSR, after the publication of his first collection, explorers of the future. This echoed the revolutionary futurism of Mayakovsky, denouncing the evils of bureaucracy and imagining that while the leaders are concerned about his future, the simple man still manages to dream on his own. In his poetry, beyond social issues, there is the constant yearning for "something else" than the apparent perfection of Soviet life, as in the poem After each lesson, also cited by Luigi Giussani in his The Religious Sense "the good things in life / there are many: dates / flowers, theater ... the only thing missing / is what you want what is missing, / is the essential thing." In 1991, at the collapse of communism, the poet emigrated to the United States, teaching at the University of Oklahoma, visiting Russia from time to time. His fame, almost legendary as part of the movement towards Soviet dissent, aroused the most contradictory reactions. Always original and unpredictable even in his comments on the evolution of domestic politics by intellectual protest, he became a very public man of influence and power, and was a landmark in the years of Gorbachevs perestroika. In 1961 he wrote the famous poem Babij Jar, denouncing Soviet anti-Semitism which referred to the Nazi massacre of the Jewish population in the vicinity of Kiev, one of the largest massacres of the Holocaust, in which 33,771 people were killed. The Soviets hid the memory of that tragedy, revealing feelings not too dissimilar to those of the Nazis. Yevtushenkos poem was a warning to many generations of Russians and others, with a similar effect to the Diary of Anna Frank. His friend and great composer Dmitrij Sostakovic put Yevtushenkos poem to music in the famous Thirteenth Symphony. Many commentators have noted that in recent times a consciousness of the past is failing in Russia, drowned out by nationalist rhetoric increasingly less attractive especially for young people. The history of the ancient greatness of Russia fails to warm the hearts, the memory of the now fading Soviet times even in adults, and very young have not even that of the tumultuous nineties, so far used by Putin and his associates as a bogey for a population in search stability and prosperity. Perhaps it is worth returning to the student poetry of Yevtushenko beloved by Don Giussani, to the simple and very human search for a truer meaning of life: "You are my young traveling companion. / I, your old friend. / I am assailed by thoughts of what will happen / to your brown hair. / And if I torment you with the disquieting search/ for something greater, something sublime, / I who was the first in many things I believed, / so that now you also can believe ... ". Begas plans for Vegemite and other brands: Is China an option? Perhaps many urbane Australians eating avocado on toast for their breakfast will be surprised to learn that the humble Weet-Bix is in high demand in China. After featuring in a popular Chinese television soap in 2016, interest in the breakfast cereal in China soared with 1.4 kilogram boxes selling for as high as AUD $40 there. This sudden demand for Weet-Bixs came about despite the owner of the brand, Sanitarium, trying to sell Weet-Bix in China since 2008 without much success. With this Australian breakfast-staple now doing well in China, could another do the same? This was the question posed to Bega Cheese Executive Chairman, Barry Irvin at The Australians Global Food Forum in Melbourne last week. In January 2017, Bega Cheese acquired Vegemite from Mondelez International, along with a number of other Kraft brands. With a hefty AUD $460 million acquisition cost, Irvin conceded that the ability to export Vegemite was not front-of-mind when the brand was purchased, and that purchasing it and the other Kraft brands was more about expanding Bega Cheese outside dairy. We now have a portfolio of products, he told the forum. Opportunities for Vegemite outside of Australia Irvin said if Bega was going to export Vegemite overseas it would start off small, testing the market, and that there would likely be more chance for success in a country like the UK where Marmite, a spread similar to Vegemite, is popular. Other countries where spreads similar to Vegemite are sold include Switzerland which has Cenovis and Germany has Vitam-R. New Zealanders are also fans of Marmite, however Vegemite has previously tried its hand in New Zealand, leaving the country after 50 years in 2006. Related articles Produce sellers risk bigger fines for breaching new Horticulture Code The revised Horticulture Code of Conduct has come into effect on 1 April 2017. The changes now mean that fresh produce traders and agents are at risk of being fined up to $54, 000 for each breach of the Code. Australian Competition, and Consumer Commissioner, Mick Keogh, said the revised Code will provide increased protection to Australian fruit and vegetable farmers. Farmers producing fruit and vegetables will be given increased protection under the Horticulture Code as it improves competition and commercial practices in fresh fruit and vegetable markets in Australia, he said. Under the new Code, traders and agents will be required to provide clear documentation of their general trading terms, and have written agreements in place with their farmer clients to help avoid any uncertainty. The new Code also removes the provision in the existing Code that exempted all pre-existing trading agreements. From 1 April 2018, the Code will apply to all transactions between farmers and agents or merchants, regardless of when any trading agreement was put in place, Commissioner Keogh said. New powers given to the ACCC The new powers given to the ACCC under the revised Code will allow the regulation authority to: Issue infringement notices of up to $9, 000 for businesses and $1, 800 for individuals Seek penalties of up to $54, 000 in court for breaches of certain Code provisions Businesses need to act in good faith The ACCC said an important element of the new Code is that it requires negotiating parties to act in good faith or face potential fines. Farmers deserve fairness and honesty from their trading partners and the good faith requirement will help ensure they arent subjected to illegitimate business conduct, Commissioner Keogh stated. Related articles Vitasoy launches speciality barista milk, premium for cafe-only Vitasoy has launched a new soy milk called 2 Beans. The milk is described as a premium cafe-only soy milk made with organic soy beans. Vitasoy says the milk is inspired by the fusion of coffee beans and soy beans. To make the milk, Vitasoy says it grinds the soybeans before turning them into milk which helps create a creamy taste and texture. The milk was on display at the 2017 International Coffee Expo held in Melbourne between 30 March and 1 April. Cafes and other food service providers can contact Vitasoy if they are interested in using the milk. It is currently only available in Victoria and New South Wales. Related articles Bethany Armstrong has found inspiration in sources from Australias first female High Court chief justice to the TV drama Boston Legal. And her determination and willingness to work her way up the ladder has landed her an important position at one of the biggest international law firms in the world.Armstrong joined Baker McKenzie in 2004 as a secretary and then went on to work full-time as a paralegal while completing her law degree. Now a senior associate in the firms commercial real estate group, Armstrong focuses on large-scale real estate transactions.Australasian Lawyer recently chatted with her about career goals, how firms can attract millennial talent, and the legal fields move toward flexible work environments.A few factors: the sensible career advice of close family members, two of which also have careers in law; the ability to have a positive social impact; and, having watched shows like Boston Legal, it just seemed like a cool job.I most look up to the local (or junior) partners in my practice group. Many balance a busy workload with young families but still take the time to mentor the young lawyers. I owe much of my success to their guidance and support.Outside of the workplace, I find Susan Kiefel Australias first female High Court chief justice to be particularly inspiring. Not only is she a strong role model for women in the industry, but had similar beginnings to my own, having started her career as a secretary and completed her law degree whilst working full time.My biggest achievement to date was being promoted to senior associate in June last year. There are only a handful of major promotions in the career of most lawyers, so I was pleased to achieve that milestone. My overall career goal is to remain in a challenging role and give back to the community as much as possible via involvement in pro-bono and other community work.Some law firms are addressing these needs better than others. Law firms with a flat structure may be more appealing to younger lawyers, as it enables them to have a more substantial role in client work and firm decisions sooner. The move by many law firms towards open-plan work spaces and flexible working practices may also better cater to the needs of millennial lawyers, who may prefer a collaborative office environment with the ability to work remotely where practical.I hope that more law firms embrace flexible working practices and invest in the technology required to make working remotely more practical and efficient. This would allow many practitioners to strike a better work-life balance and encourage those practitioners with young families (or, in my case, a young dog) to stay within a law firm environment rather than making the move in-house, which can be seen as more flexible.Every property is different, so every real estate transaction has some new issue that needs to be addressed. I also work with clients across a variety of jurisdictions, which makes it necessary to understand and adapt to different cultures and expectations from legal counsel. These challenges keep me on my toes and make my role interesting.Many of my clients are located overseas. In the lead-up to a settlement of the sale of a hotel in the Maldives, I miscalculated the time difference and called the hotel general manager at 3:15 a.m. to ask a minor question that did not justify the early-morning interruption. Needless to say, I now triple-check the relevant time zone before dialling.I once attended a settlement on Melbourne Cup Day where the solicitor on the other side was clearly intoxicated. The settlement occurred in a crowded settlement room at SAI Global, and the solicitor was loud, obnoxious and yelled at the person behind the settlement counter for the delay in stamping a contract for sale. Thankfully I have not encountered this particular practitioner again though I am curious as to whether they remember the incident!Outside of work I spend most of my time catching up with friends and family, going to the beach and walking my dog. I also love to travel, and was lucky enough to visit Sri Lanka late last year and South America the year before. Decision to impact Maruti Ciaz and Ertiga SHVS, each of which received incentive of Rs 13,000. The government has stopped extending benefits to mild hybrid vehicles in the country under the FAME [Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India] scheme from April 1, 2017. The Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises has issued a notification in this regard. Delhi-based green body and advocacy group Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has welcomed the move. It said mild hybrids have blocked the scaling up of strong hybrids and battery-operated electric vehicles. This is because, although regarded as hybrids, these vehicles do not offer a comparable level of fuel and emissions reduction as full hybrids. Over 65 percent of the FAME incentives have so far gone to mild diesel hybrid cars that already enjoy substantial excise cuts such as concessional VAT in some states. From April 1, 2015, when the FAME scheme was launched, till February 28, 2017, a total of 1,11,897 vehicles have benefited, with mild hybrid four-wheelers accounting for 73,633 units. Strong hybrid cars accounted for a mere 1.7 percent and electric vehicles, only 1 percent. "By removing the mild diesel hybrids from the FAME scheme, the entire incentive amount has now been unlocked for the benefit of electro-mobility programme. These mild diesel hybrids are a marginal improvement over conventional diesel models, but significantly more polluting and fuel inefficient compared to electric and strong hybrid cars," said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director-research and advocacy, CSE. The decision will largely impact the countrys largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki. Maruti's Ciaz sedan and the Ertiga MPV, which come equipped with SHVS or Smart Hybrid Vehicle by Suzuki technology, have benefitted from the scheme with around Rs 13,000 reduction in prices. The next-gen Hyundai Verna, which will be equipped with mild-hybrid tech when it arrives in India later this year will also miss the incentives, followed by the updated Creta SUV, also due late this year with the mild-hybrid system. The government had launched the FAME India scheme to promote eco-friendly mobility. Incentive on electric and hybrid vehicles was Rs 1,800 to Rs 29,000 for bikes; and on cars it ranged from Rs 13,000 to Rs 1,38,000. In Budget 2017, the government allotted Rs 175 crore as subsidy to the scheme for FY'18, up from Rs 122.9 crore allotted the year before. Here is a look at the different types of hybrid vehicles 2017 Chevrolet Bolt. Photo courtesy of General Motors South Korea-based Lotte Rent-a-Car has partnered with GM Korea to add Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles to its rental fleet, according to a report by the Korea Economic Daily. Lotte will offer the Bolt EV rental cars through long-term and short-term rental and carsharing, says the report. The Bolt is able to run up to 383 kilometers with a single charge. I am glad to offer the Chevrolet Bolt EV to our customers, Pyo Hyun-myung, president of Lotte Rent-a-Car, told the Korea Economic Daily. Given electric vehicles have increasingly become mainstream, we'd like to provide safe driving experience so that many more customers could consider leasing or buying EVs." Click here for the full Korea Economic Daily report. The Antonov 132, a twin turboprop developed for multipurpose military and civil use by a Saudi-Ukrainian partnership, flew for the first time on Friday. The airplane took off from Kiev, Ukraine, and flew for 1 hour and 45 minutes. The aircraft is intended for operation on short- and mediumhaul routes, the company said, and will perform various tasks including cargo transport, emergency response and evacuation, and air-dropping paratrooper rescue teams. Oleksandr Kotsiuba, president of Antonov, said testing will continue, and then the aircraft will be flown to Saudi Arabia for demonstrations. The airplane can carry up to 9.2 tons, and fly at speeds up to 300 knots for 690 NM, at altitudes up to 28,000 feet. The program was launched in May 2015. Readers might be able to relate to four kids skipping school to hang around the airport but some South African truants got a lot more than they bargained for last week. According to news24.com, the kids, aged seven to 11 (gender mix unknown) snuck into a hangar at the local airport near their homes in Plettenberg Bay, about 400 miles east of Cape Town, as the owner was putting his Jabiru 430 to bed after a local flight. After helping themselves to a few drinks from the fridge of a boat also stored in the hangar, the youngsters found the aircrafts keys under a floor mat and the rest is insurance history. They got the engine started, firewalled it and it plowed through the hangar wall where the engine kept screaming at full throttle, the aircraft held back by its wings. A nearby pilot saw it all and managed to shut the Jabiru down before it self-destructed. Authorities are inspecting the airplane and engine to see what can be salvaged. None of the kids was hurt, at least not by the airplane accident. They were rounded up by their parents and the school principal. Authorities have talked to them and are investigating but theyre likely too young to be prosecuted or to be held responsible for the damage. Election observers representing various pan-European organizations cited vote buying, intimidation of voters and other irregularities in their preliminary assessment of Armenias parliamentary elections presented on Monday. Despite welcomed reforms of the legal framework and the introduction of new technologies to reduce the incidents of electoral irregularities, the elections were tainted by credible information about vote-buying, and pressure on civil servants and employees of private companies, they said in a joint report. This contributed to an overall lack of public confidence and trust in the elections. The nearly 300 observers mostly deployed by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe monitored voting and ballot counting in polling stations across Armenia on Sunday. They also included representatives of the European Parliament and the parliamentary assemblies of the OSCE and the Council of Europe. It is a pity that despite all of the legal and organizational changes these elections did not remove long-standing doubts about the reliability and integrity of electoral processes in the country, Liliane Maury Pasquier of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) told a joint news conference with other heads of the monitoring mission. Regrettably, the process was undermined by credible, recurring information of vote buying, intimidation of voters notably civil servants in schools and hospitals and employees of private companies as well as abuse of administrative positions, agreed Heidi Hautala, who led the observers from the European Parliament. The mission chiefs declined to say whether they think the irregularities were serious enough to affect the official vote results that gave a landslide victory to the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK). The election is not just whats happening in polling stations on election day, said Ignacio Sanchez Amor, the mission coordinator representing the OSCE. Vote buying by the HHK is a key source of complaints voiced by Armenian opposition parties and local election observers. They claim that it was instrumental in the HHKs victory. Vote bribes are also a major highlight of the preliminary conclusions of the European monitors. Widespread allegations of vote-buying to vote for certain parties were reported throughout the country and the OSCE/ODIHR [election observation mission] received many credible reports directly from the public, reads their report. It says even some Armenian government officials acknowledged that vote-buying had become an entrenched part of political culture in the country. The mission was careful, however, not to name any Armenian party engaged in bribing or intimidating voters. It said only that these illegal practices, also reported by the Armenian opposition, media and observers, called into question Armenians ability to cast their votes free of fear of retribution. The report assesses negatively the voting process in 12 percent of polling stations visited by the European observers due to problems such as overcrowding and violation of the secrecy of the ballot. In addition, large groups of people were present in the immediate vicinity of polling stations in 30 per cent of cases, with tension seen in 6 per cent of observations and intimidation of voters in 4.5 per cent of observations, it says. The report also offers a negative assessment of 20 of 118 vote counts attended by the observers mainly because of undue interference in the process by unnamed party proxies. Also, it says, election officials in over a dozen polling stations did not determine the validity of ballots in a consistent and reasonable manner. On the positive side, the reports notes, among other things, that fundamental freedoms were generally respected during the election campaign and that Armenian state television provided equitable coverage of their pre-election activities. The OSCE-led mission did not report significant instances of multiple voting, one of the most serious forms of fraud that marred previous elections. The Armenian authorities enacted last fall a set of opposition-backed legal amendments designed to preclude this illegal practice. This led to the introduction of electronic voter authentication devices in all polling stations across the country. The authorities also installed web cameras to broadcast online voting and ballot counting in the vast majority of those stations. The European Union allocated earlier this year over $7 million for the purchase of the equipment. The use of new voting technologies cannot alone restore confidence in elections just the same as better legislation is only effective if applied in good faith, Pasquier, the top PACE monitor, stressed at the news conference. A deputy chairman of the ruling HHK, Armen Ashotian, insisted late on Sunday that the elections were free and fair and marked a leap forward in Armenias democratization. The European observer report clearly does not back that claim. 3 April 2017 11:53 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov Voter frauds and intimidation have engulfed the parliamentary elections held in Armenia on April 2. The vote was the first since constitutional changes turned the country into a parliamentary system in 2015. Opposition politicians complained of a string of voting irregularities in Sunday's election, including violations of ballot secrecy and multiple voting. Representatives of local and international election monitoring groups, as well as journalists revealed hundreds of violations during the elections, while cases of government resources being illegally used in the election have also been documented. The Prosecutor General's office of Armenia has investigated about 2,000 reports on the violations during the voting, and 392 of these reports contain criminal elements, Interfax reported. By and large, these reports are with respect to attempting to vote more than once, open voting, and obstructing the work of proxies and journalists during the election. The Prosecutor General's Office reported that criminal cases have already been launched into six facts, related to double voting attempt. The observers of the Citizen Observer initiative, in turn, revealed 1,918 violations during the elections, Aysor website reported. Of the total volume, 1,147 cases were recorded during the voting process, while the rest after the voting Moreover, international observers Atom Egoyan and Eric Nazaryan noted certain election violations having visited six polling stations, Armenian media stated. During a live broadcast, they showed a list, which contained notes indicating the number of votes cast for a specific party. A person sat at the ballot box and made notes, and later reported the number of voters to his party, Nazaryan said. Another fact of fraud was observed by Armenias Radio Liberty correspondent Sisak Gabrielian, who was attacked near the polling station and the headquarters of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia in Yerevan. The correspondent noticed that first, the voters went to the headquarters of the candidate from the Republican Party of Armenia Hakob Beglaryan, then they received money there and then voted. When shooting a video, a group of people in the headquarters attacked the journalist and seized the phone. Besides, the candidate from the Free Democrats party, Styopa Safaryan, told reporters that some technical equipment at polling stations, including the cameras, didnt work. Moreover, many voters came to polling stations with "accompanying persons", who were guiding them. It was a well-prepared deliberate process for the implementation of fraud," he noted. President Serzh Sargsyan's Republican Party was leading with 50.43 percent of the vote, while the opposition coalition behind Gagik Tsarukian - a former arm wrestler and one of the ex-Soviet state's wealthiest men - was trailing with 28.29 percent, according to preliminary results. The nationalist Dashnaktsutyun were at 6.88 percent, leaving them also set to enter parliament. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz . 3 April 2017 17:37 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov New cases of serious violations in the parliamentary election of April 2 in Armenia are being reported. The Prosecutor General's Office of the country has already launched criminal cases into six facts of fraud, related to double voting attempt, and a suspect on one case was arrested. Radio Azatutyun.am reports that ballot papers were took out of the polling station in Zangak kindergarten in Armenias second largest city of Gyumri. Arus Hovhannisyan, who is a candidate from the Tsarukyan block, told journalists that near the polling station she noticed a group of women, handing out bulletins and accompanying people to the station. The process was led by a middle-aged woman, known as the Black Ano. Back in October 2016, in elections to local government, residents of Gyumri told journalists that the woman provides votes for the ruling Republican Party of Armenia. Ano did not deny that she brings people to the polling station: I bring them from homes and I will bring again. Styopa Safaryan, a candidate from the Free Democrats party told 1in.am that, as in previous years, the parliamentary election had many violations. This election, unfortunately, is not much different from all previous elections in terms of quality. It was a choice of money and all witnessed this. The society voted by choosing the money, said Safaryan. We do not recognize the results of the exit poll. In general, we take no poll seriously, he added. Safaryan noted that his party is waiting not for the official results by the Central Election Commission, but for the data from its members at precinct election commissions. Armenian publicist Musa Mikaelyan also notes the fraud in yesterdays election, noting that scams have already become a tradition of elections in Armenia. Serzh Sargsyan cannot be re-elected without any violations or falsifications The traditional elections could have been prevented only through non-traditional strategy and behavior, he writes. Besides, Arsine Khanjyan, Canadian actress of Armenian origin, who acted as observer in the election, regretted that she couldnt witness a transparent and clean election. Violations recorded by observers were refused to register. I had the impression that the observers were in despair, as they didnt have freedom for the exercise of their powers, Khanjyan said. President Serzh Sargsyan's Republican Party is leading with 49.12 percent of the vote, while the opposition coalition behind Gagik Tsarukian - a former arm wrestler and one of the ex-Soviet state's wealthiest men - is trailing with 27.32 percent, according to preliminary results. The block Yelk is third with 7.77 percent, while the nationalist Dashnaktsutyun is at 6.57 percent, leaving them also set to enter parliament. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 3 April 2017 10:51 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov The volume of proposals in the Baku land market increased by 19.4 percent in two years, that is from February 2015 to February 2017, according to a report by the Real Estate Market Participants Public Association. The report shows that the number of offers in the land market increased by 437 for two years. In February 2017, most of the offers fell to the share of Bakus Sabunchu (29.7 percent) and Khazar (28.2) districts. They are followed by Surakhani (15.9 percent) and Binagadi (12.6) districts. The offers on these areas of Baku propose mostly private houses and cottages. The least offers fell to the share of Narimanov, Yasamal, Pirallahi and Nasimi districts of the capital city. The monitoring shows that despite a sufficient number of offers in Pirallahi and Garadagh districts, the demand in these areas is quite low. As for the areas of the offered land plots, the number of small area land plots account for bulk of the proposed plots, while those of medium size make 28.8 percent. The proportion of land plots with large area is very low just 0.4 pecent. Most experts say that purchase of land plots may be considered as the best object of long-term investments, while apartments in buildings under construction is appropriate for short-term investments. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 3 April 2017 12:08 (UTC+04:00) By Amina Nazarli The heads of Azerbaijani, Georgian and Kazakh railway agencies gathered in Baku on April 1 to discuss mutual issues on Trans-Caspian International Transport Route. As part of the meeting of the Union of Legal Entities of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route Association, a protocol signing ceremony was held. 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. The protocol was also signed by Head of the Baku International Sea Trade Port Taleh Ziyadov, Head of the Aktau International Sea Trade Port Abay Turikpenbayev and Head of the Batumi Sea Port Murat Jumadillayev. The parties approved the regulations on membership in the Union of Legal Entities of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route Association, composition of a working group on development of the transport route, action plan for 2017, the Union charter and its logo. 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 Route. Speaking at the event, Gurbanov said that single tariffs for cargo transportation along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route will be determined in the near future. 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. Alpysbayev, talking to reporters on the sidelines of the event, said that the staff of the association will be fully formed until late 2017. The associations staff will include representatives of all its member organizations, he said, noting 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. Talking about Kazakhstans new Kuryk port, he said that the country plans to export over 450,000 tons of gas oil via the new port and then through Azerbaijan and Georgia until late 2017. 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. -- Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 3 April 2017 11:42 (UTC+04:00) By Amina Nazarli The meeting of the heads of the customs services of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia will be held in Baku in May, Shahin Bagirov said at the trilateral technical meeting on customs issues of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project. Deputy Chairman of the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan revealed that the meeting will determine activity forms of the customs bodies after the launch of the railway corridor. The construction of the BTK railway will be completed in a short time. Most of the work has already been completed. There have been insignificant works on the territory of Georgia and Turkey, which will be completed in the coming months. In early May, a meeting of heads of customs bodies will take place in Baku, where the forms of activity of customs bodies will be determined after the beginning of the functioning of the railway corridor and a corresponding memorandum will be signed, Bagirov said. The BTK railway is being constructed on the basis of the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey intergovernmental agreement. Peak capacity of the railway will be 17 million tons of cargo per year. At the initial stage, it will serve one million passengers and transport 6.5 million tons of cargo. BTK project is expected to further strengthen the neighborly and fraternal relations among the three countries and enable the countries to supply domestically produced goods to the world markets. Earlier, Turkeys Minister of Transport, Maritime and Communication Ahmet Arslan said that cargo will be transported from China to Europe in 12-15 days via BTK. The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) invested some $630.2 million in the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project as of January 1, 2017. Last year, the fund allocated $41.9 million for the implementation of the project. -- Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 3 April 2017 13:43 (UTC+04:00) By Amina Nazarli Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have a great interest in the Trans-Caspian transport route, said Ablay Myrzakhmetov. Chairman of the Board of the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan "Atameken" made the statement on the sidelines of the fifth meeting of the Turkic Business Council in Astana, Today.kz reported. They [Azerbaijan] invest a lot in the development of the port in Baku, we do the same from the Kazakh side. I am confident that the Trans-Caspian route can become another alternative branch of the Silk Road. There is a big highway that passes through Kazakhstan, Russia and goes to Europe and China, and there is another route that goes to Turkey, and can go to the countries of the Middle East and Europe, he said. The Trans-Caspian international transport route, which is created to provide transport connections between the East and West of Eurasia, runs through China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and then to Europe via Turkey and Ukraine. The route was launched with the establishment of its Coordinating Committee in October 2013. This year Turkey must complete its part, and connect with Georgia. In fact this route will be ready, thereby Baku - Aktau will be just for transshipment of goods. Expansion work is underway now there, Myrzakhmetov clarified. In October 2016, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Georgia signed an agreement on the establishment of the International Association of TITR, whose office is located in Astana. Its activities are aimed at attracting transit and foreign trade cargo, as well as on the development of integrated logistics products via TITR. -- Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 3 April 2017 12:48 (UTC+04:00) By Laman Ismayilova Baku on the eve of one of the biggest Christian holidays Easter will host an Easter Charity Bazaar for the eighth consecutive year. During the traditional Bazaar to be organized at the Russian Information and Cultural Center (RICC) on April 6-7, participants will be able to buy gifts, decorations, handicrafts, souvenirs, jewelry and paintings presented by several artists. Archbishop of Baku and Azerbaijan Eparchy Alexander Ishein, as well representatives of a number of embassies accredited in Azerbaijan will attend the opening of the event on April 6, Trend Life reported. All funds raised from the Easter Charity Bazaar will be spent for the needs of orphans. Easter is a Christian festival which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. According to the New Testament, Jesus died on the cross on Good Friday, and came back to life three days later. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Sunday, which also marks the end of Lent, the 40-day period of fasting which begins on Ash Wednesday. Maundy Thursday is the Thursday before Good Friday and commemorates the Maundy and Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles. Many churches hold special services on Easter Sunday. Easter traditions throughout the world differ from country to country. In many central and eastern European countries decorating eggs in beautiful patterns is especially popular. For instance, in Poland, families prepare a blessing basket the day before Easter. Filled with colored eggs, sausages, bread, and other food, baskets are taken to church to be blessed. In Sweden children dress up as Easter witches wearing long skirts, colorful headscarves and painted red cheeks, and go from home to home in their neighborhoods trading paintings and drawings in the hope of receiving sweets. In Russia, the neighbor or loved one of a person pierces the branch of the soft blooms, kept on the latter's shoulder. In the Czech Republic, the males of a family spank females with a homemade whip decorated with ribbons. The spanking is lighthearted and is believed to bring health over the next year. On Easter Monday, the President of the United States holds an annual Easter egg roll on the lawn of the White House for young children. Azerbaijan enjoys a tolerant atmosphere for different nations and religions. The national policy is defined on the principles of tolerance and coexistence of various nationalities, ethnic groups and religious minorities. Many religious confessions co-exist there. There are 1,834 mosques, 12 churches and 6 synagogues functioning in Azerbaijan. The government has created all conditions for religious worship in the country. --- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 3 April 2017 13:11 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov The settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict depends on the political will of Armenia and Azerbaijan and their willingness to go for compromise solutions, said Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister. Lavrov, in an interview with Armenian newspaper New Time on April 3, said that much has been agreed [on the conflict resolution], but there are still a few, the most difficult, questions left. However, it is clear that the results of the work depend primarily on the political will of the parties themselves, on their willingness to show flexibility and go for compromise solutions, the Russian top diplomat said. Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. Armenia ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region. The minister further noted that Russia remains an active participant in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Together with the United States and France other co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group we help the parties to reach a sustainable overcoming of the conflict, he added. The trilateral summit of the last summer in St. Petersburg, which was held at the initiative of the President of Russia, was devoted to this task. Earlier, Lavrov noted that the solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is among Russias unconditional foreign policy priorities. After the meetings of the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents in Vienna and St. Petersburg, which took place after the April clashes, the negotiation process came to the dead end due to the denial of Yerevan to continue serious talks. Armenia still controls fifth part of Azerbaijan's territory and rejects implementing four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 3 April 2017 17:59 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov The first settlement in the liberated Jojug Marjanli village will be inaugurated on June 15, which is marked as the National Salvation Day in Azerbaijan. This was said by Azerbaijans Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the State Committee for Refugees and IDPs Ali Hasanov, during his trip to the liberated Jojug Marjanli village of Jabrayil region. He added that the first stage of the reconstruction work in Jojug Marjanli will be completed in May. The village was fully liberated from the Armenian occupation in April 2016, when Azerbaijani Armed Forces prevented an Armenian provocation on the contact line. To protect civilian population, the Azerbaijani army launched counter attacks and as a result, the Azerbaijani troops retook hills around the village of Talish, as well as Seysulan settlement, and also took over Leletepe hill located in the direction of Fizuli region. The fights of April 1-4 last year and the achieved victory are the most significant victory of the Azerbaijani army ever since the country became independent, Hasanov stressed. In late January 2017, President Ilham Aliyev ordered to restore Jojug Marjanli. Under the order, 4 million manats were allocated for the construction of 50 private houses, a school building and relevant infrastructure at the first stage. Moreover, the President signed an order on additional measures to construct the road leading to the liberated Jojug Marjanli village and allocated 4.3 million manats from the state budget for the construction of 9 km long highway in the village. Hasanov noted that the construction of a mosque similar to the Shusha Mosque has also started in Jojug Marjanli. He said that the restoration of this village and the beginning of its residents return has inspired not only IDPs, but also the entire Azerbaijani nation. Whole Azerbaijan is talking about Jojug Marjanli. Not only Azerbaijan, the entire world is talking about it. The reconstruction of the liberated village caused a worldwide resonance and it marks the concrete result of foreign and ideological policy of the President, Hasanov noted. Armenia broke out a lengthy war against Azerbaijan laying territorial claims on its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. Peace talks mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. have produced no results so far. Due to the ethnic cleansing policy carried out by Armenia and the Armenian occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions of Azerbaijan, the number of refugees and internally displaced persons hit more than 1.2 million. With a population of over 9.8 million, Azerbaijan is among the countries carrying the highest IDP caseload in the world in per capita terms. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 3 April 2017 10:56 (UTC+04:00) President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev visited the Alley of Martyrs in Baku on April 3, Azertac reported. A guard of honor was lined up for the Kazakh president here, Azertac reported. President Nazarbayev paid tribute to Azerbaijani heroes who gave their lives for the country`s independence and territorial integrity. He laid a wreath at the Eternal Flame monument. A military orchestra played the national anthems of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. President Nazarbayev also visited the Alley of Honors to lay a wreath at the tomb of national leader, founder and architect of modern Azerbaijani state Heydar Aliyev. Kazakh President also put flowers at the grave of prominent ophthalmologist, academician Zarifa Aliyeva. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 3 April 2017 15:30 (UTC+04:00) An official welcome ceremony was held for President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, who is on an official visit in Azerbaijan on April 3. A guard of honor was arranged for the Kazakh President in the square decorated with the national flags of the two countries, Azertac reported. The chief of the guard of honor reported to President Ilham Aliyev. Then, President Aliyev greeted President Nazarbayev. The chief of the guard of honor reported to the Kazakh president. The national anthems of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan were played. President Aliyev and President Nazarbayev reviewed the guard of honor. The Kazakh president saluted the Azerbaijani soldiers. State and government officials of Azerbaijan were introduced to President Nursultan Nazarbayev, and members of the Kazakh delegation were introduced to President Ilham Aliyev. The guard of honor marched in front of the presidents to the accompaniment of a military march. The Presidents posed for official photos. Following the official welcome ceremony, President Aliyev and President Nazarbayev held a one-on-one meeting. Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Nursultan Nazarbayev held a meeting in an expanded format. The meeting was followed by the signing of Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan documents. President Ilham Aliyev and President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed the Joint Declaration of the Presidents. Chairman of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC Javid Gurbanov and president of Kazakhstan Railways National Company Kanat Alpysbayev signed The Agreement on strategic cooperation between Azerbaijan Railways CJSC and Kazakhstan Railways National Company in the field of logistics and rolling stock engineering. Azerbaijani Ambassador to Kazakhstan Rashad Mammadov and Kazakh Ambassador to Azerbaijan Beybit Isabayev signed The Protocol on supplements and amendments to the Agreement on double taxation between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Azerbaijan`s Minister of Economy Shahin Mustafayev and Kazakh Minister of Investments and Development Zhens Kassymbek signed The Agreement on international road transportation between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Azerbaijani Foreign Affairs Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and Kazakhstan`s Minister of Foreign Affairs Kairat Abdrakhmanov signed The Cooperation Program for 2017-2018 between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Azerbaijani Minister of Agriculture Heydar Asadov and first deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Askar Mamin signed The Agreement on cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the field of plant quarantine and conservation. Following the ceremony of signing documents, the Presidents made statements for the press. Later, a ceremony was held to present "Heydar Aliyev" Order to President Nazarbayev. President Aliyev addressed the event. The Kazakh President also made a speech at the ceremony. On the same day, President Aliyev hosted an official reception for President Nazarbayev. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 3 April 2017 17:37 (UTC+04:00) By Trend Positions of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan on all the issues under discussion fully coincide, said Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev during the expanded meeting with his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev, who was on an official visit in Baku on April 3. President Aliyev welcomed Kazakhstans President Nursultan Nazarbayev and his delegation, voicing his gratitude for having accepted the invitation to visit. This visit is of great importance for the further strengthening of friendly, fraternal relations between our countries," he said. "First of all, I want to congratulate you once again on the occasion of Kazakhstans election as a member of the UN Security Council. This means recognizing the role of Kazakhstan in issues of global scale, your personal authority and the initiatives you put forward to strengthen peace not only in our region, but also worldwide. We are very satisfied with the development of our relations. We are in a constant contact. Today we have already exchanged views on a number of issues. We began our work last night, and the exchange of views that we had shows that our positions on all issues under discussion fully coincide. In particular, we mulled our active cooperation in the field of politics, good prospects in the economic and transport spheres, and now we will continue the discussion with the participation of delegations, said President Aliyev. He expressed confidence that the decisions made today will allow to significantly increase the trade turnover in a short time and create new conditions in terms of regional cooperation. Both Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are carrying out huge work to strengthen regional cooperation through specific transport, energy projects and projects related to economic development, said the Azerbaijani leader. President Aliyev also expressed satisfaction with mutual investments by the two countries companies and good results that they yield. In my opinion, your visit and the decisions to be made will also stimulate the private sector to increase the volume of investments. I would like to once again welcome you and express confidence that this visit will be very successful and further bring our nations closer, President Aliyev said. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 3 April 2017 17:51 (UTC+04:00) By Trend The Consulate General of Azerbaijan in St. Petersburg is checking for Azerbaijani nationals, who could have been among the victims of the explosion in the St. Petersburg metro, Azerbaijans Consul General in St. Petersburg Sultan Gasimov told Trend on April 3. Currently, the staff of the Consulate General is in contact with local authorities and law enforcement agencies to clarify the situation, said Gasimov adding that there has been no information about injured Azerbaijanis. About 50 people were wounded and other 10 were killed in the St. Petersburg metro blast, RIA Novosti reported citing the city authorities. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 3 April 2017 17:55 (UTC+04:00) By Trend Trend Agency and the News Agency of the Slovak Republic (TASR) signed an agreement on cooperation and information exchange. The agreement was inked by Trend's Director General Ilgar Huseynov and TASR Director General Yaroslav Reznik. According to the document, the news agencies will support the regular exchange of operational information, analytical and multimedia materials about the sociopolitical, economic, social, as well as cultural and humanitarian life in Slovakia and Azerbaijan. The agreement includes the items according to which the news agencies will be able to exchange not only news, but also photos and videos. The agreement also envisages the exchange of experience between TASR and Trend employees. 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. The News Agency of the Slovak Republic (TASR) is a public service, national and independent institution that provides information in the area of news coverage in accordance with the public interest. It releases 250,000 news releases per year on news from Slovakia and its regions, from abroad, economy, sports. In addition, it publishes photos, videos and audio recordings. TASR also provides news bulletins in English and Slovak (auto industry, construction, banks, etc.), searching services, unique archives of photos, media monitoring, etc. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 3 April 2017 23:39 (UTC+04:00) President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has offered condolences to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. I am deeply shocked by the news of casualties as a result of an explosion in Saint Petersburg metro, said President Aliyev in his letter of condolences. We resolutely condemn any act against innocent civilians, he noted. On behalf of the people of Azerbaijan and on my own behalf, I extend my deepest condolences to you, the families and loved ones of those who died. I wish all the injured the swiftest possible recovery. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz BY Trend 18:00 (GMT+4) The working group under the Armenian Prosecutor General's Office reviewed new appeals on electoral violations as of 15:00 (UTC/GMT+4) on April 2. The majority of reports referred to various technical malfunctions in the course of the elections, panarmenian.net website reported. Obvious violations were detected in 131 reports, with the latter delegated to the relevant departments of police and investigative committee, where the materials will be readied in accordance to Armenias Criminal Code to start a probe. Out of 131 reports, 48 dealt with casting a ballot in stead of another voter, 26 dealt with the voting secrecy violation, 11 preventing the citizens right to free expression of the electoral will, 8 buying of votes, 15 hindering the word of the media representatives, trustees and the commission. 14:22 (GMT+4) The working group under the Armenian Prosecutor General's Office reviewed new appeals on electoral violations as of 10:00 (UTC/GMT+4) on April 2. According to the message, 6 cases were connected with a repeat vote, 3 cases - violations of the secret ballot, 3 cases - hampering the right of citizens to freely express the suffrage. 10:59 (GMT+4) The working group, which is set up by the order of the Prosecutor General of Armenia, has considered reports of electoral fraud. 57 reports contained elements of apparent electoral fraud, Office of the Prosecutor General informed Armenian News website. They were forwarded to Police of Armenia, to clarify the circumstances specified in these reports. A total 46 of these 57 reports referred to apparent buying of votes, and 11preventing the free exercise of suffrage. -- 3 April 2017 10:12 (UTC+04:00) By Trend Unknown people threw explosives at a police car in Mersin province (south of Turkey), the Turkish media reported April 3. Two police officers, who were injured in the explosion, were taken to a hospital. An operation to apprehend the criminals was launched in the province. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 3 April 2017 10:34 (UTC+04:00) By Trend Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said he expects 63 percent Yes votes in the upcoming referendum on constitutional reforms in Turkey, Anadolu reported. Speaking to journalists in Istanbul Sunday, Cavusoglu said some surveys suggest current percentage of Yes votes to be over 58 percent, adding that more people are expected to vote Yes. He also said the rate of voting has increased by more than 30 percent abroad compared with the previous presidential election. "I hope there will be more. The citizens have a lot of interest," he said, adding he expects voter turnout abroad to be over 50 percent. The overseas turnout was 8.32 percent in the 2014 presidential election, which was the first time Turkish nationals were able to vote from abroad. Around 3 million Turkish expats are eligible to vote at Turkeys 120 diplomatic missions in 57 countries. The overseas voting, which started Monday, will end on April 9. Voting centers abroad remain open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. local time at such missions "so the citizens can also go to vote after work," Cavusoglu said. The constitutional changes have been discussed since Recep Tayyip Erdogan was voted president in August 2014. The 18-article bill was passed by parliament in January. The reforms would hand wide-ranging executive powers to the president and the post of prime minister would be abolished. The president would also be allowed to retain ties to a political party. Other changes would see the minimum age for parliamentary candidates reduced to 18 and the number of deputies rise to 600. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 3 April 2017 14:00 (UTC+04:00) By Trend The Kazakh National Wealth Fund Samruk-Kazyna plans to invest 121 billion tenges (313.73 tenges = $1) in the development of growing companies in 2017 to catalyze new industries and contribute to modernization of the economy. The Fund reported that it is envisaged by the fund's Development Plan for 2017-2021 approved by the Board of Directors of Samruk-Kazyna. By the end of 2021, the cumulative investment in new and growing companies will reach 273 billion tenges, the fund said. Within the Development Program, in the next 5 years Samruk-Kazyna will continue to focus on improvement of portfolio management; implementation of the privatization program; development of the investment portfolio with a focus on new industries; transformation of the portfolio companies; transition of the funds corporate center to the new functional model; and enhancing financial sustainability. Samruk-Kazyna is owned by the Government of Kazakhstan. The funds assets hit about 22.33 billion tenges as of September 30, 2016. Samruk-Kazyna group includes biggest Kazakhstans companies in oil and gas, transport and logistics sectors, chemical and nuclear industry, mining and metallurgy, energy, machinery building and real-estate sectors. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 3 April 2017 15:42 (UTC+04:00) By Kamila Aliyeva The European Union will recognize any decision about the political future of Syria, which will be approved by all Syrians both inside the country and beyond, the head of EU diplomacy Federica Mogherini said at the EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg, RIA Novosti reported. The United States and the European Union have consistently demanded Assad stand down in any peace deal. But last week Washington signaled it would no longer focus on Assad's ouster as it concentrates on the fight against terror groups such as Islamic State. Asked what this meant for EU policy, Mogherini said she believed it "would be impossible" to return to the status quo in Syria. "After nearly 7 years of war it seems completely unrealistic to believe that the future of Syria can be the same as it used to be in the past, but Syrians are those to decide it, and this is clear," she said adding that a political agreement on governance, power distribution and transition must be achieved by the Syrians. She noted that "any decision that would be acceptable to all Syrians who are in the country and beyond, including the opposition negotiating in Geneva will get our support." The decision is to be made by all Syrians," Mogherini concluded. Mogherini will co-host with the United Nations a two-day conference on Syria's future in Brussels focused on the disastrous humanitarian situation in the country after a war which has claimed more than 320,000 lives and displaced more than half the population. Armed conflict continues in Syria since March 2011. Government troops are confronted by militants of different armed rebel groups. Russia has begun airstrikes on terrorist facilities in Syria since 30 September 2015. The Russian military involvement follows an official request from President Bashar Assad to President Vladimir Putin. --- Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 3 April 2017 17:26 (UTC+04:00) By Kamila Aliyeva The European Union Foreign Ministers met on April 3 in Luxembourg with focus on Syria. The meeting preceded an international conference on Syrian problem will begin its work in Brussels on April 4 with meetings on different levels and the ministerial is scheduled for April 5. In the Luxembourg meeting the EU once again threatened Syria with new sanctions and stated that there will be no long-term peace in the country under the current regime, according to the final statement on Syria, RIA Novosti reported. The EU will continue to consider further restrictive measures against Syria as the persecution continues, according to the statement. The EU recalls that there will be no long-term peace in Syria under the current regime," the foreign ministers of the EU member-states said. At the same time, as in October last year, the foreign ministers called on the regime and its allies, in particular Russia, including the co-chairman of the ISSG (International Syria Support Group), to make every effort to ensure the complete ceasefire, the lifting of the siege and unhindered permanent access for the humanitarian help across the country. The EU remains committed to finding a lasting political solution to the conflict in Syria under the existing UN-agreed framework, as there is no military solution to the Syrian civil war. The EU is also the leading donor in the international response to the Syrian crisis, with over 9.4 billion from the EU and Member States collectively allocated in humanitarian and development assistance since the start of the conflict. To define how the EU could play an even stronger role, the European Commission and the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy have adopted a joint communication proposing a forward-looking EU strategy for Syria on March 14, 2017. Armed conflict continues in Syria since March 2011. Government troops are confronted by militants of different armed rebel groups. Russia has begun airstrikes on terrorist facilities in Syria since 30 September 2015. The Russian military involvement follows an official request from President Bashar Assad to President Vladimir Putin. --- Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 3 April 2017 17:43 (UTC+04:00) By Kamila Aliyeva Registration of candidates for the presidential elections in Iran will begin on April 11 and end on April 16, Irans interior minister and head of the election body, Ali Asghar Ahmadi said on April 3. Immediately upon the closing of registration, the 12-member Guardian Council, a body that oversees elections and legislation, will vet candidates from April 16 to April 20. The body may extend the vetting period for five days, April 21-25, looking into candidates grievances. On April 26-27, the Interior Ministry, which is charged with all executive affairs related to elections, will formally announce a final shortlist of candidates approved by the Guardian Council. On April 28, candidates start campaigning until 24 hours before May 19, the voting date for the 12th presidential and 5th city and council elections. As many as 287,425 people were registered as candidates for positions in city and village councils throughout the country. Irans President Hasan Rouhani earlier stated that he will run for the next term in the upcoming presidential election set for May 19. President Rouhani won the 2013 presidential election, and if reelected, this will be his second term in office. He remains popular for stabilizing the economy and ending sanctions through a nuclear deal with world powers. After lifting the sanctions, Rouhani visited a number of European states and made deals that worth billions of dollars. European companies started looking for investment opportunities in the growing Iranian market. --- Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 3 April 2017 14:56 (UTC+04:00) Azerbaijan Airlines invites everyone to visit its stand at the 16th Azerbaijan International Travel and Tourism Fair Exhibition, AITF 2017, which will be held in Baku on April 6-8. At the joint stand of AZAL and its exclusive partner Silk Way Travel, visitors will be able to communicate with representatives of the airline and the travel agency. Interesting business meetings await participants and visitors of the exhibition. During the exhibition it is planned to raffle off free air tickets to the destinations, where Azerbaijan Airlines fly, as well as other valuable prizes among visitors of the stand. Also, participants and visitors will be able to register and become a member of AZAL MILES frequent flyer program, thus receiving 50 bonus points. AZAL is one of Azerbaijans flagship brands and enjoy an excellent reputation both domestically and internationally. The company received a prestigious "4 Stars" from the leading world-famous British consulting company Skytrax during their air transport research. Its network includes 40 destinations across 19 countries. AITF is the main event in Azerbaijans fast growing tourism market attracting a large number of international participants and trade visitors from various countries of the world annually. It is where important meetings are organised, partnership agreements are concluded, new programs and destinations are announced. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Contributing columnist Jose Gaspar is a news anchor for KKEY, Telemundo Bakersfield. Email him at elcompa29@gmail.com. His work appears here every third Monday; the views expressed are his own. This story was last posted on: 6:55 p.m., Monday, April 03, 2017. Gov. Rick Scott has removed State Attorney Aramis Ayala from almost two dozen more first-degree murder cases. More murder cases under Ninth Judicial Circuit reassigned State Attorney Brad King to pick up 21 cases from Aramis Ayala RELATED: Judge to decide if attorney will represent Markeith Loyd READ: Governor's executive orders reassigning murder cases (PDF) OUR NEW APP: Watch News 13 or Bay News 9 on the go or wherever you are with the new Spectrum TV app Scott signed an executive order Monday morning reassigning 21 cases in the Ninth Judicial Circuit to State Attorney Brad King, the Governor's Office said. The families who tragically lost someone deserve a state attorney who will take the time to review every individual fact and circumstance before making such an impactful decision. ... State Attorney Ayalas complete refusal to consider capital punishment for the entirety of her term sends an unacceptable message that she is not interested in considering every available option in the fight for justice, Scott said in a news release. Six of the cases involve people who have not been prosecuted. The other 15 are on death row and will get new sentencing hearings under Florida's new death penalty rules just signed into law. Name Case number Status Darell Avant 2013-CF-017099 State filed for death penalty Nov. 23, 2015 DeMorris Andy Hunter 2002-CF-006796 State filed for death penalty Feb. 13, 2015 David Lewis Payne 2015-CF-016393 State filed for death penalty March 14, 2016 Larry Perry 2013-CF-000612 State filed for death penalty Dec. 17, 2013 Juan Rosario 2014-CF-014049 State filed for death penalty Nov. 21, 2014 Sanel Saint-Simon 2014-CF-012661 State filed for death penalty April 7, 2015 Dolan Darling (a k a Sean Smith) 1997-CF-007497 New sentencing hearing Steven Maurice Evans 1996-CF-005639 New sentencing hearing David Sylvester Frances 2000-CF-016204 New sentencing hearing Thomas Lee Gudinas 1994-CF-007132 New sentencing hearing John S. Huggins 1998-CF-007190 New sentencing hearing Sonny Ray Jeffries 1993-CF-009667 New sentencing hearing Jermaine Lebron 1996-CF-002147 New sentencing hearing Derrick McLean 2004-CF-015923 New sentencing hearing Lionel Michael Miller 2006-CF-005222 New sentencing hearing Robert Ira Peede 1983-CF-001682 New sentencing hearing Theodore Rodgers Jr. 2001-CF-002386 New sentencing hearing Henry Perry Sireci Jr. 1976-CF-000532 New sentencing hearing Dusty Ray Spencer 1992-CF-000473 New sentencing hearing William Melvin White 1978-CF-001840 New sentencing hearing Todd A. Zommer 2005-CF-001200 New sentencing hearing A spokeswoman for Ayala accused Scott of abusing his authority. "There was never official notification from his (the governor's) office," Eryka Washington said. "Ms. Ayala remains steadfast in her position the governor is abusing his authority and has compromised the independence and integrity of the criminal justice system." State Rep. Sean Shaw (D-Tampa) called Scott's actions a "gross abuse of his power." For his part, King said that after the Markeith Loyd case was reassigned to him, he and the other state attorneys thought other first-degree murder cases would likely be reassigned. During a weekly conference call, King and the other state attorneys decided that if that happened, his office, which is closest to Orange County, would be the one to pick up the cases. King oversees the Fifth Judicial Circuit, which covers Citrus, Hernando, Lake, Marion, and Sumter counties. He and his office will go through each reassigned case and evaluate whether it should proceed as a death penalty case, he said. Six cases are pending at the circuit level and fifteen cases are in some form of appeal, King said. Any extra funding will have to be decided by the state legislature and is still in the legislative process. One case not included on the listed 21 is that of convicted killer Bessman Okafor, who was sentenced to death in 2015 for the murder of Alex Zaldivar. The Governor's Office clarified why that case was left out, saying, "The Bessman Okafor case cannot be reassigned until the direct appeal to the Florida Supreme Court is decided. However, this is one of the many horrific cases in the Ninth Judicial Circuit that deserve a state attorney who will review every individual fact and circumstance before making a decision on what sentence to pursue." Last month, Ayala outraged Scott and scores of law enforcement agencies and organizations when she said she would not seek death sentences as the Orlando area's top prosecutor. She called a news conference to say that she thought pursuing the death penalty was "not in the best interests of this community or the best interests in justice." She said if the death penalty system were "better" in the state of Florida, she would reconsider her decision. Malaysian port operator MMC Port Holdings will partner with Adani Ports and Sime Darby Property under a memorandum of understanding to study the feasibility of developing an integrated maritime city on Carey Island, Malaysia. Malaysian port operator MMC Port Holdings will partner with Adani Ports and Sime Darby Property under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to study the feasibility of developing an integrated maritime city on Carey Island, Malaysia. According to the three partners, the proposed maritime city would support the development of a new port on Carey Island, 50 kilometers southwest of Kuala Lumpur. In addition, MMC Ports and Adani Ports have signed a separate MOU to explore the feasibility of the Carey Island Port Project as an extension of Port Kelang. MMC Ports is Malaysias largest port operator, owning the Pelabuhan Tanjung Pelepas Terminal, the Johor Port Berhad multi-purpose port, the Northport (Malaysia) Bhd Gateway Terminal, and Penang Port Sdn Bhd. MMC Ports also has an associate stake in the Red Sea Gateway Terminal, the container port terminal in Jeddah. Sime Darby Property is a subsidiary of Malaysia-based Sime Darby Berhad, which specializes in industrial equipment, motors, property and logistics; and Adani Ports operates container handling facilities at Mundra Port, Hazira Port, Kattupalli and Gujarat. The Madagascar government fired 43 dockworkers last month for joining a union known as SYGMMA. The government of Madagascar has been hit with an International Labor Organization (ILO) complaint after firing 43 dockworkers last month for joining a union, the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) reported. The complaint was filed by the ITF on behalf of Port of Toamasina workers and their union, SYGMMA. ITF General Secretary Steve Cotton said the global union federation took this action after the Madagascan government refused to obey a court order, which found the workers should be allowed to join a union and organize for better working conditions. Many of these workers earn just $40 a month and were engaged in legitimate union activity to try and improve their working conditions. They face very dangerous working conditions and stood up in the face of intimidation and retaliation from management, Cotton said. The local union took action through the Madagascan Courts and won yet the Government refuses to obey the court direction. None of the 43 workers who were dismissed for union activity have been reinstated. The workers lost their jobs in February, which incited ITF protests outside Madagascar embassies around the world. The ICTSI-operated Port of Toamasina is one of the major gateways for textile products exported to Europe, South Africa and the United States. U.S. sanctions were previously instated against Madagascar after a coup in 2009, but the sanctions were lifted in 2014. The ITF, as an international union federation, represents 700 transport unions and 4.5 million workers worldwide. A prominent local law enforcement officer gunned down Monday in an apparent ambush told county officials last week he felt threatened by a man he'd once targeted in a corruption investigation. Clint Greenwood - three months into a new job as a chief deputy constable - shared his concerns with officials in the Harris County Attorney's Office who were handling an administrative matter related to the case, according to a source who asked not to be identified because of the nature of the investigation. "I believe [this person] poses a real threat to my and my family's safety," Greenwood said in an email sent Thursday to the county attorney's office. Career Timeline Clinton Greenwood served nearly three decades in Harris County law enforcement and also worked as a lawyer, defending and eventually prosecuting police accused of misconduct. He is survived by his wife, two children and two stepchildren. January 2017: Joined the Harris County Precinct 3 Constable's Office as assistant chief deputy 2013-2016: hired as a major in the Harris County Sheriff's Office, where he supervised the Internal Affairs Division and the inspector general 2009-2013: Supervised the Police Integrity Division at the Harris County District Attorney's Office, including the Chad Holley HPD beating case 1989-2009: Operated a private law practice, defending police in criminal cases for 20 years; also started with the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable's Office, where he served nearly 20 years as a reserve officer 1986: Earned law degree from South Texas College of Law Houston; worked as prosecutor with the Harris County District Attorney's Office, where he previously interned 1983: Graduated from Rice University See More Collapse Greenwood was shot to death just before 7 a.m. Monday, moments after pulling into the parking lot of the courthouse annex in Baytown where he worked, officials said. "It's a hit, no doubt," said one top federal official assisting with the investigation. "He basically got ambushed." The killing sparked a massive manhunt that shut down portions of the neighborhood surrounding the courthouse, as deputies combed the area while helicopters circled overhead. Authorities said late Monday they were investigating several leads but had not made any arrests. Greenwood's concerns about the corruption case were passed along to law enforcement, the source said. Late Monday, Baytown police released a video of a vehicle possibly linked to the slaying and a description of a man who was seen in the area at the time of the shooting. Police described him as a white or Hispanic man, about 6 foot to 6-feet-3, with short hair and a medium to stocky build. He wore a dark jacket with some kind of patch on the sleeve. A reward of up to $65,000 is being offered for information leading to an arrest and charges in the case through Crime Stoppers, 713-222-TIPS. THE VICTIM: 10 things to know about the officer shot and killed in Baytown LifeFlight carried Greenwood to Memorial Hermann Hospital in the Texas Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. A police motorcade then escorted his body to the medical examiner's office. He is survived by his wife, two children and two step-children. Greenwood - a former private attorney, prosecutor and law enforcement officer who spent the last years of his career fighting corruption - had started work Jan. 1 as an assistant chief deputy constable. "The Harris County Precinct 3 Constable's Office has suffered a great loss," Constable Sherman Eagleton said, at a press conference Monday. "I just want to send my condolences out to the family. And also the deputy's brothers and sisters in law enforcement that worked with Chief Greenwood." Baytown police are leading the investigation with help from state, local and federal law enforcement officials. Greenwood's slaying was one of five high-profile shooting attacks on officers in Harris County in the last two years. In August 2015, Harris County Sheriff's Deputy Darren Goforth was shot and killed at a northwest Harris County gas station. Precinct 7 Deputy Constable Alden Clopton was shot in an ambush attack late at night while helping a colleague with a traffic stop, but survived. In February, two Houston police officers were shot and wounded while conducting anti-burglary operations on the city's southwest side. On Monday, Greenwood arrived at his usual time and parked in his usual spot before gunfire rang out. He was shot once, Baytown Police Lt. Steve Dorris said shortly after the shooting. "Whether or not he was specifically targeted, or whether this was because of the uniform he was wearing or the place he pulled up to in the morning, we just don't know that right now," Dorris said. Wanda Asbeck, who lives next to the courthouse annex, heard the gunfire just before 7 a.m. She looked outside and saw Greenwood lying on the pavement next to his SUV. Asbeck works in the constable's office and recognized him right away. "It just made me sick," she said. "He was such a good man. Why would anyone want to kill him?" Greenwood grew up in north Harris County and quickly became a fixture in the Harris County criminal justice system. He worked as a reserve deputy at the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable's Office for nearly two decades, while simultaneously working as a private defense attorney, largely representing police officers. In 2009, he joined the Harris County District Attorney's Office as chief of the Police Integrity Division under DA Pat Lykos, the district attorney's unit responsible for investigating police officers and presenting the cases to grand juries. During his four years with the DA's office, he led the case against Houston police officers accused of beating 17-year-old Chad Holley, a case that sparked widespread protests. In 2013, he joined the Harris County Sheriff's Office as a major, overseeing the department's Internal Affairs Division, General Investigations Division and Office of the Inspector General. He oversaw the internal probe into misconduct by an investigator in the Goforth case. He had moved into a leadership position with the Precinct 3 constable's office, where he had put together field training and use-of-force manuals. A graduate of Spring Woods High School, Rice University and what was then South Texas College of Law, he also had worked as a visiting justice of the peace and taught cadets at the Houston Police Department's training academy. Over the years, he took 4,200 hours of education classes as well as 1,600 hours of additional training, obtaining a master peace officer certification in 2012, state records show. "He was one of the best guys you'd ever want to work around," said Ron Hickman, a former Harris County sheriff and Precinct 4 constable. LifeFlight transported Greenwood to Memorial Hermann Hospital in the Texas Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead soon after arriving. Outside the hospital, officers greeted each other with hugs and handshakes. Police escorted a young man, possibly a relative, into the hospital as he cried and held his head in his hands. Houston police spokesman Kese Smith confirmed that family members had arrived. HPD motorcycle units escorted Greenwood's body to the medical examiner's office, Smith said. "He was an incredible human being, a cop's cop," Precinct 1 Constable Alan Rosen said, minutes after Greenwood's body was escorted to the medical examiner's office local law enforcement. At least a dozen police motorcycles, lights flashing, flanked the white minivan carrying Greenwood's body as the car pulled east on Cambridge Street away from the hospital. Representatives from at least three constable precincts, the sheriff's office, the district attorney's office and the Houston Police Department came to Memorial Hermann Monday, Rosen said. Greenwood's death sparked attention statewide. "Texas is taking action to strengthen penalties for those brazen enough to commit crimes against law enforcement, and we will send a message that such vile acts will not be tolerated in the Lone Star State," Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement. "I am confident that the perpetrator of this swift and despicable act will be apprehended and that murder will be met with swift justice." Attorney General Ken Paxton added: "This is a reminder to pray for and support all law enforcement officials in our state, especially at this time of grief." At the Harris County Criminal Courthouse in downtown Houston, lawyers and officers who had known Greenwood for years, if not decades, were in shock. "He was a great friend, a great husband and a great father," said Jim Leitner, an administrator in the District Attorney's Office. "He was one of the best friends I ever had." With tears in his eyes, Leitner arrived at the courthouse after being with Greenwood's family at the hospital. On his way in, he hugged a female bailiff who broke down in tears in the lobby. Leitner and defense attorney Danny Lacayo, with the Public Defender's Office, consoled the bailiff and helped her to a private office. Leitner said he and the bailiff had lunch with Greenwood on Friday. "I'm glad we did," he said. The shooting Monday brought a swift outpouring of condemnation from local and state leaders. "We will send a message that such vile acts will not be tolerated in the Lone Star State," Gov. Greg Abbott promised. "I am confident that the perpetrator of this swift and despicable act will be apprehended and that murder will be met with swift justice." Outside Memorial Hermann Hospital, Greenwood's colleagues and relatives greeted each other with hugs, handshakes and tears. "He was an incredible human being, a cop's cop," Precinct 1 Constable Alan Rosen said, minutes after a motorcade escorted Greenwood's body from the hospital to the medical examiner's office. Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg was among those grieving at the hospital. "We knew him as a lawyer, law enforcement officer and colleague respected in every role," Ogg said later, in a statement. "Our prayers are with his family." Harris County Judge Ed Emmett and Sheriff Ed Gonzalez also offered support to the family. "I am sickened and profoundly saddened by the brutal killing of Deputy Greenwood this morning," Emmett said. "We ask the entire community to please stand by us," Gonzalez said. "We're going to do everything we can to track down whoever was responsible for this." At the Harris County Criminal Courthouse in downtown Houston, lawyers and officers who had known Greenwood for years were in shock. "He was a great friend, a great husband and a great father," said Jim Leitner, an administrator in the district attorney's office. "He was one of the best friends I ever had." Brian Benken, Greenwood's former law partner who also worked with him at the Harris County District Attorney's Office was shaken by the news. Benken said he and Greenwood ran a law practice together for several years before they both went back into investigations. "We both just liked the investigative side better," said Benken, who now works as a private investigator. Even those who clashed with his anti-corruption efforts said Greenwood was affable outside of work. "We used to butt heads," said Bob Goerlitz, a Harris County Sheriff's Office patrol deputy who headed the Harris County Deputies Organization for five years. "He was very stern on the business side." Mourners held an impromptu vigil Monday evening, with plans for a "Back the Blue" convoy Tuesday. Friends recalled Greenwood as a service-minded, hardworking person who went out of his way to help people. Montgomery County Sheriff's Lt. Tim Cannon first met Greenwood in high school in the 1970s. They raced motorcycles and went shooting together. Cannon bought his motorcycle - a Honda Elsinore 125 - from Greenwood in 1974. "Whenever I had a problem with my motorcycle, he'd come over and help me," he said. "Clint was always the go-to guy. If something needed service, he knew how to work on it. And he knew how to get something fixed." Greenwood also loved shooting, he said. "He was an expert shot," Cannon said. "He built pistols; he built rifles. He did it for people. If someone couldn't afford it, he'd do it for free. It was just his way." He and other friends struggled Monday to come to terms with his death. "Clint was absolutely a target, for whatever reason," he said. "But he didn't need to be a target. Clint was there to help. And whoever this person was, Clint probably would have reached out to help him as well." Margaret Kadifa, Marialuisa Rincon, Lindsay Ellis, Brian Rogers, Keri Blakinger and Mike Glenn contributed to this report. Since it first came out in 2013, it took pop culture by a storm and continues to touch the hearts of young people, but no one might be bigger fans than toddler twins Madelyn and Scarlett. The twins, who turn 2 next week, were performed a perfect toddler rendition of the opening scene from "Frozen," where younger sister Anna tries to get her older sister Elsa to go build a snowman with her. Cue the "Do You Want To Build a Snowman" music in the background. PARENTING HELP: These are the baby names on the rise for 2017 Their mom, Colleen Jordan, captured the moment on video and shared the video on Facebook and in less than a week, the twins have gone viral with over 43 million views and 744,000 shares. Jordan, who lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with her family of five, told Chron.com that she has seen a lot of positive comments result from the post. "One recent comment I've seen that really touched me was 'there hasn't been much to smile about in my life lately, but this video made my whole day,'" Jordan told Chron.com. "It's just so nice to see the video made so many people around the world smile. We are truly blown away by all the sweet comments." One commenter even suggested Jordan get her girls into acting as soon as possible saying, "That's their audition video right there. They're already letting you know what they want to do in life." For those of you wondering, Jordan says that the twins haven't actually watched the movie very many times, but instead they are able to just pick up things quickly. But there's no doubt that their 2-year-old viral performance is totally adorable. INSPIRATION: The most popular girl and boy names of 2016 to be inspired by 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. YMBL SOUTH TEXAS STATE FAIR Where: Ford Park, 5115 I-10 South Parking: Free Admission: Kids 2 years and under, free; Youth 3-12 years, $4; Adults 13-64 years, $8; Senior Citizens 65 and over, $4 Info: www.ymbl.org Ticket specials Monday: Koch Pipeline $1 Night at the Fair. Get into the gate for $1 with a coupon courtesy of Koch Pipeline, available from Neches Federal Credit Union locations. All carnival rides will be $2. Tuesday: $2 Tuesday Night at the Fair. Admission is $2 with a coupon from www.ymbl.org. All carnival rides $2. Wednesday: Education First Family Fun Night. Admission is free with a coupon from www.educationfirstfcu.org. Coupon holders can purchase Carnival Americana wristbands for $15. Thursday: ZTE Wireless Military and First Responders Appreciation Night. Active, retired, reserve military, National Guard and disabled veterans and their dependents receive free admission with a valid military ID. Sunday: Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper Cantastic Sunday. Patrons who bring an empty six-pack of Coca-Cola or Dr Pepper are admitted free and can purchase carnival ride wristbands for $25. The cans will be donated to charity. Ford Exhibit Hall The fair's exhibit hall hosts a car and boat show and an upscale indoor vendor market. Exhibit Hall hours: Monday-Thursday: 5 p.m.-10 p.m. Healthcare organizations that employ a peer pressure approach to hand hygiene can increase physicians' compliance. Susanna Gallani, PhD, an assistant professor of business administration at Boston-based Harvard Business School, discussed her study in Harvard Business Review. Dr. Gallani analyzed a California hospital that implemented a 90-day hand hygiene improvement initiative. Hospital employees would receive a $1,200 bonus if they met the target performance. However, California law prohibits physicians from qualifying as hospital employees, so the hospital employed other strategies to increase provider compliance. Here are five points: 1. The hospital would write physicians' names on paper if they had good hand hygiene practices. Employees would post these names on a wall, as well. 2. The chief nursing office sent congratulatory emails to those top performing physicians and would send "respectful but firm" reminders to physicians to remind them of the collective goal. 3. Following the 90 days, Dr. Gallani found employees who received bonuses improved their hand hygiene performance during the initiative, but their performance became gradually worse than before the initiative. 4. Physicians showed a slower performance improvement during the 90 days, but had a substantially better hand hygiene performance over the remainder of the observation period. 5. Dr. Gallani writes in the Harvard Business Review, "While monetary incentives generated a more pronounced improvement, it was short lived. On the other hand, peer pressure techniques generated a change in organizational behavior that persisted beyond the removal of the incentive." Pismo Beach, Calif.-based SurgCenter Development is aiming to increase its ASC presence with a new surgery center in Zeeland, Mich., according to MiBiz. Here are five highlights: 1. The ASC management company submitted plans to renovate an office building in Zeeland, Mich., for West Michigan Surgical Center. 2. West Michigan Surgical Center would feature one operating room and two procedure rooms. 3. SurgCenter Development's ASC costs $4.5 million. 4. The center would be its third in the state. 5. The company's Vice President of Development Stephanie Leventis said to MiBiz, "If there are more opportunities than present in Michigan, we're open to looking at them. We definitely are open to other developments. If we have interested physicians and we get a group of committed physicians, that's what we're looking for." Here are seven things ASC leaders should know for April 3, 2017. Republicans expect low-income subsidies to continue through 2017, possibly 2018 Republican legislators said they expect the government will continue paying billions in health insurance subsidies to low-income individuals through 2017 and possibly 2018. The House of Representatives won a lawsuit that could stop subsidy payments on President Donald Trump's urging, but analysts believe a mass exodus of payers would follow. Senior Republicans, including Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said the funding will continue for the present time. Lawrence General Hospital opening $56M surgery center Lawrence (Mass.) General Hospital is putting the finishing touches on its $56 million surgery center, slated to open April 2017. The Santagati Center, named in honor of longtime hospital supporters, features a hybrid operating room and seven standard operating rooms. The hybrid room can accommodate both minimally invasive and open surgical procedures. Capital Digestive Care CEO Dr. Arnold Levy retiring; Taps Dr. Michael Weinstein as replacement Arnold G. Levy, MD, is retiring as CEO of Silver Spring, Md.-based Capital Digestive Care. The board elected Michael Weinstein, MD, to replace Dr. Levy. Dr. Weinstein is Capital Digestive Care's vice president. Dr. Levy has been CEO and president since Capital Digestive Care's inception in 2009. Will Anthem really leave the ACA insurance exchanges? Anthem hinted toward leaving the ACA insurance exchanges. Anthem's management team told Jefferies analysts the health insurer, which sells plans under Blue Cross Blue Shield, is "leaning toward" leaving most of the insurance exchanges where it sells plans currently. Iowa Medicaid bailout could cost US taxpayers $225M Iowa state officials agreed to bail out three private Medicaid managed-care companies through a risk-corridor agreement. The decision would cost the state approximately $10 million, but it could cost the federal government up to $225 million. AAAHC recognizes Bernard A. Kershner Innovations in Quality Improvement Award winners The Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care recognized Salt Lake City-based Utah Student Health Center and PAMF Surgery Center Fremont (Calif.) with the Bernard A. Kershner Innovations in Quality Improvement Award. Somnia Anesthesia calls for 5th annual anesthesiologist of the year nominations New Rochelle, N.Y.-based Somnia Anesthesia opened nominations for its fifth annual Anesthesiologist of the Year Award on March 30, 2017. Anesthesiologists can nominate fellow anesthesiologists, certified registered nurse anesthetists, physicians or other healthcare professionals. Chicago-based Presence Health closed Ambulatory Care Center for Excellence in Surgical Services in Danville, Ill., March 31. The surgery center's annual losses were more than $1 million in each of the past two years due to dwindling patient volume, according to The News-Gazette, which cited Presence's application to close the facility filed with Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board. In February, when Presence filed its application to close the facility, Presence Regional President and CEO Jared Rogers, MD, told The News-Gazette most of the procedures performed at the surgery center will continue to be offered at Presence United Samaritans Medical Center in Danville. More articles on healthcare finance: 5 states with the most rural hospital closures Key West commissioner: CHS hospital's profit margin is 'obscene and unconscionable' Quorum Health records $348M net loss, considers adding more hospitals to sale pipeline Culture. Productivity. Strategy. Execution. These ideas will never go out of style for hospital and health system leaders. The following leadership articles were published by Becker's Hospital Review in the last week. 1. 5 reflections on next generation leadership with Carolinas HealthCare System's Chief of Staff Debra Plousha Moore A new class of leaders is set to succeed their baby boomer predecessors, and these up-and-comers will manage a very different type of health system due to the rapid development of new ideas, policies and technologies, according to Debra Plousha Moore, system chief of staff and executive vice president at Charlotte, N.C.-based Carolinas HealthCare System. 2. Trend: Making the CEO part of your hospital's brand Restructuring a hospital's business model amidst regulatory uncertainty is stressful. But it also presents a great opportunity for healthcare organizations to redefine their message. Reaching out to patients as individuals is valuable for building trust between providers and patients, especially as consumers ask for more healthcare experiences tailored to their preferences and values. 3. 16 phrases CEOs never want to hear Honesty and candor are traits CEOs usually appreciate in their colleagues and staff. However, some things are better left unsaid. 4. Can a massive hospital learn from a lean startup? Have you recently asked your executive team to become more innovative, consumer-centric and agile, only to be met with uncomprehending stares? The "lean startup" methodology may be a way to rally the troops. 5. 11 health system CEOs name their greatest talent outside of the C-suite Hospital and health system CEOs are charged with a myriad of responsibilities, many of which keep them tied to their desks and phones throughout the day. But these leaders possess a diverse range of skills outside of the C-suite doors, too. 6. Carilion Clinic CEO Nancy Howell Agee on healthcare reform: Hospitals in 'problematic' 'state of uncertainty' The uncertain future of healthcare reform unnerves hospital leaders and threatens the health of their bottom lines, Carilion Clinic President and CEO Nancy Howell Agee told The Roanoke Times. 7. 17 things to know about hospital outpatient services & HOPDs Physicians and surgeons are able to perform more procedures in outpatient settings today than ever before due to technological advancements and new pain management techniques. The focus on value-based healthcare has also encouraged the move from inpatient to outpatient settings for appropriate procedures because there is a reduced risk of infection at outpatient facilities and the overall cost of care is lower. 8. 5 things to know before becoming a healthcare consultant Considering a switch from industry to consulting? Here are five things to know about the healthcare consulting field, based on a career guide from Washington, D.C.-based George Washington University's Milken Institute School of Public Health. 9. Four strategies that can help health systems succeed now no matter what happens in Washington, D.C. Uncertainty is in the air for hospitals and health systems across the U.S., as policymakers grapple with how to make the journey from Obamacare to Trumpcare. 10. The Trumpcare dilemma: Delivering growth during uncertainty Given the uncertainty and financial pressures hospitals face, leadership must invest in resources that are going to drive massive returns regardless of changes that may come down the line. 11. CEOs pursue more acquisitions when they don't win awards When CEOs lose out on awards from business media outlets, they up their game by seeking out more and/or larger acquisitions, according to a recent study featured by Harvard Business Review. 12. The 11-step guide to a failing hospital Someone recently asked me, "Why do hospitals fail?" While this question is nearly impossible to answer in general terms, the dear Tip O'Neill [former Speaker of the House from 1977-1987] was mostly correct when he stated, "All politics is local." The same goes for healthcare. Lloyd Dean currently serves as president and CEO of San Francisco-based Dignity Health. Prior to joining Dignity Health in 2000, he served as executive vice president and COO of Downers Grove, Ill.-based Advocate Health Care. Mr. Dean, who has more than 20 years of healthcare operations and leadership experience, earned his bachelor's and Masters degrees from Kalamazoo-based Western Michigan University. He also has an honorary doctorate from the University of San Francisco. On Tuesday, April 18, Mr. Dean will speak on a keynote panel at the Becker's Hospital Review 8th Annual Meeting. As part of an ongoing series, Becker's is talking to healthcare leaders who plan to speak at the conference, which will take place April 17 through April 20 in Chicago. To learn more about the conference and Mr. Dean's panel, click here. Question: What's your favorite part of being a CEO of a healthcare system? Lloyd Dean: I love being part of a team. There is a lot of power in bringing people together for a common goal. I especially enjoy talking with our incredible caregivers on the front lines, hearing their stories and suggestions about how to best care for our patients. I am also privileged to work with a very talented and diverse leadership team. Combined, we have the opportunity to make a meaningful difference in the communities we serve every day. And for me, there is no better honor than that. Q: Who is someone you consider a role model in your life and why? LD: My mother was a person of great faith and character. She was able to see the positive in anything and with great compassion for everyone. I believe those early life lessons made me into the person I am today. From her inspiration, I strive to see the best in the most difficult of situations. Q: What's the best decision you ever made? What's the worst decision you ever made? LD: Undoubtedly, the best decision I ever made was pursuing the opportunity to come to Dignity Health (at the time Catholic Healthcare West). I remain as dedicated to our ministry today, if not more, than when I started. Hindsight is always 20/20. Looking back, I think I will always regret that I never ran for public office. But ultimately, my goal has always been to influence lasting and positive change for the health of our communities, which I think my current position in healthcare allows me to do. Q: What's one thing hospital leaders should keep top of mind throughout 2017? LD: First, last and always, the top thing hospital leaders need to focus on is the patient they are at the center of everything we do. Looking ahead, in my experience, the most successful leaders are flexible, nimble and always prepared for change. Express Scripts, a St. Louis-based pharmacy benefits manager, will lay off 220 workers when it closes its office in Trevose, Pa., according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. Express Scripts spokesman Brian Henry told The Philadelphia Inquirer the office will close May 26. The 220 layoffs represent about 11 percent of the company's 2,000-person workforce in Pennsylvania. Mr. Henry said the office in Trevose is no longer needed, as computerized systems have reduced the number of workers necessary to process prescriptions. This is the second round of layoffs Express Scripts has announced this year. The company plans to cut more than 300 jobs when it closes a call center in Pueblo, Colo., this month. More articles on healthcare layoffs: Shuttered NC hospital settles case over improper layoff notification CHI lays off 459 employees in Texas 13 healthcare layoffs in March With recent events in Washington, D.C., it is unclear what the future holds for healthcare. However, that doesn't mean hospitals need to remain stagnant, according to Robert Garrett, co-CEO of Edison, N.J.-based Hackensack Meridian Health. Mr. Garrett became co-CEO in 2016 following the merger between Hackensack (N.J.) University Health Network and Neptune, N.J.-based Meridian Health. Prior to that, he was president and CEO of the HUHN since 2009. Mr. Garrett recently spoke with Becker's Hospital Review about healthcare reform, the challenges it brings and how hospitals should respond. Note: Responses have been edited for length and clarity. Question: If you could eliminate one of the healthcare industry's problems overnight, which would it be? Robert Garrett: I would eliminate the lack of coordination of care because I think so many different caregivers are responsible for patients. Sometimes those handoffs are smooth and sometimes they're not. I think there needs to be, in general, better coordination of care. I think through efforts like accountable care organizations and clinically integrated networks, we're making a lot of progress there, but I do think there is more opportunity for the healthcare team to come together and coordinate care. I've seen some great examples of where that's done. There are hospitals that practice multidisciplinary rounding where physicians, nurses, other members of the team like pharmacists and physical therapists, actually round on patients at one time. We're doing that in many of our Hackensack Meridian hospitals. I was just at one of our hospitals, Mountainside in Montclair, N.J., and they have high reliability rounding on patients. So the team goes into the patient room and does an overall assessment of the patient's condition in front of the patient, and then the patient has an opportunity to say if they felt they missed anything. So I think there's a lot of good going on in that space in terms of coordination of care, but if there was one problem generic to healthcare right now it is still having pockets of lack of coordination. Q: How do you maintain optimism and engagement among employees amid the uncertain future of healthcare reform? RG: We do a lot of communication with our team members and with our medical staff. I think the best way team members stay optimistic is they know our strategies really transcend whatever healthcare reform might bring. So no matter what comes out of Washington, D.C., even what comes out of state and local governments, there are some basic themes that are really important like transparency on prices and services and quality that we provide to patients that we need to be very consumer-focused, that we need to provide more affordable care by providing efficient operations each day and that team members can certainly participate in that as well. Our system also has a strong focus on the coordination piece better alignment between hospitals, physicians and even insurers. So I think the way our team members and healthcare workers in general can stay optimistic in this era of uncertainty is to stick to certain principles, that no matter what comes out of healthcare reform or Washington, D.C., these principles will be the road to success for a healthcare organization. If you can stay within those boundaries, I think there is room for and reason to be optimistic. Q: What challenges must hospitals address as the national healthcare debate continues? RG: I would call the first challenge the folks that are most disadvantaged in our society and whether they'll be covered in the future by either Medicaid or some other form of insurance. These are the most disadvantaged people in our nation. They are often in need of healthcare services on a frequent basis. I think that's a big challenge for all of us to figure out. We definitely didn't support the rollback of the Medicaid expansion, which was part of the GOP's proposed ACA replacement plan, because we felt it was going to be very difficult, as these patients who were previously insured may have become uninsured. Without insurance, many of these people may come to a hospital emergency room for primary care, which is not the most efficient nor the best way for primary care to be delivered. And from the hospital perspective healthcare reform is a big challenge because our Medicare rates and also our charity care reimbursement was cut significantly when the ACA passed, and those pools of money evaporated. So even under what was proposed in healthcare reform, those Medicare cuts were not going to be restored just because Medicaid expansion was being rolled back. In New Jersey, those charity care dollars are no longer there to be distributed as well. So that's a huge challenge for the hospital industry. If you think about it, we almost take a double hit. We made a sacrifice when the ACA was passed, but that sacrifice was made with the belief that more people would be insured under Medicaid and under Medicare, and that did happen. However, we made those cuts and if we take back those people's insurance, we're going to be really hit twice. Q: How specifically is Hackensack Meridian preparing for these challenges? RG: On the consumer front, we are trying to provide access to healthcare by building an incredibly large ambulatory care network so people can receive healthcare closer to their homes, in their own communities, at more affordable prices than coming to a hospital. That could mean ambulatory surgery centers, urgent care centers, wellness and fitness centers. The whole array on the full continuum of care is what we've been providing. We think that's what consumers want and that's how we've been helping to meet that challenge. With respect to transparency, our health network has taken steps to give consumers more information about quality and pricing. As an example, on our website we're posting patient experience, readmission and hospital-acquired infection data so consumers and the public can see how our hospitals are doing. We're also posting pricing information for the most common procedures. Both of those initiatives are in the process of being rolled out across our network, but they do appear on websites within our network now. Q: What is your advice to other hospitals trying to navigate healthcare reform? RG: We need to take the lead. We should not be waiting for Washington, D.C. We should be taking the lead on healthcare reform, and we should all embrace these principles on transparency, on being more consumer-focused, on providing more affordable healthcare through operational efficiencies, and continuing to align so we can coordinate care better. So continue that alignment between hospitals, physicians and insurers. We also need to advocate for the needy, the folks that are most disadvantaged in our society. We have a responsibility to do that. My best advice would be for our colleagues in the healthcare industry to follow these principles and take the lead in these categories. We shouldn't wait for Washington, D.C., or in our case Trenton, N.J. We should really be taking the lead. We are healthcare leaders. We should put together healthcare reform that makes sense for our entire nation and system. The following healthcare mergers, acquisitions and general partnerships took place or were announced in the past month. 1. Board of Governors OKs UCF, HCA hospital deal The Florida Board of Governors, which oversees state universities, unanimously approved Orlando-based University of Central Florida and the Nashville, Tenn.-based Hospital Corporation of America's joint proposal to build a 100-bed hospital adjacent to the medical school. 2. Quorum Health to sell another Georgia hospital Brentwood, Tenn.-based Quorum Health inked a definitive agreement to sell 231-bed Trinity Hospital of Augusta (Ga.) to The Richmond County Hospital Authority. 3. FTC orders DaVita to divest 7 clinics as part of Renal Ventures acquisition deal The Federal Trade Commission ordered Denver-based DaVita, a kidney dialysis chain, to divest five clinics in New Jersey and two clinics in Texas as part of a settlement resolving a complaint that the company's $358 million acquisition of Lakewood, Colo.-based Renal Ventures Management is anticompetitive. 4. Seattle Children's purchases nearby spiritual center: 5 things to know Seattle Children's will have a new location for training events and educational meetings following its purchase of the Center for Spiritual Living's campus. 5. Tenet Healthcare closes $16M sale of Harbor Health Plan Dallas- based Tenet Healthcare closed its sale of Harbor Health Plan to Trusted Health Plan, a Washington, D.C.-based managed care company. 6. Eleanor Slater Hospital to join the Hospital Association of Rhode Island Eleanor Slater Hospital, a state psychiatric institution with locations in Cranston, R.I., and Pascoag, R.I., joined the Hospital Association of Rhode Island April 1. 7. Radiology Partners adds 22 sites across 5 states El Segundo, Calif.-based Radiology Partners will add 22 sites in North Carolina, Illinois, Indiana, Texas and Ohio to its network of more than 260 hospitals, clinics and imaging centers across nine states. 8. Evolent Health mulls merger with Advisory Board Evolent Health, a healthcare technology provider based in Arlington, Va., will explore a potential merger with Washington, D.C.-based The Advisory Board Company, a business consulting company that helped launch Evolent five years ago, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. 9. Premier Health acquires Ohio physician practice Dayton, Ohio-based Premier Health acquired Brookville, Ohio-based Studebaker Family Practice led by Jeffrey Studebaker, MD, and Matthew Studebaker, MD. 10. Wyoming County Community Health System teams up with New York healthcare provider Warsaw, N.Y.-based Wyoming County Community Health System inked an administrative partnership with Buffalo, N.Y.-based Erie County Medical Center. 11. Idaho AG approves St. Joseph Regional Medical Center transition to RCCH HealthCare Partners The Idaho attorney general approved the proposed transition of Lewiston, Idaho-based St. Joseph Regional Medical Center to Brentwood, Tenn.-based RCCH HealthCare Partners March 20 after a six-month review. 12. California physician group affiliates with Dignity Health ScottsValley, Calif.-based Physicians Medical Group of Santa Cruz affiliated with Sacramento, Calif.-based Dignity Health Medical Foundation. 13. PinnacleHealth to pursue 5th transaction in 2 weeks Harrisburg, Pa.-based PinnacleHealth officials said the health system signed a nonbinding letter of intent to pursue a strategic partnership with Hanover (Pa.) HealthCare Plus, the parent organization of Hanover (Pa.) Hospital. 14. Bankrupt North Philadelphia Health System gets approval to sell shuttered hospital A bankruptcy judge signed off on a deal allowing North Philadelphia Health System, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Dec. 30, to sell St. Joseph's Hospital in Philadelphia, which closed last March. 15. Atlantic Health System collaborates with American Cancer Society to fight colorectal cancer Morristown, N.J.-based Atlantic Health System will take part in the American Cancer Society's national initiative to fight colorectal cancer. 16. Mednax acquires Nevada ophthalmology practice Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Mednax acquired a Henderson, Nev.-based private ophthalmology practice. 17. Franciscan Alliance, Methodist Hospitals sign letter of intent to merge Gary, Ind.-based Methodist Hospitals signed a nonbinding letter of intent to integrate with Mishawaka, Ind.-based Franciscan Alliance March 22. 18. Parrish Medical Center, Nemours Children's form collaborative agreement to advance pediatric care Titusville, Fla.-based Parrish Medical Center and Wilmington, Del.-based Nemours Children's Health System formed a collaborative agreement to advance pediatric care for residents in the area. 19. Lifespan, Dana-Farber to team up on cancer care Officials from Providence, R.I.-based Lifespan and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston signed a partnership agreement March 21 to expand access to Dana-Farber's clinical trials and treatment for complex cancer cases to patients in Rhode Island. 20. Quorum Health to divest Alabama hospital Quorum Health Corp., the 36-hospital spinoff of Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems, inked a definitive agreement to sell 60-bed Cherokee Medical Center in Centre, Ala. 21. VA Salt Lake City Health Care System considers ending contract with local hospital Officials at the VA Salt Lake City Health Care System said a potential lapse in the health system's contract with the Ely, Nev.-based William Bee Ririe Critical Access Hospital and Rural Health Clinic would not cause issues for veterans seeking care. 22. Trinity EMS terminates contract with Lowell General in favor of Steward Health Care Lowell, Mass.-based Trinity EMS declined to renew its medical directorship contract with Lowell (Mass.) General Hospital and, instead, signed a deal with Boston-based Steward Health Care. 23. Kaleida Health to become parent company of Upper Allegheny Health System State officials approved Buffalo, N.Y.-based Kaleida Health's proposal to become the parent company of Olean, N.Y.-based Upper Allegheny Health System and its member hospitals. 24. 4 things to know about St. Joseph Health's acquisition of Medical Specialties Managers Irvine, Calif.-based St. Joseph Health acquired Medical Specialties Managers, a physician practice organization based in Orange, Calif. 25. Mednax acquires 4th physician group practice of 2017 Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Mednax acquired Overland Park, Kan.-based Midwest Perinatal Associates, its fourth physician practice acquisition of 2017. 26. CHI Franciscan, Virginia Mason finalize clinical affiliation Tacoma, Wash.-based CHI Franciscan Health and Seattle-based Virginia Mason Health System signed a definitive agreement to form a strategic affiliation to benefit residents in the Puget Sound area. 27. Ardent Health Services completes acquisition of LHP Hospital Group Nashville, Tenn.-based Ardent Health Services successfully completed its acquisition of Plano, Texas-based LHP Hospital Group, making AHS the second largest private, for-profit hospital operator by revenue in the nation. 28. Montefiore-owned hospital partners with Scarsdale Medical Group Scarsdale (N.Y.) Medical Group and White Plains (N.Y.) Hospital signed a partnership agreement to promote coordinated care for residents in the community. 29. California hospital reopens under new name, ownership Thanks to new management, formerly shuttered Tustin, Calif.-based Newport Specialty Hospital opened its emergency department for the first time after nearly a decade in January. 30. Baptist Memorial partners with Priority Ambulance to improve transport services Memphis, Tenn.-based Baptist Memorial Health Care partnered with Knoxville, Tenn.-based Priority Ambulance to provide quicker, more efficient emergency transportation services between the health system's various locations. 31. Nashville Medical Group integrates with Ascension-affiliated physician group Nashville Medical Group signed a partnership agreement with Saint Thomas Medical Partners, a physician group practicing in middle Tennessee and southern Kentucky. 32. PinnacleHealth pursues affiliation with UPMC, inks deal to acquire 4 CHS hospitals PinnacleHealth, a three-hospital system based in Harrisburg, Pa., revealed plans to expand its network of acute care hospitals and partner with a bigger system. 33. CareView Communications receives purchasing agreement CareView Communications expanded its hospital membership through its recently launched group purchasing agreement. 34. Carolinas HealthCare, YMCA expand partnership Charlotte, N.C.-based Carolinas HealthCare System and the YMCA of Greater Charlotte expanded their existing partnership to offer a greater array of services to help residents in the area live healthier lives. 35. Avera Sacred Heart Hospital purchases South Dakota specialty hospital Yankton, S.D.-based Avera Sacred Heart Hospital acquired the 10-bed Lewis & Clark Specialty Hospital, also in Yankton. 36. Health Management Associates to acquire Seema Verma's consulting firm Health Management Associates, a New York City-based healthcare consultancy group, signed an agreement to acquire SVC, an Indianapolis-based consulting firm owned by Seema Verma, who was recently confirmed as administrator of CMS. 37. Michigan Medicine, St. Joseph Mercy announce joint venture St. Joseph Mercy Health system a member of Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health and Michigan Medicine in Ann Arbor will establish a joint venture giving both systems an interest in St. Joseph Mercy Chelsea hospital. 38. 7 Indiana hospitals, universities team up to create IU medical school Seven Indiana hospitals and universities partnered to boost residency options and economic development in the state through the construction of a new medical school. 39. Cone Health, Randolph Health to explore affiliation possibilities Asheboro, N.C.-based Randolph Health and Greensboro, N.C.-based Cone Health entered into a period of due diligence to explore possible affiliation models. 40. Americore Health deal to purchase Sonoma West Medical Center collapses Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Americore Health ended motions to acquire Sebastopol, Calif.-based Sonoma West Medical Center. 41. UnityPoint Health-Waterloo reaches tentative agreement to acquire bankrupt hospital UnityPoint Health-Waterloo (Iowa) reached a tentative agreement to acquire Marshalltown-based Central Iowa Healthcare, which includes a 49-bed acute care hospital, an outpatient center and four primary care clinics. 42. CHS to sell Alabama hospital as part of debt reduction effort Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems inked a deal to sell off another hospital as part of its debt reduction plan. 43. Sentara Halifax Regional taps EmCare for ED services South Boston, Va.-based Sentara Halifax Regional Hospital contracted with Dallas-based EmCare, a physician management company, to manage its emergency care services. 44. Wisconsin bill aims to disband UW partnership with Planned Parenthood: 5 things to know Legislators introduced a bill March 3 barring physicians employed at Madison-based University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health from partaking or assisting in abortion procedures at private health organizations in Madison such as Planned Parenthood. 45. Advanced ICU Care to partner with Premier Health hospital: 4 things to know St. Louis-based Advanced ICU Care will provide tele-ICU services at Troy, Ohio-based Upper Valley Medical Center. 46. Post Acute Partners to buy 126-bed NY nursing home New York City-based Post Acute Partners will purchase Lockport, N.Y.-based Odd Fellow & Rebekah Rehabilitation and Health Care Center later this year. 47. 3 Michigan healthcare organizations partner on home care company Three Michigan healthcare companies will launch a home healthcare provider in Grand Rapids, Mich., April 1 to meet the area's growing demand for at-home services. 48. Envision Healthcare to acquire Imaging Advantage Greenwood Village, Colo.-based Envision Healthcare entered into a definitive agreement to purchase Phoenix-based Imaging Advantage, a comprehensive radiology services provider. 49. OU Medicine, SSM Health, UHAT sever plans for formal affiliation: 4 things to know The University Hospitals Authority and Trust, OU Medicine, SSM Health's St. Anthony Hospitals and the St. Anthony Physicians Group all in Oklahoma City severed ties to complete a formal affiliation. 50. McLaren reportedly considers partial acquisition of Detroit Medical Center Flint, Mich.-based McLaren Health Care expressed interest in purchasing select assets belonging to the Detroit Medical Center. 51. NorthShore University HealthSystem, Advocate Health Care scrap merger agreement Downers Grove, Ill.-based Advocate Health Care and Evanston, Ill.-based NorthShore University HealthSystem abandoned their plan to merge after a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction March 7 to temporarily halt the merger. 52. Fairview Health Services, HealthEast to merge to create largest hospital network in Minnesota Minneapolis-based Fairview Health Services revealed plans to merge with St. Paul, Minn.-based HealthEast. The combined entity will serve as one of the most comprehensive and accessible health systems in the state. 53. Nationwide Healthcare to purchase Delaware hospital Brick, N.J.-based Nationwide Healthcare Services revealed plans to purchase Milford (Del.) Memorial Hospital's 22-acre campus and redevelop it into a multiuse healthcare-focused community once the hospital relocates to its new campus in early 2019. 54.County officials aim to purchase, repurpose former Florida hospital campus Holmes County commissioners unanimously agreed to apply for grants to acquire the former Bonifay, Fla.-based Doctors Memorial Hospital campus and repurpose the facility into a county government annex. 55. Montefiore, CityMD partner to expand access to care across New York Bronx, N.Y.-based Montefiore Health System and New York City-based urgent care provider CityMD teamed up to expand access to primary, specialty and urgent care services for patients in New York. 56. Americore Health purchases 104-year-old Pennsylvania hospital Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Americore Health signed two definitive agreements to manage and acquire EllwoodCity (Pa.) Hospital. 57. Rush University Medical Center, Rush-Copley Medical Center integrate as Rush Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and Rush-Copley Medical Center in Aurora, Ill., completed their integration and renamed the merged entity Rush. 58. NY state hospitals come together to improve care access: 4 things to know Rome (N.Y.) Memorial Hospital affiliated with St. Joseph's Health in Syracuse, N.Y. 59. Mercy Hospital St. Louis, Saint Francis Medical Center team up for pediatric care Mercy Hospital St. Louis and Cape Girardeau, Mo.-based Saint Francis Medical Center paired up to offer specialty pediatric gastroenterology services to patients in the Cape Girardeau area. 60. Grand Itasca Clinic and Hospital partners with Fairview Health Services Grand Rapids, Minn.-based Grand Itasca Clinic and Hospital CEO Mike Youso said changes in the industry drove the hospital to partner with Minneapolis-based Fairview Health Services. 61. Dartmouth-Hitchcock, Elliot Health System cease affiliation talks Officials from Lebanon, N.H.-based Dartmouth-Hitchcock and Manchester, N.H.-based Elliot Health System ceased plans to embark on a formal affiliation. 62. MSU HealthTeam joins national comprehensive care partnership East Lansing-based Michigan State University HealthTeam joined Comprehensive Primary Care Plus, a nationwide partnership dedicated to improving access to quality healthcare for patients at lower costs. 63. 2 Oklahoma orthopedic groups affiliate: 3 things to know Tulsa, Okla.-based Central States Orthopedics affiliated with Eastern Oklahoma Orthopedic Center, also in Tulsa. 64. Tenet Healthcare to sell 6 home health facilities to Amedisys Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare signed a definitive agreement to sell six home healthcare centers in Illinois, Arizona, Massachusetts and Texas to Baton Rouge, La.-based Amedisys, a home healthcare, hospice and personal care company. 65. 11 hospital deals to acquire ASCs in 2016 Eleven hospitals are considering ambulatory surgery centers as part of their outpatient strategy, either by acquiring them from physicians, developing joint venture ASCs with physician owners or opening their own centers. 66. Miami Cancer Institute joins Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Alliance The Miami Cancer Institute joined the New York City-based Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Alliance. 67. Wheeling Hospital to purchase Sistersville General Hospital City council officials unanimously approved the sale of Sistersville (W.Va.) General Hospital to Wheeling (W.Va.) Hospital for $5.5 million. 68. LifeBrite Hospital Management takes ownership of Pioneer hospital Lilburn, Ga.-based LifeBrite Hospital Management became the official manager of Danbury, N.C.-based Pioneer Community Hospital of Stokes. 69. Yampa Valley Medical Center pursues partnership with UCHealth Steamboat Springs, Colo.-based Yampa Valley Medical Center and Aurora, Colo.-based University of Colorado Health will explore a potential partnership agreement to provide patients in the area with access to additional specialties and services. 70. Evolent Health executes 2 partnership agreements to enhance care delivery Arlington, Va.-based Evolent Health, which provides clinical, financial, technology and operations guidance and solutions to hospitals and health systems, formed individual partnership agreements with Orlando (Fla.) Health and Roanoke, Va.-based Carilion Clinic to assist both organizations in delivering cost-effective, value-based care to residents in their communities. 71. Sound Physicians adds Atlanta physician group Atlanta-based Eagle Hospital Physicians joined Sound Physicians, a provider practice in Tacoma, Wash. 72. Promise Hospital to provide rehabilitation services at Baton Rouge General Louisiana-based Promise Hospital of Baton Rouge will begin providing acute inpatient rehabilitation care and skilled nursing services at Baton Rouge (La.) General Medical Center's Mid City campus April 1. 73. Columbus Radiology to serve 10 Mercy Health hospital locations Columbus (Ohio) Radiology, an affiliate of El Segundo, Calif.-based Radiology Partners, will provide radiology services to 10 of Cincinnati-based Mercy Health's hospitals in Ohio. 74. Premise Health to continue managing free medical clinic in Tenn. Brentwood, Tenn.-based Premise Health will continue to manage Greeneville, Tenn.-based Greene County Clinic, a free medical clinic serving employees covered under Greene County's insurance plan. 75. 4 things to know about US Anesthesia Partners' acquisition of Physicians Anesthesia Service Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based U.S. Anesthesia Partners completed its purchase of Seattle-based Physicians Anesthesia Service Feb. 1. 76. Community Partners' latest merger creates one of the largest mental health providers in Ariz. Tucson, Ariz.-based behavioral healthcare provider Community Partners completed its merger with Assurance Health & Wellness in Tucson, creating one of the largest mental healthcare providers in the state. The following healthcare mergers, acquisitions and general partnerships took place or were announced the week of March 27. 1. Board of Governors OKs UCF, HCA hospital deal The Florida Board of Governors, which oversees state universities, unanimously approved Orlando-based University of Central Florida and the Nashville, Tenn.-based Hospital Corporation of America's joint proposal to build a 100-bed hospital adjacent to the medical school March 30. 2. Quorum Health to sell another Georgia hospital Brentwood, Tenn.-based Quorum Health inked a definitive agreement to sell 231-bed Trinity Hospital of Augusta (Ga.) to The Richmond County Hospital Authority. 3. FTC orders DaVita to divest 7 clinics as part of Renal Ventures acquisition deal The Federal Trade Commission ordered Denver-based DaVita, a kidney dialysis chain, to divest five clinics in New Jersey and two clinics in Texas as part of a settlement resolving a complaint that the company's $358 million acquisition of Lakewood, Colo.-based Renal Ventures Management is anticompetitive. 4. Seattle Children's purchases nearby spiritual center: 5 things to know Seattle Children's will have a new location for training events and educational meetings following its purchase of the Center for Spiritual Living's campus. 5. Tenet Healthcare closes $16M sale of Harbor Health Plan Dallas- based Tenet Healthcare closed its sale of Harbor Health Plan to Trusted Health Plan, a Washington, D.C.-based managed care company. 6. Eleanor Slater Hospital to join the Hospital Association of Rhode Island Eleanor Slater Hospital, a state psychiatric institution with locations in Cranston, R.I., and Pascoag, R.I., joined the Hospital Association of Rhode Island April 1. 7. Radiology Partners adds 22 sites across 5 states El Segundo, Calif.-based Radiology Partners will add 22 sites in North Carolina, Illinois, Indiana, Texas and Ohio to its network of over 260 hospitals, clinics and imaging centers across nine states. 8. Evolent Health mulls merger with Advisory Board Evolent Health, a healthcare technology provider based in Arlington, Va., will explore a merger with Washington, D.C.-based The Advisory Board Company, a business consulting company that helped launch Evolent five years ago. 9. Quorum Health continues divestiture spree with sale of Alabama hospital Brentwood, Tenn.-based Quorum Health Corp. sold 60-bed Cherokee Medical Center in Centre, Ala., to NNZ Holdings in Sunrise, Fla. Deerfield, Ill.-based Walgreens Boots Alliance has issued a declaration of "certified compliance" regarding its proposed acquisition of Camp Hill, Pa.-based Rite Aid. The declaration gives the Federal Trade Commission three months to issue a final ruling on the transaction, according to the Chicago Business Journal. The companies amended their original agreement in January. Under the amendment, Walgreens agreed to divest up to 1,200 Rite Aid pharmacy stores, 200 more than the amount stated in the original agreement. The companies also agreed to reduce the price of each share of Rite Aid common stock from $9 per share to about $7 per share depending on the number of pharmacy stores Walgreens divests to satisfy the FTC's complaint. In its initial review of the agreement, the FTC expressed concerns about the deal, arguing the proposed transaction would be anticompetitive. The companies initially agreed to an acquisition agreement in October 2015. A Texas jury found Houston-based Memorial Hermann Health System guilty of gaming its own peer-review process for financial gain, according to a report in the Houston Chronicle. Here are five things to know about the lawsuit and the verdict. 1. The jury found Memorial Hermann guilty of defamation and awarded Miguel Gomez, MD, with $6.4 million in damages, according to the report. Health system officials told the Houston Chronicle they believe the state district judge will reduce the award. 2. Dr. Gomez sued the health system five years ago, alleging it misused the peer review process and falsified data to harm his practice after he tried to move it to another hospital, according to the report. Dr. Gomez was a top cardiovascular surgeon who had admitting privileges at Memorial Hermann, but after he decided to move his practice to Houston Methodist West, he alleged Memorial Hermann sought to damage his reputation to retain his patients, according to the report. 3. The jury found Memorial Hermann made false statements about Dr. Gomez's competence and surgical mortality rates, according to the report. The jury also found Memorial Hermann further defamed the surgeon by sharing manipulated peer review data with referring cardiologists. However, the jury did clear the health system of allegations that it stifled the Houston healthcare market in its actions against Dr. Gomez, according to the report. 4. The verdict is extremely unusual. Typically, defamation cases are solved outside of courts, especially because it is difficult for physicians to prove the peer review process was used in a detrimental way, as is necessary in Texas for physicians to access the otherwise confidential data, according to the report. 5. Memorial Hermann said it is still evaluating an appeal, according to the report. In a statement to the newspaper, Memorial Hermann affirmed its physician review process is in place to improve patient safety. Read the full story here. More articles on legal and regulatory issues: California legislation aims to reduce anticompetitive practices by state's largest hospitals Sacred Heart Hospital patient accused of threatening hospital counselor Judge refuses to toss case alleging MedStar conspired with revenue cycle vendor in false billing scheme Former Army surgeon and current Tennessee State Senator Mark Green, MD, is expected to be nominated by President Donald Trump to be U.S. Secretary of the Army, according to WBIR. Here's what you need to know: 1. Dr. Green served as a U.S. Army special operations flight surgeon during the Iraq War. 2. He previously served as medical director of several emergency departments and founded Clarskville, Tenn.-based Align MD in 2009. He currently serves as the emergency room management firm's chairman and CEO. 3. Dr. Green met with President Trump on Wednesday, March 29 and has reportedly been undergoing intensive background checks by the White House and FBI. 4. Dr. Green was elected to the Tennessee State Senate in 2012 and had announced his run for governor earlier this year, according to The Tennessean. 5. The Secretary of the Army oversees the Army's global reserve installations and manages a roughly $150 billion budget. More articles on practice management: AMA ready to work with Trump administration's new opioids commission: 4 highlights Proposed bill seeks to strike down disparity between ASC, HOPD reimbursements 5 key points Forbes Hospital & Jefferson Hospital using MAKO robot for hip, knee surgeries: 6 things to know3 HealthPartners Neuroscience Center opened its doors in St. Paul, Minn., on April 3, 2017, according to TwinCities.com. Here are five highlights: 1. The HealthPartners Neuroscience Center brings clinical trials, physical rehabilitation, patient diagnosis and lab research all under one roof. The center offers outpatient services for nearly all neurological conditions, from stroke to spinal cord injuries. 2. The new freestanding center cost $75 million and is 130,000 square feet. 3. The center will also house 16 privately funded researchers striving to discover cures for dementia and Alzheimer's disease. The researchers will publish a total of 10 to 20 academic papers each year. 4. Patients can view the inside of their tumors, spines and frontal lobes on flat-screen wall monitors within the center. 5. Leaders estimate more than 50,000 patients will visit the center annually, with 200 physicians and employees. Here are nine spine surgeons and neurosurgeons that joined new organizations, received promotions or moved locations in March 2017. Andrew W. Moulton, MD, an orthopedic spine surgeon, is now Lakewood Ranch (Fla.) Medical Center's chief of surgery. Michael Gleiber, MD, of West Palm Beach, Fla.-based Concierge Spine Surgery, will serve as honorary chair for Johnson City, Tenn.-based The Spine Health Foundation's 2017 Derby Day fundraiser in Bristol, Va. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons appointed Jacob M. Buchowski, MD, of St. Louis-based Washington University School of Medicine, to its board of directors. Neurosurgeon Stephen Ondra, MD, joined Louisville, Ky.-based RowdMap as head of clinical risk innovation strategy. Spencer (Iowa) Hospital welcomed orthopedic spine surgeon Daniel McGuire, MD, to its ranks. Milwaukee-based Medical College of Wisconsin appointed Shekar N. Kurpad, MD, PhD, chair of its department of neurosurgery. New York City-based Hospital for Special Surgery welcomed spine surgeon Sheeraz Qureshi, MD, MBA. Shawnee Mission (Kan.) Health added neurosurgeons Paul O'Boynic, MD, and Darren Lovick, MD, to its new neurosurgery specialty practice, Shawnee Mission Medical Center. Spine surgeons are using less invasive procedures to take patient care to the next level and lateral spine surgery is one such example of surgeons pushing the envelope through innovative techniques. Surgeons well-versed in the thoracolumbar spine's anatomy can yield superior patient outcomes through a lateral approach, such as reduced infection rates and minimal blood loss. Choll Kim, MD, of the Spine Institute of San Diego, and Robert Eastlack, MD, a spine surgeon in San Diego within Scripps Clinic's division of orthopedic surgery, dive into their approach and the many components involved in successfully employing lateral spine surgery. Question: Which are the main surgical procedures that you undertake using a lateral approach, and how do you decide which are the most suitable patients and cases? Dr. Robert Eastlack: I use the lateral approach most often for reconstruction/arthrodesis in the lumbar spine above the fifth lumbar vertebra. This is most often done for instability, such as spondylolisthesis, and occasionally for more complex deformities. Dr. Choll Kim: The lateral lumbar interbody fusion procedure is particularly well-suited to treat patients with stenosis due to degenerative scoliosis. With the increasing age of the U.S. population, the population of patients with stenosis due to degenerative scoliosis is rapidly growing. Q: How long have you been doing lateral spine surgery and what were the key challenges as you learned the procedures? RE: I have been using this approach since 2004. The biggest challenge in performing the technique safely is being familiar with the anatomy. The lateral approach is a unique pathway to access the thoracolumbar spine, but the anatomy involved in the surgical approach was not historically well-understood. Greater awareness of this anatomy and well-designed instrumentation systems now allow for tremendous utility and safety in lateral spine surgery. CK: I have been doing lateral spine surgery for about 12 years. When we originally did the procedure, we did it completely percutaneously through two incisions. In the more contemporary method, spine surgeons make one incision. This was a challenge we had to overcome because spine surgeons generally don't like performing blind surgery. The second challenge we overcame was related to good imaging. It took a lot of positioning and understanding of the anatomy of the lumbar spine and nerves to go through the psoas muscle. When we get the direct vision, we can be much gentler with that muscle and traumatize it less. It took between about 20 to 30 cases to overcome these challenges. Q: What benefits do you see from your lateral approach surgeries? CK: The LLIF approach is minimally invasive so it provides significant improvements in pain, blood loss and infection in this normally frail population of patients. Furthermore, the large size of the implant, together with its position spanning the disc space, provides better implant stability. This is very important in older patients with osteoporotic bone. The LLIF implant is very stable and resistant to subsidence. The LLIF procedure is a cornerstone of my practice. RE: The main benefits are superior disc removal and endplate coverage, less subsidence than posterior interbody cages, greater fusion rates than posterior interbody approaches with equivalent biologics, greater improvement and maintenance of segmental alignment. [Other benefits include] less morbidity than traditional anterior lumbar interbody approaches, greater stability than posterior interbody cages, less subsidence than posterior interbody devices and offering the potential for indirect decompression of neural elements. Q: How do you decide whether to stage the lateral and posterior parts of the surgery over more than one day and when to carry them out in a single surgical case? RE: For the majority of one-level to three-level reconstructions, the procedure can be accomplished in one day. Staging of the procedure is more commonly considered when utilizing the lateral approach as part of a larger deformity operation, in which case the posterior reconstruction is done at a later time/date, and interim standing radiographs can be employed to determine what posterior techniques can be optimally employed to achieve the radiographic goals. CK: I have some general guidelines [for doing the surgery over the course of more than one day]. These include if the patient is over 65 years old, has three levels or more or other co-morbidities such as diabetes or a history of heart disease. I do it in more than one day for the more complicated and extensive procedures where the patient is more frail. This prolongs the recovery for the patient but is generally safer when it is spread over two days. There is a lot of gray area in that distinction. No one has sat down and figured out the best time to split it into one or two days. We have examples of the two extremes healthy, level-one or level-two patients and then patients with three levels or more. Besides that, the exact switch point is not clear and we do it on a case-by-case basis. Q: In terms of patient positioning, what are the key elements and challenges? CK: The LLIF procedure requires careful patient positioning and optimal intra-operative imaging. The patient has to be secure in true lateral position relative to the floor. If there is rotatory deformity, then the operating table must rotate to accommodate this deformity, whilst still allowing for clear intraoperative radiographic imaging. The major challenge occurs when the C-arm is unduly encumbered by the break in the bed or pedestal of the bed. Therefore, it is imperative that the patient is carefully positioned on the appropriate operating table. RE: The initial challenge was training the operating room team to adjust to a unique process. The success of the operation depends largely on the precision of initial patient positioning and fluoroscopy preparation. The first key to patient positioning is maintaining hip and knee flexion of both lower extremities, and minimizing any table flexion, so that the psoas and lumbar plexus are kept in relatively relaxed condition. Another key aspect of positioning is placing the patient so that the segmental level is addressed for reconstruction and is orthogonally positioned relative to the fluoroscopy beam that has been set up for anteroposterior and lateral views. This minimizes the potential error in reproducing proper view with imaging and increases efficiency for the technician running the fluoroscopy unit. Q: Why and when would you reposition the patient during surgery? RE: The most common reason for repositioning a patient is the need to address more than one level, such as with correction of a deformity, in which there is rotation of the spinal segments. This requires resetting the patient via table control in both rotation and the Trendelenburg [position] to bring the next spinal segment into an orthogonal position for the fluoroscopy beam. The other more obvious need to reposition a patient occurs after the lateral approach is completed, at which point prone positioning is accomplished in order to perform the posterior reconstruction. There is the option in some cases of doing a single position lateral and posterior reconstruction. In this case, both the lateral and posterior surgery is done with the patient in the lateral decubitus position, and thus avoiding the transfer to another operative table and the requisite repeat draping of the patient. CK: In healthy patients, we often perform the LLIF procedure and the posterior procedure on the same day. This has been a cumbersome process to placing the patient from the lateral decubitus position to the prone position. Q: What are the potential hazards of patient repositioning and what are the human factors involved, specifically as it relates to the OR staff? CK: In my experience, the repositioning process is cumbersome and labor intensive. Currently, we have about five OR staff members involved in moving the patient to a gurney, the switching out the table for the prone frame. At each step, there is lifting involved, which places staff at increased risk of injury, not to mention the risk of contamination of the sterile field. RE: The primary hazard of repositioning the patient while still in the lateral decubitus position is ensuring that the desired vertebral rotation to neutral position has been accomplished to ensure orthogonal cage delivery. The patient must be secured to the table with strong tape at the trunk, pelvis and lower extremities, in order to safely accommodate rotating the table into the desired position. Prone repositioning does not carry any unusual risks, other than those inherent in putting any patient into a prone position. Q: How important are OR logistics in creating a true center of excellence for minimally invasive techniques? CK: A true center of excellence is in constant improvement. We have identified the repositioning step to be a significant weakness in our minimally invasive program, which is why we have been working on developing a simple and efficient strategy that allows the patient to be rolled from the lateral position directly into the prone position. The new Allen Advance Table L2P Platform represents our ongoing efforts to optimize this aspect of minimally invasive surgery. RE: It is quite critical that the OR team is experienced and well-trained in preparing for and utilizing this technique. The efficiency with which the patient is positioned, and with which the surgery is performed, both depend largely on the skill and experience of the entire operative team. This article is sponsored by Allen Medical. Allen Medical is an industry leader in patient positioning and surgical site access. Our passion is improving patient outcomes and caregiver safety while enhancing our customers efficiency. We strive to provide innovative solutions to address our customers most pressing needs. By immersing ourselves in our customers world, we can better address these needs and the daily challenges of their environment. To continue following the latest news and information for Bedfordshire and surrounding areas, simply enter your full postcode below US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley on Sunday reportedly confirmed that Russia meddled in the US Presidential election. She also requested President Donald Trump to fully support strong action against the Russia once investigations are complete. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied his country's involvement in the 2016 US presidential election. Singapore has reportedly blocked the visas for Indian IT professionals over the last few months. According to reports, the Singapore government has also asked the Indian companies in Singapore to hire local talent. Other than that, Singapore authorities have also asked the applicants to take "Economic Needs Test," which requires compliance with certain economic criteria. India has called this as a violation of the trade pact. The Omega Capital Fund has appointed estate agents CPS Property as consultants to help assess proposals in light of the condition of the housing market. A new 30m property fund has been launched with the aim of helping liquidity in Northern Ireland's residential and development market. The Omega Capital Fund has appointed estate agents CPS Property as consultants to help assess proposals in light of the condition of the housing market. CPS has branches in Belfast, Armagh, Dungannon, Enniskillen, Omagh and Monaghan. The firm operates in rentals, residential and commercial sales, new developments, site and land sales, and also sells properties in Dubai, Cape Verde and Spain. The fund will offer secured loans from 50,000 up to 2.5m and is backed by institutional and Northern Ireland-based private investors. CPS's appointment to run the fund was announced at a breakfast celebrating its third decade in business. Art O'Hagan, managing director of the estate agency, said: "We are delighted to have been appointed as the delivery consultants for this new property fund. It's an exciting new venture for CPS. We'll be client-facing and will assess whether applicants are the right fit for funding. If CPS think they are suitable for investment, then we'll guide them towards funding options and make a decision within 10 working days. "Lending in the residential mortgage market reached 2.5bn last year, with remortgaging and first-time buyers making up 60%. "But the shortage of affordable housing is well documented in Northern Ireland and developers still struggle to access working capital. The Omega Capital Fund will help support these housing developers." Mr O'Hagan added that while market demand had grown, demand was outstripping supply. "Over the next three to four years we anticipate the market will stabilise with the gap between supply and demand shrinking," he added. CPS Property won the Residential Estate Agency of the Year Multi Branch Award at the Belfast Telegraph Property Awards. According to a survey by Nationwide Building Society, average property prices in Northern Ireland were up 3.8% in the three months to March to 127,921, compared to the same period last year. The boss of AkzoNobel has delivered a bullish defence of the board's decision to bat away an approach by a US suitor despite shareholder pressure to launch talks. Chief Executive Ton Buchner said a tie-up between the two companies raised competition concerns, as he reaffirmed his position that PPG's second takeover tilt worth 22.4 billion euro (19.5 billion) had undervalued the company. It comes after Causeway Capital - the firm's largest shareholder with 6.8% stake - urged the Dulux paint maker to engage with PPG last month, while activist investor Elliott Advisors said it may attempt to oust AkzoNobel's managers if the company fails to start a dialogue. In an interview released by the Dutch company, Mr Buchner said the board still saw no need to engage with PPG on a potential deal. "We've very clearly assessed two proposals that we've received from PPG," he said. "We see that it clearly undervalues the company and the second proposal that we received it did not address the key stakeholder issues and other issues like uncertainties and risks that we had already raised in our response to the first proposal. "That is why we see no merit in engaging with PPG. It cannot be our duty to actually advise how an offer should be done and let me make it clear we are not requesting anything." The Dutch manufacturing giant rejected a second non-binding proposal worth 88.72 euro (76.75) per share in both cash and shares on March 20. It said the offer failed to ''reflect the current and future value'' of the firm and did not ''address significant uncertainties and risks'' for shareholders and stakeholders. However, Sarah Ketterer, Causeway Capital's chief executive, said in March that a deal would create a stronger company, and lead to improved prospects for both shareholders and employees. Elliott, which holds more than a 3% stake, previously said ''most shareholders'' wanted the company to engage with PPG and threatened to call an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) where investors could vote to remove managers if more than half the issued capital is represented. Top 20 shareholders Columbia Threadneedle and Henderson are also said to be pressing for talks to begin. Mr Buchner said conversations with investors had been "a tremendously important part" of its activities over the past few weeks. On the competition concerns, he added: "We are talking about two leaders in the industry in a multitude of industries. There you will see that we compete in many geographies, in many businesses where ever we go literally everyday when we operate in the market. "Therefore, we do see significant overlaps and therefore significant anti-trust issues going forward." AkzoNobel, which employs 3,000 staff across the UK, said a merger would trigger ''significant job cuts'' and create uncertainty for thousands of staff across the globe. PPG, a Pittsburgh-based chemicals manufacturer, said its second offer would deliver annual cost savings of 750 million US dollars (601 million). The Dutch company announced plans last month to build a 12.6 million euro (10.7 million) innovation hub near Gateshead, safeguarding 270 jobs. The firm is also looking to launch a 110 million euro (93.7 million) Dulux paint factory in Ashington, Northumberland. It is expected to update investors on its strategic plan on April 19. G4S's youth services arm, which has 31 facilities in Florida, Texas and Tennessee, has been snapped up by BHSB Holdings Security and outsourcing giant G4S has struck a 56.5 million US dollar (45.2 million) deal to offload its youth detention centres across America. The firm's youth services arm, which has 31 facilities in Florida, Texas and Tennessee, has been snapped up by BHSB Holdings. The move comes as the FTSE 250 firm presses ahead with a turnaround plan, which was launched three years ago after it was sent reeling by a prisoner-tagging scandal in 2013 and its failure to supply adequate security for the London Olympics in 2012. Group chief executive Ashley Almanza said: "As previously announced, the sale of our US Youth Services business is part of our portfolio management programme initiated in 2013 to improve our strategic, commercial and operational focus." G4S Youth Services, which employs 2,000 staff and works with around 1,500 young people, saw pre-tax profits shrink by 9% to 5.1 million US dollars (4.1 million) for the year to the end of December 2016. It holds 24 contracts running for around three to five years, providing services such as alternative education schools, behavioural and mental health counselling, and substance abuse schemes. It has gross assets of 21.5 millions US dollars (17.2 million), the company said. The operation's senior management staff will shift across to the new business once the deal is complete. G4S hailed "significant progress" in March when it posted a surge in annual profits following an overhaul. The firm reported a 13.9% hike in underlying pre-tax profits to 352 million for 2016, with revenues also coming in 6.3% higher. It also notched up 2.5 billion of new contracts in 2016 and said it had a pipeline of new business worth 6.8 billion a year. The group has offloaded 29 businesses since 2013, including four closed and 12 sold in 2016 alone, with another 27 earmarked for sale or closure. US President Donald Trump plans to boost defence spending by a record 54 billion US dollars (43.2 billion), while G4S could also pick up new contracts to help with America's immigration policy changes. 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 ... 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He is also an actor a Imagination said it will no longer be eligible for royalty payments when Apple stops using the group's intellectual property in its new products Shares in British chip designer and Apple supplier Imagination Technologies have plummeted more than 60% after it revealed that the US tech giant will no longer use its products. Imagination said on Monday that Apple, its largest customer, will cease using the group's intellectual property in its new products within two years, and it will therefore not be eligible for royalty payments. Investors reacted badly to the news, with shares in the Hertfordshire-based group dropping 63% to 99p in afternoon trading. Imagination said in a statement: "Imagination Technologies ... has been notified by Apple, its largest customer, that Apple is of a view that it will no longer use the group's intellectual property in its new products in 15 months' to two years' time, and as such will not be eligible for royalty payments under the current licence and royalty agreement." The firm added that Apple claimed it is working on its own graphics platform to support its products, meaning it will rely less on Imagination's technology. But it said the US firm has "not presented any evidence to substantiate its assertion that it will no longer require Imagination's technology, without violating Imagination's patents". The statement continued: "This evidence has been requested by Imagination but Apple has declined to provide it. "Imagination believes that it would be extremely challenging to design a brand new GPU architecture from basics without infringing its intellectual property rights; accordingly Imagination does not accept Apple's assertions. "Apple's notification has led Imagination to discuss with Apple potential alternative commercial arrangements for the current licence and royalty agreement." Imagination's graphics technology has been used in an array of Apple products including the iPhone, iPad and iPod for several years. The loss of its biggest customer will come as a bitter blow and follows on from a tumultuous 2016. Last year Imagination posted a 61.5 million loss, the biggest in its history, and also embarked on a cost-cutting drive which saw 200 jobs axed. Neil Wilson, senior market analyst at ETX Capital, said the situation represented Imagination's "worst nightmare", adding that the firm appears to be hinting at legal action against Apple. He said: "It's the worst nightmare for Imagination. Apple accounts for about half its revenues - you simply cannot easily replace a customer of that scale in a hurry, hence the gigantic sell-off in the stock. But the sell-off might be a bit stretched and we have seen a bit of easing from the worst of it this morning. "Imagination seems to be hinting at legal action, saying Apple would likely be in breach of its intellectual property rights if it walks away. But there could be a compromise, with Imagination stressing 'potential alternative commercial arrangements'. Either way this is about as bad as it can get for Imagination." The announcements have been welcomed by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at the start of her week visiting the United States. Three US companies are investing 6.3 million in Scotland, creating or safeguarding more than 40 jobs, the Scottish Government has announced. The announcements from Spiritus Partners Limited, ION Geophysical Corporation (IGC) and PPS UK have been welcomed by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at the start of her week visiting the United States. Data analytics firm Spiritus is investing 3.4 million in a new programming and development centre in Scotland focused on medical safety innovation. Twenty-three jobs will be created - 20 of them highly-skilled positions. A new 1.5 million research and development project by IGC is aimed at revolutionising the management of operations around offshore oil and gas installations, while Glasgow life sciences research facility PPS UK has announced a 1.4 million investment. The companies have been supported by grants from Scottish Enterprise totalling more than 1.5 million. Ms Sturgeon said: "The United States is Scotland's biggest source of inward investment and, in the wake of Article 50 being triggered and the risk of a hard Brexit, it is vital we continue to build on the success of our current business relationship with the US. "Scotland remains open for business and I'm delighted these companies have chosen to expand here and it further demonstrates our position as a prime location for inward investment." Lena Wilson, chief executive of Scottish Enterprise, said: "Spiritus Partners Limited, ION Geophysical Corporation and PPS UK are all fantastic examples of US companies recognising the benefits of Scotland's top talent and effective business environment." Ian Paisley will seek full disclosure in Parliament about shock claims that his father's phone was tapped while he was an MP. The North Antrim politician was speaking after allegations by former Deputy Prime Minister Lord Prescott that the security services tapped the late DUP leader's calls, breaking a long-standing convention that MPs should not have communications intercepted. "I'm shocked by this, and I'm not," admitted Mr Paisley. "We knew there was a strong possibility tapping went on, and like everyone my father was cautious on his phone for that reason. But if it did happen, it's a very serious breach of convention and I want to know exactly what happened, when, and under whose watch." Lord Prescott claimed that in 2005 then-Prime Minister Tony Blair revealed a serving MP's phone had been tapped. When pressed, Mr Blair admitted the MP in question was DUP firebrand Ian Paisley. Lord Prescott, writing in his Sunday Mirror column, said the Interception of Communications Commissioner passed the information to Downing Street and wanted to name Mr Paisley - but Parliament was not told. He said: "Tony asked me to discuss the Wilson Doctrine (the convention that restricts the police and intelligence services from tapping MPs' telephones) 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." Last night Mr Paisley blasted Mr Blair for his handling of the affair - and said Lord Prescott's decision to release the information without prior warning was "discourteous". "It is not clear to me whether these tapped conversations were historic, or happened under the government of Tony Blair," said Mr Paisley. "But regardless of whether it happened under his watch or not, I am still very critical of his handling of the situation. If he knew in 2005 that this convention had been breached, why didn't he reveal it? Why has it taken John Prescott until now to reveal it?" Mr Paisley plans to get to the bottom of the scandal later this month. "When Parliament is back in place later in April, I will be seeking, through a point of order, full and total disclosure on this issue," he said. Lord Prescott told the Belfast Telegraph he was unsure of the precise details of the phone tapping, doesn't know when it happened or whether it was carried out by MI5, MI6, the police or the Army. He is also unsure if former First Minister Mr Paisley knew the details before his death in 2014. In another dramatic revelation, Lord Prescott said that after the Omagh bomb in 1998 he was asked to sign warrants giving permission to tap suspects' phones. He agreed, but later discovered spies had already been doing it without even telling police. He decided to break his silence over fears that electronic snooping to catch terrorists will lead to an attack on privacy. DUP leader Arlene Foster has pledged support to the chief minister of Gibraltar amid the Brexit row over the overseas British territory. The former Stormont first minister had a phone call with Fabian Picardo on Monday evening. A political spat has erupted after an EU document suggested Spain would be given a veto on post-Brexit agreements governing Gibraltar. "I had a very pleasant phone call this evening with the chief minister of Gibraltar in which I reiterated my support for his position and that of the people of Gibraltar," said Mrs Foster. "I recognise the importance of British sovereignty for Gibraltar and pledged my support to the chief minister in his desire for Gibraltar to remain as a British overseas territory. "I welcome HM Government's commitment to Gibraltar and look forward to engaging with Mr Picardo. "Our priorities are similar as we seek to achieve the best possible deal for the people of Northern Ireland and Gibraltar, as we leave the EU." Mrs Foster invited Mr Picardo to Northern Ireland when he is next in the UK. One of the teenagers accused of murdering Christopher Meli in west Belfast allegedly kicked him as he was put in the recovery position, the High Court has heard. Caolan Laverty had also urged others to get knives to go after the young father before he was beaten to death in December 2015, it was claimed. Further details emerged as the 18-year-old was refused bail amid unsubstantiated assertions about his mental health. Laverty, of Broom Park Heights in Dunmurry, is the youngest of three people charged with 20-year-old Mr Meli's murder. Detectives believe up to 20 youths were involved in a number of violent confrontations that led to the victim suffering fatal head injuries at Doc's Lane in the Twinbrook estate. One line of enquiry is that the murder victim and his friends were targeted in retaliation for a clash outside a kebab shop on the Stewartstown Road earlier the same night. Mr Meli was said to have been located, knocked to the ground and then repeatedly punched and kicked about the head. During initial interviews Laverty told police he punched him twice in self-defence to stop himself being attacked, the court heard. The second strike was said to have been delivered with the aim of "putting him down" after the first blow had no effect. However, Laverty then produced a prepared statement retracting those admissions, claiming they were untrue and only made up to help out others. He denied any assault on Mr Meli. But prosecution counsel Conor Maguire contended that others have alleged Laverty was involved in a one-on-one fight with the deceased at the location his body was found. He said: "A number of witnesses state that while Mr Meli was being tended to by passers-by on the ground and placed in the recovery position, the applicant ran forward and kicked him in the stomach area. "A further witness has stated that they heard the applicant shout 'Come on, we'll get knives and go after him', and that he was in the crowd of people that chased Mr Meli." Laverty had been on bail but was returned to custody last month for allegedly breaching curfew and alcohol conditions in an incident where a car registered to him was found on fire. Defence counsel Declan Quinn argued that he should be released again due to delays in the case. Stressing his client was only 16 when he was arrested and interviewed about the alleged killing, Mr Quinn said: "He made various comments out of a misguided sense of loyalty to older persons at the scene." Laverty told police who detained him for breaching bail last month that he is a paranoid schizophrenic, the court heard. Although Mr Quinn described those assertions as "drunken bravado", Mr Justice Treacy insisted that he would need a medical opinion before considering any release from custody. Denying bail, the judge said: "A renewed application can be made when you're in possession of a detailed report from an appropriate expert dealing with any mental health issues the applicant may or may not have." The number of drone incidents logged by the PSNI soared by over 800% between 2014 and 2016 The number of drone incidents logged by the PSNI soared by over 800% between 2014 and 2016. UK-wide, there has been a dramatic surge in incidents, an investigation has revealed. They include rows between neighbours, prison smuggling, burglary "scoping", mid-air near misses and snooping fears. Figures obtained by the Press Association show the number of incidents logged by police around the UK rocketed between 2014 and 2016. In 2014, the PSNI logged 21 incidents, 75 the year after, and 197 in 2016. In June 2015, a shop-bought drone filmed people taking money out of a cash machine in Templepatrick, Co Antrim as they entered their pin codes. Last year, UK forces recorded 3,456 incidents, equivalent to nearly 10 every day. This was almost triple the 2015 figure of 1,237 and more than 12 times the 2014 tally of 283. The true total is likely to be higher as full data was not available for all forces in the UK. The number of reports to the PSNI was the third highest figure in the UK in 2016. The findings, based on Freedom of Information requests, coincide with a jump in the popularity of the remote-controlled devices. They are available for as little as 30 and often boast built-in cameras. The devices were at the centre of a wide range of incidents, including: Disputes between neighbours. Police were alerted to arguments and threats of violence. Nuisance drones. One man threatened to shoot down an "annoying" drone with an air rifle. Prison smuggling. Drones have been used to drop drugs and other contraband into prison grounds. In one instance, substances previously known as "legal highs" were flown into a jail. Fears of spying. In one instance, a device was said to have been flown over a garden repeatedly while girls were sunbathing. Near misses, with drones being spotted near aircraft. In one incident, two separate flight pilots reported coming close to colliding with a large drone. Burglary. Criminals are suspected of using drones to "scope out" properties ahead of break-ins. In one case, a burglary was reported after a drone was seen hovering over houses, while in others residents contacted police to report suspicions. Ministers are considering a number of additional safety measures, including mandatory registration of new drones. Staff were attacked before being tied up at around 3pm on Monday Three men dressed as postmen have carried out an armed robbery at a commercial premises at The Cutts in the Dunmurry area of Belfast. Two female members of staff were attacked before being tied up at around 3pm on Monday. Staff suffered minor injuries and were left badly shaken as a result of the incident. The men escaped with a sum of money. Detective Sergeant Melanie McGrory said: "Three men, dressed as postmen and one armed with a suspected firearm, entered the office premises at around 1pm. "The males assaulted two female members of staff before tying them up and making off with a sum of money. One of the suspects was described as being around 6 tall, of slim build, aged in his 30s with piercing green eyes and pale skin." "I am appealing to anyone who was in the The Cutts area of Dunmurry at the time of the robbery and who may have noticed anything suspicious to contact detectives in Lisburn on 101 quoting reference number 561 03/04/17. "Information can also be given anonymously through the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111." DUP leader Arlene Foster speaks to members of the media in the Great Hall in Parliament Building in Stormont, Belfast A first round table meeting of Stormont leaders since the implosion of powersharing was a constructive exchange, Democratic Unionist leader Arlene Foster has said. Plenary discussions between the five main leaders did not happen during last month's ill-fated negotiations, primarily due to Sinn Fein resistance to Secretary of State James Brokenshire taking the chair. The round table in Stormont Castle on the first day of a fresh talks process was chaired by the head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service Sir Malcolm McKibbin. "We had a good constructive meeting of the five party leaders and we are going to build on that and try to get the government up and running as soon as possible," said former first minister Mrs Foster. She welcomed the fact the talks were "more structured" than March's failed discussions and signalled a deal to save powersharing was possible. "We don't believe it is a matter of time, it's whether there is a willingness there to deal with the issues and to get the government formed again," she said. "There is a very short window and we need to get down and deal with the issues." Stormont parties missed last week's deadline for forming an executive after negotiations broke down and Sinn Fein said it would not nominate a deputy first minister. Political leaders were subsequently invited by Mr Brokenshire to participate in a fresh round of talks in a bid to break the deadlock. Two of the main stumbling blocks to a successful outcome are the divisive issues of Irish language and how to deal with the toxic legacy of the Troubles. After the first day of engagements, Sinn Fein negotiator John O'Dowd said his party's position had not changed. Sinn Fein has insisted the logjam centres around non-implementation of previous political agreements. The legacy mechanisms were outlined in the 2014 Stormont House Agreement while an Irish language act was envisaged in the 2006 St Andrews Agreement. "If we can succeed in the implementation of previous agreements then we can move forward towards the establishment of an executive, to the rebuilding of this place in terms of public confidence," said Mr O'Dowd. Asked if Sinn Fein was prepared to compromise, Mr O'Dowd said past agreements represented compromise. "You can't compromise on a compromise," he added. SDLP leader Colum Eastwood struck a positive note about the new process, insisting the opening day was a "step in the right direction". "The meeting of the five party leaders this afternoon was a constructive beginning to the new phase of the talks," he said. "It's critical that all parties are at the table if we're to create the conditions for forming an inclusive powersharing Executive." Ulster Unionist negotiator Tom Elliott said his party wanted to make the process work but warned he and his colleagues would not be "taken for granted". In terms of implementation of previous agreements, he said Sinn Fein had not respected the 1998 Good Friday Agreement position that Northern Ireland should remain within the UK unless a majority of its citizens decided otherwise. He said progress was "limited" but the last few days might deliver results. "The chances of success are possible indeed they could be probable if people want to show some respect for each other and stop drawing red lines and have proper negotiations," he said. Devolution crashed in January over a row about a botched green energy scheme. The subsequent snap Assembly election campaign laid bare a series of other disputes between the main two parties - the DUP and Sinn Fein. The parties missed the three-week post-election deadline to form a new coalition administration last Monday. While the Government is statutorily obliged to call another snap election if such a deadline is missed, Mr Brokenshire has said he believes there is no public appetite to go back to the polls. He has said if an agreement is reached he will move to amend legislation to allow an executive to be formed without the need for an election. If no deal materialises he has made clear the Government will countenance the reintroduction of direct rule from London - a step that would also require emergency legislation to be passed. Mr Brokenshire has signalled April 18 as an effective deadline for progress to be made. The lack of ruling executive, and agreed budget, at the start of the financial year has forced a senior civil servant to take control of Stormont's finances. David Sterling, the permanent secretary at the Department of Finance, is using emergency powers to release cash and resources to departments to keep public services operating amid the crisis. Last month's election was triggered after the late Martin McGuinness quit as Sinn Fein deputy first minister in protest against the DUP's handling of the error-ridden Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme. The March 2 poll returned an Assembly shorn of an overall unionist majority for the first time ever, with the DUP's lead over Sinn Fein cut from 10 seats to just one. On top of legacy and language, another logjam preventing the formation of a new government is Sinn Fein's insistence that it will not accept Mrs Foster as first minister until the conclusion of a public inquiry into the RHI scandal. Politicians need to see the urgency of fixing the health service in Northern Ireland says John Compton Whilst depressing for many, the recent political impasse poses a very real threat to the functioning of our health and social care service. It faces an unprecedented financial challenge which threatens to undermine its ability to respond to our needs. There is no Executive in place to lead or take decisions, perhaps at this most difficult time for the service in the last 20 years. Read More The financial challenge for the year 2017/18 after the service makes its normal annual savings of 60m-80m, which is no small task, will be over 300m. This is a huge overspend and an unsustainable financial position. We will all notice and bear the consequences if this is not resolved, yet not all of our politicians seem anxious. Remember, we are told that the RHI scheme is costing over 20m per annum and it will take 20 years to cost over 400m, without action. I draw on this example only by way of contrasting the political response. Without a very significant investment or curtailment of health and social care provision, spend in the incoming year will exceed 300m more than the budget, in one year! Yet there is no political noise about this fact. Of course, it won't overspend, at least not to that level, because services will be rationed. How will rationing show itself? It's really quite straightforward. We will all have to queue longer for services. Waiting lists, already unacceptable, will get longer. The time we wait to see our GP will grow. Those receiving community services will not be immune. Packages of care to older citizens will take longer to be in place and many community groups will see funding restricted. More and more service cracks will appear. So how did we get into this mess? What seems complicated is in truth pretty straightforward. The Assembly began over the past few years to fund the financial debt in the service with short term money, coming from monitoring rounds. For example, many politicians assertively lauded last June's monitoring contribution of 70m. What they omitted to say was that, come March 31, it would all be spent and the debt of 70m would reappear on April 1, plus additional debt to cover new demands. Exactly the same is true for money spent on waiting lists. It is like having no money left in your current account and using your credit card for regular family expenditure. So before the service can draw breath, as it moves from one year to the next, it is 100m plus in debt and depending on this to deliver core services. Add to this responsible but unstoppable uplifts in nursing home care at 4%, pay uplifts at 1%, and contributions to the new apprentice levy and soon we are at 200m. Then there are new buildings opening, at the new Ulster Hospital and phase two of the cancer centre at Altnagelvin. The bill just keeps rising! Remember too, no money mentioned yet for new cancer drugs or the absolute necessity to be able to respond to the health and care issues posed by us all getting older, or those with mental health difficulties. None of this should really be a surprise to our politicians, but there is real resistance to acknowledging the challenge or to have an honest public debate about where the financial challenge places the health and care service, recipients of it and those who work in it. When, if ever, has there been a real debate about the fact that Northern Ireland has a more generous health and care system than England and Wales? For example, there are no prescription charges and home care is not means tested, it is free. This is not to argue for charging, but it is surely right that there should be the endorsement and leadership by the political system to explain the choices and consequences, rather than consigning it all to the "too difficult box". Turning to reform, everyone seems to agree we need reform and politically we seemed to have for the first time a consensus on the need to reform. Our political impasse has poured cold water on that prospect, yet apart from generalities, there is no sense of a "burning platform" on the part of our political system as to the financial and service consequences for our health and care system. Bengoa promises much, but the truth is our political crisis has cost us all a material time delay in reform. In the interim, the existing service model, which is not fit for purpose, soaks up more and more cash. Perhaps just as crucially, it has left many working in the system feeling beleaguered and let down. Even if Bengoa gets back on track, have our politicians the courage to lead the change - or will they lead the protest to stop change? In my experience, there are politicians who genuinely recognise the challenge the service faces and want to support it. However, this is far from a universal position. There is a stark choice now facing us in the present political impasse. Find a way forward or accept that the health and social care system will decline and be consigned to the never ending task of wrestling with an insoluble financial conundrum, lurching from one short term solution to another - when its focus should be on prevention, and high quality care and treatment. It employs directly or indirectly about one in nine of the working population. The service spends nearly 15m every 24 hours and its ethos and value is subscribed to by all of the 1.8 million residents of Northern Ireland. Whatever the other problems, surely this must be motivation enough to find a constructive outcome to the current political stalemate. A confidential hotline is being set up in Mauritius in a new bid to find the killers of murdered bride Michaela McAreavey. It comes as her husband John returned to the holiday island to make a fresh appeal for information. Mrs McAreavey (27), daughter of Tyrone GAA boss Mickey Harte, was strangled while on honeymoon six years ago. She was killed at the luxury Legends Hotel just 12 days after her wedding. No one has been convicted of the murder. At the weekend Mr McAreavey returned to Mauritius to make the new plea for information. He is due to meet with the Mauritian director of public prosecutions and the police. A confidential telephone line is being set up by his lawyer on the island, Dick Ng Sui Wa. There will also be an address where people can post potential new evidence. Mr McAreavey is due to hold a news conference in Mauritius tomorrow. Just before his return to the island, he told the BBC that he was prepared "to go to the ends of the Earth to ensure that justice is achieved for Michaela". He added: "We need to appeal to the people of Mauritius, so we felt that the best way to achieve that is to get on a plane and get out there." Mr McAreavey is accompanied by his sister Claire and Michaela's brother Mark. Expand Close John McAreavey and Michaela McAreavey on their wedding day (Irish News) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp John McAreavey and Michaela McAreavey on their wedding day (Irish News) In 2012 two hotel workers - Avinash Treebhoowoon and Sandip Moneea -were found not guilty of Michaela's murder following a trial. Mr McAreavey remarried in September last year. His wife Tara Brennan is an accountant from Co Kildare. Police have launched a murder investigation after the death of a young father in Belfast city centre. Dad-of-two Paul McCready from north Belfast passed away in hospital in the early hours of yesterday morning. It is understood he had been injured in an altercation near the Northern Whig pub in the Cathedral Quarter. A 30-year-old man was arrested at the scene and was still in custody last night. According to a source, it is believed a verbal row broke out and ended up on Donegall Street, where it is understood the 31-year-old hit his head on the pavement. Someone who knew the victim, but asked not to be named, said Mr McCready, from the Cliftonville Road area, was a lovely guy from a nice family, adding that he was not the sort of person to get caught up in arguments. The incident happened at around 12.50am and Mr McCready was taken to hospital in an ambulance, but he later died later from his injuries. Detective Chief Inspector Geoffrey Boyce, who is leading the investigation, appealed for people to come forward. He said: We know that a large number of people were in the vicinity of the Donegall Street/Waring Street junction at around the time the altercation took place. I would appeal to those people who have not yet got in touch with the investigation team to please do so. We are keen to gather as much information as possible about the circumstances and events that occurred here early this morning. Expand Expand Previous Next Close Forensic experts at the junction of Waring Street and Donegall Street in Belfast where an incident took place in the early hours of Sunday morning resulting in Paul McCreadys death Paul McCready / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Forensic experts at the junction of Waring Street and Donegall Street in Belfast where an incident took place in the early hours of Sunday morning resulting in Paul McCreadys death SDLP councillor Paul McCusker said Mr McCreadys death had shocked the north Belfast community. Mr McCusker said: This popular man was well known by the community and speaking to those who knew him, they are heartbroken. My thoughts and prayers are with this mans family at this difficult time. Sinn Fein MLA Caral Ni Chuilin said: The death of a 31-year-old man following an altercation close to Donegall Street in Belfast city centre has shocked local people. My thoughts and sympathies are with the family of this man at this time. I would appeal for anyone with information to come forward and contact the police. People who knew Mr McCready took to social media to express their shock. One woman said: What a devastating shock to see this young mans face today, my heart goes out to Pauls beautiful young family and amazing partner. A friend wrote: RIP Paul, absolute gentleman. Thinking of your family buddy. Another tribute stated: So sad, such a lovely fella. A friend said he was in total shock, adding: Paul was one of the nicest fellas you could meet. Taken too young. Investigators can be contacted by calling 101 and quoting reference number 94 02/04/17. Information can also be passed anonymously to Crimestoppers by calling 0800 555 111. Paul McCready died from injuries sustained in an altercation on Donegall Street, Belfast (PSNI/PA) A man died after an altercation thought to have begun in a Belfast pub, police said. Detectives launched a murder investigation after Paul McCready, aged 31 and from north Belfast, died in hospital after injuries sustained during a fight in the Donegall Street area of the city centre. Police appealed for anyone in the Northern Whig bar at the time of the dispute shortly after midnight on Sunday morning to come forward. The incident continued onto the street outside and ended with one man dead. Detective Superintendent Kevin Geddes, from the PSNI's serious crime branch, said the victim was father to two children aged under 10. "Tragically they have now been left today with a long life ahead of them with no dad." He said a number of people were assisting police and asked for anyone with video or photographs to contact detectives. A man aged 30 who was arrested at the scene remains in custody. Police have said a large number of people were in the vicinity at around the time the incident took place. Mr Geddes added: "An altercation can very quickly lead to someone losing their life and we have seen in the past that one punch can, in fact, kill someone." Little information was released about the circumstances. The senior detective said it seemed as if the victim had an altercation with another man inside the pub which continued onto the street outside. Several videos have been made available to police already. Northern Ireland's MLAs will arrive at Stormont Castle today to begin last-ditch efforts to set up a new Executive - two days after getting a 500 pay rise. Following the collapse of the previous round of talks last week, the NIO has invited the parties back for "intensive talks". The new discussions will begin after the 90 MLAs each received a 500 salary increase on April Fools' Day. This takes their basic earnings to 49,500, despite Assembly business being put on ice due to the political deadlock. While the last round of talks was deemed "shambolic" by some politicians, the NIO says that the UK and Irish Governments have now agreed "an intensive process to drive progress". This will incorporate an agreed agenda, a structure of bilateral meetings, regular round-tables and a co-ordination mechanism across all the issues. Secretary of State James Brokenshire had faced criticism for his handling of the last phase of talks, which didn't stage one round-table session. Sinn Fein accused him of not being an independent chairman, while the DUP urged him to be more assertive. The talks will be conducted using what the NIO described as a "well-established three stranded approach". DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson (below) said there was a need for "give and take on both sides", and added that the DUP was "hopeful that if all of the parties engage constructively, we can make progress". "Our overriding objective is to get agreement and to get a government," he stated. "That said, we recognise that there are some challenging issues to be resolved and we hope Sinn Fein will be willing to compromise, just as other parties have to try and reach out for agreement. "The people of Northern Ireland do not want a return to direct rule and they don't want another election, and that is what we are looking at if we are unsuccessful. "Being out and about this weekend, I have met a lot of people, and the overwhelming desire is for Stormont to be up and running." Regarding the "red line issues" which led to the collapse of last week's talks, Mr Donaldson said that the focus should be on re-establishing the Executive first. "There may be some issues that can be taken into government and resolved in government," he said. "If we can reach sufficient consensus on some of the main issues then let's form a government and continue to work on the other issues going forward. "There has to be give and take on both sides." In a statement released yesterday, Sinn Fein's leader in Northern Ireland Michelle O'Neill called for the British Government to "end its pandering to the DUP". Speaking ahead of a party strategy meeting in Dublin, she said: "Sinn Fein remain engaged in the process to find a resolution which will deliver progress at Stormont. "We don't need a new agreement; what we need is implementation of what has previously agreed. "We are fully committed to making the institutions work but they can only function on the basis of equality, integrity and respect. "It is time to see real delivery and we need to see the Irish Government step up to the plate and we need to see the British Government end its pandering to the DUP and fulfil its responsibilities to oversee the delivery of agreements previously made. "We want to see the institutions work, but to achieve that all the parties know what needs to happen. The British Government know what needs to happen, and that will be Sinn Fein's focus in the days ahead." Meanwhile, Ulster Unionist lead negotiator Tom Elliott MP said that while it was "difficult to be overly optimistic going into any talks process, we are going in knowing that a deal can be done". "Parties shouldn't get into entrenched positions with red lines, and if they continue to do that then the chances of getting a deal are limited," he said. "I don't think we had any red lines, so what we will be doing is looking for discussions and negotiations and hopefully that will come off. "I think that the structure of these talks gives a better opportunity for them to succeed. It will certainly help." While the previous round of talks was criticised for marginalising smaller parties, Mr Elliott said he thought there was a "better chance for our voices to be heard" during the upcoming negotiations. Mr Elliott said that he also believed discussions over MLAs' pay should be put on the backburner until after an agreement was reached. "The salaries of MLAs are set by an independent body, so they don't have much say," he said. "I don't think there is any point at this stage to be looking at this issue. I think it will have to be reviewed, but there's no point in pursuing it now in the middle of a talks process." The black box of the R116 helicopter crash has been located at the crash site Search teams have been unable to find two missing Irish Coast Guard crewmen after managing to raise the wreckage of the Rescue 116 helicopter off the Mayo coast. Rescue workers had "desperately hoped" that Ciaran Smith (38) and Paul Ormsby (53) would be in or near the main section of the aircraft. However, after managing to raise the wreckage onto the Commissioner of Irish Lights vessel the Granuaile and inspecting both the aircraft and the seabed yesterday afternoon, investigators said they had not been able to recover the missing men. The aircraft sections recovered include the rotor head, the main gear box, one engine and "wreckage associated around that" which will be inspected as part of the formal probe into the tragic crash. Poignant Last night, Irish Coast Guard operations manager Gerard O'Flynn said they would continue to look for their missing colleagues in the hope of bringing them home, while asking the crewmen's families "not to give up hope". In a poignant moment, rescue workers aboard the Granuaile held a prayer service for the Rescue 116 crew as they brought the remains of the Sikorsky S-92 back to Blacksod Bay, from where the search is being co-ordinated. A Naval Service dive team earlier managed to attach equipment to the wreckage to help the lifting process on what was the 20th day of the large-scale search operation. Despite the massive disappointment in not being able to find the two crewmen after extensive examinations near the crash site, senior rescue workers and investigators last night stressed that the search would continue for winch operator Mr Smith and winch man Mr Ormsby. "The hope remains, we haven't given up hope. We will continue to search for another period given that we have resources on scene and available," Mr O'Flynn said. Supt Tony Healy also paid tribute to the hundreds of rescue personnel who had been involved in the painstaking operating over the last three weeks. "We achieved our target today of lifting the wreckage and inspecting underneath it. Unfortunately, we didn't find any of the crewmen today, but the conditions were just really on the edge and it's a tribute to all the people out there," Supt Healy said yesterday. "Weather conditions are expected to disimprove over the next period of time and the air and land searches will continue and will progress. "It is a very disappointing day; we go out expecting to find two remaining crewmen. Where there's hope of recovering our two missing crewmen we will continue," the senior garda added. Investigators have recovered all the available data from the aircraft's blackbox, which will help determine what caused Rescue 116 to crash into Black Rock island in the early hours of March 14. Chief Inspector of the Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) Jurgen Whyte said the investigative aspect was a "long way" from concluding and that more evidence would be gathered to determine what caused the tragic crash. "We have recovered all of the data from the flight data recorder . . . it takes a significant amount of time to analyse. "As we said, our opinion is that there were no mechanical anomalies and we must now focus on the operational side. It's a long, arduous investigation which will take several months," Mr Whyte said. "There's a lot more evidence to gather and there's a lot of interviews to do . . . a lot of procedures and we must talk to the different players involved. "That takes time; takes time to gather facts, time to analyse and time to come to a conclusion," the senior investigator added. The aircraft's pilot, Capt Dara Fitzpatrick (45), was recovered in the immediate aftermath of the tragic crash but was later pronounced dead. The second crewman, Capt Mark Duffy (51), was recovered from the helicopter's cockpit on Sunday, March 26. Police describe Tolka Valley Park in Finglas, Dublin, as an "area of interest". Police have begun digging in a Dublin park for the remains of a convicted rapist who vanished over six years ago. Garda Superintendent Liam Carolan described the site, Tolka Valley Park in Finglas, as an "area of interest". An arm, later forensically identified as that of James Nolan, was discovered on Dublin's Dollymount Beach in 2011. Speaking at the scene, Superintendent Carolan said: "A Garda investigation has continued on since then. Recent information has come into our possession indicating that this particular part of Tolka Valley in Finglas is an area of interest. "From this morning Garda are commencing a significant operation in Tolka Valley Park. "We are asking the public if they have any information relating to this investigation to contact us ... A family liaison officer is in contact with the Nolan family and they have been appraised of this morning's operation." The Dubliner had previously served 14 years in jail for rape and false imprisonment. Police said around eight people were involved in the attack but residents said many more watched while the boy was beaten A gang who brutally attacked a teenager because he was an asylum seeker may have been joined by up to 30 other people during the assault, police have said. Kurdish Iranian student Reker Ahmed, 17, was waiting at a bus stop in Croydon, south London, with two friends when they were attacked at around 11.40pm on Friday. Sixteen people have been arrested in connection with the incident, on suspicion of offences including attempted murder and violent disorder. Police are also trying to trace the driver and occupants of a car that stopped at the scene during the midst of the attack. The vehicle is described as a white hatchback with a black roof. Neighbours described how punches and kicks rained down on Reker, who was left in intensive care with a fractured skull and a blood clot on his brain following the assault. Five people charged over the incident appeared before magistrates on Monday afternoon, although police have appealed for information to trace others believed to have been caught up in the hate crime. Two more will appear in court on Tuesday. Addressing journalists at the scene, Detective Superintendent Jane Corrigan said: "This was a hate crime; there were three individuals who were waiting at a bus (stop) and were viciously attacked. "I think this was probably confidence by numbers. "It started off with this smaller group of people who were joined by between 20 to 30 and they just viciously attacked these individuals because they were asylum seekers. "We are still seeking the family of the 17-year-old who's been injured in the attack, but we are providing support to him, his friends and obviously the people who he is in the care of. "We are also speaking to the school that he attends to see if there's anything we can offer them by way of support." She said Reker, who was identified in court as the main victim, along with friends Dilshad Mohammed and Hamo Mustafa, was being moved out of intensive care after "starting to make a recovery". Describing the teenager's condition, Ms Corrigan said: "Obviously he is going to be scarred for life as a result of the beating he sustained. "But he is being moved from the intensive care unit into a mainstream ward hopefully later on today. "His face did receive some significant injuries, that was the main focus of the attack. "But what I can say is that without a doubt this will leave lasting scars." She said police were also investigating whether the attackers had been drinking in a pub near Shrublands Avenue, where the violence took place, an assault she denied was pre-planned. In an appeal to others caught up in the attack, Ms Corrigan said: "I would prefer the people outstanding in relation to this investigation to make themselves known to us now instead of us making ourselves known to them. "I am very confident that with the investigation, and the speed with which it has progressed over the weekend, that we will catch all of those involved in this case." The assault was condemned as "absolutely despicable" by Theresa May. The Prime Minister echoed the comments of local Tory MP Gavin Barwell, who branded the attackers "cowardly and despicable scum". Speaking to reporters during a flight to Jordan at the start of a three-day Middle East visit, she said: "This was an absolutely abominable attack, completely unacceptable. "I absolutely agree with the sentiments of Gavin Barwell when he commented on this and I just hope that anybody who has any information about this will give that information to the police." A baby at the centre of a life support treatment dispute is "extremely unwell" and likely to be feeing pain, a High Court judge has been told. Specialists at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London think it is time to stop providing life support treatment to Charlie Gard, who is nearly eight months old. Doctors say Charlie, who suffers from a rare genetic condition, should move to a palliative care regime. Charlie's parents disagree. Postman Chris Gard and Connie Yates, of Bedfont, west London, want to be allowed to take him to a hospital in America where they hope he can be treated. Mr Justice Francis is considering evidence at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London before deciding what option is in Charlie's best interests. A Great Ormond Street specialist told the judge on Monday that Charlie had no spontaneous movements and could not hear. She said therapy being proposed by doctors in the USA would "very sadly" not help Charlie. "He is extremely unwell," she said. "He is having procedures which would cause pain to other people." She said it was likely Charlie was experiencing pain but was unable to let anyone know. The Great Ormond Street specialist said Charlie's parents thought that he could make some movements. But she said she and another specialist had reviewed him a few days ago and could see no spontaneous movements. She said Charlie had a very rare condition which had proved fatal in other cases. Babies with the condition lived on average a few months without life support treatment, she said. Mr Justice Francis has heard that Charlie, who was born on August 4 2016, has a form of mitochondrial disease - a condition which causes progressive muscle weakness. He had ruled that doctors involved in the little boy's treatment cannot be named. Police are investigating whether some of those involved in the attack had been drinking in a nearby pub Three more people have been arrested over a suspected hate crime which left a teenage asylum seeker with a fractured skull and a blood clot on his brain. The 17-year-old was attacked at a bus stop in Croydon, south-east London, on Friday by a gang of around eight people, Neighbours claimed up to 20 people watched on while he was kicked and beaten on the ground. Scotland Yard said a 23-year-old man was arrested in Croydon on Sunday on suspicion of attempted murder, while a 26-year-old man and 17-year-old girl were detained on suspicion of attempted murder and violent disorder. Five other people are still being questioned by detectives while a sixth, a woman of 20, was released without charge. The group - three men of 20, one of 24 and a 24-year-old woman - are also being held on suspicion of attempted murder and violent disorder. The incident has drawn widespread condemnation, with Tory minister Gavin Barwell describing the attackers as "scum". The teenager, a Kurdish Iranian, was waiting at a bus stop with two friends outside The Goat pub in the Shrublands area when the group approached them. After discovering he was an asylum seeker they chased him and launched a vicious assault, repeatedly kicking him on the floor and aiming blows to his head. The boy remains in hospital in a serious but stable condition, not believed to be life-threatening. Police said around eight people were involved in the attack but residents said many more watched on while the boy was beaten on the ground. One resident of Shrublands Avenue, where the attack took place, told the Press Association: "There were more than eight people, there was a massive group coming up from The Goat pub. "You couldn't see who was hitting who. "There was one person, the one who ended up in hospital, he was getting absolutely beaten up - kicked, mostly in the facial area. He was getting kicked and punched by everyone. "There was a group of roughly 10 people that was kicking and punching him, and the rest, another 10 or 20, were all just around watching. "Then when they heard sirens they started to go. People that were there, witnesses, because they couldn't do anything against a group of 30 people, they had to wait until they moved off and that's when they managed to help him. "That's eventually when the ambulance and police (arrived), and that was it." Detectives are investigating whether some of those involved had been drinking in The Goat pub nearby. Managers at the pub said they were "saddened" to hear of the incident, adding: "We do not in any way condone such action and we will do anything within our powers to help police to bring those that carried out this act to book. To the victim, we pray for his speedy recovery." Chief Superintendent Jeff Boothe, Croydon's borough commander, called it a "savage attack" and said it was only the intervention of passers-by and the arrival of police that stopped it being worse. The "close-knit community" has been left shocked by the ferocity of the attack, he added, and extra officers have been out and about to reassure people. He said: "This is not usual for the area, it is out of the norm. This is not Croydon, Croydon is a very diverse community - they celebrate their diversity." Mr Boothe added: "Hate crime is something which we understand can be very, very divisive. Croydon is culturally diverse and we need to continue to celebrate that." Mr Barwell, Croydon Central's MP, said: "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." London Mayor Sadiq Khan also condemned the attack, saying hate crime "has no place in London, Britain or anywhere else", while the Refugee Council said it was "disgusted" by the assault. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn also denounced it, saying: "Absolutely shocked at attack on young Kurdish asylum seeker, who came here searching for safety. I fervently hope he makes a full recovery." Anyone with information about the attack should call police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Emergency vehicles and a helicopter are seen at the entrance to Technological Institute metro station in Saint Petersburg on April 3, 2017. A blast hit the metro system of Russia's second city Saint Petersburg Monday, authorities said, with news agencies quoting security sources as saying that about ten people have been killed. / AFP PHOTO / Ruslan SHAMUKOVRUSLAN SHAMUKOV/AFP/Getty Images Police officers guard the area at the entrance to Technological Institute metro station in Saint Petersburg on April 3, 2017. A blast hit the metro system of Russia's second city Saint Petersburg Monday, authorities said, with news agencies quoting security sources as saying that about ten people have been killed. / AFP PHOTO / Ruslan SHAMUKOVRUSLAN SHAMUKOV/AFP/Getty Images At least 10 people have been killed in an explosion on the subway in St Petersburg, Russian news agencies reported. President Vladimir Putin, who was visiting the city on an unrelated trip, said investigators were looking into whether the explosion was a terror attack or if there might have been some other cause. He offered his condolences to the families of those killed. Andrei Kibitov, spokesman for the St Petersburg governor, told Russian television 10 people have been killed and 50 injured in the explosion. In Moscow, deputy mayor Maxim Liksutov told the Interfax news agency that authorities are tightening security on the subway in the Russian capital. Russia's National Anti-Terrorist Committee, which said "several" people were killed and injured, said an unidentified explosive device went off on a train that was travelling between two stations. The agency that runs the subway said several stations in the northern Russian city were closed and that an evacuation was under way. Social media users posted photographs and video from a subway station in the city centre, showing people lying on the floor and a train with a mangled door nearby. Frantic commuters reached into doors and windows, trying to see if anyone was there and shouting: "Call an ambulance!" Mr Putin was expected to hold talks with the Belarusian president later in the day. More to follow Mitchell Reisss appointment in 2003 was key in getting Stormont back up and running Attempting to normatively blame, or to empirically explain, the trajectory of post-Agreement politics via the consociational model alone is reductionist as it fails to acknowledge both the dynamic created by the peace and political processes internationalisation and the Agreements centripetal potential. That sentence almost finished me off with Mary-Alice Clancys Peace Without Consensus: Power Sharing Politics In Northern Ireland, which I had just scanned in search of insights into what happens when outsiders try to resolve Northern Irelands political problems. But I gave it a second chance. Before I explain why the Northern Ireland Office and the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs should be bearing its conclusions in mind this week, here are a few thoughts about academic history. Without historians to do the patient work of uncovering truth, we would all be peddling whatever myths suited us. Fortunately, there has been excellent work produced on Irish history over many decades that has opened the eyes of people from very different backgrounds to the sheer complexity of our past. That doesnt work in Sinn Fein, of course, for its leadership has no interest in the past except to use it as a propaganda tool, so it sticks with the MOPE (Most Oppressed People Ever) narrative of Irish history that has led generations of young people to kill and die for Ireland. The Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw once wrote that all professions are conspiracies against the laity and unfortunately since the 1960s academics are proving that point. Instead of making it easy to disseminate the fruits of good research far and wide in a form comprehensible to a layman, generations of students of history, politics, social sciences and literature who wanted good grades or an academic career were required to use impenetrable jargon to prove their seriousness. Meanwhile, academic publishers discovered they could make lots of money by charging huge prices for academic journals and books approved by professionals which university libraries have to buy. Hence the price tag of 78.78 on Dr Clancys excellent book, and the occasional chunks of gobbledygook messing up her otherwise lucid prose, which together meant her only chance of getting her ideas out to the public was if journalists read her book and wrote about it as a few did when it came out in 2010. Dr Clancy undertook extensive research to find out if the British, Irish and US Governments bore any responsibility for Northern Ireland ending up dominated by its two most intransigent parties. Through interviews with British, Irish and US officials and the scrutiny of documents, she has established that Dublin and Washington had come to favour that outcome by 2002, and London wasnt very far behind. Then she looked at who was responsible for making the DUP and Sinn Fein actually get into bed together. Certainly, to Irish nationalists the Clinton administration (1993-2001) has been seen as the good guys because of such interventions as the issuing of a visa to Gerry Adams in 1994 against the wishes of the British Government. But what Dr Clancys research finally proves is that DUP and Sinn Fein power-sharing (aka consociationalism) simply could not have happened without pressure from George W Bushs administration, a view long held by a few journalists including me. Bushs first envoy Richard Haass floundered. However, in 2003 he was replaced by Mitchell Reiss, who proved to be genuinely independent-minded, tough and impervious to either flattery or bullying and determined that acceptance of policing as well as paramilitary disarmament and disbandment must be a requirement of getting into government. He and Irish Minister for Justice Michael McDowell, an unusually principled member of the Irish Government, even stared down Blair and Ahern when they wanted to dodge insisting on the ending of paramilitary criminality. If local politicians mess up again and the voices calling for an outsider to chair talks prevail, the British, Irish and US Governments have the right man for the job. Reiss is a member of the four-person Independent Reporting Commission set up under the Fresh Start Agreement by the British and Irish Governments and the NI Executive to examine paramilitary activity. As Dr Clancy has shown conclusively, who could be a better choice? No wonder the ancient Dukedom of Flanders and the adjoining territories of Artois and Picardy are known to historians as The Cockpit of Europe. Straddling the borders between present day France and Belgium its a region that shaped two world wars and much more. The launching ports for the 1066 Norman invasion, Henry Vs killing field of Agincourt, the Duke of Marlboroughs battleground of Malplaquet, the horrors of the Great War trenches, the beaches of the Dunkirk evacuation memories of these and other monumental moments in the turbulent history of the region resonate down the years. When the Channel Tunnel first opened for business, back in May 1994, many commentators were of the opinion that this new gateway to the Continent would put the existing car ferries on the Dover-Calais crossing out of business. The opposite happened: the arrival on the scene of Eurostar and Le Shuttle simply stimulated the market and newer, bigger, faster, more comfortable and more frequent ferries were soon launched onto the route, with P&0s fleet slashing crossing times to just an hour and a half, compared to a mere 30 minutes aboard the Le Shuttle car/rail service. From Ireland, theres the option of direct flights from Dublin to Brussels/Charleroi, in Belgium, or Beauvais, just North of Paris, and then in each case a relatively short hire car drive to the heart of Flanders. Commemorating the Great War Its highly unlikely that the post-Brexit fall-out will bring further boosts to the region. One victim of the new political environment surrounding the UKs exit from the European Union will almost certainly be the EU financed project that has seen the Belgian province of West Flanders, the French department of Nord-Pas de Calais and the English county of Kent successfully marketed for several years past as a single region. For now, though, they are cashing in on the extensive programme of commemorative events marking the centenary of the 1914-1918 Great War. Expand Close Last Post at the Menin Gate. Image: Milo Profi / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Last Post at the Menin Gate. Image: Milo Profi The infamous booze cruises and day trips of yore are all but consigned to the past but the vacuum left has been filled by the burgeoning of battlefield tourism. As many a memorial serves to testify, Irish regiments played a pivotal role in the conflicts played out in this beautiful but blood-stained landscape and interest in all this history now extends far beyond just the immediate families of the fallen. Tribute to the fallen Our visit started in the sublimely picturesque walled town of Ypres, in Belgian West Flanders We entered town through the monumental Menin Gate, whose portals are inscribed with the names of some 54,896 of the more than 90,000 British and Empire soldiers including thousands of Irishmen who gave their lives in this region but whose remains were never recovered or identified. At 8 pm every evening a truly moving ceremony takes place here, with smartly uniformed buglers, veteran members of the local fire brigade, playing the mournful tones of The Last Post. Theres a reverential period of silence and a laying of wreaths in a commemoration that has been held every evening of every day each year since 1928 with the exception of the dark period of the World War Two Nazi occupation, when it was moved temporarily to England. Most visitors make a bee-line for the ornate city hall and 13th Century Cloth Hall, located on the towns vast shop, cafe and restaurant-lined Grotemarkt main square. Located within the hall is the remarkably evocative In Flanders Fields hands-on Great War museum. Dramatic displays Expand Close Oostende beach. Image: Toerisme Oostende / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Oostende beach. Image: Toerisme Oostende Bringing the whole experience to life, on entry you will be given a poppy bearing the identities of four characters it could be a British or German soldier, a Belgian housewife, a nurse or a child who might have perished or who survived and whose individual experience will be followed as you make your way through the dramatic displays. Other Yypres museums well worth a visit include the Municipal Museum, the Knowledge Centre, the Belle Almshouse, the Education Museum, the Tobacco Museum, the Hooge Crater Museum and the Front Line Hooge Open Air Museum, which includes a bunker and traces of trenches. In nearby Messines, the Irish Peace Park and Irish tower commemorate the Irish troops of all denominations who died during the First World War. In the battle that kicked off here on July 7, 1917, when the 16th Irish and 36th Ulster Divisions stood shoulder to shoulder to gain a dominant ridge. As youd expect in such a busy tourist town, theres a wide selection of eating places in Ypres. Set in the Grote Markt, the atmospheric Int Klein Stadhuis brasserie gave us a convenient chance to sample a wide selection of local beers and culinary specialities, including the ubiquitous mussels and chips and an unctuous waterzooi stew which comes in chicken and fish versions. Military theme Ypres has a surfeit of cosy boutique hotels and B & Bs. The Best Western, Novotel and Ibis chains are also represented. Our nights lodging was in the Great War themed Hotel O Ieper, just down a quiet side street off the market place. Military artefacts and khaki, brown and green toned walls, curtains, bed linen and accessories set the military mood. But this town is not just about sadness and melancholy. Life, as they say, does go on; scars heal and Ypres has been magnificently re-built from the ground up matching Mediaeval grandeur with all the amenities of modern life, from glitzy little boutiques to pulsating night spots and the thrills and laughter of the nearby Parc Bellewaerde fun park. Then there are the mile upon mile of gloriously wide, fine, firm sands, running from the French border up to the broad Schelde estuary and the Dutch frontier. Queen of the many lively seaside resorts dotted along this stretch of North Sea coast is undoubtedly Ostend, which is connected with Dover by car ferry services a route established in 1846 and now operated by DFDS. Jam-packed with hotels With a population of 70,000 that more than doubles in season, Ostend is thoroughly modern and jam-packed with multi-storey hotels nearly 100 of them and holiday home apartment blocks. Our choice was the light and airy Hotel Europe, just 100 metres from the casino and beach. Rising like gigantic glowing rubies above the beach, the Rock Strangers are the spectacular metal monsters that have become icons for an Ostend reborn. The towns most famous resident was the world-famous symbolist artist James, Baron Ensor (1860-1949) and his home is well worth a visit while there is a virtual reality digital walk, The Scent Of Ostend, hosted by the spirit of the great man himself. Self-exiled soul music superstar Marvin Gaye lived in Ostend from 1981 recording the classic Sexual Healing while there and the city now offers a fascinating Midnight Love guided walking tour for a great value 5. Alternatively you can ride through town in a horse-drawn carriage. Theres a lot to see and do, including a visit to the magnificent Mercator, moored in front of the city hall at the busy marina; the ornate 70-metre high neo-Gothic Sint-Petrus-en-Pauluskerk church and a coterie of fashionable upmarket stores and boutiques. Returning our trip to a military theme, we visited the formidable Fort Napoleon, completed by the French emperor in 1811 to deter a feared invasion from across the Channel. Ostend Beach Dance FestIval takes place between July 8-9, with the emphasis on the best of house and techno music, while August 27-29 sees the annual Ostend Beer Festival, showcasing more than 30 locally produced brands. Belgium has the highest density of Michelin-star holding restaurants in the world and theres wonderful food at every level of the market. At Ostends excellent Bistro Mathilda we sampled such local specialities as freshly caught dabs, North Sea grey shrimps, Flemish beef stew and a tender 35 days dry-aged Rubbia Gallega escalope steak. Go to www.greatwarcentenary.be for further information. Everything that I have been saying for the past five years, along with opposition leader Don Polye, his deputy Sam Basil and respected economists and other commentators, cannot now be denied. Friday nights speech by Treasurer Patrick Pruaitch, and the release at the same time of the PNG Treasurys 2016 Final Budget Outcome, demonstrate conclusively that the prime minister has been misleading the nation. Mr ONeill can no longer pretend that everything is OK. He must drop the spin and the deception and let the people of Papua New Guinea know the full scale of the economic and financial disaster that he has caused. THE skeletons in the closet that the prime minister has been trying to hide have now been laid bare for all to see. The nation is in crisis, and the only solution is to get rid of the prime minister and his advisers who are responsible. The longer it takes for this to happen, the more intractable our problems will become, and the more pain it will take to correct them. Government debt the amount that the prime minister admits to is K22 billion. That is K2.2 billion higher than the original 2016 Budget estimate of K19.7 billion. In the Final Budget Outcome, Treasury states that government debt is now 32.6% of GDP way higher than the 30% permitted under the Fiscal Responsibility Act. And this excludes all the off-balance-sheet debt of state enterprises and export credits. His own Treasury officials have exposed the prime ministers untruthfulness in his constant public statements that his debt is within legal limits and is sustainable. The Budget fiscal deficit is now K3.1 billion, or a disastrous 4.6% of GDP. The original Budget estimate was K2.1 billion, so instead of reducing the deficit as promised, Mr ONeill has actually increased it. Most disturbingly, the governments total income has continued to fall from K12.6 billion in the original 2016 Budget to K10.5 billion in the Final Budget Outcome. These numbers and Mr Pruaitchs speech demonstrate clearly that Mr ONeill has lost control of the economy and government finances, Sir Mekere said. They show that what I and others have been saying is 100% correct. In particular, Mr Pruaitch confirms my statements that public servants and others are not being paid their full wages and entitlements. It is distressing to hear that the highly respected Papua New Guineans who serve our country in PNG Embassies overseas have not received their salaries and wages for up to ten fortnights. Some face possible eviction from diplomatic offices and their homes. Children of diplomats in the US capital last year were forced to withdraw from educational institutions. Such abysmal treatment of PNG diplomats our people, our representatives in overseas jurisdictions has not happened before. It is happening now because the people who should care remain deaf to the constant cries for help and understanding. Mr Pruaitch also shows how the prime minister has debased and perverted government systems and processes to suit his own interests. The office of the prime minister, the prime minister himself and a few cronies have taken control of the government, and they accept no responsibility. Ministers have no power. They are deliberately isolated from the information flows vital to the successful functioning of government. Decision-making processes are bypassed. Departmental secretaries report directly to the prime minister rather than their ministers. The prime minister and his cronies issue instructions often illegally directly to departmental heads. Members of Parliament are captives of the ONeill system, held in handcuffs and leg irons by the promise of district and provincial services improvement funds. They are unable to represent their constituents or bring to them the development that is so urgently needed. Papua New Guinea cannot afford one more moment of this madness. Enough is enough. Officers search for evidence following an attack at the Krong Pinang district checkpoint in Yala province, April 3, 2017. Some 20 to 30 suspected insurgents injured 12 officers while attacking a police checkpoint in the Thai Deep South with grenade launchers and other weapons on Monday, the police chief in Yala province said. The attack in Yalas Krong Pinang district appeared to have been carried out in retaliation for the killings of two suspected rebels by security personnel last week in Narathiwat, another province in the Deep South, officials said. There were more than 20 of them, mostly locals, Maj. Gen. Krisda Kaewchandee, the chief of police in Yala, told BenarNews. The attack in Krong Pinang district was planned and similar attacks have been carried out every April, he said, adding, the unrest in the area this month will be higher than other months, statistically. Since Jan. 1, including Mondays attack, 28 people have been killed and 37 injured in 17 different incidents across the Deep South. The predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking region has been wracked with violence despite efforts by Thailands military government since 2015 to pursue formal peace negotiations with southern rebels groups. On Monday, officials released details about efforts undertaken by the attackers to create havoc. After the attack, officers found nails and bombs planted along the road. The attackers also cut trees across the main and small roads to obstruct the officers tracking down, said police Capt. Pongsak Khaonuan, deputy inspector in Krong Pinang. From CCTV monitors, we determined that nearly 30 of them were split into two groups. The first group climbed up to the roof of the house next to the checkpoint, then fired heavy weapons at officers and used grenade launchers to attack. Another group attacked the officers from outside the checkpoint, Pongsak said. Police did not release details on the severity of the injuries to police or if any of the attackers were injured. Response attacks Pongsak said the attack appeared to be in response to the killings by police of two suspects in Rueso district, Narathiwat, on March 29. Officer killed the two men suspected of a roadside ambush in Narathiwat that resulted in the killings of an assistant village chief, his wife, sister-in-law and 8-year-old son on March 2. Authorities identified the slain suspects as Isma-ae Hama, 28, and Aseng Useng, 30, and said both fired at officers, causing police to retaliate. Isma-aes sister, who was at the scene, said her brother had no weapons. We confirmed the two suspects were killers. There were five arrest warrants against them. The weapons inspection matched the ones used to shoot and kill the assistant village chiefs family in Rueso district, Col. Pramote Prom-in, the spokesman for the militarys regional command in the Deep South (ISOC 4), told reporters at the time. Officials always are ready to provide fairness to all parties, he said. Abu Hafez Al-Hakim, a spokesman for MARA Patani, a panel representing rebel groups and factions in exploratory talks with Thailand, issued a statement on Saturday expressing concern over the deaths and pointing to the conflicting reports from police and the suspects sister. Police officer killed On Thursday, a police officer died and three others were injured in a drive-by shooting outside the Rangae district police station in Narathiwat in what officials said was in response to the killings on Wednesday. There were about four or five attackers who drove by in a pickup truck and opened fire at 30 police who were standing in rows during their morning assembly in the front yard of Rangae district police station on Thursday morning, station chief police Col. Surapong Chartsut said. The gunmen were dressed like construction workers and carried heavy weapons. The dead officer was identified as Cpl. Supatsorn Sayukhongthon, 30, and the wounded officers were identified as senior Sgt. Maj. Theerapong Kaewchamnan, 45, Cpl. Pongsathorn Kaewprasert, 23, and Sgt. Maj. Ekawit Thongbut, 33. Checking surveillance footage, police determined that the truck had been stolen in Sukhirin district, Narathiwat, earlier that morning. Police are searching for the gunmen. Peace talks After months of on-again, off-again exploratory talks between the government and MARA Patani, negotiators on Feb. 28 announced a framework for a safety zone establishing a limited ceasefire in one of the Deep South districts. The safety zone was expected to take at least three months to set up and implement and serve as a test to see if the concept can work there and in other areas of the Deep South. The region has seen nearly 7,000 people killed in violence associated with the ongoing conflict between separatist rebel groups and the government. Razlan Rashid in Kuala Lumpur contributed to this report. Thai pro-democracy activists gather at the Monument of Democracy in Bangkok to mark the second anniversary of a coup that brought the military to power, May 22, 2016. Thailands king will officially endorse a new constitution on Thursday, the royal palace said Monday in announcing a formality that will clear the way for the first elections promised by the military since it seized power nearly three years ago. King Maha Vajiralongkorn will sign the charter in front of leaders of the executive, legislative and judiciary branches during a ceremony at the Ananta Samakom Throne Hall in Bangkok, the Royal Household Bureau said. Thailands 20th constitution in 85 years will be enacted as soon as the charter is published in the Royal Gazette following his signature, according to legal experts. [T]he Lord Chamberlain shall bring the constitution up to the King for signing and then granting to the Prime Minister, the bureau said in a statement. But elections enshrined by the new constitution will not happen until sometime next year at the earliest, the deputy prime minister said nearly two months ago when government officials were tweaking the military-backed charter to accommodate changes requested by the king. The public comments in early February by Deputy Prime Minister for Legal Affairs Wissanu Kreua-ngam, in which he told reporters that elections would roughly take place within one years time. The statement signaled at least the fourth time the junta pushed back the timetable for electins it had promised for putting Thailand back on a path to democracy. It has been almost three years now and nothing got better. The government or the NCPO told us they have a roadmap for democracy but they keep postponing this, Somkid Cheukong, a former MP with the opposition Pheu Thai Party, told BenarNews. They should fix the timeframe for passing related laws and hold elections at the soonest. On Monday, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha and other officials from the military government did not issue any statements in response to the announcement from the palace or say anything about a timeline for elections. Further delays? The charters enactment, a step in the process of holding elections, was delayed because the king had requested some changes after he declined to sign in January. The king asked the National assembly to make changes that would enhance his powers as the monarch, such as being able to rule the country while spending long periods abroad. King Maha Vajiralongkorn ascended the throne in December following the Oct. 13, 2016, death of his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who had ruled Thailand for 70 years. After the new king sent the draft charter back for revisions, Prayuth assured the public that elections would take place in late 2017 and a new government would be in power in 2018. Yet the timetable for elections could be complicated by a provision in the new constitution requiring that lawmakers pass 10 so-called organic laws related to elections and political parties, Wissanu said on Feb. 9. Lawmakers will need to gather inputs from all stakeholders before they can pass these laws that represent another hurdle before holding elections, he indicated. The 10 laws will require the consent of 75 political parties and Thailands Election Commission, said Meechai Ritchuphand, chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee. The new charter was approved in a referendum in August 2016, but it is controversial because it allows the junta to retain influence over governments, critics have said. For example, the constitution allows 250 senators appointed by the junta to join 500 elected MPs in picking a new prime minister for a five-year term. ein Google-Unternehmen Google-Dienste anzubieten und zu betreiben Ausfalle zu prufen und Manahmen gegen Spam, Betrug und Missbrauch zu ergreifen Daten zu Zielgruppeninteraktionen und Websitestatistiken zu erheben. Mit den gewonnenen Informationen mochten wir verstehen, wie unsere Dienste verwendet werden, und die Qualitat dieser Dienste verbessern. neue Dienste zu entwickeln und zu verbessern Werbung auszuliefern und ihre Wirkung zu messen personalisierte Inhalte anzuzeigen, abhangig von Ihren Einstellungen personalisierte Werbung anzuzeigen, abhangig von Ihren Einstellungen Wenn Sie Alle ablehnen auswahlen, verwenden wir Cookies nicht fur diese zusatzlichen Zwecke. Nicht personalisierte Inhalte und Werbung werden u. a. von Inhalten, die Sie sich gerade ansehen, und Ihrem Standort beeinflusst (welche Werbung Sie sehen, basiert auf Ihrem ungefahren Standort). Personalisierte Inhalte und Werbung konnen auch Videoempfehlungen, eine individuelle YouTube-Startseite und individuelle Werbung enthalten, die auf fruheren Aktivitaten wie auf YouTube angesehenen Videos und Suchanfragen auf YouTube beruhen. Sofern relevant, verwenden wir Cookies und Daten auerdem, um Inhalte und Werbung altersgerecht zu gestalten. Wir verwenden Cookies und Daten, umWenn Sie Alle akzeptieren auswahlen, verwenden wir Cookies und Daten auch, umWahlen Sie Weitere Optionen aus, um sich zusatzliche Informationen anzusehen, einschlielich Details zum Verwalten Ihrer Datenschutzeinstellungen. Sie konnen auch jederzeit g.co/privacytools besuchen. It was a quiet afternoon in the neighborhood. I was sitting in my rocking chair near the open window in my bedroom, finishing a book I've been reading, and waiting for the next load of laundry to finish. The relaxing music of Jack Johnson, Kenny G, and Bob Marley was playing on Pandora Radio. An ideal Sunday afternoon, for sure. Then it started. The Mexicans living in the apartments to the east of our complex began to party. Im enjoying it immensely. When the mariachi music began, I got up and turned off Pandora. Instead of listening to a stream of songs familiar to me, Im now being entertained by a live band, playing a wide array of Mexican favorites. I dont know this for sure, but Id guess that a few of my neighbors might be just a little annoyed by what they perceive to be the noise coming from our neighbors. I prefer to take a different angle on the situation. Despite the fact that Ive lived in California for all but one year of my life, Ive never been to Mexico. I dont have a reason, nor an excuse. Its simply a journey Ive never taken. Ive also never been to Oregon. Go figure. Friends who have visited our southern neighbor, as well as Mexican friends now living in Silicon Valley, have told me that Mexico is a beautiful country. I have very good friends from Guadalajara, Puebla, and Oaxaca who have described the beauty of their homeland. Using the internet, Ive taken virtual tours of these cities in the past. A day like today, however, provides another opportunity for me to experience Mexico. Its all a matter of perspective and imagination. Instead of acknowledging that Im hearing the music of a neighbors party, I am visualizing myself sitting on the deck outside my suite at the Hotel Canto del Sol Plaza in Puerto Vallarta. The temperature there right now is almost identical to the mid-70 temperature in San Jose today, with a similar cool, gentle breeze. To the left, I have a partial view of the Sierra Madre Mountain Range. To the right, the broad expanse of the Pacific Ocean offers the promise of a spectacular sunset. And down below, at the bar next to the swimming pool, is a Mexican band playing local favorites. Its that simple! Its not an annoyance. Its a gift! If Id known this situation would develop today, I would have planned accordingly. Unfortunately, I have no Corona, nor Modelo, in the refrigerator. No tortilla chips. No guacamole. No taquitos. (Are they even Mexican?) So Ill just have to make due with a cold raspberry iced tea and some Ritz Crackers as I wait to enjoy dinner with Kathy in the main dining room downstairs. Mexico. Ah, yes! Id recommend the experience without reservation or passport! While a state budget agreement remains elusive, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state legislative leaders did agree on improving drinking water infrastructure for residents of Auburn and Owasco. A state budget extender that will fund government operations through May 31 includes up to $2 million for the communities served by Owasco Lake, which provides drinking water for nearly 50,000 residents. The extender was approved by the state Senate and Assembly Monday. Cuomo first announced the funding in January and it was included in his 2017-18 executive budget proposal. The funds will complement $150,000 in state aid provided to Auburn and Owasco to study potential methods for treating water that contains cyanotoxins from blue-green algae blooms. Tests found detectable levels of the toxins in the drinking water supplies for the city and town. The presence of the toxins caused concern, but wasn't a public health emergency. "This funding will play a critical role in helping address the contamination issues facing the central New York communities that draw their drinking water from Owasco Lake," Cuomo said in January. Cuomo's proposal wasn't opposed by the state Legislature. The state Assembly wasn't supportive of providing the $2 million as a standalone grant. Instead, Assembly Democrats wanted it funded through a larger state water infrastructure program. On the Senate side, the Republican majority supported the $2 million grant as part of its proposed $8 billion water infrastructure program. The Senate wanted a $5 billion bond act for water infrastructure improvements, but that's not in the budget extender and likely won't be in the final state budget for 2017-18. The Oneida Indian Nation is planning to open a 65,000-square-foot casino along the Onondaga County border a facility that would be located one hour away from the new del Lago Resort & Casino in Seneca County. The Oneidas' Point Place Casino on Route 31 in Bridgeport, Madison County, will be near the town of Cicero in Onondaga County and the county line. The smoke-free casino will feature nearly 500 slot machines and 20 tables. Point Place will have two bars and two restaurants: Wicked Good Pizza, a pizzeria that first opened in the tribe's Yellow brick Road Casino in Chittenango, and Burgers of Madison County, which will offer burgers and milkshakes. Opals Confectionary, a bakery and chocolatier that has a location inside the Oneidas' Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, will open its second shop in Point Place. The project is expected to cost at least $40 million and create more than 200 permanent jobs. An additional 250 jobs will be created during the construction phase. "We are thrilled to announce this new investment in central New York, and are confident it will continue the success we have had in working hand-in-hand with the local community to create good jobs and generate public revenues," said Ray Halbritter, Oneida Nation representative and CEO of Oneida Nation Enterprises. Construction is scheduled to begin in May. The casino is expected to open in spring 2018. The Oneidas said they plan to open a recruitment office in Cicero and will begin hiring employees for Point Place Casino this fall. For the construction of the casino, the tribe has entered into a project labor agreement with trade unions in central New York. Pat Costello, area representative of the Central and Northern New York Building Trades Council, said the Oneidas have "kept local union trade workers working" with the nation's projects. "Through decades of investments in our community, and as an engine of economic development for our entire region, the Oneida Nation has provided leadership for other employers and reaffirmed their commitment to our shared prosperity," Costello said. Point Place Casino will be the third gaming property owned by the Oneidas. The largest is Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona. Yellow Brick Road Casino in Chittenango is the other. The project won't face any regulatory hurdles. The casino would be located in Madison County on Oneida Nation reservation land and within the tribe's exclusive gaming zone that was established in 2013. The exclusive zone covers 10 central New York counties, including Madison and Oneida. Cayuga County is also in the zone. Under the 2013 agreement reached between the Oneidas and state officials, the tribe agreed to share 25 percent of its slot machine revenue with the state. The state Gaming Commission then doles out payments to each county in the exclusive zone. Last year, the 10 counties received more than $27.6 million from the Oneidas. The Oneida Nation's announcement comes two months after del Lago Resort & Casino opened in Tyre, Seneca County. The tribe long opposed the Finger Lakes casino because they believed it would cannibalize existing gaming revenues. Point Place may only be the start of the Oneidas' expansion effort. Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente recently announced that the Oneidas may also construct a casino in Utica. By Matt Markey 76 When Amanda Hissong Christians older brother started at Bowling Green State University, she was just a second-grader. So years later, when it came time for her to attend college, she was very familiar with the campus, the curriculum and the community. I chose Bowling Green because I felt I really knew the school and the environment. I really liked the smaller town and the reputation of the business school, the 1998 alumna said. I felt very comfortable with my choice back then, and that feeling hasnt changed. I enjoyed every minute of my four years at Bowling Green. I met a great group of girls that were my friends all through college and after graduation. Christian, who holds a Bachelor of Science in Purchasing & Materials Management/Production & Operations Management, is the vice president and corporate director of procurement for CACI, an international professional services and information technology company headquartered in Arlington, Va. CACIs primary client is the U.S. government, but it also serves foreign governments, state and local governments and commercial enterprises. Without hesitation, Christian points out that she did not come to Bowling Green with the expectation that she would one day be managing a staff of more than 100 procurement professionals for a huge company that has 120 offices worldwide, with more than 20,000 employees. She came to BG with a different field of study in mind. I originally thought I would go into accounting, but once I got to campus I started looking around for what else was out there, Christian said. It was in her introduction to management class that she first heard about the purchasing and production specialty. As I started to understand more about it, one of my professors introduced me to a company that offered internships. Once I took the internship, things really clicked. I knew when I went back to school after the internship that it was the right choice for me, she said. A second internship, this time with defense contractor Lockheed Martin, confirmed the direction her education would take, and the potential career path it laid out in front of her. Christian credits great professors at BGSU with playing major roles in fine-tuning her career choice. The classes I took and those professors I had that ultimately led me to deciding that supply chain management was best for me, she said. It all came together with the management classes giving me a better understanding of the field, and then my professors introducing me to companies that offered internships where you really get a much clearer grasp of the job. Today, Christian fills a very similar role, returning to campus often to offer students direction as a highly successful professional in her field, and as a speaker at the Supply Chain Management Institute. I really enjoy coming back to campus. Interacting with the students is a very energizing experience for me, she said. The students at BG are so bright and they ask such good questions. I sympathize with them because I know these interviews are tough and I can see how nervous they are. Ive been through it. Christian said she reminds students to go into the interview process as relaxed as they can be, and to view the session as a two-way street. I think they need to know that an interview works both ways does this company want me to work for them, and at the same time, do I want to work for this company, she said. I remember being grilled in some interviews, and that made me realize I might not want to work for that company. Just because your major matches up with the job doesnt necessarily mean the situation or the company is right for you. You have to be confident enough to say no thanks and keep looking. Christian has found BGSU to be a very successful recruiting ground for her company. She has had 23 interns from the University work for her since 2010, and has hired 18 Bowling Green graduates at CACI. Im proud of that because they have been good people and good hires, she said. For one, they have a great, solid foundation in business. There are a handful of good supply chain management schools out there, and Bowling Green is one of them. The BG graduates we hire might not have a lot of experience in the service industry field at the time, but I know I can train them because they have a strong business foundation, great analytical skills and a good work ethic. Since her companys Washington, D.C., area base of operations is quite different from Bowling Green and Ohio, Christian also wants to make certain that any new hire is prepared for the major change. When I recruit someone to move to D.C. area, I know it is not an easy decision, she said. They have to make a commitment to make the move to Washington, D.C., rent an expensive apartment, and then figure out how to get around in a large metropolitan area. But if they are comfortable with that, then I know they will have a great internship. Christian, one of three Bowling Green products in her immediate family, also has a niece that graduated from BG in August 2016, and a nephew currently enrolled at the university. She said they found the same appealing aspects that she did when she made Bowling Green her college choice. Both of them looked at quite a few schools, but ultimately came to same conclusion as me, said Christian, who lived in McDonald West and Offenhauer while at BG. One of the things I loved about Bowling Green is the safe environment if offers for living and learning. I think they found that, too. April 3, 1937 The strangest part of the March factory output as it was accomplished amid a wave of sit-down, stand-up and lean-sideways labor gymnastics. Strikes have upset the largest industry continuously since the first of the year, yet they have not stopped the general rising tide. Auto figures indicate, in fact, that more cars have been turned out in the first quarter this year than last year, when there were no strikes. Ford and Chrysler produced heavily when General Motors was out; Ford and General Motors hummed when Chrysler was out. At any rate, that was the situation up to the end of March. April 3, 1962 Auburnians Mrs. Leonard Bass and Raymond T. Donovan won the weekly matches of the Auburn Bridge Club Sunday at the Auburn Inn. Mrs. John O'Mara and Mrs. Richard Clapp, also of Auburn, were runners-up. Third place went to Mrs. Kenneth Rankins and Mrs. B. Weston Hardy, both of Skaneateles. April 3, 2007 April 3, 2012 For Immediate Release, April 3, 2017 Contact: Brett Hartl, (202) 817-8121, bhartl@biologicaldiversity.org Senate Republicans Attack Scientific Foundation of Endangered Species Act Proposed Legislation Part of Broad GOP Anti-science Agenda WASHINGTON Senate Republicans have introduced legislation to directly undermine one of the most basic aspects of the Endangered Species Act: reliance on the best available science to determine what animals or plants need federal protections. Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) introduced Senate Bill 735, which would automatically deem any and all information submitted by a state, tribal or county government as the best available science even if that information is, in fact, outdated, incorrect, contradictory or not supported by peer review. Senator Barrasso, chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, has sponsored or cosponsored at least eight bills attacking the Endangered Species Act since 2015 and voted against the Act nearly a dozen times since 2011. This cynical bill will not help a single species avoid extinction or get one step closer to recovery, but it will make it much harder for species on the brink of extinction to get the protection they desperately need from the Endangered Species Act, said Brett Hartl, government affairs director with the Center for Biological Diversity. This bill arbitrarily dictates what constitutes best available science and would allow states hostile to the Act to submit false or misleading information to avoid species getting needed protections. The Endangered Species Act requires the use of best available science, including the use of state, tribal and county data as long as it actually constitutes the best science available. However, to define such data as always constituting best available science is fundamentally anti-science and would almost certainly serve to exclude or override more accurate and better vetted data. Senator Barrasso's bill is just another example of how congressional Republicans, as well as the administration, are seeking to undermine the use of science in policy-making across the entire federal government, Hartl said. This is nothing more than a deeply cynical attempt to gut the Endangered Species Act. Since Republicans retook the House of Representatives in January 2011, they have launched more than 233 legislative attacks on endangered species. The 115th Congress has already introduced 20 attacks on the Act since January averaging one bill every four days. These attacks continue despite the fact that 9 out of 10 Americans want the Endangered Species Act strengthened or left unchanged by Congress, according to a 2015 poll. 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. Jem's Birding & Ringing Exploits in the Eastern Province and elsewhere in Saudi Arabia The inaugural Manufacturing East Africa conference has been developed to explore and address the growing need for intra-Africa trade across the continent. The event will comprise a one day conference, manufacturing competitiveness workshop and allocated business networking time. Manufacturing East Africa will be hosted in Nairobi, Kenya from the 19-20 April 2017. It provides an opportunity to establish new business partnerships, trade relationships, the opportunity to explore investment into the regional SEZs and a platform to engage and meet with key East African stakeholders. The event is partnered with the South African Department of Trade and Industry, the Manufacturing Circle, Kenya Manufacturers Association, Trade Invest Africa, CAIA, as well as private sector partner, Deloitte Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania. "Many local companies have registered to attend and we look forward to hosting a successful inaugural event aimed at paving the way for manufacturing growth and intra-Africa trade. This further supports the growth strategy of the annual Manufacturing Indaba hosted in South Africa to aid companies to find emerging markets to enable growth, commented Liz Hart, managing director of the Manufacturing Indaba portfolio of events. DDB Mozambique was one of the most awarded agencies of the night at the 4th Annual Festival of Creativity Awards, involving Lusophone countries, held on March 29, 2017, in Lisbon, Portugal, where the Lusophone agencies and producers of the year were awarded. 'It is not a child's thing' campaign by DDB Mozambique DDB Mozambique held third place in the ranking of the most recognised agencies: total three Gold, seven Silver and two Bronze awards. For this contest, DDB Mozambique submitted works with the titles: Nao e coisa de crianca (It is not a child's thing), for Helpos Presente Solidario project; and ENEMIESAD for Jeito Condoms. Nao e coisa de crianca (It is not a child's thing), for Helpo was awarded three Gold and four Silver awards in the Brand Activation, Relational Marketing, PR and Media categories. ENEMIESAD for JEITO Condoms received three Silver and two Bronze awards in the Press and PR, Outdoor and Media categories. DDB Mozambique creative executive director, Luis Guimaraes, said: "This is proof that there is great potential for creativity in Africa, particularly in Mozambique. It is with great pride that we have won these prizes, proof of the immense effort put every day by our team at DDB Mocambique. These prizes are for them and for all Mozambicans. As we stare down the political abyss brought on by Mr Bumble and wonder what on earth is going to happen next, I began wondering if the advertising industry isn't in a similar position? I mean, we had a good thing going with Saarf and Amps, even if it did have a few warts, but now it's gone and we're still all wondering what now? Well, next up apparently, is a brand new code of practice (written a couple of years ago). It's called the Marketing, Advertising and Communications code and will come into force in March next year. The idea is sound enough but there's an undertone of something quite sinister, in my opinion. The intention of this code is to change the structure of the industry and the way it conducts operations especially agencies. It starts off with that tried and untrusted quota argument about race and what colour employees should be. Haven't we seen enough of that in other areas? It's inhuman for starters, it's racist and quite possibly unfair to great talent. According to this code agencies must be at least 45% black-owned. And of that, 15% must be black women. This must surely be a regressive step? Empowerment targets will be put into place ensuring young black people rise up the corporate ladder, which is yet another step backwards. (Note that these are only two points taken from a long and confusing list). Please don't misunderstand what I'm saying. I have absolutely no problem (none whatsoever) with black people getting their rewards but surely it must be based on TALENT and not just percentages? I misguidedly thought the one industry that has risen proudly above the race issue was advertising. It's a fabulously fascinating (and rewarding) industry for people with TALENT. It matters not a damn what colour you are. If you're a great copywriter then, believe me, agencies will come pounding on your door whether you're black, Indian, coloured, Chinese or white (even Americans and Australians are welcome). But if you're not a good writer then perhaps you should be trying out for something else? The problem with these kinds of laws is that I'm terribly afraid they will attract mediocrity. It's not so much about agency ownership I kind of get that. And after years of repression, it is most definitely time for black people to take their place in the ranks of ownership. BUT, they have to be good owners/managers. Lastly, having carefully read the Marketing, Advertising and Communication (MAC) Sector Code, I can't shake off this feeling that it's a sop offered up to government as a (very late) reaction to their 2001 insistence that the advertising industry should transform itself. Although, to be fair, there was a joint industry statement in 2003 known as The values statement of the marketing and communication industry, which was supported, in principle myself included by most industry bodies at the time. Maybe I'm worrying too much. Time will tell and I hope (and trust) that any concerns I have will prove to be unnecessary (fingers crossed). Jeremy Maggs and David Furlonger will be editing this year's AdFocus on 22 November and will be examining the industry a little more closely. It will be worth looking at. *Note that Bizcommunity staff and management do not necessarily share the views of its contributors the opinions and statements expressed herein are solely those of the author.* #Newsmaker: Aileen Lamb, New Media's new MD Aileen Lamb succeeds Bridget McCarney as MD of New Media, of which McCarney is now the CEO, both effective 2 April. Lamb is taking the reins at such an exciting time in media. "Multimedia is exploding and there are so many new ways and opportunities to reach audiences," she explains. We have a massively talented workforce at New Media, and helping to move that talent into all these new spaces is beyond exciting for me. And to lead such a beautiful company; thats a hell of a thing. Its a dream role, she went on to say. Aileen Lamb Here, Lamb shares how she plans to take the agency forward, explains the power of storytelling, and tells of her perfume hobby When and why were you promoted to MD of New Media? When and why were you promoted to MD of New Media? We believe its important to have consistent succession planning, so after 10 years working alongside Bridget, whos been MD for 16 years now, Im taking over her role on 2 April (Im not starting on April Fools Day!). What does your new role entail, and how does it differ to your previous role as GM of New Medias Consumer Division? What does your new role entail, and how does it differ to your previous role as GM of New Medias Consumer Division? Previously my role was to develop the food and retail hub within the Consumer Division of New Media. Now my mission is to grow the business as a whole, evolving it into a truly digital agency. Well be focused on our specific areas of expertise and spheres of knowledge, which will grow not only our revenues, but our audiences and offerings as well. Comment on the agencys growth strategy, and how you intend to drive it. Comment on the agencys growth strategy, and how you intend to drive it. Were going forward with an aggressive growth strategy. Were already realigning the company into our core centres of knowledge rather than business units. Thanks to our consumer titles, we have some of the best editors in South African media, who have enormous expertise in their niches. Organising the company around this kind of specialist knowledge allows related brands to tap into consumer-orientated teams who know before anyone else whats happening in their fields. I believe this hyperfocus will be a competitive advantage. Why content marketing? Why content marketing? Because brands are realising that sharing stories with their customers is far more effective. We are experts in storytelling, its our heartbeat. Were constantly telling brand stories in new ways, on new platforms, which is why we, thankfully, have such long relationships with our clients. What has been your most noteworthy learning in the space? What has been your most noteworthy learning in the space? The annual content plan of the past is gone. Weve moved from months to momentsnothing is fixed or forever. So were constantly innovating around how to deliver content, to whom, and when best to do it. Audience desires are constantly changing. We have to monitor how content is working in the moment and adapt it in real time. Its a new worldits moments! Thats tremendously exciting and enormously challenging. The old agency model doesnt work anymore; things are evolving too fast for it. What have been some of your most exciting projects, and why? What have been some of your most exciting projects, and why? One of our most exciting projects recently is producing daily content for the countrys largest retailer, Woolworths, and distributing it across 24.com. Weve pioneered that space, and now other brands are looking at daily native campaigns. It was brave of Woolworths to lead that charge. It was a bold decision. What do you love most about your career in media? What do you love most about your career in media? I grew up in sales and Ive been in media for 18 years, launching brands in the UK and working in various disciplines. Back in 2000 I worked for a large UK media company in a purely digital role. It was a set of Scottish websites, and our entire revenue came from digitaland that was 17 years ago! It was a highly competitive environmentwe were very braveand I find that extremely stimulating. Thats what I love: the steep learning curve and being brave about taking on the next challenge. Moving from advertising director to general manager of a division at New Media was a big stretch for me, and now moving to an MD role pushes me even further. My history is leading people, making lots of money, looking after clients and growing peopletheyre my passions and what I love. What trends do you predict for your industry in 2017? What trends do you predict for your industry in 2017? Firstly, the way brands are communicating is changing rapidly. Agencies are realising that content is most effective. Were well positioned as weve already begun. Two of our biggest clients have moved budgets from ATL to producing daily digital content. Secondly, I believe well see that print still has its place, but it needs a new refreshed content strategy. It must have massive utility and be niched. Taste magazine, for example, is having 95% sell-throughs. Customer insights are gold. Knowing your audiences inside out is vital if youre to have the competitive edge. Insights are going so far beyond the simpleand sometimes misleadingbasic demographics. Video, especially on mobile, is where significant growth lies, 60% of the Eat Out audience for instance accesses the content on mobile, with video content engagement at an all time high. So well be focusing on a mobile immersive experience thats incredibly useful and relevant to our audiences. What are your goals for this year? What's at the top of your to-do list? What are your goals for this year? What's at the top of your to-do list? The first promise Ive made to New Media is to deliver a transformation strategy. Were not just transforming to be compliant; were pushing transformation because its the right and logical thing to do. Our storytelling needs to reflect life, and we tell better stories when we have diverse voices. My goal is also to unlock opportunities for our people to develop, through specific and targeted training. Im proud that New Media gives people space to grow, we have a truly special and unique culture. We have flexible working conditions to accommodate peoples needs we trust our workforce to get the job done. Then there are some simple, practical things Id like to introduce to make us more productive and agile. No agenda? Then no meeting. I would love more stand-up meetings as well. One of our major clients has introduced a policy of no meetings between 12 and 2, so staff has time to rest and refresh. Thats something to consider. What are you currently reading/listening to for work? What are you currently reading/listening to for work? Ive just reread Thrive by Arianna Huffington. Well, actually Ive been listening to it in my car so I can make best use of my driving time. Its an exceptional book, and shes incredibly brave to speak in the way she does about bringing balance back into your life. Its so much more powerful than a self-help book, because its a real story. The power of storytelling! Im about to start The Lean Startup by Eric Ries, which I bought for my husband, but Im going to grab it soon for myself. It looks at a new approach to business that gets to the heart of what consumers really want. Its about reinventing, testing and adapting continually as a business required reading! Tell us something about yourself not generally known. Tell us something about yourself not generally known. Ive been fascinated by perfume since I was about five, inspired my late mum who wore the original Estee Lauder. Im now something of a perfumer. Ive learned enough to have created a group of notes that I adore together and I source perfumes from all over the world to find the perfect note combinations. My current favorite boutique is Olivine Atelier based in Seattle. It's a pricey passion, but I absolutely love it. Read more: Aileen Lamb appointed as new MD of New Media In terms of the agreed public interest conditions, which were approved by the Competition Commission, Coca Cola Beverages South Africa (CCBSA) held its inaugural Supplier Development Conference to identify opportunities to maintain and grow local procurement. The conference forms part of the local companys commitment to a series of public interest conditions attached to its parent companys (Coca Cola Beverages Africa) establishment last year. Over 500 handpicked, black-owned high-growth-potential SMME delegates attended the event. They were addressed by a line-up of speakers with broad industry knowledge, including Minister of Economic Development, Ebrahim Patel. This is a seminal event that is more than delivering a merger condition; it is about being an active partner in South Africas economic and social development, as a whole and in the development of the local beverage sector in particular. In this and other initiatives, were working to promote small business and supplier development, and to enhance entrepreneurship in our economy, said Velaphi Ratshefola, MD of CCBSA. Commitment to local procurement The public interest commitments agreed to were wide-ranging and in respect of protecting suppliers direct interests, included a commitment to maintain and, where possible, improve the companys level of local procurement of South African inputs. These include all tin and aluminium cans and ends, glass and PET bottles, PET closures, packaging, crates and sugar. The company undertook to honour existing agreements with suppliers and further undertook to provide training for its managers on the value of local procurement. The company has also undertaken to invest in retailer development and agriculture enterprise development by making R800 million available for entrepreneurship development over the next five years. A R400-million allocation will focus on the development of downstream distributors and retailers. Between 2017 and 2020, an additional 25,000 black retailers of its products will receive business skills training. A R400-million fund for enterprise development in the agriculture value chain will support and train historically disadvantaged developing farmers and historically disadvantaged or small suppliers of inputs for Appletiser and CCBSA products. Appletiser to offer 20% shareholding to black investors In addition, as part of our commitment to the countrys economic development, we agreed to initiate a 20% black shareholding in Appletiser to be delivered by May this year and are increasing the empowerment shareholding in CCBSA as a whole by 9%, to take it up to 20% within five years. Weve been working hard on several of the other public interest merger commitments that were endorsed by the Competition Commission, but this has largely been done out of the public eye, states Ratshefola. AUBURN A woman found dead in the Owasco River Sunday evening has been identified as 47-year-old Sherry L. Stephenson of Auburn, the Auburn Police Department said. Police are still investigating the circumstances of Stephenson's death, but they said there was no foul play, and there is nothing suspicious at this time. Auburn police officers responded to reports of a woman in the Owasco River near the North Division Street bridge at around 7 p.m. Sunday. The Auburn Fire Department's Swift Water Rescue Team and the Onondaga County Sheriff Department's Air 1 helicopter assisted in the operation. The woman's body was removed from the Owasco River at about 8:15 p.m. near the Aurelius Avenue bridge. During the search and rescue attempt, the swift water rescue crews were stationed along the river's embankments surveying the rushing currents. The APD used caution tape to block off areas at the North Division Street bridge and again down at the Aurelius Avenue bridge. The helicopter dispatched to the scene circled the river. Crews could be seen sliding down an embankment just beyond the Aurelius Avenue bridge. Flashlights and a beam from the helicopter illuminated the increasingly darkening waters. Anyone with information about the incident should contact Investigator Mark Schafer at (315) 252-5874 or (315) 253-3231. Callers may remain anonymous. Alan Knott-Craig, former Mxit CEO and founder of non-profit organisation, Project Isizwe, will join a list of speakers at the South African Council of Shopping Centres (SACSC) annual Research Conference, which will take place at the Maslow Hotel in Sandton on 17 May 2017. Living in a connected society where most people have access to smart mobile devices, retailers offering free Wi-Fi have an unprecedented edge and this plays an important role in increasing sales, dwell time and helps gain customer loyalty. Knott-Craig kicked off the revolutionary TshWi-Fi concept in 2013 and since then more than 1.8 million people have connected to the internet through 90 million logged sessions over 803 free internet zones (FIZs) in Tshwane. TshWi-Fi was built by Project Isizwe, which has a sole mandate of providing free municipal Wi-Fi in South Africa. The city of Tshwane was Project Isizwes first Wi-Fi project and remains its biggest, with full funding from the citys municipality. Says SACSC CEO, Amanda Stops: The 2017 instalment of the annual SACSC Research Conference is going to be very insightful. Our speakers are incredible and Alan is one such speaker. The Research Conference is at the forefront when it comes to sharing knowledge and expanding the horizons of all those who attend, she said. According to Knott-Craig, the World Bank estimates that for every 10% penetration of internet access, a countrys GDP grows by 1,28%. Education, economic development, social inclusion Project Isizwe works with local, provincial and national government to provide Wi-Fi in low-income communities for the purpose of education, economic development and social inclusion, enabling access to the internet as a catalyst for change. I realised that unless the government provides free internet, most South Africans will be blocked from exploiting the power of the web. I think the internet is the most empowering tool in the world. Education, jobs, commerce, healthcare, politics - the internet makes all of it more efficient. I want to live in SA the rest of my life. Free Wi-Fi for all South Africans will give our country the best chances of a bright future, he says. Free Wi-Fi Western Cape Project Isizwe has also established free internet Wi-Fi connectivity in the Western Cape, rolling out capacity for 40,000 users around schools in Atlantis and Robertson. Apart from allowing users free internet through Wi-Fi connectivity, Project Isizwe has developed a content portal called Tobetsa. Tobetsa is designed to give users access to uncapped curated content. This content is focused on education, skills development and employment, and gives local communities the power to access information, education and jobs online, empowering them to participate in the mainstream economy like never before, he adds. Free Wi-Fi in retail and shopping centres has its place too. Allowing consumers a chance to stay connected with trends, sales and important information. It is of the utmost importance to know and understand consumers needs in order to stay relevant and competitive. Why free Wi-Fi is beneficial for retailers, shopping centres Improves marketing: Some Wi-Fi connections require the user to sign-up, once clicked it automatically redirects the user to a landing page. This landing page can be customised for that particular retailer or shopping centre and can be used to advertise special offers. Additionally, retailers have the chance to brand the network with a custom Wi-Fi network name. By letting customers check in to your store or restaurant, they're spreading the word without any effort on your end. Some Wi-Fi connections require the user to sign-up, once clicked it automatically redirects the user to a landing page. This landing page can be customised for that particular retailer or shopping centre and can be used to advertise special offers. Additionally, retailers have the chance to brand the network with a custom Wi-Fi network name. By letting customers check in to your store or restaurant, they're spreading the word without any effort on your end. Increases customer dwell time: 62% of businesses report that customers spend more time in their facility when free Wi-Fi is offered. If customers spend more time at your facility, they are more likely encourage their friends and family to spend more time at your business. Wi-Fi access helps customers stay productive and connected while they're in your store or at your place of business, so they'll want to stay longer. 62% of businesses report that customers spend more time in their facility when free Wi-Fi is offered. If customers spend more time at your facility, they are more likely encourage their friends and family to spend more time at your business. Wi-Fi access helps customers stay productive and connected while they're in your store or at your place of business, so they'll want to stay longer. Increase customer spend: Dont worry about customers who come to use your free Wi-Fi without spending a cent. More times than not, they actually end up spending more. For retailers, customers can use the Wi-Fi to browse your products and read reviews in real time. Dont worry about customers who come to use your free Wi-Fi without spending a cent. More times than not, they actually end up spending more. For retailers, customers can use the Wi-Fi to browse your products and read reviews in real time. Gain a competitive edge: Many people choose businesses such as coffee shops and bookstores based on the ones that offer free Wi-Fi. Those that offer fast, free Wi-Fi have a clear advantage over those that don't. The reality is, customers have come to expect free Wi-Fi at most places. For more about the conference, go to www.sacsc.org.za. Go Amplified Caffeinated Water, an energy-boosting water product has been launched in South Africa, at a time when sugar-sweetened drinks are facing strong scrutiny With zero sugar, calories and preservatives, this product goes a long way in ensuring the health of its users. Each bottle contains 50mg of caffeine, 10mg of potassium, 10mg magnesium, 10mg of calcium, is gluten-free and vegan. The water comes from a mountain spring in Pennsylvania, which the company says has some of the purest water in the world, with a TDS (total dissolved solids) level of 4, very low when compared to most water brands. Functional water The product finds itself residing in the functional water' category, competing alongside electrolyte-enhanced water, protein-enhanced water, vitamin-enhanced water and any additional water products providing a purpose beyond essential hydration. The functional water category continues to grow rapidly due to consumer pressures demanding beverages that offer functionality without artificial ingredients, coupled with little or no added sweeteners. It was originally developed for the US military to give the troops a lift when they needed it most, while also ensuring they remained hydrated. We saw the retail potential for this product and decided to bring the concept to our domestic market and launch it as a healthy, active lifestyle brand, giving our consumers an option when looking for a boost, commented co-founder of GO Water and operations manager of J and J Brand Company, Jan Strydom. Go Water is available at some Spar and Engen outlets; Giovannis in Green Point and Liquor City in Claremont. Mastering strategic growth in 2017 with Publicis Machine's Moagi Bodibe Publicis Machine's recently appointed chief strategy officer Moagi Bodibe recommends stopping to pause for thought and ensure your game plan is watertight to get ahead in the coming months. Publicis Machine's chief strategy officer, Moagi Bodibe. Sharing the highlights package of his career so far, Bodibe explains that he started off as an economics journalism trainee with Times Media, then known as Johnnic Communications. Next stop was a move to Media24, where he became deputy editor of the world-famous Drum magazine. Then, Bodibe switched lanes and worked at strategical branding and marketing consultancy Yellowwood across a diverse range of industries and categories, before moving over to the client side and working in the dynamic telecommunications sector for Vodacom in a number of roles. Finally, he dipped a toe into the advertising space, where he has enjoyed being exposed to a number of different African markets. So far its been a rather exciting journey and joining the Publicis Machine team takes it to another level, says Bodibe, who feels its still only the beginning... What does it say of your experience and personality to be dubbed a leading strategic mind with the job title of chief strategic officer? What does it say of your experience and personality to be dubbed a leading strategic mind with the job title of chief strategic officer? I remember having to choose which university I would attend and settling on Rhodes because they offered a great foundational education in journalism. Very early on, I already knew I didnt want to go narrow. I wanted an open-ended degree that would offer me a measure of freedom for specialising in a number of areas. After a three-year stint in journalism, a mentor of mine introduced me to Andy Rice, probably South Africa's best-known branding and advertising expert. This formally marked the beginning of my marketing experience. I worked under a number of great marketing minds such as Kay Nash, Ivan Moroke and many other smart people, on many amazing brands. There were a number of basic things I did over and over; things which have now become second nature to me, before being given more meaningful tasks. I remember driving back from a client presentation one day with my boss, who told me they wanted more from me. I was told that I had earned my right to make myself heard. I had to step it up because I was told I was capable of so much more. That was a big moment for me, realising that I needed to push harder to get further. Publicis Machine's reception area. So the title of chief strategic officer may sound fancy, but the real challenge is really to deliver on every project every single day. Its to win, inch by inch, always looking out for ways to do things 'simpler, better, faster', to borrow from a classic South African marketing slogan. Explain why strategic brand thinking and behind-the-scenes co-ordination is key to creating a successful campaign? Explain why strategic brand thinking and behind-the-scenes co-ordination is key to creating a successful campaign? Planning is everything. It takes time but its results can have a far more enduring effect than the initial time taken to plan. It takes many heads, hands and tools to make things happen. Theres a need to focus on the real client challenge, often needing to work through a number of assumptions, convincing each other (agency colleagues, client agency partners and clients themselves) of the strategies and creative ideas worth rallying behind. Behind the perceived glamour of working in marketing youll often find what you could call a marketing Codesa taking place: plenty of discussion, debate, and lobbying towards a communication consensus. What are you most looking forward to from the new role? What are you most looking forward to from the new role? I look forward to working with an amazing bunch of people. The management team is ambitious and hard-working and I cant wait to add value where I can and to help the agency achieve its growth, reaching even greater heights. Firstly, Im looking to building trust with our clients by delivering a strategy product that reflects business ambition. I intend to work very closely with the creative teams, which are led by our group ECD Gareth McPherson, to ensure that we consistently serve the creatives with clear strategies that form the foundation for solid creative thinking, more of the time. Publicis Machine's work area. Secondly, Im looking forward to identifying opportunities for the strategy team to support some of our other specialist companies within the group. Why does Publicis Machine feel theres such a strong need for the rest of the industry to stop, take a minute and think before taking action? Why does Publicis Machine feel theres such a strong need for the rest of the industry to stop, take a minute and think before taking action? Brand building is a very considered exercise. Change is happening fast, and clients need partners who can help them make sense of the change. Surface-level solutions wont help brands grow in a way that leads to long-term value creation. Successful brands are built when we create worthwhile profits over the long term. Planning is really about understanding the context facing the brand, articulating a clear way forward and deciding on purposeful actions. And lastly, its about giving the plan a chance to succeed and not changing at every missed opportunity. Thats an important message for all of us feeling caught up in the frenetic pace of business. Follow Bodibe and Publicis Machine on Twitter and in their press office for their latest updates. Civil society needs to step up and fight for better access to food, says Professor Ebenezer Durojaye of the Dullah Omar Institute at the University of the Western Cape. He says that despite constitutional guarantees of the right to food, the government is failing citizens. In a study funded by the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security (CoE-FS), Durojaye and colleagues wanted to understand why are we not seeing litigation challenging government on its failure to achieve access to food for all, given that the Constitution explicitly protects the right to food. Understanding the right to food The researchers reviewed broad swathes of literature, legal documents and international agreements to better understand how the right to food is protected in South Africa, and what government and civil society organisations are doing (or not doing) to ensure that nutritious food is available to all. The researchers also compared the South African case to India, where civil society organisations have successfully held the Indian government accountable to guarantee the right to food for all citizens. We looked at the Constitution and other national policies relating to the right to food, says Durojaye, as well as South African commitments to international and regional human rights law, like UN treaties and human rights instruments, and other regional human rights instruments related to the right to food. The UNs special rapporteur on the right to food visited South Africa in 2011, and many of his comments and recommendations are in line with Durojayes findings. The laws, policies and programmes to ensure access to food are all in place, but poor implementation has stopped these interventions from being effective, explains Durojaye. The special rapporteur also found that a lack of coordination between government departments was holding back access to food for all. Holding government accountable Overall, the research team found that very little is being done by civil society to hold government accountable for these failures. Durojaye cites the example of the Treatment Action Campaign as a successful civil society movement that forced real change in protecting citizens constitutional rights specifically, the right to health. Currently, there is no coordinated campaign focused on the right to food. Most organisations in South Africa dont have a clear understanding of what the right to food means, says Durojaye. You dont have to die of hunger before you know the right to food has been violated. Durojaye hopes that this work will encourage civil society organisations to step up and begin fighting for the right to food, while acknowledging that his research group also needs to provide support to this sort of campaign. One of the mandates of the CoE-FS is advocating for human rights issues, especially the right to food. No-one is questioning our governments performance in achieving universal access to food. We need to do more to hold them accountable. Right to food campaigns Organisations such as the Studies in Poverty and Inequality Institute and Black Sash along with several community organisations have started to advocate for a right to food campaign, and Durojaye hopes that his research group can be involved. We would be really interested in being part of that movement so that we can contribute our expertise and knowledge, he says. We will also continue to work with government and the Chapter 9 institutions - especially the South African Human Rights Commission - to see how we can help realise the right to food. This research sets the tone for future conversation and discussions by identifying what is limiting access to food in South Africa and providing suggestions about how to go about changing the status quo. A post-graduate qualification in public sector financial management aimed specifically at senior managers and chief financial officers (CFOs) at municipal and public sector departments in South Africa has been launched by the South African Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA) and The School of Government at the University of the Western Cape (UWC). The chief motivation for introducing the qualification, according to Professor Rashied Small, SAIPAs Executive: Education, Training and Membership, is to raise the levels of financial management and control at town council level. We have found that senior managers and chief financial officers, in many cases are either too focused on their management role, or on their role as accounting officers, without having the skills to combine the two so as to benefit their organisations, he said. The year-long qualification will instill financial skills and competencies in those working in municipalities who come from a management background, and it will look to give those whose background is in finance, the skills to manage processes and to think strategically. Skills swop Students should have either accounting/finance or public administration degrees as an entry requirement and the curriculum they follow will be shaped by which of the two fields they come from, Small explains. The course content is based on four pillars: policy development; economics; financial management; and reporting, Small explains. The course will have a strong practical orientation. The content will be linked to the workplace and the assignments and evaluations will relate to real, on-the-job situations. The roll out of the qualification has been a national one and the idea is to run week-long blocks of theoretical teaching, followed by three week periods of application on-the-job, with assignments based on real-world issues. We will be sending the lecturers to the students rather than bringing the students to the Western Cape, Small explains. They will gather in central venues around the country for a week of lectures and then return to their municipal offices for three weeks of implementing what was learned. On completion of the course they will receive a Post-Graduate Diploma in Public Finance, but more importantly, they will qualify to write SAIPAs professional examination and begin the process of obtaining the institutes designation of Professional Accountant (SA), with a specialisation in public sector finance. Professional evaluation In 18 months time a professional designation will be required for any person to be appointed as a CFO in the public service, Small said. This qualification will help those who want to apply for those positions. The university will be the training provider, with SAIPAs contribution being the access to its professional evaluation examination at the end. Our members will also be involved in some of the teaching, and we will act as moderators for the evaluation processes, Small added. Applicants can contact the School of Government: AD Roman - az.ca.cwu@namora and it has also been marketed at municipalities around the country. Small warns, however, that the first class has been greatly over-subscribed. We will be taking in 40 graduates in the second semester and we have over 400 applicants, he said. It is unusual to speak of honesty in terms of corporate advantage. Unfortunately, recent developments suggest honesty for honesty's sake may not be enough to ensure principled conduct in all corners of the corporate world. Therefore, it may be opportune to give a reminder that honesty has a lot going for it as a way of attracting top talent, improving motivation and lifting productivity. Corporate honesty is also the most fundamental means of guarding against reputational damage ... to the business and business leaders. Dishonesty is costly. Once trust is damaged, litigation costs rise. Fines by governments and regulators mount up. Sales and the share price can take a hit. Meanwhile, rival brands improve their competitive position. These impacts are currently being assessed by Samsung and VW, to name just two corporates making headlines for the wrong reasons. In January, the FBI arrested the VW executive in charge of emissions compliance while he was on holiday in Florida. A month later, Samsungs de-facto chief spent a night in jail after being arrested for alleged involvement in a government corruption scandal this on top of the recall of three million Galaxy Note 7 phones. The spate of scandals and controversies explains the growing body of literature on the subject of honesty in business. A review of international coverage suggests seven broad lessons... Honesty must be built into corporate culture. This takes more than the publication of a list of corporate values. Leaders must behave honestly and openly. Walking the talk is essential. Executives should strive to build honest environments. Staff should be encouraged to share insights and voice concerns. Executives should listen. This is difficult; especially for owner-managers who have built a successful business. However, requests for feedback should be habitual. This builds team spirit. Honest communication should trigger discernible action. When good feedback comes through, the team should see management acting on it. Blunt, hurtful communication may be honest, but can be destructive. Leaders should display a preference for tactful honesty. Its not what you say, its the way you say it. Play the ball, not the man. Stick to issues and principles. Engaging in personal criticism wont build morale. The truth will out; not only spread though gossip, but via social media and perhaps through whistle-blowing. Senior managers have to be scrupulous with disclosure about their qualifications, possible conflicts of interest, the use and misuse of company resources and the accuracy of expense claims. Be consistent. You cant preach honesty and then raid the stationery cupboard for pens and pencils when the kids go back to school. Even small indiscretions are noticed. Show courage. Being truthful may make an executive unpopular. A little diplomacy may be called for, but you have to make yourself accountable in the end. Hold yourself to high ethical standards. Honesty plus immediacy requires courage. Mark Twain wrote his autobiography in 1899 with instructions that publication be delayed 100 years. He felt the delay would spare the feelings of some contemporaries and their children. In the corporate world, honesty cant be deferred. Even in the short term, it has the potential to improve the quality of job candidates, boost performance and achieve other competitive gains. Honesty, like strategy, has to be implemented and put to work. In the past decade, a technological evolution avalanche has completely changed how consumers acquire just about everything in their lives, from travel packages to retail therapy solutions, and how they find their dream homes hasn't escaped modern life's pervasive digital migration either. With augmented and virtual reality technology now becoming commonplace and social media a daily part of life, the face of real estate marketing has been totally transformed and is already moving beyond standard property search engines to where consumers actually spend most of their time on the web. The reality is that a significant percentage of consumers who have the means to be in the market for property spend large portions of their days looking at illuminated pocket-sized mobile devices. As smart phone users were subconsciously sucked into digesting social conversation and, for many, social platforms are also their main sources of news and community information, says Graham Knoop, digital marketing expert and specialist realtor for Lew Geffen Sothebys International Realtys southern suburbs office in Cape Town. No other form of media in history has made as deep an impact on property as digital marketing," he says. Initial legwork made more convenient One of the biggest changes is the convenience of being able to do most of the initial legwork without actually leaving home, and the sheer volume of information means consumers can equate locations and value with comparative asking prices on a scale that would have been impossible in the age when print was king. Accessibility to information means clients are more educated and savvy than ever before. This is an incredibly good thing because informed buyers and sellers make better choices, and buying property is usually a financial decision that will affect your life for a very long time. Knoop adds: Social media alone is an incredibly powerful tool for showcasing homes as well as a rich shopping portal for property. This is borne out by the 2017 edition of the SA Social Media Landscape, released by World Wide Worx and Ornico, which revealed that Facebook is now used by 14-million South Africans. YouTube is in second place with 8.74-million users, followed by Twitter at 7.7-million. LinkedIns steadily increasing popularity as a more business-orientated social media tool has the platform standing at 5.5-million users nationally. Sourcing property information on Facebook Figures released by Facebook in early March noted more than 1.86-billion active users per month globally, a 17% year-on-year user increase. Facebook has 85%-plus more users than its nearest social media competitor, making it the international social media whale and increasingly the place to source property news and information on the latest stock coming onto the market in-between interacting with friends. Lew Geffen, chairman of Lew Geffen Sothebys International Realty, says: While its no surprise that social media is becoming an influential marketing tool, what is interesting is the fact that of Facebooks 14-million South African users, 85% are now accessing the site using mobile devices, which is a significant increase from 77% just one year before. Social media is also a great place to source information about new and trending apps, because nowadays the most innovation appears to be happening in these small tech marvels. There seems to be an app for everything, and searching for property is no different. View properties in 3D One of the most technologically advanced new kids on the block is Propscan, an app that provides South African realtors with the technology and consumers with a simple interface platform to showcase and view properties in 3D. Propscan founder JP van der Bergh says the 3D technology gives realtors clients the edge over other homes being marketed with more conventional tools, the platform is competitively priced at a set rate without hidden monthly charges and because the app is being widely promoted to consumers as a free search tool with many unique features, property professionals reach their target audiences. With properties showcased in 3D on Propscan, a simple twist of the viewing device will allow buyers to view features such as floor coverings, fittings and finishes in far greater detail than previously possible with still photographs. Geffen says because the publics consumption of news and information is changing so rapidly and radically, potential sellers choosing agents should regard posing questions about their marketing reach and strategy as high on the check list as the property valuation. Theres absolutely no point in getting excited about high-end valuations if the realtors and their brands dont have the local, national and international reach on the correct platforms to communicate with a targeted audience of serious buyers. And spray and pray definitely doesnt count as a good marketing plan! Strategic digital marketing Grahame Diedericks, manager for Lew Geffen Sothebys International Realty in Midrand, Johannesburg, says: Strategic digital marketing can help agents reach a broad demographic of potential buyers at a pace never imagined during the reign of print advertising, and studies of consumer brand interaction reinforce why its vital for sellers to select a real estate company that has a strong online presence. An optimum marketing strategy should now include social media, database advertising, property search portal and app placements, digital media showcasing, show days, outdoor boarding and high-end print material. Diedericks adds that another major advantage of digital marketing is that it saves both buyers and agents a significant amount of time as the initial online research by buyers will whittle down the list of homes they eventually view. The ongoing progression of technology will increasingly fast-track the eventual goal of successful property transactions, with portals becoming more and more efficient and creating new innovative methods for properties to be showcased for agents and viewed to best advantage by potential buyers all without them leaving the office or home. Personal element That said, there will also always be a personal element to marketing property and when it comes down to the wire, having a professional, experienced and legally-savvy estate agent at your side is a no-brainer to ensure a smooth sale that doesnt reveal any ugly, costly surprises weeks or months later. But what good digital marketing does is take properties to the widest audiences for sellers and efficiently help buyers narrow down their searches and save time by allowing them to discard home choices that dont suit their requirements. Says Knoop: When one understands that more than 70% of sales are the result of online enquiries, then agents and sellers can begin to re-calibrate where time and money needs to be spent. An agent with the correct digital support and knowledge will therefore achieve the best possible price for your home in the shortest possible time. Investing in student accommodation remains a highly attractive option provided you buy the right kind of property in the right location, says Bill Rawson, chairman of the Rawson Property Group. The disruption of studies and exams is obviously a worry for investors as well as students and parents. In recent times some students prefer staying at home and studying online or by correspondence, and some - those who can afford it - opt to attend private institutions here or overseas where they will be unaffected by protect actions. The fact remains, however, that the vast majority of SA students attend our public universities and colleges and these institutions are trying their best to close the huge gap between the demand for accommodation on their campuses and the available spaces in the official residences. Growing student numbers As it is, he says, they can accommodate fewer than one in five students who apply for a residency, and student numbers are also growing annually as increasing numbers of young people complete their secondary schooling. SA is attracting higher numbers of foreign students and from other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, where the latest research by Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) has found that the number of young adults aged 18-25 will increase to almost 100-million by 2020, and that the demand for new, purpose-built student accommodation is set to top 500,000 beds in the next five years. The JLL report also notes that with continuing public sector budget constraints (and not only in SA), private investors will not only have a vital role to play in meeting this demand, but are likely to find that student housing projects are among the most attractive investments they can make in Africa. And this is especially true if they are in it for the long-term and not parents who plan to sell again as soon as their child has completed a three or four-year course, says Rawson. Identifying and acquiring suitable properties So now the question becomes not whether to invest but how quickly one can identify and acquire suitable properties, and this is becoming increasingly obvious in the major student accommodation markets like Stellenbosch, Pretoria, the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town and the parts of Johannesburg surrounding Wits and the main UJ campus. In these areas, the student accommodation market is no longer seasonal, with the bulk of sales taking place from August to December. Now there is demand all year round, and parents make up the increased percentage of buyers. However, he says, in order to ensure the best returns, it is essential to take heed of what students - or their parents are most likely to rent. This can generally be summed up as clean, safe accommodation within easy reach of campus at an affordable price, and in our experience, the most consistent demand is for newly built and pre-owned one and two-bedroom sectional title apartments with high-tech security, parking and good access to shops and other amenities as well as campus. Student houses or communes are also an option for private investors but considerably harder to manage, while the purpose-built student studios are relatively expensive to buy and have a limited audience of potential buyers if you decide to resell. Ordinary apartments in convenient locations can also be marketed to career singles, young couples and these days, even to older buyers who are scaling down from big family homes. Calculating potential returns Rawson says prospective investors should also research the most popular areas and comparative prices and potential rentals with the help of experienced agents specialising in student accommodation. They may find, for example, that apartments that are further away from campus but have good access to rapid bus or train transport will rent just as well as those closer to campus but are more affordable to buy and will actually generate a higher percentage return. It is also important to include rates and taxes, sectional title levies, insurance, maintenance, advertising and any management fee applicable when calculating potential returns. If they intend to build up a portfolio of student apartments, investors should also seriously consider appointing a professional management agent to take care of advertising, tenant screening, legally compliant leasing, deposit and rent collection, inspections and damage prevention. Two university campuses have been shut and thousands of students left in limbo after the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) failed to release living allowances and timeously to approve appeals for study funding, leading to chaos at the University of Venda and the University of the Free State. Thousands of students protested at the University of Venda after not receiving their living allowances, while students at the University of Free State's Qwaqwa campus called for a fundraising plan to be implemented because of the NSFAS's slow response in processing their study-funding application appeals. In the past, universities distributed allowances to students, but the NSFAS has introduced a new "student-centred" model, by which it gives funds directly to students. NSFAS chairman Sizwe Nxasana advocated the model in 2016, saying it would ease the administrative burden and reduce delays in giving funds to students. But a lack of training and technical problems have dogged the new model. University of Venda spokesman Takalani Dzaga said on Sunday that management had consulted students, who undertook to stop their protest but said they would return to lecture halls only when all students had received their living allowances. The allowances, which are disbursed monthly, differ from student to student, depending on the expected family contribution calculated using the NSFAS's financial means test. But students have voiced frustration with the means test, saying they view it as a dehumanising process that forced them to perform poverty. NSFAS spokesman Kagisho Mamabolo said the University of Venda had 6,443 NSFAS-funded students but it had been able to send registration confirmations to the scheme for only 3,891 students. Of these students, 3,456 had signed loan agreement forms with the scheme and 2,754 had received living allowances by last Thursday. Mamabolo explained that the NSFAS needed registration confirmations from universities "for us to release loan agreement forms because students only sign their [forms] " once they commence their studies". The loan agreement forms govern the terms and conditions under which money is lent and are important to ensure that students repay their debt. The NSFAS blamed delays in generating forms for university students and schedules of particulars for technical and vocational and education training college students on institutions struggling to use the scheme's upgraded modules. "We therefore provided professional training interventions during March," Mamabolo said. University of the Free State spokeswoman Lacea Loader said on Sunday that its student representative council had handed a memorandum of demands to campus management, asking for help with funding appeal cases lodged with the NSFAS and requesting that the university's provisional registration deadline, which lapsed last Friday, be extended. Bucket lists are notoriously fickle things. Just when you think you've got it sorted something else comes along that bumps everything else off. The whole point of a bucket list is to experience something extraordinary, right? I mean schlepping up Kili is almost passe nowadays. Mine was upset by the thought of watching polar bears frolic at the North Pole, or mingling with descendants of Fletcher Christian and his merry men on Pitcairn Island. Just in case you dont know who Fletcher Christian is, hes the one who mutinied against Captain Bligh on the Bounty for a better life with nubile young things on a tropical island. This kind of adventure is normally disregarded because of the hideous amount of money you need fork out just to get there, usually relying on some dodgy airline or tour operator. So how am I going to get to see the polar bears, up close and personal? Well, let me tell you Theres a French company called Ponant. It operates a fleet of five star, and I mean five star, ships that sail all over the world, visiting some of the most remote, unspoiled spots on the globe. Le Lyrial, the vessel I had lunch on recently, docked in Cape Town, having just taken 300-odd passengers to the ice in Antarctica. Superior stateroom cabin This is the kind of expedition takes roughing it to a whole new level. Most of the cabins have their own balcony, as well as a full-on butler service. The meals are gastronomic feats, theres a spa and hair salon, lounges with wi-fi, a pool and sundeck, bars and a theatre all the perks of a luxury liner. The decor is inspired by the places the ships visit. So, the Lyrial was decked out if 50 shades of icy white and cool blues. Bearing in mind, that even though the accommodation is top notch, this is still an expedition ship. And there is a team of naturalist guides and a fleet of Zodiacs on board for excursions onto the ice to get you up close and personal with the incredible bird life and creatures found down south. Reception area More importantly, the Lyrial and its sister ships are all green with the most advanced environmentally friendly systems and equipment on board, which also help protect the fragile ecosystems of the places they visit. The prices in the brochures and on the website are quoted in euros, which usually has us South Africans recoil in horror. But if you think about it, a 10-night trip to Antarctica, including flights to and from Buenos Aires (where you board the ship) and all your food and drink for the duration in December this year will only set you back about R95,000. I think its a bargain for an adventure of a lifetime. Anyone know where I can get a fur-lined parka? The Cayuga County Women's Republican Club has announced a series of events to celebrate the 100th anniversary of women earning the right to vote in New York. The club will hold Voices for the Vote Thursday, April 6 at Auburn Public Theater, 8 Exchange St. The event will feature a stage presentation of a living suffrage timeline and the Howland Stone Store Museum will have a display of their vintage women's suffrage poster, according to a news release. Proceeds from the event will be donated to Cayuga/Seneca Community Action Agency for programs that support local women. The club has scheduled a brunch for May 20 at the Springside Inn in Fleming. The guest speaker will be Dr. Linda Frank, Cayuga County historian and author of "An Uncommon Union," which explores the relationship of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her husband, Henry. A family walk and run is planned for Aug. 19 at Hoopes Park in Auburn. Proceeds from the event will support a scholarship for local women at Cayuga Community College. The events are open to the public. Anyone interested in joining the Cayuga County Women's Republican Club should contact Chantell Hotaling at (315) 689-9833. DUBAI - Emirates and Etihad airlines will tighten screening for passengers flying to Australia this week after the country imposed new requirements for enhanced explosives detection. Australia on Friday announced it would increase screening of passenger baggage on flights from Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, as well as Doha, Qatar. While the directive stops short of the sweeping electronics ban introduced last month by the United States and Britain, it may include targeted screening of passengers' personal electronic devices. Emirates and Etihad Airways, two of the largest airlines in the Middle East, said the measures would take effect on Thursday. "The new directive requires additional screening at the gate, but there is no restriction on electronic devices," said an Emirates spokesperson. The new screening requirement covers direct flights on Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways and Qantas Airways. It does not apply to flights bound for the UAE out of Australian airports. Etihad operates two daily flights to Sydney, while Emirates has 11 daily flights to international airports across Australia. Regional carriers have since last month scrambled to cope with the US and British bans on laptops and tablets on board direct flights out of key Middle East airports. Airlines including Emirates and Etihad have introduced complimentary services enabling passengers to continue to use their personal electronics after check-in and until boarding. Qatar Airways has announced it will offer free laptops for business class passengers flying to the United States. The US ban went into effect on March 25 on nine airlines in Turkey, Morocco, Jordan, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. The British ban targets direct flights on all airlines out of Egypt, Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Lebanon. Officials from both countries cited security concerns for the ban, which has come under criticism as another measure targeting Muslim-majority countries. Unlike the United States and Britain, Australian officials say there is no specific threat behind the new screening requirement. The 20th Annual BASA Awards, partnered by Hollard & Business Day, is now open for entries from business and arts partnerships that were activated between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2016. The award categories are intended to showcase the diverse ways that business partners with arts projects, events and initiatives to bring the arts to the public in different parts of the country. Our annual awards are always a highlight of the arts calendar providing a reason to celebrate excellence in business and arts partnerships over the year, says Andre Le Roux, BASA chairman. In 2017, South Africas foremost awards celebrating business and arts partnerships are part of a broader commemoration of Business and Arts South Africas 20th anniversary. As it marks this landmark event, BASA has an invigorated focus on Growth, Research, Connectivity and Celebration all of which serve to confirm the organisations standing in as a leading force in business and arts on the African continent. In 2017, the 20th Annual BASA Awards partnered by Hollard & Business Day will also be used to honour those who have contributed to the growth and success of BASA over the past two decades. This includes awards partners Hollard and Business Day, both of whom are founding business members of BASA. We are very proud to have been associated with BASA from the very beginning, says Heidi Brauer, Chief Marketing Officer at Hollard. Long-term, mutually beneficial partnerships which enable better futures are a part of Hollards DNA and our relationship with BASA has definitely grown the impact the arts can and do have as a force for positive and enduring change in South Africa. Eleven categories are open for entry, including the Cultural Tourism Award, proudly supported by Nedbank. This important award recognises business support of arts and culture projects which contribute towards the growth of communities and jobs, and support the opportunities provided by local tourism. To be eligible for entry, partnerships must have been activated between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2016. Long-term or ongoing partnerships current during that period also qualify for the Awards. Entries are via an easy-to-use online system with a team based at BASAs Johannesburg head office on hand to assist with entries and general award queries. In considering entries, the judges will look at a number of carefully considered criteria, including innovation, sustainability and the shared value that emerged from the specific arts and business partnership. The BASA Awards ceremony are set to take place in September 2017. 20th Annual BASA Awards partnered by Hollard & Business Day categories: 1. Innovation Award This Award recognises the most innovative and progressive partnership in all mediums of creativity; one that served all partners purposes effectively between January and December 2015, and highlighted creativity and originality in the process. 2. First Time Sponsor Award This Award is for a business supporting the arts for the first time, regardless of size, budget, whether it is CSI, marketing, HR, BBE or other. 3. Increasing Access to the Arts Award This Award celebrates a partnership that has encouraged specific audience engagement with the arts or has made a significant contribution to brand, market and audience development, while still promoting the business through above-the-line media or a partnership that has made a significant contribution to regeneration or sustainable growth, through a marketing and CSI budget or other. 4. Beyond Borders Partnership Award Awarded to a global-level partnership that builds brand reputation and audience for both the business and arts organisations across international borders through an event or marketing project showcasing SA to Africa and the rest of the world, and/or bringing international arts projects to South Africa. 5. Long Term Partnership Award A company which has significantly developed and expanded its commitment to an arts project over three years or longer. The value to the arts project, the broader community and the business, must be apparent. 6. Media Sponsorship Award For consistent and innovative support given by electronic, print, broadcast and web based media. 7. Strategic Project Award For outstanding initiative, with best use of a project, which is an integral part of the business strategy. 8. Small Business Award For vital support given to the arts by a small company with up to 200 hundred full-time employees and an annual turnover of no more than R10m. 9. Sponsorship In Kind Award For a company giving a quantifiable non-monetary support to the arts. 10. Development Award For projects with an implicit educational and development element. 11. Cultural Tourism Award, supported by Nedbank For business support of arts and culture projects which contribute towards the growth of communities and jobs, and support the opportunities provided by local tourism. Entry into the 20th Annual BASA Awards, partnered by Hollard & Business Day, is facilitated by an online system that is continually streamlined to ensure ease of use. A team at Business and Arts South Africas Johannesburg office is also available to assist with entry queries and applications. Contact Aviwe Matandela az.oc.asab@ewiva for more information or go to www.basa.co.za Business and Arts South Africa (NPC) Business and Arts South Africa (NPC) is an internationally recognised South African development agency with a suite of integrated programmes implemented nationally and internationally. BASA encourages mutually beneficial partnerships between business and the arts, securing the future development of the arts sector in South Africa and contributing to corporate success through Shared Value. Business and Arts South Africa (NPC) was founded in 1997 as a joint initiative of the Department of Arts and Culture and the business sector as a public/private partnership. For more information on Business and Arts South Africa contact us on 011 447 2295 or visit our website: www.basa.co.za For information please contact Tshepo Diseko az.oc.asab@opehst 011 447 2295 For interviews please contact Bridget Van Oerle BUZ PR az.oc.zub@zub 011 673 0223 Oracle recently hosted what is described as Africa's largest tech event in an aim to further drive digital transformation and encourage the adoption of infrastructure as a service (IaaS) solutions. Toby Shapshak, one of the speakers at the Oracle Digital Day. The company hosted thousands of customers and partners at Digital Day events simultaneously in 25 African countries. Said Abdul Rahman Al Thehaiban, senior vice president tech, Middle East and Africa: With total cloud revenues, including IaaS reaching $1.2 billion in Q3 2017 fiscal, Oracle is well positioned to support Africas digital transformation revolution that will act as a catalyst for social and economic growth. From Burkina Faso to Zimbabwe, Kenya to Madagascar... From Burkina Faso to Zimbabwe, and from Kenya to Madagascar, company experts fanned out across the continent to showcase how the industrys broadest array of cloud IaaS offerings can help businesses achieve unmatched value and performance. During the event, Oracle experts also interacted with Africas fast-growing developer community through an engaging Twitter chat that lasted nearly two hours. As cloud adoption continues to increase in Africa, organisations are now looking to transition several of their business functions to the cloud for maximum ROI, said Cherian Varghese, cluster leader Africa, Oracle. The Digital Day event was an opportunity for us to present our Gen 2 IaaS solutions that enable organisations to run any workload at any time, while migration tools pave the way by simplifying how organisations migrate on-premise workloads to the cloud. It's just a giant pram and adults get to test drive the pram that they're buying for their child. That's the entry that was a delight for Nadja Lossgott to watch. She is creative partner at AMV BBDO in London and One Show print & outdoor juror. The One Show and Art Directors Clubs judging is taking place on location on Bermuda. In order to keep the rest of the world intrigued and informed, theyll be sharing selected judges picks of the day throughout the judging process. Lossgott explains why the Baby stroller test-ride for Contours by FCB Chicago speaks to her in the video embedded below: You can view this and other Art Directors Club and One Show entries by browsing this years entries and dont miss the 96th Annual ADC Awards on 8 May 2017 and the One Show Creative Week Festival from 8 to 12 May 2017 in New York visit our One Show special section for all the latest updates. ProvidusBank was positioned as a smart, innovative bank that values customer partnerships. The essence of the brand, Future Forward Banking, speaks to customised business banking solutions and smart, simple retail solutions. We were tasked with developing the new corporate identity for the bank along with the implementation of the visual language into multiple platforms, ranging from stationery, digital, social media, literature, advertising campaigns, bank cards, signage and environmental design - Branch and ATM. We went on to design and build the banks website and developed the banking app design. Future Forward Banking comes to life in the structure and content of the ProvidusBank website. The simplistic grid and UI design, such as the quick links panel, guides the user to navigate easily through the site. Information is grouped for users to easily focus their search. Iconography and colour has been used to create a clean, contemporary web environment. Branch interior design, signage and ATM design was developed and all signage built in SA and shipped to Nigeria, to ensure the highest quality product. The signage concept is derived from the horizontal profiles contained within the logo icon. This simple idea forms the basis of the signage concept for exterior pylons, fascias and suspended signage, ATM shroud design along with interior way-finding elements. The retail strategy uses the threshold space to entice and welcome customers into the ProvidusBank environment, then engaging by drawing the customer into the banking hall, where they are met with a series of visual and communication tools along with a number of digital interactive devices. Digital and self-service is the predominant theme, resulting in a modern yet aspirational and approachable environment. In honour of the Future Forward spirit that ProvidusBank embodies, the client tasked Hitchcock Michalski with developing a coffee table book that could encapsulate the essence of their core values and inspire people to change the world around them for the better, in their own way. We called it Pioneering Spirit. A snapshot of history, profiling people who chose to not only walk the road less travelled, but blazed a new path to glory. Deola Sagoe, C & R Eames, Bennet Omalu, Coco Chanel, Chuck Taylor and Theodor Seuss Geisel, along with 44 others, grace the pages with extraordinary design and enlightening stories. Hitchcock Michalski is a Strategic Brand Design agency, committed to solving complex brand challenges from a holistic point of view. We consider the strategic positioning and the visual representation in both two- and three-dimensional formats, creating thought provoking design and opening the door to infinite possibilities. Walter Akpani; CEO ProvidusBank: "We had the opportunity to work with Hitchcock Michalski on the entire branding for Providusbank from conceptual stage to implementation, and the result of what we have is undoubtedly a world class brand identity that speaks volumes for a new institution like ours. We shall continue to retain their expertise to drive our brand identity." Dafe Ivwurie; Head, Brand & Corporate Communications: Hitchcock Michalski has designed for us a world-class brand, one that delivers instant brand equity and customer affinity. However, their strength is also in the depth of their experience, their creativity and the speed with which they approach every brief. I have enjoyed working with the team of professionals who have worked on creating the ProvidusBank brand identity. We believe we made the right choice by choosing Hitchcock Michalski. For more information go to www.hitchcockmichalski.com or contact Managing Director, Fiona Hitchcock at az.oc.imih@anoiF. 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. Subscribe to daily business and company news across 19 industries SUBSCRIBE Got a question or tip? Contact us at bizmojoidaho@gmail.com. The survey of nearly 300 marketing professionals in February and March this year found that not only do most companies provide no formal pitch training (75%), many lack in-house staff who specialize in designing slides for presentations (61%). And so its not surprising, therefore, that while 76% of companies have pitched for new business during the past year, 54% reported to be losing half or more of the pitches in which they participate. However, more than two-thirds of the marketing professionals interviewed (68%) said they enjoyed presenting. The Buffalo 7 survey into pitching habits suggests that many companies are unprepared for what we know can be a very costly part of winning business, said Traci Dunne, Consultancy Manager at ISBA. This is an area related to our own research on Pitch Alternatives that launches later this month, which will identify trends and patterns to help both clients and agencies make better pitching decisions. It shouldnt be news to anyone in Auburn who has been paying attention for the last 10 years that we have been on the short end of the stick when it comes to equitable state education funding. In 2011 the district was designated as high needs, which opened up some extra money from Albany. Ironically, the Gap Elimination Adjustment was introduced the same year to take funds away from districts. Every year since then the state government says that they have increased funding to schools, a brilliantly deceitful way of saying that they have reduced the amount of money they were taking. Auburn still has been unable to regain the state funding levels it had prior to the 2008 financial crisis. Now it appears that the New York State Budget Office has decided that Auburn, and all of New Yorks schools outside of the Big Five districts, should be operating at 2003 need/resource capacities. This retroactively undoes Auburns high-needs designation and reduces the amount of funding coming from the state. It means that next year, an incoming freshman at Auburn High will enter a learning environment funded according to an economic situation that existed the year she was born. This situation is made all the more vulgar by the huge quantities of money being spent in other areas of the budget. For example, for the 2017-18 school year, funding of $3.09 billion is provided for building aid. This money goes towards funding a mandated cycle of five-year building projects and additions, not regular maintenance. In this way the state subsidizes an entire industry of school architecture agencies in a never-ending building scheme that puts Bostons Big Dig to shame in its cost and longevity. More on that later. Couched within the building aid package is a Reorganization Incentive to encourage districts to consolidate into more effective and efficient units. As consolidation typically comes with the increasing of class sizes, the state government has effectively put a premium on reducing teacher-student ratios to the tune of $32.6 million. Finally, and most disappointingly, the governor has allocated $38.87 million in Charter School Transitional Aid, blatantly taking taxpayer money out of public control and putting it the hands of private agencies, even after the devastating reports on charter schools I referred to in my Feb. 28 column. As a former member of Auburns board of education, I understand there are really two roles one plays when occupying a board seat. The primary role is to administer the district as a representative of the community. The secondary role is to act as the governors human shield. The position is of course voluntary, and anyone who wishes to enter public service better be ready for his day in the hot seat. However, the constraints imposed from above force local boards into the unenviable position of making decisions that impact the livelihoods of local residents. It is difficult not to be deceived by Albanys slight-of-hand, but the onus is on the state, not our neighbors. SKANEATELES It turns out it isnt too late to give appreciation and say thank you to Vietnam War veterans who often arrived home alone either in the midst of war protests or silence. Many of these returning service members were told to take their uniforms off as soon as possible once they came back home. Their families often endured the worry of their loved ones alone. After the war, many families struggled with the enemies that were the psychological effects of post traumatic stress disorder and the physical effects of Agent Orange. But, Skaneateles American Legion Post 239 offered a welcome home dinner and ceremony for area Vietnam veterans Friday evening. The evenings emcee, Dick Pitman, explained that President Barack Obama commenced a 13-year program from Memorial Day 2012 to Veterans Day 2025 to honor Vietnam veterans as a generation of Americans who saw the nation through one of the most challenging missions it had ever faced. This year, Congress also proclaimed March 29 as the official Vietnam Veterans Day, which was signed into law by President Donald Trump. By honoring our Vietnam veterans, we are joining hundreds and hundreds of American Legion posts, VFW posts and civic groups throughout America that are gathering to welcome our Vietnam veterans home, said the event's keynote speaker, retired Army Col. Bill Conole, of Skaneateles. Conole shared with the gathering his own personal loss of his best friend and Notre Dame roommate, Pat Dixon, in the Vietnam War. When President John F. Kennedy called Americans to fight in southeast Asia, Dixon was eager and passionate to fight for the country, Conole said. Conole noted that Americans have a long and rich tradition of honoring the country's veterans. There are statues, bridges, parks and monuments. There is now an Honor Flight program that transports veterans from World War II and the Korean War to Washington, D.C. to see the war memorials. I firmly believe our Vietnam veterans deserve as much respect and homage as any of our veterans who served in any war, Conole said. The Vietnam veterans wall is the most solemnly beautiful and sacred monument in our nation. This monument has the names of 58,267 service members who died in Vietnam now etched on its polished black wall in the order of their deaths. Conole noted that Vietnam veterans are fiercely passionate about those still missing in Vietnam. Tonight, we are here and throughout the nation," he said. "We are pausing to say how proud we are of you and to formally welcome you home. Thank you for your service and sacrifice, and thank you for your many and enduring contributions to our community and to our nation. Welcome home." When Post 239 Commander Eric Amberge addressed the audience, he asked the Vietnam veterans to stand up for a ceremony. Each was given a lapel pin that was then either attached by a loved one or a member of the Legion Post. This ceremony comes from the heart and the Pentagon, Gen. Mattis sends his regards," Amberge said. "This post is among the formal members of the 50th commemoration of the Vietnam War honoring veterans, POW and MIA. The pin recognizes military veterans who served during the Vietnam War from November 1965 to May 15, 1975. The eagle on the pin represents courage and honor in service to the nation. The blue circle matches the canton of the American flag and signifies vigilance, perseverance and justice. The laurel wreath represents victory, integrity and strength, and the six stars represent the six allies. A message, A grateful nation thanks and honors you, is embossed on the back and worn closest to the heart of the wearer. The official name of the commemoration is included to remind the wearer that this is a national initiative as a lasting memento of thanks. Marietta's David Brown, a Marine who served in Vietnam from 1972 to 1975, attended the dinner with his friend Joe Berry, also from Marietta, who is a member of the Legion Post and served in the Air Force during the Vietnam era. Brown said he had no idea what to expect but was pleasantly surprised by the sincerity of the event. "I never thought I'd see it happen," he said. "I lost a lot of friends in Vietnam." Skaneateles' Robert Johnston, who served in the Army in 1967 and 1968, said of the ceremony, "I thought it was great. We got our just deserts." Such allegations of military perpetrated rapes have become widespread during the security campaign, which began last October and placed northern Rakhine State off-limits for foreign journalists and observers. In February, the UN released a flash report based on interviews with more than 200 Muslim Rohingya who fled to neighboring Bangladesh in the wake of the crackdown. Over half of the women interviewed said that they had been victims of sexual violence perpetrated by Myanmar officials, including brutal gang rapes. The government and the Tatmadaw have denied such allegations since they began surfacing shortly after the clearance operation was launched in response to an alleged Rohingya insurgency. The State Counsellors Office went so far as to run large a fake rapes banner across posts to its official Facebook account. Journalists have faced retribution for reporting on the rape allegations. On March 31, the Myanmar News Agency said the journalists on the Maungdaw trip were able to independently report the news including the rape accusations. The report added that after the women from Kyatkaungtaung village told the reporters they had been raped, it was learnt that responsible persons will investigate the matter to uncover the truth. According to Rohingya activists, following the press interviews, the three women were taken into police custody to be questioned about the rape incidents, and will also be taken for a medical examination even though three months have lapsed since the alleged violations. Myanmar News Agency quoted a local Maungdaw district official saying that the womens testimony was not sufficient proof of a crime. Just verbally is not enough, the victims need to show firm evidences for their grievances, said U Ye Htut, chair of the Maungdaw District Management Committee. A village elder from Maungdaw north encouraged the women to cooperate with the investigating officials. If they can say when and where the event happened, we can check out list of the officials in that region and try to expose the perpetrators, he said. Last month, the UN Human Rights Council approved a resolution to launch an international probe into alleged human rights abuses committed by the Tatmadaw, including those carried out against Rohingya in the Rakhine State clampdown. The fact-finding mission is to be carried out with the aim of "ensuring full accountability for perpetrators and justice for victims". The six-day conference began on April 2 and will discuss issues affecting both sides of the border, including drugs, immigration and security concerns, according to the statement. More than 100,000 Muslim Rohingya have poured over the border into Bangladesh since a security crackdown began in northern Rakhine State in October. Bangladesh has repeatedly asked Myanmar to swiftly begin repatriations, but Myanmar officials have insisted a nationality verification program precede any returns. Chief of Police Brigadier General Myo Swe Win is leading the Myanmar delegation, while the 16-member delegation led by Additional Director General Md Anisur Rahman represents the BGB in the conference, the press statement added. Officials from Bangladeshs Home Ministry, Foreign Ministry, Survey of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Coast Guard and Department of Narcotic Control will also attend the conference, a source told Kaladan. Edited by Laignee Barron The USDP took the Chaungzon Township Pyithu Hluttaw seat with 19,667 votes, compared to the 12,636 ballots cast for the NLD on April 1, according to the election sub-commission. In the run-up to the vote, the township was mired in controversy over a proposed bridge name, with parliament pushing for calling it the Bogyoke Aung San Bridge despite objections raised by the local ethnic community. In 2015, the townships Pyithu Hluttaw seat was won by the NLDs Daw Khin Htay Kywe with just over 23,000 votes. It became vacant after she was appointed to the Constitutional Tribunal. Five candidates contested the spot for the by-election, including the USDP and NLD. The All Mon Regions Democracy Party (AMDP) netted 10,856 votes, the National Unity Party (NUP) took 2,013 votes and the Mon National Party (MNP) took 1,992 votes. Winning USDP candidate U Aung Kyi Thein vowed to work for the benefit of the local people, but did not express a specific reform agenda. Voter Daw Maw Li Win said she hopes the new representative can help improve the conditions for local farmers. Every year the famers are facing difficulties due to flooding. So I voted for the candidate that could best implement a plan to help address the villagers needs, she said. The turnout for the Chaungzon Township by-election dropped notably from 2015, which was already well below the national average. Of the 126,225 eligible voters in the township, only around 47,000 cast ballots on April 1, according to the Chaungzon Township election sub-commission. Chaungzon Township had a total of 127,249 eligible voters in 2015, but on November 8 only 56,579 people, or 44%, cast ballots. Nationally, the average voter turnout was over 69%. Translated by Aong Jaeneh Edited by Laignee Barron for BNI A Girl Who Was Raped In A Temple Premises... Life oi-Syeda Farah A rapist has nothing else on his mind except for finding his target for his disgusting fetish behaviour; and this case is a true example of it, where a young girl was raped in a temple toilet by a pervert! The worst part of the entire case is that the girl was just 11 years old and she was physically disabled. Her only fault was that she had visited the temple late in the evening for to offer salutations to the Lord! Also Read: She Was Raped By 9 Men Until She Decided To Fight Back Check out the details of the most gruesome case of this girl who was raped by a man who dragged her into the toilet in the temple and raped her! She Is Just 11 Years Old! The victim is just 11 years old and is also physically challenged. The incident took place in the eastern part of India at Lord Jagannath Temple in Puri, Odisha. What Exactly Happened The girl was pretty late for the Darshan, yet she stayed back, as she wanted to get the blessings of God. The temple was almost empty by the time she was done with her prayers. Her Physical Disability Turned Unlucky For Her The guy watched her walk with great difficulty. This proved to be unlucky for her, as the pervert was able to drag her inside the Temple toilet and rape her! Her Screams Helped Her Even though she could not stop herself from getting raped, her screams were her armour, as people gathered and caught hold of the man. Also Read: This Man Asked His Friend To Rape His Wife! The Government Offered Her Help There was outrage among the people when they realised what crime had taken place inside a Temple, which is considered to be the safest place to connect with God. She Is Undergoing Treatment It is said that the girl is still under major trauma, as she is not able to come to terms with the ordeal. She has been given monetary support from the Government and other aids. Our question still remains the same... "Was It Really Needed?" Do share your thoughts on the same in the comment section below. GET THE BEST BOLDSKY STORIES! Allow Notifications Story first published: Monday, April 3, 2017, 15:05 [IST] 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 Northampton bakery Oliver Adams closed two outlets, and will close nine in total. It has said it is restructuring, because some outlets are losing money hand over fist. Oliver Adams, which has 27 bakeries in and around the Northampton area, as well as a headquarters in the town, closed one shop in Rugby and one in Daventry last week. It has now announced it is to close two further outlets in Northampton. Mark Jarvis, managing director, said: What is happening with the business is we are trying to restructure a little. There are a number of shops that arent profitable any more - its simple, we have just got to close them. The two Northampton shops that are to cease trading are the corner outlet in Wood Hill, opposite County Hall, and the store at 209 Wellingborough Road. Jarvis said: They are losing money hand over fist. Oliver Adams will continue to operate 18 outlets, including the bakery in Mercers Row and a second shop at the other end of Wellingborough Road, which Jarvis said was doing very well. The bakery in Newport Pagnell will close as soon as the lease expires and the company will also not seek to renew leases on four already vacant units in the Birmingham area, which failed to make a trading impact in the city. "Too many shops" Jarvis said job losses were inevitable in the company. He added: We just had too many shops close to each other in Northampton. If anything, they were taking business from each other. There will be some jobs lost, but knowing what we were planning we havent been replacing staff in recent times. We are transferring some people to other shops as well, so we are trying to minimise job losses as best we can. Jarvis said he had no intention to change the Oliver Adams brand as part of the restructure, and the company would continue to operate its factory in Gladstone Road. He added that the company would look at refreshing the products the brand offers. Denmark-based Nexus, the independent research and innovation centre behind the emulsifiers and stabilisers of Palsgaard, is to welcome a new CEO. Claus Hviid Christensen will replace Viggo Norn, who has led the company for over 25 years, at a ceremony at the companys headquarters. Norn was instrumental in helping Palsgaard to grow during his time, providing innovation after innovation to meet market needs, according to the company. Christensen joins Palsgaard just as the company celebrates 100 years since its founder, Einar Schou, invented the modern commercial emulsifier. Nexus said growth would be very much on Christensens agenda, because Palsgaard is growing at a rate that will see revenues double over the next five years. And the current product range is only part of the growth surge. Christensen said: We will compete in more areas, not just food, and will start to compete more and more with larger companies. We are going to cover a lot of new ground with our emulsifiers, beginning with our most recent move into polymers and developing this, along with other entirely new business segments. Educated as a chemist, Christensen has experience both as a senior executive in large and small technology enterprises, and as a full professor in a lengthy and award-winning international academic career. Birger Brix, group CEO and chairman of the Schou Foundation, which owns both companies, said: Were proud to be able to attract talented people like Claus to our company and that he wants to be part of a very exciting future, taking Nexus to the next levels as the group grows. Bakery ingredients supplier Orkla Food Ingredients has purchased 85% of the shares in sales and distribution company, Orchard Valley Foods Limited. Through its wholly-owned subsidiary NIC Enterprises Limited, Orkla Food Ingredients has signed and completed an agreement to purchase 85% of the shares in the British sales and distribution company Orchard Valley Foods Limited. Tenbury Wells-based Orchard Valley is a supplier of ingredients and accessories to the UK bakery, chocolate and ice cream market most of its turnover is generated in the UK, but the company also has increasing exports to Europe. Orkla Food Ingredients holds strong positions as a bakery ingredients supplier in the Nordic region and selected countries in Europe. Pal Eikeland, Orkla EVP and CEO of Orkla Food Ingredients, said: Orchard Valley Food and Orkla Food Ingredients are a good fit. The acquisition of Orchard Valley complements Orklas current position in the UK ice cream ingredients and accessories segment. It also strengthens our position in categories that are well known to Orkla Food Ingredients. This acquisition offers potential for increased exports and synergies with our present operations. Orchard Valley is a privately-owned company with 72 employees. The agreement also includes an option to purchase the remaining 15% of the shares. The company will be consolidated into Orklas financial statements from 1 April 2017. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price. Northampton-based bakery Oliver Adams has closed its 17 outlets resulting in 150 employee redundancies. Insolvency experts BRI has confirmed that trading has ceased after Oliver Adams failed in its attempts to save the company. A Compulsory Voluntary Arrangement had been signed on 1 June last year, which aimed to pay off the companys debts, but Oliver Adams has failed in its efforts, BRI told British Baker. As supervisors of the arrangement, we have certain obligations. When it fails, we have to petition the courts for a compulsory liquidation. The director [of Oliver Adams] has instructed another non-local firm of insolvency practitioners to take the required steps to put the company into voluntary liquidation with a meeting of creditors being held on 13 April. Ian Cooke, insolvency manager for BRI, has been working to keep the business afloat over the past year. He revealed to British Baker that, according to external sources, six of the sites have been taken over by organisation Bakery Organic. Adams is a traditional craft bakery that had originally been managed by the family line since 1856, but was passed over to director Mark Jarvis over two years ago by Thomas Adams. Oliver Adams was a member of the British Society of Baking organisation and chairman Paul Turner told British Baker that it was a sad situation for the established and well-known craft bakery to close down. British Baker has contacted Oliver Adams and Bakery Organic for comment. In May 2016, Oliver Adams closed nine of its bakeries for restructuring and claimed it was "losing money hand over fist". The RBS15 anti-ship missile. A SAAB photo STOCKHOLM (BNS): Swedish defence major SAAB has signed a contract with the Swedish Defence Material Administration (FMV) for the development and production of a next generation anti-ship missile system in air-launched and ship-launched configurations. The contract is valued worth SEK3.2 billion (USD 359 million). Delivery of the new missile system will take place between 2017 and 2026, SAAB said in an official statement on March 31. The new-generation anti-ship missiles will be integrated on the new Gripen E fighters and in the Visby class corvettes. The new weapon system will combine the proven capabilities of SAAB-built RBS15 anti-ship missile family with new and enhanced capabilities, including combat range, upgraded target seeker, and a lower mass compared to the earlier system. It will also have the capability to combat a wide spectrum of naval and land-based targets, an all-weather capability and a new design enabling future growth potential, SAAB said. The RBS15 missile family is being jointly produced by SAAB and Germany's Diehl Defence. Diehl will also partner with SAAB in developing and producing the new generation weapon system. Around 30% of the government's investment in infrastructure is concentrated in the Greater Dublin Area. The Construction Industry Federation said there needs to be immediate spending on regional infrastructure or we will be at a serious competitive disadvantage. Dublin-based family bakers Brodericks Brothers have joined forces with world champion and three time Olympian Derval O'Rourke to launch a new healthy range of snacks. Baking brothers Barry and Bernard started developing their new healthy range to meet a growing demand for indulgence with benefits. Derval has since joined the brothers to roll out the range. The Brodericks range is called BC - Before Cake - and it includes three different flavours: apple and cinnamon, cocoa and hazelnut and a peanut bar, with several more in the pipeline. They are also working on an energy ball with Derval in the coming months. I am really delighted to be working with Barry and Bernard Broderick on this range," said Derval. "I am passionate about imparting the knowledge I have gained around nutrition and performance and the guys have taken it all on board and have included some really strong nutritional credentials in this range. "I am looking forward to working with the team on our energy ball which we hope to launch later this year. Brodericks Brothers health bars have all natural ingredients, are high in protein and fibre, gluten and wheat free, with no added sugar and are low in calories. "The Irish consumer is becoming increasingly health conscious and these products will allow them to maintain that ethos while enjoying a guilt free treat full of high quality ingredients,"said Bernard Broderick. The range is on sale in Insomnia stores, selected Spar stores, independent retailers and online for 2.50. Siptu members in Pfizer Ireland Ltd., Ringaskiddy have settled a dispute with the company following its agreement to allow 35 new entrants access to its defined benefit pension scheme. Over 250 Siptu members have been engaged in industrial action for more than eight weeks, since 27th January, at the Pfizer Ireland plant in Ringaskiddy, County Cork, over the refusal by the company to allow 35 new entrants access to the defined benefit pension scheme," said Siptu sector organiser, Alan OLeary. A software company which has its headquarters in Sligo has announced it is creating 40 new jobs. SL Controls said it needs highly skilled engineers to help it expand internationally. A burglar who asked for a job in a fast food restaurant later returned to steal a bag of coins, a court has heard. James Byrne (45) left the premises after staff told him there may be a driving job available but he returned shortly afterwards and stole a bag of coins containing 95 from a back office. Byrne has 57 previous convictions and is currently serving a two year sentence for a previous burglary imposed in November 2016. Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard Byrne's offences were usually opportunistic and carried out with some lack of sophistication. His lawyer said Byrne targeted non-dwelling residences such as schools or churches. Byrne, of Balfe Road, Crumlin, pleaded guilty to burglary at BASE Pizza, Terenure Road East, Dublin on June 19, 2016. Garda James Duffy told Joseph Barnes BL, prosecuting, that Byrne was captured on CCTV footage and later made full admissions when questioned about the theft. Gda Duffy agreed with James Dwyer BL, defending, that there had been no threat or confrontation with staff at the time. He said that Byrne apologised for the offence and said he needed the money. He agreed that Byrne told gardai he would have genuinely liked to be working. Mr Dwyer said Byrne had become a grandfather while in custody and had acknowledged he had made stupid mistakes. He had been attending educational courses regularly in prison and was working in the kitchen. Judge Patricia Ryan adjourned sentencing until May 26, 2017 to allow a probation report be prepared. Update 9pm: The families of the two missing Rescue 116 crewmen, Paul Ormbsy and Ciaran Smith, have appealed to fishing vessels along the north west coast to join the search. The appeal comes after the underwater search at the site of the helicopter crash off the Mayo coast failed to find any trace of the men. The RNLI has agreed to co-ordinate with fishing boats that want to help. Ciaran's sister Orla Smith says the families just want to bring their loved ones home. "It is a living nightmare for all of us, for all of my family and for Paul Ormsby's family. It is a living nightmare," she said. "We're doing our best to keep going and stay as strong as possible and as positive as we possibly can, but it is tough. It is really, really tough. "We need those boys home now, we really do. My parents need him home, my sister-in-law needs him home, my nieces need him home. They have to come home now. Earlier: The wreckage of the Irish Coast Guard helicopter which crashed last month has been recovered from the sea. Dive teams still haven't managed to locate the two missing crew members, Ciaran Smith and Paul Ormsby, but searchers say they won't give up. The Irish Coast Guard's Gerard O'Flynn says the fuselage from Rescue 116 has now been lifted on board the Irish Lights' vessel the Granuaile. "That was picked up by a tug, by a company based in Bere Island in Cork. They were working with us over the last day or two. "It's been transferred onto the Granuaile and is now in the custody of the Air Accident Investigation Unit and they will determine its final location to facilitate their own investigation," he said. Addressing the media after last night's operation, Jurgen Whyte from the Air Accident Investigation Unit said lifting the wreckage was a difficult and hazardous operation, which required special skills. "What we did actually retrieve is the rotor head, the main gearbox, one engine, and associated wreckage around that. "It was what we expected to lift. The lifting was a really extreme and hazardous environment and I really have to compliment all the people that were involved," he said. Update 6pm: Daniel McAnaspie's family want his killers to "rot in hell", they told the Central Criminal Court today. Daniel's sister Nikita McAnaspie told a sentence hearing for the man convicted of his murder that Daniel's death had made their lives meaningless, adding: "We hate the people who did this." Richard Dekker (30), from the Blanchardstown area of Dublin, was found guilty last month of the murder of 17-year-old Daniel McAnaspie at Tolka Valley Park on February 26, 2010. The teenager's decomposed body was found almost three months later in a farmer's drain about 30 kilometres from where he was killed. He had been stabbed multiple times. Trevor Noone (28), also from the Blanchardstown area of Dublin, pleaded guilty to manslaughter for his part in Daniel's death. At the sentence hearing today Nikita spoke on behalf of her family. She said Dekker and Noone had taken their "beloved Daniel from us in the most tragic circumstances". When the family first heard Daniel was missing in February 2010 they immediately feared the worst and searched fields, parks and rivers, still hoping that he would return to them with a smile on his face and tell them they had been worrying about nothing. "While we searched, the people who killed him watched us," she said. When it was found, Daniel's body was so badly decomposed his family was not allowed to see him and his coffin was closed at his funeral. Describing Noone and Dekker as evil, she said Daniel was a child who did not deserve to be murdered. Noting that Daniel begged for his life as he was stabbed to death, she said the family is haunted by thoughts of his final moments. "We hope they rot in hell," she added. Detective Sergeant Dan Callaghan told the court that Dekker and Noone became suspects in the disappearance of Daniel McAnaspie because they were known to have been with him the evening he went missing. Daniel, who was in the care of the HSE, had skipped his curfew and spent the evening with Dekker, Noone and three other friends. In the early hours of the morning Daniel's friends went home but he remained with Dekker and Noone. Det Sgt Callaghan told prosecuting counsel Brendan Grehan SC that Noone and Dekker initially denied all knowledge of what happened to Daniel, but after his body was found they each blamed the other for stabbing Daniel and hiding his body. Today's hearings were held separately after prison guards told Justice Patrick McCarthy there was an issue with having Dekker and Noone present at the same time. Det Sgt Callaghan said Dekker had 25 previous convictions, including one for possession of a knife. In 2010, after he had murdered Daniel, he was sentenced to two years and six months for unlawful possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life. Justice Patrick McCarthy sentenced Dekker to life imprisonment, the mandatory term for murder. He will be given credit for time already served. Det Sgt Callaghan then gave evidence in the sentence hearing for Noone, telling Mr Grehan that Noone pleaded guilty to Daniel's manslaughter in February this year. He said that throughout garda interviews Noone had blamed Dekker for the killing and said that he was there only as a bystander. He also admitted that he knew Dekker was carrying a blade and that Dekker wanted to stab Daniel. 17-year-old Daniel McAnaspie During a series of interviews he made several admissions and brought gardai to the location where Daniel was killed. Days after the killing Noone said that he helped Dekker and Dekker's half-brother Christopher Gaffney put Daniel's body in a suitcase so it could be removed and hidden. Det Sgt Callaghan agreed that Gaffney has since died, his remains found in a ditch in Co Meath. "He met his end by foul means," he added. Noone has 23 previous convictions, including nine public order breaches, two for misuse of drugs, and one for criminal damage. He was sentenced to four years in Mountjoy prison in August 2010 for possession of a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life. He has never had a job. Noone's barrister Michael O'Higgins SC said his client knows he has done a terrible thing and wants to go to prison. Reading from a psychiatric report, he said Noone had told a psychiatrist: "I need to be in jail for what I have done. When I know I have paid for what I have done then maybe in my head I will be okay." Mr O'Higgins said this shows that Noone has insight into what he did and takes responsibility. He said the report also outlined Noone's violent upbringing, during which he witnessed his own mother being stabbed and regularly suffered violence himself. The report said he has a "schizoid" personality. Whilst in custody Noone has been beaten up on several occasions. Mr O'Higgins said he has been targeted because of his role in killing the teenager. Counsel asked Justice Patrick McCarthy to take into consideration his client's guilty plea and his remorse and extend the "maximum degree of leniency" possible. Justice McCarthy adjourned sentencing Noone until April 24. 17-year-old Daniel McAnaspie Evidence in trial In February 2010 Daniel McAnaspie was in the care of the HSE, with both his parents having died. On the day he died his carers dropped him off in Finglas where he was going to hang out with some friends. His curfew was 9pm but he skipped it and went to Blanchardstown with a friend to meet two girls. He was drinking and, according to several witnesses, was in good form. Daniel, his friend Gary Arnold and the two girls, Denise Kelly and Shauna Burke, hung out on a residential street in Blanchardstown where they met Dekker and Noone. It was the prosecution's case that later in the night, after Daniel's friends had left, Dekker and Noone lured him to Tolka Valley Park where they stabbed him to death with a single blade from a garden shears. The only reason given for the attack was that earlier in the night Daniel was boasting about some people he had fought. When he mentioned having fought a relative of Trevor Noone, Noone punched Daniel once in the face, knocking him to the ground. Daniel's friends said the pair made up immediately and shook hands. But later in the night, the pair decided to give Daniel "a hiding". Each man gave a different account to gardai, Noone saying that Dekker wanted to stab him and Dekker saying that Noone wanted to "give him a few digs". At about 4am Daniel's friends went home. They tried to get Daniel to go with them but he wanted to stay. Once his friends were gone, Noone and Dekker lured Daniel to Tolka Valley Park by telling him they were going to fight "some lads from Corduff". According to Dekker's version of events, while they walked along a wooden boardwalk that crosses the Tolka River, surrounded by trees and bushes, Noone stabbed Daniel in the back with the shears. Both men, in their different accounts, said Daniel begged for his life. Forensic scientist Dr David Casey identified 12 stab cuts on the jacket Daniel was wearing and former deputy state pathologist Dr Khalid Jaber found multiple stab wounds to his neck and torso. Following the killing the two men abandoned the body and went home, but at some point it was removed and taken 30 kilometres where it was dumped in a farmer's drainage ditch at Rathfeigh, Co Meath. There was evidence that it had been transported inside a suitcase, but by the time it was discovered by the farmer the suitcase had disintegrated and all that remained was its steel frame. Daniel had been dead almost three months and his body was identified by matching it to DNA taken from his toothbrush. Despite extensive insect infestation and decomposition Dr Jaber was able to see at least some of the injuries that caused his death. Earlier: Daniel McAnaspie's family want his killers to "rot in hell", the Central Criminal Court heard today. Daniel's sister Nikita McAnaspie, told a sentence hearing for the man convicted of his murder that Daniel's death had made their lives meaningless, adding: "We hate the people who did this." Richard Dekker (30), from the Blanchardstown area of Dublin, was found guilty last month of the murder of 17-year-old Daniel McAnaspie (pictured) at Tolka Valley Park on February 26, 2010. The teenager's decomposed body was found almost three months later in a farmer's drain about 30 kilometres from where he was killed. He had been stabbed multiple times. Trevor Noone (28), also from the Blanchardstown area of Dublin, pleaded guilty to manslaughter for his part in Daniel's death. A sentencing hearing for him will continue this afternoon. At the sentence hearing for Dekker today Nikita spoke on behalf of her family. She said Dekker and Noone had taken their "beloved Daniel from us in the most tragic circumstances". When they heard Daniel was missing in February 2010 they immediately feared the worst and searched fields, parks and rivers hoping that he would return to them alive and well. "While we searched, the people who killed him watched us," she said. When it was found Daniel's body was so badly decomposed the family could not see him and his coffin was closed at his funeral. She said he was a child who did not deserve to be murdered. "We hope they rot in hell," she added. The hearing continues this afternoon in front of Justice Patrick McCarthy. Inquiries are continuing after 14 people were found hiding in the back of a truck at Rosslare Port in Wexford yesterday. The vehicle was carrying a load of fruit, and it is reported the temperature of the unit, which had travelled on a ferry from Cherbourg, was around 5 degrees. Brian Killoran is CEO of the Immigrant Council of Ireland, he is thankful the group is in good health, but said it is an indication of how much people want to improve their lives. "It really still exemplifies the fact of desperation that people feel when they are trying to enter a country and trying to get back on their feet and re-start their lives again. "The whole European migration situation has kind of gone off the radar to a certain extent but this kind of situation really shows that it hasn't gone away," he said. Caroline Reid, Communications Officer for the Irish Refugee Council said: Until we see more proactive responses and solutions which open up safe and legal ways for people to escape persecution we will continue to see people making journeys of this nature. "No person should find themselves in a situation where they feel that their only choice is to pay smugglers to transport them on dangerous and arduous journeys with no guarantees for their safety. Members of the Motion Picture Association (MPA) today won an injunction against three pirate websites which are providing film and television content illegally to consumers in Ireland. The landmark legal case, which was heard in the Commercial division of the High Court in Dublin, will block access to notorious pirate websites, make the streaming of movies and television programmes into peoples homes and devices safer, and protect jobs in Irelands thriving film industry. Mr Justice Brian Cregan granted the injunction against the pirate websites. Stan McCoy, MPA EMEA President and Managing Director, welcomed the injunction. Ireland has a fantastic film industry which provides thousands of jobs and it is important that we protect it from corrupt operators who profit by stealing and selling content illegally," he said. "Piracy is a borderless issue with pirate site operators often hosting their websites overseas in an attempt to shield themselves from the law. "Thats why the creative community worldwide must work together to solve it. The MPA works with local partners in markets all over the world to fight piracy, including Ireland. "Stopping theft and creating space for ever more legal offerings will help to cement the future of Irelands thriving film sector. This ruling is the first step towards that. Investigations carried out for the legal action found the three target websites Primewire, Watchseries and Movie4K domains received respectively 1.26 million, 1.93 million and over 200,000 visits that emanated from Ireland in October 2016 alone. Piracy cost the Irish exchequer an estimated 71m euro in 2015. Hundreds of jobs have been lost in the industry in recent years, including in the high-profile closures of Xtra-Vision and HMV. At the same time, there has been an increast of choice for online consumers, including Sky, Volta.ie and Netflix. The companies involved in this action included Warner Bros. Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Disney, Universal Studios and Sony/Columbia Pictures. They were supported by independent distributors and filmmakers in Ireland, including Element Pictures, and the Irish Film Board. This is not a victimless crime. Allowing piracy to continue unchecked will inevitably lead to a sustained drop in the quality of available content created here, damage the Irish economy and result in the loss of more Irish jobs," said Andrew Lowe, of Element Pictures. Summonses were served on several ISPs EIR, Sky Subscribers Services, Vodafone Ireland, Virgin Media Ireland, Three Ireland, Digiweb, Imagine Telecommunications and Magnet Networks. Many of these ISPs are already working in co-operation with the MPA following similar action in the UK. Mobile phone footage may hold vital information surrounding a fight in Belfast city centre which led to a man's death. 31-year-old Paul Macready died in hospital after a bar fight spilled onto Donegall Street at around 1am yesterday. A 30-year-old man was arrested at the scene and remains in custody. Detective Superintendent Kevin Geddes wants to know what sparked the altercation. "It's fine to go and have a nice night out but, as we see here, an altercation can very, very quickly lead to someone losing their life," he said. "We have seen in the past one punch can, in fact, kill someone. Dubai police have arrested a group of foreign hackers who allegedly targeted five White House officials in an email blackmail scheme, according to state-owned media in the United Arab Emirates. The Arabic-language Al Bayan newspaper and television channel Dubai One reported the arrests. Al Bayan quoted Saud Khalidi, of Dubai police, as saying an "African gang" broke into the emails of the five senior officials and "got highly confidential information". He said the US asked Dubai police for assistance. Mr Khalidi was quoted as saying investigators tracked down the gang to an apartment in the emirate of Ajman and arrested three suspects. The arrests come as the United Arab Emirates, which hosts some 4,000 US troops fighting Islamic State, remains a crucial regional ally. Those arrested are between 24 and 26 years of age and had a list of "five million bank accounts", as well as hacking software and millions of dollars in assets, Mr Khalidi said. He said the three people had entered the UAE on visitor visas a few years ago. The reports did not identify the White House officials targeted. Mr Khalidi reportedly said those suspects would be handed over to the United States for possible criminal trials. AP A German court has sentenced an Islamic extremist to life in prison over a plot to carry out a bomb attack at a train station. The Dusseldorf regional court found Marco G guilty of attempted murder over an explosive device placed at the main train station in the western city of Bonn in December 2012. Indian police are searching for two men suspected of raping a German tourist in the beach town of Mamallapuram in southern India. The woman told police that she went for a walk and dozed off in a deserted part of the beach when she was raped on Sunday. Theresa May has insisted that Britain's relations with Spain remain on a basis of "jaw-jaw", after a predecessor as Conservative leader suggested that she might be ready to resort to war to defend Gibraltar. After an EU document suggested that Spain would be given a veto on post-Brexit agreements governing the British overseas territory, Lord Howard said he was certain that the Prime Minister would be ready to defend the Rock as Margaret Thatcher did the Falklands. His comments led to a call from Madrid for the UK to calm down, and forced Downing Street to dismiss suggestions that a taskforce could be sent to the Mediterranean outpost. Asked during a visit to Jordan whether she could rule out war with Spain, Mrs May evoked Sir Winston Churchill's famous dictum that it is always "better to jaw-jaw than war-war". "What we are doing with all European countries in the European Union is sitting down and talking to them," she told reporters. "We are going to be talking to them about getting the best possible deal for the United Kingdom and for those countries, Spain included. "It's definitely jaw-jaw." Although there was no reference to Spain's claim to sovereignty in the Brexit negotiating guidelines released by European Council president Donald Tusk last week, the decision to give Madrid a specific role in deciding if a trade deal will apply to the Rock caused deep unease in Westminster. Lord Howard repeatedly compared the situation to the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands that led to war with the UK in 1982. He said: "Thirty-five years ago this week, another woman prime minister sent a taskforce halfway across the world to defend the freedom of another Spanish-speaking country, and I'm absolutely certain that our current Prime Minister will show that same resolve in standing by the people of Gibraltar." Well that escalated quickly..Lord Howard tells Sophy: PM wd show "same resolve" re Gibraltar as Mrs T in Falklands: pic.twitter.com/OqsJQWSzzK Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) April 2, 2017 Responding to the former Tory leader's comments in Madrid, Spanish foreign minister Alfonso Dastis said: "The Spanish Government is a little surprised by the tone of comments regarding Gibraltar coming out of Britain, which is a country known for its composure." Mr Dastis met Brexit Secretary David Davis for talks on Monday at the start of a pre-planned two-day visit to Spain and Portugal. Downing Street characterised the discussions as "very friendly and very constructive", adding that Mr Davis echoed Mrs May's position that Britain will be "steadfast in our support for Gibraltar". A Number 10 spokesman insisted that the deployment of a Falklands-style taskforce "isn't going to happen", adding: "All that Lord Howard was trying to establish is the resolve that we will have to protect the rights of Gibraltar and its sovereignty." Mrs May said: "Our position on Gibraltar has not changed. We will be working with them and as part of our negotiations to ensure that we get the best possible trade deal for the United Kingdom and the best possible deal for Gibraltar." The PM has reiterated her message of support in a phone call to Gibraltar's chief minister Fabian Picardo, who declared the territory's 30,000 citizens would not be treated as "bargaining chips" in Brexit negotiations. Mr Picardo told the BBC it was "very helpful of Spain to have put this front and centre this early on in the process", rather than waiting until the final moment to throw a spanner in the works, as some had expected. "I think Spain has made a huge error of judgment not just in putting this early on, but in effect denying their own citizens the application of that deal if they work in Gibraltar going forward," said Mr Picardo. Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said: "Whilst the Government seems exercised by the return of blue passports and imperial measures, it is some relief that Mrs May seems to be ruling out sending a gunboat to Gibraltar. "It is extraordinary that just days after the Government triggered Article 50, a former leader of the Conservative Party has already raised the prospect of war with one of our nearest European neighbours. "And then, far from seeking to reduce the tension, Number 10 decides to ramp up the rhetoric by boasting of its resolve. Mrs May seems determined to lose friends and alienate people." The judge in Bill Cosby's criminal case expects the trial to last about two weeks and hopes to have a jury in place before the proceedings open on June 5 in suburban Philadelphia. At a pre-trial hearing, Montgomery County Judge Steven O'Neill said he hopes to pick jurors in late May. He insisted the jurors' names will not be made public. The jurors will come from the Pittsburgh area and be sequestered throughout the trial nearly 300 miles away in Norristown, Pennsylvania. Cosby, 79, is accused of drugging and molesting a Temple University employee at his home in 2004. He faces 10 years in prison if convicted on felony sex assault charges. Later, the judge was expected to weigh potentially crucial questions on whether jurors can hear Cosby's decade-old testimony about quaaludes, his sexual history and his payments to women who have accused him of sexual misconduct. The defence had hoped the Allegheny County jury pool would be pre-screened through a written questionnaire on their background, media habits and feelings about Cosby, given widespread media reports. "You cannot walk into a grocery store, a convenience store, a mini-mart, without seeing (tabloid reports) ... calling him a rapist," defence lawyer Angela Agrusa argued. But Judge O'Neill predicted that questionnaires mailed to people's homes would quickly end up on social media, and he expressed concern that family members or friends could influence the answers. He said that instead of a pre-screening, the standard 16-question state form would be mailed to potential jurors and followed up by individual questioning in court. Cosby gave the deposition testimony during the course of the accuser's civil suit, which he later settled. He acknowledged in the deposition, made public in 2015, getting quaaludes in the 1970s to give women before sex. Prosecutors say that testimony, along with comedic riffs about the supposed aphrodisiac Spanish fly, show that Cosby is familiar with date rape drugs. They have also asked to introduce a boyhood story from Cosby's 1991 book Childhood about Spanish fly, and remarks he made the same year in an interview with TV talk show host Larry King. However, his lawyers said the quaalude testimony is irrelevant since the powerful sedatives were banned 20 years before he met his accuser Andrea Constand. They called the Spanish fly remarks nothing more than part of his comedy routine. Cosby, long beloved as "America's Dad" for his TV role in his top-ranked 1980s-era sitcom, has pleaded not guilty and remains free on $1m (937k) bail. He calls the encounter with Ms Constand consensual. - AP A tornado has overturned a mobile home in Louisiana, killing a mother and her three-year-old daughter as a storm system with hurricane-force winds crawled across the Deep South, damaging homes and businesses. Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards put the state on "high alert" and warned residents to stay off the roads. He urged people to keep their mobile phones charged and close by so they can get weather alerts through the day. "It is an extremely dangerous weather event," he said. Parts of Arkansas and Mississippi were also under threat of tornadoes, but the bullseye was on much of Louisiana. The system packed heavy rain and large hailstones and sparked flash flooding. Up to 6in of rain could fall in some areas. A tornado with peak winds of 110mph travelled for nearly a mile on the ground in the rural community of Breaux Bridge, about 50 miles west of Baton Rouge, the National Weather Service reported. St Martin Parish Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Major Ginny Higgins said the tornado touched down soon after a warning was issued. "Seconds later it hit," Ms Higgins said. "It hit the trailer, flipped it and tore its side off. There was a mother and daughter inside and both were killed." She said 38-year-old Francine Gotch and three-year-old Nevaeh Alexander were pronounced dead at the scene. Witnesses told KLFY-TV that the father out when the storm hit and returned home to find the bodies amid the debris. Relatives described those killed as a fun-loving pair who smiled frequently. Nevaeh "was the sweetest little girl", said Sheryle Rubin, who is engaged to the girl's uncle. "She was only three years old but was the smartest girl in the world. She would've started school in August." Possible tornado kills two people in Louisiana. Here's raw video of the aftermath of the storm. https://t.co/tQUhREgTAX pic.twitter.com/132w3TCzAE USA TODAY Video (@usatodayvideo) April 2, 2017 The weather agency warned that it was a "particularly dangerous situation" in Louisiana, which the governor noted was a rare high-level warning. Straight-line winds could reach upward of 80mph winds. Hurricanes have at least 74mph winds. "This is a statewide weather event," the governor said. "It's likely to be an all-night event. We don't expect the weather system to leave the state of Louisiana until some time tomorrow morning." Another hard-hit area in Louisiana was the city of Alexandria, where winds blew off the roof of a filling station and knocked out power to thousands, KALB reported. National Weather Service meteorologist John Hart said there was a significant risk for Mississippi and Alabama as the system keeps moving east. Fire officials in the Texas village of Point Venture said several people witnessed an apparent funnel cloud on Sunday morning, and several structures suffered severe damage. A Texas state trooper reported seeing a suspected tornado touch down early on Sunday near Centre Point, about 55 miles north west of San Antonio. National Weather Service meteorologist Yvette Benavides said there were no reports of major or structural damage. AP Polish prosecutors allege that a new analysis of evidence about the 2010 plane crash in Russia that killed the Polish president shows that two Russian air traffic controllers and a third person in the control tower willingly contributed to the disaster. National Prosecutor Marek Kuczynski said there is "no doubt" that one of the causes of the crash was the behaviour of those in the control tower but that no formal accusations have been made yet. Mr Kuczynski and other investigators made the allegations at a news conference. They said they want to question the three Russians and cannot reveal details about the evidence until they have spoken to them. The crash on April 10 2010 killed President Lech Kaczynski (pictured) and 95 others, many of them top Polish state and military leaders. Mr Kuczynski said those in the control tower were guilty of "deliberately causing a catastrophe". Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, rejected the Polish claims. "The circumstances of this tragedy have been thoroughly studied, and we cannot agree with such conclusions," Mr Peskov said. There were two major investigations into the crash separately carried out by Poland and Russia. The Polish investigation blamed the disaster on the errors and poor training of the Polish pilots who tried to land in foggy conditions. The Poles also said that Russian air traffic controllers gave incorrect and confusing landing instructions to pilots. But that report stopped short of accusing the Russians of intentional wrongdoing. A Russian investigation at the time put all blame on the Polish side, finding no fault with the Russian air traffic controllers. Poland opened a new investigation into the disaster after the election in 2015 of the conservative party Law and Justice, headed by the late president's twin brother, Jaroslaw Kaczynski. For years Mr Kaczynski and some of his supporters have suggested that Russia intentionally killed Lech Kaczynski and the 95 others, among them the first lady, generals, the head of the central bank and other top officials. - AP It's now illegal for Canberra shops to bar someone entering based on the fact they're homeless, in an Australian-first tightening up of discrimination laws. Changes that came into effect in the ACT on Monday also ban discrimination on the basis of refugee status, physical appearance or an irrelevant criminal record, according to ACT Attorney-General Gordon Ramsay. Newly expanded discrimination laws will stop shopowners from refusing to serve homeless people. Credit:Karleen Minney But ACT human rights commissioner Dr Helen Watchirs said the most significant of the changes would make it illegal to discriminate against survivors of domestic and family violence. "We've heard stories of people losing their job when their partners have harassed them at work or because they've been absent from work because of court orders or medical appointments so they are vulnerable," Dr Watchirs said. The silence continues on the hundreds of Australians targeted in an international tax sting in Europe after the raids of Credit Suisse's offices over the weekend. Credit Suisse offices in Europe were raided by local authorities late on Friday as part of a major money laundering and tax evasion investigation. Credit Suisse's clients are the subject of an international tax evasion investigation. Credit:Bloomberg The joint international investigation, which includes Australian authorities, has so far identified 346 accounts held by Australians with links to Swiss banking relationship managers alleged to have promoted and facilitated tax evasion schemes. Of the 346 people, 23 have already come forward or been previously subject to ATO compliance action. The new head of the Australian Banker's Association (ABA) - former Queensland premier Anna Bligh - has hosed down talk of a housing price bubble in her first day on the job. Economist and former federal Liberal leader John Hewson recently proclaimed there was a 'bubble', caused by the "neglect and drift" of successive state and federal governments. He cited a rise in house prices of 250 per cent since the mid-1990s, with high household debt. Commonwealth Treasury secretary John Fraser declared a bubble in parts of the Sydney and Melbourne housing market two years ago. Westpac chief executive Brian Hartzer has conceded that the market is "pretty stretched", but said there was no bubble. Ms Bligh echoed his sentiments on the ABC's 7.30 program on Monday night. Asked by host Leigh Sales whether banks believed the nation was in the grip of a housing price bubble which would burst, leading to a price crash, she said: "That's certainly not what I am hearing, but that doesn't mean people aren't keeping a very close eye on what's happening and being very prudential. Any horror aficionado knows that the only good zombie is a dead zombie. Don't risk trying to bring one back to life. It'll just come back to bite you. Apparently, policymakers haven't watched enough B-movies. Worried about layoffs and soured loans, governments and banks across Asia continue to dole out cheap financing and other support to keep failing firms corporate zombies alive. The hope is that they'll become sustainable businesses again if growth revives. But in fact, these same companies are undermining the global economy, wasting resources, stifling productivity gains and thus forestalling the very recovery they're hoping will save them. Zombies always create more zombies. Credit:Paramount Pictures For example, that's happening right now in South Korea to troubled Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering. On March 23, the Korea Development Bank and Export-Import Bank of Korea, both state-run, agreed to lend the ailing shipbuilder $US2.6 billion and swap debt for equity to prevent a likely default. In a statement, KDB warned that if Daewoo were to go bankrupt, "the loss to the country's economy could be vast as the whole shipbuilding industry could collapse and financial institutions could face further losses". It's true that Daewoo is suffering amid a terrible slump in the entire shipbuilding and shipping industry, hit hard by the slowdown in global growth and trade. Another Korean giant, Hanjin Shipping, sank into bankruptcy last year. Daewoo's creditors are probably hoping a bailout now can sustain the company until conditions in the sector improve. All schools in south-east Queensland, and many in northern New South Wales, have been closed following tropical cyclone Debbie, which hit the area last week causing large-scale destruction. An increase in extreme and unpredictable weather events in Australia continues to occur, which often disrupts students attendance at school. Flooded streets in Lismore over the weekend. Credit:Jason O'Brien In July 2015, more than 40 schools were closed in the Blue Mountains and Southern Highlands of NSW due to a snowstorm. In June 2016, around 12 schools closed in New South Wales due to a weekend of storms. On April 22, dozens of letters protesting President Donald Trump written by women around the United States will arrive at the White House in a giant envelope (of sorts) in the shape of a vagina, courtesy of female-oriented platform Mogul. The campaign, called #ReadMyLips, is a reference not to George H.W. Bush's fateful 1988 campaign promise not to raise taxes, but to female anatomy. And so the anti-Trump vagina protest motif has moved from the abstract and craft-centric (that is, the pussy hat) to the branded and literal. Vaginally oriented resistance wasn't born in response to Trumpism. Eve Ensler's play The Vagina Monologues, as much a remonstration against women's oppression as an ode to the pudenda, first appeared in 1996. The current, ubiquitous incarnation is a reference to Trump's notorious 2005 "Grab them by the pussy" remark, the recording of which made waves during (but evidently didn't decide) the 2016 presidential campaign. But it also evokes the accusation, made against women who supported Hillary Clinton, that they were voting with their vaginas. All of that "vagina" talk was demeaning and insulting, and thus a prime target for a reclamation campaign. Clearly The Vagina was posing some sort of threat, so what could be more delightful than rubbing The Vagina in oppressors' faces? (Metaphorically, of course.) The 'pussy hat' represented the growing movement of resistance to Trump and his threats to women's rights. Credit:Getty Images The vagina protest also offers an opportunity for large-scale solidarity, at a time when feminism appeared in need of unity. Had Clinton lost because of an insufficiently intersectional approach - that is, because of a focus on middle-class white women? Or was her mistake failing to win over, well, middle-class white women? What if both were true? A New York Times headline on December 30 that read "Feminism Lost. Now What?" seemed to sum up the state of the women's movement writ large. If women couldn't agree on a moderate Democrat to become the nation's first female president, what was left? Well, there were vaginas. The visual provided by that sea of Women's March pink pussy hats served as a cathartically necessary moment of solidarity, a pause in the ongoing contentious debates over where, precisely, the feminist movement's boundaries should be drawn. 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 don't 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. Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen on the day of inauguration in Washington. Credit:AP During the unfolding drama of Bill and Hillary Clinton's marriage, questioning Hillary Clinton's 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 Clinton's 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 lady's 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. One Nation has been accused of buying a private plane with money donated by a Victorian businessman and using it to "ferry Pauline Hanson around" without disclosing the donation to authorities, possibly placing the party in breach of electoral laws. In an explosive episode of Four Corners on Monday night, former party treasurer Ian Nelson claimed he urged Senator Hanson and her high-profile chief of staff James Ashby to disclose the donation, but was over ruled. Four Corners broadcast details of emails and text messages between Victorian property developer Bill McNee, Mr Ashby, and party officials in April and May 2015. "After Bill McNee said, 'yes, we'll have to get you a plane', it's my understanding that means, 'well, alright, I'll buy you a plane'," Mr Nelson said. A renowned Nobel Peace Prize-winning economist and entrepreneur, who is considered the father of microfinance, has warned that growing inequality is a "ticking time-bomb" that will "explode" the political system if it is not addressed, arguing the amount of wealth locked up with the wealthiest in society is not tenable. Professor Muhammad Yunus, who spoke to Fairfax Media ahead of an Australian visit this week, has also called on the Australian corporate sector to radically transform the way they think and to create "selfless " or "social businesses" that solve societal issues with market-based solutions. Professor Muhammed Yunus says businesses to think how they can solve social issues instead of simply profiting. Credit:Nasir Ali Mamun/Yunus Centre Professor Yunus said business needed to remember that humans were not just "money-making robots and that capitalism could and should be humane." His comments come after Forbes magazine issued its updated billionaires list last month, revealing it had been a "record year" for the world's richest, with the number of billionaires increasing by 13 per cent to 2,043 and their combined value jumping by 18 per cent to $9.9 trillion. Polish prosecutors today accused Russian air-traffic controllers of "deliberately bringing about the risk of a catastrophe and unintentionally causing a disaster." 3. US Politics Donald Trump. Credit:AP Fox broadcast a report claiming a "very high-up" Obama official "unmasked" Trump associates being surveilled for political purposes. The President welcomed the report as "the real story". While Trump continues to live tweet his favourite cable news show Fox and Friends, claiming to the be the victim of Obama-authorised wiretapping, while defending ongoing links between his camp and Russian operatives, Haley is maintaining a tough stance on Moscow. There is a really interesting dynamic opening up between the White House and Donald Trump's pick for the UN Ambassadorship Nikki Haley. Politico has a good read on how Haley knocked back Trump's offer of Secretary of State citing inexperience, only to go on to become the country's leading voice on foreign affairs. Trump claimed not have heard German Chancellor Angela Merkel's request for a handshake for the cameras in the oval office. But there were no audible mishaps when it came to Egypt's President El-Sisi who led a military coup against this predecessor. Trump went in for not one but two handshakes with the autocrat - a sign of changing relations between the US and Egypt. 4. Yunus Professor Muhammed Yunus says businesses to think how they can solve social issues instead of simply profiting. Credit:Nasir Ali Mamun/Yunus Centre Professor Muhammed Yunus created micro-finance, the revolutionary idea of loaning small amounts of finance to poor people in Bangladesh to help them create their own sustainable sources of income and economies. Now he's branched out into advocating for "humane capitalism" or "social business," which can be applied in both the developed and developing world. I interviewed Professor Yunus ahead of his Australian visit beginning this week. He told me that unless politicians and business address the "ticking time-bomb" of growing inequality, politics will "explode." If you'll indulge me, my must-read for today. [My report/Fairfax] 5. Australian politics Professor Yunus appeared on Q&A last night along with Denmark's first female prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt who now heads the NGO Save the Children. She said Australia's paltry aid contributions, following massive cuts under the Gillard-Labor and Abbott-Coalition government had left Australia looking like it was no longer taking its place in the world. She also drew a comparison with the conservatives in Australia and the tories in the UK which have enshrined in law their much more generous contribution. Penny Wong, Labor's foreign affairs spokeswoman also drew a comparison between Liberal foreign minister Julie Bishop and Tory Leader Theresa May. [My report/Fairfax] Senator Pauline Hanson and her increasingly powerful chief of staff James Ashby. Credit:Andrew Meares The wash-up this morning is all about James Ashby, Pauline Hanson and that sensational Four Corners episode on One Nation last night. The Special Minister of State will no doubt be interested in the claims aired that donations laws were able to be circumvented with former One Nation staff claiming a victorian property donor gave James Ashby the money used to jet Hanson around regional parts of Australia. And WA One Nation members told of the night when Michaelia Cash and her husband rocked up at their home to escort Hanson and Ashby to dinner with fellow powerbroker Mathias Cormann. There are two major interventions from the business community vindicating Labor's treasury spokesman Chris Bowen's policy leadership on negative gearing. Firstly, David Murray, formerly the Chair of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia says tax breaks for property investors must be cooled. And company directors also say the way negative gearing is working with capital gains tax concessions is making housing prices unaffordable. But Mathias Cormann is refusing to budge on negative gearing and capital gearing. The Finance Minister is instead hinting that the Liberal government will raise taxes but within the tax-to-GDP ratio its promised to keep. Rosie Lewis has an important story on how Cormann's negotiating skills are winning results for the Coalition. Employment minister Senator Michaelia Cash and Finance minister Senator Mathias Cormann. Credit:Andrew Meares This should be noted, is in stark contrast to Scott Morrison. As one person involved with dealing with the Treasurer told me, any "negotiation" with him usually ends up in the media the next morning and Cormann is always their preferred go-to. The Belgian-born Cormann can't help his "Terminator" accent and the harsh way it comes across in the media but there's no doubt he is an internal powerhouse who gets results that matter for his side. And ex-Sky identity Mark Latham is back in the mainstream media, writing on the warring tribes of the "Racial Right" and "Identity Left" tearing society apart. 6. Assange Julian Assange. Credit:Markus Schreiber/AP The WikiLeaks founder has no shame. After seeking refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy for more than five years, he's given the digital equivalent of the middle finger to Guillermo Lasso, who lost to the ruling government's candidate Lenin Moreno. Lasso had said that if he won, the Embassy's long-term resident should find other accommodation within thirty days, given the costs involving with keeping him there long-term. Assange, an Australian-born fugitive, attempted to call for Lasso to leave the country. And that's it from me today, you can follow me on Facebook for more. 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. Britain, which has its second female prime minister and a queen who is the world's longest-reigning monarch, is getting its first statue of a woman in Parliament Square in London, where there are 11 statues of men. Prime Minister Theresa May announced on Sunday that Millicent Garrett Fawcett, who campaigned for the right of women to vote, will be honoured with a statue to stand in the company of Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln and Nelson Mandela. Dame Millicent Fawcett (1913). Credit:Caswall Smith Fawcett formed the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies in 1897 and died at age 82 in 1929, a year after all women in the United Kingdom were granted the right to vote. Fawcett, May said, "continues to inspire the battle against the injustices of today." She added: "It is right and proper that she is honoured in Parliament Square alongside former leaders who changed our country. Her statue will stand as a reminder of how politics only has value if it works for everyone in society." A fraudster who stole a doctor's identity and credentials before working undetected for more than a decade in the NSW health system has been fined $30,000. Shyam Acharya fled Australia in January, three days after he was served with a court attendance notice for a charge relating to him falsely representing himself as a doctor. It later emerged that, between 2003 and 2014, he worked at hospitals in Manly, Hornsby, Gosford, Wyong and Mona Vale using the identity of British-based doctor Sarang Chitale. Acharya stole Dr Chitale's university degrees and medical certification when the pair lived together, with Dr Chitale's grandmother, in India between 1999 and 2000. After three days of scouring bushland north of Brisbane, police believe they have found the remains of missing 22-year-old Samuel Thompson. The discovery follows murder charges laid against two men, including anti-Islamic State fighter Ashley Dyball. Detective Inspector Tim Trezise said dog squad officers found "a grave site" on Monday morning about 300 metres into Beerburrum State Forest at Caboolture, about 50 kilometres north of Brisbane. "Whilst it is too early to say whether this is connected to Sam's disappearance, we're optimistic that it may in fact be Sam's body," he said. The funding was part of $51.3 million in state and Commonwealth funding for 36 Queensland community services over the next three years. The boost would make a "huge difference" in ensuring the LGBTI community can access justice in Queensland, its president Matilda Alexander said. The LGBTI Legal Service will get $406,000 over the next three years from the Queensland government. A volunteer-run legal service helping LGBTI Queenslanders has received funding for the first time. But community legal services are still hurting, with the federal government due to cut $2 million from funding for Queensland services from July 1. Ms Alexander said the LGBTI Legal Service had been providing free legal advice for almost seven years without funding. "An increasing number of clients have been reaching out, and without government funding, the service has had no capacity to do any ongoing casework," Ms Alexander said. "It is common to have to turn away clients because of the restricted capacity of our volunteer lawyers who can only accomplish a limited amount in the time available." The service helps with legal issues less specialised services may not have experience with, such as assisting same-sex and transgender parents with birth certificates and adoption. When a trio of hikers were too tired to finish their walk at Mount Disappointment on Sunday night, Victoria's finest came to their rescue and, boy, was it crowded up there. More than 30 emergency service workers rushed to the scene at Strath Creek and Tunnel Falls, including eight police officers, 10 firefighters, two CFA and SES units and two ambulances in what police have described as a "particularly unusual" rescue and an "emergency services meet fest". Three fire trucks, eight police, two ambulances and two SES and CFA units were at the six-hour rescue. Credit:Nine News It's understood Kilmore SES also hit a kangaroo on the road while responding to the alarm. A massive six-hour rescue mission ensued on Sunday when the three hikers became trapped about 7.30pm during a 14-kilometre hike at the state forest 80 kilometres from Melbourne. Colleens Catering is expanding downtown after its owners purchased the former RadioShack building on Court Street. John and Colleen Schoneweis purchased the building at 620 Court St., with plans to restore it to historical standards and turn the building into a banquet hall. Colleen Schoneweis said the idea of expanding the catering business to include a banquet hall is something the couple has been interested in for years. Colleens Catering caters weddings throughout the area. One thing she hears from people planning weddings is that Beatrice lacks a large enough venue for their events, a problem Schoneweis hopes to remedy. I think its a need for the community because there are lots of spaces in town for events, but not big enough to have over 350 people, she said. There are lots of weddings weve done and they want to have it in Beatrice, but know they cant because they have over 400 guests. Its something weve been thinking about for downtown and finally found the right fit. Schoneweis estimated the downtown building can accommodate up to 450 people. Colleens Catering will maintain its current location at 3200 N. Sixth St., and there are no current plans to expand the kitchen downtown. Additionally, the event hall will be available for groups using other caterers, as well. RadioShack owners John and Linda Linenberger announced they were retiring last November. John Linenberger moved to Beatrice to run RadioShack when it opened in 1976, and bought the store around 1987. Prior to 1993, the electronics retailer was located farther west, near the intersection of Fifth and Court streets. The company eventually filed for bankruptcy in 2015, though Standard General purchased the company out of bankruptcy and kept it alive. Schoneweis said Glennis McClure of the NGage economic development group brought forward the idea after hearing RadioShacks owners were retiring. Main Street Beatrice Director Michael Sothan said the fairly quick turnaround in selling the building since RadioShack around a month ago is a positive sign for the downtown district. We definitely love to see people wanting to take a chance on downtown and make an investment downtown, he said. That was a quick turnaround, which is just exciting to see people that have a dream and passion, and make that work here in the heart of downtown Beatrice. While the building has been purchased, it will likely be several months before work begins to transform he store to a banquet hall. Schoneweis said the couple is currently researching old photos and speaking with area historians about the building, with hopes of making historically-accurate changes. Were doing a lot of research into what it looked like, she said. We have questions as far as flooring and things like that. Thats our broad plan. Were still considering names. Back in 1920s, it was the Spiegel Building and they sold cars there. We want to bring a name to it that signifies what it was. Schoneweis is also considering options for the upstairs of the building, with apartments or lodging being an option. Two men have been charged over the theft and torching of a Porsche yesterday, police say. Maroondah Crime Investigation Unit detectives charged a 33-year-old Croydon man, alleged to be the driver of the stolen Porsche. He is also charged with burglary, theft from motor vehicle, criminal damage, fail to stop, resist arrest and possess drug of dependence. He has been remanded to appear at Ringwood Magistrates' Court today. A Blackburn man, 33, who is alleged to have been the passenger in a stolen Porsche, has been charged with possess drug of dependence and handling property suspected to be proceeds of crime. He has been bailed to appear at Ringwood Magistrates' Court on October 18. Those watching Perth's lacklustre housing market will welcome new figures showing house values in the city rose 1.09 per cent in March after the end of the mining boom sent prices in steady decline over the past three years. Data from property analysis company CoreLogic also shows overall dwelling prices rose by 0.97 per cent while units failed to keep pace, dropping a further 0.73 per cent to make a year-on-year drop of 5.51 per cent. Over the past year, Perth dwellings have dropped 4.68 per cent in value, according to the latest Daily Home Value Index. Overall, capital city home values moved 1.4 higher in March and contrasted the story in Perth with a combined annual growth rate of 12.9 per cent, the highest since 2010. An Aboriginal man jailed for killing a 21-year-old man in Western Australia has testified that he gave a false confession because police repeatedly asked him if he did it and no one believed him. Gene Gibson, who is from the remote desert community of Kiwirrkurra, is serving seven-and-a-half years behind bars for fatally striking Josh Warneke with a pole from behind as he walked home from a night out in Broome in February 2010. Josh Warneke was found dead on the side of the road in Broome in 2010. A series of flawed police interviews more than two years later were deemed inadmissible, forcing prosecutors to drop a murder charge and accept Gibson's guilty plea to manslaughter. Gibson's conviction is being appealed on the basis that he suffered a miscarriage of justice because he did not have the cognitive ability or language skills to understand what was happening. Kim Jong-un had signalled that his regime was working on a missile capable of reaching the United States. Credit:AP "I have great respect for him. I have great respect for China. I would not be at all surprised if we did something that would be very dramatic and good for both countries and I hope so," he told the paper. Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, also issued a stark warning, saying America would "no longer take excuses from China". North Korea launches four missiles in an undisclosed location North Korea last month. Credit:KRT/AP Haley said: "They need to show us how concerned they are. They need to put pressure on North Korea. The only country that can stop North Korea is China, and they know that. "China has to co-operate. This is now down to: 'Do we want to continue to see these ballistic missile attacks from North Korea, or does China want to do something about it?' " She spoke as the US took over the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council. She added: "We're going to say what we think, and we're going to move the ball and that's what this is about." Concern has been mounting about the North Korean missile program in the US for some years. During the handover of power, the administration of former US president Barack Obama identified North Korea as the top national security issue for the Trump administration. Some US security officials believe the regime of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un might have a nuclear-armed missile capable of hitting the United States within four years. South Korean intelligence warned last month that another nuclear test by the North was imminent, with analysts suggesting Pyongyang might seek to "overshadow" the US-Chinese summit in Florida with a show of force. South Korean government sources told the Korea JoongAng Daily that preparations at the North's Punggye-ri nuclear proving grounds would be completed before the weekend. Last month, North Korea fired a missile into the sea off the east coast of the Korean peninsula just as Trump was hosting Shinzo Abe, the Japanese Prime Minister, at Mar-a-Lago. Rah Jong-yil, a former head of South Korean intelligence, told the Telegraph that China could tackle the issue "very easily by closing the border entirely and completely strangling all business and economic traffic between the two countries". Last week, US senator John McCain said only Beijing could control Kim, whom he branded a "crazy fat kid". McCain told MSNBC earlier this month: "China is the only one that can control Kim Jong-un, this crazy fat kid that's running North Korea. They could stop North Korea's economy in a week." On Thursday, Trump had warned the summit would be "very difficult". He said: "The meeting next week with China will be very a difficult one in that we can no longer have massive trade deficits and job losses. American companies must be prepared to look at other alternatives." The summit is taking place at Mar-a-Lago, Trump's palatial club in Florida, which has been called the "Winter White House". His son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner has emerged as a key architect of the summit along with Cui Tiankai, the Chinese ambassador. The two men chose Mar-a-Lago as the venue and have reportedly worked closely on crafting a joint statement the two leaders will deliver. Kushner and his wife Ivanka, Trump's daughter, were said to have been invited to the Chinese embassy in February. Ash Carter, US Defence Secretary under Obama, said he doubted Beijing would co-operate. He said: "I've been working on the North Korea problem since 1994 and we have consistently asked Chinese leaders, because they uniquely have the historical and the economic relationship with North Korea, to make a difference. They haven't used that influence, and so it's hard for me to be optimistic with that." Carter, speaking on Sunday shortly before Trump's comments, warned a US pre-emptive strike against North Korea's nuclear weapons risked triggering an invasion of South Korea. "I'm confident of the outcome of that war, which would be the defeat of North Korea," he said. "But I need to caution you, this is a war, an intensity of violence associated with it, that we haven't seen since the last Korean War. "Even though the outcome is certain, it is a very destructive war so one needs to proceed very carefully here." Trump said he believed Brexit would be a "great deal" for the UK and also " really good" for the European Union. His view on whether other countries would leave the EU appeared to have moderated, and he now believed they were less likely to. Washington:After years of being kept at arm's length by Washington, this White House is signalling that Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is being brought in from the cold. Sisi is a human rights abuser to whom Trump pledged during last year's election campaign that the US would be "a loyal friend, not simply an ally, that Egypt can count on in the days and years ahead". Despite harsh global criticism of how Sisi took and holds power, Trump considers the Egyptian leader to be a "fantastic guy". A free pass on human rights for Sisi, who was first among world leaders to call Trump to congratulate him on winning the election, will affirm analysts' views that the 45th president doesn't rate American support for democracy and human rights as a foreign policy priority. Lenin Moreno votes during a presidential run-off election in Quito, Ecuador, on Sunday. Credit:AP "Onward to victory!" he shouted. "We'll continue changing Ecuador for the better." On Twitter, Correa said violence had broken out in Quito and several other cities. Guillermo Lasso flashes victory signs as he awaits final election results in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on Sunday. Credit:AP "What they can't accomplish at the polls, they're trying to achieve by force," he wrote, after declaring Moreno, his former vice-president, the winner. "The revolution has triumphed again in Ecuador," he said. Alianza PAIS supporters celebrate in the streets. Credit:AP But the government's opponents seemed in no mood to accept that result, demanding a recount. "We demand the truth," said opposition leader Cesar Monge, holding up copies of vote tally sheets that he said were proof of tampering. "We reject this." Also at stake in the outcome was Julian Assange's asylum protection at Ecuador's embassy in London, because Lasso has said that he would evict Assange within 30 days from the embassy, where the WikiLeaks founder took refuge in 2012. Moreno has said he would let Assange stay. Lasso and his supporters began celebrating in the streets of the capital as soon as exit polls showed him winning - waving flags and honking car horns wildly. After rallying outside the headquarters of the country's election authorities, they broke through police barricades and surged towards the building, with television cameras showing them facing off against riot police with shields. The disputed outcome is one of several South American conflicts that have occurred in recent days, along with clashes in Venezuela and Paraguay. Election observers from the Organisation of American States and other organisations had yet to make statements about the integrity of the vote. A respected non-governmental organisation, Participacion Ciudadana, said its exit poll results showed a tie between the two candidates. Correa's decade in power has left Ecuadorans sharply divided and, with his legacy on the line, his government has thrown its full weight behind Moreno, 64. Lasso, 61, a former banker, offered Ecuadorans a message of "change", and bet that frustration about the country's sagging economy and Correa's heavy-handed style would lift him to an upset. "We need new ideas. Everything is stagnant here," said Luzmila Munoz, 47, a chemical engineer who voted for Lasso in a middle-class sector of Quito. "Ten years is enough," she said, referring to Correa, who is ineligible for re-election. Right-wing candidates have won recent presidential contests in Argentina and Peru, after a long period of dominance by left-wing populists such as Correa, who used a commodity boom to cut poverty and cultivate a broad base of support. But with prices for oil and other exports slumping, the region has shifted to the right, and many leftists saw the mild-mannered Moreno as their best chance to break the trend. Moreno, who was shot in a 1998 carjacking, would be the first candidate in a wheelchair to win a presidential race in Latin America. "He'll fight for equality, because he knows what it's like to be disadvantaged," said Janet Bravo, 40, who cast her vote for Moreno in the rough hillside neighbourhood of Comite del Pueblo. Bravo, who owns a small office supply shop, said she has been able to save money in recent years because the government provided her two small children with free healthcare. "I want government to continue along this path," she said. Moreno's campaign was counting on voters such as Bravo to be wary of what sort of change a Lasso win would bring to their lives. "I'm afraid we'll go back to the way things were before," said Erick Lara, 22, an Afro-Ecuadoran who is studying to be a chef. He credited the Correa government for promoting racial equality and said his mother was able to buy her own home thanks to a government loan. "We have more opportunities now," he said. Michael Shifter, president of Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington think tank, said Moreno's apparent victory showed that left-wing governments in South America might be more resilient than many believe. "Although Ecuador's economic situation has recently worsened and there are serious questions about government corruption, most voters recognised advances in education, healthcare and especially infrastructure," he said. "Moreno promised to give a new push and build on these gains." Loading 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: Senate Democrats on Monday appeared to secure the votes necessary to filibuster the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch, sending the body hurtling toward a bitter partisan confrontation later this week. With an announcement from Senator Chris Coons, during the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing to vote on Gorsuch's nomination, Democrats had found their 41st vote in support of a filibuster. Later in the hearing, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the nomination in a party-line vote, 11 to 9, to move President Donald Trump's selection to the Senate floor. The committee vote was the first step in what will be a long road for Gorsuch's confirmation this week. Under current rules, Democrats can block Gorsuch unless he receives support from eight non-Republicans to break a filibuster. The University of Bristol has once again been recognised by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the EPSRC as an Academic Centre for Excellence in Cyber Security Research (ACE-CSR). As an ACE-CSR, the University will continue to play a pivotal role in helping to make government, business and consumers more resilient to cyber attack by working more closely with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), the UK cyber community and industry. Promoting academic excellence is at the heart of the Government's Cyber Security Strategy and the University hopes this will lead to exciting opportunities for its students and graduates. The centres have been established to increase the number of top quality researchers in the field of cyber security, ultimately aiming to build a skills base able to make the UK one of the most secure places in the world to do business online. Work carried out at the University of Bristol will support NCSC's cyber defence mission, boost research to keep up pace with technological change and drive up the level of innovation. Nigel Smart, Professor of Cryptology in the Department of Computer Science, who is leading the ACE-CSR at the University, said: "Being selected again as an ACE-CSR reaffirms the Universitys position as a world-class research institution in the field of cyber security. This is of great importance not just to business but also national security. "The Bristol ACE-CSR is based around work performed by our Cryptography Research Group. This is one of the worlds largest groups in cryptography, with a focus on areas as diverse as side-channel analysis, protocol design and secure computation technologies." Ben Gummer, Minister for the Cabinet Office & Paymaster General, added: "This Government is determined to make the UK the safest place in the world to live, work and do business online. That is why we need truly ground-breaking research to stay one step ahead of the growing threat of cyber attacks. "By engaging with business, industry and academia, we will ensure that we develop the skills and research we need to tackle this growing threat to the UK." Chris Ensor, Deputy Director for Cyber Security Skills and Growth at the NCSC, said: "It's fantastic to see so many leading universities committed to trailblazing improvements to the UK's cyber security research, and it is particularly good to see Scotland represented for the first time. "At the NCSC, we are absolutely committed to maintaining and improving our already strong reputation as a global leader in cutting edge research, and look forward to collaborating with these establishments to make the UK the safest place to live and work online. "These universities conduct world class cyber security research and this initiative will improve the way academics, government and business work together benefiting the whole of the country." The research conducted by the Bristol Cryptography Group will support the drive for better cyber protection for the UK Government and enable businesses and consumers to safely benefit from the huge opportunities offered in cyberspace. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, April 5, at Ward Funeral Home in Linn. The family will receive friends from 5 to 7 p.m. A funeral service will be at 10 a.m., on Thursday, April 6, at St. Paul Lutheran Church, Linn. Burial will be in the church cemetery. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams Theyre talking war and peace. A Brooklyn writer and director will use an ancient Greek tragedy read by a celebrity cast to launch a tough community talk in Crown Heights next week. His production Ajax will play at the Crown Heights Library on April 6 as part of the Theater of War series of performances and discussions produced with the Brooklyn Public Library. The 2,500-year-old Sophocles play is the perfect way to kick off a discussion of urban violence and mental health, said the shows creator. The play speaks universally to the experiences of violence and trauma and shame, said Bryan Doerries, who also translated the play. The glue that brings everyone together is this universal set of questions that are at the heart of these ancient stories, themes that transcends time and culture. Ajax, written around 440 BC, tells the story of a warrior who is overcome with depression after losing his best friend Achilles, and who kills himself after being betrayed by his commanders. The three-person cast for the event includes Oscar-nominee Amy Ryan, of the films Birdman and Gone Baby Gone, Reg E. Cathey, from television shows The Wire and House of Cards, and Councilman Jumaane Williams (DFlatbush), a driving force against gun violence. The local pol also happens to be a star on stage, said Doerries. He turned out to be a terrific actor beyond our expectations, said Doerries, who was recently named New York Citys Public Artist in Residence. The free Crown Heights presentation is targeted towards veterans of war and survivors of urban violence two different groups of people who share similar stories of struggle, survival, and pain, said Doerries. After the reading, four neighborhood figures will hop on stage to share their immediate, un-rehearsed reactions to the play, and to engage the community in a powerful talk about gun violence and mental health care, he said. Their job is to respond in the moment and to model for the audience a kind of radical candor we dont want them coming studying the plays or think about what they are going to say, said Doerries. The best panels are ones who cant find their words, but who are emotionally present. During its 10 years of productions, the Theater of War has worked with many famous thespians, including Adam Driver, Paul Giamatti, and Jake Gyllenhaal. Actors have jumped at the opportunity to be a part of the project because it gives them a chance to do good in their communities, said Doerries. I was able to get well-known actors who are very talented, very accomplished very early on because its extremely rare in their profession to feel like they are doing something, making a difference with their craft, to feel like you are moving the needle socially and affecting change, said Doerries. Theater of War at the Crown Heights Public Library [560 New York Ave. between Lincoln Road and Maple Street in Crown Heights, (718) 2302200, ajaxi ncrow nheig hts.brown paper ticke ts.com ]. April 6 at 7 pm. Free. 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. This time of year school kids start counting down the days until the summer break. Senators do the same, however we count the days with concern knowing what still needs to be accomplished in the last 32 days of session. It sounds like there should be plenty of time, but on day 70, the Appropriations Committee is required to advance the biennial budget bill. The Revenue Committee is formulating a property tax and income tax reduction plan, and the Education Committee is looking to address state equalization aid to schools. All this in an effort to address the nearly $1 billion shortfall over the next two years. Along with these various proposals, the Legislature continues working on 49 individual senator priority bills, 25 Speaker priority bills, and 34 committee priority bills. Each senator is allowed one priority. This designation moves the bill ahead of other bills without such designation. Some take only a short time to discuss and advance. Others take hours at each stage of debate. Senator Justin Wayne of Omaha offered LB 75 as his priority bill for this year. LB 75 would restore voting rights to a felon upon completion of the felony sentence or probation. The current law requires a two year waiting period. Senator Wayne stated that approximately 95 percent of people in prison will re-enter society at some point, and having the right to vote is one more way for successful reintegration. The right to vote provides involvement in the democratic process. There was opposition by Gretna Senator John Murante who chairs the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee. His concern is the constitutionality of the bill wherein the constitution ties voting rights of ex-felons to the restoration of civil liberties. However senators advanced LB 75 to the next round of debate on a vote of 28 ayes and 8 nays. LB 276 offered by Senator Joni Albrecht of Thurston would allow for a restraining order or injunction to be imposed against anyone who sells or represents corn seed as a hybrid variety that does not meet identity standards. A person who violates this prohibition would be guilty of a Class III misdemeanor. The Department of Agriculture would report violations to the Attorney General or the appropriate county attorney for prosecution. The bill clarifies the definition of hybrid seed corn and the process of cross fertilization as it relates to hybrid seed corn. The bill advanced to Select File 39-0. Senators also gave a 39-0 thumbs up to LB 91 introduced by Omaha Senator Robert Hilkemann. When a baby is born, state law requires a number of new-born screening tests to be performed. Last year, 27,000 newborns were screened and 58 were identified with a metabolic or genetic diseases. Early detection is essential to the best health out-comes for these children. The bill would update the definition of metabolic diseases, defines pharmaceutically manufactured foods as those that are chemically synthesized or processed for the treatment of inborn errors in metabolism, adds three more diseases to the screening panel, and sets a limit of no more than $20 on the Department of Health and Human Services. Senator Patty Pansing-Brooks of Lincoln was successful in getting first round approval of LB 289. This bill would increase penalties for a number of crimes, including pandering and human trafficking for labor or sexual exploitation. The senator stated that this bill would send a strong message to those engaged in trafficking that Nebraska will no longer tolerate inhuman treatment of our people. The bill increases the penalty for pandering or trafficking of an adult from a Class III to a Class II felony, punishable by 1 to 50 years in prison. The bill imposes even stronger penalties for sex trafficking offenses involving a minor. Some senators raised concerns that the bill may inadvertently catch people who have no knowledge that the person may be a victim of sex-trafficking victim. For instance, a patron who tips an exotic dancer has no idea if the person is a victim or not. Another issue would be a prosecutor who may threaten a trafficking offense to coerce a confession. Senator Pansing-Brooks offered to work with senators who had concerns about the language. The bill advanced to select file 42-0. Two of my bills easily advanced to the second round of debate last week. LB 122, which I prioritized for Sen. Pansing-Brooks, helps assure visitation of elders in care; LB 225 as amended includes my bill (LB 298) to give normalcy to children in licensed care facilities. And we keep counting the days. Please use this time to contact me. 402-471-2620. rbaker@leg.ne.gov. You can follow the Legislature at www.nebraskalegislature.gov State Senator Steve Santarsiero (D-10) presented a check to Yardley Borough Police Chief Joseph Kelly for $68,600 for the purchase of a new police vehicle and motorcycle during a visit to the station. Our police put themselves on the line every day to keep our community safe, said Sen. Santarsiero. Dating back to when I was a Lower Makefield Township Supervisor more than... 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. Upon a visit to the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, I noticed among its many noteworthy qualities that the bucolic campus reflected a harmony, orderliness, and dignity, a call to something higher. Creating a sense of place as a message for the ages used to be the tradition in American public architecture. In one of the Academys halls, a United States submarine commander named Howard W. Gilmore is honored. During World War II, Gilmore ordered his submarine to the surface of the ocean, and the crew came onto the deck. Enemy planes spotted the vessel and began a strafing run. The crew on deck scrambled back inside to go into dive mode. As one crewmember looked back, he saw Gilmore lying on the deck, wounded by the hail of bullets. Gilmore looked at the sailor and said, Take her down! The Commander knew he would be left behind to drown, but everyone else would be saved. Stories like this one appear repeatedly in our nations history. They detail the brave actions of honorable men and women who served an ideal far greater than any superficial distinctions that might separate them: that sacrifice for the just and enduring principles of America is a noble thing. In this age of anxiety and petty strife, it is worth reflecting on why we now find this so hard. In the wake of World War I, poet-politician W.B. Yeats wrote: Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity. As last week demonstrated, present-day Washington, as a microcosm of the nation, routinely exhibits a lack of political community. Partisan discord and dysfunction reflect the larger fragmentation across America. Market Fundamentalists versus Government Fundamentalists. Protectionists versus Globalists. Elites versus the Common Man. We lack a unifying spirit. Part of this fracture is driven by moneyed interests in politics. Part of it is driven by competing worldviews, earnestly derived, about the core of what it means to be an American. Part of it results from a lack of will and courage among lawmakers to move beyond these dispiriting constraints in search of higher ground. Perhaps there is a silver lining. On a deeper level, the vehement animosity in the Capitol and across our country could, ironically, point to something good. Washingtons inability to rally around big and meaningful ideas, reflecting long-standing cultural and philosophical divides in America and seemingly intractable hostility, might signal a desire for resolution. After all, if no one cared, our situation would be far more dire. If we can stretch to see the negativity as a search for solidarity, then we have a shot. Indeed, there might be a chance to recapture our democratic narrative, our special American identity by embracing something larger than the insistent demands of self, party, or narrowly-focused advocacy group. We are a country whose proper aim and purpose, whose very foundation is built on that which is good and eternal: fairness, self-determination, and the rule of law. Perhaps this combustible moment is actually a yearning to reconnect. Or, maybe not. Perhaps it is too far-gone. We decide. Yet, with all of these lofty sentiments, to successfully govern requires a consensus around core values. And, yes, it requires sacrifice, for our ideals, for each other, and for America. So that the center might hold. Right before Commander Gilmore died, he said, Take her down! Maybe the advice he would give our country today would be, Lift her up! Information technology (IT) body Nasscom on Monday said the clamp down on tech visas by Singapore has shrunk the base of Indian techies to under 10,000 in the South East Asian nation and could hurt the ability of players to chase future deals. Nasscom President R Chandrashekhar said that issuance of visas to the tech workers under the intra-company transfers has "reduced to a trickle" and so for all practical purposes "the tap has been shut". "The number of Indian tech workers employed with various companies, are a few thousand now, probably under 10,000, which is inadequate to drive growth of the industry," he told PTI. The comments assume significance as Indian IT use Singapore as a gateway to serve clients in the region. All major Indian tech including TCS, HCL, Infosys and Wipro have a presence in Singapore. "If things don't change, will have to look for alternate ways for the region...Search for alternate locations," he said. Indian companies have been investing in Singapore to bolster their presence in the Asian market that has been growing at a strong pace, although the US and Europe continue to account for over 80 per cent of the industry's export revenues. With Singapore taking a conservative view of visa issuance to Indian tech workers, companies are finding it increasingly difficult to even maintain their level of manpower, "let alone raise" the numbers. "You cannot maintain it because everytime a visa expires...You just leave and there is no visa renewal that is being issued. So this is where the problem has come up," he pointed out. The visa issue has been brewing for over a year now, and Nasscom has been engaged in a dialogue with authorities in India as well as Singapore to resolve the matter. "This is really not keeping with the overall objectives of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), which is to encourage economic activities in both directions," he said. While Asian market has a relatively low share in the IT export basket, Chandrashekhar said companies have been looking at diversifying and developing newer markets. "...Asia being the growth continent in this era, is the obvious place to look for. So that is why Singapore is a convenient base to operate from," he added. Asked if the situation could hurt the ability of Indian companies to service contracts, he said while existing contracts may remain unaffected, the future contracts will definitely be hit. "In fact some companies have started scaling down," he said. Switching to Bharat Stage IV emission norms is likely to boost adoption of automated manual transmission (AMT) technology among India's commercial vehicles (CV) fleet. Industry expects at least 10 per cent of the trucking and buses industry to shift to AMT. Infosys founders, led by N R Narayana Murthy, on Sunday criticised the proposed salary hike of Chief Operating Officer (COO) Pravin Rao, deepening the rift between them and the board of the countrys second-largest software exporter on governance issues. Archived Results for Monday, April 3rd, 2017 Older Page 1 Tata Communications Payment Solutions business took a drubbing in October-December due to demonetisation. The company, however, hopes revenues will pick up as cash will continue to play an important role in the economy. In an interview with Nirmalya Behera and Jayajit Dash, Vinod Kumar, managing director and chief executive officer of Tata Communications, speaks about the ATM business, the partnership with Nilesat and data services growth. Edited excerpts: Ruias-led Group on Monday announced the sale of its business process outsourcing company Aegis to Singapore-based private equity fund manager Capital Square Partners for an estimated $275 million to 300 million. The sale marks Essar's complete exit from BPO business. had in July 2014 sold Aegis USA Inc, an outsourcing and technology company with operations in the US, the Philippines and Costa Rica, to Teleperformance of Paris for $610 million. With its US subsidiary gone, Aegis' headcount and revenue were reduced substantially. Since then, Aegis has again grown the business in terms of headcount, revenues, product offerings nd customer base. Aegis had BPO business globally across India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Australia, South Africa, Peru, Argentina, Saudi Arabia and the UK. It had 40,000 employees globally, 47 BPOs in these 10 countries and USD 400 million in revenue. "AGC Holdings Ltd (AGC) Mauritius, a wholly-owned portfolio company of Global Ltd, has entered into a definitive agreement with Capital Square Partners (CSP) to sell 100 per cent of its stake," a company statement said. Though the company did not give the value of the deal, sources said the sale could be in the range of USD 275 to 300 million. "Net proceeds of this sale will be used to retire Essar's debt," it said adding the transaction is likely to close by June 2017 subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. This marks Essar's complete exit from the BPO business. Essar entered the BPO business in 2004 with the acquisition of the US-based Aegis Communications Group, with 2,000 employees. In 2014, AGC sold the US unit. "Since then, Aegis has once again grown the business substantially in terms of headcount, revenues, product offerings and customer base becoming a preferred vendor for many premium clients in key industries, such as telecommunications, technology, media, banking, financial services and insurance, travel and logistics, retail and eCommerce," the statement said. Uday Gujadhar, Director-AGC, said: "This transaction is in line with our strategy of incubating, building and operating world-class businesses, and being open to monetising them at a premium value when the market conditions are favourable." Sanjay Chakrabarty and Mukesh Sharda, Managing Partners of CSP, jointly said: "We are excited about the opportunity to work with the Aegis management team in embarking on the next stage of growth, by focusing on innovation and adding our sector knowledge and expertise." Sandip Sen, Managing Director, Aegis said: "Aegis has established itself as a high value service provider to its customers. We shall continue to provide quality service to our esteemed customers and be an employer of choice." Essar's advisors in the transaction include Axis Capital as financial advisor, and Platinum Partners and Sidley Austin as legal advisors. Shearman & Sterling and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas acted as legal advisors to CSP. At a time when most of the hotel are opting for an asset light model to reduce fixed costs, The has so long opted for an asset-heavy model. However, in league with its peers, it now sees the management contract model to drive its future business. Besides the rush to close their books of accounts for 2016-17, March saw fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) move with haste on another front. The rush was to set up manufacturing units in Assam to avail of fiscal benefits before the deadline of March 31 lapsed. At a time when the concept of tax havens is set to vanish following the implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) by July, the rush, say experts, was reminiscent of a similar one earlier to Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, which were offering sops to woo industry. While the financial incentives a 10-year tax holiday in the case of Himachal and Uttarakhand expired in 2010, Assams excise benefits by way of tax refunds were on till the end of March. Those who set up plants before March 31 this year would get excise benefits for the next 10 years. FMCG from Hindustan Unilever (HUL) to Patanjali, Dabur to Marico, Jyothy Labs, Emami and Bajaj Corp were in no mood to ignore this opportunity, say experts. They invested nearly Rs 3,000 crore of total investments in Assam in the past few months to set up plants, say industry experts. February-March saw most of these units begin commercial production. HUL, for instance, set up its new facility at an investment of Rs 1,000 crore, near its existing factory at Dooma. It will augment the production capacity of personal care products for the company, the firm said in a statement on March 21. HUL first entered Assam in 2001, setting up three units to make shampoos, skin creams and toothpaste. With over 15 years of operating experience in the state and considering the support from the state government and the local community, HUL has decided to set up a new manufacturing unit in Assam, HUL had said earlier. The countrys largest consumer goods company is not the only one to feel this way. Dabur India Chief Executive Officer Sunil Duggal also believes the state is ideal to cater to not only the eastern belt, but also parts of the north. The company last week inaugurated a new plant at Tezpur, at a cost of nearly Rs 300 crore to produce health care, personal care and home care products. The Assam market itself is underpenetrated. So accessing that market at an economical cost is now possible. Plus, not only can it act as a hub for the eastern belt, but parts of the north such as Uttar Pradesh can also be catered to from there, he said. Tax havens, say experts, also act as zones where firms can set up incremental capacity and Jammu & Kashmir, where excise benefits will continue till 2020, is also expected to be exploited for the same purpose. Dabur, for instance, has land in Jammu, but is yet to take a call on setting up a unit there. While manufacturing on an annual basis is outsourced to third-party players by FMCG companies, this is to the extent of about 15-20 per cent, say sector experts. The rest is undertaken in-house, to ensure production and quality standards are intact, they say. Sumit Malhotra, managing director, Bajaj Corp, the maker of products such as Bajaj Almond Drops Hair Oil, which began commercial production at its new unit in Guwahati on March 15, said the plant can cater to 21 per cent of its hair oil demand. While we have plants elsewhere in the country, the advantage of setting up a manufacturing base in places such as Assam is that the fiscal benefits will stand post introduction of for a period of 10 years. That is a huge relief for companies, he said. The revenue foregone by the Centre by way of area-based excise duty exemptions was Rs 19,120 crore in financial year 2015-16. This was marginally lower than the previous year (FY15), when it was Rs 19,978 crore. Figures for 2016-17 were not immediately available. Emami Ltds executive director, Harsh Agarwal, said past experience also helps when setting up a new unit in a state. Weve been in Assam for over 15-20 years now (with two plants) and have strong roots there. Setting up a third unit therefore in the state was not a challenge, since we have good understanding of the market there. Emamis third unit was commissioned in February this year at a cost of Rs 300 crore. It is Emamis largest plant and the eighth by number nationally. (TII), one of Murugappa Group's major businesses, last year decided to demerge its manufacturing business undertaking, including manufacture of tubes and components, bicycles and fitness products and chains for auto and industrial sectors, into a wholly owned subsidiary called TI Financial Holdings Ltd. Currently, it is also looking at investing in start-ups and has evaluated a few already. In an interaction with Gireesh Babu, TII Managing Director (MD) L RAMKUMAR explains the strategy and plans of the company. Edited excerpts: 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. African Heads of Mission have strongly condemned last week's attack on Nigerian nationals in Greater Noida, calling it "xenophobic and racial in nature", and kept open the possibility of taking the matter to international human rights bodies for an independent investigation if the government failed to take legal action against the perpetrators or took "sufficient or visible deterring measures" to avoid repeat of such incidents. A statement issued after a meeting of the envoys representing 54 countries of the African continent following the incident and dated March 31 said, "As regards the recent unfortunate incident in Greater Noida, the African Heads of Mission strongly condemn the incident and express their deep concern and also take note that these reprehensible events, both outstanding and unresolved cases against Africans, were not sufficiently condemned by the Indian authorities. The meeting unanimously agreed that those reaccumulated attacks against Africans are xenophobic and racial in nature." The attack on four Nigerian students took place on March 27 night in Greater Noida, some 40 km from the Indian capital, following protests over the death of a Class 12 student of a residential colony there due to drug overdose. Some people who were holding a candle-light vigil for the student attacked the Nigerians, suspecting them of drug-running. The day after the incident, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay described the incident as "deplorable" and in his weekly media briefing on March 30 said: "It is clear that such criminal acts are completely unacceptable and have been condemned." He said said that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has spoken to Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath about this while Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar spoke to the Acting High Commissioner of Nigeria. "Law enforcement authorities of the district have made arrests and a large number of people are under watch. The investigation is on and the law of the land will prevail," Baglay stated. In their joint statement, the African Heads of Mission said they reviewed previous such incidents of attacks on African nationals "and concluded that no known, sufficient and visible deterring measures were taken by the Government of India". "They equally expressed their expectations for strong condemnation from the highest political level (both nationally and locally) of the Government of India, as well expediting legal actions against the perpetrators," the statement said. "They agreed to take further actions including the call for an independent investigation by the Human Rights Council as well as other human rights bodies, and also to comprehensively report the matter to the African Union Commission," it concluded. A day after a senior resident doctor of the emergency medicine ward and a security guard of the were allegedly physically assaulted, the hospital witnessed strike called by all the doctors. The resident doctors also refused to attend emergency cases on Monday. On Sunday night, the senior resident doctor and the security guard were allegedly physically assaulted by relatives of a 30-year-old patient at the hospital premises, a report published in The Indian Express said. The assault reportedly took place at 11.30 pm. The security guard apparently refused to let the patient's family enter the casualty ward. The patient was complaining of abdominal pain and was referred to the labour room. Speaking to The Indian Express, Dr Sumit Paria, president, Resident Doctors Association, DDU Hospital, said the members of the family also vandalised the property inside the CMOs office. After the incident, the Delhi Police have arrested three persons in connection with the case. Last month in a similar manner, an orthopaedic doctor at Dhule Civil Hospital in Maharashtra was assaulted by a patients relatives. Following the incident, doctors in Maharashtra also called strike. "The state regulator has asked these blood banks to pull down the shutter as they are repeated defaulters," said its chief Dr H G Koshia. The Gujarat considers these blood banks as substandard due to the unavailability of kits to test antibodies and other equipment related issues. There were 156 blood banks in the state, and with these cancellations, 141 have licenses to operate. Cancellation of licenses has taken place across a number of cities like Ahmadabad, Rajkot among others. India has taken up with Frankfurt airport authorities the matter of an Indian woman being asked to strip by the security officials during her travel on March 29. BISMARCK, N.D. Prolonged protests in North Dakota have failed to stop the flow of oil through the Dakota Access pipeline, at least for now, but they have provided inspiration and a blueprint for protests against pipelines in other states. The months of demonstrations that sought to halt the four-state pipeline have largely died off with the February clearing of the main protest camp and the completion of the pipeline, which will soon be moving oil from North Dakota to a distribution point in Illinois. Four Sioux tribes are still suing to try to halt the project, which they say threatens their water supply, cultural sites and religious rights. But they've faced a string of court setbacks. Nevertheless, Dakota Access protest organizers don't view their efforts as wasted. They say the protests helped raise awareness nationwide about their broader push for cleaner energy and greater respect for the rights of indigenous people. "The opportunity to build awareness started at Standing Rock and it's spreading out to other areas of the United States," said Dave Archambault, the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, which has led the legal push to shut down the pipeline project. As protesters left the area in southern North Dakota where the Dakota Access pipeline crosses under a Missouri River reservoir that serves as the tribes' water supply, organizers called on them to take the fight to other parts of the country where pipelines are in the works. The tactics used in North Dakota resistance camps, prominent use of social media, online fundraising are now being used against several projects. They include the Sabal Trail pipeline that will move natural gas from Alabama to Florida; the Trans-Pecos natural gas pipeline in Texas; the Diamond pipeline that will carry oil from Oklahoma to Tennessee; and the Atlantic Sunrise pipeline that will move natural gas from Pennsylvania to Virginia. They're also being used against projects that are still in the planning stages, including the proposed Pilgrim oil pipeline in New York and New Jersey and the proposed Bayou Bridge Pipeline in Louisiana. Dakota Access opponents have also vowed to fight against the resurgent Keystone XL pipeline, which would move crude oil from Canada to Nebraska and on to Texas Gulf Coast refineries. "A big part of our message was not just to nationalize the fight against Dakota Access, but to highlight regional issues that people are facing," said Dallas Goldtooth, an organizer with the Indigenous Environmental Network. "To use our momentum." The influence of the Dakota Access protest is evident in various forms. For example, some who protested in North Dakota have gone to Texas and Florida to help with those demonstrations, according to Goldtooth. The Red Warrior Society, a pipeline protest group that advocated aggressive tactics in North Dakota, is promoting resistance in other states via social media. There are nearly a dozen accounts on the GoFundMe crowdfunding site seeking money to battle the Sabal Trail and Trans-Pecos pipelines. The Society of Native Nations, which is fighting the Trans-Pecos, used the protest camp model from North Dakota to set up a camp in Texas, according to Executive Director Frankie Orona. "I really believe this momentum is going to stay alive," said Orona. "Standing Rock was the focal point, was the root of this movement. If we learned anything from Standing Rock, it's the power of unity. It wasn't one (tribal) nation it was more than 400." Hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of Dakota Access opponents congregated at the main protest camp for half a year, often clashing with police to draw attention to their cause. More than 750 people were arrested between early August and late February, when the camp was closed in advance of spring flooding season. The prolonged protest garnered widespread and consistent attention on social media, and it has filtered down, to some degree, to the pipeline protests elsewhere. That has elevated activists' concerns from local demonstrations to a national stage, according to Brian Hosmer, an associate professor of Western American history at the University of Tulsa. "Social media makes it more difficult to shut off the camera," he said. "In some way, they're their own reporters and they don't need the networks to report it. Social media connects the tribe; it now connects all of these separate groups." For now, the energy industry and its allies say they're unconcerned. The Dakota Access movement wrote the new playbook for pipeline opponents, but it might be less effective under Trump, said Craig Stevens, spokesman for the MAIN Coalition, a group of agriculture, business and labor entities that long spoke in favor of the pipeline. Trump approved its completion shortly after taking office and he has taken other steps favorable to the fossil fuel industry while rolling back Obama-era environmental protections. U.S. Rep. Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican who has advised Trump on energy issues, said pipeline developers have learned to prepare for resistance, and he thinks the anti-pipeline movement will fade if protesters fail to achieve their goals and get discouraged. Juliana Schwartz, senior campaigner for Change.org, which helps people and groups advance causes, disagrees, saying the environmental protest movement appears to be strong. A "people against pipelines" page on the group's website recently listed 16 petitions related to energy projects mostly pipelines in more than half a dozen states, with nearly 725,000 supporters. "The broader movement to stop resource extraction has taken inspiration from (Dakota Access)," Schwartz said. "I think we can expect to see this trend continue as more and more communities feel that their safety and health is under threat due to the president's support of the fossil fuel industry over marginalized communities." Contributing to this story were Associated Press writers Justin Juozapavicius in Tulsa, Oklahoma; David Warren in Dallas; Dave Kolpack in Fargo, North Dakota; and Ken Miller in Oklahoma City. The government would provide more autonomy and grants to top institutes and universities to promote competition, Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar said on Monday, while releasing a ranking of educational institutions. If you are diabetic and prefer to go to bed late, you may be at an increased risk of developing depression, researchers say. According to a study, people with Type 2 diabetes who are "night owls" and prefer the evening for activity report having more symptoms of -- regardless of the quality of their sleep -- than those who sleep early and are early risers. "These findings are important because is common in patients with Type 2 diabetes," said lead investigator Sirimon Reutrakul, Associate Professor at Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand. The study supports an association between circadian regulation and psychological functioning in patients with Type 2 diabetes. "Learning more about the relationship between and circadian functioning might help us figure out strategies to improve physical and mental for patients with diabetes," Reutrakul said. For the study, presented at the Endocrine Society's 99th annual meeting in Orlando, the team examined people with type 2 diabetes. Because chronotype -- propensity for an individual to sleep at a particular time during a 24-hour period -- may differ by geographic location with a greater morning preference near the equator, the researchers studied diabetic patients from two different geographic regions: Chicago and Thailand. The US group consisted of 194 patients, 70 per cent of whom were women, while the Thai group consisted of 282 patients, 67 per cent of whom were women. For both groups, those who preferred the evening reported more depression symptoms than did those with a morning preference, the researchers said. (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.) Facebook paid $22 billion (Rs.1,472.79 crore) or, almost 2.5 times Facebooks 2013 gross revenues to buy WhatsApp, a company with net loss of over $138 million at the time. Why? One obvious reason, of course, was to stave off potential competition and start its way towards becoming a social media conglomerate. A cargo ship with 11 Indian crew members on board has been hijacked by pirates off the Somalian coast, officials from the Directorate General of Shipping said on Monday. "It is not a big ship but a dhow. It was hijacked yesterday and is now sailing towards the shore of Somalia," DGS Malini Shankar told PTI. The Indian-flagged ship was on a voyage from Dubai to Yemen when it was hijacked, she said, adding that it had 11 Indian crew members on board. Shankar said the pirates are interested in the cargo on the ship and have not put forward a ransom demand so far, adding that the details of the cargo are not known yet. There is a possibility of the vessel being released without the cargo once it reaches the shore this evening, she said. Instances of Somali pirates striking have come down considerably over the past few years, helping India convince the insurance bodies to do away with a high-risk premium the trade was paying. Industries in will get a push under the Adityanath government in . To attract investment and give a thrust to industrial development the Yogi Adityanath led Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) government in UP will soon come out with a new industrial policy. Aman Pasrija is thanking his stars. Had his bar been just 50 metres closer to the NH 8, he would be suffering a loss of Rs 2.5 lakh daily. In a sector in which location is a key factor, Pasrija escaped by a hairs breadth and was saved from closing the bar in his 80-cover restaurant in the Cyber Hub area in Gurgaon.I have never felt luckier. We are 550 metres away from the highway. Guess what, I got a surveyor to again measure the distance, just to be sure. My bar can run, he said. Afraid of putting his luck at risk, Pasrija does not want the name of his restaurant to be published. Even as the country braces for a harsh summer, 24,000 Mw of gas-based power projects would go off the grid, owing to no supply of fuel. The units affected belong to state-owned NTPC and the Gujarat State Electricity Supply Company, as well as private players such as CLP India, Torrent Power, GVK Industries, and Lanco Power GMR Energy. The central government was supporting the projects through a subsidised gas-bidding programme, but has now decided to shelve it. This follows reluctance from the states that have refused to purchase power at Rs 4 per unit. Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra, which have gas-based power projects, have refused to buy power from these plants, citing high costs. After the last round of bidding last year, states did not sign power-purchase agreements, said a senior power ministry official. Piyush Goyal, minister of state with independent charge for coal, power, mines, and new and renewable energy, was also reported to have said, The scheme is being discontinued. But, if there is interest from all sides, we can resume it. Of the 24,150 Mw of gas grid-connected power generation capacity in the country, 14,305 Mw has no supply of domestic gas. Investment in these projects, to the tune of about Rs 60,000 crore, could become non-performing assets. The remaining capacity (9,845 Mw), with investment of about Rs 40,000 crore, is working at sub-optimal levels, because of the limited domestic supply of gas. The government floated a reverse e-auction process for to avail subsidy for buying costly imported gas regasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG). This involved a reverse bid for the subsidy amount to come from Power System Development Fund (PSDF) to purchase RLNG. The bid amount reflects the amount of subsidy support that the power generators seek from the government. The bidding was held on the e-bidding platform built by public sector undertaking the MSTC. The eligible bidders indicated the total incremental electricity they would generate using the e-bid RLNG. The companies also quoted the subsidy they required to ensure the net purchase price for the distribution companies to buy that power, without exceeding the target power load factor. Rescue efforts June 2015: Government initiated programme to auction subsidised imported gas June 2015-September 2016: Four rounds of bidding Average power tariff: Rs 4.5 per unit Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra refuse to buy costly gas-based power In September, no state signed a power-purchase agreement The four rounds were held in June 2015, and March, May and September last year. Under a unique arrangement, every stakeholder in the supply chain would have to forego a part of their returns on operations. While the central government would give up service tax it levies on gas sourcing, power plant operators would forego return on equity. GAIL would source the imported gas, and, along with Gujarat State Petronet, would forgo 50 per cent of their transmission rate and 75 per cent of marketing margin in supplying imported RLNG. The lead banker to these plants would ensure all receipts of money would be utilised only for payments towards the variable cost of generation (fuel cost) and the operation and maintenance expenses, in accordance with regulatory guidelines. Debt servicing would be made after capping fixed cost. The Centre has said that it will not share the financial burden of farm-loan waivers announced by states. Superjoint tops 3-band metalfest Philip H. Anselmo's Superjoint, with Battlecross and Child Bite, Friday, May 5, 8 p.m. Tickets for the all-ages show are $28 in advance and $31 at the door. Superjoint, formally Superjoint Ritual, is an American metal band formed by Phil Anselmo, Joe Fazzio and Jimmy Bower in the early 1990s, later to be joined by Hank Williams III and Kevin Bond. Their style can be considered a mix of Pantera's style of groove metal and hardcore punk. A small trace of black metal can be heard, as well. Bands like Venom, Slayer, Celtic Frost, Voivod, and Darkthrone have been noted as influences. Despite their early '90s establishment, it wasn't until a decade later, after the folding of Pantera, that the group recorded any albums. It was then that Superjoint Ritual garnered significant TV exposure on programs such as MTV2's "Headbangers Ball" and Fuse TV's "Uranium." Brothers Gow return with big grooves Sunday, May 7, 8 p.m. Tickets for the age-21-plus show are $10. The San Diego quintet Brothers Gow combines rock, funk, jazz and reggae influences with thoughtful lyrics, deep grooves and an ear for improvisation that keeps each show fresh and unique. With more than 500 shows under their belts, this well-seasoned band started off in Flagstaff, Arizona, and since moving to Southern California, has developed a more dynamic sound, adding strong vocal harmonies and complex arrangements to their guitar-driven rock. Add to this mix an awe inspiring light show, and you have a recipe for a memorable concert experience. The more evolved sound of Brothers Gow can be heard in "Reflections," their fourth studio album, that runs the gamut from arena rock and uptempo dance grooves to more musically and lyrically emotive tracks and some fan-favorite instrumental compositions that showcase Brothers Gows tight arrangements. Pop-country's Baldridge on tap Friday, June 2, 8 p.m. Tickets to the all-ages show are $13 in advance, $18 day of show. Music is best when its authentic, when it comes straight from an artists heart and bursts from the speakers. It makes a connection with the listener that forms an immediate bond. Drew Baldridge creates music with that kind of impact. The happy-go-lucky guy looking to get his groove on in his debut single Dance With Ya is the same Drew that enjoys visiting with fans after a show, and its that kind of down-home charm combined with a powerful voice and constantly honed songwriting skills that make Baldridge one of country musics most promising new talents. Its really who I am. I love to dance, Baldridge says of his debut single. Sirius XM jumped on it. CMT loved the video and they put it on. I was kind of scared at first about how people were going to take to it because it is really different, but it has taught me to not to shy away from my influences and to just do what I love. I think thats what people like about it is they can see when Im singing it on stage that I love it. Igor bringing his Siberian surf rock Tuesday, June 13, 9 p.m. Tickets for the age-21-plus show are $13. As an independent band, Red Elvises have produced 12 studio albums, two live albums, a live concert DVD, and a Greatest Hits compilation. Some of their most notable film contributions include music and or performances in Six String Samurai, Mail Order Bride, "Armageddon, Skippy, Melrose Place, Fastlane," Penn and Teller's Sin City Extravaganza, and VH-1 Behind the Music." Red Elvises have performed for large festivals, private parties, and played on massive stages such as 2005's Live 8 Benefit Concert. No matter where they perform, Igor & Red Elvises always bring the party with them. STRFKR, Psychic Twin pair for June show Wednesday, June 28, 8 p.m. Tickets to the all-ages show are $21 in advance and $24 at the door. STRFKR has partnered with Plus 1 so that $1 from every ticket goes to support the ACLU. Being No One, Going Nowhere, the title of STRFKRs fourth album, may seem bleak at first. But hold it in your head a minute, feel its weight, and you may recognize the phrase for what it is: a goal. In the era of the personal brand, its increasingly hard to shed a stifling sense of self, or to just be in the moment that youre in. Well, consider this an invitation to get blissfully insignificant. Thats what STRFKR founder Joshua Hodges aimed to do when he exiled himself to the desert to create this record, but he returned with his most significant work yet: a set of darkly glistening dance songs rife with sticky beats, earworm-ing hooks, philosophical heft and bittersweet beauty. The live setup these days includes a custom-made LED wall and a homemade light show that syncs with the rhythm of the songs (also, the occasional crowd-surfing astronaut and band-in drag. Even if STRFKR is too busy pushing the future of indie dance-pop forward to possibly attain his goal of unplugging, his aspiration is everything: Existing is it. This moment is enough. Japanese rockers Guitar Wolf visit Tuesday, June 27, 8 p.m. Tickets for the all-ages show are $15 in advance and $18 at the door. Guitar Wolf is a Japanese garage rock power trio founded in 1987. The band is known for songs with piercing vocals and an extremely loud style of noise-influenced punk which emphasizes heavy distortion and feedback. They coined the phrase jet rock n roll, which they also use to describe their musical style an energetic cross between the Ramones, Link Wray, rockabilly, '77 punk, and garage rock. The band is part of Sony Music Japans Ki/oon Records division. Guitar Wolf has released nine studio albums internationally as well as a live album, numerous singles, and a retrospective compilation called "Golden Black." The band members have also been featured in two B-grade science fiction horror movies, "Wild Zero" and "Sore Losers." Asleep at the Wheel play Ballroom Friday, July 28, 8 p.m. Tickets for the all-ages show are $38. A reserved table for six is $303. Ray Benson founded Asleep at the Wheel in Paw Paw, West Virginia, 46 years ago. Now based in Austin, the band has notched 10 Grammy awards, 20 studio albums and 20 singles on the Billboard country charts. The Grammy Award-winning Still The King: Celebrating the Music of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys is the band's most recent release and marks their third full-length Bob Wills tribute album. Featuring 22 acclaimed collaborations, the all-star line up includes legends such as Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and George Strait, as well as newer stars The Avett Brothers, Amos Lee, Old Crow Medicine Show and many other fine talents. Asleep at the Wheel is bringing a fresh look and sound into 2017. Now traveling as an eight-piece band, recent additions Katie Shore (fiddle, vocals), Dennis Ludiker (fiddle, mandolin) and Connor Forsyth (keyboard, vocals) have instilled a newfound energy and their own unique style within the band. Between those Texas twin fiddles and boogie piano, you can bet you'll be dancin' down the aisles and swingin' all night long when the Wheel rolls into town! Reckless Kelly to make Ballroom stop Sunday, Aug. 20, 8 p.m. Tickets to the all-ages show are $28. Understanding the virtuosity of Reckless Kelly requires the perspective of where the band has been. Cody and Willy Braun grew up in the White Cloud Mountains of Idaho. They moved to Bend, Oregon, and then migrated to that great musical fountainhead, Austin, Texas. The bands co-founders and frontmen toured the country as part of their fathers band, Muzzie Braun and the Boys, as children. They performed on The Tonight Show twice. Their father taught his four sons a professional ethic integrity, persistence, hard work and professionalism honed over three generations. They overcame hardships, struggled for recognition, and learned the lessons of the trial and error that defined them. In one sense, its remarkable in the way of any musician, athlete, or businessperson who bucks the odds. Conor Oberst coming to Ballroom Tuesday, Sept. 5, 8 p.m. Tickets for the all-ages show are $26. Oberst is donating $1 from each ticket to support Planned Parenthood. Conor Oberst was last in Billings in 2008, when he played Bones Brewing with the Mystic Valley Band. He had played the Shrine Auditorium the year before with his band Bright Eyes. He returns Sept. 5 for a night in the Pub Station Ballroom. Oberts has been playing in bands and releasing recordings since he was 13. Along with his own bands, hes also performed with Desaparecidos and the Monsters of Folk. In the fall of 2015, and after more than a decade of living in New York City, Oberst returned to his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. Like John Lennon so famously said: Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans. After canceling a tour with Desaparecidos due to serious health issues, Oberst returned home to recuperate. I dont know if you know what Omaha is like in the winter, but its just paralyzing. Youre stranded in the house. Every night I was staying up late, making a point to play the new piano I had just bought and watching the snow fall outside the house. Everybody would be asleep and I would just go into this one room, make a fire, and play all night. In November I had a whole pick-up truck full of firewood delivered and I thought, Im never going to run out of it. Before I knew I had gone through half of the firewood and I had five songs. By February I had burned through it all, and I had 15 songs. I had just spent the whole winter making fires and playing music. His Salutations includes full band versions of the ten songs from Ruminations, plus seven additional songs, some from an additional session at Five Star Studios in Echo Park in fall 2016. Oberst says of the Salutations sessions: "Jim (Keltner) was really the captain of the ship and the spiritual leader of the project. We leaned heavy on his fifty-plus years of musical insight to get us to where we needed to be. He brought such depth and dignity to the proceedings that made everyone else involved rise to the occasion. It was a true stroke of luck that he got involved when he did. The industry has urged the government to review, and preferably reiterate, the wording of the change in law provisions in the national policy on rates (National Tariff Policy). The sudden rise in temperature across much of the north, central and western parts of the country in the last week of March heralded the arrival of summer and rattled everyone. If the meteorological forecast is correct, this is just the beginning: April and May are expected to be hot and dry, and could lead to a severe . Barring a minor relief in the next three to four days, temperatures across most parts of the country would be above normal in April and May. There is unlikely to be any pre-monsoon activity over the next two months, said Mahesh Palawat, chief meteorologist at Skymet, a private weather forecasting firm. The India Meteorological Department (IMD), too, in its summer forecast in February, had said temperatures in most parts of the country from March to May would be above normal. About 16 states would experience a heat wave. In a recent workshop on dealing with heat waves, the Met said May would be worse than April, with temperatures rising above 42 degrees Celsius in many places. Worse, the monsoon outlook for this year has inspired little confidence so far. The IMD is expected to release the official monsoon forecast in mid-April. But, if forecasts of private agencies and some global models are considered, the rains this year could be less than average. All this seems to signal a long, dry summer. This could have severe consequences for people, livestock and agriculture. The levels in the 91-odd reservoirs across the country, which provide water for drinking and irrigation, have also started falling. Between March 16 and 30, water levels in these reservoirs dropped by four percentage points, reaching 33% of their full capacity. The situation in reservoirs of the south is the worst, with water levels dropping fast. Most experts believe as it gets hotter, water levels could shrink quicker than expected, triggering a crisis. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a recent directive to all ministries and states, urged them to focus on water conservation projects under various schemes such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Generation Act (MGNREGA) and the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana in the next three months. Under the MGNREGA, the Centre had planned to build about 900,000 farm ponds across the country in 2016-17. Most of these were supposed to be built in drought-prone states such as Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Drinking water is likely to be impacted first, Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of South-Asia Network of Dams, Rivers and People, told Business Standard. The because of the heat wave and a prolonged summer is likely to be different in different parts of the country. Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are already suffering from drought. The summer might aggravate the condition. Elsewhere, too, rural areas seem more vulnerable to drinking water and other sorts of crisis, said Thakkar of South-Asia Network of Dams, Rivers and People. ALSO READ: Drought scare? Parched South India faces varying degrees of water crunch He said the push towards building farm ponds and other conservation projects by the state and central governments was good. However, a study of farm ponds in Maharashtra showed in many places people filled these with groundwater, without waiting for the rains to arrive. This defeated the entire exercise. According to international water safety organisation Water Aid, India has the most number of rural people living without access to clean water 63.4 million. It ranked in the top 38% of countries most vulnerable to climate change and least ready to adapt. A report published by it also shows with 67% of the population in rural areas and 7% of the rural population living without access to clean water, the rural poor were highly vulnerable to the effects of extreme weather and climate change. If the summer is long and El Nino leads to a delay in monsoon, it could effect three major areas on agriculture in rain-fed areas; livestock in Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Karnataka; and the human population, as water demand will rise fast while replenishment of reservoirs, tanks and wells could take longer than usual, said Bharat Sharma, professor emeritus, International Water Management Institute. The IMD, the National Disaster Management Authority, the Red Cross Society and the Medical Council of India (MCI) have got into a mission mode to tackle the ill-effects of summer. So far, most agriculturists have said the sudden rise in temperature has not had much impact on farming, except for late-sown varieties of wheat, pulses or mustard. The bulk of the crop has already been harvested. However, if the summer is prolonged and the monsoon is late, this could have an impact on sowing patterns and maturity of crops, leading to lower yields. In some parts of western Uttar Pradesh (UP), the standing wheat crop might be impacted because of the sudden rise in temperatures. Seventy-eighty% of the crop in these parts is sown late. Besides this, the heat wave does not seem to have any impact on other rabi crops, a senior scientist said. Rashtrapati Bhavan to host in association with Bharatiya Yuva Shakti trust a summit on mentoring grassroots entrepreneurs in smart grams for inclusive growth . The Rashtrapati Bhavan will host a Summit on Mentoring Grassroots Entrepreneurs in Smart Grams for Inclusive Growth" on April 5, 2017. . . The Summit is being organized by the Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust (BYST), as part of its Silver Jubilee Celebrations with the aim of supporting employability initiatives in the country and encouraging youth to take up entrepreneurship. The event will bring together industry veterans, mentors from different fields and BYSTs entrepreneurs, to share views on achieving sustainable employability. . . The day-long Summit will have six sessions including:- Setting a national agenda for Youth entrepreneurship for inclusive growth;Gurukul Diaries: In conversation with a Mentor; Promoting 'Smart Grampreneurs'; Entrepreneurship: How it can power urban development"; Guftgu A freewheeling dialogue on mentoring and a special plenary with the President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee. Union Ministers Shri Venkaiah Naidu, Shri Suresh Prabhu, Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy will also address the Summit. . . A blast hit the metro system of Russia's second city Saint Petersburg on Monday, authorities said, with news agencies quoting security sources as saying that about 11 people have been killed. "The Saint Petersburg prosecutor's office has begun to investigate the blast in a train carriage" at the Technological Institute metro station's platform, the prosecutors' statement said. Hours later, anguish and fear rose again when police found and defused a shrapnel-packed explosive device at another St. Petersburg station. A source in the emergencies services told Russian news agencies that "around 11 people were killed", according to preliminary information. The station is a busy hub of the underground network in the centre of Russia's second largest city. The Saint Petersburg metro said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies that it has closed two stations, Technological Institute and Sennaya Ploshchad two neighbouring stations on one line and is evacuating all passengers. "Evacuation of passengers is ongoing, there are people injured," it said. "An unidentified object supposedly blew up in a (train) carriage." President Vladimir Putin, who is holding a meeting near Saint Petersburg in his official Strelna presidential palace, offered "condolences" to those hurt in the blast. Following the reports, the Moscow metro also announced that it is "taking additional security measures" as required by law in such situations, according to the network's official Twitter account. Australian Prime Minister is likely to make his first official visit to India next week during which he is expected to hold bilateral talks on sectors, including education, trade and defence. Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited Turnbull last year during the G-20 Summit in China. Turnbull will be accompanied by his Education and Training Minister Simon Birmingham who is leading the 'Australia India Skills Mission' comprising a strong delegation of education experts. Turnbull's office did not divulge details of the official programme, saying "PM'stravel arrangements could not be revealed until an official announcement is made". The visit will be an opportunity to further build relations with India which may include discussions on trade, defence, education and skills sector. CraigJeffrey, Director of Australia India Institute (AII), the Melbourne-based think-tank, Avis said the two leaders (Turnbull and Modi) will have a natural affinity as both placed a premium on youth, jobs and innovation. He said that the visit was a crucial moment for reflecting on the complementary strengths of higher education in India and Australia. "Flow of people and ideas knit Australia and India together. Now is the time to capitalise on these connections," Jeffrey said. Australia India Business council (AIBC) national chair Sheba Nandkeolyar attached great importance to the upcoming A visit by another Prime Minister is highly regarded in India. This implies that Australia means business and India is viewed as a strategic partner," he said. She further said the delegation will be an opportunity to establish stronger links with Indian counterparts and gain a deeper understanding of the Indian training market and the challenges it faces in educating and skilling its large population. "We have several AIBC delegates in this mission and while there may be no FTA (free trade agreement) - there will be certainly a lot of bilateral business opportunities that will unfold both for Australia & India," she said. She said that the bilateral business engagement between the two sides had grown in recent years and there was an upsurge in the trade figures. "Australia has a lot to offer beyond the traditional areas of the trade relationship hinging on Minerals & Energy. Proudly both countries already enjoy a strategic Defence Partnership with regular visits from both end,"Nandkeolyar, who hoped formore agreements to be signed during the visit, said. 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? The government owned Food Corporation of India (FCI) faces stiff competition from private players, including local stockists and multinational companies (MNCs) for wheat procurement due to the grain price quoting at above the minimum support price (MSP) this season in Madhya Pradesh. tanked 16% to Rs 208.50, also its 52-week low on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in early morning trade after the company said it has received a warning letter from the US health regulator for its Goa plant. A citizen advisory panel convened by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks to provide guidance on the agencys management plan for chronic wasting disease will hold its first meeting in Bozeman April 5-6. The meeting will be held at the Region 3 office in Bozeman, 1400 South 19th, starting at 9 a.m. on April 5 and 8:30 a.m. on April 6. Public comment will be taken after a lunch break both days. The first meeting of the 12-member panel will bring them up to speed on the history of CWD, the latest science, how other states and provinces have dealt with CWD, and the management response proposed by the agency. The panel will also hear a brief overview of FWPs management plan, including some proposed updates. This meeting is meant to be the first of at least three. CWD has not yet been found in Montanas wild populations of deer, elk and moose. FWP started testing for CWD in 1998 and that effort continues, with specific attention given to high priority areas in southeast and northern Montana where confirmed cases of CWD are closest. FWP began planning its response should the disease be discovered in Montana in the late 1990s, as well. The only documented cases of CWD in Montana were in captive animals at a game farm in Philipsburg in 1998; however, CWD has been detected in free-ranging populations in 22 other states and two Canadian provinces. For more information about the meeting, contact John Vore at 406-444-3940. Indias largest commodity exchange, MCX, has suffered in its global ranking, despite showing growth in terms of the number of contracts traded. Russias Moscow Exchange has seen an increase in crude oil trading. Not only that, Moscow exchange has now surpassed Eurex which used to be largest in Europe so far due to a consistent increase in currency trading. Riding on good PMI numbers and strong rupee, both indices ended the day at their respective record closing highs. The manufacturing sector expanded at the fastest pace in five months in March with Nikkei Manufacturing PMI at 52.5 in March, as compared to 50.7 in February. Finance Minister pegging India's GDP growth at 7.7% in 2018 and hopes of timely implementation of GST also aided the sentiment. Tibetan spiritual leader the on Sunday shared an emotional moment with retired havildar of Assam Rifles who escorted him to India during his escape from Tibet in March 1959. A visibly emotional had a nostalgic moment with Naren Chandra Das at Pragjyoti ITA Cultural Centre at Machkhowa here. He fell silent, saluted Das, held him tight and wiped tears away from his eyes. Das was part of the team which escorted the Tibetan spiritual leader safely into India on March 31, 1959. "I am extremely happy to meet this old man who had escorted me in March 1959. This was about 58 years back. You must have been retired now. Looking at your face, I am now feeling that I have also grown very old," the said. Das is the last known survivor of the group of five Indian army personnel which met the Dalai Lama on Indian soil, 58 years ago after the Chinese crackdown. Seventy-nine years old Das went down memory lane to recount to this reporter how he and his colleagues led by their section commander were ordered to move to the international border to receive 'a special guest' and bring him to India safely. Das was around 20 years old when he met the Dalai Lama, who was 23 years old at that time, on the McMohan line that marks India's northern border. Hundreds of Afghan protesters on Monday demonstrated outside the Government House in Canberra, the first day of President Ashraf Ghani's visit, over Kabul's discriminatory treatment of Hazaras. Protesters called on Ghani to end discrimination against the Hazara community and to refuse accepting the repatriation of Afghan refugees in Australia who were rejected by Canberra, reports Tolo News. According to Australian media reports, the group of protestors demanded Australia and Afghanistan revisit a 2011 deal to send failed Afghan asylum seekers home. Wahid Akbary, an Afghan refugee living in Australia since 2008, said Taliban militants in Afghanistan were being allowed to kill Hazaras with impunity. Another protester Barat Ali Batoor said the security situation in Afghanistan for members of the Hazara community was so bad that it would be dangerous if refugees from the community were returned to Afghanistan. Monday was the first full day of Ghani's historic tour to Australia - the first such visit ever by an Afghani president. Ghani is expected to sign economic agreements while in Australia, the first stop in his three nation Asia-Pacific tour. According to his office, he will meet Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull while in Canberra. Ghani has already met a number of officials including Australia's Foreign Minister Julie Bishop. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Dubbing the recent violence against African students in India as 'Xenophobic', heads of African missions in India have called for an independent investigation by the Human Rights Council as well as other human rights bodies into these incidents. The envoys also expressed disappointment that these acts of violence were not "sufficiently condemned by the Indian Authorities." The development comes after four Nigerian nationals were thrashed by the locals in Greater Noida last week when a Class 12 student in NSG Black Cats Enclave died due to suspected drug overdose, which the locals blamed on the Nigerian students. "As regards the recent unfortunate incident in Greater Noida, the African Heads of Mission strongly condemn the incident and express their deep concern and also take note that these reprehensible events, both outstanding and unresolved cases against Africans, were not sufficiently condemned by the Indian Authorities," said a statement issued by the Office of the Dean of African Group Head of Missions. "The meeting unanimously agreed that those accumulated attacks against Africans are Xenophobic and racial in nature," the statement said, adding, "they equally expressed their expectations for strong condemnation from the highest political level (both nationally and locally) of the Government of India, as well as expediting legal actions against the perpetrators." The heads also agreed to take further actions including the call for an independent investigation by the Human Rights Council as well as other human rights bodies, and also to comprehensively report the matter to the African Union Commission, said the statement. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday cleared four people, including Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Indresh Kumar, of charges in the 2007 Ajmer Dargah blast case. Earlier in the day, a report was submitted in the special NIA court in Jaipur as the counter-terrorism agency could not find enough evidence against the four. Three more accused Sandeep Dange, Suresh Nair and Ram Chandra Kalsangra are still held responsible for the crime. Justice Dinesh Gupta expressed disapproval over NIA's inability to arrest the trio. The court has written to NIA's Director General of police (DGP), asking for a progress report on efforts to arrest the other three. The explosion at the popular Sufi shrine in Ajmer in October 2007 killed three people and wounded 17. Besides Ajmer, Sadhvi has been a suspect in the 2008 Malegaon bombing that killed seven people. The special NIA court had earlier found Hindu right-wing activists Sunil Joshi and Devendra Gupta guilty of planning the blast, and Bhavesh Bhai Patel of planting the explosive. Both the men were sentenced to life imprisonment on March 22. Earlier this week, the court had directed the NIA to present evidence that verifies the deaths of two other people in the case, Jayanti Bhai Gohil and Ramesh Gohil. Both men were accused in the Gujarat Best Bakery Blast in 2002. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Condemning the attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy by militants, Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh on Monday said that such Pakistan sponsored elements would never be successful on their mission as the Indian armed forces are well-equipped to counter such attacks. "While elections are in Kashmir, Pakistan and their sponsored terrorists, separatists don't want democracy to function in Kahsmir valley as all boycott calls have been defeated by the people. But ultimately I think that the people will ultimately defeat their designs," Singh told ANI. "They are thinking that security forces are demoralised after such attacks on them, but they are living in fool's paradise," he added. One succumbed to injuries and as many as five CRPF personnel were injured after some unknown gunmen opened fire at their convoy in Pantha Chowk in Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar. "Our companies were going from Jammu to Srinagar. We were fired upon by terrorists. Six personnel are injured and are taken to the hospital. It's a sensitive time. The separatists have called for boycott of elections. We are on high alert. The CRPF is doing its duty," Bhavesh Chaudhary, PRO, CRPF told ANI. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh) [India],Apr. 3 (ANI)| Arunachal Pradesh is fully ready to welcome Tibetan spiritual leader The Dalai Lama during his three-day visit from April 4. The Noble Laureate arrived in Guwahati on Saturday. Buddhist inhabitants of Tawang and West Kamang districts are waiting impatiently for what they see as their life time experience. The Dalai Lama is scheduled to visit Lumla, the Tawang Monastery and the Ngingmapa Monastery in Dirang. The local administration in these place has been busy giving a facelift to both of these districts, lawmakers Jambay Tashi (Lumla), Phurfa Tsering (Dirang) told the Arunachal Front. While presenting a paper on 'cultural tourism with a special focus on Buddhist tourism at a seminar held at the RGU between March 26 and March 28, 2007, I had advocated the need for promoting niche tourism in Arunachal. While approving the concept, an expert Professor S C Bagri, the tourism and hotel management department head of Gharwal University, had suggested adequate publicity with committed involvement of all stakeholders. Arunachal Pradesh's winning the Tourism Award 2007-08 as the best state for development of tourism infrastructure in February 2009 was the icing on the cake in a manner of speaking. Tawang is known as The Last Shangri La on Earth, but the monastery was adjudged one of the 'seven wonders of India' on March 30, 2009 via the Incredible India' campaign of the Union Tourism Ministry. Arunachal, which is strategically positioned between Sarnath in Bihar, Lhasa in Tibet, Fulsiling in Bhutan and several South East Asian nations, can be developed as a Buddhist tourism hub of India. Sacred regions of Pemako in Upper Siang district, Tsari area of Upper Subansiri district and Motongsa in Nampong circle of Changlang district are equally important Buddhist pilgrimages. Ashoka's children, Mahendra and Sanghamitra, toured S E Asia, including Myanmar to propagate Buddhism. A huge stone slab with engraving in Motongsa or Kongmu, located in an inaccessible jungle along the Jairampur-Pagsau Pass route bordering Myanmar, attracts Buddhist monks from far and wide. They reach there by trekking on foot for two to three days, and thereafter, worship and mediate for days together. It maybe recalled that the Dalai Lama was received at Khinzemane after he had escaped from Tibet in 1959. He had taken the Zemithang-Lumla route and stayed at globally famous Tawang Monastery or Galden Namgey Lhatse, seat of Mahayana sect of Buddhism. He had proceeded through Senge Jong, Bomdila, Chako and Assam foothills to Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh to set up his headquarters from where Buddhism flourished and spread across the globe with renewed vigour. The Tawang Monastery is 450 years old and has a 27-feet-tall imposing golden Buddha in meditating posture, built by Merak Lama Lodre Gyasto in 1680-1681 to fulfill wishes of 5th Dalai Lama. It is the second largest Buddha-related statue in the world after the one in Lhasa,Tibet. Tawang's Buddhist belt boasts of monasteries and stupas while entry-less Gorsam Chorten (stupa) is unique and opens once every twelve years for the believers to pay their obeisance. Khathing festival or Shanken Festival or Water Festival reflects the great Buddhists traditions. 84,000 candles symbolizing same number of stupas built by Ashoka during his lifetime are lit during the festivals for world peace. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With over 100 people still missing in the wake of the deadly mudslides that tore through southern Colombia, rescuers are scrambling to reach the trapped people in time, with the death toll continuing to soar. Hundreds are reported dead after torrential rains Friday night caused three rivers surrounding Mocoa, in Putumayo province, to overflow, resulting in a torrent of mud flooding through the city. The Colombian military said at least 254 are dead and around 400 more injured, while the Red Cross reports 234 deaths and said that 158 people were missing. Federal officials have said that a police officer was among the victims, reports CNN. Meanwhile, President Juan Manuel Santos has declared a state of emergency and put the death toll at 254, however, admitted that the number could climb. "The first thing I want to say is that my heart, our hearts, the hearts of all Colombians are with the victims of this tragedy," he said from the scene. Santos said 43 children were among the dead, and 22 more were hospitalized. Several children have been reunited with their parents; many children are in shelters, he said. "There are still many missing people. We don't know where they are. That's why the system is still trying to locate them and will continue to do so until we find the last person." Earlier Santos said, "Many people are coming to us saying, 'My son is missing, my father is missing, my mother is missing." Authorities have identified about 170 of the dead, according to the president. "Here we are facing a disaster caused by nature, by climate change," Santos said earlier. He added that the region received nearly 500 millimeters of rain in March, which he said is about 80% more than the usual amount for the month. More than 1,000 soldiers and national police officers are involved in the ongoing rescue effort, and they are facing enormous challenges. "The difficulties we are facing are that it is still raining in the region and the (mudslide) turned up a considerable amount of land. There are mobility issues on almost 80% of the roads, and where the road ends, it is three hours to the place where the (mudslide) took place," a police spokesman told reporters. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) HELENA Montana will spend $1 million to prevent suicide but no one at the Legislature can agree on the best way to do that, which some fear could lead the state to spend it unwisely. More than 10 bills were introduced with competing strategies this session, but a narrow bill with few specific guidelines remains. A top priority for the Legislature was to expand suicide prevention in the state, which has been in the top five states with the most suicides for 40 years. Democrats in the House consulted with experts to draft legislation and gave personal testimony to communicate the urgency of addressing a public health crisis, but most of the bills sat awaiting a committee vote until this week. Facing a deadline to move the proposals out of their first chamber, legislators scrapped all but one with a plan to stitch fragments of policy from all the bills. But that bill, House Bill 118, carried by Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Box Elder, will be in the hands on the Senate. House representatives who said they poured their heart into creating good policy with evidence-based strategies have no guarantee their provisions will be included in the final product. With about 20 days left in the session, its unclear among leadership who will guide the effort and whether House members will be included. Rep. Mary Ann Dunwell, D-Helena, carried one of the bills tabled this week to combat suicide in schools, after seven students at Helena High School killed themselves in the last five years. The calendar is ticking away and we need to just make sure we follow the good work thats already been done by the suicide mortality review team. We have to incorporate whats the latest evidence based public health science, Dunwell said. We cant bury another child. The drafted policies were competing even before the session started. Several legislators, driven by community crises, all carried their own proposals, rather than coordinating a united front on one bill. The flurry of conflicting or overlapping ideas came to a head this week when House Appropriations was under pressure from a transmittal deadline. Rather than continue to advance so many competing ideas, they decided to move just one forward. When the Appropriations committee decided which bills to keep alive, they had to consider the title of bills. A more broad title gives legislators room to amend bills with a wide variation of policy. Two bills with almost identical titles but divergent policy proposals were the final options, but the one touted by experts as containing best practices is not the one that the committee chose to advance. Tale of 3 bills For nearly a decade state leaders have struggled to find a strategy that works. The Legislature required DPHHS to establish a statewide prevention program in 2008 and to hire a suicide prevention coordinator to work with other state agencies. In 2013, the Legislature created the Montana Suicide Mortality Review team to gather comprehensive statewide data, which was used to draft a 2017 strategic plan. But the department does not seem wedded to the best practices in their plan. When asked what the department would like to see in the final bill, Director Sheila Hogan waffled and didnt name specifics. Hogan said the departments goal is to end up with a bill utilizing evidence-based strategies and said she doesnt know which strategies will work. What works on reservations, urban areas and what works in rural areas, we will take those strategies forward, Hogan said. It really is a multi-pronged strategy that were putting together. Two of the bills, one by Rep. Jessica Karjala, D-Billings and the other, by Windy Boy, added language to require DPHHS to use evidence-based strategies. But with no specifics on what constitutes an evidence-based strategy in Windy Boys bill, its uncertain who will be at the table to ensure the department uses best practices. Of the three main proposals under consideration, Windy Boys bill tweaked the existing law by calling for evidence-based strategies and normalizing mental health treatment, but didnt provide specifics. House Bill 590 was the governors bill, carried by Karjala. The bill added language to provide evidence-based strategies and included specific methods based on recommendations from the suicide mortality review team report. It specified that existing grants can go to multiple entities, including tribes, schools, health care providers and community organizations. Karjala's bill established a new section to provide grants specifically to youth prevention programs with evidence they prevent suicide. It includes best practices such as providing mental health screenings in schools, mental health resiliency training for counselors and making available knowledge on adverse childhood experiences. Karjala said the most important part of her bill was encouraging a response to adverse childhood experiences, such as a child witnessing domestic violence. Having an adverse childhood experience increases the likelihood of attempting suicide by two to fivefold throughout a persons life, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Rep. Mary Ann Dunwell, D-Helena, saw her prevention bill tabled in the Appropriations committee on Tuesday. House Bill 265 addressed suicide in schools, which is especially relevant to Dunwells constituents after a local crisis. The bill would have created a school suicide prevention grant program based on a mental health crisis response protocol and either a resiliency curriculum or a suicide prevention curriculum. Ultimately, the Appropriations committee kept Windys Boys bill for an arbitrary reason. While the committee did have to advance a bill with a broad bill title if they wanted to amend it, they could have moved all three bills forward with an understanding the funds could have been split among the proposals, or waited for a Senate committee to consolidate the measures into one bill. The bills by Windy Boy and Karjala had a broad title, making the bill easy to amend. Windy Boys title is revising the state suicide prevention program and Karjalas bill is the same, except for the addition of the word laws at the end. As vice chair of House Appropriations, Rep. Kelly McCarthy, D-Billings, made a plea to the committee to move both bills forward to meet the deadline, but Karjalas bill was tabled on an 11-11 vote. Policy-wise it was the better bill, McCarthy said. When asked why the committee didnt move both bills forward, Chair Nancy Ballance, R-Hamilton, said either one would have worked, but Windy Boys bill came to the committee first. We just took the first one, she said. Its either that or flip a coin. Next steps Now, theres talk among legislators of creating a working group with House and Senate members to come up with the best policy using Windy Boys bill as the vehicle. Some legislators have said parts of the bills by Karjala and Dunwell will end up in the final version, but others didnt guarantee changes. So far, neither Karjala or Dunwell have been invited to give input. While McCarthy expects a good portion of Karjalas legislation to be resurrected, he said too many cooks in the kitchen could jeopardize efficiency. I would be surprised if shes in the room, he said. McCarthy said he thought Sen. Albert Olszewski, R-Kalispell, would most likely lead the working group. Olszewski said hes going to to look into the merit of all the suicide-related bills, but he said theres no determined process to create a comprehensive bill. Dunwell said shes been asking different legislators about how she can make sure she has a seat at the table, but hasnt heard anything concrete. Im getting the feeling there isnt one, Dunwell said. I want to make sure I can have a voice. My voice represents the voices of so many people who provided input on this bill. In addition to consulting experts to draft her policy, Dunwell included input from students, teachers and administrators who came to testify in overwhelming support of the bill. All I can do is express my sincere interest, she said. In addition to being a legislator, one of the reasons this is such an important issue to me is I have experience as a parent. I didnt lose anybody, but I nearly did. Karjala also worries the best policy wont make it into the bill. She said she spent two years working on her suicide prevention bill. It had wide support, including personal testimony from Director Hogan, who would be overseeing changes to the program at DPHHS. By arbitrarily choosing one bill to advance, Karjala said the Appropriations committee is determining policy when their job is to find funding. Even if they have the best of intent, how would they decide what should go into it? Karjala said. They are throwing good policy and good testimony out the window. White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law, went to Iraq this weekend and is likely to be back in the United States early this week. This is his first visit to Iraq since assuming a portfolio of foreign affairs in the Trump Government. Kushner was invited by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Joseph Dunford, and is traveling with him, sources told CNN. However, it is still not clear as to what is on his itinerary. Meanwhile, Kushner is expected to have a major role in the meetings later this week between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Not only is Kushner married to the President's daughter Ivanka, but he is also one of his most influential advisers. After taking the office on January 20th, Trump swore on planning out a new strategy to defeat the Islamic State that seized major portions of Iraq and Syria in 2014. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) For majority of people, having kids of their own is very important, even for the transgender couples! A team of Canadian researchers found that most of the transgender people lack knowledge regarding reproductive options, suggesting that before undergoing a hormone therapy, they should have a detailed discussion with their care professionals about fertility preservation, so as to access the available reproductive options. "Modern techniques allow people of transgender experience to have biological children by freezing their sperm or eggs before hormone treatment," said study's senior investigator Adam Millar from the University of Toronto. Adding, "This option was not offered to transgender people in the past, but our study shows that 97 percent of transgender individuals feel that the option to freeze sperm or eggs should be offered to them prior to treatment that may affect their fertility. The team surveyed transgender patients, attending routine medical visits at three medical centers in Toronto, about their knowledge and beliefs regarding fertility. They analysed 213 adults, ages 17 to 69, who completed the written questionnaire - 108 who were assigned male at birth and 103 were assigned female. "Early discussions with care professionals about fertility preservation before commencing gender transition-related therapies may improve awareness of and access to available reproductive options," Millar explained. The results indicated that 78 percent of participants had already undergone hormone therapy or gender transition surgery. Among the childless respondents, 21 percent (40 of 187) expressed the desire to have children in the future. The study found, out of the 64 respondents who said they lacked knowledge about their fertility options, 49 said they never discussed this subject with their care provider. Only three percent of participants (seven) had sperm or eggs banked before hormone treatment. The most commonly noted barriers to fertility preservation were - cost (44.1 percent), lack of awareness of the option (21.6 percent) and not wanting to delay starting hormone therapy (19.7 percent). The results were presented at the Endocrine Society's 99th annual meeting in Orlando, Florida. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Monday claimed that there are no liquor shops in 90% of villages in the state and the main aim is to bring women security in the state by supporting anti-liquor campaign. "There are no liquor shops in 90% of villages in Chhattisgarh. The main aim of our government is to provide complete security to women in the state," said Singh. Recently, Chhattisgarh assembly passed a bill that empowers the state to create a corporation to facilitate sale of both foreign and Indian liquor through government outlets. "The state will become kochiye (middlemen) and problems free. It will also curb the illegal sale of liquor in the state," he further added. He also assured that the government is supporting the anti-liquor campaign run by women groups for the betterment of society. The Uttarakhand government earlier on Friday imposed a ban on sale of liquor in Uttarkashi, Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts from April 1 in the wake of Chardham Yatra. The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its order on banning off liquor vends on state and highways. Hearing a batch of petitions seeking modification of its December 2016 order banning liquor outlets within 500 metres of state and highways across the country, the apex court bench, headed by, Chief Justice Khehar reserved the order. Several states, including Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Punjab, Telangana and Haryana and various others had told the apex court that 500-metre distance is much higher and should be reduced. Attorney General (AG) Mukul Rohatgi, also agreed with the associations and said that the 500-metre distance should be reduced. The apex court, however, observed that life is more important than liquor. The top court in its December 15, 2016 order had ruled that licenses of existing shops along and state highways will not be renewed after March 31. This was challenged through petitions by several associations across states. On 23 March, the Tamil Nadu government had also moved the top court to extend the time for relocation of retail liquor shops along the highways till the expiry of their license period up to 28 November, 2017. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) After giving peeps and glimpses to their upcoming film 'Half Girlfriend,' Shraddha Kapoor has finally announced that the trailer will be out 'very very soon.' She took to Twitter to share the news, along with a poster of the film. "Our trailer is our very very soon! 7 days to go!! #HalfGirlfriend #19thMay @mohit11481 @chetan_bhagat @arjunk26," she wrote. The 30-year-old star's character in the film is of an uptown Delhi girl and a key part of the film was shot in the city, with Delhi University being the main hub, where a chunk of the film was extensively shot. On that note, she really liked the atmosphere of the Delhi University campus while shooting for her upcoming film, 'Half Girlfriend.' Being a Mumbai girl, Shraddha was keen on exploring Delhi University, which has grown into becoming one of the largest universities in India. She went on an exciting tour of the campus and had a rather engaging interaction with the students of the various colleges there. The movie also stars Arjun Kapoor and is slated to release on 19th May 2017. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Gujarat Government to accept the resignation of Director General of Police (DGP) P.P. Pandey, who is involved in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case. Pandey, who is on extension till April 30, will now step down from his duties forthwith. A bench of the Apex Court headed by Chief Justice of India Jagdish Singh Khehar passed the order after it was informed by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta, that the top cop had written a letter expressing his wish to quit. While passing the order the bench also disposed a plea filed by former DGP Julio Ribeiro, in which Pandey's appointment and extension as DGP and Inspector General of Police (IGP) were challenged. On March 31, the apex court asked the Gujarat Government to file its response to a plea against promotion and three-month extension to Pandey. Pandey was at the helm of the state crime unit when Ishrat, a 19-year-old girl based in Mumbai, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an alleged encounter with the police on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004. The Gujarat Police had claimed they had terror links and had plotted to kill the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi. A High Court-constituted-Special Investigative team (SIT) had concluded that it was a fake encounter, after which the court transferred the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Pandey was reinstated into service in February 2015 and appointed the Director of the state's Anti Corruption Bureau after he was released on bail. Pandey was appointed the in-charge DGP of Gujarat on April 16 last year. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) As many as six Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were on Monday injured after some unknown gunmen opened fire at their convoy in Pantha Chowk in Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar. "Our companies were going from Jammu to Srinagar. We were fired upon by terrorists. Six personnel are injured and are taken to the hospital. It's a sensitive time. The separatists have called for boycott of elections. We are on high alert. The CRPF is doing its duty," Bhavesh Chaudhary, PRO, CRPF told ANI. This comes after the Pakistani troops earlier in the day violated ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, prompting the Army to retaliate. The Pakistani Army initiated indiscriminate firing of small arms, automatics and mortars at 9:30 a.m. on the Indian Army posts. The Indian Army posts are retaliating strongly and effectively and the firing is presently on. No casualties have been reported so far in the incident. This is the second ceasefire violation in less than 24 hours. A civilian was injured when Pakistan violated ceasefire along the LoC on Sunday. This comes after India had on March 9 summoned the Deputy High Commissioner of Pakistan and expressed deep concern over continued ceasefire violations in Jammu and Kashmir. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least three Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were injured after few unknown gunmen attacked their convoy near Pantha Chowk in Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar. This comes after the Pakistani troops earlier in the day violated ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, prompting the Army to retaliate. The Pakistani Army initiated indiscriminate firing of small arms, automatics and mortars at 9:30 a.m. on the Indian Army posts. The Indian Army posts are retaliating strongly and effectively and the firing is presently on. No casualties have been reported so far in the incident. This is the second ceasefire violation in less than 24 hours. A civilian was injured when Pakistan violated ceasefire along the LoC on Sunday. This comes after India had on March 9 summoned the Deputy High Commissioner of Pakistan and expressed deep concern over continued ceasefire violations in Jammu and Kashmir. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Reacting sharply to the Kolkata's Jadavpur University row, where azaadi slogans were raised by the students as a mark of protest against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday said the incident reflects the frustration of the Left who are worried about the popularity of the RSS. "This is not a new thing. The elephant keeps walking as the dogs keep barking. RSS is a big organization and is expanding in Bengal and this is why they all are worried and frustrated," BJP leader Subramanian Swamy told ANI. Azaadi slogans were echoed by the students of Kolkata's Jadavpur University yesterday demanding freedom from the RSS. The students of the University were seen holding placards which read: "Yogi is the new Trump...Brahminical version of white supremacy" and they raised slogans like "Azadi", "Halla Bol" and "RSS door hatao". The Azaadi slogans were raised by the students in front of the Academy of Fine Arts where an international seminar on persecution of minority Hindu Buddhist Christians in Bangladesh was going on. "This protest is against the RSS' conducting of seminar on the issue of minorities in Bangladesh. We think the same RSS which has been the reason for the deaths of thousands in Godhra, in Muzaffarnagar cannot address the minority issue. We doubt their credibility, rather we think they are here to evoke communal sentiments and pitting one against the other. So we are protesting here," a student and United Students Democratic Front (USDF) member told ANI. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Human Resource and Development Minister Prakash Javadekar on Monday said Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and Kolkata's Jadavpur University did not get rankings for Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and anti-India slogans, but for the good works done by the students. "JNU and Jadavpur University didn't get rankings for Afzal Guru and anti-India slogans but for good work done by students," Javadekar said. The HRD Minister released India Rankings 2017 of Institutional Ranking Framework in which Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru ranked first. JNU, since last year, has been in the fray of controversies after three of its students were booked for alleged sedition. Last year in the specific list of universities ranking, JNU was at number three and this year it has climbed in the same list to number two. Last year, on February 9, some of the JNU students organised an event in the campus to protest against the hanging of Afzal Guru, the driver of the 2001 Parliament attack. A video was leaked online in which it was seen that students in the campus of JNU were chanting 'Afzal hum sharminda hain tere kaatil zinda hai' (Afzal we are shameful that your killers are still alive). Also, the students allegedly chanted 'Hindustan tere tukde honge' (India, you will be broken into pieces). After this, there was a nationwide outrage, which forced the RSS student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) to come out and protest. Sedition charges were imposed on several students and the case was lodged at Vasant Kunj police station in the capital. A complaint was registered under 24-A (sedition), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (acts done by several persons with a common intention). With this incident, former JNU Students' Union president Kanhaiya Kumar came into limelight as he was arrested on sedition charges after allegations were imposed on him that he had raised anti-India slogans. Another student Umar Khalid also made headlines as he was allegedly shouting anti-India slogans. Former DU professor, SAR Geelani, was also arrested as it was assumed that he was the main organiser of the event. Few days after this controversy, JNU's website was hacked and a message was displayed there which read 'You think you will get Kashmir by barking in the JNU campus.' Many of the politicians did not appreciate of what happened in the JNU campus and there was a debate all over the news channels across India. Umar Khalid after this had again given birth to a controversy in July 2016, by comparing Burhan Wani, the Hizbul Mujahideen commander who was gunned down in July, with a revolutionary. In February 2017, Khalid was invited to a seminar at Delhi University's Ramjas College and later the event was called off and even a clash broke out between All India Students' Association and ABVP regarding this. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Raising questions on plastic eggs, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday asked whether there are any plastic eggs as such or is it a hoax. "I talked with Bengal poultry foundation. There is 80 lakhs egg production in our state, so there is no fear. Till now our investigation didn't get any suspicious result but investigation is going on. I heard that plastic egg is not produced by Bengal. So I raised question which is costlier plastic egg or normal egg. The poultry foundation said our egg is cheaper than plastic egg. So I have curiosity what is it," Mamata said. Giving a green signal, she said eggs in Bengal can be consumed. A man was arrested earlier on April 1 for selling 'artificial eggs' containing plastic-like material from Kolkata's Park Circus area. On the basis of a complaint made on Thursday by a consumer of these eggs, Mohammed Shamim Ansari was arrested on Friday. However, in his defence Shamim 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 (KMC) has ordered an investigation into the same. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Federal investigators on Monday were still sorting through information gathered during a raid of the offices of a Billings rheumatology doctor. Don White, a spokesman for the Health and Human Services branch of the Office of Inspector General in Washington, D.C., would only confirm that a raid had taken place on Friday of the offices of Dr. Enrico Arguelles in Billings. Because it's an open investigation, White declined to comment on the nature of the raid or discuss for what specifically officers were searching. Arguelles practiced in the Arthritis & Osteoporosis Center PC, in Billings. He's one of three providers at the practice, which was open on Monday. "Dr. Enrico Arguelles and all of the staff at the Arthritis & Osteoporosis Center have been working to improve the lives of patients for many years," Stewart Kirkpatrick, a Billings attorney with Crowley Fleck, wrote in a statement. The Arthritis & Osteoporosis Center is represented by Crowley Fleck. "The health care sector is heavily regulated and investigations are not uncommon," Kirkpatrick added. "The federal government has many investigative tools at its disposal and it is not unusual for it to deploy these tools, including search warrants. The government has not charged anyone with wrongdoing, and AOC is cooperating with the investigation." Joining OIG agents were officials from the FBI and the Montana Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. White said the mission of the Office of Inspector General is to prevent and investigate waste, abuse and fraud. It's their charge to be "good stewards of taxpayer money," he said. Within the Department of Public Health and Human Services, the two biggest budgets are Medicare and Medicaid, he said. The Delhi High Court on Monday in its interim order dismissed the plea of Swaraj India party seeking a common symbol for the upcoming Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls. The Yogendra Yadav-led Swaraj India will now have to contest the MCD elections without a common symbol, after the double bench dismissed it plea. The MCD elections will be held on April 23. 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. Swaraj India was floated by Yadav and Bhushan, who were expelled from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) after they questioned Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's leadership. The lawyer argued that under the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) (Amendment) order, the Election Commission of India itself allows newly registered political parties to have a common symbol for all their candidates for contesting their first election. The party has claimed that states like Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, West Bengal, Kerala, Sikkim and Tripura follow the rules made by the Election Commission of India (ECI). (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Monday met the delegation from Madheshi Ethnic Society Coordination Society and assured them about addressing the demands made by the agitating parties in relation to the Constitution amendment. During the meeting, Prime Minister Dahal also assured that the election slated for May 14 will commence successfully in a harmonious environment. He said that efforts are underway to bring the agitating United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) along for the election, adding that extremism will hurt the nation. "We all should go together. If extremism is seen in Madhesh then it is a huge loss for Madhesi and the whole nation. If extremism is seen in Hills then it is a huge loss for Pahadis, loss to Madhesh and loss to the whole nation," Dahal said. In addition, the Prime Minister stressed on unity for holding the local polls and claimed that the government is in continuous attempt to break the stalemate. "There is no option rather than going together. The government is in continuous attempt. The main obstacle is amendment of constitution and it requires two-third majority and the government don't have the absolute majority," said Dahal. The delegation has submitted the letter to Prime Minister Dahal with demands to amend the Constitution as earlier as possible. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan's newly-appointed ambassador to the United States, Aizaz Chaudhary, has offered a five-point formula for restoring peace in Afghanistan that includes no military solution, better relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, better border management, repatriation of Afghan refugees and taking forward the reconciliation process. Speaking at the US Institute of Peace, Chaudhary said that while the Donald Trump administration was reviewing its policy for the Pak-Afghan region, Pakistan had received positive vibes, reports the Dawn. Elaborating on his five-point formula, the envoy said that all sides need to have more faith in their skills, adding war is not an answer as only talks can resolve the issues. The Afghan Government should stop blaming Pakistan for all its problems, he said, because this was over-simplification of the issues. Chaudhary said that Afghans blamed Pakistanis for allowing the Taliban to cross into Afghanistan while Pakistan had similar complaints. A better-managed border could end these accusations and counter-accusations, he added. The ambassador said a recent effort by the Quadrilateral Coordination Group in which the United States, China and Pakistan also participated as facilitators was a good move but failed to achieve its target. Yet, the reconciliation process must continue, he added. This comes after the US Department of Defence announced on Saturday that at least 2,248 members of its military had died in Afghanistan since 2001 while a total of 4,520 had been killed in Iraq since 2003. As for the Trump administration, which has vowed to reduce US war losses and is busy reviewing policy for the Pak-Afghan region, reconciliation between the Afghan Government and the Taliban is the best solution. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Foreign Affairs Minister of Oman Yousuf Bin Alawi Bin Abdullah met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Monday. Abdullah earlier in the day, Abdullah held a delegation-level talks with his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj. The two ministers discussed bilateral and regional issues in the meeting, the details of which were not known immediately. "Meeting a close partner from Muscat. EAM @SushmaSwaraj met HE Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, Oman's Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs," tweeted Gopal Baglay, Spokesman of India's foreign ministry. Abdullah arrived in the Indian capital of New Delhi last night. Abdullah had earlier visited India in February and June 2014 for which Swaraj paid a return visit to the Sultanate of Oman from 17-18 February 2015. India has vital stakes in the security and stability of the Gulf region which hosts about 7 million Indians. Also, the Gulf countries are the source of two-third of India's crude oil requirements and form the largest trading regional block for India accounting for about a quarter of our global trade. Recently, the two countries held 14-day joint military exercise in northern Himachal Pradesh state of India. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Foreign Affairs Minister of Oman Yousuf Bin Alawi Bin Abdullah met Vive-President Mohammed Hamid Ansari on Monday in New Delhi. The Oman Foreign Affairs Minister earlier in the day also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the capital. Abdullah earlier in the day held a delegation-level talk with his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj. The two ministers discussed bilateral and regional issues in the meeting, the details of which were not known immediately. "Meeting a close partner from Muscat. EAM @SushmaSwaraj met HE Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, Oman's Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs," tweeted Gopal Baglay, Spokesman of India's foreign ministry. Abdullah arrived in the Indian capital of New Delhi last night. Abdullah had earlier visited India in February and June 2014 for which Swaraj paid a return visit to the Sultanate of Oman from 17-18 February 2015. India has vital stakes in the security and stability of the Gulf region which hosts about 7 million Indians. Also, the Gulf countries are the source of two-third of India's crude oil requirements and form the largest trading regional block for India accounting for about a quarter of our global trade. Recently, the two countries held 14-day joint military exercise in northern Himachal Pradesh state of India. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Border Security Force (BSF) today seized a Pakistani boat loaded with 400 kg fish near Sutlej River in Punjab's Firozpur border area. Investigation into the matter is underway. Last month, the Pakistan Navy apprehended 88 Indian fishermen and 15 boats off the Gujarat coast in the Arabian Sea. They were arrested from Jakhau village of Gujarat. Earlier this year, nearly arrested sixty Indian fishermen were arrested by Pakistan for allegedly straying into its territorial waters. The fishermen were arrested by Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA). (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least nine people were killed and over 20 injured in an explosion at a metro station in St. Petersburg, which Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev called 'a terrorist attack' on Facebook. The revised stats have been given by Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee. The Russian state media had earlier reported the death toll to be 10 and the count of the injured to be 50. What we know so far: - St. Petersburg explosion was a terrorist attack, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Facebook "Those who suffered during the terrorist act in the St. Petersburg metro will be provided with all the necessary assistance. All instructions to the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Emergency Situations are given. My most sincere condolences to the families and friends of the victims of the explosion. This is a common pain," he wrote - The Prosecutor General's office in St. Petersburg called the explosion a terrorist attack, TASS reported - United States President Donald Trump was briefed on the situation in Russia, deputy press secretary Sarah Sanders told CNN - "Terrible news. Condolences to relatives and loved ones," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova posted on her Facebook account - Alexander Yakovenko, Russia's ambassador to UK, shared a message on Twitter thanking people for offering sympathy in the wake of blast - An additional device was found at a second St. Petersburg metro station -- Revolutionary Square -- but was secured, the National Anti-terrorism Committee said in a statement - Unidentified explosive device caused the blast, says Russia anti-terror spokesperson Investigators believe an explosive device is the cause of the blast, Andrei Przhezdomsky, a spokesperson for the National Anti-terrorist Committee, told state-run Russia 24. He added that evacuation was over and medical assistance was being offered to the injured. - Putin expressed his condolences and has indicated that there will be an investigation. He said he was in contact with the FSB security services and law enforcement to determine the reason behind the explosion - President Vladimir Putin was in the city speaking at an event early Monday morning - The explosion took place in a tunnel between two metro stations, Russian state media reported, citing officials - The Russian state media initially reported the death toll to be ten - An explosion at the Sennaya Ploshchad metro station shook the Russian city of St. Petersburg. State media originally reported that there were two blasts. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The on Monday will hear the plea challenging a state law which entitled all the former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh to get an official bungalow. UP-based NGO Lok Prahari has filed a petition in the apex court seeking a relook into the matter which was set aside by the apex court in 2016. Earlier in August 2016, the top court quashed rules framed by the Uttar Pradesh government in 1997 that entitled former Chief Ministers to occupy Type VI government bungalows for their lifetime. According to which six former chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh, including Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati and two sitting Governors, had to vacate their government bungalows in Lucknow within two months. A bench headed by Justice Anil R Dave directed the former CMs to hand over possession of the bungalows occupied by them with appropriate rent. A former IAS officer and general secretary of the Lok Prahari NGO had said a Chief Minister could retain government accommodation only up to a fortnight after demitting office. The Army jawan who has been arrested in Srinagar airport with two live grenades, has alleged that junior level officers were involved in the matter. The jawan who was immediately grilled after being arrested had claimed that he was carrying the grenades back home to Darjeeling, in order to cause blasts in rivers to catch fish. However, sources state, that upon being pressed upon, the jawan admitted the involvement of junior level officers and that he was just a 'courier'. However, agencies are investigating the angle of mischief or an oversight that caused the development. "Necessary action will be taken against him. I am heading to the airport now," Jammu and Kashmir DGP SP Vaid told the media here. The jawan was on his way to Delhi and was caught at security check with the grenades. More details awaited. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Real estate firm, Unitech's Managing Director (MD) Sanjay Chandra and his brother will be produced in a Delhi court today. Earlier on Saturday, the court on granted two-day custody remand of Chandra to the Delhi Police, who was arrested by the Economic Offences Wing on late Friday night. Chandra's counsel Vijay Agarwal informed that the police had asked for three-day remand but the court granted two-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 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. Bharat Heavy Electricals rose 2.24% to Rs 166.75 at 14:27 IST on BSE after the company said that it has commissioned 500 megawatts coal based thermal power plant in Uttar Pradesh. The announcement was made during market hours today, 3 April 2017. Meanwhile, the S&P Sensex was up 255.61 points, 0.86% at 29,876.11. On the BSE, 3.35 lakh shares were traded on the counter so far as against the average daily volumes of 4.24 lakh shares in the past two weeks. The stock had hit a high of Rs 167.60 and a low of Rs 163.10 so far during the day. Bhel said that it has commissioned the 500 megawatts (MW) of NTPC Feroze Gandhi Unchahar thermal power plant (FGUTPP) in Uttar Pradesh. Bhel was awarded the contract for the manufacture, supply, erection and commissioning of boiler, turbine, generator, & associated auxiliaries, electrical switchyard and station controls & instrumentation. The major equipment for the project has been manufactured by Bhel at its Haridwar, Trichy, Hyderabad, Bhopal, Ranipet and Bengaluru works, while the construction of the plant was undertaken by the company's power sector - Northern Region. The existing five units of 210 MW at FGUTPP, have also been commissioned earlier by Bhel. Bhel has supplied and executed 33,000 megawatt coal-based power plants of NTPC and its joint ventures, which account for 80% of NTPC's coal based installed capacity. Bharat Heavy Electricals reported net profit of Rs 93.54 crore in Q3 December 2016 as against net loss of Rs 1084.96 crore in Q3 December 2015. Net sales rose 18.3% to Rs 6187.48 crore in Q3 December 2016 over Q3 December 2015. Bhel is an integrated power plant equipment manufacturer and one of the largest engineering and manufacturing company of its kind in India engaged in the design, engineering, manufacture, construction, testing, commissioning and servicing of a wide range of products and services for core sectors of the economy, viz. power, transmission, industry, transportation (railways), renewable energy, oil & gas, water and defence with over 180 products offerings to meet the needs of these sectors. The Government of India currently holds 63.06% stake in Bhel (as per the shareholding pattern as on 31 December 2016). Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Trading of Nifty 50 index futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could gain 10.50 points at the opening bell. Overseas, Asian shares were mostly higher. US stocks closed lower on Friday, 31 March 2017, as investors digested a slew of economic data. In economic news, personal income rose 0.4% in February, while consumer spending rose 0.1%. Among global developments, US President Donald was quoted as saying that the US will take unilateral action to eliminate nuclear threats from North Korea, unless China, one of the hermit state's closest ally, intensifies pressure on Pyongyang. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet in this week for a two-day meeting. Closer home, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 295.92 crore on Friday, 31 March 2017, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1,499.41 crore on Friday, 31 March 2017, as per provisional data. Among corporate news, shares of public sector oil marketing companies (PSU OMCs) will be in focus after Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) on Friday, 31 March 2017, announced decrease in selling price of petrol and diesel with effect from midnight of 31 March 2017. Petrol price was decreased by Rs 3.77 per litre and diesel price was reduced by Rs 2.91 a litre at Delhi (excluding state levies). Indiabulls Housing Finance said that it has on Friday, 31 March 2017, allotted its fourteenth tranche of secured, redeemable, non-convertible debentures (NCDs) aggregating to Rs 37.5 crore. This was part of the company's proposal announced in November 2016, to issue, secured, redeemable, NCDs aggregating Rs 6000 crore, on a private placement basis. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 31 March 2017. Among economic data, the output of eight core industries comprising nearly 38% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) rose at moderated pace of 1% in February 2017, compared with 3.4% growth recorded in January 2017. The data was released by the government after market hours on Friday, 31 March 2017. Another data released after market hours on Friday, 31 March 2017 showed that India's external debt stock fell by $29 billion (6%) to $456.1 billion, at end-December 2016 over the level at end-March 2016. The decline in external debt during the period was due to the fall in long-term external debt, particularly the fall in NRI deposits reflecting the redemption of FCNR (B) deposits and decline in commercial borrowings with fall in both commercial bank loans and securitized borrowings. On a sequential basis, total external debt at end-December 2016 declined by $28.1 billion (5.8%) from the end-September 2016 level. A bout of volatility was witnessed on Friday, 31 March 2017, as the S&P BSE Sensex settled lower after swinging between gains and losses in the intraday. The Sensex fell 26.92 points or 0.09% to settle at 29,620.50, its lowest closing level since 29 March 2017. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Senior Delhi Congress member Ashok Kumar Walia on Monday offered to resign from the party as he was not happy with the ticket distribution for civic polls. A party source told IANS that Walia was unhappy with the ticket distribution for civic polls scheduled to be held on April 23. Walia was MLA from Laxminagar constituency for four consecutive terms. He has served as a state minister in the Sheila Dikshit government and held Health, Urban Development, Land and Building portfolios. He was also the chairman of Trans Yamuna Area Development Board. --IANS sid-mg/py/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Somali journalist who was abducted on Saturday at gunpoint was found alive on Sunday after being tortured by his kidnappers, reports said. Hanad Ali Guled, who is working for an independent Goobjoog radio and television station, said he escaped from his abductors after the vehicle they were travelling in developed problems as they tried to move him from one place to another. Guled was found on a farm near Afgoye town, about 30 km south of Mogadishu, shackled. He was later taken to police station in Afgoye for interrogation before being released, Xinhua news agency reported. The group's director Hassan Mohamud in a statement released on Sunday called for a thorough investigations into the abduction. "The circumstances surrounding his kidnap still remain unknown to us and procedurally it is the work of security agencies and relevant government institutions to carry out investigations and ensure not only the safety of Guled but also journalists in general in Somalia," Mohamud said. The journalist was reportedly driven to an unspecified place on Saturday and detained in a small room. Attempts by members of his family and fellow colleagues to establish his whereabouts remained futile. Guled, whose colleagues at the station said he has been receiving threats over drought relief programme, said his legs were tightly chained while in captivity. Somalia remains one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists with dozens having been killed, maimed or forced to leave the country. The Committee to Protect Journalists says 26 journalists have been killed in Somalia from 2012 to date. --IANS vgu/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Afghanistan and Australia share a "strong connection" for more than a century, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said. Turnbull made the remarks while welcoming Afghan President Ashraf Ghani who arrived in Australia on Sunday for a three-day visit, the Australian reported. Ghani is the first Afghan leader to visit Australia. Regional security, building capacity in the public sector and female empowerment are among the issues to be discussed by both the leaders. The Afghan President will also meet Governor General Peter Cosgrove here. Turnbull in a statement said: "Afghanistan and Australia share a solid connection which has been forged over more than a century of shared history and contact between our two peoples." "From the early Afghan cameleers in the 1860s, to the Australian military effort to free Afghanistan from terrorism, both nations have maintained a healthy partnership, built on a foundation of mutual respect," he said. According to the Australian Prime Minister, the visit also involves a number of discussions regarding regional security in the Middle East. "During this visit, discussions will focus on our ongoing security and development cooperation to help Afghanistan in its efforts to become more prosperous, secure and self-reliant," he said. Ghani's visit to the country will conclude on Wednesday. --IANS py/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sixteen months after former Catholic priest and activist Bismarque Dias was found dead under mysterious circumstances, the state Human Rights Commission on Monday directed that his remains be formally laid to rest. The direction from the Goa Human Rights Commission Chairperson A.D. Salkar followed a petition by a city lawyer, who had prayed that the last rites should be performed on the remains of Dias, which are currently stored in the malfunctioning morgue of the Goa Medical College, near Panaji. "The Collector and District Magistrate North Goa shall issue directives to the authorities concerned to liaise with parish priest St. Estevam (village) and to arrange last rites of the deceased," Salkar said in his order on Monday. Dias, who was protesting against rampant and reportedly illegal real estate development near his village of St. Estevam, was found dead in a water body near the Mandovi river in November 2015. Activists as well as opposition parties alleged that the priest could have been killed for opposing illegal real estate deals in the ecologically fragile parts of the Tiswadi sub-district, which is crisscrossed by the Mandovi river and its tributaries. The Congress had also demanded a judicial probe into Dias's death, even as the Crime Branch, which was probing the incident, claimed that Dias died due to drowning and there was no mischief. Incidentally, Bismarque had also taken on the Roman Catholic Church in Goa for facilitating the sale of an island to a hospitality firm, through a well-known real estate agent. For nearly a year, the family of the former priest had said that they would not claim the body until Dias's alleged killers were caught. After a video shot some time before his death surfaced last year that showed Dias naming local politicians as well as real-estate developers as those to be held responsible in case of his death, his friends and activist colleagues filed a petition with the Panaji bench of Bombay High Court demanding a fair probe. They claimed that the Crime Branch of Goa Police had conducted a shoddy probe. One of the petitioners Sudeep Dalvi told IANS on Monday that it was up to the immediate family of Dias to decide on whether to perform the last rites or not. "It is up to the family to take this decision. We will continue with our quest for justice for Bismarque (Dias). Whether the body is kept in the morgue or buried is immaterial. Our battle continues," Dalvi said. --IANS maya/lok/dg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) British Prime Minister Theresa May on Sunday gave assurances to Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo by phone, to allay concerns that Spain may use its apparent veto power in Brexit negotiations. It has become one of the early flashpoints in Brexit negotiations which started last week after May triggered Article 50, the process for leaving the European Union, Xinhua news agency reported. An official spokesman said: "The Prime Minister reiterated our long-standing position that the UK remains steadfastly committed to our support for Gibraltar, its people and its economy." "The Prime Minister said we will never enter into arrangements under which the people of Gibraltar would pass under the sovereignty of another state against their freely and democratically expressed wishes," said the spokesman. "She said we remain absolutely dedicated to working with Gibraltar for the best possible outcome on Brexit, and will continue to involve them fully in the process," the spokesman added. Gibraltar, located on the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean, was ceded to Britain as part of the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. Spain has persistently sought to regain the tiny southern territory. A row has erupted after draft Brexit negotiating guidelines drawn up by the European Council identified future arrangements for Gibraltar, which is home to about 30,000 people as one of its 26 core principles. That clause has potentially put Britain and Spain on a collision course over the future of this area. --IANS vgu/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Border Security Force (BSF) on Monday seized two Pakistani boats in Punjab's frontier district of Ferozepur, officials said. The boats were spotted near the border outpost Donna Tel Mal by BSF troopers patrolling the riverine border belt along Sutlej river on the night of April 2-3. The troopers challenged the people on the boats but they jumped into the river and swam towards Pakistani territory, the officials said. A search of the boats led to over 45 kg of fish. Punjab shares a 553-km border with Pakistan. --IANS js/gsh/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tripura's ruling CPI-M has alleged that BJP's central ministers were spreading misinformation about the Left Front government in the state in a bid to dislodge it. "BJP's (Bharatiya Janata Party) central ministers visiting Tripura almost every week provide imaginary 'facts' (about) the Left Front government," Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Bijan Dhar said on Sunday evening. "The central ministers' slandering is part of their efforts to dislodge the Left government unethically," Dhar told the media, adding there was an attempt "to build an economic blockade" against Tripura. Dhar said the party's state committee decided on Saturday and Sunday to campaign against the central government's undemocratic steps over the coming months. "After the victory in Uttar Pradesh, some leaders can dream that they can wash away Tripura's Left parties. This is a distant dream only," the CPI-M state Secretary said. "When the CPI-M has been demanding 200 days of work in MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act), the BJP government is trying to scuttle the scheme." He accused the BJP of trying to break other political parties. The BJP, however, hit back. "How the Left Front runs its government in Tripura through illegal means was proved by the judgement of the Supreme Court which cancelled the jobs of 10,323 government teachers," BJP state President Biplab Kumar Deb told reporters on Monday. The BJP leader said central ministers including Radha Mohan Singh and J.P. Nadda highlighted the failure of the state government in many sectors and non-utilization and misuse of central funds. --IANS sc/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An endocrine-disrupting chemical commonly found in polycarbonate hard plastics, currency bills and thermal paper receipts may potentially interfere with the body's hormones to increase the aggressiveness of breast cancer, a new study has showed. Bisphenol S (BPS), a substitute for the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) in the plastic industry, acts like estrogen in multiplying breast cancer cells. Most breast cancers are estrogen receptor positive, and, according to the National Cancer Institute, 55 to 65 per cent of women who inherit a harmful mutation in the BRCA1 gene -- will develop breast cancer. "If a woman has a mutated BRAC1 gene and uses products containing BPS, her risk for developing breast cancer may increase further," said principal investigator, Sumi Dinda, Associate Professor at Oakland University in Michigan. "Despite hopes for a safer alternative to BPA, studies have shown BPS to exhibit similar estrogen-mimicking behaviour to BPA," Dinda added. The results were presented at ENDO 2017, the Endocrine Society's 99th annual meeting in Orlando. For the study, the team used two commercially available breast cancer cell lines obtained from women with estrogen-receptor-positive breast cancer, to expose the cancer cells to varying strengths of BPS or to an inactive substance as a control. Compared with the control, BPS heightened the protein expression in estrogen receptor and BRCA1 after 24 hours, as did estrogen. After a six-day treatment with BPS, the breast cancer cells in both cell lines reportedly increased in number by 12 per cent at the lowest dose (4 micromolars) and by 60 per cent at eight micromolars. --IANS rt/sm/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) On March 20, The Billings Gazette posted an article about our three area refineries and sugar beet factory, and their smokestacks (Is the Big Sky blowing smoke?). After talking with a couple industry public relations people, the reporter contends that its not air pollution, but merely water vapor and clouds. Really? Lets take another look. In the 1990s, the Gazette reported that Billings had the highest annual concentrations of sulfur dioxide (SO2) of any city in America concentrations coming straight from refinery smokestacks. In 1989, the Gazette editorialized that if we want Billings to become economically vibrant and sound, we must have air cleaner than it is now. As a lifelong Billings resident, I grew up within range of three oil refineries, Corette coal-power plant, and a sugar beet processing plant. Air pollution was something we took for granted. Later, as an adult living in the Heights, my neighbor was Nettie Lees, an Avon lady who routinely visited one hundred homes. We both suffered from asthma. Nettie keenly observed the number of children missing school with respiratory problems whenever we, also, were having breathing problems. Lethal SO2 emissions Nettie and I became partners investigating the source of these respiratory coincidences. We visited with others in the neighborhood, and discovered that many were experiencing the same thing. We called the Montana Board of Health in Helena, presented our story at their board meeting, and asked lots of questions. Thats when we first learned about sulfur dioxide (SO2), and the way it affects human health. You cant see or smell SO2, but it sharply increases the risk of respiratory illness, and aggravates conditions like asthma and bronchitis. Also, we learned about air inversions. They occur frequently over Billings which is built in a valley floor. Inversions create a lid across the valley that holds the pollution under it until the inversion eventually breaks up. To combat this pollution and to protect our health Nettie and I helped form a local concerned citizens group: Yellowstone Valley Citizens Council. YVCC campaigned for local air quality monitoring; lobbied county commissioners; and, lobbied legislators in Helena to establish enforceable air quality standards. On our way home from a YVCC meeting in 1985, Nettie and I drove through a dense pollution stream at ground level in downtown Billings. It immediately triggered an asthma attack from which Nettie never recovered. She died 24 hours later. Lobbying for cleaner air YVCC doubled down. We successfully pushed the Montana Air Quality Bureau in the Department of Environmental Quality to develop enforceable standards limiting SO2 and other hazardous emissions. The Legislature finally enacted them. However, major pollutersamong them, Exxon and CHS refineries in Yellowstone County lobbied successfully to be exempted from those standards. It took another 10 years to get their exemptions repealed, and more years to bring the major polluters in Yellowstone County into compliance. Air quality problems didnt end there, however. As recently as 2007, refineries here were found to be in violation some with as many as 1,000 instances of noncompliance within the year. Facilities have been forced to update their equipment, acquiring latest technologies. Our air quality is improved. But, even in compliance, refineries discharge thousands of tons of sulfur dioxide into our air each year. And, we have air inversions that spike pollutant levels. Still, respiratory illness is a major local health issue. Still, we are at risk from things we cant smell or see. Dont believe its not air pollution. The Delhi Congress on Monday said that in the upcoming civic polls, the party is looking at a straight contest with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and not with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). "I think our fight is with the BJP, not the AAP. Woh (BJP) abhi josh me hain (They are high on enthusiasm). On the other hand, the AAP has been exposed. The Punjab and Goa results are for all to see," senior Delhi Congress leader and former Delhi assembly Speaker Subhash Chopra told IANS. Asked about a few Congress leaders quitting the party and a few other seniors threatening to do so, Chopra said that although there is "some resentment", true Congressmen would not desert the party. "Of course, there is some resentment in the party. And that is natural because there were 10-12 aspirants for each seat, but the ticket could be given to only one," he said. "Those who did not get tickets, or senior leaders whose choice of candidates was not given tickets, are bound to be somewhat unhappy. But that does not mean they are quitting the party," Chopra said. He said that Ashok Kumar Walia "did not even once speak" of quitting the Congress and that the words were put into his mouth. "I have spoken to him just now and he said that he did not say anything to that effect," Chopra said. He said that Amrish Gautam quit the party because his son was not given a ticket. "Quitting your party because your son was not given a ticket? A true Congressman would never do that," he said. Chopra said that a transparent method of ticket distribution was adopted this time around. "Candidate's winnability and workers' choice were the criteria (for giving tickets). As many as 39,000 Congress workers were contacted over telephone before making a final choice," he said. Earlier, speaking with media persons, Congress leader Sharmistha Mukherjee pointed out that the Congress had given tickets to 144 women candidates out of a total 272. "The Congress walks the talk. It is committed to women empowerment. This time, out of 272 of our candidates, 144 are women," she said. According to her, the Congress candidates also include highly-qualified professionals, such as Anisha Gupta and Anita Babbar, both of whom are qualified doctors. "The Arvind Kejriwal cabinet does not have a single woman. They just talk of women empowerment. And why has Prime Minister Narendra Modi not got the Women Reservation Bill passed as yet?" she added. Mukherjee also reiterated that the party gave tickets in a transparent manner after speaking with workers. "The party has tried to give representation to all sections of society, especially women. The records of all those 39,000 calls made to workers are with us. Any disgruntled worker can listen to them," she said. --IANS mak/nir/vt (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The BJP on Monday accused the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) of not respecting democratic federalism besides misuse and non-utilisation of central funds by the Left government in Tripura. While talking to the media, Bharatiya Janata Party's Tripura unit President Biplab Kumar Deb said the CPI-M did not even follow court verdict. "How the Left Front runs its government in Tripura through illegal means was proved by the judgement of the Supreme Court which cancelled the jobs of 10,323 government teachers," Deb said. The BJP leader said central ministers, including Radha Mohan Singh and J.P. Nadda, highlighted the failure of the state government in many sectors and non-utilisation and misuse of central funds. Tripura's ruling CPI-M on Sunday alleged that BJP's central ministers were spreading misinformation about the Left government in the state in a bid to dislodge it. "BJP's central ministers visiting Tripura almost every week provide imaginary facts (about) the Left government," CPI-M central committee member Bijan Dhar told reporters on Sunday evening. "The central ministers' slandering is part of their efforts to dislodge the Left government unethically," Dhar said adding that there was an attempt "to build an economic blockade" against Tripura. He said the party's state committee decided on Saturday and Sunday to campaign against the central government's undemocratic steps over the coming months. "After the victory in Uttar Pradesh, some leaders can dream that they can wash away Tripura's Left parties. This is a distant dream only," the CPI-M state Secretary said. "When the CPI-M has been demanding 200 days of work in a year in MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act), the BJP government is trying to scuttle the scheme." He accused the BJP of trying to break other political parties on religious and economic lines. --IANS sc/in/dg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Gujarat government on Monday told the Supreme Court that the request of Director General of Police (DGP) P.P. Pandey to step down will be accepted immediately. The bench of Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud were also told that the notification granting Pandey three months' extension till April 30 would also be revoked. Pandey is one of the accused in the killing of Ishrat Jahan and three others. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Gujarat government, said the state government would accept Pandey's offer to step down, after the bench asked him to either make a statement that Pandey would go forthwith or the court would pass an order. "Either you make a statement that he (Pandey) will step down forthwith or we will pass an order," Chief Justice Khehar told Mehta as he told the bench that Pandey may be allowed to complete his extended tenure, describing the petition by former Mumbai Police Commissioner J.F. Ribeiro and others as an attempt to "malign the state government". "He has already retired. It is neither against him nor in his favour", the bench told the Additional Solicitor General. Assailing the petition, Mehta said that it was being projected "as if some criminal has been selected by the government and made DGP". "The purpose is to malign the state government." The bench was told that the Gujarat government, on the superannuation of Pandey on January 31 this year, had recommended an extension of six months, but the Centre gave only three months. Initially asking the court to let Pandey complete his extended term till April 30 and retire gracefully, Mehta told the court that he (Pandey) was in no position to influence the case as charges had not been framed. Pandey, in his April 1, 2017, letter has said that the issue of granting him extension of service has been "unnecessarily" raised in the Supreme Court by "certain disgruntled elements", "apparently with the ulterior motive of bringing disrepute to the state government as well as the government of India". Offering to step down, Pandey said in his letter: "In order to put an end to all these controversies and to avoid causing any embarrassment to the government, I am more than willing to step down and I hereby urge the government to revoke their notification (granting three months' extension) with immediate effect." With the Gujarat government telling the court that Pandey would go immediately, the court disposed of the petition by Ribeiro and others. Ribeiro had moved the apex court challenging the Gujarat High Court's August 3 order rejecting his plea against Pandey being made an officiating state police chief on April 16, 2016, after the exit of then incumbent P.C. Thakur. Ribeiro had contended that officers who were investigating Ishrat Jahan encounter case were now serving under Pandey. Pandey, along with other Gujarat Police officers, was named as an accused in the Ishrat Jahan case. The CBI had filed the chargesheet in 2013, accusing them of conspiracy, kidnapping, murder of Ishrat Jahan and three others. Pandey headed the Gujarat Police's Crime Branch when the alleged gunfight took place on the outskirts of Ahmedabad in 2004. Besides Ishrat Jahan, others killed in police action were Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar. --IANS pk/nir/vt (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Congress on Monday said that the Election Commission (EC) is only an arbiter and not the controller of the democratic process, and it should introspect whether voting can be done on paper ballots rather than EVMs. "Democracy is based on public trust and if there is a feeling of widespread distrust in the electronic voting machines (EVMs), the Election Commission rather than taking a cussed stand on it, should introspect," said Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari. "How does it even bother the Election Commission that rather than EVMs, the voting is done on paper ballots!" he said. Tewari maintained: "Ultimately, if the stakeholders, whether rightly or wrongly, are apprehensive that these machines have been gerrymandered with or are capable of being manipulated, there is no reason for the EC to become so defensive about it." "The Election Commission is at best the arbiter of the democratic process, it is not the controller of the democratic process. If the stakeholders are feeling apprehensive, the EC should walk the extra mile," he added. "They should voluntarily say if the stakeholders do not have confidence in this paradigm, we'll have the next election on paper ballots. What is the difficulty with that?" said Tewari. The Congress had earlier demanded that EVMs should be done away with after an EVM malfunctioned during an official demonstration ahead of by-elections from two assembly constituencies in Madhya Pradesh. The by-polls are scheduled to be held in Ater and Bandhavgarh assembly constituencies of the state 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 irrespective of which button was pressed on the machine. The Congress had asked the EC to investigate the case alleging that the District Returning Officer (DRO) in Bhind, Madhya Pradesh, threatened media personnel not to publish the news. --IANS sid/nir/vt (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Essar Group on Monday announced the sale of its business process outsourcing company Aegis to Singapore-based Capital Square Partners for $260-300 million. "AGC Holdings Limited (AGC) Mauritius, a wholly-owned portfolio company of Essar Global Limited, has entered into a definitive agreement with Capital Square Partners to sell 100 per cent of its stake for an undisclosed amount in ESM Holdings Limited, Mauritius, which is the holding company of Aegis, a major global outsourcing company," a statement by Essar said here. According to sources close to the development, the amount for which Essar sold Aegis was around $260-300 million. The transaction is expected to close during the first quarter of 2017-18, subject to receiving regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. This marks Essar Global's complete exit from the BPO business. Net proceeds of this sale will be used to retire Essar's debt, the statement added. "This transaction is in line with our strategy of incubating, building and operating world-class businesses, and being open to monetising them at a premium value when the market conditions are favourable," said Uday Gujadhur, Director, AGC. Essar entered the BPO business in 2004 with the acquisition of the US-based Aegis Communications Group, with 2,000 employees. In 2014, AGC announced the successful sale of Aegis USA Inc (comprising Aegis' operations in the US, the Philippines and Costa Rica) to Teleperformance. Currently, Aegis has revenues of around $400 million, and employs more than 40,000 people across 47 centres in 10 countries with operations in India, the UAE, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Australia, South Africa, Peru, Argentina, Saudi Arabia and the UK. "Aegis has established itself as a high value service provider to its customers. We shall continue to provide quality service to our esteemed customers and be an employer of choice," said Sandip Sen, Managing Director, Aegis. "I am confident that the added capabilities of our new shareholder will present an even more compelling value proposition to the marketplace," said Sen. "The Essar group has built this company and achieved significant scale and value creation, and we look forward to continue to build on the core values of customer focus, agility and service excellence of Aegis," Sanjay Chakrabarty and Mukesh Sharda, Managing Partners of CSP, said jointly. Capital Square Partners is a private equity fund manager based in Singapore, and regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). Essar's advisors in the transaction include Axis Capital as financial advisor, and Platinum Partners and Sidley Austin as legal advisors. Shearman and Sterling and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas acted as legal advisors to CSP. --IANS ag/in/dg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The European Foreign Affairs Council called upon the Syrian government and its allies to undertake all efforts to ensure a full cessation of hostilities. The Foreign Affairs Council on Monday convened on the eve of the Brussels Conference on supporting the future of Syria and the region, which will take place April 4 to 5, Xinhua news agency reported. During the meeting, the Council adopted European Union (EU) strategy on Syria and called for a full cessation of hostilities, lifting sieges and providing countrywide humanitarian access. The Council also discussed the situations in Yemen and Libya and welcomed the election of President Mohamed Abdullahi Mahamed Farmaajo and the formation of a new government in Somalia. EU ministers exchanged views with the Secretary General of the League of Arab States, Ahmed Aboul-Gheit, on cooperation between the two sides. --IANS vgu/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Europe is becoming a global hub for the hosting of child sexual abuse images and videos, suggests a report. The annual report by the UK-based Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) released on Sunday found that 60 per cent of worldwide abuse material was now in Europe -- an increase of 19 per cent, the BBC reported. The Netherlands topped the list of European nations hosting the illegal content, said the IWF report. Improved reporting and policing by internet service providers (ISP) in North America are believed to have driven the shift. "The situation is reversed from previous years," said Susie Hargreaves, chief executive of the IWF. "Europe is now the biggest host of child sexual abuse imagery, rather than North America." In 2015, about 57 per cent of the web pages containing abuse content could be found in North America, according to the IWF figures. In 2016, this had dropped to 37 per cent with the majority now in Europe. The IWF report said about 34,212 web pages were found to be displaying abuse content in Europe -- which also includes Russia and Turkey. --IANS ksk/dg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former Delhi MLA Amrish Gautam on Monday quit the Congress and joined the BJP, while former Congress minister A.K. Walia threatened to quit over ticket distribution for the April 23 civic polls in Delhi. Former Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely and former state Minister Haroon Yusuf also expressed concern over the functioning of the Congress state unit headed by former Union Minister Ajay Maken. Gautam, a three-time MLA from Kondli in east Delhi, accused the Congress of fielding candidates for the civic elections without consulting him. His son Avinash Gautam too joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. "We were feeling cornered in the party. Nobody was willing to listen to our concerns. My self-respect was hurt by senior party leaders like Anand Sharma, P.C. Chacko and Ajay Maken," Amrish Gautam told IANS after joining the BJP. The Congress had formed a committee headed by Anand Sharma to select candidates for elections to the three municipal corporations. Chacko is in charge of the Congress unit in Delhi. "I requested Maken many times to respect the workers' sentiments. I even told him he was also an MLA and was quite familiar with their sentiments. I told him to take decisions in the interest of the Congress and its workers. But he ignored me," Gautam told reporters. "I have left the Congress because my area and workers have been ignored and tickets are being distributed without consulting us. I felt neglected." Senior Delhi Congress leader Walia too threatened to resign. "I am deeply pained... we keep trying their (leaders) phone numbers for two-three days but there is no reply. We have to handle party workers; all work is stalled." He told media persons: "Today (Monday) was the final day (of filing nominations) and things have not been finalised yet. If they think they don't need us, they should tell us. Earlier, such things never happened in our party. There has always been a democratic system in the party." He said some people have started thinking they have got a lot of power and hence whatever they do is right. "This system is wrong. Earlier too we had issues, but the high command resolved the same. I don't know what kind of atmosphere are they trying to create this time," Walia told reporters in an indirect attack on Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken. Walia said he had conveyed his anger to the Congress high command. Walia has been an MLA from Laxmi Nagar in east Delhi for four consecutive terms. He was a minister in the Sheila Dikshit government and held the portfolios of health, urban development, land and buildings. He was also Chairman of the Trans-Yamuna Area Development Board. Reacting to the developments, Lovely said: "It is very unfortunate that Amrish Gautam left the Congress while senior leader A.K. Walia has threatened to quit. A leader like Walia can't revolt unless his self-respect is hurt. Whatever is happening with him is not good. We need to change our attitude. We need to give respect to senior leaders. If Walia leaves the Congress, it will be a major setback." Lovely, a former Minister, added: "I have also been the state unit President. It is his duty and responsibility to ensure all party leaders and workers stay together. The party leadership needs to address all these issues." Yusuf said: "There can be differences within the family but its head finds a soultion. I will also raise my concerns with the party high command. Whatever I feel, I'll speak on the party forum." He, however, said that he did not expect anything from the current state leadership. As for Walia's concerns, he said: "He is a senior politician and has been a minister for 15 years. It is true that the local Congress leadership, including me, was ignored during ticket distribution. But I can say one thing: Walia ji can never go against the party." All India Congress Committee Spokesperson Manish Tewari refused to comment, saying queries related to civic polls should be addressed to the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee. "It is an issue concerning the DPCC. We do not deal with corporation elections from this podium. All queries with regard to the corporation elections should be addressed to the DPCC," he said. --IANS bns-sid/tsb/dg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Five children drowned in a village pond in Bihar's Kaimur district on Monday, police said. The incident took place in Budhdha village when village residents had gathered near the pond to offer prayers as part of a local festival, and then bath in it. "After the adults returned home, the children jumped in the pond for a bath but five of them drowned," police said. According to police officials, the victims were of age between 5 to 12 years. The state government has announced a compensation of Rs 4 lakh each to family of the victims. --IANS ik/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least four security personnel were killed when their vehicle was attacked by Taliban militants in Ghazni province on Monday, an official said. "The deputy to National Directorate of Security for Paktika province, Abdul Wahab, and three others were killed when militants targeted their vehicle in Sultan Bagh area," Xinhua news agency quoted the official as saying. Zabihullah Majahid who claims to speak for the Taliban outfit claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the attack had killed six persons. --IANS py/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) When staff members of the University of North Dakota Center for Family Medicine look at their orange and green bracelets, handmade by impoverished Costa Rican artisans, Riley McLean is hopeful theyll smile. The bracelets are part of the St. Marys Central High School seniors month-old business concept Riles Miles of Smiles which she presented during the North Dakota Future Business Leaders of America sales presentation contest at the FBLA State Leadership Conference held at the Bismarck Event Center Monday. The three-day conference for middle and high school students interested in business leadership celebrated its 50th anniversary this week, with 1,300 students and advisers in attendance. Students competed in events such as accounting, computer applications, entrepreneurship, emerging business issues, public speaking, job interview, website development and business ethics. The top four competitors in each event will go on to compete at the FBLA national conference in June in Anaheim, Calif. McLean, who also serves as FBLA state secretary, said her business concept is meant to spread cheer amid health care workers in Bismarck-Mandan. For each bracelet purchased, one is donated to a medical industry employee. McLean has participated in FBLA since she was a sophomore. She said the lessons shes learned, including self presentation and being able to sell an idea, will be helpful as she goes on to study molecular and integrative biology at University of North Dakota in hopes of a career in biomedical research. Charles Reichert, a sophomore at St. Marys, started FBLA as an eighth-grader. He joined on the advice of a family friend, but, after getting more involved, he grew to like the organization and business concepts it teaches. This year, hes running for election as Region III vice president. Reichert hopes to transfer the skills he learns in FBLA into a career in architecture and one day owning a firm. North Dakota FBLA-PBL State Chair Jessica DeVaal said FBLA tries to merge business and education, creating networking and mentorship opportunities with local business leaders. She said, often, students wont encounter much less know how to create a business plan, complete with business description and financing plans. But because of FBLA, Powers Lake senior and FBLA Region II Vice President Delaney Clark, was able to present a mock business plan for a combination coffee shop and boutique during the state competition. The now deemed illegal liquor outlets, located less than 500 metres from national highways in Goa have downed their shutters following the Supreme Court order, hopes of about 1,000 liquor outlet owners now hinge on an assurance given by Chief Minister Minister Manohar Parrikar to bail them out. The travel and tourism industry in the state however, said that the ban would affect their business in Goa and that popular restaurants with liquor licences may well have to shut down. Goa Liquor Traders Association President Dattaprasad Naik told reporters here that, while nearly 3,000 liquor outlets in the state, including retailers, wholesalers and bars, are currently affected by the ban, the state government was working out modalities to save about 1,000 outlets, because in many towns that the national highway passes through, had a population of less than 10,000. "As per the SC decision, towns where population is less than 10,000, the restriction of 500 metres has been relaxed to 220 metres. The government has assured us that nearly 1,000 liquor outlets fall in this category," Naik said. Sources in the state Excise Department have also said that an exercise was on to identify the 1,000 odd outlets which fall beyond 220 metres from national highways. On April 1, the Excise Department did not renew licences over 3,210 out of the 11,000 plus liquor outlets which fall within 500 metres of the national highways traversing through the state, as directed by the apex court in its ruling. Despite the non-renewal of licence, according to Chief Secretary Dharmendra Sharma, liquor traders have been allowed time to re-locate and transfer existing stocks of alcohol, as per the provisions of the Goa Excise Duty Act. Savio Messias, President of the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa, which represents industry stakeholders told IANS, that while there was need to find a resolution to the crisis together, the implications of the apex court's decision would mar the tourism industry in the state. "It would hurt the industry, as many hotels would be affected. Besides many popular restaurants would have to shut down. Tourists would be going in circles finding bars," he said. Liquor in Goa is priced cheaper compared to several other states in India, thanks to a liberal excise regime. Goa, should have been accorded relief on the lines of Meghalaya and Sikkim, which have been granted relief by the SC order. "Being such a small state and a very popular tourist destination we deserved some relief... I don't think there is much we can do, but the government now needs to find a solution," Messias said. --IANS maya/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in the national capital and Kolkatas Jadavpur University - which have been in the eye of storm over alleged anti-national sloganeering - figure in the top universities of the country as per a government list released on Monday. As per the "India Rankings" under the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), JNU is the second-best university in the country after Bengaluru's Indian Institute of Science (IISc) while Jadavpur University has been ranked fifth best. Releasing the rankings, Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar said the rankings of the universities have been ranked for their quality and not for controversies. "JNU or Jadavpur University have not been ranked for raising (pro-Parliament attack convict) Afzal Guru slogans. They have not been ranked for confining the Vice Chancellor but for their research work science, biotechnology and other fields," he said. The University of Hyderabad which hit the headlines over the suicide of its PhD student Rohith Vemula, has been ranked seventh in the lists of universities. While the JNU was at the eye of massive political storm last year after anti-India slogans were raised at an event on the anniversary of the hanging of Afzal Guru, similar "anti-national" slogans were also allegedly raised at the Jadavpur University as well. Launched in 2015, NIRF is a methodology adopted by the HRD Ministry to rank all institutions of higher education in India. --IANS and/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actor Vishal, who has been elected president of the Tamil Nadu Film Producers Council, says one of his main priorities will be to curb piracy and address the grievances of farmers. Vishal scored an emphatic win over R. Radhakrishnan and Kothanda Ramaiah by a margin of 143 votes on Sunday. "We will take Tamil cinema forward. Our immediate priorities are to address farmer's issue and curb piracy which has plagued the industry," Vishal told IANS. Not long ago, Vishal along with actors Prakash Raj and filmmaker Pandiraj participated in the farmer's protest in Delhi for the lack of drought relief in Tamil Nadu. Vishal had met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and even submitted a petition in support of the farmers. Commenting on the piracy issue, he said: "It has become a menace. It is eating into the revenues of the producers. We will do whatever it takes to curb it." He also said that he will ensure that subsidy is increased for small budget Tamil films. --IANS hp/nv/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India, the largest single source of migrants to Australia, is being cited as one of the reasons the population of this Indo-Pacific nation is booming -- and, expectedly, Hinduism is likely to remain the country's fastest-growing . More than 40,000 Indians were part of those who arrived in Australia as a part of the 2015-16 migration programmes. Their number (40,145 or 21.2 percent) increased from 34,874 (18.4 per cent) for 2014-15. According to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Australia's population rose by almost 350,000 to 24.2 million during the fiscal ended September 30, 2016. The increase, which includes almost 200,000 migrants, translates to a growth rate of 1.5 per cent. The rising number of Indians in Australia also means more attention is being paid to the community. According to an estimate, the Indian-born population in Australia doubled in the five years between the 2006 and 2011 census from nearly 150,000 to nearly 300,000 people. The 2016 census is likely to provide similar results. The second spot in the migrants' list was taken by China as 29,008 places (15.3 percent) were filled from the most populous country in the world. The 2016 figures are up from 27,872 (14.7 per cent). The United Kingdom has shown a drop in the numbers and was a distant third with 18,950 places (10.0 per cent). Other South Asian countries (Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives) also contributed significantly as nearly 10 per cent of the migrants came from these countries. While the specific figures have not yet been made available, it is expected that Hinduism would continue to be the fastest-growing in Australia. Hinduism had emerged in the 2011 Census as the fastest-growing in Australia and is expected to have continued in the years since. Thanks to a large number of Indians arriving in Australia as migrants, Hindus are also likely to eclipse Australian Muslims in numbers. When all 2016 statistics are made available later this year, it is expected that Hinduism (2.7 per cent of the population) will overtake the number of Australians nominating Islam as their religion (from 2.2 per cent to 2.6 per cent). Besides contributing significantly to the growth in the Australian population, it is expected that Indian migrants would also become major drivers of the economy. According to some news reports based on the Department of Immigration's figures, the Indian community is the most highly-educated in Australia. An analysis of Department of Immigration and Border Protection data reveals that 54.6 per cent migrants from India have a bachelor's degree or higher level of qualification. This ratio is three times higher than the national average of Australia which was pegged at 17.2 per cent in the 2011 census. Unless the Australian government decided to curtail the ongoing migration programme size drastically midstream, the number of Indian migrants is expected to reach a new high when the figures become available later this year. Victoria, which has Melbourne as its state capital, continues to attract the largest number of Indian migrants. Victoria also recorded the highest growth rate of all states and territories at 2.1 per cent. The Northern Territory recorded the lowest growth rate at 0.3 per cent. The growth in Australian population was faster than almost any other country in the 34-nation OECD group of nations, except for New Zealand. It would be relevant to mention here that the neighbouring New Zealand is among the top sources of migrants to Australia but New Zealand citizens are not counted as a part of the Australian migration programme. The first release of census data will be on April 11, about two-and-a-half months earlier than in the past. Two further batches of more detailed census data will be released later in 2017. (Rekha Bhattacharjee is a senior journalist of Indian origin. She can be reached at Vijay@hotkey.net.au) --IANS rekha/vm/sac (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rome, April 4 (IANS/AKI) Italy's former Premier Matteo Renzi has trounced his rivals in the first stage of voting in the ruling centre-left Democratic Party leadership contest, taking around 68 percent of members' votes, partial results showed Monday. Renzi's closest contender, Justice Minister Andrea Orlando took some 25 percent of ballots in the first round of the party congress, while Puglia governor Michele Emiliano got some 6.5 percent, enough to stay in the running for April 30 primaries open to all. "Sixty-eight percent, an impressive result, long live democracy and thanks to everyone. Now let's work together," Renzi tweeted. "We got over two-thirds of votes in the first round. Let's wait for the official figures to have the exact percentage but mathematics is not a matter for opinion," Renzi later wrote in his online newsletter e-news. Organisers said around between 235,000 and 255,000 Democratic Party members voted, but Orlando's supporters said the figures were "not convincing". The official results of the vote will be issued on Sunday. "I hope that over two million people vote on April 30, because it would be a blow for the whole party if it were below that threshold," Orlando stated. Renzi is seeking to be re-elected party leader with a stronger mandate after stepping down as Premier in December after a crushing defeat in a referendum on constitutional reforms he claimed would streamline Italy's political machinery. The 42-year-old triggered a split within the Democratic Party in February when he announced he was standing down as party leader to seek a new, stronger mandate in early primaries, while urging unity. Two days later, a left-leaning faction in Italy's Democratic Party, led by its former leader Pier Luigi Bersani and ex-lower house of parliament whip Roberto Speranza announced they were breaking away. The rebels said they would take no part in further meetings or the party congress but would continue to back Paolo Gentiloni, a Renzi ally who took over as caretaker Prime Minister until national elections due by February 2018 at the latest. The small but influential splinter group could get between 5 percent and 8 percent of votes in a future general election, according to pollsters. Bersani, Speranza and other leftwingers including Tuscany regional Governor Enrico Rossi have long criticised the reformist Renzi's repositioning of the party towards the political centre and his allegedly autocratic treatment of dissenters. --IANS/AKI vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rome, April 3 (IANS/AKI) Italy on Monday "strongly condemned" the bomb attack on the metro in the Russian city of St Petersburg which killed at least 10 people and injured dozens. "I strongly condemn and express my my condolences and the Italian state's closeness to the Russian state and people for the attack a few hours ago in St Petersburg," Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano said in a statement. "Italy will continue to support Russia in the fight against and for peace and international security," he added. The bomb blast hit a train between Sennaya Ploshchad and Tekhnologichesky Institut stations at about 2.30 local time. Russian President Vladimir Putin said all causes, especially terrorism, were being investigated. He was in St Petersburg at the time of the blast, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. The discovery of an explosive device at another station, Ploshchad Vosstaniya, indicates the attack was deliberate, and reports in Russia say the explosion came from a briefcase left on the train. Several transport hubs in Russia have been attacked in the past. In 2010, 38 people died in a double suicide bombing on the Moscow metro. A year later, a bomb exploded on a high-speed train travelling between Moscow and St Petersburg, killing 27 and injuring another 130. Both attacks were claimed by Islamist groups. --IANS/AKI vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Japanese government on Monday said it is sending its envoys back to South Korea after they were recalled over a controversial statue installed in Busan city, public broadcaster NHK reported. The Japanese government in January recalled its Ambassador to South Korea Yasumasa Nagamine and Consul General Yasuhiro Morimoto in protest over the statue symbolising comfort women -- women who were forced to work as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War II -- that civic groups erected in front of its consulate. "We are aware that the Japanese government has decided to send Ambassador Nagamine here tomorrow (Tuesday)," a South Korean Foreign Ministry official said. "We hope that his return to work will serve as a chance for both countries to better and more closely communicate with each other," Yonhap News Agency quoted the official as saying. Japan claimed that the statue, along with another one standing in front of its embassy in Seoul, runs counter to a landmark deal reached between the two countries in 2015 to resolve the long-running rift over Japan's atrocity of forcing Korean women into front-line brothels during World War II. Under the deal, Japan apologised and agreed to provide 1 billion yen ($8.9 million) for the creation of a foundation aimed at helping the victims. The agreement also says the countries will settle the issue of comfort women finally and irreversibly. --IANS ksk/dg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Kerala government has sought legal opinion and plans to call an all-party meeting in the wake of the Supreme Court order banning liquor vends within 500 metres on either side of state and national highways from April 1. "We have sought legal assistance from the Advocate General on whether an appeal is possible on the issue," Excise Minister G. Sudhakaran told reporters on Monday. He said the government is also looking into the possibility of sale of liquor through toddy shops. As many as 207 of the 850 retail liquor outlets owned by the state government have since downed shutters from April 1 in compliance with the Supreme Court directive of December 2016. Also, 1,749 other places where liquor was served till March 31, including five-star hotels as well as beer, wine and toddy shops, have stopped serving liquor. With the Kerala assembly session likely to commence on April 17, the Pinarayi Vijayan government is keen to arrive at a political consensus since law and order issue is involved. Huge crowds have been witnessed at liquor outlets that are still open while people are opposing attempts to open/relocate liquor vends at new places. The Kerala government is set to unveil its new excise policy after April 12. Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran on Monday told the media that the situation will seriously affect tourism in the coastal state. "Apart from tourism, livelihood of thousands of people engaged in liquor trade will be affected. A way has to be found out," said Surendran. Certain state governments have de-notified state highways in a bid to get around the apex court order. However, the Kerala government is bound to face stiff resistance from the opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front if it resorts to this move vis-a-vis 77 state highways. Senior Congress leader T.N. Prathapan said the party will oppose tooth and nail any move to circumvent the apex court order. On Monday, serpentine queues were seen in front of liquor outlets even as authorities decided to extend their working hours by an hour and also set up more counters. --IANS sg/tsb/dg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy on Monday said a section of young students were falling prey to radicalism as they are being misguided by "centrifugal forces" attempting to split the nation and stressed proper education and awareness against this. "There are always some such cases. What do you do about them? In the middle of the Second World War, there were people in England who supported Nazism. They went to jail. "I would say that these people also ought be sent to jail or since they are of very tender age, they ought be educated properly. They are misguided. They do not know the first thing about the country or about the centrifugal forces that are trying to split the country," he said at a book launch event here. Dismissing the "Azadi" slogans raised by a section of Jadavpur University students at an event here on Sunday as "unimportant", the former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) West Bengal unit president said these students are ignorant about the essence of integrity that India has practised for so long. "A few students here and there were shouting slogans. It is of no importance. I took no notice of it," said Roy. "These students are totally ignorant about the essence of the country, the way this country has stayed together in spite of so many centrifugal forces working against it. They are young boys and girls who are misguided by some cheap sloganeering," he added. --IANS mgr/ssp/pgh/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Nine policemen were injured by gunmen at a road checkpoint in southern Thailand on Monday, police said. The unknown gunmen in a pickup truck opened fire on the policemen in the early hours near a roadside market in Yala's Krong Pinang district, about 1,100 km from the Thai capital, Xinhua news agency reported. The policemen, two of whom were seriously wounded, were rushed to hospital while their assailants remain at large. The latest attack on government personnel by the insurgents followed Thursday's attack at a police station in a neighbouring area which killed one policeman and injured few others.--IANS in/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Post-merger of five associate banks and the Bharatiya Mahila Bank, top public sector lender State Bank of India (SBI) began operations on Monday with 500 million customers, SBI Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya announced here. The associate banks which merged with the SBI are State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank Of Hyderabad, State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of Travancore besides the Mahila Bank. "The SBI opened as 'one bank' today (Monday) and will continue to operate in the same manner as before post-merger. New products and services will come across more seamlessly," Bhattacharya told the media. The treasuries of the SBI and associates have also been completely integrated and have now started work as a single entity after the merger process, she added. The combined entity will enhance productivity, increase operational efficiency, mitigate geographical risks, drive synergies across multiple dimensions while ensuring higher levels of customer delight, she said. With the merger, SBI is now catapulted among the top ranking 50 banks in the world in terms of assets now worth at Rs.37,00,000 crore. It now has a deposit base of over Rs 26,00,000 crore and advances of around Rs 18,50,000 crore, 22,500 branches, including SBI's 20,000 alone, and 58,000 ATMs. SBI also has 191 foreign offices in 36 countries. Now, the bank will undertake various audits before full data integration which is likely to be completed by April 24 and lead to complete integration of its information technology systems, Bhattacharya added. She said the SBI had made an additional provision of Rs 8,600 crore towards non-performing assets of the associate banks where the cost of funds were higher than SBI. She assured that no nasty surprises on NPAs were expected in the coming days. Bhattacharya added that the shares swap of the associates had also been completed and these were listed on the exchanges. Of the five associates, State Bank of Patiala and State Bank of Hyderabad were not listed entities. The merger-related blackout of e-channels lasted only three hours and now a seamless integration of web-channels had been achieved, the bank said. --IANS qn/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rwanda's RwandAir has launched a direct flight connecting Mumbai with Kigali, the capital of the east African nation, a Mumbai airport official said on Monday. The flight will be operated every Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, departing Kigali at 12.35 a.m. (Rwandan time) and arriving Mumbai at 11.05 p.m. (IST). On the return sector, it will depart Mumbai 1.45 a.m. (IST) every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday and reach Kigali at 5.15 a.m. (Rwandan time). Rwanda is three and a half hours behind India. An initiative of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA), the flights will be operated on Boeing 737-800 aircraft in dual class cabin configuration. A CSMIA spokesperson said that passenger and trade between Mumbai and Africa has always been significant with Mumbai serving as a gateway to the continent with 70 percent capacity deployed between India and Africa. Last year, nearly 800,000 passengers travelled between Mumbai and African countries with an eight percent annual growth rate. The new RwandAir four-times a week flight is expected to significantly boost business and tourism between India and Rwanda, the spokesperson said. --IANS qn/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) South Korea, Japan and the US will conduct a joint naval manoeuver, starting on Monday, to prepare against North Korea's growing submarine threats, a South Korean Defence Ministry spokesman confirmed. The three-day naval manoeuver will be held in waters near the South Korean island of Jeju with a focus on securing an "effective" response to North Korea's threatening submarine program, especially the development of submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM), Efe news reported. The South Korean Navy will dispatch the 4,500-ton Kang Gam Chan destroyer and a Lynx helicopter while the US Navy has sent the USS McCampbell equipped with the Aegis ballistic missile defence system, an MH-60 anti-submarine chopper and an P-3 Orion patrol aircraft. Japan's Sawajiri destroyer will also join the drill and will be in charge of locating, detecting and following a fake North Korean submarine and exchanging relevant data during the drill. This is the first time the three allies will carry out a simulation like this, since they discussed the matter in the trilateral defence forum in December 2016. Ever since North Korea increased its SLBM trials in 2015, the Pyongyang regime has shown advancement in the field following two seemingly successful launches in 2016. The trilateral naval manoeuvers will be held alongside the current largest-ever annual military drill by South Korea and the US, conducted on South Korean territory in response to numerous weapon tests carried out by North Korea since 2016. North Korea was expected to carry out further nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missiles tests in response to the drills. --IANS in/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgard and German actor Udo Kier are lined up to star in the screen adaptation of Polish writer Jerzy Kosinski's controversial novel "The Painted Bird". The 1965 novel "The Painted Bird" describes World War II as seen by a boy. Filming has begun on an adaptation of the controversial Holocaust story with Skarsgard joining the cast, reports hollywoodreporter.com. Petr Kotlar, a nine-year-old Czech actor, will play the young Jewish boy, while actor Harvey Keitel is also in talks to appear in the film. "'The Painted Bird' was a lovely book and a lovely screenplay," said Skarsgard, who will essay the role of a German soldier in the film. "You are probably familiar with the story -- it follows a young boy and his encounters with a lot of different people, and I am one of them," he added. The cast also includes Polish, Ukrainian, Russia and Czech actors. Marhoul says he is still in talks with talent from Germany and Slovakia in addition to ongoing negotiations with Skarsgard and Keitel. The black-and-white film will be shot over 105 days, and a world premiere of the film is planned for May 2019, hollywoodreporter.com said. The book had caused controversy and criticism for its portrayal of wartime horrors enacted not by the Nazis, but by Polish peasants. Kosinski took the title from a rural tradition of catching birds, painting them in bright colours and then releasing them into the wild. The "painted birds" were never again accepted by their own families and were pecked to death, a fate the novelist uses as an analogy for the young boy. Marhoul, who bought the screen rights to "The Painted Bird" in 2010, has described the book as a "deeply dramatic story examining the immediate relationship between terror and cruelty on one side and innocence and love on the other". --IANS ks/rb/dg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) People with higher levels of underactive thyroid gland (hypothyroidism) may be at risk of severe heart failure, an Indian-origin researcher has found. According to the study, those with an overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism) may be more likely to have irregular, often rapid heart rate. A thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) blood test is used to check thyroid gland problems. TSH causes the thyroid gland to make two hormones: triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4). T3 and T4 help to control body's metabolism and are needed for normal growth of the brain, especially during the initial years of life. The findings showed that in patients with pre-existing heart failure, higher TSH, higher free T4 and lower T3 concentrations were each associated with more severe heart failure, while only higher free T4 was associated with atrial fibrillation. "Our results indicate that having subclinical hypothyroidism, a mild decrease in thyroid function, is associated with increased likelihood of needing mechanical assistance to the heart with devices, transplantation or death," said led author Lakshmi Kannan from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, US. "We also found that blood tests commonly performed to assess thyroid function, including thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) levels and two distinct thyroid hormones called thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3), are associated with the severity of heart failure," Kannan said. The results were presented at the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society, ENDO 2017 in Orlando. To examine the association between thyroid disorders and the risk of adverse outcomes, including ventricular assist device placement, heart transplantation or death, Kannan and her team investigated 1,382 patients with pre-existing moderate to advanced heart failure. In the participants, subclinical hypothyroidism with TSH 7.0 milli-international units per liter (mIU/L) or higher was linked with worse survival. --IANS rt/py/dg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Truckers in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh intensified their strike on the fifth day on Monday, staging protests to press their demands. The striking truck owners took out rallies, staged sit-ins and even cooked food on highways to draw the government's attention towards their demands. More than 5 lakh trucks remained off the roads in both states, paralysing the movement of goods. As the strike began to have an impact on the supply of essential commodities, the transport departments were gearing up to make alternate arrangements, including the use of buses of state-owned road transport corporations. Transporters across south India were on strike on a call given by South India Motor Transport Association (SIMTA) to press for their demands including withdrawal of increase in the premium for third party insurance, hike in penalty and toll fee. The Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA) in Hyderabad has called SIMTA leaders for talks to address the issue relating to insurance. SIMTA leader and Secretary of Telangana Lorry Owners' Association Durga Prasad said their future course of action would depend on the outcome of the talks with IRDA. He said they were also waiting for a call from the state government for talks to solve some of the demands at the state level. Hundreds of trucks remained parked at Auto Nagar on the outskirts of Hyderabad. The truck owners took out a rally on Monday, causing traffic jam on the highway. Protests were also held at Siddipet in Telangana and at Nellore, West Godavari, Krishna and other districts in Andhra Pradesh. In a novel protest, truck owners cooked food on a highway in West Godavari district. They demanded immediate steps by government to address their problems. The transport department officials in both the states hope that the strike would end soon as the talks were initiated at the national level and IRDA was also taking steps to address the insurance-related issues. --IANS ms/pgh/dg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Donald Trump's senior advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner is currently visiting Iraq as the American military is aiding a fight to retake Mosul city from the Islamic State (IS) terror group, the media reported. A senior administration official told The New York Times on Sunday that Kushner, 36, is visiting the war-torn country on the invitation by General Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff. However, the purpose of Kushner's visit was not immediately clear. Kushner has been acting as a shadow diplomat, and his portfolio includes China, Mexico, Canada and the Middle East, The Washington Post said. The President, in fact, has specifically tasked Kushner with brokering peace in the region. He also recently emerged as the head of the Office of American Innovation, a team tasked with bringing a more business-minded approach to overhauling the federal government. Since taking office, Trump has spoken infrequently about Iraq or his policy there, a CNN report said. His comments last week that the US is "doing very well in Iraq", which remains besieged by violence, drew particular notice and criticism. The visit by Kushner comes after US military officials acknowledged that Washington was likely behind an airstrike that killed scores of Iraqi civilians in Mosul on March 17. The incident renewed concern about civilian deaths in the wake of the US-led air campaign against the IS. --IANS ksk/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday condemned the bombing in St. Petersburg Metro, which killed at least 10 people, and said that those responsible for the attack should be held accountable. "The Secretary-General condemns today's (Monday) bombing in the St. Petersburg Metro," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here. "He extends his deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and to the government and the people of the Russian Federation," Dujarric said. "Those responsible for this appalling act must be held accountable." The blast took place on a subway train in the Russian city of St. Petersburg Monday afternoon, killing at least 10 people and injuring about 50 others, a report said. The bomb, a homemade device filled with shrapnel, exploded in the third car just after the front of the train had entered the tunnel, the report said. --IANS ahm/vt (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Monday resumed its process of repatriation of Afghan refugees living in Pakistan. UNHCR spokesperson Duniya Aslam said that so far 16,000 Afghan refugees had registered for repatriation in April and May. The voluntary repatriation process began after the winter break with 195 families in Peshawar and two in Quetta, Aslam told Efe news. She said that the initial aid sum of $400 that was being given to every Afghan returning to their country since June 2016 had been reduced to $200, owing to the paucity of funds. The UNHCR had not been able to mobilise more resources, she said. The organisation has been running a voluntary repatriation programme for Afghan refugees living in Pakistan since 2002 and provides aid for their return to Afghanistan, while the Pakistani government is in charge of undocumented Afghan nationals. Last year, at least 370,000 refugees returned to Afghanistan after spending decades in the neighbouring country, following Islamabad's ultimatum on the issue, the increase in economic aid, detention of illegal Afghans and reinforcement of border control. According to unofficial estimates given by sources close to the process, 250,000 moe unregistered Afghans have crossed the border into Pakistan. The Afghan refugee community in Pakistan, estimated to be around 1.4 million registered and around 900,000 undocumented, is one of the largest and oldest in the world, according to the UNHCR Although Pakistan has long demanded that Afghans leave their territory, Islamabad last year issued an ultimatum urging Afghans to leave the territory before December 2016, a date that was later extended by a year. --IANS ksk/vt (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Indian actor-comedian Vir Das's Netflix special show titled "Abroad Understanding" will release on the streaming media and video on demand online platform on April 25. The actor is excited to get "authentic Indian comedy" out to wider audience with the show. "It's all ready to go and it's time to send some authentic Indian comedy out to its largest ever audience. I've worked on this project for over a year now and I hope people enjoy it. I think we're gonna have some fun on this wave," Vir Das said in a statement. Vir's show was filmed in New York and New Delhi last year in November. It will be streamed on Netflix across the globe in over 100 countries. The show offers hilarious insight into stand-up comic acts, and will be full of astute social commentary and a glimpse into Vir's journey. --IANS sug/rb/vt (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The majority leader of the North Dakota House scoffed at Democrats' criticism Monday: The lawmakers contended that Republicans' poor tax policies in the past are hurting low-income residents today and into the future. House Majority Leader Al Carlson, R-Fargo, countered the gloom and doom and assured the sky was not falling. The tussle over budget cuts was renewed this week along party lines when Democratic-NPL lawmakers held a noon press conference at the Capitol building. Sen. Jim Dotzenrod, D-Wyndmere, pointed to tax cuts enacted by the GOP majority in recent sessions as a significant factor contributing to the state's tight fiscal situation and, if the money had remained in the coffers, it could have helped to avoid deep agency tax cuts. Dotzenrod said there still are options: tapping into the principal of the Legacy Fund or increasing the amount of oil tax dollars placed in the state general fund. Its going to take a lot of votes, Dotzenrod said of getting the two-thirds majority needed to tap into the Legacy Fund. The Legacy Fund was approved by voters in 2010. Thirty percent of all oil and gas production and extraction tax revenue go into the Legacy Fund, which cant be accessed until June 30. Use of the principal is capped at 15 percent per biennium. Earnings are to be transferred to the general fund at the end of each biennium. Carlson quickly rejected the use of Legacy Fund principal following the Democrats press conference. "The right-sizing of government is never a bad exercise," said Carlson, adding that leadership has been mapping out a possible path to balancing the budget, including state agency cuts and transfers from various state funds. GOP leadership foresees a best-case scenario of a $50 million to $60 million gap still to go, but, with a few weeks left in the session, it shouldnt be tough to complete the job. One solution the Democrats will be fighting is the use of some of the $300 million in a fund for a 12 percent state-paid property tax credit to residents to balance the budget. Im still hopeful that were going to do one of those two, Dotzenrod said of either passing the county social services legislation in its original form or maintaining the full 12 percent tax credit. House Republicans last week changed a proposed state takeover of county social services into an interim study, leaving the possibility of tapping the 12 percent credit as a budget option. Carlson said theres only so many pots of money from which to draw, including the 12 percent credit. House Minority Leader Corey Mock, D-Grand Forks, said the minority party will work to push amendments in conference committee and on the floor to avoid deeper cuts to programs. Mock said the state has largely exhausted its reserves and, during the upcoming biennium, he fears those funds wont be replenished for future sessions in a sluggish economy. "2019 (session) is set up to be even worse, Mock said. Do you use smartphone apps to organise lunch dates, make convenient online purchases or communicate the most intimate details of your existence? Beware, these apps may be secretly talking to each other and potentially breaching your security, researchers warn. A study showed that applications on the android phones are able to talk to one another and trade information. The biggest security risks were some of the least utilitarian -- apps that pertained to personalisation of ringtones, widgets, and emojis, the researchers said. "Researchers were aware that apps may talk to one another in some way, shape, or form," said Gang Wang, assistant professor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, US. But "this study shows undeniably with real-world evidence over and over again is that app behaviour, whether it is intentional or not, can pose a security breach depending on the kinds of apps you have on your phone", Wang added. The types of threats fall into two major categories, either a malware app that is specifically designed to launch a cyber-attack or apps that simply allow for collusion and privilege escalation. In the latter category, it is not possible to quantify the intention of the developer, so collusion, while still a security breach, can in many cases be unintentional, the researchers said. The findings were presented at the Association for Computing Machinery Asia Computer and Communications Security Conference in Dubai. The team examined a whopping 110,150 apps over three years including 100,206 of Google Play's most popular apps and 9,994 malware apps from Virus Share a private collection of malware app samples. "Of the apps we studied, we found thousands of pairs of apps that could potentially leak sensitive phone or personal information and allow unauthorised apps to gain access to privileged data," commented Daphne Yao, associate professor at Virginia Tech. "We hope this study will be a source for the industry to consider re-examining their software development practices and incorporate safeguards on the front end," Wang added. --IANS rt/ksk/dg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With reference to Infy founder, board rift erupts again (April 3), it is indeed sad that the great N R Narayana Murthy and his co-founders just cant let go. They have to forget his glorious past and let the chosen ones run the company in the manner they deem fit. They have no right to meddle in the working of the company once they have given up all executive positions. Whether the decision taken by the board, after following due process, is good or bad, Murthy and the other founders must control their emotions and stop airing their views to the media. Its a common problem at the end of the financial year. The employer sets a deadline, usually March 15, as the last date for accepting proof of reimbursements. But you are unable to do so because either you have not kept the documents properly or were on leave. Can you claim benefit for that while filing income- return (ITR)? There is a good chance that you can do so. It is the responsibility of the employer to collect evidence on behalf of the employee for any reimbursement like telephone bills, medical reimbursement or house rent allowance (HRA). If the employee does not submit evidence, it is the obligation of the employer to deduct and not give the tax benefit to the employee. But in such a case employee can technically claim the refund if he has actually incurred expenses. Sanjeev Gokhale, a Mumbai-based chartered accountant, says: Technically while filing returns you should claim the refund and it should be granted assuming you have the proof. In nine out of the 10 cases that we file for our clients, we have seen it is granted. In most cases, especially for those in the low-income bracket, there is usually no scrutiny or query from the Income-Tax Department. But the expense must be genuine and make sure you have documentary proof of those. Those who could not submit evidence to the employer, maybe because of illness or travel, should arrange the evidence and then claim benefits, says Naveen Wadhwa, deputy general manager (research and development), Taxman.com. Typically in the case of employees with a low salary, say Rs 6-7 lakh, the I-T department does not ask for scrutiny. But if you are a high salaried individual and are claiming huge reimbursements, you could be issued scrutiny notice. But there is no guarantee that you wont get a notice, he added. There is no need to attach proof while filing the ITR, but ensure that the proof is with you. If the I-T Assessing Officer (AO) wants to substantiate whether you have incurred the expense or not, you will be issued a scrutiny assessment notice. Hence, it is advisable to keep the proof for a period of five-six years. Arvind Rao, of Arvind Rao and Associates, also says that reimbursements are part of the salary and hence the onus is on the employer to collect it. But HRA can be claimed even if proof is not submitted to the employer because it is an allowance and not a reimbursement. In case you have missed out on claiming leave travel allowance (LTA), you can claim it for the next financial year if your organisations policy permits you to carry forward the balance. If you have missed submitting proof of your investments under Section 80, you can claim exemption while filing tax returns. These include the Public Provident Fund, Equity-Linked Savings Scheme, repayment of home loans, life and health insurance premiums, National Pension System, school fees for children, repayment of education loan, etc. Again, there is no need to submit proof as these days all tax returns are annexure-less and electronic, which means you are not supposed to attach any documents, say Preeti Khurana, Chief Editor, Cleartax.com Most employees think that if they dont submit proof to their employer, they cannot claim the tax exemption. But that is not so. Employer is just an agent that is collecting tax on behalf of the government, says Wadhwa. Karnataka: Worst in decades The Krishnaraja Sagara Dam, which stores water from the Cauvery river, is hitting its dead storage level, a 15-year low. Dead storage is when the remaining volume of water is below the level of the lowest outlet; it cannot be accessed under normal operating conditions. The authorities have said summer crops cannot be irrigated. A new crisis is brewing, after 2016 the worst year for Karnataka in four decades. The Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Cell says all major reservoirs in the state are near their dead storage. The government is now focused on providing drinking water, at the cost of standing crops. Each year, the cumulative effect (of lack of rain) is carried forward. If this year, too, the state continues to have below-average rain, it will be worse than the last year, says Srinivasa Reddy, the monitoring cells director. Almost 75 per cent of the minor irrigation tanks have dried up in the state. Groundwater levels are 80 per cent lower than what they used to be 10 years ago. Currently, drinking water is being transported to 600 villages. In urban areas, 400 wards are depending on tankers for drinking. There is a huge scarcity of fodder as well, and this will impact the kharif, rabi and summer crops, added Reddy. Last year, the crisis prompted Karnataka to deny Cauvery water to the lower riparian state, Tamil Nadu, prompting the neighbour to seek intervention of the Prime Minister. It also saw violence in Bengaluru and disruption in transport and bus services between the two states. The state government has allotted Rs 30 crore for cloud seeding to generate artificial rainfall in regions. It says it has also made sure that all farmers have taken insurance for their crops. In the past six months, rain in the state has been 40-70 per cent less than the norm. Agricultural production has come down by 50 per cent. The government has set up fodder banks. Of 176 taluks in the state, 160 have been declared drought-hit. The Centre has sanctioned Rs 17,000 crore to the state. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament, says the districts of north Karnataka have been especially hit. People are selling their cattle and property at throwaway prices and migrating. They're not returning, even at the risk of losing their farmland. Apurva Venkat Kerala: Never had it so bad Kerala has not seen a worse in 100 years. It is affecting the lives of humans, cattle and also wild animals. The state got early signs of drought when the southwest monsoon from June 1 to September 30, 2016 recorded a rainfall deficiency of 33.7 per cent. The following northeast monsoon from October 1 to December 1 fell short by 61.7 per cent. January and February were also deficient. According to the authorities, annual rainfall in the state varies from 360 cm in the extreme north to about 180 cm in the southern parts. During the southwest monsoon, the Edavappathi, the state generally receives about 70 per cent of its annual rain. The northeast monsoon, the Thulavarsham, would balance any deficiency in the earlier one. This time, both were deficient, leaving the state with the worst drought in a century. According to the Central Water Commissions report for the week ended March 23, storage as a percentage of live capacity at full reservoir level was low in four of the five major ones in the state; in the fifth, Idamalayar, it was less than the average in the past 10 years. The government announced in October all the districts were drought-hit and it had been taking steps. However, officials say the situation could worsen. V S Sunil Kumar, minister for agriculture, said: Around 30,000 hectares have been affected so far and we are afraid of more losses if the water scarcity continues. Around 200,000 farmers have been affected so far and the government has increased the crop insurance. The loss in agriculture alone has been around Rs 250 crore, till now, said sources. The state has asked the Centre for Rs 992 crore in assistance. A delegation from the Centre is expected to visit next month. Gireesh Babu Tamil Nadu: Unquenchable thirst Tamil Nadu is facing one of the worst droughts in 144 years. Rainfall was a combined 62 per cent deficient in the two monsoons. Water levels in reservoirs are 80 per cent below normal; in the capital city, Chennai, fed entirely by reservoirs, these are only 10-20 per cent full. In the states 15 major reservoirs, with total storage capacity of 198.4 billion cubic ft, the water available as on December-end was only 25.7 bcf; it was 126.2 bcf on the same day in 2015. The combined storage in the four drinking water reservoirs which cater to Chennai city, was a little below two bcf, less than a fifth of what it was at the same time in 2015. And, the main monsoon here, the northeast monsoon, will not come again till next October. The entire state has been declared drought-affected. Input subsidy relief totalling Rs 2,247 crore has been sanctioned. And, the Centre asked to sanction Rs 39,565 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund. The government is taking up works like erection of new deep borewells, rejuvenation of existing ones and open wells, replacement of pumpsets and even supply of water through lorries, at a cost of Rs 460 crore in rural areas and Rs 150 crore in urban areas. The Farmers Association claims 254 cultivators have committed suicide since October, which the government says it cant confirm. One of the first measures announced by Chief Minister E K Palaniswami was the Rs 2,247-crore package mentioned earlier, for drought-hit farmers. A senior with the agriculture department said they were also working on a demand to write off crop loans. A central drought inspection team has recommended a drought fund of Rs 2,096 crore. The situation has also been exacerbated by the non-release of Cauvery water by Karnataka. By the final order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, 182 bcf was to be released by Karnataka between June 1 and December end; saying it could spare none, it released only 67.2 bcf. As a result, storage in Mettur Dam, the main reservoir which serves the Cauvery Delta, was too low to save a single paddy crop in the Cauvery basin of Tamil Nadu. T E Narasimhan Andhra Pradesh & Telangana: One more gloomy story Note: These includes rejuvenation of ponds, wells, traditional irrigation structures etc Andhra Pradesh (AP) faces drought and drinking water scarcity problems. However, sibling Telangana does not; it had above-normal rain last year. In Andhra, only about 80 per cent of the normal area was sown in the kharif and rabi seasons rain was deficient, groundwater had depleted and there was lack of water in the Krishna river canal system. However, sowing was near-normal in Telangana. Latest reports suggest that several districts in Andhra Pradesh, including Anantapur, Prakasham and Krishna districts, were facing severe drinking water shortage in March itself. In Telangana, the authorities have noticed drinking water shortage in parts of the old Mahabubnagar district and Chandupatla area in Nalgonda district. Even so, the Telangana government has prepared a contingency plan, with a budget of Rs 105 crore, for drinking water supply in problem areas during the summer. Given earlier experiences, it is better not to take a chance, says K Vijayapal Reddy, chief engineer of the rural water supply department. As for Andhra, the districts of Anantapur, Prakasam and Krishna had a severe drinking water shortage in March itself. Both the northeast and southwest monsoons werent enough. The state government declared 301 of the 664 mandals as drought affected at the time of kharif planting. The Rayalaseema region is waterdeficient and drought has been declared in all 60-odd mandals of Anantapur district, where the standing groundnut crop has had major loss. The state is providing Rs 664 crore worth of input subsidy to farmers whove lost their crop. In the Krishna delta, canal water is stored or use in summer. As there were no releases under the Krishna canal system downstream of Nagarjuna Sagar, many of these tanks remained empty. Groundwater in most of the areas in Krishna and other districts which are closer to the sea are saline. Hence, water has to now be transported from other areas to meet even the drinking water needs of villages in these areas. In Telangana, however, with the good rain last year, many tanks and small lakes still have water and that suffices for drinking water needs in villages. As the crop area was normal in both kharif and rabi, the authorities are not anticipating fodder scarcity this summer. Dasarath Reddy Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister has said "misconceptions" have been created about him due to his saffron-clad look and promised to win hearts of "all sections" by spreading a new idiom of happiness and prosperity. He also said those who have been "insulting" India's traditions in the name of secularism are feeing threatened after he assumed office. "Many misconceptions are created about me. Many people say I am saffron-clad, so there are many in the country who are averse to saffron," Adityanath said in an interview to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) affiliated weekly 'Organiser'. He said, those who were insulting India's tradition and culture in the name of secularism and appeasement are feeling threatened after he took office. "We will win hearts of all sections of people with our style of working. We would spread a new idiom of happiness and prosperity," the 44-year-old Adityanath, considered a Hindutva hardliner, said. Noting that for him power was not for fun and frolic, he said, "We are not in to run after prestigious positions and posts." Listing out the priorities of his government, Adityanath said protection of "rashtra" (nation) will be the main "dharma" (religion) of his government. "This is focal point of humanity. In UP we would provide corruption-free administration and rid the society of goonda raj," he said, adding plans have been made and their impact will be visible in the next two months. A new industrial policy will be in place to check migration of people from the state and it would make sure that 90 per cent of the employees in any industrial unit were from within Uttar Pradesh, he said. Promising to clear the dues of sugarcane farmers within 14 days, Adityanath announced five-six new sugar mills will be opened in the state over the next six months. Over 120 constituencies, where the (BJP) had lost in the last polls but sees as winnable in the next, will be at the centre of its eight-day drive between April 6 and 14 with a host of senior party leaders scheduled to visit these areas. Party President will be in and senior ministers like Rajnath Singh, and in South, (Rural) and Nazimabad respectively during this period and hold a number of public events. Most of the Union ministers will be visiting states and constituencies which the party's top brass has identified as winnable and party MPs will also visit one seat each where it had lost as part of its efforts to boost its chances there in 2019. The move underlines the BJP's aggressive attempts to win over new territories. Its decision to hold its two-day Executive in for the first time in 20 years is also being seen as a move in this direction after it put up an impressive show in the recent local body polls there. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had identified a long to-do list for the party in his address to its MPs. While April 6 is the party's Foundation Day, April 14 is the birth anniversary of Dalit icon Bhim Rao Ambedkar. "We will inform the masses about the central government's achievements, the GST (goods and services tax) legislation and our win in the recent assembly polls," party general secretary Bhupender Yadav said. Yadav, who is in charge of party affairs in Bihar, will be visiting Madhepura, a stronghold of the Lalu Prasad-led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). He said Bhim App, a digital payment interface, will also be popularised by party leaders and workers who will also undertake cleanliness drives. Union ministers J P Nadda, Smriti Irani and will be visiting Thrissur, Amethi and Rae Bareli the last two being parliamentary constituencies of Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi and its chief Sonia Gandhi. Kerala, another state where the party believes it has prospects, will see visits by several ministers, besides West Bengal. Its general secretary Anil Jain and union minister Ram Kripal Yadav will travel to Ferozabad and Mainpuri, two bastions in Uttar Pradesh. After taking over as the chief, Shah had begun work on boosting its strength in a number of states, including Odisha, West Bengal, Kerala and those in the Northeast, as he identified them as places where it can win many more seats in 2019. A better performance in these states can make up for the losses it may suffer in states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan where it is likely to find it hard to repeat its 2014 feat. Bihar Chief Minister on Monday asked the Congress and Left parties to take the initiative in forging a 'grand alliance' against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) across the country. About 10 people were killed and several more injured today after an explosion rocked the metro system in Russia's second city Saint Petersburg, according to authorities, who were not ruling out a possible terror attack. President Vladimir Putin said investigators were looking into all possible causes for the explosion -- "accidental, criminal and first of all ... Terrorist." Pictures screened on national television showed the door of a train carriage blown out, as bloodied bodies lay strewn on a station platform. Above ground, emergency services vehicles rushed to the scene at the Technological Institute metro station, a key transport hub in the city centre. "For the time being, we can say with full confidence that nine people have died and over 20 people were injured, including some who were seriously injured," the spokesman for Russia's national anti-terrorism committee (NAK), Andrei Przhezdomsky, said in televised remarks. Authorities in Saint Petersburg had previously given a death toll of "about 10 people." The blast caused scenes of confusion, with traffic blocked on Moskovsky Prospect, a busy throughfare as emergency vehicles rushed to the station. "My mom was in the metro, I don't know what's happened to her, I can't get hold of her," one woman, Natalia, told AFP outside the station as she was trying to make a phone call on her mobile. Pensioner Vyacheslav Veselov told AFP he had seen four bodies at the Technological Institute station. "A station attendant in tears called on the men to help carry the bodies," he said. Przhezdomsky said the blast occurred at 2:40pm local time (1140 GMT) and that the NAK had already launched an investigation. He said "the blast happened in a train carriage between the stations Technological Institute and Sennaya (Square)," which are next to each other. The committee later confirmed that security services had found a device at the Vosstaniya Square metro station which didn't explode and "neutralised" it. The metro network announced it was shutting down entirely after evacuating all passengers and Russia's Investigative Committee also began a probe into the blast. The Moscow metro tweeted that it was "taking additional security measures" as required by law in such situations. NAK said in a statement carried by Russian agencies that security was being stepped up at transportation hubs and crowded places across the country. Putin, who was holding a meeting near Saint Petersburg in his official Strelna presidential palace, offered "condolences" to those hurt in the blast. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini wrote on Twitter she was following the story "together with all EU foreign ministers" gathered for a meeting in Luxembourg. "Our thoughts are with all the people of Russia," she wrote. While there was no immediate indication as to what caused the blast, Russia's security services have previously said they had foiled "terrorist attacks" on Moscow's public transport system. And extremists have targeted Russia's public transportation systems in the past. In 2013, Russia was hit by twin suicide strikes that claimed 34 lives and raised alarm over security at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games. A bombing at the main railway station of the southern city of Volgograd killed 18 people on while a second strike hit a trolleybus and claimed 16 lives. A suicide raid on Moscow's Domodedovo airport claimed by Islamic insurgents from the North Caucasus killed 37 people in January 2011. That strike was claimed by the Caucasus Emirate movement of Islamist warlord Doku Umarov. Russia beefed up its security over the holiday period in the wake of the attack on the Berlin Christmas market that killed 12. Russia has intervened militarily to bolster Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces in September 2015, turning the tables on the battlefield just as rebel forces were strengthening their hold on key areas. More than 310,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict broke out in March 2011 with protests against Assad's rule. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said India's Act East policy will help in improving connectivity and relationship with South-East and East Asian countries. Addressing the South Asia Sub-regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) conference today, he expressed hope that that the initiatives taken by the 7-member grouping will help the member nations deal with challenges of unemployment and macro-economic and structural vulnerabilities. "India is following a policy of Act East to improve connectivity and relations with countries of South-East Asia and East Asia. Improved access to gateway ports, particularly in Bangladesh and Myanmar, may help unleash the latent potential of agro and forest-based industries in India's North East region," he said. Stressing that SASEC members should "stand together" in times of crisis, Jaitley said India has always played a pro-active role to support the neighbours. During the recent earthquake in Nepal or tsunami in Sri Lanka or cyclone in Bangladesh in the last decade, India lent a helping hand to rebuild and rehabilitate affected people, he pointed out. Finance ministers of India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Myanmar met here today to reshape the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC), which was originally founded 16 years ago by four nations - Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal. About initiatives taken by India, Jaitley said the country together with Nepal is building a cross-border power transmission line to help in the distribution of electricity from power projects being developed in Nepal. "I am confident we will be able to fully harness the hydropower potential of the region and act as a bridge connecting power surplus and power deficient regions," he said. In the vision document released today, the SASEC pledged to improve intra-regional connectivity to boost trade and tourism as they eye USD 70 billion incremental GDP and 20 million jobs by 2025. The SASEC initiative, guided by a vision, will help the member countries optimally utilise their resources and facilitate access to trade gateways and linkages with global markets. "Improved connectivity and infrastructure development could substantially spur economic growth in the region. Enhanced cooperation among the member countries would also give an impetus to small and medium enterprises in the region. Collaboration in knowledge sharing would facilitate innovation and research," he said. The SASEC vision is expected to help the member countries overcome the problems and challenges associated with unemployment, macroeconomic and structural vulnerabilities, access and integration, and limited investment and growth, Jaitley said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A top Adani Group official today met Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and evinced interest in expanding investments in Punjab. President and chairman of several key companies of the Gujarat-based group, Pranav V Adani, met Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh here today to discuss possible areas of investment in Punjab. The Adanis already run a solar power generation unit in Bhatinda in Punjab and have showed interest in expanding presence in the state to several other important areas of progress and development, an official spokesperson said after the meeting. The Chief Minister invited Adani to share a brief on the various possible areas of cooperation with the state. Captain Amarinder Singh welcomed the possibility of greater investment by the Group in the state, saying the diverse business interests of Adanis could give a much-needed boost to the state's development agenda. The Chief Minister pointed out that his government is already in the process of working on a new industrial policy for Punjab, as described in his party's election manifesto. Singh expressed confidence that the new industrial policy would make industrial environment in the state even more amenable to investments by major industrial and business groups. Adani briefed the Chief Minister on multiple businesses of the Group. Besides, being the largest power generator (coal-based, solar and wind) in India, the Group also has the largest power transmission network in the country. Adani Green Energy Ltd had in 2016, commissioned Punjab's largest solar power plant of 100 MW in Bhatinda with an investment of Rs 640 crore. Another area of the Group's business is coal mining and trading, which has made it the largest coal trader in India. Adani is also building the world's largest export coal mine in Australia with an ultimate capacity of 60 mmtpa. Adani Enterprise Ltd has supplied around 0.5 MT of coal to Punjab's thermal power plants and is interested in growing the business manifold. In addition, Adani Agri logistics Ltd has 2,00,000 MT capacity of grain storage silos for FCI at Moga with an investment of Rs 250 crore and has projects worth Rs 210 crore under implementation for FCI and Punjab government. Agri Logistics is part of Agri-business (Fortune edible oil and FMCG line of products) and includes grain silos. Adani told the Chief Minister that the Group's businesses, which also include real estate and city gas distribution (CNG and pipeline network), have a huge potential to scale up the state's progress. The Group's emerging businesses, such as water purification, defence & aerospace, drone manufacture etc, also find synergies with the state's public welfare and strategic growth interests, Adani further informed the Chief Minister. Besides, being the Managing Director of Adani Wilmar Limited, Pranav Adani serves as MD & Chairman of the Board of Adani Agri Fresh Limited. He is also the Chairman of the Board at Adani Agri Logistics Limited and Adani Logistics Limited. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A bill that would allow for North Dakota to switch to self-funding of the state employee insurance plan drew pushback from lawmakers and others during its first Senate committee hearing Monday, with questions over the timing for such a major change late in the session. House Majority Leader Al Carlson, R-Fargo, told the Senate Government and Veterans Affairs Committee that North Dakota, the last state to not self-fund its employee health insurance plan, would benefit from the move in the long run. House Bill 1436 would give the Legislature more control over the purse strings of the states insurance fund, Carlson said. Im looking down the road, Carlson said. The Legislature should be more involved. In HB1436, insurance contributions would be pooled into a state-owned reserve fund. The state would contract with an insurance company to manage the plan. The Employee Benefits Programs Committee would receive quarterly reports on the activities of the Public Employees Retirement System, and any contracts entered by the PERS board would be subject to legislative appropriation and changes. Self-funded insurance would reduce costs, according to Carlson, adding that improved employee health would lead to fewer claims. This has to do with looking ahead, said Carlson, pointing out the state needs to rein in the growing costs of health care, which totals hundreds of millions of dollars per biennium. Sen. Dick Dever, R-Bismarck, was critical of how the state can reasonably review and address such a complex issue through a delayed bill that was introduced last month. Today is Day 60 of what some hoped to be a 70-day session, said Dever, one of two lawmakers filling spots on the PERS board following changes to the board makeup during the 2015 session. He said, if the Legislature is going to have control over contracts signed by the PERS board, then it should consider doing so for other appointed boards within state government. We need to have more consideration, Dever said of the HB1436 plan, which he urged the committee to reject. Lisa Carlson, Sanford Health Plans senior director of market strategy, said HB1436 would be an unconstitutional breach of the companys contract with PERS. Carlson said the company has worked hard since signing the PERS contract a couple years ago to improve health care infrastructure in the state to ensure it meets its obligations. Indian energy giant Adani is planning to supply lower quality coal with high ash content to non-premium markets like India from its controversy-hit Carmichael coal and mine project in Australia's Queensland state, according to a media report today. "The Carmichael mine will produce two coal products: product one, a low ash and moderate energy product most suitable for Asian premium markets, and Product two, a high ash or lower energy product most suitable for nonpremium markets, in particular India," ABC quoted anextract from a sworn evidence to the Land Court in Queensland. However, Adani Australia has clarified on its Facebook page today that in terms of quality of the coal it is almost 50 per cent better than used domestically. Last week in Brisbane, Adani Australia's CEO Jeyakumar Janakara alsotold a forum that "the thing about Carmichael is, it will reduce the carbon footprint of existing [Indian] plants, which are using Indonesian or Indian coal today, by say 30 to 40 per cent". AustralianResources Minister Matt Canavan had earlier said, "if Australia fails to supply India with coal from Queensland, they will get that coal elsewhere, which they're doing right now". He said thatwhile thecoal productwas of lower quality as compared to Australian benchmarks for energy contents and ash contentsbut "certainly the coal India uses, and they're a large coal producer in their own right, is much, much lower quality". "Coal product isnot the highest quality coal in Australia, but it wasstill much much higher than the coal quality in India," Canavan was quoted as saying by ABC . "Indian coal typically is around 3,000 kilocalories a kilogram, whereas the Galilee Basin coal roughly averages around the 5,000 mark, and that means that for every unit of every kilogram or tonne of coal you burn, you'll get more power for it, lower carbon emissions, that's a good thing for the environment," the minister explained. "The Queensland Supreme Court itself also made the point that the Adani Carmichael coal mine itself won't increase greenhouse gas emissions, if it displaces coal from other sources," the resource ministersaid, adding"That's exactly what it will do, because India will get coal from somewhere, [and] as I say, their own coal is generally lower quality than ours". "The Queensland Supreme Court itself also made the point that the Adani Carmichael coal mine itself won't increase greenhouse gas emissions, if it displaces coal from other sources," the resource ministersaid. Company chairman Gautam Adani recentlysaid that thefinal approvals from the Australian government could beby May or June, after which construction could begin. Adani Enterprises has maintained that the work on mine project would begin this year creating 10,000 jobs for the state. The project involves dredging 1.1 million cubic metres of spoil near the iconic Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which will then be disposed off on land. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Uttar Pradesh will soon get a new industrial policy that aims to create an investor friendly climate in the state, as Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed officials to prepare a draft in this regard at the earliest. "The state government is preparing an atmosphere conducive to more and more investments and making single window system operational so as to provide all facilities to investors under one roof," the chief minister was quoted as saying in an official release. The government is working on improving law and order in a big way and has already instructed district magistrates and police chiefs to take all issues of law and order concerning entrepreneurs very seriously, the release said. Chief Minister Adityanath also directed the officials to take serious note of the problems being faced in industrial areas including Noida and resolve them. The Uttar Pradesh chief minister also met a five-member delegation of Samsung India Electronics led by its president and CEO Hyun Chil Hong today. The delegation, which had earlier met Industries Development Minister Satish Mahana, said their company was keen to invest in the state and by 2020, it would like to create 10,000 employment opportunities. According to the statement, Adityanath said stress will also laid be on imparting training to youth for which the help of national skill development mission will be taken. The UP government will implement industry-friendly policies so as to create better job opportunities for the youth to check migration, it added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) BJP West Bengal president Dilip Ghosh today took a dig at state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for holding administrative meetings in districts. "The Chief Minister is busy holding rallies here and there.... She should know that if administrative meetings are held in a field, there remains no administration," Ghosh told reporters here. Banerjee hold administrative meetings with senior officials during her visits to districts of the state. The BJP state president was here to attend party workers' meetings ahead of Dhupguri municipality election in Jalpaiguri district. Anti-social elements now know that they do not have anything to fear, rather the policemen are scared these days, he claimed. On the alleged discovery of plastic eggs in Kolkata, Ghosh said the state government should look into the issue. On the defamation case filed against him by a local Trinamool Congress leader in connection with the child trafficking issue in the state, he said his lawyer would fight the case in the court on April 6. Ghosh had claimed that the Trinamool leader was involved in the racket. Former CPI(M) councillor of Dhupguri Municipality, Jayanti Roy joined BJP along with her supporters in presence of Ghosh. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Promoters of Air Carnival are all set to sell their 100 per cent stake "possibly this week" for about Rs 73 crore in the regional airline, which started flying less than a year ago. Air Carnival is the second regional carrier after grounded Air Pegasus to scout for new owners amid funding issues. Promoted by Coimbatore Marine College (CMC) group, Air Carnival commenced operations in July last year with one ATR- 72 aircraft. Confirming that the airline is on the block, Air Carnival Chairman and MD S Irudaya Nathan said discussions are in "advanced stages". "We are diluting entire stake in the carrier. The discussions (with the prospective buyer) are about to be finalised within this week," Nathan told PTI from Coimbatore. He said the airline had planned to acquire two more aircraft by October 2016, but the efforts did not materialise as it could not raise the requisite funds. Subsequently, it was decided to "sell it (the airline) to a new owner and keep it afloat", Nathan said. Without divulging details about the potential investor, he said, "The new investor has been chosen on first come first serve basis." According to him, a price of Rs 73 crore has been quoted for the stake sale and that the "deal is likely to be signed by this Friday". Air Carnival operates 10 daily flights to three cities -- Chennai, Trichy and Tuticorn -- from Coimbatore. While starting operations, the promoters had announced funds infusion to the tune of USD 12 million and plans to have a fleet of three aircraft by October 2016. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Berhad has sought a relaxation of the mandatory 20 aircraft rule so that its joint venture airline with the Tata group can fly overseas, with a note on this shared with Prime Minister Narendra Modi by the Malaysian Business Council recently. "We are seeking a waiver or part-waiver of the 0/20 rule," said Kamarudin Meranun, Executive Chairman, Air Asia Berhad. "If the government abolishes the condition of having a minimum of 20 aircraft, India will be able to start operating international flights in 2-3 months time, depending upon the availability of slots," Meranun added. He said that the Malaysian carriers are constrained as they have exhausted their quota of seats under bilateral traffic rights. Further, because Indian carriers do not fly into Malaysia they can't ask for more flights. According to rules, more flights can be allowed only if both Indian and Malaysian carriers have exhausted 80 per cent of flights that each of them are allowed to operate. While clearing the new Civil Aviation Policy last year, the government had partially abolished the then 5/20 rule under which only airlines with five years of domestic experience and 20 aircraft in the fleet were allowed to fly international by removing the five years condition. However, the pre-requisite of having at least 20 aircraft in their fleet was retained. Meranun also said that the government has assured them that it is "looking into our suggestion." On the issue of the government's ambitious regional connectivity scheme, India Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director (MD) Amar Abrol said that his airline might consider participating in the next round of bidding. "We are not participating in RCS because our planes are 180-seaters and that doesn't bode well for the kind of cities that need to be connected under the scheme. However, we never say never. "We have carried out an initial study on a 72-seater plane and if we see an opportunity then certainly in the next round of bidding we will participate," Abrol added. In the first round of bidding, five operators including Air India's regional arm Alliance Air, Deccan Aviation and Air Odisha were awarded 120 regional routes. At the same time, AirAsia Berhad has welcomed the recently concluded Air Services Agreement between India and Malaysia. "There hasn't been improvement in terms of traffic rights since the last agreement in 2010 and all of those seats are being used by Malaysian airlines coming into India. Now increased rights, although not much, will help (in operating more flights). This is a start and hopefully there will be more coming from the government," Aireen Omar, CEO, AirAsia Berhard said. The NIA today submitted a closure report in the 2007 Ajmer bomb blast case, giving a clean chit to four persons including Sadhvi Pragya and RSS leader Indresh Kumar, saying no prosecutable evidence was found against them. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) submitted the closure report to a special court hearing NIA cases which awarded life imprisonment to Bhavesh Patel (39) and Devendra Gupta (41) on March 22. The agency said that it could not find any "strong evidence" against Indresh Kumar, Sadhvi Pragya, Rajendra and Ramesh alias Prince. The court will decide on whether to accept the NIA report or not on April 17, special public prosecutor Ashwini Sharma told reporters. The special NIA court of Dinesh Kumar Gupta also expressed its displeasure over the pace of investigation after the agency failed to arrest three absconders -- Suresh Nair, Ramchandra Kalsangra and Sandeep Dange. The court has asked the NIA Director General to submit a progress report on the efforts made to trace the three. Also, the court issued letters to the Chief Secretary of Kerala, District Collectors of Kozhikode and Indore, asking them why action should not be initiated against them for their failure to submit details of immovable and movable properties of Suresh Nair and Ramchandra Kalsangra, which were sought by the court in February. The court had convicted Bhavesh Patel, Devendra Gupta and Sunil Joshi on March 8 and had acquitted others including Swami Aseemanand. The third convict, Joshi, had died during the trial. A bomb blaston October 11, 2007 at the dargah of Khawaja Moinuddin Chisti at the time of Roza-Iftaar had left three pilgrims dead and 15 injured. Thecasewas handed over to Rajasthan Police ATS and later transferred to the NIA, which re-registered thecaseon April 6, 2011. There were as many as 149 witnesses in thecaseand 451 documents were examined. The NIA filed three supplementary charge sheet in thecase. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bahrain's top court today reduced the jail sentence of Shiite opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman, who has been in prison since 2014, a judicial source said. The Sunni-ruled kingdom's court of cassation reduced Salman's sentence from nine to four years, the source said on condition of anonymity. No further details were immediately available. The court of cassation in October had ordered a retrial of the 51-year-old cleric, who headed the now-banned Al-Wefaq Shiite opposition movement. Salman had been arrested on charges of inciting hatred and insulting the state in December 2014. He was found guilty in July 2015 and sentenced to four years in jail. An appeals court later more than doubled his jail term to nine years, after reversing an earlier acquittal on charges of calling for regime change by force. Salman is considered a moderate who has pushed for a constitutional monarchy in Bahrain compared to more hardline groups who have demanded the toppling of the Sunni Al-Khalifa dynasty in a string of protests that go back to 2011. Bahrain has cracked down over the past six years on dissent by members of the Shiite majority, whom it accuses of being manipulated by Iran. Shiite Iran has consistently denied any involvement. The kingdom last year ordered the dissolution of Al-Wefaq, the country's main Shiite opposition party, for "harbouring terrorism". Al-Wefaq was the largest bloc in Bahrain's elected lower house of parliament. Its lawmakers resigned en masse in protest against the state crackdown on the 2011 protests. In 1995, Salman was among a string of oppositionists exiled from Bahrain, moving to the United Arab Emirates and then Britain. In 2001, he returned to Bahrain under a general amnesty and set up Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society with other Shiite opposition figures. In 2006 he was elected secretary general of the group. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bahrain's king has approved a law passed by parliament that allows for military courts to try civilians amid a major crackdown on all dissent in the island kingdom. The state-run Bahrain Agency reported King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa approved the constitutional amendment today. The island's elected 40-member Consultative Council and its appointed 40-seat Council of Representatives, the two houses of Bahrain's parliament, had earlier passed the amendment. Activists warn the amendment will allow an undeclared state of martial law on the island near Saudi Arabia that's home to the US Navy's 5th Fleet. Loyalists of Bahrain's rulers call the change necessary to fight terrorism as the persistent low-level unrest that followed the 2011 demonstrations has escalated recently in tandem with the crackdown. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With the apex court banning the sale of liquor within 500 metres of highways, the affected hotel, bar and restaurant owners in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh are pinning hopes on the respective state governments to save their trade. The owners have alleged that the order would result in massive unemployment and financial loss to the state exchequer. They, however, ruled out approaching the court to seek a remedy in the issue. "Aroumd 25,000 people will be jobless in Haryana alone because of the ban on serving liquor (within 500 metres of highways)," Hotel and Restaurant Association of Haryana (HRAH), President, Manbeer Chaudhary said today. "The tourism sector in the state will be most affected. Besides, the state revenue will also be badly hit," he said. Terming the matter as a "mammoth problem", Chaudhary said that the respective state governments should pitch in and save their livelihoods. "We have decided that we will not approach the judiciary for any legal remedy," he said, adding that it is the government which has many options to bring relief to the traders. The HRAH representatives also met Haryana Excise and Taxation Minister Captain Abhimanyu and apprised him of the situation. "The minister was very positive and asked us to give a representation in this regard, which we have already done," Chaudhary said. "In our representation, we have told the government to take a stand in the apex court as excise is a state matter, and states should have been consulted before passing any judgement," he said. The HRAH chief further said that there were several cities in Haryana having bypass, and that there was no meaning of state highways. He said that the immediate fallout of the ban has come in the form of cancellation of rooms by tour operators, causing massive loss to the hotel industry. "Out of 478 bars in Haryana, 194 bars will be affected by the Supreme Court order and most of them are situated in Gurugram," he said. In Punjab, the representatives of Punjab Hotels Association termed the ban as "great setback" for the hospitality sector and urged the Congress-led state government to change the nomenclature of highways. "We have requested the government to change the nomenclature of state highways to district roads. It will bring relief to at least 60 per cent of the affected hotels, bars and restaurants," said Punjab Hotels Association President, Satish Arora. "We have also urged the Punjab government to file a review petition in the Supreme Court against this order," he said. The association said that the affected hotels, restaurants and bars should have been given at least two years time to dislocate. Meanwhile, in joint capital Chandigarh, a large number of representatives of affected hotels, bars and restaurants along with their staff today took out a rally against the order. "Banning liquor on highways is no solution. Drunkards can still travel on the highways after having drinks at bars located far from the highways. Then, what purpose will this ban serve?" Vinod Dua, owner of Peddlers -bar and restaurant, asked. "We have given a representation to Chandigarh Administrator V P Singh Badnore, demanding that the highway on sector 25, 35, 43 and the industrial area be declared district roads," he said. Notably, the UT administration had denotified V1, V2 and V3 roads to save the liquor vends there from closure due to the ban. The Supreme Court has in a recent order said that liquor vends within 500 metres of national and state highways will have to shut down from April 1. A local BJP MLA today demanded a complete ban on liquor in Madhya Pradesh, amid a movement by Indore residents opposing the opening of new liquor shops in residential areas. During an agitation by some women against opening of a liquor shop in Tirupati Nagar here, BJP MLA from Indore-1 constituency Sudarshan Gupta said, "Liquor shops should not be opened in the vicinity of residential areas, religious places and educational institutions." "I appeal to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to impose a complete ban on liquor in the state in the coming days," he said. Several agitations, mostly led by women, are being held in different parts of city for last three days against the new liquor shops in different parts of the city. Extending his support to these agitations, the legislator said, "Earlier, people used to tolerate liquor shops in residential areas, but now the people have become aware and are protesting against it. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Teddy Roosevelt has become a victim of North Dakotas budget crisis. Money for a library honoring Roosevelt who said he never would have been president if he had not spent time in North Dakotas badlands has disappeared from the state budget. It was part of an effort to reinforce the budget at Dickinson State University, hardest hit of the states 11 public colleges and universities. The story begins in 2013, when the Legislature set aside $12 million to help build a Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library. The 2015 Legislature carried the money forward. Now, the appropriation is in jeopardy and could be the subject of last-minute deal-making at the session. DSUs budget was cut about 30 percent during the past two years, and its appropriation for the next two years was hurt because enrollment has declined. Fundraising for the university has been hurt, too, because of lawsuits against its foundation, which is in receivership. The Roosevelt funding was seen as a potential solution. Rep. Mike Lefor, R-Dickinson, presented amendments that would allocate $4.8 million that must be used for operations at DSU and $3.1 million to repay any outstanding debt on the campus activities center. The Roosevelt Library would get $500,000 for the digitization of documents. That leaves about $3 million as a grant to the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation for operations, construction and other costs of the library. Everybody involved, it seemed, could be satisfied. DSU would get enough money to save its nursing program, which had been suggested as a likely place to cut. Banks holding paper that funded the activity center before the college foundations default would be paid. The Roosevelt library foundation would get $3 million. Significantly, it could be used for operations, not just for bricks and mortar as had been the case in the larger appropriations. Theres a hitch though. The House bill contains no additional money for DSU, said Rep. Bob Martinson, R-Bismarck, a committee member, a leadership insider and a recognized dealmaker. That leaves two options: Lefor could present amendments to the higher education bill when it reaches the House floor, a significant challenge. Or the amendments could show up in the Senate, which must approve any changes to the House version of the bill and is free to add its own. Enter the Senate Republican leader, Richard Wardner, of Dickinson. From the other side of hall, enter Al Carlson, Republican leader in the House, who has his own legislative priorities, including changes to the states employee insurance and pension systems. The Roosevelt Library could become an episode of The Art of the Deal. Both candidates in Ecuador's tight presidential runoff claimed victory in what's shaping up to be a nail-biter race that could either further tilt Latin America toward the right following a series of conservative election victories or reinforce President Rafael Correa's "Citizens' Revolution." Three exit polls, including one by a firm that accurately predicted the results of the first-round, showed conservative former banker Guillermo Lasso winning the race by a slim margin of between 3 and 6 percentage points. But a fourth survey gave Correa's hand-picked successor, Lenin Moreno, a 4-point edge. A jubilant Lasso yesterday told supporters in Guayaquil that he would free political prisoners and heal divisions created by 10 years of iron-fisted rule by Correa. "Today a new Ecuador has been born," Lasso said to loud shouts of "freedom." ''Behind us are those dark pages of hatred among Ecuadoreans." But Moreno was defiant, urging supporters to wait for official results that he said would confirm his "triumph." Correa cast his vote shortly after polls opened early yesterday, saying that the contest would be "very important" for determining whether the small Andean nation of 16 million takes a turn for the right or if "progressive tendencies resume their force." With Ecuador's economy slated to shrink by 2.7 per cent this year as oil prices remain low and with a majority of citizens stating in surveys that they are eager for change after 10 years of Correa's iron-fisted rule, analysts had been anticipating that Ecuadoreans would back Lasso and join the growing list of Latin American nations shifting to the right. Yet in the final weeks of the race, Moreno has inched ahead amid an aggressive campaign led by Correa to cast Lasso as a wealthy, out-of-touch politician who profited from the country's 1999 banking crisis. "We know how to put ourselves in your shoes, understand your dreams and wishes," Moreno said in a final campaign announcement. Authorities are deploying thousands of officers to beef up security at vote-processing centers around the country after a contentious first-round election on February 19, in which Moreno fell just short of the required threshold to avoid a runoff. The vote count dragged on for several days before the official results were announced, provoking accusations of fraud from both sides and angry protests that have injected an unusual degree of volatility in the election results. Fearing a contested election, church leaders have appealed to both campaigns to accept whatever the results. Lasso has put forward a pro-business agenda aimed at attracting foreign investment, reducing taxes and generating more jobs and in recent days drew comparisons between continuing a Correa-style government and going down the same path as socialist Venezuela. After casting his ballot in his native Guayaquil, Lasso said he is vote "for change, so Ecuador can recover its freedom." Lasso has benefited from ongoing corruption allegations related to bribes Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht paid to officials in Correa's government and a USD 12 million contracting scandal at state-run PetroEcuador, but analysts say he has not connected with lower-income voters. The election results are also being watched for a sign whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will be able to remain at the Ecuadorean embassy in London. Lasso has said he'll evict the Australian activist within 30 days of taking office while Moreno says he'll allow him to stay. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two Pakistani boats were seized by a patrolling party of the Border Security Force (BSF) in this sector early today. The boats were loaded with 400 Kg fish and fishing nets. Sleuths of BSF on patrol duty in River Sutlej intercepted the two boats inside Indian territorial waters at Dona Tel Mal, a border out post under Ferozepur sector, the BSF said. When challenged by BSF personnel, the boatmen jumped into the water and swam towards Pakistan. "During patrolling the BSF personnel observed suspicious movement of two boats and some persons in River Sutlej," Ferozepur Sector BSF DIG Raj Purohit said. "BSF personnel fired one round in the air...All the persons left the boats and managed to escape," he said. Further details are awaited. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Canada and Ukraine have formalized a defense pact that would see Canada continue to offer military training and share combat expertise. Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan met in Ottawa with his Ukrainian counterpart Stepan Poltorak to sign the defense cooperation agreement yesterday. Last month, Canada extended its mission providing weapons, tactical and survival training to Ukrainian troops through March 2019. The joint military training mission with Britain and the United States started in 2015 in response to a more assertive Russia's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine the year before. "The arrangement will enable us to collaborate closely on issues of mutual security and defence concerns and better support each other," Sajjan said. "And coupled with the renewal of (a military training mission) until 2019, this Defense Cooperation Agreement demonstrates just how strongly Canada is committed to the Euro-Atlantic security and our unwavering support for Ukraine." Sajjan also said it was a step toward liberalizing arms sales to Ukraine, which are currently restricted. The accord is "a very important step before (we) get to that," he said. Canada so far has trained more than 3,200 Ukrainian soldiers, providing individual weapons training, marksmanship, tactical movement, explosive threat recognition, communication, survival in combat and ethics training. Soldiers were taught combat first aid, and bomb disposal, while military police learned new investigative techniques. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A blast hit the metro system of Russia's second city Saint Petersburg today, authorities said, with agencies quoting security sources as saying that about 10 people have been killed. "The Saint Petersburg prosecutor's office has begun to investigate the blast in a train carriage" at the Technological Institute metro station's platform, the prosecutors' statement said. A source in the emergencies services told Russian agencies that "around ten people were killed", according to preliminary information. The station is a busy hub of the underground network in the centre of Russia's second largest city. The Saint Petersburg metro said in a statement carried by Russian agencies that it has closed two stations, Technological Institute and Sennaya Ploshchad -- two neighbouring stations on one line -- and is evacuating all passengers. "Evacuation of passengers is ongoing, there are people injured," it said. "An unidentified object supposedly blew up in a (train) carriage." President Vladimir Putin, who is holding a meeting near Saint Petersburg in his official Strelna presidential palace, offered "condolences" to those hurt in the blast. Following the reports, the Moscow metro also announced that it is "taking additional security measures" as required by law in such situations, according to the network's official Twitter account. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) China has told the US that it was willing to meet it "halfway" and make efforts to ensure the "complete success" of the much-anticipated first summit between President Xi Jinping and his American counterpart Donald Trump this week. In his telephonic conversation with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson yesterday, Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi said that the upcoming meeting between their Presidents mattered greatly to the development of China-US relations. The meeting to be held on April 6 and 7 at Trump's luxurious residence at Mar-a-Lago in Florida bears a great significance to the development of China-US relations in the new era, as well as to promoting peace, stability and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region and the world as a whole, Yang said. Tensions have been rising between the two sides with Trump delivering tough messages on North Korea ahead of his meeting with Xi. China hopes that the two sides will meet each other "halfway" and continue making joint efforts to ensure the meeting a success, Yang was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua agency as saying. "We hope both sides can make efforts in the same direction ...To ensure the summit between the two leaders is a complete success," Yang said. Tillerson said the US side will exert all efforts to prepare for the meeting and was willing to work with the Chinese side to make sure that the meeting can produce positive results. Trump has said the United States was prepared to act alone if China does not take a tougher stand against North Korea's nuclear weapons programme. "Yes, we will talk about North Korea. And China has great influence over North Korea. And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they won't. And if they do, that will be very good for China, and if they don't, it won't be good for anyone," Trump was quoted as saying. Trump had also tweeted last week that the meeting with Xi would be a "very difficult" one due to trade issues. After initial apprehensions over Trump's victory specially after his high decibel anti-China rhetoric, officials say Beijing feels confident to handle the "Twitter President" after he quietly gave up his tough talk earlier to negotiate on 'One-China' policy, a no-go area for Chinese diplomacy as Beijing insists Taiwan is part of its mainland. The first phone talk between Trump and Xi became a reality only after Trump, in a U-turn, said he would abide by the 'One China' policy on Taiwan. "The change (of stance by Trump) creates an impression that Trump is learning about his role in the realm of Sino-US ties. He's now sending a new message that he does not want to be a disruptor of the Sino-US relations," an editorial in the state-run Global Times had said after Xi-Trump talks. A host of issues includingTrump's charge of China as a currency manipulator, threat to impose 45 per cent duty on Chinese exports, take action on island building by Beijing in the disputed South China Sea besides the 'One China' policy relating to Taiwan were expected to be discussed between the two leaders. Ahead of the talks, theChina-US trade in goods amounted to USD 519.6 billion in 2016, a manifold increase since 1979 when the two countries set up diplomatic ties. China has a large share in the bilateral trade with its exports to US amounting to about USD 400 billion. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) China's ambitious strategy to export its high-speed railway technology, including to India, was facing various obstacles as its aim of boosting connectivity with nations across continents was difficult to achieve mainly due to high costs, according to a media report. Construction of high-speed railways abroad is part of Beijing's massive 'One Belt, One Road' (silk road) initiative to increase trade and infrastructure links with countries from Asia to Africa, but most of the current rail projects have been stalled. "China's ambitious strategy to export its high-speed railway technology is facing various obstacles, making its aim of boosting connectivity with nations across continents difficult to achieve," the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post said, citing industry insiders. "There is no case of China exporting high-speed rail that can be described as very successful. The situation is very undesirable," Dou Xin, a spokeswoman for China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC) Qingdao Sifang, was quoted as saying. Sifang, one of China's biggest locomotive and rolling stock manufacturers, had planned to build a bullet train for a high-speed rail project in Mexico. The plan was aborted after Mexico cancelled the 210-km rail link in 2015 in budget cuts. "The biggest obstacle for countries that have signed deals with China is the lack of financial strength. High-speed railways and bullet trains are unimaginable expensive," said Dou. "Even though Chinese technology is highly cost effective when compared to other countries, it's still too costly for many," he said. China had built a 124,000 km rail network as of the end of last year, featuring the world's largest high-speed rail network covering more than 22,000 km, according to a state-run Xinhua agency report last month. The amount of high-speed railways in operation will be increased to 30,000 km by 2020, connecting more than 80 per cent of the nation's big cities. China which is transforming its economy from exports of low end manufacturing to high technology to halt the slowdown of its economy which slid to 6.9 per cent last year. The government has reduced to the growth target to 6.5 per cent. High speed railway which Beijing mastered mixing German and Japanese technologies figured high on China's high-tech exports. Till recently, China has pressured India to opt for its bullet train technology and opted to conduct feasibility study to the longest line of Chennai and New Delhi. China hoped that a breakthrough in bullet train export to India will open up works. However, Japan got the first train contract to build a high speed rail line between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. With bilateral relations at a low ebb amid differences over the USD 46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Beijing's blockade of India's admission into the Nuclear Suppliers Group and New Delhi's efforts to get JeM leader Masood Azhar banned by the UN, Chinese officials are not very hopeful about any breakthrough for its bullet train exports to India. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A wary China kept a close watch as the Dalai Lama is set to begin over week-long visit to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh tomorrow to attend religious engagements, evoking high decibel protests from Beijing which highlighted the disputed status of the area. As the 81-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader's politically significant visit came specially at a time when India-China ties were a low ebb due to differences over a number of issues came, China proactively countered the Dalai Lama's account of how he had to flee from Tibet due to military actions. India-China ties are currently bogged down over New Delhi's objections over China-Pakistan Economic Corridor through PoK, Beijing blocking India's membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group and a UN ban on JeM chief Masood Azhar. China last night said the Dalai Lama fled to India from Tibet in 1959 after a "failed armed rebellion", rejecting the Tibetan spiritual leader's remarks that he had no other option but to escape due to increased Chinese military action. "As it is known to all, the 14th Dalai Lama is an anti- China separatist who have long lived in exile following a failed armed rebellion by the reactionary group of high-ranking feudal serf-owners in Tibet in March 1959," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said reacting to his comments. "His remarks which serve his anti-China separatist purpose have no trace of facts at all," the Ministry told PTI in a written response to a query about his comments. About his stay in India, it said, "the Chinese government is resolutely opposed to any country's support and facilitation for the 14th Dalai group's anti-China separatist activities". During his visit to Assam on April 1, the Tibetan Buddhist leader recalled that "On March 10, 1959, there were huge demonstrations in Lhasa", the Tibetan region's capital. "Chinese military action also increased. I had no option but to escape. On March 17, I fled," he said. He said the warm-hearted welcome he received on his arrival at Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh 58 years ago was a "moment of freedom" for him. Chinese troops entered Tibet in October 1950 overcoming the resistance from the Tibetan army and later the Chinese control over the area was formalised in 1951. The Dalai Lama fled from Tibet in 1959 and lived in India in exile since then. Ahead of his visit to Tawang, China has sought to highlight the disputed status of the Tawang, located about 25 km close to the Line of Actual Control (LAC). According to reports, the Tibetan spiritual leader is expected to stay in Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims as southern Tibet, till April 12 to attend religious engagements. On April 1, China had asked India to exercise caution and restraint in its reported plan to connect Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing claims as part of Tibet, with railway network saying that New Delhi should refrain from unilateral actions that might complicate the boundary issue. "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 said, reacting to reports that India is exploring feasibility to connect Sino- India border district Tawang with the railway network. "The two sides have agreed that pending final settlement, both sides will work together to properly manage the dispute and preserve peace and stability of the border areas," it said. Earlier, the Chinese Foreign Ministry had warned India that the visit of theDalaiLamato Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing claims as part of Tibet, will cause "serious damage" to bilateral ties and New Delhi has to make a "choice". India's former ambassador to China Ashok Kantha said he is puzzled by the noise China is making over the Dalai Lama and Tawang. "Pending a boundary settlement, the clear understanding since 1993 is that we will work on the basis of the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The fact remains that Arunachal is on our side of the LAC," Kantha, who retired as Indian envoy to China last year, was quoted as saying by the South China Morning Post recently. "We do not raise questions about Chinese movements in Aksai Chin (which China took control in 1962 war) even though we consider it to be part of our territory. So I do not understand when they complain about things we do on our side of the LAC. That is a departure from a fundamental agreement," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The drive to close down liquor outlets along highways continued today across the country evoking divergent views, even as restaurant and hotel owners who are staring at losses looked towards state governments for support. The clampdown continued across major cities while long queues of tipplers were visible outside vends still selling liquor. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar supported the Supreme Court order barring the sale of liquor within 500 metres of national and state highways, found appreciation but added that such "piecemeal attempts" would,not serve much purpose and sought a total ban on alcohol in the country. Speaking to reporters, Nitish, who has banned alcohol in Bihar said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should implement it as a tribute to Mahatama Gandhi. BJP MP Kirron Kher differed as she questioned the logic of not allowing liquor sale in five star hotels. It is a question of "more than a million jobs", she said pointing out that the hotel industry is a major job generator. Kher's party colleague and MLA from Indore Sudarshan Gupta however demanded the Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan a complete ban on liquor in Madhya Pradesh. In Delhi, several bar and restaurant owners contested the the 500 metres distance as measured by the excise department and made representations. Their claims are being verified. Over 100 liquor bars and outlets have been told not to serve liquor in the capital, most of them located on the National Highway 8 stretch between Airport and Mahipalpur. In Mumbai, the Hotel And Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI) has decided to take up the issue with Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis. "We will be meeting the Chief Minister tomorrow to discuss the impact of liquor ban on employment and other issues related to the industry," HRAWI President Dilip Datwani said. Around 9,925 restaurants and bars in Maharashtra have been impacted after the Supreme Court order, including nearly 50 star rated hotels, according to industry estimates. In Punjab, the wedding season is in full swing and marriage palaces owners claim that the excise department's action asking them not to provide liquor is not in the right spirit. "In the SC order, there is no mention of marriage palaces which have been barred from serving liquor. Moreover, there is a ban on sale of liquor in the order while marriage palaces do not sell or purchase liquor. "Customers who organise functions in palaces serve liquor to their guests. Therefore, marriage palaces should not be barred from serving liquor," said Sukhdev Singh Sidhu, president, Punjab Marriage Palace and Resort Association. The Excise department in the state has now sought the opinion of the state Advocate General on the matter, officials said. The Odisha government has estimated that it is likely to incur a loss of revenue to the tune of Rs 1200 crore per annum as 1167 liquor shops in the state were barred from serving liquor. "The state is likely to lose Rs 1200 crore per annum plus VAT if these 1167 liquor shops remain closed for the year," a senior official in the Odisha Excise department said adding that the state had set a target of earning above Rs 3300 crore as excise revenue in 2017-18 fiscal. Apart from revenue loss due to closure of liquor shops located within 500 meters from the National and State highways, a large number of people also apprehend loss of jobs. Left high and dry following the liquor ban on highways, owners of affected hotels, bars and restaurants owners in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh are now pinning hopes on their respective governments to save their trade. They have also decided to meet Union culture and tourism minister Mahesh Sharma and Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar to discuss about the impact of Supreme Court order banning sale of liquor within 500 meters of state and national highways. "Alone 25,000 people will be jobless in Haryana alone because of the ban on serving liquor (within 500 metres of highways)," Hotel and Restaurant Association of Haryana (HRAH), President, Manbeer Chaudhary said today. Long queues of tipplers were seen infront of liquor shops at various places across Kerala for the second day today following closure of nearly 2000 outlets abutting the national and state highways. The first day of each month is a dry day in the state Kerala is staring at a revenue loss of about Rs 5000 crore due to the closure of 1956 outlets following the apex court order. The state's Finance Minister Thomas Isaac said the revenue loss would adversely impact the funding of the government. To overcome the crisis, government was mulling various options, he said. According to sources government plans to relocate the outlets as per the apex court directive. There were also proposal to open more counters in the outlets to meet the demand of tipplers. In many places, police had to intervene to control the people standing in queues for hours in front of outlets which were open. The Supreme Court had in a recent order held that liquor vends within 500 metres of national and state highways will have to shut down from April 1. For areas having population up to 20,000, it has allowed liquor vends at a distance of 220 metres from the highways. A 22-year-old college student was today stabbed to death by two persons in Rishi Nagar area here, police said. "Deepak Soni, a BCom student of CRM Jat College in Hisar and resident of Kaimri in the district, was stabbed to death in Rishi Nagar area this morning. The incident took place when he was going to college. Two youth on a bike attacked him with knives," a police official said. He said the accused escaped from the spot leaving Soni for dead. Some shopkeepers rushed the injured youth to a private hospital. However, the doctors there referred him to a civil hospital. Soni died on the way to the civil hospital, police said. According to police, an old enmity was the cause of the crime. The assailants were visually captured on CCTV cameras installed in the street. The relatives of the deceased identified the accused on the basis of the video footage. A case under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC has been registered. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) While BNSF Railway considers what do with the aging bridge over the Missouri River, a Bismarck resident is putting forward a lofty idea. Nick Hornbacher wants to see the 134-year-old trestle transformed into a walking path with parks on both ends. The 24-year-old English teacher started an online petition Monday after reading an article in The Bismarck Tribune announcing the railroads intentions to replace the crossing. The company has yet to say whether it plans to dismantle the old bridge, and Hornbacher saw an opportunity to start a community conversation. Functionally, it doesnt affect your average citizen, but it is such a historic piece of the skyline, Hornbacher said. If there arent any solid plans created, that might leave an opening to create a discussion. The bridge could be a walking path across the river and an extension for those rollerblading or hanging out on River Road in the summer, he imagines. It would be something to tie together Bismarck and Mandan. Though Hornbacher collected 896 signatures in just four days, he realizes the idea is ambitious and would require help from experts and stakeholders. There are questions around zoning, ownership, stability, retrofitting, liability and cost. The more I know, the more it becomes more complicated, the more I realize Id be way over my head on my own trying to do something about it, he said. The Bismarck mayor shares some of those concerns, calling the idea a big goal, but hes supportive of the general concept. Its very complicated, because its a huge liability issue, said Mike Seminary. Whenever we can find ways to repurpose infrastructure, especially something that dated and unique, those are great ideas. The premise of turning city railroad bridges into parks has strong precedent. In Cincinnati, a former L&N Railroad bridge, now known as the Purple People Bridge, has been retrofitted for pedestrians and bikers. Its a popular attraction, but it has had some incidents of crime and controversies over upkeep. In Louisville, Ky., the Big Four Bridge, a former railroad trestle spanning the Ohio River fills a similar role. As a way to financially support it, people and organizations can pay to light the bridge in their chosen color at night. Eric Oberg, director of trail development for the Midwest regional office of the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, an advocacy group that supports these types of projects, said he sees similar potential in Bismarck. You dont get a lot of chances to walk over a major river like this on a bridge like that, Oberg said. It really could be a calling card for Bismarck. Oberg said the project would be a major undertaking, costing millions of dollars to retrofit the bridge and build new approaches. For a nonprofit or government agency, that would be in addition to the cost of buying the bridge from the railroad company, who may be willing to sell it at a discount. Its not easy, and its not cheap, Oberg said. But the places that have done it ... these big bridges are absolutely icons. In response to a request for comment on the green space idea, Amy McBeth, spokeswoman for BNSF, said the company is in the early stages of design for this project. Were looking at all options as part of the process and still evaluating them. One of the people who signed Hornbachers petition is 52-year-old Sonja Walder, of Bismarck. Her father was a life-timer with the railroad, working from Mandan as a direct service agent. Shes hopeful the landmark may be conserved, instead of demolished, as was done with the old Liberty Memorial vehicle bridge. This bridge, its got so much history, Walder said. If they took it away, it would be just like when they took the Memorial Bridge away. That was sad. The famous south Indian delicacy idli has become the favourite breakfast dish of Malaysian Prime Minister Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak. "I want to make a confession to all of you that I am beginning to consider idli as my favourite breakfast item and you can see how much of India has crept into our Malaysian way of life," he said here. He was addressing Indian leaders during a luncheon meeting here. The Prime Minister also said that Malaysia is home to the largest Indian population outside India. "Over 7 per cent of our population are of Indian origin. Indian Malaysians play a key role in building Malaysia," he added. He also spoke about his meeting with Tamil superstar Rajinikanth. "I met famous actor Rajinikanth and shared a selfie with him and I am beginning to like Tamil movies in addition to Bollywood," he added. The Malaysian Prime Minister and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, last week met the Tamil superstar at his residence in Chennai. During the hour-long informal meeting, they discussed among other things, Rajinikanth's film Kabali, a large part of which was shot in Malaysia. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Engineering exports promotion body, EEPC India, today said the export outlook in 2017-18 looks promising with a "significant" easing of the "global headwinds which had marred Indian exports". "The global headwinds which had marred Indian exports seem to have eased quite significantly, raising renewed hopes of continuous uplift of engineering overseas despatches in the new fiscal 2017-18, helped by revival across most of the regions, led by the basic industries of iron and steel", a statement said analysing the latest trade data of February 2017. The EEPC said, an analysis of the trade data of February 2017 showed an over 48 per cent increase in engineering exports despite 1.70 per cent appreciation of the rupee against dollar. Engineering exports went up across the board to destinations in European Union, North America, ASEAN, Middle East or North East Asia for the month, the statement said. For the April-February period of 2016-17, engineering exports aggregated USD 57.34 billion, growing by 7.34 per cent year-on-year. "While it is too early to set the target for the new fiscal, the growth should be significant," EEPC said. "The trend can now be considered optimistic as growth has been registered for the seventh straight month. Substantial rise was observed in iron and steel, non-ferrous metals, electrical machinery, medical & scientific equipment, railway and transport equipment. EU ranks as the region with highest shipment of engineering products from India during February 2017 with a share of 21 per cent of total engineering exports," EEPC India chairman T S Bhasin said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) : The Madras High Court has directed Tamil Nadu government to ensure the safety of school children travelling in government buses by issuing necessary guidelines on safety measures to be taken. It also ordered necessary changes to a provision of the Tamil Nadu Motor Vehicles Act, pertaining to private school buses. The first bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Huluvadi G Ramesh and Justice RMT Teekaa Raman recently passed the orders on a batch of petitions by the Tamil Nadu Nursery, Primary, Matriculation and Higher Secondary Schools Association challenging the amendments made to the Act. When the matter came up, the bench had directed the state government to modify rule 8(2)clause(iii) of the Act, which stipulates that every school bus shall be inspected by the Special Cell once in three months. It said that it was enough if the school buses were inspected once in six months by the special cell and disposed of the petitions. Amendments to the Tamil Nadu Motor vehicles (Regulation and Control of School Buses) Special rules, 2012 were brought after a six-year-old girl was run over by a school bus when she slipped through a hole on the floor of the vehicle at Mudichur near here in 2012. Several PILs were filed in the court after public outcry over the incident, seeking changes to the rules. In November 2016, the counsels for private schools sought the court to direct the state government to re-examine the two rules, 5(2) and 8(2)(iii) of the Act. As per rule 5(2) an attendant should not be less than 21 years of age and above 50 years of age. Besides, the person should be medically fit to get down from the school bus at each stopping point to facilitate the embarkation of school children. Rejecting the arguments of the counsels for private schools that restricting the age of the attendant to 50 is unacceptable, the bench said, "We do not find any merit in the above submission of the petitioner's counsels. "We hold that the committee constituted in the above regard after thorough examination and also in the light of the decisions of the Apex Court has correctly framed Rule 5(2)," it said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Europe has overtaken North America as the new global hub of juvenile pornography as it hosts 60 per cent of the world's child sexual abuse content, according to a latest report. The annual report by the UK-based Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), a non-profit responsible for finding and removing graphic sexual content from the internet, found that Europe has registered a 19 per cent increase in sexual abuse content since last year. The Netherlands tops the list of European nations hosting the most online sexual imagery of children, said the report released yesterday. "The situation is reversed from previous years. Europe is now the biggest host of child sexual abuse imagery, rather than North America," Susie Hargreaves, chief executive of the IWF, told the BBC. Improved reporting and policing by internet service providers (ISP) in North America are believed to have driven the shift. Until recently, most child sexual abuse images were found in the US (57 per cent), but this has now shifted to Europe, which hosts 60 per cent of the global content, the report said. Child abuse content has fallen in America partly because of the work undertaken by the US industry to tackle the problem. Just 37 per cent of abusive images now come from the US, Hargreaves said, adding that criminals in America are forced to search harder for host websites where they can upload child pornography. The report also stated a 258 per cent increase in new website domains being bought specifically to show the abuse of children. In 2016, the IWF reported that it had removed 5,335 webpages of children, fewer than previous years. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Senior Congress leader Kamal Nath today dubbed as "serious" the electronic voting machine (EVM) allegedly dispensing slips only of BJP symbol during the familiarisation exercise in Ater in Bhind district. "This is a serious matter and needs to be investigated to bring out the truth. A Congress delegation has recently met the Election Commission in this regard," Kamal Nath told PTI here when asked about the issue. The Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) linked to an EVM allegedly dispensed only the BJP's symbol irrespective of any button pressed during the public demonstration in Bhind on March 31. 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 and the voter cannot take it home. Nath said that MP Vivek Tankha and other Congress leaders had recently called on the Election Commission (EC) and registered a complaint about the alleged EVM tampering in Uttar Pradesh. "EC was urged to conduct a free and fair probe into EVM tampering. It has assured to conduct an investigation into this," he added. Referring to the investment scenario in Madhya Pradesh, Nath stated that funds were not coming to the BJP ruled state due to its corrupt image. "Investors are staying away from Madhya Pradesh due to the corrupt image of the government. This has reduced the job opportunities in the state and increased the problems of people," he added. Earlier, Kamal Nath addressed a public meeting in favour of Congress candidate Savitri Singh from Bandhavgarh constituency in Umaria district where bypoll is scheduled. Bypolls in Ater Assembly constituency in Bhind district and at Bandhavgarh Assembly segment in Umaria district will take place on April 9, while the counting of votes will be held on April 13. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Key issues in the BJP's poll manifesto, especially farm loan waiver, electricity in rural areas and an ordinance on slaughterhouses, are likely to be taken up during the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government's first cabinet meeting here tomorrow. State Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi said a proposal prepared for farm loan waiver will be presented before the cabinet at its first meeting. Though state Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh maintained that the agenda of the meeting was yet to be finalised, sources said the government was likely to take a decision on waiving the loans of small and marginal farmers. Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said the promises made in the BJP's manifesto for the just-concluded state Assembly polls will be on the agenda of the Adityanath government's first cabinet meeting. "Decisions on a number of important issues will be taken at the cabinet meeting on April 4. The focus will be on honouring the promises made in the party's manifesto," he said. The BJP, in its Lok Kalyan Sankalp Patra (manifesto), had promised to waive the loans of small and marginal farmers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi too had said in his campaign speeches that writing off farm loans would be among the foremost tasks of the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh. Although there is no Constitutional compulsion of convening the first cabinet meeting within a certain period, traditionally the ruling party has held it within a week or so of forming the government. The Adityanath government was sworn-in on March 19 and its first cabinet meeting will be held tomorrow, over a fortnight after the swearing-in ceremony. Government sources said around 2.30 crore farmers in the state suffered losses due to natural calamities in the recent past and were unable to repay loans amounting to about Rs 62,000 crore. They also said that it could be difficult to handle the burden of loan waiver in a single financial year and that was one of the reasons to put the cabinet meeting on hold till a way was found to honour the prime minister's poll promise that the BJP government would take a decision on farm loan waiver at its first cabinet meeting. Besides farm loan waiver, the cabinet is likely to take important decisions regarding legalising slaughterhouses, licenses of meat-sellers, extending more help to the water-scarce Bundelkhand region and sorting out the problems related to Purvanchal -- issues mentioned in BJP's manifesto. Since the Adityanath government was keen on giving a final shape to the prime minister's promise, it waited for two weeks to make a detailed plan and work out the financial intricacies before putting the official stamp on farm loan waiver, a state Finance department spokesman said. As the loan amount is huge, the government had to mull various options, including raising loans, to honour the saffron party's commitment. The spokesman said Finance Minister Rajesh Agarwal had been busy holding deliberations with senior officials of his department to honour the pre-poll promise at the earliest. The government will have to pay the banks for farm loan waiver. For that, it will either have to seek funds from the Centre or raise loans on its own, he added. "Such decisions are not taken in haste. I can assure (you) that a decision will be taken and a large number of farmers will benefit from it," Shahi had told A group of farmers were today arrested when they staged a 'rail roko' at the Railway junction here pressing their demands. The farmers numbering around 20 led by Vice-President of All-Agricultural Co-ordination Movement Kakkarai Sugumar were arrested when they blocked the Chennai-bound Chozhan Express train, police said. The protesters raised slogans against the central and Tamil Nadu governments demanding setting up of Cauvery Management Board (CMB) and compensation of Rs 25,000 per acre in drought-hit areas. In another farmers' protest, around members of Tamilnadu Vivasaigal Sangam under the leadership of General Secretary P.Shanmugam staged an agitation in front of the Head Post Office here over their demands including setting up of CMB. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) : More than 500 farmers were detained briefly for staging a road-roko at six places in the district today, protesting the construction of a check dam across Bhavani river by the Kerala government. Farmers of Malayampalayam, Sivagiri, Kaspapet, Modakurichi, Kodumudi and Sathyamangalam blocked the roads pressing their demand, police said. They were taken into custody and released later. However, the farmers' appeal to traders to down shutters to extend support to their protest went unheeded as shops and business establishments functioned as usual. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) British police said today they had charged five people over a suspected hate crime attack on a 17-year-old Kurdish Iranian asylum-seeker in south London. The teenager was badly beaten by a group of around 20 people while he was at a bus stop with two friends outside a pub in Croydon on Friday night. "It is understood that the suspects asked the victim where he was form and when they established that he was an asylum-seeker, they chased him and launched a brutal attack," police investigator Gary Castle said. "He 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 said. Castle condemned violence against "those who have come to London to seek refuge and a place of safety." Police said the teenager's condition was "serious but stable and is not believed to be life-threatening." The attack has been widely condemned and local MP Gavin Barwell has described the attackers as "scum". London Mayor Sadiq Khan said hate crime "has no place in London, Britain or anywhere else" and the Refugee Council charity said it was "disgusted" by the attack.' The Daily Mail tabloid called the assailants "SAVAGES" in a front-page headline and compared the attack to the racially motivated murder of Stephen Lawrence, a black teenager set upon by a gang of white youths in 1993 in another part of south London. There were 62,518 hate crimes recorded by police in England and Wales last year compared to 52,465 the previous year - an increase of 19 per cent. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Oman's Foreign Minister Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah today called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and exchanged views on the close relations between the two countries. It was noted that the relations between India and Oman are making progress in diverse areas. Abdullah carried the greetings of Oman ruler Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said, the PMO said in a statement. Modi, in turn, conveyed his esteemed greetings to the Oman ruler. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) This is Up and Down, where we give a brief thumbs up and thumbs down on the issues from the past week. Up A documentary and movie demonstrate that Bismarck and the region have interesting stories to share. Uncle Albert, a 14-minute documentary by Samuel Sprynczynatyk, tells the story of Albert Landsberger, who lived in a home in the CHS St. Alexius Health parking lot. Landsberger was pianist and a patron of the arts. Neither Wolf Nor Dog is playing at the Grand Theatres in Bismarck. The film explores a cross-cultural friendship and Native American life. It was filmed in South Dakota and stars David Beautiful Bald Eagle, who was 95 at the time. He has since died. The films tell different stories, but they are both important for providing a taste of the Dakotas to others. Down The North Dakota Senate on Thursday failed to override Gov. Doug Burgums veto of House Bill 1153. The bill limits recruitment and retention bonuses paid to the governors staff and state officers appointed by the governor. The House passed the bill, 91-1, in January. The Senate approved it 36-10 in March. The House had no problem overriding the veto, but the Senate couldnt muster the votes. Burgum argued the bill limited his ability to recruit and keep personnel. It seems reasonable for the Legislature to place limits on how much state money can be used for bonuses. Its unfortunate the Senate didnt agree. Up Four North Dakotans represented the state well at the Special Olympics World Winter Games in Austria. Wade Wintermeyer, of Jamestown, brought home the gold medal in the 200-meter snowshoe race; Dave Johs, Bismarck, won the silver medal in the 1K cross country ski event; Christy Coughlin, of Minot, got second place in the 200-meter snowshoe race, first place in the 400-meter race and second place in the 4X400 snowshoeing relay; and Katielynn Ovitt, Bottineau, got first place in the advance slalom and second place in the advance giant slalom. Their hard work paid off and North Dakota should be proud of them. Down It looks likely there will be a recall election involving Bismarck Mayor Mike Seminary. Petition organizers say they have enough signatures to force an election and that they have a candidate. The Tribune noted earlier that it seems to be a waste of money to hold an election with Seminary serving the last year of his term. The recall option exists to give people the ability to have a say. This time, the Tribune feels there arent enough good reasons for a recall. Up Its always rewarding to see people advance in their careers. North Dakota Highway Patrol Lt. Tom Iverson, who handled a lot of the media relations during the Dakota Access Pipeline protests, has been promoted to captain. Sgt. Michael Roark was promoted to the rank of lieutenant and will take assume Iverson's old responsibilities. And the Bismarck Police Department has promoted Mike Bolme, Tim Bleth, Loren Grensteiner, Arial Thompson and Dustin Miller to the rank of sergeant. Congratulations and good luck to all of them. A former 'Salwa Judum' member was allegedly killed by Naxalites in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district today, police said. Modiam Somlu (50), an ex-memberof the erstwhile anti-Naxalite movementSalwaJudum, was fatally attacked by the ultras at Loharpara village in Bijapur early this morning, a district police official told PTI. Somlu, a native of Pundri village, had gone to Loharpara, located around 400 km from Raipur, to fetch 'sulfi' (a popular drink among tribals prepared from sulfi plants) when a group of armed rebels stormed there. The Naxals pumped bullets into him and also stabbed him with sharp-edged weapons, he said. Police rushed to the spot on getting information about the incident and sent the body for postmortem, he said. Somlu had earlier served as sarpanch of Pundri. A manhunt has been launched to nab the attackers who escaped into the thick forest after committing the crime, the police official said. SalwaJudum, an anti-Maoist civil militia, was disbanded in 2011 in Chhattisgarh following a Supreme Court order declaring as illegal and unconstitutional the deployment of tribal youth as special police officers in the fight against Maoist insurgency. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Four persons including a BJP worker were killed in two separate incidents in Bajaria and Moti Masjid areas here, purportedly over an old rivalry, police said today. BJP worker Amit Chouhan and his friend Manoj Kushwaha were shot at and later stabbed in Bajaria area on late Saturday night while two persons including a medical shop owner--Rashid--were shot dead in full public glare under Talaiya Police Station last night following a money dispute. Two persons - Pawan Sisodiya and Bhola Sahu - have been arrested in connection with the murders under Bajaria police station. Whereas in the Talaiya case, accused Rehman has been arrested, Superintendent of Police (Bhopal South), Siddarth Bahuguna told PTI today. Police said that Rehman, who used to rent out the generators, allegedly shot Rashid and his employee Om Soni near Moti Masjid under Talaiya Police over an old dispute related to money. Both - Rehman and Rashid - had picked a fight couple of days back in which Rashid had allegedly attacked the former with scissors and injured him, police said. According to police, Rehman reached on a bike last evening and shot Rashid at point blank range with a twelve-bore gun when the deceased was closing his shop. Subsequently, Rashid's employee Om Soni was also shot when he was trying to flee from the spot. Both of them died on the spot, the police said. Earlier on Saturday night, Chouhan and Kushwaha were attacked in Dwaraka Nagar area under Bajaria Police Station. Two bike borne miscreants initially shot Chouhan on his back and later slit his throat resulting in his death on the spot. These attackers also stabbed Chouhan's friend Kushwaha, who yesterday succumbed to his injuries in a private hospital, police said. Further investigations into this case are on, a police official said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) More than 10,000 Rohingya Muslims belonging to Myanmar are currently living in Jammu and Kashmir and the central and the state governments are exploring ways on how to identify and deport them. The Rohingya Muslims are mostly living in Jammu and Samba districts and came to the state after entering India illegally through either Indo-Bangladesh border or Indo-Myanmar border or travelling through the Bay of Bengal. The issue of Rohingya Muslims, who are living illegally, was discussed at a high-level meeting convened by Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and attended by Jammu and Kashmir Chief Secretary Braj Raj Sharma and Director General of Police S P Vaid. "We are exploring ways on how to identify and deport the Rohingya Muslims," a Home Ministry official said. According to the Jammu and Kashmir government's estimate, Rohingya Muslims are numbered at around 5,700 but it could go up to 10,000. There are around 40,000 Rohingya Muslims living in different parts of the country and all of them have entered illegally. Even though some of them registered with a UN refugee body, India does not recognise it. Some of the Rohingya Muslims were found to be involved in petty crime but no one was found to be involved in any major crime nor anyone has been found to be radicalised. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had said in the state assembly on January 20 that some 'Madrasas' were associated with Rohingya Muslims in the state. Mehbooba had said no Rohingya Muslim has been found involved in militancy-related incidents but 17 FIRs have been registered against 38 Rohingyas for various offences including those related to illegal border crossing. Some NGOs namely 'Shikawat' run by Mohammad-ul-Umar of Srinagar along with Rashid, SR Institute of Development of Rambagh (Srinagar) and Delhi-based NGO Daji were helping Rohingyas in cash and kind from time to time, Mehbooba had said. Rohingyas originally belong to Rakhine province of Myanmar and many of them have left the country due to alleged persecution by the majority Buddhist community. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) More than six years after it was approved by the UPA government, the Centre has constituted NBEM to promote electric mobility and manufacturing of electric (& hybrid) vehicles and their components. The Union Cabinet chaired by former Prime Minister Minister Manmohan Singh had on March 31, 2011 cleared the proposals for launch of the National Mission for Electric Mobility and setting up of a National Board for Electric Mobility (NBEM) and National Council for Electric Mobility. The NBEM will examine, formulate and propose the short-term and long-term plan and contours of the mission programme on electric mobility, its objectives, quantifiable outcomes and roles & responsibilities of the various stakeholders. It will propose and recommend policy guidelines and government interventions and possible strategies for promoting electric mobility and for encouraging manufacture of electric vehicles in the country. One of its key functions will be to explore and recommend collaborations and tie-ups for technology acquisitions, obtaining technical experts and explore possible agreements with leading R&D centres globally to facilitate availability of technology to the domestic industry. The NBEM, to be chaired by the Secretary of Department of Heavy Industry, will comprise of senior bureaucrats as members, including secretaries in the Department of Economic Affairs, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Power, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, among others. It will also have six nominated members of eminence and expertise from the automobile industry, academia and research & development. These include Vikram Kirloskar, CMD, Kirloskar Systems Ltd; Vinod Dashari, MD, Ashok Leyland; Pawan Goenka, MD, Mahindra and Mahindra; Annamalai Hemalatha, MD, Ampere Vehicles Ltd and Sudarshan Venu, Joint MD, TVS Motors. The nominated members will have a tenure of two years, or until further government order, whichever is earlier. These members can be re-nominated for additional terms, if needed. The NBEM will coordinate and resolve difference of opinion, if any, among various ministries. It will examine, recommend, monitor and review electric mobility related R&D projects and pilot projects and also evaluate and propose business models for popularising electric mobility. It will formulate strategies and give directions to the various ministries and other stakeholders for implementing the decisions of the National Council for Electric Mobility. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The lawyer of a hacker, who had accused former Maharashtra minister Eknath Khadse of receiving calls from underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's Karachi residence, has alleged she got a threat call from gangster Ravi Pujari. In her complaint to Pune Police Commissioner, hacker Manish Bhangale's lawyer Gitanjali Lokhande today claimed that on the afternoon of April 1, she received a call on her mobile phone from a man who identified himself as Ravi Pujari. "The caller threatened to kill me and my family if I continued to appear as Bhangale's lawyer. He (caller) said they will first kill Bhangale and then me and my family," the woman said in her complaint. The caller claimed that last month he had got a lawyer in Bengaluru killed and that she would be next if she does not withdraw from the case, Lokhande said. The advocate has sought police protection for herself and her family members. When contacted, Pune Police Commissioner Rashmi Shukla said Lokhande has approached them and they will look into her complaint. Bhangale was arrested by the Mumbai cyber crime cell on March 31 on charges of forgery and cheating. According to police, he had allegedly created a fake mobile bill on a computer to show call records between Khadse and Dawood's residence in Pakistan. Last year, Bhangale had filed a petition in the Bombay High Court seeking CBI probe into the alleged phone calls exchanged between Dawood and Khadse. Bhangale had claimed to have hacked the authentication process of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd in April last year from where he acquired the telephone records of Dawood. The HC had later disposed of the petition after Maharashtra's Anti-Terrorism Squad told the court that its preliminary inquiry revealed no calls were exchanged between Khadse and Dawood. Khadse, who held several key portfolios in the state Cabinet, had resigned in June last year after facing a string of allegations including irregularities in a land deal. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Haryana has become kerosene-free as the supply of the fuel has been stopped under the Public Distribution System from April 1. "Haryana has become kerosene-free as supply of kerosene under the Public Distribution System has been stopped in the districts from April 1, 2017," a spokesman of the state's Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department said here today. Eligible families who are yet to take delivery of their LPG connections due to some reason so far could get them after April 1, he said. The entire state would be made kerosene-free from April 1, 2017, and grants would be given to poor families for taking gas connections, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had said earlier. With an aim to provide smoke-free and healthy environment while cooking, the state government had decided to provide free-of-cost LPG connections under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana. "LPG connections were being released to the eligible families under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjawala scheme in the state, for which the Haryana government had made provision of Rs 20 crore for the current financial year. As per the report of oil companies, 2,72,949 gas connections have been released under the Ujjwala scheme up to March 27, 2017," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Allahabad High Court today dismissed a public interest litigation seeking a direction for changing the name of the anti-Romeo Squad. The Lucknow bench of the high court dismissed the PIL terming it as "not maintainable". A division bench of justices Amreshwar Pratap Sahi and Sanjay Harkauli gave the order on a PIL filed by Ritu Raj Mishra after the state government opposed it. The anti-Romeo squad has been constituted by the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government for protection of girls and women against eve-teasing. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Bombay High Court today refused to vacate its 2015 order which had banned the horse-drawn carriages 'Victoria' from plying in the city. A division bench of justices A S Oka and A K Menon was hearing a review petition filed by owners of the Victoria horse carriages seeking the court to lift the ban on them. In June 2015, the high court had directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to completely ban the horse-drawn carriages, popularly known as 'Victoria,' declaring them as "illegal and violative of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act." The court had then also asked the state government to frame a comprehensive policy to rehabilitate the carriage owners and their drivers, affected by the ban and also the horses. The direction was given on a public interest lawsuit filed by a city NGO 'Animals and Birds Charitable Trust' alleging cruelty to the horses in drawing 'Victorias' for joyrides. The horse carriage owners, in their plea for resumption of 'Victoria's' service in the metropolis, said the state government was yet to frame a policy for their rehabilitation and they should be allowed to ply the carriages. The high court, however, said there was no merit in the plea and refused to lift the ban. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Active male hormones called androgens are needed for normal functioning of the ovarian follicle, including the successful release of an egg that can be fertilised, according to a new research. Researchers from Britain and the US have gained fresh insight into the role of male hormones in supporting and disrupting the production of eggs by ovarian follicles. The study, published in the journal Endocrinology, measured the production of hormones by the isolated ovarian follicle during its development, using highly sensitive and specific mass spectrometry. Scientists from the University of Birmingham and Northwestern University Chicago showed that ovarian follicles are able to produce active male hormones called androgens from very early stages of development. They found that androgens are needed for normal function of the follicle, including the successful release of an egg that can be fertilised. "We could also show that too much androgen disrupts the development of the follicle, mirroring what we observe in women with polycystic ovary syndrome, who have increased blood androgen concentrations and frequently have difficulties conceiving," said lead author Professor Wiebke Arlt from the Institute of Metabolism and Systems Research at the University of Birmingham. This was an exciting and unexpected discovery, she said, adding that they could show that the follicle is able to regulate the male hormone balance by decreasing androgen production in response to androgen administration while increasing androgen production when the follicle is treated with androgen receptor blockers. "In women with polycystic ovary syndrome, this self-regulation of the male hormone balance by the follicle is overcome by the very high androgen concentrations in circulation. Thus, we can expect that a decrease in androgens will have a beneficial effect on fertility in affected women," Arlt said. The researchers used a system pioneered by Professor Teresa Woodruff, from the Women's Health Research Institute at Northwestern University Chicago. This allowed them to embed a follicle isolated from a mouse ovary in a gel and then to observe its development in a dish, until the release of a mature egg at the end of the process. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Shares of Infosys fell by over 1.00 per cent today after fresh row erupted between the founders and the Board of the company over the pay hike to Chief Operating Officer U B Pravin Rao. The shares of Infosys slipped by 0.94 per cent to Rs 1,011.25 apiece in early trade on the BSE. At NSE, shares of the company went down by 1.15 per cent to Rs 1,010.45. Infosys founder N R Narayana Murthy yesterday said that the compensation hike to Chief Operating Officer (COO) U B Pravin Rao approved by the board in February was not "proper" and "will likely erode the trust and faith of the employees in the management and the board". "The impact of such a decision (compensation hike) will likely erode the trust and faith of the employees in the management and the board," he said. Infosys Board passed Rao's pay hike with 67 per cent of votes, while 33 per cent voted against it. Only 24 per cent of promoters voted in favour of the compensation hike, and rest of them abstained from voting. Murthy also said that given the current poor governance standards at Infosys, the targets for variable pay may not be adhered to if the board wants to favor a top management person. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The North Dakota House of Representatives is poised to eliminate state funding for homeless programs, ultimately, jeopardizing the entire system of care for homelessness. Over the past two biennia, the North Dakota Homeless Grant has provided vital funds for service providers across our state. These dedicated service providers are not just meeting the immediate needs of those in an emergency housing crisis, they are working to prevent, reduce and end homelessness. These programs work. For example, one program demonstrated an 87 percent success rate in helping prevent homelessness in the first place. Since shortly after the NDHG was put in place (2014), weve seen at least a 50 percent reduction in those experiencing homelessness. Yet, most of our homeless programs remain at or near capacity today. It is clear these cost effective programs work and they are needed. Eliminating the NDHG is the wrong direction for North Dakota. The NDHG provides federal match dollars for a federally mandated database (HMIS) used to track homeless numbers, demographics, services provided, program usage, and inventory. Without NDHG, we lose the federal match and, subsequently, the HMIS database. If we lose HMIS, North Dakota would be out of federal compliance and we lose all federal support for homeless programs, threatening the existence of homeless programs statewide. The NDHG was not included in the new state budget, however, the North Dakota Senate recognized the value of the grant program and restored $300,000 as a line item for NDHG in the Commerce budget. Unfortunately, the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee eliminated the Senates amendment. Committee members argue they are not eliminating NDHG, just leaving it to the discretion of the Commerce commissioner. They are well aware, however, that the proposed amount for the commissioners discretionary fund will not meet the needs of the programs being jettisoned. Cutting this $300,000 could result in the loss of $1.9 million in federal funds that help women, children, veterans, domestic violence survivors, and those dealing with substance abuse and mental health issues regain stability in housing and have an opportunity for a better life. The changes proposed by the House would have widespread and devastating consequences for some of the most vulnerable in our state. We implore the Legislature to restore funding to ensure the great work being done across North Dakota to end homelessness is not lost due to these unwarranted budget cuts. Iran today said it has reservations on the appointment of Pakistan's former army chief Gen Raheel Sharif as the head of the Saudi-led 39-nation Islamic military alliance, warning that it may "impact" the unity among Muslim countries. Iran's state-run IRNA agency quoted the country's Ambassador to Pakistan Mehdi Honardoost as saying that Tehran had conveyed its concerns to Islamabad. "We are concerned about this issue... That it may impact the unity of Islamic countries," Honardoost said. "But that does not indicate that Iran is satisfied with this decision or it has accepted the same," the envoy was quoted as saying by Dawn newspaper. He also said that Pakistan had contacted Tehran before issuing the no-objection certificate (NOC) to the retired general to head the Saudi-led alliance. He said Tehran had informed Islamabad that Iran would not become part of such a military alliance, adding that neither had Iran been extended an offer to join a coalition of this sort. He proposed that all important Islamic countries come together to form a "coalition of peace" in order to resolve their issues "rather [than] forming a controversial military alliance". Gen Sharif, who retired as army chief last November, is likely to assume command of the anti-terrorism alliance, being dubbed the 'Muslim Nato', this month, the newspaper reported. The Pakistan government had issued an NOC for Sharif to join the alliance after an understanding was reached between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia on the matter, retired Maj Gen Ijaz Awan, a defence analyst and close associate of the former army chief, said. The appointment of Gen Sharif as the leader of the military alliance sparked debate over how the move will impact Pakistan's foreign policy, and whether it was fully sanctioned by parliament, the report said. Pakistan had initially found itself in the cross-hairs of Middle Eastern politics as Saudi Arabia named it as part of its newly formed military alliance of Muslim countries meant to combat terrorism, without first getting its consent. However, after initial ambiguity, Islamabad had confirmed its participation in the alliance, but had said that the scope of its participation would be defined after Riyadh shared the details of the coalition it was assembling. Raheel's appointment had been criticised by some Pakistani politicians, retired army officers, journalists, intellectuals, who had questioned the decision of the ex-army chief to join a foreign military alliance after retirement. The coalition was envisaged to serve as a platform for security cooperation, including provision of training, equipment and troops, and involvement of religious scholars for dealing with extremism. The Saudi government had surprised many countries by announcing that it had forged a coalition for coordinating and supporting military operations against terrorism in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Egypt and Afghanistan, the report said. Iran, Saudi Arabia's archrival for influence in the Arab world, was absent from the states named as participants, as proxy conflicts between the two regional powers rage from Syria to Yemen, it added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Janata Dal(U) today suspended Suryadeo Singh from the primary membership of the party for his alleged involvement in a firing incident in which a girl was killed and four others injured in Rohtas district. "The party has taken strong note of yesterday's incident and suspended Suryadeo Singh, the former MLA, from the primary membership of the party for his involvement in yesterday's firing incident in Rohtas district," JD(U) chief spokesman Sanjay Kumar Singh told PTI. The former MLA and his aides had yesterday allegedly opened fire at Tenduni village under Bikramganj police station area of Rohtas district over a land dispute. The incident had left an 8-year-old girl dead and four others injured. Police had arrested seven persons, including Singh and his wife last evening as the villagers surrounded his house for several hours in protest against the firing. Three rifles and seven cartridges have been seized from the former legislator's house. Singh had won the elections from Bikramganj assembly constituency twice, first in 1990 on Indian People's Front (IPF) ticket and second, in 1995 on RJD ticket. Later, he joined JD(U). (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a sarcastic take on BJP-ruled states enacting laws making the punishment for cow slaughter harsher, the Shiv Sena today said if there was a bitter penalty for killing cows, governments too were liable to be held responsible for farmer suicides. "There are talks of a state handing out death penalty to those who slaughter cows...Then, murder charge should also be invoked against governments for driving farmers to commit suicide," Sena MP Sanjay Raut told reporters here. "Both farmers and cows have the right to live. Like cows, even farmers need to be saved," he added. The ruling alliance partner also demanded a uniform law on cow slaughter. Notably, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh said on Saturday that those who kill cows in the state would be "hanged". Last week, BJP-ruled Gujarat passed a law making cow slaughter punishable with life term. In March 2015, the BJP-led Maharashtra government had enforced the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act, banning the slaughter of bulls and bullocks. "Farmers going on a strike means the state is heading towards lawlessness. The opposition's Sangharsh Yatras won't work (in Maharashtra). The government should take firm steps to help the distressed farmers. Otherwise, it should be held responsible for their plight," Raut said. He demanded a uniform law across the country against cow slaughter. The Sena MP said the government should to take the responsibility of these animals (cows) when they get old. He also sought to know how the country remained one of the largest exporters of meat in the world when a "pro-Hindutva" government was in power. "In the last two years, the export of beef has increased substantially," Raut claimed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hit by the apex court order banning the liquor sale along the highways, the members of the Hotel And Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI) will take up the issue with Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis. "We will be meeting the chief minister tomorrow to discuss the impact of liquor ban on employment and other issues related to the industry," HRAWI President Dilip Datwani told PTI here. The Supreme Court has ordered closure of the liquor vends within 500 metres along the national and the state highways from April 1. The apex court later in its order on Friday made it clear that the judgment banning the liquor vends along the highways would also be applicable to the bars, pubs and restaurants as drunken driving leads to fatal road accidents. Around 9,925 restaurants and bars in Maharashtra have been affected by the Supreme Court order banning liquor sale in vicinity of highways, he said. Maharashtra has 13,655 bars and shops, with over 500 affected ones are in Mumbai alone, said former president Kamlesh Barot of the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI). He said, "In Mumbai metropolitan region alone over 2,000 bars and restaurants are on the verge of closure while 9,925 face the risk across Maharashtra." "The state government will lose over Rs 7,000 crores in taxes, excise and license fees, while the country-wide impact on the sector is estimated at Rs 2,00,000 crore," Barot added. This would be in addition to an estimated job loss of over one million heads currently employed in the hospitality sector. Datwani said, unlike many other countries, the highways run right through the cities and towns in India with many bars and restaurants, hotels, malls, cinema halls, clubs and even residential apartments existing right next to the highways. "About 50 star rated hotels in Mumbai are also expected to be affected by the ban and tourists may find themselves exposed to a scenario of severely shrinking choices," he said. This will wreck the demand supply ratio of full service hotels in the city, and affect the tourism infrastructure, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Realty major Lodha group sold properties worth about Rs 2,400 crore in the January-March quarter of last fiscal as its sales improved post demonetisation. "Sales have recovered after demonetisation. We sold about Rs 385 crore worth properties in January and Rs 800 crore in February. In March, we have sold properties of Rs 1,236 crore which is our highest monthly sales performance ever," Lodha Group Chief Sales Officer Prashant Bindal told PTI. The company's sales bookings stood at about Rs 1,500 crore in the year-ago period, he added. Bindal said the company's total sales bookings in 2016-17 are likely to cross about Rs 6,400 crore that was achieved in the previous year. The total sales number would be finalised soon. Sales bookings of the Mumbai-based group declined to about Rs 400 crore level in November and December due to adverse impact of demonetisation, he said. Two residential projects, World Towers and Palava, in the Mumbai Metropolitan region contributed the most to overall sales bookings. Bindal said housing sales have picked up, especially in low-cost homes category, after the government's announcement of infrastructure status to the affordable housing and other tax and interest subvention incentives. "We have handed over more than 7,100 homes to customers in 2016-17. We spent almost Rs 4,000 crore on construction, which is the equivalent of completing construction of 2 crore sq ft in one year," he said. Privately held Lodha Group is a leading real estate developer with presence in India and the United Kingdom. The company is currently developing around 41 million sq ft of prime residential real estate. It has 31 ongoing projects across London, Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Pune and Hyderabad. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Long queues of tipplers were seen infront of liquor shops at various places across Kerala for the second day today following closure of nearly 2000 outlets abutting the national and state highways. The first day of each month is a dry day in the state The Supreme Court has in an order said that liquor vends within 500 metres of national and state highways will have to shut down from April 1. Kerala is staring at a revenue loss of about Rs 5000 crore due to the closure of 1956 outlets following the apex court order. Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac said the revenue loss would adversely impact the funding of the government. To overcome the crisis, government was mulling various options, he said. According to sources government plans to relocate the outlets as per the apex court directive. There were also proposal to open more counters in the outlets to meet the demand of tipplers. In many places, police had to intervene to control the people standing in queues for hours in front of outlets which were open. Opposition Leader in the Kerala Assembly Ramesh Chennithala today alleged that government was trying to scuttle the apex court verdict and this would not be allowed. Government should implement the Supreme Court direction, he said. Meanwhile, KPCC President (In-charge) M M Hassan said government should implement the Supreme Court order. "The liquor outlets within the 500 meter national highways and state highways have to be closed and relocated', he said. It should be opened only in places where there were no resistance from people", he said. Congress led UDF Opposition stood by its policy to reduce the availability of liquor, Hassan told reporters here. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Malaysian Prime Minister Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak today pitched for early conclusion of mega regional agreement RCEP saying it will significantly boost trade and investments across nations. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement is a mega pact among 16 countries including the Asean grouping as well as India, China, Japan and Australia. "I think we should give fresh instructions to our negotiators to try to conclude RCEP by the end of the year or at a very latest early next year," Najib said here while addressing industry leaders from chambers including Ficci. "I hope this time table can be achieved," he said, adding that the business communities favour moving this agenda forward for successful conclusion. He also said RCEP has become more relevant now as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade agreement worked out by the then Obama administration, is now "buried". "We do need RCEP as free trade region for this area... I am a great believer of free trade because free trade will create more wealth and more prosperity to people," he added. Najib also said that between 2003 and 2015, bilateral trade between India and Malaysia rose more than 4-fold but in the past couple of years, there has been a decline. "We need to reverse that trend and hopefully 2017 is the year we see a reversal of the downward trend," he said. It was feared that TPP would adversely impact India's exports. Talking about investments, he said Malaysia is the 21st largest investor in India globally and second largest in Asean. Seeking Indian investments, he said Malaysia provides easy and competitive business environment for investors. He assured industry of meeting the needs of investors who are doing business in Malaysia. "We continue to provide necessary support for a thriving business environemnt... I invite you all to come to Malaysia," he said, adding "I strongly encourage you to look at Malaysia as a preferred choice for investments to expand and take the opportunity to forge new partnerships". Malaysian companies were involved in many big projects in India including construction of the MCD civic centre in the national capital. "There is plenty more to come. I am told that at the moment four projects are being negotiated," he said. The projects include the Mumbai Coastal expressway; Mumbai sea front development, floating storage regasification terminal at Andhra Pradesh port and smart city mission. "...And this does not include the 4 + 2 highway projects under consideration by Rajasthan government," Najib added. The Indian firms that have presence in Malaysia include Reliance, Biocon, ICICI Bank, Tech Mahindra, Ranbaxy, Wipro and TCS. The Prime Minister also said that Malaysia is home to the largest Indian population outside India. "Over 7 per cent of our population is of Indian origin. Indian Malaysians play a key role in building Malaysia," he added. The bilateral trade in 2015-16 stood at USD 12.8 billion as against USD 17 billion in the previous fiscal. The RCEP talks for the pact started in Phnom Penh in November 2012. The 16 countries account for over a quarter of the world's economy, estimated to be more than USD 75 trillion. The 16-member bloc RCEP comprises 10 Asean members (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Laos and Vietnam) and their six FTA partners -- India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today said all contractual employees of municipal corporations will be regularised and their arrears cleared if Aam Aadmi Party is voted to power in Delhi Civic bodies. This is the second major promise made by the AAP convenor in run-up to the MCD polls scheduled for April 23. Last week he had announced that house tax will be abolished if his party comes to power. Counting of votes will take place on April 26. Addressing a rally in northwest Delhi's Swaroop Nagar area, Kejriwal said his party will also end "inspector raj" to curb corruption in the MCD. "MCD sanitation workers go on strike every three months to protest against non-payment of their salaries. They dump garbage on roads. "If AAP wins MCD the election, we would ensure they get salaries on the seventh of every month. We will also regularise all employees and ensure they get their arrears," Kejriwal told a gathering here. He also trashed the BJP's and the Congress's claime that "MCD will go bankrupt" if house tax is abolished saying he has made a "proper planning" for that. "I assure each of you we will not allow that (MCD going bankrupt) to happen. They (BJP and Congress) have looted MCD so much. If AAP wins MCD elections, we will make it a profit-making body within a year," he said. Kejriwal said, "We will also abolish inspector raj in municipal corporations...If we come to power we will clean the entire city." Listing out the achievements of his dispensation, the AAP chief said his government has halved power tariff in the city and provided free water to Delhiites. "We have done a lot of work over the last two years. Our government revamped the education and the health sector," he said. On Mach 31, he had cautioned the people that power and water tariff would increase if either the BJP or the Congress comes to power in civic bodies. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Malaysian Palm Oil Council today signed pacts with edible oil industry body Solvent Extractors' Association and Mumbai Dabbawala Association (MDA) to promote palm oil in India. The memorandums of understanding (MoUs) were exchanged in the presence of Malaysian Prime Minister Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak, a statement said. Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC), having its registered office in Kuala Lumpur, seeks to collaborate with trade organizations in India to promote and create opportunities for the greater acceptance of Malaysian palm oil among Indian consumers, food manufacturers and other end-users. The MoUs between MPOC and Mumbai Dabbawala Association (MDA) covers various areas of cooperation like educating consumers on usage, nutritional and health properties of palm oil. "With their outreach to the common man (consumers) by way of distribution of daily meal boxes, the Dabbawalas are in a unique position to assist MPOC to further enhance the image of Malaysian palm oil and bring to attention the positive nutritional attributes of palm oil among its clients," the statement said. The MoU with the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) seeks cooperation between two organisations in areas such as educating Indian consumers on the nutritional and health benefits of palm oil. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) To commence work on the ambitious Rs 46,000 crore Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway from the originally planned date of October 1, implementing agency MSRDC has decided to start making upfront payment of compensation to the farmers from April 15. "Since we haven't received consent from all the farmers for the land pooling scheme, we have decided to make upfront one-time payment of compensation to the farmers for the remaining pool of land that we need for the project," Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) vice- chairman and manging director Radheshyam Mopalwar told PTI. To enable the farmers who surrender their land for commercial development of the 24 nodes that will come up along the proposed expressway now named as the Maharashtra Samruddhi Corridor, government had proposed to make them partners by offering incentives like annuity with 10 per cent annual increase, assured buy-back after 10 years apart from continuing to have land ownership. "We had hoped that this proposal would be easily adopted by farmers as they would also get the benefit of commercial development and had accordingly made amendments to the Highways Act. "But since they have not accepted it, we cannot wait any longer. So, we will start paying them compensation from April 15 and acquire their land," Mopalwar said. He said a committee is already negotiating with the farmers and the panel hopes to complete the process as early as possible. "We have already allocated Rs 10,000 crore for land acquisition which includes land pooling as well as monetary compensation," he added. The MSRDC has proposed residential and commercial development at the nodes apart from creating recreational facilities and access roads among others. The 706-km long project estimated to cost Rs 46,000- crore will be developed in 16 packages on an EPC basis. "We have already floated RFQ and we are hopeful work will commence from October 1 itself," Mopalwar said. When asked how was the Corporation planning to raise funds for this massive project, Mopalwar said, "we have a consortium of banks to borrow along with our equity contribution. We will also get some funds from the government. Besides, we have also sought project loans from state agencies like MMRDA, Cidco, Mhada, and SRA." The Corporation has already appointed SBI Caps to help in fund raising, he said, adding he is not keen on overseas agencies like Jica, ADB or World Bank, as the funds are coming through the Centre instead of coming directly to it. "We believe in getting funds directly from lenders. Though overseas loans are cheaper the main issue is that we don't get it directly but through the Centre. So, as much as possible we want to depend on domestic sources," he said, but added that ADB is in talks with for the same. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) NASA is planning to establish a crewed spaceport near the Moon that could serve as a gateway to the lunar surface and deep space destinations including Mars. The area of space near the Moon offers a true deep space environment to gain experience for human missions that push farther into the solar system, access the lunar surface for robotic missions but with the ability to return to Earth if needed in days rather than weeks or months, NASA said. The period of exploration in the vicinity of the Moon will begin with the first integrated mission of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft, it said. The agency is looking to build a crew tended spaceport in lunar orbit within the first few missions that would serve as a gateway to deep space and the lunar surface. This deep space gateway would have a power bus, a small habitat to extend crew time, docking capability, an airlock, and serviced by logistics modules to enable research. The propulsion system on the gateway mainly uses high power electric propulsion for station keeping and the ability to transfer among a family of orbits in the lunar vicinity. The three primary elements of the gateway, the power and propulsion bus and habitat module, and a small logistics module(s), would take advantage of the cargo capacity of SLS and crewed deep space capability of Orion. An airlock can further augment the capabilities of the gateway and can fly on a subsequent exploration mission. "The gateway could move to support robotic or partner missions to the surface of the Moon, or to a high lunar orbit to support missions departing from the gateway to other destinations in the solar system," said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations at NASA. The second phase of missions will confirm that the agency's capabilities built for humans can perform long duration missions beyond the Moon. For those destinations farther into the solar system, including Mars, NASA envisions a deep space transport spacecraft. This spacecraft would be a reusable vehicle that uses electric and chemical propulsion and would be specifically designed for crewed missions to destinations such as Mars. The transport would take crew out to their destination, return them back to the gateway, where it can be serviced and sent out again. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today said she will discuss with ministerial colleagues the Supreme Court ruling of banning liquor shops along highways, which has sparked concerns in the hospitality sector. "I know the tourism minister has expressed lot of concern about what impact this is going to have on tourism. I need to talk with some of the ministerial colleagues and see what is coming out of it," Sitharaman told reporters here. Earlier in the day, Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma said that his ministry will seek legal suggestions to explore a "middle path" to solve problems being faced by hoteliers and restaurant owners following the apex court's order. Sharma, however, said the government will work within the framework of the directives of the Supreme Court on the matter. The Supreme Court on March 31 had modified its order reducing the distance to 220 metres in areas having a population of up to 20,000. This criterion is also applicable to hill states like Sikkim, Meghalaya and Himachal Pradesh. Thousands of restaurants, liquor vends and bars, including those in five-star hotels along national and state highways have been stopped from serving alcohol since Saturday. When asked about the controversy over a remark made by a BJP leader in Kerala about beef, Sitharaman said she has "no idea" about the matter but noted that beef exports are not permitted from India. She said that buffalo meat is allowed, only through authorised abattoirs having a valid license. "What is happening in Uttar Pradesh...Licenced abattoirs are not being touched. Without licence, export cannot happen and action was taken only on illegal abattoirs," she added. When asked about the proposed rubber policy, she expressed hope to announce it soon. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Police today seized 10 kgs of opium and 60 kgs of poppy husk from an SUV in Neemuch district and arrested a man suspected to be a smuggler from Amritsar. Based on the inputs given by the arrested person, identified as Jaswant, police raided a place of one Vishal Patidar, an associate of the former, in Richhabachha village in Mandsaur district. During the raid, 7 kg of opium and poppy husk, along with a grinding machine, were seized. According to the police, Jaswant is a "notorious smuggler of drugs." In the SUV, opium was hidden in a specially-created cavity on its roof, while the poppy husk was hidden in boot of the vehicle. "On a tip off, we intercepted the SUV, bearing Haryana number plate, under the area of Nayagaon police post. On being searched closely, the police team found that 10 kgs of opium in two packets was hidden in the cavity of vehicle's roof and 60-kg of poppy husk was hidden in boot space of SUV," said Neemuch Superintendent of Police Manoj Kumar Singh. The SUV was headed towards Rajasthan when it was intercepted. "Police arrested a notorious drug smuggler Jaswant, who is a resident of Amritsar. On being examined, he informed that he collected this opium and poppy husk from Vishal Patidar, a resident of Richhabachha village in Mandsaur district (MP)," the SP said, adding the police raided Patidar's place in afternoon. Nayagaon Police Post in-charge J C Ninama said that Jaswant used to fetch drugs from this area earlier too, but this time we have arrested him and his associate (Patidar). "The duo were arrested under the NDPS (the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) Act. We are investigating further into the drug network," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Oxford reclaimed the boat race title from Cambridge today, hours after police removed an unexploded World War II-era bomb near the start of the course on the River Thames. The bomb was discovered by a member of the public near Putney Bridge in southwest London, just meters (yards) from the starting line of the famous race between rowers from Oxford and Cambridge universities. The ordinance was found submerged on the Chelsea shoreline Saturday and it was removed by a marine policing unit, the London police force said. London was heavily bombed in the war, particularly during the Blitz years in 1940 and 1941, as German planes concentrated on civilian and industrial targets. Unexploded devices are still occasionally uncovered. Oxford won the 163rd boat race by a length and a quarter in 16 minutes, 59 seconds. The course is 4 miles, 374 yards (6.8 kilometers). Cambridge was denied its first back-to-back victories since 1999 but still leads Oxford 82-80 overall after a dead-heat in 1877. The winning Oxford boat featured the Cook brothers, Jamie and Ollie, along with William Warr, who raced for Cambridge in 2015. Thousands watched the men's and women's rowing races, which involve eight rowers and a coxswain and are steeped in tradition. The men's race dates to 1829, as a challenge between friends held in Henley-on-Thames and was held irregularly for the next 25 years. The race moved to London in 1836, where it takes place annually around Easter. The women's race dates to 1927, but was only raced intermittently until the 1960s. The Cambridge women broke a four-year cycle of Oxford wins, claiming victory in the 72nd race on Sunday by 11 lengths and in a record time of 18:34. Cambridge leads Oxford 42-30 overall. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan today sent on physical remand the custodian of a shrine and his two aides who have been charged with murder and terrorism for killing 20 devotees with batons and knives in a remote village in Punjab province. The trio appeared before the anti-terrorism court which handed them over to the police on remand, Geo TV reported. Moreover, a joint investigation into the case has started, while food items collected from the site of the incident at the shrine have been sent to the forensic laboratory. Abdul Waheed, 50, custodian of shrine Ali Muhammad Qalandar in Sargodha district, some 200-km from Lahore, along with his accomplices allegedly used a dagger and sticks to brutally murder worshippers during last Friday and Saturday. Regional Police Officer (Sargodha) Zulfiqar Hameed said an FIR has been registered against Waheed and his four accomplices under different sections of Pakistan Penal Code and 7-Anti-terrorism Act against Waheed and his accomplices. Hameed said as none of the victim families was willing to register a case against Waheed the state has become complainant in this case. "Forensic samples of the victims have been sent to a laboratory to examine whether they were drugged before killing," he said. Sargodha Deputy Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chatha had earlier said that it appeared that the caretakers of the shrine had first drugged the visitors, stripped them and then stabbed and clubbed 20 people, including four women, to death. Waheed was apparently suffering from a 'critical mental disorder', he said. Most of his victims were aged between 30s and 40s. They included a business graduate, a police constable and a son of former Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP). Waheed was arrested along with his two accomplices - his driver and guard - during a police raid on the shrine. Another official, Saeed Leghari, said Waheed killed four people on Friday and dumped their bodies open in the backyard. The remaining 16 people were killed on Saturday evening. "Nineteen victims had head and other injuries in which a blunt weapon is used. One victim's throat was slit that indicated that he might have run to save his life but he was caught," he said. Waheed served at a senior position in the Election Commission of Pakistan before taking retirement a few years ago in order to focus his 'faith-healing profession'. The shrine was built about two years ago on the grave of local religious leader Ali Mohamamd Gujjar. In his confessional statement, Waheed told police that he committed no crime. "I have cleansed the sins of my followers and sent them to heaven," said Waheed who resisted his arrest. Hameed said a row over custodianship of the shrine could be a possible reason behind the gruesome killings. "Initial investigation shows that Waheed was feeling a threat to his position by some of those he allegedly killed," he said, adding the suspect, however, did not admit to this. "We found all dead bodies naked and in a pool of blood," an eyewitness said. An injured devotee, Tauqeer, said that all of Waheed's followers willingly underwent "punishment" to wash their sins. "On the call of my faith healer - Waheed - I went to the shrine after Friday prayers. On the evening, Waheed began 'cleansing' of his followers sins one by one by hitting them with a club. I was the first to undergo the process after taking off my clothes on his order," he said. "I fainted after Waheed severely hit on my head. I regained consciousness on Saturday morning and found some men lying dead near me. Finding no physical strength to move I remained lying there till police reached there on early Sunday morning and shifted me to hospital," he said. He further said Waheed burnt the clothes of those whom he considered more sinful before torturing them. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan today summoned India's Deputy High Commissioner J P Singh to condemn the alleged ceasefire violation by Indian security forces along the Line of Control (LoC), killing a civilian. Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement that India resorted to "unprovoked firing" on April 1 along the LoC in Chirikot sector. The statement claimed that an 18-year-old civilian, who was injured in the firing, died yesterday. "The Director General (South Asia & SAARC), Dr Mohammad Faisal, summoned the Indian Deputy High Commissioner, Mr J P Singh and condemned the unprovoked ceasefire violation by the Indian occupation forces," it said. It said that the deliberate targeting of civilians is indeed condemnable and contrary to human dignity and international human rights and humanitarian laws. The Director General urged the Indian side to respect the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding; investigate this and other incidents of ceasefire violations; instruct the Indian forces to respect the ceasefire, in letter and spirit and maintain peace on the LoC. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan today resumed its mass repatriation of Afghan refugees despite past accusations of coercion in the supposedly voluntary UN programme to return hundreds of thousands to a war-torn nation. The operation, which saw 380,000 registered refugees sent back from Pakistan in 2016, was halted in December for a routine winter break. "The UNHCR voluntary repatriation programme for registered Afghan refugees resumed today," Duniya Aslam Khan, a spokeswoman for the refugee aid body, told AFP. The UN had cut its cash grant for returnees from USD 400 to USD 200, she confirmed, citing "financial constraints facing humanitarian operations worldwide". The grant was doubled in 2016 and became a factor in the surge of returnees across the border to Afghanistan after July last year, the UN has said. But fears of a crackdown by Pakistan on refugees, many of whom left Afghanistan decades ago, also contributed. Human Rights Watch in a scathing report in February accused Pakistan of coercion, threats and abuse in the mass repatriation, and the UN of complicity. The report said a combination of insecure legal status, the threat of deportation during winter and police abuses -- including extortion, arbitrary detention and night raids -- had left the Afghan refugees with no choice but to leave. It also accused UNHCR of effectively encouraging the exodus by doubling the cash grant, and said the UN body should end the "fiction" that the returns are voluntary. The UN has previously rejected the criticism. "UNHCR advocates for all refugee returns from Pakistan to be voluntary, gradual and take place in conditions of safety and dignity," Khan said Monday. The refugees are returning to an Afghanistan still torn apart by decades of war. They will compete for resources with a record half a million people who were internally displaced by the fighting in 2016, according to UN figures. The mass migrations are draining local resources, especially in safer urban areas, officials have said. Some 4.2 million Afghan refugees have returned to Afghanistan voluntarily under the UNHCR-funded Voluntary Repatriation programme since 2002. But UNHCR and Pakistani officials have said some 1.34 million registered refugees still live in Pakistan. A further half a million undocumented refugees are also estimated to still be in the country, making Pakistan one of the world's largest refugee-hosting nations. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court today termed as "infructuous" a plea seeking a direction to then UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to vacate a bungalow being used by him as his office in Lucknow besides occupying another house for residential purpose. "This has become infructuous. He (Yadav) has lost the election and must have vacated the bungalows by now. He is no more the chief minister. How can he retain both the houses," a bench comprising Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice D Y Chandrachud said. The bench then disposed of the appeal filed by NGO 'Lok Prahari' against the order of the Allahabad High Court in the matter. The NGO had earlier moved the apex court alleging that Yadav has been using two official bungalows for residential and official purposes, respectively, and it was an illegal occupation. The apex court had earlier said that it would hear the plea after conclusion of the assembly polls in the state. It was alleged that the chief minister, who has an office in the State Secretariat, cannot retain an official bungalow besides his residence for official purposes. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Russia today threw up a hurdle in a US plan to hold a high-profile debate later this month on human rights during the US presidency of the UN Security Council. US Ambassador Nikki Haley wants to schedule the human rights debate for April 18 but the council adopted a program of work for the month without putting it on the agenda. Russian charge d'affaires Petr Iliichev said he was open to discussion on the scope of the debate and argued that the UN Human Rights Council -- and not the Security Council -- is the venue for such discussions. Iliichev suggested that the debate could be linked to peacekeeping but that "just a general statement that international peace and security are threatened by human rights violations is not true." Diplomats said China, Bolivia and Egypt also expressed reservations over the debate that would be the centerpiece of the US council presidency, along with a meeting on peacekeeping to be held Thursday. Chinese Ambassador Liu Jieyi told reporters that he believed that a "way out" of the dispute could be found. Haley is expected to press on with the plan to hold the debate in a move that would force Russia and China to call for a procedural vote to try to block the discussion on April 18. That attempt, however, is likely to fail as only nine votes are needed in the 15-member council for the debate to be formally put on the agenda. Haley last week said it would be telling to see which countries oppose the debate. "The fact is, peace and security cannot be achieved in isolation from human rights," Haley told the Council on Foreign Relations. "Human rights abuses are not the by-product of conflict. They are the cause of conflict, or they are the fuel that feeds the conflict. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court today allowed Gujarat government to accept the offer of Director General of Police P P Pandey, who is on extension till April 30 this year, to relinquish his office forthwith. A bench of Chief Justice J S Khehar and D Y Chandrachud recorded the submission of Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Gujarat, that the top police officer has himself written a letter expressing willingness to step down forthwith if the government so desired. "In view of determination of the state government, we are of the view that the main petition has been rendered infructuous," the bench said. Pandey's appointment and extension as DGP and IGP was challenged through a PIL. The bench recorded that Pandey, in the letter, expressed willingness to step down and urged the state government to revoke the notification appointing him till April 30. The apex court had on March 31, asked Gujarat government to file its response to a plea against promotion and three- month extension to Pandey, who is out on bail in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case while refusing to give it time till Friday to file the counter affidavit. The ASG had sought time from the bench for taking instruction and told the court that Pandey had served the force for 30 years. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who was appearing for the petitioner - former Mumbai Police Commissioner Julio Francis Ribeiro - had said that Pandey was granted bail, reinstated, promoted and rewarded despite being an accused in a murder case. The Centre's Appointments Committee of the Cabinet had granted the three-month extension to Pandey, who was to retire on January 31. Pandey was heading the state crime branch when Ishrat, a 19-year-old girl based in Mumbra near Mumbai, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an alleged encounter with the police on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004. Gujarat police had claimed they had terror links and had plotted to kill the then Chief Minister, Narendra Modi. An SIT constituted by the high court to investigate the case had concluded that it was a fake encounter, following which the HC had transferred the case to CBI. After being released on bail, Pandey was taken back into service in February 2015 and appointed the Director of the state's Anti Corruption Bureau. On April 16 last year, Pandey was appointed the in-charge DGP of Gujarat. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The man who for 31 years was the concierge of Mott will be buried with military honors today at the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery. Frank Masad, along with his wife, Lorraine, provided hospitality, kindness, good food and rooms to rent at the Mott Holiday House on Main Street from 1958 until the three-story, veranda-style building was destroyed by fire on Nov. 6, 1989. Masad died March 29 in Bismarck at the age of 96, preceded in death by his wife of 70 years. Services will be at 11 a.m. today at Parkway Funeral Service in Bismarck. The night the Holiday House burned to the ground was a dark one for Mott. Not only was the grand old building historic, dating to the towns early days, it was also central for meetings, social occasions, the Friday night fish fry and the Sunday buffet. Urben Gratz, 85, of Mott, remembers Frank Masad for his laugh, his love of card-playing and his willingness to put out a meal for a hungry guest even after the kitchen was closed for the night. It was a tragic night, the night of fire. It sure left a hole in our town, Gratz said. Lots of memories. Ben Olien was Mott's mayor at the time of the fire and remembers the Masads friendliness to everyone who came through the doors longtime customers and strangers alike and the couples participation in activities and booster organizations. Everyone would stop at the hotel, Olien said. After the fire, he remembers thinking, What are we going to do? Where are we going to go? It was the meeting place in town. Masad was born in Fessenden, discharged from the U.S. Army in 1943, and the couple lived in California before returning to North Dakota to purchase the Holiday House. After the fire, the Masads remained in Mott until 2000 then moved to Bismarck. Gujarat government was today allowed by the Supreme Court to accept the offer of P P Pandey, a 1980 batch Gujarat-cadre IPS officer who is on extension till April 30, to relinquish the posts of Director General (DGP) and Inspector General of police (IGP) forthwith. The court was hearing a plea of former top cop Julio Francis Ribeiro seeking a direction for removal of Pandey on the grounds including that CBI had filed charge sheet against him and others in the case of alleged fake encounter killing of Ishrat Jahan. He had also challenged Pandey's appointment and extension as DGP and IGP. A bench of Chief Justice J S Khehar and D Y Chandrachud considered the submission of Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta, appearing for Gujarat, that the top police officer has himself written a letter expressing willingness to step down forthwith "in order to put an end to all controversies". "In view of the determination of the state government, we are of the view that the main petition has been rendered infructuous," the bench said. At the outset, the ASG submitted that the 1980-cadre IPS officer, who was to retire on January 31, was granted extension for three months by the Centre and he should be "allowed to retire peacefully". Referring to the past developments, he alleged that it was the same case in which the then central government (UPA) had interfered and changed the contents of CBI's affidavits within a span of 10 days. "Please do not be party to something which was not on record before this court," Mehta said, adding that a charge sheet has only been filed by the CBI and not by the state police and moreover, charges have not been framed and there was no question of him influencing the trial. He said the allegations in the petition have been made to "malign the state on the issue of extension given to Pandey which was given keeping in mind the exercise undertaken for recruitment of 17,000 police personnel in the state". The ASG said Pandey was the second senior-most police officer after PC Thakur, who was taken on central deputation on April 15 last year and was given the charge of DGP and IGP. Pandey, who was to superannuate on January 30, was appointed when the state's budget session was scheduled in which an amendment to existing liquor prohibition Act was to be tabled, he said, adding that the 'Patidar' reservation agitation also revived then. "Gujarat being a border state with Pakistan, the state government had initiated a state-wide safe and secure Gujarat (SSASG)...This project is under the direct supervision of the DGP," he said. The court, however, asked the state to accept the offer of Pandey to relinquish the office forthwith. The bench recorded that Pandey, in the letter, expressed willingness to step down and urged the state government to revoke the notification appointing him till April 30. The apex court had on March 31 asked Gujarat government to file its response to a plea against promotion and three- month extension to Pandey, who is out on bail in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case while refusing to give it time till Friday to file the counter affidavit. The ASG had sought time from the bench for taking instruction and told the court that Pandey had served the force for 30 years. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the petitioner - former Mumbai Police Commissioner Julio Francis Ribeiro - had said that Pandey was granted bail, reinstated, promoted and rewarded despite being an accused in a murder case. The Centre's Appointments Committee of the Cabinet had granted the three-month extension to Pandey, who was to retire on January 31. Pandey was heading the state crime branch when Ishrat, a 19-year-old girl based in Mumbra near Mumbai, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an alleged encounter with the police on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004. Gujarat police had claimed they had terror links and had plotted to kill the then Chief Minister, Narendra Modi. An SIT constituted by the high court to investigate the case had concluded that it was a fake encounter, following which the HC had transferred the case to CBI. After being released on bail, Pandey was taken back into service in February 2015 and appointed the Director of the state's Anti Corruption Bureau. On April 16 last year, Pandey was appointed the in-charge DGP of Gujarat. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court today refused to entertain a plea by rebel AAP MLA Devinder Sehrawat seeking to be declared as an independent lawmaker in case his party decides to expel him. A bench of Justices J Chelameswar and S A Nazeer observed that Sehrawat has filed the petition "only in anticipation" and no cause of action has arisen at this stage. The counsel representing Sehrawat argued that he should be declared an independent MLA if he is disqualified by AAP and that the Speaker of Delhi assembly should be restrained for entertaining disqualification proceedings against him in the event of his expulsion by the party. In his petition, the MLA said he was one of the founding members of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and, as per media reports, he was "suspended" by the party on disciplinary grounds without any notice being served upon him. His lawyer said an MLA can be disqualified only if he voluntarily gives up the membership or does not vote as per the party whip in the assembly. "I (Sehrawat) am seeking some protection if disciplinary proceeding is initiated and I am disqualified. In the event of my disqualification, my status should be of an independent legislator," his counsel said. To this, the bench said, "no cause of action arises right now. It is only an anticipation". Sehrawat, an MLA from Bijwasan assembly constituency, claimed before the apex court that the party had come to power in Delhi by making various promises to the voters which were not fulfiled. "Lots of corruption matters have come to light. I have written to the Chief Minister and Lieutenant Governor about them but no action has been taken till date," the counsel said. He claimed that some statements were made by party members that Sehrawat might be disqualified as an MLA following which he had written to the Speaker, but till date, he has not received any response. Sehrawat has said in his plea "though no official letter or communication of his suspension has been served upon the him, but the party has completely boycotted and sidelined him, by not inviting him to any of the meetings" and every effort was being made to tarnish his image in his constituency. "The fundamental right to speech and expression guaranteed under Article 19 (1) (a) of a duly elected member of the Delhi Legislative Assembly is being violated and suppressed by insinuation of disqualification from the Assembly membership," his plea said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An inspector and a senior sub inspector of Tronica city police station here have been transferred for dereliction of duty following a murder case, police said today. Besides, the whole staff of Mandola village police post has been suspended on similar charges, a senior police official said. On March 30, Lalit Tyagi, the head of gram panchayat Noraspur, Alipur was shot dead by bikers around 2.15 PM. Three bullets were pumped into his body near his house. He was rushed to GTB hospital and from there to a private hospital for treatment, where he succumbed to the injuries on the intervening night of 30-31 March. SHO Babar Raza Zaidi and SSI Gajendra Singh have been shifted to police lines as they could not make any arrests in the case, Senior Superintendent of Police Deepak Kumar said. Meanwhile, scores of enraged villagers of Noraspur today blocked the highway, affecting the traffic on Delhi-Saharanpur for some time. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Traders observed a shop-closure-stir here today alleging that media was portraying people of the high range as encroachers. Shops downed shutters from 3 pm to 6 pm here as part of the agitation organised by Janakeeya Samara Samithi (People's Agitation Council), an outfit formed by traders, hotel and resort owners and religious leaders. Holding placards stating 'Save Munnar from media syndicate', the protesters said the 'media terrorism' should end and it had badly affected their business at the start of the tourist season. The strike was called in the wake of frequent media reports about widespread encroachments and illegal constructions in this hill town, a sought after tourist destination. They also said the trend would destroy the tourism industry in the region. CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran said the agitation was not against the state government but the only demand was to stop portray people as encroachers. However, opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said there was widespread encroachment in Munnar which needs to end and efforts to gag the media would not succeed. "In this matter, moving against media is not right," he said in a statement. Kerala BJP leaders had met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in Kochi yesterday, seeking the Centre's intervention in addressing the issue of encroachments in Munnar. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Industrial Energy Limited (IEL), a joint venture of Tata Power and Tata Steel, today inaugurated a solar micro grid project at Baliapal village in Kalinganagar in Odisha. The project will benefit 255 people at Baliapal village with uninterrupted power. The village was facing frequent power cuts that hampered studies of students and daily household works of women, a company release said. The project is the first of its kind in Odisha with the community contributing 10 per cent of the total project cost and the rest 90 per cent by IEL, it said. A micro grid is particularly a portion of the power distribution system that comprises of distributed generation, energy storage and loads. Micro grids are robust in controlling the local voltage and frequency and protecting the network and equipment connected to the micro grid, it said. The project will be managed by the Village Development Committee (VDC) consisting of 20 persons, including women. The process of setting up rural micro grid project involves various stages including identification of village, consent from villagers for 10 per cent contribution, VDC formation and installing the project, it said. Commenting on the initiative, Vijayant Ranjan, CEO-IEL and chief of Kalinganagar station, said the project will ensure reliable power for the villagers and contribute towards the government's objective of rural electrification. Renewable energy sources and technologies have the potential to provide solutions to longstanding energy problems being faced by villages in India, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A small size cargo vessel with 10 Indian crew members from Gujarat's Mandvi was hijacked by pirates and taken to a Somalian port, officials said here today. "It is a dhow which was hijacked yesterday and has now reached Biyo in Somalia," Director General of Shipping Malini Shankar told PTI. The 62-metre long vessel was on a voyage from Dubai to the war-torn Yemen when it was hijacked by the pirates. The Indian-flagged ship has an all-Indian crew of 10 and sailed from the historic port town of Mandvi in Gujarat, she said, adding no details of the cargo are available. Shankar also said no ransom demand has been raised so far for the crew and it is possible that the pirates from Somalia are interested in the cargo, which may be discharged in Biyo. Some reports speculated that the vessel might be carrying food and civil supplies to the civil war hit Yemen. Dhows are small sized vessels generally used on smaller routes. An international aid group working in such cases of piracy and hostage crisis has already been contacted by the Indian officials, she said. There has been a meeting with officials from the Indian Navy today and an inter-ministerial group of officials from different ministries will be meeting in New Delhi tomorrow, Shankar said. The ship's owner, Feroze Hussain Thain, an Indian based in Dubai is not reachable but a close aide of his is in contact, Shankar said. The seas around the Gulf of Aden and the Western Arabian Sea are notorious for being targeted by the Somali pirates till about three years ago. Coordinated operations by different navies of the world, including the India Navy, helped secure the seas which see the movement of a huge quantum of global trade, including oil originating in West Asia. India, being one of the biggest manpower suppliers to the international maritime trade, has often been hit by such attacks and many Indian sailors have spent weeks or months in captivity of the Somalian pirates, waiting for a release after negotiations. The high incidence of piracy had led to a group of insurers to declare an area very close to Indian waters as a high risk zone, which led to the levy of high risk premium that impacted sea trade. The premium was making imports costlier and exports uncompetitive, but the fall in instances of piracy had helped India to convince insurers in de-classifying the area as a high risk one. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 22-year-old daughter of a BJP MLA from Yavatmal district of Maharashtra was today attacked allegedly by a spurned man with a sharp weapon in Wakad area here, police said. The girl suffered injuries on her hands in the incident. According to the police, the suspect is a 25-year-old native of Haryana, and it could be the case of unrequited love. He was studying MBA along with the woman at her college in Wakad, police said, adding the attack took place outside the college premises. He has been arrested for alledly attempting murder, they said. According to the police, the suspect was pursuing the young woman for the last few months and it seemed to be one-sided love interest. "This morning she was attacked by the man with a sharp weapon outside the college premises. However, some people overpowered him and handed him to police," said a police inspector from Wakad police station. The woman's finger was badly wounded in the attack, he said, adding she was being treated at a private hospital here. It is learnt that the woman had complained to the college authorities on Sunday and subsequently, the youth had given in writing that he would not harass her. While Talking to PTI, A Balasubramanian, president of the SRI Balaji Society, which runs the college, said the girl had approached them on Sunday afternoon and complained that the accused was harassing her and sought action against him. "We immediately summoned the boy and took an undertaking from him that he would not harass her anymore," he said. Balasubramanian said the girl was asked to shift to hostel from her private accommodation outside and today while she was coming to the college in the morning, she was attacked. "Fortunately, other students and people overpowered the youth and handed him over to police," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Strong winds flipped a mobile home off its foundation in Louisiana, killing a mother and her 3-year-old daughter as a storm system with hurricane-force winds crawled across the Deep South, damaging homes and businesses. Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards put the entire state on "high alert" and warned residents to stay off the roads. He urged people to keep their cellphones charged and close by so that they could get severe weather alerts throughout last night and this morning. "It is an extremely dangerous weather event," he said. Parts of Arkansas and Mississippi were also under a threat of tornadoes, but the bullseye was on Louisiana. The system brought unconfirmed tornadoes to the state as well as heavy thunderstorms, large hail and flash flooding. In the rural community of Breaux Bridge, about 80 kilometers west of Baton Rouge, St. Martin Parish Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Major Ginny Higgins told The Associated Press that a suspected tornado touched down soon after a warning was issued. "Seconds later it hit," Higgins said. "It hit the trailer, flipped it and tore its side off. There was a mother and daughter inside and both were killed." Higgins said 38-year-old Francine Gotch and 3-year-old Neville Alexander were pronounced dead at the scene. Witnesses told KLFY-TV that the father was out at the time and returned home to find the bodies amid the splintered debris. The governor said powerful straight-line winds destroyed the mobile home. Typically after such damage, the National Weather Service will investigate and determine if the damage was caused by a tornado or straight-line winds. The agency warned that it was a "particularly dangerous situation," which the governor noted was a rare high-level warning. Straight line winds could reach upward of 80 mph (130 kph) winds. Hurricanes have at least 120 kph winds. "This is a statewide weather event," the governor said. "It's likely to be an all-night event. We don't expect the weather system to leave the state of Louisiana until sometime tomorrow morning." National Weather Service meteorologist John Hart in Oklahoma said there was a significant risk of weather for Mississippi and Alabama as the system keeps moving east. Fire officials in the Texas village of Point Venture said several people witnessed an apparent funnel cloud there last morning. Travis County Emergency Services District 1 Fire Chief Donnie Norman said there were several structures with severe damage. "There was one home with pretty heavy damage. The roof was completely removed. There was one resident there at the time, but she received no major injuries," Norman said. A Texas state trooper reported seeing a suspected tornado touch down early morning yesterday near Center Point, Texas, about 90 kilometers northwest of San Antonio, Texas. National Weather Service meteorologist Yvette Benavides said there were no reports of major or structural damage. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Suspended Delhi University professor G N Saibaba and four others, sentenced to life terms for having links with banned Maoist outfit have moved the Bombay High Court challenging their conviction under anti-terror law UAPA. The five have moved the Nagpur bench of the high court against their conviction under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and various other penal offences, the counsel for convicts, advocate Surendra Gadling told PTI today. "An appeal challenging the Gadchiroli sessions court order was filed in the high court on March 29. No date for hearing the appeal, however, has been fixed as yet," said Gadling. Principal JudgeSuryakant Shinde of Gadchiroli district and sessions court had delivered the verdict on March 7 after a three-year-long trial of the case. The court had sentenced a sixth convict to ten years in jail. He has also challenged the verdict. All the six convicts are currently lodged in Nagpur central jail. Besides Saibaba, the others to get life terms were Hem Mishra, Prashant Rahi, Mahesh Tirkey and Pandu Narote. Vijay Tirki was awarded 10-year rigorous imprisonment. The judge had also imposed a fine of Rs 1,000 each on the convicts. All six were convicted under IPC section 120B (criminal conspiracy) and also five sections of the UAPA - section 13 for indulging in unlawful activities, section 18 for hatching the conspiracy, section 20 (the punishment for being member of terrorist gang or organisation), section 38 (the membership of a terrorist gang and section 39 (support to terrorist outfits. The police had seized items like pen drives, hard discs and Naxal literature during a search at Saibaba's residence. Thetrial had started in November 2016. Saibaba, the wheelchair-bound professor of English, is 90 per cent disabled. The judge, while pronouncing the quantum of punishment, had said disability of Saibaba was no ground for showing leniency to him. Though he is physically handicapped, he is mentally fit and acted as a "think tank and high-profile leader" of CPI (Maoist) and RDF. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An Egyptian MP who took bold steps to amend the anti-blasphemy law in Egypt was among ten distinguished Egyptian women honoured by India for their exceptional achievements and exemplary contributions in a wide array of fields. MP and Al Azhar scholar Amna Nosseir, who took commendable steps to amend the anti-blasphemy law, and nine other distinguished women were honoured by the Indian Embassy in Egypt at the 'Women of Substance' reception held at India House here yesterday. The event was part of India by the Nile Festival, which is a celebration of Indian music, dance, theatre, visual arts, food and wellbeing. "From a young scientist who turned trash into biofuel, to educationists, filmmakers, humanitarian workers and political leaders - this year's 'Women of Substance' have made a powerful difference through their relentless efforts and passionate determination," a statement by the Indian Embassy said. "The 'Women of Substance' reception, was an occasion to acknowledge, celebrate and share the inspirational stories of these women," it said. "Women are creating a strong impact on a wide spectrum of platforms and thereby opening new vistas and horizons for achievements and accomplishments," its said. Besides Nosseir, the other women achievers who were honoured are scientist Azza Faiad, who turned trash into biofuel; founder of Ahl Masr Foundation for burn victims Heba Elsewedy; Egypt-India Friendship Association vice president Nadia Jereidini, Right to Live Association president Naima Ismail Saleh; Sawsan Attia from Women's Health Improvement Association; 'Mix and Match' designer Shahira Fahmy; Egyptologist and former Director of the Egyptian National Museum Wafaa El Saddik, founder of 'Educate Me' for under privileged children Yasmin Helal and film actress Yosra El Lozy. During the event, the embassy also honoured Missionaries of Charity institution, which was founded by Mother Teresa in 1950 in Calcutta and is functional in Egypt since 1981, for its humanitarian work in Egypt. In Egypt they have four houses: Shoubra and Mukkattam in Cairo and Alexandria and Assiut, where they care for the elderly and the homeless. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Julie LeFever died in December at age 63, but her career-long contribution to the states oil and gas industry won't be crumbling any time soon. LeFever, known by some in the field as Miss Bakken, was among the states preeminent research geologists and directed the nations most complete library of core samples collected downhole from oil and gas exploration. She oversaw the Wilson M. Laird Core and Sample Library at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, where a laboratory was named in her honor when a $14 million expansion to the sample library was dedicated last fall. As proof her contributions will long outlast her just like the geologic rock she studied, researched and catalogued LeFever was posthumously awarded the Robert R. Berg Outstanding Research Award by the American Association of Professional Geologists Sunday in Houston. The award, accepted by her family, is for singular achievement in petroleum geoscience research. State geologist Ed Murphy worked alongside LeFever until his position was moved to Bismarck and said his colleague was thrilled to learn of the award in November. After more than three decades of dedication to research geology in the state, I think she is truly deserving of the award. Julies early work on the Bakken formation was the foundation for many companies looking to produce oil in North Dakota, Murphy said. LeFever wrote her first paper on the Bakken Formation in 1990 decades before hydraulic fracking would finally crack open the source rock oil and went on to write 50 more papers on the Bakken, earning her the Miss Bakken nickname. In all, she authored more than 150 papers, articles, posters and maps on the Paleozoic and Mesozoic rocks in the Williston Basin. She and her husband, Rich LeFever, collaborated on 20 of those. Lynn Helms, executive director of the Department of Mineral Resources, said, while LeFevers contribution to the geologic literature was significant, it was her personal enthusiasm and helpfulness that set her apart. Countless industry geologists, professors and graduate students benefited from her spontaneous, one-on-one workshops in the Wilson M. Laird Core and Sample Library, Helms said. Her reputation and the core library are so intertwined. The creation of a core library was the idea of Wilson M. Laird in 1941, and the library archives 85 percent of the oil and gas cores in North Dakota. A veteran US law enforcement officer was killed after he was fired upon in Baytown city of Texas state, prompting a massive manhunt for the unidentified gunman. Clint Greenwood, 57,with nearly three decades of experience, was shot dead yesterday morning behind a Harris County annex in Baytown, police said. A manhunt is underway for the shooter and the reward has been increased to USD 50,000 to anyone who gives information about the culprit. Greenwood was working as the Assistant Chief deputy with the Harris County Precinct 3 Constable's Office. Someone opened fire on him while he was arriving at work,Lt Steve Dorris of Baytown Police Department said. Greenwood died from a single gunshot wound, he said. The shooting was not random, but the police have not yet identified a motive. The motive of the shooting is currently unknown. Numerous federal, state and local law enforcement agencies are assisting in the investigation to find the shooter, police said. Several businesses and the nearby Sterling High School were put on lock-down for hours. The chaotic morning unfolded as employees tried to get to work and students to class. Greenwood was once a major with the Harris County Sheriff's Office. Deputies said they don't know why he was attacked, but they plan to find out. "It's very early on in the investigation. What I can tell you is that we have the full force of the Baytown Police Department working the case along with members of the HCSO, the Texas Rangers, the Precinct 3 Constables Department and the Gulf Coast Violent Defenders Task Force," Dorris said. "We're going to do everything we can to make sure that we track down whoever was responsible for this. We're going to stand united in this and we appreciate all of the collaboration that we've seen this morning, the show of support from the community and the law enforcement community for having lost a fellow law enforcement officer," Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said. "I am sickened and profoundly saddened by the brutal killing of Deputy Greenwood this (Monday) morning. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family, of course, and to all the men and women who surround us and protect us from similar acts of lawlessness and brutality," Harris County Judge Emmett said. "The thoughts and prayers of all Texans are with the family of Deputy Constable Clint Greenwood, who has died from a gunshot wound in Harris County. My office stands ready to assist in any way possible." "This is a reminder to pray for and support all law enforcement officials in our state, especially at this time of grief," Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said. Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the state is taking action to strengthen penalties for those brazen enough to commit crimes against law enforcement, and will send a message that such vile acts will not be tolerated in the Lone Star State. "My heart goes out to the family and friends of Assistant Chief Deputy Greenwood and the Harris County law enforcement community in the wake of this heinous murder," he said. "I am confident the perpetrator of this despicable act will be apprehended and that the murderer will be met with swift justice," he added. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick called for a halt on violence against law enforcement officers. "Jan and I send our thoughts and prayers to the friends and family of Assistant Chief Deputy Greenwood, a 30-year law enforcement veteran, during this very difficult time. Violence against our law enforcement officers must stop," he said. "Protecting our men and women in uniform continues to be a top priority for me and I will do whatever it takes to bring this latest assassin to justice," Patrick said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Thieves snatched 200,000 euros (USD 215,000) in jewels from an art fair in Paris at the weekend, police said today. Exhibitors were packing up their stands at the Grand Palais exhibition space in the French capital on Sunday when one person distracted the seller and another made off with a box of jewels. The theft took place during Art Paris Art Fair 2017, a show of modern and contemporary art held a short distance from the prestigious Champs-Elysees avenue. The event brought together work from 140 modern art galleries from around 20 countries. The theft follows a string of jewel heists in and around France in recent months. On March 25, an armed gang working in broad daylight stole millions of euros worth of gems from a Cartier store in Monaco -- a tiny principality on the French Riviera. All the loot from that robbery has been recovered and four people have been arrested. In Paris, several suspects remain in custody over the high-profile robbery of US reality TV star Kim Kardashian. Kardashian was tied up in a luxury Paris residence and robbed at gunpoint of jewellery worth around nine million euros. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will make his first visit to the United Nations later this month to chair a UN Security Council meeting on North Korea, the US envoy has said. The April 28 meeting on non-proliferation and North Korea will be "timely" following a US-China summit this week, US Ambassador Nikki Haley told reporters yesterday. The United States holds the presidency of the Security Council in April, giving President Donald Trump's administration an opportunity to showcase its foreign policy priorities. Trump will hold his first summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Florida this week, with North Korea expected to be a major topic of discussion. Tillerson's recent Asia tour focused on addressing the threat from North Korea's nuclear and ballistic programs. The US administration has complained that China is not taking action to rein in North Korea, which last year carried out two nuclear tests and more than 20 ballistic missile tests. While at the United Nations, Tillerson may meet with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who has been concerned about US moves to cut funding to the world body. A UN spokesman said there were discussions on arranging the first face-to-face talks between the UN chief and Tillerson, but that nothing had been scheduled yet. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A 26-year-old naval sailor was found hanging at the residential quarters of Indian Naval Academy (INA) in Ezhimala in nearby Kannur district, early today. Rajasekhar Velayudhan of Thiruttani district in Tamil Nadu was found hanging at his quarter by his wife around 2.42 AM, an INA release said. He was rushed to the Indian Naval Hospital 'Navjivini,' where the doctorsdeclared him brought dead. The Soutern Naval command has ordered an inquiry into the death, the release said adding the body of the deceased has been shifted to Pariyaram Medical College hospital for post-mortem. The next of kin of the deceased sailor have been informed, it said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) : A section of students of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) here boycotted classes and squatted near the main gate today, to express solidarity with farmers, agitating for the past 22 days in New Delhi pressing various demands. Protesting the "neglect" of the farmers and their demands for waiver of loans and adequate compensation, the students raised slogans against the Central and Tamil Nadu governments. They also raised slogans against the Centre's nod for the Hydro Carbon project at Neduvasal despite opposition from the local villagers, police said. Meanwhile, more than 100 farmers, belonging to various associations and members of the public observed a day-long fast in Sulur near here, in support of the farmers protesting in the National capital, they said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Washington's senior official dealing with the nuclear stand-off with North Korea is due in Moscow on Tuesday to seek Russia's cooperation in facing down the Pyongyang regime. Special representative Joseph Yun will spend two days in the Russian capital and meet with Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Igor Morgulov and local experts. His visit comes just ahead of a planned trip to Moscow by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, which the State Department has said he plans to make this month. And the visit comes after US President Donald Trump warned that if China fails to bring a belligerent Pyongyang to heel, Washington may act alone to deal with the threat. "If China is not going to solve North Korea, we will," Trump warned, in an interview with the Financial Times published today. Kim Jong-un's rogue northern regime has defied international sanctions to carry out a series of banned nuclear weapons and ballistic missile tests. Senior US officials have said Trump will use this week's Florida summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping to demand that China bring Pyongyang to heel. But they have not ruled out unilateral action to halt a weapons program that could one day produce a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching US cities. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Donald Trump has condemned the Saint Petersburg metro blast which claimed 11 lives, calling it a "terrible thing", as America offered to help Russia in investigating the "act of violence". "Terrible. Terrible thing. Happening all over the world. Absolutely a terrible thing," he told reporters yesterday during a brief media appearance with visiting Egyptian President Abdel al-Sisi. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said America condemns the act of violence and expresses condolences for the victims. "The President has been briefed on today's attack on St. Petersburg Metro. The United States condemns this reprehensible attack and act of violence," Spicer told reporters at his daily news conference yesterday. The United States is prepared to offer assistance to Russia that it may require in investigating this crime, he said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the injured and with the Russian people as we extend our deepest condolences to the loved ones who have been killed and injured," he added. Spicer said that attacks like these on ordinary citizens just going about their lives remind that the world must work as one to combat violence in all forms. The Investigative Committee, Russia's top criminal investigation body, said it had begun a probe based on the assumption that it was terrorism but added that other possibilities were being considered. The bomb blast tore through a subway train deep under Russia's second-largest city yesterday, killing 11 people and wounding about 40 in a chaotic scene that left victims sprawled on a smoky platform. Condemning the blast, US State Department's acting spokesman Mark Toner said, "We extend our deepest condolences to the loved ones of those who were killed, and our thoughts and prayers are with those injured in the attack and with the Russian people". "Terrorism anywhere threatens the universal values and norms that bind us in common humanity," Senator Ben Cardin, Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said. "It is my hope that the Russian authorities conduct a thorough investigation and that the perpetrators are brought to justice," he said. The White House has announced that President will donate part of his salary to the US National Park Service, going some way towards meeting a campaign promise. With some fanfare, White House spokesman Sean Spicer announced yesterday that Trump had decided to donate his salary for the first quarter of 2017 to the government agency that manages parks, monuments and other conservation properties. "It is my pleasure, on behalf of the president of the United States, to present a check for $78,333 to the secretary of the interior, Ryan Zinke," he said, amid scenes more reminiscent of a gala dinner than the White House press room. On the campaign trail, Trump had vowed to donate his taxpayer-funded $400,000 annual salary to charity if elected. The National Park Service is not a charity, but it is the first sign Trump will hand over the cash. The gift may be a peace offering of sorts. Trump has tangled with the agency over its tweets, which unfavorably compared the size of his inauguration crowd with that of Barack Obama's. The National Park Service is part of the Department of the Interior, whose budget Trump has proposed cutting by more than one billion dollars. The Sierra Club, an environmental group, called Trump's donation a "stunt." "If is actually interested in helping our parks, he should stop trying to slash their budgets to historically low levels," it said. The White House announcement came after investigative reporters at ProPublica reported Trump amended his trust -- created to curb conflicts of interest -- to make it possible to withdraw cash whenever needed. President Donald Trump welcomed his Egyptian counterpart, President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, to the White House today for talks ranging from ways to collaborate in the fight against Islamic extremism to efforts to bolster Egypt's flailing economy. In an Oval Office meeting, Trump said that el-Sissi has done a "fantastic job" and declared his support for Egypt and the Egyptian people. Trump noted that the US plans to build its military to "possibly" its highest levels as it looks to fight the Islamic State group and lend support to its allies. The two leaders are also expected to discuss military and economic aid for the country. El-Sissi noted that he's had a deep appreciation for Trump's "unique personality" and vowed to work with the US to eradicate the "evil ideology" that is "terrorising communities." Trump has repeatedly mentioned Egypt as a critical Muslim-majority ally in the fight against extremists like the Islamic State group. The White House welcome comes after a tense relationship between Egypt's leader and the previous administration. Former President Barack Obama never invited el-Sissi to the White House and allowed his administration to repeatedly admonish his government over its human rights record. Obama also briefly suspended some US military aid. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President Donald Trump's son-in-law and top aide Jared Kushner visited Baghdad today with the US's top military officer, meeting Iraq's premier to discuss the fight against the Islamic State group. The visit comes as Iraqi forces battle to retake Mosul from IS with support from US-led air strikes that have recently been criticised for causing civilian deaths in the city's west. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's office said the premier met with General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as Kushner and other officials including White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert. They discussed "the battle of Mosul and the international coalition's support for Iraq and the training and arming of Iraqi forces in addition to the (issue) of displaced people," Abadi's office said in a statement. Iraqi forces have been engaged in a grinding battle for west Mosul since last month, fighting that has pushed more than 200,000 civilians to flee. Dunford asked Kushner -- who has no previous experience in government -- and Bossert to accompany him on the trip, Navy Captain Greg Hicks said in an emailed statement. "General Dunford invited Mr Kushner and Mr Bossert to meet with Iraqi leaders, senior US advisors, and visit with US forces in the field to receive an update on the status of the counter-ISIS campaign in Iraq and Syria," Hicks said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group. "As well as receiving briefings and updates, Mr Kushner is travelling on behalf of the president to express the president's support and commitment to the government of Iraq and US personnel currently engaged in the campaign," he said. "Mr Bossert is travelling in his role as assistant to the president and will participate in meetings and briefings to reinforce the strong US-Iraqi partnership to defeat ISIS," he added. Dunford and Kushner were also to meet Iraqi Defence Minister Irfan al-Hayali, ministry spokesman Colonel Laith al-Nuaimi said. The United States is leading an international coalition that is carrying out air strikes against IS and providing other support to forces fighting the jihadists in both Iraq and Syria. The operation to retake Mosul, Iraq's second city, began last October, with security forces recapturing its eastern side before setting their sights on the smaller but more densely populated west. The coalition has admitted that it "probably" played a role in recent civilian casualties in the city, but has sought to place responsibility for the deaths on IS, saying the jihadists are gathering civilians together and seeking to provoke strikes. Despite his inexperience, Kushner has become one of the most powerful men in Washington as a trusted adviser to the president with a broad portfolio of responsibilities. Valued by Trump for his discretion and loyalty, the baby-faced 36-year-old is officially a White House senior adviser with far-reaching influence over domestic and foreign policy. Among other responsibilities, Trump has tapped Kushner to play a leading role in efforts to secure an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal -- an achievement that has eluded experienced policymakers for decades. Kushner's wife Ivanka, the 35-year-old first daughter, also plays a key role in advising her father. A regular presence in the White House since Trump's election, she officially became assistant to the president last week amid accusations about possible conflicts of interest involving the couple's business interests, worth hundreds of millions of dollars. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Restrictions on smoking marijuana for medical purposes would be loosened under legislation approved by a North Dakota House committee. The rewrite of North Dakotas new medical marijuana law took another step toward passage Monday as the House Human Services Committee approved changes to Senate Bill 2344. Its now on its way to the House floor, where it will need the support of two-thirds of lawmakers because it amends a recent initiated measure. Under the version of the bill passed by the Senate last month, a physician that authorized a patient to smoke marijuana must attest that no other form would be effective. But the Houses version does not include that stipulation. The House bill allows for the use of tinctures, transdermal patches, topicals, capsules and cannabinoid concentrates. Minors would not be able to smoke marijuana for medical purposes. The House committee also reduced the annual patient application fee from $200 in the Senate version to $50 and allowed advanced practice registered nurses to certify that patients are likely to receive benefits from medical marijuana. It also reduced the maximum number of manufacturing facilities to be registered by the state Health Department from four to two but keeps the number of dispensaries at eight. The Health Department may register additional facilities if it determines theyre needed to increase access. The Houses version of the bill adds terminal illnesses to the list of debilitating conditions under which a patient could qualify for medical marijuana use, while cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder, Crohns disease and others were already included in the bill. The House Human Services Committee gave the bill a do pass recommendation in a 13-1 vote Monday. The Legislatures decision to amend the so-called Compassionate Care Act has drawn criticism from medical marijuana supporters, along with suggestions of a lawsuit or second initiated measure. But legislative leaders have said the original initiated measure, approved by almost 64 percent of voters in November, needed improved regulations. Rep. Pamela Anderson, D-Fargo, a medical marijuana supporter, said she was happy with the changes the House committee made. I can support this bill, she said. Lawmakers have proposed removing a section of the law allowing patients who live more than 40 miles away from a facility to cultivate up to eight marijuana plants. Anderson noted most residents live near the state's largest cities, where dispensaries are likely to be located. A Department of Health official previously said they expect medical marijuana to be available for purchase in about a year. Senate Human Services Committee Chairwoman Sen. Judy Lee, R-West Fargo, said she still expects the bill to head to conference committee, where lawmakers from both chambers can discuss differences between the versions of the bill they passed. Australian premier Malcolm Turnbull is likely to make his first official visit to India next week to furtherbuild on relations with India during talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in areas like trade, defence, education and skills sector. Turnbull will beaccompanied byhis Education and Training Minister Simon Birmingham who isleading the 'Australia India Skills Mission' comprising a strong delegation of education experts, official sources said. Turnbull's office did not divulge details of the official programme, saying "Prime Minister'stravel arrangements could not be revealed untilan official announcement is made". The visit will be an opportunity to furtherbuild relations with India which may include discussions ontrade,defence, education and skillssector. Modi invited Turnbull to India last year during the G-20 Summit in China. Turnbull, 62, became Australia's Prime Minister on September 15, 2015. CraigJeffrey, Director of Australia India Institute (AII), a Melbourne-based think-tank,said the two leaders (Turnbull and Modi) will have a natural affinity as both placed a premium on youth, jobs and innovation. He said that the visit was a crucial moment for reflecting on the complementary strengths of higher education in India and Australia. "Flow of people and ideas knit Australia and India together. Now is the time to capitalise on these connections," Jeffrey said. Australia India Business council (AIBC) national chair Sheba Nandkeolyar attached great importance to the upcoming trip."Avisit by another Prime Minister is highly regarded in India. This implies that Australia means business and India is viewed as a strategic partner," he said. She furthersaid the delegation will bean opportunity to establish stronger links with Indian counterparts and gain a deeper understanding of the Indian training market and the challenges it faces in educating and skilling its large population. "We have several AIBC delegates in this mission and while there may be no FTA (free-trade agreement) - there will be certainly a lot of bilateral business opportunities that will unfold both for Australia & India," she said. She said that the bilateral business engagement between the two sides had grown in recent years and there was an upsurge in the trade figures. "Australia has a lot to offer beyond the traditional areas of the trade relationship hinging on Minerals & Energy. Proudly both countries already enjoy a strategic Defence Partnership with regular visits from both end,"Nandkeolyar, who hoped formore agreements to be signed during the visit, said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray has convened a meeting of all ministers and elected representatives of his party here on Thursday. When asked about the likely agenda of the meeting, a party leader today said," "Besides (discussing) reshuffle of the Sena ministers in the state Cabinet, Sena president Uddhav Thackeray may discuss rejigging the party organisation and the party's strained ties with its estranged ruling ally the BJP. "Other major topic of discussion could be about the possibility of the BJP going for mid-term polls in state along with Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, later this year." He said that at a recent meeting, many legislators and office-bearers had heated arguments with senior Sena ministers who they blamed for the delay in sanctioning of the approvals for various developmental works. After that meeting, a delegation of Sena ministers called on Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, demanding speedier clearances to development projects in their constituencies and allocation of funds, the source said. He said Thackeray is unhappy with the performance of senior Sena ministers like Subhash Desai, Dr Deepak Sawant, Ramdas Kadam and some others. In recent Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections, the Sena lost all seats in the Assembly segments of these Sena ministers, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The UN Security Council has strongly condemned the "barbaric and cowardly terrorist attack" that killed 11 people and wounded dozens in the subway of Russia's second city, Saint Petersburg. The 15-member council called for the perpetrators of the attack to face justice, in a unanimous statement adopted yesterday as the United States held the monthly presidency of the UN's top decision-making body. US Ambassador Nikki Haley said separately that the images from Saint Petersburg in the aftermath of the attack were "hearbreaking." "You can be sure the United States will stand with Russia on defeating these extremists who continue to senselessly harm innocent people," Haley said in a statement. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the explosion, which comes after the Islamic State group called for attacks on Russia in retribution for its military intervention in Syria fighting against the jihadists. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Trade union activists in Sri Lanka today held a protest outside Indian High Commission here against life imprisonment to 13 former employees of Maruti-Suzuki India Ltd in a case of violence and rioting at the company's Manesar plant, in which a senior officer was burnt alive. The trade union activists held placards reading "stop repression" and claimed that the life sentence awarded to 13 workers by a court in Haryana is "unjustified". "Their imprisonment was due to a planned action by the management," union activist Duminda Nagamuva claimed. During the protest, the Sri Lankan activists also accused the government of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe of curbing workers rights in Sri Lanka. On March 18, a Gurgaon court awarded life sentence to 13 former employees of Maruti-Suzuki India Limited, who were found guilty of murder. Violence had erupted at Maruti Suzuki India Ltd's Manesar plant in August 2012 over disciplinary action against an employee during which agitated workers had gone on the rampage, torching a part of the factory, setting senior human resource manager Awanish Kumar Dev on fire, and beating up and bludgeoning with rods 100 others. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The US on Monday announced multiple measures to "deter and detect" what it described as "fraud and abuse" of H-1B work visas, the most sought after by Indian IT firms and professionals. The announcement by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) comes on a day on which the federal agency started accepting applications for H-1B visas for the financial year beginning October 1, 2017. The USCIS announcement indicated that the US government is going to be tough and stringent in approval of H-1B visas this year. The USCIS has a Congressional mandate to issue 65,000 H-1B visas in general category and another 20,000 for those applicants having higher education - masters and above -- from US universities in the field of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Asserting that its multiple measures announced on Monday will further "deter and detect fraud and abuse", the USCIS said the programme should help US companies recruit highly-skilled foreign nationals when there is a shortage of qualified workers in the country. "Yet, too many American workers who are as qualified, willing and deserving to work in these fields have been ignored or unfairly disadvantaged. Protecting American workers by combating fraud in our employment-based immigration programmes is a priority for the USCIS," a statement said. The USCIS also announced the launch of a email helpline against abuse and fraud of H-1B visas. The USCIS will now onwards take a more targeted approach when making site visits across the country to H-1B petitioners and the work sites of H-1B employees. The USCIS will focus on cases where it cannot validate the employer's basic business information through commercially available data; H-1B-dependent employers (those who have a high ratio of H-1B workers as compared to US workers, as defined by statute); and employers petitioning for H-1B workers who work off-site at another company or organisation's location. Targeted site visits will allow USCIS to focus resources where fraud and abuse of the H-1B programme may be more likely to occur, and determine whether H-1B dependent employers are evading their obligation to make a good faith effort to recruit US workers, a media release said. Noting that it will continue random and unannounced visits nationwide, USCIS said these site visits are not meant to target non-immigrant employees for any kind of criminal or administrative action but rather to identify employers who are abusing the system. "Employers who abuse the programme negatively affect US workers, decreasing wages and job opportunities as they import more foreign workers," it said. "To further deter and detect abuse, USCIS has established an email address which will allow individuals (including both American workers and H-1B workers who suspect they or may be the victim of H-1B fraud or abuse) to submit tips, alleged violations and other relevant information about potential H-1B fraud or abuse," it said. The H1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows American firms to employ foreign workers in occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year. During his election campaign, President Donald Trump had promised to increase oversight of our H-1B and L-1 visa programmes. The US state of Arkansas plans to put to death eight death row inmates this month but authorities can't find enough "respectable citizens" to witness the executions, a pace death penalty opponents say is "unprecedented" in recent American history. Arkansas, the home state of former US president Bill Clinton, is set to carry out the executions two a day on four days between April 17 and April 27. Multiple lawsuits have been filed over the schedule, citing concerns about the speed. But Arkansas' governor Asa Hutchinson has defended the planned executions, saying the deaths will bring closure to victims' families. But the state code requires that no fewer than six "respectable citizens" be present at each execution. There's one problem: It's having a hard time finding enough volunteers to witness them, CNN reported. The volunteer pool is apparently thin enough that state Department of Corrections Director Wendy Kelley invited members of a local Rotary Club to volunteer, it said. "Temporarily, there was a little laugh from the audience because they thought she might be kidding," Bill Booker, acting president of the Little Rock Rotary Club, told FOX16. "It quickly became obvious that she was not kidding." Kelley's "informal efforts" continue, the department said. "We remain confident in our ability to carry out these sentences," spokesman Solomon Graves said. The people who are allowed to witness an execution vary by state, said Robert Dunham, director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C. Typically, family members of the inmate and relatives of the victims are present, he said. Sometimes, a state requires that lay people who have no stake in the case are present, too. That could be a member of the media or a citizen witness, such as in Arkansas. The Arkansas Code does not require that witnesses vary from execution to execution. So, it's conceivable that some of the volunteers could witness more than one, Dunham said. "It's not natural watching the intentional taking of a human life," he said. "It has an emotional impact on people." And witnessing multiple execution more than just doubles the impact, he said. "It increases exponentially." Meanwhile, death penalty opponents have called the move by the Arkansas state as "unprecedented." No US state has executed this many people in such a short span since the Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976, media reports said. The closest was Texas, which executed eight men in both May and June of 1997, according to the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center, which opposes capital punishment. The series of execution has been attributed to the state's soon-to-be-expire supply of midazolam, a contentious drug that's been blamed for a spate of botched executions in recent years. The executions would mark the first time since 2005 that Arkansas has put an inmate to death. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Election Commission today asked the Madhya Pradesh government to transfer two more officials from Bhind district to ensure "free and fair" conduct of a bypoll in Ater, after a row over the demonstration of a VVAPT machine on March 31. According to media reports, a faulty voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machine dispensed slips with the BJP symbol only during its trial run ahead of the April 9 bypoll in Ater in Bhind district, irrespective of the EVM button pressed. The EC direction came a day after the Bhind Collector Ilayaraja T, the Superintendent of Police Anil Singh Kushwaha along with the Ater Sub-Divisional Police Officer Indrveer Singh Bhadauria were shunted, a week ahead of the bypoll. Meanwhile, Kiran Gopal and S Saxena today took charge as the Bhind Collector and the Superintendent of Police, respectively. Manjeet Singh Chawla has replaced Bhadauria as Ater SDPO, after the EC's direction to the state government. "We today asked the MP Government to transfer Revenue Inspector (RI) and acting in-charge Naib Tehsildar Vinod Tomar, and Patwari Rajendra Singh Bhadoria from Bhind," an election commission official told PTI. The officials remained posted in Bhind since long time, he said, adding that such exercises are taken to conduct free and fair polls. After the trial of the machine, the Congress leaders Digvijay Singh and Jyotiraditya Scindia, besides Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and other opposition leaders met Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi in Delhi. They lodged a complaint with the CEC saying a video of the trial run of the VVPAT machine attached to Electronic Voting Machine at Bhind on March 31 showed that it was dispensing slips only with the BJP symbol, no matter which button on the EVM was pressed. The opposition parties demanded scrapping of the EVM for the coming elections. 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 and the voter cannot take it home. The Madhya Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Saleena Singh, who was present during the trial and seen in the video, however, on April 1 had denied that VVPAT dispensed only BJP slips. The bypoll in Ater was necessitated following the death of sitting Congress MLA Satyadev Katare, who was also the Leader of Opposition in the state assembly. Byelection will also be held in Bandhavgarh in Umaria district on April 9 as the sitting BJP MLA Gyan Singh was elected as an MP from Shahdol Lok Sabha seat. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bombardier, which has received more than $1 billion in federal and provincial government aid since 2015, awarded its top five executives and board chairman raises of up to 50 percent for 2016. The pay hikes, disclosed in public filings last week, sparked protests outside Bombardier's Montreal headquarters on Sunday and calls by opposition leaders for a company freeze on executive compensation. Bombardier retreated on Sunday, saying that more than 50 percent of the total planned compensation will be deferred until 2020 and will be payable only if the company achieves performance goals. Executive Chairman Pierre Beaudoin also renounced his raise on Friday. "We didn't do a good job of communicating it," Chief Executive Alain Bellemare told a Quebec radio show on Monday. "If you look at it at face value, I can understand why people were so angry, so unhappy." The compensation packages for the executives and the board chairman included salary, bonuses and stock options. The company was able to defer part of the raises because the remuneration tied to options is forward dating, a spokesman said on Monday. Bellemare said the pay was needed to retain top talent. But Quebec and Canadian government officials said they were not surprised by the public anger against Bombardier, which announced plans in 2016 to lay off more than 14,000 people in the province and globally over two years. Bombardier, which was forced to consider bankruptcy in 2015 after facing a cash crunch while developing two new planes, received a $1 billion investment from Quebec in its CSeries 110-130 seat jet programme. Last February, it received C$372.5 million in loans from Ottawa. "They didn't realise what impact it would have on the population and on the elected officials as well," Quebec Economy Minister Dominique Anglade told reporters at a Montreal aviation conference. A poll by French-language network Quebecor Media showed that 93 percent of Quebecers opposed the raises. "This should have been managed by Bombardier internally," said a Quebec aviation industry executive, who requested anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the topic. "Quebecers financed a piece of the CSeries, they feel like Bombardier belongs to them. So they were shocked." Speaking in Parliament on Monday, Trudeau criticized the company's planned compensation hikes for its senior executives. "We're obviously not pleased with the decision that Bombardier made around its remuneration for its executives," Trudeau said in Parliament. "But we're happy to see them make decisions that are fixing that for Quebecers' and Canadians' confidence." Trudeau had given a more muted response when pressed on the issue last Thursday, saying: "We respect the free market and choices companies will make, but we also have a responsibility to ensure the investments we make with taxpayers' dollars are leading to good jobs and growth." While Bombardier's financial situation has improved since 2015, with the company setting a 2018 breakeven target, the company is still burning cash as it ramps up production of its flagship CSeries jet and works to bring a new business jet, the Global 7000, to market. "Bombardier is doing a lot better, but they are not out of the woods yet, so they still need the government to be looking at them favourably," said one transportation analyst who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to talk to the media. (Editing by Leslie Adler and Matthew Lewis) (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) By Sankalp Phartiyal and Aby Jose Koilparambil MUMBAI/BENGALURU (Reuters) - A dispute between the founders and the board of software services company Infosys Ltd over governance spilled into public again on Monday, as founder N.R. Narayana Murthy criticised a pay hike for Chief Operating Officer Pravin Rao. Infosys defended the move, but said it took a statement from its founders "as important feedback". In a letter released to media, Murthy said a roughly 60-70 percent pay rise for a top executive, even including a variable performance-related element, was not appropriate when most employees had increases of just 6-8 percent. "This is grossly unfair to the majority of the Infosys employees," he said. "The impact of such a decision will likely erode the trust and faith of the employees in the management and the board." In a later statement, Infosys said Rao's pay increase reflected "the philosophy of aligning the interests of our leadership team to long-term shareholder interests". It said the cash component of Rao's salary had actually declined 10.6 percent to 46 million rupees ($708,183), although the performance-based component had gone up. Given the four year vesting period of the stock, the net increase in Rao's compensation for the year to March 2018 will be 1.4 percent, Infosys said. It could go up to 33.4 percent in the fourth year if similar grants are made in subsequent years based on company and individual performance, it added. A stock exchange filing over the weekend showed only 24 percent of Infosys' promoter shares were voted in favour of a resolution seeking a revision in Rao's compensation, while others abstained from voting. (http://bit.ly/2nuHy2e) Infosys said in Monday's statement its board "acknowledges the sentiments of shareholders who have not voted in favour of the resolution". The company had sought to reassure investors and analysts in February that it was not being distracted by the dispute with its founders over how the company was being managed. The founders own 12.75 percent of Infosys. Led by Murthy, they had earlier questioned the pay rise of chief executive Vishal Sikka and the size of severance payouts given to others, including former finance head Rajiv Bansal. ($1 = 64.9550 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Sankalp Phartiyal in MUMBAI and Aby Jose Koilparambil in BENGALURU; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Mark Potter) (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) By Scott DiSavino NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices edged lower on Monday as a rebound in Libyan oil output weighed against upbeat economic data from Asia that pointed to strong energy demand from the region. Benchmark Brent futures for June delivery were down 42 cents, or 0.8 percent, at $53.11 a barrel by 12:16 p.m. EDT (1616 GMT). That, however, was up 29 cents from Friday's close when May was still the front-month. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude, meanwhile, was down 40 cents, or 0.8 percent at $50.20 per barrel. Traders noted both U.S. and Brent futures retreated after failing to rise much above their 100-day moving averages, a technical resistance level. Libya's Sharara oil field, the country's largest, resumed production on Sunday after a week-long disruption. State-owned NOC lifted force majeure on loadings of Sharara crude on Monday, sources told . The field was producing around 120,000 barrels per day (bpd) on Monday and about 220,000 bpd prior to the March 27 shutdown. "The main development over the weekend is the restart of Sharara," managing director of PetroMatrix Olivier Jakob said. Uncertainty about Libyan output added volatility to oil prices, he said, calling it "a swing factor that can make it move both ways if one looks at the balances for the second half of the year." Also pressuring oil prices, energy services firm Baker Hughes said the U.S. rig count rose last week, making the first quarter the strongest for rig additions since mid-2011. [RIG/U] Still, data from Asia suggested solid energy demand going forward. Manufacturing data showed factories across much of Asia posted another month of solid growth in March. Purchasing managers' index (PMI) data from China showed its factories expanded for a ninth straight month. "The global economy remains on track for continuing growth in 2017, a support for the demand side of the petroleum market," Tim Evans, Citi Futures' energy futures specialist, said in a note. Last week, oil prices rallied for three days on reduced Libyan output and expectations that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC producers would extend production cuts beyond June. But in a sign of investor caution, hedge funds and money managers have been cutting net long positions, data released by the Intercontinental Exchange and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed. [O/ICE] "Excess speculative froth has been taken off the market in allowing fresh buying interest to be more impactful," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Chicago-based energy advisory firm Ritterbusch & Associates. (Additional reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar in London and Keith Wallis in Singapore; Editing by Edmund Blair and David Gregorio) (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Every day countless headlines emerge from myriad sources across the globe, both warning of dire consequences and promising utopian futures all thanks to artificial intelligence. AI is transforming the workplace, writes the Wall Street Journal, while Fortune magazine tells us that we are facing an AI revolution that will change our lives. But we dont really understand what interacting with AI will be like or what it should be like. The woman proprietor of Chennai based advertising Jigsaw Solutions, which was allegedly defrauded of Rs 1.69 crore by Stayzilla, urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government to address issues of funding and transparent business models at the earliest. Radha Shekhar,in a letter to Modi,said this was needed to avoid any suffering women entrepreneurs like her face at the hands of a few unscrupulous businessmen posing as start ups. Jigsaw had alleged Stayzilla had defrauded it of about Rs 1.68 crore for services it rendered since last year. Yogendra Vasupal, co-founder of Stayzilla,an online hotel and homestay booking company, was arrested on March 14 for alleged cheating and criminal intimidation. He has twice been denied bail. Radha also wrote to IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. She alleged Stayzilla has indulged in unethical business practise which should be strongly discouraged, "instead of letting them take cover behind the startup ecosystem." "If not, any blind support to a fraudulent company would totally undermine the trust in start ups, even as many are folding up due to poor business practises and mindless spending." Radha said as a small player her firm is heavily dependent on timely payments of bills by the clients, since it has to pay its vendors. Her firm did not have any issues with most clients, including Kotak Mahindra Bank, who have been clearing its dues in time, barring Stayzilla, she said. Radha said that for more than a year since January 2016, Stayzilla had been dodging payments totalling Rs 1.69 crore after ad campaigns were carried out for them through airline boarding passes and outdoor billboards. Repeated efforts to clear the dues were met with evasion, she said. She claimed Stayzilla had got large funding in March 2016, despite which it had resisted paying the dues. Radha said a legal notice from one of her clients forced her to file a complaint with Chennai police after the sudden announcement of closure of Stayzilla on February 23. There was no prior intimation of closure to creditors,just a blogpost on their website of failed business model, which was reported by the mainstream media. Later the two promoters went underground. This was further proof that the company wanted to escape all its liabilities, she said. Radha pointed out that after a probe,Chennai police had arrested Vasupal and remanded him to custody, "while his CFO Sachit Singhi continues to abscond to this day." She said it seemed her firm was being wrongly painted by the startup community as posing a threat to them for taking legal recourse, whereas her firm had sought action against only one startup for cheating them. Faced with a concerted outcry in support of a defaulter, they reached out to the media to explain their side of the story, she said. She noted that in consequence, Karnataka IT Minister Priyank Kharge had stated that supporting Stayzillas founder would be akin to supporting a defaulter like Vijay Mallya. As US gets tough on H-1B visas, Singapore is the latest country which is seeking to restrict access to Indian professionals employed in the information technology sector. Visas for IT professionals to work in Singapore have dropped "to a trickle", a report in TOI said. This move has prompted the government to put on hold the review of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) citing violation of the trade pact. Singapore authorities were insisting on the "economic needs test" (ENT), a functionality in trade terms which argues for compliance with certain economic criteria, to deny access to Indian professionals, the report said. "This (visa problem) has been lingering for a while but since early-2016, visas are down to a trickle. All Indian companies have received communication on fair consideration, which basically means hiring local people," Nasscom president R Chandrashekhar said. In 2005, India had signed the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) with Singapore. After the agreement, India's exports to Singapore increased from $4 billion in 2004-05 to $16.9 billion in 2011-12. However, the exports have seen a steep decline since then, going down to $ 7.7 billion in 2015-16. Singapore received the highest outflow of Indian FDI and it is also the third largest foreign investor in India. Hoteliers in Gurgaon conducted a meeting on Sunday todiscuss their next step after the bar ban. Ankur Bhatia, executive director,Bird Group, appreciated the initiative taken by the Uttar Pradesh governmentand is hoping that both Haryana and Delhi governments take a similar way outafter the ban. The Uttar Pradesh government has taken a leaf out of theChandigarh model to circumvent the Supreme Court order mandating the closure ofestablishments that sell liquor along national and state highways. It hasrebranded many of its major state highways as district roads. On the other hand, the Delhi excise department is planningmore action, but is already flooded with representations from licence holders,who claim their outlets do not fall within the 500-metre limit laid down by theapex court. Meanwhile, a reality check between Delhi and Panipat by Indiatodayrevealed booze sale is continuing surreptitiously. Most vendors were locatedclose to popular dhabas along the highway. The first stop was Kundli on theDelhi-Haryana border, where a liquor vend with half its shutter down was foundoperating. Customers were easily able to peek into the store.The secondstop was in Sonepat's Murthal, a popular pit stop among those driving along thenational highway. At Murthal, a liquor vend was seen operating even though itwas barely 50 metres away from the highway. The team then stopped at Samalkha near Panipat, where againa liquor shop was operating barely 100 metres from the highway, right next to apopular dhaba. Interestingly, it's not difficult to find liquor vends as dhabaowners and confectionery shops were well aware of the new outlets within easyreach from highways, and were forthcoming in guiding commuters to them. Tax evasion exceeding an amount of Rs 5 crore under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime will be a non-bailable offence with the police having the authority to arrest persons without a warrant. The Central GST (CGST) Act provides that if the offences relating to taxable goods and/or services where the amount of tax evaded or the amount of input tax credit wrongly availed or the amount of refund wrongly taken exceeds Rs 5 crore, then they will be cognizable and non-bailable. In a 223-page FAQ (frequently asked questions) on GST, the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has also stated that other offences under the act are non-cognizable and bailable. The government has set a target date of July 1 for roll out of the GST, which will subsume central excise, service tax, VAT and other local levies. According to the FAQ, cognizable offence means serious category of offences in respect of which a police officer has the authority to make an arrest without a warrant and to start an investigation with or without the permission of a court. Non-cognizable offence means relatively less serious offences in respect of which a police officer does not have the authority to make an arrest without a warrant and an investigation cannot be initiated without a court order, it said. However, as part of the safeguards that have been incorpo-rated in the act, the FAQ states that if a person is arrested for a cognizable offence, he must be informed in writing of the grounds of arrest and he must be produced before a magistrate within 24 hours of his arrest. If a person is arrested for a non-cognizable and bailable offence, the Deputy/ Assistant Commissioner of CGST/SGST can release him on bail and he will be subject to the same provisions as an officer in-charge of a police station under section 436 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. The FAQ states that, if a person does not appear before a CGST/SGST officer who has issued the summon, he is liable to a penalty of up to Rs 25,000. Also, the tax department have guidelines to ensure that summon provisions are not misused by field officers. As per the guidelines, summons are to be issued as a last resort where assessees are not co-operating and this should not be used for the top management. Also the language of the summons should not be harsh and legal which causes unnecessary mental stress and embarrassment to the receiver, it said. Further, summons by the superintendents should be issued after obtaining prior written permission from an officer not below the rank of Assistant Commissioner with the reasons for issuance of summons to be recorded in writing. Senior management officials such as CEO, CFO, General Managers of a large company or a Public Sector Undertaking should not generally be issued summons at the first instance. Shares of Infosys fell by over 1 per cent on Monday after fresh row erupted between the founders and the Board of the company over the pay hike to Chief Operating Officer UB Pravin Rao. The shares of Infosys slipped by 0.94 per cent to Rs 1,011.25 apiece in early trade on the BSE. At NSE, shares of the company went down by 1.15 per cent to Rs 1,010.45. The stock closed 1.11 percent lower to Rs 1009.45 on the BSE. On the NSE, the stock closed 1.17 percent lower at Rs 1010.30. Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy yesterday said that the compensation hike to Chief Operating Officer (COO) UB Pravin Rao approved by the board in February was not "proper" and "will likely erode the trust and faith of the employees in the management and the board". "The impact of such a decision (compensation hike) will likely erode the trust and faith of the employees in the management and the board," he said. Infosys Board passed Rao's pay hike with 67 per cent of votes, while 33 per cent voted against it. Only 24 per cent of promoters voted in favour of the compensation hike, and rest of them abstained from voting. Murthy also said that given the current poor governance standards at Infosys, the targets for variable pay may not be adhered to if the board wants to favor a top management person. If you don't have a credit history, banks are generally reluctant to offer you a credit card even if you are salaried. For self-employed, it is all the more difficult to get a credit card as they don't have regular cash flow. Indeed, if you need credit of any kind, you need to have a credit history. But without any credit how can you have a credit history? So it's a catch 22 like situation for many people. Therefore, to help such customers and increase the credit card penetration in India, State Bank of India's (SBI) subsidiary SBI Card has come out with a credit card "Unnati" which will be available to all SBI customers provided they have a minimum deposit of Rs 25,000 with the bank. Any SBI customer, including Jan Dhan account holders, with or without any credit history, can apply for the card. A person will be allowed to take a credit of up to 80 per cent of the value of the fixed deposit up to a maximum limit of Rs 5 lakh. You can't use this fixed deposit till you are using the card. The bank will break into your fixed deposit in case you default on credit card payment. Vijay Jasuja, CEO of SBI Card, said at the time of the launch that after the person has used the card for a year and has build enough credit history, the requirement of minimum deposit will also be waived off. Apart from this the card will be available free of cost for the first four years. "After that if the customers spends a minimum amount which won't be very high, the card will continue to be free otherwise a fees will be charged," said Jasuja, of SBI Card. Should you go for it? The card is a good offering , although it may not be the first of its kind as other banks do offer secured credit card, where credit card is issued against a fixed deposit, but the waiver of fee is a big attraction. "The condition stipulating a minimum fixed deposit of Rs 25,000 to get Unnati Credit card is not unique as Solaris Credit Card offered by Kotak Mahindra Bank (ING Vysya) also has the same condition. The amount of fixed deposit can vary from one bank to bank. DCB bank also offers credit card against Rs 15,000 deposit. ICICI Bank also has such a product, " says Rishi Mehra, CEO of Wishfin.com. "However, the uniqueness of the offer comes with the waiver of annual fees ( Rs 499) for the first 4 years. There is no surety on the waiver of the annual fee in the case of other FD-backed cards. The annual fee waiver is thus a differentiator for Unnati, which could help it stand out from the rest," he added. Plus, it will also help people without any credit history to build one which will further help them take other loans in future. "If you don't have a credit card because of credit history and you need one do go for it. It will also help you in taking other loans like home loan and car loans in future," Mehra said. "Unnati is a great product offering, especially for those without a credit history. Existing SBI customers, especially those from low income groups would benefit from it the most. It's a great opportunity for them to build a solid credit record by using the Unnati credit card sensibly and get included in the organised financial segment," said Naveen Kukreja, CEO & Co-founder, Paisabazaar.com. Thailand is trying to keep pace with a seemingly insatiable appetite by overseas visitors to the country. With changing demographics and emerging markets the need for new tourism attractions is viewed as a way to create sustainable growth. The Thai government is considering tax breaks for investors, which will enhance the existing Board of Investment initiative for tourism attractions and theme parks. Under the BoI program 100% foreign ownership is available for projects, which meet the guidelines along with fast track employment visas and tax-free importation of capital equipment and machinery Members of InTech Collegiate High Schools Technology Student Association (TSA) made an impressive showing at the Utah TSA State Conference, which took place March 14-15, at the Davis Applied Technology College in Kaysville. Eight of the schools projects placed in the top three of their respective categories, with four of the honors being first place awards. Students involved with those four projects will advance to the TSA National Conference, being held June 20-25, in Orlando, Florida. I could not be more proud of my students and the quality of work that they exhibit, said Julie Lamarra, InTech TSA adviser, in a news release from the schools administration. We are all so excited to compete at the National level in Orlando, Florida this June. Zaya Nunez, who will compete in Orlando on InTechs Fashion Design and Technology team, is excited to travel with her classmates on a baby vacation that you get to go on just with friends. Im not going to lie, Nunez said. The competition part of TSA is a little stressful because everything is coordinated to a T and you have to get to a certain area at this time or else they wont judge your piece, but other than that I think Im looking forward to just the bonding experience and maybe meeting new people. Prior to the National Conference, Nunezs team is responding to feedback given during the state competition, reviewing their written report and improving the fit of the denim overalls they designed. The team will also make a blouse to be worn beneath the overalls. As the Orlando trip approaches, Adriane Dudley, part of InTechs Coding team, is excited to demonstrate her teams mastery of the C++ programming language. I learned a lot of teamwork skills at the state competition, and we really worked together to get our skills up to par, she said. Im looking forward to showing off my talents in coding and just having a good time. The mission of TSA is to enhance personal development, leadership and career opportunities for students who are interested in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The organization helps its members apply and integrate these concepts through intracurricular activities, competitive events and related programs. I think the most important thing Ive learned being a part of TSA, said Nunez, is learning how to be a little more outgoing and reaching outside of my bubble. I wasnt really the type who would go out and try to become friends with everyone, but Ive noticed after I joined TSA, Ive been a little bit more outgoing and more willing to talk to other students, especially at the competition. Many TSA competition categories require students to address specific themes or problems, submitting original project designs. For example, in the Childrens Stories category, students created a hard-bound pop-up book, with pop-ups illustrating the story. In the Coding category, teams were given five software engineering problems to solve and raced to see which team was the fastest. In the Fashion Design and Technology category, which InTech swept for the third straight year, students were required to design and create three different garment prototypes using recycled materials. The project focused on the importance of sustainability given diminishing supplies of new materials from which to develop fabrics. InTechs winners in this category were:Our trailer is our very very soon! 7 days to go!! #HalfGirlfriend #19thMay @mohit11481 @chetan_bhagat @arjunk26 pic.twitter.com/AWh1Vy2cTF
RIYA SOMANI (@ShraddhaKapoor) April 3, 2017
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Pictured: People make the most of the pleasant conditions and punt along the River Cherwell in Oxford today
Pictured: Young children chase each other through the daffodils during a day out in Christ Church Meadow, Oxford
While temperatures soared this morning, the rest of the week promises to bring clouds and rain over Britain
Pictured: Dog walkers take an early morning stroll along the banks of the River Trent in Nottingham, as temperatures are set to soar to a sizzling 19C
Pictured: A rower make the most of the sunny conditions this morning and takes to the River Trent in Nottingham
Pictured: A cyclist pedals past a patch of flourishing daffodils amid a quaint spring scene in a Nottingham park this morning
Pictured: A rowing crew enjoy some practice on the River Trent this morning as Nottingham is basked in sunshine
SCHOOLCHILDREN DICE WITH DEATH DURING GEOLOGY TRIP TO BROADCHURCH CLIFFS Schoolchildren were seen dicing with death on a geology trip as they inspected rocks under the fatally dangerous Broadchurch cliffs. The students, aged 13 and 14, were supervised by teachers and wore hard hats as they studied along the beach at West Bay in Dorset. Staff appeared to be happy to let the youngsters carry out their projects despite deaths being caused by past rockfalls at the 150ft sandstone cliffs. Schoolchildren were seen dicing with death on a geology trip as they inspected rocks under the fatally dangerous Broadchurch cliffs One child was seen to dislodge a rock the size of a dinner plate from the crumbling cliff face while two adults with the party sat an ate their lunch, yesterday afternoon. The sandstone cliffs, which are about 180million years old and feature in ITV crime drama Broadchurch, form part of Britain's World Heritage Jurassic Coast and are popular with geologists and fossil hunters. However, they are known to be unpredictable and have been prone to sudden rockfalls. In 2012 holidaymaker Charlotte Blackman, 22, was crushed to death under a 400-tonne rockfall further along the beach, while last summer beach-goers fled when a similar fall happened without warning. Advertisement
Over the weekend Britain's warm weather beat Istanbul in Turkey and pictured, beach-goers in Brighton soak up the sun
Pictured, people took to the beach in Brighton and Hove as sunny and warm weather hit the seaside resort yesterday
Disturbing footage of a father from China continuously slapping his toddler has led to his arrest.
The man, named Jiang, from the eastern city of Daqing, reportedly filmed himself beating his five-year-old daughter while she slept in a bid to get attention from his ex-wife.
He later uploaded the clip online, triggering outcry among thousands of viewers.
Disturbing footage of a father from China continuously slapping his toddler has led to his arrest
The youngster is heard crying in distress as she is repeatedly hit.
One viewer mused after watching the video on Facebook: 'Probably [the] most disgusting, cruel, evil, horrible and vicious video I've ever seen in my life.'
Another added: 'Oh the poor little girl. I really feel bad for her. Hope he gets in trouble.'
After the recording surfaced online, the police launched an immediate investigation.
After the recording surfaced online, the police launched an immediate investigation
According to China Central Television Station, the man, named Jiang, was arrested and later confessed.
He claimed that he made the video in a bid to get his ex-wife to return home to him.
However, his actions led to him being detained for 15 days while his former partner took custody of their daughter.
An Iraqi man was gunned down by an ISIS sniper for accepting water from government troops, it has been claimed.
Shocking pictures show the victim in the marksman's crosshairs moments after he had picked up plastic bottles from the back of a truck.
The Iraqi Army, which shared the images on its Twitter account, say the man was then shot dead. It is not yet clear where or when the pictures were taken, but government forces say they were originally released by ISIS.
It comes as it was claimed the terror group is deploying feared female snipers in a bid to defend its Mosul stronghold from advancing Iraqi forces.
An Iraqi man was gunned down by an ISIS sniper for accepting water from government troops, it has been claimed. Shocking pictures show the victim in the marksman's crosshairs (above) moments after he had picked up plastic bottles from the back of a truck
The Iraqi Army, which shared the images on its Twitter account, say the man was then shot dead
Members of the notorious al-Khansaa unit are said to have been stationed on tall buildings in and around the war-torn city tasked with shooting government soldiers.
According to Iraqi News, the women's battalion has been stationed in western Mosul - the deadly front line in moves to sweep the terror group out of Iraq.
ISIS has used increasingly desperate tactics in its bid to defend Mosul, its last major stronghold in Iraq.
Government forces have been closing in on the remaining outposts held by jihadists in recent weeks.
The terror group is deploying feared female snipers in a bid to defend its Mosul stronghold from advancing Iraqi forces, it has been claimed (file picture)
They have been evacuating civilians as they fight to seize Mosul, once the hardline Sunni militant group's main urban stronghold in Iraq and now the scene of a six-month-old battle.
But some families refuse to go, shrugging off the danger of a mortar fired two blocks away or a counter-attack from the militants who move around at night.
Almost 300,000 people have fled Mosul since the government offensive to recapture the city began in October, according to the United Nations.
U.S. officials estimated about 2,000 fighters were still in Mosul in February at the start of the second phase of the campaign, to dislodge them from western sector.
Iraqi forces have been edging closer to al-Nuri Mosque - some 300 meters away - where ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed a caliphate nearly three years ago across territory controlled by the group in both Iraq and Syria.
But the front has hardly moved in past two weeks as Humvees or tanks are of no use in the Old City.
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On the 35th anniversary of the devastating 1982 Falklands War, poignant photographs have emerged offering a glimpse into the conflict's helicopter crash sites and the war graves where soldiers are buried.
The images of the twisted and rusted wreckage show the remains of the Atlantic Conveyor, Chinook, and Puma helicopters, as well as the Eton range and the San Carlos memorial.
The catastrophic conflict lasted a mere 74 days in 1982 and saw a total of 255 British soldiers killed during the warfare.
The wreckage of an Argentine Chinook helicopter is still visible on mountains near Stanley, in the Falkland Islands - it was destroyed on ground by a Hawker Siddeley Harrier during the 1982 conflict. Less than 10 days after destroying the Chinook, the aircraft was hit by small arms fire and went down in the South Atlantic. Sqn. Ldr. Jerry Pook ejected from the stricken Harrier and was rescued several hours later
An Argentinian Puma helicopter crash site after it was shot down by British troops during the battle for the islands. Over the course of the Falklands conflict all six SA 330 Puma helicopters deployed by Argentine forces were shot down by Harriers or destroyed by ground fire
War graves commemorating the lives of the hundreds of soldiers killed in the savage battle between Argentina and the UK
A crewman mans a General Purpose machine gun mounted in the hatchway of a helicopter on patrol over San Carlos Water during the Falklands conflict
Argentina's military junta, led by General Leopoldo Galtieri, had invaded the islands on April 2, 1982 as it desperately sought a popularity boost as the country's economy tanked.
But the Royal Navy carried British soldiers, marines and pilots down to the South Atlantic where they battled the Argentinian forces, made up mostly of conscripts.
The conflict also led to the deaths of 649 Argentinians, including 323 sailors who died when the battleship General Belgrano was sunk by a British submarine as it steamed away from the islands.
Argentina continues to lay claim to the islands, which are known there as the Malvinas, but since President Mauricio Macri was elected in November 2015 he has used less inflammatory rhetoric and has suggested increasing the tiny number of flights between Argentina and the islands.
The origins of the Falklands War has been compared to the current situation with Gibraltar and the complications brought about by Theresa May's triggering of Article 50.
Former Conservative leader Lord Howard said yesterday that the Prime Minister would show the same resolve in defending the Rock as her predecessor did in wresting the Falklands back from Argentina following the 1982 invasion.
Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon added that the UK was prepared to go 'all the way' to keep the Rock out Spain's clutches.
The EU stunned No 10 on Friday by backing Spain over Gibraltar. European Council president Donald Tusk said Madrid would be given the power to block any new EU-UK trade deal from applying to Gibraltar, leading to fears that Spain could attempt to lay siege to the Rock after Britain leaves the EU.
Lord Howard likened the threat to Gibraltar to the aggressive stance adopted by Argentina to the Falkland Islands in the run-up to the war in the South Atlantic.
He added: 'Thirty-five years ago this week, another woman prime minister sent a taskforce halfway across the world to defend the freedom of another small group of British people against another Spanish-speaking country, and I'm absolutely certain that our current prime minister will show the same resolve in standing by the people of Gibraltar.'
The remains of the Atlantic Conveyor, which was a British merchant navy ship, registered in Liverpool, that was requisitioned during the Falklands War. She was hit on May 25, 1982 by two Argentine air-launched AM39 Exocet missiles, killing 12 sailor
The mangled metal of a Chinook helicopter crash site including motors and blades still lies strewn across the sprawling fields
The pictures were captured by creative director Dan Bernard, 49, who said: 'Visiting the crash and memorial sites is incredibly evocative and quite moving, the sense of loss of life and its remoteness, and unfortunately futility.
'The crashed helicopters were just off the main road - but you have to realise the main road is hazardous all year round as is the immediate terrain, granite rock rivers are particularly dangerous.
'It's not a safe place to wander off as there are still many mine fields still to clear. It's freezing cold with high winds and there's a huge hole in the zone.'
Despite the tense relations between Argentina and the UK in the past, in 2016 former Prime Minister David Cameron and Argentine President Mauricio Macri held a meeting agreeing fresh and new dialogue between both countries.
A cross at The Eton Range on West Falkland which was occupied by Argentine troops during the hostilities and subjected to occasional British naval bombardment and air attacks
Sea king helicopters from the carrier HMS Hermes flying in formation during a practice sortie from the vessel as she makes her way south with the British naval task force heading for the Falkland Islands following the Argentinian invasion
Four men scrubbing the 7,000ft-long flight deck on HMS Hermes in front of a number of aircraft during the Falklands conflict, May 1982
Troops carrying rifles as a helicopter hovers above their heads as Britain went to war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands
Argentinian artillery as a huge cannon is loaded by soldiers on the ground as a helicopter hovers above their heads
A view of commandos being lifted from the decks of HMS Hermes and HMS Invincible to be transferred by Westland Sea King helicopters to other ships while two aircraft carriers forge ahead to the Falkland Islands from Ascension Island, leaving the marines ready to move at short notice
The grave of Lieutenant Colonel H Jones who was awarded the Victoria Cross and an OBE for his work with the 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment. He died on May 28, 1982 at the age of 42, and on his gravestone are the words, 'It is not the beginning but the continuing of the same unto the end'
The crash sites aren't all sombre as there are countless penguins and elephant seals living on the island.
'The Islands are littered with crash sites, memorials and memories of its violent past,' Mr Bernard said.
'The crash sites show how isolated communities survive and adapt.
'It's quite easy to get overawed and just start pressing the shutter, when confronted by huge colonies of penguins, giant elephant seals, the Milky way and landscape that takes the breath away.'
A son was left furious after his mother was allegedly called a 'f****** P***' by a member of staff at Tesco.
Sobaan Shariff, from Sheffield in South Yorkshire, said he was 'completely shocked' after hearing his mother Nighat was subjected to 'disgusting' racial abuse at a branch of the supermarket in Egham, Surrey.
Mrs Shariff had called in to do some shopping while on the way to visit her son, who is currently studying biology at Royal Holloway, University of London.
Pictured: Nighat Shariff was allegedly subjected to 'disgusting' racial abuse at a branch of Tesco in Egham, Surrey
Sobaan said: 'My mother drove three hours to come see me and went to get me some shopping on the way. She was going to pick up some milk when a male Tesco employee turned to her and said 'These f****** P**** are everywhere these days'.
'The manager of the store was told and the first thing they asked is ''why didn't you punch him?'' Why would she punch him? Would you expect a 58-year-old woman with bad knees to punch a man in his mid-20s in a supermarket?
'The manager then told her that if she would like to make a complaint, she could email and they gave her the email address, which was wrong. He was just allowed to carry on working.'
Mrs Shariff said she was 'furious' with the employee's actions and could not understand why he spoke to her in that way.
She said: 'I could maybe understand if I had barged into him or knocked his trolley while he was stacking but I was not even close to him. You could have fit two trolleys past us. I was in a rush because all I cared about was getting to my son and making sure he had some food.
'I didn't even stop to say anything to him.
Sobaan Sheriff said he was 'completely shocked' by his mother's experience and made a complaint to Tesco
'I pointed out the man to the manager of the store and she asked me to write it [the incident] down in an email.
'I did not even want to mention it to Sobaan because he was unwell but I eventually told him I had an awful experience at his Tesco and he could not believe what had happened.'
Sobaan called the Tesco branch to speak to the manager and head office to report the incident - as well posting about it on social media.
He added: 'I didn't know she was coming but she was quite upset by it all. It made my mother think she had done something wrong. She kept saying ''what did I do to him?'' It is unacceptable as all she did was walk past him with a blue headscarf on and he comes out with that.
'I have lived in Egham for several years now and never had a problem. It is shocking to have this happen, especially by a staff member of a supermarket. Since I posted on social media, we have had lots of support and even some of the man's fellow colleagues have been in touch to say they are disgusted by what has happened.'
Sobaan posted an update on his Facebook page where he informed other users about the incident and his conversations with Tesco.
Tesco, pictured the Egham branch, said it was treating the complaint 'extremely seriously'
The post read: 'Thank you to everyone who in the space of 24 hours demonstrated that we as a community will not tolerate discriminatory abuse against anyone. This should be regardless of ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs or otherwise.
'The matter is now being dealt with within the Egham store, at head office and elsewhere so will not be pushed aside and forgotten.
'Thank you to everyone who spoke up and shared this post, sent emails, tweets and generally voiced their outrage over this disgusting incident. Even more so to the members of Tesco staff at the Egham branch who voiced their disgust over a fellow colleague spouting such hateful comments.'
A Tesco spokesperson said: 'We are treating this incident extremely seriously and we are investigating the complaint.'
A 13-year-old girl has been killed on the New York subway after jumping on to the tracks to retrieve her phone.
Dina Kadribasic, of Queens, was struck by an R train while trying to pick up her lost phone at Rego Park station on Sunday afternoon.
Witnesses claimed the train tried to slow down but couldn't stop in time, and horrified commuters were crying and even throwing up when they got off the train and realised what had happened.
Dina Kadribasic, 13, of Queens, has been killed while trying to pick up her lost phone on the tracks at Rego Park station (pictured) on Sunday afternoon in New York
Riders alerted the authorities just before 4pm, the New York Police Department said.
'I was in the front train and we hear this bump,' subway rider Stephen Topete told ABC7.
'People were trying to push the train, and everybody on the train moved to the side so we could push the weight of the train to the side.
'We thought the person was actually trapped in between the train,' he said.
Topete and the rest of his carriage got off the train to find a crowd of people looking distressed at what had happened.
'A lot of them were crying on the platform - I think two of them were even throwing up,' Topete added.
The girl was rushed to Elmhurst Hospital and later died.
A video posted on Twitter shows emergency vehicles and firefighters at the station shortly after the accident.
Witnesses claimed the train tried to slow down but couldn't stop in time and horrified commuters 'jumped and screamed' after she was hit. The girl was rushed to Elmhurst Hospital (pictured) and later died
The accident happened at 63rd Road and Queens Boulevard, near the 63rd Drive - Rego Park station on the E/M/R lines.
The southbound R train platform was closed for much of the night after the accident, CBS New York reported.
Before hearing Dina's tragic story, one commuter said they might have taken the risk and jumped onto the tracks.
'I might go for it,' one woman told CBS New York. 'I would have to go for it. My phone is like my best friend.'
New York City Transit sent out a statement after the tragedy reminding passengers about platform safety.
They reiterated that customers should stand behind the yellow safety strip at all times.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority told riders to flag down subway staff if they drop anything on the tracks rather than try to get it back themselves.
It comes as a 25-year-old woman who was struck by a train after fainting and falling onto the subway tracks lost her right leg and arm in the horrific accident.
Sophie Yu was hospitalized after the tragic incident in March while she was waiting for a southbound 6 train at the Lexington Avenue and East 51st Street station.
Sophie Yu (left and right) remained hospitalized Saturday after the incident on Wednesday while she was waiting for a southbound 6 train at the Lexington Avenue and East 51st Street station
Witnesses say she was standing near the platform edge when she fainted around 1.30pm and fell onto the subway tracks into the path of a the train and became trapped underneath. Doctors were later forced to amputate her right arm and leg.
Yu's family are reportedly flying over from her native China to be at their daughter's bedside.
'Her family is devastated,' a friend told the New York Daily News. 'There's a lot of stuff they need to figure out right now... She's going to have a lot to go through.'
'I'm not sure how much her (parents) know,' said the friend. 'We are all supporting her, and I think that's all she needs right now.'
She was waiting for her subway train on Wednesday when she fainted and fell onto the tracks.
The motorman of the incoming subway train saw her fall and immediately hit the brakes, however, it was unable to stop in time.
Yu became trapped underneath the train after being struck by it.
Emergency workers rescued her from beneath it, and witnesses say she regained consciousness and remained alert.
A convicted child rapist deliberately gave the authorities the wrong zip code so he could move into an apartment building right opposite a high school in New York.
Arthur Ceasar, who was convicted of raping a 15-year-old girl in 1993, moved into the tower block overlooking the Adlai Stevenson Educational Campus in the Bronx.
Ceasar, 50, was freed from prison in 2001 but is listed as a Level 3 sex offender, meaning he poses a 'high risk of repeat offense and a threat to public safety'.
Arthur Ceasar (pictured, left) moved into an apartment block (right) in the Bronx, which was on the other side of the street to a high school
Linda Tyler, a neighbor, told the New York Post: 'I'm really shocked. I had no idea this guy was right down the hall from me. How is it I wasn't made aware of this?'
It turns out Ceasar had lied, claiming he was living in zip code 10469, which is five miles north of his actual home in the South Bronx.
Bronx Senator Jeff Klein learned about his new address by the NY-Alert system, which notifies when a serious sex offender moves into an area.
Kleins office informed the NYPD, which arrested Ceasar last week after he missed a February 22 deadline to verify his address.
Ceasar moved in right opposite the Adlai Stevenson Education Campus (pictured), which has 2,500 students
He has been charged with two felonies and sent to The Tombs jail in Manhattan on a $3,000 bond.
New York state law bars convicted sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of schools but only if they are on parole or probation, which Ceasar was not.
Around 2,500 students attend six high schools and a middle school at the Adlai Stevenson Education Campus but there are no reports of any of them having been approached by Ceasar.
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During World War Two, Soviet photographer Yevgeny Khaldei never parted with his camera and spent 1,418 days chronicling the horrors he witnessed.
He is best known for his iconic image of soldiers unfurling a large Soviet flag on the roof-edge of the Reichstag after the Red Army took control of the seat of Nazi power on May 2, 1945.
He portrayed the Soviet war machine the way Stalin wanted the world to see it and also recorded the liberation of Sevastopol, Sofia, Belgrade, Bucharest and Vienna, as well as the eventual fall of Berlin.
He also photographed every Russian leader since Stalin and his photos of the Allied summit meetings at Yalta and Potsdam, as well as the Nuremberg trials, were distributed across the world.
His daughter, Anna, has now regained possession of his negatives after a 15-year court battle.
She is now preparing to bring them back to Moscow and open an exhibition this month that includes previously unseen shots by the famous photographer.
The photograph by Yevgeny Khaldei of Russian troops hoisting the red flag over burning Berlin is recognised as one of the most famous wartime images - it was edited so the soldier in the bottom right corner was only seen with one watch (as Stalin objected to looting) and more dramatic smoke
Soldiers of the Red Army raise the Red Banner of the Soviet Union atop the Reichstag fallen on May 2, 1945
A view of the severely damaged Reichstag building captured by the Red Army - during the Battle of Berlin in 1945, it became one of the central targets for the Red Army to capture due to its perceived symbolic significance
USSR troops near the Brandenburg Gate in one the many iconic wartime pictures taken by Khaldei during the conflict - the photographer joined the Tass news agency aged 18 and when the Soviet Union entered the War in 1941 he was dispatched with his camera to photograph everyday events from the conflict
A few months before his death in 1997, he signed an agreement with a New York-based photojournalist to be his agent.
But his daughter later filed a lawsuit, claiming the agent seized more than 3,000 of his negatives, as well as prints.
After a series of court rulings, she was able to take possession of the negatives last month.
'After 20 years of waiting, I experienced such happiness,' she said.
She said the exhibition she is planning, which includes new photographs, aims to show the humane impulse of her father's recording of history through the lens, particularly in his war photography.
She said: 'For Yevgeny Khaldei, every photo he took was very dear. It's not only the events he photographed but the people who participated in the events.
'If it was during a military action he was photographing someone who was running in the attack, and in 10 meters he could be dead. In the negative he was still alive and he was running toward victory.'
The daughter's attorney, Daniel Rothstein, said he likely misunderstood the agent contract.
He said: 'He was vulnerable. He was 80 years old. It is a typical story of things that got lost or misplaced or improperly treated among the ruins of the Soviet Union.'
Khaldei was sent out to take pictures of World War Two - in this picture Soviet soldiers repel a German attack nearby Murmansk, in northwestern Russia. German forces in Finnish territory launched an offensive against the city in 1941 as part of Operation Silver Fox, and Murmansk suffered extensive destruction. However, fierce Soviet resistance and harsh local weather conditions along with the bad terrain prevented the Germans from capturing the city. For the rest of the war, Murmansk served as a transit point for weapons and other supplies entering the Soviet Union from other Allied nations
A view of Murmansk destroyed by the Nazi bombers after they launched an offensive against the city in 1941, as a woman flees carrying a suitcase
Khaldei witnessed the horrors of Nazi bombers (pictured: a general view of Murmansk) in his role as a photograph for the TASS News Agency in the Soviet Union
The building of the Ivan Sechenov Physical Therapy Institute, in Sevastopol, Crimea, destroyed by the Germans during the World War II occupation
Citizens from Rostov on Don, Soviet Union, searching for family members in 1943 among civilians killed during the Nazi occupations. During World War Two, German forces occupied the city (for 7 days from November 21, 1941 after attacks by the German first panzer army in the battle of Rostov and for 7 months from July 24, 1942 to February 14, 1943). The town was of strategic importance as a railway junction and a river port accessing the Caucasus, a region rich in oil and minerals. It took ten years to restore the city from the ruins
Commander of the Northern Fleet Admiral Arseniy Golovko, crew members of the legendary K-21 submarine Zarmayr Arvanov, Commissar Sergei Lysov and K-21 Commander Nikolai Lunin (L-R) pose for a photo at the Northern Fleet base
Pilots of the 46 Female Taman aviation regiment - they were named the 'Night Witches,' an all-female squadron of bomber pilots who ran thousands of daring bombing raids with little more than wooden planes and the cover of night
Pilots of a Black Sea Fleet naval aviation unit commanded by Colonel Tokarev enjoy dinner on the aerodrome
Khaldei was born into an Orthodox Jewish household in Yuzovka (now Donetsk) just as the Russian Revolution began, in March 1917, and anti-Semitism was rife.
A year after his birth his mother was killed by a bullet as she cradled him in her arms. In 1941, his father and sisters were killed by invading Nazis.
At 18 he joined the Tass news agency and when the Soviet Union entered the War in 1941 he was dispatched with his camera to photograph everyday events from the conflict.
He pictured countries liberated by the Soviet Union during the War (years before they were subjected to Communism), cities destroyed by the Nazis and heartbreaking images of citizens desperately searching for family members among the dead.
Disabled German armoured vehicles on the battlefield in Hungary during World War II - Soviet military operations in Hungary ended on 4 April 1945, when the last German troops were expelled
A soldier of the Red Army keeps a lookout over German positions during the battle for Budapest - during the period of Soviet occupation of Hungary in World War II (194445) it is estimated up to 600,000 Hungarians (of which were up to 200,000 civilians) were captured and deported to labour camps in the Soviet Union - of those deported up to 200,000 died. The first deported Hungarians started to return to Hungary in June 1946, with the last returning in the years 1953-1955, after Stalin's death
A view of a street in Budapest following one of the battles in the city during the Second World War
Nazi aircraft slammed into a house in Budapest during the battle for the city - Hungary came under Soviet occupation from 1944-1945 and thousands were forced into labour camps. The Soviet policy of deportations for forced labor extended to other occupied nations, however no other Soviet occupied nation was hit as hard as Hungary
Soviet soldiers are pictured crossing the river in Budapest - the city was captured from the Nazis in February 1945
People in Lovech, in Bulgaria, welcome Soviet soldiers after it seized control of the country in 1944 - with the establishment of the People's Republic of Bulgaria, Tsar Simeon II and the royal family were exiled in September 1946
After being occupied by Soviet soldiers during World War Two, Bulgaria remained under Communist rule until 1989
Residents in Romania celebrate in the streets after being liberated by the Soviet Union - Khaldei's photographs depicted the Soviet war machine the way Stalin wanted the world to see it. According to the Institute for Investigation of Communist Crimes (IICCMER), up to 2 million people are estimated were killed, imprisoned, deported, relocated or otherwise victimized between 1945 and 1989 in Romania. About half a million people including peasants, politicians, priests, doctors, officers, land owners and merchants were jailed in the early 1960s after hastily assembled trials and a fifth of them perished in prisons
The Red Army fighting against Nazi Germany to liberate Vienna during the Second World War - they captured the city on April 13, 1945 - it then remained under the control of the Soviet Union until 1955
A Russian armoured personnel carrier patrols Vienna, with a burning building in the backdrop
Soviet wiremen checking telephone lines on city streets during World War Two in Vienna
Soviet soldiers welcomed into Belgrade following the fall of Yugoslavia in World War Two - the country stood out by defying Stalin as the Soviet Union tightened its grip on Europe. In 1948, Yugoslavia's leader Marshal Tito broke off relations with the USSR, in a dramatic move that reshaped post-war Europe. It developed its own brand of socialism, and a society far more open than that of its communist neighbours
Soldiers of the Red Army trample over a Nazi flag as they march to Berlin - the Battle of Berlin, from April 16 to May 2 1945, was the last major offensive of the Second World War
Red Army soldiers firing their guns to celebrate liberation of Sevastopol from Nazi German occupation during World War II - it had been captured by the Germans in 1942, along with their Italian and Romanian allies but it was liberated by the Red Army on May 9 1944 and awarded the 'Hero City' title a year later
Soviet soldiers after the liberation of the island of Khorsen, in Finland, in August 1941 - after the war, Khaldei was sacked from his photography job at the Tass News Agency for being Jewish
In 1946 he covered the trials in Nuremberg, where Hermann Goering objected to being photographed by a Jew.
With the help of an American MP and his baton, Goering was forced to face Khaldei's lens, and even to have his picture taken with him.
Two years later, Khaldei was fired from Tass for being Jewish.
In 1959 he joined the newspaper Pravda, where he stayed until 1976, after being sacked for the same reason.
Yet despite the hardships he encountered, his iconic wartime images means his legacy continues to live on today.
Kamrul Islam, 47, pictured arriving at Merthyr Magistrates Court in Wales
A chef today appeared in court accused of attacking a customer by throwing hot chilli powder into his eyes.
Kamrul Islam, 47, pleaded not guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm - saying he was trying to protect himself.
Customer David Evans, 46, was hospitalised after the chilli went into his eyes while he was in the Prince of Bengal restaurant.
A court heard Mr Evans was out for dinner with his lecturer wife Michelle when they complained their meal was 'tough and rubbery' to head chef Islam.
Islam then allegedly threw the powder into his victim's face - but claims he acted in self defence.
Magistrates in Merthyr Tydfil heard Mr Evans vomited in the toilets at the restaurant in Tonypandy, South Wales before being taken to hospital.
Pipe fitter David - the father of West End singing star Sophie Evans - was discharged from hospital that day.
Islam is accused of actual bodily harm for causing burns to Mr Evans's eyes, stomach and hands.
Customer David Evans, 46, was hospitalised after the chilli went into his eyes while he was in the Prince of Bengal restaurant
Islam said he denied any offence after the alleged attack in January this year and claimed self-defence
Representing himself, Islam said he denied any offence after the alleged attack in January this year and claimed self-defence.
He is due to appear at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court on May 2 and was released on conditional bail.
A headmistress who doctored grades and used school funds for first class travel while telling teachers there was no money for pencils has been banned from teaching.
Adele Simpson booked first class train tickets and stayed at a luxury hotel for a training course, as well as using school funds to pay for boozy weekends for an 'in crowd' of staff members.
But another teacher at Moorside Community Primary School in Halifax was told there were insufficient funds for pencils and blinds so that the children could see the whiteboard, a tribunal heard.
A headmistress who doctored grades and used school funds for first class travel while telling teachers there was no money for pencils at Moorside Community Primary School (pictured), Halifax, has been banned from teaching
The witness said she was given a budget of just 100 for the year for resources, and would regularly buy things herself for the class, while favourites were given more freedom and funds.
Another revealed how he witnessed Simpson open test papers before exams, when the rules clearly state that they should remain in a sealed envelope until the moment children take them.
She would also get teachers to mark the papers before they were sent off to examining boards, and would rub out wrong answers then put in the right ones in order to improve grades.
When questioned by a member of staff, she said: 'It's what I always do... I can't wait until the scores come back,' the panel heard. She also threatened to report a teacher to Ofsted if he told the watchdog what she was doing.
Staff also revealed that the former head, who has now been kicked out of the profession, ordered them to 'spy' on other teachers, looking for facts she she could: 'make out that they were not doing their jobs'.
Simpson also employed family members who were not qualified to do the jobs then asked other staff members who barely knew them to write references for them.
She had also asked a builder to break his quote down into individual jobs when installing a sensory room so that she could avoid the obligation to shop around for any job costing more than 7,000.
Simpson denied all the charges against her, but was not present or represented at the National College of Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) panel hearing in Coventry, where they were proven in her absence.
Kicking Simpson out of the profession, panel chair Gail Goodman said: 'In our view, Mrs Simpson's actions did constitute conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute.
'For example, she authorised school funds to be used for unnecessary first class train travel and hotel accommodation, when some staff had limited teaching resources.'
The National College of Teaching and Leadership found she had tampered with test papers instead of immediately sealing them in an envelope and sending them to the local authority.
The tribunal heard that Simpson used school funds to book first class tickets to a training course in London, and to pay for a stay at the Radisson Blu Hotel.
Under school guidelines, she was supposed to shop around for a cheaper alternative to the hotel, where rooms can cost in excess of 250 a night.
Mrs Simpson's actions did constitute conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute. NCTL panel chair Gail Goodman
She also forked out for 'team building invents' - often including stays in hotels - from the schools budget, which others said were simply boozy weekends away for her favourites.
Morale was so low by the time Simpson was dismissed from her post that seven out of 11 classes were being taught by supply teachers, a NCTL tribunal heard.
It was also found she had decided to turn a maintenance room into a 'sensory room' without consulting other members of staff, or shopping around for the cheapest quote.
She asked the builder to doctor his quote so the bill was broken down into individual tasks rather than a final total, avoiding her obligation to shop around for quotes for anything worth more than 7,000.
Simpson recruited a family member into a role they were not qualified for without advertising externally, and asked members of staff who barely knew them to write a reference.
She would also make inappropriate comments about other members of staff to colleagues, and one witness said that she asked them to spy on another member of staff during a residential trip in July 2010.
Mrs Simpson wanted this teaching assistant to report back to her in order to 'make out that they were not doing their jobs'.
Other staff complained Simpson put inexperienced people in roles where they were given no support.
The panel heard Simpson put a member of staff who had not taught for eight years back into the classroom without any form of support or training.
A junior member of staff with limited experience was appointed to the role of assistant head.
The allegations relating to doctoring test papers, spending school funds inappropriately on train tickets, hotels and team building exercises were found proved.
She was also found to have been dishonest in finding a contractor to carry out building work but not finding the relevant number of quotes.
Simpson was also found to have hired relatives and other personal friends without going through the proper process, and of not giving staff proper support in their roles.
She was also found to have behaved unprofessionally by asking staff to report back to her on the performance of other teachers without going through an official performance appraisal process.
The head was cleared of one charge of misleading the board of governors about funds being spent on building works.
Gail Goodman added: 'We have found that the offence of serious dishonesty, in relation to Mrs Simpson's amending answers on children's SATs test scripts in an attempt to improve their levels, is relevant.
'Where behaviours associated with such an offence exist, a panel is likely to conclude that an individual's conduct would amount to unacceptable professional conduct.
'Accordingly, we are satisfied that Mrs Simpson is guilty of unacceptable professional conduct.
'We have taken into account how the teaching profession is viewed by others and considered the influence that teachers may have on pupils, parents and others in the community.
'We have taken account of the uniquely influential role that teachers can hold in pupils' lives and that pupils must be able to view teachers as role models in the way they behave.
'The findings of misconduct are serious and the conduct displayed would likely have a negative impact on Mrs Simpson's status as a member of the teaching profession, potentially damaging the public perception of the profession.
She added: 'In addition, she sought to avoid compliance with the School's manual and other financial processes, and failed to support staff in their roles.
'Mrs Simpson's conduct in relation to the SATs process led to some pupils' marks being annulled.
'We view this as very damaging to the public perception of the teaching profession'.
Simpson was given 28 days to appeal the NCTL panel's decision.
The wife of a missing teacher who allegedly abducted his 15-year-old student has cited 'inappropriate marital conduct' and 'irreconcilable differences' in her divorce filings.
Jill Cummins decided to split from her husband of 31 years, Tad, after he disappeared with Elizabeth Thomas on March 13.
Details of the reasons behind her divorce emerged as police in Kearney, Nebraska, shared what they thought was surveillance footage of the pair ordering at a McDonald's.
But the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation later confirmed that it was not them.
Spokesman Josh DeVine wrote on Twitter: 'Images shared by a police agency in Nebraska have been determined to not be Tad Cummins & Elizabeth Thomas. Our search continues.'
The last time the pair have been seen was on CCTV video taken in a Walmart in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on March 15.
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Police in Nebraska released this still from CCTV footage at a McDonald's, suggesting it was missing Tennessee teacher Tad Cummins and his student Elizabeth Thomas. But investigators in Tennessee later confirmed it was not the pair
Kearney police released CCTV footage showing the alleged pair in a McDonald's and a pickup truck they may or may not have been driving, but the sighting later turned out to be false
Thomas (left) and Cummins (right) have been missing from Tennessee since March 13
The court papers, obtained by WKRN, show that Jill cited 'irreconcilable differences' and 'inappropriate marital conduct' on her husband's part as reasons for the termination of their marriage.
Jill has previously spoken out, pleading with her husband to 'so the right thing' and bring Thomas back to her family.
'This is not who you are. We can help you get through this. No matter how far youve gone or whats happening right now, Gods grace is sufficient for you, and He wants you to come home,' she said.
It's believed that Thomas went willingly with Cummins, her former high school teacher.
Meanwhile, Cummins' wife Jill filed for divorce on Friday citing 'irreconcilable difference' and 'inappropriate marital conduct' on her husband-of-31-year's part.
Two weeks before they disappeared, a student caught the two kissing and administrators pulled Thomas from Cummins' classes, but did not suspend the teacher.
The disappeared together on March 13, and since then the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has received thousands of tips.
But there has only been one confirmed sighting - on March 15 - at a Walmart in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
The last time the pair was seen was on surveillance video taken at a Walmart in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on March 15
On their March 15 trip to Walmart the two purchased a few food supplies which Cummins paid for in cash before hitting the road
In the surveillance photo, Thomas appears to have died her blonde hair red and wears a men's plaid flannel shirt while Cummins' beard is turned gray to black.
Video that was later released of the visit shows the two in discussion as they enter the store, with the teenager looking upset with the man wanted for her kidnapping.
On their March 15 trip to Walmart the two purchased a few food supplies which Cummins paid for in cash before hitting the road.
Cummins was last seen one day before the two disappeared buying hair dye at a Walmart, while wearing the plaid shirt that Elizabeth was seen in days later in Oklahoma.
At the time is was assumed that this would be used to alter Elizabeth's appearance after he snatched the teenager, but it is now clear that is not the case.
It was instead Cummins who was using the hair dye, making it unclear when Elizabeth changed her look.
Elizabeth, who is one of ten children, made frequent posts on social media about romance and love in the weeks before she was abducted by Cummins.
She also started calling herself 'wife' on Instagram and made several references to a 'mission' that was 'almost complete'.
On March 13, she told family she was going to spend the day with a friend. One of her siblings has since revealed that the teenager told them to call police if she did not return home that night.
Authorities believe she may have gone willingly with Cummins, who they say has been grooming her for sex for some time.
Elizabeth was seen on surveillance footage the day she disappeared carrying a bundle of clothes.
Elizabeth's mother spoke to DailyMail.com earlier this month in an exclusive interview to share her fears about her daughter's abduction.
Cummins was seen at a Walmart on March 12, one day before the disappearance, purchasing hair dye (above)
She labeled her daughter's captor as 'disturbed' and said she worried Elizabeth would either end up pregnant or dead.
The sister of Elizabeth Thomas also spoke about the abduction on Good Morning America last week.
The young girl fought back tears as she revealed that Cummins had begun showing up unannounced at her sister's work shortly before the pair disappeared together, and that his last visit had come just two days before the girl's abduction.
'She would go and tell people to tell him she wasn't there and she would go and hide until he left,' explained Sarah Thomas.
'She thought it was the only way. She felt uncomfortable.'
Elizabeth's family is still holding out hope that they will see the girl again, and are begging any person who might have information to reach out and contact authorities.
The sister (Sarah above) of the missing Tennessee teenager said that Tad had been showing up at her work unannounced
She would go and tell people to tell him she wasn't there and she would go and hide until he left,' said Sarah Thomas (Thomas family above)
'It feels like she just vanished, and I know that's impossible, someone had to see her,' said the victim's sister Sarah.
Her father meanwhile was optimistic about the teenager's eventual return home to be with her family.
'We just live for that day where we are gonna get a phone call that says we're alright and waiting for someone to get me,' said Anthony Thomas.
Investigators have also learned that the two had been sending love letters to one another which were at times sexually charged by writing draft emails on a shared classroom computer at Culleoka School.
They poured over email drafts that the two would send one another while in school for any clues into where the pair may be, with Cummins now facing charges of aggravated kidnapping and sexual contact with a minor.
Those letters were all sent after a student witnessed Cummins and Elizabeth kissing in his classroom this past January.
'They would write the message and let it save as a draft. The other person would log in, read the message and then delete it and then write another message that was saved as a draft,' said Maury County District Attorney Brent Cooper.
'If you read them you would immediately recognize you are reading messages between two people who have a romantic interest in each other.'
One of the emails uncovered by authorities was written by Cummins and began: 'I saw you standing next to your backpack this morning.'
The teacher then told the student how nice one of her body parts looked to him in the note.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, which is leading the hunt for the pair, has received hundreds of tips but none have led to Elizabeth's discovery and safe return.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Cummins and Thomas are being asked to call 1-800-TBI-FIND.
Ronnie Russ Robinson, 53, summoned a 17-year-old to the side of the road by flashing his lights in his non-police vehicle and groped the teen
A police officer in northeast Mississippi has committed suicide after admitting he molested a teenager.
Ronnie Russ Robinson, a 53-year-old married grandfather, admitted he groped a 17-year-old boy after flashing his headlights to get the teen to pull over to the median.
Robinson was driving an unmarked vehicle when he spotted the minor in the parking lot of a Dollar General in Glen, Mississippi.
The Tishomingo police officer also told the teenager he had sex with two boys earlier that day according to the Clarion-Ledger.
The boy told the officer he was not interested and reported the crime to his parents who contacted Alcorn County Sheriffs Department.
Robinson admitted to the attack and to molesting other minors when questioned on March 23.
Robinson was a married father of three and grandfather of six when he killed himself the day after admitting to molesting a teenager (pictured left with his wife Judy)
Robinson was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot would inside his home near Iuka on March 24. He was a married father of three and grandfather of six according to his obituary on Quad-Cities Daily.
Robinson left the Tishomingo County Sheriff's Department after a new sheriff was elected in 2015 and he began working at the Tishomingo Police Department. Robinson was still working for the police department at the time of his death.
His former employer Davis Brooks of Brooks Grocery where Robinson used to work part-time said he touched a boy inappropriately at the store several years ago. Brooks turned the surveillance tape over to police.
Authorities are continuing to investigate. They seized the computer Robinson used.
Dozens of people gathered around a grieving mother to remember her two young daughters who were stabbed to death allegedly by their father in North Carolina last week.
Balloons were released at the Old Armory Ball Park on Saturday for Candice Freeman's two daughters, four-day-old Genesis Freeman and two-year-old Serenity Freeman.
Hoke County Sheriff Hubert Peterkin said the girls' father, Tillman Freeman, 30, was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder related to their deaths.
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Tragic: Dozens of people gathered around a grieving mother at a vigil to remember her two daughters, four-day-old Genesis Freeman (left) and two-year-old Serenity Freeman (right)
Balloons were released at the Old Armory Ball Park on Saturday (above) during a prayer vigil to remember the young sisters who were murdered
Last week during another vigil, their mother, Candice Freeman (above) said: 'I just know that I miss my babies and I need y'all to pray for me please'
Peterkin said Tillman accused his wife of cheating on him and questioned if the children were his during an argument before taking the girls while their mother was still in the hospital.
'He drove (his car) about 200 yards into the wood line, where he repeatedly stabbed those two little girls to death,' the sheriff said.
The children had been stabbed multiple times with what appears to be a hunting or survivalist-type knife, he added.
The girls' father, Tillman Freeman, 30, was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder related to their deaths
The girls' bodies were found March 25 inside an abandoned car on the side of the road.
During the vigil, Peterkin addressed the crowd saying the horrific crime had hit him especially hard.
'Actually going into the crime scene which is not unusual for me because I'm a cop first, I didn't expect to see what I saw, as tragic as it was,' Peterkin said.
'So I found myself in this situation needing a little bit more.'
Last week, the girls' mother Candice asked people to pray for her.
'I just know that I miss my babies and I need y'all to pray for me please,' Candice emotionally said during a prayer vigil on March 26.
She told WTVD that she felt betrayed by her husband and that she never thought he was capable of killing their daughters.
'He was supposed to have loved me,' she said. 'He was supposed to have loved our kids. I trusted this man for four years.
Hoke County Sheriff Hubert Peterkin (above) said the girls' father accused his wife of cheating on him and questioned if the children were his during an argument before taking the girls
Peterkin said Genesis (left) and Serenity (right) had been stabbed multiple times with what appears to be a hunting or survivalist-type knife. The girls' bodies were found March 25
'I feel an emptiness in my heart. Like more than half of my heart is gone.'
She added: 'I trusted this man. I thought I knew him. And it makes me angry.'
Candice explained that their relationship of four years was rocky and filled with abuse and drug abuse. But despite it all, she worked to keep her family together.
'It felt like the more I prayed for him the worst he got,' she said. 'I will never love him again. I don't ever want to see him again.'
A GoFundMe page created to help with funeral expenses has raised more than $26,000 of the $10,000 goal.
President Donald Trump drew the world's attention on Monday to 'amazing reporting' from Fox News that suggests the Obama administration spied on him before last year's election.
'Such amazing reporting on unmasking and the crooked scheme against us by @foxandfriends,' Trump tweeted,' saying that he had been '[s]pied on before nomination.'
'Fox and Friends' began Monday's broadcast with a 'bombshell report about the unmasking of the Trump team.'
President Donald Trump is doubling down on his claim that the Obama administration spied on him during the 2016 campaign, citing a Fox News Channel report that a senior Obama intelligence official 'unmasked' Trump associates in intelligence reports
Trump called it a 'crooked scheme,' citing Fox News reporting
Reporter Adam Housley claimed that a U.S. intelligence official responsible for unmasking names of Trump associates is 'very well known, very high up, very senior in the intelligence world.'
The official, he reported, was known to House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Devin Nunes since January.
'The main issue in this case, is not only the unmasking of these names of private citizens, but the spreading of these names for political purposes that have nothing to do with national security or an investigation into Russias interference in the U.S. election,' a congressional source close to the investigation told Fox News.
Trump drew widespread criticism last month for claiming that Obama surveilled his campaign illegally.
'Adam Housley did an incredible job with this information,' "Fox and Friends" co-host Brian Kilmeade said Monday
'We heard germs of it, that it was beginning to take root during Friday's show. But right after Fridays show, we were able to get a perspective on basically what President Trump thought a month ago when he went out and tweeted on Saturday morning. Man, I guess on some level he saw some things that only somebody surveilling his administration would know.'
Co-host Steve Doocy added that 'what Trump was saying is turning out to be true.'
On Sunday, the president tweeted that the 'real story turns out to be SURVEILLANCE and LEAKING!'
'Find the leakers,' he added.
Trump tweeted Saturday morning: 'Wow, Fox News just reporting big news. Source: "Official behind unmasking is high up. Known Intel official is responsible. Some unmasked ... not associated with Russia. Trump team spied on before he was nominated." If this is true, does not get much bigger. Would be sad for U.S.'
Trump tweeted on Saturday that the 'official behind unmasking is high up. Known Intel official is responsible'
The story comes as Devin Nunes, a California Republican representative and the House Intelligence Committee Chairman, said U.S. intelligence collected incidental evidence on Trump, The Hill reported.
Nunes came under fire for alleged closeness to the Trump team, particularly when it emerged that White House officials colluded with him during his investigation into the alleged surveillance.
Trump also 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 wife of the former ambassador of Brazil to the UK who became a close friend of Princess Diana has died.
Lucia Flecha de Lima died at her home in Brasilia, aged 76, from cancer of the womb.
She had became a trusted friend of Diana in the early 1990s when her husband, Paulo Tarso Flecha de Lima, was Brazilian Ambassador to the UK. She also acted as Secretary of Tourism of the Federal District.
They grew even closer when the couple accompanied Diana and Prince Charles on a trip to Brazil in 1991.
Lucia Flecha de Lima was a close friend of Princess Diana during the turbulent years from before her separation from Charles up until her death
Even after her husband's posting to the U.S. Lucia continued to be Diana's confidante
Even after her husband's posting to the U.S. [where he was also ambassador] Lucia continued to be Diana's confidante throughout the turbulent years from before her separation from Charles up until her death.
She regularly stayed at their home in Mayfair, where she put up a sign on her bedroom saying 'Diana's Room'.
During the inquest into Diana's death, investigators were told Diana was never monitored by US security, although one phone call was intercepted between Diana and her friend Mme de Lima, where they talked about hairstyles.
Mme de Lima claimed that of the three significant men in Diana's life, she was 'not in love with Dodi Fayed', she may have had a 'passion' for heart surgeon Hasnat Khan but 'the love of her life' was Prince Charles.
Ahead of the 2013 film 'Diana', Mme de Lima recalled how Diana told her she was convinced Charles was in love with her when they married.
And when William was born he was 'very enchanted'.
Asked about the biopic, based on the Princess's relationship with Pakistan-born Dr Khan, she said: 'If you ask me if she had some passion for Hasnat, I don't know, it is possible. But for Dodi Fayed I am certain she did not. I know because I asked her.'
Lucia was Diana's confidante throughout the turbulent years from before her separation from Charles up until her death
Mme de Lima, who spoke to Diana during her last holiday with the son of the former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed, said: 'The love of Diana's life was Prince Charles, I have no doubt about this.'
She also revealed that she believed that Diana had calculated the affair with Al Fayed as revenge on Prince Charles for his relationship with Camilla Parker-Bowles, now the Duchess of Cornwall.
Referring to the passionate Princess, she added: 'I told Diana, "You don't seem to be English but Latin."
Lucia Flecha de Lima died at her home in Brasilia, aged 76, from cancer of the womb
Following the retirement of her husband in 2001 after 46 years of diplomacy, the couple settled in a house in the South Lake.
She was snubbed for the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in 2011 and had to watch it on TV instead.
Speaking at the time, she said: 'I was friends with the groom's mother and the ones who distributed the invitations were his father. But if I had gone, I would not even have anyone to talk to.'
Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes issued a statement in which he expressed his sorrow at her death.
He said: 'Dona Lucia, as she was known by all, had a leading role, alongside her husband in the release of the Brazilian hostages of Saddam Hussein and left her mark of efficiency as well in this City of Brasilia as Secretary of Tourism of Brazil's capital and president of a charity as well as for her work on the Commission of Foreign Relations. '
She leaves behind her husband and four children.
The attorney representing a woman who claims she was sexually harassed by Fox News host Bill O'Reilly attacked the network on Monday morning during an appearance on Good Morning America.
Lisa Bloom criticized Fox News after they cited low ratings as the reason why producers at 'The O'Reilly Factor' suddenly stopped asking her client Dr. Wendy Walsh to appear on the program.
'This is typical Fox News behavior. Going after anyone who dares to speak out against sexual harassment,' said Bloom.
'Even my client Wendy Walsh, who is not suing, who is not asking for a dime.'
Dr. Walsh claimed that O'Reilly promised to make her a contributor on the network, but then went back on it after she refused an invitation to his hotel suite.
'The network has become the Bill Cosby of corporate America. How many women must come forward before Fox News complies with the law and respects women,' asked Bloom in a press release over the weekend.
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Speaking out: 'The network has become the Bill Cosby of corporate America,' said Lisa Bloom (above on GMA)
Target: Bloom was commenting on the network after news that they had paid out $13 million in settlements to five women who made claims against Bill O'Reilly (above)
Bloom's comparison of the network to the disgraced comedian came on the same day she made similar comments while appearing on the CNN program Reliable Sources.
'How many women have to come forward? How many millions of dollars have to get paid before Fox News takes sexual harassment seriously?', asked Bloom during the segment, referencing the dozens of women who have made allegations against the network.
Now, Walsh is set to speak out and detail what she claims happened between herself and O'Reilly in a press conference on Monday in Los Angeles.
Walsh previously said that in 2013 O'Reilly asked her to dinner one night at the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles and then made the network contributor offer, telling her that he was friends with Roger Ailes and could make secure the lucrative position for the psychotherapist.
It was after dinner when things began to shift according to Walsh, who said that O'Reilly asked her to come up to his hotel suite.
She politely declined and decided to steer the two towards the bar, where she claims O'Reilly became hostile over drinks and said she could forget his career advice.
Then, as a coup de grace, Walsh claims that O'Reilly said her purse was ugly.
Bloom's GMA appearance comes just just two days after it was revealed that five women had been paid a total of $13 million in settlements by the network after making accusations against the popular host.
Walsh was not one of those women and had never publicly accused O'Reilly until the release of The New York Times report this weekend.
When asked why her client stayed quiet, Bloom explained: 'Because she was scared, because she did not want to be in the middle of a situation that she's in now with everyone contacting her online.'
The lawyer was also questioned as to what she and Walsh were seeking if they were not suing or asking for any money from Fox News.
'We are going to ask for an independent investigation into this toxic culture of sexual harassment at Fox News,' stated Bloom.
'It is not simply the cost of doing business to pay millions of millions of dollars year after year and to allow predators to stay in place at any corporation in America.'
She went on to say: 'The problem is not just sexual harassment, it's that so many of these women have been driven out of their jobs, their careers in television over when they dare to speak out.'
Bloom also said it is crucial that every woman not only be allowed to work in an environment free of sexual harassment but also free of retaliation should they come forward with accusations.
'It is not normal what is going on at Fox News, and it is not legal,' said Bloom.
Coming forward: Bloom's client Dr. Wendy Walsh (above in 2013) will hold a press conference on Monday
The report this weekend claimed that close to $13 million had been paid to five women who accused O'Reilly of inappropriate behavior in the workplace: Rachel Witlieb Bernstein, Andrea Mackris, Rebecca Gomez Diamond, Laurie Dhue, and Juliet Huddy.
O'REILLY'S CALL TO MACKRIS 'Well if I took you down there I'd want to take a shower with you right away, that would be the first think [six] I'd do ... yeah, we'd check into the room, and we would order up some room service and uh and you'd definitely get two wines into you as quickly as I could get into you I wouldn't get 'em into you ... maybe intravenously, get those glasses of wine into you... 'You would basically be in the shower and then I would come in and I'd join you and you would gave your back to me and I would take the little loofa thing and kinda soap your back and rub it all over you, get you to relax, hot water ... and um ... You know, youd feel the tension drain out of you and um you still would be with your back to me then I would kinda put my arms its one of those mitts, those loofa mitts you know, so I got my hands in it ... and I would put it around front, kinda rub your tummy a little bit with it, and then with my other hand I would start to massage your boobs, get your nipples really hard ... cuz I like that and you have really spectacular boobs. 'So anyway Id be rubbing your big boobs and getting your nipples really hard, kinda' kissing your neck from behind ... and then I would take the other hand with the falafel thing and Id put it on your p***y, but youd have to do it really light, just kind of a tease business.' Advertisement
Just like Cosby, one of O'Reilly's accusers was known for the past decade while three of the five had never before been named.
The number of Cosby accusers approached 100 by the time all was said and done however, and far fewer women have made claims against the Fox News host.
It was Mackris' lawsuit that made headlines when it was settled back in 2004 by the network for a formerly undisclosed sum which over the weekend was revealed to be $9million.
In her complaint, Mackris claimed she had been sexually harassed by O'Reilly and detailed their phone sex conversations in which he allegedly listed off his female conquests.
O'Reilly also allegedly detailed a sex fantasy he had about Mackris using 'that little loofah thing' in the shower, but towards the end accidentally called it a 'falafel thing'.
According to the complaint, O'Reilly called Mackris one night to inform her he was watching pornography and then began to engage in phone sex fantasy about having her come to the Caribbean with him.
'So anyway Id be rubbing your big boobs and getting your nipples really hard, kinda' kissing your neck from behind ... and then I would take the other hand with the falafel thing and Id put it on your p***y, but youd have to do it really light, just kind of a tease business,' said O'Reilly according to court papers filed by Mackris.
Her complaint went on to say that during his monologue O'Reilly also suggested Mackris perform oral sex on his 'big c***' and that 'it became clear that he was using a vibrator upon, himself and had ejaculated.'
When the two reached a settlement a statement was released from both parties that said 'no wrongdoing whatsoever' occurred while Mackris worked with O'Reilly.
She was also not allowed to speak about the suit in public before or after the settlement, while O'Reilly was able to say that Mackris' complaint was 'the single most evil thing I have ever experienced' to his millions of viewers.
Mackris was also written about negatively in a number of articles at the time.
In 2004, producer Mackris (left) claimed she was sexually harassed at the hands of her direct supervisor O'Reilly. She received a $9million payout
It was seven years until the next woman received a settlement, with Diamond being handed an unknown amount from O'Reilly himself according to multiple sources after confronting him with a recording of comments he had made to and about her while she worked as a host on the Fox Business Network show 'Happy Hour.'
The payout was so secretive that 21st Century Fox was not even aware of the what had transpired between the two parties until last year, when it was revealed during an internal investigation into sexual harassment claims being brought against Ailes.
Laurie Dhue, who worked as a reporter on the television show Geraldo at Large and was the host of Fox Report Weekend for eight years between 2000 and 2008 also received a payout after accusing Ailes and O'Reilly of sexual harassment.
She received $1million over the summer from the network, shortly after she announced her plan to write a tell-all book.
Fox News also settled with Huddy for $1.6million back in September after she claimed that O'Reilly had tried to pursue a sexual relationship with her while she appeared on the network as a guest on his show.
Huddy stated that O'Reilly would repeatedly call her at home in Long Island and once tried to kiss her, which caused her to fall over as she pulled away from the host.
Soon after she stopped being asked to appear on O'Reilly's program.
Both Dhue and Huddy's stories had been reported before, but it was not known Dhue had complained about O'Reilly's behavior in addition to Ailes.
The fifth settlement came back in 2002 after O'Reilly reportedly screamed at junior producer Rachel Witlieb Bernstein, who left soon after with a settlement.
That incident did not involve sexual harassment.
The network quietly paid Dhue (left) more than $1million in 2016 after the anchor claimed she was sexually harassed by both O'Reilly and Ailes while Huddy (right) got $1.6million
O'Reilly fired back soon after the release of the report over the weekend, releasing a personal statement on his website in which he said that he had to consider his children when settling these claims.
'Just like other prominent and controversial people, I'm 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,' O'Reilly began his statement.
'But most importantly, I'm 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.'
O'Reilly has a daughter Madeline, 18, and son Spencer, 13, with his ex-wife Maureen.
The couple divorced in 2011, and it was in the years after that divorce that three of the five women who received settlements claimed they were sexually harassed by O'Reilly.
He currently makes $18million annually as the host of his Fox News show, which he launched back in 1996 at the birth of the network.
O'Reilly made comments similar to his official statement last year while appearing on 'Late Night With Seth Meyers' and defending Ailes after women began coming forward claiming he had sexually harassed them over the years.
'In this country, every famous, powerful or wealthy person is a target,' O'Reilly told Meyers.
'Youre a target. Im a target. Any time somebody could come out and sue us, attack us, go to the press or anything like that.'
O'Reilly then began to say 'until America,' but quickly interrupted himself to explain what he has to deal with in his life because of his fame.
'It's a deplorable situation because I have to have bodyguards. I have to hire bodyguards, physical bodyguards.'
He then continued with his previous thought, telling Meyers: 'Until the United States adopts the English system of civil law, whereby, if you file a frivolous lawsuit, and you lose, the judge has a right to make you pay all court costs.'
'Until we adopt that very fair proposition, we are going to have this out of control, tabloid society that is tremendously destructive.'
Rebecca Diamond (right) a host on the Fox Business Network, revealed her recorded conversations with O'Reilly after the network told her they would not be renewing her contract
O'Reilly also after then co-worker Megyn Kelly on CBS This Morning back in November when she publicly accused Ailes of sexual harassment in her memoir.
'I'm not interested in basically litigating something that is finished that makes my network look bad. Okay?' said O'Reilly.
'I'm not interested in making my network look bad at all. That doesn't interest me one bit. '
Kelly, an actual victim of sexual harassment in the workplace, refused to be silenced or shamed by O'Reilly and fired back the following day, saying: 'I believe that Roger Ailes made the company look bad.'
Ailes made a remarkably swift exit from the company back in July, packing up his office just three weeks after he was accused of sexual harassment in a lawsuit filed by former host Gretchen Carlson.
He still managed to walk away with a reported $40million severance package after leaving his post, and maintains that the allegations being made by Carlson in her lawsuit are false.
Carlson recounted a conversation she had with Ailes in September of 2015 in her court filing, during which he allegedly said to her: 'I think you and I should have had a sexual relationship a long time ago and then you'd be good and better and I'd be good and better.'
That conversation allegedly occurred when Carlson went to speak with Ailes about what she believed were discriminatory practices at the network.
The popular host of 'The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson' claimed in her lawsuit that her refusal to have a sexual relationship with her boss was why she was let go on June 23 after 11 years with the network.
She was eventually awarded $20million, and told she could not speak about the lawsuit.
Former Fox News event planner Laurie Luhn received a settlement following her relationship with Ailes, which she claimed required her to perform sexual acts with the man and for two decades and eventually caused her to suffer a mental breakdown.
It was after that breakdown that Luhn decided to tell the network about the years of sexual harassment at the hands of Ailes and how he would allegedly tape her and once forced her to engage in bed with another women while seeking out younger women for him to meet.
The network quickly responded by giving Luhn a $3.15 million payout, and making her sign 'extensive nondisclosure provisions.'
It was only when Fox launched an internal investigation into Ailes (left) in 2016, that the network learned O'Reilly (right) settled with Diamond in 2011 for an undisclosed sum
It was also revealed just last month that Tamara Holder and 21st Century Fox reportedly worked out a deal in February that awarded the lawyer and author $2.5million following an incident that occurred two years ago.
Holder, who joined the network in 2010 and has appeared on Hannity and guest hosted The Five, approached Fox News' executive vice president for business and legal affairs Dianne Brandi back in September and alleged that she had been sexually assaulted by Francisco Cortes.
She alleged that Cortes, the vice president of Fox News Latino, tried to force her into performing oral sex on him when the two were alone in his office.
Fox News also fired Cortes, who in 2004 was personally selected by Roger Ailes as the first member of the disgraced CEO's apprentice program.
Kelly wrote about what she saw as problems with the way Ailes handled complaints in her memoir, saying that the 'entire structure was set up to isolate and silence' victims.
Finally, there is Andrea Tantaros, who is still suing the company for $50million.
The former Fox News host claims that Ailes and O'Reilly both subjected her to unwanted sexual advances while she was an employee.
'Fox News masquerades as a defender of traditional family values, but behind the scenes, it operates like a sex-fueled, Playboy Mansion-like cult, steeped in intimidation, indecency and misogyny,' claimed Tantaros in her lawsuit.
Tantaros, 37, went on to claim in the suit that she was taken off the air when she complained about being sexually harassed by Ailes.
She also claimed that Ailes once asked her to perform 'the twirl' for him; said 'come over here so I can give you a hug'; and told her 'I bet you look good in a bikini.'
O'Reilly meanwhile invited Tantaros to his Long island home to stay with him, telling her it would be 'very private' she claimed in her lawsuit, also telling her that he could 'see [her] as a wild girl' and that she had a 'wild side.'
Tantaros said that she and her agent told Shine, Scott, and Brandi about numerous examples of Ailes's alleged harassment.
'Ailes did not act alone,' claims Tantaros in her lawsuit.
'He may have been the primary culprit, but his actions were condoned by his most senior lieutenants, who engaged in a concerted effort to silence Tantaros by threats, humiliation and retaliation.'
In a statement released over the weekend regarding the O'Reilly report, 21st Century Fox said: '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.'
Fox News referenced the 21st Century Fox statement when asked for comment over the weekend.
Almost 50 years after the Watergate scandal rocked America, actor Robert Redford has warned that the truth is again in danger.
Redford, who starred in the 1976 movie All the President's Men about former President Nixon's scandal and the attempted cover up, says he has noticed the growing similarities between America under Nixon and today under President Trump.
In a scathing op/ed for the Washington Post, the 80-year-old star warned that Donald Trump's ongoing feud with mainstream media took Nixon's accusation's of 'shoddy' journalism to 'new and dangerous heights.'
Just 45 years after Watergate rocked America, actor Robert Redford has warned that the truth is again in danger (American actors Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford acting in the film All the President's Men based on the Watergate scandal)
Trump has previously dubbed the press as 'dishonest', 'fake news' and even went as far as to call them 'the enemy of the American people.'
'There are many,' Redford said of the similarities between 1972 - the year of Watergate - and 2017.
'The biggest one is the importance of a free and independent media in defending our democracy.
'When President Trump speaks of being in a running war with the media, calls them among the most dishonest human beings on Earth and tweets that theyre the enemy of the American people, his language takes the Nixon administrations false accusations of shoddy and shabby journalism to new and dangerous heights.
'Sound and accurate journalism defends our democracy. Its one of the most effective weapons we have to restrain the power-hungry.'
The 80-year-old star warned that Donald Trump's (left, last month) ongoing feud with mainstream media took Nixon's (right in 1972) accusation's of 'shoddy' journalism to 'new and dangerous heights'
Redford, who starred as Bob Woodward - one of the journalists famed for breaking the scandal - in All the Presidents Men, said he always considered the movie to be violent.
WATERGATE: SCANDAL THAT LED TO THE ONLY PRESIDENTIAL RESIGNATION Five burglars were caught breaking into the Democratic National Committee's offices on June 17, 1972. They had checked into rooms 214 and 314 of the Watergate Hotel, using aliases. Among them was a security coordinator for the Republican National Committee and the Committee for the Re-election of the President, James W McCord Jr. The men who broke in were later connected to President Richard Nixon, and it was revealed they were attempting to steal documents and to wiretap phones. The investigation into the conspiracy and cover-up revealed an array of 'dirty tricks' and illegal activities by the Nixon administration - such as bugging the offices of American political opponents and investigations of activist group. In August 1974, after his role in the scandal came to light, Nixon resigned. Advertisement
'No shots were fired, but words were used as weapons,' he said.
Redford was one of the instrumental characters in getting All the President's Men produced.
He had been on a train tour for movie The Candidate when he heard the press gossiping about a break-in at Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington.
The story was being covered by two young reporters from The Washington Post, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.
Their investigation would eventually uncover an array of 'dirty tricks' and illegal activities by the Nixon administration - such as bugging the offices of American political opponents and investigations of activist group - which would lead to his resignation.
Redford reached out to the reporters who he eventually were able to convince them to make a movie about their story, but convincing studio producers was more difficult.
Of course, the movie did get made and went on to win a collection of Oscars and other award nominations.
While the movie focused on the two journalists' search for truth, the real-life Watergate involved dozens of people who made the brave sacrifice for justice.
They include the likes of Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus, who chose to resign rather than follow Nixons demand to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox.
At the time, this was a constitutional drama of the highest order over the limits of executive privilege, with Nixon already under threat of impeachment.
Nixon ordered Cox fired in October 1973 for his continued efforts to obtain tape recordings made at the White House, important evidence in the Watergate investigation. Cox refused to bow to 'exaggerated claims of executive privilege' and drop his pursuit of the tapes.
Richardson had refused to carry out Nixon's order to fire Cox and resigned in protest. His deputy, Ruckelshaus, also wouldn't fire Cox, and resigned as well before then-Solicitor General Robert Bork, the third-ranking official at Justice, fired the prosecutor in an incident came to be known as the 'Saturday night massacre.'
Some have drawn comparisons with Trump's decision to fire Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, a career prosecutor and holdover from the Obama administration, after she ordered Justice Department lawyers to stop defending his Muslim ban.
The White House quickly accused Yates of betrayal and Trump fired her, replacing her with Dana Boente, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, who pledged to enforce the president's order.
Redford (left and right) was one of the instrumental characters in getting All the President's Men produced
Bob Woodward (left) and Carl Bernstein (right) - the two journalists that broke the Watergate story which led to Nixon's resignation
However, while Trump acted within his authority to remove an acting official who was destined to be replaced soon anyway by his new attorney general, Nixon had gone went three-levels deep into the Justice Department to find someone willing to fire Cox, who was closing in on the Watergate scandal.
'Nixon resigned from office because the Senate Watergate Committee its Democratic and Republican members did its job,' Redford wrote. 'It was a story that unfolded over 26 months and demanded many acts of bravery and honesty by Americans across the political spectrum.'
'The system worked. The checks and balances the Constitution was designed to create functioned when put to their biggest test. Would they still?'
Redford said that in 1972, politicians from both sides of the aisle 'put partisan politics aside to uncover the truth' and end a corrupt presidency.
But he fears that if the country, which is 'divided' and has only a 'tenuous grasp on truth' faced the same scandal, it may not fair so well.
'In a statement in May 1973, John Dean addressed what he described as efforts to discredit his testimony by discrediting him personally,' the actor and director said. 'He famously said: The truth always emerges.
'Im concerned about its chances these days.'
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Never before seen photos have revealed what life was like inside a Jersey prisoner of war camp during the First World War.
The century-old images show a tunnel dug as part of an escape attempt and a snowball fight during a rare cold spell on the Channel Island.
They were taken by camp guard Captain Eli Bowers and have been shared for the first time by his descendants who kept the originals locked away in a drawer for decades.
Capt Bowers served in the Royal Jersey Militia and took the six photos from late 1916 to early 1917.
The photographs were taken by camp guard Captain Eli Bowers and show his fellow officers larking around at the camp in Jersey
Taken between late 1916 and early 1917, the images show guards in their military uniform at the site at Les Blanches Banques which housed nearly 2,000 men from the German armed forces from 1915-1917.
Keen to pass the time as the world waged a bitter and violent war, the guards amused themselves with a snowball fight
His great nephew Helier Falle, 48, a company director from Jersey, says he found the pictures in his mother's house.
Mr Falle said: 'Rather than leave them sitting in a drawer for nobody to see, I thought they should be shared.
'My mother inherited the originals when her grandmother died in 1982 and she used to show the photos to friends and house visitors but they have never been published before.
'There are six pictures in total that we have got. It is a pity he did not take any more.
'They have just been kept in a drawer. We are very happy for them to be shared and it is wonderful that so many people are interested in our pictures.
'They are from late 1916 until 1917 and what we do know is he was so highly regarded by the German prisoners that at the end of the war they gave him a match stick model of a German battle cruiser. Sadly we don't know where that is.'
The site at Les Blanches Banques housed nearly 2,000 men from the German armed forces from 1915-1917.
Captain Eli Bowers served in the Royal Jersey Militia and took the six photos from late 1916 to early 1917
Jersey historian Ian Ronayne said the never before seen images 'add to our understanding of the history of the camp'
Some of the more haunting images show a tunnel which may have been used by prisoners as they attempted to escape the camp
Jersey historian Ian Ronayne said the images 'add to our understanding of the history of the camp'.
The WW1 blogger for Jersey Heritage, said some of the images showed tunnels which may have been used during one of the attempts to escape the camp.
There were two reported occasions where prisoners tried to tunnel out of the camp.
Mr Ronayne said if the images related to one of these incidents it would be a 'fantastic find'.
One picture shows two sets of fencing at the camp - with barbed wire on the inside and then an electrified which was rare, according to Dr Heather Jones from the International History at the London School of Economics.
She added: 'I have not come across an electric fence being used for a UK home front prisoner of war camp before.'
Dr Brian K Feltman, from Georgia Southern University in the United States, said the snowball fight showed prisoners 'breaking the monotony of camp life'.
He said it could be an example of prisoners staving off 'barbed wire disease', a form of depression associated with 'the boredom and regulations' imposed on prisoners of war.
A grisly discovery was made in Houston on Friday when police investigating the disappearance of a 26-year-old woman found her abandoned car with blood all over the interior and a bullet hole through a seat.
Karen Ramirez was reported missing on March 24 after allegedly getting into an argument with her boyfriend at a nightclub in southeast Houston.
Family members said they have not seen or heard from Ramirez ever since, and her boyfriend, Miguel Buezo, is missing as well.
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Where is Karen? Police in Houston are searching for 26-year-old Karen Ramirez (left and right), who has not been seen or heard from since March 24. Now, they suspect foul play
Last sighting: Ramirez was last seen at a club with her boyfriend, Miguel Buezo (right), and the couple may have gotten into an argument
Shortly before 1pm on Friday, a worker at a warehouse in east Houston noticed a car parked in the 8300 block of Tilgham Street and called police, telling them that the maroon-colored Mazda sedan had been in that location all week.
Responding investigators inspected the abandoned vehicle and found blood on the drivers seat, the front passenger seat and the trunk, and a gunshot though the passenger seat, leading police to suspect foul play.
'It would appear that something has happened to Karen,' detective Phil Waters, of the Houston Police Department, told the station KPRC.
The homicide investigator said that based on what he termed as the 'blood transfer' in the interior of the vehicle, it appears that Ramirez was shot in the driver's seat, then pushed over into the passenger seat and eventually placed in the trunk.
According to police, Ramirez and Miguel Buezo were last seen together at a club on the evening of March 24 and there may have been a quarrel between the couple.
Key clue: On March 31, police recovered Ramirez's abandoned car from outside a warehouse
Grisly evidence: Police found blood on the drivers seat, the front passenger seat and the trunk, and a gunshot though the passenger seat
Wanted: Police suspect that Buezo (left) may have fled to Honduras, although he has not been named a suspect or a person of interest in the disappearance of Karen Ramirez
'There is some discussion that Miguel may be in Honduras, because he apparently contacted an ex-girlfriend who may have assisted him in acquiring a plane ticket to Honduras,' Waters revealed.
According to the Spanish-language newspaper El Heraldo, Karen Ramirez is a native of Honduras who traveled to the US 'in search of the American dream.'
For the past four months, Ramirez has been working at a local restaurant called La Playita to help support her six-year-old daughter, who lives with her mother in Honduras.
Hardworking mom: Ramirez came to the US in search of a better life and found a job at a restaurant to help support her six-year-old daughter, who lives in Honduras with her mom
Violent relationship: A Honduran newspaper reported, citing an unnamed source, that Ramirez was a victim of domestic violence and that Buezo was her abuser (right)
The Honduran publication also revealed, citing an unnamed source, that Karen Ramirez has been in a violent relationship and that her boyfriend, Miguel Buezo, hit and mistreated her.
The papers anonymous source said that the 26-year-old woman would often talk about the beatings but she was allegedly too frightened to leave Buezo.
The man's final status update on Facebook, dated February 10, featured a selfie of the couple with a caption that read, 'My beautiful I love you.'
Ramirez is described as a Hispanic woman standing at 5 feet and weighing 138lbs, with black hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information on her whereabouts is being asked to contact the Houston Police Department at 713-308-3600.
A heartbroken mother has revealed how a meningococcal disease took her toddler son's life in a matter of hours.
Mason Harvey Marks died in the Women's and Children's Hospital in Adelaide on Sunday.
The 18-month-old had been airlifted there after being tested for the deadly disease at Mannum Hospital that morning.
His mother Caitlyn Marks said she is still in shock after her son's death from a 'horrible disease' that took his life in just seven hours.
Mason Harvey Marks (pictured with his mother) died on Sunday hours after being tested for meningococcal disease
'Mason was an amazing little man who will forever be in everyone's hearts,' she said in a statement, the Adelaide Advertiser reports.
'He was taken way too soon by a horrible disease that took his life in a matter of seven hours.'
Her sister Racheal Byers started an online campaign to raise funds for Mason's funeral costs.
The GoFundMe page quickly surpassed its $5,000 target and has raised more than $8,500 in less than 12 hours.
Mason's father Ryan Collins posted a touching tribute to his son on his Facebook page
'No words can begin to describe the heartache and sorrow we are experiencing at the sudden loss of Mason Harvey,' Ms Byers wrote in a post on the page.
She added: 'He was a beautiful, bubbly little boy. Mason was loved by all that knew him. He had a cheeky smile and an infectious laugh.'
Ms Byers added that her nephew fell ill with suspected meningococcal disease on Sunday morning and was taken to Mannum Hospital.
The 'excellent team of doctors and nurses worked tirelessly to save his life,' she said.
Mason was taken to Mannum Hospital after he fell ill on Sunday morning, his family said
The GoFundMe page to raise funds for Mason's funeral quickly surpassed its $5,000 target
But he was flown to Royal Adelaide Hospital and then transferred to the Women's and Children's Hospital where he died.
'Family and close friends gathered to say goodbye to our now angel,' she added.
There have been three cases of invasive meningococcal disease reported in South Australia so far this year. There were 27 cases in 2016.
The disease is an acute bacterial infection that can cause death within hours if not recognised and treated in time.
There are five main strains of the disease in Australia but while all children are vaccinated against the C-strain through the free National Immunisation Program, it does not protect against all strains.
Charlie Joshua Moore died at 16 months in November after being diagnosed with the B-strain, which isn't covered by the taxpayer-funded program.
The 18-month-old died in the Women's and Children's Hospital (above) in Adelaide on Sunday
Omarosa Manigault postponed and relocated her upcoming wedding to Pastor John Allen Newman because of concerns about her safety and backlash from her fiances church.
The former reality star, turned Director of Communications for the Office of Public Liaison for President Donald Trump, was supposed to get married on March 25 at the church her fiance oversees, The Sanctuary @ Mt. Calvary in Jacksonville, Florida.
But sources close to the 43-year-old TV star have revealed to DailyMail.com that an onslaught of death threats and safety concerns caused her to delay her nuptials and move the ceremony to Washington, DC.
Omarosa Manigault has postponed her wedding to Pastor John Allen Newman because of concerns about her safety and backlash from her fiances church in Jacksonville
The pastor oversees The Sanctuary @ Mt. Calvary in Jacksonville, Florida where the wedding was supposed to take place March 25
'She is really concerned about her safety. There have been calls, emails and social media messages from people threatening to do harm to her and she feared that she wouldn't be protected adequately at his church in Jacksonville. So she pushed the date back and made the change,' a source close to Omarosa tells DailyMail.com,
Manigault will now wed the 61-year-old preacher on Saturday, April 8 in Washington, DC at an undisclosed location.
Invited guests have had to submit personal information for background security checks.
'Since she moved the wedding to D.C., she's invited President Trump and other senior level White House executives in an effort to make sure the secret service and extra security will be there,' the source explained.
Manigault originally was scheduled to have seven bridesmaids in her wedding, but after several personal squabbles with her friends, she'll have only three come wedding day.
In an interview with ABC's 20/20 shortly after the election in November, she said many of her friends had turned their backs on her for supporting Trump and two of her bridesmaids backed out of the wedding.
'Let's face it, many of her friends feel as though this whole Trump alliance is Omarosa being the quintessential opportunist,' says a source in her inner circle
Her third bridesmaid to back out was April Ryan, a White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks. Manigault and Ryan had a heated argument in the White House that required them to be separated before it became physical.
'Let's face it, many of her friends feel as though this whole Trump alliance is Omarosa being the quintessential opportunist. Everyone who knows her knows she was initially campaigning for Hillary Clinton at the beginning of her campaign and then jumped ship because Trump was paying her to help him.
'They feel she sold her soul for financial gain and many of her diehard girlfriends are just disgusted by her,' the source revealed.
Her third bridesmaid to back out was White House Correspondant April Ryan of American Urban Radio Networks
Marrying Newman will make Manigault the First Lady of his Jacksonville church. That has apparently not sat well with members of his congregation, many of whom have been leaving the church for other local ministries in Jacksonville.
'Pastor Newman is a staunch Democrat. He was even a spiritual adviser on the committee of ministers working on Hillary Clinton's election campaign. His church membership doesn't like the idea of their pastor marrying this Trump advocate who bashed President Barack Obama and believe Pastor Newman is using poor judgment by becoming her husband,' a member of the church told DailyMail.com.
Manigault is also an ordained minister who served as the assistant pastor at Weller Street Baptist Church in Los Angeles, CA.
In February, the former star of The Apprentice and Celebrity Apprentice returned to Weller Street to preach her final sermon there. A group of protesters gathered outside of the church and marched while she spoke to the small congregation.
She was so rattled that the protesters had gathered outside the church. She kept telling people, Theyre disrespecting the house of God, I cant believe they did this, the source said.
Just days before that, security at a Nordstrom department store in Tysons Corner Center in McLean, Virginia had to escort Manigault to her car after several customers began shouting insults at her while she shopped with friends. According to the Washington Post, two of the women kept calling her 'Trump's w***e,' in addition to other insults. 'They were letting her have it,' one eyewitness told the newspaper.
But Manigault has also received more serious correspondence from people who have threatened bodily harm. She regularly turns those messages over to White House security.
Omarosa was married for five years to educator Aaron Stallworth; the two divorced in 2005
The TV personality began dating Academy Award nominee Michael Clarke-Duncan in 2010 and the couple got engaged in early 2012 but he died later that year
'She wrote a book called 'The Bitch Switch' and plays a bag girl on TV, but she's really scared about her safety and has deep concern someone will try to become famous by doing something to her. That's why she moved her wedding and she hopes things will go smoothly and protesters won't interrupt her ceremony,' the source said.
This will be Manigault's second marriage. The Youngstown, Ohio native was married for five years to educator Aaron Stallworth but the two divorced in 2005.
She began dating Academy Award nominee Michael Clarke-Duncan in 2010 and the couple got engaged in early 2012.
In July 2012, she found the actor in cardiac arrest and performed CPR, but he never recovered and ultimately died on September 3, 2012 before they could wed.
Donald Trump reminded his millions of Twitter followers on Monday about a 2016 election sore spot for Democrats a primary town hall event for which Hillary Clinton was fed at least one question in advance.
'Did Hillary Clinton ever apologize for receiving the answers to the debate? Just asking!' the president tweeted.
Clinton emerged from self-imposed public exile last week, swinging at Trump over his proposed budget cuts to foreign aid and diplomacy saying a shift to more military spending would make the United States, and the world, less safe.
'We are seeing signals of a shift that should alarm us all, this administration's proposed budget cuts to international health, development and diplomacy would be a blow to women and children and a grave mistake,' Clinton said during a speech at Georgetown University.
'Did Hillary Clinton ever apologize for receiving the answers to the debate? Just asking!' President Donald Trump tweeted
Trump's new attack on Twitter followed Clinton's re-emergence from self-imposed political exile last week
Clinton blasted Trump at Georgetown University, saying that redirecting federal funds from the State Department to the military will make America and the world less safe
Trump's jab also came a day after the Financial Times published an interview in which he said he himself has no regrets about his often shocking social media posts.
'I don't regret anything, because there is nothing you can do about it. You know if you issue hundreds of tweets, and every once in a while you have a clinker, thats not so bad,' the president said.
Former Democratic National Committee interim chairwoman Donna Brazile confessed last month that she fed Hillary Clinton a question that would be asked during a televised town hall debate last year.
Although she initially denied sending emails to a Clinton campaign staffer about the question, the long-time Democratic Party operative wrote in Time magazine that hacked emails 'revealed that among the many things I did in my role as a Democratic operative and DNC Vice Chair prior to assuming the interim DNC Chair position was to share potential town hall topics with the Clinton campaign.'
'My job was to make all our Democratic candidates look good, and I worked closely with both campaigns to make that happen. But sending those emails was a mistake I will forever regret.'
Clinton herself has never addressed the controversy.
Clinton got a sneak-peek question in advance of a March 13, 2016 Democratic primary town hall event in which she squared off against Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders
'Can you imagine seriously can you imagine if I received the questions? It would be the electric chair, ok?' Trump said during his February 16 press conference at the White House
Donna Brazile, then-chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, admitted that she fed Hillary Clinton the question that would be asked during a televised town hall
On March 12, 2016, one day before the CNN-hosted matchup between Clinton and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Brazile sent an email about a death-penalty question to Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri with the subject: 'From time to time I get the questions in advance,' according to emails obtained by WikiLeaks.
The death penalty question was repeated verbatim in an email debate co-host Roland Martin sent to CNN producers the next day, and the question was asked using similar wording during the event in Columbus, Ohio.
Brazile was a paid CNN on-air contributor at the time. Her message, which she initially denied sending, was among emails hacked from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta's Gmail account.
On March 12, 2016, one day before the CNN event, Brazile sent an email about the death penalty to Clinton staffer Jennifer Palmieri with the subject: 'From time to time I get the questions in advance,' according to a hacked email obtained by WikiLeaks
When Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly confronted Brazile on October 19 asking how she got the question in advance, Brazile said she refused to be 'persecuted' before adding: 'I am not going to try to validate falsified information'
Her message to Palmieri opened with the statement: 'Here's one that worries me about HRC.'
'DEATH PENALTY: 19 states and the District of Columbia have banned the death penalty. 31 states, including Ohio, still have the death penalty. According to the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, since 1973, 156 people have been on death row and later set free. Since 1976, 1,414 people have been executed in the US That's 11% of Americans who were sentenced to die, but later exonerated and freed. Should Ohio and the 30 other states join the current list and abolish the death penalty?'
On the day of the debate, an email from CNN host Roland Martin to network producers contained three questions, the last of which mirrored the exact wording in Brazile's message to Palmieri.
Trump said in February during his first solo White House press conference that 'nobody mentions that Hillary received the questions to the debates.'
'Can you imagine seriously can you imagine if I received the questions? It would be the electric chair, ok?'
A pizza delivery driver who impregnated a 14-year-old who he met on the job has been locked up after a judge ruled his initial sentence was too lenient.
Jake Rudd, 19, met the schoolgirl on his rounds and seduced her by saying 'I love sex. Its my hobby.'
He initially escaped with a suspended sentence but is now behind bars after a judge ruled he had groomed the child and should not be spared custody.
Jake Rudd impregnated a 14-year-old who he met on the job and has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in a young offenders' institute
Rudd even rang up the girl's school to ask if she could skip lessons so she could have an abortion.
When arrested, 55 indecent images of his victim were found on his phone.
In her statement to the court, the girl said: 'It kills me every single day to think about what I did to my baby.'
At York Crown Court in January, he was given a suspended jail sentence by a judge who told him he was 'a very fortunate young man'.
But the Solicitor-General Robert Buckland QC referred the sentence to London's Appeal Court and Rudd has now been sent to a young offender's institution for two and a half years.
York Crown Court was told Rudd sexually abused the girl despite knowing she was underage.
Prosecutor Ayesha Smart said he met his victim while delivering her pizza and after she told him he was going to be a father, he booked an appointment at the abortion clinic.
Then he tried to persuade her school to let her skip lessons so that she could attend, but the school was suspicious, and refused to let her leave class.
The victim later had an abortion.
Rudd, of York, admitted four charges of sexual activity with a child and one of possessing indecent images of a child.
He spent 23 days in jail before he was sentenced. Nicholas Rooke, mitigating, said he had found this 'very difficult indeed' and it had been a 'wake-up call for him'.
He was 'immature for his age'. He now had new employment and his employer was willing to keep him on, the barrister added.
He was given an eight-month prison sentence suspended for two years on condition he commits no more offences, does 20 days' rehabilitative activities and goes on a sex offender treatment programme.
Judge Paul Worsley QC said no-one of the girl's age should be put into a situation where they have to have an abortion.
He said: 'It was purely your selfish sexual drive that got her in that situation,'. Of the appointment at the abortion clinic, the judge told him: 'You were simply protecting your own selfish ends.'
Rudd was also made subject to a life-time sexual harm prevention order restricting contact with children and put on the sex offenders' register for ten years.
But overturning the original sentence, Lord Justice Davis said Rudd's crimes involved 'grooming and planning'.
At York Crown Court (pictured) in January, he was given a suspended jail sentence by a judge who told him he was 'a very fortunate young man'
'This sentence was unduly lenient,' concluded the judge, sitting with Mr Justice Holroyde and Judge Christopher Kinch QC.
'The gravity of this overall offending was and is simply too serious to justify a sentence which is anything other than an immediate custodial sentence.'
Det Con Peter Cooper, of York Serious Crime Team, said: 'There is no doubt that this is a case of child sexual exploitation, and it will not be tolerated.
'During the investigation, Rudd has had repeated warnings due to him harassing the victim despite his bail conditions, which he blatantly disregarded.
'The case must act as a clear message to any other adults who act in a similar manner towards young, vulnerable people - they will face the force of the law.
'The victim has shown courage and maturity throughout the investigation, and I hope she can now move forward with her life.'
Christian, 39, said his daughter could not bare to look at his battered face after the horrific attack (both pictured)
A thug's brutal attack left a father so severely disfigured that his young daughter could not recognise his battered face.
Christian, 39, who wishes to withhold his surname, was subjected to a horrific and unprovoked assault outside a petrol station in Hull, East Yorkshire.
He suffered awful facial injuries, including a smashed nose, eye sockets and cheekbones and was even left temporarily blind.
Christian, who was forced to undergo hours of surgery to realign his jaw and reconstruct his nose, told the Hull Daily Mail: 'I could have died. This could have been a murder inquiry.'
He explained that his wounds were so severe that his five-year-old daughter found it hard to bare.
'She visited me in hospital the night before my surgery and she was scared at first because she had no comprehension of how a person could look like that. She obviously struggled seeing her dad in that condition', Christian recalled.
The secondary school teacher was enjoying a night out with friends at a local pub when he decided to get a takeaway pizza at around 10.30pm on March 17.
He was in the Khan Pizza restaurant when he spotted someone he thought was familiar - a man later identified to be his attacker.
Christian said the man had joined a group of 'young lads' in the takeaway and that they shared a short moment of 'recognition'.
He also believes his attacker may have been a disgruntled ex-student.
Christian believes that he first spotted his attacker in this takeaway pizza restaurant in Hull
After grabbing a bite to eat, Christian headed back to enjoy his night out until the early hours of the morning.
However, he became separated from his friends and, while walking alone, was set upon by the man he had spotted in the takeaway at around 2am.
Christian said: 'I didn't have time to get away or to run because otherwise I would have done so. I had no time to fend off any blows that hit me.'
Staff from a nearby taxi firm rushed to help Christian and did their best to stem his bleeding until paramedics arrived on the scene and took him to hospital.
Christian suffered horrific facial injuries, leaving him temporarily blind, after the attack outside this petrol station in Hull, East Yorkshire
Humberside Police have since arrested three people in relation to the attack.
A spokesman said: 'We continue to investigate this very serious assault, three people have been arrested and interviewed and have been released on police bail pending further enquiries.
'The investigation is currently at a stage of evidence gathering and we would appeal for anyone who witnessed the incident that has not already spoken to us to come forward with their information.'
British officials once plotted to place a nuclear bomb inside the Channel Tunnel as a last ditch security measure to guarantee the hardest of Brexits.
Previously top secret papers have revealed the extraordinary back up plan drawn up while ideas for the Tunnel between Kent and Calais were in their infancy.
The scheme was kept a secret from France and admitted there was a risk of collateral damage in Kent.
But it was seen as a '100 per cent effective' way of destroying the tunnel permanently and ensuring it could not be used by a rampaging Soviet army.
The revelation of the plan puts into historical context criticism of Theresa May for planning to severe Britain's link with the EU via a 'hard' Brexit.
A nuclear weapon was seen as a '100 per cent effective' way of destroying the Channel Tunnel and ensuring a Soviet army could not use it to invade
The top secret memo was drawn up in 1969 by Ministry of Defence officials advising the Department for Transport on the possibilities of explosive demolition of the Channel Tunnel, which then in the early planning stages
Fears over the risk of military invasion of Britain via a tunnel from France stalled the idea of building a link for decades.
The top secret memo, revealed by the Independent, was first drawn up in 1969 by Ministry of Defence officials advising the Department for Transport on the possibilities of explosive demolition.
Engineers designing the tunnel believed conventional explosive would not be capable of doing enough damage because the blast would dissipated along the tunnel walls.
There were even further concerns the tunnel could be turned into a nuclear 'mortar', propelling the radioactive blast out of both ends.
When the idea was first mooted, initial planning for a tunnel under the English Channel was underway following a decision to go ahead by the British and French governments in 1964.
THE NUCLEAR OPTION: UK'S BACK UP PLAN FOR THE TUNNEL The extraordinary contingency plan for blowing up the Channel Tunnel with an atom bomb was quietly discussed in Whitehall in the early days of the project. After more than 150 years of hesitation, in 1964 Britain and France agreed in principle to build a tunnel - although construction would not start for more than 20 years. In 1969, at the height of the Cold War, the secret memo on how to destroy the tunnel to prevent catastrophic invasion was passed from the MOD to the Department for Transport. The idea continued to be broadly discussed for several years, including in 1974 when a nuclear weapon was one of 14 options for disabling the tunnel. Current security plans relating to the tunnel are secret. Advertisement
Those studies were not completed until 1973 and construction did not begin until 1988.
The newly revealed secret memo contains no detail of when the plan to include a nuclear weapon was dropped.
It was discussed further in 1974 when a nuclear weapon was the 14th and last option in an escalating series of contingencies which started at cutting off power to the tunnel.
Current contingency plans for the tunnel are protected by modern day national security and secrecy rules.
The original memo does warn whether or not the plan should be even considered for diplomatic reasons.
As Britain was trying to win membership of the predecessor to the EU, it warned: 'For overt preparations to be made to destroy our only link with France and the remainder of the Continent when the UK is endeavouring to become a member of the Common Market and to convince continental Europe that we have shed forever our island mindedness?'
And during discussions in 1974, MoD official Michael Legge admitted: 'If we ever reach a situation where Warsaw Pact conventional forces reach Calais without a strategic nuclear exchange having occurred, then I think the Channel Tunnel will be an irrelevance.
'Warsaw Pact air and maritime superiority should by then be adequate for invasion by other means.
'I am putting down a marker that we [the MoD] may eventually be asked to meet any extra cost incurred during construction.'
Theresa May is fending off questions about whether she is prepared to go to war over Gibraltar and is facing criticism for plotting a hard Brexit - but her plans do not involve nuclear weapons
In an earlier document, date November 1959, the Ministry of Defence advised the tunnel was itself vulnerable to nuclear attack.
It said: 'Nuclear weapon development has rendered the proposed tunnel vulnerable throughout its length.
'Conversely, the tunnel could be totally destroyed for defensive purposes if necessary.'
The idea of a tunnel under the Channel was first mooted in 1802 when Albert Mathieu-Favier suggested a passage for horse-drawn carriages.
Asked whether the building of the current Channel Tunnel involved plans for disabling it in the event of an invasion, a Eurotunnel spokesman told the Independent: 'There has always been a military aspect to it, but I cannot give any further insight into what plans may or may not exist.'
A 15-year-old girl has been found alive and well after spending a painstaking six hours lost in freezing temperatures at a NSW camping site.
The schoolgirl - who was on a camping trip with Sydney's Roseville College - left her tent at 10pm for a toilet break in 5 degree weather and failed to return.
Students from the all-girls north shore school were staying at Kosciuszko National Park when the girl went missing from the Snowy Mountains camping site in Jindabyne.
The students were camping at Kosciuszko National Park (pictured) when the 15-year-old went missing
The girl was on a camping trip with students from elite Sydney school Roseville College (pictured)
Teachers were alerted of her absence at 10.40pm and 16 students, two teachers and staff from Land's Edge - the private company that runs the camp - searched the area within 500 metres of the campsite for nearly two hours.
The missing student's parents were notified at 12.30am when the search for the girl was unsuccessful and fears for her safety began to grow.
Two more staff members from Land's Edge then joined the search further away from the campsite and signal flares were sent out to attract the student's attention.
The year 10 student was found over six hours later at 5.40am safe and with her head torch still on.
A member of the search team spoke to the teenager upon finding her and asked if she was okay and if she felt cold - to which she replied 'yes', The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
Despite temperatures dropping between 5 and 7 degrees, the girl was unharmed and was wearing thick protective clothing.
Later that morning the student returned home despite only being half-way through the school's five-day camping trip which ended on Friday.
Temperatures at the Snowy Mountains campsite were a freezing 5 degrees when the student went missing
It was concluded that the young student had become 'disorientated' while making her way back from the toilets and became lost.
Roseville College stated it would conduct a full review into its safety protocols on outside excursions to ensure similar incidents would not happen again.
Principal Deb Magill said in a statement the incident has prompted an investigation but praised the effective and 'well prepared' response of staff at Land's Edge.
'At all times, the emergency response protocols of the School and Lands Edge were implemented and operated effectively,' said Ms Magill.
'The College and Lands Edge are investigating what happened, focusing on any improvements or changes that are required in the outdoor camp and risk mitigation procedures.
The student and her peers, and affected Roseville College staff and members of the school community, continue to be supported by counsellors, psychologists and College staff.'
The prestigious north shore school charges an annual school-fee of $25,600 for its year 10 students - and both senior years costs parents $26 580 per year.
Former One Nation insiders have unleashed on Senator Pauline Hanson's party with one calling it a 'brutal dictatorship'.
The ABC's 4 Corners program on Monday night featured a number of disgruntled former One Nation employees and candidates who aired their grievances about their time in the party.
'It's a dictatorship, it's [an] absolute brutal dictatorship,' Ian Nelson, the party's former Queensland state president and treasurer, said.
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Ian Nelson (pictured), who was One Nation's former Queensland state president and treasurer, described the party was a 'brutal dictatorship'
One Nation leader Senator Pauline Hanson (pictured) was called a 'populist' by a former party candidate on the ABC's 4 Corners program
'A political party [is] supposed to be transparent, democratic, inclusive - and the party at the moment isn't any of those things.'
Mr Nelson, who was booted from the party last year, also raised concerns about how a plane used to ferry Senator Hanson around was funded.
Former One Nation Senator Rod Cullerton, who quit the party amid concerns over his legal woes and criminal convictions, released a phone conversation with Senator Hanson which he had secretly recorded.
The conversation came after Mr Cullerton's matters made it into the public arena and Senator Hanson publicly declared she was glad to see the back of him.
'You've been in politics for what, six months?,' Senator Hanson is heard saying.
'I've been doing it for 20 years. Don't tell me how to run politics and how the system works. I think I know a little bit more than what you do.'
Former One Nation Senator Rod Cullerton released a secretly recorded phone conversation with Senator Pauline Hanson
Mr Cullerton had told Senator Hanson: 'You seem to be getting angry with me, Pauline'.
Margaret Dodd, who was a candidate for the party before she quite just days out from the March West Australian election, described Senator Hanson as a 'populist'.
'She is a populist, she goes on things that will get her the attention that she wants, get her in that power position that she wants. It's about power for Pauline.'
She said One Nation 'can't be trusted'.
Former One Nation candidate Margaret Dodd (pictured) said the party 'can't be trusted'
Senator Malcolm Roberts (pictured) said the ABC was using Nazi-style mind control
On the same program, One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts claimed the ABC is using 'Nazi-style mind control'.
Senator Roberts was asked about comments one of the party's endorsed candidates made linking the gay community with the Nazi's when he turned the spotlight back on the program's reporter.
'Well if you're talking about propaganda, the ABC also uses Nazi-style mind control,' he said.
Senator Roberts reiterated his comments a second time before being pressed by the reporter to provide evidence to back up his claim.
He referred to the ABC'S coverage of carbon dioxide to justify his statement.
'Whenever we talk about carbon dioxide on the ABC, you see on the news broadcasts billowing steam pouring out giving people the impression that carbon dioxide is both colourful and it's also huge in volume, when it's less than 0.04 per cent,' he said.
Senator Hanson did not respond to an interview request from 4 Corners.
A killer dumped his wife's body in bushland and sent text messages from her phone to build an elaborate lie that she was still alive.
Michael Hutchinson, from Townsville, was sentenced to 15 behind bars on Friday over the 2015 manslaughter of his wife, Julie.
The 48-year-old initially claimed his wife was addicted to drugs, had turned lesbian and left him, the Townsville Bulletin reported.
For a month after he killed his wife, Hutchinson sent messages from her phone to her friends, family, co-workers and himself in an attempt to validate his story.
Townsville man Michael Hutchinson (pictured), 48, was sentenced to 15 behind bars on Friday over the 2015 manslaughter of his wife, Julie
Hutchinson initially claimed Julie (pictured) was addicted to drugs, had turned lesbian and left him
'I've packed a few things and have left with a friend,' he texted himself from his dead wife's phone, according to A Current Affair.
'I will be gone for about a week and get paid this week so you can pay some bills. Sell the Mazda if you want I don't care and tell the kids whatever you like.'
Hutchinson responded from his phone: 'Not even a goodbye? You didn't even see the kids before you left? I can't believe this is happening... this isn't the Julie I married.'
A text sent from Julie's phone read: 'Stop worrying, it makes me feel more guilty.
Hutchinson (pictured) also sent Julie's boss a letter of resignation from her email account
For a month after he killed his wife, Hutchinson sent messages her phone to her friends, family, co-workers and himself in an attempt to validate his story. This image shows a conversation Hutchinson fabricated using both his and his wife's phone
'I've done so many bad things to you and I have ruined our relationship. I know you can take care of the boys, that makes me feel a bit better. I'm still OK.'
Hutchinson also sent Julie's boss a letter of resignation from her email account, the program reported.
He also Googled how to drain the boot of a Mazda 6, how to stop a body smelling, and human body decomposition, according to the Townsville Bulletin.
When he was first interviewed by police, Hutchinson broke down and said: 'She just won't come home. I don't know why.'
Hutchinson also sent Julie's boss a letter of resignation from her email account. Julie is pictured with her father
But as his story began to unravel, Hutchinson admitted to dumping her body in bushland at Herveys Range, outside Townsville.
Prosecutors alleged he killed his wife because she would soon discover the family was in crippling debt after he mortgaged their home without her knowledge.
Hutchinson claimed she died after she smashed her head on a kitchen bench during an altercation between himself and mystery friends of Julie's.
He claims he can't remember where he dumped his wife's body, which has never been found.
When he was first interviewed by police, Hutchinson broke down and said: 'She just won't come home. I don't know why'
Hutchinson claimed Julie (pictured) died after she smashed her head on a kitchen bench during an altercation between himself and mystery friends of his wife
Julie's brother, Larry Beraldo, told A Current Affair he doesn't believe Hutchinson's story.
'I can't see how someone would forget such an instance or such a traumatic thing they've had to do.
'I'm not sure what words to use. But you wouldn't forget something like that.
'I think definitely it was all about money and I believe Julie has obviously found out something from then, I don't know what happened. We'll never know.'
One of six children orphaned in the Snowdonia helicopter crash today described how their family 'changed within a day' as new pictures of the victims were released.
Millionaire Kevin Burke, 56, his wife Ruth, 49, his brothers Barry, 51, and Donald, 55, and his wife Sharon, 48, were all killed in the air disaster last Wednesday.
They were all flying to Ireland to surprise their niece at her confirmation party but crashed into a mountain in gale force winds and low cloud.
North Wales Police said today that the remains of the helicopter have now been recovered as their griefstricken family spoke for the first time.
Donald and Sharon Burke's daughter Olivia, one of six to lose a parent, said: 'Our family has changed within the space of a day. They were taken far too soon and it's hard for us to understand why such a tragedy would happen to the best type of people, who were so selfless and genuine to everyone they met.
Tragedy: Millionaire Kevin Burke, 56, his wife Ruth, 49, who had two children, both died in the air disaster in Snowdonia last Wednesday
Happier times: Donald, 55, and his wife Sharon, 48, (pictured) were much loved parents to three children including Olivia, who paid tribute to them today
Close: Donald with his brother Barry, who was also killed in the Snowdonia crash last week
Struggle: Disaster struck on Wednesday when the helicopter came down in the Rhinog Fawr mountains near Snowdonia, Wales. Police confirmed they recovered all five bodies from the mountain side crash zone (circled) on Friday afternoon
Hunt: This is the helicopter with five people on board that has been found crashed in North Wales with the dead passengers, pictured here at Elstree Studios
'They embodied every attribute of an amazing parent, sibling, child and friend. That will never be forgotten and will only make us aspire to do them proud'.
Dead: Donald Burke, pictured left playing golf, was the third brother who died
Sharon Burke's relative Kath Stewardson said: 'We would like to take this opportunity to thank everybody for their support and messages of condolences on the loss of our wonderful daughter, sister and auntie, Sharon Burke, her husband Donald, his brothers Kevin and Barry also Kevin's wife Ruth.
'We are truly overwhelmed with all your love and support. Our thoughts at this time are especially with Sharon and Donald's three wonderful Children who are a credit to their parents.
'We would like to pass on special thanks to all of the emergency services and public who helped in the search and recovery of our loved ones, also the police liaison officers who have been a great help at this difficult time'.
The elderly mother of a millionaire family killed lost all three of her sons in the air disaster.
Noeleen Burke has been left heartbroken by the deaths of her 'generous and loving' children Kevin, 56, Donald, 55, and Barry, 51, in Wednesday's crash.
Killed: Kevin and Ruth Burke, pictured, died along with Mr Burke's brothers Barry, 51, and Donald, 55. His sister-in-law, Donald's wife Sharon Burke, 48, was also killed. The family were on the way to surprise their niece at her confirmation in Ireland
Tragic: This family photo shows at least one of the three brothers Kevin Burke, front right, killed in Wednesday's helicopter disaster. Their elderly mother Noeleen, in her 80s, is pictured leaning in towards to a female companion
Killed: Kevin and Ruth, pictured, who had two children, hired their helicopter out to TV and film crews. Kevin was piloting the helicopter
Mrs Burke's daughter-in-laws Ruth, 49, and Sharon, 48, are dead - leaving six of the victims' children without parents.
Ruth is seen here on an evening out with some friends
Chief Inspector Richie Green at North Wales Police has thanked the local communities and visitors for their support and cooperation.
Their officers and others from Thames Valley are supporting the families of the dead.
He said: 'Now those who tragically lost their lives have been recovered and the wreckage removed a further methodical search and examination is required before we can release the 'scene'.
'I am very grateful for the continued patience and understanding of the public as we bring this complex and difficult stage of the investigation to a close. The AAIB will now begin a detailed examination of the aircraft whilst my officers speak with witnesses and to this end we are still appealing to anyone who was in the Rhinog Mountains area of Snowdonia between 12 noon and 1pm on Wednesday.
A spokesman for the family said: 'Six children lost their parents in this tragedy.'
Air Accident Investigation Branch officials have begun looking into what caused the tragedy as the group travelled to a family gathering in Dublin.
Enquiries are likely to centre on weather conditions at the time, which were overcast with rain and poor visibility.
Father-of-two Kevin, a millionaire property developer who owned the helicopter, was described by a relative as a 'very experienced pilot'.
The helicopter lost contact as it passed over North Wales, which was battered by gale force winds, heavy rain and had visibility of less than 10 metres in places because of low cloud.
The helicopter is believed to have taken off from this heliport on the couple's land near Milton Keynes, where their construction business was based , and they were heading for a heliport just outside Dublin
The twin squirrel red helicopter left Milton Keynes on Wednesday en route to Dublin, via Caernarfon Bay. But the chopper lost radio and radar contact as it passed over North Wales, prompting a huge search operation in the sea and Snowdonia
They said: 'He was an excellent pilot and he had lots of flight hours and he never took risks.
'They only decided to come when they checked the weather, which was supposedly okay. But it doesn't look like it was.'
A family friend added the group were planning to surprise a niece by turning up at her confirmation.
He said: 'Word started to filter through that something was wrong during the afternoon but the family made every effort to keep their composure.'
The helicopter left Kevin and Ruth Burkes' 1.5 million farmhouse near Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire at lunchtime on Wednesday.
The alarm was raised at 4.15pm when it failed to arrive at Weston Airport, near Dublin.
Air traffic controllers said there was 'no indication' the aircraft experienced 'any difficulty at any time'.
It took search teams nearly 24 hours to find the Airbus-made Eurocopter AS55 Ecureuil II as they battled through 'treacherous' conditions and terrain. The search area included a large swathe of the Irish Sea at first.
Chief Inspector Richie Green said: 'Now all the bodies have been recovered the joint investigation with the Air Accident Investigation Branch will be in earnest to establish how this accident happened.'
Reker Ahmed, pictured, 17, was 'lucky to be alive' after he was brutally assaulted in Croydon and had his head stamped on by a mob of up to 30 people
A woman sobbed next to her boyfriend in court yesterday as they were accused of a horrendous racially-motivated attack involving up to 30 people on a schoolboy asylum seeker.
Dressed in a black sweatshirt and grey tracksuit bottoms, Danyelle Davis, 24, held the hand of Barry Potts, 20, in the dock as they were charged in connection with the assault on a Kurdish Iranian.
Reker Ahmed, 17, was lucky to be alive after being subjected to a prolonged, violent assault which included being kicked and having his head stamped on, police said.
The child refugee had to be put into a coma with a fractured spine, fractured eye socket and bleeding on the brain after being set upon purely because of his ethnicity, Croydon Magistrates Court heard.
His two asylum seeker friends were also chased by the group, who stole Mr Ahmeds watch and two gold chains after beating him, it was alleged.
Fellow accused George Walder, 20, was told to take his hands out of tracksuit pockets by Deputy District Judge Richard Hawgood at the start of the 30-minute hearing.
His brother, Jack Walder, gave the thumbs-up to relatives in public gallery to indicate he was OK.
Police have made 16 arrests but are hunting up to 30 people said to be involved in the attack at just before midnight in Croydon, South London, on Friday night.
Prime Minister Theresa May condemned the attack as absolutely despicable.
Daryl Davies and his sister Danyelle Davies are among five people charged over the attack
Another of the five people charged over the incident, believed to be Jack Walder, is pictured leaving Croydon Magistrates' Court
Mr Ahmed was with two friends at a bus stop on their way home when they were set upon.
Speaking at the scene yesterday, Detective Superintendent Jane Corrigan graphically described how he had been viciously beaten and would be scarred for life.
This is a horrendous attack which is racially motivated, she said. He is lucky not to have lost his life.
This was the most extreme type of attack, where you have individuals stamping on a persons head there is no provocation for that.
Detectives are investigating if the attackers had been drinking in the nearby Goat pub before approaching Mr Ahmed and his friends.
She said: This was an unprovoked attack... They specifically asked if they were asylum seekers and when they confirmed they were, they were set upon by this group that then grew.
'Hes going to be scarred for life as a result of the beating he sustained.., but what I can say is that without doubt this will leave a lasting psychological scar.
Ive not seen an attack of this nature for very long time, and it is really disturbing.
Det Supt Corrigan added: I genuinely dont think people have gone out with the intention to commit this horrific attack.
Youve got a really difficult mix of youth, time of night, alcohol, and it only takes one person to say something to spark off something massive.
Brothers Jack, left, and George Walder, right, also appeared in court over the attack on the teenager
Mr Ahmed was living in another part of Croydon with a foster family, having only recently arrived in the UK.
He has been moved out of intensive care, but officers were waiting to speak to him last night and trying to trace his family in Iran.
Meanwhile a Kurdish community leader yesterday feared reprisals but urged locals to stay calm.
Abdullah Abdullah, chairman of the local Kurdish Cultural Centre, said: He was just a young boy. But I fear the Kurdish community may become hot-headed over this and seek revenge.
The last thing we need is more violence on our streets and I would urge the community to let the police do their jobs and bring those responsible to justice.
Asylum seeker Reker Ahmed was attacked near this bus stop in south London
Yesterday, friends said Mr Ahmed would spend his days attending college in Croydon before sometimes going for a game of dominoes at the Middle East Shisha, a traditional tea house in the area.
A member of the local Kurdish community, who gave his name as Mohammad, told The Guardian: He used to play dominoes here. He was polite and wasnt racist. He was happy he was living here, he was trying to learn English.
In an unusual move, the Prime Minister made a public appeal on behalf of the police for witnesses to the assault.
Mrs May said she shared the sentiments of local MP Gavin Barwell who described the gang of attackers as scum.
Speaking to reporters on a flight to Jordan, a visibly angry Mrs May said: This was an absolutely abominable attack, completely unacceptable.
I just hope that anybody who has any information about this will give that information to police.
Detective Superintendent Jane Corrigan speaking near the scene this morning. She said the teenage victim
Danyelle Davis and her brother Daryl Davis, 20, Potts, and the Walder brothers, all from Croydon, spoke only to confirm their names, dates of birth, and addresses as they were accused of violent disorder at yesterdays hearing.
George Walder, who is also charged with racially-aggravated grievous bodily harm, was remanded in custody. The rest were released on bail.
They are due to appear at Croydon Crown Court on May 1. Kyran Evans, 23, and a 17-year-old girl were last night also charged with violent disorder and are due to appear in court today.
Police are also trying to trace the driver and occupants of a car that stopped at the scene during the attack.
The vehicle is described as a white hatchback with a black roof.
A fresh rift has opened up within Meghan Markle's family after her estranged half-sister threatened to write a tell-all book entitled: 'The Diary of Princess Pushy's Sister'.
Samantha Grant, 52, of Florida, said the tome will include her memories of growing up with Meghan and 'deal with my bi-racial family in a candid, warm, personal and socially important way'.
But the move has sparked outrage among family members, with Grant's mother Roslyn branding her claims 'bulls***' and brother Thomas Jr telling her to 'leave Meghan alone already'.
Sad split: Meghan Markle is facing her older half-sister Samantha writing a hostile book on their relationship, already claiming it will be about 'princess pushy'.
Family rift: Thomas Markle Jr, Meghan's older brother, says his sister Samantha should 'leave Meghan alone'. He lives in Grants Pass, Oregon, with girlfriend Darlene Blount
Disowning: Samantha Grant's mother Roslyn Markle, Thomas Markle's first wife, says that far from being proud of her 'bi-racial family', Grant used to tell friends that her step-mother Doria Ragland 'was the maid because she's black'.
Roslyn also told DailyMail.com that far from being proud of her 'bi-racial family', Grant used to tell friends that her step-mother Doria Ragland 'was the maid because she's black'.
Roslyn, 71, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, told DailyMail.com: 'She trashes Meghan, trashes me, her dad, her brothers she's just been trashing everybody in her life forever.
'I am very serious when I say she has dogged on Meghan forever. She has never liked Meghan and she's always been jealous of her.'
She added: 'When Tom Sr [Meghan's father] married Meghan's mom, Samantha told all her friends that Doria was the maid because she's black. She is not a nice person.'
Thomas Jr, 50, of Grants Pass, Oregon, told DailyMail.com that Grant has spent her whole life being 'a pain in the a**' and branded her pursuit of Meghan 'ridiculous'.
He said: 'She's just doing it because she's got nothing better to do and it's what she's always done. Her whole life has just been about being a pain in the a**.
'It's why nobody talks to her and hasn't for a long, long time. Leave Meghan alone already it's ridiculous.'
Grant, a mother of three, is the daughter of lighting technician Thomas Markle Sr, 72, of Los Angeles, California, and his first wife Roslyn.
She has a full brother in Thomas Jr and a half-brother named Bobby Lucero, 35, also of Albuquerque, New Mexico, who is Roslyn's son from a subsequent relationship.
Meghan, who has been dating Prince Harry since meeting him in Toronto last May, is Grant's half-sister from their father's marriage to yoga teacher Doria, 60.
Grant has been outspoken about Meghan since news of her relationship with Prince Harry emerged in November, and originally claimed that the Suits actress, 35, had failed to support her family.
Speaking to the Sun in the same month, she said: 'Prince Harry would be appalled by what she's done'. She also called Meghan 'narcissistic and selfish' and branded her a 'shallow social climber'.
In a recent social media outburst sparked by an article the actress wrote for Time magazine, Grant lashed out at her sister over her 'hypocrisy' and claimed she had a 'hardened heart'.
She said: 'She [Meghan] is the one with the hardened heart. I've always been supportive of her but I won't enable the lies and hypocrisy.'
In a further tweet referring to her book, Grant added: 'Whistleblowers are not negative, they're just honest. I believe in calling it like I see it.'
On Sunday, Grant spoke to the Daily Star about her upcoming literary endeavor, telling the paper: 'Maybe when Meghan is more mature and reads the book she'll understand. Some of it she won't like, some of it she might.'
But Grant's outbursts have fueled tensions within her own family, with her mother Roslyn telling DailyMail.com that her daughter is just in it for the limelight.
Racial claim: Meghan Markle has spoken of her pride in her bi-racial heritage. But her half-sister Samantha Grant is accused of claiming that Markle's mother, Doria Ragland, was 'the maid' because she was African-American
Daddy's girl: Meghan Markle remains close to her father Thomas Markle (center), who became a grandfather to Tyler Dooley (right) when she was still a child
Family: Thomas Markle Jr was a teeanger when his sister Meghan was born, and played with her as a baby. They remain close.
Outburst: This was the lengthy Twitter announcement for Samantha Grant's literary project
She said: 'If Meghan marries Prince Harry, she [Grant] doesn't want to be left out of all that. It's a spectacle and it will put her in the limelight there might be connections there, and who knows?
'She's a user. She is a 100 percent user.'
Roslyn added: 'She is not a warm, sweet, loving person. I'm her mother and I walked away about three years ago because she's such an abusive person.
'She's my daughter but I didn't raise her to be like that.'
The 71-year-old also disputed Grant's account of her upbringing with Meghan, telling this website that far from raising the actress until she was 12, as she had previously claimed, the 52-year-old moved out shortly after Prince Harry's girlfriend was born.
She said: 'You know why she moved out when Meghan was born? Because she didn't want to listen to any squalling babies.
'She moved out of the house because she didn't want to live with or listen to a squalling baby and because she didn't want to be the nanny or the babysitter she said that to her dad.
Roslyn continued: 'We're just terribly upset that she is getting away with this stuff. She has done a 180 twice now.
'She's turned from the scheming b***h into someone who's sweet, trying to be sweet to get into Meghan's good graces, and now she's doing the flip again.
'She has threatened to write all kinds of terrible stories about the people who live in Albuquerque [the family] and all kinds of c**p and it's just not fair.
Family: Samantha Grant and Thomas Markle Jr have a younger half-brother, Bobby Lucero.
'She didn't grow up with Meghan and she needs to be shut down. And if she's getting paid for this stuff [the book], it needs to stop because it's lies, its bulls***.'
Thomas Jr agreed, telling DailyMail.com: 'She's done a lot of very strange things. I should probably write a little book myself.
'I was there [at the time] and right after Meghan was born, she moved out and never came back. I don't know where she's getting her information from. It's jealousy and that's about it.'
Despite being arrested in January following a drunken altercation with his girlfriend Darlene Blount, 36, at their Oregon home, Thomas Jr remains close to Meghan.
The 50-year-old, who was accused of holding a gun to Blount's head during the row, was due to appear in court in February but the charges against him have since been dropped.
He told DailyMail.com: 'I didn't even have to go to court my lawyer got it dismissed because nothing happened like that [the gun charge].
'I had quite a bit to drink but I've never even had a DUI. I never put myself in situations like that but it is what it is.
He added: 'I've now started my own company so I don't have a job anymore which is nice. I've got some pretty big contracts so this should be a good year for me.'
Thomas Jr previously told DailyMail.com that his father has been introduced to Prince Harry who was pictured with Meghan at his friend Thomas 'Skippy' Inskip's wedding in Jamaica last month.
Speaking in January, he said: 'My dad knew about [the relationship] from the start. He first met Prince Harry about six months ago out in Toronto.
'He goes once every couple of months - they [Meghan and Thomas Sr] are very close and they stay in close contact.
'He's pretty happy about Harry and he's extremely proud of her [Meghan]. They have an amazing relationship, they're very close and they always have been.'
Russian nationalists are calling for Alaska to be returned to the Kremlin's control 150 years after the land was sold to America.
Sergey Aksyonov, the prime minister of Crimea, bemoaned the sale on TV earlier this month while foreign minister Sergey Lavrov admitted in a recent interview that the anniversary will cause 'diverse emotions' among Russians.
The land deal, which saw Alaska pass to American control in 1867 for the price of $7.2million, is also a popular topic among Russian bloggers who have called for a referendum to be held on whether the state should be handed back.
Right-wing Russian bloggers and fringe political figures are calling for Alaska to be returned to Russian control on the 150th anniversary of its sale to America
Secretary of State William Seward (second left) signed papers purchasing Alaska for $7.2million from Russian diplomat Eduard de Stoeckl (third right) in 1867
The Military-Industrial Courier also ran a two-part series entitled The Alaska We've Lost in the lead-up to the anniversary the New York Times reports.
Meanwhile Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a fringe political figure and a colonel in the Russian military, has called for Alaska to be taken back by force.
He believes it would not only put the rest of America 'at gunpoint', but also be a useful place 'to keep the Ukrainians.'
Chief among Russians' complaints is that the land was sold too cheaply, with the deal being worth around $123million in today's money.
Conspiracy theorists even suggest that Russia never received the money - a theory which historians have shot down - or that the land was only leased, rather than sold.
Today Alaska is one of the wealthiest American states, with abundant mineral deposits, oil and untouched wilderness which proves a major tourist draw.
Russian nationalists argue that the payment they received (pictured) was too little - worth about $123million in today's money - or that the country never received it
Some also believe the territory would have proved strategically important, particularly in an emerging age of Arctic exploration for natural resources.
Nationalism is important in Putin's Russia, and moves such as capturing Crimea from Ukraine have been seen as attempts to recapture the glory of the Soviet Empire.
While Alaska was sold long before the Soviets came into being, its past as a Russian territory makes it ideal propaganda material.
Putin has expressed no interest in actually retaking the territory, telling a magazine in 2014 that 'there's no need to get worked up about this', but for some it remains a powerful symbol of Russia's past glory.
Marion Konczak was awarded 360,178.60 compensation in October 2014, but BAE are asking London's Appeal Court to slash her award, claiming it is 'grossly excessive'
Britain's biggest arms manufacturer says a 360,000 compensation payout to one of its secretaries over a 'single sexist comment' at work is 'an affront to justice.'
Marion Konczak complained to her male manager at BAE Systems that four men she worked with 'had bullied and harassed her, including sexually' but was told that 'women take things more emotionally than men whilst men tend to forget things and move on.'
The comment, which was made in 2006 by her line manager, was the 'final straw' for Mrs Konczak who went off sick with stress from her 22,000 a year job .
She was dismissed in July 2007, aged 53.
She later took BAE Systems (Operations) Ltd to an Employment Tribunal which upheld the single complaint of sexual discrimination relating the manager's comment.
The Tribunal either rejected or made no finding on 15 other complaints.
The panel also ruled that her dismissal was unfair and 'an act of victimisation' prompted by her sex discrimination complaints.
Mrs Konczak was awarded 360,178.60 compensation in October 2014, the payout amounting to more than 16 times her annual salary.
BAE are now asking top judges in London's Appeal Court to slash her award, claiming it was 'grossly excessive' for what happened to her.
But her lawyers insist the payout was fair, because the manager's comment 'pushed her over the edge' into a psychiatric breakdown which ruined her working life.
BAE Systems - formerly British Aerospace, until a 1999 merger with Marconi Electronic Systems - is Europe's biggest military contractor and the third largest in the world.
Major military hardware projects involving BAE include the design and manufacture of the Tornado jump jet, used in the Falklands War, and its RAF successor the Eurofighter Typhoon.
They also design and manufacture warships and submarines. The 30billion British multi-national has its headquarters in Guildford, Surrey, with bases worldwide and across the UK, employing over 88,000 people.
From 1998 until 2007, Mrs Konczak, now 62, worked as a secretary for a branch of the company involved in design and manufacture based in Samlesbury and Warton in Lancashire.
Following her manager's comment and her dismissal, she was plunged into depression and has not been able to work in the 11 years since, her barrister, Tristan Jones, told Lady Justice Gloster, Lord Justice Underhill and Lord Justice Irwin.
The QC said Mrs Konczak claimed to have 'experienced numerous adverse and stressful workplace events' in the months before to the manager's comment
She succeeded in proving her case before a tribunal in 2008, but a tooth and nail struggle through numerous appeals and re-hearings has been going on ever since.
In 2011 she was awarded a payout of 33,416, but challenged that and was awarded 318,629,66 in 2013 by a different tribunal judge.
Following yet another hearing, her payout was finally assessed in October 2014 at 360,178.60, roughly 16 times her final annual salary and more than 10 times the original compensation figure she was awarded.
Paul Gilroy QC, for BAE, told the judges that Mrs Konczak made 16 sex discrimination complaints to the tribunal in 2008 about the behaviour of four male colleagues, and her then line manager.
But only one of them, relating to the manager's comment, succeeded.
However, the tribunal that made the final award said it was his words that had 'pushed her over the edge' and wrecked her mental health.
Mr Gilroy argued the payout was set far too high for a 'single complaint of sex discrimination' and urged the judges to dramatically reduce it.
The QC said Mrs Konczak claimed to have 'experienced numerous adverse and stressful workplace events' in the months before to the manager's comment.
And it was wrong to blame his words alone for all the psychiatric problems she had suffered since.
'Compensation was awarded on the basis that the causes of her illness were not capable of being divided, with the consequence that her former employers must pay her compensation in the sum of 360,178.60,' the QC added.
But he told the judges: 'The excessive level of compensation awarded is an affront to justice.'
Mrs Konczak had stated that, after she heard the manager's comment, 'all the hurt and injustice suffered over the previous 16 months came flooding back and I started to cry.'
But Mr Gilroy said that none of the other 15 incidents she had complained about 'were the subject of any finding by the original tribunal by way of unlawful treatment of Mrs Konczak on the part of BAE Systems.'
And he argued that the tribunal erred in concluding 'that the psychiatric illness suffered was not capable of being divided between the sex discrimination found to have occurred on that day and the 15 other incidents pre-dating the comment.'
The tribunal had 'calculated compensation to a grossly overstated level,' he said.
Mr Jones, defending the payout, told the court: 'BAE describe the money awarded to Mrs Konczak as an affront to justice.
'The reason why Mrs Konczak has not been in work since April 2006 is that BAE discriminated against her and then, a year later, when she was fit and keen to return to work, refused to let her return, victimised her, and dismissed her unfairly.
'Her compensation has been calculated on the normal basis reflecting her lost income and pension,' he added.
'These lengthy proceedings have prolonged and are prolonging her illness...(and) BAE is liable for such prolongation.'
Mr Jones said Mrs Konczak had already been 'dispirited and demoralised' by her treatment when she went to see her line manager and was met with the sexist remark.
'The harm here is truly indivisible...you can't divide up all the causes of pushing somebody over the edge.
'The comment was the final straw, and was also an act of sex discrimination.'
The barrister added: 'The previous incidents made her vulnerable, and the final incident pushed her over the edge.'
Slamming the length of time the case has been dragging on, he said: 'This litigation is interminable and is prolonging Mrs Konczak's illness.'
'You would argue that she was working before, and had she not suffered additional psychiatric injury she would still be working?' Lord Justice Irwin asked.
'This was the last straw which broke her back?' Lady Justice Gloster added.
The judges reserved their decision on the case at the end of a two-day hearing and will give their ruling at a later date.
A senior North Korean defector claims that the country's leader Kim Jong-un is prepared to use nuclear weapons against the United States and its allies.
Thae Yong Ho, a former deputy ambassador in London and the most high-profile North Korean defector in two decades, says that the world should be prepared.
Thae said that Kim is 'desperate in maintaining his rule by relying on his [development of] nuclear weapons and ICBM', referring to an acronym for intercontinental ballistic missiles, or long range rockets that in theory could hit the United States.
Thae Yong Ho, the most high-profile North Korean defector in two decades, says that the world should be ready if Kim were to fire missiles
'Once he sees that there is any kind of sign of a tank or an imminent threat from America, then he would use his nuclear weapons with ICBM,' he told NBC News on Sunday.
While Thae was not directly involved in North Korea's weapons program, he believes that the country has reached a 'very significant level' of development.
'If Kim Jong Un has nuclear weapons and ICBMs, he can do anything,' the defector, who can give rare insight into North Korea due to his former status in the country, added. 'So, I think the world should be ready to deal with this kind of person.'
'Kim Jong Un is a man who can do anything beyond the normal imagination,' he warned, adding that the 'real solution to the North Korean nuclear issue is to eliminate Kim Jong Un from the post'.
Thae has previously said the country is aiming to complete its development of nuclear weapons by the end of this year.
He claimed the leader will stop at nothing to develop a nuclear programme - and would even turn down trillions of dollars if he was offered a pay-off to abandon the nuclear race.
Kim Jong Un and his military (pictured above) is on a quest to develop a long-range missile capable of hitting the US mainland with a nuclear warhead, and has so far staged five nuclear tests, two of them last year
South Korea, Japan and the US held a joint naval exercise on Monday aimed at countering missile threats from North Korean submarines, Seoul's defense ministry said, amid mounting concerns over the hermit state's weapons programme.
Pyongyang is on a quest to develop a long-range missile capable of hitting the US mainland with a nuclear warhead, and has so far staged five nuclear tests, two of them last year.
Tensions have escalated in the region following a series of missile launches by North Korea in recent months and reports suggesting Pyongyang may be preparing another atomic test.
In February the North simultaneously fired four ballistic missiles off its east coast, three of which fell provocatively close to Japan, in what it said was a drill for an attack on US bases in the neighbouring Asian country.
Last August Pyongyang also successfully test-fired a SLBM 500 kilometres towards Japan, far exceeding any previous sub-launched tests, in what the North's leader Kim Jong-Un hailed as the 'greatest success.'
South Korea, Japan and the US held a joint naval exercise on Monday aimed at countering missile threats from North Korean submarines. Pictured above, South Korean Marines participate in a landing operation exercise on Sunday
A nuclear-capable SLBM system would take the North's threat to a new level, allowing deployment far beyond the Korean peninsula and a 'second-strike' capability in the event of an attack on its army bases.
Analysts say that while Pyongyang has made faster progress in its SLBM system than originally expected, it is still years away from deployment.
The isolated North is barred under UN resolutions from any use of ballistic missile technology.
Adm Scott Swift, commander of the US Pacific Fleet told NBC News that US officials were worried about North Korea's most recent threat.
'They have the nuclear capability - they've demonstrated that,' he said. 'And then, where they're going with the miniaturization of that, whether they can actually weaponize a missile, that's what's driving the current concern.'
President Donald Trump warned in an interview published Sunday that the United States is prepared to act unilaterally to deal with North Korea's nuclear program if China proves unwilling to help.
"Well, if China is not going to solve North Korea, we will. That is all I am telling you," he said in an interview with the Financial Times of London.
Trump's comments come ahead of his meeting Thursday and Friday with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the US president's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
A 102-year-old World War II veteran, who served with the Canadian and American forces and survived Nazi captivity, received his high school diploma and 10 overdue medals during a surprise ceremony.
Sydney Cole dropped out of the formerly named Fosdick-Masten Park High School in the 1930s in Buffalo, New York to serve in the military during World War II.
Rejected by the U.S. Army Air Corps before America entered the war, Cole headed across the border and joined the Canadian Royal Air Force.
He was discharged after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and joined the U.S. Army in 1943.
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World War II veteran Sydney Cole (right) received his high school diploma and overdue medals Friday during a special ceremony in Buffalo, New York. He is pictured next to his brother, 97-year-old Irving who is also a World War II veteran
Cole (pictured left and right) dropped out of the formerly named Fosdick-Masten Park High School in the 1930s in Buffalo, New York. Rejected by the U.S. Army Air Corps before America entered the war, Cole headed across the border and joined the Canadian Royal Air Force
Cole, who is Jewish, was serving as a Chief Forward Aerial Observer for the 776th Field Artillery Battalion in World War II when his plane was shot down behind enemy lines during the Battle of the Bulge on January 2, 1945.
Before he jumped from the damaged plane, Cole risked his life saving his co-pilot, WKBW reported.
He sustained injuries during the crash, was captured, and assigned to a German prisoner of war camp run by the Hitler Youth.
Before entering the camp, Cole got rid of his military dog tags that identified him as Jewish.
While in the camp, he was horrifically beaten and fed grass soup and rotten potatoes, as his weight dropped from 150 pounds to as low as 95 pounds. In addition, he saw mass open graves of victims of the Holocaust.
Despite suffering along with fellow soldiers, Cole managed to endure captivity in the camp for roughly a year until it was liberated by the Russian Military.
Cole (pictured above on Friday) was serving during World War II when his plane was shot down behind enemy lines during the Battle of the Bulge on January 2, 1945. He was captured and assigned to a German prisoner of war camp run by the Hitler Youth
Prior to dropping out of high school, Cole was a star swimmer and had even qualified for the Olympics.
A surprise ceremony on Friday honored Cole, as his younger brother, 97-year-old Irving, was also in attendance.
During the special event, Cole said: 'I didn't expect this. I really and truly knew nothing about it.'
The high school he attended, which is now named City Honors, not only gave him his diploma, Cole was also inducted into the alumni hall of fame.
Congressman Brian Higgins also honored the veteran at the ceremony and presented him with 10 medals, including a Purple Heart and Bronze Medal.
'It's a Hollywood story lived out in real life,' Higgins told WKBW.
Cole's son, Richard, also said he was extremely proud of his father.
'My dad deserves everything that said today and I'm extremely proud of my dad,' Richard told WKBW.
President Donald Trump tried to shift the swirling Russia story over toward Hillary Clinton, asking online whether the brother for her former campaign chair got paid 'big money' to get Russia sanctions lifted.
Tony Podesta, a prominent lobbyist in D.C., did work on behalf of Sberbank USA, a subsidiary of Russia's largest bank, on sanctions issues in 2016 while the presidential campaign was underway.
Senate lobbying disclosure reports reveal that The Podesta Group did $170,000 of work for the bank in 2016.
'Was the brother of John Podesta paid big money to get the sanctions on Russia lifted? Did Hillary know?' Trump asked.
President Donald Trump tweeted about D.C. lobbyist Tony Podesta, the brother of former Clinton campaign chair John Podesta
Trump's tweet asked whether Tony Podesta got 'big money' to lobby to lift Russia sanctions
Trump gave no explanation for why he was raising the issue about Podesta, who started the firm along with John Podesta before Podesta joined the Obama administration and became Clinton's campaign chair.
His White House has been rocked by swirling allegations about his associates' own Russia ties.
'Fake news. An attempt to distract,' said Podesta Group managing principal David Marin.
'Our work for Sberbank USA was never about getting sanctions lifted. It was simply about helping to clarify to what extent our client, the US subsidiary, was subject to sanctions. We confirmed they were not,' he told DailyMail.com.
Former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn was asked to resign after it was revealed he hadn't disclosed to Vice President Mike Pence his meetings with Russia's ambassador to the U.S. during the transition.
On Friday, the White House released Flynn's financial disclosure form. His initial form did not reveal the funds he got paid by Kremlin-backed RT for a 2015 speech where he was seated next to Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Heather and Tony Podesta (Chairman Podesta Group) attended the intimate "Summer Chic" barbeque at Esther Coopersmith's DC home to celebrate the recent marriage of lawyer Jack Einwechter to Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez
Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta (L) and Senior Advisor Huma Abedin aboard Clinton's campaign plane
Senate disclosure reports reveal the Podesta Group's lobbying on behalf of the Russian bank
Logos of Sberbank are seen on automated teller machines (ATM) at its branch in Moscow
On March 31, Flynn filed an amended report listing speaking engagements to Russian entities RT TV and Volga-Dnepr Airlines on a line for 'sources of compensation exceeding $5,000 in a year.'
They weren't included in Flynn's Feb. 11 form.
The DailyCaller Foundation reported in early March about Tony Podesta's lobbying work for the bank.
According to disclosure reports on file with the Senate, the work involved: 'Clarifying scope of sanctions imposed by Executive Order 13660, assessing possible ways to address sanctions relief and monitoring relevant developments applicable to such matters.'
The Treasury Department slapped sanctions on Sberbank in 2014 as part of the Obama administration's retaliation for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
John Podesta was among those Clinton team officials vociferously complaining about Russian election interference that the Intelligence community says occurred.
John Podesta's personal Gmail account got hacked and dumped on WikiLeaks, releasing a trove of personal and campaign-related information at the height of the presidential campaign.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich raised the issue Sunday in an appearance on Fox News, calling the Russia story 'absurd,' Politico reported.
'But, frankly, that involves the Podesta brothers, one of whom is a registered agent for a Russian bank, Gingrich said, referring to Tony Podesta. It involves all the different things that Peter Schweizer wrote about on his book on Clinton Cash. And its ironic that all of the real evidence of real money and real influence-buying by the Russians relates to Democrats.
A woman who ignored a private firms parking fines will have to hand over 24,500 in a landmark case with huge implications for drivers.
Carly Mackie, 28, was taken to court after she ripped up more than 200 of the companys parking penalties thinking they were unenforceable in Scotland.
But a sheriff has found in favour of the company shattering the widely held belief that parking fines issued by private firms can be ignored.
Carly Mackie, 28, was taken to court after she ripped up more than 200 of the companys parking penalties thinking they were unenforceable in Scotland
The Dundee case is thought to be the first in Scotland involving a private parking firm and a member of the public and lawyers say it could open the floodgates in a sector that is notoriously poorly regulated.
Already one parking company, ParkingEye, is quoting the case on its website as proof that penalties are enforceable in Scotland.
The case follows widespread concern about parking firms increasingly aggressive tactics in pursuing motorists for allegedly breaching their rules.
Tory MSP Murdo Fraser has highlighted the distress caused by bully-boy tactics, including the threat of court action, increased fines and damage to an individuals credit rating.
But a sheriff has found in favour of the company. Pictured, the garages in Dundee where Carly Mackie parked her car
Lawyer Chris Buchanan of Glasgow firm Scullion LAW said the Dundee Sheriff Court hearing was a landmark case that set a legal precedent. He added: The worry here overall is does this open a floodgate? Do [parking companies] then rely on this precedent to take more to court?
There will obviously be distinguishable points within that case and each case will no doubt have to be assessed on its individual merits but, yes, it could have a big impact for people going forward and it is certainly something for people to have to watch out for.
A notice from the parking firm in Dundee
Miss Mackie had regularly parked her Mini in an area reserved for residents in Dundees Waterfront district. Although her mother and step-father were tenants of a property there, she was not, so the firm contracted to administer the parking area issued penalties.
Believing the parking penalty notices were not valid in law, she refused to pay them or engage with parking company Vehicle Control Services.
The stand-off went on for 16 months until the firm sent her a bill for 18,500. When that went unpaid, it took her to court and now Miss Mackie must find a way to pay 24,500. The sum accrues interest at the rate of 8 per cent per year until it is paid.
Sheriff George Way ruled: [Miss Mackie] has, in my judgment, entirely misdirected herself on both the law and the contractual chain in this case.
He added that the company had a valid contract and residents in the area had a legitimate interest arising from their title to the land to protect their property and amenity. The sheriff continued: Parking is not only an amenity but a valuable commodity in modern life.
The Dundee case is thought to be the first in Scotland involving a private parking firm and a member of the public
The case follows widespread concern about parking firms increasingly aggressive tactics in pursuing motorists for allegedly breaching their rules
The case could now be a game changer for firms such as Parking- Eye and Smart Parking.
For years, lawyers have quietly indicated that clients should simply ignore the penalties these firms impose, arguing no one in Scotland had ever been taken to court for refusing to pay up.
Miss Mackie had argued she was entitled to park at the property where she was staying at the time. Speaking in 2015 about the tickets she received almost daily, she said: Ive considered moving out. It just makes life so hellish.
I always make a point of parking in front of my own garage, where nobody else could park. She and her family declined to comment yesterday.
The case could now be a game changer for firms such as Parking- Eye and Smart Parking
Vehicle Control Services said: The terms and conditions are clearly displayed on prominent signs around the site. It is therefore not unreasonable to expect motorists to adhere to these.
ParkingEye has posted details of the Dundee case on its website. It declined to discuss the rulings impact, but it said in a statement: ParkingEye is a member of the British Parking Association and follows its code of practice.
'People using car parks in Scotland have a responsibility to make sure they follow the terms of the car park.
Keith Dryburgh of Citizens Advice Scotland said: We have seen a big increase in the numbers of people who have received unfair or disproportionate charges.
'Our Its Not Fine campaign sets out peoples rights and encourages them to challenge charges they think have been applied unfairly.
Over 20,000 people in Wisconsin are diagnosed with Parkinsons disease, a brain disorder that leads to diminished ability to regulate movements, body and emotions.
April is Parkinsons Awareness Month, and Ursula Whelan, facilitator for the Chippewa Falls Parkinsons support group, said it is a great opportunity to learn more about the disease, especially if you or someone you know has been diagnosed.
There are four key characteristics of Parkinsons: tremors, muscle rigidity, stiffness and/or slowness of movement and impaired balance.
Currently, there is no cure for Parkinsons, but there are many treatment options available. While the disease itself is not fatal, complications resulting from it can be serious.
The Chippewa Falls Parkinsons support group meets at 1 p.m. the first Wednesday of each month at Trinity United Methodist Church, 201 W. Central St., Chippewa Falls.
The next meeting is Wednesday, April 6.
Whelan said they bring in speakers to the meetings who are knowledgeable about Parkinsons. The meetings also include 10-15 minutes of exercises before each class because those are vital to helping.
People can come and be among others with similar inabilities and no one is going to judge, Whelan said. We are all in this together.
There is also time for participants to share their experiences. If they experience something new or strange, chances are someone else in the group has experienced it too and can help them out.
Everyone is invited to attend these meetings. Caregivers and loved ones of those who are diagnosed with Parkinsons are encouraged.
Channel 4 News wrongly claimed at the start of their programme on the night of the Westminster attack that Abu Izzadeen (above) was responsible
Channel 4 News is being investigated by the broadcasting watchdog for wrongly naming a radical preacher who is in prison as responsible for the Westminster terrorist attack.
Ofcom received 12 complaints about the blunder, which the news show had credited to an unnamed source.
The programme repeatedly said that the Westminster terrorist killer was Abu Izzadeen, during the broadcast on March 22.
Simon Israel, the programme's senior home affairs correspondent, later updated viewers, saying: 'I appeared quite certain earlier in the programme but there appears to be some doubt now.
'A source was pretty certain that the attacker... was, as I earlier said, Abu Izzadeen... It now appears that that might not be the case.
'It might be someone else, owing to the fact that new information has emerged to suggest that Abu Izzadeen is still in prison.'
Ofcom is investigating under rules on accuracy and the quick acknowledgement and correction of significant mistakes on air.
A spokesman for the watchdog said: 'We're investigating this news item on the recent Westminster attack, which named the wrong person as being responsible.'
The actual perpetrator Khalid Masood was killed by a single gunshot wound to the chest, a court heard last week.
The 52-year-old killer was pronounced dead at 3.35pm just under an hour after he embarked on his murderous mission on Westminster Bridge and the Houses of Parliament, an inquest into his death was told.
Simon Israel, Channel 4's senior home affairs correspondent, claimed to know the identity of the Westminster attacker within hours of the incident but later in the same show had to withdraw the report
Channel 4 News released a statement via their official Twitter account some hours later. In it they admitted to wrongly claiming the identity of the alleged Westminster attacker as Abu Izzadeen
Earlier in his life, Masood, formerly called Adrian Elms, had lived in Tunbridge Wells, Kent and Rye and Eastbourne, East Sussex, where he picked up a number of convictions for petty crime and violence.
An inquest has been opened into the death of Westminster terrorist Khalid Masood, who died from a gunshot wound
After having two children with a previous partner, he was jailed twice and is understood to have converted to Islam while in prison.
Upon his release, he married a Muslim woman and travelled to Saudi Arabia to teach English.
In the years before his attack, he lived near a number of known radicals in Luton before travelling between homes in east London and Birmingham.
The regulator is also investigating ITV News London, after receiving complaints about an interview with illustrator Tim King, which featured several of his drawings on-screen.
One picture about the Brexit referendum was shown for 14 seconds and included the text: 'So who's voting in? Great because I'm calling it C***AGEDDON. I'm scared that the idiots could take over.'
A spokeswoman said: 'We are investigating this interview, which included comic book illustrations containing the most offensive language.'
Masood died in St Mary's Hospital after being shot in the chest during the attack on March 22
The ringleader of an Islamic terror group, who spearheaded a plot to blow up a railway station in Germany has been sentenced to life in prison.
Marco G., 29, was caged at Duesseldorf Higher State Court on Monday for the plot which, had it succeeded, would have caused a bloodbath at Bonn main station.
His two accomplices were served jail terms between nine-and-a-half to 12 years for the planned bombing and a later scheme to kill a far-right politician.
The defendant Marco G. seen sitting in the courtroom of the Higher Regional Court in Duesseldorf, Germany, in September 2014 - he has now been sentenced to life in prison
A handout picture shows the bag which contained the bomb that was placed at Platform One of Bonn central station in Cologne, Germany, on December 12 2012
The defendants have sat for nearly four years on remand in jail as prosecutors built their case against them.
On December 10 2012 a DIY bomb was discovered on Platform One at the train station in what was once the capital of former West Germany.
Tucked into a blue bag and pushed under a seat was the pipe bomb rigged up to a timer made from an alarm clock.
A defect in the contraption's construction prevented its detonation.
The defendants have sat for nearly four years on remand in jail as prosecutors built their case against them
DNA on the bomb bag led detectives to the home of German born Muslim convert Marco G., pictured above at the Higher Regional Court in Duesseldorf
DNA on the bag led detectives to the home of German-born Muslim convert, Marco G.
They found explosives in his fridge and an Al-Qaeda bomb-making manual in his bedroom.
Prosecutors described Marco G. as 'enemy of the state' number one and had him flown by helicopter in handcuffs every day of the trial after plans for a breakout were discovered in his cell.
After the failed bomb plot, in 2013 the Salafist group planned to kill a far-right politician. That too failed.
A video sequence shows the blue bag containing a bomb being carried through Bonn central train station on December 12 2012
The bomb scare caused severe delays to the rail network and police scoured the site
The pipe bomb had been tucked under a train seat and it was rigged up to a timer made from an alarm clock. A defect in the contraption's construction prevented its detonation.
'Both acts were plotted to take revenge on people who criticised the prophet Mohammed. They wanted to kill many people,' said federal prosecutor Horst Salzmann.
Marco G.'s friend Enea B., 44, a former special forces soldier with the Albanian military, was assigned to assassinate Markus Beisicht, leader of the far-right PRO-NRW party for promoting anti-Muslim sentiments with slogans like 'Freedom not Islam'.
The murder bid failed because Beisicht was not at home in his apartment in Leverkusen at the time.
Charles Hunt, the Precinct 1 constable, from Parker County was first arrested in February and then again last Monday
A married Texas constable who has been accused of continuously abusing a woman has been arrested for a second time after he was allegedly seen putting a tracking device on her vehicle.
Charles Hunt, the Precinct 1 constable, from Parker County near Fort Worth was first arrested in February after his girlfriend of four years told authorities that he had assaulted her so many times she couldn't remember all of them.
An affidavit from a Texas Ranger who first investigated the alleged crime said that the female victim reported her first assault in 2014 after Hunt struck her in the face with his hand. She said that the assaults then continued.
According to the Star Telegram, Hunt posted $15,000 bail on the orders that he was to have no contact with the victim or be within 200 yards of her.
Parker's ex-girlfriend of four years told authorities that he had assaulted her so many times she couldn't remember all of them
Hunt, pictured in his mugshot. was allegedly found attacking a tracking device to his ex-girlfriend's car
But just over a month later, the woman was out and with a friend when it is alleged she saw Hunt crouched at the back of her vehicle.
After being spotted, Hunt made a run for it but dropped his cellphone in the mad dash to run off.
Court documents identified Hunt as the culprit when the screen saver on the dropped phone showed a Parker County Constable Precinct 1 badge with the name Charlie Hunt on it.
When Lake Worth police officers arrived on scene to investigate, they found a portable tracking device attached to the undercarriage of the victim's vehicle.
Hunt's wife then contacted the victim by phone, asking her what she did with her husband's phone.
The following day Hunt then texted a Lake Worth police officer who was not involved in the investigation, requesting to speak to someone because 'he had done something bad', court documents state.
After being summoned to appear at the Parker County Community Supervision and Corrections Department last Monday at 8am, Hunt didn't show up.
He was then booked into Parker County Jail and was still there for all of last week.
President Tayyip Erdogan has called on Turkish voters in Europe to defy the 'grandchildren of Nazism' and back the referendum on changing the constitution.
Erdogan has repeatedly lashed out at Germany and the Netherlands during his referendum campaign - accusing them of 'Nazi-like' tactics for banning his ministers from speaking to rallies of Turkish voters abroad.
He urged voters on Monday not to listen to 'three or four European fascists' and to support the proposed changes that would give him sweeping presidential powers.
President Tayyip Erdogan has called on Turkish voters in Europe to defy the 'grandchildren of Nazism' and back the referendum on changing the constitution
'With this determination, we will never allow three or four European fascists from harming this country's honour and pride,' Erdogan told a packed crowd in the Black Sea city of Rize, where his family comes from.
'I call on my brothers and sisters voting in Europe - give the appropriate answer to those imposing this fascist oppression and the grandchildren of Nazism.'
Both the Germans and Dutch have been incensed by the comparisons to Nazism and German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said the references must stop.
Both the Germans and Dutch have been incensed by the comparisons to Nazism and German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said the references must stop
Erdogan is counting on the support of expatriates in Europe, including the 1.4 million Turks eligible to vote in Germany, to vote favourably in the referendum to give him presidential powers
Erdogan is counting on the support of expatriates in Europe, including the 1.4 million Turks eligible to vote in Germany, to vote favourably in the referendum to give him presidential powers.
But ties with Europe have deteriorated in the run-up to the campaign.
Erdogan last month said Turkey would reevaluate its relationship with the bloc, and may even hold a second referendum on whether to continue accession talks.
On Monday, he said he could take the issue of whether Turkey should restore the death penalty to referendum if necessary.
'The European Union will not like this. But I don't care what Hans, George or Helga say, I care what Hasan, Ahmet, Mehmet, Ayse and Fatma say.
'I care what God says... If necessary, we will take this issue to another referendum as well,' he told the rally.
Police stand guard following trouble outside the Turkish embassy in Brussels, which expats had been voting in a referendum
Turkey abandoned capital punishment more than a decade ago as part of its bid to join the European Union, but Erdogan has repeatedly told crowds calling for it following the July 15 failed coup that he would approve its restoration if parliament passed it.
Restoring capital punishment would all but end Turkey's bid to join the EU, officials from the bloc have said.
It comes as several people were injured in a brawl outside the Turkish embassy as they went to cast their vote in a key referendum.
The expats had been casting their votes on whether or not to give President Recep Tayyip Erdogan increased powers, when trouble reportedly erupted between the controversial leader's supporters and opponents.
Belgian newspaper Le Soir reports that trouble erupted outside the building at around 4pm last Thursday, but it is not known exactly what sparked the confrontation.
A large police van on the scene following the trouble, which saw several people hospitalised
There have also been reports of three Kurdish people being stabbed, including one man being slashed in the throat
The number of casualties has not yet been confirmed, and there have also been reports of three Kurdish people being stabbed, including one man being slashed in the throat.
Several people have been confirmed as being taken to hospital.
Tensions have run high in the build-up to the vote, with rallies in Germany and Holland - which have high Turkish populations - being cancelled due to violence fears.
Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was even denied entry into the Netherlands, despite his plane having already landed at Rotterdam, ahead of one rally.
This prompted thousands of demonstrators to gather outside the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam demanding action, as the scene turned to riots.
Mr Erdogan himself caused outrage after he accused both countries of 'Nazi practices' for banning the rallies.
A police spokeswoman said she could give no further details on the number of wounded or the nature of their injuries.
Belgium's Prime Minister, Charles Michel, took to Twitter to say that he 'firmly condemned' the violence that erupted.
Sammy Woodhouse, pictured on Loose Women today, revealed the moment her son asked her if he was 'a rape baby'
A mother who fell pregnant by a Rotherham sex gang ringleader when she was a teenager has revealed the heartbreaking moment her son asked her if he was 'a rape baby'.
Last month Sammy Woodhouse waived her right to anonymity and spoke out for the first time about her abuse at the hands of 'controlling' paedophile Arshid Hussain.
She was just 14 when she was targeted and groomed by notorious Hussain and she soon fell pregnant. He demanded she had an abortion, but she fell pregnant again when she was 15, and kept the baby.
Speaking on Loose Women today she revealed: 'I remember when it all came out and I had to tell him things.
'He asked, "Mum, am I a rape baby?" I took his hand, and said, "No you're not, you're my baby."
'And he is, he's a bloody pain as he's a teenager now, but I love him.'
Her attacker - who was known as Mad Ash - preyed on the teenager after meeting her in the late 1990s and started waiting for her outside school.
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Ms Woodhouse fell pregnant with Arshid's baby when she was just 15 (pictured)
Arshid Hussain - known as Mad Ash (pictured) - preyed on the teenager (right) after meeting her at a party in the late 1990s and started waiting for her outside school
Soon, the then 24-year-old - who was married - was treating her as his girlfriend and having sex with her, despite knowing her age and being a decade older.
Ms Woodhouse - who previously talked about her experience under the false name Jessica - has now waived her right to anonymity to reveal her ordeal.
The 31-year-old wants action taken against the professionals who failed to protect her while she was exploited.
Arshid and his brothers were the most notorious perpetrators of terrible abuse against teenage girls in Rotherham.
'We've seen perpetrators held accountable and that's good for us because we can move forward now; we're getting that justice,' she told BBC Inside Out.
She said she has complex feelings towards her attacker because she hates him, but also loves him for giving her her son (with whom she is pictured)
'We can't move forward as a town until those professionals are charged and held accountable.'
Ms Woodhouse said that, before she met Arshid, she was like most girls her age, obsessed with dancing and close with her two older sisters.
She revealed how she believed she was in love with Arshid and thought they were in a loving relationship. The 'charming' paedophile took her out for meals and even invited her to his family home.
But the attacker soon turned to violence in a bid to control her. He hated her speaking with any other men, even those in her own family and would lash out if she went against his instructions.
'He started hitting me on a daily basis. I knew I needed to get away from him, but he was like a drug and I kept going back,' she said.
'He'd hit me and he'd say 'It's only because I love you. Would you rather I didn't love you?''
Ms Woodhouse said that she had contact with the authorities several times, but no-one intervened.
She missed about nine months of education through running away and skipping classes but police said that, because she was consenting, there was nothing they could do.
Brothers Arshid (left), 40, and Basharat Hussain (middle), 39, committed multiple rapes and indecent assaults on teenagers. Their younger brother, Bannaras Hussain (right), 36, admitted rape, indecent assault and ABH
The Hussain brothers' uncle, Qurban Ali (left), 53, was found guilty of conspiracy to rape. Shelley Davies, (centre) 40, and Karen MacGregor (right) were found guilty of conspiracy to procure prostitutes and false imprisonment
'There were times when I was found in his bed, half-naked. No-one wanted to do anything, except my parents,' she said.
'It was very open what was going on between us. It wasn't this dirty little secret that nobody knew about.'
Ms Woodhouse became pregnant at 15, when she was in foster care. She said it has left her with complex feelings towards her attacker.
'There's times when I still feel angry at him. There's times when I want to cry. And then there's times that I will always love him, because he gave me my son,' she said.
'I blame him, and I also blame the professionals that failed, that helped them and that covered things up.
'The authorities said if he picked me up at the top of the street and had me back for ten and I went to school then he could have access to me.
Ms Woodhouse (pictured as a teenager) said that she had contact with the authorities several times, but no-one intervened
'There's going to be so many people get away this and that's something that every person that failed and committed a crime has to live with for the rest of their lives.'
Last February, Arshid and his brother Basharat were found guilty of 38 offences, including rape, indecent assault, abduction, actual bodily harm and forcing their victims to have sex with others.
His other brother, Bannaras, pleaded guilty before the trial to 10 charges, including two of rape and indecent assault.
Arshid, 40 - who now uses a wheelchair - was jailed for 35 years while Basharat, 39, and Bannaras, 36, were jailed for 25 and 19 years respectively.
The brothers' uncle, Qurban Ali, 53, appeared alongside them in court. He too was found guilty of conspiracy to rape and has been jailed for 10 years.
Two women, Karen MacGregor and Shannon Davis, were found guilty of conspiracy to procure prostitutes and false imprisonment.
MacGregor was jailed for 13 years, while Davis was handed an 18-month suspended sentence.
Speaking at the time of the court case, Ms Woodhouse said: 'It has been 16 years we have waited for this. It has not sunk in yet. This can give me some closure, for me my life starts now. It has been such a mess, I can finally move on.
'The investigation started two-and-a-half years ago and it has been one of the hardest things I have had to do, but it is so worth it. It's an emotional rollercoaster.
'I think a lot of people will come forward now, and think 'if they can get justice after nearly two decades, so can I'.'
An official inquiry into exploitation in Rotherham in 2014 by Professor Alexis Jay concluded that 1,400 children had been raped, trafficked and attacked in the town over a 16-year period
Rotherham became a byword for the exploitation of teenage girls and the failure of police and social workers to stop it happening with the publication of the Jay Report in August 2014.
The report, by Professor Alexis Jay, concluded that at least 1,400 children had been raped, trafficked and attacked in the town over a 16-year period.
She found 'utterly appalling' examples of 'children who had been doused in petrol and threatened with being set alight, threatened with guns, made to witness brutally-violent rapes and threatened they would be next if they told anyone'.
The report also laid bare the extend to which police and council officials failed to act on what they knew, and explicitly questioned whether this neglect was related to the perpetrators largely being adult men of a Pakistani heritage.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating how 30 police officers handled complaints in Rotherham.
Meanwhile Rotherham Council, declared 'not fit for purpose' in 2015 over its handling of child sexual exploitation, is recruiting more social workers in a bid to use fewer agency staff.
A buy-to-let tycoon has called police over online abuse after he banned 'coloured' people fro his propertied because he claims they leave them smelling of curry.
Fergus Wilson, 69, has been passed Facebook posts showing images of himself and his wife Judith holding doctored property boards with offensive messages on them.
One reads: 'I am a racist c***, 2% of people disagree with this statement.' Another reads: 'Racist, homophobic p****', and one more says: '2%, the percentage of people that don't think I'm a tw***.'
Diktat: Fergus and Judith Wilson, who became Britain's biggest by-to-let tycoons, have been bombarded with abuse since it emerged they banned 'coloured' people because they make houses and carpets smell of copy
Mr Wilson said a YouTube video in which he is called a 'racist d***wad' had also been reported to police.
A Kent Police spokesman said: 'Kent Police is aware of this issue and will be working to establish if any offences have taken place.'
The controversy followed a leaked email listing Mr Wilson's requirements for potential tenants, including: 'No coloured people because of the curry smell at the end of the tenancy.'
He said he has previously been left thousands of pounds out of pocket in lost rent and re-carpeting costs from ridding a property of curry smells.
Mr Wilson said: 'My stance is that it is neither racist nor discrimination to refuse to take people from any ethnic background on the basis that there is a heightened risk of "injury" to the house.'
The tycoon, who has also banned single mums and 'battered wives' from renting his Kent homes, added that the diktat is not racist because he is happy to rent to 'n*****s' because 'they haven't generated a curry smell at the end of the tenancy'.
He added: 'A house left smelling of curry and the need for a new carpet after a six-month tenancy is an "injury" to the house. It is a risk I am not prepared to take.'
Defiant: Mr Wilson, who has a vast property empire in Kent, has since been challenged on his 'coloured' people email but stood firm and said they are 'overloaded' with them
Mr Wilson said carpets ruined by ingrained curry smells were not covered by insurance, adding: 'The landlord is his own insurer here. No insurance company will offer block insurance for carpets spoilt by curry but will do for carpets spoilt by leaks or other insured perils.'
And he went on: 'Let me be perfectly honest on this point. In a predominantly white English area, almost all landlords will not let to Indian and Pakistani tenants because of the smell of curry.'
He added: 'How many white people are going to go into a house that smells of curry and are going to buy the house? They are just going to walk away like me and not make an offer.
'If that makes me racist, that makes 99 per cent of people who buy houses racist'.
Mr Wilson said he 'probably must have said' what was in the email, and that he would send it again to avoid being saddled with the cost of removing curry smells from one of his homes.
He said: 'The problem is the smell gets in the carpets, particularly the bloody carpets. It's the cost of re-carpeting, which in a decent detached house can be rather expensive.
'So all your profits for maybe a year or more is now going on new carpets'.
He said her was 'wary' of letting to Indians after losing more than 12,000 in rent and re-carpeting costs over a six-month period because one of his properties smelled of curry.
Mr Wilson previously banned single mothers, battered wives, plumbers and low income earners from becoming tenants
Mr Wilson went on: 'I have taken an economic view, not a racist view. And I'm saying I believe 99% of other British people would do precisely the same.'
In a competitive housing market where demand for rental properties outstrips supply, Mr Wilson said: 'There are more people that want the properties, so why have the headache of this afterwards?'
He added it was difficult to recoup the cost of ridding a property of curry smells.
He said: 'The other thing is when you start pursuing people through the courts, the judge will say to you, 'Right, where's the photograph?'
'You can't take a photograph of a smell, can you?' Mr Wilson said.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission said Mr Wilson's instructions to the letting agent were 'unlawful' and it pledged to investigate.
And Hope Not Hate described Mr Wilson as 'the unacceptable face of the housing crisis' and compared him to the racist bigot Alf Garnett from BBC sitcom Till Death Us Do Part.
Mr Wilson, who has a vast property empire in Kent, has since been challenged on his diktat on 'coloured' people, but stood firm and said they are 'overloaded' with them.
List: This is the controversial document that lists what is not acceptable for Mr Wilson's tenants
Many of the homes owned by the couple are on the Park Farm estate near Ashford (pictured)
In January it emerged that the property tycoon banned single mothers, battered wives, plumbers and low income earners from becoming tenants.
Mr Wilson defended the document posted online which revealed the latest 'letting criteria' which he has issued to a letting agent.
The 69-year-old set out 11 stringent rules for those who will not be able to rent his properties, which also includes families with children, pet owners, smokers, single adults and workers on zero hours contracts.
He's even banned plumbers from renting out his properties as he believes they overcharge him while carrying out simple repairs and adding extra jobs to the list.
Instead only those who are able to afford rent and can provide a rent guarantee are to be accepted for his properties in 2017.
Fergus runs his Kent property empire along with his wife Judith and said he is continuing to sell-off properties, but that families and single parents pose a problem as it can take up to 13 months to get a possession order if he decides to sell.
Last year he campaigned to become Kent's Police and Crime Commissioner and vowed to take on the bullies who batter their girlfriends, wives or partners.
The Wilsons have bought houses along the M20 corridor, in Maidstone, Ashford and Folkestone
But he said that typically the bullies cause damage to his properties by kicking down front doors, and also causing damage inside the homes, therefore he doesn't wish to take on those who are victims of domestic violence.
In the document, which was issued at the end of December last year, Fergus said: 'Like any business, we are consistently fine tuning to best advantage..'
The multi-millionaire claimed he did not discriminate against minorities - as long as they pay the rent.
Fergus added: 'We do a letting criteria every year, and like four out of five landlords we don't accept those on low incomes and housing benefit.
'We have said nothing against lesbians and homosexuals or coloureds. As long as they can pay the rent. We are in business to make money so we make a selection based on a sensible business plan.
'If ever a person came in wearing pink socks and defaulted on rent, and it became a regular problem, then we would stop renting to people who wear pink socks.'
Mr Wilson and his wife Judith met training to be teachers at Goldsmiths College, London, in the 1960s then bought a first three-bedroom semi in Maidstone in 1975.
They realised the benefits of buying to let in the late 1980s, and quit their jobs as teachers to fully concentrate on their empire in the early 1990s.
The couple reportedly had around 1,000 properties, mainly around Ashford, Folkestone and Maidstone.
Previously Mr Wilson faced criticism after saying he preferred to let his properties to Eastern European migrants as they were less likely to default on rent payments than Britons on benefits.
He sent eviction notices to around 200 tenants on housing benefit, claiming the move would stop them from getting into more debt.
The FBI established a covert relationship with Best Buy's computer repair faction, the Geek Squad, in a 'joint venture to ferret out child porn,' court documents allege.
Records reveal that several workers were paid more than $500 from the FBI for identifying and reporting illicit images of children, and prosecutors argue that Best Buy was aware of the payments being made.
The Geek Squad was also reportedly developing a computer software to help the FBI find child pornography on their client's computers.
The FBI established a covert relationship with Best Buy's computer repair faction, the Geek Squad, in a 'joint venture to ferret out child porn,' court documents allege
The legal suit was filed on behalf of Orange County doctor Mark A. Rettenmaier, who specializes in gynecologic oncology, and was indicted in November 2014 on two counts of possession of child pornography after bringing his computer to Best Buy for repair.
All computers that are brought in for data recovery are sent to the Geek Squad facility in Brooks, Kentucky, and customers sign a waiver to allow employees to search their computers, and report any illegal material to authorities, according to the Washington Post.
Orange County doctor Mark A. Rettenmaier (pictured), who specializes in gynecologic oncology, was indicted in November 2014 on two counts of possession of child pornography
Though that is indisputable fact, the issue currently at stake is whether the FBI violated any person's fourth amendment rights to privacy by 'contracting' Geek Squad workers to delve deeper into the hard drives of their customers.
If a court finds that they did, it could mean the case against Rettenmaier gets thrown out. The 64-year-old also had hundreds of images of young girls on his phone - including some taken during gynecological exams, prosecutors allege.
Rettenmaier's lead lawyer, James Riddet, claims that the FBI had eight confidential informants at the Geek Squad headquarters in Kentucky between the years of 2007 and 2012.
In Rettenmaier's case, his lawyer alleges that records reveal a 'very close working relationship' between the supervisor who reported the illicit image and the FBI.
The supervisor, Justin Meade, reportedly sent 'dozens' of emails to a FBI agent in Louisville, Kentucky. Riddet wrote that Meade worked with the FBI for at least five years and was even given a code name by agents.
Riddet said that Meade 'sought out and scrolled through multiple images of suspected child porn to prepare them for viewing by the FBI.'
The issue currently at stake is whether the FBI violated any person's fourth amendment rights to privacy by 'contracting' Geek Squad workers to delve deeper into the hard drives of their customers
He argued that the Geek Squad employee probed 'unallocated' areas of Rettenmaier's computer meant for deleted files, and obtained a photo of a nude girl.
One image he reportedly possessed showed a 'fully nude, white prepubescent female on her hands and knees on a bed, with a brown choker-type collar around her neck.'
Court documents and testimony confirmed the claim that a number of workers received payments between $500 and $1,000 for their work with the FBI.
One Geek Squad worker said he was 'extremely reluctant' to receive any payment from the federal government for reporting illegal images.
'The FBI indicated to me they could not take the money back because they had to spend it as part of their budget,' he testified.
Riddet has argued that a federal judge should not allow the photos found on Rettenmaier's computer in the case, as they were obtained without a search warrant by 'government agents' - being the Geek Squad workers acting on behalf of the FBI
When he contacted the company's legal department, they told him that Best Buy had been 'put on notice' of payments from the FBI.
The FBI reportedly turned over the files on just four of the eight Geek Squad employees they worked with, Riddet said.
In regard to the receipt of payments, Best Buy told the Post: 'Any decision to accept payment was in very poor judgment and inconsistent with our training and policies.
'Three of these employees are no longer with the company and the fourth has been reprimanded and reassigned.'
Court documents allege that one employee told federal agents that he was 'writing a software program [that] would help them identify potential images of child pornography in their computer systems'.
Best Buy said that the software program in question was intended to be used for the computers employees operate on at the facility, rather than to snoop on the devices that come in.
Riddet has argued that a federal judge should not allow the photos found on Rettenmaier's computer in the case, as they were obtained without a search warrant by 'government agents' - being the Geek Squad workers acting on behalf of the FBI.
Shyam Acharya, 41, (pictured) worked under the name Sarang Chitale for 11 years undetected in Sydney hospitals
The bogus doctor who worked in NSW for more than a decade using a stolen identity has been fined the maximum penalty of $30,000 and ordered to pay $22,000 in legal costs.
Schyam Acharya worked undetected at Manly, Hornsby, Wyong and Gosford hospitals under the name Sarang Chitale for 11 years before he was uncovered as a fraud.
Acharya stole an Indian doctor's identity before moving to Australia in 2003 where he faked his citizenship, forged passport documents and doctored medical qualifications.
But he was not in Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court, or even in Australia, to hear he had been convicted and penalised by magistrate Jennifer Atkinson on Monday.
The 41-year-old left the country and fled to India three days after being served with a court attendance notice in January.
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Acharya also used his six-figure salary to take him on holidays across the world, as photos of him posing in front of the Louvre in Paris emerge on his private WhatsApp
In his absence, the magistrate found him guilty of falsely claiming he was authorised to work in the health system between July 21 and September 24, 2016, when he was employed at private medical research company Novotech.
Her sentencing related to just this charge, but she noted the background to the case which involved Acharya stealing various documents, including his university degree, from the real Dr Sarang Chitale.
Acharya had been staying with Dr Chitale and his grandmother in the Indian city of Pune from 1999 to 2000.
In 2003, he used the stolen documents and forged documents to gain registration with the Medical Board of NSW, and later used them to obtain Australian citizenship in Dr Chitale's name.
While he was working as a medical director at Novotech, which conducts drug trials, it was discovered he had the same UK medical registration number as the real Dr Chitale.
The medical fraud was not present in court when he was issued the $30,000 fine
Achayra worked at Manly (pictured), Hornsby, Wyong and Gosford hospitals under the stolen identity Sarang Chitale, where he went undetected for 11 years
'In my view, this matter is objectively at the most serious level of offending,' Ms Atkinson said, deciding to impose the maximum penalty.
'It is important in medical research that people who are properly qualified are carrying out the work ..... which can have a direct impact on members of the public.'
Aggravating features included the offence being committed without regard to public safety, in circumstance representing an abuse of trust, and for financial gain.
Several patients who were treated by Achayra during his 11 years as a doctor have also come forward and claimed he was rude and arrogant - and even refused medication to one woman.
NSW Health has launched an independent review into how authorities allowed and also failed to pick up the masquerade for more than a decade.
Theresa May has urged Mr Trump to persuade China to rein in North Korea
Theresa May has urged Donald Trump to focus on persuading China to deal with North Korea - after the US president warned the US could act alone to counter the growing threat.
The Prime Minister said the United Nations should be used to encourage Beijing to play a 'more significant role' in the standoff.
Kim Jong-un has intensified North Korea's nuclear programme despite international condemnation - fueling fears that it could soon be able to launch a nuclear-armed missile at America.
China has been heavily criticised for failing to take a tough line against the regime, which it props up with economic and diplomatic aid.
The Trump administration has made clear that it regards North Korea as its most imminent threat.
And the president has upped the ante by telling the Financial Times: 'Well, if China is not going to solve North Korea, we will.'
Speaking to reporters as she kicked off a three-day Middle East visit, Mrs May said: "I think what is crucial and where we have been working, and will continue to work through the United Nations Security Council, through resolutions which we have supported there, and with the United States, is to encourage China to look at this issue of North Korea and to play a more significant role in terms of North Korea.
"I think that's where our attention should focus."
Mr Trump is meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping next weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort on in Florida.
Asked if he would be able to cut a deal with the Chinese leader, Trump said he had great 'respect' for both Xi and China.
'I would not be at all surprised if we did something that would be very dramatic and good for both countries and I hope so,' he said.
Trump said he planned to bring up North Korea during the talks. 'China has great influence over North Korea,' the American president pointed out. 'And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they won't.'
A man who worked as a nurse in Melbourne has admitted waking up a patient and sexually assaulting her by applying cream to her genitals.
Jefferson Augustine, 34, appeared before the Victorian County Court on Monday after earlier pleading guilty to sexually assaulting three women between 2015 and 2016, including a patient at the hospital where he worked.
Augustine, from Singapore, has also admitted raping a housemate who had just moved into his home, and sexually assaulting a Belgian tourist who was couch surfing.
A Singaporean man who worked as a nurse in Melbourne has admitted waking up a patient and sexually assaulting her by applying cream to her genitals.
The prosecution says Augustine was working as a nurse at a Melbourne hospital in August 2015 when he woke up a woman and said he needed to apply cream to her genitals.
A few months after the hospital assault, Augustine advertised his home on a couch-surfing website where travellers can stay at people's homes free of charge.
A Belgian tourist, 26, arranged to spend two nights at Augustine's home in March 2016.
On the second night, she woke up on the couch to find Augustine standing near hear. He told her he was just checking on her.
After police seized his phone, they found three photos of the tourist, including one of Augustine pulling her pants down and touching her genitals.
Jefferson Augustine, 34, appeared before the Victorian County Court on Monday after earlier pleading guilty to sexually assaulting three women between 2015 and 2016
Augustine has also admitted raping a housemate who had just moved into his home, and sexually assaulting a Belgian tourist who was couch surfing.
A few days after sexually assaulting the tourist, Augustine advertised a room for rent, and a woman arranged to move into his home.
After sharing a meal together and a few drinks, the next thing the woman remembered was waking up naked in the bedroom with Augustine beside her.
She also had bite marks on her neck.
Police found photos on Augustine's phone of him touching and raping the woman while she was unconscious.
During a police interview, Augustine denied raping the woman and claimed everything that occurred was consensual.
'We got together,' he told police
He also told them he 'believed she can consent to sex while asleep because she was the one who asked him to have sex', the court heard.
Augustine will remain in custody until his plea hearing resumes on April 26.
When award-winning author Nickolas Butler comes to Chippewa Falls, he knows where hell end up.
A visit to Chippewa means a visit to the Tomahawk Room on Bridge Street after his reading.
I always have nice readings in Chippewa, and I usually go there afterward for some good conversation and a couple adult beverages, he said.
Butler recently released his newest novel, The Hearts of Men, and throughout April hes making stops throughout the country to discuss his second novel. But Butler, who intends to live in the Chippewa Valley my whole life, is starting his visit close to home.
The first stop of his tour is at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 6 at the Chippewa Falls Public Library, 105 W. Central St.
The Hearts of Men, which is a finalist for two foreign literature awards in France, follows over 50 years of American history starting in the 1960s. It focuses on the lives of two young boys, Nelson and Jonathan, who meet at a Boy Scout camp in northern Wisconsin, and then moves through the next six decades of their lives.
This is a great book to get deeply immersed in one characters life, Butler said. Its a page-turning examination of one person, and Nelson is the kind of character youre going to want to root for.
Similar to his first novel, Shotgun Lovesongs, the book is focused on Wisconsin and examines friendship, family and love.
I seem to be drawn to these characters that take place in our part of the world, he said. But its also written from a different vantage point in my life. America has changed in the time since I wrote Shotgun Lovesongs, Ive changed as a person. In some ways, its maybe a more mature book.
Like many authors, Butler writes about what he knows, and he thinks its working. With international recognition (it is being translated into several foreign languages) and visits to Iowa, Illinois and Texas on his tour, its hard to disagree.
Still, hes young in his career, and has ideas about writing outside of Wisconsin some day.
There may come a time in my career where I write about another part of the country or the world, I can totally see that happening, Butler said. But thats maybe two or three books out. Im proud of where I came from so why wouldnt I write about it?
Joe Niese, the librarys director who has known Butler for a couple years and recently discovered the two played Little League back in the day. Niese, who has written books himself, is drawn to Butlers style of writing, especially his descriptions of people, places and things. He was happily satisfied with The Hearts of Men.
Its on par with his previous works, if not better, Niese said. As he gets deeper into his writing, hes only going to improve.
Niese is excited for Butler to discuss his book at the library, not only on a personal level but also because of what it means for the community.
The whole writing community in the Chippewa Valley has blown up in the last five or six years, Niese said. We have writers who are known locally, had a couple books published, but to have someone on the level of a Michael Perry or a Nickolas Butler, who still arent too big for the writing community, is really inspiring.
Niese expects a fairly large crowd Wednesday night, and thinks its a great opportunity to not only support a local author, but a local library as well.
Butler will have books available for purchase and signing following the event.
The desperate efforts of a father who dove into a flood-swollen river in a bid to rescue his wife and children after their car was dragged in failed.
His attempt came after his hysterical daughter ran screaming to raise the alarm after she escaped the sinking car, but her mother and siblings remained trapped inside.
The woman and brother and sister, aged about six and 12, are feared dead after their vehicle went into the Tweed River at Tumbulgum in northern New South Wales on Monday afternoon, about 1.40pm.
The 10-year-old girl managed to escape the vehicle as it was dragged into the water and residents at a house nearby came to her aid.
Witnesses revealed the girl's father dove into the freezing river along with several others in a bid to save his family, but they were unable to find the car in the murky water.
'The husband came down, and dad and two other boys just jumped into the water and couldn't dive deep enough,' witness Sophie Grinham told Seven.
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Three people are feared dead after a car was swept into a flood-swollen river in northern New South Wales. Pictured, emergency services at the scene
The search to recover their bodies from was suspended at around 6.30pm on Monday
Police divers are travelling up from Sydney to join the operation when it resumes on Tuesday
Another witness, Thomas Grinham, also saw the young girl reporting her family members were swept by floodwaters.
'She was screaming (that) her mum, little sister and older brother had gone into the river in the car,' he told the Seven Network on Monday.
And a retired highway patrol officer revealed he tried to save the occupants of the sinking car, but couldn't reach it.
Matt Grinham dived into the freezing river with three other men immediately after seeing the crash while cleaning up flood damage at a family member's house.
They followed the bubbles in the water as the submerged car continued downstream but were unable to reach it.
'We were going down feet first trying to work out where the car was,' he told the Gold Coast Bulletin.
The vehicle went into the Tweed River off Dulguigan Road in Tumbulgum at 1.40pm
'Then we tried diving a couple of times but the water was so brown and cold, the flood run off is freezing down there.
'The car was completely submerged when we got there.'
Police located the vehicle, but have yet to recover the missing woman and children's bodies.
The search was suspended on Monday evening, but will resume on Tuesday morning with police divers joining the operation.
The girl reportedly told police that her mother, younger sister and older brother were in the car.
New South Wales police located the submerged vehicle using sonar equipment at 3.25pm
The vehicle was found underwater five metres from the northern riverbank
A girl escaped from the trapped vehicle and ran to a nearby house to raise the alarm. Pictured, emergency services at the scene
Peter Taylor, another witness, told 9News: 'A little girl's run down the road and she's said her family's gone into the river.
'Her feet were bleeding apparently. Then they called the ambulance and called the police.'
The child was taken to Tweed Heads Hospital for bruises and cuts and was being cared for by family members.
She is not believed to be in a life-threatening condition, however a NSW Ambulance spokesman told Daily Mail Australia that she 'will have been submerged for some time.'
The search to recover the bodies of the car's occupants was suspended at around 6.30pm on Monday, around three hours after the submerged vehicle was located using sonar equipment.
New South Wales Police told Daily Mail Australia that sonar was being used to search for the lost vehicle. Pictured, police at the scene
Both a helicopter and boats using sonar searched for the vehicle, which was found underwater at 3.25pm
The child has been taken to Tweeds Head Hospital while the emergency services (pictured at the scene) continue to search for the missing car
Police divers are travelling up from Sydney to join the operation when it resumes on Tuesday morning, NSW Police said.
A crime scene guard will remain at the scene overnight.
Road closures are in place for two kilometres south from the intersection of Dulguigan and MacCauley's roads.
New South Wales police found the vehicle underwater around five metres from the northern riverbank at 3.25pm less than two hours after it went missing.
Tumbulgum, which lies just south of the Queensland border, was badly hit by floods following Cyclone Debbie, with record rainfall.
It is not clear if the road was flooded at the time of the incident, however the river is strewn with debris following the floods.
The girl, whose age has not been confirmed, is not believed to be in a life-threatening condition. Pictured, police at the scene
The vehicle is believed to have left Dulguigan Road and ended up in the Tweed River in Tumbulgum, New South Wales, at about 1.40pm
Police say the local community will no doubt be affected by the news.
'We're concerned it is a tragic event that will unfold over the evening and we understand that it is going to have a major impact on the family and the Tweed community,' NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Jeff Loy told the ABC.
It's the latest tragedy in what's been a devastating few days for flood-hit northern NSW residents, with two women aged 36 and 64 confirmed dead and a man dying of a heart attack.
A massive clean-up operation is under way as communities pick up the pieces of ruined homes and businesses.
Lismore, Murwillumbah and Tweed Heads residents have been given the all-clear to return home after floodwaters washed through the region over the past three days.
Raymond Sculley, pictured, was found not guilty of murder and manslaughter after a trial at the Old Bailey in London
A painter and decorator has been cleared of killing a Czech man in a street attack which sparked fears of post-Brexit violence.
Raymond Sculley was accused of beating popular catering manager Zdenek Makar to death with a bicycle lock after their paths briefly crossed at a chicken shop in east London on the evening of September 21 last year.
After the killing of the young professional, known as Zed, Prime Minister Theresa May offered her condolences to her Czech counterpart amid fears the incident was post-Brexit violence.
Following a trial at the Old Bailey, Sculley, 29, from Tower Hamlets, was found not guilty of murdering the 'big-hearted' victim.
He was also acquitted of an alternative charge of manslaughter.
Jurors had heard the 31-year-old victim worked at the Royal Institute of British Architects and was on his way home from drinks with colleagues when Sculley attacked him.
Sculley had spent the evening playing video games, smoking cannabis and chatting with friends before he went to Perfect Chicken in East India Dock Road just as Mr Makar arrived.
Seeing their bicycles strewn on the pavement outside, Mr Makar allegedly joked to one of Sculley's friends: 'What's this? A bike gang?'
After the killing of Zdenek Makar, pictured, Prime Minister Theresa May offered her condolences to her Czech counterpart
It led to a minor spat with the youth inside the chicken shop before Sculley stepped in and put Mr Makar into a 'quasi-headlock', jurors heard.
Sculley, wearing paint-splattered work clothes, was seen on CCTV footage acting aggressively towards the suited hospitality manager, who was trying to calm the situation, the court heard.
As Mr Makar continued on his way, the defendant and his friends followed on bikes, the court heard.
Prosecutor Lisa Wilding QC had said: 'Mr Makar obviously believed he was being followed and turned to confront the group.
Sculley, pictured, was seen on CCTV footage acting aggressively towards hospitality manager Mr Makar, the court heard
'He put his food down and took his jacket off. He was alone and unarmed.
'Raymond Sculley then removed a bicycle lock, a heavy metal chain attached to a solid locking end that he took from his own bike, and approached the helpless Mr Makar.
'He swung the improvised weapon and struck Mr Makar to the left side of his head, catching him behind the ear and knocking him to the ground where he then struck him at least twice more.'
As Mr Makar lay dying in the street, Sculley stood over him and allegedly said: 'Look what you made me do.'
Sculley, pictured, handed himself in saying he felt 'destroyed' and 'like I've destroyed potential lives and future careers'
Another passing cyclist saw the end of the attack and dialled 999 as residents rushed to help but Mr Makar was pronounced dead shortly afterwards.
Two days later, two of Sculley's friends went to police to report him for the attack.
The same day, Sculley handed himself in saying he felt 'destroyed' and 'like I've destroyed potential lives and future careers'.
Giving evidence, Sculley denied murdering Mr Makar, claiming he did not intent to kill him and was acting in self defence.
Sick ISIS militants are planting booby trap bombs inside teddy bears and televisions in war-ravaged Syria.
The barbarians are targeting children by hiding deadly devices within innocent-looking toys like dolls, as well as under carpets, in fridges and in doorways.
Hundreds of people have been killed or maimed as they return to homes and villages once held by Islamic State as the frontlines in northern Syria shift.
Sick ISIS militants are planting booby trap bombs inside teddy bears and televisions in war-ravaged Syria (pictured, a displaced Syrian girl at a refugee camp in Damascus)
ISIS are leaving behind a deadly devices, unexploded ordnance and a landscape littered with mines as they retreat, sparking urgent calls for demining.
Doctors, patients and their families in northern Syria revealed a shocking catalogue of cunningly disguised bombs planted in roads and fields.
Karline Kleijer, Medecins Sans Frontieres' emergency manager for Syria, said militants were even planting bombs in fridges.
'It is extremely dangerous for people returning to their homes,' he said.
'Booby traps have been planted everywhere, under the carpet, in the fridge, even in children's teddy bears.'
MSF's new report on the warzone, called 'Set to explode', said hundreds of people have been killed or maimed as they return to homes.
The barbarians are targeting children by hiding deadly devices within innocent-looking objects like dolls, as well as under carpets, in fridges and in doorways (file photo)
The charity quoted an unnamed explosive ordnance disposal expert who worked in northern Syria.
They warned that booby traps and mines were left to hinder enemies, but also to deliberately target people returning to their homes.
Some are cased in steel to inflict maximum casualties through shrapnel.
In the weeks after Islamic State fighters were pushed out of the Ayn Al Arab/Kobane areas in 2015, MSF said it has records of 67 people being killed or injured by 45 explosions.
MSF, which runs six medical facilites in northern Syria, carried out interviews from last October to February.
It said that in four weeks last summer, hospital staff in the Manbij area alone treated more than 190 people injured by blasts from explosive devices.
Medecins Sans Frontieres' medics, patients and their families in northern Syria revealed a shocking catalogue of cunningly disguised bombs planted in roads and fields
The report includes testimony from Jasem, a resident of Jirn village, near Tal Abyad, who lives in a house with two mines planted metres from the door.
'I can't sleep because I'm always worried that one of my four children, or a dog or a sheep, will step on one of the mines around the house. When an animal approaches the house, we all run away in case it detonates a mine,' he said.
The MSF report said the aftermath of Islamic State's occupation of the Ayn Al Arab/Kobane and Manbij areas is strikingly similar to the aftermath in Palmyra and Ramadi in Iraq and Sirte in Libya.
No humanitarian agency or military force is in Syria to start demining so some local police and untrained and ill-equipped local people take on the job, the charity said.
Ms Kleijer said: 'People are risking their lives to make their villages safe. We heard about five local men in Ayn Al Arab/Kobane who volunteered to clear houses of mines to earn some money. None of those men are alive today.'
MSF called on all sides involved in the war in Syria to allow humanitarian demining activities in the north of the country and for western nations to significantly step up support for the work.
House Speaker Paul Ryan's decision to tweet his World Autism Awareness Day pin backfired when he riled up people angry about his support for Trump's Medicaid plans.
Ryan tweeted a photo of his pin with the message '#LightItUpBlue for #AutismAwareness' on Sunday.
That resulted in an outpouring of furious tweets accusing him of hypocrisy for wanting to repeal Obamacare, which they argued would make it harder for autistic people to seek treatment.
Slammed: Paul Ryan came under fire on Twitter after he tweeted a picture of himself wearing a World Autism Awareness Day pin
Controversial: Ryan's support for the awareness-raising cause was criticized by many who said the Trump ACA repeal he supported would have hurt autistic people
Trump's plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act fell apart at the eleventh hour after Ryan and the White House proved incapable of swinging enough Republicans to their side.
Some objected to the overhaul as it would leave their constituents uninsured - with one Congressional report saying that as many as 24 million Americans would have lost their insurance by 2026 under the plans.
That's at least in part because the new plans would have once again allowed companies to refuse to insure people with preexisting conditions - such as autism.
But many more said it didn't go far enough in gutting Obamacare.
Although Ryan pulled the act on March 24 before it could go to vote, some on the web clearly didn't forget his enthusiastic support of Trump's plan.
Especially when he wore that Autism Awareness Day pin.
'Great pin!' wrote Dennis Perkins. 'Now you're still committed to stealing autistic people's healthcare, right?'
'Theft': Ryan was accused of being a healthcare thief. The Trump plan would have let insurance companies to refuse care to people with pre-existing conditions such as autism
Another Twitter user, Melina Perez, was more enthusiastic about Ryan's pin, tweeting: 'Thank you for representing children like my son!!!!!'
That tweet was followed by a string of complaints pointing out what some described as hypocrisy on the politician's part.
'Did you know that Ryan's AHCA bill would mean that your son would lose access to services as an adult, due to medicaid cuts?' asked David M Perry.
'He's cutting funding for medical research, that includes autism,' wrote Angela Zagami. 'But sure he's wearing the pin.'
'You also realize that he supports Betsy DeVoss's plan to make your special needs son's IEP [Individualized Education Program] irrelevant and null and void too?'
Represented? This mom liked Ryan's tweet - but others told her that he had put her son at risk. Ryan pulled the vote when it was clear the act wouldn't pass, but people remembered
Cuts: Other users complained that Ryan was supporting cuts to medical research, including autism research
Melina replied: 'We will see, thanks for this info. God bless you have a great Sunday!'
The issue of school funding was raised again by Tabitha Walden, who tweeted: 'I'd rather you FUND special needs in schools, than wear blue.'
'Wearing blue is fast and easy. Cheap too,' replied Sue Grace Krokosz.
Stephanie Rodham asked Ryan 'How can you sleep at night?' to which Robert Tayor quipped: 'On piles of lobbyist money.'
'Wow, you've got a lot of nerve,' said a user with the name Tulipsarebest. 'Fitting you should do this while trump touts sex abuse awareness. We are all aware: you two are the problem.'
'"Watch me do a cheap visual gesture while I commit to murdering special needs kids" is a lost chapter from "the virtue of selfishness,"' said a user named 'Gerry Adams Cosplay,' referring to the Ayn Rand book.
Education: Others were concerned about education cuts Paul Ryan had supported, and which could result in Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) for disabled kids being dropped
Funding: One user said she'd prefer it if Ryan would spend time funding schools rather than tweeting pictures, but another user said the pins were 'fast and easy' and 'cheap'
'Lies': This user simply posted a gif from the movie Elf accusing Ryan of being a liar. However, most tweets were angry rather than funny
But the most lengthy and saddening screed was by Alison Rex, who wrote: 'I have a child who has both autism and multiple medical disabilities.
'[Paul Ryan's] healthcare plan would have greatly changed the future for her.
'A future we have busted our butts for years to help her reach. Medication wise alone it could've destroyed our family and business.
'It's impossible. Epilepsy meds, more medically needed to live meds, therapies, equipment, hospitalizations... without Medicaid we'd drown.
'What's more, take away those therapies now and her quality of life and reality of future become grim. Then with no 21+ supports. So scared.'
On Sunday Trump tweeted that the plans to repeal and replace Obamacare had not stopped and that a deal would 'hopefully' be struck thanks to the 'love' in the Republican party.
'Talks on Repealing and Replacing ObamaCare are, and have been, going on, and will continue until such time as a deal is hopefully struck,' he wrote.
'Anybody (especially Fake News media) who thinks that Repeal & Replace of ObamaCare is dead does not know the love and strength in R Party!'
Continuing: President Trump dashed off two tweets on Sunday about getting an Obamacare repeal and replace bill passed
Sacked Sky News presenter Mark Latham has launched his own news and current affairs page and named it after the program he was booted from.
The former Labor leader set up a Facebook page for 'Mark Latham's Outsiders' on Friday promising to 'push back against the insider political elites.'
In short video posted to the page on Monday, he promised his 'politically incorrect' site would 'restore Australian values.'
He also claimed he will provide his fans with 'well-researched information' and vowed there will be 'no fake news.'
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Sacked Sky News presenter Mark Latham has launched his own news and current affairs page and named it after the program he was booted from
'Welcome to Mark Latham's Outsiders, Australia's most politically incorrect news and current affairs site,' Mr Latham says in the 50-second clip.
'We've heard so many changes about Australia safe schools, safe spaces, 18C, cultural Marxism through all our institutions, the universities, the ABC, the Human Rights Commission, the whole lot.
'Well, we need to push back against this rubbish to restore Australian values.
'So many people say to me, 'We're losing our country, Mark, these changes haven't been discussed, they're not democratically decided. We want someone to stand up for us.'
He adds: 'Well, that's what we aim to do here at Mark Latham's Outsiders. No namby-pamby PC.
'We give the straight talk, well-researched information, no fake news, none of the rubbish you see in the mainstream media who are too scared to stand up for our country.
In short video posted to the page on Sunday, he promised his 'politically incorrect' site would 'restore Australian values'
'You get the fair dinkum stuff here, welcome to the website and support us all the way.'
It comes after Sky News axed political commentary program Outsiders shortly after ousting Latham on Wednesday.
He had co-hosted the show alongside ex-Liberal MP Ross Cameron and Spectator Australia editor Rowan Dean.
Mr Latham was dumped by the network following a string of offensive comments, most recently for branding a Sydney schoolboy 'gay' for appearing in a pro-feminism video.
Mr Latham (pictured) was dumped by Sky News following a series of controversies last week
Mr Latham (centre) had co-hosted the show alongside ex-Liberal MP Ross Cameron (left) and Spectator Australia editor Rowan Dean (right)
And last month, Kristina Keneally, a former NSW premier and Sky News contributor, complained to Sky bosses about Mr Latham referring to her as a 'Yankee sheila' on Outsiders.
Meanwhile, radio show host Wendy Harmer took legal action against Mr Latham for suggesting she was only able to get a job at the ABC because she was a 'female with a disability.'
In 2015, Mr Latham was forced to resign his job as a columnist with the Australian Financial Review after making disparaging comments about anti-domestic violence campaigner Rosie Batty.
A Twitter account linked to Mr Latham's email address was used to send abusive messages to Ms Batty, a former Australian of the Year.
He also referred to transgender News Corp columnist Catherine McGregor as a 'he/she.'
Mr Latham has reactivated that Twitter account in the wake of his sacking and used it to slam his former Sky News colleagues.
The hunt is on for a gunman who fatally shot a Texas deputy constable as he arrived for work on Monday.
Harris County Assistant Chief Deputy Clinton Greenwood, 57, suffered a single gunshot wound in the ambush outside a Baytown courthouse at 7am this morning. The 30-year law enforcement veteran was airlifted to Houston hospital where he died.
'It's a hit, no doubt,' one top law official working with the police told The Chronicle. 'He basically got ambushed.'
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Harris County Assistant Chief Deputy Clinton Greenwood (pictured last year) was shot and killed this morning as he arrived at work
Investigators are not yet sure whether Greenwood, a husband and father, was targeted individually or because he was in uniform.
But his death has sparked a huge manhunt around the area and led to the lockdown of a nearby high school and local intersections as part of their search efforts. Access to businesses in the area was limited as law enforcement helicopters searched by air and officers spread into nearby neighborhoods.
Montgomery County sheriff's Lt. Tim Cannon told the Houston Chronicle that he had known Greenwood for decades and was struggling to understand who would harm him.
'Clint was absolutely a target, for whatever reason. We don't know,' he said. 'But he didn't need to be a target. Clint was there to help. And whoever this person was, Clint probably would have reached out to help him as well.'
'Whether or not he was specifically targeted, or whether this was because of the uniform he was wearing or the place he pulled up to in the morning, we just don't know that right now,' Baytown police Lt. Steve Dorris added.
Authorities investigate the scene where Harris County Precinct 3 Assistant Chief Deputy Clinton Greenwood was fatally shot outside the Baytown courthouse
The body of Harris County Precinct 3 Assistant Chief Deputy Clinton Greenwood is escorted to the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences, Monday
Greenwood received his law license in the 1980s and worked for the Harris County district attorney's office.
At one point, he oversaw the office's civil rights division. He also once served as part of the command staff for the Harris County sheriff's office, one of the busiest in the country.
'My heart goes out to the family and friends of Assistant Chief Deputy Greenwood and the Harris County law enforcement community in the wake of this heinous murder,' Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement.
'Texas is taking action to strengthen penalties for those brazen enough to commit crimes against law enforcement, and we will send a message that such vile acts will not be tolerated.'
'Thousands of men and women faithfully wear the badge of a Texas peace officer day in and day out in Houston and Harris County,' added Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez. 'They answer a high call to service for their fellow man. That was the call that Assistant Chief Clint Greenwood answered over decades of service. His bravery and sacrifice will not be forgotten and will not go unanswered.'
The shooting of Greenwood was reminiscent of the 2013 slaying of a prosecutor as he exited his car and walked into work southeast of Dallas.
Authorities say the gunman who killed Mark Hasse outside the Kaufman County courthouse later fatally shot the county's district attorney and his wife. The deaths were retribution after Hasse and District Attorney Mike McLelland prosecuted gunman Eric Williams for the theft of county equipment, authorities have said.
Former national security advisor Susan Rice asked dozens of times for the names of Donald Trump associates to be 'unmasked' in foreign surveillance reports.
Rice is the Obama administration official whose name became a punchline after her repeated false claims that the 2012 Benghazi terror attacks were caused by a crude Internet video.
From her position as chief of the National Security Council, according to a Bloomberg columnist, Rice asked government agencies to identify names that had been withheld from raw intelligence reports linked with Trump campaign and transition figures.
There is not necessarily anything illegal or unusual about a national security adviser seeking to unmask names in raw reports, in order to fully understand the meaning of intercepted conversations.
Former U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice asked intelligence agencies dozens of times to 'unmask' the names of Donald Trump associates that were redacted from raw intelligence reports, it has emerged
Rice, shown in the White House situation room (at left) listening to former president Barack Obama, is now at the center of the firestorm over whether they snooped on Trump during the 2016 election season
President Donald Trump claimed in a series of March 4 tweets that Obama had 'wiretapped' him before the November election; he later clarified that he was talking broadly about secret surveillance
But in this case those identities including the name of then-National Security Advisor Mike Flynn were subsequently leaked and made public.
That is a federal felony.
The first drip of information hinting at Rice's involvement came Friday when Fox News reported that the names of several Trumpworld figures were exposed by someone 'very well known, very high up, very senior in the intelligence world.'
WHAT IS UNMASKING? When U.S. intelligence services conduct surveillance of foreign targets, it's possible that American citizens can be swept up in recorded conversations, intercepted emails or other surveillance. That can happen when Americans who are not targets of an investigation are 'incidentally' captured talking to a target. it can also occur when targets merely mention them during a conversation or in a document. When this happens, intelligence analysts routinely delete the Americans' names and replace them with vague identifiers like 'U.S. Person Number One' or 'Person A' masking their identity from other government officials who may look at reports. Senior intelligence officials can request the 'unmasking' of those names under certain circumstances, but that creates a risk that the names will be leaked. Advertisement
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said last week that the Trump administration had uncovered unspecified material 'in the normal course of business,' which was then shared with the House Intelligence Committee's Republican chairman Devin Nunes.
Bloomberg reports that the National Security Council was conducting a review of U.S. policy on how people's identities can be unmasked after their communications are captured incidentally in the course of conducting foreign surveillance.
That routine inquiry apparently uncovered a pattern of Rice's requests.
The names of U.S. citizens who aren't the targets of court-approved snooping are typically replaced with designations such as 'U.S. Person One' or 'Person A' before reports can be circulated to the broad variety of American intelligence agencies.
Ezra Cohen-Watnick, one of the Trump administration intelligence officials who showed Nunes the mysterious materials last week, was conducting the 'unmasking' review.
He brought his concerns about Rice's behavior to the White House counsel's office in February before President Trump began tweeting claims on March 4 that the Obama administration 'wiretapped' him at his private New York city office.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes got a sneak peek last week at intelligence reports at the White House which are now believed to be security logs showing how often Rice asked to know which Trump officials were identified 'incidentally' in court-approved foreign snooping
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Friday that unspecified documents seen by Nunes were uncovered 'in the normal course of business'
Rice had access to intelligence reports that also contained 'valuable political information on the Trump transition such as whom the Trump team was meeting, the views of Trump associates on foreign policy matters and plans for the incoming administration,' according to Bloomberg.
It's not known whether the president was told, before his now famous tweet storm, what the White House counsel's office had learned.
But Trump told Financial Times on Saturday that his tweets are 'turning out to be true.'
Rice insisted last month that she was in the dark about any efforts to identify Trump-linked private individuals in intelligence reports, after Nunes publicly referred to 'unmasking.'
'I know nothing about this,' she told PBS. 'I was surprised to see reports from Chairman Nunes on that account today.'
Trump hasn't stopped tweeting about reports that support his March claims that he was surveilled for political purposes
'The real story turns out to be SURVEILLANCE and LEAKING! Find the leakers,' Trump tweeted on Sunday.
He continued to cite the Fox News Channel on Monday, writing on Twitter that the network reported 'from multiple sources: "There was electronic surveillance of Trump, and people close to Trump. This is unprecedented".'
Heartwarming scenes show Dubai's Crown Prince also become the 'people's prince' when he used his luxury Mercedes 4x4 to rescue a rubbish truck bogged in the sand.
Gilded royal, Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, known as Fazza, has an estimated family fortune of $12billion.
Fazza was captured on Instagram helping out the driver of a large truck which appears to have become stuck in desert sand.
Heartwarming footage shared on Instagram show Dubai's Crown Prince also become the 'people's prince' when he uses his luxury Mercedes 4x4 to rescue a rubbish truck bogged down in the sand
The video footage, shows a black Mercedes AMG G63 towing a 12-wheel truck through a sandy stretch of road.
Before the prince was able to fully tow the truck out of the sand it first had to empty some of its load to ease the burden.
At one stage the Mercedes gets stuck itself before more vehicles combine to form a chain and complete the desert rescue
Sheikh Hamdan will take over rule in Dubai in the future, and claims a stint at Sandhurst taught him the benefits of 'self-discipline, commitment, virtue and responsibility'.
The prince is a keen rider, much like his father who owns the Godolphin racing team - which is one of the most famous racing establishments in the world.
The video footage, shows a black Mercedes AMG G63 towing a 12-wheel truck through a sandy stretch of road
The footage was uploaded on Instagram where the royal has thousands of followers. Hamdan is also an avid diver, amateur skydiver and enjoys writing romantic poetry
Action man Hamdan is also an avid diver, amateur skydiver and enjoys writing romantic poetry.
He also has a well-known love of animals.
And judging from his altruism in helping the worker, he is loved by the people of UAE too.
A man has admitted carrying out a number of high-profile cyber attacks on police websites and British Airways.
Paul Dixon, 23, caused mayhem when he took down the websites of Police Scotland, Durham Constabulary, Cex and British Airways.
It was claimed he cost British Airways up to 100,000 after he disabled the website for one hour.
Dixon, of Seaham, County Durham, is due to be sentenced on May 4.
Paul Dixon has admitted carrying out a number of high-profile cyber attacks on police websites and British Airways
The 23-year-old denied the offences which took place between October 16-26 in 2014 at Newcastle Crown Court last May, but changed his plea as the trial was due to begin.
Dixon pleaded guilty to five counts of unauthorised access to computers with intent to impair by denial of service to legitimate customers.
Judge Stephen Earl told Dixon: 'In relation to this matter you have pleaded guilty, therefore will be sentenced.
Dixon, 23, caused mayhem when he took down the websites of Police Scotland, Durham Constabulary, Cex and British Airways (Stock image)
'From this moment you are subjected to bail at your home in Seaham, where you must stay every night.
'Should you breach these terms or commit a further offence your bail will be removed.'
If you're scared of snakes then look away now!
Fear-inducing photographs show Roni Kurniawan, 22, from the Indonesian province of Riau, fearlessly handling two giant King Cobras with their forked tongues just inches from his face.
Fortunately the scaly serpents have had their venomous teeth removed to prevent a potentially-fatal bite. They were rescued from a local village after residents called on the experienced snake charmer for help.
Roni apparently wrangled the beasts - which are capable of killing an elephant with a single bite - with his bare hands before performing a little bit of high-risk dental work.
According to one local Indonesian paper, one of Ronis new 13-foot-long snakes, named Ice, bit him after having its fangs taken out. Roni merely likened the sharp nip to an insect bite.
Luckily he survived the ordeal injury-free, although his pet serpent was hit by the flu following the incident.
News of Ronis animal handling abilities hit the press after a video of him in action surfaced on Facebook. The hair-raising footage soon garnered more than 800,000 hits with many viewers expressing shock towards Ronis carefree approach.
King Cobras can reach up to 18 feet in length and can live up to 20 years in the wild. Roni apparently started handling snakes as a teenager and now he earns a living removing them from the homes of his terrified neighbours.
Elizabeth Hart-Browne is accused of the murder of Stephen Rayner (pictured)
A jeweller accused of murdering her boyfriend in a Champagne-fuelled rage told a court how she once had to hit him with her stiletto to protect herself after he grabbed her by the throat outside a nightclub.
Elizabeth Hart-Browne, 27, stabbed Stephen Rayner, 25, three times with a kitchen knife after drinking at a party on the night of 17 September last year.
The mother-of-two is said to have carried out the murder in their flat in Acton, west London as her small children slept in bedrooms just feet away following a string of rows about Mr Rayner having an affair.
But Hart-Browne, who was the assistant manager at Ernest Jones flagship jewellery store in the Westfield shopping centre, denies murder, claiming her partner of six-years was stabbed to death accidentally in the course of a violent struggle.
Giving evidence at the Old Bailey today she told how she was regularly the victim of domestic violence, but insisted she was happy in the relationship.
Hart-Browne said she quickly fell for Mr Rayner after they met by chance in Belushis bar in Hammersmith, west London towards the end of 2010.
He was funny. He was a really great character. He would be friends with everybody. A really nice guy, she said.
I fell in love with him very quickly. There was nothing I didnt like about him.
But she explained how she suffered a suspected fractured wrist very soon into the relationship during a row outside the Hammersmith Apollo in February 2011.
I just thought it was an accident, she said. It was a bit rough the way he was pulling me, but I didnt think it was an assault.
Hart-Browne stabbed Rayner three times with a kitchen knife after drinking champagne at a party on the night of 17 September last year, the court heard
Around a year later, on 25 February 2012, Mr Rayner attacked Hart-Browne outside Liquid nightclub in Uxbridge during a night out to celebrate her sisters 18th birthday.
She said the argument started over her previous partner, who Mr Rayner called a paedophile when he was angry.
Hart-Browne explained: I had a drink in my hand. It was water. There was a bit left in the glass. I splashed him with it and told him to cool down, at which point he threw the table over in the club.
She told jurors Mr Rayner was thrown out of the venue and that he was angry with her when she followed him outside.
He attacked me. He put his hand around my throat and was telling me to tell him that I dont care about him. I was asking him to let me go.
He had his hand very tightly around my throat. I ended up falling to the floor.
Two men came to her aid, but were also attacked by Mr Rayner, who by this time was bare-chested having taken off his shirt, she said.
He came at me again, took me by the throat again. I hit him on the head with my [stiletto] shoe to get him off me.
Mr Rayner attacked Hart-Browne outside Liquid nightclub in Uxbridge during a night out to celebrate her sisters 18th birthday, forcing her to defend herself with a stilleto
Mr Rayner was arrested and received an 18-month community order at Uxbridge Magistrates Court, including a domestic violence programme.
But Hart-Browne told of a third occasion where she was left unconscious following another row, while they were living together at her mothers house.
We were having an argument about something...He pushed me, I landed on a mirror hanging on the wall. The mirror broke, a piece went into my back. I just went when I hit the floor, she said.
Stephen was shouting, I think Ive killed her, I think Ive killed her, to my mum.
But she said: I have always been happy with Stephen. Obviously we had our ups and downs with our relationship.
But I have never been unhappy with our relationship.
I didnt like what went on in our relationship at times, but I wasnt unhappy.
Following such incidents, Hart-Browne said she would try to talk to Mr Rayner so it would not happen again.
Hart-Browne, of Acton, denies murdering Mr Rayner, originally from New Milton, Hampshire
She added: I have always been happy with Stephen. Obviously we had our ups and downs with our relationship.
But I have never been unhappy with our relationship.
I didnt like what went on in our relationship at times, but I wasnt unhappy.
Hart-Browne admits striking the blows that killed Mr Rayner and was seen leaning over him as he lay in a pool of blood outside their block of flats.
When police and the ambulance arrived Mr Rayner showed no signs of life, while Hart-Browne was crying, barefoot and wearing one earring.
The court heard she told an officer she had stabbed him, adding: I didnt mean to do it, Im so sorry.
When she was arrested for murder, Hart-Browne said: I have just killed the man I love.
Hart-Browne, of Acton, denies murdering Mr Rayner, originally from New Milton, Hampshire.
The trial continues.
As of Monday afternoon, a man (a facial composite of the attacker pictured above) accused of raping a young woman in Siegaue Nature Reserve had not been found by police
Police in western Germany are searching for a man who is suspected of raping a young woman on a nature reserve after threatening her and her boyfriend with a machete.
The young couple were on a camping trip in the Siegaue Nature Reserve, north of the former German capital of Bonn when they were approached by a man at about 12.30am on Sunday.
The man had approached their tent holding a large knife - believed to be a machete - and threatened the couple before demanding the 23-year-old woman leave the tent with him, according to police.
He then raped the woman in front of the tent before running off in the direction of the Rhine River, police said.
The womans 26-year-old boyfriend, who had also been threatened by the man, contacted police and medical responders took her to the hospital.
A medical assessment performed on Monday confirmed that the woman, who has not been publicly named, was raped, according to The Local.
A young couple were camping in the Siegaue Nature Reserve, north of the former German capital of Bonn when they were approached by the man, who threatened them with a machete before raping the woman on Sunday
Police are now searching for the man accused of raping the woman, who is described as a dark-skinned male between 20 and 30 years old. He is believed to be 5ft 9in.
At the time of the crime, the man was wearing light denim jeans and a jacket. The couple said that he spoke broken English.
As of Monday afternoon, the man had not been located by investigators, despite helicopters and sniffer dogs trying to track him.
People who have information relating to the incident have been asked to call police at 0228-15.
Stuart Gallear is accused of murdering his wife Mandy, pictured, after learning she was 'having an affair with a joiner'
A man stabbed his accountant wife to death the day after he discovered she was having an affair with a joiner, a jury has heard.
Stuart Gallear, 51, told police he 'lost it' and attacked her with a kitchen knife at the marital home in Hindley, near Wigan, on October 6 last year.
Police arrived at the address within 10 minutes of the defendant ringing for an ambulance and found Mandy Gallear, 42, lying motionless on the kitchen floor with three deep wounds to her chest.
Mrs Gallear, head of accounts at a property firm, was rushed to hospital but medics could not resuscitate her and she was pronounced dead.
Former warehouse manager Gallear has pleaded guilty to her manslaughter but denies murder.
The couple, who were married in 1998, emigrated to Canada in 2009 with their two young daughters but the move was not a success and they flew back to the UK just three months later.
Manchester Crown Court heard that Gallear became depressed on their return as he drank to excess and neglected his wife and daughters.
Alaric Bassano, prosecuting, said Mrs Gallear told others about her dissatisfaction with her husband and how he mistreated her.
In 2014, Gallear made a pass at his wife's sister when he tried to kiss her, said Mr Bassano.
Then in 2015, Mrs Gallear became romantically involved with Mark Prescott, he continued.
Mr Bassano said: 'She informed the defendant of the fact of this relationship - though, mindful that the defendant knew Prescott, did not tell him of Prescott's identity.
'Mandy Gallear fell in love with Mark Prescott and in early 2016 confided in a work colleague that she wanted to leave the defendant but felt unable to do so because of her children.
'She thus continued to live under the same roof as the defendant, but maintained her relationship with Mark Prescott until the time of her death.'
Matters came to a head in early October last year, said the prosecutor, when Mr Prescott's partner found about the affair.
On October 5 Mr Prescott's stepson went to the Gallear family home in Makinson Avenue and informed the defendant of the affair.
Mr Bassano said: 'This was the first time that the defendant learned of the identity of the man with whom Mandy had been romantically involved.
'Mandy confirmed this to the defendant and told him that she wanted a separation.
'She also told the defendant that she was in love with Prescott.'
Gallear later sent text messages to Mr Prescott - one of which said 'big mistake' and the other 'just found out you f****** my wife', the court heard.
On the morning of October 6 Mrs Gallear told work colleagues at Chorley-based property developers Heaton Estates she was getting divorced and was planning to view a house for rent with Mr Prescott that day.
Mr Bassano said throughout that day Gallear's distress, anger and resentment manifested itself to a number of people.
He phoned Mr Prescott and threatened to kill him, said the prosecutor, before he texted him: 'I made a stupid pass at her sister and regret it ever since and was trying to rebuild until you got involved'.
Gallear told his next-door neighbour that his wife had 'ruined my life' and later visited the Hindley Arms pub at lunch where he informed a customer 'I've just found out my wife has been having an affair with my mate', the jury was told.
When interviewed by detectives, Gallear later told police he walked home at 3.30pm and talked 'amicably' with his wife in their kitchen.
Gallear has admitted manslaughter but denies murder at Manchester Crown Court, pictured
Gallear said his wife then said: 'Anyway, it's sorted now. We are separating. I love him more than you' and his memory of what happened next was 'blurred'.
Mr Bassano told the jury: 'He recalled lunging at Mandy, grabbing her by the throat, grabbing the knife from the drawer, pushing her back towards the sink and stabbing her two or three times with the knife.'
Gallear said his wife then protested 'what are you doing? I still love you' and he then 'just snapped out of it', put the knife aside and rang emergency services at 3.49pm, the court heard.
In the 999 call played to the jury Gallear tells the operator: 'I have just stabbed my wife. We have had a break-up and I have just lost it... I just lost it.'
Gallear then performed chest compressions on his wife and attempted to stem the bleeding as he twice told the operator to get to the scene as quick as possible.
Gallear repeated he had 'lost it' when police arrived and after being formally arrested he replied: 'I've made a mistake. I accept the consequences.'
A post-mortem examination revealed that one of the stab wounds was 19cm deep and cut through the bone of the sternum, which would have been delivered with 'severe force'.
Mr Bassano said: 'The defendant claims that he stabbed his wife through a loss of self-control.
'Even if that is true, the Crown rejects any suggestion that the defendant's killing of his wife was anything other than an act of murder.'
Giving evidence, Mr Prescott said Gallear threatened him on the phone: 'I am not coming for you now but I will find you and I will kill you.'
He told the court that the relationship with Mrs Gallear first became physical in April 2016 after they began contacting each other a year earlier.
He was thrown out of his home by his wife when she found out about the affair and said he and Mrs Gallear were set to view a bungalow together on the day of her killing.
Mr Prescott confirmed to Simon Csoka QC, defending, that he was now reunited with his wife, Ann-Marie Croft.
The trial continues on Tuesday.
Sacred Heart University sorority girl Caitlin Nelson, 20, died Sunday - three days after choking during a pancake-eating competition at the school
A Sacred Heart University sorority girl died this weekend, three days after choking during a Greek life pancake-eating competition at the Fairfield, Connecticut school.
Caitlin Nelson, 20, of Clark, New Jersey, passed away Sunday at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City.
Witnesses at the Greek life dinner Thursday night said Nelson had eaten about four or five pancakes when she suddenly fell to the floor and started shaking uncontrollably.
Two nursing students who were there immediately began lifesaving measures and were quickly joined by police officers and paramedics, Kalamaras said.
She was taken to a hospital in Bridgeport in critical but stable condition and transferred on Friday to New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, where she died on Sunday.
Fairfield Police Lt. Bob Kalamaras said Nelson suffered from food allergies but that they did not contribute to her death.
'It's a tragic event that started out as something fun,' said Fairfield police Lt. Bob Kalamaras.'It was just a tragic accident.'
On Sunday, thousands took part in a candlelight vigil in Nelson's honor at the Fairfield, Connecticut campus
Witnesses say Nelson, far left, ate about four or five pancakes before she fell to the floor and started shaking uncontrollably
Nelson was five years old when her dad James, a Port Authority police officer, died in the 9/11 attacks
Nelson was studying to be a social worker and was the vice president of her sorority, Kappa Delta.
Several thousand people gathered on the Sacred Heart campus Sunday night to remember Nelson, a member of the Kappa Delta sorority, and share their grief.
A Mass dedicated to her was followed by an impromptu candlelight vigil.
Nelson's father, James Nelson, was a Port Authority of New York and New Jersey police officer killed in the September 11 attacks in Manhattan.
The 40-year-old was killed while trying to rescue people trapped on the 27th floor of one of the towers. He also went into the smoking World Trade Center to rescue workers during the 1993 bombing, despite having asthma. His obituary said he was survived by two daughters, 11-year-old Anne and 5-year-old Caitlin.
Police say Nelson had food allergies but that they did not play a roll in her death. She's pictured above with a young man who appears to be her boyfriend
Nelson was the vice president of her sorority, Kappa Delta. She was very active in the philanthropic side of Greek Life (far left and far right)
The Nelson sisters volunteered with the Resiliency Center of Newtown, helping survivors of the Sandy Hook School shooting deal with their losses.
Nelson was also involved with America's Camp, an annual retreat for children of 9/11 victims.
The university's Facebook page was filled with remembrances of Nelson after her passing on Sunday.
'Caitlin was one of the kindest and most thoughtful students I've been honored to teach,' one user named Karen Calabrese wrote. 'I'm heartbroken for her family and friends. Sending love and strength to her loved ones during this difficult time.'
Another woman, Carol Martufi, wrote: 'There are no words. My heart is broken over this tragic loss. Prayers to Caitlin, her family and friends and to the entire SHU family. May she RIP as she is reunited with her dad in heaven.'
Flags on the campus were flown at half-staff in Nelson's honor on Monday.
There are calls for Islamic organisations to be investigated by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
The commission has already probed a number of religious organisations in its four-year existence, including Catholics, Anglicans, Pentecostals and Jehovahs Witnesses, but Islam has so far escaped scrutiny, according to the Herald Sun.
Prominent lawyer Peter Kelso says the commission is intentionally avoiding Islamic groups because 'there is a culture of fear in that community'.
There are calls for Islamic organisations to be investigated by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (stock image)
Calls for Islamic organisations to be investigated by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse are growing louder. Above, Justice Peter McClellan AM (centre) addressing the public hearing into the nature, cause and impact of sexual abuse
'All groups need to be treated equally and fairly,' Mr Kelso told the paper. 'We know there are underage Muslim girls being pressured into things they don't want to do.
'I'm happy to suggest the Royal Commission is deliberately avoiding any investigation into Islamic institutions'.
Mr Kelso recently wrote to the commission asking them to investigate 'victim stories of underage child sex, forced child marriages, and genital mutilation of girls'.
In a recent blog post, Mr Kelso, who represents victims of institutional abuse, said the commission was failing Islamic children.
'Scores of underage Muslim girls are married off to older men. Many are forced to join polygamous marriages,' he wrote.
'Worse still, some women within the Islamic faith are forced to endure genital mutilation.
Female genital mutilation is illegal in Australia and is outlawed by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (stock image)
Prominent lawyer Peter Kelso (pictured) says the commission is intentionally avoiding Islamic groups because 'there is a culture of fear in that community'
The commission has already probed a number of religious organisations in its four-year existence, but Islam has so far escaped scrutiny (stock image)
'Some Middle Eastern groups find this practice culturally acceptable it is even commonplace in some communities.
Mr Kelso said he would publish the commission's response should he receive one.
Female genital mutilation is illegal in Australia and is outlawed by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The ABC's analysis of ABS and UNICEF 2015 data suggests that there are more than 80,000 women and girls in Australia who may have been subjected to FGM.
The commission told News Corp it had 'held three private sessions in relation to Islamic institutions' since former Prime Minister Julia Gillard ordered the inquiry in 2013.
Senate Democrats have amassed enough 'no' votes to filibuster President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, which means Republicans will likely pursue the 'nuclear option' to get the judge through.
Gorsuch's nomination passed through the Senate Judiciary Committee Monday afternoon, 11-9, in a straight party line vote.
Earlier during the hearing, Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware told members that he would be voting no on Gorusch and also no on cloture, where as the rules stand now 60 votes are needed to end debate.
'I am not ready to end debate on this issue, so I will be voting against cloture, unless we are able, as a body, to finally sit down and find a way to avoid the nuclear option and ensure the process to fill the next vacancy on the court is not a narrowly partisan process,' Coons said.
Coons' commitment was noteworthy because he was the 41st Democrat to say he'd vote no on cloture, practically ensuring that the Republicans go nuclear by the end of the week.
Only four Democrats, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Michael Bennet of Colorado, Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, have said they would join with Republicans to break a filibuster on Gorsuch, a federal appellate judge with conservative credentials.
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Democrats have now amassed enough votes to filibuster Neil Gorsuch, as Delaware's Chris Coons (right) announced he'd vote no on confirmation and no on cloture
Delaware's Sen. Chris Coons (center right) said he will vote 'no' on cloture, meaning Democrats now have enough votes to filibuster President Trump's Supreme Court pick
The Senate Judiciary Committee met Monday to discuss the nomination of Neil Gorsuch, with Democrats Dianne Feinstein (left) and Patrick Leahy (right) reviewing documents
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the committee's ranking member, announced Monday that she would not vote for the federal judge
Sen. Chuck Grassley (left) takes a seat next to his committee's ranking member Sen. Dianne Feinstein (center) as she talks with Vermont Sen. Patricky Leahy
Sen. Chuck Grassley, the chair of the committee, spoke at today's meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee
Sen. Chuck Grassley (left) greets committee member Sen. Al Franken (right), a prominent Democrat who has already voiced that he would not be supporting Judge Neil Gorsuch
Sen. Al Franken cracks a smile during Monday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing as the body discusses President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch
At the White House today, Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the four Democratic votes signaled enough bipartisan support for Gorsuch.
'I think we feel good about that level of support,' Spicer said.
He also said President Trump was OK with Senate Republicans pursuing the nuclear option.
'The president said several weeks ago that this was something he would support,' Spicer told reporters. 'We're comfortable in the sense that obviously that decision is up to Leader McConnell to make.'
The Senate is voting on the fate of Judge Neil Gorsuch this week, President Trump's Supreme Court pick
McConnell expressed his opinion on the matter during an appearance on Sunday's Meet the Press.
'Neil Gorsuch will be confirmed this week,' McConnell told Chuck Todd.
'How that happens really depends on our Democratic friends, how many of them are willing to oppose cloture on a partisan basis to kill a Supreme Court nominee,' the top Senate Republican added, suggesting this move has 'never happened before in history.'
He echoed that sentiment in a statement he made today after Gorsuch was voted out of committee.
'It now seems apparent that this well qualified and widely-respected judge will be subject to the first successful partisan filibuster in the history of the Senate,' McConnell said, suggesting it marked a 'new low,' but told Democrats there was still time to change their minds, as the nomination will be discussed on the floor over the next few days.
Democrats have complained that it was Republicans who began using the filibuster to this end, holding up President Obama's judicial nominees for years.
'Well, let's look at the history, our Republican colleagues had been holding back on just about all of so many lower court judges, including the very important D.C. circuit,' explained Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., yesterday on Meet the Press.
In turn, Democrats, then in the majority and led by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., changed the rules in 2013 so just a simple majority would be needed to invoke cloture on lower level nominations.
Democrats are still embittered that while Justice Antonin Scalia died last February on President Obama's watch, the Republican Senate majority refused to move on the Democratic president's pick, Judge Merrick Garland, citing the looming presidential election last year.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., explained that the Democrats went nuclear in 2013 because Republicans were holding up President Obama's lower level judicial nominations - but they kept the 60-vote rule intact for Supreme Court nominees
'Everyone knew ... that if the shoe fit on the other foot, they wouldn't have confirmed a Republican president's vacancy in the middle of a presidential election,' McConnell said on Meet the Press. 'So that clearly wasn't going to happen.'
Today, the committee's top Democrat, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif, announced early in the day she would not be supporting Trump's nominee.
Feinstein was among the Democrats who hadn't yet publicly announced her vote.
While thanking Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the committee's chair, for allowing her colleagues to substantially probe Gorsuch, she noted two things on his record stuck out.
She disagreed with his interpretation of whether a trucking employee should be fired, after the driver refused to drive a disabled rig through a blizzard.
A number of her Democratic peers also brought up this case as one of their biggest turn offs, as Gorsuch sided with the trucking company.
She also brought up a case in which Gorsuch sided with a school district, allowing it to deny services to a child with autism.
Like many of her Democratic colleagues, she didn't like how Gorsuch, through the course of the hearings, wasn't forthcoming about some of his views, including whether he agreed with the Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark case that made school segregation illegal.
'Unfortunately based on Judge Gorsuch's record at the Department of Justice, his tenure on the bench, his appearance before the Senate and his written questions for the record, I cannot support this nominee,' she told the committee.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (center) speaks at today's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, flanked by Republicans Lindsey Graham (far left) and Orrin Hatch (center left), along with Democrats Dianne Feinstein (center right) and Patrick Leahy (far right)
Sen. Dianne Feinstein leafs through documents at today's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. She announced this morning she would not be supporting Judge Gorsuch
Republicans, who hold a 52 seat majority in the Senate, could alone propel Gorsuch to the bench, but as the rules presently stand, 60 votes are needed to invoke cloture, which would end a filibuster, which the Democrats are threatening to use.
Feinstein and Coons' no votes means that 41 of the Senate's 48 members who caucus with the Democrats are now on record against the nominee, meaning they have enough votes for a filibuster.
Others who have yet to announce their decision include Angus King of Maine and Bob Menendez of New Jersey.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., had suggested he would oppose a filibuster, though today said he planned to vote no on the nominee, and no on bringing the nomination forward.
'I cannot vote solely to protect an institution when the rights of hard-working Americans are at risk,' Leahy said.
Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., is against the nomination of Gorsuch, but could vote with Republicans on cloture.
Surveillance video shows the shocking moment an unarmed 13-year-old boy was shot dead by a smoke shop store clerk during an botched grab-and-run theft.
Fabriccio Patti, 13, was shot seven times in the back and head on December 2 inside Lucky Cigars and Smokes in Las Vegas after running into the store during an alleged robbery attempt with two other boys, police say.
Store clerk Raad Sunna, 24, faces one count of open murder in Patti's death.
During a police interrogation, Sunna told investigators that he feared for his life and didn't know if the three boys were armed, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal.
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Fabriccio Patti (left), 13, was shot seven times in the back and head on December 2 inside Lucky Cigars and Smokes in Las Vegas. Store clerk Raad Sunna (pictured right in arrest photo), 24, faces one count of open murder in Patti's death
Surveillance video shows the shocking moment the unarmed 13-year-old boy was shot dead after he rushed inside Lucky Cigars and Smokes store during a botched grab-and-run theft. Circled above is the gun during the shooting
'I was petrified beyond comprehension,' Sunna said during an interrogation played in court Friday. 'So I drew and fired.'
The black-and-white surveillance footage shows a person behind the counter firing a gun at the boy, who was near the front of the store.
Patti appears to be running away moments before collapsing on the floor near the entrance of the shop, which is located located at 8665 W. Flamingo Road.
After the shooting, Sunna was asked why he fired at Patti by homicide detective Dolphis Boucher.
'He was the one coming toward me first,' Sunna replied. 'I felt my life was in danger. I was afraid of dying.'
The footage (above) shows a person behind the counter firing a gun at the boy, who was near the front of the store. Sunna told police after the shooting that he felt 'his life was in danger'
One of the two other teens involved in the incident later told police they intended to steal a marijuana water pipe from the store (shooting scene above)
Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Karen Bennett determined that prosecutors had enough evidence to charge Sunna with murder after listening to the 911 call placed by him immediately after the shooting and watching the surveillance video, the Review Journal reported.
Sunna's defense attorney, Dominic Gentile, argued that prosecutors hadn't proved his client acted willfully or with 'malice aforethought' before the shooting.
'There is nothing that has been submitted to support premeditation or deliberation,' Gentile told Bennett. 'Nothing. Nothing.'
Days after the shooting, Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson, called it 'a sad tragic case that didn't have to happen.'
'In my opinion, there was a lapse of judgment by all,' he said.
Wolfson said the two other boys, ages 15 and 14, were arrested on suspicion of attempted robbery. Their identities were not released.
Patti and the two other boys involved were classmates at a nearby middle school
One of the other teens later told police they intended to steal a marijuana water pipe.
They didn't wear masks, but pulled sweatshirt hoods and clothing over their faces before entering the store, police said. None had a weapon.
One held the door and two others, including Patti, ran into Lucky Cigar and Smokes toward the sales counter where police say Sunna opened fire with a handgun.
The police report notes that Patti and the other boys, all classmates at a nearby middle school, planned the theft while sitting at a fast-food restaurant, and they squirreled their backpacks in a stairwell nearby before entering the smoke shop.
The two other boys weren't shot during the fatal incident.
Patti's father, Martin Patti, told reporters at a December memorial that he forgives Sunna.
'God is helping me to go through this, and I wish him the same,' he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Commuters have vented their anger after deal to end a long-running dispute with Southern Rail has been rejected by a rail union.
Thousands of people faced delays earlier this year after Aslef union members staged several strikes in January.
The union had failed to come to a resolution following a year-long battle with the train operator over staffing levels and the expansion of driver-only operation (DOO).
Thousands of people faced delays earlier this year after Aslef union members staged several strikes in January
Passengers have now reacted with anger to the announcement that Aslef members had rejected a potential deal with Southern Rail
Southern Rail wants guards to become on-board supervisors, leaving drivers with the responsibility of opening and closing carriage doors.
But rail unions claim DOO is not safe and have held 30 separate strike days in the past year.
Passengers have now reacted with anger to the announcement that Aslef members had rejected the deal with 372 members voting against it (51.8 per cent) and 346 (48.2 per cent) approving it.
Edward Reid, 35, an accountant who travels into London daily from Brighton, said: 'The transport network into London is being brought to a standstill by just 372 cynical individuals. It is absolutely outrageous.
'The economic welfare of thousands of people and businesses is being held to ransom by 372 militants. It is shocking.
'We are being used as pawns in a bitter war between the the rail company and the unions and it looks like it will continue forever because no-one, including the Government, will step in.'
Edward Reid, 35, an accountant who travels into London daily from Brighton, said: 'We are being used as pawns in a bitter war between the the rail company and the unions'
Sian Phipps, a designer who commutes into London, said: 'This should never be allowed to happen. It is simply ruining the country and I can't believe they have rejected the deal'
Sian Phipps, a designer who commutes into London, said: 'The economic wreckage of this dispute has been immense - people have lost their jobs, businesses have closed and I know couples who have split up.
'This should never be allowed to happen. It is simply ruining the country and I can't believe they have rejected the deal.'
The bitter row is estimated to have cost the economy millions with workers enduring major disruption to their daily commute.
The daily cancellations, delays and frequent strikes on the Southern network have become so bad some workers have lost their jobs.
The industrial action has also spread across Britain with unions calling strikes on the Northern and Merseyrail networks.
Mick Whelan, general secretary of Aslef, said: 'We understand and support the decision arrived at in a democratic vote by our drivers and will now seek new talks with the company'
Now drivers' union Aslef has voted in favour of the latest deal after members were told it was the best offer they were going to get.
Union leaders - who held almost three weeks of talks with Southern - say the deal means Southern will have to have a second, safety-critical person on trains except in exceptional circumstances.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) will meet Southern Rail bosses on Wednesday in the hope of also thrashing out a deal with the operator.
Mick Whelan, general secretary of Aslef, said: 'We understand and support the decision arrived at in a democratic vote by our drivers and will now seek new talks with the company and work to deliver a resolution to this dispute in line with the expectations of our members.'
An airline pilot who was so drunk he passed out in the cockpit before takeoff was sentenced to eight months in a Canadian jail on Monday.
Miroslav Gronych, 37, pleaded guilty last month to having care and control of an aircraft while he had a blood alcohol level three times the legal limit.
The Slovakian pilot was escorted off a Sunwing Airlines plane in Calgary on December 31 before a scheduled flight to Cancun, Mexico.
The court heard that when Gronych got on the plane, he struggled to hang up his coat, was slurring his words and was staggering.
Flying while intoxicated: Miroslav Gronych (pictured left in 2014) 37, pleaded guilty last month to having care and control of an aircraft while he had a blood alcohol level three times the legal limit
The court was also told the co-pilot suggested Gronych should leave the plane, but he eventually returned to the cockpit, sat down and appeared to pass out with his face resting on the window.
A maid found an empty 26-ounce bottle of vodka in Gronych's Delta Airport Hotel room, Calgary Herald reported. He arrived in Calgary at 1am and was scheduled to report to work an hour before his 7am flight.
Crown lawyer Rose Greenwood had told Judge Anne Brown in an earlier hearing that the pilot 'put the lives of 105 people in jeopardy.'
The defense had asked for a three to six-month sentence while the prosecution asked the judge to give Gronych one year in jail.
The pilot arrived to work an hour before takeoff and struggled to hang up his coat, was slurring his words and was staggering
Brown agreed to give the husband and father of two an eight-month sentence since he had sought help for his alcoholism and has since lost his job.
In addition to his sentence, Brown banned Gronych from flying for one year after his release. She noted he has abstained from drinking since the event and has been 'thoroughly shamed'.
Sunwing, a low-cost Canadian carrier, has said it has a zero tolerance policy on crew members consuming alcohol within 12 hours of going on duty
His defense lawyer told the court last month that Gronych couldn't sleep the night before his flight and felt like he was coming down with a cold. He took a couple of shots of vodka and a Tylenol, and planned to wake up in time to let people know he wouldn't make the flight.
He didn't set an alarm and was awakened by a call asking him where he was, his lawyer said. He drank the rest of the bottle of vodka and left for the flight.
When police arrived, they found his pilot's wings were pinned upside down. They smelled alcohol on his breath and he couldn't stand up straight.
Sunwing, a low-cost Canadian carrier, has said it has a zero tolerance policy on crew members consuming alcohol within 12 hours of going on duty.
Hands clasped, shutters clicked and a Middle Eastern autocrat called Donald Trump 'Your Excellency' three times as the U.S. president welcomed his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to the Oval Office on Monday.
Trump's predecessor Barack Obama actively shunned el-Sisi, who overthrew Muslim Brotherhood president Mohammed Morsi in a 2013 coup.
Egypt's ruler noted that Monday marked his first visit to the White House since he took power, which came shortly after the beginning of Obama's second term.
Speaking through an Arabic translator, el-Sisi praised Trump's 'unique personality' and pledged his help in fighting the ISIS terror army.
Eat your heart out, Angela: President Donald Trump offered a warm handshake Monday to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, a courtesy he didn't extend last week to German Chancellor Angela Merkel
'Your Excellency': El-Sisi offered Trump that title three times during a six-minute Oval Office photo-op
He also made what may have been a vague endorsement of Trump's nascent efforts to resolve 'the problem of the century' the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
'Your Excellency, since we met last September, I've had a deep appreciation and admiration of your unique personality,' el-Sisi said in the Oval Office, 'especially as you are standing very strong in the counterterrorism field to counter this evil ideology that is claiming innocent lives, that is bringing devastation to communities and nations, and that is terrorizing the innocent people.'
An Arabic-speaking White House pool reporter independently translated el-Sisi's characterization of ISIS' ideology as 'satanic' not merely 'evil.'
'Your Excellency, very strongly and very openly you will find Egypt and myself always behind you in this, in bringing about an effective strategy in the counterterrorism [field],' he continued.
U.S. and Egyptian officials met Monday afternoon for an extended bilateral meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House; Trump is seated at right, looking at the camera, and el-Sisi is across the table from him
Deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was sentenced to 40 years in prison following a coup orchestrated by el-Sisi in 2013
'The second point, Your Excellency, is that of ... supporting you very strongly and very earnestly in finding a solution to the problem of the century.
'And I'm quite confident that you will be able to bring a solution to this issue.'
Trump and ei-Sisi posed for cameras before a bilateral meeting in the Cabinet Room, enjoying a handshake that Trump pointedly never extended last week to German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
'We agree on so many things,' the U.S. president said.
'I just want to let everybody know in case there was any doubt that we are very much behind President el-Sisi. He's done a fantastic job in a very difficult situation. We are very much behind Egypt and the people of Egypt.'
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.
Marion 'Suge' Knight claims that his ex-wife and former Death Row Records security chief Reggie White Jr killed Tupac Shakur, and insists he was the real target of the 1996 drive-by.
Suge's attorney Thaddeus Culpepper wrote in a signed affidavit, that 'Knight has known for many years that Reggie Wright Jr. and his ex-wife Sharitha were behind the murder of Tupac and attempted murder of Knight.'
He added that Knight also had alleged details of Wright's involvement in the Bigge Smalls murder case.
The rapper, who until now has always refused to identify the shooter, appears to have spoken out after hearing the 'salient points' in the new documentary Tupac Assassination: Battle for Compton.
Marion 'Suge' Knight (left, in court in February in a pretrial murder hearing) has finally he revealed that he was the real target in the drive by that killed Tupac Shakur (right)
Suge claims his ex-wife Sharitha (right) and former Death Row Records security chief Reggie White Jr, (left) were behind the shootings
'When our book,came out and we were working on the movie, we gave the salient points of the book (Tupac: 187 The Red Knight) to Thaddeus Culpepper, who read them to Suge Knight,' said co-director Richard Bond. 'Suge's initial response was, "Who the hell are these guys?''
'He admitted to Culpepper that the theories in the movie were true,' a source said.
Suge was so intrigued he sent his private investigators, to discover how the writers and directors found out about what happened.
The documentary also claims that Suge had always been the real target of that fatal shooting. Tupac was just in the way.
The film tells of an attempted coup at Tupac's label Death Row Records - co-founded by Suge and Dr Dre among others - which eventually led to the shooting in Las Vegas on 7 September 1996.
'Culpepper told Carlin individually that not only did Knight confirm the events as portrayed in Compton, which portray Knight was the intended target and Shakur as collateral damage, as true, but also goes on to allege that these 1996 events may have been the first in a history of attempts on Knight's life, culminating in the recent attempted killing of Knight at the 1OAK Club in Los Angeles, where Knight was shot six times,' a film spokesperson told Music News.
Knight was also the target of allegations that he was responsible for the shooting of Shakur's rival Christopher 'Biggie Smalls' Wallace in 1997.
The film features Culpepper's signed affidavit - which was taken by former LAPD detective Russell Poole on July 18, 2015.
The last known photo of Tupac, in the car with Suge, taken in Las Vegas on September 7 1996
Tupac and Suge Knight, pictured together in the 1990s, were friends before Tupac was gunned down in 1996
Suge has also allegedly been accused of shooting Shakur rival Christopher 'Biggie Smalls' Wallace (above) in 1997 - a year after Tupac's death
Poole, who also contributed to the book, appears to agree with Suge's theory.
He told Vice in 2015 that Wright Jr. and Suge's ex, Sharitha Knight orchestrated the murder to assume control of Death Row Records.
'Suge wasn't divorced yet and if he died in that hit, she'd get most of everything,' Poole said. 'So she went to Wright Jr., who was in charge of Death Row and ran it while Suge was in prison.
'[Wright Jr.] has gotten away with it this whole time. They floated a whole lot of propaganda to former LA Times reporter Chuck Phillipscalling in hundreds if not thousands of fake clues.'
White Jr responded to the claims in 2015, after Poole's death, to AllHipHop, pointing out that several people that had accused him of Tupac's murder had died in the past decade.
They include the late rapper's ex-bodyguards Michael Moore, Frank Alexander and Poole.
'I believe in karma,' he said. 'All these people are dropping dead. I keep telling people God don't like ugly. I hope people learn a lesson from this.'
Wright warned that the next person could be Tupac Assassination co-director Bond.
'The next person is probably going to be R.J. Bond. I ain't predicting no death on anybody, but they better get their selves right,' he said. 'They better stop with all this bullcrap they've been promoting, because they're all dying like flies around here.'
Suge's marriage to Sharitha Golden, the mother of his first child, was tumultuous at best.
Just two years before their wedding in November 1989, Sharitha had obtained a restraining order against Suge.
They later reconciled and wed, but got divorced the following year with Sharitha demanding her ex pay $735,000 in unpaid child support.
Tupac Assassination: Battle for Compton (left) based on the book Tupac: 187 The Red Knight (right) claims that Suge had always been the target of that fatal shooting
According to his lawyer, Suge believes both Sharitha and White plotted his death together.
The shooting of Tupac, 25, has been surrounded by conspiracy theories ever since.
They include claims that Tupac faked his own death with the help of the first cop on the scene, Chris Carroll, who is now retired, and fled to Cuba. There were even theories that Suge had ordered an assassination hit on Tupac and that Carroll was involved.
Suge, 50, had always denied he was behind the shooting but until now was unwilling to name who it was.
Tupac's last public photograph was taken as he was riding in the car with Death Row Records co-founder Suge on September 7, 1996, in Las Vegas.
The pair had just left a Mike Tyson fight held at the MGM Grand, when the 25-year-old rapper was shot as he stood up through the sunroof to talk to a group of women while the car was stopped at a traffic light.
Shakur was hit four times - twice in the chest, once in the arm, and once in the leg.
THOSE TUPAC CONSPIRACY RUMORS Perennial rumors surface that the rapper - who was shot in 1996 - is in fact still alive. The emergence of a 'selfie' by a look-a-like last year supposedly showing the rapper was just the latest of many wild stories that the star lives on. Some say that Tupac grew sick of his fame, faked his own death and moved to Cuba. Other rumors swirled that police officer Carroll somehow swapped Tupac's body for a double, helping him on the way to starting a secret new life. And the fires have been stoked by Marion 'Suge' Knight, Tupac's former record label boss, who was next to the star in the vehicle when he was shot. Knight has said he never saw the musician's body and has repeatedly hinted Shakur is out there somewhere. 'You know he's somewhere smoking a Cuban cigar on the islands,' he said in 2014. Advertisement
He eventually died six days later on September 13.
Bond believes Suge, who is behind bars awaiting a separate murder trial, is ready to make a statement about Tupac's murder because it proves that he has been a target of gangs out to get him for years.
Suge, who was shot multiple times in 2014, has been in jail since his arrest for mowing down two men in a burger stand parking lot in Compton in 2015, killing businessman and friend Terry Carter and injuring Cle 'Bone' Sloan.
The two men had been working as security on the location set for the NWA movie Straight Outta Compton and had got into a dispute with Knight earlier in the day.
Prosecutors have charged Knight with murder and attempted murder. He has pleaded not guilty and claims he accidentally struck Carter as he fled the scene in fear for his life suspecting an armed ambush.
Bond and Carlin insist Knight was a victim in Vegas, which could be evidence of his that he was also telling the truth about his 2014 shooting at One Oak and in the Compton case he is only trial for.
'The hope is Knight's confirmation of the story laid out in Compton (the film) may put a final stamp to close this mystery, after 20 years.'
New of the potential break through in the now decades-old case, come as Tupac is due to be posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Friday.
The Harlem-born rapper's recording career may have only lasted five years before he was murdered, but it is the rapper's influence from beyond the grave that will be celebrated.
Tupac (left performing in 1994) has had major success, both during his five years making music and after his death. Meanwhile Suge (right in 2011) is behind bars facing murder charges
The black car in which Tupac and record label boss Suge Knight were driving in when the attack by an unknown gunmen occurred
The Las Vegas intersection between the Strip and Paradise Road, where the shooting occurred in 1996
Arguably bigger in death than he was in life, Shakur will be only the sixth rap act to be voted into the Hall of Fame in its 30-year history.
The Hall of Fame described him as 'an international symbol of resistance and outlaw spirit, an irresistible contradiction, a definitive rap anti-hero.
Shakur has sold 75 million albums, mostly from seven posthumous releases, and although his sales figures will never match those of 21st century hip hop kings like Drake, Kanye West and The Weeknd, his influence remains profound.
'For anyone who is serious about learning about hip hop, there are certain people whose music you have to deal with and Tupac is one of those people. You can't say you are knowledgeable about hip hop if you don't know about Tupac,' said Todd Boyd, professor of cinema and media studies at the University of Southern
Tupac Assassination: Battle for Compton is now available on Blu Ray, DVD, and digital download sites.
Two men who poured kettles of boiling water over an elderly couple in a terrifying raid on their home have been jailed for life.
Kacey Adams, 33, Daniel Wallace, 32, and an unidentified third man, tied up John Buswell, 66, and his wife Janis, 64, and repeatedly assaulted them as they demanded money.
They made off with around 50,000 and were arrested on a plane at Heathrow Airport after returning from a shopping spree in Dubai.
Kacey Adams, 33, (left) and Daniel Wallace, 32, were handed life sentences after they broke into an elderly couple's house, tied them up and poured boiling water on them
Their luggage was found to contain more than 18,000 of luxury goods, including Versace and Gucci clothes.
In the video footage, police officers are seen opening the door to the plane and walking inside.
After speaking with cabin crew, the men are let inside and walk through the plane until they find Adams and Wallace.
They pin the men's hands to the seat in front and handcuff them.
In the horrific attack, Adams and Wallace poured boiling water from a kettle over the couple's heads and bodies in an horrific two-hour ordeal, having already beaten them and threatened them with a knife and a hot iron.
Adams and Wallace eventually fled at around 11pm with stolen cash and jewellery.
The pair were arrested on a plane at Heathrow Airport after returning from a shopping trip to Dubai. Adams and Wallace were sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court
Last month, both men admitted aggravated burglary and causing grievous bodily harm with intent after bursting into the property, tying up and torturing their victims.
In a separate case Adams and Wallace were also previously convicted of conspiracy to commit murder following a drive-by shotgun shooting in Stanford-le-Hope, Essex, on May 10 2016, left a victim with serious injuries including the loss of sight in one eye.
Both men were today sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court to life imprisonment with a minimum of 12-and-a-half years each behind bars before they are considered for parole.
Drew Morris, aged 27 years and formerly of Rayleigh in Essex was not in the house as the victims were being tortured but was today jailed for four-and-a-half years having previously admitted one count of burglary.
The gang bound the businessman and his wife with cable ties before pouring water twice over her and once over him and attempting to cut one of his ears off in an attempt to find out the combinations of their two safes
Both victims were taken to hospital with serious injuries. The woman suffered around 30 per cent burns to her body and required treatment in an intensive care unit for a several months afterwards.
Crime scene investigators recovered traces of Wallace's DNA from the fragments of a cup used to provide water to the victims, before it was smashed against a wall at the home in London Road, Halstead, Kent, on April 26, 2016.
Wallace, of no fixed address and Adams, formerly of Covert Road, Hainault, Ilford, east London, were arrested on May 31 last year at Heathrow Airport, where they had returned from a shopping trip in Dubai.
Judge Gratwicke called the attackers: 'Highly dangerous, ruthless professional criminals.'
Prosecutor Tracy Ayling said: 'Mr Buswell said he would give them the money and took them to a downstairs bathroom where there was a small safe, he thought containing 3,000 to 5,000.
'He was returned to the sitting room and was watching as Mrs Buswell had another full kettle of boiling water tipped over her by Adams. Mrs Buswell was screaming.'
Detective Inspector James Derham, of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, said: 'Adams and Wallace smashed their way into the home of two elderly people, before subjecting them to the most horrific ordeal.
Both victims were taken to hospital with serious injuries. The woman suffered around 30 per cent burns to her body and required treatment in an intensive care unit. Pictured, Daniel Wallace being arrested on the plane
'Between them they poured two kettles of boiling water over the woman's head and body and a further kettle over her husband.
'They have inflicted unimaginable pain and distress on two people who had worked hard throughout their lives and were looking forward to their retirement.
'The gratuitous, barbaric and utterly senseless actions of these two criminals have caused extensive physical and psychological scars to their victims.
'This is an extremely rare case that has shocked experienced detectives and which thankfully has now concluded with lengthy sentences.
'I would like to thank the victims for their courage and assistance throughout this investigation, which has helped bring these men to justice and I hope today's sentences will help them to now rebuild their lives.'
Nichol's actions were described as 'unprovoked and totally unnecessary'
A farm apprentice has been told he faces prison for hitting, stamping on and throwing newborn calves.
Owen Nichol, 19, kicked cows in the face and shouted,'Come on you f****** t***' before stamping on a newborn calf seven times.
The abuse was captured on a covert camera placed in a barn by the charity Animal Equality, Taunton Magistrates' Court in Somerset heard.
During a four-minute clip, Nichol is seen kicking and punching a cow that had just given birth and slamming a gate on it.
At one point, the part-time stockman tells the animal: 'I f****** hate you you little c***,' before slamming it on the ground, bashing it against a wall and stamping on it.
Nichol admitted two charges of causing unnecessary suffering to the animals contrary to the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
Prosecuting for the RSPCA, Lindi Meyer told the court that the abuse came to light after Animal Equality placed a covert camera in a barn.
The footage, recorded between 9am and 9.30am on December 8 last year, was later passed to the RSPCA.
Ms Meyer said: 'The footage shows acts of violence against the cows and calves.
'He [Nichols] is continuously swearing at the cows. He gives a heavy kick to one of the new mothers.
'He kicks her full in the face and throws her newborn calf away from her.
'He kicks and stamps on one calf seven times. The violence was unprovoked and totally unnecessary.'
Ms Meyer said the calves in the footage ranged between newborn and two days old.
Nichols was filmed repeatedly assaulting and hurling abuse at the cow and newborn calf
At one point he repeatedly slams the gate into the helpless animal
In a report for the RSPCA, a vet said the cows would have suffered 'considerable pain and distress' from Nichol's abuse.
The vet described the case as 'the worst example of abusive behaviour' he had seen in a 35-year career.
Nichols was working at the farm for a year as part of his apprenticeship, the court heard.
In interviews, Nichol told officers he 'just flipped' and the violence was not related to the cows and calves.
Nichol explained the behaviour by saying he was under personal stress and had 'very little sleep'
He added his grandmother had been in hospital with pneumonia and he had separated from his girlfriend months earlier.
Nichol, who has a flock of sheep, said he had 'very little sleep' as he had been working for his father as well as nights at the farm.
Chair of the bench Jeff Collingwood said it was the worst case of animal cruelty he had seen in his twenty-three years as a magistrate.
The court heard Nichol was dismissed from the farm when the footage was released. He has no previous convictions.
Speaking outside court, RSPCA Inspector John Pollock described the abuse as 'horrible and appalling'.
Animal Equality UK, who filmed the footage, said they hope he receives 'the harshest sentence possible'
He added: 'It is no reflection on the farm. The farm has probably the highest welfare standards I have seen.'
Dr Toni Shephard, executive director of Animal Equality UK, described Nichol's actions as 'unthinkable cruelty'.
She added: 'We are pleased that he has been convicted for this terrible violence against dairy cows and young calves and we hope that he will receive the harshest sentence possible.'
Nichol will be sentenced at Taunton Magistrates Court on April 26.
The mayor of Pittsburgh has hit out at ride-sharing company Uber for using the city as a base for its unmanned car trials but not giving enough in return.
Mayor Bill Peduto says the company has fought taxation on ride-sharing, reneged on its promise to offer free service during the trials, and didn't join in with a civic deal that could have won the city $50 million.
'If they are going to be involved in economic disruption, they have a moral obligation to society,' Peduto told the Wall Street Journal. 'In a partnership, it's not just what we can do for them.'
Uber is using Pittsburgh to run a pilot scheme for its self-driving cars (pictured). But the city is not seeing enough in return for lending the company its roads, according to Mayor Bill Peduto
Peduto was once an enthusiastic supporter of Uber, which began offering its driverless cars to the city's residents in September.
But since then, his attitude towards the company has cooled.
Now he wants the company to sign a memo that demands better conditions for Uber drivers, services for elderly Pittsburghers, and fuel efficiency improvements.
Peduto (pictured) said the company had agreed to offer free lifts to local residents during its trial period, but later backed out on that promise
He says the company has backed out on some of the promises it had made, including an agreement to take part in civil causes.
Peduto said that he tried to get the company to join in the Smart City challenge that gives cities $50 million federal grant for developing hi-tech transportation systems.
He proposed that Uber both help build a driverless-car test track and sponsor a program to give low-income elderly people free access to health-care providers.
The company turned its back on both, and the city did not get its grant.
Peduto wrote to a number of business figures, including Grant Oliphant, the president of philanthropy organization Heinz Endowments, saying the US needs 'a new social contract that benefits workers, the environment and... cities.'
Oliphant, whose $1.52 billion group is part of the massive Heinz food group, said he understood Peduto's concerns.
The company also fought taxation on ride-sharing and declined to participate in a federal grant competition that could have won the city $50 million, Peduto said
'The mayor is rightly concerned about what the relationship is between companies that are coming to leverage our assets - universities, roads and so forth - and those communities they are benefiting from,' he said.
'It is in some ways a modern expression of the old-fashioned expectation of corporate citizenship.'
Uber said that it had not seen the memo proposed by Peduto.
'Uber is proud to have put Pittsburgh on the self-driving map, an effort that included creating hundreds of tech jobs and investing hundreds of millions of dollars,' a spokesman told the Wall Street Journal.
'We hope to continue to have a positive presence in Pittsburgh by supporting the local economy and community.'
Uber's pilot program in Pittsburgh allows users to get lifts in driverless cars - although each car comes with a driver who can take over in case of complications.
The company is also testing self-driving cars in Arizona. Last month those operations were suspended after a crash left one vehicle on its side.
A mother, who lost son to a brain tumour, was shocked to receive a 'sign' from her little boy when she visited his grave on the anniversary of his death.
Jack Robinson, from Waterlooville, Hampshire, died aged four on April 1st 2014.
Three years later, on Saturday, his mother Marie, 45, asked her little boy to give her a sign before visiting his grave later that day.
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Jack Robinson died from an inoperable brain tumour at the age of four in 2014
Marie Robinson filmed the bird as it flew around and sat on her hand
When she arrived at the cemetery she sat down on the grass next to Jack's burial spot.
It was then she noticed a little robin was flying around and trying to land on her.
'He didn't seem scared at all,' Ms Robinson told the Mirror Online. 'He went and sat on a nearby headstone so I got my phone out to film him being close to me and he flew over and landed on my hand.
'He kept looking at me directly in my face and at one point he landed on my shoulder and nibbled me a couple of times.'
Ms Robinson, who has four other children, posted the film on Facebook on Saturday where it has received more than 8 million views.
Alongside the clip she wrote: 'Can't believe whats just happened come to see my precious boy jack just sat down on ground next to him and this happened.
Ms Robinson, pictured left, posted the clip on Facebook where it has received more than 8million views
'Yes it brought me to tears. Taking it as a sign from jack.'
The robin is seen by some spiritualists as a sign from the recently deceased.
The Spiritual Centre says on its website: 'This bird is a visitor and as such should be appreciated as a welcome visitor bringing gifts, it is for you to interpret the gifts it brings.
'Someone recently passed maybe showing you that you are being watched, maybe just letting you know that they still love you.'
Jack made headlines in 2014 when he bravely set out to complete a bucketlist before he died.
He was visited by Gary Barlow while in hospital in Southampton, received a comical personal video message from Dr Who actor Matt Smith and had a ride in a fire engine.
Florida's governor is taking away 21 more first-degree murder cases from a prosecutor who has said she will no longer seek the death penalty.
Governor Rick Scott issued an executive order on Monday reassigning cases from State Attorney Aramis Ayala to neighboring judicial circuit State Attorney Brad King.
Ayala has come under fire recently after announcing she wouldn't seek the death penalty against Orlando 'cop killer' Markeith Loyd or any other defendant in the future.
Governor Rick Scott, right, issued an executive order on Monday reassigning cases from State Attorney Aramis Ayala, left, to neighboring judicial circuit State Attorney Brad King
Loyd's case is arguably the most high profile to come through Ayala's office during her time as state's attorney. She was elected last year and is the first African-American state's attorney in Florida.
He was apprehended after a nine-day manhunt after shooting dead Orlando police lieutenant Debra Clayton and his pregnant ex-girlfriend Sade Dixon in January.
Ayala announced that she would not seek the death penalty in Loyd's case, or in any cases in the future during a press conference outside of the Orange County Court House in March.
'What has become abundantly clear through this process is that while I currently do have discretion to pursue death sentences, I have determined that doing so is not in the best interest of this community or the best interest of justice,' she said, according to NPR.
Ayala has come under fire recently after announcing she wouldn't seek the death penalty against Orlando 'cop killer' Markeith Loyd or any other defendant in the future
Ayala has come under fire recently after announcing she wouldn't seek the death penalty against Orlando 'cop killer' Markeith Loyd or any other defendant in the future
Scott took the Loyd case away from Ayala shortly after and reassigned it to King.
Before removing the case from her authority, Governor Scott made it public that he disagreed with he decision.
He said that Ayala's choice to pursue life imprisonment sends 'an unacceptable message that she is not interested in considering every available option in the fight for justice.'
Ayala announced that she would not seek the death penalty in Loyd's case, or in any cases in the future during a press conference outside of the Orange County Court House in March
The victim's families, however, stood with the state attorney and voiced their desire to move on with their lives rather can continue to allow the tragedy to drag on with a death penalty trial.
Sade Dixon's mother, Stephanie Dixon-Daniels, said Friday that having the death penalty being taken into consideration would 'drag out' the process for her family, according to WMFE.
Many police officers, including Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings, found her decision to be in poor judgement.
'To put it bluntly, law enforcement officers throughout Florida are outraged over the decision that was made in this case,' he said.
Ayala is challenging Scott's actions with the Florida Supreme Court. Her office didn't immediately respond Monday to an email requesting a comment.
A high school principal in Racine, Wisconsin has found national fame after he dressed up in the same paint-splattered jeans as two of his students.
Racine Park High School Principal Jeffrey Miller explained to Yahoo that he noticed two boys wearing the bold pants Thursday morning, as they were arriving for class.
'I saw the two of them, and they had the same pants. I saw em and gave them a little bit of a hard time,' Miller said.
He joked around with the two, and they promised to get him his own pair.
Racine Park High School Principal Jeffrey Miller matched pants with two of his students last week, after poking fun of their look earlier in the day
Miller says that after joking around with the teens in the morning, the teens worked with some teachers to secure Miller a pair of his own, which they surprised him with just before lunch
'I just started laughing,' Miller said of the moment the students gave him his own matching pair
He forgot about the whole thing until just before lunch, when he received a call on his walkie talkie, telling him to come to a classroom.
He showed up at the class to find the two students holding a bag with his very own matching pair of pants inside.
'I just started laughing,' Miller recalled.
Miller was a good sport about it all, and put on the pants. He then posed for several photos with the teens, which are now going viral online
Apparently, the two teens enlisted the help of three other teachers - sending one of the teachers to a local Rue 21 store to pick up the $39.99 pants during a break.
Miller was a good sport about it all, and put on the pants. He then posed for several photos with the teens, which are now going viral online.
He also posted pictures to his own Twitter account, writing: 'What are the chances that we all wore the same pants on the same day! Love having fun with @Park_Panthers students! #pantherpride.'
Miller says he's happy to see the pictures become highly shared online.
'I know its gotten pretty big. Im happy for the kids.
'Thats the big thing for me. When they come back years from now, this is what theyll remember,' he said.
Chechen police have rounded up more than 100 men suspected of being gay killing three according to reports in the Russian media.
President Razman Kadyrov, who is a key ally of Vladimir Putin, ordered the clampdown, although officially his regime is denying the arrests claiming 'it is impossible to persecute those who are not in the republic'.
The report was carried in Novoya Gazeta although the Chechen government claims there are no gay people in their country.
Chechen president Razman Kadyrov, right, denied rounding up more than a 100 men suspected of being gay claiming there were no homosexuals in his country
Chechen police are believed to have rounded up more than 100 men, file photograph
Kadyrov, pictured, has been accused of earlier human rights violations
Kadyrov, who introduced Islamic rule in the Muslim-majority region, has been accused of earlier human rights violations.
He has described the allegations as 'absolute lies and disinformation'.
He also built what is described as Europe's biggest mosque.
Kadyrov's spokesman Alvi Karimov told the Interfax News Agency: 'You cannot arrest or repress people who just dont exist in the republic.
'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.'
According to the New York Times, gay men on the region have been deleting their social media profiles after it was reported authorities tried to lure gay men into dates and arrested them.
The reports from Russia claim those arrested range from just 15 to 50.
An Oklahoma prosecutor said Monday no charges will be filed against a 23-year-old man who fatally shot three teenage intruders in his home, but that the woman who drove them there is being charged with first-degree murder.
Authorities say Zachary Peters was home alone when he shot Maxwell Cook, 19, Jacob Redfern, 17, and Jakob Woodruff, 16, with an AR-15 rifle on March 27 at his home just outside the Tulsa suburb of Broken Arrow.
'It is the opinion of this office that Zachary Peters acted justifiably ... when he used deadly force to defend his home,' said Wagoner County Assistant District Attorney Jack Thorp.
'It was clear he operated completely within the law when he used deadly force,' Thorp said.
Zachary Peters, 23, shot dead three teens who broke into his home in the burglary planned by Elizabeth Rodriguez, 21,right. Peters will not be charged, but Rodriquez faces murder charges
Elizabeth Marie Rodriguez (pictured left and right), left her friends to die after Peters shot the teenagers during a burglary gone wrong. She is charged with murder
Way in: The suspects gained entry after they shattered a glass door at the back of the Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, house owned by Peters' father. It was their second raid in a day on the house
Peters confronted the suspects with a rifle and opened fire. Two teens died in the kitchen, while a third (pictured, with his leg emerging from the tarp) ran to the driveway and collapsed
The teens, who were wearing black clothing, gloves and masks, smashed a glass door and broke into the family home.
But they were met by Zach Peters, 23, who overheard the noise and ran down with his rifle.
Wagoner County Sheriff Chris Elliott said he supports the decision not to charge Peters.
'We support the right of our citizens, the right to bear arms and to defend their homes,' Elliott said. 'In this such case, we feel strongly that's what took place here.'
Oklahoma is one of 24 states which have laws allowing citizens to shoot someone if they believe the person threatens their safety, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Killed: Max Cook, 19, (left) and Jacob Redfearn, 17, (right) were shot dead by Zachary Peters during the burglary. Cook was in a relationship with Rodriguez who drove them there and left
Dead burglar: Jake Woodruff, 16, was the third teen killed in the confrontation
HARROWING 911 CALL PETERS MADE AFTER SHOOTING GANG Peters: I've just been broken into. Two men, two I've shot in my house Dispatcher: Was one of them shot? Peters: Yes, two of them. Dispatcher: Are they bleeding? Peters: Yes. I believe one... one's down, one's still talking here with me now. Dispatcher: And they broke into your home? Peters: Yes. Dispatcher: What's your name, sir? Peters: Zach Peters. Dispatcher: OK, sir, we're getting people out that way. And they attempted to break into your house and then...you shot them, correct? Peters: Correct. They are in my house. Two are still in my house. Dispatcher: OK, are they white males? Peters: Um, I didn't get a good look. Dispatcher: OK, can you see them right now?' Peters: No, I'm, uh, I shot two of them, now I'm barricaded in my bedroom. Dispatcher: You're barricaded in your, in your bedroom? OK. Peters: Correct. Southeast corner. They broke in a back door. I can hear one of them talking. Dispatcher: OK, what are they saying? Peters: I can't hear them. Dispatcher: OK, where were they shot? Peters: Upper body. Dispatcher: Upper body? Dispatcher: Are you hurt, sir? Peters: No. Advertisement
Thorp also said Elizabeth Marie Rodriguez, 21, of Oologah, was charged Monday with three counts of first-degree murder and two counts of burglary in the case and is jailed without bond.
Oklahoma law allows a person to be charged with murder if they take part in a crime in which people are killed, even if the person does not take part in the slaying.
Court records do not list an attorney for Rodriguez, but she has acknowledged driving the three to the home and waiting in a vehicle outside, and said while she understands Peters was protecting his home, she believes he could have shot the three in the legs.
'I won't take responsibility for the murders, I won't. I feel guilty, but I don't feel responsible,' Rodriguez said in an interview last week with ABC's 'World News Tonight with David Muir.'
Elliott said the three were wearing masks, hoodies and gloves and that brass knuckles and a knife were found among their possessions.
Two of the teens were killed instantly in the kitchen while the third ran outside into the driveway to try and make it to Rodriguez who was waiting in the getaway vehicle.
But deputies say that at that point, Rodriguez had fled leaving her friends behind.
The third teen's dead body was discovered lying out in the driveway.
Rodriguez is reported to have got to know the house when she dropped off a delivery item there and recommended the residence as a favorable burglary target for the gang.
They first broke in on Monday morning, stealing booze from the garage which is separate from the main building without disturbing the Peters family.
Having got away successfully, Rodriguez drove the three masked teenagers back.
Wagoner County Sheriff Chris Elliott speaks to media about Elizabeth Rodriguez, the getaway driver in a failed burglary resulting in the death of three. Rodriguez told television reporters that she feels guilty, but not responsible for their deaths
But when they returned for a second raid they broke into the main house by smashing a glass door.
'We do know at this time that Rodriquez had some indirect knowledge of the Peters' home and she believed there were expensive items inside the house,' Elliott said, while declining to elaborate.
Rodriguez has said another person was with her outside the home, but would not identify the person.
Mahoney said investigators have found and questioned that person, but have made no arrest.
A moped rider who snatched mobile phones from pedestrians, then led police on a 90mph chase the wrong way down the M11 has been jailed for 30 months.
Zuriel Hutson, 21, and Sharuk Sheraji, 22, stole handsets from 18 people in one day of crime across London on November 26.
Hutson steered the moped while Sherarji rode pillion looking out for vulnerable targets.
They snatched 10 phones in Westminster and attempted to grab an 11th, three in Camden, two in Islington, two phones in Hackney and one in Tower Hamlets.
Zuriel Hutson (left) and Sharuk Sheraji (right) stole handsets from 18 people in one day of crime across London on November 26.
But officers from Operation Attrition - the Mets specialist response unit to thieves on mopeds - were mobilised in unmarked police cars.
They were supported by a police helicopter that helped track the pair.
The offenders were quickly spotted due to their dangerous riding through the streets, Isleworth Crown Court heard.
In Whitehall Street, Tottenham, Sheraji jumped off the moped and attempted to flee on foot, but was caught by the officers.
He was found to be in possession of all of the 18 phones snatched and was immediately arrested.
Hutson attempted to escape on the moped, heading north and onto the North Circular, still followed by the helicopter.
He rode at speeds of up to 90mph, weaving in and out of traffic along the M11, and often on the wrong side of the carriageway towards oncoming traffic.
Terrified motorists had to swerve out of his path to avoid head-on collisions.
Hutson tried to squeeze in between two cars in the gap between lanes two and three on the M11 and ended up hitting them both.
His shoes were knocked from his feet as he skidded and rolled along the motorway, and he only narrowly avoided being struck by the car behind.
Police were forced to close part of the M11 to prevent further danger to drivers.
Despite the nasty fall, Hutson got back up - without his shoes - restarted his moped and continued along the hard shoulder, again against oncoming traffic.
Hutson attempted to escape on the moped, riding at speeds of up to 90mph, weaving in and out of traffic along the M11
Police deployed a stinger tyre deflation device ahead of Hutson, which safely slowed him down and eventually stopped him on the slip road of the M11 to the M25.
He tried to flee bare foot, but police soon caught up with him and he was arrested on suspicion of robbery, failing to stop, dangerous driving, attempting to drive away and no insurance.
Op Attrition detectives have identified 17 of the 18 owners of the stolen mobile phones so far, who have provided statements and had their phones returned to them.
Detective Chief Inspector Steve Heatley said: This was a good result, which has seen two perpetrators of audacious thefts receive a robust judicial outcome with time in jail.
The convictions and sentences should send out a strong message that such incidents will be dealt with robustly by the Met and the courts.
Police are working hard to keep the public safe and make the streets hostile territory for criminals who use mopeds, motorbikes and bicycles to snatch valuables from members of the public.
Hutson tried to squeeze in between two cars in the gap between lanes two and three on the M11 and ended up hitting them both
Both defendants, Hutson in particular, could have caused serious injury to the victims, the public, other motorists and themselves, in their callous execution of their crimes and attempts to evade justice. They had no regard for anyone but themselves.
These offenders relied on the unwariness of the public to snatch their phones whilst they made calls so it is imperative that the public are aware of their surroundings at all times and keep their phones secure at all times as this crime happens in an instant.
Hutson, of Crowfield House, Highbury New Park, Islington, north London, was sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment after he admitted conspiracy to steal, dangerous driving and breach of a Criminal Behaviour Order.
Sheraji, of Shoreditch, was sentenced to two years imprisonment after admitting conspiracy to steal and breach of a Criminal Behaviour Order.
Stephen Baldwin Stars in Powerful New Film Production about the Thief on the Cross Digital download of unique 60-minute, one-man filmed stage production releases on ChristianCinema.com April 4 Contact: Kristin Cole, 972-267-1111, kristin@alarryross.com NEW YORK, April 3, 2017 / Christian Newswire / -- Actor Stephen Baldwin brings to life the powerful story of the thief on the cross in a new unique filmed stage adaptation, "Heaven, How I Got Here: A Night with the Thief on the Cross," available for digital download on ChristianCinema.com beginning April 4. Unlocking the Bible and LIGHTBEAMedia, a contemporary Christian content provider founded by Baldwin and Mike Lindell, inventor of MyPillow, have partnered in the development of this extraordinary 60-minute film. The one-man performance shares a deeply moving narrative based on Pastor Colin Smith's book, " Heaven, How I Got Here: The Story of the Thief on the Cross ." A special sneak peek of the film will debut April 4 at 8 p.m. EDT / 7 p.m. CDT during the premiere of " National Bible Bee Game Show " hosted by Kirk Cameron, available on Facebook Live at ChristianCinema.tv and on Digital HD at ChristianCinema.com Set 2,000 years after his death, Baldwin captivates audiences in "Heaven, How I Got Here: A Night with the Thief on the Cross" with an emotionally compelling first-person account of one individual who wrestled with deep despair and shame. The production lays out the stark reality of the thief's salvation: he never went to church, he never made a contribution in the offering plate, he never memorized a Bible verse, and he never served the poor. He hung on the cross at the brink of death, and in an act of desperation he called out to Jesus and was saved. "I have done many performances throughout my career but perhaps none has so personally impacted me as my role as the thief," said Baldwin. "Pastor Colin Smith's masterful story of the real-life struggles and thoughts of a man that ultimately found himself dying just a few feet from Jesus will leave viewers walking away considering their own life. If Jesus could save the thief just hours before he died, there is hope for anyone, no matter what their circumstances might be." Based on the story of the crucifixion of Jesus found in Luke 23, this poignant account of redemption and grace weaves together the biblical events of the crucifixion and imagines the details of the life of the thief. He recounts the events of that day as he experienced them then, and as he looks back later from the perspective of his new life in heaven. The performance invites viewers into a believable environment as temporary "visitors" to heaven. One of Baldwin's most powerful lines of the play says it best: "I did a lot of 'stuff' on earth; and yet of all the people here (in heaven), Jesus chose me as your tour guideup here, we all have a story; on that (last) day, I had breakfast with the devil and supper with the Savior." Baldwin plays multiple characters in this narrative, each one unique, moving and entertaining. He performed the initial run of the one-man play in 2015 at The Orchard Evangelical Free Church in Arlington Heights, Illinois, to sold-out crowds of over 5,000. The enactment was adapted and directed by Timothy Gregory, founding artistic director of Chicago's Provision Theater Company. Initial reviews claim Baldwin delivers "the performance of his career."
The digital download of "Heaven, How I Got Here: A Night with the Thief on the Cross" is available April 4 on ChristianCinema.com for $9.99. For additional information, visit www.christiancinema.com Stephen Baldwin landed his breakthrough role in "The Usual Suspects" in 1995. His subsequent roles included "Bio-Dome" (1996) and Barney Rubble in "The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas" (2000). From January to March 2008, Baldwin appeared on Donald Trump's "Celebrity Apprentice, Season 7" on NBC. In September 2006, Baldwin released his book entitled "The Unusual Suspect," which details highlights from his personal life, career, days of drug abuse, and ultimately, his turn to becoming a born-again Christian after the 9/11 attacks. Baldwin can most recently be seen in the faith-based films, "God's Club" (2015) and "The Apostle Peter: Redemption" (2016). He is also co-founder of LIGHTBEAMedia with MyPillow Inventor Mike Lindell. Visit landed his breakthrough role in "The Usual Suspects" in 1995. His subsequent roles included "Bio-Dome" (1996) and Barney Rubble in "The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas" (2000). From January to March 2008, Baldwin appeared on Donald Trump's "Celebrity Apprentice, Season 7" on NBC. In September 2006, Baldwin released his book entitled "The Unusual Suspect," which details highlights from his personal life, career, days of drug abuse, and ultimately, his turn to becoming a born-again Christian after the 9/11 attacks. Baldwin can most recently be seen in the faith-based films, "God's Club" (2015) and "The Apostle Peter: Redemption" (2016). He is also co-founder of LIGHTBEAMedia with MyPillow Inventor Mike Lindell. Visit stephenbaldwin.com for more information. Unlocking the Bible is a global, multi-media ministry that reached more than 3 million people in 2016 through radio, television, books, events, social media, and more. The ministry, which leverages the teaching of Pastor Colin Smith, puts the gospel within people's grasp all around the world by challenging and enabling people to consistent study of the Bible and a deepening faith in Jesus Christ. The ministry grew from a two-year journey of reading through the Bible, shared by the congregation of The Orchard Evangelical Free Church in 2000 and 2001. Unlocking the Bible's daily radio program is heard across the U.S. by more than 500,000 people each week on more than 250 stations. For additional information, visit is a global, multi-media ministry that reached more than 3 million people in 2016 through radio, television, books, events, social media, and more. The ministry, which leverages the teaching of Pastor Colin Smith, puts the gospel within people's grasp all around the world by challenging and enabling people to consistent study of the Bible and a deepening faith in Jesus Christ. The ministry grew from a two-year journey of reading through the Bible, shared by the congregation of The Orchard Evangelical Free Church in 2000 and 2001. Unlocking the Bible's daily radio program is heard across the U.S. by more than 500,000 people each week on more than 250 stations. For additional information, visit www.unlockingthebible.org
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The funeral of hedge fund partner Charles Murphy was attended today by Manhattan's elite including billionaire bankers, Housewives star Dorinda Medley, and disgraced former New York governor, Eliot Spitzer.
Father-of-five Charles Murphy, 56, committed suicide last Monday when he leaped from the 24th floor of the Sofitel Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. He fell to a terrace below and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The funeral service for Murphy, who had previously worked for a hedge fund caught up in the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme scandal, was held at St Bartholomew's Episcopal Church on Monday morning.
Mourning: Annabella Murphy held her youngest son with late husband Charles in her arms as she left the funeral service in St Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, midtown Manhattan
Sad journey: Murphy's eldest son Charles Jr was at the head of the coffin which was borne out by other friends, including behind Charles Jr, John Paulson, boss of the hedge fund where Murphy worked
In mourning: Heather Kerzner, Murphy's first wife, arrived before the service. She had two children with Murphy before they divorced and she married casino billionaire Sol Kerzner
Solemn: Elliot Spitzer, the former New York governor and attorney general, who fell from grace over a prostitution scandal, was on the steps of the church as the coffin was carried out
Arrival: Real Housewives of New York star Dorinda Medley was among those mourning
Lisa Marie Falcone, who lived across the street from the Murphys, entering the service (left); Caroline Berthet (right) whose husband committed suicide
Carolina Herrera's daughter Patricia (left) and Vogue editor and shoe designer Tabitha Simmons (right)
Emotional pallbearers carry the coffin in on Monday at the start of the funeral
Loss: Charles Murphy plunged to his death from the 24th floor of the Sofitel in Manhattan's Times Square on Monday
Security personnel guarded the doors to the church on Park Avenue from early morning.
Murphy's widow, Annabella Murphy, 40, clutched her young sons' hands and was surrounded by her immediate family as she led mourners out of the church at midday following the hour-long service.
She had her husband had three sons, the youngest of whom is just two years old.
Murphy's eldest son, Charles Murphy Jr, who attends Newcastle University, helped carry his father's coffin alongside his father's boss, John Paulson, billionaire founder of Paulson & Co Inc.
Murphy's daughter, Savannah, who studies at Stanford University in California stayed close to her stepmother's side.
Murphy's ex-wife and mother of his two eldest children, Heather Kerzner, wore sunglasses as she entered the service.
Among the large crowd of mourners were a number of finance and Wall Street heavyweights including Dan Loeb, founder of hedge fund Third Point, and fellow Paulson executive, Ty Wallach.
Socialite and star of Real Housewives of New York, Dorinda Medley, was also in attendance.
Former New York governor, Eliot Spitzer, who was forced to resign in 2008 for soliciting prostitutes, was also seen waiting on the steps outside of the church.
After several minutes speaking on the steps, mourners left the church in a fleet of chauffeur-driven cars and SUVS.
Family: Among the mourners were (from left) Murphy's second-youngest son, his daughter from his first marriage Savannah, his second son, his wife Annabella and his youngest son
Mourning: Friends, family and colleagues lined the steps of the church as the coffin was taken away at the end of the service
Show of strength: Dan Loeb, the Third Point hedge fund boss worth an estimated $2.9 billion according to Forbes (far left) was one of the mourners
Alison Aston (in leather coat), the wife of Jay Aston and daughter-in-law of plastic surgeron Sherrell and Muffie Potter Aston enters the church with her son
Lisa Marie Falcone could be seen waiting before walking up to Annabella and giving her a hug on Monday after the service
Support: Annabella Murphy held her son by the hand as she attended the service for her husband
last resting place: Charles Murphy's coffin was carried by his son Charles Jr (left) and boss John Paulson (behind him). He fell to his death from the Sofitel Times Square last week
Mourned: Clergy from St Bartholomew's Episcopal Church lead the coffin into the service, which was attended by family, friends and colleagues
Venue: Charles Murphy's funeral was held at St Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in Midtown Manhattan
Murphy landed on a fourth-floor terrace, dressed in his dark business suit, after plunging from a room he had rented, police told DailyMail.com. There have been no arrests and the investigation is ongoing.
From the outside, the twice-married father-of-five, whose youngest son is just two years old, lived the gilded life of the super-rich.
However, he appears to have been battling depression, with an unnamed source telling the Daily News that Murphy had been undergoing treatment.
Three weeks ago, he signed paperwork to add his wife's name to the deed of their Upper East Side mansion, documents revealed. Murphy's decision meant that in the event of his death, she would have undisputed sole ownership.
Paulson & Co. Inc, where he had been an executive for seven years, has been struggling in the past year, according to financial reports.
Murphy, a Harvard Law School graduate who also held an MBA from MIT, led the fund's investing in troubled insurance giant AIG.
Shortly after his death last Monday, it was reported that the hedge fund's troubles meant bonuses were slashed.
Fox Business said some executives had been handed 'zeroes' - little or no bonus - for 2016.
'People are miserable there. These are people with very high lifestyles who arent getting paid,' one source told Fox Business.
In a statement, founder John Paulson said: 'We are extremely saddened by this news. Charles was an extremely gifted and brilliant man, a great partner and a true friend. Our deepest prayers are with his family.'
Family connection: Nicole Hanley Mellon, the Hanley banking heiress who separated in 2015 from Matthew Mellon, the Mellon banking heir, was accompanied by her sister Merrill Curtis
Show of support: Friends, family and colleagues of the dead man turned out to mourn on Monday morning
Arrivals: Scores of mourners were present to mark the passing of Charles Murphy. The 56-year-old jumped to his death from the Sofitel, Times Square
Present: The church was busy for the funeral of the twice-married father of five who had studied at MIT and Harvard
Christina Greeven Cumo, the wife of CNN host Chris Cuomo, enters the service on Mondau
The hedge-funder had previously been a partner at Fairfield Greenwich Group (FGG), which emerged as one of the biggest losers of Bernie Madoff in 2008 after investing $7 billion in his Ponzi scheme
The father of five, whose youngest son is just two and a half (and pictured here as just a newborn), worked for hedge fund Paulson & Co
Paulson & Co., which manages approximately $19.3 billion, according to its own website, lost $3 billion in 2016, according to Bloomberg, which referenced a report showing Paulson held assets of $9.8 billion.
Fortune also named Paulson & Co. as one of its seven biggest hedge fund disasters of last year after the fund made bad bets on pharmaceutical companies. Fortune also noted that Paulsons investors have been getting cold feet and pulled $2.5 billion from the fund in 2016.
The fortunes of hedge-funders are intrinsically tied to their firms success; annual bonuses shrink in relation to market losses.
It is unclear whether Murphy, who had a long and distinguished career in banking on both sides of the Atlantic, was directly exposed to the difficulties or if his personal finances were affected.
Nicole was accompanied by her UBS banker husband Brett Pickett (left) who she married after divorcing Matthew Mellon
The hedge-funder had previously been a partner at Fairfield Greenwich Group (FGG), which emerged as one of the biggest losers of Bernie Madoff in 2008 after investing $7 billion in his Ponzi scheme.
Up until the scandal, FGG, whose Sentry Fund was the biggest feeder to Madoffs operation, had been paid more than 11 percent interest annually over a 15-year relationship.
In 2013, FGG paid out a settlement of $80 million following a class action lawsuit by its investors.
The experience impacted many global super-rich and some who had been personally convinced to invest with Madoff by Fairfields founder, Walter Noel, and his well-connected, international band of son-in-laws who worked for him.
President Donald Trump is donating his first quarter salary of $78,333 to the National Park Service the agency he clashed with over the size of his inauguration crowd.
Press Secretary Sean Spicer revealed the information at the top the White House press briefing, where Interior Department Secretary Ryan Zinke held up a copy of a check signed by the president.
Trump had already made known his desire not to take a salary, and Spicer had earlier told reporters he wanted their advice on what charity the money should go to.
Instead, the president picked the Park Service after reviewing options with the White House counsel's office.
'His council presented him with several options,' Spicer told reporters.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, left, and Harpers Ferry National Historic Park Superintendent Tyrone Brandyburg hold up a check showing President Trump's donation to the National Park Service. Trump is donating his first quarter salary
'Ironically, it's not as easy to give money to the federal government as you think,' he said. 'Except the IRS,' Spicer quipped.
Spicer said the donation counted Trump's salary from Inauguration Day until the end of the quarter.
Zinke posed with a copy of the check along with Tyrone Brandyburg, the superintendent of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.
Trump's budget calls for cuts of about 12 per cent for the Interior Department, a loss of more than $1 billion, an amount vastly larger than the size of the donation.
FUNDING GAP: Trump's budget cuts Interior Department funding by more than $1 billion
Trump chose the Park Service after reviewing agencies he could contribute to with the White House counsel's office
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, left, and Harpers Ferry National Historic Park Superintendent Tyrone Brandyburg, accompanied by White House press secretary Sean Spicer, hold up a check during the daily briefing at the White House
BIG CHECK: Trump (C) joins Jerry Falwell, Jr.(L), president of Liberty University, for a campaign rally at the Adler Theatre where Trump presented a check to the Puppy Jake on January 30, 2016 in Davenport, Iowa
Zinke said the money would go into a fund for maintenance of battlefield monuments an area he said had deferred maintenance needs of $229 million.
The check Zinke held did not appear to have any routing numbers on it.
Trump called up the head of the Park Service to order production of photos of the inauguration
Trump took heat during the presidential campaign after he claimed that a January 28 fundraiser for veterans raised $6 million, when in fact accounting by the New York Post and Washington Post revealed that the total was more like $3.1 million.
Then-Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski subsequently told the Post that the fundraiser netted about $4.5 million and claimed the shortfall was due to Trump's acquaintances pledging donations but not following through.
The Saturday after his inauguration, Trump called the head of the Park Service on his first full day in office. He ordered the agency head to provide photographs of the event after a spat over the size of his inaugural crowd compared to President Obama's, the Washington Post reported.
He also took issue with a Park Service tweet comparing the two presidents' crowds.
Spicer said last month that journalists should offer advice over where Trump should donate the money. 'He wants to donate it to charity, and hed love your help to determine where it should go,' he said.
The diplomat who is in line to be America's next NATO ambassador said Monday that former National Security Advisor Susan Rice has been suspected 'for weeks' of involvement in an effort to publicly unmask Donald Trump associates whose names appeared in foreign intelligence reports.
And he claimed ten days ago that if Rice and her deputy Ben Rhodes were behind politically motivated leaks of classified intelligence, former president Barack Obama was also in the know.
'Former State Department colleagues of mine have been talking about Susan Rice's role for weeks,' Richard Grenell told DailyMail.com on Monday
'She and her team certainly were hyper-partisan throughout their tenure. It makes sense.'
Richard Grenell, the diplomat in line to be the Trump administration's NATO ambassador, said Monday that State Department insiders have discussed Susan Rice's role in an 'unmasking' scandal for weeks
Rice (center, last July) reportedly asked intelligence agencies dozens of times to show her the names of Trump-related campaign personnel that had been 'masked' from transcripts of foreign intelligence intercepts
Grenell did not disclose who his former colleagues are.
Rice is the Obama administration official whose name became a punchline after her repeated false claims that the 2012 Benghazi terror attacks were caused by a crude Internet video.
WHAT IS UNMASKING? When U.S. intelligence services conduct surveillance of foreign targets, it's possible that American citizens can be swept up in recorded conversations, intercepted emails or other surveillance. That can happen when Americans who are not targets of an investigation are 'incidentally' captured talking to a target. it can also occur when targets merely mention them during a conversation or in a document. When this happens, intelligence analysts routinely delete the Americans' names and replace them with vague identifiers like 'U.S. Person Number One' or 'Person A' masking their identity from other government officials who may look at reports. Senior intelligence officials can request the 'unmasking' of those names under certain circumstances, but that creates a risk that the names will be leaked. Advertisement
From her position as chief of the National Security Council last year, according to a Bloomberg report, Rice asked government agencies to identify names that had been withheld from raw intelligence reports linked with Trump campaign and transition figures.
There is not necessarily anything illegal or unusual about a national security advisor seeking to unmask names in raw reports, in order to fully understand the meaning of intercepted conversations.
But leaking those names to people who lack the security clearance to view the source documents is a federal felony.
One such criminal leak involved Gen. Michael Flynn Rice's short-lived successor whose name was leaked to a reporter just days into the Trump administration.
Routine surveillance conducted on phone conversations of Russia's U.S. ambassador Sergey Kislyak revealed that he had been talking with Flynn.
Flynn was later forced out of office following reports that he had failed to acknowledge those conversations included talk of the potential for relaxing U.S. sanctions on Moscow.
The controversy reached public scandal level when a partial transcript of one call was leaked to a Washington Post columnist.
Rice had access to intelligence reports that also contained 'valuable political information on the Trump transition such as whom the Trump team was meeting, the views of Trump associates on foreign policy matters and plans for the incoming administration,' according to Bloomberg.
But she insisted last month that she was in the dark about any efforts to identify Trump-linked private individuals in intelligence reports, after House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes publicly exposed the 'unmasking.'
'I know nothing about this,' Rice told PBS.
Grenell made the first prediction, back on March 24, that Rice would be embroiled in the unmasking fiasco, saying that then-president Barack Obama would also have to have known
Grenell fingered Rice and her deputy Ben Rhodes (right) as political operators inside the National Security Council, the most likely personnel to leak classified information in any plot to harm the Trump campaign
Grenell has served as a spokesman to four different U.S. Permanent Representatives to the United Nations, including Ambassador John Bolton's tenure under President George W. Bush.
He was also briefly Mitt Romney's national security spokesman while the former Massachusetts governor was running for president in 2012.
Grenell was the first to publicly raise Rice's name in conjunction with the unmasking of Americans' names during the final year of the Obama administration, along with that of Rhodes, the former Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications.
One 'unmasked' name has already been leaked to The Washington Post, that of disgraced Gen. Michael Flynn who succeeded Rice as National Security Advisor
'The Obama team is claiming that this is a safe legal issue because they were supposedly trying to listen to foreigners,' Grenell said during a March 24 Fox News Channel 'Hannity' broadcast.
'But within that realm there could have easily been a political calculation to listen in, and then to take those transcripts and the summaries of those transcripts, make sure that those in the NSC and the political people like Ben Rhodes and Susan Rice make sure that they have them so they can leak them to reporters.'
'I think that it would be easy to figure out if Susan Rice and Ben Rhodes knew about this,' he added, 'because if they did, clearly President Obama knew about it.'
'That's the political team inside the NSC. They would have been trying to help do something against Trump during the election. So I think let's just figure out if they knew, and we'll have something leading to a political scheme.'
Grenell said ten days ago on 'Hannity' that what started out as an 'unintentional sweep' which snagged Trump campaign personnel in an intelligence net ultimately morphed into 'intentional' leaks as Rice (right) and others weaponized U.S. intelligence for an election
Grenell said on 'Hannity' that what started out as an 'unintentional sweep' that snagged Trump campaign personnel in an intelligence net ultimately morphed into 'intentional' leaks.
He added that he had received intelligence briefings every day for eight years while he worked at the UN, and never once saw raw transcripts of phone intercepts.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer declined to pile on Susan Rice during his Monday afternoon press briefing.
'I'm not going to start going down that road,' he said.
Grenell's expected nomination to lead the U.S. NATO mission has appeared stalled for the past four weeks since the first word of it emerged.
But a White House aide said Monday that the administration is viewing it with a renewed sense of urgency in order to get him confirmed before a May 24-25 NATO summit in Brussels, Belgium.
President Donald Trump is expected to participate in that event on its second day.
Peru drugs mule Michaella McCollum jetted into Ibiza earlier today where she and her friend Melissa Reid were hired to smuggle cocaine worth 1.5 million into Spain.
The 24-year-old from County Tyrone, northern Ireland was jailed in Peru in 2013 for her botched attempt to smuggle 1.5 million of cocaine into Europe.
She and Melissa Reid agreed to try and bring in the drugs at the beginning of August 2013 just two months after arriving on Ibiza to work as a dancer in a bar.
Peru drugs mule Michaella McCollum, left, flew into Ibiza today along with a friend, right, and headed straight to a bar in Mambos to watch the sunset go down over the island
McCollum, pictured in 2013 left along with Melissa Reid, right, was convicted of trying to smuggle cocaine worth 1.5 million from Lima, Peru to Madrid in Spain in their luggage
McCollum, pictured, was smiling after arriving on a flight into Ibiza airport earlier today
McCollum returned home in August last year after reportedly doing a deal with Peruvian authorities.
She and Reid - dubbed the 'Peru Two' had each been sentenced to six years and eight months in jail after admitting to trying to smuggle cocaine out of the country.
The pair, who initially protested their innocence, were found in possession of 11kg of cocaine hidden inside food packets in their luggage as they prepared to board a flight from Lima to Madrid.
McCollum was released on parole in March 2016 after serving less than half of her sentence but was initially required to stay in Peru, where she carried out voluntary work.
Reid was released from prison in June last year, flying back to Scotland shortly afterwards.
McCollum and her friend had a quick change of clothes after flying into Ibiza this afternoon
McCollum and Reid agreed to smuggle 11kg of cocaine after being approached in Ibiza
McCollum, pictured, walked barefoot as she took photographs of the sunset on her phone
Speaking previously about her experience in Lima's Ancon 2 prison, McCollum described how she shared a cell with seven other prisoners including Reid, sleeping on concrete bunks and using a hole in the floor as a lavatory.
Despite the harsh conditions, she told Mail On Sunday 'of course you have laughs in there' and said she adjusted to life in jail by running a beauty salon and participating in dance competitions.
She secretly took the pictures on a mobile phone she got by bribing a prison guard, in order to reassure her family that she was coping with the harsh reality of her situation.
One photograph showed her crouching alongside other inmates as she blew out candles on a cake they made for her 22nd birthday.
McCollum, pictured, was released from prison in March 2016 after serving half her sentence
McCollum's friend can be seen busily checking messages on her mobile phone, right
The pair sat alone while watching the sunset on Ibiza just hours after arriving on the island
McCollum's friend, right, took a selfie photograph of the pair while sitting in the sun
McCollum, left, had been sentenced to six years in prison along with Reid in August 2013
Despite her conviction, McCollum, pictured left, flew into Ibiza without any difficulty
McCollum, left, was released from prison to carry out voluntary work before coming home
McCollum looked relaxed pulling her luggage behind her with her friend on Ibiza earlier today
A man charged with beheading a female co-worker and trying to decapitate another at an Oklahoma food processing plant in 2014 has been removed from court after an outburst.
Alton Alexander Nolen struggled with three deputies despite being handcuffed and shackled during a competency trial Monday in Cleveland County District Court.
The deputies subdued him and, after a 15-minute recess, the judge asked Nolen if he wanted to remain in court. Nolen refused to respond and was taken away.
Defendant: Alton Nolen (pictured left on Monday) was removed from court after an outburst. The man is facing charges for beheading his former co-worker, Colleen Hufford (right)
Chaotic scene: It took three deputies to subdue the handcuffed and shackled defendant in Cleveland County District Court on Monday
Bloody attack: Nolen is accused of going on a bloody rampage inside his former place of employment, Vaughan Foods, a food processing plant in Moore, Oklahoma, in September 2014
Nolen, a Muslim convert, is charged with first-degree murder in the September 25, 2014, beheading of 54-year-old Colleen Hufford, a married mother and grandmother-of-one, at Vaughan Foods in Moore.
He launched the attack shortly after the company suspended him for making racial remarks. He's also accused of trying to kill another co-worker, Traci Johnson, by stabbing her with a kitchen knife. The 43-year-old woman survived.
Nolen, then aged 30, was stopped when he was shot by the company's CEO, Mark Vaughan, who was also a reserve sheriff's deputy.
Nolen has asked to enter a guilty plea to the charges against him and receive the death penalty since he was first arrested in 2014, but his defense team have been arguing that he is insane, reported News9.
The bloody September 2014 knife attack at Vaughan Foods was stopped when company CEO and reserve sheriff's deputy Mark Vaughan (left) shot Nolen (right)
In August, Judge Lori Walkley denied Nolen's guilty plea and ordered him to undergo a competency evaluation.
The suspect's trial is to determine if Nolen is competent to plead guilty to the charges.
If the defendant is found competent, the case will move directly into the sentencing phase.
Records showed that Alton Nolen had served less than two years of a six-year prison sentence for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.
He went to prison March 10, 2011, to start a two-year sentence for marijuana possession and another two-year sentence for assaulting a highway patrol trooper, the website reported.
Nolen, a Muslim convert (pictured with a prayer rug) had been suspended from work shortly before the rampage for making racially charged remarks
He began his six-year sentence for cocaine possession April 26, 2011. Records show that due to plea agreements, he was allowed to serve the three prison sentences at the same time.
On Nolen's Facebook page, listed under the name Jah'Keem Yisrael, he posted photos of Osama bin Laden and Taliban fighters, along with posts condemning a variety of aspects of American life.
Posts ranged from religious iconography to stock photography to even photos of supposed UFO activity.
It also included a graphic photo of a beheading.
A kayaker missing on a North Carolina river is safe after authorities said he showed up for work the next morning.
Johnston County officials said their search for 26-year-old Isaac Evans ended early Sunday when police found him at work two counties and 35 miles away from his kayak overturned along the Neuse River.
Evans told police he didn't realize a search for him was underway.
Search teams looked for Isaac Evans, 26, Saturday after his kayak overturned in North Carolina
Town of Clayton spokeswoman Stacy Beard said alcohol was involved in Saturday's Neuse River mishap.
'The kayak was recovered but there was no sign of (Evans),' Beard told CBS News.
Volunteer firefighters, sheriff's deputies and a highway patrol helicopter searched the river until 2am Sunday and resumed the search seven hours later.
Evans was kayaking with friends along the Neuse River when their canoe hit a log and overturned. Everyone else was pulled ashore by rescuers.
Evans was kayaking with friends along the Neuse River (pictured) when their canoe hit a log and overturned for unknown reasons. Everyone else was pulled ashore by rescuers
Evans swam to shore after his kayak overturned for unknown reasons and he called a friend for a ride.
Raleigh police checked his apartment Saturday night, but he had slept at a friend's house without telling his family members.
Beard said authorities are investigating the events that led up to the rescue, the cost and any possible charges.
A former elementary school teacher who was accused of fatally shooting her boyfriend has been found guilty of murder.
Virginia Vertetis, 54, has been convicted of gunning down retired New York City police officer Patrick Gilhuley in her Mount Olive, New Jersey home in 2014. She was also found guilty of possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, NJ.com reported.
Vertetis had claimed she pulled the trigger in self-defense after Gilhuley allegedly attacked her in a fit of drunken rage. But Morris County Assistant Prosecutor Matthew Troiano argued that the 54-year-old shot the Gilhuley in the back with his own gun because she had been angry that he had broken up with her.
Gilhuley's ex-wife and two daughters were present at the hearing as well as more than a dozen uniformed officers, according to the news site.
Virginia Vertetis, 54, was convicted of murder after shooting and killing retired NYPD officer boyfriend Patrick Gilhuley in her Mount Olive, New Jersey home in 2014
Defendant Virginia Vertetis closed her eyes as she listened to the verdict alongside her attorneys Edward Bilinkas and Sara Sencer-McArdle
The couple had met in 2008 on the dating site, Match.com and later moved in together in Vertetis's home in 2010.
The divorced mother of two alleged that Gilhuley became aggressive within a year after they started dating and would abuse her when he was intoxicated.
Patrick Gilhuley was killed after Vertetis shot him in the back with his own gun in 2014
An explosive argument had taken place March 3, 2014, the day of Gihuley's death. Vertetis said the two had argued after she realized he had been seeing another woman. But the altercation escalated after she also accused him of not paying his taxes on a private security he had, the Daily Record reported.
Vertetis claimed Gilhuley charged at her and tried to choke her. She said she then managed to escape his grasp and located the gun under her mattress and fired three times.
After being asked if she had stolen the former cop's gun, she said Gilhuley had given her the weapon for protection after he had moved out.
However, the victim's daughter Heather Gilhuley testified that she had seen her father's gun after he had shown it to her months after he had moved out Vertetis's home.
His other daughter Jennifer Gilhuley also said that her father had called her three times right before his death. She said in one of the phone calls she heard her father scream: 'Holy s***, she's shooting!' before the line went dead and she called the police.
A jury of seven women and five men reached a verdict after deliberating for four hours over the course of the weekend. Vertetis is facing 30 years to life in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on May 23.
Vertetis is a former teacher at Marie V. Duffy School in Wharton, New Jersey.
Two 15-year-old boys climbed over barriers and were loose within the grounds of the Palace of Westminster before being caught.
The pair were spotted clambering over a low barrier into the car park at the southern end of the Palace before going back to the public area.
When challenged by a police officer the duo tried to run but was chased and arrested on suspicion of trespassing on a protected site.
Scotland Yard said the pair did not get inside the Houses of Parliament and the intrusion was not be treated as terrorism.
Two 15-year-old boys climbed over barriers and were loose within the grounds of the Palace of Westminster before being caught. Pictured, people take part in a memorial walk
The security breach on Saturday came 10 days after Khalid Masood murdered three pedestrians with his car on Westminster Bridge.
The IS inspired terrorist then ran into the grounds at the north side of the Palace where he stabbed an unarmed policeman to death before being shot dead.
Scotland Yard said the intrusion was not be treated as terrorism and the teenagers have been bailed.
The Met Police said: 'Police have arrested and bailed two youths who were observed climbing over barriers to the grounds of the Palace of Westminster on the afternoon of Saturday, 1 April.
'The boys, both 15-years-old, climbed over a low barrier into the car park at the southern end of the Palace.
'They then crossed back over into the public area when a police officer approached them. The trespass lasted approximately 30 seconds.
The security breach on Saturday came 10 days after Khalid Masood murdered three pedestrians with his car on Westminster Bridge
'The boys attempted to run away but were pursued and detained by police.
'They were arrested on suspicion of trespassing on a protected site, contrary to section 128 of the Serious Organised Crime Act 2005, shortly before 14.30hrs.
'They did not gain access to any building. Both youths were taken into custody at a central London police station.
'On Sunday 2 April they were bailed, pending further enquiries, to return to a central London police station on a date in early May.
'The incident is not being treated as terrorist-related.'
A former soldier who mocked the justice system with a smiling selfie has finally been jailed.
Alexander Clare, 28, appeared before Colchester Magistrates' Court in February for beating up his girlfriend.
When he avoided jail, he posted a photo of himself outside court with the caption 'well I'm out again' and several laughing emojis.
The former soldier has been responsible for a catalogue of abuse and harassment against his former girlfriends, Chelmsford Weekly reported.
Alex Clare tempted fate with his boastful selfie outside Colchester Magistrates' Court
In January he sent messages to his ex-girlfriend just days after he was given a suspended sentence for assault.
Six weeks were added to his suspended sentence, it is understood.
But he had managed to avoid jail, despite breaching his restraining order.
This week however District Judge John Woollard decided that Clare had avoided jail for too long and sent him down for 30 weeks.
Most of Clare's offenses were against his former girlfriend Kimberly Crane - who later found out that Clare already had a criminal record for beating up a previous girlfriend.
The former soldier was jailed for 30 weeks by District Judge John Woollard
Ms Crane said: 'The abuse started three or four weeks into the relationship when he started being aggressive towards me.
'He threw my phone at me so hard it smashed, he bit me because I wouldn't sleep with him, he would push me against the wall.
'One time I had got ready for a night out and was doing the dishes. He got a handful of dishwater and rubbed it in my face to wash my make up off and told me I wasn't going out.'
In February that court hard heard that Clare had suffered a number of traumatic situations, including a tour of Afghanistan.
Selena Dines, mitigating, added: 'In 2015 his friend was found dead. It was not related [to Afghanistan] but that brought distress and post traumatic stress disorder.
'He is under psychiatric help from the NHS. He is always concerned about the threat of terrorism.
A US Marine veteran suffered a stroke at the hospital bedside of his wife who has been hooked up to life supporting machines for the past two weeks due to an extreme case of strep throat in Royal Oak, Michigan.
The condition of Mark McGeorge, who served in the Marine Corps in the 1980s, is uncertain at this time while his wife Shannon McGeorge's condition has become more stable.
Shannon McGeorge, a mother of seven, was admitted to the hospital at Royal Oak Beaumont after a sore throat escalated, eventually requiring her to be placed into a medically-induced coma, according to Fox's WJBK TV.
US Marine veteran Mark McGeroge suffered a stroke at the hospital bedside of his wife, Shannon McGeorge, who has been hooked up to life supporting machines for the past two weeks in Royal Oak, Michigan. The two are seen here with one of the grandchildren
The condition of Mark McGeorge, who served in the Marine Corps in the 1980s and is pictured here, is uncertain at this time
'Now he's in the same hospital with a clot in his brain,' Anastasia Coleman, the oldest of the McGeorges' seven children, said of her father's condition.
Shannon had been heavily sedated in the days leading up to her husband's stroke, but she was conscious at the time of the episode.
'She's awake now, so she can see. She can't speak, she cant move her arms very well yet, but she was able to watch the whole thing happen,' Coleman said.
Shannon McGeorge is seen here at the hospital after the birth of one of her grandchildren, with oldest daughter Anastasia Coleman in the background
Although it was undoubtedly troubling for her to witness such a thing in her state, Shannon is lucky to be in a more stable condition at this time.
'Her organs were shutting down, she had sepsis from the strep and she basically had a 10 per cent chance of living through that day,' Coleman said, recalling one of the early days after her mother was admitted to the hospital.
'She just went about her business normally and then she started having flu-like symptoms,' she said of what prompted Shannon McGeorge to seek treatment.
'They told us that she had strep, the flu and she was severely dehydrated. When they were hydrating her [her throat] started to swell closed.'
Anastasia Coleman spoke to Dave Spencer of Fox's WJBK TV in an interview that aired Friday
The McGeorge family has created a GoFundMe page to help defray the high costs of medical treatments for Shannon, and now also Mark, McGeorge. A photo from the page is seen here
Doctors told the family her only hope was to install an ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation) machine, which is a treatment that does the work usually done by the heart and lungs and comes with an average price tag of $70,000.
Since installing the device, Shannon McGeorge's condition has gradually improved but she's not out of the woods.
Coleman had a message for those feeling under the weather this flu season.
'Listen to your body. If you feel down, don't think, "Oh, I can beat it," ya know?' she said. 'Go get checked out. It's better to be safe than sorry.'
The family has created a GoFundMe page to help defray medical costs and also cover day-to-day living expenses while Shannon and Mark McGeorge are both hospitalized.
They are seeking $50,000 in donations and have so far raised nearly $11,000.
Carl Anderson Applauds Senate Judiciary Committee's Vote, Calls on Full Senate to Confirm Neil Gorsuch
NEW HAVEN, Conn., April 3, 2017 / Christian Newswire / -- Carl A. Anderson (photo), Knights of Columbus chief executive officer and chairman of the board, releases the following and is available for comment:
We applaud the vote by the Senate Judiciary Committee to send this highly-qualified judge to the Senate floor, and we now urge every senator to vote to confirm the nomination of Judge Gorsuch. Senators should be mindful of the fact that a recent Marist Poll -- sponsored by the Knights of Columbus -- found that 8 in 10 Americans see as a priority the appointment of justices who will interpret the Constitution as originally written, with 56 percent saying it is an "immediate priority."
Judge Gorsuch's long record makes clear that he is exactly the sort of justice the majority of the American people want on the Supreme Court. Furthermore, Judge Gorsuch was confirmed by the Senate without opposition to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2006, and he has received a "unanimously well qualified" rating from the American Bar Association. The American people and Judge Gorsuch himself deserve no less than his swift confirmation by the full Senate.
A woman has slammed her council after it fined her for parking without a ticket during last week's storms.
Brisbane resident Sophie Jane braved the blustery weather and drove into work on Thursday, but when she arrived outside her office she was met by howling winds and pounding rain.
She pulled up in a parking space but with the torrential downpour continuing outside, she decided to run into the office instead of stopping to pay for a ticket.
When the rain subsided 40 minutes later, Ms Jane claims she headed back outside to pay for her parking - only to find she had already been slapped with a fine.
Sophie Jane slammed Brisbane City Council after it fined her for parking without a ticket during last week's storms
When the rain subsided 40 minutes later, Ms Jane claims she headed back outside to pay for her parking - only to find she had already been slapped with this fine
The fine came on a day that Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told people to stay home for their own safety, while Brisbane City Council sent some of its own staff home early because of the rain.
However the parking wardens were clearly out in force despite the inclement weather.
Ms Jane was handed a $91 fine, leaving her 'appalled, shocked and absolutely astounded'.
In a complaint to Brisbane City Council, she wrote: 'It was raining extremely heavy when I arrived at work today. Listening to the officials' warnings I parked as close as I could to my office in a LEGAL parking spot.
'Struggled to get out of my car on a busy road whilst the rain was pouring down. Ran into my work drenched. I did not have time to think about paying for my parking. I was only concerned about my safety, getting my belongings and getting home.
'The rain got heavier and I was stuck under cover until it had subsided. Forty minutes later I returned to my car, still wet and in the rain to find that Brisbane City Council had given me a fine.
'To say I am appalled, shocked and absolutely astounded is an understatement,' she added.
The fine came on a day that Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told people to stay home for their own safety. Pictured, traffic in Brisbane last week
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk had earlier urged people to stay off the road as the storm struck. Pictured, flooded roads near Brisbane last week
A council spokesman told the Brisbane Times that Ms Jane's car was parked illegally and was 'contributing to congestion'.
'Residents who are concerned they have been unfairly fined at any time can make use of council's three-stage appeals process,' he added.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk had earlier urged people to stay off the road as the storm struck.
'If you have plans tonight to go out to see friends, to see neighbours, to travel, please do not,' she said.
'Stay in your home. This is for one night. I need to have the roads clear for our emergency services personnel if they do need to go to the assistance of people.'
Investigators have another possible Russia channel to probe involving Trump associates, only this one is a lot more tangential than a direct meeting with the Russian ambassador.
Erik Prince, the brother of Education Secretary Betsy de Vos and a confidant and the former head of Blackwater, met in the Seychelles with a Russian close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Washington Post reported.
The meeting occurred in the island nation off the African coast Jan. 11, shorty before Trump took office, and got set up with the assistance of representatives of the United Arab Emirates, the paper reported.
The meeting followed a December meeting in New York attended by Trump advisors Stephen Bannon, son-in-law Jared Kushner, ex security advisor Michael Flynn and the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan.
Former Blackwater head Eric Prince reportedly went to the Seychelles for a meeting with a Russian close to President Vladimir Putin. The Washington Post reported that the purpose was to set up a 'back channel' arrangement
Sheikh Zayed did not disclose the visit to the outgoing Obama administration, although his was revealed on a flight manifest, according to the paper.
Officials said the FBI was 'scrutinizing' the meeting, although the bureau did not comment on the record for the report.
A Prince Spokesman dismissed the report, although the spokesman did not deny that a meeting occurred.
'Erik had no role on the transition team. This is a complete fabrication. The meeting had nothing to do with President Trump. Why is the so-called under-resourced intelligence community messing around with surveillance of American citizens when they should be hunting terrorists?' said the spokesman.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said: 'We are not aware of any meetings and Erik Prince had no role in the transition.'
NO TIE UP AT LA GUARDIA: The meeting reportedly occured on the Seychelles, an island nation in the Indian Ocean
The meeting followed an undisclosed trip by Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan to New York, where he met with top Trump advisors
The supposed back-channel meeting occurred at a time that the media was keeping a close eye on anything having to do with the Trump team and Russia, following the intelligence community's public conclusion that Russia interfered in the U.S. elections.
Mike Flynn, who became White House national security advisor, resigned after failing to disclose his contacts with Russian ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak to Vice President Mike Pence.
The Post didn't say exactly why the meeting happened on the island nation in the Indian Ocean, though it noted that prominent Emiratis have property and vacation there.
'I wouldn't be surprised at all,' Barry Faure, the Seychelles secretary of state for foreign affairs told the paper. 'The Seychelles is the kind of place where you can have a good time away from the eyes of the media. That's even printed in our tourism marketing. But I guess this time you smelled something.'
Prince donated $250,000 to the Trump campaign, but had no formal title on the campaign or the transition.
OFF THE GRID: The meeting reportedly took place in the Seychelles
White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon has interviewed Prince on his radio program
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos waiting for President Donald Trump to arrive to sign various bills in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. She is the sister of Erik Prince, former head of Blackwater
Erik Prince, shown testifying about Blackwater, reportedly went to the Seychelles for a meeting with a Russian close to President Vladimir Putin, the Washington Post reported
A purported purpose of the meeting was to endeavor to pull Russia away from Iran, a nation with which it has longstanding relations and an all in the Syrian civil war. Doing so would be a major policy U-turn for Moscow.
Trump considers Iran to be a top threat and has vowed to rip up the international Iran nuclear deal, although that hasn't happened yet.
After Zayed's meeting in New York, Prince approached the crown prince and told him he was authorized as an unofficial surrogate, the paper said, citing intelligence officials.
He asked Zayed to set up the meeting. Officials didn't identify the Russian who was reportedly close to Putin.
The article only briefly mentioned U.S.-imposed sanctions on Russia, which have been a top concern for Russian officials.
Tara Lenich, who worked for the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office, pleaded guilty to use of an illegal wiretap to spy on a love interest
A former high-ranking city prosecutor pleaded guilty on Monday to charges she used an illegal wiretap to spy on her love interest and another woman.
Tara Lenich told a federal judge that she used phony documents to get permission to eavesdrop on the cellphones of a married police detective, described as a love interest, and another woman working as a prosecutor in the Brooklyn district attorney's office.
The eavesdropping went on for a year.
She faces up to ten years in prison, according to the Brooklyn Eagle. She also faces a fine of $250,000. No sentencing date was set.
The victims were reported as being NYPD Detective Jarrett Lemieux and fellow prosecutor Stephanie Rosenfeld-Vais, both of whom are married with children, according to the New York Post.
In November, Lemieux was placed on modified duty for allegedly threatening Lenich, according to the outlet.
During her plea hearing, Lenich held back tears. 'I knew the conduct was illegal and I would just like to apologize and say that I'm so sorry for my actions and anyone it affected,' she said.
One of Lenich's attorneys, Morris Fodeman, called the case an aberration for a client with an 'otherwise exemplary' record as a prosecutor.
Lenich, circled, at a press conference last year with the late Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson, center
'Since the beginning, Tara has wanted to fully accept responsibility for her actions and plead guilty at the first possible opportunity,' Fodeman said.
Lenich, 41, was a deputy chief of a division in her office that frequently uses wiretaps to investigate violent street gangs suspected of trafficking in drugs and firearms.
In 2015, she forged court authorizations from three judges ordering wiretaps on AT&T and Verizon service for the detective and her colleague for more than a year, prosecutors said.
According to the criminal complaint, Lenich, who was part of the Violent Criminal Enterprises Bureau, forged the signatures of judges to tap the phone of her love interest, who was an NYPD detective, and another woman.
She forged the signatures of two separate judges on 20 court orders to wiretap two cellphone numbers, as orders expire after 30 days.
She then tried to avoid suspicion for requesting the wiretaps by telling her colleagues she was on a secret mission on behalf of the Police Department's Internal Affairs Bureau.
However, a source told the New York Times that over the Thanksgiving weekend, Lenich and the detective became involved in a 'personal entanglement', which led to her scheme being uncovered.
A spokesman for the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office said as soon as the allegations were uncovered, a swift investigation took place.
They added that Lenich was 'immediately terminated' and that the office had 'ordered a comprehensive review of our protocols and procedures to make sure that this abuse of authority never happens again.'
According to the New York Daily News, Assistant District Attorney Joseph Alexis said of the case: 'This is a stunning betrayal of her oath of office and the justice system that we uphold.'
Almost half a billion pounds was wiped off the value of one of Britains biggest tech firms yesterday after Apple suddenly announced it was pulling the plug on a deal.
Imagination Technologies became a pioneer after designing a key component in Apples iPhones when they were launched ten years ago.
The success of the invention made the firm one of the worlds leading designers. But Apple has told Imagination it will be designing its own chips, and plans to stop using them within the next two years when it launches the iPhone 9.
Imagination Tenchologies share price peaked at 712.50p in 2012 valuing the firm at 2 billion
Apple announced it is planning to build its own chips in the iPhone 9 due out in two years
It is a major blow for the company wiping off more than 468million from its value yesterday as shares sank by 61.6 per cent.
Imagination relies on Apple for half its revenue and faces an uncertain future with the jobs of more than 1,200 workers at risk.
The firm may launch a legal challenge, after suggestions the American giant would not be able to make its own chips without ripping off Imaginations designs.
Paraag Amin, an independent technology analyst, said: It is a complete disaster for anyone who works there.
Apple has changed its suppliers over time and they like to bring technology in-house. But it leaves suppliers in a tricky situation. Apple is huge so if you lose a contract like that you cant just replace it.
If Imagination wanted to launch legal proceedings they could. But look at who has more cash and who can spend more. Neil Wilson, market analyst at ETX Capital, said: Its the worst nightmare for Imagination. Apple accounts for about half its revenues you simply cannot easily replace a customer of that scale in a hurry, hence the gigantic sell-off in the stock.
Imagination became a darling of the pioneering British tech scene after launching 32 years ago. It clinched deals with games console maker Sony, and its graphics chips were snapped up by Samsung and Apple.
With the launch of the iPhone in 2007 its fortunes soared. Shares climbed 1,200 per cent, and the company was valued at 2billion and was once a core part of the FTSE 100.
Founder and former chief executive Hossein Yassaie was knighted in 2013 for his contribution to the UK technology industry.
It became such a valuable asset that Apple raised its stake in the firm to 9.5 per cent, prompting rumours of a takeover. In March last year the rumours were confirmed.
Part of Imaginations success was that it did not manufacture chips, but instead invented them and received a small royalty on every device using them.
That may prove crucial in any subsequent legal arguments.
In a statement issued yesterday Imagination said: Apple has not presented any evidence to substantiate its assertion that it will no longer require Imaginations technology, without violating Imaginations patents, intellectual property and confidential information.
This evidence has been requested by Imagination but Apple has declined to provide it. It would be extremely challenging to design a brand new graphics processor unit without violating Imaginations patents, intellectual property and confidential information.
Apple did not respond to a request for comment.
Why do we worship this greedy monster? ALEX BRUMMER on Apple's disdain for good corporate citizenship and it's search for ever greater profits
There could be no better illustration of the ruthless, unforgiving power of Tim Cook and the digital giant Apple than its decision to pull the rug out from under one of Britains chip designing champions, Imagination Technologies.
Apple decided without any prior warning to sever its long-term supply contract with Imagination, sending its shares plummeting almost 62 per cent on the stock market.
Hertfordshire-based Imagination was a pioneer of the chips which deliver the graphics found in most Apple devices from the iPhone to its TVs and watches. Yesterday its bosses stood helplessly by as the value of a company which was worth 2billion at its peak in 2012 fell to just 250million.
Imagination Technologies, pictured, pioneered the chips which deliver the graphics on many Apple devices, but bosses were unable to stop the share price collapse yesterday
Apple holds 8.2 per cent of Imagination's shares and is one of the company's biggest investors
What may surprise many is that Apple is one of the biggest investors in Imagination, holding 8.2 per cent of its shares.
Indeed, it has long been thought that Apple would do nothing to jeopardise the future of a loyal supplier. Instead, its unprovoked decision to abandon a supplier demonstrates its disdain for good corporation citizenship. It has shown a willingness to sweep everyone else aside in its aggrandisement and search for ever higher profits.
Most outrageously it once refused to allow the FBI backdoor access to an Apple iPhone used by the gunman allegedly responsible for 14 deaths in the San Bernardino terrorist attack in 2015.
The FBI had to call in cyber-security experts from Israel to access information on the iPhone that was critical to the probe. If ever there was a company which believes that rules, regulations and standards of behaviour are for everyone else but not itself, it is Apple.
The ditching of Imagination is part of a broader Apple commercial goal of directly controlling as much of production as possible as well as the customer experience. Apple wants its millions of global customers to use iTunes to access music, movies, TV shows, audio books and other entertainment.
It takes a cut from every transaction and money which should go to the writers, performers and broadcasters cascades into the Apple coffers.
What is really disgusting about the assault on Imagination is its plundering of its patents and intellectual property.
Samsung has been challenging Apple for years over alleged infringements of its design and technology.
It is Apples intention to develop its own independent graphics for products so that in the next 15 to 24 months it can do without Imaginations innovation and expertise.
It presumably knows that if the patent war comes to the courts, a minnow such as the British company lacks the firepower to do lasting damage.
The lesson of this episode is that Apple is not to be trusted as a shareholder or a customer for vital components.
It is a great pity that consumers continue to worship at the Apple image without thought to the companys contempt for the norms of corporate and social responsibility.
With their exotic green feathers, they add a splash of colour to the skies.
But green parakeets, a common sight in the south, are now flapping further north and adapting to withstand colder temperatures, according to scientists.
Experts say they are becoming more muscular to withstand chillier temperatures.
There are around 50,000 ring-necked parakeets in England, mostly around Kent, Surrey, London and Sussex.
Experts say parakeets are becoming more muscular to withstand chillier temperatures
They are now spreading into Essex, Hampshire and Cambridgeshire and have been seen further north in Scotland and Manchester.
Originally native to Africa, the birds found in the UK are increasingly becoming hardier with their bodies becoming larger to fight off the colder weather, according to experts.
Researchers writing in the journal Biological Invasions said: The morphology of individual [parakeets] from European populations has diverged from the morphology of native [African] individuals.
And as tougher birds, better adapted to the climate, survive, their offspring are also growing stronger, researchers said.
Both factors could be behind their invasive success the authors write.
The parakeets success at settling in chilly Britain as well as in other parts of northern Europe make it the most northerly, wild breeding parrot species on Earth.
It has colonised another 35 countries on every continent except Antarctica, with big breeding groups in Holland, Belgium and Germany.
The parakeets success at settling in chilly Britain as well as in other parts of northern Europe make it the most northerly, wild breeding parrot species on Earth
Over the past 50 years, the British population of parakeets or Psittacula krameri to give it its scientific name has exploded.
The first pair are thought to have bred here between 1969 and 1971. By 1983, the population in Britain was estimated at around 500 to 1,000, largely in London and north Kent, with sightings in 50 counties.
By 1992, that figure had doubled. In 2002, the population was around 6,000. A 2010 study put the number at 30,869, and some say there are now as many as 50,000.
Conservationists fear that the green parakeets are crowding out several native birds such as nuthatches, as both birds compete for the same tree cavities to nest in.
Richard Branson has announced plans to launch people into space in 2018, with the first test flights beginning this year.
The Virgin Galactic boss said he would be 'very disappointed' not to go into space himself in 2018 and hopes his space tourism programme will be up and running in the same year.
Last month Branson also offered the famous physicist Professor Stephen Hawking a place on board his spacecraft, although he is yet to confirm a date for the trip.
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Virgin boss Richard Branson said he hopes the Virgin Galactic space programme will be up and running by 2018 and plans to launch test flights into space by the end of this year (stock)
VIRGIN GALACTIC: THE CRASH In October 2014, SpaceShipTwo - a plane designed to run the first ever passenger flights into space - split into pieces as it fell to Earth over California's Mojave Desert. The vehicle broke up after the co-pilot unlocked the craft's tail wing breaking system early, which led to a sudden increase in aerodynamic forces as it passed through the sound barrier. Investigators at the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said no safeguards were built into system to overcome the error of the co-pilot. Advertisement
Branson, who owns Virgin Galactic, said that his dream of going to space might become a reality by the end of next year.
Already 500 potential customers have reserved a spot on one of his trips at a cost of $250,000 (200,000) each.
Last August the SpaceShipTwo aircraft - which is designed for two pilots and six passengers - received its operating licence from the US Federal Aviation Authority.
'I think I'd be very disappointed if we're not into space with a test flight by the end of the year and I'm not into space myself next year and the progamme isn't well underway by the end of next year', he told the Telegraph.
'The test programme is going really well, and as long as we've got our brave test pilots pushing it to the limit we think that after whatever it is, 12 years of hard work, we're nearly there', he said.
This announcement comes just weeks after Branson invited Professor Stephen Hawking to come to space on board a Virgin Galactic flight.
The physicist and cosmologist, 75, said he had not expected to have the opportunity to experience space but that the Virgin boss had offered him a seat.
Discussing the meaning of happiness on Good Morning Britain, he said: 'My three children have brought me great joy.
Sir Richard Branson's firm has designed SpaceShipTwo, pictured, to take 'space tourists' on short flights into space without going into orbit
'And I can tell you what will make me happy, to travel in space.
'I thought no one would take me but Richard Branson has offered me a seat on Virgin Galactic, and I said yes immediately.'
While a date for the voyage has not yet been announced, Virgin Galactic hopes to carry people into space on commercial missions in the near future.
Branson had suggested that he might be able to complete a flight in 2009, but the plan has been thrown off by a range of problems and disasters.
In October 2014, SpaceShipTwo - a plane designed to run the first ever passenger flights into space - split into pieces as it fell to Earth over California's Mojave Desert.
Prof Stephen Hawking has revealed he has been offered a dream trip to space on Virgin Atlantic. Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Hawking said he did not hesitate in saying 'yes' to Richard Branson's offer
The vehicle broke up after the co-pilot unlocked the craft's tail wing breaking system early, which led to a sudden increase in aerodynamic forces as it passed through the sound barrier.
This isn't the first time that Branson has offered to take Stephen Hawking into space.
In 2014, Hawking told MailOnline that he had been offered a place on board the Virgin Galactic, but feared that his doctors wouldn't allow him to go.
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, he said: 'I would love to go to the moon, or to go into space.
'I was due to go into space with Virgin Galactic, courtesy of Richard Branson, but I fear the doctors won't allow it. It would be a good way to go.'
A free app popular with children has been taken over by bullies for more sinister purposes.
SimSimi was intended to be a 'robot' who can be taught to reply to messages automatically with quirky responses.
But things took a sour turn after it emerged that the app can be programmed to hurl abuse at fellow users by anonymously.
SimSimi uses artificial intelligence to learn from all of the conversations it has had with users, but this allows bullies to program abusive responses. MailOnline tested out the software, and within three messages SimSimi had begun to show its nasty side (pictured)
SIMSIMI SimSimi is a chatbot - an artificial intelligence program that can carry out automated one to one tasks. This includes games, quizzes, and even customer service enquiries. SimSimi learns from all of the conversations it has had with users. Bullies can use this learning method to program the app with abusive responses. Individual children can even be targeted. Advertisement
SimSimi is a chatbot that can be taught to respond to questions and has proven particularly popular among school children.
The app uses artificial intelligence to learn from all of the conversations it has had with users.
But this learning method allows bullies to teach it respond with insults and foul language.
And by using particular names, individual children can be targeted.
MailOnline tested out the software, and within three messages SimSimi had begun to show its nasty side.
When prompted with the names of several colleagues, more personal abuse began to emerge.
Asked 'Tell me about Stephen', SimSimi replied with the response that 'He's crazy'.
Asked 'What is Harry like', the app replied 'A ******* idiot'.
MailOnline has requested a comment from the South Korean manufacturer of the app.
'I've been a mental health activist for four years, and I've never seen anything as bad as SimSimi,' Jamie Harrington, 18, who was part of the campaign in Ireland to take down the app told the BBC.
Bullies can teach SimSimi to respond with insults and foul language and by using particular names, individual children can be targeted. Mail Online tested this out by using the names of staff members (pictured)
Chatbots are artificial intelligence programs that can carry out automated one to one tasks.
This includes games, quizzes, and even customer service enquiries.
Parents of schoolchildren in Ireland raised the alarm about the SimSimi chatbot, after discovering it was sending abusive messages to their youngsters.
School were alerted and widespread media coverage in the country led to both teachers and parents alike expressing concerns.
And it seems that their criticisms may have resulted in the app being disabled in Ireland.
Twitter user Harry McCann - the founder and director of youth organisation Digital Youth Council - noted that an error message reading 'I do not talk in Ireland for a while...' had appeared for Irish users of the app.
Parents of schoolchildren in Ireland first raised the alarm and it seems that their criticisms may have resulted in the app being temporarily disabled in Ireland. Youth workeHarry McCann tweeted about his 'delight' at the result
Mr Mcann also said he was 'delighted' at the result.
Speaking on the social network, he added: 'All the pressure in the media to shut down SimSimi has been successful!'
Anti-bullying campaigners in the UK are calling for a ban to the app as well, according to BBC reports.
Liam Hackett, of anti-bullying campaign Ditch the Label, told BBC's newsbeat: 'I think they have a duty of care of suspend the service for all young people.
'Their content is predominantly negative, abusive, sexually graphic or violent.
Essentially, you can go on there and put whatever kind of content you want and there's no repercussions for you.'
Rare and brief bursts of cosmic radio waves have puzzled astronomers since they were first detected 10 years ago.
Some suggested these mysterious bursts of energy could be a sign of alien life trying to contact us.
Now scientists have confirmed that the mysterious signals really do come from outer space.
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Artists impression shows three bright red flashes depicting fast radio bursts far beyond the Milky Way, appearing in the constellations Puppis and Hydra
WHAT ARE FAST RADIO BURSTS? Fast radio bursts, or FRBs, are radio emissions that appear temporarily and randomly, making them not only hard to find, but also hard to study. The mystery stems from the fact it is not known what could produce such a short and sharp burst. This has led some to speculate they could be anything from stars colliding to artificially created messages. The first FRB was spotted, or rather 'heard' by radio telescopes, back in 2007. But it was so temporary and seemingly random that it took years for astronomers to agree it was not a glitch in one of the telescope's instruments. Advertisement
Fast radio bursts, or FRBs, are radio emissions that appear temporarily and randomly, making them not only hard to find, but also hard to study.
The mystery stems from the fact it is not known what could produce such a short and sharp burst.
This has led some to speculate they could be anything from stars colliding to artificially created messages.
'Perhaps the most bizarre explanation for the FRBs is that they were alien transmissions,' said Professor Matthew Bailes from Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, who contributed to the new research.
Now researchers from Australian National University have detected three FRBS using the Molonglo radio telescope, near Canberra.
In 2013, scientists realised that the Molonglo telescope's unique architecture could be used to pinpoint FRs because of its enormous focal length.
Rare and brief bursts of cosmic radio waves have puzzled astronomers since they were first detected nearly 10 years ago. Artist's impression pictured
WHAT CAUSES THE SIGNALS? 'Perhaps the most bizarre explanation for the FRBs is that they were alien transmissions,' said Professor Matthew Bailes from Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, who contributed to the new research. But there are other possibilities. One alternative is the galaxy's active nucleus, with radio emission coming from jets of material emitted from the region surrounding a supermassive black hole. The source of the fast radio burst is within 100 light years of the continuous radio emissions from the core of the galaxy, which means they are the same or physically associated with one another. Advertisement
'Conventional single dish radio telescopes have difficulty establishing that transmissions originate beyond the Earth's atmosphere,' said Dr Chris Flynn from Swinburne University of Technology.
A massive re-engineering effort began, which is now opening a new window on the Universe.
The Molonglo telescope has a huge collecting area of 193,750sq ft (18,000 sq m) and a large field of view (eight square degrees on the sky).
The telescope produces 1000 TB of data every day. In comparison, all of the web pages on Wikipedia use just 5.87 terabytes of storage.
Researchers developed software capable of sifting through this vast information to hunt down FRBS.
Using this software, the researchers pinpointed the likely locations of three FRBs.
'It is very exciting to see the University of Sydney's Molonglo telescope making such important scientific discoveries by partnering with Swinburne's expertise in supercomputing', said Professor Anne Green of the University of Sydney.
The telescope data indicated that all three FBRs originated in outer space, but only one could be localised to an individual galaxy.
'Figuring out where the bursts come from is the key to understanding what makes them,' said Manish Caleb, a PhD student at Australian National University who designed the new software.
'Only one burst has been linked to a specific galaxy.
'We expect Molonglo will do this for many more bursts.'
The research was published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Criminals using the dark web to buy drugs and even hire hit men could be unmasked.
That's because the dark web - a secret network that requires specialist software to gain access - is rife with trackers that could be used to follow the browsing behaviour of its members.
Researchers reported that internet companies such as Google could track the behaviour of dark web users by exploiting these privacy faults.
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Criminals using the dark web to buy drugs and even hire hit men could be unmasked, according to new research
WHAT IS TOR? Tor - short for The Onion Router - is a seething matrix of encrypted websites that allows users to surf beneath the everyday internet with complete anonymity. It uses numerous layers of security and encryption to render users anonymous online. Normally, file sharing and internet browsing activity can be tracked by law enforcement through each user's unique IP address that can be traced back to an individual computer. The Tor network on the Deep Web hides the IP address and the activity of the user. The network has been linked to criminal activity such as drug dealing and even services to hire hit men. Most of the web's information is buried far down on dynamically generated sites, unable to be found or seen by traditional search engines - sites or pages don't exist until created as the result of a specific search. An internet search is like dragging a net across the surface of the sea - a great deal of information is caught, but a majority is deep and therefore missed. Advertisement
Scientists found serious privacy faults when they investigated the Tor network, a dark web service that uses encryption to hide the identity of its users.
'The dark web is maybe not as dark as it seems,' Iskander Sanchez-Rola at the University of Deusto, Spain, who led the investigation, told New Scientist.
They analysed more than 1.5 million deep web pages as part of their investigation.
The team found connections between the dark web and regular internet browsers, known as surface browsers.
They found that more than 20 per cent of of dark web pages included pictures and documents that originated on surface websites.
Companies that own these page elements can track when they are accessed by someone on the internet.
This could give internet companies a window into hidden criminal activity.
The researchers said that Google could keep tabs on up to 13 per cent of dark web domains if they made use of this privacy fault.
They also found that tracking scripts set up to analyse browsing behaviour are present on 27 per cent of dark web pages.
And almost 43 per cent of this software originates from Google, they said.
The Silk Road: The Deep Web has existed for more than a decade but came under the spotlight last month after police shutdown the Silk Road website - the online marketplace dubbed the 'eBay of drugs - and arrested its creator
They added that if a hidden and surface web page are using the same tracking scripts, it is possible for anyone to follow a user's browsing behaviour.
And when a dark web user moves from the dark web to a normal web page, it may be possible to reveal their identity.
The links between the surface and dark web could also reveal the IP addresses of people using Tor services.
'This research has demonstrated for the first time how much of the dark web is intrinsically linked to the surface or clear web,' security researcher Sarah Jamie Lewis said to New Scientist.
She has developed software called OnionScan, which analyses the dark web to search for faults in privacy.
Up to 35 per cent of dark web servers could be exploited to reveal the identity of their users, she said.
Android apps are 'secretly colluding' to share information with one another without asking for permission, new research has found.
This data sharing could lead to security breaches with user location, contact details and other private information at risk.
Apps designed around the personalisation of ringtones, widgets, and emojis are the most at risk, the researchers said.
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In a study of more than 100,000 of Google Play's most popular apps, researchers found that pairs of apps sometimes swap user information without consent (stock image)
HOW DO THE APPS SHARE INFORMATION? The team studied 110,150 apps over three years including 100,206 of Google Play's most popular apps. They also studied 9,994 malware apps from Virus Share, a private collection of malware app samples. The set-up for cybersecurity leaks works when a sender app colludes with a receiver app to share key information. This means that a seemingly innocuous app, such as the phone's flashlight, can share contacts, geolocation, and other private information with malware apps. The team found that the biggest security risks were some of the least useful apps - software designed for the personalisation of ringtones, widgets, and emojis. Advertisement
In a study of more than 100,000 of Google Play's most popular apps, the team found 23,495 colluding pairs of apps.
Once downloaded, apps can communicate with one another without user permission, and some take advantage of this feature to read personal data.
'Apps that don't have a good reason to ask for extra permissions sometimes don't bother. Instead, they manage to get information through other apps,' study coauthor Professor Gang Wang, a computer scientist at Virginia Tech University, told New Scientist.
The types of threats arising from app data sharing fall into two major categories, the team said.
User data could be breached using a malware app that is specifically designed to launch a cyberattack, or using normal apps that simply allow for collusion.
In the latter category, it is not possible to know the intentions of the app developer, so collusion - while still a security breach - can in many cases be unintentional, the researchers said.
The analysis is the first ever large-scale and systematic study of how the apps on Android phones are able to talk to one another and trade information.
'Researchers were aware that apps may talk to one another in some way, shape, or form,' said Professor Wang.
'What this study shows undeniably with real-world evidence over and over again is that app behaviour, whether it is intentional or not, can pose a security breach depending on the kinds of apps you have on your phone.'
The team suggest that data sharing could lead to security breaches, and that apps designed around the personalisation of ringtones, widgets, and emojis are the most at risk of leaking private user information (stock image)
To test different pairs of apps, the team developed a tool called 'DIALDroid' to perform a large inter-app security analysis that took 6,340 hours.
'Of the apps we studied, we found thousands of pairs of apps that could potentially leak sensitive phone or personal information and allow unauthorised apps to gain access to privileged data,' said coauthor Professor Daphne Yao.
The team studied 110,150 apps over three years including 100,206 of Google Play's most popular apps.
They also studied 9,994 malware apps from Virus Share, a private collection of malware app samples.
The set-up for cybersecurity leaks works when a sender app colludes with a receiver app to share key information.
This means that a seemingly innocuous app, such as the phone's flashlight, can share contacts, geolocation, and other private information with malware apps.
The team found that the biggest security risks were some of the least useful apps - software designed for the personalisation of ringtones, widgets, and emojis.
'App security is a little like the Wild West right now with few regulations,' said Professor Wang.
'We hope this paper will be a source for the industry to consider re-examining their software development practices and incorporate safeguards on the front end.
'We cant quantify what the intention is for app developers in the non-malware cases.
'But we can at least raise awareness of this security problem with mobile apps for consumers who previously may not have thought much about what they were downloading onto their phones.'
Today's young people are less supportive of power-sharing between men and women at home than they were 20 years ago, according to a surprising new study.
Although the younger generation are supportive of gender equality in the workplace, they are increasingly conservative when it comes to domestic life.
Nearly 60 per cent of today's young people think that the ideal family is made of a male breadwinner and a woman who takes care of the home, researchers found.
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A new report found that young adults have become increasingly conservative about the domestic role of women (stock)
A WOMAN'S ROLE In 1994, 71 per cent of teenagers did not agree that should take all the important decisions for a family, but in 2014 only 63 per cent of them disagreed. In 1994, only 42 per cent of students believed that the ideal family had a male breadwinner and a woman who took care of the home, yet in 2014, 58 per cent said this was true. In 1994, 48 per cent of students believed that a mother who works cannot establish such a good relationship with her children as a mother who does not work. In 2014, 60 per cent of students believed this. Advertisement
A report released by the Council on Contemporary Families (CCF) based in Austin, Texas, found that young adults have become increasingly conservative about the domestic role of women since 1994.
The findings are based on research from the Monitoring the Future Project that started in 1975 and has annually taken surveys on the views of 18-year-old students about to leave secondary school.
The report shows that although young people are supportive of women progressing in the workplace, they do not believe this allows them to skirt traditional responsibilities at home.
From the mid 1970s, young people increasingly supported equal sharing of housework and decision-making at home.
But during the 1990s these beliefs took an unexpected turn.
In 1994, only 42 per cent of students believed that the ideal family had a male breadwinner and a woman who took care of the home, yet in 2014, 58 per cent said this was true.
In 1994, 48 per cent of students believed that a mother who works cannot establish such a good relationship with her children as a mother who does not work.
In 2014, 60 per cent of students believed this.
'We were really surprised to see this,' co-author Joanna Pepin, a doctoral candidate in sociology at the University of Maryland told LiveScience.
'It's been a steady reversal', she said.
Generally young people are thought to be more progressive than their parents but this study showed that they might be more traditional than they think.
In 1994, only 42 per cent of students believed that the ideal family had a male breadwinner and a woman who took care of the home, yet in 2014, 58 per cent said this was true (stock image)
Although views about women staying at home have gone in the opposite direction, data shows that young people are still progressive when it comes to women in the workplace.
For example, in 1975, 76 per cent of students believed that women should have the same job opportunities as men and by 1994 this belief had reached 89 per cent and has since remained high.
Dr Pepin suggested that young millennials have landed on an approach to gender that they call 'egalitarian essentialism.'
This means young people believe men and women should be treated equally although their natures are inherently different.
The Dead Sea Scrolls have been described as the 'most important jigsaw in history'.
And it slowly being pieced together.
Twenty eight new Dead Sea Scrolls fragments have been sold and are now sitting in three US institutions awaiting publication.
Some of the fragments will be translated and published within the next year, experts said.
Bought through the antiquities market, the fragments form part of a growing number of Dead Sea Scrolls that have been sold in the US, amid concerns that some could be forged.
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One of the 28 fragments that was recently sold. There appears to be Greek letters on this fragment, a language used to write some of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The fragment was sold to an as-yet unnamed US institution as part of a collection of 15 pieces of scroll
ARE SOME OF THE SCROLLS FAKE? Anonymous black market merchants selling the fragments in the US frequently claim they were once owned by Khalil Iskander Shahinan, an antiquities dealer in Bethlehem, in the West Bank. Shahin gathered many of the Dead Sea Scrolls from local looters in the 1940s, '50s and '60s, and went by the name 'Kando'. The name is now used by his son William Kando, who told Live Science that while his family have sold some of his father's collected fragments, they have not sold them in the numbers claimed by anonymous antiques dealers in the US. He said that the fragments have now been re-auctioned multiple times in the US, making it difficult to keep track of which were once owned by the family. Advertisement
At least 45 fragments of the 1,600-year-old texts have appeared in the US in the past decade, and experts suspect that some are modern-day forgeries.
Black-and-white images of one of the new unpublished fragments seems to show Greek text on pieces of parchment - a language that has been seen on other Dead Sea Scrolls, according to Live Science.
But most of the fragments have not been photographed and are being kept hidden from the public eye until they are published.
Nine of the 28 'new' unpublished Dead Sea Scroll fragments are at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.
Four reside at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, California, while a further 15 fragments were recently sold through a company called Les Enluminures on behalf of an anonymous seller.
These 15 scrolls are now in an undisclosed US institution.
Sandra Hindman, the president of Les Enluminures, said that the institution had not yet made a public announcement and would not disclose its identity.
This fragment is at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, California. It preserves part of Deuteronomy 27:4-6, a passage in which the lord commands that an altar be built for him at Mount Gerizim. A preliminary study of the fragment was written and published online in 2010
THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS Discovered between between 1946 and 1956, the Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of 972 ancient manuscripts containing parts of what is now known as the Hebrew Bible, as well as a range of extra-biblical documents. They were first found by shepherd Muhammed Edh-Dhib, as he searched for a stray among the limestone cliffs at Khirbet Qumran on the shores of the Dead Sea in what was then British Mandate Palestine - now the West Bank. The story goes that in a cave in the dark crevice of a steep rocky hillside, Muhammed hurled a stone into the dark interior and was startled to hear the sound of breaking pots. Venturing inside, the young Bedouin found a mysterious collection of large clay jars, in some of which he found old scrolls, some wrapped in linen and blackened with age. The texts are of great historical and religious significance and include the earliest known surviving copies of biblical and extra-biblical documents, as well as preserving evidence of diversity in late Second Temple Judaism. Dated to various ranges between 408BC and 318AD, they are written in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Nabataean, mostly on parchment, but with some written on papyrus and bronze. The scrolls are traditionally divided into three groups. 'Biblical' manuscripts, which are copies of texts from the Hebrew Bible comprise 40 per cent of the haul. The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in a caves in the limestone cliffs at Khirbet Qumran (pictured) Advertisement
More information on what the 28 unpublished fragments contain will appear as they are published in scientific journals.
'Southwestern purchased nine Dead Sea Scroll fragments approximately seven years ago. We currently have a contract to publish them with Brill,' said Professor Ryan Stokes at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
'Hopefully, the volume will be available in the next year.'
When Southwestern first bought the scrolls seven years ago, the Texan institute claimed that the fragments came from from the biblical books of Exodus, Leviticus, Daniel, Psalms and Deuteronomy.
The four unpublished fragments at Azusa Pacific University should be published soon, according to university officials, and include writings from the biblical books of Daniel, Leviticus and Deuteronomy.
'We're hoping in the very, very, near future, with more feedback, our publication will come to light,' said Dr Robert Duke, dean of the School of Theology at Azusa Pacific University.
The fragments sold through Les Enluminures remain a mystery, and it is not known when they will be studied and published.
The US institute that bought them is yet to make a public announcement on the acquisition.
Experts have raised concerns that some of the scrolls sold in the US over the past decade could be fakes.
A Dead Sea Scroll fragment, published last year, which is now in the collection of the Museum of the Bible. If genuine, this fragment preserves parts of Micah 1:4-6 and says 'the valleys will split open, like wax before the fire; like water poured'
A Dead Sea Scroll fragment, published last year, which is now in the collection of the Museum of the Bible. It likely preserves parts of Nehemiah 2:13-16, but the authenticity of this scroll fragment is also uncertain. The fragment was scorched by fire at some point
But they could come from the original Judean caves where the scrolls were found between 1946 and 1956.
The caves were looted many times in the proceeding decades making it difficult to track genuine fragments.
Anonymous black market merchants selling fragments in the US frequently claim they were once owned by Khalil Iskander Shahinan, an antiquities dealer in Bethlehem, in the West Bank, Live Science found.
Shahinan gathered many of the Dead Sea Scrolls from locals in the 1940s, '50s and '60s, and went by the name 'Kando'.
The name is now used by his son William Kando, who told Live Science that while his family have sold some of his father's collected fragments, they have not sold them in the numbers claimed by anonymous antiques dealers in the US.
The Dead Sea Scrolls came from 12 caves near the site of Qumran in the West Bank
He said that the fragments have now been re-auctioned multiple times, making it difficult to keep track of which were once owned by the family.
The Dead Sea Scrolls came from 12 caves near the site of Qumran in the West Bank.
The caves contained thousands of scrolls which contain text from books in the Hebrew Bible as well as community rules, calendars, astronomical texts, and other ancient pieces of writing.
Excavations of the caves by professional archaeologists removed some of the scrolls, while locals removed many others.
Eleven caves were discovered between 1947 and 1956, while a twelfth was announced earlier this year.
Most of the scrolls in the twelfth cave had been taken decades before archaeologists arrived.
A well-preserved Dead Sea Scroll fragment known as a War Scroll which is now on display in an Israeli museum
It has captured the imagination of astronomers and sci-fi fans alike, and could turn out to be a real rogue world.
And now researchers believe they may have narrowed down the search for the elusive Planet Nine.
Astronomers are investigating four unknown objects that could be candidates for a new planet in our solar system.
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Astronomers are investigating four unknown objects that could be candidates for Planet 9 - a new planet in our Solar System (artist's impression)
A team of astronomers from the Australian National University (ANU) is investigating the four unknown objects, following the launch of their planetary search on BBC's Stargazing Live, presented by Professor Brian Cox, and Dara O'Briain.
They said they will reveal more details about the mysterious objects once they have investigated them
Dr Brad Tucker, lead researcher, said about 60,000 people from around the world had classified over four million objects in space, as part of the citizen search for Planet Nine.
Dr Tucker said: 'We've detected minor planets Chiron and Comacina, which demonstrates the approach we're taking could find Planet Nine if it's there.'
The project to pinpoint the mysterious planet used the SkyMapper telescope, which Dr Tucker said was crucial in ruling out areas in the southern sky where Planet Nine could be situated.
WHAT IS PLANET NINE? Astronomers believe that the orbits of a number of bodies in the distant reaches of the solar system have been disrupted by the pull of an as yet unidentified planet. First proposed by a group at CalTech in the US, this alien world was theorised to explain the distorted paths seen in distant icy bodies. In order to fit in with the data they have, this alien world - popularly called Planet Nine - would need to be roughly four time the size of Earth and ten times the mass. Some of the most distant known objects in the solar system with orbits exclusively beyond Neptune (magenta) all line up in a single direction. They believe such an orbital alignment can only be maintained by some outside force, potentially an unseen Neptune-sized ninth planet Researchers say a body of this size and mass would explain the clustered paths of a number of icy minor planets beyond Neptune. Its huge orbit would mean it takes between 10,000 and 20,000 years to make a single pass around the sun. The theoretical Planet Nine is based on the gravitational pull it exerts on these bodies, with astronomers confident it will be found in the coming years. Those hoping for theoretical Earth-sized planets proposed by astrologers or science fiction writers - which are 'hiding behind the sun' and linked with Doomsday scenarios - may have to keep searching. Advertisement
He said: 'We've managed to rule out a planet about the size of Neptune being in about 90 per cent of the southern sky out to a depth of about 350 times the distance the Earth is from the sun.
'With the help of tens of thousands of dedicated volunteers sifting through hundreds of thousands of images taken by SkyMapper, we have achieved four years of scientific analysis in under three days.
'One of those volunteers, Toby Roberts, has made 12,000 classifications.'
The team of astronomers from The Australian National University is investigating the four unknown objects, following the launch of their planetary search on BBC's Stargazing Live, presented by Professor Brian Cox (pictured centre), and Dara O'Briain (pictured fourth from left)
The team will now confirm whether or not the unknown space objects are Planet Nine, dwarf planets, or asteroids, using telescopes around the world.
Dr Tucker said he encouraged people to continue their hunt for Planet Nine through the project website on Zooniverse.org.
Professor Chris Lintott from Zooniverse and the University of Oxford said while Planet Nine had not been found, it had been great fun sharing the search with all of the volunteers over the past three nights.
Greenland's glaciers and ice caps have passed a 'tipping point' and are no longer able to regrow lost ice, experts have warned in a new study.
The proverbial 'tipping point' was passed in 1997, when coastal meltwater was filled to its capacity.
Researchers predict that the subsequent melting of Greenland's coastal ice will raise global sea levels by about 1.5 inches by 2100.
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Slide me Greenland's glaciers and ice caps have passed a 'tipping point' and are no longer able to regrow lost ice, experts have warned in a new study. The proverbial 'tipping point' was passed in 1997, when coastal melt water was filled to its capacity
WHY ARE THE GLACIERS 'DOOMED'? The problem lies in a layer of snow called the firn, which lies between fresh surface snow and the ice. Normally, meltwater drains through gaps in the firn down to the ice surface. But when the firn became saturated in 1997, it froze through. Since then, there haven't been any gaps to capture meltwater, and the ice hasn't been able to grow. They found that, for the last 20 years, mass loss has been exactly equal to the amount of meltwater runoff lost to sea, with a frozen firn the most likely cause. Advertisement
The study was conducted by researchers at Ohio State University, who looked at the glaciers and ice caps that dot the edges of the Greenland coast.
Twenty years ago, the island passed a tipping point, meaning the smallest glaciers and ice caps on the coast are no longer able to regrow lost ice.
The findings reveal exactly why the most vulnerable parts of Greenland ice are melting so quickly the deep snow layer that normally captures coastal melt-water was filled to capacity in 1997.
That layer of snow and melt-water has since frozen solid, meaning all new melt-water flows over it and out to sea.
Fortunately, the findings only apply to a fairly small amount of ice along the coast, and not the Greenland Ice Sheet the second biggest ice cache in the world.
Dr Ian Howat, who lead the study, said: 'These peripheral glaciers and ice caps can be thought of as colonies of ice that are in rapid decline, many of which will likely disappear in the near future.
'In that sense, you could say that they're "doomed."
'However, the ice sheet itself is still not "doomed" in the same way. The vast interior ice sheet is more climatologically isolated than the surrounding glaciers and ice caps.
Twenty years ago, the island passed a tipping point, meaning the smallest glaciers and ice caps on the coast are no longer able to regrow lost ice
THE ARCTIC IS TURNING GREEN Last week, experts warned that the Arctic is turning green due to melting ice. The green tinge is caused by the bloom of microscopic algae as thinning ice allows in more sunlight. 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. The average thickness of Arctic sea ice fell to 1.89 metres (6.2 ft) in 2008 from 3.64 meters in 1980, according to another study. Sub-ice algae seem to become dormant in winter, when the sun disappears for months, and are revived in spring. Advertisement
'Also, since this "tipping point" was reached in the late 90's before warming really took off, it indicates that these peripheral glaciers are very sensitive and, potentially, ephemeral relative to the timescales of response of the ice sheet.'
If Greenland's coastal ice melted at once, global sea levels would rise a few inches.
In comparison, if the whole Greenland Ice Sheet melted at once, sea levels would rise by seven metres.
The problem lies in a layer of snow called the firn, which lies between fresh surface snow and the ice.
Normally, meltwater drains through gaps in the firn down to the ice surface.
But when the firn became saturated in 1997, it froze through.
Since then, there haven't been any gaps to capture meltwater, and the ice hasn't been able to grow.
They found that, for the last 20 years, mass loss has been exactly equal to the amount of meltwater runoff lost to sea, with a frozen firn the most likely cause.
The researchers have warned that the Greenland Ice Sheet is subject to the same danger, though to a lesser degree that the edge ice.
Hackers have found a way to attack smart TVs using TV broadcast signals.
A hacker gave a demonstration of the technique on two Samsung smart TVs in which he gained 'root access' to the technology.
This type of attack would allow hackers to access other devices in the home network and spy on people with the TV's camera and microphone, the hacker said.
And the hack has the potential to access several TVs at once without physically tampering with any of the devices.
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A hacker gave a demonstration of the technique on two Samsung TVs in which he gained 'root access' to the technology. The hack has the potential to access several TVs at once without physically tampering with the devices (stock image)
THE SMART TV HACK The security expert used a cheap transmitter to gain remote access to two Samsung Smart TVs. The transmitter sent out commands using a common TV broadcast signal known as a Digital Video Broadcasting Terrestrial (DVB-T) signal. Many TVs in Europe, including most in the UK, are tuned to these signals and they contain a vulnerability that makes them easy to hack. Mr Scheel exploited this flaw to target known flaws in the browsers used in the background by the Samsung TVs to access the internet. Because the security expert used a simple transmitting signal his technique could attack several TVs at once without needing to physically tamper with them. Advertisement
Security consultant Rafael Scheel developed the hack using a cheap transmitter to embed malicious commands into smart TVs.
The hack gave Mr Scheel complete control over the devices including use of its camera and microphone.
The infection was able to survive device reboots and factory resets.
Mr Scheel demonstrated the hacking method during a cyber security conference last month at the European Broadcasting Union in Le Grand-Saconnex, Switzerland.
While he used Samsung TVs for the demonstration he said that the hack could be used on a wide range of smart TV models, with the signal hardware he attacked installed in about 90 per cent of all TVs sold in Europe last year.
'Once a hacker has control over the TV of an end user, he can harm the user in a variety of ways,' Mr Scheel told Ars Technica.
'Among many others, the TV could be used to attack further devices in the home network or to spy on the user with the TV's camera and microphone.'
Hackers have found a way to attack Smart TVs using TV radio signals. This type of attack would allow hackers to access other devices in the home network and spy on people with the TV's camera and microphone (stock image)
The transmitter Mr Scheel used sent out commands using a common digital TV broadcast signal known as a Digital Video Broadcasting Terrestrial (DVB-T) signal.
Many TVs in Europe, including most sold in the United Kingdom, are tuned to these signals and they contain a vulnerability that makes them easy to hack.
Mr Scheel exploited this flaw to target known flaws in the internet browsers used by the TVs.
Because the security expert used a simple transmitting signal his technique could attack several devices at once remotely.
While a simple firmware update could block the attack smart TV companies often take a long time to send out updates.
Dr Yossi Oren, a Cyber Security expert at Israel's Ben-Gurion University, told Ars Technica: 'This research is significant because TVs are used by a fundamentally different demographic than computers.
'People who use TVs don't know/care about security, they aren't used to getting security prompts from their TVs, they don't have the discipline of installing security updates, and so on.'
The robot uprising could be complete in just a few centuries.
That's according to royal astronomer, Sir Martin Rees, who believe machine life will eventually replace humanity.
He predicts their reign could last billions of years beyond our time on the planet.
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British astronomer royal Sir Martin Rees that all life will evolve into machine intelligence and that any alien life we may come into contact with with either be extremely primitive or will have already shed its organic form (stock image)
Life on Earth has already taken billions of years to evolve, from the proteins and nucleic acids that were the building blocks of life through to more complex mammals and homo sapiens.
But machine intelligence has developed at such an extreme pace, that Sir Martin believes the likelihood is alien life will also take this form.
He sees humanity's time on the planet as an extremely brief transitional phase, between primordial organic life and the era of the machines - what he terms a 'post-human' future.
The cosmologist argues this could extend for billions of years into the future, particularly if machines are able to explore space free from the confines of needing a planet, it's atmosphere and biosphere to sustain them.
And - if we do encounter beings from another planet - it will either take the form of more primitive lifeforms or extremely advanced machine intelligence.
Speaking to The Conversation, Sir Martin said: 'My guess is that if we do detect an alien intelligence, it will be nothing like us. It will be some sort of electronic entity.
'The period of time occupied by organic intelligence is just a thin sliver between early life and the long era of the machines.
'Because such civilisations would develop at different rates, its extremely unlikely that we will find intelligent life at the same stage of development as us.
'More likely, that life will still be either far simpler, or an already fully electronic intelligence.'
The cosmologist (pictured) argues that the reign of the machines could extend for billions of years into the future, particularly if they are able to explore space free from the confines of needing a planet, it's atmosphere and biosphere to sustain them (stock image)
As to the impact of contact with aliens, Sir Martin believes that this is unlikely - at least in our current form.
The Cambridge professor emeritus believes that while we may be able to peer further out into space, travelling to distant worlds will remain out of our reach until we enter the post-human era.
In his interview with The Conversation, he added: 'The journey times are just too great for mortal minds and bodies.
'If youre immortal, however, these distances become far less daunting.
'That journey will be made by robots, not us.'
It has been heavily criticised for its woeful response to remove jihadi videos and other shocking pages from the internet.
But Google is finally claiming to have come up with a solution to crack down on vulgar content online computer systems that can be 'offended' like humans.
Google hopes its systems will be able to see the difference between a jihadi with a gun and a scene from an action film and take down the inappropriate material.
Google is finally claiming to have come up with a solution to crack down on vulgar content online computer systems that can be 'offended' like humans. The tech giant has long been condemned for its inability to control what is posted on its online platforms (stock image)
HOW DOES THE NEW SYSTEM WORK? Google now wants the computers which monitor content being uploaded through YouTube and other channels to understand the nuances of what makes a video offensive. The company is giving its systems human-vetted examples of safe and unsafe content as a reference point. Each video is then broken down frame by frame and every image analysed individually. Google also listens to what is being said on the video, reads the description and looks for other signals that make a video inappropriate. It claims it has already flagged five times as many videos as inappropriate under the new system, though it would not give exact numbers. The tech giant hopes that if systems can learn context they will be able to identify content which should be removed. Advertisement
The tech giant has long been condemned for its inability to control what is posted on its online platforms.
And after last month's Westminster terror attack, the Daily Mail highlighted how easy it was to use Google to find terror handbooks encouraging jihadis to carry out similar car and knife attacks.
But appearing to bow to the pressure to block more offensive content, the company says it is building computers which can learn context helping to identify anything that should be removed.
Currently teams of humans are checking the systems to see if they are doing a good job, and ultimately the firm hopes the machines will take over.
Google now wants the computers which monitor content being uploaded through YouTube and other channels to understand the nuances of what makes a video offensive.
The company is giving its systems human-vetted examples of safe and unsafe content as a reference point.
Each video is then broken down frame by frame and every image analysed individually.
Google also listens to what is being said on the video, reads the description and looks for other signals that make a video inappropriate.
It claims it has already flagged five times as many videos as inappropriate under the new system, though it would not give exact numbers.
Appearing to bow to the pressure to block more offensive content, the company says it is building computers which can learn context helping to identify anything that should be removed (stock image)
The tech giant hopes that if systems can learn context they will be able to identify content which should be removed.
Google's actions come after the role of social media and internet companies was put under the spotlight by the London terror attack.
On March 22, Khalid Masood murdered four and injured more than 50 in a rampage outside Parliament. The next day the Daily Mail told how terror handbooks encouraging jihadists to carry out a car and knife attack as Masood did were available on Google and Twitter.
Google has also come under fire from major companies whose advertising appears alongside videos uploaded by jihadis, as well as other distasteful content.
Philipp Schindler, Google's chief business officer, told the New York Times that the company has been taking the issue 'as seriously as we've ever taken a problem'.
He said that Google had been in 'emergency mode' since the Mail highlighted the problem the day after the London attack.
Mr Schindler said: 'Computers have a much harder time understanding context, and that's why we're actually using all of our latest and greatest machine learning abilities now to get a better feel for this'.
Nobody for Google was available for comment.
Fed up after years of searching for a human spouse to no avail, a Chinese engineer has married a robot.
Zheng Jiajia is a 31-year-old artificial intelligence expert, and built his future wife at the end of last year, according to the South China Morning Post.
Named Yingying, the bizarre robot can identify Chinese characters and images, and even say a few simple words, and the creator has plans to upgrade the bot so shell one day be able to walk and do chores around the house.
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Fed up after years of searching for a human spouse to no avail, a Chinese engineer has married a robot. Zheng Jiajia is a 31-year-old artificial intelligence expert and built his future wife at the end of last year
WOULD YOU MARRY A ROBOT? Humans will marry robots in the next 35 years, according to a sex robot expert. Not only this, but sex with robots will become more enjoyable than with other humans, because of the advancement of artificial intelligence, he said. 'The first marriage will be before, not after 2050,' best-selling author and robot expert Dr David Levy said during the Love and Sex with Robots conference at Goldsmiths University, London. Advertisement
The pair married on Friday in a simple ceremony in which the robot was adorned with a traditional red scarf over her head.
Zhengs mother and friends attended the wedding, and told local news sources that the move came after Zheng grew frustrated in his search to find a girlfriend, according to SCMP.
Zheng is a former Huawei employee, and now works at Dream Town in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province after leaving the telecom firm in 2014.
While the marriage may seem bizarre, experts have increasingly warned that robot-human relationships will become far more common in the years to come.
One researcher recently claimed humans will marry robots in the next 35 years.
Named Yingying, the bizarre robot can identify Chinese characters and images, and even say a few simple words, and the creator has plans to upgrade the bot so shell one day be able to walk and do chores around the house
WHO WOULD BENEFIT FROM SEX ROBOTS? 'The hypothetical applications of sex robots and related products, part of a field called technosexuality, seem endless,' counsellor Ian Kerner said. 'I could see couples using them to enact fantasies, such as a threesome, that they might not feel comfortable trying with real people. ' He also said it could allow couples to work through differences that might otherwise cause them to separate. 'If one partner has a higher libido, a robot could allow him or her to enjoy a fulfilling sex life without straying. 'And robots might help couples break out of sex ruts by adding spice to their relationship or maintaining long-distance romances.' Advertisement
Not only this, but sex with robots will become more enjoyable than with other humans, because of the advancement of artificial intelligence, said London-based Dr David Levy, author of 'Love and Sex with Robots'.
And, he says robots will be more attractive than their human counterparts.
'The first marriage will be before, not after 2050,' best-selling author and robot expert Dr David Levy said during the Love and Sex with Robots conference in London.
While the claims may seem ridiculous to some, 'sex and love with robots at a human level may appear to be a long way off, but the future has a way of laughing at you,' he said.
The conference attracted experts from across the world to provide a vision of how sex with robots will look in the future, but it is not all good.
Nearly half of men could see themselves buying a sex robot in the near future but, if they are not careful, the tireless robots could push their human lovers over the edge.
The findings come from two key presentations at the conference that suggest robots will become an increasingly popular companion in the bedroom, warranting a system of ethics for their development and use.
In one study, presented at the conference at Goldsmiths, University of London, the researchers surveyed 263 heterosexual males between the ages of 18 and 67.
Participants were shown two-minute videos of female humanoid robots.
The team also conducted personality measures and attractiveness ratings.
Then, the men were asked whether they would buy such a robot for themselves now or within the next five years.
The study revealed a staggering number of men admitted they would buy a sex robot, with 40.3 per cent of participants responding in this way.
THE HUMANOID 'GODDESS' JIA JIA Jia Jia is a humanoid robot who is not only scarily lifelike, but intelligent and quick-witted too. The female robot has been called a 'robot goddess' by her hordes of online fans, and some who met her at a recent exhibition were taken aback by her lifelike appearance. It took the team three years to complete the robot, which can speak, show micro-expressions, move its lips and body, yet seems to hold its head in a submissive manner. The humanoid is programmed to recognize human/machine interaction, has autonomous position and navigation and offers services based on cloud technology. This humanoid has natural eye movement, speech that is in sync with its lip movement and refers to its male creators as 'lords'. Advertisement
Previously, Dr Levy also said in the future it will be common to find sex robots modelled on celebrities.
'You can imagine people saying, "I've got a sex robot who looks like Angelina Jolie and she's fabulous in bed!"' he said.
He also said celebrities could be set to make a lot of money out of the venture.
'If youre Angelina Jolie and theres a company manufacturing a high-quality product, and youre getting a royalty of 1,000-2,000 [$1,200-$2,500] for each one, you could make even more millions than you've got just by licensing your appearance,' he said.
Google has released an update that helps parents limit their childrens internet use.
Now with the Google Wi-Fi router, parents can schedule an 'internet pause' for specific times during the day.
Parents simply schedule shutdown, for times like dinner, bedtime or homework, using the app and the internet will pause for just the devices you selected.
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Google has revealed a new update that will help parents limit their childrens internet use. parents can schedule an 'internet pause' for specific times during the day. Parents simply schedule shutdown using the app and the internet will pause for just the devices you selected
SCHEDULED PAUSE Parents begin by selecting a suggested schedule such as bedtime or family time and choose a time frame for which the internet will pause on that persons device. Parents then select specific days in which the pause will occur this way they do not have to input the information every day. Advertisement
Parents begin by selecting a suggested schedule such as bedtime or family time and choose a time frame for which the internet will pause on that persons device.
Parents then select specific days in which the pause will occur this way they do not have to input the information every day.
Scheduled Pause is the brainchild of Edith Chao, produce manage at Google, who was inspired while search for new tools for families.
I noticed that I was having trouble falling asleep. Id check emails and surf the web late into the night, Chao explained.
Experimenting with options, I started using a timer on my computer to turn the internet off at 11 p.m.
The first night was a shock, but after a few nights I was ready to shut down earlier.
And I was more refreshed and rejuvenated in the morning.
After speaking with other parents who worked with Google and friends who didnt, she found that many parents faced the challenge of prying the device from their children at certain times in the day.
Parents begin by selecting a suggested schedule such as bedtime or family time and choose a time frame for which the internet will pause on that persons device. Parents then select specific days in which the pause will occur
The new upgrade follows less than a month of another parent friendly tool released by Google, called Family Link.
The new app provides parents with weekly and monthly activity reports and lets them set timers for how long their kid can use the device.
Parents also have the power to remotely lock the smartphone and check its location in order to see their child's whereabouts.
The new upgrade follows less than a month of another parent friendly tool released by Google, called Family Link. The new app provides parents with weekly and monthly activity reports and lets them set timers for how long their kid can use the device
WHAT CAN FAMILY LINK CONTROL Family Link provides parents with weekly and monthly activity reports and limit how much time they can use the device. Parents have the power to remotely lock your kids device when its time to play, study, or sleep. They can set limits for how long kids can sue the device and bedtimes for when the phone completely shuts down. The parent friendly app also lets adults block and approve apps not suitable for children before they are downloaded from the Google Play Store. Advertisement
When your child is ready for their first Android device, Family Link lets you create a Google Account for them, which is like your own account, and also helps you set certain digital ground rules that work for your family - like managing the apps your kid can use, keeping an eye on screen time, and setting a bedtime on your kids device, Pavini Diwanji, VP engineer at Google, said in the announcement.
To use Family Link, parents will have to purchase a device for their child that runs Android Nougat (7.0) or higher.
Then, download the app and create a Google Account for their kid.
Finally, sign them into their new device, and parents can then use Family Link as well.
The parent friendly app also lets them block and approve apps not suitable for children before they are downloaded from the Google Play Store.
You can also see how much your child spends playing with their favorite apps with weekly or monthly activity reports and you can also set daily screen time limits on their handset.
Parents also have the power to remotely lock your kids device when its time to play, study, or sleep - and can set limits and bedtimes for when the phone completely shuts down.
The parent friendly app also lets them block and approve apps not suitable for children downloaded from the Google Play Store. You can also see how much your child spends playing with their favorite apps with weekly or monthly activity reports
Starting today, parents across the U.S. can request an invite to the Family Link early access program, Diwanji shared.
After receiving an invite, parents with kids under 13 years old can download and try the Family Link app.
Were just getting started, and well be asking parents using Family Link for feedback about how to improve the experience before we make the app broadly available.
HOW MUCH SCREEN TIME SHOULD YOUR CHILD HAVE? 0-5 years old 1. For children younger than 24 months, avoid any digital media use with the exception of video-chatting 2. For children 18 to 24 months of age, you can introduce digital media, but use it together with your child and avoid allowing the child to consume it alone 3. For children 2 to 5 years old, limit screen time to one hour per day of high-quality programming; watch with your children and help them understand what they are seeing how to apply it 4. No screen time one hour before bedtime 5. Avoid using screen time as the only method to soothe the child (the concern is that the child might not develop the ability to regulate emotion on their own) 6. Avoid fast-paced programs or apps with distracting or violent content 7. Monitor childrens media content; test apps before using them and ask the child what he or she thinks about the app 8. Bedrooms, meal times and playtimes with parents should be screen-free for both parents and child 9. See recommended hours of sleep and physical activity for your child with this 24-hour calculator. School-age children (5-18 years old) Too much screen time has been found to cause health problems among children - and Google is helping parents monitor their usage 1. Develop and be consistent in following family guidelines for media use; assess the types of media and how much is being consumed, and what is appropriate for the child 2. Place consistent limits on hours or type of media that can be used per day Promote one hour of daily physical activity and eight to 12 hours of sleep, depending on age 3. Try to not let children sleep with TVs, computers and smartphones in their bedrooms 4. Avoid media use in the hour leading up to bedtime 5. Have media-free times, like during family dinner, or create media-free areas at home 6. Relay these guidelines to babysitters or other caregivers 7. Have ongoing conversations with the child about online safety, whether its about cyberbullying, sexting, solicitations or compromising privacy 8. Have a network of trusted adults who will engage with the child through social media. Advertisement
Family Link appears to be a result of studies that warn parents about the dangers of too much screen time.
And the obsession seems to be fed by parents, with four in five believing that gadgets aid development in contrast to growing concern among medical experts.
The American Society of Paediatrics produced detailed guidelines linking screen time to the risk of a child becoming overweight for life, sleep disturbance and developmental problems. And the more time parents spent in front of a screen, the more their children did.
A growing body of evidence suggests all this is having a devastating effect on mental and physical health.
Health bodies in the US now recommend that children under two should have no
The next billion dollar industry will not be a service or product it will be upgrading humans, an expert has revealed.
It has been suggested that humans will have access to technology that will allow them to 'upgrade themselves into gods'.
Bestselling author Yuval Noah Harari has also warned that because not everyone will be able to experience the upgrade, due to costs, there will be a divide that could spark old racist ideologies - but this time, differences will be engineered and manufactured.
The next billion dollar industry will not be a service or product it will be upgrading humans, an expert has revealed. It has been suggested that technology will let humans 'upgrade themselves into gods', but since the process will be costly, not everyone will have the ability to do so
The greatest industry of the 21st century will probably be to upgrade human beings, Harari, who explores bleak future of humanity and the rise of the useless class in his novel Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, told Jeremy Olshan with MarketWatch.
Humans have been running on the same hardware and software for some 200,000 years, leaving us to be the ultimate project - and that is where Harari's prediction comes into play.
When we think about the future we generally think about a world in which people who are identical to us in every important way enjoy better technology: laser guns, intelligent robots, and spaceships that travel at the speed of light, Harari shared on his website.
Yet the revolutionary potential of future technologies is to change Homo sapiens itself, including our bodies and our minds, and not merely our vehicles and weapons.
The most amazing thing about the future wont be the spaceships, but the beings flying them.
THE RICH WILL BECOME 'GOD-LIKE CYBORGS,' HISTORIAN PREDICTS Last year Harari argued that the world will experience a radical shift in the next 200 years. Using biotechnology and genetic engineering, Professor Harari claimed the wealthy will transform into a new type of divine, immortal human with complete power over life and death. He argued that the rich are set to become God-like cyborgs in what could be the 'biggest evolution in biology' since life emerged. During a recent speech at the Hay Literary Festival in Wales, Professor Harari said, 'We are programmed to be dissatisfied,' The Telegraph reported. 'Even when humans gain pleasure and achievements it is not enough. They want more and more. 'I think it is likely in the next 200 years or so homo sapiens will upgrade themselves into some idea of a divine being, either through biological manipulation or genetic engineering of by the creation of cyborgs, part organic part non-organic. The technology to do this, however, will be restricted to the very wealthy, claims Professor Harari. Up until now, he says society has been held together by inventing 'fictions', such as religion, money and the idea of fundamental human rights. As long as humans believed they relied more and more on these gods they were controllable, he said 'But what we see in the last few centuries is humans becoming more powerful and they no longer need the crutches of the Gods.' Advertisement
Bestselling author Yuval Noah Harari (pictured) has also warned that there will be a divide which could spark old racist ideologies - but this time, differences will be engineered and manufactured
Humans are going to upgrade themselves into gods.'
That is, humans will acquire abilities that in the past were considered divine, such as eternal youth, mind reading, and the ability to engineer life.
And although these ideas may sound far fetched or something from a science fiction film, tech giants of the world are already working towards making it a reality.
Google has a division that focuses solely overcoming death, Harari noted.
But, just because an upgrade boom is predicted, it doesn't mean everyone will experience it.
Harari also believes that the advances beings will have less things to do during the day, as a majority of the tasks will be done by robots and artificial intelligence leaving them to play computer games and spend their lives immersed in virtual reality
Just as advancing from a flip phone to an iPhone was costly, so will becoming a more advanced being.
The improvements are believed to lead to greater income inequality than ever before, Harari said.
And the economic inequality could actually be deemed biological inequality.
The divide may also bring back old world racists ideologists, but instead of it being because of biological reasons, it will be for things that have been engineered or manufactured.
Harari also believes that the advances beings will have less things to do during the day, as a majority of the tasks will be done by robots and artificial intelligence leaving them to play computer games and spend their lives immersed in virtual reality.
In addition to human beings upgrading, Harari also foresees a world where humankind may become 'eternally useless' due to the increasing capabilities of AI.
In addition to human beings upgrading, Harari also foresees a world where humankind may become 'eternally useless' due to the increasing capabilities of AI. A scene from Terminator Genisys is pictured above
FIVE JOBS AT RISK FROM ROBOTS According to recent studies, certain jobs are already at risk of being replaced by automated workers. Accountants are 99 per cent likely to lose their jobs to machines. Umpires and referees have a 98.3 per cent chance of being automated. Waiters and waitress are 93.7 per cent likely to be replaced by machines. Legal assistants and paralegals have a 94.5 per cent chance of being automated. Fashion models are 97.6 per cent likely to lose the lime light because of robots. Advertisement
The historian and lecturer at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem likens the fate of humans to that of the doomed protagonist in the fable of the boy who cried wolf, according to The Guardian.
While humans have long predicted that machines will take over much of our society, many such forecasts have not yet come true.
But in the end, like the wolf, Harari says AI will finally come to achieve what many have feared.
The resulting shift could leave humans both jobless and aimless, The Guardian explains.
As the self-made gods of planet earth, which projects should we undertake, and how will we protect this fragile planet and humankind itself from our own destructive powers? Homo Deus questions.
These destructive powers have already begun to take hold, according to Harari.
AI have begun to outperform humans in many areas, and theres no guarantee we will be able to keep up as this continues.
Children alive today will face the consequences, Harari told The Guardian.
Most of what people learn in school or in college will probably be irrelevant by the time they are 40 or 50.
If they want to continue to have a job, and to understand the world, and be relevant to what is happening, people will have to reinvent themselves again and again and faster and faster.
As humans become functionally useless in comparison to AI, we may no longer have value in the eyes of political and economic systems. This could in turn result in humans losing their sense of purpose. In a post-work world, human emotions may be controlled by drugs and virtual reality rather than real-life experiences
As humans become functionally useless in comparison, we may no longer have value in the eyes of political and economic systems.
This could in turn result in humans losing their sense of purpose.
In a post-work world, human emotions may be controlled by drugs and virtual reality rather than real-life experiences, The Guardian explains.
To prevent this dreary outcome, the author suggests humans take the issue very seriously.
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!
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If you've ever dreamed of waking up in the clouds high above a jungle canopy, then one of the world's most jaw-dropping eco retreats offers the stay for you.
Mashpi Lodge, a $10million luxury hotel, is perched in the Andean Cloud Forest of Ecuador - a nature reserve considered one of the last remaining biodiversity hubs on the planet.
However, a new BBC show goes behind the scenes to reveal what it takes to deliver five-star service out in the wild, from dealing with 90 per cent humidity to serving gourmet guinea pigs to guests for supper.
If you've ever dreamed of waking up in the clouds high above a jungle canopy, then one of the world's most jaw-dropping eco retreats offers the stay for you
Presenters Giles Coren and Monica Galetti travel through the rugged terrain, 900metres above sea level, to access the modernist hotel, in episode two of Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby
Built four years ago, the otherworldly hideaway boasts clean lines, incredible views and just 22 bedrooms
Mashpi Lodge, a $10million luxury hotel, is perched in the Andean Cloud Forest of Ecuador, a nature reserve considered one of the last remaining biodiversity hubs on the planet
Presenters Giles Coren and Monica Galetti travel through the rugged terrain, 900metres above sea level, to access the modernist hotel, in episode two of Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby, screening on BBC Two on Monday.
Built four years ago, the otherworldly hideaway boasts clean lines, incredible views and just 22 bedrooms - which cost up to $1,500 a night to stay in - but staff outnumber guests two-to-one to overcome the challenges of this unique setting.
A member of National Geographic's Unique Lodges of the World portfolio, the hotel is surrounded by a forest that's home to 500 species of bird (including 36 that are native), monkeys, peccaries and pumas.
Mashpi Lodge embraces its environment by providing a gondola cable car running through the treetops, an eight-storey high observation tower and a hummingbird viewing point.
On site there is also a small boutique, a wellness area with a spa using local, natural ingredients and a Jacuzzi.
A member of National Geographic's Unique Lodges of the World portfolio, the hotel is surrounded by a forest that's home to 500 species of bird (including 36 that are endemic), monkeys, peccaries and pumas
Regional ingredients such as papaya, coffee, chocolate and plantain, as well as some fresh produce from the surrounding rainforest, are featured on the menu served in the two storey dining room
Mashpi Lodge embraces its environment by providing a gondola cable car running through the treetops
Immersed: There is an an eight-storey high observation tower and a hummingbird viewing point on site
Staff outnumber guests two-to-one to overcome the challenges of this unique setting, which include mud, moisture and mould
On site there is also a small boutique, a wellness area with a spa using local, natural ingredients and a Jacuzzi. Pictured, guest bathrooms overlook the idyllic surrounds
Nature fans can enjoy talks by a resident biologist and local guides who offer night walks and rainforest tours to the waterfalls nearby.
The episode touches on the conservation work being carried out by the resident biologist who is attempting to save thousands of species and has photographed one species unseen in the area for three decades.
But beyond this wildlife-rich guest experience, staff (of which 70 per cent are locals) are fighting a constant battle against the hotel's biggest natural enemy - mould.
Coren and Galetti discover how the team keep this problem at bay despite it being exacerbated by the region's 90 per cent humidity.
Rolling up their sleeves alongside staff, the duo also find that their brave co-workers must abseil through the canopy for a safety drill.
The ultimate luxurious treehouse, a stay at the hotel costs guests up to $1,500 a night
In the eye-opening episode, food critic Coren and MasterChef judge Galetti delve into how the $1,500-a-night hotel has transformed the lives of the local community
Situated just two-and-a-half-hours west of historic Quito, this 1,300-hectare reserve protects a small slice of the Choco biodiversity 'hotspot'
Nature fans can enjoy talks by a resident biologist and local guides who offer night walks and rainforest tours to the waterfalls nearby. Pictured left is the amazing observation tower that's available to guests
The cameras head inside the hotel's kitchen to see how chefs are inspired by Ecuadorian cuisine.
Regional ingredients such as papaya, coffee, chocolate and plantain, as well as some fresh produce from the surrounding rainforest are featured on the menu, served in the two-storey dining room.
However, those rustling up these gourmet dishes must get to grips with preparing a local delicacy of guinea pig for guests.
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'God is my right' - the official motto of the English monarchy.
This is just one of many ancient slogans carried through history - in England's case since Richard I in the 12th Century - by countries around the world, and some of them, showcased on a new infographic, might surprise you.
Indonesia's motto is 'unity in diversity', while the French national motto is: 'Liberty, equality, fraternity' - both statements of peace.
Chile's, however, is 'through reason or by force', while Austria certainly isn't holding back with its rallying cry: 'It's Austria's destiny to rule the world.'
India and the Czech Republic share virtually the same motto, 'truth alone triumphs' and 'truth prevails' respectively.
Other countries featured on the infographic, created by The Translation Company, include Greece, Scotland and Canada.
Millie Bobby Brown has proved yet again she's much more mature than her years.
The 13-year-old actress brought out all the stops on Sunday for the filming of Variety's Actors on Actors hosted by Shutterstock.
The breakout talent looked ever-sophisticated in an off-the-shoulder white number while speaking to Westworld actress Evan Rachel Wood.
Wowing in white: Millie Bobby Brown dazzled in all white to film Variety's Actors On Actors
In conversation: The 13-year-old talent teamed up with Evan Rachel Wood for the talk
The textured white set was chic enough for a shoot while staying demure enough to be age-appropriate for the young lady.
The Stranger Things starlet added a fun edge to her look with metallic brogues and glittering earrings.
Adding a hint of glamour, the Spain born gal donned a touch of smoky makeup around her eyes while wearing a healthy flush across her cheeks.
Not one to take herself too seriously, Millie wasn't above making goofy faces and playing around in her chic garb.
Not too grown up: Millie looked mature but demure in the textured white set
She's the boss: The Westworld starlet donned a feminine take on menswear
Burst of beauty: The Stranger Things actress dolled up her look with some eye makeup and a natural flush
Strong and sexy: The North Carolina native paired a well tailored blazer and pants with a slinky camisole and pointy heels
The Eleven actress teamed up with starlet Evan Rachel Wood, who donned a smart, feminine take on the pantsuit.
The North Carolina native paired a well tailored blazer and pants with a slinky camisole and pointy heels for the perfect balance of strong and sexy.
Millie and Evan's effortless cropped hairdos added the perfect touch of bold style to the chic shoot.
Short hair, don't care: The stars short hair cuts were both bold and chic
Elegant: Evan brought the glamour in her own smoldering solo shoot
Child stars: Evan and Millie can likely relate to the struggles of being a child star. She rocketed to fame at just a teen in the coming of age flick Thirteen
Millie's natural charm and screen stealing performance on Stranger Things quickly rocketed her into the spotlight, earning the teen talent a host of sought after roles and modeling gigs.
And Westworld starlet Woods can certainly relate to Millie's journey, having made her big break as a youngster in the gritty coming of age flick Thirteen.
The pressures of stardom are not lost of Millie, who recently had to cancel several appearances due to exhaustion.
Summer chat: The conversations will begin airing in June on PBS
Talking the talk: Variety is proud to present the sixth season of conversations between TV's most important thespians
Variety is proud to present the sixth season of conversations between televisions most talented actors.
Other thespians in conversation include Oprah Winfrey with Thandie Newton, Sarah Jessica Parker with Michelle Pfeiffer, Nicole Kidman with Ewan McGregor, and many, many more talented pairings.
The conversations will air on PBS starting June 13.
Proudly presented by... In addition to Variety, the event is presented by Shutterstock
Modern glamour: Evan's look was suited up for the shoot
She was born and raised in Los Angeles, California.
And on Sunday, Sofia Richie looked every bit the California girl that she is while out on a stroll in the city with her friends.
The 18-year-old showed off her toned midriff in a crop top with striped trousers.
Sunny day out: On Sunday, Sofia Richie looked every bit the California girl that she is while out on a stroll in the city with her friends
The teenage model wore a white high-neck top that revealed her sculpted frame.
She paired it with black and white bottoms, adding a thin navy belt.
Sofia hit the pavement in white sneakers with a black and silver chain link purse slung across her body.
The starlet finished off her spring ready ensemble with yellow tinted sunglasses and a silver necklace tucked beneath her top.
Not shy: The 18-year-old showed off her toned midriff in a crop top with black striped trousers
Casual day out: Sofia hit the pavement in white sneakers with a black and silver chain link purse slung across her body
Stylish: The starlet finished off her spring ready ensemble with yellow tinted sunglasses and a silver necklace tucked beneath her top
Sofia pulled her blonde locks back and wore no makeup while toting a large shopping bag.
She was seen holding hands with her friend, who donned a brightly patterned dress.
Before heading out, Sofia took to Snapchat to wish her followers a happy Sunday.
Sunshine: The teenage model wore a white high-neck top that revealed her sculpted frame; seen with a friend
Staying close: The starlet finished off her spring ready ensemble with yellow tinted sunglasses and a silver necklace tucked beneath her top
Isn't she thoughtful: Sofia took to Snapchat to wish her followers a happy Sunday
Days earlier, Sofia enjoyed a tanning session with model and The Only Way Is Essex Vas J Morgan.
The blonde star chose a khaki colored triangle top with black bikini bottoms in the revealing Instagram.
She added dark framed sunglasses with sneakers; Sofia captioned it: 'Richie residence.'
Strike a pose: Days earlier, Sofia enjoyed a tanning session with model and The Only Way Is Essex Vas J Morgan
They finally called an end to their romance for good after months of continual make-ups and break-ups.
Yet emotions were still running high for Pete Wicks and Megan McKenna as they reflected on their recent split during Sunday's episode of TOWIE.
Breaking down as she spoke to Chloe Sims, Megan sobbed: 'He's a f**king p***k. I can't be with someone like him, he's never happy. I just get angry about it.'
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Tough times: Emotions were still running high for Pete Wicks and Megan McKenna as they discussed their recent split on Sunday's episode of TOWIE
Referring to his infamous sexting scandal last year, she continued: 'If he loved me none of this would have happened. I never could get through it.'
She was also quick to clear up rumours she had been enjoying a dalliance with her ex-boyfriend, as she explained: 'We have split up because we are unhappy. The rumours aren't true.
'I go out and get smashed when I'm unhappy - apparently I was out and all over my ex - I got in a cab with him, and a group of boys. I've done nothing wrong. I'm single.'
Emotional: Breaking down as she spoke to Chloe Sims, Megan sobbed: 'He's a f**king p***k. I can't be with someone like him, he's never happy. I just get angry about it'
Hard to hear: Referring to his infamous sexting scandal last year, Megan told Chloe (L) : 'If he loved me none of this would have happened. I never could get through it'
Clear: Megan was also quick to clear up rumours she had been enjoying a dalliance with her ex-boyfriend, as she explained: 'We have split up because we are unhappy'
Pete also appeared confident that this was the end for the pair, as he confided in Chloe: 'I would always fight for something worth fighting for, but I don't see what's left to fight for.
'It was so sad. All that passion and fire wasn't there.'
He added to Dan Edgar: 'We're all done. Seriously, it's different this time, she's fallen out of love with me.'
Over and out: Pete confirmed to his friends the romance was over as he told Dan Edgar: 'We're all done. Seriously, it's different this time, she's fallen out of love with me'
Emotional: Viewers witnessed the pair's emotional break-up in Wednesday's episode of the ITVBe show, and it appears the pair won't be going back on their decision
Viewers witnessed the pair's emotional break-up in Wednesday's episode of the ITVBe show.
Fighting back tears, Megan explained to the hunk, 28: 'Maybe [the texts] made you realise you love me, but you obviously didn't back then as you wouldn't have done it. And it's not fair on you that I can't forgive you.'
However Pete went on to reason: 'What happened back then was s***, but I can't feel guilty all the time. I can't pay for it for the rest of my life.'
The pair were referring to Pete's cyber infidelity in September - which saw him send highly explicit messages to his ex Jacqui Ryland, during a trip to Marbella to celebrate Megan's birthday.
Many of the texts were said to be too explicit to print, but one reportedly saw Pete admitting to the mother-of-three that he 'can't wait to get home' and that it is not just Jacqui who misses their previous relationship.
Today show host Lisa Wilkinson is clearly not a fan of Married At First Sight's Anthony Manton.
The 57-year-old slammed the reality TV 'villain' on her breakfast TV program on Monday morning, calling him a 'dog'.
The TV host made the comments while speaking to fellow MAFS contestant Sharon Marsh and her partner Nick Furphy.
Not a fan! Lisa Wilkinson called Anthony Manton a 'dog' on the Today show on Monday morning during an interview with fellow Married At First Sight contestants, Sharon Marsh and her partner Nick Furphy
'OK I need some detail here. But all eyes were, well, there were a couple of couples, but Anthony and Nadia he turned out, Im sorry, to be a complete dog,' she said.
Lisa told the reality TV couple she was angry that Anthony had strung Nadia along on the show before dropping her like a 'hotcake'.
'Nadia spilt the beans that the moment the cameras stopped and he did that beautiful speech at the commitment ceremony where he said "I cant image living my life without you".
Opinion: Her comments come after Lisa took to Twitter last month to voice her opinions about the controversial race caller
The next day he said, "My feelings havent grown for you at all its over".
'I said he was a jerk! He was lying. I dont resile from it because he just really strung her along,' she added.
Her comments come after Lisa took to Twitter last month to voice her opinions about the controversial race caller.
'Run Nadia, RUUUUN!' tweeted the television personality, followed by '50 Shades Of Anthony.'
'Run Nadia, RUUUUN!!' The television personality urged the TV wife to run for the hills
Anthony, 33, a racing broadcaster based in Sydney, made the assumption that his TV wife would relocate for him without any question.
Nadia, 36, a flight attendant from Brisbane, found herself questioning why her groom could not fathom the concept of compromise.
'Why me, why do I have to make the sacrifice?' she demanded, after noting she held concerns about 'turning her life inside out for somebody.'
'50 Shades Of Anthony': A follow-up Tweet saw Lisa pointing out the many different facades of the TV husband
Facing off: Her tweets came after tensions between Married At First Sight's Anthony, 33, and Nadia, 36, came to a head as they had a serious discussion about who would move interstate
Nadia had previously packed up and moved to Brisbane for a relationship, only for it to fall apart.
She said that the disaster left her hesitant to do it all again.
Anthony came back with a response indicating he was clueless as to what her issue could be.
'The prospect of moving my life's not that daunting to me,' he said.
'I've done it, I've lived in other countries... [if it goes wrong] you pick up your stuff and you move somewhere else!'
Nadia was unable to laugh it off, and responded: '[That is] so much bulls***.'
Not holding it in: When Anthony tried to explain moving interstate was no big deal, Nadia didn't want a bar of it
'When it comes to building a relationship, I don't want it to be one sided,' Nadia continued.
'I feel like that could very easily happen to you and me.'
Nadia's concerns weren't only about the prospect of moving interstate. Later she told producers: 'I feel like he wouldn't change a thing for me.'
During the date, however, she continued to express her distaste towards the expected move, questioning Anthony's devotion.
'I just pack my bags and get on the next plane into Anthony's arms - is that how this works?' she challenged, as he stammered to find an answer.
It appeared Nadia had finally found her inner strength, confirming to producers: 'I'm not moving for anything less than love.'
Had enough! Other fans of Married At First Sight were quick to take to Twitter voicing their opinions
'Tosser': Another viewer labelled Anthony as a 'tosser'
Other fans of Married At First Sight were quick to take to Twitter voicing their opinions.
'Omg there is only so much of Anthony I can handle...which isn't anything at all,' wrote one viewer.
While another considered the racing broadcaster to be a 'tosser'.
'Anthony: "Nadia has doubts.." unlike the rest of Australia who have never doubted the fact you're a tosser,' wrote another.
Trending: The comments continue on from previous weeks, where negative views of Anthony were published online
Displeasure: Another viewer certainly did not hold back online
The comments continue on from previous weeks, where negative views of Anthony were published online.
'Nadia should break up with Anthony. He doesn't like women talking back and he has all the signs of an abusive husband,' Tweeted one viewer.
While another wrote: 'Anthony from #MarriedAtFirstSight is amongst the worst people I have ever had the displeasure of experiencing.
They've been at the centre of persistent pregnancy rumours.
And Married At first Sight stars Sharon Marsh and Nick Furphy finally addressed baby reports during an interview on the Today show on Monday.
The reality TV couple looked more smitten as ever and at one point, Melbourne carpenter Nick, 30, affectionately cradled his 'wife's' stomach.
A baby on the way? Married At first Sight stars Sharon Marsh and Nick Furphy finally addressed baby reports during a TV interview on Monday and at one point, the Melbourne tradie affectionately cradled his 'wife's' stomach
'In nine months there could be a little Furphy,' Sharon said laughing.
The Perth beauty went on to address claims that they recently confirmed pregnancy reports to a tabloid magazine.
'It is hilarious. We got asked, 'Are you pregnant.' And [Nick] pipes up, yep, I'm pregnant. So they slam us on the front of a magazine saying, 'Yes I'm pregnant,'' she laughed.
Joking around: 'In nine months there could be a little Furphy,' Sharon said laughing
Clearing up rumours: The Perth beauty went on to address claims that they recently confirmed pregnancy reports to a tabloid magazine
'But that's his bloody quote, not mine.'
While Nick's love life continues to blossom, he recently opened up about personal struggles relating to his father's health.
The 30-year-old revealed to TV Week on Thursday: 'It was hard to concentrate on the experiment when you had all that happening in the background. It makes you a little on edge.'
Difficult: While Nick's love life continues to blossom, he recently opened up about personal struggles relating to his father's health
Last week it was announced Nick's father would be tested for the incurable Motor Neurone disease and despite specialist appointments Nick says it still hasn't been confirmed by doctors.
The reality star said tests are still being run to determine whether he has the disease or spinal damage.
The tradie told the publication while his father's illness is yet to be determined, he's found it hard to focus entirely on the show.
Nick is adamant to stay by his father's side: 'Dad's supported me my whole life and I've gotta be there for him and know what's really going on... If he's in the clear, I might consider moving to Perth. But I just have to make sure he's alright first.'
'I felt really lucky and I'm not going to take that for granted': Nick claimed he was pleasantly surprised by Sharon's offer to move to Melbourne for their relationship while his father is unwell
Despite originally wanting to stay put in Perth, Sharon suggested she would move for love if that was the only way they could be together.
A day trip to Melbourne threw a spanner in the works, as an impressive display of commitment from Nick left his 31-year-old bride convinced she could at least trial a move to the southern state.
Nick was pleasantly surprised by the offer: 'I don't think I've ever had anyone in my life offer to do something like that.'
'It's a lot of commitment for someone to say that. I felt really lucky and I'm not going to take that for granted,' he added.
Happy days: On Tuesday night, Sharon announced she would trial a move to Melbourne to be with groom Nick
After visiting his apartment, the pair went out to sit down and have a serious chat about their future, with their original plans dashed.
'If [your dad's illness] is as bad as the doctors think it is, I would not expect you to ever come to Perth to live,' she told the carpenter.
'I'm really nervous about the fact that I am the one that has to most likely move to Melbourne.
'I need to know how it's all going to work, I need a plan in place.'
With expressions of thoughtfulness and love being a shock specialty of the larrikin man, he immediately jumped in with a grand gesture.
'I can come to Perth, help you pack up all your furniture, put it away in storage, and we can always just drive your car over,' he told her earnestly.
'Maybe we can potentially buy a property.
The deal appeared to be cemented when Nick offered to come back to Perth to help her pack up her life and then expressed interest in buying a house with the 31-year-old
'Honestly I'll do everything I can and all my friends or family will do everything they can to help out.'
For Sharon, who has spent the past three years away from her family and lives off her Perth-based business, moving interstate would be a huge sacrifice.
But throughout the episode she grew more and more invested in the idea, revealing her still-strong feelings for Nick.
'I get butterflies when he sends me messages, I don't want him to be the one who got away,' she said.
Helping hand: He volunteered himself, as well as his friends and family, for anything she might need in the process
Eventually the pair came to a decision. Sitting on a park bench, Sharon nervously revealed she wanted to give the move a shot.
'I'm over the Skype, I'm over the texting I'm over the calling,' she began.
'Everything always happens for a reason and I'm 99.9 per cent confident to say I'm happy to move for you Nick Furphy.
'I'm going to start a little life with you in Melbourne, do a little trial, and see how it goes from there.'
Married At First Sight returns to Channel Nine on Sunday at 7pm
He was cleared of attempted murder despite shooting his grandfather in the stomach earlier this year.
And now Emmerdale's Lachlan White is set to finish the job once and for all in a dramatic storyline that will see at least two characters axed from the ITV soap.
The troubled teenager - played Thomas Atkinson - will kill his grandfather Lawrence as well as murderer Emma Barton in a rampage in the run-up to Christmas, according to sources.
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Murderer: Emmerdale's Lachlan White is set to go on a killing spree in a dramatic storyline later this year
A soap insider suggested that they won't be the only two characters to fall victim in the killing spree, telling The Mirror: 'Theres going to be a lot of change afoot. It will be a proper bloodbath.'
The source added that while actress Gillian Kearney, who plays Emma, wanted to leave, her co-star John Bowe, who plays Lawrence, was 'upset' at the decision to write him out of the soap.
Lachlan was jailed after being found guilty of perverting the course of justice in January, but was found not guilty of attempted murder.
Victim: The troubled teenager will kill his grandfather Lawrence in the run-up to Christmas
Getting her comeuppance? Emma Barton, who killed her husband James on the soap last year, is also set to be one of Lachlan's victims
His grandfather Lawrence had been left fighting for his life in hospital after being shot in the stomach by his grandson last year.
Meanwhile, it appears that Emma may be set to get her comeuppance for killing husband James in a sensational storyline last year.
She was seen pushing him off a motorway bridge in dramatic scenes last year, which saw several characters from the Dales caught up in a massive pile-up.
Locked up: Lachlan - played Thomas Atkinson - was jailed after being found guilty of perverting the course of justice in January, but was found not guilty of attempted murder
James later died in hospital, after being visited by his crazed wife who tried to finish the job of killing him as he lay on life support.
Emmerdale boss Iain MacLeod had hinted that Emma would be punished for the murder during a press event earlier this year.
He said: 'The soap gods are currently adjudicating on whether Emma will get her comeuppance soon and they havent made their ruling yet.
'Fundamentally, no bad deed goes entirely unpunished but in terms of what form that punishment takes is very much still to be decided.'
Dramatic: Emma was seen pushing husband James off a motorway bridge in the soap's sensational storyline last year
Line Of Duty
Rating:
Spying On The Royals
Rating:
Like an infinite sequence of reflections, the detectives of AC-12 investigate other police who are scrutinising coppers who are probing yet more police in Line Of Duty (BBC1).
It makes the head whirl so much that, if youre prone to giddy spells, you should probably consult your GP before watching.
This show loves to keep us guessing and, after last weeks cliff-hanger saw forensics officer Tim (Jason Watkins) about to decapitate his boss (Thandie Newton) with an electric saw, both characters were tantalisingly absent from the opening scenes.
We were never shown exactly what happened, and left to piece the events together ourselves from the crime scene.
Like an infinite sequence of reflections, the detectives of AC-12 investigate other police who are scrutinising coppers who are probing yet more police in Line Of Duty (BBC1)
The implication is that, after the credits rolled, Tim and DCI Roz Huntley struggled, and after the saw nicked his jugular he bled to death. Self-defence, mlud.
But if DCI Roz was really simply fighting off a rabid junior officer, what has she got to feel guilty about? Why hide his clothes, scrub away all traces of her DNA, and even risk instant exposure by burgling the evidence cabinet? What else is she hiding?
The anti-corruption unit AC-12 and its ruthless inquisitions will burrow down to the truth. Theyve already started, with a trademark grilling that lasted almost a quarter of an hour. Adrian Dunbar as Supt Ted Hastings was brutally good, battering Roz with questions that were more like fiery denunciations from a pulpit.
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And Hastings doesnt even suspect yet that she might have killed Tim. He merely suspects her of fitting up a local lad for a series of sex crimes. That wont go down well: the super does hate to be made to look a fool. He steamrollered a police union rep just for forgetting to call him sir.
All this is so absorbing and cleverly engineered that its a pity writer and director Jed Mercurio feels the need to crowbar chunks of clumsy, sexist dialogue into these otherwise carefully balanced scenes.
In the middle of the interview, Hastings started making derogatory remarks about women who put their careers on hold to have babies. And, in the pub, he compared his sergeant (Vicky McClure) to a dancer in Pans People.
Thats about as subtle as a dinosaur standing on your foot. Its such a blatant piece of banner-waving, you almost wonder if theres a BBC quota for right-on themes in every series. If DCI Roz starts moaning about Brexit for no reason, well know why.
Some gloriously un-PC comments found their way into the Special Branch reports on Wallis Simpson during the Abdication Crisis in 1936 including a description of her husband as a bounder-type, Spying On The Royals (C4) reported.
In the latest episode, a new DCI is placed in charge of Operation Trapdoor as Roz (THandie Newton) fails to report for duty
Supt Albert Canning ran the operation, reporting back to Downing Street on Edward VIIIs affair with a married woman. His officers tailed him and quizzed people the couple talked with, such as a Kensington antiques dealer. They even tapped the Kings phone as well as that of his brother, the future George VI.
This was explosive stuff, backed up by documents from the National Archives whose very existence was denied for decades.
But the programme lacked depth of analysis. There was much focus on Edwards admiration of Hitler, which is well-known. It all but ignored what the government believed to be a much more direct threat the fear that by quitting the throne, the King might ignite a communist revolution.
There is a much better documentary to be made about these finds.
She spent a few weeks in LA at the beginning of the year after unveiling her plans to conquer Hollywood.
And a source close to Sam Faiers claims the reality star has started to turn heads in the showbiz capital, revealing that Hollywood superstar Orlando Bloom 'recognised her'.
The 26-year-old reality star, who now stars on The Mummy Diaries, was said to have been left 'stunned' after he outed himself as a TOWIE fan.
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'Orlando told her he was a huge fan of The Only Way Is Essex': A source close to Sam Faiers claims the reality star has started to turn heads in the showbiz capital, revealing that Hollywood superstar Orlando Bloom 'recognised her'
The source told The Sun Sam introduced herself to Orlando at a party in LA, and was surprised when he 'recognised her'.
'Orlando told her he was a huge fan of The Only Way Is Essex and started grilling her on the show. Sam was stunned.'
In the final episode of her show The Mummy Diaries, Sam Faiers was seen causing considerable upset in her family when she revealed plans to move to Los Angeles.
'He started grilling her on the show. Sam was stunned:' The TOWIE star, who now stars on The Mummy Diaries, was said to have been left 'stunned' after he outed himself as a fan
The Essex native temporarily relocated with partner Paul Knightley and their baby Paul.
In a previous interview with MailOnline, Sam revealed that her relatives' upset about her plans to move to the US have since given way to acceptance.
She said: 'We're going there for a little holiday in a couple of weeks, but that's all it is. We just want to see how we get on there.
La La land: The Essex native temporarily relocated with partner Paul Knightley and their baby Paul at the beginning of the year
'Our families have got used to the idea now and have been supportive. They thought we were just packing up and going but that's not the case.'
But no matter what happens, Sam says she and her 27-year-old sister Billie Faiers will remain as close as ever.
'If we do move, we will visit one another all the time,' she said. 'We've always been the best of friends. But since we've become mothers, we've had even more in common.
Conquering Hollywood! Sam visited the tourist hotspots during her family trip to LA
'Our children are so close as well and we love seeing their little personalities together. They go to baby ballet.'
She also revealed that her boyfriend Paul is very much involved in her sartorial selections, saying: 'Paul loves fashion and he'll send me pictures of women's clothes and say, 'I like this'.'
When asked if her beau was like Kanye West when he styles Kim Kardashian, Sam added: 'He really likes me in casual clothes, like a tracksuit. He's not as bad [as Kanye].'
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He's constantly having to fill up on gas, now that he's an Uber driver.
But Married At First Sight's Andy Hill, 30, may want to turn his attention to a different kind of gas, amid reports that he had a 'nasty habit' of passing wind on the show.
According to New Idea this week, the jilted groom, who was brutally dumped by TV 'wife' Vanessa Belvedere last month, left his co-stars feeling uncomfortable by constantly emitting unpleasant odours.
Unpleasant: Married At First Sight's Andy Hill, 30, has been accused of passing wind on the show
'Look, there's no way of absolutely knowing it was him - but whenever he was in the room, it was an issue ... No wonder he's struggled to find love,' a source sniped.
Last month, the Gold Coast Aerodrome Plant Operator garnered sympathy from MAFS viewers after Vanessa dumped him because of his introverted nature.
'I think you're amazing and you have heaps of good qualities but it's not what I'm looking for in a relationship and it's unfair for me to ask you to be those things,' she said teary-eyed.
Nasty habit? According to New Idea , the jilted groom, who was brutally dumped by TV 'wife' Vanessa Belvedere last month, left his co-stars feeling uncomfortable by constantly emitting foul odours
Dumped: Last month, the Gold Coast Aerodrome Plant Operator garnered sympathy from MAFS viewers after Vanessa dumped him over his introverted nature
He recently revealed that while he felt 'disappointed' after failing to find love, their split was actually mutual.
'I was disappointed I left the show without someone. [But] we were just too different,' he told OK! magazine.
Contrary to how the couple's split was portrayed on the show, the decision to part ways was not one-sided.
'I was disappointed I left the show without someone. [But] we were just too different,' he told OK! magazine
'It became a mutual decision to break up,' he spills.
'Honestly, I wouldn't usually go for someone like Vanessa. If we met under different circumstances we probably would not have tried to make it work.'
Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban couldn't stop with the PDA on Sunday as the actress supported her man at the ACM Awards in Las Vegas, Nevada.
49-year-old Nicole was simply showstopping in a glittering gown from Alexander McQueen which suited her perfectly.
She closed her eyes as her man kissed her tenderly while the couple appeared to forget the cameras were on them.
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Puckering up: Nicole Kidman looked showstopping in Alexander McQueen as she attended Sunday's ACM awards in Las Vegas, Nevada, with husband Keith Urban
Get a room! The couple enjoyed a serious PDA as they seemed unaware they were having their picture taken at the event
Nicole's sparkling gown skimmed the floor elegantly, while clinging to the Aussie beauty's tall, trim figure as she posed with husband Keith at the Las Vegas awards event.
The dazzling cream gown was adorned with an intricate pattern of silver thread weaving through the dresses airy creme sheath.
Embroidered with wildlife, the flora and fauna of the gown perfectly complemented Nicole's fair complexion and green eyes.
Even with her body covered in fabric, the dress draped upon the Big Little Lies star's body like a second skin.
Two's company: Nicole appeared resplendent in her intricate gown as she supported her man at the event
Cheek-y: Nicole seemed overjoyed as Keith planted another one on her
Elegant but wild: The 49-year-old stunner's elegant form was accentuated by the floor sweeping frock
Detailed design: Embroidered with silver and green metallic thread, the Big Little Lie's talent's gown perfectly complemented her strawberry blonde locks and emerald eyes
Her strawberry blonde tresses embodied simple elegance, swept out of her face with a chic ponytail.
Nicole's shoulder sweeping chandelier earrings enriched the glow of her emerald colored eyes.
Fluttering eyelashes and a shimmering pink-nude lip added the perfect touch of Hollywood glamour to the Las Vegas fete.
Pony up: The Aussie beauty's strawberry blonde tresses were swept out of her face with a chic loose ponytail
Standing out: Keith's suit was covered in tiny polka dots and teamed with a skinny burgundy tie
The look of love: The couple were playful with each other on the red carpet and Keith could not keep his eyes off Nicole
The best date: Keith was happy to have Nicole by his side at the event where he was honored with seven award nominations
Keith's suit stood out from the crowd at the awards show, covered in tiny polka dots and teamed with a skinny burgundy tie.
The Fighter hitmaker added a simple personal touch to his look by unbuttoning the top of his dress shirt.
His caramel highlighted locks hung close to his shoulders and his white shirt accentuated his impressive tan.
So in love: Once inside the venue, Nicole and Keith continued to cosy up to one another
Cosy: Nicole rested her arms across Keith's legs as they enjoyed the show
Close: Singer Carrie Underwood (L) was sitting on the other side of Nicole - she also performed on the night
How did she clap this time? Nicole stood up and clapped for her man as he took to the stage after her clapping got panned at the Oscars - he performed Blue Ain't Your Color with Carrie Underwood
The lovers were playful on the carpet, holding hands and looking at each other dotingly. They also stopped to take selfies and chat with adoring fans.
On their way to the show earlier, Keith posted a sweet video of himself and his other half, which he captioned, 'We are headed to the prom. We're going to the ACM prom.'
Before the big night out, the country-pop talent was given a darling surprise by his daughters Faith Margaret and Sunday Rose.
Fun times: (L-R) Keith, Nicole , and recording artists Faith Hill and Tim McGraw all appeared to be having a giggle on the night
Can't get enough of him: Nicole continued to keep her hands on her man as the foursome caught up
Letting him do the talking: Nicole remained seated as Keith caught up with singer Chris Laine
In very high spirits: Singer Howie D. of the Backstreet Boys greets the group
What's tickling them? Keith and Nicole were really letting their hair down
Tender: Nicole stroked Keith's leg as the night rumbled on
Woop woop! The FROW were loving life as the cheered on the performances
'When my daughters do this......I've ALREADY WON!!!! - KU #ACMawards,' wrote the star on Instagram alongside a picture of his little ladies holding a handmade sign with 'Good Luck Daddy' scrawled on it in children's handwriting.
The Ripcord musician is the most nominated artists at the Sunday awards show, honored with seven nominations.
The country star will also take the stage to perform two songs, Blue Ain't Your Color and The Fighter which he will sing with Carrie Underwood.
Dad's greatest gift: Before their big night out, the Ripcord artist shared his daughter's good luck gift on Instgram. His little ladies handcrafted a 'good luck' sign for their pops
Big night: The New Zealand born hitmaker is taking the stage to perform two songs
Catching up: Nicole and recording artist Kimberly Schlapman of Little Big Town had plenty to talk about
A quick embrace: She also had time for a hug with singer-songwriter Ronnie Dunn of Brooks & Dunn
Hamish Maitland didn't hide his disgust when he met daughter Cheryl's partner, Andrew Jones, on Married At First Sight.
The protective Gold Coast-based father provided one of the reality show's most tense moments this season when he went as far as kicking 'Jonesy' out of his house.
And while he detested the firefighter instantly, it appears he has warmed to Cheryl's controversial new boyfriend Dean Gibbs just as quick, according to the brunette bombshell.
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Fiery: Cheryl's father Hamish Maitland provided one of Married At First Sight's most tense moments this season when he went as far as kicking Andrew 'Jonesy' Jones out of his house
The 25-year-old said she's not only committed to her new relationship, her strict Scottish-born father has met Melbourne-based Dean already and approves of him.
'They're best mates,' Cheryl happily told NW.
Hamish's approval of the policeman turned convicted drug dealer turned plumber might come as a shock to viewers, who witnessed him on the attack with Andrew.
Thumbs up: But Cheryl has revealed her father approves of her new boyfriend Dean Gibbs despite his drug dealing past
During an earlier episode of the show Cheryl took Andrew home to her father, who immediately began criticising him about his height and the size of his hands.
He also rebuked the Perth-based firefighter for being too under-dressed and not being his daughter's 'type' and chastised him for not being able to drink enough.
Meanwhile his daughter's new boyfriend was a rogue policeman who was arrested during a major drug operation targeting outlaw motorcycle gangs in 2012.
Not happy! During an earlier episode of the show, Cheryl took Andrew home to her father, who immediately began criticising him about his height and the size of his hands
Disapproval: Cheryl's father rebuked the Perth-based firefighter for being too under-dressed and not being his daughter's 'type' and chastised him for not being able to drink enough
Dean was sentenced to a year in prison for drug trafficking, which was wholly suspended for two years, and initially faced up to 15 years in jail.
He's now a plumber who has already been accused of cheating on Cheryl by a Melbourne-based woman named Amanda Tucker, who spoke with New Idea.
'I'm so upset he lied to my face about her,' she told the magazine, insisting she was dating Dean at the same time he first struck up a relationship with Cheryl.
Drama: Meanwhile, his daughter's new boyfriend was a rogue policeman who was arrested during a major drug operation targeting outlaw motorcycle gangs in 2012
Controversy: He's now a plumber who has already been accused of cheating on Cheryl by a Melbourne-based woman named Amanda Tucker
His last romance ended in tears and garnered public backlash, which forced him into hiding.
But Married At First Sight's Andrew Jones appears to be open to a second chance at love, after he was pictured enjoying a romantic getaway in Fiji.
The reality TV 'villain' recently jetted off to paradise with a mystery blonde, according to NW.
Moving on? Married At First Sight's Andrew Jones appears to be open to a second chance at love, after he was pictured enjoying a romantic getaway in Fiji
'They looked pretty cosy,' a spy told the magazine.
'They brought some drinks down to the pool.'
The pair spent quality time alone on a secluded resort, although the nature of their relationship remains unclear.
Over: The new reomance report comes after his split from Cheryl Maitland
The relaxing holiday was no doubt much need for Andrew, who found himself at the centre of drama - yet again - on Sunday night's episode of MAFS.
The jilted groom, who was infamously ditched by runaway bride Lauren Bran, was confronted by her during a group reunion dinner.
'You try and be the joker but guess what the joker cards are all f*****g gone,' Lauren said to the shocked firefighter.
Confrontation: The jilted groom, who was infamously ditched by runaway bride Lauren Bran, was confronted by her during a group reunion dinner
'You're a cocky little p***k you are and guess what, that's why it didn't work out.'
Andrew hit back: 'You can't accuse of someone of being cocky in a cocky way yourself.'
The drama with Lauren comes off the heels of his split from his other TV 'wife' Cheryl Maitland.
The pair were embroiled in a very public split that turned nasty, particularly after Andrew was filmed mocking Cheryl's ample breasts and hobbies.
The drama forced Andrew into hiding and he previously told The Fix that he 'had to deactivate Facebook' after being harassed by outraged viewers.
It is not every day she shares a beach with someone who has a body almost a match for her own.
So no wonder Gwyneth Paltrow looked so excited to spend yet another day lazing around at the seaside with her buff beau Brad Falchuk in Mexico on Sunday.
The dynamic duo seemed to be enjoying every moment as they flaunted their honed bodies in front of bewildered fellow beachgoers in the posh Cabo San Lucas area.
Iron Man and woman: Gwyneth Paltrow was joined by buff beau Brad Falchuk at a beach in Mexico on Sunday
Navy seal: The beauty had worn a reversible bikini by Helen Jon for her trip to the water
Goop owner Gwyneth, who is a disciple of self-styled fitness guru Tracy Anderson, looked in fine form indeed in a skimpy reversible Helen Jon two-piece bikini.
The yummy mummy, who has two children with Coldplay beefcake Chris Martin, rounded off her attention-grabbing look with a pair of gold-framed aviator sunglasses.
Her macho man boyfriend, who is most famous for being the co-creator of hit Fox show Glee, also seemed to enjoy flaunting his pumped pectorals as they relaxed in the sweltering sunshine.
It has been claimed clingy Gwyneth is desperate to marry her man, who she started dating back in 2014.
Thanks For Sharing: The actress seemed to revel in showing off her beach body
Slim pickings: The Tracy Anderson disciple showcased a body many half her age would be proud of
Cheeky girl: Gwyneth took great delight in flaunting her delightful derriere
Cheeky boy: Brad proved he is no also slouch in the buns of steel department
Ab-solutely fabulous: No doubt the dynamic duo love nothing more than sharing tips on how to work their stomachs
A source told Us Weekly that she is desperate to get engaged 'soon.'
The insider said, 'They talk about marriage all the time and know it will happen.'
Taking a holiday in such an exclusive area is only natural for Gwyneth, for she previously revealed the one thing she could not live without is De Gournay hand-painted wallpaper, which costs around $650 per panel, or $12,000 per room.
The actress said: 'I indulged with one wall in my London living room covered in a gorgeous pattern.'
Brad and Gwyneth have been dating since the summer of 2014 after he divorced his wife Suzanne, with whom he has two children.
Simply the bust: The body confident blonde was not afraid to wear a skimpy bikini top
Water you doing: She decided to cool off by going for a paddle in the surf
Wet and wild: Gwyneth seemed to love felling the waves lap around her thighs
The joy of flex: Brad nonchalantly pulled a pose as he got ready to flex his biceps
Happy to oblige: Her helpful other half offered to towel her down
Gwyneth's kids with ex-husband Chris Martin Apple, aged 12 and Moses, aged 10, are said to 'love Brad.'
The pair reportedly met when the Sliding Doors beauty filmed a guest appearance on Brad's show Glee in 2010.
However it us unlikely Gwyneth will be showy if she and her beau Brad walk down the aisle, as she and her former husband Chris were very camera shy during their marriage.
Explaining the reason for this, she said: 'It doesn't behoove us to be a public couple.'
Gwyneth and Brad seem to be following that same rule, as they have only been spotted together on rare occasions.
Suns out, buns out: And what a terrifically toned fundament it was
Desperate: It has been claimed clingy Gwyneth is extremely keen on marrying her man
Full of Glee: The TV writer seemed to be relishing every moment with his down-to-earth lover
She's the former Bachelor star and model who isn't afraid to show off her incredible physique.
And Tiffany Scanlon has bared all once again, stepping into the salon topless as she prepared for a new bronze spray tan.
The 30-year-old flaunted her fit figure in the revealing Instagram Story, which she shared with her 104K followers over the weekend.
Carefree! Tiffany Scanlon bared all over the weekend, stepping into the salon topless as she prepared for a new bronze spray tan
In the photo, Tiffany showed off her trim and tiny frame, wearing little more than disposable undies and a hair cap.
She smiled cheekily as she snapped the shot, covering her chest with her arm to stop herself from revealing all.
Drawing golden rays around her body, the blonde beauty placed a caption for the moment that helped cover her waist.
'Tan in for the weekend!' she excitedly wrote, before tagging Brazilian Butterfly, the salon who provided the spray tan.
Pretty for the polo: The Perth stunner rocked her new bronze glow as she attended Polo in The Valley on Sunday, in the Swan Valley
Ready for the weekend: She posted another Instagram story Sunday, detailing her fun-filled outing with an eight-part segment
The Perth stunner rocked her new bronze glow as she attended Polo in The Valley on Sunday in the Swan Valley.
The former Bachelor contestant looked radiant in an off-the-shoulder floral number, teaming it with a pair of chunky, pale pastel wedges.
Tiffany accessorised her outfit with a pair of dark round sunglasses and a straw hat, smiling at the camera as she sat among a group of bright pink, plastic flamingos.
She posted another Instagram story from the fun-filled outing, with the eight part segment beginning with the men and women at the event partaking in a joke race across the field.
Singing session: Later she helped belt out Daryl Braithwaite's hit The Horses alongside former Bachelorette contestant Cam Cranley
The self-declared 'experience junkie' then took in a catwalk show, commenting on the heat and how the model's would be hot in their long outfits.
Later she helped belt out Daryl Braithwaite's hit The Horses alongside former Bachelorette contestant Cam Cranley.
The reality star is renowned for putting her ripped abs on display, posing in a revealing running outfit last Friday.
She famously become one half of the Bachelor's first-ever same-sex couple after dating fellow contestant Megan Marx.
The two parted ways last month, with Megan confirming the news when a fan asked about the status of their relationship.
Kim Kardashian admitted that surrogacy was now her 'reality' after unsuccessful surgery on her uterus to try and have a third baby with Kanye West.
The 36-year-old star went under the knife on the latest episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians to repair a hole in her uterus.
The mother of two was left devastated when doctors told her that it would not be safe for her to carry another baby after complications with kids North and Saint West.
Under a lot of stress: Kim Kardashian admitted that surrogacy was now her 'reality' after unsuccessful surgery on her uterus to try and have a third baby with Kanye West
'Kanye was nervous about the surgery and he is glad it's over and that I'm fine,' Kim divulged to sisters Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian on Sunday night's episode.
Kim continued: 'He would want to have more kids so Kanye and I are just going to look into other options and see what we're comfortable with.'
Kourtney then asked Kim if she was considering using a surrogate, to which she said yes.
'I'm definitely leaning more towards I want to try. After talking to Kanye I think that I always knew that surrogacy was an option but I didn't think it was that realistic of an option.
Unsuccessful: Kim had unsuccessful surgery on her uterus to try and have a third baby
Aftermath: Kris then went to visit Kim after she underwent her surgery and the cameras followed her in to the recovery room where Kim was in a hospital gown
Painful ordeal: The 36-year-old star went under the knife on the latest episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians to repair a hole in her uterus
Moving forward: 'Kanye was nervous about the surgery and he is glad its over and that I'm fine,' Kim divulged to sisters Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian
Sisterly support: Kourtney then asked Kim if she was considering using a surrogate, to which she said yes; Khloe (left) and Kourtney (right)
'Now I feel like that's my reality. I feel like surrogacy is really the only other option for me.'
Before her surgery took place, Kim spent time with her daughter North at home and talked about wanting to give her a sibling.
'Kanye and I have always talked about having more kids, but after what I went through in Paris, the urgency is like, even greater,' she told the cameras.
Kim revealed her robbery ordeal had help he realize she wanted a bigger family.
Surgery: Kim went to see a fertility specialist in the show
Cringing: Khloe could barely watch as the examination took place
Invasive: The procedure was shown on the reality TV show
Surgery: Khloe was present while doctors had to go in and repair her uterus
'Being at home for so many months and just taking work out of the equation and being like a stay at home mom has been so refreshing and I would love nothing more than to expand my family and know that i have this world at home that is safe.
'And if for some reason I left this earth sooner than I really wanted to then my kids would have a support system so that I would know it would be okay if i was not here.'
Kim then asked North if she thought her mom and dad should have another baby.
'No. Yeah,' the youngster said before saying 'a girl.'
Such a wonderful mother: Before her surgery took place, Kim spent time with her daughter North at home and revealed she wanted to give her a sister
Honesty: 'Kanye and I have always talked about having more kids, but after what I went through in Paris the urgency is like, even greater'; seen with daughter North
So sweet: Kim then asked North if she thought her mom and dad should have another baby
'I want a boy and girl that would make me so happy,' said 3-year-old North.
Following surgery, Khloe went to visit Kim and found her sister in huge discomfort.
Kim told the cameras that there had been 'complications' with her bladder that forced her to get a catheter as she was unable to 'pee on my own.'
'It is super painful and really, really frustrating,' said Kim as she showed Khloe the catheter.
'I don't want to look at my own vagina let alone someone else's,' said Khloe as Kim showed it off to her.
Kim then let the cameras continue to roll as her OBGYN doctor examined her.
Brave: Following surgery, Khloe went to visit Kim and found her sister in huge discomfort
'Honestly nothing can be easy for me,' said Kim.
Kris then went to visit Kim after she underwent her surgery and the cameras followed her in to the recovery room where Kim was in a hospital gown.
'I had my surgery and the doctors won't know a whole lot until I heal, so it is a waiting game. I definitely am in pain but if the end result is that I get to carry my baby then it was all worth it,' she said.
Not happy about it: 'It is super painful and really, really frustrating,' said Kim as she showed Khloe the catheter
A little too much for Khloe: 'I don't want to look at my own vagina let alone someone else's,' said Khloe as Kim showed it off to her
Kim told her mom that she was 'obsessed' with her kids and loved growing up with her own siblings.
'I'm proud of you because you are so strong, but it just breaks my heart that you're in so much pain,' Kris told her daughter.
'You're going through an awful lot of trauma to your body and emotional stress and I'm just not sure if its worth it. I just don't want you to do something that would put you in great danger.'
Hard times: Kris then told the cameras that Kim had had 'a rough year' and the fertility issues were making matters even harder
Kris then told the cameras that Kim had had 'a rough year': 'Going through all this surgery on top of all of that, I hope she is not doing all of this for nothing. I really want Kim to be happy and I know how much Kim would love to have another baby but I am worried because it can be very, very dangerous.'
Kim told her she hoped that the surgery would be successful so she could carry another baby.
Sunday's show started with Rob discussing Blac Chyna's upcoming delivery with Khloe and Scott, with Rob graphically telling them about the couple's bedroom antics.
Skeptical: Sunday's show started with Rob discussing Blac Chyna's upcoming delivery with Khloe and Scott
'I just have a really bad visual. Between her a**, her belly and your belly, I can't handle it,' she laughed.
'One of the times we were in this crazy spider position and the s**t was nuts - you can ask her about it. She was twirled up in like a pretzel and I was like way up in the ceiling. It was the craziest s**t, it was a crazy-a** night,' Rob told them.
Khloe later did a photo shoot for her Good American denim line - which is geared to women of all sizes.
TMI: Rob graphically told Khloe about the couple's bedroom antics
Rob then told Khloe that he could not wait 'to have an Armenian baby' and said he wanted his child to learn the same values his dad had taught him.
Rob admitted that many of the things he had done with his dad he did not do himself now because of 'how insecure and uncomfortable in my skin I am right now.'
Over lunch Kim told the family that she was going to undergo surgery to repair her uterus to try and help her have a third baby.
Gorgeous gals: Khloe later did a photo shoot for her Good American denim line - which is geared to women of all sizes; with Kylie
Take three: Over lunch Kim told the family that she was going to undergo surgery to repair her uterus to try and help her have a third baby
Their support: 'I have decided I am going to try to have one more baby,' she said as she described having a hole in her uterus fixed and clean out scar tissue
'I have decided I am going to try to have one more baby,' she said as she described having a hole in her uterus fixed and clean out scar tissue.
'Having more kids is definitely going to be a struggle. I've gone through so much with really bad deliveries that the doctors don't feel like its safe for me to conceive again myself.
'This surgery is really the one last thing I can try. I want my kids to have siblings and I want to know that I did everything I could to make this happen.'
Stressed: Rob told the cameras that the pressure from his family actually 'pushed' him away from them and he walked out on the lunch
Pretty: Khloe then promoted her line and Khloe was concerned to learn that they had to sell 150,000 units to hit their targets and admitted she was 'scared s***less' about it
Also over another lunch, the girls pressured Rob about his weight and urged him to slim down and get more active to get down from 290 lbs.
Rob told the cameras that the pressure from his family actually 'pushed' him away from them and he walked out on the lunch.
Rob returned to the house to make Armenian food with Khloe to try and improve his relationships with his family.
They are the best of friends: Jonathan Cheban then visited Kim, who greeted him with her catheter and bag on full show
Being strong: Kim told him that following the surgery the doctors had advised her against carrying another baby on her own
It was not just family supporting Kim, Jonathan Cheban, also stopped by to visit Kim, who greeted him with her catheter and bag on full show.
'Not only has this been really painful, but now hearing that I can't carry any more kids, it couldn't get any worse,' she told the cameras.
'I mean f**k, like, I really tried everything and I really want this and it's just not going to happen for me,' she said. 'It's just really, really tough.'
Kim was very candid and clearly wanted to show the struggles that some women face as cameras were with her as she went to a urologist to help her pee again on her own and to remove the catheter.
Ouch: Kim then had the cameras with her as she went to a urologist to help her pee again on her own and to remove the catheter
'I honestly thought that I would never be so grateful just to pee by myself,' said a relieved Kim as she managed to pass water.
'Now I am going to put this in the past and focus on the realistic next steps if I want to have another baby,' said Kim.
As the show ended the family were hanging out and joking around and Kris told Khloe that their family was 'really crazy.'
A moment: As the show ended the family were hanging out and joking around and Kris told Khloe that their family was 'really crazy'
'Mom your ex-husband is a girl, lets not go there,' laughed Khloe.
In clips form the next episode Khloe and Caitlyn Jenner - Kris' ex - sit down to discuss why they have grown apart.
'How Cait handled her transition hurt a lot of people,' said Khloe.
She welcomed her second child, daughter Elyssa Rose, in December, via an American surrogate.
And Australian personality Sally Obermeder has opened up about how her eldest daughter, Annabelle Grace, five, is adjusting to being a big sister.
The 43-year-old presenter admitted to The Daily Edition that it hasn't been easy but her eldest is flourishing in the role.
New addition! Sally Obermeder has opened up about how her eldest daughter, Annabelle Grace, five, is adjusting to being a big sister to Elyssa Rose (pictured)
'The adjustment has been slow, I'm not going to lie!,' Sally said with a chuckle, as Elyssa sat on her lap during the TV appearance.
'In the beginning it was great, she was like, "oh she's really cute." And then I think in week two, she went, "she's still here, what's happening?"
'She's getting used to it. Definitely in the last week or so, she's like, "oh what's happening cutie?" and is being a lot nicer to her,' Sally added.
'She's being a lot nicer to her': The 43-year-old presenter admitted to The Daily Edition that it hasn't been easy but her eldest is flourishing in the role
She said she thought Annabelle was thinking she'd get a five-year-old sister instead of a newborn baby.
Sally also spoke about how she's juggling motherhood and her career, from her TV commitments, her fashion business and her smoothie range and books.
Being incredibly honest in her interview, Sally admitted that 'some days don't go according to plan.'
'I think honestly, there is no secret. And the secret is, that no two days are the same and they don't go according to plan and I just think, there are some days when I go, "today is a disaster."
'Some days don't go according to plan!' Sally also spoke about how she's juggling motherhood and her career, from her TV commitments, her fashion business and her smoothie range and books
She said not long ago she forgot to put Annabelle's lunch in her bag and she had to have canteen food.
'Just go with the flow as best you can,' Sally said.
Sally recently shared a sweet snap of her two girls sleeping as she thanked fans for their support after her story of surrogacy was aired on Sunday Night.
She wrote in part of her caption: 'We'll pass on everyone's love to the hero of this story - Rachel & her family - and we know they'd probably brush it off, but it's angels like this that make the world shine.'
Welcoming Elyssa was overwhelming for Sally, who was diagnosed with breast cancer a day before she gave birth to Annabelle, in October 2011.
After a year of chemotherapy, Sally was given the all-clear but warned that it was too dangerous for her to fall pregnant again.
However, in January last year she revealed how she'd suffered a miscarriage via an emotional Instagram post.
Apollo Nida's new girlfriend made a surprise appearance on Sunday's episode of The Real Housewives Of Atlanta as she crashed a restaurant opening.
Even though he's incarcerated in federal prison, it did not stop Phaedra Parks' ex-husband from causing drama on the show as Sherien Almufti ruffled feathers.
And while she was there Apollo called on the phone to tell the women that he was not yet legally divorced from Phaedra despite her claims.
Showing support: Sherien Almufti represented incarcerated Apollo Nida as his new girlfriend on Sunday's episode of The Real Housewives Of Atlanta
The show kicked off at Kandi and Todd's new restaurant Old Lady Gang with the soft opening night for family and friends edging ever closer.
With the licenses not yet achieved Kandi was not impressed at Todd's choices of orange chairs.
'My wife is controlling, at least she tries to be but for the last eight months I have eat, lived, breathed and s*** OLG, and I am going to take it to the finish line,' Todd told the cameras.
Kenya Moore paid a visit to Sheree Whitfield's home.
Opening night: Kandi was enjoying opening night at her new restaurant when Sherien arrived
'After Maui, Kenya and I are in a much better place,' Sheree told the cameras.
'Who would have imagined that us two neighbors, would be able to make pop-ups and someone would not get popped.'
Sheree told Kenya that since Maui her relationship with ex-husband, Bob, 'had not been the same.'
Two neighbors: Sheree Whitfield and Kenya Moore were getting along better since Maui
'I feel like I have been protecting him for so many years and for him to take it as a joke and laugh' she said sadly.
Kenya then told Sheree that she 'was done' with estranged boyfriend, Matt Jordan.
'His desire to marry me has never gone away but when you get mad you turn into the hulk. I just have to keep going Sheree I don't know if I have the patience to watch him mature,' said Kenya.
It's over: Kenya insisted that her relationship with Matt Jordan was over
She then told the cameras that she did 'still love Matt.'
'But the more he revealed himself the more I saw he was not the one for me and although the sex may have been good - I have had better,' she said.
'It's like nothing ever lines up at the right time. The business is great, I am into my house and the man is acting crazy,' she told Sheree.
Moving on: Sheree said that her relationship with Bob had not been the same since Maui
'Can't they just all align?'
'It is hard,' admitted Sheree as the workmen rushed to finish her mansion ahead of a housewarming.
'Shall I bring a city inspector as my date and wear a hard hat?' Kenya joked as the work continued around them.
Good one: Kenya asked Sheree if she should bring a hard hat to her housewarming party
'Some people just so shady,' laughed Sheree.
Cynthia Bailey's estranged husband, Peter Thomas, flew into Atlanta to hang out with Todd, and the pair took a call from prison from Apollo Nida.
Apollo told them he would like his new girlfriend to come to the restaurant's preview night in support of Todd.
Working hard: Todd had been working hard on getting the restaurant ready
'She's more than cute. Sometimes you've got to upgrade,' Apollo said.
Phaedra was celebrating her first birthday as a single woman and her parents came into town to look after her boys.
She told the cameras her parents supported her divorce from Apollo and she hoped he would do what was right for the family.
Birthday girl: Phaedra Parks was celebrating her first birthday as a single woman
Helping hands: The reality star was visited by her parents for her birthday
Todd and Peter told Apollo that they had not seen his two boys and would not see them until he was released.
'It's been real nasty, you know? When Phaedra came up here to visit me she told me everything was put on hold 'cause maybe deep down inside she might not want a divorce.
'Then I got served the divorce papers saying she went ahead and proceeded forwards.'
Divorce dispute: Phaedra has told her friends her divorce was complete but Apollo said otherwise
Peter asked him if he felt Phaedra had 'tricked' him
'Hell yeah. You know, they're trying to rule in her favor. So right now I'm trying to fight that,' said Apollo as he threatened to fight the whole thing through divorce court.
'She has been playing me for who knows how long. I don't even feel like she really loved me anyway. This is not how you treat someone you love,' Apollo said.
On the phone: Peter Thomas and Todd listened as Apollo called from jail
Peter then told the cameras that Phaedra was 'a con artist' for her handling of the divorce.
Phaedra told the cameras that the divorce being finalized left her 'at peace' and that it meant she had 'got my mojo back.'
At Cynthia Bailey's home she told daughter, Noelle Robinson, that she had completed her divorce from Peter.
Family time: Noelle Robinson talked to Cynthia Bailey as she completed her divorce from Peter
'This has been like the hardest thing I have ever had to do,' she told her daughter as she admitted she felt relief.
'At the same time it was emotional. It is like, now what?' she said.
'Peter changed the course of my life and I will always be grateful but in my heart and my soul this feels like right for me.
Life changer: Cynthia said that Peter changed the course of her life
'I am going to be 50 and I feel that this first 50 was for the people around me who I love and this next 50 god willing is for me.'
Peter took a drive past his old house and grew emotional about what he and Cynthia had been through.
'Our divorce hurts because that was not what I wanted. I was still on the train when she got off,' Peter told the cameras.
On the train: Peter said that he didn't want the divorce and was still on the train when Cynthia got off
'I signed on forever, I did not realize that forever would come so soon.'
Cynthia then told the cameras that she hoped she and Peter could remain friends and would not feel awkward at Kandi's preview event.
At the restaurant Kandi got increasingly frustrated with Todd's management of the opening as he assured her it would all come together.
Behidn schedule: Kandi was worried about Todd not being ready for the grand opening
But she was not impressed and was even more upset when her husband told her the project was $100,000 over budget.
Kandi warned Todd that the restaurant had to be perfect so that it did not give any other the other women any ammunition against them.
Todd managed to pull everything together and the party went smoothly with Cynthia, Sheree and Kenya all on hand.
Good job: Todd pulled it off and the place was ready for Cynthia, Sheree and Kenya
The gang: Kandi's family of Nora, Mama Joyce and Bertha comprise The Old Lady Gang
Southern menu: The Old Lady Gang restaurant specializes in Southern food
As Porsha was not invited Phaedra skipped the event and had a birthday celebration that saw the pair drink champagne and wear matching pajamas.
At the restaurant Apollo's new girlfriend Sherien walked in and stunned the group.
'Boom, I'm here,' she said as she walked in to show support on behalf of Apollo.
Champagne celebration: Phaedra skipped the restaurant opening and celebated her birthday with Porsha Williams
Matching pajamas: Porsha and Phaedra wore matching Frick and Frack pajamas
'What am I supposed to do with this chick?' I don't want any problems,' Todd told the cameras.
When Sherien sat down with the group Kandi asked her about her relationship with Apollo.
'We found love, let's put it that way' said Sherien ignoring Todd's question about how they met and saying she and Apollo had been 'friends' for four years.
No problems: Todd insisted that he wanted no problems with Sherien arriving
Found love: Sherien told the group how and Apollo found love
Kandi then asked her if they 'became more than friends' before or after Apollo was jailed.
'Wifey wan't around so I was there more than she was,' replied Sherien.
'He's been away for two years. She's only been there twice,' she said in reference to Phaedra.
No memo: Mama Joyce apparently did not get the memo on how to dress for the party
White shirt: Kandi told her mother that she was supposed to wear a white shirt and black pants
Apollo then conveniently called up to talk to the group.
'This just feels messy,' said Kandi.
'I always thought you were a cool person but at the same time I feel awkward meeting your girlfriend, even though you are nice,' Kandi told him.
Candid conversation: Apollo spoke directly to Kandi while calling from federal prison
Apollo then told the women that he was still in the process of getting divorced and not already finalized, as Phaedra had claimed.
'I'm sick of Phaedra's alternative facts, AKA lies. After she flipped the script on me in Hawaii, I just don't believe anything she says ever,' said Kenya.
The Real Housewives Of Atlanta will return Sunday for its season nine finale.
Sealed it: Kandi kissed Todd after acknowledging his hard work
Divorce update: Kenay and Cynthia were surprised to hear the divorce was still underway
He's rose to fame playing notorious night club owner John Ibrahim in Underbelly: The Golden Mile.
But there are now claims actor Firass Dirani is contemplating quitting acting for good, according to Woman's Day.
The magazine alleges that Firass has had enough to the TV industry and he is fed up being surrounded by fame-hungry people.
Career change? Actor Firass Dirani is contemplating quitting acting for good citing that being surrounded by fame-hungry people has him fed up
The publication also claims his recent trip to Africa was the turning point that opened his eyes.
'He's now considering getting rid of all his material possessions and quitting acting for good. He's craving adventure and excitement,' the insider told the publication.
The Hacksaw Ridge actor recently said that he intends to move on after season five of House Husbands.
In search for something more? An insider said, 'He's now considering getting rid of all his material possessions and quitting acting for good'
Life changing trip: His recent trip to Africa was said to have been the turning point that opened his eyes
His role as single father Justin Baynie has seen the actor work alongside some of Australia's biggest actors, which ultimately the role cemented him as a household name.
'I've had a lot of fun on the show and have worked with some veterans of the industry. But I'm 32 now, and there are some other things I'd like to do,' he said.
The Lebanese-Australia star even hinted at the possibility of disappearing from the public eye for a few years.
'Other things I'd like to do': He even hinted at the possibility of disappearing from the public eye for a few years
Firass shot to fame playing John Ibrahim in 2010, and in the same year took out the title for Cleo Bachelor of the year.
In 2011 he won the Logie for Most Popular New Male Talent as well as the Graham Kennedy award for most outstanding new talent.
Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Firass's management for comment
She cut a lonely figure last month after announcing her split from girlfriend Tiffany Scanlon.
But on Sunday, Megan Marx appeared to have plenty of company as she enjoyed a trip to the Indonesian Island of Gili Air.
The 27-year-old looked carefree as she relaxed alongside two friends, the trio revelling in the warm weather as they partied in a treehouse.
Friendly getaway: On Sunday Megan Marx appeared to have plenty of company as she enjoyed a trip to the Indonesian Island of Gili Air
Megan appeared sultry in the photo, tilting her head to the camera as her hand rested on her friend's back.
She wore a patterned cream skirt and dark skin-tight crop-top, with the ensemble accentuating her ample bust and exposing her toned midriff.
Her blonde tresses fell in wild waves around her face, with the beauty opting for a simple style without make-up or jewellery.
Beach beauty: Her blonde tresses fell in wild waves around her face, with the beauty opting for a simple style without make-up or jewellery
Enjoying other company: The star noted her appreciation for the getaway in her caption, thanking Gili Air 'for the music, the tree houses and the love'
The star noted her appreciation for the getaway in her caption, thanking Gili Air 'for the music, the tree houses and the love'.
She also lamented the end of the trip, writing: 'back to the Gu tomorrow'.
Her companions wore their long locks out too, opting for similarly summer outfits that showed off their tanned arms.
The group appeared to be seated in a treehouse, with pillows strewn around, as one of the girls held a drink in her hand.
Carefree: Megan lamented the end of the trip, writing: 'back to the Gu tomorrow,' visiting the island after a holiday to Europe
Last month Megan parted ways with former girlfriend Tiffany Scanlon in early March, confirming their break-up on Instagram.
Responding to a fan, busty blonde abruptly announced: 'Tiffany and I have broken up'.
Tiffany was spotted flying into Perth without Megan, with the girls having moved to Balie together in January.
Happier times: Last month Megan parted ways with former girlfriend Tiffany Scanlon in early March, confirming their break-up on Instagram
Business venture: The girls reportedly moved to Bali in January to set up a business together
While Megan has remained in Bali after enjoying a cold European vacation, Tiffany has since returned to Perth.
This weekend, the reality star documented her trip to the salon for a new spray tan, posing in little more than a pair of disposable underwear.
She showed off her bronzed result as she attended a Polo in the Valley event, mixing it up with former Bachelorette Cameron Cranley.
Paris Jackson is a budding fashion model.
And while picking up the award for Emerging Talent at The Daily Row's Fashion Los Angeles Awards on Sunday, the 18-year-old stayed true to her own unique style.
Arriving at the event in LA, the aspiring model looked beautiful in a long-sleeved black Naeem Khan mini-dress.
Stylish: Paris Jackson attended The Daily Row's Fashion Los Angeles Awards on Sunday dressed in an embellished black Naeem Khan mini-dress
Adorned with metallic birds, branches and flowers, Paris' outfit had a somewhat vintage feel.
She wore strappy black stilettos and offset her look with a small purple clutch purse.
Her bobbed blonde hair sat loose, and some of her tattoos were visible on both her hands and around her ankles.
Purple reign: The daughter of late king of pop Michael Jackson accessorized her glamorous look with a purple clutch purse
Barefoot beauty: The 18-year-old took to the podium without her shoes to accept the award for Emerging Talent
Once inside the event, the daughter of Michael Jackson seemed keen to kick off her heels.
It was a barefoot Paris who took to the podium to accept her award, appearing completely at home, despite standing in front of a room full of fashion's elite.
She was also seen chatting to Ashton Kutcher backstage, who attended solo, dressed in a blue suit and blue check shirt.
Later in the evening, the star - who celebrates her 19th birthday on Monday - changed into an entirely different outfit.
Kicking off her heels: The aspiring model seemed keen to take off her shoes after entering the event
Out of the blue: Paris was also seen chatting to Ashton Kutcher backstage, who attended solo, dressed in a blue suit and blue check shirt
Embracing her casual style, Paris was seen wearing a nude-colored tank top and blue jeans.
She wore an Aztec printed black, white, brown and grey cardigan, and carried a colorful hippie-style bag on one shoulder.
The relaxed star flashed the peace sign to photographers, her bleached hair tied back in a ponytail.
Keeping it casual: The blonde beauty changed into a decidedly more low-key outfit for the after-party
Casually clad: Paris worked her casual threads after her glam appearance at the fashion gala
Wrapped up: The actress wrapped a blanket inspired cardigan around her frame
Bombshell: The beauty let her blonde locks fall in front of her face as she left the eatery in her car
What a beaut: The fashion darling showcased a glam beauty look for her post-award show meal
Tatt's nice: Paris showcased the many intricate inkings on her hand as she waited for her car to leave
And despite picking up the award for Emerging Talent at the event, Paris says she's still trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life.
'I know there are a lot of people who would feel very blessed to be in my position, so I want to use it for important things,' she told Harper's Bazaar last month.
'I have a couple of ideas. I have a lot of ideas, but I'm still trying to figure out the right way to do it. I mean, I'm 18. I can't have it all together, but I do have a plan.'
Doing good: 'I know there are a lot of people who would feel very blessed to be in my position, so I want to use it for important things,' she said
She'd pulled off two very fashionable red carpet looks on Sunday evening.
Though Charlotte McKinney had less poise when she left the Fashion Los Angeles Awards afterparty, full of giggles after a top night at The Daily Front Row event.
The tipsy model was guided out of Mr Chow in Beverly Hills by a friend, before rolling into the back of a cab with little regard for her thigh-skimming dress.
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Tipsy: Charlotte McKinney was seen leaving The Daily Front Row's Fashion Los Angeles Awards afterparty on Sunday night, looking a little worse for wear
Luckily, Charlotte saw the funny side of her giddy behaviour and laughed raucously into cupped hands.
Her ponytail draped down over her face as she attempted to make it to the vehicle unnoticed, but her high profile made her an easy spot.
Golden girl Charlotte's arrival outfit was perfect for an event attended by the elite of fashion-savvy Hollywood.
Fit of giggles: The model was bent double in a fit of giggles, as she left the party
Helping hand: The stunning star was guided out with the help of a female friend
All that glitters: Charlotte looked sexy in a metallic outfit (left) before slipping into an LBD for the afterparty (right)
The upcoming Baywatch actress looked sexy in a metallic outfit which showed off her toned stomach yet still oozed sophistication.
She paired cropped gold trousers with a matching shimmering blazer, which had the traditional features of rolled up sleeves and clean-cut lapels.
Upping the sex appeal of the look however was the white crop top layered underneath - which flashed her enviably flat stomach and toned abs to all.
Time for bed: The group had gone to the afterparty, after the awards bash
Stunning: Her high profile hadn't escaped the attention of many
Hop in: Charlotte rolled into the back of the car with her legs on show
Easy does it: The model admitted defeat and went home
Charlotte pulled off the perfect quick-change, later, as she glittered for the red carpet before switching things up for the after-party.
Ready to let her hair down, she later traded her sophisticated outfit for a classic little black dress and therefore transitioned seamlessly for the afterparty.
Charlotte traded her gold ensemble for an equally stylish navy blue mini-dress, which showed off her long legs with its thigh-skimming hem.
Golden girl: She paired cropped gold trousers with a matching shimmering blazer, which had the traditional features of rolled up sleeves and clean-cut lapels
Just a normal girl: 'Im actually super insecure. I can feel so bad about myself,' the stunning star confessed
Smarty pants: The glittering two piece suit mixed glamour with sophistication, perfectly
The dress featured a high-neck mesh panel, which covered her chest and arms but teased at her smooth skin beneath.
The stunning blonde capped off her look with a pair of strappy black stilettos and a co-ordinating navy suede clutch.
Her long blonde hair was swept back into a messy ponytail high on her head.
Switching it up: Charlotte traded her gold ensemble for an equally stylish navy blue mini-dress, which showed off her long legs with its thigh-skimming hem
But despite her stunning good looks, Charlotte maintains she's not perfect.
'Im actually super insecure. I can feel so bad about myself,' she confessed to Galore magazine.
'I have moments where I feel incredibly ugly, or fat, and it sucks, you know? Ill usually try to keep a positive attitude, because Im really so grateful for where I am, and the life I get to live, but I definitely have to work hard not to feel insecure.'
It was a huge hit with My Kitchen Rules Judges and guest star Curtis Stone last month.
And on Saturday, Mother and Daughter team Courtney And Valerie's Sweetly Spiced Anglo-Indian sauce was an even bigger hit with customers.
Their competition-winning concoction won the right to be sold in Coles stores nationally, and 24 hours after its appearance on the shelves, the sauce has already sold out.
Sold Out! MKR duo Valerie and Courtney's Sweetly Spiced sauce that won the right to be sold in Coles stores nationally SOLD OUT 24 hours after becoming available for purchase
The Brisbane team consisting of 61-year-old mum Valerie and 29-year-old daughter Courtney beat out the rest of their group three competition, after contestants were tasked with cooking up a sauce worth of being sold in supermarkets.
In a press release, Coles Chief Customer Simon McDowell proved that the lamb sauce - which was based off a recipe from Valerie's late father - was more than worthy of public sale.
'The popularity and demand for their sauce has been unbelievable with 95 per cent selling in the very first day across our supermarkets nationally,' he said.
'This is a true testament to the power of television and the MKR brand. We have the ability to move product like no other medium,' added Seven Director of Programming and Partnerships Lisa Squillance.
Fight for the right! Their competition-winning concoction won the right to be sold in Coles stores nationally, after 61-year-old mum Valerie and 29-year-old daughter Courtney beat-out group 3 contestants for the honour
'Coles was able to leverage their in program execution and the engagement of our MKR fans to deliver for the very first time a taste of MKR in the homes of everyday Australians.'
The product was promoted across social media, in-store and in advertisements on Seven, with the instant success making it appear increasingly likely the show will look into releasing more products from contestants in the future.
Those who missed out will reportedly have to wait until late April until the sauce is restocked.
Loved it! Celebrity guest judge and Coles ambassador loved the lamb sauce, and so did customers with a press release stating: 'The popularity and demand for their sauce has been unbelievable with 95% selling in the very first day
Last month, group three contestants had to compete to make the best sauce, in a bid to win the people's choice award and get their sauce jarred and sold on the shelves at Coles.
The winning team would also be safe from the next two eliminations.
Mother and Daughter team Valerie and Courtney cried when they heard they had won, using a sauce recipe that came from her late father.
Special moment: Mother and Daughter team Valerie and Courtney cried when they heard they had won, using a sauce recipe that came from her late father
It was a hit with the judges, who said they'd love to buy the sauce.
'Its unbelievable, that simple sauce from poppy,' Valerie said as she hugged her daughter.
She told the judges: 'My father and I had such a great connection in the kitchen and I have that connection with my daughter now and that's thanks to him,' she said.
Rebecca Judd has given birth to four children in three pregnancies.
And the 34-year-old has a clear preference when it comes to a choice between a natural birth, like she had with eldest children Oscar and Billie, or having a C-section, as she did with twin boys Tom and Darcy last year.
Speaking on her KIIS FM radio show 3PM Pick-Up on Monday, Bec reflected on the pain she encountered when delivering her latest additions in September.
Motherly love: Rebecca Judd has a clear preference when it comes to a choice between a natural birth, like she had with eldest children Oscar and Billie, or having a C-section, as she did with twin boys Tom and Darcy last year
She said: 'Mate, it's horrific compared to having a natural delivery. It kills, it absolutely kills. The fact that you are awake in major abdominal surgery is mind boggling and freaky.'
The Channel Nine TV presenter said the emergency procedure - her boys arrived six weeks early - left her in a state of panic.
Describing the caesarean as 'wild', Bec also said she experienced excruciating pain compared to the relatively pain-free birth of first child Oscar.
Double trouble: Speaking on her KIIS FM radio show 3PM Pick-Up on Monday, Bec reflected on the pain she encountered when delivering her latest additions in September
Strife: The Channel Nine TV presenter said the emergency procedure - her boys arrived six weeks early - left her in a state of panic
Memories: Describing the caesarean as 'wild', Bec also said she experienced excruciating pain compared to the relatively pain-free birth of first child Oscar
She said: 'I remember I was lying there on the operating table and I started pretty much having a panic attack, my heart was going nutso - I felt like it was jumping out of my chest.
'And I think 'am I going to die? What's going on?', which actually was completely normal.'
The Perth native also had some advice for mums in waiting, urging them not to have a C-section if the baby is in a normal, natural position for birth.
Word of wisdom: The Perth native also had some advice for mums in waiting, urging them not to have a C-section if the baby is in a normal, natural position for birth
Proud parents: The wife of former AFL star Chris Judd, Bec and her other half celebrated the twins' turning six-months-old last week.
The wife of former AFL star Chris Judd, Bec and her other half celebrated the twins' turning six-months-old last week.
The model took to Instagram to gush about her young bubs alongside a picture of the pair.
'To think I spent my entire pregnancy dreading having twins and it's turned out to be the best thing that's ever happened to me,' Bec started her post to her more than 618,000 followers.
The brunette beauty added: 'I am the luckiest mum in the world. Happy 6 months boys.'
They're not the first set of stunning sisters to emerge as models, from a Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star's shadows.
And just like Yolanda Hadid's catwalk queens Gigi and Bella, Lisa Rinna's daughters Delilah, 18, and Amelia Hamlin, 15, seemed to be headed for the same fate on Sunday.
The duo stole the show at the star-studded Fashion Los Angeles Awards at the Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood, flanked by their proud mum.
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Double take! Lisa Rinna's (right) daughters Delilah (left) and Amelia Hamlin (centre) stole the show at Fashion Los Angeles Awards on Sunday
Determined to make a name for themselves in the fashion world, they pair seemed to be taking some style lessons from Hadids, who are currently at the top of their game.
All eyes were on the youngest model Amelia when she stepped out in a scarlet gown with a split on one side.
She styled a similar scarlet dress to the one Bella pulled off at the Unknown Girl premiere during Cannes Film Festival, last year.
Famed: The reality star is bringing her two glamorous daughters into the spotlight as she escorted them to the star-studded event
Mother like daughters: The beautiful daughters looked just like their mum when they made an appearance at the Fashion Awards
Apples don't fall far from the tree: Lisa's RHOBH co-star Yolanda Hadid (centre) has also brought up stunning model daughters Bella (left) and Gigi (right, here in November 2016)
Amelia, who is with The Lions agency, completed the dramatic look with a killer pair of strappy sky-high heels which added to her height.
The raven-haired bombshell swept her hair off her face in a neat low ponytail, showing off her petite doll like features.
The eldest sister Delilah, 18, also showed off her curves in a figure-hugging black bodycon dress - just like Gigi's choice of gown for the TV awards in June.
She teased her skin in the cheeky cut-out pockets in the sleeve of her dress.
Style tips: Delilah, 18, showed off her curves in a figure-hugging black bodycon dress just like Gigi Hadid's choice of gown for the TV awards in June (right)
Striking: Youngest daughter Amelia, 15, stepped out in a similar dress that Bella Hadid wore to the Unknown Girl premiere during Cannes Film Festival in the summer of last year (right)
The blonde beauty let her golden-kissed curls fall naturally around her face in loose waves.
Proving accessories make an outfit, she carried a chic clutch and towering platform heels to match.
The fashion obsessed siblings were joined by their famous parents Lisa, 53, and Harry Hamlin, 65.
It was all relative because the Beverly Hills reality TV star opted for a bodycon number like her eldest daughter.
Sky high: All the girls stole the show as they stepped out in towering high heels to give them added height
Mum and dad: The fashion obsessed siblings were joined by their famous parents Lisa, 53, and Harry, 65
Icon: The celebrity styled her signature choppy bob showing off her enviable natural beauty
Strength to strength: Harry and Lisa showed couples that dress together stay together. They have been very happily married since 1997
The celebrity styled her signature choppy bob, showing off her enviable natural beauty.
To complement the TV star, Harry looked dapper in a navy blue suit and smart shoes for the occasion.
They enjoyed each other's company at the plush hotel, which is centrally located on the iconic Sunset Strip, a stone's throw away from Beverly Hills and Hollywood.
Friends: The 53-year-old caught up with old friends as she was chatted to Rebecca Romlin at the Fashion Awards
Deep in conversation: The Hamlin sisters were seen chatting with their mother Lisa and Amanda Steele (far right) while outside Mr Chow - the venue for the awards after party
So chic! Amelia (left) dazzled in a floor-length red gown for the evening while Lisa put her enviable figure on display in a plunging black number (right)
Glamorous duo: The stunning sisters were happy to strike a pose as they left the Fashion Los Angeles after party with their parents in tow
Heading home: Lisa was seen clutching onto her goodie bag while speaking on her phone as she and her troop exited the bash
Hand-in-hand: Lisa and Amelia put their best foot forward as they flashed a smile in the way of photographers
Happy couple: Harry and Lisa made for a stylish pair in complementing all-black ensmebles
Just last month, she called her stint on Lorraine 'pointless' after she was widely panned by viewers.
But Kelly Brook must be a sucker for punishment as she returned to the show on Monday, albeit in a different guise, despite acknowledging she is 'too much for people.'
Having bowed out of presenting a light-hearted fashion segment, the 37-year-old re-appeared to host a competition piece in which the viewer can nab 75,000.
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She's BACK! Kelly Brook returned to Lorraine on Monday just a month after blasting her widely-panned and 'pointless' appearance on the daytime show
She can't keep away: Having bowed out of presenting a light-hearted fashion segment, the 37-year-old re-appeared to host a competition piece in which the viewer can nab 75,000
The curvy presenter filmed the piece while in Paris, looking incredible in a striped sweater which highlighted her curves.
With her brunette locks styled into pretty curls, Kelly appeared right at home as she did her piece to camera.
But some were pleased to see her back on screens once again.
Here she goes: The curvy presenter filmed the piece while in Paris, looking incredible in a striped sweater which highlighted her curves
Make your mind up: Her appearance is surprising as she previously said she was 'too much for viewers'
Ou la la: Kelly looked incredible as she filmed the segment and was no doubt a hit with viewers this time around
Made-up: One viewer tweeted their appreciation for seeing the stunner on screen
One viewer tweeted: 'I do like a bit of @IAMKELLYBROOK first thing in the morning on @ITVLorraine.'
Kelly came under fire for her 'loud' and 'hyper' appearance on Lorraine in January.
And the model appeared to concur with her haters in an interview with OK! magazine last month as she deemed her turn on the programme 'pointless'.
She recently appeared as a guest fashion editor on the morning chat show yet was met with a tepid response from viewers as she insisted the slot was 'not a big deal' and 'pointless'.
Taking a U-turn: Kelly appeared to concur with her haters in an interview with OK! magazine last month as she deemed her turn on the show 'pointless'
Kelly sent Twitter wild when she was accused of being too 'loud' and 'hyper' although some thought she was a breath of fresh air, as social media was awash with comments, proving that she had certainly made an impact during her style segment.
The stunning star hit back at her haters, saying: 'I'm not trying to be a TV presenter or work on telly in the UK every day. If it's something that's a bit challenging or fun, then I'll do it. But it was a three-minute segment on a morning show.
'I just didn't like all the attention that came with it. It was a bit pointless. I don't mind the attention if it's something that's a big deal, but I didn't think it was - talking about a few dresses on a morning show. I left and said, "I don't really want to do this, it's a bit silly."
'Lorraine introduced me as 'The most enthusiastic woman in the world' and I thought, well, I'm not really - I'm just trying to make the best of the clothes you've given me.'
Not cool: The 37-year-old model recently appeared as a guest fashion editor on the morning chat show yet was met with a tepid response from viewers as she insisted the slot was 'not a big deal' and 'pointless'
The former 'Big Breakfast' host just doesn't think she is "cut out" for morning television after being criticised for her chirpy demeanour, saying: 'I think I'm a bit too much for people'...
'I was criticised for being too energetic and loud. I was like: "Maybe I shouldn't come back?" They wanted me to but I told them I thought they should get someone else. I don't think I'm cut out for morning TV.'
During the show, the harsh posts appeared reading: '@ITVLorraine @IAMKELLYBROOK Kelly brook was very loud and over excited and irritating. Give me headache.'
'@ITVLorraine @IAMKELLYBROOK No need to shout when you have a microphone! #exhausting #scaredofgreen
'@IAMKELLYBROOK on @ITVLorraine Omg! Had to turn my TV down. #soloud Lorraine couldn't get a word in #exhausting.'
'She's given me a headache': Kelly was slammed on Twitter for being too 'loud and hyper' following her debut fashion segment on Lorraine
Happy: The beautiful model was in great spirits on the show and super giggly
Too much? Some viewers felt like Kelly was too 'loud and hyper' on the show, but it may have all been down to nerves
'Too much fake excitability this early in the morning @IAMKELLYBROOK I had to turn over stop trying too hard.'
'@IAMKELLYBROOK Blummin eck Kelly, you been on the smarties this morning? A tad hyper but looking gorgeous.'
'Ouch, Kelly Brook on #Lorraine was clearly nervous there. She needed to slow down and actually comment on the fashion instead of laugh.'
Give it a go: Talking about trends for spring fashion, Kelly encouraged viewers to be brave and try wearing bold colours such as green
My how you've changed! Kelly has gone from showcasing hair-raising ensembles (left, at a film premiere in 2000) to red carpet siren (right, at a recent London awards ceremony)
Yet while her volume was a common factor in the posts, others wrote that she was refreshing and gave the show lots of energy:
'Kelly Brook is beautiful - til she opens her mouth. Calm down love it's not even 9.30 #lorraine.'
'@ITVLorraine Kelly Brook has got a fabulous figure but just needed to be a bit less hyper and loud this morning ...maybe nerves ?'
Divided: Yet other viewers loved seeing Kelly on their screens during the show
Kelly herself appeared to be trawling the site for feedback as she retweeted some of the more positive comments, choosing to ignore the rest.
They were as follows: '@IAMKELLYBROOK @ITVLorraine you do whatever i am with you, love u.'
'@ITVLorraine Blimey I'll have whatever @IAMKELLYBROOK has had this morning. That was a lively little segment. #kiddyasakipper bless her. X
'@IAMKELLYBROOK Thoroughly enjoyed your appearance on @ITVLorraine.'
'Cheered us both up on a gloomy winters morning.'
'@IAMKELLYBROOK You looked amazing this morning.#@ITVLorraine you've got to make @IAMKELLYBROOK a regular fashion presenter! She brings so much energy and excitement to the show.'
Katie Price's family trip to the Maldives has been steeped with controversy.
And the 38-year-old glamour model came under fire once again on Sunday as she shared a family snap alongside her husband Kieran Hayler and children Harvey, 14, Junior, 11, Princess, nine, Jett, three and Bunny, two.
As the happy family posed on a banana boat, fans could not help but point out that her eldest daughter was pulling a near-identical pose to that favoured by her mother - in a move one user deemed 'unnatural for a child of her age'.
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Trouble again: Katie Price came under fire once again on Sunday as she shared a family snap alongside her husband Kieran Hayler and children Harvey, 14, Junior, 11, Princess, nine, Jett, three and Bunny, two
In true Katie style, she has been keeping her holiday documented on social media, giving her fans an insight into their luxurious family break on which she was spotted flitting between sharing her own sizzling snaps and sweet family shots.
After sharing snaps of Princess in bikinis and later a kaftan, she has been accused of oversexualising her daughter, with yet more outrage being provoked on Sunday.
In the sweet shot, the entire family sat along a banana boat, with all the members pulling different poses and look to be blissfully enjoying the break.
Princess is seen sandwiched between brothers Jett and Junior as she arched her back and turned her head to the camera while pulling a cheeky pose - which Instagram users claimed was mimicking her mother.
Unnatural: As the happy family posed on a banana boat, fans could not help but point out that her eldest daughter was pulling a near-identical pose to that favoured by her mother - in a move one user deemed 'unnatural for a child of her age'
Fire: On Wednesday, she drew fire on Instagram after she shared a snapshot of Princess wearing a colourful kaftan from her eponymous clothing line
Social media users penned: 'Princess far too posy for her age kind of ruins the lovely picci isn't natural for a child of her age... Princess sure takes after her mother... Princess had definitely been watching you pose... Princess is mini you... Princess is your double... Princess is just like her mum'.
Elsewhere however, fans threw their support behind the star as they hit back at her critics to insist it is the typical behaviour of young girls.
Fans wrote: 'Omg young girls copy off their mam's , big sisters , aunties and celebrities I constantly see my friends children pose and pout for pictures it's what little girls do...
'When all you haters were younger did you not dress up as an older relative because I can say I did I used to walk around with my mam's make up on in her high heels wearing her jewellery...
United we tan: The sizeable family's trip has been dubbed a 'second honeymoon' by Katie
Backlash: She faced similar backlash when she shared a shot of her eldest daughter posing in a floral bikini last week
'The only difference now is social media wasn't around then and not everyone had a camera with them 24/7 like now . Go back and look through your old family photos and I can guarantee you will come across pictures of yourselves posing...
'Keep doing what your doing jealousy is a horrible thing xx... The reason that little girl poses constantly is because her mum does... what else does she know of course she will copy her.
'I have always loved Katie price but yes a lot of what she does is for attention and all the social media comments she likes it. She will do or say something shocking because she loves the reaction'.
The latest outrage comes after Katie was sparking more controversy on social media, when she shared a shot of Princess posing in a colourful kaftan from her eponymous clothing line.
Katie cooed that her daughter was 'loving' her luxury getaway, her followers on social media slammed the attire as 'inappropriate'.
The image showed Princess - whose father is Katie's ex-husband Peter Andre - posing with the top left slightly open, prompting her followers to deem it too 'suggestive'.
Wrote one fan under the snapshot: 'This is REALLY inappropriate photo to post on a public place of a 9 yr old. Why the hell is she pouting in a dress open like that?!'
'So I am all for little girls having fun and experimenting and playing with makeup and hairstyles and clothes,' started another. 'But the cut on the top is SO inappropriate...
Critcism: Katie's post attracted a stream of messages from fans, who criticised the snapshot
Fine dining: Former glamour model Katie later shared a snapshot of herself wearing one of her kaftans as she stepped out for breakfast
'Bikinis and belly tops are fine and fun when you are young and harmless but the way this is cut is SO suggestive. What are you thinking?!'
Stated a third: 'Nice pic of Princess she is beautiful, but the fully unzipped chest kind of makes me want to vom... she is way too young for this kind of thing...
'The fact she isn't wearing a top underneath makes it worse, let her be a child and cloth her properly until she's old enough, there are some creeps out there who would see this in a different way.'
Young: Commenters felt that Princess was far too young for such a photograph to be posted
The criticisms come after Katie divided opinion after sharing a snap on Instagram of Princess posing in a floral bikini on Monday.
The TV personality was subjected to stream of pointed remarks which suggested her young daughter was posing for the camera 'provocatively'.
Captioning the snap to her 1.4million followers, the mother-of-five simply wrote: 'Princess loving her holiday, wearing hat from @creativeedgeattire love these fur flip flops @prettybowchic'.
After she shared the snap, many of her fans came to her defensive under the candid pic which saw her darling girl enjoying their break in Kandima Maldives resort, in her swim costume, personalised straw hat and fluffy flip flops.
Praise: Amid the criticism, a large number of fans also gushed about Princess's pretty looks
One loyal fan wrote: 'I don't agree with all the hate people are giving Katie for this picture, almost every picture you see online these days of little girls have poses like this!
'She's not being exploited in any way shape or form, it's the minds of everyone else that's see's it as something it's not, leave her alone for goodness sake!!!'
'Her mums a model. She's gonna do poses like her mum. People need to get a life,' one wrote. 'Princess is a gorgeous little lady and with her natural beauty will likely go on to do modelling herself.'
Soaking up the rays: Katie has been posting a series of envy-inducing snaps of their getaway on Instagram
She vowed to make a 'fresh start' following her legal woes that came to ahead in 2016.
Now looking a beacon of health, Tulisa Contostavlos took inspiration from the recent good weather as she left Mayfair's The Arts Club on Sunday night in a white and cream look.
The 28-year-old songstress highlighted her petite frame in a pair of figure-flaunting ankle-length trousers as she was joined by her PA and pal Gareth Varey.
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Glam: Tulisa Contostavlos took inspiration from the recent good weather as she left Mayfair's The Arts Club on Sunday night in a white and cream look
She teamed her thigh-skimming stylish pants with a loose-fitting chiffon blouse which she left unbuttoned to her waist.
While leaving her blouse open, the N-Dubz songstress worked a cream cami top that accentuated her ample cleavage as it hugged her slender torso.
The beauty continued her muted colour theme as she slipped on a pair of pointed nude stilettos which helped elongate her diminutive frame.
Wrapping up to combat the brief April chill, she worked a cream lightweight trench over her minimal look, bringing it together with her matching leather tote over her shoulder.
Stepping out: The 28-year-old songstress highlighted her petite frame in a pair of figure-flaunting ankle-length trousers
She let her dark glossy tresses cascade down her shoulders in a straight style while working a glamorous beauty look.
Tulisa's outing comes after she vowed to make a 'fresh start' following her legal woes.
The songstress had been accused of arranging for journalist Mazher Mahmood to be sold 800 of cocaine by one of her contacts following an elaborate sting for The Sun on Sunday in May 2013.
However, the News UK journalist, dubbed the 'fake sheikh', was last year sentenced to 15 months in jail for perverting the course of justice during her drugs trial in 2014.
Having fun: The N-Dubz songstress worked a cream cami top that accentuated her ample cleavage as it hugged her slender torso as she headed out with her PA Gareth Varey
Since the controversy, the former X Factor judge branded Mahmood's jail sentence 'karma'.
Speaking after the experience on Radio One, the former NDubz star said: 'You can't do the self pity party.
'You just have to crack on and take the positives. I can take it, I'm strong enough. I'm here.'
She is a currently in the Scottish capital filming the next installment of the box-office busting comic-based series, the Avengers.
And fully-fledged star Elizabeth Olsen was barely distinguishable from her equally stunning stunt double as the pair shot action scenes for the film on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh on Sunday evening.
The 28-year-old younger sister of the Olsen twins - and her doppelganger - wore their long brunette tresses over practical padded jackets, high waisted jeans and plain black tops.
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Doppelganger: Elizabeth Olsen, 28, was barely distinguishable from her equally stunning stunt double as she shot action scenes for the film Avengers: Infinity War on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh on Sunday evening
The Captain America: Civil War star appeared to be concentrating on perfecting the scenes with her lithe double act.
The beauty practiced her moves as she crouched into a defensive position, under the tutelage of her acrobatic colleague.
But despite being on set all night, Elizabeth ensured she displayed her signature sartorial elegance, wearing several silver rings and sporting a smoky eye.
The star also displayed flawless skin under her pared-back make-up and wore her brunette tresses in loose waves over her shoulders.
Practice: The 28-year-old younger sister of the Olsen twins - and her doppelganger - wore their long brunette tresses over practical puffa jackets, high waisted jeans and plain black tops
In character: The Captain America: Civil War star appeared to be concentrated on perfecting the scenes with her lithe double act
Always elegant: But despite being on set all night, Elizabeth ensured she displayed her signature sartorial elegance, wearing several silver rings and sporting a smoky eye
Explaining the jumps: The beauty practiced her moves as she crouched into a defensive position, under the tutelage of her acrobatic colleague
It looked like hard work, however, and The Godzilla star pulled a few faces as both had their makeup applied and hair put in place.
The confident stunt double seemed to be explaining the moves to the California native in the cold Scottish climes.
Elizabeth has a history of starring in action blockbusters, though she has also proved her mettle in more thought-provoking, indie offerings.
After studying at the prestigious Tisch School of the Arts in New York, the star played comedy romance to perfection in Josh Radnor's Liberal Arts alongside acting legends including Alison Janney.
Beautiful: The star also displayed flawless skin under her pared-back make-up and wore her brunette tresses in loose waves over her shoulders
Letting off steam: Filming looked like hard work, however, and The Godzilla star pulled a few faces as both had their makeup applied and hair put in place
Going again: Elizabeth appeared to be a little tired after her confident stunt double spent a while demonstrating the moves to the California native in the cold Scottish climes
Happy: The star, who shot to the limelight despite nearly quitting acting during the height of the furore over her sister Mary-Kate's eating disorder, has been seen looking thrilled at life with her new musician boyfriend Robbie Arnett over the past few weeks
Avengers: Infinity War is expected to be released in 2018, though the plot is being kept strictly under wraps for the moment.
The movie does boast an all-star cast, with Brie Larson, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Pratt and Benedict Cumberbatch all putting in appearances.
Just in case there were not enough stars in the credits, Chris Hemsworth, Bradley Cooper and Mark Ruffalo have also signed on to the Joe and Anthony Russo production.
Secret script: Avengers: Infinity War is expected to be released in 2018, though the plot is being kept strictly under wraps for the moment
A host of stars: The movie does boast an all-star cast, with Brie Larson, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Pratt and Benedict Cumberbatch all putting in appearances as well as Elizabeth
The actress recently returned to social media after a short hiatus.
And early on Monday morning the star uploaded a stunning image of the Edinburgh skyline to Instagram, apparently having shot scenes for the blockbuster sequel through the night on Sunday.
Elizabeth wrote: 'Finished my first week on Infinity War just in time for the sunrise #avengers #goodnightorgoodmorning?'
Up all night: Early on Monday morning Elizabeth posted a gorgeous sunrise snap of the Edinburgh skyline with the caption: 'Finished my first week on Infinity War just in time for the sunrise #avengers #goodnightorgoodmorning?'
The star, who shot to the limelight despite nearly quitting acting during the height of the furore over her sister Mary-Kate's eating disorder, has been seen looking thrilled at life with her new musician boyfriend Robbie Arnett over the past few weeks.
E! first identified Robbie, a vocalist for the indie pop band Milo Greene, earlier this month. A source told the site Robbie is 'a great guy' and revealed the couple 'are in an exclusive relationship and Lizzie is excited about him.'
Elizabeth normally keeps her dating life under wraps, though she was previously engaged to 35-year-old American actor and fashion model Boyd Holbrook between 2014 and 2015.
He informed fans on Sunday that he was checking himself into rehab for drug addiction, to take 'appropriate action for himself and his family'.
And Stephanie Davis vocalised her support of her on/off beau Jeremy McConnell's brave decision on Monday, by posting a sweet good luck message on Twitter.
The 24-year-old, who shares son Caben-Albi with the Irish hunk, confessed that she is 'so proud' of her former flame, 27, in her encouraging tribute - before adding that she has 'every faith' he can recover from his demons.
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'Proud': Stephanie Davis vocalised her support of her on/off beau Jeremy McConnell's brave decision to check into rehab on Monday, by posting a sweet good luck message on Twitter
The former Hollyoaks actress confirmed in her touching message that Jeremy is set to check into a treatment facility on Monday - where is thought to be spending six weeks to battle his substance addictions.
Despite their turbulent romantic relationship, Stephanie took to Twitter to confirm that she was fully supporting his decision to get clean, for the sake of their newborn son.
She wrote to her 437,000 followers on Monday morning: 'Today is the day. I'm so proud of you for finally doing this.
Supportive: The former Hollyoaks actress confirmed in her touching message that Jeremy is set to check into a treatment facility on Monday - and put her full support behind him
'Do it for me and Caben but most importantly... Do it for your self. I know you got this now.'
She added in one last encouraging message: 'Say goodbye to your demons & start a new lease of life with happiness. I have every faith in you (sic).'
Her tender messages come during a difficult time for the pair's relationship, with it unknown whether they are still together or not.
The pair got together after meeting in the Celebrity Big Brother house, but were thought to have rekindled their relationship a few weeks after their little one was born in January this year.
Happier times: Jeremy had posted a poignant message to Instagram on Sunday, in which he revealed he was finally seeking help after 'falling into a downward spiral'
However, the pair seemingly split again earlier this month, when Jeremy allegedly assaulted his former flame while he was residing at her home in Liverpool.
In light of the dramatic few weeks, Jeremy had posted a poignant message to Instagram on Sunday, in which he revealed he was going to rehab and finally seeking help after 'falling into a downward spiral'.
The Beauty School Cop Outs posted a lengthy note in which he detailed the lows he has gone through as he besought followers to understand he is a good person who has become somewhat lost.
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.
Honest: The model, 27, made the announcement in the midst of his woes with ex and mother of his son Caben-Albi, Stephanie, after he was arrested on suspicion of assaulting her last month
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, although his recent arrest on the grounds of alleged assault last week cut things off.
Jeremy's statement appeared to reference his recent tragedies, in which his father passed away last month, followed shortly by his aunt's death. When Jeremy was 15 he lost his mother, brother and sister within months of each other.
It seemed he was confirming Stephanie's recent claims that he was headed to rehab in the note in which he penned: 'I want to leave this last message here for people to maybe get a better understanding of who I am as a person.
Hurt: The Beauty School Cop Outs posted a lengthy note in which he detailed the lows he has gone through as he asked followers to understand he is a good person who has become lost
'I know a lot of people are sick of reading stories etc about me and my life and have a huge dislike for me, for the record nobody dislikes myself more that me.
'I never once have used my misfortunes in life for sympathy or excuses as a lot of people have had really tough lives, the fact I'm in the public eye just exposes them a lot more than others.
'I'm not perfect and I acted in a way that has been irresponsible a lot of which I feel was self-reflection. I've let family, friends, management and work down. I just hope I can wipe a clean slate and come back with a second chance.
'Sometimes in this world when you're low and you don't really feel like you have anyone and people's opinion on you are not really who you are. It's tough to try and survive. I punished myself more than anyone could.
Happier times: Vowing to stand by her ex, Stephanie told OK!: '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'
That was then: Jeremy attributed some of his struggles to fame, after getting his first taste of TV fame on Beauty School Cop Outs before heading into CBB in January last year (pictured)
'I always said I never cared what people thought about me but deep down it's been that supportive comment or Instagram or Twitter that's made me feel a lot better.
'The people who know me know I'm a good guy and have a massive heart. I just never handle fame, money or actions very well and got lost in a downward spiral.
'It's something I'm about to fix and never look back on. But I've learnt from my mistakes, this will be my last message for a while. I've decided to take the appropriate action for myself and my new family and that you for everyone's support and to a new lease of life.'
It was reported last week that Jeremy agreed to check into rehab for 'drug addiction', according to Stephanie, who claimed the Irish model will spend six weeks in an unknown treatment facility to beat his issues with substance abuse.
Serious stuff: Stephanie claimed last week that the Irish model will spend six weeks in an unknown treatment facility to beat his issues with substance abuse
Ready for change: Stephanie explained that her on/off beau was not a 'bad person' but has simple 'done things that aren't good'
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.
However, the beauty affirmed she would support him through rehab to avoid the situation getting worse, and resulting in consequences for both him and Caben.
My boy: 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
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.
Drastic mesaures: Revealing he was now banned from seeing his son until he was clean, she finished: 'For Jeremy this is get help or die situation'
Tough times: On Saturday night, Jeremy posted another note to his 525,000 followers just days after mysteriously posting a snap as he cuddled up to his ex and son - despite claiming she had 'a hit on him'
On Saturday night, Jeremy posted another note to his 525,000 followers just days after mysteriously posting a snap as he cuddled up to his ex and son - despite claiming she had 'a hit on him'.
Having become locked in much back and forth, the former couple have been scrutinised heavily due to their extremely public exchanges.
The Instagram post read: 'I like people who understand. The type who aren't quick to judge. You can vent to them and labelling you will be the last thing on their mind.
That was then: The Instagram post read: 'I like people who understand. The type who aren't quick to judge. You can vent to them and labelling you will be the last thing on their mind'
Tough stuff: He penned: 'They don't believe rumours because they know there are two sides to every story. They give you a chance before they judge you. They get to know who you really are, then have an opinion. I like those types of people. Real people'
'They don't believe rumours because they know there are two sides to every story. They give you a chance before they judge you. They get to know who you really are, then have an opinion. I like those types of people. Real people.'
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.
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.
Troubles: 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
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.
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.
Moving on: 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
Little Caben: The star has shared a clip in which he was playing with his son
'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.'
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.
However Stephanie went on to claim that she had been hacked - deeming her exchanges with Jeremy as fake.
She's well known for her love of a heeled shoe and a designer outfit.
But Sarah Jessica Parker proved she can do casual chic just as well when she left a Los Angeles studio after shooting an episode of Actors on Actors on Saturday.
Looking comfortable, the iconic fashionista, who turned 52 last week, was spotted make-up free and clad in a very laid back, all-grey ensemble.
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Slacks And The City: Sarah Jessica Parker channeled casual attire in a ripped sweater and tracksuit bottoms as she swapped her Manolos for flats in LA on Saturday
The star is set to appear in an upcoming episode of the Variety Studio show, presented by Shuttershock, alongside fellow veteran actress Michelle Pfeiffer, 58.
And SJP appeared to have taken the at-home style of the show to heart as she was seen leaving filming in baggy light grey trousers and a ripped loose-fitting charcoal-coloured top.
Finishing her ultimate chilled out look, SJP rocked a pair of gold patent pumps with white soles.
Great accessories: SJP sported several gorgeous silver rings on her fingers with delicate matching earrings
The fashion guru appeared to have changed out of on-screen clothes, carrying a showbox over her arm alongside a giant fluffy coat.
Despite her completely relaxed attire, the style icon had impeccably styled hair and an array of jewellery.
She sported several gorgeous silver rings on her fingers with delicate matching earrings, while wearing her blonde, naturally curly tresses in a layered, straight style loose over her shoulders.
More like it: Like her famous SATC character, Carrie Bradshaw, the actress is famed for her kooky sense of style - pictured in New York on February 28
Bold and successful fashion choices: Sarah Jessica is often spotted on the red carpet in eye-catching, completely unique outfits, such as the patent golden crepe affair she modelled at the People's Choice Awards in January
The star showcased her natural beauty in the ensemble, opting for just a smoky eye and pale lip, revealing her flawless, age-defying skin.
Sarah Jessica, who is currently filming the second series of her hit HBO series Divorce in New York, manages to fit in maintaining a serious health and fitness regime in addition to being a hands-on mother to her three children and juggling a hectic schedule.
The star is often spotted on the red carpet in eye-catching, completely unique outfits, such as the patent golden crepe affair she modelled at the People's Choice Awards earlier this year.
Fashionista on and off screen: SJP, like her on-screen character Carrie Bradshaw, can often be found in the front row of a Fashion Week show (pictured here on the front row of the Calvin Klein show at New York Fashion Week in February)
Sexy in the city: As Carrie Bradshaw SJP modelled countless bold fashion choices as her character spent every day - even while hungover - looking fabulous in designer chic
Earlier this week the star shared never-seen throwback footage from Sex and the City with her 3.3 million social media followers on Instagram.
To fans' delight, SJP shared an alternative title sequence to the iconic show, where Carrie wears a light blue dress and stumbles right near the bus with her image plastered on the side, before glancing at it, spinning with pride, and walking directly towards the camera.
The star captioned the post with the happy comment: 'Lost footage. The alternate and never used title sequence from "SATC". A really nice memory. X, SJ'.
Back in 2014, it was reported that she was dating French Montana's younger brother, Zack Kharbouch, after speculation she'd embarked on a romance with the rapper.
But questions have arisen once again over Amber Rose's relationship with the hip-hop star, after they were spotted partying together in Los Angeles on Saturday.
And while the former stripper uploaded a snapshot of the two cosily posing together - alongside the caption 'My Muf***in Bruva - her followers were quick to ask whether the image signified the dawning of a new Hollywood coupling.
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Muva's new lover? Amber Rose sparked speculation she's embarked on a romance with French Montana, after she posted a shot of them cosying up together on Sunday
Among the sea of comments speculating on just how friendly the two were, one follower cooed: 'Y'all make a good couple.'
Others appeared horrified at the idea that she would post a snapshot of herself getting cosy with the ex-boyfriend of Khloe Kardashian, with whom she once had a very public feud.
The women fell out back in 2015, when Amber criticised Tyga's then-new relationship with Khloe's half-sister Kylie Jenner, who was aged just 17 at the time.
Speculation: A variety of speculative opinions soon popped up under Amber's snapshot
Exit: Earlier in the night, the pair were snapped as they left a Hollywood party together
They soon became embroiled in a war of words over social media, as Khloe defended her sibling and Amber spoke out in defence of her BFF, Tyga's ex Blac Chyna (who has since had a daughter with Khloe's brother Rob Kardashian).
That same year, TMZ reported that Amber was dating French's younger brother Zack, but that she was keen to keep things quiet as she was in the midst of a custody battle with ex-husband Wiz Khalifa over their son Sebastian.
Amber and French, real name Karim Kharbouch, have long maintained that they're close friends, which was reiterated when he made an appearance on VH1's Amber Rose Show in the summer.
Curves: The ex-girlfriend of Kanye West showed off her curves in an off-shoulder black catsuit
The ex-girlfriend of Kanye West spoke with French about the rumours that had been sparked when they were spotted spending time together.
She recalled: 'The next day it was just all over the Internet that were boyfriend girlfriend. Its like, you cant even hang with somebody, like, in Hollywood and its like all of a sudden are f***ing.'
French told Amber of their close relationship: 'Youre like my psychiatrist I always come to you when I have problems.'
She added: 'We literally can I say that weve cried together before?'
A bashful French Montana responded with a laugh: 'She cried, I cant cry.'
Her 18-month romance with The Weeknd came to a heartbreaking end last November.
And as Bella Hadid was taking time to 'reflect and recharge' in Mexico this week, she was not-so subtly reminding him what he'd lost.
The model sister of Gigi looked red hot in a string bikini in a series of posts from her weekend with girlfriends at a luxury resort in Cabo.
Red hot: Bella Hadid (left) sizzled in a red hot bikini during a girls' weekend in Cabo, Mexico this weekend
In one post, Bella fawned over a gal pal as they sat at the edge of an infinity pool, topping up their tans on the beach.
Bella's perfect curves - that saw her land a coveted spot in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show last year - created an hourglass silhouette against the skyline at sunset.
Later, she outstretched her perfect figure on the side of the pool and wrote: 'Reflect and recharge'
'Reflect and recharge': Bella was unwinding in one shot that saw her laying out on the side of the pool, her incredible figure turned to the camera
Time to unwind: Another shot, from a boat trip, saw Bella soaking up the rays
The glorious getaway is quite a contrast to Bella's packed fashion schedule, which usually includes shoots, fittings, castings and catwalk shows.
Instead, she's been reclining on luxury boats and sipping cocktails by the pool in a bid to revitalise her mind.
It's a welcome break for the model, who has been non-stop ever since The Weeknd went public with a new romance, weeks after his split from Bella.
Their work even brought them face-to-face recently in Paris, when she stormed the H&M catwalk at Paris Fashion Week, inches away from the performer, who had been invited to sing his new single Nothing Without You.
Natural: The make-up free brunette has been keeping fans up to date with her glorious getaway
It was reminiscent of the Victoria's Secret show in November, when Bella had to make her runway debut in front of him, just three weeks after their split.
He's now not so far away again, seen holidaying with girlfriend Selena Gomez in Buenos Aires.
Selena and The Weeknd were first spotted kissing on January 10, eight weeks after his relationship with Bella ended.
They have since taken their romance abroad several times, enjoying a romantic getaway together in Italy and also visiting his home country of Canada.
Selena, who also has been to France and Colombia with The Weekend, met up with him in Brazil on Sunday where he was performing.
Face-to-face: Bella is currently getting over split from The Weekend (seen here, coming face-to-face for the first time since the split, at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in November)
She recently declared why she 'loves' her rumoured new beau.
And Pamela Anderson, 49, was all smiles as she prepared to reunite with Julian Assange, 45, on Monday.
The Baywatch star cut a chic figure as she stepped out in London for her day date and was dressed for the occasion in a sophisticated dog-tooth printed dress.
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Chic and sophisticated: Pamela Anderson, 49, was dressed to impress as she visited rumoured beau Julian Assange at the Ecuador Embassy in London on Monday
Pamela put her enviable curves on display in the form-fitting frock, while teasing a hint of her ample assets thanks to the design's risque cut out panel across her cleavage.
The dress sat just below her knee, but the model made sure to elongate her pins with a pair of black court heels on her feet.
Pamela threw a tailored white coat over her shoulders that complemented her bronzed glow and she finished off her monochrome ensemble by clutching onto a patterned tote bag.
She swept her blonde hued tresses up into a tousled up-do, leaving the front sections of her bonce loose to frame her face.
Monochrome beauty: The Baywatch star flaunted her enviable curves in her form-fitting frock and threw a white tailored coat over her shoulders for her meeting in the capital
Sporting kohl eye-liner and a nude shade on her lips, Pamela dazzled on the beauty front for her romantic meeting and ensured even her nails were spruced to perfection by flaunting a cool metallic manicure.
Pamela was seen visiting the Ecuador Embassy in the capital where Julian has been living under political asylum for the last five years.
The Wikileaks founder fears he will be extradited to the US if he leaves the building so he can be questioned over the whistle-blowing site.
He is also subject to a European Arrest Warrant, which could be enforced as soon as he steps onto the street, over allegations he raped a woman in Sweden.
New love? Pamela has been romantically linked to Wikileaks founder Julian, 45 - he is currently living under political asylum at the Ecuador Embassy in London
Julian denies the claims and believes the allegations are politically motivated, as Wikileaks released hidden files on the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
Pamela, meanwhile, has previously referred to Julian as her 'dear friend' and has been spotted visiting him on several occasions over the last few years.
Her latest appearance at the Ecuador Embassy comes after she recently declared why she 'loves' Julian.
She spoke about him on her blog in a recent post and wrote: 'My relationship with Julian - it's no secret.
Not her first visit: The model was seen visiting Julian back in February earlier this year and has done previously on several occasions
'I love him for this': Pamela recently wrote about Julian on her blog and revealed why she 'loves' him
'He is one of my favourite people and he might be the most famous, most politicised refugee of our time.
'Famous for being persecuted is not a position of power but a position of vulnerability. I am concerned.'
She added: '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.'
First meeting: The blonde beauty (pictured in 2016) had first met Julian in 2014 to enlist his help for her foundation - they were introduced by designer Vivienne Westwood
The pair were initially introduced by designer Vivienne Westwood in 2014, as Pamela had wanted to enlist the help of Julian to back her foundation which supports the protection of human, animal, and environmental rights.
She appeared to confirm their relationship in February during an interview on Australian radio show The Kyle and Jackie O Show.
Pamela said about Julian: 'It was never the intention to become romantic. It was just to join forces to do something important... things happen for sure.'
Having found fame on MTV's Ex On The Beach, she is no stranger to showing off her body in an array of skimpy ensembles.
And Charlotte Dawson certainly oozed confidence on Sunday night as she headed to the Manchester Industry Pink Theme Fashion Show in a thigh-skimming ensemble.
The reality star, 24, flashed her ample cleavage and enviably long legs in a pink lace co-ord as she posed outside Menagerie - before playfully busting a move on her way inside.
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Think pink! Charlotte Dawson certainly oozed confidence on Sunday night as she headed to the Manchester Industry Pink Theme Fashion Show in a thigh-skimming ensemble
The reality star was not afraid to flash serious skin at the fashionable event in daringly skimpy shorts, which left almost all of her toned and tanned pins on show.
Upping both the glamour and trendy style of the look, Charlotte teamed the bottoms with a matching lace jacket, which saucily laced up like a corset across her flat stomach.
Falling into long sleeves, the pastel top then splayed open at her chest, to give a saucy flash of her ample, perky bust and braless body underneath.
Party girl: First smouldering for cameras, the beauty then got into the party zone by throwing a few shapes on her way into the venue
Leggy lady: The reality star was not afraid to flash serious skin at the fashionable event in daringly skimpy shorts, which left almost all of her toned and tanned pins on show
Keeping co-ordinated from head to toe, the daughter of comedian Les Dawson tied her look together with a pink choker of the same material, and sky-high glittering heels.
She kept her flame-coloured locks sleek and straight for the star-studded event, and added a thick set of false lashes and a candy pink lip in glamorous finishing touches.
Charlotte also showed off a killer bronze tan in the thigh-skimming ensemble - having recently enjoyed a holiday in Barcelona with her mother Tracy. e
Risque: Upping both the glamour and trendy style of the look, Charlotte teamed the bottoms with a matching lace jacket, which saucily laced up like a corset across her flat stomach
Fit to bust: Falling into long sleeves, the pastel top then splayed open at her chest, to give a saucy flash of her ample, perky bust and braless body underneath
Painting the town red: She kept her flame-coloured locks straight for the star-studded event, and added a thick set of false lashes and a candy pink lip in glamorous finishing touches
First smouldering for cameras with her best friend Sam Giffen, the beauty then got into the party zone by throwing a few shapes on her way into the venue.
Putting on a playful display at the event, the red head seemed in good spirits, despite recently splitting from the man she thought was 'The One'.
Following the breakup from rugby player Matt Sarsfield, Charlotte was said to feel like her heart had been 'ripped out'.
Having a ball: After dominating on the pink carpet, she later posed happily with her suited-and-booted best friend Sam Giffen (L)
Shortly before the split, a source had told The Sun Online: 'Charlotte is convinced Matt is the one for her, she's been planning years ahead and it all seemed like Matt was of the same mind, but things have become difficult.
'Charlotte loves to party and so does Matt, but he's a professional athlete and sometimes that makes things difficult.
'Charlotte really is doing everything she can to get things back on track, and it couldn't have happened at a worse time, right on top of Valentine's Day and her father Les' birthday.'
The pair were believed to have begun dating in November, and confirmed the romance after Jemma Lucy quipped that she was in a relationship with the Ex On The Beach star.
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Her schedule has been jam-packed over the last few months thanks to the worldwide promotional tour for sexy blockbuster, Fifty Shades Darker.
So Dakota Johnson rewarded herself with some much-needed time off on Sunday, as she spent a relaxing day on the sun-soaked beach in Miami, Florida.
The actress, 27, showed off her sensationally slender figure and peachy derriere in a skimpy white swimsuit as she topped up her tan with friends from the comfort of a sunbed.
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Chilling out: Dakota Johnson rewarded herself with some much-needed time off on Sunday, as she spent a relaxing day on the beach in Miami, Florida
Slim: The suit remained simple and classic in style, formed of a plain white material and plunging into a stylish scooped neck, which subtly teased at her delicate cleavage underneath
The Fifty Shades star looked effortlessly stunning in her chic one-piece, which hugged her slender figure all the way down, as she made the most of the blazing sunshine on the golden sand.
The suit remained simple and classic in style, formed of a plain white material and plunging into a stylish scooped neck, which subtly teased at her delicate cleavage underneath.
Fastening with tiny buttons across the bust, the one-piece then skimmed to each and every one of her womanly curves all the way down - displaying her impressively flat stomach and petite waist for all to see.
Pyjama chic: Fastening with tiny buttons across the bust, the one-piece then skimmed to each and every one of her womanly curves all the way down - displaying her impressively flat stomach and petite waist for all to see
Effortless: Proving her natural beauty as she relaxed with friends, the actress left her face completely bare to showcase a naturally clear and glowing complexion - only accentuated by her wet hair falling softly against her chest
Making the beach side look even skimpier, the suit then plunged into a low back, to add even more height to her statuesque frame and flash even more of her newly sun-kissed skin.
Cutting off high at her thigh, the one-piece then left almost all of her enviably leggy figure on show - and rose high at her rear to give a cheeky flash of her pert and peachy derriere as she frolicked on the sand.
Proving her natural beauty as she relaxed with friends, the actress left her face completely bare to showcase a naturally clear and glowing complexion - only accentuated by her wet hair falling softly against her chest.
Keeping safe in the sun however and adding a trendy hint to her look, Dakota later added a sporty white cap and a pair of narrow cat-eye sunglasses as she took to her sun lounger for a hit of Vitamin D.
Busy: Dakota appeared to be enjoying her time in the sun as she was seen running back and forth on the sand between her lounger and her apartment
Covering up: The brunette later covered her porcelain skin from the sun in a loose-fitting white T-shirt, emblazoned with an LA logo on the front, as she sipped a cup of tea under a canopy
Keeping cool: The Texas native was seen running in and out of their beach accommodation to fetch herself a selection of hydrating drinks in the boiling heat
The Texas native was seen running in and out of their beach accommodation to fetch herself a selection of hydrating drinks in the boiling heat, before finally settling down on her sun bed and immersing herself in a book for the day.
Having grown up with a famous family, as the daughter of actors Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith, Dakota shot to fame in her own right after starring in the Fifty Shades Trilogy, based on E.L. James' bonkbuster books.
She leads the cast as Anastasia Steele, who begins a tempestuous and sadomasochism-tinged relationship with her boss Christian Grey.
Taking a break: Dakota appeared utterly relaxed as she chilled in the heat and happily chatted to her friends, following a hectic few weeks promoting blockbuster Fifty Shades Darker
Leading lady: Having grown up with a famous family, as the daughter of actors Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith, Dakota shot to fame in her own right after starring in the Fifty Shades Trilogy, based on E.L. James' bonkbuster books
Fifty Shades Of Grey premiered February 2015, its sequel Fifty Shades Darker two months ago and the third part, Fifty Shades Freed, is due next February.
The series has proved incredibly popular thanks to its saucy and seductive nature - with the most recent installment, which hit cinemas on Valentine's Day, grossing a whopping $380million worldwide.
Known best for its selection of raunchy scenes, which see Christian involve Ana in various BDSM practises, the actress recently confessed to Vogue about what its really like to embark on those scenes on set.
Revealing what goes through her mind in the February issue of the mag, she said: 'Nudity is really interesting for an actor,' explaining: '[co-star] Jamie [Dornan] and I worked so incredibly closely for so long.'
Baring all: Despite happily flaunting her figure in her swimwear, Dakota recently admitted that nudity onscreen is still a terrifying concept, telling Vogue: 'There were no inhibitions, and it was very honest, very trusting. But I mean, what a gamble!'
Said she: 'There were no inhibitions, and it was very honest, very trusting. But I mean, what a gamble! What if he had turned out to be a total d***?'
Having found such success in cinemas however, Dakota admitted that the concept of being famous is still difficult for her to comprehend - and she doesn't quite know how to react to her reception.
She said: 'No one wants to say that they want to be famous, nobody wants to sound like they like being famous, nobody wants to sound ungrateful, nobody wants to sound like theyre in denial'.
At one point, she wondered if she was 'even a famous person,' stating: 'I imagine that those are people who other people are constantly staring at, which isnt me.'
It's been one of televisions most loved programs since it first aired in 1985.
But now the future of Neighbours remains uncertain as it's rumoured to be going off the air in UK, where a lot of loyal fans are petitioning to keep the Ramsay Street soap alive.
The series has already huge international stars of cast members who started out as residents of Ramsay Street, but where are the original Ramsay Street residents now?
Australian drama series Neighbours has been much loved since it first aired in March 1985, but where are the original residents of Ramsay Street now?
The Blakeney twins: Caroline and Christina Alessi
Identical twins Gayle and Gillian Blakeney joined the show in 1990 as troublesome sisters Carolione and Christina.
Their complicated plot line involved everything from the assumption they were one person, vying for love from Paul Robinson and a stint in witness protection.
The twins left the show in 1992 and headed to the UK in an attempt to simulate the success of Australia's sweetheart Kylie Minogue, but didn't succeed.
The pair, now aged 50, live in Los Angeles with their families where they work in business, launching companies and building brands.
Identical twins Gayle and Gillian Blakeney joined the show in 1990 as troublesome sisters Carolione and Christina
Elaine Smith: Daphne Lawrence/Clark
Elaine came to Ramsay Street in 1985 as a stripper named Daphne Lawrence.
She stayed on the show for four years before being killed off in a car crash and dying in the arms of her TV husband Des in 1988.
After appearing on Neighbours, Elaine went on to guest star in other TV roles in The Flying Doctors and Home And Away but always struggled with the idea of fame.
She said: 'I found all the attention pretty overwhelming because I'm quite a private person and people would shout "stripper" at me in the street!'
Elaine now teaches at a school in Sydney's inner-west, where she lives with her husband writer Jonathon Biggins and twin daughters Charlotte and Imogen, 17.
Elaine came to Ramsay Street in 1984 as a stripper named Daphne Lawrence and stayed on the show for four years
Elaine now teaches at a school in Sydney's inner-west, where she lives with her husband writer Jonathon Biggins and twin daughters Charlotte and Imogen, 17
Annie Jones: Jane Harris
'Plain Jane Superbrain' Harris came to Ramsay Street in 1986 where she transformed from a nerd to a heart breaker which quickly made her a fan favourite.
After leaving Neighbours, Annie made brief appearances in The Flying Doctors and Halifax F.P, before putting acting on the back-burner to take care of her mother Elizabeth, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 1994.
After her mother's death in 2016, the two-time Logie winner revived her acting career with a part in the ABC drama Jack Irish.
Now 50 years old, Annie recently said: 'I'm hoping to do a Jacki Weaver and come good in my 50s!'
Jane Harris came to Ramsay Street in 1986 where she transformed from a nerd to a heart breaker which quickly made her a fan favourite
After her mother's death in 2016, the two-time Logie winner revived her acting career with a part in the ABC drama Jack Irish
Paul Keane: Desmond Kingsley 'Des' Clarke
After being part of the original cast of Neighbours, Des Clarke was definitely a much-loved fan favourite.
However after being written out of the show after five years on Ramsay Street, Paul's life began to spiral out of control as he struggled with fame, addiction and anxiety.
Paul self-medicated with alcohol, painkillers and amphetamines which resulted in depression, losing his home and losing his partner.
He attempted suicide and cashed in his superannuation when he became too sick to work and has said: 'I've been to hell. I've been in hospitals that are like horror stories, but I survived.'
After being part of the original cast of Neighbours in 1985, Paul Keane's character Des Clarke was definitely a much-loved fan favourite
After leaving the show, Paul spiraled into depression, anxiety, addiction and substance abuse
Rebecca Ritters: Hannah Martin
Rebecca joined the Neighbours alumni in 1992 as eight-year-old Hannah Martin.
She played an integral part of the show before leaving in 1999, when she was in All Saints, Coronation Street and performed with the British Shakespeare Company.
The star quit her acting career after this and went to gain a Bachelor in Politics and International Relations.
The 33-year-old now lives and works in Berlin as a producer for broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
Rebecca joined the Neighbours alumni in 1992 as eight-year-old Hannah Martin
Rebecca now lives and works in Berlin as a producer for broadcaster Deutsche Welle after gaining a Bachelor in Politics and International Relations
Mark Little: Joe Mangel
Mark Little joined the cast in 1988 as the lovable ratbag Joe Mangel, but only stayed on Ramsay Street for three short years.
The Brisbane-born writer, actor and comedian moved to the UK in 1992 where he co-hosted top-rating morning show The Big Breakfast.
He went on to star in 16 feature films, star on stage in London's West End and win several awards at the Edinburgh Festival.
Mark returned briefly to Neighbours as Joe in 2005, but only stayed for a mere four months.
Mark still lives in the UK with his lifelong partner Cath Farr and their two adult sons are working in show business.
Mark Little joined the cast in 1988 as the lovable ratbag Joe Mangel, but only stayed on Ramsay Street for three short years
She is one of the longest-standing cast members.
So Chloe Sims is well-versed in life on the TOWIE set, as illustrated when she hit the park alongside co-stars Mario Falcone, Pete Wicks and James Lock on Monday.
The 36-year-old former glamour model shunned her typical super-glam look in favour of an extremely low-key ensemble comprising of black jeans with a camo-print top complete with a frill extending around her waist.
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Low-key and lovely: Chloe Sims is well-versed in life on the TOWIE set, as illustrated when she hit the park alongside co-stars Mario Falcone, Pete Wicks and James Lock on Monday
Chloe soared to fame in the ITVBe show's second season in 2011, where she initially featured as a secondary cast member to Joey Essex as his cousin.
She later became a central character in the structured reality show, where her turbulent love life, including a romance with former cast member Elliott Wright before enjoying a brief dalliance with co-star Liam 'Gatsby' Blackwell recently.
On Monday, Chloe headed to filming looking worlds away from the look she has become known as she opted for funky black trainers with tight jeans.
She covered her frame in the loose-fitting T-shirt, adorned with the words: 'It's ok', while the peplum frill around her waist added a flare of detail to the ensemble.
Blonde beauty: The 36-year-old former glamour model shunned her typical super-glam look in favour of an extremely low-key ensemble comprising of black jeans with a camo-print top complete with a frill extending around her waist
Deep in thought: The pals chatted away as they walked along the street
Is that you? On Monday, Chloe headed to filming looking worlds away from the look she has become known as she opted for funky black trainers with tight jeans
Atop her T-shirt she ensured she kept out the Spring chill with the addition of a near-floor skimming overcoat in a plush wool.
Chloe, who is the owner of a hair and beauty salon, wore her bleach blonde tresses in a straight blowdry with half the locks pulled up and the rest falling loose over her shoulders - adding to her laid-back look.
In true Essex girl style, the blonde beauty wore lashings of make-up to best highlight her pretty features - including fluttering lashes and a slick of lipgloss.
Here come the boys: James and Pete sat on a wall while discussing their woes
Here come the boys: Pete was joined by his beloved pup
Serious stuff: Pete was engrossed in conversation with his pal as they stood in the park
It's a dog's life: The group chilled out - with both Chloe and Pete chuffing on E-Cigarettes
It seems Chloe could have a lot to talk to Pete about as she was seen talking to his now ex-girlfriend Megan McKenna about the demise of their relationship.
Pete looked handsome during the day at the park as he wore a crew-neck, fisherman jumper with tight black jeans. His long hair was pulled into a ponytail.
His best pal James wore an incredibly tight grey T-shirt with a crew-neck paired with tight black jeans and a stylish baker boy cap.
Comeback king Mario was back to his classic look as he wore a cream coat layered atop a pair of tight, light wash jeans and crisp trainers.
Breaking things down: It seems Chloe could have a lot to talk to Pete about as she was seen talking to his now ex-girlfriend Megan McKenna about the demise of their relationship
Strutting his stuff: Mario was clearly enjoying being back on the scene
The Real Housewives of Sydney are the newest branch of the famous TV franchise.
And despite the fact that the first season is still in full swing for Australian viewers, the show is already being talked about as a possible option for overseas networks, according to The Daily Telegraph.
The publication report that a Foxtel spokesman confirmed a move into the US market could be a possibility for the show, which is also set to air in New Zealand.
Glamorous: The Real Housewives of Sydney cast consists of Athena X Levendi, Krissy Marsh, Matty Samaei, Melissa Tkautz, Nicole O'Neil, Lisa Oldfield and Victoria Rees
An insider told the publication: 'It has flavours of The Real Housewives Of New York and Of Beverly Hills, which are two of the most popular in the franchise.'
After just six episodes, TV bosses are said to be intrigued to see if the controversial characters can entertain audiences abroad like they have at home.
'The larger-than-life antics are just too good not to watch,' another insider added.
Moving abroad: Despite the fact that the first season is still in full swing for Australian viewers, the show is already being talked about as a possible option for overseas networks
Captivating: After just six episodes, TV bosses are said to be intrigued to see if the controversial characters can entertain audiences abroad like they have at home
The antics of Athena X Levendi, Krissy Marsh, Matty Samaei, Melissa Tkautz, Nicole O'Neil, Lisa Oldfield and Victoria Rees have already made waves on daytime TV as well as their Sunday spot on Foxtel.
Last month, Studio 10 panelist Jo Casamento revealed the over-the-top method used by the RHOS cast for the 3pm school pick-up.
'They all rang up their Uber drivers or chauffeurs to collect their [kids] from the car line at school,' she recalled.
'They rang up their chauffeurs': Studio 10 panelist Jo Casamento revealed the EXTRAVAGANT method the RHOS cast use for the 3pm school pick-up
Jo had lunch with the glamorous cast earlier this week in Sydney.
'I was at a lunch the other day with the Housewives of Sydney,' the journalist told the panel.
'I deliberately scheduled it for 12 o'clock in the afternoon thinking, three o'clock, they've all got kids, they're all going to need car pick-ups.
'Three o'clock, I was the only one that got up from the table. They all rang up their Uber drivers or chauffeurs to collect their [kids] from the car line at school,' Jo continued.
Outrageous: 'Three o'clock, I was the only one that got up from the table. They all rang up their Uber drivers or chauffeurs to collect their [kids] from the car line at school,' Jo shared on-air
This is not the first time the ladies' over-the-top antics have been revealed.
In a recent interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, Lisa admitted to going to elaborate measures in preparation for a said apocalypse.
Describing the current political climate as uncertain, the 41-year-old said that she's hoarding '125,000 litres of fresh water and 5,000 cans of SPAM' in a bunker on Sydney's northern beaches.
Over-the-top: In a recent interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, housewife Lisa admitted to going to elaborate measures in preparation for a said apocalypse. 'Yes, we are 'preppers,' Lisa told the publication, referring to herself and husband David Oldfield
'Yes, we are 'preppers,' Lisa told the publication, referring to herself and husband David Oldfield.
'We have been preparing for an apocalyptic event for years. We currently have 125,000 litres of fresh water stored away and 5,000 cans of SPAM [processed meat].
'We are building a new shelter which will be able to sustain an atomic explosion. You know, we live in uncertain times.
'Who knows what will happen,' she continued.
She failed to find love with both Andrew and Jonathan on Married At First Sight.
But it turns out that Cheryl Maitland didn't leave the Channel 9 reality series empty-handed.
In a new interview with The Daily Telegraph, the 25-year-old reveals that she struck up a genuine friendship with co-star Lauren Bran - despite the fact that they both dated Andrew Jones on the show.
'Lauren and I have a friendship outside of this and talk on a regular basis': Cheryl Maitland revealed her friendship with Married At First Sight co-star Lauren Brant
'Lauren and I have a friendship outside of this and talk on a regular basis,' the former topless waitress told the publication.
The busty bombshell from the Gold Coast added that she and the Sydney mum-of-one have helped to 'support each other' after the show.
Lauren also had some kind words for Cheryl, taking to Instagram to call the beauty her 'bestie'.
Girl power: Lauren also had some kind words for Cheryl, taking to Instagram to call the beauty her 'bestie'
Support: Cheryl added that she and the Sydney mum-of-one have helped to 'support each other' after the show
The budding BFFs had each other's back at during the two-part MAFS reunion finale.
Cheryl made a huge splash on season four of MAFS.
The Gold Coast siren started off with entrepreneur Jonathan, before returning later with Andrew.
Partner: The Gold Coast siren started off with entrepreneur Jonathan, before returning later with Andrew
Unfortunately, she failed to find love with both fellas.
Funnily enough, Lauren started off the series with Andrew.
The couple had a smooth wedding ceremony, but Lauren ditched the firefighter and fled in the middle of their first night together - earning herself the nickname 'runaway bride.'
They are known for their glamorous appearances when they hit the nightclubs in their stomping ground of Essex.
But Megan McKenna and Georgia Kousoulou proved they could nail casual-chic too on Monday, as they headed out for lunch to film new scenes for TOWIE.
The brunette beauty, 24, flashed her enviably toned stomach in a cropped bardot blouse and ripped jeans as she arrived at La Sala in Chigwell with the blonde, 25.
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Glam girls: Megan McKenna and Georgia Kousoulou proved they could nail casual-chic too on Monday, as they headed out for lunch to film new scenes for TOWIE
Newly-single Megan looked effortlessly gorgeous in her low-key ensemble, which saw her pair a sexy off-the-shoulder blouse with trendy distressed skinny jeans.
The pale blue blouse cut straight across her chest, to flash her bronzed skin and decolletage to all, before it whipped up in the wind to give a glimpse of her enviably toned abs and flat stomach underneath.
Pairing the top with figure-hugging skinny jeans, adorned with fringing on the ankle, Megan then dressed the look up further by adding a pair of towering studded heels.
I don't need a man: Newly-single Megan looked effortlessly gorgeous in her low-key ensemble, which saw her pair a sexy off-the-shoulder blouse with trendy distressed skinny jeans
Toned and tanned: The pale blue blouse cut straight across her chest, to flash her bronzed skin and decolletage to all, before it whipped up in the wind to give a glimpse of her abs beneath
Not letting her trademark glamour slip even just for a casual lunch, the stunner swept her brunette tresses into an extravagant up-do, with a few strands falling loose to frame her naturally pretty features.
Finishing with a thick slick of eyeliner and a sleek leather Prada handbag, Megan certainly showed her ex Pete Wicks what he was missing as she made her glamorous arrival to shoot future episodes.
Megan was enjoying a lunch date with co-star Georgia - who put on an equally chic display in an oversized jumper and racy thigh-high boots.
Gorgeous: Not letting her trademark glamour slip even just for a casual lunch, the stunner swept her brunette tresses into an extravagant up-do
Accessories are key: Finishing with a slick of eyeliner and a sleek Prada handbag, Megan certainly showed her ex Pete Wicks what he was missing as she made her glamorous arrival
The blonde beauty kept more casual in the baggy jumper, which shrouded her slim physique, but cut off at a daring height to flash most of her svelte pins beneath.
Making the look even saucier however were her risque boots - which extended all the way to her mid-thigh to elongate her already leggy frame.
Proving to have the same taste, Georgia carried the same handbag as Megan in a petrol blue hue instead, before adding large black shades to her face in a glamorous finishing touch.
The girls looked calm and collected as they headed into the Spanish eatery for a bite to eat, after weeks of drama on the ITVBe reality show.
Leggy lady: Megan was enjoying a lunch date with co-star Georgia - who put on an equally chic display in an oversized jumper and racy thigh-high boots
Putting her best foot forward: Making the look even saucier however were her risque boots - which extended all the way to her mid-thigh to elongate her already leggy frame
Megan finally called time on her relationship with Pete Wicks last week, after admitting she had been unable to forgive his sexting scandal, which emerged last September.
Still devastated over the split however, the beauty was seen breaking down to Chloe Sims on Sunday night's episode.
She admitted in light of her heartbreak: 'He's a f**king p***k. I can't be with someone like him, he's never happy. I just get angry about it.'
Accessories are key: Georgia carried the same handbag as Megan in a petrol blue hue instead, before adding large black shades to her face in a glamorous finishing touch
However she was quick to address recent rumours that she had cheated on him with her ex-boyfriend, explaining fiercely: 'We have split up because we are unhappy. The rumours aren't true.
'I go out and get smashed when I'm unhappy - apparently I was out and all over my ex - I got in a cab with him, and a group of boys. I've done nothing wrong. I'm single.'
Meanwhile Georgia recently became embroiled in an explosive row with new girls Amber Turner and Yazmin Oukhellou.
The girls met at loggerheads after Georgia and her boyfriend Tommy Mallett refused to attend a double date with the girls, along with their respective boyfriends James Lock and Dan Edgar - who are both exes of Georgia's close friends.
Amber and Yazmin had gone on to criticise the behaviour, which led Georgia to confront the girls - resulting in a warring of words which saw the blonde brand the duo 'two-faced' and a 'cocky little bitch'.
Kim Kardashian had no intention of posing nude for the June 2016 cover of GQ.
The 36-year-old Keeping Up With The Kardashians star explained on Sunday night during the 2017 Fashion Los Angeles Awards that her publicist was sick of all the nude shoots she had done.
So when the conservative-minded flack hit the bathroom, photographer Mert Alas convinced the world's biggest reality star to take her clothes off.
Elegant: Kim Kardashian looked beautiful at the 2017 Fashion Los Angeles Awards at the Sunset Tower hotel in West Hollywood on Sunday
The big cover: She was presenting an award to Mert Alas who got her nude for the June 2016 cover of GQ
'He's the kind of guy where I, like, swore I was never going to do a nude shoot again, and my publicist will kill me,' said the wife of Kanye West.
'I'll stand on set and she'll go to the bathroom and he'll get my clothes off. He's just honestly the funniest person I've ever met in my entire life.'
The star has also posed nude for W and Paper magazine. And she posed for Playboy in 2007.
Who needs clothes? The star has also posed nude for Paper and W magazine
Va-voom! And she posed for Playboy in 2007
Kim was presenting an award to Mert at the Sunset Tower Hotel.
'Mert asked me to do this. I just wanted to give you guys a little bit of his personality,' she said.
'He is the kind of guy that first of all, he let me call him Merv for, like, two years and didn't correct me. It's really bad, so he's such a gentleman.
He sure is handsy! Kim was presenting an award to Mert at the Sunset Tower Hotel
'He is the kind of guy that when you're really going through something tough, he'll come over and bring you ice cream and just be there with you. And then, after a little while, he'll tell you you've got to stop eating the ice cream because we have a photo shoot to do. So, we share endless beauty tips.'
The star then said: 'I've never met a more genuine person, someone that cares so much about what's really going on in your life, aside from all the beauty and the fashion, of all the good stuff that surrounds his life. His job is truly so important.
'He captures memories in our lives that you always want to remember. You can be 10 pounds overweight and you'll always see gorgeous photos and angles. But all these photos that you can look back on for the rest of your life and remember that period in time.'
She ended by saying she was going to get French fries with Alas at the Chateau Marmont hotel.
He was infamously spotted in a compromising position with actress Kristen Stewart while they were both in relationships with other people.
But Rupert Sanders says that the affair with the Twilight star was just a 'momentary lapse'.
'If you took people off the table for a momentary lapse, there would be no one making art,' he told UK's Metro on Monday, explaining that the headline-making affair didn't ruin his career.
Caught out: Rupert Sanders said his affair with Kristen Stewart was a 'momentary lapse' (pictured July 2012)
Ghost In The Shell director Sanders was married to Liberty Ross when the photos of him in flagrante delicto surfaced in July 2012.
Ross subsequently filed for divorce from Sanders in January 2013.
Together they have two children, daughter Skyla and son Tennyson.
And Stewart was in a relationship with her Twilight co-star Robert Pattinson.
Overstepped the mark: They were working together but in relationships with other people at the time (pictured May 2012)
Since late 2016, Kristen has been dating model Stella Maxwell and described herself on SNL in February as 'so gay.'
Sanders told the newspaper that the incident with Stewart was a 'mistake'.
'You never know what's coming in life,' he told them, continuing: 'Around every corner there's something unexpected, and that's life. You just have to brush yourself off and continue moving forward the best you can.
'Everyone makes mistakes. I am bound to make more mistakes, and I wouldn't expect my life to be exciting if I didn't.'
Awkward: At the time Stewart was in a relationship with her Twilight co-star Robert Pattinson (pictured Nov 2011)
Last year, Stewart discussed the fallout from the pictures of her and the Snow White and the Huntsman director.
'Women are so judgmental of each other,' she told Variety of the backlash.
She added, 'How do you resent me if you've actually never met me?'
She's had a rather meteoric few years after winning the hearts of the nation on Gogglebox.
And after being crowned queen of the jungle in I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Outta Here, dropping 3 stone, relocating to London and nabbing a regular slot on Saturday Night Takeaway, Scarlett Moffatt is reportedly set to pen another book.
The reality star, 26, is said to be in talks with publishers after the success of her last book Scarlett Says.
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Success: After being crowned queen of the jungle in I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Outta Here, dropping 3 stone, relocating to London and nabbing a regular slot on Saturday Night Takeaway, Scarlett Moffatt is reportedly set to pen another book
A source told The Sun: 'Scarlett has been in talks with several publishers to write a new book.
'She knows that some of her ideas from her previous book have changed and she wants to get them down on paper.
'It has been a rollercoaster few months for Scarlett and she can't believe how fast things are moving.'
'She can't believe how fast things are moving:' The reality star, 26, is said to be in talks with publishers after the success of her last book
The I'm A Celeb winner shocked fans when she dropped from 11st 5lbs to 8st, swapped her usual size 18 for a petite size 8.
Scarlett's star being on the rise since her I'm A Celebrity win means it was inevitable she'd get snatched away from the show that made her famous, Gogglebox, for other projects.
The funny brunette has recently replaced Ashley Roberts on Saturday Night Takeaway, and revealed the experience of presenting on live TV has been invaluable.
And she has been making the most of her time on the show to learn from the best, fan favourite presenters Ant and Dec.
Scarlett recently said: 'Ant and Dec have given me a lot of confidence, they keep telling me to be me and it's so nice to hear my heroes say that.
Queen of the jungle: Since her jungle win, the star has been offered a plethora of other TV work, including her new Streetmate gig and her new role on Saturday Night Takeaway
Unfortunately for her parents Betty and Mark, this has meant they have been axed from Gogglebox - the show that made Scarlett famous to begin with.
The new series returns next week; and Channel 4 have confirmed that the family will not be appearing on it.
Since her win, the star has been offered a plethora of other TV work, including her new Streetmate gig and her new role on Saturday Night Takeaway.
She is also set to shoot a pilot with Alan Carr, was the backstage correspondent at the National Television Awards, has appeared on Jamie Oliver's show, as well as panel series Virtually Famous.
The TV queen admitted she was delighted to put her new legion of fans from I'm A Celeb to good use.
'It's been a crazy few months since leaving the jungle. I have been up to so much and been having so much fun!' she said.
'My dad told me once that the key to being happy was waking up every day and loving what you do, and I'm so lucky that I'm in that situation.
Despite the inevitable culture shock Scarlett has enjoyed a new lease of life since relocating to London from her native Hartlepool in December.
'I am loving living in London,' she said. 'There is so much to do, and it's been great hanging out with my family doing touristy things!'
Her bombshell figure has earned her a legion of fans worldwide.
But Sofia Vergara proved she doesn't believe in counting calories as she tucked into a tiramisu cake while wandering around Rome with male friends on Monday.
The Colombian pin-up was pictured in raptures as she dug in to the tasty treat while exploring the Italian capital.
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Cheat day! Sofia Vergara tucked into a tiramisu cake as she wandered through Rome with male friends on Monday
The 44-year-old beauty looked as sophisticated as ever in a pewter coloured trench coat which whipped in the wind as she strolled the cobbled streets.
She sported a pair of cropped denim trousers, artfully ripped at her knees and added towering platformed ankle booties.
The Modern Family star slung a chic black leather handbag over her shoulder and shielded her eyes with large sunglasses.
When in Rome: Sofia, 44, began to eat the mouth-watering traditional Italian pudding
Yum! The Modern Family actress beamed as she savoured the coffee and cream flavour
Can't get enough: She didn't even wait to sit down and instead consumed the treat while wandering through the beautiful city
She wore silver drop earrings and teased her long brunette tresses into a windswept loose style.
Sofia slicked her lips with a dark berry shade and looked delighted to be enjoying a European jaunt with her friends.
She seemed particularly taken with her Italian dessert, licking her lips and beaming as she took bites.
Style star: Sofia strolled through the European city sporting a chic pewter-coloured trench
Friends: She seemed delighted to have a chance to catch up with her male friend
Elegant: Sofia teamed her classic trench with an edgy pair of cropped jeans with ripped knees
In fact, Sofia has been revelling in the country's cuisine, sharing a snap with her 12 million Instagram followers expressing her love for pizza.
The charismatic actress leans forward and appears to lick a delicious cheese-smothered pizza in the picture which she captioned: 'Mia pizza'.
The mother-of-one's husband Joe Manganiello recently gushed about the beautiful TV star in an interview with Ocean Drive magazine.
Making the most of it: Sofia shared a picture of mouth-watering cheese-smothered pizzas with her 12 million Instagram followers
'I just married the girl that I love. That was it,' Joe said.
'I really do believe that we were put on the planet to be with each other.
'From the first date, it was just like wow! It was so easy in all the ways that you want it to be easy and challenging in all of the most fun ways possible.'
The couple married in Florida in 2015 after dating for one year.
Foodie: Sofia seemed more interested in her sweet treat than in her exotic surroundings
Windswept: Her long brunette locks whipped behind her in the breeze
Martin Lawrence popped the question to his girlfriend Roberta Moradfar on Friday.
The 51-year-old comedian got down on one knee at his home with a $500,000 diamond engagement ring.
The ring has a total six carats with five carats in the main, emerald-cut stone and another carat for the band. On the back of the band are their initials M and R with a heart between.
Going to the chapel: Martin Lawrence popped the question to his girlfriend Roberta Moradfar on Friday. Pictured 2014
The ring has a total six carats
According to TMZ, Martin worked 'for months' with Iconic Jewels Beverly Hills to create the custom-made ring.
Moradfar is an aesthetics nurse practitioner.
His previous wives include Patricia Southall who he was wed to from 1995 until 1996.
After that the Big Momma's House star was married to Shamicka Gibbs from 2010 until 2012.
'And I said YES!' Moradfar announced on Instagram Friday.
Two cute: 'And I said YES!' Moradfar announced on Instagram Friday
Bling it on: There are five carats in the main, emerald-cut stone and another carat for the band
She added the date 'marks a huge milestone in my life' and included photos of her and Lawrence cuddling up together.
Moradfar completed the post with hashtags including #LoveofMyLife and #MR.
No wedding date has been announced yet.
Heather Morris revealed on her People blog Monday that she was 'a little bit thrilled and a little bit disappointed' at her Dancing With The Stars assignment for that night.
She and her partner Alex Bernsten - who's temporarily filling in for Maksim Chmerkovskiy - will be hoofing to the 2003 Britney Spears hit single Toxic.
Heather previously sang this number alongside Naya Rivera and Dianna Agron on the 100th episode of Glee in 2014, so returning to it now 'seems like a step back in time.'
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Mixed emotions: Heather Morris revealed on her People blog Monday that she was 'a little bit thrilled and a little bit disappointed' at her Dancing With The Stars assignment for that night
As she wrote, her response when she'd learned of the song choice for the ABC competition series' Las Vegas-themed episode was: 'Havent I already done this?'
In a generous assessment of her stardom, she groused: 'Isnt this what my iconic character on Glee is based on? Im here to show my fans - and the rest of the world - more about who Heather really is and, to me, this seems like a step back in time.'
Yet 'I called my sister to share my thoughts and she quickly assured me, saying: "Heather, so many of your fans will be so happy to see you perform this again!"'
All for Vegas Week: She and her partner Alex Bernsten - who's temporarily filling in for Maksim Chmerkovskiy - will be hoofing to the 2003 Britney Spears hit single Toxic
Heather went on: 'Talking to her allowed me to understand that I have to set my ego aside and bring myself to this as much as I can because, without my fans, I would not be where I am today.'
Of her thoughts ahead of the Vegas Week episode, she confided: 'Im tired,' citing a weekend of 'substantially lengthy group rehearsals' and a desire for 'quality time' with her visiting family.
She did urge fans: 'DO NOT miss the opportunity to tune in to see me perform to Britney Spears "Toxic" tonight. I can guarantee you, Alan did one hell of a job choreographing it and we will NOT disappoint.'
Flashback: Heather (right) sang this number alongside Naya Rivera (left) and Dianna Agron (center) on the 100th episode of Glee in 2014, so returning to it 'seems like a step back in time'
Heather had featured on Glee - incidentally, as a character called Brittany - from the show's 2009 second episode until its series finale, which aired in March of 2015.
Her role on Glee led to controversy when she was cast on Dancing With The Stars, the bone of contention being that she's got professional dance experience.
Maksim, her original partner, is temporarily sitting out the show because of a calf injury he sustained while rehearsing ahead of last Monday's episode.
'I promies to work harder than ever': Maksim, her original partner, is temporarily sitting out the show because of a calf injury he sustained while rehearsing ahead of last Monday's episode
'Gettin' un-broken...': He's posted an Instagram photo of himself in his hospital bed in Ashtabula, Ohio, where the 37-year-old new father underwent surgery last week
He's posted an Instagram photo of himself in his hospital bed in Ashtabula, Ohio, where the 37-year-old new father underwent surgery last week.
Heather's blog post this Monday addressed that incident as well, recalling: 'The next day, everyone kept asking me if I was okay and how was I handling everything.'
She went on: 'But really? A grown man with a 10-week-old baby just had a serious injury that could potentially end his career, and theyre asking me about MY emotional state? No thank you.'
'...they're asking me about MY emotional state?': Heather's blog post this Monday addressed that incident as well, recalling: 'The next day, everyone kept asking me if I was okay....'
Heather admitted she 'was a bit nervous' about the quick partner switch-up, but was lucky she'd 'already gotten to know' Alan, with whom she'd 'established a sort of quirky, fun kinship that I love, so the entire process went relatively smooth.'
For his part, Maksim's seemingly kept his spirits up, posting an Instagram video on Sunday of what his caption revealed was 'day 3' of his recovery therapy.
After successfully walking back and forth, he even threw in a little grapevine, smiling for the camera and assuring fans that 'It's getting there, almost.'
She's the Australian model who 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 Sophie Taylor, 24, has flown out of Australia less than a week after she was spotted back at her Central Coast home for the first time after her highly publicised royal encounter.
The Swiss-based beauty works in hospitality at the Farinet Hotel in Switzerland, yet her decision to fly Emirate Business Class with an almost $5,000 one way ticket price to Geneva would seem to hint at success in her bid to relaunch her modelling career.
Jet set: Sophie Taylor, 24, has flown out of Australia less than a week after she was spotted back at her Central Coast home for the first time after her highly publicised royal encounter
According to the Daily Telegraph, Sophie flew out this week on Emirates Business Class and 'may have booked a job in Europe.'
The publication earlier reported she had been inundated with modelling opportunities and offers since photos of the pair surfaced.
One such offer was to walk at Fashion Palette at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, however she will now miss the event in Sydney on Tuesday.
The Central Coast beauty told the publication last week: 'I have a lot of people contacting me offering various opportunities.'
Big business: The Swiss-based beauty works in hospitality at the Farinet Hotel in Switzerland, yet her decision to fly Emirate Business Class with an almost $5,000 one way ticket price to Geneva would seem to hint at success in her bid to relaunch her modelling career
'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
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.
'I am just considering all my options right now': The publication claimed while magazines and fashion brands are believed to have reached out
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.
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'.
Malian army soldiers, pro-government militia members and former rebels, predominantly Tuaregs, take part in their first joint patrol in Gao in northern Mali on February 23, 2017
A national peace summit in Mali ended Sunday with a call for negotiations with jihadists in the country's north, according to a resolution seen by AFP.
The conference, enshrined in the country's 2015 peace deal, was intended to bring together the government, armed groups that support it, former rebels and the political opposition.
But an opposition boycott lasted until late Saturday, while the former rebels were absent for Monday's talks before joining discussions on Tuesday, though all attended the closing ceremony.
A resolution agreed at the end of the conference called for "negotiations with radical preacher Amadou Koufa, and the Tuareg Islamist chief Iyad Ag Ghaly," a move likely to be met with dismay by the international community.
Ag Ghaly heads an Islamist alliance that has carried out attacks on Malian troops, and was previously head of Ansar Dine -- a jihadist group that hijacked a 2012 rebellion in the north to impose strict Islamic regulations in certain cities.
Koufa joined the alliance, known as the Group to Support Islam and Muslims, after becoming well known as a radical preacher from Mali's Fulani community with strong links to Ag Ghaly.
Mali's jihadists did not sign the 2015 peace deal that aimed to quell separatist uprisings in the north.
They have continued to wreak havoc despite an ongoing French-led military intervention in 2013 to remove them.
President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said in closing remarks that a committee of experts would be charged with considering options for the north along with how to draft a charter of unity and national reconciliation.
Delegates failed to reach consensus on the question of "Azawad", as the former rebels refer to Mali's north, the root of the nation's current unrest.
The formal rebel alliance that led the 2012 uprising wants Azawad recognised as a politically distinct area of Mali.
This presents a key problem for the Bamako government, because the peace accord signed in Algiers rejects the idea of independence for one territory, said Oumar Sangare, a legal expert at Mali's national university.
"If 'Azawad' is considered as a political entity, that could open the door to demands for federalism," Sangare said.
Mahmadou Djeri Maiga, president of the political section of the Coordination of Movements of Azawad (CMA), the former rebel alliance, said the conference had made important steps nonetheless.
"For us it was important to make clear that will not be another uprising. And for there to not be another uprising we have to put our finger on the problems, we must not simply go through the motions," he said.
I have to tell you about this, even though some of the forecasts are crazy extreme. For several forecast cycles, the models have suggested t...
Waikato Chiefs' Jonathan Faauli (C) has a potential six-week ban reduced to four after pleading guilty to a high tackle
Waikato Chiefs centre Jonathan Faauli was suspended for four weeks Monday over a high tackle during his team's win over the Northern Bulls on the weekend, governing body SANZAAR said.
Faauli was cited for a dangerous tackle on Jan Serfontein in the 27th minute of the 28-12 victory in Hamilton on Saturday.
The 21-year-old was facing a six-week ban but SANZAAR said in a statement that the judiciary cut it to four after the player pleaded guilty.
Faauli will miss the Chiefs' three-week road trip to South Africa and Australia, as well as a home fixture against Japan's Sunwolves.
Last August Pyongyang successfully test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missiles 500 kilometres towards Japan
South Korea, Japan and the US held a joint naval exercise Monday aimed at countering missile threats from North Korean submarines, Seoul's defense ministry said, amid mounting concerns over the hermit state's weapons programme.
Pyongyang is on a quest to develop a long-range missile capable of hitting the US mainland with a nuclear warhead, and has so far staged five nuclear tests, two of them last year.
The three-day drills involving more than 800 troops kicked off after US President Donald Trump warned Sunday that the United States is prepared to act unilaterally to deal with North Korea's nuclear program if China proves unwilling to help.
The exercise began off South Korea's southern coast near Japan, featuring multiple naval destroyers and helicopters used in anti-submarine warfare, the ministry said.
It was aimed at "ensuring effective response to the North's submarine threats including the submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM)," and "demonstrates the three countries' strong determination", according to the ministry.
Tensions have escalated in the region following a series of missile launches by North Korea in recent months and reports suggesting Pyongyang may be preparing another atomic test.
In February the North simultaneously fired four ballistic missiles off its east coast, three of which fell provocatively close to Japan, in what it said was a drill for an attack on US bases in the neighbouring Asian country.
Last August Pyongyang also successfully test-fired a SLBM 500 kilometres towards Japan, far exceeding any previous sub-launched tests, in what the North's leader Kim Jong-Un hailed as the "greatest success."
A nuclear-capable SLBM system would take the North's threat to a new level, allowing deployment far beyond the Korean peninsula and a "second-strike" capability in the event of an attack on its army bases.
Analysts say that while Pyongyang has made faster progress in its SLBM system than originally expected, it is still years away from deployment.
The isolated North is barred under UN resolutions from any use of ballistic missile technology.
Jared Kushner has become one of the most powerful men in Washington, as a trusted adviser to the US president with a broad portfolio of responsibilities
President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner visited Iraq Monday with the top US military officer to meet Iraqi leaders and review the fight against the Islamic State group, officials said.
The visit comes as Iraqi forces battle to retake Mosul from IS with support from US-led air strikes that have recently been criticised for causing civilian deaths in the city's west.
General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, asked Kushner and White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert to accompany him on the trip, Navy Captain Greg Hicks said in an emailed statement.
"General Dunford invited Mr Kushner and Mr Bossert to meet with Iraqi leaders, senior US advisors, and visit with US forces in the field to receive an update on the status of the counter-ISIS campaign in Iraq and Syria," Hicks said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.
Iraqi forces launched an assault to push IS jihadists from Mosul on October 17
"As well as receiving briefings and updates, Mr Kushner is travelling on behalf of the president to express the president's support and commitment to the government of Iraq and US personnel currently engaged in the campaign," he said.
"Mr Bossert is travelling in his role as assistant to the president and will participate in meetings and briefings to reinforce the strong US-Iraqi partnership to defeat ISIS," he added.
Dunford and Kushner would meet with Iraqi Defence Minister Irfan al-Hayali during the trip, ministry spokesman Colonel Laith al-Nuaimi said.
"They arrived in Baghdad and will hold a meeting with the defence minister," Nuaimi told AFP.
Officials from Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's office and the foreign ministry declined to comment on the visit.
The United States is leading an international coalition that is carrying out air strikes against IS and providing other support to forces fighting the jihadists in Iraq and Syria.
- Battle for Mosul -
Iraqi forces have been engaged in a grinding battle for west Mosul since last month, prompting more than 200,000 civilians to flee the northern city, Iraq's second largest.
The operation to retake Mosul was launched last October, with Iraqi forces recapturing its eastern side before setting their sights on its smaller but more densely-populated west.
US special forces have been helping with the Iraqi offensive to recapture Mosul
The coalition admitted that it "probably" played a role in recent civilian casualties in the city, but has sought to place responsibility for the deaths on IS, saying the jihadists are gathering civilians together and seeking to provoke strikes.
Although Kushner has no previous experience in government, he has become one of the most powerful men in Washington as a trusted adviser to the president with a broad portfolio of responsibilities.
Valued by Trump for his discretion and loyalty, the baby-faced 36-year-old is officially a White House senior adviser with far-reaching influence over domestic and foreign policy.
Among other responsibilities, Trump has tapped Kushner to play a leading role in efforts to secure an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal -- an achievement that has eluded experienced policymakers for decades.
Kushner's wife Ivanka, the 35-year-old first daughter, also plays a key role in advising her father.
A regular presence in the White House since Trump's election, she officially became assistant to the president last week amid accusations about possible conflicts of interest involving the couple's business interests, worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama fled from his native Tibet to India nearly 60 years ago
The Dalai Lama has had an emotional reunion with the Indian border guard who escorted him as he fled his native Tibet following a failed uprising nearly 60 years ago.
The 81-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader, who has lived in exile ever since, was visibly emotional as he embraced the retired paramilitary guard on Sunday evening at the start of a visit to northeast India that has angered China.
The two men had not met since 1959 when the Buddhist monk fled his Himalayan homeland in fear of his life after China poured troops into the region to crush an uprising.
"Looking at your face, I now realise I must be very old too," he told 79-year-old Naren Chandra Das at a ceremony in the northeastern city of Guwahati, according to the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency.
Das recalled how he was given orders not to speak to the young monk when he arrived in India after a 13-day trek through the Himalayas, disguised as a soldier to evade detection by Chinese troops.
"Our duty was only to guard and escort him during a part of his journey," he said.
The Dalai Lama was in Guwahati en route to the remote Tawang monastery in the northeast Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, where he first crossed into the country.
China, which claims Arunachal as its own territory and regards the Dalai Lama as bent on splitting Tibet from China, has condemned the planned visit. Beijing has said it could seriously damage the relationship with New Delhi.
On Sunday the Dalai Lama, who denies seeking Tibetan independence, recalled the warm welcome he received when he arrived and the Indian government offered him a base in the hill town of Dharamsala, where he was allowed to set up a government-in-exile.
"The days prior to my arrival in India were filled with tension and the only concern was safety, but I experienced freedom when I was received warmheartedly by the people and officials and a new chapter began in my life," PTI quoted him as saying.
The Dalai Lama is scheduled to arrive in Arunachal Pradesh on Tuesday and will hold teachings at the Tawang monastery on Wednesday and Thursday.
Aborigines -- who make up about three percent of the population of 24 million -- are among the most disadvantaged Australians
Racism against Aborigines in Australia is widespread and "deeply disturbing", a United Nations envoy said Monday, urging the government to work more closely with indigenous people.
UN special rapporteur Victoria Tauli-Corpuz has been on a 15-day visit at Canberra's invitation to check on progress made since the last such trip in 2009.
She said she found racism against the indigenous population widespread.
"As I have travelled across the country, I have found the prevalence of racism against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples deeply disturbing," she said.
"This manifests itself in different ways, ranging from public stereotyped portrayals of them as violent criminals, welfare profiteers and poor parents and to discrimination in the administration of justice."
During her tour, Tauli-Corpuz examined measures aimed at reducing indigenous disadvantage, jail conditions, land rights issues and violence against women.
Aborigines -- who make up about three percent of the population of 24 million -- are among the most disadvantaged Australians.
In February an annual government report entitled "Closing the Gap" found that Australia was failing in its efforts to improve Aboriginal lives, with targets -- including cutting child mortality and raising life expectancy -- not being met.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull admitted at the time not enough progress had been made and committed more money to improve research and evaluate policies to improve the situation.
The UN rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples said in a statement there was a lack of government consultation with indigenous bodies working to support their own communities in public health, housing, education, and child protection.
She said the national representative body for the indigenous population -- the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples -- was "dismally disregarded by the government".
"While Australia has adopted numerous policies aiming to address Aboriginal and Torres Strait socio-economic disadvantage, the failure to respect the right to self-determination and the right to full and effective participation in these is alarming," she said.
"The compounded effect of these policies has contributed to the failure to deliver on the targets in the areas of health, education and employment in the Closing the Gap strategy."
Tauli-Corpuz said indigenous organisations "remain unfunded or have had funding radically cut" and urged Canberra to do more.
She highlighted escalating rates of youth suicide, and denounced as "simply astounding" the high levels of indigenous incarceration.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders make up 27 percent of the prison population, despite accounting for just three percent of the total population.
"Imprisonment is the end result of years of dispossession, discrimination and trauma faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders populations over the generations," said the envoy.
The Sufi shrine at Sargodha in Pakistan where the custodian and two oters are allegedly tortured and killed 20 worshippers
The custodian of a Pakistani religious shrine has been charged with murder and terrorism, police said Monday, after allegedly torturing and killing 20 worshippers with knives and clubs.
Two others were also charged in the slaughter Sunday at the Sufi shrine of Mohammad Ali in Punjab province, local police offical Nusrat Ali said, adding the trio "will be presented at a local court today" for a hearing.
The victims were apparently given intoxicants before the gruesome killings, and some of the bodies were stripped nude.
The custodian, 50-year-old Abdul Waheed, told police he killed the worshippers because he thought they might kill him one day, Arshad Abbas, am investigator in the case, told AFP.
Some officials have said Waheed had mental health problems and had used violence on followers before.
Sufis believe in saints to intercede for them directly with God. They have no hierarchy or organisation, instead seeking spiritual communion through music and dance at the shrines of the saints.
Several million Muslims in Pakistan are still believed to follow Sufism, although it has been overtaken in recent decades by more mainstream versions of the faith.
But visits to shrines and offers of alms for the poor -- and cash to custodians -- remains a very popular custom. Many believe this will help get their prayers answered.
Hardliners such as the Taliban or the Islamic State group have carried out major attacks on Sufi shrines because they consider them heretical.
In February 90 people were killed and hundreds wounded in Pakistan's southern province of Sindh, when a suicide bomber blew himself up among devotees at a Sufi shrine in an attack claimed by Islamic State.
Shrines are soft targets for attack. Often they bring together hundreds of people made ecstatic by drumming and by hashish, with little security.
In remote and rural areas they are far from medical aid.
Devotees are often impoverished and women and children are usually in attendance for the dancing and music.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Somali-born women's advocate and former Dutch lawmaker, is a controversial figure and has been threatened with death in the past for criticising Islam
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somali-born women's advocate and leading critic of Islam, on Monday cancelled a tour of Australia and New Zealand at the last minute citing security concerns.
She was due to appear on an Australian Broadcasting Corporation current affairs panel show on Monday evening before speaking engagements later this week.
But organisers Think Inc said in a statement that "Ayaan Hirsi Ali regrets that, for a number of reasons including security concerns, she must cancel her upcoming appearances in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and Auckland".
No further details were given.
The former Dutch lawmaker is a controversial figure and has been threatened with death in the past for criticising Islam.
Born into an orthodox Muslim family in Somalia in 1969, she fled to the Netherlands in 1992 to escape an arranged marriage.
She obtained political asylum, followed by Dutch nationality five years later.
Hirsi Ali left the Netherlands for the United States in May 2006 following a bitter row which broke out when she admitted lying about her age and name in her Dutch asylum request.
She says she broke definitively with Islam following the September 11 attacks in the United States and has since become a fierce defender of secularism and Muslim women's rights.
Prime Minister Bill English said there was no evidence of wrongdoing by New Zealand's special forces while they were stationed in Afghanistan in 2010
New Zealand will not hold an inquiry into "discredited" allegations its special forces committed war crimes in Afghanistan, Prime Minister Bill English said Monday.
A book published last month alleged the SAS staged a "revenge attack" in 2010 after the death of a New Zealand soldier, but faulty intelligence meant they killed six civilians including a three-year-old girl.
"Hit and Run", by investigative journalists Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson, also claimed the military and government covered up the raid's failure, falsely saying nine insurgents had died.
Rights groups including Amnesty and Transparency International have called for an independent investigation of the allegations.
But English said Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant General Tim Keating had looked into the book's claims and found no evidence of wrongdoing.
"He's come to the conclusion that (there was) no evidence of misconduct by the troops and no evidence of war crimes. We accept that conclusion," English told reporters.
He insisted Keating's inquiries were independent because the military chief was not personally involved in the raid.
English said he had personally viewed edited video footage of the raid and it showed the troops followed the rules of engagement.
He said the classified footage would not be released and refused to discuss its contents.
"I'm satisfied that we can trust the Defence Force process and trust the chief of defence forces," he added.
- Allegations 'lack substance' -
English said New Zealand's SAS was renowned as one of the best special forces units in the world.
"The only question mark over their name is a series of allegations of war crimes in a book which has been discredited," he said.
"We're not bound to hold an inquiry simply because someone makes allegations, particularly when those allegations turn out to lack substance."
New Zealand sent a reconstruction team and a small special forces contingent to join the NATO-led operation in Afghanistan in 2003.
In early August 2010, Lieutenant Tim O'Donnell became the first of New Zealand's 10 military deaths in Afghanistan when his patrol was hit by a roadside bomb.
The SAS raid in the northern province of Baghlan, carried out with US helicopter support, took place about two weeks later on August 22.
In the following days Mohammad Ismail, a district chief for Tala Wa Barfak, where the incident occurred, told AFP that eight people died in the raid, all civilians.
The New Zealand military initially kept silent about its involvement, then said nine insurgents were killed and no civilians harmed.
English on Monday said it was possible the raid resulted in some civilian casualties but such allegations were "speculation" with no evidence backing them up.
The military has stood by its figure of nine insurgent deaths and says the raid it conducted was carried out several kilometres from the area detailed in the book.
Co-author Hager has rejected the assertion and accused the government of perpetrating a cover up by allowing the military to investigate itself.
"It's actually asking the people who are trying to hide it and protect their reputations to make the decision, and that's never going to work out right," he told TVNZ.
A Bahraini man holds a placard bearing the portrait of Shiite opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman on May 29, 2016
Bahrain's top court on Monday reduced the jail sentence of Shiite opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman, who has been in prison since 2014, a judicial source said.
The Sunni-ruled kingdom's court of cassation reduced Salman's sentence from nine to four years, the source said on condition of anonymity.
No further details were immediately available.
Salman, who headed the now-banned Al-Wefaq opposition movement, had been arrested on charges of inciting hatred and insulting the state in December 2014.
He was found guilty in July 2015 and sentenced to four years in jail.
An appeals court later more than doubled his jail term to nine years, after reversing an earlier acquittal on charges of calling for regime change by force.
The court of cassation in October had ordered a retrial of the 51-year-old Salman.
Rights groups downplayed the significance of Monday's verdict in the retrial, which comes amid an ongoing crackdown on political dissent in Shiite-majority Bahrain.
"Peacefully criticising the government or demanding reform is not a crime and should not be a punishable offence under any circumstances," said Lynn Maalouf, research director at Amnesty International's Beirut office.
"Instead of placing (Ali Salman) behind bars for four years, the Bahraini authorities should order his immediate and unconditional release and end their relentless persecution of peaceful critics and opposition leaders once and for all."
Salman is considered a moderate who has pushed for a constitutional monarchy in Bahrain compared to more hardline groups who have demanded the toppling of the Sunni Al-Khalifa dynasty in a string of protests that go back to 2011.
Bahrain has cracked down over the past six years on dissent by members of the largely, although not exclusively, Shiite opposition, whom it accuses of being manipulated by Iran.
Shiite Iran has consistently denied any involvement.
The kingdom last year ordered the dissolution of Al-Wefaq, the kingdom's main Shiite opposition group, for "harbouring terrorism".
Al-Wefaq was the largest bloc in Bahrain's elected lower house of parliament.
Its lawmakers resigned en masse in protest against the state crackdown on the 2011 protests.
In 1995, Salman was among a string of oppositionists exiled from Bahrain, moving to the United Arab Emirates and then Britain.
In 2001, he returned to Bahrain under a general amnesty and set up Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society with other Shiite opposition figures.
In 2006 he was elected secretary general of the group.
After seven years of war, there cannot be business-as-usual in Syria, said EU top diplomat Federica Mogherini
President Bashar al-Assad has no future in post-conflict Syria but his fate is ultimately up to the Syrian people, EU foreign ministers said Monday in response to an apparent shift in US policy.
The United States and the European Union have consistently demanded Assad stand down in any peace deal.
But last week Washington signalled it would no longer focus on Assad's ouster as it concentrates on the wider fight against terror groups such as Islamic State.
Asked what this meant for EU policy, bloc foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini said she believed it "would be impossible" to return to the status quo in Syria.
After nearly seven years of war, "it seems completely unrealistic to believe that the future of Syria will be exactly the same as it used to be in the past," Mogherini said as she arrived for an EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg.
"But this is for the Syrians to decide, that is clear ... any solution that can be acceptable by all Syrians, we will support it."
The foreign ministers later endorsed a statement which noted: "The EU recalls that there can be no lasting peace in Syria under the current regime."
It said some 13.5 million Syrians were now in need of humanitarian assistance inside Syria while another five million had sought refuge in neighbours, such as Turkey and other regional countries.
Mogherini on Tuesday co-hosts with the United Nations a two-day conference on Syria's future in Brussels focused on the disastrous humanitarian situation in the country after a war which has claimed more than 320,000 lives.
Mogherini stressed that this was part of efforts to prepare properly for the end of the war while UN-sponsored peace talks in Geneva continued to search for a peace settlement and Russia and Turkey brokered talks between Damascus and the rebels on a ceasefire.
German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said he believed the changed United States position was certainly "more realistic", as to insist that Assad must step down from the start would only result in deadlock.
"But there is one thing which cannot happen -- that a dictator who committed horrible crimes in the region remains untouched," Gabriel said.
The UN peace talks should continue with the aim of producing a "new constitution, elections and a new and democratic government," he said.
"This cannot be abandoned or subordinated to the conflict against Islamic State," he added.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault for his part said there had to be a genuine political transition to a new Syria.
"France does not believe for an instant that this new Syria can be led by Assad," he said.
The $6.2 billion pipeline would take gas from Israel and Cyprus's recently discovered offshore gas reserves to Europe and could help reduce the continent's dependence on Russian energy
Italy, Israel, Greece and Cyprus pledged Monday to move ahead with the world's longest undersea gas pipeline from the eastern Mediterranean to southern Europe, with support from the European Union.
If carried out as planned, the long-discussed $6.2 billion (5.8 billion euro) pipeline will take gas from Israel and Cyprus's recently discovered offshore gas reserves to Europe, potentially reducing European dependence on Russian energy at a time of ongoing tensions.
In a joint news conference in Israel's commercial capital Tel Aviv, energy ministers from the four nations and the EU's Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Canete pledged their commitment to the project.
Feasibility studies had been completed, they said, adding that they hope to develop a full plan for development by the end of the year.
They said construction of the pipeline would not begin for several years and it would likely go online in 2025.
"This is going to be the longest and deepest sub-sea gas pipeline in the world," said Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz.
Gas prices have fallen, however, and the pipeline's financial feasibility is based on expectations they will rise again, Elio Ruggeri, head of IGI Poseidon -- one of the companies developing the plan -- told AFP.
Both Israel and Cyprus have started to extract gas from their offshore fields in recent years, with far larger projects expected to come online in the future.
Officials have sought to market that gas to Europe as an alternative to dependence on Russian imports.
Canete admitted it would help limit reliance on the Nord Stream pipeline via Russia, which he said "adds nothing to the security of supply".
- 'A pipe that unites' -
"Cyprus and Israel are very reliable suppliers," he said.
"We highly value gas supply from the region as a vital source of our gas supply that can make a valuable contribution to our strategy to diversify sources, routes and suppliers.
"This is a pipe that unites and will have the full support of all the members of the European Union."
The four ministers agreed to meet every six months over the coming years.
Italy's minister of economic development Carlo Calenda said a reliable and affordable gas supply was a "crucial challenge" for the country, making the pipeline a "top priority".
"We need to foresee the phasing out of coal and carbon in electricity production and therefore gas supply is fundamental for us," Calenda said.
Amit Mor, head of the Israeli consultancy EcoEnergy, said while the ministers' commitment was positive, that did not guarantee the project would go ahead.
"At this stage this is still a pipe dream but it is important to realise that international trade projects sometimes take decades to develop," he told AFP.
"A depth of three kilometres would be unprecedented," he added, saying high infrastructure costs would mean that producing gas at a price to rival that of Russia would be "very challenging".
Conservationists captured a rare one-horned rhinoceros in Nepal as part of an attempt to increase the number of the vulnerable animals, which are prized by wildlife poachers
Conservationists on Monday captured a rare one-horned rhinoceros in Nepal as part of an attempt to increase the number of the vulnerable animals, which are prized by wildlife poachers.
Five rhinos -- one male and four female -- will be released into a national park in Nepal's far west over the coming week in the hope of establishing a new breeding group.
The first, a large male estimated to be around 12 years old, was located by rangers in Chitwan National Park after a four-hour search on elephant-back.
"He is one of the dominant males in this area," said park chief Ram Chandra Kandel.
The team of vets, wildlife experts and mahouts hope to capture a second rhino later Monday before departing for Shuklaphanta National Park, a 12-hour drive away.
It will take at least a week to capture and transport the remaining rhinos to their new habitat, which is already home to an estimated eight of their kin.
The first group of rhinos was released into Shuklaphanta in 2000, Dr Kanchan Thapa, a biologist from conservation group WWF, told AFP.
A wildlife technician prepares to dart a rhino in Nepal's Chitwan National Park on April 3, 2017
The latest rhinos are needed to replenish the population, he added.
Thousands of one-horned rhinos once roamed the southern plains of Nepal but rampant poaching and pressures of human encroachment reduced their numbers to around 100 in the later part of last century.
There are now around 645 after a government-led conservation push in the years since a 10-year civil war ended in 2006.
Poaching has declined significantly in Nepal, with only a few cases in recent years.
A rhino died last year after being shot by poachers, who were intercepted by authorities before removing its valuable horn.
Rhino horns can sell for tens of thousands of dollars on the international black market, where they are used in traditional medicines in China and Southeast Asia.
Rhino poaching carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in jail and a 100,000-rupee ($1,000) fine in Nepal.
The other significant population of one-horned rhinos is in the Kaziranga National Park in northeastern India, where there are believed to be around 1,200.
Pakistani police vehicles carrying the custodian of a shrine charged with mass murder leave court
A man seen by devotees as a living saint has been charged with murder and terrorism after allegedly knifing and clubbing 20 worshippers to death at a Pakistani shrine, police said Monday.
Police are having to bring the case against 50-year-old Abdul Waheed and three alleged accomplices, officials said, because the victims' relatives have such "blind faith" in him that they refuse to file charges.
The slaughter took place Sunday at the Sufi Muslim shrine of Mohammad Ali, built in 2015 near the city of Sargodha in Punjab province.
Sufis believe in pirs or "living saints" who can intercede for them directly with God. Ali, the shrine's first saint, was succeeded by Waheed, the new pir, who is also the shrine's custodian.
Senior police official Malik Ghulam Abbas said it was strange that even relatives of the dead did not wish to file a complaint.
"They have such strong blind faith in their pir that they say whatever has happened, happened with the blessing of Allah," he told AFP.
Waheed told police he murdered the worshippers because he feared they might kill him one day, Arshad Abbas, an investigator in the case, told AFP.
Local police chief Shamshir Joya said they were also investigating whether a struggle for control of the shrine was an additional factor.
He said Ali's son was among those killed, as were some members of the family who own the land on which the shrine was built.
Some officials have said Waheed had mental health problems and had used violence on followers previously.
One of the accused was wounded, while the other three were remanded in custody by a local court Monday.
Police are waiting for a forensics report to determine whether the victims were given intoxicants before the gruesome killings. Some of the bodies were stripped nude.
Sufis have no hierarchy or organisation, instead seeking spiritual communion through music and dance at the shrines of the saints.
Several million Muslims in Pakistan are still believed to follow Sufism, although it has been overtaken in recent decades by more mainstream versions of the faith.
But visits to shrines and offers of alms for the poor -- and cash to custodians -- remains a very popular custom. Many believe this will help get their prayers answered.
Hardliners such as the Taliban or the Islamic State group have carried out major attacks on Sufi shrines because they consider them heretical.
In February 90 people were killed and hundreds wounded in Pakistan's southern province of Sindh, when a suicide bomber blew himself up among devotees at a Sufi shrine in an attack claimed by Islamic State.
Shrines are soft targets for attack. Often they bring together hundreds of people made ecstatic by drumming and by hashish, with little security.
In remote and rural areas they are far from medical aid.
Devotees are often impoverished and women and children are usually in attendance for the dancing and music.
Afghan refugees arrive at the UNHCR repatriation centre in Torkham, on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, in October 2016
Pakistan Monday resumed its mass repatriation of Afghan refugees despite past accusations of coercion in the supposedly voluntary UN programme to return hundreds of thousands to a war-torn nation.
The operation, which saw 380,000 registered refugees sent back from Pakistan in 2016, was halted in December for a routine winter break.
"The UNHCR voluntary repatriation programme for registered Afghan refugees resumed today," Duniya Aslam Khan, a spokeswoman for the refugee aid body, told AFP.
The UN had cut its cash grant for returnees from $400 to $200, she confirmed, citing "financial constraints facing humanitarian operations worldwide".
The grant was doubled in 2016 and became a factor in the surge of returnees across the border to Afghanistan after July last year, the UN has said.
But fears of a crackdown by Pakistan on refugees, many of whom left Afghanistan decades ago, also contributed.
Human Rights Watch in a scathing report in February accused Pakistan of coercion, threats and abuse in the mass repatriation, and the UN of complicity.
The report said a combination of insecure legal status, the threat of deportation during winter and police abuses -- including extortion, arbitrary detention and night raids -- had left the Afghan refugees with no choice but to leave.
It also accused UNHCR of effectively encouraging the exodus by doubling the cash grant, and said the UN body should end the "fiction" that the returns are voluntary.
The UN has previously rejected the criticism.
"UNHCR advocates for all refugee returns from Pakistan to be voluntary, gradual and take place in conditions of safety and dignity," Khan said Monday.
The refugees are returning to an Afghanistan still torn apart by decades of war. They will compete for resources with a record half a million people who were internally displaced by the fighting in 2016, according to UN figures.
The mass migrations are draining local resources, especially in safer urban areas, officials have said.
Some 4.2 million Afghan refugees have returned to Afghanistan voluntarily under the UNHCR-funded Voluntary Repatriation programme since 2002.
But UNHCR and Pakistani officials have said some 1.34 million registered refugees still live in Pakistan.
A further half a million undocumented refugees are also estimated to still be in the country, making Pakistan one of the world's largest refugee-hosting nations.
Pakistan has extended a deadline for the refugees to leave its territory from March 2017 to December.
Some Afghan refugees have been sheltering in Pakistan for decades, first fleeing over the border after the Soviet invasion of 1979.
The parents of Giulio Regeni, the Cambridge University student tortured to death in Egypt last year, have appealed to Pope Francis to raise their son's unexplained killing when he visits Cairo on April 28
The parents of Giulio Regeni, the Cambridge University student tortured to death in Egypt last year, appealed Monday to Pope Francis to raise their son's unexplained killing when he visits Cairo this month.
"We are sure that the pope will not be able to not remember Giulio during this trip and will share our concrete demand for the truth so that we can finally find peace," Regeni's mother, Paola Regeni, said in a press conference at the Italian Senate.
Francis is due to travel to the Egyptian capital on April 28 for a two-day visit that will include meetings with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and the grand imam of the Al-Azhar mosque and university complex.
Raising Regeni's case publicly would be a highly unusual move for a pope, but Francis has repeatedly demonstrated that he is nothing if not unpredictable.
Regeni, a 28-year-old Cambridge PhD candidate, disappeared from central Cairo on January 25, 2016, a day when security in the capital was tight as it was the fifth anniversary of the uprising that ousted longtime leader Hosni Mubarak.
His mutilated body was found on the outskirts of the city on February 3.
He had multiple broken bones and an autopsy concluded he had been beaten with fists, batons and hammers. His mother later said she was only able to recognise her son by the tip of his nose.
The case has badly strained the traditionally close relationship between Italy and Egypt, with the authorities in Rome frustrated at the lack of progress towards establishing who was responsible for Regeni's death.
Egyptian police initially suggested the student had died in a traffic accident, but later said he had been killed by an anti-foreigner criminal gang whose members were all killed in a shootout with police.
That account was met with suspicion in Italy, where politicians and the media have suggested Regeni was slain by elements of Egypt's security services. There is no consensus however on the motive for the killing.
Alessandra Ballerini, the Regeni family's lawyer, said during Monday's press conference that Giulio Regeni had been the victim of "state murder," and that she had evidence two senior security officials were involved in his disappearance.
Regeni was in Cairo researching Egyptian street vendor trade unions, a sensitive topic, and had written articles critical of the government under a pen name.
Giulio Regeni disappeared from central Cairo on January 25, 2016 and the authorities in Rome are frustrated at the lack of progress towards establishing who was responsible for his death
Egyptian authorities confirmed in January that police looked into his activity in the weeks prior to his death, but concluded he posed no threat to state security.
Other theories for Regeni's death include the possibility that he was a spy, or was mistaken for one, and that he was killed by rogue elements in connection with some kind of internal battle within the security services.
The case has refocused international attention on rights abuses in Egypt. The country's own watchdog said in a report last year that it raised 266 cases of enforced disappearances with the interior minister.
The report also highlighted the continuing torture of prisoners, which it said fed suspicions that Regeni had been abducted by security agents.
Anti-piracy measures ended attacks on commercial vessels by Somali pirates but fishing boats have continued to face attacks
Somali pirates have seized an Indian cargo ship and 11 crew members, the ship's owner said Monday, as a recent series of hijackings raises fears of a resurgence in piracy.
The "Al Kausar" is the third vessel to be hijacked in less than a month off the coast of Somalia as experts warn that ships have lowered their guard in the five years since the height of the piracy crisis.
The Indian cargo ship was carrying items such as wheat and sugar from Dubai via Yemen to Somalia's Bossaso port when it came under attack, owner Isaak Them told AFP.
"The vessel was hijacked on Friday (March 31) from mid-sea. One of the crew members called me on Saturday evening and informed me about the hijacking," said Them.
"We have asked those who loaded their goods in the vessel in Dubai to make efforts to salvage our crew and the vessel."
The president of the Kutch Seafarers Association, Adam Them, from the western state of Gujarat where the vessel originated, told AFP that the pirates had already made ransom demands.
"We got a call from one of the crew members today that the pirates have demanded money from the owners of the goods in the vessel," he said.
"Negotiations are on. The crew member further informed that five gunmen were onboard the vessel ... However, nobody has been hurt."
Mohamed Samater, a security official from Puntland on the northeastern tip of Somalia, confirmed that a ship had been hijacked, but did not have further details.
- Piracy resurges -
Somali pirates began staging attacks in 2005, seriously disrupting a major international shipping route and costing the global economy billions of dollars.
At the peak of the piracy crisis in January 2011, 736 hostages and 32 boats were held.
Though anti-piracy measures ended attacks on commercial vessels, fishing boats have continued to face attacks sporadically.
However on March 13, pirates seized the Aris 13 oil tanker and eight Sri Lankan hostages in the first attack on a large merchant vessel by Somali pirates since 2012.
The pirates claimed to be driven by anger over illegal fishing in Somali waters which has long been seen as a key grievance behind piracy in the country.
While some hostages have been held for as long as five years, the pirates released the Aris 13 and its crew just four days after it was seized.
A week later a local cargo dhow was hijacked and taken out to sea, with the Oceans Beyond Piracy NGO warning it may be used as a "mother ship" for further attacks against larger vessels.
"We have seen a number of attacks over last few weeks which seems to confirm what we have always thought - that the pirates haven't gone away but have merely been doing other things," said John Steed -- a former British army officer with Oceans Beyond Piracy, who has spent years negotiating the release of piracy hostages in Somalia.
He attributed the resurgence to a "reduction in precautions taken by shipping companies" such as travelling without armed guards, closer to shore and at slower speeds than recommended.
"While it is not an excuse a definite trigger is the high level of illegal fishing, lack of livelihoods and job creation along the coast, famine ... but most of all opportunity."
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The remains of an Egyptian pyramid built around 3,700 years ago have been discovered near the well-known bent pyramid of King Snefru.
The pyramid from the 13th dynasty was found in Dahshur's royal necropolis, 20 miles (30 kilometres) south of Cairo.
Excavations are still in their early stages, but experts believe that the pyramid may have been ancient Egypt's first attempt to build a smooth-sided pyramid.
And the building is the second pyramid ever found bearing the name of Pharaoh Ameny Qemau, a discovery that has baffled Egyptologists.
The remains of an Egyptian pyramid built around 3,700 years ago have been discovered near the well-known bent pyramid of King Snefru.
PHARAOH AMENY QEMAU The pyramid is the second ever found to bear the name of Pharaoh Ameny Qemau. Another pyramid containing artifacts bearing the name of Ameny Qemau (also spelled Qemaw) was discovered in 1957, also in Dahshur. The finding has left Egyptologists baffled as to why the same pharaoh seemingly has two pyramids to his name. Traditionally pharaohs only had one pyramid built to commemorate their life. Advertisement
In a statement, Adel Okahsa, director general at the necropolis, said: 'An alabaster... block engraved with 10 vertical hieroglyphic lines' was among the finds.
He added that a 'granite lintel and stony blocks showing the interior design of the pyramid' were also found.
Excavation is still in its early stages and the size of the pyramid has not yet been established.
Due to the bent slope of its sides, the pyramid is believed to have been ancient Egypt's first attempt to build a smooth-sided pyramid.
Blocks of stones and the beginning of a corridor which were discovered are shown in photos provided by the ministry.
'All the discovered parts of the pyramid are in very good condition and further excavation is to take place to reveal more parts,' the ministry said.
Blocks of stones and the beginning of a corridor which were discovered are shown in photos provided by the ministry
And the pyramid is the second ever found to bear the name of Pharaoh Ameny Qemau.
Another pyramid containing artifacts bearing the name of Ameny Qemau (also spelled Qemaw) was discovered in 1957, also in Dahshur.
The finding has left Egyptologists baffled as to why the same pharaoh seemingly has two pyramids to his name.
Traditionally pharaohs only had one pyramid built to commemorate their life.
Egypt, home of one of the world's earliest civilisations, boasts 123 ancient pyramids.
They include the world-famous Pyramids of Giza, constructed around 4,500 years ago.
The Khufu pyramid is the largest of the three in Giza, standing at 146 metres, and the only surviving structure of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
Khufu and Khafre in Giza along with the Bent and Red pyramids in Dahshur are part of Operation ScanPyramids, with teams scanning the structures in search of hidden rooms and cavities.
In a statement, Adel Okahsa, director general at the necropolis, said: 'An alabaster... block engraved with 10 vertical hieroglyphic lines' was among the finds
British Prime Minister Theresa May is looking to strike new trade deals in the Middle East after formally activating Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, starting a two-year countdown for quitting the EU
British Prime Minister Theresa May landed in Amman on Monday for a three-day trip to Jordan and Saudi Arabia focused on security and post-Brexit trade efforts.
In Jordan, May is expected to announce that British military trainers will be sent to help the country's air force fight the Islamic State group.
She will visit Saudi Arabia on Tuesday and Wednesday for talks focused on trade and investment as Britain begins the process of leaving the European Union.
Jordan's official news agency Petra reported that May had arrived in Amman where she was greeted by local officials.
May said before leaving Britain that it was "clearly in the UK's security and prosperity interests to support Jordan and Saudi Arabia".
May will set out a package of measures to boost cooperation between British forces and the Royal Jordanian Air Force, which along with Britain is part of the US-led coalition bombing IS in Iraq and Syria.
"To tackle the threats we face from terrorism and from geopolitical instability, we must meet them at their source," May said, describing Jordan as "on the frontline of multiple regional crises".
In the wake of last month's deadly attack on the British parliament, she said that by working with countries like Jordan "we are helping to keep British people safe".
May said she would also discuss ways to help Jordan host a massive influx of refugees from the war in neighbouring Syria.
In Riyadh, May will focus on trade, saying ahead of her trip that there is "immense potential for Saudi investment to provide a boost to the British economy."
Britain is looking to strike new trade deals after May last week formally activated Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, starting a two-year countdown for quitting the European Union.
Qatar announced plans last month to invest 5 billion ($6.23 billion/5.8 billion euros) in Britain within five years.
Saudi Arabia is also looking at boosting its foreign investments as part of a long-term plan to diversify its economy and reduce its dependence on oil revenues.
Tesla says it delivered 25,000 of its high-tech vehicles in the January-March period -- a 69 percent surge compared to the first three months of 2016
Tesla on Monday became the second-largest US car maker in terms of market capitalization, displacing Ford, whose sales lagged amid concerns about the ability of the US market to keep growing.
Many major auto makers reported US sales declines in March compared to a year ago, but Tesla over the weekend said it saw a huge jump in vehicles delivered to consumers in the first three months of the year.
That was enough to send the electric car maker's stock soaring Monday, even as investors punished major car brands for reporting lower-than-expected March sales.
Tesla said it delivered 25,000 of its high-tech vehicles in the January-March period -- a 69 percent surge compared to the first three months of 2016 -- indicating it was on its way to meeting its goal of 50,000 vehicle deliveries by mid-2017.
Late last year, the company reported its first quarterly profit in more than three years, but then slipped back into unprofitability in the following quarter.
Investors still rewarded the company on Monday, with stock movements reshuffling the hierarchy among US carmakers. Tesla Motors overtook Ford for the number two spot and closed the gap with GM, the biggest US automaker by market capitalization.
At market close, Tesla was up 7.3 percent to $298.52 for a market capitalization of $48.63 billion.
Ford, which at one point was down as much as three percent, had a market capitalization of $45.47 billion. At its low, GM fell 4.4 percent, but maintained a market capitalization above $50.9 billion.
Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk marked the occasion on Twitter with a dig at short sellers, investors who bet that a company's stock will decline.
"Stormy weather in Shortville," Musk wrote.
- Major brands struggle -
For the industry as a whole, it may indeed be stormy weather.
Car companies failed to meet forecasts of an overall March sales increase, which fell instead industry-wide by 1.6 percent, according to an estimate by the tracking firm Autodata.
The seasonally-adjusted annual rate for US vehicle sales fell to 16.62 million units, versus 16.67 million units a year ago, Autodata reported.
Auto maker Ford reported US sales fell 7.2 percent in March 2017 compared with the previous year
Despite the bad news, there were bright spots among established auto makers.
GM saw sales gain 1.6 percent, helped by Americans' strong demand for light trucks and sport utility vehicles, as well as bigger discounts.
Nissan sales also rose, up 3.2 percent compared to March 2016, helped by its popular Rogue compact SUV.
But the news was not good for many other big players.
Ford reported that sales fell a worse-than-expected 7.2 percent, while Toyota sales dropped 2.1 percent, compared to the same period last year.
FCA US, the American arm of Fiat Chrysler, continued to struggle, reporting a five percent decline last month, while in the first three months of the year, sales were down eight percent.
Record Honda truck and SUV sales could not help the Japanese car maker notch an overall increase last month, as sales slipped 0.7 percent, when accounting for declines at its Acura luxury brand.
In an earlier forecast note, Edmunds analyst Jessica Caldwell struck a cautionary tone for the industry, saying there were several areas of concern.
"Inventories have reached levels not seen in more than a decade, and incentives are rising," Caldwell said, referring to discounts and other enticements offered to consumers.
"We're also seeing an increase in loan terms and indications of a rise in subprime lending, which demonstrate sales aren't coming as easily as they used to," she said.
But while Toyota echoed that cautionary tone, pointing to a declining selling rate, GM remained optimistic.
"More people are working, consumer confidence is at a 16-year high, fuel prices are low," Kurt McNeil, head of GM's US sales, said in a statement.
"We see more growth ahead for our brands," McNeil said.
Iran's support for Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, which also backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, concerns Israel
Israel fears an "Iranian crescent" may be forming in the Middle East because of Tehran's influence in Syria and its connections with regional Shiite groups, an intelligence official said Monday.
The comments from Chagai Tzuriel, director general of Israel's intelligence ministry, illustrate his country's growing concerns over its arch-foe Iran's involvement in the conflict in neighbouring Syria.
Iran's support for Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, which also backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, also concerns Israel, as does Tehran's influence in Iraq and its support for groups such as the Huthi rebels in Yemen.
"I think that... Israel believes that if Iran bases itself for the long run in Syria it will be a constant source of friction and tension with the Sunni majority in Syria, with the Sunni countries outside Syria, with Sunni minorities outside the region, with Israel," Tzuriel told foreign reporters.
"And I think that may be only the tip of the iceberg," he added. "We're talking here about the creation of an Iranian crescent."
Part of it, he said, involved worries that Iran could complete a "land bridge" through Iraq, Syria and Lebanon to the Mediterranean.
Israel has sought to avoid being dragged into the six-year Syrian conflict, but has acknowledged carrying out strikes to stop advanced weapons deliveries to Hezbollah, with whom it fought a devastating war in 2006.
Last month, in the most serious incident between the two countries since the Syria war began, Israeli warplanes struck several targets there, drawing retaliatory missile fire.
Israel used its Arrow interceptor to destroy what was believed to have been a Russian-made SA 5 missile, and Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman threatened to destroy Syria's air defence systems "without the slightest hesitation" if it happened again.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has held a series of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in recent months on how to avoid accidental clashes in Syria.
A "hotline" has been set up between the two countries, but Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz has said Moscow is not notified in advance of an Israeli strike.
Russia backs Assad in Syria, but Israeli officials say they are confident they can continue to coordinate with Moscow despite their differing interests.
People rally outside the South African National Treasury on April 3, 2017, in Pretoria
Credit ratings agency Standard and Poor's downgraded South Africa's rating to junk status on Monday, as pressure on President Jacob Zuma grows following a controversial cabinet shuffle.
S&P said the cut to below investment grade reflects "heightened political and institutional uncertainties" following Zuma's shock purge of critical ministers on Friday, including respected finance minister Pravin Gordhan.
The shake-up has "put at risk fiscal and growth outcomes", the ratings agency added as it downgraded South Africa to BB+ from BBB-.
The rand fell a further two percent against the US dollar on Monday night, after already suffering a five percent drop since Friday.
Moody's ratings agency said it was placing its own South Africa rating -- two notches above "junk" status -- on review for a downgrade, a decision it said was "prompted by the abrupt change in leadership of key government institutions".
Mmusi Maimane, leader of the main opposition Democratic Alliance, branded the S&P downgrade "a clear vote of no confidence in President Zuma".
The president has faced widespread criticism for replacing Gordhan with a loyalist, former home affairs minister Malusi Gigaba.
All of South Africa's main opposition parties have condemned the move, as has deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa, an ANC member, and the communist partners in the ANC's coalition government.
Opposition parties on Monday vowed to press ahead with a no-confidence vote against Zuma, as the ANC's own integrity commission delivered a stinging rebuke over the cabinet shuffle, saying it was "deeply perturbed" by the lack of consultation, according to media reports.
Shortly after his appointment, Gigaba had stressed the need to maintain South Africa's investment grade status.
The treasury issued a statement in response to the S&P downgrade saying it showed the need to "accelerate inclusive growth and development".
"Reducing reliance on foreign savings to fund investment and relying less on debt to finance public expenditure will secure South Africa's fiscal sovereignty and economic independence," it added.
The country was granted a reprieve at the end of last year when rating agencies did not drop it to the "junk" category following a series of downgrades.
- 'Remove Jacob Zuma' -
Zuma has survived several no-confidence votes in recent years.
Mmusi Maimane, leader of the main opposition Democratic Alliance, (2ndR) branded the S&P downgrade "a clear vote of no confidence in President Zuma"
But "when other motions of no confidence failed, we were not facing the crisis that we are facing currently", said the president of the African Christian Democratic Party, Kenneth Meshoe.
"Now it is not only members of the opposition that acknowledge that we have a crisis, but members of the ruling party," he said.
"This is not an academic exercise, we are serious about this," said Maimane. "We are working to remove Jacob Zuma."
With 249 seats, the ANC commands a strong majority in the 400-member parliament. For a no-confidence vote to pass, the opposition would have to secure a simple majority -- meaning at least 50 votes from ANC lawmakers.
Analysts say the no-confidence vote is unlikely to pass.
"I don't see the ANC caucus splitting ranks -- that will be quite a momentous day. It would also give far too much prominence to the opposition, which I don't think even those who dislike Zuma would want to do," said Daniel Silke, an independent analyst.
But Zuma's cabinet overhaul exposed deep divisions within the ANC, and DA officials are confident they can recruit enough support from ruling-party MPs to unseat the president.
"There are quite a number of other colleagues and comrades who are unhappy about this situation, particularly the removal of the minister of finance who was serving the country with absolute distinction," Ramaphosa, the ANC deputy president, said after the reshuffle.
Firefighters near New York's Penn Station responding to the derailment of a New Jersey Transit train
A commuter train derailed at New York's Penn Station on Monday, lightly injuring four people in the second such incident in 10 days, officials said.
The train from Trenton came off the tracks at 9:00 am as it pulled into the bustling transport hub in Manhattan at low speed causing four minor injuries, a spokesperson for New Jersey Transit told AFP.
On March 24, an Amtrak train bound for Washington also came off the rails while pulling out of the station. Both incidents caused partial disruptions.
The US rail network suffers from chronic underfunding and accidents are not infrequent, particularly on the busy East Coast corridor.
Last September one woman was killed and more than 100 people injured when a train slammed into a station at Hoboken, New Jersey in what was then the fourth deadly crash in less than three years on the East Coast.
A general view taken on March 16, 2017 shows a school that was damage in an air strike in the southern Yemeni city of Taez
US aircraft have conducted about 20 additional air strikes on Al-Qaeda in Yemen in recent days, the Pentagon said Monday, as it continues its stepped-up campaign against the jihadists.
The strikes occurred over the weekend, Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said without providing details of where or how they were conducted.
The new attacks bring the total number of strikes the United States has conducted in Yemen since February 28 to more than 70.
"We continue to target AQAP (Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula) in Yemen and this is done in the interests of disrupting this terror organization that presents a very significant threat to the United States," Davis said.
The Pentagon has increased attacks against AQAP since President Donald Trump took office in January.
An ill-fated American raid against AQAP in January left multiple civilians and a US Navy SEAL dead.
The raid was the first authorized by Trump, who drew criticism after he blamed "the generals" for having "lost" Navy SEAL Ryan Owens.
A small contingent of US forces remains on the ground in Yemen, Davis said, adding that they have not been involved in combat.
Separately from AQAP, Yemen is locked in a deadly civil war that broke out in 2015 between Iran-supported Houthi rebels and government forces backed by an Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia.
America has supported the Saudi-led coalition through weapons sales, air-to-air refueling of jets and some limited intelligence sharing.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis reportedly supports increasing military support for the Saudi-led coalition.
However, Davis said there had been no official change in the US position vis-a-vis the level of support.
"You have a great friend and ally in the United States and in me," President Donald Trump told Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (L), sweeping aside his predecessor Barack Obama's concerns about Sisi's purge of political opponents
US President Donald Trump set human rights scandals aside to welcome Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to the White House on Monday, the first such visit from an Egyptian president in almost a decade.
Greeting Sisi warmly in the Oval Office, Trump heaped praise on the former general's leadership as he sought to mend ties strained by crackdowns, revolution and counter-revolution.
"You have a great friend and ally in the United States and in me," Trump told Sisi, sweeping aside his predecessor Barack Obama's concerns about Sisi's purge of political opponents and rights activists.
The meeting symbolizes the Egyptian leader coming in from the cold, after years of being kept at arm's length by Washington.
Trump is betting that Egypt can be a partner in achieving two key goals: restarting the Middle East peace process and tackling jihadist groups.
"I just want to let everybody know that we are very much behind President al-Sisi -- he has done a fantastic job in a very difficult situation," Trump said.
Translators watch as Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (L) and US President Donald Trump shake hands in the Oval Office before a meeting at the White House April 3, 2017
The last time an Egyptian president was at the White House was in 2010, when Hosni Mubarak attended Middle East peace talks alongside Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian leaders.
Within months, Mubarak was ousted by a popular uprising, as the Arab Spring swept across the region.
Obama had angered allies in Egypt's powerful military by putting his finger on the scales, warning them against quashing protests by force.
In the months and years that followed, the Egypt-US relationship was strained further as a broadly Islamist and then a military government -- led by Sisi -- took charge.
Hundreds of demonstrators were killed and thousands jailed during the accompanying crackdown, prompting Obama to freeze military aid to Egypt -- worth roughly a billion dollars a year.
Egypt's pivotal regional role meant that aid was fully reinstated in 2015, but diplomatic relations remained difficult.
- Common cause -
Opponents of Egyptian Abdel Fattah al-Sisi chant slogans as he meets with US President Donald Trump at the White House
The catalyst for Trump and Sisi's friendship has been a common hardline stance against jihadist groups, which Sisi described as "a satanic ideology" during brief remarks at the White House.
The former New York property tycoon and the former Egyptian army general, who had no plans for a joint press conference, previously met in September when Trump's campaign was still in full swing.
Trump at the time called Sisi a "fantastic guy."
Sisi was reportedly the first to call Trump to offer his congratulations on his November election win.
In one of several public appearances, Trump gave only the slightest hint of areas of difference.
"We have many things in common, We have a few things that we don't agree on," he said. "I think that this is going to be a very productive day."
Asked directly whether human rights were discussed, Trump declined to answer.
Ahead of the meeting, a senior administration official said the topic would be handled in a "private, more discreet way."
"We believe it's the most effective way to advance those issues to a favorable outcome."
That stance was slammed by rights groups, who say tens of thousands of opponents have been arrested or are facing criminal charges.
"Inviting al-Sisi for an official visit to Washington as tens of thousands of Egyptians rot in jail and when torture is again the order of the day is a strange way to build a stable strategic relationship," said Sarah Margon, Washington director of Human Rights Watch.
Egypt's own watchdog said in a report last year that it raised 266 cases of enforced disappearances with the interior minister.
But Trump's White House, which hailed the visit as a success, in a statement late Monday applauded Sisi's "courageous efforts to promote moderate understandings of Islam, and the leaders agreed on the necessity of recognizing the peaceful nature of Islam and Muslims around the world."
- Making peace -
The thorny issue of the Palestinian-Israeli peace process was also on the agenda, the White House statement said.
Egypt and Jordan are the only two Arab states to have signed peace treaties with Israel and would likely be considered key players in any renewed peace effort.
Jordan's King Abdullah will visit the White House on Wednesday, as Trump -- a self-declared expert dealmaker -- looks to make the deal of all deals.
A senior administration official described "very positive discussions" between the US and Egyptian leaders both on Middle East peace and fighting jihadists.
But experts warn that Sisi may be unable to deliver what Trump wants on either dossier.
"Sisi's brutal repression has made Egypt a mass-production facility for violent extremism," said Michele Dunne of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Meanwhile, she added, "Egypt's leadership has become irrelevant to peace efforts in the region."
Syrian civil defence volunteers and relatives try to identify bodies of victims following reported air strikes by government forces in the rebel-held town of Douma, on the eastern outskirts of Damascus, on April 3, 2017
Air strikes by Syrian warplanes on a rebel-held region near Damascus killed at least 28 civilians on Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said.
The highest toll was in Douma, the largest town in the Eastern Ghouta region, where raids killed 22 civilians including at least two children, it said.
An AFP correspondent at the town hospital said he saw many wounded people, their faces bloodied. All the facility's beds were occupied by men, women and children.
A child burst into tears when he found his father in the hospital, the correspondent said.
Five more civilians were killed in the town of Sabqa and one in the town of Harasta, both also in Eastern Ghouta, the Observatory said.
The Eastern Ghouta region is adjacent to the capital's eastern neighbourhood of Jobar, which is divided between regime and rebel control.
Last month, the armed opposition launched a surprise assault against regime forces from Jobar, but was repelled after a week of fighting.
Eastern Ghouta has been under a devastating government siege since 2012, and is targeted regularly by air strikes and artillery.
It is the last remaining opposition stronghold near Damascus, where a string of local "reconciliation deals" have seen villages and towns brought back under the control of President Bashar al-Assad's government.
The regime is fighting to push rebels out of five neighbourhoods in Damascus.
The rebels control almost all of Qabun and Tishreen in the northeast, as well as half of Jobar in the east.
They are also present in Barzeh in the north and Tadamun in the south, but the neighbourhoods are covered by a truce with the regime.
More than 320,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since Syria's war started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and members of his government meet with the US delegation on April 3, 2017
President Donald Trump's son-in-law and top aide Jared Kushner visited Baghdad Monday with the US's top military officer, meeting Iraq's premier to discuss the fight against the Islamic State group.
The visit comes as Iraqi forces battle to retake Mosul from IS with support from US-led air strikes that have recently been criticised for causing civilian deaths in the city's west.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's office said the premier met with General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as Kushner and other officials including White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert.
They discussed "the battle of Mosul and the international coalition's support for Iraq and the training and arming of Iraqi forces in addition to the (issue) of displaced people," Abadi's office said in a statement.
Iraqi forces have been engaged in a grinding battle for west Mosul since last month, fighting that has pushed more than 200,000 civilians to flee.
Dunford asked Kushner -- who has no previous experience in government -- and Bossert to accompany him on the trip, Navy Captain Greg Hicks said in an emailed statement.
"General Dunford invited Mr Kushner and Mr Bossert to meet with Iraqi leaders, senior US advisors, and visit with US forces in the field to receive an update on the status of the counter-ISIS campaign in Iraq and Syria," Hicks said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.
"As well as receiving briefings and updates, Mr Kushner is travelling on behalf of the president to express the president's support and commitment to the government of Iraq and US personnel currently engaged in the campaign," he said.
- Civilian casualties -
"Mr Bossert is travelling in his role as assistant to the president and will participate in meetings and briefings to reinforce the strong US-Iraqi partnership to defeat ISIS," he added.
Dunford and Kushner were also to meet Iraqi Defence Minister Irfan al-Hayali, ministry spokesman Colonel Laith al-Nuaimi said.
The United States is leading an international coalition that is carrying out air strikes against IS and providing other support to forces fighting the jihadists in both Iraq and Syria.
The operation to retake Mosul, Iraq's second city, began last October, with security forces recapturing its eastern side before setting their sights on the smaller but more densely populated west.
The coalition has admitted that it "probably" played a role in recent civilian casualties in the city, but has sought to place responsibility for the deaths on IS, saying the jihadists are gathering civilians together and seeking to provoke strikes.
Despite his inexperience, Kushner has become one of the most powerful men in Washington as a trusted adviser to the president with a broad portfolio of responsibilities.
Valued by Trump for his discretion and loyalty, the baby-faced 36-year-old is officially a White House senior adviser with far-reaching influence over domestic and foreign policy.
Among other responsibilities, Trump has tapped Kushner to play a leading role in efforts to secure an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal -- an achievement that has eluded experienced policymakers for decades.
Kushner's wife Ivanka, the 35-year-old first daughter, also plays a key role in advising her father.
A regular presence in the White House since Trump's election, she officially became assistant to the president last week amid accusations about possible conflicts of interest involving the couple's business interests, worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Roger Ailes, pictured here in 2012, resigned under pressure last year as Fox News chairman
Fox News and its ousted chief Roger Ailes were hit Monday with a fresh sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a female contributor who says she was denied a job after refusing the chairman's advances.
The lawsuit by Julie Roginsky, a political strategist who was a contributing commentator, came eight months after Ailes, a confidant of the cable network's founder Rupert Murdoch, was forced out over an earlier harassment suit.
Monday's complaint filed in New York state court said Ailes repeatedly made sexual advances and inappropriate comments to Roginsky.
It said Ailes often looked down Roginsky's dress and made clear his sexual intentions during their meetings, and that when she rebuffed him, he refused to give her a promised hosting opportunity.
"Roginsky refused to engage in a sexual relationship with Ailes. As a result, Fox News and Ailes retaliated," the lawsuit said.
A lawyer for the former Fox News chief rejected the description of Roginsky's meetings with him as "total hogwash."
"Mr. Ailes vociferously denies her allegations," said a statement issued by the office of his counsel Susan Estrich.
"This copycat complaint is not about discrimination or retaliation. This is about someone who wants to pile on in a massive character assassination in order to achieve what she did not accomplish on the merits."
Roginsky's lawsuit also named Fox News co-president Bill Shine, claiming he refused Roginsky a permanent job at Fox, in part because she failed to side with Ailes in the harassment suit filed against him by on-air host Gretchen Carlson.
According to the suit, Shine retaliated against Roginsky "because of her complaints of harassment and... because (she) refused to malign Gretchen Carlson and join 'Team Roger' when Carlson sued Ailes for sexual harassment."
Roginsky seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages in the complaint against the cable channel, which did not immediately respond to an AFP query.
Ailes stepped down as chairman of Fox News and the Fox Business Network on July 21 last year in a chain of events touched off when Carlson filed a lawsuit accusing Ailes of firing her because she resisted his sexual advances.
Ailes denied the allegations but reportedly was forced to resign under pressure.
In September, Fox News settled the Carlson lawsuit for a reported $20 million, and apologized for her treatment on the job.
Separately, The New York Times reported this past weekend that Bill O'Reilly, a star Fox News commentator, has been accused of harassment by at least five women associated with the network.
It said the company and O'Reilly had paid the five women a total of $13 million in the cases that span 15 years.
O'Reilly did not deny the allegations, but said his prominence made him "vulnerable to lawsuits from individuals who want me to pay them to avoid negative publicity."
Google is taking fresh steps to help brands avoid having their ads paired with inappropriate content on YouTube
Google on Monday said it will apply machine smarts and outside eyes to help ensure brands don't find ads paired with hateful videos on YouTube.
The move come as the internet colossus scrambles to derail an advertising boycott of Google's money-making engine.
Google said it was using new machine-learning or artificial intelligence systems to enforce its policies, to help content objectionable to advertisers.
These systems will be adapted to advertiser preferences, Google said.
The tech giant also said it would work with third parties to help advertisers protect their brands from unwanted placement.
"As part of our commitment to provide even more transparency and visibility to our advertising partners, we'll be working with trusted vendors to provide third-party brand safety reporting on YouTube," a Google spokesperson said on Monday.
Google chief business officer Phillip Schindler recently apologized and said the company was taking a "tougher stance" on hateful, offensive, or derogatory content while ramping up safeguards to make sure ads only appear with acceptable material from legitimate creators.
Google has continued to downplay the effect of the boycott.
California-based Google, which has seen a slew of companies withdraw ads fearing placement alongside extremist content, has introduced new tools to give firms greater control.
The boycott began in February after the Times newspaper of London found BBC programs were promoted alongside videos posted by American white supremacist and former Ku Klux Klan member David Duke as well as Wagdi Ghoneim, an Islamist preacher banned from Britain for inciting hatred.
The analysis found more than 200 anti-Semitic videos, and that Google had failed to remove six of them within the 24-hour period mandated by the European Union after it anonymously signaled their presence.
The British government subsequently put its YouTube advertising on hold, saying in a statement, "it is totally unacceptable that taxpayer-funded advertising has appeared next to inappropriate internet content."
Others to pull the plug included the BBC, The Guardian newspaper group, McDonalds UK and the British arm of the major advertising agency Havas.
The movement spread to the United States, with AT&T and Verizon pulling ads from Google.
A solution may not be easy. Google needs to strike a balance between pleasing advertisers and those who upload videos to YouTube and are free to take their creations elsewhere if unsatisfied with their shares of ad revenue.
Some Silicon Valley companies have protested President Donald Trump's crackdown on immigration, saying it could hurt their access to talent
The Trump administration has unveiled steps to limit an immigration visa program for skilled workers often used by Silicon Valley to attract tech workers.
The moves include new measures announced Monday to detect "fraud and abuse" in the H-1B visa program, and a warning by the Justice Department to companies not to discriminate against US workers.
Guidelines released last week will require a stricter definition of the skill levels for computer programmers to qualify for the temporary visa program for jobs that cannot be filled by Americans.
These moves come as the United States opens up its annual allotment for the H-1B visa program -- a total of 85,000 slots which are quickly snapped up each year, notably by tech firms -- and after President Donald Trump's campaign pledge to limit immigration that takes away jobs from Americans.
Employers may face prosecution if they discriminate against US workers in favor of H-1B visa holders, officials said.
"The Justice Department will not tolerate employers misusing the H-1B visa process to discriminate against US workers," said acting assistant attorney general Tom Wheeler in a statement.
"US workers should not be placed in a disfavored status, and the department is wholeheartedly committed to investigating and vigorously prosecuting these claims."
The temporary H-1B visa is for three years and may be renewed for another three years.
Separately, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said it would take "multiple measures to further deter and detect H-1B visa fraud and abuse."
"The H-1B visa program should help US companies recruit highly-skilled foreign nationals when there is a shortage of qualified workers in the country," the agency said in a statement Monday.
"Yet, too many American workers who are as qualified, willing, and deserving to work in these fields have been ignored or unfairly disadvantaged."
The agency said it would take "a more targeted approach" in visits to employers with H-1B visas and would investigate companies that "abuse the H-1B visa program" to depress wages of US employees.
H-1B visas go to scientists, engineers, computer programmers or specialty occupations to fill needs -- with heavy demand in the technology sector, where firms say there is a shortage of qualified workers..
But some critics argue many of the visas are snapped up by IT outsourcing firms, which end up sending jobs overseas, largely to India.
The visa has drawn particular attention since Trump's election, with White House spokesman Sean Spicer suggesting that presidential and congressional action could be taken on H-1B visas as "part of a larger immigration reform effort."
Earthquake strikes Botswana
A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6.5 struck the southern African nation of Botswana on Monday, US seismologists said, with the tremor felt in several neighbouring countries.
The epicentre of the quake, which hit at 7:40 pm (1740 GMT), was in a sparsely populated area 238 kilometres (about 150 miles) northwest of Botswana's capital Gaborone, the US Geological Survey said.
It struck at a depth of 29 kilometres, and rumbled throughout the capital for about 30 seconds, an AFP correspondent said.
In a statement published on social media late Monday, the government of Botswana said no deaths had been reported.
"We felt the house was vibrating, all the window and door panels shaking heavily. We went outside and felt the same," a resident of Letlhakane, a village in Botswana near the epicentre, told the Earthquake Report website.
The quake was also felt in several cities in South Africa as well as in Swaziland and Zimbabwe, several hundreds of kilometres from the epicentre, witnesses said.
In central Johannesburg, two buildings were evacuated as a precaution, according to media reports.
"My whole bed was shaking. It was so scary. I didn't know what was happening," a resident of Durban, on the southeast coast of South Africa, told the News24 agency.
Earlier Monday, a smaller quake with a magnitude of 4.6 was recorded in northwestern South Africa.
Strong earthquakes are rare in southern Africa, though in 2006 Mozambique was hit by a 7.5-magnitude quake that killed four people and injured 29.
Fierce fighting between the Hamar and Kababish tribes appeared to have been sparked by a theft of camels, a Hamar tribal source said
Clashes between two Arab tribes have erupted in Sudan's West Kordofan state, causing several casualties, state media and tribal sources said Monday.
The fierce fighting between the Hamar and Kababish tribes appeared to have been sparked by a theft of camels, a Hamar tribal source said.
The clashes began Sunday when Kababish tribesman arrived in four-wheel-drive vehicles and started firing machine guns at a market in a village in West Kordofan, the source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"The fighting quickly spread and is continuing even today," he said, adding that both sides were using machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs).
"The presence of police on the ground is very small, and if the fighting continues tomorrow then the situation will turn bad," he said.
The official SUNA news agency reported that Khartoum had set up a committee to initiate reconciliation between the two tribes of nomadic camel herders, which historically have had good relations.
Osman Kababish, the West Kordofan police chief, said the situation was under control.
"We are trying to arrest those responsible for the fighting," he told SUNA.
Sudan's leading opposition Umma party said it was following the situation with "grave concern".
"The fighting has caused several casualties and the casualties are rising steadily," Umma, which has wide support in West Kordofan, said in a statement, without providing exact figures.
It was not possible to independently verify the casualties, as Khartoum limits access of international journalists to conflict areas.
Tribal clashes are frequent occurences in several regions of Sudan, including in Darfur where a conflict since 2003 has killed tens of thousands of people.
In April, as many as 20 people were killed in clashes between two rival Arab tribes in East Darfur which were sparked by livestock thefts.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer (R) hands Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke a check for part of US President Donald Trump's salary, which he donated to the National Park Service
The White House announced Monday that President Donald Trump will donate part of his salary to the US National Park Service, going some way towards meeting a campaign promise.
With some fanfare, White House spokesman Sean Spicer announced Trump had decided to donate his salary for the first quarter of 2017 to the government agency that manages parks, monuments and other conservation properties.
"It is my pleasure, on behalf of the president of the United States, to present a check for $78,333 to the secretary of the interior, Ryan Zinke," he said, amid scenes more reminiscent of a gala dinner than the White House press room.
On the campaign trail, Trump had vowed to donate his taxpayer-funded $400,000 annual salary to charity if elected. The National Park Service is not a charity, but it is the first sign Trump will hand over the cash.
The gift may be a peace offering of sorts. Trump has tangled with the agency over its tweets, which unfavorably compared the size of his inauguration crowd with that of Barack Obama's.
The National Park Service is part of the Department of the Interior, whose budget Trump has proposed cutting by more than one billion dollars.
The Sierra Club, an environmental group, called Trump's donation a "stunt."
"If Donald Trump is actually interested in helping our parks, he should stop trying to slash their budgets to historically low levels," it said.
The White House announcement came after investigative reporters at ProPublica reported Trump amended his trust -- created to curb conflicts of interest -- to make it possible to withdraw cash whenever needed.
A New Jersey teen plotted to kill Pope Francis as he visited Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 2015
A New Jersey teen pleaded guilty Monday to a plot allegedly inspired by the Islamic State group to kill Pope Francis during his 2015 visit to the United States.
The US Justice Department said Santos Colon, 15 years old at the time, sought to recruit a sniper to shoot the pope as he celebrated mass in Philadelphia on September 27, 2015. Colon also allegedly planned to set off explosives.
But the teen unwittingly recruited an undercover FBI agent for the job, and was arrested quietly 12 days before the event.
"Colon engaged someone he believed would be the sniper, but in reality was an undercover FBI employee. Colon engaged in target reconnaissance with an FBI confidential source and instructed the source to purchase materials to make explosive devices," the Justice Department said in a statement.
Court documents said Colon sought to carry out the act in support of the Islamic State group and that he had used the adopted name Ahmad Shakoor.
In a plea bargain with prosecutors, Colon, now 17, agreed to forego trial and plead guilty as an adult to one charge of providing material support to a terror group.
With the deal, prosecutors dropped three other charges filed against him as a juvenile.
Court documents said the charges were in relation to the Islamic State group, which Washington has designated a foreign terrorist organization.
But there were no details on how Colon became interested in the group and if or how he communicated with them.
Pope Francis celebrated mass for tens of thousands of followers in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the historic east coast city to cap a week-long visit for the World Meeting of Families
Colon's home is in Lindenwold, New Jersey, just east of Philadelphia.
Colon faces a maximum of 15 years in prison but sentencing would likely be held off until 2021 while he undergoes psychiatric treatment in a secure facility.
In a plea statement, Colon acknowledged having been a patient in a mental institution in the past.
French director Roman Polanski went on the run after spending 42 days in prison for the statutory rape of a 13-year-old in 1977
A US judge on Monday rejected a motion by fugitive filmmaker Roman Polanski seeking assurances that he can return to the United States without fear of being jailed for having sex with a minor four decades ago.
The Oscar-winning director of "The Pianist" and "Chinatown" was accused of drugging the 13-year-old before raping her at film star Jack Nicholson's house in Los Angeles in 1977.
He admitted statutory rape after a number of more serious charges were dropped, and spent an initial 42 days in jail before getting out on bail ahead of his trial.
But in 1978, convinced a judge was going to scrap his plea deal and send him to prison for decades, he fled for France and has been on the run ever since.
His attorney Harland Braun told Los Angeles Superior Court the 83-year-old filmmaker, who lives in Paris, had "already done his time" and wanted to resolve the case with a finding that he has completed his sentence.
Harland Braun, attorney for Roman Polanski, speaks during a hearing for People v. Roman Polanski, at Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles, on March 20, 2017
He asked Judge Scott Gordon to order prosecutors to give some indication of how much time -- if any -- they want Polanski to serve if he returns.
"The people have unambiguously stated their desire to avoid discussing any substantive issues regarding Polanski's case until he is physically present in the court's jurisdiction," Gordon wrote in a 13-page ruling.
"The district attorney is acting well within her discretion to decline to state a position to defendant absent from court and in warrant status."
The district attorney's office had objected to what they say amounted to an "advance preview" of Polanski's potential sentence.
- 'Wealthy celebrity' -
"The people simply do not believe that it is in the best interests of justice to give a wealthy celebrity different treatment from any other fugitive from justice," Deputy District Attorney Michele Hanisee said.
Judge Scott Gordon presides the hearing for People v. Roman Polanski, at Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles, on March 19, 2017
Hanisee wrote in a filing to the court that Polanski "wants answers -- but will only show up if he likes the answers."
"He forfeited his right to make requests of the court when he fled," she added.
Polanski has been engaged in a decades-long cat-and-mouse game with US officials seeking his extradition for trial, before a global audience split between continuing outrage and forgiveness for his acts.
He was arrested in Switzerland in 2009 on a US extradition request and spent 10 months under house arrest before Bern rejected the US order.
The US then asked Poland to extradite Polanski in January 2015, but the country's Supreme Court ruled in December that he had served his time under the plea deal.
Braun has written to Gordon to unseal a secret transcript of the testimony of Roger Gunson, the prosecutor in the Polanski case, collected in 2010 in the US.
The lawyer says the testimony supports Polanski's claim that he had an agreement to serve just 48 days and that -- taken with the Polish decision -- it should convince US authorities that Polanski has served his time.
A decision will be made on this motion on April 26, the court said.
Braun said he was surprised to hear about the judge's decision at the same time that the media was informed.
- Manson murders -
Lured to Hollywood in 1968, Roman Polanski shot his first big international hit, 'Rosemary's Baby', starring Mia Farrow as an expecting mother carrying the devil's spawn
"I didn't believe it when someone called me... It makes no sense, it's confusing. He's denied the motion but he's going to have a hearing about unsealing it," he told AFP.
He said he would probably speak with Polanski on Tuesday to discuss the case.
Born in Paris in 1933 to Polish Jewish parents who later brought the family back to their native country, he saw his parents arrested by the Nazis in Krakow's Jewish ghetto and sent to concentration camps.
He roamed the countryside, trying to survive at the age of just eight, helped by Catholic Polish families, in a country occupied by German troops.
The experience lent a gripping autobiographical authenticity to his 2002 movie "The Pianist," the story of a young Jewish musician trying to evade the Nazis in occupied Warsaw.
Lured to Hollywood in 1968, Polanski shot his first big international hit, "Rosemary's Baby," starring Mia Farrow as an expecting mother carrying the devil's spawn.
But tragedy struck the following year, when his heavily-pregnant wife, the model and actress Sharon Tate, and four friends were brutally slaughtered in the director's mansion by cult leader Charles Manson and his followers.
Devastated, Polanski left for Europe, then returned to achieve arguably his greatest triumph in 1974 with "Chinatown" -- an atmospheric film noir starring Jack Nicholson nominated for 11 Oscars.
He has avoided the US since the statutory rape case -- not even returning to accept the Oscar for "The Pianist."
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.
DANA POINT, Calif. (AP) - Boaters were asked Sunday to be on the lookout for a gray whale tangled in an unknown material heading north along Southern California's coast.
Capt. Frank Brennan was leading a whale-watching tour Saturday when he spotted the whale with what looks like some kind of metal frame around its head about 2 miles (3.2 km) off Dana Point.
"The whale was being evasive because there were so many boats around it," Brennan told the Orange County Register (http://bit.ly/2nLtZNS).
REMOVES REFERENCE TO CRAB TRAP - In this photo provided by Capt. Dave's Dolphin and Whale Safari, a gray whale is caught in what appears to be some kind of frame off the coast at Dana Point, Calif. on Saturday, April 1, 2017. The National Marine Fisheries Service is requesting boaters report any sightings of the tangled whale. Figures released a month earlier showed a record number of whales getting tangled in crabbing gear off the U.S. West Coast. The Center for Biological Diversity cited 71 cases of whales caught in fishing lines off California, Oregon and Washington last year. (Craig DeWitt/Capt. Dave's DolphinSafari.com via AP)
He saw it a second time later in the day off Laguna Beach.
The National Marine Fisheries Service requested that boaters report any sightings of the tangled animal. Whales caught in materials such as fishing line or crabbing gear can starve or die from infected wounds.
The mammal was seen again around sunset Saturday near Newport Beach Harbor by Capt. Dave Anderson, who runs a separate whale-watching cruise and is involved in whale rescues.
Anderson told The Associated Press it's the fourth tangled whale he has seen in the past two months.
Figures released last month showed a record number of whales getting caught in crabbing gear off the U.S. West Coast. The Center for Biological Diversity cited 71 cases of whales caught in fishing lines off California, Oregon and Washington last year. It was the highest annual total for the region since record-keeping began in 1982.
The numbers of such entanglements have been climbing yearly.
California recently passed legislation meant to encourage crabbers to remove unused crabbing gear from the ocean.
MARTINSVILLE, Virginia (AP) - Brad Keselowski had sampled success at Martinsville Speedway, but had never put everything together to get to Victory Lane.
He changed that on Sunday, passing Kyle Busch with 43 laps to go and pulling away to win for the 23rd time in his career.
"It felt like we were due, and if you ever can be, this is one of those tracks and today was one of those days where we persevered in a special way," Keselowski said.
Lots of empty seats are evident in the stands during the NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Va., Sunday, April 2, 2017. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
"The battle there with Kyle at the end was a lot of fun to be a part of. I hope it was a lot of fun to watch."
The victory came in team owner Roger Penske's 1,000th start in NASCAR's top series, and gave Ford its first victory on NASCAR's oldest and smallest track since 2002. It also made Keselowski the first two-time winner this season, and was his fifth consecutive top-five finish.
"This is one I'm never going to forget," said Keselowski, who had been the runner-up twice in the past four races here.
Keselowski or Busch led the last 160 laps and swapped the lead several times during a green flag run that began with 64 laps to go.
Keselowski had the lead coming out of the 14th and final caution, but Busch quickly slipped underneath him to go back in front. Keselowski stalked him for 14 laps, the nose of his Ford inches from the rear bumper of Busch's Toyota.
When he finally got around Busch again, he gradually pulled away, opening a lead of nearly two seconds as Busch's car, dominant for much of the day, faded. The lead paid off at the end when Keselowski had to navigate around lapped traffic. He won by 1.8 seconds.
"All we did was put four tires on, and when we did, it went to junk," Busch said of his car. "I hate it for our guys. They've deserved all year better finishes than what we've been able to produce, and here's another one today. Just frustrating season so far."
Busch led a race-high 274 laps and finished second, followed by Chase Elliott, Joey Logano and Austin Dillon.
It was the first time NASCAR tried its new stage racing on a short track, and it provided some excitement.
Martin Truex Jr. won the first stage in a three-lap sprint that featured lots of banging as drivers jostled to make the point-scoring top 10.
Elliott won stage two when Ricky Stenhouse Jr., trying to get back on the lead lap, nudged Busch on the final lap of the stage, getting Busch just loose enough for Elliott to slide underneath him to score the regular season points and coveted playoff point.
Busch said he has no problem with being bumped, as long as Stenhouse knows to expect the same treatment in reverse.
"I actually was rolling into Turn 3 and was kind of going higher out of the way and was going to let (Stenhouse) back by and give him the lap," Busch said.
"That was my intent, and then he just drove through me and cost me my spot to (Elliott). I was trying to be a nice guy."
POINTS
Even as the only multiple winner this year, and with five consecutive top-five finishes, Keselowski is just fourth in points. Kyle Larson, who finished 17th, leads by four over Elliott, and Truex is third, another 28 points behind. Keselowski trails Truex by just two points.
BABY STEPS
Elliott insisted all weekend that he struggles mightily at Martinsville, but his performance for the weekend suggested he's figuring it out.
He won Saturday's truck series race and got a playoff point in the second stage Sunday on his way to the third-place finish.
"I hope that it wasn't just a fluke deal and we didn't just get lucky today and run good," he said.
SHORT DAY
Jamie McMurray arrived with a streak of five straight top-10 finishes and hopes of finally breaking through at Martinsville.
Instead, he took a chance not fixing a tire rub under a green flag and crashed out after just 105 laps.
UP NEXT
The series heads to repaved Texas, where most drivers will get their first look at the new surface in their first practice.
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More AP racing coverage: http://racing.ap.org
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Dale Earnhardt Jr., greets fans during driver introductions for the NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Va., Sunday, April 2, 2017. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
Fans watch the start of the NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Va., Sunday, April 2, 2017. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
A race fan sports a President Donald Trump hat while waitong for the start of the NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Va., Sunday, April 2, 2017. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
Kyle Busch greets fans during driver introductions prior to the start of the NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Va., Sunday, April 2, 2017. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
Race fans look over the wrecked car of Jamie McMurray (1) as it is towed to the garage area during the NASCAR Cup series auto race at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Va., Sunday, April 2, 2017. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
Dale Earnhardt Jr. spins on the back stretch during the NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Va., Sunday, April 2, 2017. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
Kyle Busch (18) drives through Turn 4 during the NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Va., Sunday, April 2, 2017. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
Brad Keselowski celebrates after winning the NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Va., Sunday, April 2, 2017. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
Brad Keselowski (2) and Kyle Busch (18) battle for position in Turn 4 during the NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Va., Sunday, April 2, 2017. Keselowski won the race. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
Brad Keselowski celebrates after winning the NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Va., Sunday, April 2, 2017. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
NEW YORK (AP) - President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, is visiting Iraq with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, an official said Sunday night.
Details about the trip to the Middle East with Gen. Joseph Dunford were not released. A senior administration official said Kushner wanted to see the situation in Iraq for himself and show support for the Iraqi government. The official wasn't authorized to speak about confidential meetings by name and demanded anonymity.
Kushner's West Wing portfolio is robust. He has been deeply involved with presidential staffing, recently launched a task force meant to modernize government using lessons drawn from the private sector, and has played the role of shadow diplomat, advising on relations with the Middle East, Canada and Mexico.
FILE- In this Jan. 22, 2017, file photo, President Donald Trump's White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner watches as President Donald Trump, left, congratulates other White House senior staff during a swearing in ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Their reputations at risk, a coterie of President Donald Trump's associates caught up in the swirling debate about Trump and Russia are turning to a similar if unusual playbook: volunteering to testify to Congress, before even being asked. Kushner, told the Senate intelligence panel he'd gladly answer questions about his meetings with the Russian ambassador and others. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
And though Kushner had no previous diplomatic or government experience, Trump also tasked him with trying to broker a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
"If you can't produce peace in the Middle East, nobody can," Trump told Kushner at a gala a few days before his inauguration.
Kushner was also the latest Trump associate to be swept up into the ongoing probe into contacts with Russian officials. The White House confirmed last week that he had volunteered to be interviewed by the Senate intelligence committee. North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr, the committee's chairman, said that Kushner would likely be under oath and would submit to a "private interview" about arranging meetings with the Russian ambassador and other officials.
Kushner is married to Trump's oldest daughter, Ivanka. He was expected to have a major role in meetings later this week between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at Trump's winter retreat in Palm Beach, Florida.
The Iraq trip was first reported by The New York Times.
Kushner's trip began against a backdrop of an ongoing investigation into civilian deaths in an area of Mosul near the site of an air-strike by U.S.-led coalition forces last month.
His visit marked an early foray for the Trump administration into the situation in Iraq and came just two weeks after Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said he was assured by the president the U.S. will accelerate its support for his country's struggle against the Islamic State group.
Al-Abadi met with Trump and Kushner in Washington last month and said he had the impression that the Trump administration would take a more aggressive approach, although he did not say what that might entail.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis recently presented Trump with the outlines of a comprehensive approach to defeating IS and other extremist groups on a global scale, but specifics have yet to be worked out. Officials have indicated that the approach is unlikely to depart radically from the Obama administration's strategy, at least with regard to ongoing efforts in Iraq and Syria.
Iraq was part of the Trump administration's original travel ban but was removed from the revised version after a request from the Pentagon and the State Department highlighting Iraq's key role in fighting the Islamic State. The second travel ban, which restrictions immigration from six Muslim-majority countries, has been halted by a federal court. The U.S. Justice Department has announced an appeal.
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Associated Press writers Vivian Salama and Catherine Lucey in Washington contributed to this report.
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Follow Lemire on Twitter at http://twitter.com/@JonLemire
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - Hundreds of protesters demonstrated against the Afghan president's visit to Australia on Monday, calling for his government to end discrimination against the Hazara ethnic minority and to refuse to repatriate asylum seekers rejected by Australia.
The protesters gathered outside Government House, where Ashraf Ghani met with Governor-General Peter Cosgrove on the first visit to Australia by an Afghan president.
Hazara protester Barat Ali Batoor said the security situation in Afghanistan had deteriorated too much for members of the Hazara community for the Afghan government to continue to accept asylum seekers rejected by Australia. Afghanistan signed a memorandum of understanding with Australia in 2011 to accept failed Afghan asylum seekers.
Protesters with a cutout of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani demonstrate against his visit to Australia outside Government House where Ghani met with Governor-General Peter Cosgrove, in Canberra Monday, April 3, 2017. Hundreds of protesters demonstrated against his visit, calling for his government to end discrimination against the Hazara ethnic minority and to refuse to repatriate asylum seekers rejected by Australia. (AP Photo/Rod McGuirk)
"There needs to be a moratorium on any more forced repatriations," Batoor said.
Ghani arrived in the Australian capital, Canberra, late Sunday.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the visit reflected a strong bond between the two countries.
"During this visit, discussions will focus on our ongoing security and development cooperation to help Afghanistan in its efforts to become more prosperous, secure and self-reliant," Turnbull said in a statement.
"In particular, we will seek to enhance partnership between our nations in a number of fields including women's and girls' empowerment, public sector capacity building and agricultural productivity," he added.
Ghani will lay a wreath at the Australian War Memorial on Monday before he meets with Turnbull.
Australia has lost 41 troops in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.
Protesters with a cutout of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani demonstrate against his visit to Australia outside Government House where Ghani met with Governor-General Peter Cosgrove, in Canberra Monday, April 3, 2017. Hundreds of protesters demonstrated against his visit, calling for his government to end discrimination against the Hazara ethnic minority and to refuse to repatriate asylum seekers rejected by Australia. (AP Photo/Rod McGuirk)
Protesters demonstrate against Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's visit to Australia, outside Government House where Ghani met with Governor-General Peter Cosgrove, in Canberra Monday, April 3, 2017. Hundreds of protesters demonstrated against his visit, calling for his government to end discrimination against the Hazara ethnic minority and to refuse to repatriate asylum seekers rejected by Australia. (AP Photo/Rod McGuirk)
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - An international human rights group on Monday accused Israel of barring foreign researchers from entering the Gaza Strip to document abuses, saying the restrictions call into question Israel's stated commitment to investigating possible rights violations.
In a 47-page report, Human Rights Watch accused Israel of "systematically" preventing its researchers from visiting Gaza since 2008, only granting them one exceptional permit last year. The group also said that Egypt has prevented it and London-based Amnesty International from entering Gaza from its territory since 2012.
Israel and Egypt have imposed a blockade on Gaza, home to nearly 2 million people, since the militant Hamas group took over the territory in 2007. Israel and Hamas, an Islamic group sworn to Israel's destruction, have fought three wars since then.
International rights groups have accused both sides of committing war crimes, while the International Criminal Court is conducting a preliminary investigation into possible wrongdoing by both sides.
Israel has long accused Human Rights Watch of being unfairly biased against it. Last month, Israel refused to grant a work permit to the New York group's regional director, though it later allowed him to visit the country as a tourist.
Human Rights Watch said the Israeli restrictions cast doubt on the government's claims that it is conducting its own investigations and there is no need for the ICC to get involved.
"If Israel wants the ICC prosecutor to take seriously its argument that its criminal investigations are adequate, a good first step would be to allow human rights researchers to bring relevant information to light," said Sari Bashi, Israel and Palestine advocacy director at Human Rights Watch.
The report also criticized Egypt for barring access to Gaza, and for Hamas' refusal to cooperate with investigators. It said Hamas has failed to protect local human rights workers from retribution and sometimes arrested or harassed its critics.
The absence of foreign rights investigators, who are less susceptible to Hamas pressure, limits the ability of Palestinian rights groups from documenting abuses by Hamas, the report said.
The three parties "should change their policies to protect the vital work of human rights groups seeking to protect Palestinians and Israelis from abuses by the authorities and armed groups," Bashi said.
Cogat, the Israeli defense body that coordinates access to Gaza, denied barring rights groups from visiting the enclave.
It said in a statement that it allows over 1,000 people to cross through the border each day for a variety of purposes, including business, medical treatment and academic studies, and said all criteria are in line with security needs.
"We coordinate the crossing of many human rights organizations," it said, naming the group "Doctors Without Borders" as an example. The statement made no mention of Human Rights Watch or Amnesty.
Cogat accused Hamas of trying to exploit Gaza civilians traveling through Israel for military purposes, "causing a constant tension between the will to help the civilian Gaza residents and our duty to protect the citizens of Israel."
NORTH SMITHFIELD, R.I. (AP) - Should U.S. high school students know at least as much about the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Federalist papers as immigrants passing a citizenship test?
In a growing number of school systems, having such a basic knowledge is now a graduation requirement. But states are taking different approaches to combating what's seen as a widespread lack of knowledge about how government works.
Kentucky last week and Arkansas on March 16 became the latest of more than a dozen states since 2015 that have required the high school social studies curriculum to include material covered by the 100 questions asked on the naturalization exam. Lawmakers in other states, including Minnesota, are hoping to foster even deeper understanding of the fundamentals of American democracy by adding a full course to study its most important documents.
In this Wednesday, March 8, 2017 photo, high school teacher Natalie O'Brien, center, hands out papers during a civics class called "We the People," at North Smithfield High School in North Smithfield, R.I. More states are requiring graduating high school students to know at least as much about the U.S. founding documents as immigrants passing a citizenship test. Boosting civics literacy has been a bipartisan cause. But some advocates say a mandate to test government trivia is too simplistic. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
"Rights might be inherent, but ideas need to be taught," said Maida Buckley, a retired classroom teacher in Fairbanks, Alaska, who testified last year to an Alaskan legislative task force on civics education. "When you have a system of government that's based on ideas, espoused in the Declaration of Independence and carried out with a working document in the Constitution, those ideas need to be taught."
It's a bipartisan cause, and in many states such bills are jointly introduced by Republicans and Democrats. But proponents' motivations vary from dismay about the lack of participation in local school boards and town halls to concerns about how Republican President Donald Trump and his supporters view the power of the executive branch.
"We clearly have seen there is a serious civics deficiency in this country, all the way up to the top, the very top," said Rhode Island Democratic state Rep. Gregg Amore, a longtime high school history teacher who is co-sponsoring legislation that contends the "survival of the republic" depends on Americans understanding its principles and history.
A campaign by the Scottsdale, Arizona-based Joe Foss Institute has led many states to pass laws requiring students to know what's on the citizenship test.
"It's not a panacea or silver bullet, but it's a step forward," said the group's Lucian Spataro, who said 17 states have adopted the model or something similar. "You have to learn the basics before you can have the higher-level discussions."
Other civics education boosters say such a mandate is too simplistic.
"If you do something like that, people are going to start teaching to the test and teaching a game of Trivial Pursuit," said Charles Quigley, executive director of the Calabasas, California-based Center for Civic Education. "Kids are already tested to death."
The Rhode Island bill, introduced by a Republican from North Smithfield, a conservative town where Trump is popular, is partly inspired by a ninth-grade class taught at North Smithfield High School. The honors class uses the "We the People" curriculum developed by Quigley's group. Students participate in a national competition in which they must orally defend their ideas.
On a March afternoon, teenagers stood at their classroom's lectern one by one, debating whether a California police officer can search a suspected gang member's smartphone without a warrant.
As they argued, some cited language from the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment. Others looked to Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis' 1928 dissenting opinion in a wiretapping case.
Their teacher, Natalie O'Brien, gently prodded them to think critically and tap into more than 200 years of American history and legal philosophy. She didn't tell them that, in 2014, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled in the California case that police may not generally search the cellphones of people they arrest without first getting search warrants.
"Someone's going to channel James Madison, right?" she said. "What would Brandeis be saying about this particular decision? What would the founders be saying?"
North Smithfield High student Megan Skinner said she didn't pay much attention to politics before O'Brien's class, but the 15-year-old now said she now uses the founding U.S. documents as a guide as family and friends debate the Trump presidency.
"It gives us an entirely new perspective on all the events that are going on," Skinner said. "You see all these things in the news, and especially about the election, and all the things that are going on with the executive orders he passed, the travel bans. Before this class, we wouldn't have understood these things."
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Can you pass the U.S. citizenship test? Try it out here .
In this Wednesday, March 8, 2017 photo, high school students Jackson Laferriere, left, and Noah Lemoine fill out work sheets as teacher Natalie O'Brien, top center, speaks with students during a civics class called "We the People," at North Smithfield High School in North Smithfield, R.I. More states are requiring graduating high school students to know at least as much about the U.S. founding documents as immigrants passing a citizenship test. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
In a growing number of states, high school graduates are being required to know at least as much about U.S. founding documents as immigrants passing the citizenship test. Can you ace it?
An applicant must correctly answer six of 10 questions, selected from 100 possible questions, to pass the civics portion. A sample test, with the answers at the bottom:
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In this Wednesday, March 8, 2017 photo, high school teacher Natalie O'Brien, center, hands out papers during a civics class called "We the People," at North Smithfield High School in North Smithfield, R.I. More states are requiring graduating high school students to know at least as much about the U.S. founding documents as immigrants passing a citizenship test. Boosting civics literacy has been a bipartisan cause. But some advocates say a mandate to test government trivia is too simplistic. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
QUESTIONS
1. What does the Constitution do?
2. The idea of self-government is in the first three words of the Constitution. What are these words?
3. What is an amendment?
4. What do we call the first 10 amendments to the Constitution?
5. How many amendments does the Constitution have?
6. What are two rights in the Declaration of Independence?
7. Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the federal government. What is one power of the federal government?
8. The Federalist Papers supported the passage of the Constitution. Name one of the writers.
9. There are four amendments to the Constitution about who can vote. Describe one of them.
10. What is one right or freedom from the First Amendment?
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ANSWERS
1. Sets up the government, defines the government and protects basic rights of Americans
2. We the People
3. A change or an addition to the Constitution
4. The Bill of Rights
5. 27
6. Life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness
7. To print money, to declare war, to create an army or to make treaties
8. James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay (under the collective pseudonym Publius)
9. Citizens 18 and older can vote; you don't have to pay to vote; any citizen can vote, a male citizen of any race can vote
10. Speech, religion, assembly, press, petition the government
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SOURCE: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) - Armenia's ruling party has won just under half of the vote in the nation's parliamentary election, enough to claim a majority of seats, authorities said Monday.
Sunday's election was the first since the ex-Soviet nation modified its constitution to expand the powers of parliament and the prime minister.
The Republican Party of Armenia, led by President Serzh Sargsyan, won 49 percent of the vote, and the bloc led by businessman Gagik Tsarukian trailed with 27 percent, the Central Election Commission said on Monday after all ballots were counted.
Armenia's President Serzh Sargsyan arrives at a polling station during a parliamentary election in Yerevan, Armenia, Sunday, April 2, 2017. Armenians voted Sunday in the country's first parliamentary election since the ex-Soviet nation modified its constitution to expand the powers of parliament and the prime minister. (PAN Photo, Davit Hakobyan/Photo via AP)
Two more parties cleared the 5-percent barrier necessary to get seats in parliament. The official results are to be announced later this week.
Critics see the constitutional amendments as part of Sargsyan's efforts 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 that.
The observer mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said in a statement on Monday that the vote was "well administered and fundamental freedoms were generally respected." The mission, however, pointed to reports of vote-buying, and pressure on civil servants and employees of private companies.
"Reform is a never-ending process, and I encourage the parliamentary majority and the new government to continue their efforts to transform the country's political culture, in partnership with the opposition, civil society and the international community," Ignacio Sanchez Amor, the mission's special coordinator, said in the statement.
A woman uses the light of her cell phone to search for her name to vote, at a polling station during a parliamentary election in Yerevan, Armenia, Sunday, April 2, 2017. Armenians voted Sunday in the country's first parliamentary election since the ex-Soviet nation modified its constitution to expand the powers of parliament and the prime minister. (PAN Photo, Vahan Stepanyan/Photo via AP)
TOKYO (AP) - President Donald Trump is suggesting ahead of his meeting later this week with Chinese President Xi Jinping that he can handle Washington's North Korea problem with or without Beijing's help - "totally."
Is the self-proclaimed master of the deal doing what he does best - talking up his game?
Even Trump said going it alone is not his Plan A. While declaring the U.S. is ready to deal with Pyongyang on its own, Trump stressed in an interview with the Financial Times that he'd rather - much rather, actually - have Beijing on board. China, he noted, has the most influence over the North economically and politically.
FILE - This combination of file photos shows U.S. President Donald Trump on March 28, 2017, in Washington, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Feb. 22, 2017, in Beijing. Trump is suggesting ahead of his two-day meeting starting Thursday, April 6, 2017 with Xi that with or without Beijing's help, he can "totally" handle North Korea, but his solution would have to be pretty clever. (AP Photo/Files)
But can he sway Beijing into doing more of what Washington wants? The big meeting is set to take place at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in South Florida on Thursday and Friday.
Here's a closer look at some of the rhetoric being tossed around, by Trump in the interview released Sunday, and by a top U.S. official:
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TRUMP: "China has great influence over North Korea. And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they won't. And if they do that will be very good for China, and if they don't it won't be good for anyone."
THE CONTEXT: China is without doubt a lifeline for North Korea. It accounts for about 90 percent of the North's trade and is a key supplier of fuel and many of the other necessities that keep the North's economy running. If Beijing were to aggressively clamp down on all its trade with Pyongyang, North Korea would certainly feel the pain - and possibly collapse.
The question, however, is what Trump means by "help."
Sanctions advocates in the U.S. believe that with just the right amount of pressure, North Korea can be coerced into giving up its nuclear weapons. But that's not a certainty. Too much pressure could also lead to open conflict with a tremendously high cost in casualties and deaths, wreaking havoc on the Chinese, South Korean and Japanese - and by extension U.S. - economies. A North Korean implosion, meanwhile, could be even more problematic, causing a massive refugee crisis. As Beijing well knows, that would impact China far more dramatically than the faraway U.S.
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TRUMP: According to the Financial Times report, when pressed on whether the U.S. really could resolve the North Korean denuclearization problem without China, he said, "Totally."
"I don't have to say any more. Totally."
THE CONTEXT: So there it is, the tease.
If Trump does have a dramatic solution to this problem, it will have to be pretty clever. And the stakes are extremely high.
Back in 1994, President Bill Clinton considered a pre-emptive strike to take out North Korea's nuclear weapons' building capability. That was ruled out as too risky. He chose negotiations, and those failed, too, after George W. Bush took over.
Fast forward to today, and North Korea has a nuclear arsenal. It may already be able to hit Japan and the tens of thousands of U.S. troops based there with nuclear warheads. It could be just a few years - if that - away from having an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland.
Whatever Trump has in mind, any change in the status quo that comes about without China's participation, or Russia's, is likely to antagonize North Korea's two nuclear-armed neighbors.
Trump may not need to tell a newspaper what his plan is. But if he's got one, leaders across Asia are all ears.
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AND P.S., FROM YOUR U.N. AMBASSADOR: Trump's ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, also had some tough talk over the weekend - but it conflicted with the president's.
She said on ABC's "This Week" that China needs "to show us how concerned they are ... They need to put pressure on North Korea. The only country that can stop North Korea is China, and they know that."
THE CONTEXT: If Haley is right and China is the only country that can stop North Korea, it stands to reason the U.S. can't resolve this issue alone. And no one expects it to.
U.N. resolutions and unilateral sanctions imposed on North Korea have so far failed to deter it from conducting nuclear and missile tests. Last year, the North conducted two nuclear tests and two dozen tests of ballistic missiles. During his swing through Asia last month, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the past 20 years of U.S. policy toward North Korea have been a failure. In fact, that could be extended all the way back to President Truman and the Korean War, which - thanks to China's decision to back the North - ended not in a peace treaty in 1953 but in an armistice.
So what would the U.S. actually do if China doesn't cooperate?
"China has to cooperate," Haley said.
Pirates have seized a small boat and kidnapped its 11 Indian crew members off the coast of Somalia, an investigator said on Monday, as it became the latest vessel targeted by the region's resurgent hijackers.
The attack on the small ship happened on Saturday as the vessel passed through the narrow channel between Yemen's Socotra Island and the Somali coast, said Graeme Gibbon Brooks, CEO of Dryad Maritime, a shipping security firm.
The pirates are taking the vessel to the Eyl area of northern Somalia, he said. There was conflicting information over the boat's name and where it was heading.
The 11 Indian crew members were attacked off the coast of Somalia (file pic)
Brooks said the small dhow, a traditional wooden sailing ship common in regional waters, initially was heading from Dubai to Bosaso, Somalia.
Malini Shankar of the Indian Directorate General of Shipping told the Press Trust of India news agency that the vessel was instead heading to Yemen, where a Saudi-led war against Shiite rebels holding its capital has raged for years.
Other Indian media reported the boat was heading to Mukalla, a southern port city once occupied by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula that has since been captured by Saudi-led forces. India's Ministry of External Affairs said it was trying to gather information about the hijacking.
Databases also showed the boat was named either the MV Al Kausar or the MV Al Kaushar. It wasn't immediately known what cargo the vessel is carrying or who owns or operates it.
Frustrations have been rising among Somali fishermen, including former pirates, at what they say are foreign fishermen illegally fishing in local waters (file pic)
Lt. Ian McConnaughey, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet in Bahrain, said sailors there are 'aware of the reports and we are monitoring the situation.' The 5th Fleet oversees regional anti-piracy efforts.
Piracy off Somalia's coast was once a serious threat to the global shipping industry. It has lessened in recent years after an international effort to patrol near the country, whose weak central government has been trying to assert itself after a quarter-century of conflict. Since then, concerns about piracy off Africa's coast have largely shifted to the West Africa's Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean.
But frustrations have been rising among Somali fishermen, including former pirates, at what they say are foreign fishermen illegally fishing in local waters.
In March, Somali pirates hijacked the Comoros-flagged oil tanker Aris 13, marking the first such seizure of a large commercial vessel since 2012. They later released the vessel and its Sri Lankan crew without conditions, Somali officials said at the time.
Piracy off Somalia's coast was once a serious threat to the global shipping industry (file pic)
Pirates in late March also seized a fishing trawler, which police warned could be used for further piracy.
Dryad Maritime, the maritime safety company in Britain, is warning its clients to stay at least 100 nautical miles away from the so-called Socotra gap over piracy concerns.
'The fact they've taken three now in a row is an indicator or a warning of a growing problem' Brooks said. 'I don't think they are going to stop doing this.'
BERLIN (AP) - Germany's Foreign Minister thanked his Turkish counterpart Monday for granting consular access to a German-Turkish journalist detained since January, the first positive development between the two NATO partners after weeks of acrimony.
The detention of Deniz Yucel on charges of producing terrorist propaganda and incitement to hatred was one of several issues that have caused friction between Ankara and Berlin in recent months.
Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said that he had pressed Germany's case for diplomatic access to Yucel in one-on-one talks with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu on the sidelines of a NATO meeting on Friday, and that Cavusoglu came through, telling him verbally on the weekend it would be granted.
FILE - In this July 21, 2016 file photo German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yucel ia pictured during a talkshow in Berlin, Germany. Turkey told German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel on Monday, April 3, 2017 that Germany could send diplomats to talk with Yucel on Tuesday, the ministry said. (Karlheinz Schindler/dpa via AP, file)
"This morning Turkey also officially confirmed that we will receive access to Deniz Yucel tomorrow finally so that we can determine for ourselves his wellbeing after difficult days in custody," Gabriel said in a statement.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has alleged the reporter for Die Welt was a German spy and a "representative" of the Kurdish PKK rebel group - all of which the newspaper denies.
Germany has pressed repeatedly for consular access to Yucel, something Turkey was not obliged to provide because the reporter is also a Turkish citizen.
In comments last week, Gabriel slammed Turkey for preventing access, saying "one must almost assume that Yucel is serving the Turkish leadership as a political football in a dirty election campaign."
Yucel's case is just one of several spats to arise between Ankara and Berlin over the past year - at a time when Germany and the rest of the European Union are looking to Turkey for its support in the fight against the Islamic State and in helping slow and regulate the flow of migrants into Europe.
Turkish officials' attempts to rally support among their citizens living in Germany last month for a referendum over whether to expand Erdogan's power caused widespread irritation in Germany, and several of their public events were canceled. That caused Erdogan to accuse German officials of acting like Nazis which, in turn, prompted strong condemnation of the Turkish president's words from Chancellor Angela Merkel.
There are some 3 million people of Turkish origin in Germany, almost half of whom were eligible to vote in the referendum.
There was further sniping between the two governments last week, after German officials revealed that Turkey's foreign intelligence agency MIT had provided them a list of suspected supporters of a U.S.-based cleric, who Turkey claims was behind last year's failed coup.
Turkey asked Germany to put the people under surveillance, but instead Germany warned those on the list, which reportedly included a member of German Parliament, they were under Turkish suspicion.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim called the German move "not ethical."
A German parliament resolution labeling the early-20th century killing of Armenians in Turkey as "genocide" and an offensive poem about Erdogan by a German comic have also soured relations between the two countries.
BERLIN (AP) - The German government says there's no need for new legislation to regulate Islamic organizations in the country.
Members of Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right Christian Democratic Union party have called for a ban on foreign funding of Islamic organizations, and for Muslims to get statutory rights to pastoral care from an imam in prisons and hospitals.
Government spokesman Steffen Seibert said Monday that such a law was "a non-issue" at the moment and noted that religious freedom is guaranteed by the German constitution.
The arrival of hundreds of thousands of Muslim migrants in Germany in recent years has rekindled public debates about the country's relationship with Islam.
A recent report by public broadcaster ARD found that the Islam preached in some mosques is more conservative than in many Muslim countries.
NILES, Mich. (AP) - Officials say the last person hospitalized after a carbon monoxide leak in a southwestern Michigan hotel that killed a 13-year-old boy has been released.
Lakeland Hospital in Niles says the hotel worker was released from the hospital Sunday after earlier being reported in good condition.
Employees at the Quality Inn & Suites in Niles called 911 Saturday morning after seeing unresponsive children on the pool deck. Police say Bryan Douglas Watts of Niles was pronounced dead at a hospital. Investigators say a pool heater was not properly ventilated.
Memorial Hospital of South Bend, Indiana, said a police officer and three other children were treated and released Saturday and five more children were released Sunday. Lakeland Hospital said four law enforcement officers were treated and released on Saturday.
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Director Christopher Nolan has spent his career bending minds (and cities) with his films. He works on a scale that is stubbornly and obsessively cinematic and it seems that no concept, be it Batman or the multiverse or dreams, is too big for the visionary filmmaker.
His latest movie, "Dunkirk," out July 21, takes him out of the fantasy world and into reality and the storied evacuation of Allied soldiers from that beach in France in May and June of 1940.
Nolan spoke to The Associated Press about "Dunkirk" at the recent CinemaCon in Las Vegas, where he was promoting his epic to theater owners:
FILE - In this Wednesday, March 29, 2017, file photo, Christopher Nolan, director of the upcoming film "Dunkirk," discusses the film onstage during the Warner Bros. Pictures presentation at CinemaCon 2017 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. His latest film, "Dunkirk" takes him out of the fantasy world and into reality and the evacuation of the Allied soldiers from that beach in France in May and June of 1940. Nolan spoke to The Associated Press about "Dunkirk," which sails into theaters on July 21. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
AP: Why Dunkirk?
Nolan: As a filmmaker you're always looking for a gap in cultural movies and Dunkirk is a story British people are raised on. It's in our DNA practically. But it has not been addressed in the movies. So for me, it was a very exciting gap. I've spent a number of years trying to figure out what's the angle of approach, what's the angle of attack for getting the story across? So we came upon the notion of creating a very experiential film, one that rather than trying to address the politics of the situation, the geopolitical situation, would really put you on the beach where 400,000 people are trapped, surrounded by the enemy closing in and faced with annihilation or surrender. The fact the story ended with neither annihilation nor surrender makes it one of the greatest stories in human history.
AP: How did you approach it?
Nolan: The approach is trying to take the full experience and put the audience there. What would it be like to be on the beach? To be on a boat trying to cross the channel? It's a huge challenge, but exactly the kind of challenge that you look for in film.
AP: You have said the film is less about character than survival. Can you explain what you mean?
Nolan: I feel like Dunkirk is such a universal event and it involves so many people that to try to encapsulate the specific detail of the human experience wasn't the way to go. What we decided to do was to really try and live in the moment of the experience ... the very immediate and human desire to survive. It's the most human movie I've ever made because it's about the desire for survival. We wanted to tackle that and make what I refer to as a very present tense narrative where you're in the moment with the characters. You're not necessarily spending too much time discussing who they were before or who they will be after.
AP: This film has been rated PG-13. Was that a choice you made?
Nolan: All of my big blockbuster films have been PG-13. It's a rating I feel comfortable working with totally. "Dunkirk" is not a war film. It's a survival story and first and foremost a suspense film. So while there is a high level of intensity to it, it does not necessarily concern itself with the bloody aspects of combat, which have been so well done in so many films. We were really trying to take a different approach and achieve intensity in a different way. I would really like lots of different types of people to get something out of the experience.
AP: Is there any truth to the report that the production bought a $5 million vintage plane to crash?
Nolan: No. We used real antique vintage planes and flew them for the movie but we also constructed full scale models to destroy. A lot of money was involved but not that much money. I would never! Obviously never ... These planes are so beautiful and so valuable for so many reasons and the respect I have for them having done this, especially now having worked with them. The Spitfire is the most glorious machine.
AP: And you tell the story from three points of view?
Nolan: The story needs to be told from different points of view intertwined. We spend time looking at various points of view. On the beach. In the air. Out on the sea.
AP: Do you feel like you've evolved at all since "Interstellar"?
Nolan: It's not really for me to speak to the bigger creative issues, but from a technical point of view, to me "Dunkirk" is a story that I've wanted to tell for a long time but did not have the technical expertise to be able to. We shot the entire film on large format celluloid film, which has never been done before. With each film we've always included some IMAX photography, but this film is almost entirely in IMAX and what isn't is large format. It should be a very strong presentation.
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WASHINGTON (AP) - New Hampshire voters can keep taking pictures of themselves and their completed ballots.
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the state's bid to revive a law prohibiting voters from taking such pictures. The justices left in place lower court rulings that struck down the law as an unconstitutional restriction on voters' free-speech rights.
The state had argued the ban was necessary to prevent vote buying and voter coercion. In the most recent ruling, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals called it an overly broad solution to an unsubstantiated and hypothetical danger.
"We repeat the old adage: 'a picture is worth a thousand words,'" the appeals court said.
Roughly two dozen states prohibit voters from sharing photos of themselves with their ballots. But those laws are under legal attack, with mixed results. Just before the November election, a judge in New York upheld that state's prohibition on ballot selfies, while a judge in Colorado said voters could take pictures of themselves with their ballots.
New Hampshire's law, which took effect in September 2014, made posting a photo of a completed ballot a violation punishable by a fine of up to $1,000. The American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire sued on behalf of three voters, including a man who voted for his dead dog because he didn't approve of the candidates and posted a photo of the ballot online.
Gilles Bissonnette, legal director for ACLU-NH, called the Supreme Court's decision a victory for the First Amendment.
"The best way to combat vote buying and voter coercion is to investigate and prosecute cases of vote buying and coercion, not ban innocent political speech," he said. "Our hope is that, now that this case is finally over, other states will understand that they cannot ban this form of innocent political expression."
The New Hampshire attorney general's office declined to comment Monday.
ROME (AP) - The family of an Italian graduate student tortured to death in Egypt is urging Pope Francis to seek information about the case during his upcoming visit to Cairo.
The parents of Giulio Regeni made the appeal Monday at the Italian Senate on the same day the Vatican released details of Francis' April 28-29 trip, which includes a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.
Mother Paola Regeni said: "We're certain that the pope won't forget about Giulio during this trip, joining our concrete request for the truth to finally have peace."
Regeni disappeared Jan. 25, 2016, in Cairo. His body was found along a highway nine days later bearing signs of torture. Italian prosecutors have consistently complained of a lack of cooperation from Egypt in determining who killed him.
You know to contribute enough to your 401(k) to get the full company match. Maybe you've even adjusted your withholding so you're not giving Uncle Sam an interest-free loan.
Yet you may feel the need to do even more, especially if you're making the last big push toward retirement. These hacks allow you to shelter more money from taxes now and when you retire. They include:
-Last-minute 529 deductions. You'll get the most value from state-based college savings plans if you have many years for your contributions to grow. But you may be able to wring a last-minute tax benefit even if your child is about to head off to college or is already there. Most states offer deductions or credits for contributions and don't have minimum holding periods, said Andrea Feirstein, managing director of AKF Consulting Group, which advises 529 plans. You can contribute to the plan and pull the money out shortly thereafter to pay college bills. In states that do have holding periods, such as Michigan, you may have to deposit the money one year and withdraw it the next to qualify for the deduction. You can find a complete list of tax benefits by state at SavingForCollege.com , but you should call the plan you're considering to ask about any fees or holding periods.
FILE - This file photo provided by NerdWallet shows Liz Weston, a columnist for personal finance website NerdWallet.com. (Dylan Entelis/NerdWallet via AP, File)
-Using HSAs to supercharge your retirement savings. Health savings accounts are designed to help people pay their share of high-deductible medical insurance plans. But they offer a rare triple tax break: Your contributions are deductible going in, your money grows tax-deferred, and withdrawals are tax-free if used to pay for qualified medical services. Some financial experts are so enamored of the benefits that they recommend funding an HSA even before contributing enough to a 401(k) to get the full company match. To take full advantage of this strategy, though, HSA owners need to leave the money alone to grow, which means paying deductibles and copays out of their own pockets - and those amounts can be steep. For a family, the maximum out-of-pocket expense for 2017 is $13,100.
-Backdoor Roth contributions. Roth IRAs offer tax-free withdrawals in retirement. That's a big deal for those with enough time to let the magic of compounding work. Would you rather pay no taxes on $5,500 today (the maximum contribution) or no taxes on many times that amount when you retire? But the ability to contribute ends when your modified adjusted gross income in 2017 exceeds $133,000 if you're a single filer or $196,000 for married couples filing jointly. The "backdoor " Roth allows taxpayers to get around those limits. They contribute first to traditional IRAs and then convert those to Roth IRAs, since there's no income limit on Roth conversions. Income taxes are typically owed on conversions, but the bill could be low or even zero if the taxpayer doesn't take a deduction and doesn't have much or any money in IRAs outside of the one being converted. (Taxes on a conversion are based on the proportion of the taxpayer's IRA holdings that hasn't yet been taxed.)
-Mega backdoor Roth contributions. Many people can do a backdoor Roth, but the stars really have to align for a mega version to be possible. Once again, you're contributing after-tax money to a retirement account and then quickly converting it to a Roth vehicle. This time, though, the account you're using is a 401(k) that allows after-tax contributions beyond the usual deferral limits of $18,000 annually, plus a $6,000 catch-up provision for people 50 and older. The IRS actually allows up to $53,000 to be contributed to a 401(k), including pretax, after-tax and employer contributions. If your 401(k) plan allows these additional options - and most don't - that means you could put up to $35,000 more into your account. You can roll this money into a Roth IRA when you quit or retire, but there could be a lot of gains that would trigger taxes. By contrast, if you can do frequent "in-plan" conversions - rolled over in the same plan - to a Roth 401(k), or "in-service" conversions - done while you are still working - to a Roth IRA, those gains and any taxes would be minimized. It's not clear how many 401(k) plans allow both after-tax contributions and in-plan or in-service conversions; it's certainly not the majority. It's worth checking with yours, though, since you could be funneling thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars more into Roths each year.
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This column was provided to The Associated Press by the personal finance website NerdWallet .
Liz Weston is a certified financial planner and columnist at NerdWallet. Email: lweston@nerdwallet.com . Twitter: @lizweston .
RELATED LINKS:
NerdWallet: How to Set Up a Backdoor Roth IRA: https://nerd.me/2nuKZJn
Savingforcollege.com: State-by-state plan details: http://www.savingforcollege.com/529_plan_details/
KINSHASA, Congo (AP) - Authorities say a brutal armed group in southern Congo blamed for murdering a U.N. team has killed at least eight people over the weekend.
The fighters loyal to traditional leader Kamwina Nsapu launched their attack on Luebo late Friday. Among the victims was the area administrator's wife.
Joseph Mbuyi Mubenga said after killing his wife, the fighters mutilated her body, decapitating her and taking her head, hands and feet.
Mubenga told U.N.-backed Radio Okapi that the attackers also set fire to administrative buildings including the prison as well as a local convent of nuns.
Violence is mounting in three neighboring provinces in southern Congo, where more than 400 civilians have been killed since August including two U.N. experts and their interpreter. Three others working with that team remain missing.
Bill Evans Trio, "On A Monday Evening" (Fantasy Records)
"On A Monday Evening" is the first release of a 1976 recording by the Bill Evans Trio, an autumn concert in Wisconsin that finds the influential pianist and his partners in outstanding form.
Sharing the stage with bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Eliot Zigmund on Evans originals like "Sugar Plum" and "Time Remembered" or standards like "All of You" and "Someday My Prince Will Come," the leader and his ensemble's improvisational brilliance makes this release well worth discovering.
This cover image released by Fantasy Records shows "On A Monday Evening," a release by Bill Evans Trio. (Fantasy Records via AP)
Recorded at the University of Wisconsin's Madison Union Theater by radio DJs who interviewed Evans then, the sound is well-balanced, surprisingly good mono and feels intimate despite the large auditorium.
The impact of Bill Evans on jazz pianists and beyond - from Keith Jarrett to Lyle Mays to Fred Hersch - has been described as "overpowering." From his contributions to Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" to his groundbreaking trio with Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian, Evans innovated, fascinated and entertained in large measure.
Gomez, who spent over a decade with Evans, and Zigmund, whose tenure in the 1970s was shorter but also well regarded, provide not only imaginative support but also exceptional creative skills developing deep musical feedback with the ringing tones of Evans' piano. On the bowed (or arco) bass solo on "All of You," Gomez occasionally makes his instrument sound like a saxophone.
Over the nearly 47 minutes in this set, Evans, Gomez and Zigmund add a precious chapter to their high-caliber legacy.
JOHANNESBURG (AP) - South Africa's Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa called for his countrymen to get rid of "greedy" and "corrupt" people, in remarks seen as an attack on President Jacob Zuma.
Ramaphosa was speaking after Jacob Zuma fired widely respected finance minister Pravin Gordhan in a cabinet reshuffle last week in which he purged other political opponents.
"What you are required to do as citizens of this country is to support the efforts that are going to be made by those that are going to make sure that our country lives up to values of Nelson Mandela," Ramaphosa said in KwaZulu-Natal province over the weekend. His speech was broadcast on the local radio station EWN on Monday morning. "Be in support of those who will be leading that charge. Because a moment of great renewal is upon us and we should not let it go by," said Ramaphosa.
FILE -- In this Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017 file photo, South African President Jacob Zuma, right, alongside deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa, left, outside parliament at the State of the Nation address in Cape Town, South Africa. Ramaphosa this weekend called for his countrymen to get rid of "greedy" and "corrupt" people, in remarks seen as an attack on Zuma. Ramaphosa was speaking after Zuma fired widely respected finance minister Pravin Gordhan in a cabinet reshuffle last week in which he purged other political opponents. (AP Photo/Nic Bothma, Pool, File)
Since Zuma sacked Gordhan on Friday, concerns over corruption in the government are blamed for a fall in the value of the currency of South Africa, one of Africa's most industrialized economies. Gordhan was seen as a bulwark against corruption. His sacking set off an outcry by anti-Zuma factions in the ruling African National Congress and opposition parties.
Two demonstrations are planned to protest Zuma's move against Gordhan. The opposition Democratic Alliance is organizing a march to the headquarters of Zuma's ruling party, the African National Congress in downtown Johannesburg opposition on Wednesday. Next week a coalition of groups will march to the government's headquarters, the Union Buildings in Pretoria. Opposition leader Mmusi Maimane said Monday that the marches are to protest Zuma's "hostile takeover" of the country's treasury by "corrupt forces."
Economists say it is likely that South Africa, which saw economic growth of just 0.5 percent last year and has an unemployment rate of around 27 percent, will be downgraded to junk status by credit ratings agencies.
Calls have been growing for Zuma to step down since August last year when the ANC lost control of key metropolitan areas in local elections, partly because of dissatisfaction with the president's performance.
"Let us act together in unity," said Ramaphosa. "Unite our country, unite our movement under one goal. The goal of making South Africa great. The goal of making South Africa corruption free. The goal of making South Africa a South Africa we can all be proud of and getting rid of greedy people, corrupt people within our country."
South Africa's speaker of parliament said on Sunday that she is considering an emergency motion of no confidence against Zuma. Baleka Mbete said her office received a letter from the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, requesting that the national assembly, which is in recess until May 10, resume earlier to vote on the motion.
Although the ANC's reputation as the main movement against apartheid has been tainted by corruption allegations, it is still seen as the front-runner ahead of general elections in 2019.
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Prosecutors in central Mexico say a man was shot to death by members of a rival clan, and his relatives later went to the other family's house and shot to death five men.
Prosecutors in the central state of Puebla said Sunday the killings started in the small town of Yehualtepec as a result of "personal conflicts."
After the first man was shot to death, a group of his relatives went to the other family's home, forced the five victims out of the home at gunpoint and shot them to death in the street.
Prosecutors said they were still investigating who was involved.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) - A leading European human rights official has expressed concern over planned changes to the Polish justice system that would give parliament more control over the appointment of judges.
Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muiznieks said in a letter to Poland's parliament speaker last week that he worries the changes would violate the independence of the judiciary.
The law would allow parliament to appoint 15 of the 25 members of Poland's National Council of the Judiciary, a body of judges that nominates other judges. It would also allow for all current members to be dismissed.
Muiznieks' office released the letter Monday. Polish lawmakers are due to work on the draft bill this week.
The government says the changes would help the courts work faster and more efficiently.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court (all times local):
2:35 p.m.
A divided Senate panel is backing Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch.
Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, from left, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., question the Republican side as the panel meets to advance the nomination of President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, Monday, April 3, 2017, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, April 3, 2017. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
The Judiciary Committee voted 11-9 along party lines on Monday to favorably recommend Gorsuch to the full Senate. A confirmation vote is expected on Friday, but not before a partisan showdown over President Donald Trump's choice.
Democrats have secured the 41 votes to block Gorsuch with a filibuster after Delaware Sen. Chris Coons said he would vote against the nominee. The opposition will prevent Republicans from reaching the 60 votes they need to move Gorsuch over procedural hurdles to a final Senate vote.
Determined to confirm him despite Democratic objections, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has signaled he will likely change Senate rules later this week to reduce the threshold from 60 to a simple majority to get Gorsuch confirmed.
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1:25 p.m.
Senate Democrats now have enough votes to try to block Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch with a filibuster, setting up a showdown with Republicans who plan to confirm him anyway.
The crucial 41st vote came from Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware who announced his decision Monday as the Senate Judiciary Committee met to vote on Gorsuch's nomination.
Coons said that he had decided to oppose President Donald Trump's nominee over concerns that include his vague answers in his hearing.
Coons' opposition will prevent Republicans from reaching the 60 votes they need to move Gorsuch over procedural hurdles to a final Senate vote. Determined to confirm him despite Democratic objections, they will likely change Senate rules later this week to reduce the threshold from 60 to a simple majority.
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11:45 a.m.
Senator Michael Bennet says he will not join Democratic efforts to block a full-Senate vote on the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.
The Colorado Democrat has been under pressure to support Gorsuch in part because the nominee is also from Colorado. Bennet doesn't say whether he will ultimately vote in favor of Gorsuch. But he says he will not try to block a vote.
If Democrats successfully block a vote on Gorsuch, Senate Republicans are threatening to change Senate rules to enable them to confirm a Supreme Court nominee with a simple majority of 51 votes.
Under current rules, the need 60 votes to end debate.
Bennet says, "Changing the Senate rules now will only further politicize the Supreme Court."
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11:35 a.m.
Senator Lindsay Graham says flatly that Republicans will change the Senate's rules if Democrats use a filibuster to block the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.
Under current rules, Supreme Court nominees need at least 60 votes to end debate and hold a vote on their confirmation. So far, 40 Democrats have publicly said they will try to block Gorsuch's nomination.
That's just one shy of the number needed to stop the nomination under current Senate rules.
The South Carolina Republican says his GOP colleagues will change the rules to enable them to confirm a Supreme Court nominee with a simple majority of 51 votes.
Graham says: "The Senate's traditions are going to change over this man. This says more about the Senate than it does Judge Gorsuch."
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11:15 a.m.
Senators Mark Warner and Patrick Leahy say they will vote against the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.
The two Democrats are the 39th and 40th senators to say they will try to block Gorsuch's nomination. That's just one shy of the number needed to stop the nomination under current Senate rules. The nomination needs 60 votes to succeed.
However, Senate Republicans are threatening to change Senate rules to enable them to confirm a Supreme Court nominee with a simple majority of 51 votes.
All 52 Republicans are expected to support the Gorsuch.
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10:45 a.m.
Senator Dianne Feinstein says she will vote against the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.
The California Democrat cited two cases in which, she says, Gorsuch inserted his own view of what the law should be. In one case Gorsuch sided with a trucking company over a fired trucker who refused to drive a disabled truck in subzero weather. In the other case, Gorsuch sided with a school district that denied services to a student with autism.
Feinstein also says she is troubled that Gorsuch refused to say whether he supports the outcome of Brown v. Board of Education, the court decision that ended racial segregation in public schools.
Feinstein is the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is voting Monday on Gorsuch's nomination.
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10:25 a.m.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley says Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch is a mainstream judge who will be independent from the president. The Iowa Republican is accusing Democrats of "moving the goal posts" in their assessment of Gorsuch.
Grassley opened a committee meeting on Gorsuch's nomination by making the case in favor of President Donald Trump's nominee for the high court. Republicans on the committee are expected to send Gorsuch's nomination to the full Senate after a lengthy series of speeches.
Most Democrats are expected to oppose the nomination.
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3:30 a.m.
A Senate panel is opening a weeklong partisan showdown over President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee with Democrats steadily amassing the votes to block Neil Gorsuch and force Republicans to unilaterally change long-standing rules to confirm him.
The Republican-led Judiciary Committee meets Monday and is expected to back Gorsuch and send his nomination to the full Senate, most likely on a near-party line vote. Intent on getting Trump's pick on the high court, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is likely to change Senate rules so that Gorsuch can be confirmed with a simple majority in the 100-seat chamber, instead of the 60-voter threshold.
So far, 36 Democrats and one independent have announced they will vote to block the nomination on a procedural cloture vote - a parliamentary step to advance a legislative issue - and oppose the choice. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., who faces a tough re-election in a state Trump won handily, announced his opposition on Sunday.
The Senate Judiciary Committee meets to advance the nomination of President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch to fill the vacancy left by the late Antonin Scalia, Monday, April 3, 2017, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Top, from left are, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, Committee Chairman Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, the Committee's ranking member Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
A Pennsylvania couple ended up pranking their mailman on April Fools' Day by leaving an extra-long letter sticking out of the mail slot of their front door.
Bill Kelly and his wife along with their two teenage daughters came up with an original joke that saw them use a piece of paper several feet long that they then folded over to look like an envelope.
After preparing the stunt indoors and lining their hallway with the 10-foot long letter, they then wrote and address and places a stamp on the end to make it appear as realistic as possible.
The Kelly family created an extra-long envelope that they left sticking out of their mail slot at their home in Lewisburg
When the mailman came to deliver the post, he began to pull out the envelope not realizing just how much there was to come!
Luckily the mailman saw the funny side of the April Fool's day joke
Then the foursome waited for the mailman to grab it from the mail slot and were treated to laughs as he pulled several feet of it from the door of their Lewisburg home on Saturday.
The couple addressed it to 'A.P. Rilfools' and, in case the postman didn't figure it out right away, wrote 'April Fools!' in big letters on the other end of the fake envelope.
The couple posted several photos of the prank on Facebook and even posed with the letter and the grinning mailman.
The couple, Bill and Jackie Kessler Kelly spent quite some time creating the fake envelope
The letter stretched at least 10 feet from the couple's front door and into their hallway
As well as the April Fool's day greeting, they even wrote a quirky address on the envelope
Not everyone shares the couple's sense of humor however with several people chastising them on their Facebook page: 'Using the 'friendly' local media to shill your pathetic humour. "Have you NO sense of decency, Sir?"'
Another online poster also agreed: 'Not like mail carriers have anything else to do, smdh. They are on a time limit. Whatever. A joke's a joke, but pull it on your own family/friends.'
Although it is not known what the postie thought of the prank, a woman claiming to be the mailman's sister gave her tacit approval: 'The mail carrier here is my brother!!! This is a hooooot!!! Awesome prank!!!!', she wrote.
A stamp placed on the letter had a similarly impish tone
MADRID (AP) - A doctor say an apprentice bullfighter who was badly gored in Madrid's famed Las Ventas bullring is recovering well and his life is not in any immediate danger.
Dr. Maximo Garcia Padros said Monday that 23-year-old bullfighter Daniel Garcia Navarrete suffered wounds to the neck, collar bone and right thigh.
Video images showed Garcia Navarrete preparing to kill the bloodied bull with a sword in Sunday's fight when the beast attacked him head on and tossed and gored him repeatedly before helpers could distract the animal and carry the matador away for treatment.
But Garcia Padros said that barring complications, Navarrete could be released from the hospital within a week.
The doctor says it's too early to say when Garcia Navarrete would be able to perform in the ring again.
Orchestra Baobab, "Tribute To Ndiouga Dieng" (World Circuit Records)
Senegal's Orchestra Baobab honors a former bandmate on "Tribute to Ndiouga Dieng," a spicy mix of African and Cuban tempos with no rust and a fluctuating pulse.
Relying on two-saxophone leads and kora player Abdoulaye Cissoko to partially fill in for Barthelemy Attisso - their long-time guitarist now busy with a legal career - the orchestra's seemingly effortless ability to create irresistible dance rhythms remains intact even after a 10-year pause.
Dieng died in November 2016 but his son Alpha has been recruited to sing his songs. Regular vocalists Balla Sidibe, also on timbales, and Rudy Gomis continue their strong work, joined in exciting guest spots by Cheikh Lo and West African megastar Thione Seck, also a Baobab alumni, who reprises "Sey," a dance-floor classic.
Formed in 1970, the band's career was revived by the re-edition of its mouthwatering, hip-shaking "Pirates Choice," and they got back together in 2001. This is just their third album since that return - after the Grammy-nominated "Specialist In All Styles" from 2002 and 2007's "Made in Dakar" - and it's a wonderful addition to their rich catalog.
It's subtlety and insinuation as much as the actual tick-tick-tock of the percussion and Charlie Ndiaye's velvety bass guitar that complete the seduction, as the band disguises its achievements with all the skills of a suave lover. Or, in this case, a whole orchestra of them!
MOSCOW (AP) - If the explosion on a subway train in St. Petersburg turns out to have been a terrorist attack, it would be the latest in a long line of attacks targeting Russia in recent years. Some of the deadliest include the following:
- October 2015: Militants from local affiliate of Islamic State down a Russian airliner en route from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg over Egypt, killing all 224 people on board.
- October 2014: Suicide bomber wearing a police uniform blows himself up in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, killing five policemen and wounding 12 others.
- December 2013: Back-to-back suicide bombings in the southern Russian city of Volgograd kill 34 and injure 100 others.
- January 2011: Suicide bomber blows himself up at Domodedovo Airport, Moscow's busiest, killing 35 and injuring 180 people.
- March 2010: Two suicide bombers attack Moscow subway system, setting off their explosives about 30 minutes apart on two trains during rush hour, killing at least 40 and injuring more than 100.
- November 2009: A bomb explodes under the high-speed Nevsky Express train travelling between Moscow and St. Petersburg, causing a derailment that kills 28 and injures nearly 100. A previous attempt on the rail line in 2007 caused more than two dozen injuries but no deaths.
- October 2005: Islamic militants launch a series of attacks on police in Nalchik, capital of the tense Kabardino-Balkariya republic near Chechnya. Chechen rebels claim credit for the attack, in which 139 people were killed, including 94 militants.
- September 2004: About 30 Chechen militants seize a school in the southern town of Beslan and take hundreds of hostages - a siege that ended in a bloodbath two days later. More than 330 people, about half of them children, are killed.
- August 2004: A suicide bomber blows herself up outside a Moscow subway station, killing 10 people.
- August 2004: Two female suicide bombers bring down two Russian airliners that took off from Moscow's Domodedovo airport, killing 90 people. Chechen rebels claim responsibility for the attacks.
- February 2004: A suicide bomber strikes a subway car in Moscow during rush hour, killing 41 people and injuring more than 100.
- December 2003: A suicide bombing on commuter train in southern Russia kills 44 people, two days before Russian parliamentary elections.
- October, 2002: Chechen militants take 800 people hostage at a Moscow theater. Two days later, Russian special forces storm building and 129 hostages and 41 Chechen fighters are killed, mostly from effects of narcotic gas Russian forces use to subdue the attackers.
- August 1999: Four apartment building bombings kill about 300 people in Moscow and two other Russian cities. The Kremlin names the attacks as a key reason for sending troops back into Chechnya the following month.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Over the past decade, scientists and photographers keep returning to the world's glaciers, watching them shrink with each visit. Now they want others to see how a warming planet is melting masses of ice in a series of before-and-after photos.
In the Geological Society of America's GSA Today journal , a group of ice researchers and a photographer-filmmaker published pictures showing how much five of the world's glaciers have thinned.
"There is something fundamentally compelling about the approach they take. For all our emphasis on models and math, seeing is still believing," said University of Colorado ice scientist Ted Scambos, who wasn't part of the team.
In this photo provided by James Balog/Extreme Ice Survey and Matthew Kennedy, the Stein glacier in Switzerland in 2015. Over the past decade or so scientists and photographers keep returning to the world's glaciers, watching them shrink with each visit. Now they want other people to see what haunts them in a series of before and after photos. (Matthew Kennedy/Earth Vision Institute via AP)
Under natural conditions, glaciers at times melt and retreat while others grow and advance. But measurements from Earth's 5,200 glaciers show warming temperatures have increased the number of melting glaciers and the speed of glacial retreat, according to the study. Scientists primarily blame man-made global warming from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas.
"There is something that touches the heart more profoundly when you see it in pictures than when you see it in maps or reports or graphs," said photographer James Balog, who founded the nonprofit Earth Vision Institute . "It certainly brings it alive."
ICELAND
The Solheimajokull glacier has shriveled by about 2,050 feet (625 meters) between 2007 and 2015.
ALASKA
The forward edge of the Mendenhall glacier outside of Juneau has receded about 1,800 feet (550 meters) between 2007 and 2015.
SWITZERLAND
The Stein glacier has shrunk about 1,800 feet (550 meters) between 2006 and 2015.
SWITZERLAND
The Trift glacier has retreated nearly three quarters of a mile (1.17 kilometers) between 2006 and 2015.
PERU
Ohio State ice scientist Lonnie Thompson has visited the Qori Kalis glacier since 1974. Between 1978 and 2016, it has shriveled 3,740 feet (1.14 kilometers). Thompson described his regular expeditions to the Peruvian glacier "like visiting a terminally ill family member."
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Follow Seth Borenstein at http://twitter.com/borenbears and his work can be found at http://tinyurl.com/sethap
In this photo provided by James Balog/Extreme Ice Survey, the Mendenhall glacier outside of Juneau, Alaska in 2015. Over the past decade or so scientists and photographers keep returning to the world's glaciers, watching them shrink with each visit. Now they want other people to see what haunts them in a series of before and after photos. (James Balog/Extreme Ice Survey via AP)
In this photo provided by James Balog/Extreme Ice Survey, the Mendenhall glacier outside of Juneau, Alaska in 2007. Over the past decade or so scientists and photographers keep returning to the world's glaciers, watching them shrink with each visit. Now they want other people to see what haunts them in a series of before and after photos. (James Balog/Extreme Ice Survey via AP)
In this photo provided by James Balog/Extreme Ice Survey, he Solheimajokull glacier in 2007. Over the past decade or so scientists and photographers keep returning to the world's glaciers, watching them shrink with each visit. Now they want other people to see what haunts them in a series of before and after photos. (James Balog/Extreme Ice Survey via AP)
In this photo provided by James Balog/Extreme Ice Survey, the Solheimajokull glacier in 2015. Over the past decade or so scientists and photographers keep returning to the world's glaciers, watching them shrink with each visit. Now they want other people to see what haunts them in a series of before and after photos. (James Balog/Extreme Ice Survey via AP)
In this photo provided by James Balog/Extreme Ice Survey, the Trift glacier in Switzerland in 2006. Over the past decade or so scientists and photographers keep returning to the world's glaciers, watching them shrink with each visit. Now they want other people to see what haunts them in a series of before and after photos. (James Balog/Extreme Ice Survey via AP)
In this photo provided by James Balog/Extreme Ice Survey, the Stein glacier in Switzerland in 2006. Over the past decade or so scientists and photographers keep returning to the world's glaciers, watching them shrink with each visit. Now they want other people to see what haunts them in a series of before and after photos. (James Balog/Extreme Ice Survey via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump signaled a new era in U.S.-Egypt relations Monday, assuring his Egyptian counterpart that years of tepid relations will now give way to a "great bond" between their two nations.
Trump reunited with President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi for talks ranging from collaboration against the Islamic State group to bolstering Egypt's flailing economy.
In Trump, el-Sissi sees new opportunity after years of lukewarm relations with President Barack Obama.
President Donald Trump greets Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi as he arrives at the White House in Washington, Monday, April 3, 2017. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
"This is my first state visit to the United States since my inauguration and this is the first visit in eight years for an Egyptian president to the United States," el-Sissi pointed out at the start of his remarks.
Obama never invited the Egyptian leader to the White House and Egypt's government was repeatedly admonished over its human rights record. Obama even briefly suspended some U.S. military aid.
It's the second meeting for the pair. Reflecting on their first encounter in New York shortly before the general election, Trump said el-Sissi is someone "very close to me."
El-Sissi hailed Trump on Monday for his "unique personality" and said that after their first meeting, "I bet on you," the latter being comments he made in Arabic that were not translated.
For Egypt, the objective is clear: Help us help you.
In recent months, U.S. and Egyptian officials have sought to stress commonalities.
Like Trump, el-Sissi believes he can eradicate radical Islamic extremism.
"Together, we will fight terrorism and other things and we're going to be friends for a very, very long time," Trump said, citing a "great bond with the people of Egypt."
El-Sissi vowed to work with the U.S. "to counter this evil ideology that is claiming innocent lives, that is bringing devastation to communities and nations and that is terrorizing the innocent people."
Since the military overthrew Egypt's first post-revolution president, the popularly elected Mohamed Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood member, el-Sissi has cracked down on political Islamists. El-Sissi also has taken a heavy hand on Egyptians who've deemed his presidency illegitimate, often relegating human rights concerns to national security.
But el-Sissi's government believes its success in fighting radicalism depends critically on U.S. aid.
Egypt is among the top recipients of U.S. military and economic assistance, but the aid is being evaluated as part of the Trump administration's push for dramatic budget cuts to diplomacy and development. It receives $1.3 billion annually in aid, plus hundreds of millions in economic assistance from the U.S. Agency for International Development and other programs potentially on the chopping block.
Trump has vowed to work closely with Arab allies in the fight against the Islamic State group. As a neighbor to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, Libya and Sudan, maintaining stability in Egypt is a high priority. But it has sometimes been a relationship from which the U.S. receives little in return, and Trump has said he won't tolerate imbalances in other partnerships, as with China and many European allies.
Egypt's economy is forecast to grow by 4 percent this year, according to the World Bank, but the figure heavily accounts for capital gains in oil and gas.
Conditions on the Egyptian streets tell a very different story.
Unemployment hovers at 12.7 percent - a sore spot for millions of Egyptians who protested in 2011 to demand the removal of then-President Hosni Mubarak. Then, unemployment was 9 percent. Youth are hardest hit by job shortages, with about 30 percent out of work.
Egyptians supporters of el-Sissi criticize the Obama administration's handling of the Egyptian uprising six years ago, believing American complacency ushered in Muslim Brotherhood control.
Since then, extremist attacks have spiked, particularly on the Sinai Peninsula which borders Israel and Gaza. Cairo - home to some 20 million people - has seen several militant attacks, including a December bombing at a church that killed more than two dozen people.
Egypt's minority Christians, who comprise about a tenth of the population, are particularly encouraged by Trump's presidency, hoping the American president will team up with el-Sissi to more forcefully address Egypt's growing extremism.
For Trump and el-Sissi, it's also a meeting of kindred spirits.
Both maintain a contentious relationship with the media and believe "bad" or "evil" people are infiltrating their borders. Both whip up supporters with talk of victories and seek to project a mystic sense of inevitable success. They've both challenged whether their country's judges are acting as roadblocks to democracy.
El-Sissi, like Trump, is widely viewed as a polarizing figure in his country. That view manifesting itself on the streets outside the White House Monday, where rival protests for and opposing both Trump and el-Sissi swelled before the Egyptian's arrival.
In the sea of American and Egyptian flags, some chanted "We love el-Sissi, we love Trump!" Others held signs of el-Sissi and Trump and chanted "Illegitimate," a cry harkening back to the Arab Spring.
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Associated Press writers Catherine Lucey and Jill Colvin contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump gives a thumbs up to members of the media as he greets Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi at the White House in Washington, Monday, April 3, 2017. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi listens during a meeting with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Monday, April 3, 2017. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Donald Trump meets with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Monday, April 3, 2017. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Donald Trump meets with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Monday, April, 3, 2017. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
LONDON (AP) - A portrait of Oscar Wilde that once hung above the writer's fireplace has gone on display at London's Tate Britain gallery along with the door to Wilde's prison cell.
The full-length painting of a dapper Wilde by Robert Goodloe Harper Pennington was sold to pay debts as Wilde awaited trial for gross indecency. In 1895, Wilde was sentenced to two years in prison, a period that inspired his poem "The Ballad of Reading Gaol."
The items are part of the Tate exhibition "Queer British Art," which charts work "that relates to lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer identities" in the century before homosexuality was partially decriminalized in 1967.
A man stands next to American artist Robert Harper Pennington's "Oscar Wild" painting and the door of Oscar Wilde's prison cell at Reading Jail, during a media preview for the "Queer British Art 1861-1967" exhibition at Tate Britain in London, Monday, April 3, 2017. The show, which opens to the public on Wednesday, includes works that relate to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans identities and marks the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of male homosexuality in England and Wales. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
The show opens Wednesday and runs until Oct. 1. It includes works by Duncan Grant, Dora Carrington, Cecil Beaton, Francis Bacon and David Hockney.
A woman holds a phone up to "Self-portrait" by Laura Knight during a media preview for the "Queer British Art 1861-1967" exhibition at Tate Britain in London, Monday,April 3, 2017. The show, which opens to the public on Wednesday, includes works that relate to lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans identities and marks the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of male homosexuality in England and Wales. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
A Tate staff member poses for photographs next to "Life Painting for a Diploma"" by David Hockney during a media preview for the "Queer British Art 1861-1967" exhibition at Tate Britain in London, Monday, April 3, 2017. The show, which opens to the public on Wednesday, includes works that relate to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans identities and marks the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of male homosexuality in England and Wales. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
A Tate staff member poses for photographs next to "Mask" by artist and stage designer Oliver Messel during a media preview for the "Queer British Art 1861-1967" exhibition at Tate Britain in London, Monday, April 3, 2017. The show, which opens to the public on Wednesday, includes works that relate to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans identities and marks the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of male homosexuality in England and Wales. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
A Tate staff member poses for photographs next to "Byam Shaw as 'Laertes' 1934-35" by Glyn Warren Philpot during a media preview for the "Queer British Art 1861-1967" exhibition at Tate Britain in London, Monday, April 3, 2017. The show, which opens to the public on Wednesday, includes works that relate to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans identities and marks the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of male homosexuality in England and Wales. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
A Tate staff member poses for photographs next to "PC Harry Daley" by Duncan Grant, at left, and "Portrait of Pat Nelson" by Edward Wolfe during a media preview for the "Queer British Art 1861-1967" exhibition at Tate Britain in London, Monday, April 3, 2017. The show, which opens to the public on Wednesday, includes works that relate to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans queer identities and marks the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of male homosexuality in England and Wales. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - A yearlong series of events taking place ahead of the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination in Memphis, Tennessee, kicked off Monday with the unveiling of a historical marker commemorating the civil rights leader's final flight.
Two aides and confidantes of King, former Atlanta Mayor and U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, helped dedicate the marker at Memphis International Airport. The unveiling is one of many events scheduled in this west Tennessee city leading up to the 2018 observance of the 50th anniversary of King's death.
King flew into Memphis 49 years ago - on April 3, 1968 - to support a sanitation workers strike. Eastern Airlines Flight 381 landed in Memphis late after the plane was delayed in Atlanta due to a bomb threat.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, second from left, and Andrew Young, second from right, pose for photos after the unveiling of a historical marker at Memphis International Airport commemorating the final flight of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday, April 3, 2017 in Memphis, Tenn. Also pictured are Operation Hope founder and CEO John Hope Bryant, far left, SunTrust Bank executive Johnny Moore, far right, and Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority board member Pamela Clary, third from right. (AP Photo/Adrian Sainz).
That night, King delivered his now-famous "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech at Mason Temple Church of God in Christ. He was assassinated the next day while standing on the balcony at the old Lorraine Motel. Young and Jackson were both at the motel when King was shot.
In addition to his roles as ambassador and mayor, Young went on to become a U.S. congressman. Jackson founded the Rainbow Push Coalition, a civil rights group, and he twice ran for the Democratic nomination for U.S. president.
King's visit to Memphis in April 1968 was his second in less than a week. On March 28, he had led a protest on iconic Beale Street that turned violent when police and protesters clashed.
When the sanitation workers went on strike several days later to fight for better pay and working conditions, the reverend was in the midst of his Poor People's Campaign in Atlanta. But he decided to return to Memphis anyway.
"Neither of us wanted him to come to Memphis," Young, speaking in the airport's ticketing area on Monday, said, referring to himself and Jackson. "But he felt that this was where he was being called."
King had thought that his life may be nearing its end, Young said.
"He was wearing down, and he didn't want to be with us in New York, he didn't want to be with us in Washington," Young said, adding later that King "wanted to be with the least of these God's children."
Officials said First Tennessee bank paid for the marker, which is also supported by the Tennessee Historical Commission.
Events remembering the life and death of King are also scheduled at the National Civil Rights Museum, located at the former site of the Lorraine Motel.
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) - The Latest on the sex assault case against Bill Cosby (all times local):
3:45 p.m.
Bill Cosby's lawyers won't get to prescreen potential jurors in his sex assault case through specialized questionnaires sent to Pennsylvania homes.
Bill Cosby arrives for a pretrial hearing in his sexual assault case at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., Monday, April 3, 2017. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
The defense hoped to question people beforehand on their backgrounds, media habits and feelings on Cosby.
But Montgomery County Judge Steven O'Neill says the standard 16-question form will do. He says lawyers can question people further in court.
O'Neill plans to pick jurors in late May so they're in place for the June 5 trial.
The jurors will come from the Pittsburgh area and be sequestered nearly 300 miles away in suburban Philadelphia.
The 79-year-old Cosby is accused of drugging and molesting a Temple University employee in 2004.
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3:25 p.m.
The judge in Bill Cosby's sex assault trial must decide whether the jury can hear Cosby's decade-old testimony about getting drugs to give women before sex.
The suburban Philadelphia judge won't let the jury hear from a woman who says Cosby gave her quaaludes in the 1970s.
But Judge Steven O'Neill says that doesn't mean prosecutors can't use Cosby's own words on the topic.
O'Neill did not immediately rule on the issue at a hearing Monday in Montgomery County.
Prosecutors say Cosby's testimony from the trial accuser's lawsuit shows his familiarity with date-rape drugs. The defense says it's irrelevant because quaaludes were banned long before they met.
The 79-year-old married father of five is accused of drugging and molesting a Temple University employee in 2004.
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12:50 p.m.
Prosecutors in Bill Cosby's sex assault case are pressing to let the jury hear his decade-old deposition testimony about getting quaaludes to give to women before sex.
Cosby's lawyers say the testimony is irrelevant because quaaludes were banned 20 years before he met the trial accuser in 2004.
But a suburban Philadelphia prosecutor in court Monday said police continued to see them being sold in the early 2000s.
Cosby says in the deposition that he got seven prescriptions for quaaludes from his doctor in the 1970s after complaining about back pain. He says he never took them but wanted to have the party drug on hand to give women.
He says he didn't have any left when he gave three pills to a Temple University employee before the sexual encounter at his home. She says Cosby told her it was herbal medication. But she says the pills knocked her out.
The 79-year-old Cosby is set to go on trial June 5 in Montgomery County.
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11:30 a.m.
The judge in Bill Cosby's criminal case in Pennsylvania expects the sexual assault trial to last at least two weeks.
The jurors will come from the Pittsburgh area and be sequestered throughout the trial nearly 300 miles away in suburban Philadelphia.
Montgomery County Judge Steven O'Neill said at a hearing Monday that he hopes to pick jurors in late May. He says their names will not be made public.
The trial is set to begin June 5.
The 79-year-old Cosby is accused of drugging and molesting a Temple University employee at his home in 2004.
The defense wants the jury pool prescreened through a written questionnaire on their background, media habits and feelings about Cosby.
But O'Neill prefers they get the standard 16-question form followed by individual questioning in court.
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10 a.m.
Disco biscuits, Spanish fly and quaaludes could be on the agenda when Bill Cosby is in court for the latest showdown over evidence in his Pennsylvania sexual-assault case.
Cosby's lawyers want to bar from the June trial any mention of quaaludes, also called disco biscuits. He's in court Monday.
Cosby has acknowledged getting the disco biscuits in the 1970s to give women before sex. But his lawyers say that's irrelevant since they were banned 20 years before he met the trial accuser.
Suburban Philadelphia prosecutors plan to argue the actor's experience with quaaludes shows he's familiar with date rape drugs. They also want to introduce a boyhood story from Cosby's 1991 book "Childhood" about the supposed aphrodisiac Spanish fly.
The 79-year-old Cosby is accused of drugging and molesting a woman at his home in 2004. He calls the encounter consensual.
Bill Cosby arrives for a pretrial hearing in his sexual assault case at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., Monday, April 3, 2017. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Bill Cosby arrives for a pretrial hearing in his sexual assault case at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., Monday, April 3, 2017. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Bill Cosby arrives for a pretrial hearing in his sexual assault case at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., Monday, April 3, 2017. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Bill Cosby arrives for a pretrial hearing in his sexual assault case at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., Monday, April 3, 2017. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Here's a look at stories The Associated Press plans to cover in Europe from Saturday, April 8, through Monday, April 10. Questions about coverage plans can be directed to the Europe Desk at eurdesk@ap.org.
We'll be following developments in the Stockholm truck attack throughout the weekend.
SATURDAY:
TURKEY-SYRIANS - Syrians in Turkey react to the chemical attack on Idlib and the U.S. strikes that followed. By Bram Janssen.
FRANCE-BASQUE DISARMAMENT - In a major and long-awaited step, Basque activist groups plan to hand over the last remaining weapons of separatist group ETA to police, after decades of tensions. UPCOMING: 130 words by 1500 GMT, developing.
SPAIN-ETA DISARMAMENT-REAX - Spain is expected to react to ETA*s planned disarmament in southern France on Saturday saying that the Basque separatist group should not be applauded and that it should now disband.
FRANCE-CANADA-VIMY CENTENNIAL - Many would argue that Canadians earned nationhood an ocean away from home, spilling blood on a remote ridge in the muddied battlefields of northern France a century ago. Vimy Ridge has become much more than speck on a French map, and even much more than a famous World War I battle. On Sunday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will visit the fertile countryside, where any hill with a view was fought over with a blind determination costing thousands of lives. By Raf Casert and Rob Gillies. UPCOMING: 440 words, photos by 0700 GMT.
SLOVENIA-US - U.S. senator John McCain to visit Slovenia for official talks and the ceremony remembering the crash of a U.S. bomber during World War II. On merit.
SUNDAY:
WORLD WAR I-CANADA - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Princes Charles, William and Harry and other dignitaries gather in northern France to mark 100 years since the battle of Vimy, a pivotal moment for Canada and its military. UPCOMING: 400 words by 0800 GMT, developing with events through the day.
VATICAN-PALM SUNDAY - Pope Francis celebrates Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Square. Developing from 0800 GMT Mass.
HUNGARY-SOROS-UNIVERSITY - A mobile-friendly look at how Hungary's efforts to close Central European University, founded by billionaire philanthropist George Soros, are a major step in Prime Minister Viktor Orban's plan to transform his country into an "illiberal state." By Pablo Gorondi. 600 words by 0800 GMT, photos, video. To be updated with pro-CEU protest at 1700 GMT.
GERMANY-JEWISH CAMPUS - An American rabbi has set out to build the first Jewish Campus in Berlin since the Holocaust. The planned seven-story building will house schools, a library, a movie theater, a ballroom and an indoor sports center. By Kirsten Grieshaber. UPCOMING: 650 words, photos.
BRITAIN-THEATER AWARDS - Magical adventure "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" is front-runner as London theater is celebrated at the Olivier Awards, Britain's equivalent of the Tonys. By Jill Lawless. UPCOMING: Ceremony begins 1700 GMT. Photos.
INSIDER Q&A-SALINI IMPREGILO CEO - Italian engineering and construction firm Salini Impregilo is ready to make the most of the Trump administration's planned $1 trillion spending bonanza on renewing the nation's infrastructure. Here's a Q&A with the CEO. By Colleen Barry, UPCOMING 500 words, photo by 1000 GMT.
MONDAY:
TURKEY-REFERENDUM - As Turkey prepares to vote in a referendum that would expand President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's power, a move that critics say would allow him to usher in one-man rule, an AP team visits Rize, Turkey's tea-growing and tea-processing capital, where residents see their most famous son as a reformist leader who has brought unprecedented economic growth and prosperity to Turkey and provided improved health care, education and mega infrastructure projects. By Suzan Fraser and Mehmet Guzel. UPCOMING: 900 words, photos by 1700 GMT.
POLAND-CRASH ANNIVERSARY - Poles mark the seventh anniversary of the worst tragedy to befall the nation since World War II - a plane crash in Russia that killed the president and dozens of other state officials. It marks the day as a nation deeply divided under the rule of the late president's twin brother, with state ceremonies but also protests against Jaroslaw Kaczynski's divisive policies. By Vanessa Gera. UPCOMING: About 700 words by 0700 GMT.
WITH: POLAND PLANE-CRASH - New government commission investigating the cause of the 2010 plane crash that killed President Lech Kaczynski to present results of their work after criticism their work is futile and costly. By Monika Scislowska. UPCOMING: 130 words by 1100 GMT, then developing. With AP photos.
CZECH-LITHIUM - A surge in global use of lithium, a key component in electric batteries, is leading to the revival of a centuries-long mining tradition in the Czech Republic's Ore Mountains. The area has the biggest deposit of lithium in Europe, recent explorations confirmed. By Karel Janicek. UPCOMING. 700 words. Photos, video.
SPAIN-EU LEADERS - Spain hosts a meeting in Madrid of leaders from southern European countries including France, Italy, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus and Malta to discuss Brexit and other issues. 130 words by 1300 GMT with likely updates. Leaders arrive at 1145 GMT, joint statements at 1445 GMT.
SPAIN-SYRIA CASE - The sister of a Syrian truck driver abducted, tortured and executed in 2013 testifies before a Spanish judge in the first criminal procedure against key political and security figures in the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. UPCOMING: 130 words by 0830 GMT, updates. Photos.
G-7 ENERGY - Top energy officials from the Group of 7 industrial nations energy security and policies to move away from coal during a meeting in the Italian capital. Developing from a news conference at 1200 GMT.
BRITAN-ATTACK - A police officer who was one of five victims of last month's attack on Parliament is laid to rest with a full police service funeral. 1300 GMT. On merits.
GERMANY-ECONOMIC MEETING - German Chancellor Merkel meets with top economic leaders including the head of IMF, the president of the World Bank and the general secretary of the WTO.
ITALY-AVIO-IPO - The trajectory of the space launcher company Avio will land it on the Milan Stock Exchange on Monday, going where no company specializing in launching satellite rockets has gone before. UPCOMING: 130 words by 0700 GMT, with updates after CEO interview, expected by 1500. 300 words.
MARION, Ind. (AP) - A judge has sentenced a Chicago man to nearly four decades in prison for a drunken-driving wreck that killed three African students who were attending college in northern Indiana.
Deangelo R. Evans was sentenced to 38 years in prison on Monday. He pleaded guilty in September to several charges, including three counts each of reckless homicide and operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated causing death.
The crash occurred on Feb. 21, 2016, along Interstate 69 near Fairmount, about 45 miles northeast of Indianapolis. The wreck killed Brook Dagnew and Kirubel Alemayehu Hailu, both of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Nerad Grace Mangai of Jos, Nigeria.
The three victims were attending Manchester University, a liberal arts college in North Manchester.
Evans was 26 at the time of the crash.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - The Organization of American States on Monday took its strongest measure yet rebuking Venezuela's slide toward authoritarianism.
Member countries of the regional body said that last week's Supreme Court ruling nullifying the opposition-controlled Congress was "incompatible with democratic practice."
That Venezuelan court ruling was overturned after three days following strong international and domestic criticism.
Opposition lawmaker Juan Requesens, center, is taken away by his colleague Jose Manuel Olivares, right, after begin injured by supposed government supporters, as they protested outside of the Ombudsman's offices in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, April 3, 2017. A group of opposition lawmakers was attacked by suspected followers of the Government during a demonstration in the center of the capital. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
The Organization of American States pledged in a statement to continue making diplomatic efforts to address the situation in the economically embattled South American country.
"There is no denying that there has been an alteration of the constitutional order," said OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro.
The resolution was adopted after a chaotic session that saw Venezuela's ambassador, Samuel Moncada, leave in protest.
President Nicolas Maduro sharply criticized the Washington-based OAS, saying it "intends to become an inquisition that persecutes Venezuela."
Earlier in the day, men wielding sticks and rocks attacked a group of Venezuelan opposition lawmakers as they staged a demonstration to demand the removal of the Supreme Court judges who issued the ruling against congress.
The lawmakers were attacked in Caracas by what appeared to be a pro-government group after they released chickens to symbolize cowardice outside the country's ombudsman's office.
Lawmaker Juan Requesens received a sharp blow to the face. Photos showed Requesens bleeding from a wound above his eye.
Last week's Supreme Court ruling threw the South American country into a political crisis. The decision was reversed on Saturday but opposition leaders say the judges have to be removed to restore constitutional order in the country.
Opposition lawmaker Juan Requesens, center, is taken away by his colleagues after begin hit in the forehead by supposed government supporters as they protest outside of the Ombudsman's offices in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, April 3, 2017. A group of opposition lawmakers was attacked by suspected followers of the government during a demonstration in the center of the capital that left Requesens with an open wound above his eye. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The United States and Russia clashed Monday over a U.S. attempt to have the Security Council debate human rights violations as a major cause of conflict for the first time during this month's American presidency of the U.N.'s most powerful body.
The council approved April's agenda without including that debate. But it can still be added if at least nine of the 15 council members vote for it and U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley told reporters later that the United States "fully expects" to hold the debate on April 18.
"If you look at the conflicts we have in the world, they always go back to the human rights issues on the ground within those countries," Haley said.
She cited student protests against Syrian President Bashar Assad that sparked the more than six-year war and the self-immolation of a Tunisian fruit vendor who was harassed by police and not able to work that sparked nationwide demonstrations as examples.
The Security Council's mandate is to ensure international peace and security, Haley said, so "it is incumbent" on members to look at how human rights are related to conflict.
Haley stressed that the debate "is not intended to in any way call out certain countries or blast them or use this as a 'gotcha' game."
The aim, she said, is to look at human rights issues that lead to conflict and extremism to try to prevent another Syria or Tunisia.
Russia's deputy U.N. ambassador Petr Iliichev took issue with the premise of the proposed debate saying "a general statement that international peace and security are threatened by human rights violations is not true."
He also argued that other U.N. bodies including the General Assembly and the Geneva-based Human Rights Council already deal with human rights.
"Why are we taking everything to the Security Council?," he asked. "Then those bodies should be dismantled."
But Iliichev said Russia will consult with the U.S. on trying to find "a suitable formulation" for a debate "if possible."
Human rights monitoring and promotion are part of some U.N. peacekeeping and political missions, he said, which could be a way of reaching a compromise on the focus of a debate.
China's U.N. Ambassador Liu Jieyi, who also reportedly opposed the broad U.S. proposal, told reporters: "I think we can find a way out."
The U.S. push for a debate on human rights at the U.N. comes after the Trump administration signaled it wouldn't publicly criticize Egypt's human rights record during President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi's Monday visit to the White House. It also has played down the public condemnations of Bahrain and other U.S. allies that marked the Obama administration's tenure.
"I don't think the administration is backing away from human rights because they fully support me speaking about human rights in the Security Council," Haley said.
She said the United States prides itself on valuing human rights and "that's not going to change."
But Haley said that doesn't mean the administration isn't going to talk to Egypt, Saudi Arabia or others about its top priority of defeating the Islamic State and other extremist groups. And she said the U.S. will have conversations about human rights as well because "that's what you do with friends."
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump is donating the first three months of his salary to the National Park Service.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer handed an oversized check for $78,333.32 to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke during Monday's briefing.
The billionaire businessman turned president had promised to forgo his presidential salary. By law he must be paid, so he is donating the money.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, left, and Harpers Ferry National Historic Park Superintendent Tyrone Brandyburg, hold up a check during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, Monday, April 3, 2017. President Donald Trump gave his first quarter salary to the National Park Service. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Zinke says he's "thrilled" at the president's decision to give money to an Interior agency, something he says Trump informed him about Sunday night. He says he will use the money to help on long-deferred maintenance projects on the nation's 25 battlefields.
Trump's has proposed cutting $120 million - or 12 percent - from the Interior Department's budget.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Crossing a glass walkway that spans a field of 9,000 poppies, visitors to the official U.S. memorial to World War I are transported to a time when tanks and air warfare were new and the hopeful flowers sprang up on the barren, trench-dotted battlefields where hundreds of thousands of soldiers died.
The museum, which is housed under a tower that rises 217 feet (66 meters) into the Kansas City skyline and is topped by a giant flame, will be the site of a remembrance Thursday to mark the 100-year anniversary of the United States entering the war.
The poppies that visitors pass while entering the museum represent the 9 million combat deaths of the Great War, about 116,000 of them Americans. "In Flanders fields the poppies blow. Between the crosses, row on row," goes a famous poem about the Belgian battlefields where hundreds of thousands of soldiers died on the war's Western Front.
In this Feb. 16, 2017 photo visitors stand on a glass walkway over 9,000 poppies inside the entrance of the National World War I Museum in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)
With the centennial of the fighting drawing more attention to the war, more than 200,000 visited the museum last year, an increase of about 50 percent from three years earlier. They included visitors from more than 70 countries.
The site's Egyptian Revival-style monument was erected in a burst of postwar patriotism after $2.5 million was raised in less than two weeks in 1919, an amount that would be equal to about $35 million today. Children helped, going door to door collecting money in what was "an early 20th century story of crowdsourcing," according to museum spokesman Mike Vietti.
So noteworthy was the achievement that Allied commanders from Belgium, Great Britain, Italy, France and the U.S. gathered in 1921 to dedicate the site. It's located across the street from the Kansas City train station that more than half of U.S. troops passed through before being shipped overseas. When the monument was completed five years later, a crowd of more than 150,000 turned out to hear President Calvin Coolidge speak at the dedication.
But years of deferred maintenance led the site to be closed in 1994. A massive $102 million transformation followed, funded by a sales tax, bond issue and private donations. The exterior was repaired, and the design firm behind attractions such as Washington's Holocaust Memorial Museum was tapped to create a new museum that would tell World War I's story of assassination, empires swept away and new nations born. The site, now known as the National World War I Museum and Memorial, was made official in legislation that President Barack Obama signed in 2014.
The museum's collection of documents and artifacts has a global breadth, covering the period both before and after the U.S. entered the war. The conflict ended in 1918 with the Treaty of Versailles, though many historians believe the treaty's terms helped set the stage for World War II a generation later.
Among the items used to tell the complex story of the connection between the two wars is the tunic and cape of Paul von Hindenburg, a German commander and national hero who later became Germany's president and in 1933 appointed Adolf Hitler chancellor.
Visitors can also see the rapidly evolving weaponry that led to widespread casualties as commanders struggled to adapt. There's a British torpedo, a U.S.-made Naval mine, a life-size replica of a British biplane known as the Airco DH.2 and a French Renault tank that Vietti described as a weapon of "terror as well as a weapon of war."
One exhibit highlights the damage an artillery shell would have done to a house in the French countryside, while another allows visitors to glimpse inside replicas of the trenches where doughboys fought and often died. In the Horizon Theater, World War I film footage plays on a 100-foot (30-meter) screen above a full-scale tableau of no man's land.
The site's original museum now hosts rotating exhibitions, with the latest highlighting propaganda posters.
Matthew Naylor, the president and CEO of the museum, keeps his grandfather's wartime shaving kit on display in his office. While issued by the British, it was made in Germany. He noted that the two countries were trading partners before the war.
The "fragility" of world relations at the time, Naylor said, has parallels to today that "some would say are ominous."
___
If You Go...
NATIONAL WORLD WAR I MUSEUM AND MEMORIAL: 2 Memorial Drive, Kansas City, Missouri; https://www.theworldwar.org/ . Tuesday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., $16. Museum closed April 5-6 for centennial commemoration.
___
This version corrects spelling of Vietti.
In Feb. 16, 2017 photo a visitor leaves the National World War I Museum in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)
In this Feb. 16, 2017 photo uniforms hang on display at the National World War I Museum in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)
In this Feb. 16, 2017 photo a visitor watches a video presentation at the National World War I Museum in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - A man involved in a high-speed chase that killed a Kentucky police officer entered a not guilty plea Monday to charges that included murder, according to court records.
Wathaniel Lamont Woods, also known as James Woods, was arraigned in Jefferson District Court a day after being taken into custody on the charges. Bond was set at $1 million cash.
Woods is charged with killing Louisville Officer Nick Rodman, who died from injuries he suffered last week in a fiery crash resulting from the pursuit.
Louisville Police Chief Steve Conrad has said the chase began after police received several calls about shots being fired and arguing in a neighborhood west of downtown. The first officer who responded put out a description of the vehicle, which was spotted several blocks away by an officer who tried to stop it.
The driver fled, leading that officer and three others on a high-speed pursuit, Conrad said. The wreck occurred as Rodman attempted to join the chase.
Online jail records show Woods is also facing several other charges stemming from the pursuit and crash including assault, fleeing police, wanton endangerment, drug trafficking, being a convicted felon in possession of a handgun and driving on a suspended license.
The Courier-Journal reported that Woods has past convictions, including burglary and fourth-degree assault of a police officer; and pending charges that include cocaine trafficking.
His next court date in the officer's death is April 13.
A funeral is planned Tuesday in Louisville for Rodman, who is survived by his wife and two children.
TORONTO (AP) - Canada's prime minister has announced that Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai will address his country's Parliament and receive the honorary citizenship bestowed upon her in 2014.
Justin Trudeau says the 19-year-old Pakistani activist will become the youngest person to address the body when she visits April 12. Trudeau said Monday that he and Yousafzai will also discuss empowering girls through education.
Yousafzai was 15 when she shot in the head by Taliban militants while returning from school. She was targeted due to her advocacy for women's education.
Yousafzai was initially treated in Pakistan and later flown to a hospital in Britain. She won world acclaim for her campaign and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014.
She is one of just six people to receive honorary Canadian citizenship.
HOUSTON (AP) - The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to consider the appeal of a Honduran man on Texas' death row whose attorneys contend he had poor legal help at his trial and in earlier stages of his appeals.
Carlos Ayestas, 47, was condemned for beating and strangling a Houston woman during a robbery at her home more than 20 years ago. His lawyers have argued that Harris County prosecutors pointed to him not being a citizen as reason to seek the death penalty against him and that his trial attorneys missed a note in the prosecution file about the noncitizen reference.
The Supreme Court said its review of Ayestas' case would focus on questions about whether previous attorneys adequately investigated if his drug addiction and mental illness could have convinced jurors he didn't deserve a death sentence.
This undated photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows death row inmate Carlos Ayestas. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday, April 3, 2017, to consider the appeal of Ayestas, who is on Texas death row and attorneys contend had poor legal help at his trial and in earlier stages of his appeals. Ayestas, 47, was condemned for beating and strangling a Houston woman during a robbery at her home more than 20 years ago. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP)
Ayestas does not have an execution date.
Lee Kovarsky, one of the attorneys representing Ayestas for his appeal, said Monday that Ayestas' trial lawyers failed to conduct a background investigation capable of sparing his life and that jurors had no information about his mental health and drug addiction. Prison staff diagnosed Ayestas with schizophrenia soon after the trial, Kovarsky said.
The lawyer also contended lower federal courts were wrong to refuse financial resources Ayestas needed "to litigate the constitutional failures of his trial counsel."
"Mr. Ayestas' case is about the right to be fairly charged and defended," Kovarsky said, adding that Ayestas "has been denied his constitutional right to nondiscriminatory treatment and effective representation" from the time he was charged though his federal appeals.
The Texas attorney general's office had argued the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was correct last year when it decided evidence of Ayestas' substance abuse or mental illness would not have changed the jury outcome.
A Houston jury in 1997 deliberated only 12 minutes before deciding Ayestas should go to death row. The same jury convicted him of capital murder for the September 1995 slaying of 67-year-old Santiaga Pareque. Court records show Ayestas has previous prison terms in Texas and California for drug possession and sales, burglary and theft. California authorities also had issued a warrant for him for transportation of immigrants who are in the country illegally.
The high court Monday also reversed the judgments against two other Texas death row inmates based on a decision last week where the justices ruled the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ignored current medical standards and required use of outdated criteria when it decided an inmate was mentally disabled.
The Supreme Court returned the cases of James Lee Henderson and Raymond Martinez to the 5th Circuit. They do not have execution dates.
Henderson, 44, has been on death row since June 1994 for the shooting death of 85-year-old Martha Lennox the previous year during an attempted burglary of her home in Clarksville in far northeast Texas' Red River County.
Martinez, 70, has been on death row since July 1984 for the fatal shooting of 40-year-old Houston bar owner Herman Chavis during a robbery in July 1983.
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) - Former Vice President Joe Biden is the first major Democrat scheduled to return to the early primary state of New Hampshire since the November election.
Biden will headline the state Democratic Party's annual McIntyre Shaheen 100 Club Dinner on April 30. He attended the dinner in 2011 and 1986. All four members of New Hampshire's congressional delegation will also attend.
"We're thrilled that former Vice President Biden is joining us to honor the first ever all-female, all-Democratic delegation at our biggest event of the year," state party Chairman Ray Buckley said in a statement.
Such early post-election visits to New Hampshire typically fuel speculation about presidential ambitions. Biden's visit comes just days after Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich will be in the state to promote his new book.
The 74-year-old Biden has remained visible since his two terms as vice president ended, rallying with Democrats at the U.S. Capitol last month on health care and criticizing Republican President Donald Trump's coziness with Russia. He's also been promoting the Cancer Moonshoot effort.
Biden recently told students at Colgate University that he believed he could have won the 2016 presidential election had he run but didn't believe he was ready so soon after his son Beau's 2015 death from cancer. He said he regrets not having been president.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is coming to the United Nations for the first time later this month to chair a ministerial meeting of the Security Council on reining in North Korea's nuclear program, a top priority of the Trump administration.
U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley made the announcement Monday, saying the April 28 meeting will be an important follow-up to this weekend's talks between President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping at the U.S. leader's resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
Trump said ahead of the meeting that China has great influence over North Korea and he wants Xi to help the U.S. denuclearize the reclusive northeast Asian nation. If the Chinese leader won't, Trump said he can handle the problem without Beijing.
Haley, the Security Council president this month, said the focus of the April 28 meeting will depend a lot on the outcome of the Xi-Trump talks.
"The United States has seen China for 25 plus years say that they're concerned about North Korea but we haven't seen them act like they're concerned about North Korea," she said. "This administration wants to see them act, and I think they're going to pressure them to do that."
"We all hope ... that we see some real partnership and working together," Haley said.
Tensions have escalated over North Korean moves to accelerate its weapons development. The North conducted two nuclear tests and 24 ballistic missile tests last year, defying six Security Council sanctions resolutions banning any testing. This has deepened concern in Washington that Pyongyang could soon develop a nuclear-armed missile capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.
China has supported the six sanctions resolution but Haley said it needs to fully implement the sanctions - as do other U.N. member states.
China is North Korea's most important source of diplomatic support and economic assistance, accounting for about 90 percent of the North's trade and supplying fuel and many of other necessities. But Beijing says its leverage over North Korea is limited.
In February, it did suspend imports of North Korean coal for the rest of the year, depriving Kim Jong Un's regime of a crucial source of foreign currency, though comments from Haley last week indicated that Beijing is allowing imports in other ways.
Haley said "there is will in the Security Council" to deal with North Korea's nuclear program but members need to discuss "how do we push that forward."
"We hope that we get as many foreign ministers to come as possible" to the April 28 meeting, "because North Korea is an issue, it's a threat," Haley said.
"On any given day we're waiting on another ballistic missile test," she said, "and I think that our goal is to say, what do we have to do to stop them?"
Donald Trump says the US is prepared to act alone against North Korea if China does not take a tougher stand against Pyongyangs nuclear programme.
The presidents is set to host Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Mar-a-Lago estate in south Florida, with the two expected to discuss a number of issues, including North Korea, trade and territorial disputes in the South China Sea during their meeting on Thursday and Friday.
Yes, we will talk about North Korea, he said in an interview with the Financial Times. And China has great influence over North Korea. And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they wont. And if they do that will be very good for China, and if they dont it wont be good for anyone.
Mr Trump said trade was the incentive for China to work with him, but he added that the US could totally handle the situation in North Korea without Chinas help.
Asked how he would tackle North Korea, he said: Im not going to tell you. You know, I am not the United States of the past where we tell you where we are going to hit in the Middle East.
While China provides diplomatic and economic support to its neighbour, it claims that its influence over Kim Jong Uns government is limited.
The relationship between the US and China has been uncertain since Mr Trumps election. During his campaign he accused Beijing of unfair trade practices and threatened to raise import taxes on Chinese goods and declare China a currency manipulator, although it is unclear whether he will follow through with either threat.
He told the newspaper he does not want to talk about tariffs yet, perhaps the next time we meet.
US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley (Seth Wenig/AP)
Mr Trumps ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said on ABCs This Week that the US is pressing Beijing to take a firmer stand on North Koreas nuclear programme.
UN resolutions have failed so far to deter North Korea from conducting nuclear and missile tests. Last year, the North conducted two nuclear tests and two dozen tests of ballistic missiles.
They need to show us how concerned they are, Ms Haley said. They need to put pressure on North Korea. The only country that can stop North Korea is China, and they know that.
Asked what the US would do if China did not co-operate, she said: China has to co-operate.
US Defence Secretary Ash Carter
Former defence secretary Ash Carter said he doubted that Beijing would co-operate.
Ive been working on the North Korea problem since 1994, he said on ABC. And we have consistently asked Chinese leaders because they uniquely have the historical and the economic relationship with North Korea to make a difference.
They havent used that influence, and so its hard for me to be optimistic with that.
Doctors who created the worlds first three-parent baby in Mexico were sailing very close to the wind and lucky to succeed, a leading British expert has said.
News of the birth of the boy, whose mother was treated by a US team in Mexico, made headlines around the world last year.
He was conceived from an egg containing DNA from his mother and father, and tiny amount of mitochondrial DNA from a third person a female donor.
The aim was to prevent him inheriting defective mitochondria, rod-like batteries in cells, that could give him Leigh syndrome a fatal nervous system disorder. The treatment was led by Dr John Zhang, from New Hope Fertility Centre in New York City.
Top stem cell biologist Professor Robin Lovell-Badge, from the Francis Crick Institute in London, made his comments after details of the case appeared in the journal Reproductive BioMedicine Online.
He said: It is of, course, good news that the woman being treated was able to have an apparently healthy child with no signs of mitochondrial disease, but from the paper it seems that in many respects Zhang and colleagues were sailing very close to the wind and that luck played a large part in the outcome.
Prof Lovell-Badge criticised the American team for using electrofusion methods to transfer nuclear DNA that had been abandoned by other researchers because they gave a high frequency of abnormal embryos.
Professor Robin Lovell-Badge says doctors were lucky to succeed when they created a "three-parent" baby (Dominic Lipinski/PA)
Part of the treatment process involved transferring nuclear DNA from the future babys mothers egg to a de-nucleated donor egg.
This produced a donor egg housing nuclear DNA from the boys mother and the donors healthy mitochondrial DNA outside the nucleus. It was then fertilised by the fathers sperm and helped to develop into an embryo.
DNA in mitochondria play an important role in metabolism but do not affect appearance or personality.
Prof Lovell-Badge pointed out that a relatively high number of abnormal mitochondria were unintentionally carried over into the embryo, the only one of four progressing to the 200-cell blastocyst stage that turned out to be normal.
Press release: UK's independent expert panel recommends "cautious adoptation" of mitochondrial donation in treatment https://t.co/S7HzfepmCS HFEA (@HFEA) November 30, 2016
While faulty mitochondria remained well below the threshold for triggering disease, it is at a level that is of some concern, said the professor, who last week gave evidence at a Parliamentary select committee hearing on gene-editing.
He went on: In the end they only had one normal-looking embryo that could be transferred into the patient. They were lucky that this was indeed normal and that it gave rise to a pregnancy. And they were lucky that the proportion of abnormal mitochondrial DNA remained relatively low in most tissues.
He said his comments left aside all the issues of consent and legality.
A clinic in Newcastle has been given the go-ahead to select the first British patient for Mitochondrial Replacement Therapy treatment
Final stages of the treatment, including implantation of the embryo into the womb, were carried out in Mexico to avoid breaching US federal law.
Mitochondrial Replacement Therapy (MRT) is officially sanctioned in the UK and a clinic in Newcastle has been given the go-ahead to select the first British patient for treatment, probably before the end of the year.
The technique is controversial because it involves altering inherited germ line DNA that is passed to future generations.
The Prince of Wales has spoken of the enduring bonds between the UK and Italy less than a week after Theresa May triggered the start of the nations withdrawal from the European Union.
Charles praised the partnership that has benefited the economies and societies of both countries during an address to a gala dinner in Florence that saw him receive the Renaissance Man of the Year award.
The heir to the throne is on a nine-day tour of Europe with the Duchess of Cornwall which has been widely interpreted as a bridge-building exercise with the continent as Brexit begins.
The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall are kicking off day four of the #RoyalVisitItaly at SantAmbrogio Market in Florence. pic.twitter.com/IJNccYhMyH Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) April 3, 2017
Europe Minister Sir Alan Duncan, who joined the prince in Florence, praised the Royal Family as Britains great national resource.
HRH met crowds outside the Palazzo Strozzi following an event celebrating the work of @BritishCouncil in the arts in Italy. #RoyalVisitItaly pic.twitter.com/GKjJhMl3Cg Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) April 3, 2017
Addressing diners at the black-tie event staged at Florences famous Palazzo Vecchio Charles said: Although our relationship is deeply rooted in our shared history, today, I am delighted to say, it is more firmly embedded than ever before.
In almost any field that one can think of, in culture, business, education, defence and security co-operation, innovation and research, even sport, the partnership between the United Kingdom and Italy brings tremendous benefits to our economies and to our societies.
HRH played the classic Italian card game Tresette with some of the residents @CaritasItaliana pic.twitter.com/khpGiRiE4A Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) April 3, 2017
Charles was joined by the Europe Minister at an event where he unveiled a Henry Moore sculpture to mark the centenary of the British Institute in Florence, met the organisations staff and interacted with local children.
Asked about the diplomacy role the monarchy plays Sir Alan replied: Obviously they are above politics but they work on such a human level.
The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall visit Sant Ambrogio Market
You can see the children just now and the way in which hes so approachable and talks to them in a very natural way, the Royal Family are our great, great national resource, if you like.
Charles words echoed those of his son the Duke of Cambridge who visited Paris last month and, speaking at the launch of a project celebrating UK-French links, said: our two nations continually inspire one another to become better: more creative, more prosperous, more innovative.
This partnership will continue despite Britains recent decision to leave the European Union.
The monarchy are seen as the nations most important figureheads, with their soft style of diplomacy renewing ties and strengthening bonds with nations through official visits.
By the end of the year the Royal Family, dubbed Brexit Ambassadors by the press, will have visited the majority of the EUs major member states, France, Germany, Italy and Poland with the King of Spain coming to the UK for a state visit.
The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall with the founder Carlo Petrini (right) as they visit Sant'Ambrogio Market
Charles was presented with Renaissance Man of the Year Award during a dinner in Florence staged by the citys mayor Dario Nardella and the US-based fund-raising arm of the Palazzo Strozzi foundation, an organisation that works to stage art and cultural events in the Italian city.
The Palazzo Strozzi Renaissance Man of the Year Award is given to someone who has demonstrated the values of Renaissance humanism and had an impact in areas like entrepreneurship and social causes.
The Prince said of the relationship between Italy and the UK: It is also a force for good in the world. The United Kingdom and Italy are Europes two biggest contributors to global peacekeeping.
A full-length portrait of Oscar Wilde has gone on display for the first time in the UK next to the cell door from the prison where he was once locked up.
The writer was sentenced on May 25 1895 to two years imprisonment with hard labour in solitary confinement on the charge of gross indecency.
The door, from Reading Gaol, stands alongside a painting of Wilde at Tate Britains new Queer British Art exhibition.
Actor Simon Callow stands in between the Oscar Wilde portrait by Robert Goodloe Harper Pennington (left) and the prison door from Reading Gaol during a photo call at the Tate Britain
Billed as the first exhibition dedicated to queer British art, it marks the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of male homosexuality in England and Wales.
Wilde once owned the 1884 portrait, by Robert Goodloe Harper Pennington, hanging it above his fireplace after it was given to him and his new wife, Constance, as a wedding present. But he later auctioned the work and all his belongings to pay his debts, while awaiting trial.
It shows the 27-year-old on the brink of fame, before imprisonment destroyed his health and reputation.
Curator Clare Barlow said: For me, theres a real emotional punch in this pairing. When you see an object like this it really brings it home that this actually happened, this was somebody whose life was actually wrecked.
We're excited to host @LondonLGBTPride's launch party at Tate Britain! Join us to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community https://t.co/RbzBOUX7yl pic.twitter.com/bG5RtKQJwE Tate (@Tate) April 3, 2017
Wilde wrote De Profundis, his famous letter to his lover Lord Alfred Douglas, known as Bosie, from inside cell C.3.3.
His time in jail also inspired The Ballad Of Reading Gaol, which he later penned while in exile in France.
Tate Britain also announced it was launching this years Pride Festival at the venue in June and will be flying the rainbow flag above the gallery from April 5, the opening date of the Queer British Art 1861-1967 show, until the end of July.
The exhibition runs until October 1 at Tate Britain.
Britains rising star Johanna Konta has withdrawn from this weeks Volvo Car Open in Charleston with a shoulder injury.
On Saturday Konta won the biggest title of her career, beating Caroline Wozniacki in the final of the Miami Open, to move up from 11 to seven in the WTA world rankings.
But the 25-year-old British number one will not be fit to take part in South Carolina this week, citing a slight shoulder injury and sickness.
Johanna Konta
Konta has expressed her regret at missing the tournament.
Johanna Konta has withdrawn from the #VolvoCarOpen due to a right shoulder injury.
We wish Jo the best and a speedy recovery! (: Getty) pic.twitter.com/OOu98I9sNF Credit One Charleston Open (@CharlestonOpen) April 3, 2017
In a post quoted on WTAs media outlets, she said: Im very sorry to have to withdraw from Charleston. This is a great tournament, and I was really looking forward to taking part.
I was battling a slight shoulder injury and sickness during Miami, which has taken hold since the end of the tournament.
Sydney-born Konta has risen up the world rankings from a lowly 146 less than two years ago.
An historic first Miami Open title , and now a career-high ranking for @JoKonta91!
The No.1 is now the world No. 7! pic.twitter.com/v9X66ivuwv Team GB (@TeamGB) April 3, 2017
Yet after her dramatic progress in recent months, she is targeting Grand Slam titles and even a world number one ranking.
Two thieves on a moped who snatched mobile phones from pedestrians as they made calls have been jailed.
Zuriel Hutson, 21, and Sharuk Sheraji, 22, rode a stolen high-powered moped and carried out a series of thefts across London on November 26 2016.
With Hutson steering and Sheraji as pillion, the duo carried out 10 snatches and made one attempt in Westminster, three snatch offences in Camden, two snatch offences in Islington, two snatch offences in Hackney and one snatch offence in Tower Hamlets.
In Whitehall Street, Tottenham, north London, Sheraji jumped off the moped and attempted to flee on foot, but was caught by officers in unmarked police cars. He was found to be in possession of the 18 phones snatched and was arrested.
Hutson then attempted to escape on the moped, heading north and onto the North Circular, all the while followed by a police helicopter.
He rode at speeds of up to 90mph, weaving in and out of traffic along the M11, and on the wrong side of the carriageway, against oncoming traffic.
A moped robber who rode up M11 the wrong way, and his accomplice, have been jailed https://t.co/GGbt0kuolo pic.twitter.com/CkEftXCnE0 Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) April 3, 2017
Video footage shows other drivers swerving out of his way to avoid head-on collisions. Nevertheless, some minor road traffic incidents occurred as a result of Hutsons riding.
On The M11, Hutson tried to squeeze in between two cars in the gap between lanes two and three, but instead collided with them.
The impact forced him to crash his moped, knocking his shoes off his feet as he skidded and rolled along the motorway.
Police were forced to close part of the M11 to prevent further danger to motorists.
Hutson got back up, restarted his moped and continued along the hard shoulder, again against oncoming traffic.
Zuriel Hutson drove the wrong way along the hard shoulder (Metropolitan Police/PA)
Police deployed a stinger tyre deflation device ahead of Hutson, which safely slowed him down and eventually stopped him on the slip road of the M11 to the M25.
He then attempted to flee bare foot, but police soon caught up with him and he was arrested.
Hutson, of Highbury New Park, Islington, north London was sentenced two and a half years imprisonment after he had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal, dangerous driving and breach of a Criminal Behaviour Order at Wood Green Crown Court January 31.
Sheraji of of Sebastion House, Hoxton Street, north London, was jailed for two years after he had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal and breach of a Criminal Behaviour Order at Wood Green Crown Court on February 9. They were both sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court on Friday.
Nicola Sturgeon has signed an agreement with the Government of California pledging to work together on climate change.
The First Minister and the Governor of California Edmund G Brown made the pledge in a document signed in Sacramento, US, on Monday.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) defines how the two administrations can work together and create a model for other governments to follow.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon (Andrew Milligan/PA)
First Minister met with the Governor of California Edmund G Brown. Joint agreement signed to tackle climate change.https://t.co/OkDGXMX6hf pic.twitter.com/0UURmq1f0e First Minister (@ScotGovFM) April 3, 2017
The leaders also discussed the importance of offshore wind in tackling climate change and considered how they could share knowledge and best practice in developing this technology.
The Scottish Government signalled its continued commitment to the agreement Under2 MoU, which makes commitments towards reducing emissions.
It also promised to press ahead with plans to deliver domestic measures to reduce carbon emissions and provide leadership and example in the spirit of the MoU and the historic Paris Agreement.
Ms Sturgeon said: Scotland is making huge progress in delivering our climate change ambitions, but we are not complacent and there is still much to achieve.
Todays meeting strengthened our relationship with the Government of California and Im confident we can work together to achieve the targets set out by the Under2 MoU.
Environmental groups on both sides of the Atlantic welcomed the signing of a joint agreement on tackling climate change.
WWF-US Senior Vice President of Climate Change and Energy, Lou Leonard, said: It is good to see climate action high on the agenda of Scotlands First Minister on her trip to the United States. This is a strong reminder that climate change is a priority for our allies around the world.
WWF Scotland director Lang Banks said: The global transition to low-carbon future is already under way and its unstoppable. The real issue is how quickly we will get there, not whether we will get there. Thats why its fantastic to see the First Minister in the US seeking to work with others prepared to stand up for people and nature threatened by global climate change.
Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Romanian financial markets on Monday.
DEBT TENDER
Romanian debt managers tender 200 million lei worth of Sept. 2031 treasury bonds.
PPI
Romania's National Statistics Board to release producer prices data for February at 0600 GMT.
FX RESERVES
Romania's central bank to release foreign exchange reserves data for March.
CEE MARKETS
The Czech crown firmed up, reversing an early slide to 18-month lows against the euro, as the central bank's commitment to capping its value came to an end on Friday.
RENEWABLE ENERGY
The government has approved an emergency decree that supports renewable energy producers by extending the validity of the green certificates they receive for each megawatt until the end of the support scheme in 2032.
PRIVATE PENSIONS
Romania's government denied on Saturday claims that it was planning to nationalise mandatory private pension schemes introduced in 2008 to replace a communist-era, pay-as-you-go scheme in a bid to cover a growing budget deficit.
BORDERS
Romania's border police warned controls will be harder and lengthier from April 7 when new Schengen rules come into effect, which will extend times waiting to cross borders. Ziarul Financiar
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By Joyce Lee
SEOUL, April 3 (Reuters) - South Korea's Lotte Group will continue to invest in its China business despite diplomatic tensions over the deployment of a U.S. missile defence system, a Lotte executive said on Monday, denying rumours it wants to scale back there.
Chinese authorities closed dozens of Lotte retail stores following inspections, ramping up pressure on Korea's fifth-largest family-run conglomerate after it agreed to provide land for the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system outside Seoul.
South Korea and its ally the United States say the system is designed to thwart nuclear-armed North Korea's missile threat, but Beijing says its radar can also reach far into China. Chinese state media have called for a boycott of Lotte businesses in response to the THAAD deployment.
"It's been 20 years since Lotte entered the China market ... we believe the China business is still in an investment period," high-ranking executive Hwang Kag-gyu told reporters.
South Korean media including Yonhap have raised the possibility of Lotte scaling back its China business in the wake of the backlash against the company there.
Lotte has not outlined a strategy to cope with the difficulties besides "waiting" for it to blow over.
Chinese signs reading "(We) understand you. So (we) wait," were put up in Lotte's flagship department store in Seoul last month.
"As a market, China isn't yet fully developed, especially in the middle and western regions. In order to grow globally, China is needed," a Lotte official who declined to be identified said.
"The THAAD issue is not something one company can solve."
Out of 99 Lotte hypermarkets in China, 75 had been closed by Chinese authorities as of April 2, a Lotte Mart spokesman said. Lotte Mart reported 1.13 trillion won ($1.01 billion) in China sales last year.
China is Lotte's biggest overseas market and generated about 3 trillion won in 2016 revenue. It is one of four strategic markets along with Vietnam, Russia and Indonesia that Lotte has been focusing on, as retail growth in its home market slows.
Hwang said the planned initial public offering of Hotel Lotte would depend on its key duty-free business recovering from the "THAAD effect". What had been a $4.5 billion IPO was shelved last year.
"All we can do is watch," he said.
South Korean airlines and tourism operators have also experienced discriminatory tactics from China, hitting the country's duty free market.
($1 = 1,114.0000 won) (Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Stephen Coates)
TOKYO, April 3 (Reuters) - Japan said on Monday that it was sending its ambassador back to South Korea almost three months after recalling him over a statue commemorating Korean women forced to work in Japanese military brothels during World War Two.
The two nations in 2015 agreed that the issue of "comfort women", which has long troubled ties between the Asian neighbours, would be "finally and irreversibly resolved" if all conditions of the accord - which included a Japanese apology and a fund to help the victims - were met.
Japan had said that the statue near its consulate in the southern South Korean city of Busan, which depicted a young woman sitting barefoot in a chair and was erected at the end of last year, violated that agreement.
Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters that ambassador Yasumasa Nagamine would return to South Korea on Tuesday after being recalled in early January.
He said that a period of political flux after the arrest of ousted president Park Geun-hye meant an ambassador needed to be in place in order to gather information on the situation as well as for maintaining close ties in the face of North Korea's missile and nuclear programmes.
Along with recalling the ambassador, Japan also postponed bilateral "high-level" economic dialogue and talks on a new currency swap arrangement with South Korea.
The term "comfort women" is a euphemism for girls and women, from South Korea, China, the Philippines and elsewhere, who were forced to work in Japanese military brothels. South Korean activists estimate that there may have been as many as 200,000 Korean victims. (Reporting by Elaine Lies, editing by Nick Macfie)
SOFIA, April 3 (Reuters) - These are some of the main stories in Bulgarian newspapers on Monday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
-- The centre-right GERB party, which won the snap polls, will launch negotiations with the nationalist United Patriots for a coalition government and is likely to give them control over four ministries, sources familiar with the initial plans said. (Standart, Sega)
-- The interim government revoked the ordinance that arranged the integration of migrants in Bulgarian municipalities saying it lacked clear rules. It plans to approve a new ordinance in the next weeks. (Capital Daily, 24 Chasa)
TRUD - GERB party will seek changes in the electoral code to introduce majority voting system, officials said.
MADRID, April 3 (Reuters) - Spain's Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis said on Monday that he was a little surprised by the tone coming out of Britain over Gibraltar and called for calm.
"The Spanish government is a little surprised by the tone of comments coming out of Britain, a country known for its composure," Dastis said during a conference in Madrid.
A former leader of UK Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative party, Michael Howard, said she would even be prepared to go to war to defend the territory, as Britain did with Argentina over the Falkland Islands 35 years ago.
The European Union proposed on Friday offering Spain a right of veto over Gibraltar's future trade relations with the bloc. (Reporting by Sonya Dowsett; Writing by Paul Day; Editing by Isla Binnie)
MOSCOW, April 3 (Reuters) - The following are some stories in Russia's newspapers on Monday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
VEDOMOSTI
www.vedomosti.ru
- Russia could scrap plans for manned space flights as a priority in its space programme until 2035.
- Nadezhda Erastova, a senior official of the Moscow city government, will head the Federation of Sport Dances and Acrobatic Rock-n-roll. Erastova is known to be close to Ekaterina Tikhonova, an acrobatic dancer and allegedly daughter of President Vladimir Putin, the daily says.
KOMMERSANT
www.kommersant.ru
- The proportion of Russians critical of state policy both inside and outside the country has increased since last year, according to the latest survey by polling company Levada.
- The percentage of people who "dismiss any obligations towards the state as it gives them so little", stood at 31 percent, up from from 25 percent in the last twelve months, Levada adds.
IZVESTIA
www.izvestia.ru
- Russian meat exports, which almost doubled last year, are expanding into Asia, with the Hong Kong and Vietnam markts first in line and shipments to Iran and Singapore expected to start in the near future.
ROSSIISKAYA GAZETA
www.rg.ru
- Oil companies Rosneft and Lukoil are expecting a new oil and gas discovery on the Arctic peninsula of Taimyr, where they are launching exploration drilling.
- The government opposes lawmakers' plans to ban local hypermarkets from staying open 24 hours a day.
NEZAVISIMAYA GAZETA
www.ng.ru
- Lawmakers of the Muslim majority North Caucasus republic of Chechnya, have passed a bill permitting schoolgirls to wear headscarves, contradicting federal legislation on the issue, the daily says.
- Opposition activists in Siberia's Krasnoyarsk region are warning of the end of patriotic euphoria stemming from the annexation of Crimea, and say social tensions are on the rise due to economic problems.
(Reporting By Tatiana Ustinova)
By Hasmik Mkrtchyan
YEREVAN, April 3 (Reuters) - President Serzh Sarksyan's ruling Republican Party won elections in Armenia on Sunday, official results showed, laying the foundation for a new parliamentary system of government.
The Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) had 49.12 percent of the votes while the opposition Tsarukyan Alliance led by wealthy businessman Gagik Tsarukyan gathered 27.32 percent.
The government-loyal Dashnaktsutyun Party had 6.57 percent and the opposition bloc Yelk ("Way Out") 7.77 percent, enough for both to enter parliament.
Central Election Commission chairman Tigran Mukuchyan said the figures were based on results from all 2,009 polling stations.
He said nothing about violations of election rules. The prosecutor's office said it had been reviewing media reports of violations during the voting and count process.
Opposition parties said they had also filed complaints on irregularities to the prosecutor's office, but gave no further details.
The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, observing the conduct of the election, said on Monday there had been some abuses.
It said in a statement the poll was "well administered and fundamental freedoms were generally respected", but added:
"There was credible information of vote-buying, of pressure on public servants including in schools and hospitals, and of intimidation of voters to vote for certain parties."
"This contributed to an overall lack of public confidence in the electoral process."
NEW CONSTITUTION
The Republicans and Dashnaktsutyun, partners in the current parliament, could create a coalition again, getting the right to name the future prime minister, who is expected to be the incumbent Karen Karapetyan.
The election was Armenia's first under a new constitution, approved in a December 2015 referendum. Parliament, rather than voters, will elect the president for the first time in 2018.
Sarksyan, 62, leader of the RPA and president since 2008, has repeatedly denied the constitutional changes were engineered to allow him to retain influence in the former Soviet republic after his final presidential term ends next year.
The new system reduces the presidency to a ceremonial post and increases the powers of the prime minister. Critics say Sarksyan could keep wielding executive power by becoming prime minister in 2018.
Many Armenians accuse the government of corruption and of 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. (Additional reporting by Margarita Antidze; Editing by Andrew Roche)
JUBA, April 3 (Reuters) - South Sudan has suspended plans to charge foreign workers a $10,000 work permit fee, the finance minister said, after criticism that it would create a huge expense for aid organisations.
War-ravaged South Sudan announced the 100-fold hike in the fee for foreign professionals in early March. Most such workers in the young country are employees of humanitarian groups.
"The Ministry of Finance acknowledges these significant issues ... and steps are being taken to formulate the best way forward," Finance Minister Stephen Dhieu Dau told a news conference over the weekend.
"The implementing agencies will continue with old rates charged," he said, adding that parliament was expected to repeal the legislation that approved the fee hike. The previous rate was $100 per foreign worker.
The world's youngest nation has been embroiled in civil war since 2013, when President Salva Kiir fired his deputy Riek Machar, sparking a conflict that has increasingly split the country along ethnic lines.
In February, the United Nations declared that parts of the country were experiencing famine. Nearly half the population, or about 5.5 million people, is expected to lack a reliable supply of food by July.
The fighting has uprooted more than 3 million people. The U.N. said in a report in February that continuing displacement presented "heightened risks of prolonged (food) underproduction into 2018". (Reporting by Denis Dumo; writing by George Obulutsa; editing by Andrew Roche)
BERLIN, April 3 (Reuters) - The European Union should try to limit the fallout from Britain's decision to leave the European Union, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday, conceding that some damage was inevitable.
"This is an incision for the European Union, it's an unfortunate event - Britain's decision," Merkel told a joint news conference with Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico and Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka in Berlin.
"We want to limit the damage. But there will naturally be some negative impact," Merkel said, adding that it was more important that the remaining 27 EU member states stick together and improve the competitiveness of the bloc. (Reporting by Joseph Nasr and Paul Carrel)
By Alexandra Ulmer and Alexandra Valencia
QUITO, April 3 (Reuters) - Socialist candidate Lenin Moreno on Monday celebrated victory in Ecuador's presidential election, bucking a shift to the right in South America, but his conservative challenger demanded a recount amid scattered protests.
Moreno's triumph was a relief for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange after former banker Guillermo Lasso had vowed to remove him from Ecuador's embassy in London if he won the runoff.
It was also a boost for the struggling leftist movement in South America after right-leaning governments recently came to power in Argentina, Brazil, and Peru as a commodities boom ended, economies flagged and corruption scandals grew.
The region's high-profile Socialist leader, President Nicolas Maduro of crisis-hit Venezuela, congratulated Moreno profusely on Twitter, as did Bolivian President Evo Morales.
"Congratulations Ecuador, the citizen's revolution has triumphed!" said Maduro, who was echoed by much of his Cabinet.
"21st century Socialism always triumphs," tweeted Morales. "Congratulations brother @Lenin!"
Lasso had promised to denounce the embattled Maduro, who foes say has turned his country into a dictatorship.
Moreno, a paraplegic former vice president, secured 51.17 percent of the votes, compared with Lasso's 48.83 percent, with over 99 percent of votes counted, the electoral council tally showed on Monday afternoon.
FRAUD ALLEGATIONS
Lasso, who had proclaimed himself victorious based on a top pollster's exit poll, disputed the close results that would extend a decadelong leftist rule in oil-rich Ecuador.
"I'm warning the world that in Ecuador procedures are being violated, and they're trying to swear in an illegitimate government on May 24," he said on Monday afternoon, again vowing to challenge the results. "This is a clumsy fraud attempt."
Lasso tweeted photos showing what he said were original votes for him that were changed by electoral officials.
Later on Monday, he presented his complaint to the Organization of American States, which has an observation mission in Ecuador.
The election authority denied fraud allegations. Still, Lasso's challenge meant Moreno's official proclamation as president will be delayed.
Lasso contrasted Sunday's quickly tallied vote with the first round in February, when the results took days to come out.
Hundreds of his supporters had swarmed in front of electoral council offices in the capital, Quito, and in Guayaquil, on Sunday waving yellow, blue and red Ecuadorean flags and chanting "No to fraud!" and "We don't want to be Venezuela!"
There were reports of isolated clashes on Sunday night, but Ecuador was quiet on Monday even though many Lasso supporters remained angry.
"This is shameless fraud, we all know it," said taxi driver Roberto Vera, 50. "They're from the Venezuelan school, that's their governance model and it will do great harm to all Ecuadoreans."
But ruling Country Alliance officials scoffed that Lasso was a sore loser and inciting violence.
Going forward, while Moreno's party has control of Congress, he will need to cultivate support from many in the polarized country who view his narrow win with suspicion.
'LENIN PRESIDENT!'
Moreno, who lost the use of his legs two decades ago when he was shot during a robbery, will become a rare head of state to use a wheelchair when he takes office next month.
Moreno, who put rights for disabled Ecuadoreans at the heart of his campaign, celebrated in mountainous Quito overnight with the flag-waving crowd chanting, "Lenin President!"
"A big hug to those who believed in our proposal as well as to those who did not vote for us; we'll work for them too," Moreno tweeted on Monday, when he participated in the changing of the guard at the presidential palace in Quito with outgoing President Rafael Correa.
Moreno, a former United Nations special envoy on disability and accessibility, has a more conciliatory style than the fiery Correa and has promised to reach out to opponents and business sectors.
He will be under pressure to create jobs and crack down on graft amid corruption scandals at state-run oil company PetroEcuador and Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht.
Lasso has criticized Moreno as being ill-equipped to deal with economic issues and warned that his major social promises would hit already pressured coffers in a country dependent on exports of oil, bananas and shrimp.
"Moreno's margin of victory was much smaller than those of his predecessor, Rafael Correa, leaving him in a much weaker spot," said John Polga-Hecimovich, a political scientist at the U.S. Naval Academy.
"He has the advantage of a legislative majority (for now), but his government will have to confront fiscal restraints, a stagnant economy, and the burden of a recovery from last April's earthquake."
(Additional reporting by Yury Garcia, Daniel Tapia, and Henry Romero in Guayaquil and Jose Llangari and Mariana Bazo in Quito; Writing by Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne, Jeffrey Benkoe and Jonathan Oatis)
By Marcin Goettig
WARSAW, April 3 (Reuters) - Polish prosecutors said on Monday they would press charges against two Russian air traffic controllers of deliberately contributing to a 2010 plane crash that killed Poland's president and 95 other people.
The crash near Smolensk in western Russia killed the Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife, as well as the central bank chief, top army commanders and several lawmakers.
An inquiry by the previous government returned a verdict of pilot error, but the ruling right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party led by Kaczynski's twin brother Jaroslaw, has said the crash may have been caused by an explosion on board.
The prosecutors said on Monday that a new analysis of recordings of conversations between the pilots and Russian controllers justified pressing the charges.
"An analysis of the evidence ... has allowed prosecutors to formulate new charges against air traffic controllers, citizens of the Russian Federation," Polish Deputy Prosecutor General Marek Pasionek told a news conference.
Referring to the accusations, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday that circumstances of the tragedy have already been thoroughly studied and it was "certainly not possible to agree with such conclusions".
Russia has so far refused to return the wreckage of the jet to Poland, a member of NATO and the European Union, citing its own continuing investigation.
The accusations of the Polish prosecutors, whom the PiS brought under direct government control, are likely to worsen relations with Moscow - already strained over the conflict in Ukraine - and increase tensions within Polish society.
The previous Polish government's report indicated that Smolensk traffic controllers unintentionally contributed to the crash, charges Moscow had dismissed as false. A Russian report into the crash puts the blame squarely on the Poles.
The Polish prosecutors said on Monday that a re-opening of the victims' coffins, which had been sealed in Russia, has revealed that in two cases remains were in the wrong coffins and in five coffins there were fragments of other bodies.
The crash was the worst such disaster in Poland since World War Two and left society deeply divided over its causes.
A transcript of conversations from the plane's cockpit leaked by Polish media in 2015 showed that members of the president's entourage urged the pilots to land despite heavy fog.
But many Poles were shocked with video footage showing Russian workers pushing around large parts of the wreckage with excavators, cutting cables and carelessly throwing smaller pieces into a heap on a truck.
The crash took place as pilots attempted to land a Soviet-made TU-154 at a rarely used airport near Smolensk to take part in commemorations of 22,000 Polish officers executed there by Soviet secret police in 1940. (Reporting by Marcin Goettig in WARSAW, additional reporting by Andrey Ostroukh in MOSCOW; Editing by Stephen Powell)
By Daniel Wesangula
NAIROBI, April 3 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan activists on Monday welcomed a High Court ruling giving parliament 60 days to ensure a third of lawmakers are women or face dissolution.
The ruling follows a lengthy struggle to increase women's political representation in the patriarchal society.
Kenya's 2010 constitution guarantees women a third of seats in parliament, but its male-dominated assembly has repeatedly frustrated efforts to pass legislation needed to enact the quota.
"The ruling is good for women who, because of patriarchal cultural backgrounds, cannot effectively compete with men," Josephine Mongare, chairwoman of the Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya (FIDA), told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
"This is the nearest we have come to the two-thirds constitutional requirement."
Women vying for office in Kenya frequently face violence and intimidation in a country where women in politics are frowned upon. They also often lack the political clout and money to get nominated by the major parties.
Kenya, which heads to the polls in August, has East Africa's lowest representation of women in parliament at 19 percent, compared to 61 percent in Rwanda and 38 percent in Ethiopia, the Geneva-based International Parliamentary Union says.
Three previous attempts to get the bill passed have failed, with male lawmakers walking out of the chamber in May when it was time to vote.
Last week's High Court ruling came after several rights groups sued Kenya's parliamentary speakers and attorney general for missing a 2016 deadline to implement the law.
"It is disheartening that none of the political players is taking any action," said Patricia Nyaundi, chief executive of the state-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, one of the groups behind the case.
"One would hope that the president and the leader of opposition would prevail upon their members to enact the law," she added.
But Nairobi-based constitutional lawyer Patrick Wanyama said the court victory may be too late to make a difference.
The 60-day ultimatum expires in late May, just over a month before parliament dissolves for August elections.
"We are trying to solve a political problem using the law," he said, as male politicians remain steadfastly opposed to the quota for women.
"Sometimes this does not work." (Reporting by Daniel Wesangula; Editing by Katy Migiro and Emma Batha. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, womens rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org to see more stories.)
MADRID, April 3 (Reuters) - Banco Popular's chief executive Pedro Larena is to step down, the Spanish bank said on Monday, marking the group's third leadership shake-up since last July.
Banco Popular said in a statement that Larena would leave for strictly personal reasons and would continue in his role until the bank named a replacement.
Larena had joined Popular in September after the previous CEO Francisco Gomez was fired in July after shareholders rebelled over lack of progress in turning around the bank's performance.
Popular has been trying to clean up its balance sheet which is weighed down with billions of euros of toxic real estate assets.
Earlier on Monday, Popular said an internal audit had found the need for adjustments to the previous year's accounts. These would be included in its results for the first half of 2017.
Popular said the adjustments would not affect its financial statements in a "significant way" and they would have a small impact on its 2016 accounts but they would affect its capital.
Popular's shares fell sharply and were down 8 percent by 1500 GMT.
Popular has been the worst performer in the European STOXX Europe 600 banking sector index in the last six months and is down 60 percent over the past year.
Larena had been considering stepping down for weeks after he lost influence to Miguel Escrig, Telefonica's former chief financial officer who was picked as the right hand man of the new chairman Emilio Saracho, Expansion newspaper reported on Monday, citing anonymous sources.
A Banco Popular spokesman declined to comment on the report.
Last December, Popular replaced former Chairman Angel Ron with Saracho as it tried to get the bank's turnaround on track.
Popular posted a record 3.5-billion-euro ($3.74 billion) loss in 2016. Its non-performing property loan book also eroded its capital position and cast doubt over its financial targets.
Larena previously was Deutsche Bank's head of international retail banking.
($1 = 0.9368 euros) (Reporting By Jesus Aguado; Editing by Angus Berwick and Jane Merriman)
WASHINGTON, April 3 (Reuters) - A meeting of the Washington-based Organization of American States to discuss Venezuela's political crisis on Monday has been canceled, a spokesperson for the regional group said.
"The meeting for today has been canceled, we were notified by the permanent council," the spokesperson said, without giving details on why the meeting was called off.
However, the cancellation of the meeting comes as Bolivia, an ally of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, assumed the chair on Monday of the OAS permanent council, which was meant to debate the crisis.
(Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
By Natalia Zinets and Matthias Williams
KIEV, April 3 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund urged Ukraine on Monday to raise the pension age and do more to tackle corruption after announcing the payout of $1 billion in new aid to the war-torn country.
The IMF is propping up Ukraine's economy with a $17.5 billion bailout, helping it climb out of recession following the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014 and the outbreak of a Russian-backed separatist insurgency in its industrial east.
Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko and the government cheered the new aid as a vindication of their reform efforts. Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said it would help attract global investors and keep the hryvnia currency stable.
But the Fund, while praising Ukraine's economic recovery and lower inflation, urged the authorities to implement structural reforms and tame high public debt.
"Corruption needs to be tackled decisively. Despite the creation of new anti-corruption institutions, concrete results have yet to be achieved," IMF First Deputy Managing Director David Lipton said in a statement.
"The urgency of structural fiscal reforms to ensure medium-term sustainability has increased, as pressures to raise wages and pensions are building," he said. "Ukraine cannot afford to delay comprehensive pension reform much longer, including by raising the effective retirement age."
Lipton also said it was important for Ukraine to safeguard the independence of the central bank. Central Bank chief Valeriia Gontareva has hinted that she might soon resign, citing protests that included someone leaving a coffin at her door.
Kiev is expecting a total of four tranches of aid this year. So far, counting Monday's aid, it has received $8.38 billion in total under the programme launched in 2015.
Finance Minister Oleksandr Danylyuk said the next tranche could come in May.
The IMF had delayed its decision on disbursing new aid from March in order to assess the impact of an economic blockade that Kiev imposed on separatist-held territory.
Gontareva called the new aid "a real vote of confidence by the international financial community".
The central bank in a statement also said, citing IMF experts, that the blockade would have only a moderate impact on growth and would not threaten Ukraine's inflation target.
Earlier on Monday Ukraine launched an electronic register that will automatically refund value-added tax (VAT) owed to exporters, implementing an IMF-backed reform aimed at tackling endemic bribe-taking in the tax service and improving the investment climate. (Editing by Alison Williams)
By Jim Finkle
April 3 (Reuters) - Cyber security firm Kaspersky Lab on Monday said it had obtained digital evidence that bolsters suspicions by some researchers that North Korea was involved in last year's $81 million cyber heist of the Bangladesh central bank's account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Russian-based Kaspersky released a 58-page report on Lazarus, a group linked to the heist in Bangladesh and the 2014 attack on Sony's Hollywood studio, which the U.S. government blamed on North Korea.
Among its findings, the report said Lazarus hackers made a direct connection from an IP address in North Korea to a server in Europe that was used to control systems infected by the group.
Kaspersky researcher Vitaly Kamluk told Reuters by telephone that the finding marked "the first time we have seen a direct connection" between North Korea and Lazarus, a hacking group whose activities dating back to 2009 have been documented by the world's biggest cyber security firms.
Kamluk said he could not conclusively say that Pyongyang was behind the attacks because it was possible the hackers went to great effort to make it look like they were from North Korea, or that North Koreans were working with others.
Still, he said that North Korean involvement was the most likely explanation.
Separately last month, U.S. officials also cast suspicion on Pyongyang. An official briefed on the probe told Reuters in Washington that the FBI believed North Korea was responsible.
And Rick Ledgett, the deputy director of the National Security Agency, told reporters at an Aspen Institute event on March 15 that private sector research tying North Korea to the Bangladesh bank heist was strong.
"If that's true, then that says to me that the North Koreans are robbing banks," Ledgett said. "That's a big deal."
The Bangladesh Bank heist was one in a string of financially motivated cyber attacks by a division of Lazarus dubbed Bluenoroff, the Kaspersky report said. Targets included banks, financial and trading companies, casinos and digital currency businesses in at least 18 nations, the report said.
Adrian Nish, head of threat intelligence with cyber security firm BAE Systems, said Kaspersky's findings were significant, even though they did not conclusively link Pyongyang to Lazarus.
"It is significant further evidence," said Nish, who led a team at BAE that in May 2016 was the first to link the Bangladesh heist and the Sony hack. (Reporting by Jim Finkle in Toronto; editing by Grant McCool)
By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS, April 3 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will chair a United Nations Security Council meeting on North Korea on April 28 to discuss how the body can combat Pyongyang's banned nuclear and missile programs, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said on Monday.
North Korea has been under U.N. sanctions aimed at impeding the development of its nuclear and missile programs since 2006. The 15-member council has strengthened sanctions following each of North Korea's five nuclear tests.
"We do need to talk about it in terms of what are we as a council are going to do to deal with North Korea and how do we push that forward. So we hope that we get as many foreign ministers to come as possible," Haley told a news conference to mark Washington's presidency of the Security Council for April.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is due to visit President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida this week.
"The United States has seen China for 25-plus years say that they are concerned about North Korea, but we haven't seen them act like they're concerned about North Korea. This administration wants to see them act," Haley said.
Last month, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said after talks in Beijing with Tillerson that the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue is between the United States and North Korea. There had to be a commitment to using diplomatic means to peacefully settle the North Korea issue, Wang said.
A U.S. think tank reported last month that satellite imagery of North Korea's main nuclear test site indicates that Pyongyang could be in the final stages of preparations for a sixth nuclear test.
Also last month, North Korea state media said the country had conducted a test of a high-thrust engine that would help achieve world-class satellite launch capability, indicating the test was of a new type of rocket engine for long-range missiles.
Trump's top national security aides have completed a broad review of U.S. options aimed at countering North Korea's nuclear and missile programs, a senior U.S. official said on Sunday.
The review includes economic and military measures but leans towards new sanctions and increased pressure on Beijing to rein in its neighbor and ally, the official said. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; editing by Grant McCool)
Hindustan Times, New Delhi, 02.04.2017 - Four Delhi students who were arrested for allegedly chasing textiles minister Smriti Iranis car were booked for stalking and using offensive gestures and language, police said on Sunday.
The students, all in the age group of 18-19, were released on bail a few hours after their arrest on Saturday evening but a probe was on into the incident that caused a security scare.
The students were taken to a hospital for a medical examination. They were found to be drunk, Delhi Police chief spokesperson Dependra Pathak said.
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 inaugural edition of the Women Icons Summit & Awards, a premier platform that celebrates and honours the accomplishments and contributions of women who have excelled in different spheres of life, was held amidst great fanfare at the Raffles Town Club recently. The summit felicitated Women Achievers from South & SE Asia, representing diverse sectors as a celebration of their grit and achievements.
New Philip Hospitals (Pvt.) Ltd Sri Lanka Chairperson and MD Indrani Fernando was a recipient of the Women Icons Award at the summit. Driven by the passion and vision to be the hospital of tomorrow, Fernando gives attention to superior care, accuracy and excellence in all that they do. Fernando started with a handful of staff and now she is the proud leader of a team over 400 staff to support the forward march of her organisation.
An initiative by Singapore-headquartered Business Excellence & Research Group (BERG), the Women Icons Summit & Awards had Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore as the Knowledge partner along with supporting partners Acado Oil Pte Ltd, Joyallukas, AsiaBizToday, FII News and MediaKindle.
The summit discussion was based on The Lives You Impact: The Role of Culture in Educating & Empowering Tomorrows Leaders. The panellists included Faith Foundation and Sanrakshan Pte Ltd Founder Dr. Vani Khare, social entrepreneur Cindy Chng, Celestine Corp. Holdings Pte Ltd Executive Director Dato Celestine Kong and Nanyang Technological University Singapore Chief Development Officer Victor Tay. BERG Singapore Managing Partner and Director Vishwesh Iyer said, The Women Icons Summit & Awards is part of an initiative to hold an ongoing dialogue with women achievers and the response was very encouraging. Women leaders from diverse sectors such as healthcare, marketing and communications, IT, start-ups, education and HR representing India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam came together to share experiences at this global stage.
Sri Lankas foremost real estate giant, Blue Mountain, is offering an exclusive opportunity to customers who pre-book by 20th April to experience 7-star luxury and magnificence even before moving into their plush Achilleion apartment.
Three lucky couples will be bestowed with business class return air tickets to Dubai by Achilleion, where they will spend 3 days and 2 nights at the iconic 7-star luxury hotel in Dubai, the Burj Al Arab. The other 7-star luxury offerings include a private helicopter service around scenic locations for Achilleion customers who have pre-booked an apartment.
Extending the lavish offerings further, clients will be entitled to a chauffeur driven fleet of E-class Mercedes-Benz to travel in majestic splendour.
Commenting on this first-ever such offer in the local industry, Dr. Hiran Hettiarachchi (MBBS-Colombo & MBA-Australia) Group Chairman of Blue Mountain, said, We are delighted to offer our Achillieon customers this exclusive opportunity to experience 7-star luxury lifestyle even before they move into their homes. We believe this will give them an insight into the rarefied and exclusive lifestyle they will enjoy once they move into Achilleion, which is the first and only 7-star apartment complex in Sri Lanka to offer residents helicopter and Mercedes Benz as part of its 7-star amenities. Blue Mountain is proud to be the first real estate company to extend this luxury experience for real estate customers such as a two-night stay at the Burj Al Arab, as well as scenic helicopter tours and travelling in style with the latest Mercedes Benz E-Class.
In order to ensure that residents always travel in style, Achilleion provides a rooftop helipad and a private helicopter for the use of the residents. A fleet of five Mercedes Benz luxury cars will also be available for residents to use at their leisure. Located in the heart of Colombo 4, next to the Majestic City shopping mall, Achilleion will make an iconic appearance on Colombos skyline and will feature all-new levels of luxury and innovation.
This state-of-the-art complex will also feature Sri Lankas first-ever sky bridge, the tallest sky restaurant by sea and an infinity pool, which will offer breath-taking views of the Indian Ocean and the vibrant Marine Drive stretch. Other facilities include a 24-hour medical centre - the first of its kind to operate in a private residential complex, a comprehensive library and a private theatre. The 50-storey twin tower apartment complex will consist of 586 luxury units of one, two or three bedroom apartments, duplexes and two penthouses with more than 85 percent of the apartments enjoying the glorious view of the Indian Ocean.
Since its inception, Blue Mountain (Pvt) Ltd has revolutionized the local real estate market by infusing a professional ethos by leveraging on its expertise in conceiving and executing a profusion of urbane real estate projects encompassing luxury residential plots and commercial properties.
The company is focused on delivering innovative design, exclusive standards of construction, superior customer service and deep community values. Blue Mountain recently won the 5-Star award at the Asia Pacific Property Awards and distinguished itself as the first Sri Lankan company to be recognized among the Best 1000 global real estate companies.
It is a Nekath system
New Year advances one day in 73 years
In future, it will be celebrated on April 14, 15
New Year Celebrations in Myanmar, Thailand have Sinhala Buddhist characteristics
"Also, we know King Devanampiyatissa went on the hunting expedition on a Nekath day. These are rituals not associated with Buddhism. Even before the advent of Buddhism, people would have incorporated some Buddhist rituals into the practice like going to temples. Punya Kalaya is a concept introduced by Buddhists. Naga and Yaksha people would have introduced Nonagatha period"
With the pulse and smell of New Year or Aluth Avurdu in the air, people get nostalgic about celebrations and observation of rituals. It is noteworthy, yet to throw some light on the origin of this festival and its uniqueness with the Sinhala Buddhist culture. According to Prof. Nalin de Silva who did extensive research into the astronomical and astrological aspect of Avurudu, it is very much linked with Nekath (auspicious) system followed by people here from time immemorial.
In a discussion with the Daily Mirror he said the sky is divided into 27 Nekaths and Sinhala people had made use of the motion of the Sun through Nekaths. He opined that the origin of Aluth Avurudu could be traced back to the days of Naga people who inhibited the island even before the advent of Buddhism.
Naketh is a word derived from Naka.Naka is Naga people. There had been various Naga clan from Assam in India to Sri Lanka. These Naka people were navigators. When you navigate, you have to form an idea of the stars or the planets or Grahayas. These people divided the sky into 27 Nekaths. My view is that Sinhala people developed this New Year system from these Nekaths. Originally, my understanding is that the Sinhala New year dawns when the sun passes from one Nekath to another, he said.
"My view is that Sinhala people developed this New Year system from these Nekaths. Originally, my understanding is that the Sinhala New year dawns when the sun passes from one Nekath to another"
In a mathematical calculation of planetary motion linked with New Year, he said Sankranthi or the transitional period was the time taken by the Sun to move from Pisces to Aries. This time period is 12 hours and 48 minutes.
He said, However, according to western astronomy, Sun moves to Aries (Mesha) not on the 13 or 14 of April, but a few days after that. This discrepancy could be explained if we consider the Neketh system where the particular disc of the Celestial Sphere, in which the Grahayas move relative to Earth is divided into 27 Nekethas instead of the 12 constellations. The New Year dawns when the sun moves from the Revathi Neketha to Asvida Neketha, and the beginnings of the Asvida Nekatha and the Aries constellation do not coincide.
The ecliptic path of the Sun relative to Earth in the Celestial Sphere intersects the Celestial Equator of the Celestial Sphere at two points. The Sun passes through these two points on the March 21 (Northwards) and September 21 (Southwards). The Western New Year is the time interval between two consecutive March 21sts.
The axis of the Earth is inclined to the ecliptic at an angle of 23.5 degrees and further the axis precesses. Due to this precession the point at which the ecliptic intersects the Celestial Sphere goes backwards roughly about one degree in 71 years.
The Sinhala/Hindu New Year is the time interval between two consecutive transitions from Revathi Neketha to Asvida Neketha (or from Pisces to Aries). Due to the precession of the axis of the earth this day advances relative to the western calendar roughly about one day in 72 years. In the beginning of the 20th century the dawn of the New Year has fallen on April 12 and 13. These days, it falls on the 13th and 14th of the same month. In twenty to thirty years time it will be on the 14th and the 15th.
"In the case of Sinhala New Year, we find Punya Kalaya or Nonagatha (inauspicious period). There is no such thing observed in India. But, there is Punniya Kaalam or subavelai observed among Jaffna Tamils. Though they do not celebrate the New Year to the extent of the Sinhalese, they also have Punniya Kaalam. In India, there is a New Year on April 14. In Tamil Nadu, it is a holiday. That is not in fact the dawn of New Year. It is to celebrate the dawn of Chiththirai month. It coincides with the Sinhala New Year "
Prof. de Silva said, Actually in history, the Sinhala people celebrated the New Year on a date in the latter part of March. That was according to the old Julian calendar. It was changed with the Gregorian calendar.
For example, the Russian revolution took place in October. According to the new calendar, it was in November, if you add that. During the time of Robert Knox, the Sinhala/Hindu New Year was celebrated somewhere around April, 7, 8 or 9. That is with the change of calendar.
Now we have it on April 13 or 14. Once in 73 years, the New Year advanced by one day. It will dawn on April 15 in future. The Sinhala people used a different calendar altogether. The western calendar says the New Year starts on the midnight of January 1. There is no physical significance attached to this date. It is a date fixed by westerners. In respect of the Sinhala/Hindu New Year, it is fixed by the motion of the sun relative to the earth. These are all relative motions. There are no absolute motions as such. There are no absolute concepts. All concepts are relative. We are concerned with our fate on the earth, whether astrologically or not. We do all these things related to the earth. Here we observe the motion of the sun relative to the earth. Even the sun moves in the Milky Way. The Milky Way also moves within the local group of galaxies. The local group of galaxies also moves with the expansion of universe. All these measurements are relative.
"Due to the precession of the axis of the earth this day advances relative to the western calendar roughly about one day in 72 years. In the beginning of the 20th century the dawn of the New Year has fallen on April 12 and 13. These days, it falls on the 13th and 14th of the same month. In twenty to thirty years time, it will be on the 14th and the 15th"
If you ask me the length of the Mahaweli River, I do not know. What are the two end points? These two end points change with the low tide and the high tide. All you can do is to take the average. There is no absolute way of measuring these things. What is the tallest mountain in the world? Somebody can say Everest. Another will say something different because the height of it is measured relative to the sea level or to the centre of the earth. If you measure it relative to the centre of the earth, then Mount Everest is not the highest. The sea level is also changes.
Coming back to the subject, I can say, relative to the earth, the sun moves in ecliptic which is the word used in western astronomy. The path of the sun relative to the earth is not fixed. We know that the earth is inclined at an angle of 23.5. Because of this, the path of the sun intersects the celestial horizon. The point of intersection of the ecliptic with the celestial equator changes. Because of this change, the date of the dawn on the New Year advances. That is the reason. During these days, it is on April 14. Then, in the case of Sinhala New Year, we find Punya Kalaya or Nonagatha (inauspicious period). There is no such thing observed in India. But, there is Punniya Kaalam or subavelai observed among Jaffna Tamils. Though they do not celebrate the New Year to the extent of the Sinhalese, they also have Punniya Kaalam. In India, there is a New Year on April 14. In Tamil Nadu, it is a holiday. That is not in fact the dawn of New Year. It is to celebrate the dawn of Chiththirai month. It coincides with the Sinhala New Year.
If the New year advanced by one day in every 73 year period, there should be people remembering the celebration of the event on a different date in April during their lifetime. How do you support that argument?
It is good that you asked about it. In fact, I have mentioned in my writing earlier about the celebration of New Year on April 12 in a year at the beginning of the 20th century. If not for leap years coming after every four years, this would have advanced less than 73 years.
How did Avurudu become a matter for celebration in this manner with religious rituals associated with it?
Buddhist rituals have been introduced later. I feel that from Naga days, it should have been celebrated. We have this Nekath Keli. It is something to do with this. Also, we know King Devanampiyatissa went on the hunting expedition on a Nekath day. These are rituals not associated with Buddhism. Even before the advent of Buddhism, people would have incorporated some Buddhist rituals into the practice like going to temples. Punya Kalaya is a concept introduced by Buddhists. Naga and Yaksha people would have introduced Nonagatha period. During the Nonagatha, we have two aspects. During the first segment, people go to temples.
How is it different from other countries in the region that celebrate the New Year?
We have fixed physical custom here. Compared with the westerners, they have an idea the December 31 midnight, this has something to do with.
The Sinhala Buddhist culture would have been taken to Theravada Buddhist countries such as Myanmar, Cambodia and Thailand. That is the Sinhala Buddhist culture imposed on the Chinese culture. During the 12th century, the Sinhala Buddhist culture had been imposed. There were good relations with these countries through Theravada Buddhism. In Thailand too, they use the word Sankranthi.
The Steering Committee working on Constitutional proposals had broadly agreed on power devolution and the interim report based such concluded matters would be presented soon, it is learnt.
The party leaders met with last Monday to discuss the way forward in this regard.
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP M.A. Sumanthiran, who is privy to the Constitution making process, said there were areas already agreed upon.
We decided to go ahead and finalise the interim report on that matters that have been agreed, he said.
The Steering Committee has two full rounds of discussion on power devolution.
Mr. Sumanthiran said the Committee would meet on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for further discussions on areas with consensus and work out the report.
The matters still under discussion will be kept back, he said.
However, he said Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) was not for the full abolition of executive presidency, and therefore it would be a matter for discussion later on.
It is not opposed to the inclusion of devolution matters in the interim report, he said.
Mr. Sumanthiran said there was somewhat agreement on electoral reforms.(Kelum Bandara)
By Shabiya Ali Ahlam
Sri Lankas tea industry has hit another stumbling block with the much-awaited global promotional campaign being put off for another few more months due to the shortcomings in the tender procedures and questionable capabilities of some of the selected service providers, Mirror Business learns.
The Plantation Industries Ministry expressed confidence this January in kicking off the campaign in April, after an almost four-year long wait. The ministry said the promotional campaign was split into three segmentscreative, media buying and public relations (PR). However, now the ministry and Sri Lanka Tea Board (SLTB) have decided to have a relook at the tenders carried out for selecting suitable parties for media buying and PR, while the creative part will go ahead as planned with the selected partner, Phoenix Ogilvy.
The decision to look for new partners was taken two weeks ago jointly by the ministry and SLTB
Fresh tenders in this regard are expected to be called in the coming weeks.
According to the SLTB, the tenders received for media buying were defective and were rejected by the cabinet-appointed tender board. With only two proposals being received, one was quoted in foreign currencynot acceptable according to the tender regulationswhereas the other quoted an extraordinarily high fee.
Meanwhile, the SLTB has decided to do the PR part of the campaign on its own as the partner that initially won the bid is said to have lacked the required capacity.
This (tender recalling process) will delay the campaign by at least three to four months. But the thing is there is also a need for transparency. The tender boards now are highly cautious of doing anything suspicious and they want to be absolutely straightforward, said SLTB Chairman Rohan Pethiyagoda, providing clarity over the unexpected turn of events.
He added that with transparency being a key requirement, the process will take some time.
When questioned on the implications of the prolonged delay of the campaign on the industry, Pethiyagoda pointed out that the promotion primarily aims at increasing the value and awareness of the Ceylon Tea brand and not to increase the volumes exported or fetch higher prices.
What the global campaign intends to do is to reinforce in the minds of consumers that Ceylon Tea is of high value, which is to stress it is a premium. But that is not to say that every consumer will buy it. It is about creating a reputation in the consumer market, which may not translate into greater volume of tea being sold or fetching higher prices, explained the STLB chief.
With the expected outcome of the campaign being intangible, he stressed the relevant authorities are cautious on spending, thus the whole exercise is undergoing a number of bureaucratic steps that are necessary.
The SLTB originally aimed to kick off the global campaign in mid-2012 but the mega task was put off to October 2013 and then towards end-January 2014, due to not having a suitable promotional partner.
The exercise will be carried out through the money collected from the tea cess, which is estimated to be around Rs.6.75 billion. The cess fund was created in 2010, where a Tea Promotion and Marketing Levy of Rs.3.50 for every kilo of tea exported was introduced.
Emirates will introduce a new service to enable customers to use their laptops and tablet devices until just before they board their flights to the US.
Emirates customers travelling to the US via Dubai will be able to utilise their laptops and tablet devices on the first part of their journeys and also during transit in Dubai. They must then declare and hand over their laptops, tablets and other banned electronic devices to security staff at the gate just before boarding their US-bound flight. The devices will be carefully packed into boxes, loaded into the aircraft hold and returned to the customer at their US destination. There will not be any charge for this service.
Passengers on US-bound flights starting their journeys in Dubai are encouraged to pack their electronic devices into their check-in luggage in the first instance, to avoid delays.
Customers should be aware that there will be a detailed search of all hand baggage on non-stop flights to the US from Dubai. They should therefore declare their devices before the search or ensure their electronic devices are packed into their check-in luggage in the first instance.
Emirates Airline President Sir Tim Clark said, Our aim is to ensure compliance with the new rules, while minimising disruption to passenger flow and impact on customer experience. Our new complimentary service enables passengers, particularly those flying for business, to have the flexibility to use their devices until the last possible moment.
Once on board they can still stay connected on their mobile phones. Our historical data shows that on Emirates US flights, 90 percent of passengers using our onboard mobile and Wi-Fi connectivity services do so via their smartphones. Only 6 percent connect via their laptops and 4 percent via their tablets. That is not to say that other passengers are not using their devices offline, but perhaps the silver lining to this is that they can now justifiably give themselves a break from their devices, enjoy our onboard service and catch up on the latest movies, music and TV box sets that we have on offer.
Emirates is working to ensure that its operations comply with the latest restrictions on electronic devices in the cabin, for when the rules took effect on March 25. Emirates will deploy extra staff at the airport to ease and assist passengers, especially in the first days of the new rules being implemented.
From Saturday, March 25, travellers on non-stop flights to the US from Dubai International airport (DXB) will not be allowed to carry any electronic device larger than a cell phone or smartphone, excluding medical devices, into the aircraft cabin. Travellers must pack these electronic devices in their checked-in baggage.
This new security directive, issued by the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA), applies to all passengers travelling on non-stop flights to the US from Dubai, including those in transit. It does not apply to passengers travelling on Emirates US-bound flights via Milan and Athens or Emirates flights to/from any other destination.
Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake, who is in New Delhi to participate in the Subregional Economic Cooperation Summit of South Asia, which was inaugurated in New Delhi yesterday, on the sidelines of the summit, met Malaysian Prime Minister
Najib Razak.
Several issues with regard to the economic affairs of SAARC nations are scheduled to be discussed at this summit besides discussing the challenges faced by South Asian nations in their development activities. It will discuss the solutions to such challenges
as well.
The Malaysian premier has commented that fast changes are taking place in the ongoing development drive in Sri Lanka and such changes would stand in good stead for the country.
An economist has criticized the governments tax policy on vehicle imports and the recent credit restrictions imposed on vehicle financing, calling them detrimental towards inclusive growth as such policies deprive access to a three-wheeler or a mini-truck by the butchers, bakers, plumbers and the like, who create economic wealth
An economist has criticized the governments tax policy on vehicle imports and the recent credit restrictions imposed on vehicle financing, calling them detrimental towards inclusive growth as such policies deprive access to a three-wheeler or a mini-truck by the butchers, bakers, plumbers and the like, who create economic wealth.
Hence, according to Murtaza Jafferjee, the Managing Director of JB Securities, a Colombo-based equity brokerage and a research house, such restraining policies on vehicle imports will drive the underprivileged segments into poverty and will also create social pressures because one who bought a mini-truck before the budget (2017) is significantly better-off than a person who could not purchase a truck.
The budget 2017 imposed a minimum excise duty of Rs.1.0 million for mini-trucks, which is a three-fold increase. On top of that, the Monetary Board imposed a 25 percent loan-to-value ratio on three-wheeler financing, jacking up the average initial down payment on three-wheelers from Rs.200, 000 to Rs.485, 000.
As a result, only 903 three-wheeler registrations were recorded in February, still high but significantly down from 3,327 units in January. The mini-truck registrations fell to 298 units from 559 units.
As per the data compiled by JB Securities, monthly three-wheeler registrations averaged at 6,000 units a month while mini-trucks averaged at 1,400 a month in 2016. According to Jafferjee, both types are used mostly by micro-enterprise owners operating with less than 5 people in creating higher economic growth.
An integral capital input for a micro enterprise is a basic utilitarian vehicle such as a three-wheeler and/or a mini lorry(where) the marginal return to capital is very high.
A baker who has access to a mobile retailing unit through a modified three-wheeler or mini truck enjoys much greater sales carrying and displaying capacity is greater, radius of travel is 10 times more, alternator can charge the battery that can power a fan or food warmer, etc.
The bottom line (is) the current vehicle taxation policy is detrimental towards greater inclusive development and impedes higher economic efficiency by distorting the market for vehicles. Continuing with such a policy will have electoral repercussions, Jafferjee said in his monthly analysis on vehicle registrations.
To prove his point, he compared the taxes paid in Sri Lanka and the Philippinesa similar lower middle income country with high population density and theatrical politics on popular Toyota hybrid vehicles.
In the comparison he showed, Sri Lankan car buyers are paying between 26 -175 percent more taxes for a car. He also said per capita GDP in Philippines is US $ 3,000 whereas in Sri Lanka it is US $ 4,000.
The per capita GDP comparison however suggests Lankans could afford to pay a higher excise duty when importing a car than Filipinos.
In this context, Jafferjee calls for the imposition of early sunset clauses on tax holiday periods enjoyed by firms earning super profits rather than imposing a higher burden on the economically underprivileged through indirect taxes, if the government wants to increase its revenues.
Alternatively he also proposed to increase the fuel prices to reduce the demand and/or the re-imposition of the fuel price surcharge above the life line rate on electricity due to the drought.
Through these proposals, Jafferjee appears to be fine with the entire population being slapped with additional fuel or electricity to compensate government inefficiencies, to provide an easy passage for a few to buy three-wheelers and mini-trucks under the guise of micro-enterprises who create mayhem when using the roads, risking the lives of others and their own. Jafferjee also proposed to resume priority lanes for buses and also to impose congestion fee to control the massive influx of vehicles daily into the Colombo city.
In conclusion, inability to widen the tax net is not a reason to create a highly distortionary vehicle taxation system. It deprives choice, distorts the playing field and is unfair for those who pay their fair share of taxes the highest marginal tax rate on PAYE has been increased from 16 percent to 24 percent from April 1. If people pay their taxes, its only fair that they can buy a vehicle of their choice at a reasonable price he said.
Following the official visit of President Maithripala Sirisena to Germany in February 2016 and visits of numerous business and parliamentary delegations from Germany to Sri Lanka last year, the upcoming events of this week will again underline the growing intensity of German-Sri Lankan relations.
Bilateral trade is also up 30 percent since 2014 with close to a billion euros in 2016 and the opening of a German Chamber of Commerce office in Colombo is imminent.
April 3-5: Speaker of German Parliament visit to Sri Lanka
Prof. Dr. Norbert Lammert, one of the longest ever serving speakers of the German Parliament (Deutscher Bundestag) and a passionate parliamentarian, will upon invitation by his Sri Lankan counterpart, Karu Jayasuriya visits Sri Lanka from April 3 to 5. In the German order of precedence, his office ranks second only after the Federal German President. Prof. Dr. Lammert has scheduled meetings with Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan but also with a broad spectrum of civil society representatives in order to learn about the latest developments on reconciliation issues as well as on the economic and democratic reform process in Sri Lanka. In the afternoon of April 4, Prof. Dr. Lammert will give a lecture at Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute on The Future of Liberal Democracy in International Relations.
April 5-7: Regional German Ambassadors Conference Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean Region is increasingly in focus as a new global centre of political and economic gravity. Sri Lankas geographic location and self-professed aim to become a hub in the region make it a central part of these developments. Around 40 German envoys from the Indian Ocean Region, including most of the heads of missions, plus high-ranking Foreign Office officials will gather in Colombo from April 5 to 7 to discuss political/security developments and economic trends in the region. On the second day, German business leaders will join the debates.
The German Embassy appreciates the assistance of the Sri Lankan government in the organisation of this event. On April 5, the conference will be opened jointly by Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka Mangala Samaraweera and German State Secretary Dr. Markus Ederer. A panel discussion with ministers from the Indian Ocean Region will follow. On April 6, the business day will be kicked off by Deputy Foreign Minister Dr. Harsha de Silva. Later on, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe it is confirmed will speak to the envoys and business leaders on his countrys role in the region. On April 6 bilateral consultations on foreign policy will take place in the Foreign Affairs Ministry. All participants will be taking part in a tour of the Port of Colombo underlining the ever-increasing importance of the blue economy for Sri Lanka and the Indian Ocean Region.
April 2-5: Konrad Adenauer Foundation Conference
German political foundations had been successfully engaged with various government and civil society actors in Sri Lanka for decades until 2013, when the then government unfortunately restricted their activities. After the political change, the new government invited them to return and in 2015, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNS) was the first to return. From April 3-5, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) will host a seminar on Leadership Training on Election Campaigning in Colombo with the participation of 20 young political leaders from the Asia-Pacific region within its flagship programme Konrad Adenauer School For Young Politicians (KASYP).
Sri Lankans were among over 480 migrants rescued by humanitarian ships Saturday during search and rescue operations in the central Mediterranean Sea.
International media reported that a 4-day-old baby was one of the migrants.
The baby was travelling on one of two rubber boats carrying over 200 migrants from North and Central Africa, Sri Lanka and Yemen.
The boats were seen drifting some 22 nautical miles north of the Libyan town of Sabratha, the most frequently used departure point currently used by people smugglers in Libya
The flow of migrants braving the Mediterranean Sea has not stopped despite the cold weather due to rumors of a potential crackdown on people-smuggling.
In the past migrant crossings have slowed to a trickle during winter months due to bad weather.
But crossings spiked at the end of last year as word spread that Libya's coast guard is being trained to stop illicit boats setting sail for Italy, a key gateway for migrants into Europe.
So far 27,850 migrants have made the crossing to Europe by sea in 2017 according to the inter-governmental International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Just since the end of last year, 635 people have either died or are missing in the Mediterranean.(Reuters)
This is a heartfelt tribute to the late Professor Valentine Joseph, the former Professor of Mathematics, Colombo University.
I write this as a student who once sat in his classroom with eyes filled with wonder and awe, and whose thinking was forever changed by this wonderful human being. This is a tribute to a top scholar, teacher and a human being, one so exceptional that the heavens will surely give a standing ovation to honour his life on earth. I, Professor Josephs former student, am also a mathematician, and as such, every word that I speak of him will be as precise and truthful as the math he taught me. In that spirit, he is the single most beautiful mind that I have ever met in my lifetime, and I am sure multitudes of his students who learned from him over several decades will definitely agree with me in unison.
In order to earn such a tribute from several generations of students, a teacher must have extraordinary characteristics and achievements in three areas: as a teacher, as a scholar and finally as a human being. I cannot think of a single human being that I have met during my life as a student who possessed all three of these attributes to the extent of Professor Joseph. While my heart aches with his passing, my mind is filled with gratitude for the privilege to have associated with him even for a few years of my life.
I did not have to come to the doors of Colombo University to know about Professor Joseph as I actually knew him from school days. As a young boy, I racked my brains over the wonderfully-intrinsic problems that showered the Applied Mathematics exams in the seventies. I often asked the question: Who would be creative enough to craft such beautiful problems? I never saw such challenging, yet beautiful problems in any one of the British math textbooks which we followed. One day, one of my teachers who himself was a student of Professor Joseph, told me that a professor named Valentine Joseph, a lecture at the Colombo University, was the creator of these problems. Even more, he told me that Professor Joseph was actually better known for his expertise in the special theory of relativity. After a brief explanation of relativity, I knew instantly that someday I must meet this scholar and learn from him. I know for a fact that the desire to meet him and learn from him played a big part in me arriving at the doors of Colombo University a couple of years later. I can still feel the anticipation I had one warm afternoon as I waited for him to present the first lecture to a packed Physics Lecture Theatre.
His first lecture got us all by surprise. Naturally, we all waited for a lecture filled with equations and theorems but what he really did was open a door. He turned the key and let us in to a brand new universe filled with beauty and flux. He guided us slowly through that universe and we started seeing how equations and theorems formed its fabric and he told stories we had never heard of. When teaching Einsteins special theory of relativity, of which he was an absolute expert, he taught his students to question everything, the very foundations of the known universe. He opened our minds to new dimensions in which he played the role of a patient and yet kind guide to students who, in turn, simply enjoyed the journey and bowed in sheer respect.
The mathematics journey that he started with us reached its climax in the final year of the Mathematics Special Degree when he explored the beauties of the Minkowski Spacetime which is closely associated with the special theory of relativity. We watched in sheer wonder as he manipulated and connected so many different branches of mathematics together like a child who creates a beautiful picture out of a box of scattered jigsaw pieces.
Today, most of the students who were privileged enough to learn from him are top professionals scattered world over. Almost every Sri Lankan university will have academics who learned the first steps of relativity from this erudite scholar. In North America, almost every state or province today has a mathematics teacher who learned from Professor Joseph. We will all transfer at least a glimpse of the knowledge he gave us to students, thereby immortalizing the legacy of Professor Joseph.
I was, in a way, luckier than most students as I had the privilege to associate with him closely when I returned to the Colombo University as an academic in 1994. I will never forget some of the quotes he told me. He once mentioned the Buddhist saying, Build a raft to simply cross the river. Never carry it with you after you cross the river. During a science club talk, he once said, Dont run with the pack of wolves; see the reality under your nose. In a lighter vein, once he immersed an entire audience in laughter by whispering, He has the greatest unsolved problem of all, when I, as a bachelor, was giving a talk on unsolved problems in mathematics. The reader would be surprised to hear how he very recently connected some phrases from a famous comic strip Calvin and Hobbes to mathematics as he was talking to a visitor who brought him some Calvin books.
He brought so much humour into his class, but always in pure innocent fun, and in my life I have never seen him attack anyone verbally for any reason or speak ill of anyone. This is, as unbelievable as it may sound, simply the truth. Professor Joseph was the humblest of human beings. I still remember the day when wrote Retired Teacher as his profession in the attendance list as he quietly and from a back seat attended a talk of one of his students, and then vanished before we could catch up with him. In the mid-nineties, I had the honour of playing a primary role in his farewell. He simply refused any retirement gift but instead agreed to a painting. A painting of him? No, it was a painting of a tiny Earth bathed in a sea of planets. A label coming out of planet Earth simply said, Albert Einstein Lived Here. Since then, whenever I visit the Colombo University, and have a chance to come near the Physics Lecture Theatre, I can just see the banner: Professor Valentine Joseph Taught Here.
He was simply a legend and the most beautiful mind I have met in my life. I am sure his entire student body will join me in wishing heavenly peace for this wonderful human being, scholar and teacher. May his soul rest in peace.
Dr. Kirthi Premadasa,
Associate Professor of Mathematics,
University of Wisconsin Colleges,
Vice-President, Colombo University Faculty of Science Alumni Association - North America (CUFSAA)
AIRWISE: Qatar Airways will offer a laptop loan service to business passengers on flights to the United States as it looks to recover from the US ban on electronic devices in the aircraft cabin.
The laptop loan service will be available from this week, the Doha-based carrier said.
Passengers will be encouraged to download their work onto USB drives before boarding the aircraft. They will surrender their own computer for transport in the cargo hold and pick up the loan device.
The airline will also offer an hour of free Wi-Fi and discounted Internet access for the duration of the flight.
As an award-winning and global airline we truly appreciate the importance of being able to work on board our aircraft and that is why I have insisted on offering only the best possible solution for our customers, Qatar Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker said.
Dusty lanes and fences covered with fertilizer bags at houses in line at Gummidipoondi camp.
In June 1990, eleven boats carrying around 500 Sri Lankan Tamils arrived in Danushkodi, Tamil Nadu, India. Four pregnant women and dozens of kids who were tethered to their mothers for safety were among those in the boats. Most were barefoot. They had no life jackets. With only the clothes they were wearing, they were stranded at sea with no food, water or hopes for the future. They were forced to experience unbelievable hardships as they fled their homeland due to the armed conflict between Sri Lankan forces and the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam). Indian fishermen charged Rs.5,000 from each Sri Lankan for the boat service. The desperate victims sold all their possessions to make the payments.
After three days on the sea, they were found by the Indian coastguard officials who thoroughly examined them and sent them to Mandapam, the largest Sri Lankan refugee camp in the Tamil Nadu state. This was only one group of Sri Lankans who fled the country during the war.
According to reports, the exodus of Sri Lankan Tamils in the Northern and Eastern provinces started from the beginning of Black July in 1983. Between 1983 and 1987, at least 134,000 Sri Lankan Tamils were officially estimated to have arrived in Tamil Nadu. When the war intensified in June 1990, the next round of Tamils arrived in India. The third round was reported to have arrived in 1995.
Reports of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that during the final phase of the war, there was a massive displacement of the population in the North, with some 276,000 displaced. UNHCRs most recent statistics show that at the end of 2010, there were some 140,000 Sri Lankan refugees with a majority of 70,000 in 112 refugee camps and another 32,000 living outside camps in Tamil Nadu. Currently, the Commissionerate of Rehabilitation and Welfare of Non-Resident Tamils of Tamil Nadu is monitoring about 19,451 Sri Lankan Tamil families consisting of about 63,351 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees accommodated in 108 camps in 24 districts in the state. The camp in Gummidipoondi, situated 46.6 km away from the capital Chennai, is a shelter for close to 1000 families.
Daily Mirror visited Sri Lankan Tamils in the Gummidipoondi refugee camp. They were delighted to see a Sri Lankan visiting the camp. Some of them have almost forgotten Sinhala, as the language was hardly used by them in the past 27 years. Still, they spoke quite well in Sinhala.
Photographs by Shyam Gowtham and Steni Simon
We lived in Anuradhapura. The war started and we moved to Kilinochchi. Years later, planes started bombing Kilinochchi
Even though visible wounds can be healed, invisible wounds from the war are so devastating that they are harder to repair
Innocent lives were also lost while they attempted to make their way to India by sea
Invisible wounds from war harder to repair: Arulanandam
Fleeing for their lives, Arulanandam and his wife Victoria who lived in Anuradhapura, moved to Kilinochchi in the 1980s during the start of the war. After the fighting and bombing reached Kilinochchi in the 1990s, they decided to leave everything behind and flee to the nearest country. Now in his fifties and a father of three, Arulanandam recalled his memories of the war which turned their lives upside down.
We lived in Anuradhapura. The war started and we moved to Kilinochchi. Years later, planes started bombing Kilinochchi. We lived in fear. We could not stay there anymore. Fear drove us to realise that there was no other option than to leave the country. We decided to go to Tamil Nadu, he said.
Arulanandam broke down in tears when he remembered his brothers five-year-old son who died in an aerial bombing in front of their eyes in Kilinochchi.
He said that even though visible wounds could be healed, invisible wounds from the war were so devastating that they were harder to repair.
In their desperation to escape the unbearable conditions, they embarked on a route. Innocent lives were also lost while they attempted to make their way to India by sea.
We lived in a constant state of fear and insecurity : Nandini
In each family, at least one member was killed
We were optimistic that it would be a new beginning
Forty-nine-year-old Nandini tried not to sob as she looked at her granddaughter, Sarah. Sarah, who had just celebrated her fourth birthday last month, was unaware of the problems the adults had faced and were still facing. She was busy with her double ruled exercise book, trying hard to write a letter.
One night I heard gunshots. Soldiers were already in front of my house. I took my son and ran. That was the day my cousin sister died in a shell attack in Kilinochchi. In each family, at least one relative was killed or injured in the war. We left Sri Lanka for the future of these kids. We sold everything we had to collect 5000 for each. We were optimistic that it would be a new beginning for all of us. Life here is nothing like I expected, Nandini said.
She said they had to go through multiple and prolonged displacements, deprivations and were living in a constant state of fear and insecurity.
We lived happily with Sinhala people before the war : Simona
Before the war started, we were living happily and peacefully with Sinhala people
We found a 70-year-old mother of five, Simona, who is now spending the rest of her life in the Gummidipoondi camp with her eldest sons family. What made Simonas story different from other stories was that her third son was a former LTTE cadre. He had died at the age of 22 in the war.
Simona said her husband had also died in a shell attack carried out by the Sri Lankan Army.
Before the war started, we were living happily and peacefully with Sinhala people. We had a beautiful life in Sri Lanka before the war. I lost my son and my husband. It was easier to run from our land of birth than to see my other children die, she said. Refugees in Gummidipoondi camp said their quest for a better future for their kids was not as fruitful as they had expected.
My brothers were captured by the Army, they never came back: Nimala
Uncertain of her life until they reached the Danushkodhi shore
My twin brothers never came back
Nimala said two youths who were in a boat had drowned in the sea after losing balance. Surrounded by the chaotic situation in the boats, attempts to save the youths were limited. Nimala said she was uncertain of her life until they reached the Danushkodhi shore.
She looked terrified when she explained how she lost her twin brothers.
When we were preparing to leave by boat from Talaimannar, the Sri Lankan Army stopped us and suddenly captured my twin brothers aged 23. Sundaran and Sekar were captured, on the allegation they had connections with the LTTE. The soldiers said they would release them after questioning. But my twin brothers never came back, Nimala said, with tears rolling down her cheeks.
It was not just Sundaran and Sekar, but many youth never came back after the armed forces nabbed them on alleged LTTE connections.
I didnt care where I went, I just wanted to save my life: Mathews
The bombing started. Every time we saw a plane, we thought it was a military plane that would drop shells. We could not even come out of our houses
We didnt care where we went, we just wanted to save our lives
Mathews (46) was another Sri Lankan among the 1990 exodus. Recalling his traumatising past about the war, he said that if he had not taken the decision to get into boats on that decisive day, he would have been killed.
The bombing started. Every time we saw a plane, we thought it was a military plane that would drop shells. We could not even come out of our houses. We were suffering in hunger and poverty. I thought if we stayed in the country, we would be killed. So we decided to leave by boat. We didnt care where we went, we just wanted to save our lives, Mathews said.
I was 5 months pregnant when I left Mannar : Jothika
I gave them my gold earrings as payment and came to Tamil Nadu
We did not have travel documents or anything. We left Mannar in a hurry to save ourselves from shell attacks and aerial bombardments
Jothika was five months pregnant when she left Mannar.
When we heard the bomb blasts, we all started running out. I went and hid. Others helped me to travel to the place where boats were waiting for people like us. I gave them my gold earrings as payment and came to Tamil Nadu, she said.
Choking with emotion, Jothika said she had left her motherland because she wanted to survive and provide a safe future for her unborn child. She still has no idea what happened to her husband at the time she left Mannar, as he was away.
We did not have travel documents or anything. We left Mannar in a hurry to save ourselves from shell attacks and aerial bombardments, she said.
In this first part of their stories, we focused on their traumatising memories of the war. The next part will discuss their lives in the camps and the difficulties they face in their day-to-day lives.
Three medical professionals from the geriatric fraternity in Western medicine presented papers at the seminar themed Responding to the Global Challenge of an Ageing Population an international perspective, held at the BMICH recently. Sponsored by the Gamani Corea Foundation, the seminar was headed byDr. Mahendra Gonsalkorale, retired consultant in geriatric medicine and Clinical Director for Elderly Care, Hope Hospital, Salford Royal Hospitals NHS Trust, Salford, Manchester and former Associate Lecturer in Geriatric Medicine, University of Manchester, UK.
When one of them said, some consultants here are in the habit of scoffing at elderly patients who seek their advice, saying, a case of old age, natural phenomenon and no cure; next time you hear this, tell them to treat you instead of such contemptuous rudeness, reminding me of an instance where a leading Ophthalmologist mocked and ridiculed a former Octogenarian on the basis of his age. He even used a quotation from the Guttila Kavya, the 15th century satire, to support his mockery. He had no respect for the emotional life of the elderly. The story was published in the media. I quote [in the words of the victim] from the Island newspaper of August 1, 2013.
Recently I saw a leading Ophthalmologist to seek a cure for my dwindling eyesight. The Specialist examined my eyes and declared, mata mahalu wayase beriya veena gaayanaa perase and his assistants giggled in response. Despite my discomfiture about that reaction, I explained that I was spending about four or five hours at the computer every day and the Specialist replied that the state of my optical nerves showed that such performance was unbelievable. No remedy was recommended and to my request for enhancing my reading vision, I was asked to see an optician. As I left, the Specialist was repeating the Guttila lines, creating another ripple of chuckles, much to my embarrassment. The question, If so, of what use is your medicine? was uppermost in my mind but I did not give expression to it out of courtesy. [unquote]
This anonymous Ophthalmologist who is blind to medical ethics [leading in making money?], is certainly not learned in manners. He has tarnished the image of the noble profession and set a bad example to his assistants. A sense of lethargy and alienation is generally associated with old age. Loss of loved ones and friends of the same age; loss of status and of a role adversely affect the elderly. Six centuries after Ven. Wettewe Thera created Guttila Kavya which carriedthe above lyrical piece, it became a popular text in school literature classes. Guttila, the ageing maestro, becomes pessimistic having to compete [by a royal decree] with Musila, his own pupil from a different territory, who challenged the teacher after learning the intricacies of playing the violin [veena] from him. The story, a Jataka fable, portrays Guttila as the veteran palace musician who withdraws to a forest abode away from the harsh world to avoid competition.
Hippocratic oath and GMC guidelines
A senior consultant approached by the writer said dignity and respect for patients were considered by the GMC to be of great importance and a whole section was devoted to it in its handbook. The few Musilas[not to be confused with the Sinhala term Moosala]of local medical profession should be reported to the GMC-UK that is responsible for regulating all stages of medical education as well as maintaining intimate contact with the royal colleges regarding the good standing of consultants (specialists); and deal firmly and fairly with doctors whose fitness to practise is in question.
The moral test of government is how it treats the elderly; those who are in the shadows of life; the sick, the needy and the handicapped.- Hubert H. Humphrey -
"Some consultants here are in the habit of scoffing at elderly patients who seek their advice, saying, a case of old age, natural phenomenon and no cure; next time you hear this, tell them to treat you instead of such contemptuous rudeness"
According to the three panellists at the seminar, the next most important point to get across is the change in the age structure of the population. In other words, the number of people in various age bands at (any) one period. The most dramatic change is the absolute increase in the number of old people at any time compared to previous years. The relative number of employed youth will decrease, mainly due to increased life expectancy and reduced fertility rates. Low fertility and extended life expectancy are likely to continue, with potentially severe economic implications due to fast-rising pension, health and social care costs. These changes will affect both the state and private sectors.
They say, Sri Lanka is one of the fastest-ageing countries in the world, with a significant proportion of the population aged 60 years or older projected to jump from 12.5% to 16.7% in 2021. Even though such demographic transition affects many countries, the speed of change is particularly dramatic for Sri Lanka.
The next important point is that within this rise in the old, there are spectacular increases in numbers surviving to extreme old age (i.e. 80 years and above). According to projections, this age group will treble, growing from 126.5 million to 444.6 million from 2015 to 2050.
Coming back to the Guttila-Musila duel, though highly-talented, Guttila suffered from psycho-social issues faced by the elderly. Musilas first encounter was with visiting businessmen from Baranasiwho were well acquainted with maestro Guttilas performance;as the author puts it in poetic sarcasm Unimu vena sadatheiNodattemu gayana karathei, how they had responded to Musilas inquiry on their impassiveness [they presumed he was only tuning it]
Myths painting a negative image
Dr. Gonsalkorale believes we have a lot of old people because good doctors keep them alive. His research has revealed that doctors have improved life expectancy by reducing deaths, mainly of the youth.
Dementia awaits us all. We will all get demented if we live long enough. Age associated illness does increase and Alzheimers disease is one such example but not all old people will develop Alzheimers although a high proportion of them would develop Dementia in various forms. They are more likely to have medical problems, he said.
Old age
Dr. Gonsalkorale said they have more disabilities. They need support for independent living. They are more likely to be retired and dependent on pensions. Greater need for adaptive transport, recreational facilities, adaptive housing produces, financial demand on the state.
Services
Acute medical care, stroke and orthogeriatric services, older persons assessment units and rehabilitation (hospital based), general surgical and psycho-geriatric liaison and specialist clinics.
TIA clinics, Parkinsons, Rapid access clinics (TREAT), cognitive impairment clinics, community services, frailty hubs, day hospitals, care home outreach services and the Proactive Elderly Care Team (PECT).
Solutions
Accept the reality - we will have a large elderly population with correspondingly high costs of care. Do everything possible to maintain their health with sound preventive policies. Make them as productive as possible by finding roles for them in society which are mutually beneficial.
Responsibilities
Dr. Gonsalkorale recommends the following;
Eyesight - cataracts, spectacles, hearing aids. Better sign-posting - large print leaflets. Improved sanitary facilities - more toilets in the right places. Easier access for walking frames - wheelchairs. Education of younger people on needs of the elderly. More tolerance and understanding (for instance, recognizing sluggishness in thought, memory, digesting new information in a humane way). If the older person has mental and/or physical problems that need institutional care, they are at greater risk and the state must have policies in place -- quite apart from meeting basic healthcare needs. Sufficient care for elders to remain at home, sheltered care, residential homes, nursing homes and hospices elderly attuned hospital care. Comprehensive Geriatric Assessments (CGA), efficient geriatric units and multi-disciplinary teams.
Funding
The team suggests accountable, audited and monitored funding. Best use of money available. Response and discharge teams. Rapid assessments community and hospital.
The ageing population will certainly challenge public and private budgets in many ways, but through a combination of reduced consumption, postponed retirement, increased asset holdings and greater investment in human capital, it should be possible to meet this challenge without catastrophic consequences --Ronald Lee, Professor of Demography and Economics at the University of California, Berkeley and Chair of the Centre on the Economics and Demography of Ageing.
When Musila visited Baranasi, there remained only Guttilas blind mother and father who asked him to wait until their son returned. Seeing the masters veena, he tries to play. The blind parents [not so blind as our Ophthalmologist] who assumed rats were nibbling the strings, spelled out the lines written by a poet of the 15th century Su, soo yayi atha gesu sekayen.
An interactive meeting was held between Italian travel trade stakeholders and the Minister of Tourism Development, Lands and Christian Religious Affairs John Amaratunga in Italy yesterday.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of Borsa Internazionale del Turismo (BIT) which takes place from April 2nd to 04th in Milan.
BIT is an international meeting point for decision makers, professionalsand buyersfrom different areas in the tourism industry.
Over 50 participants comprising travel agents, destination management companies, professionals and businessmen in the travel trade were present at the interactive meeting. The objective of the event was to promote Sri Lankas tourism industry while offering a platform to exchange ideas, network, explore business prospects and promote the country to potential tour operators and travel related agencies in Italy.
Speaking during the meeting Minister Amaratunga emphasised that BIT is considered an important tourism promotional event for Sri Lanka. He said the event would help re-position Sri Lanka in Italy as the most sought after travel destination in Asia. The Minister also spoke of the conducive environment prevailing in the country for the Italian market and said that Sri Lanka Tourism was planning to launch a series of market development programmes in Milan, Turin and Verona including media FAMs and Road Shows.
Responding to queries posed during the Q & A session regarding Sri Lankas strategic plans for the Italian market, Minister Amaratunga said that trade familiarization tours and media familiarization tours will continue to be a major component of the marketing plan while traditional promotional activities such as participating at travel fairs, conducting roadshows and outdoor promotions will also be carried out in key identified locations.
Minister Amaratunga added that with SriLankan Airlines suspending flights to key European destinations, Sri Lanka Tourism will push for an open skies policy to boost connectivity.
Managing Director of Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB), Sutheash Balasubramanium made a presentation of the countrys tourist attractions highlighting the changing political landscape and increased private sector led policy making.
Consul General Pradeepa Saram in her remarks highlighted the significance of establishing the Sri Lanka Consulate General in Milan, the economic and financial nerve centre of Italy. She said the Consulate has been focusing on promoting economic, trade, tourism and cultural relations between the two countries.
Italy is the 6th largest market in Europeand considered as one of the most important tourism generating markets for Sri Lanka in the Western European Region accounting for nearly 30,000 tourist arrivals in 2016 with a growth rate of 22.6 percent in 2016.
The interactive meeting was organized in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Embassy in Rome, Consulate General in Milan and the SLTPB.
Minister Amaratunga also held a meeting with senior officials of the Milan Chamber of Commerce and PROMOS. Promos is a Special Agency of the Milan Chamber of Commerce for the promotion of international trade.
Sri Lankas Ambassador in Rome, Daya Pelpola, Consul General in Milan, Pradeepa Saram, Senior Adviser to the Minister Felix Rodrigo and Minister Counsellor (Commercial), Somasena Mahadiulwewa were associated with the minister.
Colombo Fort Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne today refused to grant bail for MP Wimal Weerawansa on exceptional circumstance of his daughter being admitted to a hospital.
The Magistrate said that there were no sufficient reports in court which could explain the health condition of the suspect's daughter.
MP Weerawansa was not brought to the Courts today by the Prison Authorities because he was currently being treated at the Colombo National Hospital.
Earlier, defence counsel put forward the bail application on the ground of exceptional circumstance that the suspect's daughter was admitted to hospital due to bad mental health condition after her father was remanded. (Shehan Chamika Silva)
Wimal Weerawansa is a destructive politician. After Anagarika Dharmapala, he is probably the most effective rabble rouser who could manage to send a sizeable portion of the population to an ethnic frenzy through his gifted oratory. His leader for a short while, Rohana Wijeweera was also a provocative orator, however, though he was a closeted bigot, Wijeweera spent most of his speaking prowess to promote a class struggle. The most eventful individual on the other end of the ethnic divide, Velupillai Prabakaran was a coy trigger-happy mass murderer. He mesmerized a much larger section of Tamils at home and abroad through his resort to untrammeled violence directed against Sinhalese, Muslims and dissidents of his own community.
What all those men had in common was their ability to exploit fault lines in our society and the limits of our state, then and now. Anagarika Darmapala exploited liberal leanings of the Colonial British to espouse his border line racism. He would not have survived had it been the French, the Dutch, Belgian or any other colonizer. Rohana Wijeweera mobilized two generations of Sri Lankan youth, who were in fact the product of a baby-boom propelled by successive governments welfare policies, to wage a war against the very state. He was stopped on both occasions, but it was too late and too costly. Both Prabhakaran and Wijeweera thrived in the perceived and often hyperbolic grievances of a segment of people and exploited the limits of coercive power of the state to advance their myopic ends. If Sri Lanka- which invested all its fortune to maintain a bloated welfare state, which over time became too big for the limited government revenue to maintain- allocated a fraction of its budget on its internal security, both of them could have been stopped a long way before they unleashed their carnage.
What all those men had in common was their ability to exploit fault lines in our society and the limits of our state,
The government does not show the same resolve when it is most needed. Its actions are driven by political calculations
Mr. Weerawansa may have one well- founded grievance. He is yet to be found guilty of charges of misappropriation
Wimal Weerawansa is one of those individuals who had mastered that macabre art. He has put his skills to use quite sinisterly, feeding into insecurities of Sinhalese people, and sowing fear psychosis. Each time he contested elections, either from the JVP or the UPFA, he had a tremendous success. Since he had hardly delivered as a minister in any of his portfolios in the past , one could assume that his electoral performances were an endorsement of his rabble rousing divisive ethnic politics.
Recently, he had been fasting against a court decision that put him in remand custody over alleged misappropriation of state property to the tune of Rs. 90 million.Last week he called off his hunger strike, according to his goons, acceding to a request by Mahanayakes. In the future, if every fraud, rapist and bond scammer in prison chose to avail himself a bit of Sathyagraha, the venerable monks would be inundated with requests for intervention.
Our part of the world can make a historical claim for pioneering the strategies of non-violent protest. However, we also have the dubious honour of bastardizing those non-violent means into cheap political gimmicks. Tamil Nadu politicians, including former Chief Minister Karunanidhi who once fasted in between his breakfast and lunch in support of the Sri Lankan Tamil struggle, are masters of this form of chicanery.
On other occasions, low level of social and economic progress and weaker state institutions means even the most well intended non-violent mass mobilization could drift into mass violence. Even Mahatma Gandhi could not stop a nation he mobilized through non-violence from descending on each other, hacking half a million to death after independence was granted by the British.
A couple of years ago,Wimal Weerawansa himself fasted against the UN, which was called off when then President Mahinda Rajapaksa fed him king coconut water. This time, Mr Rajapaksas absence was conspicuous. Since he could make a visit anytime to the prison hospital or the national hospital, using his privileges as a Member of Parliament, one wonders whether Mr Rajapaksa himself did not want to be taken as a clown in a political drama staged by his acolyte.
"He is not accused of parking looted money in offshore accounts or building mansions. The irony is that those who are accused of such deeds are still at large"
Mr. Weerawansa tried, but failed to intimidate the countrys budding independent judiciary into submission. That the judiciary prevailed over was a cause for celebration. This should perhaps set the precedent for the future, when the government has to deal with numerous groups with vested interests, who think the law should be bent to serve their agenda. However, the problem is that the government does not show the same resolve when it is most needed. Its actions are driven by political calculations and that itself threatens to undermine its own effort to strengthen the rule of law and independence of independent institutions.
Mr. Weerawansa may have one well- founded grievance. He is yet to be found guilty of charges of misappropriation of state vehicles and other resources, much of which had, allegedly been allocated to the party cadres, those long neglected JVPers who defected with him to launch his new party. That is not right, but the Sri Lankan political culture demands such a patronage. He is not accused of parking looted money in offshore accounts or building mansions. The irony is that those who are accused of such deeds are still at large. So are those accused of running extortion rackets in Colombo, Kelaniya,etc. Those who ruined the Sri Lankan airline through flimsy tenders, and drained the states coffers of millions of dollars are now serving as the go betweens between the government and the Joint Opposition.
Viewed against them, Wimal Weerawansa is a small fish. He should be asking himself, why me? If his arrest is intended to tame him, it may have a political logic, but such a selective justice will do no good for accountability and rule of law in the long run.
Perhaps, he should ask in the court: why me?
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Plaque exchange between Vessel Master Captain Eddie Caguimbaga and Deputy Harbour Master Captain Samiddhi Dias in the presence ofw SLPA top official and agents (from left) MRMRP Assistant General Manager Operations K. Suranga Peiris, MRMRP Operations Manager Rajitha Senanayake, SLPA Additional Managing Director J.K.P. Kurukulasuriya, MRMRP General Manager Sarath Perera, SLPA Managing Director S. Premachandra, Vessel Master Captain Eddie Caguimbaga, MRMRP Deputy Harbour Master Captain Samiddhi Dias, SLPA Executive Director Sanjeewa Wijerathne, Diamond Shipping Services (Pvt.) Ltd Director Dushantha Peries and Diamond Shipping Services (Pvt.) Ltd Commercial Manager Prasanna Jayathilleke
Making a historic landmark in Sri Lanka, the worlds largest pure car and truck carrier (PCTC), MV Hoegh Trigger, owned and operated by Hoegh Autoliners AS, Oslo, arrived on her maiden call at the Port of Hambantota recently.
The Hoegh Autoliners AS has very well established its presence in the region by making Sri Lanka, especially the Port of Hambantota, as one of its main ports for transshipment of vehicles to various other ports in the world. The Port of Colombo too is utilized to accommodate local cargo/vehicles, mainly originating from the ISC.
MV Hoegh Trigger is deployed in the USA-Middle-East-Asia (USME) service and has the capacity to carry 8500 car equivalent units (CEUs) and has 14 cargo carrying decks. The LOA is 200m, breath is 40.5m and the ramp width is 12m and the capacity to carry cargo weighing of 375 tones and a free deck height of 6.5m. The vessel is of Post Panamax size and is built on a new design, which gives a higher operational flexibility and improved fuel efficiency. The vessel is under Horizon Class/Design.
The Hoegh Autoliners - AS is a leading provider of transportation and logistics solutions in the roll-on- roll-off (RO-RO) segment, offering a broad range of services to customers throughout the world. The company operates around 60 pure car and truck carriers (PCTCs) in the global trade systems, which are managed from a worldwide network of around 20 officers in four regions.
The Hoegh Autoliners annually carries approx. 2.0 million CEUs and make over 4000 port calls. Hoegh Autoliners AS personnel have extensive experience and expertise in handling different types of cargo, which are in RO-RO, break bulk and project cargoes. The high and heavy and out of gauge cargo comes in different forms and shapes. Hoegh Autoliners AS would ensure the safest and most cost-efficient transportation solutions are offered to the customer.
Hoegh Autoliners AS is a truly global, cost-efficient RORO operator providing port-to-port transportation services that consistently meet the requirements of the customers. Achieving consistent quality throughout the company is a top priority. It pursues a customer-driven growth strategy based on the companys core competence in port-to-port transportation and providing efficient transportation services to the customers global distribution chains.
In order to commemorate the occasion, a plaque exchange ceremony was held on board MV Hoegh Trigger at the Port of Hambantota. The Hoegh Autoliners are represented in Sri Lanka by its accredited agents - m/s Diamond Shipping Services (Pvt.) Ltd.
Bouquets after the brickbats. Colleges and universities have been in the news too often in the recent past, not always for the right reasons.
But thanks to a countrywide government ranking of educational institutions, they seem to be getting their due recognition for academic achievement.
According to the latest ranking, Delhis Miranda House and Bangalores Indian Institute of Science are Indias best college and university. The Jawaharlal Nehru University, which was at the eye of a storm over free speech versus nationalism debate, has been declared as the second-best university in the country.
The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) list was released by Union HRD minister Prakash Javadekar in New Delhi.
The Indian Institute of Technology-Madras has been ranked as the top engineering institute; deemed university Jamia Hamdard in Delhi is numero uno in pharmacy category.
Kolkatas Jadavpur University whose students too were slapped with anti-national criticism was ranked fifth among universities.
All the 'troublemaker' colleges done v well - Jadavpur and JNU has beaten IIT Kanpur sunetra choudhury (@sunetrac) April 3, 2017
The rankings are considered important since government funding for institutions depend on them. Schools that do well in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) will be provided more grants and funds besides being "favourably viewed for greater autonomy and more international exposure", the government said.
JNU and Jadavpur University have done some good work especially in the field of science and therefore bagged top positions.
More than 3,300 institutes were considered for the survey, which was first published in 2016. Colleges were included in the list for the first time this year. Prominent colleges that reportedly didnt apply this year included Delhis St Stephens College, Hindu College, Delhi School of Economics, Ramjas and Hansraj colleges, among others.
The last one year has been an eventful period for freedom of speech in India, especially in educational institutes.
While it not uncommon for colleges and universities to be bastions of free speech, where dreamy-eyed students debate with fresh ideas determined to save the world, India saw massive violation of freedom of speech.
If last year saw student leaders being slapped with sedition charges and dragged to jails, this year, too, has already witnessed instances of violence and speakers being banned, seminars being stopped, and student being supressed, all in the name of protecting Indian culture and the nation".
The irony couldn't be missed in HRD minister Javadekar's voice even as he took a dig at the student community while releasing the list. He didn't mince any words saying that these institutions got top positions in the India Ranking Report 2017 not because of Afzal Guru slogans, but for the good research work done by the students.
JNU and Jadavpur University have done some good work especially in the field of science and therefore bagged top positions.
Teledyne Technologies Incorporated provides enabling technologies for industrial growth markets in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, and internationally. The company's Instrumentation segment offers monitoring and control instruments for marine, environmental, industrial, and other applications, as well as electronic test and measurement equipment; and power and communications connectivity devices for distributed instrumentation systems and sensor networks. Its Digital Imaging segment provides visible spectrum sensors and digital cameras for industrial machine vision and automated quality control, as well as for medical, research, and scientific applications; and infrared and X-ray spectra for use in industrial, government, and medical applications, as well as micro electromechanical systems and semiconductors, including analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters. This segment also offers thermal imaging systems, visible-light imaging systems, locater systems, measurement and diagnostic systems, and threat-detection solutions. The company's Aerospace and Defense Electronics segment provides electronic components and subsystems, as well as communications products, such as defense electronics, environment interconnects, data acquisition and communications equipment for aircraft, components and subsystems for wireless and satellite communications, and general aviation batteries. Its Engineered Systems segment offers systems engineering and integration, technology development, and manufacturing solutions for defense, space, environmental, and energy applications; and designs and manufactures electrochemical energy systems and electronics for military applications. The company markets and sells its products and services through a direct internal sales force, as well as third-party sales representatives and distributors. Teledyne Technologies Incorporated was founded in 1960 and is headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California.
The following companies are subsidiares of CVS Health: ACS ACQCO CORP., ADMINCO Inc., AE Fourteen Incorporated, AHP Holdings Inc., AMC - Tennessee LLC, APS Acquisition LLC, ASCO HealthCare LLC, ASI Wings LLC, AUSHC Holdings Inc., Accendo Insurance Company, Accordant Health Services L.L.C., Active Health Management Inc., Administrative Enterprises Inc., AdvancePCS SpecialtyRx LLC, AdvanceRx.com L.L.C., Advanced Care Scripts Inc., Aetna, Aetna (Beijing) Enterprise Management Services Co. Ltd., Aetna (Shanghai) Enterprise Services Co. Ltd., Aetna ACO Holdings Inc., Aetna Asset Advisors LLC, Aetna Behavioral Health LLC, Aetna Better Health Inc., Aetna Better Health Inc., Aetna Better Health Premier Plan MMAI Inc., Aetna Better Health of California Inc., Aetna Better Health of Florida Inc., Aetna Better Health of Illinois Inc., Aetna Better Health of Indiana Inc., Aetna Better Health of Kansas Inc., Aetna Better Health of Missouri LLC, Aetna Better Health of Nevada Inc., Aetna Better Health of North Carolina Inc., Aetna Better Health of Oklahoma Inc., Aetna Better Health of Tennessee Inc., Aetna Better Health of Texas Inc., Aetna Better Health of Washington Inc., Aetna Capital Management LLC, Aetna Card Solutions LLC, Aetna Corporate Services LLC, Aetna Dental Inc., Aetna Dental of California Inc., Aetna Financial Holdings LLC, Aetna Florida Inc., Aetna Global Benefits (Asia Pacific) Limited, Aetna Global Benefits (Bermuda) Limited, Aetna Global Benefits (Europe) Limited, Aetna Global Benefits (Middle East) LLC, Aetna Global Benefits (Singapore) PTE. LTD., Aetna Health Holdings LLC, Aetna Health Insurance (Thailand) Public Company Limited, Aetna Health Insurance Company, Aetna Health Insurance Company of Europe DAC, Aetna Health Insurance Company of New York, Aetna Health Management LLC, Aetna Health and Life Insurance Company, Aetna Health of California Inc., Aetna Health of Iowa Inc., Aetna Health of Michigan Inc., Aetna Health of Ohio Inc., Aetna Health of Utah Inc., Aetna HealthAssurance Pennsylvania Inc., Aetna Holdco (UK) Limited, Aetna Holdings (Thailand) Limited, Aetna Inc., Aetna Insurance (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Aetna Insurance Company Limited, Aetna Insurance Company of Connecticut, Aetna Integrated Informatics Inc., Aetna International Ex Pat LLC, Aetna International LLC, Aetna Ireland Inc., Aetna Life & Casualty (Bermuda) Ltd., Aetna Life Assignment Company, Aetna Life Insurance Company, Aetna Medicaid Administrators LLC, Aetna Network Services LLC, Aetna Partners Diversified Fund LLC, Aetna Pharmacy Management Services LLC, Aetna Resources LLC, Aetna Risk Assurance Company of Connecticut Inc., Aetna Rx Home Delivery LLC, Aetna Services (Thailand) Limited, Aetna Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Aetna Student Health Agency Inc., Aetna Ventures LLC, Aetna Workers Comp Access LLC, Alabama CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Alaska CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Allina Health and Aetna Health Plan Inc., Allina Health and Aetna Insurance Company, Allina Health and Aetna Insurance Holding Company LLC, American Drug Stores Delaware L.L.C., Arbor Drugs, Arizona CVS Stores L.L.C., Arkansas CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Badger Acquisition LLC, Badger Acquisition of Kentucky LLC, Badger Acquisition of Minnesota LLC, Badger Acquisition of Ohio LLC, Banner Health and Aetna Health Insurance Company, Banner Health and Aetna Health Insurance Holding Company LLC, Banner Health and Aetna Health Plan Inc., Beauty Holdings L.L.C., Best Care LTC Acquisition Company LLC, Busse CVS L.L.C., CCI Foreign S.a R.L., CCRx Holdings LLC, CCRx of North Carolina LLC, CHP Acquisition LLC, CP Acquisition LLC, CVS 2948 Henderson L.L.C., CVS 3268 Gilbert L.L.C., CVS 3745 Peoria L.L.C., CVS AL Distribution L.L.C., CVS AOC Corporation, CVS AOC Services L.L.C., CVS Albany L.L.C., CVS Bellmore Avenue L.L.C., CVS Cabot Holdings Inc., CVS Cabot Holdings Inc. Coram Clinical Trials Inc. 99.72%/Aetna Inc. .28%, CVS Care Concierge LLC, CVS Caremark Advanced Technology Pharmacy L.L.C., CVS Caremark Indemnity Ltd., CVS Caremark Part D Services L.L.C., CVS Caremark TN SUTA LLC, CVS Foreign Inc., CVS Gilbert 3272 L.L.C., CVS Health Applications LLC, CVS Health Solutions LLC, CVS Health Ventures Fund GP LLC, CVS Health Ventures Fund LP, CVS Health Ventures Management LLC, CVS Indiana L.L.C., CVS International L.L.C., CVS Kidney Care Advanced Technologies LLC, CVS Kidney Care Health Services LLC, CVS Kidney Care Home Dialysis LLC, CVS Kidney Care LLC, CVS Management Support LLC, CVS Manchester NH L.L.C., CVS Media Exchange LLC, CVS Michigan L.L.C., CVS Orlando FL Distribution L.L.C., CVS PA Distribution L.L.C., CVS PR Center Inc., CVS Pharmacy Inc., CVS Pharmacy Overseas Online LLC, CVS RS Arizona L.L.C., CVS Rx Services Inc., CVS SC Distribution L.L.C., CVS Shaw Holdings Inc., CVS Shaw Holdings Inc. Coram Clinical Trials Inc. 99.72%/Aetna Inc. .28%, CVS State Capital L.L.C., CVS TN Distribution L.L.C., CVS Transportation L.L.C., CVS Vero FL Distribution L.L.C., CVS-SHC Kidney Care Home Dialysis of Austin LLC, CVS-SHC Kidney Care Home Dialysis of Los Angeles LLC, CVS-SHC Kidney Care Home Dialysis of Philadelphia LLC, CVS-SHC Renal Holdings LLC, Campos Medical Pharmacy LLC, Canal Place LLC, Care Pharmaceutical Services LP, CareCenter Pharmacy L.L.C., Carefree Insurance Services Inc., Caremark Arizona Mail Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Arizona Specialty Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark California Specialty Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Florida Mail Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Florida Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Hawaii Mail Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Hawaii Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark IPA L.L.C., Caremark Illinois Mail Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Illinois Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Irving Resource Center LLC, Caremark Kansas Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark L.L.C., Caremark Logistics LLC, Caremark Louisiana Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Maryland Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Massachusetts Specialty Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Michigan Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Minnesota Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark New Jersey Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark North Carolina Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Ohio Specialty Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Pennsylvania Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark PhC L.L.C., Caremark Puerto Rico L.L.C., Caremark Puerto Rico Specialty Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Redlands Pharmacy L.L.C., Caremark Repack LLC, Caremark Rx L.L.C., Caremark Tennessee Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Texas Mail Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Texas Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Caremark Ulysses Holding Corp., Caremark Washington Specialty Pharmacy LLC, CaremarkPCS Alabama Mail Pharmacy LLC, CaremarkPCS Health L.L.C., CaremarkPCS L.L.C., Central Rx Services LLC, Cofinity Inc., Compscript LLC, Connecticut CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Continental Life Insurance Company of Brentwood Tennessee, Continuing Care Rx LLC, Coram Alternate Site Services Inc., Coram Clinical Trials Inc., Coram Clinical Trials Inc. CVS Pharmacy Inc. 75%/Aetna Life Insurance Company 25%, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Alabama, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Florida, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Greater D.C., Coram Healthcare Corporation of Greater New York, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Indiana, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Massachusetts, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Mississippi, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Nevada, Coram Healthcare Corporation of North Texas, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Northern California, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Southern California, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Southern Florida, Coram Healthcare Corporation of Utah, Coram LLC, Coram Rx LLC, Coram Specialty Infusion, Coram Specialty Infusion Services L.L.C., Coventry Consumer Advantage Inc., Coventry Health Care National Accounts Inc., Coventry Health Care National Network Inc., Coventry Health Care of Illinois Inc., Coventry Health Care of Kansas Inc., Coventry Health Care of Missouri Inc., Coventry Health Care of Nebraska Inc., Coventry Health Care of Virginia Inc., Coventry Health Care of West Virginia Inc., Coventry Health Plan of Florida Inc., Coventry Health and Life Insurance Company, Coventry HealthCare Management Corporation, Coventry Prescription Management Services Inc., Coventry Transplant Network Inc., Credentials Inc., D & R Pharmaceutical Services LLC, D.A.W. LLC, Delaware CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Delaware Physicians Care Incorporated, District of Columbia CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., E.T.B. INC., Echo Merger Sub Inc., Eckerd Corporation of Florida Inc., Employee Assistance Services LLC, Enloe Drugs LLC, Enterprise Patient Safety Organization LLC, EntrustRX, Evergreen Pharmaceutical LLC, Evergreen Pharmaceutical of California LLC, Express Pharmacy Services of PA L.L.C., First Choice of the Midwest LLC, First Health Group Corp., First Health Life & Health Insurance Company, Florida Health Plan Administrators LLC, Garfield Beach CVS L.L.C., Generation Health L.L.C., Geneva Woods Health Services LLC, Geneva Woods LTC Pharmacy LLC, Geneva Woods Management LLC, Geneva Woods Pharmacy Alaska LLC, Geneva Woods Pharmacy LLC, Geneva Woods Pharmacy Washington LLC, Geneva Woods Pharmacy Wyoming LLC, Geneva Woods Retail Pharmacy LLC, Georgia CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., German Dobson CVS L.L.C., Goodhealth Worldwide (Asia) Limited, Goodhealth Worldwide (Global) Limited, Goodyear CVS L.L.C., Grand St. Paul CVS L.L.C., Grandview Pharmacy LLC, Group Dental Service Inc., Health Care Management Co. Ltd., Health Data & Management Solutions Inc., Health Re Inc., Health and Human Resource Center Inc., HealthAssurance Pennsylvania Inc., Highland Park CVS L.L.C., Holiday CVS L.L.C., Home Care Pharmacy LLC, Home Pharmacy Services LLC, Hook-SupeRx L.L.C., Horizon Behavioral Services LLC, Idaho CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., IlliniCare Health, Indian Health Organisation Private Limited, Innovation Health Holdings LLC, Innovation Health Insurance Company, Innovation Health Plan Inc., Interlock Pharmacy Systems LLC, Iowa CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., JHC Acquisition LLC, Kansas CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Kentucky CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., LCPS Acquisition LLC, Langsam Health Services LLC, Lo-Med Prescription Services LLC, Lobos Acquisition LLC, Longs Drug Stores, Longs Drug Stores California L.L.C., Louisiana CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., MHHP Acquisition Company LLC, MHNet Specialty Services LLC, MHNet of Florida Inc., Main Street Pharmacy L.L.C., Managed Care Coordinators Inc., Managed Healthcare LLC, Martin Health Services LLC, Maryland CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Med World Acquisition Corp., Medical Arts Health Care LLC, Medical Examinations of New York P.C., Melville Realty Company Inc., MemberHealth LLC, Mental Health Associates Inc., Mental Health Network of New York IPA Inc., Meritain Health Inc., Merwin Long Term Care LLC, Minor Health Enterprise Co Ltd., MinuteClinic, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Alabama L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Arizona LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Arkansas LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Colorado LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Florida LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Georgia LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Hawaii L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Illinois LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Kentucky L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Louisiana L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Maine L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Maryland LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Massachusetts LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Nebraska L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of New Hampshire L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of New Mexico L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Ohio LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Oklahoma LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Oregon LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Pennsylvania LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Rhode Island LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of South Carolina L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Texas LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Utah L.L.C., MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Virginia LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Washington LLC, MinuteClinic Diagnostic of Wisconsin L.L.C., MinuteClinic L.L.C., MinuteClinic Online Diagnostic Services LLC, MinuteClinic Physician Practice of Texas, MinuteClinic Telehealth Services LLC, MinuteClinic Telehealth Services of Texas Association, Mississippi CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Missouri CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Montana CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., NCS Healthcare of Illinois LLC, NCS Healthcare of Iowa LLC, NCS Healthcare of Kansas LLC, NCS Healthcare of Kentucky LLC, NCS Healthcare of Montana LLC, NCS Healthcare of New Mexico LLC, NCS Healthcare of Ohio LLC, NCS Healthcare of South Carolina LLC, NCS Healthcare of Tennessee LLC, NCS Healthcare of Wisconsin LLC, NIV Acquisition LLC, Navarro Discount Pharmacy, Nebraska CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., NeighborCare Pharmacy Services LLC, NeighborCare of Indiana LLC, NeighborCare of Virginia LLC, New Jersey CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Niagara Re Inc., North Carolina CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., North Shore Pharmacy Services LLC, NovoLogix LLC, OCR Services LLC, Ocean Acquisition Sub L.L.C., Ohio CVS Stores L.L.C., Oklahoma CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Omnicare, Omnicare Indiana Partnership Holding Company LLC, Omnicare LLC, Omnicare LLC Aetna Inc 0.28%/CVS Cabot Holdings Inc. 49.86%/CVS Shaw Holdings Inc. 49.86%, Omnicare Pharmacies of Pennsylvania West LLC, Omnicare Pharmacies of the Great Plains Holding LLC, Omnicare Pharmacy and Supply Services LLC, Omnicare Pharmacy of Tennessee LLC, Omnicare Pharmacy of the Midwest LLC, Omnicare Property Management LLC, Omnicare of Nebraska LLC, Omnicare of Nevada LLC, Omnicare of New York LLC, Oregon CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., PE Holdings LLC, PHPSNE Parent Corporation, PP Acquisition Company LLC, PRN Pharmaceutical Services LP, PT Aetna Management Consulting, Pamplona Saude e Beleza LTDA, Part D Holding Company L.L.C., PayFlex Systems USA Inc., Pennsylvania CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Performax Inc., Pharmacy Associates of Glenn Falls LLC, Pharmacy Consultants LLC, Phoenix Data Solutions LLC, Precision Benefit Services Inc., Prime Net Inc., ProCare Pharmacy Direct L.L.C., ProCare Pharmacy L.L.C., Prodigy Health Group Inc., Professional Risk Management Inc., Puerto Rico CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Red Oak Sourcing LLC, Resources for Living LLC, Rhode Island CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Roeschens Healthcare LLC, RxAmerica, Schaller Anderson Medical Administrators Incorporated, Scrip World LLC, Sheffield Avenue CVS L.L.C., Shore Pharmaceutical Providers LLC, Silverscript Insurance Company, Soma Intimates, South Carolina CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., South Wabash CVS L.L.C., Specialized Pharmacy Services LLC, Stadtlander Drug Company, Stadtlander Pharmacy, Sterling Healthcare Services LLC, Superior Care Pharmacy LLC, Sutter Health and Aetna Administrative Services LLC, Sutter Health and Aetna Insurance Company, Sutter Health and Aetna Insurance Holding Company LLC, T2 Medical Inc., TCPI Acquisition LLC, TargetPharmacy, Tennessee CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Texas Health + Aetna Health Insurance Company, Texas Health + Aetna Health Insurance Holding Company LLC, Texas Health + Aetna Health Plan Inc., The Vasquez Group Inc., Thomas Phoenix CVS L.L.C., Three Forks Apothecary LLC, U.S Healthcare Holdings LLC, U.S. Healthcare Properties Inc., UAC Holding Inc., UC Acquisition LLC, UNI-Care Health Services of Maine LLC, Universal American - Medicare Part D Business, Utah CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., VAPS Acquisition Company LLC, Value Health Care Services LLC, Vermont CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Virginia CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Virtual Home Healthcare LLC, Warm Springs Road CVS L.L.C., Washington CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Washington Lamb CVS L.L.C., Weber Medical Systems LLC, Wellpartner LLC, West Virginia CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Westhaven Services Co LLC, Williamson Drug Company LLC, Wisconsin CVS Pharmacy L.L.C., Woodward Detroit CVS L.L.C., Work and Family Benefits Inc., ZS Acquisition Company LLC, Zinc Health Services LLC, Zinc Health Ventures LLC, bSwift LLC, and iTriage LLC.
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The following companies are subsidiares of Eaton: Abeiron III Unlimited Company, Aeroquip Iberica S.L., Aeroquip-Vickers, Aphel Technologies, Argo-Tech, Arrow Hose & Tubing, Azonix Corporation, Babco Electric Group, Baricide Inc., Beijing Yoosung Shinhwa Automobile Parts Co. Ltd., Blinda Industria e Comercio Ltda., Bussmann International Holdings LLC, Bussmann International Inc., Bussmann S. de R.L. de C.V., CBE Services Inc., CEAG Notlichtsysteme GmbH, CLS (Canada) Company, COBHAM INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED, CTI-VIENNA Gesellschaft zur Prufung elektrotechnischer Industrieprodukte GmbH, Cambridge International Sarl, Cannon Technologies Inc., Chagrin Highlands III Ltd., Cobham, Cobham Mission Systems Davenport AAR Inc., Cobham Mission Systems Davenport LSS Inc., Cobham Mission Systems FWB Inc., Cobham Mission Systems Orchard Park Inc., Cobham Mission Systems Wimborne Limited, Cooper (China) Co. Ltd., Cooper (Ningbo) Electric Co. Ltd., Cooper B-Line Inc., Cooper Bussmann LLC, Cooper Capri S.A.S., Cooper Crouse-Hinds (LLC), Cooper Crouse-Hinds AS, Cooper Crouse-Hinds B.V., Cooper Crouse-Hinds GmbH, Cooper Crouse-Hinds LLC, Cooper Crouse-Hinds MTL Inc., Cooper Crouse-Hinds S. de R.L. de C.V., Cooper Crouse-Hinds S.A., Cooper Csa Srl, Cooper Edison (Pingdingshan) Electronic Technologies Co. Ltd., Cooper Electric (Changzhou) Co. Ltd., Cooper Electric (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Cooper Electrical International LLC, Cooper Electronic Technologies (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Cooper Enterprises LLC, Cooper Finance USA Inc., Cooper Germany Holdings GmbH, Cooper Industrials, Cooper Industries (Canada) Company, Cooper Industries (Electrical) Inc., Cooper Industries Colombia S.A.S., Cooper Industries FZE, Cooper Industries Finance B.V., Cooper Industries Global B.V., Cooper Industries International LLC, Cooper Industries Japan K.K., Cooper Industries LLC, Cooper Industries Romania SRL, Cooper Industries Russia LLC, Cooper Industries Trading Unlimited Company, Cooper Industries Unlimited Company, Cooper Industries Vietnam LLC, Cooper Interconnect Inc., Cooper International Holdings S.a.r.l, Cooper Korea Ltd., Cooper Menvier France SARL, Cooper Notification Inc., Cooper Power Systems LLC, Cooper Power Systems do Brasil Ltda., Cooper Pretronica Unipessoal Lda., Cooper Safety B.V., Cooper Securite S.A.S., Cooper Shanghai Power Capacitor Co. Ltd., Cooper Technologies Company, Cooper Univel S.A., Cooper Wheelock Inc., Cooper Wiring Devices Inc., Cooper Wiring Devices de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Cooper Xi'an Fusegear Co. Ltd., Cooper Yuhua (Changzhou) Electric Equipment Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Copperlogic, Cutler-Hammer Electrical Company, Cutler-Hammer Industries Ltd., Cutler-Hammer SRL, Cyme International T & D Inc., D.P. Eaton Electric, Digital Lighting (Dong Guan) Co. Ltd., Digital Lighting Co. Limited, Digital Lighting Holdings Limited, Dongguan Cooper Electronics Co. Ltd., Dongguan Wiring Devices Electronics Co. Ltd., E. Begerow, E.A. Pedersen Co., ETN Asia International Limited, ETN Holding 1 Limited, ETN Holding 2 Limited, ETN Holding 3 Limited, Eaton (China) Investments Co. Ltd., Eaton (Switzerland) Holding I GmbH, Eaton (Switzerland) Holding II GmbH, Eaton (Switzerland) Holding III G.m.b.H., Eaton Aeroquip LLC, Eaton Aerospace LLC, Eaton Ann Arbor LLC, Eaton Automated Transmission Technologies Corporation, Eaton Automation G.m.b.H, Eaton Automation Holding G.m.b.H., Eaton Automotive Components Spolka z o.o., Eaton Automotive Spolka z o.o., Eaton Automotive Systems Spolka z o.o., Eaton B.V., Eaton Capital Global Holdings Unlimited Company, Eaton Capital Unlimited Company, Eaton Controls (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l., Eaton Controls (UK) Limited, Eaton Corporation, Eaton Domhanda I Limited, Eaton Domhanda Unlimited Company, Eaton Electric, Eaton Electric & Engineering Services Limited, Eaton Electric (Japan) Ltd., Eaton Electric (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Eaton Electric (South Africa) Pty Ltd., Eaton Electric (Thailand) Limited, Eaton Electric (Vietnam) Company Limited, Eaton Electric AB, Eaton Electric AS, Eaton Electric ApS, Eaton Electric BV, Eaton Electric G.m.b.H., Eaton Electric Holdings LLC, Eaton Electric Limited, Eaton Electric S.I.A., Eaton Electric S.a.r.l., Eaton Electric S.r.l., Eaton Electric Spolka z.o.o., Eaton Electric d.o.o., Eaton Electric s.r.o., Eaton Electrical (Australia) Pty Ltd, Eaton Electrical Equipment Co Ltd, Eaton Electrical IP G.m.b.H. & Co. KG, Eaton Electrical Ltd., Eaton Electrical Products Limited, Eaton Electrical S.A., Eaton Electrical Srl, Eaton Electrical Systems Limited, Eaton Electro Productie S.r.l., Eaton Elektrik Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Eaton Elektrotechnika s.r.o., Eaton Enterprises (Hungary) Kft., Eaton Enterprises Limited, Eaton Enterprises S. de R.L. de C.V., Eaton FZE, Eaton Filtration (Italy) S.r.l., Eaton Filtration (Poland) Sp. z o.o., Eaton Filtration (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Eaton Filtration BV, Eaton Filtration Ltd., Eaton France Holding SAS, Eaton Fu Li An (Changzhou) Electronics Co. Ltd., Eaton Germany G.m.b.H., Eaton Germany Holdings GmbH, Eaton Global Holdings II Limited, Eaton Global Holdings III Limited, Eaton Global Holdings Limited, Eaton Global Limited, Eaton GmbH & Co. KG, Eaton Holding (Austria) G.m.b.H., Eaton Holding (Netherlands) B.V., Eaton Holding (UK) II Limited, Eaton Holding G.m.b.H., Eaton Holding I B.V., Eaton Holding II S.a.r.l., Eaton Holding III B.V., Eaton Holding IV S.a.r.l., Eaton Holding Limited, Eaton Holding S.a.r.l., Eaton Holding SE & Co. KG, Eaton Holding Turlock B.V., Eaton Holding V B.V., Eaton Holding VI B.V., Eaton Holding VII B.V., Eaton Holding VIII B.V., Eaton Holding XIII S.a.r.l., Eaton Hydraulics LLC, Eaton Hydraulics Systems (Jining) Co. Ltd., Eaton I Spolka z.o.o., Eaton II LP, Eaton III LP, Eaton IV LP, Eaton India Innovation Center LLP, Eaton Industrial Products Pvt. Ltd., Eaton Industrial Systems Private Limited, Eaton Industries (Argentina) S.A., Eaton Industries (Austria) G.m.b.H., Eaton Industries (Belgium) BV, Eaton Industries (Canada) Company, Eaton Industries (Chile) S.p.A., Eaton Industries (Colombia) S.A.S., Eaton Industries (Egypt) LLC, Eaton Industries (England) Limited, Eaton Industries (France) S.A.S., Eaton Industries (Ireland) II Limited, Eaton Industries (Ireland) Limited, Eaton Industries (Israel) Ltd., Eaton Industries (Italy) S.r.l., Eaton Industries (Jining) Co. Ltd, Eaton Industries (Korea) Limited, Eaton Industries (Morocco) LLC, Eaton Industries (Netherlands) B.V., Eaton Industries (Philippines) LLC, Eaton Industries (Spain) S.L., Eaton Industries (Thailand) Ltd., Eaton Industries (U.K.) Limited, Eaton Industries (Wuxi) Co. Ltd., Eaton Industries Company, Eaton Industries EOOD, Eaton Industries G.m.b.H., Eaton Industries Holding G.m.b.H., Eaton Industries Holdings Ltd., Eaton Industries I Unlimited Company, Eaton Industries II G.m.b.H., Eaton Industries II Unlimited Company, Eaton Industries III Unlimited Company, Eaton Industries IV Unlimited Company, Eaton Industries IX LLC, Eaton Industries KFT, Eaton Industries LP, Eaton Industries Manufacturing G.m.b.H., Eaton Industries Middle East LLC, Eaton Industries Panama S.A., Eaton Industries Pte. Ltd., Eaton Industries Pty. Ltd., Eaton Industries S. de R.L. de C.V., Eaton Industries SAC, Eaton Industries Sdn. Bhd., Eaton Industries V Unlimited Company, Eaton Industries VI Unlimited Company, Eaton Industries VII Unlimited Company, Eaton Industries VIII LLC, Eaton Industries X Unlimited Company, Eaton Industries XI Unlimited Company, Eaton Industries XII Unlimited Company, Eaton Industries XIII Unlimited Company, Eaton Industries XIV Unlimited Company, Eaton Industries XIX Unlimited Company, Eaton Industries XV Unlimited Company, Eaton Industries XVI LLC, Eaton Industries XVIII Unlimited Company, Eaton Industries XX Unlimited Company, Eaton Industria e Comercio de Produtos Eletricos e Servicos Ltda, Eaton Intelligent Power Limited, Eaton International B.V., Eaton International Industries Nigeria Limited, Eaton Japan G.K., Eaton LLC, Eaton LP, Eaton Leasing Corporation, Eaton Limited, Eaton Ltda., Eaton MEDC Limited, Eaton Management Services LLP, Eaton Manufacturing G.m.b.H., Eaton Manufacturing Hungary Kft., Eaton Manufacturing II G.m.b.H., Eaton Manufacturing III G.m.b.H., Eaton Manufacturing LP, Eaton Manufacturing Limited, Eaton Moeller B.V., Eaton Moeller S.a.r.l., Eaton Phoenixtec MMPL Co. Ltd., Eaton Power (Shanghai) Trading Limited Partnership, Eaton Power Quality (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Eaton Power Quality Limited, Eaton Power Quality OY (Finland), Eaton Power Quality Private Limited, Eaton Production International G.m.b.H., Eaton Protection Systems IP G.m.b.H. & Co. KG, Eaton S.A.S., Eaton S.r.l., Eaton SE, Eaton Safety Limited, Eaton Science & Technology Management (Hainan) Limited Partnership, Eaton Services S.a.r.l., Eaton Solutions S. de R.L. de C.V., Eaton Technologies (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l., Eaton Technologies G.m.b.H., Eaton Technologies Private Limited, Eaton Technologies S. de R.L. de C.V., Eaton Teorainn Limited, Eaton Trading (FZC) LLC, Eaton Trading Company S. de R.L. de C.V., Eaton Truck Components (Proprietary) Ltd., Eaton Truck Components S. de R.L. de C.V., Eaton Truck Components Spolka z o.o., Eaton eMobility France SAS, Eaton-Powerware, Electromanufacturas S. de R.L. de C.V., Electrum Group Ltd., Ephesus Lighting, FHF Bergbautechnik GmbH & Co. KG, FHF Funke+Huster Fernsig GmbH, Flight Refuelling Limited, Funke+Huster GmbH, GeCma Components electronic GmbH, Gitiesse S.r.l., Green Holding S.a.r.l., Green Motion SA, Grupo Desdemona S. de R.L. de C.V., Grupo Otello S. de R.L. de C.V., Hein Moeller Stiftung G.m.b.H., Hernis Scan Systems A/S, HuanYu High Tech, IE Power, Innovative Switchgear Solutions Inc, Institute for International Product Safety G.m.b.H., Integrated Hydraulics, Integrated Partial Discharge Diagnostics, Internormen Technology, Jeil Hydraulics, Joslyn Sunbank Company LLC, Kaicheng Funke+Huster (Tangshan) Mining Electrical Co. Ltd., Lian Zheng Electronics (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., MP Group SAS, MTL Instruments B.V., MTL Instruments LLC, MTL Instruments Private Limited, MTL Instruments SARL, MTL Italia Srl, MTL Partners II Inc., MTL Partners Inc., Marina Power and Lighting, Martek Power GmbH, Martek Power S.A. de C.V., McGraw-Edison Development Corporation, Menvier Overseas Holdings Limited, Micro Innovation Holding, Mission Systems, Moeller Electric (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Moeller Electric Ltda., Moeller Holding Gmbh & Co. KG, Moeller Industria de electro-electronicos do Amazonas Ltda., Morestana, Norex AS, Optimum Path Systems (Shanghai) Ltd., Oxalis Group, PDI Intermediate Corp., PT Eaton Industries, PT Ulusoy Electric Indonesia, PT Ulusoy Electric Industry, PT. Fluid Sciences Batam, PerkinElmer - aerospace division, Phoenixtec Electronics (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., Phoenixtec International Corp., Phoenixtec Power, Pigozzi, Plumtree I Limited, Plumtree Mauritius Limited, Polimer Kaucuk Sanayi Ve Pazarlama, Power Distribution Holdings Inc., Power Distribution Inc., Pringle Electrical Manufacturing, Productos Eaton Livia S.L., Pulizzi Engineering, RTE Far East Corporation, Riseson International Limited, Rizhao Yoosung Shinhwa Automobile Parts Co. Ltd., Rolec Comercial e Industrial, Royal Power Solutions, SOURIAU, Santak Electronic (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., Santak Electronics Company Limited, Saturn Insurance Company Ltd., Scantronic Benelux BV, Schreder-Hazemeyer, Scoremax Limited, Sefelec GmbH, Sefelec SAS, Senyuan International Holdings Limited, Senyuan International Investments Limited, Shakespeare Holdings Inc., Silver Light International Limited, Silver Victory Hong Kong Limited, Souriau Dominican Republic Ltd., Souriau Germany GmbH, Souriau India Pvt Ltd, Souriau Italy Srl, Souriau Japan KK, Souriau MAROC Sarl, Souriau S.A.S., Souriau UK Ltd, Souriau USA Inc, Standard Automation & Control LP, Sunbank Family of Companies LLC, Sunbank de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Sure Power Inc., T.T.M.C. (2012) Ltd, TGM Automotiva, TTMC Holdings Inc., Technocontact, Telkom Kenya, The MTL Instruments Group Limited, Tractech, Tripp Lite Holdings Inc., Tripp Lite of Canada Corp., Trippe Manufacturing Company, Turlock B.V., Tuthill Coupling Group, Ultronics, Ulusoy Elektrik Imalat Taahhut ve Ticaret AS, Winner Hydraulics Ltd., Wright Line Holding Inc., and Wright Line LLC.
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COLUMBUS Around 70 people attended an immigration forum organized Sunday by Centro Hispano.
The "Know Your Rights" forum was similar to an event held last month in Schuyler.
On Sunday, Columbus High School Principal Steve Woodside welcomed the group into the new CHS auditorium.
This school was built as a community building, Woodside said.
Unlike the Schuyler event, where Mayor David Reinecke told the crowd local law enforcement would not be targeting immigrants, no officials from the city or county were present at the Columbus meeting.
Centro Hispano executive director Karina Perez said the group wanted attendees to be able to ask immigration lawyers specific questions.
We thought they would feel uncomfortable asking about some things around authority figures, Perez said.
Alexis Steele, an attorney with Omaha-based Justice For Our Neighbors, which provides legal and educational services for immigrants, spoke about some of the recent changes to immigration enforcement.
The Obama administration prioritized felons for deportation, but the Trump administration has opened that up to include those convicted of misdemeanors, accused of a crime or, more broadly, those deemed a security risk.
The Trump administration also announced that 10,000 more Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers will be hired, more detention centers will be built and cases will be expedited.
So far, President Donald Trump has made no official announcement about Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients.
Steele said families with undocumented members should plan for what theyll do if someone is detained by ICE and have their documents in order. Attendees received a folder with documents for granting temporary parental rights and power of attorney, as well as a private immigration lawyer referral list and consulate contact information.
Bassel El-Kasaby, an immigration attorney with Kasaby and Nicholls in Omaha, explained how to handle questions from ICE officers and when to ask for an attorney. Kasaby and Karen Gomez, head of Centro Hispanos legal department, then answered questions from the audience.
Kris Rebentisch from Platte Valley Literacy Association attended the forum to support Centro Hispano and advertise the citizenship classes he teaches.
So far 20 people have signed up, he said. Honestly, its a need, especially in this area.
The citizenship classes are held 8:30-10:30 a.m. and 5-7 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Perez said Centro Hispano will hold more immigration forums in the future to keep the community up-to-date with policy changes.
COLUMBUS Potential customers often go to Chris Nichols at CN Welding Works with the seed of an idea for a custom welding and fabrication job.
Its the Columbus mans task to make it work.
The job could come from semitrailer drivers, who spend their days delivering corn to the local Archer Daniels Midland plant, looking to modify their fuels tanks because they arent making over-the-road long hauls.
It might be helping a customer doctor a tractor by altering the fuel intake and exhaust piping to compete in tractor pulls or designing a dog kennel to match a customers workshop.
Nichols opened CN Welding Works, located 1 mile east of Lake Stop along Monastery Road and 1 mile south, on Oct. 1. The business offers a full range of welding and custom fabrication services to customers, including mobile repair services for individuals and businesses.
Nichols works with a lot of repeat customers, especially transportation companies such as Freightliner and Performance trucking, with aluminum trailer repairs.
He also handles plenty of one-time customers, such as the homeowner at Christophers Cove who wanted a lakeside outdoor shower for swimmers to wash off sand, the custom rib rack for Wild West Bar-B-Que or the hip waders rack he designed for the annual Ducks Unlimited banquet.
I figure out what a customer wants and how to make it, put it together and make the product work, said the 38-year-old Nichols, who owns the home-based business along with his wife, Janice. The couple have four children.
The hip wader rack spawned a second project. Nichols used the wetlands and waterfowl conservation groups ducks head logo to dress up the rack, using a laser to cut the image of the logo on one end of the rack sold during a silent auction.
The rack went over so well Nichols designed a separate product in which he carved the logo inside an outline of a map of Nebraska.
I sold 12 or 13 of them at Christmas, Nichols said.
The business got a jump-start during its first few months by working with 3D Designs in Columbus. Nichols works nights and weekends on smaller orders for 3D Designs while the 23rd Street business focuses its metal manufacturing services on larger production orders.
The spillover jobs from 3D Designs and principal owner Dan Havlovic have been beneficial for both, said Nichols, who isn't new to welding, custom fabrication and repair work.
He was the superintendent for capital projects during a 16-year career at ADM, supervising a staff of 28 workers. Eight of those years he combined his work at the plant with his home business.
Earlier in his career, he spent a few years doing welding and fabrication work at Behlen Mfg. Co.
ADM was constantly building, modifying and adding systems to the plant, Nichols said.
The Columbus man decided to take the plunge and leave ADM after the couple and their children returned from a weeklong Caribbean vacation to the Dominican Republic in September. Janice remains at ADM, where she met her husband.
Nichols returned to the hubbub of a busy manufacturing plant after a week away, noticing quickly the toll the hustle and bustle took on the mood of co-workers.
I asked myself, Was I that way (before going on vacation)?'" Nichols said. Thats when I decided to take the leap.
For 35 years, cyclists in the Bicycle Ride Across Nebraska started their seven-day trip on the west side of the state.
And every year, when we come to the east side of the state, the ride is practically over and we dont have time to highlight whats on the east side of the state, said BRAN president and ride director Wes Galusha.
Organizers changed that for this years ride, charting a course from the southeast corner of the state in Falls City and taking riders north and west -- to Auburn, Weeping Water, North Bend, Wayne, Wakefield and Winnebago -- before circling south and ending in Tekamah.
Theyre calling the June 4-10 ride Five Nations/Five States.
Five states, because optional rides the day before the start will give cyclists a chance to pedal in to Kansas and Missouri, and optional routes Thursday and Friday will take riders to Iowa and South Dakota.
And five nations, because the day before the ride, cyclists can visit the Iowa and Sac and Fox tribal nations in Kansas, and the route will later take them through Winnebago, Omaha and Ponca land in Nebraska.
This year, organizers are also offering three- and four-day options for riders who cant commit to the whole week.
Registration will stay open until 650 riders are signed up, Galusha said. Add all of the nonriders -- family members and support staff and vendors -- and nearly 800 people will be exploring the Missouri River valley.
It is a little moving city, sometimes bigger than the towns we stay in, he said.
The ride will return to a more traditional west-to-east route next year.
Proceeds from the annual BRAN event go to scholarships for Nebraska high school seniors attending Nebraska trade schools, colleges and universities.
For more information or to register, visit bran-inc.org.
LYNCHBURG As opponents of the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline continue to fight the project, others who believe it will stimulate the economy recently sent hundreds of letters to U.S. lawmakers.
The Mid-Atlantic Region of the Laborers International Union of America (LIUNA), a union of construction workers and public service employees, on Friday hand-delivered about 1,600 letters from workers to U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark R. Warner. The letters express support for the proposed $5 billion natural gas pipeline, which would run about 600 miles from West Virginia to North Carolina and through Virginia.
The pipeline is expected to cross about 27 miles in Nelson County.
Of the 1,600 letters, more than 700 are from Virginia residents.
Our message to Virginias senators is very simple: its time to approve this pipeline so we can put Virginia laborers to work rebuilding our nations energy infrastructure, LIUNA Vice President and Mid-Atlantic Regional Manager Dennis L. Martire said.
This is the biggest job-creating project weve seen in Virginia in many years. It will put thousands of Virginia laborers to work, generate hundreds of millions of dollars in new income for working families and bring more than $1 billion in new investment into our communities. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rebuild Virginias middle class, and we need to seize it.
The letters also have been submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which ultimately will decide whether or not to approve the project.
Opponents maintain the proposed project would leave lasting negative effects on communities along the route. In Nelson County, opponents worry about contamination to water sources via runoff, among other potential issues. Dominion Resources, the energy company leading the project, says it will employ a Best-in-Class Steep Slope Program to ensure the safety of Nelson residents and will monitor water quality during and after construction.
The project currently is being reviewed by the agency.
FERC released a draft environmental impact statement that looks at potential effects of the pipeline on the environment and residents along the route in December 2016. A comment period, during which individuals and organizations can submit their thoughts on the project and contents of the draft document, remains open through Thursday.
FERC has said it expects to release a final environmental impact statement in June. FERC should make a decision by the fall, putting Dominion on track to begin construction shortly thereafter.
According to a news release issued by LIUNAs Mid-Atlantic Region, the letters delivered to Kaine and Warner say Virginia residents are excited about the economic prosperity the project will bring to communities throughout the commonwealth.
Dominion spokesman Aaron Ruby said the pipeline will create more than 7,000 jobs during peak construction in 2018.
Citing studies by Chmura Economics & Analytics and ICF International, Ruby said an estimated 17,000 jobs up and down the route would be created during construction, and about 2,200 jobs would be created after the pipeline has been completed.
Ruby said the project could create more than 10,000 jobs in Virginia during and after construction.
This pipeline is going to bring new industries and good-paying jobs back to Virginia at levels we havent seen in years, Martire said. We cant grow Virginias middle class without new industries, and we cant bring those industries to Virginia without new infrastructure like the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Thats what this pipeline is all about its a jobs pipeline for Virginias middle class.
LIUNAs Mid-Atlantic Region includes more than 40,000 workers across five states and Washington, D.C., according to the release.
More and more Americans are using their cellphones on a regular basis, and while the devices have many positive aspects, researchers are expressing a cautious tone.
A new study involving a University of Virginia researcher has found a negative correlation between the use of cellphones to get information and trust in strangers.
The study was headed by Kostadin Kushlev, a psychology research scientist at UVa, and Jason Proulx of the University of British Columbia. Proulx assisted Kushlev in lab research while Kushlev was finishing his dissertation at UBC.
We looked at data from the World Value Survey from over 2,000 people in the U.S. and we looked at the relationship between how people are gaining information and how much they trust other people, Kushlev said. What we found is that while obtaining information through sources like newspapers, TV, radio and so forth was associated with trusting strangers and other people more, using phones for information was associated with lower trust.
However, people who use their cellphones as their main source of information only distrust certain people, the study found.
The relation between phones and trust only held for outsiders: strangers, neighbors, people of other nationalities, people of other religions, Kushlev said. There was no relation between using phones for information and how much people trusted their family or friends.
Kushlev and Proulx, who are quick to recognize the value of smartphones, said they fear people are losing more than trust in others; mobile devices may be unraveling communities.
Were interested in the opportunity cost [of using cellphones for information] in terms of the things you miss in the non-digital environment, Kushlev said. People use their phones for all sorts of information, from reading the news to finding directions, so people might not actually talk to other people in their community. We know that these small interactions with other people in their communities are critical for building social capital resources such as trust.
The researchers said they cannot draw too many conclusions based on the study but plan to follow up with behavioral research.
Although the correlation held when the pair controlled for many third variables, including age, gender and location, there is no definite way to understand why the distrust occurs at this point.
This is just correlation, its very possible that the other direction is true where people who tend to trust others less might be more willing to access information online instead of having interactions with other people, Proulx said.
It is convenient and effective to use phones to find information, but it is important to be aware of the consequences, to be conscious of ones surroundings, and engage with the community, the researchers said.
Locals might know better recommendations for a good cafe they might be, in some cases, an even better source of information [than your phone], Kushlev said. Just be aware of it and sometimes try to rely on others as much as we rely on our phones.
The University of Virginia is dealing with the fallout of a public records dump that shows that members of its fundraising office lobbied the admissions office to accept the children of donors and alumni.
Documents obtained by author Jeff Thomas reveal that the universitys fundraising office tracked applicants whose parents were somehow connected to the university and then appealed to high-ranking staffers to change decisions to decline or waitlist some of these applicants.
The universitys administration says it did not show any favor toward these students.
More than 160 pages of records which Thomas first released to The Washington Post show members of the fundraising office (known at UVa as the advancement office), sought meetings with Sean Kirk Jenkins, a special assistant to President Teresa A. Sullivan, in the hopes of changing admissions decisions.
In an interview Sunday, Thomas said the documents prove that despite its claims of being need-blind a term used by colleges that admit students based solely on merit and not their familys need for financial aid UVa favors wealthy families in the admissions process.
UVa has been lying to us for the past decade, Thomas said. They are not need-blind: a substantial part of the admissions-fundraising machine is focused on how much money daddy has.
The university channeled all inquiries through spokesman Anthony P. de Bruyn, who denied that the university favors the children of donors. He said the advancement office is in contact with donors and alumni recommending students who have an interest in attending UVa.
This practice allows development officers to serve as a buffer with those alumni, donors and friends who have provided prospective student endorsements during the admission cycle, de Bruyn said. However, the admissions office makes the independent determination on whether a student is admitted or not.
In line with university protocol, the admissions office does not coordinate with the advancement office during the admissions process, de Bruyn said.
But the documents show members of the advancement office actively tried to convince the administration to change preliminary decisions. Rather than going through the admissions office, they forwarded their requests through Jenkins, who is repeatedly referenced.
The documents which date back to 2011 are heavily redacted but have enough information to show the connections. Each applicant is listed with a parent affiliation usually a donor or alum. Notes referencing large dollar amounts are written in pencil in some entries.
For example, a 2011 entry for a student who was declined in the preliminary admission decision has the figure $500K written in pencil. The typed notes read: Really need to know if get in WL (wait list) must be on WL; mother BFF (best friends forever) with [redacted name] and sorority sister.
Another 2011 entry about a student whose status is listed as D for declined has the handwritten figure $140k above typed notes reading: met with Sean Jenkins could push Jeff Boyd (director of the UVa Parents Fund) says at least WL.
Listings in subsequent years include the notation recommended by [redacted name], a major supporter of the university in a section labeled Why is this applicant recommended? Members of the office continued meeting with Jenkins and an unnamed staffer known as CG.
Its not clear how successful the advancement office was in these outreach efforts. When asked whether the advancement office has ever successfully changed an applicants admission status, de Bruyn repeated that admissions officials are the only ones who determine who gets into the university.
The advancement office does not determine whether an applicant is admitted, he said.
Showing favor toward the children of donors is standard practice for large universities, said Dan Golden, author of the book The Price of Admission: How Americas Ruling Class Buys Its Way into Elite Colleges and Who Gets Left Outside the Gates.
Whether you call it a watch list or whatever you call it it is normal for universities to track the kids of these important donors, Golden said. UVa fits the pattern.
Golden, a senior editor at the nonprofit investigative journalism outlet ProPublica, has written about this topic for more than a decade. He argues that the practice of giving special treatment to these applicants helps keep wealth in the United States concentrated in a few families.
The mission of universities particularly state universities like UVa is find people with the most potential and nurture it, Golden said. Theyre supposed to find the diamonds in the rough and help with upward mobility, rather than furthering aristocracy in this country.
Richard D. Kahlenberg, a senior fellow at the progressive Century Foundation, calls the practice affirmative action for the wealthy and said it is unfortunately very common in large universities. Each spot occupied by a beneficiary of this practice could have gone to someone who needed it more, he said.
This inequality of access matters because attending a selective college offers the opportunity to earn substantially higher wages and join the leadership class in America, he said.
Thomas obtained the documents while researching a book on corruption and cronyism in Virginia politics, titled Virginia Politics & Government in a New Century: The Price of Power, which was released last October.
While researching a chapter on higher education, Thomas said he looked at admissions and matriculation data at the university and noticed two patterns. First, most students could not get into UVa unless they graduated at the top of their classes. But one exclusive private school in Richmond the Collegiate School was disproportionately represented in the admitted ranks.
Even mediocre students from that private school can get admitted to UVa, while bright students from other schools are denied, Thomas said.
The author said he didnt believe the Collegiate School could be the only school in that position, so we could deduce that UVa admissions and development must track VIP applicants. Thats what made him decide to make a public records request under the Freedom of Information Act, he said.
Del. R. Steven Landes, R-Weyers Cave, and chairman of the House of Delegates Education Committee, said hes withholding judgment until he can learn more. But Landes said it would concern him if applicants were judged by anything other than the stated admissions standards.
All students who apply should be considered based on the criteria, he said.
Rector William H. Goodwin said the admissions office, under Dean Gregory Roberts, gets recommendations from all directions, but it doesn't seem to affect the office's decisions.
Goodwin said he personally has tried to recommend applicants for admission, but he doesn't think he's ever changed Roberts' mind.
"He does what he thinks is best for the university," Goodwin said.
Total motorcycle sales during the month was down by 7.57 per cent to 2,44,235 units from 2,64,249 units in the same month last year.
New Delhi: Bajaj Auto today reported a 10.98 per cent decline in total sales to 2,72,197 units in March compared to 3,05,800 units during the same month a year ago.
Domestic sales stood at 1,69,279 units as against 2,04,281 units in the corresponding period last year, down 17.13 per cent, the company said in a statement.
Total motorcycle sales during the month was down by 7.57 per cent to 2,44,235 units from 2,64,249 units in the same month last year.
Domestic motorcycle sales declined by 14.33 per cent to 1,51,449 units in March from 1,76,788 units in the year-ago period.
Bajaj Auto said its total commercial vehicle sales during the month under review stood at 27,962 units compared to 41,551 units in the year-ago period, down 32.70 per cent.
However, its total exports in March this year was up 1.37 per cent to 1,02,918 units as against 1,01,519 units in the same month last year, the company said.
Commercial vehicle makers disposed of over half their stock of BS-III vehicles before the Supreme Court-set April 1, 2017.
New Delhi: The ban on BS-III vehicles imposed by the Supreme Court will cost commercial vehicle and two-wheeler makers nearly Rs 3,000 crore, according to market research firm Crisil.
In a report, Crisil Research said the ban would also result in commercial vehicle makers taking a hit of up to Rs 2,500 crore while the same for two-wheeler makers could be Rs 460-480 crore. It said commercial vehicle (CV) makers disposed of over half their stock of BS-III vehicles before the Supreme Court-set April 1, 2017, deadline.
"The discounts and incentives on vehicles sold till March 31, 2017, are expected to have cost them about Rs 1,200 crore. Additionally, Rs 1,300 crore would be incurred to dispose of the unsold inventory," Crisil Research said.
The impact of this on the EBIDTA margins of listed truck makers (Ashok Leyland and Tata Motors' standalone) will be around 2.5 per cent of their revenues, it said.
"The impact would be staggered across fiscals 2017 and 2018, because the unsold inventory will have to be brought back from dealerships and then dealt with," the report added.
It further said leading CV makers had continued manufacturing BS-III vehicles all the way to March in anticipation of strong buying in the closing weeks of the fiscal year, given price hikes of 8-10 per cent expected on BS-IV vehicles.
Indeed, for want of clarity on ban on production or registration, the industry had expected some BS-III trucks to be sold even in April, the report added.
"This had bloated up inventories. When the Supreme Court ruling came, CV dealers' inventory at risk was around 97,000 units (equivalent to 1.7 months of sales) valued at Rs 11,600 crore," it said.
The industry is expected to have sold around 55 per cent of this in the last three days of March by offering discounts of 20-40 per cent on the sticker price compared with around 10 per cent before the ruling. Out of the additional discounts and incentives, the manufacturers are likely to bear about 80 per cent and their dealers the rest, it said.
On the unsold inventory, the report said: "We estimate the remaining 40,000-45,000 units of unsold inventory to be returned in the upcoming months, mainly comprising less-popular models since there were instances of supply shortage in some popular BS-III models."
The companies may upgrade them for resale or dismantle vehicles for spares or incur higher working capital for holding the inventory until it is exported, which could take 5-6 months, it added.
On the two-wheeler front, Crisil Research said when the ruling came, inventory at risk was at 670,000 units, amounting to Rs 3,800 crore (half-a-month of sales).
However, discounts and freebies of 10-30 per cent on the vehicle price helped the dealers clear most of the stock in the last three days of March. While OEMs provided for the incentives, dealers also sweetened the deals by providing free insurance.
"The total discounts provided work out to nearly Rs 600 crore, where the manufacturers would be sharing the bulk of the impact (over 70 per cent of the incentives), taking a total hit of Rs 460-480 crore," it said.
This would cause a 150-200 bps erosion in the aggregate fourth-quarter EBITDA margins of listed players (Hero, Bajaj and TVS) in fiscal 2017, with the industry leader taking a higher impact due to its large BS-III inventory, the report said.
"As for three-wheeler makers, since the BS-III inventory could not be cleared due to the limited number of permits, we expect a marginal impact for Piaggio and TVS. Bajaj would be unscathed as it had already transitioned to BS-IV," Crisil Research said. For passenger vehicles, it said with the BS-III inventory at just 16,000 units, as players had transitioned to BS-IV much earlier, the impact was always expected to be marginal.
"On top of it, given the steep discounts offered in the last three days of the month, much of this stock is expected to have been cleared," it said.
On March 29, observing that health of the people is "far, far more important" than the commercial interests of the manufacturers, the Supreme Court banned sales of BS-III vehicles in the country from April 1. The ban impacted over 8 lakh vehicles.
On the objections raised by co-founder and former chairman N R Narayana Murthy, Infosys.
New Delhi: Infosys today vehemently defended the hike in the compensation of its COO U B Pravin Rao, saying the revision was arrived at after benchmarking against peers.
On the objections raised by co-founder and former chairman N R Narayana Murthy, Infosys, the country's second-largest software exporter, said it views the statement by Murthy as "important feedback" and will continue to work with all stakeholders to ensure long-term interest of the company.
Justifying the over 33 per cent hike in Rao's compensation, Infosys said the cash component has decreased from Rs 5.2 crore to Rs 4.6 crore and it is only the performance-based component that has been raised from 45 per cent to 63 per cent.
The company said considering the four-year vesting period of the stocks given to Rao, the hike came to just 1.4 per cent for 2017-18.
Essar group had then approached the Gujarat high court which had last year asked the company to pay the electricity duty to the state government.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court today reserved its verdict on a plea of Essar Steel and Essar Power challenging the Gujarat High Court order holding the company liable to pay Rs 1038.27 crore towards electricity duty to the state government.
Essar has been seeking electricity duty exemption for its power plant set up at Hazira but the Gujarat government had rejected its demand, as it sold power to other entities.
The state government had earlier said that electricity duty exemption was only for captive power plants and Essar had not sought prior permission to set up the plant to meet the purpose of selling electricity.
A bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan concluded the hearing on the appeal filed by Essar against the High Court's order of last year. Counsel, appearing for Essar group companies, said its plant was a captive power plant which supplied power to its stake holders.
He said that Gujarat power board has 58 per cent stake in the power plant while 42 per cent are of other stake holders and it was very much within permissible limits to supply electricity to them.
"It has to be treated as captive power plant because it has generated electricity for its own stake holders and its own use," the counsel said.
Senior advocate C A Sundaram appearing for the state government said the company had itself admitted in one of its letters that they were not captive power plant but a electricity generating unit. He said 58 per cent stake in the plant was of the state government while 42 per cent stake was of Essar Steel and the electricity it generated was being supplied to other firms.
"The state government is seeking tax for the electricity they have generated and supplied to group companies and others and it is not the case that they have used the electricity generated for its own use," Sundaram said, adding that its a power generating company under the State Electricity Act.
He said the state government stood by the verdict of the High Court and the company was liable to pay electricity duty. The state government had earlier said that the electrcity duty exemption was only for the captive power plants and Essar had not sought prior permission to set up the plant to meet the purpose of selling electricity.
The state government had first refused Essar group's claims for duty exemption on electricity in 2003 and asked it to pay more than Rs 1,000 crore that was allegedly due. Essar group had then approached the Gujarat high court which had last year asked the company to pay the electricity duty to the state government.
Mumbai: After introducing new Rs 2,000 and Rs 500 currency notes, the government now wants to bring in new security features in place of old ones that were first introduced in 2005.
Agencies met last week to take up the issue and raised their concern about these covert security features that have not been changed since 2005, according to a report in The Hindu.
These features include water marks, security thread, fibre and latent image which have remained the same for the new Rs 2,000 and Rs 500 notes as well, according to the report.
The government in tandem with the Reserve Bank of India has introduced over Rs 10 lakh crore worth of new currency notes since high value notes were banned in November last year.
A total currency notes in circulation in old denominations worth Rs 15 lakh crore were scrapped on a few hours notice. Note ban withdrew over 86 per cent currency in circulation from banking system.
Rakhi Sawant had recently made news for supporting Ram Gopal Varma for his sexist tweets on Women's Day.
Ludhiana: A local court here has issued an arrest warrant against Bollywood actress Rakhi Sawant for allegedly making objectionable remarks against sage Valmiki, who wrote the mythological Hindu epic 'Ramayana'.
The warrant was issued on March 9 on the basis of a complaint filed against her for allegedly hurting religious sentiments of Valmiki community with her comments on a programme on a private television channel last year, police said today.
"By doing so she has hurt the religious sentiments of a large number of his followers," the complaint said.
"A two-member team of the Ludhiana police has left for Mumbai with the arrest warrant," a police official said.
Sawant had failed to appear before the court during the last hearing held on March 9 despite the court issuing her repeated summons.
The next hearing of the case is scheduled for April 10.
Mumbai: Veteran Bollywood actor Dilip Kumar is at home and doing well, his wife, yesteryear actress Saira Banu has assured fans.
There were rumours that the 94-year-old star was not keeping well.
Saira Banu took to Kumar's official Twitter account to give an update about the actor.
"By the grace of God, Dilip Sahab is at home and doing well. God has been very kind. Sahab believes that to be surrounded by family and friends who love him unconditionally is therapy by itself," the post read.
"Sahab is blessed with the prayers and love of his millions of fans, admirers, friends and well wishers.
"Dilip Sahab himself will be back on twitter soon, Insha'Allah."
Kumar was last seen on-screen in the 1998 film 'Qila'.
The thespian has been honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke award in 1994 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2015 for his contribution to the Indian cinema.
The Pakistan government also honoured him with its highest civilian honour - Nishan-e-Imtiaz - in 1997.
Mumbai: Kajol says her daughter Nysa is too young to decide whether she wants to follow the footsteps of her parents and become an actor.
Kajol says that her 13-year-old daughter is going through a phase of "no homework" and is not really thinking about anything else.
"She has no aspirations towards anything right now because she is too young. She is right now leaning towards no homework and vegetating on the sofa. She is in that space and enjoying and acting isn't on her mind," Kajol told PTI.
Kajol, who also has a six-year-old son Yug with actor husband Ajay Devgn, says though she loves being a mother, it is easier being an actress than a parent as it is a full time job which requires absolute dedication.
"It is easier being an actress than a mother. It is difficult (being a mother) because it is a full time job, you have to be mentally aware, be 100 percent there with your children at every moment. You learn new things from your kids everyday even in the process of teaching them," she says.
The 42-year-old actress says, when the kids are growing up, the attitude of parents has to change towards their them and should have faith in the upbringing.
"Over the years the kids don't change so much as your attitude towards them has to change. You have to start believing in your upbringing after a point. You have to believe you've done a good job so far, start trusting them to make the right decision."
As a kid, however, Kajol says she never was star-struck or shy because she comes from film family herself.
"May be because I came from a film family, I was never nervous, shy or blushed in front of celebrities. That's my personality. I was pretty much okay with most people. I never had the sense of being star struck."
Kajol yesterday launched McVitie's cream biscuits, of which she is the brand ambassador.
The actress says she puts in a lot of thought before coming on board as the face of any brand.
Sridevis fans have much to look forward to as she appears in her upcoming film Mom, a story about a mother on an avenging spree. Its her first Hindi film after the hugely successful English Vinglish three years ago. Says a source, As she completes 50 years in the Indian film industry in 2017, her husband Boney Kapoor is planning to bring together all her co-stars on one platform for a grand celebration.
For an actress who has been doing films since the age of four, her level of enthusiasm remains unparalleled. So how many films has Sridevi done so far? The actress has no clue. A source close to the actress says, Sridevi has no idea of how many films she has actually done. As a child artiste, she thought she had done only 15-20 films until someone pointed out that she had done nearly 40 films. Also, she thought she had done around 20 films with Kamal Haasan until the actor told her that they have done more than 40 films in the South Indian film industry itself.
Sridevi has the singular honour of playing the lead with three pairs of fathers and sons Nageswara Rao and son Nagarjuna, Dharmendra and his son Sunny Deol and now Vinod Khanna and his son Akshaye Khanna in her new film Mom.
Garth Davis Lion put the spotlight firmly on eight-year-old Sunny Pawar, who was celebrated and interviewed by the American press like a superstar. The little star, who came from a financially challenged background, found himself surrounded by the most incredible adulation.
Most recently, Casey Affleck, this years Oscar winner for best actor, expressed a keen desire to spend time with Su nny. During a round table discussion by The Hollywood Reporter, Casey was asked whom he would like to take with him if marooned on an island and he mentioned Sunnys name. But where does Sunny go from here? He has signed a second film, Tabrez Nooranis Love Sonia. However in the film, the spotlight is on another child actor, Mrunal Thakur, who plays the title role. Says director Tabrez, Sunny has a very small role in my film, a fruit vendor who encounters Sonia. Is Sunny going to be a one-film wonder then? We hope not.
Actress Radhika Prasidhha was lauded for her realistic portrayal of a teacher in the award-winning film Kuttram Kadithal, directed by Bramma. After a two-year hiatus, she faced the arc lights yet again in director Vijay Miltons
recently-released, Kadugu.
Speaking to DC, Radhika says, The response for my performance in Kadugu is overwhelming. One memorable compliment I received is from a college professor, who wrote a long letter about my acting and how he could relate to it. It feels good to be part of a film, where all characters are recognised equally. I will always cherish the experience of working in the movie.
The Kuttram Kadithal actress wants to find a balance between theatre and mainstream films. I dont think I can leave the theatre for films, which is why I have acted only in two Tamil films so far. Its hard to balance both, she explains.
Radhika is all set to go on a tour to Paris, where her theatre troupe Indianostrum has been invited to stage three plays. The French theatre group Theatre Du Soleil wanted us to perform three plays Kunti Karna, Land of Ashes (a drama on the plight of war and refugees) and Karuppu (a dance drama). I will be part of these three plays, directed by Koumarane Vallavane, she concludes.
Mumbai: When a popular Malayalam actress was abducted and allegedly molested in her moving car in February, the nation had stood up and taken notice. The actress had mustered immense courage to file an official FIR, so the perpetrators dont walk scott-free. Out of the five accused, her driver Martin and a certain Pulsar Suni had been arrested.
The actress has now opened up about her ordeal in an interview with a Malayalam magazine Vanitha. The actress reiterated that she doesnt believe the crime was for money and that a proper conspiracy went behind it.
How will a driver who drives stars to and from locations have the courage to do this? Who, why, how? I have no idea about these questions. I will not say that my enemies in film industry were behind this. But if they say all this was done just for money, then there are links that dont connect. I have several questions, for which I need satisfactory answers. I will fight until I win, she stated.
Elaborating on her dstanding in the industry and her take on it, the actress added, They say there are no permanent friends or enemies in politics and even in cinema. In my case, I have permanent friends and permanent enemies in the industry. I never apologise for mistakes I have not committed. I would rather be known as arrogant, than being known as someone who landed a role by repeatedly apologizing and compromising.
The actress who has since been lauded for the tremendous courage she displayed while the entire incident had been inviting a lof of warranted and unsolicited attention simultaneously, she urged other survivors to come forward and not bury such incidents.
If this happened to me, it can happen to anybody. If I can speak about what happened to me, anybody can speak up. So please dont cover up these issues. Why do we allow the hunters to escape? It is not women who should bear the pain of shame, but those who committed the crime. If I had chosen to cover up this incident, may be five or 10 people would have known about it. But I wouldnt have been able to lift my head from the shame of not speaking up. I would have been filled with regret and would not have been able to sleep at nights. That is why I filed a complaint, and I have a clear plan on how to go forward. she said.
The television reporter carries the dog all the way till he comes to the less flooded area (Photo: Youtube)
It is always a difficult decision for most reporters reporting about a crisis if they should help the people or report the news. However, recently a Peruvian reporter decided to stop his live coverage of a flood and instead rescue a dog that would have got washed away.
According to a media report, Aaron Rodriguez was busy doing his job for a Peruvian news channel Latina Noticias reporting about a flood when he saw a dog struggling to survive. The reporter went ahead and stopped the live coverage to rescue the dog from the flood. The wandering dog was trying to find an escape route after it looked to be in the water for a while but could not find one when the reporter helped it out.
Rodriguez who was reporting in the streets filled with water immediately came to the help of the animal and carried it in his hand before dropping it to a safer place nearby. The video, shot by the videographer was posted online and is making many people happy with this act of kindness.
Chennai: A 59-year-old godman, who has over 4,500 followers in social media platform Facebook, was arrested by Guduvancherry police in neighbouring Kancheepuram district for allegedly sexually assaulting a 24-year-old woman and later threatening her with dire consequences if she disclosed it to anyone.
The arrested man was identified as Annadurai alias Annamalai Siddhar of Aadisiva Brhamma Sivanadiyargal Ashram, located in Guduvancherry.
The incident happened in January, but the woman, mother of a 2-year-old boy, lodged a complaint with the police only two days back. She was suffering from migraines and had gone to his ashram along with her grandmother on the first day. Siddhar, after listening to her problem and family background, asked her to come the next day. She was allegedly sexually assaulted when she went there alone on the second day by the Siddhar.
When she told him that she was going to expose him, Sidhar told her that he would use his power to make her son a paralytic and send people to kill her husband. Fearing the Siddhars power, the woman never spoke about the ordeal she suffered all these days.
Over a period of time, she had become depressed and started behaving abnormally at home. She was afraid that something would happen to her son if she tells about incident to her family members. After repeated questioning by her husband, who is a tailor, she finally informed him about the sexual assault. After consulting with his friends, the husband decided to lodge a police compliant. Based on the complaint, Guduvancherry police arrested Annamalai Siddhar and sealed his ashram.
Police disclosed that Siddhar, who is from Chennai, had set up shop in Guduvancherry five years ago and had built a good following of devotees. His Facebook page shows many of his photographs with VIPs including one posing with former Puducherry chief minister N. Rangaswamy.
Bengaluru: Sending a strong signal to those committing crimes against women, the Karnataka High Court has rejected bail to a person, who was accused of sexually abusing a woman hailing from Bhutan. The court held that granting him bail would endanger society.
The Electronics City Police had charged 25-year-old Maheboo Ahmed and two others under Section 376(D), 307, 506 read with Section 34 of IPC. The complainant, a 25-year-old Bhutanese woman, who was working as a beautician, had alleged that on May 15, 2016 at about 11.30 pm she was talking over the phone with her boyfriend.
"Around that time, the accused person called her over the phone and asked her to come to the shop below their apartment for a smoke. Later she was sexually abused by three men," the complaint stated. She also alleged that the accused threatened her with dire consequences and threatened to kill her.
While seeking bail, the advocate for the accused had submitted that the conduct of the petitioner reveals that she was a consenting party and that the investigation has been completed. Therefore there was no requirement of keeping the accused in custody.
The court observed that having gone through the material collected by the investigating agency and the offence committed by the accused, which are duly supported by the victims statement and other attendant circumstances, it cannot grant bail at this stage. All the three accused were working in a snack parlour in Electronic City, and hailed from Karimganj district in Assam.
Pune: The daughter of a Yavatmal MLA was today attacked with a sharp weapon, allegedly by her spurned lover in Wakad area here, injuring her hands, police said.
The 22-year-old victim was attacked by one Rajesh Bakshi (25), outside the college premises at Wakad, where both of them studied MBA, they said.
According to police, Bakshi, who hails from Haryana, was pursuing the young woman for the last few months and it seemed to be a one-sided love interest.
"This morning, she was attacked with a sharp weapon outside the college premises by Bakshi. However, some people overpowered him and handed him to police," said a police inspector from Wakad police station.
The woman--daughter of a BJP legislator from Wani in Yavatmal district of Maharashtra--sustained injuries on her hands in the attack leaving one finger badly wounded, police said.
She is being treated at a private hospital here, the police official said.
Bakshi has been arrested under Section 307 (attempt to murder) of IPC.
NAYAGARH (ODISHA): In a shocking incident, three minor boys hailing from Nayagarh in Odisha were allegedly found to have raped a Class 9 student and recorded the heinous act in their mobile phones and later uploaded the obscene clips in different social media platforms.
The matter came to light on Monday after the local villagers informed the police about the incident and demanded arrest of the accused.
In a swift action, the police arrested the main accused while the others are absconding. According to the villagers, after they came to know about the incident from social media they held a gram sabha on Saturday evening to find a solution to the issue.
It was decided in the gram sabha that the main accused would marry the victim so as to save the 13-year-old girl from social stigma. We tried a lot on Saturday night to convince the accused to accept the girl as his wife.
He said he cannot wait for five years for the girl to become an adult and marry him, said the villagers.
Its an unfortunate incident. We have registered a case and apprehended all the three minor boys involved in the crime. The police is investigating the case on priority basis. Soon after the investigation, we would submit the charges-sheet under appropriate sections of the Information Technology Act and Indian Penal Code, said Nayagarh superintendent of police Kanwar Vishal Singh.
Child Welfare Committee (CWC) member Kishore Mohapatra said the CWC had started counseling the girl to help her overcome the traumatic experience and resettle in her life.
We are counseling the girl who is under trauma. After she overcomes the trauma, we will take a call on her future, said Mr Mohapatra.
These fishermen, who sailed in three boats belonging to Bahrain sponsors, were detained, and initially put into prison for five days.
Kanyakumari : The 15 Indian fishermen, who had ventured out from Bahrain on October 20, 2016 and who subsequently got arrested by the Iranian authorities, have been finally released.
These fishermen, who sailed in three boats belonging to Bahrain sponsors, were detained, and initially put into prison for five days and later kept in their boats under strict surveillance.
International fishermen Development Trust (Infidet) founder president Justin Antony sent requests to the Central and State governments, Indian embassy officials in Bahrain and in Iran, and also brought to the attention of the United Nations Commission for Human Rights.
On March 14 this year, the Iran court has issued the release orders, yet due to the Iran holidays their release was delayed..
They arrived at Indira Gandhi Airport (IGI) in Delhi after efforts by both state and central governments.
New Delhi: 33 Indians who were stuck in ISIS captured Erbil in Iraq, arrived in India on Monday after being rescued by the Indian government.
Out of the 33 returnees, 32 are from Telangana and 1 from Andhra Pradesh.
The rescued claimed that they were duped by their agent with the promise of employment in Iraq, and further said that many people like them are still stranded there.
"Earlier 35 people were rescued and came back to India and this time we are 33. The agent deceived us by promising for giving jobs and took us to Iraq. More people like us are still there," said a returnee.
They arrived at Indira Gandhi Airport (IGI) in Delhi after efforts by both state and central governments.
Earlier, 11 nurses hailing from Kerala had been safely evacuated from conflict-hit Kirkuk in Iraq.
Indian Catholic priest Father Tom Uhunnalil was abducted by ISIS last year in Yemen. Indian government is still trying very hard to get him back to India.
New Delhi: Former Samajwadi Party spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia, who had quit the party in the run-up to Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, on Monday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Bhatia, who was additional advocate general of the Uttar Pradesh government during the SP rule and one of the prominent faces of the party in television debates, said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah inspired him to join the BJP.
He quit as SP spokesperson on February 5. Bhatia, who is a Supreme Court lawyer, said, "The SP was moving away from the ideals of Ram Manohar Lohia. There is no value of loyalty and sincerity and it has been surrendered to dynastic politics."
He, however, refrained from launching any personal attack on former UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav or his father Mulayam Singh Yadav.
He joined the party in the presence of BJP national secretary Bhupendra Yadav and national general secretary Arun Singh at the party office. Bhatia later met Amit Shah.
The BJP, however, didn't comment on what role Bhatia would play.
Udhampur (J&K): With Prime Minister Narendra Modi listening, Chief Minister Mehbooba on Sunday asked him to give hope to the Kashmiri youth about creating 'New Jammu and Kashmir' since he is a "courageous" leader who does whatever he decides.
She thanked Modi for supporting her solidly last year when the state was "crossing a river of fire", a reference to the five-month-long unrest in Kashmir.
"Last year was like crossing a river of fire. There is a lot of improvement since then but a lot is still to be done. That cannot be done by my government alone," Mehbooba said at a rally here just before the Prime Minister spoke after inaugurating a tunnel between Kashmir and Jammu.
"You are a courageous leader. You do whatever you decide. I have lot of confidence in you," she said, addressing the Prime Minister amid chants of 'Modi, Modi'.
Emphasising that in a democracy, all issues can be settled by dialogue, Mehbooba said to Modi, "show a way to our youth about creating 'New Jammu and Kashmir' like 'New India'."
Referring to the 'Chenani-Nashri' tunnel, she said, "it will not only reduce the physical distance, but also connect the hearts and bring the Valley closer to rest of the country."
She recalled the decision of her late father Mufti Sayeed to join hands with Modi, saying he was confident that the future of the tie-up would be good for the state.
Referring to the unrest, she said, "I thank you for the way you helped me and my government last year, the way you stood by me, the way you kept honourable Home Minister on his toes and helped us emerge from that situation."
Mehbooba said she was also carrying a message of the tour operators of Kashmir who wanted the Prime Minister to visit the Valley and tell the tourists across the world that it is the safest place for the travellers.
She had to halt her speech a few times because of the chants of 'Modi, Modi'.
New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached a farmhouse with a market value of Rs 27 crore in connection with its money laundering probe against Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and others.
The agency has issued a provisional order attaching the farmhouse located in south Delhi's Mehrauli area under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
It said the book value of the asset is Rs 6.61 crore but its market value is "worth Rs 27 crore and is in the name of "Maple Destinations & Dreambuild".
The latest ED action comes close on the heels of the CBI filing a charge sheet against Singh and his wife and others for allegedly amassing assets worth around Rs 10 crore disproportionate to their known sources of income.
The ED had filed a criminal case under PMLA against the CM and others in 2015 based on a CBI FIR.
A day after being booked by the CBI special court, the Chief Minister had on Saturday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of conspiring against him and asserted that all charges levelled against 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.
Dharmapuri: K. Prithika Yashini, Indias first transgender to join a State police force, has taken up duty in Dharmapuri on Sunday as sub-inspector (SI) after being trained successfully in Chennai.
As reporters waited today at the office of Dharmapuri superintendent of police Bandi Gangadhar, Yashini reported for duty and has been posted in the Law and Order department there. However, to the disappointment of waiting media personnel, the third gender cop was not ready to speak to reporters and merely said, I cannot speak without the permission of my officer.
It looks that Yashini is being careful to avoid unwanted issues as the transgender has joined the uniform service after great struggle and because of the Madras HCs intervention, though the TN Uniformed Services Recruitment Board did not have a third gender category.
Yashini, born in 1990 in Salem, as the son of an auto driver P.Kalai Arasan and Sumathi, was named as Pradeep Kumar who later changed her name as Prithika Yashini after the sex change operation with the help of her community people in Chennai.
Her life was very difficult in Chennai though she worked as warden in a hostel, NGO and also in a hospital before getting reunited with her family after three years since she left her home in 2011.
Yashini came to the limelight because of her decision to join the Tamil Nadu police as sub-inspector. She faced many difficulties at every stage of the procedure. Finally, she has been able to join the service, thanks to the Madras High court's intervention last year.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday allowed Gujarat government to accept the offer of Director General of Police P P Pandey, who is on extension till April 30 this year, to relinquish his office forthwith.
A bench of Chief Justice J S Khehar and D Y Chandrachud recorded the submission of Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Gujarat, that the top police officer has himself written a letter expressing willingness to step down forthwith if the government so desired.
"In view of determination of the state government, we are of the view that the main petition has been rendered infructuous," the bench said.
Pandey's appointment and extension as DGP and IGP was challenged through a PIL.
The bench recorded that Pandey, in the letter, expressed willingness to step down and urged the state government to revoke the notification appointing him till April 30.
The apex court had on March 31, asked Gujarat government to file its response to a plea against promotion and three-month extension to Pandey, who is out on bail in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case while refusing to give it time till Friday to file the counter affidavit.
The ASG had sought time from the bench for taking instruction and told the court that Pandey had served the force for 30 years.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who was appearing for the petitioner - former Mumbai Police Commissioner Julio Francis Ribeiro - had said that Pandey was granted bail, reinstated, promoted and rewarded despite being an accused in a murder case.
The Centre's Appointments Committee of the Cabinet had granted the three-month extension to Pandey, who was to retire on January 31.
Pandey was heading the state crime branch when Ishrat, a 19-year-old girl based in Mumbra near Mumbai, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an alleged encounter with the police on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004. Gujarat police had claimed they had terror links and had plotted to kill the then Chief Minister, Narendra Modi.
An SIT constituted by the high court to investigate the case had concluded that it was a fake encounter, following which the HC had transferred the case to CBI.
After being released on bail, Pandey was taken back into service in February 2015 and appointed the Director of the state's Anti Corruption Bureau.
On April 16 last year, Pandey was appointed the in-charge DGP of Gujarat.
The woman, who hails from Ernakulam, was produced before the JFMC Pala in Kottayam district and remanded in judicial custody. (Photo: Representational Image)
Kottayam: A 21-year-old girl was arrested under the Prevention of Children against Sexual Offence act (POCSO) for staying with her minor lover at his house in Kottayam district of Kerala.
The arrest was made on a complaint lodged by the 17-year-old boy's mother, that her son was sexually assaulted by the girl.
Acting on the complaint, Ramapuram Police went to the location and hauled out the duo by breaking down the door, after they refused to come forward on their own.
The woman, who hails from Ernakulam, was produced before the JFMC Pala in Kottayam district and remanded in judicial custody.
The minor boy was taken to Juvenile Justice Board.
It is said that their relationship was built up by regular contacts through Facebook.
Further details are awaited.
A serpentine queue in front of the liquor outlet of Beverages Corporation at Pettah in Thiruvananthapuram, which is one of the few outlets functioning following the Supreme Court restrictions, on Sunday. (Photo: A.V.MUZAFAR)
Thiruvananthapuram: Retail liquor outlets witnessed serpentine queues on Sunday with tipplers braving the heavy rain at some places and hot weather at others to quench their thirst as a result of the closure of 1,956 liquor shops following the Supreme Court ban on outlets within 500 metres on the sides of state and national highways.
Though the shops were closed on Friday, the impact of the SC restriction was felt from Sunday only as Saturday was a dry day.
Tipplers queued up before the 99-odd retail outlets of Beverages Corporation and Consumerfed right from morning.
Police had to be deployed at all the places to manage to crowd. It took almost two to three hours for customers to reach the counter at some outlets.
While the normal average daily sale of Beverages Corporation outlet was around Rs 27 lakh, at some shops it crossed Rs 70 lakh by Sunday evening. Consid-ering the rush, it may even touch the `1-crore mark, said a Beverages Corporation official.
The state exchequer would suffer a revenue loss of nearly Rs 2,500 crore owing to the overnight closure of about 70 per cent of the total foreign liquor and beer outlets in the state. Hence, the government may explore options to overcome the problem. Sources said that it may take a decision only after the Malappuram bypoll on April 12.
Meanwhile, excise department sources said the state government can tide over the crisis by denotifying the state highways as major district roads. Many states like West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra as well as Union Territory of Chandigarh have already initiated steps in these lines. Goa and Karnataka are under pressure from the liquor sector to denotify the state highways.
Kerala has 4,342 km of state highways, whereas the length of national highway is 1,781 km. Hence, a major chunk of the 1,956 shops, including toddy shops, may be able to resume if the state highways are denotified.
The Supreme Court may not object to denotification of the highways as the court had also clarified that it was for the state governments to notify or denotify state highways, an excise department official said.
Another option is to reduce the jurisdiction of liquor outlets. At present the jurisdiction is fixed as a taluk. However, if the government decides to change it to a ward, the population would be below 20,000. This would enable the state to avail of the relaxation prescribed by the SC. While liquor outlets are banned within 500 metres from highways, in the case of places with less than 20,000 population, the ban is only for 220 metres, said sources.
Sources added that the government was seeking legal opinion on the scope of getting at least an extension of time for implementing the restriction.
Meanwhile, there were also suggestions to explore the option of online sale of liquor. If the state can open self-service counter, why don't we move one step forward and initiate online liquor sale, a government official asked.
It may be recalled that a suggestion made by the former director of Consumerfed in this regard had triggered strong criticism and the government even stated that it was not its policy.
Meanwhile, an action council has called for hartal in Changanasserry on Monday in protest against the alleged police action towards a mass protest against opening a liquor outlet. C.F. Thomas MLA had also allegedly come under police action. The action council led by the MLA was protesting the opening a liquor outlet at Vattapally. The police action came after the action council blocked a lorry carrying liquor to the new shop.
New Delhi: Pakistani terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed and his Kashmir operations-in-charge Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi have reportedly fallen out with each other, leading to problems in the top rung of the organisation.
According to a report in Hindustan Times, intelligence inputs received by Indian agencies suggest that LeT terrorists are also planning to assassinate separatist leaders in the Kashmir Valley to foment further unrest there.
The report says that LeT has also decided not to use its own name to carry out terror attacks in India in the future. It has instead passed on instructions to use the name Quit Kashmir Movement in its press releases to give an impression that indigenous groups in India are involved.
According to intelligence documents, the LeT leadership has decided to not use its name in its actions in Kashmir and actions will be given more and more colour of being carried out indigenously by the indigenous groups, said the report.
This, coupled with a spurt in the number of youth joining militancy and an increase in terrorist infiltration attempts of late, has alarmed the Indian security establishment.
Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi has got certain issues with 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed, who is presently under detention. Reportedly, Lakhvi has shifted most of his loyalists to PoK. Inputs reveal that Lashkar has decided to not use its name in its actions in Kashmir, the intelligence sources said.
However, they said the reasons for the rift between the two terrorists are not known.
Meanwhile, another terror group, Tehreek-e-Mujahideen (TeM) has been revived in the Valley, said the report quoting intelligence sources.
Terrorist Bilpapa, who was earlier in Central Jail in Moulana Showkat murder case and is presently on bail, has enabled the group to resurrect, 6 years after it had disowned him.
New Delhi: The Election Commission on Monday told V K Sasikala camp to remove AIADMKs two leaves symbol from its website and social media accounts.
Last month, the poll panel had temporarily froze the two leaves symbol, preventing both the VK Sasikala and O. Panneerselvam factions from using the name of the party in the by-election to the Dr R K Nagar constituency slated for April 12.
The ECs order was a serious setback to the Sasikala faction since freezing of the symbol by the poll body has given legitimacy to the Panneerselvam faction, which has been claiming they are the original AIADMK since the latters appointment as AIADMK General Secretary was not valid.
This is the second time in the history of AIADMK that the two leaves symbol is being frozen. The symbol was frozen in 1988 after VN Janaki and J. Jayalalithaa factions staked claim to the symbol and the party, but was allotted to the AIADMK after the party united under late Jayalalithaa.
A 9-page order from the poll body had said they did not have time to go through voluminous petitions and responses from both sides running into 20,000 pages.
Neither of the two groups led by petitioners (E. Madhusudhanan, O. Panneerselvam and S Semmalai) and the respondents (V.K. Sasikala and T.T.V. Dhinakaran) shall be permitted to use the name of the party All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, simplicitor, the EC order said.
Neither of the aforesaid two groups shall also be permitted to use the symbol Two Leaves reserved for AIADMK, the order further said.
An FIR has been registered against 10-12 inmates and investigation is on to find out how these articles, which are not authorised as per the jail manual, have made entry into jail premises. (Photo: Representational Image)
Srinagar: In a major crackdown, police on Sunday seized 14 mobile phones from a sub-jail in Baramulla district of Kashmir which were allegedly being used by the inmates to be in touch with their contacts in Pakistan via WhatsApp.
The phones were seized from the prisoners, who included those held on charges of militancy and stone-pelting, just three days after Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that Pakistan is using social media to fuel unrest in Kashmir.
"We had got inputs from jail authorities about their suspicion of some mobile phones being operated from inside the jail premises. In a joint search operation by the jail and police officials, 14 mobile phones were recovered along with some incriminating material," Senior Superintendent of Police, Baramulla, Imtiyaz Hussain said.
"There are quite a few militants there and we have recovered some phones from them as well. They were on WhatsApp and we can see that they were in touch with some Pakistani numbers as well... So we will look into the whole issue," he said.
The recoveries were made from prisoners who were involved in stone pelting and militant activities, the SSP said, adding the recovered phones were being sent for forensic tests gather details about the purpose they were being used for.
He said an FIR has been registered against 10-12 inmates and investigation is on to find out how these articles, which are not authorised as per the jail manual, have made entry into jail premises.
Rajnath Singh had said in Parliament on Friday that Pakistan is using the social media to incite youths in Kashmir to storm encounter sites to help holed-up militants.
That statement came after three youths were killed in action by security forces against a stone-pelting mob which trying to disrupt an anti-militancy operation in Budgam district of Kashmir.
A Nigerian national who was assualted by a mob last Monday. (Photo: ANI)
New Delhi: In a strong reaction to attacks on African nationals, heads of African missions in India termed the incidents as "xenophobic and racial" and asserted that no known, sufficient and visible deterring measures have been taken by the government.
The envoys, who recently held a "special" meeting on the incidents, called for an independent investigation by the Human Rights Council as well as other human rights bodies and also to comprehensively report the matter to the Commission of the African Union.
They said they expectated a strong condemnation from the highest political level both nationally and locally.
A press release dated March 31 from the office of the dean of the African group head of the missions here, said the meeting was convened to look into the recent attacks against African students in Greater Noida.
"The meeting unanimously agreed that those accumulated attacks against Africans are xenophobic and racial in nature," they said.
They reviewed the incidents that have taken place in the past and concluded that no known, sufficient and visible deterring measures were taken by the Indian government, it said.
Condemning the recent attacks, they expressed their deep concern and also noted that these "reprehensible events, both outstanding and unresolved cases against Africans, were not sufficiently condemned by the Indian authorities".
There are missions of more than 50 African countries which are accredited to India.
Four Nigerian students were attacked by a group of Greater Noida residents who took out a candle-light march last after a 17-year-old boy Manish died due to suspected drug overdose.
The protest march was taken out after the police released some Nigerians detained for questioning in connection with death of Manish, a class 12 student, due to "lack of evidence".
India's Ministry of External Affairs had called the attacks 'unacceptable'.
Hyderabad: JNTU-Hyderabad was perplexed by NIRF-2017 rankings that were announced on Monday. It was given two rankings in the same engineering colleges category.
JNTU-Hyderabad, which is a technology university, was not considered in separate university rankings given to conventional state and central varsities.
JNTU-Hyderabad was given 63rd rank. JNTU Engineering College was included in 150 to 200 list without giving specific rank.
JNTU vice-chancellor Prof A. Venugopal Reddy stated that they were bit confused at the rankings.
JNTU engineering college did not figure in the top-100 while JNTU University was given 63rd rank and both in the same engineering institutions category. Also JNTU-Kakinada and JNTU-Anantapur varsities as well as engineering colleges were not in the top-100 list at all,he said.
Cops are, however, continuing to assert that only one person had been involved in the sexual assault of the German woman although more than one person could have been present during the assault.
Chennai: Even as the cops are quizzing a suspect in connection with the rape of a 38-year-old woman-German tourist, they released a sketch on Monday of the prime suspect involved in the incident that reportedly occurred on a lonely stretch of beach near Mahabalpuram in neighbouring Kancheepuram district. Initial reports suggest that the woman was lying down to take a nap in a grove of casuarinas in Telungar Thottam near Aladi Amman Koil, Puttipalam after having walked for a while.
It has now emerged that she was lying down in the beach behind Monkey Mount, a farmhouse-style beach resort. The perpetrator was suspected to have sneaked in through the backyard of the resort.
Cops probing the incident had recovered from the crime scene condoms which suspect(s) may have used while raping the victim. Senior IPS officers North Zone IG C. Sridhar, DIG Najmul Hoda and Kancheepuram SP, Santosh Hadimani - inspected the scene of crime besides hearing out the victim and recording her statement.
The German tourist is part of a 12-member party of 3 families touring the country. She is likely to leave the country on Tuesday as her visa expires. German Consular services had reached out to the victim from Delhi besides fanning a team out to Kancheepuram. German Consulate officials are in touch with the local police and they also recorded the victims statement and visited the resort where she was staying and interacted with its managers, according to a police source.
The victim and two of her friends had gone to sunbathe at around 8 am on Sunday while the rape incident took place at around 10 am. Late on Sunday night, the victim met the media along with two of her friends and briefly narrated her harrowing experience in which she stated that she was raped by two men who are in their 30s, and that the rapists were Indians.
Cops are, however, continuing to assert that only one person had been involved in the sexual assault of the German woman although more than one person could have been present during the assault. While cops are reluctant to share further details about the incident, the suspect, who is in custody, has been identified as Ranjan. None has been arrested so far in connection with the incident.
Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Monday reserved its orders on maintainability of a PIL moved by Sarasani Satyam Reddy, senior counsel of the High Court, seeking appointment of a permanent Chief Justice to the Hyderabad High Court and also appointment of judges.
A division bench comprising Justices V. Ramasubramanian and J. Uma Devi, while hearing the case, made it clear that it will decide only whether the PIL can be entertained or not.
Counsel for the petitioner urged the court to declare as unconstitutional and in violation of Article 216 of the Constitution the failure of the Centre to appoint a permanent Chief Justice of the High Court even after 22 months of superannuation of the previous Chief Justice.
Counsel submitted that the sanctioned strength of the HC was 61 judges, but at present, only 27 judges were holding office. He said that a 60 percent vacancy and this was crippling the functioning of the HC.
Respond to contempt plea, ex-judge told
The Hyderabad High Court on Monday issued notices to TS Admission and Fee Regulatory Committee chairman Justice P. Swaroop Reddy, former judge of the High Court, Rajeev Ranjan Acharya, Special Chief Secretary of the Telangana State Higher Education department and eight members of the committee in a contempt case by Vasavi Academy of Education and Vasavi Engineering College, Hyderabad.
Justice M.S. Ramachandra Rao issued the notice while dealing with the contempt case seeking action against the respondents for fixing the fee unilaterally despite an interim order of the High Court
M. Ravindranath Reddy, counsel for the petitioners, told the court that the commissions mandate was to see that the private professional colleges do not indulge in profiteering.
He said while fixing the fee, the TAFRC has to consult the management of the college, but in their case it acted unilaterally and the fee fixed by it was detrimental to the interests of professionally-run colleges.
While issuing the notices, the judge directed the respondents to file their counter affidavits within 10 days.
Bench moots website for AgriGold assets
The Hyderabad High Court on Monday asked state governments of AP and TS to look into possibilities of designing a web portal in consultation with their IT department to auction properties of AgriGold Group of Companies.
A division bench comprising Justice V. Ramasubramanian and Justice S.V. Bhatt was dealing with petitions by depositors welfare association of AgriGold Companies seeking a CBI probe into the fraud committed by company and also repayment of their deposits.
Krishna Prakash, special counsel appearing for AP, submitted that it would not be possible for the AP government to conduct auction of the properties of AgriGold in e-portal as the portal was designed for only e-procurement.
Counsel, while placing the list of properties of AgriGold, told the court that the company had 224 properties which are worth less than `50 crore each and nine properties worth more than `50 crore each.
The bench asked counsels for AP and TS to inform the court about possibilities for designing a web portal for auction of the properties by April 18.
Several colleges and universities from Tamil Nadu are in the top 100 rankings this year.
Chennai: The IIT Madras retained its top position as number one engineering institution in the country in the India Rankings 2017 released on Monday. The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru maintained its position as top-ranked university and is also rated as the no. 1 institute in the overall category this year. Several colleges and universities from Tamil Nadu are in the top 100 rankings this year. Significantly, 37 individual colleges from Tamil Nadu feature in the top 100.
Anna University in Chennai has come out with flying colours, breaking into the top 10 in two categories - ranked 6th best university and 8th best engineering institution in the country. In a first ranking for colleges, Loyola College in Chennai figures as no. 2 college in the country. Miranda House and Shri Ram College of Commerce, both from Delhi, are ranked as no. 1 and 3 respectively. IIM in Ahmedabad was ranked as the top management institute and Jamia Hamdard College in New Delhi ranked as the premier pharmacy college in the country.
Among private universities, Amrita Vishwa Vidhyapeetham in Coimbatore got 9th rank and Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) got 14th rank. In the engineering category, VIT was the best institute in the country with 13th rank.
Prakash Javadekar, Minister for Human Resource Development, released the second edition of the national rankings for higher education institutions in the country
The institutions are ranked based on five parameters Teaching learning and resources, Research and Professional Practice, Graduation Outcomes, Outreach and Inclusivity and Perception. This year, around 3,300 institutions submitted their details for the national rankings.
Seven IITs including IIT Bombay, IIT Kharagpur and IIT Delhi featured in the top 10 of the engineering category.
Applicants will have to declare that the matter submitted by them before has not been decided or is pending before the Commission or any court.
Hyderabad: A damning report has been submitted to the Centres Department of Personnel and Training on the implementation of the Right To Information Act.
The Study on constraints faced by RTI activists in Telangana reveals that the general behaviour of Public Information Officers is discouraging and RTI applicants face constraints in receiving data when exposing corruption.
A shocking hundred per cent of the respondents were not informed by the PIO of the grounds on which their application was rejected.
About 24 per cent said they had received incomplete information and 34 per cent of respondents said they received information without attestation. Attestation authenticates that the information received is from a Public Office.
Cash can be accepted as fee for certain RTI applications, but 60 per cent of respondents said cash was not accepted and they were asked to pay via DD or Cheque.
And 21 per cent of respondents said they had to go to the office the next day because an information officer was absent from work.
Fifteen per cent of respondents said that there were times when they had to wait for the PIO in order to receive the acknowledgement because the PIO was busy with non-RTI work.
Respondents from Ranga Reddy and Hyderabad districts said that to avoid such issues they started filing applications via registered post. This is a method many advise as the acknowledgement slip issued by the postal department is accepted as acknowledgment of an RTI application by the Information Commission.
According to the RTI Act, information-seekers need not specify the reasons for seeking data, unless requesting for third-party information. But PIOs in most cases asked the seeker verbally for reasons. Twenty per cent of respondents said such questions often lead to arguments and to avoid verbal questioning they sent applications via registered post, even though the office was close by.
During post-interview queries, respondents from Nizamabad said they dont even specify their phone numbers in the application, as they are then called up by the PIO and asked about their motives in, which is not a requirement of the Act.
RTI draft rules could increase threats to life
According to CBI, Dayanidhi Maran, when he was union minister for communication and information technology in the UPA-1 Government, abused his official position for the benefit of Sun TV Network.
Chennai: Former union minister Dayanidhi Maran and his elder brother Kalanidhi Maran, who owns Sun TN Network, appeared before a special court for CBI cases in Chennai on Monday in connection with the BSNL illegal telephone exchange case.
The Maran brothers, along with five others accused in the scam, appeared before the XIV special judge for CBI cases, S. Baskaran to receive copies of the charge sheet. When the matter came up for hearing, the SPP for CBI sought time to serve copies of the charge sheet. Meanwhile, four accused including Kalanidhi Maran filed bail bonds before the court. The special judge adjourned the matter to May 22 for further hearing. Earlier, Dayanidhi Maran and two others had submitted bail bonds.
In an effort to avoid media glare, the Maran brothers had taken a circuitous route to reach the CBI court, which is located in the Family Court complex. They entered through the nearby Principal Sessions Court complex.
According to CBI, Dayanidhi Maran, when he was union minister for communication and information technology in the UPA-1 Government, abused his official position for the benefit of Sun TV Network. He installed a private telephone exchange at his residence in Chennai from June 2004 to December 2006 and which he connected to the Sun TV office to facilitate the network to make illegal calls for voice and data
The CBI has alleged that 764 telephone numbers were provided to Dayanidhi Maran and no bills were raised for their use causing a loss of Rs 1.78 crore to BSNL, Chennai and MTNL, Delhi. The lines were first connected from his residence in Gopalapuram and later from his Boat Club home to his brothers Sun TV office for data-heavy calls like up-linking videos.
BSNLs Chief Technical Officer, S. Kannan and electrician KS Ravi of Sun TV network, former BSNL general manager K Brahmnathan, former DGM, MP Velusamy and Dayanidhi Marans private secretary Gowthaman, who were involved in the case, also appeared before the special judge.
Nearly four years after receiving complaints regarding the scam, the probe commenced in 2011. An FIR was filed in October 2013 and after a detailed probe, the CBI filed chargesheet before the special principal court for CBI cases last year.
New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has offered his governments help to resolve the contentious Ram temple issue and called for both sides to re-establish dialogue to settle the lingering dispute.
A strong votary of building a Ram temple on the disputed site in Ayodhya before he took over as Chief Minister, the hardline Hindutva leader, however, was circumspect in his comments on the issue in an interview to the RSS-affiliated weekly Organiser.
As the government is not party to it, so the two parties in contention should have a dialogue and resolve the matter. If any help of the state government is needed, we are ready to provide that, he said.
Replying to questions about his government's action against illegal slaughterhouses, Adityanath asserted no legally-run abattoir operator would be harassed.
Defending his governments action, the Chief Minister said, steps taken against slaughter houses were in line with the observations of National Green Tribunal in 2015 and the Supreme Court in 2017.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court today termed as "infructuous" a plea seeking a direction to then UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to vacate a bungalow being used by him as his office in Lucknow besides occupying another house for residential purpose.
"This has become infructuous. He (Yadav) has lost the election and must have vacated the bungalows by now. He is no more the chief minister. How can he retain both the houses," a bench comprising Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice D Y Chandrachud said.
The bench then disposed of the appeal filed by NGO 'Lok Prahari' against the order of the Allahabad High Court in the matter.
The NGO had earlier moved the apex court alleging that Yadav has been using two official bungalows for residential and official purposes, respectively, and it was an illegal occupation.
The apex court had earlier said that it would hear the plea after conclusion of the assembly polls in the state.
It was alleged that the chief minister, who has an office in the State Secretariat, cannot retain an official bungalow besides his residence for official purposes.
Malappuram/ Thiruvananthapuram: Beef has come to tempt the voters of Malappuram with BJP candidate N. Sreeprakash promising to give it to them on a platter brought directly from air-conditioned slaughter houses.
Even die-hard fans of IUML candidate P.K. Kunhalikutty would have been moved by the irresistible offer of halal beef made by Sreeprakash on Saturday with a view to stump his rivals.
But the BJP state leadership is not amused by his electoral bait which may also offend BJP Chief Ministers like Adityanath of UP and Raman Singh of Chhattisgarh who threatened to hang all those who kill cows.
There is no ban on beef in Kerala, but Sreeprakash promised to supply good beef from clean slaughter houses. He clarified that the BJP was not against beef consumption, but only against illegal slaughter houses.
There are slaughter houses providing unhygienic meat of dead cows. The BJP-led governments crackdown in North India was against unlicensed slaughter houses. They can still work with proper licences. If I win in Malappuram, I will provide quality beef within the legal framework. Air-conditioned and well- equipped slaughter houses and beef outlets will be set up here, Sreeprakash told reporters at the Malappuram Press Club on Saturday.
It may be recalled that Asaduddin Owaisi, All-India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen Party president, had slammed the BJP national leadership on the issue of cow slaughter on Saturday.
A former BJP state president told DC that Sreeprakashs comment was a Himalayan blunder.
This will affect the prospects of the BJP though it was expecting its vote base to increase from 64, 705 polled in the 2014 LS election to 1.50 lakh, he said.
It is sad that Sreeprakash is trying to dilute the ideologies of the central BJP leadership against cow slaughter though beef is easily available in the state. It shows his immaturity which will boomerang on him, he said.
The BJP hopes to encash on the increase of one lakh voters in Malappuram constituency since the 2014 LS elections. It thinks that the traditional Hindu voters strength has gone up. But with hardly nine days left for the by-election, the state BJP leadership does not want to create any unwanted controversies that may affect its chances.
Former CM S.M. Krishna at an election rally of the BJP which he joined recently, in Gundlupet on Monday. Party leaders B.S. Yeddyurappa, Ananth Kumar, Sadananda Gowda, Jagadish Shettar and R Ashok were also present
Gundlupet: Donning a new role, former chief minister S.M. Krishna campaigned for the BJP candidates in both Nanjangud and Gundlupet assembly segments which go to polls on April 9.
This was the first election campaign of the former union minister who joined the BJP recently complaining that he was sidelined in the Congress party with which he was associated for than four decades. The BJP had organised a public meeting in Gundlupet town for the 'Rangapravesha' of Mr Krishna into the party.
Clad in a khadi jubba and pyjamas, the former governor of Maharashtra reached the town around one and a half hours behind schedule. He finally arrived at the venue around 1.40 pm amidst thunderous applause from the crowd.
In his usual style, Mr Krishna lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his efforts to improve India in all spheres. Having worked as external affairs minister for a long time, Mr Krishna compared Mr Modi with the presidents of Russia, the USA and China and spoke at length about the BJP led NDA governments achievements under the leadership of PM Modi. He also explained the circumstances under which he joined the BJP.
Lauding state BJP President B.S. Yeddyurappa for his vision for the state's development, the former CM appealed to the electorate in both Nanjangud and Gundlupet to vote for the BJP. However, he did not make a scathing attack on the Siddaramaiah government at the public meeting as he did in press conference. He said the governance of CM Siddaramaiah was not upto the mark. He also praised Nanjangud BJP candidate V. Srinivasprasad for his commitment to uplifting the oppressed classes and opined that the voters of Nanjangud would back Mr Prasad who resigned from his seat out of 'self respect' which was hardly done by the the current generation politicians. He also requested Gundlupet voters to vote for Niranjankumar who had lost twice to H.C. Mahadevprasad. "Please send him to Vidhana Soudha for the development of Gundlupet."
Mr Srinivasaprasad launched a blistering attack on Mr Siddaramaiah and asked voters to teach him a lesson for finishing off all Dalit leaders in the Congress. Terming Mr Siddaramaiah as anti-Dalit, he said the former would not have won from Varuna constituency without his support. In fact, senior Congress leaders like Mr Mallikarjun Kharge, Dr G Parameshwar and Dr H.C. Mahadevappa came to his house seeking Dalit votes for Mr Siddaramaiah. Now, Mr Siddaramaiah had forgotten the past and is behaving like an autocrat, he said.
4 ex-cms of BJP add to the heat of Gundlupet bypoll
Four former chief ministers and the incumbent CM have descended on Gundlupet taluk in view of the Assembly byelection to be held in the constituency on Sunday. Mr S.M. Krishna Mr B.S. Yeddyurappa, Mr D.V. Sadananda Gowda and Mr Jagadish Shettar, all from the BJP who have been CMs, and current CM, Siddaramaiah were in the same taluk to campaign for their candidates on Monday. While Mr Siddaramaiah campaigned and held a roadshow in one part of the taluk, the four others attended the public meetings held in the town. Local policemen had a tough time arranging security in the entire taluk because of the presence of the high profile politicians and the several events which they attended.
As the war to dislodge the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) from its strongholds in Mosul and Raqqa intensifies, allegations about rising civilian casualties from American aerial bombing are escalating. Incidents where innocent non-combatants are being killed are so frequent that there is apprehension of a new Trump effect in the way the United States military is conducting warfare with lesser restraint, fewer shackles and scant discretion. We seem to be entering a deadly phase of impunity in which international humanitarian and human rights laws and principles are being violated routinely by everyone, chiefly the US, and civilians are being pounded mercilessly in the name of countering terrorism. According to the transparency-promoting non-profit organisation Airwars, for the first time, US-led strikes appeared to be killing more non-combatants than Russias notoriously brutal air campaign. The American coalition is currently out-killing Russia by a factor of five to one civilians as the battle against ISIS reaches its urban redoubts. The moral high ground and holier-than-thou attitude that the US had adopted towards Russia last year as the latter conducted a searing aerial campaign against Al Qaeda and other rebel groups in Aleppo, Syria, carry a sardonic tinge now. The language of catastrophe, horror and ruthless destruction which the Americans deployed to tarnish Russias military intervention is coming back to haunt them.
Moscow is the first to pounce on the irony. The Russian defence ministry has reacted with schadenfreude at the absurd statements of the Pentagon justifying civilian casualties and demanded an explanation as to why the US-led coalition made strikes with their smart bombs on buildings with civilians dooming them to a terrible death? The Trump administration has defended itself by denying any specific change in guidelines for drone and fighter jet bombings in Iraq and Syria since the 45th President entered the White House. Washington contends that a jump in collateral damage is due to densely populated ISIS-ruled cities being sought to be liberated and terrorists resorting to time-tested tactics of using civilians as human shields. Indeed, the casual brutality of ISIS and the callousness for human life that its extreme jihadist ideology espouses leave little doubt that it will not only go down fighting but also drag civilians living under its evaporating caliphate to doom. Since the Iraqi government and its American advisers had been touting the final assault on Mosul for months, ISIS chalked out elaborate plans to put up a last stand by maximising civilian casualties to fuel hatred of the infidel Christians and Jews. Each time a powerful American bomb shatters a residential neighbourhood in Mosul, ISIS will have martyrs to celebrate and a compelling argument to recruit for the future on the basis of revenge.
Civilian casualties in the push against ISIS had already started climbing in the waning months of the Barack Obama presidency. But Mr Trump is doubling down on this trend with greater firepower owing to his obsession to eliminate ISIS at any cost. He has sent an unwritten but clear signal to US commanders in the field to call in airstrikes more freely than before and to worry less about securing multiple layers of permissions from the various agencies of the American national security bureaucracy. If Mr Obamas warfare was lethal but under some checks, Mr Trump promises to unleash the US military without control. Mr Trumps claim that the US no longer triumphs in wars since we dont fight to win, and his budgetary proposals to steeply slash funding for the state department and civilian foreign aid programmes while hiking defence spending by $54 billion, convey a starkly militaristic outlook. Mr Obama was about carefully weighing the political and social costs of the use of force. Mr Trump is raw brute power with gloves taken off. He does not even pretend to have foresight or afterthought about the resulting spread of anti-Americanism in targeted countries. Outside the main flashpoints of Iraq and Syria too, Mr Trump has authorised the US military to go out all guns blazing. The US President has given his forces expanded targeting authority against Al Qaeda and its local affiliate Al Shabaab in Somalia. The US Africa Command has praised the shift as helpful for us to have little more flexibility to prosecute targets in a more rapid fashion.
In Yemen, a botched US operation against Al Qaeda which Mr Trump authorised over a dinner conversation within days of his taking the presidency led to at least 30 civilian casualties and several unanswered riddles. One can expect similar cases of increased civilian casualties by US missions in Afghanistan as the Taliban offensive spreads. Part of the problem with American-caused civilian deaths in warzones is the elaborate obfuscation and disputation of facts. According to the US-led coalition against ISIS, only 229 civilians were killed unintentionally since it commenced operations in August 2014. Airwars, which is a neutral and credible watchdog, has countered this ridiculously conservative estimate with a body count of at least 2,831 civilians attributable to the US and its allies. Denial or passing the buck on to ISIS is an easy way out for the US in theatres where violence is endemic and hardly any impartial investigation is possible until the fighting stops. The same fake news, which the Western media has labelled as a Russian trademark, is also handy for Western governments to wash their hands off war crimes they are committing. The Trump bump in civilian deaths is, of course, paltry compared to the enormous losses sustained during the George W. Bush-era global war on terrorism. The Nobel Peace Prize-winning Physicians for Social Responsibility have tallied that the US invasion and occupation of Iraq from 2003 to 2011 took one million lives, which amounts to five per cent of the total population of the country. Unlike Mr Bush, Mr Trump is averse to invading countries full throttle and is disinterested in massive nation-building misadventures. So, unlike the last Republican presidency, this one is relatively not as calamitous. Yet, what if there is a 9/11-like terrorist attack or something smaller in scale but spectacularly chilling to Americans? Chances of an all-brawn-no-brain Trump overreacting with indiscriminate military aggression cannot be ruled out. The road to impunity has been paved.
Karachi: Pakistans renewed push to fence its terrorism-plagued border with Afghanistan, which does not recognise it as a formal frontier, tends to rake up an old controversy. The nostrum could end up heightening bilateral tensions at a time when the neighbours are required to demonstrate robust commitment to cooperation on hot-button issues. Border areas in Bajaur and Mohmand agencies, being high-threat zones, will be accorded priority under the plan which also involves regular technical surveillance. On the surface, the move will require the Pakistan Army to set aside dollops of funds and deploy many guards along the wild frontier. The kind of border security mechanism Chief of Army Staff Gen. Bajwa envisages with Afghanistan, which views any new installation on the British-era Durand Line as anathema, is yet to be sketched out. Given Kabuls implacable aversion, the barrier is unlikely to boost security in the largely porous and unmanned Pakhtun-inhabited areas straddling the border.
After a series of high-casualty attacks blamed on Afghanistan-based militants, Pakistan slammed shut all border crossings with the landlocked country. It was after more than a month that they were reopened to let travellers with valid visas and thousands of stranded trucks to resume their journeys. The border cuts through the Pakhtun-dominated tribal belt in the northwest and further south through Balochistan, demarcating Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Fata, Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan from the north-eastern and southern provinces of Afghanistan. But residents on both sides have too many bonds and commonalities to be separated easily. From 2007 onwards, security forces from the two countries have clashed frequently at different points on the border that Pakistan inherited from the British Raj. On February 19, 2017, the Pakistan Army allegedly rained down a barrage of rockets and missiles into the Goshta and Lalpura districts of eastern Nangarhar province and Sarkano town in Kunar province, rendering more than 2,000 families homeless. Border skirmishes also forced the displacement of thousands of civilians on the Afghan side of the Durand Line. Stemming from contentious projects, the raids have taken a heavy toll on Afghanistan-Pakistan relations. Both countries should learn a lesson from the painful consequences of similar restrictions imposed by Israel on Palestinians. The measures US President Donald Trump is contemplating on the US-Mexico border represent another case in point.
Kabul-Islamabad ties hit new lows in 2005 and 2007 in the wake of testy exchanges between President Hamid Karzai and then military ruler Pervez Musharraf on fencing the 2,450-km border. Relations deteriorated again in 2009 over the same issue. Like Karzai, all Afghans, who scorn the border-fencing notion as a bait-and-switch strategy, refuse to kowtow to Pakistani dictates over the long-running Durand Line spat. They want the Pakistani establishment to eschew what they allege is its overt and covert meddling in their country. Instead, the Afghans seek an open diplomatic relationship, saying that border-fencing which runs counter to cordial and cooperative ties cannot be a cure-all. Since 2001, Pakistan has made several abortive attempts to mark out the Durand Line. Such moves have fallen by the wayside Pious statements apart, both Kabul and Islamabad have long been unable to paper over their differences. Plans to fence the border may or may not block the movement of militants or terrorists, but they will unquestionably open up a yawning gap between the communities straddling it. Thus, the politically explosive idea, if translated into action, will lead to unwelcome consequences in the socio-cultural milieu in addition to undermining trade and people-to-people contacts. For Gen. Bajwa, the fencing project is going to be a Herculean task one that Mr Musharraf could not implement. The ex-military ruler, could not execute the plan that is widely perceived as a sociocultural wall.
By arrangement with Dawn
The fight usually in the news is instigated by Pakistan in Kashmir to gain control of the Valley. It is conducted through the aegis of the Hizbul Mujahideen, a local Islamist militant outfit which plays in step with Pakistan-based groups like Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, and may take forms like mobilising a stone-throwing campaign. Hizb was created at the height of the militancy in 1989-91 to wean cadres away from JKLF, which seeks independence for Kashmir. But the real struggle, with which ordinary non-political Kashmiris are emotionally invested, goes back much farther from the jailing of Sheikh Abdullah in 1953. Its principal content is for autonomy available under Article 370.
With the BJP in power at the Centre and a coalition partner in the Mehbooba Mufti government in Srinagar, Article 370 is at a discount. From its Jan Sangh days, the saffron party has been against this provision, which gives Kashmir a special place. But the BJP hasnt scrapped it as that might mean technically annulling J&Ks accession to India. Nevertheless, it has stymied the bridge-provision politically by giving short shrift to any talk of a political conversation in Kashmir and solely speaking the language of the security grid. On Sunday, PM Modi stuck to this script while inaugurating the longest tunnel. He asked Kashmirs youths to choose between tourism and terrorism, although all those who agitate are hardly terrorists.
The current standoff between India and China over the Dalai Lamas visit to Tawang from April 4 is a lot more than just his emotive longing to visit the great monastery which he had last graced in 2009. Its a political, military and diplomatic game which China, more than India, has been indulging in for the past many years. India has usually been the responder. During the last two decades of the 20th century China followed the principle of stable borders and decided not to disturb the status quo lest it hinder the process of its modernisation. Only the standoff with India at Sumdorongchhu in May 1987 after the Indian Armys Exercise Chequerboard, caused short-term disturbance of this policy. From 1993, when the Peace and Tranquility Agreement was signed, there was relative peace at the borders. However, one can recall how progressively over time India perceived that eventually it would have to be the Chinese threat it would have to militarily contend with in the long term. George Fernandes as defence minister was one of the few who had the courage to openly say this in 1998.
For some years now, China has been testing Indias will and capability through walk-in actions at the Line of Actual Control (LAC), signifying its readiness to reactivate its borders after achieving a degree of higher confidence after the PLAs modernisation. However, with the coming of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014 and his proactive outreach and intent of taking economic relations well beyond, it appeared that the relationship would finally shed past perceptions. Once the relationship improved, the two nations would be ready for serious negotiations on the border issue. In fact, trade and economics were meant to make the border issue much less significant. A couple of things have disturbed the emerging bonhomie and rare chemistry that was on display between Prime Minister Modi and President Xi Jingping in 2014, that promised a much more cordial relationship. First, even before Mr Modi took office, Chinas broad strategic policy did not ever look towards India as an equal within Asia. Although economic cooperation had continued at a high pitch, the political relationship was always hamstrung by this Chinese perception. It is a natural phenomenon relating to two large neighbours wary of each others intent and the border dispute was only a factor for exploitation.
In recent years, China has firmed up its view that India is ever willing to enter into partnerships that primarily target it. Indias legitimate concerns on Chinas aggressive stance at the border and in its relationship with Pakistan doesnt appear to have ever been taken into account; trust was obviously in great deficit ever since 1962. Earlier, in partnership with Russia (formerly the Soviet Union) and now with the United States and Japan, extending even to Vietnam, Indias emerging relationships appear to have made China wary. Mr Modis special effort to build trust and a personal relationship with the Chinese leadership scored spectacular success, but his special relationships with both former US President Barack Obama and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe perhaps became a fear factor for China. It only underscores the degree of difficulty in maintaining equal and mutually beneficial partnerships with multiple nations without one or the other being suspicious of the other. Second, the coming of the high-profile China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), particularly with the alignment passing through Gilgit-Baltistan, there has been considerable fallout on the regions strategic environment. Whatever be Chinas military and economic compulsions, the execution of a major strategic initiative through disputed territory claimed totally by India impinges on its sensitivity in no small way. It even enhances the scope for strategic collusion between Pakistan and China.
Third, the diplomatic signals have not been encouraging at all. Chinas refusal in the UN Security Council to have Masood Azhar classified as a terrorist or placing obstacles in the way of Indias bid to become a member of the Nuclear Supplies Group (NSG) have obviously only created more negative sentiment in India. India sensed that these actions were designed to send home subtle messages about Chinas concerns on the emerging India-US Strategic Partnership and Indias efforts to reach out to Japan and Vietnam. For China, anything contributing towards its stronger relationship with Pakistan works against India. Fourth, the recent very visible actions undertaken by China within South Asia appear to be a drawing of the erstwhile string of pearls into a tighter noose; strategic messaging packaged smartly. The changing status of ownership of Hambantota port in Sri Lanka in Chinas favour and the visit of a PLA Navy submarine to it were ominous signals. The purchase of Feydoo Island in the Maldives by a Chinese company also raises concerns. The ongoing deal of Chinas state-run Zhenhua Oil to buy Chevrons gas fields in northeastern Bangladesh bordering Indian states also firms up Indias suspicions, more so as Zhenhua is a subsidiary of Chinas Norinco defence industry conglomerate. To cap it all, the Chinese defence minister has paid a well-publicised visit to Sri Lanka and Nepal with some attractive offers of defence equipment. The visit was probably timed for the period just before the Dalai Lama began his intended tour. There is much concern in strategic circles about Indias defiant attitude and expression of strategic independence in taking the decision in October 2016 to clear the Dalai Lamas visit. He has been invited for a cultural festival by the BJP government of Arunachal Pradesh; even the 10-day period of the visit is longer than usual. China has employed its usual media blitz the way it always does but also got its official spokesperson to express concern over the future course of Sino-Indian relations. Indias stance appears fairly well calibrated.
The cumulative effect of CPEC, the Masood Azhar affair and NSG issue had put it firmly on the defensive. It cant be seen to be remaining at that position in a fast-moving world where comprehensive national power, punching within ones weight and strategic independence are all seen as rolled into one. Should India expect a Chinese response other than political and diplomatic? Prudence demands readiness for all contingencies, and nothing which exacerbates the situation. Military calibration by China is always a possibility, but it must take into account the implications and end results; a strategy without an aim achieves nothing. Does it have the will to launch military operations, and to what purpose? Indias national pride and its international standing is a factor that it cannot ignore. For all their deficient capabilities, the Indian armed forces are no pushover. A localised border action to embarrass India cant be guaranteed to carry any assurance of success, and will always bear the potential for a larger conflagration. China is known for its strategic pragmatism. It must realise that the Dalai Lamas visit to Tawang was not designed to embarrass China but more as a message to the people of Arunachal Pradesh. It is a matter of perception even as unnecessary symbolism needs to be reduced in the relationship. Many across the world will be observing these developments, chiefly in East and Southeast Asia, and in Pakistan eyes will be peeled to see if India wilts under pressure. The decision to continue with the visit will give the Indian government much more confidence in handling its northern neighbour.
NASA's Juno spacecraft soared directly over Jupiter's south pole when JunoCam acquired this image on February 2, 2017 at 6:06 a.m. PT (9:06 a.m. ET), from an altitude of about 62,800 miles (101,000 kilometers) above the cloud tops. (Image: Nasa)
After five years of its long journey around the Jupiter, NASAs spacecraft Juno has sent back some finely detailed images of the gas giant planet.
According to NASA, the spacecraft was about 4,400 kms above the planets cloud top and was travelling at a speed of 57.8 km/s relative to the Jupiter, when it took the images using JunoCam. In the images, JunoCam highlighted the obscure auroras and unique cloud formations of the planet.
Additionally, the mission's JunoCam -- the first interplanetary outreach camera -- is also being guided with assistance from the public. People can participate by voting on which features on Jupiter should be imaged during each flyby.
To recall, Juno was launched on August 5, 2011, from Florida and arrived in the orbit around Jupiter on July 4, 2016. Its next flyby will be on May 19, 2017.
"Juno is providing spectacular results, and we are rewriting our ideas of how giant planets work," said Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator from Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "The science will be just as spectacular as with our original plan."
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Last month, Somali pirates hijacked an oil tanker, the first commandeering of a vessel since 2012 (File Photo)
Mumbai: A cargo ship with 11 Indian crew members on board has been hijacked by pirates off the Somalian coast, officials from the Directorate General of Shipping said on Monday.
"It is not a big ship but a dhow. It was hijacked yesterday and is now sailing towards the shore of Somalia," DGS Malini Shankar told PTI.
The Indian-flagged ship was on a voyage from Dubai to Yemen when it was hijacked, she said, adding that it had 11 Indian crew members on board.
Shankar said the pirates are interested in the cargo on the ship and have not put forward a ransom demand so far, adding that the details of the cargo are not known yet.
There is a possibility of the vessel being released without the cargo once it reaches the shore this evening, she said.
"We understand Somali pirates hijacked a commercial Indian ship and (it is heading) towards Somalia shores," Abdirizak Mohamed Dirir, a former director of the anti-piracy agency in Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland region, said according to Reuters.
Last month, Somali pirates hijacked an oil tanker, the first commandeering of a vessel since 2012, but released it after a fight with Puntland's marine force.
The hijacking followed an outpouring of anger by locals over foreign fishermen flooding into their waters, some of whom have licences to fish there.
London: US President Donald Trump praised the European Union (EU) for doing "a very good job" in uniting after Britain's decision to quit the bloc, in a Financial Times interview published on Sunday.
"I would have thought when it happened that more (countries) would follow, but I really think the European Union is getting their act together," Trump said of Britain's decision to leave the European Union.
The US president praised the bloc for doing "a very good job in bringing it back together" since the shock referendum result in June.
He lauded the EU for adopting "a different spirit for holding together" in recent months.
Trump's comments are a departure from his prediction in January that "other countries will leave" the bloc following Brexit, which he then described as a "great thing".
His remarks in a joint interview to The Times and Bild newspapers came ahead of his inauguration, sparking an angry reaction among European leaders.
The EU "has no need for outside advice", French President Francois Hollande said bluntly, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the time told reporters "We Europeans have our fate in our own hands".
'A great deal'
Speaking to the Financial Times, Trump claimed Brexit would be positive for both sides of the negotiating table.
"I actually think it is going to be a great deal for UK, and I think it is going to be really, really good also for the European Union," he was quoted as saying.
Trump was joined on the presidential campaign by Nigel Farage, a key player in the Brexit referendum who urged US voters last year to side with the anti-establishment candidate.
Britain last Wednesday initiated the process for quitting the EU, a move that prompted a more formal response from the White House.
"We respect the will of the British electorate and her majesty's government in taking steps of departing the European Union. ... Whatever future the UK-EU relationship looks like, we want the UK to remain a strong leader in Europe," White House spokesman Sean Spicer said.
Bitter feelings nonetheless linger between Washington and Brussels, captured on Thursday when European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker joked he was ready to encourage US independence movements if Trump failed to tone down his Brexit support.
"The newly elected president is delighted to see Britain leave" the European Union, Juncker said in Malta.
"If he carries on, I am going to promote the independence of Ohio and Austin, Texas,'" he said in German at a congress of the European People's Party (EPP).
Potomac Falls: President Donald Trump says that the United States is prepared to act alone if China does not take a tougher stand against North Korea's nuclear program.
Trump's comments in an interview with the Financial Times come just days before he is set to host Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Mar-a-Lago estate in South Florida.
The two are expected to discuss a number of issues, including North Korea, trade and territorial disputes in the South China Sea during their meeting on Thursday and Friday.
"Yes, we will talk about North Korea," Trump told the newspaper for a story that appeared Sunday on its website. "And China has great influence over North Korea. And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they won't. And if they do that will be very good for China, and if they don't it won't be good for anyone."
A State Department spokesman said late Sunday that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been in touch with a top Chinese official about the upcoming trip.
"We can confirm Secretary Tillerson spoke today by telephone to Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi regarding this week's visit of President Xi and other issues of bilateral and regional importance," the spokesman said. He discussed the upcoming visit on condition that his name not be used.
In his interview, Trump said trade was the incentive for China to work with the United States. Still, he said the United States could "totally" handle the situation in North Korea without China's help.
Asked how he would tackle North Korea, Trump said: "I'm not going to tell you. You know, I am not the United States of the past where we tell you where we are going to hit in the Middle East."
While China provides diplomatic and economic support to its neighbor, it claims that its influence over Kim Jong Un's government is limited.
The relationship between the United States and China has been uncertain since Trump's election. During his campaign he accused China of unfair trade practices and threatened to raise import taxes on Chinese goods and declare Beijing a currency manipulator, though it is unclear whether Trump will follow through with either threat.
Trump told the newspaper that he doesn't "want to talk about tariffs yet, perhaps the next time we meet."
Trump's ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, also offered tough talk on China, saying on ABC's "This Week" that the U.S. is pressing China to take a firmer stand regarding North Korea's nuclear program.
U.N. resolutions have failed so far to deter North Korea from conducting nuclear and missile tests. Last year, the North conducted two nuclear tests and two dozen tests of ballistic missiles.
"They need to show us how concerned they are," Haley said. "They need to put pressure on North Korea. The only country that can stop North Korea is China, and they know that."
Asked what the U.S. would do if China doesn't cooperate, Haley said: "China has to cooperate." Former Defense Secretary Ash Carter, however, said he doubted that Beijing will cooperate.
"I've been working on the North Korea problem since 1994," Carter said on ABC. "And we have consistently asked Chinese leaders ... because they uniquely have the historical and the economic relationship with North Korea, to make a difference. "They haven't used that influence, and so it's hard for me to be optimistic with that," he said.
Washington: The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations says there's no question Russia was involved in the US presidential election and insists President Donald Trump would fully support strong action against the Kremlin once investigations are complete.
Speaking in television interviews broadcast Sunday, Nikki Haley contended there is no contradiction between her tough stance and Trump's repeated public statements seeking to minimize Russia's role. She said Trump "has not once" told her to stop "beating up on Russia."
She joins Defense Secretary James Mattis as Trump administration officials who have forcefully called out Russia for its actions during the 2016 US campaign.
"We don't want any country involved in our elections, ever," Haley said. "We need to be very strong on that."
Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied his country meddled in the 2016 contest between Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton. While Trump himself has said he believes Russian operatives hacked Democratic Party emails during the election, he has repeatedly lambasted as "fake news" any suggestion that he or his staff had connections to Russia.
Trump continued his attacks over the weekend, tweeting: "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 added on Sunday: "The real story turns out to be SURVEILLANCE and LEAKING! Find the leakers."
U.S. intelligence agencies report that Russia tried to help Trump's campaign effort. The FBI as well as congressional committees are investigating whether the Russian government coordinated with Trump associates during the campaign.
The White House is also trying to quell a firestorm over its behind-the-scenes role in helping the Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee, Rep. Devin Nunes, view secret intelligence reports that he says pointed to inappropriate leaking.
Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the panel, went to the White House on Friday to view materials that he said were "precisely the same." He declined on Sunday to describe the contents, but criticized the unorthodox disclosure to Nunes, suggesting that the material was more likely an "effort to deflect attention" and "create a cloud through which the public cannot see."
"Whenever they see the president use the word 'fake,' it should set off alarm bells," Schiff said. "I think that's really what going on here."
Trump as president persuaded Haley to leave the governorship of South Carolina to represent the U.S. at the United Nations. She said she was "beating up on Russia" over issues such as its actions in Crimea and its dispute with Ukraine.
When asked if she believes Trump should publicly take a harder Russia stance, she said: "Of course, he's got a lot of things he's doing."
"There's no love or anything going on with Russia right now," Haley said. "They get that we're getting our strength back, that we're getting our voice back and that we're starting to lead again, and, honestly, at the United Nations, that's the No. 1 comment I get is that they're just so happy to see the United States lead again."
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who chairs the Armed Services Committee, said it was indisputable that Russia attempted to influence the U.S. election, reiterating his call for a special select committee.
But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he didn't think another review was necessary, citing the bipartisan work from the Senate Intelligence Committee.
"I think they clearly laid out that they're going wherever the facts take them," McConnell said, referring to Republican chairman Richard Burr of North Carolina and Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the panel. "We don't need yet another investigation. We know the FBI is looking at it from their perspective."
Dmitry Peskov, Putin's press secretary, said Russia was not worried about what any U.S. investigation might reveal. "We insist that any blaming that Russia could have been interfering in domestic affairs of the United States is slander," he said.
Haley, Peskov and McCain appeared on ABC's "This Week," Haley also was on CBS' "Face the Nation," Schiff spoke on CNN's "State of the Union," and McConnell appeared on "Fox News Sunday" and NBC's "Meet The Press."
The victim ran a satirical news column for Crikey, an online magazine
Nampa, Idaho: An Idaho man who struck and killed a renowned Australian humorist with his pickup truck will be sentenced in May after pleading guilty to vehicular manslaughter and leaving the scene of a crash.
The Idaho Press-Tribune reports that 20-year-old Tristian Myers pleaded guilty last week in the death last October of Leslie Nassar.
He had been living in the small southwestern Idaho city of Nampa with his family.
Nassar was a well-known social media and technology-engineering figure in Australia.
He ran a satirical news column for Crikey, an online magazine, and a comedic Twitter feed called Department of Australia.
Police said Myers left the scene and later called to report a hit-and-run and confessed when interviewed.
Nassar's young daughters were with him at the time. They suffered minor injuries.
Donald Trump has denied refusing to shake hands with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, insisting he didnt hear reporters calling for a handshake.Awkward video emerged from an Oval Office photocall in the hours following their meeting, as reporters repeatedly asked for the leaders to shake hands for the cameras. Ms Merkel turned to Mr Trump, asking if he wanted to do a handshake. However, Mr Trump had not shook hands with the Chancellor.
But in an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Trump said he had a great meeting with her. I shook hands about five times and then we were sitting in two seats...and I guess a reporter said shake her hand. I didnt hear it.
I really liked her. She said the same thing to me, he told the newspaper.He also praised the EUs response to Brexit, admitting he initially thought UK leaving the EU would spark an exodus of nations from the bloc.
Breach is the third reporter murdered in one month in Mexico, the third most dangerous country in the world for journalists. (Photo: Representational Image)
The Mexican newspaper where a reporter who investigated drug gangs worked until she was murdered has announced it is closing its print edition due to a lack of security.
The director of the Ciudad Juarez-based newspaper, Oscar Cantu, said in an article titled Adios! that Miroslava Breachs slaying led him to reflect on the dangers of practicing journalism in the region, where high risk is the main ingredient. Breach, 54, who wrote for the newspapers Norte and La Jornada, was found dead in her vehicle with multiple gunshot wounds to the head on March 23 in Chihuahua, capital of the state of the same name.
Ciudad Juarez, located in Chihuahua on the US border with Texas, was for years one of the bloodiest battlegrounds in Mexico as drug cartels fought over smuggling routes into the United States. Breach reported on organised crime, drug-trafficking and corruption during her 20-year career.
She had recently published a report about a conflict between leaders of the La Linea group, part of the powerful Juarez cartel. Breach is the third reporter murdered in one month in Mexico, the third most dangerous country in the world for journalists
Nasscom president R Chandrashekhar (right) said that all Indian companies received communication on fair consideration. (Photo: File)
Singapore/New Delhi: Singapore has joined the list of countries after the US to cut down on work visas issued to Indian IT professionals, prompting India to put the review of Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) on hold, citing violation of the trade pact.
According to a media report, the visa problem began around early 2016 when no new visas were being issued. Indian companies in Singapore have been advised to hire local talent. Top Indian companies like HCL, TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Cognizant and L&T Infotech have their offices in Singapore.
All Indian companies have received communication on fair consideration, which basically means hiring local people", said Nasscom president R Chandrashekhar.
Sources told Hindustan Times that Singapore has imposed several conditions making it difficult for companies to hire resources from India. This is blatant violation of CECA and India has put the review of this trade pact on hold.
According to the Singapore government, it is necessary to gauge what the Indian industry has received from the agreement before adding to its scope. But recently, Singapore has begun exercising caution in letting foreign professionals work there.
In US, President Donald Trump had said that he would not allow Americans to be replaced by foreign workers, in an apparent reference to companies wherein people hired on H-1B visas, including Indians, displaced US workers.
India had said it is engaged with the Donald Trump administration as well as members of the US Congress on concerns regarding the H1B visa issue, amidst apprehension that there may be a clamp down on it which can hurt Indian IT industry.
There was indication that President Trump is set to sign an order overhauling work visa programmes like H1B.
The H1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in specialised fields. The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year.
During his campaign, Trump had promised to increase oversight of H-1B and L-1 visa programmes.
Before and during World War II, Japan forced many Korean and other women in Asia to work in brothels for the Japanese military in what was known as the 'comfort women' system. (Photo: AP)
Tokyo: Japan says it is sending back its ambassador to South Korea despite an ongoing impasse over a "comfort women" statue.
Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said Ambassador Yasumasa Nagamine will fly back to Seoul on Tuesday, along with the consul-general in the South Korean city of Busan.
Kishida on Monday cited the need for Japan to study and develop ties with a new government succeeding ousted South Korean President Park Geun-hye amid North Korea's missile threat.
Japan recalled the ambassador and the consul-general in January in response to the placing of the statue outside of Japan's consulate in Busan.
Before and during World War II, Japan forced many Korean and other women in Asia to work in brothels for the Japanese military in what was known as the "comfort women" system.
Judges sentenced Albanian citizen Enea B., 46, German-Turkish dual national Koray D., 28, and German citizen Tayfun S., 27, to between 9 years and 12 years in prison. (Photo: Representational/AP)
Berlin: A German court handed lengthy prison sentences Monday to four Islamic extremists over plots to bomb a train station and kill a far-right politician.
The Duesseldorf regional court found Marco G., whose surname wasn't published in line with privacy laws, guilty of attempted murder for placing an explosive device at the main train station in the western city of Bonn in December 2012.
Although the homemade bomb was discovered and defused before it detonated, the court said the 30-year-old German convert to Islam deserved a life sentence due to the seriousness of the crime, the dpa news agency reported. It ruled out his release after 15 years, the usual life term in Germany.
He and three others were also found guilty of forming a terrorist organization and planning to kill a member of the far-right Pro NRW party who had taken part in protests against mosques during which caricatures of the Muslim prophet Muhammad were shown.
Judges sentenced Albanian citizen Enea B., 46, German-Turkish dual national Koray D., 28, and German citizen Tayfun S., 27, to between 9 years and 12 years in prison.
Prosecutors said the men's plan was partly fuelled by an audio message disseminated by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.
They were arrested in March 2013, the night before the planned killing. Their lawyers had asked the court to acquit the men, according to dpa.
No More Deaths is written in red paint on newspapers placed in front of photos of Mexican journalist Miroslava Breach, who was gunned down in the northern state of Chihuahua (Photo: AP)
Mexico: A newspaper in the Mexican border city of Juarez announced Sunday that it is shutting down due to the climate of insecurity and impunity for killings of journalists in one of the world's deadliest countries for media workers.
Norte executive Oscar Cantu Murguia informed readers of his decision in a farewell letter titled "Adios!" that was published on the paper's front page and online.
He cited the recent murder of journalist Miroslava Breach in the city of Chihuahua, which like Juarez is in Chihuahua state. Breach was a reporter for the national newspaper La Jornada and had also collaborated with Norte.
"On this day, esteemed reader, I address you to report that I have made the decision to close this newspaper due to the fact that, among other things, there are neither the guarantees nor the security to exercise critical, counterbalance journalism," Cantu wrote.
"Everything in life has a beginning and an end, a price to pay," he continued. "And if this is life, I am not prepared for any more of my collaborators to pay it, nor with my own person."
Cantu also mentioned ambiguous financial concerns that he blamed on authorities: "the arrogant refusal to pay debts contracted for the provision of services."
In Mexico government advertising is a major source of revenue for many news outlets, and media critics say reliance on that often leads to tame coverage and self-censorship.
At least 38 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 1992 for motives confirmed as related to their work, according the Committee to Protect Journalists. The New York-based media advocacy group says 50 more were slain during the same period for reasons that remain unclear.
"Mexico is clearly going through a deep, full-blown freedom of expression crisis," said Carlos Lauria, Americas director for the CPJ. "It's affecting Mexicans, not only journalists, because the fact that a newspaper closes is depriving people of information that they need in order to take informed decisions."
The country saw a spate of attacks on journalists in March. In addition to Breach, who was gunned down as she left home March 23, two other journalists were killed in Guerrero and Veracruz, both states that are hotspots of drug cartel violence.
Another journalist was shot in Poza Rica, Veracruz, March 29, leaving him in critical condition. And an armed attack on a journalist in San Jose del Cabo, Baja California Sur, left his bodyguard dead.
London: An elderly woman, not allowed to use the bathroom on a 13-hour British Airways flight on December 22, ended up wetting herself.
According to a report in Daily Mail, a stewardess even went as far as blocking the woman in the middle of aisle and cited health and safety reasons for not letting 87-year-old Kocharik Tsamouzian use the toilet.
Tsamouzian had been asking to use the toilet shortly since she boarded the flight from Los Angeles, bound for London.
Following the refusals, Tsamouzian was extremely distressed and sat with wet clothes till the journey ended. She did not have extra clothes to change into and spent the remaining journey crying.
The flight was also delayed by 90 minutes on the runway.
Tsamouzians daughter, Aida Behroozi, who lives in West London was quoted as saying, I went to pick my mother up from Heathrow Airport and she arrived in tears.
Behroozi was very angry that her mother was repeatedly denied access to the washroom and that the air hostess even stood in front of her seat to prevent her from getting up.
British Airways acknowledged the incident but Behroozi complained that her mother did not receive any compensation or an apology. She vowed that she would not fly with them again.
A spokesman for British Airways said, Our highly trained cabin crew always work to make our customers as comfortable as possible, but Civil Aviation Authority safety rules stipulate everyone must remain seated with their seat belts on after the aircraft has started moving.
This is not the first time British Airways has shown unprofessional behaviour. There have been other complaints about them running out of food, not having enough cots for babies and cutting down on customers privileges.
A group of schoolgirls returning from a trip on February 23 were not given free tap water on a three-hour flight from Naples to London Gatwick. They were told that theyd have to pay by card but they had only cash.
In another incident, a woman complained that British Airways gave her only one cot for her twin baby daughters on a 10-and-a-half-hour flight. She claimed that she had booked the flight to Mexico and asked for the arrangements months ago.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov quickly rejected the Polish claims, which seemed likely to deepen already tense ties between Russia and NATO member Poland.
Warsaw: Polish prosecutors alleged on Monday that a new analysis of evidence from the 2010 plane crash in Russia that killed the Polish president shows that two Russian air traffic controllers and a third Russian official in the control tower deliberately contributed to the disaster.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman quickly rejected the Polish claims, which seemed likely to deepen already tense ties between Russia and NATO member Poland.
"The circumstances of this tragedy have been thoroughly studied, and we cannot agree with such conclusions," Dmitry Peskov said.
Poland's National Prosecutor Marek Kuczynski said there is "no doubt" that one of the causes of the crash was the behavior of those in the control tower.
Deputy prosecutor Marek Pasionek said the two air traffic controllers were guilty of "deliberately causing an air traffic catastrophe," and said the third Russian official present was guilty of "assisting in deliberately causing a catastrophe."
Polish investigators said they want to question the men and cannot reveal details about the evidence until that happens.
The crash on April 10, 2010, killed President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others, many of them top Polish state and military leaders. The disaster occurred when the Polish crew tried to land in heavy fog at a rarely used airport near Smolensk, Russia. The plane clipped a tree on approaching the runway and crashed.
It was the worst tragedy in modern Polish history and at first the nation united in grief. But the Smolensk tragedy has since become a highly divisive political issue, pitting liberal Poles against conservative supporters of Kaczynski and his twin brother Jaroslaw Kaczynski, a former prime minister who now heads the populist ruling Law and Justice party.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski has suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Polish prime minister at the time, Donald Tusk, now a top European Union leader, bear guilt for the tragedy.
Kaczynski and his allies have made a range of allegations, at times suggesting that there was an explosive device on board that brought the plane down or that Putin ordered the assassination of the Polish leader, who was deeply critical of Russia.
Other suggestions have included an unproven claim that the Russians produced fake fog to disorient the pilots. They have also alleged that Tusk failed to provide adequate security for the presidential flight and that he failed to properly investigate the tragedy afterward or get back the wreckage or flight recorders, which remain in Russia almost seven years later.
Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz sent a note to military prosecutors last month accusing Tusk of committing the crime of diplomatic treason, alleging he worked with Putin to harm Poland's interests after the crash.
Tusk strongly denies those claims and government critics believe Kaczynski and his nationalistic supporters have encouraged conspiracy theories to win political points with voters skeptical of Russia and pro-European liberals like Tusk.
Some critics said they consider allegations against the Russians as a sign that a commission headed by Macierewicz that is investigating the tragedy has not uncovered anything new.
There were two major investigations into the crash separately carried out by Poland and Russia.
The Polish investigation blamed the disaster on a combination of factors, including bad weather and errors made by a pilot who was not adequately trained on the plane he was flying, a Tupolev-154.
That probe also said Russian air traffic controllers gave incorrect and confusing landing instructions to pilots - but it stopped short of alleging intentional wrongdoing.
A Russian investigation at the time put all blame on the Polish side, finding no fault with the Russian air traffic controllers.
Yerevan: Armenia's ruling party was set to win the first parliamentary elections since the adoption of constitutional reforms transforming the country into a parliamentary republic, according to official results released on Monday.
With votes tallied from 50.4 percent of precincts, the central electoral commission said pro-Russian President Serzh Sargsyan's Republican Party was leading the main opposition coalition, led by wealthy politician Gagik Tsarukyan, by 50.43 to 28.29 percent.
"According to the elections' early results, the Republican Party has every chance of forming the new government," the party's spokesman, Eduard Sharmazanov, told a news conference.
Dashnaktsutyun, a nationalist party, received 6.88 percent of the vote and is also set to enter the parliament.
Turnout was 60.86 percent, the electoral panel said. The polls followed constitutional amendments initiated by Sargsyan in 2015 that his opponents say were designed to "perpetuate" the rule of the Republican Party, which has been in power for the last two decades.
The amendments will shift the country away from a strong presidency to a parliamentary form of government after Sargsyan 's second and final term ends in 2018.
The West sees the election as a key democratic test for the landlocked nation of 2.9 million, which has no history of transferring power to the opposition through the ballot box.
Sargsyan has said his government "made enormous efforts so that (the) milestone vote is flawless." But opposition politicians complained of violations at polling stations.
Five parties and four electoral blocs ran in Sunday's vote, with 101 parliamentary seats up for grabs under a system of proportional representation.
A party needs to clear a five-percent threshold to be represented in parliament, while an electoral bloc -- an entity made up of several parties -- needs to garner at least seven percent of the vote.
Voting was monitored by observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
Belgrade: Serbia's powerful Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic claimed victory Sunday in the presidential election that was a test of his authoritarian rule, an outcome that could expand Russia's influence in the Balkans.
Speaking to supporters at his right-wing party's headquarters, Vucic said, "My victory is crystal clear. This is a very important day for us, showing which way Serbia should be heading."
"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," Vucic said, while his backers chanted "Victory, victory!"
While Vucic has said he wants to lead Serbia into the European Union, he has been pushing for deeper ties to longtime ally Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin endorsed him.
Right before the election, Vucic visited Putin, who reportedly promised his signature on the delivery of fighter planes, battle tanks and armored vehicles to Serbia. The move triggered fears of an arms race in the western Balkans, which Russia considers its sphere of influence.
Vucic claimed victory after projections by different independent polling agencies had him receiving more than 55 percent of the votes cast during Sunday's election. Liberal challenger Sasa Jankovic placed second with 15 percent and Luka Maksimovic, a media student who ran as a parody politician, came in third with 9 percent, according to the pollsters.
Official results are expected Monday.
Vucic, a former ultranationalist who now declares support for Serbia joining the European Union, had been forecast to win the presidency by a high margin. He needed to secure more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff election on April 16 that would have put him in a trickier position facing off against a single opposition candidate.
Vucic has been prime minister since 2014. He is expected to use a win in the presidential race to appoint a figurehead successor as prime minister and to transform the presidency from a ceremonial office into a more powerful post from which he could rule unchallenged.
The opposition has accused Vucic of muzzling the media and intimidating voters ahead of the election. Vucic denied the allegations, saying only he can bring stability to a region scarred by the wars of the 1990s, which Vucic supported at the time.
Jankovic, an independent candidate with no party affiliation, said Sunday he was happy with his campaign, which galvanized the pro-democratic movement opposed to Serbia's persistent corruption and growing autocracy.
Jankovic said he would await the official results to concede defeat, and called the election "just the beginning."
"Even participation in such an election was worth respect," he said, referring to the unfair pre-election conditions. "But this election race goes on, and will go on."
The biggest surprise of the election was Maksimovic, a media student who ran as a parody politician.
As a satirical candidate decked out in a white suit, oversized jewelry and a man-bun, Maksimovic mocked corruption in Serbian politics by promising to steal if he were elected. His supporters were mostly young voters alienated by Serbia's decades-long crisis and economic decline.
Maksimovic's widely viewed videos on social media networks portrayed him doing pushups, sucking a raw egg and riding a white horse surrounded by mock bodyguards.
May said before leaving Britain that it was 'clearly in the UK's security and prosperity interests to support Jordan and Saudi Arabia'. (Photo: AP)
Amman: British Prime Minister Theresa May landed in Amman on Monday for a three-day trip to Jordan and Saudi Arabia focused on security and post-Brexit trade efforts.
In Jordan, May is expected to announce that British military trainers will be sent to help the country's air force fight the Islamic State group.
She will visit Saudi Arabia on Tuesday and Wednesday for talks focused on trade and investment as Britain begins the process of leaving the European Union.
Jordan's official news agency Petra reported that May had arrived in Amman where she was greeted by local officials. May said before leaving Britain that it was "clearly in the UK's security and prosperity interests to support Jordan and Saudi Arabia".
May will set out a package of measures to boost cooperation between British forces and the Royal Jordanian Air Force, which along with Britain is part of the US-led coalition bombing IS in Iraq and Syria.
"To tackle the threats we face from terrorism and from geopolitical instability, we must meet them at their source," May said, describing Jordan as "on the frontline of multiple regional crises".
In the wake of last month's deadly attack on the British parliament, she said that by working with countries like Jordan "we are helping to keep British people safe".
May said she would also discuss ways to help Jordan host a massive influx of refugees from the war in neighbouring Syria. In Riyadh, May will focus on trade, saying ahead of her trip that there is "immense potential for Saudi investment to provide a boost to the British economy."
Britain is looking to strike new trade deals after May last week formally activated Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, starting a two-year countdown for quitting the European Union.
Qatar announced plans last month to invest 5 billion (USD 6.23 billion/5.8 billion euros) in Britain within five years.
Saudi Arabia is also looking at boosting its foreign investments as part of a long-term plan to diversify its economy and reduce its dependence on oil revenues.
He will perform in front of the ancient Masada fortress in Israel on Thursday in a bid to draw attention to the 'urgency of saving the Dead Sea'. (Photo: AP)
Masada: Pioneering electronic musician Jean-Michel Jarre has said he wants to use an all-night concert at the Dead Sea to highlight what he sees as the anti-environmental policies of US President Donald Trump.
The French musician, who shot to fame in the 1970s, will perform in front of the ancient Masada fortress in Israel on Thursday in a bid to draw attention to the "urgency of saving the Dead Sea", he said.
The lake shared by Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian territories, which is the lowest and saltiest body of water in the world, is receding by roughly a metre (three feet) per year.
Experts have warned it is on course to dry out by 2050. The musician said he wants to "make the world aware" of the danger.
With a youthful look despite his 68 years, he warned of the lack of oxygen in the Dead Sea -- an allusion to his best known album "Oxygene".
Jarre is a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), which in 2002 designated Masada a world heritage site.
The venue at the foot of the fortress is one of the most stunning sites in the region and the location of a seminal event in Jewish history.
Biblical King Herod built Masada fortress in the first century BC on a rocky outcrop 430 meters (1290 feet) above the Dead Sea.
In 73 AD, Roman troops besieged 960 Jewish Zealots there after they rebelled against the Roman rule of then Palestine, according to a historian of the period, Flavius Joseph.
Instead of allowing themselves to fall captive, they committed collective suicide. "I want the Dead Sea, like Masada, to be part of UNESCO's world heritage," Jarre said during a pre-show visit to the site.
"This region belongs to humanity," he said. "It involves all of us from a human point of view. We must do our utmost to preserve this place."
Jarre has had a prolific output, once producing three albums in a year and a half, and is renowned for large-scale outdoor performances including laser shows and pyrotechnics.
He is a four-time Guinness world record holder for number of spectators, once performing in front of 3.5 million people in Moscow.
But this time he said he wanted an "intimate" concert, out of respect for his surroundings.
The concert will include performances by Israeli and French DJs and musicians, along with two sets by Jarre himself.
The show is to end at sunrise on Friday morning. Only 10,000 tickets will be available, for between USD 128 and USD 767 (120 and 720 euros), said the show's Israeli artistic director, Alexandra Juran, who will also direct a film of the concert set to be launched on the internet later this year.
Jarre said he hopes to "reach as many people as possible" with his message. Trump is set to roll back a slew of environmental protection measures implemented under former president Barack Obama, in a bid to untether the US fossil fuel industry.
The move has triggered doubts over the United States' commitment to global climate accords.
Trump has also given final approval for the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada into the United States, reversing Obama's decision to block it.
"For me, the whole point of this project is to make people aware of the urgency of dealing with the Earth as a whole," Jarre said.
"The concert will contribute to, I hope, organising the resistance against all the Trumps of the world."
Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy has accused the company of poor governance standards and expressed unhappiness over the compensation hike to Chief Operating Officer (COO) U B Pravin Rao.
In an email sent to DH on Sunday, Murthy said, Giving nearly 60-70% increase in compensation for a top level person (even including performance-based variable pay) when the compensation for most of the employees in the company was increased by just 6-8% is, in my opinion, not proper.
This is grossly unfair to majority of the Infosys employees, including clerks and office boys, who are toiling hard to make the company better. The impact of such a decision will likely erode the trust and faith of the employees in the management and the board. With what conscience can a decent person like Pravin (a man schooled in Infosys values for over 30 years) tell his juniors that they should work hard and make sacrifices to reduce the cost and protect margin? I have got so many mails from these people asking whether this resolution is fair. No previous resolution in the history of the company has received such a low approval, he said.
Given the current poor governance standards at Infosys, let us also remember that these targets for variable pay may not be adhered to if the board wants to favour a top management person, he said.
In February, the Infosys board had approved a hike in Raos fixed salary per annum to Rs 4.62 crore while the variable component of his package stood Rs 3.87 crore, payable on achievement of targets set by the board.
This is with effect from November 1, 2016. He will also be eligible for 27,250 restricted stock units (RSUs) and 43,000 stock options (ESOP) based on the fiscal 2016 performance once the same is approved by the shareholders.
Murthys letter comes after the company on Sunday published the e-voting results by shareholders on decisions like increasing Raos salary, appointment of D N Prahlad as an independent director and the new Articles of Association of the company.
According to sources, only 24% of promoters voted in favour of increment in Raos salary. As much as 52% of large investors (public institutions) voted against the decision.
Murthy said, "Those of us who have always stood for fairness in compensation and practised it, right from the day Infosys was founded, will have to demonstrate it when needed. This is a time when it is needed. Nothing more and nothing less."
He further stated, "I believe in striving towards reducing differences in compensation and equity in a corporation. You may not know that my Infosys salary at the time of the founding of Infosys was just 10% of my salary in my previous job. I ensured that my younger, co-founder colleagues got 20% higher salary over their salaries in their previous job even though I was seven levels above them in my previous job and was 11 years older than them.
I gave them huge equity compensation the like of which has never been replicated in this world. So, this abstention comes from somebody who has walked the talk."
"I have always felt that every senior management person of an Indian corporation has to show self-restraint in his or her compensation and perquisites. He or she has to fight for maintaining a reasonable ratio between the lowest salary and the highest salary in a corporation in a poor country like India. The board has to create a climate of opinion for such a fairness by their actions.
This is necessary if we have to make compassionate capitalism acceptable to a majority of Indians who are poor. Without compassionate capitalism, this country cannot create jobs and solve the problem of poverty. Experts tell me that capitalism may come to an end in the not-so-distant future if the current corporate leaders do not heed this advice in India, " he stated.
Saying he had nothing against Rao, Murthy wrote, I have lots of affection for Pravin...I recruited him in 1985 and nurtured him throughout my stay at Infosys since then. He had been sidelined. He was not even a member of the executive council at Infosys in 2013 when I came back. Kris, Shibu (co-founders) and I encouraged him, elevated him to the board, and made him the COO when we recruited Vishal as the CEO. So, this abstention has nothing to do with him.
Murthy-led founders had written to the board in February questioning governance issues in the company, huge severance pay given to former CFO Rajiv Bansal and salary hike of CEO Vishal Sikka.
The issue ended after a truce between the board and founders and both parties agreeing not to discuss the subjects in public.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached a farmhouse with a market value of Rs 27 crore in connection with its money laundering probe against Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and others.
The agency has issued a provisional order attaching the farmhouse located in south Delhi's Mehrauli area under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
It said the book value of the asset is Rs 6.61 crore but its market value is "worth Rs 27 crore and is in the name of Maple Destinations & Dreambuild".
The latest ED action comes close on the heels of the CBI filing a charge sheet against Singh, a six-time chief minister, and his wife and others for allegedly amassing assets worth around Rs 10 crore disproportionate to their known sources of income.
The ED had filed a criminal case under PMLA against the 82-year-old Congress leader and others in 2015 based on a CBI FIR.
Congress has ruled out the removal of the Himachal Pradesh chief minister following the CBI charge-sheet. Party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi had said last week that there was "nothing to worry about" in the case as it was done out of "political vendetta" and Singh will fight it out and emerge victorious.
The BJP has demanded the resignation of Singh, asserting that he has become a "symbol of corruption".
Himachal Pradesh goes to polls later this year.
To meet the demand supply mismatch of energy in the coming years, nuclear power is the most viable energy source as all the other energy reserves are being depleted, scientists said at a programme here today.
"We urgently need nuclear power to bridge the gap between huge demand and actual supply of energy in the coming years," senior official of Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) Anutosh Chakraborty said.
Currently, a total of 6780 MW nuclear power is being generated in India, he told PTI at the sidelines of the programme organised by NPCIL. "To get 1 MW electricity through alternative energy sources, you have to think of many things," Chakraborty said.
"For solar power, the area requirement is high and there are maintenance issues. Windmills can only be installed in coastal areas and there are issues like wind speed," the senior scientist said.
For conventional energy, he said that coal needed for thermal power would be finished in two-three decades while hydro energy was possible only in hill areas.
On nuclear power's perceived threat to environment, he said that a recent avian study at Narora Atomic Power Station (NAPS) in Uttar Pradesh had shown that nuclear energy was non -polluting and did not cause any threat to environment.
"If pollution increases birds just leave the place. (But) our study shows that avian biodiversity has gone up steadily there," he said.
Chakraborty said an avian survey was also done along coastal region of West Bengal including Haripur in East Midnapore district where a proposal of setting up of a nuclear power plant in 2000 ran into a wall of protests by then opposition and present ruling party, the Trinamool Congress.
Director of the School of Nuclear Studies and Applications (SNSA), Dr Amitava Gupta said, "Nuclear reactors have fantastic safety standards and we have to take into account industrial scenario, the power scenario as well as the socio-economic scenario."
Stating that per capita consumption of power in West Bengal is low, Chakraborty said, "Bengal is consuming 600 MW per year as against 1100 MW by Odisha. So nuclear power is the alternative."
A small size cargo vessel with 10 Indian crew members from Gujarat's Mandvi was hijacked by pirates and taken to a Somalian port, officials said here today.
"It is a dhow which was hijacked yesterday and has now reached Biyo in Somalia," Director General of Shipping Malini Shankar told PTI.
The 62-metre long vessel was on a voyage from Dubai to the war-torn Yemen when it was hijacked by the pirates.
The Indian-flagged ship has an all-Indian crew of 10 and sailed from the historic port town of Mandvi in Gujarat, she said, adding no details of the cargo are available.
Shankar also said no ransom demand has been raised so far for the crew and it is possible that the pirates from Somalia are interested in the cargo, which may be discharged in Biyo.
Some reports speculated that the vessel might be carrying food and civil supplies to the civil war hit Yemen.
Dhows are small sized vessels generally used on smaller routes.
An international aid group working in such cases of piracy and hostage crisis has already been contacted by the Indian officials, she said.
There has been a meeting with officials from the Indian Navy today and an inter-ministerial group of officials from different ministries will be meeting in New Delhi tomorrow, Shankar said.
The ship's owner, Feroze Hussain Thain, an Indian based in Dubai is not reachable but a close aide of his is in contact, Shankar said.
The seas around the Gulf of Aden and the Western Arabian Sea are notorious for being targeted by the Somali pirates till about three years ago.
Coordinated operations by different navies of the world, including the India Navy, helped secure the seas which see the movement of a huge quantum of global trade, including oil originating in West Asia.
India, being one of the biggest manpower suppliers to the international maritime trade, has often been hit by such attacks and many Indian sailors have spent weeks or months in captivity of the Somalian pirates, waiting for a release after negotiations.
The high incidence of piracy had led to a group of insurers to declare an area very close to Indian waters as a high risk zone, which led to the levy of high risk premium that impacted sea trade.
The premium was making imports costlier and exports uncompetitive, but the fall in instances of piracy had helped India to convince insurers in de-classifying the area as a high risk one.
How often do tigers attack and kill leopards? Or are a pack of wild dogs up for a stand-off with a tiger? There have been several such documented anecdotes in the past. They returned by noon bringing a few fragments of tiger skin, to report that the dogs had finally cornered their exhausted quarry about five miles away and had literally torn the tigress to pieces. As far as they could gather, five dogs had been killed in the final battle, after which the victors had eaten the tigress, recounts Kenneth Anderson in his book, Nine Man-eaters and One Rogue, in which he shares the story of a pack of wild dogs taking on a tigress in the Nilgiris. However, a recent study in Karnataka shows how the three predators, the tiger, leopard and the dhole co-exist and smartly avoid each other in the forests.
Home to several species of large carnivores the forests of Karnataka are no different. Three large predators: tigers, leopards and dholes share resources in the same forests. A recent study conducted by scientists from Wildlife Conservation Society, India proves that not only do these three predators hunt common prey, but also live in harmony. Over 500 camera traps were set-up in five reserves Bandipur, Nagarahole, Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple, Bhadra and Wayanad that support large densities of ungulate prey like chital, sambar and wild boar. We looked at three aspects one, when animals are active through the day; two, within each reserve, if they avoided each other in space, and three, if they actively avoided each other, explains Dr Divya Vasudev, one of the studys authors.
Modifying behaviour
Across the sites, tigers, leopards and dholes displayed remarkable ability to modify their behaviour based on prey density in the area and on the population of its competitors. In the study published in the journal, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Biological Sciences the authors highlight how these predators have adapted, and changed their hunting habits to avoid each other.
This observation is not common in protected areas elsewhere. For instance, in a recent paper published in Ecology and Evolution, scientists highlight how the population of leopards in Maputaland in Southern Africa decreased with abundance of the top predator, the lion. Yet, in several other places, such co-existence is common.
Interestingly, the study observed that all three predators carve out a little space for themselves, where they are active, and hunt. Take for instance, Bhadra, a forest with low prey densities. All the animals were much more active throughout the day in this site, probably to maximise their chances of getting low density prey. Since the carnivores themselves were also at a lower density, Bhadra also showed some overlap in the times of activity. The animals, relatively speaking, didnt avoid each other to the extent they did in the other parks, states Divya.
Take the dholes for example these wild dogs usually hunt during the day, unlike the tigers and leopards. But in Bhadra, the dholes were relatively more nocturnal, and leopards were active during the day too. Similarly, in high density reserves like Nagarahole and Bandipur, the leopards preferred to sneak out in twilight. This kind of behaviour has been documented and observed in several other sites like in the case of wild dogs in South Africa. It has been found that wild dogs avoid lions, particularly during denning. However, they did not exhibit the same behaviour with spotted hyenas found in the same areas as wild dogs are capable of adequately defending their kills from the hyenas.
The impact
Across the globe, scientists are using camera traps to identify causes affecting population densities and distribution of species. Understanding co-existence among species continues to contribute valuable literature to evolutionary ecology, which in todays world has played a critical role in protecting several flagship species.
Can human presence and interactions change or impact this harmony? Yes. In fact, several studies have proved this over the years. Quite recently, scientists using motion-detecting camera traps to examine spatial and temporal patterns of meso and apex predator occupancy and activity in a fragmented landscape in California, USA showed how human development and activity alter predator community structure through both direct and indirect pathways.
All five study areas picked by the scientists host large predators within national parks. First of all, by reducing the space available for large carnivores, the issue of the carnivores living in the same reserves becomes all the more current and relevant. In many parks of India, anthropogenic factors have led to a reduction in prey availability. This again causes differences in their behaviour, reinstates Divya. Like in the case of Bhadra, with low prey density, the need to be active for longer parts of the day increases. This means the predators cannot easily avoid each other. On the flip side, intense conservation efforts, like in Nagarahole, have led to high densities of both the carnivores and their prey, adds Divya.
The Great Barrier Reef in Australia has long been one of the worlds most magnificent natural wonders, so enormous it can be seen from space, so beautiful it can move visitors to tears. But the reef, and the profusion of sea creatures living near it, are in profound trouble. Huge sections of the Great Barrier Reef, stretching across hundreds of miles of its most pristine northern sector, were recently found to be dead, killed last year by overheated seawater. More southerly sections around the middle of the reef that barely escaped then are bleaching now, a potential precursor to another die-off that could rob some of the reefs most visited areas of colour and life.
Telling sign of seas health
We didnt expect to see this level of destruction to the Great Barrier Reef for another 30 years, said Terry P Hughes, director of a government-funded Center for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University in Australia and the lead author of a paper on the reef published in the journal Nature. In the north, I saw hundreds of reefs literally two-thirds of the reefs were dying and are now dead.
The damage to the Great Barrier Reef, one of the worlds largest living organisms, is part of a global calamity that has been unfolding intermittently for nearly two decades and seems to be intensifying. In the paper, dozens of scientists described the recent disaster as the third worldwide mass bleaching of coral reefs since 1998, but by far the most widespread and damaging.
The state of coral reefs is a telling sign of the health of the seas. Their distress and death are yet another marker of the ravages of global climate change. If most of the worlds coral reefs die, as scientists fear is increasingly likely, some of the richest and most colourful life in the ocean could be lost, along with huge sums from reef tourism. In poorer countries, lives are at stake: Hundreds of millions of people get their protein primarily from reef fish, and the loss of that food supply could become a humanitarian crisis.
With this latest global bleaching in its third year, reef scientists say they have no doubt about the responsible party. They warned decades ago that the coral reefs would be at risk if human society kept burning fossil fuels at a runaway pace, releasing greenhouse gases that warm the ocean. Emissions continued to rise, and now the background ocean temperature is high enough that any temporary spike poses a critical risk to reefs. Climate change is not a future threat, Terry said. On the Great Barrier Reef, its been happening for 18 years.
Corals require warm water to thrive, but they are exquisitely sensitive to extra heat. Just two or three degrees Fahrenheit of excess warming can sometimes kill the tiny creatures. Globally, the ocean has warmed by about 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit since the late 19th century, by a conservative calculation, and a bit more in the tropics, home to many reefs. An additional kick was supplied by an El Nino weather pattern that peaked in 2016 and temporarily warmed much of the surface of the planet, causing the hottest year in a historical record dating to 1880. It was obvious last year that the corals on many reefs were likely to die, but now formal scientific assessments are coming in.
Combating local threats
The paper in Nature documents vast coral bleaching in 2016 along a 500-mile section of the reef north of Cairns, a city on Australias eastern coast. Bleaching indicates that corals are under heat stress, but they do not always die and cooler water can help them recover. Subsequent surveys of the Great Barrier Reef, conducted late last year after the deadline for inclusion in the Nature paper, documented that extensive patches of reef had in fact died, and would not be likely to recover soon, if at all. Terry led those surveys. He said that he and his students cried when he showed them maps of the damage, which he had calculated in part by flying low in small planes and helicopters.
Terry said he hoped the die-off this time would not be as serious as last years, but back-to-back bleaching is unheard-of in Australia. The central and southern part of the reef had already been badly damaged by human activities like dredging and pollution. The Australian government has tried to combat these local threats with its Reef 2050 plan, restricting port development, dredging and agricultural runoff, among other risks.
But Terrys research found that, given the high temperatures, these national efforts to improve water quality were not enough. The reefs in muddy water were just as fried as those in pristine water, Terry said. Thats not good news in terms of what you can do locally to prevent bleaching the answer to that is not very much at all. You have to address climate change directly.
Australias conservative government also continues to support fossil fuel development, including what many scientists and conservationists see as the reefs most immediate threat a proposed coal mine, expected to be among the worlds largest, to be built inland from the reef by the Adani Group, a conglomerate based in India. The fact is, Australia is the largest coal exporter in the world, and the last thing we should be doing to our greatest national asset is making the situation worse, said Imogen Zethoven, campaign director for the Australian Marine Conservation Society.
Australia relies on the Great Barrier Reef for about 70,000 jobs and billions of dollars annually in tourism revenue, and it is not yet clear how that economy will be affected by the reefs deterioration. Even in hard-hit areas, large patches of the Great Barrier Reef survived, and guides will most likely take tourists there, avoiding the dead zones.
Not necessarily extinction
The global reef crisis does not necessarily mean extinction for coral species. The corals may save themselves, as many other creatures are attempting to do, by moving toward the poles as the Earth warms, establishing new reefs in cooler water. But the changes humans are causing are so rapid, by geological standards, that it is not entirely clear if coral species will be able to keep up. And even if the corals do survive, that does not mean individual reefs will continue to thrive where they do now.
Within a decade, certain kinds of branching and plate coral could be extinct, reef scientists say, along with a variety of small fish that rely on them for protection from predators. I dont think the Great Barrier Reef will ever again be as great as it used to be at least not in our lifetimes, said C Mark Eakin, a reef expert with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in Silver Spring, Maryland.
A cobbler from Junagadh town has received a notice from the Income Tax department, in which he was asked to divulge the source of Rs 10 lakh deposited in his account during the demonetisation period, although he has denied making any such transaction.
Mansukh Makwana (55), who mends shoes for a living on M G Road in the city, got the shock of his life when he received the notice on Saturday. It was delivered to him on the pavement, where he earns his livelihood.
"I am shocked beyond words. I have never in my life made so much money. I hardly make Rs 200 a day, then how can I deposit such a huge amount? The notice scared me to the point that I felt like committing suicide," Makwana told reporters.
Makwana, who is from the nearby Chimbawadi village and has been working at the same spot in Junagadh town since the last 25 years, said he has a Jan Dhan account in Bank of Baroda.
Junagadh MLA from BJP Mahendra Mashru, who rushed to meet the cobbler, said Makwana might have received the notice due to some technical issue on the part of the IT department.
He claimed that there was no evidence of any dubious transaction in Makwana's bank account, and has assured to accompany him to the IT department for reply if needed.
"I went to meet Makwana and saw the IT notice sent to him asking for his reply on transaction of Rs 10 lakh made during demonetisation period. His Jan Dhan bank account has no such transaction, it must be some mistake," Mashru told PTI.
"I have told him that I will accompany him to the IT department office, but he said he will go by himself and will call him if there is any need," Mashru added.
Under the 'Operation Clean Money', the IT department is sending notices to people whose transactions conducted during the demonetisation period did not match their tax profile, using data analytics.
The Centre had scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes on November 8 and issued new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes instead.
With the truckers in the southern states on an indefinite strike to protest against higher insurance premium and a rule to scrap old vehicles from Thursday, business transactions were affected at the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) in Mandya.
The farmers, who had brought jaggery for sales could not sell their produce as the truck owners refused to lift the load.
A farmer told DH that though the transactions were normal on the first few days of the stir, lorry owners did not lift the load on Monday. The jaggery has been brought to the market on Saturday. With the temperature levels soaring, we fear that the jaggery might melt, he said.
The district is already facing drought and the quantity of sugarcane grown is very less, compared to the previous years. Hence, not much jaggery is arriving in the market. Only around 1,000 quintals of jaggery are available for sale, including mould, box and bucket varieties. Moreover, jaggery that was sold at Rs 3,500 per quintal is now being sold at Rs 4,300, he said.
Speaking to DH, Mandya APMC Secretary Pushpa said, the truckers stir has affected the business as there are not much takers for jaggery. However, there is not much load in stock at the APMC, she added.
Tender coconut
The truckers stir has also affected the sale of tender coconuts at the APMC market in Maddur, in the district. The number of traders purchasing tender coconuts has come down. Only those transporting tender coconuts to Bengaluru are buying them, while the loads being sent to Mumbai, Hyderabad and North Karnataka on trucks are stuck due to the stir.
There is great demand for tender coconuts during summer with the wholesale price at Rs 10 to Rs 16 a piece. Each tender coconut is sold above Rs 20 in the retail market.
Jignesh Mevani, a Dalit activist from Gujarat, will flag off Bengaluru Jatha, the rally of tribals from Diddalli to the state capital, on April 7.
The rally also appears to be the snowballing of a movement for the tribals justice.
D S Nirvanappa, president of Bhoomi Matthu Vasati Hakku Vanchitara Horata District Committee, told media on Monday here that the jatha is aimed at convincing Chief Minister Siddaramaiah about the travails faced by tribals in Kodagu district.
The jatha, which is expected to reach Bengaluru on April 14, will culminate with a convention to mark the birth anniversary celebrations of Dr B R Ambedkar, who is regarded as the champion of Dalits. It will be followed by an indefinite strike, explained the president.
Nirvanappa blamed Deputy Commissioner Richard Vincent DSouza for failing to chalk out a solution by arranging for rehabilitation at the same site at Diddalli from where the tribals were evicted recently.
Four months have elapsed but the district administration has still not succeeded in understanding the agony of the evacuees. With the rainy season fast approaching, the tribals stare at a spectre, he added.
Although the issue was brought to the notice of Social Welfare Minister H Anjaneya in the past, he turned out to be a windbag, without keeping his promise of convening a meeting, the president criticised.
Ameen Mohsin, the Social Democratic Party of India district unit president, accused the authorities of pushing the real issue under the carpet, followed by political conspiracies. Now that the tribals have resorted to meet the chief minister, the district administration is negating the issue, he added.
Tribal leaders Appu and Mutthamma Jayappa and K Monnappa were present during the press meet.
At the weekend, Yogi, as he is widely known, returned to a heros welcome to the temple town of Gorakhpur for the first time since he was sworn in as chief minister on March 19. Overnight, the town turned saffron, the colour of his party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). All roads leading to the Gorakhnath temple were decorated with party flags, marigold flowers and orange balloons.
The smiling new leader, 44, looked down from massive hoardings and posters on buildings, and mannequins outside shops even sported bright saffron outfits. At a college run by the temple, thousands of people waited for hours to see him. Speakers praised his vision and leadership. Some people walk in others footsteps, some make footsteps for others to walk in, said one. A brilliant orator, Yogi Adityanath has been elected MP for Gorakhpur five times since 1998 and the crowds there worship him. Many tell me hes a reincarnation of the gods, a God himself. But he is also a very controversial leader who has often been in the news for the wrong reasons. Critics describe him as Indias most divisive and abusive politician who used his election rallies to whip up anti-Muslim hysteria.
And some of the statements attributed to him - and his supporters have been widely condemned. He accused Muslim men of indulging in a love jihad to seduce Hindu women and convert them; claimed that Mother Teresa wanted to Christianise India; called for a Donald Trump-style travel ban on Muslims in India and compared Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan to Pakistan-based militant Hafiz Saeed.
At one point, he shared a stage with a supporter who said that when Yogi Adityanath came to power, Muslims would no longer have the right to vote and that supporters would rape dead Muslim women. His campaign promises included anti-Romeo squads to prevent harassment of Hindu women and he listed protecting cows and shutting down illegal slaughterhouses as his top priorities.
Religious Hindus revere cows and slaughtering them is illegal in large parts of India, including Uttar Pradesh. In 2015, a Muslim man was lynched by a Hindu mob which alleged that he had stored beef at home. Yogi Adityanath also faces criminal charges. He has been accused of attempted murder, criminal intimidation and rioting in relation to a clash that took place in 1999. And in 2007, he spent 11 days in jail for making inflammatory speeches.
No wonder then that his surprise elevation has alarmed many in India and around the world, with many expressing concerns that the states 40 million Muslims will not have an easy time under his watch. In an editorial, The Guardian called it a victory for anti-Muslim bigotry and the New York Times said Modi was trying to humour Hindu extremists. The paper called the move a shocking rebuke to religious minorities. Respected columnist Pratap Bhanu Mehta called it an odious and ominous development.
And the negative publicity has continued since he became chief minister. The anti-Romeo squads have been accused of harassing and intimidating courting couples in cities and towns, and the authorities have been criticised for forcing abattoirs to shut down, mostly on flimsy grounds. The press in Gorakhpur, however, has been more complimentary, revelling in the grand victory of their hero.
Local newspapers are writing in great detail about his amazing memory skills, they say he can remember names of thousands of people. Some are talking about how he communicates directly with his 500 cows, monkeys, dogs and birds, says senior Gorakhpur journalist Kumar Harsh. For people here, hes a celebrity. Hes the chief priest and head of the temple management, which also runs a hospital and colleges. He is very hardworking and is immensely popular with the people, he adds.
Son of a forest ranger, Yogi Adityanath was born in 1972 in Garhwal (which was then in Uttar Pradesh but is now in Uttarakhand) and was named Ajay Singh Bisht. A maths graduate, he moved to Gorakhpur in November 1993 and three months later was appointed heir to Mahant Avaidyanath, the temples chief priest and an influential Hindu politician. A vegetarian, he has taken a vow of lifelong celibacy.
Dwarika Tiwari is his deputy at the temple and has worked closely with him since his arrival in Gorakhpur. Hes very intelligent, bright and hard-working, hes efficient, he respects everyone whatever their caste, creed or religion, he respects women and loves children. Tiwari concedes he has weaknesses - a tendency for plain speaking and a quick temper.
When I point out the anti-Muslim statements during the campaign, the criminal charges and the fact that he was briefly jailed, Tiwari brushes them aside as malicious propaganda and conspiracy from his political rivals. Muslims respect him equally. They also come to us to resolve their disputes, he says.
Just outside the temple gates, Muslim shopkeepers insist they are not unduly worried over the appointment. Cloth merchant Feroz Ahmad says he, in fact, voted for the BJP and now hopes that Yogi Adityanath will bring much-needed development to this backward town.
Rabble-rouser
I ask him what he makes of his rabble-rousing, anti-Muslim statements. All politicians say such things to win elections, he says. Some of his supporters are troublemakers who do wrong things. But now that hes in power, it will all stop. So can it all be dismissed as mere rhetoric, something he indulged in just to win the election? Sharat Pradhan, senior journalist in Lucknow, says ever since hes been named chief minister, hes been conducting himself very responsibly. In his first days in power, hes been careful. Hes shown a lot of restraint. Hes trying to be inclusive, hes even inducted a Muslim into his cabinet. He has been trying an image makeover, paying a surprise visit to a police station one day, visiting an acid attack victim in hospital the next. He has refrained from commenting on the contentious issue of the Ram temple in Ayodhya despite it being promised in the BJP poll manifesto. But the worry is with the fringe elements among his supporters. With his rabble rousing, hes freed the genie from the bottle, can he control it? asks Pradhan.
That is precisely what Adityanath attempted to do when he took the stage in Gorakhpur at the weekend, appealing to his boisterous supporters to behave. The PM has given me a huge responsibility, to ensure that development reaches the last man. I assure you no-one will be ignored, irrespective of their caste, creed or religion, he said. And I need your help to succeed.
Success, Pradhan says, will depend on whether he can ensure the first six months of his rule are trouble-free. Then he can build his future. At present Modi is No.1 in the party, the others are number nine. Theres no-one in between. Yogi Adityanath can be number two. Hes young. Age is on his side. By the time he turns 60, Modi will be 80. And he will be ready to take over. Hes the BJPs tomorrow.
Under the aegis of Karnataka State Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department Officers and Employees Association, Gram Panchayat employees staged a protest as part of a state-wide indefinite stir in front of the Zilla Panchayat office here on Monday.
Charging that they have been burdened with work, they urged the government to appoint sufficient number of staff and to provide promotion, PF and other facilities.
Addressing the protesters, the associations district president and Laila gram panchayat development officer P H Prakash Shetty said the Gram Panchayat employees, PDOs, secretaries and account assistants have been working restlessly to reach the targets set by the government. They are assigned works related to both the Central and the state governments. But, they are deprived of facilities like job security and promotions. The shortage of staff at many GPs has burdened the existing employees, he claimed.
Data entry operator Sharika from Puttur said the GP employees are assigned works related to 9/11 forms, Bapuji Seva Kendra, job cards RTCs, uploading of GPS information on housing schemes, Jamabandi, preparing the list of development works done in the village, Gram Sabhas and others.
Sullia Taluk Gram Panchayat Employees Association president Theertharam said that no GP worker has availed PF so far because the village cannot be considered as a unit according to the norms. To avail facilities a minimum of 10 members should be present in a unit. Also, the employees are not getting health insurance benefits. Annually, Rs 700 crore should be earmarked for the purpose.
Pressure should not be exerted on employees to work on government holidays, he demanded.
Memorandum submitted
Zilla Panchayat CEO Dr M R Ravi received a memorandum from the protesters containing 37 demands and said that the problem of the Gram Panchayat employees will be brought to the notice of the government. A request has already been made to the government to relax some rules for the district, based on demographic conditions. Also, action has been sought against the charted accountants who portray GP employees as fraudsters, he added.
Associations district committee vice president U D Shekhar and Secretary Jerald Mascarenhas were present. Hundreds of Gram Panchayat employees took part in the protest.
Finance Ministers of India and six other South Asian countries on Monday vowed to come together to boost trade and tourism and generate $70 billion in goods and services and 20 million jobs by 2025.
We envision SASEC (South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation) to be powering Asia in the 21st century. We will accelerate and sustain the growth momentum of recent years by unlocking the hitherto untapped potential of the subregions natural resources, industry and infrastructure through subregional cooperation, said a joint statement issued after a meeting of finance ministers.
We will leverage natural resource-based industries by tapping into latent industrial demand within the subregion. We will promote subregional industry-to-industry links to develop regional value chains and enhance the subregions competitiveness, the statement added.
Finance ministers of seven-member SASEC grouping India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Myanmar met here on Monday seeking to reshape the economic contours of these countries.
They pledged to enhance connectivity within countries and between countries to improve the productivity of economic activities, including trade and tourism taking advantage of their common heritage and cultural ties. We believe that these synergies can generate annually, an estimated $70 billion in incremental GDP and 20 million in incremental aggregate employment by 2025, the statement said. Addressing the meeting, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said Indias Act East policy will help in improving connectivity and relationship with South-East and East Asian countries.
India is following a policy of Act East to improve connectivity and relations with countries of South-East Asia and East Asia. Improved access to gateway ports, particularly in Bangladesh and Myanmar, may help unleash the latent potential of agro and forest-based industries in Indias North East region, he said.
Amusement park-operator Wonderla Holidays on Monday announced its repositioning strategy with a new brand identity. With a new logo, sonic identity and a new television campaign, Wonderla aims to become a complete holiday destination, and not just as an amusement park.
Wonderla has its presence in Kochi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, and wants to expand to two other cities Chennai and a state in the western region, either Goa, Gujarat or Maharashtra.
Speaking to reporters after unveiling the new logo, Wonderla Holidays Managing Director Arun K Chittilappilly said, Land acquisition is almost complete in Chennai, and we will probably start the construction of the park in two quarters from now, and we will be able to commission it in two years. We invest over Rs 250 crore in any new park.
Apart from these new parks, Wonderla plans to open theme parks adjacent to the existing parks in the future. There are lot of themes that we can work on such as education, science and animals. But this will happen in future, as our footfalls are still growing, Chittilappilly said.
The amusement park has enthralled three crore visitors across three cities since its opening in 2000. In the last financial year, Wonderla had seen 30% growth in footfalls.
Chittilappilly said that Bengaluru has degrown in terms of footfalls, and it was due to increase in price. Talking about online booking, he said, At present, our online booking is just 5%, but we have set the goal of 10%.
The eight-year-old dyslexic child in Aamir Khan-starrer Taare Zameen Par earns recognition in the climax, but such an opportunity is not at the disposal of the countrys children with learning disabilities.
They are dubbed failures or lazy and this prompted NCPs Rajya Sabha MP Vandana Chavan to introduce a private members bill in the Upper House recently to identify and support such children.
Vandana, a former mayor of Pune and a law graduate, is concerned that there is no adequate research to estimate the number of children with learning disabilities or funds to address their woes.
She wants certain concessions to such children in examinations - from providing 25% extra time to complete the paper to exemption from diagrams, charts and graphs.
In her Children with Specific Learning Disabilities (Identification and Support in Education) Bill, she also suggests that oral tests should be conducted along with written tests till Class X and the students must be promoted based on the average.
The bill proposes that such students be allowed to use calculators, and spelling or grammar errors and inconsistency in sentence construction be ignored.
It suggests that such students be exempted from learning second and third languages. In addition, it wants the standard of arithmetic to be relaxed as per the level of a student.
The bill also seeks introduction of alternate subjects like home science and electronics.
This is a serious issue. The Bombay High Court has earlier issued guidelines but that is being followed in Maharashtra only. Very few people know about it. We need to take it to the national level, Vandana told DH.
After I introduced the bill, one of the MPs came to me to offer support. That MPs child suffers from learning disabilities. The kid was sent to the US for education because there is no school here to cater to his needs. Another MP told me that he had learning disabilities, she said.
The Supreme Court on Monday prompted the Gujarat government to accept forthwith state Director General of Police P P Pandeys offer to step down.
With this, the tenure of the IPS officer, who is out on bail in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case, as DGP has ended.
A bench of Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice D Y Chandrachud questioned the state government, represented by Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, why it wanted to continue with his services when the officer himself has offered to quit the post.
He had been granted extension till April 30 by the Centres Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) when he was set to retire on January 31.
Mehta said the officer has written to the state government, urging to revoke the notification that allowed him to continue in the post till April 30. He also said there would be no further extension after April 30.
On the courts nudge, however, the law officer agreed to accept the willingness expressed by Pandey to step down immediately.
The Additional Solicitor General informs that the Gujarat government has immediately accepted the offer made by Pandey, the court recorded in its order, declaring a petition filed by former Mumbai police commissioner Julio F Ribeiro against Pandeys extension as infructuous.
Pandey was arrested in the 2004 Ishrat Jahan encounter case. He was reinstated in February 2015 after being granted bail.
He was head of the state crime branch when Ishrat, a 19-year-old girl based in Mumbra near Mumbai, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an alleged encounter with the police on the outskirts
of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.
The Gujarat Police had claimed they had terror links and had plotted to kill the then chief minister Narendra Modi.
A special investigation team constituted by the high court had concluded that it was a fake encounter.
Following this, high court had transferred the case to the CBI.
Sunni Muslim leader and dargah dewan (spiritual head) of the Ajmer shrine has announced that his family is voluntarily giving up beef.
Syed Zainul Abedin has also asked Muslims of the country to stop consuming beef.
The dewan was addressing a congregation of spiritual heads, Sufi saints and religious leaders to mark the 805th annual Urs of Khwaja Chisti.
Sajjadanashin (spiritual head) of the Ajmer dargah, dewan Abedin the direct descendant in the 22nd generation of acclaimed Sufi mystic Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in his statement has asked Muslim leaders to support a nationwide ban on cow slaughter so as to put an end to this issue that he said was at the root of all hatred between Hindus and Muslims.
The statement comes within a week of a crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses by newly elected Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The crackdown spread to most parts of the BJP-ruled states of Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Gujarat.
The joint declaration, read out by the dewan, said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should give respite to crores of Muslims by solving this issue once for all and the only solution is by passing an ordinance to ban beef.
The statement mentioned that a panel of Sufis have agreed that the ban will resolve the matter forever.
The statement also read that the dargah dewan will appeal to the prime minister to declare the cow as the national animal of India.
The cow should be declared Indias national animal. It is a matter of respecting the feelings of our Hindu brethren and that cannot be compromised, said Abedin.
Abedin has also called for an end to the practice of triple talaq, which according to him is a violation of the Sharia or Islamic law.
Previous statements
Known for his controversial remarks, Abedin, who is known to be on the side of the ruling party, in 2013 boycotted the Pakistani prime ministers visit to the Ajmer Sharif Dargah because Pakistani troops mutilated the bodies of two Indian soldiers near Jammu.
In 2012, his statement barring the entry of film stars into the dargarh to promote their films and TV serials had sparked a widespread debate among the cine fraternity.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday pushed the decibel level against Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) further with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal challenging the Election Commission to give him 72 hours to prove that EVMs can be tampered with.
Demanding that the EC should make public the EVM software, the AAP chief said a team of experts could read and rewrite the software of EVMs in 72 hours in the presence of its officers and in front of camera.
Its a challenge to ECI; give us 72 hours and we will prove EVM (software) can be read and rewritten...We demand that the EC release the EVMs so that it is open to scrutiny, we will investigate...People are asking what is the point of standing in queue when the EVMs are tampered...EC must come out clean on sanctity of EVMs, he said.
Addressing a press conference a day after the EC rebutted AAP's claims that EVMs used in the recent Punjab Assembly elections were tampered with, he also demanded that the upcoming municipal polls be conducted with paper ballots. It is "globally known" that the machines can be tampered with, he added.
This has raised questions about all elections. Why is it that all EVMs are coming from Uttar Pradesh.
With aspersions cast on the electronic voting machines (EVMs), the Congress on Monday asked the Election Commission to introspect and consider using ballot papers in future elections.
The demand from the Congress comes after a faulty EVM was detected in Bhind district of Madhya Pradesh last week that registered votes only in favour of the BJP even if a voter had cast ballot for other party or an independent candidate.
The AAP, too, had voiced similar apprehensions with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal challenging the EC to allow it to prove that EVMs can be tampered with.
Addressing a press conference, AICC spokesperson Manish Tewari asked the EC to walk the extra mile to clear all doubts about the election process.
If the stakeholders in the election process have apprehensions, the EC should go for paper ballots, Tewari said.
The Congress leader said the poll authority need not be an advocate of EVMs at a time when questions were raised about its accuracy.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to implement a total liquor ban across the country.
This move will be a real tribute to Mahatma Gandhi in the year when India is celebrating the centenary of Bapus Champaran Satyagraha, Nitish said.
Gandhi had visited Champaran in April 1917 to protest against the Britishers forced indigo cultivation order, which adversely affected local farmers. Famous as the Champaran Satyagraha, the movement catapulted Gandhi to the national scene during the freedom struggle.
India is celebrating 100 years of the Champaran Satyagraha. Its high time the Centre imposes prohibition throughout the country as a mark of respect towards the Father of the Nation, said Nitish, who earlier this year earned accolades from his bete noire Modi for the successful implementation of the liquor ban in Bihar.
Nitishji, the way you have transformed Bihar after imposing prohibition here should serve as a source of inspiration for others. To bring such a cataclysmic change in the society is not an easy job. Many leaders cant even think of doing so, Modi had said in Patna.
On Monday, Nitish clarified that consuming liquor was not a fundamental right. Show me one religion which advocates drinking, the chief minister said, while interacting with the media.
Centre exploring middle path
The tourism ministry will seek legal suggestions to explore a middle path to solve problems being faced by hoteliers and restaurant owners following the apex courts order banning liquor sale along highways, reports PTI from Delhi.
Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma, however, said the government will work within the framework of the directives of the Supreme Court in the matter.
He said this on Monday after a delegation of hoteliers and restaurant owners met him here on the issue of the Supreme Courts order that liquor vends within 500 metres of national and state highways will be shut down from
April 1.
The defence ministry on Monday cleared procurement worth Rs 860 crore for the Indian Navy to boost the capability of the blue water force.
The approval included buying Barak missiles from Israel, a thermal bathymetry system from the USA and a clip-on suit for anti-mine operations at sea.
The green signal came from the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), headed by Defence Minister Arun Jaitley.
This was Jaitleys first DAC meeting after taking over as the defence minister following the exit of Manohar Parrikar from the South Block.
The approval for short-range Israeli-origin missiles is to replenish the weapons in the air-defence system used by several warships.
They would be procured from the Rafael Advance Defence Systems Ltd, Israel.
The expendable bathythermograph system will be purchased from the USA through a government-to-government deal. It will be used to create a temperature profile of the water for improved sonar performance.
This is the first military contract with the USA approved by the Narendra Modi government in the Donald Trump regime.
On the other hand, the Rs 311 crore deal to buy mine countermeasure equipment for warships would be through a global tendering process. They are clip-on suits that can be attached to the existing naval vessels.
Jaitley also instructed the officials to accelerate other pending procurement cases and quicken the contract negotiation process, said a defence ministry source.
Agreeing with the Supreme Courts suggestion on the long-pending sensitive Ayodhya dispute, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that the contentious issue of faith be resolved through dialogue between the interested parties.
In his maiden interview after taking over as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Adityanath told the RSS mouthpiece Panchajanya that if required, his government was ready to assist to find a solution for the construction of Ram temple.
A month ago, the Supreme Court had observed that Ayodhya was a sentimental issue and suggested an out-of-court settlement, which invited mixed reactions from stakeholders and political parties.
I welcome the Supreme Courts observation. My government is ready to help the parties settle the issue through talks. The Allahabad High Courts September 2010 verdict has cleared a majority of issues. So, now it is important that the dispute is resolved amicably, he said. The chief minister said that vegetarian food was good for health, but at the same time he said he was no one to put a check on the food habits of people.
If somebody is turning vegetarian, it is a good thing and they will stay healthy. However, I understand that everybody has their own needs and tastes. I cannot curtail individual choice. The constitution gives them that freedom. However, freedom should be exercised within a limit. If something is illegal, it is the governments obligation to crack down on it, he said.
The chief minister also justified crackdown on the illegal slaughterhouses on the grounds that his government was merely executing the Allahabad High Courts directives.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) in 2015 and the High Court in 2017 had made comments on the illegal slaughterhouses in UP and gave some directions to the state government. We have started taking action along those lines.
You cannot confuse legal and illegal slaughterhouses. The governments orders are clear. If a slaughterhouse meets all conditions and has a licence, nobody can touch it. If any official does so, he or she will be punished. However, nobody will be allowed to spoil public order in the name of illegal slaughterhouses, he said.
During the interaction, he was unperturbed over objections to the BJP appointing a Hindu hardliner like him as the chief minister. He said our work will speak for itself and reiterated that his government will work for the betterment of all irrespective of caste or religion.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday attached a farmhouse in south Delhi belonging to Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh in a money laundering case.
According to the ED, the property worth Rs 27.29 crore was purchased using funds given by Vakamulla Chandrashekar, the promoter/director of Tarini Group of Companies engaged in hydro-power projects. Chandrashekar gave Rs 5.9 crore to Singh.
The total attachment by the ED in connection with its money laundering probe against the senior Congress leader now stands at Rs 35.22 crore. Last month, the ED had attached Singhs assets worth Rs 7.93 crore.
The ED said, the farmhouse in Mehrauli was purchased using black and white money. The registry value of the property was shown at Rs 1.20 crore, which was paid through four cheques. However, further investigations showed that another Rs 5.41 crore was paid in cash for the farmhouse.
Last week, the CBI had filed chargesheet against Singh and his wife in the disproportionate assets case. According to the CBI, the chief minister was found in possession of disproportionate assets worth Rs 10.30 crore, which he had amassed between 2009 and 2011 during his stint as union power minister.
Assets of Cong leaders son seized
The ED has attached assets worth Rs 11.57 crore of two directors, including the son of senior Congress leader Vyalar Ravi, of a health care firm in connection with its money laundering probe into the Rajasthan ambulance scam case.
The agency said it has issued a provisional order against Directors of Ziqitza Healthcare Limited - Sweta Mangal, and Ravi Krishna, son of Ravi, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Ziqitza was awarded the tender for 108 ambulance scheme in 2010.
Envoys of African nations in New Delhi on Monday called for a probe by the United Nations Human Rights Council into attacks on people from their countries in India.
They issued a statement criticising the India for not sufficiently responding to the recent attacks on Nigerians at Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh. They said New Delhi had not taken any deterring measures even after a series of xenophobic and racial attacks on Africans.
The statement was issued from the office of Alem Tsehaye Woldemariam, Eritrea ambassador to India, who also holds the office of the dean of the African Group Heads of Missions an organisation of top diplomats representing the African countries in New Delhi.
They agreed to comprehensively report the series of incidents to the African Union Commission.
The envoys met in the wake of the recent assault on four Nigerian students in Greater Noida. They were attacked as some local residents blamed the Africans studying and living in the city for the death of a local youth, apparently due to narcotics abuse.
After reviewing the previous attacks on the citizens of their countries in India, the African envoys concluded that no known, sufficient and visible deterring measures were taken by the Government of India.
As regards the recent unfortunate incident in Greater Noida, the African Heads of Missions strongly condemn and express their deep concern and also take note that these reprehensible events, both outstanding and unresolved cases against Africans, were not sufficiently condemned by the Indian authorities, read the statement, which was issued on Friday, but released in public domain on Monday.
After the assault, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had tweeted about her talks with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
I have spoken to Yogi Adityanath ji, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, about attack on African students in Greater Noida. He has assured that there will be a fair and impartial investigation into this unfortunate incident, Swaraj had posted on the micro-blogging site on March 28.
Though she refrained from condemning the incident, her ministry had issued a statement terming the incident deplorable.
The MEA has so far refrained from terming the assault a racial attack and maintained that such categorisation could be done only after completion of the police probe. Several people have been arrested in connection with the incident.
MEA rejects demand for investigation
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Monday rejected the demand of the African envoys for a probe by United Nations Human Rights Council into the attacks on people from their countries in India, DHNS reports from New Delhi.
The MEA said: It is unfortunate that a criminal act triggered following the untimely death of a young Indian student under suspicious circumstances has been termed as xenophobic and racial.
It said the government is committed to ensuring safety and security of all foreign nationals in India, including African nationals, who remain our valued partners. Strong Indian institutions are adequate to deal with aberrations that represent act of a few criminals.
Investigations into the death of an Indian teenager in Greater Noida and the subsequent incident is underway, the ministry said in response to a joint statement by the African envoys earlier in the day.
The MEA said the government had condemned and described as unacceptable the incident of attack on a few Nigerian nationals in Greater Noida. It pointed out that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had told Parliament about the action being taken in this regard. The MEA also noted that Sushma had spoken to UP CM.
Former chief minister S M Krishna, who joined the BJP recently, on Monday said the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government was the worst in the history of the state, on the basis of his experience of 55 years in politics.
Speaking to reporters before taking part in the bypoll campaign here, he questioned whether the Congress really existed in the country.
The Congress government has no proper vision about the development of the state. In the four-year tenure so far, the state could have been developed better by continuing the works of the previous governments and with proper planning, he pointed out.
Urging the voters to support BJP candidate V Srinivas Prasad, who quit the Congress after he was dropped from Siddaramaiahs Cabinet, Krishna said, Prasad was a dignified person and he came out of the Congress when leaders there hurt his self-respect. A majority of the politicians opt for the easy way, but Prasad has selected a very tough path to prove himself, Krishna said.
Clarifying about his move to join the BJP, Krishna said it was for the future of the country and not for his personal gains.
It was a question of my self-respect, similar to Srinivas Prasad. Many more senior leaders in the Congress are disappointed, he said.
Comparing Prime Minister Narendra Modis leadership to that of Barack Obama, former president of the US, and other foreign leaders, he said, Modi had the ability to take the country forward, to transform India from a developing country to a developed nation.
Appreciating the style of functioning of former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, he said, Yeddyurappa is working hard, day and night. I am awed by the discipline and organisational skills in the BJP.
Srinivas Prasad and BJP leaders B N Bacchegowda, V Somanna, S A Ramdas, R Ashoka and Shobha Karandlaje were present.
As she reached Maralapura village, about 10 km from Gundlupet town, villagers surrounded the Congress candidate Mohan Kumari (Geetha Mahadeva Prasad), raising slogans hailing her husband the late H S Mahadeva Prasad.
Women gave her a traditional welcome by performing aarati. She went straight to nearby Siddappaji temple and offered her obeisance to the deity. She, with her relative Roopa and half a dozen women Congress workers of the village, got into a makeshift goods autorickshaw and began the roadshow.
Clad in a white saree, 56-year-old Mohan Kumari, a political novice greeted the villagers with folded hands. Many women, especially elders, turned emotional.
"Mahadevanna (as the late Mahadeva Prasad is referred to) is no more. She (Mohan Kumari) had not come out of her house all these days. She would not have taken so much trouble if he was alive," octogenarian Shivamma said as tears rolled down her cheeks. Septuagenarian Maadamma's eyes filled with tears as she saw Mohan Kumari.
"Mahadevanna helped me get old-age pension. He used to take care of the entire village...I had not seen ammavaru (as Mohan Kumari is referred to out of respect) as these days. Today, I am seeing her in this state," she said wiping her tears.
As the roadshow passed through the bylanes of the village, many villagers offered her flowers, while others simply blessed her by raising their hands. "These people will never let me down. My husband was a gentleman politician. His good work will ensure a smooth sail for me in the election, Mohan Kumari, who holds a doctoral degree, told this correspondent.
A native of Mysuru, Mohan Kumari studied BA at Maharanis Arts College for Women. Almost 10 years after her marriage, she did her MA in Sociology from the Karnataka State Open University. She was awarded a doctoral degree by the University of Mysore in 2013. She is also a writer and a poet. This perhaps explains why she had kept herself off politics.
"Madam (Mohan Kumari) may be new to politics. But she is not alone. We are all working hard and will ensure her victory," P Mariswamy, a former member of Chamarajanagar Zilla Panchayat and a staunch follower of the late Mahadeva Prasad, said.
The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has been declared as the best among all categories of institutions in the country for the second consecutive year.
The government on Monday released the all India ranking of higher educational institutions for 2017.
The elite science school, based in Bengaluru, has also grabbed the top slot in the list of 100 best universities in India followed by Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, and Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in Uttar Pradesh. University of Hyderabad climbed down to seventh position this year from fifth in last years ranking.
The IISc, established in 1909, was recently ranked eighth among the best small universities of the world by an international rating agency, Times Higher Education.
The premier science institute had topped the list of the all India ranking of higher educational institutions, conducted under the Human Resource Development Ministry for the first time in 2015-16.
The second edition of the exercise was conducted under six different categories Engineering, Management, University, Colleges, Pharmacy and Overall.
The institutions were ranked under five main parameters with each carrying a score of 100 Teaching Learning and Resources; Research and Professional Practice; Graduation Outcomes: Outreach and Inclusivity; Perception.
The first two parameters carried the highest ranking weightage of 0.30 each.
The educational institutions performing well in the annual ranking will be awarded with more funds and enhanced autonomy. We are formulating such policy, HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said, announcing the results.
According to the ranking list for 2017, a total of eight higher educational institutions, including University of Mysore, from Karnataka figured in the list of 100 top institutions in India in the overall category. While a total of 81 engineering colleges participated from the state, just eight of them could make it to the list of top 100 engineering colleges.
Of a total of 56 management schools from the state, only two secured a slot in the list of top 50 B-schools.
As many as 19 (non-technical) colleges participated in the ranking from Karnataka, but only six could figure in the list of top 100.
In the list of institutions ranked under overall category, the IISc was followed by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras and IIT-Bombay.
Under the Engineering category, IIT-Madras grabbed the first slot, followed by IIT-Bombay and IIT-Kharagpur, IIT-Delhi, IIT-Kanpur, IIT-Roorkee and IIT-Guwahati. In the B-School category, while the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad grabbed the top slot, IIM Bangalore was ranked second and IIM Calcutta third in the list of top 50.
Delhis Miranda House emerged as the best college as it was ranked first among the top 100 colleges in India. Chennais Loyola College came second and Delhis Sri Ram College third. A total of 3,551 higher educational institutions participated in the all India ranking while many other preferred not to join as they were required to submit various data. The ranking of the medical colleges and law schools could not be done this year because of very low participation, a ministry official said.
A youth from Hubballi has tweeted to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj seeking her assistance to bring his Pakistani wife to India.
Twenty-two-year-old Daniel Henry Devanur reportedly married Silvia Noreen (21), his relative, at United Pentacostal Church at Youhana Colony in Lahore on June 25 last year.
It is said that after returning to India, he is unable to bring his wife back as no gazetted officer in Pakistan was reportedly ready to sign on the sponsorship letter of Silvia for getting visitors visa to India.
Now, Daniel has sought the help of Sushma Swaraj and others.
On Twitter, he has uploaded photos, the marriage certificate issued by the church and the marriage registration certificate issued in the name of Pakistans Punjab government. According to the tweet, he has sought the help of MP Pralhad Joshi and Leader of Opposition in Legislative Assembly Jagadish Shettar also.
Tahsildar Shashidhar Madyal confirmed that Daniel had approached him seeking acknowledgment for his wedding with a girl in Pakistan.
How can we issue acknowledgement here as we cannot verify the authenticity of the certificates? I advised him to approach the appropriate authorities. If we get orders from the higher officials, we can conduct spot inspection and certify about his stay here, he said.
The move comes 11 months after the NGT directions that had upset the real estate sector in the city.
On Monday, the apex court admitted the Karnataka government's plea for consideration.
A bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta issued notice to NGO 'Forward Foundation' and others on whose plea the green panel had passed its order.
The state claimed the NGT has not taken into account the buffer zones prescribed in the development control regulations for Mumbai (15 m), Ahmedabad (30m from the riverbank), and Hyderabad (varying with the lake size).
The NGT has not applied the principle of sustainable development as statutorily recognised in section 20 of the NGT Act, 2010. It has also not considered that the increase of buffer zone to such an extent would have a substantial adverse impact upon the construction activities in Bengaluru without any corresponding and equivalent benefit to the protection of water bodies/lakes in the city, the state government said in its petition.
The NGT has also ignored the doctrine of separation of powers that mandated that a statutory tribunal should not pass judicial orders which directly encroach upon the powers of any other statutory authority on amending buffer zones under the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act, 1961, it added.
A group of builders and others had already approached the apex court against the NGT order of May 4 last year.
The petitioners had contended that the NGT order would result in very expensive land going waste and property prices rising, making small land owners and buyers suffer.
They said the revised Master Plan 2015 provided for buffer zones of 50m, 25m and 15m from the middle of the primary, secondary and tertiary rajakaluves or stormwater drains, and 30m from the edge in the case of lakes.
The SC had in August refused to stay the order revising the buffer zone around lakes. But it stayed the order on the Rs 117-crore penalty on Mantri Techzone Pvt Ltd and the Rs 13.5-crore penalty on Core Mind Software and Services Pvt Ltd. On Monday, the bench tagged the Karnataka government's appeal along with similar petitions without any arguments by state's counsel V N Raghupathy.
The state pleaded that before the order was passed, there were more than 21 plans sanctioned by the BDA but awaiting occupancy certificate. The area covered by these sanctions is 95 acres.
Also, there are more than 19 plans sanctioned before NGT order where completion certificate is yet to be granted. This involves about 49 acres.
There are more than 181 layouts and development plans where only the building plan approval is to be granted. Besides, 40 applications were pending for approval of layouts covering 789 acres.
The Karnataka government on Monday joined builders groups in challenging before the Supreme Court the National Green Tribunal's order increasing the no-build buffer zone around lakes in Bengaluru from 30 to 75 metres.
The Supreme Courts clarification that the ban on liquor shops alongside national and state highways extends to bars and restaurants has added 2,000-odd outlets to the list in Karnataka that will have to close down or relocate.
The state has already identified 2,767 liquor shops within 500 metres of national and state highways and is in the process of compiling the list of bars and restaurants which will fall under the category.
The Federation of Wine Merchants Associations of Karnataka, which has 85% of the 10,097 excise licence holders in the state as members, has estimated that the total number of bars and restaurants that will have to close down or relocate is 2,047.
While the bars have to close down, restaurants which fall in this category have to stop serving liquor.
The Association members will meet in Bengaluru on Tuesday to decide on the next course of action following the Supreme Court order.
In states like Delhi, Kerala and West Bengal, where the financial year coincides with the excise year, the ban has come into effect on April 1. Outlets in Karnataka will have time till June 30 to close down as the excise year ends that day. In Karnataka, the licence is renewed annually every excise year (July 1 to June 30).
We have sought legal opinion, which we will get ahead of our meeting. Relocating or closing down thousands of liquor outlets has huge financial implications both for the licence holders and the state government. We will explore all possible options, including approaching the state government, Association general secretary Govindaraj Hegde said.
The Association is planning to impress upon the government to denotify at least some stretches of state highways and classify them as major district roads to provide relief to the outlets. This has been done in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
Upgrading and notifying roads as state highways comes under the domain of the state government. State highways are maintained by it. Denotifying them will mean that their upkeep will be the responsibility of the jurisdictional district administration. There are 146 state highways in Karnataka and 13 national highways pass through the state.
Hegde said a ban on opening liquor shops within 220 metres from state and national highways is already in place in Karnataka since 1995, following a high court order which was upheld by the Supreme Court. Most liquor shops that will be closed are located between 220 and 500 metres from state and national highways and deserve to be given a breather, a wine merchant said.
A teenaged girl who worked as domestic help at an apartment in Mahadevapura, east Bengaluru, fell to her death from the ninth floor of the residential complex on Sunday night.
Security guards at Gopalan Grandeur apartment complex on Hoodi Main Road found the girl, identified as Phuli, a native of Assam, lying in a pool of blood around 9.30 pm on Sunday. They called the apartment office which alerted the police and called an ambulance. The girl was taken to a private hospital where she was declared brought dead. Her body was later shifted to a government hospital for post-mortem.
Phuli had arrived in Bengaluru two years ago through a Delhi-based recruitment agency named Milan Enterprises, her employer Vishal Mutt, an accountant at an IT company, and his wife, Garima told the jurisdictional Mahadevapura police. The girl lived in with them.
Police have registered a case of suspicious death under section 174 of the CrPC and are questioning the couple and the neighbours.
Meanwhile, an NGO has claimed that the girl was a minor and a victim of human trafficking. It suggested that she was murdered or driven to suicide due to torture and harassment by her employer.
Narayanaswamy, DCP (Whitefield), said preliminary investigation showed that the girl had not been in touch with her family for the past two years. There are numerous suspicions. We are exploring all of them, he said and added that the couple would be booked if their culpability in the suicide was established.
A three-day theatre and arts festival EQUAL - Womens Voices for a Common Humanity will kickstart from April 7. The festival will cover women's activism, gender inequality, womens roles in Kannada theatre and gender hues.
The fest will feature literary talks, plays, poetry, photography exhibition, screening of films and more.
While on the first day there will be a talk by writer K V Akshara and actor Madhuri Dixit Nene on The journey of Indian women in theatre in Kannada and Marathi contexts, on the second day director of Samraksha, Sanghamitra Iyengar will stage plays and present a testimonial on her work with sex workers.
While certain social spaces celebrate women as being on par with men, others treat them brutally and violently, pushing the lives of women into silence. EQUAL envisions a new world where we not only raise questions about this unequal world, but also celebrate small victories, and hope to coin a new idiom of togetherness, according to event organisers.
The last day of fest presents a range of expressions of alternative genders and sexualities. Barring plays, all activities are open to public.
For details, call 080 2649 3982. Visit www.bookmyshow.com for tickets to the plays. The festival will be held at Ranga Shankara, JP Nagar and at Jagriti Theatre, Whitefield.
When the Bengaluru police caught three suspected vehicle thieves recently, they didnt have the faintest idea that the gang was more into burgling churches in southern India, targeting the donation boxes in particular.
One of the suspects turned out to be involved in the sensational theft at Velankanni church in Tamil Nadu on January 31, 2017. Alex (29) and his two accomplices Jayaprakash G (35) and Sujoy (35) were caught by the Bommanahalli police when they were reportedly trying to sell off four-wheelers stolen from across Bengaluru. Police were stumped when they seized the valuables stolen by the gang. The booty included a goods carrier, three other four-wheelers, gold ornaments, foreign currency and coins.
A detailed look at the jewellery convinced the police that it was stolen from outside Karnataka. They contacted their counterparts in Kerala and Tamil Nadu and it emerged that the booty was stolen from some of the prominent churches in the two states. Alex turned out to be the serial church burglar. On January 31, someone had burgled the offices of three priests by breaking into the toilet through a vent, and made off with Rs 1.2 lakh worth of gold ornaments. He had clearly done a recce the previous day. Devotees were really upset and saw it as a bad omen, said Fr A M A Prabhakaran, rector, Velankanni church. The burglar was Alex.
Alex also tried to break into churches in Kerala, including two prominent churches in Edapally and Thrissur, according to the rector. An investigating officer said Alex took to crime in 2001 when he was a minor. He would target churches which see high footfall and those receiving big donations from devotees. But he would always strike at the end of the weekend when the donation boxes would be filled, the officer said.
On Monday, police returned the valuables to their rightful owners.
Alex hails from Ernakulam while Sujoy is a native of Kannur, both in Kerala. Jayaprakash is from Madurai, Tamil Nadu. The men became friends while being lodged in the central prison at Parappana Agrahara between August and November 2016. They formed a gang after their release, the officer said.
Each of them is suspected to be involved in nearly a dozen cases of theft reported in Mico Layout, Ramamurthy Nagar, Bommanahalli, and Hulimavu in Bengaluru.
A senior police officer said the court had been urged to not give bail to the suspects as they never attended court hearings despite several warrants being issued against them. Moreover, since they operated in different states, it becomes difficult to trace them, get their body warrant and produce them before court, the officer said.
The Karnataka High Court on Monday expressed displeasure over the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palikes (BBMP) inaction with regard to a complaint over filling up of a pothole located next to Esteem Enclave on Bannerghatta Road.
Justice Raghavendra S Chauhan asked the BBMP commissioner N Manjunatha Prasad, Why the BBMP has been in a state of coma? and why the Palike officials have failed to take action even after complaints were registered and FIRs were filed since 2013?.
The commissioner, who was present before the court, said that notice was issued to the owner of the neighbouring building, who had dug up the place, and an FIR was also filed to initiate criminal proceedings. The judge asked why even after filing the FIR, the Palike officials failed to pursue the matter.
Justice Chauhan directed the BBMP to file an affidavit with regard to the action taken by them on the complaint and adjourned the matter to April 19.
A businessman living in Vijayanagar owns a collection of rare coins and notes reflecting Indias numismatic history.
Over the decades, P Subramanya Setty has collected and labelled his possessions for convenient reference. He takes part regularly in numismatic exhibitions all over India.
As an agarbatti businessman, I saw the value of the rupee going down. Some coins went out of circulation, and the government banned some notes, he said.
Setty decided to preserve coins and notes for the benefit of future generations. My collection has now acquired antique value, he told DH. Sometimes, when he likes something, he adds it to his collection, regardless of what he has to pay for it.
The Mahatma Gandhi series of notes in his collection begins with Rs 10 and goes up to Rs 1,000.
The notes bear striking numbers like 111111 and 999999. Of 136 star notes issued by the RBI, Setty has specimens of 130, in denominations of Rs 10, 25, 50, and Rs 100. Star notes replace defectively printed notes, and bear a star in the number. Settys most prized possessions are notes from the British era. He has one with a profile of King George VI.
The post-Independence Series II has a Rs 1,000 note issued in 1954, with the Brihadeeshwara Temple of Thanjavur on the reverse. The Ashoka Pillar series, issued in 1975, and the Mahatma Gandhi series, issued since 1996, are also in his collection.
In 1969, the RBI started issuing Re 1 notes in the Gandhi series. Setty has a collection of these, as also the Rs 10 notes issued between 1957 and 1970. The printing of Re 1 and Rs 2 notes stopped in 1995.
About 200 signatures appear on his collection. Setty holds 71 varieties of commemorative coins issued since 1964. They are referred to as uncirculated proof-sets, and mark events or honour distinguished personalities. They have 50 per cent silver with copper, nickel and zinc.
The state governments decision to challenge in the Supreme Court the NGT order redefining buffer zones of lakes and stormwater drains drew flak.
In 2016, the NGT had passed an order increasing the buffer zone of the stormwater drains and lakes affecting many people, especially builders.
The NGT order was passed based on a petition by various citizens groups against Mantri Techzone Pvt Ltd and Core Mind Software and Services Pvt Ltd. Besides imposing a hefty penalty of Rs 130 crore on the two firms, NGT redefined the buffer zones of water bodies.
Mahalakshmi Parthasarathi, general secretary of the Citizens Action Forum (CAF), which is one of the petitioners in the NGT, said, The government is not fulfilling its bounded duty of protecting its natural resources and keeping its citizens informed about its priorities. People will end up buying properties, which fall in the eco-sensitive zones.
Another member of CAF N S Mukunda denounced the government saying that the citizens in Karnataka are facing the worst kind of crisis because the government has been supportive of that section of society, which believes in violating the rule of law. The government has not even implemented the old order of buffer zone limit, let alone the latest NGT order, said Mukunda. He added that the CAF is going to fight it out as vigorously as possible.
Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Chandrasekhar hit out at the government for siding with the builders instead of citizens.
It is shameful that the government is working on behalf of the builders instead of the ordinary citizens. On the one side, there are people, NGOs and environmentalists, while on the other, there is a government and the mighty builder lobby, said Chandrasekhar.
He said he had predicted that the government will come to the aid of the builders, which finally came true.
He vowed to fight against the government in the Supreme Court and ensure that the citizens movement wins.
By E. Araujo, P. Barreto, S. Baima, and M. Gomes [Translation by Google .] 26 March 2017 (Imazon) Conservation Units (CUs) cover 22% of the Amazon forest and are an effective strategy to conserve animals, plants and environmental services, contain deforestation and maintain the planets climate balance. However, deforestation rates in PAs have been increasing in 2015 it already surpassed that of 2012 by 79% as well as its participation in total Amazon deforestation, which increased from 6% in 2008 to 12% in 2015. As a consequence of deforestation Of 237.3 thousand hectares in protected areas (PAs) between 2012 and 2015, equivalent to R$344 million in appropriate lands, approximately 136 million trees were destroyed, causing the death or displacement of approximately 4.2 million birds and 137 thousand monkeys . In addition, we estimate that the burning of vegetation in this deforested area has emitted 119 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year which compares to 80% of Brazils car fleet emissions in September 2016; And that this deforestation generated a gross income of R $ 300 million from the sale of timber (standing timber value), creating a huge investment potential in deforestation. In this context, we identified the 50 most deforested PAs between 2012 and 2015 in the Amazon forest, which represent only 16% of the total PAs in the region. Together, they lost 229,900 hectares of forest, that is, 97% of the area cleared in PAs between 2012 and 2015. These critical PAs in deforestation are in the area of expansion of the agricultural frontier and under the influence of infrastructure projects, such as highways , Waterways, ports and hydroelectric. The states of Para and Rondonia concentrated most of the deforestation detected in the period, 49.8% and 38.9%, respectively. The federal UCs are in higher number in the ranking (27), but the state ones presented greater deforested area (68%). The top 10 ranking positions accounted for 79% of the deforested total within the Amazon forest CUs between 2012 and 2015 and 82% of the total deforested in the ranking. The Environmental Protection Areas (APA) occupy five of the top 10 positions. They aim to reconcile human occupation with environmental protection, but this is not possible without management. Among the state UCs, we highlight the APA Triunfo do Xingu, which is the most deforested UC of the Amazon forest. Among federal UCs, Flona Jamanxim is the most deforested and is in 3rd place in the ranking. The vulnerability of these areas stems from systemic failures of public power, which has a duty to protect them. Among these vulnerabilities, we highlight: i) the governments erratic and limited strategy, which consists of changing rules and weakening environmental legislation according to current interests and tolerating illegal deforestation by 2030; Ii) the scarce human resources for management and the worrying trend of reduction in the number of federal environmental analysts crowded in the Amazon, 40% in ICMBio (2010-2016) and 33% in Ibama (2009-2015); Iii) insufficient financial resources to carry out the necessary investments to implement the UCs only the 16 federal CUs critical of this study would need R $ 10.6 million annually, a figure 3.26 times higher than the average investment resources of ICMBio Between 2014 and 2016 for the whole country and 3.42 times greater than that projected for 2017; Iv) inefficiency in execution, which is revealed by the low availability of available financial resources. For example, between 2009 and 2014, ICMBio executed only 35% of the R $ 218 million received for environmental compensation; In slowness in combating irregular occupations, which causes environmental and social damages; And the low punishment of environmental criminals and landowners.
In order to eliminate deforestation and ensure effective protection of these areas in the long term, it will be necessary to build a consistent strategy, to provide human and financial resources and to improve the effectiveness of their implementation. But it is unlikely that the leadership to carry out these tasks comes in isolation from the public power, since part of it clearly acts against the public interest. The protection and sustainable use of PAs will also require vigorous and ongoing involvement of various sectors of society, the private sector, and the international community. There is potential for stronger involvement in conservation in Brazil, as 91% of Brazilians favor forest conservation and another 91% of Brazilians are proud of the country, motivated to a large extent by riches and natural beauty. We conclude by exploring opportunities for this engagement around three goals: Ensure immediate protection of the most critical areas and their populations. It is necessary to protect the local populations of the Amazon, such as indigenous and rubber tappers, who have fought and fight for the creation and maintenance of protected areas. Several actors, besides the police, could contribute to this. Social and environmental NGOs, governments and international and national donors could increase support for these populations and the implementation of the areas based on the experiences of PPG7 (G7 Rainforest Protection Program) and Arpa (Amazon Protected Areas Program), which The creation of tens of millions of hectares of protected areas in the Amazon. In addition, they could also support the long-term implementation of UCs, as Arpa aims to do. Religious leaders and their followers could step up support for conservation based on Pope Franciss Encyclical Letter, which calls for forest conservation as part of the effort to care for the common home (the planet). Military forces could intensify their action in the fight against deforestation and the grilagem of public lands in the areas of greater conflict. In addition, the Public Prosecutors Office and the Audit Courts could hold public administrators accountable for reducing the area or degree of protection of UCs to meet the demands of squatters squatting public assets based on the Law of Responsibility of the President of the Republic And of the Ministers of State and in the Administrative Improbity Law. Block the demand and financing of illegal deforestation. There is a need to increase the pressure on businesses to improve and expand their commitment to sustainability. To this end, the Public Ministry and environmental agencies could increase the liability of companies that buy products from illegally deforested areas and those that finance such activities; Could also monitor the implementation of Resolution No. 4,327 / 2014, which requires financial institutions to establish and implement the Social and Environmental Responsibility Policy (PRSA). NGO campaigns and investigative reporting on law-breaking companies could strengthen such accountability actions and protect companies that comply with laws and agreements from unfair competition. In addition to boycotting illegal production, it is essential to stimulate sustainable production in areas already deforested outside UCs. However, public credit directed exclusively to the most sustainable practices in Brazil (ABC Program low carbon agriculture) will account for only 1.6% of the countrys total rural credit in the 2016- 2017 Safra Plan. But the financial sector could help Expand the scale of sustainable production initiatives by engaging more strongly with governments, producers and supply chain partners (such as traders, refrigerators, supermarket chains) to identify opportunities and remove barriers. Ensure the long-term sustainability of Conservation Units. Several approaches could sustain conservation in the long run. Involvement will tend to be stronger when involving sensory and emotional experiences, such as tourism, educational expeditions, artistic and sporting events. Such activities could strengthen the regional economy and create a virtuous cycle CUs would increase tourism which, in turn, would increase the desire to conserve. It is estimated that tourism in UCs already moves approximately R $ 4 billion per year, generates 43 thousand jobs and adds R $ 1.5 billion to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Such an approach could bring together environmental, cultural and commercial interests, similar to the US experience with the creation of national parks. In addition to local benefits, scientific research shows that conserving the Amazon is strategic for the countrys development because of its contributions to rainfall that supply agriculture, hydroelectric and industrial consumption in the southern center of the country. To engage national leaders who are unaware of the Amazon, scientists, educators and other professionals could develop programs that combine the presentation of scientific evidence about the Amazon with sensory and emotional experiences through field visits and other media (shows, movies, etc.). Download the file here. View the online version of the publication here.
Nokia 9 is expected to be the company's flagship smartphone with a 5.5-inch OLED display, 6GB RAM and up to 128GB storage
Nokia's flagship smartphone codenamed 'Nokia 9' might be the next flagship smartphone to feature an iris scanner. According to Nokiapoweruser, HMD Global is considering the idea of adding an iris scanner - a biometric system considered safer than fingerprint sensor or facial recognition system.
Samsung's Galaxy S8 and S8+ sport an iris scanner and most Windows 10 devices also feature iris scanners for Windows Hello biometric recognition. Nokia 9 is reported to feature a 5.5-inch Quad HD OLED display and is expected to be powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 processor coupled with Adreno 540 GPU. The handset is also likely to offer 6GB RAM and 64GB or 128GB storage.
On the camera front, Nokia 9 is said to feature a 22MP rear camera with Carl Zeiss optics and a 12MP front camera with fixed-focus. Other rumoured specs include a front-mounted fingerprint sensor, IP68 water and dust resistance and Android 7.1.2 Nougat out-of-the-box. Nokia 9 is also rumoured to come with 'OZO' audio enhancements, which hints at some kind of support for virtual reality. Nokia sells a $45,000 professional VR camera under the OZO branding and it is expected to bring some of the VR elements to its smartphone lineup soon. Nokia 9 is also rumoured to house a 3800mAh battery with support for Qualcomm's Quick Charge 4.0.
At MWC 2017, HMD Global announced Nokia 3, Nokia 5 and Nokia 6 aimed at mid-range segment. The company is now expected to introduce its top-end and budget flagship smartphone next. Like most Nokia leaks, this one should also be taken with a grain of salt.
Shares in Asian Growth Properties (AGP) zoomed more than 80% higher on its plans to reorganise by selling assets outside mainland China to SEA Holdings, which owns 97.2% of the company.
This would lead to a special dividend payment to shareholders of HK$10.35 a share.
AGP said it had entered into a conditional sale agreement to sell its assets outside China to SEA for HK$8.91bn, which was about 913.6m in sterling terms.
SEA would get its dividend by reducing the amount it was owed from the consideration for the assets it was buying.
The assets included a central London commercial property, Crowne Plaza Hong Kong Causeway Bay in Hong Kong, bank balances and cash of the subsidiary being sold. There were also some short-term treasury investments.
SEA proposed making a distribution in specie, which meant that all of the shares held in AGP by SEA would be distributed to the shareholders of SEA.
Nan Luen International was SEA's controlling shareholder. It planned to offer AGP shareholders after the distribution in specie the opportunity to convert their shares to ones in SEA.
Assuming AGP's proposals were successful, it would be left with assets in mainland China.
SEA would hold all of AGP's current non-China assets, with Nan Luen International being its major shareholder, and that of SEA.
At 12:50 GMT, shares in AIM-listed AGP were up 82.79% to 111.5p each, having pushed above 114p earlier in the session.
AIM-listed Elegant Hotels Group is to buy Treasure Beach Hotel in Barbados for up to $10.5m.
Treasure Beach will be bought through the companys subsidiary, Treasure SL1, adding to the six hotels and beachfront restaurant in Barbados it already owns.
The acquisition will mean that four of Elegant's properties will account for a continuous 300 metre stretch of the west coast, or Platinum Coast, of Barbados.
It is conditional on completion of a credit agreement with the Bank of Nova Scotia is expected to be completed before the end of April.
The four-star, 35-room hotel in Paynes Bay will be closed at the end of July to be refurbished and will be re-opened at the start of November as 'Treasure Beach by Elegant Hotels'.
The consideration and renovation costs will be funded from operating cashflow and $8m from an existing credit agreement with the Bank of Nova Scotia.
Chief executive Sunil Chatrani said that Treasure Beach had been a long-term target for the the company and the acquisition was part of a long-term expansion strategy.
Shares in Elegant Hotels Group were down 0.8% to 86.30p at 1137 BST.
Energy storage and clean fuel company ITM Power has won a 3.5m contract to install a three megawatt electrolyser system in Britain.
The AIM-listed will deploy 3MW of electrolysis in the country with some associated hydrogen energy equipment.
ITM currently has 21.79m of revenue under contract and 2.86m in the final stages of negotiation, making its total pipeline worth 24.65m.
Shares in ITM Power up 4.62% to 18.70p at 0815 BST.
Specialist services and engineering company TP Group announced that TPG Maritime had been awarded a contract by the Ministry of Defence, following successful negotiations first announced on 4 July 2016.
The AIM-traded firm said the agreement would see TPG Maritime manage equipment availability and spares provision for air purification systems on board Royal Navy submarines currently in service.
It said the five-year contract had an option for a further two-year extension, and was estimated by the company and the MoD to be worth at least 22m at 2017 prices over 7 years, although the final value remained dependent on spares usage, among other things.
We are delighted to confirm this significant contract which will see TPG continue to support advanced, safety-critical systems in the Royal Navy's submarine programme, said chief executive officer Phil Cartmell.
This recognition reinforces our long-term partnership with the Ministry of Defence and provides visibility of future work and revenue in Portsmouth.
President Donald Trump has warned that the US is prepared to bypass China and other allies of North Korea if they do not act appropriately to "solve" the issue of Kim Jong-un's regime.
The secretive Asian state has repeatedly ignored sanctions from the United Nations to roll back its nuclear programme, while China has remained firm in its support for its ally.
In an interview with the Financial Times on Sunday, Trump said that the growing nuclear threat from North Korea cannot be allowed to go on forever.
"If China is not going to solve North Korea, we will. That is all I am telling you," Trump told the FT.
Trump will welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida later this week to discuss several issues, including North Korea and the South China Sea conflict.
The former reality television star was asked about how he would approach North Korea in the event of continued support from China, responding that he would not give any further details.
"I'm not going to tell you. You know, I am not the United States of the past where we tell you where we are going to hit in the Middle East."
"China has great influence over North Korea. And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they wont. And if they do that will be very good for China, and if they dont it wont be good for anyone," he added.
In reference to Brexit, Trump praised the work of both the British government and the European Union, and commented that the departure would lead to a positive outcome for all involved.
Trump's comments come ahead of another key week for the fledgling commander-in-chief, with his meeting with Xi accompanied by the release of Federal Reserve minutes release and US jobs figures being published.
"This week will be all about reappraisal of the Trump trade into the new quarter and whether sufficient optimism and momentum remains given the event risk associated with this weeks meeting between Chinese President Xi and Trump, Fed minutes this Wednesday and the US Jobs report on Friday," said Accendo Markets analysts Michael van Dulken and Henry Croft.
Apple has informed Imagination Technologies Group that it plans to stop using the UK-based group's processor chips in its new products within the next two years as it had developed its own version of the hardware, leading the latter to seemingly hint at potential legal action.
Apple, which is Imagination Technologies' largest customer, told the smaller company that it has been working on a separate, independent graphics design in order to control its products and will be reducing its future reliance on Imagination's technology in 15-24 months' time.
The US technology giant has been using Imagination's graphics core at core of the operating system since of the iPhone, iPod and iPad since they were first manufactured.
"It has formed the basis of graphics processor units (GPUs) in Apple's phones, tablets, iPods, TVs and watches," Imagination said.
But Apple, which has used Imaginations designs across its range from iPhones to Apple Watch and even owns an 8% stake in the company, told the London-listed company that has been working on a separate, independent graphics design and will be reducing its future reliance on Imagination's technology.
There have been reports in recent years that Apple has a team of around 200 people working on graphics to adapt and optimize the Imagination graphics core.
Asked to provide evidence to back up its assertion that it will no longer require Imagination's technology without violating Imagination's patents, intellectual property and confidential information, the California-based company has apparently declined to provide this.
"Imagination believes that it would be extremely challenging to design a brand new GPU architecture from basics without infringing its intellectual property rights, accordingly Imagination does not accept Apple's assertions."
The Hertfordshire group said it had begun discussions with Apple over "potential alternative commercial arrangements" for the current license and royalty agreement, and said it has reserved all its rights in respect of Apple's unauthorised use of Imagination's confidential information and intellectual property rights.
In its last financial year Imagination was paid 60.7m from Apple in license fees and royalties, which is expected to rise to 65m for the year ending 30 April 2017.
As Imagination has minimal direct costs associated with this revenue stream, Apple income drops almost entirely through to the bottom line.
The company expecting sales from Apple of around 65m for the current year, with an expected contribution of at least 60m for 2019, when analysts had been forecasting profits of 39m.
Shares in IMG fell more than 70% in the first hour of trading on Monday to below 80p for the first time since 2009, before easing off to 99.19p by 1130 BST.
"Its the worst nightmare for Imagination," said analyst Neil Wilson at ETX Capital, with Apple accounting for about half its revenues. "You simply cannot easily replace a customer of that scale in a hurry."
He added: "Imagination seems to be hinting at legal action, saying Apple would likely be in breach of its intellectual property rights if it walks away. But there could be a compromise, with Imagination stressing potential alternative commercial arrangements.
Investec said "we see a risk of future legal battles" and said the material financial impact from a loss of its largest customer "could raise the risk of other customers not signing future licences with Imagination until the situation with Apple is resolved".
Morgan Stanley's Francois Meunier said his reading of the announcement was that "we believe Apple has designed its own graphics core", not using the rival Mali technology from ARM Holdings.
Although it is not the first time that Apple has dropped a supplier unexpectedly, the difference here, Meunier said, was that Imagination holds significant patents around graphics cores, in particular those which allow lower power use, and it is these that it is around those for which it is considering discussing different commercial arrangements with Apple.
Steve Clayton, a fund manager at Hargreaves Lansdown, said the market has been spooked by the real chance that Imagination could soon swing into substantial losses if Apple do indeed sever their ties.
"Imaginations financial track record has been unpredictable over the years even before this. Last year, exceptional restructuring costs pushed them deep into the red and the hope was that they were now on the road to recovery," he said.
"Their problems now are a great example of the risks in having too many eggs in one basket. Apples contribution to Imaginations turnover was about 50% last year. Only once has Imagination declared an operating profit of more than 20m, so it seems possible that without Apples contribution, Imagination might never have been profitable."
Morgan Stanley also noted that IMG has a credit facility with HSBC that was breached in 2016 and later renegotiated.
"We do not have insight in the new agreement but think it likely involves property of the group. The previous conditions of the agreements implied the company needed to keep a ND/EBITDA of less than 3x."
Babcock International Group , a supplier of support services to the armed forces, has been selected as a preferred bidder for a Ministry of Defence programme worth about 360m over seven years.
If selected, Babcock will become the marine systems support partner for the Royal Navy's new Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers and Type 45 destroyers.
The FTSE 100 company will also become the systems technical authority for the platform and propulsion systems on both classes of vessel, subject to the support of key partners.
It will manage the technical configuration of the systems, obsolescence issues, work with the equipment suppliers to develop system upgrades, and supply spares and in-service support to mitigate the risks to maritime equipment availability from routine maintenance and in-service failures.
This news comes after Babcock recently won a seven year, 70m contract from the Ministry of Defence for six maritime equipment consumables packages.
The company said the recent contract win and being considered for a second has come off the back of investment in a dedicated equipment management operations centre at the its marine facilities in Bristol.
Babcock chief executive Archie Bethel said: "Our selection as the MoD and Royal Navy's partner for marine systems support partner and maritime equipment consumables represents a real vote of confidence in our capabilities and performance as the Royal Navy's key support partner.
Drax Group updated the market on progress made on its bid to acquire substantially all of the assets of Louisiana Pellets and Texas Pellets on Monday.
The FTSE 250 firm had announced on 27 February that it was participating in auction processes for acquisition out of bankruptcy for both businesses.
It said that, following the conclusion of an auction on 30 March, it had been provisionally successful in its bid to acquire the assets of Louisiana Pellets.
The auction price was $35.4m, its board confirmed in a statement.
A court hearing to approve the auction result is scheduled to take place in early April, with completion of the sale expected by month-end.
The process for the sale out of bankruptcy of the assets of Texas Pellets had been postponed, however.
Drax remains an interested party in the acquisition of these assets.
Animal genetics specialist Genus has won its litigation case against rival Sexing Technologies' owner Inguran, allowing the UK company to enter the market for the processing of sexed bovine semen.
The court removed various contractual restrictions that had been blocking the way for Genus subsidiary ABS Global to commercially launch the Genus Sexed Semen (GSS) programme.
ABS will now launch GSS to provide its customers and third party bull studs with an alternative service provider and increased competition in the sexed bovine semen processing market.
GSS is a novel technology developed by ABS for sexing bovine semen that focused on fertility outcomes and does not subject the sperm cells to the high pressures and sheer forces of the technology currently in use in the industry.
Following a verdict last August that found Sexing Technologies wilfully maintained monopoly power in the market for sexed bovine semen processing in the US since July 2012, on Friday a Wisconsin court awarded Genus a permanent injunction confirming the jury verdict.
The court has now prevented Sexing Technologies from enforcing certain research, marketing and non-compete restrictions under the 2012 Semen Sorting Agreement it has with ABS.
Other bull studs in the US are also now permitted to terminate their Sexing Technologies sexed semen processing agreements on 12 months' notice, without damage or penalty.
The injunction will remain in force for five years and Sexing Technologies is required by the court to give prompt written notice of the court's decision to the other bull studs.
The government has cut its stake in Lloyds Banking Group to below 2%, meaning roughly 20bn has been returned to the state purse since it was bailed out during the credit crunch.
UK Financial Investments (UKFI), which manages the taxpayer's stake, sold 694.1m shares in the bank, it announced on Monday.
Taxpayers now own 1.4bn shares in Lloyds, which was trading at 66.5p just before midday on Monday.
The Labour government spent 20.3bn buying a 43% stake to bail out the bank in 2008 and, including dividend payouts restarted two years ago, and disposals in January, Feburary and March has recouped all but 300m of this total.
Last May, the government said it planned a retail sale of its 9.2% shareholding, fully returning the shares to the private sector between 2016 and 2017 but in October, the Chancellor announced the government would only make shares available to institutions rather than retail investors.
He said at the time that returning Lloyds to the private sector and recovering all of the cash the taxpayer injected into the bank during the 2008 crisis was the priority.
Spains foreign minister Alfonso Dastis has said there was "no reason" for the aggressive comments made by former government minister Michael Howard at the weekend, where he suggested Britain would be prepared to go to war to protect its control of Gibraltar .
Britain and Spain have engaged in centuries of squabbling over the territorial status of 'the rock', with Gibraltar voting overwhelmingly to remain part of the EU in last Junes referendum, where a slim majority of Britons voted to leave.
"I think someone in the UK is losing their cool and there is no reason for it," Dastis told the Spanish press at an event in Madrid.
Howard made a comparison with Britains conflict with Argentina related to the Falkland Islands, suggesting Theresa May would follow the example of Margaret Thatcher if she felt there was a threat to the territory after Brexit.
"Thirty-five years ago this week, another woman prime minister sent a taskforce halfway across the world to defend the freedom of another small group of British people against another Spanish-speaking country, and Im absolutely certain that our current prime minister will show the same resolve in standing by the people of Gibraltar," Howard told Sky News on Sunday.
Dastis said that the Spanish government was "a little surprised" by comments made by those in the Conservative Party, considering Britain is "a country known for its composure."
Downing Street on Monday said the British government would never enter into arrangements under which the people of Gibraltar would pass under the sovereignty of another state against their freely and democratically expressed wishes.
According to the negotiating guidelines released by the EU on Friday, if Spain is not content with the status of Gibraltar, it will retain the right to exclude it from the free trade system.
Spain has long-held ambitions to reclaim the island, which lies a short ferry ride off the southern coast of the Iberian peninsular, after its cessation from the country in 1713 as part of the Treaty of Utrecht.
Senior EU diplomats told the Guardian newspaper that the EU will not soften its position on the issue in the coming weeks, with Spain having exerted considerable diplomatic effort to gain full support among the other 26 member states on the issue. Spain are taking this very, very seriously, one diplomat said.
People often believe homes are a better investment than they actually are. If you are looking for an investment, stocks might be a better course: They never need a new roof.
Astellas Pharma to buy Belgium's Ogeda for upto $853 mn
Japanese pharmaceutical company Astellas Pharma Inc yesterday struck a deal to buy Belgium-based privately-owned drug discovery firm Ogeda SA, in an $853-million (800 million) deal.
Under the terms of the transaction, Astellas will pay an upfront payment of around $533 million (500 million) and could pay Ogeda shareholders another $320 million (300 million) if the non-hormonal drug, called fezolinetant, reaches certain clinical development and regulatory milestones.
The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2017, after regulatory approval.
The proposed acquisition comes less than six months after Astellas acquired German bio pharmaceutical company Ganymed Pharmaceuticals, for upto $1.4 billion.
Gosselies, Belgium-based Ogeda (earlier known as Euroscreen) is a clinical-stage drug discovery company that invents and develops small molecule drug candidates targeting GPCRs.
Ogeda's orally-available and proprietary lead drug candidate fezolinetant is currently in Phase2 clinical development for the treatment of women's health disorders.
Fezolinetant is an antagonist of the GPCR known as the tachykinin NK3 receptor and acts on specific neurons that control body temperature to directly and safely address the basis for hot flashes and night sweats in menopausal women.
Ogeda has additional small molecules targeting GPCRs in pre-clinical development in multiple therapeutic areas including inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.
The 23 year-old company is backed by investors, including Vealius Biocapital II SA Sicar, Fund+ NV, SRIW SA, Capricorn Health-Tech Fund NVHT fund, and BNP Paribas Fortis Private Equity Management SA.
"The transaction fits with our strategy to deliver innovative drugs in therapeutic areas with high unmet medical needs. Ogeda has been pioneering the development of a NK3 receptor antagonist fezolinetant for the treatment of MR-VMS", said Yoshihiko Hatanaka, president and CEO of Astellas.
"We welcome the acquisition by Astellas and look forward to developing fezolinetant, first non-hormonal treatment of Hot Flashes / MR-VMS, inside a leading global pharmaceutical company. With its strong development and commercialisation capabilities, resources and vision, I am convinced that Astellas will be able to turn fezolinetant promising clinical results into near-term value for patients,'' said, Jean Combalbert, CEO of Ogeda.
Formed in 2005 through the merger of Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical Co and Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co, Tokyo-based Astellas focuses on urology, oncology, immunology, nephrology and neuroscience.
Its global brands include Prograf, Vesicare, Protopic, Harnal, and Funguard.
India adds record 5.4 GW of wind power in FY17
India added a record 5,400 MW of wind power capacity in the 2016-17 financial year against the targeted 4,000 MW, surpassing the achievement of 3,423 MW of capacity addition in the previous financial year.
Of this, 2,026 MW was added in March, beating the March 2016 record of 1,700 MW. With the addition of 5,400 MW, the country's wind power capacity stands at 31,177 MW.
The wind power capacity addition in 2016-17 was led by installation of a record 2,190 MW of generating capacity in Andhra Pradesh, followed by Gujarat 1,275 MW and Karnataka 882 MW. In addition Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Telangana and Kerala have reported 357 MW, 288 MW, 262 MW, 118 MW, 23 MW and 8 MW, respectively, of wind power capacity addition during 2016-17.
This is because of rush by wind power developers to complete projects so as to be able to avail themselves of the 'generation-based incentive' scheme that expired on 31 March. Industry sources are, however, confident that the government would bring back the incentive.
These figures, released by the ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE), however, are tentative, according to the ministry.
During 2016-17, MNRE has taken various policy initiatives in the wind energy sector that includes introduction of bidding in wind energy sector, re-powering policy, draft wind-solar hybrid policy, new guidelines for development of wind power projects, etc.
Wind industry observers feel 2017-18 will be a good year too. In addition to the demand from the eight windy states, the centre has begun auctioning capacity, buying power to sell to states without wind potential, having already, auctioned 1,000 MW capacity.
India now has the fourth-highest wind capacity in the world after China (145 GW), US (74 GW) and Germany (44 GW). The government aims to increase capacity to 60,000 MW by 2022.
Singapore's ride-hailing firm Grab to buy Indonesian online payment startup Kudo
Singapore-based ride-hailing firm Grab, Uber's biggest rival in Southeast Asia, today struck a deal to buy Indonesian online payment startup Kudo.
Grab, Southeast Asia's biggest ride-hailing company, did not disclose financial terms of the deal, but said that the acquisition would come under its recently announced plan to commit $700 million to Indonesia.
''This acquisition marks the first investment of Grab's recently announced 'Grab 4 Indonesia' 2020 master plan, a commitment to invest $700 million in Indonesia over the next four years to further develop its digital economy through the promotion of technology innovation, driving 'technopreneurship' in mobile technologies and financial services, and improving access to mobile payments and financing opportunities,'' Grab said in a statement.
In 2016, Grab announced the launch of GrabPay Credits in select markets across Southeast Asia in order to encourage people to move towards a cashless society and improve safety by reducing dependence on physical cash.
It had partnered with banks across the region for GrabPay Credits, which enables consumers to book Grab rides through cashless transactions, even without a credit card, and use promo code discounts exclusive to GrabPay.
Post closing, Kudo employees and platform will be integrated with Grab's proprietary mobile payments platform, GrabPay.
Kudo was established in 2014 by Albert Lucius, a former analyst at Goldman Sachs and product engineer at Apple, and Agung Nugroho, a former consultant at Boston Consulting Group.
Its O2O platform enables Indonesia's unbanked consumers to shop online by connecting them with online merchants and service providers via its network of more than 400,000 authorized agents in 500 towns and cities across Indonesia.
GrabPay said that its reach across Indonesia's major cities will complement Kudo's strong presence across 500 smaller cities and towns in Indonesia.
Grab plans to support and accelerate the expansion of Kudo's agent network while also leveraging Kudo's reach to bring more riders, drivers and GrabPay users onto the Grab platform.
Additionally, Grab and Kudo will also plan to explore opportunities to expand Kudo's financial services offering, including insurance and consumer loans.
Grab is Southeast Asia's leading ride-hailing platform. Its core product platform includes commuting solutions for drivers and passengers and currently offers its services in Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Myanmar.
Apax Partners close to buying Israel's aesthetic device company Syneron for $500 mn
Private equity firm Apax Partners is close to clinching a deal to buy Israel's aesthetic device company Syneron Medical, for about $500 million, local media yesterday reported.
Israeli financial newspaper Calcalist reported that Apax would pay a 37-per cent premium to Syneron Medical, which has a market cap of $366 million.
Both companies had entered into talks in February and a deal could be finalised as early as this week, the report said.
Syneron Medical develops and markets aesthetic medical products. Its product line includes devices for hair removal, wrinkle treatment, and skin rejuvenation.
The company sells its products under three distinct brands, Syneron, Candela and CoolTouch, and has a wide portfolio of products including UltraShape, VelaShape, GentleLase, VBeam Perfecta, PicoWay, Profound and elos Plus.
The Yokneam, Israel-based company markets its products in 86 countries.
It has offices in North America, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, UK, Australia, China, Japan, and Hong Kong and distributors worldwide.
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A strong storm system is expected to move through the Wiregrass Monday afternoon bringing the potential for severe storms.
Storms will move into Southeast Alabama and the Florida Panhandle between 2-5 p.m. and then move into Southwest Georgia and the Florida Big Bend in the early evening.
The most likely impact from the storms is damaging, straight-line winds in excess of 70 mph and the possibility of tornadoes.
The winds could snap trees, down power lines and cause structural damage.
The National Weather Service on Sunday upgraded the severity to moderate. Rainfall amounts are expected to be limited due to the fast movement of the storm system.
A number of schools in the Wiregrass have canceled school or moved up dismissal times. Schools are expected to resume their normal schedules on Tuesday.
Home Four wheelers Auto Expo 2018: Hyundai Ioniq To Be Launched In India oi-Kennedy Paul
Hyundai has announced that they will be bringing the hybrid sedan Ioniq to India early next year. The Ioniq will be launched at the 2018 Auto Expo, and the South Korean carmaker is planning to position the Ioniq against the Toyota Prius.
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On Saturday, April 29, 2017, Dave Eicher and Michael Bakich will speak at a star party like no other.
Americas Darkest Sky Star Party will offer unbelievable views of numerous objects in the universe rom one of the greatest skies on the planet.
You can check out the details for the star party here:
http://darkskynewmexico.com/blog/index.php/2017/02/23/dark-sky-hosts-star-party/
I want to share with you Michael Bakichs blog, 10 Reasons to Come to Americas Darkest Sky Star Party. We both hope to see you there!
XXX
On Saturday, April 29, a unique star party will take place in southwestern New Mexico. Americas Darkest Sky Star Party (DSSP) will occur with a variety of telescopes in Lordsburg and Animas, New Mexico, a lovely area dominated by antique silver mining that now boasts one of the best skies in the world for stargazing.
Astronomy magazine Editor David Eicher and Senior Editor Michael Bakich, well known astronomy personalities, will be your hosts to all things celestial. If youre wondering whether you should join us, here are 10 things that might help you make up your mind.
1. An almost ironclad promise of a clear sky.
It will be late-April in the Desert Southwest. Days are hot and sunny, and nights are warm and starry. We cant guarantee a clear sky, of course, but based on solid, long-term climate statistics we can come awfully close to doing so.
2. Youre walking on air.
At the star party sites elevation of 4,600 feet (1,400 meters), 15 percent of Earths atmosphere lies below you. Thats a great advantage over many other sites in the U.S.
3. Ultra-low light pollution.
No large cities lie close to the DSSP location. Small communities do exist, but their light output is tiny, and it will not degrade our views of even faint celestial quarry.
4. More than just stars.
Earlier in the day, Eicher and Bakich will present two illustrated talks each on a variety of astronomical subjects. Maybe you want to catch up on recent news in astrophysics. Or perhaps youre wondering where you should travel to experience the upcoming total solar eclipse August 21. If so, get there early.
5. I thought stars were supposed to twinkle.
As the night progresses, you may notice something strange. Most of the stars will stop twinkling. The atmosphere at the star party site has such great seeing (atmospheric steadiness) that theres almost no discernible twinkle except for stars near the horizon.
6. Access to telescopes.
You can bring your own telescope. In fact, you may want to just to see how it performs under a pristine sky or to ask a specific question about it. But you dont have to. There will be plenty of telescopes for attendees to use.
7. Experts at your side.
The Astronomy magazine team can answer your questions. About galaxies. About telescopes. About the birth of the universe. About astrophotography. About observing. About astronomy period.
8. Youll make some cool new friends.
Amateur astronomers are a friendly bunch. They love to talk about the sky, observing, equipment, travel, and lots more. If youre just starting out in this fascinating hobby, their experiences can make the road you travel a whole lot smoother.
9. The fabulous Virgo Cluster.
As darkness falls, our telescopes will locate and track what many observers consider the most beautiful and enigmatic targets in space galaxies. Well have great looks at the Whirlpool Galaxy, the Sombrero Galaxy, the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy, and lots more. And well take some time to gaze in wonder at the Cigar Galaxy a place where star formation is occurring at an astounding rate. Then, if you can hang around just a few hours after twilight ends, well turn our attention to objects much closer to home as we gaze into the spectacular heart of the Milky Way.
10. Your dream site?
If you like what you see, chat with the owners of the Dark Sky New Mexico site. For a small monthly fee, theyll lease you a plot of land where you can put up your own observatory and telescope. Then you can visit regularly. Or image remotely. Its your choice. Imagine!
There is no hiding the fact that the rate of change in business makes our collective heads spin. No industry, no business, and no worker remains untouched by change.
Many examples of how innovation and disruption has impacted businesses and industries exist if youre interested in finding these, a simple Google search can help you out.
What all of this change and disruption means for business is that bringing entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial thinking into the boardroom is fast becoming a necessity.
Disrupt or be disrupted
New and emerging technologies lead to different ways of doing business. From business models through to sales strategies and workforce management it has all been impacted by change and innovation.
The old-fashioned continuous change programs are even more relevant today, and they have been rebranded as innovation done by intrapreneurs (i.e. internal talent bringing entrepreneurial tendencies into the workplace).
Significant innovation and business/industry change will happen either by incumbents or up-starts taking advantage of weaknesses and/or opportunities that the existing behemoths dont see or are too slow to take advantage of.
What we need is innovative and visionary thinking at the highest levels of organisations to make sure that disruption is baked into the corporate culture and complacency is killed.
What we need are entrepreneurs in the boardroom.
Get out of the way
The biggest stumbling block to bringing innovative thinking into the boardroom is the existing directors. Entrepreneurs and innovative thinkers are often viewed as mavericks or pie-in-the-sky thinkers. This makes people uncomfortable. And uncomfortable doesnt sit well with conservative, dark-suited folk.
The irony is that the people charged with ensuring the continued sustainability of an organisation are actually the ones standing in the way of the business moving forward and adapting to the modern business environment and adapting to changing consumer behaviours. The most significant risk directors now face is the risk of doing nothing, rather than the risk of doing something.
Its time to step up or get out.
Embracing entrepreneurs in the boardroom
Bringing entrepreneurial thinking into the boardroom doesnt have to upset the apple cart (too much). Engaging an identified entrepreneur as a special advisor to the board is a good starting point. You can then bring that person on to an innovation committee, and work up to bringing them onto the main board.
Whichever way they are engaged with the board, the existing board members need to take the entrepreneur seriously. This is probably easier said than done. Consider: if you are a board member struggling to open your mind, ask yourself What would I have said to the Netflix offer if I were on the board of Blockbuster?
If youre an entrepreneur on a board
Firstly, congratulations!
Secondly, you need to understand what your role, duties, and responsibilities are as a company director and work to them. Know them and live them.
Thirdly, you need to understand the business. A quick way of losing the faith of other board members is to start throwing out those pie-in-the-sky ideas that absolutely make no sense to the business. Do your homework. Learn the business and present your ideas in a way that makes them relevant and appear achievable. For example, present an idea, and then present a suggested implementation plan along with the implications that go along with it and an idea of costs and benefits. You want to make the leap of faith as comfortable as it can be for the other decision-makers.
The future may be uncertain, but one certainty is that innovative thinking is needed for any organisation to survive. The board holds ultimate responsibility for embracing disruption.
Its time that the boardroom is open for innovation
About the author
Lisa Cook is the Founder and Managing Director of Get on Board Australia. The organisation delivers education and development courses that are open to new and aspiring company directors from all professional backgrounds and all types of industries (public, private, NFP, sporting organisations and clubs, etc). Lisa sits on the board of a number of organisations in the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors in Adelaide and Sydney. Lisa holds a degree from Charles Sturt University in business management and marketing, and has completed the Foundations of Directorship program through AICD.
Patricia Maxine Valley Hoover
Patricia (Patty) Maxine Valley Hoover, age 74, of Lewisberry, PA, went to rest with the eternal father at the Sarah A. Todd Memorial Home in Carlisle, PA on April 1, 2017. Pat was born on September 18,1942 in Duluth, MN, the daughter of the Edward J. and Maxine L. Valley. Including her parents, she was preceded in death by her sister Constance Valley Ksiazek and brother Douglas Valley.
Pat and Wayne Hoover were married on November 28, 1964 in San Diego, California for a total of fifty-two years. Pat graduated from Hermantown High School in 1960. Following graduation, she joined the U.S. Navy and served four years. She was extremely proud of her service to the U.S. Navy. Pat also worked for the federal government for the Navy department for a total of 25 years of service. During her illustrious career, she was awarded many special acts of service awards.
Pats greatest achievements, however, were that of a wife, mother and homemaker. Pat virtually raised her three children single handed for long stretches of time while her husband was on various deployments with the Navy. She was adept at sewing, cooking, decorating, and providing council, socializing, baking, and all facets of being a great wife and mother. She had a remarkable knack for preparing cuisine meals from the most basic ingredients; and her baking was family renown. Pat enjoyed playing the piano and was quite proficient at it. She also enjoyed crafts such as ceramics, decorating and sewing. Pat was a member of Mount Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lewisberry.
In addition to her husband, she is survived by three children; Sandra Jean Hoover of Mechanicsburg, and her children Jennifer, Bradly, Andrew, and Mackenzie; Mark Wayne Hoover and his wife Lisa of Mechanicsburg and their children Elizabeth and William; and Jackie Lynn Clark and her husband Stacey of New Cumberland and their children Amelia and Cooper.
Funeral services will be 3:00 PM Sunday, April 9, 2017 at Mt. Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, 863 Lewisberry Rd., Lewisberry, PA with visitation held from 2:00 to 3:00 PM. A reception will follow the services. Interment will take place at Indiantown Gap National Cemetery at the convenience of the family.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Mt. Zion Lutheran Church, 863 Lewisberry Rd., Lewisberry, PA 17339; Sarah Todd Memorial Home, 1000 West South St. Carlisle, PA 17013 or to the Alzheimers Assoc., 3544 N. Progress Ave., Harrisburg, PA 17110. www.MalpezziFuneralHome.com
SMEs with revenues up to $50 million will have their tax rates cut after the Federal Government struck a deal with the Nick Xenophon Team (NXT) in the Senate on Friday.
Under the deal, which will cost $5.2 billion over the next four years, the tax rate for businesses with turnovers up to $10 million will see their tax rate from 30% to 27.5% this financial year. From July 1, companies with turnovers up to $25 million will pay 27.5% and, from 2018-19, this tax rate will apply to those with $50 million annual turnovers.
According to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, the tax cuts are the first stage of the Federal Governments ten-year Enterprise Tax Plan, which involves reducing the tax rate for SMEs with turnovers up to $10 million to 25% in 2026-27. He said deal means three million SMEs, employing 6.5 million people, have been delivered a tax cut.
He told a press conference, The beneficiaries will be Australian workers because the firms for which they work or which they own in the case of the smaller businesses, they will be able to invest more, grow more, employ more. That is the fundamental leverage that cutting business tax delivers. More growth, more jobs and it makes Australia more competitive.
Tim Reed, the CEO of MYOB, said the deal shows the Federal Government recognises the importance of SMEs in helping to drive the Australian economy.
He continued, Wed liked to have seen confirmation of the whole 10-year plan to cut the rate from 30% to 25% for all companies by 2026-27, however the political realities in the Senate meant the government got the best deal it could for Australian businesses.
Last year, a survey by MYOB revealed more than half (56%) of small businesses believed that lowering the company tax rate to 27.5% for businesses with up to $10 million in revenue would have a positive impact. The survey also revealed that 7% of SMEs agreed growth would be encouraged through widening the definition of a small business.
Tim Reed said the governments tax cuts will mean business owners will be less constrained when it comes to scaling up.
Its good that those barriers to growth have been removed, he said.
The old system discouraged SMEs to grow beyond $2 million in revenue because of the benefits they lost from being counted as a small business.
We hope the Government is able to secure support for its ongoing program of company tax cuts. The simple fact is that lower corporate taxes across the board would have made Australian business more internationally competitive.
For every dollar small businesses spend with big businesses, big businesses spend $2 with small businesses. This is the nature of the economic ecosystem we have and we need the whole thing to be healthy.
The confirmed changes will encourage small business to invest, take on more employees and grow. Its a good day for Australian small to medium sized businesses, their employees and the whole community.
Businesses that can gain visibility into expenditure, automate spend management and achieve effective governance of spending policies can achieve stronger cash flow. But, for many companies, getting a tighter grip on corporate spending can present a daunting challenge.
For example, Concurs recent ANZ spend management index found that, while 82 per cent of respondents have a formal expenses policy in place, only 71 per cent say employees always comply with the policy. While 12 per cent said their employees complied sometimes, that left seven per cent of organisations who simply didnt know whether employees were complying or not.
Concur customer, Automotive Holdings Group Limited (AHG), overcame cultural and technological barriers to successfully transform its expense management, implementing strong governance and visibility and achieving significant savings as a result.
The company implemented Concurs travel and expense management solution to help set policies and parameters around spending, and to deliver automation and better visibility into spending and reimbursement activities.
Andrew Chilcott, Head of Management Accounting (AHG) said, Concurs mature offering and exceptional user experience meant it was the ideal solution for our needs.
While the solution was ideal, Automotive retailing is a conservative industry and the transformation team faced significant challenges to implement change which meant redesigning expense management processes from the ground up. Therefore, Andrew and his team developed a strategic approach that would reduce the implementation risk and achieve results faster.
The first step was to identify and neutralise potential project-killers such as competing internal priorities and implementation burnout and ensure that support was garnered from high-ranking managers.
They needed to find the path of least resistance and let the Concur solution prove itself in the organisation. Once the early adopters had achieved results, they could then be used as a proof of concept to get other divisions on board.
With a small team consisting of a Project Manager (Luciano Albaytero) and Project Accountant (Chris Westcott) and more than 180 dealerships to cover, the implementation plan needed to be highly targeted to achieve quick wins and gain momentum.
In deciding where to roll out the solution first, the team targeted those business units where managers had expressed an interest in the solution, where the biggest risk factors were in play, or where the team could deliver the biggest financial impact.
It was essential to use facts and data to convince the sceptics, rather than simply anecdotal evidence. Using a technology solution like Concur let AHG drill down into information and use dashboards and other reports to build a strong, fact-based argument for change. In the past, behaviour or numbers were debateable, but using Concur, the team had undisputable data.
If the team had simply demanded compliance from the start, it would have backfired. Instead, we went with an iterative approach so we could learn, make small modifications, and then take the project to the next level.
Andrews team also had strong backing from the Board and Chief Financial Officer to roll out the Concur solution to the highest-risk groups. This made the teams political position strong and maximised its chances of success.
Rather than simply implement a technology solution to automate existing, inefficient processes, AHG looked to completely transform its processes first, supported by the Concur solution. This started with drafting new expense-related policies and procedures that would deliver the improved governance and cost savings. Using the Concur solution helped give this process a clear direction.
Using Concur as its technology solution, the team at AHG was able to transform its expense management processes enabling greater transparency and supporting improved decision making. AHG now has strong governance in place and has achieved the significant cost savings through efficiency and insight dividends that are so often the goal of any transformation.
Andrew Chilcott said, This is a real business transformation and Concur is providing a strong framework.
Innovation is an underappreciated word in the world of business. Small and medium enterprises are only considered innovators when they bring something new to the market. This parochial appreciation for the meaning of innovation often means SMEs overlook opportunities to innovate. For whilst innovate means to introduce something new, it also means to make changes in the established: to find better ways of doing things.
Programs such as the National Innovation and Science Agenda (NISA) and political rhetoric has seen an Americanisation of the Australian business climate towards big money and bright new ideas. A climate where incremental improvements and advancements are eschewed in favour of future tech and leaps of faith.
The meaning of innovation has mutated to mean multi-billion dollar valued ideas and game-changing product launches. What other form of innovation should be getting the attention of Australias businesses? Business process improvement (BPI).
Whilst not as exciting as creating the next Uber or Slack, BPI can have significant, lasting effects on an organisation that is open to change.
BPI can take many forms and perhaps is therefore truer to the essence of the word. A new content management system or simple adjustments to an existing one can be an innovation: making better what stood before. It could also be the decision to outsource, or remove product lines to redirect funds elsewhere.
The driving force behind business process improvement is the same as the force behind other game changing innovations: to add value and eliminate that which does not. What makes BPI worth so much to the Australian economy is its accessibility. Any SME, from the family-run corner store to a nationwide industrial product manufacturer, can improve some aspect of their business operations and BPI is the most accessible, and logical, form of innovation.
There are a host of benefits to BPI that Australian businesses can see returns on almost immediately.
Automation
Removing superfluous steps in a process can improve a businesss bottom line by reducing costs, and the time and effort required to bring a product to market.
Automation can present some trying teething pains but businesses that grin and bear it whilst it is implemented correctly avoid future headaches and see swift returns.
Communication
Communication is vital to the success of all businesses but it can be time-consuming and inefficient. Implementing simple improvements to this process can generate immense savings and improved efficiency. Simple, yet effective, solutions like an office-wide chat program can facilitate rapid communication. The top benefits of instant communication are a reduction in time spent composing emails (and therefore managing a crammed inbox) and project delay and wait-time.
Visualisation
When all employees are on the same page, and managers can physically view business processes, major changes can happen easily. Eliminating duplicated tasks and finding ways to facilitate more rapid results are shining examples of basic business process improvement.
Control
Streamlined business processes allow for a greater degree of control over all operations. Being able to rapidly assess non-compliance or poorly managed aspects of operations can quickly produce great returns.
Capacity
Carving out unnecessary processes and freeing up employee time can allow a business to handle greater operating capacity. If your employees are able to complete their tasks efficiently, theyll be more capable of handling additional workload.
The Balance
Business process improvements work best if the short-term costs are accepted in the face of long-term gains. The continued development and maturation of cloud apps and other software enables small businesses and SMEs to partake in effective process improvements. Also, due to the proliferation of such software improving their affordability, process improvement is no longer the solitary domain of cash rich companies.
That is not to say improvements are not without cost. New software costs money and can require training. New processes can experience pushback from those reluctant to change. However, if the change is necessary, and well implemented, it can have an immense payoff for years to come. With globalisation on the increase and the markets more competitive than ever this kind of innovation should not be overlooked.
About the author
Peter Khalil is the Founder of Perris Knightsbridge Chartered Accountants. He previously wrote The importance of process in risk management, Overcoming the barriers to tech start-up ecosystems flourishing across Australia and Why developing risk awareness in your small to medium business is an absolute must.
An accelerator program catering to early-stage creative tech start-ups has been launched QUT Creative Enterprise Australia (CEA), which is giving ten successful applicants $20,000 in seed capital to grow and scale.
The Collider Accelerator, which is Australias first-ever accelerator for creative tech start-ups, commences in June. In addition to capital, participating start-ups will receive mentoring as well access to CEAs co-working space, hands-on masterclasses and an extensive network of like-minded early-stage businesses.
The first 12 weeks will include on-the-ground structured content delivery tailored specifically to the creative tech sector, which covers wearable technology, virtual and augmented reality, 3D printing, robotics, games, interactive content, music tech, IoT, film and digital media. Participants have the option to complete an additional 8 weeks of support for execution and growth.
The program is being supported by Advance Queensland, a state government initiative investing more than $400 million to position Queensland as a hub of innovation and growth.
CEAs Executive Manager Mark Gustowski said early-stage businesses in the creative industries have not had the same access to accelerator programs that tech start-ups enjoy.
Technology is everything these days, and we want to be able to support entrepreneurs with creative ideas to fuse with technology to build a commercial model that will be sustainable in this digital age.
The creative industries contribute around $90-billion to Australias economy every year, yet there is limited recognition and programs targeting this sector. We know there are already successful creative tech accelerators run in the UK and USA, so we are looking forward to delivering a first for Australia.
The Collider Accelerator is the latest move by CEA to support the creative industries. CEA also has an accelerator program specifically designed for the fashion industry, and has a startup fund for creative tech which can invest up to $150,000 in each company, as well as provide co-working and incubator facilities.
Applications for Collider are open now and will close on May 4th. Further information: http://qutcea.com
EduTech start-up 1Scope has obtained a $1 million investment from Aqualand Capital ahead of its launch in August. Founder and CEO Christina Chun spoke to Dynamic Business about her online platform, which enables companies, universities and not-for-profits to promote, manage and review the professional development opportunities they offer students.
Dynamic Business: What motivated you to start 1Scope?
Chun: I am passionate about the difference a quality education can make in life. I started 1Scope to provide students aged 12 to 25 with equal access to relevant character- and skill-building opportunities, which are often difficult for them to come by. I believe this is the first step to levelling the playing field, and acting on just one opportunity can potentially set a students life on a new trajectory. Weve been working on the 1Scope platform for less than a year and have been in beta version since November 2016.
DB: How does the platform work for its users?
Chun: 1Scope allows students to establish a profile as well as search, apply for and evaluate professional development opportunities including training programs, conferences, scholarships and competitions. The process is done via a secure end-to-end platform, which verifies students and institutions.
From the student perspective, the platform is a search, browse, evaluation and application tool. From the institutional perspective, it is an opportunity management program to improve operational efficiency as well as a data analytics platform that reveals student behaviours in respect of their programs.
DB: What pain points does the platform address?
Chun: Students are currently inhibited by a lack of knowledge about whats available to them outside of formal channels. Current systems are ad-hoc and imperfect, which often results in students going into jobs/programs purely at the suggestion of a friend, relative or teacher rather than with a first-hand insight into a career in that field. The result is an unnecessary changeover of students across courses and higher drop-out rates from high school, university or TAFE, than would be the case if students were better informed and experienced.
1Scope resolves this by allowing all students with a simple web connection to access a single secure platform which contains all opportunities available to them. This empowers them to have direction and expertise in the areas they wish to explore, prior to, and following graduation. We hope this will facilitate them in developing a career and education path earlier, rather than later when it may be too late.
For employers, 1Scope will help to equip students with the right education and skills for their jobs and more efficient allocation of their resources.
For institutions (companies, universities and NFPs), they simply need to create an account and a company profile. From here, the 1Scope team will work closely with them to understand the opportunity to be delivered, develop a project scope to increase the value to be provided on the platform, and further assist them along the way where needed. We are committed to bringing on board all youth-related programs across Australia and by working with key stakeholders, measure outcomes that can be used to drive program improvement, the development of new programs, or to simply facilitate decision making moving forward.
DB: What is the start-ups business model?
Were currently in beta phase, so right now, 1 Scope is free for students, not for profits and corporates to use. We will always be free for students, but we were developed to operate for a profit. We are currently determining the right revenue model for corporates and not for profits to make their opportunities available on the platform.
DB: What attracted Aqualand Capital to 1Scope?
Chun: They were impressed by the potential of 1Scope to make a difference to the adults of tomorrow by filling a gap in the market in creating opportunity for todays students to access opportunities to develop their skills beyond their traditional school and university education.
DB: What support will the company provide you?
Chun: The Aqualand team will provide support across finance, legal and marketing. This is really valuable to me as a young entrepreneur and for my team. It will help us ensure the business is set up for success.
DB: How will you use their $1 million investment?
Chun: We are committed to a) building a platform that can more effectively match students to opportunities, and b) working closely with companies so they can more effectively promote and manage their opportunities. To do this, we are constantly on the ground with our users and customers, from understanding their needs to solving their problems. The $1m investment will go towards fulfilling technology needs (development, servers and research) as well as business development. Our focus for the next 6 months is to build out the desktop/web version but an app is definitely in the works.
DB: How many users does 1Scope have so far?
Chun: Were still only in our beta phase but currently we have the support of around 10 of Australias leading corporates and businesses including Morgan McKinley, Microsoft and Bendelta who are all making their opportunities available on the 1Scope platform. 1Scope also has the support of some of Australias leading Universities and education providers including the University of NSW, the University of Newcastle and Open Learning Global. Currently we have approximately 3000 students subscribed to the platform. Our aim is to grow this to approximately 35,000 within our first year.
DB: Whats been the response to the beta version?
Chun: The response so far to both the 1Scope vision and also the platform has been incredibly positive. From a platform perspective we are continuing to refine, rather than seeing a need for any major changes at this time. Were also using this beta time to work with customers to determine an appropriate revenue model that we can put into place from launch.
Township Manager Scott Fraser said the township would look into "broad examinations of options" for the house and that it would be difficult to provide a timeline on votes or decisions.
Myanmar becomes 7th member of SASEC
Published: April 3, 2017
Myanmar became the 7th member of South Asia Sub-regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) program of Asian Development Bank (ADB).
It was officially made member at the SASEC Finance Ministers meeting held in New Delhi and chaired by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
Key Facts
Myanmars membership in SASEC will offer host of opportunities for realizing synergies from economic cooperation in the subregion.
Road corridors in Myanmar can provide key gateway between South Asia and Southeast Asia, while its ports can provide alternate routes and gateways to the landlocked northeastern region of India.
It has the potential to unleash significant economic potential and bring better livelihoods to millions in the region after developing multimodal connectivity between Indias northeastern region, Bangladesh, and Myanmar.
Transport linkages between South and Southeast Asia will also become more attractive to businesses once ongoing and planned motor vehicle agreements are finalized and implemented.
Background
Prior to becoming member, Myanmar was having observer status of SASEC since 2013. Since 2014, it was participating in annual SASEC Nodal Officials meetings as an observer. It was invited by the participating countries of SASEC countries to become a full member in 2015.
About South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC)
SASEC program is a project-based partnership to promote regional prosperity by improving cross-border connectivity, boosting trade among member countries and strengthening regional economic cooperation.
It was established 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.
ADB is the secretariat and lead financier of the SASEC program. So far, it has supported 46 projects worth $9.17 billion in transport, trade facilitation, energy and information and communications technology (ICT).
Its seven members are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
Month: Current Affairs - April, 2017
Topics: ADB Myanmar SASEC
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Two years ago, after privatizing Michigans prison food services to a company that then set out to prove what a fiasco this sort of thing is with scandal after scandal after scandal after scandal), Gov. Rick Snyder finally fired Aramark. He then hired another private firm, Trinity Services Group. Since that time, Trinity hasnt fared much better, racking up $2.5 million in fines:
The Free Press published a series of reports on how the $145-million contract with Aramark had been marked by problems with food shortages, sanitation issues and Aramark workers getting too friendly with prisoners in some cases, smuggling in drugs or other contraband or engaging in sex acts. There also were inmate demonstrations and other unrest related to food issues. But some of those problems have continued under the new contractor. The fines assessed against the company have mostly been for unauthorized meal substitutions, delays in serving meals and inadequate staffing levels. The Free Press reported that total fines against Trinity had hit $2 million by January. Gautz said Thursday fines have since increased to nearly $2.5 million.
But Trinity doesnt have to worry about those fines because the state of Michigan just gave them a big raise. How big? $4 million annually. Thats enough to pay off those pesky fines with $1.5 million to spare. In other words, the fines are being paid by the taxpayers.
[T]he House Appropriations Subcommittee on Corrections approved a 2018 Corrections Department budget that includes a $4-million increase for Trinity, for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.
In other other words, Gov. Snyder is so keen to prove that privatization works despite all evidence to the contrary that hell do anything to keep the company profitable. Its the classic case of privatizing the benefit and socializing the costs. In the meantime, the prisoners suffer and we taxpayers foot the bill.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has entered more rarefied air, having leapfrogged billionaires Amancio Ortega and Warren Buffett to become the second wealthiest person in the world.
Bezos chief executive of the e-commerce retailer and cloud services provider last week enjoyed a jump of US$1.5 billion to $75.6 billion net worth, according to Bloomberg, after his company announced a deal to acquire Middle East online retailer Souq.com.
Also owner of The Washington Post and spaceflight firm Blue Origin, Bezos now trails only Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, whose net worth is about $86 billion, in terms of wealth.
Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, is the third-richest person in the world, with a net worth of $75.3 billion. Ortega, the founder of Spanish textile giant Inditex, is No. 4 worldwide and the wealthiest man in Europe, with a net worth of $73.3 billion. Coming in fifth worldwide is Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, whose net worth is $61.2 billion.
Betting on Others
From the standpoint of willingness to take risks to reap rewards, Bezos appears to be on solid ground. Amazon is the dominant e-commerce firm in the U.S. and has driven strong quarterly earnings consistently.
Bezos success is the result of a kind of risk taking that is highly praised, but relatively uncommon, observed Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT.
By making very early and large commitments to the Internet as a conduit for delivering information and retail products and transacting sales, Bezos was betting on the ingenuity and innovation of others, he told the E-Commerce Times.
His Own Rules
Bezos wealth is linked directly to the success of the company, said Jim McGregor, principal analyst at Tirias Research.
Bezos kind of has his own way of doing business and doesnt tie his behavior to outside demands, ne noted.
Jeff has traditionally ignored calls from Wall Street to return wealth to investors by aggressively investing in Amazon, and it appears that he has the same philosophy in his other ventures, McGregor told the E-Commerce Times.
Bezos has made investments in a number of other ventures. Bezos Expeditions last year joined Alphabet CEO Eric Schmidts Tomorrow Ventures and venture capital firms New Enterprise Associates and Rethink Education to invest $40 million into EverFi, an education software startup.
Led CEO Tom Davidson, EverFi specializes in developing technology skills for the next generation of students, including many in underserved communities.
Bezos sits on the board of Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a clean technology fund chaired by Gates, which plans to invest about $1 billion in clean technology.
The notoriously secretive Bezos is certain to come under additional public scrutiny as his personal portfolio grows. Amazon has come under fire in recent years as its ever-expanding logistics and distribution requirements have led it to open fulfillment centers in new markets, and propelled it into new competitive arenas e.g., cargo aircraft, delivery drones and physical stores.
Personal Values
With greater wealth comes the greater likelihood that Bezos will figure in any debate over whether industry titans are taking adequate steps to lift all boats while their personal fortunes soar.
That the two wealthiest people in the world are now both tech leaders illustrates how profitable the tech sector has become, said Derecka Mehrens, executive director of Working Partnerships USA.
Yet the industry has left far too many people behind, she told the E-Commerce Times. As our country grapples with widespread economic insecurity, its in everyones interest to make sure such a dominant industry creates equity and opportunity especially when this incredible wealth demonstrates thats possible.
What I think is amazing about all of the massive data breaches we hear about is that we know most are not reported. In other words, for every email, customer record, or financial theft in the news, there likely are hundreds that remain in the shadows.
This problem is huge and yet another incident came to light last week. A clever Lithuanian individual was able to pull a whopping US$100 million from a bunch of unnamed Internet companies using a combination of phishing tactics and fake vendors spread across a multitude of companies.
It apparently wasnt a state-level or even organized crime-level attack, which should make you wonder how many billions hostile states and actual criminal organizations are stealing from you daily. You and I are the victims, because this activity raises costs that we pay.
The good news is that companies that no longer wish to be targets can take advantage of three broadly used technologies to stop this activity: blockchain, Inky and Varonis.
Ill explain and then close with my product of the week: the Lenovo X1 Carbon, which may be the best business laptop currently in market.
Frauds Aftereffects
The Lithuanian attack brought back memories of one of my most embarrassing moments during my stint running an audit team. Shortly after we completed the audit, someone else discovered that an employee in an area wed audited had embezzled thousands from the company, and I felt personally responsible for missing it.
My boss pointed out that my team had caught the control exposure that made the theft possible, and that it simply had not shown up in our sample of vendors. Still, I was embarrassed personally and always have felt I could have done better.
When these things hit, they affect everyone up line from them. They can be incredibly hard to catch, but I think it is well worth making the effort. Being connected to something like this can follow your career, even if you had no way of catching or stopping it.
Blockchain to the Rescue
The best solution for combating false vendors likely is blockchain technology, which is why IBM has been so successful with financial institutions implementing it broadly. Developed around the digital currency bitcoin, it is a way to ensure transactions without financial institutions. It provides a robust multilevel transaction assurance process that is incredibly difficult to break.
This doesnt mean a state or very powerful criminal organization couldnt breach it with enough resources, anything is possible. Short of that, however, it represents the most robust and secure trust system currently in market.
If the victim companies in the Lithuanian breach had used blockchain, the attacker likely would have chosen other firms to attack.
Everledger currently uses blockchain to ensure diamond transactions and eliminate conflict diamonds, which fund some of the most brutal wars and nastiest crimes in the world. It may be the strongest weapon currently available to eliminate this kind of crime.
The use of blockchain is evolving to ensure art and other high-value transactions as well, in both the personal and public markets.
Email Security Guard
When there is a unique exposure, a unique company often steps up to address it. Phishing, particularly spearphishing, is at the heart of many data breaches.
One of the biggest I personally ran into was a case of a criminal organization that was able to capture critical identity information of each of a targeted companys execs over the course of a year. It then used that data to convince all of the companys employees to send in their own financial ID credentials in order to commit identity theft at massive scale.
I see cases like this all the time now sad stories of people who believe they got a request from their boss, CFO, or even CEO for confidential information. A duped individual supplies it, and then finds out it was a fake note and he or she is now at the heart of an IP theft case as the one who breached policy. Careers often dont survive mistakes like this.
Inky is a relatively new email service that focuses on identity validation. Every employee has a unique key, and if the email doesnt have that key it isnt from that employee. You immediately can see that the email that seemed to come from the CEO didnt. Rather than becoming a key portion of the problem and possibly ending your career, you can flag the email to security and be part of the solution.
At some point, I expect every email system will have some kind of identity validation built into it, but right not the only one I know that does is Inky.
Whos Minding Access?
From the DNC email breach to this latest one, the problem in part has been that there was no in-depth monitoring of systems or access. When there is a breach, there is an unusual event taking place but if you have no invasive way to monitor activity and aggressively limit access, you simply dont have the capability to catch a breach when it occurs.
At some point during this latest breach, new vendors were being added at an unusual rate. The system should have flagged that as an anomaly, even though different purchasing agents likely were adding them. Such a flag could have resulted in identification of a breach in progress, before the millions were lost. That is why tools like Varonis, which can monitor access and alert system administrators of anomalies are a critical part of the tool kit that successful CSOs use to make sure their firms arent breached.
Wrapping Up
There are tools to prevent the kinds of financial and intellectual property breaches that have damaged companies and elections. At some point, boards need to start asking if these tools are in place to make sure the firms they oversee arent being negligent with regard to information and financial security.
As customers, we may want to start checking to see if the firms we trust to manage our own finances are well secured, because identity theft is a really nasty problem to fix as is getting back money that was pulled from our bank accounts illicitly.
Until then, just be aware there are tools that can make both our companies and ourselves far safer. More of us may want to be pointing these out so that were not included in the next set of victims.
The best laptop for me may not be the best laptop for you, but Ill bet the Lenovo X1 Carbon comes close. There are four things that stand out for a notebook used for work: light carry weight, because I already put too much crap in my backpack; good keyboard/touchpad; damage resistant, because I dont want something that looks older than I do; and really good battery life, because I dont want to fight or look for plugs on planes or in conferences.
The Lenovo X1 Carbon currently does the best job of hitting all those points. It weighs slightly less than two and a half pounds and is just a little more than half an inch thick, which puts it close to large tablet territory. Along with many others who have used it, I think it has the best keyboard currently in any laptop. The ThinkPad black coating has proven to be one of the most durable for decades. Finally, its battery has lasted around 16 hours in tests, which means it is working when you need it to work.
Lenovos ThinkPad X1Carbon
There are few laptops from anyone, let alone in this weight class, that do anywhere near as well. By the way, another nice thing that is suddenly showing up in a number of laptops is a USB-C charging port, so if you need a charger and there is anyone else with a USB-C laptop charger, you arent screwed. I actually think a USB-C port should be a requirement for every laptop going forward, so we arent forced out of our offices by a growing pile of useless chargers that dont fit our laptops.
Granted, it isnt a 2-in-1, but given how few of us use 2-in-1s in tablet mode? I really dont think many would miss that feature. In addition, it doesnt have a touchscreen, which can get a tad annoying if you are used to using one. The one real downside for me is the lack of a GPU, so I cant play good games on it.
However, if you add a GPU youll gain weight and lose battery life which even for me sometimes isnt a good tradeoff. (I find Im mostly gaming on a desktop machine at home these days, anyway.)
At just under $1,152, the Lenovo X1 Carbon is no cheap date. (Note: Personally, Id buy up to the $1,300 version with the fingerprint scanner they have really improved over the years but it currently is sold out.) If you want what is likely the best workhorse laptop for school or business, there is to my knowledge none better, which is why the Lenovo X1 Carbon is my product of the week.
Capacity of the second strike can impose the peace It may look incongruous to speak of Mutually Assured DestructionMADthe sign of nuclear catastrophe, as something reassuring. However, the logic of reassurance is impeccable, or rather it is in a static world. In this world, two adversaries confront each other and each can respond to an initial attack by the other with a second strike which is equally a disaster. In other words, an attack by one adversary would destroy or at least incapacitate its victim, but at the same time also the attacker. Therefore the attack would have an outcome which is inferior to doing nothing, and this would equally be the case for both adversaries. Peace would be secured, because either adversary would prefer to survive rather than being destroyed or at least disabled. This peaceful outcome would almost certainly be disturbed in a dynamic setting. One adversary or the other would move and use its technical progress to make its capacity for the second strike more and more efficient and thus more and more intimidating. It would have to be land-based, but also with airborne and submarine missiles to make its second strike less vulnerable; it may also defend itself with anti-missile installations. Its adversary in turn would be forced to use its own technical progress to imitate it, or indeed to steal a march over it. A highly technical competition would result, with neither adversary being able to afford to be left behind the other. It was such a competition President Reagan was credited with forcing the Soviet Union into, a competition which forced Russian industry to exhaust itself in keeping pace with the American, as well as forcing it to neglect all the other tasks which economy would have to fulfil. Reagan and American industry were thus able to accelerate the dissolution of the Soviet Union. America and Russia are currently living with a mutual armament treaty whose object is to put the intercontinental nuclear capacity of each on an equal and descending scale. Even so, the American intercontinental nuclear capacity stands at 1,400,000 warheads and the Russian capacity is of comparable size. For mutually assured destruction, this arsenal is probably many hundreds of times sufficient for overkill, even if either side is also increasing its anti-missile defences. Nevertheless, the balance of probabilities would still indicate that neither side would wish to be the first to launch an intercontinental nuclear attack on the other. A look back at their spats. The Cold War: America and Russia are each scoring two goals
The Berlin Air Lift.
During the Cold War, Berlin fell in the Russian zone of Germany, but was divided in four quarters, each quarter being governed by one of the four occupying powers with the Russian quarter being one of the four. The three western powers had the right to commute by road between West Germany and their own quarter in Berlin. In June 1948, the Russians suppressed this road traffic with the clear intention of starving the three western quarters of Berlin. America, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand responded to the Russian blockade by organizing an airlift, transporting by air all the necessities from food to coal and oil, maintaining this airlift till May 1949, at which point the Russians gave up the blockade and restored the right of the western powers to resume road traffic to Berlin. This victory had a huge moral effect everywhere, and particularly in Germany. It also signified a loss of face for Russia. The Hungarian Uprising.
In October 1955, Russia and the three Western powers lifted the four power occupation of Austria and concluded a treaty for the neutrality of the country. This had a profound effect in neighbouring Hungary, which continued to live under the occupation of the Russian army and a government wholly subservient to Moscow. There was a profound desire to obtain in Hungary the same treatment that Austria has received. In October 1956, there was a spontaneous uprising, with the civilian population unanimous in demanding the end of the Russian occupation with Molotov cocktail attacks against the Russian troops. In Moscow, the Police Bureau, since the death of Stalin three years before, was no longer under the influence of a dictator but functioned instead as a board of government, and was apparently undecided about how to handle the Hungarian uprising. Instructions to withdraw from the country must have reached the Russian troops which had started to move to abandon their positions and move in the direction of the frontier separating Hungary and the Ukraine. (This frontier was the result of the Soviet Union moving its own frontier forward at the end of the war). By the end of October, the withdrawal of Russian troops from Hungary was partly completed and was regarded as an accomplished fact. At this point came the public address of President Eisenhower, offering to pray for the success of the Hungarian people in their fight for freedom. This prayer by the American soldier President was obviously sufficient for the Police Bureau to decide that reaffirming Russian military rule over Hungary involved no risk of any international conflict except a prayer. The Russian armed forces were ordered to come back to their initial positions in Hungary, and additional fresh troops from the Ukraine were added to the occupying forces. By November 4, 1956, the Hungarian uprising was over. The provisional government was arrested, taken out of the country and its members executed. A new government obedient to Moscow was installed and socialism was rescued. The Cuban Missile Crisis.
Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev agreed with Fidel Castro that Russian nuclear missiles capable of reaching the U.S. mainland would be installed in Cuba. President John F. Kennedy warned Russia that the United States would not allow this. The U.S. navy blockaded Cuba and forced the Russian ships transporting the missiles to turn back. The misadventure caused a loss of prestige for Khrushchev as well as Russia itself. The Prague Spring.
The Prague Spring was an attempt by one part of the Czechoslovakian communist party under the leadership of Alexander Dubcek to form a government with a certain degree of independence from Moscow. It was also regarded as the end of socialism in Czechoslovakia. Moscow having learnt from the Hungarian uprising of 1956 that it has a free hand, undisturbed by American interference, to install any government in the area of its exclusive influence, invaded Czechoslovakia. Russian troops and troops from other Warsaw Pact countries entered Czechoslovakia and terminated the Prague Spring. NATO is no longer a certainty, but only a probability
NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) was convened in 1949 under the leadership of the United States with a combined membership of 28 countries in North America, Europe and Turkey. Its purpose was to provide an organised defence against Russia in case the Cold War was to turn from cold to hot. In essence, NATOs Article 5 provides that any attack by any member state of NATO should be treated as an attack against all. The 28 countries taken together represented a military potential several times greater than that of Russia and any of its allies. In this way, the defence potential of NATO and its capacity to respond to an attack resembles the capacity of the second strike mentioned at the beginning of this article. It was to function as a deterrent which would make the capacity of the first strike an act of suicidal folly. During his campaign for the American Presidency, Donald Trump explained to a rather pleased audience that the United States would not feel obliged to defend a member of NATO if the member concerned was not doing enough for its own defence. This, of course, is a denial of Article 5. It makes the United Statesa judge of what another country ought to do for its own defence, and authorises the United Statesnot to come to the defence of the country whose efforts to defend itself it considers inadequate. It is in effect, an arm against the free rider, the member country that relies on the United States to defend it because it has not done or will not do enough for its own defence. It is tantamount to the United States deciding on a case by case basis whether it will honour article 5 of the NATO treaty or not. When it is just a probability distribution rather than a certainty that the United States and other members of NATO do or do not really want to fight, the Russian military planners must make the decision about which probability they will judge most probable. President Trump has subsequently more or less withdrawn what as a candidate he had said in a campaign speech. His position now about Article 5 of NATO is anybodys guess. It is, however, impossible for responsible military planners in Moscow not to take account of it when preferring spread sheets, computer simulations, and whatever else military planners use to instruct their masters in the Police Bureau. They have to summon alternative plans in which the enemy action has alternative probabilities. They have to have plans where the U.S. armed forces have a greater or lesser engagement, and also whether various other members of NATO will or will not imitate the United States and decide whether another member is worthy to be defended or not. Inevitably, when it is just a probability distribution rather than a certainty that the United States and other members of NATO do or do not really want to fight, the Russian military planners must make the decision about which probability they will judge most probable. They must make a political judgment. Ever since the Bolshevik Revolution, the Police Bureau has tended to avoid military adventures and regretted to avoid having to engage in them. They have lost wars in Finland (1918), Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Finland again in 1939, and of course the Great War against Germany (1941-1945) which they wanted to avoid. This was hardly an encouragement to an aggressive foreign policy. When running for the Presidency Donald Trump did the best he could to empty NATO of much of its credibility. He made it a question of judgment, rather than mutual obligation. (He also called it outdated, whatever he may have meant by this.) His new Defence Secretary General James Mattis has since stated a contrary view but for the Kremlin, the President must count for more than his Defence Secretary. For more on these topics, see He Is No Gentleman by Pedro Schwartz, Library of Economics and Liberty, April 3, 2017; Russia Fails Once Again: Putin Must Punch Above His Weight, by Anthony de Jasay, Library of Economics and Liberty, February 2, 2015; and Russias Economy: Putin and the KGB State, by Paul Gregory, Library of Economics and Liberty, September 5, 2011. See also Risk of Nuclear War, by David R. Henderson, EconLog, July 28, 2016. Vladimir Putin has the difficult role of both a bully who will frighten the adversary and a risk-averse statesman who knows how far it is safe for him to advance. He still enjoys immense popularity in Russia because he has given the country the prestige and recognition that had been lost when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1989. In 2014, he recovered for Russia the Crimea and the eastern half of the Ukraine by manoeuvres in which the Russian armed forces played a decisive role, but whose role was one of deniability; the recovery of these lost possessions was pretended to be a spontaneous action by the local populations. Since then, Vladimir Putin has not made further victories unless the decisive role of the Russian Air Force in the recovery of Syria for the Shiite regime were to count as a Russian victory. However, with every year that now passes there will be a rising impatience among the Russian people for one further victory, the recovery for Russia of the three Baltic statesEstonia, Lithuania, and Latviathat every Russian patriot regards as Russias by rights. The independence of these three countries is defended by their own population, in which Russians are in a minority, as well as by NATO whose role has become a matter of judgment by the United States and of the other members of the alliance. If Russia decides to reconquer these three countries, it will no doubt make it deniablea matter of the local population and not of the Russian army. Whether or not Vladimir Putin and his court make the attempt to treat the three Baltic States as he has treated the Eastern half of the Ukraine, it must be taken into account by the West that Russia is a weak country masquerading as a strong one. It will have gained cause only if the West mistakenly takes it to be a strong one.
A tiny bug is behind a major problem in the global farmed
salmon industry.
The sea louse, or salmon louse, is eating into farmed Atlantic salmon supplies in Scotland, Norway, Iceland and Canada, driving salmon prices higher and creating a chemical arms race in the seas, the
Guardian reports.
Salmon companies around the world are spending an estimated $1.25 billion a year combined to tackle such outbreaks, the publication notes.
Salmon lice attach themselves onto wild or farmed salmon, living off the host fishs blood and skin and leaving it vulnerable to infections. As EcoWatch explained previously, crowded conditions in pens used for raising salmon can provide an ideal breeding ground for sea lice. In farms in some parts of the world, a pesticide is used to combat sea lice that is toxic to marine life and banned by both the European Union and U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
What we are seeing now is a chemical arms race in the seas, just like on the land farms, where the resistance of plants to chemicals is growing, Don Staniford, head of the Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture, told the Guardian. In fish farms, the parasites are increasing resistance to chemicals and antibiotics. There has been a 10-fold increase in the use of some chemicals in the past 18 months.
Chemicals used to control salmon lice
rose 932 percent on Scottish farms in the last decade, even though farmed salmon production only increased by 35 percent. Norway has ramped up its usage of hydrogen peroxide baths surged as well.
But like
superweeds, salmon lice are growing resistant to such chemicals and antibiotics, leading some salmon farms to resort to potentially risky methods to beat back the parasite.
Sea Shepherd, Pamela Anderson Team Up to Investigate Salmon Farming Industry EcoWatch https://t.co/C5Ja1rjCuk @SeafoodWatch @Oceanwire EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) July 18, 2016
Staniford also described how some farms are using mechanical ways to remove the lice.
They are using hydro-dousers, like huge carwashes, and thermal lousing, which heats them up, he said.
In Scotland, fish farming giant Marine Harvest used such a warming device called a
thermolicer to delouse its caged salmon, but ended up accidentally killing 95,000 fish.
In Canadawhere an infestation last year led to the deaths of more than
half a million salmonscientists are experimenting with using Pacific perch to clean lice from infested fish.
Some farms in Norway have successfully used this delousing method, deploying millions of wrasse to keep their salmon stocks healthy.
However, even that technique has a catcha
new study found that this practice may be depleting wild wrasse populations.
Hilcorp Alaska reported Saturday an oil leak from a pipeline in Alaskas Cook Inlet. The oil spilled from the offshore pipeline south of Tyonek is in a critical habitat for the gravely endangered Cook Inlet beluga whales, whose numbers have dwindled to 340 individuals. This leak is unrelated to the gas leak from another one of its pipelines that has been ongoing since December.
At first, I hoped that news of this latest oil leak was an April fools joke because it seemed like Hilcorp couldnt spring another leak so soon, said Miyoko Sakashita, oceans program director for the Center for Biological Diversity. Were really worried about what this means for Cook Inlet belugas with the double whammy of an oil spill and gas leak in the same season.
The cause of the leak is unknown and oil sheens have been reported in the area. The company said it has shut-in production at the platforms, known as Anna and Bruce, that are connected by the leaking pipeline. Reports this morning confirm that the leak has stopped, but the risk to wildlife is unknown. These platforms were installed in 1966 and aging infrastructure and severe tides in the Cook Inlet make them vulnerable to incidents. The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has also repeatedly cited Hilcorp for violating safety regulations for its oil and gas operations in the state.
Its clear that theres no safe way to drill for oil in the ocean. This is the same company that plans to drill for oil in the Arctic Ocean, a place that is much more dangerous for oil drilling with severe storms and ice, Sakashita said. Hilcorp keeps springing leaks in Cook Inlet and it should certainly not be allowed to build the Liberty project in the Beaufort Sea.
The Center for Biological Diversity has sent Hilcorp a 60-day notice of its intent to sue for the ongoing gas leak and it is monitoring the new oil leak to determine whether legal action is warranted.
By Andy Rowell
These are dangerous days for the climate. Not only do we have a climate denier in the White House, we have one in the Kremlin, too.
At the end of last week, while visiting the Arctic, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that global warming was not caused by humans: The warming, it had already started by the 1930s, he said. Thats when there were no such anthropological factors such as emissions, and the warming had already started.
In comments that will alarm many, Putin said that trying to curtail climate change was not a priority, but rather adaption was the key: The issue is not stopping it because thats impossible, since it could be tied to some global cycles on Earth or even of planetary significance. The issue is to somehow adapt to it.
Commentators have pointed out that this seems to be a dangerous U-turn by Putin and in direct contrast to his speech made at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in November 2015, when he said: The quality of life of all people on the planet depends on solving the climate problem.
Environmentalists will also be alarmed that Putin seemed to endorse Scott Pruitt. The Russian president commented that Positions and suggestions of those who dont agree with their opponents are not so stupid. God grant [Pruitt] health and success, everybody should listen to one another and only then you can find an optimal solution to the problem.
Pruitt, under pressure from a Fox News host on Sunday, acknowledged that humans are contributing to climate change. Theres a warming trend, the climate is changing and human activity contributes to that change in some measure, Pruitt was forced to concede, before adding: The real issue is how much we contribute to it and measuring that with precision.
Trump to Roll Back Obama Climate Plan, Pruitt Calls Paris Agreement a 'Bad Deal' https://t.co/yz1RXJrsRo @climatechange @climateinstitut EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) March 28, 2017
There is a crude self-interest for Putin with climate change. The more the Arctic region melts, the more he believes it could be exploited for oil. While other leaders at the Arctic meeting warned of the dangers of climate change, for example the Finnish Prime Minister Sauli Niinisto labeling it a serious threat, Putin argued that global warming brings more propitious conditions for using this region for economic ends.
He added that the melting of the Arctic was beneficial to Russias GDP and improves the economic potential of this region.
And you can see why Putin thinks climate change is good. As an article in the New Scientist pointed out last month, Russias economy is a basket case. Apart from oil and gas, it produces little anyone wants to buy Without restructuring, a global clean energy revolution will likely put the Russian economy in a death spiral.
Undergraduate Research Week Promises Big Campus Happenings
Elizabeth City State Universitys Undergraduate Research Week is on, and the events are unfolding now through Friday, April 7, when the Department of Visual and Performing Arts presents the 2017 ECSU Jazz Festival.
At 10 a.m., Monday, April 3, faculty and students gathered in the Jenkins Science building to kick off the week-long event.
Dr. Farrah Ward, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, opened the event describing a week of presentations and activities designed to bring students from all disciplines into the fold, affording them an opportunity to experience a broad range of academic interests.
We designed this so each day is a specific theme, explained Dr. Ward.
For Monday, the events revolve around education and psychology. Tuesday is STEM Day and it will feature the return of the popular Amazing Undergraduate Research Week Race, based on the popular television show, The Amazing Race.
Wednesday is Homeland Security, Public Health and Grant Opportunity Day. Thursday is Fine Arts and Humanities Day. And Friday is ECSU Day.
Some of the highlights of the week include 3D animation and film editing, a master class with internationally acclaimed photographer and ECSU alum, Joshua McFadden, and a question and answer session with the family of Dorothy Vaughan whose fame was brought to light in the recent hit film, Hidden Figures.
Vaughan, an African American woman, was one of several women considered human computers. Employed by NASAs Langley Research Center in Virginia, Vaughan worked directly with the Apollo missions in an age when women, much less African Americans, were rarely involved in the advancement of the United States space program.
Bringing the exciting week to a close, the ECSU Jazz Festival 2017 will present an evening of tropical music. The ECSU Jazz Ensemble will be joined by festival guest, The Rhythm Project, a 21-piece Steel Drum Band. The Rhythm Project will perform music from a tradition with origins in Trinidad.
The program will also include arrangements that will feature the combined Jazz Ensemble and Steel Drum Band.
The Rhythm Project is a world percussion ensemble dedicated to the nurturing of self-esteem through individual and cooperative achievement. Founded in 1996, the program was started in Portsmouth, Virginia by the Virginia Arts Festival.
There are four elementary and three middle school Rhythm Project groups that feed the program's premiere performing ensemble, the All-Stars. The All-Stars is a year-round program for high school students. The program focuses on instilling discipline and dedication in students through performance and touring opportunities. Additionally, two high school groups complete the family of 10 Rhythm Project ensembles that serve the cities of Norfolk, Virginia Beach, and Portsmouth.
The Robinson Auditorium is located in the Mickey L. Burnim Fine Arts Center on the ECSU campus. The show starts at 7 p.m., doors open at 6:30 p.m.
To follow the weeks activities go to https://ecsurw.wixsite.com/rw2017 or on Twitter at #ecsurw17.
(Photo: Mikael Stjernberg / WCC)At a joint service in the Swedish city of Lund followed by a public event at the nearby Malmo Arena on Oct. 31, 2016, almost 500 years after the Reformation, Catholics and Lutherans apologized for their past divisions and conflicts, and pledged to deepen their common fellowship and service in the world.
Serious research on Martin Luther can help heal relations between Catholics and Protestants by highlighting his critique of the Church and the errors and sins that led to division and the Reformation, Pope Francis has said.
The Pope spoke on March 31 to about 150 people at an international congress organized by the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences. The congress.
The March 29-31 meeting discussed the theme, "Luther: 500 Years Later. A Rereading of the Lutheran Reformation in the Historical, Ecclesial Context," one numerious ecumenical meetings to put the monumental event shaping world history into perspective.
On Oct 31, 1517, Martin Luther published his 95 theses protesting against abuses in the Church of his day and this triggered the Reformation which was carried forward by Reformers such as Jean Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli and John Knox.
Luther's criticism triggered the worldwide Reformation, which not only brought about the division in the Church, but also some extremely bloody wars. Protestants and Catholics often used the subsequent anniversaries of the Reformation to condemn one another.
'SERIOUS RESEARCH INTO LUTHER'S CRITIQUE'
"Serious research into the figure of Luther and his critique of the Church of his time and the papacy certainly contributes to overcoming the atmosphere of mutual distrust and rivalry that for all too long marked relations between Catholics and Protestants," said Francis.
He said, "Today, as Christians, all of us are called to put behind us all prejudice toward the faith that others profess with a different emphasis or language, to offer one another forgiveness for the sins committed by those who have gone before us, and together to implore from God the gift of reconciliation and unity."
Francis said it was a "praiseworthy initiative" and he felt gratitude to God and "a certain surprise, since not long ago a meeting like this would have been unthinkable," Catholic News Service reported.
The pontiff noted, "Catholics and Lutherans together, discussing Luther, at a meeting organized by an office of the Holy See - truly we are experiencing the results of the working of the Holy Spirit, who overcomes every obstacle and turns conflicts into occasions for growth in communion."
Pope Francis said he was pleased that the commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation offered the opportunity to jointly study such past events.
"Serious research into the figure of Luther and his critique of the church of his time and the papacy certainly contributes to overcoming the atmosphere of mutual distrust and rivalry that for all too long marked relations between Catholics and Protestants," he said.
"An attentive and rigorous study, free of prejudice and polemics, enables the churches, now in dialogue, to discern and receive all that was positive and legitimate in the Reformation, while distancing themselves from errors, extremes and failures, and acknowledging the sins that led to the division," the Pope said.
While the past cannot be changed, he said, 50 years of dialogue means there can be "a purification of memory," which is "to tell that history differently," in a way that is "free of any lingering trace of the resentment over past injuries that has distorted our view of one another."
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District leaders, teachers, and district-level subject-matter specialists have different priorities when choosing curricular materials for classroom use. Education Week asked a few of them what they look for as they sort through curricular options.
Their responses were edited for clarity and length.
What is the first thing you look for in a free online lesson?
Rule number one: Start with a complex text. The pieces should fall in from there. ... I know it sounds silly, but if the text is not complex, youre going to have a harder time teaching it. It is harder to write questions. It is harder to find essential vocabulary. It is harder to have good discussions if you dont start off with a meaty text. If the text does not meet the requirements for a complex textits got to be on their level, a little above. If they can read it on their own, its not complex text. If the book is not, its not worth teaching.
Meredith Starks, 3rd grade English/language arts teacher, Bellaire Elementary School, Bossier City, La.
The first thing a classroom educator or principal should be looking for in the user agreement is some recognition of FERPA (The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act). If you dont see that, just back away; thats table stakes. ... Any business that deals with kids should be clear on this.
Jim Flanagan, chief learning-services officer, International Society for Technology in Education, Arlington, Va.
How do you find good, reliable sources of free, high-quality materials?
A surprising place where I think a lot of teachers dont look is actually museum websites. I find some of my best stuff [there]like the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art has great stuff. Go to a museum website, click on teacher resources. Youd be pleasantly surprised about everything you can find there for teachers. If its a thematically based unit, one of the first places I look is museum websites.
Meredith Starks, 3rd grade English/language arts teacher, Bellaire Elementary School, Bossier City, La.
A few organizations are starting to develop ratings for [secure, high-quality education apps]. The [Software & Information Industry Association] has a privacy pledge. I look at Common Sense Medias privacy ratings, and IKeepSafe has a badge [for programs that meet different federal and state privacy laws]. There should be expectations that if a vendor is holding student data, they are legally liable to protect student data in these ways; we shouldnt have to do it all by ourselves by contract.
Steve Smith, chief information officer, Cambridge, Mass., public schools
What are common red flags that make you question the quality of online materials or apps?
When there are not multiple viewpoints for students to reviewspecifically as it relates to the teaching about the contributions of minority groups to the culture and development of the United States.
Daryl Diamond, director of innovative learning, Broward County, Fla., public schools
I look at the amount of student-centered content versus the amount of teacher-centered content. Whats the teachers role? If its mostly content written for teachers, thats a red flag. Schools are not a place where young people should go to watch old people do work.
Stefanie Buckner, K-12 math-curriculum specialist, Buncombe County, N.C., public schools
Whats the most common mistake teachers make when choosing online material?
I dont think its done intentionallybut in the interest of saving time and having so much accessits [a teacher] not using a rubric to guide whether a resource is a quality, standards-aligned resource. When youre competing with Pinterest and Teachers Pay Teachers, which is visual, [teachers may] look at lessons that look very engaging [but may not be a good match for their learning objective].
Brian Kingsley, assistant superintendent of academics, Wake County, N. C., public schools
How do you judge whether materials are aligned to the Common Core State Standards?
I do the problems myself and reference the standards. It tells me what components of the standards are there. We should be looking at alignment. We shouldnt be just taking a book at face value.
Stefanie Buckner, K-12 math-curriculum specialist, Buncombe County, N.C., public schools
Four days a week, hundreds of children in eastern Pennsylvania get free tutoring, a hot meal, and even the chance to help build a doghouse, thanks to a federal grant for after-school and summer learning programs. Some of their parents get access to English-as-a-second-language and GED classes.
But President Donald Trumps proposed budget for fiscal 2018 seeks to slash the roughly $1.1 billion 21st Century Community Learning Center program that provides the bulk of the funding for the program and thousands of others like it. Mick Mulvaney, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget has argued that the program doesnt have much of an effect on student achievement.
But some advocates and educators beg to differ.
It just makes my heart hurt. It impacts childrens lives immensely, said Rachel Strucko, the director of the Leigh Carbon Community Colleges Schools Homes in Education program, or SHINE after-school program. You wonder what is going to happen between those crucial hours of 2 and 6 if there is no after school.
Thousands of Centers
The program, which has been around since the 1990s, distributes money by formula to states to cover the cost of after-school and summer programs, primarily for children in high-poverty communities. The U.S. Department of Education has funded about 9,600 centers through the program and served 1.6 million children, according to the Afterschool Alliance, an advocacy organization in Washington.
Like SHINE, these after-school and summer programs can offer students a range of services, including tutoring, meals, and enrichment, much of it with the help of federal funds.
For instance, a trio of after-school and summer programs in Cranston, R.I., that receive almost 100 percent of their funding from the 21st Century Community Learning Center program, has a science, technology, engineering, and math focus. Students might help design a greenhouse or build a solar panel from scratch. Older students add a service-learning component, working on neighborhood beautification, for example. Now, the students want to write letters to lawmakers, asking them to preserve 21st Century Community Learning Centers funding, said Ayana Crichton, the program director.
Its devastating to them to see the program get cut, Crichton said. How come we cant just talk to the president and tell him not to cut the funding? she asked.
Some districts also get funding from the program, including the Kennett school system in southeastern Missouri, which receives a $400,000 grant. The district offers students an hour of tutoring in the morning and another hour in the afternoon, plus enrichment. Students are given a hot dinner and transportation home.
We have a tremendous, tremendous after-school program, said Chris Wilson, the district superintendent. If 21st Century goes away, all of that goes away.
Lacks Strong Evidence
The administrations budget request says that the program lacks strong evidence of meeting its objectives, such as improving student achievement.
Mulvaney was asked specifically about the program during a March 16 press briefing. He said that there isnt evidence that after-school programs do anything to improve student achievement.
Theyre supposed to be educational programs, right? Thats what theyre supposed to do. Theyre supposed to help kids who dont get fed at home get fed so they do better in school, Mulvaney said. Guess what? Theres no demonstrable evidence theyre actually [improving achievement]. Theres no demonstrable evidence of actually helping results, helping kids do better in school.
Supporters Weigh In
But Heather Weiss, a co-director of the Global Family Research Project, doesnt see it that way.
There is a great deal of evidence from rigorous evaluations showing that after-school programs promote a range of important developmental, learning, and educational outcomes for kids, she said.
She noted that those outcomes include gains in reading and math achievement, school attendance, in socio-emotional development and skills, and in health and wellness.
But Mark Dynarski, who helped conduct evaluations of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program in the early 2000s as a researcher for Mathematica Policy Research, doesnt think it has done much to improve student achievement.
The program didnt affect student outcomes, Dynarski, now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, wrote in a March 2015 blog post. Except for student behavior, which got worse. He referred to reports on the program released in 2003 and 2005.
Weiss, however, said those reports were conducted years ago and offer only a snapshot of the program in its early stages. After-school programs, including those that receive 21st Century Community Learning Center funds, have gotten a lot more sophisticated since then, she said.
Theyve been focusing on quality improvement and using their own and others evaluations and data to ensure quality and get bigger and sustainable impact, Weiss wrote in an email.
Its tough to say if lawmakers will go along with the proposed cut, which would affect the budget year that begins Oct. 1.
Congress had actually considered getting rid of the language in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act that authorizes the 21st Community Learning Center program when it crafted the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015.
But the program was saved by its fans on Capitol Hill, including Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Pa., an ally of the president who helped co-found the Trump caucus in the House. (Barletta has visited SHINE, which serves children in his district.)
And earlier this month, Barletta teamed up with Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., on a letter to Mulvaney, asking him to restore the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program in the budget.
Plant extract specialist Silvateam holds technical seminar in Thailand
On March 14, 2017, just before VIV Asia, Italy-based Silvateam hosted the Silvafeed Technical Seminar in Bangkok, Thailand.
The main scope of the event was a scientific overview of tannins in animal nutrition and their role in the most topical antibiotic substitution trend, and presentations and discussions from Silvateam about their response to this market need.
The attendees were all Silvafeed distributors, a heterogeneous group of animal health and nutrition experts who sell in different Asia-Pacific market locations, such as Thailand, China, Taiwan, Korea, Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan, the Philippines and Vietnam.
After CEO Stefano Battaglia gave his introduction and welcomed all attendees, sales manager Nicola Saggese presented the company overview. Then technical manager Nicola Panciroli focused his presentation on the beneficial effects of natural additives such as tannins and polyphenols, commercialised under the Silvafeed brand name.
Subsequent presentations included a scientific research regarding tannins and their mechanisms of action in animal nutrition. Bernardo Valenti, DVM at Di3A, University of Catania, Italy, shared some very interesting results of studies carried out on this subject by his department and other top research institutes.
The intense programmed concluded with consumer insights into the antibiotic-free trend in the US meat market by marketing manager Massimo Gotti, who saw it as a key challenge which every company involved in animal nutrition will have to face in the near future.
"Motivated by personal health, environmental concerns, animal welfare, taste and quality concerns, many US consumers are seeking alternatives to conventional meat products, which are typically produced with routine use of antibiotics," said Massimo Gotti. "Hence restaurants and grocery retailers are now sourcing meat from farmers who raise livestock and poultry avoiding antibiotics and are leading the way in making it more readily available to American consumers. These companies successfully and profitably market and sell hundreds of millions of kilograms of antibiotic-free meat each year."
Disease-reduction programme for Chile salmon farms initiated
The Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA), together with Multiexport Foods SA, Mitsui & Co. Ltd. (Mitsui Tokyo) and the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch programme, is spearheading an initiative in Chile aimed at contributing to a reduction in the incidence of salmonid rickettsial septicaemia (SRS) in farmed salmon.
The Piscirickettsia salmonis, or SRS, an endemic intercellular bacterium, has reportedly cost the farmed salmon industry more than $300 million annually. SRS can spread quickly, causing high mortalities if not treated quickly.
Announced at the Seafood Expo North America on March 21, the initiative, when implemented, would apply the principles of integrated health management, including the implementation of GAA's newly developed biosecurity area management standards, together with an array of health management tools such as vaccines, functional feeds and genetic selection, among others.
A key element of this initiative is close coordination of biosecurity management among farms within a production area and physical separation from nearby zones. This project would also monitor a variety of other factors including water quality and the presence of harmful algae blooms, said GAA the leading standards-setting organisation for farmed seafood.
Multiexport's farmed salmon producer subsidiary, which is jointly owned with Mitsui Tokyo, will manage every activity related to this initiative.
Andres Lyon, CEO of Multiexport Foods and CEO of Salmones Multiexport SA said, "We are committed to providing our value clients the highest standards of quality and sustainability now and in the future. Accordingly, we will be always collaborating, promoting and working towards securing our customers the sustainability of the farmed salmon industry, in all its aspects, wherever we operate. This initiative goes in the direction [of] enhancing our goal of providing a highly sustainable source of healthy protein, with a minimal environmental footprint".
GAA President George Chamberlain also said his group was pleased to collaborate on "this unique opportunity to apply the principles of integrated health management and biosecurity area management to reduce the use of antibiotics in controlling an otherwise intractable disease".
For his part, Yasushi Takahashi, COO of Mitsui & Co., Ltd.'s Americas Business Unit and CEO of Mitsui & Co. (USA) Inc., said, "We are honored to participate in the organisation of this initiative with great partners both in Chile and the US, which will contribute to strengthening ecological sustainability in salmon farming in Chile. We hope this initiative will establish a new integrated management system as an advanced farming standard in Chile for a better environment, better sustainability, and better-quality salmon".
Topping off its 76th year of service to the community, the Farmington Regional Chamber of Commerce held its annual Celebration of Success Awards Banquet on Friday evening.
I think the audience had an enjoyable evening and I am sure the recipients were really surprised when they figured out they were getting an award, said Dick Womack, president of the Farmington Regional Chamber of Commerce. We have so many deserving people and businesses that are exceptional. We need an evening like this to give recognition to the people in Missouris Parkland.
During the awards presentation, Farmington Press Managing Editor Shawnna Robinson presented Barbara Viitanen of the Memorial United Methodist Churchs Mums Cafe with this years Daily Journal/Farmington Press Citizen of the Year Award.
During the presentation, Robinson spoke of Viitanens tenure with the Mums Cafe acronym for Memorial United Methodist - and how Viitanen remembers the conversation that led up its opening.
During a training seminar, Viitanen recalls a bishop recommending churches implement radical hospitality."
As a result, a participant at the meeting mentioned the number of students in the Farmington School District who receive free or reduced lunches and how they could implement a program to provide a meal to give help to those families.
Robinson quoted Viitanen as jokingly saying, It was a man who came up with the idea of providing a meal but you know who does the work."
When Viitanen began her services, she had never had prepared meals for a large group of people, and for the first dinner she prepared enough for 50 and about 30 individuals showed that first evening.
That was our goal. We said if we were ever under 30 (dinners), we would stop, Viitanen said.
Robinson added that the number of individuals Mums services now on a weekly basis has been as many as 200 individuals.
In addition to Mums cafe, Robinson included some of the other projects Viitanen was involved with at the church.
She has started a beginners quilters and fellowship group as well as chairing the mission committee for the last three years to keep the church in ministry beyond their four walls.
Viitanen is also the contact person for the Love Farmington Rural Compassion Convoy of Hope Ministry.
Viitanen is an active volunteer with the food pantry, as well as the OAKS Senior Center, which led to her be named one of 34 recipients in the state of the Lieutenant Governors Senior Service Award in 2014.
As if her volunteering locally wasnt enough, Robinson mentioned Viitanen has participated in mission trips to Africa and has been a part of recovery and rebuilding programs in Louisiana and Missouri.
The presentation of the Friday nights award was a complete surprise to Viitanen who thought she was attending a meeting for the church.
I was surprised, Viitanen said. My pastor said there was a meeting, but he let something slip. He said there would be a bar so I knew something was up.
Although Viitanen may had been anxious about preparing enough food for 50 people seven year ago, she is no longer. In fact, this years recipient of the Citizen of the Year Award wouldnt mind if more people came to their dinner table.
In June, we will start our eighth year, Viitanen stated. You know when you think something is not going to last a year, we have gone longer. But we are happy to see whoever shows up for dinner. We would like to see more, so if you are in need, please come over.
In addition to the Citizen of the Year Award, the evening saw many other deserving participants receive awards.
During the evening, the chamber presented Mark Toti of KREI/KTJJ with the chambers Lifetime Achievement Award.
Lisa Sumpter, who was Totis co-emcee of the evening, presented the award to a very surprised and uncharacteristically speechless Toti.
It is an honor, and I am really humbled by it, Toti said. I dont know if I deserve it more than a thousand other people in this town or area. It seems wherever you go and with everything that comes up, there is always someone who steps up and does what needs to be done, and that is why this is such a great town. I appreciate Laura (Raymer), Dick (Womack) and everyone at the chamber for thinking of me.
Outgoing mayor, Mit Landrum, received the KREI/KTJJ 110 Percent Award for his dedication and service to the community throughout the years.
It was really nice to be given the 110 Percent Award, Landrum said. But I really wish tonight I could have had all the volunteers that I have worked with, and there has been a lot of them down over the years come up with me, and we could have accepted this award jointly.
Earlier in the evening, Pat King presented the Kiwanis Youth Leadership Award to Farmington High School Senior Corbin Crites who was accompanied by his parents Christy and Jeff Crites.
This is a very big honor for me, Crites said. I hope to go to college, get my degree and come back to help in the Farmington area.
Harry Peterson presented the St. Francois County Rotary Club Service Above Self Award to Roger Dollinger.
During the awards ceremony, Jason Loughary of KFMO/B104 presented the stations Super Service Award to Jerry Weems who has been an active member of the St. Francois County Rotary Club.
Laura McLean, the proprietor of Laura Belle Boutique, was the first recipient of the Downtown Development Associations Downtown Spirit Award for her continued support and endless work promoting Farmingtons historic downtown corridor.
The award is given to the individual who truly represents and fosters the spirit and enthusiasm of the downtown district.
To say that last night was amazing is an understatement, McLean said. It is an honor to have received the Downtown Spirit Award.
Also being recognized by the Downtown Development Association were Chip and Debbie Peterson with the Downtown Pride award.
The last award of the evening was the chambers Tradition and Progress Award, which was present to Belgrade State Bank and accepted by Julie Loughary, the banks executive vice president.
The Desloge Police Department and the Lead Belt Gun Club hosted the annual trap and skeet fundraiser for Special Olympics on Saturday.
It went very well, said Desloge Police Chief James Bullock. We brought in $440 in entry fees and donations, and prior to today, we already had almost $1,200 in donations.
Bullock explained its not a traditional trap and skeet.
Each shooter shot five shots at each station, and rotated until they've shot from each station, said Bullock. There was different types of targets instead of the traditional trap that goes straight out or the traditional skeet that goes across.
The fundraiser, according to Bullock, has been a favorite for many of the local competitors. It has been an annual event for at least eight or nine years.
Its a fun time, Bullock said. There was quite a few of the club members there today. We enjoy shooting and do things to help raise money for important things like Special Olympics.
This years big winner was Jon Jones who took home a Highpoint .380 pistol provided by Mid-West Pawn Shop of Park Hills.
In order to make the fundraiser a success, Bullock said it took the help of many people and he personally wanted to thank all of the people who donated their time, prizes or money to help a very good cause.
To make a donation, contact the Desloge Police Department at 573-431-1463 or J.D. Hodge at 573-366-7163.
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The Chinese approach to radical Islam By Col. (ret.) Dr. Jacques Neriah
Islam has been present in China since the seventh century and has cohabited with the different Chinese dynasties that ruled China throughout history, although the attitude towards Islam and Muslims varied from time to time. At times Muslims were tolerated, and at times Muslims suffered persecution, hostility, discrimination, and oppression. At the height of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), Muslim shrines and institutions were destroyed, and copies of the Koran were burnt in public. According to statistics difficult to verify, officially there are roughly 22 million Muslims living in China today. They are divided into the Hui, the majority Muslim group in China, totally integrated at all echelons of Chinese society, and allowed to practice their religion with almost no interference from the authorities. Other Muslim minority groups are Kazakhs, Dongxiangs, Salar, Tatars, Bonans, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Utsul, Kyrgyz, Tibetans, and the dominant minority group, the Uyghurs, a Sunni Turkish-related population who speak a Turkish dialect and live in the northwestern province of Xinjiang. In the late 1970s, the Chinese government adopted a conciliatory policy towards Islam and even attacked critics of Islam. According to Chinese statistics, the country has 34,928 mosques, 45,051 Muslims teachers and administrators, and 23,480 disciples studying in the Islamic theological institutes in various regions. However, the Chinese government continued to exert a harsher policy toward Muslim groups in different parts of the country, especially towards the Uyghurs in Xinjiang Province, home to 10 million Chinese Muslims. While allowing the Hui to practice their religion freely and turning a blind eye to their educational system and institutions, the Chinese central government pitted the Hui Muslims against their age-old enemies, the Uyghurs. Many times in the modern history of China, Hui troops were used to quell rebellions initiated by the Uyghurs, at the heavy price of massacres perpetrated by the Hui against the Uyghur population. The Turkish-related Uyghurs were among the early converts to Islam and as such maintained an Islamic culture which has been present for centuries in their areas. One can find today the earliest sign of Islamic Uyghur culture in a village called Tuyoq (named after the Uyghur word tuyuq or not passable), situated in the Tuyugou valley in the Taklamakan desert, the heartland of Uyghur presence, where there is the holy shrine of the Al-Sahab Kahfi Mazar (the shrine of the friends/saints cave). The Mazar is a small cave that serves as a prayer hall, on whose walls are inscribed the verses of the 18th chapter of the Koran. The cave commemorates the memory of the seven sons of the king of Yemen who arrived in the area 2,000 years ago, seeking the creator of the sun, the moon, the sky, and everything on earth. They fled to this very cave, guided by a local shepherd, after the local king had decided to kill them. The seven are believed to be buried in the cave and a record in the Koran seems to illustrate the legend of the Al-Sahab Kahfi Mazar entirely. The importance of Tuyoq is paramount, not only to the Uyghurs but also for Muslim pilgrims from provinces surrounding Xianjiang northwest Chinas Gansu province and Ningxia Hui autonomous region, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, and Turkey who come to visit the holy shrine. According to popular belief, visiting the Mazar twice equals one hajj to Mecca. Some even stress the fact that any Uyghur must first stop at the Mazar before beginning his trip to Mecca. Local Uyghurs stress the fact that Tuyoq is nicknamed Little Mecca, having become because of the travel restrictions imposed by the Chinese authorities on Uyghurs the alternative to the traditional pilgrimage to Mecca. While many Mazars were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), the Tuyoq Mazar was left unharmed. According to locals, as in the ancient 2,000-year tradition, a dog kept guard of the Tuyoq Mazar, denying the Red Guards access to the cave. Bearing their Islamic cultural and religious background and heritage, and unlike other Muslim groups, Uyghurs have demanded their independence and have strived to establish in Xinjiang Province a separate political and religious entity carved out of the Peoples Republic of China and culturally close to the Central Asia republics that share borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan. In 1931 and 1944, backed by the then-Soviet Union, the Uyghurs effectively achieved independence. However, the First East Turkestan Republic (1931-1934) was crushed three years after its proclamation by the 36th Hui Muslim Nationalist Division. The 1944 East Turkestan Republic was a Soviet Communist puppet state that lasted until 1949. Mao Zedong, the iconic Chinese leader, announced the establishment of the Peoples Republic of China on October 1, 1949, and in the course of that same year, Chinese troops invaded the Xinjiang Province. Following its annexation to the Peoples Republic of China, the name Xinjiang was changed in 1955 to Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Out of the several Uyghur separatist movements and organizations, the U.S. Treasury Department listed as a terrorist organization the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) in 2002. Several years earlier, the Chinese authorities classified ETIM as a terrorist organization funded by Osama Bin Laden. That same year, U.S. Marines captured 22 Uyghurs in Afghanistan, detaining them at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on suspicion of being enemy combatants. They were ultimately released and relocated to Albania, Bermuda, Palau, Switzerland, and Pakistan. In 1996, China signed the Shanghai Treaty with Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, using the agreement to ask Central Asian states to dissuade their ethnic Uyghur minorities from supporting the separatist ETIM in Xinjiang and to guarantee extradition of Uyghurs fleeing China. This agreement has been enforced very actively since then by the Chinese, who used their influence with India to cancel an Indian visa given to an exiled Uyghur leader who China accused of being a terrorist. Moreover, China has played on the regional politics and tensions between India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, conditioning its support on cooperation on the Uyghur issue with these regional players. China never missed an opportunity to thank its neighbors for their support of its policy towards the Uyghurs. Such was the case in April 2016 when the Chinese defense minister thanked Afghanistan for its support in fighting the separatist group. In recent years since the radical Islamic revival worldwide, and especially following the so-called Arab Spring, the United Nations al-Qaida Sanctions Committee reported, ETIM has set up bases outside China to train its members and afterwards to return to China to plot and execute terrorist acts including bombing buses, cinemas, department stores, markets, and hotels. ETIM has also undertaken assassinations and arson attacks and has carried out terrorist attacks against Chinese targets abroad. The UN committee continued: ETIM has a close financial relationship with Al-Qaida. The major sources of funding for ETIM activities came from the (deceased) Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaida and from organized crime such as drug trafficking, arms smuggling, kidnapping, extortion, and looting. Since the beginning of the civil war in Syria and Iraq, Uyghurs have flocked to the Middle East and joined the rebel forces fighting the Assad regime in Syria and the Iranian-backed Shiite regime in Iraq. The Uyghurs split into different jihadist militias, such as Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS. The first reports that Uyghurs returned home from Syria emerged in July 2013, revealing that Uyghurs have been present in the combat areas long before. The Chinese government has alleged that more than 1,000 Xinjiang separatists have received terrorist training in Afghanistan and claims to have arrested a hundred foreign-trained terrorists who made their way back to Xinjiang. Fearing the irredentist currents provoked by the separatist Uyghurs and facing the increase of violence in Xinjiang Province, the Chinese central government has pursued a policy meant to neutralize the separatist tendencies in that region of China. Transforming the Population Mix of Xinjiang Province Since the inclusion of Xinjiang Province in the PRC, the Chinese central government has embarked on a policy of repression meant to eliminate the threat posed by Uyghur irredentists to the PRC. In order to do so, the first step in the implementation of that policy was aimed at diluting the Uyghur majority in the province and changing the population composition of Xinjiang province by encouraging Han Chinese to resettle in the province. The resettlement policy, together with huge investments in infrastructure, was, of course, to the detriment of the Uyghurs, who represent today barely 45 percent of the population in the province compared to having been a large majority in 1949. In fact, it seems that the Chinese authorities follow a pattern according to which the more the Uyghurs protest, the more the Chinese central government tries to dilute the percentage of Uyghurs living in the region by encouraging Han Chinese to settle there. Moreover, according to a report published by the Uyghur Rights Project, the Chinese central government has embarked on a forced transfer of Uyghur young women to eastern China. The PRC transfer policy focuses on southeast Turkestan where the percentage of Uyghur inhabitants is actually the highest in the PRC. According to this report, thousands of Uyghur women have been removed from their families and placed in substandard working conditions far away from their homes. At the same time, the PRC government continues to implement a policy to settle large numbers of Han Chinese into this same geographical area. This policy led to resentment on the part of the Uyghurs, and consequently, sporadic hostilities erupted between Chinas ethnic Han majority and the Uyghurs, in the course of which the authorities sided with the Han and conducted massive, bloody repressions among the revolting Uyghurs. Such was the case in February 1997 when the Peoples Liberation Army crushed a demonstration in Ghujla resulting in more than 100 Uyghurs killed and as many as 1,600 people arrested on charges of attempting to split the motherland. On July 5, 2009, a fight in a factory in Guangdong degenerated into a demonstration organized in Xinjiangs capital, Urumqi. Riots broke out followed by attacks against Han Chinese which left more than 200 dead. Restricting the Freedom of Movement of the Uyghurs Hundreds of Uyghurs have fled Xinjiang to reach Turkey, leading the PRC to exert pressure on its neighboring countries to hand over Uyghurs who have found refuge there. Trips abroad are understandably restricted, while Xinjiang residents in possession of passports had to hand them in to the commissariat of the police before May 15, 2015; their use had to be requested in advance. Passports not handed back on time were no longer valid. Banning All Signs of Islamic Culture Posters throughout the region ban Uyghurs from riding buses if they wear large beards, hijabs, burqas, niqabs, or clothing with the Islamic star and crescent (similar to the ones that appear in the Turkish flag). Taxis throughout the region are not allowed to pick up clients wearing banned beards. Reluctant Uyghurs are threatened to be handled by police. A man from Kashgar was sentenced to six years in jail for growing a beard, while his burqa-wearing wife was sentenced to two years. According to the Communist Party secretary of Kashgar, face veils represent a cultural reverse a foreign import from the Middle East and not part of the Uyghur culture. In April 2015, Shaanxi Normal University in Xian issued an order banning female students from wearing veils, followed in May by an additional ban on wearing headscarves on campus. A male student was accused of illegal preaching after he was caught reading the Koran in a cafeteria at the same university. In mid-2015, the PRC banned Muslim Uyghur party members, civil servants, students, and teachers from fasting during Ramadan, while halal restaurants were encouraged by food safety officials to stay open during the day on Ramadan. Those who acted accordingly were supposed to be rewarded by fewer visits from food safety inspectors. In one county, party officials were forced to give verbal as well as written assurances guaranteeing they have no faith, will not attend religious activities and will lead the way in not fasting on Ramadan. Violators and individuals accused of encouraging Uyghurs to fast during Ramadan were arrested and accused of spreading harmful propaganda. Under the pretext of fighting terrorism, the PRC has closed mosques in East Turkestan. Houses which served as an underground school for Koranic studies were torn down in March 2015 to set an example for those who support unofficial religious studies. Beginning in 2015, the PRC banned all Muslim prayers and Islamic religious practices in government buildings, schools, and business offices in Xinjiang. Fines have also been imposed on those who use mobile phones and the internet to spread Islamic messages, while religious activities were restricted to authorized venues like mosques. The new rules forbid the dissemination of videos about jihad, extremism and terrorism, and demand that religious leaders report such activities to the local police. In May 2015, Muslim shops and restaurants in northwestern Xinjiang were ordered to sell cigarettes and alcohol or face closure. However, consumers refusing to buy the products openly challenged the government policy to erase local Islamic customs. According to Uyghur sources, the Chinese authorities encourage classical surveillance techniques to spy on Uyghurs. Neighbors, work colleagues, or classmates could all be informers. The authorities have people they can rely on in every street. Mosques are under surveillance, and they have cameras inside. In mid-2014, residents of Kizilsu village in Jiashi county in the Kashgar prefecture were summoned to sign a joint responsibility contract issued by the village office of the Communist Party. The village government threatened to apply collective punishment if the villagers did not strictly abide by 30 specific regulations, such as reporting forbidden activities, unusual travel from and to the area, teaching and promoting Islam, unusual land transactions, refusing to read official announcements, or those who suddenly quit smoking or drinking alcohol. The Chinese authorities make use of their military to deter Uyghurs. During Ramadan, the police activate a surveillance alert, and tanks and armed police are deployed on every corner. In September 2015, the Chinese authorities issued a ban on 22 Muslim names among Uyghurs, threatening to prevent children with such names from attending schools unless their parents change them. The banned male names were Bin Laden, Saddam, Hussein, Arafat, Mujahid, Mujahidulla, Asadulla, Abdel Aziz, Seyfulla, Gukdulla, Seyfeddin, Zikrulla, Nesrulla, Shemseddin, and Pakhirdin. The banned female names were Amanet, Muslime, Mukhlise, Munise, Aishe, Fatima, and Khadicha. In May 2016, Chinese media reported that bilingual pre-school education would be expanded in Xinjiang province, in a sign that the PRC is trying to push aside the Uyghur mother tongue in favor of Mandarin. According to the report, government funds will be used between 2016 and 2020 to assure three years of pre-school education instead of the current two years for almost 85 percent of pre-school children. According to Reuters, the central government has invested more than $150 million to build 552 bilingual kindergartens, mainly in Xinjiangs rural south. The Perspective Ahead It is obvious that the Chinese PRC has not succeeded in containing ETIM. The measures adopted against the Uyghurs have boomeranged to such an extent that more terrorist attacks have been observed in the provinces and outside China since the end of 2016. Moreover, as reported by a U.S. think tank in July 2016, Chinese religious restrictions on Muslims in Xinjiang may have driven more than 100 to join ISIS. The attacks perpetrated by the Uyghurs follow almost the same patterns as those conducted by Islamic radicals (ISIS and others) in other places worldwide such as car-ramming, suicide bombers, and knife-wielding attackers. But, unlike other places on the globe, the attacks are not publicized by the Chinese government, which keeps a tight grip on the information. As a Reuters correspondent put it: The government has delayed reporting some previous incidents in Xinjiang, and limits on foreign journalists working there make it almost impossible to reach an independent assessment of the regions security. The likely defeat of ISIS in Iraq and the advance of Assads troops in Syria could potentially send back to China hundreds of Uyghur fighters who have been fighting in the ranks of the rebels, fully trained for guerilla warfare. This could be of great impact in the manner in which the separatist Uyghurs are waging their war today. Added to the latest threats pronounced by Uyghurs to shed blood like rivers and contemplating Chinese behavior, one can anticipate that the Uyghur problem has grown to a dimension unknown in the past. With this in mind, one can understand the sudden march organized by the local government of thousands of armed officers and paramilitary officers through the southern city of Hotan in a shock and awe campaign against terrorism and separatism, and the unprecedented offer of $14.5 million in rewards for anti-terror tips distributed absolutely confidentially on a scale based on the quality of the information and its relevance: the lowest reward goes for reporting face coverage and robes, as well as youth with long beards. Reporting violent terrorists and religious extremists establishing ties or inciting or swearing oaths of jihad, or clues about cross-border activities, can be rewarded by almost $500,000. The highest reward goes to reporting inside operational information, which entitles the informant to almost $750,000. Col. (ret.) Dr. Jacques Neriah, a special analyst for the Middle East at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, was formerly Foreign Policy Advisor to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Deputy Head for Assessment of Israeli Military Intelligence. Home
Our America: Flawed, floundering: But favored by providence, Part 1 By Debra Rae
Geysers rank among natures most impressive displays of hydrothermal energy. Every sixty to ninety minutes, Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park blasts thousands of gallons of boiling-hot water some one- to two- hundred feet into the air. As if orchestrated by some hidden hand, blasts depend on a complex natural balancing act of converging happenstancespecifically, hot rocks, ample groundwater, subsurface water reservoir, and fissures that deliver water to the surface. Indeed, He maketh the deep to boil like a pot. Americas birth demanded a similarly complex chain of seemingly haphazard, uncommonly enabling occurrences. New York Times bestselling author Michael Medved quantifies creation of our nation as no mere accident. As if manipulated by some hidden hand, a complex balancing act of converging happenstance produced on cue the most impressive blast of bravado known to mankind. The primary function of a root is to anchor a plant. Sadly, in ignoring our national roots, Americans today lack confidence in government, law enforcement, the mainstream media, and public education. Endless entitlements exacerbate crippling debt while social injustice gives way to rampant drug addiction, homelessness, and violence. Coupled with breakdown of the traditional family and transcendent spirituality, real and/or contrived racism and class warfare, crime, and acts of unthinkable terrorism chip away at Americas foundation. For many, doubt trumps hope in the future of our nation. We do well to recall that, as late as 1607, America was primitive and nearly vacant but then the United States rose to undisputed leader of the entire free world. More progress was made in the two hundred years following Americas founding than what transpired in the previous five thousand years of human history. While housing only five percent of the global population, America created more new wealth than the entire world combined; and for over one hundred years, she has been the world food basket, having bestowed more dollars in aid and relief than most of the worlds nations combined. How Firm a Foundation Americas Roots What many fail to realize is that our nations true heritage actually predates the likes of Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams, as evidenced within the first colonial grant made to Sir Walter Raleigh (1584); in the first charter of Virginia, granted by King James I (1606); in subsequent Virginia charters (1609 and 1611); and various ones granted to the other colonies. From its beginning, America embraced a dynamic success formula guided by four biblically-based points of the American compassnamely, rule of law, individual rights, private property, and American identity. Founded by Pedro Menendez de Aviles of Spain, St. Augustine in northern Florida has existed continuously since 1565. Settlers were Huguenotsspecifically, French Calvinists. In colonizing, they sought escape from persecution to worship the Lord, study the Bible for themselves, and to be led by the Holy Spirit in everyday lifeall free from Romes interference. Under command of King Philip II of Spain, General Menendez drew a line in the sand, allowing each man opportunity to renounce his faith and live, or cross the line and meet his Maker. Fittingly, Menendez called the river inlet Matanzas, meaning slaughters. There, one hundred eleven valiant men of conscience were martyred in what then became a series of massacres. The blood-washed line in the sand, aptly referred to as Americas hidden treasure, strengthened the resolve of settlers who drew strength from their principled predecessors. Accordingly, the Magna Carta (1215) uniquely influenced the 1620 Mayflower Compact, which in turn shaped the U.S. Constitution fashioned more than one hundred fifty years thereafter. Signers of the Compact promised all due submission and obedience to just and equall Lawes, ordinances, Acts, constitutions and offices. Key to the undertaking was being in the Presence of God and one of another expressly for the glorie of God and advancemente of ye Christian faith. Flawed and Floundering Leadership Even so, each and every founder, settler, parishioner, and citizen was not Christian by faith nor godly by nature. In fact, many left a littered trail of vice, personal indulgence, drunkenness, womanizing, flip-flopping, and the like. Yet our nations leaders unearthed and polished what in time proved to be the jewel centerpiece of some four hundred years of world historynamely, the American Miracle. President Abraham Lincoln With less than a year of formal education, the desperately poor Abraham Lincoln was a chronic depressive beset with nightmares and obsessed with ominous premonitions. He had not one favorable word to say about his father. An admittedly superstitious, stubborn atheist in his youth, Lincoln fretted over his checkered heritage of illegitimacy, melancholy, and madness. Fearing his family to have been uniquely cursed, Lincoln wrote and published a poem about killing himself. Our sixteenth president underwent punishing medical treatments and, by all accounts, came within an inch of being a perfect lunatic for life. Mary Todd contributed her own emotional baggage to their martial union. While Lincoln-Douglas debates set Lincoln on the national stage, the prairie lawyer felt unfit to be president. Prior to his election, Lincolns political resume registered more defeats than victories. For apparent reason, election of the Rail Splitter Candidate struck many, if not most, as incredulous. Having penned an agnostic tract (his little book on Infidelity)this, in an attempt to disprove the divinity of Christour sixteenth president, once elected, uncharacteristically plunged into prayer, Bible study, and church worship. He who denied sacred authority of the Bible now cherished it as the best gift God has given to man. In a word, this horrid and hideous, ape-like figure (The Charleston Mercury) was clearly transfigured. In due time, Lincolns administration handled the most momentous crisis in our nations history. Doing so, he united a bitterly divided nation and, according to the DC Daily National Intelligencer, spoke healing words worthy of being printed in gold. Under Lincolns leadership, the first nation in history explicitly committed to permanent protection of the institution of slavery issued a world-changing announcement crediting God with deciding the issue. Enter, the Emancipation Proclamation. Sam Houston Texas might still be a part of Mexico today if Big Drunk Sam Houston hadnt passed through dark years of depression and drunkenness only to earn one of the most astonishing victories in the history of warfare. Houstons stern Presbyterian upbringing, seasoned with Cherokee spirituality adopted as a teen, gave way to born-again Baptist fervor. Houston established himself as first president of the independent Republic of Texas, and almost one-third of the present area of the American nation (nearly a million square miles of territory) changed sovereignty when America acquired Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Utah, and parts of Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Exceptionalism Demands Special Responsibility In our nations founding, some hidden hand seemed to manipulate a complex chain of seemingly haphazard, uncommonly enabling occurrences. Yale Professor David Gelernter opines, The American Religion incorporates the biblical ideals of a chosen people in a promised land. Our nation was considered the hope of the world, but the reality of American exceptionalism in no way demands fantasies about American perfectionism any more than Israels destiny, expounded in Daniels seventy-weeks prophecy, demands human perfection. Moreover, with Divine call comes special responsibility. Mission Accomplished Against All Odds Against all odds, George Washington, Andrew Jackson, and Abraham Lincoln lived to fulfill their life missions. The Hero of Monongahela, Washington defied certain death. Two horses were shot out from under him. Bullets penetrated his clothing, and one bullet knocked off his hat. Nevertheless, Washington lived to father our country! In the War of 1812 Andrew Jackson acknowledged the unerring hand of Providence shielding his men from the powers of balls, bombs and rockets, carrying with them a mission of death. He was lauded as the worthy instrument of heavens merciful designs. Perpetual danger likewise surrounded our sixteenth president. Recipient of scores of death threats, Abraham Lincoln escaped unharmed despite nearly a dozen attempts on his life following the 1860 election. Once re-elected, Abraham Lincoln unwittingly diverted planned attempts on his life by twice canceling theater plansonce because of a sudden freezing rainstorm; once again to review a regiment of Indiana volunteers returning from the frontsignificantly, at the National Hotel in Washington, where Booth had recently booked a room. In an arresting vision (April 1865), Abraham Lincoln dreamed of his untimely demise at the hand of an assassin. Though his closest associates urged him not to go out to Ford Theater, Lincoln went anyway. From a distance less than a foot, a .44-caliber Derringer pocket cannon sealed his fate. In a burning barn at a Virginia tobacco farm, the fleeing assassin took a bullet. While Booths bullet earned him a name in infamy, Lincolns bullet catapulted him to the status of national martyr. Within weeks of his demise, Lincolns countrymen viewed the nation itself as born again. All Americans embraced hope that the fallen president represented the final casualty of the war. More to follow in Part 2. Debra Rae is a regular contributor to The Intellectual Conservative and this publication. 2017 Home
There is no such thing as peak oil demand
By Dwayne Purvis
Notwithstanding that oil demand has increased for over 150 years, it will eventually stop increasing. If oil demand were to reach an actual peak, then the top might be easier to predict. As it stands, the forecast models of demand are likely predicting peak demand far later than it will be.
The so-called balance of supply and demand has always been a moving target, a race to the top in which the two run neck and neck. Imbalances result from out-of-step growth rates and not from movements away from a stationary balance. Perversely, imbalances breed further imbalances as the supply and demand components are provoked in opposite directions but with different timing, magnitudes and inertias. Without sufficient damping, the market has often overcompensated. Of course, there are also exogenous events like political turmoil, policy shifts, technological innovations and demographic changes which can unexpectedly and significantly alter not just the immediate balance but fundamentally shift the way supply and demand curves respond to price movements. The trends are plagued by inherent and irreducible irregularities.
Such a structural change has recently occurred. High prices persisted long enough for the industry in the U.S. to build a larger fleet of modern rigs and to learn how effectively to hydraulically fracture shale wells. It also persisted long enough for new efficiencies to incubate towards maturity, and the Paris accords promised to further reduce carbon emissions through policy changes. By the time that Saudi Arabia finally acted to protect not only its place among suppliers but also, and more importantly, the role of oil in the world economy. The backbone of shale supply in the U.S. was strong, and the seeds of lesser use were established. After these fundamental shifts, the rest of the world realized what Saudi Oil Minister Al-Naimi argued long ago and what Shell Oil has more recently asserted, namely that peak demand will occur long before peak supply.
To understand the trajectory of demand growth, we turn to econometric models like those published by the EIA and IEA. The central problem with long term supply and demand models is that they require assumptions about the many and interrelated responses to todays prices. Though modeled responses may be tuned with low precision to relatively recent events and new realities, the actual response curves are poorly constrained and continue to evolve, in some cases at an accelerating pace. As the aphorism goes, all models are wrong, but some are useful.
The EIA, IEA and other public econometric models call for global oil demand to continue growing through 2040, and the EIA even calls for renewed growth in the U.S. and OECD demand. The forecasts of growth in global demand rely upon increased use by developing countries, most importantly China and India. On the other hand, the United States has already seen demand decline for about 13 years. In fact it was the second to last of the worlds seven major developed countries to enter demand decline, and the entire OECD group of countries has, as a whole, seen shrinking demand since 2007. EIA data shows that 35 countries in all have already reached and descended from maximum oil demand. The experience of projected versus actual peak oil demand in the U.S. and OECD countries provides an empirical test and thus context to evaluate the current forecasts of growth and delayed maximum.
The following chart compares actual oil demand in the U.S. to several relevant demand forecasts of the EIA, all data coming from the EIA itself. U.S. demand reached a plateau for four years ending in 2007. Before, during, and even after the actual maximum demand, the models predicted decades of growth.
The next chart shows the same kind of comparison for the IEAs models of OECD oil demand. Actual demand gently achieved its maximum in 2005. Even the alternative policy (lower demand) case in 2006 failed to capture the impending decline, but the reference cases adapted to the reality of declining demand much more quickly than did the EIA. Still the IEA over predicted the actual demand. Though not shown in charts, the EIAs model of OECD demand growth and the IEAs model of U.S. demand growth follow the same patterns. In short, these deeply technical and widely used referenced models missed badly the pivot point, the watershed of the object of analysis. For truly exculpatory reasons, the second and third order dynamics of reality were not captured by the models.
Rather than the theoretical calculation by such models, empirical observation of history is likely more informative when it comes to anticipating the timing of maximum demand. The graph below normalizes annual oil demand from the G7 countries with the U.S. shown in black, each normalized to its own year and volume of maximum demand. The scales show a 15 year window around the maximum annual consumption, and the pattern of the G7 is repeated in the OECD total and in most all of the 28 other countries.
The same data viewed on the scale of generations may resemble an alpine peak, but from the experience of living through it, demand does not peak. It sputters, surges and stalls as it rolls over from a slow incline into a slow decline. It is less a peak and more a crest of demand.
Sequential global demand forecasts over the last decade have projected slower growth, mostly now forecast at less than 1 percent, and sensitivity cases now allow for the possibility of substantial demand decline by 2040. Unfortunately, experience demonstrates that the crest will likely occur unexpectedly and sooner than predicted. And then our industry enters a whole new world as the moving balance of supply and demand turns into a race to the bottom.
Dwayne Purvis is a writer for Oilprice.com where this originally appeared. Home
Ship lists Trumps way
By Daniel M. Ryan
The AHCAs failure the week before last prompted the usual cries of doom which President Trump has laughed off all the way to the White House. Rich Lowrys The Crisis of Trumpism? went viral: unsurprisingly, because he told the D.C. audience what they wanted to hear. Mr. Lowry, of course, is the editor of Natioanl Review and was so for its Against Trump? issue. He and his crew are long past the days of President Trump being a conservative-movement-menace?, but his piece shows that hes not quite reconstructed. He still pegs President Trump as a populist instead of a Conservative, for which he blames the fiasco. Unsurprisingly, he believes that Trump should work with some Dems but blew that chance by tweeting and saying mean things. Equally unsurprisingly, he forecasts that President Trump will work with some Dems specially, New York Dems and end up like Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Yep, he told em what they wanted to hear.
To be fair to the fellow, his Crisis? piece was not even in the same league as Chuck Todds wish-disguised-as-a-prediction made last Friday. On MSNBCs Andrea Mitchell show, Todd said: "President Donald Trump must accept 'the fact' that Russia interfered in this election or he will be 'on the brink of becoming a temporary lame duck presidency.'"
Like most hopes expressed as predictions, Todds words came right at the wrong turning point. This last week, weve seen the momentum shift towards President Trumps charge that his campaign has been spied upon by Obama? - meaning of course the Obama Administration. The star of the news cycle is now House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence chairman Devin Nunes.
Piecing It Together
The main charm of the Internet is the wide availability of content, in particular backed-up commentary. We now have the freedom to bust out of the pre-packaged narratives that we had to settle for in the aulden days.
With this freedom comes a new responsibility: the duty to read a whole bunch of items, commentaries, and so on. Not to mention, the responsibility to check out items that smell of fakery. (For what its worth, I ashcanned one linkie because it proved to be fake news.)
The turn of the tide from Russian interference? to Obama wiretapping? was made for the exercise of this new freedom, and responsibility. Topics like this are ones for which the usual suspects rely heavily on anonymous sources, which means that the backing for them aint auditable. If I want to verify the claim that U.S. Treasury debt shrunk slightly since President Trumps inauguration, I can emulate those easy-to-make-cheap-shots-at toilers in the think tanks and get the figures from this page. Not so with anonymous sources: we have to rely upon old-fashioned nose work, sniffing out pieces that we have to put together.
As for the Nunes ascendancy, and the newfound credibility of his claims of wiretapping, a good summary was put together by Flopping Aces. Excerpting the investigative work of Adam Housley and Malia Zimmerman of Fox News, it zeroes in on Nunes suspicion that the surveillance of Trump figures like General Flynn was too indiscriminate to be chalked up to national security. It also points out that Adam Schiff essentially punted by squawking about procedure instead of reiterating his tales about Russian hacking. The Hill has Schiffs splutter here.
The Fox scoop itself, which was one of the few which deserved the appellation Breaking News,? contained this bombshell:
The communications collected from Trump team associates apparently were picked up during surveillance of foreign targets. But an intelligence source familiar with those targets said they were spied on long before Trump became the GOP presidential nominee in mid-July.
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.
"Unmasking is not unprecedented, but unmasking for political purposes ... specifically of Trump transition team members ... is highly suspect and questionable," an intelligence source told Fox News. "Opposition by some in the intelligence agencies who were very connected to the Obama and Clinton teams was strong. After Trump was elected, they decided they were going to ruin his presidency by picking them off one by one."
Stipulated, former prosecutor Andrew McCarthy thinks that the unmasking of Gen. Flynn and others is licit. But he does say that the FBI's sharing of the Flynn-Kislyak conversation with "Obama advisers" and "Obama officials" does look fishy, as does the later interrogation of Flynn by FBI officials. Like the overkill about Putin, this overkill looks too insistent to be taken at face value.
As for Rep. Schiffs complaints, the Daily Caller disposed of one with dispatch: "Nunes Did Nothing New By Viewing Raw Intel At The White House.? It says that Nunes trip to the White House to view that classified info was not out of line because it's been done quite a few times before. The White House viewing space normally handles raw intel while Congressional secure room received finished reports. The Callers debunking does come with a non-anonymous source that backs it up.
The Farkas Connection...
The uproar aborned a reluctant star, Evelyn Farkas. Thanks to the elephants memory of the Internet, a chatty discussion with the friendly folks at MSNBC on March 2nd turned into the smoking gun? admission that the Obama Administration did spy on Trump for political reasons. Even Snopes has taken notice, in its usual way. She herself has officially denied that she spilled the beans; the American Spectator was collegial enough to publish her full denial. As is customary for well-respected senior government officials who have also served as Hillary Clinton campaign advisors, she relies upon gripping rhetoric - Wild Misinterpretation? - as the icing for the cake of selectively edited.? Mark Levins Conservative Review has been good enough to embed a video of her entire big debut, which you can watch all through to judge for yourself. Your humble scribe is of the opinion that her final money quote - Thats why you have the leaking, Farkas concluded. People are worried.? - was an awfully smooth transition from the meat of her words:
"Because I had a fear that somehow that information would disappear with the senior [Obama] people who left, so it would be hidden away in the bureaucracy... that the Trump folks if they found out how we knew what we knew about their... the Trump staff dealing with Russians that they would try to compromise those sources and methods, meaning we no longer have access to that intelligence." [This was her explanation of why the Obama Administration abruptly lowered the classification level of the data and shoved it around to all and sundry.]
Unsurprisingly, shes now one of the people that are worried. In her denial, she said flatly that she had no access to any classified information after she left her government post in 2015. So, she denied being one of the six Hillary staffers who did have access to classified information after they left their government jobs for Hillarys employ.
In the absence of hard data, we gotta do the best we can with circumstantial evidence. Given that Dr. Farkas was a Clinton-campaign colleague of the staffers who did have access, we have to rely on James Comeys fulsome praise of Hllarys scrupulosity in quarantining classified data. And of course, the level of integrity in Hillary campaign advisors that shone through in the Emails that Wikileaks published. (Evelyn Farkas name is not mentioned in any of them.)
...And The Fade-Away Of Russia
At least one pundit, the redoubtable Sundance of the Last Resort, has said that President Trump has used the fooforaw to get rid of an in-house leakin mole: Katie Walsh. His post says that Ms. Walsh was fired because she was the leaker who gave the names of Ezra Cohen-Watnick and Michael Ellis to the New York Times. These two were the officials who showed Rep. Nunes the raw intel. (Both of them have security clearances and authorization to do so.) Brietbarts Joel Pollack comes out and says that President Trump has turned the news-cycle tables, and also says that Trump is secretly enjoying all this fooforaw.
Already, Trump has been much tougher on Russia than Obama ever was. From blasting Russia at the UN Security Council over the eastern Ukraine, to threatening to tear up the New START treaty, Trump has opposed Putin and it shows. Trump foreign policy adviser Sebastian Gorka, formerly of Breitbart News, is also a vociferous critic of Russia.
So the Russia "scandal" is much ado about nothing. But it keeps the media distracted from what Trump is really doing such as taking a chainsaw to Obamas regulations and it keeps the Democrats from developing an actual message.
And were all supposed to believe it.
Leave it to the Russkies to have what should be the last word on the rickety Kremlin-interference narrative:
"You have reached the Russian embassy, your call is very important to us. To arrange a call from a Russian diplomat to your political opponent, press 1. To use the services of Russian hackers press 2. To request election interference, press 3 and wait until the next election campaign. Please note that all calls are recorded for quality improvement and training purposes."
Daniel M. Ryan, as Nxtblg, is shepherding the independently-run Open Audi Initiative Prediction Market Shadowing Project. He has stubbornly assumed all the responsibility and blame for the workings and outcome of the project.
Trumping the State Department By Scot Faulkner
President Trumps budgetary assault on the Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is long overdue. He is forcing a rethinking that will benefit America and the world. The State Department is one of the most bloated of federal bureaucracies. Front line consular officers, many just starting their careers at State, actually help Americans abroad. However, there are also countless Hallway Ambassadors who aimlessly roam from irrelevant meeting to obscure policy forum, killing time and our tax dollars. Legions of these taxpayer funded drones fill the State Department. Some are reemployed retirees who travel to overseas missions conducting inspections to justify their additional salaries. The American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) is to the State Department what the Teacher Unions are to public education. It exists to protect tenure and to prevent any accountability or reduction among the State Department drones. The Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance (AVC) is a uniquely harmful part of State. This Bureaus main mission has been to create photo ops of treaty signings. The arms control treaties have usually been unenforceable with sworn enemies of America. The Bureaus agreements with the Soviet Union undermined U.S. security. Its bureaucrats developed elaborate procedures for justifying the minimizing or overlooking of blatant treaty violations. They are using this same play book for the Iranian Nuclear deal. Headquarters waste and dysfunction are just the beginning of State Department ineffectiveness. In the mid-1980s, I viewed State Department field operations personally while serving as Director of the U.S. Peace Corps in Malawi. The most egregious problem was the un-American culture that permeates career Foreign Service Officers. Except for toasting America at the July 4th Embassy party each year, being pro-American is viewed as unprofessional. Long serving Americans would advise me that rising above nationalism and acting world wise was the mark of a seasoned diplomat. Not only did these U.S. foreign bureaucrats avoid Americanism, they avoided the host country. The Embassy team members spent their business and recreational time with diplomats from the other Embassies and with European expatriates living in Lilongwe, Malawis capital city. Their only sojourns outside the capital were to Salima, the lakeside resort, or to the Ambassadors vacation home on the Zomba Plateau. As Country Director, I eliminated the chauffer-driven luxury car used by my predecessor and reallocated the chauffer to other duties. At the wheel of a Nissan Patrol, I spent the majority of my time in the field with my seventy-five volunteers. This meant absorbing in depth knowledge of Malawi and its people. State Department versus reality was proven many times over. The most blatant was the 1985 fuel shortage. Malawi was land-locked. The Mozambique Civil War closed off its closest ports. A problematic network of rail lines brought goods, including gasoline, to Malawi via South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia. My volunteers told me a Zimbabwean labor dispute was going to cause a five week disruption of fuel to Malawi. I dutifully reported this to the Embassy Team. They scoffed, assuring me that their British friend running Mobil-Malawi was telling them no disruption would occur. I directed my staff to begin stockpiling gasoline. The disruption occurred. The Embassy team kept dismissing my reports and telling themselves the disruption would be short-lived. By week four, the Embassy motor pool was without fuel. Staff was delivering messages via bicycle. By week five, the Ambassador asked to purchase fuel from the Peace Corps, which had remained fully operational. The Embassy was blind-sided on an even more important issue. Air Malawi announced it was going to purchase a new fleet of passenger jets along with a comprehensive parts and maintenance agreement. At this point the State Department replaced the Embassys Commercial Attache with a Hispanic who could barely speak English. Instead of sending this person to Spanish-speaking Equatorial Guinea, they posted him to the most Anglophile country in Africa. He was miserable and totally ineffective. Alternatively, the German Ambassador moved about Malawis 28 regions, equaling my zeal for the field. When Boeings sales team arrived they were given a proper, but cool reception. The Fokker team arrived to a heros welcome and the multi-million dollar deal was signed shortly thereafter. American business lost a huge contract. USAID has spent over $1 trillion on overseas projects since its founding in 1961. Empty buildings and rusting tractors are silent testaments to its failures. What funds were not diverted to corrupt government officials went for unsustainable efforts, driven more by academic theories than practicality. State Department and USAID need a fundamental review and a day of reckoning. This is fertile territory for President Trump and Secretary Tillerson to implant business principles and common sense. Scot Faulkner served as the first Chief Administrative Officer of the U.S. House of Representatives and on Reagans White House Staff. He advises global corporations and governments on strategic change and leadership. Home
Treason and patriotism in Canada and the current-day world (Part Three) By Mark Wegierski
In the case of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, conflicts have inevitably emerged between loyalty to a nation, and loyalty to a regime, and the degree of permissible collaboration with a regime while claiming to be serving one's nation. One highly controversial case is that of Boleslaw Piasecki, who, in pre-World War II Poland, was the highly fanatical though extremely intellectually energetic leader of a small, extremist, far-right party, at the margins of Polish political life. However, there is still disagreement among historians as to how little or how much of an influence he had on pre-World War II Polish politics. After the war, he embarked on a painful strategy of collaboration with the new Communist authorities, which was perhaps an involuntary course, as his young son was under permanent threat from the Communists and of course, he himself could have been shot or gruesomely tortured to death -- immediately, out-of-hand. Indeed, his son was eventually kidnapped, and brutally murdered. The father was taunted for over a year with the possibility that he might yet ransom his son. Yet, the accusation of gross, opportunistic collaboration is often made against Piasecki, especially considering that men of clearly greater stature endured torture and death rather than show any kind of allegiance to the Soviet-imposed system. And it was only rarely possible to withdraw into a quiet, apolitical life, even if one were so inclined. The Polish patriots were hounded by the Communist regime. The Polish conservative journal Stanczyk (named after the famous, sixteenth-century court jester of the Polish Kings, known for his political wit and wisdom), had in an issue some years ago drawn attention to what they considered the questionable actions of a few post-World War II Polish emigres in the early 1950s, who signed an agreement of cooperation (at the small Bavarian town of Berg) with American military intelligence, in exchange for monetary compensation. In the opinion of the Stanczyk journal, such an agreement then fatally compromised the Polish-Government-in-Exile in London, England. If so much of the Government-in-Exile's funding was dependent on U.S. goodwill, it could not convincingly argue for such initiatives like a nuclear-free zone in Eastern Europe, something which might have potentially had enormous importance for Polish survival had war actually broken out. It turned out, furthermore, that the signatories to the agreement diverted much of the funds for their private use, thus exposing the underground network of Polish patriots working on their behalf in Poland to unnecessary risks, suffering, and, sometimes, execution. Indeed, the journal sees the signatories of this agreement with the Americans as real traitors. There is also some division of opinion expressed in the journal concerning Colonel Kuklinski, who was among the highest-ranking East Bloc personnel to defect to the West. Some argue that, after the breakthrough of 1956, the Polish People's Republic was an authoritarian, not a totalitarian regime, and that the weakening of Polish military capability vis-a-vis the West was not an unqualifiedly positive action. It later emerged, for example, that in the late 1950s to early 1960s, U.S. military planners had conceived a strategy for fighting in Europe called "Plan Vistula". While some Poles, when hearing the plan's name, might naively think this meant an offensive drive to liberate Poland, what it actually entailed was the creation, through nuclear saturation bombing, of a "zone of death" of about 200 kilometers wide across the breadth of Poland, in order to prevent Soviet armies from quickly reinforcing their main lines in East Germany. This would have resulted in the deaths of at least 20 million Poles. So U.S. military planning of that time absolutely disregarded the anti-Soviet potential of the Polish population. It took a surprisingly long time for U.S. grand strategy to see the peoples of Eastern Europe and Russia as potential allies, rather than enemy assets, in the Cold War conflict. The Soviet Union had always had an uneasy relation with Russian nationalism. During the NEP (New Economic Plan) period, the regime was able to diffuse some of the Russian emigre opposition by appealing to Russian nationalism, and contriving to suggest that it would soon transform itself into a "true organic conservative" regime. These emigre supporters called themselves "the Changing Landmarks movement." Many of them were lured back to their homeland, and soon thereafter disappeared. The NEP and disinformation strategy gave the Soviet Union a breathing space before its next lunge into totalitarian madness under Stalin. Indeed, the so-called kulaks (or more prosperous peasants) -- who were the typical targets of massive campaigns of genocide under Stalin had themselves largely come into existence as a result of the more relaxed period of the NEP. However, especially after Stalin's death in 1953, the history of the Soviet Union did indeed move increasingly away from totalitarianism in the direction of authoritarianism and Russian nationalism. To be continued. Mark Wegierski is a Canadian writer and historical researcher. Home
Captain Upul Tharanga said the choice of their openers in the first T20I will depend on the opposition's plans and involve trying to neutralise the Bangladesh spinners
Upul Tharanga is one of the four men who could take guard at the top of the order Associated Press
After years of failing to find a partner for Tillakaratne Dilshan at the top of the order, Sri Lanka are currently faced with a logjam over the opening slots. While Niroshan Dickwella is unavailable for the T20I series against Bangladesh, the hosts have in their squad four men - each of them having trodden a different path - who can open the batting in the shortest format.
Upul Tharanga - the oldest of the four - has usually been thought of for the longer formats, but has recently unveiled a more explosive avatar to his batting. By contrast, 26-year-old Kusal Perera , the only batsman who has tasted some consistent success as a T20 opener, has not been in the best touch of late. Though he was part of the victorious World T20 campaign in Bangladesh, his form in the recent past has been somewhat shaky.
Dilshan Munaweera had an abortive first stint in the team, but has since found his way back into Sri Lankan colours via the global T20 circuit. As for the newest of their opening options, Danushka Gunathilaka has a reputation of being a live wire in the field, and can also double up as a useful part-time bowler. However, at the moment, he is trading more on potential than tangible results.
Under normal circumstances, there would be little pressure for Sri Lanka to lock down their best opening combination immediately - considering there is no world T20 tournament on the horizon. However, with both the ODI and Test series having been drawn 1-1, there is little more at stake in this series than usual.
Taking into account how the odds stack up against both teams ahead of the T20 series, Captain Tharanga said the issue of choosing the opening combination deserved a little mulling over.
"We really haven't decided on the openers, and we have to take the opposition's plans into account," Tharanga said. "They have the offspinner Mehedi Hasan, and he often opens the bowling - as we saw in the ODIs. So, that can affect the combination. And, we might also want a right-hand left-hand combination."
This suggests Munaweera is likely to open the innings, as he is the only right-handed batsman among the quartet, and as such, is best-equipped to neutralise Mehedi.
According to Tharanga, the opening combination is not the only area where Sri Lanka have options. Thanks to their recent successes - albeit against depleted opposition - Sri Lanka may head into the T20I series with a little more confidence.
"In the last two series, we beat South Africa in South Africa and Australia in Australia, which is never easy to do," Tharanga said. "They were top teams at the moment in the T20 format. We are in good shape in the T20s, and we have a lot more experience, especially with players like Lasith Malinga coming back, and Nuwan Kulasekara and Thisara Perera being there as well.
"We have explosive batsmen up the top of the order, but some firepower lower down as well in Seekkuge Prasanna and Chamara Kapugedara."
Though Tharanga revealed on Saturday that he had asked for an offspinner - Dilruwan Perera - to be added to Sri Lanka's ODI squad after the selectors had initially failed to name one, he did express support for the selectors' policy of stacking T20I sides with allrounders.
"In T20Is, a lot changes with the situation. Sometimes, if you have players that can play a few big shots and contribute with a couple of overs at the right time, it can be an advantage.
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A dangerous dog disease is sweeping the UK and owners in Essex are being urged to be vigilant.
CRGV, commonly known as Alabama Rot, is a nasty bug of unknown cause that affects all breeds of dog.
Vets have warned about the devastating sickness, which can lead to a dog's flesh rotting - resulting in kidney failure, loss of appetite, tiredness and vomiting.
Without urgent treatment, dogs develop a raging fever and can eventually die.
As the cause of CRGV is still unknown, there is no known way to prevent your dog from contracting the disease, although there have been cases of closely associated dogs becoming affected.
It's thought that the disease is picked up on the paws and legs on muddy walks, so dog owners are reminded to always wash off woodland mud, check for signs of CRGV and if in doubt, call the vet.
The mysterious illnss, which first appeared in the late 1980s affecting greyhounds in America, has been found in at least 27 counties in England and Wales since 2012.
In this latest outbreak, three cases have been confirmed within a 50-mile radius of Chelmsford city centre, according to data provided by Anderson Moores Veterinary Specialists.
Vets have warned that one of the most noticeable signs of the disease early in its onset is skin lesions.
This abnormality in the tissue of an organism begins as a slow-healing ulcer.
Owners who spot wounds or lesions to the limbs of their pet, or on their dog's face, that appear to take a long time to heal, should make a prompt visit to the vet.
Dogs can also appear to become 'depressed' with a loss of appetite and they may start to vomit.
Vets4Pets, an online search site that helps locate veterinary practices, has an online search tool to help owners track the spread of the disease.
EUBULLETIN talked in an EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with Manal al-Sharif, a writer, blogger and leading womens rights activist in Saudi Arabia, who was recognized by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World.
Theres no actual law against women driving in Saudi Arabia but its forbidden. In May 2011, Manal al-Sharif decided to encourage women to drive by doing so and filming herself for YouTube. During a second turn at the wheel, she was arrested. Nine days and a groundswell of protest later she was released from jail. An information technology consultant, Al-Sharif remains active in the women rights movement. She has broadened her campaign to focus on guardianship annulment and family protection as well as driving rights, and has founded several groups throughout Saudi Arabia with the title My rights, my dignity.
EUBulletin: What should the EU and the national governments do to integrate in the context of the current Islamophobia the incoming migrants and especially those coming from predominantly Muslim countries?
Manal al-Sharif: I did not go through what you are going through, so I cannot really comment on this. They dont allow immigration to my country, Saudi Arabia it is not allowed and even if you are born in Saudi Arabia, to be Saudi, you have to be born to a Saudi father. So, we did not go through this issue. So, good luck really I know it is really a huge challenge what you are going through in Europe.
EUBulletin: As a leading womens rights activist, you look mainly at the role of women in the traditional, majority Muslim societies. But what about in Europe? Has the role and position of Muslim women changed from the 1st to the 2nd and 3rd generation of Muslim migrants?
Manal al-Sharif: I can talk about other countries that I have lived in but I did not live in Europe, so I dont know the challenges you are facing here, why this hatred against immigrants is present here. Of course, the United States, Canada or Australia are countries of immigrants but Europe is different people have lived here for thousands of years and when you see someone from outside, then there is this sensitivity towards the prayer calls or veiled Muslim women. A Muslim woman is always called oppressed, although she is just practicing her religion, no one can see a nun in a monastery or Dalai Lama as oppressed, just because he is wearing his traditional Buddhist robe.
The whole idea is, I think, that these women when they come to Europe to be given the same chances as men. So me, if I were the 1st generation, I would have the same mentality like when I came, it would be very difficult to change the old peoples mentality. But the 2nd generation is where they ask these questions and they take choices that their parents and their moms did not have back home. Believe me, if I were here, I would be very active, unlike in the Saudi Arabia, because in Saudi, they dont allow you to do anything, even to find a job you cannot simply because you are a woman.
I mean men are 89 percent of all the workforce in Saudi and women are mere 11 percent, although we women are 60 percent of all graduates from the higher education and colleges. But we dont have jobs and we dont have any political representation, we cannot even vote for the people in the Council in the municipal election, half of whom are appointed by the king and the other half he has to approve it. If I am going to apply, nobody is going to approve me to apply, no one will vote for me. And if there is a municipal election, they cant even approve their own budget we are not even given these opportunities.
EUBulletin: In contrast to this situation in Saudi Arabia and other countries known for their discriminatory policies on womans most basic rights, European societies with highly developed welfare systems encourage women to pursue their careers in parallel with their family lives, such as through provision of childcare for working women.
Manal al-Sharif: Still, I am pretty sure it is hard to come here to Europe as a Muslim woman at the moment I dont want to go through the hate speech, I dont want to go through people calling me immigrant but I am pretty sure that people who do come here have no choice. And it also depends on the woman to decide like why we all have to look in a certain way, why you have to act in a certain way they should be given the option to choose: would I want to be a mom to take care of the kids or to go out evenings, work and also have a family.
You have a good system to support women in Europe. That would by appreciated by Muslim women like Leila who was really, really young and they promised this Moroccan lady that if she comes to Saudi Arabia, she would be working in a beauty salon, but look, she went there and ended up working, like thousands of other Moroccans girls, as a maid in a Saudi household until she was overworked and abused. By contrast, Audrey Azoulay is also a migrant from Morocco who moved to France years ago and today she has become perhaps the youngest minister of culture and communication in that country. And everyone says look when these women are given the chance, they prosper, they become something, while in countries, like Saudi Arabia, where they dont give them the chance, they are treated as second-class citizens.
Vladimir Putin is cheering the European far-right to divide the continent, the European Commissions First Vice-President Frans Timmermans said last week after Frances Marine Le Pen had met with the Russian President in the Kremlin. Mrs. Le Pen had previously called for tighter ties with Russia and her visit to Moscow came only a month before the first round of the presidential election in her country. Mrs. Le Pens far-right National Front had received a 9m loan from a Russian bank in 2014. President Putin used the occasion to emphasize that Russia did not interfere in European politics.
Emmanuel Macron, pro-Europe French presidential candidate, has, however, accused Moscow of trying to derail his campaign by spreading false rumors through hacked Democrat emails and social media. Across Europe, the hand of the Kremlin has been perceived in an array of cyber attacks on government and state institutions through fake news and disinformation as well as in the targeted funding of opposition groups.
According to Mr. Timmermans, there is a reason why Mr. Putin supports the extreme right all across Europe because he knows the extreme right makes us weak, he knows the extreme right divides us. And a divided Europe means that Putin is the boss. He also stressed that he did not want to enter into conflict with Moscow but said that Mr. Putin was trying to create disunity by inviting Mrs. Le Pen to the Kremlin and supporting all sorts of extreme-right parties across Europe. Russia has been previously accused of meddling in the US election in favor of Donald Trump.
GBP/NZD fluctuated above its weekly lows as demand for risk-correlated currencies faded.
The New Zealand Dollar failed to benefit from Tuesdays Global Dairy Trade (GDT) news. Prices of New Zealands most lucrative commodity improved slightly in the first April auction but not enough to bolster demand for the Kiwi amid this weeks risk-averse market.
Ahead of the latest GlobalDairyTrade auction the Pound to New Zealand Dollar exchange rate remained on an uptrend, with market risk appetite generally limited.
Although the UK construction PMI also showed a weakening on the month this was not enough to knock back the Pound as investors await Wednesdays services data.
The New Zealand Dollar could be influenced by the latest shifts in prices of dairy, New Zealands most lucrative commodity.
Marchs UK manufacturing PMI fell short of expectations, slipping from 54.6 to 54.2 as the economy showed signs of weakening in response to Brexit uncertainty.
This saw the Pound New Zealand Dollar exchange rate trending lower at 1.7869, even though the Kiwi lacked any particular support at the start of the week.
Towards the close of Fridays European session the British Pound to New Zealand Dollar exchange rate was trending narrowly in the region of 1.7842.
GBP NZD Exchange Rate Volatile with Brexit Underway
Although the much-anticipated activation of Article 50 proved to be something of an anti-climax it was nevertheless a volatile week for the Pound New Zealand Dollar exchange rate.
With UK data already starting to show some signs of weakness the outlook for the Pound does not appear overly positive, particularly as there is already disagreement between the UK and EU over Brexit.
Risk appetite was generally limited, though, offering the Kiwi little particular opportunity to capitalise on the volatility of the Pound.
Political Developments to Dominate Pound Outlook
While official Brexit negotiations are not set to begin for some weeks yet the Pound will still remain vulnerable to political developments in the near term.
The issue of a second Scottish independence referendum could weigh on the appeal of Sterling as Theresa May looks set to refuse Nicola Sturgeons formal request.
If politicians on either side of the Channel adopt a harder line of rhetoric, meanwhile, the GBP NZD exchange rate may be prompted to trend lower on fears of an exit via the cliff edge.
Even though forecasts point towards a fresh weakening in the latest raft of UK PMIs any upside surprise could give the Pound a more substantial rallying point.
Any indication of a faltering service sector, though, could weigh heavily on GBP exchange rates.
Stronger Dairy Prices Could Boost New Zealand Dollar
With fresh New Zealand data limited in the coming week the appeal of the Kiwi is unlikely to pick up significantly, particularly if investors maintain a risk averse outlook.
Another uptick in milk prices at the GlobalDairyTrade auction could bolster demand for the New Zealand Dollar, though, as it would be a positive sign for the dairy sector and the economy at large.
The underlying trend for the antipodean currency should remain relatively positive, however, with markets expecting the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) to maintain its neutral bias for the foreseeable future.
As Imre Speizer, research analyst at Westpac, noted:
Messaging from the RBNZ since the MPS projections were published has been consistent (via Governor Wheelers speech and the March OCR Review), namely that the OCR is not expected to move for a long time but that the next cycle is likely to be a tightening one.
GBP NZD Data Releases
03/04/17:
09:30 GBP Markit UK Manufacturing PMI (MAR)
04/04/17:
09:30 GBP Markit/CIPS UK Construction PMI (MAR)
18:00 NZD QV House Prices (YoY) (MAR)
05/04/17:
02:00 NZD ANZ Commodity Price (MAR)
09:30 GBP Markit/CIPS UK Services PMI (MAR)
07/04/17:
09:30 GBP Industrial Production (YoY) (FEB)
09:30 GBP Manufacturing Production (YoY) (FEB)
09:30 GBP Visible Trade Balance (Pounds) (FEB)
13:00 GBP NIESR Gross Domestic Product Estimate (MAR)
At the time of writing this update, the British Pound to Canadian Dollar exchange rate trended in the region of 1.6736. Poor demand for risk-correlated currencies kept the Canadian Dollar weak throughout the day.
This was despite news that prices of oil, Canadas most lucrative commodity, had begun to improve on speculation of lightening US oil inventories. GBP/CAD could fall on Wednesday if Britains key services stats come in below expectations..
Demand for the Pound remained somewhat muted in the wake of another disappointing UK PMI, with both the manufacturing and construction sectors having experienced slowing growth in March.
GBP/CAD shot up on Monday afternoon as prices of oil began to slip again.
Oil production in Libya began to recover on Monday afternoon following disruptions in recent weeks. The Canadian Dollar failed to find support in Canadas latest manufacturing PMI from RBC.
Although oil prices have remained somewhat volatile as US production rises the Pound Canadian Dollar exchange rate softened at the start of the week.
Investors were discouraged to find that the latest UK manufacturing PMI was weaker than anticipated, indicating that the domestic economy was not in the strongest of states at the end of the first quarter.
GBP CAD Exchange Rate Worsened by Brexit Trigger
Last weeks main GBP CAD exchange rate-moving event was the activation of Article 50, which officially started the Brexit process.
When Prime Minister Theresa May signed the document on Tuesday night, the Pound fell sharply against the Canadian Dollar. Despite later positive remarks, this was the tipping point for weekly trading, with the GBP CAD exchange rate failing to recover.
EU officials were quick to respond to the anticipated exit announcement, with European Council President Donald Tusk stressing that the EU would not seek to punish the UK.
Symbolising divisions among EU leaders, however, was German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who stated that the UK must leave the EU before the future UK-EU relationship was discussed.
This was later downgraded by Tusk, who stated that sufficient progress on the withdrawal was needed before future relationships could be discussed.
Weekly GBP CAD Forecast: UK PMIs and Early Brexit Talks to Shape Pound Trading
The Pound may slide against the Canadian Dollar in the coming week, assuming that Brexit talks get off on an unstable footing.
While proper talks arent expected to start until May, the Pound may nonetheless be softened by indications that the EU is unwilling to compromise on key matters such as free movement.
More concretely, the Pound could slide if UK PMIs over Monday to Wednesday drop. At the time of writing, forecasts were for a drop in construction, a rise in services and no change for manufacturing.
Closing weekly announcements will be Fridays trade balance; previously a deficit of -1.97bn was recorded.
Canadian Dollar to Pound Advance Enabled By Oil Price Rise
On a relatively quiet week of Canadian data, CAD GBP gains were enabled by a steady rise in crude oil prices.
Over the course of the week, the cost of crude rose from under $48 per barrel to almost $50.50, a fact helped by forecasts of a supply crunch by a number of oil traders.
Domestic data also closed trading on a strong footing, with the January GDP figure rising from 0.3% to 0.6% above forecasts.
Canadian Dollar Predicted to Advance if Trade and Jobs Data Impresses
Canadian Dollar demand may remain high in the current week, assuming that the Tuesday trade balance shows another surplus expansion.
The other main releases will be Fridays employment figures, which could boost CAD value by showing a drop in unemployment in March.
The last notable news will be the Ivey PMI, which posted in the growth range in February.
GBP CAD Data Releases
03/04/2017
09:30 GBP Manufacturing PMI MAR
04/04/2017
09:30 GBP Construction PMI MAR
13:30 CAD Balance of Trade FEB
05/04/02017
09:30 GBP Services PMI MAR
The students travelled to Cuba to discover how the countrys health outcomes are among the best in the world, despite operating on a much lower budget.
Medicine students visit Cuba for insight into international health delivery
Medicine students at the University of Exeter Medical School have travelled to Cuba to get an insight into how the country delivers high quality healthcare on a tight budget.
The Year 3 students, based at the Medical Schools Exeter and Truro campuses, travelled to the Caribbean island to discover how the Communist countrys health outcomes are among the best in the world, despite operating on a much lower budget. The trip also involved students from the University of South Florida.
Dr Nicki Saulsbury, Academic Director of International Education at the University of Exeter Medical School, said: All healthcare is free in Cuba, and their system is globally recognised as excellent, even though it operates on a much lower spend than the NHS. Theres a real focus on prevention on keeping people healthy and focussing on the person as a whole, rather than an approach which treats individual illnesses as they arise. Although we dont operate to that system in the UK, there are lessons to be learned that can be applied to clinical practice worldwide.
Over the two week visit, the group visited a range of health facilities including hospitals and polyclinics, and met American Medicine students. It meant they gained an insight into the contrasts between the Cuban health system where care is free for all, and the privatised American system where people receive different standards of care depending on how much they can afford to pay.
Megan Davis, from Truro in Cornwall, said: "I was amazed on the visit to the Latin American School of Medicine. Cuba trains 20,000 students from 110 countries for free from the poorest communities throughout the world, with the intent of returning to practice medicine in those areas in their countries. Their selfless approach to providing aid to the most disadvantaged is commendable. It has really shaped my outlook on providing healthcare in the future.
Annabel Callan, from Lustleigh on Dartmoor, Devon, said: It was really interesting to compare and contrast healthcare services and infrastructure in the UK and Cuba. Both are state-financed but with very differing models, and we were able to see how that is incorporated into both urban and rural environments. It was a fascinating insight into how the Cuban system works so effectively, despite their lower budget and poorer economy. There are certainly aspects of their preventative-focused and family-orientated approach that I will carry forward into my own future practice.
Also on the trip were students Billy Caufield, Sam Gallagher, Sara Khalid, Susannah Kingsbury, Lily McDougall, Ross Moore, John Outlaw and Dominic Proctor.
Often the headlines highlight when countries want to reduce their immigration but Canada wants more people, specifically those who can speak French and want to live and work in provinces along the Atlantic coast.A new pilot programme has been launched to attract more skilled immigrants to Atlantic Canada and retain them with employers set to help with recruitment, it has been announced. The Atlantic Immigration Pilot was developed in collaboration with the four Atlantic provinces. It will help address the pressing labour market needs of the Atlantic region by giving businesses that need skilled workers the ability to fill job vacancies quickly using permanent immigration programs.Eligible skilled immigrants and international graduate students with a job offer from a designated employer in one of the Atlantic provinces, and an endorsement from that province, can now apply for permanent residence.Almost 200 employers have expressed interest in the programme and now 50 have been designated to take part in the pilot with responsibility to help with the recruitment of immigrants and their successful integration into the community.Federal Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen and the Honourable Donald Arseneault, New Brunswick Minister for Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour, met today to discuss progress on the pilot and next steps.Provinces will be responsible for designating employers to participate in the pilot, and in endorsing applicants who can apply for permanent residency. Provinces will also have an enhanced coordination role in facilitating connections between employers, settlement service providers and other government services.Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is now accepting permanent residence applications for three programmes under the pilot: the Atlantic Intermediate-Skilled Programme; the Atlantic High-Skilled Programme; and the Atlantic International Graduate Programme aimed at international students.Employers have been keen to get involved and provinces have started to receive applications from employers who wish to participate in the pilot, said Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen, adding that up to 2,000 applications will be processed in 2017 for principal applicants and accompanying family members.We are working hard getting things done to create jobs, secure health care and grow the economy. In the midst of an aging and shrinking population, welcoming skilled foreign workers will help our province meet its labour needs and grow the economy, said Donald Arseneault, New Brunswick Minister for Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour.Canada is also seeking more French speaking skilled immigrants and to help it making change to Express Entry, the nations flagship skilled worker immigration application management system.Programs managed through the Express Entry system attract high skilled foreign workers and former international students who want to live in Canada permanently and whose in demand skills are needed by employers across the country to help build businesses and grow the economy.From 06 June 2017, additional points will be awarded to candidates who have strong French language skills. Hussen said that these additional points represent an important change that will contribute to the growth, vitality and prosperity of Francophone minority communities across Canada.Increasing Francophone immigration and growing Francophone communities across Canada remains a priority for the Government. Canadas greatest strength is its skilled, hardworking, creative, and diverse workforce, he explained.Since the launch of Express Entry in January 2015, Canada has welcomed over 43,000 economic immigrants through the system with many having studied in fields related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics, skills that are linked to innovation, prosperity and growth.
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DALLAS After Donald Trumps election, the flow of manufacturers setting up shop south of the border dwindled to a trickle. Ford Motor Co. and Carrier Corp., caught in Trumps Twitter cross hairs, scrapped plans to move jobs to Mexico in two very public examples of the slowdown.
But now the pace is picking back up. Illinois Tool Works Inc. will close an auto parts plant in Mazon, Illinois, and head to Ciudad Juarez. Triumph Group Inc. is reducing the Spokane, Washington, workforce that makes fiber-composite parts for Boeing Co. aircraft and moving production to Zacatecas and Baja California. TE Connectivity Ltd. is shuttering a pressure-sensor plant in Pennsauken, New Jersey, in favor of a facility in Hermosillo.
While Trump hasnt stopped pounding his America First bully pulpit, and the future of NAFTA remains uncertain, theres cautious optimism and a hopeful attitude that cooler heads will prevail in Washington, said Ross Baldwin, chief executive officer of Tacna Services Inc., which facilitates relocations.
Baldwin has seen the evidence: After business ground to a halt back in November, hes now juggling two Mexico-bound clients. San Diego-based Tacna helps manage 4,500 workers in Mexico, where factory wages are about a fifth of those in the U.S. That may explain why Mexican manufacturing jobs rose 3.2 percent in January from a year ago as they dropped 0.3 percent in the U.S.
The renewed exodus shows how difficult it will be for Trump to turn the macroeconomic tide just by jawboning alone. Last week, he trumpeted a Ford investment in Michigan plants with a cap-lock fanfare: JOBS! JOBS! JOBS! The $1.2 billion will create or retain only 130 positions, though. (While Ford canceled plans in November for a new $1.6 billion facility in Mexico, winning Trumps praise, it employs more than 7,000 workers in that country.)
Trumps plans to renegotiate NAFTA and talk of punitive tariffs cant erase the need to manufacture in lower-cost countries, said Alan Russell, CEO of El Paso-based Tecma Group., which also helps open and operate factories in Mexico. European companies tap the Czech Republic for low wages and Asia has Vietnam, and the U.S. needs Mexico to remain competitive with labor-intensive products, he said.
This isnt about taking jobs from the U.S. its about saving companies, he said.
Russell helped Firstronic open a factory in Juarez in 2014 to make circuit boards for customers including Audi and Tesla Inc. Workers, sporting maroon lab coats and wearing rubber straps on their shoes to ward off static electricity, make about $10 a day running computer-driven machines that insert capacitors and resistors onto green boards and solder them into place.
The Juarez expansion and joint ventures in the Czech Republic and China was a factor in Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Firstronic winning larger contracts from producers of auto parts and medical supplies, CEO John Sammut said. His sales are surging at a 30 percent annual clip.
In Spokane, Triumph Group dismissed almost 80 production workers in January and plans to eliminate another 30 jobs by August as it moves work to Mexican plants, said Steve Warren, a local official of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
They are being pressured to supply parts as low cost as possible, he said.
Tapping cheap labor sometimes isnt just about lowering costs, but accelerating growth. Large purchasers, including Kongsberg Automotive and Dura Automotive Systems, prefer to deal with a few global suppliers rather than a myriad of local companies.
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If we were only producing in the U.S., we would lose out on the vast majority of the contract opportunities, Sammut said. With the increase in business, Firstronic has added revenue and jobs in Grand Rapids, he said.
Businesses havent dismissed a NAFTA renegotiation or policies being considered in Washington that might prove costly. A plan by House Republicans to implement a 20 percent border adjustment tax has raised concerns, especially among retailers such as Walmart Stores Inc. that import many of their wares. The tax would be applied to sales of imported goods to reduce the U.S. trade deficit, which reached $734 billion in 2016.
Trump repeated to a joint session of Congress in February his refrain that that he will make it much, much harder for companies to leave our country. But his recent stumbles travel bans blocked by courts and a health care bill scuttled by his own party underscore the limitations on presidential power and the difficulty he may have punishing companies or overhauling NAFTA.
At a February conference in El Paso to discuss how Trumps policies may affect trade, most in the room of plant managers, supply-chain officers and suppliers predicted NAFTA would likely be changed but not discarded, and that the changes might not be harmful.
Whatever happens, Russell said his business fostering Mexican manufacturing will grow this year. The pressure to reduce costs is that relentless.
When you dissect the worst-case scenarios, it still makes sense to go forward with their business plans, he said. Its a competitive world.
If you were bright and gifted in science and engineering the H-1B visa was your ticket to the United States. But maybe not for long.
The lottery for such high-skilled worker visas opened Monday, with the 85,000 slots expected to fill in a matter of days. Nearly three-quarters of the visas are expected to go to Indian workers, as they have in recent years.
But the Trump administration injected new uncertainty into the H-1B visa process Monday -- warning employers against discriminating against U.S.-born workers and announcing site visits to companies that employ a high ratio of workers on H-1B visas.
President Donald Trump, who campaigned on an America First ideology, has promised to end forever the use of the H-1B as a cheap labor program and require companies to prioritize American job applicants no exceptions.
Trump has also said he would issue an executive order to investigate visa abuses. That order has not been signed.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions said while campaigning for Trump that he would consider eliminating H-1B visas altogether which would be a major blow to tech companies that rely heavily on foreign workers.
On Monday, the Justice Department warned that hiring practices that discriminate against Americans violate federal law.
The Justice Department will not tolerate employers misusing the H-1B visa process to discriminate against U.S. workers, Acting Assistant Attorney General Tom Wheeler said in a prepared statement. U.S. workers should not be placed in a disfavored status, and the department is wholeheartedly committed to investigating and vigorously prosecuting these claims.
Hours later, the Department of Homeland Security announced new steps to combat H-1B visa fraud and abuse. The departments U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will make unannounced site visits to companies that have a high ratio of workers on H-1B visas, and those whose foreign workers are outsourced to another company.
The biggest beneficiary of the system, by far, is India, which produces a steady pipeline of workers trained in math, engineering and science. Seventy-one percent of H-1B visa recipients came from India in 2015, according to a 2016 report by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. China comes in second, accounting for nearly 10 percent of H-1B visa recipients.
Immigration experts expect the trend to continue despite the recent spate of high-profile violent attacks on Indians living in the U.S. Two Indian tech workers were shot at a Kansas bar in February by a gunman yelling Get out of my country. One of the men died.
Indias dominance of the H-1B visa system is cemented by the countrys giant outsourcing firms that submit tens of thousands of applications, increasing their chances of winning the coveted temporary work visas.
Among the top H-1B visa sponsors are Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and Tech Mahindra Americas Indian multinational corporations providing information technology and outsourcing services, according to Myvisajobs.com.
The top 20 global outsourcing firms, including those based in other countries, accounted for about 40 percent of the visas available in 2014, according to Ron Hira, a public policy professor at Howard University specializing in high-skill immigration and the American engineering workforce. His research was cited by the New York Times in its 2015 investigation into H-1B visa abuse.
The outsourcing firms are controversial because they are exempt from the federal requirement that they not displace American workers if they pay H-1B visa holders at least $60,000 a year. That threshold still falls below the market rate for American tech workers.
American tech companies who use workers hired by these firms benefit from the cheaper labor, as well as the automatic loyalty engendered among workers who would otherwise lose their legal status.
The H-1B visas last for three years and can be renewed once. But workers applying for green cards can renew their visas indefinitely. There is currently a decadelong backlog of Indian green card applicants. Given the tremendous delay, companies have an incentive to hire workers from India, who critics say end up in a system of de facto indentured servitude.
Its not because Indians are smarter. These companies want more control over their employees. An immigrant worker has few rights and is now stuck with the employer for many years, said Aman Kapoor, president of Immigration Voice, a nonprofit advocating on behalf of high-skilled foreign workers concerned about the green card backlogs.
Kapoor calls the H-1B visa program a federally sanctioned long-term employee retention insurance program because green card applicants cannot change jobs while their applications are pending or they have to restart their applications.
If an employee is not going anywhere, the employer will not give salary increases, he said. As a result, American workers are discriminated against in the job market and immigrant workers are exploited.
Employers and the federal government market the H-1B visa program under the slogan of bringing in the best and the brightest, he said. But in reality, he said, the current system is designed to maintain inequality.
Kapoor himself is a byproduct of the system, having arrived in the United States from India on an H-1B visa for an engineering job in 1997. It took him 12 years to get a green card. Kapoor said hes now a proud American citizen but said he realizes his role in contributing to the current problem. Knowing what I know today, if I could reverse my life, I would not come back, he said.
Despite the current political climate and concerns about safety given the recent violence against immigrants, Kapoor said people will keep coming in hopes of making a better life.
Advocates of H-1B visa reform have called for replacing the lottery with a system that takes into account salary and skill. Others want to eliminate the per-country green card caps or impose similar caps on the H-1B system to ease the backlog of Indians waiting for permanent residency. Congress is considering bipartisan bills to raise the salary requirements for H-1B visa workers to $100,000 a year.
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Still others are lobbying to raise the number of visas issued each year to foreign workers currently 65,000 allowed under the cap plus an additional 20,000 for workers with advanced degrees.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, chairman of the Senate Republican High-Tech Task Force, wants to increase the number of H-1B visas to between 115,000 to 195,000 a year. In the San Jose Mercury News last week, Hatch argued for giving some H-1B visa workers the freedom to change jobs.
Meanwhile, a new study Monday from New American Economy, a national business coalition founded by former New York mayor, Michael Bloomberg, showed a growing gap between the number of science and engineering jobs available and the number of American workers able to fill those jobs.
In 2010, there were 5.4 job postings in the area of science, technology, engineering and math for every unemployed worker in these fields, the study says. By 2015, such job postings outnumbered unemployed workers in these fields by a factor of almost 17 to 1.
These numbers are staggering, said Jeremy Robbins, executive director of New American Economy. Most of these major tech companies literally have thousands of jobs posted on their websites today that they cant fill.
But many economists are skeptical that a gap exists between the number of tech jobs and the number of available workers.
Guy Berger, LinkedIn economist, said the gap for some science and engineering jobs is more acute in Los Angeles than it is in the San Francisco Bay Area. Engineers looking for work may be better off moving. Companies themselves could mitigate some of the gap by offering higher wages, he said.
Berger said hes skeptical of the idea theres an immutable shortage you cant possibly solve without hiring foreign workers. In a lot of cases, you can pay people more.
Peter Cappelli, an economist and professor of management at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Trumps alma mater, said its absolutely not true that there is a shortage of workers to fill U.S. science and engineering jobs.
Most of the H-1B visas dont go to the super smarties, Cappelli said. Its typically for midlevel IT folks. Theyre not the highest paid jobs.
Companies have an incentive to want to expand the H-1B visa program, he said. Foreign workers are really, really glad to be here in a way a typical American worker is not, Cappelli said. If you could hire a U.S. worker and make sure they cant quit on you, boy, they would be a ton more valuable.
The future of the H-1B program really becomes a lobbying question, he said. Whose interest is going to be served at whose expense?
MUHAMMED SAWAF, Stringer / AFP/Getty Images
The Armys touring big band jazz ensemble will perform Saturday at the University of Texas at San Antonios Arts Recital Hall.
Known as Americas Big Band, the 19-member Jazz Ambassadors are on a 40-day spring concert tour.
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Christopher Mumma carries reminders of his past on his wrists. The former Fleet Marine Force corpsman wears a bracelet made of yak bones to remind him of fallen comrades. The avid bicyclist also wears a rainbow band marking a past hard ride.
On Monday, what Mumma wore on his wrist may be the future of PTSD management. A sleek black watch, reprogrammed with software created by Texas A&M University, recorded Mummas heartbeat as it monitored PTSD symptoms.
Mumma was one of about 100 wounded veterans and supporters striking out from San Antonio on a bike tour to Houston. The ride was a therapeutic event via United Healthcare and Project Hero, which works with veterans and first responders affected by PTSD and traumatic brain injuries.
The HeroTrak black watches worn by Mumma and others were the first batch tested outside of Texas A&Ms clinics.
The watch, the brainchild of Farzan Sasangohar, an Aggie engineering professor, records biometric signals such as heart rate and movement. Veterans double press the face of the watch when they are having an episode. The data collected around that episode is then recorded for researchers to study later on.
We were motivated by veterans not getting attention when theyre not in consultation, Sasangohar said. There are 168 hours in a week. They are often only in counseling one hour, and the other 167 they are alone.
In the future, the watch will be able to record more data, which will use machine learning to understand what a person goes through before, during and after a PTSD episode. Texas A&M researchers hope to be able to predict when a PTSD episode is happening and then have the watch intervene perhaps by contacting a caregiver or asking the wearer questions.
I figure it might not help me right now, but it could help my fellow veterans in the future, Mumma said. Im honored to be among the first to test it out.
Mumma served from 1987 to 1991 and now lives in Fair Oaks, California. Mumma has been riding competitively for the last four years, despite suffering from cystic osteosarcoma.
The number of veterans with PTSD varies, according to data from the Department of Veterans Affairs. From 11 percent to 20 percent of recent veterans have PTSD in a given year, with around 30 percent of Vietnam veterans having PTSD at some point in their lives.
When Mumma has a PTSD episode, his pulse shoots up from 70 beats per minute to 100.
Mumma said he used the watch to record an issue the night before the ride.
Last night I had issues, Mumma said. Good data.
Having the watch on his wrist helped him recognize what was happening and helped him focus on his breathing, Mumma said.
Jerry W. Padgett II, who served as a riverine in the Navy from 2001 to 2010, also wore the HeroTrak watch. He said he already has his labradoodle Bayley, who takes care of him, and in the future hell may be able to have the watch, too, Padgett said.
Bayley can sense when Padgett is having seizures, which he suffers as a result of his injuries.
A recent investigation by the Department of Defense indicated that epilepsy incidence increased by 52 percent from 2006 to 2010, with about 8 percent of those with epilepsy having a previous diagnosis of TBI. Studies of Veterans from World War II and the Korean War linked epilepsy to traumatic brain injuries. One study observed 30 percent of those with a penetrating TBI developed epilepsy at some point.
Like Mumma, Padgett said he had an episode the night before the ride, which he said the watch recorded.
The watch may help clinicians get better objective data on sleep quality, as opposed to self-reported information, Sasangohar said.
Padgett, settled into his recumbent bicycle as Bayley licked the side of his cheek below the rim of his helmet.
She knows Im about to head out for a ride, he said. He then wheeled out to the starting line, and set off to hit the road on the way to Houston with his fellow wounded warriors.
jlawrence@express-news.net
AUSTIN There are two groups of people who cant run for public office in Texas felons and the mentally incapacitated. Some legislators want to add a third category lobbyists.
As lawmakers weigh bills to overhaul ethics laws, some lobbyists are pushing back against provisions they say unfairly target their profession and could lead to less government transparency, not more.
I believe that registering as a lobbyist is not the same thing as putting a scarlet L on your forehead, said Jack Gullahorn, a lobbyist who founded the Austin-based trade group for lobbyists.
The Senate passed a comprehensive ethics bill in early February, one week after Gov. Greg Abbott made it one of his priority items. Anticipating attempts to kill the legislation, lawmakers also filed separate single-shot bills with the same provisions, which are getting hearings in the House.
One bill would prohibit anyone who is required to register as a state government lobbyist from running for, being appointed to or holding public office. State law and advisory opinions from the state Ethics Commission bar legislators from lobbying state government, but they can work as lobbyists focusing on the federal and local governments. Someone who lobbies the state government can't serve on the state Board of Education if he or she works on behalf of a profession, business or group related to the operation of the board.
The bills lead sponsor, state Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, said its important to distinguish between lobbying and other occupations when it comes to those who hold public office. He said local elected officials whose profession is lobbying the state government present the perception of conflict of interest or actual conflicts, such as when the person being lobbied doesnt know whether the lobbyist is speaking in his government capacity or as a lobbyist.
I think it passes a common-sense test, which is if you go to your constituents and say, Should someone who lobbies also be someone who runs your city? I think most people would say, No, Capriglione said.
The Ethics Commission does not keep a list of state lobbyists who also are local elected officials. But they include Jesse Ancira, a lobbyist who is the mayor of Taylor in Williamson County and a former high-ranking aide to House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio. The bill would not affect Ancira because the population of Taylor is less than 50,000, hes not paid as mayor, and hes not running for re-election this year. Capriglione said the bill was not written to exempt Ancira or anyone else.
Bill Miller, a veteran lobbyist and public relations specialist, said that if the bill becomes law, local governments will lose potential candidates who have knowledge of government and politics.
People who are engaged and care and (are) interested are exactly the kind of people who should run for public office, he said. All the things that would contribute to a good public official generally are honed in the lobby. You have got to pay attention, you have got to read bills, and you have got to be political.
Capriglione said his bill was not written with anyone in mind. But political observers said previous versions filed by state Sen. Van Taylor, R-Plano, and Capriglione would have affected lobbyist Thomas Ratliff when he was a member of the state Board of Education. Conservative groups regularly attacked Ratliff, who in 2010 unseated a board member who had led a bloc to limit coverage of evolution in science textbooks. Ratliff did not run for re-election in 2016.
Ratliff and other lobbyists said an unintended consequence of the bill may be fewer people registering with the state Ethics Commission. If so, that would leave the public even more in the dark about attempts to influence state government decisions. Registered lobbyists must disclose information such as who hired them. This enables the public to track, for example, the various interests trying to pass or kill a bill or get a state contract.
We already have enough people who will twist and turn themselves sideways or upside down or inside out to not register as a lobbyist, Ratliff said. By creating a negative for a civic-minded person who wants to serve on the local school board, it might encourage them to say, Well, I am just going to dial back my activities as a lobbyist so Im under the threshold to register. Then we have less transparency and not more.
There are two thresholds that require people to register to lobby the legislature and executive branch.
One is if a person spends more than $500 over three months on lobbying. The second is if a person is paid or expects to get paid more than $1,000 over three months; spends more than 40 hours over three months lobbying or preparing to do so, and communicates directly with a legislator, staff member or state official.
So a lobbyist of the state government who falls a dollar or an hour short of the registration requirement still could run for a local public office and continue lobbying. Lobbyists who focus solely on the legislature could run after the session if they are no longer required to register with the state. But those who lobby the executive branch could not run if they were required to maintain their registration. A local officeholder could start or resume lobbying the state immediately after leaving office.
The number of lobbyists registered at the state level has increased slightly since 2009, from 1,861 to 1,927 in 2015. So far this year, 1,799 lobbyists have registered.
State Rep. Lyle Larson, R-San Antonio, filed a bill that would require a campaign contributor to register as a lobbyist and disclose the topics he or she discusses with a candidate, if the contributor gives more than $10,000 in the aggregate to that candidate.
If someone is giving a candidate more than $10,000, then they probably have an interest in something in state government, but we dont know what that interest is, Larson said.
Several lobbyists said Larsons bill has no chance of passage, but they enjoy seeing him poke at those elected officials who proclaim they dont accept free meals or drinks from lobbyists, but then accept piles of campaign dollars that lobbyists help raise.
Larsons bill has not been referred to a committee. Caprigliones bill is in the House General Investigating & Ethics Committee and has received a hearing. Chairwoman Sarah Davis, R-West University Place, said she hasnt decided yet whether to move the bill to the House floor. A new version is expected soon, she said.
I get the whole drain the swamp, we dont want lobbyists to be running the government, she said. But what if you lobby the Legislature and you want to run for city council? That bill would prohibit that.
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NEW BRAUNFELS The First Baptist Church of New Braunfels senior adult choir took their seats behind Senior Pastor Brad McLean and helped lead the service in song despite losing some of their voices in a head-on collision that killed 13 just five days ago in Uvalde County.
They dressed in white dress shirts, black pants, and purple ties and scarves which they don during the first Sunday service of each month with the seats of those lost in the collision empty among them.
Its important for us to recognize this mourning. That our pain is real, our loss is real, our grief is real, McLean said. As a church family, we will have to work through these losses together.
The victims plus a sole survivor were in a church mini-bus heading back to New Braunfels from a senior retreat at Alto Frio Baptist Camp and Conference Center in Leakey, which is about 100 miles west of San Antonio.
Jack D. Young, 20, of Leakey, was driving in the opposite direction on U.S. 83 when his 2007 Dodge dually pickup crossed the line, colliding with the bus at high speed, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
McLean paused several times as he delivered his sermon. Many in the pews listened with hands folded or raised, while others were in tears and embraced each other.
He smiled comfortingly while reading Bible verses from Psalms 42, Romans 8 and Isaiah 61.
These 13 precious things did not see death, they saw Christ, McLean said. Their hope is fulfilled.
Beth Scarborough, 50, a former pianist at the church, was one of over 900 worshipers and visitors who packed the sanctuary, which spilled into the overflow section. She said it was hopeful to see the choir back so soon.
I was surprised when I came in and saw the senior adult choir up in the sanctuary, but then I thought, Wow, she said.
McLean hailed their persistence as an example of their confidence in the Lord and of their resiliency and dedication.
Scarborough said: Instead of just drowning in sorrow, they came here to be with us and to even lead us in worship. That was a huge blessing to me to be able to hear them and see them.
We thought about not letting you come up and sing, but another senior adult lady gave us the business, McLean said as he faced the choir and pointed to a woman who stood in the back of the sanctuary. She was met with applause.
She was right, he said. Your courage is inspiring, and your faith is convicting. Thank you for leading us so well.
McLean then recalled a recent visit with survivor Rose Harris, 64, who is recovering at San Antonio Military Medical Center.
She still smiled as she always does, he said, adding that she greeted him with a hearty Hey baby! when he saw her last.
It was good to hear her voice and see her smile, McLean said.
Senior Adult Minister Billy Barnes addressed the congregation and gave thanks that the deceased enjoyed three days of worship and bonding. They were among 65 people who were at the retreat.
They told of how other church members were so meaningful to them in their lives, Barnes said as he paused to hold back tears. They bragged on not only their church family, but their friends ... and how the church family had just lifted them up in their times of need.
McLean read aloud each of the first names of the deceased: Rhonda Allen, 61; Murray Barrett, 67; Harold B. Barber, 87; Margaret R. Barber, 82; Cristie Moore, 68; Addie M. Schmeltekopf, 84; Dorothy F. Vulliet, 84; Donna Hawkins, 69; Howard B. Allen, 81; Avis S. Banks, 83, of Austin; Martha Walker, 84; Sue Tysdal, 76; and Mildred G. Rosamond, 87.
They were not perfect people, but they are forgiven people. They are forgiven people, McLean said as Amen resounded from the pews.
They will not return in their physical bodies, but there is an invitation. There is an invitation from Christ to be where they are, he said.
McLean said funerals for those being buried by the church begin Tuesday and continue through Saturday.
A funeral for Allen will be at 10 a.m. Friday. A memorial service for Tysdal will be at 11 a.m. May 6.
Regular church activities, which were halted the day of the accident, will resume Wednesday, officials said.
jbeltran@express-news.net
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested more than 150 people in South and Central Texas, including 62 in San Antonio, last month in what the agency called an enforcement action.
Immigration officers made arrests in Austin, Waco, Laredo and the Rio Grande Valley, but San Antonio saw the largest number. Of the 153 arrested, 137 had criminal histories, according to ICE. ICE said 33 were referred to the U.S. Attorneys Office on charges of illegally re-entering the country and the rest were put into deportation proceedings.
Those arrested included a 20-year-old from Guatemala who had been convicted of injury to a child, and a 46-year-old from Mexico who had been convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child, two driving while intoxicated charges and an assault charge. Both were arrested in San Antonio.
ICEs recent operations, including arrests of defendants appearing at hearings in the Bexar County Courthouse and raids in Austin that reportedly were in retaliation for the Travis County sheriffs refusal to honor immigrant detainers, have been criticized as part of harsh policies implemented by President Donald Trump.
ICE wouldnt say if the recent arrests were part of a new policy, but in a statement the agency said, ICE regularly conducts targeted enforcement operations and has done so for many years
Julian Calderas, a former San Antonio deputy field office director for Enforcement and Removal Operations, the branch of ICE that handles deportations, said Congress provides line-item funding for the agencys fugitive operations teams.
It looks like it was just a regular targeted operation, said Calderas, now the CEO of XFed, a consulting firm.. They do them quarterly. Theyre funded by Congress to do this. Theyre expected to do it.
Trump relaxed Obama administration policies that required ICE officers to focus on serious criminals, but Calderas said the recent arrests, which happened over 12 days ending Friday, dont indicate a significant shift in policy.
They have the ability to arrest anybody, yet theyre keeping the percentage of criminals very high, he said.
jbuch@express-news.net
Twitter: @jlbuch
Before artist Heather Fortner arrived in Iquitos, Peru, in 2014, the villagers only had one use for fish: eating.
Fortner offered the indigenous Peruvians a profitable alternative she taught them how to make prints of fish using a traditional Japanese art form called Gyotaku.
They learned the correct way to position the fins and how to delicately apply non-toxic ink to exotic specimens. They learned how to drape special paper upon the fish to make an exact image of their subjects. And they learned they could wash away the ink and still cook the fish for dinner.
In June 2015, a proud Fortner visited the San Antonio Zoo for a fundraiser that featured Gyotaku prints made by her students, whose original prints and T-shirts are now on sale at San Antonio Zoo gift shops. The proceeds will go toward the Peruvian communities and pilot co-op program, which offers traditional items from the locals such as bark paintings, bracelets and necklaces.
Dante Fenolio, vice president of conservation and research at the San Antonio Zoo, who is spearheading the project, said the hope is to provide the communities with a new revenue stream and allow them to avoid the sale of traditional lands to timber or mineral companies.
Its something we can develop and they can have full ownership, he said, as he unrolled a green and maroon print of an Arapaima, one of the largest fish in the Amazon, in his office. I want them to have cultural pride. All of the credit goes to the indigenous artists. There is no political or religious tie, this is a biological project. We are supporting a long-term maintenance of their belief system, language system and cultural system.
Fenolio is also author of Life in the Dark, a book that features 200 color photographs of bizarre creatures that live in shadowy waters around the world. In addition to his work in the Amazon, his work as a research biologist takes him around the world to photograph and document threatened species in rivers and dark caves.
The scientist knows the people of Amazonian Peru very well. He was 18 years old when he made his first trip to the Amazon with biologist William Lamar, an adjunct professor who mentored him. While talking with indigenous residents about generating products that would be unique to them, he remembered Fortners work with Gyotaku and thought it would be a great pairing with communities that had a deep-rooted connection with fish.
Tim Morrow, San Antonio Zoo CEO and executive director, said what makes this specific project so important is that often its not enough to simply put boots on the ground to work directly with a species or to fund a project.
In most cases, conservation is now about providing support to citizens in the communities where the species are facing extinction, he said. This allows us to create a consistent local and cultural impact because those citizens have the greatest impact on whether those animals live.
At our core we are a conservation and educational organization, he added. San Antonians can be proud to know that by visiting us they help support incredible conservation efforts that we lead, participate or fund on nearly every continent.
Fenolio said humanitys fate is tied to biodiversity.
The Amazon is one of the most bio-diverse communities of the world and were losing it faster than we can keep track, Fenolio cautioned.
vtdavis@express-news.net
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FRONTON Along a remote bend in the Rio Grande, where invasive Carrizo cane obscures surrounding farm fields, border agents are on heightened alert.
In early March, three men fishing on the river were shot near the tiny hamlet of Fronton, likely by gunfire from Mexico, authorities said. One of the men died.
It was the latest in a spate of violent incidents over the past year, including assaults on U.S. Border Patrol agents, reinforcing the notion that Starr County is the most volatile stretch of the 2,000 mile border with Mexico.
Look at the cartel activity on the south side, said Manuel Padilla, Jr. the Border Patrols sector chief in the Rio Grande Valley. You have armored vehicles, you have grenade launchers, you have 50 (calibers), you have very ugly stuff on the south side that Mexico is battling.
Back at sector headquarters, Padilla explained that personnel, technology and infrastructure helped border agents reduce illegal activity in Tucson, San Diego and El Paso sectors. Significant investment in all three elements are also present in Cameron County and parts of Hidalgo County.
But as enforcement ratcheted up in other South Texas counties, the problems of an unruly border have shifted to Starr, a county that has in recent years become ground zero in state and federal border security efforts. As Padilla sees it, despite the roughly 3,000 agents stationed in the Valley, and a hiring push to bring on even more, the countys relative lack of technology and infrastructure has made it a smuggling hotbed.
Cameron County accounts for less than 6 percent of my (immigrant) apprehensions. Guess where it went, Padilla said. And when you have a crazy border, your deaths are high.
Indeed, it was near Fronton that a Border Patrol agent and Department of Public Safety trooper last November survived a shooting. That same month, a man and his 3-year-old son were gunned down inside a pickup on the outskirts of Rio Grande City. The use of high-powered rifles prompted District Attorney Omar Escobar to raise the specter of drug trafficking gangs. A 17-year-old Rio Grande City resident was charged with two counts of capital murder for the deaths of the father and son several weeks later but no arrests have been made in the shooting of the law officers. Both cases remain under investigation.
In early December, a 26-year-old Texas fisherman was shot and killed on nearby Falcon Lake, an international reservoir on the Rio Grande. Zapata County deputies and Texas Rangers are investigating the killing.
Perhaps most chilling of all was the discovery last March of two Rio Grande City CISD business office employees in a home outside the city. They were found with their hands bound and gunshot wounds to their heads. The Texas Rangers investigation has yielded no arrests in the case.
While the shooting deaths have the full attention of state and federal law enforcement, the negative attention has annoyed some officials in the county.
We live in a safe area, said Noe Castillo, Rio Grande City police chief. The smuggling of narcotics and immigrants we used to see through our town is way down.
Castillo said in 2014 his officers seized 33,395 of pounds of marijuana and picked up 294 immigrants in the country illegally. By comparison, last year the citys crime rate has plummeted, with officers seizing 2,084 pounds of marijuana and detaining just 11 immigrants, Castillo said.
Still, Border Patrol says its Rio Grande City station, which covers most of Starr County, is the second busiest for drug seizures in the nation. And just this week the agency reported several attacks on its agents across the sector over one 24-hour stretch starting, including two agents from the Rio Grande City station who suffered minor injuries in a confrontation with a Guatemalan immigrant.
Apprehension levels began to decrease as law, policy and strategy aligned. Unfortunately, we are now seeing an increase in assaults against our agents, Padilla said.
Between October and February assaults on border agents across the nation spiked 179 percent compared to the same period a year ago. The border said assaults included the use of weapons, thrown projectiles and up-close altercations. In the Rio Grande Valley, where most assaults were by rock throwers near the river, there have been 63 incidents compared to 37 from a year ago.
Its always on our mind, said Laureano Cantu, a vessel commander with the agency. Cantu patrols an area of the Rio Grande where rocking-throwing is on the rise, and the risk of possible confrontation is ever present. But he avoids sharing his concerns with his wife.
If she knew she wouldnt sleep at night, he said.
The challenge of taking the edge off the charged atmosphere is complicated by geography, according to Padilla. A lack of roads and thick vegetation give agents limited access to the river. Even if illegal activity is detected, an interdiction is fraught with peril.
But that could change if the Trump administration moves forward with plans to build 34 miles of border wall and levee in the Valley, infrastructure Padilla says the region needs, especially in Starr County.
Almost 60 miles of fence and levee were built in the Valley under the 2006 Secure Fence Act. Nearly $1 billion of the president's proposed 2017 budget amendment could be used to construct fencing that was never finished around Roma and Rio Grande City.
The wall is going to be a symbolic statement more than producing any statistically significant results., said Joel Villarreal, mayor of Rio Grande City. Border communities are in favor of securing our border, however, the disagreement lies in what I believe is an antiquated solution to a 21st century problem.
For its part, the DPS reported that one of its troopers assigned to a Cortina Unit, which partners a border agent with a DPS trooper, was assaulted two weekends ago in Roma.
DPS said it will continue working with area district attorneys and conducting investigations into cases of assaults on border agents. Starr County is the agencys area of operation for the state-directed $800 million Operation Secure Texas
We anticipated this would result in more confrontations and violence by those engaging in illicit activity, the state law enforcement agency said in a statement. Nonetheless, it is intolerable.
anelsen@express-news.net
Twitter: @amnelsen
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Long before the Government Canyon State Natural Area opened to the public in 2005, it was known that giant prehistoric creatures had roamed there eons ago on what was then a muddy seashore.
However, until a recent fortuitous confluence of events, unraveling the mysteries preserved in footprints at the 12,244-acre wilderness area in northwest Bexar County remained largely out of reach.
It took me 12 years to get this project off the ground. We knew back in the 1990s there were dinosaur tracks, but what do we have? How many? And how do we take care of them? said John Koepke, 60, an interpretor who began working there in 2002.
We knew we had some round ones and some three-toed ones, but that was the extent of what we knew. We needed experts to come and help us interpret what we had, he said.
Things changed dramatically in 2010, when floods washed away gravel bars on the Government Canyon Creek, revealing many more footprints than had even been suspected. And since 2011, when a scientist at the Witte Museum got involved, a productive partnership has emerged.
What is unique about these footprints is that they are the only ones (that) have been documented in Bexar County and are also the only evidence of dinosaurs being here. We have no bones or fossils, but we have footprints, said Thomas Adams, 48, the museums curator of paleontology and geology.
At last count, we know of over 300 footprints. Unfortunately the largest surface with tracks is now covered up with gravel (again) because of flooding, said Adams, who two summers ago led a team of students and volunteers in a study of the tracks.
He prepared the Dinosaur Galleryexhibit featuring the tracks found at Government Canyon.
This is going to be a story we tell at the museum as well as here, about dinosaurs walking on a beach in San Antonio, he said. The Witte exhibit shows a replica of the Acrocanthosaurus atokensis skeleton with its three-toed tracks left behind him.
Despite the paucity of tracks in Bexar County, Texas is internationally renowned as a place to see dinosaur footprints.
You have umpteen-gazillion of them down there. Ive visited sites all over Central Texas, said Jim Farlow, a paleontologist at Purdue University, who has been coming to Texas for more than three decades to study them.
Think of a triangle with one corner at Dallas, another at San Antonio, and the third at Fort Stockton. Basically, just about anywhere inside there, you can find them, he said.
Texas may be the only place with a dinosaur-track themed park.
At Dinosaur Valley State Park, southwest of Fort Worth, the Paluxy River bed remains a rich vein of tracks. One section taken from here is exhibited at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
The ones at the Paluxy River are just magnificent. They are some of the nicest dinosaur tracks you will find anywhere, he said.
Visitors to Government Canyon State Natural Area who are willing to hike two and a half miles of rocky trail can now stand within a few feet of tracks that were left here more than 100 million years ago.
At that time of high seas, the Gulf of Mexico reached what is now San Antonio.
The large round tracks found along the creek are thought to have been left by a huge plant-eating beast, named Sauroposeidon, which means earthquake god lizard.
The single creature that left the tracks at Government Canyon was likely a half-grown juvenile about 50-feet long, Adams said.
A few yards upstream, and far more plentiful, are hundreds of bird-like, three-towed tracks.
The larger ones are believed to have been left by a theropod, a fiercesome upright predator named Acrocanthosaurus, whose name means high-spined lizard.
The makers of the smaller three-toed tracks remains uncertain - either juvenile Acrocanthosaurus or a a different smaller species, Adams said.
More than 20 different individual creatures left tracks, although not all at the same time. The sauropod and theropod tracks, he said, were left thousands of years apart.
By analyzing the tracks, Adams has been able to deduce rough profiles of some of the creatures.
It tells me that this animal was about 40-feet long and was 11 or 12 feet at the hips, he said of the largest theropod tracks.
A full-size skeletal replica is part of the Wittes dinosaur exhibit.
It was the second-largest carnivore to ever walk across North America. The largest, of course, was everyones favorite Tyrannosaurus Rex, said Adams.
During seasons of heavy rains, almost all the tracks are underwater in the spring-fed creek. In drier times, they are much more visible and accessible to visitors.
Right now, only a small symbolic chain barrier and warning sign keeps the public at bay.
The next step is to figure out how we protect and preserve the site. Right now its a very popular destination, said Koepke, who tries to instill the proper mindset in the public.
Ill find the youngest person in the group, and say, With everyones help, this childs great-grandchildren will see these tracks just like we are today, he said.
Unfortunately, even if the public behaves itself, natural forces such as water, gravel and temperature change may eventually degrade the tracks preserved so well in limestone for 100 million years.
In his decades of coming to Texas, paleontologist Farlow of Purdue University has seen exactly what damage natural forces can do.
Once they become exposed to the elements they become vulnerable to being destroyed. I remember the last time I was at Dinosaur Valley State Park, I was pretty saddened to see that a lot of tracks I remember as old friends had further deteriorated, he said.
Youve had a drought for a while and some pretty bad floods, which can cause a lot of damage. Fortunately, at places like Dinosaur Valley, as the river moves back and forth across the rocks, it will expose more tracks, he said.
COMING WEDNESDAY: Native Americans in Central Texas.
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Cries of "fake news" echoed across the front entrance of the San Antonio Express-News building Monday afternoon as the sun beat down on mayoral candidate Manuel Medina, who gathered a group of supporters to protest a recent Express-News column.
The opinion column, written by Brian Chasnoff, outlined Medina's residence record, specifically a period of 11 years during which he was employed in Mexico. At the Express-News Monday, Medina called the piece a "hit job," saying he'd lived in the U.S. since immigrating at the age of 3.
Roughly 40 protesters cheered the mayoral candidate and said Chasnoff "has to go."
Chasnoff's column, published March 29, also detailed Medina's run for office in Mexico in 2005. When Chasnoff asked Medina at the protest what was inaccurate in the column, the mayoral candidate refused to answer.
READ THE FULL COLUMN HERE: Medina worked, ran for office in Mexico
According to records, Medina worked at a university in Torreon, in the northern Mexico state of Coahuila, from 1997 to 2008; ran for public office in Torreon in 2005; and divorced and remarried in Torreon in 2006.
Medina refused to answer questions posed by Express-News reporters at the scene.
"Brian Chasnoff is trying to score political points," Medina said to cheers, adding he was attempting to prop up other candidates.
Mayoral candidate Ron Nirenberg is quoted in Chasnoff's column, saying Medina "can't be trusted on his biography let alone his wild promises." Mayor Ivy Taylor did not respond to Chasnoff's request for comment.
Medina seeks to oust Taylor, along with District 8 Councilman Nirenberg in next's month municipal election. There are a total of 14 mayoral candidates on the May 6 ballot.
READ ALSO: City council challengers take Alan Warrick to task over what they call his missteps
"My column was about Manuel's truthfulness to the voters and that's all," Chasnoff said, adding that reaching out to all candidates is "standard journalism."
Protesters threatened to cancel their Express-News subscriptions and one called Chasnoff a "white racist."
"For Brian Chasnoff to imply that this is not my home," is ignorant and xenophobic, Medina said, adding the writer "insulted every single naturalized citizen in the country."
Express-News Editor-in-Chief Mike Leary said: "We stand by not only our columnists, but our columns. They're 100 percent accurate and documented."
kbradshaw@express-news.net
Twitter: @kbrad5
AUSTIN All eyes are on the bathroom bill when it comes to concerns about discrimination against transgender Texans, but civil rights advocates are pointing to a host of other measures they say would enshrine in the law unequal treatment of LGBT people.
We also have to talk about discrimination hiding under the guise of religious liberty, said Kathy Miller of the Texas Freedom Network, a group thats a self-described watchdog of far-right issues and defender of individual liberties.
We all agree that religious liberty is a fundamental American right. But religious liberty does not mean that people of faith are free to opt out of laws they dont like or impose their personal religious beliefs on others or use religion to harm fellow Texans. Sadly, some of our lawmakers are advocating just that, said Miller, who was joined by the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas in targeting measures that she said could hurt people including those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.
Rep. Matt Krause, a Fort Worth Republican who is a proponent of religious liberty laws, disagreed with the characterization of the measures, including those designed to protect people who dont want to act in a way they believe amounts to support of same-sex marriage.
I dont agree with the other sides narrative that these are licenses to discriminate, said Krause. Instead, he said, the legislation allows people to exercise their religious faith in the way that they see fit.
Krause is a member of the Texas Freedom Caucus, which was launched in February to promote issues such as gun rights, restrictions on abortion and defense of the right to exercise religion in public life when individuals are acting in accordance with their sincerely held religious beliefs, including beliefs that marriage is designed for one man and one woman, and that humans are created male and female as confirmed biologically at birth, as detailed on the groups website.
The religious liberty proposals havent received the outsize attention accorded the bathroom bill, which is championed by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and would specify that people use restrooms, dressing rooms and locker rooms in government buildings, schools and universities that align with the gender on their birth certificate.
But the bills would touch on broad aspects of life in Texas, including marriage, adoption, businesses and schools.
A bill by state Rep. Mike Lang, R-Granbury, would allow a county clerk to decline to issue a marriage license based on a sincerely held religious belief, if the county commissioners court were notified of that belief. If the deputy clerk also had given such notice, the license applicants could be referred to an adjacent or nearby county. Langs House Bill 2795 is among several measures addressing the issue.
Child welfare services providers a term including adoption agencies would be protected from adverse action by the state for declining to provide services based on a sincerely held religious belief under HB 3859 by Rep. James Frank, R-Wichita Falls.
An analysis of the legislation, pointing out that it would create a cause of action against the state, noted that many child services providers are faith-based organizations, making the pool of potential litigants large. Millers group said the bill could be used to exclude not only LGBT people but anyone who is single or part of an interfaith couple. There are other similar measures in the hopper.
With regard to schools and universities, a nonbinding resolution by Rep. Cecil Bell, R-Magnolia, House Concurrent Resolution 39, would support displays of the Ten Commandments in public educational institutions.
A university couldnt take action against a religious student organization on the basis that it requires members to comply with its beliefs under HB 428 by Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford. The Freedom Network said that would amount to allowing the organizations to claim an exemption to nondiscrimination policies based on religious beliefs.
The display of references from religious texts at schools during holidays would be allowed under HB 735 by Rep. Scott Sanford, R-McKinney.
HB 1923 by Krause and Senate Bill 893 by Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, would protect those who decline to provide services because of a religious belief that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman or that sexual relationships are properly reserved to such a marriage. The legislation would forbid a governmental entity from taking action such as denying grants, loans, contracts, licenses or accreditation.
These politicians are trying to radically redefine religious freedom to mean the right to hurt people because of who they are, or whom they love, said Miller, the Freedom Network president. Thats discrimination, not freedom.
Krause said backers of such legislation arent setting out to hurt any group and that he thinks religious liberty can be protected without promoting bigotry.
Even when you are away from church or the synagogue, however you want to worship, you still have your religious beliefs and the rights of conscience with you, Krause said. We want to protect that.
pfikac@express-news.net
Twitter: @pfikac
Increased biosecurity measures will help prevent spread of avian influenza, or bird flu
COLUMBUS Following a recent outbreak of avian influenza in the South, the Ohio Department of Agriculture has asked the USDAs Agricultural Marketing Service to allow organic poultry producers to temporarily confine their flocks and maintain organic certification.
This is a critical biosecurity measure requested by Ohio producers, and one ODA encourages all poultry producers, including small-scale backyard farmers, to implement.
The agency responded that such a temporary action is permitted and allowed as directed in the National Organic Program Handbook.
There have been no reported cases of avian influenza in Ohio, nor in Pennsylvania, in the recent outbreak.
Preventing contact between flocks and wild birds is one of the most important steps any farmer can take to keep animals healthy and prevent the spread of avian influenza, said Dr. Tony Forshey, state veterinarian.
Many Ohio farms have already taken aggressive actions to implement heightened biosecurity measures that protect poultry.
USDA recommends that Ohio producers work with their organic certifying agents to determine the proper method of temporary confinement.
Latest outbreak
About 18,000 chickens were destroyed at a northwest Georgia poultry farm after tests confirmed avian influenza in the flock, the first time the disease has been detected in commercial birds in the state.
Surveillance monitoring of all other commercial operations within a 6-mile radius found no further infections. State officials also planned to check all backyard breeders within 2 miles.
Poultry is the No. 1 agricultural sector in Georgia, with breeders and processing plants having an estimated annual $25.9 billion impact statewide.
High-pathogenic bird flu, a deadlier form of the illness, was detected this month in Tennessee, where 145,000 birds were destroyed. Overall, more than 225,000 birds have been euthanized because of the disease in the four Southern states.
In addition, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said earlier this month a flock of 84,000 turkeys had been confirmed with a low-pathogenic bird flu virus in Wisconsin.
The viruses in the current outbreaks are different from the high-pathogenic virus that resulted in the loss of nearly 50 million birds in the Midwest chicken egg and turkey industry in 2015.
Watch your birds
All producers are urged to monitor their flocks for signs of illness and implement strict biosecurity measures. The safety of poultry and eggs for food consumption is not affected.
If any Ohio producers see clinical signs of illness, contact a veterinarian or the Ohio Department of Agriculture, Division of Animal Health at 614-728-6220. In Pennsylvania, contact the Bureau of Animal Health & Diagnostic Services within the Pa. Department of Agriculture, at 717-772-2852.
(2017 Farm and Dairy. All rights reserved. AP contributed to this report.)
"What we're trying to pose here and have a look at is some of the industry composition, to say that not everyone can just get bigger and therefore better, there's going to be more to it than that."
"What consumers see in the media or through animal rights groups can be misleading as to what the product is and what industry stands for, so I think this product will show them what we support and stand for.
The event is only in its third year but the popularity of the unique chance the competition provides producers to benchmark the performance of their cattle against peers from across the State suggests the Harvey Beef Gate 2 Plate Challenge will be around for many years to come.
Warrenton, VA (20186)
Today
Some clouds in the morning will give way to mainly sunny skies for the afternoon. High near 60F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph..
Tonight
Clear. Low around 35F. Winds light and variable.
Kerrville, TX (78028)
Today
Considerable cloudiness. Slight chance of a rain shower. High near 80F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph..
Tonight
Cloudy during the evening. A few showers developing late. Low 64F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
During the first calendar quarter, there were six corporate FCPA enforcement actions and one individual resolution.
The six settling companies paid a total of $256.5 million for the resolutions. All six were announced in January.
For comparison, in Q1 2016 there were eight corporate FCPA resolutions and three involving individuals.
In both Q1 2015 and Q1 2014, there were two corporate FCPA enforcement actions.
During the first quarter this year, two individuals pleaded guilty to FCPA-related charges and four were sentenced.
Three individuals were indicted for criminal FCPA offenses and two for FCPA-related civil charges.
There was also six corporate declinations.
Heres what happened:
DOJ / SEC Enforcement Resolutions
Mondelez International, Inc. (January 9) paid the SEC $13 million to resolve FCPA offenses related to payments by its Cadbury unit in India. The SEC said both Cadbury India and Mondelez violated the internal controls and books-and-records provisions of the FCPA. Mondelez, formerly known as Kraft Foods, Inc., acquired Cadbury Limited and its subsidiaries in February 2010.
Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc. (January 12) agreed to pay more than $30 million to resolve DOJ and SEC investigations into the companys repeat violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The medical device maker paid a criminal fine of $17.46 million and civil penalties and disgorgement of $13 million. Biomet previously resolved FCPA offenses in 2012 when it paid the DOJ and SEC nearly $23 million. Zimmer bought Biomet in 2015.
Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile SA (January 13) paid $30.5 million to resolve criminal and civil Foreign Corrupt Practices Act offenses for bribes to Chilean politicians. SQM paid a criminal penalty to the DOJ of nearly $15.5 million and a civil penalty to the SEC of $15 million. The SEC said virtually all of the improper payments to [Politically Exposed Persons] were directed and authorized by a senior SQM executive.
Rolls-Royce plc (January 17) agreed to pay the United States a criminal penalty of $170 million for a global conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The DOJ action was part of an $800 million resolution of investigations by U.S., UK, and Brazilian authorities. The DOJ filed a criminal information and deferred prosecution in federal court in Columbus, Ohio on December 20. The documents were under seal until January 17.
Orthofix International (January 18) paid the SEC more than $6 million in disgorgement and penalties to settle FCPA charges related to illegal payments to doctors at government hospitals in Brazil. Orthofix was involved in another FCPA enforcement action in 2012 for illegal payments to doctors at government hospitals in Mexico. It paid $7.4 million to the DOJ and SEC to resolve the earlier FCPA offenses.
Las Vegas Sands Corp. (January 19) paid a criminal fine of nearly $7 million for Foreign Corrupt Practices Act offenses in China and Macau. The casino and resort operator admitted paying $5.8 million to a China consultant without any discernable legitimate business purpose. A Sands finance department employee and an outside auditor warned the company that some of the money paid to the consultant couldnt be accounted for, but the payments continued.
Tamas Morvai (February 13), a Hungarian citizen who was an executive of Magyar Telekom, agreed to pay the SEC a $60,000 penalty. The SEC alleged he violated or aided and abetted violations of the FCPA by using sham consultancy contracts with a Greek intermediary to pay 4.875 million ($5.2 million) that was passed on to Macedonian officials. Morvai didnt admit or deny the charges.
Sentenced
Victor Hugo Valdez Pinon (February 2), 54, a Texas-based citizen of Mexico, was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison for a plot to bribe Mexican officials in exchange for airplane maintenance contracts. He had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the FCPA and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He was also ordered to forfeit $250,000 and pay restitution of about $90,000.
Daniel Perez (February 2), 69, a co-defendant of Pinon, was sentenced to three years probation after pleading guilty to conspiracy to violate the FCPA.
Kamta Ramnarine (February 2), 69, a co-defendant of Pinon, was sentenced to three years probation after pleading guilty to conspiracy to violate the FCPA.
Douglas Ray (March 30), 55, a co-defendant of Pinon, was sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He was also ordered to pay $590,000 in restitution when he appeared in federal court in Houston.
Guilty Pleas
Juan Jose Hernandez Comerma (January 10), 51, of Weston, Florida pleaded guilty in federal court in Houston to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA and one count of violating the FCPA for payments to officials at Venezuelas state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA). Hes a former general manager and part owner of a Florida-based company. Sentencing was set for July 14.
Charles Quintard Beech III (January 10), 46, of Katy, Texas pleaded guilty in federal court in Houston to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA for payments to officials at PDVSA. He owns several Texas-based companies. Sentencing was set for July 14.
Indicted by DOJ
Ban Ki Sang (January 10), 69, of Seoul, South Korea the brother of former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was charged in federal court in Manhattan with one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA, three counts of violating the FCPA, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, and one count of money laundering. He allegedly plotted to bribe a man posing as an agent for a Middle East sovereign wealth fund in exchange for financing a building sale in Vietnam. Hes at large and presumed to be in Korea.
Joo Hyun Bahn (January 10), 38, is Ban Ki Sangs son. He also goes by Dennis Bahn and lives in Tenafly, New Jersey. He was charged in federal court in Manhattan with one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA, three counts of violating the FCPA, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, one count of money laundering, and one count of aggravated identity theft. He was arrested in Tenafly and released on bail.
San Woo (January 10), also known as John Woo, 35, of Edgewater, New Jersey, was charged with conspiracy to violate the FCPA. He was arrested at New Yorks JFK Airport and released on bail. He allegedly helped secure $500,000 for a bribe from Ban Ki Sang and Dennis Bahn to the man posing as an agent for a Middle East sovereign wealth fund.
Charged by SEC
Michael L. Cohen (January 26), 45, a partner in Och-Ziff Capital Management Group and member of the firms management committee, was charged in an SEC civil complaint filed in federal court in New York with violating the FCPA and aiding and abetting Och-Ziffs violations. He was also charged with violating the Investment Advisers Act. He lives in London and holds dual UK/U.S. citizenship. The SEC alleged he caused Och-Ziff to pay tens of millions of dollars in bribes to high-level government officials in Libya, Chad, Niger, Guinea, and the DR Congo.
Vanja Baros (January 26), 44, a former analyst in the private investments group at Och-Ziffs European office and a member of the firms African Special Investment Team, was charged in an SEC civil complaint filed in federal court in New York with violating the FCPA and aiding and abetting Och-Ziffs violations. Hes an Australian citizen living in the UK. He reported to and worked closely with Michael Cohen.
Declinations
Orthofix International (January 18) said when announcing its $6 million FCPA resolution with the SEC for payments to doctors at government hospitals in Brazil (see above) that the DOJ had decided to take no further action with respect to this matter.
Cobalt International Energy, Inc. (February 9) said it received a letter from the DOJ formally concluding its investigation. That was the last remaining FCPA investigation by any U.S. regulatory agency into Cobalts Angolan operations, the Houston-based energy firm said. The SEC issued a declination to Cobalt in January 2015.
Merck & Co., Inc. (February 28) received letters in 2010 from the DOJ and the SEC seeking information about activities in a number of countries and reference the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Merck said in a recent filing that it had recently been advised by the SEC that it has closed its inquiry into this matter. Merck received a declination in the matter from the DOJ in February 2014.
Crawford & Company (March 2), a claims management firm, said in its annual report that the Securities and Exchange Commission finished its FCPA investigation and wont bring an enforcement action against the company.
Platform Specialty Products Corporation (March 10) said in an SEC filing that, in connection with an investigation into payment in West Africa by an acquired company, The SEC has advised that they have closed out the matter, and the U.S. Department of Justice has advised that they have no further requests at this time.
Innodata Inc. (March 15) said in its annual report that the DOJ and SEC advised the company that they have closed their inquiry into an investigation of payments overseas, made by or at the direction of certain foreign employees of a foreign subsidiary in connection with the inspection of the subsidiarys compliance with local employment-related tax requirements.
* * *
Our prior full-year enforcement reports are here:
2016 FCPA Enforcement Index
2015 FCPA Enforcement Index
2014 FCPA Enforcement Index
2013 FCPA Enforcement Index
2012 FCPA Enforcement Index
2011 FCPA Enforcement Index
2010 FCPA Enforcement Index
2009 FCPA Enforcement Index
2008 FCPA Enforcement Index
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Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog.
Doris Day is two years older than she thought she was.
Doris Day
The 'Calamity Jane' star had believed Monday (03.02.17) would mark her 93rd birthday - but a copy of her birth certificate, obtained from Ohio's Office of Vital Statistics, has revealed the actress was actually born in 1922, and not 1924 as she'd previously believed.
In a statement, she said: "I've always said that age is just a number and I have never paid much attention to birthdays, but it's great to finally know how old I really am."
The documentation shows that the actress was given her pre-fame name of Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff on 3 April 1922 by her parents Alma and William Kappelhoff of Cincinnati.
Charley Cullen Walters, Doris' spokesman, said the emergence of the birth certificate should finally end the debate that has surrounded the actress' age for decades.
He said: "There has long been speculation and rumours about Doris's age and we get this question a lot; looks like we finally have the answer.
"The story I have heard the most is that at one point Doris was up for a role when quite young and her age may have been miss-written on the audition form. We don't know if that's correct, but if so it could've simply stuck for all these years."
The revelation means Doris is, in fact, just a few months younger than her long-time friend Betty White, who celebrated turning 95 in January, and has previously joked about Doris' age.
Doris' spokesman added: "Now we know that they are actually just a couple months apart."
Meanwhile, Doris has used some of her previous birthdays to highlight her favourite cause of animal welfare.
The actress founded the Doris Day Animal Foundation in 1978 to provide grants to help rescue and protect animals.
Vogue Williams has gushed about boyfriend Spencer Matthews on social media.
Vogue Williams
The 31-year-old Irish model has taken to Instagram to praise the former 'Made in Chelsea' star for being by her side for the past two months, and for putting up with her "whinging" without complaining during that time.
Alongside a sweet picture of the pair together cuddling one another, which was uploaded on the blonde beauty's photo-sharing site, she wrote: "Big thank you to this boy @spencermatthews for looking after me for the last two months. He's had to put up with a lot of whinging and he hasn't complained once (sic)."
This news comes one week after the couple made their relationship public with a recent trip to Disneyland Paris.
The pair - who have remained tight-lipped on what's been going on between them - have confirmed they're dating by sharing a picture of them locking lips as they joined the likes of Kym Marsh, Lisa Snowdon and John Legend at the park in the French capital to celebrate Disneyland Paris' 25th Anniversary.
Captioning the loved up post, Spencer wrote: "My friends are so cute xx (sic)"
He also shared a picture of the pair, wearing matching Donald Duck and Daisy Duck hats, standing in front of the iconic Sleeping Beauty Castle.
He wrote alongside the sweet shot: "Amazing day @disneylandparis with @voguewilliams... An element of perfection to it. #StayYoungAtHeart x (sic)"
Vogue shared the same picture, adding herself: "I'm never leaving @disneylandparis ... hat goals with @spencermatthews (sic)."
by Charlotte Hough for www.femalefirst.co.uk
Were now a few days into April, and with a new month comes a whole host of new music for us to sit back and enjoy. With so many big album releases this April however, weve decided to pick five of our favourites that we cant wait to hear. Here are 5 Albums You Should Be Listening To This April
5. Father John Misty Pure Comedy (Out April 7)
With one of the most distinct and unique voices of the modern day, Father John Misty returns with his brand new record Pure Comedy, showcasing his brilliance and evolution as an artist over the past few years. Currently sitting with an incredible score of 92% on reviews aggregate website MetaCritic, there are just a few days to go until release. Were predicting big things for this LP.
4. The Chainsmokers Memories: Do Not Open (Out April 7)
Its hard to believe that Memories: Do Not Open is The Chainsmokers debut LP. Scheduled for release later this week, the record has seen some great supper, with Chris Martin of Coldplay fame tweeting about the album and lead single Paris already storming the charts in countries across the globe.
3. Texas Jump On Board (Out April 21)
Having toured the UK throughout April and May in 2015, Texas were working on brand new material which will appear on upcoming album Jump On Board, and now its nearly time for the group to release that very record! We cant wait to see what the iconic group have up their sleeves this time round.
2. Sheryl Crow Be Myself (Out April 21)
As her ninth studio album, Be Myself is almost ready for release and has been described by Sheryl Crow herself as a return to the sound of her earlier 90s work. Showing the country-influenced sound of the records that have been dotted throughout her careers, it will serve as the platform for even more new material, with Crow currently working on an album of duets with talent including but not limited to Stevie Nicks, Willie Nelson and Keith Richards.
1. Gorillaz Humanz (Out April 28)
In just under a month, Gorillaz will finally return with a brand new studio album of all-new material, with the first slice of that record already released. Loosely inspired by Donald Trump, the LP isnt overtly a political album, but was created in part thanks to the political climate. Damon Albarn said to BBC Radio 1 that its called Humanz with a z, because the race is in transition: Were turning into something else.
by Daniel Falconer for www.femalefirst.co.uk
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Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, have met with Pippa Middleton ahead of her wedding to James Matthews.
Duchess Catherine and Prince William
The royal couple attended a pre-wedding bash last week for Catherine's younger sister Pippa, who is set to marry former racing driver James Matthews in just seven weeks' time.
According to the Daily Mail newspaper, the summit was set up to introduce Duchess Catherine, 35, and her husband Prince William, 34, to Pippa's future in-laws David Matthews and Jane Parker.
Also in attendance at the event was James' brother and 'Made In Chelsea' star Spencer Matthews, and Pippa and Catherine's younger brother, also called James.
Pippa and Catherine's parents Carole and Michael Middleton were not in attendance at the dinner, but will be hosting the wedding reception on the grounds of their 6 million 18-acre property in Bucklebury next month.
Previously, it was claimed there was to be "no expense spared" when it comes to the wedding, as Pippa and the hedge fund manager have their sights set on a "blingtastic" affair.
A source said recently: "It will be blingtastic. The best champagne, Krug or Bollinger, and a specially devised champagne cocktail.
"Pippa and James have a penchant for Blanc de Noir Tillington 2009 from Nyetimber at 75 a bottle - and wonderful food. No expense will be spared. This isn't a bangers-and-mash, sitting-on-hay-bales affair. Pippa is hardly a floaty bohemian type."
Meanwhile, Pippa - who will head to James' parents' luxurious Eden Rock hotel in St Barts ahead of their wedding - is expected to walk down the aisle in a simple but beautiful dress.
A source said: "No puffballs, but she adores lace and long sleeves. There won't be too much embellishment. It will be something that shows off her amazing figure but not look like the bridesmaid's dress."
Eamonn Holmes is set to co-host 'Good Morning Britain' next week.
Eamonn Holmes
The 57-year-old presenter - who fronts 'This Morning' with his wife Ruth Langsford every Friday - has agreed to fill in for regulars Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid alongside Kate Garraway and Charlotte Hawkins while they take their Easter break.
He said: "Breakfast TV is what I'm best known for so it's nice to be back doing a short spell of early starts and to be back at my old stomping ground."
'GMB' editor Neil Thompson added: "Eamonn and I worked together on the very first edition of 'GMTV' on the 1st January 1993.
"He's a phenomenal broadcaster and journalist and it's great to be able to work with him again on 'Good Morning Britain' this Easter."
The Irish journalist is certainly no stranger to breakfast television as he presented 'GM:TV' for 12 years until 2005 alongside Fiona Phillips, before he moved to Sky News' 'Sunrise', which he presented for 11 years, until his departure in October.
Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz, Eamonn said: "I feel very rested after my exit. I've had my lie in and I've recharged my batteries and I think I've healed very well. So I think I am ready to go back somewhere."
And Eamonn has admitted he'd even be open to a return to Sky News in the future.
He explained: "I think that would great if there was the right opening. I would go back, yes. It was such a wonderful experience. You don't get the opportunity to do that sort of broadcasting. 'This Morning' is live, but Sky News is even more edgy than 'This Morning' because anything can happen. I miss it, I suppose I am addicted to that sort of adrenaline. I've been doing this since 1980.
"Five days a week live TV so I suppose I am a bit addicted that's my thing. Live programming to be able to do it, there is not many people who do do it. So yeah I'll be looking for something when I go back to give me the buzz."
In a bid to create awareness on the basic Occupational Safety and Health (OSH), the Bangladesh government has launched a safety radio-based campaign titled 'Safe Workplaces, Go ahead Bangladesh for RMG workers. The campaign will broadcast a series of 19 episodes on Dhaka FM 90.4 on Thursday and Friday. Each episode will highlight OSH related problem.
The Ministry of Labour and Employment and the Department of Inspections for Factories and Establishments in collaboration with the International Labour Organization funded by Canada, Netherlands and UK will implement the campaign, according to Bangladesh media.
"Efforts to improve workplace safety remain the highest priority for Bangladesh government. The campaign will reach out to RMG workers to help them better understand many safety areas," said senior labour and employment secretary Mikail Shipar.
A large number of RMG workers will benefit from the campaign, said ILO country director for Bangladesh Srinivas Reddy. He added that it is vital that the safety culture will go beyond the RMG sector.
The campaign will also include a series of safety-related radio commercials which will focus on various issues such as what to do in case of fire, maternity protection and the role of safety committees which comprise representatives of the management and workers. (RR)
Fibre2Fashion News Desk India
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Kenyan Government has issued VAT and duty exemption for its export processing companies to sell 20 per cent of their production to the domestic market. It will boost production, create jobs and give people access to quality clothes. Announcing this, President Uhuru Kenyatta pitched for the 'buy Kenya, build Kenya' during a visit to a grand sale in Nairobi.
Kenyan Government has issued VAT and duty exemption for its export processing companies to sell 20 per cent of their production to the domestic market. It will boost production, create jobs and give people access to quality clothes. Announcing this, President Uhuru Kenyatta pitched for the 'buy Kenya, build Kenya' during a visit to a grand sale in Nairobi.#
"This initiative accords Kenyans an opportunity to access quality, locally made affordable clothes with prices ranging from Sh100 to Sh600 for the same clothes that are sold at Sh6,000 in the US and UK markets," Uhuru said at the sale of export quality low-priced branded new clothes.
Kenyan Government has issued VAT and duty exemption for its export processing companies to sell 20 per cent of their production to the domestic market. It will boost production, create jobs and give people access to quality clothes. Announcing this, President Uhuru Kenyatta pitched for the 'buy Kenya, build Kenya' during a visit to a grand sale in Nairobi.#
He observed that apart from creating jobs, the initiative was also geared towards restoring the dignity of Kenyans by ensuring that they buy brand new clothes instead of second-hand clothes. Uhuru ordered the ministry to extend the sale to other cities and towns across the country.
Kenyan Government has issued VAT and duty exemption for its export processing companies to sell 20 per cent of their production to the domestic market. It will boost production, create jobs and give people access to quality clothes. Announcing this, President Uhuru Kenyatta pitched for the 'buy Kenya, build Kenya' during a visit to a grand sale in Nairobi.#
In a bid to promote local production, the government has issued VAT and duty exemption for export processing companies to sell 20 per cent of their production to the domestic market, the President said.
Kenyan Government has issued VAT and duty exemption for its export processing companies to sell 20 per cent of their production to the domestic market. It will boost production, create jobs and give people access to quality clothes. Announcing this, President Uhuru Kenyatta pitched for the 'buy Kenya, build Kenya' during a visit to a grand sale in Nairobi.#
The apparel and textile sector - which is at the heart of the government's industrialisation agenda - has created 22,000 employment opportunities over the last three years and has a potential to create another 100,000 jobs.
Kenyan Government has issued VAT and duty exemption for its export processing companies to sell 20 per cent of their production to the domestic market. It will boost production, create jobs and give people access to quality clothes. Announcing this, President Uhuru Kenyatta pitched for the 'buy Kenya, build Kenya' during a visit to a grand sale in Nairobi.#
The 'First Ever Super Sale' was an initiative by the ministry of industry in partnership with textiles and apparel companies at the export processing zones both in Nairobi and Mombasa.
Kenyan Government has issued VAT and duty exemption for its export processing companies to sell 20 per cent of their production to the domestic market. It will boost production, create jobs and give people access to quality clothes. Announcing this, President Uhuru Kenyatta pitched for the 'buy Kenya, build Kenya' during a visit to a grand sale in Nairobi.#
It featured companies that export for some of the biggest brands in the world, including Hela clothing that opened the first intimate clothing production line in Kenya and has exported for brands such as Victoria's Secret and Calvin Klein. Other companies were United Aryan, New Wide, Mombasa Apparel and Africa Apparel exporting to the US and UK market. (SV)
Fibre2Fashion News Desk India
The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has called for speedy conduct of enquiry about composition, value, etc of carpets. In its circular, it has also stated that care must be taken to ensure that export products including carpets should not be damaged or destroyed or cut for taking samples, conducting market enquiry or otherwise.
It has been brought to the notice of Board by ministry of textiles and CEPC that in some cases, Customs field formations had caused damage to the carpets during examination/inspection of export consignments. This has resulted in loss of export order as well as financial loss to exporters, a CBEC circular said. In this context, care must be taken to ensure that export products including carpets should not be damaged or destroyed or cut for taking samples, conducting market enquiry or otherwise.
Further, for speedy conduct of enquiry about composition, value, etc. of carpets, two experts have been posted by the Development Commissioner (Handicrafts) at the office of Textiles Committee, Mumbai, for attending to all work related to evaluation of carpets and to sort out the cases being referred to the Textiles Committee, Mumbai by the Customs authorities. These two experts are in addition to the nominated members of Carpet Export Promotion Council (CEPC).
The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has called for speedy conduct of enquiry about composition, value, etc of carpets. In its circular, it has also stated that care must be taken to ensure that export products including carpets should not be damaged or destroyed or cut for taking samples, conducting market enquiry or otherwise.#
The CBEC circular comes after textiles minister Smriti Irani, last month, assured the carpet industry that carpets would not be cut by customs officials, to determine the price of these products. The minister gave the assurance during a meeting with stakeholders of the carpet weaving industry.
Irani had then suggested that assistance can be taken from the office of the Textiles Committee, Mumbai, and the Institute of Carpet Technology, Bhadohi, to determine other ways to determine prices. (RKS)
Fibre2Fashion News Desk India
After working with Ed Helms for quite some time for the Hangover trilogy, Lawrence Sher is coming up with his own directorial debut titled Bastards. This new comedy film will also feature Ed Helms in the lead and will resonate some of the Hangover DNA as well.
Talking about this new movie, Ed Helms said, "I think Larry very much has his own comedic voice. Obviously, we were all heavily influenced by Todd, because we all spent months in the trenches together, and Todd was calling the shots. And I think Todd has a really unique and singular voice."
"Larry, kind of, on his own, has his own thing going. That said, we're all kind of a reflection of Todd in some way." Ed Helms added further.
Ed Helms also said that as soon as he came to know that it is his long time friend Lawrence Sher, who is going to direct the film, he signed in for the project.
"Larry is one of my best friends in the business. We made all three Hangovers together, we went to Thailand, we've been through all this insane shit together." Said Helms.
"So when it came time for him to direct, I was like, 'Hell yes! Sign me up' And obviously, he has a beautiful eye, because the Hangover movies look beautiful, and he gets comedy! He knows how to shoot, and gets comedy." Helms explained.
Dhyan Sreenivasan, the young actor finally got engaged to his longtime girlfriend Arpita Sebastian. The young couple got engaged at a private ceremony, which was held in the bride's hometown, Trivandrum.
The engagement ceremony was only attended by the family members and close friends of the couple. Reportedly, Dhyan Sreenivasan and Aprita Sebastian will enter the wedlock on April 7th, Friday, in the groom's hometown Kannur.
Dhyan Sreenivasan is said to be planning to host a wedding reception for his close friends in Kochi, on April 10th, Monday. The wedding will also be a private affair, which will only be attended by the family members and close friends.
Arpita Sebastian is an IT professional, is currently working on Techno Park Trivandrum. It is purely a love marriage for the couple, who met during their college days in Chennai. However, Dhyan has always kept his relationship status under the wraps.
Sreenivasan, the father of Dhyan who recently confirmed the wedding new officially, has stated that the couple is getting married with the blessings of both the families. The actor-director also remarked that his son's happiness is his major priority, not the religion.
If the reports are to be believed, Dhyan Sreenivasan is planning to take a break from acting after the marriage, to concentrate on his film-making career. Dhyan is expected to make his directorial debut by the end of 2017.
Take Off, the Malayalam film, which graced the theatres on March 24, 2017 is still attracting the attention of celebrities. The film has even crossed the borders of the State and captured the attention of celebrities out there.
Latest to join that list is Kollywood superstar Suriya. The actor, who recently watched the film, directed by Mahesh Narayanan, was all praises for the movie.
Suriya took to his official Twitter and Facebook pages to appreciate the movie. According to the tweet by the actor, he loved watching Take Off and also mentioned that there is brilliance everywhere in the movie. He also congratulated Mahesh Narayanan, Fahadh Faasil and Parvathy on his post.
Take a look at the tweet by Suriya..
Interestingly, Mahesh Narayanan, the director of Take Off is not new to Tamil cinema. He has handled the editing department of movies like Viswaroopam, Chennaiyil Oru Naal etc. He had also edited the film 36 Vayadhinile, which was produced under the home banner of Suriya.
Meanwhile, Take Off is continuing its good run in the theatres. The film is also doing a decent business outside Kerala.
"The government bonus on offer makes the Lifetime ISA very attractive to younger investors, with up to 32,000 in free money available if you are able to open an account at 18"
A panel of current investors aged 18-39 said they are attracted to the Lifetime ISA by the government bonus, with 88% naming this as a reason for opening an account. Over a third (35%) said they like the flexibility of a product that enables them to save for a first home and retirement, while over one in ten (13%) said they like the idea of the withdrawal charge, as they will not be tempted to take out their money too soon.
76% told The Share Centre that they believe the Lifetime ISA will encourage more young people to save for their future.
Darren Cornish, Director of Customer Experience at The Share Centre, said: If you are aged 18-39 and looking to supplement your pension savings or save for your first home, the Lifetime ISA is a fabulous opportunity.
The government bonus on offer makes the Lifetime ISA very attractive to younger investors, with up to 32,000 in free money available if you are able to open an account at 18. Also, if you invest in stocks and shares through your Lifetime ISA, there is the prospect of investment returns too, all free of income tax and capital gains tax (although your capital is at risk and you could get back less than you paid in). If you have more to save you can subscribe to any of the other types of ISA, provided the total doesnt exceed the (2017-18) 20,000 allowance.
What really excites me about the Lifetime ISA is that it is a great chance to get to understand investing in the markets. We will make that very simple and clear, but with time on the side of those aged between 18 and 39, the earlier they start investing the better.
For all of these reasons, we are enormously enthusiastic about the new Lifetime ISA and look forward to welcoming a new generation of investors.
BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - Following the release of Swiss retail sales data for February at 3.15 am ET Monday, the franc changed little against the other major currencies. The franc was trading at 1.0017 against the greenback, 111.29 against the yen, 1.2545 against the pound and 1.0685 against the euro around 3:17 am ET. Swiss SVME manufacturing PMI for March is set for release at 3:30 am ET. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Frankfurt am Main (ots) -- Breaking ground for the fourth solar power plant in Ouarzazate - NOORo I - IV becomes the largest solar power complex in the world - Electricity for 1.3 million peopleIn the presence of the Moroccan King, Mohammed VI, the first sod was cut in Ouarzazate for the construction of a fourth power plant - NOORo IV - inside the world's largest solar power complex. KfW signed the loan agreement for EUR 60 million for the construction of NOORo IV back in November 2016 in the presence of the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Gerd Muller, at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Marrakech. The commissioning of this photovoltaic plant, which will likely take place in the beginning of 2018, will see an annual savings of at least 56,000 tonnes in CO2 emissions. When all four power plants are combined, CO2 emissions will be reduced by around 800,000 tonnes every year. The Noor complex is scheduled to be completed by 2019 and supply a total of 580 megawatts of output power from three solar thermal energy plants and one photovoltaic plant."As a result, Morocco is the pioneer in Africa when it comes to transitioning to renewable sources of energy. Morocco is an example of how economic growth and development can be combined with climate protection", said Dr Norbert Kloppenburg, Member of the Executive Board of KfW Bankengruppe.Since 2009, Morocco has been working to implement its ambitious energy targets: by 2030, the percentage of installed electricity generation capacity based on renewable energies is planned to reach 52 per cent. In addition to solar energy, the country is also focusing on wind and water power. Moreover, Morocco also heavily participates in international endeavours to protect the climate, including those that take place in the context of the international Climate Partnership for implementing national climate contributions over which Morocco presides together with Germany.On behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB), KfW is supporting construction of the solar power complex in southern Morocco with a total of EUR 829 million. The planned total costs are approximately EUR 2.2 billion. At the start of 2016, the first power plant, NOORo I, was commissioned for the solar energy complex; NOORo II and III are still under construction. Germany plays a significant role in the project, which Morocco is using to implement its energy transition.In addition, the European Union and the French development agency, AfD, together with the European Investment Bank (EIB) have pledged financing.More information on the KfW Development Bank is available at: http://ots.de/ruM3MLink to topics (compact version) "Electricity from the desert": http://ots.de/ERZAsRead also KfW Stories: https://www.kfw.de/stories/environment/Originaltext: KfW digital press kits: http://www.presseportal.de/nr/41193 press kits via RSS: http://www.presseportal.de/rss/pm_41193.rss2Contact: KfW, Palmengartenstr. 5 - 9, 60325 Frankfurt Kommunikation (KOM), Dr. Charis Pothig, Tel. +49 (0)69 7431 4683, Fax: +49 (0)69 7431 3266, E-Mail: Charis.Poethig@kfw.de, Internet: www.kfw.de
Leading global provider of SAP Business One, Vision33, to distribute OBeer brewery management solution across UK and rest of Europe.
Vision33, the largest global partner for SAP Business One today announced that it has signed an expanded distribution agreement with Orchestra Software to deliver OrchestratedBEER brewery management software. Under the terms of the agreement, Orchestra Software grants Vision33 the rights to sell, implement, and support OrchestratedBEER in the UK, as well as across Europe through its offices in London, Manchester, and Dublin. A fully integrated business management solution designed specifically for the needs of microbreweries, OrchestratedBEER provides a centralised software solution to efficiently run and grow their business.
OrchestratedBEER enables efficient brewery planning by managing production and packing processes, real-time inventory management, full batch tracking, streamlined planning and scheduling, and brewery-specific reporting. The solution offers breweries the flexibility to choose a deployment method that best suits their business: Enterprise for established breweries with advanced needs and custom requirements, and OnDemand, a cloud-based solution for start-ups and smaller breweries.
With this extended distribution agreement, Vision33 will build upon its existing partnership with Orchestra Software with current distribution in both Canada and Ireland. Vision33 has successfully helped breweries in this fast-growing industry streamline processes and improve their business systems. Breweries using OrchestratedBEER grow 5.2 times faster than the industry while increasing production an average of 62% year over year.
"We're delighted to further solidify our partnership with Orchestra Software by enabling breweries throughout the UK market with the company's flagship solution, OrchestratedBEER", says Ben Crow, General Manager, Vision33 Ireland. "We're confident that Vision33's team of dedicated consultants are ready to repeat the project success we have had with breweries throughout Ireland and Canada".
Orchestra Software CEO, Brad Windecker, commented on the expanded partnership into the UK with Vision33: "We're thrilled to strengthen our partnership with Vision33 to reach a broader audience in the UK brewery market. Vision33 has already seen tremendous success in the UK market with SAP Business One. By leveraging their global experience, we're confident in their ability to provide a top-tier OrchestratedBEER experience on a global scale".
Focusing on the brewery industry with OrchestratedBEER is part of Vision33's larger growth strategy; as they continue to also work with many key suppliers to the microbrewery industry. SAP Business One provides these suppliers with a way to tightly integrate their operations with the breweries they service.
Vision33's first live webinar demonstration of OrchestratedBEER for UK breweries will be held on April 25th at 10:00 AM GMT. All attendees will be entered into a draw to win a new remote controlled drone to film and publish aerial shots of their brewery. To register for the upcoming webinar, visitinfo.vision33.co.uk/orchestratedbeer-demo-drone-giveaway. For more information about OrchestratedBEER and the upcoming webinar, visit obeer.vision33.co.uk.
About Vision33
Vision33 Limited (www.vision33.co.uk), is the global leading reseller of SAP Business One and is focused on providing the SAP Business One solution for growing small to midsized enterprises and subsidiaries of large enterprises. With offices located worldwide, Vision33 delivers value by bringing the right balance of software, world-class consulting and support services to help customers better manage and grow their business.
About Orchestra Software
Orchestra Software is a privately held enterprise software company founded in 2008. Orchestra creates industry vertical solutions that are scalable for large companies yet affordable enough for small and midsize growing companies. As an SAP Gold Partner, Orchestra Software provides tailored enterprise solutions like OrchestratedBEER utilising SAP Business One.
OrchestratedBEER helps "Conduct Your Craft" by consolidating business operations into a single application, providing unsurpassed insights into the business and creating opportunities for cost savings and increased profitability.
SAP, PartnerEdge and all SAP logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries all over the world. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170403005890/en/
Contacts:
For more information, press only:
Vision33
Matthew Melay, +1 (709) 722-7213, ext. 231
matthew.melay@gzed.com
General Meeting of Shareholders of AB Kauno Energija (code of enterprise 235014830, address Raudondvario av. 84, Kaunas) is convoked on 28 April 2017 by the decision No 2017-7-2 of 3 April 2017 of Company's Management Board "Regarding Convocation of General Meeting of Shareholders of AB Kauno Energija and announcement of agenda and resolutions projects on agenda issues".
The date of General Meeting is 28 April 2017, Friday. Time - 10 a.m. Place - Company's hall at Raudondvario av. 86A (first floor), Kaunas, Lithuania. Registration of shareholders starts at 9.30 a.m.
The agenda and the resolutions projects for the General Meeting of Shareholders:
1. Approval of Consolidated and Company's financial statements of the year 2016, prepared according to the International financial reporting standards accredited to use in European Union, presented along with consolidated Annual Report and Conclusion of independent auditor.
Resolution project - to approve the audited AB Kauno Energija consolidated and Company's financial statements of the year 2016, prepared according to the International financial reporting standards accredited to use in European Union (included).
2. Allocation of AB Kauno Energija profit (loss) of the year 2016.
Resolution project - to allocate AB Kauno Energija profit (loss) of the year 2016 in accordance to the profit (loss) allocation project provided to the General Meeting of Shareholders by the Management Board of AB Kauno Energija (included).
AB Kauno Energija shall not provide the possibility to participate and vote in the General Meeting of Shareholders through electronic communication channels.
The account date of General Meeting of Shareholders -21 April 2017. Persons, who will own the shares of AB Kauno Energija as at the end of the working day of 21 April 2016, are entitled to take part and to vote General Meeting of shareholders.
Share capital of AB Kauno Energija is divided into 42,802,143 (forty-two million eight hundred and two thousand one hundred forty three) ordinary registered shares. All of these shares carry the right to vote with their shareholders.
The person participating in General Meeting of Shareholders must submit an identity document. A person who is not a shareholder must also submit a document confirming the right to vote at the General Meeting of Shareholders along with this document. The authorized person shall have the same rights as it should represent by the shareholder at the General Meeting of Shareholders. Shareholder's right to attend the General Meeting of Shareholders also include the right to ask questions.
Please be informed that shareholders, who are entitled to participate at the General Meeting of Shareholders, carry the right to authorize physical or legal person to attend and vote on behalf of them at the General Meeting of Shareholders by electronic means. Power of attorney that is issued by the shareholder must be submitted by sending e-mail s.meskauskas@kaunoenergija.lt not later than until the end of working day of 27 April 2017 (4.30 p.m.).
Please be informed that issues which are included into agenda of the General Meeting of Shareholders can be voted in written by completing the general ballot paper. If the person who had completed the general ballot paper is not a shareholder, the completed general ballot paper must be accompanied by a document confirming the voting right. The duly completed general ballot paper (voting bulletin) should be sent by mail or delivered directly to the Company's office at Raudondvario av. 84, room 208, Kaunas till 28 April 2017 (9.30 a.m.). The Company reserves the right not to include in the shareholder vote early, if the general ballot paper does not meet the third and fourth parts of the 30 Article of Law on Companies requirements or the general ballot paper is written in a way that it is impossible to establish shareholder's will on a separate issue.
The agenda of the General Meeting of Shareholders may be supplemented by initiative of shareholders who own shares no less than 1/20 of all the votes. Proposals to the agenda of the General Meeting of Shareholders may be submitted by mail or delivered to the Company's representative office at Raudondvario av. 84, room 208, Kaunas no later than 13 April 2017.
Please be informed that the resolution projects or explanations on each of the proposed issue if the resolutions shall not be adopted, must be submitted along with a proposal to supplement to the agenda of the General Meeting of Shareholders.
Please be informed that, shareholders who own shares with no less than 1/20 of all votes carry the right to propose new resolutions projects related to the issues included into agenda at any time before the General Meeting of Shareholders or during the meeting in written or by mail.
Shareholders have the right to submit the questions to the Company, concerning the agenda of the General Meeting of Shareholders of 28 April 2017. Questions may be submitted by e-mail s.meskauskas@kaunoenergija.lt or delivered directly to the Company's office at Raudondvario av. 84, room 208, Kaunas, not later than till the end of the working day of 21 April 2017 (12.00 a.m.).
The shareholders can get acquainted with Company's documents related to the agenda of shareholders meeting, with resolutions projects of the meeting and with the information related actualization of shareholders' rights starting from 4 April 2017 by coming to the Company at Raudondvario av. 84, Kaunas, room 208 or on the Company's website at (http://www.kaunoenergija.lt).
Loreta Miliauskiene, Head of the Economics and Planning Department, tel. +370 37 305 855
Attachment:
https://cns.omxgroup.com/cds/DisclosureAttachmentServlet?messageAttachmentId=623687
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BRIDGEWATER, NOVA SCOTIA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/03/17 -- Silver Spruce Resources Inc. ("Silver Spruce" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: SSE)(FRANKFURT: S6Q) is pleased to announce it has staked an additional 400 acres of unpatented claims, increasing the Company's contiguous land position to over 470 acres of patented and unpatented claims. The new claims cover the areas of mineralization identified in 1972-1982 by Exxon Minerals Company, a subsidiary of Exxon Petroleum, as being the down dip extensions of the two known lenses of volcanogenic massive sulphide. Au-Ag-Cu-Pb-Zn mineralization. (Please see Silver Spruce News Release of 21 March 2017)
As per the press release of March 21, 2017, a November 1982 internal Exxon Minerals report by M.L. Fellows stated that the deposit contains a resource of proven and probable ore with a tonnage of 6.4 million short tons grading an estimated 2.2 per cent copper, 3.03 per cent zinc, 1.6 ounces per ton silver and .082 ounces per ton gold. Exxon's use of the word ore is not to be construed in the strict sense. Additional drilling is needed to verify this estimate. The qualified person for Silver Spruce has not conducted sufficient work to definitively classify Exxon's resource estimate to be compliant with National Instrument 43-101 resource definitions. The issuer is not treating the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves. Exxon also reported the deposits to be open down dip, with significant additional potential for the discovery of new deposits.
"We endeavor to execute our plan to verify Exxon's historical results as quickly and efficiently as possible, thereby raising the value of the Company for all stakeholders," stated Dr. Brian Penney, Chairman of Silver Spruce Resources Inc.
Qualified Person
Mr. Leonard J. Karr, professional geologist and a Qualified Person, under TSX guidelines, is the author of the Company's NI 43-101 report on the Pino de Plata project, dated 7 July 2015, and is responsible for the technical content of this press release.
About Silver Spruce Resources Inc.
Silver Spruce Resources Inc. is a well-positioned Canadian junior exploration company pursuing development of the Kay Mine volcanogenic massive sulfide project in Arizona, USA, and the Pino De Plata and the Encino De Oro epithermal silver/ base metal/ gold projects, located in the prolific Sierra Madre Occidental region of western Chihuahua State in Mexico. Silver Spruce also retains a portfolio of uranium and rare earth element properties in Labrador.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The company seeks Safe Harbour.
Contacts:
Silver Spruce Resources Inc.
Karl Boltz
President & CEO, Director
Toll Free: (866) 641-3397
info@silverspruceresources.com
www.silverspruceresources.com
Process for Having Access to the Preparatory Documents
(Article 221-1-j of the AMF's General Regulations)
Regulatory News:
Shareholders of Peugeot SA (Paris:UG) are invited to attend the Combined Ordinary and Extraordinary General Meeting to be held at the registered office at 75 avenue de la Grande Armee, 75116 Paris, at 10 a.m. on Wednesday 10 May 2017.
The prior notice of meeting, including the agenda and the draft resolutions, was published in the Bulletin des Annonces Legales Obligatoires (BALO) on April 3, 2017 and the convening notice will be published in the BALO and Petites Affiches on April 21, 2017.
Documents and information concerning this meeting, as mentioned in Article R.225-83 of the French commercial Code, are included in the notice of meeting brochure and in the 2016 Registration Document, which are available on the company's website at www.groupe-psa.com/en, respectively under the headings Individual Shareholders General Meeting, and Regulated Information.
Shareholders can receive an electronic copy of these documents upon request, writing to our email address: communication-financiere@mpsa.com or consult them at the Company's head office in accordance with the conditions specified by the applicable regulations.
In addition to the draft resolutions which were approved by the Supervisory Board on 22 February 2017, the Supervisory Board has authorised the Managing Board to submit to the General Meeting a resolution relating to the issue by the Company of equity warrants (the "Warrants") to any companies the majority of whose capital or voting rights are directly or indirectly owned by General Motors Company ("GM
In effect, as announced in the press release dated 6 March 2017, it is anticipated that in the context of the Company's proposed acquisition, in cash, of Opel/Vauxhall from GM (the "Transaction"), the Company will issue Warrants to companies of the GM group in an amount of 650 million.
The main characteristics of the envisaged issue are as follows:
the maximum number of Warrants that may be issued is 39,727,324 and they will be issued at a unit price of 16.3386515 euros 1
the warrants will carry a right to the allotment or subscription of a maximum of 39,727,324 shares of the Company with a nominal value of 1 each, at the rate of 1 share for 1 warrant, representing an increase in the Company's capital of a maximum nominal amount 39,727,324 2 , about 4.4% of its share capital on a non-diluted basis and 4.2% on a fully diluted basis 3
, about 4.4% of its share capital on a non-diluted basis and 4.2% on a fully diluted basis the exercise price of each equity warrant will be 1 and the warrants will be exercisable between the 5 th and 9 th years following the date of their issue;
and 9 years following the date of their issue; the equity warrants will carry entitlement to adjustments intended to protect the financial rights of the holders, including a cash payment equal to the dividends received by shareholders until the date the Warrants are exercised 4
GM and its affiliated companies will not have any governance or voting rights in respect of these equity warrants, and will be obliged to sell the PSA shares received within a period of 35 days from the date of exercise of the Warrants.
PSA's three main shareholders (the French Government, the Peugeot family and DongFeng), representing a total of 36.6% of the Company's share capital and 51.5%5 of the voting rights, have undertaken to adopt the resolution relating to the issue of the equity warrants to GM. If the issue of the Warrants is approved by the General Meeting, it will be completed on the date of completion of the Transaction. Otherwise, the Company will pay 650 million in cash over the next five years.
The 2016 Registration Document filed with the French securities regulator (Autorite des Marches Financiers AMF) on 3rd A pril 2017 under the number D.17-0289, contains a detailed presentation of the Transaction and of the relevant risk factors, in Sections 4.4 ["Major Contracts"] and 1.4. ["Risks relating to the acquisition of Opel/Vauxhall announced on 6 March 2017"]). More details of the terms and conditions of these equity warrants are also given in the report of the Managing Board to the General Meeting (see the 31st resolution), included in Section 8.1 of the 2016 Registration Document.
About Groupe PSA
With sales and revenue of 54 billion in 2016, the Groupe PSA designs unique automotive experiences and delivers mobility solutions that provide freedom and enjoyment to customers around the world. The Group has three car brands, Peugeot, Citroen and DS, as well as a wide array of mobility and smart services under its Free2Move brand, to meet the evolving needs and expectations of automobile users. The automobile manufacturer PSA is the European leader in terms of CO 2 emissions, with average emissions of 102.4 grams per kilometre in 2016, and an early innovator in the field of autonomous and connected cars, with 2.3 million such vehicles worldwide. It is also involved in financing activities through Banque PSA Finance and in automotive equipment via Faurecia. Find out more at groupe-psa.com/en.
Media libraryhttps://medialibrary.groupe-psa.com// Twitter: @GroupePSA
1 This price being equal to the volume weighted average price of PSA shares on the 20 trading days preceding 14 February 2017 (the date of the announcement by the Company of discussions concerning the Transaction).
2 This amount may, if necessary, be adjusted by the nominal value of the shares to be issued in order to preserve the rights of the equity warrant holders.
3 Calculation based on 907 million fully diluted shares in circulation.
4 Accordingly, upon exercising the Warrants, the holders would, at the same time as the underlying shares, receive a sum in cash equal to the cumulative amount of any dividends distributed by the Company since the date of issue of the Warrants, and which would have been received by them if at the time of each distribution, they had owned the number of shares of the Company to which the Warrants conferred a right (subject to any withholding tax).
5 Calculation based on 907 million fully diluted shares in circulation, pro forma upon the exercise of all the equity warrants in circulation in 2014.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170403006171/en/
Contacts:
PSA Group
Communications Division
+33 1 40 66 42 00
www.groupe-psa.com/en
@GroupePSA
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 3, 2017) - Alternative IQ announced today the introduction of their careers service, which is specifically designed to serve Canada's hedge fund community. The AIQ Careers Service offers 2 options to connect companies in Canada's hedge fund industry with the right people: a basic job posting facility where firms post positions and candidates respond directly to the company, and a full service recruitment package which is custom tailored to each company's particular needs.
"Either way, the advantage of recruiting through Alternative IQ is that companies and positions are presented only to those candidates who are uniquely qualified and keenly interested in a career in Canada's hedge fund industry," points out Julie Makepeace, Managing Director, Alternative IQ.
Through the Alternative IQ website, job seekers can see current job postings and also submit their resumes in confidence to be kept apprised of future postings which are consistent with their search. "We already have a growing list of candidates who are specifically seeking a position in Canada's hedge fund industry," Makepeace said.
Companies can post positions on the Alternative IQ website: http://alternativeiq.com/hedge-fund-careers/for-hedge-fund-companies/ at no charge until April 30, 2017. Job postings will be kept posted on the site for at least 6 months.
For more information about the Alternative IQ Careers Service, contact:
Julie Makepeace
Managing Director, Alternative IQ
jmakepeace@alliancesalesandmarketing.com
416-906-3782
About Alternative IQ: Alternative IQ is the producer of the annual Canadian Hedge Fund Awards, held in Toronto each October (performance as at June 30th), the Winners Showcase events which present Managers of award-winning hedge funds to investors, and various other programs and publications serving the hedge fund industry in Canada. Alternative IQ is a division of Alliance Sales and Marketing, Inc.
LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwired - April 03, 2017) - Mike Moodian, Pepperdine EdD 2007, has been selected by California Governor Jerry Brown to again serve on the independent commission responsible for investigation of judicial complaints as well as meting out appropriate discipline to those state judges found guilty of misconduct. He was first appointed as one of the 11 commissioners in 2015, and will now serve a new term through 2021. Moodian and the other commissioners are assigned a jurisdiction that includes all of California's superior court judges as well as the justices of the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. As described by state documents, the position requires Moodian and his colleagues to "protect the public, enforce rigorous standards of judicial conduct and maintain public confidence in the integrity and independence of the judicial system."
In addition to his work with the State of California, Dr. Moodian also serves as a college professor at Chapman University's College of Educational Studies, as a chair of the Santa Margarita Catholic High School Consultative School Board, a founding chair of the United Nations Association of Orange County Advisory Board, a member of the UC Irvine Olive Tree Initiative Advisory Board, and as an executive board member and former chairman of the World Affairs Council of Orange County. In 2009, he edited "Contemporary Leadership and Intercultural Competence", a textbook that examines the application of cultural comprehension to organizations and the measurement of cultural competence. This title was cited by the Association of American Colleges & Universities in establishing national learning standards.
Dr. Moodian is currently a blogger for the online news aggregator Huffington Post, as well as an occasional commentator on several television and radio programs. He has written a short book on the ranch history of South Orange County and North San Diego County, and often speaks to K-12 groups and community organizations about South Orange County's indigenous American activity, the Portola Expedition, Mexican governance of the land, and 20th century ranching activity. In 2012, Moodian was one of 18 Americans and the only Californian to be selected by the European Union to travel to Brussels as a citizen diplomat, discussing educational policy with EU officials.
About his prestigious reappointment to the State Commission, Moodian says: "Serving our state within this capacity has been one of the great honors of my career." He also attributes his role on the commission to the rigorous training he received at Pepperdine within the EdD in Organizational Leadership (EDOL) program, specifically because of its focus on ethics.
Indeed, administrators describe Pepperdine Graduate School of Education and Psychology's EDOL program as a place to strengthen and develop leadership skills, as the coursework equips students with the knowledge and the ability to recognize, harness, and channel forces of change in order to transform organizations for optimal success and growth. As an alumnus, Dr. Moodian clearly embodies the values and ultimate mission of the Graduate School.
Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2017/4/3/11G134888/Images/moodian_(2)-19855ce8d120923bbecb732b63e628ad.jpg
Dr. Karen Semien-McBride
Executive Director of Marketing & Enrollment
karen.semien-mcbride@pepperdine.edu
http://gsep.pepperdine.edu
310.258.2892
CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/03/17 -- Precision Drilling Corporation ("Precision") (TSX: PD)(NYSE: PDS) intends to release its 2017 first quarter results before the market opens on Monday April 24, 2017 and has scheduled a conference call and webcast to begin promptly at 12:00 Noon MT (2:00 p.m. ET) on the same day.
The conference call dial in numbers are 844-515-9176 or 614-999-9312 (International) or a live webcast is accessible on Precision's website at www.precisiondrilling.com.
An archived version of the webcast will be available for approximately 60 days. An archived recording of the conference call will be available approximately one hour after the completion of the call until April 26, 2017 by dialing 855-859-2056 or 404-537-3406, passcode 91818718.
About Precision
Precision is a leading provider of safe and High Performance, High Value services to the oil and gas industry. Precision provides customers with access to an extensive fleet of contract drilling rigs, directional drilling services, well service and snubbing rigs, camps, rental equipment, and wastewater treatment units backed by a comprehensive mix of technical support services and skilled, experienced personnel.
Precision is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Precision is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the trading symbol "PD" and on the New York Stock Exchange under the trading symbol "PDS".
Contacts:
Precision Drilling Corporation
Carey Ford
Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
403.716.4566
403.716.4755 (FAX)
www.precisiondrilling.com
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/04/17 -- Serengeti Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE: SIR)(FRANKFURT: 34S) announces the completion of an independent NI 43-101 compliant Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") for its 95% owned Kwanika copper-gold porphyry project located in the Quesnel Trough of North-Central British Columbia, Canada. The results of the PEA demonstrate the potential technical and economic viability of establishing a new copper-gold mine and mill complex on the property.
PEA Highlights:
-- Pre-tax NPV7%of CDN $324 million, 21.1% IRR, 15 year mine life. -- Life of mine (LOM) metal production of 601 million pounds copper, 676,300 ounces gold, and 2.66 million ounces silver in concentrates. -- Annual metal production of 50.4 million pounds of copper, 70,100 ounces of gold, and 181,100 ounces of silver in concentrates for the first eight years. -- Initial capital cost of CDN $476 million plus LOM sustaining capital of $37 million for a 15,000 tpd (5.4 million tpa) mill and combined open pit, underground mining operation. -- Projected C1 (Direct cash cost of production per pound of copper net of gold, silver credits) of US$0.70/lb/Cu for first eight years or US$1.20/lb LOM
"We are very pleased to have achieved this important milestone for the Kwanika project," commented David W. Moore, Serengeti President & CEO. "Kwanika represents an opportunity to develop a midsize green field copper-gold project in an excellent location and proven jurisdiction. Furthermore there remains excellent potential to expand and upgrade the resources considered in this study, both in the Central and South Zones. The results of this PEA have confirmed what the partnership believed was the possibility for higher grade production from the Central Zone at Kwanika and the resultant positive impact on project economics. Given the economic value we have demonstrated in this PEA, we expect our partners Daewoo Minerals Canada will elect to fund the next $7 million expenditure to earn an additional 30% interest in the project and we look forward to working with them in advancing the Kwanika project towards production," stated Moore.
PEA BASE CASE ECONOMIC RESULTS
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Parameter Unit Base Case ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Capital Cost CDN$ M $476 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Sustaining Capital LOM CDN$ M $37 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Average Op Cost/tonne CDN$ $21.15 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Pre-Tax Net Revenue CDN$ M $710.1 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Pre-Tax NPV7% CDN$ M $324.4 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Pre-Tax IRR and Payback 21.1% and 3.7 years ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Post-Tax Net Revenue CDN$ M $475.1 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Post-Tax NPV7% CDN$ M $191.2 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Post-Tax IRR and Payback 16.6% and 4.0 years ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Metal Price Cu US$/lb $2.90 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Au US$/oz $1,270 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ag US$/oz $19.00 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Exchange Rate US$/CDN$ 0.77 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
PEA SUMMARY PRODUCTION STATISTICS
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Category Units First 8 Years LOM ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tonnes Milled Kt 43,201 78,855 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Average Grade Cu % 0.466 0.381 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Au g/t 0.539 0.357 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ag g/t 1.391 1.398 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Metal Production Cu M lbs 403.462 600.635 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Au Moz 0.561 0.673 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ag Moz 1.449 2.659 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Throughput tpd 15,000 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mine Life Yrs 15 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Net Cash Cost of Production (C1)(i) per lb Cu US$ $0.70 $1.20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (i) Net Direct Cash Cost (C1) is an industry standard measure that represents the cash cost incurred at each processing stage, from mining through to recoverable metal delivered to market, less net by-product credits. Direct Cash Costs cover: Mining, ore freight and milling costs; Mine-site administration and general expenses; Concentrate freight, smelting and smelter general and administrative costs; Marketing costs (freight and selling).
Gold, Silver credits contribute 64.3% to revenue in the first eight years or 53.0% LOM at the Kwanika project.
The PEA prepared by Moose Mountain Technical Services ("MMTS") is based on the resource model presented in the December 2016 NI43-101 technical report titled "Independent Technical Report for the Kwanika Copper-Gold Project Canada", authored by SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. (See NR 2017-01, January 4th, 2017 or access the report through www.sedar.com for full details). SRK's Resource Estimate used a confining pit and underground shapes to define contiguous mineralization with reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction. The resource therein is shown in the following table:
MINERAL RESOURCE STATEMENT(i) KWANIKA CENTRAL ZONE
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Quantity Cut-off (x1000 Cu Eq Category Tonnes) (%) Grade ------------------------ Cu Au Ag (%) (g/t) (g/t) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Pit Constrained -------------------------------------------------------------------- Indicated 101,500 0.13 0.31 0.32 0.96 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Inferred 31,900 0.13 0.17 0.14 0.59 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Underground -------------------------------------------------------------------- Indicated 29,700 0.27 0.34 0.36 1.05 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Inferred 7,900 0.27 0.23 0.17 0.68 -------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------- Category Contained Metal ------------------------------------ Cu Au Ag (000's lb) (000's oz) (000's oz) -------------------------------------------------------- Pit Constrained -------------------------------------------------------- Indicated 697,200 1,040 3,120 -------------------------------------------------------- Inferred 118,500 140 610 -------------------------------------------------------- Underground -------------------------------------------------------- Indicated 222,300 350 1,010 -------------------------------------------------------- Inferred 39,800 40 170 --------------------------------------------------------
MINERAL RESOURCE STATEMENT(i) KWANIKA SOUTH ZONE
----------------------------------------------------------- Category Quantity Grade -------------------------------------------- (x1000 Cu Au Ag Mo Tonnes) (%) (g/t) (g/t) (%) ----------------------------------------------------------- Inferred 33,300 0.26 0.08 1.64 0.01 ----------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------- Category Contained Metal ------------------------------------------------ Cu Au Ag Mo (000's lb) (000's oz) (000's oz) (000's lb) --------------------------------------------------------------- Inferred 191,400 80 1,760 7,470 --------------------------------------------------------------- (i) Pit constrained mineral resources are reported in relation to a conceptual Whittle pit shell and underground resources are reported within the area for potential underground development. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. All figures are rounded to reflect the relative accuracy of the estimate. All composites have been capped where appropriate. (ii) Pit constrained mineral resources are reported at a copper equivalent cut-off of 0.13% and underground resources are reported at 0.27%. The cut- offs are based on prices of US$3.00 per pound of copper, US$1,300 per ounce of gold, US$20 per ounce of silver, US$9.00 per lb of molybdenum and assumed recoveries of 89% for copper, 70% for gold, 75% for silver, and 60% for molybdenum.
The MMTS mining study has focused on a higher grade core of the deposit and delineated combined open pit and underground designs on the Central and South zones as follows:
Open Pit in Central and South zones
------------------------------------------------------------ Zone Category Tonnage Cu Au Ag (Kt) (%) (g/t) (g/t) ------------------------------------------------------------ Central Indicated 11,752 0.372 0.387 1.076 ------------------------------------------------------------ Inferred 208 0.278 0.170 0.785 ------------------------------------------------------------ South Inferred 24,819 0.265 0.076 1.630 ------------------------------------------------------------ Note: NSR cut-off used is Cdn$11.90/tonne with a provision for mining loss of 5% and dilution of 2%
Underground Delineated Resource on the Central zone as follows:
------------------------------------------------------------ Zone Category Tonnage Cu Au Ag (Kt) (%) (g/t) (g/t) ------------------------------------------------------------ Block Cave Indicated 41,410 0.455 0.522 1.364 ------------------------------------------------------------ Inferred 666 0.271 0.168 0.720 ------------------------------------------------------------ Note: To account for mining loss and dilution all material within the within stope shapes are included with no cut-off grade applied
The mine plan generates the following throughput over the 15 year operating mine life.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Mine Production / Total tonnes milled (Kt) Cu (%) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) -------------------------------------------------------------------- First 8 Years(i) 43,201 0.466 0.539 1.391 -------------------------------------------------------------------- LOM 78,855 0.381 0.357 1.398 -------------------------------------------------------------------- (i) Included in the LOM quantities
All mineralized material classified as Indicated (67%) and Inferred (33%) Mineral Resources has been considered in the mine plan. The PEA is preliminary in nature and it includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic consideration applied to them that would enable them to be characterized as mineral reserves. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves, do not have demonstrated economic viability and there is no certainty that the results of the PEA will be realized.
Economic Analysis
Economic evaluations were generated incorporating forecasts for metal prices and US$/CDN$ exchange rate. The Base Case is a medium term forecast meant to be comparable to other recent Canadian projects. The Spot Price case is from March 1, 2017, and the Alternate Case is 10% above the Base Case. Results are shown in the following table:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Parameter Unit Base Case Spot Price Alternate ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Metal Price ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copper US$/lb 2.90 2.71 3.19 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gold US$/oz 1,270 1,258 1,397 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Silver US$/oz 19.00 18.47 20.90 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Exchange Rate US$/CDN$ 0.77 0.75 0.77 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Economic Results (Pre-Tax) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Net Revenue CDN$ M 710.1 635.3 1,040.5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- NPV5% CDN$ M 411.1 361.7 635.3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- NPV7% CDN$ M 324.4 282.0 519.1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- NPV8% CDN$ M 286.5 247.0 468.4 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- NPV10% CDN$ M 219.9 185.6 379.5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- IRR % 21.1 19.6 27.8 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Payback years 3.7 3.9 3.0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Parameter Unit Base Case Spot Price Alternate ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Economic Results (After-Tax) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Net Revenue CDN$ M 475.1 426.2 692.0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- NPV5% CDN$ M 255.2 222.49 404.2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- NPV7% CDN$ M 191.2 162.7 321.4 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- NPV8% CDN$ M 163.2 136.6 285.3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- NPV10% CDN$ M 113.9 90.6 221.8 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- IRR % 16.6 15.3 22.1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Payback years 4.0 4.2 3.3 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Project Development Plan
The proposed project is to develop a green-fields copper-gold-silver deposit with a combination of open pit and block cave underground mining for the Central Zone and open pit mining for the South Zone combined with conventional milling and flotation concentration methods. The production rate assumed is 15,000 tonnes per day with a forecast mine life of 15 years. Mineral concentrate would be trucked approximately 190 kilometers to a rail load-out facility in Fort St. James, rail to Prince Rupert, and ocean transport to Asian smelters. Forestry Service Roads and the existing Kemess mine power line which is connected to the power grid, are in the local area which reduces the offsite infrastructure costs. A traditional tailings storage facility (TSF) will be augmented by using all open pit waste to buttress the dam to increase the factor of safety and a separate water storage dam and water treatment plant are included, so that surplus water can be discharged safely to the environment and not stored in the TSF.
Forecast mine production statistics are summarized in the following table:
----------------------------------------------------------------- Metal First 8 Years -------------------------------------------------- Recovery Total Metal Annual Metal Grade % Production Production ----------------------------------------------------------------- Copper (%) 0.466 91 403,462 K lbs 50,433 K lbs ----------------------------------------------------------------- Gold (g/t) 0.539 75 561.2 K oz 70.1 K oz ----------------------------------------------------------------- Silver (g/t) 1.391 75 1,449 K oz 181.1 K oz -----------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------- Metal LOM (Life of Mine) -------------------------------------------------- Recovery Total Metal Annual Metal Grade % Production Production ----------------------------------------------------------------- Copper (%) 0.381 89/91 600,635 K lbs 40,042K lbs ----------------------------------------------------------------- Gold (g/t) 0.357 70/75 676.3 K oz 45.1 K oz ----------------------------------------------------------------- Silver (g/t) 1.398 75 2,659 K oz 177.3 K oz -----------------------------------------------------------------
Assumed capital and operating costs for the operation are as follows (in CDN$):
-- Initial capital of $476.2 million including open pit pre-stripping mining costs, the start of underground access development, and construction of the processing plant, site infrastructure, construction of a tailings storage facility, access and power with a contingency of $61.0 million -- LOM sustaining capital cost of $ 36.6 million is predominately for underground equipment when the Block Cave production starts early in the operating schedule. Ongoing underground development is included in operating costs. An additional $46.3 million is also included in operating costs for final reclamation and closure. Future studies will develop a more cost effective allocation of the costs of these activities, when more project details from the environmental studies, permitting obligations, and progressive reclamation details are known.
Open pit operation and equipment will be contractor supplied and well as underground development. Underground operations will be an owners' team for mucking and hauling from the extraction level of the Block cave.
-- Total weighted operating cost of $21.15/ tonne processed including: open pit mining $2.97 / tonne mined; LOM open pit strip ratio of 1.69, underground block cave mining $11.73 / tonne mined; mill and tailings $9.00 / tonne; G&A $1.95 / tonne
Recommendations for Further Work and Opportunities to Enhance Value
The independent consultants have recommended advancing the project to a higher level of study leading to a Pre-Feasibility Study and eventually to a Feasibility Study. The immediate work will require field work and data gathering for Pre-Feasibility engineering and baseline environmental studies in preparation for consultation with First Nations, sustainability discussions with local stakeholders and preparations for permit applications with regulators. This will include additional drilling to improve the modelled resource classification, geotechnical drilling, starting long duration waste rock characterization studies, and background environmental field surveys.
Furthermore as demonstrated by K-177 drilled in the course of the 2016 program, potential exists to significantly increase gold and to a lesser extent, copper grades, within the high grade domain of the Central Zone by drilling additional holes oriented perpendicular to the deposit's E-W long axis. K-16-179 also opened up the NW corner of Central Zone for expansion and deepening of this hole is recommended along with additional drill holes in this area. Finally the recent mine modelling as part of the PEA has demonstrated that several areas of better grade exist below the currently planned South Zone pits which with additional drilling could be brought into a future mine plan.
Daewoo Deal Terms
This PEA was completed as part of a program funded by Daewoo Minerals Canada, whereby Daewoo earned a 5% project interest by paying Serengeti $400,000 and spending $800,000 on the project within the first year. Daewoo may earn an additional 30% interest in the project, by electing within 90 days of completion of the PEA report, to fund an additional $7 million over the next two year period. Serengeti remains as project operator and is entitled to charge a 10% operator fee on expenditures beyond the initial $1.2 million. Serengeti is entitled to an NSR royalty if its project interest is diluted below 50% and also retains the right to enter into precious metal streaming transactions subject to certain off-take rights to Daewoo (see NR 2016-03, April 6th, 2016 for full details).
National Instrument 43-101 Disclosure.
The Kwanika PEA was prepared by Moose Mountain Technical Services (MMTS) under the direction of Jim Gray, P.Eng., a Qualified Person (as defined under National Instrument 43-101) who is independent of Serengeti and has reviewed and approved this news release. Marek Nowak, P. Eng. and Chad Yuhasz, P. Geo. of SRK Consulting (Canada) completed the NI 43-101 resource assessment report included in this PEA and are Qualified Persons and independent of Serengeti .
Experts contributing to this study include AMEC Consulting who produced a Caveability Assessment of the Kwanika Project and SGS Metallurgical Services Ltd. who have conducted a preliminary metallurgical test program on the Central Zone.
An updated national Instrument 43-101 Technical Report on the Kwanika Project describing the results of the PEA will be filed on SEDAR and be available on Serengeti's website at www.serengetiresources.com within 45 days.
David W. Moore, P.Geo., Serengeti Resources Inc. President & CEO is the Company's designated QP for this news release and has reviewed and validated that the information contained in the release is consistent with that provided by the QP's responsible for the PEA.
About Serengeti Resources Inc.
Serengeti is a mineral exploration company managed by an experienced team of professionals with a solid track record of exploration success. The Company is currently advancing its Kwanika copper-gold project in partnership with Daewoo Minerals Canada and exploring its extensive portfolio of properties in the highly prospective Quesnel Trough of British Columbia. A number of these other projects are available for option or joint venture and additional information can be found on the Company's website at www.serengetiresources.com.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
David W. Moore, P. Geo., President, CEO and Director
Cautionary Statement
This document contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities regulations. All statements other than statements of historical fact herein, including, without limitation, statements regarding exploration plans and other future plans and objectives, are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and future events and actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations as well as a comprehensive list of risk factors are disclosed in the Company's documents filed from time to time via SEDAR with the Canadian regulatory agencies to whose policies we are bound. Forward-looking statements are based on the estimates and opinions of management on the date the statements are made, and we do not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements should conditions or our estimates change, other than as required by law and readers are further advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The information in this News Release related to the Kwanika Copper/Gold Project was derived from the PEA. Statements pertaining to projected revenues and cash flows, quantity and grade of mineralized materials, estimated mineral prices are forward-looking statements. The Company cautions that this PEA is preliminary in nature, and is based on technical and economic assumptions which will be evaluated in further studies. The PEA is based on the current (as at January 2017) Kwanika estimated resource model, which consists of material in both the indicated and inferred classifications. Inferred mineral resources are considered too speculative geologically to have technical and economic considerations applied to them. The current basis of project information is not sufficient to convert the mineral resources to mineral reserves, and mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Accordingly, there can be no certainty that the results estimated in the PEA will be realized.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Contacts:
Investor Relations:
Paradox Public Relations
514-341-0408 or Toll free (in North America) 1-866-460-0408
info@paradox-pr.ca
Serengeti Resources Inc.
604-605-1300
info@serengetiresources.com
www.serengetiresources.com
Acclaimed filmmaker John Scheinfeld profiles one of the most internationally successful artists of all time
Companion disc set for simultaneous release on Concord Records
BEVERLY HILLS, California, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Pioneering Brazilian producer, composer, keyboardist, vocalist and Oscar-nominated songwriter Sergio Mendes will be the subject of a new feature documentary by Emmy, Grammy and Writers Guild Award nominee John Scheinfeld (The U.S. vs. John Lennon, Who Is Harry Nilsson [And Why is Everybody Talkin' About Him]? and Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary). Scheduled for worldwide release in 2018, the documentary will coincide with the release of a companion album on Concord Records which features a host of high-profile guests with several tracks co-produced by Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am.
Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/485743/Concord_Music_Group_Inc_Sergio_Mendes.jpg
Employing a fresh and unique cinematic approach, this portrait of a remarkable artist celebrates the life of a singular musician who remains as vital and relevant today as 50 years ago when he exploded on the scene with his group, Brasil '66. One of the most internationally successful Brazilian artists of all time, Mendes is a three-time Grammy Award winner and has recorded more than 35 albums, many of which went gold or platinum. Hit singles include "Mas que Nada," "The Look of Love," "Pretty World," "Never Gonna Let You Go" and his unforgettablerenditions of "Night and Day," "Fool on the Hill," "Scarborough Fair" and "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay." His enormous influence on the music industry endures even today as he continues to evolve through new collaborations and mediums.
"I am really looking forward to this new adventure," says Mendes. "It's a wonderful chance to 'relive' my journey, and, with John Scheinfeld at the helm,I'm sure it will be a joyful and thrilling experience."
"When I first met Sergio, his warmth, humor and appreciation of life through all the senses made me feel a strong connection with him and I want others to feel the same way," says director Scheinfeld. "His life is an exceptional blend of encounters, spontaneity and serendipity and makes him an irresistible subject for a film."
"The impetus for the documentary and new companion album was the recent 50th anniversary of the release of Brasil '66," says Concord Records President John Burk. "With Brasil '66, Sergio played a huge role in popularizing Brazilian music around the world, and at the same time created his own genre by fusing Brazilian music with American pop. He then continued to produce hits, decade after decade, staying current and relevant while staying true to his unique sound. Sergio also had an incredible career and has a fascinating story that we'd like to tell through these projects."
By examining the musical innovations and exceptional creativity that brought him to the forefront, the documentary explores how Mendes has consistently been able to reinvent himself and remains a significant world music artist to this day. The film will also shine a light on the global impact of his music from 1966 to the present, with a particular emphasis on his continuing popularity in the USA, Brazil, Japan and Europe and how his work has inspired such artists such as will.i.am, Justin Timberlake and John Legend.
A significant portion of the film will be shot on location in Brazil, including a tour of Niteroi, his hometown, and nearby Rio itself, including an intimate performance in the "Bossa Rio" musical style that brought him to prominence as a young musician in Brazil.
With Sergio telling much of his story in his own words, Scheinfeld will paint a rich, entertaining and revelatory portrait of an extraordinary artist, bringing added emotion and intimacy to the story incorporating dozens of recordings from every phase of Sergio's career, as well as rare or never-before seen film clips, home movies and photos from the Mendes family album.
Compelling interviews with music superstars who have been inspired by Sergio, as well as with family, friends and colleagues will contribute unique perspectives on the music, the man and his on-going journey and will deepen the emotional resonance of the finished film.
Even after 50 years, Sergio Mendes is still looking forward.
For more information about John Scheinfeld and Crew Neck Productions, visit: http://crewneckproductions.com/
To learn more about Concord Music Group, visit: http://www.concordmusicgroup.com/
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 04/03/17 -- Partners Value Investments Inc. (the "Company") announced today its financial results for the year ended December 31, 2016. All results have been presented in U.S. dollars as the Company changed the presentation currency from Canadian to U.S.
The net loss for the year was $56 million ($0.76 per common share) compared to $17 million ($0.24 per common share) in the prior year due to a warrant valuation loss on the initial recognition of our warrant liability. Adjusting for the warrant valuation loss recorded, net income for the year was $86 million, driven by our improved performance in our investment portfolio.
The Company's net book value increased by $1.20 per share to $31.93 per share primarily due to the increase in the market value of our investment portfolio.
Consolidated Statements of Operations
For the years ended December 31 ( T h o u s a n d s ) 2016 2015 ------------------------------------------------------------- Investment income Dividends $ 61,942 $ 53,622 Other investment income 5,228 1,522 ---------- --------- 67,170 55,144 Expense Operating expenses (15,269) (3,160) Financing costs (2,116) (871) Retractable preferred share dividends (25,289) (22,202) ---------- --------- 24,496 28,911 Other items Investment valuation gains (losses) 72,967 (37,929) Warrant liability valuation loss(1) (141,553) - Amortization of deferred financing costs (1,834) (1,493) Change in value of fund unit liability (896) 3,182 Income taxes (22,394) 6,737 Foreign currency gains (losses) 13,509 (16,772) ---------- --------- Net loss $ (55,705) $(17,364) ---------- --------- ---------- --------- 1 Warrant liability valuation loss relates to the mark to market upon issuance of warrants during 2016.
Financial Profile and Net Book Value
The Company's principal investment is its interest in 86 million Class A Limited Voting Shares ("Brookfield shares") of Brookfield Asset Management Inc. ("Brookfield"), representing a 9% fully-diluted interest as at December 31, 2016.
The information in the following table shows the changes in net book value:
For the years ended December 31 2016 2015 --------------------- (Thousands, except per share Total Per Share Total Per Share amounts) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Net book value, beginning of $2,260,264 $ 30.73 $2,374,208 $ 32.28 period(1) Net income(2) (55,705) (0.76) (17,364) (0.24) Other comprehensive income(2) 151,471 2.06 (96,580) (1.31) Distributions (8,062) (0.19) - - Capital reorganization and other - 0.09 - - ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- Net book value, end of $2,347,968 $ 31.93 $2,260,264 $ 30.73 period(1,3) ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- 1. Net book value per common share is non-IFRS measure. 2. The weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the year ended December, 2016 was 73,545,364 (2015 - 73,546,899). 3. As at December 31, 2016, there were 73,543,831 (December 31, 2015 - 73,546,898) voting and non-voting common shares of the Company issued and outstanding on a fully diluted basis.
The information in the following table has been extracted from the Company's Statement of Financial Position:
Statement of Financial Position
As at (Thousands, except per share December 31, December 31, January 1, amounts) 2016 2015 2015 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Assets Cash and cash equivalents $ 5,544 $ 92,107 $ 16,651 Investments Brookfield Asset Management Inc.(1) 2,829,156 2,707,474 2,816,875 Other securities 612,734 447,548 377,354 Accounts receivable and other assets 20,881 5,903 33,717 ------------- ------------- ------------- $ 3,468,315 $ 3,253,032 $ 3,244,597 Liabilities and shareholders' equity Accounts payable and other liabilities $ 119,196 $ 175,971 $ 21,378 Preferred shares(2) 521,155 510,339 522,999 Warrant liability 139,526 - - Deferred taxes(3) 340,470 306,458 326,012 ------------- ------------- ------------- 1,120,347 992,768 870,389 Shareholders' equity Common equity 2,347,968 2,260,264 2,374,208 ------------- ------------- ------------- $ 3,468,315 $ 3,253,032 $ 3,244,597 ------------- ------------- ------------- ------------- ------------- ------------- Net book value per common share(4,5) $ 31.93 $ 30.73 $ 32.28 ------------- ------------- ------------- ------------- ------------- ------------- 1. The investment in Brookfield Asset Management Inc. consists of 86 million Brookfield shares with a quoted market value of $32.96 per share as at December 31, 2016 (December 31, 2015 - $31.54). 2. Represents $529 million of retractable preferred shares less $8 million of unamortized issue costs as at December 31, 2016 (December 31, 2015 - $518 million less $8 million). 3. The deferred tax liability represents the potential future income tax liability of the Company recorded for accounting purposes based on the difference between the carrying values of the Company's assets and liabilities and their respective tax values, as well as giving effect to estimated capital and non- capital losses. 4. As at December 31, 2016, there were 73,543,831 (December 31, 2015 - 73,546,898) voting and non-voting common shares of the Company issued and outstanding on a fully diluted basis. 5. Net book value per common share is a non-IFRS measure.
Note: This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian provincial securities laws and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities regulations. The words "potential" and "estimated" and other expressions which are predictions of or indicate future events, trends or prospects and which do not relate to historical matters, identify forward-looking information. Forward-looking information in this news release includes statements with regard to the Company's potential future income taxes.
Although the Company believes that its anticipated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements and information are based upon reasonable assumptions and expectations, the reader should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information because they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond its control, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from anticipated future results, performance or achievement expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and information.
Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated or implied by forward-looking statements and information include, but are not limited to: the financial performance of Brookfield Asset Management Inc., the impact or unanticipated impact of general economic, political and market factors; the behavior of financial markets, including fluctuations in interest and foreign exchanges rates; global equity and capital markets and the availability of equity and debt financing and refinancing within these markets; strategic actions including dispositions; changes in accounting policies and methods used to report financial condition (including uncertainties associated with critical accounting assumptions and estimates); the effect of applying future accounting changes; business competition; operational and reputational risks; technological change; changes in government regulation and legislation; changes in tax laws, catastrophic events, such as earthquakes and hurricanes; the possible impact of international conflicts and other developments including terrorist acts; and other risks and factors detailed from time to time in the Company's documents filed with the securities regulators in Canada.
The Company cautions that the foregoing list of important factors that may affect future results is not exhaustive. When relying on the Company's forward-looking statements and information, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and potential events. Except as required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements and information, whether written or oral, that may be as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Contacts:
Partners Value Investments Inc.
Investor Relations
ir@pvii.ca
647-503-6516
BROOKFIELD, NEWS -- (Marketwired) -- 07/05/17 -- You are invited to participate in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners' (NYSE: BIP)(TSX: BIP.UN) 2017 Second Quarter Conference Call and Webcast on Thursday, August 3, 2017 at 9:00 a.m. (Eastern Time) to discuss results and current business initiatives with members of senior management.
These results will be released on August 3, 2017 at approximately 7:00 a.m. (Eastern Time) and will also be available following the release on our website at www.brookfield.com/infrastructure.
To participate in the conference call please dial 1-800-319-4610 toll-free in North America, or for overseas calls please dial +1-604-638-5340 at approximately 8:50 a.m. The Conference Call will also be webcast live at http://services.choruscall.ca/links/bip20170803.html and will be archived for future reference.
For those unable to participate in the Conference Call, a taped rebroadcast will also be available until midnight on September 3, 2017. To access this rebroadcast, please call 1-855-669-9658 or if outside Canada & the U.S. please call +1-604-674-8052 (access code: 1493).
Brookfield Infrastructure Partners is a leading global infrastructure company that owns and operates high quality, long-life assets in the utilities, transport, energy and communications infrastructure sectors across North and South America, Asia Pacific and Europe. We are focused on assets that generate stable cash flows and require minimal maintenance capital expenditures.
Brookfield Infrastructure Partners is listed on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges. Further information is available at www.brookfield.com/infrastructure. Important information may be disseminated exclusively via the website; investors should consult the site to access this information.
Brookfield Infrastructure is the flagship listed infrastructure company of Brookfield Asset Management, a leading global alternative asset manager with $250 billion of assets under management. For more information, go to www.brookfield.com.
Contacts:
Media:
Claire Holland
Vice President, Communications
(416) 369-8236
claire.holland@brookfield.com
Investors:
Rene Lubianski
Senior Vice President, Corporate Development
(416) 956-5196
rene.lubianski@brookfield.com
(2) Reflects the number of positions in issuers in which the Company has previously publicly disclosed an investment, which occurs after the Company has completed its accumulation. Cash, cash equivalents, direct or indirect currency or other hedges and income/expense items are excluded. Multiple financial instruments (for example, common stock and derivatives on common stock) associated with one (1) issuer count as one (1) position. A position that is included in the number of positions will be removed from the table only if the investment becomes 0.0% of the portfolio.
(3) For the purpose of determining the equity and debt exposures, investments are valued as follows: (a) equity or debt is valued at market value, (b) options referencing equity or debt are valued at market value, (c) long call options and short put options (or vice-versa, short call options and long put options) held on the same underlying issuer and with the same strike and same expiry are grouped together and treated as synthetic equity positions, and are valued at the market value of the equivalent long equity position (or vice-versa, the equivalent short equity position), and (d) swaps or forwards referencing equity or debt are valued at the market value of the notional equity or debt underlying the swaps or forwards. Whether a position is deemed to be long or short is determined by whether an investment has positive or negative exposure to price increases or decreases. For example, long puts are deemed to be short exposure.
(4) Includes all issuer equity, debt, and derivatives related to issuer equity and debt, and associated currency hedges. Cash, cash equivalents, direct or indirect currency or other hedges and income/expense items are excluded. The market values of associated currency hedges are included as part of the associated investment. In the event that there is a change in market cap category with respect to any non-publicly disclosed position, this information is not updated until such position is publicly disclosed.
(5) Portfolio composition is reflective of the publicly disclosed portfolio positions as of the date of this report. A position in an issuer is only assigned to a sector once it has been publicly disclosed.
(6) "Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. AUM" equals the assets under management of Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd.. Any performance fees crystallized as of the end of the year will be reflected in the following period's AUM.
(7) "Total Strategy AUM" equals the aggregate assets under management of Pershing Square, L.P., Pershing Square International, Ltd., Pershing Square II, L.P. and Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd.. Redemptions effective as of the end of any period (including redemptions attributable to crystallized performance fees/allocations, if any) will be reflected in the following period's AUM
Cortexica, a London, UK- and San Francisco, CA-based provider of a visual search engine for retailer, raised 2m in funding.
Touchstone Innovations made the investment.
The company, which has raised 4 in total in the year, will use the funds to continue to expand operations.
Led by Iain McCready, CEO, Cortexica Vision Systems leverages AI to provide retailers with image and object recognition systems. The software, which can be integrated with any system and platform, has the ability to run in the cloud, within mobile apps, or on device. It is being used by a innovative global businesses including John Lewis, Accenture, GSK, Zalando and Macys.
The company was spun-out from the Bioengineering Department of Imperial College London, originating from a research project to reverse-engineer the human visual cortex.
FinSMEs
03/04/2017
IP Fabric, a Prague, Czech Republic-based provider of IP network infrastructure management solutions, closed 1.3m seed funding round.
The round was led by Credo Ventures.
The company intends to use the funds to bring its products to market.
Led by Pavel Bykov, founder and CEO, IP Fabric provides a solution that enables to visualize and safely control enterprise networks. Focused on large scale IP network infrastructure, the companys products enable users to to interpret the meaning of network state and its relationship to the business in real time. The recently released Engineering Edition of its flagship network infrastructure management platform enables to see network state on demand, while the Controller Edition scheduled for release later this year will enable to work with complete network state history.
The company recently signed a sales partnership agreement with O2 Czech Republic.
FinSMEs
03/04/2017
Monarch Teaching Technologies, Inc., a Cleveland-based maker of a special education teaching software, called VizZle, raised $250k in funding.
Venture development organization JumpStart made the investment via the Health-Tech Corridor Attraction Fund, which focuses specifically on investing in companies that relocate to Clevelands Health-Tech Corridor (HTC).
The company intends to use the funds to build out its sales and marketing infrastructure.
Founded in 2005 by CEO and President Bob Gephart, Monarch develops visual learning software for the treatment of children and adolescents with autism. This software, which became VizZle, has since been adapted for use by schools, clinicians and parents of children with all sorts of other special education needs as well.
FinSMEs
03/04/2017
Venture Technologies, a Ridgeland, Mississippi-based IT solutions provider, acquired NetSource Communications, Inc., a custom cloud hosting solution provider.
The amount of the deal was not disclosed.
The acquisition is supported by FlatWorld Capital, a New York-based private equity group that specializes in funding and advising middle-market companies.
Founded in 1986, Venture Technologies is an IT Solutions Provider that delivers Premise Infrastructure Solutions, Collaboration Solutions, Cloud Services and Business Application Solutions to both private and public sector organizations. The company operates locations in Alabama, Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Venture also owns and operates certified Data Centers (VTCloud) in Jackson, Mississippi, Englewood, Colorado, and Casper, Wyoming from which it produces a comprehensive suite of cloud services to thousands of domestic and international customers.
Based in Naperville, Illinois, NetSource Communications provides a range of Internet hosting services to over 600 small and medium-sized businesses from its state-of-the-art data center.
FinSMEs
03/04/2017
Even as Donald Trumps hard-nosed approach to outsourcing work pushed the panic button on H1-B visa issue in India, another country has been quietly cutting down on Indian it professionals -- Singapore. According to a TOI report, Singapore visas for IT workers has dropped to a trickle and the slashing has been in force since early 2016.
This has even prompted the Indian government to put on hold the review of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) citing violation of the trade pact, the report said.
Singapore too, like the US, is advising Indian companies to hire local talent. As a result, some firms have begun relocating some of their operations to other countries in the region. A number of Indian IT firms have moved to Singapore from the early movers like HCL and TCS to Infosys, Wipro, Cognizant and L&T Infotech.
This (visa problem) has been lingering for a while but since early-2016, visas are down to a trickle. All Indian companies have received communication on fair consideration, which basically means hiring local people, Nasscom president R Chandrashekhar has been quoted as saying in the TOI report.
Meanwhile, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj recently said there was no reason to worry about the curbs on H1-B visas or the job security of Indian IT professionals working in the US for the time being as the Indian government is in talks with the US regarding this.
"Currently there are four bills in the US Congress about curbs on H1-B visas. We are engaged (in a dialogue) with the US at very high level regarding this... We are making all efforts (through diplomatic channels) to ensure these bills are not passed," Sushma said in the Rajya Sabha last week.
New Delhi: Ruias-led Essar Group today announced sale of its BPO company Aegis Ltd to Singapore-based private equity fund manager Capital Square Partners for an estimated US $275-300 million.
The sale marks Essar's complete exit from BPO business. Essar had in July 2014 sold Aegis USA Inc, an outsourcing and technology company with operations in the US, the Philippines and Costa Rica, to Teleperformance of Paris for US $610 million.
With its US subsidiary gone, Aegis' headcount and revenue were reduced substantially. Since then, Aegis has again grown the business in terms of headcount, revenues, product offerings and customer base.
Aegis had BPO business globally across India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Australia, South Africa, Peru, Argentina, Saudi Arabia and the UK. It had 40,000 employees globally, 47 BPOs in these 10 countries and US $400 million in revenue.
"AGC Holdings Ltd (AGC) Mauritius, a wholly-owned portfolio company of Essar Global Ltd, has entered into a definitive agreement with Capital Square Partners (CSP) to sell 100 per cent of its stake," a company statement said. Though the company did not give the value of the deal, sources said the sale could be in the range of US $275-300 million.
"Net proceeds of this sale will be used to retire Essar's debt," the company said adding the transaction is likely to close by June 2017 subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.
Essar entered the BPO business in 2004 with the acquisition of the US-based Aegis Communications Group, with 2,000 employees.
In 2014, the group sold the US business of the BPO firm. "Since then, Aegis has once again grown the business substantially in terms of headcount, revenues, product offerings and customer base becoming a preferred vendor for many premium clients in key industries, such as telecommunications, technology, media, banking, financial services and insurance, travel and logistics, retail and eCommerce," the statement said.
Uday Gujadhar, Director-AGC, said: "This transaction is in line with our strategy of incubating, building and operating world-class businesses, and being open to monetising them at a premium value when the market conditions are favourable."
Sanjay Chakrabarty and Mukesh Sharda, Managing Partners of CSP, jointly said: "We are excited about the opportunity to work with the Aegis management team in embarking on the next stage of growth, by focusing on innovation and adding our sector knowledge and expertise."
Sandip Sen, Managing Director, Aegis said: "Aegis has established itself as a high value service provider to its customers. We shall continue to provide quality service to our esteemed customers and be an employer of choice."
Essar's advisors in the transaction include Axis Capital as financial advisor, and Platinum Partners and Sidley Austin as legal advisors.
Shearman & Sterling and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas acted as legal advisors to CSP.
State Bank of India's (SBI) merger integration with associates is progressing well and all SBI rules, including the Rs 5,000 minimum balance requirement, will be applicable to customers of erstwhile associate banks as well, SBI chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya said in an exclusive interaction with Firstpost on Monday.
Bhattacharya, however, said SBIs minimum balance rule isnt being understood properly.
No change in rules (on minimum balance). Also it is minimum average balance. Plus, Rs 5,000 is only for 6 metros. It is Rs 3,000 for urban, Rs 2,000 for semi-urban and Rs 1,000 for rural. I think these nuances not being appreciated, neither is media highlighting. If it is average balance, you can have Rs 15,000 for one day and then zero balance for next two days. You won't be charged, Bhattacharya said. SBIs decision to impose Rs 5,000 minimum balance rule had invited criticism from certain quarters.
Bhattacharaya said the bank has been seeking the merger with its associate banks for some time and there was no political push behind the deal. There is no (political) push from anywhere. SBI has been seeking it for some time, Bhattacharya told Firstpost. It was one of the first suggestions I made on taking office. So, also some of my predecessors (sic), Bhattacharya said.
SBIs merger with 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) came into effect on Saturday. Apart from these, the Bharatiya Mahila Bank, a brainchild of former union finance minister P Chidambaram unfer UPA, too was merged with SBI. Earlier, the bank had merged two of its other associates -- State Bank of Saurashtra and State Bank of Indore in 2008 and 2010, respectively.
Trade unions have been vehemently opposing the merger saying this was a political decision by the government and wouldnt help the bank or employees. Also, the associate banks are doing well on their own and should be allowed to operate independently, said C H Venkatachalam, general secretary of All India Bank Employees Association. This was a political decision. The political leadership thinks this would create a global bank but actually they are creating a bigger risk, said Venkatachalam.
Post merger, SBIs asset size should go up to Rs 28.6 lakh crore as on March. SBI will grow in size and will be at least four times bigger than its nearest competitor HDFC bank -- which has assets of Rs 7.4 lakh crore as on March 2016. The third largest bank will be ICICI Bank with asset size of Rs 7.2 lakh crore.
Beyond HDFC Bank and ICICI, most other lenders will look too tiny in comparison to State Bank. The combined entity will have over 23,000 branches and two and half lakh employees. It will then be seen in the club of banking giants from developed countries and take part in bigger deals flaunting its size.
SBI gaining global size is a good thing for Indian banking sector in relation to the global industry. But as the trade unions caution, does the decision creates a bigger risk? Because of the huge difference in the asset size and reach of SBI and its nearest competitors, there will be obvious concerns of monopoly by the government-controlled bank. The concerns will be even more given that the government is the promoter of the bank and hence can interfere in SBIs operations to pursue its populist agenda or to direct lending to specific sectors.
In fact, the creation of a monopoly in banking sector is something RBI has warned about in the past. For instance way back in 2013, the then RBI governor, D Subbarao, had highlighted this issue. Presently, (there is) significant skewness in the size of banks. The second largest bank in the system is almost one-third the size of the biggest bank. This creates a monopolistic situation, Subbarao then said. Besides the issue of monopoly, a bigger SBI also mean bigger capital requirement for the bank, the burden of which will ultimately fall on the government exchequer. In the event of a crisis, can a fiscally constrained government manage the capital risks of a giant SBI?
On the other hand, SBI-associate merger will indeed give its muscle mass to wrestle with international banks to compete in global business. There were senior bankers who have aggressively supported consolidation, including in SBI group, citing this idea. One of them is K V Kamath, veteran banker and President of New Development Bank. Terming SBI-associate merger as a good step, Kamath said "If you look at the size of our economy, we need a few more large banks. So clearly there is space for consolidation in the public sector and possibly in the private sector also because you need much larger banks to cater to this economy".
Not just Kamath, Uday Kotak, Vice chairman of Kotak Mahindra Bank, too have batted for consolidation in the banking sector. Globally, in most countries, there are only three to five large banks which dominate. This is how the future will be in our country as well, Kotak told PTI in a recent interview.
SBI-associate consolidation was relatively an easier move to experiment given that there is already synergy between these bank in terms of technology and work culture. But, things may not be this smooth as far as other banks are concerned in the banking sector, particularly in the private sector. The history of most bank mergers in the private sector shows that this was either due to financial distress of the target bank or regulatory compulsions.
Interestingly, while on one side consolidation talk is on, Indian banking sector has also witnessed the creation of several small banks (in the form of small finance banks, payment banks and two new commercial banks) in the recent years. The drive to issue new bank licenses was kick started after an announcement by the then union finance minister, Pranab Mukherjee, in the union budget in Feberuary, 2010.
Whether the SBI-associate merger will create a more efficient, globally competitive bank for India or will it create a bigger risk for countrys banking sector is something only time will tell.
New Delhi: Tax evasion of over Rs 5 crore under the GST regime would be non-bailable offence with the police having authority to make an arrest without a warrant. The Central GST (CGST) Act provides that if the offences relating to taxable goods and/or services where the amount of tax evaded or the amount of input tax credit wrongly availed or the amount of refund wrongly taken exceeds Rs 5 crore, shall be cognizable and non-bailable.
In a 223-page FAQ on Goods and Services Tax (GST), the CBEC said other offences under the act are non-cognizable and bailable.
The government has set a target date of 1 July for roll out of the GST, which will subsume central excise, service tax, VAT and other local levies.
As per the FAQ, cognizable offence means serious category of offences in respect of which a police officer has the authority to make an arrest without a warrant and to start an
investigation with or without the permission of a court.
Non-cognizable offence means relatively less serious offences in respect of which a police officer does not have the authority to make an arrest without a warrant and an investigation cannot be initiated without a court order, it said.
Outlining the safeguards to be taken during arrest, the FAQ said if a person is arrested for a cognizable offence, he must be informed in writing of the grounds of arrest and he must be produced before a magistrate within 24 hours of his arrest.
If a person is arrested for a non-cognizable and bailable offence, the Deputy/ Assistant Commissioner of CGST/SGST can release him on bail and he will be subject to the same provisions as an officer in-charge of a police station under section 436 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
The FAQ provides that, if a person does not appear before a CGST/SGST officer who has issued the summon, he is liable to a penalty of up to Rs 25,000.
Also, the tax department have guidelines to ensure that summon provisions are not misused by field officers. As per the guidelines, summons are to be issued as a "last resort where assessees are not co-operating and this should not be used for the top management.
"Also the language of the summons should not be harsh and legal which causes unnecessary mental stress and embarrassment to the receiver," it said.
Further, summons by the superintendents should be issued after obtaining prior written permission from an officer not below the rank of AssistantCommissioner with the reasons for issuance of summons to be recorded in writing.
"Senior management officials such as CEO, CFO, General Managers of a large company or a Public Sector Undertaking should not generally be issued summons at the first instance.
They should be summoned only when there are indications in the investigation of their involvement in the decision making process which led to loss of revenue," the guidelines said.
The Central GST (CGST) and State GST (SGST) Act have empowered the officers from Police, Railways, Customs, village officers, and any other government officers to assist CGST and SGST officers under the GST regime.
After a lull, the co-founders of Infosys have again lamented the dropping perfomance standards of the IT behemoth. Co-founder NR Narayana Murthy said the generous compensation given to chief operating officer UB Pravin Rao, and approved by the board in February this year, was improper, and would "erode the trust and faith of the employees in the management and the board".
In a letter sent out to a handful of journalists from prominent media organisations, including to Deepa Balakrishnan of CNN-News18, Murthy said handing out 60-70 percent salary hikes to top-level executives at a time when most other employees of the company got just 6-8 percent is "grossly unfair" to a "majority of Infosys employees".
According to the report in CNN-News18, the Infosys board has approved a hike in the fixed salary per annum of Rao to Rs 4.62 crore, while the variable component of his package stood at Rs 3.87 crore, payable on achievement of targets set by the board. This is with effect from 1 November 2016. He will also be eligible for 27,250 restricted stock units (RSUs) and 43,000 stock options (ESOP) based on fiscal 2016 performance once the same is approved by the shareholders.
A large number of Infosys shareholders had contested the decision, while Murthy himself had abstained from voting. Following is the full text (verbatim) of the email Murthy wrote, to explain the reasons behind his displeasure:
I have lots of affection for Pravin. Let me state you the facts.
I recruited Pravin in 1985 and had nurtured him throughout my stay at Infosys since then.
He had been sidelined. He was not even a member of the Executive Council at Infosys in 2013 when I came back. Kris, Shibu and I encouraged him, elevated him to the board, and made him the COO when we recruited Vishal as the CEO. So, this abstention has nothing to do with Pravin.
Those of us who have always stood for fairness in compensation and practised it, right from the day Infosys was founded, will have to demonstrate it when needed. This is a time when it is needed. Nothing more and nothing less.
I believe in striving towards reducing differences in compensation and equity in a corporation. You may not know that my Infosys salary at the time of the founding of Infosys was just 10% of my salary in my previous job. I ensured that my younger, co-founder colleagues got 20% higher salary over their salaries in their previous job even though I was 7 levels above them in my previous job and was 11 years older than them. I gave them huge equity compensation the like of which has never been replicated in this world. So, this abstention comes from somebody who has walked the talk.
I have always felt that every senior management person of an Indian corporation has to show self restraint in his or her compensation and perquisites. He or she has to fight for maintaining a reasonable ratio between the lowest salary and the highest salary in a corporation in a poor country like India. The board has to create a climate of opinion for such a fairness by their actions.
This is necessary if we have to make compassionate capitalism acceptable to a majority of Indians who are poor. Without compassionate capitalism, this country cannot create jobs and solve the problem of poverty. Experts tell me that capitalism may come to an end in the not-so-distant future if the current corporate leaders do not heed this advice in India.
Further, giving nearly 60% to 70% increase in compensation for a top level person (even including performance-based variable pay) when the compensation for most of the employees in the company was increased by just 6% to 8% is, in my opinion, not proper. This is grossly unfair to the majority of the Infosys employees including project managers, delivery managers, analysts, programmers, sales people in the field, entry level engineers, clerks and office boys who are toiling hard to make the company better. The impact of such a decision will likely erode the trust and faith of the employees in the management and the board. With what conscience can a decent person like Pravin (a man schooled in Infosys values for over 30 years) tell his juniors that they should work hard and make sacrifice to reduce cost and protect margin? I have got so many mails from these people asking whether this resolution is fair. No previous resolution in the history of the company has received such a low approval.
Finally, given the current poor governance standards at Infosys, let us also remember that these targets for variable pay may not be adhered to if the board wants to favor a top management person.
New Delhi: Capitalism and compassion hardly sound compatible. How could the two co-exist when capitalism is ruthless in shedding work-force, moving capital or over-compensating some while preaching the bell curve to others? But capitalism needs a reboot and Indias software pioneer N R Narayana Murthy just revved up the debate on compassionate capitalism with his sharp and passionate take on compensation hike to Infosys COO Pravin Rao.
Murthy has raised an objection to a 35 percent hike in the remuneration of Rao, which incidentally has been approved by the board through an ordinary resolution put to vote. Remember, Murthy had earlier raised similar objections to the increase in remuneration for the CEO Vishal Sikka besides also outlining some other corporate governance issues (including a shockingly high severance pay to former CFO Rajiv Bansal).
In this instance, Murthy has acknowledged that Rao was his protege, sidelined by the management till Murthy himself appointed Rao as the COO when Sikka took over as the CEO. So Murthys grievance against a hefty increase in remuneration to the COO is obviously not stemming from personal dislike or any doubt in this candidates ability to perform. Perhaps more luminaries in the corporate world need to pay heed to what Murthy is saying.
Because no one with an iota of conscience or understanding of the widening gap in todays world between the haves and the have nots can argue against this point of view. If we stop showing compassion while pursuing capitalism, that day is not far when the pursuit of capitalism itself will come into question. What the top level executives of a company earn cannot be irrational when compared to the salary of other employees and should probably be benchmarked with the lowest earning employee of the company.
Not just Murthy, public shareholders also seem to favour compassion while the firm pursues higher profits. According to Infosys filing with the stock exchanges, over 32 percent or close to a third of all the shareholders who voted on a resolution to increase the COOs pay were against the proposal. But since two-third of the voters approved, the resolution has since been passed. The naysayers included the group Public non-institution where an overwhelming majority voted against the proposal.
The BSE filing shows 67 percent or two-third of those who voted under this category comprising the general public one would presume - did not see merit in the proposal to increase the COO remuneration. Murthy has said in a letter to the media that he has received numerous mails raising objections to such a pay hike. No previous resolution in the history of the company has received such a low approval.
Murthy himself abstained from this vote, as did other founder promoters of this IT bellwether company. In that letter, Murthy said I have always felt that every senior management person of an Indian corporation has to show self-restraint in his or her compensation and perquisites. He or she has to fight for maintaining a reasonable ratio between the lowest salary and the highest salary in a corporation in a poor country like India.. This is necessary if we have to make compassionate capitalism acceptable to a majority of Indians who are poor. Without compassionate capitalism, this country cannot create jobs and solve the problem of poverty. Experts tell me that capitalism may come to an end in the not-so-distant future if the current corporate leaders do not heed this advice in India.
He has made many pertinent points while raising the objections:
1) Giving nearly 60 percent to 70 percent increase in compensation for a top level person (even including performance-based variable pay) when the compensation for most of the employees in the company was increased by just 6 percent to 8 percent is not proper.
2) This is grossly unfair to the majority of the Infosys employees including project managers, delivery managers, analysts, programmers, sales people in the field, entry level engineers, clerks and office boys who are toiling hard to make the company better.
3) The impact of such a decision will likely erode the trust and faith of the employees in the management and the board. With what conscience can a decent person like Pravin (a man schooled in Infosys values for over 30 years) tell his juniors that they should work hard and make sacrifice to reduce cost and protect margin?
Even if one shrugs off the hint of philanthropy and socialist mindset in all of this, perceptions have always mattered. A flamboyant Vijay Mallya was once the cynosure of all eyes for his flashy lifestyle and the airline he built, which is still remembered for the various luxuries offered to guests. But since Mallya continued to flaunt his wealth long after the business had sputtered and died, no one really now cares if he actually committed any fraud in the Kingfisher Airlines saga he is remembered for complete lack of empathy with the hundreds of employees who suffered as the airline shut down.
Some compassionate capitalism on Mallyas part would have gone a long way in assuaging the woes of his employees and this would perhaps have prevented him from turning a fugitive! That perceptions matter more in a country like India becomes more apparent when one scans the list of corporate defaulters to public sector banks many corporate defaulters are way ahead in this list from Mallya but his name evokes disgust while the others continue to lead peaceful lives in near anonymity.
In keeping with the voting patterns though, institutions and proxy advisory firms see nothing wrong in Raos pay increase.
This piece quotes Anil Singhvi, Chairman of Ican Investment Advisors, as saying compared to industry peers, Raos salary hike is not very high. Singhvi also points out that Murthys claims of himself taking low remuneration when he was still working at Infosys is humbug since he had huge amount of shares in the company. So it suited them to not to debit profit and loss account with high salaries. But things have changed, Pravin is not a founder, Pravin is a professional who is being paid based on his professional competencies and what peer compensation packages would be.
During a similar controversy over Sikkas pay hike for FY17, another proxy advisory firm SES had said SES does not find any issue as far as quantum of remuneration is concerned due to the fact that the remuneration consists of a low fixed component and large variable pay component, based on performance milestones. Such remuneration packages which are deferred and performance based are in fact good governance practice. Further shareholders approved this with majority, therefore concerns raised by founders at this stage have no meaning in corporate democracy. Although in absolute term and as percent of net profit, remuneration of Mr. Sikka is higher compared to peers, performance of Infosys in terms of market price has been relatively better than peers post appointment of Mr. Sikka.
This piece shows how Sikka in ranked alongside other IT industry peers in terms of remuneration he is second from the top.
And this piece shows Sikka took home a salary which was 935 times the median pay at Infosys last fiscal. He was the second highest paid non-promoter CEO among Indias top 10 bluechip companies, after L&Ts A M Naik, to get multiple times more than the median pay at his company. While all this is within the law, above board what Murthy is alluding to is some sort of sanity in pay packets of the top honchos of India Inc. His long-stated philosophy on compassionate capitalism" suggests the ratio between highest compensation in the firm and the median salary should ideally be 50 to 60. Sikka is already taking home way beyond this. And now Rao is set to join the bandwagon, Perhaps a broader debate on remuneration packages is in order across India Inc?
By attacking Infosys board over the salary hike offered to Chief Operating Officer UB Pravin Rao, company co-founder NR Narayana Murthy is missing the trees for the woods. He is basing his arguments without looking at many factors, thus seeming to be a bit out of place, though his point on salaries of lower-rung staff is spot on.
With Murthy in an email sent to select media questioning the logic behind the "60-70 percent" salary hike offered to Rao has indicated the founder-board dispute over the executive salaries is back at the country's second largest software exporter.
"Giving nearly 60 percent to 70 percent increase in compensation for a top-level person (even including performance-based variable pay) when the compensation for most of the employees in the company was increased by just 6 percent to 8 percent is, in my opinion, not proper," Murthy said in the letter.
Raos salary compensation was increased by 35 percent to Rs 12.5 crore. According to an analyst, when Murthy is complaining of increase in pay with performance-based variable and linking it to the lowest rung employee, he is not stating that Raos variable is linked to a number of factors - his performance, meeting the companys targets and also the companys performance. If any one of this is missing, Raos variable will change, an analyst pointed out. On the contrary, the lower-level employees' increments are not as directly linked to the companys performance.
Dismal industry outlook
When Murthy is complaining about Raos salary hike, he is not factoring in the dismal outlook for the Indian IT industry. There are multiple headwinds, including a still struggling global economy, the emergence of new technology that is changing business models and the US protectionism, which are leading to a not-so-rosy outlook for the sector.
The top five -- TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Cognizant and HCL Technologies -- are not hiring in en masse from campuses as they used to earlier. According to a report in the Business Standard, IT companies are expected to hire 40 percent less this year. The top five IT services companies hired around 60,000 engineers from campuses this fiscal, as against little more than 100,000 last year. The reason for the reduction in recruitment at the entry level is on account of aggressive use of automation and technological advances that have rendered the lower level jobs in the sector redundant.
In such a scenario, the salaries of engineers, programmers and all other lower level jobs in the IT industry has remained more or less at the level that Infosys is paying to its employees, says Kris Laxmikanth, chairman and managing director, The Head Hunters India, Bengaluru, and visiting faculty, Institute of Management, Ranchi.
An Infosys programmer who currently gets around Rs 3 lakh annual salary will get 7-8 percent routine hike annually and will get the same amount were he to leave the firm and join another. In fact, it will be difficult for him to find a job in another firm at that level as the job requirements are low in the IT industry, Laxmikanth pointed out.
In a way, the dispute at Infosys is symptomatic of the struggles that the sector itself is facing. The companies are forced to raise the emoluments at the higher level to retain the priced executives who have the potential to boost the business while the lower-rung staff continues to see meager hikes. That is the reason variable to the top level executives makes a lot sense.
What is variable pay
Variable pay is performance-based salary. For instance, if a COO gets a salary of Rs 5 crores, of this 20-25 percent is variable pay which is dependent on him/her having achieved the target the company has set when he joined the firm.
Some companies such as Infosys give stock options to the candidate with a lock-in period. So while the share of the company has a market value for instance of about Rs 1,000, the top level management may get it for Rs 1 or Rs 10 or any other amount that is much lower than the market value. The number of shares will increase depending on the period the candidate has been signed up for by the company. The lock-in period is to ensure that the individual does not leave the company soon.
Variable pay can also take the salary south. For instance, Cognizant Technologies did not do well in 2016 and as a result the bonus given to employees was negligible. "A substantial portion of the top managements salary is linked to variable, i.e, almost 50 percent fixed salary and the rest as variables. When the company did not fare well last year, many got lesser than 50 percent as variables, Laxmikanth said.
On Murthy's contention that every senior management person at an Indian corporation should show self-restraint in his or her compensation, Laxmikanth feels he can say that because as a promoter he gets dividend.
"His stock options appreciate unlike Raos which would invariably have a lock-in period," Laxmikant said.
Whither compassionate capitalism
Compassionate capitalism that Murthy is talking about is a nice discussion to have but that is not how the real world of business functions, says Kamal Karanth, former MD, Kelly Services a human resources solutions company. In a world where the shareholders are expecting a high bottom line or an industry leading bottom line that Infosys had in the past, you need the top guy to stretch out and earn," says Karanth.
What Murthy is saying about Rao now, says Karanth, is only one half of the story. No one is aware in the public domain what deliverables are tied to Raos salary hike. The board must have felt that to keep the pressure of delivery on Rao, it had to make the required salary hike. All that we know is salary is high and the promoter (Narayana Murthy) is reactive.
The pressure is on delivery and sales at Infosys. To ensure that the top management, including vice presidents and operation heads are encouraged to meet the tight deadlines in the lacklustre IT industry at present, salary hikes have to be given, says Laxmikanth. He says, the trend in the industry is to pay almost half the salary to every position top down in a firm. So when the VPs and operation heads salaries are revised, Rao as number two at Infosys has to get a salary hike as well.
Comparing mails from people from the lower end of the pyramid who can write and complain to Murthy to what the top management is risking when they get hikes is not fair to them and also to the boards image when Murthy puts it out in the public arena. The job of the top management is to keep costs low and give high dividends to the shareholders.
Else there will be people like Murthy who will complain about bad performance as he has done in the past, said an analyst.
While there has been a lot of buzz among major home-grown e-commerce firms getting mega funding commitments from existing and other overseas investors of late, India's taxi hailing company Ola, too, has been in the reckoning and is in talks to raise capital.
In order to maintain further lead over its US taxi hailing rival Uber, the Bengaluru-based taxi aggregator is looking to raise fresh capital of Rs 650 crore from investors led by Tata Sons chairman emeritus Ratan Tata's venture fund RNT Capital Advisers, said a report The Economic Times.
Besides RNT Capital, Ola is also raising resources from New York-based hedge fund Falcon Edge Capital, which is expected to infuse $40 million while the rest will come from Tata-backed venture fund.
Separately, Ola is also in negotiations to raise $200 million from a series of investors.
If the proposed fund raising deal fructifies, Ola's valuation will reach $3.5 billion from $3 billion when it last raised capital from Japan's SoftBank in November last year, the ET report said.
So far, Ola has raised nearly $1.5 billion in capital from several investors.
However, reports of investors losing money on their startup investments continue to remain a bigger cause of concern. Recently, SoftBank Corp said it had booked an investment loss of 39.28 billion yen ($350 million) on its investments in India, including those in cab-hailing firm Ola and e-commerce company Snapdeal.
SoftBank had led a $210-million investment in Ola in 2014, and also made follow-on investments in the company.
Even as San Francisco-based rival Uber has been fast expanding its services acorss the country, Ola still remains a dominant player with a market share of around 65 percent with the rest being held by Travis Kalanick-based taxi aggregator firm.
Not just the rising competition, both Ola and Uber are battling several challenges here with driver going on strike over cut in incentives.
Last month, a section of drivers of Uber and Ola Cabs went on a token one-day strike in Mumbai protesting against the cut in incentives they are getting from the companies and the resultant fall in incomes.
The drivers of both the companies had resorted to strike in various other cities, including Hyderabad, Delhi and Bangalore, raising the demands for higher incentives.
In order increase their profitability, both Ola and Uber increased the fares by 50-70 percent last month.
New Delhi: RBI Governor Urjit Patel and his deputies have got a big pay hike with the government more than doubling their basic salary to Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 2.25 lakh per month, respectively.
The "basic pay of the Governor and Deputy Governors" have been revised retrospectively with effect from 1 January, 2016 and marks a huge jump from Rs 90,000 basic pay so far drawn by the Governor and Rs 80,000 for his deputies.
Still, their salaries are much lower than the top executives of various banks regulated by the RBI.
The monthly emoluments of these top RBI officials include 'basic pay', dearness allowance and 'other payments', which totalled Rs 2,09,500 in case of Patel as on 30 November, 2016, as per the latest information disclosed on the RBI website.
In response to a query by PTI under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the central bank has now disclosed that as per a Finance Ministry communication, dated 21 February, the basic pay of the Governor and Deputy Governors have been revised.
Following the revision, the basic pay of the Governor stands increased to Rs 2,50,000 per month while the same for a Deputy Governor would be Rs 2,25,000, RBI said.
The pay hike is "with effect from 1 January, 2016".
Dearness Allowance would be notified by the central government from time to time while "all other allowances (are) to be paid at existing rates as if the pay has not been received with effect from January 1, 2016," the RTI reply said.
The RBI, however, did not disclose the new gross pay for Patel and his deputies following the revision in basic pay.
With the earlier basic pay of Rs 90,000, Patel got a DA of Rs 1,12,500 and 'other payments' of Rs 7,000 -- totalling to a gross pay of Rs 2,09,500. The increase in the basic itself would take his gross pay to nearly Rs 3.70 lakh.
Patel, who took over the reins of the central bank in September 2016, had received a salary of Rs 2.09 lakh in October -- the first full month in office. This amount was same as drawn by his predecessor Raghuram Rajan in August that year.
Rajan assumed RBI governorship from 5 September, 2013 at a monthly salary of Rs 1.69 lakh. His salary was revised to Rs 1.78 lakh and Rs 1.87 lakh respectively during 2014 and March 2015. His salary was raised to Rs 2.09 lakh from Rs 2.04 lakh in January 2016.
It was not clear whether Rajan, who left RBI on 4 September, 2016, would be eligible for arrears as the basic pay for Governor has been revised retrospectively while covering little more than nine months of his tenure.
Currently, RBI has four deputy governors -- R Gandhi, S S Mundra, N S Vishwanathan and Viral V Acharya.
At the end of November last year, Gandhi, Mundra and Vishwanathan were taking home a basic pay of Rs 80,000 per month. Acharya took charge in January this year.
A week ago, the rogue Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaekwad, was put in the doghouse by all the domestic airlines in India following his uncouth and vicious behaviour with an Air-India staff. It was a first of its kind in that hitherto customers have been boycotting a seller or service provider but the airlines joined forces in solidarity to teach an incorrigible flier a lesson.
What the banking customers have decided to do on 6 April is also unique and apt---boycott banks for a daythough this time round the boycott call has been from the other side i.e. customers. It hopefully would bring State Bank of India to senses and not take the amorphous and unorganised customers for granted. SBI and its subsidiaries have taken the following anti-customer steps starting 1 April.
1. Minimum 3 times deposit free in your account. After more than 3 times deposit you will pay Rs 50 per deposit.
2. Minimum Rs 5,000 balance to be maintained in metro city branches.
3. Minimum Rs 3,000 balance to be maintained in city/town branches
4. Minimum Rs 2,000 balance to be maintained in semi urban area branches.
5. Minimum Rs 1,000 balance maintain in villages branches
6. If you do not maintain minimum amount in your account you will pay up to Rs 200 + extra surcharge.(depending on how many days)
7. SBI ATM free for 5 times use, after 5 times you will pay Rs 10 per transactions.
8. Other bank ATM free for 3 times use, after 3 times you will pay Rs 20 per transactions.
9. Unlimited SBI ATM use without any charges, If you maintain Rs 25,000 in your SBI savings account.
10. Unlimited SBI & other bank ATM use without any charges, If you maintain Rs 100,000 in your SBI savings account
11. Rs 15 SMS charge you will pay after 3 months, (SMS charge free, If you maintain Rs 25,000 in your SBI savings account.
These are patently unfriendly steps when the Prime Minister has been trying to wean away people from unorganised banking like chit funds and Nidhi into the mainstream of organised banking. Minimum balance of Rs 1,000 flies in the face of the Jan Dhan Yojana initiative of the government ironically spearheaded by the SBI.
SMS notification charges of Rs 5 per month smacks of pettiness and typifies the bankers attitude---penny wise, pound foolish i.e. prepared to lose to wily loan defaulters but come down heavily on the depositors!
The boycott call is for a day but if the SBI doesnt mend its ways and retract its anti-customer measures, it would be repeated from 24 through 26 April. It remains to be seen if the amorphous and fairly dispersed customers would show solidarity but the boycott call is unique---the ire is against SBI but all banks would be boycotted. It again remains to be seen if other banks are also boycotted on the announced dates. It appears unlikely because while airline industry is fairly small with handful of fliers, the banking customer population runs into crores.
Even if the boycott extends only to SBI and its subsidiaries, it would be a resounding success as it would send the right signals to banks looking to follow suit; they would be halted in their tracks.
Banks bread and butter are loans. But the funds come from amorphous depositors. They are willing to antagonise the depositors but are afraid of rocking the borrowers especially the big ones. Very few banks have read the riot act to them which gives credence to the saying if you have borrowed in thousands you are in trouble with the bank but if you have borrowed in millions, the bank is in trouble with you.
New Delhi: SBI has started charging more from its millions of account holders, including those of the 6 lenders merged with it this month, for not maintaining minimum balance as well as for services like cheque books and lockers.
The SBI decision to raise charges on various services is likely to be followed by other banks, hitting customers across the country.
These charges will also apply to customers of 5 erstwhile associates and Bharatiya Mahila Bank which have merged with State Bank of India effective 1 April. With the merger, the SBI customer base has increased to 37 crore.
The monthly average balance (MAB) requirement has been increased to as high as Rs 5,000 for branches in six metros.
Savings bank account holders of SBI have to maintain the monthly balance or else they will invite a penalty ranging from Rs 20 (rural branches) to Rs 100 in (metro cities), according to SBI website.
Till 31 March, the monthly average balance (MAB) for a savings bank account was Rs 500 without facility of cheque book and Rs 1,000 with cheque book across the country.
India's largest bank has now decided to fix separate MABs for 'metro', 'urban', 'semi-urban' and 'rural' areas from the beginning of next financial year.
The benchmark for MAB and penalties are likely to be followed by other public sector banks.
MAB for metro branches increased to Rs 5,000 and penalty for non-maintenance of minimum balance will be between Rs 50 and Rs 100. For urban and semi-urban branches, the MAB has been fixed at Rs 3,000 and Rs 2,000 respectively.
In case of rural branches, the minimum balance has been fixed at Rs 1,000. Breach of MAB will attract a penalty ranging between Rs 20 and Rs 50.
However, these new rates effective from 1 April are not applicable on Surabhi, Basic Savings Bank and PM Jan Dhan Yojana accounts.
Besides, the bank has increased locker rent and curtailed number of free locker usage in a year. After usage 12 times, the customer has to pay Rs 100 plus service tax applicable for visiting his or her locker.
As far as cheque books are concerned, for a current account holder, the first 50 cheques free in a financial year; thereafter, it will cost Rs 3 per leaf.
So 25-leaf Cheque Book now costs Rs 75 plus service tax and 50-leaf Cheque Book cost is Rs 150 excluding service tax.
SBI will now charge Rs 20 for opening fee including enrolment for savings account among other various charges that the bank has raised.
If one maintain 25,000 in your SBI savings account, then customer can use ATM unlimited number of time. However, the charges of ATM usage over allowed 5 times will attract charges as prescribed by RBI.
A local court in Ludhiana had issued an arrest warrant against Hindi film actor Rakhi Sawant for allegedly making objectionable remarks against sage Valmiki, who wrote the mythological Hindu epic Ramayana. Now, as per television reports, Sawant has been arrested by the Punjab police.
Mumbai-Rakhi Sawant arrested by Punjab Police. She is arrested over case filed against her for making derogatory remarks on Valmiki(file pic) pic.twitter.com/KoqBIuaF8J ANI (@ANI_news) April 4, 2017
The warrant was issued on 9 March on the basis of a complaint filed by advocate Narinder Adiya against her for allegedly hurting religious sentiments of Valmiki community with her comments on a programme on a private television channel last year, police said today.
However, in a complete flip flop of events, the DCP of Ludhiana tells Indian Express that no arrest has been made as of now. "There has been no arrest of Rakhi Sawant by Ludhiana Police in Mumbai. Four-member team sent there is scheduled to return Wednesday morning and is in train currently," he said.
Hindustan Times reports that the Punjab police went to Mumbai to arrest Sawant but could not trace her at her residence.
Occupants of that flat told the police that Sawant never stayed there. The police returned to Ludhiana to report it to the court. The next hearing of the case is on 10 April.
Meanwhile, Sawant apologised in a video in which she claims that her statement was based on what she learnt about Valmiki in school. She adds that she did not want to hurt any sentiments and apologises unconditionally to members of the Valmiki community.
ABP News quotes Sawant clarifying her stance on the issue, "I just gave an example from what I have read in my childhood. Just like Valmiki, who got changed from being a robber to a saint, Mika ji also has changed. It was just an example."
Sawant was referring to the episode when Singh, who had forced a kiss on Sawant's lips years ago, was accused in an assault case last year.
With inputs from PTI.
Disneys Lion King live-action reboot is getting in 'formation'.
Sources tell Variety that Beyonce is director Jon Favreaus top choice to voice Nala (Simba's best friend) in the upcoming remake.
Donald Glover is on board to voice Simba and James Earl Jones is reprising his role as Simbas father, Mufasa.
Favreau is directing the film (after the success of The Jungle Book) with Jeff Nathanson writing the remake. The film is being fast-tracked, even as Favreau begins development on his sequel to the recent hit The Jungle Book. The studios emphasis on live-action adaptations follows the successes of Alice in Wonderland (2010), Maleficent (2014), Cinderella (2015), and, most recently, Beauty and the Beast.
Lion King was originally released in 1994 and is one of the highest-grossing animated films of all time, ultimately hauling $968.5 million worldwide.
Now that three of the main cast roles are set, any guesses about who will play the rest of the cast in the remake?
Here's our wish list:
Samuel L. Jackson as Scar
Scar is Mufasa's younger brother and Simba's uncle, who usurps the king's throne. We want Samuel L. Jackson to take on the role of the evil, conniving lion, for obvious reasons. After all, he is a perfect foil to play a character with shades of grey, if you look at his roles like Jules Winnfield from Pulp Fiction or the tough as nails Nick Fury from The Avengers series. Plus, not only does he look menacing, he can sound it too.
Chris Rock as Timon
Timon is a wise-cracking meerkat who becomes one of Simba's best friends and adoptive parents.
The comic relief of the film has to be chosen with care of course. Who better to play Timon than Chris Rock? The Oscars host and talented actor can leave you in splits no matter what the situation is and we are sure that he can pull off a rendition of 'Hakuna Matata' pretty well. Rock has already hit it out of the park by voicing Marty the Zebra in the animated film series Madagascar.
Ben Stiller as Pumbaa
Pumbaa is a a naive warthog who suffers from flatulence and is Timon's best friend. Since Ben Stiller and Chris Rock have already worked together for Madagascar where Stiller plays Alex the Lion, Pumbaa will be a perfect role for the actor. Besides, Stiller is famous for essaying goofy and hilarious characters like Derek Zoolander in Zoolander.
Viola Davis as Sarabi
Sarabi is Mufasa's wife and Simba's mother, and the leader of the lioness hunting party. Can you imagine anyone but the How To Get Away With Murder star Viola Davis playing the role of a queen huntress?
Rowan Atkinson as Zazu
Zazu is a hornbill who serves as the king's stooge was voiced by Rowan Atkinson in the 1994 original film. We hope that Rowan Atkinson returns to voice the sneaky bird, because nobody play Rowan Atkinson better than Rowan Atkinson. Afterall, have you seen any other actor trying to play Mr. Bean?
Morgan Freeman as Rafiki
Rafiki, which means 'friend' when translated from Swahili, is one of the wisest characters in The Lion King franchise. He is an advisor to the lion king, and fans know him from the iconic scene where he raises Simba and declares him the next ruler of the jungle.
Who better than Morgan Freeman to play the baboon whose has wisdom for everyone in the film?
Jennifer Coolidge as Shenzi the Hyena
The three hyenas, Shenzi, Banzai and Ed are the secondary antagonists of the film. The hyenas are led by Shenzi, who is also the smartest of them all.
Who better to play a funny but evil matriarch in a Disney franchise than Jennifer Coolidge? Coolidge has already amused the audience with her role as cinderella's evil step-mother, Fiona in the modern day remake of A Cinderella Story starring Hillary Duff.
Since the step sisters in A Cinderella Story (Regina King as Rhonda and Madeline Zima as Brianna) do such an excellent job with their comic timing, they should be cast as the less smart Banzai and Ed as well.
OR
Kim, Kourney and Khloe as the Hyenas
Since we know of the trios comic timing from watching 13 seasons of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, we think the Kardashian trio will add an equal measure of glam and humour to the live action remake.
By Saad Sayeed
| ISLAMABAD
ISLAMABAD Pakistan resumed the repatriation of Afghan refugees on Monday, sending nearly 1,200 people back across the heavily guarded northern Torkham border, an official at the United Nation's refugee body said. Pakistan is home to the world's second largest refugee population, with a total of 2.5 million Afghans living there. Many have been in Pakistan since the Soviet invasion in 1979. Relations between the two countries have deteriorated significantly in recent years. Kabul and Islamabad blame each other for terrorist attacks on either side of the border. After a series of attacks in Pakistan left more than 130 people dead in February, Islamabad shut down its border crossings with Afghanistan and began planning to build a fence along the 2,500 km (1,500 mile) border.Human Rights Watch has accused the U.N. of allowing Pakistan to forcibly evict Afghan refugees in violation of international law. Rights activists say they expect little change this year in either Pakistani policies or the inability of the Afghan government and aid groups to support the tide.
Pakistan denies systematic harassment of the refugees by its authorities. It claims the country has demonstrated great generosity in hosting the Afghans despite its own economic limitations. The Afghans going home now are leaving voluntarily, it says.However, the Afghans complain about constant harassment and a lack of citizenship rights for those who have spent decades living and working in Pakistan. "My family moved to Pakistan in the early '80s," said Abdul Wahab, who lived in Islamabad for more than 30 years. "My father sold carpets and operated a successful shop. He made sure he always paid his taxes. But we could not have a bank account or own property."
Despite growing up in Pakistan, Wahab said, the weight of being a second-class citizen was too much to bear. In early 2016, before Pakistan began sending back Afghan refugees, Wahab packed up his carpets and moved the business back to Kabul. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) confirmed that voluntary returns resumed after a suspension due to winter weather. Asked whether Pakistan's hard-handed approach toward Afghans living within its borders for nearly 40 years had spurred the exodus, UNHCR representative Samad Khan said the reasons were varied.
"Some move for economic purposes or to unite with their families and others are moving due to border restrictions which have impacted their families," he said. According to Khan, 370,000 refugees volunteered to return in 2016 after Pakistan announced new repatriation plans. Human Rights Watch estimates another 200,000 undocumented refugees were shipped back to Afghanistan, where conflict and economic crisis have left the government struggling to maintain basic living standards"We have sent back 194 families today and they are all voluntary returnees who registered for return," Khan said.A UNHCR spokeswoman in Geneva said officials do not know how many refugees may return to Afghanistan this year, but that so far around 24,000 Afghans in Pakistan have "expressed an interest" in returning in April and May. (Additional reporting by Josh Smith in Kabul, editing by Larry King)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
In a break from tradition, most of India's Supreme Court will be working this summer with 19 of the 28 judges hearing cases over the summer.
Like other courts of record across the Commonwealth, India's Supreme Court also takes a vacation during the summer months, but during this period there is a vacation bench where a party may move an urgent matter or seek urgent relief. However, this year, the vacation benches will also be hearing regularly scheduled matters and the Supreme Court on 23 March published a list of around 5,000 pending matters that will be taken up for regular hearing by the vacation benches. Parties and advocates who do not want their matters in the vacation may inform the registry in writing after informing the other side and parties who want their matters taken up in the vacation may inform the registry after the consent of the other side. The Supreme Court has also published a set of subject categories that indicate the number of matters that will be taken up.
This is welcome step by the Supreme Court in dealing with the backlog of cases. While there may be many advocates who would like to take advantage of court vacations to attend to other commitments (such as those in academia and research), there are many other advocates, especially those at the junior bar, who would like to carry on their work during their court holidays. But by allowing them the option of having their matters heard over the vacation, the Supreme Court has found a middle path between abolishing the vacation entirely and being accused of not doing enough to deal with the backlog.
Further, this is also a way of dealing with the backlog of pending cases currently pending in the Supreme Court while the appointment of judges to the high court begins once more thanks to the the finalisation of the Memorandum of Procedure after an agreement was reached between the Collegium and the Central government earlier in March. As the vacancies in the high courts get filled, the pendency of cases in high court will begin to drop as their rates of disposal will increase. This may also mean much more work for the Supreme Court in the near future as it will have to deal with the appeals that arise from these final orders.
So it is welcome that the Supreme Court is clearing its docket to ensure that there is room for the fresh appeals that will start coming in from the high courts. More importantly, the Supreme Court is suggesting increasing the number of judges on the Supreme Court and is instead focusing on efficient case management and listing in order to try and reduce the pendency of cases. As cases need to be managed more efficiently rather than the judges. The Supreme Court's rules in relation to the vacation benches have not been modified, so we do not know yet if the vacation benches hearing ordinary matters is going to be a one-off thing or an annual thing. But depending on the number of advocates who use the facility during the summer vacations and the number of matters disposed, we will only know how successful it is after July.
Along with the judiciary working towards reducing the backlog, it is also incumbent on the government, which as this author pointed out in an earlier piece is the nation's largest litigant, to work towards reduction of the pendency.
The government should examine if it can settle out of court a vast majority of the disputes it is currently litigating before the Supreme Court and the high court. If a majority of these matters can be disposed off vide consent terms or consent orders between the parties, the pendency can be resolved. Further, particularly in appeals that have been pending for a very long time, mediation and alternative dispute resolution can be encouraged to see if there can be a settlement between the parties in order to ensure that the court's time is restricted only to important matters to law. The Supreme Court presently is reduced to a court of appeal hearing ordinary appeals from high courts, instead of performing exclusively the important constitutional functions it was expected to.
The government should also revisit legal provisions insofar as they relate to the levying of costs and the filing of frivolous litigation before the Supreme Court, so that parties cannot get away with filing frivolous appeals and matters and leaving them pending in the court's docket, nor can parties get away with taking adjournments without providing sufficient reasons. As of now, costs are rarely levied and when they are levied, costs are rarely based on actual costs incurred by the party, who suffers as a result of an adjournment or a frivolous appeal. Parties who fight cases before the apex court have to engage an advocate on record in Delhi and in most cases, have to brief a senior counsel for their matter. These parties suffer frivolous litigation because of India's liberal costs regime. This regime has the dual effect of also filling up court dockets with numerous cases that end up lying there for years.
So while the Supreme Court is doing its bit to clear the judicial backlog in India, it's important that the government also does its bit. The judicial pendency cannot be cleared in a day and will require a coordinated effort of the bar, the bench and the litigants concerned.
In India, the ominous shadow of death penalty refuses to leave criminal jurisprudence. There are crimes which are indeed heinous, and the moment news of such crimes hit the headlines, there is a massive demand for imposing capital punishment. More often than not, the proponents of the death penalty little realise that their demand would only exacerbate the problem.
Same is the case with the state of Madhya Pradesh, which is deliberating upon a Bill which mandates capital punishment for the rape of minors. After the December 2012 Delhi gangrape, the demand for death penalty for rapists has steadily gained currency, but this is the first time a state is actually considering giving it legal sanction.
Needless to say, the rape of minors and children shocks ones conscience and it is obvious that there should be a strong deterrent for such an offence. But stringent punishments are not always the solution because what matters in the end, is the certitude of the penalty given, not its severity. Besides, there are other implacable, structural problems one would need to grapple with if the death penalty is awarded to rapists of minors and children.
Firstly, it is the question of equality and reasonableness. If rape as a whole is taken as a heinous crime, by what logic is the rape of minors being put on a different footing from the rape of adults? This categorisation of rape cases is different from dividing cases into where only rape was committed, and where rape was accompanied by murder. Child rape is said to be "devastating in its harm, but cannot be compared to the severity and irrevocability of cold-blooded murder. Drawing a distinction between only rape and rape and murder is fine, but statutorily regarding the rape of minors as more heinous is an affront to all women who have been raped.
Two, death penalty in India is awarded for the rarest of rare cases, where the offence usually results in the victims death. If rape in general, and rape of minors in particular, is equated with death, it reveals a terribly misogynistic mindset and deprives survivors of all agency and dignity. But equating rape with death deals a crushing blow to the victims, because, by meaning that it's the end of the road if one is raped is a manifestation of extreme misogyny since it means that survivors have been deprived of their very souls- their will and purpose to live. In reality, there are plenty of cases where rape survivors have fought back with exemplary pluck and courage and have reclaimed their dignity.
Three, awarding the death penalty requires the highest level of proof, hence trials are far more rigorous and painstaking than those for other punishments such as life imprisonment. Hence, child and minor victims would be required to testify and re-testify for years to come, and this would only add to the trauma that they have already suffered.
Also, children, especially traumatised children, may not be very reliable as witnesses. Thus, their testimonies are more likely to be forcefully assailed by the defence, thereby leading to a doubt in the judges minds. And since the standard of proof is beyond reasonable doubt, there always remains the possibility of lower convictions if the death penalty is marked as the minimum mandatory punishment.
Four, since most such rapes are committed within families, and the perpetrators are known to the victims, people might be inclined to shield the culprits if the death penalty is to be awarded. As Neeraj Pandhari Pandey says in his Firstpost article, "In as many as 50 percent of the child abuse cases, the abusers were known to the child or were in a position of trust and responsibility. More worryingly, under the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSOA) dealing with penetrative sexual assault, the offenders were known to the victims in a staggering 94 percent of cases." Hence,this could lead to an increase in under-reporting of rapes, thus defeating the very purpose of the law.
Last, but not the least, is the case with perpetrators themselves. If they know they would be facing the gallows, rapists would be more determined to wipe off all evidence of their crimes- they would be more determined to kill the victim than getting caught. So, there would be a spurt in instances of rape and murder, causing a more grievous harm to society.
The chilling possibility of an irrevocable punishment- an execution- is seen as a panacea by many. But unless the proponents of this mode of punishment give matters a deeper thought, the results might just turn out to be more pernicious than the malaise itself.
The third day of April marks the 104th birth anniversary of our all-time military hero, Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw. It is hoped that a nation eternally grateful to him for having led us to the historic and decisive victory over Pakistan in 1971 and for giving birth to Bangladesh, will remember him today.
A pattern is emerging over the past few years wherein the nation is recalling our freedom fighters and politicians with a deep sense of gratitude, but sadly military heroes are not remembered with the same gusto and fondness. Their roles in history appear to be acknowledged more in passing than with any genuine recognition of their sacrifices and contributions. Manekshaw remains etched in our memory not only for securing victory for us, but also for his boldness and courage in standing up to politicians and for providing first class military leadership to an Indian Army that stood crestfallen after the 1962 Chinese debacle. Stirring and energising the forces, and motivating them to fight and triumph over an arch-rival was possible only under the sound professional leadership of Sam.
Coming back to his courage in standing up to the polity, who can forget his 'audacity' in looking straight into the eyes of an all-powerful prime minister (Indira Gandhi) and disagreeing with her orders of going to war against Pakistan that Sam thought was premature and inopportune? He also told her in no uncertain terms that if she did not agree, she could appoint a different general. Such a forthright response is perhaps unthinkable today.
Widely known for his sense of humour and popularity among the forces, Sam was always cracking jokes spiked with a high sense of wit. At a gather, his wife Siloo was said to have jokingly remarked that Sam snored aloud disturbing her tranquility and sleep. Sam quickly retorted "No woman has ever complained; you are the first one!"
Another joke, still popular when discussing Sam, is when he was grievously wounded while in action on the Burma front during the Second World War. When taken to the makeshift army hospital, precariously holding on to his hanging intestines, the British surgeon asked, "What happened?" Sam lost no time in saying, "Nothing happened, I was kicked in the stomach by a donkey!" Such was his presence of mind even when hit by a burst of fire and engaged in a battle for his life. There are numerous anecdotes like this one.
The legend lives on.
In London's busy thoroughfare starting from Trafalgar Square to Westminster, we notice several life-size statues of British war heroes lined up reminding the present generation about its military heroes, giving immense inspiration and a sense of pride. In India, streets named after Manekshaw are sadly confined to cantonments. Why can't his name (as also those of other war heroes) find place in civilian-inhabited areas? Why don't we see his bust and statue beyond the precincts of military areas? After all, he belonged to the entire nation. He deserves to be remembered on his birth anniversary with reverence and gratitude by all, especially by the politicians across the country both within and outside the Parliament.
There are so many changes constantly being effected in our educational curriculum. One wonders if a chapter is devoted to Sam in our history books to ensure that the present generation knows who this great man was and how priceless was his contribution. How can we remain a proud and great nation unless we remember a hero like Sam, at least on his birthday?
The author is a retired IPS officer and a freelancer. Views expressed are personal
Senior Congress leader and former Delhi minister AK Walia has threatened to quit the party, alleging irregularities in ticket distribution for the MCD polls.
"I have written a letter to Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken, complaining against irregularities and violation of party rules in ticket distribution and if things do not
change, I will quit the party," Walia told PTI.
According to sources, Walia, who served as a state minister in the Sheila Dikshit government, was unhappy over party cancelling the ticket given to a woman candidate for the 23 April MCD elections.
According to The Hindu, Walia added that the person who was eventually given the ticket fought as an independent candidate in 2012, leading to the defeat of the Congress candidate.
According to The Hindu, Walia has not sent an official resignation letter to the party, but issued an ultimatum. Senior leader and vice-president of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee Chattar Singh said the party had not received any communication from Walia. He is a senior leader of the party. If he has any grievances, we will discuss it. We are already in the process of sorting it out, Singh told The Hindu. Walia was the MLA from Laxmi Nagar constituency for four consecutive terms. He has held health, urban development, land and building portfolios. He was also the chairman of Trans-Yamuna Area Development Board.
Several other Congress leaders have alleged irregularities in ticket distribution with former deputy speaker and three-time MLA Amrish Singh Gautam on Monday quitting the party and joining the BJP.
There are 272 wards in three municipal corporations in the city, with 104 each in the South and North Delhi Municipal Corporation and 64 in the East Delhi Municipal Corporation, which are going to polls on 23 April.
With inputs from agencies
We have crossed the Rubicon in Kashmir. But cynical as it may sound we must face the truth: only "development" won't win over the hearts and minds of the Kashmir Valley. Successive governments have tried that formula for the last 40 years hoping that money will quell the discontent but the disgruntlement and alienation have grown.
It will be entirely wrong to lay the unrest increasingly localised, violent and brutal on India's door. There have been policy blunders and self-serving of interest from parties but by and large, India has been the victim of a set of toxic circumstances begot by geography, history and cross-border terror as Kashmir drifts away.
One of the prime factors behind this drift has been the steady erosion of Sufism and rapid Arabisation of Muslims in the Valley. In this, Kashmir is merely a part of the recent, larger south Asian trend. Muslims in Bangladesh are dropping Bengali for Arabic names, atheists are coming under murderous attacks, men are growing longer beards and women are slipping into hijabs. In Pakistan, Sufi mosques and shrines are coming increasingly under violent terrorist attacks. The effect in Kashmir, though, has been exaggerated due to unrest and a lack of political stability.
Christine Fair, Associate Professor at Georgetown Universitys Security Studies Programme and an expert on South Asia's political and military strategy, notes this change in a recent column for Times of India.
She writes, "When I first visited the Valley in 1991, I never saw a woman in a black burqa with niqab. Instead women wore a scarf tied behind their necks. Now the black burqa, niqab and even socks and gloves are ubiquitous even beyond the cities and towns."
This shift from the syncretism of Sufi Islam to a hardline Wahhabi fundamentalism has been accompanied by a simultaneous transformation from the demand for Kashmir's nationalism to fighting for Islam. The struggle for azaadi from India and setting up of an independent, sovereign state has now been usurped by the battle for the establishment of a Caliphate. We see the manifestation of this shift in black Islamic State flags or the proliferation of Wahhabi preachers in the Valley who are nudging the youth towards Shariah laws.
Burhan Wani's successor Zakir Rashid Bhat alias Zakir Musa, now the chief of Hizbul Mujahideen, is calling for terrorists to become soldiers of Islam, not for the creation of a separate nation-state. The language of unrest has changed.
"I want to tell my stone-pelting brothers that they should check their motives as to why they are fighting when they pick up stones (against Indian forces). I want to tell these brothers that they should not fall for nationalism... Nationalism and democracy are not permissible in Islam," a report in Hindustan Times quoted Musa as saying.
This shifting of goalpost gives Kashmir's youth many of whom were born into violence and are the children of unrest a common cause against a "Hindu" India. It also hitches a local struggle to the larger clash between political Islam and modernism giving it direction, purpose and resilience.
Any politician in India even remotely willing to tackle the Kashmir muddle must acknowledge this ground reality.
Narendra Modi's speech in Udhampur on Sunday, in this context, struck an interesting note. At Battal Ballian town during the inauguration of a 9.2km tunnel connecting Chenani to Nashri, the Prime Minister was quoted by PTI as saying: "Sufi culture is priceless and if we forget this culture, we will forget our future too. We will push our future into darkness... I got the opportunity to live in the Valley during my work for our organisation. I know the people of the state. I know the Sufi culture of Jammu and Kashmir well."
Exhorting the youth to stay true to the "invaluable tradition of Sufi culture", Modi, as reported in DNA, repeated the Atal Bihari Vajpayee motto of Kashmiriyat, Jamhooriyat, Insaniyat (Kashmirism, democracy and humanity) to reiterate that his administration won't deter from the path of bright future through harmony, brotherhood and strong will.
In the timeline of history where Kashmir is at present, Modi's exhortation of Kashmiriyat, Jamhooriyat, Insaniyat is destined to fail. A few hours after his speech, terrorists in Nowhatta area of old Srinagar lobbed a grenade at policemen retiring for the day after their daily schedule. One cop was killed and 11 others were injured.
There is no reason to assume that his speech will inspire even one "misguided Kashmiri youth" to drop his stone and become a soldier of tourism from terrorism. Modi's speech is important for an entirely different reason. By asking the youth to return to the path of Sufi syncretism, the prime minister showed that he is apprised of the depth of the problem in Kashmir which must be fought on three fronts.
One, there should be an all-around focus on infrastructural development. The state must show resilience in its plan of action because infrastructural development will inevitably attract subversive terrorist strikes. There could be large-scale damage to property and unprecedented assault on lives to discourage every arm of the administration bureaucracy, police and ground-level workers from carrying out their duties. We must hold firm and rebuild if need be. The message must be one of relentless bloody-mindedness. Shortly after the prime minister's speech on Sunday, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said the government is building 13 new projects worth Rs 7,000 crore in the next two years. This is a step in the right direction.
Two, the focus on "development" must be complemented by an all-out effort to highlight the syncretism of Sufism and Kashmiriyat and the transformative benefits it may bring for Kashmir's millennial youths. This will be tough. Wahhabism is growing roots. The future of Kashmir's relationship with India, though, will depend on the way this battle shapes up. If Islam in Kashmir returns to its Sufi roots, the cycle of violence may wane.
Three, terrorism must be curbed with an iron hand. Soft-pedalling on it will result in a heavy price and the effect of this erratic policy may not remain restricted to the Valley alone. The youth who try to aid terrorists by interfering with counter-insurgency operations must be treated as "overground workers of terrorists" and dealt accordingly. There could be blood but the youth are aware of the consequences of their actions. Recent media reports have indicated that some of these are paid mercenaries employed to keep the Valley burning.
The three-pronged approach may work where decades of addressing the grievance narrative has failed. It seems Modi understands this.
Amidst all the controversies revolving around the Bharatiya Janata Party's efforts to ban beef consumption and illegal slaughterhouses in different parts of the country, Monday dealt a fresh blow to the seculars when the head of Ajmer Sharif Dargah in Rajasthan said that he and his family would be giving up beef consumption and support the ban. He also appealed to everyone including Muslims to give up beef consumption in order to maintain peace and harmony in the country. The hereditary sajjadanashin (spiritual head) of the dargah, dewan Syed Zainul Abedin the 22nd descendant of Sufi mystic Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti said so while addressing a congregation of different spiritual heads, Sufi saints and religious heads to mark the 805th annual Urs of the saint.
"Any act of killing bovine species for its flesh should attract life imprisonment. In fact, the cow should be declared Indias national animal. It is a matter of respecting the feeling of our Hindu brethren and that cannot be compromised. To safeguard the teachings of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, I declare that from today, my family members and I will not consume beef, said Abedin on Monday.
But this isn't the first from Abedin. In 2016, the spiritual head had issued a statement where he had supported a national ban on beef consumption.
According to a report by The Times of India, the joint declaration read out by Abedin on Monday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should relieve Muslims by solving this burning issue once for all and the only solution to this was by passing a bill for banning beef. The members of the Sufi committee agreed that this move would render many Muslims and Hindus involved in the beef trade jobless but felt the ban would resolve the issue once and for all.
In an interview with the Firstpost, the much revered spiritual head of the Chishti order of Sufism talks of why he thinks it is important to support the beef ban and make cow the national animal.
What do you think is the beef ban all about?
I made my views on the beef ban quite clear in my statement and I refuse to make any political comments on it.
How did you come up with such a big decision considering a number of Muslims might have issues with you supporting the beef ban? Dont you think this could create a rift within the community? What took you all so much time to issue a collective statement?
I have always believed that the cause of an issue that is creating a conflict among communities should be dealt with at the roots. Today (April 3) was the 805th annual Urs ceremony of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti and it is a very big occasion for us. In India, Sufi dargahs are the place where there is no difference between Hindus and Muslims and the rich and the poor. And, I think this is one place where important messages that could solve bigger issues can be conveyed. Hence we used this platform on such an occasion to convey the message.
You believe that harassments will stop once the beef ban is in place but incidents like the Dadri lynching were based on suspicions. So, it could take a long time for such suspicions to end even if harsh penalties are in place for the ban. No one can ignore the communal angle to the ban so how are you overlooking it?
When there is a burning issue, it is not just the ones who are at fault who suffer. The issue of cow slaughter has seen innocent people and miscreants suffer equally, so, I think such issues should be resolved right at the beginning. If an ordinance is passed and there is a law, then there will be a legal approach to all such incidents. There will be police enquiry, formal investigations will take place and it will not be a communal issue anymore, and stray incidents will not create any communal conflicts. It will be a crime that has to be solved.
Some BJP leaders (in the Northeast and Kerala) have said that the ban will not be implemented in their states because of the dominance of Muslim population. Don't you think in such a situation, the beef ban is being used as a political tool?
I am a religious head and it is not right for me to make political comments that would create discord and disrupt the peace in society. So, I refuse to comment on any politic leaders and their respective statements.
It is not just the Muslims who consume beef. People from different communities and religions who consume beef might not agree with you either...
I have made an appeal to society and the people of different communities at large. I have initiated a change in my family and I have requested everyone else that if there is any habit (in you) that affects the people of other communities, then you must stop it. The Hindus are like our brothers and we would not want to hurt their sentiments in any way. I am not forcing anyone, I am only making a commitment from my end.
Don't you think that taking decisions on food habits is infringing on people's personal freedom? It could be a matter of choice and personal freedom.
I said it is an appeal and I am not expecting everyone to give up their choices because of me. There is a system by which a bill is passed and it goes on to become a law. If this becomes an issue in the Parliament and any particular state or its representative have an objection to it, they will prevent the bill from being passed. You and I are no ones to decide which state has a particular community consuming it and cannot have the ban. It is for the government to decide and take a stand on it.
You are saying that you are not political but the statement you have issued supports the agenda of a certain political party?
If a decision is taken by the central government for national welfare, it cannot be called political. As a religious head, I am only concerned about the national welfare and the welfare of the ordinary people who get affected by certain issues.
There are poor Muslim families for whom beef is an inexpensive source of protein, for them and those running the meat industry, it will be a big blow to such people of your community...
The government is there to see that the people do not suffer if a law is passed on these lines. That is where their capability comes in to ensure minimum damage whenever a big decision is taken. I am a religious head and I am not particularly concerned about one community. My job is to ensure unity among all fellow beings and different communities. I am here to spread the message of peace, love, and brotherhood at a national level to ensure that there is harmony in the country. That is the only way human beings can grow and flourish.
Before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, you had said: a communal person cannot become the prime minister. A person who sets caste against caste and a community against another is not a good leader. Why are you supporting the agenda on beef ban today? Don't you think you are following a political party's stand?
You are taking it the wrong way. I was asked to compare and I drew a comparison between Modi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. As of today, I refuse to make any political comments on communal issues.
The demand for the televising or audio-visual recording of court proceedings has picked up momentum of late. Notwithstanding ill-conceived attempts by certain lawyers and litigants to surreptitiously record proceedings in court, theres a genuine demand that in order to truly giving meaning to the principle of "open justice", court proceedings should be televised or at least recorded through audio-visual means. This is a practice that is followed in many courts in the world, including the United Kingdom Supreme Court, although the United States Supreme Court has firmly avoided video recording (even though it allows audio recording of hearings).
In the Indian context, the Supreme Court of India has just taken the first step towards making audio-visual recording of court proceedings the norm. In a public interest litigation filed by Pradyuman Bisht, the apex court has directed high courts across the country to ensure that at least two districts in each state have CCTVs installed in the courts. This has been ordered on an "experimental basis" and a report to be submitted by the registrar-generals of the high courts to the Supreme Court a month after they have been installed.
This could not have come any quicker. Audio-visual recordings are necessary not only to ensure transparency in the functioning of the courts (giving citizens a ringside view of the goings on), but also essential for the conduct of a fair trial. Two recent instances show why:
A recent judgment of the Allahabad High Court concerned a shocking incident the prosecution colluded with the accused to impersonate the complainant and his family as "witnesses" during the trial. When the fake "witnesses" contradicted earlier statements, the trial court had to acquit the accused until the real complainants came to court and pointed out the fraud committed by the prosecution and the accused. This resulted in a retrial of the accused (upheld by the high court), but also shows the brazenness with which the justice system can be subverted. It is unclear if any consequences have followed for either the prosecution officers or the fake "witnesses", but the presence of CCTV cameras with footage might be a deterrent for future such abuses.
The other area where CCTVs in courts might help is in identifying and penalising lawyers who cause a disruption or disturbance in the proceedings, usually in high-profile cases. As we have seen in the Kanhaiya Kumar case and the recent Arun Jaitley defamation case, it is not unknown for lawyers to try and disrupt proceedings for collateral purposes. There are also instances when judges have been intimidated and threatened by lawyers, forcing the former to approach the high court to take contempt action against such lawyers. With CCTV footage available, it might be an easier task for the high court and the police to identify and take action against the lawyers.
Finally, the most important reason to have CCTVs is to be able to cross-check the record prepared in court during evidence or arguments. Appeals are filed on the basis that the judge did not record the testimony correctly or that an important argument made by the lawyers had not been addressed. This ensures that the fact finding work of a trial court is carried out properly and any errors, by way of inconsistencies or discrepancies can be checked in appeal.
That said, and while the Supreme Courts order is a welcome first step, it does however leave much to be desired by way of implementation. While it is good that the Supreme Court has sought to try out CCTVs on an experimental basis, allowing for corrections and improvements later, there are a couple of concerns (as articulated in this statement from the Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Judicial Reforms) in the manner in which it has sought to undertake this exercise, which might limit its utility.
First, it has directed only visual recordings without audio. This defeats half the purpose of the exercise as anyone viewing the tape will not be able to discern what was said in court.
Second, and more worryingly, it has limited who will have access to these tapes and also excluded the entire Right to Information Act, 2005 from application to the recordings. The purpose of ensuring greater transparency is utterly defeated if these tapes are only going to be accessible to judges alone and not the ordinary litigant or member of the public. While theres a small window for citizens who wish to seek a copy to approach the concerned high court, this still falls far short of the transparency a move like this was supposed to usher in.
Most worrying though is the almost casual way in which the Court has exempted the CCTV recordings from the RTI Act. Theres no reference to the provisions of the act or any law which allows the Supreme Court to declare, in an interim order, that a certain law which would otherwise be applicable will be "excluded" in such a manner. This may only be an interim order, but it could set a dangerous precedent for the RTI Act. Furthermore, given the judiciarys reluctance to itself fully comply with the RTI Act, this does not bode well for transparency efforts in the judiciary.
Theres still time for the CCTV experiment to be put in place and one hopes that going ahead, the Supreme Court will address these concerns to ensure a transparent judiciary that delivers on its promises of a free and fair trial.
The author is an advocate based in Bengaluru and a member of the Executive Committee of the Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Judicial Reform. Views expressed here are personal.
Dismayed at finding your friendly neighbourhood bar has gone dry following the Supreme Court's ban on liquor establishments along highways? Spare a thought for Harman Sidhu, the man who filed the original petition which made its way to the apex court. For, having ensured the country's highways become dry, he now feels your pain. And is filled with remorse over the consequences of his own action.
According to a report in The Times of India, Sidhu himself is suffering as much as anybody else who enjoys a drink or two. You see, most of the bars and restaurants in Sidhu's hometown of Chandigarh have gone dry.
"I, too, am feeling the pinch," he says. "I love to drink and I have to go that extra mile to fetch my stock. I can't accept that a large part of Chandigarh is going dry," he said, according to the report.
The Supreme Court had said that liquor vendors within 500 metres of national and state highways will have to shut down from 1 April.
The court has given some exemptions to Sikkim, Meghalaya and Himachal Pradesh. It also held that areas with a population up to 20,000 may have liquor vends at a distance of 220 metres from the highways.
But why is Sidhu so dismayed? After all, it was him who demanded the ban. Surely, he must have known what he was getting into? Sidhu says this was collateral damage he never wanted to see establishments being shut, and he does not support prohibition either. All he wanted was to stop people from drinking and driving.
Huffington Post India reported that Sidhu places the blame squarely upon the authorities, explaining that there are many highways within Chandigarh because of a "goof-up" by the powers-that-be.
"Highways are supposed to be outside cities and to be used only for long drives," he said. "Now, everybody, including me, will have to suffer," he said.
Well, perhaps he can wash down the bad taste in his mouth with some fresh nimbu pani by the highway.
With inputs from PTI
"Congress, peddling 'BJP lite' is like Coke Zero, it will get us zero, said Shashi Tharoor in an interview with The Times of India.
Tharoor cautioned against the growing temptation among political parties to pursue the soft Hindutva line to counter the BJP and urged the Congress to adopt an uncompromising position on secularism.
Fine. Opposition parties taking to the saffron line would mean the defeat of secularism. It would also mean closing the doors on the pluralistic ethos of the country. It would perhaps be the beginning of the greatest genetic mutation of a country known for its adaptive, assimilative and tolerant traits. The mutation would make India resemble any Islamic country; the example closest to home would be Pakistan.
It is understood that a Hinduised India would be disastrous, trapped perennially in conflict with a modernising society and a past that has been liberal and largely syncretic in character.
But why did secularism land in such a desperate state in the first place? Unfortunately, secularists, who have been quick to raise the din over the BJP pandering to the religious sentiment of the majority, are yet to put the question to themselves.
Minority-appeasing, majority-othering, diabolical and malicious: Thats how the BJP has successfully managed to paint secularists. While the party has been at it for a long time, there has been no effective counter to it from the latter.
The others, including the Congress, have been largely defensive in their response, as if a covering up guilt. How come? Intelligent people like Tharoor should be able to find an answer to that.
The Congresss revival depends largely on how well it articulates the concept of secularism in a country that is temperamentally secular. Indeed, it is ironic, given the party's history and the towering stature of its leaders.
But now, something seriously wrong. It can no more go to the people and ask for votes simply by claiming it is secular. It has to find a new approach and break the big concept down in order to allow the masses to consume it easily. Since it has assumed a sentimental overtone, it has to go in for nuanced treatment.
The BJP has, rather smartly, pegged its attack on secularism to nationalism, national security and thus captured the public imagination. The former, after all, is a lesser concern when the larger issue of the nation is involved. Even when it talks of Hindutva, it comes with that nationalist overtone. The Congress has to reformulate its approach to secularism keeping this framework in mind. Is it easy? Certainly not.
Tharoor advocates aggressive secularism. It is good to the ears but how does one go about it? If the party persists with the present approach, it would mean fiercely defending the minorities, particularly Muslims. The Congresss approach to the Muslims so far has been full of ambiguity and hypocrisy.
Electoral politics is now past the phase where it can find a vote bank in stoking the sense of insecurity in the community. The more leaders like Digvijaya Singh defend even those involved in crimes against the nation the more they are likely to alienate the majority and even a section of the Muslims.
There is another critical question. Take the minorities out of the whole equation; how do you explain your secularism to the Hindus? If theres an explanation we haven't heard it so far.
The Congresss secularism has too often been indifferent to or dismissive of the Hindus. The consequences are visible now. If the party is serious, it has to first explain secularism to itself and develop a sense of clarity on the subject. Only after that it can try to reach out to the masses.
It will need people like Tharoor to think harder on the subject. Of course, soft Hindutva will, as he says, will get the party zero. It will make Congress the BJPs ideological B team.
As the Yogi administration in Uttar Pradesh continues to clampdown on abattoirs, the Gujarat government has prescribed life imprisonment as punishment for the slaughter of cows. Not one to be left behind is Chattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, who is making headlines with his call for the death penalty instead. Cow slaughter (or a ban on it) has once again taken political centre stage in India.
From the time that the Constitution of India was drafted until today, several riots, numerous court cases and many elections later, the slaughter of cows continues to be a highly controversial, volatile and a critically sensitive issue. Every time it comes up, the debate around cow slaughter inevitably pits Hindu religious sentiments and practices attached to the cow against the interests of those who slaughter it as a matter of livelihood, religion or even otherwise.
However, oddly enough, the religious bases of the protection of cows have not been acknowledged by lawmakers, governments or even the courts, when faced with this subject. No wonder then, that the legal framework underpinning cow protection is ambiguous, unreasonable and detached from realities on the ground, and thus, even a leveller as great as the law has not been able to decisively settle the matter.
No One Wants To Talk Religion
When the issue of cow slaughter came before the Constituent Assembly, the arguments of the members in favour of banning it mainly centred around the economic usefulness of the cow rather than religious sentiments. It was asserted that the cow, which was also known as kamdhenu (one who fulfills desire) could never be useless. Statistics of deficient milk supply and requirement of manure were put forward to justify such a prohibition, but no one spoke of the cow's position in Hindu religion.
In this context, Syed Muhammad Saadulla made a very crucial observation. He made it clear that if religious sentiment was the actual reason behind prohibiting cow slaughter, then that should be clearly stated, rather than masking it with apparent economic motives. He also argued that in context of the usefulness of the cow, both Hindus and Muslims had similar ethical relationships and that there were Muslim farmers, to whom it was as much a capital asset as it was to the Hindus. Yet, political compulsions had the members bound, and Article 48A was inserted into the Constitution, based solely on economic considerations.
Even state laws at present tell a similar story. Except for five (Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland), all states have some law prohibiting and/or restricting the slaughter of the cow and its progeny. Not one of these legislations, nor their preparatory discussions or records, acknowledge religious sentiments as a basis for this protection.
Surprisingly, the Supreme Court, the great upholder of truth and justice, has also refused to record religious considerations in upholding various states' laws on cow slaughter. In the landmark case of Mohammad Hanif Quareshi versus State of Bihar in 1958, while agreeing that an absolute prohibition (on slaughter) devoid of any test for the usefulness or age of cattle was an excessive restriction on the right to carry on trade, the court still upheld a total ban on the slaughter of cows of all ages, and calves of cows, but not of other cattle. The distinction, obviously created on grounds of religion, was couched in some economic rationale that defied all logic.
This trend of vague judicial reasoning under societal influence, and which fails to acknowledge the true merits of a decision, is in blatant disregard of basic judicial values and ethics. Unfortunately, it continues even today.
It thus seems as if the entire legal context around cow slaughter is premised on deceit, which continues to give primacy to dominant Hindu beliefs through the backdoor, at the expense of the very idea of constitutional secularism. Consequently, it will not be wrong to criticise such slaughter prohibition laws insofar as, technically, they are based on irrelevant and incorrect assumptions.
It is high time our lawmakers and judges break free of their political compulsions, stand up and acknowledge the religious foundations of cow protection, so that an open, honest and transparent debate may make way for a comprehensive legal framework that will best balance the real concerns and considerations of all parties, once and for all.
The Finance Bill, 2017 introduced a variety of changes: One key amendment was how political parties were financed. This author discussed earlier how the changes to the Companies Act, 2013 would have devastating effects on shareholder transparency but there is something deeper hidden in the legislative framework:
The Finance Bill, 2017 brings about an amendment to Section 182 of the Companies Act, 2013 and lifts two earlier requirements:
a) The cap on donations to political parties and
b) The requirement to list the name of the political party on the company's books.
Basically, it allows companies to donate unlimited amounts of money to political parties and not tell anyone about it.
Section 182 also contains these two provisions:
1) No political donation can be made unless the board of directors passes a resolution authorise such a payment
2) Any body of individuals may form a registered political party under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 by making an application to the Election Commission for registration and the income of political parties is exempt form taxation via Section 13A of the Income Tax Act of 1961.
So, today, directors of a company could form a political party and siphon off company money without having to disclose the donation in the company books. Further, the money would be parked for them, tax-free, as long as the political party is registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
Neither the company nor the party will pay tax on those profits that are "donated" to the said party. The directors could then spend the money on themselves via the party and call it "party expenditure" or could pay themselves money out of the party funds as and when they need it.
In essence, this makes political parties a preferred vehicle for money laundering. This loophole in the Finance Bill, 2017 allows for rampant corruption, albeit of the cashless kind.
Ahead of parliamentary bypolls in the sensitive Srinagar and Anantnag constituencies of the Kashmir Valley, three militant attacks in the last three days have cast a gloomy shadow over election campaigning. One Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawan succumbed to his wounds, while one civilian and 20 security personnel from CRPF, Kashmir police and the army have been injured in attacks.
On Monday afternoon, suspected militants fired at a convoy carrying additional paramilitary troops for election duty in Kashmir. Five CRPF personnel and one civilian were injured in the attack.
The attack comes less than 24 hours after militants lobbed a grenade in Nowhatta area of Srinagar, at forces withdrawing after the day's duty. One policeman was killed in that attack, while six CRPF personnel were injured. Zainab, a 10-year-old girl studying at a local school, was also injured in Sunday's attack.
"A convoy was moving towards Srinagar when terrorists attacked it in Pantha Chowk. Five soldiers were critically injured, while one girl was hit in the leg by a bullet," said Zulfikar Hassan, inspector general of CRPF. "It was a civilian vehicle provided by the state, in which our troops were going for poll duty.
The injured are being treated at an army hospital in Badamibagh cantonment, which is a few hundred metres from the site of the attack.
Militant outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba has claimed responsibility for the attack, and its spokesperson, Abdullah Gaznavi, hailed the militant who carried out the attack in an email statement sent to local news gathering agencies.
The escalation in militant attacks are seen as an attempt to disrupt the electoral process, as the polling for the bypolls for the two parliamentary constituencies of Srinagar and Anantnag is to be held on 9 and 12 April respectively.
"We are on high alert. CRPF is doing its duty. Our companies were coming from Jammu to Srinagar. These are sensitive times ahead of elections in the Valley, and Hurriyat leaders have called for boycott of elections," said Bhavesh Choudhary, a Srinagar-based CRPF spokesperson.
Political parties have been expressing their concerns over deteriorating security situation in the Valley ahead of the polls and have appealed the Election Commission to take strict measures to assure voters. "How do you think people would come out to vote when so many attacks are taking place, and we are unable to even carry out a full-fledged campaign?" said Ghulam Ahmad Mir, Congress candidate for the Anantnag constituency, and the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh unit president.
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, who represented the Anantnag constituency in the Lok Sabha, resigned last year after her election to the Legislative Assembly. The Srinagar parliamentary seat also fell vacant in September, after PDP leader Tariq Hamid Karra resigned from the party as well as the Lok Sabha. The Congress is contesting the by-election together with the National Conference.
A total of 3,194 polling stations have been set up to enable nearly 27 lakh voters to cast their ballots in the two parliamentary constituencies of Srinagar and Anantnag. Of these, 1,559 are in Srinagar, while 1,635 are being set up in Anantnag. Counting of votes for both constituencies will be held on 15 April.
The constable who lost his life on Sunday evening has been identified as Shameem Ahmad, 27, a resident of Gurez. His weath laying ceremony was held in Srinagar on Monday.
Director general of police, SP Vaid, told reporters in Srinagar that the situation was "not alarming", and the police will devise a strategy to deal with attacks on its force. "Our jawans have been facing bullets from behind the pelting mob. Grenade lobbing is also part of the greater design. We will devise a strategy to deal with it, and I'm sure we will be able to handle it given our experience in these matters. The police and other security forces are trying to control the situation," Vaid added.
2 April in Nowhatta (Jammu & Kashmir): Militants attack with grenades, killing one policeman and leaving 14 injured, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Indias longest tunnel.
11 March in Sukma (Chhattisgarh): Maoists attacked CRPF troops, killing 12 jawans in an area where a highway was under construction.
The common thread that binds these two disparate sets of insurgents in two very different parts of the country is their desire to stall development and to destabilise government institutions and state security systems. The fight against the state is seemingly now being fought just for the sake of it, lest the development initiative weans away the civil war-weary population in the respective regions.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Indias longest tunnel 9.2-kilometre-long Chenani-Nashri tunnel on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway on Sunday. When he hailed the tunnel as the harbinger of renewed tourism activity in the state, little would he have known that the militants would protest with a grenade attack soon thereafter. "This is not merely a long tunnel. It is a giant leap in terms of development and progress for the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The tunnel will boost tourism in the state, which had come to a virtual standstill due to the recent increase of extremism in the Kashmir Valley," Modi had said at a public meeting in Udhampur, after the inauguration.
According to reports, on Sunday evening, the militants attacked a police party near Ganjbaksh Park in Nowhatta area in Kashmir at around 7 pm in which one policeman got killed and 14 others were injured, including four CRPF jawans. Banned militant organisation Tehreeq-ul-Mujahideen has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack.
Security and counter-terrorism experts view this attack as an attempt to oppose Centres development measures and, demoralise and erode security system in Jammu and Kashmir.
Objective 1: Anti-development
Separatists in Kashmir called for a shutdown on Sunday against Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to inaugurate the tunnel, with sporadic incidents of stone pelting. The prime objective was to oppose the governments development activities. "Whenever developmental activities are carried out in the Kashmir Valley, the separatists step up such destructive activities. Sunday's grenade attack was on expected lines, rather it was a smaller one. Its expected that the militants would do a lot in a bigger way, because the inauguration of the tunnel is a setback for them, as it opens up development opportunities," said defence and security affairs analyst, Colonel Jaibans Singh (retd).
"These militants have manpower, resources and operative procedures to mobilise the mob in order to retaliate against the government institutions. However, unlike in the past, now the security forces have given a clear message to terrorists that they will launch operations against such elements and eliminate them. Burhan Wanis encounter is an example," he added.
Experts feel that any economic development in the Valley is detrimental to the separatists objectives of keeping Kashmir in their control and alienating it from the rest of India.
As the prime minister said that the tunnel would help in encouraging tourism, it has also been estimated that with the tunnel going operational, the state will save fuel worth Rs 27 lakh per day. Tourism in Kashmir will witness a boost in footfalls and revenue.
"The separatists are anti-development because they feel that through economic development, India has been 'intruding' into Kashmir. Their sole aim is to keep people of the Valley away from the rest of India. Keeping the political aspect of the Assembly polls in the state aside, the 60,000 votes that the BJP got in the Valley indicates that a large number of families here dont support the separatists and want to get free and join the mainstream," remarked Ashutosh Bhatnagar, director, Jammu Kashmir Study Centre (JKSC), a New Delhi-based independent think-tank engaged in research and analysis on Jammu and Kashmir.
"Once the railway project between Katara and Kajigund is completed making connectivity easier to Baramullah, a major backlash from separatists can be anticipated," added Bhatnagar.
Going a step further, separatist leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik, in a joint statement, have apparently said "construction of tunnels and roads are futile and will not succeed in luring us".
Objective 2: Destabilise government by making institutions collapse
In the past three months, Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed an escalation in attacks on the police and CRPF. Sunday's attack is the second in two days. On 1 April, militants had attacked an army convoy in Srinagars Bemina area injuring three jawans. By launching a grenade attack, the militants wanted to establish that despite a high-security cordon across the Valley due to the prime ministers visit, they have succeeded in penetrating it.
As the bypolls for the Srinagar and Anantnag constituencies are getting closer, the Kashmiri separatists by using youths have escalated their anti-election campaigning in the four volatile districts of south Kashmir. Defence analyst Brigadier Narendar Kumar (retd) said, "In any hybrid threat, like the one occurred on Sunday evening, the endeavour is to create a situation in which a state collapses and institutions are unable to function. In the past three months, the state police has been the major target of the terrorists. They even threatened policemen, pelted stones and put up posters asking citizens not to join the police force."
"If militancy has to thrive in the Kashmir Valley, the police system needs to be eroded, because unlike in many other states, the Jammu and Kashmir Police is more efficient in terms of gathering intelligence, cultivating information networks, conducting covert operations and dealing with militancy. So, the main objective of separatists is to destroy the police system and that is precisely what they are trying to do demoralise police and erode them, so that the institution collapses. The role of the police needs to be acknowledged, as it hasn't received its due despite operating in such a volatile region, where the families of policemen receive death threats almost every day," he added.
A week before militant commander Burhan Wani was killed, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had visited Kashmir. Chairing a meeting of all those responsible for security, he gave orders that were interpreted as 'kill Burhan'. The minister's visit was prepared by the home secretary and other top officers. Nobody evidently briefed them on the likely consequences of killing Burhan.
When Burhan was killed, the Valley exploded in rage. A couple of weeks later, the same minister was back in Srinagar, repeatedly announcing this time that he had come with an open mind to hear anyone who wanted to talk to him. He did listen solicitously to the few who went to see him. But it was too little too late. The die was cast.
Prime minister Narendra Modi's speech when he inaugurated the Chenani-Nashri tunnel on the Jammu-Srinagar highway on Sunday showed that the government's mindset remains the same as it was when the home minister ordered Burhan's killing in the beginning of July.
This nationalist mindset insists on viewing unrest and anger in Kashmir as and only as 'Islamic terrorism' and 'paid stone-pelters'. Those in government have resolutely refused to ask why Burhan's killing provoked such a massive response, or tried to understand what Burhan represented to his age group and to current teenagers in south Kashmir.
In the same vein, the prime minister highlighted the tunnel as a symbol of progress and development, and said it would bring market access and tourists to the Valley. He called on Kashmiri youth to choose between terrorism and tourism, holding that tourism opportunities had been lost for four decades.
Form and perceptions
The fact is that most Kashmiris understand how much the government of India has spent on Kashmir over the decades, but tend to take it as a right. What matters to them far more than the substance of the Centre's gifts is the style in which these are presented.
The first time I met the late Kashmiri leader Abdul Ghani Lone almost three decades ago, he expressed this in a telling metaphor which I did not then entirely understand. The government had treated Kashmir like a bride, he said. When Kashmir asked for water, it was handed milk - 'par woh doodh chappal me daal ke diya' (but the milk was given in a slipper).
Of course, that is not how the giver meant it. But it is vital to understand how it was perceived. Familiarity with Kashmiri culture would teach one the importance of form, of culturally established etiquette, of style, of endless 'nos' that mean 'if you insist', and endless affirmations that mean 'no'. Culture, as the Right as well as the Left would affirm, are imperatives of the age. And who could understand the importance of symbolism and presentation better than the prime minister?
Protocol questions
By and large, Kashmiris did not focus much on the prime minister's speech at the tunnel inauguration, but were aghast at the image the lack of importance and ceremonial protocol accorded to their chief minister. Ironically, even some of those who scoff at 'mainstream' parties as 'collaborators' were upset.
On television and online videos of the tunnel inauguration, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti could barely be seen behind governor NN Vohra, who stood behind the prime minister. All three drove through the tunnel on an open ceremonial jeep. When the prime minister strode off the jeep to inspect a booth midway, the governor hurried to catch up with him. The chief minister was left behind, invisible on screen.
Technically, there was nothing wrong with the protocol hierarchy. However, in an age of selfies, the image is the message. However unintended it might have been, the perceived slight in the visual message grated in many Kashmiri minds the way the prime minister's remark during a public meeting in November 2015 had. After the then chief minister (and Modi's coalition partner), Mufti Sayeed, had given some suggestions in his speech, the prime minister said that he knew Kashmir well and did not need anyone's advice.
That has also played a role in shaping Kashmiris' responses since then. People by and large had been delighted when it was first announced that Modi would spend his first Diwali as prime minister in Kashmir. But that elation turned to bitterness when it turned out that he would not spend it with common people who were still struggling to recover from devastating floods - but with the army.
The country faces an extremely challenging situation in Kashmir. It is imperative that the government hones up on the sort of cultural symbolism that would give it better access to minds and hearts.
Prime Minister Narendra Modis suggestion to the Kashmiri youth on Sunday to swap terrorism for tourism is a continuation of his Kashmir policy. Inaugurating the countrys longest road tunnel of 9.28 km in Jammu, Modi said, Kashmiri youths have two options: Tourism and terrorism. For 40 years, terrorism gave you nothing but bloodshed, deaths and destruction. Had you chosen tourism, the world would have been at Kashmirs feet.
In fact, this policy of tourism to fight terrorism was enunciated by the Modi government two years ago.
Speaking at a tourism conclave at the famous ski-resort in north Kashmir's Baramulla district on 5 April, 2015 the union tourism minister Mahesh Sharma said, We will combat terrorism by means of tourism... Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed have the dream of taking this paradise on earth to newer heights of peace and development and we will work towards that.
The Prime Minister has now provided renewed emphasis to this policy.
However, it seems that the Modi government has not been able to impress this change of option upon Kashmiri youth inclined towards terrorism. The official figures of tourist-inflow to Kashmir speaks to this rather unfortunate reality.
In 2014, there were 94,38,544 domestic tourists and 86,477 foreign tourists visiting Jammu and Kashmir. However, in 2015, the corresponding figures fell down to 91,45,016 and 58,568 respectively.
In fact, if we take into account the fact that the state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) has three distinct tourist regions Jammu (mainly religious tourism centered on the famous Vaishnodevi temple), Kashmir and Ladakh in all probability, the Valley, which under normal circumstances, should attract maximum tourists, has drawn the least.
According to a report in the Economic Times, the violence in the valley last year, brought down the number of tourist arrivals in the valley down to around 200 to 250 per day from around 12,000 to 15,000 per day earlier. Hotel occupancy was at all-time low in the peak summer days last year (this figure should have been normally the highest during the year).
According to the Economic Survey 2016 report tabled by Minister for Finance Haseeb Drabu in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly in January, the number of tourist visiting the Valley in 2015 and 2016 was on the rise until July 2016, when the unrest started following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani in an encounter with security forces in south Kashmirs Anantnag district.
In 2016, the tourist season began in April and was in full swing up to 7 July. For the four remaining months, the situation was tense and resulted in almost zero tourists arriving in the Valley, the survey said. This resulted in loss of business to hoteliers, restaurants, houseboats, handicrafts, ponywallas, transporters, shikar wallahs, amounting to a revenue loss in the second quarter of 2016-17 to the tune of Rs 751.97 lakh, compared to revenue realisation of Rs 936.89 lakh in the second quarter of 2015-16.
It is obvious that that there is a co-relation between terrorism and tourist inflow.
Terrorism implies increased psychological fear, dislocation of routine, bottlenecks in transportation systems, erratic power & water supplies all the factors that restrict tourist inflow.
If the number of terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir increases, tourist arrivals will decrease. Studies show how during years terror incidents increased (1989 - 93) by 42.47 percent, tourist inflow in the Valley decreased by 76.81 percent; during transition phase(1994 - 98) when terrorism reduced by 17.52 percent, tourist inflow increased by 532 percent; during regeneration phase (1999 - 2003) when terrorism increased by 4.88 percent, tourist inflow reduced by 36.15 percent; during the descending phase (2004 - 08) when terror reduced by 27.2 percent, tourist inflow towards Valley increased by 5.34 percent.
There is a highly readable PhD thesis, entitled Impact of terrorism on Kashmir Valley Tourism by S Sundararaman (Pondicherry University), that argues that argues that tourism could be one of the non-military tools to eradicate terror from Jammu and Kashmir. This is the theory that the Modi government seems to believe in.
After all, tourism cannot be seen alone; it needs to be seen along with three related headings: Direct employment that sell goods and services directly, for example, hotels, restaurants, shops; indirect employment, which generally supplies goods and services to the tourism business; and investment-related employment in construction and other capital goods industries.
It is estimated that almost 50-60% of total population of J&K is directly or indirectly engaged in tourism-related activities. For instance, Kashmirs small and medium industries are sustained by tourists to a considerable extent: Kashmir carpets, Kashmir shawls, Kashmir embroidery(Kasida), Wood carving(jewellery and cigar boxes), to name a few.
Interestingly, Sundararamans thesis also reveals another aspect that is equally vital to the promotion of tourism in Kashmir. And that happens to the increased presence of the security forces in the state. Contrary to what our liberal politicians and analysts will say, public opinion surveys conducted by Sundararaman reveal that the presence of security forces has a positive effect on tourist inflow into Kashmir.
An overwhelming majority of the respondents disagreed with the views that security checks adversely affect free movement of tourists within and towards the Valley, that too many security posts create a feeling of insecurity, and that infrastructure constructed for security reasons creates visual pollution.
On the other hand, a majority respondents strongly agreed with the opinion that in the present scenario, presence of security forces in the Valley is a healthy measure and is essential to encourage tourist inflow, as it generates the necessary confidence to the tourists that they will remain safe when touring Kashmir.
As the author says, Analysis of both primary and secondary data with appropriate tools clearly exhibits the null hypothesis getting rejected. On understanding the opinion of the tourists and host community about tourism, terrorism, and presence of security forces and their effect on tourists inflow it becomes essential to rejuvenate tourism especially in Valley. Though both host community and tourists accept that presence of security forces is essential for more tourists arrival to Kashmir Valley, it is essential to give an in-depth look at options in designing tourism as Non-military tool in eradicating terrorism from Jammu and Kashmir.
Be that as it may, any discussion on tourism in Kashmir needs to be accompanied by a not-so-pleasing fact-check.
Although almost 50-60% of total population of J&K is estimated to be directly or indirectly engaged in tourism-related activities, the fact remains that tourism accounts for only 6.98 percent of the state's GDP. In other words, despite being a leading industry of J&K, concrete steps of tourisms economic impact on the state are still lacking.
Along with the factors of terrorism and relatively poor infrastructure, the reasons for this poor state of affairs should include, in my considered view, the lack of political will in the state. One often neglects the ever increasing phenomenon of Kashmirs inefficient and corrupt ruling elites (politicians and bureaucrats included) depending on and enjoying the easy money that the state gets from the Centre year after year.
Take, for instance, the latest budget proposals of the J&K government: The total revenue receipts for 2016-17 are estimated to be Rs 51,460 crore, an increase of 25.8% over the revised estimates of 2015-16. Of this, the Centre's contribution grants from the Centre are set to increase by 29.7%, from Rs 21,373 crore in 2015-16 to Rs 27,721 crore in 2016-17. The other component of transfers from the Centre is the states share in central taxes which is estimated to increase by 17.5%, to Rs 9,500 crore in 2016-17.
In other words, as much as Rs 37, 221 crore will be the contribution of Delhi towards the total revenue receipt of Rs 51,460 crore.
When as much as 70 percent of the money comes so easily, why will the people, least of all the derailed youth of the Valley, care about tourism? In fact, the answer to this will explain like nothing else the rags-to-riches stories of the separatists in the Valley in the last decade.
New Delhi: The EC on Sunday hit out at the AAP for levelling "unfair" allegations of EVM-tampering and asked it to introspect on the reasons for its defeat in the Punjab polls, a response described as "unfortunate" by the party.
In a strongly-worded letter, the Election Commission said it was for the Aam Aadmi Party "to introspect as to why your party could not perform as per your expectations and it is unfair on your part to attribute unsatisfactory poll performance to the alleged tamperability of EVMS".
It added that so far, a total of 1,111 allegations regarding the tamperability of "ECI-EVMs" have been considered and dismissed by the commission as various high courts have unequivocally reiterated that given the effective technical and administrative safeguards, the EVMs were not tamperable and the integrity of the poll process was "fully preserved".
The poll watchdog also said that as per laws related to elections, after the declaration of results, the only option available to verify the data of votes cast was filing an election petition before the high court concerned.
AAP claimed that the alleged EVM malfunctioning incident in Madhya Pradesh's Bhind district, where the VVPAT-enabled electronic voting machines printed the BJP's poll symbol irrespective of the button pressed during a mock trial, had made it clear that the EVMs were not tamper-proof.
"It is unfortunate that instead of taking due action, the Election Commission is issuing political statements on the issue of EVM tampering...The incident (of Bhind) shook the faith of millions of Indian voters in the impartiality of the EC and the entire process of elections using EVMs," it said in a statement.
"The incident of Bhind has shown that the EC has completely failed in its duty to protect the EVMs and the integrity of the election process and therefore, failed in fulfilling its constitutional obligation of conducting free and fair elections," the Arvind Kejriwal-led party said, urging the commission to take immediate action in this regard.
"Turning a blind eye to the shocking reports trickling in from Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and now Madhya Pradesh would serve no purpose and would only erode the credibility of the EC," it added.
The EC, however, maintained that "no credible material" had been brought to the knowledge of the authorities at the time of mock EVM drills in Punjab to show tampering.
It said the Supreme Court had never cast any aspersion or expressed any doubt that the election process was rigged by the use of EVMs.
"The commission strongly objects to this wrong and imaginary extrapolation of (the) Supreme Court's order. This may please be noted as a responsible political party," it told the AAP.
"Any surmise based on foreign studies or operating system-based EVMs used elsewhere would be completely erroneous. The ECI-EVMs cannot be compared with those EVMs and the ECI-EVMs are tamper-proof," it added.
The AAP had alleged that the poll authorities in Punjab had refused to accept its demand to tally the election results with paper trail audit data. The party had moved the EC over the reliability of EVMs and the results of the recently-concluded Punjab polls.
The AAP won 20 of the 117 seats in the Punjab polls. The Congress won 77 seats to wrest power from the SAD-BJP combine.
By Denis Pinchuk
| ST. PETERSBURG, Russia
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia At least nine people were killed and 20 were injured when an explosion tore through a train carriage in a St.Petersburg metro tunnel on Monday, and Interfax news agency said the blast may have been caused by an explosive device hidden in a briefcase.The agency, quoting unnamed sources, said surveillance cameras had captured images of what it called the organisers of the explosion, which hit St Petersburg as President Vladimir Putin was visiting the city. Russia's National Anti-Terrorist Committee said another explosive device had been found at a different metro station, but it had been made safe.Putin, in another part of the city for a meeting with Belarus's leader, was initially cautious. He said he was considering all possible causes, including terrorism.Ambulances and fire engines descended on the concrete-and-glass Sennaya Ploshchad metro station. A helicopter hovered overhead as crowds gathered to observe rescue operations."I appeal to you citizens of St. Petersburg and guests of our city to be alert, attentive and cautious and to behave in a responsible matter in light of events," St Petersburg Governor Georgy Poltavchenko said in an address.An attack on Russia's old imperial capital would have symbolic force for any militant group, notably Chechen secessionists and Islamic State, which is now fighting Russian forces in Syria. Chechen militant attacks in the past have largely focused on Moscow, including an attack on an airport, a theatre and in 2010 a metro train.
Video showed injured people lying bleeding on a platform, some being treated by emergency services and fellow passengers. Others ran away from the platform amid clouds of smoke, some screaming or holding their hands to their faces.A huge hole was blown open in the side of a carriage with metal wreckage strewn across the platform. Passengers were seen hammering at the windows of one closed carriage. Russian TV said many had suffered lacerations from glass shards and metal, the force of the explosion maximised by the confines of the carriage and the tunnel.
I saw a lot of smoke, a crowd making its way to the escalators, people with blood and other people's insides on their clothes, bloody faces. Many were crying, St Petersburg resident Leonid Chaika, who said he was at the station where the blast happened, told Reuters by phone.ALL STATIONS CLOSED
St. Petersburg emergency services at first said that there had been two explosions. But a source in the emergency services later said that there had been only one but that the explosion had occurred in a tunnel between stations.The blast occurred at 2.40 p.m., well shy of the evening rush hour.
Authorities closed all St. Petersburg metro stations. The Moscow metro said it was taking unspecified additional security measures in case of an attack there. Russia has been on particular alert against Chechen rebels returning from Syria, where they have fought alongside Islamic State, and wary of any attempts to resume attacks that dogged the country several years ago.At least 38 people were killed in 2010 when two female suicide bombers detonated bombs on packed Moscow metro trains.Over 330 people, half of them children, were killed in 2004 when police stormed a school in southern Russia after a hostage taking by Islamist militants. In 2002, 120 hostages were killed when police stormed a Moscow theatre to end another hostage-taking.Putin, as prime minister, launched a 1999 campaign to crush a separatist government in the Muslim southern region of Chechnya, and as president continued a hard line in suppressing rebellion. (Editing by Ralph Boulton)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Beijing: China moved to shore up ties with Afghanistan on Friday, signing a joint declaration pledging wide-ranging cooperation and laying the groundwork for enhanced influence with Kabul after the departure of most foreign troops at the end of 2014.
The declaration was issued following talks in Beijing between Chinese President Hu Jintao and his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai, at which Hu pledged to provide "sincere and selfless help to the Afghanistan side." It calls for closer cooperation in areas ranging from border security to disease control.
"At present, Afghanistan has entered into a critical transition period," Hu told Karzai at their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing. "China is a trustworthy neighbor and friend of Afghanistan."
The sides agreed to exchange intelligence and strengthen cooperation against terrorism, illegal immigration, illegal arms and drug trafficking, according to a text released by China's Foreign Ministry.
China firmly supports Afghanistan's efforts in combating terrorism and drug trafficking and safeguarding national stability, the declaration said. The sides also promised to cooperate in fighting infectious diseases, in disaster prevention and mitigation, and in other "nontraditional security areas," it said.
Afghanistan reiterated its support for China in combating terrorism, extremism and separatism Beijing's standard term for Muslim ethnic Uighurs (pronounced WEE'-gurs) seeking independence for the far western region of Xinjiang. The government also pledged to take "tangible measures" to protect Chinese citizens and institutions in Afghanistan.
Karzai had earlier attended the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a Russian- and Chinese-dominated regional security bloc. Afghanistan became an observer state of the group on Thursday.
Including Afghanistan in the group is one way in which China is positioning itself for a bigger role in the impoverished, war-torn country, with which it shares a narrow sliver of border high in the Karakoram mountain range.
In December, China's state-owned National Petroleum Corp. signed a deal allowing it to become the first foreign company to exploit Afghanistan's oil and natural gas reserves. Three years earlier, the China Metallurgical Construction Co. signed a contract to develop the Aynak copper mine in Logar province. Beijing's $3.5 billion stake in the mine is the largest foreign investment in Afghanistan.
Afghan officials hope vast untapped mineral deposits valued by the U.S. Defence Department at $1 trillion will help offset the loss of foreign aid once foreign troops withdraw.
In Friday's declaration, China also committed to a 150 million yuan ($23.8 million) grant to the Afghan government for 2012 and said the sides would explore new ways to boost trade and investment. Infrastructure development, engineering and agriculture were also mentioned as areas to focus on, alongside resource exploitation.
AP
The Dalai Lama is on a 12-day visit to Arunachal Pradesh amid objections from China, which doesn't officially recognise the northeast state as Indian territory and considers it a disputed region.
During his visit, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader recalled his 1959 flight to India from Tibet. He said he had no option but to escape Tibet in view of Chinese military action. He was speaking at a function organised by an Indian newspaper, The Assam Tribune, in Guwahati. State governor and top elected officials were among an audience of nearly 1,500 people at the function.
The Dalai Lama last visited Arunachal Pradesh in 2009. China protested that trip as well, but there was no major impact on relations with India.
On Tuesday, at the conclusion of his trip to Assam, he will leave for Arunachal Pradesh's Tawang district. He is scheduled to consecrate a temple and give blessings to his followers during his week-long stay in the state.
"Whenever I come to the northeast of India, it feels like a reunion with people here," the Dalai Lama said on Saturday. "When I revisit Tawang, 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," he said.
According to Hindustan Times, the Dalai Lama had an emotional reunion on Sunday with one of the five Assam Rifles guards who escorted him to India during his escape from Tibet in March 1959. The Dalai Lama embraced Naren Chandra Das, a retired jawan, at the Namami Brahmaputra River festival organised by the Assam government in Guwahati.
"On 10 March, 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 17 March, 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. To this, Dalai Lama told The Times of India that it's normal and there is no problem in China objecting to his visit. The Dalai Lama said it was not accurate to associate an act of terrorism with any particular religion. He went on to say that he is very uncomfortable when someone says a Muslim terrorist or a Buddhist terrorist. A genuine Muslim never follows the path of violence and there could be There may be exceptions among Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, Christians and Jews. These people cannot represent the entire community and he said he is against such generalisations, he said.
According to The Telegraph, the Dalai Lama also suggested the introduction of secular ethics in school curriculum in Assam. Among other things, he said that he considered himself a son of India. "A few years ago, some Chinese reporters asked me why I identified myself as India's son. I told them that my mind and each part of my brain is filled with the knowledge and thought of Nalanda. Besides, my body survived on Indian dal, chapati and rice. That is why both physically and spiritually, I am a son of India," he said.
He said wherever he went, he wanted to be a messenger of ancient Indian knowledge. He said the knowledge was relevant to "find a path when it (world) was in crisis or in violence".
The Nobel Laureate also sounded worried at the continuing increase in the gap between the poor and the rich. "Even today, there is a huge gap between the rich and poor in many countries, including India. We have to uplift the poorer section of society," he said.
According to the article, Indian officials have argued that the Dalai Lama is not doing anything that is different from his usual activities and his proposed visit to Arunachal Pradesh and the Tawang monastery is a consequence of his followers' long-standing demands. However, the officials have said that if this really agitates China, then it also reveals a pressure point that can come handy in interactions at the political and diplomatic level.
NDTV reported that the Dalai Lama also released an Assamese version of his first autobiography, My Land and My People, in Guwahati on Monday.
On Tuesday, he is expected to address the students and authorities of Dibrugarh University. According to NDTV, the banned ULFA(I) faction led by Paresh Barua, which maintains close connections with the Chinese intelligence, has "appealed" to the Dalai Lama to not say anything that could hurt the Chinese while he was visiting Assam.
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.
China on Sunday said the Dalai Lama fled to India from Tibet in 1959 after a "failed armed rebellion", rejecting his remarks that he had no other option but to escape due to increased Chinese military action. "As it is known to all, the 14th Dalai Lama is an anti-China separatist who have long lived in exile following a failed armed rebellion by the reactionary group of high-ranking feudal serf-owners in Tibet in March 1959," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.
"His remarks which serve his anti-China separatist purpose have no trace of facts at all," the ministry had said in a written response to a query about his comments. About his stay in India, the ministry said, "The Chinese government is resolutely opposed to any country's support and facilitation for the 14th Dalai group's anti-China separatist activities."
China claims the partly ethnically Tibetan Himalayan state of Arunachal Pradesh as its own territory, and the frontier between the two Asian giants remains tense, more than 50 years after they fought a brief but bloody border war.
China claims about 90,000 square kilometres (35,000 square miles) in Arunachal Pradesh, referred to informally by some Chinese as "Southern Tibet".
India says China is occupying 38,000 square kilometres (15,000 square miles) of its territory on the Aksai Chin plateau. According to a Hindustan Times report, relations between India and China seem to be going towards a diplomatic chill over the Arunachal Pradesh visit, Chinese experts have said, with some of them saying Beijing should use all means including military to show its displeasure.
While the incursion by the Peoples Liberation Army across the Line of Actual Control that marks the disputed China-India border cannot be ruled out, it is also quite possible that Beijing suspends bilateral mechanisms as a response at least temporarily.
There is also a possibility that China could try to stir India's strategic unease by enhancing cooperation with India's neighbours in South Asia especially Pakistan, sign new deals and pump in more financial aid, the report said.
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.
With inputs from agencies
Beijing: The first summit between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will be of "great significance" for global peace, the two countries' top diplomats agreed ahead of the meeting.
News of the telephone call between top US and Chinese envoys came soon after the publication of an interview with Trump, in which he warned that America was prepared to act unilaterally to deal with North Korea's nuclear programme if Beijing proved unwilling to help.
Surging regional tensions over Pyongyang's accelerating weapons programme are among a host of pressing issues that will be on the table when Xi visits Trump's Mar-a-Largo resort in Florida this Thursday and Friday, as the two global powers look to smooth sometimes spiky relations.
As the talks loom, China's chief diplomat Yang Jiechi and US secretary of state Rex Tillerson agreed that the meeting was "top priority", the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on its website.
Yang said the discussions would be of "great significance" for the development of bilateral relations and for global peace, stability and prosperity.
Tillerson echoed the sentiment, according to the statement, suggesting the summit was "extremely important" for the future of US-China ties.
The summit seemed a distant possibility just weeks ago after Trump infuriated Beijing with suggestions he might break from the US's long-standing 'One China' policy, which nominally acknowledges the country's claims over Taiwan without recognising them.
In a conciliatory phone call in mid-February, the US president walked back his controversial comments on Taiwan, creating an opening for Washington and Beijing to discuss a meeting.
But late last week, the billionaire politician tweeted that he anticipated a "very difficult" meeting with Jinping. "We can no longer have enormous trade deficits, and job losses," he wrote.
He also asked US officials to pinpoint "cheaters" responsible for America's nearly $50 billion a month trade deficit, stating that countries or firms who broke the rules would face "very severe consequences".
Though he named no specific country as a violator, Trump has repeatedly accused Beijing of "manipulating" its currency to favor exporters, a charge which the Asian giant has fiercely protested.
In an interview with the Financial Times published on Sunday, Trump said if China did not use its influence over the isolated Pyongyang regime to help the US "it wont be good for anyone".
North Korea has stepped up ballistic missile tests and has staged five nuclear tests so far, including two last year. Beijing, increasingly frustrated with Pyongyang's nuclear and missile activities, has announced a suspension of all coal imports from North Korea until the end of the year.
ANKARA President Tayyip Erdogan on Monday called on Turkish voters in Europe to defy the "grandchildren of Nazism" and back a referendum this month on changing the constitution, comments likely to cause further ire in Europe.Erdogan has repeatedly lashed out at European countries, including Germany and the Netherlands, in campaigning for the referendum, accusing them of "Nazi-like" tactics for banning his ministers from speaking to rallies of Turkish voters abroad.Both the Germans and Dutch have been incensed by the comparisons to Nazism and German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said the references must stop."With this determination, we will never allow three or four European fascists ... from harming this country's honour and pride," Erdogan told a packed crowd of flag-waving supporters in the Black Sea city of Rize, where his family comes from.
"I call on my brothers and sisters voting in Europe...give the appropriate answer to those imposing this fascist oppression and the grandchildren of Nazism."Erdogan is counting on the support of expatriates in Europe, including the 1.4 million Turks eligible to vote in Germany, to pass constitutional changes that would give him sweeping presidential powers.
But ties with Europe have deteriorated in the run-up to the campaign. Erdogan last month said Turkey would reevaluate its relationship with the bloc, and may even hold a second referendum on whether to continue accession talks.On Monday, he said he could take the issue of whether Turkey should restore the death penalty to referendum if necessary.
"The European Union will not like this. But I don't care what Hans, George or Helga say, I care what Hasan, Ahmet, Mehmet, Ayse and Fatma say. I care what God says... If necessary, we will take this issue to another referendum as well," he told the rally. Turkey abandoned capital punishment more than a decade ago as part of its bid to join the European Union, but Erdogan has repeatedly told crowds calling for it following the July 15 failed coup that he would approve its restoration if parliament passed it.Restoring capital punishment would all but end Turkey's bid to join the EU, officials from the bloc have said. (Reporting by Ece Toksabay and Tuvan Gumrukcu; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Humeyra Pamuk)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
South African president Jacob Zumas sacking of his well-respected Indian-origin finance minister Pravin Gordhan and other Cabinet ministers sets the stage for party elections later this year when Zuma will hope to pass the torch to a chosen successor. But the sacking of Gordhan has once again drawn attention to the South African presidents links to the controversial business house of the Gupta brothers.
Around a third of the Cabinet was dropped or moved around in the dramatic reshuffle. The late night sacking that Gordhan learned of from the media has had immediate repercussions. The South African currency, the Rand, fell by five percent, the ruling African National Congress was riven with dissension with public protests and it evoked sharp criticism from Opposition parties. Top leaders of the ANC including Vice-President Cyril Ramaphosa termed the sacking as unacceptable. It was the first time top ANC leaders had publicly criticised the president.
Gordhan was replaced by Interior Minister Malusi Gigaba, a Zuma loyalist with little financial experience. Zuma has spoken of a "radical economic transformation" to revive the South African economy, but South African analysts see Zumas reshuffle as an attempt to bring in a minister who will allow the ANC government to undertake populist measures. Others claim that it will allow some controversial deals that Gordhan had blocked to be carried forward. Zuma is to step down as ANC president later this year and his replacement is likely to lead the party that fought the apartheid regime in the next elections that are due in 2019.
The presidential decision was made without consulting any ministry or party colleagues. Gordhan and his deputy minister, Mcebisi Jonas were recalled from a trade meeting in London that was to be followed by a roadshow to attract foreign investment to South Africa. They were said to be conspiring with UK banks against South African interests a charge that Gordhan angrily denied at his press conference.
Gordhan, who had been finance minister from 2009 to 2014, was internationally respected for his fiscal prudence in the steering of the South African economy. According to some accounts, the new finance minister Gigaba is not expected to be as opposed to the interests of the Guptas as his predecessor. The Guptas are three brothers who belonged to Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh before they set up business ventures in South Africa in the 1990s.
The three brothers, Ajay, Atul and Rajesh Gupta are among the richest businessmen in South Africa and run a business empire that is involved in mining, media and computer equipment. The Guptas, who are well known for their close ties to Zuma, have been accused of influence peddling and interfering in government appointments.
In 2013, a major controversy had erupted when a plane carrying high-profile wedding guests arriving for the wedding of Vega Gupta (the daughter of one of the Gupta brothers), landed at the South African Air Force airbase at Waterkloof. The flagrant disregard of norms led to questions being asked about who had given permission for the private charter to land at the air force base and provided it with customs and emigration facilities. The incident created a furore in South African political circles and severely embarrassed the ANC. Termed 'Guptagate' by the South African media, it had given a public display of the kind of clout the Gupta family exercised within the Zuma government.
Zuma has been under pressure over a number of corruption scandals; he has been accused of corruption and questionable connections with business groups like the Guptas. Early last year, the constitutional court had ruled against Zuma for not returning government funds that had been used for his personal residence in rural Nkandla. In late November 2016, he survived an attempt to remove him from the leadership of the ANC after he survived a no-confidence motion in Parliament. A resolution was moved at the ANCs National Executive Committee meeting to remove him as party president after a preliminary investigative report had said that there was evidence that the Gupta family had exerted influence on the president. However, the motion was defeated without taking a vote.
A couple of weeks earlier, Zuma had faced a no-confidence motion in Parliament (10 November), which was voted out with the entire ANC coming together to defeat the motion. With the reshuffling of his Cabinet, Zuma has consolidated his powers within the government by replacing senior leaders with political lightweights. But it has also lost him considerable support within the African National Conference, which could have an impact on his succession plan just eight months before the party holds its five-yearly national conference.
CAIRO A leader in Islamic State's Egyptian affiliate was killed in an air raid last month, the Egyptian military said on Sunday."Following the results of the air raid on March 18... and upon the security apparatus's investigation, it was revealed that Salem Salmy al-Hamadeen, Aka Abu Anas al-Ansari, was killed," the military spokesman said in a statement.
Hamadeen was one of the founders of the group which was formerly called Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, now called Egypt's Sinai Province, and was responsible for arming and training militants. He died after being wounded in the air raid, the statement said.
The group announced in their latest weekly newsletter that he was killed by shrapnel from a missile that fell beside him.
The militant group staging the insurgency pledged allegiance to Islamic State in 2014 and adopted the name Sinai Province. It is blamed for killing hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and police since then. (Reporting by Omar Fahmy; writing by Asma Alsharif; Editing by Dominic Evans)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday expressed deep sadness over the loss of lives in an explosion in a metro train in Saint Petersburg.
"Deeply saddened by the loss of lives in the blasts at Saint Petersburg metro. Heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims," he tweeted.
At least 10 people were killed and 50 were injured on Monday in an explosion in Saint Petersburg.
President Vladimir Putin, who was visiting the city on an unrelated trip, said investigators were looking into whether the explosion was a terror attack or if there might have been some other cause.
Russia's National Anti-Terrorist Committee said an unidentified explosive device went off on a train that was travelling between two stations. A second bomb was found at another station in Saint Petersburg, but it was diffused on time, reports said.
Click here to read our detailed report on the Saint Petersburg blast.
By Carlos Rawlins and Lesley Wroughton
| CARACAS/WASHINGTON
CARACAS/WASHINGTON Venezuela's opposition sought to keep pressure on President Nicolas Maduro with scattered protests on Monday, but there was relief for the socialist government when the Organisation of American States cancelled a crisis meeting.One group of protesters tried to block a major Caracas highway and another dropped a pile of straw in front of court offices to protest at the judiciary's controversial takeover last week of the opposition-led congress' responsibilities.Though the top tribunal rowed back on that decision, which was condemned globally and led to unrest, the opposition is pushing to remove the judges responsible.One opposition lawmaker, Juan Requessens of the Justice First party who is often at the forefront of protests, suffered a gash in the head after being hit by a stone during a fracas outside the public ombudsman's office, witnesses said.
Protesters had taken live chickens there to symbolize cowardice, but were confronted by government supporters.The OAS meeting was called at the weekend by a group of 20 countries concerned about democratic erosion in Venezuela under Maduro, who replaced socialist firebrand Hugo Chavez in 2013.
No reason was given for the suspension of the meeting.The cancellation, as Maduro's leftist ally Bolivia takes the bloc's presidency, was a "win for Venezuela," one Latin American diplomat told Reuters.
After a turbulent week, the 54-year-old Venezuelan president was also delighted on Monday to see a win for socialist Lenin Moreno in Ecuador's presidential election, bucking a regional shift to the right.Venezuela's opposition wants to bring forward the next presidential election, slated for the end of 2018, to try to end Maduro's rule which they say has become a dictatorship.He alleges a U.S.-led coup plot against his government. (Additional reporting by Girish Gupta and Andrew Cawthorne in Caracas and Alexandra Ulmer in Quito; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne and Girish Gupta; Editing by Alistair Bell and James Dalgleish)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Pirates have hijacked a small Indian commercial ship off the coast of Somalia and the vessel is currently headed towards the shore, a former government anti-piracy official told Reuters on Monday.
India Today reported that Somali pirates hijacked a cargo ship named Al Kaushar while on its way to Al Mukala port in Yemen from Dubai on 1 April. There are 11 crew members on board, all of whom are from Mandvi, Mumbai.
The attack on the small ship happened as the vessel passed through the narrow channel between Yemen's
Socotra island and the Somali coast, said Graeme Gibbon Brooks, the CEO of the maritime firm Dryad Maritime.
The small dhow, a traditional wooden ship common in regional waters, initially was heading from Dubai to Bosaso, Somalia, he said. The pirates are taking the vessel to the Eyl area of northern Somalia, he added.
According to a report in Financial Express, the ship captain informed the owner that a skiff had approached them seeking water. He also tipped off authorities in Dubai.
The owners of the ship want to get in touch with the hijackers to try and figure out how the ship can be repatriated, Financial Express reported.
"We understand Somali pirates hijacked a commercial Indian ship and (it is heading) towards Somalia shores," Abdirizak Mohamed Dirir, a former director of the anti-piracy agency in Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland region, said.
Lt Ian McConnaughey, a spokesman for the US Navy's 5th Fleet in Bahrain, said sailors there are "aware of the reports and we are monitoring the situation." The 5th Fleet oversees regional anti-piracy efforts.
Piracy off Somalia's coast was once a serious threat to the global shipping industry. It has lessened in recent years after an international effort to patrol near the country,
whose weak central government has been trying to assert itself after a quarter-century of conflict.
Since then, concerns about piracy off Africa's coast have largely shifted to the West Africa's Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean.
But frustrations have been rising among Somali fishermen, including former pirates, at what they say are foreign fishermen illegally fishing in local waters.
In March, Somali pirates hijacked the Comoros-flagged oil tanker Aris 13, marking the first such seizure of a large commercial vessel since 2012. They later released the vessel and its Sri Lankan crew without conditions, Somali officials said at the time.
Pirates in late March also seized a fishing trawler.
With inputs from agencies
By Ed Stoddard
| JOHANNESBURG
JOHANNESBURG The speaker of South Africa's parliament said on Sunday she would consider a request from opposition parties to hold a 'no confidence' vote on President Jacob Zuma.Previous no-confidence motions against Zuma have failed as the ANC has a commanding majority, but there is a growing backlash against him from within his own party and its allies after a string of missteps which have culminated with his firing of a respected finance minister that rocked markets.Speaker Baleka Mbete, who is also the national chairperson of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), said in a televised news conference after she cut short a trip abroad that she wanted to ensure the opposition requests were "given the appropriate consideration." "I must stress that I am alive to the extreme challenges and sense of anxiety our young democracy is going through at this moment," Mbete said. Analysts say the sacking of finance minister Pravin Gordhan last week may trigger damaging credit downgrades from ratings agencies, which would drive up the government's borrowing costs and restrict its ability to carry out the populist redistribution policies Zuma has indicated he wants to pursue.Zuma's authority has been steadily undermined as his administration has staggered through a series of blunders and scandals, including the use of state funds to make lavish improvements to his rural homestead and a debacle that threatened the payment of social grants to millions who depend on them.
ANC SPLITS
The ANC, which has governed since the end of apartheid in 1994, is now riven by splits.Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa said he disagreed with the decision to sack Gordhan and other top ANC officials have also expressed their dismay at the move.
The South African Communist Party, a key political ally of the ANC, called on Friday for Zuma to resign.Gordhan, an owlish technocrat who usually appears composed in public, on Saturday made an emotional call for "mass mobilisation" at a memorial gathering for anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada, where the crowd chanted for the removal of Zuma, who was pointedly asked by the family not to attend.Opposition parties and ANC sources allege that Gordhan was ousted because he was obstructing access to state funds that Zuma and his allies coveted.
Ramaphosa said Zuma removed Gordhan on the basis of a "spurious" intelligence report that accused him and his deputy Mcebisi Jonas, who was also dismissed, of plotting with banks in London to undermine the South African economy. Gordhan dismissed the report as "absolute nonsense.""We are fast running out of time to save our country from the clutches of the Zuma administration," Mmusi Maimane, leader of the biggest opposition party, the centrist Democratic Alliance (DA), said on Sunday.The DA and the ultra-left Economic Freedom Fighters Party (EFF) both wrote Mbete asking that she reconvene parliament and hold an urgent sitting for a no-confidence motion.The ANC has 249 seats in the 400-seat parliament. DA sources say they cannot rely on all opposition members to support the motion, so they probably need 60 MPs from the ruling party to side with them to get the majority needed to topple Zuma.Zuma, who turns 75 this month, is a traditional Zulu and ex-intelligence operative with an earthy demeanour who has proven himself a political survivor over the years in the face of numerous challenges, including hundreds of corruption charges that were dropped in 2009 but could still be reinstated. (Reporting by Ed Stoddard; Editing by Jeremy Gaunt, Greg Mahlich)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Steve Holland
| WASHINGTON
WASHINGTON U.S. President Donald Trump moved to reset U.S. relations with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday after the prior Obama administration's strained ties, giving him firm backing and vowing to work together to fight Islamic militants."I just want to let everybody know in case there was any doubt that we are very much behind President Sisi. Hes done a fantastic job in a very difficult situation. We are very much behind Egypt and the people of Egypt," Trump said in an Oval Office meeting with the Egyptian leader.The trip was Sisi's first official U.S. visit since being elected president in 2014. Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama, never extended an invitation.Obama froze aid to Egypt for two years after Sisi, then a general, overthrew President Mohamed Mursi in mid-2013 after mass protests against Mursi's rule. Mursi, a Muslim Brotherhood member, had been elected the previous year.The one-on-one meeting between Trump and Sisi, followed by a separate gathering with top aides, showed how intent the new U.S. president is on rebooting the bilateral relationship and building on the strong connection the two presidents established when they first met in New York last September.
"I just want to say to, Mr President, that you have a great friend and ally in the United States, and in me," Trump said.Sisi said he appreciated that Trump has been standing very strong ... to counter this evil ideology.While Trump noted the United States and Egypt "have a few things" they do not agree on, he made no public airing of U.S. concerns about human rights in Egypt.
Rights groups have called for the release of Aya Hijazi, an Egyptian-American who works with street children and was arrested in May 2014 on human trafficking charges.Hijazi has been held in custody for 33 months in violation of Egyptian law, which states that the maximum period for pretrial detention is 24 months.Human rights groups have estimated that Sisi's government has detained at least 40,000 political prisoners.
Egypt has long been one of Washington's closest allies in the Middle East, receiving $1.3 billion in U.S. military aid annually. It is fighting an Islamist insurgency in Sinai in which hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and police have been killed.A U.S. official said Sisi would find a White House ready to soften U.S. criticism of Egypt on human rights and to work on counter-terrorism but unwilling to provide additional aid to the most populous Arab nation."Hes going to get an end to finger-wagging. Were not giving him any more money," said the U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity before Sisi's meetings with Trump."He's going to be disappointed because he wants more assistance and hes not going to get it," the official added, saying it was not yet clear whether Egypt would escape a cut in its foreign aid as part of the Trump administration's plan to cut the overall State Department budget by 28.7 percent. (Additional reporting by Arshad Mohammed, Ayesha Rascoe, Roberta Rampton and Jeff Mason; Editing by James Dalgleish)
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BlackBerry has announced it is seeking to expand its licensing agreements into the Enterprise of Things market. The company is looking to foray into tablets, wearables, medical devices, appliances, point-of-sale terminals and other smartphones.
BlackBerry has entered into new agreements with new licensing partners to launch branded aforementioned devices. The Canadian smartphone maker is also looking forward to work with various device manufacturers to integrate BlackBerry Secure software into both BlackBerry-branded and co-branded devices.
John Chen, Executive Chairman and CEO, BlackBerry said,
There is an incredible opportunity for connected devices to improve lives, but to realize its full potential, privacy and security must be embedded in every end point from the start. For example, companies providing medical monitoring devices must protect health data on the device, guarantee it connects securely to the healthcare system, and most importantly ensure that it cannot be hacked, BlackBerry Secure helps solve this triple threat. We have taken a long-term and thoughtful approach to our licensing strategy, which includes an expansive view of the entire Enterprise of Things ecosystem. As part of this strategy, we will work with a wide range of manufacturers to integrate BlackBerry Secure software into both BlackBerry-branded and co-branded devices.
In 2016, BlackBerry signed licensing agreement with TCL Communication, PT BB Merah Putih and Optiemus Infracom.
Source: 1, 2
UIMI Technologies, a Delhi-based brand popular for its power bank launched solar power bank UIMI U3 under the Make in India initiative. Now it had launched the U3 Mini, a smaller version with a 4000mAh battery compared to the 6000mAh battery. Similar to the bigger version, this power bank can also be charged using power, is dust and waterproof and has rubber finish offering better durability.
It comes with a single input port and dual output USB ports for charging 2 devices simultaneously. It has a 2.4W LED panel light and has indicative lights to display charging and power consumption status.
Highlights of UIMI U3 Mini
4000mAh Lithium Polymer battery
Solar and Electricity Chargeable
Input (5V/1A), Dual output (5V/2A each)
Water Proof and Dust Proof
Rubber finish
2.4W LED Torch light
Indicative lights show remaining power in power bank and charging status.
The UIMI U3 Mini 4000mAh power bank comes in Deep Sky Blue color and is priced at Rs. 599. It is available from Flipkart, Amazon.in, and other e-commerce retailers.
Hey there, welcome to the forum!
What are we talking about when we say it's slow? That can mean a lot of different things and without anything to compare it to, we're really just grasping at straws trying to provide advice.
Also, it might be helpful to go ahead and fill us in on some of the details of the truck. What cab configuration, bed length, 4x4 or 4x2, and does it have oversized tires or a bunch of aftermarket stuff on it? Just kind of helps us know whether we're dealing with a standard cab, 2 wheel drive, F250 with an empty bed, or a loaded down F350 with a service body full of tools and a welding rig in the back!
Aside from that, how comfortable are you with electronics? There are several solutions out there that will allow you to read real-time engine data from the truck; some for as little as $25-30 if you're comfortable doing so.
And one more thing, where are you located? If you happen to be close to another member here, we're always willing to help and chew the fat a while if we're close by...
It's been a year since West Coast-focused airline Alaska Air (NYSE: ALK) announced that it would acquire its smaller rival Virgin America for $2.6 billion. After a series of delays, the landmark deal finally closed in December.
Alaska Air has now begun the integration process in earnest. That has included digging deeper into the numbers to refine its synergy targets. Last week, at the company's investor day, Alaska Air executives shared some of their new expectations for the merger. The big takeaway was that there will be more synergies from the merger than initially planned -- but they will take longer to arrive.
Alaska Air explains its revenue goals
As is the case for most airline mergers, revenue synergies account for the majority of the expected gains from the Alaska Air-Virgin America merger. Cost synergies are significant, too, but on a smaller scale.
Alaska Air recently updated its merger synergy targets. Image source: Alaska Air Group.
For the investor presentation, Alaska's management highlighted seven different types of expected revenue synergies. However, they can be grouped into a few broader categories.
The growth of Alaska Air's route network is by far the most important of these. Linking up the Alaska Airlines and Virgin America route networks gives travelers more potential itineraries to choose from. Additionally, Alaska is leveraging Virgin America's strong position in California to add a variety of new routes. By late 2017, the combined carrier will offer nonstop service in more than half of the top 60 markets for travel from San Francisco. Lastly, this increased presence in California will drive higher customer loyalty and more signups for the lucrative Alaska Airlines co-branded credit card.
Better utilization of the Virgin America fleet represents another major synergy driver. This entails adding more premium seats to its A319s and A320s and switching to Alaska's larger 737-900ERs for long-haul transcontinental flights, with the smaller A319s and A320s picking up the slack on shorter north-south routes.
Alaska Air also described two smaller revenue synergy sources. First, it will introduce cargo service on Virgin America's fleet. Second, the combined carrier will make better use of Alaska Airlines' partnerships with international airlines, because San Francisco is a bigger hub for international flights than Seattle.
New synergy targets
In total, Alaska Air's management now estimates the revenue synergies at $240 million, up from an initial target of $175 million. The company did not specify precisely how much comes from each individual revenue synergy category, though.
The Virgin America acquisition opens up huge earnings growth opportunities for Alaska Air. Image source: Alaska Air Group.
The company has also increased its cost synergy target from $50 million to $60 million, despite identifying some "dis-synergies" -- areas where it needs to spend more to bring Virgin America up to Alaska Air's corporate standards. (For example, Virgin America still uses a Gmail-based system for its corporate email.) Cost synergies will come from lower overhead, higher asset utilization, and increased purchasing power.
Thus, Alaska Air now expects total merger synergies of $300 million, up from its initial estimate of $225 million. However, management has realized that most of the synergies will flow through after the two airlines merge onto a single FAA operating certificate and begin using a single reservation system. The latter milestone won't be reached until late 2018.
As a result, Alaska Air now projects that it will get just 15% of the total synergy benefits by 2018. The vast majority of the synergies are now expected to show up in 2019 and 2020. By contrast, Alaska originally expected to realize 65% of the total synergies by 2018.
Investors should be patient
Alaska Air shares have steadily fallen since the company's investor day last week. This may indicate that investors are disappointed by the slow pace of projected merger synergy gains.
This could be a good buying opening for patient investors. Alaska Air has plenty of organic growth opportunities ahead, which should drive steady revenue and earnings growth in the coming years. Merger synergies represent an incremental source of profit that could accelerate Alaska's earnings growth beginning in 2019.
Right now, Alaska Air stock trades for less than 11 times its projected 2018 earnings. That's surprisingly low, considering that most of the merger synergies will land later on. If Alaska's management can pull off a successful integration process, the company's profits -- and stock price -- should march higher over the next four years or so.
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Adam Levine-Weinberg owns shares of Alaska Air Group. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
British luxury brand Burberry said on Monday it would license its fragrances and cosmetics to Coty in a deal totalling $225 million that will help it develop new products and benefit from the U.S. group's distribution.
Known for its British-made trenchcoats, Burberry's beauty range is led by fragrances My Burberry and Mr Burberry, and includes cosmetics to help introduce its brand to new consumers.
The company, which brought the perfume business in house in 2013, said it would retain creative control while Coty, which counts Gucci, Hugo Boss and Calvin Klein in its portfolio, would bring its global distribution network to the table.
Chief Financial Officer Julie Brown said Burberry had repositioned the business by cutting secondary-channel sales, and it was now the time to partner the premium fragrance leader.
"Coty has very broad experience of working closely with other luxury brands," she said in an interview. "We will benefit from their deep beauty industry expertise and also their first class distribution."
Coty will pay 130 million pounds for the long-term license, plus about 50 million pounds for inventory and other assets, Burberry said. It will also pay royalties from October.
Beauty contributed 7 percent of Burberry's revenue in the first half of its 2016/17 financial year, down 17 percent on the prior period, partly as a result of the repositioning.
It launched men's fragrance Mr Burberry a year ago and young British model Iris Law has promoted its cosmetics.
Chief Operating Officer John Smith said there was an opportunity to grow cosmetics sales, which currently account for about 8 percent of beauty sales against an industry average of a third.
"Make-up is a key recruitment tool for a luxury brand, in that the price points are a lot lower than any other product," he said. "As a means of recruiting people into the brand, it's perfect."
Shares in Burberry were trading up 1 percent at 1,739 pence.
Analysts at Exane BNP Paribas said they welcomed the choice of a first class partner to appropriately develop the business.
"In fact, we never liked the idea of Burberry managing its beauty business directly, as beauty is an FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) business where you win on the back of global reach," they said.
Burberry said the deal would be broadly neutral to adjusted profit before tax in 2017/18 and accretive the following year. ($1 = 0.7999 pounds) (Reporting by Kate Holton and Paul Sandle; editing by Susan Thomas)
Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B), the conglomerate led by Warren Buffett, has a portfolio of dozens of common stocks that is closely watched by many investors. Bank stocks make up a particularly large portion of the portfolio, currently accounting for about 11% of Berkshire's entire market cap. Here are the six bank stocks in Berkshire's portfolio, as well as one more than will most likely eventually become a part of it.
Bank Recent Share Price Number of Shares Berkshire Owns Value of Investment Wells Fargo $55.83 479,704,270 $26.8 Billion American Express $78.20 151,610,700 $11.9 Billion U.S. Bancorp $52.57 85,063,167 $4.5 Billion Goldman Sachs $228.41 10,959,519 $2.5 Billion Bank of New York Mellon $46.25 21,671,969 $1.0 Billion M&T Bank $154.97 5,382,040 $834 Million
Source: Berkshire Hathaway SEC Filings. Current as of 12/31/2016.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
1. Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC)
Wells Fargo has been a Buffett favorite for years, as the bank does a fantastic job of managing risk and running an efficient banking operation. Even after last year's "fake accounts" scandal, which Buffett acknowledged was a big mistake, he still refers to Wells Fargo as an "incredible institution." Berkshire's Wells Fargo stake represents just under 10% of all the bank's outstanding shares, and about 6.5% of Berkshire's entire market cap. To understand why, just take a look at Wells Fargo's return on assets (ROA) as compared with the rest of the largest U.S. banks over the past 10 years.
WFC Return on Assets (TTM) data by YCharts
2. American Express (NYSE: AXP)
Although it's not technically a "bank stock", credit card issuer and payment processor American Express does engage in many banking-related business activities, and is one of Berkshire's largest investments, so I felt it was important to include here.
American Express is among Berkshire's five largest stock investments, and he hasn't sold a single share, even after Amex lost its Costco partnership and faced unfavorable legal decisions. Berkshire owns about 16% of the credit card giant, and has repeatedly praised the company's talented management team, as well as the competitive advantages of American Express' closed-loop payment network, valuable and well-regarded brand name, and the most affluent base of cardholders among any of the major issuers.
3. U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB)
At first glance, U.S. Bancorp is an expensive bank stock. In fact, the bank trades for 2.1 times its book value, by far the highest valuation of any of the bank stocks on this list. However, Buffett doesn't need his stocks to be cheap, he just wants to find great companies at fair prices, and with U.S. Bank, you certainly get what you pay for. The bank is one of the most profitable and efficient operations in the entire banking industry, even topping "rock solid" heavyweight Wells Fargo.
4. Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS)
Berkshire's investment in Goldman Sachs began during the depths of the financial crisis, when Buffett agreed to a $5 billion deal to buy that amount of Goldman Sachs preferred stock with a 10% annual dividend, as well as for warrants to buy an additional $5 billion of Goldman Sachs common stock for $115 per share (the price is approximately double this amount today). The preferred stock was redeemed in April 2011, and Berkshire traded in its warrants for 43.5 million shares of Goldman, about three-fourths of which have since been sold, as you can see in the chart at the top.
5. Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE: BK)
Although it's a relatively small investment compared to some of the others on this list, Bank of New York Mellon is still one of Buffett's favorite banks. In fact, Berkshire added to its position in the bank in 2016, increasing its stake by 3.6%. Simply put, Bank of New York Mellon has a strong balance sheet and has been a consistently strong performer over the years (it was founded in 1784 and is America's oldest continuously operating bank). In addition, the bank has a highly diverse revenue stream, specializing in private banking, asset management, and institutional services.
6. M&T Bank (NYSE: MTB)
M&T Bank is a large regional institution headquartered in Buffalo, and has been a part of Berkshire's portfolio for more than two decades. The bank has been highly profitable relative to peers (see a pattern forming here?), and Buffett has tremendous respect for the bank's CEO and management team, which has grown the bank through decades of smart acquisitions.
As a sidenote, I can't emphasize enough how much weight Buffet places on quality management. He literally believes that the right managers can add tremendously to a company's intrinsic value, and therefore should be an important piece of the puzzle to evaluate when choosing stocks.
BONUS: Bank of America
No discussion of Warren Buffett's bank stocks would be complete without mentioning Bank of America (NYSE: BAC). To be clear, Buffett doesn't own shares of Bank of America -- not yet, anyway. However, as the result of a savvy investment Buffett made in the wake of the financial crisis, Berkshire owns warrants to buy 700 million shares of the bank for just $7.14 (Bank of America's share price is $23.85 as of this writing) at any time before September 2021. In recent shareholder letters, Buffett has all but told investors that Berkshire intends to exercise these warrants and finance, it's just a matter of when it will happen.
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Matthew Frankel owns shares of American Express, Bank of America, Berkshire Hathaway (B shares), and Goldman Sachs. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Berkshire Hathaway (B shares). The Motley Fool recommends American Express. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The chairman of German industrial gases group Linde is prepared to use his casting vote to push through a $65 billion merger with U.S. rival Praxair in the face of worker opposition, he told the Financial Times.
Linde's labor representatives told Reuters last week they planned to vote against the deal, which they fear will entail significant job losses in Europe to achieve $1 billion in synergies, and a loss of influence over strategy.
Labor controls half the seats on the supervisory board, which will have to approve the deal once the terms are finalised in the next month or so - but Chairman Wolfgang Reitzle can cast a double vote in the case of a deadlock.
"Yes, I'm willing to do that," he told the FT in a comment published on Monday.
Linde shares were up 1.4 percent by 0820 GMT on Monday, the top-gainer in the German blue chip index , which was 0.2 percent higher.
Reitzle is the driving force behind the planned all-share merger of equals, which would reunite a global Linde group split by the First World War a century ago. It is the second attempt by the two companies to agree a deal.
Chief Executive Aldo Belloni told the FT his role was to provide better communication to workers about the deal, not to grant further concessions.
Belloni was brought out of retirement by Reitzle to head Linde after the breakdown of the first attempt to merge with Praxair led to the departure of the then-CEO and finance chief.
Linde's supervisory board is set to meet on Thursday. It will not yet vote on the merger as the terms are still being negotiated.
(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan; editing by Susan Thomas)
A 69-year-old Texas man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after being convicted on two charges stemming from a road rage incident in 2015.
William Sam Crum was caught on camera swerving his car into a motorcycle that crossed a double line to pass him outside the town of Granbury, causing it to crash and injuring both people on board. A woman riding on the passenger seat had to be taken to the intensive care unit of the Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth, the Star-Telegram reports.
The accident was recorded by the helmet cam of following motorcycle rider, and quickly went viral when posted to the internet. Crum tells the camera operator I dont care that he hit them, and claimed that a bug bite on his leg caused him to swerve.
The jury didnt buy it, and Crum was convicted on one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon causing bodily injury. He had been held on $150,000 bail since he was arrested shortly after the accident.
Daniel Pharris was lucky to walk away from an airborne crash at the Radial Revenge Tour at Tulsa Raceway Park in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Saturday.
According to Skreetcar, Pharris was racing his Alepa C7 Corvette during the semi finals. Shortly after leaving the line, the front end of Pharris Corvette lifts up into the air and he is sent on an airborne ride.
Pharris Corvette lands back down on the ground right-side up but the car was evidently damaged. Fortunately, Pharris was able to exit the car unaided.
Check out all the action from the Radial Revenge Tour at https://livestream.com/MotorManiaTV/2017RRT/videos/
MORE AUTO NEWS FROM FOX SPORTS
It was a big night for Jason Aldean who was named entertainer of the year at the Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas.
Aldean performed early on with the other nominees, including Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood, at the opening of the show and closed the night strong with his major win.
Thank you fans for letting me do what I do every night, he said at the end of the show. Love you mom, fans, country radio, everybody -- thank you guys.
Miranda Lambert also had a lot to celebrate on Sunday. She had a top-notch performance: She earned a standing ovation after she sang the slow, acoustic-sounding "Tin Man." She later won album of the year and female vocalist of the year.
Thank you for letting me use my heartbreak and sharing in it with me," she told the crowd during her album of the year speech.
MIRANDA LAMBERT LOOKS BRIDAL IN LOW CUT WHITE GOWN
At the start of the night, Luke Bryan, Dierks Bentley and Joe Walsh took the stage to pay tribute to Chuck Berry, who died last month. After they finished rocking out, hosts Bryan and Bentley took the mic and opened the show with a skit about Las Vegas, joking that they stripped down as part of Thunder Down Under, sharing a series of shirtless snaps on the large screen in the T-Mobile Arena.
Well Vegas, thank you for giving me one of the best nights of my life that I barely remember, Bryan quipped. Bentley then added the ACMs would be a night the crowd would not forget.
The hosts also poked fun at Urban, joking the Australian star could easily get a job at Thunder Down Under when he is ready to retire his guitar.
The first award of the night, song of the year, went to Thomas Rhett for Die a Happy Man. The presenters, David Copperfield and Nancy ODell, mocked the Oscars best picture flub and initially joked the award was going to Emma Stone, La La Land.
Rhett, who also won male vocalist of the year, thanked his wife during his acceptance speech.
"Thank you to my beautiful wife, my beautiful pregnant wife," said Rhett, whose wife was in the audience. "The song's inspiration was because of you."
In keeping with the Vegas theme, Bryan had his wax figure brought on stage during the show.
Maren Morris won new female vocalist of the year, Jon Pardi was named new male vocalist, and Brothers Osborne picked up both vocal duo of the year and new vocal duo or group of the year.
Little Big Town won vocal group of the year, beating out Lady Antebellum, which had just performed on the show.
Also during the show, Urban sang the soulful "Blue Ain't Your Color" with a throwback, black-and-white vibe, while the back of the stage was smoky and bright blue. As he switched to the upbeat, disco-flavored "The Fighter" where he was joined by Underwood the camera focused on his actress-wife Nicole Kidman, who sang and danced along.
NICOLE KIDMAN SAYS KEITH URBAN SONG MADE HER CRY
Sam Hunt performed his No. 1 hit, "Body Like a Back Road," and he went into the audience to sit next to his fiance to sing the song. The show also featured a number of other A-list performances during the three-hour show including Tim McGraw with wife Faith Hill, Florida Georgia Line with the Backstreet Boys, Reba McEntire, Chris Stapleton, Maren Morris, and Little Big Town.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Would you be willing to pay a small surcharge for your morning coffee if it meant youd be saving the planet?
And no, those fees wouldnt be going to environmental groups theyd basically be punishment for not utilizing a reusable mug.
A new study from Cardiff University in Wales has found that demand for reusable mugs in the United Kingdom would drastically increase if coffee shops started charging a small fee for disposable paper cups, reports the BBC.
The study also said that, by charging the fee and encouraging greener practices, the coffee industry could prevent up to 300 million disposable coffee cups from littering the trash per year in the U.K. alone.
MILLENNIALS ARE SPENDING MORE MONEY ON COFFEE THAN RETIREMENT
"Our results show that, on average, the use of reusable coffee cups could be increased by up to 12.5 percent with a combination of measures," said study author Wouter Poortinga, a professor at the Welsh School of Architecture.
Note that Poortinga referred to a combination of measures; the fees alone arent nearly enough to achieve the aforementioned results.
According to the study, which was carried out on behalf of the Irish coffee chain Bewleys, shop owners would also need to promote environmental messaging in their cafes and provide easy access to reusable alternatives. And if those alternatives were free or discounted, compliance levels would increase further, the report suggests.
While the increases for individual measures were modest, the greatest behavioral change was when the measures were combined, wrote Poortinga.
Poortingas study also found that a mere discount on reusable mugs was an ineffective incentive for encouraging usage, as there was no increased demand for the mugs unless surcharges were applied to the cups, too.
In other words, people wont buy a reusable mug unless theyre being penalized elsewhere, no matter what kind of discount theyre getting on a reusable cup.
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People are far more sensitive to losses than to gains when making decisions so if we really want to change a customers behavior then a charge on a disposable cup is more likely to be effective, wrote Poortinga.
Cardiffs study was mainly concerned with consumers in the U.K., so its not immediately clear whether their results would hold any (hot) water in other countries.
However, if those same measures were determined to be effective in in the States, its likely that the U.S. would see similar, if not more significant results: A recent study from Acorns found that the average American spends roughly $1,100 per year on coffee, or around $3 per day.
A Dunkin Donuts customer has settled his lawsuits with a few franchise owners over their use of butter substitutes in place of actual butter.
Jan Polanik, who lives near Worcester, Mass., brought the suits against the Dunkin Donuts owners after he learned they were serving him a margarine or butter substitute on his bagels even when he specifically requested the real thing, reports The Boston Globe.
The main point of the lawsuit is to stop the practice of representing one thing and selling a different thing, Polaniks lawyer, Thomas Shapiro, told the Globe.
DUNKIN' DONUTS TO STOP SELLING POPULAR ICED COFFEE DRINK BEFORE SUMMER
Shapiro also acknowledged that Polaniks butter issue was a minor thing and even admitted to waffling over whether to file a lawsuit, but he said he ultimately chose to move forward for the sake of consumers.
If somebody goes in and makes a point to order butter for the bagel they dont want margarine or some other kind of chemical substitute, Shapiro said.
The Boston Globe reports that Polaniks lawsuits were filed against two different companies who operate over 20 franchises in Mass. Each lawsuit was also looking to achieve class-action status in order to represent any Dunkin customers who felt cheated upon receiving butter substitutes.
Michael Marino, a lawyer for one of the franchise groups, confirmed that his clients have reached a settlement with Polanik, although he declined to discuss the terms of the agreement.
However, Marino did confirm that 17 of the franchises he represents would be instituting operational changes concerning their butter policy.
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A representative for the second group of franchisees declined to comment to The Globe.
The paper also points out that, in 2013, a separate Worcester resident questioned the ethics of serving butter substitutes without making it known to the consumer.
In that particular case, a representative for the company responded by saying that the stores cant safely store butter at spreadable temperatures, which is why they use substitutes. She also claimed that stores are instructed to provide packets of whipped butter for those who request it.
Terry Schappert was basically born to host Hollywood Weapons on the Outdoor Channel.
As a former Green Beret with over 24 years of military experience, Schappert has an intimate knowledge of the weapons, explosives and war-time scenarios that most of us have only seen on the big screen and now, hes ready to show viewers where fact meets fiction.
The shows producer, acclaimed actor Joe Mantegna, describes Hollwood Weapons as Mythbusters on steroids, and hes not exaggerating. Each week, Schappert and his team recreate the most explosively over-the-top scenes from blockbuster films and TV, all to answer one question: Can that really be done?
Theres always scenes in different films, where someone shoots a gun or uses a weapon, and you think, Alright, can you do really that? explains Schappert. So we get into these different movies, and we see if these things can or cannot be done.
LOS ANGELES FISHERMAN CATCHES 50-POUND CARP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CITY
The upcoming season of Hollywood Weapons puts several of Schapperts favorite scenes to the test, including the scuba-tank sniper shot from Jaws, the glass-shattering stunt from Die Hard, and the infamous noose scene from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
We had all these different kinds of shots against hangmans ropes, with the period guns you saw in the film, says Schappert. To get to use those weapons and to play the role of Clint Eastwood in those scenes, it was so much fun.
Surprisingly, theres also no shortage of silliness on set especially between Schappert and the shows armory expert Larry Zanoff.
Larry is like the adult in the room, and Im like the 10-year-old kicking his shins, going, Hey, cmon! Lets try this! laughs Schappert.
Thats not to say the two arent taking their jobs seriously. In fact, Schappert says his training with the Green Berets lends itself to these kinds of experiments.
The last five years I was in the Green Berets, I was in charge of training, says Schappert. Training has got to be realistic, or else its not worth doing. We were constantly looking at risk assessment We do (Hollwood Weapons) very safely, too," says Schappert.
Obviously, when youre shooting or blowing stuff up, theres inherent risk, but we really pay careful attention to that.
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And when a stunt doesnt play out exactly as it does in the movies? Schappert says he and his crew arent bummed.
The goal is never to debunk the movie, and go, Oh, this is BS. says Schappert. What I hope Hollywood Weapons does, honestly, is pay homage to these movies.
I always make it a point to say, Maybe I couldnt do that, but Bruce Willis as John McClane in Die Hard mightve been able to. So I dont think itll take the mystique away at all. I hope it doesnt. I think itll increase peoples appreciation of the special effects guys.
Schappert also tells Fox News he's raring to recreate just about any stunt Hollywood can throw at him even the famous frying-pan-to-the-face gag from Tom & Jerry.
We havent tested any cartoons out, Shappert says thoughtfully. "But that? That might be kinda fun Im game for it.
Schapperts new series Hollywood Weapons airs Mondays on Outdoor Channel at 9 p.m. EST. Catch replays of the debut episode on Saturday at 9 p.m. EST and Sunday at 12 a.m. EST.
The family of a 20-year-old student who died three days after choking during a pancake-eating contest at Connecticut's Sacred Heart University said they will donate her organs. Caitlin Nelson, whose father was killed in the Sept. 11 attacks in Manhattan, died at a New York hospital on Sunday.
Like her father, right up until the end she was giving of herself, and proof of that is her organs are all being donated, Robert Egbert, a spokesman for the Port Authority Police Benevolent Association, told the New York Post. She indicated throughout her life that she was an organ donor. Like her father, who gave everything he possibly could so others could live right up until the end, Caitlin just did the same thing.
MOM OF 3 DIES AFTER FINISHING PENNSYLVANIA HALF-MARATHON
Nelson was participating in her sorority-sponsored charity event on March 30, when she reportedly began to shake uncontrollably and fell to the floor after eating four or five pancakes.
Two nursing students who witnessed Nelson choking during the charity event performed lifesaving measures before police officers and paramedics arrived, Fairfield police Lt. Bob Kalamaras, told The Associated Press.
Its a tragic event that started out as something fun, he said. It was just a tragic accident.
Nelson, of Clark, N.J., was rushed to St. Vincents Medical Center in Bridgeport, and on Friday was transferred to New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center where she later died. Kalamaras told The New York Daily News that Nelson suffered from food allergies, but it is not believed to have contributed to her death.
Nelson was a junior majoring in social work and was described to The New York Daily News by a police source as full of life, and vibrant.
UNTREATED STREP THROAT LEAVES MICHIGAN MOM OF 7 BATTLING FOR LIFE
Her mom kept that kid focused on the straight and narrow, the source told The Daily News. To die for a charity eating pancakes after the dad went down is terribly sad. You worry about everything else that could go wrong with your kids and this happens.
Thousands of students at the university held a candlelight vigil for Nelson on Sunday.
The SHU community is mourning today, the school said in a statement Monday. We ask that during this time you give Caitlins family and the members of the SHU community privacy while they grieve.
The school said counseling services were being provided. An obituary for her father, who was working as a Port Authority of New York and New Jersey police officer during the Sept. 11 terror attacks, indicated that Nelson has an older sister.
According to her LinkedIn page, Caitlin was certified in youth mental health first aid and volunteered at the Resiliency Center of Newtown, a nonprofit group that provides free counseling and other services to people affected by the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School that killed 20 children and six educators.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Theres cake, superhero decor and personalized t-shirts. The room is filled with joy and life as loved ones gather inside young Cayden Jolliff's homea room inside Nationwide Childrens Hospital in Columbus, Ohioto celebrate his second birthday. In the midst of the celebration, a special appearance is made: the doctor who issued a Hail Mary when saving Caydens life was improbable nearly two years ago.
Cayden glows with a particular delight that warms the spirit of the nurses who work on the unit. Its not uncommon for staff to stop by his room to absorb the jubilance displayed so freely from a child who has never felt the invigorating kiss of sun on human flesh.
UNTREATED STREP INFECTION LEAVES MICHIGAN MOM OF 7 BATTLING FOR LIFE
They know where to come when they need a smile on their face, says Caydens mother, Gretchen Jollff.
Despite the open door policy of Caydens room, its rare 35-40 people stop by in a short time frame. From nurses to doctors to family, the purpose is clear: celebrate the hospitals very own superhero. Caydens unrivaled strength is unimaginable to most. His path acknowledges the odds, and passionately refuses to accept.
RARE CONDITION CAUSES FAMILY'S 2 DAUGHTERS TO SUFFER MULTIPLE SEIZURES EVERY HOUR
Theres no rule book he follows, Jolliff said.
In November 2014, at an ultrasound appointment near the 20-week mark, Jolliff and her husband were informed that something was wrong with Cayden. He was diagnosed with having congenital diaphragmatic hernia, a birth defect of the diaphragm. CDH is a hole in the muscle between the chest and abdomen that allows the contents of the stomach to rise up into the fetal chest.
Doctors said the chance for survival was 20 percent. The Jolliff's were told they had one week to terminate the pregnancy. They couldnt. And when Caydens liver and spleen moved up against the diaphragm, his survival rate dropped to 5 percent.
I remember leaving there and my husband and I just sat in our car for 45 minutes letting it sink in, Jolliff said. At that point it felt as if there was so little hope.
As the reality of the situation set it, it became clear that they could go through the last four months of pregnancy to give birth to a child that probably wasnt going to live. A scary realization, as Mr. Jolliff describes.
'I CAN'T ERASE THIS DIAGNOSIS': MOM WRITES EMOTIONAL POST ABOUT DAUGHTER'S RARE GENETIC DISORDER
Almost immediately after birth, Cayden was rushed from the Ohio State University Hospital to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Nationwide Childrens Hospital. He couldnt breath on his own. Seven hours after birth he was put on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), which is a treatment that uses a pump to circulate blood through an artificial lung back into the bloodstream.
He came off and then went back ona rare occurrence.
There was a point in the first few weeks where the doctors told us there was nothing to do, Jolliff said. And when it came time to come off again, with going back for a third time impossible, the doctor said his Hail Mary. And shortly after, 28 days post-birth, a mother held her son for the first time.
Thank goodness for my husband, Jolliff said. That first month was a fog for me. Not being able to hold my son and give him that closeness was extremely difficult.
FIRST PUBLISHED ON KTVU.COM.
A Michigan mother of seven whose sore throat turned into a life-threatening strep infection is battling for her life as doctors work to save her organs. Shannon McGeorge, of Troy, Michigan, was admitted to the hospital two weeks ago after she started suffering from flu-like symptoms, her family told Fox 2 Detroit.
"They told us she had strep, the flu, and she was severely dehydrated," Anastasia Coleman, McGeorge's daughter, told the news outlet. "When they were hydrating her, her throat started to swell closed. Her organs were shutting down and she had sepsis from the strep. And basically had a 10 percent chacne of living through that day."
THE DANGERS OF STREP THROAT
McGeorge was placed on an Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) machine, which allows the blood to "bypass" the heart and lungs so that the organs can rest, Fox 2 Detroit reported.
The family was dealt a second blow when McGeorge's Marine veteran husband, Mark, suffered a stroke while at her bedside.
"She's awake now so she can see, she can't speak, she can't move her arms very well yet, but she was able to watch the whole thing happen," Anastasia told Fox 2 Detroit. "Now he's int he same hospital with a clot in his brain."
RARE STREP INFECTION COSTS MICHIGAN DAD HIS HANDS AND FEET
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help offset medical costs as they await news from both McGeorge and Mark.
"Listen to your body if you feel down don't think 'Oh, I can beat it,'" Anastasia told Fox 2 Detroit. "Go get checked out. It's better safe than sorry."
You may be used to a little stiffness in your back, but when is that soreness indicative of a deeper, more serious issue?
The biggest problem with back pain is when it becomes chronic, and its a lot harder to treat at that point, Dr. Bill Lauretti, an associate professor at New York Chiropractic College and the media spokesman for the American Chiropractic Association, told Fox News. Chiropractors focus specifically on restoring normal function to patients, he explained, as opposed to trying to numb existing problems with painkillers.
THE BEST FOODS TO HELP YOU BUILD MUSCLE
So when should you seek the help of a chiropractor? Lauretti told Fox News about a handful of key warning signs:
1. Pain radiating down the back of your legs
If you have this type of pain, called sciatica, see a professional early on, Lauretti said. While he noted most cases of lower back pain tend to resolve themselves within a week, once pain starts going down the leg, it suggests that nerves are being irritated.
2. Weakness or numbness in your feet or legs
Similarly, weakness or numbness in your legs could indicate that the nerves there are not only being irritated, but that theyre being damaged, Lauretti said. That damage may be in the spinal cord itself: For instance, a slipped disc could be pushing on the spinal cord with enough pressure to kill some of the nerves, or a tumor could be growing in the spinal cord.
HOW MUCH DENTAL CARE IS TOO MUCH?
3. Loss of control of your bowel or bladder
Loss of control of bowel movements, or incontinence, could be a sign of nerve damage in the spine. This could even lead to permanent damage, Lauretti noted.
4. Deep, boring pain at night
If your back pain is worse at night, and feels more like a deep, boring pain, it could be due to something serious even a tumor, Lauretti said. Instead of putting yourself on bedrest or taking painkillers two of the worst things you can do if you have back pain, Lauretti said make an appointment with a professional to get to the root of the problem.
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5. Difficulty walking more than a block
If you have difficulty walking more than a block, and especially if the pain gets better when you lean forward while walking you may have spinal stenosis, which is caused by wear and tear of joints around the spinal cord, leading to the growth of bone spurs that push into and squeeze the spinal cord itself.
Anyone whos raised kids has more than likely faced criticism for his or her parenting choices. But not everyone has a partner as outspoken as David Brinkley, an Oklahoma father of two who recently defended his wife on Facebook after one of her friends questioned her decision to share a bed with their children, Fox 32 Chicago reported.
"I just decided to come out as a man and set a few things straight. I do NOT hate any part of what makes my wife the mother that she is, Brinkley wrote in the viral Facebook post, which has since been removed from the site. "I would NEVER degrade or disregard anything that she feels like doing for my children. Do I have to squeeze into a small corner of the bed sometimes? Yeah? But my God how beautiful does she look holding my children? Making them feel loved and safe?"
WILL SHOWERING WITH YOUR KID SCAR THEM FOR LIFE?
Although bedsharing is not customary in western societies like it is in non-western nations, it isnt uncommon either, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Often, the practice makes parents feel like theyre bonding with their babies, and for those moms who are breastfeeding, it can offer more convenience for those late-night feedings. Yet some parents who decide against bedsharing do so because they believe it will help their children gain more independence.
While the decision to bedshare is up to parents, sleeping with infants can be risky. According to the Mayo Clinic, the practice can increase the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), which can occur when a soft surface suffocates a small child. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1,600 babies died due to SIDS in 2015.
DOES YOUR NEWBORN NEED A BABY BOX?
Bedsharing is different from co-sleeping, which involves sleeping in the same environment, but not the same surface, according to the NIH.
While its unclear how old Brinkleys children are, the Yukon man obviously isnt in a rush to get he and his wifes bed back to themselves.
"Our wives only experience these little seasons in motherhood for a short time, Brinkley wrote on Facebook. They carry our babies they birth them they nurture them and maybe while they are little they let them crawl into our beds and snuggle but eventually our babies get bigger they grow up they get too cool for snuggles so why would we as men want to steal a single second of this time from them?"
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Fox 32 Chicago reported that Brinkley ended the post by calling on other men to respect their wives in their roles as moms. As of Saturday, the post had been shared over 67,000 times.
Editor's note: The following column originally appeared in The Hill newspaper and TheHill.com.
Liberal Democrats could yet see their dreams come true.
Last week, a new poll from the liberal outfit Public Policy Polling (PPP) asked Americans if President Trump should resign if evidence emerges that his campaign worked with Russia to help defeat Hillary Clinton. A majority, 53 percent, said he should resign.
That is important because PPP also found that 44 percent of Americans already believe that Trumps campaign did just that.
It is no fantasy to say the drip-drip-drip of the Trump-Russia investigations is draining this presidency of political capital. The presidents historically high disapproval rating 51 percent in the latest McClatchy poll tells the same story.
It is no fantasy to say the drip-drip-drip of the Trump-Russia investigations is draining this presidency of political capital.
Thats why astute Republicans are starting to look out for themselves.
The first Republican to begin to run for cover was Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who decided to recuse himself from any role in the investigation. Last week Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser, sought immunity in exchange for his testimony to congressional investigators.
A majority of Americans want a special prosecutor including 39 percent of Republicans, according to one poll. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has called for Congress to form a bipartisan select committee to probe ties between Russia and the Trump camp.
The struggle for Republicans in Congress is two-fold.
First, they have to avoid being blamed for undermining the legitimacy of the Trump presidency. But, secondly, they are worried about the damage Trump will do to their partys fortunes in the 2018 midterms.
The Democrats have a different political challenge.
They have to figure out how to respond to White House efforts to distract the public by denigrating the intelligence agencies and derailing the Congressional investigations.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the ranking member on the House Intelligence panel, has become a model on that score by avoiding political statements.
He limits himself to saying there is more than circumstantial evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to influence the election.
As a result, Schiff looks virtuous compared to the committees chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.). The Republican has failed by playing along with Trump officials who are busy suggesting that the whole controversy has been ginned up by anti-Trump intelligence agents and left-over Obama administration officials.
Meanwhile in the Senate, Democrats are united behind Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the Intelligence Committees vice-chairman, who holds the upper hand over the Republican chairman, Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina.
The minute Warner says Burr is acting to protect Trump, the committees entire credibility will crumble.
Burr has announced plans to interview Trumps son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner, as part of the investigation. Trump associates Roger Stone, Paul Manafort and Carter Page have also volunteered to testify.
In the Senate, the Democrats are also unified behind the political strategy of Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.). He is threatening to filibuster Trumps nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.
"It is unseemly to be moving forward so fast on confirming a Supreme Court justice with a lifetime appointment while this big gray cloud of an FBI investigation hangs over the presidency, Schumer said recently.
But the Trump White House continues to pursue a failing strategy of distraction.
In conspiratorial terms, these Trump insiders point to a shadowy clique of Washington hands the so-called anti-Trump Deep State trying to bring down the populist president.
Trump tried his hand at the change-the-subject game with his unsupported claim that President Obama was wiretapping him. That is now a claim that all but his most stalwart allies have abandoned.
Democrats also have to contend with the Trump White House effort to undermine the Congressional investigations. The Washington Post reported last week on White House efforts to stop former Attorney General Sally Yates from giving testimony.
The good news for Democrats is that the White House is not very good at distracting anyone from the Russia scandal.
White House aides got caught leaking documents to Nunes in an attempt to shift media attention to charges of potentially illegal surveillance of Trump campaign officials.
That backfired when the names of the White House aides ended up in The New York Times. One of the men, Ezra Cohen-Watnick, a 30-year-old at the National Security Council, had recently been targeted for dismissal by his boss H.R. McMaster, the national security adviser. Cohen-Watnick had to appeal to the president to save his job.
In this chaos, Democrats have the luxury of watching and expressing apolitical regret. After all, most of the Democratic base views still views Trump as a racist, a huckster, a sexual predator and an illegitimate president.
Democrats have also been emboldened by the health care debacle. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) literally took off her shoes and jumped for joy with protestors outside the Capitol after the vote was pulled.
It has been said that predictions make fools of us all. The campaign and the election that brought Trump to power certainly proved that, since the majority of the media myself included predicted he would not win.
But it is no liberal fantasy to say the odds of a Trump resignation or impeachment before 2020 are looking better by the day.
Just when you thought Washington couldnt get worse, were swamped by sensational headlines and breathless reports about Russia, wiretaps and criminal leaks of classified material.
Throw in a leading congressmans late-night meeting at the White House, and it all has the feel of a second-rate movie plot. But dont you dare tune out, because we are witnessing an unprecedented event: two potential Watergate-sized scandals involving two presidents are emerging simultaneously.
Did Donald Trump collude with Russia to defeat Hillary Clinton? Did Barack Obama politicize law enforcement and intelligence-gathering to spy on Trump and destroy his presidency?
Those are extraordinary questions, all the more so because the race to answer them is happening on parallel tracks. The usual partisanship has become a winner-take-all war to paint the other sides president as guilty of un-American conduct.
To continue reading Michael Goodwin's column from the New York Post, click here.
It was just a year ago when we first began hearing chants of we need nine, from former President Obama and Vice President Biden, Senate Democrats and their special interest groups.
To many of us, it appeared to be a simple case of amnesia. They obviously had simply forgotten that both Senator Reid and Senator Schumer had declared that George W. Bush would get no Supreme Court nominees through the Democratic Senate more than 18 months before the end of his term.
Or, even in 1992 when then-Senator Biden made clear his intentions in a long, detailed speech on the Senate floor outlining the reasons why the Senate wouldnt consider a Supreme Court nominee of George H.W. Bush in his final year.
Despite this precedent, Senate Democrats and their special interest groups continued to demandeven after the electionthat we need nine.
Its become abundantly clear that if the Democrats are willing to filibuster somebody with the credentials, judicial temperament and independence of Judge Gorsuch, its obvious they would filibuster anybody.
Over the course of the past year I said that if I remained chairman of the Judiciary Committee in 2017, wed move forward with a hearing for the Supreme Court nominee regardless of who was elected president.
To the surprise of many Senate Democrats, in November the American people elected Donald Trump. Suddenly we need nine became a hypocritical eight is enough, just like it was in 1992 and 2007.
Now, nearly nine months after candidate Trump publicly released the first of two lists of very capable possible Supreme Court nominees, the full Senate begins consideration of Judge Neil M. Gorsuch to be the 113th justice of the United States Supreme Court, starting with Mondays vote in the Judiciary Committee which I chair.
Anybody watching the nomination hearing for Judge Gorsuch before the Senate Judiciary Committee witnessed a brilliant presentation showcasing his command of the law, his record of independence, his strong sense of humility, and his focus on following the Constitution instead of prejudging cases or promising results.
From beginning to end, partisans and non-partisans alike sang his praises. It started the first day of the hearing when President Obamas former Solicitor General introduced Judge Gorsuch. For anybody questioning this nominees credentials, Democrat or Republican, Id invite them to read General Neal Katyals introduction. It showed genuine appreciation for Judge Gorsuch himself and his approach to the law.
Judge Gorsuchs testimony, and the testimony of witnesses who actually know him, creates a dilemma for anybody desperately searching for a reason to vote oppose his nomination. Because if youre voting on qualifications and not politics, its an easy yes.
Despite the we need nine mantra from last year, weve already heard that Senator Schumer will lead a Democratic filibuster apparently based on hollow reasons that Judge Gorsuch has already answered. Hes not mainstream. Hes not independent. Hes not telling us how hell vote. And, now, because none of those accusations will stick, the Democrats have resorted to attacking his supporters. These same senators dont like talking about the groups on the left who are attacking the nominee, misrepresenting his record and threatening to primary any Democrat who makes an independent decision.
Its become abundantly clear that if the Democrats are willing to filibuster somebody with the credentials, judicial temperament and independence of Judge Gorsuch, its obvious they would filibuster anybody.
If were ever going to get past the well Senator Schumer poisoned when he led the Democrats to change the ground rules in 2001 and systematically filibuster circuit court nominees for the first time in our nations history, were going to need to dig a new well. With or without Senate Democrats.
Republican Chuck Grassley represents Iowa in the United States Senate where he serves as chairman of the Judiciary Committee.
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:
Hunters could soon target grizzly bears from the air on Alaska's federal lands. Internet providers may get to sell the browsing habits of their customers. States will be able to deny federal family planning money to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers.
Citing states' rights, jobs and the right to bear arms, congressional Republicans are reversing dozens of Obama-era rules affecting the environment, education and the energy sector. The GOP is using a largely unknown but highly effective legislative tool that allows a simple majority in the House and Senate to overturn regulations that often took years to craft.
Indeed, with an overhaul of health insurance going off the rails, Republicans are left pointing to the repeal of various government regulations as their crowning legislative achievement after some 70 days at work. The GOP casts the effort as overturning eight years of excessive government regulation and boosting business.
"These things will help get people back to work, and after years of sluggish growth, give a real boost to our economy," Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said this past week.
The president has signed eight resolutions revoking regulations issued during the final months of Democrat Barack Obama's presidency. Six resolutions have cleared Congress and are awaiting the president's signature. A couple dozen more are on deck, with last Thursday the deadline for filing more.
Trump has signed measures eliminating requirements that mining and oil companies report payments made to foreign governments. The rule was designed to shine a light on how much money foreign governments received for their nation's resources, thus reducing the prospect of corruption.
He also signed another measure reversing an Obama plan to prevent coal mining debris from being dumped into nearby streams.
"These actions from Congress and the president are giving hope to businesses that they haven't had in a long time," said Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.
Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi scoffed at the notion that Republicans were accomplishing anything with the regulatory repeals "because they do not meet the needs of the American people."
"They are about trickle-down. Their life is about giving more money to the high-end and to corporate interests, maybe it will trickle down, that would be good, but if it doesn't, so be it, that's the free market," Pelosi said.
Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group, said the regulatory repeals Congress pushed through will actually damage the economy more than it helps. He said that eliminating the stream protection rule may help coal companies, but it hurts other companies that stand to gain through healthier streams and water supplies.
"If you look across the terrain of the Congressional Review Act resolutions, they are repeals of public measures that help, consumers, workers and the environment in very substantial ways, but are opposed by powerful corporate interests," Weissman said. "The Republicans driving these measures are paying back their corporate benefactors at the expense of the public."
In some cases, the regulatory repeal efforts have had nothing to do with the economy, but addressed hot-button social issues that so often dominate Washington politics.
Republicans blocked a Social Security Administration rule that would have prevented tens of thousands of mentally disabled beneficiaries from being able to purchase a firearm. The rule was targeted specifically at those beneficiaries with mental disorders who have a third party manage their financial benefits, and it was opposed by the NRA and several advocacy groups for the disabled.
The latest repeal effort clearing both chambers required Republicans to bring Vice President Mike Pence to the Capitol so he could cast the tie-breaking vote on the abortion issue. The scrapping of the Health and Human Services rule gave states the go-ahead to deny federal family planning money to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers.
One of the more closely contested repeals would kill an online privacy regulation. Fifteen Republicans sided with Democrats in opposing the repeal, which Pelosi said would allow internet providers to sell personal information without a user's consent. "You should be very, very scared," she said.
The ability of Congress to void regulations with a simple majority was created in 1996 when Congress passed the Congressional Review Act.
In the 20 years since, Congress was only able to use it once to repeal a regulation. Congress sent five repeal resolutions to Obama, but he vetoed each of them. Trump made clear early on that he would back the efforts of the GOP-led Congress.
"I will keep working with Congress, with every agency, and most importantly with the American people until we eliminate every unnecessary, harmful and job-killing regulation that we can find," Trump said this past week. "We have a lot more coming."
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has encouraged the regulatory rollbacks, weighing in with lawmakers on efforts affecting internet providers, federal contractors and energy companies. Neil Bradley, a senior vice president at the Chamber, acknowledges that it's hard to say how many jobs are created or saved through the repeal of one particular rule, but he says employers of all sizes tell the chamber government regulations are a top concern that makes it harder for them to flourish.
"Any time we can roll back these regulations is another step forward to restoring the economic growth that I think is the top priority of the American people," Bradley said.
The overwhelming majority of Senate Democrats have come out against Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch with most planning to support a filibuster if it comes to that.
That means the Senate could be in for a showdown vote later this week.
With 52 Republicans and 48 Democrats in the chamber, the majority party needs eight Democrats to join them to break a filibuster (which takes 60 votes). All Republicans are expected to back the nominee. But if they can't get to 60, they could deploy the so-called "nuclear option" to lower the threshold and push through to confirmation on a simple majority -- a major change in Senate precedent.
So far, however, only three Democrats have come out saying they would support Gorsuch -- Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Donnelly of Indiana, and Sen. Michael Bennett, D-Colo., announced on Monday that he will not support a filibuster.
Heres where the rest stand, not including those who have taken no position:
Senators opposed to Gorsuch; supporting a filibuster:
1. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
2. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.
3. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.
4. Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del.
5. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa.
6. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.
7. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn.
8. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.
9. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.
10. Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H.
11. Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii
12. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.
13. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va.
14. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.
15. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.
16. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.
17. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.
18. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich.
19. Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I.
20. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. (Independent who caucuses with Democrats)
21. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.
22. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.
23. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M.
24. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.
25. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.
26. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.
27. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.
28. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass.
29. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M.
30. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.
31. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill.
32. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.
33. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev.
34. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii
35. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio
36. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont.
37. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.
38. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va.
39. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.
40. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
41. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del.
42. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J.
43. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine. (Independent who caucuses with Democrats)
44. Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on April 3. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-K.Y., said they plan to vote to confirm Gorsuch on the Senate floor on April 7.
Fox News Bill Mears and Amy Leedecke contributed to this report.
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted Monday along party lines to endorse Judge Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court, setting up a showdown between Democratic and Republican senators in a series of final votes expected later this week.
The 20-member committee voted 11-9 for Gorsuch, President Trumps pick for the high court seat left by conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in February 2016.
The nominees opponents have tried to find a fault with him that will stick. And it just hasnt worked, said committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who allowed all 20 members to speak before the final vote. Judge Gorsuch is eminently qualified. Hes a mainstream judge whos earned the universal respect of his colleagues on the bench and in the bar. He applies the law as we in Congress write it.
Despite such praise from the GOP side, all Democrats on the committee voted against the nominee, in a sign of the clash to come as the nomination advances to the full Senate.
The chambers Democratic leaders appear ready to try to hold up the nomination through what's known as a filibuster. Republicans have 52 senators and would need the support of eight Democrats to reach the 60 votes necessary to overcome a filibuster and head to a final vote.
That appears out of reach. Prior to the committee vote, more than 40 Democrats said they were willing to block the Gorsuch nomination -- increasing the likelihood that majority Republicans would use the so-called "nuclear option" to push the nomination through.
California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the committees top Democrat, returned to her partys repeated argument that Judge Merrick Garland, former-President Barack Obamas nominee, should have been considered for the Scalia seat, but leaders of the Republican-controlled Senate held off until after the 2016 presidential election.
Feinstein also revisited a ruling Gorsuch made on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, in Colorado, in which he sided with a company that fired a trucker for disobeying orders by unhitching his vehicle from a malfunctioning tractor-trailer and driving off -- after waiting hours for help in sub-zero temperatures.
So this is not the usual nominee, she said. Therefore, I cannot support the nominee.
So far, just three Senate Democrats have announced support for Gorsuch, a graduate of Columbia University, Harvard Law and Oxford University.
They are Sens. Joe Donnelly, of Indiana; Heidi Heitkamp, of North Dakota; and Joe Manchin of West Virginia -- all representing states Trump won in November and all up for re-election next year.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday that Gorsuch nevertheless will be confirmed by Friday.
He was noncommittal on whether he was prepared to trigger to so-called "nuclear option," a change in precedent that would allow the Senate to break the filibuster with a simple majority of 51 votes.
But on Monday, a Republican colleague spoke bluntly and indicated the party would go that route. South Carolina GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Judiciary committee member, said: This will be the last person subject to a filibuster. Ironically, we are going to change the rules for somebody who has been a good judge over such a long time.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., predicted Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" that Gorsuch would not pass the 60-vote benchmark and argued that Trump should "try to come up with a mainstream nominee."
Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat on the committee, like Feinstein argued that Gorsuch had too often sided against the little guy.
In case after case, he favored corporations, lawyers and the special interest elite over workers, consumers, people of disability and victims of discrimination, he said.
Utah Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican on the committee, said Gorsuch likely thought the firing of the trucker was foolish.
But that wasnt the question before him, Lee said. The law, as he carefully analyzed it, would not allow judicial intervention.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is poking around for more information on the spurious dossier leaked to the media ahead of President Trumps inauguration this time, homing in on Andrew McCabe, the second in command at the FBI.
In a March 28 letter, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, told FBI Director James Comey he wants a detailed description on the involvement of Deputy Director McCabe in the investigation of Russian ties to Trump associates.
Grassley also wants to know whether McCabes involvement in the probe raises the appearance a conflict of interest in light of his wifes ties with Clintons associates and whether it would merit McCabe recusing himself from the investigation.
Grassley was referring to McCabes wife having accepted $700,000 in political contributions facilitated by Hillary Clinton ally Terry McAuliffe, the Virginia governor, for her state Senate run.
As reported by The Washington Examiner, Grassley noted McCabe already is being looked at by the inspector general for his involvement in the Clinton email investigation, despite his wife's ties.
The Senate committees probe began March 6.
Given the latest letter, the panel appears to be looking to see whether McCabe faces similar conflict of interest concerns on Trump matters.
Grassley asked Comey for answers to 12 detailed questions into McCabe, including whether anyone within the FBI filed a complaint with the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General regarding Mr. McCabes involvement in the investigation? and whether anyone from the DOJ or the Inspector General had raised concerns as to whether Mr.McCabes alleged partisan conflict would also apply to the investigation of Mr. Trumps associates?
The Senate Judiciary Committee is, more broadly, investigating whether the FBI wrongly included political opposition research from Trumps opponents in its probe, and then paid the author of that controversial dossier, a former British spy, to work for the FBI on its investigation.
McCabe has periodically faced scrutiny for his family ties to the Clinton world.
Fox News reported last month that McCabe did not list his wife's 2015 donations or his wifes salary in financial disclosure forms -- though such disclosure was not technically required.
Grassley, in his recent letter, revived concerns about McCabe's involvement in the Clinton email case.
While Mr. McCabe recused himself from public corruption cases in Virginia presumably including the reportedly ongoing investigation of Mr. McAuliffe regarding illegal campaign contributions he failed to recuse himself from the Clinton email investigation, despite the appearance of a conflict created by his wifes campaign accepting $700,000 from a close Clinton associate during the investigation.
Deep in the heart of Appalachia's coal country, where American flags adorn nearly every porch and cell service is a luxury, residents are cautiously optimistic about President Trump's push to bring coal back.
But the road to rebuilding these hard-hit areas, quite literally, begins with roads.
Aside from the other obvious hurdles to a coal revival -- the prevalence of natural gas, advancements in renewable energy -- experts say broken bridges and country roads in places like West Virginia pose a significant problem.
A lot of issues affect a coal revival, John Deskins, director of West Virginia Universitys Bureau of Business and Economic Research, told Fox News. Infrastructure is certainly a part of it.
West Virginia's identity has been linked to coal for generations. However, the steep terrain and rugged topography make West Virginia infrastructure projects expensive and technically tricky.
Most of the area developed as a result of the coal industry. Coals success and its decline has affected land use, the economy and transportation opportunities.
When the industry fell on hard times, so did its communities. Jobs were lost, people moved away, schools and hospitals shut down and efforts to fix crumbling infrastructure were put on the back burner.
According to an American Society of Civil Engineers infrastructure report, the state currently has 1,247 bridges that are structurally deficient. It also has 7,366 miles of public roads in poor condition that could cause problems for not only transporting coal but also courting new investments to the area. Trump's call for major infrastructure spending nationwide could resonate strongly here.
West Virginias infamous King Coal Highway, for example, is a 100-mile two-lane stretch of road connecting the state's coalfield communities to the rest of the region. Huge chunks of it are in desperate need of repair.
Its common to see overloaded coal trucks and debris littered along the blacktop, as well as warning signs along the way.
People in the southwestern part of the state are waiting for Trump to make good on campaign promises to get coal miners back to work.
Last week, he started the process by rolling back Obama-era environmental regulations. The president ordered a review of the Clean Power Plan, which was crafted to reduce emissions from coal-fired power plants. Trump also lifted a moratorium on the sale of coal mining leases on federal lands.
COAL TOWNS SEE HOPE FOR COMEBACK AS TRUMP ENDS 'WAR'
Deskins, an associate professor of economics, says while the baseline economic forecast for West Virginia calls for short-term job losses in coal to subside, the long-term future isnt as clear.
The coal industry is subject to considerable risk and at the mercy of the regulatory climate and conditions in the global market, he said. The Trump administrations moves largely were seen as a morale booster for coal communities that have been pummeled by these factors -- including tough competition from cheaper forms of energy like natural gas, wind and solar.
But West Virginians say Trumps $1 trillion infrastructure investment push would also go a long way to boosting the region.
Not only would better roads allow coal to be moved more effectively, infrastructure projects would help states like West Virginia branch out into other industries like manufacturing and tourism.
Infrastructure and coal go hand-in-hand, Chris Hamilton, senior vice president of the West Virginia Coal Association, told Fox News.
Yet despite Trumps widespread promises and smiling photo ops with miners in hard hats, the fiscal 2018 budget plan the president floated last month cuts out crucial federal funding for the Appalachian Regional Commission.
The ARC is an economic development agency of the federal government that partners with 13 state governments and focuses on 420 counties across the region. It supports 500 jobs and brings in $15.7 million in earnings every year.
One of the core ARC projects is the Appalachian Development Highway System, which connects counties and promotes economic development.
The current highway system is 88 percent completed. Once done, its predicted to bring in 80,500 jobs and $5 billion in increased value-added production.
The ARC also has a POWER initiative that focuses on diversifying coal communities and making sure the Appalachia workforce is prepared for jobs, spokeswoman Wendy Wasserman said.
Under the Obama administration, Congress approved a $146 million budget for the agency. The money goes toward teaching coal miners how to code, develop agricultural activity on coal land and other skills.
Sunny Frothingham, a senior researcher at the liberal-leaning Center for American Progress, pointed to the proposed ARC cuts as a "betrayal" for coal country voters.
Appalachian voters trusted President Trump to understand their needs and create good jobs 95 percent of the counties covered by the Appalachian Regional Commission voted for him in 2016, Frothingham said. Cutting the ARC is an outright betrayal of Appalachian communities and would leave them without the funds to implement critical workforce, education and infrastructure projects.
While coal has long been the heartbeat of West Virginia, a more diverse economy is necessary in order to steer West Virginia toward a brighter economic future, Deskins said.
No matter what the future of West Virginia is, residents will need better roads.
Now is the time, Gordon Lambert, McDowell County commissioner, recently told USA Today. If we dont get our highways this time, we wont get them in our lifetime.
Multiple sources tell Fox News that Susan Rice, former national security adviser under then-President Barack Obama, requested to unmask the names of Trump transition officials caught up in surveillance.
The unmasked names, of people associated with Donald Trump, were then sent to all those at the National Security Council, some at the Defense Department, then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and then-CIA Director John Brennan essentially, the officials at the top, including former Rice deputy Ben Rhodes.
The names were part of incidental electronic surveillance of candidate and President-elect Trump and people close to him, including family members, for up to a year before he took office.
It was not clear how Rice knew to ask for the names to be unmasked, but the question was being posed by the sources late Monday.
Such amazing reporting on unmasking and the crooked scheme against us by @foxandfriends. "Spied on before nomination." The real story. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 3, 2017
"What I know is this ... If the intelligence community professionals decide that theres some value, national security, foreign policy or otherwise in unmasking someone, they will grant those requests," former Obama State Department spokeswoman and Fox News contributor Marie Harf told Fox News' Martha MacCallum on "The First 100 Days." "And we have seen no evidence ... that there was partisan political notice behind this and we cant say that unless theres actual evidence to back that up."
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, asked about the revelations at Mondays briefing, declined to comment specifically on what role Rice may have played or officials motives.
Im not going to comment on this any further until [congressional] committees have come to a conclusion, he said, while contrasting the medias alleged lack of interest in these revelations with the intense coverage of suspected Trump-Russia links.
When names of Americans are incidentally collected, they are supposed to be masked, meaning the name or names are redacted from reports whether it is international or domestic collection, unless it is an issue of national security, crime or if their security is threatened in any way. There are loopholes and ways to unmask through backchannels, but Americans are supposed to be protected from incidental collection. Sources told Fox News that in this case, they were not.
This comes in the wake of Evelyn Farkas television interview last month in which the former Obama deputy secretary of defense said in part: I was urging my former colleagues and, frankly speaking, the people on the Hill it was more actually aimed at telling the Hill people, get as much information as you can, get as much intelligence as you can, before President Obama leaves the administration.
Meanwhile, Fox News also is told that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes knew about unmasking and leaking back in January, well before President Trumps tweet in March alleging wiretapping.
Nunes has faced criticism from Democrats for viewing pertinent documents on White House grounds and announcing their contents to the press. But sources said the intelligence agencies slow-rolled Nunes. He could have seen the logs at other places besides the White House SCIF [secure facility], but it had already been a few weeks. So he went to the White House because he could protect his sources and he could get to the logs.
As the Obama administration left office, it also approved new rules that gave the NSA much broader powers by relaxing the rules about sharing intercepted personal communications and the ability to share those with 16 other intelligence agencies.
Rice is no stranger to controversy. As the U.S. Ambassador to the UN, she appeared on several Sunday news shows to defend the adminstration's later debunked claim that the Sept. 11, 2012 attacks on a U.S. consulate in Libya was triggered by an Internet video.
Rice also told ABC News in 2014 that Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl "served the United States with honor and distinction" and that he "wasn't simply a hostage; he was an American prisoner of war captured on the battlefield."
Bergdahl is currently facing court-martial on charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy for allegedly walking off his post in Afghanistan.
Reversing the steps of his predecessor, President Trump on Monday welcomed Egyptian President Abdel- Fattah al-Sissi to the White House, praising him for doing a fantastic job and pledging U.S. support.
Al-Sissi and Trump were expected to discuss ways the two countries can collaborate in the fight against terrorism as well as ways to bolster Egypts economy.
Like Trump, al-Sissi believes he can eradicate radical Islamic extremism.
The Egyptian president hailed Trump on Monday for his "unique personality" and vowed to work with the U.S. "to counter this evil ideology that is claiming innocent lives, that is bringing devastation to communities and nations and that is terrorizing the innocent people."
Since the military overthrew Egypt's first post-revolution president, the popularly elected Mohamed Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood member, al-Sissi has cracked down on political Islamists. Al-Sissi also has shown a heavy hand to Egyptians who've deemed his presidency illegitimate, often relegating human rights concerns to national security.
Trump and al-Sissi met in September during the presidential campaign. Al-Sissi was the first foreign leader to reach out to Trump after his November win against Hillary Clinton.
Reflecting on their first encounter in New York shortly before the general election, Trump said al-Sissi is someone "very close to me."
"Together, we will fight terrorism and other things and we're going to be friends for a very, very long time," the American leader said, citing a "great bond with the people of Egypt.
Al-Sissis government believes its success in fighting radicalism depends critically on U.S. aid.
Egypt is among the top recipients of U.S. military and economic assistance, but the aid is being evaluated as part of the Trump administration's push for dramatic budget cuts to diplomacy and development. It receives $1.3 billion annually in aid, plus hundreds of millions in economic assistance from the U.S. Agency for International Development and other programs potentially on the chopping block.
Trump has vowed to work closely with Arab allies in the fight against the Islamic State group. As a neighbor to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, Libya and Sudan, maintaining stability in Egypt is a high priority. But it has sometimes been a relationship from which the U.S. receives little in return, and Trump has said he won't tolerate imbalances in other partnerships, as with China and many European allies.
Egypt's economy is forecast to grow by 4 percent this year, according to the World Bank, but the figure heavily accounts for capital gains in oil and gas.
Conditions on the Egyptian streets tell a very different story.
Unemployment hovers at 12.7 percent -- a sore spot for millions of Egyptians who protested in 2011 to demand the removal of then-President Hosni Mubarak. Then, unemployment was 9 percent. Youth are hardest hit by job shortages, with about 30 percent out of work.
Egyptians supporters of al-Sissi criticize the Obama administration's handling of the Egyptian uprising six years ago, believing American complacency ushered in Muslim Brotherhood control.
Since then, extremist attacks have spiked, particularly on the Sinai Peninsula which borders Israel and Gaza. Cairo -- home to some 20 million people -- has seen several militant attacks, including a December bombing at a church that killed more than two dozen people.
Egypt's minority Christians, who comprise about a tenth of the population, are particularly encouraged by Trump's presidency, hoping the American president will team up with al-Sissi to more forcefully address Egypt's growing extremism.
For Trump and al-Sissi, it's also a meeting of kindred spirits.
Both maintain a contentious relationship with the media and believe "bad" or "evil" people are infiltrating their borders. Both whip up supporters with talk of victories and seek to project a mystic sense of inevitable success. They've both challenged whether their country's judges are acting as roadblocks to democracy.
Al-Sissi, like Trump, is widely viewed as a polarizing figure in his country. That view manifesting itself on the streets outside the White House Monday, where rival protests for Trump and opposing both Trump and al-Sisi swelled before the Egyptian's arrival.
In the sea of American and Egyptian flags, some chanted "We love Sisi, we love Trump!" Others held signs of al-Sissi and Trump and chanted "Illegitimate," a cry harkening back to the Arab Spring.
Former President Obama repeatedly admonished al-Sisi during his tenure and briefly froze some U.S. military aid to Egypt in 2013 but had it restored in 2015 because it was in the interest of U.S. national security.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A meeting between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin could mend the rift between the two nations, a Kremlin spokesman said Sunday.
Dmitry Peskov told ABCs This Week that relations between the U.S. and Russia are maybe worse than the Cold War, but a meeting between the two sides have a chance to repair divisions.
I think if two presidents meet each other, if they exchange views, then there will be a chance for our volatile relations to get better, Peskov said.
Putin previously suggested that a meeting could take place in July when Trump travels to Germany for the G20 summit or at a later summit for the Arctic Council in Finland, according to the New York Post.
Putin said Thursday that Russia was ready for the meeting, but will wait for the heated political divisions to die down for Trump.
Peskov also said that allegations of Russia trying to interfere in the 2016 presidential election are fake news and slander despite U.S. intelligence agencies agreeing that Putin was behind the hacking of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clintons campaign manager John Podesta.
California Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, told CNNs State of the Union that panel members still have no definitive evidence that the Trump campaign was working with Moscow to defeat Clinton.
Click for more from the New York Post.
President Trumps son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, is in Iraq and is traveling with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joe Dunford, a White House aide confirmed to Fox News Sunday.
Kushner was invited by Dunford to travel with him to the Middle East.
Other details about the trip have not been released. A senior administration official told the Associated Press that Kushner wanted to see the Iraq situation for himself and show support to Baghdad.
Kushner's West Wing portfolio is robust. He has been deeply involved with presidential staffing and has played the role of shadow diplomat, advising on relations with the Middle East, Canada and Mexico.
Last week he launched a task force meant to modernize government using lessons drawn from the private sector.
And though Kushner had no previous diplomatic or government experience, Trump also tasked him with trying to broker a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
"If you can't produce peace in the Middle East, nobody can," Trump told Kushner at a gala a few days before his inauguration.
His visit marked an early foray for the Trump administration into the situation in Iraq and came just two weeks after Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said he was assured by the president the U.S. will accelerate its support for his country's struggle against the Islamic State.
Al-Abadi met with Trump and Kushner in Washington last month and said he had the impression that the Trump administration would take a more aggressive approach, although he did not say what that might entail.
Fox News Serafin Gomez and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
California reaches for the stars wallet:Home to the Mojave Air & Space Port and promising launch companies such as SpaceX and Virgin Orbit, California has a thriving rocket industry. Accordingly, the state is now looking into taxing this vibrant industry, and the Franchise Tax Board has issued a proposed regulation for public comment.The proposal says that California-based companies that launch spacecraft will have to pay a tax based upon "mileage" traveled by that spacecraft from California. (No, we're not exactly sure what this means, either). The proposed regulations were first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, and Thomas Lo Grossman, a tax attorney at the Franchise Tax Board, told the newspaper that the rules are designed to mirror the ways taxes are levied on terrestrial transportation and logistics firms operating in California, like trucking or train companies.The tax board is seeking public input from now until June 16, when it is expected to vote on the proposed tax. The federal government already has its own taxes for commercial space companies, and until now no other state has proposed taxing commercial spaceflight. In fact most other states, including places like Florida, Texas, and Georgia, offer launch providers tax incentives to move business into their areas.Phil Larson, a former Obama White House official who now is assistant dean of the University of Colorado's College of Engineering and Applied Science, told Ars that California is discriminating against rocket companies by doubly taxing them. He also noted that such a tax would impede California's ability to launch climate satellites, which Governor Jerry Brown has said he would do if President Trump cuts the ability of federal scientists to study Earth's climate.Instead of such a tax, Larson said, California should work with industry to develop a system of taxation that encourages investment in the state. "The state could advance a proactive effort in the legislature to make sure that California doesnt end up at the back of the bus in the new space race by supporting a national framework for space innovation," Larson said.LINKY: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...nches/&usg=AFQjCNHgNNbaYsbowZPasKa44BQ5xbMSnQ
President Trump began Monday with a flood of tweets reviving questions surrounding general election foe Hillary Clinton -- and highlighting a Fox News report on the Trump team surveillance controversy.
Trump tweeted twice within five minutes -- first, about the Clinton campaign being given questions prior to primary debates and town halls and then about Clinton campaign chairman John Podestas brother, Tony Podesta, failing to register as a foreign agent when representing a major Russian bank.
Was the brother of John Podesta paid big money to get the sanctions on Russia lifted? Did Hillary know? Trump tweeted.
He added: Did Hillary Clinton ever apologize for receiving the answers to the debate? Just asking!
The messages come amid increasing Democratic claims about an alleged connection between Trumps campaign and Russian officials and a pair of congressional investigations probing Russia's meddling in the election.
Trump started the message storm by praising Fox News reporting on Obama administration officials alleged efforts to unmask Trump officials caught up in incidental surveillance and widely disseminate the information. The Obama intelligence official who did the unmasking was very well known, very high up, very senior in the intelligence world, a source told Fox News Adam Housley and Malia Zimmerman on Friday.
Such amazing reporting on unmasking and the crooked scheme against us by @foxandfriends. Spied on before nomination. The real story, Trump tweeted.
European Space Agency (ESA) artist-in-residence Jorge Manes Rubio has drawn up plans for a "moon temple" that would help meet the spiritual, social and psychological needs of lunar settlers.
Those needs will likely be considerable, given that the pioneers will be isolated from the rest of humanity on a world hostile to life as we know it, Rubio said.
His vision involves building a dome on the edge of Shackleton Crater, which is 13 miles wide and 2.6 miles deep. Shackleton is a prime candidate for a future lunar outpost, experts have said; the crater lies at the moon's south pole, and its permanently shadowed depths are thought to harbor large amounts of water ice. [Visit the Moon Temple: Jorge Manes Rubio's Lunar Art in Pictures]
But the peaks along its rim enjoy nearly constant sunlight a fact that explains the title of Rubio's project (which will be available next month as a free app): "Peak of Eternal Light ."
The temple's interior would feature a large communal area akin to the agora of ancient Greek city-states, where settlers could chat, put on plays and perform other activities. At the center of this space would sit not an altar but a highly capable telescope (ideally employing an advanced mirror of liquid metal that could be brought to the temple in a bottle), Rubio said.
So the structure would be a multipurpose building, a temple more in the "primitive" sense than the modern one, he said. Indeed, Rubio said he drew inspiration from many archeological sites, especially El Caracol, part of the Chichen Itza pre-Columbian Mayan complex in Mexico.
"It was a temple but also an observatory," Rubio told Space.com. "I really like that idea, so I think I wanted to kind of reinterpret, or reimagine, what El Caracol could be on the moon."
The moon temple would be 3D printed from lunar soil, further linking the structure to ancient cultures on Earth, which also built with dirt and rock, Rubio said.
There is great value in making, or strengthening, such a link, he said.
"Early civilizations had a deeper connection with the cosmos, and they had a deeper connection with nature. Somewhere along the way, we lost that connection," he said. "I really hope that we can get it back. And when I look at the moon, that's what I feel: There are no borders, there are no nations there, there's nothing to divide us religion, whatever. The moon is a mythological symbol of unity for all mankind."
The lunar temple would also feature an "oculus" through which people could observe the Earth. The planet would be visible every two weeks from Shackleton's rim. (Earth is in sight 24/7 from some other locations near the lunar south pole, but such constant visual contact would probably not be in the best interests of an outpost striving for permanence and self-sufficiency, Rubio said.)
"Peak of Eternal Light" is an art project, not an ESA engineering plan. But Rubio said he would love to see the temple make its way to the moon , if not as a functioning piece of an active lunar colony, then perhaps as a sort of monument to human ingenuity, curiosity and unity.
"Definitely, I would like to create something there," he said.
Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+ . Follow us @Spacedotcom , Facebook or Google+ . Originally published on Space.com .
The highest peak in the United States?
Easy: Mount McKinley in Alaska. The mountain is officially called "Denali" now, since the Department of Interior finally adopted the native Dena'ina name in 2015.
But Denali has only been part of the U.S. proper since 1959, when Alaska gained statehood. What was the highest peak in the United States before then? For decades no one was quite sure, because it's a surprisingly close call.
Being a frontiersman wasnt an exact science. When the American West was being explored, the hard problem wasn't finding the high mountainsit was measuring them. Today, thanks to GPS and advanced mathematical modeling of the "geoid" (the underlying shape of the Earth), elevations can be measured to within a fraction of an inch. But a century ago, a surveyor's best option would be to climb a mountain, and then boil water or measure barometric pressure at the peak. So altitude measurements would be taken in inches (of mercury), not feet.
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Every tall mountain in America is basically the same height. As a result, mountaintop measurements could be wrong by hundreds of feet and that matters a lot in the continental United States. Due in part to coincidence and in part to a geologic process called the "glacial buzz saw," which limits how high mountains grow, all 30 of the highest peaks in the lower 48, from the Cascades of Washington to the Rockies of Colorado to the Sierras of California, are within just 500 feet of each other in height.
In Colorado, size matters. For example, Washington's Mount Rainier was measured at 14,408 feet in 1914, while California's Mount Whitney was originally believed to be 14,100 feet. This would make Colorado's Mount Elbert, at 14,433 feet, the highest mountain in America. But many Coloradans were annoyed that Elbert might even be the highest mountain in Colorado. Fans of nearby Mount Massive, which has a much more impressive silhouette, built a stone cairn atop its summit to retake the crown, only to have the manmade addition torn down by Elbert partisans.
Denali makes molehills out of mountains. Due to mismeasurements, many atlases and gazetteers listed Rainier as the nation's highest point well into the 20th century. Other sources placed it behind Whitney (correctly), Shasta (incorrectly), and several of the Rockies (both correctly and incorrectly). Its gradual demotion annoyed Alden J. Blethen, publisher of The Seattle Times, who wrote an angry front-page editorial accusing the other mountains of cheating by "starting" at such high-altitude bases.
Thanks to today's better surveying, the order is clear: Whitney, then three Colorado peaks, then Rainier. But Alaska statehood made the whole battle moot. Denali is over a mile higher than any of them.
Check out the world's biggest roundabout: Malaysia's curious claim to fame
A powerful storm system tearing through the Southeast killed a fifth person Monday after it flipped a mobile home in South Carolina, emergency officials announced.
The storm could still unleash tornadoes and powerful wind gusts Monday from parts of Georgia to the Carolinas, forecasters have warned.
In Whitmire, S.C., an hour's drive northwest of Columbia, the storms flipped the mobile home multiple times, killing a man inside, Union County Sheriff David Taylor told Fox Carolina.
I-85 COLLAPSE: CREWS RAZING FALLEN HIGHWAY OVERPASS IN ATLANTA
Johnny Thomas, the mayor of Glendora, Miss., which is about 140 miles north of Jackson, told Fox News heavy winds caused a massive tree to fall onto his home and, suddenly, his house went dark. Though he crawled out alive with minor injuries, his wife did not survive.
"Sitting here looking at TV my wife and I hear a loud wind and looked like it was instant just a loud wind, Thomas said. A few seconds later, he said, his wife was trapped under the fallen roof.
Bill Parker, the meteorologist-in-charge at the National Weather Service of Jackson said the weather began improving but flooding was still a concern.
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When you have an extraordinary meteorological event like we had last night that produces a lot of rainfall it leads to a hydrological event, Parker said on Monday, so now were looking at how our rivers are going to rise, how our lakes are going to rise based on that heavy amount of rainfall we received last night.
In Louisiana, a mother and her 3-year-old daughter were killed Sunday morning when a tornado flipped their mobile home off its foundation. The following morning, a Fisher-Price tricycle with yellow handles and purple wheels sat outside the wreckage. It was a visual reminder of just how quickly tornados can strike.
Francine Gotch, 38, and her daughter, Neville Alexander, were inside the trailer when the storm hit the rural community of Breaux Bridge, about 50 miles west of Baton Rouge, St. Martin Parish Sheriff's Office Maj. Ginny Higgins said.
"It hit the trailer, flipped it and tore its side off," Higgins said.
Alexander's dad had gone to the grocery store just before the storm occurred and arrived back home to find Gotch and his daughter dead, witnesses told KLFY-TV.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards put the entire state on high alert and urged residents to stay off the roads. He told people that their cellphones should be charged and close by so they can receive urgent weather alerts through Monday.
"It is an extremely dangerous weather event," he said.
In Mississippi, Gov. Phil Bryant confirmed the deaths of two people in the state.
We are coordinating with @msema to assess and respond to storm damage. Had two fatalities. Please pray for the families. Phil Bryant (@PhilBryantMS) April 3, 2017
Jacqueline Williams, 52, was in the process of running a newspaper delivery route when her car slid off a road into a creek in her hometown of Florence before dawn Monday, authorities said. She dialed 911 from the car as it went down, said Rankin County Coroner David Ruth.
Ruth said Williams was trying to relay her location to a dispatcher as the car settled into the swirling waters. "She was trying to tell the dispatcher where she was, and she could actually hear the sirens."
The two lost contact, and Ruth said a swift-water recovery team later found Williams' body in the creek outside the car.
In Jackson, Miss., about 60 people were evacuated to a nearby hotel because of rising flood waters. Local authorities used boats to transport people to dry land.
Another hard-hit area was Alexandria, La., where winds blew off the roof of a gas station and knocked out power to thousands, KALB-TV reported. Customers and storm employees sought shelter in a beer cooler.
Authorities are asking for residents to have a plan in place pick a room without windows or many doors, keep your cell phone charged and if you live in a mobile home try to find another place to stay during large storm systems.
Fire officials in the Texas village of Point Venture said several people witnessed an apparent funnel cloud there Sunday morning. Travis County Emergency Services District 1 Fire Chief Donnie Norman said there were several structures with severe damage.
"There was one home with pretty heavy damage. The roof was completely removed. There was one resident there at the time, but she received no major injuries," Norman said.
A Texas state trooper reported seeing a suspected tornado touch down early Sunday morning near Center Point, Texas, about 55 miles northwest of San Antonio, Texas. National Weather Service meteorologist Yvette Benavides said there were no reports of major or structural damage.
Fox News' Will Carr, Matt Finn, Willie James Inman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, is in Iraq.
A senior administration official says Kushner is traveling in the Middle East with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford.
Other details about the trip are not being released. The official isn't authorized to speak about confidential meetings by name and demanded anonymity.
Kushner's West Wing portfolio is robust. He has been deeply involved with presidential staffing and has played the role of shadow diplomat, advising on relations with the Middle East, Canada and Mexico. Last week he launched a task force meant to modernize government using lessons drawn from the private sector.
Kushner is married to Trump's oldest daughter, Ivanka.
Here are five news stories and events to start your week:
The Carl Vinson carrier strike group has been ordered to cancel planned port visits in Australia and sail to the Western Pacific days after North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile from its eastern coast. U.S. Third Fleet announced Saturday night that the San Diego-based strike group, which just completed a four-day port visit in Singapore, will now sail north and "report on station" in the Western Pacific. Multiple outlets reported that the ships would be positioned off the Korean peninsula. Cmdr. David Benham, a spokesman for Pacific Command, called the North's missile tests and pursuit of nuclear weapons "reckless, irresponsible, and destabilizing."
A U.S. soldier was killed Saturday during combat operations in Afghanistan, according to the U.S. military. The unidentified U.S. Special Forces team member died of injuries sustained while serving with Afghan forces during an operation against militants affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, and a branch called Khorasan that operates in Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to a release from U.S. Forces-Afghanistan. "I offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of our fallen comrade," Gen. John W. Nicholson said. "We will always remember our fallen comrades and commit ourselves to deliver on their sacrifice."
The Navy has extended the operational pause implemented for its fleet of T-45C Goshawk trainer aircraft without a stated end date to allow leadership to develop a plan to address hypoxia-like episodes in the cockpit. Naval Air Forces officials first announced a three-day operational pause for the aircraft Wednesday, less than a day after Fox News reported that some 100 instructor pilots had refused to fly March 31, citing safety concerns. Officials confirmed that about 40 percent of flights in T-45C training commands in Kingsville, Texas; Pensacola, Florida; and Meridian, Mississippi, were canceled that day because of operational risk issues raised by the pilots.
The Marine Corps has taken punitive action against a pair of Marines whose online activity was investigated as part of a effort to crack down on misogynistic internet postings and "revenge porn" sharing within the service. Two enlisted Marines -- a noncommissioned officer and a junior enlisted service member -- both attached to 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, out of Camp Pendleton, California, were demoted in paygrade and punished with 45 days of military restriction and 45 days of additional punitive duties. The Marines were sent to NJP because of derogatory comments made about one of their more senior enlisted leaders.
Dr. Mark E. Green, a medical doctor, Tennessee state senator and decorated West Point graduate, has been nominated to serve as the 23rd secretary of the Army, the White House announced Friday. His nomination comes more than a month after billionaire Vincent Viola, President Donald Trump's previous pick for the position, removed himself from consideration due to business interests. Green served in the Army as an infantry officer from 1986 to 2006, deploying twice to Iraq and once to Afghanistan while on active duty. He earned the prestigious Army Ranger Tab early, and later served as a captain with the 82nd Airborne Division.
-- Hope Hodge Seck contributed to this report.
-- Brendan McGarry can be reached at brendan.mcgarry@military.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Brendan_McGarry.
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President Donald Trump is suggesting ahead of his meeting later this week with Chinese President Xi Jinping that he can handle Washington's North Korea problem with or without Beijing's help "totally."
Is the self-proclaimed master of the deal doing what he does best talking up his game?
Even Trump said going it alone is not his Plan A. While declaring the U.S. is ready to deal with Pyongyang on its own, Trump stressed in an interview with the Financial Times that he'd rather much rather, actually have Beijing on board. China, he noted, has the most influence over the North economically and politically.
But can he sway Beijing into doing more of what Washington wants? The big meeting is set to take place at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in South Florida on Thursday and Friday.
Here's a closer look at some of the rhetoric being tossed around, by Trump in the interview released Sunday, and by a top U.S. official:
___
TRUMP: "China has great influence over North Korea. And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they won't. And if they do that will be very good for China, and if they don't it won't be good for anyone."
THE CONTEXT: China is without doubt a lifeline for North Korea. It accounts for about 90 percent of the North's trade and is a key supplier of fuel and many of the other necessities that keep the North's economy running. If Beijing were to aggressively clamp down on all its trade with Pyongyang, the North would certainly feel the pain and possibly collapse.
The question, however, is what Trump means by "help."
Sanctions advocates in the U.S. believe that with just the right amount of pressure, North Korea can be coerced into giving up its nuclear weapons. But that's not a certainty. Too much pressure could also lead to open conflict with a tremendously high cost in casualties and deaths, wreaking havoc on the Chinese, South Korean and Japanese and by extension U.S. economies. A North Korean implosion, meanwhile, could be even more problematic, causing a massive refugee crisis. As Beijing well knows, that would impact China far more dramatically than the faraway U.S.
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TRUMP: According to the Financial Times report, when pressed on whether the U.S. really could resolve the North Korean denuclearization problem without China, he said, "Totally."
"I don't have to say any more. Totally."
THE CONTEXT: So there it is, the tease.
If Trump does have a dramatic solution to this problem, it will have to be pretty clever. And the stakes are extremely high.
Back in 1994, President Bill Clinton considered a pre-emptive strike to take out North Korea's nuclear weapons' building capability. That was ruled out as too risky. He chose negotiations, and those failed, too, after George W. Bush took over.
Fast forward to today, and North Korea has a nuclear arsenal. It may already be able to hit Japan and the tens of thousands of U.S. troops based there with nuclear warheads. It could be just a few years if that away from having an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland.
Whatever Trump has in mind, any change in the status quo that comes about without China's participation, or Russia's, is likely to antagonize North Korea's two nuclear-armed neighbors.
Trump may not need to tell a newspaper what his plan is. But if he's got one, leaders across Asia are all ears.
___
AND P.S., FROM YOUR U.N. AMBASSADOR: Trump's ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, also had some tough talk over the weekend but it conflicted with the president's.
She said on ABC's "This Week" that China needs "to show us how concerned they are ... They need to put pressure on North Korea. The only country that can stop North Korea is China, and they know that."
THE CONTEXT: If Haley is right and China is the only country that can stop North Korea, it stands to reason the U.S. can't resolve this issue alone. And no one expects it to.
U.N. resolutions and unilateral sanctions imposed on North Korea have so far failed to deter it from conducting nuclear and missile tests. Last year, the North conducted two nuclear tests and two dozen tests of ballistic missiles. During his swing through Asia last month, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the past 20 years of U.S. policy toward North Korea have been a failure. In fact, that could be extended all the way back to President Truman and the Korean War, which thanks to China's decision to back the North ended not in a peace treaty in 1953 but in an armistice.
So what would the U.S. actually do if China doesn't cooperate?
"China has to cooperate," Haley said.
A one-month-old baby was killed and a man was injured after a shooting led to a car accident in North Las Vegas, Nev. Saturday evening.
The North Las Vegas Police Department said officers responded to a reported shooting at approximately 9:15 p.m.
Investigators say five people were shot at in a gray Chrysler sedan that was in the parking lot of an apartment complex. The car was occupied by a 19-year-old female driver, a 22-year-old man and three children ranging in ages from a 4-year-old boy to the 1-month-old boy according to police.
Detectives said the occupants decided to drive to a local hospital, but got into a crash.
Witness Gideon Villena saw the crash while working at a nearby gas station.
"She kept yelling, 'My baby, my baby, my baby, dead,'" Villena told Fox 5 Vegas. "She just kept getting mad and crying and mad and crying."
NLVPD reported the baby and the male passenger were both shot in the original incident. The boy succumbed to his injuries, while the man is in stable condition at the University Medical Center.
Other occupants of the car were not injured according to police.
Detectives are working to get more information on the suspected shooter and said the incident doesn't appear to be a random act of violence.
Click for more from Fox5Vegas.com.
Three people are dead and four were injured after a boiler exploded at a box company near Soulard. It happened shortly before 8 a.m. at the Loy-Lange Box Company located at 222 Russell Boulevard.
Bommarito Automotive SkyFOX Helicopter is over the scene.
According to St. Louis City Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson, a van-sized piece of the boiler went air born and crashed through the roof of Faultless Healthcare Linen, located at 2030 S. Broadway.
There are three confirmed fatalities.
Two people are in critical condition and two others are seriously injured. Jenkerson says it's unclear if anyone was working on the boiler at the time.
The St. Louis Fire Department says the explosion is affecting three buildings with debris. The Collapse Rescue Task Force along with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department are investigating.
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Five people were wounded in a shooting at a Northern California house party Saturday, police said.
Pittsburg police officers responded to reports of a shooting at around 11 p.m. while a birthday party was going on. Fighting between two groups led to the shooting, police said.
All five were taken to a hospital and were in stable condition, police said.
A 23-year-old Oakley man was arrested on suspicion of several felonies, including assault with a deadly weapon, KTVU reported. The man was not immediately identified.
Police said the suspect showed up to the party with a group of people and were asked to leave by the hosts. However, a fight broke out between revelers and the group.
Police said the suspect pulled out a gun and started shooting before others partygoers subdued him.
Click for more from KTVU.
Second Amendment advocates are on a bit of a political roll recently, with four major victories in just one week.
House Speaker Paul Ryan pulled an anti-gun healthcare proposal from consideration; the governor of North Dakota signed a bill letting residents carry a firearm without a permit; New Mexico lawmakers defeated a gun registry bill and the Supreme Court ruled for a defendant whom a gun rights group had supported.
It gives us a lot of hope, Erich Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, said to Fox News. We just spent the past eight years on the defensive. Now we are playing offensive ball.
In Washington, House Speaker Ryan, under pressure from the Freedom Caucus, withdrew the GOP healthcare bill, often referred to as ObamaCare Lite. Many in Congress opposed the plan, including the Gun Owners of America (GAO). The GOA had requested three changes in the bill: that insurance companies be prohibited from discriminating against gun owners; that doctors not create a de facto gun registry by entering patients gun information into a federal database; and that agencies not be able to troll Medicaid and federal health databases in order to send names to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) gun ban list.
In North Dakota, the governor signed a GOA-backed bill to make the state the 14th in the country to allow residents to carry a firearm with a permit.
In New Mexico, a committee of the state legislature rejected a Michael Bloomberg-endorsed proposal for universal background checks. New Mexico's sheriffs opposed the bill, which would have registered virtually every gun sale in the state -- and banned virtually every private transfer of weapons that did not first get permission from the government.
The biggest victory came from the Supreme Court, which decided in favor of a man whose lawyers argued that there had been a violation of his Fourth Amendment rights, which protect citizens from unreasonable search and seizure. His lawyers argued that the Fourth Amendment protected their client not just during an arrest but after an indictment and arraignment. The Supreme Court, in a 6-2 opinion, agreed with the position of the GOA, which had filed amicus brief with the high court.
Gun owners may soon have more reasons to celebrate. The House voted to repeal a gun ban for veterans, and the bills prospects in the Senate appear good.
Its very encouraging, Pratt said to Fox News. People are very optimistic.
Certainly gun owners are encouraged by what is coming up.
A Kansas man pleaded guilty to killing his 7-year-old son and feeding his emaciated body to pigs.
Michael A. Jones, 46, of Kansas City, pleaded guilty on Friday in Wyandotte County District Court to one count of first-degree murder in the death of little Adrian Jones, whose remains were found in a barn at a property rented by Jones and his wife, the Kansas City Star reported.
NYPD OFFICER'S KILLER SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON IN EAST HARLEM SHOOTING
Judy Conway, the boys grandmother, told the newspaper she had been prepped to testify in Jones trial, but was relieved to learn of the guilty plea.
It makes me pretty happy, she told the newspaper. Im relieved that [Jones] and Heather [Jones] will hopefully be behind bars for the rest of their life. It wont bring Adrian back, of course, but it makes me feel really good that neither one can hurt another child again.
The boys stepmother, Heather Jones, 31, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and child abuse in November. She was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years. She also received an additional five years and eight months in prison for child abuse.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Sheryl Lidtke described Adrian Jones as a curious, energetic boy who was cute as a button and said the abuse he endured was the worst she had seen in her nearly three decades as a prosecutor.
Click for more from The New York Post.
A California man was arrested by police Saturday on suspicion of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl.
Timothy Marble, 50, was charged on suspicion of numerous counts of sexual acts with a minor, kidnapping and child abuse, according to Sgt. Spencer Crum of the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office.
Sonoma County Sheriff's deputies' first interaction with Marble was during a call he made to 911 around 5:40 a.m. Saturday. Marble claimed his passenger had jumped from their moving vehicle at South Harbour Way as they drove down Highway 1.
NO CHARGES AGAINST OKLAHOMA MAN WHO KILLED 3 INTRUDERS
As deputies spoke with Marble about the incident, the 13-year-old passenger emerged from some nearby bushes, her body covered in road rash. She told deputies Marble had sexually assaulted her.
Marble was arrested at the scene and an ambulance took the girl to get treatment at a hospital. There she was reunited with her mother and interviewed by detectives.
In her interview with officials, Crum reports that the 13-year-old described how she had run away from her Napa home Thursday night following an argument with her mother.
Marble is a convicted felon and has a long criminal history of drug charges. This was his first sexual assault offense. He has been booked without bail into the Sonoma County Jail.
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A Marine vet in Phoenix is outraged that someone would torch his American flag.
KPNX-TV reported Saturday that Brian Ellison found the burned remains of the flag in his driveway Wednesday morning. The flag was attached to the front of his home.
Theres two big pieces that you feel when you see something like that, Ellison told the station. Youre sad, and youre mad. There's not a lot that you can do about either one of them. So I came home and put another flag up.
Ellison reported the vandalism to Phoenix police, who were investigating, the station reported.
Lisa Ellison told KTVK-TV that the look on her husband after he found the flag in the driveway was like somebody shot him.
He just was devastated that somebody would do this, she said.
Ellison and his wife live in a quiet neighborhood, according to KPNX.
The flag means everything to me, Ellison told the station. When you say your oath and you join the military you stand in front of that flag when you raise your right hand. When we lose a service member or a veteran dies we put it on the casket.
A high-flying Turkish-Iranian businessman is busted in Miami, accused of laundering money for Iran. Turkey accuses the prominent American prosecutor of ties to a shadowy group it blames for a failed coup attempt. President Donald Trump fires the prosecutor. Then the businessman hires a former New York mayor close to Trump to help him avoid conviction.
And the case becomes a bitter distraction for two allies that are supposed to be focused on fighting the Islamic State group.
In the year since Reza Zarrab was arrested, his case has grown ever more complex and far-reaching. As Turkey presses the Trump administration to get the charges tossed, an increasingly messy web of connections has come into view, prompting questions about conflicts of interest, Turkish corruption and pro-Turkey lobbying by individuals near the center of Trump's orbit.
On Friday, federal prosecutors raised fresh concerns about a recent trip that former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani made to Turkey to consult with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the case. Joining Giuliani was former Attorney General Michael Mukasey.
Both were hired by Zarrab's defense. But oddly, neither is involved in pleading the case in U.S. District Court, leading prosecutors to wonder if the defense is trying to circumvent the regular judicial process by going above prosecutors' heads.
In a letter to the judge, Zarrab's attorneys said what Giuliani and Mukasey are up to "quite frankly is none of the government's business."
Zarrab, a 33-year-old gold-trader married to a Turkish pop star, was arrested in Florida last year. He and several others are accused of conspiring to evade U.S. sanctions against Iran, using a network of companies to mask the true nature of transactions and defraud multiple banks. Prosecutors say they processed hundreds of millions of dollars for Iran and claim to have thousands of pages of bank, email and phone records to prove it. Zarrab pleaded not guilty.
It's not surprising the involvement of Giuliani and Mukasey would raise red flags.
Giuliani, one of candidate Trump's staunchest supporters, advises the president, in an unofficial capacity, on cybersecurity. Both his and Mukasey's law firms have represented bank victims in Zarrab's case, which prosecutors say may be a conflict of interest.
Giuliani's company has also registered as a foreign agent for Turkey, a trait shared with another of Trump's advisers: Michael Flynn. The former Trump national security adviser had to register retroactively for work he performed in 2016 that could have benefited Turkey's government. At the time, Flynn was a Trump campaign adviser.
There have been no indications Flynn ever lobbied on Zarrab's case. Flynn's foreign agent filing says his intelligence firm was hired by a company owned by a Turkish businessman close to Erdogan, and conducted research into a Muslim cleric and Erdogan foe who also emerges in Zarrab's case.
If there's intrigue about the defense team, it extends to the prosecution.
Last month Trump fired Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney who launched the case against Zarrab, as part of a purge of Obama-era prosecutors. Bharara was dismissed even though Trump made a point during the presidential transition of asking him to stay.
Bharara's possible replacement: Mukasey's son, Marc Mukasey, who is frequently mentioned as a contender. That could put the younger Mukasey in charge of prosecuting the man his father has been trying to set free.
For Turkey, the saga is bigger than Zarrab's case. It has its origins in a massive 2013 corruption scandal in Turkey involving allegations of bribery, fraud and smuggling. Zarrab and Turkish state-owned bank Halkbank were at the center of the storm.
Homes linked to several top Erdogan lieutenants were raided and three sons of Turkish ministers detained. Erdogan dismissed the allegations as a conspiracy by Fetullah Gulen, the Muslim cleric who lives in Pennsylvania and leads a global movement of schools and charities.
The corruption scandal eventually subsided. Yet it contributed to a dramatic falling out between Erdogan then Turkey's prime minister and Gulen, whose movement had long been allied with Erdogan's party.
The rivalry has only grown worse. Turkey has been feverishly seeking Gulen's extradition from the U.S. after blaming him for a failed coup attempt last July that killed more than 270 people. Gulen denies involvement in the coup, and the U.S. has said Turkey's evidence is unconvincing.
Although the Turkish charges against Zarrab were ultimately dropped, his subsequent arrest in the U.S. has brought fresh attention to concerns about corruption in Turkey. Worsening matters for Erdogan, the deputy CEO of Halkbank, Mehmet Hakan Atilla, was arrested in New York this week on charges of conspiring with Zarrab.
Turkey's response has been forceful. Erdogan's government has argued that Atilla's prosecution is politically motivated. And at a meeting this week with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu offered another explanation: Bharara, the former Manhattan prosecutor, is loyal to Gulen.
"He retweets or likes everything that is anti-Turkey," Cavusoglu said.
Bharara says he's never been to Turkey and had to Google "Gulen" to learn who he was. But the "Gulenist" charge from Erdogan's government isn't surprising.
Erdogan has regularly used Gulen as a foil, appealing to post-coup anxieties to turn Turks against his opponents. His government arrested tens of thousands after the coup over suspicions they played a role or were tied to Gulen. Democracy and rights advocates see it as an effort to consolidate power.
Aykan Erdemir, a former opposition member of Turkish parliament, said Turkey's leaders know they face risks if Zarrab's case prompts a fresh examination of corruption.
"What's the best defense? It's spinning an embarrassing sanctions-busting case into a global conspiracy," said Erdemir, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies. "And what's the best conspiracy theory that would sell at home? It's that this is a Gulenist conspiracy."
___
Associated Press writer Larry Neumeister in New York contributed to this report.
Sitting on the southern edge of the Great Basin Desert and towering almost 800 feet above the arid landscape of scrub brush and rocky buttes, the three massive smokestacks of the Navajo Generating Station can be seen from miles away.
Since the mid-1970s the coal-burning power plant has not only provided electrical power to customers across Arizona, Nevada and California. It also has been one of the main employers for members of the Navajo Nation living in the area as well as a source of government revenue and services such as free coal to heat homes in the winter.
But the plants future looks bleak as electric utility company Salt River Project and the plants four other owners recently voted to shut down operations at the end of 2019 citing concerns that coal power is not economically viable as many utilities turn toward cheaper and cleaner-burning fuels like natural gas.
While there is no doubt that the closure would be a major benefit for the air quality and overall environment, which includes nearby Antelope Canyon, the Colorado River and Lake Powell, the move would devastate the already economically-fragile Navajo and Hopi communities whose land the plant sits on. Now with President Trumps plan to inject new life into the slagging coal industry, two employees recently wrote a plan to have the federal government subsidize the coal the station buys from the nearby Kayenta Mine.
The generating station and the mine employee more than 800 people, and closing the plant would also mean the closure of the mine, which supplies millions of dollars worth of coal to the Navajo Generating Station a year.
We looked back at the auto industry, the banking industry, even some solar companies that were subsidized with millions and millions of dollars, Jerry Williams, an employee at the power plant for 36 years and the president of Navajo Nations Lechee Chapter House, told the Arizona Republic.
Williams, who co-wrote the plan with fellow plant worker Erwin Marks, said they have so far received the support of dozens of the 110 Navajo political chapter houses. While chapter house votes are not legally binding, they do influence delegates who serve on the Navajo Nation Council.
We havent had one turn us down so far, Williams said.
Under the plan, Peabody Energy the company that owns the Kayenta mine would provide the power plant with coal at a reduced price and the difference would be made up with subsidies from the federal government. Any deal would have to be approved with the consent of Peabody.
Peabody said in a statement to Fox News that the company has offered a proposal to keep the plant competitive and that an energy research firm it hired found that the Navajo Generating Station was still an economically viable operation.
"Peabody has come to the table with a lower, fixed coal price proposal representing a competitive fuel cost versus alternate generation sources and has engaged a globally recognized energy research firm to evaluate the plants economic profile," spokesperson Beth Sutton said in an email.
That doesnt appear to be the thinking of the Salt River Project (SPR), which said that while it supports the effort to keep the plant running it has no interest in continuing as a part owner in the operation.
SRP appreciates and supports the efforts of the Navajo Nation to explore all options to keep the plant operating beyond 2019 should they choose to do so, Scott Harelson, a spokesperson for Salt River Project, said in an email to Fox News. However, SRP will not be a participant of any potential new ownership group after our current lease ends on Dec. 22, 2019.
Harelson added that his company hopes that the plant can get a lease extension by July and, if that succeeds, Salt River Project would be open to purchasing power from the plant in the future.
If we are successful in obtaining a lease extension and if the Navajo Nation were to be successful in keeping the plant operating economically beyond 2019, SRP could potentially purchase power from NGS at that time if the price was consistent with our other alternatives, he said.
In late February, Navajo Generating Station and Keyenta Mine owners and stakeholders along with Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye meet with members of President Trumps Interior Department to discuss a plan to delay the decommissioning of the mine.
Begaye said in a statement to Fox News that the meeting was just the first steps and that the Navajo Nation needs more time to come up with a large-scale plan on how to save the plant.
Closing the Navajo Generating Station in 2019 would have a devastating impact on our nation by impacting thousands of jobs and dramatically reducing our revenue, Begaye said. We need more time to develop a comprehensive economic plan that allows the Navajo people who work at both the plant and Kayenta to continue to live on their homeland and practice their Navajo way of life.
The Trump administration has made coal a major part of its energy policies -- rolling back President Obamas climate initiatives and promising to revive the industry in places like West Virginia and Kentucky. But this may not be enough to save the Navajo Generating Station, or the coal industry overall.
Plant owners are more and more relying on power from cheaper and cleaner products like natural gas, and many owners say they lose money when they burn the fuel and are unable to sell the excess power on the market. Even with Trumps moves to deregulate the coal industry, environmental liabilities and steep operating costs have forced many facilities to shutter their coal holdings.
Some experts say that even with a federal subsidy estimated to be upwards of $100 million it would not be an easy thing to make the power plant an economically viable operation as utilities can find cheaper alternatives elsewhere and that the federal government could better help the Navajo Nation by simply giving them more funding directly.
We would not ever buy the quantity we are buying from Navajo today, said Ted Cooke, general manager of the Central Arizona Project, which buys power from the generating station. Its not diversified enough for us.
A New York City man convicted of murdering an NYPD officer during a foot chase in Manhattan in 2015 was sentenced to life in prison with no chance for parole.
Tyrone Howard, 32, learned his sentence Monday in the death of 33-year-old Officer Randolph Holder. Howard was convicted last month on charges including murder, robbery and weapons possession.
DEPUTY SHOT, KILLED OUTSIDE HOUSTON
Holder and his partner approached Howard as he was on a stolen bicycle on an East Harlem street in October 2015. Howard bolted, then pulled out a handgun and shot Holder in the head on a footbridge over the Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive, investigators said.
Howard had been involved in a gunfight with drug dealers just before he was confronted by the officers, according to detectives.
The judge called Howard "extremely dangerous." A crowd of about 100 officers applauded as officers led him out of the courtroom, WABC reported.
Holder's father, Randolph Holder Sr., called Howard "that beast" in court. He said, "I'm feeling the pain from my son's death and he's still breathing."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The NYPD reportedly alerts federal immigration officials to illegal immigrants appearances in criminal court despite Mayor Bill de Blasios vow to remain a sanctuary city.
The NYPDs process of verifying warrants against a defendant includes contacting relevant law enforcement agencies, including ICE, which alerts agents to an illegal immigrants upcoming court date, the New York Daily News reported Sunday.
New York City has vowed to only alert immigration officials if an illegal immigrant is accused of a violent crime.
An NYPD administrative aide noted that ICE was contacted about the arrest of David Gonzalez, 51, on March 2 and Milton Chimborazo, 35, on March 15, the Daily News reported. Gonzalez, who had been previously deported, was facing misdemeanor charges for allegedly rubbing up against a woman on a subway train, while Gimborazo had a standing deportation order and was facing a burglary charge.
The city had failed to comply with ICE detainer orders, but immigration officials showed up to court anyway. ICE took Gonzalez into custody after he was released by a judge, but agents did not arrest Gimborazo.
Stephen Davis, spokesman for the NYPD, told the Daily News that the cases were handed properly.
Nothing was compromised in terms of the policies of the department. These guys didnt suffer any consequence, he said.
Austin Finan, a spokesman for de Blasio, told the newspaper that ICE and the NYPD regularly communicate, but it did not mean that police always honor detainers.
De Blasio touted the citys sanctuary city policy in January, calling it a good model for the nation.
"Any serious or violent crime, we are going to work with [immigration authorities]," De Blasio said, adding that otherwise, an immigrant who "went through a stop sign could be deported for that."
Click for more from the New York Daily News.
Philadelphia police are searching for three boys who they say snatched a 13-year-old girl off the street and sexually assaulted her in an abandoned home.
Police say the girl was walking in a north Philadelphia neighborhood when the boys approached her around 5 p.m. Sunday before the attack.
The girl was taken to a hospital and is in stable condition.
The police department's special victims unit is handling the investigation.
SWEET HOME Sifting through a pile of sand, 12-year-old Dominic Musumeci of Salem found a sharks tooth and could not have been more excited if it had been a marble-sized gold nugget.
Sunday morning, Dominic was among several visitors at the 69th annual Sweet Home Rock and Mineral Societys show at the activity center at Sweet Home High School.
Along with his 7-year-old brother Carson, the young rock hounder found numerous colorful gems at the kids table.
The boys were with their mother, Jessica Musumeci, and their grandmother, Bonnie Hunt, from Sweet Home.
Oh heck yes, Hunt said when asked if the family members were having fun. We love rocks.
She said the boys often accompany her on rock hounding adventures.
Samantha Tobey, 23, was visiting the show for the first time. She was accompanied by her boyfriend, Jagger South, 23, and his business partner, Corey Hauger, 27. All are from Portland.
The two men own Red Fern Adornments and craft earlobe plugs. They were scouring the show looking for fancy rocks they could hone into colorful ear jewelry.
I like to collect rocks, but Jagger actually creates plugs out of amethyst, jade and quartz, Tobey said. Ive seen lots of cool stuff here.
South said he started crafting ear plugs about 18 months ago while he was living in Connecticut.
I went to Harbor Freight and bought a tile saw and drill, South said of his foray into business.
He has since added several tools to his workbench and new skills to his resume.
Plugs take from one to four hours to make and cost from $50 to $500, South said.
He especially enjoys working with geodes and crystals.
South said he was enjoying seeing the variety of fossils on display.
John Burford, 74, wore a cowboy hat and safety glasses with small lights in them, as he held a sharp piece of obsidian with a piece of cloth, knapping the volcanic glass into a knife blade.
Burford lives in Albany and said he has attended the show since 1989.
Ive been a member of the club for quite a while, Burford said.
He has been knapping knife blades and arrowheads for at least 25 years and has learned by attending shows like the Sweet Home event.
I just saw the work of other knappers and thought it would be fun and a way to meet good people, Burford said.
Burford said takes about two hours to hone a piece of obsidian glass formed by volcanic activity into a knife blade.
Then, you still have to add the handle and wrap it, Burford said.
Knife prices start at $125 and go up, Burford said.
And although the obsidian blades are extremely sharp, they can also be broken if not handled properly, Burford said.
Nearby, fellow knapper Tim Ringering of rural Lebanon said he has been involved with the ancient craft for 25 years and finds it relaxing.
I used to visit my uncles 2,000-acre ranch near Burns when I was growing up and it was a bad day if I found only five or six arrow heads, Ringering said. I was playing Frisbee in his driveway once and found a spear point. That was amazing considering how many cars and trucks had to have driven over it.
The bearded Ringering said he continues to enjoy looking for arrow heads on both sides of the Cascades.
I like to walk through farm fields have theyve been plowed, Ringering said. Several farmers let me on their properties.
Ringering uses knapping tools identical to those used for centuries by native Americans.
In addition to displays by businesses, dozens of lighted cases displayed rocks and minerals of all kinds, from petrified wood found in eastern Oregon to bumble bee jasper onyx from Indonesia and egg cartons filled with treasures brought to the show by children.
The show is held the last weekend of spring break.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is coming to the United Nations for the first time later this month to chair a ministerial meeting of the Security Council on reining in North Korea's nuclear program, a top priority of the Trump administration.
U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley made the announcement Monday, saying the April 28 meeting will be an important follow-up to this weekend's talks between President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping at the U.S. leader's resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
Trump said ahead of the meeting that China has great influence over North Korea and he wants Xi to help the U.S. denuclearize the reclusive northeast Asian nation. If the Chinese leader won't, Trump said he can handle the problem without Beijing.
Haley, the Security Council president this month, said the focus of the April 28 meeting will depend a lot on the outcome of the Xi-Trump talks.
"The United States has seen China for 25 plus years say that they're concerned about North Korea but we haven't seen them act like they're concerned about North Korea," she said. "This administration wants to see them act, and I think they're going to pressure them to do that."
"We all hope ... that we see some real partnership and working together," Haley said.
Tensions have escalated over North Korean moves to accelerate its weapons development. The North conducted two nuclear tests and 24 ballistic missile tests last year, defying six Security Council sanctions resolutions banning any testing. This has deepened concern in Washington that Pyongyang could soon develop a nuclear-armed missile capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.
China has supported the six sanctions resolution but Haley said it needs to fully implement the sanctions as do other U.N. member states.
China is North Korea's most important source of diplomatic support and economic assistance, accounting for about 90 percent of the North's trade and supplying fuel and many of other necessities. But Beijing says its leverage over North Korea is limited.
In February, it did suspend imports of North Korean coal for the rest of the year, depriving Kim Jong Un's regime of a crucial source of foreign currency, though comments from Haley last week indicated that Beijing is allowing imports in other ways.
Haley said "there is will in the Security Council" to deal with North Korea's nuclear program but members need to discuss "how do we push that forward."
"We hope that we get as many foreign ministers to come as possible" to the April 28 meeting, "because North Korea is an issue, it's a threat," Haley said.
"On any given day we're waiting on another ballistic missile test," she said, "and I think that our goal is to say, what do we have to do to stop them?"
Sentencing is set for a man who fatally shot a New York City police officer during a foot chase in Manhattan in 2015.
Tyrone Howard is facing life in prison when he's sentenced Monday in a Manhattan courtroom for the death of 33-year-old Officer Randolph Holder. The 32-year-old Howard was convicted last month on charges including murder, robbery and weapons possession.
Holder and his partner approached Howard as he was on a stolen bicycle on an East Harlem street in October 2015. Authorities say Howard fled on foot, then pulled out a handgun and shot Holder in the head on a footbridge over the Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive.
Authorities say Howard had been involved in a gunfight with drug dealers just before he was confronted by the officers.
A Texas deputy was shot and killed near a courthouse Monday morning and the assailant remained at large, officials said.
NYPD OFFICER'S KILLER SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON IN EAST HARLEM SHOOTING
Assistant Chief Deputy Constable Clint Greenwood, a 30-year veteran, was shot at least once at 7 a.m. local time, Baytown Police Lt. Steve Dorris said during a news conference.
Greenwood was shot in the neck, but was still able to radio for help, saying, "I'm bleeding out," KTRK reported. He was quickly administered aid at the scene and eventually lifeflighted to a Houston hospital, however, none of the measures prevailed.
MISSOURI MAN BEATEN, HELD AT GUNPOINT BELIEVES HE'D BE DEAD IF COPS HADN'T COME TO HELP
He succumbed to his injuries. He did not survive, Dorris said.
Though no information on a possible suspect was given, Dorris said authorities dont have any indication that tells us hes gonna go out and target anybody else.
Baytown Police are working the investigation in conjunction with a host of other agencies.
The shooting was intentionally done, Dorris said, however, a motive remained unclear.
"Whether or not he was specifically targeted, or whether this was because of the uniform he was wearing or the place he pulled up to in the morning, we just don't know that right now," Dorris said.
A Texas man was arrested and charged with a third-degree felony for allegedly shooting at two men who were attacking his fiancee outside their home.
Jeremiah Morin, 34, of Spring, is being accused of firing at the men indiscriminately, the Houston Chronicle reported Friday. The Montgomery County Sheriffs Office said the two men were still at large.
Morins fiancee was taking her children inside the home when two men in ski masks attacked her, deputies said. Authorities added that Morin grabbed his gun and opened fire and that he continued to chase them down the street and fired more shots, according to KHOU-TV.
"He began to indiscriminately shoot multiple rounds down the street," Montgomery County Sheriffs Capt. Bryan Carlisle said. These rounds definitely went down a very crowded street."
Neighbors told the Chronicle that one of the two men had Morins fiancee in a headlock and were dragging her against her will. Carlisle said thats when Morin came out and started to fire.
"You can make the assumption that maybe they were trying to take her or take one of the kids," Carlisle said. "We don't know for sure, we're looking at the totality of the circumstances."
Police said Morin and his fiancee have been uncooperative. Authorities believe the attack was gang-related.
Authorities did not find a blood trail as the attackers left the scene. The suspects were described as short, black males wearing dark clothing along with the ski masks.
Click for more from the Houston Chronicle.
Some 3,000 people got a rare glimpse of the spot where the first nuclear bomb was detonated on July 16, 1945, as the Trinity Site at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico opened to visitors Saturday.
"The atomic age began with a bang right here on this spot in 1945. To a lot of people being on this site and seeing where it happened means a lot," White Sands Missile Range Public Affairs Officer Drew Hamilton said.
SPACEX LAUNCH OF USED ROCKET IS A 'HUGE REVOLUTION IN SPACEFLIGHT'
The Trinity test bomb was the same size as the "Fat Man" bomb dropped on Nagasaki and slightly bigger than the "Little Boy" bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Robert Hermes, a retired Los Alamos scientist, said he believed the nuclear bomb was the biggest scientific breakthrough ever.
"To me, the fact that they did it in two-and-a-half, three years is unbelievably phenomenal. Because of all the infrastructure they had to build, they had to build Hanford and they had to build Oakridge and all the purification. Just to make enough material to do this test and drop the bombs on Japan," he said.
ARCHAEOLOGISTS IN ISRAEL STUNNED BY DOLMEN DISCOVERY
Hermes explained that the mushroom cloud from the blast rose to about 40,000 feet and radiation from the fallout could be traced all the way to Kansas.
There isn't much radiation anymore. According to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the American Nuclear Society, a one hour visit to ground zero will result in a full body exposure of about one-half to one millirem. The average adult receives about 360 millirems ever year from natural and medical sources. To compare, spending a couple hours at the Trinity site is about the same as taking a flight from New York to Los Angeles.
Although there's little radiation, there's still history to see. Visitors can see trinite, which is a glassy green substance that formed when the explosion blew over the sand. They can also see Jumbo, a giant steel cylinder that was originally built to house the bomb but was instead put near the bomb to see if it would survive the blast; it did.
The White Sands Missile Range Commanding General believes this is important history for people to see.
"From a standpoint of a solider I think it's vital for people to understand war and the effects of war as well," said General Eric Sanchez.
About 20 protesters camped out at the entrance of the site. They claim the radiation from the test affects their health. One protester, Cecilia Gallegos Romero, said five of her family members have died of cancer and she's a cancer survivor. Romero lived about 15 miles away from the test site and vividly remembers the morning the bomb went off. The protesters want the money to give them money from medical bills.
"There's just a whole bunch of cancer going on in our family. It's no fun to see them die of cancer," said Romero.
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President Donald Trump is welcoming Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi (AHB'-del fat-AH' el-SEE'-see) to the White House.
The Egyptian president arrived Monday morning. Trump greeted him with a handshake before the pair headed inside.
Topics el-Sissi may broach with the new president include military aid for the country.
Trump has repeatedly mentioned Egypt as one of the Muslim-majority allies that the U.S. should maintain its partnership with in the fight against extremists like the Islamic State group.
The White House welcome comes after a tense relationship between Egypt's leader and the previous administration.
Former President Barack Obama never invited el-Sissi to the White House and allowed his administration to repeatedly admonish his government over its human rights record. Obama also briefly suspended some U.S. military aid.
A Defense Department official says that the U.S. military will continue to welcome noncitizen recruits and that the Trump administration also will continue a long-standing policy that allows members of the military and their families a pathway to citizenship for their service.
Today's service members are eligible for expedited citizenship under a July 2002 executive order and the military services have worked closely with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to streamline citizenship processing for service members, Lt. Col. Myles Caggins said last week in an email to Fox News. Law ensures that the sacrifice of noncitizens during a time of national need is met with an opportunity for early citizenship, to recognize their contribution and sacrifice.
IMMIGRANT VET AWAITS JUDGE'S DEPORTATION RULING AFTER DRUG CONVICTION
Caggins said there are no plans to discontinue or modify the initiative.
President Trump has been a staunch advocate for bolstering the military and has repeatedly expressed his intentions to stop the flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S. But he has not publicly offered a definitive opinion on the immigration policy concerning noncitizens in the military.
The closest Trump has come to addressing the issue was on Sept. 7, 2016, during a presidential candidates' forum. He was asked by a woman who served in the military whether he thinks that a person living in the United States illegally who wants to serve in the U.S. armed forces should be allowed to stay in the country legally.
I think when you serve in the armed forces, thats a very special situation and I could see myself working that out, absolutely, Trump replied.
Then, after speaking about the necessity to properly vet people, Trump said, But the answer is it would be a very special circumstance, yes.
According to DoD data, 5,000 legal permanent residents are recruited each year under the Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest Program launched in 2009. The average number of noncitizens on active duty from 2010 to 2016 was about 18,700.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service established the Naturalization at Basic Training Initiative in August 2009 with the Army to give noncitizen enlistees the opportunity to naturalize when they graduate from basic training. By 2013, the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps had followed suit.
In fiscal year 2016 alone, 359 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients, also referred to as Dreamers, enlisted in the Army, which is the only branch that accepts this immigrant category.
"Concerning naturalization, the decision to become a U.S. citizen is a voluntary individual decision and each service provides assistance to service members seeking citizenship, Caggins said. Per U.S. Customs and Immigration Service, more than 109,000 servicemen and women have naturalized through 2015.
TRUMP OPEN TO GRANTING LEGAL STATUS TO UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS SERVING IN MILITARY
The list of immigrants who have made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of their new country is long and distinguished.
On March 21, 2003, Guatemalan native and U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Jose Gutierrez was among the first servicemen to die in Iraq. He was posthumously granted full citizenship. A week later, Mexican immigrant and fellow Marine Jesus Alberto Suarez del Solar was killed in action during a tour in Iraq.
Alex Nowrasteh, immigration policy analyst for the Cato Institute, said recruits must have some kind of recognized immigration status to join the military, whether they are a DACA recipient, green card holder or on a work or student visa. He said the military wont take someone who has no documentation.
With that being said, Nowrasteh said the military is a viable option toward citizenship if the individual accepts the risks and obligation.
It is absolutely a good thing for immigrants to serve in the U.S. military, he said. There is a long history of non-citizens serving with distinction in the military.
Authorities say a woman and her partner have been indicted in Cleveland on aggravated murder charges in the beating death of the woman's 5-year-old daughter.
Prosecutors say 26-year-old Tequila Crump and her 37-year-old partner, Ursula Owens, also face felonious assault and endangering children charges in the March death of Ta'Naejah McCloud. A judge on Monday continued the women's $1 million bonds.
Authorities say Owens claimed Ta'Naejah had a seizure when she was taken to a hospital March 17. Doctors told police Ta'Naejah had severe head and brain trauma. She died four days later.
Owens' 15-year-old son told WEWS-TV he saw the women repeatedly hitting the girl in the head and he tried to revive her.
A message was left for Crump's attorney. Owens didn't have an attorney yet.
Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, a former general who was elected but rules with a heavy hand, may find a kindred spirit in Donald Trump this week.
The two first met in September at New York's Plaza Hotel, with the U.S. president calling el-Sissi "a fantastic guy" and proclaiming "good chemistry" in a meeting that boosted a struggling candidate short on foreign policy experience. Soon el-Sissi became the first foreign leader to congratulate Trump on his surprise electoral win, his office says. On Monday he visits the White House.
That contrasts sharply with el-Sissi's distress under President Barack Obama, who seemed far more sensitive to human rights abuses than his successor, holding up various forms of assistance and never inviting el-Sissi to Washington.
El-Sissi is hardly cut from Trump cloth: He is a somewhat taciturn career military man, while his host is a brash real estate developer and reality TV star who inherited a fortune. Yet their instincts and language seem strikingly similar:
BAD PEOPLE
Trump often speaks of "bad people" seeking to infiltrate the United States, using the term to justify attempted visa bans for nationals of various Muslim countries and to slam illegal immigration from Mexico. El-Sissi often speaks of "evil people" seeking to undermine Egypt, seeming to reference the once-governing Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group he overthrew, banned and declared a terrorist organization, as well as the Islamic State group which has launched attacks in Egypt. Some see a hint at mysterious other foreign powers as well.
FAKE NEWS
In el-Sissi's Egypt, journalists have been imprisoned on charges of disseminating "false news," and information that contradicts official statements can lead to prosecution. El-Sissi has also said that "the media and the state should not disagree." Trump hasn't come close to arresting journalists, but he does rail against reporters he doesn't like, often dismissing critical stories and even entire media outlets as "fake news" regardless of the facts. He also has bitterly criticized the use of anonymous sources.
GREAT AGAIN
Trump's controversial borrowed slogan, "Make America Great Again," struck a nostalgic chord among certain Americans who yearn for what they view as a simpler time of unabashed national greatness. Many Egyptians are also proud of past glories and despondent over present decline which el-Sissi has tapped into with skill. "Long Live Egypt" was a mantra, as is "Egypt is the Mother of the World and will become as big as the world." Both seek greatness in massive projects: Trump wants a wall on the Mexico border and other infrastructure upgrades; el-Sissi has launched a much-ballyhooed widening of the Suez Canal, roadworks and ambitious plans to build a new capital city.
WINNING
Both leaders whip up supporters with talk of victories and seek to project a mystic sense of inevitable success. El-Sissi frequently claims Egypt is winning its continuing war on terrorism in the Sinai Peninsula and has urged people to not "listen to anybody's words but me." Trump promised to make Americans "bored from so much winning," speaks of himself in singular terms and frequently references his surprise election victory.
SO-CALLED JUDGES
Trump's attacks on the judiciary for blocking his executive orders have led him to refer to "so-called" judges and to tweet that the public should blame them in case of another terrorist attack. El-Sissi has his conflicts with his judiciary, saying that they were "holding back the hands of justice" and should be sentencing more Islamists to death.
Traffic was blocked on Highway 34 west of Lebanon for 45 minutes Saturday morning after a two-car crash near the intersection of Highway 34 and Goltra Road sent one man to the hospital, according to Oregon State Police officials.
OSP troopers, along with Albany and Tangent fire crews, responded at around 8:15 a.m. after Dale Nosbisch, 58, of Lebanon, rear-ended Beau Riebe, 26, of Montana, when Riebe came to a complete stop in the eastbound lane near milepost 12.
Emergency crews took most of those 45 minutes to extricate Nosbisch from his vehicle. He was later transported to Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis. He was also cited for careless driving. Riebe was treated and released at the scene.
The Linn County Sheriff's Office assisted OSP at the scene.
One person was believed to be behind the deadly attack in the subway in St. Petersburg, Russia, planting two bombs, one of which exploded, state media reported Monday.
At least 11 people were killed and some 45 others were wounded. Police initially believed a suicide bomber planted the device that exploded on a train, while a second person planted a separate device at a nearby station -- but investigators later said it appeared to be the work of one man, the Interfax news agency reported. Crews disabled the second device before it could explode.
Both bombs were filled with shrapnel, according to Sky News. The unexploded device was rigged with up to 2.2 pounds of explosives, Interfax added.
SHRINE SLAYINGS: PAKISTAN INTERROGATING SUSPECTS IN HORRIFIC ATTACK THAT KILLED 20
Russian President Vladimir Putin said investigators were looking into all possible causes. President Trump called it "absolutely a terrible thing," adding, "it's happening all over the world."
Late Monday, the White House said Trump called Putin to express his condolences for the bombing and to offer the full support of the United States "in responding to the attack and bringing those responsible to justice."
"We will look at all possible causes, terrorism as well as common crime." Russian President Vladimir Putin
The 2:20 p.m. explosion rocked the train between the Technology Institute station and the Sennaya Square station, Russia's National Anti-Terrorist Committee said. Photos and video from one station appeared to show wounded victims on the smoke-filled platform, and a train car with a door blown out. Frantic commuters reached out through the doors and windows, shouting, "Call an ambulance!"
EGYPT'S EL-SISSI AND AMERICA'S TRUMP: A COMMON LANGUAGE?
Nobody immediately claimed responsibility for the blast. The National Anti-Terrorism Committee reported late Monday an 11th person had died.
"People were bleeding, their hair burned," a witness told Russia's Life News. "My girlfriend was in the next car that exploded. She said that he began to shake. When she came out, she saw that people were mutilated."
Russian media, The Associated Press and other news agencies sent out a photo of a bearded man dressed in black, initially claiming he was wanted in connection with the blast. Interfax later reported that the man went to police to claim he was innocent.
Trains and train stations have been common targets for terrorist attacks in Russia and throughout much of Europe, analysts point out.
Following the news coming from #SaintPetersburg, together with all EU Foreign ministers. Our thoughts are with all people of #Russia Federica Mogherini (@FedericaMog) April 3, 2017
Double suicide bombings in the Moscow subway in March 2010 killed 40 people and wounded more than 100 people. Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov claimed responsibility for that attack by two female suicide bombers, warning Russian leaders that "the war is coming to their cities."
A high-speed Moscow-to-St. Petersburg train was bombed on Nov. 27, 2009 in an attack that left 26 dead and some 100 injured. Umarov's group also said he ordered this attack.
Crews closed all subway stations in St. Petersburg Monday and evacuated passengers, administration officials said. Ambulances and other medical teams rushed to the scene.
The National Anti-Terrorism Committee vowed to tighten security at all of the country's critical transportation centers.
"The safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas is one of our highest priorities. The U.S. Consulate in St. Petersburg is monitoring the situation closely," a State Dept. spokesperson told Fox News.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley tweeted a statement, part of which read: "We would like to extend our condolences to the people of Russia. We stand with you on defeating these extremist groups who continue to cause senseless harm against innocent people."
St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city with more than 5 million residents, is the country's most popular tourist destination. The two stations that were the site of the blast are some of the subway's busiest.
"The causes are not clear, it's too early. We will look at all possible causes, terrorism as well as common crime," Putin responded. "Law enforcement agencies and intelligence services are doing their best to establish the cause and give a full picture of what happened."
The Russian president offered condolences to the families of the victims. He was visiting the city -- his hometown -- and held talks Monday with the president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko.
The Sennaya Ploschad station opened in 1963, the BBC reported.
German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said he learned of the explosion "with deep sorrow." He added that Germany's thoughts were "with our friends in Russia, the victims and their families in this dark hour." French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said his country would "stand by all those who suffer."
Click for more from Sky News.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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French conservative candidate Francois Fillon is denouncing what he calls the Socialist government's "manipulations" that he says are designed to eliminate him from the presidential race.
The conservative leader and his wife are both facing charges in a probe over well-paid parliamentary jobs that investigators suspect she never performed. Fillon claims the charges are politically motivated.
Fillon told BFM television on Monday "if I had any doubt about my guilt, I wouldn't be a candidate."
Fillon said he made a mistake when he initially said he would withdraw if charged and suggested the government built up the case against him from nothing. He says "I provided a means to eliminate me from the presidential race."
The scandal has deeply damaged the Fillon's chances in the two-round April 23-May 7 vote.
Police investigators in Gambia have exhumed the bodies of three men who were killed while taking part in an attempted coup in December 2014.
The exhumations are meant to shed light on the circumstances of their deaths and to allow the families to have a proper burial, police said. The action taken by police was reportedly prompted by intelligence received from members of the death squad of Gambia's former President Yahya Jammeh who ruled for more than 22 years.
U.S. national guard member Njaga Jagne, former Gambian presidential guard commander Col. Lamin Sanneh and Jaja Nyass were allegedly killed during a shootout after an attempt on Dec. 30, 2014 to overthrow former President Jammeh, police spokesman Foday Conta said.
Police exhumed their bodies Friday at a firing range called Tintingba in the village of Kanfenda in Foni Kansala, some 90 kilometers (56 miles) from the capital, Banjul.
The three were among others who attempted the coup while Jammeh was out of the country. Four U.S. citizens who had fled after the attempt were sentenced last year in a U.S. federal court for their roles.
Human rights groups have long accused Jammeh of running a government that arrested and sometimes killed and tortured opponents. Residents of the tiny West African country voted President Adama Barrow into office in December 2016, ending the long rule of Jammeh, who flew into exile in January under international pressure after a political standoff when he refused to step down.
Barrow has promised to reverse many of Jammeh's repressive actions. The justice minister has said the country will set up a truth and reconciliation commission in the next six months.
Six other men linked to the Dec. 30 coup attempt, and who had been sentenced to death in Gambia in 2015, were granted presidential pardons and have already been reintegrated into the army.
A German court has sentenced an Islamic extremist to life in prison over a plot to carry out a bomb attack at a train station.
The Duesseldorf regional court found Marco G. guilty Monday of attempted murder over an explosive device placed at the main train station in the western city of Bonn in December 2012.
Although the bomb was found before it detonated, the court said the 29-year-old G., a German convert to Islam whose surname wasn't published in line with privacy laws, deserved a life sentence due to the seriousness of the crime.
The dpa news agency reported three other defendants were sentenced to terms between 9 years to 12 years in prison for a separate plot to kill a German far-right politician that G. was also involved in.
Indian police say they are searching for two men suspected of raping a German tourist in the beach town of Mamallapuram in southern India.
The German woman told police that she went for a walk and dozed off in a deserted part of the beach when she was raped Sunday.
The woman was part of a group of German tourists visiting the town, which is famous for its many Hindu temples.
Teams of police were searching nearby areas in Tamil Nadu state. Police said Monday that no arrests had been made so far.
The incident highlights persistent violence against women in India despite tougher laws against sexual assault imposed after the 2012 death of a young woman who was gang-raped on a bus in New Delhi.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has branded Syrian president Bashar al-Assad as "a war criminal,' who has been protected by Russia and Iran in the Security Council for far too long.
She told Fox News the Trump administration hopes Assad will be brought to justice for the overwhelming humanitarian crisis and continued carnage that has torn his nation apart.
She also blamed the Obama administration for not acting sooner to try and prevent the war.
"The previous administration needs to take responsibility for that, as well," she said. "First of all, Assadhe's a war criminal. He's used chemical weapons on his own people. He's not allowing aid to come in. He is very much a deterrence to peace. But then you look at the fact that the Security Council has to acknowledge when the chemical weapons -- we had proof that he used it three times on his own people. Why aren't we dealing with that?
"Then, you know, you have to look at the Iranian influence and the fact that we've got to get that out. Syria is in such sad shape, but it doesn't have to be that way. If you look back, so many things could have been done to prevent where we are today. And that's what we need to focus on now."
Haley, who resigned as governor of South Carolina when the Senate approved her nomination in January, has been a quick learner in her new arena, observers say, who has brought a blunt message from the Trump administration to the international diplomats at the world body on several issues.
She calls North Korea, "a threat to the world," and demands that Beijing impose sanctions on Kim Jong-un's regime for its continued nuclear and ballistic missile tests.
"It all comes down to China," Haley says. "They could put enough pressure on North Korea to get them to step back. Now it's time for them to prove it."
She is clear about her role at the U.N.
"I think that the United States has always been the moral compass of the world. And I think we are generous by nature. And we want to see people safe. We don't want to see people starve. We don't want to see people treated -- mistreated by their governments," she said, noting that her first goal is to bring American values...and the nation's voice...back to the organization that she says has gotten "stale."
Haley intends to focus on human rights, the U.N. budget, peacekeeping reform, and addressing the wrongs that have plagued the world body.
"Leadership is just letting them know what we're for, what we're against, have the backs of our allies and make sure they keep the backs of us, and then anyone that challenges us, call them out. Let them know what we think is wrong. That's all this is just making sure we're changing the culture to showing strength from the United States again, action and making sure that we show value in the United Nations. I think it's important for the American people."
The Trump administration has proposed deep cuts in the U.S. contribution to the U.N.'s budget. American taxpayers currently pay upwards of $2.8 billion to fund the world body's regular and peacekeeping operations. The White House has proposed slicing the U.S. contribution by almost half, $1 billion.
According to the U.N.'s own figures, the U.S. is responsible for just over 28 percent of the peacekeeping budget, which the Trump administration has sought to cut by 3 percent, for a total contribution of 25 percent. That amount, however, would still be more than double the next largest contributors, China and Japan...about four times more than Germany, France and Great Britain...and six times more than Russia.
Haley insisted any reductions will not harm the peacekeeping and humanitarian efforts, denying the fears expressed by some that refugees could starve, children will not get UNICEF innoculations, and peacekeeping deployments would be crippled.
"What we want is for people to be safe. We want the aid to get in," she sayid, noting that her fellow diplomats share the same goals.
"All of the other countries are saying, 'yes we think that too.' They want to see peacekeeping reform. They want to see management reform. They want to see the U.N. become more active and go back to the mission."
On Friday, the Security Council unanimously voted to slightly reduce the troop level of the peacekeeping forces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Haley told Fox News that the biggest surprise since her arrival two months ago, is what she called the U.N.'s "anti-Israeli bias," citing meetings on the Middle East that focus only on the Jewish State.
"They're not talking about we would care about. They're not talking about Syria. They're not talking about Iran. They're not talking about North Korea. What they are talking about is Israel. Every single month, for 10 years, they've been Israel bashing. And that was something that I just couldn't believe they put the time and energy into doing that, when we have so many threats around the world."
"I think she's great," Haleys Israeli counterpart, Israel's United Nations Ambassador Danny Danon, told Fox News when asked how he thinks she is doing.
"She comes with her values, her tools, and that's what we need at the U.N., to bring the U.N. back to its core values. The U.N. is a good institution, but it was kidnapped by evil forces and I believe with Ambassador Haley, and my team, we can work together, and maybe, maybe change the U.N. and bring it back to what it should be."
Haley points to several changes that have occurred under her watch, from preventing the appointment of a former prime minister of the Palestinian Authority until the P.A. engages in peace talks, to the resignation of a U.N. official who released a report branding Israel as an "apartheid state."
"Its changing, and the tone is getting better," she notes.
"And not only that, I think they're tired of me yelling at them about Israel bashing."
Ben Evansky contributed to this report.
Follow Eric Shawn on Twitter: @EricShawnTV
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Hungary's deputy prime minister is asking Parliament to rush through a draft bill on higher education seen as targeting a university founded by billionaire philanthropist George Soros.
According to a motion sent Monday by Zsolt Semjen, also head of the Christian Democrat party, the debate and vote on the draft bill would take place on Tuesday.
Semjen says his request to Parliamentary Speaker Laszlo Kover is justified by "government interests to pass the law early."
Prime Minister Viktor Orban considers the Hungarian-born Soros an ideological foe whose "open society" ideal contrasts with his own efforts to turn Hungary into an "illiberal state."
On Sunday, some 10,000 people took part in a march in support of Central European University, founded in 1991 and currently counting some 1,400 students from 108 countries.
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The Latest on the explosion on a train in the Russian city of St. Petersburg (all times local):
3:45 p.m.
Russian news agencies Tass and Interfax report 10 dead in blast on train in St. Petersburg subway.
Video footage posted on social media website shows a train with mangled doors standing at the platform. Frantic commuters reach out into the doors and windows, trying to see if anyone is there and shouting "Call an ambulance!"
Russian Senator Viktor Ozerov tells Interfax that the explosion looks like a terrorist attack.
___
3:30 p.m.
The subway in the Russian city of St. Petersburg is reporting that several people have been injured in an explosion on a subway train.
The subway's administration says several stations in the northern Russian city have been closed and that an evacuation is underway Monday afternoon.
Social media users posted photographs from one subway station in the city center, showing people lying on the floor and a train with a mangled door nearby.
Russian news agencies quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been informed about the explosion. Putin is visiting the city Monday and is expected to hold talks with the Belarusian president later in the day.
American Muslims are defending an Australian imam whose public opposition to radical Islam and attempts to impose sharia law has drawn criticism from other Muslim leaders in Australia.
Imam Shaikh Mohammad Tawhidi said that other members of Australias Muslim community were criticizing him because he has blasted radical Islam and warned of an extremist cell in Sydney, the nations largest city.
'They have called me a fake Muslim imam or a Shaikh only because I expose their intentions to create a caliphate within Australia, Tawhidi said. I am considered a fake because I condemn terrorism. I am considered a fake because I oppose and expose extremism.
His comments came last week in a four-minute video in which he detailed the reasons other Muslim leaders were criticizing him.
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. For them, I am too Australian.
U.S. Muslim groups said Monday that they generally supported Tawhidis position, though they had some reservations.
Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told Fox News that Tawhidi and his critics' premise is 'false'.
The problem comes when you look at a dichotomy between being an Australian or an American and being a Muslim. We dont see a dichotomy, Hooper said. We see that, in fact, the American-Muslim community is the prime defender of the U.S. Constitution. We see no conflict between Islamic beliefs and practices and living as a productive, contributing citizen whether its in Australia or America.
Hooper said he would have liked Tawhidi to clarify that there is no need for Muslims to choose between being good citizens and being religiously faithful.
Instead of stating you can be a good Australian and a good Muslim at the same time, hes somehow throwing Islam under the bus and thats where he got in trouble, Hooper said. Muslims around the world follow sharia law every day of their lives when they pray and when they fast."
But Hooper told Fox News that the haters bring up the criminal punishment factor of sharia law, which he said does not apply when there is an existing legal system in place.
A small component of sharia law was in the criminal aspect, but that doesnt apply in the United States or Australia or anywhere, Hooper said. There is no inherent conflict being a law abiding Australian or American and practicing Islamthats a false premise.
Michigan-based Imam Mohommad Elahi expressed a similar sentiment to that of CAIR, and told Fox News that criminal laws in Islam, which he says are a small part of the legal system in the Muslim faith, are not even implemented in Muslim countries.
Those laws need to be reviewed and adjusted based on the conditions of timethe spirit of law in Islam is both justice and mercy! In countries like Saudi Arabia, so called Sharia laws provide neither justice nor mercythat is ISIS law, beheading the innocent, that is not true Islamic law, Imam Elahi told Fox News in an email. There is no contradiction in the spirit and goals between our Islamic teachings and our Constitutional rights.
Another Muslim group in the U.S., American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) told Fox News that, while they would defend Tawhidi completely, he is not addressing the core issue.
M. Zuhdi Jasser, a U.S. Navy veteran and AIFD spokesman, echoed Tawhidis view that radical Islam is a threat to freedom, democracy and the West.
Im with him on his statements on radical Islam and the Muslim Brotherhood and other groups he has been targeting in Australia, said Jasser. Hes right, they are separatists and a threat to the sovereignty of Australia.
While Tawhidi, a Shia imam, has condemned the Islamic State, Jasser told Fox News that he has yet to speak out against Hezbollah and other Shia groups.
Hes not treating the core ideology, which is why Sunni groups have jumped on him and called him fake, Jasser said. I dont endorse anyone who calls him a fraud, but I dont want people to miss the fact that Shia imams exploit this to ignore their own problems within.
North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is reportedly growing desperate and is ready to strike the United States with a nuclear weapon, a defector from the regime said on Sunday.
Thae Yong Ho, the most senior North Korean defector in 20 years, told NBC News that Kim Jong Un is desperate in maintaining his rule by relying on his [development of] nuclear weapons and [intercontinental ballistic missiles].
Once he sees that there is any kind of sign of a tank or an imminent threat from America, then he would use his nuclear weapons with ICBM, said Thae, who defected in August.
Thae, who had served as North Koreas deputy ambassador to the United Kingdom, said he was not directly involved in the dictatorships weapons program.
North Korea is believed to have several nuclear weapons; however, it is unknown if they could effectively use one to attack the U.S. In December, news emerged that North Korea could indeed attach a nuclear warhead to a missile -- but it did not appear the country could hit a target.
North Korea is now fully equipped with nuclear attack capability, Kim Jong Un announced after a submarine-launched missile in August.
Though he was believed to have been exaggerating, North Korea may have medium-range missiles capable of striking American military bases in the Pacific in the next couple years, experts say. Some believe Pyongyang may be able to hit the western U.S. as early as 2020.
North Korea continues to test ballistic missiles in provocative launches that have raised concerns among U.S. and Japanese leaders, among other nations.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
For Jordan D. Schnitzer, the Portland businessman and art collector, the big idea behind a new exhibit of prints at Oregon State University is simple:
It gives people a chance to see the artwork. And the more people, the better.
"The art does not get worn out by too many eyes looking at it," Schnitzer said in an interview last week.
So, when Schnitzer told university officials that "I'd sure like to do some stuff at OSU," it didn't take long for Larry Rodgers, dean of OSU's College of Liberal Arts, to pitch an idea: Let's put together an on-campus exhibition featuring some of the more than 10,000 prints in the Schnitzer collection.
And Rodgers had a twist that Schnitzer found irresistible: In addition to using the Fairbanks Gallery in Fairbanks Hall, let's use OSU's new cultural centers to showcase art in the collection by modern American artists of color.
So Schnitzer sent this invitation back to Rodgers and his OSU cohorts: "Come up and go through our collection. Pick out whatever you want."
The resulting show, "Cultural Conversations," opens today at OSU and runs through May 3. An opening reception is set for Wednesday. (See the related stories for details about the reception, the venues where the art is being shown and the artists on view at each location.)
Of course, going through the collection involved considerable effort: After nearly three decades of collecting contemporary prints and multiples, it now includes more than 10,000 works.
And, said Kirsi Peltomaki, an associate professor at art history at OSU who curated "Cultural Conversations," Schnitzer was serious about that offer to "pick out whatever you want."
"This sounded like an incredible opportunity," Peltomaki said in an interview last week. But it wasn't until she and Lee Ann Garrison, the director of OSU's School of Arts & Communication, arrived in Portland that they realized the full scope of the offer.
"We were like kids in a candy shop," Peltomaki said.
Fortunately, Peltomaki had a general idea what she was looking for. In the Fairbanks Gallery, she wanted to showcase the work of a single artist, and she was thinking in terms of finding an important contemporary artist who might not be particularly well-known outside the art world.
John Baldessari, a California conceptual artist who works with text and photographic images, fit the bill perfectly, Peltomaki said, and she's particularly enthused that her art students and other community members will have a chance to come face-to-face with work that they might have seen previously only in books or in lectures: "This is work that benefits from being looked at" in a gallery setting, she said.
The Fairbanks Gallery isn't huge, she noted, but it has enough space to give viewers a good introduction to Baldessari's work.
Peltomaki had a more specific goal in finding the artists to showcase in the OSU cultural centers, but she had an overarching theme in mind: She was looking for artwork that would help to trigger conversations about culture and identity.
She's confident she's found four excellent conversation starters in four American artists of color:
Enrique Chagoya, a Mexican-born, American painter and printmaker.
Joe Feddersen of Colville heritage, a Washington-based sculptor, painter, photographer and mixed-media artist.
Mildred Howard, an African-American artist known for her sculptural installations and mixed-media pieces.
Hung Liu, a Chinese-born artist who was one of the first Chinese artists to establish a career in the West.
All of the artists, Peltomaki said, consider themes of identity in their own work: "It comes down to this dialogue between the past and the present," she said.
Each cultural center will be able to show four works by each artist. Peltomaki said it was tough to be limited to just four pieces. "But at the same time," she said, "four is enough so that you get start to get a sense" of the artist.
Rodgers said one benefit of the "Cultural Conversations" show is that it could get Corvallis residents and others to visit the new cultural centers on campus and he's hoping that the exhibit attracts viewers from beyond campus as well.
Schnitzer, who said he's open to additional partnerships with OSU, hopes to see big crowds at the exhibit as well.
"Art is for everyone," he said. "Not just for some elites."
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Swedish police say all three people who were killed when a bus skidded off the road and crashed Sunday in central Sweden were high school students.
Police spokesman Peder Jonsson declined to provide more information on the students Monday.
Authorities say the two-story bus was carrying 52 students, six adults and a driver when it crashed into a ditch and fell on its side on a main highway about 7 a.m. nine hours after it had left the southwestern town of Skene on a school trip to a northern ski resort.
Ostersund hospital spokeswoman Anna-Lena Hogstrom said Monday that 11 people from the accident were still being treated, including two with serious but not "life-threatening" injuries.
Jonsson said police were investigating but did not know the cause of the accident.
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Early results in the Armenian parliamentary election shows the country's ruling party has won just under half of the vote.
Sunday's election was the first since the ex-Soviet nation modified its constitution to expand the powers of parliament and the prime minister.
The Central Election Commission said on Monday that 94 percent of the ballots counted show the Republican Party of Armenia's president, Serzh Sargsyan, winning 49 percent of the vote. The bloc led by businessman Gagik Tsarukian trails with 28 percent. Two more parties also look set to clear the 5-percent barrier necessary to get seats in parliament.
Critics see the constitutional amendments as part of Sargsyan's efforts to retain control of the country after he steps down in 2018 due to term limits.
An Iranian-American sentenced to 18 years in Iran on accusations of "collaboration with a hostile government" has been freed from prison on bail, according to relatives and activists -- but instead of escaping from the Islamic Republic, he may be stuck there in a form of limbo.
Robin Shahini of San Diego got out recently on bail of about $62,000, according to Hadi Ghaemi, the executive director of the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran. He had staged a weeks-long hunger strike protesting his imprisonment alongside other dual nationals targeted by hard-liners -- and reportedly wrote a suicide note last year.
AMERICAN IMPRISONED IN IRAN PENS SUICIDE NOTE
For now, he may be at the mercy of an appeals court. Shahini would not be able to leave Iran until that court gives the OK, a close friend of his told The Foreign Desk.
"Shahini's release on bail is good news as his prosecution did not produce any credible evidence justifying charges against him," Ghaemi told The Associated Press. "He is an innocent man who appeared to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and his detention and prosecution was motivated by his dual nationality more than anything else."
AMERICAN JAILED IN IRAN ASKS FOR TRUMPS HELP: DO NOT LET ME BE ALONE
Shahini, who traveled to Iran to see his mother who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, was detained on July 11. He left Iran in 1998 and had lived in San Diego for 16 years. He graduated in May 2016 from San Diego State University with a degree in International Security and Conflict Resolution and had been accepted to SDSU's graduate program in Homeland Security.
At his trial, prosecutors apparently used social media pictures of Shahini standing near prominent Iranian exiles to secure his conviction. Hard-liners have been using such cases to challenge the administration of moderate President Hassan Rouhani ahead of the country's coming May presidential election. Rouhani is expected to run in the vote next month.
"I ask myself and my fellow American neighbors: Where is the justice I have come to associate with America?" Shahini wrote his family in a recent letter.
Iranian officials and state media did not comment on Shahini receiving bail. The Iranian mission to the United Nations and the U.S. State Department did not immediately comment.
Iran does not recognize dual nationalities, meaning that those it detains cannot receive consular assistance. In most cases, dual nationals have faced secret charges in closed-door hearings before Iran's Revolutionary Court, which handles cases involving alleged attempts to overthrow the government.
Analysts and family members of those detained have suggested that hard-liners in the Islamic Republic's security agencies want to negotiate another deal with the West to free the detainees. A prisoner exchange in January 2016 that freed Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian and three other Iranian-Americans also saw the U.S. make a $400 million cash delivery to Iran the same day.
Among the dual national held are Iranian-American businessman Siamak Namazi and his octogenarian father, Baquer Namazi, who are serving 10-year prison sentences for "cooperating with the hostile American government." Another is Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian woman sentenced to five years in prison on allegations of planning the "soft toppling" of Iran's government while traveling with her young daughter.
Yet to be tried is Iranian-American Karan Vafadari, an art gallery manager held along with his Iranian wife. Iranian-Canadian national Abdolrasoul Dorri Esfahani, a member of the country's team that negotiated the nuclear deal, is believed to have been indicted.
Still missing is former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who vanished in Iran in 2007 while on an unauthorized CIA mission.
Shahini began a hunger strike on Feb. 15 to contest his incarceration.
"My only sin was that as a responsible human being, I expressed my views about my homeland, which is the right of every citizen," he wrote in a letter to his family published by the Center for Human Rights in Iran. "Don't let me remain in this prison as an innocent man."
Fox News' Eric Shawn and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Click for more from The Foreign Desk.
The apparent terror attack on a St. Petersburg subway train Monday morning may just be the latest in a string of deadly Islamist attacks inside Russia.
Early estimates had at least 10 people dead and dozens of others wounded in the subway bombing, figures that may soon be added to the deadly tally run up by terrorists, whove infiltrated Russia largely from the Muslim-dominated Caucuses region north of Iran.
AT LEAST 10 KILLED IN ST. PETERSBURG SUBWAY BLAST
The most infamous terror episode is the Beslan school siege, which took place during three days in September 2004, ultimately resulting in the deaths of at least 330 people including 186 children. During the assault, a Chechen-dominated Islamist outfit took more than 1,000 people hostage. Russian officials eventually ended the siege by storming the school. Authorities were criticized by some in the aftermath for being reckless and contributing to the deaths of hostages.
The Second Chechen War was partially ignited when a series of Russian apartments were bombed in September 1999, killing about 300 people. Russian officials blamed Chechen leaders, while others including former Russian operatives have claimed the bombings were in fact perpetrated by the Russian government in a bid to resume military action in Chechnya.
That he said-she said has plagued many Russian terror incidents, with the government placing the blame on an alleged militant group and detractors claiming the attack was a false flag operation directed by the Kremlin.
SHRINE SLAYINGS: PAKISTAN INTERROGATING SUSPECTS IN HORRIFIC ATTACK THAT KILLED 20
Dozens of Islamist Chechens seized a Moscow theater filled with nearly 1,000 people in October 2002. During a rescue operation about 130 people were killed by an adverse reaction to a gas that had been pumped into the theater by Russian authorities.
A double suicide bombing in Tushino in 2003 killed 15 people; 90 people were murdered when bombs exploded on a pair of Russian airplanes in 2004; 40 people died in May 2012 when suicide bombers detonated cars filled with explosives in Makhachkala; 12 died in March 2010 in a double suicide bombing in Kizlyar. Islamic separatists in the Caucasus region were linked to each attack.
Mass transit has also been a frequent target of terrorists in Russia.
An October 2013 suicide bombing on a bus in Volgograd killed seven people and injured 36 others and, two months later, a pair of suicide attacks in the same city killed 34 people after bombings at a train station and a trolleybus.
A train traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg was derailed by a homemade chemical bomb in November 2009, resulting in 26 deaths.
The Moscow Metro has been the site of multiple bombings including in February and August 2004 (51 dead) and March 2010 (41 dead).
The Islamic State terror network also has thrust its bloody hand into the region.
In August, ISIS claimed credit for its first attack in the country, a gun-and-axe assault on police officers near Moscow. Two police officers were wounded in the incident; however, both terrorists were shot and killed.
Pakistani police say an anti-terrorism court has given police three days to finish the interrogation of four men suspected in the killing of 20 devotees at a shrine in eastern Punjab province.
The custodian of a local shrine and his accomplices are said to have killed the 20 after intoxicating them amid a dispute over custodianship of the shrine.
Police officer Shamsher Joya says the four appeared before the court on Monday where Judge Zahid Iqbal extended their custody pending the investigation.
The killings took place in a village near the city of Sargodha. The shrine's custodian, Abdul Waheed, and his four alleged accomplices drugged the 20 men and women on Saturday night at a house near the shrine. The victims were then beaten with batons and repeatedly stabbed.
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South Africa's Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa called for his countrymen to get rid of "greedy" and "corrupt" people, in remarks seen as an attack on President Jacob Zuma.
Ramaphosa was speaking after Jacob Zuma fired widely respected finance minister Pravin Gordhan in a cabinet reshuffle last week in which he purged other political opponents.
"What you are required to do as citizens of this country is to support the efforts that are going to be made by those that are going to make sure that our country lives up to values of Nelson Mandela," Ramaphosa said in KwaZulu-Natal province over the weekend. His speech was broadcast on the local radio station EWN on Monday morning. "Be in support of those who will be leading that charge. Because a moment of great renewal is upon us and we should not let it go by," said Ramaphosa.
Since Zuma sacked Gordhan on Friday, concerns over corruption in the government are blamed for a fall in the value of the currency of South Africa, one of Africa's most industrialized economies.
Gordhan was seen as a bulwark against corruption. His sacking set off an outcry by anti-Zuma factions in the ruling African National Congress and opposition parties.
Economists say it is likely that South Africa, which saw economic growth of just 0.5 percent last year and has an unemployment rate of around 27 percent, will be downgraded to junk status by credit ratings agencies.
Calls have been growing for Zuma to step down since August last year when the ANC lost control of key metropolitan areas in local elections, partly because of dissatisfaction with the president's performance.
"Let us act together in unity," said Ramaphosa. "Unite our country, unite our movement under one goal. The goal of making South Africa great. The goal of making South Africa corruption free. The goal of making South Africa a South Africa we can all be proud of and getting rid of greedy people, corrupt people within our country."
South Africa's speaker of parliament said on Sunday that she is considering an emergency motion of no confidence against Zuma. Baleka Mbete said her office received a letter from the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, requesting that the national assembly, which is in recess until May 10, resume earlier to vote on the motion.
Although the ANC's reputation as the main movement against apartheid has been tainted by corruption allegations, it is still seen as the front-runner ahead of general elections in 2019.
Syrian activists say government forces have intensified their bombardment of opposition-held areas around Damascus and the central city of Hama.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the Damascus suburbs of Eastern Ghouta, as well as areas on the eastern edges of the capital, were hit by at least 50 airstrikes on Monday morning.
The activist group says scores of airstrikes also targeted the countryside north of Hama.
Syrian state media said government forces have reclaimed the village of Maardes after losing it to rebels two weeks ago.
Syrian rebels and al-Qaida-linked fighters launched twin attacks on the contested areas two weeks ago. They reached within 10 kilometers, or 6 miles, of Hama, Syria's fourth largest city, before government forces and allied militias stopped the advance.
Hampton by Hilton Debuts in Cancun, Mexico
Brands First Hotel in Cancun Welcomes Travelers to this Famous Tourist Destination
April 03, 2017 // Franchising.com // CANCUN, QUINTANA ROO, and MCLEAN, Va. - Hilton's (NYSE: HLT) Hampton by Hilton brand, the global mid-priced hotel known for providing travelers with its signature Hamptonality service, today announced the opening of its first property in Cancun, Quintana Roo, continuing its expansion in Mexico. Owned by Hoteles Parks Hospitality and managed by Hilton, Hampton Inn by Hilton Cancun Cumbres, a 141-room, new build, is located in Pabellon Cumbres Mall in Mexicos most popular tourist destination.
The opening of Hampton Inn by Hilton Cancun Cumbres is a welcome addition to our growing portfolio throughout Mexico, where we currently have nearly 50 hotels, said Jose Munoz, area vice president of operations, Mexico and Central America, Hilton. The hotels close proximity to local attractions in the heart of the action in Cancun is ideal for business and leisure travelers.
Hampton Inn by Hilton Cancun Cumbres is located only 6.8 miles from Cancun International Airport and is walking distance from many restaurants and bars at Pabellon Cumbres Mall. The hotel offers easy access to nearby tourist and recreational destinations like Puerto Morelos, Playa del Carmen and Tulum for enjoying the beach and the Mexican Caribbean.
The hotel offers modern and spacious rooms, featuring one king or two queen-sized beds and walk-in showers for comfort and convenience. Suites feature more space and a sofa bed. Each guestroom includes free WiFi, HDTV with in-room movie channels, and a coffeemaker.
Hampton Inn by Hilton Cancun Cumbres offers guests value-added amenities such as free, hot breakfast featuring delicious waffles and seasonal offerings or On the Run Breakfast Bags for the on-the-go traveler. The hotel also features a 24-hour HUB that provides drinks, snacks and sundries, as well as lunch or dinner at the Lobby Bar. Friendly Team Members are happy to recommend nearby restaurants for local favorites.
For convenient working facilities, the hotel has a 24-hour business center, including two board rooms for small meetings for up to 25 people. Visitors can take a break and enjoy some rest and recreation at the JumpStart Fitness Center and outdoor pool.
Hampton by Hilton has long been known for its unique and unmatched approach to hospitality. Team Members proudly exhibit a unique culture described as Hamptonality. This term is defined by each hotels approach to friendly customer service, anticipation of guests needs, and establishing an authentic, friendly and caring culture.
Hampton Inn by Hilton Cancun Cumbres is part of Hilton Honors, the award-winning guest-loyalty program for Hiltons 14 distinct hotel brands. Hilton Honors members who book directly through preferred Hilton channels save time and money and gain instant access to the benefits they care about most, such as an exclusive member discount, free Wi-Fi and a flexible payment slider that allows members to choose nearly any combination of Points and money to book a stay. Members can also redeem their Points for free nights, to gain access to unique events through the Hilton Honors auction platform or to make purchases with at Amazon.com with Amazon Shop With Points.
For more information or to make reservations, please visit Hampton by Hilton Cancun Cumbres or call +1 800 HAMPTON.
Read more about Hampton by Hilton at www.hampton.com and www.news.hampton.com.
About Hampton by Hilton
As the number one ranked franchise for the past eight years, according to Entrepreneur, Hampton by Hilton, including Hampton Inn by Hilton and Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton, serves value-conscious and quality-driven travelers with more than 2,200 properties totaling more than 223,000 rooms in 19 countries and territories. High quality accommodations and amenities, such as complimentary Wi-Fi and free hot breakfast, contribute to Hampton by Hilton ranking as a leader in its segment. Hampton by Hilton Team Members deliver friendly, authentic, caring and thoughtful service defined as Hamptonality. Hampton by Hilton is part of Hilton Honors, the award-winning guest-loyalty program for Hiltons 14 distinct hotel brands. Hilton Honors members who book directly through preferred Hilton channels have access to instant benefits, including a flexible payment slider that allows members to choose nearly any combination of Points and money to book a stay, an exclusive member discount that cant be found anywhere else, free standard Wi-Fi and digital amenities like digital check-in with room selection and Digital Key (select locations), available exclusively through the industry-leading Hilton Honors app. For more information about Hampton by Hilton, visit www.hampton.com or news.hampton.com and connect online at Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.
Contact:
Kandu Tapia
Hilton
+52 1 55 5213-5061
kandu.tapia@hilton.com
SOURCE Hampton by Hilton
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Southern California Based Bacon-Obsessed Restaurant Announces Franchising
Slaters 50/50 Bringing World Famous Bacon/beef Patties Around The Country
April 03, 2017 // Franchising.com // Huntington Beach, Calif. Eight years after opening its first location in Anaheim Hills, Slaters 50/50 is poised to take its namesake patty, made with 50% ground beef and 50% ground bacon, across the country via franchising. The first franchise location will open its doors in Dallas in May 2017 and stay true to the Burgers, Bacon and Beer that launched the brand.
Started in 2009 by founder Scott Slater, Slaters 50/50 is known locally for its eclectic menu of burgers, furters, and desserts with a bacon twist. With six existing company-owned locations in Southern California, Slaters 50/50 is looking to expand on its success by welcoming franchisees to join the Slaters 50/50 family.
Slaters 50/50 has seen unparalleled enthusiasm in Southern California for its out-of-the-box creations and were looking forward to taking that energy nation-wide through franchising, said Michael Nakleh, President of Slaters 50/50. Expanding across the country has always been on the horizon for the brand and were eager to introduce new markets to our innovative and expansive menu.
The menu at Slaters 50/50 ranges from classic burgers to unique creations like the Pizza Burger with 50% ground beef and 50% ground Italian sausage. Beyond burgers, Slaters 50/50 offers an extensive beer collection providing 1000 different brands in a calendar year curated by a dedicated Beer Monger. Grilled chicken breast, grass fed bison and furters round out the menu.
Our concept works because we encourage guests to use their imaginations and dream up whatever they could want on a burger, said founder Scott Slater. Weve managed to stand out from other burger restaurants thanks to our bold menu items, extensive beer offerings and family-friendly environment.
The first franchise location in Dallas will open in May 2017 at 2817 Greenville Ave. Interested parties can get more information on how to join the Slaters 50/50 franchise family by contacting Devin Conner at W.C. Franchise Developers at (424)237-2066 or Devin@slaters5050.com.
About Slaters 50/50
Founded in 2009, Slaters 50/50 is a leader in providing an over-the-top food experience with its signature burgers and selection of local and regional craft beers. Slaters 50/50 is credited with inventing the award-winning, original 50/50 patty, made of 50% ground beef and 50% bacon, using the freshest and highest quality ingredients. All patties contain premium natural beef, made without hormones or antibiotics. Slaters 50/50 puts principles and people first, while providing the highest quality burgers, service and value to our customers.
For more information, visit https://slaters5050.com/, like us on Facebook at http://www.Facebook.com/slaters5050, like us at https://www.instagram.com/slaters5050/ and follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/slaters5050.
Media Contact:
Matt Kovacs
Blaze Pr
mkovacs@blazepr.com
(310) 395-5050
SOURCE Slaters 50/50
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A Spotsylvania County man was pronounced dead early Saturday morning after being ejected from his jeep in a single-vehicle accident, according to Virginia State Police.
Taylor L. Keister, 26, died at the scene of the crash in Mecklenburg County. Speed was a factor, police said.
The accident occurred about 1 a.m. after a 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee traveling east on Route 903 ran off the right side of the road, a state police news release said. Police believe the driver overcorrected, causing the vehicle to cross the highway and run off the road before striking an embankment and overturning several times.
The jeep came to a rest after hitting a stop sign. The release did not say at what point in the accident the driver was ejected.
Nobody else was in the vehicle, a state police spokeswoman said, and the accident is still under investigation.
Nina Mikhalevsky has been named provost at the University of Mary Washington, according to a press release.
She has worked at UMW since 2006 and currently serves as acting provost. Her appointment is effective July 1.
The provost is UMWs chief academic officer, responsible for oversight of all academic programs, planning, budgets and faculty matters.
University officials began the search for a new provost when Jonathan Levin stepped down in December. He is now a tenured professor in the department of English, linguistics, and communication.
UMW President Troy Paino announced Mikhalevskys appointment Friday in an email message to the school community, citing her proven administrative capability and commitment to Mary Washington.
Nina Mikhalevsky is an extraordinary academic leader who has demonstrated a deep commitment to the public, liberal-arts-and-sciences mission of UMW, said Paino. I am pleased to have her as an energetic and visionary member of my leadership team.
Mikhalevsky has served in a variety of administrative positions at UMW, including vice president for strategy and policy and interim dean of the College of Education. She holds a tenured position as professor of philosophy at UMW.
Prior to coming to Mary Washington, she was assistant dean for academic programs and planning at The George Washington University.
Mikhalevskys areas of academic expertise and research include aesthetics, ethics and political theory, as well as women in STEM, womens education and pedagogy, and the history of womens education.
Another drug based on the same component of lipopolysaccharide is used as part of FDA-approved vaccines to prevent hepatitis B and HPV. G100 is used, experimentally, in vaccines too. Called an adjuvant, such drugs boost the vaccines effectiveness by stimulating the immune system to mount a reaction to the foreign virus particles in the vaccine.
The studys senior researcher, Dr. Seth Pollack, had been using G100 as an adjuvant in a trial of an experimental vaccine for treating sarcomas. Thats when he and his collaborators wondered whether the adjuvant could act on its own against the cancer.
The thought we had was, maybe we can activate the immune cells in these tumors to make the cancer more inflammatory and trigger an immune response that would be widespread, said Pollack, a faculty member at Fred Hutch.
The researchers recruited 15 patients with metastatic, or far-flung, soft-tissue sarcomas who had a tumor that manifested just under their skin, where it could be injected. Almost all of the trial participants had already gone through prior cancer treatments that had failed them.
Sarcoma is a catch-all term for an incredibly diverse set of cancers that affect various connective tissues, occurring in bone, muscle, tendons, fat, blood vessels and more. There are many sarcoma subtypes depending on who you ask, Pollack said, the number ranges from 40 to about 100 and several subtypes were represented among this study's participants.
For two to three months, participants received weekly injections of the drug into their tumor, as well as focused radiation, which is thought to boost immune responses.
Although the trials primary goal, as a Phase 1 trial, was to determine safety, the investigators were also gathering evidence of the compounds potential anticancer effects. Of 15 patients who received injections, 14 saw their injected tumors stop growing, shrink or, in one case, disappear. In more than a year of follow up, these tumors have not started growing again. And in six patients, tumor growth throughout the body stopped, at least for a while.
For a Phase 1 trial in a refractory population, stabilizing peoples disease is a good start, Pollack said.
The scientists observed signs of heightened immune responses in the tumors that had received the G100 injections, with hints that the experimental drug may have triggered immune cells to respond specifically to tumor cells, although they cant yet say for sure. The scientists observed these signs in patients who received radiation concurrent with G100 injections as well as in three patients whose radiation began later, suggesting that the drug was having an effect on its own.
It remains yet to be seen whether this will lead to clinically significant systemic responses, as we had hypothesized in the beginning, Seo said. But the fact that intratumoral injections appear to make the tumor hot from an immune-activation standpoint may lend itself to combination therapies using other modalities.
The researchers are now looking ahead to the next steps, already planning a follow-up trial that will combine G100 injections with another immunotherapy agent still to be determined to enhance the cancer-killing immune response throughout the body.
Weve learned a lot, and were most excited about getting a new cohort open, Pollack said.
The trial was supported by funds from Seattle Translational Tumor Research a group dedicated to advancing bench-to-bedside cancer research at Fred Hutch and its consortium partners and Immune Design, the Seattle-based company that owns G100.
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Northam and Perriello
have to win it in order to prevent the Republican-dominated legislature to, among other things, gerrymander up the state again. Blue America hasn't gotten involved because we worry that Ralph Northam isn't progressive enough and because There is a crucial gubernatorial election coming up in Virginia this year-- 2017-- and the Democratsto win it in order to prevent the Republican-dominated legislature to, among other things, gerrymander up the state again. Blue America hasn't gotten involved because we worry that Ralph Northam isn't progressive enough and because we know that Tom Perriello is an untrustworthy opportunist who has a record of pretending to be progressive to get elected and then turning around and showing his true nature after it's too late for voters. I don't live in Virginia so I've been burying my head in the sand. But the race is too important for that.
Chances are, if you don't live in Virginia, you only know Delegate Marcia "Cia" Price, who represents parts of Newport News and Hampton in the legislature, because she was the only member of the Virginia legislature of endorse and campaign for Bernie last year. I turned to her for guidance on the governor's race-- only to find out she's actually the chair of Northam's campaign! I asked her why.
Ralph Northam For Governor
by Cia Price
I have spent the last decade of my life fighting for social justice, equality, and fairness in Virginia. Most recently, I have been doing so as the representative for the 95th District in the Virginia House of Delegates.
It has been an exciting time to be a Democrat in the Commonwealth because of our work. We have spent the past 10 years fighting to make Virginia more welcoming to all, expand access to healthcare, restore the rights of formerly incarcerated folks who have served their time, create a fair and transparent process for redistricting, and raise the standards of living for families all across the Commonwealth. But with the election of President Trump and the stronghold that Virginia Republicans have on our General Assembly, all of our hard work and progress are on the line.
That is why now, I am so proud to be fighting for Ralph Northam as the Chair of his campaign for governor.
Ralph has been a public servant his whole career. He has served in the Army and as the volunteer director of a pediatric hospice. He has dedicated his life to improving the lives of Virginians. I have every reason to believe Ralph will continue to be a true servant leader for the people of our great commonwealth.
During last years Democratic primary, I was the only member of the Virginia General Assembly to endorse Senator Bernie Sanders for president. I feel like Bernie just gets it on issues like fixing our broken criminal justice system, raising the minimum wage, doing meaningful work on mental health reform, and more. I believe in his vision for our country.
Here in Virginia, Ralph gets it! I am proud to support him for governor because I know he will fight for the same people that Bernie did-- our youth, marginalized communities, and the middle class. And I know that because he has been doing this for years. Ralph stood against offshore drilling when others would not. From working to get quality, accessible and affordable healthcare for all women to expanding pre-K programs throughout the commonwealth to workforce development initiatives, Ralph is working to make our communities safer, education more affordable, and good jobs more attainable.
He has been a leader on the issues that matter most to our communities. And Ralph Northam is the only candidate running for governor who has stood up to the NRA from the very beginning. He has remained steadfast and unwavering under pressure, all while waging the good fight in Richmond.
It is so important now that we elect a Democratic Governor who will be a brick wall between Virginians and the type of hateful politics we see in Washington, D.C. Ralph Northam will build a Virginia that works for everyone-- no matter who they are, no matter where they live, no matter who they love. That is why I support him for governor.
The rainy season is expected to begin from late April in the Central Highlands.
This year's rainy season is expected to return earlier than usual to Vietnam's coffee belt in the Central Highlands, with regular showers forecast from late this month in top growing provinces, a state forecaster said on Monday.
Early rain could help save production costs in Vietnam, the world's largest exporter of robusta. The favorable weather may also reduce the negative impact on prices from earlier expectations of short coffee supplies in May and June.
"Based on our preliminary forecasts, the rainy season will begin earlier in the southern part of the Central Highlands, starting from April 25," said Pham Vu Tuan, head of the regional weather station based in Gia Lai Province, which oversees the entire Central Highlands.
Growers often water coffee trees between February and April before the rainy season begins in mid-May in the Central Highlands.
The five provinces in the region produce about 80 percent of Vietnam's coffee output.
Tuan's forecast echoed earlier projections made by the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting made in mid-February that the rainy season could arrive early this year in the Central Highlands and Vietnam's southern region, with rainfall rising the in second half of April.
The report said the combined rainfall this month and in May in southern Vietnam would be 15-30 percent above average.
Heavy downpours hit Ho Chi Minh City last Saturday, flooding many streets in Vietnam's largest city, causing delays and cancellations to dozens of domestic and international flights, while a section of railroad was also inundated.
While Tuan's forecast may apply to the Central Highlands, the Mekong Delta food basket lying further down in the southern region could still face salination, as a weaker El Nino weather phenomenon is expected to return this year, a senior meteorologist said late last month.
Robusta beans stood at VND46,100-46,600 ($2.03-$2.05) per kilogram on Monday in Dak Lak, after London's May robusta futures contracts ended 0.37 percent at $2,153 a ton last Friday.
Prices in Vietnam have eased after reaching VND47,500, the highest since September 2011, on March 21.
Last month, top exporter Intimex said Vietnam, where unseasonal rain has disrupted the 2016/2017 crop harvest and worsened coffee bean quality, could fall short of the commodity in May-June due to rising shipments and dwindling domestic stocks.
Traders said it was still too early now to forecast the coffee output for the 2017/2018 season.
High temperatures, combined with dry conditions brought by El Nino, have already cut Vietnam's previous harvest by an estimated 8 percent to 1.6 million tons, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.
Story Highlights 67% of Democrats "extremely" or "very" proud, down from 78%
Little change among Republicans, independents
New low of 75% of U.S. adults extremely or very proud
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Sixty-seven percent of Democrats say they are "extremely" or "very" proud to be Americans, down 11 percentage points from a year ago. Republicans (92%) and independents (73%) are about as likely now as in 2016 to express such patriotic sentiments.
These results are based on a March 9-29 Gallup poll, which updated the Gallup trend question first asked in January 2001. The percentage of Democrats saying they are proud is the lowest Gallup has measured to date, falling below the previous low of 74% recorded in January 2007. That survey was conducted when Republican President George W. Bush had a 36% job approval rating and just after he announced a "surge" in U.S. troops to Iraq to attempt to turn around U.S. fortunes in the increasingly unpopular war.
The decline in Democratic pride this year most likely stems from Democrats' negative feelings about President Donald Trump; fewer than 10% of Democrats approve of the job Trump is doing.
In addition to the 67% of Democrats who are extremely (43%) or very (24%) proud to be Americans, 18% say they are "moderately proud," 9% are "only a little proud" and 5% are "not at all proud." The combined 14% of Democrats who express little or no pride is up from 6% last year.
Republicans' pride remains high at 92%, close to the average 94% Gallup has measured for the group since 2001. Republicans usually rank among the subgroups expressing the most pride. Independents' current level of pride is six points lower than their historical average of 79%.
The current 25-point gap in patriotic feelings between Republicans and Democrats is the highest in Gallup's records. In January 2007, the party gap was 21 points.
Pride Among All Americans Down Six Points
The drop in Democratic pride has caused the percentage of Americans overall who are extremely or very proud to fall to a new low of 75%, down from the prior low of 81% last recorded in 2016. Eighty-one percent of Americans were also proud in 2015 and 2007. The high points in pride came in the years just after 9/11, when more than nine in 10 Americans were proud.
Overall, 51% of U.S. adults currently say they are "extremely" proud to be Americans, and 24% are "very" proud. The decrease has disproportionately come from the latter category; a year ago, 52% said they were extremely proud and 29% were very proud. The percentage of U.S. adults who are "only a little" or "not at all" proud has increased from 6% to 9%.
Implications
Political considerations color a wide range of attitudes, including some that do not have an obvious political connection. For example, Gallup recently documented changes in Republicans' and Democrats' ratings of their personal finances since the election, as well as a sharp uptick in the percentage of Democrats who report experiencing a lot of worry in their daily lives.
Americans' pride in their country is another area that politics can affect. Though most U.S. adults, including the majority of Democrats, say they are proud to be Americans, fewer Democrats express this sentiment now than at any point in the past 16 years.
Trump is likely the major factor behind Democrats' diminished patriotism. Democrats held highly negative opinions of Trump throughout the 2016 presidential campaign, and their views are no better now that he is commander in chief.
In addition to their negative feelings about Trump, Democrats' pride in their country may also be affected by their perceptions of how other countries view the U.S. In February, just four in 10 Americans, including 31% of Democrats, said they believe the rest of the world views the U.S. favorably, the worst in Gallup's annual measurement since the latter stages of the Iraq War.
Historically, Democrats' patriotism appears to have been susceptible to considerations such as which party occupies the White House and how the U.S. is faring internationally, while Republicans' patriotism has been more consistent over time. Therefore, for U.S. pride to bounce back to where it has been in the past, renewed feelings of patriotism among Democrats will be necessary.
Historical data are available in Gallup Analytics.
The workers refuse to work and demand to talk with the company's leaders on Monday. Photo by VnExpress/Xuan Thang
Pregnant workers were banned from bringing milk to the workplace and fired for a third violation.
A textile factory in southern Vietnam has pledged to replace its Taiwanese HR manager following a strike involving 1,000 workers on Monday against rules that ban pregnant women from bringing milk and limit the food and water employees can bring to work.
Workers at Indonesian-owned Mei Sheng Textiles in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province said the HR manager, who took the post a month ago, had imposed rules that affected our basic needs.
They said the parking area is nearly a two-minute walk from the factory, and they were not allowed to wear coats.
Workers said the lunch provided by canteen was also of poor quality, and that their break time had been strictly controlled and working hours extended.
Anyone violating the rules received a 10 percent pay cut and 20 percent on the second offense, and got fired on the third violation, the workers said. The manager stood at the gate to check them every morning, they said.
We feel really tired and stressed, a worker said.
Narasimha Rao, the director of the companys external affairs department, told local authorities that the company would replace the HR manager. Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reported that the manager had left the factory on Monday morning.
Rao, an Indian, guaranteed that all the workers requests about bringing food, water and coats will be met. He said their lunch quality would also be improved.
All strikes in Vietnam are wildcat with disgruntled workers demanding better pay and working conditions and protesting against overtime.
Aisha Russell is a blur of motion, her knees bent in a semi squat, her feet taking tiny, quick steps, as she darts from side to side. Arms raised in front of her, elbows bent, too, she makes circular motions with her hands as if she is washing a window.
A Hindi pop song blasts from the speakers in the exercise room at the YMCA in Greenfield on this Saturday morning where more than a dozen women are following Russells lead.
To the left. ... To the right, she calls into the microphone attached to her headset.
The group is engaged in a high-intensity aerobic workout called Doonya, a blend of western and Indian dance inspired by movies made by Bollywood the Mumbai-based film industry.
It is a relatively new exercise routine, which works nearly all the muscles in the body.
Absorbed in the dance
The women in the class have clearly been here before as they move fluidly in unison, puffing out their chests and twirling their wrists above their heads to the drum beat filling the room. Some say the exercise is just a side benefit to the fun that comes from feeling like they are on a movie set in Mumbai, though no one is wearing an embroidered sari; most are dressed in Spandex and T-shirts.
You are really absorbed in the dance and in the moment, says Gayatri Guhanarayan, 32, of Holyoke, who comes to the class every Saturday morning. There is this feeling of lightness. You forget that you are working out.
The students start marching in place, with a bit of a bounce in their steps, their arms reaching up toward the ceiling.
Shake it up a little, Russell says.
She stretches one arm above her head and makes circles as if swinging a lasso. Kick up the legs, she instructs, as she moves to the left, still swinging the invisible lasso. Her other arm is positioned just in front of her, hand in a fist, like she is holding a horses reins.
You are focusing on your balance, your core strength, you are really working the whole body, she says.
The women quickly transition from move to move.
In another moment, they flex their leg muscles, moving in and out of lunges, with their arms again stretched above their heads, forming a half moon.
The energy here is awesome, says Abby Farrar, 41, who drives from Chicopee nearly every week to take the class.
The hour goes by really quickly.
The movements are punctuated with symbolic hand gestures called mudras. The deer mudra is one of the most popular of these gestures in the class, in which two fingers are pinched together with the thumb to form a deer snout, while the pinkie and pointer finger stand up like ears.
Im learning about a culture that I didnt know about and getting a workout, says another student Jackie Stein, 39, of Lake Pleasant. It is also so nice to have an enthusiastic person lead the class.
First in the state
Russell, 30, is the only Doonya instructor teaching in Massachusetts and one of only about 50 throughout the United States. But through ongoing trainings, these numbers are growing all the time, says Rohan Sheth, Bolly Hero/CEO of the Doonya company based in New York City and Washington D.C.
Russell, who lives in Greenfield, started leading classes at the Greenfield YMCA last October, after teaching for two years in New York and New Hampshire. She works remotely for Planned Parenthood in New York, which has allowed her to move to New England for the change of scenery she was seeking.
She says she fell in love with the Pioneer Valley and not long after settling in Greenfield, pitched the class to the YMCA. Now, she teaches two sessions a week. She hopes to do a workshop in Northampton this summer.
The class, she says, is similar to Zumba, which is a choreographed cardio-dance class that pulls from the dance styles of Latin America.
It is a little bit different because you are working a lot more on your balance than you would in Zumba, she says.
Since Guhanarayan grew up in India and always has had a fondness for dance, she was ecstatic to discover Doonya through an online Indian dance meet up group last year. She says she doesnt mind making the 45-minute drive from her home every week. Guhanarayan, who is also an exercise science lecturer at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, says she likes Doonya because it is a more varied workout than taking a run or using an elliptical machine at the gym. And, she says, it keeps her arms and thighs toned.
I get my inner Bollywood actress out. I feel like I get to just be in that moment and be in the dance, she says.
Carefully choreographed
Each of the dances has been carefully choreographed and screened by the Doonya company, which was created about 10 years ago in Washington D.C. by two American women of Indian decent, Priya Pandya and Kajal Desai.
The class blends a variety of styles, like mixing Bhangra, a lively folk dance from the Punjab region in India, with western moves like hip-hop and jazz dance, says Russell.
It is very fun and full of attitude. When a lot of instructors teach routines, they go crazy with their facial expressions, they dont hold back.
As a college student in Washington D.C, in 2007, Russell took her first Doonya class with one of the founders, Pandya. She liked that it was not competitive, like sports, but fun as well as an intense workout.
It helped build my body confidence and helped me feel comfortable moving in these ways in front of other people, she says.
She also started noticing some weight loss and toning throughout her body.
After a few years of enjoying her Doonya workouts, and serving as a studio assistant in New York, Russell decided to train as an instructor. The Doonya company set up an accelerated program for her.
Sometimes she creates her own dances, which the company must approve, other times she pulls moves from an online database with instructor videos, also approved by Doonya.
Not only am I sharing this thing that I love, but I created this thing and other people are doing it, too, she says.
You can learn so many different songs and create your own playlists.
She says her students come in all shapes, sizes and fitness levels and she makes a point to create an accessible environment for everyone; each person is encouraged to work at his or her own pace.
Its not just a great workout, its a great community of people, says Russell.
Lisa Spear can be reached at Lspear@gazettenet.com
Doonya workouts
The class meets on Fridays at 5:35 p.m. and on Saturdays at 11:05 a.m. at the YMCA, 451 Main St., Greenfield. Each session is free for members of the YMCA and $10 for the general public.
Call 413-773-3646 or visit http://www.ymcaingreenfield.org.
It's been rumored that the Republican Party has women serving both in the House and the Senate but, sadly, none has ventured to boldly go where no Republican woman has gone before.
Rather, as is the custom, they toil demurely in relative obscurity, preferring to let their male colleagues do the heavy lifting of cheerleading the alternative facts-obsessed tweeter and his cohorts in the Faux news media. Blessedly indifferent to the many marches of women and minorities protesting the actions of the current administration these privileged socialites have not ever suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune (with apologies to the Bard).
At least the people of South Korea know what to do with a president convicted of massive corruption and abuse of power. Wish we were as lucky.
Leo de Vogel
Corvallis (April 2)
Editor's note: Because of an editing error, an incorrect version of this letter appeared in Friday's paper. This is the corrected version. The Gazette-Times regrets the error.
The police said he ran away from his legal job more than two years ago.
Police in Taiwan have arrested a Vietnamese man suspected of illegal logging, and found out he also ran away from his legal job more than two years ago, Taiwans Central News Agency reported.
Police caught the suspect during a patrol on Sunday as he was transporting wood in the mountainous area of Alishan in Taiwan's southwestern county of Chiayi, the report said. Taiwan is the biggest market for Vietnam's labor export.
Police said a sedan car suddenly changed direction after spotting the police, which led them to follow and stop the vehicle for a check. They found 34 small blocks of cypress stuffed in the back of the car, which were worth tens of thousands of dollars, the report said.
It quoted the Vietnamese driver, found to have run away from his labor contract two years ago, as telling the police he was hired for transporting the logs.
Police said they would continue investigation as they suspected a criminal gang was behind the logging.
Taiwan has taken nearly 70,000 Vietnamese workers in 2016, or more than half the total workers the latter sent overseas last year, Vietnam's labor ministry said.
Around 1,000 Vietnamese workers in Taiwan ran away each month in 2015, almost twice the monthly average in 2014, the ministry said. Most of them were reaching the end of their contract but wanted to stay and find other jobs.
Many Vietnamese were also caught for illegal logging in Taiwan last year, according to media reports.
Rape attack in Beuel : Police have issued a photofit of the perpetrator
Bonn After the rape of a 23-year-old in the Siegaue between Bonn and Troisdorf, police have now issued a photofit.
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Police are now using a photofit to search for the man who raped a 23-year-old woman on Saturday night near the Bergheim Sieg ferry. As previously reported, she and her boyfriend (26) had set up a tent on Saturday below the L269 Niederkassel road within sight of the Sieg ferry.
Late in the evening, around 12.30am, police said an unknown man approached and attacked the pair.
Anyone with any information is asked to call police on 0228 150.
Sex attack Siegaue near Bonn-Geislar : Rapist attacked couple at the Sieg ferry
Bonn Bonn police are conducting an intensive search for a violent sex offender. The man, aged between 20 and 30, allegedly raped a 23-year-old woman in the Siegaue nature reserve near Bonn-Geislar on Saturday night.
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A woman was raped on Saturday night near the Bergheim Sieg ferry. Police have been searching for an unknown man aged between 20 and 30, who allegedly carried out the attack. A spokesperson told the German press agency on Monday morning that officers have been following leads from the surrounding area.
The victim is a 23-year-old woman. She and her boyfriend (26) had set up a tent on Saturday below the L269 Niederkassel road within sight of the Sieg ferry. Late in the evening, around 12.30am, police said an unknown man approached and attacked the pair.
The alleged perpetrator severely threatened the two young people with a large knife and told the 23-year-old to leave the tent. He then apparently forced the young woman to have sex. While police spoke in initial reports of a sex crime, by the afternoon they said there had been a rape. The perpetrator supposedly acted in an extremely brutal and unscrupulous manner.
After the attack, the rapist fled through the Siegaue towards the Rhine. The womans 26-year-old companion, who according to police was also severely threatened by the armed perpetrator, immediately notified the police and rescue services by mobile phone. The 23-year-old was taken to hospital.
Witnesses describe the man as between 20 and 30 years old and around 1.80 metres tall. He is dark-skinned and has a slender build. His victims said he threatened them in broken English and was wearing light-coloured jeans and a short summer jacket. A spokesperson said: The couple were able to give a very good description of the perpetrator and we are currently matching this. The couple are now receiving pastoral counselling.
Police used a helicopter and a sniffer dog in their search of the area around the crime scene. Besides a detailed interview with the victim, police are also looking at evidence of possible sex crimes submitted recently to police stations. Police had not made an arrest by Sunday evening. Investigations are continuing.
An opportunity for foodies and beer lovers to get lost in a world of food and drink from a hand-selected range of food trucks and breweries from around New Zealand.
Rodricuez Cuervo Luis Alexander from Colombia is arrested at a border station in central Vietnam. Photo by Voice of Vietnam
They fled Hanoi after a robbery in February and were spotted while attempting to go to Laos.
Border officials in central Vietnam have arrested three Colombian men who were accused of involving in a $75,000 street robbery in Hanoi, the Vietnam News Agency reported, citing border force officers.
Rodriguez Cuervo Luis Alexander, 40, Zuga Galvez Jaime Alberto, 39, and Nino Nino Fidel, 41, were detained Saturday as they were clearing exit formalities at Cau Treo checkpoint in Ha Tinh Province to leave for Laos, the report said. The border gate is some 380 kilometers (240 miles) south of Hanoi.
The three have been wanted by Hanoi police after robbing VND1.7 billion ($74,900) from a person in the capital February 22.
Vietnam News Agency quoted Hanoi police as saying the Colombian men first entered Vietnam in 2006 and were members of a gang preying bank customers in large cities.
Some of them would visit banks to look for people who come to withdraw money. Then they would alert other members, who would stage road crashes with the victims to take the cash.
Ha Tinh border force has transferred the suspects to Hanoi police for further investigation.
Article
Protecting the worlds oceans an important goal of Germanys climate diplomacy
The worlds oceans are vital to our survival. They regulate the global climate and are a source of food and income for billions of people. Only a very small part of the seas enjoys legal protection, however. Our diplomats are working in New York right now to change this state of affairs.
Stranger than fiction: How a portrait of Soong Mei-ling gets a Vietnamese film in trouble
Uproar as moviegoers notice a picture of Madame Chiang Kai-shek on the altar.
"This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental." That's a disclaimer a new Vietnamese movie cannot use confidently.
When "Da Co Hoai Lang," a drama about two old Vietnamese men living with nostalgia in New York, hit local theaters in late March, it immediately created a lot of online chatter, but for the wrong reason.
Stranger than fiction: How a portrait of Soong Mei-ling gets a Vietnamese film in trouble Photoshopped portrait of Soong Mei-ling appears in Vietnamese movie
A few moviegoers were quick to point out that the film featured a portrait of Soong Mei-ling, the wife of the late Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek, for a dead Vietnamese character. The portrait appeared several times in the film.
Soong, arguably the most famous Asian woman in modern history, played a prominent role in the politics of the Republic of China, rallying her people against the Japanese invasion during the second Sino-Japanese War that started in 1937 and conducting a speaking tour in the U.S. to gain support in 1942. She was the only Chinese woman ever named as "Person of the Year" by Time.
Her photo in the Vietnamese film had apparently been photoshopped with a few features changed, notably the smile.
The portrait of Soong Mei-Ling (L) and the altar photo of a Vietnamese character in "Da co hoai lang."
Many Vietnamese strongly criticized Nguyen Quang Dung, the director, and his team, describing the use of the portrait as disrespectful.
Dung has owned up to the mistake, confirming that his production design team tried to look for a photo of a beautiful woman on the internet and discovered the picture. They altered it without learning about the person in the photo, the director said in his public apology.
He described the portrait-gate "a big lesson" in his decades-long career.
The strong backlash forced the director to bring the film back to the edit room and digitally replace the altar portrait.
A source said the team was extremely careful this time to make sure it didn't get into any trouble.
The new version of the film, adapted from a play, is now playing, with English subtitles. The film itself got mixed reviews, with some critics saying the tearjerker plays out like a stage production and lacks cinematic visuals.
U.S., Coalition Continue Strikes Against ISIS
From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release
SOUTHWEST ASIA, April 2, 2017 U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.
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 nine strikes consisting of 31 engagements against ISIS targets:
-- Near Raqqa, five strikes engaged four ISIS tactical units; destroyed eight barges and five fighting positions; and suppressed an ISIS tactical unit.
-- Near Palmyra, two strikes destroyed three ISIS command-and-control nodes, three supply caches, a checkpoint and a bunker; and damaged three bunkers.
-- Near Tabqah, two strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and suppressed an ISIS tactical unit.
Strikes in Iraq
In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted seven strikes consisting of 45 engagements against ISIS targets, coordinated with and in support of the Iraqi government:
-- Near Kirkuk, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit.
-- Near Mosul, six strikes engaged seven ISIS tactical units and an ISIS staging area; destroyed three rocket-propelled-grenade systems, three fighting positions, a heavy machine gun, an artillery system, a weapons factory and a vehicle-borne-bomb factory; damaged seven supply routes and five fighting positions; and suppressed 12 ISIS mortar teams, four ISIS tactical units and an ISIS sniper team.
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.
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Taiwan has right to do marine research in disputed waters: MOFA
ROC Central News Agency
2017/04/02 17:35:47
Taipei, April 2 (CNA) Taiwan has the right to engage in oceanographic research within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in waters off the disputed Diaoyutai Islands in the East China Sea, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) asserted Sunday.
The ministry was responding to a report the same day in the Sankei Shimbun, a Japanese daily, that Taiwanese oceanographic research vessels had sailed into Japan's EEZs around the Diaoyutais and Yonaguni Island as many as eight times without Japan's permission.
The number of such "intrusions" was the highest in the past decade, the report said, describing the phenomenon as the rising consciousness of Taiwan on marine rights and interests.
In its response, the MOFA attributed the dispute to the big overlap between the EEZs of Taiwan and Japan.
"While the two sides hold different positions on the demarcation of the EEZs, the Republic of China government has insisted consistently that its research vessels have the right to engage in oceanographic research within its EEZ," the ministry declared.
It expressed hope that the two countries can make reasonable arrangements they both can accept on scientific research activities within the overlapping parts of their EEZs through a planned Taiwan-Japan panel on cooperation in oceanographic research.
Taiwan and Japan agreed during their first meeting in a dialogue on cooperation in marine affairs in 2016 to set up the working panel for cooperation in oceanographic research.
Meanwhile, Wu Chun-chieh (), head of the Department of Natural Sciences and Sustainable Development under the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), said the research ships noted in the report were engaged in purely scientific activities and that they followed approved routes in Taiwanese waters.
Three state-owned Taiwanese research boats, named Ocean Researcher I, II and III, have been tasked to engage in oceanographic research in waters surrounding Taiwan since 1985 when Ocean Researcher I was launched, Wu said.
Before each of their missions, the ministry confirms with other agencies that the planned routes of each ship are within Taiwan's waters, Wu said in response to questions on the Japanese newspaper report.
The Diaoyutai Islands, which lie about 90 nautical miles northeast of Taiwan and about 224 nautical miles west-southwest of the southern tip of Okinawa, are claimed by Taiwan, Japan and China, but administered by Japan.
(By Ku Chuan and Elizabeth Hsu)
ENDITEM/ls
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Egyptian military kills top leader of Takfiri terrorist group
Iran Press TV
Sun Apr 2, 2017 6:3PM
Egypt's military forces have killed the founder and top leader of Daesh-linked Velayat Sinai Takfiri terrorist group in an airstrike.
"Following the results of the air raid on March 18 ... and upon the security apparatus's investigation, it was revealed that Salem Salmy al-Hamadeen, aka Abu Anas al-Ansari, was killed," said Egyptian army spokesman Tamer al-Refai in an official statement on Sunday, adding that the terrorist leader had died of injuries he had sustained in the airstrike.
The Egyptian military official said the attack also killed 17 "extremely dangerous" terrorists and wounded several others.
The group, previously known as Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, was founded in 2011 and in mid 2013 it began a campaign of deadly attacks against Egyptian security forces. The group has killed hundreds of soldiers and police officers, particularly in the Sinai Peninsula, so far. In November 2014, it also pledged allegiance to Daesh Takfiri terrorist group, which is mainly active in Syria and Iraq, and renamed itself as Daesh-Velayat Sinai Province.
According to Refai, the Takfiri leader was one of the group's founders and was among its most prominent leaders in North Sinai, playing an active role in arming and training militants in the region.
The military statement came two days after the terrorist group announced the killing of Hamadeen in its propaganda weekly newsletter al-Nabaa, mourning the death of the 40-year-old leader in an obituary, and describing him as a "key figure" in the terror campaign.
The Egyptian military launched a large-scale security operation against Daesh positions in Sinai in September 2015, following coordinated terrorist attacks on several army checkpoints that claimed the lives of 21 soldiers in July that year.
The Sinai Peninsula has been under a state of emergency since October 2014, following a deadly terrorist attack that left 33 Egyptian soldiers dead. Over the past few years, militants have been carrying out anti-government activities and fatal attacks, taking advantage of the turmoil caused in Egypt after the democratically-elected president, Mohamed Morsi, was ousted by the military in July 2013.
Velayat Sinai terrorists have claimed responsibility for most of the assaults, mainly targeting the army and police.
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South Africa's Zuma may face another no-confidence vote
Iran Press TV
Sun Apr 2, 2017 2:29PM
South African President Jacob Zuma may face another impeachment as the country's parliament speaker says she would consider requests from opposition parties to hold a new no-confidence vote against the embattled leader.
Parliament Speaker Baleka Mbete said Sunday after cutting short a trip abroad that an impeachment may be held against Zuma following his decision last week to sack South Africa's popular finance minister.
Mbete said in televised remarks that the request for the no-confidence vote was submitted to her by the centrist Democratic Alliance (DA) and the ultra-left Economic Freedom Fighters Party (EFF). The two parties have asked the speaker to reconvene the parliament and hold an urgent sitting on the issue. Mbete is also the national chairperson of the ruling African National Congress (ANC). Her new announcement shows how she and senior members of the ANC disagree with Zuma's removal of Pravin Gordhan.
Gordhan attended a memorial for an anti-apartheid activist on Saturday and called on the ANC supporters to mobilize against Zuma.
Previous no-confidence votes against Zuma have failed as his ANC party, which has ruled South Africa since the end of apartheid in the 1990s, dominates the parliament.
However, Gordhan's removal, which badly affected the markets, seems to have clearly undermined Zuma's leadership in the ANC. More elements within the party are joining the opposition in calling for Zuma's removal from power.
Even Zuma's deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa, has said that he disagreed with the decision to sack Gordhan, arguing that the move could downgrade South Africa's credit ratings.
The Communist Party, a key ally of ANC, also said Friday that "Zuma must now resign." Zuma has lost a great deal of his popularity over the past years over a string of missteps and scandals.
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Egypt court overturns block ruling on islands transfer to Saudi Arabia
Iran Press TV
Sun Apr 2, 2017 1:11PM
Egypt's Court of Urgent Matters has ruled that a judicial decision made by a top court to block the controversial transfer of two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia is void, arguing that it had no jurisdiction over the matter.
The Sunday ruling would potentially revive the government's contentious decision, which was made last April, in putting the two islands of Tiran and Sanafir within the territorial waters of Saudi Arabia, after it was blocked by the High Administrative Court back in January 16.
Since its announcement by the government of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the Cairo-Riyadh controversial maritime re-demarcation has triggered unprecedented protests by the Egyptian public and a large number of lawyers who believe the islands are Egyptian. The deal also initiated a lengthy litigation process by both the government and the opponents.
Demonstrators have accused Sisi of surrendering Egyptian territory in return for Saudi money amid reports that Cairo was receiving 20 billion dollars in aid from Riyadh to relinquish sovereignty of the islands. Egyptian courts have so far given prison terms to hundreds of protesters.
Malek Adly, an opponent lawyer, criticized the Sunday ruling, saying it was beyond the jurisdiction of the Court of Urgent Matters, which also could not challenge rulings handed down by the Higher Administrative Court, as the latter has higher judicial authority.
"This is a dangerous precedent that violates the constitution, and the Supreme Judicial Council has to decide what to do next with this verdict," he added.
The Higher Administrative Court's annulment of the deal, however, is subject to appeal, and any final transfer agreement must be approved by the Egyptian parliament.
In March, Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel-Aal said the parliament would discuss and vote on the accord, adding that the discussion would be "in accordance with its constitutional powers once some procedures and paperwork are completed in the next few days."
The legislators have not voted on the deal yet.
Riyadh and Cairo argue that the islands belong to Saudi Arabia and that the Arab kingdom asked Egypt in 1950 to protect them. However, lawyers and opponents say Egypt's sovereignty over the islands dates back to a 1906 treaty, before Saudi Arabia was founded.
The uninhabited islands of Tiran and Sanafir lie about four kilometers apart in the Red Sea. They are situated in the narrow entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba leading to Jordan and the occupied Palestinian territories.
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Trump grants Pentagon greater warfighting control amid more deployments in ME war zones
Iran Press TV
Sun Apr 2, 2017 2:32AM
The US military is quietly seizing more leeway over war fighting decisions, deploying hundreds of more troops to war zones in the Middle East with little public debate in a bid to secure greater authority to confront what it refers to as "extremists," a report has unveiled.
While this week US President Donald Trump granted the military more authority to conduct offensive air raids on alleged al-Qaeda-linked militants in Somalia, in the following weeks Trump may give the Pentagon greater control in Yemen, where the US military is seeking to provide more help to the Persian Gulf kingdom of United Arab Emirates (UAE) in its aggression against the Yemeni military and Houthi fighters of the country's Ansarollah Movement as part of a Saudi-led war on the impoverished nation, AP reported Saturday.
Major decisions on US military interference in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan are also looming, "from ending troop number limits to loosening rules that guide commanders in the field," read the report.
With strong backing by Trump, top US military leaders insist they need to be able to act more quickly against purported enemies amid vows by the newly elected president to pursue "Islamic extremists" more forcefully, echoing Pentagon's view that the Obama administration's tight control over military operations limited effectiveness.
Explaining his request for greater freedom in Somalia operations against al-Shabab militants, the head of US Africa Command, General Thomas Waldhauser told Congress in March that more flexibility and "timeliness" was essential in the decision-making process.
Approved by Trump on Wednesday, the report noted, it was hardly the first US military expansion.
It further pointed out that the US military has quietly doubled the number of American troops in Syria as well as moving military advisers closer to front lines in Iraq. Additionally, it has publicly made the case for more troops in Afghanistan.
Moreover, the White House "is tentatively scheduled this coming week to discuss providing intelligence, refueling and other assistance to UAE" as it battles the Houthi fighters in Yemen, the report added, citing officials speaking on condition of anonymity.
The escalations are developing with little fanfare considering that there is limited American appetite for large-scale deployments in Iraq and Syria. Therefore, the additions are coming incrementally, in the hundreds of forces, rather than in thousands.
The Trump administration has not eliminated Obama's troop number limits. Thus, the caps of 503 for Syria and 5,262 for Iraq are still in effect.
However, the Pentagon is ignoring them with White House approval and "using an already-existing loophole to categorize deployments as temporary," the report noted.
For instance, several hundred Marines and soldiers were recently sent to Syria to assist US-backed militants, including in the fight to retake ISIL's self-declared capital of Raqqah. All were deemed temporary so as not to be counted against the cap.
The Pentagon announced on Friday that officially there are 5,262 American troops in Iraq even as officials privately acknowledge at least a couple thousand more there.
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Flynn's New Financial Disclosure Lists Russia-Linked Payments Not Earlier Reported
RFE/RL April 02, 2017
Michael Flynn, the former U.S. national security adviser, did not report payments from a Russian state-backed television network and another firm with Russia ties in an initial financial disclosure, new documents released by the White House show.
Documents made public on April 1, signed by Flynn on March 31, listed speaking engagements to Russian entities, including the state-backed television channel RT and Volga-Dnepr Airlines, a charter cargo airline.
The disclosure does not say how much Flynn was paid for the speeches, but they are listed in the category titled "sources of compensation exceeding $5,000 in a year."
An earlier disclosure, signed by Flynn on February 11, omitted payments to Flynn for three speeches he made to the Russian companies.
Flynn's lawyer said the first filing included the speaking fees in bulk and that the disclosure was a draft version and not followed up because he left the government days afterward.
The payments from RT came to light in an indirect manner.
Representative Elijah Cummings (Democrat-Maryland) on March 16 released documents showing Flynn was paid more than $67,000 by Russian companies before the U.S. presidential election, including $33,750 from RT.
Cummings claimed that Flynn's acceptance of payments from RT violated the emoluments provision of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits retired military officers from accepting gifts from foreign powers.
Flynn was fired by U.S. President Donald Trump as national security adviser on February 13 after only 24 days on the job.
Trump said the firing was because Flynn lied to Vice President Mike Pence about his discussions with the Russian ambassador to the United States during the presidential transition period.
The latest discrepancies on reporting income linked to Russia could add to Flynn's potential legal programs.
He remains under scrutiny for his contacts with Russian officials in several separate investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Through his lawyer, Flynn on March 30 expressed his willingness to testify before House and Senate intelligence committees if he is granted immunity from prosecution.
With reporting by AP, Reuters, and The Washington Post
Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/flynn-financial-disclosure -russia-payments-rt-not-reported/28405537.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.
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Serbia's Vucic Claims 'Crystal Clear' Victory, With Exit Polls Showing Progressive Party At 55%
RFE/RL April 02, 2017
Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic declared a "clear" victory in Serbia's presidential election, an expected result that could increase Russia's influence in the Balkan nation.
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."
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 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 the 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 nation back into the autocracy that Milosevic symbolized during his decade in power.
With reporting by correspondent Alan Crosby in Prague and contributions from RFE/RL's Balkan Service, Reuters, AP, and dpa
Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/vucic-serbia- presidential-election/28404991.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.
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Outrage in Hanoi as foreign tourists caught sunbathing in swimwear by iconic lake
Social media users say the act by legendary Hoan Kiem Lake is offensive.
Outrage in Hanoi as foreign tourists caught sunbathing in swimwear by iconic lake Tourists wear bikinis by Hanoi lake
A new video of two female foreign tourists sunbathing by the Hoan Kiem (Returned Sword) Lake in downtown Hanoi has sparked outrage on social media, with many locals condemning the act as offensive.
In the video, two twentysomething women lie flat on the grass in their bikinis, right next to the famous lake. They only put on some extra clothes when a police officer walks by.
I have no idea what they were thinking, a comment on social media reads. Many others describe the act as offensive.
VnExpress International cannot immediately verify when the video was filmed and if the tourists have faced any punitive measures. Their nationalities have remained unknown.
Vietnam in 2013 abolished cash fines to punish those wearing indecent clothes in public. The country still strictly monitors what performers wear on stage.
Hoan Kiem Lake is a popular tourist attraction, but for many locals it's also a sacred place tied to centuries-old legends, including the well-known story of the Turtle God. The Ngoc Son (Jade Mountain) Temple is on the lake.
Hanoi earlier this year announced plans to implement a strict dress code, warning that it will publicly name any locals or visitors wearing skimpy clothes in public.
The rule is aimed to turn the capital city into a civil and polite destination, but experts warned that it would be difficult, if not illegal, to impose restrictions on how people dress, which they described as a very personal choice.
Last month, Vietnam's tourism ministry officially released a code of conduct for tourism. Among the rules of manners for tourists are recommendations for appropriate dressing and responsible drinking.
Egyptian Militant Killed in March Identified as Daesh's Sinai Affiliate Founder
Sputnik News
17:21 02.04.2017(updated 17:28 02.04.2017)
One of the terrorists eliminated during an air raid conducted by the Egyptian forces in the north of Sinai Peninsula on March 18 has been identified as Abu Anas Ansari, one of the founders of Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis militant group affiliated with Daesh, local media reported, citing statement of military.
CAIRO (Sputnik) According to the Youm7 media outlet, the investigation has revealed that Ansari was among 18 terrorists killed during the air raid. He was reportedly responsible for arming and training militants.
Egypt has been fighting a jihadist insurgency in Sinai since the army overthrew then President Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Police and security forces have been the target of deadly attacks by Islamists in the area.
In 2014, militants in Sinai pledged allegiance to the Daesh. The Wilayat Sinai, the Daesh branch in Sinai, has claimed responsibility for a number of deadly attacks in the area.
Sputnik
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Afghanistan Plans to Double Special Op Forces, Use Drones
By Noor Zahid April 02, 2017
As Afghan security forces continue their military operations against the Taliban and Islamic State-backed militants in the country, the government plans to improve its security forces in the next few years to help beat the growing threat posed by militant groups, Afghan officials said.
As part of a four-year security plan, Kabul plans to beef up the country's elite Special Forces, and efforts are underway to improve its air force.
"Our commando forces would be further strengthened and they should receive more arms, new and sophisticated equipment," General Dawlat Waziri, the spokesperson for the Afghan Ministry of Defense told VOA.
The plan would double the special operation forces currently serving in the capacity of a military division of 17,000 troops. A new military corps is to be created within the Afghan National Army structure to accommodate the growing number of elite forces.
Given the nature of the warfare, Afghanistan has shifted its focus from conventional warfare to special operations in an effort to help defeat a growing insurgency that has become potent in recent years and an emerging Islamic State threat that has made inroads in various parts of the country.
Currently, Special Forces conduct 70 percent of the country's military operations. The elite forces are trained as quick reaction forces and conduct regular night raids against militants in various regions of the country.
NATO has confirmed that more commandos will soon join the Afghan national security and defense forces. Captain Bill Salvin, spokesperson for Resolute Support headquarters in Kabul, said recruitment and training for more commandos is already underway.
Growing Air Force capabilities
The Afghan government also wants to increase its air force capabilities to provide logistic and close air support to Afghan forces on the ground.
Spokesperson Waziri told VOA the country's air force is expected to soon receive up to 200 helicopters and other aircraft.
Afghan security forces have also been provided with surveillance drones for use in restive regions.
"We do use drones to collect intelligence on militant groups as part of our military tools in the fight against terrorism," General Mohammad Radmanesh, the deputy spokesperson for the Afghan Ministry of Defense told VOA.
According to Radmanesh, the Afghan army received 10 drones from the U.S. for surveillance purposes last year which are being used in several provinces including Helmand, Nangarhar and Kunduz.
"The surveillance drones that we have started using are very helpful in monitoring militant activities in the northeastern zone," Lt. Gen. Sher Aziz Kamawal, commander of the Spinzar Corps in northeastern Kunduz province told VOA.
Kamawal added that drones are operated by Afghan military personnel, trained by NATO forces.
NATO's combat role
Despite successes, Afghan security forces continue to struggle against a potent insurgency and an emerging threat posed by Islamic State.
Afghan officials say continued training, support and equipment will turn the tide of the war in favor of the Afghan government.
Currently, around 13,000 NATO troops, including 8,400 Americans, are part of the Resolute Support Mission, which is tasked with training Afghanistan's 300,000 national security and defense forces.
"NATO's train, advise, and assist mission is essential to our shared goal of ensuring that Afghanistan develops the capability to contribute to regional stability and prevail over terrorist threats, including al-Qaida and ISIS," U.S. secretary of State Rex Tillerson told a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Friday.
As planned, U.S.-led NATO forces ended their combat mission in Afghanistan at the end of 2014. Under a new mission, NATO troops have kept a rather passive role, but they continue to take part in combat missions from time to time to help the Afghan security forces.
Last month, U.S. Army General John Nicholson, the current NATO commander in Afghanistan, asked U.S. officials to send a few thousand more U.S. troops to Afghanistan to break what he termed a "stalemate" in the fight against the Taliban and Islamic State.
The Afghan government welcomed Nicholson's call for additional troops, citing the country's ongoing war on several fronts against different militant groups, which has stretched the country's security forces increasingly thin.
Corruption charges
Besides battling an emboldened insurgency, Afghan security forces also face rampant corruption in their ranks.
The U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) has repeatedly warned that corruption and mismanagement could lead to military failure in the country.
President Ashraf Ghani has vowed to crack down on corruption in the government and the country's security sector.
Last week, the Afghan Defense Ministry dismissed nearly 1,400 of its officials over corruption charges over the past year. A senior general leading a military corps in the restive Helmand province, Moheen Faqiri, was fired and arrested on charges of corruption last week.
Despite challenges, NATO officials in Kabul seem optimistic about the long-term prospects of the Afghan national security forces.
"We can see a gradual improvement in the Afghan security services and we believe that we will see additional improvements this year," Captain Salvin told VOA last week. "It takes a while to build an institution like an army or a police corps."
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Trump, Sissi to Seek Closer Cooperation Against Islamist Extremism
By Peter Heinlein April 02, 2017
The United States and Egypt are expected to reach accord on enhanced collaboration in the fight against radical Islamist terrorism Monday when Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi comes calling on President Donald Trump at the White House.
"Both have a very deep antipathy toward political Islamism," said H.A. Hellyer, senior fellow at the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East at the Atlantic Council. "They both view security as very much the first, second and third priority of politics."
A White House statement issued in advance of the visit said, "The relationship has historically been driven by security interests, and that will remain a key component of the engagement."
The statement praised the Egyptian leader's tough policy in battling terrorists.
"Sissi has taken bold steps on a number of sensitive issues since becoming president in 2014," it said.
Common goals
Analysts and regional experts who spoke to VOA agreed that the meeting is fated to succeed. The two were reported to have gotten along well when candidate Trump met the Egyptian leader in September on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
Given their common emphasis on security, it should be easy to breathe new life into a relationship that was bruised and battered during the Obama presidency, analysts say.
Obama froze aid to Cairo after Egypt's military, led by then General Sissi, overthrew Egypt's first democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi, in 2013. (Sissi was elected to the presidency a year later.) Obama declined to invite Sissi to the White House and was critical of the military regime's crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, which Morsi represented as president. Sissi regards the Brotherhood as a terrorist group.
"Obama's administration went through the arc from (former president Hosni) Mubarak, through revolution, through the Muslim Brotherhood, through another revolution, to a military-led regime," said Robert Satloff, director of the Washington Institute, which specializes in Middle East policy. "It was quite a tempestuous period in Egypt/U.S. relations."
America's Arab partner
Satloff says Trump is looking to Sissi, who has been outspoken in his condemnation of jihadism, as America's leading Arab partner in his high-profile fight against radical Islamist extremism.
"Sissi has been very vocal about jihadist extremism, how important it is for moderate mainstream Muslim leaders to recapture the narrative from the jihadist extremists," Satloff said in an interview.
"He's gone to the headquarters of Muslim learning in Egypt, al Azhar, and he's challenged the intellectual and thought leaders to recapture the high ground from the jihadists. So I don't think Sissi is going to have a hard time with President Trump's characterization on this issue," Satloff said.
Muslim world watching
The Oval Office meeting is being keenly watched in Cairo, where there is intense curiosity about Trump's intentions toward Egypt and the greater Muslim world.
"The entire region seems to be holding its breath," says the Atlantic Council's Hellyer. "They're wondering, OK, Trump has just banned citizens of six Muslim majority countries, and what does that mean. And now the thing with the flights, where airports, including Cairo, you can't take laptops on flights to the U.S. And then what's happening with that inner circle around Trump speaking not just about Islamism, but about Islam and Muslims more generally," Hellyer said.
Cairo's political elites are also watching the Oval Office meeting closely for signs of Trump's positions on a number of other important issues: will Trump's proposed cutbacks in foreign spending translate to reductions in crucial military and financial assistance? And perhaps more importantly, will a warm Trump embrace signal a more relaxed U.S. attitude toward the Sissi administration's much maligned human rights record?
A senior White House official Friday indicated the Trump administration would work quietly with Egypt on human rights issues.
"Our approach is to handle these types of sensitive issues in a private, more discreet way," the official said. "We believe it's the most effective way to advance those issues to a favorable outcome."
Human rights on the table
Those were not the words human rights campaigners were hoping to hear. At a briefing for reporters at the Arab Center in Washington Thursday, activists expressed concern about what they see as a slide toward authoritarianism in Egypt that includes cracking down on civil society and closing political space.
"I think President Sissi looks at the White House as a big prize to legitimize his rule in Egypt," said Moataz El Fegiery, protection coordinator for Middle East Front Line Defenders in London. "If the United States has leverage on Egypt, it is very important that human rights be on the table. Otherwise it is a green light from the White House for President Sissi to continue his massive crackdown on peaceful opposition and civil society."
The Egyptian leader is the first of three heads of state who will be visiting Trump this week as the president continues an extended series of get-to-know-you meetings with major international players.
On Wednesday, Jordan's King Abdullah will be a guest in the Oval Office. The following day, Trump will fly to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida for two days of talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
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Serbia's Vucic Sweeps to Presidency in 1st Round, Polls Show
By VOA News April 02, 2017
Exit polls show conservative Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic winning Sunday's presidential election by a wide margin, affirming his control over political life in a country seeking warmer relations with the West while strengthening ties with traditional ally Russia.
Independent pollsters late Sunday showed the 47-year-old Vucic carrying about 55 percent of the vote, assuring an outright first round victory by pulling more than the required 50 percent. His nearest rival, opposition candidate Sasa Jankovic, was carrying just over 16 percent.
Vucic, a trained lawyer, has since 2008 pushed for Serbia's entry into the European Union, signaling a dramatic shift from his ultra-nationalist stance of the 1990s as a member of the far-right Serbian Radical Party.
He joined that party in 1993, rising to prominence with fiery speeches in which he defended the actions of ethnic Serb forces and their leaders during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war.
In 2008, however, he shocked political analysts and pundits when he split from the Radicals to co-launch a center-right Progressive Party that advocated cooperation with the West.
He further stunned supporters that year when he reframed the 1995 Serb massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica as a "horrible crime," after defending the wartime genocide for more than a decade.
He also has pushed for improving ties with former foe Kosovo -- a key European requirement for Belgrade's entry into the 28-nation trade bloc.
Vucic was named deputy prime minister in 2012, following the election win of his Serbian Progressive Party, and became prime minister two years later.
He is widely expected to name an ally to the post of prime minister and then transform the presidency from a ceremonial role to an office in which he can control policy-making and political life in general in the country of 7.2 million.
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South Korea, Japan, US start 3-day joint exercise on Korean Peninsula
Iran Press TV
Mon Apr 3, 2017 3:54AM
The United States, South Korea, and Japan have reportedly started a three-day joint military exercise on the Korean Peninsula to simulate countering a North Korean submarine-launched missile attack.
The exercise began off South Korea's southern coast near Japan on Monday, the South's Defense Ministry said. Several naval destroyers and helicopters used in anti-submarine warfare along with more than 800 troops are participating in the drill.
Seoul said the exercise was aimed at "ensuring effective response to the North's submarine threats including the submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM)."
The drill began a day after US President Donald Trump warned that Washington would act unilaterally to deal with Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs if China, the North's main ally, proved unwilling to help.
Trump told The Financial Times that Beijing "has great influence over North KoreaWell, if China is not going to solve North Korea, we will. That is all I am telling you."
Pyongyang has so far conducted five confirmed nuclear tests and numerous missile launches.
China, which is also North Korea's key economic benefactor, often backs North Korea but has had its own reservations about Pyongyang's missile and nuclear programs. Beijing has already taken steps to increase pressure on Pyongyang over the matter.
The North faces international pressure, including an array of sanctions, to abandon its arms development and nuclear program. Yet, it says the programs are meant to protect the country from US hostility.
The US, which has military forces in South Korea, has recently started the installation of an advanced missile system at an air base in the South, further stoking tensions with the North, as well as China.
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China Prepared to Meet 'Hard-Bargaining' Trump Head-on in Negotiations
Sputnik News
21:56 02.04.2017(updated 22:18 02.04.2017)
On the eve of next week's much-anticipated summit between Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump, observers have picked up on an interesting trend: the lack of a firm response from Beijing to US criticism over China's policies. China watchers suggest that Beijing has gained a pretty good grasp of Trump's hard-bargaining negotiating strategy.
China's president will arrive in Florida for talks with Trump on April 6 and 7 at the president's Mar-a-Lago estate, bringing together the leaders of the world's largest economic powers for their first face-to-face meeting.
The summit has already garnered a great deal of media attention, as the world tensely waits in anticipation for any possible changes in the Chinese-US political and economic relationship. Following Trump's election, US and Chinese officials briefly engaged in a back-and-forth diplomatic jousting match over a series of issues, from disagreements over economic and trade policy, to foreign policy issues (including Chinese concerns over US policy in the Korea and the South China Sea). However, in recent weeks, China has toned down much of its own criticism of the Trump administration.
At a recent press conference in Beijing, Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang told reporters that China "attaches great importance to the forthcoming meeting. Currently, we're doing preparatory for to ensure that the visit is successful."
On Thursday, President Trump took an opposite and frank tone, tweeting that his meeting with Xi would be "very difficult," and adding that the US "can no longer have massive trade deficits and job losses. American companies must be prepared to look at other alternatives," he stressed.
Vowing to create a "level playing field" for American workers, Trump also signed two executive orders on Friday which he said were aimed at combatting foreign trade abuses, stressing that his administration would "take necessary and lawful action" to end the abuses, which have led to a US annual trade deficit of over $500 billion (to which the US-Chinese trade deficit contributes about $300 billion).
The White House-controlled US Trade Representative's Office firmed up Trump's negotiating position, saying last week that Chinese economic and fiscal policies, including support for industries such as steel and aluminum, as well as restrictions on US products, have helped cause the trade imbalance.
Zheng parried the administration's tough stance, saying that Beijing is not intentionally seeking a trade surplus or looking for trade advantages via unfair policies like currency manipulation. Trade relations, he said, have brought tangible benefits to both countries, with investments by Chinese companies in the US growing rapidly, thus creating jobs which may help to solve the trade deficit issue. China would also be prepared to expand its imports from the US, the diplomat added.
Commenting on this marked difference in tone, Viktor Supyan, deputy director of the Institute for US and Canadian Studies, an influential think tank under the Russian Academy of Sciences, told Sputnik that both countries' grand strategies were pretty clear.
"The US negotiating position comes down to the following: the more severe the pressure on the other party at the start, the more room there is for maneuver and backtracking afterwards," Supyan said.
"The US will of course try to pressure China, will try to achieve its aims, but there are limits to these opportunities," the expert added. "China is not just some second-rate power. Its GDP, at least when measured by purchasing power parity, is the largest in the world."
Furthermore, he noted that "the interdependence between the two countries is very large." Accordingly, Supyan suggested that Trump's 'get tough on China' position will be difficult to carry on in practice. "Trump will press the issue on cybersecurity, but on other issues there will be disputes, and an active position taken by both sides." Therefore, he stressed, "the negotiations will be very tough at this first summit."
For his part, Wang Xianju, a senior expert at State Council Development Research Center, a leading state-run Chinese policy research agency, emphasized the importance of maintaining and expanding on the positive dynamics of the current relationship between the two countries.
"The importance of meeting between Presidents Xi and Trump for both sides lies in the very fact of its taking place the [establishment] of contact between the two leaders," he said. "The dialogue will see the discussion of the situation in each country, the prospects for development of bilateral relations and existing problems. I hope that thanks to the visit, Chinese-American relations will see balanced development."
Sputnik
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Trump Hopes China Will Help US Eliminate North Korea Nuclear Threat
Sputnik News
23:34 02.04.2017
US President Donald Trump said Sunday that Washington is determined to resolve the issue of the North Korean nuclear program and hopes that Beijing will help it to do so.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) The United States counts on China's assistance in solving the problem of North Korea nuclear program, but is ready to act alone in case of Beijing's abstention, US President Donald Trump said Sunday.
"China has great influence over North Korea. And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they won't Well if China is not going to solve North Korea, we will. That is all I am telling you," Trump said in an interview with The Financial Times newspaper.
Trump added that he planned to discuss the issue with Chinese leader Xi Jinping during the meeting set for April 6-7.
The US leader stressed that he respected his Chinese counterpart and hoped for a productive meeting.
"I have great respect for him. I have great respect for China. I would not be at all surprised if we did something that would be very dramatic and good for both countries and I hope so," Trump said.
Earlier in the day, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi held a phone conversation to discuss upcoming meeting between the US and Chinese leaders.
The meeting is set to take place in Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in the state of Florida.
Since the beginning of 2016, North Korea carried out a number of missile launches and nuclear tests, prompting worldwide criticism, including from Beijing. As a result, the UN Security Council tightened the sanctions regime for North Korea in an attempt to force Pyongyang to stop ballistic missile launches and nuclear tests, including imposing a measure intended to affect the country's trade, export of natural resources, arms trade and banking sector.
Earlier in March, Trump said Chinese authorities have done "little to help," to address the threat posed by the North Korean nuclear program.
Sputnik
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Trump Says US Ready to Act Alone on North Korea
By Ken Schwartz April 02, 2017
President Donald Trump says if China is not going to solve the problem of North Korea, "we will."
"China has a great influence over North Korea," Trump told London's Financial Times. "And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they won't ... and if they don't, it won't be good for anyone."
Trump hosts Chinese President Xi Jinping at the U.S. leader's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida Thursday.
Their two-day summit will undoubtedly focus on North Korea and its nuclear program. Threats and sanctions, including China's recent cut-off of coal imports from North Korea, have failed to deter Pyongyang's drive to become a nuclear armed power.
U.S. experts warn North Korea is planning its sixth nuclear text. Tokyo called a February North Korean ballistic missile launch over the Sea of Japan "intolerable."
Deputy National Security Advisor K.T. McFarland told the Financial Times it is conceivable North Korea could have the ability to hit the U.S. with a nuclear-armed missile by the end of the Trump administration in 2021.
Appearing on ABC television's This Week broadcast Sunday, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said it is time for China to act and stop making "excuses that they're concerned, too."
"They need to show us how concerned they are. They need to put pressure on North Korea. The only country that can stop North Korea is China," Haley said.
All options on table
The White House is considering all options in dealing with North Korea, including military action.
Former U.S. defense secretary Ash Carter, also speaking on This Week, said the U.S. had a plan for a preemptive strike on North Korea's Yeonpyeong research facility in 1994 when Bill Clinton was president.
Carter said the military option always has been and always should be on the table.
He said a preemptive strike on a missile launch pad could trigger a North Korean invasion of South Korea and the certain defeat of the North.
But, he warned the consequences of such a move would be a war that would have "intensity of violence ... that we haven't seen since the last Korean War. Seoul is right there on the borders of the DMZ."
Carter said the North knows the U.S. is emphasizing its deterrent posture and strength on the Korean peninsula.
He also said China knows that the collapse of North Korea would lead to a unified Korea allied with the U.S. right on its border.
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Iran has concrete agreement with Russia for purchase of 12 planes: Russian minister
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Moscow, April 2, IRNA -- Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said there is already a concrete agreement between Russia and Iran for purchase of 12 planes.
Iran has shown interest in purchasing 100 Russia's medium-haul Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ100) passenger planes, but the agreement has only been reached regarding 12 aircraft as of the moment, the Sputnik News Agency quoted Novak on Saturday.
'We are working out with our Iranian partners supply of our Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft. Our colleagues have confirmed that there is a concrete agreement for 12 planes already. In the short term, we are considering 30 aircraft. This is just the beginning because overall, the Iranians are interested in purchasing 100 Sukhoi Superjet aircraft,' Novak said.
Last Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said talks were underway about exporting SSJ100 planes to Iran.
The SSJ100 is a twin-engine plane made by Russia's Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company. It can transport up to 98 passengers at a distance of up to 2,700 miles, and costs around $36 million in its basic configuration. The jet made its maiden flight in May 2008.
Novak told Rossiya 24 broadcaster on Saturday that Russian President Vladimir Putin visit to Iran in November 2015 made key development in relations between the two states.
The official expressed satisfaction with raise of trade exchange between Iran and Russia in 2016 and said that Tehran-Moscow trade exchange experienced 98 percent growth in January 2017 compared with January 2016.
9191**1771
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Kurds' Two Main Parties Agreed on Holding Independence Referendum in 2017
Sputnik News
20:06 02.04.2017(updated 20:36 02.04.2017)
Two main Kurdish parties - the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) - issued a joint statement, announcing the formation of a special committee, responsible for preparing the independence referendum in Kurdistan.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Representatives of two main Kurdish parties the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) agreed during a meeting on Sunday to hold a referendum on independence later this year, local media reported.
According to Rudaw news, the Kurdish main parties issued a joint statement, announcing formation of a special committee, responsible for preparing the referendum.
"The two sides, through a joint high committee, [are tasked to] discuss this issue with the political and national parties of Kurdistan to form a joint committee in order to set the timing and mechanism to hold a referendum," the statement read, as quoted by the media outlet.
According to the statement, the Kurdish nation had a "natural right to decide on its political and administrative path in a referendum and an entity of an independent state."
The Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Turkey, Iraq, and Syria, seeking creation of an independent Kurdistan. In Iraq and Syria, the Kurds are fighting against the Islamic State (ISIL or Daesh) terror group, outlawed in Russia, while in Turkey, they are engaged in a conflict with state authorities.
Sputnik
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Tourism firms see red as new ban sinks kayaking in Vietnam's Ha Long Bay
Operators lament that the ban takes effect almost immediately, leaving them scrambling to make changes to their scheduled tours.
The decision by local authorities to ban all kayaking trips in the world-renowned Ha Long Bay last week has come as an unpleasant surprise for many tourism firms.
Ha Long authorities announced the decision last Wednesday following accusations that some kayaking trips are overpriced. It is unclear when these trips will resume.
Local authorities said the number of kayaks in the bay has been growing rapidly, even though many services are not registered. Some tour operators have not informed authorities of kayaking fees, so tourists are overcharged.
Tourism firms see red as new ban sinks kayaking in Vietnam's Ha Long Bay Tourism firms see red as new ban sinks kayaking in Vietnam's Ha Long Bay But tour operators have lamented that the ban on one of the most popular outdoor activities in the bay was announced only three days ahead of it taking effect, compelling them to scramble to make changes to their scheduled tours.
Nguyen Hoang, a representative of tourism company Handspan Travel, said his firm was abruptly forced to notify its partners and customers about the change, and deal with compensation, make changes to information on its website and reprint brochures.
Hoang said the authorities must make a clear distinction between legitimate tourism operators and illegal firms.
Other travel companies have also aired grievances against the ban on the service, which has been voted by many prestigious travel agencies such as CNN, Tripadvisor and Lonely Planet, as the most exciting experience in Ha Long Bay. British magazine Wanderlust voted Vietnam in its top 10 destinations for kayaking in 2016.
Nguyen Tien Dat, deputy director of travel agency Transviet, said the reaction of most customers was "unhappy".
"We do not know what to replace the activity with," Dat said.
Some travel agencies have sent petition to authorities in Quang Ninh Province, home to Ha Long Bay, asking them to revise the decision.
"If the decision cannot be reversed, the local authorities should shelve it until the end of 2017," a representative of German tourism company Chamaleon Reisen suggested.
Ha Long Bay is one of the top attractions in Vietnam. It has around 1,600 islands and islets that form a spectacular seascape of limestone pillars.
The bay was recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1994. The U.K.-based travel site Rough Guides recently listed the bay in the top 10 UNESCO Heritage Sites in Asia.
Over 500 Iraqi Civilians Killed, Some 550 Wounded in March - UN
Sputnik News
14:36 02.04.2017(updated 15:02 02.04.2017)
A total of 543 Iraqi civilians have been killed with another 561 wounded as result of terrorism, violence and armed conflict in the country, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said Sunday.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Nineveh province, where the city of Mosul is located, was the most affected region with with 541 casualties (367 killed, 174 injured) followed by Baghdad with 84 killed and 246 injured respectively.
"The terrorists have used every possible wicked way to inflict casualties on civilians. Two car bombs killed or wounded many in the Baghdad area last month. In western Mosul, Daesh terrorists [Islamic State, outlawed in Russia] have forcibly transferred civilians, holding them as human shields as they retreated or at strategic locations in densely populated areas. In cases, Daesh has 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," Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) for Iraq, Mr. Jan Kubis said, commenting on the figures.
The Iraqi operation to recapture Mosul, the key stronghold of the Islamic State terror group in the country, began in October 2016 and resulted in the liberation of Mosul's eastern part this January. Fighting continues in the city's west.
In March, Amnesty International accused the coalition of "flagrant violation of international humanitarian law" as the coalition failed to take precautions to prevent high death toll among civilians in Mosul.
Sputnik
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US Ambassador to UN: 'Trump Never Stopped Me From Beating Up on Russia'
Sputnik News
03:49 02.04.2017
Despite all the accusations of cozy perhaps too cozy relations between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Russia in general, the US ambassador to the United Nations says the president has never told her what to say about it.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said in a recent interview that the US president has never stopped her from "beating up on Russia."
"The president has not once called me and said, 'Don't beat up on Russia;' has not once called me and told me what to say," Haley said in an interview on ABC's "This Week" March 31.
During the interview with ABC host Martha Raddatz, who tried to make Haley pass judgment on whether the US president should take a tougher stance on Russia and "condemn what's happening inside Russia" in order to preserve the US's role of the "moral conscience of the world," the ambassador replied by saying it's her job to express that stance to the world body.
Trump "has got a lot of things he's doing, but he is not stopping me from beating up on Russia," she added.
Trump has been repeatedly accused of having ties with Russia, with his former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn forced to resign over lying to the administration and Congress about his contacts with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak.
The Trump-Russian ties story has even gotten on Trump's own nerves. He's asked US media to "stop with the Fake Trump/Russia story" and focus more on former President Barack Obama's alleged spying on his campaign.
Haley has been a consistent critic of Russia, blaming Russia for the situation in Ukraine and claiming that US sanctions on the country won't be lifted unless Russia "returns" the Crimean Peninsula to its western neighbor. Her stance appears sometimes at odds with Trump's intentions to ease relations with Russia, which he expressed during his presidential campaign.
During her first speech in the United Nations in February, Haley said it was "unfortunate" that she had to start her service as US ambassador by criticizing Russia, as so many of her predecessors had to "far too many times" before.
"It should not have to be that way," she said, before going on to give a lengthy speech about Russia's alleged wrongdoings in Ukraine. "We do want to better our relations with Russia."
Sputnik
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Army forces continue to push back terrorists through Syria
Iran Press TV
Sun Apr 2, 2017 9:2PM
Syrian government forces have killed at least 10 Daesh terrorists during operations in the country's eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr.
According to military sources, the terrorists were killed on Sunday by Syrian troops in a series of operations in Dayr al-Zawr's al-Erifi neighborhood and its surrounding areas, in which a large amount of the militants' equipment was also destroyed.
Elsewhere in the country, Syrian forces targeted fortifications belonging to the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham terrorist group in the southern province of Dara'a.
During the operations, a terrorist military command center was destroyed and a large number of terrorists were killed or severely injured in the city of al-Tiha.
Several more terrorists were also killed and their weapons destroyed or confiscated in the province's Daraa al-Balad and al-Karak neighborhoods.
In the western province of Homs, military troops retook the strategic mountain of Abu al-Douhor, which overlooks the Abu Kala Dam and Wadi al-Haso, from Daesh terrorists. In the operations heavy losses were inflicted on the terrorists.
Syria has been fighting different foreign-sponsored militant and terrorist groups since March 2011. UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura estimated last August that more than 400,000 people had been killed in the crisis until then.
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Turkey Says 50,000 Displaced Syrians, Refugees Return To Retaken Areas
April 02, 2017
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says some 50,000 displaced Syrians and refugees have returned to areas captured by Turkey and its opposition allies in northern Syria.
Cavusoglu's comments on April 1 came three days after Prime Minister Binali Yildirim hailed the successful completion of Turkey's Operation Euphrates Shield.
That mission was launched in August by Turkey and its allies to push fighters of the Islamic State (IS) militant group away from the Syrian-Turkish border.
Cavusoglu said security in the areas captured from IS will eventually be handed to local forces. Turkey is also fighting Kurdish militia in the region -- forces it considers to be "terrorists."
Cavusoglu said "people started returning to these places. Our soldiers are still there, and we need to conduct the work there. We need to establish a terror-free zone."
Dozens of Turkish soldiers have been killed since the campaign was launched, most of them around the town of Al-Bab, which was finally captured from IS fighters.
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, causing one of the worst refugee crises in Europe since World War II.
Turkey is supporting rebels who are opposing the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
Based on reporting by AP and Daily Sabah
Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/turkey-syria-refugees-return/28405554.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.
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Daesh Commander Killed by SDF Near al-Tabqah Town in Northern Syria
Sputnik News
18:19 02.04.2017(updated 18:44 02.04.2017)
The fighters of the Wrath of Euphrates operation repelled the Daesh attacks in the area to the south of Tabqa Airport in Syria, and the clashes continue in the area to the west of the airport, according to local media.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) During the fighting between Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Islamic State (ISIL or Daesh, outlawed in Russia) militants near Syria's northern town of al-Tabqah, dozens of terrorists were killed including one of Daesh commanders Ebu Zubeyir, media reported Sunday.
The fighters of the Wrath of Euphrates operation repelled the Daesh attacks in the area to the south of Tabqa Airport, and the clashes continue in the area to the west of the airport, Firat News Agency said.
The SDF also seized the bodies of 24 IS militants, as well as large amounts of weapons, ammunition, and an armored panzer, according to the agency.
Al-Tabqah is within 40 kilometers (24.8 miles) distance from Raqqa, the de facto Daesh capital in Syria. Earlier this week, SDF military commander Nasser Haj Mansour told Sputnik the SDF troops completely surrounded Al Tabqah, and expressed hope it would be captured in the near future, adding that the SDF would use a military base near Al-Tabqah during their offensive aimed at the liberation of Raqqa.
The Wrath of Euphrates operation, aimed at liberating Raqqa was launched in November 2016 by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The Pentagon confirmed that US military advisers, aircraft and artillery were deployed to Syria to "train, advise and assist" the SDF and allied troops.
Sputnik
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Tainan mayor urges China to 'have confidence' to talk to DPP
ROC Central News Agency
2017/04/02 20:49:47
Taipei, April 2 (CNA) Tainan Mayor Lai Ching-te () urged China on Sunday to have confidence to engage in exchanges with Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) instead of looking at the pro-independence party through the eyes of the pro-China Kuomintang (KMT).
Cross-Taiwan Strait peace is the top policy goal of President Tsai Ing-wen's government -- the same as all previous governments under former presidents Lee Teng-hui, Chen Chui-bian and Ma Ying-jeou -- Lai said in a speech celebrating the 30th anniversary of The Journalist magazine.
"China should understand the DPP's culture and its thinking, but not through the KMT," he said, adding that if China does not change its mindset, it would never get a real understanding of the DPP -- and that is the question now," Lai said.
Regarding China's insistence that the DPP accepts the "1992 consensus" before it will talk with the Tsai government, Lai said it was neither necessary for China nor fair to the DPP.
"The reality today is that it is not Taiwan that wants to unify with China; it is also not Taiwan that wants to change the status quo across the strait. The days have passed when Taiwan wants to 'recover the mainland.' It is China that wants to change the status quo of Taiwan because it wants to unify with Taiwan," said the mayor and a DPP stalwart.
"If a big company wants to merge with a smaller one, it will make an offer. Now China wants Taiwan to make an offer. If Taiwan's offer is not acceptable to China, China says it will not have exchanges with Taiwan. China even threatens to use armed force to get Taiwan. This is not right; neither is it fair to Taiwan," Lai said.
China's attitude (toward Taiwan) aside, Lai said it was important for Taiwanese people to reach a consensus. "If the Taiwanese view on China is divided, no peace can be maintained across the strait," he said.
Lai is a political star in Taiwan, having enjoyed high popularity as a political powerhouse in southern Taiwan along with Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu.
As his second term as mayor of Tainan will end next year, people are watching to see what he will choose to do next.
For the first time on Sunday, he disclosed that President Tsai had invited him to serve as the secretary-general of the Presidential Office, an offer he said he declined because his city needed him to finish a project associated with rebuilding from a devastating earthquake and an underground railway project.
There has since been speculation that he will run for mayor in New Taipei in 2018, but Lai said Sunday the DPP should first consider nominating "local politicians" for that job.
(By Sophia Yeh and S.C. Chang)
Enditem/ls
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Erdogan calls on Kurds to vote yes in April referendum
Iran Press TV
Sun Apr 2, 2017 1:59AM
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has referred to himself as a "guardian of peace" while calling on Kurds to vote "Yes" in an upcoming constitutional reforms referendum.
A shaky ceasefire between the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been calling for an autonomous Kurdish region since 1984, and the Turkish government collapsed in July 2015. Attacks on Turkish security forces have soared ever since.
Over the past few months, Turkish ground and air forces have been carrying out operations against the PKK positions in the country's troubled southeastern border region as well as northern Iraq and Syria.
"These supporters of the PKK keep on saying 'peace, peace, peace'. Does empty talk bring peace? Could there be peace with those who walk around with weapons in their hands?" said Erdogan during a rally held in the country's conflict-torn southeastern Kurdish majority city of Diyarbakir on Saturday.
Erdogan was referring to the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) which he claims supports the PKK. The HDP, the second largest opposition party in Turkey, has been a main critic of changing the country's constitution. The party has campaigned vastly against the April 16 referendum.
"We are the guardians of peace, we are the guardians of freedoms," he added.
Turkey is set to hold a referendum on the constitutional amendments, including giving executive powers to the president, currently a ceremonial post, and abolishing the office of the prime minister.
"We are ready to talk, to walk together with everyone who has something to say or has a project," Erdogan said. "We have one condition. There will be no guns in their hands."
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'EU is a Christian Union': Erdogan Explains Why Turkey Can't Join the Bloc
Sputnik News
20:20 02.04.2017(updated 21:58 02.04.2017)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spelled out the main reason why the Middle-Eastern state's accession to the European Union has been stalled.
"Do you know why Turkey has not been able to enter the EU for 54 years? The reason is absolutely clear: the EU is a Christian union," Erdogan said at a rally in Ankara on Sunday.
The relations between Turkey and the European Union have deteriorated due to the refusal of several European governments, including the Netherlands and Germany, to allow Turkish ministers to hold campaign meetings with local expat communities ahead of the Turkish constitutional amendments referendum, aimed at expanding presidential powers. Erdogan compared the authorities in Berlin with Nazis and branded Amsterdam as "Fascists, Nazi remnants".
The president said at the rally that the proposed constitutional changes [giving Turkey's president more power] would boost the country's economic development, which is something Ankara's opponents are against.
"The Turkish economy grew by 2.9 percent in 2016 while a number of Western countries can't overcome their economic crisis," he added.
Erdogan again accused Western countries of backing the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), recognized as a terrorist organization by Ankara.
Turkey and the European Union signed an EU Association agreement back in 1963. Ankara submitted a membership proposal in 1987. Formal talks on Turkey's accession to the bloc started in 2005. In March 2016, its candidature received a boost as it signed a migration deal with the European Union.
However, the talks have been repeatedly suspended due to various obstacles, including the European Union's objections regarding the clampdown by the Turkish government on those suspected of ties to organizers of the failed coup in July 2016.
On March 25, just on the day when the European Union celebrated its 60th birthday, Erdogan said Turkey could hold a referendum on whether it actually needs to further strive to join the bloc.
On March 17, he urged Turks living in Europe to have five children and reach prosperity, as they are "the future of Europe."
Sputnik
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Britain vows to 'look after' Gibraltar following Brexit
Iran Press TV
Sun Apr 2, 2017 11:10PM
British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon says the United Kingdom will "look after" Gibraltar in the post-Brexit era.
"We're going to look after Gibraltar," said the 64-year-old during an interview with the state-funded BBC in London on Sunday.
Fallon's remarks came after British and Spanish officials stepped up their rhetoric in regard to the strategically important rocky outpost on Spain's southern tip.
"Gibraltar is going to be protected all the way because the sovereignty of Gibraltar cannot be changed without the agreement of the people of Gibraltar and they've made it very clear they do not want to live under Spanish rule and it's interesting in the draft guidelines from the EU that Spain is not saying that the whole thing is subject to the transfer of sovereignty," stated the British military chief.
Gibraltarians rejected shared sovereignty with Spain by 99 percent to 1 percent during a referendum in 2002.
With a population of around 30,000, the British territory is located at the entrance of the Mediterranean Sea, on the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, and has an area of 6.7 square kilometers (2.6 square miles).
Gibraltar was ceded to Britain in 1713 as part of the Treaty of Utrecht. But Spain over the past decades has made it clear that it wants the enclave back.
Madrid's resolve has apparently become stronger after Britons' decision to quit the European Union.
Spain also appears to be throwing its support behind Scotland's membership at the EU following Brexit.
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Gibraltar of Discord: EU May Back Spain in Dispute With UK Over Territory
Sputnik News
00:01 03.04.2017(updated 05:01 03.04.2017)
As the Brexit talks were triggered, the old dispute over contested Gibraltar sparked again between London and Madrid; Brussels may take the Spain's side on the issue, according to British media.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) The European Union might support Spain on the issue of Gibraltar during Brexit talks, forcing London to reach a separate trade deal with Madrid on the British overseas territory, media reported Sunday, citing senior EU officials.
"Spain are taking this very, very seriously I think there is support across the board among the member states," an official told The Guardian newspaper.
Earlier on Sunday, UK Prime Minister Theresa May said that the United Kingdom remained committed to support for Gibraltar and would never negotiate its sovereignty. On the same day, former Tory leader Michael Howard said that the UK prime minister would be prepared to go to war to protect Gibraltar as ex-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once did for the Falklands.
Gibraltar's status after the UK withdrawal from the European Union is one of the pressing issues in Brexit talks, with the union saying that no EU-UK deal might apply to Gibraltar without a separate agreement between London and Madrid, which claims sovereignty over the territory.
On Wednesday, Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis told the national parliament that Madrid would oppose extending EU-UK trade arrangements to Gibraltar to protect its economic interests in the area, following the official start of the UK withdrawal from the bloc.
On Friday, the Gibraltar chief minister accused Spain of "manipulating" Brussels into granting it veto power on issues concerning the UK overseas territory during Brexit talks.
Gibraltar was taken from Spain in 1704 and ceded to Britain in 1713. Madrid continues to lay claims to the territory, despite two referendums showing that most of its 32,000 inhabitants favor staying with the United Kingdom.
Sputnik
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Russia's security services have previously said they had foiled "terrorist attacks" on Moscow's public transport system by militants.
At least 10 people were feared dead on Monday after an explosion rocked the metro system in Russia's second city Saint Petersburg, according to authorities and news reports.
"The Saint Petersburg prosecutor's office has begun to investigate the blast in a train carriage" at the Technological Institute metro station's platform, a prosecutors' statement said.
A source in the emergencies services told Russian news agencies that "around ten people were killed", according to preliminary information.
The station is a busy hub of the underground network in the centre of Russia's second largest city.
The Saint Petersburg metro said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies that it has closed two stations, Technological Institute and Sennaya Ploshchad -- two neighbouring stations on one line -- and is evacuating all passengers.
"Evacuation of passengers is ongoing, there are people injured," it said. "An unidentified object supposedly blew up in a (train) carriage."
President Vladimir Putin, who is holding a meeting near Saint Petersburg in his official Strelna presidential palace, offered "condolences" to those hurt in the blast.
Following the reports, the Moscow metro also announced that it is "taking additional security measures" as required by law in such situations, according to the network's official Twitter account.
While there was no immediate indication as to what caused the blast, Russia's security services have previously said they had foiled "terrorist attacks" on Moscow's public transport system by militants, some of whom were trained by Islamic State jihadists in Syria.
And Russia's public transportation systems have been targeted by attacks in the past.
In 2013, Russia was hit by twin suicide strikes that claimed 34 lives and raised alarm over security at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games.
A bombing at the main railway station of the southern city of Volgograd killed 18 people on while a second strike hit a trolleybus and claimed 16 lives.
A suicide raid on Moscow's Domodedovo airport that was claimed by Islamic insurgents from the North Caucasus killed 37 people in January 2011.
That strike was claimed by the Caucasus Emirate movement of Islamist warlord Doku Umarov.
Russia beefed up its security over the holiday period in the wake of the attack on the Berlin Christmas market that killed 12.
Authorities placed heavy trucks at road intersections to block off areas where public festivities were taking place after the attack in the German capital that was claimed by the Islamic State group.
Russia has intervened militarily to bolster Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces in September 2015, turning the tables on the battlefield just as rebel forces were strengthening their hold on key areas.
Russian bombardments helped the regime retake rebel areas in the east of the northern city of Aleppo after four years of fighting.
More than 310,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict broke out in March 2011 with protests against Assad's rule.
Alan Burkitt-Gray speaks to Don MacNeil, chief operating officer of GTT, about its company restructuring after coming out of Chapter 11 and its strategic roadmap for the next 12 months.
Six Chefs - Henrique Sa Pessoa, Jose Avillez, Miguel Laffan, Rui Paula, Rui Silvestre and Vitor Sobral Now Fly the Best of Portuguese Flavors Around the World
NEW YORK, April 03, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TAP Portugal is collaborating with five Chefs with Michelin stars who, along with TAPs cuisine consultant Chef Vitor Sobral, will introduce the Taste the Stars program to further enhance its customers travel experience. The addition of the countrys most renowned Chefs takes TAPs mission to share Portuguese flavors to new heights.
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a3fc8e5a-cae0-45b4-b50f-1329e6bdd5a8
Starting in September, inflight meals will include a creation from one of the five Michelin star chefs who have accepted the challenge to promote the best of Portuguese cuisine.
Portugal is often referred to in international media as the best kept secret in Europe. TAPs commitment in announcing this project is perfectly clear: we will do everything we can so that Portugal is no longer a secret, said Fernando Pinto, TAP Portugals Chairman, at the official launch of this project in the Palacio Pimenta, in Lisbon.
TAPs chairman believes this agreement with the six Chefs will allow more people to discover the excellence of our cuisine and fall in love with Portugal: with its aromas and scents, its sunshine and sea, its wines and cuisine and, of course, its culture.
As part of the Taste The Stars project, TAP also will offer a platform to other gifted chefs young talents trained by the six official Chefs, and given the opportunity to present their creations and suggestions as part of the inflight service.
TAP flies around 12 million passengers a year, and is growing. In its capacity as a body that brings national flavours to the world, in 2016 TAP served 14 million in-flight meals, almost 2 million litres of water, 1.7 million litres of fruit juice and soft drinks, almost 37 thousand kilos of coffee, 175 thousand litres of beer and more than 500,000 litres of wine, all of which was produced domestically.
In the coming months, TAP will also announce a revolutionized wine list, with a new selection model which will give Portuguese producers the opportunity to promote their products internationally.
With the Taste the Stars project, the Chefs will create meals for TAP passengers, discover, promote and encourage new Portuguese cooking talents, reinvent the use of several regional products, be part of national and international TAP cooking events (in New York or Sao Paulo, for instance). Further, the Michelin chefs restaurants will also now be part of TAPs Portugal Stopover program, which provides complimentary bottles of wine for travelers who visit Lisbon or Porto en route to destinations throughout Europe and Africa.
For more information about the Chefs:
https://youtu.be/xXJoeHEzgM8
About TAP Portugal
TAP is Portugals leading airline, and member of Star Alliance, the global airline alliance to offer customers worldwide reach, since 2005. In operation since 1945, TAP celebrated 70 years on March 14, 2015, and completed its privatization process in 2015, with the Atlantic Gateway Group now as new private shareholders of its share capital. TAP hub in Lisbon is a key European gateway at the crossroads of Africa, North, Central and South America, where TAP stands out as the international leading carrier in operation to Brazil. During the current IATA Summer period, the companys network will comprise 76 destinations in 29 countries worldwide. TAP currently operates about 2,500 weekly flights in average on a modern fleet of 61 Airbus aircraft and 17 aircraft operating in TAP Express livery, TAP regional branded product, adding up to a 78 aircraft fleet. As of June 2016, the company took delivery of two additional A330s, thus increasing its fleet to 80 aircraft in total. Within the vast restructure program currently going across the company as the outcome of its privatization process, TAP has announced its Network restructure, its medium and long haul fleet renewal program as of 2017 and the retrofit of the fleet currently in operation as well as the launch of the new branded product TAP Express, which replaces PGA and operates a new fleet of 8 ATR 72 and 9 Embraer 190. In the pursuit of its customer-focused policy, TAP continuously invests to deliver safe, reliable and upgraded products & services, tailored to meet customers expectations. Retaining the Portuguese character of the Companys brand and quality service as the basic concept has been the main driver of TAP strategy in most recent years. Recognized and awarded as the Europes Leading Airline to Africa as well as Europes Leading Airline to South America by the World Travel Awards in 2015 and 2014, the company was also awarded as the WTA Worlds Leading Airline to Africa in 2011 and 2012 and the WTA Worlds Leading Airline to South America in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. Voted Best Airline in Europe in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015 and again in 2016 by the Global Traveler, USA, the company was also honored by UNESCO and by the International Union of Geological Sciences with the IYPE Planet Earth Award 2010, in the category of Most Innovative Sustainable Product. TAP was also voted Best Airline by Conde Nast Traveller Magazine in 2010, Best Portuguese Tourism Company by the specialized magazine Marketeer, in 2011 and also the airline with Best Reputation by the Reputation Institute in 2014, while its Inflight Magazine UP was voted Best European Inflight Magazine by the WTA awards in 2015.
For further information, please go to www.flytap.com.
Media contact:
Gareth Edmondson-Jones
GEJ, Ink
917 399-9355
GEJink@gmail.com
In testimony March 9 before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Army General Joseph Votel, head of U.S. Central Command, whose security responsibility stretches from Northeast Africa through the Gulf to Central and South Asia, described his concerns with Irans destabilizing activities in the Middle East:
It is my view that Iran poses the greatest long-term threat to stability for this part of the worldIran seeks to be the regional hegemon, to be the most influential country in the region.
The Iranian governments actions and support for groups seeking to destabilize the region remain disruptive and unhelpful:
Iran has a role in the region; they have been around a long time. Nobody is trying to make Iran go away, but we are concerned about the destabilizing behavior that they pursue on a regular basis.
Irans activities, General Votel noted, can put global political stability and economic prosperity at risk.
Among them, he pointed out, are Irans critical military and financial aid to the murderous regime of Syrias Bashar al Assad and [Irans] desire to exploit Shia population centers to increase [its] malign influence, not just in Syria, but also in Arab states across the region, as well as Iranian support for Houthi rebels in Yemen. In addition to these activities, General Votel said, Iran is working to subvert the Government of Iraq by establishing a long-term presence within Iraqs security forces.
In response to Irans destabilizing behavior, the United States is working with regional partners to counter Irans destabilizing activities through a variety of means.
We have to expose [Irans leaders] for what theyre doing, said General Votel. No other nation operates the way they doThey need to be held accountable forunprofessional, unsafe and abnormal activities.
Democratic candidate for Virginia governor and former 5th District Rep. Tom Perriello came to Danville Saturday afternoon to talk about how his campaign will make Virginia better.
Perriello spoke at the Alpha & Omega Solid Foundation Church of Worship on Kemper Road about how to make technical training and higher education more affordable, as well as increasing the minimum wage.
We believe that the first two years of community college or trade school should be free, Perriello said Saturday afternoon. If people want to move on to a four- year university, their student loan debt would be cut in half.
This is not a giveaway, its an investment, Perriello continued. If we give people access to the skills for the jobs of the future, theyre more likely to become tax-paying workers.
Weve been told for many years that if we give tax cuts to the top, then itll trickle down and that doesnt work, Perriello said. If we invest in people, we get growth.
We say to kids today, go get that [college] degree, but then we make that degree impossibly expensive, Perriello told the audience.
We have not adjusted in terms of what those pathways are in the middle class we need to be thinking about a more diverse set of pathways for young people, Perriello continued.
Perriello is facing off against current Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam for the
Democratic ticket in the June 13 primary; the general election will be Nov. 7.
He was elected to Congress in 2008, but lost to former Rep. Robert Hurt in 2010.
The Rev. George Lovelace twice called Perriello our next governor when introducing him Saturday to close to 30 people in attendance.
He has a passion for our college students and helping them afford it with as little debt as possible, Lovelace said.
Lovelace met Perriello when he came to Danville in January. He remembered the candidate expressed an interest in our college students at Averett University and Danville Community College.
Perriello began talking to the crowd about his campaigns aspiration to be fierce in our resistance to hate and stand protecting the most vulnerable among us, as well as bring a positive vision of justice and fairness to unite people.
He moved on to talking about the presidency of Donald Trump, whose policies Perriello said have truly shocked the conscience of people.
Harking back to Novembers presidential election, Perriello said that Virginia was the only former Confederate state to reject Donald Trump, noting Trump drew 44 percent of the vote, lower than the two previous Republican presidential candidates.
Inclusion, diversity and fairness are Virginia values, Perriello said.
The conversation shifted to crime when Lovelace told Perriello about a day when he sat in on a probation violation hearing in Danville Circuit Court.
A defendant received years in jail for violating Condition 7 of his probation drinking an alcoholic beverage which Lovelace felt was a harsh penalty.
Perriello said theft of a cell phone valued at more than $200 could lead to a felony conviction. Virginia has one of the most regressive criminal codes in the country, he said.
Theresa Carter has admired Perriello since helping with his campaign in 2008, saying I would love to see him as governor.
Before leaving, Carter stood and told Perriello, Ill fight for you.
Four people face charges in a series of convenience store break-ins in Pittsylvania County.
From Nov. 9 to Dec. 12, five businesses Blairs Grocery, Maxi Mart, Kentuck Grocery, G&M Mini Market and the 57 Suprette were burglarized after business hours for sold Virginia Lottery scratch-off tickets, according to a Pittsylvania County Sheriffs Office news release.
The stolen winning lottery tickets were exchanged for cash throughout the state, the news release stated.
Gequan Wykeith Crews, 24; Malik Isaiah McCargo, 18; Treyaughan Tyrik Graves, 20; and a minor were arrested and charged with multiple counts of burglary, lottery embezzlement and felony property damage.
The Pittsylvania County Sheriffs Office Burglary Task Force, the Virginia Lottery Commission and investigators from other jurisdictions with similar burglaries collaborated on the case.
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Apr 3, 2017) - Teranga Gold Corp. ("Teranga" or the "Company") (TSX:TGZ)(ASX:TGZ) is pleased to announce the second round of results from its ongoing 115-hole drill program at its Niakafiri deposit, situated within 5 kilometres of the mill on the Company's Sabodala mine license in Senegal, West Africa.
HIGHLIGHTS
Drill results from the first 60 holes at the Company's Niakafiri deposit extend the mineralisation along strike and at depth, providing potential for re-optimization of the life of mine plan.
Positive drilling success in the Niakafiri Main zone includes the following highlight intervals from the 33 holes released today representing some of the widest mineralised intervals encountered within the Niakafiri deposit to date:
4.18 g/t Au over 23 metres including 6.52 g/t Au over 12 metres in MDD17-279 2.99 g/t Au over 33 metres including 4.23 g/t Au over 17 metres in MDD17-277 2.41 g/t Au over 29 metres including 6.51 g/t Au over 6 metres in MDD17-281 3.19 g/t Au over 21 metres at the end-of-hole in MDD17-284
Results from the first 27 holes were released February 27, 2017 and include:
6.90 g/t Au over 8 metres including 45.5 g/t Au over 1 metre in MDD17-242 2.45 g/t Au over 17 metres including 3.25 g/t Au over 11 metres in MDD16-235 1.89 g/t Au over 12 metres including 5.25 g/t Au over 3 metres in MDD17-239
"The drill results confirm our belief that there is considerable opportunity to extend the mineralisation both along strike and to depth at Niakafiri," said Paul Chawrun, Chief Operating Officer of Teranga. "These encouraging results could result in the re-sequencing of Niakafiri in the current mine plan, filling in the production gaps at Sabodala to extend the life of open pit mining and to defer the start of underground mining."
"We are very pleased with our most recent results, which represent some of the widest mineralised intervals encountered within the Niakafiri deposit to date," stated David Mallo, Vice President Exploration of Teranga. "Our drill program at Niakafiri will continue to focus on extending the mineralisation along trend and to-depth."
Since re-initiation of this program with one (1) drill in late 2016, the Company has increased the number of drills to four (4). The current phase of the Niakafiri drill program, 115 proposed core holes totaling 12,000 metres, is ongoing at both the eastern and western components of the Niakafiri deposit (see Figure 2 in Appendix 1). Drill results received to date will be included in a mid-year resource and reserve update. The balance of the current year program will be included in a year-end resource and reserve update.
The majority of the Niakafiri deposits were delineated at the inception of the Sabodala project in 2009 and they represent a combined measured and indicated resource of approximately 600,000 ounces, an inferred resource of approximately 220,000 ounces and reserves of over 300,000 ounces(1) included within the total resource estimate (see Tables 1A and 1B in Appendix 1). The Niakafiri deposits are within 5 kilometres of the Sabodala mill (see Figure 1 in Appendix 1).
Niakafiri East
The results received to date from the eastern portion of the Niakafiri deposit drilling (see Figure 2 in Appendix 1) are encouraging. They fill in gaps between previously outlined resource pit shells, extend mineralisation up-dip in a number of areas of the deposit and fill in previous widely spaced drill intersections.
In addition, there have been positive results from a set of drill holes targeting the down-dip depth extent of the existing reserve and resource pit shells in the central portion of Niakafiri Main (Table 1 on the next page highlights many of these results). These deep mineralised intersections extend as far as downhole to 270 metres (approximately 200 metres below surface), and are the deepest intersected at Niakafiri Main to date, with mineralisation remaining open at depth. Examples of this down-dip drilling success in central Niakafiri Main are shown in two representative drill sections as Figures 3 and 4 in Appendix 1.
The most advanced portion of Niakafiri is the eastern component - Niakafiri Main, Niakafiri Southeast and Dinkokono - where the first phase of planned drill holes is now complete. A second phase drill program will follow-up on these successful initial drill results focusing primarily in the vicinity of the wider mineralised intervals in the central portion of Niakafiri Main.
Niakafiri West
In addition to the ongoing drill program on Niakafiri East, drilling has begun on the western component of the resource - Niakafiri West and Soukhoto. The objectives at Niakafiri West are to upgrade the resource categories from inferred to indicated, and potentially to fill in the current gap of approximately 1.5 kilometres extending northwards towards known mineralisation at Soukhoto. An additional phase of drilling will be undertaken based on interpretation of the results from the current program.
Pending further favourable results at Niakafiri, the Company expects to evaluate the impact on pit sequencing in the life of mine plan and the timing of village relocation.
Table 1: Niakafiri Drilling Highlights*
A listing of the more favourable Niakafiri deposit drill hole intersections, being reported in this news release, is outlined in the following table. A complete listing of all the significant intersections for the 33 new drill results is included in Table 2 in Appendix 1. A complete listing of all significant results from the first 60 holes of the Company's extensive drilling program at the Niakafiri deposit is available at www.terangagold.com.
Interval (m) Core
Length (m) Grade
(g/t Au) Hole # Northing Easting Azimuth Dip From To MDD17-259 1455548 813092 112 -51 138 147 9 1.48 incl. 138 141 3 2.67 MDD17-264 1455068 812960 113 -48 28 42 14 1.24 incl. 36 41 5 2.20 MDD17-272 1456423 813277 111 -49 30 42 12 1.74 incl. 36 41 5 2.67 MDD17-274** 1456500 813302 110 -58 30 42 12 1.86 incl. 36 42 6 2.76 44 51 7 1.86 incl. 45 48 3 3.61 55 64 9 2.23 incl. 60 63 3 4.06 105 110+ 5+ 2.16 incl. 108 110+ 2+ 3.04 MDD17-275 1456460 813293 111 -58 6 16 10 1.53 incl. 11 13 2 4.34 MDD17-276 1456654 813184 112 -49 187 212 25 1.97 incl. 195 197 2 4.38 and 205 209 4 3.25 MDD17-277 1456691 813203 109 -58 167 189 22 1.45 incl. 175 179 4 2.99 213 246 33 2.99 incl. 226 243 17 4.23 MDD17-278 1456729 813215 111 -62 258 276 18 4.21 incl. 260 265 5 5.99 and 267 270 3 6.71 MDD17-279 1456798 813267 113 -66 129 168 39 2.27 incl. 135 141 6 3.98 186 207 21 2.99 incl. 198 206 8 3.97 210 233 23 4.18 incl. 211 223 12 6.52 MDD17-280 1456654 813184 112 -57 216 238 22 2.28 incl. 229 232 3 5.44 265 270 5 2.28 MDD17-281 1456799 813267 86 -62 145 174 29 2.41 incl. 163 169 6 6.51 MDD17-282 1456708 812536 112 -59 4 9 5 3.41 MDD17-284 ** 1456744 813248 98 -68 109 11 2 20.5 149 162 13 1.50 186 193 7 1.58 255 276+ 21+ 3.19
*Intervals calculated using a 0.4 g/t Au cut-off and 2 metres maximum internal dilution. True widths are unknown and intercept gold values are determined from uncapped assays. UTM Coordinates are WGS84 30N.
** Drill hole ends in mineralisation.
Endnotes
(1) Proven and Probable reserves of 8.95 Mt at 1.09 g/t for 314 Koz (see Table 1A in Appendix 1).
Competent Persons Statements
The technical information contained in this document relating to the open pit mineral reserve estimates is based on, and fairly represents, information compiled by Mr. William Paul Chawrun, P. Eng who is a member of the Professional Engineers Ontario, which is currently included as a "Recognized Overseas Professional Organization" in a list promulgated by the ASX from time to time. Mr. Chawrun is a full time employee of Teranga and is not "independent" within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101. However, he is a "Qualified Person" as defined in NI 43-101. Mr. Chawrun has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the "Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves". Mr. Chawrun is a "Qualified Person" under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Mr. Chawrun has consented to the inclusion in this Report of the matters based on his compiled information in the form and context in which it appears in this Report.
The technical information contained in this Report relating to mineral resource estimates for Niakafiri is based on, and fairly represents, information compiled by Ms. Patti Nakai-Lajoie. Ms. Nakai-Lajoie, P. Geo., is a Member of the Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario, which is currently included as a "Recognized Overseas Professional Organization" in a list promulgated by the ASX from time to time. Ms. Nakai-Lajoie is a full time employee of Teranga and is not "independent" within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101. Ms. Nakai- Lajoie has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which she is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the "Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves". Ms. Nakai-Lajoie is a "Qualified Person" under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Ms. Nakai-Lajoie has consented to the inclusion in this Report of the matters based on her compiled information in the form and context in which it appears in this Report.
Teranga's exploration programs are being managed by Peter Mann, FAusIMM. Mr. Mann is a full time employee of Teranga and is not "independent" within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Mann has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the "Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves". Mr. Mann is a "Qualified Person" under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. The technical information contained in this news release relating exploration results are based on, and fairly represents, information compiled by Mr. Mann. Mr. Mann has verified and approved the data disclosed in this release, including the sampling, analytical and test data underlying the information. The RC samples are prepared at site and assayed in the SGS laboratory located at the site. Analysis for diamond drilling is sent for fire assay analysis at ALS Johannesburg, South Africa. Mr. Mann has consented to the inclusion in this news release of the matters based on his compiled information in the form and context in which it appears herein.
Teranga's disclosure of mineral reserve and mineral resource information is governed by NI 43-101 under the guidelines set out in the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (the "CIM") Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves, adopted by the CIM Council, as may be amended from time to time by the CIM ("CIM Standards"). CIM definitions of the terms "mineral reserve", "proven mineral reserve", "probable mineral reserve", "mineral resource", "measured mineral resource", "indicated mineral resource" and "inferred mineral resource", are substantially similar to the JORC Code corresponding definitions of the terms "ore reserve", "proved ore reserve", "probable ore reserve", "mineral resource", "measured mineral resource", "indicated mineral resource" and "inferred mineral resource", respectively. Estimates of mineral resources and mineral reserves prepared in accordance with the JORC Code would not be materially different if prepared in accordance with the CIM definitions applicable under NI 43-101. There can be no assurance that those portions of mineral resources that are not mineral reserves will ultimately be converted into mineral reserves.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains certain statements that constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws ("forward-looking statements"), which reflects management's expectations regarding Teranga's future growth, results of operations (including, without limitation, future production and capital expenditures), performance (both operational and financial) and business prospects (including the timing and development of new deposits and the success of exploration activities) and opportunities. Wherever possible, words such as "potential", "belief", "believe", "expects", "potential" or "potentially", "estimates", "estimated", "plans", trends", "anticipated", "ability" and similar expressions or statements that certain actions, events or results "could", "should", "would", or "will" have been used to identify such forward looking information. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, all disclosure regarding possible events, conditions or results of operations, future economic conditions and anticipated courses of action. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this press release reflect management's current beliefs based upon information currently available to management and based upon what management believes to be reasonable assumptions, Teranga cannot be certain that actual results will be consistent with such forward looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based upon assumptions, opinions and analysis made by management in light of its experience, current conditions and its expectations of future developments that management believe to be reasonable and relevant but that may prove to be incorrect. These assumptions include, among other things, the ability to obtain any requisite governmental approvals, the accuracy of mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates, gold price, exchange rates, fuel and energy costs, future economic conditions, the ability to resettle the community within anticipated timeline, anticipated future estimates of free cash flow, and courses of action. Teranga cautions you not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements.
The risks and uncertainties that may affect forward-looking statements include, among others: the inherent risks involved in exploration and development of mineral properties, including government approvals and permitting, changes in economic conditions, changes in the worldwide price of gold and other key inputs, changes in mine plans and other factors, such as project execution delays, many of which are beyond the control of Teranga, as well as other risks and uncertainties which are more fully described in Teranga's Annual Information Form dated March 30, 2017, and in other filings of Teranga with securities and regulatory authorities which are available at www.sedar.com. Teranga does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements should assumptions related to these plans, estimates, projections, beliefs and opinions change. Nothing in this report should be construed as either an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy or sell Teranga securities. All references to Teranga include its subsidiaries unless the context requires otherwise.
About Teranga
Teranga is a multi-jurisdictional West African gold company focused on production and development as well as the exploration of more than 5,000km2 of land located on prospective gold belts.
Since its initial public offering in 2010, Teranga has produced more than 1.2 million ounces of gold from its operations in Senegal. Following its recent acquisition of Gryphon Minerals, the Company is fast-tracking the completion of a feasibility study for the Banfora Project. Concurrent with its production and development activities, exploration programs are underway to seek to increase the Company's reserve base through resource conversion and making new discoveries. Teranga has a strong balance sheet and the financial flexibility to continue to grow its business.
Steadfast in its commitment to set the benchmark for responsible mining, Teranga operates in accordance with the highest international standards and aims to act as a catalyst for sustainable economic, environmental, and community development as it strives to create value for all of its stakeholders. Teranga is a member of the United Nations Global Compact and a leading member of the multi-stakeholder group responsible for the submission of the first Senegalese Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative revenue report. The Company's 2015 responsibility report, which is available at www.terangagold.com/2015responsibilityreport, is prepared in accordance with its commitments under the United Nations Global Compact and in alignment with the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines.
APPENDIX 1
To view Figure 1: Map of Sabodala Mine License please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1090765_Figure-1.jpg
To view Figure 2: Plan Map - Niakafiri Drilling Area please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1090765_Figure-2.jpg
To view Figure 3: Representative Drill Section - Niakafiri Main NNE Section 440 N please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1090765_Figure-3.jpg
The 2017 drill holes targeted potential mineralisation extensions below the current resource and reserve pit outlines. As demonstrated, MDD17-0277 has successfully intersected very good grades over extensive widths, as targeted.
To view Figure 4: Representative Drill Section - Niakafiri Main: Section 560 N please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1090765_Figure-4.jpg
The 2017 drill holes targeted potential mineralisation extensions below the current resource and reserve pit outlines. As demonstrated, MDD17-0279 has successfully intersected very good grades over extensive widths, as targeted.
Table 1A: Current Niakafiri Open Pit and Underground Mineral Reserves Summary (as of December 31, 2015) Proven Probable Proven and Probable Deposits Tonnes Grade Au Tonnes Grade Au Tonnes Grade Au (Mt) (g/t) (Koz) (Mt) (g/t) (Koz) (Mt) (g/t) (Koz) Niakafiri Main 4.06 1.23 161 3.41 0.94 103 7.47 1.10 264 Niakafiri SE 0.00 0.00 0 1.12 1.09 39 1.12 1.09 39 Niakafiri SW 0.00 0.00 0 0.37 0.92 11 0.37 0.92 11 Total 4.06 1.23 161 4.89 0.97 153 8.95 1.09 314
Notes for Mineral Reserves Summary
CIM definitions were followed for Mineral Reserves. Mineral Reserve cut off grades range from 0.35 g/t to 0.63 g/t Au for oxide and 0.42 g/t to 0.73 g/t Au for fresh based on a $1,100/oz gold price Sum of individual amounts may not equal due to rounding. The Niakafiri Main deposit is adjacent to the Sabodala village and relocation of at least some portion of the village will be required, which will necessitate a negotiated resettlement program with the affected community members.
There have been no material changes made to these mineral reserve estimates since December 31, 2015, except for the depletion of reserves due to production over 2016. All material assumptions and technical parameters previously disclosed continue to be applicable. The Company plans to update its mineral reserve and resource estimates in 2017.
Table 1B: Current Niakafiri Open Pit and Underground Mineral Resources Summary (as of December 31, 2015) Measured Indicated Measured and Indicated Inferred Deposits Tonnes Grade Au Tonnes Grade Au Tonnes Grade Au Tonnes Grade Au (Mt) (g/t) (Koz) (Mt) (g/t) (Koz) (Mt) (g/t) (Koz) (Mt) (g/t) (Koz) Niakafiri Open Pit 4.91 1.33 210 7.22 0.98 228 12.13 1.12 438 2.47 1.09 87 Main Underground 0.18 2.51 15 Combined 4.91 1.33 210 7.22 0.98 228 12.13 1.12 438 2.66 1.19 102 Niakafiri Open Pit 2.57 1.29 107 West Underground 0.09 2.82 8 Combined 2.66 1.34 115 Niakafiri Open Pit 0.77 0.81 20 0.77 0.81 20 0.03 0.67 1 SW Underground Combined 0.77 0.81 20 0.77 0.81 20 0.03 0.67 1 Niakafiri Open Pit 4.44 0.98 140 4.44 0.98 140 0.16 0.96 5 SE Underground 0.07 2.60 6 0.07 2.60 6 0.02 2.64 1 Combined 4.51 1.01 146 4.51 1.01 146 0.18 1.11 6 Open Pit 4.91 1.33 210 12.43 0.97 388 17.34 1.07 598 5.23 1.18 199 Total Underground 0.07 2.60 6 0.07 2.60 6 0.29 2.61 24 Combined 4.91 1.33 210 12.50 0.98 394 17.41 1.08 604 5.52 1.26 223
Notes for Mineral Resources Summary
CIM definitions were followed for Mineral Resources. Open pit oxide Mineral Resources are estimated at a cut-off grade of 0.35 g/t Au Open pit transition and fresh rock Mineral Resources are estimated at a cut-off grade of 0.40 g/t Au Underground Mineral Resources are estimated at a cut-off grade of 2.00 g/t Au. High grade assays were capped at grades ranging from 1.5 g/t Au to 110 g/t Au. The figures above are "Total" Mineral Resources and include Mineral Reserves. Open pit shells were used to constrain open pit resources. Mineral Resources are estimated using a gold price of US$1,450 per ounce. Sum of individual amounts may not equal due to rounding.
There have been no material changes made to these mineral resource estimates since December 31, 2015, except for the depletion of reserves through production over 2016. All material assumptions and technical parameters previously disclosed continue to be applicable. The Company plans to update its mineral reserve and resource estimates in 2017.
Table 2: Summary of Most Recent Niakafiri Drilling Results * Interval (m) Core
Length (m) Grade
(g/t Au) Hole # Northing Easting Azimuth Dip From To MDD17-252 1456249 813321 111 -62 89 99 10 1.09 MDD17-253 1456324 813342 110 -61 NSR MDD17-256 1456363 813350 112 -56 NSR MDD17-257 1456069 813366 110 -48 NSR MDD17-258 1455521 813060 111 -53 30 33 3 2.16 38 42 4 1.28 incl. 38 39 1 2.97 MDD17-259 1455548 813092 112 -51 138 147 9 1.48 incl. 138 141 3 2.67 MDD17-260 1455568 813187 110 -49 55 58 3 1.07 MDD17-261 1455487 813192 110 -49 12 25 13 0.93 incl. 15 16 1 2.54 MDD17-262 1455460 813119 111 -50 42 50 8 1.07 incl. 44 46 2 2.40 90 97 7 0.87 incl. 94 96 2 1.89 MDD17-263 1455446 813179 113 -54 0 8 8 1.04 incl. 7 8 1 1.96 53 57 4 1.33 MDD17-264 1455068 812960 113 -48 28 42 14 1.24 incl. 36 41 5 2.20 MDD17-265 1455514 813220 111 -48 8 10 2 1.16 MDD17-266 1454963 812930 112 -47 7 11 4 1.11 MDD17-267 1455440 813205 111 -46 NSR MDD17-268 1456754 812519 108 -57 45 48 3 1.65 MDD17-269 1456722 812482 111 -57 83 85 2 1.48 MDD17-270 1456104 813230 109 -65 NSR MDD17-271 1456382 813279 110 -55 88 90 2 1.79 98 100 2 1.22 114 116 2 1.24 MDD16-272 1456423 813277 111 -49 30 42 12 1.74 incl. 36 41 5 2.67 87 94 7 0.89 incl. 87 89 2 1.83 MDD17-273 1456449 813336 110 -58 2 7 5 1.36 15 17 2 1.07 43 49 6 1.66 MDD17-274 ** 1456500 813302 110 -58 21 25 4 1.19 30 42 12 1.86 incl. 36 42 6 2.76 44 51 7 1.86 incl. 45 48 3 3.61 55 64 9 2.23 incl. 60 63 3 4.06 105 110+ 5+ 2.16 incl. 108 110+ 2+ 3.04 MDD17-275 1456460 813293 111 -58 6 16 10 1.53 MDD17-275 1456460 813293 111 -58 incl. 11 13 2 4.34 24 29 5 0.97 32 35 3 1.14 51 58 7 0.86 64 72 8 1.04 incl. 67 69 2 2.32 75 78 3 1.42 98 102 4 1.15 132 134 2 1.63 143 148 5 1.26 MDD17-276 1456654 813184 112 -49 65 70 5 0.82 incl. 69 70 1 2.19 173 182 9 1.25 incl. 174 176 2 3.12 187 212 25 1.97 incl. 195 197 2 4.38 and 205 209 4 3.25 214 217 3 1.19 235 239 4 1.04 MDD17-277 1456691 813203 109 -58 48 49 1 2.10 53 55 2 1.82 67 68 1 4.04 160 166 6 1.08 167 189 22 1.45 incl. 175 179 4 2.99 193 200 7 1.49 202 204 2 1.47 213 246 33 2.99 incl. 226 243 17 4.23 251 255 4 1.28 MDD17-278 1456729 813215 111 -62 80 84 4 2.61 incl. 80 81 1 8.20 167 169 2 1.40 172 175 3 0.97 195 199 4 1.66 232 237 5 2.39 258 279 18 4.21 incl. 260 265 5 5.99 and 267 270 3 6.71 MDD17-279 ** 1456798 813267 113 -66 129 168 39 2.27 incl. 135 141 6 3.98 186 207 21 2.99 incl. 198 206 8 3.97 210 233 23 4.18 incl. 211 223 12 6.52 239 240+ 1+ 4.19 MDD17-280 1456654 813184 112 -57 68 69 1 2.28 72 74 2 1.15 171 179 8 1.12 MDD17-280 1456654 813184 112 -57 incl. 176 179 3 2.31 190 198 8 1.00 199 204 5 1.05 216 238 22 2.28 incl. 229 232 3 5.44 255 260 5 1.08 265 270 5 2.28 incl. 269 270 1 7.78 276 277 1 7.93 MDD17-281 1456799 813267 86 -62 89 96 7 1.09 incl. 89 91 2 2.18 95 96 1 1.45 145 174 29 2.41 incl. 163 169 6 6.51 180 185 5 2.54 226 232 6 1.06 incl. 231 232 1 3.08 234 235 1 2.32 MDD17-282 1456708 812536 112 -59 4 9 5 3.41 incl. 5 6 1 9.67 65 67 2 1.25 78 79 1 3.02 MDD17-283 1456699 812571 112 -59 41 42 1 1.74 66 72 6 1.62 incl. 71 72 1 4.10 79 86 7 1.19 incl. 79 81 2 2.08 123 126 3 2.06 136 137 1 4.30 MDD17-284 ** 1456744 813248 98 -68 109 112 3 13.8 incl. 109 111 2 20.5 149 162 13 1.50 154 156 2 3.50 165 171 6 1.22 186 193 7 1.58 195 198 3 1.19 255 276+ 21+ 3.19 MDD17-285 1457013 813396 111 -52 7 26 19 1.23 incl. 19 20 1 4.01 MDD17-286 1456689 812608 111 -59 25 26 1 1.16 29 30 1 1.96 66 69 3 1.23 72 73 1 1.82 77 78 1 5.95 112 123 11 1.38 incl. 120 122 2 3.14 130 133 3 1.13
*Intervals calculated using a 0.4 g/t Au cut-off and 2 metres maximum internal dilution. True widths are unknown and intercept gold values are determined from uncapped assays. UTM Coordinates are WGS84 30N
** Drill hole ends in mineralisation
Table 3: Niakafiri Drilling Results Released on February 27, 2017 * Interval (m) Core Grade Hole # Northing Easting Azimuth Dip From To Length (m) (g/t Au) MDD16-227 1457522 813507 110 -47 6 7 1 2.93 MDD16-228 1457509 813556 111 -47 8 12 4 1.09 42 54 12 1.01 incl. 43 46 3 2.63 MDD16-229 1457274 813506 112 -45 29 37 8 1.72 incl. 32 37 5 2.45 MDD16-230 1457284 813457 112 -45 19 20 1 1.13 MDD16-231 1457196 813487 112 -45 22 24 2 1.24 49 52 3 1.88 MDD16-232 1457158 813475 108 -47 22 26 4 1.11 44 45 1 2.31 MDD16-233 1457208 813444 111 -49 50 55 5 1.63 incl. 53 55 2 3.31 MDD16-234 1455830 813173 109 -46 71 72 1 1.78 MDD16-235 1455851 813253 110 -53 0 22 22 0.92 incl. 4 11 7 1.42 24 41 17 2.45 incl. 24 35 11 3.25 MDD16-236 1455772 813220 110 -58 6 11 5 0.95 incl. 6 7 1 2.77 14 17 3 1.41 24 29 5 1.12 incl. 24 27 2 2.15 35 37 2 1.10 MDD17-237 1455811 813248 109 -48 33 35 2 0.76 MDD17-238 1456105 813388 112 -46 6 8 2 0.66 12 17 5 0.96 incl. 12 13 1 3.25 MDD17-239 1456189 813384 110 -47 0 7 7 0.81 incl. 0 2 2 1.62 9 10 1 1.73 11 23 12 1.89 incl. 15 18 3 5.25 MDD17-240 1456229 813389 110 -45 2 5 3 3.97 19 27 8 1.86 incl. 24 27 3 4.20 31 32 1 1.74 38 40 2 1.17 MDD17-241 1456257 813280 111 -63 20 28 8 1.34 incl. 26 27 1 5.56 100 103 3 0.85 110 114 4 0.81 MDD17-242 1456267 813402 110 -60 17 25 8 6.90 incl. 20 21 1 45.5 MDD17-243 1456296 813288 112 -58 20 22 2 1.76 58 60 2 1.05 84 86 2 0.80 MDD17-244 1456146 813389 112 -47 NSR NSR NSR MDD17-245 1457474 813521 112 -51 28 29 1 2.59 MDD17-246 1457442 813487 109 -45 53 54 1 1.72 MDD17-247 1457430 813539 112 -45 17 18 1 1.39 36 38 2 1.02 42 43 1 1.44 MDD17-248 1457362 813485 111 -53 62 65 3 0.97 MDD17-249 1457469 813549 112 -45 10 12 2 1.27 34 40 6 1.50 incl. 35 36 1 6.80 MDD17-250 1457352 813522 110 -46 5 7 2 0.96 MDD17-251 1456237 813356 111 -56 57 58 1 2.10 65 66 1 2.63 90 91 1 1.25 108 109 1 1.24 MDD17-252 1456248 813321 111 -61 Pending Pending Pending Pending MDD17-253 1456324 813342 110 -61 Pending Pending Pending Pending MDD17-254 1456286 81330 111 -62 23 24 1 0.92 MDD17-255 1456335 813295 112 -58 1 2 1 4.51 13 18 5 1.68 22 23 1 2.87 34 35 1 12.3 51 52 1 1.20 62 63 1 1.32 90 91 1 1.63 96 97 1 2.15
*Intervals calculated using a 0.4 g/t Au cut-off and 2 metres maximum internal dilution. True widths are unknown and intercept gold values are determined from uncapped assays. UTM Coordinates are WGS84 30N
APPENDIX 2
JORC Code, 2012 Edition - Table 1 Report
Section 1: Sampling Techniques and Data
(Criteria in this section apply to all succeeding sections)
Criteria 2012 JORC Code explanation Commentary Sampling techniques - Nature and quality of sampling (e.g. cut channels, random chips, or specific specialised industry standard measurement tools appropriate to the minerals under investigation, such as down hole gamma sondes, or handheld XRF instruments, etc.). These examples should not be taken as limiting the broad meaning of sampling. - A total of 115 Diamond Core holes (DD) for 12,000 m are planned for the current drill program at Niakafiri. Results from 33 holes are reported herein. The first 27 holes were reported in a previous Company news release (February 27, 2017). Sampling is half core from the DD drilling. - Include reference to measures taken to ensure sample representivity and the appropriate calibration of any measurement tools or systems used. - Drill core was sawn in half over defined 1-metre
sampling intervals with one half retained and one half sampled and assayed for gold. Oriented core markings were used as guides for sawing. - Aspects of the determination of mineralisation that are Material to the Public Report. - Initially all core is sampled along the entire hole to
determine the nature of mineralisation and relationship to logged lithology, alteration and structure. Based on the detailed sampling results, mineralisation zones were defined with additional drilling and sampling, specifically across the mineralisation and along the mineralised shoulders on either side. - In cases where 'industry standard' work has been done this would be relatively simple (e.g. 'reverse circulation drilling was used to obtain 1 m samples from which 3 kg was pulverised to produce a 30 g charge for fire assay'). In other cases, more explanation may be required, such as where there is coarse gold that has inherent sampling problems. Unusual commodities or mineralisation types (e.g. submarine nodules) may warrant disclosure of detailed information. - Industry standard analytical techniques have been utilized. Drilling techniques - Drill type (e.g. core, reverse circulation, open-
hole hammer, rotary air blast, auger, Bangka,
sonic, etc.) and details (e.g. core diameter, triple
or standard tube, depth of diamond tails, face-
sampling bit or other type, whether core is
oriented and if so, by what method, etc.). - A diamond core drilling program is being conducted. Diamond drill holes are drilled using standard HQ or NQ sized rods. Wider diameter HQ core is utilized through the upper oxide and transitional portions of the stratigraphy and size reduction occurs to NQ in fresh material. Oriented core is utilized once appropriate NQ core size is being drilled. Drill sample recovery - Method of recording and assessing core and
chip sample recoveries and results assessed. - Diamond core recoveries are measured and recorded for each 1-metre sample interval. Core was sampled on nominal 1 m intervals. - Measures taken to maximise sample recovery and ensure representative nature of the samples. - Diamond drill contractor has experience in drilling within the geologic host environment and all measures to maximize recoveries are employed. - Whether a relationship exists between sample recovery and grade and whether sample bias may have occurred due to preferential loss/gain of fine/coarse material. - There is no evidence to suggest a relationship between sample recovery and grade as there is no significant loss of material. Sample recoveries are of very good quality. Logging - Whether core and chip samples have been geologically and geotechnically logged to a level of detail to support appropriate Mineral Resource estimation, mining studies and metallurgical studies. - Core samples were geologically and geotechnically logged following established standard operating procedures and includes sufficient and appropriate detail to support Mineral Resource estimation, mining and metallurgical studies. - Whether logging is qualitative or quantitative in nature. Core (or costean, channel, etc.) photography. - Logging is qualitative in nature. All core is photographed to provide a continuous record. Half core is also stored for future reference and utilization. - The total length and percentage of the relevant intersections logged. - All recovered core is logged in detail. Sub-sampling techniques and sample preparation - If core, whether cut or sawn and whether quarter, half or all core taken. - Drill core sampling is undertaken on clearly marked standardized 1-metre intervals then cut in half with a diamond saw along the core length following orientation lines. Half core is analyzed over one-meter lengths. - If non-core, whether riffled, tube sampled, rotary split, etc. and whether sampled wet or dry. - Not applicable all core drilling. - For all sample types, the nature, quality and appropriateness of the sample preparation technique. - Core handling is closely monitored under standard industry methods from drill to lab. Sample preparation procedures at the analytical lab are also industry standard and closely monitored. -Quality control procedures adopted for all sub-sampling stages to maximise representivity of samples. - Standard Reference Materials (Various Standards and blind Blanks) are inserted into the sample stream at industry accepted intervals. Blind sample duplicates are also collected. - Measures taken to ensure that the sampling is representative of the in situ material collected, including for instance results for field duplicate/second-half sampling. - Field duplicate data indicates acceptable variability indicating coarse gold is not a significant issue in the sampling. - Whether sample sizes are appropriate to the grain size of the material being sampled. Quality of assay data and laboratory tests - The nature, quality and appropriateness of the assaying and laboratory procedures used and whether the technique is considered partial or total. - Gold assays for half-core samples form the core drilling were obtained from the independent SGS operated lab on-site at the Sabodala Mine facility which provides an AA (Atomic Absorption) finish gold result. Selected samples from mineralised intervals are periodically re-analyzed at the independent ALS lab in Johannesburg, South Africa to provide an FA (Fire Assay) finish. - For geophysical tools, spectrometers, handheld XRF instruments, etc., the parameters used in determining the analysis including instrument make and model, reading times, calibrations factors applied and their derivation, etc. - Not applicable. - Nature of quality control procedures adopted (e.g. standards, blanks, duplicates, external laboratory checks) and whether acceptable levels of accuracy (ie lack of bias) and precision have been established. - Certified reference materials (SRM's), blanks and duplicates are regularly inserted into the sample preparation and analysis process with approximately 10% of all samples being related to quality control. - Data is reviewed before being accepted into the database. Any batches failing QAQC analysis are resubmitted for check assays. Dataset QAQC contains acceptable levels of precision and accuracy. Verification of sampling and assaying - The verification of significant intersections by either independent or alternative company personnel. - All results and all significant intersections have been reviewed by staff geologists to check the geological context. - The use of twinned holes. - Some twin core holes have been undertaken in this program to verify and confirm previous RC drilling results. - Documentation of primary data, data entry procedures, data verification, data storage (physical and electronic) protocols. - All sample and recovery data is recorded to paper and electronic forms at the time of logging. Geological logging is directly logged into template log sheets by Toughbook computer. The templates are then provided to an internal database manager for loading in database management software. Referential integrity is checked as part of the data loading process. - Discuss any adjustment to assay data. - No adjustments were made to assay data returned from the laboratory. Location of data points - Accuracy and quality of surveys used to locate drill holes (collar and down-hole surveys), trenches, mine workings and other locations used in Mineral Resource estimation. - Drill hole collar locations were surveyed by trained site based technicians using real time differential GPS (DGPS) to a sub decimetre accuracy in horizontal and vertical position. Vertical precision was supplemented using a Digital Surface Model. Down hole drill hole surveys were undertaken by the drill contractor utilizing a Reflex EZ-Shot downhole survey instrument. Survey intervals were collected at collar, periodic intervals down the hole and end of hole were routinely collected. -Specification of the grid system used. - Both UTM and mine-grid systems are utilized for locating drill collar locations. - Quality and adequacy of topographic control. - Tographic control is based on the Digital Surface Model. The quality and accuracy of topographic control is considered to be reasonable. Data spacing and distribution - Data spacing for reporting of Exploration Results. - Drilling is nominally on a 40 m by 40 m spacing, with exceptions based on data interpretation. - Whether the data spacing and distribution is sufficient to establish the degree of geological and grade continuity appropriate for the Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve estimation procedure(s) and classifications applied. - Geological interpretation based on drill spacing has identified continuity of geology and grade and is determined to be sufficient for estimating Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves. Experimental variograms generated for mineralised zones with sufficient data, have confirmed the grade continuity ranges based on the drill hole spacing. - Whether sample compositing has been applied. - Diamond drill core were sampled on nominal 1 meter intervals down the hole, and assayed. Sample compositing was not applied during the current exploration drilling program. Orientation of data in relation to geological structure - Whether the orientation of sampling achieves unbiased sampling of possible structures and the extent to which this is known, considering the deposit type. - Drill hole azimuths and dips have been oriented perpendicular to the interpreted mineralised zones in order to intersect the true widths of the zones as closely as possible. Occasionally, drilling was planned at oblique angles when the mineralisation trends were not yet well defined or if the optimal collar location was not accessible. Generally, the majority of drilling is oriented such that the sampling of mineralisation is unbiased. - If the relationship between the drilling orientation and the orientation of key mineralised structures is considered to have introduced a sampling bias, this should be assessed and reported if material. - The small percentage of holes oriented oblique to the mineralisation are located in areas with sufficient drill density oriented perpendicular to mineralisation, and will not introduce a significant sampling bias.
Sample Security - The measures taken to ensure sample security. - Samples are removed from the field immediately upon drilling and stored in a secure compound for sub sampling and preparation for lab dispatch. Samples are delivered directly from the site logging / sampling facility to the on site SGS laboratory or the ALS laboratory in South Africa using securely sealed sample bags and a secure chain of custody. Sample submission forms are sent in paper form with the samples as well as electronically to the laboratory. Reconciliation of samples occurs prior to commencement of sample preparation of dispatches. Audits or reviews - The results of any audits or reviews of sampling techniques and data. - All QA/QC data is reviewed in an ongoing hole-by-hole basis and reported both as per hole and in monthly summaries. All QAQC data has been reviewed by the QP's for this release.
The Keystone XL Pipeline has gotten the green light.
Speaking at the White House, President Donald Trump said, "Im pleased to announce the official approval of the Presidential permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline. TransCanada will finally be allowed to complete this long-overdue project with efficiency and with speed. . . . It's going to be an incredible pipeline, greatest technology known to man or woman."
TransCanada Keystone Pipeline, L.P. (TransCanada) first applied in 2008 for a Presidential permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, and filed a new application in 2012 for the current 1,204 mile [1937 Km] pipeline route, but TransCanadas 2008 and 2012 applications were denied by the previous administration. The company resubmitted its application for the project in January of this year, after President Trump invited it to do so in his Presidential Memorandum Regarding Construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline.
A spokesman for Canada's minister of natural resources said, Canada "has always been supportive of the Keystone XL pipeline and we are pleased with the U.S. decision."
Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon, Jr. issued a Presidential permit to TransCanada authorizing the construction, connection, operation, and maintenance of pipeline facilities at the U.S.-Canada border for the importation of crude oil.
The Department of State reviewed TransCanadas resubmitted application and the Under Secretary determined that issuance of this permit would serve the national interest. The Under Secretary considered a variety of factors in making his determination, including but not limited to foreign policy; energy security; environmental, cultural, and economic impacts; and compliance with applicable law and policy.
Russ Girling, President of TransCanada, noted that pipelines are "the safest and most reliable way to move [oil and gas] products to market."
When completed, the Keystone XL pipeline will span approximately 900 miles [1448 Km] in the United States and have the capacity to deliver more than 800,000 barrels of oil per day to the Gulf Coast refineries.
The building of this pipeline, said President Trump, "is part of a new era of American energy policy that will reduce dependence on foreign oil, and create thousands of jobs right here in America."
Toronto, Ontario (FSCwire) - As Stans Energy Corp. (TSX-V: HRE, OTC: HREEF), ("Stans" or the "Company") reported on March 16, 2017, the Kyrgyz Republic (the Republic) has applied to the High Court of Justice, Queens Bench Division of the Commercial Court, London, England (the Court) to set aside the jurisdictional ruling of the Tribunal in favour of Stans.
A date for hearings before the Court has been set for July 24 25, 2017. A decision is expected by Q4 2017.
We firmly believe that the result of this hearing will end attempts by the Republic to set aside the positive jurisdictional ruling by the Tribunal and frustrate arbitration proceedings. We are comfortable that the Tribunals Award is valid and will withstand the challenge before the English courts. We look forward to moving beyond this challenge toward the April 2018 hearings on the merits of our US$210 million arbitration claim, states Mr. Rodney Irwin, CEO and President.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
About Stans Energy
Stans Energy Corp. is a resource development company focused on advancing rare and specialty metals properties and processing technologies. Stans is now transitioning into a supplier of materials and technologies that will assist in satisfying the future energy supply, storage and transmission needs of the world. Previously, the Company acquired, among other things, the right to mine the past producing rare earth mine, Kutessay II, in the Kyrgyz Republic. Due to the expropriation actions taken by the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic, the Company is undertaking international arbitration litigation to protect the Companys rights and recover damages estimated at over US$210,000,000, caused by the Republic.
We seek safe harbour.
Contact Details
Rodney Irwin David Vinokurov
Stans Energy Corp. Stan Energy Corp
Interim President & CEO VP Corporate Development
rodney@stansenergy.com david@stansenergy.com
647-426-1865 647-426-1865
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: This document includes forward-looking statements as well as historical information. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, use of proceeds from the Offering, the completion of the Offering, the continued advancement of the company's general business development, research development and the company's development of mineral exploration projects. When used in this press release, the words will, shall, "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "intent", "may", "project", "plan", "should" and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements. Although Stans Energy Corp. believes that their expectations reflected in these forward looking statements are reasonable, such statements involve risks and uncertainties and no assurance can be given that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statement. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from these forward-looking statements include the potential that fluctuations in the marketplace for the sale of minerals, the inability to implement corporate strategies, the ability to obtain financing and other risks disclosed in our filings made with Canadian Securities Regulators.
To view this press release as a PDF file, click onto the following link:public://news_release_pdf/StansApr32017.pdfSource: Stans Energy Corp. (TSX Venture:HRE, OTCQB:HREEF)
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Copyright 2017 Filing Services Canada Inc.
A tax treaty has been signed between Canada and Madagascar, see details below.
Royalties for mining assets in Madagascar are as follows:
a) 2 percent of gross exports of raw commodities
b) 1 percent if minerals are processed locally before export
DNI has started the process of forming a Mauritian company, in which ownership of DNI Metals Madagascar SARL, will be transferred to the Mauritian entity. The benefits are twofold: 1. Mauritius and Madagascar have an Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement ("IPPA") in place since late 2010. See details below
2. A double-taxation treaty is in force between Madagascar and Mauritius The Definitive Agreement "DA" was finalized and signed on Friday March 24, 2017 with Cougar Metals in which Cougar can earn into 50% of DNI's Madagascar Graphite Project, once Cougar
a) Completes a NI 43-101 Resource Report by June 30, 201
b) Completes a NI 43-101 PEA (Preliminary Economic Assessment) by October 31, 2017.
Toronto, April 3, 2017 - DNI Metals Inc. (DNI: CSE) (FSE: DG7N) (OTC Pink: DMNKF) ("DNI" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the following:
Tax Convention Signed Between Canada and Madagascar
A Convention between Canada and the Republic of Madagascar for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income was signed in Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar, on 24 November 2016.
The Convention limits the rate of withholding tax to 5% for dividends paid to a company that holds directly or indirectly at least 25% of the voting power of the company that pays the dividends, to 15% for dividends paid in all other cases, and to 10% for payments of interest and royalties. The Convention also exempts from withholding tax certain payments of interest and limits the rate of withholding tax to 5% on certain payments of royalties.
The Convention includes provisions reflecting the standard developed by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development for the exchange of information for tax purposes.
The Convention will enter into force once Canada and the Republic of Madagascar have notified each other that the procedures required by their laws for the bringing into force of the Convention have been completed. The Convention will have effect in accordance with Article 28 of the Convention.
For further information contact:
Tax Legislation Division of the Canadian Government
Phone: (613) 369-4081
For information concerning the interpretation and application of Canada's tax treaties, please contact the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). Contact information is available on the CRA website. The CRA website has information concerning tax treaties and other information concerning international tax issues.
Mauritius Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements
While much of Mauritius' success as a well-established international financial center can be attributed to its continually expanding network of double taxation avoidance agreements ("DTAAs"), there is another significant advantage to investing through Mauritius. Mauritius has entered into Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements ("IPPAs") with various African countries that, while less well-known than DTAAs, are potentially of great importance to investors seeking to invest in the developing markets of Asia and Africa.
What are IPPAs? IPPAs are bilateral agreements between countries designed to promote and protect the interests of investors from one country in the territory of the country where the investment is being made. Among other things, IPPAs increase investor confidence by ensuring a fair and equitable protection of investments. Mauritius has concluded 34 IPPAs, of which 18 are in force.
Each agreement provides the following guarantees to investors:
Fair and equitable protection of investments Fair and equitable treatment of investments and returns of investors Free transfer of monies relating to investments and returns Expropriation guarantee investments shall not be nationalized, expropriated or subjected to measures (having effects equivalent to nationalization or expropriation) except for public purposes, under due process of law, on a non- discriminatory basis and against prompt, adequate and effective compensation (which shall be made without delay, and be effectively realizable) Most favoured nation rule with respect to treatment of investments and compensation for losses (in case of war or armed conflict, revolution, a state of national emergency, revolt, insurrection or riot) investors who, suffer losses in the territory of the other contracting party resulting from the following shall be accorded restitution or adequate compensation:
a) requisitioning of their property by the forces or authorities of the latter contracting part
b) destruction of their property by the forces or authorities of the latter contracting party, which was not caused in combat action or was not required by the necessity of the situation of the observance of any legal requirement Provisions for settlement of disputes between investors and the contracting states. Provisions for settlement of disputes between contracting states
Mauritius' network of IPPAs with various African countries makes it an ideal investment platform. In these countries, there is often pressure to redistribute wealth to local indigenous populations, which have historically been both politically and economically disenfranchised. This has resulted in a perceived threat of nationalization of assets (such as mines and natural resources) in certain of these countries. In these circumstances, it is useful to invest via a country that has an IPPA with the relevant African country, in order to take advantage of the guarantees offered by the IPPA.
Source: Conyers Dill & Pearman
Madagascar and Mauritius entered into and IPAA titled: Accord De Promotion et de Protection Reciproque des Investissements entre le Gouvernement de la Republique de Maurice et le Gouvernement de la Republique de Madagascar on 06th April 2004. The IPAA was fully ratified by both countries at the end of 2010. This instrument utilises the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) for dispute resolution. It has been proven to be an effective recourse for investors in Madagascar.
About DNI Metals
Certain advisors and directors of DNI have significant operational experience at historical hard rock graphite mines in Canada (e.g. Ontario and Quebec) and Australia. Between them, they have built three (3) processing plants and designed two (2) others; all, which were shut down in the 1990,'s due to increased Chinese competition. Keith Minty, director, worked at Cal Graphite near Kearny, Ontario.
It was our team's understanding of the high production and capital expenditure costs associated with so-called "hard rock" graphite mining that inspired DNI to search for saprolite-hosted graphite deposits.
Certain parts Madagascar and Brazil, produce graphite from weathered material called saprolite.
According to Dictionary.com, saprolite is described as:
"Soft, thoroughly decomposed and porous rock, often rich in clay, formed by the in place chemical weathering of igneous, metamorphic, or sedimentary rocks. Saprolite is especially common in humid and tropical climates. It is usually reddish brown or grayish white and contains those structures (such as cross-stratification) that were present in the original rock from which it formed."
DNI owns a commercially permitted, saprolite-hosted graphite deposit in Madagascar; located 50kms from the country's main seaport. The deposit is located less than two (2) kms from the paved national highway. DNI intends to develop the Vohitsara project, should the economic viability and technical feasibility be established. DNI has not yet established mineral resources or mineral reserves supported by a PEA or mining study (PFS or FS).
DNI has a graphite wholesale business, in which it buys and sells high quality graphite. This business has shown a steady increase in volume over the past year.
Steven Goertz (MAusIMM, MAIG), who is a qualified person, approved the technical disclosure in this news release.
DNI Canadian Securities
DG7N Frankfurt
DMNKF - OTC Pink
Issued: 40,558,775
For further information, contact:
DNI Metals Inc. Dan Weir, CEO 416-595-1195
DanWeir@dnimetals.com
Also visit www.dnimetals.com
We seek Safe Harbour. This announcement may include forward looking statements. While these statements represent DNI's best current judgment, they are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to vary, including risk factors listed in DNI's Annual Information Form and its MD&A's, all of which are available from SEDAR and on its website.
The MfA Experience
Expanding the Model
When mathematician John Ewing started lobbying state governments to adopt a new model for keeping top teachers in the classroom, he anticipated all the usual pushback over funding and resources. One thing he didnt anticipate was a resistance to the idea in general.In education right now, the focus is on everything thatsworking," he says. By contrast, his model "invests in teachers that are doing a really good job.In 2009, fellow mathematician and philanthropist Jim Simons called and asked Ewing to help him take over his fledgling nonprofit to provide continuing education for K-12 math teachers in New York City. But the organization, called Math for America (MfA), eventually evolved into a larger fellowship program aimed at cultivating and keeping top science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) teachers in public schools.Its an appealing concept at a time when keeping good teachers is becoming harder and harder.On average, one-third of teachers leave the profession within five years. Burnout is blamed for the short tenure. A recent report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that 46 percent of teachers say they feel daily stress on a level thats shared by doctors and lawyers.When teachers are that stressed, the report notes, it not only compromises their health and quality of life but also adversely impacts their teaching performance. That, in turn, can harm students' academic performance and behavior. The report recommends mentoring programs, social emotional learning and mindfulness as proven ways to improve teacher well-being and student outcomes.That's where MfA comes in.MfA is built on the notion that great public school teachers should be given the same resources and be treated with the same respect as their higher education counterparts. Teachers go through a rigorous application process and, if accepted, they receive a four-year fellowship and annual $15,000 stipend. Fellows, or master teachers as theyre called at MfA, are required to participate in and present workshops held at the nonprofit's headquarters. Teachers can also apply for additional financial support to attend national seminars or even trips abroad to enhance exposure to their subject.Currently, about 1,000 public school teachers -- roughly 10 percent of all New York City STEM teachers -- are in the program.High school math teacher Abigail Kirchman says becoming an MfA master teacher has kept her from even thinking about leaving the profession. The stipend alone means Kirchman hasn't had to make quality-of-life sacrifices that other colleagues have. She doesnt have to commute across three boroughs, for instance, and can afford healthy groceries.What's more, far from being burned out, Kirchmans actually happier with her chosen line of work than she was when she first arrived in New York about five years ago. Thats largely due to the new techniques shes learned and the community shes found with other math and science teachers at MfA.I think all teachers sometimes feel like theyre alone and theyre the only ones struggling with something, she says. Here, I have other teachers who are experts and I can ask them anything.The program has completely changed the way she teaches. Her own math courses back in high school, she says, tended to follow the same formula: listen to the teacher explain a lesson in class, go home and practice the lesson with an assignment from the book, and then show your understanding through exams and quizzes.Kirchman doesnt do much -- if any -- of that.Through fellow MfA teachers, she learned about "mastery-based teaching," which focuses the student on understanding a mathematical concept rather than on knowing enough to pass a test. In fact, Kirchman doesnt even give tests.Instead, she spends much of her time devising new ways to explain and practice concepts. She now uses origami, for example, in her geometry lessons because the tactile nature of the craft can reach different types of learners. And last summer, she and another master teacher went to Morocco and Spain to study geometric design in Islamic art. This past winter, the two gave an MfA seminar on the subject, and Kirchman plans to eventually develop a lesson for her students.Kirchman takes about a dozen MfA seminars each year, in addition to presenting some of them. She says the exposure to new ideas plays a big role in changing her students ideas about math, too. At the beginning of each school year, she has her kids write her a letter about their expectations.Every single one of them hates math and has a lot of anxiety around it, she says. But within months, students understand that if they dont get it today, it's OK.Perhaps not surprisingly, MfAs teacher retention statistics are far better than the citys average.Every year, about 9 percent of New York City teachers dont come back. For MfA teachers, the attrition rate is just 4 percent. But many of those who do leave still remain in the education profession, says MfA President Ewing.Despite the good results, MfA hasn't been able to sell their program outside of New York. The hard part now isn't convincing governments that they should devote more money to star teachers, says Ewing, it's finding the funding.MfA offered to provide $2.5 million in matching grants to other major cities, including Washington, D.C., and Boston, but most couldnt come up with the matching funds. In 2012, President Obama set aside federal money to support STEM master teacher programs across the country, including MfA, but most of that funding was stripped away. More recently, Ewing says they started making progress in neighboring Connecticut and even developed a pilot program with universities across eight counties. But that states chronic budget woes have hampered efforts to unlock funding.MfA was able to expand the program beyond New York City -- but only to the state. That's largely because Gov. Andrew Cuomo liked the idea and funded it directly from the budget. The state ultimately expects to fund 1,000 master teachers a year at a cost of more than $15 million -- a fraction of the $20 billion the state spends on K-12 education each year.The New York state program hosts regional offices at nine State University of New York (SUNY) campuses. That structure, says Director Josephine Salvador, creates a partnership between K-12 and higher education professionals. Secondary education teachers learn about new practices and concepts from their SUNY counterparts, and vice versa.Its not higher ed dictating to K-12 teachers -- theyre peers, says Salvador.The collaboration is especially valuable for teachers in rural districts where they might be the only science teacher.Now they have multiple people they can call or email, she says.So far, the state program has had impressive results: Teacher attrition in the state master teachers program is a mere 2 percent. And among those who left, all but one stayed in the education profession.Ewing hopes to eventually have an MfA model cultivating the top 10 percent of math and science teachers in every state.Thats upwards of 50,000 people, he says. Think about that. It would change the teaching profession.
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.Officials began clearing out the 45-year-old complex of three-story apartment buildings last summer after detailed soil testing found some yards with lead levels more than 70 times the federal safety standard.The Environmental Protection Agency soon warned parents to keep their children away from the dirt on the site, which was occupied decades ago by a lead-products factory. Just to the south sat the sprawling United States Smelter and Lead Refinery, or U.S.S. Lead, which salvaged lead from old car batteries and scrap metal before it closed in 1985.The complex was home to more than 1,000 people, including about 700 children. Tests by the Indiana Department of Health found high lead levels in blood samples from some children. Even at low levels, lead exposure can damage nervous systems and lower I.Q.s, according to experts.The Department of Housing and Urban Development reached an agreement in November with advocates representing the residents that gave families a break on rent and until the end of March to find new homes.
States Step In
Step Therapy Legislation
Cameron Credle was barely more than a toddler when he was diagnosed with abnormally high cholesterol. And over the years, despite being an avid runner and bicyclist and a careful eater, Credle has seen his numbers climb high into the 400s. Even the cholesterol medications he was taking didnt get him into the healthy range of under 200.So, Credle, now 30 and a woodworker in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was relieved to learn a couple of years ago about a new class of approved cholesterol drugs called PCSK9 inhibitors that were proving highly effective for people like him whose lifelong high cholesterol was determined by genetics rather than lifestyle a condition known as familia hypercholesterolemia.Thats when Credle says he found out about a health insurance process known as prior authorization, which requires an insurer to expressly agree to cover the cost of certain, usually more expensive, medicines even if the patients doctor says they are the best treatment for that patient.In Credles case, it took more than a month to get approval for one PCSK9 inhibitor, which proved to be too much for his stomach, and four more months to get approval for the other, Repatha, which he was able to tolerate. According to Credle and his doctor, William Cromwell, the pharmacy benefits manager used by his insurer turned down the request for the first drug once and the request for Repatha three times, although Cromwell insisted that Credle met all the criteria for approval. And despite having been approved for the first drug, Credle and his doctor say they had to go back to square one and prove he needed the second when the first didnt work.Repatha, like many drugs that require prior authorization, is among an expensive class of drugs known as biologics, highly complex medicines that derive from biological sources, as opposed to conventional drugs, which are manufactured from a chemical synthesis. A single dose of Repatha retails for about $600. Credle needs an injection every two weeks.Cases like Credles help explain why state legislatures in recent years have intervened to speed up the prior authorization process and similar practices used by insurers. Currently, legislatures in Colorado, Iowa, New Mexico and Texas are considering such legislation.We shouldnt have to subject patients to the hardship of ineffective therapies that dont work, said Jonathan Krant, chief of medicine and of rheumatology at Adirondack Health Systems in Saranac Lake, New York. Krant said some of his patients with autoimmune disease risk permanent damage to their joints if they are forced to wait for months for effective remedies.The insurance industry defends the need for what it calls utlilization management techniques like prior authorization and step therapy, which requires patients to first fail on what are known as preferred drugs, which are generally less expensive, before they can be approved for others.Those practices, said Kristine Grow, spokeswoman for the Americas Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the lobbying organization for the countrys commercial health plans, can help ensure that patients are aware of treatments that may be as effective and less expensive.This, in turn, can lower out-of-pocket costs for the patient immediately and for all Americans in the long run, she said. It helps to increase care effectiveness and decrease costs. Patients benefit from better outcomes and better affordability.But many health advocacy groups say utilization management is simply a form of obstructionism that forces practitioners to spend countless hours battling bureaucrats over medical issues. Cromwell, a specialist in the management of cholesterol and lipoprotein disorders, said its all designed to deny patients drugs they need and increase insurers profits. From what I see, they are looking for any reason whatsoever to turn you down rather than help the patient, he said.United Healthcare, Credles insurer, said the process used in his case was not prior authorization or step therapy but a third utilization practice called medical necessity. Medical necessity is often used interchangeably with prior authorization to mean an evaluation of whether a suggested treatment is clinically justified. In any case, United Healthcare blamed the delays in approvals for Credles medication on Cromwells slowness in submitting medical records. Cromwell could not be reached again before deadline to respond.While many states have considered imposing limits on insurers management practices, they have not scrapped them entirely.Matthew Titone, a Democratic assemblyman who sponsored a bill that became law in New York last year, said at one time he preferred an outright ban on those insurance practices. But, he said, the techniques sometimes introduce medical providers to effective medications they might not otherwise know about.But, Titone said, he also wasnt aware of a single instance in which the insurer didnt direct patients to a cheaper alternative. Basically, they are concerned about their bottom line, not the patients health, he said.Much of the legislation across the country is aimed at speeding up the approval process and making it less cumbersome for practitioners.California has developed standardized prior authorization forms, in part to address complaints from doctors that they are spending too much time trying to master the different red tape of multiple insurance companies.In 2015, Virginia enacted a law that gave insurance companies 24 hours to respond to emergency prior authorization requests and two days for non-emergency ones. Ohio enacted a similar law last year, allowing 48 hours to respond to emergency requests and 10 days for non-urgent services.Sixteen states, including California, Texas and Georgia, require all insurers operating in their states to use a common electronic prior authorization form, according to CoverMyMeds, a health IT firm that markets electronic prior authorization technology. Grow, the AHIP spokeswoman, said the organization is cooperating with efforts to create common standards for electronic prior authorization across the country.At least 18 states, including California, Connecticut, Illinois and New York, have passed legislation over the last six years that provides ways for practitioners to override the step therapy process or to speed the process, according to the Global Healthy Living Foundation, which represents people with chronic diseases.Some of the laws, like New Yorks, require insurers to base their decisions on clinical evidence and not cost. California, Illinois, New York and Kentucky require insurers to respond quickly to override requests. Connecticut and Kentucky have set limits on how long a patient must be on a drug before a determination can be made that it is ineffectual. California has also passed a measure that spares patients who switch health plans from having to go through step therapy with the same drug when they already went through the process under a previous health plan.Such a provision would have been useful to Chantelle Marcial, 37, who helps with housing and moving for new employees at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in her mid-20s. She said she has had to wait as long as 12 weeks for effective treatment after she switched insurance plans and was forced to undergo the step therapy process again. In the meantime, she suffered through severe joint pain.I could be productive and going to work, she said. Instead Im at home in pain just waiting until I can get something that will actually work.Cromwell, Credles physician, said his assistant spent at least 14 hours arguing with the pharmacy benefits manager for United Healthcare before finally getting approval for the second drug, which is effectively controlling Credles cholesterol.This is something I need in order to live; it can add decades to my life, Credle said. When Im paying for their insurance, I expect to get something back.
Walker's proposals
With the GOP's repeal of Obamacare stymied in Congress, Gov. Scott Walker is still rejecting the federal law and instead asking the Trump administration to let Wisconsin drug test applicants for state coverage.Even though federal money remains available for providing health care to more Wisconsin residents, the GOP governor says he's not reconsidering his decision to skip that and forgo hundreds of millions of dollars from federal taxpayers.Instead, Walker is asking officials in President Donald Trump's administration to sign off on the governor's proposals to move more single adults off state BadgerCare Medicaid coverage and into the workforce. The centerpiece of those measures is the governor's plan to screen childless, able-bodied BadgerCare recipients for drugs.In a telephone interview Monday with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Walker offered an advance look at his federal request, which if approved would affect tens of thousands of recipients at a cost of tens of millions of dollars per year."Obviously, we were going to do it no matter what," Walker said of his plan. "But yes, the more we can push reforms that work for Wisconsin ... the more we can control our own destiny."Walker's move takes on greater importance following Friday's failure of House GOP legislation to replace Obamacare and House Speaker Paul Ryan's admission that the Affordable Care Act will remain in place "for the foreseeable future."Walker and aides think the governor's proposal is likely to be approved by the Trump administration because it loosely mirrors some actions taken in Indiana under that state's former governor, Vice President Mike Pence, and Seema Verma, a former consultant to Indiana who is now head of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.But Democrats have taken a different lesson from the failure of the Obamacare repeal -- they think Wisconsin should also follow Indiana's lead in using federal money to expand Medicaid. State Rep. Gordon Hintz (D-Oshkosh) told lawmakers on the budget committee Monday that Wisconsin has already missed out on the chance to save $690 million since 2014 and cover more people on BadgerCare."We have left hundreds of millions of dollars on the table," he said.But the governor again rejected the idea of expanding BadgerCare to people with somewhat higher incomes, saying it could make people more dependent on the government."My goal is not to put more people on Medicaid. My goal is to get people off," Walker said.Instead, Walker is sending a proposal to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that could affect tens of thousands of childless adults in Wisconsin with incomes below the federal poverty level -- $12,060 a year for single adult and $16,240 a year for a couple. Here's what Walker wants to do starting in April 2019:* Screen these Medicaid applicants with questions about illegal drug use and actually test some of them for it. Refusing the test will mean the applicants go at least six months without state coverage. If they test positive, the individuals could receive treatment. Toward that goal Walker is asking federal officials to allow for residential substance abuse treatment for childless adults within Medicaid.* Charge sliding scale premiums of $1 to $10 a month for single adults making $2,533 to $12,060 a year. BadgerCare recipients would have a 12-month grace period to pay past due premiums but if they don't eventually catch up, they'll lose their coverage for six months or until they start paying. Emergency visits would also start having copays of $8 for the first visit and $25 for those afterward in a year to nudge people toward cheaper forms of care.* Give premium breaks to recipients who complete a health risk assessment and who don't engage in risky behaviors such as smoking, obesity, illegal drug use, not using seat belts and alcohol abuse. Recipients can also get the premium breaks if they are working to manage their risk in those areas.* Limit the amount of time on Medicaid for able-bodied workers between 19 and 49 years old to 48 months. After that they would lose coverage for six months. But if recipients are working or getting job training at least 80 hours a month, they could stay on the program for as long as they meet the other requirements.Walker is also moving forward with similar drug testing and work requirements for other state programs such as food stamps and unemployment insurance. These Medicaid changes won't be cheap -- when fully phased in they would cost an estimated $48 million a year in state and federal money and affect about 49,000 childless adults a year, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.Walker will release his full proposal to the public April 19, take public comment for a month and then send the request with any revisions to federal officials for their consideration.Jon Peacock, research director for the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, questioned whether this new red tape is worthwhile, noting that a $1 premium would take effort to collect and won't have much effect on anyone's behavior."It's incredibly inefficient and also I think pretty punitive," he said.Walker said the proposal is a tool to get more people into a labor market where employers are having a more difficult time filling open positions. Addressing drug problems, requiring work and making people familiar with practices like health risk assessments will help do that, the governor said."Now more than ever when we're down to 3.7% unemployment ... I just can't afford to have anybody on the sidelines," he said. "What we're trying to do is to get people accustomed to transitioning into the workforce."
Patricia Washington sees a simple calculus: If you take someone's life, you better be prepared to lose your own.The death penalty is just, she believes _ an unsurprising view in this rural town a short drive from the state prison that houses death row. Executions have come up a lot lately in conversations at Washington's work, a tiny eatery tucked into an Exxon service station off Highway 65.As she carried trays brimming with chicken tenders, fried okra and corn nuggets one recent morning, she reflected on some of her regulars _ the prison guards."There's a lot on their mind. You can see it in their eyes," Washington said.Starting the day after Easter, the state is scheduled to execute eight men in 11 days, and people in Gould and across Arkansas are wondering how so many executions will affect prison staffers and color perceptions of this Bible Belt state. Two men will die each day on April 17, 20, 24 and 27.No state has executed this many people in such a short span since the Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976. The closest was Texas, which executed eight men in both May and June of 1997, according to the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center, which opposes capital punishment.Arkansas hasn't put anyone to death since 2005. That year, Eric Nance, 45, having offered no final words, was pronounced dead on Nov. 28 at 9:24 p.m. at the Cummins Unit just outside Gould. Since then, court challenges and difficulties in obtaining lethal injection drugs have stopped the killings.But now the state's Republican governor, Asa Hutchinson, says Arkansas must act before its supply of midazolam, an anesthetic used in the lethal injection cocktail, expires at the end of the month.Hutchinson set the execution dates in February after state Attorney General Leslie Rutledge informed him that the condemned _ four black, four white, and all convicted of murders between 1989 and 1999 _ had exhausted their legal challenges. In all, they killed 11 people, some by the gun, some by strangulation."This action is necessary to fulfill the requirement of the law," Hutchinson said in an email. "It is also important to bring closure to the victims' families."Walk around Gould, a predominantly black town of 837, and it's easy to find someone who has an opinion on the looming executions. The presence of two prisons, the Cummins Unit and Varner Unit, is inescapable even if the main features north of town are towering grain silos and freshly tilled rice and cotton fields, with soil so dark it appears as if they've been covered with miles of coffee grounds.But off in the distance, one can see the glistening barbed wire of Cummins and Varner, which together can house nearly 3,500 inmates. At Cummins, guards on horseback patrol green gullies bordering the prison grounds as lower-level inmates, dressed in all white, guide lawn mowers and weed whackers along the impeccably manicured slopes.On a recent muggy afternoon, Mayor Essie Mae Cableton sat behind her desk at City Hall, a tiny single-level structure with barred windows and peeling paint that also includes the Police Department, the fire station, a courtroom and a place for people to pay their water bill.Cableton, 75, worked as a guard for the Department of Correction for nearly two decades _ 10 of those years at Cummins, which houses the execution chamber. She recalled walking the prison grounds on the days of past executions. It felt, in some ways, like business as usual.But this time feels different."It's too many at one time," Cableton said. "Now, I'm not saying that they're not some bad individuals. But it's just too many at one time."Death penalty opponents say conducting so many executions in 11 days increases the likelihood of mistakes that could cause needless suffering. They also object to the use of midazolam, which they say has contributed to some botched executions in which inmates took a long time to die. Some states bar the use of midazolam for executions.Hutchinson and Wendy Kelley, the director of the Arkansas Department of Correction, have not expressed any concerns about possible mishaps during the executions.That's little comfort to critics."This is just a ghastly assembly line of death," said Rita Sklar, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas. "It does not comport with human decency."Sklar, along with members from the nonprofit Arkansas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, has held vigils outside the governor's mansion, calling on him to halt the executions.Last month, nearly two dozen former corrections officers from around the country sent a letter to Hutchinson, urging him to consider the "strain and stress" eight executions will place on corrections staff."For those of us who have participated in or overseen executions, we have directly experienced the psychological challenges of the experience and its aftermath," they wrote. "Others of us have witnessed this same strain in our colleagues."Arkansas law requires that at least six citizens who don't know the victim or the condemned witness each execution, but the state has had trouble finding as many as 48 volunteers.Last month, Kelley attended a Rotary Club lunch meeting in Little Rock, about 80 miles north of here, and asked a question: Would anyone like to sit in on the executions? No one volunteered. A corrections spokesman said Kelley's efforts to find witnesses are continuing.Back at the Exxon station, Washington's co-worker, Betty Petty, thought about how she'd answer such a question from Kelley."I'd consider it," said Petty, who lived in California for decades but recently returned to Gould to care for her ill mother. "Justice is justice. I think this is justice."Washington, a lifelong Gould resident whom customers affectionately call "Miss Trish," wondered whether she was serious."Would you, for real?" she asked."I would consider it," Petty said with a nod. "I would."Washington, with no response, turned and walked back into the kitchen.Nationwide, support for the death penalty has steadily declined in recent years from its peak of about 80 percent support in 1994. A Pew Research Center poll last September found that 49 percent of Americans favored the death penalty for convicted murderers, while 42 percent opposed it. (Blacks tend to oppose the death penalty at higher rates than do whites.)By comparison, a University of Arkansas survey of voters in 2015 found that 71 percent of Arkansans supported the death penalty, while 19 percent opposed it.In Gould, the issue splits some households.When asked about executions, David Day _ a 78-year-old retired serviceman who grew up working on a cotton farm where the Arkansas and Mississippi rivers meet _ cited the Old Testament."Eye for eye, tooth for tooth," he said. "They can't live in society anymore."But his wife, Deborah, 63, disagreed: "I could never take a life or want to see someone lose their life. I'm a Christian woman."The men scheduled to die _ a portion of the 34 on death row in Arkansas _ are Don Davis, Stacey Johnson, Jack Jones, Ledell Lee, Jason McGehee, Bruce Ward, Kenneth Williams and Marcel Williams.The story of Kenneth Williams resonates strongly here in Lincoln County in the southeastern part of the state. Shortly after getting sentenced to life inside Cummins Unit for killing a college cheerleader in 1998, Williams managed to escape.It was a Sunday morning and Cecil Boren was tending his yard on a farm about two miles from Cummins where he and his wife, Genie, lived. She wasn't home when Williams broke in, stole Cecil's guns and shot him to death before driving off down a gravel road in his truck.Genie, 73, still lives on the farm. On a recent afternoon, she stood in the yard, near the flowering camellia bush where her husband collapsed in a pool of blood nearly 18 years ago. Since then, one of her husband's sisters has died, and now another is in hospice care."We've been ready a long time," Genie said. "If this doesn't happen now, who knows, I may be dead without seeing justice."She plans to attend Williams' execution on April 27.
Description
GIS 03 April 2017: The India-Mauritius Comprehensive Economic and Commercial Partnership Agreement (CECPA) was the focus of a Business Meet organised by the High Commission of India on 31 March 2017 at the Labourdonnais Hotel, Caudan Waterfront, Port Louis. The India-Mauritius Comprehensive Economic and Commercial Partnership Agreement (CECPA) was the focus of a Business Meet organised by the High Commission of India on 31 March 2017 at the Labourdonnais Hotel, Caudan Waterfront, Port Louis.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade, Mr. Seetanah Lutchmeenaraidoo; the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Consumer Protection, Mr. Ashit Kumar Gungah; and the High Commissioner of India, Mr Abhay Thakur, were present on the occasion.
Some 80 members of the business community of Mauritius participated in the event where the following theme was discussed India-Mauritius CECPA Talks: Identifying Opportunities. Furthermore, Deloitte Mauritius made a presentation on specific investment opportunities for Indian companies in Mauritius. The presentation focused on the main sectors of interest to Mauritius, both traditional and emerging, which had the potential to attract investors from India. On the other hand, Maubank made a presentation on the opportunities for collaboration between Indian and Mauritian companies for leveraging the advantages of Mauritius as a platform for investments to Africa and other destinations.
With regards to the CECPA talks, an important development is the visit of a delegation from Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India to Mauritius in September 2016, following which a broad understanding on the revised contours of the CECPA and the way forward was reached. In addition, four working groups on Economic Cooperation, Goods, Services and Investment were also constituted. The next round of talks would be scheduled as soon as the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry completes internal consultations with various stakeholders including Indian states, industry bodies and other Indian Ministries.
In his address, Minister Lutchmeenaraidoo stated that Indian businesses have much to gain by using Mauritius as a platform to enter the African market of 650 million consumers as the country is a member of both the Southern African Development Community and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa. He also underlined that a Continental Free Trade Agreement is being prepared to facilitate trade and investment in Africa.
Minister Gungah, for his part, thanked the Government of India for its recent initiatives such as the revival of the CECPA negotiations and expressed the hope that an early finalisation of the India-Mauritius CECPA would potentially boost bilateral trade and strengthen economic cooperation.
According to the High Commisioner, Indian companies are keen to tap the potential of Mauritius as a gateway to Africa and that the revision of the Double Taxation Avoidance Convention and revival of the CECPA talks have attracted the attention of Indian companies looking to do more business with Africa. He also highlighted that besides consolidation of India-Mauritius bilateral economic cooperation, the CECPA would also help in exploring the viability of an India-Mauritius-Africa trade and investment corridor. He expressed optimism that the CECPA talks would be successfully concluded as per the existing mutually agreed timeline of end 2017.
Description
GIS - 03 April, 2017: The Executive Director of the International Trade Centre (ITC), Mrs Arancha Gonzalez, discussed ways and means to assist Mauritius become a more competitive economy with regards to its export strategy.
This issue was at the fore of discussions during a courtesy call by Mrs Arancha Gonzalez, on the Prime Minister, Mr Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, on 31st March 2017 at the New Treasury Building in Port Louis.
In a statement, the Executive Director of ITC, spoke of the cordial and fruitful meeting with the Prime Minister and highlighted that both parties exchanged views and ideas with regards the Mauritius National Export Strategy document which has been drafted with the ITCs financial as well as technical support in line with the ambition of making the country a Nation of Entrepreneurs with the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector as the backbone of the economy.
Mrs Arancha Gonzalez, further expressed interest to assist Mauritius into helping the SMEs upgrade their quality and move upmarket so as to enable them to be part of the international trade chain which she said will eventually help transform the economy with the creation of high quality and better paid jobs in Mauritius.
Another area which was raised pertained to the diversification of trade and markets and an accelerated pace to put in place the plan to internationalise the SMEs in view of transforming Mauritius into an international centre for trade and commerce so as to achieve the strategy of the Government in attaining a New Era of Development as enunciated in the 2016-2017 Budget speech.
Mrs Arancha Gonzalez, Executive Director of ITC also participated at the launching ceremony of the National Export Strategy Document on 31st March 2017 at the Le Meridien Hotel, Pointe aux Piments.
The document charts out a strategic direction for export consolidation and diversification by leveraging on enhanced synergies among institutions through the adoption of a holistic approach to exports, and help, among others, empower stakeholders to contribute more effectively to export development and foster a national export culture.
Description
GIS - 03 April, 2017: Government will encourage the private sector to fully participate in the revival of our export sector and continue to remove any hurdles to investment and to setting up businesses and accelerate our plan to internationalise our SMEs. Government will encourage the private sector to fully participate in the revival of our export sector and continue to remove any hurdles to investment and to setting up businesses and accelerate our plan to internationalise our SMEs.
This statement was made on 31 March 2017 by the Prime Minister, Minister of Home Affairs, External Communications and National Development Unit, Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mr Pravind Jugnauth, at the launch of the first Mauritius National Export Strategy (NES) at Le Meridien Hotel in Pointe aux Piments.
The Prime Minister pointed out that the NES comes at an opportune time especially in the face of a challenging global trade environment, new demographic trends and erosion of trade preferences. The NES, he added, will force us to sharpen our efforts to revamp the manufacturing base and to drive exports through seven priority sectors.
He underscored that the NES will serve as a key reference document for consolidating policies which are aimed at raising the economic growth rate and lifting the standard of living of the population and the quality of life in the country. He expressed satisfaction that the Strategy is anchored to Governments long term vision of an inclusive high income economy as it proposes actions to ensure that export development promotes not only economic growth but also social development.
Prime Minister Jugnauth highlighted that Government will leverage the two strong pillars that have sustained this countrys development in the past decades our institutional strengths and the solid tradition of dialogue and cooperation among all stakeholders- to implement the NES.
For his part, the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Consumer Protection, Mr Ashit Kumar Gungah said that the economic development of Mauritius has to be given a new thrust in the context of global challenges characterised mainly by competition from low-cost countries, elimination of trade preferences and post-Brexit threats.
He expressed confidence that the NES will not only provide the necessary catalyst but will also be the harbinger of a new vision for the export strategy. Speaking about the implementation of the NES, he said that it will prove to be a fundamental part in the new ecosystem being deployed to propel the country successfully to its next phase of economic development.
The recommendations in the NES document, once implemented, will certainly help our SMEs to successfully enter international value chains and expand beyond the confines of our narrow market base. Institutional alignment will be fundamental to achieve synergy, well-conceived strategies and concerted actions, he said.
Also present at the launching, the chairman of Enterprise Mauritius, Mr Yousuf Salehmohamed, highlighted that a specific sector was created for Rodrigues to have a better understanding of trade opportunities and challenges faced by the country and to formulate a specific strategic vision and roadmap for key sectors with export potential.
He further stated that the competitive landscape for Mauritian exporters is rapidly changing and is characterised by the erosion of trade preferences that the country had traditionally enjoyed. The new paradigm shift advocated by the NES ensures that this transformation occurs in structured and swift manner, he added.
The Mauritius National Export Strategy
The NES aims to boost the export capacities of the countrys private sector and step up its trade with regional and global markets. NES will serve as a blueprint for the Government, the private sector and Mauritius' development partners to help the countrys SMEs improve their competitiveness and generate higher-value jobs. These will guide Mauritius effort to reinvigorate inclusive and sustainable growth through trade.
The Strategy also aims to tackle economy-wide constraints for trade growth and in response sets out five key cross-sector focus areas that will support export development and competitiveness: the internationalisation of SMEs; skills development; innovation; branding and institutional alignment.
The NES identifies seven sectors with high potential for export growth, employment generation and innovation: agro-processed foods; fisheries and aquaculture; medical devices; jewellery; financial services; software development and; cultural tourism. These are aligned to the priorities outlined in the Governments Vision 2030.
The launch comes after a series of multi-stakeholder consultations led by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Consumer Protection in collaboration with Enterprise Mauritius. Throughout the process, the International Trade Centre has provided technical support.
Daniel J. Lohrmann is an internationally recognized cybersecurity leader, technologist, keynote speaker and author.
During his distinguished career, Dan has served global organizations in the public and private sectors in a variety of executive leadership capacities, receiving numerous national awards including: CSO of the Year, Public Official of the Year and Computerworld Premier 100 IT Leader.
Lohrmann led Michigan governments cybersecurity and technology infrastructure teams from May 2002 August 2014, including enterprise-wide Chief Security Officer (CSO), Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) roles in Michigan. He works with cybersecurity technology companies to provide insights and long-term strategic support. Dan is a Senior Fellow with the Center for Digital Government and a contributor to Government Technology magazine. He has advised senior leaders at the White House, National Governors Association (NGA), National Association of State CIOs (NASCIO), U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), federal, state and local government agencies, Fortune 500 companies, small businesses and non-profit institutions.
Dan has more than 30 years of experience in the computer industry, beginning his career with the National Security Agency. He worked for three years in England as a senior network engineer for Lockheed Martin (formerly Loral Aerospace) and for four years as a technical director for ManTech International in a U.S./UK military facility. He has been a keynote speaker at global security and technology conferences from South Africa to Dubai and from Washington D.C. to Moscow.
Dan currently serves as Field CISO for the public sector at Presidio. He is the co-author of Cyber Mayday and the Day After: A Leader's Guide to Preparing, Managing, and Recovering from Inevitable Business Disruptions, published by Wiley in November, 2021. He is also the author of two earlier books: Virtual Integrity: Faithfully Navigating the Brave New Web and BYOD For You: The Guide to Bring Your Own Device to Work.
Lohrmann holds a Master's Degree in Computer Science (CS) from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and a Bachelor's Degree in CS from Valparaiso University in Indiana.
Follow Dan on Twitter at: @govcso
New Orleans is Installing More Traffic Cameras, But Will They Make the Streets Safer?
(TNS) - At a public forum in February, Yvette Jennings opened up about a painful experience she had with Erie police about eight years ago.Members of Erie's community-police relations group hope more such conversations will happen in the future.Jennings, the mother of homicide victim Rondale Jennings Sr., was present at the public forum via a videotaped address. She described the wrenching experience, in 2009, of hearing her son's death mocked by an Erie patrolman who was caught on video at a tavern."I never blamed the entire police force for the actions of that one officer," she said in the address.Jennings has also shared her experiences as a member of the community-police relations group. The group of about 20 people, roughly half members of law enforcement and half members of Erie's African-American community, has met since August in an effort to build trust between both parts of the group."It let us get to know each other," Jennings said. "(The police) have families just like we do, they have issues just like we do. The only difference is the job that they have."The community-police relations group is considering ways to expand the relationships formed there to bring in more members of the community.The group made its first foray into meeting with the public at the Feb. 20 forum at Pfeiffer-Burleigh Elementary School, and Jennings said the members have committed to holding more public forums.The community-police relations group had its start in a different controversy the announcement in July of a U.S. Department of Justice civil rights investigation into the Erie Bureau Police following a highly publicized June 27 arrest in which an Erie man, Montrice Bolden, suffered broken facial bones and a concussion."This group ... had a catalyst in the Montrice Bolden case," said Soo Song, acting U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, who has come to Erie from Pittsburgh to attend two of the group's monthly meetings. Song said in a March 24 interview that investigation remains under consideration by the Department of Justice.With that investigation as a backdrop, the U.S. attorney's office in Erie convened the first meeting of the community-police relations group."We tried to pick a group of folks ... who were willing to talk about these topics and who had a different kind of a background or experience," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Marshall Piccinini, who has facilitated the group's meetings at the federal courthouse on Perry Square."I think there was some apprehension on both sides," Erie Police Chief Donald Dacus said.But as the meetings progressed, the two segments of the group community members and law enforcement said they began to notice what they had in common."We began to realize that we were more alike in our train of thought, as far as what the expectations from the community should be," Dacus said.Group members hope to take that message to more members of the community, although the specifics of how that will be accomplished remain under consideration."I think what we want to do is take the agenda that we used ... and replicate the conversation that we started with this primary group," Piccinini said.The group has held monthly meetings to discuss topics of importance to both halves, such as implicit bias, witness cooperation, police hiring and youth engagement, Piccinini said.Song said the group was based on a similar group that has met in Pittsburgh since 2011.Building a relationship between the two parts of Erie's group required conversations about grievances on both sides: a lack of cooperation with law enforcement investigations, and the feeling there is a disconnect between law enforcement and the community."A lot of it has to do with mutual respect," Dacus said. "Often times that doesn't translate well when an officer is in his official capacity trying to be completely all business."Dacus said he has taken steps to use what he's learned from the meetings with community members."I'm trying to expand the conversation by going out with the command staff to each of the Neighborhood Watch groups and trying to open up that dialogue, sort of leading it off by example from what I've learned from that group," he said. "Ultimately the goal would be to expand the communication enough that people would be more willing to help out law enforcement when trying to solve crime."David Johnson, a group member and security program manager at Saint Vincent Hospital, said the group should be expanded in a way that maintains the personal conversations group members were able to hold."You can't do what we we're doing with 100 people," Johnson said. "If we go out to different communities, then that group mingles with another community group, we can expand and expand from there."Dacus also expressed interest in spreading the group's message to more members of the community."I think at some point it should either be expanded to include more members or we should revolve the membership to influence others," he said. "I think we've proven it's been a good experience, but there needs to be another direction, it needs to grow."Song said the group's decision to hold a public forum after meeting for less than a year showed the group was moving from "discussion to action very quickly.""I feel like this group has done more in a short period of time than I would have expected," she said. "This group realized early on that they have a strong desire to influence other people."Song said the U.S. attorney's office will continue convening the meetings "as long as the group collectively values that."Piccinini said the group is in the early stages of coordinating with the Department of Justice's community-relations service to hold a police and community trust-building conference in the fall.Reaching out to young people is another key goal that has emerged from the meetings. Piccinini said the group is developing a plan to hold similar meetings between young people and members of law enforcement."People's perceptions of law enforcement form at a very early age," Song said. "You have to engage kids really young."Jennings said reaching out to young people could help mend relationships between the community and law enforcement in a number of ways, including increasing diversity in the police force by reducing the stigma in minority communities that can be associated with becoming a police officer."The issue is that if you want to be a part of the solution, apply and try to make a difference," Jennings said. "That wall needs to be broken down so that they get a better understanding of what law enforcement really is."Madeleine O'Neill can be reached at 870-1728 or by email. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNoneill.2017 the Erie Times-News (Erie, Pa.)Visit the Erie Times-News (Erie, Pa.) at www.GoErie.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
(TNS) -- WORCESTER The future of the state's high-speed broadband network, which brings internet to scores of public safety and government buildings in Central and Western Massachusetts, appears to be in limbo.The private company that runs the network filed for bankruptcy March 22, and its parent company is suing the state in U.S. District Court, arguing it has no long-term obligation to keep the network running.In arguments Friday in federal court in Worcester, a Canadian company made it clear that it wants out of the network, while a lawyer representing the state - which owns the network - raised doubts about whether a replacement could be found."There may not be any other operators who can step in," Boston lawyer Robert J. Kaler told Judge Timothy S. Hillman during a discussion about possible long-term replacements. "The old expression applies: there's no sense in asking if the air is any good if there's nothing else to breathe."A state official Friday argued for a temporary legal ruling and noted a request-for-proposals has been issued. But if losses reported by the company prove accurate, finding takers could prove difficult."It has $17 million in losses from servicing this network in the commonwealth," said Brian P. Voke, attorney for Axia NetMedia Corp. of Canada, in reference to its U.S. subsidiary, KCST USA Inc.KCST USA which up until just recently was called Axia NGNetworks USA entered into an agreement with the state in 2010 to manage the new network, called MassBroadband 123. Financed with $90 million in federal and state funding, the project, administered through MassTech, the state's technology collaborative, was meant to bring broadband to underserved areas of the state.The approximately 1,200-mile fiber optic network serves primarily government customers in 124 communities, including police in Fitchburg, Leominster and dozens of others. Shortly after it took the reins in 2014, KCST (then Axia USA) argued MassTech botched the rollout of the network failing to build it properly or deliver an agreed-upon customer base and the parties have been in litigation for years.KCST USA's March 22 bankruptcy filing lists $9 million in losses and estimates annual losses of $2.8 million going forward. On March 23, the parent company, Axia of Canada, filed suit in U.S. District Court asking a judge to declare that the state's alleged failures constitute breach of contract and entitle it to walk away from the operation.Friday, Mr. Kaler argued strenuously against such an idea, noting that Axia in 2010 signed a document guaranteeing it would continue to operate the network even if the subsidiary went into bankruptcy.Mr. Voke, the Axia attorney, dismissed that possibility, however, arguing that federal rules prohibit anyone other than the entity licensed with the FCC from operating the network.After more than an hour of arguments, Judge Hillman took under advisement a request from the state for a temporary restraining order prohibiting Axia from walking away from the network in the short term.Mr. Voke said Axia intends to support the network through bankruptcy, but Mr. Kaler said the state couldn't afford to take any chances. He noted that Axia did not forewarn the state of its bankruptcy filing, press reports of which, he said, are shaking the confidence of both the public and wholesale customers."The media hasn't picked up on this (federal) case yet," Mr. Kaler told the court Friday. "But at one point Axia NetMedia was saying, 'Well, we hope it does.'"Why would you say that?" Mr. Kaler continued. "It's not necessary."Frosty relations between the sides were clear Friday, with Mr. Voke soundly rejecting Mr. Kaler's intimations about Axia not dealing in good faith."There hasn't been any good faith on the part of (MassTech) at all," Mr. Voke said, alleging an executive who flew in from Canada "at least three times" to negotiate was instead threatened with lawsuits.Mr. Voke, whose client is seeking compensation for its losses, told Judge Hillman that Axia would be open to mediation.The state as provided for in the contract had been preparing to go to arbitration over the matter prior to KCST's bankruptcy filing.In court documents, the state noted a Superior Court judge denied a prior similar bid to get out of the contract by KCST (then Axia USA).Mr. Kaler told the judge Friday that just about all Mr. Voke's arguments were not correct, and that the state's legal case will ultimately prevail. He said the Canadian company is trying to make any argument it can to avoid accepting liability, and added that the state months ago expressed concern to the FCC that Axia would do "precisely what they have now done."Mr. Kaler referred comment on the case Friday to Paul McMorrow, director of policy and communications for the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development.Asked about Mr. Kaler's professed skepticism about a future operator taking over the project, Mr. McMorrow noted the state doesn't have the luxury of optimism."We have to assume the worst," he said, adding the state is working on multiple contingency plans. A request for proposals from other vendors is already live, he said, and is due May 1.The bottom line, Mr. McMorrow said, is that the state is committed to ensuring the continued operation of the network."We're going to do what we have to do to make it work," he said. Asked whether that could include state management of the operation, he said "all options" were being evaluated."It is our belief that the bankruptcy filing is not in any way an indication that this network is not viable," Mr. McMorrow said. "We are committed to ensuring uninterrupted access in the short term to the anchor institutions connected to the network and to ensuring the long-term viability of the network."Mr. McMorrow noted quarterly reports Axia provided to MassTech show a rise in revenues in 2016, particularly for the past two quarters."If that trend held for all four quarters of 2017, they'd have $3.2 million in revenue, a 66 percent increase over their 2015 total," he said.Mr. Voke declined to comment Friday after court proceedings.Mr. Kaler argued Friday that a judge needs to grant his motion to ensure there is no disruption in service for the hundreds of municipal customers that rely on it.MassTech has already received a $225,000 demand from Verizon, he said, and similar notices are likely to follow. The fear, Mr. Kaler said, is that companies who provide services to or through the network may shut them down if they are not paid."God help us if something (bad) happens here," he said, noting the state runs local access to 911 services and law enforcement databases through the network.
(TNS) -- The Minnesota Senate on March 30 resuscitated the states effort to change its drivers licenses so the federal government will accept them at security checkpoints next year. After rejecting the changes to comply with Real ID standards earlier this month , Republicans in the Senate revived the measure by taking out parts of the bill that Democrats opposed. Although Republicans control the Senate, they hold the majority by only one vote. Three weeks ago, five Republicans joined all Democrats in opposing the Real ID measure.To win some of those Democratic votes Thursday, the Senate removed the language that many DFLers felt would have moved the state further away from ever being able to issue drivers licenses to undocumented immigrants.Without that language, the bill passed the Senate on a 60-7 vote.But while the changes brought along enough Democrats to help the bill pass, they did not bring unity among all Republicans.Sen. Warren Limmer, long an opponent of Real ID, said the federal governments requirements on licenses is its attempt to club the state into submission, which he says is a risky proposition.When it comes to data privacy I dont trust the government and I dont trust corporations, the Maple Grove Republican said. He voted no.But relief for those worried about using their drivers licenses at airport checkpoints next year is still not assured.When the Minnesota House passed its Real ID measure in February , it included very strict language that would affirmatively bar undocumented immigrants from getting legal drivers licenses.For any Real ID bill to reach Gov. Mark Dayton, the House and Senate will have to agree on a plan that can win a majority of votes in the Legislature. What can pass the Senate may fumble among House Republicans and what could win approval in the House could stumble in the Senate.That issue, however, is a problem for another day.The federal government said that next year it will stop accepting drivers licenses from states that have not agreed to the extra rules and security checks required by the 2005 Real ID law If Minnesota does nothing, people may need to bring extra identification, like a passport, to get through federal security checkpoints at airports, military bases and other federal facilities in 2018.Dayton, a Democrat, has said he would sign a Real ID bill if the Legislature passes one.
Hopes are high that Shanghai will host a more spectacular grand prix this weekend.
F1's new era - characterised by faster cars and better tyres - kicked off in Australia last month, but some were concerned that almost no overtaking took place.
"Melbourne has always been a track where overtaking is difficult. It's only slightly better than Monte Carlo," F1 legend Niki Lauda told Auto Motor und Sport.
While that is not untrue, in 2016 there were 37 passes during the Australian grand prix, compared to a worrying tally of just 5 in 2017.
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen said in the Dutch press: "In Australia, overtaking is difficult. But in China it should work out much better with the long straights."
Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas agrees: "The wider cars make a larger hole in the air.
"So if the straight is long enough, it should be easier for us to get close before the braking point."
So for now, race director Charlie Whiting says the FIA won't make any knee-jerk rule changes on the basis of just a single grand prix.
"We have just one race behind us," he said.
"Melbourne is always problematic for overtaking, and it wasn't possible to extend the DRS zones there anyway.
"But Shanghai and Bahrain are circuits where the straights are longer, so if there are problems there too, we can think about extending the zones," Whiting added.
(GMM)
Pascal Wehrlein will return to the cockpit of his Sauber this Friday in Shanghai.
That is the claim of the Italian media, after the German apparently voluntarily withdrew from the Melbourne season opener citing a lack of fitness following his winter back injury.
Wehrlein, backed by Mercedes, was replaced for qualifying and the race by Ferrari reserve driver Antonio Giovinazzi, who went on to impress.
But the young Italian said he would be back on duty for Ferrari in China.
"I will be in China dressed in red," said Giovinazzi. "Then we'll see."
However, it emerged subsequently that Giovinazzi will in fact remain on standby for Ferrari-powered Sauber as well.
Ferrari had intended to use the 2016 GP2 runner-up during the 'young driver' tests after Bahrain, but if he races again he will be ineligible.
La Gazzetta dello Sport said last week that Ferrari has agreed to release Giovinazzi to Sauber for the China-Bahrain double header if necessary.
But it appears Sauber's plan is to put Wehrlein back in the car, at least initially in China.
La Gazzetta dello Sport, as well as other Italian sources, report that the 22-year-old will definitely be back in the Swiss team's blue and gold car on Friday morning.
"The session will be to understand if Wehrlein is able to do the grand prix on Sunday or whether it will once again be Giovinazzi," the newspaper report said.
(GMM)
Max Verstappen has backed F1's move to simpler engine technology for 2021 and beyond.
Last Friday, the manufacturers already on the grid met with the FIA in Paris to discuss a new engine formula for the sport beyond 2020.
But the FIA confirmed that "manufacturers and independent suppliers not currently involved in F1" also took part in the meeting.
We have already reported that one interested observer was Lamborghini chief Stefano Domenicali, representing the Volkswagen brands.
But La Gazzetta dello Sport said Harald Wester, representing Alfa Romeo, was also present.
Alfa is owned by Fiat Chrysler, whose chief Sergio Marchionne also runs Ferrari.
"First, we need to be involved in Formula E because electrification via hybridisation is going to be part of our future," he told the FIA magazine Auto.
"The second is to see Alfa Romeo back racing in F1 again someday, because I believe very strongly it's a place the brand should be."
And La Repubblica newspaper reports that Wolfgang Hatz, Porsche's former research and development chief, was also at the Paris meeting.
FIA president Jean Todt said he was "pleased" with the outcome, with parties agreeing that F1's 2021 engines should be simpler, less expensive, louder and more durable.
It would have been music to Red Bull driver Max Verstappen's ears, as he has criticised the sport's current 'power units', according to De Telegraaf newspaper.
"The engines are so complicated that other manufacturers don't dare to come in," he said.
"Look how hard Honda is having it -- a brand that was so dominant in the 80s and 90s," Verstappen added.
"I understand that we cannot escape hybrid technology and so on, but it must always be possible for manufacturers to come in, for less money as well. It would benefit not only formula one but the entire auto industry."
(GMM)
Max Verstappen's father was taken into police custody following a nightclub brawl, reports in the Dutch media claim.
De Limburger newspaper said former F1 driver Jos Verstappen suffered facial injuries in the fight, with club staff in Roermond ordering those fighting to leave.
"A man with significant injuries refused," the Dutch broadcaster 1Limburg quoted a police spokesman as saying.
Algemeen Dagblad, another Dutch newspaper, quoted Verstappen's lawyer as saying the 45-year-old was the one who was attacked.
"He was waiting to be picked up. If you are a victim, why do you have to leave?" the lawyer said, referring to Verstappen's arrest.
De Limburger said Verstappen, who last year was involved in an altercation with his own father, said police confirmed he suffered a black eye and facial wound.
A police spokesman was quoted as saying it was expected the former Benetton and Minardi driver would spend the night in jail.
(GMM)
Florida awaits Yuvika Jewelry Exhibitions
While warm weather is catching up, Florida is getting ready to provide a warm welcome to Yuvika Diamond and Gold Jewelry exhibitions.
After successful exhibitions in Colorado, California, Texas and Michigan, Yuvika is now coming to sunny Florida making stops at Tampa and Orlando.
Be a millennial style icon or a mature traditional shopper looking for quality and craftsmanship, Yuvika Jewelrys diamond and gold jewelry is getting accolades from all sections of the jewelry shoppers at each and every exhibition.
Saturday April 8th, 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM
Crown Plaza Tampa West shore
5303 West Kennedy Blvd,
Tampa, Florida - 33699.
RSVP NOW
Sunday April 9th, 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM
Embassy Suites by Hilton Orlando International Drive / Convention Center
8978 International Dr,
Orlando, Florida - 32819.
RSVP NOW
Contact:
Mahesh Babu (858)231-6239
https://www.yuvika.com
https://www.facebook.com/YuvikaUSA
Owing it to the tremendous positive feedback at each of its exhibitions, Yuvika sees a boost in online sales and number of orders for custom-made diamond jewelry.
Yuvikas management says that customer satisfaction is their top priority. They believe that informed customer is always a satisfied customer.
At Yuvika Jewelrys exhibitions, Yuvikas knowledgeable representatives encourage the guests to learn about the cut, color, clarity and carat weight of diamonds when it comes to choosing the diamond jewelry. They always take their time to answer the questions not only about the 4Cs of diamonds, but also about different types of settings, finishes and certification of Yuvikas diamond jewelry.
Yuvika Jewelry is on the whirlwind tour of USA, holding the diamond and gold jewelry exhibitions at all the major US cities. For all the diamond jewelry admirers in and around Tampa and Orlando, the opportunity is around the corner to have the Yuvika experience.
Yuvika is conceived, founded and operated by the promoters of Namaste Plaza and 8Elements.
Press note released by: Indian Clicks, LLC
The new 150,000 square foot campus will replace A123s leased space in Livonia and Romulus, Michigan. As part of adapting facilities to align with A123 Systems business in the US, the company will consolidate US manufacturing operations into a smaller site on the new campus. This will impact approximately 200 manufacturing jobs at the companys current locations in Livonia and Romulus, Michigan.
A123 Systems LLC, a developer and manufacturer of advanced lithium-ion batteries and systems, plans to spend $40 million to build a new headquarters complex in Novi, Michigan. The 32-acre company-owned site will house all corporate functions, an engineering center, new laboratory space and a manufacturing plant.
We are making a commitment to a continued significant presence in Michigan, in proximity to the skilled and experienced talent here. This new complex meets future needs by becoming our epicenter of engineering. It will allow us to grow our engineering workforce and bring testing inside, that has previously been done outside the company. In addition to our corporate staff and our engineering group, we will maintain manufacturing capability for systems assembly to meet the demands of the US marketplace as they continue to evolve. Jason Forcier, Chief Executive Officer of A123 Systems
Forcier told Crains Detroit Business that while the current Romulus plant has a production capacity of 4 million cells, it is producing fewer than 1 million annually.
The Romulus campus just isnt need[ed] anymore as there isnt any sustainable volumes in the North America market, Forcier said. The North American market just hasnt taken off (for electric vehicles) like they have in China and Europe.
The company expects that its payroll will surpass its current level by $10 million annually by the end of 2019. The primary driver of this net payroll growth will be the companys expanding engineering staff and testing capabilities with the new Michigan site.
The expanded engineering center announced today will continue to lead the development of new low voltage products for the growing global markets. Production for these products will be located in close proximity to customers, including the new Novi manufacturing facility, the recently announced facility in Ostrava, Czech Republic and the ongoing expansion at the companys Hangzhou, China campus.
The company expects to begin construction in the third quarter of 2017 and begin to move into the new Michigan complex by the end of 2018.
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Sen. Richard Burr announced last week that he voted for Donald Trump.
As if that were a revelation.
What did we expect? Burr was an adviser to the Trump campaign.
But he seemed to think saying whom he voted for demonstrated his candor, transparency and trustworthiness.
At issue is whether Burr is objective enough to lead a Senate Intelligence Committee investigation of the Trump administrations ties to Russia.
I have my doubts.
As recently as last fall, Candidate Burr was behaving as anything but a sober and serious statesman.
There was his statement that he would opposed any Supreme Court nominee from the Hillary Clinton administration (when that seemed a distinct possibility). Forever.
Burr said to supporters: If Hillary Clinton becomes president, I am going to do everything I can do to make sure four years from now we still got an opening on the Supreme Court.
Burr also made an ill-advised and tasteless joke about Clinton in late October, quipping that "nothing made me feel better" than seeing a magazine about rifles "with a picture of Hillary Clinton on the front of it."
"I was a little bit shocked at that it didn't have a bulls-eye on it," he added.
Burr, whom we had previously considered one of the adults in the room in a deeply divided Congress, also made himself conspicuously scarce during the campaign.
For the first time I can remember, his camp did not participate in an editorial board interview with the News & Record.
(We endorsed him over Democrat Elaine Marshall in 2010, but not in 2016, when we picked Democrat Deborah Ross.)
They never said no to a Q&A. They never said yes, either.
Then, earlier this year, there was Burr appearing to step in to vouch for President Trump when the reports of collusion with Russia intensified.
The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mark Warner, expressed grave concerns that Burr was compromising his objectivity.
Now Warner expresses his confidence in Burr without reservation.
We, together with the members of the committee, are going to get to the bottom of this, Warner told reporters last week, adding that he has full confidence in Burr .
If you get nothing else from today, take that statement to the bank, Warner said.
Excuse me if I dont.
Burrs moral needle seems to swing like a pendulum in a clock.
From Good Burr to Weird Burr. Without warning.
Maybe Burr feels liberated to do whats right because he has no plans to seek re-election.
Ill believe that when I see it.
GREENSBORO After a little over four years on the Guilford County governing board, Ray Trapp resigned Monday.
The reason: Trapp started a new job Monday at N.C. A&T. As director of external affairs for the university, hell have to work with local, state and federal governments on A&Ts behalf.
The Guilford County Democratic Party will now have 30 days to pick Trapps successor for the District 8 seat on the Guilford County Board of Commissioners.
In a telephone interview Monday, Trapp said he stepped down from the county board to avoid any potential conflicts of interest.
Trapp said he has admired the work of Chancellor Harold Martin and the strides A&T has made in recent years.
The job, he added, was absolutely an opportunity I couldnt pass up. When the opportunity to join that team came up, I couldnt say no.
Trapp, 38, worked most recently as a residential Realtor for Allen Tate Real Estate in Greensboro.
He was elected twice in 2012 and again in November to the Board of Commissioners. A Democrat, he ran unopposed both times.
Trapp previously worked as executive director of the Piedmont Triad Apartment Association. He has served as chairman of the Greensboro Zoning Commission and was appointed to the boards of the Greensboro Convention and Visitors Bureau, as well as local commissions that deal with minimum housing standards, affordable housing and welfare reform.
A U.S. Navy veteran, Trapp got an associates degree from Anne Arundel Community College in Maryland and a bachelors degree in business management from American Intercontinental University in Atlanta.
Jeff Phillips, chairman of the Guilford County board, said in a statement that it has been a pleasure to work with Trapp since 2012.
Ray has represented his district well during his time on our board and his contribution to Guilford County is deeply appreciated, Phillips said.
Updated at 2:49 p.m.
GREENSBORO A federal judge ruled today that the 2015 City Council redistricting law passed by the General Assembly is unconstitutional.
U.S. District Court Judge Catherine Eagles said the plaintiffs, which includes the city and six residents, had a "preponderance of evidence" that the law violates the Equal Protection Clause.
"The United States Constitution does not allow an electoral system which makes one persons vote more powerful than anothers," Eagle wrote in her opinion. "Nor does the Constitution allow a system which gives governance and electoral rights to one group of citizens while prohibiting another group of citizens from exercising those same rights, with no legitimate governmental purpose."
Eagle ruled that the appropriate remedy is to preserve the city's pre-existing election system.
More details to come.
GREENSBORO The plaintiffs in the City Council redistricting lawsuit were awarded a partial summary judgment today in court.
In her opinion, U.S. District Court Judge Catherine Eagles said the plaintiffs had produced two pieces of undisputed evidence that the law passed by the General Assembly in July 2015 violated the equal protection clauses of the U.S. and the N.C. constitutions.
The law, she wrote in her opinion "intentionally treats Greensboro voters differently from all other municipal citizens in the state and from the citizens of Trinity and Albemarle."
Eagles went on to write that the law "is not directed or rationally related to any identifiable legitimate governmental purpose."
The court is expected to address the remedy for this violation, as well as, resolve other claims by the plaintiffs soon.
The city and six residents filed the federal lawsuit in July 2015 right after the legislature passed the controversial bill.
Under the law, the city became the only municipality in the state that could not determine or alter its own form of government. North Carolina general statutes give municipalities and their residents the right to control the structure of their municipal government through a referendum or an initiative.
More details to come.
WINSTON-SALEM With two sick, crying toddlers in the back seat, Amber Harris was frazzled.
Off her routine, she hadnt noticed her fuel gauge sliding to empty until her engine sputtered to a stop in a congested turning lane on Stratford Road last week.
Cars honking, kids crying, Harris sent up a silent prayer, hoping the day would turn around as she fruitlessly dialed family members to no avail.
Moments later, her knight in shining armor appeared amid blue flashing lights, donning a shiny badge.
The Winston-Salem police officer got out of his car and sauntered over to her window, as Harris composed her thoughts, struck by a moment of epiphany.
I have this moment, and I think I could be crazy Im not, but he doesnt know that, Harris said of the moment the officer approached her car. It gave me a greater appreciation for the fact that police officers put themselves in harms way every day.
Harris had never had much interaction with the Winston-Salem Police Department, she said, but was impressed by the officers genuine willingness to help.
Officer Scott Bracken, who has been with the police department for almost 15 years, pushed her Ford Expedition out of the busy turning lane, which feeds onto Silas Creek Parkway, while simultaneously directing traffic, she said.
Harris, of Winston-Salem, hopped into the back of his police car, struggling to secure belts for herself and her two sons Dax, 2, and Branch, 1 as she laughed at the irony of the situation.
I felt super silly, but he said, Look, youre a good mom, no sweat, well figure this out, said Harris, a youth minister in High Point. I never thought Id be riding in the back of a cop car.
Bracken took her to a gas station and filled up a can of gas for her before returning her to her vehicle and filling her gas tank while she took care of her children.
Harris was touched by the incident and shared it with her high school students at youth group that night where one of her students wants to be a police officer, she said.
I kept thinking of all the people who will disrespect him because of the uniform if he goes to a domestic violence situation or a drug bust, she said. But in that moment, that uniform meant taking care of a woman and her sick kids, and Im so grateful.
Harris, her husband Preston, and their two kids delivered a thank-you package to Bracken at the police department Friday, including a handmade card, chocolates and a police emblem from a Virginia department where her brother-in-law is an officer.
To her surprise, Bracken was waiting to make their day again, presenting her kids with toy police cars and Winston-Salem police emblems among other gifts, courtesy of the police department.
Bracken said helping Harris was just another ordinary day assisting a motorist and he did what he could to help.
Anybody in this uniform at this department would have done the same thing in the same set of circumstances, he said. Its nothing exceptional, but sometimes we forget the smaller things we do can have a greater impact.
Two-year-old Dax hugged his new toy police car, pressing the siren button and proudly wearing a police badge sticker on his shirt as he paraded around the police department among a handful of officers.
Harris said it was a good opportunity for her sons to meet some of the citys officers who they revere.
You dont get thanked enough, so thank you, Harris told the officers.
Harris said she wants Brackens three kids to know the story, not because of its grandeur but because it shows the importance of an everyday kindness.
It wasnt a profound story of a police officer embarking on life-threatening feats or an action-filled rescue, but to one busy mother, it meant the world.
It wasnt the most heroic job, but he cared about me a busy mom and that was such a gift, she said. In that day, in that moment, he was the hero I needed.
Now may be the hour when Americans can reclaim the greatness of our democratic traditions. Recent failure to repeal and replace the ACA could become the catalyst to work together in a bipartisan effort to repair the ACA to assure that Americans of all stripes and conditions have quality health care in a rehabilitated, sustainable system.
To achieve this, our representatives will require major surgery a politicalectomy to remove a malignant organ that renders our political body moribund. Elective, experimental surgery of this kind requires others to show the way. That would be we, the people.
Our divisions cannot persist. We need political peace in our realm, and it has to begin with us. So long as we harbor hatred of our political opponents as dangerous, subversive and demonic, our elected officials will reflect our beliefs. Once we demonize the other, compromise becomes treachery a deal with the devil. Time for the citizenry to undergo a politicalectamy to encourage by our example the same in our elected officials, that they find the courage to work together as colleagues to lead us out of this political morass.
Just within With Loves neighborhood, people supposedly speak 30 different languages. Photo: Chuck Wainwright
A little-known factoid about Syracuse is that it has one of Americas biggest concentrations of refugees, but also one of its poorest populations. This makes it the perfect spot for a restaurant concept like With Love a pop-up and culinary-training program that started (coincidentally) just days after the November election, and now offers immigrant chefs a residency where they can come cook their regions cuisine. The project is run by Adam Sudmann the driving force behind My Lucky Tummy, another pop-up dinner series that showcases foods eaten by the citys refugee population and its goal is to give aspiring restaurateurs a spot to launch and fine-tune their own food businesses. Somebody new gets full control of the kitchen every six months, and when their time ends, it cycles to a new chef.
The projects name is a play on the classic postcard signature line, and for each pop-up, they add the regions name. The first is With Love, Pakistan, and its chef is Sarah Robin, a woman who fled Pakistan with her husband four years ago; the two have made a living bagging groceries ever since. These are people who have been dealt a lot of blows, Sudmann explains to Saveur. Who might have been out of work for a while or might not have jobs that are as respected as what they had back in their native countries. The magazine adds that on the first night of Robins residency, the line stretched out the door, and that in addition to offering Syracuses only Pakistani cuisine right now, she might actually be churning out some of the most exciting food in the city.
The community colleges involvement also allows organizers to run a second track, in conjunction with business training, that trains line cooks and servers and teaches English, if need be. Its a little early to know the success for sure, but as Saveur notes, the hope is that Syracuse will, in effect, gain two new restaurants every time a chef departs the next iteration at With Love, plus a new, permanent spot the outgoing chef opens up on their own.
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Update (August 18): We finally managed to get our hands on the globally available Nokia 6 model. The review is now up and here's a quick spoiler - the camera doesn't disappoint.
Introduction
Nokia, rebooted. The Finnish brand that was once synonymous with mobile phones had gone missing since Microsoft acquired the company's smartphone business in 2014. Lumias were rolling off production lines with Microsoft stamped on them instead of Nokia, and the acquisition terms mandated a two-year moratorium on the use of the brand on smartphones.
Fast-forward to the spring of 2016 when Microsoft parted with Nokia completely, selling the feature phone part of the business to a Foxconn subsidiary and the Nokia brand to the Finnish company HMD Global Oy. Established specifically for this purpose, HMD is based in Finland (pretty much across the street from the actual Nokia headquarters) and is made up of long-time 'original Nokia' employees - it's almost as if the brief Microsoft fling never was.
One major change, though - the 'new' Nokia will be making Android phones, not Windows. Breakup aside, it's only logical to be a part of a platform that accounts for 4 out of 5 phones being sold, as opposed to one that commands only 0.3% market share.
The first child of HMD's Nokia is the Nokia 6. Announced early this year, it's been on sale in China for two months now, and a global version is also coming next quarter. So for now, we've only got the Chinese version. A few notable differences between the two include the OS (world gets Android 7.1.1, China is 7.0), RAM and storage specifics (3GB/32GB and 4GB/64GB for the global variant, only the latter in China), and Google Play Services (or, rather, the lack thereof in the Chinese-bound handset).
Update (July 13): The Chinese version has meanwhile been updated to Android 7.1.1 as well. A new software update for the Chinese variant, which includes the July security patch, also brings support for Google services.
The rest should be mostly identical - a par-for-the-course 5.5-inch FullHD IPS display, a midrange Snapdragon 430 in charge of number crunching, a 16MP primary camera without bells and whistles and an 8MP front-facing shooter for selfies. All of this is packed in an understated but premium aluminum body that's proven quite sturdy in torture tests. When the time comes, it can be yours for the quite reasonable sum of 230 (global, 3GB/32GB).
Nokia 6 key features
Body: Aluminum body, 2.5D Gorilla Glass 3 front.
Aluminum body, 2.5D Gorilla Glass 3 front. Display: 5.5" IPS LCD, 1,920x1,080px resolution, 403ppi.
5.5" IPS LCD, 1,920x1,080px resolution, 403ppi. Rear camera: 16MP, 1.0m pixel size, f/2.0 aperture, phase detection autofocus; dual-tone dual-LED flash; 1080p video recording.
16MP, 1.0m pixel size, f/2.0 aperture, phase detection autofocus; dual-tone dual-LED flash; 1080p video recording. Front camera: 8MP, 1.12m pixel size, f/2.0 aperture; 1080p video recording.
8MP, 1.12m pixel size, f/2.0 aperture; 1080p video recording. OS: Android 7.0 Nougat.
Android 7.0 Nougat. Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 430; octa-core 1.4GHz Cortex-A53 CPU, Adreno 505 GPU.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 430; octa-core 1.4GHz Cortex-A53 CPU, Adreno 505 GPU. Memory: 3GB/4GB of RAM; 32GB/64GB storage.
3GB/4GB of RAM; 32GB/64GB storage. Battery: 3,000mAh, sealed.
3,000mAh, sealed. Connectivity: Dual-SIM; Cat.4 LTE (150/50Mbps); microUSB 2.0; Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; GPS; Bluetooth 4.1; FM Radio; NFC.
Dual-SIM; Cat.4 LTE (150/50Mbps); microUSB 2.0; Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; GPS; Bluetooth 4.1; FM Radio; NFC. Misc: Fingerprint reader; hybrid microSD/second SIM slot; dual speakers; Dolby Atmos; 3.5mm jack.
Main shortcomings
Smallish battery capacity
Awkwardly placed fingerprint sensor
The Nokia 6 isn't ticking all of the boxes, but at this price point we have no right to complain. There may be a lack of ingress protection or dual cameras, but the 6 does give you stereo speakers, which many flagships don't have. The 3,000mAh battery capacity is still a bit of a red flag, but we'll see how it does in the tests.
To reiterate, the Nokia 6 we have for review is the Chinese version. It wasn't the easiest review experience for us without the official Google apps, but we worked around it when possible. If it affected the testing procedure (battery life is what comes to mind), we've pointed it out.
There's no reason for this to play a role on the phone's look and feel, and that's what the hardware overview on the next page is all about. Meet you there.
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Haiti - FLASH : Big roadmap for the Minister of Agriculture
Within the guidelines set by President Moise, translated into roadmaps, handed to each minister https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-20507-icihaiti-politics-handing-of-roadmaps-to-ministers.html , Prime Minister Lafontant asked the Minister of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development (MARNDR), Carmel Andre Beliard, to take all measures to facilitate industrialization, promote employment and boost the economic development of the country.
Roadmap of the Minister of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development (MARNDR) :
"[...] Mr. Minister, in the implementation of my Government's policy, I entrust you with the task of carrying out the necessary reforms to modernize Haitian agriculture at all levels. I ask you to take steps to develop infrastructure by controlling surface water. Specifically, it is necessary to :
- Improve water control conditions by rehabilitating existing hydro-agricultural infrastructure;
- Makes additional Hydro-agricultural development for irrigation and drainage of new land under satisfactory water control conditions;
- Set up water storage structures;
- Improve agricultural tracks in production areas;
- Ensure agricultural information;
- Install impluviums in areas where they are needed;
- Build concrete dams to replace traditional failing dams;
- Install water pumping stations for areas of high agricultural potential and located above the level of rivers;
- Regularly clean up irrigation rivers and canals;
- Strengthen basic agricultural infrastructure in rural areas;
- Investing in rural road construction
- Build and distribute bridges and agricultural roads to facilitate the transport of products in markets and areas of consumption.
The development of the fisheries and aquaculture sectors will help to recapitalize the rural world. In this perspective, you must :
- Work with the relevant agencies to provide credit in rural areas;
- Develop, together with the competent bodies, the necessary infrastructure for the production and marketing of agricultural products on local, regional, national and international markets;
- Working with the competent bodies to make the agricultural producer self-sufficient in financial terms;
- Develop food aquaculture in areas with high aquaculture potential;
- Work with the competent bodies to promote the landing of fishery products on the national territory;
- Develop inland fisheries in favorable hydro-geographical areas;
- Strengthen the technical and managerial capacities of fishermen's associations;
- Ensure the sustainable management of fisheries, aquaculture and the viability of the fishery;
- Improve and modernize the conditions for the artisanal fishery;
- Assist associations of professionals to better conserve and dispose of fisheries and aquaculture products;
- Promote industrial fishing for the national and international market.
The development of agri-food sectors is a priority objective. In this regard, the Government requests you to work with the relevant bodies to :
- Facilitate the development of agro-export zones.
- Have a guarantee fund for the high-end fruit and vegetable sector;
- Launch a program of financial and banking seminars related to the fruit and vegetable sector;
- Formalize the traceability capacities of agricultural products, especially fruits and vegetables;
- Establishing a Co-Marketing Agency for Exotic Fruits and Vegetables
- Produce a plan to repair key roads;
- Improve the efficiency of port operations and installations for perishable foods;
- Encourage companies in the fruit and vegetable sector to improve their packaging techniques to better respond to the demands of the national and world markets;
- Encourage the development of agricultural product processing SMEs and fishing;
- Encourage and assist students to invest in agricultural farms and agricultural processing enterprises;
- Help improve traditional SMEs (guilds, mills);
- Encourage SMEs specialized in animal sectors.
Mr. Minister, it is recommended that you work with the competent bodies in order to :
- Facilitate the marketing and securing of agricultural products;
- Ensure compliance with phytosanitary standards;
- Putting commercial information on the domestic and international market within the reach of producers;
- Improve and standardize products to better position themselves on the international market;
- Develop standards for the products;
- Ensure the safety of food products;
- Developing agricultural entrepreneurship.
As part of the implementation of the government's proactive policies, you must take steps to increase the capacity of export-oriented agricultural sectors and ensure the entry of foreign currency into the country. You must :
- Support efforts to modernize the fruit and vegetable sector.
- Define a reference framework for priority sectors while maintaining agricultural objectives: "feed the population and export".
- Negotiate markets and find niches for agricultural and agri-food products.
- Inform and train professionals on international food safety standards.
- Negotiate and obtain international agreements favorable to exporters of domestic agricultural and agri-food products.
The agro-business program launched under the Martelly administration should be extended to extend access to credit and support for the establishment and management of agricultural enterprises. It is necessary that :
- Reactivate all middle schools of agriculture in the country;
- Supporting agronomic research and training centers with research capacity;
- Reforming agricultural education and training and continuously adapting program content, training methods and formules to the diversity and changing needs of managers in the agricultural sector;
Promote and present a better image of the agricultural professions;
- Establish, in a public-private partnership approach, parks of equipment adapted to the subsidized tariff in support of the development of farmers' projects;
- Integrate the development of rural roads into the agricultural infrastructure development plan as a priority for the sector;
- Support interprofessional structures with a view to their progressive appropriation of activities linked to the development of agricultural sectors;
- Revise the legal and institutional framework for sectors upstream and downstream of agricultural sectors.
- Establish an independent agency for agricultural health;
- Strengthen the financing system of the agricultural sector by pooling the skills of cooperatives and credit institutions for farmers ;
- Establish an appropriate insurance system for the agricultural sector in partnership with the private sector;
- Establish a social protection policy (health insurance and pension) for farmers.
- Promote bio-factories in order to equip agricultural space with a capacity for the production of natural fertilizers and pesticides.
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, 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-20529-haiti-politics-roadmap-of-the-minister-of-finance.html
https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-20519-haiti-politics-foreign-affairs-roadmap.html
https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-20508-haiti-flash-roadmap-for-the-establishment-of-the-haitian-army.html
HL/ HaitiLibre
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...
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Alaska operator shuts production at two platforms over gas leak, discovers new oil leak
On April 1, Hilcorp Alaska said it had discovered a crude oil leak from an undersea pipeline near the Anna production platform in the Cook Inlet southwest of Tyonek. The oil leak is on the west side of the inlet and is unrelated to the company's ongoing natural gas leak on the eastern side of the basin near Nikiski.
Stock image
Oil and gas production was temporarily suspended a week earlier on both the Anna Platform and the nearby Bruce Platform because of the gas leak.
The oil leak was noticed after workers on the Anna Platform "felt an impact" and spotted an oil sheen, according to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).
"In looking over the side of the platform to see what was going on, personnel observed sheen and bubbles coming up from near one of the platform legs where the 8-inch line is located," the state agency said in a situation report issued. "Personnel confirm that the bubbles or sheen were not observed the day prior."
On an overflight, Hilcorp staff observed six sheens on the water, according to DECs report. An hour later, during another flyover, no sheens were observed.
The companys response contractor, Cook Inlet Spill Prevention and Response, Inc., sent a ship out to the Anna Platform but did not see any sheens. CISPRI is also serving as the Incident Command Post for a Unified Command in response to the spill, with representatives from Hilcorp, the US Coast Guard and DEC, according to the report.
Kristin Ryan, director of DEC's Spill Prevention and Response division, said she was not sure if the incident had been caused by ice, and did not know the extent of the leak.
The Anna Platform was originally constructed in 1965 by Amoco and has changed hands several times. Chevron was the last owner before Hilcorp took over.
Infrastructure on and supporting the platform has had regular failures. When BP forced air into a pipeline to the Anna platform in 2002, it sprung several leaks, causing crude oil to leak and create sheens as large as 200 yards wide and five miles long. Eight years later, in 2010, Chevron chose to suspend crude oil operations from the Anna platform after the US Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration refused a waiver to allow a corrosion-damaged pipeline to be used.
Hilcorp took over the platform in 2011 after Chevron pulled out of operations in Cook Inlet. The company bought up the areas ageing infrastructure as other companies withdrew and is now the Cook Inlets dominant producer.
On April 2, Alsaka Governor Bill Walker issued a statement saying the DEC was keeping him updated on the situation.
"It has been less than a week since Hilcorp agreed to temporarily shut down oil and gas production as part of its response to a leaking gas supply line," he said in the statement. "Now, Hilcorp has reported a separate leaking oil line which is significantly more harmful than natural gas. I am deeply concerned about the potential impact to the environment."
More information...
MCE Lasers and its majority shareholder Zoran Crvenkovic have been fined nearly $26,000 in the Federal Circuit Court after refusing to pay out an Iranian worker dismissed in 2015.
The dismissed employee, a service technician, was in Australia on a 485 temporary graduate visa and later a 457 skilled worker visa when he was employed by the company between May, 2013 and January, 2015.
In October 2015, the Fair Work Commission ordered the company to pay compensation and superannuation.
This was after ruling the company had unfairly dismissed the employee via email following the company re-opening after the Christmas and New Year holidays.
The Fair Work Ombudsman investigated when the worker lodged a request for assistance after the compensation was not paid. Moreover, multiple requests by the FWO to the company and Crvenkovic did not lead to any payment.
In the reasons for his judgement, Judge Joshua Wilson's said when a FWO lawyer contacted Crvenkovic about the case he told her he wasn't interested, he didn't recognise the court and "Fair Work are mafia, Nazi, communists".
Acting Fair Work Ombudsman Michael Campbell said compliance with workplace laws is not optional, it is fundamental to the integrity of the workplace relations system and society in general.
People cannot pick and choose when they want to abide by their legal obligations," Campbell said.
"All workplace participants need to understand that we will take action against those that choose to flout the law and that there will be consequences for doing so.
Aside from the breach for failing to comply with the Fair Work Commission order, the company was found to have failed to comply with a Notice to Produce documents issued by a Fair Work inspector.
Further, Crvenkovic was found to be involved in both of the companys breaches of workplace laws.
Judge Wilson noted in his decision on penalties the need for general deterrence to discourage a failure to comply with orders.
"An employer is not entitled to unilaterally determine to ignore an order made by [the Fair Work Commission]," Judge Wilson said.
The Judge accepted Crvenkovic, who he described as the companys "controlling mind", had told a FWO lawyer in June last year that he was "not responding" and "not interested" in participating in the court proceeding.
Judge Wilson noted there was no evidence of an apology by the company to the worker, who has since left Australia.
(Bloomberg) Principal Financial Group Inc. accused the managers of Liongate Capital Management LLP of hiding investments with Bernie Madoff while negotiating to sell half of their London hedge fund to Principal. Founders Randall Dillard and Jeff Holland, and Head of Research Benjamin Funk sold the stake in March 2013 without disclosing secret investments in the largest of several Madoff feeder funds, according to legal filings produced by Principal. It may be seeking as much as $66 million in damages in its London lawsuit.
To read this article:
The Research Institute of the Finnish Economys (Etla) proposal to allow higher education institutions to introduce tuition fees for students from Finland and the rest of the European Economic Area (EEA) has been met with resistance from the ranks of the Finnish Government.
Etlas proposal on tuition fees [goes] against the government programme. The National Coalition wont support it, states Sanni Grahn-Laasonen (NCP), the Minister of Education and Culture.
GOATS, rabbits and fluffy chicks will be taking over Henleys River and Rowing Museum during the Easter holidays.
With schools breaking up today (Friday), most children are due back in the classroom on Tuesday, April 18 the day after Easter Monday.
Starting from Monday (April 3), the museum in Mill Meadows will be running a host of family-friendly activities for all ages including a daily Easter egg hunt around the galleries.
These will run until Friday, April 21, so theres plenty of time to get into the Easter spirit.
Whether theyre aged two or 92, visitors are invited to follow the trail around the museum and collect their chocolate prize.
As well as the daily Easter egg hunt, the museum is holding a family fun day called Farmyard Frolics that is included free with regular admission.
A River and Rowing Museum spokesman said: On Wednesday, April 12, visitors will be able to meet the amazing animals from Mill Cottage Farm Experience.
Goats, rabbits and fluffy chicks will be frolicking outside in our Riverside Farmyard, while inside the museum families can get creative and enjoy Easter-themed arts and craft activities in the galleries.
In the run-up to the Easter weekend itself, the museum is running two workshops for children.
Legendary Longboats takes children on a quest with Norseman Noggin the Nog before they build their own Viking longboats to take home. Aimed at children aged seven to 11, the session runs from 10.30am to 12.30pm on Monday, April 10. Admission is 8.50.
For younger visitors aged four to seven years, A Bottle for Bagpuss will include both story time and craft time as children can make a ship in a bottle and a Bagpuss mascot to wear.
The session runs from 10.30am to 12.30pm on Tuesday, April 11, and admission is 8.50. Included in the museums annual admission pass details of which are given below families can also enjoy a visit to the current family-friendly exhibition, Clangers, Bagpuss & Co, which is running until Sunday, June 4.
Featuring the original Bagpuss, Clangers and Ivor the Engine created by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin of Smallfilms, this interactive exhibition offers visitors the chance to have a go at creating their
own stop-frame animation.
Other galleries at the
museum include John
Piper: A Very British
Artist, dedicated to the
work of one of Englands
most influential yet
overlooked painters and
printmakers. Piper, who
died in 1992 aged 88, spent most of his working life at his farmhouse in Fawley Bottom, where he built a pottery and a studio large enough to create full-sized designs for his spectacular stained-glass windows.
On Tuesday (April 4), Piper will feature in a lecture at the museum by retired university academic Dr Graham Twemlow entitled Art and Design in the Chilterns.
The hour-long talk, which starts at 11.30am, will see Dr Twemlow explore how artists such as Piper were inspired by the local landscape. Tickets are 5.
Museum visitors can also tour the International Rowing Gallery. Packed with historic boats and beautiful blazers, this tells the story of the sport from the time of the ancient Greeks to the modern Olympics.
Meanwhile, the Henley Gallery includes an Iron Age hoard of gold coins and the beautiful steam launch, Eva, built in 1874.
And the River Gallery takes visitors on a journey through thousands of years of life along the majestic Thames, offering the chance to discover more about the various animals, birds and bugs that live in, on and by it.
Last but not least, the Wind in the Willows 3D exhibition brings Kenneth Grahames classic 1908 childrens book vividly to life, with visitors invited to join Ratty, Toad, Mole and Badger as they picnic by the river while the wicked weasels ransack Toad Hall.
The River and Rowing Museum is open from 10am to 5pm daily. An annual pass is 11 for adults and 9 for children aged four and over. For more information, visit www.rrm.co.uk
ABOUT 15,000 was raised for charity at the Mayor of Henleys traditional end-of-year dinner.
Almost 150 people attended the black-tie event at the town hall on Saturday night hosted by Mayor and Mayoress Julian and Gabriele Brookes.
It began with a champagne reception followed by a three-course dinner, a live auction and a silent auction before a speech by BBC director-general Lord Hall, who lives in Henley, and performances by Elysium III and children from the Henley Music School.
Guests included Fawley Court owner Aida Dellal, Rick White, chairman of the Kenton Theatres trustees, and Rev Canon Martyn Griffiths, the rector of Henley, who said grace.
The proceeds will go to the Mayors three chosen charities for his year of office, Henley YMCA, the Riverside Counselling Service and the Nomad youth and community project.
Councillor Brookes said: It went extremely well, so thank you to everybody who contributed and the people who gave us prizes for the auctions and raffles and to council staff Paula-Price Davies, Leena Wisely and Helen Barnett, who helped organise it.
RECORDS were broken when scores of families took part in this years On Your Bike challenge in the sunshine on Sunday.
A total of 599 riders the largest total in the events 11-year history gathered at Sonning Common Primary School for the start of a ride of either six, 12 or 20 miles.
They ranged from small children to grandparents and were joined by more than 100 spectators.
Together, the cyclists raised a record total of more than 6,000.
Event founder Penny Snowden, who completed the 20-mile route, said: It was a stunning turnout on a beautiful spring morning.
The enthusiasm of all who took part and the fantastic crew who organised, marshalled and cooked ensured it was the best event we have ever staged.
The cyclists were set off from the Grove Road school by village GP Dr Andrew Burnett, who is retiring from Sonning Common Health Centre after more than 30 years.
He staggered the starts to prevent the roads becoming overcrowded and even called back several over-enthusiastic riders who set off too soon.
The cyclists on the shortest route rode through Kidmore End, Gallowstree Common and Peppard before returning to the school.
Those on the 12-mile route also took in Checkendon and Stoke Row while the 20-milers went as far as Nuffield and Ipsden.
Some riders rode tandems while others had a special seat on the back of their bike to carry a small child.
Many children took part on their own bikes and some completed the 20-mile route, including 11-year-old Rhys Beaumont, of Greys Road, Henley. Rhys, who has been doing the longest ride with his brother Owen, 13, since he was seven, said: You do have to pace yourself. Most of it is straight roads but there is one long. straight hill thats really hard!
Oli Warren, 14, from Sonning Common, said: Ive been taking part since I was eight and its great fun. You have to take it nice and slow the whole way round.
His father Phil added: We have had rainy days before but weve been really lucky this year.
Its really good to get everybody together. Oli is now at Chiltern Edge School so its a nice way for him to meet up with old friends.
Peter Woolsey, 76, from Binfield Heath, was persuaded to take part by Dr Burnett only the day before.
Mr Woolsey, who rode his 40-year-old classic Peugeot bike, said: Ive never done this before but when I was 10 my father had the wonderful idea of cycling from Manchester to Dorney Reach and we did it in three days.
This was a gorgeous ride and if you go cycling you are probably less likely to need a doctor!
Christopher Eames ran the six-mile route next to his daughter Chloe, six, on her bike.
He said: I ran so I could push her up the hills.
Chloe said: It was good. I wanted to beat my sister and I did.
Bronwyn Stoves, seven, who has taken part several times in a child seat or being towed, completed the six-mile ride on her own.
It wasnt that hard, she said. It was fun.
Other participants included author and Sonning Common parish councillor Tom Fort. Dave Tyldesley of Woodlands Road, Sonning Common, took part with his son-in-law John Fox and granddaughters Lara, four, and Tess, two. He had won this years On Your Bike prize draw with a prize of a new bicycle from event sponsors AW Cycles, of Caversham, although he wasnt riding that.
Vanessa Tomlin and Sarah Blundell used the event as training for when they take part in the London to Brighton Cycle in June.
They were joined on the longest route by On Your Bike debutants Jon Blundell and 13-year-olds Katie Blundell and Michael Edwards.
Dozens of smaller children took part in a fun bike ride around the school playground.
The proceeds will be split between the school, the Sue Ryder hospice in Nettlebed and the accident and emergency department at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading.
Chris Hirst, headteacher of the school, said: On Your Bike has been running for quite a few years and always raises a lot of money. The number of cyclists has been increasing year on year and its a fantastic event for former pupils, people in the community and kids who come to the school.
Even last year, when we had a touch of rain, there were lots of riders as people come along for the event, not the weather.
Its a good event for the school in terms of the money it raises but also the community, with children and adults cycling together.
On Your Bike is organised by the school and its parent-teacher association in partnership with the health centre.
It has now raised more than 40,000 for various charities since it was launched in 2007. The event is sponsored by Higgs Group, publishers of the Henley Standard, estate agents Beville, baby food manufacturer Ellas Kitchen, of Rotherfield Greys, software firm Halarose, Peppard Building Supplies and AW Cycles, Jennings butchers, One Garden supplies and Lift Creative Communication Design, all of Caversham.
Emmer Green food wholesaler Dudmans of Berkshire, VAG Autoworks, Phoenix 4x4, Reflex Chiropractic of Caversham, Sonning Common Parish Council, Sonning Common Vauxhall, Tailormade Building Solutions and Walkers are also sponsors.
Jason Delaney had been refused entry to the city centre club
A nightclubber who threatened door staff when he was refused entry for being drunk has been told to make a charity donation to avoid a criminal record.
Jason Delaney (24) was verbally abusive and told employees he would "come back" when they stopped him going into the Dublin city centre club.
The sales and marketing worker maintained he had been trying to contact his girlfriend, who was inside the club.
Judge Michael Walsh adjourned the case for payment of 250 to charity.
Delaney, with an address at Windmill Road, Crumlin, pleaded guilty to using threatening, abusive and insulting words and behaviour to cause a breach of the peace.
He also admitted a charge of public drunkenness in the same episode.
Dublin District Court heard the incident happened at Lower Rathmines Road on July 17 last year.
Garda Sergeant Niall Gillooly told Judge Walsh the defendant was outside a nightclub using "an amount of obscene language" and was highly intoxicated.
Threaten
He used threatening words to the door staff, telling them he was "going to come back".
Judge Walsh asked what the accused had said he was going to do when he came back.
"Threaten them further," Sgt Gillooly replied.
The court heard it was 2.40am, Delaney had been refused entry to the club, but his girlfriend was inside. He was trying to call her, but her phone was dead, his lawyer told the judge.
Delaney had been very drunk on the night in question and did not remember what he said to the door staff, his lawyer said in mitigation.
He worked in sales and marketing and had no previous convictions of any kind.
Delaney apologised and his lawyer asked Judge Walsh to consider leaving the accused without a conviction.
He asked the judge to take into account the defendant's guilty plea.
The judge adjourned the case for payment of 250 to charity and said he would give him a "chance" if this was done.
He remanded Delaney on continuing bail to appear in court again on April 25.
House prices in the capital are set to hit Celtic Tiger levels by 2020 as the gap between rural and urban property prices becomes more stark.
A report by property website Daft.ie revealed how prices in Dublin increased at an annual rate of 8.7pc in the year to March, up from just 1pc at the same time last year.
The average price of a three-bed, semi-detached home in the capital is now 340,000, rising to 637,000 in Dublin 4. This is compared to a national average of 230,000.
A lack of housing stock has been blamed for the increases, which could see property in Dublin reach 2006 level prices within the next three years.
Report author Ronan Lyons told the Herald the trend of an "urban premium" for property in the capital is likely to increase in the coming years.
"It's sort of like a mini London effect," said the economist.
Decline
Many young apartment owners bought during the boom years in the hopes they could trade upwards to a house when the time was right to start a family.
Apartment prices have also been rising, having suffered a sharper decline during the crash.
For example, the average price of a one-bedroom apartment in south Dublin increased by 0.2pc to 254,000 in the period.
In the Dublin 1 area there was a 21.6pc increase, to 198,000 for a one-bedroom apartment.
However, Mr Lyons said it was unlikely people who bought at the height of the boom would see a full return to the price they paid for an apartment.
"I wouldn't be expecting them to get back to that price any time soon," he said.
However, he said the relative fall in value was not itself a major issue.
"What's important for the negative equity generation is what they owe."
He pointed out the longer payments are made on a mortgage, the greater percentage of the principal a borrower is paying back.
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NEWTON It is budget season in Catawba County for local governments, from municipalities like the City of Hickory and the City of Newton, to Catawba County itself.
A fiscal year, unlike a calendar year is used for accounting purposes and often does not have the start and end dates of Jan. 1 to Dec. 31.
For Catawba County, Fiscal Year 2018 begins July 1 and runs through June 30.
County Manager Mick Berry explained the amount of work that goes into constructing a budget for the ever-changing nature of government from fluctuations of fuel prices to an unforeseen repair to infrastructure.
You finish a budget in June and you almost start on the new budget in August and September; you start seeing how your budget projects are comparing to actual, especially in terms of revenue, Berry said.
While Catawba County is only one county in the state, the North Carolina legislature directly affects the budgeting process.
One of the biggest parts for us is, (asking) what the state is going to do. There are a number of bills in the senate that if passed, they could impact us, Berry said.
For example, since the county provides a significant amount of funding for the schools, budgets can change depending on what state legislatures decide to give or take away from schools, Berry said.
The county as well as municipalities must comply with state requirements to present a balanced budget each year a balanced budget is one where revenues are equal to expenditures, he said.
The Catawba County Board of Commissioners is the governing body responsible for the final approval of the budget with municipalities, responsibility lies with city councils.
Taxpayers in Catawba County have the right to address the board of commissioners with any questions or concerns when the board holds public hearings regarding the budget approval.
In Catawba County, the tax rate does not change with every new budget presentation, rather, the county keeps its property tax rates the same for four years.
The property tax rate is $0.575 for every $100 of valuation, making it one of the lowest tax rates in the surrounding areas.
Berry contributes the countys ability to keep taxes low, and provide new infrastructure, like the new justice center, to how well the county plans for the future.
I think it speaks to the whole culture in Catawba County planning and having continuity. There is continuity in the leadership and in the philosophy (of the county), Berry said.
Once the county managers office presents the board of commissioners with a recommended balanced budget, per state statutes, the commissioners will meet with schools and others who receive funding to discuss the proposed budget.
Members of the public are invited to attend the budget hearings and planning sessions, and information of when and where budget hearings will take place can be found at local government centers or online.
BURKE COUNTY More than 250 people participated in the 37th annual Groundhog shooting match held in Burke County on Saturday.
It started 37 years ago, and at our first shoot, we had about eight people, Coordinator Larry Willis said. Its grown every year since then, and now weve got 225-250 people each year.
The idea for the match came from Willis and his shooting group traveling to different states eradicating groundhogs.
We would go up to Virginia and Tennessee and shoot real groundhogs, Willis said. Its a critter that those people wanted rid of.
Groundhogs burrow underground, creating large tunnels that can be damaging to crops and dangerous for cattle, horses and even humans.
From that, we decided we would have a shooting match with a target that had a groundhog on it, Willis said.
Designing the target himself, Willis says there is no other target quite like his.
People have copied my target over the years, Willis said. Youll find similar targets all over the place, but I've had people call me wanting to buy my targets.
To challenge participants even more, Willis came up with another shooting competition that takes place immediately after the Groundhog Shoot.
We also have an egg shoot, where an egg is glued to a string in a box that people shoot at, at 500 yards, Willis said.
Even though a large number of people attend the match for the Groundhog Shoot, more people take a shot at the egg.
It costs $2 to shoot the egg, Willis said. Usually six to 12 people will hit the egg, and theyll win a little money, but thats not what they are interested in.
Over the years, Willis has seen participants from 11 different states, including Alaska and Hawaii.
People from Connecticut, Missouri and Pennsylvania from up and down the east coast have been at the match, Willis said.
Now, they have groundhog matches in Connecticut and Pennsylvania and Virginia, just like ours. People came and shot in ours, and they just took it back to their gun clubs.
Always held on the first Saturday of April, regular participants mark their calendars in advance.
That is a set date that everyone knows and people wont even call any more to make sure thats when itll be, because they know, Willis said. Theyll just come and show up.
Willis and others chose April due to the history of the time of year seeing good weather conditions.
Here for the past few years, though, weve had some rain and wind, but it doesnt stop anyone from coming, Willis said. If it did rain, people would probably still want to shoot.
Since its inception, the shooting match has evolved and seen multiple advancements in equipment.
The first year was just an open field, Willis said. Then we added tents to shoot out of and that evolved into a cement floor with a tin roof over it.
To be inclusive for those who desire to participate, Willis has a handicapped shooting bench, too.
The shooting bench is for those who still want to shoot, but for whatever reason cant get on the ground to shoot like everyone else, Willis said. We want to include as many people as we can.
Keeping safety in mind, Willis always makes an announcement at the beginning of the match to keep bolts removed from guns until the shooters are on the line and he gives them the go ahead.
Weve never had an accident with a gun going off, knock on wood, Willis said. I always try to stress safety and responsible handling of guns.
Those who help Willis plan the shooting match are family members and friends.
The people that help me are getting older, Willis said. I mean, if they started when they were 20 years old now they are 57.
As a retiree, Willis plans to hand the Groundhog shoot over to the people he sold his sporting goods store to.
I sold my business, and they are going to keep the shoot going, Willis said, Nothing is set in stone right now, though.
The participants who return year after year have grown more competitive over the years.
Some of the shooters we have here are some of the best marksmen that we have on the whole east coast, Willis said. This group of people that comes here, even the local ones, are all excellent shooters.
If we didnt give away prizes, most of them would probably still come just to say they won the groundhog match. Its gotten very competitive.
Attending the match since 1997, Terry Brady expresses how much he and his son enjoys shooting in the match.
I love it, and I love being here, Brady said. Ive won the match before, and my son, Chris Brady, has won three times.
In the past, Brady has won Nightforce scopes, gun stocks and various other items that are donated by gunsmiths and manufacturers.
We look forward to it every year, Brady said. There are about 250 people here today, and thats the most Ive seen in a long time.
Another participant, Shelley Gudger from Boiling Springs, S.C., has only participated twice but enjoys every minute of it.
This is my second year, and I came with my dad, Gudger said. We started shooting three years ago together.
We have a blast; we came out last year and were blown away at how organized this match is. It was very impressive, and we had so fun much, we just had to come back.
To learn more about the Groundhog Shoot and other local shooting competitions, call Bullseye Sporting Goods at 704-462-1948.
For more than 20 years, a native of McDowell County has heard cases in the states second highest court, which is celebrating its 50th year in 2017.
Chief Judge Linda McGee, 67, formerly of Marion, serves on the N.C. Court of Appeals. She has been on the court for 22 years, and is only the second woman to have served as chief. Before that, she practiced law in Boone for 17 years after earning her degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
McGee was a resident of Hickory from 1984 through 2004, when her husband, Gary McGee, served as Hickory city manager. Their two sons, Scott and Jeffrey, are both graduates of Hickory High School.
But no matter how far she has come, she is still a proud product of her small-town upbringing in McDowell County, where much of her passion for the law began. She grew up in the mill villages of East Marion. Her mother retired after 50 years at the American Thread Company.
I grew up in East Marion on Rutherford Road and graduated from Marion High School in 1967, McGee said in a recent phone interview. My mother, Jean Mace, still lives in Marion and I come back every three weeks to visit her.
Growing up in Marion and during summers at college, McGee worked for The McDowell News first as a type setter, then a reporter and editor.
I enjoyed newspaper work. It was a great way to get to know people and find out more information, she said.
She also gives credit to her mentor, the late E.P. Dameron, an attorney from McDowell County.
Ive had great opportunities. He helped me get a scholarship to go to school, and he was one of the people who interviewed me. I admired his service and involvement, and they way he treated people, McGee said. I appreciated that kind of mentorship. You wanted to do well because you knew lawyers were respected, not only with clients, but with the community. That has always been important.
Another importance in her life is growing a strong community of professional women. She is one of the co-founders of the N.C. Association of Women Attorneys. She has received numerous accolades and awards, and served on boards supporting women across the state.
One of the things that we talked a good deal about was that we needed more women on the bench. A good friend of mine in the state senate told me about a vacancy on the Court of Appeals and she asked me about it, McGee said. It was difficult to say no. She went to Gov. Jim Hunt at the time and encouraged him to consider my appointment. I felt it was an opportunity I wanted to take.
McGees husband and two sons were supportive, and in 1995, she was appointed by Hunt, then elected to an eight-year term in 1996, and re-elected in 2004. In 2014, she was named chief judge.
When I first came to the court, there were only 12 judges. Today, there are 15. I was the only woman on the court. Then about eight years ago or so, we had a majority of women on the court which is a pretty dramatic change, she said. It switches back and forth any given election cycle.
How have cases changed during her time on the bench?
For a long time, 60 percent of our work has been dealing with appeals in criminal cases, she said. That has not changed a whole lot, but we have a lot more cases that involve abuses and neglected children. Those are difficult things to deal with. There is a strong emphasis to resolve them quickly so the lives of the children can be as normal as possible.
As an appeals judge, she said, it is easier to keep emotions out of a case because, for one, the judges dont see the victims or the defendants, and secondly, both sides are usually well represented and well researched.
There is never a dull day in our court. There is always something new and challenging for us to deal with so you dont get set in your ways, she said. Sometimes you have really clear choices, and other times you have areas of law that have not been well developed yet.
You certainly have your personal feelings about some circumstances, but our role is to decide if the person received a fair trial, and if the actions taken were appropriate. You focus on issues, more than circumstances.
As far as what kind of judge McGee thinks she is, she said she is open minded, fair, thoroughly researched and hopefully a clear writer. She said her journalism background helps with that.
I like to think when a lawyer back in my hometown pulls out of one of my opinions that they can read it and share it quickly, and know just where things stand, McGee said.
The hardest part about the job, she said, could be focusing on whats most important in their role as judges.
A number of us have other important roles, but we always have to be aware that the cases brought before us need to be promptly and fairly decided and in a fair and efficient manner, McGee said.
What does she see as the challenges the state and its people face today?
We are a growing state with more challenges and potential changes because of different types of industries, she said. My parents worked in the mills in Marion, and that was as way of life we all understood. I benefited from growing up in East Marion, and we all had similar backgrounds. Now we all have different backgrounds and we have to educate ourselves more. Thats something all us need to do, particularly judges.
McGee commutes to Raleigh and other places where courts are held from her home at the Outer Banks, where she lives with her husband and their dogs. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family and their 21-month-old grandson.
HICKORY The Catawba County Adult Community Collaborative and Child Welfare Collaborative presented a discussion at Catawba Valley Community College on Friday about child trafficking.
Sex trafficking is a very real reality for our society, Cindy Hathcock, executive director of My Safe Haven, said. Every 26 seconds, a child is sold into slavery, whether that is for labor or sex.
My Safe Haven is an organization that provides specialized training and resources to combat human trafficking.
The most common age for a child to be trafficked is 11 years old, but there have been cases where some children as young as 2 years old (have) been a victim of child trafficking, Hathcock said.
Human trafficking is one of the fastest growing crimes in the U.S., according to the North Carolina Administration website.
Victims can be sold anywhere between five to 45 times per day. Hathcock presented information about the different types of trafficking.
There are various types of trafficking, but the most common are sex and labor trafficking, Hathcock said. You can help these victims by paying more attention and knowing the signs to look for.
During the presentation, Hathcock called for the need of local communities to help the children who fall victim to trafficking and the best way to help is to look for the signs.
There are numerous red flags, like living conditions, Hathcock said. If they have a pimp or manager, if they are free to come and go as they please, and is either unpaid or paid very little for labor are just a few.
Also on the list was poor mental health or abnormal behavior, poor physical health and lack of control.
Just talking to these children who are under the age of 18, if you have a gut feeling that something isnt right, you need to call resources, Hathcock said.
Some of the resources are local law enforcement, human trafficking hotlines and social services.
A lot of people think that something like this cannot happen where they live, but it can and it does, Hathcock said. A lot of people have turned their heads to it; they have a blind eye for these victims.
Hathcock said North Carolina is the eighth most likely state in the U.S. where human trafficking takes place.
We see more cases in the Charlotte area, but due to the interstates it is easy to traffic victims without anyone ever knowing it, Hathcock said.
Hathcock said truck stops are on the list for a high volume of activity for human trafficking but that truck stops have drastically improved.
There was a case where a trucker was at one of these truck stops and noticed multiple men going in and out of an RV, Hathcock said. He knew something was not right and ended up calling law enforcement.
It turns out that there was a girl in the RV that a couple had picked up as a hitchhiker at some point and were selling her at truck stops.
Citing many cases in her presentation, Hathcock explained the importance to call one of the resources if there was any chance of human trafficking taking place.
There are thousands of children in the U.S., especially in N.C., that need rescuing and advocated for, Hathcock said. These children are the lost cause, we need a society that will stand up and proactively help these situations.
Once the presentation came to a close, Hathcock opened the floor to any questions or comments the audience had.
Many members of the audience asked about Hathcocks availability to present her information to various organizations in the community, including school systems.
Presenting this kind of information in a school system is tricky, Hathcock said. We will have to change the way we present the information if we are going to have a younger audience, but I wont say that it isnt a possibility.
As a survivor myself, I can understand the devastation that the victims and their family members are faced with. I see it as a robbery robbing young lives of their true value, purpose and beauty.
To learn more about the My Safe Haven organization and child trafficking, visit www.mysafehaven.org/.
To report a possible human trafficking situation, call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.
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Close to 80 years ago, Picasso painted Guernica in a Paris attic, a haunting work of art that has become a universal howl against the ravages of war, from 1937 Spain to 2017 Syria.
The canvas mixes stark images of agonising humans and animals to depict the horror of the bombing of the small Basque town of Guernica on April 26, 1937 during Spains civil war.
Luis Ortiz Alfau, a 100-year-old Spaniard, was there that day to pick up the dead and the injured, he told AFP.
Around 4:00 pm, three planes started arriving every 15 minutes, they were German and Italian planes, said the former soldier on the Republican side.
They dropped explosive bombs, then incendiary bombs, and the town started to burn.
War in Syria
To mark the 80th anniversary of one of the most famous paintings in the world, studied by generations of schoolchildren, Madrids Reina Sofia Museum, where it now hangs, will hold a major exhibition from April 4.
Guernicas importance in the collective unconscious is such that I define it as a spiritual work of art, with a constant vocation of promoting peace, Bernard Ruiz-Picasso, the Spanish artists grandson, told AFP.
Rosario Peiro, head of collections at the museum, said Syrians had used images of the painting in their protests. They were trying to say: enough with this war in Syria.
At the United Nations last year, French Ambassador Francois Delattre compared the destruction in the Syrian city of Aleppo to Guernica.
Aleppo is to Syria what Guernica was to the Spanish war, a human tragedy, a black hole destroying all we believe in, he said.
Screaming out
The interior of the Musee Picasso in Paris. Dedicated to the works of the Spanish artist, this art gallery is located in Hotel Sale of the French capital. (Shutterstock)
The Spanish Civil War kicked off nine months before the attack on Guernica when army generals staged a coup against a fledgling left-wing republic.
Led by General Francisco Franco, the nationalist camp had the support of Nazi Germany and fascist Italy.
The attack, which is estimated to have left 150 to 300 dead, was the Nazis first attempt at terror bombing civilians a tactic they would go on to use in World War II.
Two days later, Pablo Picasso, who had lived in France since 1904, saw the first photo reports of the tragedy. On May 1, he started his own Guernica.
On a large canvas more than seven metres (23 feet) wide, he painted deformed figures of women and children writhing in a burning city.
A broken sword in hand, a dismembered fighter lies with wide open eyes, an impassive bull, a wounded dove and an agonising horse nearby.
It seems the faces are screaming out, said Takahiro Yoshino, a 20-year-old Japanese tourist contemplating the painting for the first time in the Reina Sofia, which saw 3.6 million visitors last year.
Nearby, Sonia Seco Cacaso had taken her kindergarten class to see Guernica.
When there is a problem, you have to resolve it and not through war, she told them.
All we love will die
Museum Picasso in Barcelona, Spain. (Shutterstock)
Black, white and grey, the oil painting was Picassos response to a commission by Spains embattled republic for the upcoming World Exhibition in Paris.
When it opened on May 25, 1937, Hitlers Germany and Stalins Soviet Union competed with gigantic pavilions.
Inside Spains more modest pavilion, Guernica loomed large and was greeted with mixed reviews.
In his memoirs, Jorge Semprun, a Spanish writer who later served as culture minister, remembered that British art critic Anthony Blunt disapproved.
Picasso belongs to the past, he was quoted as having said.
French poet Michel Leiris, though, wrote that the painting was Picassos letter of mourning: all we love will die, just as World War II loomed, as did the defeat of the Republicans in Spains civil war.
Life of exile
In 1939, Franco took power for a 36-year-long dictatorship. Years later, he maintained that the poor marxists set fire to Guernica.
The canvas itself started a life of exile, said Peiro.
From 1937, it was exhibited in Europe and the US to raise money for Spanish refugees.
Then in 1939, Picasso entrusted his masterpiece to New Yorks Museum of Modern Art, where it stayed more than 40 years.
The painter gave the museum clear instructions the canvas belonged to the Spanish people and would only be given back when they have recovered the freedoms that were taken away from them.
Finally in 1981, the painting arrived in Spain, which was transitioning to democracy after the death of Franco.
It was first put up for show in an annex of the Prado Museum, behind explosion- and bullet-proof glass to protect it from possible harm in a country still struggling to deal with its very recent, dark past, wrote Semprun.
Now at the Reina Sofia, it has become the star attraction.
For Jose Lebrero, the artistic director of the Picasso Museum in his native southern city of Malaga, its one of the last major historical paintings in the line of Courbet or Delacroix that allows us to remember a very difficult historical event.
It is a canvas that is particularly poignant in the strange and worrying political situation we are going through, he added.
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Bhopal Principal secretary Revenue IAS officer Arun Pandeys unprecedented stand to take on the Election Commission while refusing to transfer 5 revenue officials has its genesis in two past incidents too. Pandey who held divisional commissioner post in Ujjain had been shifted twice from the post ahead of 2013 assembly elections and again ahead of 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
The 5 revenue officials including 2 tehsildars and 3 naib tehsildars are among 19 government servants besides collector and SP, Bhind who were supposed to be shifted from Bhind in compliance with the commissions order in the wake of an EVM controversy.
However, Pandey put his foot down and instead of transferring his subordinates he chose to conduct an inquiry to know if the five officers had indulged in any dereliction of duty. On inquiry, as Pandey said, he was satisfied that there was no reason to shift them, hence he wrote a 10-page letter to the EC stating the reasons behind his stand. The commission is reportedly yet to respond to Pandeys letter.
Pandey who happens to be MPs industries minister Rajendra Shuklas brother-in-law was shifted from Ujjain in the first week of November in 2013 from the post of Ujjain divisional commission on an EC order as Shukla was contesting assembly election from Rewa seat. The distance between Ujjain and Rewa is about 700 kilometers.
The IAS officer got his position back barely 40 days after he had been shunted after the assembly election was over. However, he was shifted again after notification of Lok Sabha polls in 2014 on the same ground. Though Shukla didnt contest LS polls, he was campaigning for the BJP.
Talking to the Hindustan Times Pandey said, I have been an election observer in several states at least 11 times on behalf of the Election Commission. When I am an observer appointed by the commission it has complete faith in me but when I hold an administrative charge I am shifted merely on the ground by the commission that I am a relation of a politician. It happened twice with me. I dont think being a relation of a politician is a crime.
He said such transfers put a question mark against the efficiency and integrity of officers. They faced questions from their children, other family members and also society as to why they had been removed. Nobody defended me when I was shifted twice but at least I can defend my staff against whom neither any complaint was lodged nor did they face any inquiry, he added.
There is no harm if an inquiry is conducted- be it for a few days or even few hours- and then the officer is removed on the basis of the inquiry findings but shifting any officer even without telling him as to what his fault is goes against the principles of natural justice. For, even a murderer is given an opportunity to defend himself, he added.
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Bhopal A family has been ostracised in a village of Shivpuri district for allegedly killing a calf.
Panchayat of Sirsaud village penalised the family of Dashrath Sahu, which is a BPL card holder, to bear expenses on a Kanya bhoj, a Bhagwat katha and marriage of someones daughter in the village.
This happened in the village which was adopted by union rural development minister Narendra Singh Tomar about a couple of years back to convert it into an Adarsh gram.
Dashrath Sahu, 38, was disturbed with a calf, who was destroying his crops. Ratanlal Sahu, a father of Dashrath caught the calf and fastened him with a tree. After 15 days, the calf died. When villagers came to know about it, they decided to boycott the family of Sahu.
A panchayat member AS Lodhi said, In Hindu religion, cow is a reverred animal worshipped like a mother. Negligence and cruelty of the family amounted to a sin. Thats why the panchayat took the decision to ostracise them. To get rid of the sin, he has to follow all the instructions given by Panchayat.
Everybody in the village has been asked to maintain a distance from the family and shopkeepers have been asked not to provide anything to them, he added.
Sahu said, The death of calf was natural. I run a small vegetable shop in the village and it is very hard for me to make my both ends meet. How would I spend lakhs of rupees on such rituals?.
The villagers had also asked me to shave off my head and get Gangajal from Allahabad. I have done this but now they have asked me to organise a Bhagwat Katha and a Kanya Bhoj but it is impossible for me to bear such huge expenses, said Sahu.
Sahu said, I have five daughters and it will be difficult for me to solemnize their marriage. Now, they have added one more.
Now, I am trying to get loan so that I could get rid of a sin which I didnt do, said Sahu.
Shivpuri collector O P Shrivastava said he just came to know about it and he sought a report from SDM.
Bhopal: The US State department report on human right has referred to five cases in Madhya Pradesh, including the alleged encounter of eight suspected SIMI operatives and the famous Vyapam scam in the state.
The report on Human Rights Practices for 2016 for India also referred to cow vigilantism in MPs Mandsaur, a custodial death and highest untouchability practices in the state.
SIMI encounter is mentioned on the page 3 of the report under the heading Arbitrary Deprivation of Life and other Unlawful or Politically Motivated Killings.
It says on October 31, Madhya Pradesh police reportedly killed eight suspected members of the outlawed Students Islamic Movement of India, after they allegedly murdered a prison guard and escaped from the high-security Central Jail of Bhopal. On November 1, the NHRC issued a formal complaint against the state government, police, and prison authorities, expressing concern about deaths. The Madhya Pradesh police appointed a special investigation team to investigate the killings, it says.
Under the same section it also talks about an alleged custodial death in the state. The report says On April 9, 20-year-old Sunil Yadav was found dead in Umri police station in Madhya Pradesh, four days after his arrest on charges of theft. Madhya Pradesh police suspended four police personnel and ordered a judicial inquiry.
The report talks about famous Vyapam scam under the section Corruption and Lack of Transparency in Government.
The report says in July 2015 the Supreme Court ordered the CBI to take over a Madhya Pradesh state government investigation of fraud within the Professional Examination Board (Vyapam), a state government body that conducts school entrance and government service exams.
Arrests in the case since the investigation began in 2013 included more than 2,000 individuals. In August the CBI registered a complaint against 60 individuals and filed charges against a student candidate and an impersonator. The Madhya Pradesh High Court granted bail to some of the accused. The CBI was also investigating the deaths of 48 individuals over the span of five years, including a journalist, who reported on the fraud, it says.
Under the heading of education, the report while citing a report of NGO Pratham, said in states like Madhya Pradesh and few others, attendance was less than 60 percent. Girls between ages 11 and 14 were most frequently not enrolled, it adds.
Stressing that the discrimination based on caste remained prevalent particularly in rural areas, the report says, According to a 2014 survey by the Indian National Council of Applied Economic Research and the University of Maryland, 27 percent of Indian households practice caste-based untouchability, with the highest untouchability practices found in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh.
Referring to cow vigilantism in MP, the report says that on July 26, a video uploaded by an eyewitness purportedly showed cow protection vigilantes beating two Muslim women outside a railway station in Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh, as police watched from a distance. The police reportedly later arrested the women for beef possession. Although the meat was later determined to be buffalo, a local court charged the women with unlawful possession of meat and released them on bail on June 27. Police later arrested the two men accused of assaulting the women.
Bhopal/Raisen/Sagar Close on the heels of women and youths ransacking a foreign liquor shop at a village in Sagar district a group of people including women allegedly set a foreign liquor shop at Gairatganj in neighbouring Raisen district even as anti-liquor campaign has spread to other parts of Bundelkhand and also other parts of the state including Vindhya, Malwa and Chambal regions.
The opposition is mainly to opening of shops in residential areas.
The foreign liquor shop set afire at Gairatganj was opened in an agriculture field and was running under a tent. The local residents including men and women assembled at the shop on Sunday and asked the employees at the shop to remove the shop from there. When they didnt listen to the demand of the crowd the latter set the shop afire.
Notably, a group of women and youths enraged over opening of a foreign liquor shop near their village- Khimlasa ransacked it on Saturday.
As per reporting coming in from various parts of the state, local residents took to street and staged a sit-in and chakka jam at Maharajpur in Chhatarpur district to protest opening of a liquor shop in the locality on Sunday. The agitation ended only after the SDM concerned assured the agitators that action would be taken on their demands. In Chhatarpur itself, residents of Bakswaha submitted a memorandum to the collector and demanded removal of a liquor shop from ward no. 10.
Vindhya regions Satna saw a chakka jam by the local residents who were enraged over opening of a liquor shop near a temple and a mosque. In Morena, residents staged a chakka jam at Vankhandi and Sanjay Nagar. They removed the liquor shops boards.
In Vidisha a group of men and women staged a demonstration at the collectors bungalow to lodge their protest against opening of liquor shops in two localities. Women staged demonstration in Indore too protesting against opening of liquor shops at Tejaji Chowk, Sanver Road and Kanadia Road.
Finance and excise minister Jayant Malaiya said he was looking into the matter.
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Infosys on Monday defended an over 33% hike for its chief operating officer (COO), saying it was in line with global standards, even as former executives V Balakrishnan and TV Mohandas Pai joined co-founder NR Narayana Murthy in criticising the move.
The countrys second-largest software services company said the increase in COO UB Pravin Raos salary followed a comprehensive survey of best practices and benchmarked senior management compensation with key Indian and global companies.
The eruption of a fresh row between some founders and the top management saw the stock take a beating with a fall of over 1% in an overall bullish market.
The company claimed that the net hike for Rao came to just 1.4% for 2017-18 after accounting for a four-year vesting period of stock, a 10.6% drop in cash component and performance-based pay going up to 63% from 45% of total compensation.
This (hike) could go up to 33.4% in year 4, assuming similar grants are made in subsequent years based on company and individual performance, Infosys explained.
Soon after shareholders voted for Raos pay hike, Murthy opposed the proposal saying near 60 to 70% increase in compensation to the COO is not proper when most employees got just 6-8% hike.
This is grossly unfair to the majority of the Infosys employees, he had said. The impact of such a decision will likely erode the trust and faith of the employees in the management and the board.
Murthy had abstained from the resolution on raising Raos salary. Only 24% of promoter shares voted in favour of the resolution while the rest abstained.
The proposal was placed before the shareholders and the recommendations have been approved by 67.5% of them while 32.5% voted against the proposal.
Among non-promoters, 24.5% institutional investors and over 67% non-institutional shareholders voted against the proposal.
Infosys said the revision that had been rolled out for several members of the senior leadership team was focused on making Infosys more competitive, is benchmarked against peers and is critical to retaining key talent.
The fresh rift comes barely two months after a similar face-off between the founders and management on issues like CEO salary hike and severance package to former employees.
Infosys said it viewed Murthys statement as important feedback and will continue to work with all stakeholders to ensure long-term interest of the company.
Explaining the increase, Infosys said the cash component of Raos package had decreased by 10.6 % to Rs 4.6 crore from Rs 5.2 crore.
Former Infosys executives like Balakrishnan and Mohandas Pai have rallied behind Murthy. The executives, who were part of the leadership team for a significant part of their careers, highlighted that there are corporate governance lapses at Infosys that need to be checked.
Balakrishnan, who served as CFO, said there was a need for reconstituting the company board as the golden standards of governance and value system that Infosys was known for, are being decimated under the current leadership.
Pai, on his part, said since Infosys is an Indian company, it should follow Indian standards for compensation.
Murthy, along with Balakrishnan and Pai, has previously publicly aired his views on what he refers to as falling governance standards at Infosys.
In February, Murthy had questioned the steep severance payments made to former employees, Rajiv Bansal and David Kennedy, asking if the same was hush money.
The tussle also saw whistleblowers sending letters to market regulator Sebi alleging irregularities in Infosys USD 200 million acquisition of Israeli firm Panaya.
The company, however, had refuted all allegations, saying these are misleading. Sikka and Seshasayee had also called a press conference to explain the companys stand on the issues pointed out by the promoters.
Malaysian Prime Minister Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak today pitched for early conclusion of mega regional agreement RCEP saying it will significantly boost trade and investments across nations.
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement is a mega pact among 16 countries including the Asean grouping as well as India, China, Japan and Australia.
I think we should give fresh instructions to our negotiators to try to conclude RCEP by the end of the year or at a very latest early next year, Najib said here while addressing industry leaders from chambers including Ficci.
I hope this time table can be achieved, he said, adding that the business communities favour moving this agenda forward for successful conclusion.
He also said RCEP has become more relevant now as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade agreement worked out by the then Obama administration, is now buried.
We do need RCEP as free trade region for this area... I am a great believer of free trade because free trade will create more wealth and more prosperity to people, he added.
Najib also said that between 2003 and 2015, bilateral trade between India and Malaysia rose more than 4-fold but in the past couple of years, there has been a decline.
We need to reverse that trend and hopefully 2017 is the year we see a reversal of the downward trend, he said.
It was feared that TPP would adversely impact Indias exports.
Talking about investments, he said Malaysia is the 21st largest investor in India globally and second largest in Asean.
Seeking Indian investments, he said Malaysia provides easy and competitive business environment for investors.
He assured industry of meeting the needs of investors who are doing business in Malaysia.
We continue to provide necessary support for a thriving business environemnt... I invite you all to come to Malaysia, he said, adding I strongly encourage you to look at Malaysia as a preferred choice for investments to expand and take the opportunity to forge new partnerships.
Malaysian companies were involved in many big projects in India including construction of the MCD civic centre in the national capital.
There is plenty more to come. I am told that at the moment four projects are being negotiated, he said.
The projects include the Mumbai Coastal expressway; Mumbai sea front development, floating storage regasification terminal at Andhra Pradesh port and smart city mission.
...and this does not include the 4 + 2 highway projects under consideration by Rajasthan government, Najib added.
The Indian firms that have presence in Malaysia include Reliance, Biocon, ICICI Bank, Tech Mahindra, Ranbaxy, Wipro and TCS.
The Prime Minister also said that Malaysia is home to the largest Indian population outside India.
Over 7% of our population is of Indian origin. Indian Malaysians play a key role in building Malaysia, he added.
The bilateral trade in 2015-16 stood at $12.8 billion as against $17 billion in the previous fiscal.
The RCEP talks for the pact started in Phnom Penh in November 2012. The 16 countries account for over a quarter of the worlds economy, estimated to be more than USD 75 trillion.
The 16-member bloc RCEP comprises 10 Asean members (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Laos and Vietnam) and their six FTA partners -- India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
These are tough times for Indian IT professionals, after trouble with H-1B visas in the US, Singapore is the latest to join the list of countries not eager to accept them.
The trouble with Singapore visas began in January 2016 with no new visas being issues. The thrust from the city-state has been to hire locally, which Indian IT firms will find difficult to follow. Most of Indias top IT companies from TCS, Infosys, Wipro to Cognizant have offices in Singapore.
No new visas mean that existing ones will not be renewed and that will make it difficult to maintain existing levels of workfore, said Nasscom president, R Chandrashekhar. He added that the hire locally diktat from Singapore is not possible to meet, as a workforce with the required level of expertise is not found there.
Sources say that Singapore has imposed several conditions making it difficult for companies to hire resources from India. This is a violation of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), say sources, and has led India to put on hold a review of this trade pact.
In recent years, many countries have adopted a protectionist outlook while making stringent provisions to reduce foreign professionals from working. Apart from Singapore and US, India is also facing similar visa problems from UK.
UK is another area where active discussions are going on. You have to remember that the US visa problems are nothing new. There have always been critics and efforts to reduce the number of H-1B visas since the last 3-4 years, said Chandrashekhar.
The US grants 65,000 H-1B visas annually to foreign workers hired abroad and an additional 20,000 to foreign students enrolled in the countrys colleges and universities. Critics of the programme have argued that it is used by American companies to replace local workers with foreigners on lower wages.
New Delhi, which has argued it is a trade issue and helps American companies remain competitive, has been following these discussions in the Trump administration very closely because Indian companies such as Infosys, TCS and Wipro use the programme widely for their businesses in the US.
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Punjab health minister Brahm Mohindra flagged off a statewide pulse polio drive from his constituency here on Sunday.
Speaking to the media here at Triparis Community Health Centre, he said, The three-day campaign will cover more than 36 lakh children, through 15,000 booths across state and 60,000 workers. In Ludhiana, the drive will continue for the next five days due to the presence of a heavy population of immigrants from different states.
He said that India has not recorded any polio case since long, even as over 37 cases being detected worldwide, of which 24 are from Pakistan and 13 from Afghanistan.
He said that the state government has already started taking precautionary measures for chikungunya and dengue as well.
A state-level meeting, of at least 11 departments, has been called on April 7 for the implementation of all precautionary measures, including fogging and other activities, he said.
Brahm added that his priority is to overhaul the health department by filling the pending vacancies of doctors and paramedical staff so that the services get better in the rural and urban health centres run by the state government.
We have issued special instructions to Rajindra Government Hospital for the betterment of public services. Construction of a multi-storey building will soon begin to make super-specialty treatment available in the institute, he said.
He added that the previous government had completely ignored health services, having large-scale pendency of specialists in government hospitals.
The mandate of Congress government is to bring reforms in the health sector, to make it affordable and accessible to people. I am doing my best to increase the health sectors budget to improve the existing infrastructure in government institutions, said Brahm.
Action against Gian Sagar soon
He said that the indefinite suspension of classes in Banaurs Gian Sagar College is a matter of concern for the government.
The management was summoned for the meeting but they did not turn up.
We are taking a legal opinion in this matter, before taking a final decision, he added.
After granting living status to the rivers Ganga and Yamuna, the Uttarakhand high court has done the same for Himalayan glaciers, from where the rivers originate, and virtually every creation of nature in the Himalayan state.
The division bench of the court comprising judges Justice Rajiv Sharma and Justice Alok Singh, who passed these orders, have made other landmark decisions that have now earned them an image of no less than environment crusaders.
Here is a brief profile on them:
JUSTICE RAJIV SHARMA
Justice Rajiv Sharma, who joined Uttarakhand high court in September last year, served as a judge of the Himachal Pradesh high court. During his nine-year tenure there, Justice Sharma gave several landmark judgments, including ordering a blanket ban on animal sacrifice in religious places.
Justice Sharma was appointed an additional judge of the Himachal Pradesh high court on April 3, 2007. Later, he became a permanent judge of the court on March 31, 2013. Born and brought up in Shimla, he began his career in 1982.
JUSTICE ALOK SINGH
Before assuming charge as a judge of the Uttarakhand high court in February 2013, Justice Alok Singh served as a judge in Jharkhand high court and Punjab and Haryana high court.
A native of Roorkee in Uttarakhand, he did his schooling and college education from Roorkee and Saharanpur and began his career in erstwhile Uttar Pradesh in 1982 and represented UP state electricity board, UP Awas Vikas Parishad, etc.
Here are some of the landmark rulings the two judges have given:
According Legal Status To Glaciers: On March 31, the bench declared Gangotri and Yamunotri glaciers as living entities. The glaciers that feed Ganga and Yamuna rivers are considered sacred by millions of Indians. The status meant that the rivers and the glaciers have the right to be legally protected and if anyone harms or pollutes them, law would view it as no different from harming a person.
Sealing Hotels, Ashrams Polluting The Ganga: The bench on March 30 told Uttarakhand Pollution Control Board to seal hotels, ashrams and industrial units in Haridwar for polluting the Ganga by discharging untreated waste into the river. The order is likely to affect some 700 odd hotels in Haridwar-Rishikesh belt.
Making Ganga, Yamuna Living Entities: The bench on March 3 declared the Ganga and Yamuna living entities, bestowing on them same legal rights as a person. The order allows complaints to be filed in the name of the two rivers, held sacred by millions of Hindus.
Banning Liquor In Three Districts: On November 8, 2016, the bench asked authorities to impose complete prohibition on alcohol including beer in Rudraprayag, Chamoli and Uttarkashi districts from April 1, although the Supreme Court stayed the order after the BJP government moved it on April 1. The fabled Char Dham shrinesBadrinath, Kedarnath, Yamnotri and Gangotriare located in these three districts.
Imposing Glacier Tax On Tourists: On November 11, 2016, the bench directed the state government to impose a glacier tax on tourists visiting the Himalayas. Hearing a public interest litigation (PIL), the court observed that there was large scale degradation of the ecology in the Himalayas and glaciers were rapidly depleting.
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Uttarakhand governor KK Paul on Monday urged scientists from 40 Commonwealth nations to join hands to tackle the menace of depleting forest covers across the globe.
He was speaking at the inaugural session of the 19th Commonwealth Forestry Conference at Forest Research Institute here.
There was an urgent need for all stakeholder to work together to protect the protect the fast depleting forest covers across world, Paul said.
He said no one set of actors can solve the problem of deforestation and governments, private sector, local authorities, NGOs, and indigenous peoples all need to work towards the same direction.
The governor said: Even as the entire world and the humanity are facing enormous environmental challenges, there are high expectations from this Conference.
Recent researches have shown that cash and non-cash incomes of the rural poor depend mostly on what the forestry and environmental professionals now call the ecosystem services provided by varied forests. Protecting forests, therefore, not only makes sense for reducing disaster risk and greenhouse emissions, it also makes pro-poor sense.
Paul expressed concern that more than 13 million hectares of forests were being cleared across the world each year and every effort has to be made by scientists community across the world to re-green the earth in order sustain human populations.
He said more research was required for calalysing and enhancing photosynthesis in the interest of humanity as this will lead to rise in Carbon sequestration, produce more oxygen and accelerate crop cycle.
I am confident that this forestry conference would bring out specific recommendations for short term and long term priority actions required for policy and legislative interventions for saving forests and ecosystems, Paul said.
It is for the second time India is hosting the conference. In 1968, Delhi hosted the event. The five-day conference 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 and Sustainable Development Goals.
Facts first Delhi registered thrice the number of rape cases compared to Mumbai and over 19 times compared to Bangalore, according to the 2015 National Crime Records Bureau data. In 2015, there were 2,210 rapes in Delhi, 712 in Mumbai and 112 in Bangalore.
In Delhi, infamously dubbed the rape capital, who are these alleged rapists? Is there a common pattern in their educational and social background? Are they from Delhi? Minor girls, teenagers or young women who is the most vulnerable in Delhi? HT answers the questions.
Education
Educational qualification of the alleged rapists, arrested in 2015, shows most were school dropouts. Out of the 2,079 men, only 56 were graduate. 70 were illiterate and 550 could not reach the tenth standard. 971 had passed Class 10. In 2016, there were 451 school dropouts and 61 illiterate.
Out of the six men, convicted in the December 2012 Delhi gang rape case, only Vinay Sharma had passed the tenth standard. Convicts Ram Singh, his brother Mukesh, Akshay Thakur and Pawan Gupta were all dropouts none of them had studied beyond the seventh standard including the juvenile convict.
Dependra Pathak, special commissioner of police (operations) said, An educated mind usually understands the pros and cons of a crime and may also be sensitive. Modern laws work better on educated minds. Apart from formal education, there is a need for informal cultural education. In some nuclear families, living in metros, there is an absence of informal cultural education. In kaccha colonies and slums, it would help to spread value-based education.
Age of rapists
The 2012 Delhi gang rape case is not the only case when a juvenile was caught. Every year, over 100 minor boys, mostly teenagers are held for rape in 2015, there were 163 teenagers. The highest number of rapists arrested 1,060 was between the age of 18 and 25. Senior police officers say that at least two-three cases involving juvenile rapists are reported every week. On March 3, two boys, aged 13 and 14 were held for gang rape of a 15-year-old girl.
This is a dangerous trend. Criminals dont rape. From a 14-year-old boy to a 60-year-old man, anyone could be a rapist in Delhi, a senior officer said.
Two years ago, a 15-year-old was arrested in south East Delhi for raping eight minor girls. Many get away with it, because kids cannot speak. Rape in Delhi is more than just a law and order problem.
Last month, the Delhi Police invited bidders for a study on the sociological study of rape cases and psychoanalysis of the accused. Police are undertaking the study to understand the causes of rapes and find a solution. Police plan to complete the project in three months.
Profile of rapists
More than half the men arrested for rape were from poor or lower class. 1,276 men (61.38%), police arrested in 2015, were daily wage labourers, servants, slum dwellers and others with no permanent jobs.
After the December 2012 gang rape, police stations maintain a separate record on the profile of the rapist and rape survivor. Those with decent jobs, living in colonies and housing societies, are tagged as middle class. 798 rapists were from middle class while five were from upper class. In police records, upper class is constituted by those owning or living in posh colonies across the city. Also contrary to belief that the alleged rapists are not from Delhi, records show 1,721 men (88.78%) were those settled in Delhi since long while a mere 17.22% (358) men were migrants who had recently come to the city or were outsiders who committed the act during their visit to the city.
Kalpana Viswanath, a researcher who has worked on issues of violence against women and runs a social enterprise to find solutions about making cities safer for women said, I would be cautious to read the figures and say that rapes do not happen in the upper class. Maybe people from upper class do not report it or hide it because of the society. Maybe the upper class do not report it like they dont in cases of domestic violence.
Most vulnerable
The most number of women raped were aged 18-25 years. While police say a majority of such cases are related to elopement and rape on the promise of marriage the figures related to minors is alarming. Nearly half of the rape survivors in Delhi, 985 out of 2,210, were below 18. There were 12 cases where the victim was below two years, 126 cases involved girls between two and seven.
Rajat Mitra, a psychologist, who helped Delhi Police handle rape cases for about a decade, told HT that when kids are raped it should be seen as a behavioural crime. A man who rapes a two or a three year old is not attracted by the girls physical attributes. At that age, she is not even a woman. In their mind, the child is not a child. Police should look at such cases as a behavioural crime.
A senior police officer said, In most cases, we have seen that the rapists of such minor kids are their neighbours or relatives. Kids are often lured with biscuits and sweets. Parents should also be careful and think twice before allowing anyone to take their kids out for sweets or a walk, an officer said.
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Ink was thrown at the house of lawyer and founder of Swaraj India founder Prashant Bhushan by unidentified persons in Sector 14, Noida on Monday afternoon at 12.30pm.
According to an eyewitness, 7-8 people came outside his house seeking apology from Bhushan for his alleged tweets on Anti-Romeo squad formed by UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday.
Romeo loved just one lady, while Krishna was a legendary Eve teaser. Would Adityanath have the guts to call his vigilantes Anti-Krishna squads? Bhushan had tweeted on Sunday.
Romeo loved just one lady,while Krishna was a legendary Eve teaser.Would Adityanath have the guts to call his vigilantes AntiKrishna squads? https://t.co/IYslpP0ECv Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) April 2, 2017
Bhushan was not at home when the men arrived. They threw ink on the name plate of the lawyers house which bears the name of his father and former union law minister Shanti Bhushan and fled.
Bhushans domestic workers immediately called the police after which a PCR van reached the spot. The lawyer returned home after one hour of the incident. No case has been registered so far by the Noida police.
An hour after the incident, members of BJP Youth Morcha (BJYM) started protesting outside the house seeking an apology from Bhushan for hurting the religious sentiments of the Hindus.
The protest continued for almost 20 minutes, however, they didnt claim responsibility for throwing ink.
Led by BJYM president of Noida district Chaman Awana, the members lodged a complaint at Sector 20 police station seeking action against Bhushan.
Read: BJP files police complaint against Prashant Bhushan for insulting Lord Krishna
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Monday is the last day to file nominations for Delhi municipal election scheduled on April 23. Even as the deadline inches closer, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress are yet to release the complete list of contestants.
Many candidates expecting to be picked are now tense as they have not heard from their parties yet. Returning officers will be accepting these forms till 6pm on Monday.
The BJP, so far, has released the names of candidates for only 175 wards out of 272 wards. It still has to announce contestants for as many as 97 wards. Sources said there is delay because of difference of opinion over who should get the tickets. HT had earlier reported that after the BJP decided not to repeat sitting councillors or their family members in the polls, it received 33,000 applications from aspirants, including a dhaba owner, a para-athlete, a fashion designer and even a student of Delhi University.
Sources said, the party is delaying the announcement of nominations for all wards to prevent disgruntled party workers from filing as Independents.
Earlier, the Congress had announced its candidates for 140 wards and on Sunday night it released another list for 127. The party is still left with five wards.
Among those given tickets by Congress on Sunday night, many are relatives of former councillors and party leaders. Several sitting councillors like Ishrat Jahan and Zakir Khan have been denied tickets. Ishrat Jahan, Urdu Media Coordinator for the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC), did not get the ticket from Ghondli ward while Zakir Khan, who was looking to contest from Babarpur Janta Colony, did not make it to the partys list.
The Congress has fielded seven Muslim candidates from wards like Sadar Bazaar, Daryanganj, Quresh Nagar, Kardampuri, Kishankunj, Abul Fazal Enclave. Yasmeen Kidwai, niece of Farhad Suri who was the Leader of opposition in South Delhi Municipal Corporation, has been given a ticket.
Mukesh Goel, leader of opposition in North Delhi Municipal Corporation has been given ticket from Sarai Peepal Than ward. Earlier, he represented the Dhirpur ward.
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Cracks appeared in the Delhi Congress on the last date of filing nomination for the April 23 municipal elections on Monday with senior leaders turning against the party over the selection of candidates.
Former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit said she was not consulted while former health minister Ashok Kumar Walia threatened to quit the party. Alleging utter neglect of efficient party workers, ex-MLA Amrish Singh Gautam joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday.
Every time new committee is formed,they interview us like class 8 students. What is my use if they are unable to understand me-AK Walia,Cong pic.twitter.com/p1idJaXeU3 ANI (@ANI_news) April 3, 2017
Gautam, a three-time MLA from Kondli and Patparganj assembly seats, was also the deputy speaker of the Delhi Assembly during the Congress regime.
He said he was joining the BJP without any conditions as he was impressed with the policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
I had given my life to public service as a Congress worker but for last few years I have felt that the Congress is deviating from its agenda of service to all while the BJP has shown a new resolve to encourage nationalism and for empowerment of poor. Prime Minister Narendra Modis commitment -- Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas -- policies have inspired me, he said at a press conference on Monday at the state BJPs headquarters on Pandit Pant Marg.
He found support in former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit who termed the incidents as regrettable. Haroon Yusuf, a former minister in her regime, said he was also hurt and he has similar feelings, which Walia had conveyed to the party high command.
Dikshit told HT that senior state leaders were ignored by the people at the helm when they chose candidates for the election.
I dont know anything about ticket distribution as I was not involved. In fact, I was not consulted at any point of time. It is regrettable that senior party leaders are leaving or planning to quit, she said.
Expressing his displeasure over denying tickets to those having strong support on the ground, veteran Congress leader Walia said he had threatened to resign after he failed to budge central leadership involved in the selection procedure.
He said that he has not yet formally resigned from the party but has sent an SMS to the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee chief Ajay Maken and AICC appointed state affairs in-charge PC Chacko expressing his dissatisfaction.
They have set up the screening committee just for show. Actually the candidates are being selected according to whims and fancies. I have put in so much effort and now after the final list was out last night, I feel I have wasted my time and energy, Walia said.
Walia said that he was in touch with the committee members and observers appointed by the Delhi Congress to pick nominees for three weeks but no one paid heed to his recommendations.
My point is that everyone should have been taken on board while selecting candidates. I have explained this to senior leaders like PC Chacko, Ajay Maken and Anand Sharma on several occasions, Walia added.
Yusuf said, We have been associated with the party for long and we have contributed a lot for the party. It is true that the local Congress leadership was ignored including me. But I will never go against the party.
Maken tried to play down the resentment in the party. He told HT that tickets were distributed after proper screening and feedback from grass root level workers.
It is not correct to say that senior leaders were not consulted. They have come to the screening committee and had given their opinion in writing. They talked to Anand Sharma and PC Chacko as well, he said.
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Three minors, including a girl, mysteriously died after allegedly drowning in a plastic drum at a vacant plot in Tulsi Niketan locality in Sahibabad late on Monday evening.
The deaths have baffled the police, which said that it will investigate how all three children downed in a single drum and their bodies were found with heads down. They are, however, waiting for the post-mortem report.
The two deceased boys were identified as Nimai and Azan, aged one and half years and four years, respectively, both children of one Jiyaluddin. The third deceased was identified as five-year-old Salma, daughter of one Abdul. The three children belonged to two families that lived near the site of the incident. The families claimed that the children had gone to plot to play on Monday evening.
Police sources said that the families of the victims arrived at Tulsi Niketan police-post around 6.30pm and informed officials about the missing children.
Police talk to family members of the children who died. (Sakib Ali)
Late in the evening, an old woman saw the drum and an inverted bucket close to each other. When she peeped in, she found bodies of the three children. The plot is near a residential area and we have ordered a post-mortem to find out the cause of the death. According to initial investigation, it seems that the children climbed into the drum by stepping on to the bucket and entered the drum to bathe, said Deepak Kumar, senior superintendent of police, Ghaziabad.
The plot belongs to a scrap dealer, Akbar.
We dont suspect foul play because the plot is next to a residential area and not in an isolated location. The bodies had no external injuries to suspect any foul play. Still, the post-mortem will bring forward more details, he added.
Kumar and other senior officials also visited the spot and enquired about the incident from locals and families of the deceased, who work as labourers.
According to police sources, the drum had a 200 litres storage capacity and was nearly half filled when the three children drowned.
Local sources said that the children left their homes around 3pm. The minor girl studied in Class I and had left her home for tuition.
The Ghaziabad police have decided to call in forensic experts to undertake reconstruction of the sequence of events that led to the three deaths. The family of one of the victims has also forwarded a police complaint, saying that the children probably got drowned while bathing but police must investigate the matter.
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Britain has formally begun its divorce from the European Union and it looks like it will be a difficult and messy one. The British Prime Minister, Theresa May, last week formally invoked Article 50 of EUs Lisbon Treaty and began the two-year negotiation period to separate the United Kingdom from the EU. May, in her opening statements, had already indicated that London foresees a Brexit in which her country will no longer accept the free movement of people from Europe and no longer accept the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. The EUs response has rightly been that in that case it does not see itself required to allow the free flow of goods and services to and fro across the English Channel. The opening salvoes would all point to an extremely difficult and disruptive separating of ways.
India has reasons to be concerned. The weakening of an already crisis-prone EU is an unfortunate additional source of instability at a time when the international order is under enough stress thanks to a whimsical Washington and a belligerent Beijing. An economically damaged UK poses its own problems. India is the third largest foreign investor in the UK, surpassed only by the US and France. In 2015 cumulative Indian investment reached 26 billion pounds more than all the Indian investment in the rest of Europe put together. The Tata group alone is among the largest industrial firms in the UK. While the Brexit confabulation has reduced the price of British assets and led to some firms expanding their investments, it is also true many Indian firms use the UK as a base for operations in Europe. A hard Brexit would mean many of them would reduce their presence in Britain. For example, if British-made goods ended up facing World Trade Organisation-level tariffs the default rate if the UK-EU talks go badly then they would land on the Continent 10% more costly than before. That alone would be enough to drive them to move factories out of Britain.
Prime Minister May has so far shown less than exemplary leadership during the process. She continues to underplay the damage the UK will suffer because of Brexit. Though she herself supported EU membership, she has decided to accept the entire agenda of the pro-Brexit campaign though much of this is extreme and unreasonable. Her visits to India, China and the US are an attempt to show that Britain has other economic alternatives. But they have not been marked by success. New Delhi, for example, is largely keen on opening the door for greater immigration and Mode 4 service trade, neither of which her government can concede given their generally anti-migrant stance. However, given Londons weakened straits there is no reason why India should not continue to persevere with this demand. Mays only real accomplishment has been to put an end to the uncertainty over whether the UK was actually going to walk away.
Delhis Miranda House and Bengalurus Indian Institute of Science are Indias best college and university, a countrywide government ranking of educational institutions said on Monday.
Loyola College in Chennai and Shri Ram College were the second and third-best colleges in India, said the survey of general degree colleges by the human resource development ministry. . This is the first time colleges have been ranked.
Delhis Jawaharlal Nehru University which was at the centre of a storm on nationalism last year was ranked second among universities while Banaras Hindu University secured third position. Seven IITs were among the top 10 in the overall ranking category.
Indian Institute of Technology-Madras was the top engineering school while Jamia Hamdard was judged the best pharmacy institute. Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad was adjudged the finest management institute.
Kolkatas Jadavpur University whose students have also faced criticism for being anti-national was ranked fifth among universities.
Jadavpur and JNU havent got good ranking for raising slogan for Afzal Guru but for doing good work, human resource development minister Prakash Javadekar said.
Massive protests had swept JNU and various parts of India after student leaders were arrested on charges of sedition for allegedly attending an anti-India event that commemorated 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
JNU stands tall again with its focus on academic excellence. First among central universities. https://t.co/lb9jf2qp8O M. Jagadesh Kumar (@mamidala90) April 3, 2017
The rankings are crucial because government funding for institutions are dependent on them. Schools that do well in the NIRF will also be favourably viewed for greater autonomy and more international exposure, the government said.
More than 3,300 institutes were considered for the survey, which was first published in 2016 but didnt include colleges because the response was poor. Prominent colleges that didnt apply this year included Delhis St Stephens College, Hindu College, Delhi School of Economics, Ramjas College and Hansraj College, among others.
The institutes were marked on 20 parameters under the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) that was launched last year.
The criteria used to rank the institutions included teaching/learning resources, research, graduation outcomes (employability), outreach/ social and gender inclusivity and perception. The government said it emphasised on the quality of research and employer perception during the exercise.
Top colleges:
1) Miranda House, Delhi
2) Loyola College, Chennai
3) Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi
Top universities:
1) IISc, Bangalore
2) JNU, New Delhi
3) BHU, Varanasi
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The prime accused in the brutal murder of a young woman in Sector 21 was arrested on Monday. A team from Palam Vihar police station nabbed the accused.
The accused, Pawan alias Matru, would be produced in the court tomorrow, and the police will seek his remand for further questioning.
Gunjan Dutt, a salesgirl at a Patanjali store, was shot dead.
Police said Matru was arrested from Bharthal village in Delhi close to the Gurgaon border. The accused, during preliminary questioning, told the police that he wanted to marry Gunjan, a resident of new Palam Vihar, but her family members were not ready. This angered him.
Should the court grant the remand plea, the accused will be taken into custody and will be grilled on the role of his accomplices.
Sumit Kuhar, DCP, crime, said the accused knew the girl and also claimed to be on good terms with her, but was miffed after she stopped talking to him. We had formed six teams to catch him. Her will be questioned and all aspects of the crime would be probed, Kuhar said.
Read I 18-year-old Patanjali salesgirl shot dead by stalker in Gurgaon market
The 18-year-old Gunjan was pursuing her graduation from Delhi University while working part time at the Patanjali store in Sector 21. Her family members claimed that Matru used to harass her and they had even complained to the police about his activities.
The girl was leaving the store at around 9.30 pm when Matru shot her dead from point blank range. He pumped two bullets into her chest.
Sandeep Kumar, SHO Palam Vihar, said the accused was arrested after sustained surveillance by the police. He was arrested from Bharthal which is just across Palam Vihar. We will produce him in court tomorrow, he said.
The police will also be probing the role of his accomplices, who helped him escape after committing the crime.
More than 30 parents of children studying in Delhi Public School Ghaziabad (DPSG), Palam Vihar, on Monday demanded a rollback of the recent fee hike in the school and asked for action against the school authorities for not following a rule of the Right to Education (RTE) Act.
The group of parents met the district the district education officer and additional deputy commissioner seeking intervention in the matter. They said the school has been asked them to pay four times the current fee.
The fee hike by the management is not reasonable. We have been protesting for a week now and have been unable to get any relief, said Dev Kumar, a parent.
Another parent, Arun Dua, said, People who have two children are the worst affected. There is lack of a regulatory body to check fee hike by private schools. We have been paying Rs65,000 every year, but according to the new fee structure, we will have to pay R1.62 lakh.
We have requested the government to ask the school management to roll back the new fee structure, said Shweta Soni, another parent.
Parents also alleged that the school authority has not followed rule 11, part 6 of the RTE Act, 2011, which states that before revising their fee, schools have to get it approved by the commissioner, the state education department and inform the district education officer.
Read I Parents, police clash during protest against fee hike by 40 top private schools in Gurgaon
After discussing the grievances with the parents and the school management, additional district commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh, said, We can take action only after we get clarity after the upcoming meeting in Panchkula.
With many parents protesting fee hikes by private schools, PK Das, additional chief secretary (school education), has called a meeting in Panchkula on April 5 regarding fees and fund of private schools in Hisar, Ambala, Rohtak and Gurgaon.
District education officer Neelam Bhandari too said that they have looked into all the aspects and will take a call only after April 5.
On its part, the school administration maintained that the increase in fee is not unreasonable. We have a new school and we are in the process of developing it. We have already discussed the hike with parents, said NB Pandey, a school representative present at the meeting.
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Three people were arrested on Sunday by the Gurgaon police for their alleged involvement in submitting fake certificates to get employment in the Indian Army.
The arrests came after the Sadar police received a complaint regarding the case on Friday. The complaint by deputy independent recruit officer (IRO), Lieutenant Colonel Ranganath Patil, of the Delhi Cantonment stated that documents of two applicants were found fake. The week-long recruitment process for soldiers was held in Gurgaon at the Tau Devi Lal stadium on March 29.
The two applicants were identified by the police as Mithlesh Kumar Pandey (22) and Raju Kumar (20) who hail from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh. Pyare Lal (34) was also arrested in the case for preparing the fake documents, said the police.
A case has been registered in Sadar police station under sections 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 420 (cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document), and 467 (forgery of valuable security) of the IPC.
Read I Army display of weapons, mock drill impresses schoolchildren
We have arrested three people in connection with submitting fake documents for recruitment in the Army. We are investigating the case further and have sought police remand for Lal as we want to interrogate him to crack the fake certificate gang. We have learnt that one Arvind is also involved in this case, said inspector Vijay Kumar, station house officer, Sadar police station, Gurgaon.
According to the police, Pandey and Kumar submitted fake Aadhar cards, domicile certificates and Class 10 marksheets.
During investigation, it was found that the applicants were allegedly told by an agent who deals with fake documents in Delhi that they will be able to get employment in the army.
Further investigation is still on and the police is trying to bust the gang they say is operational in Delhi that is responsible for providing people fake documents.
The two were handed over fake documents at Gurgaon by the agent and were asked for their photographs at Delhi, said Kumar.
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The Punjab and Haryana high court on Monday set aside the petition of land owners in the Sugandh restaurant case, paving the way for acquisition of the land required for construction of an underpass at Hero Honda Chowk. The petitioners, led by Dharm Singh, were demanding alternative plots in lieu of the land that Huda wanted to acquire from them.
Soon after the courts decision was announced, Huda officials swung into action on Monday evening and started demolition of structures at the disputed site.
We will take possession of the land on Tuesday as a crucial highway project has been stuck for several years due to the dispute. This decision will have a positive impact on the infrastructure of the entire city, said Yashpal Yadav, Huda administrator, who has been in Chandigarh regularly to present the authoritys side in the high court.
The land owners, however, said they should have been given time to seek relief from the Supreme Court.
The land in question at Hero Honda Chowk is needed for construction of an underpass and to widen the intersection that is expected to remove a major traffic bottleneck. This project will ensure that thousands of vehicles that get stuck at this intersection can cross the highway easily. Major industrial sectors are situated on both sides of the road at this point.
The high court upheld Hudas stand that the relief and rehabilitation policy of the Haryana government did not provide for allotment of alternative plots, but only for payment of compensation in lieu of the land, barring some exceptions.
Yadav also said that it was after a lot of hard work and efforts that this decision came the authoritys way. We have had multiple meetings with the land owners, including that of Sugandh, and had even offered them alternative plots on a conditional basis based on the outcome of the Yogesh Nima case in the Supreme Court on land acquisition under Section 24(2) of the acquisition act, he said.
The Huda needs to acquire 900 metres of land from multiple owners who have refused to accept compensation and were demanding alternative plots citing an instance of 2005 in which the urban authority had given plots in lieu of land acquired at Hero Honda Chowk.
Sita Ram Singhal, owner of the restaurant, said the Huda was acting in haste and the authority should have waited for the court order. We will approach the Supreme Court for relief. The authority should have given us time to file a petition, he said.
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The cardiology department of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (Aiims) has developed a mobile phone application called Dhadkan that aims to help doctors monitor the condition of their heart patients remotely.
An article about the technology was published under the section for innovations in the current issue of Journal of the Practice of Cardiovascular Sciences.
Almost one third of patients after admission for heart failure are likely to get readmitted or die in the next 3 6 months, according to the article. The app can help the authorised caregiver a doctor, nurse or a paramedic -- in monitoring vital statistics every week and predicting any adverse event.
The app collects data on blood pressure, heart rate and weight and transmits it as an SMS to the registered caregiver.
Anyone can use this app. The doctor or nurse, whoever will be monitoring the data, will have to register first and then the patient will have to register. The data will be sent to the registered caregiver for the patient, said Dr Sandeep Seth, professor in the department of cardiology at Aiims and the man behind the app.
A local nurse or physician records the parameters and feeds them into the app, and an Aiims doctor can then remotely view the patients condition. The technology was developed to help patients from far-flung areas who cannot come to Delhi for a check-up at regular intervals.
After the app was launched, a validation study was conducted for 60 Aiims patients, whose data was being monitored by an assigned nurse.
The nurse and the doctor intervene whenever there are inappropriate blood pressure fluctuations or heart rate fluctuations in the patient or an increase in weight over the week, the article read. Interventions using the Dhadkan app showed improvements in the quality of life, the article added.
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Director Christopher Nolan has spent his career bending minds (and cities) with his films. He works on a scale that is stubbornly and obsessively cinematic and it seems that no concept, be it Batman or the multiverse or dreams, is too big for the visionary filmmaker.
His latest movie, Dunkirk, out July 21, takes him out of the fantasy world and into reality and the storied evacuation of Allied soldiers from that beach in France in May and June of 1940. Nolan spoke about Dunkirk at the recent CinemaCon in Las Vegas, where he was promoting his epic to theatre owners:
Christopher Nolan discusses Dunkirk during the Warner Bros. Pictures presentation at CinemaCon 2017 at Caesars Palace on March 29, 2017 in Las Vegas. (AP)
Why Dunkirk?
As a filmmaker youre always looking for a gap in cultural movies and Dunkirk is a story British people are raised on. Its in our DNA practically. But it has not been addressed in the movies. So for me, it was a very exciting gap. Ive spent a number of years trying to figure out whats the angle of approach, whats the angle of attack for getting the story across? So we came upon the notion of creating a very experiential film, one that rather than trying to address the politics of the situation, the geopolitical situation, would really put you on the beach where 400,000 people are trapped, surrounded by the enemy closing in and faced with annihilation or surrender. The fact the story ended with neither annihilation nor surrender makes it one of the greatest stories in human history.
How did you approach it?
The approach is trying to take the full experience and put the audience there. What would it be like to be on the beach? To be on a boat trying to cross the channel? Its a huge challenge, but exactly the kind of challenge that you look for in film.
A scene from Dunkirk.
You have said the film is less about character than survival. Can you explain what you mean?
I feel like Dunkirk is such a universal event and it involves so many people that to try to encapsulate the specific detail of the human experience wasnt the way to go. What we decided to do was to really try and live in the moment of the experience ... the very immediate and human desire to survive. Its the most human movie Ive ever made because its about the desire for survival. We wanted to tackle that and make what I refer to as a very present tense narrative where youre in the moment with the characters. Youre not necessarily spending too much time discussing who they were before or who they will be after.
This film has been rated PG-13. Was that a choice you made?
All of my big blockbuster films have been PG-13. Its a rating I feel comfortable working with totally. Dunkirk is not a war film. Its a survival story and first and foremost a suspense film. So while there is a high level of intensity to it, it does not necessarily concern itself with the bloody aspects of combat, which have been so well done in so many films. We were really trying to take a different approach and achieve intensity in a different way. I would really like lots of different types of people to get something out of the experience.
Watch: Dunkirk trailer
Is there any truth to the report that the production bought a $5 million vintage plane to crash?
No. We used real antique vintage planes and flew them for the movie but we also constructed full scale models to destroy. A lot of money was involved but not that much money. I would never! Obviously never ... These planes are so beautiful and so valuable for so many reasons and the respect I have for them having done this, especially now having worked with them. The Spitfire is the most glorious machine.
And you tell the story from three points of view?
The story needs to be told from different points of view intertwined. We spend time looking at various points of view. On the beach. In the air. Out on the sea.
Nolan with his wife Emma Thomas, who is also Dunkirks producer, at CinemaCon 2017. (AP)
Do you feel like youve evolved at all since Interstellar?
Its not really for me to speak to the bigger creative issues, but from a technical point of view, to me Dunkirk is a story that Ive wanted to tell for a long time but did not have the technical expertise to be able to. We shot the entire film on large format celluloid film, which has never been done before. With each film weve always included some IMAX photography, but this film is almost entirely in IMAX and what isnt is large format. It should be a very strong presentation.
The Uttar Pradesh cabinet will hold its first meeting on April 4 during which a decision on farm loan waiver, the BJPs biggest poll promise, could be taken.
A proposal of write off farmer loans had been sent to the cabinet, agriculture minister Surya Pratap Shahi told media in Varanasi on Sunday.
The BJP surprised everyone when it named 44-year-old Hindu hardliner Yogi Adityanath as the chief minister after a massive win in the state election. Adityanath took oath of office on March 19 but has not held a cabinet meeting so far.
The meeting will take place at 5pm on Tuesday, health minister Siddharth Nath Singh said, without sharing any details.
The BJP, in its Lok Kalyan Sankalp Patra (manifesto), had promised to waive the loans of small and marginal farmers and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, too, said in his election speeches that loan relief would be among the foremost tasks of the state government.
According to officials, there are around 23 million farmers in the state and 22 million of them were small and marginal.
They suffered losses due to natural calamities in the recent past and were unable to repay loans amounting to about 62,000 crore.
As the figure is huge, the Uttar Pradesh government is mulling various options, including raising loans, to honour the partys poll promise.
Finance minister Rajesh Agarwal was talking to his senior officials in this regard, a department spokesman said.
The government would have to pay off the banks and for that it would have to either seek funds from the Centre or raise loans on its own, the spokesman said.
It would be difficult to handle the burden in a single financial year, sources said.
Listing steps being taken to help farmers, Shahi said the wheat procurement target was doubled to 80 lakh metric tonnes from 40 lakh metric tonnes.
Some other decisions, too, would be taken during the meeting, deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said in Allahabad, adding the government would try to fulfil all its promises at the earliest.
One of the first decisions of the Adityanath government saw meat traders across the state going on strike against the crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses and butcher shops.
Uttar Pradesh is the countrys biggest meat producer and also accounts for half of Indias exports.
The strike was to end Sunday.
(With PTI inputs)
Spiritual head of the Ajmer Sharif dargah on Monday called upon Muslims to give up beef eating and said triple talaq is against Sharia.
The dargah is considered to be among the holiest Muslim shrines in India.
On the occasion of the 805th Urs (death anniversary) of Khwaja Moinuddin Hasan Chisty, who all through his life strived for peaceful coexistence of Hindus and Muslims, we (Muslims) should give up eating beef to honour the religious sentiments of our Hindu brethren, said Zainul Abedin Khan, the diwan of the shrine.
He also took a vow on the occasion not to eat beef. My family and I have taken a pledge on this day that we will never have beef for the rest of our lives, he said, in a statement.
Khan is the direct descendant in the 22nd generation of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, the Sufi saint.
His appeal comes amid the ragging controversy over cow slaughter with many Indian states coming up with stringent laws to prevent killing of cows and eating its meat. The bovine is considered sacred by many Hindus.
Khan supported the Gujarat governments recent legislation announcing life sentence for those found guilty of killing cows. The Gujarat assembly had last week passed a bill enhancing the punishment for cow slaughter from seven years to life imprisonment.
This (Gujarat legislation) would be a great deterrent for those involved in killing cows for meat and other products, he said and called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to declare cow as national animal.
The diwan condemned the practice of triple talaq, saying the Quran and Sharia do not permit it.
As it is inhuman, anti-Islamic and against the gender equality, it should be shunned without any further delay, he said.
Triple talaq, as it is commonly called, is a controversial Islamic practice where a man divorces a woman by saying the word talaq, the Arabic word for divorce, three times.
Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre is advocating for a ban on the practice, though many Muslim organisations are against such move.
Why some people in the community are reluctant to give up the practice which Quran and Prophet Mohammed never approved, is beyond the comprehension of a reasonable section of Muslim, he said.
Time has come to eschew the practice that victimises our sisters and daughters, Khan added.
A five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court will start hearing from May 11 petitions against the Islamic divorce practice that is said to be biased against women.
An army soldier was arrested at Srinagar airport on Monday as an anti-hijacking squad detected two grenades in his luggage moments before he was to board a chartered Air India flight to New Delhi.
Soldier Bhopal Mukhia of 17 J&K Rifles apparently told airport security that a senior officer had asked him to carry the grenades and hand them to a person in the national capital.
Major sahib told me to do so), he said during questioning.
An army spokesman confirmed that the soldier was caught carrying grenades in a packet, which was spotted during routine X-ray screening.
The matter is under investigation. The army will take action against the individual.
Mukhia, a native of Darjeeling in West Bengal, was posted near the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmirs Uri.
He was to board the chartered flight for security personnel. They dont have to undergo multiple security checks at airports; even at the one in Srinagar, which is one of the most guarded in the country.
Mukhia was handed Jammu and Kashmir police, but the army might take him in its custody.
State police chief SP Vaid said: Whether it is an armyman or a civilian, everybody will be dealt with firmly in accordance with the law.
The soldiers arrest happened a day after a policeman was killed and 14 of his colleagues in uniform were wounded in a grenade attack by militants in Nowhatta in downtown Srinagar.
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India didnt do enough to stop a string of attacks on Africans in Greater Noida last month, a statement by a group of African envoys has said, the first official reaction to the assaults that triggered nationwide condemnation.
A statement by the Heads of African Mission dated March 31 called for a condemnation of the attacks at the highest level in India and demanded an independent investigation by human rights bodies. The document also called the attacks racist and xenophobic.
The Heads of African Mission reviewed the previous instances taken place and concluded that no known, sufficient and visible deterring measures were taken by the government of India, the statement said.
As regards the unfortunate incident in Greater Noida, the African Heads of Missiontake note that these reprehensible events, both outstanding and unresolved cases against Africans, werent sufficiently condemned by Indian authorities.
Enraged locals in Greater Noida thrashed several Africans in a burst of fury following the death of a 17-year-old boy of a suspected drug overdose last month. Residents blamed the Africans of plying the youth with drugs.
A purpoted video of the assault went viral on social media that showed locals kicking and punching a Kenyan man, sparking widespread outrage. The government has said it enforced strict security but many Africans report feeling insecure and threatened.
Food is a personal choice but one should avoid consuming what is restricted in the Constitution, Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu said on Monday.
Aapko jo khana hain voh khao...par jo samvidhan main prohibited hain usko mat khaon (One can eat his food of choice, but avoid eating that food which is prohibited as per our Constitution), he said.
The information and broadcasting minister was responding to a query regarding a BJP nominee for the upcoming by-election in Malappuram in Kerala reportedly promising supply of good beef from clean slaughter houses in his constituency, if elected.
Food is a personal choice, but at the same time there are certain restrictions in the Constitution. So, in certain areas, certain things have to be respected by one and all. What is prohibited as per Constitution in states...follow that. What is there as per law... follow it. I am a pakka (staunch) non-vegetarian and will continue to be so, and there is no restriction. I am the direct example (sic), the BJP leader said.
Venkaiahs statement came at a time when the BJP-ruled states are pushing for stricter laws against cow slaughter and in Uttar Pradesh, the Yogi Adityanath government is cracking the whip on illegal abattoirs.
Former JD(U) legislator Suryadeo Singh has been arrested over a minor girls death when he opened fire in Bihars Rohtas district, police said on Monday.
According to a senior police officer, a land dispute prompted Singh and his supporters to open fire late on Sunday.
Singh was arrested after villagers complained that it was he who opened fire which resulted in the killing of the girl and injured four others, the officer said.
The former legislators wife and five others were also arrested.
A butcher has been arrested for allegedly trying to slaughter a buffalo in his house without licence in Shamli district, police said on Monday.
Acting on a tip-off, police nabbed Asif Qureshi from Kandhla town on Sunday and seized the buffalo.
According to Qureshi, he had to supply the meat for a marriage function, police said.
In another case in Shamli district, police registered a case against six persons for allegedly indulging in cattle slaughtering without licence at Kairana town on Sunday.
Police raided a house and seized meat and seven buffaloes from the site, SHO Rajkumar Sharma said, adding the six accused, including the house owner Khurshid were absconding.
Canadas defence minister Harjit Sajjan, the highest-profile Indo-Canadian in the Justin Trudeau government, is expected to travel to New Delhi this month.
With Sajjans trip, all the four Indian-origin members of the Canadian cabinet would have visited India since their appointment as ministers. The last one to come calling was small business and tourism minister Bardish Chagger, who completed her official visit to India last week.
Sajjans visit and schedule have yet to be formally announced, but if it does occur, he will also be the fifth Canadian Minister to be in India just this year, and the eighth within the span of only nine months, upping the intensity of the bilateral dialogue process.
Canadian ministers who visited India in 2017 Minister of infrastructure and communities, Amarjeet Sohi, led a business delegation to the Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2017 Minister of international trade, Francois-Philippe Champagne, travelled to New Delhi Minister of agriculture and agri-food Lawrence MacAulay led a delegation of over 20 Canadian companies and associations active in the agriculture, agri-food and seafood sectors. Bardish Chagger, Canadas minister of small business and tourism and leader of the Government in the House of Commons, travelled to New Delhi and Mumbai.
Indias defence ties with Canada are at a nascent stage, but it could benefit from the North American nations technological skills, cold climate expertise, and even explore the possibility of Canadian defence manufacturers becoming part of the Make in India initiative.
While he would not comment on or confirm any forthcoming visits, Indias High Commissioner in Ottawa, Vikas Swarup, was delighted with this rising engagement.
Weve had a lot of activity between the two countries and this augurs well really for the future of the India-Canada partnership. It shows the tremendous interest on the part of Canada in deepening the ties with India and making it as broadbased as possible.
Those who are engaged in the partnership welcome the attention Canada is paying to India.
Kasi Rao, president and CEO of the Canada-India Business Council or C-IBC, said, The number of ministers and the diversity of portfolios represents the need for a broad country-to-country relationship. And the rise of India, in that sense, is deeply relevant to Canada. All of this speaks to the widening scope of the relationship.
In an earlier statement announcing Chaggers visit, the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi noted that it was the seventh in the last eight months by a Cabinet Minister of Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus Government, a reflection of the importance of Canadas relationship with India.
Rao also stressed that this phenomenon wasnt about government leaders alone, as he said the combined attention of leaders from various sectors, business, government and academia, speaks to both the potential and how we can realise it in the coming years.
Canada may also seek to diversify its relationships, given the uncertainty surrounding the policies of the Trump Administration in Washington. Rao asserted, The United States will always be our primary market and we should be very clear about that, but he added that in a world which is sort of more inward looking, the Canada-India relationship is ready for some important breakthroughs.
Meanwhile, as the visits multiply, there could be reciprocal visits to Canada by Indian ministers to add to those by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last autumn.
We do expect a packed schedule this summer as well, Swarup said.
Of course, the single-most anticipated item on the calendar will be Trudeaus visit to India, which is likely in the second half of this year.
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Relations between India and China seem to be headed for a diplomatic chill over the nine-day visit of Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh from Tuesday, Chinese experts have said, with some of them saying Beijing should use all means including military to show its displeasure.
He was just an issue. After this, he will become a bomb. Using this could make India China relationship more important but also more dangerous, Ye Hailin, south Asia expert at the influential Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told HT.
If an incursion by the Peoples Liberation Army across the Line of Actual Control that marks the disputed China-India border cannot be ruled out, it is also possible that Beijing suspends bilateral mechanisms as a response at least temporarily.
Or China could even try to stir Indias strategic unease by boosting cooperation with Indias neighbours in South Asia especially Pakistan sign new deals and pump in more financial aid.
Experts say the response is likely to be harsh, though the tone and tenor could be dictated by Beijings diplomatic goals ahead; the response will be calibrated to ensure that it doesnt impact the BRICS summit in China in September, which is expected to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Chinese foreign ministry has already issued strong statements, saying the visit will damage ties with India; more MFA statements and strong state media editorials are likely to be issued too.
China claims Arunachal Pradesh to be part of South Tibet and calls Dharamshala-based Dalai Lama a separatist who wants to carve out an independent Tibet within the Chinese mainland.
The visit of the Tibetan leader to the northeastern state, and especially Tawang around 400 km from Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in China will add to the growing list of problems between the two neighbours with assertive leaders, heavily equipped armed forces and a history of festering squabbles.
The year 2016 was marked by Chinas intransigence on the issues of listing Pakistan-based cleric Masood Azhar in a UN list of proscribed terrorists, Indias entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group and going ahead with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor despite New Delhis concerns about it as at least a few projects under it are likely to be in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
The decision to lay the religious carpet for Dalai Lama in Arunachal Pradesh is being seen here as New Delhis way of showing its resentment and telling Beijing that India has a diplomatic card to play as well an old one that elicits a routinely furious response from Beijing.
How will Beijing respond to register its anger this time?
Most common people in China feel south Tibet is part of China since ancient times. The Tibet issue is vital to Chinas national interests, its sovereignty and territorial integrity. Dalai Lama, who said Tawang is part of India, is a treacherous separatist in action. For preserving our core interests, China should use all the resources at its disposal, including economic, cultural and eventually military means, Wang Dehua, director of the Institute for Southern and Central Asian Studies at the Shanghai Municipal Centre for International Studies told HT.
It is not for the first time that the 81-year-old Tibetan leader is visiting Arunachal or Tawang: in 1959, he escaped from China via Tawang and visited the state in 1983, 1997, 2003 and 2009.
In 2009, Beijing said the visit undermined Chinese territorial integrity and criticised the Dalai Lamas scheme to wreck Chinas relations with India.
But this time is different, one expert told HT, because the visit is continuing a trend that the Narendra Modi government began from the first day of his inauguration as prime minister.
At the inauguration of the PM Modi, this administration invited the so-called head of the Tibetan-government-in-exile, Lobsang Sangay. That time too the Chinese government was irritated. Then President (Pranab) Mukherkee met the Dalai Lama in a formal occasion, which was of course not related to the Tibet issue. But this was also very rare, very unprecedented and also very high-profile, Hu Shisheng, south Asia expert at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations said.
Hu added that on the surface, Dalai Lama has been invited to Arunachal Pradesh to deliver religious sermons.
But your minister of state for internal affairs (Kiren Rijiju) will accompany him. So, it couldnt be totally religious. Dalai Lamas activities cannot only be understood in a religious way. And, we know the visit to the disputed area itself is very politically sensitive issue in China. So, it adds another disturbance to bilateral relations, Hu told HT.
Indian diplomats here refused to comment on the situation but it wouldnt be farfetched to say that they were getting ready for a tense week ahead.
The rumblings in Congress in Karnataka due to the exit of former Union minister SM Krishna and the letters from two veteran leaders to Prime Minister Narendra Modione showering praises on him and the other endorsing RSS chief Mohan Bhagwats candidature for the Presidents posthas rattled the party ahead of next years assembly elections in the state.
With the BJP shifting its focus to Karnataka after stupendous victories in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and forming the governments in Goa and Manipur despite being the second largest party in both the states, Congress is facing the heat in Karnataka due to huge anti-incumbency and allegations of corruption against its government. The state goes to polls in March-April 2018.
But before that, chief minister Siddaramaiah faces an acid test in the two by-elections in Nanjangud and Gundlupet constituencies in the Mysore region of the state on April 9.
BJP chief Amit Shah has already declared Mission 150 (150 out of the total 224 seats in the state assembly) for the 2018 polls. The pressure is now on Siddaramaiah to perform and retain power in Karnataka which is the only big state held by the Congress as of now. Punjab is the second big state in its kitty.
In a bid to stem the exodus, the Congress leadership has stepped up efforts to persuade former Union minister CK Jaffer Sharief and another veteran MV Rajasekharan to stay put.
However, state Congress leaders say the actions by these veterans suggest they have lost relevance and are desperately trying to be in the news.
In a letter to the PM, Sharief (84) had backed Bhagwat for the Presidents post, saying there should not be any doubt about his patriotism, love for the people of India and loyalty to the nation despite belonging to one school of thought.
Similarly, 89-year-old Rajasekharan congratulated the Prime Minister for BJPs success in the recent assembly elections and drew parallels between late prime minister Indira Gandhis Garibi Hatao (abolish poverty) slogan and Modis welfare measures for the poor and the middle class.
However, the son-in-law of former Karnataka chief minister S Nijalingappa and a Congress Working Committee member later clarified that he has no intention of leaving the party and joining the BJP. I will always be in Congress, he said.
Congress general secretary BK Hariprasad, who hails from Karnataka, took a dig at Krishna. Congress could not fulfill his dream of becoming the president, vice president or the prime minister. It seems BJP has assured him of one of these posts. I wish him good luck, he told HT. Krishna, 84, joined the BJP last month.
Apart from being external affairs minister in the Manmohan Singh government from 2009 to 2012, Krishna had served as Karnataka chief minister from 1999 to 2004 and Maharashtra governor from 2004 to 2008.
Are the veterans feeling sidelined in the present dispensation?
Many state leaders disagree with this contention and insist that these veterans are trying to stay relevant and at the same want to safeguard their own interests and secure the future of their kin.
There is something more to it than meets the eyesomething that amazes all of us, said Dinesh Gundu Rao, the Congress partys working president in Karnataka.
Rao was appointed to the post in June last year even while state home minister G Parameshwara continues to be the Karnataka Congress chief.
It is high time for seniors to pass on the baton to young leaders who are active in the organisation. There is a limit to what a political party can give to its leaders, he said.
His colleague Shakir Sanadi said these leaders who enjoyed top positions in the Congress have compromised with the party ideology for personal and family benefits.
Earlier Congress leaders sacrificed everything for the country and the party ideology. But now some leaders are compromising with the commitment and ideology for political and financial benefits of themselves and their family members, he said.
Karnataka Youth Congress chief Rizwan Arshad is of the view that these veteran leaders are no more relevant in politics and public now and dismissed the notion that they have been sidelined in the party.
The frustration is because they have been out of power for some time now. They are gravitating towards BJP to protect their own interests. There is no love for BJP but lust for power, he said.
Arshad and other state leaders pointed out that Sharief twice managed to get the Congress ticket for his grandson CK Abdul Rehman Sharief but lost on both the occasionsfirst in the 2013 assembly elections and then in last years bypoll from Hebbal constituency despite strong opposition from Siddaramaiah.
It is very strange that the people who have enjoyed maximum power in Congress and even helped their family members benefit over the years are deserting the party at critical times whereas the workers who got nothing stand solidly with the organisation, said All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary Suraj Hegde, who also hails from Karnataka.
However, the state leaders maintained that these rumblings wont affect the Congress in next years assembly elections and claimed the party will beat hands down not only the anti-incumbency but its adversaries as well. We will emerge much more stronger from these developments and definitely retain power in Karnataka, Hegde said.
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Only love. Love took me half way across the world...love made me a mother to hundreds of children... Love put me through the hardest years of my life...but... Love also saved me. Its worth it, posted a British-Iranian aid worker, soon after she was acquitted over death of an Odisha boy.
Narges Kalbasi Ashtari, who was running an orphanage on behalf of the Prishan Foundation at Mukundapur village in Odishas Rayagada district, was convicted by a local court in 2014 for negligence leading to the death of a five-year-old tribal boy Asim Jilakara.
After prolonged legal battle for over two years, Ashtari was finally acquitted by Rayagada additional district and sessions court on March 25. The court said the negligence charge against her was trumped up.
Consulate of Iran in Hyderabad provided her legal assistance to fight the case.
Soon after the acquittal, Ashtari took to the Facebook to vent her emotion, posting the moving comment that reflects the trauma the 28-year old had undergone in the past two years.
As she tries to overcome the trauma under the care of the Iranian Consulate, her confidence and determination to serve the poor children only intensified.
Ashtari started working in Rayagada area in 2011. (HT Photo)
We must always fight for what we believe in because this is our world. Unfortunately, people will always be there to try to stop happiness, to stop progress, to stop peace... These people exist and they exist far greater than we know. But eventually, love will always win, she said.
Recalling the most difficult phase of her life, Ashtari said she had never expected that she would become a victim of local politics and corrupt administration.
After travelling across different parts of India, I had chosen to work in Rayagada area in 2011 because it was one of the most neglected areas of the country. I was enjoying working for the underprivileged children in the area, when the tragic incident took place on November 3, 2014, she told Hindustan Times.
On behalf of Prishan Foundation, Ashtari and her team took some tribal students on a picnic to a riverside.
A couple working with us brought two of their children to the picnic, though they were not supposed to, as these children were not part of our foundation. The couple assured that they would take care of their children. Unfortunately, one of these two kids had gone missing, she recalled.
Ashtari with an underprivileged kid. (HT Photo)
We took the roll call of our students and since this boy was not in our list, we were not aware of his absence, she said.
The boy was believed to have been swept away in the river current and was not traced.
Though the couple initially told the police that it was not our mistake, they changed the statement later holding me responsible for the death. The police filed an FIR against me on the charges of negligence and that was how, I was implicated in the case, she said.
Apparently, the couple and the police had demanded Rs 5 lakh as bribe to withdraw the case. But I was not willing to pay even Rs 5,000, as I did not commit any mistake. When the court convicted me, I was shattered, she said.
Ashtari was released on bail, but was asked not to leave the country and to make regularly appearance in the police station.
I filed an appeal. In the next two years, I had to run from pillar to post seeking assistance. Luckily, I could get help from various quarters, including the tribal students for whom I worked, she said.
Ashtari also took to online petition forum Change.org and appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to come to her rescue. Thousands of people signed the petition in her support.
And finally, she could prove her innocence.
On her future course of action, she said: Well, I have not yet decided what to do now, whether to go back to the UK or stay back in India. The road back to normalcy is going to be difficult. But at least now its on the right track.
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India didnt do enough to stop xenophobic and racial attacks on Africans in Greater Noida last month, a group of African envoys has said in the first official reaction to the assaults that triggered nationwide condemnation.
In a late night reaction on Monday, the external affairs ministry said it was unfortunate that a criminal act had been described as racial. The ministry added that the government is committed to the security of all foreign nationals, including Africans.
A statement by the heads of African missions dated March 31 sought a strong condemnation of the attacks at the highest level in India, legal action against perpetrators and an independent investigation by human rights bodies.
The document said the accumulated attacks against Africans were xenophobic and racial in nature.
The Heads of African Missionsreviewed the previous incidents that have taken place in the past and concluded that no known, sufficient and visible deterring measures were taken by the government of India, the statement said.
Referring to the recent attacks in Greater Noida, the African envoys said that these reprehensible events, both outstanding and unresolved cases against Africans, werent sufficiently condemned by the Indian authorities.
Responding to the African envoys, the external affairs ministry said it was unfortunate that a criminal act triggered following the untimely death of a young Indian student under suspicious circumstances has been termed as xenophobic and racial. The investigation into the Indian teenagers death and subsequent incidents is ongoing.
The government condemned the unacceptable attack on some Nigerian nationals in Greater Noida and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj had made a detailed statement in Parliament.
Authorities in Uttar Pradesh had arrested some suspects and taken steps to strengthen the security of Nigerian nationals. The external affairs ministry noted a report of an assault on a Kenyan national was withdrawn and the concerned national, whose tourist visa had expired, was returning to Kenya.
Enraged local residents in Greater Noida thrashed several Africans in a burst of fury following the death of a 17-year-old boy of a suspected drug overdose last month. Residents blamed the Africans of providing drugs to the teenager.
A video of the assault of an African man went viral on social media and sparked widespread outrage. Despite the governments assertion that it has enforced strict security, some Africans have reported feeling insecure and threatened.
Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal raised doubts on Monday over the BJPs landslide assembly poll victory in Uttar Pradesh, and asked the Election Commission to release electronic voting machines (EVM) for investigation into allegations of tampering and rigging.
Also, the Aam Aadmi Party chief demanded that the April 23 civic elections in New Delhi be postponed, or the poll panel should go back to the paper ballot.
We demand the EC to release the EVMs so that it is open to scrutiny; we will investigate. Recent observations are alarming, paper ballot should be considered to replace EVMs, Kejriwal said.
The commission dismissed the allegations and said its systems were tamperproof. It asked the AAP to introspect on its poll performance in Punjab, instead of blaming the EVMs a comment that Kejriwal and other leaders have bristled against.
Kejriwals party came a distant runner-up, bucking projections that it will form the next government in Punjab the partys second after New Delhi.
He questioned the reliability of EVMs after the Punjab polls.
The Congress too joined the anti-EVM chorus after a purported video of an EVM tested ahead of by-polls in Madhya Pradesh showed the paper trail attached to it generating a receipt for the BJP. The state chief electoral officer Saleena Singh had 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.
Kejriwals said his experts can show in 72 hours how the machines could be tampered to suit a political party.
The AAP alleged that EVMs for by-polls in Madhya Pradesh were shifted from Uttar Pradesh where assembly poll results were declared on March 11.
All EVMs sent to Bhind were used in Uttar Pradeshs Govind Nagar during the assembly elections. How can you allow that? Also, we have heard that VVPAT machines from UP were brought to conduct the Rajouri Garden bypoll, Kejriwal said.
He alleged that the commission has violated its own rules, as EVMs from an election cant be reused for 45 days a period during which a person can petition against the result, which would warrant an examination of the machines.
People are asking whether they should even bother to vote if the EVMS could be tampered municipal elections should be held using paper ballots. It should be postponed if time is required to do that, he said.
The nominations for elections to the three municipal corporations ended on Monday.
The commission said the party has levelled baseless observations and allegations.
VVPAT machines are not required by the law to be retained in a strong room for the purpose of election petition and are available for use. However, in the by-polls only VVPAT machines kept in reserve, and not used during the polls, have been redeployed, the panel clarified in a statement.
The standby machines go through the same rigorous protocol and kept ready.
Hence, the VVPATs sent to Bhind had the previous symbols loaded from Uttar Pradesh. This is a standard protocol and there was nothing amiss in this, the commission said.
The old symbols for contesting candidates are erased only before the next polls. It was not done when a demonstration was made on March 31 in Bhind.
The 2nd Special Central Unit from the Civil Guards Emerging Risks Group spent at least two years recording dozens of telephone conversations between Alexander Porfirievich Torshin, a former Russian senator with close ties to Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump , and his trusted confidante in Spain Alexander Romanov.
Romanov is escorted by police in Palma de Mallorca. Diario de Mallorca
More information The Spanish connection with Trumps Russia scandal
A report from the unit, dated June 14, 2016, details 33 different calls, made between August 7, 2012 and May 13, 2013, in which Torshin appears implicated in the murky hotel business of Romanov, for which the latter has just been sentenced to four years in prison for money laundering, as well as being forced to return to the state the Mallorcan hotel Mar i Pins in which he invested more than 15 million, using money from the Russian criminal gang known as Taganskaya, a group that has been responsible for blackmailing, extortion and contract killings since the 1990s.
The godfather cant buy here because hes a public servant and it is prohibited, Romanov said of Torshin
The Civil Guard investigation highlights that the relationship between Torshin and Romanov dates back to the years 1995 and 1998 at the Central Bank of Russia, known as Tsentrobank, when Romanov occupied the role of Director of Representation of the state entity, and Torshin was his immediate boss. Their friendship deepened so much that the Russian ex-politician is the godfather of the son of Romanov, 53, and his wife Natalia Vinogradova, also 53. The latter also knew Torshin during her time in the Russian Senate.
The conversations between Torshin and Romanov and the subordination of the latter toward the Russian politician left no doubts in the mind of the Civil Guard captain who investigated the case and produced a confidential report to which EL PAIS has had access. This document, entitled Alexander Porfirievich Torshin in Operation Dirieba, is not included in the legal case and was handed over to the Spanish anti-corruption public prosecutor. In it, Torshin is identified as the owner of the funds that were laundered in Spain and that had come from the Taganskaya. Torshin took a lot of security measures and would sometimes call from his wifes phone. In the flow of calls there are also some from the fixed line number 74956925921, which corresponds to his official office as First Vice-chairman of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. When Romanov was arrested and his house was searched, the address senator@umail.ru used by Torshin was found in his email account. Also found were official documents from the Russian prosecutor.
Document from the Anti-Corruption prosecutor into the links between Torshin and mafioso Romanov.
In the document about the phone calls between Torshin and Romanov written by the Emerging Risks Group there are sentences that reflect the conviction of the Civil Guard investigators that the money laundered in Spain really belonged to Torshin. The Godfather [as Romanov calls Torshin] cannot buy here [in Spain] because hes a public servant and it is forbidden [...] if the boss buys it [the Mar i Pins hotel] I would like to run it [...] The boss gave instructions to buy a hotel because he has two daughters and he wants one of them to inherit it, as well as the share packages [...] Do you think that the boss wants to buy one or many? For now, he has given me instructions to buy one, because hes a prudent person and if we are co-owners, says Romanov in one of the conversations that was recorded under a judicial order. In others, he states that Torshin is the owner of 80% of the Mar i Pins hotel.
Analyzing all of the conversations that were monitored since the start of the investigation, it is shown that Alexander Porfirievich Torshin is the person who, from Russia, is directing the money-laundering activities that Alexander Romanov is developing in Spain possibly acting in this way as a front man for the Russian politician both for his investments in Russia as well as in our country, reads a report dated July 2013 from the official in charge of the investigation, weeks before Torshin announced via telephone his intention to travel to Palma de Mallorca in order to attend the birthday party of Romanov on August 21. It was a journey that he would cancel at the last minute in order to avoid his arrest.
Torshins journey to Spain prompted expectations among the investigators and prosecutors because the then-senator had stated that he would be attending accompanied by a number of people who were under investigation. An operation was set up to arrest him, and a public prosecutor even stayed on call because the rest were on vacation, explains a judicial source. When the flights arrived from Russia without Torshin the level of frustration was huge. Since then the tone of the phone messages from Torshin changed radically. He knew that we were after him, a source from the investigation explains. Sources from the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor have confirmed that the Attorney Generals Office had given its agreement for the arrest, but they suspect that there was a leak and the then-Russian politician decided that it was too risky to travel to Spain.
Presentation of the conclusions of the Kremlin investigation into the Beslan massacre.
The impossibility of arresting the Russian politician and the impossibility of the authorities in his country handing him over were he to be prosecuted cooled interest in continuing to go after him, according to several judicial sources. The main objective was to get back the hotel, a source from the investigation explains. Going after Torshin would have delayed the case for a long time and the chances of success were zero given that Russia was not going to collaborate. Without Torshin here there were no guarantees that it would be heard.
The appearance of Alexander Torshin in this case generated tension and unease among those responsible for the Civil Guard investigation and some of its leaders in Madrid, who raised objections about the arrest of Torshin were he to step onto Spanish soil.
Civil Guard documents covering the investigation into Torshin in Spain.
Romanovs defense verbally conveyed to the prosecutor that Torshin would appear as a witness in the trial held in Palma de Mallorca, according to sources from the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor, but in the end that was not suggested. We think that if he came he would likely have stayed here definitively, a judicial source explains. They did suggest Rabinovich and another two Russian mafiosos who appear in the legal case as witnesses, but who obviously didnt attend to testify.
Romanov was sentenced last May to two years in prison and a fine of 4.2 million for money laundering, to one year and nine months for ongoing document fraud and a daily fine of 100 for 12 months for the offense of disclosure of secrets. His wife, Natalia Vinogradova, and another seven associates were given lesser sentences. Thanks to a deal that saw Romanov return the hotel to the Spanish state, the Anti-Corruption prosecutors Jose Grinda and Juan Carrau withdrew the charges against him of belonging to a criminal organization. The Mar y Pins hotel was auctioned off several weeks ago for 12.6 million, a sum which will go to the state.
English version by Simon Hunter.
On March 24, two men allegedly accosted a woman aboard a Lucknow-bound train and poured a bottle of acid down her throat. A day later, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath visited her at a city hospital and offered a relief package of Rs 1 lakh. Her assailants were arrested soon afterwards.
This is the procedure followed by Indian authorities every time a newsworthy case of acid attack emerges. Little, however, is done to stem the occurrence of such incidents.
India has the highest incidence of acid attacks in the world, with the number of such cases rising from 83 to 349 between 2011 and 2015.
The train acid attack was just one of the many that have occurred in Uttar Pradesh lately.
On March 21, a Ghaziabad woman suffered over 50% burns on her face and body after a former boyfriend attacked her under similar circumstances. The solution used in this case was an acid-based toilet cleaner available at provision stores across the country.
Easy availability of acid is the primary reason for Indias failure to prevent such attacks. Four years after the Supreme Court ordered every state and Union Territory to outlaw the over-the-counter sale of acid, one can still buy a bottle without much difficulty in various places across the country.
Take Ghaziabad, for instance, where the 19-year-old woman was attacked right outside her house.
A trip to Chopla market in this locality is enough for anybody to acquire a bottle of the potent liquid. When an HT reporter went to purchase a toilet cleaner from a shop located in this area, its owner immediately directed a helper to fetch an ominous-looking bottle from another outlet across the road.
No conventional toilet cleaner can rid your bathroom floor of stubborn stains, he explained. Acid can clean anything!
No identification documents were shown and no questions were asked either. By merely paying Rs 50, the reporter became the proud owner of a bottle of acid.
No Harpic-sharpic can do the job as effectively as tezaab. It will even open choked commodes and remove cement deposits from the bathroom floor.
Sometimes you are spared even the customary walk to the market. Just look out of the window and you can see a bicycle-borne vendor yelling tezaab khareed lo for all potential acid attackers to hear.
In neighbouring Noida, a five-litre can of hydrochloric acid can be bought for Rs 100.
A shopkeeper at Harola market was equally confident of its potency. No Harpic-sharpic can do the job as effectively as tezaab. It will even open choked commodes and remove cement deposits from the bathroom floor, he said.
But dont let it touch your skin, he added. You may not like that.
Another shopkeeper in west Delhis Moti Nagar located about 15km from the Supreme Court was more than happy to part with a bottle of acid for Rs 30. He, however, was less vocal about the dangers it may pose.
This does not seriously harm the skin, he said shortly, turning his attention to other customers.
The Supreme Court order, which was pronounced in 2013, also instructed governments to issue acid-sale licences to select retailers. Any outlet authorised to sell the volatile liquid was mandated to ask buyers for address proof and a photo identity card, so they can be traced in case of an untoward incident. Minors were not allowed to purchase acid, and details of the sale were supposed to be provided to the local police station within three days.
Today, few of these regulations are observed.
The present state of affairs is disconcerting for acid attack survivors who demand more effective action. The campaign is headed by Laxmi, who suffered a horrific acid attack in 2005 by a man whose advances she had turned down.
Acid is still being sold openly everywhere. During our shoot acid campaign last year, we shot many videos of shopkeepers giving it away freely. Acid can also be procured from small factories that use chemicals in their manufacturing processes. Raids dont help because factory owners are always informed in advance by the local police, she told Hindustan Times.
In 2013, Laxmi had petitioned the Supreme Court to pass an order regulating the sale of acid and rehabilitating victims. Its orders should be enforced more strictly by states, he said.
Some states, such as Haryana, seem to fare better than others at imposing the rules. The police in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh say they find it hard to monitor all the shops under their ambit.
We conduct surprise checks at licensed shops from time to time, said a senior police officer in west Delhi.
Zaheer Khan, the station house officer at Noida Sector 58, claimed that the sale of acid in the area is limited to a few closely monitored shops.
Occasionally, we check whether their supply records are in order. We also ensure that they keep a record of the buyers, he said.
(With inputs from Peeyush Khandelwal, Pawan Pandita, Ipsita Pati and Shiv Sunny)
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An Indian student, who was assaulted in Poland, was fine and police were investigating the case, Indian Ambassador to Poland Ajay Bisaria said on Monday.
Boy assaulted in Poznan fine. Injury minor, (and is) in touch with Embassy, family. Police investigating. Embassy monitoring. @IndianDiplomacy @SushmaSwaraj, Bisaria tweeted.
Boy assaulted in Poznan fine, injury minor, in touch with Emb, family. Police investigating. Emb monitoring. @IndianDiplomacy @SushmaSwaraj Ajay Bisaria (@Ajaybis) April 2, 2017
He also said the young man requested that his privacy be maintained.
Bisaria, in a Facebook post, said the boy recounts that he was punched on the face for no reason by an unknown assailant, a male in his 20s, who shouted at him, apparently in Polish. The assailant escaped, the motive of the attack is unclear.
The police have CCTV footage and two eye-witness accounts; they are hopeful of hunting down the culprit. We are monitoring this case closely, he added.
External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday said that Iran has released 15 Indian fishermen who were detained with their Bahraini boats last year.
I am happy to inform that Iran has released our 15 fishermen from Tamil Nadu. They were detained with their 3 Bahraini boats, Swaraj said in a tweet.
I am happy to inform that Iran has released our 15 fishermen from Tamil Nadu. They were detained with their 3 Bahraini boats. /1 Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) April 3, 2017
She also thanked the Indian Embassy in Tehran, appreciating their good work for facilitating the release.
The fishermen, working for some Baharainians, were detained for entering the Iranian waters without permission.
They were said to be confined to their boats since their arrest on September 22.
Gujarat DGP PP Pandey, accused in the Ishrat Jehan alleged fake encounter case, will step down from his post with the Supreme Court directing the state on Monday to revoke the notification that gave him a post-retirement extension.
Former top cop from Maharashtra Julio F Ribero had challenged the extension granted to Pandey.
He said the senior officer was still facing the murder charges and was in a position to influence the witnesses in the case, most of them being police officials.
A bench headed by Chief Justice JS Khehar gave the direction after being told that Pandey had expressed his willingness to relinquish the post forthwith.
State counsel, additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta had urged the court to let Pandey be on the post till April 30, when his term ends. The plea was shot down by the court.
But, his tenure has already ended. He retired long back, the bench said.
Read more | Ishrat Jahan, killed in fake encounter, was LeT operative: Headley
It noted since Pandey offered his resignation, Gujarat must issue a notification immediately. It disposed of Riberos petition as infructuous.
In his letter dated April 1, addressed to state chief secretary, Pandey said the issue regarding his extension was unnecessarily raised in the SC by certain disgruntled elements, apparently with an ulterior motive to bring disrepute to the state.
Expressing his willingness to step down, Pandey said he took this decision to avoid causing any embarrassment to the Gujarat government.
State handed over the letter to the bench as part of its affidavit in which it justified the extension order in favour of Pandey.
It said Pandey, then working as director, anti-corruption bureau, was given additional charge of DGP and IG, Gujarat after his predecessor PC Thakur went on deputation to the Central government.
Pandey was to superannuate on January 30, 2017, but was given an extension in the wake of the revival of the Patidar reservation agitation.
Being a border state, the state police had started a technology-based project for ensuring adequate surveillance and security of its citizens. Also, a recruitment drive of 17,000 police personnel was midway and keeping such contingencies in mind Pandey was given six months extension.
Read more | Aftermath of Ishrat Jahan case: Fake encounters a blot on society
Riberos counsel, senior advocate Kapil Sibal said Pandey could not have got extension because he was an accused in a murder case. He said the officer had applied for discharge in the matter and the CBI on his plea had contended before the local trial court that there was enough evidence against him to frame charges.
Pandey was heading the state crime branch when Ishrat, a 19-year-old girl based in Mumbra near Mumbai, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Amjadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an encounter with police on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004.
Gujarat police alleged they had terror links and plotted to kill the then chief minister Narendra Modi.
An SIT constituted by the high court to investigate the case had concluded that it was a fake encounter, following which the court transferred the case to the CBI.
After being released on bail, Pandey was taken back into service in February 2015 and appointed the director of the state anti-corruption bureau.
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The Jammu and Kashmir Police have sought forensic and IT experts to investigate the nature of messages and calls made through the 14 mobile phones seized from Baramulla jail inmates, including separatist Masrat Alam, on Sunday.
The phones were found on militants and stone-pelters who were using WhatsApp, an encrypted messaging platform, and some of them were in touch with people in Pakistan, Baramulla senior superintendent of police Imtiyaz Hussain said after the search.
We have sent the phones for forensic investigation to ascertain the purpose they were used for, DGP SP Vaid said on Monday.
The state police chief was speaking at the wreath laying ceremony for policeman Shamim Ahmad killed in a militant attack in Srinagar a day earlier.
Vaid had a few days ago accused Pakistan of fomenting unrest in Kashmir and disrupt anti-militancy operations by sending out messages asking youngsters to crowd sites of gun fights and throw stones at security forces to help militants escape.
Speaking in Parliament on Friday, Union home minister Rajnath Singh repeated the charge, saying Pakistan was using social media to incite the youth in Kashmir.
The crackdown came after the jail staff suspected that mobile phones were being operated from the jail, which is illegal.
A case has been registered against at least 10 inmates, including Alam, who was allegedly found to be using two phones.
Alam who has been in and out of jail in the last six years faces multiple cases, including stoking the 2010 unrest that left 117 people dead in the Valley.
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Jharkhands primitive tribes will now get food at their door steps. The state government on Monday launched its ambitious food post scheme, the first of its kind in the country, for 70,000 families of particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs) enrolled under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).
By delivering food through special messengers, the government aims to check malnutrition and hunger deaths among these tribes, officials said.
The NFSA was launched in Jharkhand on September 25, 2015, and covers more than 2.63 people of the states total population of 3.29 crore. Under the scheme, PVTGs are entitled to 35 kg free ration every month.
Since the PVTGs -- whose dwindling population is a concern for the state as well as the Centre -- lead a wanderers life in jungles and hills, the NFSA has failed to reach out to them effectively for their benefit.
A survey conducted in two PVTGs villages in Garhwa and Sahebganj districts last year revealed that families of the Soriya Paharaiya -- an extremely endangered PVTG -- from the two villages have to dole out up to Rs 300 to access their free ration.
Women from a tribal group in Dhawadih village in Jharkhand s Palamu feeding their children. (HT Photo)
A right to food activist and the Supreme Court commissioners advisor on the same, Balram, who goes by one name, had carried out the survey.
As per the Supreme Court order dated November 28, 2001, ration distribution should be made available free of cost every month to all the PVTG families at a nearest point. Unfortunately, the so-called nearest points for many of the PVTGs means travelling up to 50-60 km to and fro, which consumes an entire day, Balram said.
State food minister Saryu Rai said, We got many reports that PVTGs are not getting their benefits under NFSA due to distance and unawareness towards their rights. So, we have decided to start food post so that these groups could get their rights at door step.
The scheme was started from three blocks including Sundar Pahari (Godda), Chainpur (Palamu) and Barhait (Sahebganj) on Monday. All 24 districts of the state will covered under the scheme by April end, said Vinay Kumar Choubey, secretary of food and public distribution department.
Choubey said that block level officials would be engaged as special messengers for the schemes, who would deliver a packet of 35-kg rice to each household.
The delivery boy will carry an Aadhaar enabled POS machine to authenticate the actual delivery, said Choubey, who claimed Jharkhand is the first state in the country to launch food post.
The scheme will also boost the income of rural women, as government has decided to purchase 35-kg plastic bags from Sakhi Mandal (women self-help groups).
We have tied up with women SHGs in different villages for providing the 35 kg poly bags. This will increase income of rural women, Choubey said.
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Pakistan-based militant outfit Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) is going through dissension in its top rung, with its founder Hafiz Saeed and its Kashmir operations in-charge Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi falling out, according to intelligence inputs received by Indian security establishment.
The inputs, accessed by HT, also suggest that terrorist outfits are plotting to assassinate separatist leaders to foment further unrest in the Valley.
The LeT has also decided not to use its own name in future attacks in India and has passed on instructions to issue press releases in the name of Quit Kashmir Movement to give an impression of the involvement of indigenous groups.
Intelligence sources as also a senior Jammu & Kashmir police official told HT they were taking precautions in view of these inputs. As per the data provided by the government in Parliament last week, there has been a spurt in the number of infiltration attempts in recent times from 121 in 2015 to 371 in 2016 as also in the number of Kashmiri boys taking to militancy from 16 in 2013 to 66 in 2015 and 88 in 2016.
According to intelligence documents, the LeT leadership has decided to not use its name in its actions in Kashmir and actions will be given more and more colour of being carried out indigenously by the indigenous groups. These inputs coupled with a spurt in the youth turning into militants have set alarm bells ringing in the security establishment.
Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi has got certain issues with Hafiz Saeed, who is presently under detention. Reportedly, Lakhvi has shifted most of his loyalists to PoK. Inputs reveal that Lashkar has decided to not use its name in its actions in Kashmir, stated the intelligence documents.
Reasons are unknown to us so far, said a security official when asked about the possible reasons for the purported rift between Saeed and Lakhvi.
Inputs further reveal that Tehreek-e-Mujahideen has been revived and Bilpapa who was earlier in Central Jail in Moulana Showkat murder case and is presently on bail has been instrumental in reviving a group of TeM. This group may plan to target any separatist leader to bring the situation in the valley to a flashpoint.
Interestingly, Javed Munshi alias Bilpapa was disowned by the TeM after the killing of cleric-politician Maulana Shaukat Shah in 2011. Jamiat-e-Ahl-e-Hadith (JAH) had then declared killers of Shaukat Shah as traitors.
Although TeM is considered to be a dormant militant group, a senior J&K police officer told HT that the establishment was treating the intelligence inputs seriously as the Valley has witnessed violent protests, though intermittently, since the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani by security forces last year.
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Bihars notorious land sharks have been found to have grabbed 175 acres of government land that was earmarked for being transferred to the Mahatma Gandhi Central University, Bihar (MGCUB), for the construction of its campus here.
The discovery was made when the East Champaran district authorities were carrying out a physical verification of about 200 acres of the government land, ahead of its transfer to MGCUB. This block of land, including the grabbed 175 acres, was part of a total of 301 acres of land that has to be provided to the university for its Motihari campus.
The remaining 100 acres of so of land to be acquired for the project is private.
Now that the transfer of even the government land to the university has been delayed till such time as the district authorities are able to sort out the matter, the seven year wait for the central university to have its own building has been extended further..
Originally known as the Central University of Bihar (CUB), the university had started functioning from a temporary campus in Patna, in 2009, in the wake of the passage of the Central Universities Act, 2009. However, the location for its permanent campus could not be sorted out.
This was because the then HRD minister Kapil Sibal wanted the CUB to come up in Gaya in south Bihar whereas chief minister Nitish Kumar preferred it to be set up at Motihari in East Champaran district of north Bihar. This led to the decision by the centre, to set up two central universities, one in Gaya and one in Motihari.
The formal nod for setting up the CUB, later renamed MGCUB, at Motihari came in 2012, after a prolonged agitation by the people and politicians of north Bihar, a .teacher recalled. But land acquisition and transfer woes come in the way of the construction work of the university building from being started.
Authorities now say the175 acres of grabbed land, located across Furasatpur, Bairia and Bankat localities near Motihari is Gairmajarua (vested in the state of Bihar). Occupants of the grabbed land claim its ownership through what the authorities claim was illegal jamabandi (settlement).
The jamabandi was created at the local circle office on the basis of fabricated documents furnished by land sharks who wanted to claim compensation from the government for acquiring its own land for the MGCUB, said an official.
Officials engaged in land acquisition were stunned, when, at the time of spot verification, they found a numbers of stakeholders had emerged for what they knew to be gairmajurwa land. Now, we have started the process of annulling the illegal jamabandi, said Motihari circle officer Basant Kumar Sinha.
Additional collector Arshad Ali said it had been found during the preliminary investigation that a revenue functionary had overlooked the rules to create the jamabandi in private names.
Officials said during a survey conducted in 1914-1918, the nature of land in the localities in which the grabbed land was located, had been identified as Mali Gairmajarua.
We have identified the circle officer and the revenue functionary during whose tenure most of the (illegal) jamabandi had been created. While the CO has been transferred out of Motihari, the revenue functionary retired on January 31, this year, said an official.
He said a three member team had been formed in February to inquire against the erring revenue functionary. But nothing came out of the inquiry, he stated.
Dozens of angry women have been invading liquor shops, yelling at top of their voices smashing bottles and scaring away the tipplers and liquor shop owners alike for the last couple of days.
The sight that is enough to scare away Bacchus has become a trend ever since these vends started relocating to sidestep a Supreme Court order banning liquor shops along state and national highways.
Of the 8500 highway liquor vends affected by the apex courts order, 5334 have shifted inside the limits set by court. This relocation has resulted in shops coming closer to residential areas; a move that has angered many women who feel easier access to alcohol could make their men go astray.
So the women in UP, especially in rural areas are doing everything they possibly can to scare the liquor shop owners.
From Faizabad to Bulandshahr and from Ambedkarnagar to Hapur its a common sight. If they arent busy smashing liquor bottles, they are blocking highways instead with the same intention - to highlight the demand for relocation of liquor vends.
Deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya has assured women that the government would ensure their demands are looked into. We will do what best we can, he said.
Wine shop owners are making profits at the cost of our health and peace of society. We will not allow this, said Shalini Johri, a Bareilly-based city councillor who was among the protesters.
We do not wish to disturb the peace of any area by shifting there. If the government will not suggest any place to relocate, we will be forced to do it ourselves, said Mahant Kumar, manager at a wine shop in Bareilly, which was closed following the court order.
In Faizabad, women of Ankaripur village forced the police to close down a beer shop that was being relocated in their village. In Ambedkarnagar a group of angry women blocked the Akbarpur-Tanda highway for the same reason giving goosebumps to licensees of liquor vends.
What can we do? Our interests are being affected. We invested so much money in this business. Now, the Supreme Court doesnt want us on highways and these women dont want us further inside. Where do we go now? The police needs to protect our interest too, said Prateek Jaiswal, owner of the one of the liquor vends near Ambedkarnagar.
In Kanpur many women angered by the fact that some displaced liquor shop owners started operating from residential premises in Shyam Nagar, Macharia and Gujaini virtually barged inside the shops and broke liquor bottles.
We placated them after great difficulty. Only after we assured them that liquor outlets wont operate from residential areas did they agree to call off their agitation, a police official said.
Residents of Kalayanpur to Indira Nagar Road off the highway have threatened action if the shop was not removed from here soon.
The wine shops were closed on Kanpur-Aligarh Highway (from Ramadevi to Bilhaur), Hamirpur-Sagar Highway (from Naubasta to Ghatampur Yamuna bridge) Mughal Road Moosanagar to Chaudgara in Ghatampur, Etawa-Lucknow Highway (from Bilhaur to Nanamau), Chaubepur to Bidhuna Road and from Ramadevi to Kanpur Dehat.
Similar reports have been received from Ballia, Hapur, Moradabad and Deoria. Its the same situation everywhere, an excise department official said.
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday said the youth who pelt stones at security forces in the Kashmir Valley were in distress and need to be engaged to understand their problems.
We have to focus on our children (stone-pelters) because they are in pain, they are in distress. I feel that the need is to engage them, to understand their problems and I am happy that Tasaduq is trying to play a part in that, Mehbooba told reporters after addressing a workers convention in Shopian district of south Kashmir.
Mehboobas brother Mufti Tasaduq Hussain is the PDP candidate for the Anantnag by-poll.
The chief minister said the security forces also have to show restraint while dealing with law and order problems.
Definitely, that is something without which nothing will work. The army and security forces have to show restraint and they are showing restraint, she said.
Mehbooba said unemployment and restlessness of the youth in the Valley were the biggest challenges for her government.
The youth picking up stones is a big issue. The biggest challenge that my government faces is the youth, their unemployment and the biggest of all the restlessness in their minds. We did not create this in the last one or two years, this restlessness has been there for many years now, she said.
The chief minister said any problem can be resolved through dialogue.
Our strength lies in democracy and democracy is the battle of ideas. Any problem, be it small or bigger one like we have in Jammu and Kashmir, its solution lies only in talks and dialogue, she said.
She said we have in the past as well held dialogue many a times, we have had agreements, we have had the Shimla Agreement and prior to that the Tashkent Agreement and after that the Lahore Declaration.
And internally, we had Sheikh Abdullah accord (Indira-Abdullah accord), Rajiv (Gandhi)-Farooq (Abdullah) accord and similar talks were held like with Hurriyat during the time of (former deputy prime minster) LK Advani when AB Vajpayee was our prime minister.
And, (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi himself yesterday mentioned Vajpayee, saying people liked him because during his tenure he looked for Kashmir solution within the ambit of humanity, Mehbooba said.
She said her father and former chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed gave a roadmap in the face of Agenda of Alliance -- the common minimum programme between the PDP and the BJP - in which solution of all difficulties lies.
Lucas Hernandez used to live in a pretty two-bedroom apartment in the central Malasana district of Madrid. He was paying 900 a month for the 100-square-meter space, and planned to stay there for quite a while. But after three years, the legal minimum period after which the owner can rescind the lease, he had to leave.
The reason: the propietor wanted to sell the property. In 2015, a construction company called Aleppo Castilian bought the building and turned the units into tourist apartments. The price per square meter tripled. Hernandez, like his other neighbors joined an exodus from the center of the Spanish capital.
These days, to spend one night in what used to be his home would cost Lucas close to 100. And this is just one example of how the city center is being turned over to tourism, in what constitutes an accelerated form of gentifrication.
The treated us as though we were bugs
Alberto Haj-Saleh, resident
More and more residential apartments are being transformed into occasional accommodation, forcing long-term residents out into the suburbs as they are suddenly priced out of their own homes. Rents in Madrid are hitting historical highs: in just one year, they have risen by 14.6%, according to the Bank of Spain. Renting an apartment in the center of the city now costs an average 16.9 per square meter a month.
Over the past decade, the center of Madrid has lost 10% of its population, while in the last two years the number of tourist-oriented accommodation has grown by 50% (from 4,000 housing units to over 6,000), according to a study by the Madrid Higher Technical School of Engineering.
We are not like Barcelona yet, but we are getting there in leaps and bounds, warns Alvaro Ardura, one of the main researchers in the study.
The document explores the consequences of unbridled tourism and the transformation of city centers, which are emptied of local residents and small businesses and replaced with chain stores.
Alberto Haj-Saleh in the home that he is being kicked out of to make way for a tourist apartment. Alvaro Garcia
Madrid shattered its own tourist record in 2015 with more than nine million visitors, beating even Barcelona. And last year, for the first time the Spanish capital had more foreign tourists than Spanish visitors.
But Inigo Henriquez de Luna, the deputy spokesman for the conservative Popular Party (PP) at Madrid City Council, does not believe this is a problem: It creates wealth and jobs and renovates rundown areas.
The citys department of urban planning, which is controlled by the leftist coalition Ahora Madrid, claims that many of those jobs are seasonal and that new businesses do not create wealth in the long term.
In the meantime, more people are being forced out of their homes: property developer Urbania recently bought three buildings in the heart of the city center. In one of them, residents of the 25 housing units were told to vacate the premises, with no possibility of extending the deadline.
Until now, licenses for tourism use have been granted without oversight.
Jorge Garcia Castano, councilor
They treated us as though we were bugs, says Alberto Haj-Saleh, 39, whose partner has suffered anxiety attacks as a result of the notice. They want to kick us out of a neighborhood where we have deep roots that go back many years and sell it to the highest bidder.
Jose Manuel Calvo, the chief of urban planning at Madrid City Hall, says that Madrid has always been a welcoming place; visitors are not the problem. But we have to prevent the city from losing its identity, and that means ensuring that residents remain in the center.
Tourism is concentrated, whereas in other capitals it is diversified. The city wants to decentralize it, and get tourists to know other parts of the city, says Calvo. That is the reason why the summer festival Veranos de la Villa scattered events throughout Madrid last year. The goal is to create a city with many different centers, although the first and most important step is to regulate tourist apartments in order to contain the rise in real estate prices.
That falls to the regional government of Madrid; we have asked for some devolved powers on this issue, as other cities have done, explains Jorge Garcia Castano, the councilor representing the Centro district. Castano mentions Amsterdam, a city that has a 60-day limit on tourist apartment rentals.
City authorities do have the power to regulate what use the citys buildings may be put to. Until now, licenses for tourism use have been granted without much oversight. But thats something were going to start limiting, says Castano.
The head of the regional tourism department, Carlos Chaguaceda, says an attempt was made to impose a minimum legal rental period of five days, but that the courts shot down that project in June. Chaguaceda believes that a national framework is required to make a difference between people who want to let their property out occasionally and developers moving in wholesale, and also to figure out what to do about homesharing websites like como AirBnB without demonizing tourism in the process.
English version by Susana Urra.
Ahead of completion of a year of total prohibition in Bihar, on April 5, chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday tried to dispel what, he said, was a myth that the liquor ban had adversely impacted the flow of revenue in the state.
It is wrong to assume that prohibition caused a fall in revenue owing to loss of excise duty. The state used to earn Rs 5000 crore through VAT and excise duty on liquor. Post prohibition, the revenue generated in fiscal 2016-17 was almost the same as it was in 2015-16, said Kumar.
He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of his Lok Samvad programme. His responses were to a question on possibility of imposition of prohibition in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh and the Supreme Court directive for removal of liquor shops from highways.
Kumar said, despite the cumulative effect of prohibition and de-monetisation, the revenue generation in Bihar this fiscal was the same as it was in 2015-16. Chances are, it might increase further, he said.
No doubt, the revenue collection of a state falls (in the wake of prohibition) but the peoples money, earlier spent on liquor, is saved. This money is used for more useful purposes, he said.
To buttress his point, Kumar said that as per a market survey, sale of hosiery, readymade garments, milk, milk products, sweets, sewing machines, electrical goods, vehicles and furniture had increased, post-prohibition.
Those who are parroting loss of government revenue, forget that the lives of many people have been saved. In Bihar, nearly Rs 10,000 crore was spent on liquor. Now, at least this money is being saved, he said.
Kumar went on to add that the money saved would help in facilitating market expansion and improvement in economy. He also gave a piece of mind to other states, which have partially opted for prohibition.
My appeal to all states is that they should mull prohibition. It changes peoples lifestyle, their thinking and behaviour. The step taken by Bihar is being welcomed everywhere, he said.
Commenting on the SC order to remove liquor shops on highways, Kumar wondered if this would serve any cause. After all, can they shift towns and villages? They (states) should think of prohibition, he said.
Kumar said the centenary year celebrations of the Champaran Satyagraha, during which Mahatma Gandhi had led a protest by indigo farmers, in Champaran in 1917, would start with a national level discussion on Gandhiji on April 10 here.
Thereafter, a yatra will be taken out in Muzaffarpur on April 15, the day Bapu landed in this north Bihar town a century back on his way to Champaran. On April 17, Gandhians across the country will be honoured, he said.
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The Indian Army retaliated with full force after Pakistani forces opened indiscriminate fire at posts along the Line of Control in Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday.
Pakistani army initiated indiscriminate firing of small arms, automatics and mortars at 0930 hours (9.30 am) on Indian Army posts along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch sector, defence spokesperson Lt Col Manish Mehta said, adding that Indian Army retaliated strongly and effectively, and that the firing was still on.
The exchange of fire comes days after a junior commissioned officer, Naib Subedar S Sanayaima Kom was killed in an IED explosion in Degwar sector of Poonch at around 1.30 pm on Saturday, and a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Asias longest all-weather road tunnel at Chenani in Udhampur district.
India had lodged its protest with the Deputy High Commissioner of Pakistan Syed Haider Shah over continued ceasefire violations by the Pakistani side along the LoC and international border in Jammu and Kashmir.
Meanwhile, a wreath-laying ceremony was organised to bid farewell to the Naib Subedar Kom at Nagrota based 16 Corps headquarters on April 2.
Poonch Brigade Commander laid a wreath on behalf of Lieutenant General D Anbu, Army Commander, Northern Command, and Lieutenant General AK Sharma, General Officer Commanding, White Knight Corps.
The 37 years old JCO belongs to village Moirang Mantak, Churachandpur district of Manipur. He is survived by wife Reinu Kom, daughter aged seven years and two sons, one aged six years and the other aged eleven months.
The mortal remains of the officer were transported by service aircraft on Monday from Jammu to his native village in Manipur where he will be laid to rest with full military honours.
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Congress Mumbai chief Sanjay Nirupam has filed a plea in the Bombay high court against the Union government, Maharashtra government, and Baba Ramdevs Patanjali Ayurved alleging major irregularities in the allotment of 600 acres land to Patanjali for setting up a food park in the Multi-Modal International Hub Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN), Nagpur.
Nirupam has alleged that the Maharashtra government favoured Patanjali and flouted all tender and legal norms to allot the land to Ramdev at the behest of Union minister Nitin Gadkari, who is also the guardian minister of Nagpur.
As per Nirupams plea filed on Monday, the land is part of a reserved forest area meant to be used only for ecological development purposes and the Maharashtra government not only allotted the plot to Ramdev for a commercial food park but also made gave at a huge concession.
Nirupam has alleged that while the current market value of the land parcel is at least Rs100 crore per acre, Patanjali Ayurved got it at Rs25 lakh per acre.
Nirupam said the tender process was not transparent. He has claimed that the price quotes for the bids were changed by the state government without any explanation and that when an officer in the state administration raised an objection, he was immediately transferred.
The plea urges the court to restrain Patanjali Ayurveda from using the land until a final order, and to order an inquiry into the allotment.
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Five months ago, his 8 pm speech left the nation worried as he recalled 86% of Indias cash in circulation. On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modis pep talk at 10 PM left many people in splits.
Addressing the nations biggest innovation fest named Smart India Hackathon, Modi sought serious solutions to Indias problems, but also showed his funny side to young students.
Are you guys tired? Are you ready to spend another 36 hours in this? Modi quipped at the beginning of his video address.
You must have wondered if a PM can actually come to talk at 10 pm. You perhaps concluded that since it is April 1, Modi ji must be making us April fools, he said amid laughter.
Modi asked the name of a student interacting with him from Uttar Pradesh.
Adinath, the student replied.
So, here is Adinath. And there is an Adityanath, Modi quipped, referring to the new CM of the state.
After giving his opening remarks for 25 minutes, Modi opened the floor for students. If I speak alone , the youth will not like it, he said.
When Santosh Kumar Das, a student in Pune, introduced himself as a resident of Gujarat, Modi said, You will be spared for speaking in Gujrati. Students erupted in mirth.
But the student fumbled and admitted that he was too nervous to talk before the PM. Modi laughed, There should be some innovation to solve this problem as well.
Nitin Gadkaris road ministry was in charge of arranging the Hackathon in Nagpur. There, a student started briefing about a solution to traffic controls, and Modi himself could not control his laughter: Now, Nitinji can be satisfied that you people have done some work.
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President Pranab Mukherjee, on Monday, justified the popular demand for full restoration of the past glory of the Vikramshila University, once a seat of Buddhist higher learning, along with the universities of Nalanda and Takshila.
Speaking at a civic reception organized in his honour, soon after he had visited the excavated ruins of the university in Bihars Bhagalpur district, the President said Vikramshila should not be showcased only as a museum. Rather, it ought to be revived as a functioning university as was Nalanda, he said.
Before signing the visitors book at the excavation site, Mukherjee indicated he would broach the subject of Vikramshilas revival as a university with prime minister Narendra Modi.
In August 2015, the PM had announced a Rs 500 crore package for the Vikramshila university, while the state government was expected to provide around 500 acres of land for the revival of the institution. However, not much progress is known to have been made on the matter since then.
In his address, the President said revival of the past glory of Vikramshila university was a legitimate desire of people. He said like Nalanda, Vikrmashila university had contributed to the spread of knowledge in a very significant way.
Vikramshila should not be a museum only, it should be developed as a university of the highest standard, he said.
Stressing the need to augment higher education infrastructure in the country, the President said these seats of learning ought to provide scholastic stimulation to students.
This is possible only when top class institutions adorn our higher education landscape, he said.
The President said the resurrection of Vikramshila university would be an important step in preserving the Indian civilisational ethos.
Mukherjee said Vikramshila University should source the best faculty and pursue collaborations with foreign
institutions for research and, at the same time, establish tie-ups with local innovators.
He said monuments and museum of Vikramshila, though in ruins, reflected an era wherein a rich culture of learning flourished.
The institution, one of the two important seats of Buddhist teaching in India during the Pala dynasty rule, was
established by King Dharmapala as a centre of Buddhist and Tantric learning, he said.
Union minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Godda MP Nishikant Dubey, local MP Shailesh Kumar aka Bulo Mandal and former MP Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, were among those who shared the dais with the President.
Bihar minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh aka, Lalan Singh, assured the President of the Bihar governments full co-operation in the centras effort to revive the Vikramshila university.
During his visit to the excavated site, the President saw the main stupa and also visited the museum on the site. DN Sahay, superintending archaeologist of the Archaeological Survey of Indias Patna Circle, briefed the President on the historical importance of Vikramshila.
Mukherjee was also told about similarities between Somapura Mahavihara in Bangladesh and Vikramshila, both established by Pala rulers.
The President, who arrived at Kahalgaon Sunday evening, also visited Gurudham, an ashram located in Bounsi block of Banka district and interacted with the people there. The ashram is also known as Shyama Charan Laheri Peeth.
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Rajasthans Ganga Kumari could well have been Indias first transgender in a state police force, at least a year before Tamil Nadus K Pritha Yashini, if she was allowed to join as a constable in December 2015.
On Sunday, Yashini bagged that honour when she joined duty as a sub-inspector (SI) at the office of Dharmapuri superintendent of police after completing training in Chennai. She joined the service last year after Madras high courts intervention.
In Rajasthan, Gangas batch mates joined duty in October last year, but she was denied the chance after doctors discovered during the medical examination that she was a hermaphrodite commonly known as transgender and officers of the police department got cold feet for lack of clarity.
Its been more than a year now. Her legal battle is in the initial stage she filed a writ in Rajasthan high court in December and the court sought reply from the state government in three weeks. The case is likely to be heard next on April 26.
The 24-year-old transgender from Jakhari village in Raniwada, 538 km southwest of Jaipur, passed the written and physical exam for recruitment of police constables in Rajasthan in March 2015.
Read more: In a first, nine students register as third gender for engineering CET exams in Maharashtra
The state police had advertised for recruitment of 12,178 constables in 2013. More than 125,000 candidates appeared for the test.
After the medical tests, her case was referred to the police headquarters in Jaipur, which, in turn, sent it to the home department, but theres been no decision on Kumaris fate yet.
I hope to get justice after the courts intervention, Ganga told HT on telephone from Jakhari village in Jalore district where she lives in a joint family of more than 20 members.
But I will always miss being the first transgender in a state police force, she added.
Ganga said she never faced any problems when she went to school and college in Raniwada town. No one treated me badly; they understood that this is the way God has made me. In fact, even in the police force, all officers I have met for my job have said I will get it someday but no one knows when, she said.
Her counsel, Tejaram Choudhary, says the case is likely to come up for hearing on April 26. We hope that the state files its reply before that so that the case can be disposed of soon, he said.
Rajasthan formed a transgender welfare board in August 2016 with four third gender people as its members and the minister for social justice and empowerment as its head but the board has never met, said Pushpa, a transgender activist and member of the board.
In April 2015, the Supreme Court acknowledged a third gender that is neither male nor female in a landmark judgment ordering the government to make sure that transgenders get job reservations In educational institutions and jobs and facilities including a voter card, passport and driving licence.
However, in most states, the community is yet to get even identity cards.
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A 26-year-old naval sailor, who hailed from Tamil Nadu, was found hanging on Monday at the residential quarters of the Indian Naval Academy (INA) in Ezhimala in Keralas Kannur district, officials said.
Rajasekhar Velayudhan of Thiruttani district in Tamil Nadu was found hanging at his quarter by his wife at 2.42am, an INA release said.
He was rushed to the Indian Naval Hospital Navjivini, where doctors declared him brought dead.
The Southern Naval command has ordered an inquiry into the death, the release said, adding that the body was taken to the Pariyaram Medical College hospital for post-mortem examination.
Exactly a year ago many in the country cheered the daring of Trupti Desai who led women activists from Maharashtra to make history by breaking a six-decade-old tradition and enter the sanctum of the Shani Shingnapur temple.
An important landmark in the movement for womens emancipation in India, the incident triggered similar campaigns at other famous shrines in the country where women have been prohibited from going inside the sanctum sanctorum.
The campaign brought Shani Shingnapur into national focus and almost doubled the number of devotees visiting it.
Read: Shani Shingnapur temple finally allows women to enter inner sanctum
A year later, not much has changed on the ground as the achievement of women activists is being reversed not by men but women from the temple town. Locals in Shani Shignapur are back with their age-old practice with women still staying away from the deity, a tradition they still consider should be followed by all.
None of us from the district have climbed the platform and touched the deity. We dont oppose any woman coming from outside and entering into the inner sanctum but why should we be forced to break the tradition, asked Anita Shete, head of the Shani Temple Trust.
The locals believe women do not offer worship at the sanctum sanctorum owing to a belief about harmful vibration emanating from Lord Shani.
Shete, however, has relented a bit as last year after being elected the head of the trust she had made it clear that she would ensure the custom remains unbroken. As head of the temple trust, I will fight till my last breath to defend the centuries-old tradition, she had then said.
Supporters of Shani Shingnapur gathered at temple to support trust of temple at Ahmadnagar district on Tuesday. (PTI File Photo)
Unhappy about local women reluctant to enter the inner sanctum, activists say these women are under pressure from the local men who never wanted the tradition to be broken.
Read: Tradition trumps court, locals keep women out of Shani temple
It is true that local women are not entering the inner sanctum and going close to deity. But these women are under pressure from men who wants to retain the regressive practice, Trupti Desai told Hindustan Times. Desai said she got calls from local women who claimed they were being prevented by members of their family not to break the tradition.
The local men refuted Desais charge of pressuring the women. The women from entire district do not want to spoil the sanctity of the place. While we have not asked anyone to either go or not to go, local women prefer not to climb the platform, said temple trustee GK Darandale.
Desai and other activists plan to visit the temple on April 8, when their crusade completes a year.
We are aware that its a huge task to change the mindset of the people. On April 8, last year, we initiated the process to bring equality among men and women. This year, we will be visiting Shani Shingnapur to start another campaign against worsening sex ratio, said Desai.
She said it would take years to change the societys mindset.
Traditionally, women for years have been prohibited from climbing the platform where the idol is installed at the Shani Shingnapur temple. The activists led by Bhumata Brigade founder Trupti Desai campaigned against the issue, which led the temple trust to allow women entering into inner sanctum.
Watch: Women bring down wall of tradition, enter Shani shrine
After Shani Shingnapur, Desai spearheaded a similar movement at Trimbakeshwar temple in Nashik and Kolhapurs Mahalaxmi temple where the trust authorities finally had to allow women to enter inside the sanctum sanctorum.
Bhumata Brigade chief Trupti Desai was detained along with her supporters at Nandurshingote, about 50 km from Nashik. (PTI File Photo)
Initially, Desai and other activists including Vanita Gutte faced stiff opposition from the temple trustees of Trimbakeshwar and Kolhapur. However, the temple authorities eventually buckled under pressure of large support for the crusade. And unlike Shani Shingnapur, the local women at Trimbakeshwar and Kolhapur regularly visit the inner sanctum of the temple.
When women entered the Shani Shingnapur sanctum November 27, 2015: A young woman climbed the platform and performed abhishek to Lord Shani, sparking outrage among villagers and temple trustees. Later, the idol was "purified".
A young woman climbed the platform and performed abhishek to Lord Shani, sparking outrage among villagers and temple trustees. Later, the idol was "purified". November 28, 2016: The temple committee suspended seven security and observed a bandh in the village to protest the incident.
The temple committee suspended seven security and observed a bandh in the village to protest the incident. January 26, 2016: Activists led by Trupti Desai tried to break decades-old tradition that prohibited women from entering sanctum sanctorum of the presiding god Shani. They were stopped by police 70km away from the temple.
Activists led by Trupti Desai tried to break decades-old tradition that prohibited women from entering sanctum sanctorum of the presiding god Shani. They were stopped by police 70km away from the temple. March 30, 2016: Bombay high court asked Maharashtra government to ensure women are not denied entry. The HC while hearing a petition filed by Dabholkars associate Vidya Bal and Nilima Varta, ruled that entering temple is a fundamental right of women and that government is duty bound to protect this right.
Bombay high court asked Maharashtra government to ensure women are not denied entry. The HC while hearing a petition filed by Dabholkars associate Vidya Bal and Nilima Varta, ruled that entering temple is a fundamental right of women and that government is duty bound to protect this right. April 8, 2016: Temple trust finally allowed the entry of women into the sanctum.
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MUZAFFARPUR: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), probing the Vyavasayik Pariksha Mandal (Vyapam) scam in Madhya Pradesh, has handed over a list of 54 suspects to the principal of Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH), Muzaffarpur, urging him to verify if they were bonafide students of his institution.
The premier investigating agency has found these students guilty of impersonation and irregularities in the entrance examination conducted by the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) or Vyapam for admission to undergraduate medical courses in Madhya Pradesh.
SKMCH principal Vikas Kumar confirmed having received a letter from CBI deputy superintendent of police RK Das, but refused to divulge details.
The CBI has asked the college administration to verify the credentials of suspects, apart from giving their details like their name, permanent address, etc, said sources.
The CBI had earlier sent to the SKMCH principal a list of 114 medicos allegedly involved in the scam, involving politicians, senior officials and businessmen in Madhya Pradesh.
Vyapam is a statutory body of the MP government and conducts entrance examinations for technical institutions in the state.
Considered one of Indias biggest scandals, the Vyapam scam shot to nationwide notoriety in 2015 after a string of mysterious deaths of witnesses and suspects.
From re-designating highways to seeking legal redress, state and city authorities across India are hunting for ways to circumvent last weeks Supreme Court order banning the sale of liquor within 500m of national and state highways.
The first weekend after the court order saw the hospitality industry lose tens of crores of rupees in lost business, prompting pub, bar and restaurant owners to plead with the authorities to bail them out.
Heres a quick lowdown on the impact of the ban on industry and how the states are dealing with it:
Chandigarh hoteliers claim Rs 3 crore loss in first weekend
The Hotel and Restaurant Association of Chandigarh claimed the hospitality industry will take a big hit. This weekend, the hospitality industry in Chandigarh will have incurred a loss of more than Rs 3 crore. We will protest at the Sector 17 Plaza on Monday, said Arvinder Pal Singh, the president of the association.
He added that the association also planned to request the UT administration to declare the stretch from Sectors 35-43 national highway 5 part of the route towards Ludhiana as a major district road.
We will meet the deputy commissioner, the UT adviser and if required, we will approach the UT administrator as well and hand over a memorandum, he added.
The order has hit nearly 150 restaurants, bars and other commercial establishments in the tricity. In Chandigarh, there are 88 such establishments, of which 63 are bars and 25 are beer bars, Singh added.
Kerala eyes options, including seeking 3-month exemption
With its major revenue share drying up, Kerala is weighing options such as de-notification of state highways to district highways to get around the Supreme Court order. The state is also considering approaching the apex court for a three-month exemption.
Out of the Rs 40,000 crore annual revenue of the state, Rs 10,000 crore is from the liquor trade. Kerala has one of the highest per capita consumption of liquor in the country 10.2 litres annually against the national average of 5.6 litres.
The states tourism industry also fears the liquor ban will hurt. Tourism insiders say the industry is already reeling under the effect of demonetisation, increase of service tax from 4.5% to 9%, and high premium for tourist vehicles.
We are fast losing out to some of the neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka. Last year, the state lost many conferences and meetings due to liquor curbs. We fear the latest decision will lead to further slip in footfall, said EM Najeeb, president of the Confederation of Kerala Tourism Industry.
To add to the governments worries, the Kerala State Beverages Corporation, the government-run retail giant, is facing stiff resistance in densely-populated areas while relocating 159 closed outlets. With the SC order coming into force on April 1, 557 beer and wine outlets, 159 government-owned outlets, 1,008 toddy shops, 18 clubs and 11 bars in five-star hotels have downed shutters. The Kerala Tourism Development Corporation too has been badly hit, closing down 29 of the 40 beer parlours in the state. About 40% of its revenue comes from these parlours.
Densely-populated states situation is different from others. We have sought a legal opinion that whether the state will get three months exemption. We havent thought of a short cut to duck the apex court order, said state PWD and excise minister G Sudhakaran.
The state excise department also fears that unavailability of quality liquor will force regular drinkers to hooch and narcotic substances.
Sunday no flow in 500 Mumbai restaurants and bars
Approximately 500 restaurants and bars serving liquor within 500m of the Mumbais highways remained shut on Sunday. Many regular visitors to the wine shops, bars and restaurants along the western express, eastern express and national highways passing through suburbs and Thane said they were shocked to learn that the joints refused to serve liquor.
Following the Supreme Courts clarification that its order applied to all establishments including bars thus nullifying the state governments attempt to exempt these bars from the directive the state excise department ensured that the order was fully enforced. The department swung into action on Saturday and sealed godowns in which liquor was stored. Hotels were given the option to serve only food and not liquor if they wished to operate.
However, few hoteliers opted to do this and many preferred to shut shop.
Adarsh Shetty, president, Indian Hotels and Restaurant Association (AHAR), said, Around 500 hotels in the suburbs fall within this restricted zone. They have all shut. The hoteliers have invested a lot into their business and are facing hard times.
Sourabh Kulkarni, 33, went to Goregaon Social at Oberoi Mall on Sunday and was shocked to see a notice at the entrance stating liquor would not be served. No other restaurant nearby was willing to serve alcohol.
Vilas Rao, an executive with a multinational company, was taken by surprise after he saw that all liquor joints near the Eastern Express Highway in Chembur were closed.
The SC order will hit 15,699 establishments and cost the Maharashtra government Rs 7,000 crore every year.
UP state highways turn district roads to circumvent Supreme Courts liquor ban
The Uttar Pradesh government has taken a page from the Chandigarh model to circumvent the Supreme Court order. It has simply rebranded many of its major state highways as district roads.
The internal roads of the city (currently notified as state highways) connected to a bypass are being declared as additional district roads while city bypasses are being declared as state highways, said a notification issued by Sadakant, additional chief secretary of the Uttar Pradesh public works department, on Saturday.
The Uttar Pradesh government finished renaming the roads barely a few hours before the apex courts order banning liquor vends on highways came into effect at March 31 midnight.
Uttar Pradesh makes Rs 6,000 crore from the proceeds of 8,000-odd outlets, including bars on the highways. Of these, around 203 outlets in Lucknow, 100 in Kanpur, and 221 in Varanasi faced imminent closure due to the court order.
While the notification is bound to legalise a large number of these liquor vends, it would take time to conduct a fresh survey of the ones it cant protect. And the government doesnt want to take any chances. We will comply with the apex courts orders, a senior state excise department official told HT.
The Lucknow Sharab Association (LSA) said many shops in the state capital fell under the Supreme Court orders ambit due to ill-considered decisions made by the public works department. Several areas were included under state and national highways hurriedly. This is why shops from Tile Wali Masjid to Koneshwar crossing, Thakurganj, Balaganj and Dubagga have been forced to shut down, said LSA leader Kanhailal Maurya. And we werent told about this until we paid our licence fees!
Liquor licences, which are given away every March, happen to be a major source of income for the government. LSA president SP Singh has already approached the high court, pleading that several shops have been wrongly shown to be a part of the state highway.
Rajasthan too redesignates roads
The Rajasthan government has declared state highways passing through habitated areas as urban roads or district roads to circumvent the Supreme Court order.
Like in most states, excise duty is one of the biggest revenue sources for Rajasthan. In 2015-16, the state earned Rs 6,700 crore from excise duty and it fixed a target of Rs 7,300 for 2016-17. In a bid to avoid the loss, the states public works department (PWD) recently issued an order for de-notification of 190 km of 21 state highways passing through 16 districts and measuring 3,029 km as urban roads or other district roads. This would mean that most liquor vends would continue, an official said.
3,000 liquor licences not renewed in Goa; Parrikar assures of solution
Goas Excise Department on Saturday did not renew the licences of over 3,000 liquor vends dotting the national highways. Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, however, 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.
One of the most popular tourism destinations in the country, Goa is 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.
(With inputs from Tanbir Dhaliwal, Ramesh Babu, Naresh Kamath, M Tariq Khan, Manish Chandra Pandey and Pankaj Jaiswal, Mukesh Mathrani, and Agencies)
Spains foreign minister has called for calm in the wake of suggestions from the former leader of the UK Conservative party, Michael Howard, that the current British prime minister, Theresa May, would be willing to go ahead to war to protect the interests of Gibraltar.
Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis. ULY MARTIN
Thirty-five years ago this week, another woman prime minister sent a taskforce halfway across the world to defend the freedom of another small group of British people against another Spanish-speaking country, said Howard in an interview with UK broadcaster Sky News on Sunday, referring to the 1982 war between the United Kingdom and Argentina over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands.
Its clear that on this issue, the traditional British phlegm is recognizable by its absence Alfonso Dastis, Spanish foreign minister
Im absolutely certain our current prime minister will show the same resolve in standing by the people of Gibraltar, Howard said in comments widely viewed as inflammatory, and which came in the wake of news that EU guidelines for Brexit negotiations backed Spain in its conflict over Gibraltar by stating once the UK leaves the bloc, no agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom may apply to the territory of Gibraltar without agreement between the Kingdom of Spain and the United Kingdom.
This news has been received positively in Spain but the countrys foreign minister, Alfonso Dastis on, Monday attempted to defuse a tense situation by saying: There is no reason to lose ones cool over Gibraltar.
Dastis also talked down the idea that Howard had been suggesting May was prepared to go for war to defend the The Rock.
He didnt exactly say that, said Spains new foreign minister, who has pushed a more moderate line on Gibraltar than his predecessor Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo. Margallo stated in October 2016 that the Spanish flag would be flying on The Rock sooner than [Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian] Picardo thinks.
Bringing up past events like the Falklands is out of context, said Dastis.
The controversy stirred up by Howards comments and those of UK defense secretary Michael Fallon, who last Friday said Gibraltar would be protected all the way led to Theresa May calling up the Gibraltar Chief Minister to ensure him the United Kingdom would never cede the disputed territory against the wishes of Gibraltarians.
The Spanish government, if anything, is a bit surprised by the tone generated in the United Kingdom, a country traditionally characterized by its phlegm. Its clear that on this issue, the traditional British phlegm is recognizable by its absence, said Dastis on Monday.
The foreign ministers comments come two days after an interview with in which the minister stated that, unlike Brussels and Berlin, Spain which has strong trade, economic and other ties with the United Kingdom was closer to a soft Brexit, and during which he also said he had no plans to close the border with Gibraltar.
A full version of that interview appears below.
Question. Theresa Mays letter triggering Article 50 is a mix of promises and concessions, and also threats and blackmail. Is that a good starting point?
Answer. I dont see any threats or blackmail, to be honest. There has been an emphasis on a link in the letter between a good trade deal and cooperation over security and terrorism: a kind of trade or terror. But security cooperation benefits Europe as much as the United Kingdom. I dont feel blackmailed: our security is in the hands of Europe, not in Londons. I dont think that was Mays intention.
Q. Trade is mentioned alongside security 11 times in the six pages of the letter: the British even threaten not to share Europol data.
A. In such as case, the United Kingdom would not have access to Europol data. And they are much more interested in sharing information.
Q. London wants withdrawal and the trade deal to be negotiated in parallel. Germany has refused this point blank. What about Spain?
A. Spain shares the common position: we want sequential negotiations. But if you read the letter carefully, May is saying that both things, the exit and the free trade deal, should be agreed at the same time, not necessarily negotiated in parallel. Spain believes that the best starting point would be the rights of citizens.
Spain wants strong relations with the UK: the closest possible to what we have now
Q. There are half a million British nationals in Spain. Isnt that something in Spains favor?
A. The idea is that the United Kingdoms statute, when it leaves, would be as close as possible to the present one. It cant be based on free circulation, but we already have rules with third countries that are very close to the statute of an EU citizen. Whats more, were going to apply the principle of reciprocity: if London takes measures that harm the rights of Europeans, well do the same.
Q. What kind of Brexit does Spain want?
A. I would prefer not to simplify, but if we have to choose between a hard and a soft Brexit, Spain is closer to a soft Brexit. We are sorry that the United Kingdom is leaving. We want a balanced agreement, reasonable and rigorous, but if they are going to leave the single market and the customs union, its going to be hard for that to be exactly a soft Brexit. Spain wants strong relations with the United Kingdom: the closest possible to what we have now. If people want to call that a soft Brexit, thats fine by me.
Q. What about Scotland?
A. It will leave the European Union with the United Kingdom: everything else will have to wait. Spain doesnt like the idea of EU member states fragmenting. That said, if in the application of its laws, the result of the process was to divide the United Kingdom, any part of the United Kingdom that became a state and wanted to join the EU would have to request membership and follow the steps that are already stipulated.
Spaniards who work in Gibraltar should continue to do so
Q. Would Spain veto Scotlands access?
A. In principle, I dont see us blocking it.
Q. Do parallels with Catalonia influence that in principle?
A. No. There was a referendum in Scotland in accordance with the law. In Spain our Constitution does not allow for a referendum; if the Constitution were to be amended, then we would have to see. I dont think they are comparable cases.
English version by Nick Lyne.
The Supreme Court on Monday ordered a CBI probe into the alleged land encroachment by the Odisha Olympic Association (OOA) in Barabati Stadium, which is located on government land.
The apex court directed the central probe agency to investigate into the construction of a Kalyan Mandap and 23 shops by the OOA inside the stadium and the financial fraud arising out of the rents received from the illegal establishments.
A bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra also banned OOA general secretary Asirbad Behera from contesting for any post in the association.
The court said the illegal constructions were carried out with the help of a firm in which Beheras son and son-in-law had stakes.
Keeping in view the report of the accountant general and the grave doubt that emerges with regard to realisation of rent or otherwise, as we have already indicated earlier, there has to be investigation, the court said, ordering the collector Cuttack to take over the possession of the shops and the Kalyan Mandap.
State department of revenue shall be entitled to maintain and receive rents, the court said as it barred tenants from filing any case against the authorities.
Justice Misra who authored the judgment said : The association has raised construction by encroaching upon the government land and the expert engaged by the association gives the opinion that Rs97.33 lakh by way of rent had been earned.
The concept of conflict of interest is well established. A person who is accountable to the public and deals with public affairs is not expected, as required under the law, to have any personal interest. He is not to act in a manner where it is perceived that he is directly or indirectly the beneficiary; or for that matter, extends the benefit to a person of immediate proximity, the bench said.
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Two persons have been detained for questioning in connection with a case of alleged rape of a German woman in Tamil Nadu, police said.
The 24-year-old tourist had alleged that she was sexually assaulted by three Indian people on a beach in Mamallapuram, more than 60 km south of Chennai on Sunday.
She was later admitted to a government hospital in Chengalpet, police said.
The German woman had strayed from her group of five tourists, far from the private beach of a resort she was staying in, at Mamallapuram in neighbouring Kancheepuram district. She was sunning herself and fell asleep, only to be rudely woken up by three persons who sexually assaulted her, police said.
Police has formed four special teams to nab the culprits. District police chief visited the spot and investigations were on.
The woman told a private television channel that the Indian policemen were very professional and helpful.
Claiming that Uttarakhand was fast turning into a den of lovers, the right-wing outfits are now demanding setting up of anti-Romeo squads in the hill state on the lines of neighbouring Uttar Pradesh.
The anti-Romeo squads were one of the key promises made by senior BJP leaders such Amit Shah and Yogi Adityanath while campaigning in UP. One of the first steps taken by Adityanath after taking charge as UP CM was directing the police to set up the squads to keep an eye on eve-teasers and for ensuring safety of girls.
ANTI-ROMEO SQUADS In Uttar Pradesh, they usually comprise three to four policemen from the local police station. Each police station is supposed to have at least one such squad. If a police station look after a bigger area and has a better staff strength, then the squad can have more than four members.
Many young girls get harassed by boys outside schools and colleges on a regular basis but are not able to speak up as they are too scared or dont want to face stigma. We will meet (chief minister Trivendra Singh) Rawat ji in this regard soon, Vikas Verma, Dehradun coordinator of Bajrang Dal, told HT.
Bajrang Dal is the youth wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
Last year, over 2,042 cases of crimes against women were reported in Uttarakhand.
Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has also demanded anti-Romeo squads in Uttarakhand on the lines of the neighbouring state.
ABVP is the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which is considered the ideological fountainhead of the Bharatiya Janata Party the ruling party at the Centre and in the twin states of Uttarakhand and UP.
They (the squads) are doing a commendable job in UP and it is high time the BJP government introduced them in Uttarakhand to rein in the cases of crimes against women, ABVP state member Anshul Chawla told HT. Why do we have to wait until things turn bad like in UP?
BJP spokesperson Vinay Goyal asserted the party was serious about ensuring the safety of women and girls. Women safety is one of our top priorities. Our government will like to look into their demands and take an appropriate decision, he said to queries on the demand made by the right-wing outfits.
However, not everyone has welcomed the demand to introduce such vigilante squads. The opposition Congress alleged that the concept of anti-Romeo squads carried more of communal motives than ensuring security of women. Wed want the existing policing system to be strengthened rather than spoiling the states milieu (through formation of such squads), Congress spokesperson Mathura Dutt Joshi, said, cautioning BJP of exercising its communal agenda in Uttarakhand.
Instead of forming such units, it will be better if the government focuses on empowering the girls and sensitising the boys, said Akanksha Negi, who is pursuing graduation in commerce.
The squads in UP have come under criticism recently over instances of alleged moral policing and targeting of youths from a particular community.
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The Election Commission has issued a show-cause notice to senior IAS officer and principal secretary, revenue, Madhya Pradesh, Arun Pandey to explain his conduct in not transferring five revenue officials from Bhind. The commission has also made it clear as to what was the fault of the district returning officer, Bhind Ilayaraja T, that he had to be shifted.
The commission also said no EVMs were moved from Uttar Pradesh to Madhya Pradesh.
Instead of shifting five revenue officials from Bhind, including two tehsildars and three naib tehsildars in compliance with the EC order, Arun Pandey conducted an inquiry to find that they had not committed any wrong. He wrote a 10-page letter to the EC explaining his stand on not removing them.
As per official sources, the EC considered Pandeys action called for disciplinary action. Despite efforts, neither Pandey nor chief electoral officer Salina Singh could be reached.
Meanwhile, EC said in a press release, Aspersions have also been cast on the Election Commission of India that EVMs from Uttar Pradesh were moved to Bhind, Madhya Pradesh. The Commission would like to point out that these allegations are completely baseless and made without verifying the facts. No EVMs have been moved from Uttar Pradesh for the purpose of bypolls in Madhya Pradesh.
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Not allowed to marry because the boy was a minor, a young couple locked themselves up in the boys bedroom at his residence in Keralas Ramapuram town and had physical relationship.
After persuasion attempts failed, the boys parents called the police, who broke open the door and took them into custody.
The girl, a 21-year-old beautician who worked in Ernakulam, was arrested and charged under sections of Prevention of Sexual Offences Act while the boy, a Class 12 student in a local college, was sent to a juvenile justice home and booked under the Juvenile Justice Act.
Medical examination confirmed that they had physical contact when they locked themselves in the room.
The boys parents alleged that the woman had entered the house forcibly. They said both came in contact through chatting over phone and used to meet discreetly. Though the boys parents found out and told her to wait till he attained the age of 18, she refused to pay heed to their advice and threatened to commit suicide in their house.
Considering the age of both, we initially thought of letting them off with a stern warning. But both insisted that they will commit suicide if they were not allowed to marry now, a senior police officer in Kottayam said, endorsing their arrest.
In India, the minimum age for marriage is 21 for boys and 18 for girls.
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Bookies have taken to apps to hoodwink cops during the IPL season beginning on April 5, with Royal Challengers Bangalore the odds-on favourites to win the tournament.
Whats more demonetisation has led to a cash crunch and so gold and property could be used as stakes, say police sources and insiders in the business.
The bets are expected to gross more than Rs 2000 crore for the entire tournament with the Virat Kohli led RCB team being followed by Rising Pune Supergiants, Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Lions as favourites.
Sources said some 35 apps could be used to place bets and view matches live. Many of the apps such as betfair and bet365 are easily available as betting/gambling is legal in several countries.
Bookies, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that once the tournament progresses there would be changes depending on the form of players, injuries and performances.
Currently, RCB has a rate of 3.75 for Rs 100 (for every 100 rupees a person bets on RCB he or she will get Rs 375 if it wins), while Rising Pune Supergiants have a rate of 6.10, Mumbai Indians 6.30, and Gujarat Lions of 6.40. Bringing up the rear are Sunrisers Hyderabad at 7.20, Delhi Daredevils at 7.60, Kolkata Knight riders at 8 and Kings XI Punjab at 11.
Apart from the results of the match, bets would also be placed on the numbers of fifties, sixes hit, runs scored, wickets and runs per over.
Police officials said they were on high alert and working to break the betting rings. Some officials said there was a need to bring in stricter laws as getting bail under the present laws covering gambling was easy and the IPC sections of cheating and forgery which police apply after raids do not stand the test in courts.
Bookies in the past few years have been avoiding operating from Mumbai because of police pressure and raids but police added this year they could be back in the city as they are using apps to place bets and can easily operate even from public places without attracting attention.
Police registered a case against 125 people who protested against opening of a liquor shop in a residential area in Barmer.
The case, registered on Sunday evening, named 21 protesters and the police were trying to identify others with the help of CCTV footage.
City police station in-charge Bhanwarlal Sirvi said, People blocked a road for many hours on Saturday. After getting permission from higher authorities, we filed the case.
The excise department recently allotted new licences for running liquor shops for two years. Licence holders opened shops on April 1, the first day of the new financial year.
Protesting against a new shop in Chohtan road area, hundreds of men and women blocked the road. Police and excise department officials reached the spot and persuaded the people to end the protest, but they refused.
There are four liquor shops in the area and the new one is situated near a temple, said a woman protester. Another women said, Anti-social elements and drunk people roam around the shops; it is difficult for us to come out of our houses.
People ended their protest after excise officials assured them that the liquor shop would be shifted out of their area, police said.
The excise department earned about 6,700 crore in 2015-16, and had set a target of 7,300 crore for the current financial year, officials said.
The governments encouragement to increase excise revenue has also triggered protests against liquor shops. Last year, women refused to allow nine liquor shops to open in Alwar city.
People voted for liquor ban in Kacchabali panchayat in Rajsamand district and Rozda pachayat in Jaipur.
In Barmer, hooch claimed 17 lives, including some BSF personnel, in April last year.
Though chief minister Vasundhara Raje said recently that the state government would ink a fresh MoU for setting up a refinery in Barmer, people of western Rajasthan take the announcement with a pinch of salt.
On March 30, the chief minister announced in the assembly that the MoU for the refinery would be signed in April with the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL).
Ahead of the 2013 assembly election, the previous Congress government led by Ashok Gehlot had inked an MoU with the HPCL to set up the refinery with a capacity of 9 million tonnes per annum, raising peoples hopes in the desert district.
After coming to power, the Raje government reviewed the project. The CM claimed that renegotiation with HPCL led to reduction in the loan burden from 3736 crore per annum to 1123 crore.
Raje said she didnt wait for assembly polls, due in November next year, to make the announcement, accusing the Congress of declaring the project in a hurry to reap electoral benefits.
People in Barmer, however, think Rajes announcement is also aimed at gaining political mileage. Signing of MoU will take time, and laying the foundation stone will take more time. Theres no deadline for completion of work, said Jaisalram Kharwal, a resident of Barmer.
Om Bhatiya, a member of the district council, said the Gehlot government, while laying the foundation of the refinery on September 22, 2013, had claimed that the project would be completed in four years. We believed the government and started dreaming of a better future, but what happened, where is the refinery?
A look into past projects lends credence to peoples apprehensions.
In 2003, Gehlot had laid the foundation of a mega drinking water project -- Barmer Lift Canal -- claiming that it would be completed in three years. Raje, who won the 2003 polls, put the project on hold.
In 2007, Raje again laid down the foundation of the project, accusing the Gehlot government of not making budgetary allocations. In 2008, the Congress formed the government. In August 2012, Congress president Sonia Gandhi inaugurated the incomplete first phase of the Barmer Lift Canal project. Other three phases still wait for funds.
The UPA government had claimed that the first session of the Barmer medical college would start from 2017. Now it has been deferred to next year as the college building work is going on.
Referring to the fresh MoU for the refinery, Manoj Gujar, a political activist, said, This time it is a case of once bitten twice shy.
He said people invested in real estate after Gehlot announced the refinery, hoping that prices would shoot up. For the past three years, most of them are facing the worst situation; their dreams have gone sour, said Gujar who also deals in real estate.
The Keoladeo National Park (KNP) in Bharatpur has recorded the highest revenue ever in 2016-17. For the first time, revenue crossed the 2 crore mark as the bird sanctuary received around 147,000 tourists, said park officials.
In 2013-14, the national park had recorded revenue worth 1.4 crore when 148,000 tourists had come to the park.
Migratory birds have come to the sanctuary in large numbers as this year there were ample rains and water released from the Panchana dam in Karauli fulfilled the parks water needs, said KNP director Biju Joy.
In 2016-17, 146,058 tourists were registered offline among which 38,177 were students, 83,414 were Indian tourists and 24,467 were foreign tourists. Around 1,192 tourists made online registration and 242 among them were Indians and the remaining were foreigners.
The park has been facing water shortage for a long time. This reflected in the number of visitors, both birds and tourists, Joy said.
Eight blocks of lakes were full of water after a good spell of rain and water released from Panchana in July, he said.
Joy said this season which begins in October and ends in March brought a large number of foreign tourists to the park, reflecting in the record revenue collection.
By March, migratory birds return to their countries because of rising temperatures in India.
Water from Panchana Dam brought fish, vegetation to the park necessary for resident and migratory birds to survive. More than 12 species of resident birds visited the park for breeding and nesting, said Joy.
Migratory birds which visited the park include Northern Shoveller, Pintail, Gadwall, Eurasian Wigeon, Common teal, Garganey teal, Common pochard , Bar handed goose, Greylag, Greater spotted eagle, Gimperial and Siberian rubythroat.
Keoladeo or Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary is famous as one of Asias finest birding areas, with over 380 resident and migrant species, including the Common, Demoiselle and the rare Siberian Cranes. Thousands of migratory birds from Europe, Siberia, China and Asia visit the park for nesting on Babool trees (Acacia tree).
Rickshaw pullers, guides and hotels also made brisk business because of a large number of tourists.
KNP was established as a national park on March 10, 1982, and declared a World Heritage site under the World Heritage Convention in 1985. In 2008, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) the park was said to be endangered after it faced water shortage.
Imagine hardcore criminals and life convicts who are lodged behind bars for years, walking on a makeshift ramp in Kolkata wearing a designer outfits. The background music,a Baul Song by another group of inmates. Or imagine life convicts working tirelessly to create designer Sarees, Nehru jackets, skirts which are sold online trained by a noted fashion designer.
Inmates, mostly life convicts in Bengal jails would now not only don the robe of a fashion designer but also showcase the garments. Inmates of Presidency central jail will participate in a unique fashion show, where they will highlight the 12 seasons of Bengal through twelve different types of dresses. The show is scheduled to be held on April 14, Poila Baishak (Bengali New year).
We have planned to organize a show in Mohor Kunj, where inmates will showcase their own designer garments. It gives a chance for the inmates to be out of the confines of the jail and showcase their talent. Those who will be invited and ordinary citizens will also be able to interact and appreciate their talent. We are also making sure that the designer wear they make gets sold, said Abani Mohan Joardar, state jail minister.
The stage will be decorated by inmates and background music which is Baul Song will be performed by inmates too.
Read: Bengal jail to launch weekly magazine by inmates on Bengali New Years Day
Inmates and lifers like Shah Alam, Akash Ali, Gobindo Rana have been trained at Presidency jail hand printing and embroidery. Others like Barun Mondol, Md Alimuddin Raza and Santa Naskar, all life convicts for murder have been undergoing training in tailoring.
Inmates during an open air painting session in Kolkata. (HT Photo/Samir Jana)
The twelve seasons of Bengal will be represented with different dresses. The dresses will have Zari work, hand printing and embroidery. For instance inmates who would be models will showcase hand printed umbrellas to highlight the rainy season. The dress materials will also be different. For winter they will showcase coarser dress material, said artist Ashis Das who teaches art and designs in Presidency jail.
Men from Presidency and women chosen from Alipore womens correctional home will showcase the garments, added Das.
In a separate move, the state jail department has tied up with noted fashion designer Abhishek Dutta to set up a unit inside Presidency jail. The unit will train, help design and market designer wear made by the convicts.
We have also tied up with noted fashion designer so that we can showcase as well as market the work of inmates nationally and internationally. Fifty percent of the money generated will go to the inmates, the other will be deposited in prisoner welfare fund, said Joardar.
Read: Meet painter convicts from Bengal, whose art is showcased in exhibitions and sold online
This is a unique concept. We will train a batch of 40 inmates. Be it designer shirts, trousers, Kurtas, Dhoti pants, Nehru jackets, the inmates will make it all. We will market the items both online and through stores. We have also tied up with Biswa Bangla and Tantuja. Our profits would be shared with the state jail department, said Abhishek Dutta, speaking to HT.
Imported machines are already in place inside Presidency jail and the training will take place in the manufacturing department.
This will be a sustainable project, which will continue inside the jail. Prisoners will learn and make the dresses and have a share in the profit. Those who finish serving their term, will be given a chance to work in our units outside, added Dutta.
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Text in which the author defends ideas and reaches conclusions based on his / her interpretation of facts and data
Diego Cruz (in red tee shirt), one of the so-called Porkys released by a judge.
More information La Porkycracia
Italian political thinker Michelangelo Bovero came up with the term kakistocracy, meaning the government of the worst, to describe the widespread institutional corruption in Italy in the second half of the 20th century. In recent weeks, Mexico has made its own small contribution to political studies following the umpteenth wave of national indignation: the porkycracy.
Some readers may not be familiar with the story of four wealthy young men from the southern Mexican state of Veracruz, who, in January 2015 were accused of raping a 17-year-old girl. After charges were eventually brought against the four, who have been dubbed Los Porkys, and things started to look difficult, in 2016, with the blessing of their aristocratic families and the indifference of the authorities, the accused fled: three to the United States and one to Spain.
Left, right and center: politics and life in Mexico are at the mercy of a legion of professional miscreants
One of the four, Gerardo Rodriguez, was caught and then released after investigations supposedly proved that he did not participate in the alleged sexual assault. Of the other three, Jorge Cotaita remains at large, Enrique Capitaine is now under arrest, while Diego Cruz was arrested in Spain and extradited to Mexico.
Last week, a Veracruz judge, Anuar Gonzalez Hemadi, decided it was a good idea to release Cruz on the grounds that although he had admitted touching the young womans private parts, this had been done, according to the judge, without lascivious intent. What other reason would there have been for Cruz to touch the victims breasts and to insert his fingers into the minors vagina while she was in the young mens car? The judges ruling doesnt explain this.
The decision further fanned the flames of the already widespread indignation the case has caused in Mexico and has now derailed the routine impunity characters such as the four Porkys would normally have expected to enjoy.
The judge has been accused on social networks of taking bribes or simply of being a misogynist, inept and of having overstepped the bounds of his authority and has now asked to be taken off the case. Worryingly, photographs of him and his family, along with personal details, have been posted online. The judicial authorities in Mexico have launched an investigation and Anuar Gonzalez Hemadi has been suspended in the meantime.
The indignation has now derailed the impunity the four Porkys would normally have expected to enjoy
This has done little to calm the waters because Mexicans are increasingly tired of the cynical ways in which the rich and powerful commit all kinds of outrages and the law is incapable of touching a hair on their head. At the same time, there is any number of people prepared to deny that crime in Mexico is a problem: there are no disappeared, no uprisings, no sexual harassment or rape, and instead, to paraphrase the gem uttered in a different context President Enrique Pena Nieto, its all in the mind.
This is the so-called Porkycracy: the rule of those beyond the law, the absolute impunity of the powerful. The anger that this causes goes beyond the four young men in Veracruz: it is caused by Antonio Tarin, a replacement national deputy in the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) who last week sought refuge in the National Assembly to avoid arrest in a corruption investigation into former Chihuahua Governor Cesar Duarte, a key ally of President Enrique Pena Nieto and a member of the PRI, on charges of embezzlement. Duarte is believed to have fled to San Antonio, Texas.
Then there is the case of Javier Duarte, the former governor of Veracruz. He deserves a place in the Guinness Book of Records as the most corrupt politician in the world, and went into hiding months ago. And lest we forget, there is Alejandra Barrales, the head of the Party of the Democratic Revolution, who failed to declare a million dollar condo in Miami on her tax return.
These are just a few of the most recent cases of corruption to hit the headlines in Mexico in recent weeks.
Left, right and center, politics and life in Mexico are at the mercy of a legion of professional miscreants: a Porkycracy if ever there was one.
English version by Nick Lyne.
Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) wants to renegotiate the nuclear power plant at Haripur in coastal West Bengal with the Mamata Banerjee government, an official of the PSU said in Kolkata on Monday. Soon after assuming power in May 2011, the chief minister scrapped the project and categorically stated the government wont allow nuclear plants anywhere in the state.
On Monday, NPCIL officials said in Kolkata that despite the state government objecting to the project, the company authorities did not shelve the proposal for setting up six nuclear reactors in Russian collaboration.
Read: Second unit ready for nuclear power generation at Kudankulam
The plan was never shelved. We are ready. We are awaiting the state governments decision. It is a proposed plant and we hope to have a positive discussion very soon with the state government, Anutosh Chakraborty, additional chief engineer, Haripur Nuclear Park, said on the sidelines of an event to release the report of a survey on bird species on the coastal Bengal, including Haripur.
The plan is to build the plant in six phases following the model at Kudankulam.
Mamata Banerjee categorically opposed the nuclear power plant in Haripur, about 125 km away. (HT Photo)
This is the first time that a pre-project bird study has been conducted at any proposed nuclear power plant site in India, Chakraborty said.
The power plant proposal received positive response from the erstwhile Left Front government, but hit roadblocks when locals, especially the fishermen and farming communities, lodged massive protests and got the support of Trinamool Congress.
Read: N-plant plan meets stiff opposition
On Monday, minutes after the NPCILs press meet, state power minister Sovandeb Chatterjee told HT that the state governments stand has not changed.
The state government has no plans to agree to any nuclear power plant anywhere in the state. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee clearly said that the government is against nuclear power plants. That stand has not changed, Chatterjee said.
Former Lok Sabha MP and now state transport minister Suvendu Adhikari played a prominent role in organising opposition to the resistance movement to the proposed plant. (HT Photo)
In August 2011 former power minister Manish Gupta announced in the Assembly the state governments opposition to the plant.
During the day, the survey titled Coastal Avian Diversity Survey West Bengal -2017, was released from the office of the additional chief engineer-Haripur Nuclear Park.
Read: Scrap Haripur nuclear power project, demand locals
The report said that volunteers from NPCIL, members of Prakruti Samsad, researchers from Wildlife Institute of India-Deheradun and other likeminded birders participated in the study conducted over 2016 and 2017. The information gathered through this study shall prove pivotal to shorebird conservation planning in our country, the report claimed.
As many as 34 bird species were identified at the Shoura-Haripur belt, the second highest among the 12 coastal belts surveyed across the coastal districts of East Midnapore and South 24 Parganas. Highest numbers of species - 38 - were identified at neighbouring Junput area.
Slogans demanding azadi (freedom) for Kashmir and Manipur were back on the campus of Jadavpur University on Monday when students, led by the Arts Faculty Students Union (AFSU), took out a rally against Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sanghs (RSS) alleged attempts to pollute the atmosphere on the campus.
While AFSU is dominated by Students Federation of India (SFI), the student wing of CPI(M), it was mainly students affiliated to other Leftwing outfits who raised the slogans.
Students who participated in the rally demanded azadi from religious fundamentalism and the evil designs of RSS, as well as from poverty and social injustice. Some students also raised slogans demanding azadi for the people of Kashmir and Manipur, said Nilim Bose, a film studies student and member of the Leftwing outfit, Radical.
Read: Its red vs saffron as Jadavpur University goes the JNU way
About 200 students participated in the rally on Monday that travelled across the campus. Similar slogans were raised by some JU students on Sunday during a programme in front of Academy of Fine Arts, about 10 km away from the campus.
The slogans included, moulavaad se azadi, Manuvaad se azadi, sangh se mangey azadi, Kashmir mangey azadi, Manipur mangey azadi and bhookh se mangey azadi.
The slogans have remained at the centre of escalating tension between the Leftwing students who dominate the campus and sangh-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), who are trying to gain foothold on the campus that has, since inception, been a bastion of the Left.
In February, 2016, similar slogans and posters demanding azadi for Kashmir and Manipur had struck a controversial note, even as the students justified the act.
The rally on Monday was called to protest RSS hooliganism on the campus during a seminar on atrocities on minority Hindus in Bangladesh, attended by BJP leader turned Tripura governor Tathagata Roy and Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh, held on Saturday and Sunday.
Read: Cultural event at Jadavpur University defends Kashmirs right to Azadi
Trouble broke out during the seminar as a group of Leftwing students took out a poster campaign outside the seminar hall seeking answers on the status of minority Muslims in India. A scuffle between RSS activists and Leftwing students led to three police complaints against Sangh activists, including that of molestation.
Reacting on the slogans on Monday, state education minister and senior Trinamool leader Partha Chatterjee said the government will not allow anti-national activities on the campus.
The BJP and ABVP, too, have vowed to take on the Leftwing students propagation of anti-national activities on JU campus.
An 18-year-old Lucknow girl is set to become a saviour for a village which has been facing acute power pangs for years.
Meet Mrinalini Mitra, who has been chosen by the Davis Projects for Peace Foundation of the US to spearhead a solar power distribution project, Savera, using an indigenously designed micro- controller device, in Poore Pandey village in Rae Bareli district.
The project will provide for installation of a 60 watt solar panel that would be sufficient to provide 12 hours of electricity to run a fan or an LED bulb and a mobile charging point in each house in the village. It is expected to take off in June this year.
Whats more, under this scheme each beneficiary will be required to pay Rs 5 per day for a year. This would create a corpus of fund that would be used for maintenance of the battery. Savera aims to provide solar energy through a sustainable model and more importantly an expandable model, says Mrinalini.
Mrinalini was the only Indian girl to be selected under the Davis Peace Project by the foundation. She was awarded 10,000 dollar prize money besides figuring on the list of young achievers. She was also chosen by the foundation to spearhead Savera.
It is the prize money that will be used to bring solar power to this UP village, which Mrinalini had visited a year ago for a function. During her stay, she was shocked to discover see there was no electricity despite the village have power connection.
She was told frequent power outages and trippings were a norm here. The situation was so bad that villagers were forced to walk for miles to get their mobile charged in shops, for which they were charged by the shopkeepers.
She now hopes Savera would prove to be a turning point for villagers in this hamlet. The sentiments were echoed by her father AK Mitra, a senior bureaucrat. This would also motivate people to go in for solar power, which is also clean energy. The success of the project could also pave way for its implementation on a much larger scale, and even across the state, said Mitra.
An alumnus of City Montessori School, Gomti Nagar and GD Goenka Public school, Mrinalini is now in first year at Denison University, Ohio, USA and is doing a double major in political science and philosophy. She was awarded the Founders Scholarship while being offered admission at Denison University last year.
Mrinalini has also authored a book Belief. Besides, she is a painter, poet, and pianist as well. Mrinalini has achieved much, very early on in life but I still find her firmly rooted to reality. Apart from achieving top grades, publishing a book, and having held an exhibition of her paintings, she was also actively involved in social work, said Raveen Pande, principal of GD Goenka Public School, Lucknow.
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The Mumbai police recovered just Rs23.64 crore, or 22.16%, of Rs121.26 crore lost to thefts, house break-ins, robberies and chain-snatchings in 2016, showed a right to information (RTI) query filed by Hindustan Times.
In 2015, the numbers were a tad better as the police retrieved Rs29.75 crore, or 24.28%, of Rs154.91 crore booty.
The figures also pointed out that the police partially succeeded in curbing such crimes. Under the four crime heads, the total money stolen stood at Rs121.26 crore in 2016 compared to Rs154.91 crore in 2015.
The police also brought down total number of cases to 10,410 last year to 11,822 in 2015.
According to the statistics provided by the Mumbai police, Rs1,010.5 crore could not be recovered between 2007 and 2015.
The police did not furnish pre-2007 data as they did not maintain it. The statistics (please see box) showed that the Mumbai police could not improve their recovery percentage in house break-in, robbery and chain-snatching cases in 2016 compared to 2015.
However, the recovery rate in theft cases showed a remarkable improvement in 2016 compared to 2015.
Notwithstanding a dismal recovery rate in chain-snatching cases, the total loot money came down to Rs2.96 crore in 2016 from Rs5.92 crore in 2015. A senior official said the silver lining is that less money was stolen in 2016 as compared to 2015.
Early detection key to retrieving stolen valuables: Cop
To improve their recovery rates of stolen valuables, the Mumbai police will try to solve cases early on as robbers tend to spend the loot quickly, said a senior police official.
The police, however, ensured that fewer valuables were stolen in 2016 compared to 2015 as they curbed burglaries, thefts, chain-snatchings and house break-ins, and detected more cases.
On a low recovery rate, Deven Bharti, joint commissioner of police (law and order), told Hindustan Time, We will try to detect cases as soon as possible. It will improve chances of making more recovery.
He added that in many cases criminals spend looted cash quickly, making its recovery difficult.
Another senior police officer on condition of anonymity added, In many cases, criminals steal gold. It keeps changing hands. To avoid detection, jewellers melt it for new jewellery.
Asked if manpower crunch was an issue contributing to the dismal recovery percentage, the officer replied in the negative.
However, the police official said that 10 more police stations were required in the city to make policing stronger and more effective.
More police stations would mean the jurisdiction will be divided and more patrolling vehicles, weapons, equipment, manpower, etc. will be in place.
Robbery cases came down to 700 in 2016 from 794 in 2015 and the detection rate improved to 78.78% in 2016 from 76.57% in 2015.
Chain-snatching incidents slumped to 445 in 2016 from 909 in 2015 and 55% of the case were solved in 2016 compared to 46.09% in 2015.
The police were able to bring house break-in cases to 2,552 in 2016 from 3,010 in 2015 and improved the detection rate to 45.88 % in 2016 from 41.99% in 2015.
Similarly, theft cases came down to 6,713 in 2016 from 7,109 in 2015. The detection rate however remained constant at 31.25%.
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Burglary is a family business for this Pune trio
25-year-old involved in nearly 50 cases of burglary arrested
A woman was arrested at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport on Monday with cocaine worth Rs17crore.
Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) sources said the accused, Khiangte Lalthlamuani, 47, is from Meghalaya. Acting on a tip-off, the NCB searched her upon arrival. The team recovered 2.85kg cocaine from her handbag.
Lalthlamuani can be called a professional drug carrier. She does this job all over the country, said a senior NCB officer.
Sources said Lalthlamuani was not co-operating with the investigation. The NCB is trying to find who she was to give the drug to.
Investigations revealed that the accused had arrived in the city from Lome, the capital of Togo, in West Africa. She flew to Addis Ababa from Lome where she was given the drug at the airport.
The agency suspects that Lalthlamuani is part of a bigger racket that has roots in Mumbai and other cities. Most of the drugs are coming in from African countries, said the officer.
This is the second time this year that a woman carrying drugs at the city airport has been arrested. On March 26, the Air Intelligence Unit arrested a woman identified as Vanessa De Kock, acting on a tip-off from NCB officials. De Kock was found with 4.9kg of methaqualone worth Rs 1.47 crore.
Read
Customs seize more than 4kg drugs stuffed inside 15 roti-makers
Approximately 500 restaurants and bars serving liquor within 500m of the citys highways remained shut for the second consecutive day on Sunday, following the Supreme Court order banning such places from plying.
Many regular visitors to the wine shops, bars and restaurants along the western express, eastern express and national highways passing through suburbs and Thane said they were shocked to learn that the joints refused to serve liquor.
Following the Supreme Courts clarification that its order applied to all establishments including bars thus nullifying the state governments attempt to exempt these bars from the directive the state excise department ensured that the order was fully enforced. The department swung into action on Saturday and sealed godowns in which liquor was stored. Hotels were given the option to serve only food and not liquor if they wished to operate.
However, few hoteliers opted to do this, with many preferring to shut shop. A hotel owner said it was not viable to operate without serving liquor. People patronise this restaurant for its drinks and not its food. We cannot refuse to serve them alcohol and hence it is better to stay closed, said the owner, who did not wish to be identified.
According to Adarsh Shetty, president, Indian Hotels and Restaurant Association (AHAR), these hotels were shut following the Apex Courts order. Around 500 hotels in the suburbs fall within this restricted zone. They have all shut.The hoteliers have invested a lot into their business and are facing hard times, said Shetty.
Sourabh Kulkarni, 33, went to Goregaon Social at Oberoi Mall on Sunday. He was shocked to see a notice at the entrance stating that liquor would not being served. No other restaurant nearby was willing to serve alcohol, said Kulkarni.
Vilas Rao, an executive with a multinational company, was taken by surprise after he saw that all liquor joints near the Eastern Express Highway in Chembur were closed.
In December last year, taking note of the high rate of highway accidents caused by drunk drivers, the Supreme Court had ordered a ban on all establishments serving alcohol within 500m of highways. On Friday, the court said the order also applied to restaurants, hotels and bars.
The order will hit 15,699 establishments, which will be forced to shut. It will cost the government Rs7,000 crore every year.
The state may now come up with the option of de-notifying the highways to get rid of order. Excise minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule announced on Saturday that the state would help liquor shops to move out of the restricted areas by waiving taxes and charges.
Read
SCs highway liquor ban: Maha govt says it wont apply to highways under local bodies
SC orders ban on sale of liquor at shops within 500 metres of highways
15,000 shops, hotels along citys highways to lose liquor licences
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The Tata Memorial Centre (TMC), the countrys premier cancer treatment and research centre, is studying how women are able to fight breast cancer better than men.
In the backdrop of higher mortality rate in male breast cancer, a rare type of cancer that forms 1% of breast cancer cases, its been found that women do much better owing to more awareness and early diagnosis.
While the trend in men breast cancer patients has been steady, oncologists said men have minimal awareness when it comes to breast cancer as compared to women. Its so rare that spreading awareness and alerting men about it hasnt been given a thought, said Dr Rajendra Badwe, director, TMC.
For every 225 women, who are diagnosed with and treated for breast cancer at TMC in a year, around 10 men receive treatment for breast cancer. However, mortality rate in men remains high, due to delay in diagnosis and treatment. Incidence wise, one case is reported across a population of one lakh when it comes to breast cancer in men, who, in most cases, get the disease when they are aged between 60-70 years.
Despite the rare occurrence of breast cancer in men, it is important that they are aware and educated about the symptoms of the disease. Breast Cancer in men is typically more aggressive as compared to women. In men, it is usually detected as a hard lump underneath the nipple and areola (ring of pigmented skin surrounding a nipple), said Dr P Jagannath, oncologist at Fortis S.L Raheja Hospital, Mahim.
Oncologists from TMC are now trying to locate the scientific causes behind why men lag behind when it comes to coping up with cancer. Not just breast cancer but in almost all the cancers, women generally do better than men when it comes to fighting back. Exactly why we are trying to find out the reasons behind this difference, added Dr Badwe.
Risks men face in breast cancer cases
- Breast Cancer in a close female relative
- History of radiation exposure of the chest
- Enlargement of breasts (called gynecomastia) from drug or hormone treatments, or even some infections and poisons
- Estrogen consumption
- A rare genetic condition called Klinefelters syndrome (condition in which a male is born with an extra copy of the X chromosome)
- Severe liver disease (called Cirrhosis)
- Diseases of the testicles such as Mumps Orchitis, a testicular injury, or an undescended testicle
Diagnosis and treatment
Diagnosis for men is done through mammograms and biopsies of the breast tissue.
The treatment varies from case to case and includes surgery, chemotherapy and hormone therapy.
Most commonly, the treatment for men involves a mastectomy, which is the removal of the entire breast tissue.
Radiation is also administered in certain cases.
READ MORE
Awareness and early detection of breast cancer can reduce the need for chemotherapy
Three chief whips of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena may soon get the status of cabinet ministers and be entitled to more salary, cars with beacons and plush bungalows. The government has tabled a bill to exclude the post from the gamut of the office of profit to avoid complications like the ones the Delhis AAP government faced last year.
Once included in the list of statutory posts mentioned in the Maharashtra Legislative Members (Removal of Disqualification) Act, the posts will be excluded from the ambit of office of profit. This means whips and chief whips appointed in both the houses, will be entitled to facilities other than those they get as legislators. This, however, as categorically mentioned in the bill, will be applicable only to the chief whips and whips appointed by the ruling parties.
The three chief whips BJPs Raj Purohit and Bhai Girkar and Shiv Senas Sunil Prabhu and 14 other ruling party whips will be entitled to additional facilities. The parliamentary affairs department has, however, raised many questions on the financial burden of the move and which department will share it.
Currently, 21 AAP legislators are facing the threat of suspension for holding dual offices of profit. The AAP government had appointed them as parliamentary secretary to assist the ministers. Now, the Election Commission is hearing a case after a complaint was filed by a BJP functionary.
The state government had, in December, moved a file to award the status of cabinet minister to the chief whips, but when the proposal reached the law and judiciary department, it suggested an amendment in the law. The department cited the example of the suspension of 21 AAP MLAs from Delhi Assembly for holding the post of parliamentary secretary while suggesting the amendment in the Act. By doing this, we will bring the posts of chief whip and whip out of the gamut of the office of profit. Once that is done, the government can issue a notification awarding them a status of cabinet ministers, said an official from state legislature.
Both the posts in Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are equivalent to the minister and minister of state posts respectively. There is nothing new we are doing by amending the Act. It is not about getting the facilities as the MLAs posts keep changing, said Purohit.
When the proposal was moved by the government, the parliamentary affairs department was not happy with it. In the previous government, the minister and ministers of state for parliamentary affairs used to hold the posts of the chief whip and whips, so there was no need to have any special status for them. The BJP-led government appointed MLAs to hold the posts. When the demand first came up, we suggested they provide them with a personal assistant and telephone facility on the lines of the facilities given to whips in the parliament. We also suggested that the chief whips be appointed on statutory corporations controlled by the government so that they will be automatically accorded with these ranks, said an officer from the department.
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The Bombay high court has struck down criminal proceedings initiated against a 26-year-old woman for attempting to kill her own infant, on the grounds that she was suffering from postnatal depression, seen in many women after child-birth.
She was incapable of realising the nature and consequences of her act, said the bench of Justice SS Shinde and Justice KK Sonawane, while quashing proceedings initiated against Savita Choudhari, a resident of Ramnagar in Osmanabad district, Maharashtra.
The incident took place on December 9, 2015, three months after Savita gave birth to a son. The infant had been admitted to a local hospital allegedly after someone poisoned him. The case being medico-legal one, her husband lodged a complaint against unidentified persons, on the basis of which an offence for attempt to kill the infant was registered with the Washi police station.
In the course of investigations, the child was required to be shifted to Ashwini Hospital in Solapur, as his condition had become critical, and he was admitted to the intensive care unit. During treatment, Savita took the child out and tried to kill him. After some locals saw her trying to kill the baby, they raised a cry, at which she abandoned the child near a garbage dump and left the spot. An FIR was registered against Savita in Solapur, on the basis of the complaint of a local.
Washi police investigated both the cases and charged Savita with attempt to murder under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code. While the matter was pending with the Sessions court, she approached the high court.
The high court accepted her plea that she was insane, after noticing that the 26-year-old was suffering from postpartum depression. The court said that in view of the exception as under Section 84 of the Indian Penal Code, Savitas attempt to kill her infant cannot be treated as an offence.
Postpartum depression (PPD), also called postnatal depression, is a type of clinical condition, which can affect both sexes after child birth. Symptoms include sadness, changes in sleeping and eating patterns, anxiety and irritability. While many women experience self-limited, mild symptoms postpartum, postpartum depression sometimes also become severe, especially when it lasts over two weeks, and requires immediate medical attention.
The high court noted that the circumstances brought on record categorically demonstrate that she was not capable of understanding the nature or seriousness of her act. She was not conscious to realise the consequences of her act, said the court, adding, She did not know that it was wrong.
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The state governments Rs33.77-crore grant to step up security at public hospitals will not do much to stop assaults on doctors. Reason: Most attacks on doctors have happened at unguarded district and sub-district hospitals, while only 20% of the assault cases have taken place at the government medical colleges (GMC) set to get the bulk of the security funds.
Maharashtra has 16 GMCs, but there are more than 100 district and sub district-hospitals, of which 23 are civil (district) hospitals. Of the sub-district hospitals, four have 200 beds, 28 have 100 beds and 28 have 50 beds. The state also has 12 womens hospitals.
While more than 1,500 professional security personnel from the Maharashtra State Security Corporation (MSSC) will man the GMCs after April 30, there is very little security at the district and sub-district hospitals, at which more than 33 attacks have taken place since January. However, owing to lack of unity among doctors and little support from influential organisations such as the Indian Medical Association (IMA) which took over the protests of resident doctors staff at smaller hospitals are in a vulnerable position.
One attack every three days:
The data on attacks on doctors was compiled by the Maharashtra State Gazetted Medical Officers Organisation (MAGMO), an association of doctors employed by the state government. Dr Rajesh Gaikwad, MAGMO president, said their demand for adequate security dates back to 2009.
There is no manpower, no fixed hours and doctors work for 24 to 48 hours at a stretch. There have been 33 assaults on doctors, born purely out of miscommunication or misunderstanding between doctors and patients. Despite repeated requests, not even 2% of these hospitals have a CCTV camera surveillance system which can record assaults and be used as evidence, said Dr Gaikwad.
Poor security measures:
Of all the reported assaults in 2017, only two which took place at Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital and Medical College, Sion were against doctors from a GMC. Other cases in Latur, Nashik, Dhule, Sangli, Pune, Jalgaon and Thane have taken place at district and sub-district hospitals, which do not have more than two to three security guards at a time. Allegedly, the security measures were not stepped up even after the attacks. The medical superintendent of the hospitals conducted several meetings with health and police officials.
In a recent case, a mob of 25 to 30 people thrashed Dr Rahul Patil, two trainee doctors and a nurse at Nashik General Hospital. The hospitals 700 employees called for an immediate strike, which was called off after assurances by the health department. While the hospitals have been allotted 18 guards, only four work are on duty at a time and local police officials do not provide additional security. We have demanded more security personnel from the superintendent of police, but are yet to hear from him, said Dr Said P Jagdale, medical superintendent of the hospital.
Political absence:
A top official from the public health department said resident doctors were able to get their demands fulfilled by pressuring medical services and as the attacks took place in a megacity such as Mumbai. Events in big cities draw political attention and gain the support of influential bodies such as the IMA. At the same time, resident doctors know that they dont fall under the jurisdiction of Maharashtra Medical Council and cant be booked under laws such as the Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act (MESMA), which deters the employees of smaller hospitals from going on strike, said the official.
IMA officials said they are waiting for the assembly session to end and only then will they bring up the issue of providing security at civil and sub-district hospitals We discussed the issue with the chief minister. He promised us that it will be discussed. We will take up the matter with the medical education department, CM and public health department, said Dr Ashok Tambe, IMA president.
Top officials from Directorate of Health Services (DHS) admitted that currently, there are no fixed dates by which security measures for district and sub-district hospitals will be implemented. However, they said they have prepared plans. The issue was raised during the strike. We have approached the MSSC to review the security situation. We are looking for an IPS officer who can head the committee and prepare a report. Once the assembly session is over, Ill take up the matter with top officials, said Dr Satish Pawar, director, DHS.
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1.2K guards to man 14 medical colleges in Maharashtra
Four Mumbai civic hospitals get armed guards, curbs on entry after doctors strike
After 27 years, Mexican daily newspaper Norte de Ciudad Juarez has announced that it is closing its print edition, citing as the main reason the lack of security threatening the lives of its journalists.
The front page of the last print edition of 'Norte de Ciudad Juarez.'
The murder in March of one of its reporters, Miroslava Breach, was one of the main factors in the decision, along with the impunity against journalists [...] preventing us from freely continuing with our work, the paper explained in a front-page statement headlined Adios.
Dear reader, I am writing to you to say that we have taken the decision to close this daily because, among other reasons, there are no guarantees or security for us to be able to carry out critical journalism, reads the statement, which was signed by the papers owner, Oscar A. Cantu Murguia.
Everything in life has a beginning and an end and a price to pay. And if this is life, I am not prepared to pay for it with another one of my contributors, nor with my own life, adds the editor of the paper.
The paper also blames local, regional and federal governments for failing to pay for services delivered
The statement says that it has been left alone to expose corruption and bad government. In these 27 years, with a few honorable exceptions, we have battled against the tide, being battered and punished by individuals and governments for having exposed their bad practices and corruption, which only acted to the detriment of our city and those of us who live here, reads the editorial.
The paper also cites economic reasons for the closure, blaming local, regional and federal governments for failing to pay for services delivered.
In 2010, the papers rival, Diario de Juarez, called for a truce between the drug cartels fighting for control of the border city and that had seen the murder of two reporters in as many years.
The murder of Miroslava Breach came four days after an attempt on the life of Veracruz-based journalist Ricardo Monlui, and the murder of Cecilio Pineda on March 2. Thirty journalists have been murdered in Mexico since President Enrique Pena Nieto took office in December 2012, according to freedom of expression NGO Article 19. Other human rights groups say that a total of 123 reporters have been murdered since 2000.
English version by Nick Lyne.
The Shiv Sena on Sunday reiterated its stand that India should have a Hindutvawadi president next, once again backing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief, Mohan Bhagwat, for the post of the President.
In a column in the partys mouthpiece Saamana, senior leader and Rajya Sabha MP, Sanjay Raut said that Sena feels that since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won many states in the recent assembly elections, including 325 seats in Uttar Pradesh, there is an overall atmosphere of Hindutva in the country. If the RSS chief is made the President of the country, then the dream of a Hindu-rashtra (Hindu Nation) could be fulfilled, Raut wrote.
This is not the first time Shiv Sena has endorsed Bhagwat as the National Democratic Alliances (NDA)Presidential candidate. Last week, Raut told the media that if Bhagwat is made the President, he would fulfil the long standing demands of Ram Mandir, uniform civil code, and the issue of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, among other things.
However, Bhagwat has already put to rest the speculations linking his name for the post of President. Last week, he clarified that he is not in contention for the countrys top post.
In his column, Raut listed down seven points as to why Bhagwat should be elected to the Rashtrapati Bhavan in July. Several workers have shed their blood and laid down their lives in the last 50-60 years for Hindutva (Hindu ideology) and a Hindu-rashtra. Their sacrifices would be fulfilled, if the RSS chief is elected to the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the column read.
Meanwhile, the BJP has initiated steps to rally its allies in the NDA, especially Sena, as it is short of little over 25,000 votes for its choice of candidate for the top job. The BJP and Sena have been at loggerheads since the 2014 Assembly elections.
The deficit votes can be bridged by smaller parties such as the Shiv Sena, but the Sena is playing hardball and is unlikely to give its unconditional support, given the strained relation between the two parties.
When the reports of Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray being invited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to dinner surfaced last week, Raut had said that BJP leaders will have to come to Thackerays residence if they want their support in the presidential election. It is believed that by recommending Bhagwats name, the Sena leadership has put BJP leaders in a fix, as a section of leaders in party may not be in favour of Bhagwat.
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The week-long 1,500-km sangarsh yatra by six opposition parties, including the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party, in Maharashtra will culminate in a big rally at Panvel, near here, on Tuesday evening. NCP president Sharad Pawar will lead the speakers at the event to mark the culmination of the rally to demand loan waiver for distressed farmers in the state. The protesters started from Chandrapur district in dry Vidarbha on March 29 and covered most of the region and Marathwada, where farmer suicides are high.
Earlier, there was talk that Congress president Rahul Gandhi would join Pawar to address the rally, but the plan fell through. The Congress, the NCP, the Samajwadi Party, the Peasants and Workers Party, the Republican Party (Kawade) and United Janata Dal have collaborated for the first time to raise the issue of debt-ridden farmers against the ruling BJP. All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) was also expected to join the movement but their legislators backed out at the last moment.
The opposition had also taunted the BJPs prickly ally , the Shiv Sena, to join the protest, but the party, which has been vocal in demanding relief for farmers, did not take the bait.
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Join Sangharsh Yatra if you support farmers: Opposition in Maharashtra to Shiv Sena
Opposition parties in Maharashtra start Sangharsh Yatra for farm loan waiver
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Faced with angry students and parents, the Pune cantonment board has reversed its order asking examinees of classes 9 and 11 to bring answer sheets from home to write the ongoing year-end tests.
The boards Ghorpadi, Wanowrie and Solapur Bazar schools had asked around 650 students to bring their own
answer books following a delay in procuring stationery.
Parents protested the decision, saying they were being burdened by the board as they had already paid fees.
The annual exam for Class 9 and Class 11 began on April 1 and end April 13.
Such an order has immense scope for malpractices. The schools should have thought of it before issuing such an order, father of one of the students said, requesting anonymity.
Boards chief executive officer DN Yadav said he had issued a fresh order, which kicked in Monday, asking schools to provide answer sheets to students.
He was not kept in the loop by the schools but when he got to know of the order, he asked the headmasters to immediately purchase the stationery, including answer sheets, Yadav told HT over phone.
The order was issued at headmasters level and the board was not informed about it. On Monday, I will find out why students were asked to bring answer sheets from home, he said.
This is not the first time that the Pune cantonment board has struggled to provide basics to the students. Last year, too, schools had collected money from students to get stationery, a student claimed.
Continuing its track record of spending poorly, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) spent Rs4,156.49 crore just 32.08% of the Rs12,957.83-crore allocated for the financial year 2016-17.
Of the civic bodys 10 major departments, roads spent the least. Till March 30, only Rs322.62 crore 11.17% of the Rs2,886 crore allotted was spent by the scam-hit department, even as motorists struggled to commute on the citys shoddy roads.
Senior civic officials said the expenditure was lower last year as payments worth Rs908 crore were withheld to contractors allegedly involved in the scam.
For 2017-18, the BMC has allocated only Rs1094.82 crore for construction and maintenance of roads.
Even the bridges department spent only Rs89.64 crore 20.50% of the 437.19 crore allocated in 2016-17. Though the waste-management system in the city requires a boost, the solid waste management (SWM) spent Rs69.68 29% of the Rs237.37 crore allocated to the department.
Last week, BMC commissioner Ajoy Mehta presented a more realistic 2017-18 budget, which was slashed by Rs11,911 crore from the Rs37,000 crore-budget presented last year. However, going by current trends, the BMCs capital expenditure estimates of Rs8,127 crores for 2017-18 is unrealistically high.
If they have spent only Rs4,156 crore last year, then on what basis have they set a goal of spending Rs8,127 crore this year? Till now, the BMC has only been showcasing inflated numbers to give Mumbaiites a feel-good factor. The departments fail to spend the money each year. I do not think the situation will change this year, said Asif Zakaria, Congress corporator.
Capital expenditure is the money spent to create infrastructure in the city.
Even as Mumbais infrastructure is crumbling, BMCs track record with regard to the utilisation of the budget has been poor. As HT reported earlier, in the past 10 years, BMC allocated Rs2.19 lakh crore for the city. However, only 18.33% Rs40,267.26 crore was actually spent on infrastructure creation.
Till March 30, the BMC hardly spent money allocated to big-ticket projects such as the coastal road (0.4%), the Mumbai sewage disposal project (6.90%) and the Goregaon-Mulund Link Road (1.22%) in 2016-17.
In the 2017-18 budget, the civic body has allocated Rs1,000 crores for the coastal project, Rs444 crore for the sewage disposal project and Rs130 crorefor the Goregaon-Mulund Link Road.
The storm water drains, hydraulic and sewage departments, however, spent more than 45% of the budget allocated last year.
Officials say the revised estimates for the year 2016-17 are more realistic when compared to the actual expenditure. The BMC usually revises its budget estimation by October or November.
Mehta suspends official over illegal construction nods
Civic chief Ajoy Mehta on Monday suspended an executive engineer, who was serving as the assistant commissioner of N ward (Ghatkopar) till last month, for allegedly permitting illegal constructions in the ward, withholding information on the length and breadth of the wards roads and permitting mindless repairs and redevelopment.
He asked the inquiry department to probe the case and ascertain criminal involvement, said civic officials, who did not wish to be identified.
Dwivedi, however, denied the allegations against him. I have not committed any mistakes and neither have I received suspension orders. That is completely false. If anyone submitted false papers regarding repairs, redevelopment or new constructions in N ward, officials can revoke the permissions they granted for the repairs to be carried out, he said.
Officials alleged that Dwivedi purposely passed on incomplete information about the wards roads to the civic chief. Dwivedi had earlier received two warnings during the review meetings held by the commissioner, said a civic official.
After the 2015 hotel Kinara tragedy, in which eight people were killed, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) started drives to demolish illegal constructions and encroachments in Mumbai.
Read
Mumbais development plan takes centre stage in BMCs budget
In 10 years, just 18% of Rs2.19 lakh-crore BMC budget was spent on civic infra
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The seas near Mumbai, Kerala and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are among the most polluted in the world, a global study that mapped marine pollution around the world has found.
Researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research in Germany have for the first time compiled 1,237 scientific studies on marine litter into a single, comprehensive database called Litterbase.
Litterbase establishes a global map identifying several such locations in the world with the maximum marine plastic pollution.
Garbage, mainly plastic, has for decades choked our rivers and streams that ultimately flow into the ocean.
And Mumbais coast, and therefore the sea next to it, is among the worst of the lot. The database did a quantitative analysis of plastic debris on beaches in Mumbai and found an average of 68.83 items a sqm at four beaches Juhu, Versova, Dadar and Aksa most of it (41.85%) were microplastics ranging in size from 1m to 5m.
Lead author of the paper, HB Jayashri, from the National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency in Sri Lanka told HT the highest quantity of microplastics was seen in the Juhu beach (55.33%), followed by Versova (28.8%), Dadar (18.6%) and Aksa (7.9%).
The ocean around Mumbai is one of the most polluted in the world, said Jayashri. The major contributing factors for the litter are from recreational and religious activities and fishing, which suggests that most of the plastic pollution in the sea has its source on land. We also found that poorly treated domestic waste ended up polluting the ocean even more.
The pollution is not only increasingly posing a threat to the livelihood of people who live close to the sea, but is also severely affecting marine biodiversity.
In the AWI Litterbase, we have for the first time analysed all groups of organisms affected by the litter, and have presented it in map form, said AWIs Dr Melanie Bergmann. The number of affected marine species is currently at 1,220, and is rising steadily.
The maps documented littered locations in India, China, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, South Africa, the United States, a large portion of Europe, the western coast of South America and even at isolated areas across the world. It is important to bear in mind that the blank areas on our map dont necessarily represent clean regions; instead they are blind spots, Bergmann said.
A satellite map of India showing the spots with high plastic litter. The Mumbai shoreline is marked (the purple patches) as one of them
Plastic choking our oceans
8 million metric tonnes of plastic leaks into the ocean worldwide every year
322 million tonnes of plastic about as much as 900 Empire State Buildings was the amount of plastic the world prodcued in 2015
13 million tonnes of that found its way into our oceans thats as much as dumping two garbage trucks of plastic into the ocean every minute
$13 billion a year is the cost of the environmental damage, as the plastic wreaks havoc on our fisheries, marine ecosystems and economies
What is Marine Litter?
Waste created by humans, which is discharged in coastal or marine environments
Paper, textiles, glass, rubber, wood, metal, ceramics, plastics
60-90% of marine litter is made up of plastic polymers
Cigarette buds, plastic bags, fishing gear, food and beverage containers
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Beach clean-ups in Mumbai inspired global Clean Seas campaign: UNEP head
This lawyer spearheaded the worlds biggest beach clean-up at Versova
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Two days after the Enforcement Directorates (ED) crackdown on companies suspected of money-laundering, the Mumbai police have registered a case against a man who had a fake identity card of Interpol the worlds largest international police organisation.
However, officials are yet to trace the suspect, Chetan Shah.Shahs Worli home was raided by the ED as part of its search for shell companies across 16 states. While examining his laptop, officials found an identity card describing him as a special agent from the department of investigations of Interpols anti-terrorism division. Officials said such designations do not exist.
Interpol has 190 member countries. It enables police to collaborate in their fight against international crime.
Shahs identity card bore two Interpol logos. The reverse had Shahs thumbprint, along with his name, nationality, date of birth, weight, height, eye and hair colour and his blood type. Police suspect the two signatures of Interpol officials on the cards reverse were also faked by Shah.
Shah, a diamond merchant, came under the EDs scanner for his alleged involvement with shell companies. Based on the complaint filed by the ED, Worli police registered a case against Shah under section 419 (punishment for cheating by personation) of the Indian Penal Code. The agency shared the details of its probe with the Mumbai police.
Operation Shell Companies
During investigations to track the laundered proceed of crimes, the ED had come across various companies used to conceal the nature, origin, or destination of misappropriated funds by concealing the beneficiary owner or proceeds generated through corruption, fraud and other such crimes. Certain fraudsters referred to as entry operators were found using a network of shell companies.
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Enforcement Directorate hunts 300 shell companies; Bhujbal, Jagan Reddy on radar
ED summons CA involved in Chaggan Bhujbal case, raids his house in Mumbai
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On Monday, the new general body of corporators in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said they werent informed before the civic body began to charge more for parking in parts of south Mumbai on Sunday. However, the civic administration said that the rates had been implemented according to a 2015 BMC resolution.
The state government had stayed the new parking policy after the BMC began implementing it on a trial basis in A ward (areas of Churchgate, Colaba and CST). They stay was lifted only earlier this year, leaving the BMC free to implement the new policy. After a nod from the state, the civic body began executing the policy at 18 odd locations in A ward from Sunday.
A senior civic officer, said, We have not issued new tenders, but as existing contracts given on the basis of spot-quotations had expired, we gave the contractors a one-month extension and asked them to charge the new rates. This increase our revenue as the new policy is already in place.
This, however, did not go down well with corporators. Anil Kokil, Shiv Sena corporator and BEST chairman, asked why corporators were not informed, while Yashwant Jadhav, group leader of Shiv Sena in the BMC, asked by their suggestions were not taken. BJP corporator and group leader Manoj Kotak asked how the BMC planned to curb illegal parking, while Ravi Raja, Congress group leader, said, The ruling parties earlier passed the policy with a majority and now they trying to show concern. We were the ones who had opposed the policy then and we stick to our stand even now.
Sanjay Deshmukh, additional municipal commissioner, said, The corporation (general body of corporators) had passed resolution in 2015 giving approval to this policy and thus we are now implementing it.
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Soon, pay to use 330 parking lots in Mumbai
Mumbai will get 300 new BMC parking lots by next month
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After remaining shut for six days, the assembling unit of mobile phone company, Oppo, opened on Monday. Employees resumed work early morning and there were no untoward incidents at the facility in Sector 63, police said.
The company started its morning shift at 8am and over 2, 000 employees reported for duty in that shift. A police control room van was stationed outside the office for security reasons.
Oppos unit was shut on March 28 after hundreds of its employees along with local residents of Noida protested against a Chinese national, who allegedly tore an India Indian flag and dumped it in the bin.
In the wake of the incident, the employees had demanded that their working shift be for eight hours only and demanded a minimum salary of of Rs15, 000 per month. They had also sought holidays on Sunday and the management was asked not to sack employees without concrete reasons.
We had raised various demands regarding our jobs, which the management has promised to fulfil soon. The Chinese national was not seen anywhere on the floor and a cordial atmosphere prevailed throughout the day, said Vineet Arya, an employee.
Superintendent of police (city) Dinesh Yadav said, Investigation into the tearing of the Indian flag is still in progress. The demands raised by employees have been accepted by the management. There was no uproar and the day passed peacefully.
Police said they have collected more CCTV footage and are analysing them to see whether the Indian flag was discarded or not. So far, no footage has shown any clear image of the incident and investigations are in progress, Yadav said.
A case against the Chinese employee, Kevin Suhahu, under section 2 of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, was registered at the Noida Phase 3 police station on the basis of a complaint filed by three employees.
The company had issued a statement on March 29 that the Indian tricolour was discarded from a table in its office even as it sacked an employee. However, the company didnt disclose the nationality or the identity of the sacked employee.
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Ahead of the upcoming admissions in colleges affiliated to Dr Abdul Kalam Technical University (AKTU), the university administration has decided that every student will have to submit his/her Unique Identification Number (UID) of Aadhaar card while submitting examination forms. The university has also decided to mark students attendance through electronic devices that accept the UID number.
For the semester exams of academic session 2016-17, it is mandatory for students to submit their Aadhaar card details as we will be marking attendance through their UID number. With this, we will be able to register students and check their attendance online, said Dr Vinay Pathak, vice chancellor, AKTU.
More than 150 technical institutions of higher learning affiliated to the AKTU are located in Gautam Budh Nagar and Ghaziabad.
The decision was taken at a meeting between university authorities and college representatives held at the AKTU main campus in Lucknow. It is believed that this step has been taken after massive irregularities were found in the documents of at least 20,000 students. The university administration had then suspended 5,000 students after rechecking the documents of all the 20,000 students, which took almost a month.
Taking a note of this, the university administration will be taking the help of digitisation of education to prevent malpractices such as fake admissions and leak of question papers.
We have decided that the question paper for semester exams will be sent to exam centres online. A software will be developed to ensure safety of both question and answer papers, said Pathak.
The university administration also announced the date of semester exams. Exam forms and allocation of exam centres has already started from April 1. The semester exams will be held from May 13, said Aashish Mishra, spokesperson, AKTU.
Regarding students who failed in their last semester or academic year, he said, Such students will be given another chance and we will roll out a policy for them soon.
He added that the university wants to minimise any chances of malpractices in exams and admissions.
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Following a protest by villagers of Nausarpur over alleged police laxity in arresting the accused in a recent murder case, the district police chief on Monday sent the SHO and senior sub-inspector of Tronica City police station in Loni to the police lines. The district chief also suspended the entire staff of Mandola police station.
The villagers blocked the Delhi-Saharanpur Road and alleged laxity in arresting the accused named in the murder of Brijeshwar Tyagi, father of the village head Lalit Tyagi. Brijeshwar was attacked by several armed assailants on Thursday afternoon and died in a hospital in the wee hours of Friday. The victims family had named five persons and two unidentified persons as suspects.
The victims son had met me twice and complained about a threat to life from a rival group over a property dispute. Despite issuing directions, the issue was overlooked by the SHO. Further, just before the murder, two of the accused had surrendered in connection with a petty case and went to jail. They got bail two days later, after the murder. The SHO should have arrested them before but he failed to do so, Deepak Kumar, senior superintendent of police, Ghaziabad, said.
Officials said that the local police post officials were also lax in dealing with the situation, as they failed to pacify villagers who blocked the road for nearly two hours in protest.
The police picked up four to five persons but let them off after questioning. These people had moved the court in connection with the land dispute. We suspect they have aligned with our rivals and were involved in the conspiracy. There has been laxity in arresting the accused persons as well, said Lalit Tyagi, the victims son.
The SSP and the subdivisional magistrate rushed to Loni to pacify the villagers. After their visit, the blockade was lifted. Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Nand Kishor also reached the spot and said that the BJP district president, Basant Tyagi, was responsible for staging the protest.
The villagers should have told me about the issue and I would have spoken to the officials. It is also not appropriate for the district president (of BJP) to stage a protest when the party is in power in the state. On our assurance, the blockade was lifted and the SSP also reassured the victim family of speedy arrests in the case, the MLA said.
On the other hand, the BJP district president denied that he was behind the protest. I had gone there to pacify the protesters. My name cannot be linked to the protest by the villagers, Tyagi said.
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The European Commission says that it is 100% behind draft negotiation guidelines drawn up over Brexit, the United Kingdoms withdrawal from the European Union, despite the framework already having sparked anger among the governing Conservative Party in the United Kingdom and some members of Prime Minister Theresa Mays administration.
The Spain-Gibraltar border at La Linea de la Concepcion. JON NAZCA (REUTERS)
The problematic clause for the British government states that no agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom may apply to the territory of Gibraltar without agreement between the Kingdom of Spain and the United Kingdom.
Lets be cool and carry on and not use too harsh language
Bert Koenders, Dutch foreign minister
The overseas British territory, located in the south of Andalusia, has long been a point of conflict between the United Kingdom and Spain, and the issue has already flared up even though the British government only triggered Article 50 the process to leave the EU last Wednesday.
Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis told EL PAIS in an interview at the weekend that once Britain exits the EU, Spain is the Unions partner in Spain, and in the Gibraltar case the EU is thus forced to take Spains side.
The proposal is still at the draft stage, but we think it is very positive that the document with the negotiating guidelines reflects Spains position, he said. Madrid views this as a diplomatic victory, and the position has already created unease both in Gibraltar and in London.
The position of the UK on Gibraltar was brought into question on Sunday, when Michael Howard, a former Conservative Party leader, told Sky News that thirty-five years ago this week, another woman prime minister sent a taskforce halfway across the world to defend the freedom of another small group of British people against another Spanish-speaking country.
Gibraltars sovereignty status is not going to change without the consent of Gibraltarians and of the UK
Boris Johnson, UK foreign secretary
The parallels he was apparently drawing between then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatchers role in the Falklands conflict, which saw the UK go to war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands, drew accusations of saber-rattling from many commentators, and outright dismissal from others about the possibility that Spain and the UK could get into an armed conflict over the status of Gibraltar post-Brexit.
Speaking in Luxembourg, Britains foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, said that Gibraltars sovereignty status is not going to change without the consent of Gibraltarians and of the UK. Last week, he stated on Facebook that Britain would remain implacable & rock-like in our support for Gibraltar.
In response to the controversy, Brussels today called on London for dialogue and cooperation on the issue, while other European countries, including old allies of London, are telling the British government to tone down its statements.
Lets be cool and carry on and not use too harsh language, said Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders.
On Monday, when the European Commissions chief spokesman Margaritis Schinas was asked which side the EC was on in the war between Spain and Britain, he responded: The European Commission takes the side of dialogue and cooperation, which is our way of doing things.
The guidelines presented on Friday have the complete backing of President [Jean-Claude] Juncker and [chief negotiator] Michel Barnier. We will give no more explanations, he added.
And on Sunday, Foreign Minister Dastis of Spain dined in Madrid with the British secretary in charge of Brexit, David Davis, said sources in the Spanish executive. The event had been planned prior to the escalation of words over Gibraltar.
The meeting was very friendly and very constructive, British government sources told Reuters. Asked if London would send military protection to the territory, the reply was clear: It isnt going to happen.
English version by Susana Urra.
The Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) has installed a real time automatic air monitoring station in Noida, the first such system in the city. The station has been set up on the premises of Amity University in Sector 126.
The automatic air ambient monitoring system provides real time air quality data based on 12 parameters, including particulate matter, NO2, SO2 and CO2 levels, and the air quality index. Noida has around 8,000 industrial units, six sewage treatment plants and hundreds of under-construction realty projects, which are major causes of pollution.
Until now, there was no facility to get real time automatic updates on air pollution; there were only two manual systems. The manual systems provide data on the level of particulate matter-10, SO2 and NO2 on a weekly basis.
We have successfully installed a fully automatic machine to give instant updates on air pollution. We installed it on March 27. It is yet to stabilize and it is being trialled. We will start providing updates on pollution levels from the next week. A display screen will be put outside the Amity University within a week, BB Awasthi, regional officer of UPPCB, Noida, said.
Residents had been demanding for a real time air monitoring system in the city for the last six years. Also, despite the setting up of the system, environmentalists have complained to UPPCB office in Lucknow and Central agencies, seeking more than one station each in Noida and Greater Noida.
One automatic station each in Noida and Greater Noida is not enough to determine the air quality. Each area (where the system is set up) has a different level of pollution. Residents will not be able to get the correct picture with just one automatic machine because the characteristics of the areas are different. We demand at least 3-4 such stations so that residents can gauge the situation and take precautions if necessary, Vikram Tongad, an environmentalist, said.
The UPPCB on March 31 had floated a tender to set up automatic air monitoring station in UP cities, including Greater Noida. Besides one automatic station in Greater Noida, two manual stations will be set up to calculate the level of pollution level in Greater Noida, a UPPCB official said.
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Seven persons who allegedly stole a truck from Indirapuram area in Ghaziabad were arrested by Surajpur police on Monday.
Police identified the accused all aged 23-27 as Vinod, Naresh, Parveshwar, Ashu, residents of Uttar Pradesh, while Ajay, Dharmendera and Rajinder are residents of Fatehpur Beri in Delhi.
According to police, the truck carrying packets to be delivered by a courier company was on its way to Delhi from Roorkee in Uttarakhand.
Around 2am, when the truck crossed Mohan Nagar flyover in Indirapuram, it was intercepted by two cars Honda Amaze and Chervrolet Beat, police said.
Police said the driver of the truck, Mohammad Naeem, a resident of Muradabad, was beaten up by the robbers. He was gagged and tied up by the robbers and made to sit in the Chevrolet Beat.
One of the robbers drove the truck towards Yamuna Expressway and both cars followed the truck. Police said the truck was stopped on the service lane near Mohaiyapur village and it remained parked there for some time.
Villagers near the spot got suspicious about the truck and called the police control room. Following the information, a police party that was on night patrol reached the spot and seven people were arrested. The truck and two cars were seized.
The driver was also rescued. He narrated his ordeal to the police and the seven robbers were taken to Surajur police station, police said.
During questioning, the robbers told police they were trying to open the lock of the truck to decamp with the items inside when they were caught. Police suspect the cars were also stolen as none of them could produce any documents for the vehicles.
A case has been registered in Indirapuram on the statement of the driver. The investigations related to the cars are on, said Anuj Kumar, station house officer of Surajpur police station.
The police on Monday detained one more person in connection with the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl who went missing on Friday. The 19-year-old prime suspect is on the run. The police detained a daily wage worker, who was working adjacent to the girls house on the day of the incident. He told the police that he had smoked cannabis with the prime suspect around noon on Friday.
Police sources also said that they had received information that the prime accused was in Bihar and had dispatched a team immediately. However, he had left the area and moved to another location, the police said.
The girl went missing around 1.30pm on Friday and her body was found around 11.30pm in the loft of a room on the first floor of an under-construction building located 30 metres from her house.
We have detained the man and are questioning him. He is changing his statements and has given us several versions. Nothing concrete can be said about his involvement till we arrest the prime suspect. Several teams are trying to trace him, Salmantaj Patil, superintendent of police (SP city), said.
The worker was grilled extensively by the Indirapuram police. The police said that in one of the versions, he told them that he saw the prime suspect walking along with the victim and he was threatened with dire consequences if mentioned it to anyone. In another narration, he told the police that he was present at the scene of the crime.
However, the police are trying to trace the prime suspect and have assigned five teams. The prime suspect was a former tenant at the girls house and was last seen sitting outside her house.
The Ghaziabad district magistrate (DM) Nidhi Kesarwani and the senior superintendent of police Deepak Kumar visited the family of the victim.
The administration is doing whatever it can but we are suffering every moment as the man is yet to be arrested. The DM asked us our account number details for transferring the compensation but we requested her to direct officials to expedite the arrest of the accused. The compensation issue can be taken up later, the girls father said.
On Sunday, Noida MLA Pankaj Singh had visited the victims family along with former Noida MLA Vimla Batham and assured the family of help.
After Singhs visit, the DM also recommended compensation to be provided to the family from the chief ministers fund and also expedited the case documents for compensation to be awarded under Rani Laxmi Bai Mahila Samman Kosh scheme of the state government.
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Three minors, including a girl, allegedly drowned in mysterious circumstances in a plastic drum at a vacant plot in Sahibabad in Uttar Pradeshs Ghaziabad district on Monday evening. Though police do not suspect any foul play, they have ordered a post-mortem examination.
The incident took place in Tulsi Niketan locality of Sahibabad.
Police have recommended a post-mortem examination of all the three victims, as it was a mystery as to how all three drowned inside a single drum.
The two deceased boys were identified as Nimai and Azan, aged one-and-half years and four years, respectively, and children of a man named Jiyaluddin. The third deceased was identified as five-year-old Salma, the daughter of Abdul.
Their families, who live nearby and work as labourers, claimed the children went to the vacant plot to play on Monday evening.
During late evening, an old lady saw the drum and an inverted bucket of water. When she peeped inside the drum, she found the three children, said Deepak Kumar, senior superintendent of police, Ghaziabad.
We have ordered a post-mortem examination to find out the cause of death. According to initial investigation, it seems that the children climbed into the drum by stepping onto the bucket and entered the drum to bathe, he said.
We are not suspecting foul play because the plot is next to a residential area and not in an isolated location. The bodies had no external injuries to suspect any foul play. Still, the post-mortem examination will bring more details, he added.
SSP Kumar and other officials visited the spot and inquired about the incident from locals and families of the deceased.
According to police sources, the drum had a capacity of 200 litres and was nearly half filled when the incident took place.
Following a summit between Chinas President Xi Jinping and Nepals Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, Beijing announced $1 million towards the countrys local elections in May.
The move brings Beijings non-interference doctrine under the scanner again, after it was first questioned during the Sudanese civil war. China allegedly fuelled the civil war by providing the money - through the purchase of oil - and arms.
Back then, China had to resort to covert tactics to ally with a political faction. Today its far more powerful with a bigger stake and influence across the globe, and thus an expression thats more overt - as that in Nepal.
But Madhesis oppose the election until their demands for territorial re-demarcation and political representation are met.
Chinas funding is viewed as an act fanning chances of conflicts in Nepal.
Immediately after his China visit Prachanda confirmed the May elections stating nonparticipation would be viewed as secessionist tendencies.
Failure to induct Madhesi-centric parties in the elections, fears Nepals Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Local Development Kamal Thapa, may instigate separatists.
The question is why would China want this?
Its stakes in Nepal are rising. China feels making inroads into political decision-making is the only way to protect its interests. This situation is identical to the one that surfaced in Sudan where Beijing had already invested billions in the nations oil sector by the time of the war.
Investing in the elections would give Beijing the room to arm-twist Nepals resource starved political circle.
As this Global Times op-ed clearly states: China has every reason to require the Nepalese government to safeguard the interests of Chinese investors and contractors.
Nepal is an important country for its One Belt One Road (OBOR) project and during this summit, Prachanda assured Kathmandus participation.
China announced a $8.3 billion investment plan. Several projects (key to OBOR) need speeding up - Kathmandu Ring Road Phase II, Pokhara International Airport, Gautam Buddha International Airport and the West Seti Hydropower.
India remains a concern. Many in Beijing believe New Delhi facilitated Prachandas coming to power to form a pro-India government.
China says the Prachanda government hasnt made any substantial progress in the deals signed during KPS Oli. Soon Sher Bahadur Deuba will succeed Prachanda. Beijing is anxious these frequent transitions may further hinder the agreements.
But this may alienate an important faction in Nepal who view Beijing as meddling in its internal affairs - a perception thats caused discomfort in the Indo-Nepal relation.
An editorial in Kathmandu Post stating that Beijing hardly cares about other projects except for OBOR pointed out that work needs to speed up from the Chinese side too to build oil storage facilities in Nepal, or the plan to import 33% of its fuel from China. The matter is stalled because of price and customs issues. Nepal also offered free visas to Chinese visitors without any reciprocation.
So, it remains to be seen whether Chinas political investment in Nepal brings about the brownie points it expects.
Jhinuk Chowdhury is an independent journalist who writes on South Asian affairs
@jhinuk28
Actor Rajinikath should not have backtracked from going to Sri Lanka. He could have played the role of a statesman in creating a path for rapprochement. The fringe elements just tried their luck by blowing the horn, knowing that Rajini is sensitive to criticism; especially when it comes to promotions. Committing to visit Jaffna first and later backtracking makes the position of Tamils in Sri Lanka even more exposed, because it strengthens hard core elements on both sides. Besides, every time he is tentative on an issue, it erodes his own credibility.
The Palk Strait seems even wider than it was today.
His proposed visit could have helped in many ways. His presence would have boosted the morale of Tamils in Sri Lanka as he is an apolitical leader and carries everybody with him. He could have presented our views to the Government of Sri Lanka and forcefully pleaded our case. The Sri Lankan government, keen to reduce the political distance and societal disconnect with the Northern Province, would have been more than willing to hear him. They could have also presented their concerns which he could have communicated to the people of Tamil Nadu.
What is required today is to take the relationship beyond the grips of fringe elements in both places. In fact, the State as well as Centre could have used his visit to bolster the relationship with some additional programmes. His visit could have been the tipping point in giving the relationship a positive spin; and that is, in fact, the fear of the fringe elements.
The importance of being Rajini is that leaders like him carry huge social capital and people expect them to lead, even from outside politics. He is definitely taller than the fringe elements in both Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka; and people would have rallied behind him.
Every tentative move makes fringe elements stronger and gives them a fresh lease of life. What is the bone of contention here? Firstly, on the issue of fishing, people should realise that there are two sides to the ocean as much as the controversy. Any resolution requires both parties to talk, which is really what the fringe elements fear the most.
Secondly, Tamils and their political parties would have realised that the popularity of Rajini runs through all of Sri Lanka and not just the Northern Province. We may feel possessive about Rajini but he is equally popular with Sri Lankans, and this would have helped our cause a lot.
I found that everyone I met in Colombo and nearby towns had a lot of respect and even love for Indians. I met people from across the spectrum, and everybody was keen to know about the source and extent of the misunderstanding with Tamil Nadu. Conversation would invariably veer around to Rajini and his popularity. His soft power is immense. There is political and social distance between Sri Lankans and Tamils but it is not something that is irreconcilable. All it needs is time and some sustained efforts from India.
The Northern Province today needs development, infrastructure, welfare projects, and so on. They need health care, houses and schools. We will do better by providing this sort of support than by stalling them.
Whom do these protests help? Does it help India? No, India needs Sri Lanka as much as Sri Lanka needs us. Does it help the cause of Tamils in Sri Lanka? No, it only rekindles their feelings and delays the healing process. Does it help the Tamils in Tamil Nadu? No, it leaves no space for engagement with their brethren in Sri Lanka.
Can we help in any way? Yes, if leaders like Rajini come forward and mobilise resources. It is still not too late for Rajini. The political and international context needs him.
G Ramesh is Professor, Centre for Public Policy, IIM Bangalore.
Planetary scientists and astronomers furiously debated if Pluto should regain its planet-hood at the 48th annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston last month . The International Astronomical Union (IAU) had stripped Pluto of this status in 2006.
When Pluto was discovered in 1930, it was hailed as the ninth planet in the solar system based on an overestimation of its size. But it looked out of place among the larger planets following the discovery of swarms of ice dwarfsicy rocks in the Kuiper Belt, at the very edge of the solar system billions of miles from the Sun. This prompted some astronomers to suggest that Pluto could be just another Kuiper Belt Object (KBO), disappointing generations of schoolchildren who grew up learning that Pluto was the smallest planet in the Suns family.
On the other hand, this was also a question of semantics. For Pluto is clearly big enough for gravity to give it a round shape like any planet (unlike KBOs that tend to be misshapen), and it revolves around the Sun like other planets. It has an atmosphere and seasons, too. Nasas New Horizons mission that visited Pluto in 2015 sent back spectacular images of water ice mountains and a heart-shaped plain, suggesting nothing un-planet-like about Pluto.
When the IAU demoted Pluto to a dwarf planet, it spelt out three conditions that a celestial body must meet to qualify as a planet: 1) it must be round; 2) it must orbit the sun; and 3) it must have cleared the neighbourhood of its orbit (a planets gravity sweeps and clears the space around it of other objects). Pluto follows the first two rules, but it hasnt cleared the neighbourhood of its orbitwhich put it in the category of dwarf planets. (Of the five known dwarf planets, Pluto, Makemake, Haumea and Eris are located beyond Neptune. The fifth, Ceres, is located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.)
This was unacceptable to many scientists who wanted Pluto reinstated as a planet. The IAU definition, they argued, applies only to bodies in this solar system, being silent on objects orbiting other stars. In any case, the zone clearing clause also affects Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Neptune, none of which has a clear orbital zone. Earth orbits with 10,000 near-Earth asteroids, while Jupiters path is littered with over 100,000 Trojan asteroids (chunks of rubble left over from the Solar Systems formation more than four billion years ago). As for Neptune, if it were to clear its zone, there would be no Pluto in the first place!
At the Houston meet, some scientists offered an alternative geophysical definition based solely on an objects core characteristics rather than its orbital dynamics. But this broad definition that a planet should be large enough to be round, but not big enough to be a starwould make not only Pluto, but the moon and scores of other Solar System objects, planets.
So, by all accounts, the jury still is out on Plutos planetary status. This is hardly surprising, considering the debate is, in a sense, all about splitting hairs. Boffins should instead try and refine the existing classification system for celestial bodies that is being outdated by the minute with each new discovery in space.
As for Pluto, they would be better off wondering what Pluto is like, rather than what it is. For only by learning more about the bodies in the outer solar system can scientists get to know how the inner Solar System was born. And Plutono arguments hereprovides the best window to see 4.6 billion years back in time when planets formed in the infant solar system.
Prakash Chandra is a science writer. The views expressed are personal.
In the wake of the Supreme Courts order of banning sale of liquor within 500m of national and state highways that came into effect from April 1, the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Chandigarh has claimed that the hospitality industry has suffered a loss of more than Rs 3 crore.
This weekend, the hospitality industry in Chandigarh will have incurred a loss of more than Rs 3 crore. We will protest at the Sector 17 Plaza on Monday, said Arvinder Pal Singh, the president of the association.
He added that the association also planned to request the UT administration to declare the stretch from Sectors 35-43 national highway 5 part of the route towards Ludhiana as a major district road.
The association will meet senior officials from the UT administration and hand over a memorandum.
We will meet the deputy commissioner, the UT adviser and if required, we will approach the UT administrator as well and hand over a memorandum, he added.
The order has hit nearly 150 restaurants, bars and other commercial establishments in the tricity. In Chandigarh, there are 88 such establishments, of which 63 are bars and 25 are beer bars, Singh added.
I have never seen such a dull weekend. We cater to more than 600 people during weekends. This time, there were only a couple of families who visited. We cannot run our business like this, said a manager from a restaurant and bar in Sector 26, Chandigarh.
Employees at hotels in Sector 35 also shared similar tales.
A collateral damage of the development has been the vendors outside the citys main watering holes.
I have been selling eatables for the past five years. I have never seen such a dull market. People do come, but after inquiry do not have anything and leave, said a vendor.
Meanwhile, the Chandigarh Beopar Mandal has extended its support to the demand of Hotels and Restaurant Industry of exemption from the liquor ban imposed by Supreme Court.
A resolution was also unanimously passed supporting the Hotel and Restaurant industry of Chandigarh, on the verge of closure, after the Supreme Court ban of no liquor within 500m from national and state highways, a statement said.
CANDLE LIGHTING PROTEST
All outlets hit by the decision of the Supreme Court on liquor ban near state and national highways organised a protest by lighting candles outside their bars, pubs, restaurants in Sectors 26, 8, 9 and 35. We have to close our bar and will soon become jobless, said the manager of a city-based beer bar.
DECLARE SECTOR 35-43 STRETCH MAJOR DISTRICT ROAD
The Hotel and Restaurant Association of Chandigarh will request the UT administration to declare the stretch from Sectors 35-43 NH-5 part of the route towards Ludhiana as a major district road.
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Chief minister Raghubar Das on Sunday sought to reach out to the minority community but also said his government is advocating appeasement of none and development for all in Jharkhand.
He was speaking at the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Haj House and Rabindra Bhawan in Ranchi.
We are following the sabka saath, sabka vikas principle. Our government believes in appeasement of none and development for all, Das said in the presence of President Pranab Mukherjee, the chief guest of the ceremony.
Das said the Haj House, which will also have an air ticket counter, will facilitate pilgrimage for the poorest of Haj pilgrims in the state.
The BJP governments at the Centre and the state have been at the receiving end of criticism for their alleged aggressive Hindutva agenda since they came to power. The Hindutva jibes gained momentum recently after right wing leader Yogi Adityanath took charge as the Uttar Pradesh chief minister and banned illegal slaughter houses in his state. Following in UPs footsteps, Jharkhand too ordered shutting down of all illegal slaughter houses last Monday.
The Haj House in Ranchi was plagued by controversies since the cabinet approved its construction about a decade ago.
The state cabinet, in 2006-07, had cleared a proposal of the welfare department for construction of a five-storied Haj House on a one-acre plot in Kadru at an estimated cost of Rs 4.8 crore.
Housing board officials had appointed some construction firms without floating tenders. Its construction was so poor that seven labourers and a mason were severely injured when a portico of the underconstruction building collapsed in 2009. In 2012, the state government finally ordered a vigilance inquiry into the scam.
The BJP government here, however, decided to rebuild the Haj house by demolishing the earlier one.
Last time, the quality of infrastructure was poor, but the government has decided to provide the best possible infrastructure for the new Haj House, said Jharkhand governor Droupadi Murmu.
Murmu said that every Muslim dreams of going to Haj at least once in lifetime, and this facility will make it easier for members of the Muslim community in Jharkhand to fulfil their dream.
Indian actor-comedian Vir Dass Netflix special show titled Abroad Understanding will release on the streaming media and video on demand online platform on April 25.
The actor is excited to get authentic Indian comedy out to wider audience with the show.
Its all ready to go and its time to send some authentic Indian comedy out to its largest ever audience. Ive worked on this project for over a year now and I hope people enjoy it. I think were gonna have some fun on this wave, Vir Das said in a statement.
Virs show was filmed in New York and New Delhi last year in November. It will be streamed on Netflix across the globe in over 100 countries. The show offers hilarious insight into stand-up comic acts, and will be full of astute social commentary and a glimpse into Virs journey.
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Ameriabank: At the Vanguard of Armenia's Banking Sector
STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARTSAKH
SUBSCRIBERS OF UCOMS ALL TIME BEST OFFER TO ENJOY ADDITIONAL BENEFITS
Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders
PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces
There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan
Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia
Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair
Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan
I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General
I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox
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There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur
EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol Armenia and Azerbaijan to do so without delay
An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan".
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The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022
Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully
The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces
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This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan
Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments
Delegation by Nancy Pelosi Accompanied by Alen Simonyan Visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex
Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi Arrives in Yerevan
Armenian Revytech, global technology leader SAP and financial services software specialist SAP Fioneer sign a cooperation agreement
With 120 million drams donated by Mikael Vardanyan, the defenders of the homeland will be treated in a new building
OSCE Chairman-in-Office and OSCE Secretary General call for immediate cessation of hostilities along Armenia-Azerbaijan border
Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh
Reality TV personality Kim Kardashian is keen to expand her family with rapper husband Kanye West. During an episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, the 36-year-old star reflected on her past and said she looked forward to having more kids with West, reported People magazine.
(From left) Kim and Kourtney Kardashian and Kris Jenner at the Off-white 2017 Spring/Summer ready-to-wear collection fashion show, in Paris. (AFP)
Id just love nothing more than to expand my family and just know that I have this world at home thats safe, Kim, who shares two kids with the rapper, revealed in the episode. And if for some reason I left this earth sooner than I really wanted to, then my kids would have a support system at home so that I know that they would be OK if I wasnt here, she added.
Kim knows that getting pregnant for third time would be high risk, as doctors have already told her that she will have to face a lot of complications if she ever conceives in future again. Having more kids is definitely going to be a struggle. Ive gone through so much with really bad deliveries that the doctors dont feel like its safe for me to conceive again myself. This surgery is really the one last thing I can try. I want my kids to have siblings and I want to know that I did everything I could to make this happen, she said.
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If the explosion on a subway train in St. Petersburg turns out to have been a terrorist attack, it would be the latest in a long line of attacks targeting Russia in recent years. Some of the deadliest include the following:
October 2015: Militants from local affiliate of Islamic State down a Russian airliner en route from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg over Egypt, killing all 224 people on board.
October 2014: Suicide bomber wearing a police uniform blows himself up in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, killing five policemen and wounding 12 others.
December 2013: Back-to-back suicide bombings in the southern Russian city of Volgograd kill 34 and injure 100 others.
January 2011: Suicide bomber blows himself up at Domodedovo Airport, Moscows busiest, killing 35 and injuring 180 people.
March 2010: Two suicide bombers attack Moscow subway system, setting off their explosives about 30 minutes apart on two trains during rush hour, killing at least 40 and injuring more than 100.
November 2009: A bomb explodes under the high-speed Nevsky Express train travelling between Moscow and St. Petersburg, causing a derailment that kills 28 and injures nearly 100. A previous attempt on the rail line in 2007 caused more than two dozen injuries but no deaths.
October 2005: Islamic militants launch a series of attacks on police in Nalchik, capital of the tense Kabardino-Balkariya republic near Chechnya. Chechen rebels claim credit for the attack, in which 139 people were killed, including 94 militants.
September 2004: About 30 Chechen militants seize a school in the southern town of Beslan and take hundreds of hostages a siege that ended in a bloodbath two days later. More than 330 people, about half of them children, are killed.
August 2004: A suicide bomber blows herself up outside a Moscow subway station, killing 10 people.
August 2004: Two female suicide bombers bring down two Russian airliners that took off from Moscows Domodedovo airport, killing 90 people. Chechen rebels claim responsibility for the attacks.
February 2004: A suicide bomber strikes a subway car in Moscow during rush hour, killing 41 people and injuring more than 100.
December 2003: A suicide bombing on commuter train in southern Russia kills 44 people, two days before Russian parliamentary elections.
October, 2002: Chechen militants take 800 people hostage at a Moscow theater. Two days later, Russian special forces storm building and 129 hostages and 41 Chechen fighters are killed, mostly from effects of narcotic gas Russian forces use to subdue the attackers.
August 1999: Four apartment building bombings kill about 300 people in Moscow and two other Russian cities. The Kremlin names the attacks as a key reason for sending troops back into Chechnya the following month.
The United States has raised the specialisation bar for H-1B visas for hiring computer programmers and, on Monday, just around the time it began accepting petitions for 2018, warned employers against using the visa programme to discriminate against American workers.
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which runs the H-1B programme, changed guidelines over the weekend to prevent US firms or US-based units of multinationals from using these visas to hire computer programmers.
In a March 31 policy memorandum, the USCIS said a computer programmer with an ability to use IT skill will not be sufficient. A petitioner must provide other evidence to establish that the particular position is one in a specialty occupation.
The intention was to push companies to hire only high-skilled workers from abroad and leave low or medium level jobs for Americans, as has been the stated position of some in the Trump administration, who have been critical of this programme.
And on Monday, day one of the opening of the 2018 cycle, the justice department issued a stern warning to employers on using the high-skilled visa programme to discriminate against local workers.
The Justice Department will not tolerate employers misusing the H-1B visa process to discriminate against US workers, said Acting Assistant Attorney General Tom Wheeler of the Civil Rights Division in a statement.
US workers should not be placed in a disfavored status, and the department is wholeheartedly committed to investigating and vigorously prosecuting these claims, he added.
While the justice department is known to have investigated and prosecuted allegations of discrimination before, it could not be immediately confirmed if such a warning was ever issued around the time employers began filing H-1B petitions.
The justice department said in a statement that anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) prohibits employers from discriminating against US workers because of their citizenship or national origin in hiring, firing and recruiting, and added, Employers violate the INA if they have a discriminatory hiring preference that favors H-1B visa holders over US workers.
The DoJ threat came at around the same time Monday as the USCIS threw open the process for accepting petitions for H-1B visas 2018, which will likely be over in just a few days given the high demand.
The United States grants 85,000 H-1B visas under an congressionally mandate cap every year 65,000 to foreigners hired outside the US and 20,000 to international students enrolled in American colleges and universities.
The programme has come heightened scrutiny in recent years, with critics arguing it is being used by companies to hire temporary foreigners workers on low salaries to displace local American workers on higher salaries.
The same critics have targeted Indian IT companies such as Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro accusing them of gaming the system by cornering a large portion of the annual disbursement of H-1Bs with a large number of applications.
Many of these critics are now in the administration of President Trump, who has said the H-1B programme, which he used earlier in his businesses, is broken. There was even a draft of an executive order that circulated briefly but was never issued.
One of the H-1B visa programmes chief critics is Attorney General Jeff Sessions, whose department issued the Monday warning with the threat of investigating and vigorously prosecuting these claims of Americans being displaced.
Indian IT companies, who admit to using this visa programme heavily, have, however, vigorously contested allegations of using this programme to discriminate against local workers, and have ramped up local hirings in recent years.
White House senior advisor Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trumps son-in-law, is visiting Iraq with Marine General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the US militarys Joint Chiefs of Staff, a senior Trump administration official said on Sunday.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Kushner wanted to see Iraq for himself and to show support for the Iraqi government. The official was confirming a report by other media, including a tweet by a New York Times reporter.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi met Trump for the first time on March 20 and said afterwards that he won assurances of greater US support in fighting Islamic State militants but cautioned that military might alone would not be sufficient.
Trump took office on Jan. 20, pledging a new strategy to defeat the hardline militant group that seized large swaths of Iraq and Syria in 2014.
Before Trump took office, Iraqi forces recaptured a string of major cities from the group, shrank its finances and significantly stemmed the flow of foreign fighters, all with the support of US-led coalition air strikes and military advisers.
About 10 people were killed and several more injured Monday after an explosion rocked the metro system in Russias second city Saint Petersburg, according to authorities, who were not ruling out a possible terror attack.
President Vladimir Putin said investigators were looking into all possible causes for the explosion -- accidental, criminal and first of all ... terrorist.
Pictures screened on national television showed the door of a train carriage blown out, as bloodied bodies lay strewn on a station platform.
Above ground, emergency services vehicles rushed to the scene at the Technological Institute metro station, a key transport hub in the city centre.
For the time being, we can say with full confidence that nine people have died and over 20 people were injured, including some who were seriously injured, the spokesman for Russias national anti-terrorism committee (NAK), Andrei Przhezdomsky, said in televised remarks.
Authorities in Saint Petersburg had previously given a death toll of about 10 people.
pic.twitter.com/HZvq7tqwXd Philipp Kireev (@mynameisphiIipp) April 3, 2017
The blast caused scenes of confusion, with traffic blocked on Moskovsky Prospect, a busy throughfare as emergency vehicles rushed to the station.
My mom was in the metro, I dont know whats happened to her, I cant get hold of her, one woman, Natalia, told AFP outside the station as she was trying to make a phone call on her mobile.
Pensioner Vyacheslav Veselov told AFP he had seen four bodies at the Technological Institute station.
A station attendant in tears called on the men to help carry the bodies, he said.
2nd device neutralised -
Przhezdomsky said the blast occurred at 2:40pm local time (1140 GMT) and that the NAK had already launched an investigation.
He said the blast happened in a train carriage between the stations Technological Institute and Sennaya (Square), which are next to each other.
The committee later confirmed that security services had found a device at the Vosstaniya Square metro station which didnt explode and neutralised it.
View gallery: Blasts rock metro in Russias St Petersburg
The metro network announced it was shutting down entirely after evacuating all passengers and Russias Investigative Committee also began a probe into the blast.
The Moscow metro also tweeted that it was taking additional security measures as required by law in such situations.
NAK said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies that security was being stepped up at transportation hubs and crowded places across the country.
- Putin condolence -
Putin, who was holding a meeting near Saint Petersburg in his official Strelna presidential palace, offered condolences to those hurt in the blast.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev called a terrorist attack on Facebook.
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini wrote on Twitter she was following the story together with all EU foreign ministers gathered for a meeting in Luxembourg.
Our thoughts are with all the people of Russia, she wrote.
While there was no immediate indication as to what caused the blast, Russias security services have previously said they had foiled terrorist attacks on Moscows public transport system.
And extremists have targeted Russias public transportation systems in the past.
In 2013, Russia was hit by twin suicide strikes that claimed 34 lives and raised alarm over security at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games.
A bombing at the main railway station of the southern city of Volgograd killed 18 people on while a second strike hit a trolleybus and claimed 16 lives.
A suicide raid on Moscows Domodedovo airport claimed by Islamic insurgents from the North Caucasus killed 37 people in January 2011.
That strike was claimed by the Caucasus Emirate movement of Islamist warlord Doku Umarov.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday expressed deep sadness over the loss of lives in the blasts at St. Petersburg metro.
Deeply saddened by the loss of lives in the blasts at St. Petersburg metro. Heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 3, 2017
Russia beefed up its security over the holiday period in the wake of the attack on the Berlin Christmas market that killed 12.
Russia has intervened militarily to bolster Syrian President Bashar al-Assads forces in September 2015, turning the tables on the battlefield just as rebel forces were strengthening their hold on key areas.
Russian bombardments helped the regime retake rebel areas in the east of the northern city of Aleppo after four years of fighting.
More than 310,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict broke out in March 2011 with protests against Assads rule.
Read more | A timeline of major attacks in Russia in recent years
If the subway explosion that killed at least 10 people and injured 50 others in St. Petersburg turns out to have been a terrorist attack, it would be the latest in a long line of attacks targeting Russia in recent years. Some of the deadliest include the following:
October 2015: Militants from local affiliate of Islamic State down a Russian airliner en route from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg over Egypt, killing all 224 people on board.
October 2014: Suicide bomber wearing a police uniform blows himself up in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, killing five policemen and wounding 12 others.
December 2013: Back-to-back suicide bombings in the southern Russian city of Volgograd kill 34 and injure 100 others.
January 2011: Suicide bomber blows himself up at Domodedovo Airport, Moscows busiest, killing 35 and injuring 180 people.
March 2010: Two suicide bombers attack Moscow subway system, setting off their explosives about 30 minutes apart on two trains during rush hour, killing at least 40 and injuring more than 100.
November 2009: A bomb explodes under the high-speed Nevsky Express train travelling between Moscow and St. Petersburg, causing a derailment that kills 28 and injures nearly 100. A previous attempt on the rail line in 2007 caused more than two dozen injuries but no deaths.
October 2005: Islamic militants launch a series of attacks on police in Nalchik, capital of the tense Kabardino-Balkariya republic near Chechnya. Chechen rebels claim credit for the attack, in which 139 people were killed, including 94 militants.
September 2004: About 30 Chechen militants seize a school in the southern town of Beslan and take hundreds of hostages a siege that ended in a bloodbath two days later. More than 330 people, about half of them children, are killed.
August 2004: A suicide bomber blows herself up outside a Moscow subway station, killing 10 people.
August 2004: Two female suicide bombers bring down two Russian airliners that took off from Moscows Domodedovo airport, killing 90 people. Chechen rebels claim responsibility for the attacks.
February 2004: A suicide bomber strikes a subway car in Moscow during rush hour, killing 41 people and injuring more than 100.
December 2003: A suicide bombing on commuter train in southern Russia kills 44 people, two days before Russian parliamentary elections.
October, 2002: Chechen militants take 800 people hostage at a Moscow theater. Two days later, Russian special forces storm building and 129 hostages and 41 Chechen fighters are killed, mostly from effects of narcotic gas Russian forces use to subdue the attackers.
August 1999: Four apartment building bombings kill about 300 people in Moscow and two other Russian cities. The Kremlin names the attacks as a key reason for sending troops back into Chechnya the following month.
The status of Gibraltar can only be changed by the territorys people and by UK citizens, British foreign secretary Boris Johnson said on Monday as the enclave became an issue in Brexit negotiations.
Boris Johnson said Gibraltars sovereignty is not going to change and cannot conceivably change without the express support and consent of the people of Gibraltar and the United Kingdom.
He spoke in Luxembourg where EU foreign ministers are meeting. Britains departure from the European Union, likely in 2019, is not on the meetings agenda.
Spanish foreign minister Alfonso Dastis told El Pais newspaper that Madrid insists it should get a veto over any agreements regarding the strategic enclave on Spains southern tip.
The EUs roadmap on Brexit negotiations leaves the United Kingdom and Spain to discuss what agreements will apply to Gibraltar, a British overseas territory that Spain has wanted back since ceding it more than three centuries ago.
This could force a dialogue in which Madrid might have the upper hand, although the Spanish government has said that it will ensure an open border for European workers that are key to both Gibraltar and the neighbouring area in southern Spain.
Gibraltar has a population of 32,000, and about 96% of residents voted to remain in the EU last year.
Dutch foreign minister Bert Koenders called for calm, saying that the Brexit divorce is already difficult enough. Lets be cool and carry on, and not use too harsh language, I would say. Lets just negotiate. I think thats the most important, he said.
Residents of a homeless shelter in Warsaw can already feel the wind in their sails as they work on the imposing steel hull of a majestic schooner, which they aim to take around the globe.
I work on it from 7am to 3pm, and more if we need it, says Slawomir Michalski, of his labour of love.
Sunny and mild spring weather now allows the work to go ahead full steam after a long, cold winter.
Its like Im building my own home, Michalski told AFP, of the 57-foot-long sailboat (17.8 metres).
Construction began a decade ago -- the brainchild of Father Boguslaw, a priest working at the Saint Lazarus shelter at the time and a former shipyard worker in the Baltic port city of Gdansk.
Michal Jedynak shows a mast pattern for a steel schooner called "Father Boguslaw" under construction at the courtyard of a homeless shelter run by Catholic Fathers in Warsaw on March 27. (AFP Photo)
With technical knowledge and skills in shipbuilding, he was convinced that involving the homeless in the project would help win back their self-confidence, encourage teamwork and contribute towards their return to the workforce.
When the charismatic Father Boguslaw died in 2009, Michalski says that residents swore on his grave to complete the schooner, which will bear his name.
Left everything behind
Shipbuilding is also in Michalskis blood.
Now aged 60, in the 1970s, he worked as a welder at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk just as the anti-communist Solidarity movement was taking shape, led by freedom icon Lech Walesa.
Ship captain Waldemar Rzeznicki (R) and Michal Jedynak work on steel ropes for a steel schooner under construction at the courtyard of a homeless shelter run by Catholic Fathers in Warsaw. (AFP Photo)
At the time, Walesa was just another electrician, but soon won the Nobel Peace Prize as the leader of Solidarity, the communist blocs first and only free trade union that peacefully toppled the system in Poland, ushering in democracy in 1989.
Walesa became Polands first freely elected post-World War II president a year later.
I worked on the ships hold, while Walesa was repairing the electric trolleys, Michalski recalls, of his shipyard days, as he welds metal parts of a door leading to the schooners galley.
We worked together, we were on strike together during the Solidarity era, and then I left everything behind and wound up in a homeless shelter, Michalski told AFP.
(R-L) Ship Captain Waldemar Rzeznicki, Slawomir Michalski and Michal Jedynak stand on a steel schooner under construction at the courtyard of a homeless shelter run by Catholic Fathers in Warsaw. (AFP Photo)
He has been living at the shelter in Warsaws western Ursus district -- famous during the communist era for its tractor factory -- on and off since 2009, as he has battled with alcohol. But building the schooner has helped keep up his morale.
Run by the Roman Catholic order of the Camillian Fathers, the centre provides shelter for about 100 men over the age of 40, and squeezes more in on extra mattresses on the floor in winter.
Gives us strength
There were a lot of people wondering whether we werent a little mad -- what a completely silly idea: homeless people are building a sailboat? Michalski says, tapping his head.
But theyve seen the yacht grow from one year to the next, so people have changed how they think about it, and now they see it as a great idea, he added.
Polish shipbuilder Bogdan Malolepszy donated the blueprints for the two-masted BM-57 model schooner he designed himself, while other firms have furnished metal, cables, paint and other supplies.
Ship Captain Waldemar Rzeznicki shows a construction drawing of a steel schooner at the courtyard of a homeless shelter run by Catholic Fathers in Warsaw on March 27. (AFP Photo)
Hopes are high that the vessel will be seaworthy within two years and allow those who built it to sail it, before then chartering it.
Altogether with the bowsprit, the boat will be up to 63 feet long, said ship captain Waldemar Rzeznicki, checking the schooners blueprints.
He devotedly oversees the work, day and night, on the grounds of the shelter.
Just building it gives us strength, both to the homeless and us volunteers, because this work is happiness, Rzeznicki told AFP.
Slawomir Michalski works on a steel schooner under construction at the courtyard of a homeless shelter run by Catholic Fathers in Warsaw. (AFP Photo)
Michal Jedynak, another shelter resident, works on the staircase leading to the cabin, which will sleep 12 crew members.
But it has not been all smooth sailing.
Michal is very strong, but an alcohol problem prevents him from working regularly, Rzeznicki notes.
Motivation
The large, grey construction has progressed not only due to the hard work of the shelters residents, but also thanks to private donors, including companies.
A steel schooner called "Father Boguslaw" is under construction at the courtyard of a homeless shelter run by Catholic Fathers in Warsaw on March 27. (AFP Photo)
Inspired by the determination of the homeless shipbuilders, Tadeusz Wojtowicz, CEO of the Gdansk-based Sail Service company, says he is considering his firm sewing 170 square metres (203 square yards) of sails free of charge.
If these people have the strength to carry out the project, we must admire them and support them.
If they have the right motivation, people can achieve great things, Wojtowicz told AFP.
Finishing up his welding for the day, Michalski dreams of setting sail.
If, in two years, Im as well as I am now, if my health is the same, therell be just one thing to do; well have to hoist the sails and take off.
Pakistan on Monday summoned Indias Deputy High Commissioner JP Singh to condemn the alleged ceasefire violation by Indian security forces along the Line of Control (LoC) that led to the death of a civilian.
In a statement, Pakistans Foreign Office said India resorted to unprovoked firing on April 1 along the LoC in Chirikot sector.
The statement claimed that an 18-year-old civilian, who was injured in the firing, died on Sunday.
The director general (South Asia and SAARC), Dr Mohammad Faisal, summoned the Indian Deputy High Commissioner, Mr J P Singh and condemned the unprovoked ceasefire violation by the Indian occupation forces, it said.
It said the deliberate targeting of civilians was indeed condemnable and contrary to human dignity and international human rights and humanitarian laws.
The director general urged the Indian side to respect the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding; investigate this and other incidents of ceasefire violations; instruct the Indian forces to respect the ceasefire, in letter and spirit and maintain peace on the LoC.
An Indian imam is set to be repatriated from Singapore after he was fined S$4000 by a court on Monday for making controversial remarks against Jews and Christians during a sermon.
Nalla Mohamed Abdul Jameel, chief imam at Jamae Chulia mosque, had apologised in front of Christian, Sikh, Taoist, Buddhist and Hindu representatives and members of the Federation of Indian Muslims on Friday, saying he was filled with great remorse for the tension, inconvenience and trauma caused by his remarks.
Singapores home ministry said in a statement that Jameel had paid the fine and would be repatriated, Channel News Asia reported. Jameel pleaded guilty to a charge of promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion or race during an appearance at the State Courts.
In January and February, Jameel made supplications at Friday prayers and recited an old Arabic text that originated from his village in India. The text read: God help us against Jews and Christians. This was not an extract from the Quran.
Police launched an investigation after a video of one sermon was posted on Facebook. It also sparked a heated debate and the minister-in-charge of Muslim affairs, Yaacob Ibrahim, had to call for peace and unity among Muslims.
After the police concluded its probe, Jameel visited Rabbi Moderchai Abergel at Maghain Aboth synagogue on Sunday and apologised to Singapores Jewish community, which the rabbi accepted.
The home ministry said the action against Jameel was taken with some regret as he had worked hard as chief imam at Jamae Chulia mosque for the past seven years. The statement said, He has not been deliberately malicious.
The statement further said, Any religious leader from any religion who makes such statements will be held accountable for their actionsUnder Singapore law, we cannot, regardless of his religion, allow anyone to preach or act divisively and justify that by reference to a religious text.
It added, Nevertheless, what he did was wrong...The fair and impartial application of the law protects all communities, including Muslims and other minority religious communities.
Jameel could have been punished with up to three years in jail, a fine or both for promoting enmity between different groups. His lawyer Noor Marican said Jameel had accepted the punishment and was grateful he was not sentenced to prison.
Syed Muhammad Khairudin Aljunied, an associate professor of the National University of Singapore, was given a stern warning by authorities for posts on Facebook in support of the supplication that Jameel had used. The university has already suspend the academic.
Terence Kenneth John Nunis, who made public the video of Jameels sermon, was also given a stern warning by authorities as the public prosecutor assessed his actions were in breach of the law.
Serzh Sargsyan and Vladimir Putin exchang congratulatory messages
President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin exchanged congratulatory messages on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Russia. The message of President Sargsyan addressed to the President of Russia Vladimir Putin reads, Distinguished Vladimir Vladimirovich, I cordially congratulate you on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Armenia and Russian Federation. This momentous event opened a qualitatively new page in the centuries-long history of the Armenian-Russian friendship, brotherhood, and mutual assistance, created the foundation of the allied strategic partnership between Armenia and Russia. It is critically important that the policies aimed at the enhancement of the bilateral cooperation is supported by the societies of our countries, while the atmosphere of trust and mutual understanding present at the meetings with you allow to adopt and implement decisions characteristic of a true partnership. Today, relations between Armenia and Russia stand at their highest level and are characterized by the active political dialogue, efficient coordination of the steps at the regional and international platforms, mutual efforts aimed at upholding peace and security in the South Caucasus region. We have adopted important decisions related to the mutual advancement of the projects in the economic, humanitarian, and other areas; interparliamentary and inter-regional cooperation are gaining momentum. Armenia and Russia make considerable contribution to the strengthening of the cooperation in the framework CSTO, CIS, other multilateral structures and to the Eurasian integration process. All this inspires strong confidence that the multifaceted Armenian-Russian cooperation, which has a huge potential, through our joint efforts will continue to develop in the future as well, encompassing new areas of productive cooperation which undoubtedly stems from the interests and aspirations of the Armenian and Russian peoples. Distinguished Vladimir Vladimirovich, I sincerely wish you good health, success in your work, and I wish prosperity and well-being to the friendly people of Russia.
Japan said Monday it would send its ambassador back to South Korea after a diplomatic row had prompted his recall, because the countries should work closely together to counter threats from North Korea.
The government ordered the envoy home in January over a statue placed by activists late last year outside its consulate in Busan.
The statue symbolises the plight of comfort women -- a euphemism for women forced to work in Japanese military brothels during World War II.
Japan says the statue violates the spirit of a 2015 agreement meant to settle the hugely emotional and decades-long issue with a Japanese apology and payment of money to survivors.
South Koreas foreign minister said at the time that his government would strive to solve the issue of a similar statue that has stood across the street from Japans embassy in Seoul since 2011.
That one, which has become a symbol for activists campaigning on behalf of the few surviving former sex slaves, still stands and Japan saw the new one in the southern port city of Busan as unacceptable.
But intensifying concerns over North Koreas nuclear and missile development prompted Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida to announce that ambassador Yasumasa Nagamine would return to Seoul on Tuesday.
Japan and South Korea need to closely exchange information at high levels and closely communicate in order to deal with North Korean issues, Kishida told reporters.
He said Japan would continue to urge South Korea to implement the comfort women accord after Nagamine returns.
Also behind the decision to send the ambassador back, Kishida said, was South Koreas election in May to choose a successor to ousted president Park Geun-Hye.
The plight of the women -- mostly from the then-Japanese colony of Korea -- has marred relations for decades but the two governments reached an agreement in late 2015 to finally resolve it.
Under that accord, which both countries described as final and irreversible, Japan offered an apology and a one-billion yen ($8.97 million) payment to surviving South Korean comfort women.
Critics said the deal did too little to hold Japan responsible for abuses during its 1910-45 rule over the Korean peninsula.
Mainstream historians say up to 200,000 women, mostly from Korea but also other parts of Asia including China, were forced to work in Japanese military brothels during the war.
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Around 10 people were feared killed on Monday after an explosion rocked the metro system in Russias second city Saint Petersburg, according to authorities and news reports.
The Saint Petersburg prosecutors office has begun to investigate the blast in a train carriage at the Technological Institute metro stations platform, a prosecutors statement said.
Here are the updates on the explosion:
7.05pm: There was one blast in one site in between (stations) as the train arrived at the Technology Institute station from Sennaya (Ploshchad) station, a source tells Reuters.
7.03pm: Unexploded bomb found at another metro station in St. Petersburg, say local reports.
6.56pm: Russia tightening security measures at airports.
6.46pm: Russian authorities confirm an explosive device caused metro blasts.
6.31pm: And Russias public transportation systems have been targeted by attacks in the past. In 2013, Russia was hit by twin suicide strikes that claimed 34 lives and raised alarm over security at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games. A bombing at the main railway station of the southern city of Volgograd killed 18 people on while a second strike hit a trolleybus and claimed 16 lives. A suicide raid on Moscows Domodedovo airport that was claimed by Islamic insurgents from the North Caucasus killed 37 people in January 2011.
6.17pm: President Vladimir Putin, who is holding a meeting near Saint Petersburg in his official Strelna presidential palace, offers condolences to those hurt in the blast.He says authorities are exploring possible causes of St Petersburg metro blasts, including terrorism.
While there is no immediate indication as to what caused the blast, Russias security services have previously said they foiled terrorist attacks on Moscows public transport system by militants, some of whom were trained by Islamic State jihadists in Syria.
5.59pm: The Saint Petersburg metro says it has closed two stations, Technological Institute and Sennaya Ploshchad -- two neighbouring stations on one line -- and is evacuating all passengers.
South Korea, Japan and the US held a joint naval exercise on Monday aimed at countering missile threats from North Korean submarines, Seouls defence ministry said amid mounting concerns over the hermit states weapons programme.
Pyongyang is on a quest to develop a long-range missile capable of hitting the US mainland with a nuclear warhead, and has so far staged five nuclear tests, two of them last year.
The three-day drills involving more than 800 troops kicked off after US President Donald Trump warned on Sunday that the United States is prepared to act unilaterally to deal with North Koreas nuclear program if China proves unwilling to help.
The exercise began off South Koreas southern coast near Japan, featuring multiple naval destroyers and helicopters used in anti-submarine warfare, the ministry said.
It was aimed at ensuring effective response to the Norths submarine threats including the submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM), and demonstrates the three countries strong determination, according to the ministry.
Tensions have escalated in the region following a series of missile launches by North Korea in recent months and reports suggesting Pyongyang may be preparing another atomic test.
In February the North simultaneously fired four ballistic missiles off its east coast, three of which fell provocatively close to Japan, in what it said was a drill for an attack on US bases in the neighbouring Asian country.
Last August Pyongyang also successfully test-fired a SLBM 500 kilometres towards Japan, far exceeding any previous sub-launched tests, in what the Norths leader Kim Jong-Un hailed as the greatest success.
A nuclear-capable SLBM system would take the Norths threat to a new level, allowing deployment far beyond the Korean peninsula and a second-strike capability in the event of an attack on its army bases.
Analysts say that while Pyongyang has made faster progress in its SLBM system than originally expected, it is still years away from deployment.
The isolated North is barred under UN resolutions from any use of ballistic missile technology.
The career diplomats working at the UN headquarters building dont yet quite know what to make of the outspoken newcomer in their midst, US ambassador Nikki Haley.
But they agree on two things: She seems intent on shaking things up as she assumes the rotating chair of the Security Council and shes not afraid to use undiplomatic language.
This was on display again when she appeared on Americas Sunday morning political talk shows to stake out US positions and defend her boss, US President Donald Trump.
Not much will get done under the month-long US presidency of the Security Council if veto-wielding permanent members Russia and China block US initiatives.
But Haley did not hold back.
Haley told ABC News that, whatever Trump has said about his respect for President Vladimir Putin, the US leader has not once called me and said, Dont beat up on Russia.
And she did indeed chide the Kremlin, warning that Russias actions in Ukraine and any interference in the US election that brought Trump into the White House would be punished.
We called them out for it, she insisted.
China is also in her crosshairs, despite this weeks preparations for Trump to meet his counterpart Xi Jinping to set the tone for relations between the great powers.
In an interview with news agency reporters, Haley demanded that China halt covert imports of North Korean coal and work seriously to halt Pyongyangs nuclear and missile programs.
I know China says theyre worried about North Korea. I know China wants to see North Korea stop with the testing. Prove it. Prove it, she said.
The blunt language has won Haley immediate attention at the United Nations, where she has vowed to reinvigorate what she calls the stale institutional culture.
Eyebrows were raised when Trump picked the 45-year-old governor of South Carolina -- a fellow Republican with little foreign policy experience -- as Washingtons voice at the world body.
Outsider perspective
But, in her own view, she has a track record in shaking up staid, traditional government bodies.
Institutions always benefit from an outsiders perspective, she told the Council on Foreign Relations think tank last week.
In South Carolina, I was the first minority governor and -- a real shock to the state -- the first girl governor as well.
Haley was born to immigrant Indian American parents, but she rose quickly in South Carolina politics and was reportedly considered as a possible vice presidential pick by 2012 Republican candidate Mitt Romney.
Her conservative views were popular in South Carolina. And she won national attention by supporting the removal of the Confederate flag from the statehouse after a racist gun massacre in her state.
In February last year, as Trump was challenging the Republican establishment to secure the partys White House nomination, she called the brash property baron everything a governor doesnt want in a president.
And just weeks before the vote she admitted she was not a fan of the candidate.
Nevertheless, the former outsider who had once been the nations youngest governor was an early pick by Trumps transition team.
At the US mission, Haley replaces former ambassador Samantha Power, an outspoken foreign policy academic who was popular with her Security Council colleagues.
Haley is a veteran of retail politics in the American South and has a very different style -- plainspoken but warm and direct -- which envoys from US allies privately welcome.
And just as she brings a different personality and perspective to her role, she stands out among her colleagues in the Trump administration foreign policy team.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has adopted an almost undercover style, spurning most opportunities to talk to the press and public on his travels.
Policy still in flux
Other influential policymakers, like Trumps chief strategist Steve Bannon and his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, work mostly behind the scenes.
Haley, however, has an energetic public schedule. As a full cabinet member who answers to Trump, she has in some ways become the voice of a US foreign policy still in flux.
Last week she addressed the AIPAC pro-Israel group in Washington, delivered her remarks to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, then whizzed back to the capital late Wednesday.
On Thursday she was back in New York to attend the Security Council session, brief reporters and symbolically receive the Security Council gavel from British ambassador Matthew Rycroft at an evening drinks event.
From Monday, she will wield this hammer in the world bodys top committee, and she has laid out an ambitious agenda, beginning with a bid to host a debate on human rights that will be resisted by many of Americas opponents.
President Donald Trump has said the United States was prepared act alone to eliminate the nuclear threat from North Korea if China, its most important patron, was not willing to use its great influence to bring it to heel.
Trump planned to bring up the issue at his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Florida resort Mar-a-Lago later this week, he told the Financial Times in an interview.
Trump said: China has great influence over North Korea. And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they wont. And if they do that will be very good for China, and if they dont it wont be good for anyone.
Was the US prepared to go one on one? Totally, he said.
This will be Trumps most closely watched summit with a foreign leader and will be, as he himself conceded in a tweet last week, likely a very difficult one on account of differences between US and China on many issues, chiefly trade.
But in the interview, he struck a positive note. I have great respect for him (President Xi). I have great respect for China. I would not be at all surprised if we did something that would be very dramatic and good for both countries and I hope so.
The summit is drawing a lot of attention already, with the presidents son-in-law and closest adviser Jared Kushner seen to be shepherding it on the US side, without any background on the issue other than business dealings with Chinese entities.
With the world watching, including China watchers in India, Trump will be under pressure to be seen talking tough with China a country with which the US runs a trade deficit of $347 billion and a country that is emerging as a rival global power.
At the same time, the US also expects China to tame North Korea, which has been source of early and constant irritation for the new administration Pyongyang has conducted at least three missile tests in the last one month alone. One of them, a medium range missile test, was conducted the day Trump was meeting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at his Florida resort. Tokyo said that because of the timing the test was a clear provocation to Japan and the region.
The Trump administration has already signalled growing impatience with North Korea. Secretary of state Rex Tillersen recently said the US policy of strategic patience was over and averred a pre-emptive military action was an option.
And defence secretary James Mattis has called the North Korea regime a threat of both rhetoric and growing capability, which is going in a very reckless manner currently, and which, he stated has got to be stopped.
The US last Friday sanctioned 11 North Korean agents working in Russia, China, Vietnam and Cuba and a company with links to the countrys unlawful nuclear, ballistic missile, and proliferation programmes.
What more can and will the United State do? How far will it go?
Asked if he could consider a grand bargain with North Korea that could include withdrawing Americans troops from the Korean peninsula, all Trump would say in his interview was, Well, if China is not going to solve North Korea, we will...That is all I am telling you.
President Donald Trump has said the United States is prepared to act alone if China does not take a tougher stand against North Koreas nuclear programme.
Trumps comments in an interview with the Financial Times come just days before he is set to host Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Mar-a-Lago estate in South Florida. The two are expected to discuss a number of issues, including North Korea, trade and territorial disputes in the South China Sea during their meeting on Thursday and Friday.
If China is not going to solve North Korea, we will. That is all I am telling you, he said in an interview with UK newspaper the Financial Times.
And China has great influence over North Korea. And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they wont. And if they do that will be very good for China, and if they dont it wont be good for anyone.
A State Department spokesman said late Sunday that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been in touch with a top Chinese official about the upcoming trip.
We can confirm Secretary Tillerson spoke today by telephone to Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi regarding this weeks visit of President Xi and other issues of bilateral and regional importance, the spokesman said. He discussed the upcoming visit on condition that his name not be used.
In his interview, Trump said trade was the incentive for China to work with the United States. Still, he said the United States could totally handle the situation in North Korea without Chinas help.
Asked how he would tackle North Korea, Trump said: Im not going to tell you. You know, I am not the United States of the past where we tell you where we are going to hit in the Middle East.
While China provides diplomatic and economic support to its neighbour, it claims that its influence over Kim Jong Uns government is limited.
The relationship between the US and China has been uncertain since Trumps election. During his campaign he accused China of unfair trade practices and threatened to raise import taxes on Chinese goods and declare Beijing a currency manipulator, though it is unclear whether Trump will follow through with either threat.
Trump told the newspaper that he doesnt want to talk about tariffs yet, perhaps the next time we meet.
Trumps ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, also offered tough talk on China, saying on ABCs This Week that the US is pressing China to take a firmer stand regarding North Koreas nuclear programme.
UN resolutions have failed so far to deter North Korea from conducting nuclear and missile tests. Last year, the North conducted two nuclear tests and two dozen tests of ballistic missiles.
Till death do us apart! A loving British couple married for over 70 years died within four minutes of each other.
Wilf Russell, 93, died at a care home after battling dementia, which sadly resulted in him no longer recognising his wife.
Wilfs wife Vera, 91, passed away at a nearby hospital having become ill since her husband stopped remembering her.
Frail Wilf took his final breath at Magna Care Home in Wigston, Leicestershire, at 6:50 AM last Wednesday.
And without knowing that her beloved husband had died, Vera was pronounced dead four minutes later at Leicester Royal Infirmiry.
Their granddaughter Stephanie Welch told Leicester Mercury, My grandad was diagnosed with dementia a year ago and he had to go into the care home a couple of months back. My nan went to see him recently and he didnt recognise her at all -- her health started deteriorating from that day.
I went to visit her at Leicester Royal Infirmary on Sunday and she opened her eyes and asked me where Wilf was. The last thing she said to me was, Were a right pair, arent we? Welch said.
He died at 6:50 AM and she died at 6:54 AM without being told about Wilf. I think she was waiting for him to go. She was broken-hearted, she said.
Wilf met Vera when he was 18 and she was 16 and they got engaged before he went to North Africa and Italy with the Royal Air Force during World War-II.
They married when he returned home and Wilf worked as an engineer in the West Midlands.
Wilf and Vera moved to Oadby a decade ago to be near their son, Stephanies dad, Peter Russell and his family in Leicestershire. They had three sons.
Wilf and Vera leave two sons, five grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.
Welch said they were always a very close couple who adored their family.
They had a lot in common and never spent a night apart throughout their entire marriage until Wilf had to move into the care home, she said.
US president Donald Trump moved to reset US relations with Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday after the prior Obama administrations strained ties, giving him firm backing and vowing to work together to fight Islamic militants.
I just want to let everybody know in case there was any doubt that we are very much behind President Sisi. Hes done a fantastic job in a very difficult situation. We are very much behind Egypt and the people of Egypt, Trump said in an Oval Office meeting with the Egyptian leader.
The trip was Sisis first official US visit since being elected president in 2014. Trumps predecessor, Barack Obama, never extended an invitation.
Obama froze aid to Egypt for two years after Sisi, then a general, overthrew president Mohamed Mursi in mid-2013 after mass protests against Mursis rule. Mursi, a Muslim Brotherhood member, had been elected the previous year.
The one-on-one meeting between Trump and Sisi, followed by a separate gathering with top aides, showed how intent the new US president is on rebooting the bilateral relationship and building on the strong connection the two presidents established when they first met in New York last September.
I just want to say to, Mr President, that you have a great friend and ally in the United States, and in me, Trump said.
Sisi said he appreciated that Trump has been standing very strong ... to counter this evil ideology.
While Trump noted the United States and Egypt have a few things they do not agree on, he made no public airing of US concerns about human rights in Egypt.
Supporters of Egypt president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi gather outside the White House. (Reuters Photo)
Rights groups have called for the release of Aya Hijazi, an Egyptian-American who works with street children and was arrested in May, 2014 on human trafficking charges.
Hijazi has been held in custody for 33 months in violation of Egyptian law, which states that the maximum period for pretrial detention is 24 months.
Human rights groups have estimated that Sisis government has detained at least 40,000 political prisoners.
Egypt has long been one of Washingtons closest allies in the Middle East, receiving $1.3 billion in US military aid annually. It is fighting an Islamist insurgency in Sinai in which hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and police have been killed.
A US official said Sisi would find a White House ready to soften US criticism of Egypt on human rights and to work on counter-terrorism but unwilling to provide additional aid to the most populous Arab nation.
Hes going to get an end to finger-wagging. Were not giving him any more money, said the US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity before Sisis meetings with Trump.
Hes going to be disappointed because he wants more assistance and hes not going to get it, the official added, saying it was not yet clear whether Egypt would escape a cut in its foreign aid as part of the Trump administrations plan to cut the overall State Department budget by 28.7%.
US President Donald Trump praised the EU for doing a very good job in uniting after Britains decision to quit the bloc, in a Financial Times interview published on Sunday.
I would have thought when it happened that more (countries) would follow, but I really think the European Union is getting their act together, Trump said of Britains decision to leave the European Union.
The US president praised the bloc for doing a very good job in bringing it back together since the shock referendum result in June.
He lauded the EU for adopting a different spirit for holding together in recent months.
Trumps comments are a departure from his prediction in January that other countries will leave the bloc following Brexit, which he then described as a great thing.
His remarks in a joint interview to The Times and Bild newspapers came ahead of his inauguration, sparking an angry reaction among European leaders.
The EU has no need for outside advice, French President Francois Hollande said bluntly, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the time told reporters We Europeans have our fate in our own hands.
A great deal
Speaking to the Financial Times, Trump claimed Brexit would be positive for both sides of the negotiating table.
I actually think it is going to be a great deal for UK, and I think it is going to be really, really good also for the European Union, he was quoted as saying.
Trump was joined on the presidential campaign by Nigel Farage, a key player in the Brexit referendum who urged US voters last year to side with the anti-establishment candidate.
Britain last Wednesday initiated the process for quitting the EU, a move that prompted a more formal response from the White House.
We respect the will of the British electorate and her majestys government in taking steps of departing the European Union. ... Whatever future the UK-EU relationship looks like, we want the UK to remain a strong leader in Europe, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said.
Bitter feelings nonetheless linger between Washington and Brussels, captured on Thursday when European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker joked he was ready to encourage US independence movements if Trump failed to tone down his Brexit support.
The newly elected president is delighted to see Britain leave the European Union, Juncker said in Malta.
If he carries on, I am going to promote the independence of Ohio and Austin, Texas, he said in German at a congress of the European Peoples Party (EPP).
Digital currencies have become a legal payment method in Japan. A new legislation makes Bitcoin, Ripple and other digital currencies legal money. The Accounting Standards Board of Japan will create a framework to help understand how digital currencies would fit in the accounting sector. This process would take six months.
Japan has failed to provide the guidelines related with the accounting process when dealing with cryptocurrencies. Russia Today reports that many companies are worried about it. Chikako Suzuki, partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers Aarata, stated there is a risk that companies that have virtual money could have distorted valuations or that huge losses appear.
Around $1.7 billion of cryptocurrency was in circulation in Japan two years ago. This includes digital currencies such as Bitcoin, Ripple, Litecoin and others. Fuji Chimera Research Institute believes cryptocurrency circulation will keep growing and reach $9 billion in 2020.
History of virtual currency in Japan
The laws that have come into force in Japan were drafted in 2015 and passed in 2016 after a year of negotiations. There were doubts about the legal status of virtual currency because of a huge financial scandal and the collapse of the Tokyo-based Mt.Gox Bitcoin exchange. This company was once the largest exchange service for the cryptocurrency. The virtual money giant collapsed in 2014 when 850,000 digital coins went off its digital vaults. Those digital coins were worth $480 million in that moment.
The company was a key player, it dealt with around 80 percent of worldwide bitcoin transactions, but there was a bug in the system that allowed hackers to steal the coins. New measures have been taken to avoid this, the new laws state that all virtual currency exchanges have to be regulated by the Japanese Financial Services Agency. They have to be registered with the financial watchdog and verify the identity of customers that open accounts.
@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
OSCE/ODIHR observers on RA NA elections
YEREVAN, 3 April 2017 The 2 April parliamentary elections in Armenia were well administered and fundamental freedoms were generally respected. Despite welcomed reforms of the legal framework and the introduction of new technologies to reduce electoral irregularities, the elections were tainted by credible information about vote-buying, and pressure on civil servants and employees of private companies, international observers concluded in a preliminary statement released today. This contributed to an overall lack of public confidence and trust in the elections, the statement says. Yesterdays elections marked a first step towards establishing a new political system in Armenia, but change cannot happen overnight, said Ignacio Sanchez Amor, Special Co-ordinator and leader of the short-term OSCE observer mission. Reform is a never-ending process, and I encourage the parliamentary majority and the new government to continue their efforts to transform the countrys political culture, in partnership with the opposition, civil society and the international community. A new Electoral Code was adopted less than one year before elections, in an inclusive process that was seen by most as a step forward in building confidence in the process, the observers said. The legal framework for elections is comprehensive, but was criticized by some as overly complex. The reforms to the Code addressed a number of previous OSCE/ODIHR and Council of Europe Venice Commission recommendations, although some areas merit further attention. There is little doubt that, since the last time the citizens of Armenia voted, efforts have been made, including through logistical improvements, to raise the quality of the electoral process. The authorities should be praised for working to inform the electorate of this new, quite complex, electoral legislation. It is a pity that, despite all of the legal and organizational changes, these elections did not remove long-standing doubts about the reliability and integrity of electoral processes in the country, said Liliane Maury Pasquier, Head of the delegation from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. The use of new voting technologies cannot alone restore confidence in elections crucial in a genuine democracy just the same as better legislation is only effective if applied in good faith. The new electoral law provides for greater representation of women and minorities, said Geir Jorgen Bekkevold, Head of the delegation from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. I am glad to note that a greater number of our colleagues in the National Assembly will be women, and I encourage political parties to empower them to bring about transformative change. The new electoral procedure was complex and not always understood by the voters. Nevertheless, polling station staff made strong efforts to ensure a smooth process. Regrettably, the process was undermined by credible, recurring information of vote buying, intimidation of voters notably civil servants in schools and hospitals and employees of private companies as well as abuse of administrative positions, said Heidi Hautala, Head of the delegation from the European Parliament. The European Parliament will work closely with the future Armenian National Assembly to support reforms and democratization, in line with our commitments as part of the deepening EU-Armenia relations. The Central Election Commission (CEC) operated efficiently and conducted its work in a transparent manner. It did not, however, pursue complaints rigorously, the statement says. The campaign started slowly and intensified as election day approached, and most campaigns focused on individual candidates rather than party platforms or policies. Contestants were largely able to campaign without restrictions, but isolated incidents of violence were reported in some areas of the country. There was credible information of vote-buying, of pressure on public servants, including in schools and hospitals, and of intimidation of voters. This contributed to an overall lack of public confidence in the electoral process, the observers said. Election day was generally calm and peaceful, but observers noted tension and the intimidation of voters in some polling stations visited. This was generally as a result of large numbers of party proxies and others present around polling stations throughout the day. Voters were identified on election day using voter authentication devices containing electronic copies of the voter lists, their fingerprints were also scanned, and the CEC said that it will conduct cross-checks to identify potential cases of multiple voting in the event of complaints. For the first time, scanned copies of signed voter lists from polling stations will be published, which the observers interlocutors deemed an important deterrent of voter impersonation, despite the disclosure of voters private data. The measures introduced ahead of these elections have improved the situation regarding the secrecy of the vote, which is an important step towards improving confidence in the process, but more clearly needs to be done to address long-standing practices like vote-buying and pressure on voters, said Ambassador Jan Petersen, Head of the election observation mission from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. Moving forward, our mission will remain here through this week and the next, allowing us to follow post-election developments, including the finalization of results and the handling of any possible complaints and appeals. There is a public reluctance to report electoral offences, due to a lack of confidence in the system for adjudicating complaints. The lack of independence on the part of judicial, election administration and law enforcement bodies, and the manner in which they dealt with complaints, undermined the effectiveness of providing legal redress, the statement says. Enhanced inter-institutional collaboration led to improved accuracy in the voter lists. Although the law provides sufficient mechanisms for voters to request corrections, the lists continue to include addresses at which a large number of voters are registered, which requires further scrutiny by the authorities. Freedom of expression is guaranteed by the Constitution and broadly exercised. The freedom of broadcast media is limited by interference by owners in editorial policy. This results in self-censorship by journalists and discourages reporting critical of the government, including on public television, the observers said. Journalists stated that recent cases of violence and the lack of prosecution of those responsible hamper their work and undermine their safety. There are no restrictions on online news sources, contributing to increased pluralism in the media. OSCE/ODIHR EOM media monitoring showed that the public broadcaster devoted equitable coverage to the contestants in its newscasts. International and citizen observation is permitted, and party representatives are entitled to be present in polling stations. The CEC accredited a total of 28,021 citizen observers, but media and civil society criticized the legal provisions on observation as making it possible for polling officials to selectively limit the number of citizen observers and media representatives in stations. International NGOs were refused an invitation to observe the elections, which is at odds with OSCE commitments.
When observing the top rape crime rates by country we can see that this painful experience has become a reality for many people. South Africa is the Rape Capital of the world. There are some definitions of rape that we have to make clear to explain more about it.
The definition of rape depends on where you are. The Gazette Review reports that it alters the statistics and changes the position of the countries in this painful rape ranking. Victims are not just statistics, they are people with feelings and emotions.
The reporting of rape crimes is just one fifth of all rapes that take place. Many people feel ashamed or uncomfortable to talk about it. Many victims will never report it and the real statistics about rape crimes are much higher.
Top Ten Countries with the Highest Rape Rates
Belgium has a rape rate of 27.9 persons per 100,000 of population. Immigration has played an important role in the increase of this crime. Panama has a rape rate of 28.3 per 100,000 but the real statistic is much higher. The law punishes rapers with a sentence of 8 or 10 years in aggravated cases. Australia has a rape rate of 28.6 per 100,000 which is higher than in many underdeveloped countries, but this happens because most people report the crimes. Saint Kitts and Nevis is on par with Australia.
In countries like Pakistan the victims are expected to kill themselves to preserve family honor unless they marry the rapists. The rape rate is 28.8 per 100,000 people but in reality it is much higher. Grenada has a rape rate of 30.6 per 100,000 people. Nicaragua has 31.6 rapes per 100,000 people. Sweden has a broader definition of rape which increases the statistics, the rape rate in the Scandinavian country is 69 per 100,000 people.
In Botswana nearly 10% of the population has been sexually abused, this country has 92.9 rapes per 100,000 people. South Africa is the Rape Capital of the world with a rate of 132.4 per 100,000 people. Approximately 11% of the population has AIDS, and the belief that sex with a virgin woman will cure the disease makes the problem even worse.
@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The nuclear programs of North Korea are undeniably a big threat to the United States of America. Yet, President Donald Trump said that U.S. will solve the issues with Kim Jong Un with or without China.
According to Financial Times, President Donald Trump is scheduled to host Chinas president Xi Jinping to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida this week. The two president of the giant countries were then said to discuss the threat of North Koreas Kim Jong Uns nuclear program and Chinas ambitions in the South China Sea and trade.
China has great influence over North Korea. And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they wont, Trump stated. And if they do that will be very good for China, and if they dont it wont be good for anyone he added. Trump then cleared that he has great respect for China and Xi. Yet, he cleared that Well if China is not going to solve North Korea, we will.
Regarding how he would tackle the issue with North Korea, Trump responded that Im not going to tell you. He then added that he is not like the past President of the United States wherein he would tell where he would hit the Middle East.
Donald Trump then said that he thinks its all about trade when he was asked how he would motivate China to help U.S. I think trade is the incentive. The interviewer then clarified if he believed that U.S. could solve the problem without China. Trump then responded Totally per CNN.
Amid UN resolutions failing to stop North Koreas nuclear programs, The Guardian reported that ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley shared her views on the possible solution. She said in a statement that China needs to show their concern to the United States. She then added that China needs to cooperate and put pressure on North Korea. As they know that they are the only country that could stop North Korea.
@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
S tressed, anxious city dwellers looking for improved mental health, cleaner air and all-round higher quality of life should hit the Orkney Islands, which came out top in the new 'quality of life' survey.
The islands off the north-east coast of Scotland won their position as the best rural place to live in the UK thanks to low crime rates, excellent well-funded schools and the lowest anxiety levels.
Second place went to Wychavon, in Worcestershire, which scored well on health, low pollution levels and well-paid employment, with the Derbyshire Dales, Hambleton in North Yorkshire and Purbeck in Dorset completing the top five.
With one of the lowest population densities and traffic levels in Scotland, some of the most stunning scenery in the British Isles and the lowest levels of anxiety and highest life satisfaction ratings, the Orkneys offer a quality of life unmatched elsewhere in rural Britain, said Martin Ellis, economist at Halifax, which carried out the 2017 Rural Areas Quality of Life Survey.
While the employment rate is significantly higher than the national average, there is more and more emphasis being placed on achieving a good work-life balance.
Scottish island groups fared well overall, with the Shetlands and Western Isles also ranking in the top 50.
Purbeck, Dorset: number five on the list of best rural places to live / Shutterstock
North-South divide
While areas in the south of Britain appeared most frequently in the top 50, rural areas in the north of England scored better on education, lower house prices in relation to earnings, lower traffic flows and population densities, according to Ellis.
In contrast, typically richer southern areas tended to do better for weekly earnings, the weather, health, and life expectancy.
The benefits of living in the south come at a price - the highest house price to earnings ratios are in Tandridge, Surrey (11.3), Purbeck (10.8) and East Dorset (10.7).
Commuter hotspots
The studys findings also suggested that Londoners neednt cut all ties with the capital to achieve better quality of life with 11 of the top 50 best rural places to live awards going to rural areas in the South East.
Commuter favourite Chiltern, Buckinghamshire number seven in the charts scored highest for educational attainment, with 55 per cent of adults educated to a high level, compared with a national average of 36.5 per cent. It also boasts some of the countrys largest homes.
This afternoon in Brussels, GBTA met various leaders including Mr. Tim Figures, Head of the Competitiveness and Market department as part of the Permanent Representation of the United Kingdom to the European Union on this historical day in the future of Europe.
Article 50 has been delivered at approximately 12:30pm Brussels local time today.
Last June, the people of the United Kingdom voted to leave the EU, which fostered the term "Brexit". Yesterday marked the next major milestone in this process as Prime Minister Theresa May signed Article 50 officially beginning the separation process. Today, it was delivered to European Council president Donald Tusk. By triggering Article 50 and formally notifying the intention to withdraw, the clock to negotiate the UK's exit starts running.
So, what happens next? The EU has 48 hours to respond with draft negotiating guidelines. The EU is also likely to convene an emergency EU Leaders Summit on 6 April to discuss the matter. Negotiations should begin in earnest this June. This BBC article profiles the leaders who will be key to the negotiating process.
The UK and the EU will have two years from today to agree on an exit agreement as well as a new trading relationship. The two-year negotiating period can be extended for one year if all other EU countries agree. Any agreement needs to be unanimous among every country involved. If the talks collapse at any point in the two years, Britain could face leaving the EU without a deal at all.
The main objective of the EU will be to minimize the negative impact of UK's exit on the EU economy and business while demonstrating that the UK cannot 'have its cake and eat it too' in order to avoid setting a dangerous precedent for other countries.
What does Brexit mean for business travel and the economy? Uncertainty is never good for business. We have seen this in the impact of recent executive orders issued by President Trump to the electronics ban implemented by both the United States and the UK.
The potential for financial upheaval and pending changes to trade and immigration rules will raise many concerns in corporate management and travel offices causing some postponement and even outright cancellation of business trips. It may also trigger travel budget constriction as management seeks to hedge the uncertainty.
A positive, and perhaps unintended, consequence that could result will be the possibility that negotiations will help the EU finally push through barriers in discussions about EU aviation including modernizing the EU airspace, air traffic management and air passenger rights.
The true impact will only be fully revealed as time passes. GBTA will be involved every step of the way keeping you up to date on how this will impact our industry and advocating on your behalf for the best interests of our industry.
All this week, GBTA is in Brussels engaging with policy makers at the Council of Member States, the European Commission and the European Parliament. As we meet with these key EU decision-makers, we will focus primarily on visa issues expressing the importance of visa-free travel reciprocity between the EU and the United States and will also address transport and aviation-related issues. Stay tuned for a more in depth post on our engagement with EU policymakers.
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While the current state of hip hop is quite a few leaps away from the post-industrial electronics manufacturing boom in Post-WWII Japan, its impact should not be discounted. One of the key players in the creation of the TR-808 drum machine, one of the most popular drum machines of all time, has apparently passed away at the age of 87.
Ikutaro Kakehashi founded the Roland Corporation in 1972, which went on to manufacture all manner of music-making equipment, from effects pedals, to electric pianos and synthesizers. Perhaps his most lasting impact was the creation of the TR-808 and TR-909 drum machines. According to one source, the TR-808 drum machine has been utilized on more hit records including Marvin Gayes Sexual Healing and Afrikaa Bambaataas Planet Rock than any other drum machine. The TR-909 was the first drum machine to utilize the MIDI sound format, which is still in use today by pretty much any producer you can think of.
All of this may seem abstract in the context of FL Studio, which allows you to chart out your drums without having to play the rhythm yourself. However, even the chartable format of drum sequencing owes itself to the 808. Kanye Wests 808s and Heartbreak album is a more obvious connection to the classic 1980s drum machine.
The legendary businessman was commemorated by a longtime collaborator on Facebook, although neither the company nor Ikutaros family have made an official statement about his passing. We wont bore you with the insanely long list of music products created by The Roland Company under his tenure, but one look at the Wikipedia page is all you need.
[via Synthtopia.com]
Ikutaro
Atlanta comes alive as Clayton County rhymer Derez DeShon premieres his brand new single Hardaway, produced by London On Da Track. The uptempo cut delivers autotuned laced vocals as DeShon reflects on his come up, reflecting on a time before Tity Boi turned to 2 Chainz. While he might have turned colder in the process, this song makes it clear that DeShon respects the struggles and perseverance that comes with it. Ultimately, the hard way proved the right way for the Rich Gang affiliate.
Derez DeShons new mixtape PAIN is set to drop on April 27th.
Quotable Lyrics
I used to dream of livin lavish, now a n***a livin lavish
Buy a foreign whip to see whats fastest
If I aint eatin then Im fastin
Fat as fuck bought a Coupe just to see if I could fit in
It didnt work so I gave it to one of my bitches
The 2017 Juno Awards, aka the Canadian Grammys, is currently being broadcast live on Canadian TV, though some of the lesser awards were handed out last night during a non-televised gala. The award for Rap Recording of the Year was given to Torontos Jazz Cartier for his Hotel Paranoia project, which beat out Bellys Another Day in Paradise, Drakes Views, Tory Lanez I Told You, and Tasha the Amazons Die Every Day.
In his acceptance speech, Cartier called out Canadian radio and also the Junos. He echoed such sentiments in an Instagram post later that night, writing, This means a lot to me but like I said this evening the Canadian radio is gonna have to stop bullshitting and start playing our own on our radio so these kids dont feel the need to leave to the states in order to make it or get heard.
Addressing the Junos cutting the award from the main ceremony, Cartier wrote, And also @thejunoawards while you guys enjoy all the hip hop in the world at your after parties, next year you gotta have this category filmed on television.
He concluded the post by writing, PS love to Drake, Belly, Tory & Tasha. You all inspire me I share this with you guys who deserve it more than I do.
Also during last nights gala, Drake won an International Achievement Award, The Weeknd won R&B/Soul Recording of the Year for Starboy, and Kaytranada took home Electronic Album of the Year for 99.9%.
Both Cartier and Kaytranada are up for Breakthrough Artist of the Year during tonights show.
Download Hotel Paranoia here.
Jazz Cartier
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The forces of evil are led by Vortigern (Jude Law) who is Arthurs uncle and current ruler of the kingdom. Vortigern rules with fear and black magic and while his powers increase by each passing minute, so do the forces that oppose him. When the moment of need is at his highest, the blade Excalibur reveals itself. Arthur accepts his destiny and then leads a rebellion into an all-out battle with the dark forces at play.
The difference with previous King Arthur films is the use of numerous special effects. Mythical creatures such as three headed dragons, huge elephants, large armies and magic should give that extra touch to an old tale. We are curious how Ritchie will use his mind to improve a story which has reached legendary status already, but as Irish playwright Bernard Shaw used to say: Imagination is the beginning of creation.
Arthur Sakunts: Whether due to fear or electoral bribe, citizens voted for the HHK (video)
During April 2 parliamentary elections breacheS were registered, but they didnt have crucial influence on the results of the elections, thinks human rights activist Arthur Sakunts, If not 46, let it be 40, but one thing is clear that our citizens voted for the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) and it is obvious. Whether they were afraid or voted with electoral bribe, it doesnt matter; it is clear that they voted. They were alone in the polling booth and there were few cases of guiding, says human rights activist. A feast during the plague, this way Arthur Sakunts described the behavior of the political powers, which now are celebrating their victory, We shouldnt be happy about what happened yesterday; our state is seriously ill. When citizens stoop to the level of a subject, when they take the bribe, it is the result of illness, when bribe is distributed publicly, it is also illness, he says, adding that these actions are conscious crimes, which make the citizens leave the country. Watch more in the video!
In February, one of cinemas greatest ever directors, Hollywood legend Martin Scorsese, arrived in Dublin to receive Trinity Colleges prestigious gold medal award. Paul Nolan was on-hand for Scorseses public interview, during which studio battles, the future of cinema, Taxi Driver, Leonardo Di Caprio, the Rolling Stones, and the directors eagerly awaited upcoming reunion with Robert De Niro, The Irishman, were all on the conversational agenda.
There was a huge turnout in Trinity College for the appearance of the legendary Martin Scorsese, who received the Philosophical Societys gold medal award from Provost Patrick Prendergast. From the vantage of point of the upstairs balcony in the hall where Scorseses interview with Phil president Matthew Nuding was to take place, it was obvious there was a major star on campus.
Looking out the window behind us, a huge crowd had gathered to see Scorsese receive the medal outside, and the director was duly illuminated by a small galaxy of flashbulbs as he shook hands with Prendergast and other members of faculty. A swarm of people followed the director who was accompanied by his wife and daughter as he made his way over to us, past the crowd queuing outside for a glimpse and finally into the hallway, where he was greeted with a standing ovation.
For me personally, it was a huge thrill to be in the presence of the master, who sits alongside the late great Stanley Kubrick as my favourite ever film director. A fan ever since I saw Goodfellas aged 16 the comedic mob drama is a strong contender for my favourite ever movie I subsequently became a major fan of Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The King Of Comedy, Casino, The Departed and several other of Scorseses most notable works. In recent times, I was knocked out by the brilliant The Wolf Of Wall Street, the directors movie about notorious white collar criminal Jordan Belfort, which again utilised Scorseses distinctive mix of intense drama and uproarious comedy.
This year, its also a decade since I interviewed Scorsese regular Frank Vincent about the conclusion of The Sopranos (in which he played Tonys nemesis Phil Leotardo), a show which drew much of its stylistic DNA and several of its cast members, including Vincent from Goodfellas. Notably small in stature, the silver-haired, bespectacled Scorsese has always been an excellent interviewee and this occasion proved no different.
He offers a considered, illuminating answer to each question put to him over the course of the hour-plus interview, often adding a humorous flourish in those familiar, fast-paced Lower East Side tones. Nuding commenced by asking Scorsese about why his movies traditionally tend to be more character than plot driven.
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I do love films with plot, I love watching them, said Scorsese. But for the longest time, I couldnt do it myself. The big thing about films with plot is that theres an obstacle every few seconds theres something the characters have to overcome. What I found over the years was that, in the execution of my films, I was never as interested in the plot elements as I was in the characters.
What you find in the editing is that the characters actually create the plot. For example, when you look at Mean Streets, its a semi-autobiographical film, made in 72 or 73. But it takes place in 62 or 63 really, up until the time of the Kennedy assassination. It was about characters living in what was a special time, an optimistic time you might say.
Then you move onto the next picture I made, Alice Doesnt Live Here Anymore, and its about the Ellen Burstyn character, and her relationship Kris Kristofferson. And with Taxi Driver, of course, its all about Travis Bickle. Those movies are all about characters, and there was no plot as such. I found that the characters drove the story and it was story more than plot.
Scorsese eventually tried his hand at plot in his brilliant 2006 mob drama The Departed a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong movie Infernal Affairs in which Bostonian Irish mob boss Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) recruits Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) as a mole inside the local police force, only for the latter to end up pursued by undercover detective Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio).
Although the movie ultimately became one of Scorseses biggest ever critical and commercial hits, it was far from a straightforward creative venture, as he explained.
Eventually it got to the point where I really tried to do a plot in The Departed, he recalled. And I got totally confused! (Laughs) People had to keep reminding me of different aspects like, Hes given them the envelope already. Im going, He definitely gave them the envelope? Theyre saying, Yes he absolutely did!
But interestingly, what eventually happened with The Departed was that I decided to make an expression against big budget productions. Id just come off Gangs Of New York, which had been an obsession for many years. And Id also come off The Aviator, which was a Hollywood spectacle, but it also had an undercurrent of darkness with the character of Howard Hughes. It was also an exploration of an American idea that there was nowhere else to go on land at that point we had to go into the sky. Hughes was a Croesus-like figure, in a way.
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Although I did enjoy doing them, I was so shaken by the experience of doing those two movies together that I wanted to do something simpler. And I mean that in the sense of just being able to pick up the camera and go, and not having to get tied up in planning incredibly elaborate set-pieces. Also, I think what I reacted to in story of The Departed was the tone of fatalism.
However, as the movie went on, Scorsese found that his interest in the characters began to conflict with his original ambition of making a plot-driven movie.
In terms of the plot, you had the underpinning of the informer, he said, and of course there were scenes and elements that I would always have been associated with. Certainly, I grew up in an area where informing was a cardinal sin. But when you put all that together, really I just became obsessed with this story, and kept adding scenes and characters. Eventually I lost track of the plot! Of course, I went back and read the script to refamiliarise myself (laughs).
As well as confronting him with tough creative decisions Scorseses evolving view of The Departed also brought him into conflict with the studio financing the movie, Warner Bros.
If youve seen the film, youll know that Matt Damons character gets shot, he noted. And that was one of the reasons why I wanted to do it; that ending was something you would never have expected. But when I go talk to the studio about the film, immediately theyre saying to me, Well, how can the character live? Because they want to do the franchise! Theyre looking at it with a view to making three or four movies.
That was the first of a series of battles I had with the studio on that movie. As kindly and gentlemanly as they were in their approach, it was very draining. In fact, it proved so wearing that I eventually said, I cant make movies like this anymore. Because I was expending all of this energy dealing with questions, suggestions, concerns etc. There were even issues around morality; some of them were upset that Vera Farmigas character has affairs with both the Matt Damon and Leonardo Di Caprio characters.
So tiring was the experience that the director ultimately had to reevaluate his approach to movie-making.
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I was asking myself, how can I make movies in an industry which is really what it is in America now that needs a certain kind of product, he reflected. Ive been doing this for 45 years now and Ive gone through all these different eras of Hollywood. Ive always been very lucky that Ive been able to find some people in the studios and in the independent sector whove been able to back me. But really I found making The Departed that I wasnt able to do it anymore I just didnt have the energy to fight those battles constantly.
Especially as I was getting older, that was something I needed to be aware of. But ultimately what I found on that movie was that even with a project where the plot was ostensibly front and centre, it really did become about the characters for me once again. I was extremely upset by the time we finished editing the film it was a real struggle. The first time myself and (Scorseses long-time editor) Thelma Schoonmaker sat down to edit the movie, it took about four months, because she doesnt edit anything without me.
Then when we looked at that cut we said, Close the doors, dont answer the phone, lets get back to work Nobodys seen it, but we have to rethink the whole picture. As Thelma said, there was this tension in it between character and plot, and the balance wasnt right.
Getting a satisfactory edit proved to be quite the undertaking.
It took us six weeks to fix it, said Scorsese, and then we finally showed it to other people. Not the studio, but just a group of people we knew. They liked it very much. What eventually happened was that Warner Bros. came around to our way of seeing the film, and they allowed us to shoot another few days. So we inserted those bits in and we said, lets go preview the film.
We showed it to an audience in Chicago and luckily, it was an amazing experience it was the best experience with a cold audience weve ever had. The cards came back with a 95% approval rating and people were really excited. But then the studio executives came in and they looked like theyd just come from a wake! Really, I think with The Departed, they were just going for one thing and I was going for something else
Anyway, after that, my next project was a concert film about the Rolling Stones, Shine A Light, which was about the joy of performance; it was a celebration of music. That was nearly 10 years ago now, and ever since Ive been picking and choosing my projects carefully.
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For Scorsese, taking on a project clearly means a serious level of commitment, with an obsessive attention to detail an approach which can take a substantial toll.
When I do these pictures, I live with the characters and the story, and then when theyre finished, I dont see them again! he said. I mean, occasionally if one of them is on TV, Ill have a look, but actually, its only over the past 10 years that Ive watched my old movies a bit more I invest a lot emotionally and psychologically in these films, and over the years, a few of them have got bound up in my personal life.
Theres probably a few Im not that keen to watch because they remind me of a difficult time I was going through. Thats the thing whether its Jack Nicholson in The Departed, Leonardo Di Caprio playing Howard Hughes or Robert De Niro playing Jake LaMotta, they finish and move on, but I have to live with the material a bit more.
In terms of his movies lasting impact, Scorsese noted that they do seem to have stood the test of time.
Like I say, sometimes if I was going through a difficult time while making a film, Id rather not see it, he mused. It might be a good film! People will tell me its good But certainly, if I made something in 1978 and young people now are seeing and getting something from it, that suggests it has some staying power.
Nuding then asked Scorsese about the making of Taxi Driver, and how he felt the movie resonated in the contemporary political climate.
Well, Paul Schrader wrote Taxi Driver and Pauls from the Midwest, said the director. Ive never been there well, only once, to Ohio. I dont really know what its like. Also, Paul is Calvinist and Im Roman Catholic. My religious background is very much informed by a mid-20th century New York upbringing, and a neighbourhood filled with Italian and Irish families. But Paul has that Calvinist sensibility, so sometimes we would come at things from two very different perspectives Anyway, it was Brian De Palma who gave me the script for Taxi Driver and said, why dont you do it?
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Eventually, it was suggested to me that I do it with De Niro. The way Travis acts out this violent fantasy in the film was so disturbing to people But that was a time when a personal film like that could get made; it couldnt get made now. It was a movie where Schraders feelings about Travis, and De Niros feelings about himself, came through very strongly. We were all really in sync, creatively. It was about a sense of alienation and isolation, and also of the outcast. We all really identified with the character.
Ive heard some people say its about a sense of adolescent malaise, but I think it goes much deeper. With Schraders literary background, Taxi Driver was very influenced by Sartres Nausea, and Notes From The Underground by Dostoyevsky. Also, An Assassins Diary by Arthur Bremen, who was the would-be assassin of Governor George Wallace. Ultimately, the film is about Gods lonely man, which we all are. He reacts outward, but for other people its a much more internal journey.
Scorsese noted that the films themes are worryingly relevant in todays world.
Ive seen a lot of Americas modern political evolution, he said. Im thinking back as far as Kennedy, who for young people was a very inspirational figure But once the attacks occurred on September 11, I knew that because of our administration, this was going to be a neverending scenario. Then later, when you read about the reaction in the Middle East, and the thousands cheering bin Laden as well the unravelling of the attempted democratisation of the region for me, it seems like weve created thousands and thousands of Travis Bickles. So in that sense, sadly and tragically, Taxi Driver continues to have a terrible resonance.
Scorsese also discussed his lifelong love of movies and his fascination with acting.
Ive always loved acting, he enthused. Both my parents had a background in it, and in a lot of ways, I learned about the craft from watching them tell stories in our Lower East Side tenement. And that was tied directly to the way we saw our community represented in films like On The Waterfront. Early on in my career, I worked a lot with people who Id grown up with in New York, but at the same time, I was watching a lot of classic Hollywood films. So I had a wide appreciation of acting styles. Quite early on, I knew from a certain turn of phrase, or the way something was said with a particular rhythm, what style an actor was working in. I had an appreciation of that and I was fascinated by it.
The director then spoke about Robert De Niro, with whom he has one of the most celebrated director-actor relationships in the history of cinema.
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Working with De Niro, he had an extraordinary sensitivity, said Scorsese. He knew that if you say a word at the wrong time, even if its the right word, that itll ruin it. He had that feel for when to come in and when to hold back. Having done Mean Streets together, we got to know each other very well on Taxi Driver. We came to trust each other very much and on the last week of shooting, we got some great stuff done, including the mirror scene. By that point, we had that ease where he if had an idea, hed tell me and wed shoot it.
As well as Bob, there are certain other actors over the years who Ive developed that kind of relationship with: Paul Sorvino, Joe Pesci, Tom Cruise, Paul Newman, Ellen Burstyn It was like a conversation, sometimes literally. When we did the mirror scene in Taxi Driver, for example, I was behind the camera talking back to Bob.
In later years, of course, Scorsese has had a similar working relationship with Leonardo Di Caprio, with whom he has worked on Gangs Of New York, The Aviator, The Departed, Shutter Island and The Wolf Of Wall Street.
Obviously with Bob, we struck up a relationship in the 70s and we understood each other, he reflected. Then in the 90s, out of the blue, he calls me and says, Im doing a film called This Boys Life with a kid called Leonardo DiCaprio, and hes incredibly talented. I was very surprised, because that was something he never did he never, ever recommended actors to me. In fact, I would have to ask him about different people.
So when he said that, obviously I had to pay attention to Leo. I kept track of him over the years, and then when it came time to do Gangs Of New York, Leo came onboard and that helped get it made. Our working relationship developed from there.
Scorsese also touched on the future of cinema, noting that he was recently shown a demonstration of 3D technology in Taipei. It included a short film called The Last Survivor, which via a virtual reality headset immersed the viewer in the world of a man journeying to Auschwitz, ending with a harrowing stop at the gates, where family members are separated.
He concluded the interview during which he also mentioned his admiration of Sean OCasey by discussing his eagerly awaited reunion with DeNiro, entitled The Irishman, recently given the green light by Netflix.
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DeNiro and I had been talking about working together for a long time, said Scorsese. Im also 75, so its time. Its a crime picture, but its very much from the perspective of a character who is also in his seventies, looking back. Were doing it with Netflix, which is a new form of film distribution. We tried a long-form style of storytelling with Vinyl, the HBO series I made with Mick Jagger wed been developing that on and off since 1996.
Ultimately, it didnt really work out, we only got one series I think HBO might have expected something different. But were doing The Irishman with Netflix and well see how it works out.
And with that, Scorsese departed to another ovation. With a phenomenal body of work already to his name, the director still remains one of the most essential voices in cinema. He is truly one of the all-time greats.
WASHINGTON - As chief executive of Exxon Mobil, Rex Tillerson tracked diplomatic relations between Iran, the United States and other Western powers, watching for developments that might open some of the last easy-to-access oil and gas deposits in the world after decades of revolution, war and international sanctions.
Now, as secretary of state, Tillerson will soon help decide whether to stick to an agreement that has begun that opening and held out the promise of a bonanza for U.S. and European energy companies, many with significant operations in Houston and Texas.
Tillerson's past and present worlds are set to collide as critical deadlines loom for the United Nation's deal that lifted some economic sanctions in exchange for the Islamic Republic curtailing its development of nuclear technology. When former President Barack Obama signed onto the deal early last year, he did so conditionally, with regular reviews scheduled every 4 to 6 months to determine whether the U.S. would stick to the agreement.
The next round of reviews begins this month, raising the question of whether the Trump administration will uphold an accord that President Donald Trump recently called "terrible" on his Twitter feed and has signaled he plans to renegotiate.
Those statements have fueled anxiety not only in Iran - where President Hassan Rouhani has promised the nuclear deal will revive an economy crippled by years of sanctions - but also among oil and gas companies examining multibillion dollar development deals there. That includes Shell, Total and Schlumberger, which together employ thousands of workers in Houston, according to a list released by Iran's national oil company earlier this year.
"There's a lot of interest, but there's also a lot of trepidation," said Suzanne Maloney, a former State Department adviser and now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. "So far, Tillerson has been restrained on this issue."
A spokeswoman for the State Department said the Trump administration is conducting a "rigorous" review of the Iran nuclear deal. "While that review is underway, the United States continues to uphold its commitments," she said.
Complex situation
The nuclear deal was the culmination of a long international campaign to get Iran to back off nuclear development, which Iranian leaders said was simply for electricity generation and other commercial applications but U.S. intelligence officials feared was aimed at developing weapons. Obama's decision to sign onto the agreement drew condemnation from Republicans, supporters of Israel and other critics.
Finding a course forward in Iran is among the most complicated items on the State Department's to-do list, said Joe Barnes, a former State Department official who served in the Middle East and is now a fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy. Tighten sanctions again and you risk a relatively moderate Iranian government walking away and hard liners in Tehran gaining momentum; relax them too much and you lose leverage on a host of separate and equally import diplomatic issues, including Iran's funding of the terrorist group Hezbollah, human rights abuses and its military involvement in the Syrian civil war on behalf of the dictator Bashar al-Assad.
To this balancing act, Tillerson and Trump must consider the cascading effect that any changes in the terms of the deal would have on relationships with countries from Israel to Russia to Saudi Arabia to China, Barnes said.
"It's not just a deal between the United States and Iran, it's between a number of countries and Iran," he said. "Renegotiating the deal would be immensely complicated."
The potential for a major policy shift is already causing significant anguish within the world's oil and gas industry, of which Tillerson, as Exxon CEO, was long part of the small core of de-facto leaders. Already U.S. companies like Exxon, Chevron and ConocoPhillips, which remain constrained under sanctions outside the nuclear deal, are falling behind their European counterparts, which are in talks for development deals with the Iranian national oil company.
Just 12 months ago, while still at Exxon Mobil, Tillerson said of Iran during a television interview, "We'll wait and see if things open up for U.S. companies. We would certainly take a look because it's a huge resource-owning country."
A spokeswoman for Chevron said she could not discuss Iran directly, but "economic returns, stability of the investment climate and sanctity of contract are central to any decisions we make." Exxon declined to comment. ConocoPhillips did not respond to requests for comment.
Significant opportunity
Iran's oil and gas fields rank as the fourth and second largest proven reserves in the world, respectively, according to the Department of Energy. And after years of being in "the penalty box," those fields are ripe for new investment and updated equipment, said Fadel Gheit, senior energy analyst at the investment firm Oppenheimer & Co. That could one day mean significant opportunity for Houston's oil and gas equipment supply chain, along with service companies like Halliburton, whose expertise would be in demand.
Gheit pointed to Iraq, where many U.S. companies, including Halliburton, gained significant business as the nation rebuilt its oil industry and increased production after the 2003 war that toppled the dictator Saddam Hussein.
"We've seen what's happened in Iraq, and if sanctions are lifted and relations are normalized Iran has much greater upside potential," he said. "But you don't want to sink capital there and get into an impasse situation. Because you have to recognize it's going to be a big investment, a multiyear, multibillion-dollar investment."
In November, the French oil major Total said it signed a $2 billion deal to develop what is considered the world's largest natural gas field along the Iranian coast of the Persian Gulf. Then three months later, the Trump administration announced a new round of sanctions targeting 25 Iranian individuals and companies, following a ballistic missile test by the Iranian military. Within days Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne told journalists in Paris that if the United States leaves the U.N. nuclear deal, "We'll not be able to work in Iran."
As the deadline for Tillerson and Trump to make a decision on the nuclear deal nears, pressure is ramping up. Even before Trump took office, the Iranian government protested that the United States, despite lifting some sanctions, is still maintaining terrorism-related sanctions that largely prohibit American financial institutions from lending or moving money on transactions that involve Iranian companies.
In Washington, Democrats and Republicans alike maintain their long held position that as long as Iran continues to fund groups like Hezbollah, there is no room for any appeasement. Last month a bipartisan group of senators, including the leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., as well as Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, introduced legislation that would further expand sanctions against Iran- though not so far as to violate the terms of the nuclear deal.
Under that agreement, the United States was only required to lift those sanctions imposed for nuclear development, not those related to issues like terrorism and human rights abuses.
"The conventional wisdom in Washington is (Iran is) on the march;" Maloney, the former State Department adviser, said. "The feeling is we need to be much more aggressive in pushing them back from gaining the upper hand in the Middle East."
Low profile
Since taking over the State Department last month, Tillerson has maintained a conspicuously low public profile compared to predecessors like John Kerry, who served under Obama, and Condoleezza Rice, who served under President George W. Bush. But on one of the rare occasions in which he has made a public statement, he quickly found what a sensitive issue Iran has become.
Offering a seemingly benign greeting on Iran's new year's holiday Nowruz, Tillerson said, "We look forward to celebrating this new spring together." The National Iranian American Council immediately questioned the statement, asking how Iranian Americans were supposed to celebrate together considering the travel ban Trump ordered on Iran and other predominantly Muslim countries earlier this year. Federal courts have blocked the ban, however.
At a news conference State Department spokesman Mark Toner said it was inappropriate to connect the statement to the travel ban.
"This was a recognition of an important event for Iranians and Iranian Americans," he said, "and nothing more."
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With $3 billion in potential pollution fines on the line, Houston litigator Paula Hinton showed Harris County jurors a photo of herself from 1965.
No, she told them, she was not the adorable little blonde with the Dutch-boy haircut; she was the gawky preteen wearing cat-eye glasses.
It was a lighthearted moment during opening statements. It also was the moment when she planted the defense theory: that in 1965 - when paper mill waste containing dioxin was buried in pits on the banks of the San Jacinto River - it was a different era with different rules.
"That both humanized her to the jury, but also conveyed the point that we were talking about something that happened many decades ago," said her co-defense counsel, Barrett Reasoner.
Hinton, a partner at Winston & Strawn, is known for connecting with juries, simplifying complex issues and resolving stalled disputes. She is at the top of a career that has included many pro bono cases and longstanding work to encourage women lawyers.
It's no surprise that Hinton could pull off the courtroom demonstration. After all, she is the daughter of Alabama trial lawyer James F. Hinton, who once brought two coconut pies to a courtroom to question a property condemnation expert about the comparative value of the pie with a piece missing.
More Information Paula Hinton Age: 62 Achievements: Partner, litigation section, Winston & Strawn Former Partner at Vinson & Elkins Currently the chair of the litigation section of the State Bar of Texas University of Alabama School of Law, JD, 1979 See More Collapse
"She can use her Alabama Southern charm to relate to a broad array of people," said Melanie Gray, a Winston partner who has tried cases with Hinton. "But dealing with opposing counsel and cross-examination, she is tenacious and strong."
During the 2014 pollution fines case brought by Harris County, Hinton represented Waste Management subsidiary McGinnes Industrial Maintenance Corp. To further explain what she saw as the unfairness of her client's situation, she compared it to that of a driver being assessed penalties for 40 years of running a stop sign that was just placed at the corner yesterday.
"This was a very sophisticated operation for the time, approved by Harris County," Hinton told jurors. "Don't let anybody tell you that this was a fly-by-night operation where they were slipping out the back door and dumping it down the drain or onto somebody else's property."
Hinton and Reasoner persuaded state District Judge Caroline Baker to toss two-thirds of the government's damage claims. The remaining claims were settled for $29.2 million - less than 1 percent of the amount sought by the plaintiffs - just before closing arguments were scheduled to begin.
Hinton's handling of the case added to her reputation as one of Houston's top litigators. It was especially notable because she was brought in just a few months before trial, when MIMC's lead outside counsel unexpectedly died.
"We were desperate to find someone who could quickly get up to speed and who had the right temperament and skill set," said Steve Morgan, general counsel for Waste Management. "Paula's name immediately came to mind."
Best for the client
Over her 36-year career, Hinton, 62, has represented AT&T, BP, Shell Oil Co., Jiffy Lube, Krispy Kreme franchises and other major corporations in a variety of trials and arbitrations. In the combative environment of commercial litigation - where fees rack up faster than a retiree feeding the penny slots - Hinton knows that the battle can sometimes be avoided.
When headstrong clients want to rush to the courthouse, she imagines how they will feel when their legal bills arrive. Could costly litigation be avoided with a facilitated discussion?
"We don't always have to fight. Sometimes what we have to do is talk," Hinton said. "I want them to know they tried everything they could for a business solution before we go forward."
She has applied this philosophy to some pro bono cases. In late 2012, she was contacted by the National Women's Law center to help a young nursing student who had been ridiculed by a professor who refused to excuse her pregnancy-related absences.
Instead of filing suit, Hinton says she drove to the university and met with the school's general counsel, whom she suspected was unaware of the incident.
She was right. After hearing about the situation, the university agreed to let the student finish her last two semesters tuition-free and trained its faculty and staff on legal requirements regarding pregnant students.
Alabama roots run deep
Hinton has felt at home in a courtroom from a young age. She often tagged along with her father, a solo practitioner whose cases ranged from petty crimes to First Amendment rights.
"I was truly the little redheaded girl who was his shadow," Hinton recalled of her childhood in Gadsden, Ala. "I sat in judges' laps while he tried cases. I went to the county jail on Sunday mornings while he visited clients."
Jimmie Hinton accepted clients that other lawyers refused, including the local adult bookstore and massage parlor owners. When he died in 1984, Hinton remembered, "They said at his funeral that he was legal services before there was legal services."
Partial to bright colors, jewelry and long hair, Hinton has been known to ditch her navy suits on occasion. She recalls a late 1990s federal court case in Birmingham where a jury consultant from the Northeast questioned her jade jacket.
"He said you can't wear that in front of a jury," she recalled. "I told him 'I most certainly can. I'm from 40 miles up the road; and here in North Alabama they like their women to look like women.' "
Embracing her father's advice to seek a "lace curtain" firm, after receiving her law degree from the University of Alabama, she sent a resume to Vinson & Elkins. In 1981, she became the second woman in the firm's commercial litigation group, where her mentors included Harry Reasoner, Jim McCartner and Ewing Werlein.
"I was very, very fortunate to have people like that to assist me in my years as a young lawyer," Hinton said.
'Oh, never mind'
She laughed about the time Rufus Wallingford, from rival firm Fulbright & Jaworski, stood up to cross-examine her about attorney fees at the end of a three-month trial. Seated in the witness box was a hugely pregnant Hinton.
"He looks at me nine months pregnant and he looks at the jury over in the box and said, 'Oh, never mind,' and sat down," Hinton said.
Wallingford later told her there was nothing to be gained by questioning her that day, a lesson for Hinton that sometimes the best thing to do is be polite.
In 1989, shortly after her son's birth, Hinton was offered a partnership opening Akin Gump's litigation practice. But 12 years later, an encounter with Harry Reasoner at an Anti-Defamation League luncheon led her back to Vinson & Elkins.
"I'm a great admirer of Paula," the elder Reasoner said. "She has the courage and personality to stand up in any kind of forum and represent a client and herself well."
In 2013, Hinton took her three decades of litigation experience to Winston & Strawn's Houston office. She cites two factors: the Chicago-based firm's lack of a mandatory retirement policy and its focus on the courtroom when many firms were turning to more lucrative specialty work.
"I get the emphasis on litigation with a longer run," Hinton said.
She sits on the foundation board for the University of Alabama School of Law, where a scholarship in her and her father's name is awarded to a second-year student.
Mentoring women
Winston managing partner Tom Fitzgerald tapped Hinton to lead the firm's women leadership program. She initially suggested he get a younger woman partner to fill the role, but Fitzgerald said he knew she would get the job done.
Hinton has no intention of quitting anytime soon. Her two retirement homes are paid for, but she believes her dad's lesson that the law is a calling.
"I love what I do," she said, "and they're still paying me."
For a longer version of this article, please visit TexasLawbook.net.
January 2017: Joined the Harris County Precinct 3 Constable's Office as assistant chief deputy 2013-2016: hired as a major in the Harris County Sheriff's Office, where he supervised the Internal Affairs Division and the inspector general 2009-2013: Supervised the Police Integrity Division at the Harris County District Attorney's Office, including the Chad Holley HPD beating case 1989-2009: Operated a private law practice, defending police in criminal cases for 20 years; also started with the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable's Office, where he served nearly 20 years as a reserve officer 1986: Earned law degree from South Texas College of Law Houston; worked as prosecutor with the Harris County District Attorney's Office, where he previously interned 1983: Graduated from Rice University
Clinton Greenwood served nearly three decades in Harris County law enforcement and also worked as a lawyer, defending and eventually prosecuting police accused of misconduct. He is survived by his wife, two children and two stepchildren.
A prominent local law enforcement officer gunned down Monday in an apparent ambush told county officials last week he felt threatened by a man he'd once targeted in a corruption investigation.
Clint Greenwood - three months into a new job as a chief deputy constable - shared his concerns with officials in the Harris County Attorney's Office who were handling an administrative matter related to the case, according to a source who asked not to be identified because of the nature of the investigation.
"I believe [this person] poses a real threat to my and my family's safety," Greenwood said in an email sent Thursday to the county attorney's office.
Greenwood was shot to death just before 7 a.m. Monday, moments after pulling into the parking lot of the courthouse annex in Baytown where he worked, officials said.
"It's a hit, no doubt," said one top federal official assisting with the investigation. "He basically got ambushed."
The killing sparked a massive manhunt that shut down portions of the neighborhood surrounding the courthouse, as deputies combed the area while helicopters circled overhead.
Authorities said late Monday they were investigating several leads but had not made any arrests. Greenwood's concerns about the corruption case were passed along to law enforcement, the source said.
Late Monday, Baytown police released a video of a vehicle possibly linked to the slaying and a description of a man who was seen in the area at the time of the shooting. Police described him as a white or Hispanic man, about 6 foot to 6-feet-3, with short hair and a medium to stocky build. He wore a dark jacket with some kind of patch on the sleeve.
A reward of up to $65,000 is being offered for information leading to an arrest and charges in the case through Crime Stoppers, 713-222-TIPS.
THE VICTIM: 10 things to know about the officer shot and killed in Baytown
LifeFlight carried Greenwood to Memorial Hermann Hospital in the Texas Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. A police motorcade then escorted his body to the medical examiner's office.
He is survived by his wife, two children and two step-children.
Greenwood - a former private attorney, prosecutor and law enforcement officer who spent the last years of his career fighting corruption - had started work Jan. 1 as an assistant chief deputy constable.
"The Harris County Precinct 3 Constable's Office has suffered a great loss," Constable Sherman Eagleton said, at a press conference Monday. "I just want to send my condolences out to the family. And also the deputy's brothers and sisters in law enforcement that worked with Chief Greenwood."
Baytown police are leading the investigation with help from state, local and federal law enforcement officials.
Greenwood's slaying was one of five high-profile shooting attacks on officers in Harris County in the last two years.
In August 2015, Harris County Sheriff's Deputy Darren Goforth was shot and killed at a northwest Harris County gas station. Precinct 7 Deputy Constable Alden Clopton was shot in an ambush attack late at night while helping a colleague with a traffic stop, but survived. In February, two Houston police officers were shot and wounded while conducting anti-burglary operations on the city's southwest side.
On Monday, Greenwood arrived at his usual time and parked in his usual spot before gunfire rang out.
He was shot once, Baytown Police Lt. Steve Dorris said shortly after the shooting.
"Whether or not he was specifically targeted, or whether this was because of the uniform he was wearing or the place he pulled up to in the morning, we just don't know that right now," Dorris said.
Wanda Asbeck, who lives next to the courthouse annex, heard the gunfire just before 7 a.m. She looked outside and saw Greenwood lying on the pavement next to his SUV.
Asbeck works in the constable's office and recognized him right away.
"It just made me sick," she said. "He was such a good man. Why would anyone want to kill him?"
Greenwood grew up in north Harris County and quickly became a fixture in the Harris County criminal justice system.
He worked as a reserve deputy at the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable's Office for nearly two decades, while simultaneously working as a private defense attorney, largely representing police officers.
In 2009, he joined the Harris County District Attorney's Office as chief of the Police Integrity Division under DA Pat Lykos, the district attorney's unit responsible for investigating police officers and presenting the cases to grand juries.
During his four years with the DA's office, he led the case against Houston police officers accused of beating 17-year-old Chad Holley, a case that sparked widespread protests.
In 2013, he joined the Harris County Sheriff's Office as a major, overseeing the department's Internal Affairs Division, General Investigations Division and Office of the Inspector General. He oversaw the internal probe into misconduct by an investigator in the Goforth case.
He had moved into a leadership position with the Precinct 3 constable's office, where he had put together field training and use-of-force manuals.
A graduate of Spring Woods High School, Rice University and what was then South Texas College of Law, he also had worked as a visiting justice of the peace and taught cadets at the Houston Police Department's training academy.
Over the years, he took 4,200 hours of education classes as well as 1,600 hours of additional training, obtaining a master peace officer certification in 2012, state records show.
"He was one of the best guys you'd ever want to work around," said Ron Hickman, a former Harris County sheriff and Precinct 4 constable.
LifeFlight transported Greenwood to Memorial Hermann Hospital in the Texas Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead soon after arriving.
Outside the hospital, officers greeted each other with hugs and handshakes. Police escorted a young man, possibly a relative, into the hospital as he cried and held his head in his hands.
Houston police spokesman Kese Smith confirmed that family members had arrived. HPD motorcycle units escorted Greenwood's body to the medical examiner's office, Smith said.
"He was an incredible human being, a cop's cop," Precinct 1 Constable Alan Rosen said, minutes after Greenwood's body was escorted to the medical examiner's office local law enforcement.
At least a dozen police motorcycles, lights flashing, flanked the white minivan carrying Greenwood's body as the car pulled east on Cambridge Street away from the hospital.
Representatives from at least three constable precincts, the sheriff's office, the district attorney's office and the Houston Police Department came to Memorial Hermann Monday, Rosen said.
Greenwood's death sparked attention statewide.
"Texas is taking action to strengthen penalties for those brazen enough to commit crimes against law enforcement, and we will send a message that such vile acts will not be tolerated in the Lone Star State," Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement. "I am confident that the perpetrator of this swift and despicable act will be apprehended and that murder will be met with swift justice."
Attorney General Ken Paxton added: "This is a reminder to pray for and support all law enforcement officials in our state, especially at this time of grief."
At the Harris County Criminal Courthouse in downtown Houston, lawyers and officers who had known Greenwood for years, if not decades, were in shock.
"He was a great friend, a great husband and a great father," said Jim Leitner, an administrator in the District Attorney's Office. "He was one of the best friends I ever had."
With tears in his eyes, Leitner arrived at the courthouse after being with Greenwood's family at the hospital. On his way in, he hugged a female bailiff who broke down in tears in the lobby. Leitner and defense attorney Danny Lacayo, with the Public Defender's Office, consoled the bailiff and helped her to a private office. Leitner said he and the bailiff had lunch with Greenwood on Friday.
"I'm glad we did," he said.
The shooting Monday brought a swift outpouring of condemnation from local and state leaders.
"We will send a message that such vile acts will not be tolerated in the Lone Star State," Gov. Greg Abbott promised. "I am confident that the perpetrator of this swift and despicable act will be apprehended and that murder will be met with swift justice."
Outside Memorial Hermann Hospital, Greenwood's colleagues and relatives greeted each other with hugs, handshakes and tears.
"He was an incredible human being, a cop's cop," Precinct 1 Constable Alan Rosen said, minutes after a motorcade escorted Greenwood's body from the hospital to the medical examiner's office.
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg was among those grieving at the hospital.
"We knew him as a lawyer, law enforcement officer and colleague respected in every role," Ogg said later, in a statement. "Our prayers are with his family."
Harris County Judge Ed Emmett and Sheriff Ed Gonzalez also offered support to the family.
"I am sickened and profoundly saddened by the brutal killing of Deputy Greenwood this morning," Emmett said.
"We ask the entire community to please stand by us," Gonzalez said. "We're going to do everything we can to track down whoever was responsible for this."
At the Harris County Criminal Courthouse in downtown Houston, lawyers and officers who had known Greenwood for years were in shock.
"He was a great friend, a great husband and a great father," said Jim Leitner, an administrator in the district attorney's office. "He was one of the best friends I ever had."
Brian Benken, Greenwood's former law partner who also worked with him at the Harris County District Attorney's Office was shaken by the news.
Benken said he and Greenwood ran a law practice together for several years before they both went back into investigations. "We both just liked the investigative side better," said Benken, who now works as a private investigator.
Even those who clashed with his anti-corruption efforts said Greenwood was affable outside of work.
"We used to butt heads," said Bob Goerlitz, a Harris County Sheriff's Office patrol deputy who headed the Harris County Deputies Organization for five years. "He was very stern on the business side."
Mourners held an impromptu vigil Monday evening, with plans for a "Back the Blue" convoy Tuesday.
Friends recalled Greenwood as a service-minded, hardworking person who went out of his way to help people.
Montgomery County Sheriff's Lt. Tim Cannon first met Greenwood in high school in the 1970s.
They raced motorcycles and went shooting together. Cannon bought his motorcycle - a Honda Elsinore 125 - from Greenwood in 1974.
"Whenever I had a problem with my motorcycle, he'd come over and help me," he said. "Clint was always the go-to guy. If something needed service, he knew how to work on it. And he knew how to get something fixed."
Greenwood also loved shooting, he said.
"He was an expert shot," Cannon said. "He built pistols; he built rifles. He did it for people. If someone couldn't afford it, he'd do it for free. It was just his way."
He and other friends struggled Monday to come to terms with his death.
"Clint was absolutely a target, for whatever reason," he said. "But he didn't need to be a target. Clint was there to help. And whoever this person was, Clint probably would have reached out to help him as well."
Margaret Kadifa, Marialuisa Rincon, Lindsay Ellis, Brian Rogers, Keri Blakinger and Mike Glenn contributed to this report.
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I could hear the music three blocks away.
The same warbling strains of Arabic played in Beirut taxi cabs or sung at clifftop weddings along Lebanon's coast.
Only this time, the music came from a stage at Jones Plaza, played by a live band to a crowd of dancers ranging in age from toddlers to grandparents. The accessory of choice were Lebanese flags, tied like capes around the dancers' shoulders. The patriotism on display rivaled even that of a Texas country music concert.
If turnout is indicative of success, then the third annual Houston Lebanese Festival held this weekend was a triumph.
But the event's path to popularity was improbable.
Lebanon is known for its biblical history, ski slopes and diverse but deeply divided population, exacerbated by a 15-year civil war that lasted until 1990. The country has 18 religious sects. And those are further splintered by political parties, which resonate, even 7,000 miles away in Houston.
Lili Bejjani, the owner of Houston restaurant Cafe Lili, wanted to change that.
Bejjani, who moved to Houston on Thanksgiving Day in 1970, started a nonprofit that evolved into the American Lebanese Cultural Center, the group that puts on the annual festival.
It took more than 20 years of trying, but, in 2014, Bejjani's plans took off when she connected with about a dozen immigrants newer to Houston. They had come around 1990, in the aftermath of the Lebanese Civil War.
They were a diverse group, representing half a dozen of Lebanon's religious sects and working in industries ranging from hospitality to medicine and oil and gas. They got along by leaving politics and faith out of their meetings, said Fadi Dimassi, one of the founders and current chair of the annual festival.
Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle
The crew gathered away from centers of religious life in Houston, at Bejjani's restaurant or the nearby Cedar's Bakery, a cafe off of Richmond with a hole-in-the-wall vibe and a thyme-smothered Lebanese flatbread to die for.
The way the newly formed Lebanese American Cultural Center decided to prove themselves was with a festival. But they weren't sure other Lebanese shared their commitment to unity.
"Everybody was scared," said current board president Michel Chammas.
Even Dimassi, who organized the event, was skeptical.
But Dimassi changed his mind, when, on the first day of the inaugural festival, the line of people waiting to enter Jones Plaza stretched around the corner.
This year, nearly 300 people volunteered at the event, where traditional music blared for 10 hours straight as performers ranging from folk dancers to belly dancers took the stage.
Dozens of booths sold garlic-coated chicken wraps, Lebanese beer and chocolate eclairs Lebanon was under French control for about 20 years. The Lebanese ultimately rejected French rule, but embraced its pastries.
Dimassi shipped in handmade goods to sell an endeavor he admits was pricey, but worth it for the results. There were jugs from a seaside city in the south, furniture from an ancient port town in the north. Today's entrepreneurs turned up, hoping to gain some publicity from the crowds. Among them were two American-born Lebanese men selling T-shirts with slogans such as "hummus and chill."
This year's festival has an added significance. The center now rents office space to host its Arabic and folk dance classes. And with the festival proceeds, Chammas hopes to raise enough money to purchase land for the permanent facility Bejjani envisioned more than 20 years ago, so the next generation of Lebanese Houstonians can continue to connect with the country.
If his generation of fractured Lebanese could make it through, so can today's millennials, Chammas said.
"When you have a group of Lebanese that is not a homogeneous group, it's not easy to agree on many things," Chammas said. "We have defied that notion so far. We have come a long, long way."
Bookmark Gray Matters. It's thyme-smothered and garlic-coated.
Miller could usually find her hanging out at the same spot in Midtown, near the Sears on Wheeler. When she found Renee, the prosecutor would buy her a cup of coffee and talk with her.
Renee also had been more accessible than the others.
Miller chose Renee, the woman allegedly raped by Hendricks in April 2007, as her case-in-chief, rather than Tatum or Melissa. Renee seemed like she could withstand a cross-examination better than the other two women. Tatum was intellectually disabled and there was not a rape kit in her case. A lab analysis had not been able to connect Melissa's rape-kit evidence to Hendricks, records show, because there were too many individuals present in the DNA mixture.
She requested hospital records and sent subpoenas to victims and police officers, preparing for trial.
By February 2009, Miller began filing court documents detailing Hendricks' criminal history, including his 1978 rape conviction in Indiana. If he was convicted of aggravated sexual assault, Miller knew Hendricks' prior rape conviction would make him automatically eligible for life in prison.
Miller felt for the women. Hendricks targeted those nobody cared about. She was determined to try the cases.
The DA's office had no dedicated unit for prosecuting adult sex crimes, which were assigned at random to 22 felony courts. Kimberly Miller, who'd been a prosecutor for three years, replaced Flader in the 180th Court. In an overwhelmed system fraught with frequent transfers, continuity was problematic. Miller was at least the third prosecutor to handle Hendricks' cases. Now she had to start from the beginning.
Although it pained her to do so, she had to leave the cases behind.
And then, in November 2008, having had the cases for only 10 months, Flader was transferred to the District Attorney's Office's juvenile division.
Flader would have to proceed with only three victims, Renee, Melissa and Tatum. She knew the three were not the strongest witnesses. They all had criminal records, and life on the streets often makes it hard for homeless victims to remember dates and details. She figured her best option might be trying to negotiate a plea deal that would send Hendricks to prison for longer than 10 years.
But by then, Dawn had been dead for over a year, murdered in a parking lot after returning to her home in Tulsa, Okla.
Had authorities been able to charge Hendricks in her rape, Dawn's case likely would have been the strongest, Flader said.
The lab results indicated otherwise: There was only a 1-in-13-quintillion chance that the DNA collected from vaginal swabs could belong to someone else.
That same day, Moreno and Flader got even stronger evidence against him in a fourth rape: HPD's crime lab called with DNA results from a September 2006 rape kit that Moreno had sent in for testing. He'd never been able to find the victim, Dawn, 32, but had identified Hendricks as the suspect. Hendricks had denied having any connection with Dawn when Moreno interviewed him.
"I really believed he was a serial rapist after looking at the evidence," Flader recalled.
Read more about the people featured in this chapter by tapping onhovering over each name.
All three had identified Hendricks in photo lineups and given sworn statements.
Melissa Jackson, 44, said Hendricks had raped her twice in one week, the first time behind a freeway overpass near Minute Maid Park in August.
Renee, 41, said Hendricks had lured her to an abandoned house near La Branch and Wheeler with the promise of crack and raped her in April 2007, three months before Tatum's rape.
Hendricks now faced aggravated sexual assault charges against Tatum and the other two homeless women.
In an interview there with Moreno and another prosecutor, Tatum, 40, a woman of average height with short, curly blond hair and a gap-tooth smile, identified Hendricks, a man she knew as "Chicago Slim," as her assailant from a photo lineup. She gave a handwritten statement describing how Hendricks had raped her in the bushes on the 2500 block of Fannin close to the Metrorail tracks in Midtown and threatened her with a knife. Tatum said her assailant climbed on top of her, putting the knife to her throat while he raped her.
At the end of May, Flader located Tatum, another victim, whom Moreno had linked to Hendricks but could never find. Flader found her in a Texas state jail in Cleveland, where she was serving a three-year sentence for drug possession.
The Houston Police Department sex-crimes investigator had spent the summer of 2007 tracking down Hendricks' homeless victims in the Midtown area and had filed felony charges against him in two rapes. Now, in early 2008, a young prosecutor named Gretchen Flader assumed responsibility for moving the cases forward. She located the victims on the streets, reinterviewed them and made sure they were ready to testify.
Pedro Moreno had every reason to think Keith Edward Hendricks would be sent to prison for many years.
Finally, in late September 2009, more than two years after Hendricks had been charged with aggravated sexual assault, Miller took him to trial. "This case is going to be about ... people that you probably don't come in contact with in your everyday life," Miller told the jury in her opening statement. She explained that Renee had been living on the streets for nearly a decade and had developed a crack addiction that led her into prostitution, often exchanging sex for money or drugs. But that was not what happened on April 9, 2007, she told the jurors. Renee had been raped by Hendricks, the man before them, Miller told the jury. He was guilty, and Renee was going to tell them so. Miller called Renee as her first witness. She was small about 5 feet 4 inches tall and 115 pounds with brown hair and deep-set green eyes. Now 43, her weathered face made her appear about 10 years older. The prosecutor began her questioning, walking the jury through Renee's struggles with addiction, prostitution and homelessness. Then she questioned her in detail about the day of the attack. Renee said Hendricks had told her about an old man who just wanted company not anything sexual. The man would pay $30 and share his crack, she said Hendricks told her. Leery of the offer, Renee said she went with Hendricks to a vacant house near La Branch and Wheeler south of U.S. 59 on the edge of Midtown because she wanted the drugs. When they got there she suddenly felt Hendricks pull her by the back of her hair, Renee testified. He put his arm around her neck and slammed her face onto the concrete. She remembers bleeding and passing out for a few seconds. When she came to, still bleeding from her forehead, Hendricks was yelling at her. Next, she remembered the two of them climbing through a large open window to gain entrance at the back of the house. They went upstairs into a bedroom, where Hendricks told her to get undressed. Lying on her side on a hardwood floor, Renee said Hendricks got behind her, putting his arm around her neck and shoulders. He then began to rape her. The prosecutor asked Renee if she could get up. No, she said. What had Renee said to Hendricks during the rape? the prosecutor asked. "I kept telling him no, that it was hurting, you know; and he kept threatening to put it in my rectum if I kept complaining about it," she said. Renee told the jury Hendricks raped her three times that night. She kept thinking he was going to kill her. She knew he carried a large knife. She didn't know if he had it. It would be daybreak before they left the house. They walked down the street and crossed back under 59. Near the Fiesta Mart on Wheeler she broke away from him when she saw a security guard in the parking lot, Renee testified. She went to the Men's Center, where she had friends, and told people what had happened. They urged Renee to call authorities. Afraid police would not help her, she made no report. A friend at the facility for recovering alcoholics and drug addicts kept telling her to call or to flag down patrol cars when they would drive by. Finally, about a week and half later, she did. Miller asked Renee why she decided to report the rape. "Because I knew that it was never going to end," Renee told the jury. "He was going to hurt somebody else." Later, the prosecutor asked if she saw "Chicago Slim" in the courtroom. She identified the man sitting before her in a blue-checkered shirt. "I really believed he was a serial rapist after looking at the evidence." Renee then faced a rigorous cross-examination by Hendricks' court-appointed attorney, Casey Garrett. She asked questions about Renee's drug use, its effect on her memory, her criminal history. Renee struggled to name times, dates and places. Garrett asked her about the rape: How long did it take to walk to the abandoned house? How long between each rape? How exactly had Renee gone through the window with Hendricks? Had she been pulled in or not? Renee said she did not remember exactly, but she thought Hendricks must have had her go in first because she would have run if he had not. "Ma'am, after I got raped, I was traumatized," Renee said after struggling through many questions. "There's a lot of things I can't remember." The defense attorney also asked Renee whether she told another man that she was filing rape charges against Hendricks because he owed her crack. Renee denied the accusation. Ryan Riley sat in the jury box on the right side of the courtroom with 11 other people, listening to Renee's testimony. The 30-year-old software developer, who had been elected jury foreman, felt sorry for her. She seemed unprepared for the gauntlet of questions. She seemed haggard, scared and, at one point during her testimony, began to cry. At times, Riley found it almost too hard to look in her direction. Still, there seemed to be holes in her testimony, which raised questions about her credibility for jurors. This decision is going be hard, Riley remembered thinking. What Riley and his fellow jurors did not know was that the other two victims alleging rape against Hendricks Melissa and Tatum sat in a nearby holding tank, waiting for their turn to testify.
During a lunch break, outside the presence of the jury, Miller filed a motion asking if the judge would allow her to present evidence about the other two alleged rapes. She argued it was necessary because the defense had proposed a theory that Renee was "framing" Hendricks with the rape because he had refused to give her crack she had been promised. "At this point, if they've put that motive in front of the jury, I feel like we have the opportunity to rebut that theory with other instances of sexual assaults that have been made where the people don't have the same frame-up (motive)," the prosecutor told the judge.
She presented case law to back her argument. Garrett objected, saying that case law was not strong enough to support letting in testimony from the other alleged victims. The visiting judge who presided over the trial said she would take more time to consider the arguments before ruling on the issue. For the time being, she would not allow in the other offenses, she told the attorneys. Once the trial resumed, the prosecution called the patrol officer who had taken Renee's initial report of the sexual assault. He testified that Renee, whom he recognized from the streets, seemed shaken and emotional when she spoke with him. He remembered noting a wound on her forehead that was consistent with her story. He said he did not attempt to collect evidence at the scene because Renee could not provide him with an exact location. He did say she told him it occurred in a vacant home that had a garage in the back on La Branch. Next, Miller called Moreno to the stand. As in most trials, Moreno began by answering the prosecutor's questions about his training as a sex-crimes investigator. He then explained that he had been assigned to work on Renee's case a few months after the assault, which was not unusual, given the department's large caseload. Miller asked Moreno where he located Renee. He said he found her outside a homeless shelter on Fannin. He then explained to the jury what a photo spread is and how Renee had identified Hendricks from the pictures. He told jurors how he'd taken her back to the station for an interview and gotten her sworn statement. On cross-examination, Garrett asked him only a few brief questions about dates and Hendricks' arrest. When he left the witness stand, Moreno wondered why the prosecutor did not ask him more questions about his experience with rape victims, about the trauma they suffered or what impact it had on them, given Renee's background. Following Moreno's testimony, the judge called for a quick break and sent the jury out of the courtroom. The judge told attorneys that she had ruled against the state's motion to allow in the other offenses. She did not think that one line of questioning by the defense attorney had risen to the level of a "defensive theory." Miller's heart sank. She had not expected the judge's ruling. She knew without the other two cases, it would be harder to convict. Neither Melissa nor Tatum ever testified. Melissa, aware that her rape-kit results had been inconclusive, still wanted to take the stand. She had been arrested and charged with prostitution in early September. To ensure her testimony, prosecutors kept her in the Harris County Jail two weeks past her release date, according to sheriff's officials. "I was so upset, just so upset, that I could not get up there and say he raped me," Melissa said.
There's so much bickering and backbiting at the Capitol in Austin that it's a relief to find a cause where Republicans and Democrats are on the same side. Cancer is everyone's enemy. To defeat it, all Texas women deserve access to 3D, or three-dimensional, mammography.
There are two types of mammography used to detect breast cancer: 2D, or two-dimensional, and 3D. All of us want the best breast cancer-screening technology available for our mothers, sisters, daughters and friends. Despite the fact that 3D mammography is to 2D what the telephone is to the telegram, cost prevents some women from accessing the better technology.
Texas insurers are required to provide coverage of breast cancer screening, but some plans cover only 2D mammography. The out-of-pocket cost of 3D mammography, $50-$100, is prohibitive for some women. Let that sink in: For some women and their families, this small amount of funding can mean the difference between earlier and later detection, or a cure and death.
HB 1036, sponsored by Democratic Reps. Senfronia Thompson and Ana Hernandez of Houston, and Nicole Collier of Fort Worth, and Republican Reps. J.D. Sheffield of Gatesville and Jodie Laubenberg of Parker, would remedy this omission. Their bill would require Texas health insurance companies to cover 3D mammography for breast cancer screenings.
To explain how the technology works, researchers use the metaphor of a book. 2D mammography allows radiologists to see the front and back covers, while 3D gives them the ability to open up the book and go through it page by page.
Radiologists using 3D mammography can spot tumors much earlier and be more certain of what they're seeing. 3D mammography identifies up to 53 percent more breast cancers compared to traditional 2D mammogram while at the same time reducing the number of false positives by up to 37 percent, according to a Dr. Ethan Cohen, an assistant professor at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Early detection results in more cures, and saves money, too. It decreases the likelihood that patients will need to undergo expensive treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation. It means that breast cancer patients will miss less work for medical treatment.
"If 3D imaging had been available when I had mine, then they would have caught it sooner," Thompson, a sponsor of the bill and breast cancer survivor told the Austin-American Statesman.
Cancer has no friends at the state Capitol or anywhere else. This bill deserves unanimous legislative support.
Gamesmanship
Regarding "Repeal failure fires up Dems" (Page A1, Monday), I have lived through 24 presidential elections. In 18 of these, beginning with Eisenhower's second term, I was old enough to actually vote and did so. During that long period I have never seen a "sore loser" attitude displayed like the one that is going on now.
The Democrats are doing everything they can to slow walk, refuse and actually sabotage anything that the administration tries to do. After President Obama's election, Republicans in Congress and all over the U.S. were just as disappointed as the current out-of-power group is now. But Obama's Cabinet was quickly approved as were his Supreme Court picks and other jobs needed to do his job. Resistance came later in opposing his legislative adventures.
Among the Democrats' latest efforts revolves around Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch. And the admitted reason has nothing to do with his qualifications. According to U.S. Sen. Diane Feinstein, the reason is payback for the Republicans refusing a hearing for Judge Merrick Garland at the end of Obama's term.
This kind of gamesmanship is what most Americans are tired of and one of the reasons that President Trump was elected. Wouldn't it be nice if all the denizens of Washington could grow up and set about doing their jobs?
Kent Marshall, Missouri City
Immigration fix
Regarding "Reprieve spares doctors facing removal to India" (Page A1, Friday), as someone who used to supervise many people on visas and green cards, I came to recognize the labyrinthine and often Kafkaesque workings of our immigration system. Many times there were misprints, incorrect stamps or dates entered incorrectly, and sometimes these resulted in great distress and expense while our lawyers worked it out with immigration.
It is clear to me that the whole system is far too complicated and is riddled with errors. If no one takes it too seriously, this is distressing but tolerable. But now that the Republican administration seems bent on deporting as many people as possible for any reason possible, the flaws in the whole system are revealed in sharp relief and become intolerable.
I would hope that Texas Sen. John Cornyn and U.S. Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston, will see this incident as merely the tip of the iceberg and an indicator of the urgency with which the whole immigration and deportation strategy must be readdressed.
Alan Jackson, Houston
Big challenges
Regarding "Repeal failure fires up Dems" (Page A1, March 27), there can be little question that with the loss of the purposed repeal of Obamacare, President Trump has lost a great deal of political thrust. The same could be said for the blocking of the travel ban, the difficulties of nominating Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, and, of course, many political aspersions about building the "wall" between Mexico and the United States.
The Republican Party is far more diverse right now than what Trump had anticipated and offers little if any coherent vision of majority politics. It seems to exhibit what the late psychologist and political analyst, Wilhelm Reich, once said was "rebellious emotions but reactionary understandings."
I'm sure that the Democrats will profit from this state of affairs.
John L. Indo, Houston
Ameriabank: At the Vanguard of Armenia's Banking Sector
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At least once a day, I find myself in a conversation about Texas public school finance. This is not entirely unexpected considering I serve as a school board trustee for the Houston Independent School District. This year's debate, however, is more complex and vexing than the usual fights over funding cuts and will culminate with a districtwide election on May 6. HISD voters need to understand what's at stake.
Simply, an independent school district in Texas goes into "recapture" and becomes a Chapter 41 or "Robin Hood" district when the ratio of the district's property values as compared to the students enrolled in that district rise above the wealth level the state has determined is sufficient to fund those students' education. We can vote to "purchase attendance credits" to swap dollars for kids who aren't attending our schools and bring us into line with that wealth level per child, or we can vote for the state to detach commercial properties from our tax base and add those properties' revenues to another district with lower property wealth.
In either scenario, HISD loses money. But the former is the better option. When we purchase attendance credits, HISD loses funds that pay for the district's maintenance and operations expenses (think teachers, administration and other student services.) When the state detaches property, we lose maintenance and operations funds, too, but HISD also loses the ability to raise interest and sinking taxes on the detached properties, revenue we use to pay our bond debts and other facility costs.
We did just vote on this issue a few months ago, but we find ourselves with a different set of circumstances today. Last fall, we were expecting to pay $162 million dollars in recapture this year, either through a check to the state or by detaching property with values that could generate that revenue. As of today, that amount has been lowered about $77.5 million due to a reinterpretation by the Commissioner of Education of the way your local homestead exemption is calculated in the finance formula. The amount was also affected by our final property valuation from 2015 and student enrollment numbers. This point is critical because it highlights that the recapture amounts fluctuate and the amount we may be required to send in by check can decrease. But if the property is detached, the loss of the tax revenue from that real estate is permanent.
Most of us believe that the finance system as it stands today is broken on multiple levels. First and foremost, your Robin Hood dollars do not increase the overall pot of money distributed to schools - whether paid by the purchase of attendance credits or through detachment. Rather, the state lowers the amount it is contributing to the effort to equalize funding for all kids, and places those dollars in the general revenue fund, not for public education. We also know that the funding formula that includes "weights," or more funding, for English language learners, low-income and at-risk children have not been revised in three decades. The system must be fixed to ensure Texas schoolchildren are receiving appropriate funding for their education.
In the meantime, Houston ISD should not willingly give away our largest revenue streams to other districts. As values rise, more property will be detached, and we will be left with homeowners carrying all of the load. Businesses that are at risk of paying a higher tax rate than their neighbor are likely to relocate or not choose us at all. That's bad for HISD, and bad for Houston.
Voters should support the ballot measure authorizing HISD to purchase attendance credits on May 6.
Eastman represents District 1 on the HISD school board.
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On Saturday, models with disabilities got the chance to walk the runway at Edmontons Western Canada Fashion Week (WCFW) and they totally owned it!
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Models of diversity just killing it! #yegfashion #derekjagodzinsky #wcfw #justbeautiful #lastnight #fashionweek #fashionischanging A post shared by Maja Staka (@majastaka) on Apr 1, 2017 at 8:07pm PDT
According to creative director Sandra Sing Fernandes, it has always been WCFWs mission to be inclusive and representative of people that are of different shapes, sizes, abilities and experiences.
We have been about diversity since day one, Fernandes told Vue Weekly about WCFW, which launched in 2005. Weve been all-inclusive about the types of models weve had, and weve had all nationalities and all different types from the very beginning.
This is the first year the fashion week has featured models with disabilities, Global News reports. However, this is not the first time they tried to organize such an event.
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Fernandes revealed to Vue Weekly that they originally tried to feature the models last year, but plans fell through.
This year's WCFW also featured older models between the ages of 40 and 80 during their Ageless Style event on Mar. 23.
Randall MacDonald, the events M.C., told Global News that the fashion week was really about proving that fashion is for everyone.
I know we see in the magazines these thin 14-year-old models and people think: Im not that so I cant wear fashion, he told the site. What were trying to tell people is: thats not true; fashion truly is for everybody. You can be fashionable at any age, any weight, any height, any ability; its really just about being fabulous.
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Over the past week, WCFW has earned praise for being so inclusive and body-positive.
Enjoyed "Ageless Style" last night at #wcfw wonderful to celebrate Style at any age #yegblog https://t.co/l0NhnGMNec WCFW (@WCFashionWeek) March 24, 2017
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sturti via Getty Images a young couple unpack their belongings as they settle into their new loft apartment . They are hugging and looking to camera smiling holding their keys aloft .
Many couples no longer see marriage as a requirement for cohabitation, but the results of this new study are still surprising.
Wayfair Canada surveyed nearly 900 Canadians and more than 1,000 Americans and found that on average, more than half of the Canadians moved in with their partners after less than a year together.
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A surprising number also said they moved in together after half that time.
Almost a third of Canadian millennial respondents, a third of Generation Xers and nearly a quarter of baby boomers took the big step six months or sooner into their relationships.
But those baby boomers were also more cautious than the other age groups, with 10 per cent of them waiting more than five years.
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Canadians were also most likely to rent or buy a new home together instead of moving into their partner's previous residence or staying in their own.
While it's unclear how many of the respondents were married, more unmarried people live together in Canada than ever nearly 17 per cent of families in the 2011 census were common-law couples.
But the eagerness to move in together that Wayfair noted may be due to more than just love. The average Canadian home was worth nearly $520,000 in February, and rents are pricey in many cities, so couples may choose to live together for practical purposes to split the rent.
But interestingly, Canadians blew more money than Americans on furnishings for their shared pads couples who had been together from anywhere from six months to two years spent a reported average of between $1,000 and $3,000 on home decor, compared to U.S. couples, who forked over between $300 and $700.
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While double tapping your way through Instagram, it's easy to start to wonder how people are able to look so effortlessly flawless in their posts.
But makeup guru Gina Shkeda wants everyone to know that not even social media's finest wake up looking their best every day, in response to a 19 year old saying she wished she looked like her.
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"If I could wake up as beautiful as @GinaShkeda I'd be the happiest girl alive #naturalbeauty," Massachusetts resident Paige Matthews tweeted out Friday. She later told BuzzFeed News, "If I ever looked like that I'd die of happiness."
If I could wake up as beautiful as @GinaShkeda I'd be the happiest girl alive #naturalbeautypic.twitter.com/ExpI2bnnIP paige matthews (@_Pajdelamah) March 31, 2017
Literally a minute later, Shkeda responded to let the teen to let her know she doesn't naturally look the way she appears in her pictures, and left the Boston native a lovely compliment.
Girl I have micro bladed brows, lash extensions in and lip injections - I don't even look like this you're flawless https://t.co/6Eh2wxclC9 Gina (@GinaShkeda) March 31, 2017
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"Girl I have micro bladed brows, lash extensions in and lip injections I don't even look like this," the makeup guru tweeted. "You're flawless."
The YouTuber's 28.4K Twitter followers, and then some, flocked to praise for her being so honest about how her social media images appear, leaving replies like "You are gold for posting this," and "This response is so important."
@GinaShkeda Oh i love you for this! Carly Rowena (@CarlyRowena) March 31, 2017
@GinaShkeda You are gold for posting this King Bri (@BreezyRae) March 31, 2017
@GinaShkeda This response is so important (@SugaryOblivion) March 31, 2017
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Matthews later told BuzzFeed News that Shkeda's honesty left her feeling inspired.
"It kind of blew me away how she was so confident in herself," she told the publication. "That she could put herself out like that, because not a lot of people do. I realized if someone I look up to can be so confident, so can I."
Aesthetic: fake freckles and baby hairs A post shared by Gina (@ginashkeda) on Mar 19, 2017 at 8:28pm PDT
And while Shkeda's response isn't exactly the norm, thankfully, she isn't the first beauty expert to be candid about the way she looks.
Back in February, makeup artist Ankita Bhardwaj opened up to The Huffington Post Canada about self-acceptance.
"As a woman, having grown up in today's society, it took me years to realize that true beauty means to love and accept yourself for who you are," she confessed. "Makeup isn't a way of concealing or hiding yourself makeup is empowering. Whether you are someone who applies makeup or not, being confident in what you do and who you are is what true beauty really is."
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Right on!
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Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corporation
The Group of Seven depicted the Canadian landscape for what it was: rugged, wind-swept and resolute against the relentlessness of the elements. Their work created a Canadian art scene that diverged from American and European artists, while also representing the adventurous spirit of explorers and frontiersmen who ventured through the territory when it was called British North America.
Much of the group's paintings were inspired by (and created in) Algoma, the pristine region in northern Ontario surrounding Sault Ste. Marie. The group's artists like Lawren Harris, A.Y. Jackson and J.E.H. MacDonald would travel from their homes in Toronto to paint the rough and beguiling land that has scarcely changed over the last billion years.
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Each painting and every brush stroke, tells the story of our Canada -- our landscapes, our people and our history. Here are four of the most iconic, presented in partnership with Ontario Tourism and Tourism Sault Ste. Marie.
Love love love these #blackandwhite reproductions of artworks by Lawren S. Harris found in a vintage art book (Canadian Painters: From Paul Kane To The Group of Seven, The Phaidon Press, 1945) A post shared by dot dot dot (@softconcrete) on Jan 25, 2017 at 12:24pm PST
"North Shore, Lake Superior" (Lawren Harris)
Created in 1921, during Harris's first trip to Lake Superior's north shore, this painting shows a monolithic, leafless, branchless tree bathed in sunlight and standing stoic against the barren landscape. It's a reflection on the Canadian pioneering spirit and the temperament needed to survive against the elements in the north. The spotlight rays in the painting are signifiers of strong winds and the region's changing weather, while the bold rocks represent the region's rugged landscape. Harris and other artists weathered this terrain and the changing elements to capture these remote scenes. The group rented boxcar #10557 from the Algoma Central Railway and transformed it into a cabin. At several stops, they would travel by foot or canoe to capture the perfect scene.
Fans of the group can see these scenes for themselves on board the Agawa Canyon Tour Train, which departs from Sault Ste. Marie and takes passengers on a round-trip journey through these magical vistas. A replica of the famous boxcar now sits in downtown Sault Ste. Marie.
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"The Solemn Land" (J.E.H. MacDonald)
Using his mastery of colour, MacDonald honoured the beauty of Algoma's Montreal River with a depiction of its massive rock faces, stoic trees and languid waters. "The Solemn Land" was completed in 1921 late in MacDonald's career and now hangs in the National Art Gallery in Ottawa. It's among the most epic and iconic of the Group of Seven's works.
"Algoma" (Arthur Lismer)
Lismer's work showcases the brilliant colours of fall in northern Ontario. Swatches of blues, yellows, greens and reds light up his canvas as he paints the variety of trees in Algoma. Indicative of Canadians' love of the outdoors and the desire to protect areas of pristine nature, "Algoma" captures our never-ending romance with our land.
A post shared by Tourism Sault Ste. Marie (@tourismsaultstemarie) on Apr 5, 2016 at 6:18am PDT
Like the lakes, trees and parks they painted, the Group of Seven is destined to always stand tall in the ranks of Canadian cultural icons. But one fact that can't be forgotten is that much of the group's work was inspired by the landscape of Sault Ste. Marie and Algoma. A recent TV film, "Painted Land: In Search of the Group of Seven," makes this point clear. To that end, MacDonald once wrote to his wife, Joan, that the region had "all the attributes of an imagined Paradise." The natural beauty of the landscapes in and around Sault Ste. Marie had a lasting impact on the artist's work, helping the group define what it means to be Canadian.
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"Waterfall, Agawa Canyon" (Lawren Harris)
With water cascading from a grey-green cliff and into the pool of a deep, dark lake, Harris evokes the raw beauty of the Agawa terrain. He also taps into the spirituality of the area. A viewer might also think of those white ribbons of water on the rock as rising up from the murky pool, ascending heavenward. Marked with Harris's distinct style, "Waterfall, Agawa Canyon" is another iconic painting that will no doubt draw your interest to Northern Ontario and its wonders.
In our multicultural world, it's more important than ever for children to understand diversity from a young age.
And a great way to introduce them to the concept is by providing them with toys that represent the world around them. That's why a kickass group of Pittsburgh-based moms decided to create Hello Hijab, an online retailer that sells doll-sized hijabs.
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"We realized our Muslim friends were not represented in dolls," founders Kristen Michaels and Gisele Fetterman told Today on Sunday. "We want our daughters to have diverse doll collections and realized Muslim dolls were not a part of the current options."
We are so moved by all the support Hello Hijab has received as well as all the photos coming in #forgoodpgh #spreadlove A post shared by For Good PGH (@forgoodpgh) on Mar 21, 2017 at 10:31am PDT
The headscarves, which can be purchased for US$6 each, are benefiting some great causes as well.
In late March, Allure reported that 100 per cent of the proceeds will be donated to a variety of charities, including the Islamic Centre of Pittsburgh, Community Blueprint, Jewish Family & Childrens Services of Pittsburgh, as well as the ACLU of Pittsburgh, all of which serve multicultural communities throughout the U.S.
Hello Hijab! A post shared by For Good PGH (@forgoodpgh) on Mar 16, 2017 at 5:30pm PDT
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"During these tense and very charged times, this concept might sound naive and maybe it is," Fetterman and Michaels wrote on their website. "But we believe that there has never been a better time to reach out and do something positive for someone else."
A video published by Money-ish proves that their point is completely valid.
"I felt comfortable wearing the hijab here," one girl said in the clip. "Because I'm like if the doll's wearing it ... I guess I could wear it too."
In Canada, Hamilton, Ont.-based mom Queen Cee created the Herstory doll line to cater children of colour who didn't see themselves in the mainstream toy market. Her hope is that through her work, these children will be better able to embrace their natural features.
"You may be the darkest of browns, you may be so fair that your skin might have you pass for being white. The fact is that this just shows you what the human race is," Queen told The Huffington Post Canada. "This is what shows you who people are ... That is the beauty, and its OK for us to celebrate it through dolls."
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The University Students Union of Regina offered students a masculinity confession booth where they could share their sins last week.
Meet up with URSU members and make a confession, the event's description reads. We have all reinforced hypermasculinity one way or another regardless of our gender ... Come and share your sins so we can all begin to discuss how to identify and change our ways.
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The confessional is part of week-long events at the University of Regina organized by the campus group Man Up Against Violence.
For two years, Man Up has run awareness weeks at the school to "challenge the social construction of masculinity," the student union's vice president of external affairs, Abby Rutko, told The Huffington Post Canada.
About 30 students "of all genders and socioeconomic backgrounds" came to confess, Rutko said. "A lot of people were kind of nervous to share their experiences, but once they got the conversation started they were able to open up."
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The campaign "gets the wheels turning" for students to think about masculinity and the phrase "man up" in a different way, Rutko said. "The ones that I've talked to have really taken a step back and said 'Oh, I never really have thought about that.'"
Hypermasculinity is a psychological term. A man is considered hypermasculine if hes violent, sees danger as exciting, and has callous attitudes toward sex.
"[Students] have really taken a step back and said 'Oh, I never really have thought about that.'" Abby Rutko
In academic research, hypermasculinity has consistently been one of the strongest indicators a man will rape, according to an article published by Oxford University Press in 2007. It is also associated with alcohol and drug use, crime, aggression, and dangerous driving. Men who are hypermasculine are usually impulsive, lacking empathy, and disrespectful to women in general, the article says.
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More than 550,000 Canadian women were sexually assaulted in 2014, Statistics Canada reports. And Canadian women are about 10 times more likely than men to be victim of a police-reported sexual assault, according to the Canadian Womens Foundation.
The foundation says sexual assault is the only violent crime in Canada that is not declining. Rates are about the same today as they were in 1999.
"This is just the beginning for us," Rutko said. "We have seen some progress on our campus but it's going to take a whole cultural shift in order to address the issues regarding unhealthy masculinity."
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An Alabama man is lucky to be alive after a necklace he was wearing acted as a conductor for electricity from his iPhone charger and nearly shocked him to death.
Late last month, Wiley Day plugged in his phone to charge next to him in bed before he went to sleep. The next morning, he woke up to feel heat and an electric shock so strong that it knocked him out of bed.
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"I could say it was probably the equivalent of being shot,"the Huntsville resident told AL.com.
He told the site that his vision started to fade, his heart pounded and something felt tight around his neck.
The dog-tag necklace he was wearing had caught on the prongs on his phone charger, which came loose from a connected extension cord.
He managed to rip the necklace off, he told The Washington Post. By that point, his adult niece, who told him he had been yelling "Jesus!", came running into the room.
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The current burned a hole in his shirt, he said. Skin and flesh were missing from his neck, and the necklaces pattern had been burned into his hands.
He was immediately admitted to hospital and treated for second- and third-degree burns.
One doctor told WAAY 31 that Day is a lucky guy, saying that 100 volts of electricity can kill, and Day was hit with about 110 volts.
Telling The Washington Post that the shock was "the eeriest, darkest, most demonic thing you could ever experience," Day wants to spread the word about the dangers of sleeping next to a charging phone.
He was scheduled to speak at Alabama A&M University last week about the experience.
So Bombardier executives have been shamed into giving back the massive perks they gave themselves after receiving a bailout from Canadians. The idea that executives tried to pocket $32 million in bonuses after begging for over $370 million in federal government aid is appalling. And it shouldn't require public shaming to get public accountability of public money given to large corporations.
But unlike Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who gave them the thumbs up, I would insist that federal commitments for money be tied to conditions. One of those conditions would be clawing back every dime that is spent on corporate bonuses and perks.
And this is why I have been pushing for a jobs pledge strategy for all federal investments. It's a simple idea -- if you want money from the federal government you make a commitment to invest in jobs in Canada. If Bombardier wants government help then they must be willing to put the jobs into Canada rather than shipping the jobs to Mexico or overseas. The same goes for GM, Irving or any other company that comes looking for handouts.
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My plan for public accountability of public money puts me at odds with Justin Trudeau. CEO compensation is already outrageously out of sync with the wages being paid to ordinary workers. Meanwhile the Liberals were more than willing to defend the profiteering by Bombardier executives. "We respect the free market," Trudeau told media nonchalantly.
Well, here's the thing, there's nothing "free" about the issue. This is about the obligation of the federal government to protect the interests of taxpayers and Canadian workers. In 2015, Bombardier lost $981 million. They turned to the government of Quebec and the federal government for help to the tune of $1.37 billion. And so their profit margin was, in reality, a handout from taxpayers. The decision to pocket $32 million as CEO bonuses rightfully drew the ire of people across the political spectrum.
And Bombardier's dependence on the public purse goes deeper. They rely on Canadian municipal and provincial contracts for Canadian light rail, streetcars and subways. Don't get me wrong; I support the awarding of contracts for urban transit to Bombardier because they are a Canadian company. But I don't support their decision to lay off workers and ship these jobs to Mexico and other jurisdictions.
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Recently I visited the Thunder Bay plant to watch what I was told would be the last fully built subway car. Bombardier executives had decided to ship the bulk of this municipal contract to lower-paid workers in Mexico. And Bombardier knows that this continual outsourcing of Canadian jobs won't be a political problem because they have friends at the top.
In an age when other national governments are beginning to wrestle with the growing inequities in our global economies, Justin Trudeau has emerged as the ultimate trickle-down cheerleader. He believes that if you look after those at the top of the economic food chain everyone will somehow make do.
But Canadian workers and regional economies are not doing well. These predatory policies have stripped Canada's middle class and left us with increasingly precarious regional economies. Whether it's the shutting down of saw mills on Vancouver Island so that logs can be exported raw to China for processing or GM's decision to ship 600 jobs from the CAMI plant to Mexico, we have a government that shows no interest in standing up for Canadian workers.
Talk to the employees at CIBC who helped earn their bosses $1.4 billion in profits in a single quarter are now losing jobs to India. They will tell you that it doesn't matter how hard Canadians work, how many concessions they give up or how efficient their operation, the new economic order is driven by the need for ever-increasing compensation for those at the top, while driving down wages for everybody else.
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This is why we need a federal government that is willing to stand up for Canadian workers. Let's face it, when it comes to jobs, Justin Trudeau just doesn't have your back. As national leader of the New Democratic Party I would be more than willing to utilize the levers of the federal government to boost the economy and make life fairer for Canadian workers. The days when CEOs look to the taxpayer's pocket, as a place to pick up some extra perks and cash will be over.
To the workers in sawmills, manufacturing plants and banks -- we have your back.
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We are facing an antibiotic resistance crisis. Almost every health authority has sounded the alarm and the most recognized authority, the World Health Organization, is doing all it can to slow the arrival of the post-antibiotic era. Yet, even as these calls are made, the use of these drugs both in medicine and agriculture continues to be unacceptably high. For public health officials, this represents trouble as more bacteria gain the ability to withstand several, if not all, treatments.
Several approaches to tackling these infections are needed. One route is to develop stronger antibiotics, which is ongoing. But there are other less pharmaceutical-based options. These include the use of bacterial viruses, known as bacteriophages, and molecules known to kill bacteria called antimicrobial peptides.
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A macrophage, seen here engulfing bacteria, is a white blood cell which attacks foreign organisms (pathogens) in the body. The pathogens are broken down and destroyed once they have been engulfed, and the remaining parts are ejected (far right) by the cell. (Photo: David Mack via Getty Images)
Now there may be a new possibility, thanks to a group of European researchers. They have developed a unique approach in which treatment is not based on drug administration, but rather the use of molecules found inside our own bodies. Their findings suggest the use of special types of fat molecules may provide a unique means to deal with resistance.
The team focused on a particular cellular member of our immune system. It's called a macrophage. One of its primary goals is to eat foreign particles, a process known as phagocytosis, and break them up inside the cell. When a bacterial infection begins, these cells are sent to the area to swallow as many as possible to reduce the chances of disease.
Macrophages also have another important role. They act as waste collectors in the body. They look for signs of recently deceased cells, known as apoptotic bodies. As with any waste, accumulation can become toxic to the body. The macrophages eat up and digest the cellular remnants to keep us safe.
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There is an added advantage to this waste removal process. After macrophages ingest these apoptotic bodies, they become better defenders against bacteria. It's because the presence of dead cellular fragments suggest there may be a microbial invasion. Though this may not be the case for the immune system, being prepared is always best.
Research into the mechanism behind this defence enhancement has revealed the central molecules are not proteins as one might expect. Instead, it occurs due to the presence of lipids, which we generally called fats. As the macrophage breaks down apoptotic bodies, it identifies certain types of fats as important and protects them from digestion. These redeemed molecules are sent to various areas of the cell known to be responsible for killing bacteria. When they arrive, the cellular soldier becomes a better bacterial killer.
For the European researchers, this additional benefit was worth investigating further. If they were correct, the delivery of these fats to macrophages would lead to an improved defence against bacteria, including antibiotic-resistant species. But to get to this result, they needed to test their theory in the lab.
If they were correct, the delivery of these fats would lead to an improved defence against bacteria, including antibiotic-resistant species.
Using laboratory cultures of macrophages, the team introduced specially made apoptotic bodies containing the special types of lipids. As expected, the macrophages changed and became better prepared to fight. When bacteria were introduced into the system, they were attacked within hours. The results confirmed the group's hopes, at least in the laboratory model.
The next stage of the experiment was to examine the effects of the specialized fats on cells taken from people suffering from pneumonia. A total of six patient samples were used -- this was a preliminary trial after all. The samples were taken back to the lab for analysis and testing.
The first step was to identify the species causing the trouble and more importantly, if any were resistant to antibiotics. A total of seven different pathogens were collected from the samples. Several were antibiotic resistant and in one case, the species was able to resist all but one available antibiotic. For the team, this was the prefect challenge.
The samples were given the fats in the form of those apoptotic bodies. Then the team had to wait 18 hours. If they were right, the levels of bacteria would be reduced. If they were wrong, they would have to admit defeat.
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Thankfully, the results were better than expected. Compared to controls, the bacterial levels were reduced dramatically. In some cases, the addition of the fats led to a 99 per cent decrease in the bacterial population. Even more important was the fact the most affected species happened to be the one resistant to so many antibiotics. The trial was a complete success.
Although the team studied human samples, don't expect to hear of this fat-based treatment anytime soon. The use of fats to combat antibiotic resistant bacteria need to undergo many more stages of testing before they can be used in clinical trials. Yet, these experiments offer some great promise to deal with the crisis in the future.
In the meantime, we still can help slow down the pace of antibiotic resistance. First and foremost, we can reduce the need for these drugs when we feel sick. Instead of asking for them when we see the doctor, we can allow for the proper testing to be performed and only receive a prescription when necessary. We also can seek out meats from animals raised without antibiotics. Their presence in grocery stores has been growing significantly and the price difference for the most part has lessened.
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As a wave of Islamophobia continues to move across the country, there is a lot we can learn from our history as a country and our treatment of various groups of people.
Muslims have been on this part of Turtle Island prior to it being called Canada. The first Muslim on record born here, in 1854, was James Love whose mother, Agnes Love, was from Scotland. This country was built in part by the sacrifices and contributions of Muslims who have always been a part of it's landscape. The earliest Muslims who settled here came from Syria, Lebanon, former Yugoslavia, Turkey and Albania.
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While there is much for us to be proud of in our growth and 150-year journey as a nation, we cannot romanticize history and erase the truth on which we were built. An accurate reading of history would uncover that this country, apart from the ongoing injustices meted out to indigenous peoples, has continually undergone struggles where entire groups of people had been vilified and ill treated, and identity politics used to stoke fear and hatred.
Political leaders like Conservative candidate Kellie Leitch and right-wing zealots ignore those who were ORIGINALLY here before colonization and confederation -- indigenous peoples and First Nations. Our 150th "celebrations" ignore the truth that our country has been built on a legacy of indigenous genocide and colonial violence.
Settlers and colonizers did not "found" this country -- there were nations here -- what they "found" was indigenous peoples. Canadian laws were used to try and erase indigenous nations and subsequently against various groups of people who came here as settlers.
If anything, the struggle for justice requires us to learn from our history.
Our 150th "celebrations" ignore the truth that our country has been built on a legacy of indigenous genocide and colonial violence.
Our first prime minister, John A. Macdonald, who believed that Canada would be the country to restore the Aryan race to its former glory, had family ties to slavery. His policies led to the starvation of thousands of indigenous peoples to build the railways. He boasted that one of his greatest achievements was to take away the vote from the Chinese who worked here.
Slavery existed in Canada going back 200 years and allowed by the British Government from New France and Lower Canada. In fact owning a slave was a "status symbol." Laws that were derived from settlers through colonization encoded rules that subjugated indigenous and black communities and extended to other racialized communities.
Our history includes the Chinese Head Tax. Internment Camps that held Italians, Germans and Japanese. Racism that the Irish and the Ukranians faced when they migrated here because they did not mirror the dominant norm.
In 1945 a climate of fear and hatred were stoked and illustrated through a Gallup poll that asked people who they did not want to come to Canada, their first choice was Japanese and the second was Jews. In fact, Canada only accepted approximately 5,000 Jews during the Second World War -- one of the worst records ever. We turned back the Komagata Maru with 370 of primarily Sikh, Muslims and Hindus. In 1952, our Immigration Act allowed for exclusion based on ethnic origin, nationality and homosexuality.
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All this time Muslims were present in this country. In 1911 there were approximately 500 Muslims living in British Columbia -- primarily Turkish and Bulgarian Muslims. By 1921, racist attitudes, identity politics and riots against the Japanese and Chinese had impacts that caused Muslims to also leave. In 1921 there were only approximately 80 Muslims left in the province. In the 1930s the highest concentration of Muslims in Canada was in Saskatchewan. In 1938, the first mosque in Canada was opened -- the Al Rashid mosque in Edmonton, Alta.
After the Second World War, there was greater immigration by skilled and professional Muslims who spoke French settled in Quebec. Muslims from Africa, South/South East Asia and the Caribbean continued to come to Canada with hopes and dreams like their many other immigrant counterparts. By 1971 there were well over 33,000 Muslims who were contributing and weaving themselves into the Canadian fabric.
Over time, we understood the importance of working to a better way of being as Canadians. By 1982 this took the form of our Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. While it did not erase the systemic inequities and many of the ways that society disenfranchises indigenous, racialized and minoritized communities, it provided a blueprint for us to work towards -- one that was solidly anchored in human rights for all, that celebrated and valued diversity and democracy within a secular society.
Islamophobia and all forms of identity politics is a cancer. Its damage will not only affect Muslim Canadians, it will affect us all.
Today Muslims continue to embrace their Canadian identities in many diverse ways. Like Christianity, there are many ways of approaching their understandings of faith and their responsibilities as Canadian citizens.
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What we are seeing now in terms of Islamophobia against Muslims in Canada is a continuation of many other forms of discrimination faced by many others through our history. The list of ways that Muslims have helped and continue to contribute to build Canada is long, extensive and beautiful. No one has the right to demand they prove that they are Canadian, just as it should not have been done to the Irish, Ukrainians, Jews, Chinese, Italians, Japanese, black Canadians... (this list is also long).
Islamophobia and all forms of identity politics is a cancer, and like all cancers, its damage will not only affect Muslim Canadians, it will affect us all. We must amplify our voices to continue to speak up for human rights and not hearken back to a mythical time that really did not exist. Instead, we must stay focused on what we learned from the injustices throughout our history. There is a better way forward and it can only come when there is justice and human rights for the original peoples and all other peoples on Turtle Island, in the part we call Canada today.
That is the Canada we want and continue to work towards.
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I am inspired every day by the positive change that is being led by students -- even some who are still in grade school. It reminds me that anyone at any age has the power to spark change. Just look at Nobel Peace Prize Winner Malala Yousafzai, or the Kielburger brothers, as amazing examples.
Today's young people are giving their time to the social causes they care most about -- be it the environment, education or access to clean drinking water -- and whatever the cause, they are vocal about it. For them, especially, social media has served as a great platform to make this happen.
At any age, giving back to your community is rewarding, but for students looking to make their mark on the world, getting engaged in a cause that matters can be a defining point in your life. Here are just a few reasons why.
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You can make a difference: Whether you're volunteering, raising money or helping to spread the word about an important cause, giving back to your community will make you realize how much impact one person can make. It's a good reminder that when you put your mind to something, you can achieve great things.
You'll gain great experience: Often, volunteer organizations need people to help out on all aspects of the operation, providing many opportunities to get well-rounded experience that you wouldn't necessarily get elsewhere. On the flip-side, it's a great way to hone your own unique skills and share your experiences with others.
You'll build confidence: Sometimes, being dedicated to a cause means you have to put yourself out there. Maybe you're raising funds and need to reach out to your contacts, or you're trying new channels to get a message out. Taking small, controlled risks to try new things gives you the chance to build your confidence, and gain a sense of achievement, while exploring what works and what doesn't. These skills become great building blocks as you enter the workforce.
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It looks great on a resume: There's no doubt -- if you want to set yourself apart from other job applicants, having robust volunteer experience is appealing to a prospective employer. In addition to showing your dedication and work ethic, it also demonstrates your core values, who you are as a person and a passion for causes you believe in.
It expands your network: Working alongside seasoned professionals or just others with a similar passion will be key in making lasting and valuable connections. These individuals can provide strong references for you in the future, become your mentors or even life long friends.
During my time at RBC, I've had the opportunity to see first hand how students can make a difference in their communities. Through the #Make150Count intiative, thousands of students from coast to coast are working to do something good -- from starting a clothing drive for new Canadians and dropping off toys to a children's hospital, to delivering hot cups of tea while chatting with those living in poverty. What I've learned most is how the simplest ideas, and the smallest gestures, can really go a long way in brightening someone's day and show what it means (in my opinion) to be Canadian.
As a student, and even now in adulthood, I've always found it rewarding to get involved in something I feel passionate about and do something really impactful. It's such a great way to have a deeper connection to your community and the enrichment you get from giving back -- however you can -- is truly invaluable.
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Let us know what you would do with $150 to make the world a better place.
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After two years of major cuts to AccesLogis, the Quebec Liberals announced yesterday that its 2017-2018 budget will restore funding to social housing to its previous levels (3000 units per year). While we are happy that AccesLogis -- the only program that allows for the construction of social housing in Quebec -- was not cut further this year, our delight stops there.
Just in Cote-des-Neiges, 5 060 households (about 15% of tenants) dedicate more than 80% of their income to housing, according to the 2011 census. In a city where rent just keeps on increasing, housing is an integral part of human dignity.
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Several of us have firsthand experience paying 80% or even 90% of our income towards rent. After being on a waiting list for many years, some of us found social housing and it brought us the strict minimum everyone should have in their life: a stable home. And so we fight for social housing for everyone who needs it.
When you can't afford your rent, you don't eat or you don't eat well. You are forced to live in bad housing conditions. Your life feels broken. Social housing is a long term solution to a myriad of social problems. Plus, it makes financial sense: a 2013 study by the Societe d'habitation du Quebec called Etude d'impact des activites de la SHQ found that for every dollar the government invests in social housing, $2.30 is injected into the economy.
And yet, the government's austerity cuts have slashed AccesLogis over and over. The construction of social housing was halved, from 3 000 units in 2014-2015 to 1 500 social housing units per year for the last two years. Temporary private market rent subsidies were announced instead, subsidies that are poor replacements for social housing. In addition, the amounts allocated per unit for AccesLogis has been maintained at the same level as 2009, which makes it difficult to build social housing according to the 2017 real estate prices and construction costs. Even as they announce the same number of units, they're making cuts.
In a province where nearly 230 000 households dedicate more than 50% of their income to rent (2011 census), the 3000 units announced for this year are peanuts. Social housing is a long term solution to poverty.
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When people have access to safe, affordable and stable housing, many social problems disappear. Not only does human suffering decline when the human right to housing is respected, but the use of public services such as (healthcare, eldercare, food banks, shelters, social services) declines as well.
This Tuesday, the government had an opportunity to stand up for those who need it most. They had the money to do better and to make an important headway towards ending, once and for all, the housing crisis for people on a fixed income.
The government brags about its $2.3 billion surplus, which was accumulated with measures that hurt poor people the most -- measures such as the health tax, the Hydro Quebec increases, and cuts to health and social services. In fact, many of the problems this budget tries to address, from poverty and exclusion to hospital wait times, were aggravated by policies of austerity of previous years. Tax cuts are no compensation for the suffering austerity has caused poor people in our province.
In the coming years, we hope the liberal government continues further down this path, and re-invests massively in our social security net, because health problems, joblessness and poverty can happen to anyone. Politicians should stop pretending they know what it is like to be poor while in the same breath announcing cuts to services that barely allow us to survive. We want a province where all can live comfortably and in peace, with leaders who truly take to heart the situations of poor people.
Written by Myrtle Anderson, Mohamed Benkiran, Odette Bougie, Kurt John, Sriyani Marceline, Sheetal Pathak, Nalawattage T. Pinto, and Eleanor Smith, who are all members of the Housing Rights Committee of Project Genesis.
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Despite the millions in proposed new spending for getting Canadians unhooked off tobacco, fewer Canadians are lighting up.
Just 17.7 percent of Canadians smoked daily or occasionally in 2015, according to the Canadian Community Health Survey released last week. That's down from 18.1 per cent the previous year.
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Those results were revealed at the same time the Trudeau government is looking to raise the excise duty rate on cigarettes to $21.56 per carton -- up from $21.03, according to the last budget proposal, and wants to drastically increase regulation on tobacco across the board.
Looking at the numbers, it seems that even without a heavy handed government, fewer Canadians are using tobacco every year.
What changed? For one, e-cigarettes and the heat-not-burn technology of vaping is giving smokers a healthier alternative. And that's an initiative of the marketplace, not government.
If anything, the government of Canada has been hostile to vaping and e-cigarettes.
"If Health Canada wants to avoid such a rush to smuggling and crime, it'd be wise to avoid the plain packaging policy they seem so intent on passing."
A focus on vaping has crept its way into the consultation on tobacco use undertaken by Health Canada earlier this year, and will be regulated this year according to Health Minister Jane Philpott. Even though she's admitted it's healthier.
"We know that there is some evidence to suggest that the use of vaping products can be used as a harm-reduction tool for people who are current smokers," she told reporters in Nov. 2016.
A key focus of Philpott's Health Ministry is the plain packaging of tobacco, turning branded cigarette packs into a dull green colour with no logo. Prime Minister Trudeau included this request in his mandate letter to Health Canada last year.
If Canada wants to learn lessons on the effects of such a policy, it need not look further than fellow Commonwealth member Australia.
After implementing plain packaging in 2015, Australia has seen a huge increase in tobacco smuggling and illicit trade. More than that, "black market tobacco leaf and cigarettes are now as profitable as narcotics," according to the Daily Telegraph.
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It's estimated now that over 14.3 per cent of the tobacco consumed in Australia is bought on the black market, enough to ding the government of nearly $1.4 billion in revenue.
Considering how lucrative it's become, the Australian Border Force just last year labeled the illegal tobacco trade a "national security risk" which could help fund terrorism.
Early this March, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission called trafficking of illicit packs the ultimate "low risk, high reward" booty for smugglers of choice, and likely criminal gangs as well.
And now that the price of a single pack is upwards of $40 a packet, the most expensive in the world, things may yet get worse for Australia.
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If Health Canada wants to avoid such a rush to smuggling and crime, it'd be wise to avoid the plain packaging policy they seem so intent on passing. There are other ways to achieve the goal of fewer smokers in society.
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In the UK, MP Alison Thewliss is calling for tighter regulations around formula milks for babies and children. She is asking the government to make changes to current legislation by establishing a regulatory body responsible for independently monitoring the content and safety of formula milk, whilst also ensuring that any advertising is accurate and within the law.
But why do we need such changes? Don't these regulations already exist? Isn't this just added bureaucracy? Is this about preventing families from accessing formula milk?
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No... no... and most definitely not. In fact it is the very opposite.
What this bill is seeking to do is to introduce a source of fair and accurate information about formula milks, outside of those who are trying to sell a product. It aims to reduce its cost, by preventing false claims and reducing advertising charges. Overall it plans to hold manufacturers accountable for their claims.
In the UK there is no statutory body who monitor the formula milk industry. This means that there is no requirement for the product to be independently tested for safety, content or efficacy. Manufacturers do research their product but generally for their benefit, with no requirement for them to publish negative results. And this is research that needs to be done. For example, no independent body has tested the shelf life of formula ingredients.
Consumers - families - deserve to have this information. Babies get their sole source of nutrition from milk. They deserve the best possible products and parents deserve the best possible information about what is in them. The bill seeks to improve this by setting standards for their efficacy and safety. If a claim is independently proven, brilliant. If not, the bill will prevent false claims (and associated price increases) being made.
The bill is NOT about restricting formula sales, but instead providing parents who use formula with better information about its content. If parents wish to buy a car they can refer to independent comparisons of products on the market but the same information does not exist for feeding their babies. Charities such as First Steps Nutrition have sourced this information and provide an excellent website for parents and professionals. However the health of infants should not be left to a voluntary organization.
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The lack of regulation means that formula companies can justify price hikes by making inaccurate claims. Cost is already a considerable issue for families. A tin of infant formula can range from around 8 - 14 and will last around 5 days. It is logical to think that for the same weight, a 14 tin of formula is superior in content to an 8 tin of formula. However, in truth there is very little difference in content of the lowest and highest priced formulas. All formulas have to include certain ingredients under European regulations. Yet despite the powder used in Aptamil and Cow and Gate being the same, Aptamil costs around 2 more.
Others add unnecessary ingredients with no proven benefit, that are marketed as providing an important, unique element. Take prebiotics for example. There is no evidence to show these have a benefit to babies and the European Food Standards Agency considers them an 'unnecessary ingredient' yet they are still included, and the price raised - over and above what the inclusion costs.
Similarly, claims that 'comfort milk' reduces colic and constipation are recognised by the NHS as simply untrue, yet manufacturers continue to claim this and hence these products cost more. Manufactures are playing on natural parental desire to have the best for their baby, and at the moment they are getting away with it.
The lack of a statutory body means that it is currently easy for industry to get away with this as there is no agency to challenge them. Organisations such as Baby Milk Action do a fantastic job in challenging inaccurate or unlawful claims, but again, there should be a statutory body who has this role. Families deserve proper, unbiased, independent information about the content and claims of these milks.
Ultimately the bill will ensure that parents can access the information they need, that companies will not be allowed to make misleading claims and importantly that pricing of formula milks will be fair. It will enable parents more control, choice and power in making decisions for their baby.
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Most people would die if anyone knew they were Googling themselves. It's surely up there with trolling celebrities and masturbating in work office toilets as the most shameful thing we do when alone. Me? I Googled myself and found out I was already dead. Had been for 86 years, in fact.
The top hit on Google for my name was Edward Dyson's Wikipedia page, along with a mortifying picture of me taken years ago on the Isle of Wight, shortly before I was banned from the festival for my, ahem, behaviour. (Don't ask...)
Initially I thought this was great news. Finally, someone out there has recognised that I need my own Wiki page, and I can, after all these bleak years of online anonymity, tick that off the ol' bucket list. However, before I began popping open the discounted Prosecco, I realised that wasn't actually what happened.
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Upon closer inspection, I saw the page stated that Edward George Dyson (not my middle name - first clue) was an Australian journalist, poet, playwright and short story writer.
Now, I am called Edward Dyson, as I mentioned, and I am a journalist, (although having spent several years as a showbiz reporter, I do use the term loosely...) and I have also been known to write poetry and short stories over the years - even winning an award once for the latter; hence why I've been privately confused about not having had a Wikipedia page created in my honour already.
However, I am categorically not an Australian. I have a brother who lives in Perth and love bingeing on Summer Heights High, but that's as far as it goes. I am British. Additionally, I've never written a play in my life, as of yet, although I'm not going to lie, I have toyed with the idea of a Schindler's List musical - but so far finding investors has been problematic, to say the least.
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This information, matched with the incorrect middle name, (it's Michael, in case anyone's dying to know) began to make me suspicious that this wasn't in fact my Wikipedia page at all. There was another, more successful, 'dead-er' Edward Dyson, to whom this page belonged, and my picture had been mistakenly uploaded next to it, with the kind of explosive online sloppiness surely not seen since 2012, when a pictorial mix-up had rock paedophile Ian Watkins confused with H from Steps (also, unfortunately, called Ian Watkins).
Has the internet learnt nothing from that scandal? Do people no longer check before they post a picture next to someone and recklessly claim it's them?
Surely, whoever uploaded the picture of me next to the Wikipedia page of late Aussie poet Edward would have noticed a few tell-tale signs that something was amiss? Firstly, the picture of me is not an oil painting or, crucially, in black and white. Secondly, I'm wearing a dinosaur T-shirt from Topman, because, you know, I'm cool. Still, although I'm sure Sir Philip Green was very prominent in the 30s, probably celebrating his 21st or something, I doubt very much that he had his menswear empire up and running during that time.
Obviously, I decided the best course of action was to contact Wikipedia immediately, and find out how on earth such a mistake occurred on their watch.
So far, I've yet to hear a response.
Until I do, I guess I'll just have to live with the fact that currently whoever Googles me (and although I can't say for sure, I estimate this could be in the tens, possibly even hundreds of thousands of curious web-users, in all honesty) are going to be left perplexed, and yes, perhaps, even distraught when they see that I am not who I led them to believe I was.
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They will learn that I have actually been dead for more than eight decades, (although not looking too bad on it, if I do say so myself) and additionally left a secret legacy of poems and plays - most likely all about the Aussie outback. I was also, unbeknownst to me, the elder brother of two talented illustrators, Will and Ambrose. Maybe they helped illustrate my poetry books? Maybe I died laughing at the fact our Australian parents decided to call my younger brother Ambrose? Who knows.
Until I find out more I'm going to go about my business as best I can, looking over my shoulder, and treading carefully wherever I go.
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Immigration has been a talking point again this week, as the Prime Minister triggered Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty and Brexit has begun in earnest.
Two queues of commentators will form over the coming months. The first will take turns to argue that immigration is too high and is placing too much pressure on public services. They will, no doubt, celebrate the Prime Minister's decision to end free movement, arguing that leaving free market access is a price worth paying to regain control of our borders.
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The second queue will largely represent business and argue the benefits of migration to the UK's economy, culture and our society. Some will lament the end of free movement, arguing against restrictions on EU workers. Others will present killer facts and try to myth bust negative perceptions of migration.
It is not that I disagree with the sentiment, I think they are absolutely right. We would be a poorer country and a poorer society without immigration. I just don't believe they are the right arguments to make because we've been here before. For instance, when business voices have publicly criticised the quality or work ethic of British school-leavers, in contrast to hard-working migrant workers, they have risked exacerbating public concern that neither employers nor government are taking sufficient responsibility to address the skills issue.
Macro-economic arguments can also be counterproductive. I've written before about a comment a friend made straight after the referendum, "immigration might be good for your GDP, but it doesn't help mine".
Frankly, as I set out in our new report with British Future, 'Immigration after Brexit', business needs to focus on the core issue - finding the right workers. Immigration only matters when employers can't find the people locally with the right skills or who are willing to do the job.
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So what can businesses do to plug the gap? I've spoken to lots of people about access to labour after Brexit and I am hearing lots of encouraging stories. Many businesses are beginning by changing their recruitment policies and doing more to recruit harder to reach workers - school leavers, older job seekers, those with disabilities and ex-offenders. They are also looking at how their terms and conditions can be adapted to attract those who need more flexible work patterns. Not a solution for all businesses or all roles of course but it's a good start.
Other conversations have centred around plans to upskill residents. This is nothing new - businesses that don't invest in their employees will not succeed - but Brexit has brought those plans in to sharper focus. However for many skilled roles, this needs time and can't be achieved in the two years before we Brexit.
Automation tends to be another theme; the end of free movement probably won't mean the rise of the robots but employers are thinking hard about how they can reduce their need for lower skilled workers, consequentially increasing productivity. That said, automation isn't necessarily a consequence of free movement ending, it is just the way of the world.
The balance for business is to be upfront and celebrate these sorts of initiatives. If they work perfectly and no vacancies go unfilled, then business is sorted. If not, as seems likely during a period of near full employment, you have earned the right to talk about immigration. Moreover, you can do it from a position of strength.
But even then, the arguments have to be balanced. Immigration only works if it is controlled. As a starting point that means:
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A system that can be properly policed to prevent abuse and exploitation;
Sanctions for those who abuse the rules;
Labour market testing to prevent displacement; and
Prevailing wage controls to prevent undercutting.
This is not just about winning over the public or politicians. If the system is neither controlled nor enforced there will be people who exploit it to their advantage. That won't help the businesses who are playing by the rules.
That does not mean the business voice should be entirely silent. The immigration debate isn't just about filling vacancies, it is about preventing vacancies in the first place. European people already living in the UK need and deserve a promise that they will be able to stay here after Brexit. This isn't about immigration, it is about doing the right thing for people who have thrown their lot in with the country.
There is also a clear economic need to make this promise. Businesses need certainty that their workers will be with them from one day to the next. They also need a settled workforce - people who are not worrying whether they and their families will need to leave their home.
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Today sees the introduction of the latest in a long line of welfare cuts that affect some of the most vulnerable.
Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) is the main benefit for people who are out of work and suffering from a health or mental health condition. From today, new claimants of ESA who are placed in the Work Related Activity Group will receive 73.10 a week, the same amount as a claimant of Jobseekers Allowance, and a cut of nearly 30.
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The government argues this is necessary to 'remove the financial incentives that could otherwise discourage claimants from taking steps back to work'. According to this logic, the more you cut benefits, and the more you push people into poverty, the greater the incentive for them to work. The government claim this cut will save 450 million a year by 2020. Not an insignificant sum, but it comes at the expense of some of the most vulnerable.
It's also at odds with Theresa May's focus in a speech in January on addressing the 'burning injustice' of mental illness. Half of all ESA claims are now due to mental health conditions, up from three-in-ten a decade and a half ago. As a result of these changes to ESA, by 2020 well over 100,000 people with mental health conditions will be worse off, and deeper in poverty, than they would otherwise have been. In her speech the Prime Minister talked about a 'historic opportunity to right a wrong, and give people deserving of compassion and support the attention and treatment they deserve'. Yet cutting ESA for new claimants will cause significant hardship for people facing mental health challenges. They will no doubt see this as a burning injustice.
There is also a serious question about whether the change will achieve what it sets out to - encouraging people back into work. Take someone on ESA as a result of depression and anxiety, who is recovering and considering returning to work, but worried about a relapse. If they moved into work, but ended up falling out of work three months later, they would end up nearly 30 a week worse off than they would have been had they stayed on ESA throughout. This is not just a theoretical concern, as the stats show two-in-five claimants who move onto ESA have made a previous claim. So slashing this support may actually result in reducing the number of people moving off the benefit and into work.
A recent report from IPPR showed that a series of ever harsher measures adopted by government has done little to reduce the number of people claiming ESA. We argue that the government needs a completely different approach. Instead of cutting benefits for those on ESA, the government should do much more to prevent people falling out of work in the first place.
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This means prioritising keeping people well in work, supporting those who fall ill to stay in touch with work, and helping those who do fall out of work to recover and return when they can. It means a greater role for government, and for employers too.
Employers should face greater responsibilities to engage with staff who fall sick, developing a back-to-work plan with them to help them recover. Employees should be given more time to recover, so Statutory Sick Pay should be extended from six to twelve months. Where the employer has put in place a back to work plan, the cost of this should be covered by the state, but where there is no adequate plan in place, the costs would be borne by the employer.
IPPR is also calling for Statutory Sick Pay to the replaced with "Fit Pay". This would be a more flexible form of sick pay that would help people who develop a condition to stay in touch with work, by allowing those who fall ill to temporarily reduce their hours or supporting those who have fallen out of work to return on a part-time basis.
In return for these small additional responsibilities and costs, employers should be given more support by government too. So an expanded version of the Fit For Work service to help support businesses to keep employees healthy at work.
For too long, the government's approach to the welfare bill has been focused simply on cutting entitlements, rather than addressing the underlying causes. If the government want to reduce the number of people on ESA and deliver on their commitments on mental health, they should scrap these cuts and instead focus on prevention, on supporting people and on turning off the tap.
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For regular readers of my blog, you'll know about my love affair with Tenerife. On my recent trip I obviously experienced the old favourites. The warm sun, the sea views, the vibrant surroundings. However I also experienced something completely new. You're going to be as surprised and delighted as I was!
Vintersol rehabilitation clinic is situated about as close as you can get to the accessible beach - playa las vistas. I'd zoomed past it on many walks before, and wondered what was happening inside. After all, a clinic on the beach front had some mystery around it.
After a good flight and accessible transfer from Tenerife airport, Kasia and I checked in to the hotel. Our first impressions were really positive. It was bright and open. Everywhere was wheelchair accessible. The staff were very welcoming.
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Our room had a ceiling hoist that lifted me up and down, moved left to right, and down the length of the room. In essence the hoist could reach every part of the room. The beds were electric. In the bathroom there was a spacious wetroom shower. I'd brought my toilet/shower chair, but Vintersol provide them also. Even the sink and toilet could be lowered and raised by hand controlled buttons.
It was very well adapted!
Our terrace sea view was spectacular. The area around the hotel swimming pool was relaxing. Although it got livelier during aquafit :-). The two pools had hoists and accessible changing rooms nearby. The restaurant served breakfast, lunch and dinner. Everything was covered.
Return of the Rehabilitation
I hadn't done physiotherapy for many years. Occasionally my Personal Care Assistants help me do basic stretches on my joints and muscles. Considering I'm sat down all day, this is not enough. Unfortunately our British government doesn't fund adults for physio and 40 an hour for private support is too expensive for me.
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At Vintersol they have offered, predominantly Swedish and Norwegian, disabled people rehabilitation for decades. Patients receive world class treatment for physio, occupational therapy and other therapies. With the backdrop of warm sun, and highly adapted facilities; it's perfect for starting or continuing your rehabilitation programs.
I was really nervous before my first daily physio session. Childhood memories of protractors measuring my joints, my muscles hurting, and physio induced tears flowing ran through my mind. The professionals were surprised I was so nervous. They calmed me down very well.
My physio was called Ione (ee-oh-ne). He had worked with people with Spinal Muscular Atrophy before. Plus he supported Barcelona FC. Top guy! Here's my physio diary with him:
- Day 1 Ione carefully moved and stretched my legs and arms. They were metaphorically yelling with happiness for this new movement. I did ache a bit that evening, but in a good way.
- Day 2 I sat on the bed with my feet on blocks. I had to use my muscles more actively this time. There were aches during and afterwards. It felt less pleasant, but I knew it was good for me.
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- Day 3 I stayed in my wheelchair and used the adapted gym machines. With Ione's help I was pushing and pulling the weighted strings. This didn't have as strong effect, but maybe I was already benefiting from the previous days. I also learnt some helpful breathing exercises.
- Day 4 I returned to the stretches of day 1. They definitely felt the best in terms of benefit. My joints and muscles felt great during and after.
Summary of my physio experience
Unfortunately I couldn't make day 5 due to a work commitment. After each session I learned new ideas from Ione to share with my Personal Care Assistants back home. Which I've already done since returning. If I had of stayed longer we would have done some sessions in the pool, which would have been great. Generally I'd have seen a greater benefit over three or more weeks. However I definitely felt improvements in those four days.
Group sessions
As part of the rehabilitation package there are group sessions too. These are spread out across the Vintersol complex. Varying from relaxation methods, to gentle movement, to more active methods. There are even art sessions too. All with the aim of getting people moving more and improving health. Plus they have fun evenings to wind down from the rehabilitation.
My final thoughts
If I'm totally honest, I wouldn't have put rehabilitation sessions together with a holiday in Tenerife. But on reflection I can see why it works. Disabled people constantly fight against societal barriers, but sometimes overlook maintaining their own bodies and health.
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To have world class treatment in the sunshine is a very clever idea. Of course, when you are not due in physio or in the swimming pool - the beach, bars, restaurants and shops are on your doorstep. So you get the best of both worlds.
If you have any questions about Tenerife and accessible travel do give me a shout.
See you soon for my next trip somewhere in the world!
Martyn
CEO and Co-Founder Disability Horizons
Founder Disability United
In the 25 years since I first got a job I have seen the expectation of employers in terms of hours worked increase significantly.
My first job, at 14, was in a tearooms in a national trust property on the weekends and I would scoff cake and serve grannies tea and cake happily working 8 hours a day on my feet because I was 14. Even the full time staff didn't work over 45 hours.
I had a range of jobs pre-university in retail, clubs, bars, customer service and sales and it was always unusual for people to work over 45 hours.
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After university my first job was in recruitment and I remember how ridiculous it was that you had to stay in the office until 8pm Monday to Thursday. We were putting in 11-12 hour days and I know that from 5.30pm most days the majority of us had left the building - fag breaks, chocolate breaks, tea breaks and emailing friends became the top priorities.
We were putting in "Facetime" and it made me feel resentful, I couldn't understand why if you hadn't got any work (or any motivation) you couldn't leave earlier and either come back to things later that night or the next day...
12 years ago I became a teacher and was in a career, which has very little flexibility. So much so that as an Assistant Head Teacher (and previous Deputy Head) I was working such long hours I didn't even get to see my one year old on her first birthday.
I was living to work and I was exhausted. I speak to my friends in different industries and it is a similar story. The expectation from so many employers is that you work long hours, are based in an office and that you respond to emails at the drop of a hat. It is ridiculous. No wonder workplace stress and mental health issues due to work are on the increase.
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Physically we aren't developed to spend our time sitting in one position staring at a screen, eating our food hunched over our desks and having a mobile clutched in our hand to reply to emails.
As a nation (and especially in London) there still seems to be a badge of honour about working long hours.
The reason that flexible working is so popular with mums (and dads) is because you have to confront what you are doing when you need to be at nursery at 6pm (or get fined every minute you are late). You can no longer pretend that your working habits are okay or workable.
So many studies point to the fact that you are more productive when you are able to spend time by yourself and do things like exercise, read and learn. In a lot of today's jobs it is hard to find the time to do this especially when you add on a commute and kids.
I am passionate about flexible working as I know that a happy workforce is a productive workforce. Allowing your team time off during the day to exercise or study or do whatever they please will make them more productive. Allowing them to work from home doesn't mean they will skive off but get more done (no commute, no office gossip).
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Many of us have created our own businesses to give us the flexibility that we crave but being an entrepreneur isn't for everyone. Businesses and public sector organisations need to realise that what makes them great is the people. When you treat people with respect they get more done for you, it is that simple.
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Menstruation is an inconvenient truth for women. I can't say I'm looking forward to telling my daughters about the monthly fun that lies ahead for them in years to come. Every time I read one of those joy-sapping money saving articles, advising us on how to save a few quid a month by clutching a lukewarm flask of coffee on the commute to work instead of indulging in the occasional, small pleasure of a takeaway cappuccino, I wish they would tell me something a bit more interesting. Like how much I'm doomed to spend on the necessary evil that is sanitary protection during my lifetime (an average of 18,450 in case you're interested)
Sanitary protection is an essential and it's shocking to think of any woman having to suffer the indignity of going without. Last month, Freedom4Girls, a charity which provides sanitary wear for impoverished women in Kenya, reported that they are also offering help to schoolgirls in Leeds after teachers noticed they were playing truant each month and the charity's founder has said that the problem is "linked to poverty". There have been calls for sanitary pads to be offered to girls from low-income families who qualify for free school meals and some universities in the UK already offer free sanitary protection for female students. Labour MSP Monica Lennon is launching a Member's Bill in the Scottish Parliament to legislate against "period poverty." Campaigners say there is a problem with the stigma and shame attached to menstruation, with girls resorting to using tissues and socks, rather than asking for help.
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I refuse to use the term 'pro-life' when referring to those who campaign against abortion rights. I am pro-choice and pro-women's rights, not anti-life or pro-killing. And language matters. Anti-abortion campaigners have form for using emotive and scaremongering rhetoric and visuals to further their cause. In the final days of US presidential campaigning, Donald Trump claimed that Hillary Clinton would allow abortions so late doctors could "rip the baby out of the womb of the mother just prior to the birth of the baby." In Britain, most abortions take place before 12 weeks with the aid of pills but if a woman orders those pills online and takes them without the consent of two doctors, she can face life imprisonment. So can a doctor who gives them to her to take at home instead of in the clinic. Last month, Diana Johnson, MP for Hull North, was met with a similar reaction from anti-abortion campaigners when she introduced a ten-minute rule bill to discuss reform of this obscure Victorian law, passed when women did not even have the vote. Johnson succeeded and MPs now have the right to introduce a bill to parliament which would decriminalise abortion by repealing the law.
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But there's still a long way to go. The now infamous photograph of President Trump, signing an anti-abortion executive order, surrounded exclusively by men, as he signed away the reproductive rights of women in developing countries by reinstating the global gag rule, should remind us of the immense power and influence wielded by anti-abortion campaigners. In the Republic of Ireland, women are still fighting for constitutional change. A clause known as the Eighth Amendment, grants a foetus the same citizenship and rights as a pregnant woman and abortion is a criminal offence where women face up to 14 years in prison. This is the case for all pregnancies, including those conceived as a result of rape or incest, or where the foetus cannot survive outside the womb. It's estimated that 12 women a day face the indignity of travelling to Great Britain to access a safe and legal termination.
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.
How To Be Your Own Music Publicist: Part 1 [Cyber PR]
Even in the age of music D.I.Y., publicity is one of the first tasks that many artists outsource. That may not be your best strategy, says Ariel Hyatt and her experienced team at Cyber PR. And even if they do get help, there's a lot that every artist needs to do to set themselves up for PR success.
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By Ariel Hyatt and the team at Cyber PR
The world of music publicity is loud and overwhelming (just like the people in it!) Contrary to prior belief, music PR especially independent music PR is not just about Pitchfork, Stereogum and Rolling Stone. Indie music PR revolves around an entire complex ecosystem of blogs (big and small), podcasters, publicists, fans, concertgoers, promoters, bookers, talent agents, managers, sync licensing people and more that contribute to growing artists careers.
With so many possible cooks in the kitchen, its nearly impossible to know who to listen to. The Cyber PR team has years of experience helping independent musicians become their own publicists. While Ariel previously wrote an article about this subject, there have been so many crucial developments to the PR space in recent years (the most significant being the addition of social media), so we figured it was time for a 2017 revamp!
Click to download the Ultimate Guide to Music Publicity
The State of Music Publicity Now
Music publicity has changed radically over the years and will continue to change in the future. 90% of the music journalists that we used to know dont write anymore their publications went away years ago. So, we ventured into the digital world and cultivated relationships with thousands of music blogs online (and thousands more that crop up every year).
Its not only about the media, though. Theres no question that music blogs, podcasts, and websites are important, but the internet has brought another huge change to music publicity: the ability to personally connect with fans through social media. Facebook, Twitter, email newsletters, Instagram however you want to reach your fans, social media makes it easy (and often free) to do so.
Why does this matter? Because music publicity and social media are now intertwined. In order to get good publicity for your music, you have to have a good social media strategy. It can be challenging to get press if the writers dont see that you already have fans. Music bloggers and journalists are trying to get people to come to their sites theyre not going to write about you (or even listen to your music, really) if theres no proof that at least some people already believe in what youre doing. Therefore, in order to run an effective PR/publicity campaign for your music, you first have to make sure that your social media strategy is solid. We could wax poetic on ways to make your socials great (check out posts on FB and Instagram), but for now, lets focus on the nitty-gritty of how to become your own music publicist.
Music publicity, like building a fan base, takes time, dedication and effort. When you are in the throes of a PR campaign the effort sometimes feels Herculean compared to the result (if you gauge the result solely on how many placements you receive). However, with a bit of foresight, organization and grit, you can get good results.
Lets get started!
The First 5 Steps: Preparing Your Digital Press Kit
Writers are very busy people who are constantly working towards a deadline. They get hundreds of emails a day from publicists and artists. Therefore, you should never make a writer work to get any information they may need. A digital press kit will help organize your information so they can immediately access your music and quickly get a sense of who you are. Heres what your press kit should include:
Your Music Genres and Comparisons Your Signature Story Photos and Album Artwork Your Socials
Our team at Cyber PR has helped to create hundreds of effective press kits, so well give you some tips on how to make the best impression possible.
1. Your Music
As a general rule, most writers prefer to get music via SoundCloud links. Unless their submission policy specifically states to send an MP3, DO NOT send files to writers. It clogs up their computers, and quite often your email will just be deleted or be sent right to the spam folder. We have a great 3-part SoundCloud guide if you need to walk yourself through best practices.
Make sure you have your full album or EP (along with the artwork) on SoundCloud as one playlist. If the album is not yet available you can set it to private, but make sure you test the link first! The last thing you want is for a writer to click on the link you provided only to find that they cant access your music. If you are leading with just a single, make sure the single is uploaded separately. If you have separate artwork for the single you should definitely include that.
If youre trying to get an exclusive premiere, send a private share link like the one above.
TIP: On your SoundCloud profile, add a 100 200 word bio (a few captivating sentences), and include all the links to your website & socials, as well as where to find your music on iTunes, Amazon, Bandcamp, Spotify, etc. Music blogs rarely include links to buy, because most new listeners just want to stream, but its always a good idea to have those links available just in case.
2. Genres and Comparisons
I know that describing your own music can be a really challenging thing. But bloggers and music journalists are getting pitches constantly, and they dont have the time or the inclination to read two paragraphs about how your music is genre-defying or something equally vague. You need to find a way to quickly describe your music, an elevator pitch that will get the right people interested right away. How does one do this?
Choose 2-3 genres that fit your music. Then choose 2-3 soundalike artists. This paints an instant picture of your music. But be careful David Bowie might be your hero, but that doesnt mean your music sounds like his. Get accurate feedback from people you trust, and be as truthful as possible. If you pitch yourself inaccurately, youll miss the opportunity to catch the attention of bloggers who might like your music, while simultaneously annoying bloggers who click on your SoundCloud link, expecting something completely different.
3. Your Signature Story
Your Signature Story is the second cornerstone of your brand and your artistry (the first, clearly, is your music). This story shouldnt be bland and boring! It should be personal or painful or revealing in some way, and, of course, interesting to read. The idea here is not to eclipse who you are as an artist or songwriter, but to create a hook an angle that makes you relatable, and reels in a potential fan. A really strong signature story is not easy to create on your own. I strongly advise hiring a bio writer to help you.
Include what your music sounds like towards the beginning of your bio. This way, if a writer is pressed for time, she can simply take a sentence or two from your bio and place it directly in the write-up. This is the perfect place for your 2-3 genres and 2-3 comparisons.
TIP: Avoid vague cliches such as melodic, brilliant harmonies, masterful guitar playing, tight rhythm section, etc. These are terms that can be used to describe any music. Really think about what makes your music special!
4. Photos & Album Artwork
A great photo is crucial. You need at least one photo that is clear, well-lit, and attention-grabbing. You want it to show off your personality and the vibe of your band. Try to avoid the typical band sitting on a couch or band standing up against a wall cliches music writers see about 500 of those a day. Be sure to go to the sites that youre aiming for and see what the cover art they are posting looks like. While your music and art should obviously be your vision, its important to fit in with the other artists on the site as branding is half the battle.
eye-catching cover art from MJ Ultra
Make sure your photos are easy to locate and download (in hi-res). Ensure that the file is properly named so that if the writer downloads it, it will show up easily in a cluttered file or on a desktop.
TIP: Put several color images, both vertical and horizontal, as well as your album artwork on your photos page, so editors can choose the ones they like best and which work best for their specific formats & layout.
5. Your Socials
Be sure to include links to your socials! Not only does this give the media a better sense of your music and who you are, it also shows that other people give a damn. The bandwagon effect is a powerful tool in the music industry, and if a blogger sees that people are already excited about you (even if its just your friends!), then its a lot easier for them to get excited about you too. Just make sure that youre actually updating the socials you link to, and if youve gotten any sort of press in the past, make sure to post it. Showing your gratitude and support of the sites/journalists that feature your music makes it much more likely that others will want to feature you too.
Prepare Your Kit
Now that you have the elements needed for your digital press kit, you have a few options. Presskit.io is a fantastic place to get started.
If neither of these are appealing to you, you can also just create an area on your website that houses all of this information. Make sure you update it regularly, though! Theres nothing more unprofessional than sending a press kit with really old, outdated content.
Check out our article on making an affordable website HERE.
Thats all for now! In Part 2, well show you how to start contacting and establishing relationships with music bloggers!
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Vevo Shows YouTube Advertisers How Its Done
As YouTube's advertising debacle continues, it's premium division, Vevo, offers a shining example of content vetting and effective audience targeting done right, something which the rest of the video sharing platform could learn from.
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Guest post by Chris Castle of Music Technology Policy
If youve been following the YouTube advertising debacle, you may have seen reports that YouTube is planning on offering discounts (aka refunds) to the advertising accounts it burned by showing ads on terror, hate and other videos in violation of Googles promises (aka contracts) with those advertisers. What kind of videos would those advertising discounts be on, you may ask?
Premium content. Also known as the official music videos.
So why is YouTube having this problem? Because they forgot the basic rule of advertisingcontext is everything. You may be able to target a user based on the goals of your advertising client, but if the video against which your ad is published is simply awful, the context damages the brand. You know, like brand sponsored piracy that was under such discussion with SOPA, aka the apotheosis of bullshit.
Thats why YouTube promised not to serve ads in those places in the first place.
Whats intriguing about the advertisers problems with context on YouTube is that there is one place on YouTube where accounts can get only premium videos. Thats called Vevo (a joint venture of Sony, Universal, Warner, Abu Dhabi Mediaand, oh, yes, Google).
Vevos Kevin McGurn (head of sales) posted a reminder about this to advertising accounts. In a nutshell:
With over 350,000 pieces of content, Vevo makes up less than 0.5% of all videos on YouTube, yet according to data from comScore, 43% of YouTubes monthly audience is watching Vevo content. With Vevo content, a brand can more effectively target where, when, and what it associates with in reaching an audience on YouTube. Vevos content is not UGC, its premium, licensed, and professionally produced, with an enormous and unique global reach. In fact, when we looked at an average video buy on Vevo and YouTube, we saw less than 10% duplication across the audiences reached. The content is vetted through multiple layers of quality control to ensure the safest environment possible for advertisers including: Automatic categorization if the word explicit is in the title or content tags.
Manual categorization if the content includes any of the following:
Vulgar language Violence and disturbing imagery Nudity and sexually suggestive content Portrayal of harmful or dangerous activities
What this categorization process does is give brands greater transparency into where and how their campaigns run, and the ability to customize how they target. With Vevo, a clients advertising only runs on premium content, and can be targeted specifically to over 55,000 artists in our catalog. Our customers also have the option to exclude explicit content. Overall, we believe our clients are better served in the safer environment that Vevo offers on YouTube and other platforms. This approach allows them to maximize reach and minimize risk as they tap into the enormous audience consuming music videos online.
Or as Charlie Daniels might say, thats how you do it, son.
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Identity of Body Found Saturday in Pittsfield Released
Pittsfield Police had a trash container cordoned off on Saturday behind 771 Tyler St.
Police vehicles blocked a waste container on 771 Tyler and evidence was being collected on Saturday.
Updated with new information at 7:12 p.m.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. The body of a 22-year-old Pittsfield man was discovered in a trash roll-off behind a Tyler Street business late Saturday afternoon, according to the Berkshire district attorney's office.
Investigators believe that Louis E. Ely, of Briggs Avenue, climbed into the climbed into the container. Foul play is not suspected in his death.
The discovery a body had been rumored and there was a heavy police presence at a parking lot at 771 Tyler St. on Saturday. Police, at the time, declined to confirm or deny the discovery.
Police crime scene tape was stretched in front of the waste container at the end of a parking lot adjacent 771 Tyler on late Saturday afternoon. Several Pittsfield Police vehicles were at the scene and one investigator in a white coverall was collecting evidence.
An autopsy was conducted today by Associate Medical Examiner Dr. Robert Welton at the Holyoke Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. The determination of the cause and manner of death are pending further toxicological and other testing.
The investigation is being conducted by members of the Pittsfield Police Department.
Retired Pittsfield Firefighter Saves Two Dogs From Burning Home
The fire at 32 New Hampshire Ave. was knocked down quickly.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. When retired firefighter Matthew Kudlate returned to his New Hampshire Avenue home Monday afternoon, he noticed black smoke billowing from his neighbor's house. That's when his instincts kicked in.
"I was just out for a drive, I pulled up to the house and there was heavy black smoke pouring out of the eaves. I called the Fire Department. I went into the back door, I know the neighbors and wanted to make sure they were out of there. I knew they had two dogs and I was able to get them out of the back door," Kudlate said.
Kudlate knew one of his neighbors was disabled and could struggle to get out in the case of a fire. He did a quick search and found nobody inside.
He then chased after a poodle, which was running around the house, and a golden retriever, which didn't want to move. He pulled each out of them from the home.
"They fought me every step of the way. One was a bit larger, the other was fast and running around," Kudlate said. "They were scared, of course, and were nipping at me on the way out."
As he pulled the last one out, the Fire Department arrived at the scene.
"They got in quick, pulled a line, and saved a good portion of the home," said Fire Captain Neil Myers. "It was a pretty textbook save."
Firefighters confined the fire to the second floor of the home of the family with two children. It isn't known what caused the blaze yet, but the department was able to limit the damage.
Myers said there is heavy smoke damage on the second floor, mostly confined to the front bedroom where it began. There is also some heat and smoke damage to rooms in the back portion of the second floor. The first floor sustained water damage. Myers credited the firefighters on scene for knocking the fire down quickly, limiting the amount of damage.
Nobody was injured in the blaze, nor were there any animals harmed. Part of the reason for that is because of Kudlate.
"It was an instinct. I was a Pittsfield firefighter for 10 years. I had to retire because of an injury. It was just instinctual to make sure everybody was out of the house," Kudlate said.
Medford Woman Killed in MassPike Accident
LEE, Mass. A Medford woman died after a one-car crash on the Massachusetts Turnpike on Monday morning.
The accident, which occurred in the westbound lane near the 13.6 mile marker in Lee, was reported at 7:48 a.m.
Bernadette D. Murch, 53, the operator and only occupant of the vehicle, was transported to Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield. She was pronounced dead a short time after arrival.
Preliminary investigation by Trooper Eric Bauman indicates that Murch's 2015 Fiat 500 was westbound in Lee when, for reasons still under investigation, the vehicle went off the right side of the road and rolled over.
The investigation is being conducted by state troopers assigned to the Westfield barracks with the assistance of state police detectives assigned to the Berkshire district attorney's office and troopers assigned to the Crime Scene Services and Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Sections of the state police. State police were assisted by Lee Fire, EMS and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.
A photo of Cirullo and his family as posted on his campaign Facebook page (used with permission).
Mike Cirullo To Seek Pittsfield's Ward 1 Council Seat
PITTSFIELD, Mass. Mike Cirullo plans to seek the Ward 1 City Council seat, setting up a race.
Cirullo announced his intentions on Thursday to seek the seat being vacated by Lisa Tully, who opted not to run for re-election. The 35-year-old business agent for the workers union at General Dynamics is the second person to announce intentions to seek that seat and the fourth person to announce intentions to run for election.
Cirullo is a North Adams native, graduating from McCann Technical High School in 2000. After a few years in college and working various jobs, he enlisted in the Massachusetts Army National Guard in 2006 as an Infantryman. He was deployed to Iraq in 2007 and then again to Afghanistan in 2010.
After his Iraq deployment he went back into taking college classes. He received his Bachelor's degree in 2013 from the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in business administration.
He moved to Pittsfield in 2011 and is now working as the business agent for IUE-CWA Local 255, the union at General Dynamics Mission System. There he is in charge of managing operations, from the union hall to the employees, and advocating for the member. He handles issues with pensions for retirees or grievances from current workers and the like.
On the side, he volunteers to sit on the Board of Directors for the Tyler Street Business Group, the Berkshire Regional Employment Board, the Berkshire Central Labor Council, and the Pittsfield High School Business Technology Advisory Committee.
"All of these groups in one way or another touch the community," Cirullo said.
He's been active working with residents and business on Tyler Street with the transformative development initiative, advocating for the businesses' desire, and is now gauging the business owner's opinion on the proposed Waterstone project at the William Stanley Business Park and plans to take an advocacy role there.
"We advocate for businesses on Tyler Street," he said of his work with the business group.
In his other volunteer efforts he helps guide educational decisions, reviews and evaluates the work of Berkshire Works, and evaluates the use of state employment grants for other agencies.
"This is all volunteer work. The City Council is the next evolution," Cirullo said. "I'm excited to be the voice for Ward 1."
That volunteer work all circles around the same priority he'd place on the City Council if elected: jobs. He said he'd be advocating for "union and middle class values" and work toward making the city more conducive for businesses.
"My priorities are creating an environmental where businesses want to grow and create jobs," he said. "My big platform is jobs but how do we get there?"
To get there he says there needs to be such coordinated efforts as ensuring the curriculum taught at Taconic High School aligns with the needs to the employers, creating a pool of employment candidates, attracting qualified employees to the area, and supporting business growth.
"Jobs is a short word but it is a big chunk of what civic life is," Cirullo said. "That is the linchpin for all of my ideas."
If there were more jobs, good paying jobs Cirullo said crime rates will drop and the city will see property values increase, bringing additional revenue to the cash strapped city.
Cirullo resides on Williamsburg Terrace with his wife Ashley and two sons, Connor and Michael.
Cirullo opted to jump into the race after the incumbent Tully announced she would not seek re-election. He is the second to do, Helen Moon also announced her intentions to seek the Ward 1 seat.
Nomination papers become available on April 3, but already four candidates have publicly announced intentions to run. Moon and Cirullo are joined by Ty Allan Jackson, who is seek an at-large seat, and Dina Guiel plans to seek the Ward 2 seat.
The Commonwealth Woodstove Change-out program - a partnership between MassCEC, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Energy Resources - offers rebates to assist Massachusetts residents in replacing non-EPA-certified wood stoves with cleaner more efficient EPA-certified wood or pellet stoves.
Massachusetts Residents Can Participate in Woodstove Change-out Program Again
The state of Massachusetts has announced the Woodstove Change-out program for 2017. This program will save Massachusetts residents money on heating costs and help protect the environment too.
The Commonwealth Woodstove Change-out program - a partnership between MassCEC, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Energy Resources - offers rebates to assist Massachusetts residents in replacing non-EPA-certified wood stoves with cleaner more efficient EPA-certified wood or pellet stoves.
Homeowners are eligible for a standard rebate if their old wood stove is currently operational, non-EPA certified and located in a residential building, and the stove they plan to purchase is EPA-certified and meets Commonwealth Woodstove Change Out Program emissions requirements for new stoves.
Homeowners are eligible for a low income rebate if their annual household income falls below 80 percent of the Massachusetts state median income. More stringent stove emissions thresholds have been established for future years.
"Homeowners must have the stove installed by August 21, 2017, to qualify," said Todd Wood, owner of Bennington Pool & Hearth in Bennington, Vt., and Friends of the Sun in Manchester, Vt., both of which are exclusive participants of the program.
Massachusetts began the program in 2012; in 2017 the state committed funding to the program. Standard rebates can be up to $1,750 depending on the stove model; the low income rebate can be up to $3,000 depending on the stove model.
Wood said that by replacing an old non-EPA certified wood stove with a high efficiency low emission wood or pellet stove, homeowners can improve air quality. There have been various programs by the state trying to clean up the air. Alternative energy sources are all the rage, and there's no carbon footprint with wood.
The new stoves are up to 50 percent more efficient then older models, and decrease pollution by 70 percent. An EPA-certified stove on average requires one third of the amount of renewable wood sources to produce the same amount of heat as older models.
"These new stoves will reduce emissions, heat more effectively and will improve health and comfort for homes across the commonwealth," DOER Commissioner Dan Burgess said.
Wood said the savings under the program are huge.
"For example, if you want to purchase a Jotul F45 wood stove, and you qualify for the standard rebate, the regular price is $1899, and with the $1,250 rebate, you end up paying only $649 for the stove," he said. "If you qualify for the rebate and you purchase a Heatilator Eco-Choice PS50 pellet stove at $1,899 subtract the rebate of $1,250, and $50 manufacturer coupon, and you will end up paying only $599, plus tax and installation.
"If you look at the list of stoves that qualify, we sell most of them here, Jotul, Hearthstone, Quadra-Fire, Enviro and more."
Wood said Massachusetts homeowners who want to take advantage of the program can come into either of the locations Bennington Pool & Hearth at 126 Hicks Ave. in Bennington or Friends of the Sun at 159 Depot Street in Manchester. His staff is ready to assist customers in determining eligibility, filling out the application, choosing the right replacement stove and arranging for installation. Wood emphasized that installation should be done by a licensed professional and in accordance with any local regulations, as many cities and towns require permits.
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The participants take pride of their certificates in the recently concluded Food Safety Seminar.
In a bid to bolster food safety awareness in Islas de Gigantes, some resort owners and workers gather in a Food Safety Seminar with emphasis on the importance, concepts and good practices in food hygienic preparation based on recognized food safety standards.
The seminar covers the following topics: Introduction to Food Safety, Symptoms of Foodborne Disease, What are Microorganisms?, Where do Microorganisms live?, How do Microorganisms move? What do Bacteria need to grow?, Chemicals should not be Forgotten and Five Keys to Safer Foods.
DOST VI Senior Science Research Specialist Paula Huelar shares that keeping the food safe involves keeping it clean, separating raw from cooked, cooking food thoroughly, keeping food at a safe temperature, and using safe water and raw materials. In addition to the seminar, the team also holds site visits in food preparation areas of at least two (2) resorts.
Senior Science Research Specialist Paula Huelar (third from the right) trains the participants on proper personal hygiene. The seminar is part of the CEST Project implemented at Islas de Gigantes.
Conducted by Department of Science and Technology (DOST VI), the technical assistance on food safety forms part of the Community Empowerment through Science and Technology (CEST) Program aimed to empower the poorest and most depressed communities in the country, through S&T interventions. These S&T interventions also come in these categories: health and nutrition, water and sanitation, basic education and literacy, livelihood/economic enterprise development, and disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. There are selected communities that undergo an assessment to determine the appropriate and timely package of S&T related intervention that would improve its peoples way of life.
Iloilo Provincial Science and Technology Center Director Engr. Sheila Oberio notes that Islas de Gigantes, being a home to tourist hot spots needs to be harnessed in pursuit of local sustainable economic development, effective habitat management for biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.
In Western Visayas, three (3) municipalities are covered with the CEST program. These are Libacao, Aklan; Anini-y, Antique; and Buenavista, Guimaras.
Kaspersky Lab today announced the global availability of Kaspersky Threat Lookup a security intelligence service aimed at enhancing enterprise incident response and cybersecurity forensics capabilities.
Kaspersky Threat Lookup provides access to several petabytes of global security intelligence data that is being updated almost in real-time. This always-on web service helps businesses to properly analyze digital evidence in light of a security incident and obtain the insights needed to speed up detection and remediation.
According to a survey of more than 4,000 business representatives worldwide, conducted by Kaspersky Lab and B2B International in 2016, time is the crucial factor in incident detection and response.
The survey findings show that enterprises pay over 100% more in recovery fees if they are unable to detect a security breach in a short time.
The average recovery cost of a breach that stays undetected for a week or more is over $US1 million, while instantly discovered incidents cost US$400k to mitigate, almost half the overall industry average.
Detection and response are some of the most time-critical activities on the agenda of security operations centers (SOCs) in organizations around the world, and both require reliable security intelligence.
Accelerating incident response
Kaspersky Threat Lookup is the solution of choice for corporate IT security teams to accelerate their incident response and forensic capabilities. Once suspicious indicators such as IP, URL or file hash have been identified by a corporate IT security officer, they can be entered into the service web interface. In return, users are provided with meaningful and structured information about a potential threat and offers global insights that help identify a targeted attack in progress.
Kaspersky Labs security intelligence is collected from various sources including Kaspersky Labs cloud security network, spam traps, botnet monitoring initiatives and web crawlers. More importantly, that data is constantly being cross-checked by Kaspersky Labs own research team and automatically correlated.
The solution offers corporate security officers contextual intelligence capabilities. It enables them to quickly investigate the source of the problem, distinguish between potentially malicious and benign actions, and obtain data for fast and efficient incident investigation.
Overall, Kaspersky Threat Lookup allows SOC operators to prioritize and act efficiently in the typical scenario of hundreds and thousands alerts received every day.
Kaspersky Threat Lookup offers enterprises the same level of intelligence that Kaspersky Lab specialists use to analyze the most sophisticated threats, and includes indicators of compromise for these new attacks.
The solution makes it possible to match data obtained during an investigation due to vast knowledge of malicious objects, as well as access to one of the largest databases of clean objects, part of the Kaspersky Whitelist service.
One of the early adopters of Kaspersky Threat Lookup service is INTERPOL. Kaspersky Lab has been offering early access to the organizations threat intelligence according to the expertise sharing agreement to help investigate cybercrime.
In 2016 we have rapidly expanded our range of Security Intelligence Services, including Threat Data Feeds, to provide businesses with the actionable intelligence required for faster detection. But in order to significantly reduce recovery costs, businesses need to improve detection together with response and forensic capabilities. That is, they need to understand the scope of the problem, identify the source of the security event and collect necessary intelligence to mitigate the threat, commented Veniamin Levtsov, Vice President, Enterprise Business at Kaspersky Lab.
The Kaspersky Threat Lookup portal is an important addition to the family of Security Intelligence Services that directly addresses these challenges. It provides instant access to Kaspersky Labs threat intelligence directly from cloud sources and contains comprehensive information on requested file hash, URL or IP, added Levtsov.
Imperial County Assessor Reminds Business and Personal Property Owners that their Annual Property Statements are Due Soon
El Centro, California - The Imperial County Assessor, Robert Menvielle, wishes to inform business and personal property owners that the last day to file their annual property statement without a 10% penalty is Monday, May 8, 2017. All filings received and/or postmarked after May 8, 2017 will be subject to a 10% late filing penalty.
Ownership and taxability of all personal property is determined each year as of January 1. Owners of businesses, financial institutions, multi-residential apartment properties, general aircraft or individuals who acquired a vessel in 2016 are required to file a 2017 property statement.
The Assessors office is offering local business and property owners several options for completing their annual property statement in 2017. Property Statements can be filed using the traditional paper form that was mailed in March. Fillable PDF forms are available on-line at www.co.imperial.ca.us/Assessor. Once the PDF form is completed it can be printed and mailed or delivered to the Assessors Office. New this year is an electronic filing or e-file option for agricultural business statement filers. Invitation letters were mailed in March to over 300 farming businesses that file Form 571-F. The Assessor is also offering a pilot program to test e-file for retail, wholesale, service, professional, financial and multi-residential businesses that annually file Form 571-L, 571-LA or 571-R. Business owners who are interested in participating in the e-file pilot program can e-mail a request to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Electronic filing offers a number of advantages for taxpayers including the direct transmittal of data to the Assessor, an electronic receipt with a date and time stamp and after the initial first year set up, the e-form will automatically populate in subsequent years and only require that the business list changes made in the current year.
For questions related to your property statement or for assistance with electronic filing, please contact the Assessors office at (442) 265-8805 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
NetSpend Settles FTC Charges
Washington, DC - NetSpend Corporation has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations that the prepaid card company deceived people about access to funds deposited on NetSpend debit cards.
The Commission vote approving the stipulated final order was 2-1, with Acting Chairman Ohlhausen dissenting and issuing a statement. Commissioner McSweeny also issued a statement. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia entered the order on March 31, 2017.
Stipulated final orders have the force of law when approved and signed by the District Court judge. Then-Commissioner (and former Chairwoman) Edith Ramirez registered a vote in the affirmative for the motion to approve this settlement before she left the Commission.
Venezuelan Supreme Court Decision Greatly Undermines Democratic Institutions
Washington, DC - The United States condemns the Venezuelan Supreme Courts March 29 decision to usurp the powers of the democratically elected National Assembly. This rupture of democratic and constitutional norms greatly damages Venezuelas democratic institutions and denies the Venezuelan people the right to shape their countrys future through their elected representatives. We consider it a serious setback for democracy in Venezuela.
The democracies of the Western Hemisphere, meeting this week in the Permanent Council of the Organization of the American States, called on Venezuela to respect its democratic institutions while it seeks a negotiated resolution to its political, economic, and humanitarian crises. We call for the government of Venezuela to permit the democratically-elected National Assembly to perform its constitutional functions, hold elections as soon as possible, and immediately release all political prisoners. Rather than discarding Venezuelas institutions of democratic decision-making, the Venezuelan government should live up to the commitments it made during the 2016 dialogue process, its obligations to its own people, and its undertakings under the Inter-American Democratic Charter.
Flood Relief Support to Peru
Washington, DC - The United States offers its condolences to all those in Peru who have suffered as a result of the devastating flooding over the past several weeks. We are working closely with the government of Peru to support efforts to address the extensive losses and damage caused by this natural disaster.
Since the disaster began, the United States has allocated more than $775,000, along with in-kind assistance, to support a humanitarian response. Four U.S. disaster assistance teams are currently on the ground to support the Peruvian governments response efforts and to help provide water, improved sanitation, and hygiene assistance. The United States has also provided ten helicopters, which are supporting humanitarian relief operations. Thirteen Regional Emergency Operations Centers constructed and equipped by the United States are presently active in relief activities. These response efforts reflect our long-standing cooperation with the government of Peru on humanitarian assistance and disaster response, and we will continue to support Peruvian recovery efforts in the months ahead.
Government of Hungary's Proposed Legislation Impacting Central European University (CEU)
Washington, DC - The United States is concerned about legislation proposed by the Government of Hungary on March 28th that imposes new, targeted, and onerous regulatory requirements on foreign universities. If adopted, these changes would negatively affect or even lead to the closure of Central European University (CEU) in Budapest.
CEU is a premier academic institution accredited in the United States and Hungary, with staff and students from over 100 countries. It has strengthened Hungarys influence and leadership in the region through its academic excellence and many contributions to independent, critical thinking.
We urge the Government of Hungary to avoid taking any legislative action that would compromise CEUs operations or independence.
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The 2017 shortlist for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction has been announced, featuring six novels by female authors writing in English from across the globe.
Set up in 1996, the award - now in its 22nd year - champions excellence, originality and accessibility in womens writing. This years shortlisted nominees include one debut author, Nigerias Ayobami Adebayo, as well as one previous winner, Linda Grant, who triumphed in 2000 with When I Lived in Modern Times. The prize also counts the likes of Zadie Smith, Lionel Shriver and Eimear McBridge among its past winners.
The all-female judging panel is composed this year of Sam Baker, Katie Derham, Aminatta Forna, and Sara Pascoe and chaired by the CEO of House Productions, Tessa Ross.
"It has been a great privilege to chair the Baileys Womens Prize for Fiction in a year which has proved exceptional for writing of both quality and originality, said Ross. It was therefore quite a challenge to whittle this fantastic longlist of 16 books down to only six.
The novelists have been praised for the quality of their writing as well as the variety in subject matters, ranging from 19th century Kentucky to 1980s Nigeria by way of a life in a post-WWII sanatorium.
The award ceremony will take place at Royal Festival Hall in Londons Southbank Centre on 7 June 2017, where the winner will receive 30,000 as well as a Bessie a limited edition bronze statue created by artist Grizel Niven.
The full shortlist is as follows:
Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo (Nigeria) Canongate
The Power by Naomi Alderman (UK) Viking
The Dark Circle by Linda Grant (UK) Virago
The Sport of Kings by C.E. Morgan (USA) 4th Estate
First Love by Gwendoline Riley (UK) Granta
Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien (Canada) Granta
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The culture in 2017 increasingly expects people to oppose those they dont agree with by disengaging with them, by shutting them down or telling them to delete their account.
As such, Kanye Wests meeting with Donald Trump last year was immediately interpreted as him offering his support to the new president, and though this might well be a possibility, so is him simply being on a fact-finding mission.
Killer Mike of Run The Jewels, a fierce Trump opponent, gets this, and didnt see the meeting as cause for concern.
It didnt bother me, why wouldnt you [meet the President]? he told Channel 4 News. Black people shouldnt have permanent friends or enemies, they should have permanent interest.
If it wasnt for Dr. Martin Luther King being willing to meet with people like [Governor] George Wallace, Wallace would have not have ended up starting as a racist bigot and ending as a person who found God in some way, and appointed more blacks to his office than any other governor since.
Kanye West meets with President-elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower
He went on to discuss a meeting Trump that had impacted him much more.
So I maintain hope that human beings can steer a change course, but a musician meeting a presidential candidate isnt important to me, unlike [NFL player] Jim Brown. Brown, for the last 50 years, has fought against oppression of all people.
Him sitting with President Trump was a significant thing for me, because I know on the other side of the table he was telling the truth.
Kanye originally explained of his 13 December meeting: "I wanted to meet with Trump today to discuss multicultural issues.
"These issues included bullying, supporting teachers, modernizing curriculums, and violence in Chicago.
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"I feel it is important to have a direct line of communication with our future President if we truly want change.
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Justin Trudeau has challenged Matthew Perry to a rematch after the Friends actor recently revealed he beat the Canadian Prime Minister up during school days.
Perry, who plays Chandler in the wildly popular sitcom, grabbed headlines last month after admitting to having a fight with Mr Trudeau when he was just ten years old. The pair crossed paths at Rockcliffe Park Public School in Ottawa in Canada.
Mr Trudeau has now hit back, expressing his eagerness to punch the actor and saying he is keen for round two.
Perry graciously declined the request and quipped he was fearful of Mr Trudeaus Canadian army.
Justin Trudeau I think I will pass at your request for a rematch kind sir (given that you currently have an army at your disposal), he said.
Mr Trudeaus tweet was sent on April Fools Day so is likely to have been written in jest. It was during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live last month that Perry first spoke of the playground altercation.
"I have a story about him that I'm not proud of, he said. "My friend Chris Murray, who was also in the fifth grade in Canada, reminded me that we actually beat up Justin Trudeau. We both beat him up."
Casting his mind back to the day, Perry claimed the clash was triggered by pure jealousy.
"I think he was excelling in a sport. He was the only kid in school that we could beat up."
A Sneak Peak At Justin Trudeau's Marvel Debut Show all 4 1 /4 A Sneak Peak At Justin Trudeau's Marvel Debut A Sneak Peak At Justin Trudeau's Marvel Debut Marvel A Sneak Peak At Justin Trudeau's Marvel Debut Marvel A Sneak Peak At Justin Trudeau's Marvel Debut Marvel A Sneak Peak At Justin Trudeau's Marvel Debut Marvel
Despite the fact Mr Trudeaus father, Pierre Trudeau, was Canadas prime minister at the time of the furore, Perry said he did not think that was the reason they decided to beat him up.
"I'm not bragging about this. It's terrible. I was a stupid kid I didn't want to beat him up," the actor said.
But Perry suggested that maybe the ordeal had inadvertently done Mr Trudeau, who has gone on to become a hugely popular politician, a favour.
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"I think it was rather instrumental in him going to such great heights and becoming the prime minister. I think he said, 'I'm going to rise above this and I'm going to become prime minister.'"
Mr Trudeau, who is leader of the Liberal Party, has become something of a celebrity politician since taking office in November 2015. From yoga poses to quantum computing explanations, charity strip teases and fervent declarations of feminism, he has carved out a massive online presence.
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After spending a lot of time reviewing shows like Westworld and Game of Thrones in recent months, its quite refreshing appraising something like The Trip to Spain, which is the antithesis of narratively complex, information-heavy television. Spoiler alert: two blokes eat lunch.
After putting out a rockumentary/mockumentary in 2016, director Michael Winterbottom returns to Steve Coogan and Rob Brydons Trip series, new instalments of which seem to get periodically decided on with the same well, why not logic as the depicted trips themselves. This time around its Spain, with the deftly-fictionalised version of Steve Coogan having been asked to review restaurants around the country for The New York Times to promote his upcoming Martin Scorsese-produced film Medium Rare. Apparently lacking any other acquaintances who can stand him for longer than two courses, he invites Rob Brydon along again, who somewhat reluctantly seems to serve as his shrink, clown and moral barometer on restaurant verandas and in tapas bars.
With every outing, the show seems to gain a little more confidence. The Trip (2010) was mostly a vehicle for the pairs masterful impressions, and though they were also a part of The Trip to Italy (2014) and continue to feature in the new series (Brydon doing Mick Jagger doing Rob Brydon doing Michael Caine at a party is a highlight in episode 1), theyre now aiming for a little profundity among the comedy.
In meandering conversations over myriad lunches (including one at a Michelin-star restaurant they visit with the correct mixture of amazement and embarrassment), Coogan and Brydon lay bare their actorly and literary pretensions, aware that theyre not going to impress each other and yet unable to resist a little braggadocio. Its all fictional, of course, but when the fictionalised versions of themselves bear so many similarities to their real selves, it all comes with a generous dose of self-deprecation and, Im sure, sobering (and commendable) self-awareness.
While I think the small man in a box [impression] is brilliant, Coogan tells Brydon of his stand-up bit, it is also the apotheosis of your career.
When not goofing around and making barbed jokes and observations about each other, talk often turns to women, as its apt to when men are paired off with alcohol. Last series saw Brydon cheat on his wife, a twist to the series that made me sit up and take note that human drama was also on the menu here alongside anchovies, seared scallops and impersonations. At its best, The Trip to Spain approaches a vibe close to that of Louie or Better Things, and I hope it continues to embrace its dramatic side as the series goes on.
Its a show of modest ambitions, but theres a moreish underlying sadness to it, that seems to evoke those moments on a holiday when you dont really know where to go, or are disappointed by a view or landmark, or wonder whether it was worth all the money and weeks of looking forward to it. Id like to see more characters in the mix, perhaps a tag-along for the trip or someone who briefly drives them apart, but maybe its just making the sad point that a pair of middle-aged men are probably going to spend the vast majority of a road trip alone.
The Trip to Spain starts on Sky Atlantic on 6 April at 10pm
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Argentinian malbec is one of the great wine success stories of the past 25 years. The wine is loved by consumers for its juicy, plush, slightly tannic, full-bodied black fruit flavours, as well as for its fresh drinkability and suitability for a wide variety of foods particularly with steak and other red meats.
It is also generally reliable in quality from year to year and offers good value for money. This was not always the case, though: malbec was once one of the key French grapes, widely grown for use in Bordeaux blends, with cabernet sauvignon, merlot and cabernet franc.
But crops were devastated by frost in 1956 and claret producers never quite fell in love with malbec again, although it continues to be popular elsewhere in southwest France where it is also known as Cot and can produce quite heavy, tannic wines.
In Argentina, where a slightly different variety of the grape was first introduced by European immigrants in the nineteenth century, malbec was never particularly celebrated until interest suddenly blossomed in the late twentieth entury when it was realised that the grape could make superior wines, particularly when grown at altitude, which gives a distinctive and appealing freshness to the flavours.
Although Argentinian malbec still dominates, great malbecs are now being made in Chile and New Zealand, and rose malbec is becoming increasingly popular.
Read more:
How we tested
We tried a range of malbecs from different producers and countries, and tasted them with a variety of food pairings not only steak but also seasonal casseroles, rich vegetable dishes and cheeses.
We were looking for value for money and a range of distinctive flavours, including: plummy, brambly-with-perhaps-a-hint-of-chocolate, hints of cassis, spice, liquorice and pepper, together with a certain freshness and vibrancy on the palate. And we certainly found it
The best malbec wines for 2021 are:
Best overall Historic Rows Catena Alta malbec 2017: 33.99, Majestic.co.uk
Historic Rows Catena Alta malbec 2017: 33.99, Majestic.co.uk Best Chilean malbec La Farma Winemakers Reserve malbec 2020: 11.99, Virginwines.co.uk
La Farma Winemakers Reserve malbec 2020: 11.99, Virginwines.co.uk Best organic wine Clos siguier Vieilles Vignes Les Camilles 2017: 17.79, Hometipple.com
Clos siguier Vieilles Vignes Les Camilles 2017: 17.79, Hometipple.com Best bargain buy Pierre Jaurant French malbec: 4.49, Aldi.co.uk
Pierre Jaurant French malbec: 4.49, Aldi.co.uk Best midweek bottle Graffigna Reserve genuine collection malbec 2019: 9, Sainsburys.co.uk
Graffigna Reserve genuine collection malbec 2019: 9, Sainsburys.co.uk Best sustainable producer Domaine Bousquet malbec premium Tupungato 2019: 12.50, Davywine.co.uk
Domaine Bousquet malbec premium Tupungato 2019: 12.50, Davywine.co.uk Best luxury buy Adrianna Vineyard Fortuna Terrae malbec 2015: 90, Fortnumandmason.com
Adrianna Vineyard Fortuna Terrae malbec 2015: 90, Fortnumandmason.com Best malbec rose Beefsteak Club malbec rose 2020: 8.99, Waitrose.com
Beefsteak Club malbec rose 2020: 8.99, Waitrose.com Best New Zealand malbec Left Field malbec 2019: 13.99, Nzhouseofwine.co.uk
Left Field malbec 2019: 13.99, Nzhouseofwine.co.uk Best blend Perez Cruz Carmenere malbec 2020: 24.99, Virginwines.co.uk
Historic Rows 'Catena Alta malbec 2017 Best: Overall Rating: 10/10 Nicolas Cantena Zapata, whose family first planted vines in Argentina in 1902, is the man credited with reviving the production of quality high altitude malbec. His daughter Laura now runs the business, making wines of exceptional quality; such as this wine made from five prestigious vineyard sites in the Mendoza region. It has gorgeous, rich, blueberry and cassis flavours, a hint of spice and a long, satisfying, plummy finish: a level of sophistication and elegance that is often only found in wines twice the price. A great wine for a winter dinner party, particularly if red meat or a big casserole is the centrepiece. Buy now 33.99 Majestic.co.uk {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}
La Farma Winemakers Reserve malbec 2020 Best: Chilean malbec Rating: 9/10 Chile has followed its South American neighbour in making great altitude malbec and this is a very fine example of a wine from the Central Valley, made by experienced winemaker Hernan de la Barra. This has quite forward ripe plum and blackberry flavours, with robust tannins and a really big mouthfeel. It is vegan friendly and so is a great wine for substantial vegetable dishes, like a lentil shepherds pie, but also, of course, for meat dishes. Sadly, its currently out of stock, but be sure to check back in soon for more. Buy now 11.99 Virginwines.co.uk {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}
Clos siguier Vieilles Vignes Les Camilles 2017 Best: Organic wine Rating: 9/10 A sensational, elegant, Malbec from Cahors in the southwest of France, where the grape still thrives but is often associated with quite heavy tannic wines and needs many years in the bottle. This is very different. Made organically, the grapes from 90-year-old vines are allowed to naturally ferment, resulting in wine that is simply wonderfully balanced: between concentration and purity of fruit, with vibrant, blueberry and damson flavours, that linger long on the palate. Serve with a rare organic steak or simple roast pork. Buy now 17.79 Hometipple.com {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}
Pierre Jaurant French malbec Best: Bargain buy Rating: 7/10 This is an almost unbelievably good value little gem from Aldi. Very little malbec is now grown in France, but from the Cahors region of the southwest, this wine is a terrific example of how to keep malbec soft and juicy, with lovely brambly flavours. At this price its an absolute steal to stock up on for Christmas parties and gatherings, and is ideal with a wide variety of foods, particularly any Mediterranean mezze or tapas-type dishes, as well as hard and blue cheeses. Keep an eye open for other wines from this brand. Buy now 4.49 Aldi.co.uk {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}
Graffigna Reserve genuine collection malbec 2019 Best: Midweek bottle Rating: 8/10 Santiago Graffigna, originally from Italy, planted his first vines in the Mendoza region in 1870, so there is a lot of history going into this terrific little bottle. Its ideally priced for a midweek treat to accompany, say, some tapas, a bowl of pasta with tomato-based sauce or a takeaway pizza. Its boldly fruity, packed with juicy flavours of plums and blackberries, some very peppery notes and a nice full mouthfeel. All with an elegance that belies its sub-10 price. Buy now 9 Sainsbury.co.uk {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}
Domaine Bousquet malbec premium Tupungato 2019 Best: Sustainable producer Rating: 9/10 A long-established big name in malbec, with estates in the Tupungato area, Domaine Bousquet is organic but has gone one step further by becoming a founding member of the Sustainable Wine Roundtable recently launched by the wine industry to fight climate change. As part of that move it is now going to be bottling this wine, their biggest seller here in the UK, from this autumn, which will reduce carbon emissions on the wine by 70 per cent, as part of an aim to be carbon neutral by 2025. Although that wine will not be available until the new year, this bottle is a great introduction to the excellent range: full of ripe fruit flavours, with notes of cassis and pepper and silkily luscious on the palate. Buy now 12.50 Davywine.co.uk {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}
Adrianna Vineyard Fortuna Terrae malbec 2015 Best: Luxury buy Rating: 9/10 At almost 5,000m above sea level, the Adrianna site planted by Nicolas Cantena is said to be the Grand Cru vineyard of Argentina. A unique combination of soils, altitude and cool climate delivers wines of incredible concentration, but also balanced with mouthwatering fresh acidity, and capable of decent ageing. This is a remarkable special occasion bottle, which has layer upon layer of flavours of black fruits, with hints of chocolate and liquorice to linger over. Pair with your finest foods, but particularly an exceptional T-bone steak. Buy now 90 Fortnumandmason.com {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}
Beefsteak Club malbec rose 2020 Best: Malbec rose Rating: 7/10 Caught up in the worldwide rose boom, pink made from malbec is becoming increasingly common and it showcases the diversity of the grape. Despite being named after the dining clubs of Argentina that celebrated eating beef there is a companion normal red malbec that justifies the name and is well worth seeking out this is a dry, crisp, red berry-fruit-flavoured rose that is well priced enough to be a great party wine for the coming festive season and is wonderful with seafoods like prawns and crab and lighter goats cheeses. Buy now 8.99 Waitrose.com {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}
Left Field malbec 2019 Best: New Zealand malbec Rating: 8/10 Can New Zealand do for malbec what it has done for those other European staples; pinot noir and sauvignon blanc? The answer here is definitely yes... Leftfield is a good little label, run by the prestigious Te Awa winemaking concern, which produces distinctive varietal wines in the Hawkes Bay region. Its take on malbec here, drawn from vines grown in the famed Gimblett Gravels area, is an individual one the mood here is dark and intense, with velvety flavours of black and brambly fruits and some serious dark chocolate and mocha notes. This is a warming wine for chill evenings and autumnal casseroles. Buy now 13.99 Nzhouseofwine.co.uk {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}
Perez Cruz Carmenere malbec 2020 Best: Blend Rating: 9/10 While malbec is sometimes used as a minor blending grape as it was traditionally in Bordeaux here, in the hands of Chilean winemaker German Lyon and the redoubtable Perez Cruz concern, working with grapes from the excellent Maipo Valley, it is matched 50-50 with Chiles own signature grape, carmenere. This grape has a similar flavour palette to malbec, with lighter fruit and nut chocolate notes, blueberry, damsons and a little spice in the mix. The result here is a really big mouthful of a wine that will age wonderfully, if you can resist drinking it now, ideally with robust winter foods. Buy now 24.99 Virginwines.co.uk {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}
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Theres a new face on the fashion scene. Fabrics produced by Japanese manufacturers are increasingly appearing in the collections of high-end overseas brands.
At the recent Autumn and Winter 2017-2018 New York Fashion Week, a number of brands featured Japanese fabrics, while Japanese manufacturers promoted the quality of their textiles to attendees.
On 10 February, Japanese fashion brand Theatre Products presented its collection made in cooperation with Nakaden Keori Co, a textile maker based in Ichinomiya, Aichi Prefecture.
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The theme of the collection was overnight trip, and it featured a range of comfortable clothing items that can easily be packed in a small bag.
The brand used fabric manufactured by Nakaden Keori for its shirts and casual trousers. The soft, wrinkle-resistant fabric was made using the latest manufacturing techniques mixing weaving and knitting.
Another fabric used for sweatshirts and skirts features a ridged surface woven using cotton and synthetic fabric for improved stretch properties.
Ichinomiya and its neighborhood are one of the largest wool textile manufacturing regions in Japan. Nakaden Keori also manufactures synthetic and knit fabrics, as well as woollen ones. The company promoted its products by providing samples and information to the buyers and journalists at New York Fashion Week.
A James Perse T-shirt and tunic made using fabric from A-Girls Co (Japan News-Yomiuri)
Theatre Products designer Akira Takeuchi said: The company uses great technology and responds to our detailed requests. Kimihiro Nakashima, the vice president of Nakaden Keori, added: We want to make the quality of our fabrics more widely known around the world with the help of fashion designers.
At New York Fashion Week, Calvin Klein and rag & bone also unveiled collections using Japanese denim and other made-in-Japan fabrics. The Los Angeles-based brand James Perse uses material made by the Tokyo-based textile manufacturer A-Girls Co for its T-shirts. The cotton fabric is manufactured at a factory in Wakayama Prefecture.
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Even though the T-shirt is made of cotton, its as soft as satin and doesnt get sticky when a wearer is perspiring. The company began supplying James Perse with the fabric after a trade show in Paris.
The great texture of the fabric was really appreciated, said A-Girls Vice President Tomohiro Yamashita.
Some manufacturers have their own brands, which use the same premium textiles supplied to famous overseas brands.
Sato Seni Co, a textile mill based in Sagae, Yamagata Prefecture, has several brands of its own, such as M.&Kyoko. It operates sales outlets at department stores and other facilities across Japan, and its knitwear and skirts have been well received.
Komatsu Seiren Co in Nomi, Ishikawa Prefecture, also uses the fabric it supplies to European designers for its own brand, mittente. Its trench coats are popular for the smoothness of the material, as well as their water-repellent and wind-resistant properties.
Instead of relying on trading firms to market their fabrics overseas, these Japanese textile manufacturers have taken the initiative to promote their products themselves and its paying off.
Washington Post
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Chemicals giant Ineos has been accused of exploiting Brexit to pressure ministers to get rid of environmental legislation.
Ineos, which is one of the leading firms pushing to frack for shale gas across the UK, lobbied the government to roll back measures that mean energy-intensive industries pay to develop low-carbon power sources.
The revelations come from a cache of documents obtained by Friends of the Earth under freedom of information laws.
In one document, dated weeks before the EU referendum, Ineos laid out its Brexit demands: Outside the EU: simplify the UK policy mix and seek a single route to 100% exemption from policy costs and CCL [climate change levy]. Seek a low-cost alternative to EU ETS [the EUs carbon trading scheme].
Guy Shrubsole, Friends of the Earth campaigner, said: Ineos are exploiting what they see as an opportunity in Brexit to seek further exemptions from environmental regulations. What other companies are seeking to cynically use Brexit as a chance to weaken vital social and environmental protections?
The Leave campaign urged voters to 'take back control' - not to cede power to vast multinationals engaged in shadowy lobbying operations.
Following a concerted effort by Ineos and other chemicals firms the Government last week announced a 100m-per-year exemption from the carbon trading scheme for the companies that use the most energy, to add to the 250m in tax breaks it had already granted.
The Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy said 130 of the UKs most energy-intensive companies, collectively worth 52bn to the economy, would benefit from the latest relaxation.
Ministers have repeatedly stated their desire to demonstrate that the UK is open for business as Theresa May prepares to take the UK out of the EU.
In a consultation response published last week, the Government said the climate change levy and carbon trading scheme increase companies electricity costs putting them at a competitive disadvantage with their international competitors and increasing the risk that companies may choose to move their production abroad.
The newly-obtained documents contain internal communications from the Chemistry Growth Partnership, a body in which ministers and industry executives meet to discuss policy for the sector. They provide a window into a lobbying campaign over almost four years by chemicals firms to exempt themselves from regulation designed to help the environment.
In an update from February 2017, the group trumpeted its own success: The CGP lobbied hard for affordable energy costs for energy intensive industries and our input helped to secure a 7bn [energy-intensive industries] package at Budget 2013 and the exemption announcement at Autumn Statement 2015.
Biggest business scandals in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Biggest business scandals in pictures Biggest business scandals in pictures Volkswagen emissions scandal VW admitted to rigging its US emission tests so that diesel-powered cars would looks like they were emitting less nitrous oxide, which can damage the ozone layer and contribute to respiratory diseases. Around 11 million cars worldwide were affected. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Martin Shkreli and Turing Pharmaceuticals Martin Shkreli became known as the most hated man in the world after his drug company, Turing, increased the price of a 62-year-old drug that treated HIV patients by 5,000% to $750 a pill. He was charged with illegally taking stock from Retrophin, a biotechnology firm he started in 2011, and using it pay off debts from unrelated business dealings. Shkreli, who maintains he is innocent, and says there is little evidence of fraud because his investors didn't lose money. 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Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Rogue trader A French court cut the damages owed by rogue trader Jerome Kerviel from 4.9bn (4.2bn) to just 1m (860,000). The court ruled on that Kerviel was partly responsible for massive losses suffered in 2008 by his former employer Societe Generale through his reckless trades. Kerviel has consistently maintained that bosses at the French bank knew what he was doing all along. AP Biggest business scandals in pictures Barclays CEO under investigation for trying to identify whistleblower - Monday Paril 10 Authorities have launched an investigation into Barclays chief executive officer Jes Staley for trying to identify a whistleblower, the bank said on Monday. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) are both investigating Mr Staley after the bank notified them that Mr Staley had tried to identify the author of two anonymous letters, which were sent to the board and a senior executive in June 2016. 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On Monday, the three were convicted at Southwark Crown Court on accounts including bribery, fraud and money laundering. Mark Dobson, another manager at HBOS, Alison Mills, and John Cartwright were also convicted. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Lloyds chief apologises for damage caused by affair allegations - August 2016 Antonio Horta-Osorio, the chief executive of Lloyds Bank, has broken his silence over allegations about his private life admitting he regrets any "damage done to the group's reputation". In a message sent to the bank's 75,000 employees, the banker said that anyone can make mistakes while insisting that staff had to maintain the highest professional standards. 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The ruling puts on guard future whistle-blowers, Deltour told reporters.The LuxLeaks revelations sped beyond Luxembourg, causing European Union regulators to expand a tax-subsidy probe and propose new laws to fight corporate tax dodging, while EU lawmakers created a special committee to probe fiscal deals across the 28-nation bloc. Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures Goldman Sachs dealmakers lavished Libyan officials with prostitutes to win contract - June 2016 A former Goldman Sachs dealmaker trying to persuade Gadaffi-era Libya to invest $1 billion with the investment bank procured prostitutes and invited Libyan officials to lavish parties in the hope of winning the business, the High Court heard on Monday June 13.The Libyan Investment Authority sovereign wealth fund is suing Goldman Sachs for inappropriately coercing its naive staff into giving its sovereign wealth fund cash to the bank to invest in products they did not understand. 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The company founder said that workers were paid less than the statutory minimum because of bottlenecks at security in an admission that could result in sanctions from HMRC. Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures Mitsubishi admits improper fuel tests - April 2016 Mitsubishi has admitted to using false fuel methods dating back to 1991. The scale of the scandal is only just coming to light after it was revealed in April that data was falsified in the testing of four types of cars, including two Nissan cars. AP Biggest business scandals in pictures Quindell, the scandal-ridden insurance firm Quindell was once a darling of AIM but its share price fell in April 2014 when its accounting practices were attacked in a stinging research note by US short seller Gotham City. In August the group was forced to disclose that the 107 million pre-tax profit it had reported for 2013 was incorrect, and it had in fact suffered a 64million loss. 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Another priority for the CGP in this time has been securing rights to frack for shale gas. Fracking has been linked to earthquakes and environmental degradation.
One document states the group aims to support appropriate policies to enable the safe exploitation of unconventional gas. Its key performance indicator is the number of unconventional gas projects at or beyond exploratory stage.
In December 2015, Ineos was awarded 21 licences to explore sites covering around one million acres for underground gas deposits.
In October last year, Communities secretary, Sajid Javid, overturned Lancashire council's rejection of a fracking application by Cuadrilla.
A spokesperson for the Chemical Industry Association, which represents Ineos and other companies said it supports UK manufacturing and has consistently argued for a level playing field on its environmental legislation and competitive energy costs, to enable it to compete in world markets.
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Chechen authorities have allegedly rounded up more than 100 men who are suspected to be gay and subjected to torture and murder, according to a Russian newspaper and human rights campaigners.
Newspaper Novaya Gazeta found that dozens of men aged between 16 and 50 had mysteriously disappeared off the streets and three people were killed in the round up. Among the men were well known faces on local television and religious leaders.
In Chechnya, the command was given for a prophylactic sweep and it went as far as real murders, Novaya Gazeta reported, adding that authorities posed as men looking for dates online.
Spokesman for Chechnyas leader Ramzan Kadyrov, Alvi Karimov, said the report was absolute lies and disinformation and claimed gay people did not exist in the state.
You cannot detain and persecute people who simply do not exist in the republic, he told Interfax news agency.
If there were such people in Chechnya, the law-enforcement organs wouldnt need to have anything to do with them because their relatives would send them somewhere from which there is no returning.
It is the first time gay people in Chechnya have been targeted on such a scale, said Tatyana Lokshina of the Human Rights Watch in Moscow.
In pictures: Chechnya's leader Ramzam Kadyrov's Instagram Show all 7 1 /7 In pictures: Chechnya's leader Ramzam Kadyrov's Instagram In pictures: Chechnya's leader Ramzam Kadyrov's Instagram chechnay5.jpg In pictures: Chechnya's leader Ramzam Kadyrov's Instagram chechnay4.jpg In pictures: Chechnya's leader Ramzam Kadyrov's Instagram chechnya2.jpg In pictures: Chechnya's leader Ramzam Kadyrov's Instagram chechnya3.jpg In pictures: Chechnya's leader Ramzam Kadyrov's Instagram chenya1.jpg In pictures: Chechnya's leader Ramzam Kadyrov's Instagram instagram4.jpg In pictures: Chechnya's leader Ramzam Kadyrov's Instagram instagram1.jpg
Its a vicious attack against LGBT people. Its happened for several weeks under order of leadership, she told The Independent, adding she had heard the information from various sources, including people on the ground.
They beat them up viciously, they torture them, they humiliate them, and there are reports that three people have been killed, she said.
The arrests allegedly started after gay rights group GayRussia.ru applied for permits for gay pride parades, which were denied. The group filed the permits anyway, hoping to take the fight to the European Court of Human Rights.
LGBT+ rights around the globe Show all 9 1 /9 LGBT+ rights around the globe LGBT+ rights around the globe Russia Russias antipathy towards homosexuality has been well established following the efforts of human rights campaigners. However, while it is legal to be homosexual, LGBT couples are offered no protections from discrimination. They are also actively discriminated against by a 2013 law criminalising LGBT propaganda allowing the arrest of numerous Russian LGBT activists. AFP/Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Brunei Brunei recently introduced a law to make sodomy punishable by stoning to death. It was already illegal and punishable by up to 10 years in prison AFP/Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Mauritania Men who are found having sex with other men face stoning, while lesbians can be imprisoned, under Sharia law. However, the state has reportedly not executed anyone for this crime since 1987 Alamy LGBT+ rights around the globe Sudan Both male and female same-sex sexual activity is illegal under Sudanese law. Men can be executed on their third offence, women on their fourth Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Saudi Arabia Homosexuality and gender realignment is illegal and punishable by death, imprisonment, whipping and chemical castration Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Yemen The official position within the country is that there are no gays. LGBT inviduals, if discovered by the government, are likely to face intense pressure. Punishments range from flogging to the death penalty Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Nigeria Both male and female same-sex sexual activity is illegal and in some northern states punishable with death by stoning. This is not a policy enacted across the entire country, although there is a prevalent anti-LGBT agenda pushed by the government. In 2007 a Pew survey established that 97% of the population felt that homosexuality should not be accepted. It is punishable by 14 years in prison Reuters LGBT+ rights around the globe Somalia Homosexuality was established as a crime in 1888 and under new Somali Penal Code established in 1973 homosexual sex can be punishable by three years in prison. A person can be put to death for being a homosexual Reuters LGBT+ rights around the globe Iraq Although same-sex relationships have been decriminalised, much of the population still suffer from intense discrimination. Additionally, in some of the country over-run by the extremist organisation Isis, LGBT individuals can face death by stoning Getty
Chechnyas leader has come under fire for forcing women to wear the hijab in public places, encouraged polygamy and has put the semi-independent state through two shattering wars.
The Kremlin-backed Republic is strictly conservative, with a majority of people who are Sunni Muslims, and gay people who reveal their sexuality often suffer discrimination and are shunned by their families.
Some men caught in the round-up were handed back to their families, according to Novaya Gazeta, with the expectation their family would perform an honour killing.
Men have reportedly been deleting their online accounts and the Russian newspaper posted contact information to help LGBT people flee.
In 2013 Russia banned gay propaganda among minors, which sparked global outrage. Moscow and St Petersburg have vibrant gay scenes, however, and an LGBT rights organisation in the latter city has set up an anonymous hotline for gay people in Chechnya to get help if they want to escape.
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Gibraltar has become the rocky centre point of Brexit negotiations just four days after UK Prime Minister Theresa May triggered Article 50.
Lord Michael Howard caused uproar when he suggested the UK could go to war with Spain, as it had done with Argentina over the Falklands, if it used the Brexit negotiations to assert sovereignty over the British territory.
Spain, in turn, has warned the UK not to lose its temper. But as politicians argue, the fate of the outcrop remains undecided.
Recommended Boris Johnson intervenes in Gibraltar sovereignty row
Does it want to leave the EU?
Gibraltar voted by over 96 per cent to remain within the EU, in a high turnout of 83 per cent of the electorate. There was divergence, as seen elsewhere, between older and younger voters, and between rural and urban areas.
Shortly after the referendum, Gibraltars Chief Minister Fabian Picardo entered discussions with Scotlands First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to draw up plans to remain part of the EU.
But Gibraltarians also do not want to repudiate UK sovereignty, as the "local economy depends on its institutional separation from Spain", according to Chris Grocott, Lecturer in Management and Economic History at the School of Management at the University of Leicester.
How will Brexit affect Gibraltar?
Former Liberal Democrats leader Nick Clegg declared that Gibraltar "will be at the bottom of the list of preoccupations.
Mr Grocott wrote that Gibraltar must have continued economic and social cross frontier links to survive, hpwever, and those links must be prioritised over any claim on sovereignty by Spain.
Gibraltar benefits from millions of tourists who drive across the border with Spain every year, and draws in workforce and supplies from its neighbouring country too.
If it left the EU, critics said Spain could shut down the border like General Franco did in 1969. The blockade was only lifted in 1985.
Spain could also be negatively affected in terms of trade as Gibraltars leaving the EU would also mean leaving the European common market.
Jack Straw says threat of war with Spain over Gibraltar is 'absurd and reeks of 19th century jingoism'
What are the top industries in Gibraltar?
The economy consists mainly of the services sector, such as shipping, finance, tourism and gaming. It has an important UK naval base.
Where exactly is Gibraltar?
The rocky outcrop, barely 4km long and at most two km wide, is situated on the southern coast of Spain and is connected to the mainland. It shares its northern border with the Province of Cadiz in Andalusia.
When did it become a British territory?
Gibraltar has had a long, complicated history of transferring hands. It was first settled by the Moors in the Middle Ages. Then the Spanish ruled over its shores, until it was ceded to the UK in 1713.
It enjoyed a heyday of commerce in the early 19th century, receiving British goods and re-exporting them to Africa and Europe.
As a British territory, it can set its own tax levels and regulations.
Politics Round-up: UK will defend Gibraltar's sovereignty
What role did Gibraltar play in World War II?
It was an important strategic location with Germany attempting to invade Europe and Italy entering the war.
It now has a significant military heritage, with the former artillery Princess Caroline Battery and a 34-mile network of underground tunnels which housed a 16,000-strong garrison.
Gibraltar border tensions with Spain: William Hague steps in over 'torture' of six-hour queue for car checks Show all 2 1 /2 Gibraltar border tensions with Spain: William Hague steps in over 'torture' of six-hour queue for car checks Gibraltar border tensions with Spain: William Hague steps in over 'torture' of six-hour queue for car checks Gibraltar-PA.jpg PA Gibraltar border tensions with Spain: William Hague steps in over 'torture' of six-hour queue for car checks William-Hague-PA.jpg PA
It still holds strategic value in the face of Brexit as it sits on the intersection between shipping lanes in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.
How many people live there now?
At the foot of the iconic Rock of Gibraltar, the city is densely populated with more than 32,300 people as of 2016. The population has increased from 29,000 in 2005.
Gibraltars people now rely on the UK more than ever for diplomatic, military and economic protection, at a time when the UK has been slow to defend the territory.
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Fear not, there is a plan.
After all the talk about Brexit means Brexit; hard Brexit; soft Brexit, red, white and blue Brexit, and now the triggering of Article 50, some might have been forgiven for wondering whether the British Government had a plan any plan for Brexit.
What exactly is the Government hoping to achieve from negotiations that have begun with Theresa May making veiled threats about withdrawing security cooperation? And, if after such a promising start things turned horribly sour, what are we going to do if our relationship with the rest of Europe breaks down irretrievably?
In fact, forget May, Brexit minister David Davis and our, err, trusty Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson: has any British government, ever, made any plans for a total break with Europe?
Well, it turns out they have.
In once secret files, now tucked away in the National Archives at Kew, The Independent has discovered the outlines of a cunning plan, drawn up by a succession of far-sighted civil servants and senior military officers, for a very hard, hard Brexit. It involves the option of blowing up the Channel Tunnel with a nuclear bomb, and not telling the French what we are up to.
John Major and Margaret Thatcher on the inaugural Eurostar crossing in 1994, when the tunnel opened after 200 years of objections and fears had been overcome (Reuters)
There would, Ministry of Defence civil servants reasoned, be a certain amount of collateral damage to Kent (and less problematically to Pas-de-Calais).
But an atomic bomb would be 100 per cent effective at ensuring a totally irreversible total collapse, rupture [of] tunnel and sea bed to cause total flooding and complete collapse of part of tunnel.
The main worry appears to have been the cost.
And keeping the plan secret from the French.
Recommended Drones deployed to keep migrants and refugees out of Channel Tunnel
Because these were different times. The plan to sever our physical link with Europe was being made before the tunnel was built, at a time when it was feared that the Barbarians at the gates of Calais to use one civil servants phrase would not be hordes of immigrants, but an invading Soviet army.
Rather than making threats about security and leaving, we were trying to reassure everyone of our friendly intentions and join and remain in the European Community.
Hence those who drafted a letter from the Ministry of Defence to the Ministry of Transport in March 1969 advised that explosive demolition ideas should be covert and classified not less than SECRET UK EYES ONLY.
Because, they argued, would it really be acceptable: For overt preparations to be made to destroy our only link with France and the remainder of the Continent when the UK is endeavouring to become a member of the Common Market and to convince continental Europe that we have shed forever our island mindedness?
Perhaps they should have known the bit about shedding forever our island mindedness was a bit of a folorn hope.
After all, the history of British thinking about the Channel Tunnel tends to read a lot like a singular demonstration of island mindedness.
Albert Mathieu-Favier's 1802 proposal for a coach service beneath the Channel (Creative Commons)
From 1802 and Napoleon onwards, it is littered with fears about an island nation losing her ancient moat defensive.
If we werent immediately invaded, Englands splendid isolation would be corrupted by visiting foreigners with their foreign ways flooding in via the murksome, ugly bore, its roof festooned with seaweed.
We would become abject landlubbers, a disastrous reduction in national moral fibre being occasioned by a lack of exposure to the character-building ordeal of seasickness.
For as subscribers to the Spectator magazine protested when it was proposed that a tunnel might replace ferry crossings in 1929: We Britons must be seadogs not earthworms If a Britisher has not the grit to face one hour at sea, is he fit to belong to our island heritage?
If nothing else, perhaps, it is a reminder albeit not necessarily needed right now that our island heritage has produced a relationship with Europe that has, shall we say, rarely been straightforward.
As demonstrated after Britain got the atomic bomb in 1952.
It seems we didnt waste too much time in considering how best to use our new weapon to destroy any link with Europe.
How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Show all 8 1 /8 How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Weetabix Chief executive of Weetabix Giles Turrell has warned that the price of one of the nations favourite breakfast are likely to go up this year by low-single digits in percentage terms. Reuters How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Nescafe The cost of a 100g jar of Nescafe Original at Sainsburys has gone up 40p from 2.75 to 3.15 a 14 per cent risesince the Brexit vote. PA How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Freddo When contacted by The Independent this month, a Mondelez spokesperson declined to discuss specific brands but confirmed that there would be "selective" price increases across its range despite the American multi-national confectionery giant reporting profits of $548m (450m) in its last three-month financial period. Mondelez, which bought Cadbury in 2010, said rising commodity costs combined with the slump in the value of the pound had made its products more expensive to make. Cadbury How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Mr Kipling cakes Premier Foods, the maker of Mr Kipling and Bisto gravy, said that it was considering price rises on a case-by-case basis Reuters How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Walkers Crisps Walkers, owned by US giant PepsiCo, said "the weakened value of the pound" is affecting the import cost of some of its materials. A Walkers spokesman told the Press Association that a 32g standard bag was set to increase from 50p to 55p, and the larger grab bag from 75p to 80p. Getty How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Marmite Tesco removed Marmite and other Unilever household brand from its website last October, after the manufacturer tried to raise its prices by about 10 per cent owing to sterlings slump. Tesco and Unilever resolved their argument, but the price of Marmite has increased in UK supermarkets with the grocer reporting a 250g jar of Marmite will now cost Morrisons customers 2.64 - an increase of 12.5 per cent. Rex How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Toblerone Toblerone came under fire in November after it increased the space between the distinctive triangles of its bars. Mondelez International, the company which makes the product, said the change was made due to price rises in recent months. Pixabay How Brexit affected Britain's favourite foods from Weetabix to Marmite Maltesers Maltesers, billed as the lighter way to enjoy chocolate, have also shrunk in size. Mars, which owns the brand, has reduced its pouch weight by 15 per cent. Mars said rising costs mean it had to make the unenviable decision between increasing its prices or reducing the weight of its Malteser packs. iStockphoto
The first reference found in the secret files to destruction using a nuclear bomb comes in November 1959, when a Channel Tunnel building project was being proposed and the Ministry of Defence advised: Nuclear weapon development has rendered the proposed tunnel vulnerable throughout its length. Conversely, the tunnel could be totally destroyed for defensive purposes if necessary.
Conventional explosives, you see, just werent destructive enough.
The problem here, explained MoD official Michael Legge in February 1974, is that according to Channel Tunnel Group engineers, the tunnel would be virtually unscathed by an explosion of very great magnitude since the force of the explosion would be dissipated along the tunnel.
Pre-chambering above the roof of the tunnel, he added, Would make it possible to cause rock falls which would block the tunnel, but such blockages could be removed in a few days.
By contrast, as made clear in an options paper which started at cut off power and got progressively more destructive, option 14, total collapse caused by explosion using atomic demolition munitions, would be 100 per cent effective at producing irreversible blockage.
There were drawbacks, admitted Mr Legge.
The atomic bomb plan could convert the Channel Tunnel into a 30-mile-long mortar firing nuclear explosives out of both ends.
French engineer Aime Thome de Gamond, father of the tunnel, whose 1867 plan was accepted by both Victoria and Napoleon III but cancelled due to the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 (Creative Commons)
An atomic explosion in the tunnel, explained Mr Legge to officials including a representative of the Secret Service, Could have a mortar effect and cause widespread damage at the portals [of the tunnel] and in the surrounding area.
The words civilian casualties do not appear in the minutes for that January 1974 meeting, but on the copy of the agenda that survives in the National Archives, someone has scribbled: What about collateral damage?
Mr Legge also appeared most concerned about the issue of cost.
In a February 1974 briefing paper he warned: I am not sure if we possess an appropriate weapon, and if we could produce one at acceptable cost.
And, he wondered, could such extravagant expenditure on an anti-Channel Tunnel nuclear bomb really be justified, given that if the tanks of the communist Warsaw Pact got as far as Calais, it was pretty much game over anyway?
Frankly, wrote Mr Legge, If we ever reach a situation where Warsaw Pact conventional forces reach Calais without a strategic nuclear exchange having occurred, then I think the Channel Tunnel will be an irrelevance.
Warsaw Pact air and maritime superiority should by then be adequate for invasion by other means.
I am putting down a marker that we [the MoD] may eventually be asked to meet any extra cost incurred during construction.
At least everyone was agreed that we shouldnt tell the French.
The unanimous view was succinctly expressed in 1969 by Brigadier John Constant, head of the Channel Tunnel Engineering Division at the Ministry of Transport, a man seasoned by wartime service as a sapper in the Western Desert and Burma.
My proposal is that the Anglo-French requirement will not include any built-in demolition arrangements, but that a nominated representative of MoD be appointed to examine our plans in secret.
In the very next sentence, he gleefully told his friend on the Chiefs of Staff Committee: You may recall that a previous Channel Tunnel plan included an exposed section at the French coast, so that it could be bombarded by the Royal Navy when so inclined!
In fairness to the brigadier, his attitudes were probably far more advanced than those that had prevailed among military men for most of the previous 167 years.
Ever since a Channel Tunnel was first proposed in 1802, it had been as the Department of Transport acknowledged in 1971 haunted by the spectre of foreign Dragoons galloping out of the ground in Kent.
The first idea, from French engineer Albert Mathieu-Favier, for a candlelit tunnel used by horse-drawn vehicles, was scuppered by the invasion fear created by the antics of Napoleon.
Britain declared war on France in 1803 partly because we felt insulted that Napoleon had suggested we deserved no voice in European affairs.
Emperor Napoleon III Bonapartes nephew and heir found more favour when he enthusiastically endorsed another Channel Tunnel proposal in 1865. Queen Victoria was keen, because she tended to get seasick.
Thome de Gamond's 1856 plan for a Channel tunnel, with a harbour mid-Channel on the Varne sandbank. The Frenchman presented seven design proposals, eventually persuading Queen Victoria, but not PM Lord Palmerston. (Creative Commons)
Unfortunately, the government of the day was led by Lord Palmerston, a man fonder of gunboats than tunnels, and not known to suffer from seasickness.
Then in 1882, Sir Edward Watkins Submarine Continental Railway Company announced that using Captain Thomas Englishs marvellous new boring machine, they could dig to Calais by 1886.
Cue a great ferment, as Prime Minister William Gladstone called it.
An 1882 Punch cartoon summed up Britons fears, depicting invasion by armour-clad frogs. Similarities in tone and aesthetics to the infamous Breaking Point poster 134 years later are (probably) coincidental (Twitter)
At this stage in British history, it seems, the liberal metropolitan elite was implacably opposed to closer ties with Europe. A 1,070-signature petition against the tunnel was signed by everyone from Queen Victorias gynaecologist to the Archbishop of Canterbury via Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
Gladstone blamed public opinion manufactured in London by great editors, and clubs backed by the military and literary authorities and the social circles of London.
He stood little chance against the hero of the hour, Lieutenant General Sir Garnet Wolseley, fresh returned from his triumph against Urabi Pasha at the Battle of Tel el-Kebir, who warned a military commission the tunnel would be calamitous for England.
The French or whoever held Calais could by a coup de main seize our end of the tunnel, he wrote. Dover would become a tete de point, from which they could issue forth with any large army they chose to bring through the tunnel. From that moment, we would cease to be an independent power.
Article 50 triggered: What happens now?
The resulting national mood was summed up by a cartoon in Punch magazine. It showed an invading army
rushing from the mouth of a tunnel drawn to resemble an all-devouring snake. Readers who looked closely enough saw that every soldier was an armour-clad frog.
By the time a Channel tunnel was again mooted in 1929, the military had devised further objections. A retired admiral informed the press that a tunnel would lead to a decline in the British seafaring industry, with skilled seamen lost to unemployment.
In time of war, instead of being able to call upon a ready pool of 100,000 men who are not subject to seasickness, the Navy would have abject landlubbers who must be trained in seamanship and get their sea legs before they ever try gunnery.
It wasnt just the military men who were worried.
The doctrine of Englands splendid isolation was cited in some quarters, wrote the correspondent of the American magazine Popular Mechanics, And the fear expressed that quick and comfortable train journeys [through the tunnel] would make England a holiday resort for hordes of more or less undesirable people, who would introduce foreign customs, deface the countryside and otherwise interrupt English habits of living.
The Spectator magazine of February 1929 duly noted the rather misty argument that no one knows what changes our national psychology would undergo were we materially linked to the Continent.
The most passionate appeals, it added, are from the hearts of those who feel themselves descendants of a proud seafaring race.
One subscriber vowed never to swap the fresh sea breezes on a boat for something damp and stuffy, with water trickling down the sides, and a roof festooned with seaweed.
And Miss F. M. Griffiths, of Harborne Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, won a five-guinea prize for her entertaining poem invoking Britannia and condemning:
Such treason to Sentiment, to History and Tradition.
Consider the impossible position
Of the wandering patriot: Can his heart within him burn
As his footsteps homeward turn,
Through a darksome, murksome, irksome, ugly bore?
Can his manly bosom swell (As it ought to) crossing over,
At the first soul-stirring sight Of the dear white cliffs of Dover;
Why traitorously burrow
'"Neath her ancient moat defensive,
And force the dame to barter
Her trident for a spade?
A trident that has made
Our fiercest foes afraid
And our Empire so extensive.
The 1929 plan was shelved.
It wasnt until 1949 that the senior officers came round to the view that, actually, a Channel Tunnel might be militarily advantageous.
With the Cold War starting, they decided a tunnel could be of assistance in getting reinforcements as swiftly as possible to the British Army on the Rhine in the event of a Soviet attack although they insisted that if we wanted a Channel tunnel, we needed a foolproof way of destroying it.
Thereafter objections from military figures tended to be of the more esoteric kind. In October 1968 retired Group Captain Eugene Vielle, former director of operational requirement at the Air Ministry, now a thriller writer, contacted The Times to warn about the newly proved theory of continental drift.
Vielle, The Times reported, suggests the continent of Europe and Britain are imperceptibly drifting apart. Even a fraction of an inch might be enough to fracture the tunnel and flood it.
Geologists, though, were sceptical and, as The Times hinted, Vielle may have been a bit biased: He has disliked tunnels ever since being stuck in the Simplon [between Switzerland and Italy] in the dark with a car load of frightened children.
The atomic bomb plan, though, got overtaken by events.
In January 1975 Harold Wilsons Environment Secretary Anthony Crosland announced that the Government was shelving the Channel Tunnel project because of its high cost.
With the 1975 EU referendum just months away, the Labour minister was immediately accused by an enthusiastic pro-European, the Conservative MP and later Thatcher minister Paul Channon, of a decision that has been maliciously taken by the anti-Europeans and left wing in the Government.
By that point, it seems the desire for 100 per cent destruction offered by an atomic bomb had lost out to anxieties about unintentionally firing a nuclear mortar into Kent, at vast expense.
In possibly his final word on the matter, in a letter of June 1974 to the Department of the Environment, Mr Legge of the MoD expresses the preliminary view that long-term tunnel destruction might best be accomplished by less explosive methods: creating blockages by head-on train crashes or flooding by pumps or inbuilt scuttling devices.
But if the more ardent Brexiteer should feel any disappointment about the extinction of plans to nuke the Channel Tunnel, they can at least take comfort in the thought that the flooding plan had the perfect patriotic pedigree.
In the 23 years since the tunnel finally opened, France has not invaded and nor has nuclear weaponry been required. Yet... (Reuters) (Pascal Rossignol/Reuters)
As the flooding idea gained favour in Whitehall in the 1970s, MoD officials passed each other a copy of the secret note written in June 1914 by the First Lord of the Admiralty.
WSC, the officials told each other admiringly, was only 60 years ahead of his time.
Because in June 1914, Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, had advised: Means of flooding the tunnel should be provided.
The mouth of the tunnel should be at sea, he added, with the final connection to the shore being via a rail bridge, complete with a drawbridge in one of its spans.
In strained relations, or on any sign of danger, the lifting of the drawbridge would afford absolute security, and the flooding of the tunnel could be considered at leisure.
And If by treachery the drawbridge was rendered inoperative, the guns of a single small cruiser could break down the bridge and absolutely prevent the passage of trains or troops by night and day.
'In strained relations, or on any sign of danger, the lifting of the drawbridge would afford absolute security, and the flooding of the tunnel could be considered at leisure.' (Getty)
So now we know: if Article 50 negotiations fail, if Brexit must be hard, we can do it Winstons way, with a raised drawbridge, a flooded tunnel and the perfect moat defensive.
After all, with the will of the people so strongly expressed by the Brexit vote, who can quibble about a few structural modifications to the tunnel that opened in 1994?
Asked whether the building of the current Channel Tunnel involved plans for disabling it in the event of an invasion, a Eurotunnel spokesman said: There has always been a military aspect to it, but I cannot give any further insight into what plans may or may not exist.
The Ministry of Defence was contacted for comment. When The Independent asked whether current options included a nuclear bomb, the response was prolonged laughter. It seemed genuine.
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New scientific research suggests that our medieval ancestors were terrified of the living dead reanimated corpses which would in popular culture today be dubbed revenants or vampires.
Scientists from Historic England and the University of Southampton have completed a study of human bones from a medieval Yorkshire village which strongly suggests that they were from individuals regarded by their peers as revenants. The scientific analysis has revealed that the individuals skeletal remains had been deliberately mutilated, decapitated and burned shortly after death.
It is the first time in Britain that such skeletal evidence of a probable medieval belief in revenancy has been found
The scientific work, carried out on 11th- to 13th-century human bones from the long-deserted village known as Wharram Percy is particularly important because it appears to confirm historical accounts of such beliefs.
Many people in medieval England believed that corpses of evil or vengeful individuals were capable of "reanimating" in the ground and then rising from their graves to attack or harm or even kill the living. Historical accounts from Britain and Ireland tell of fear of revenants in general, while some accounts from Scotland and Ireland (and one from England) also hint at revenant blood-sucking a fear linked more specifically to vampiric aspects of the revenant tradition.
Piece of a skull that had been smashed and burnt recovered from the long-deserted Yorkshire village (Historic England/PA Wire)
The Historic England and University of Southampton scientists analysed 137 disarticulated human bones, representing at least 10 individuals including around three adult females, at least two adult males, a teenager (aged around 15 to 17) and two young children (aged 2 to 4). The evidence in the scientific study led by Historic Englands human-skeletal biologist, Dr Simon Mays indicates that the corpses were subjected to a series of actions designed almost certainly to prevent them rising from their graves.
Fearful villagers appear to have deliberately broken the limbs of the dead, probably with stones or hammers. They had then used knives to decapitate the individuals, perhaps to deprive them of sight and thought, and then finally burnt them, probably to destroy at least some of their flesh and therefore make physical resurrection less likely.
It is known that medieval folk belief held that corpses could only reanimate and become revenants in the short period between death and decomposition. Skeletons could not become revenants. Only fully fleshed intact corpses could do so. The head of one of the "revenants" had also been mutilated with a sword or axe.
Scientists find five-month old foetus in coffin of Swedish Bishop
Only a small number of medieval English revenant stories were ever recorded historically and they therefore almost certainly represent a tiny percentage of the total number of related events that must have occurred in this country in medieval times. The new scientific evidence therefore adds very significantly to our knowledge on the subject.
Whereas the very sparse (and therefore extremely incomplete) English historical record of such cases suggests that virtually all revenants were male and adult, the new scientific analysis reveals that they were in fact of both sexes and all age groups.
Significantly, although not hinted at by English historical accounts, it is in line with northern European folklore traditions in general.
In northern Europe, including Scotland, there are, for instance, folklore traditions suggesting a huge fear of children who had been murdered or had died following unfair or wrongful treatment and the new scientific evidence therefore suggests that was probably the case in medieval England too. The fear of revenants almost certainly had its roots in Dark Age or even prehistoric times.
Medieval people believed that evil or vengeful individuals could rise from the dead to attack the living and spread disease and death. It was a very real fear when epidemics and sudden death were commonplace and lives were typically much shorter than they are now.
Artists impression of the 11th- to 13th-century village where the bones were found (Historic England/PA Wire)
A 12th-century Yorkshire cleric, William of Newburgh, described, for instance, an evil man, who, escaping from justice, fled the city of York, but then died and rose from his grave. Pursued by a pack of barking dogs, he wandered through courtyards and houses while everyone locked their doors. Finally the townspeople decided to put an end to the threat by digging up his dead body, mutilating it and burning it. The frequent connection, in some European folklore, between blood and revenants is amply demonstrated by Newburghs account of what happened when the townspeople opened the grave.
They laid bare the corpse, swollen to an enormous corpulence, with its countenance beyond measure turgid and suffused with blood. The young men, however, spurred on by wrath, feared not, and inflicted a wound upon the senseless carcass, out of which incontinently flowed such a stream of blood, that it might have been taken for a leech filled with the blood of many persons.
The fear of revenants (including blood-sucking ones and ones that sexually attacked women in their bedrooms at night) is the stuff of dark mythology and Victorian gothic popular novels but were also very real fears which drove aspects of real human behaviour in the medieval period. As such, it also posed challenges for both religious and civil authorities which had to wrestle politically, theologically and culturally as to how to handle and contain those volatile fears.
Speaking about the analysis of the mutilated and burnt Wharram Percy bones, Dr Mays described the importance of the research. It shows how archaeology can provide crucial details that the historical record cant, he said.
The analysis of the bones is being published on Monday in the Journal of Archaeological Science Reports.
The deserted medieval village of Wharram Percy is in the care of English Heritage and is open to the public free of charge. Visitors can see the earthwork remains of the villages streets and house sites and can also see the settlements now-long-ruined church.
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A study investigating links between cyber crime and autistic-like personality traits is to begin.
Autism and traits of the condition appear to be more prevalent among cyber criminals than for other types of crime but the link remains unproven.
The project aims to cover all aspects of cyber crime, such as coding and malware, as well as activities carried out over the dark web, the undercurrent of the internet where users are able to appear anonymously and trade information and data, often illegal content.
The work will provide information on the size and nature of cyber crime and the degree to which autistic-like traits are represented in cyber crime offenders.
Researchers will also look to identify risk factors that could lead to cyber crime activity and what measures could be taken to prevent it.
The project is by the University of Bath's Centre for Applied Autism, the cyber crime unit at the National Crime Agency (NCA) and the charity Research Autism.
Professor Mark Brosnan, of the University of Bath, said: "A growing perception among law enforcement agencies suggests that a significant number of people arrested in connection with cyber crime may be on the autism spectrum.
"But whilst media coverage has helped to shape public perceptions about this issue there has, to date, been little in the way of systematic research to really unpick this idea.
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 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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 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"Through our project we will explore whether autistic traits are actually associated with computer-related abilities and cyber crime.
"Whatever the conclusion, our findings will have important implications for better understanding why people do and indeed do not engage in cybercrime."
The researchers hope the work will provide deeper understanding about the motivations and characteristics of people likely to commit cyber crime and how they become involved in such offences.
This understanding could feed into the national cyber crime counter-terrorism Prevent response.
The team also want to understand more about the motivating factors that influence people to conduct cyber crime.
It is thought that the challenge and sense of accomplishment that might come with cyber crime could be a motivating factor for certain people.
There is a growing concern that this might outweigh the consequences of cyber crime in some people's minds, the researchers say.
Richard Mills, of Research Autism, said: "We are not setting out to prove there is a link between cyber crime and autism.
"There is already a connection between autism and cyber crime in the public's mind, but our research will identify whether there is any truth in the association with autistic traits."
Researchers also hope to highlight how highly computer-literate people might help prevent cybercrime for businesses, industries and government.
The project will involve speaking to people who have previously been convicted of cyber crime (Getty)
The project will involve interviewing people convicted of cyber crime and those served with cease and desist orders.
A large-scale survey across the general population will also be conducted.
Richard Jones, head of the NCA's National Cybercrime Unit Prevent team said: "Understanding the profile of cyber criminals and the possible intervention points that can stop offending will help inform our delivery of cyber crime Prevent activity.
"We are very pleased to be associated with this project that will have international implications."
The study, funded by Research Autism, Barclays and the NCA, is due to conclude by October 2017.
PA
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Doctors have accused scientists behind controversial three-parent babies of experimenting on humans.
Dr David Clancy from the University of Lancaster said the data is incomplete on how the technique, which replaces flawed mitochondrial DNA with healthy mitochondria from a healthy donor, works and says there is a possibility it involves experimenting on a human child that has no capacity to consent.
Dr Clancy said: We now have data, albeit incomplete, on a person resulting from a mitochondrial replacement technique. It might not be unreasonable to consider this as an experiment; an experiment which uses a child. A child who had no ability to consent.
Even a moments consideration of the ethical issues completely overridden by this work should make us very concerned.
Here in the UK I think it would be wise for the HFEA (Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority), having granted a licence for this procedure, to clearly outline criteria for failure and for halting the programme.
Last year, the news of the birth of a boy, whose Jordanian mother was treated by a US team in Mexico, made headlines around the world.
He was conceived from an egg containing DNA from his mother and father, and tiny amount of mitochondrial DNA from a third person a female donor.
The aim was to prevent the child inheriting defective mitochondria, rod-like batteries in cells, that could give him Leigh syndrome a fatal nervous system disorder. The treatment was led by Dr John Zhang, from New Hope Fertility Centre in New York City.
But doctors who helped to bring the boy into the world were sailing very close to the wind and lucky to succeed, a leading British expert has said.
Health news in pictures Show all 40 1 /40 Health news in pictures Health news in pictures Coronavirus outbreak The coronavirus Covid-19 has hit the UK leading to the deaths of two people so far and prompting warnings from the Department of Health AFP via Getty Health news in pictures Thousands of emergency patients told to take taxi to hospital Thousands of 999 patients in England are being told to get a taxi to hospital, figures have showed. The number of patients outside London who were refused an ambulance rose by 83 per cent in the past year as demand for services grows Getty Health news in pictures Vape related deaths spike A vaping-related lung disease has claimed the lives of 11 people in the US in recent weeks. The US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has more than 100 officials investigating the cause of the mystery illness, and has warned citizens against smoking e-cigarette products until more is known, particularly if modified or bought off the street Getty Health news in pictures Baldness cure looks to be a step closer Researchers in the US claim to have overcome one of the major hurdles to cultivating human follicles from stem cells. The new system allows cells to grow in a structured tuft and emerge from the skin Sanford Burnham Preybs Health news in pictures Two hours a week spent in nature can improve health A study in the journal Scientific Reports suggests that a dose of nature of just two hours a week is associated with better health and psychological wellbeing Shutterstock Health news in pictures Air pollution linked to fertility issues in women Exposure to air from traffic-clogged streets could leave women with fewer years to have children, a study has found. Italian researchers found women living in the most polluted areas were three times more likely to show signs they were running low on eggs than those who lived in cleaner surroundings, potentially triggering an earlier menopause Getty/iStock Health news in pictures Junk food ads could be banned before watershed Junk food adverts on TV and online could be banned before 9pm as part of Government plans to fight the "epidemic" of childhood obesity. Plans for the new watershed have been put out for public consultation in a bid to combat the growing crisis, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said PA Health news in pictures Breeding with neanderthals helped humans fight diseases On migrating from Africa around 70,000 years ago, humans bumped into the neanderthals of Eurasia. While humans were weak to the diseases of the new lands, breeding with the resident neanderthals made for a better equipped immune system PA Health news in pictures Cancer breath test to be trialled in Britain The breath biopsy device is designed to detect cancer hallmarks in molecules exhaled by patients Getty Health news in pictures Average 10 year old has consumed the recommended amount of sugar for an adult By their 10th birthdy, children have on average already eaten more sugar than the recommended amount for an 18 year old. The average 10 year old consumes the equivalent to 13 sugar cubes a day, 8 more than is recommended PA Health news in pictures Child health experts advise switching off screens an hour before bed While there is not enough evidence of harm to recommend UK-wide limits on screen use, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health have advised that children should avoid screens for an hour before bed time to avoid disrupting their sleep Getty Health news in pictures Daily aspirin is unnecessary for older people in good health, study finds A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has found that many elderly people are taking daily aspirin to little or no avail Getty Health news in pictures Vaping could lead to cancer, US study finds A study by the University of Minnesota's Masonic Cancer Centre has found that the carcinogenic chemicals formaldehyde, acrolein, and methylglyoxal are present in the saliva of E-cigarette users Reuters Health news in pictures More children are obese and diabetic There has been a 41% increase in children with type 2 diabetes since 2014, the National Paediatric Diabetes Audit has found. Obesity is a leading cause Reuters Health news in pictures Most child antidepressants are ineffective and can lead to suicidal thoughts The majority of antidepressants are ineffective and may be unsafe, for children and teenager with major depression, experts have warned. In what is the most comprehensive comparison of 14 commonly prescribed antidepressant drugs to date, researchers found that only one brand was more effective at relieving symptoms of depression than a placebo. Another popular drug, venlafaxine, was shown increase the risk users engaging in suicidal thoughts and attempts at suicide Getty Health news in pictures Gay, lesbian and bisexual adults at higher risk of heart disease, study claims Researchers at the Baptist Health South Florida Clinic in Miami focused on seven areas of controllable heart health and found these minority groups were particularly likely to be smokers and to have poorly controlled blood sugar iStock Health news in pictures Breakfast cereals targeted at children contain 'steadily high' sugar levels since 1992 despite producer claims A major pressure group has issued a fresh warning about perilously high amounts of sugar in breakfast cereals, specifically those designed for children, and has said that levels have barely been cut at all in the last two and a half decades Getty Health news in pictures Potholes are making us fat, NHS watchdog warns New guidance by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the body which determines what treatment the NHS should fund, said lax road repairs and car-dominated streets were contributing to the obesity epidemic by preventing members of the public from keeping active PA Health news in pictures New menopause drugs offer women relief from 'debilitating' hot flushes A new class of treatments for women going through the menopause is able to reduce numbers of debilitating hot flushes by as much as three quarters in a matter of days, a trial has found. The drug used in the trial belongs to a group known as NKB antagonists (blockers), which were developed as a treatment for schizophrenia but have been sitting on a shelf unused, according to Professor Waljit Dhillo, a professor of endocrinology and metabolism REX Health news in pictures Doctors should prescribe more antidepressants for people with mental health problems, study finds Research from Oxford University found that more than one million extra people suffering from mental health problems would benefit from being prescribed drugs and criticised ideological reasons doctors use to avoid doing so. Getty Health news in pictures Student dies of flu after NHS advice to stay at home and avoid A&E The family of a teenager who died from flu has urged people not to delay going to A&E if they are worried about their symptoms. Melissa Whiteley, an 18-year-old engineering student from Hanford in Stoke-on-Trent, fell ill at Christmas and died in hospital a month later. Just Giving Health news in pictures Government to review thousands of harmful vaginal mesh implants The Government has pledged to review tens of thousands of cases where women have been given harmful vaginal mesh implants. Getty Health news in pictures Jeremy Hunt announces 'zero suicides ambition' for the NHS The NHS will be asked to go further to prevent the deaths of patients in its care as part of a zero suicide ambition being launched today Getty Health news in pictures Human trials start with cancer treatment that primes immune system to kill off tumours Human trials have begun with a new cancer therapy that can prime the immune system to eradicate tumours. The treatment, that works similarly to a vaccine, is a combination of two existing drugs, of which tiny amounts are injected into the solid bulk of a tumour. Nephron Health news in pictures Babies' health suffers from being born near fracking sites, finds major study Mothers living within a kilometre of a fracking site were 25 per cent more likely to have a child born at low birth weight, which increase their chances of asthma, ADHD and other issues Getty Health news in pictures NHS reviewing thousands of cervical cancer smear tests after women wrongly given all-clear Thousands of cervical cancer screening results are under review after failings at a laboratory meant some women were incorrectly given the all-clear. A number of women have already been told to contact their doctors following the identification of procedural issues in the service provided by Pathology First Laboratory. Rex Health news in pictures Potential key to halting breast cancer's spread discovered by scientists Most breast cancer patients do not die from their initial tumour, but from secondary malignant growths (metastases), where cancer cells are able to enter the blood and survive to invade new sites. Asparagine, a molecule named after asparagus where it was first identified in high quantities, has now been shown to be an essential ingredient for tumour cells to gain these migratory properties. Getty Health news in pictures NHS nursing vacancies at record high with more than 34,000 roles advertised A record number of nursing and midwifery positions are currently being advertised by the NHS, with more than 34,000 positions currently vacant, according to the latest data. Demand for nurses was 19 per cent higher between July and September 2017 than the same period two years ago. REX Health news in pictures Cannabis extract could provide new class of treatment for psychosis CBD has a broadly opposite effect to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main active component in cannabis and the substance that causes paranoia and anxiety. Getty Health news in pictures Over 75,000 sign petition calling for Richard Branson's Virgin Care to hand settlement money back to NHS Mr Bransons company sued the NHS last year after it lost out on an 82m contract to provide childrens health services across Surrey, citing concerns over serious flaws in the way the contract was awarded PA Health news in pictures More than 700 fewer nurses training in England in first year after NHS bursary scrapped The numbers of people accepted to study nursing in England fell 3 per cent in 2017, while the numbers accepted in Wales and Scotland, where the bursaries were kept, increased 8.4 per cent and 8 per cent respectively Getty Health news in pictures Landmark study links Tory austerity to 120,000 deaths The paper found that there were 45,000 more deaths in the first four years of Tory-led efficiencies than would have been expected if funding had stayed at pre-election levels. On this trajectory that could rise to nearly 200,000 excess deaths by the end of 2020, even with the extra funding that has been earmarked for public sector services this year. Reuters Health news in pictures Long commutes carry health risks Hours of commuting may be mind-numbingly dull, but new research shows that it might also be having an adverse effect on both your health and performance at work. Longer commutes also appear to have a significant impact on mental wellbeing, with those commuting longer 33 per cent more likely to suffer from depression Shutterstock Health news in pictures You cannot be fit and fat It is not possible to be overweight and healthy, a major new study has concluded. The study of 3.5 million Britons found that even metabolically healthy obese people are still at a higher risk of heart disease or a stroke than those with a normal weight range Getty Health news in pictures Sleep deprivation When you feel particularly exhausted, it can definitely feel like you are also lacking in brain capacity. Now, a new study has suggested this could be because chronic sleep deprivation can actually cause the brain to eat itself Shutterstock Health news in pictures Exercise classes offering 45 minute naps launch David Lloyd Gyms have launched a new health and fitness class which is essentially a bunch of people taking a nap for 45 minutes. The fitness group was spurred to launch the napercise class after research revealed 86 per cent of parents said they were fatigued. The class is therefore predominantly aimed at parents but you actually do not have to have children to take part Getty Health news in pictures 'Fundamental right to health' to be axed after Brexit, lawyers warn Tobacco and alcohol companies could win more easily in court cases such as the recent battle over plain cigarette packaging if the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights is abandoned, a barrister and public health professor have said Getty Health news in pictures 'Thousands dying' due to fear over non-existent statin side-effects A major new study into the side effects of the cholesterol-lowering medicine suggests common symptoms such as muscle pain and weakness are not caused by the drugs themselves Getty Health news in pictures Babies born to fathers aged under 25 have higher risk of autism New research has found that babies born to fathers under the age of 25 or over 51 are at higher risk of developing autism and other social disorders. The study, conducted by the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at Mount Sinai, found that these children are actually more advanced than their peers as infants, but then fall behind by the time they hit their teenage years Getty Health news in pictures Cycling to work could halve risk of cancer and heart disease Commuters who swap their car or bus pass for a bike could cut their risk of developing heart disease and cancer by almost half, new research suggests but campaigners have warned there is still an urgent need to improve road conditions for cyclists. Cycling to work is linked to a lower risk of developing cancer by 45 per cent and cardiovascular disease by 46 per cent, according to a study of a quarter of a million people. Walking to work also brought health benefits, the University of Glasgow researchers found, but not to the same degree as cycling. Getty
Top stem cell biologist Professor Robin Lovell-Badge, from the Francis Crick Institute in London, made his comments after details of the case appeared in the journal Reproductive BioMedicine Online.
He said: It is of, course, good news that the woman being treated was able to have an apparently healthy child with no signs of mitochondrial disease, but from the paper it seems that in many respects Zhang and colleagues were sailing very close to the wind and that luck played a large part in the outcome.
Prof Lovell-Badge criticised the American team for using electrofusion methods to transfer nuclear DNA that had been abandoned by other researchers because they gave a high frequency of abnormal embryos.
Part of the treatment process involved transferring nuclear DNA from the future babys mothers egg to a denucleated donor egg.
This produced a donor egg housing nuclear DNA from the boy's mother and the donors healthy mitochondrial DNA outside the nucleus. It was then fertilised by the fathers sperm and helped to develop into an embryo.
DNA in mitochondria play an important role in metabolism but do not affect appearance or personality.
Prof Lovell-Badge pointed out that a relatively high number of abnormal mitochondria were unintentionally carried over into the embryo, the only one of four progressing to the 200-cell blastocyst stage that turned out to be normal.
While faulty mitochondria remained well below the threshold for triggering disease, t is at a level that is of some concern, said the professor, who last week gave evidence at a Parliamentary select committee hearing on gene-editing.
He went on: In the end they only had one normal-looking embryo that could be transferred into the patient.
They were lucky that this was indeed normal and that it gave rise to a pregnancy. And they were lucky that the proportion of abnormal mitochondrial DNA remained relatively low in most tissues.
Dr John Zhang with the baby in Mexico shortly after he was born (New Hope Fertility Centre)
He said his comments left aside all the issues of consent and legality.
Final stages of the treatment, including implantation of the embryo into the womb, were carried out in Mexico to avoid breaching US federal law.
Mitochondrial Replacement Therapy (MRT) is officially sanctioned in the UK and a clinic in Newcastle has been given the go-ahead to select the first British patient for treatment, probably before the end of the year.
The technique is controversial because it involves altering inherited germ line DNA that is passed to future generations.
Critics have accused politicians and regulators in the UK of rushing to embrace a technology that is not proven to be safe and could pave the way to designer babies.
Supporters say it offers new hope to thousands of families who want a healthy baby (Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Supporters say it offers new hope to thousands of families cursed by devastating inherited diseases. Around one in 4,000 adults in the UK is believed to suffer from a mitochondrial disorder.
Each year one in 6,500 children in the UK is thought to be born with serious mitochondrial defects.
Professor Sir Doug Turnbull, director of the Wellcome Centre for Mitochondrial Research at the University of Newcastle, who has pioneered MRT techniques, said: Mitochondrial donation is an important new IVF technique that provides more reproductive choice for women with mitochondrial DNA mutations.
In the UK there is a clear regulatory framework and Newcastle has recently obtained a licence from the HFEA to allow mitochondrial donation for women at risk of having severely affected offspring.
It is important that all reproductive options are explained to potential mothers and there is long-term follow-up of children born, all of which are planned in the UK.
PA
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Up to 20 people looked on as a gang brutally attacked an asylum seeker at a bus stop in south London, residents in the area have said.
Eight people were being questioned on suspicion of the attempted murder of the Kurdish Iranian teenager, who suffered serious head injuries after being repeatedly kicked and punched.
The crime has drawn widespread condemnation, with Tory minister Gavin Barwell describing the attackers as scum.
Recommended Child refugees continue to be exploited as they try to reach safety
One resident of Shrublands Avenue, where the attack took place, said: There were more than eight people, there was a massive group coming up from The Goat pub.
You couldn't see who was hitting who.
There was one person, the one who ended up in hospital, he was getting absolutely beaten up kicked, mostly in the facial area. He was getting kicked and punched by everyone.
There was a group of roughly 10 people that was kicking and punching him, and the rest, another 10 or 20, were all just around watching.
Then when they heard sirens they started to go. People that were there, witnesses, because they couldn't do anything against a group of 30 people, they had to wait until they moved off and that's when they managed to help him.
That's eventually when the ambulance and police (arrived), and that was it.
The 17-year-old was with two friends at the bus stop when the attack happened at around 11.40pm on Friday. Police said they believed the assailants asked him where he was from before the attack began.
He was taken to a south London hospital, where he remains. While his two friends suffered minor injuries in the attack, the teenager reportedly sustained a fractured skull and a blood clot on his brain. His condition was described as serious but stable, and was not believed to be life-threatening.
Mr Barwell, Croydon Central's MP, said: It's an appalling crime and I hope the people responsible are caught quickly and receive the full force of British justice.
London mayor Sadiq Khan also condemned the attack, saying hate crime has no place in London, Britain or anywhere else, while the Refugee Council said it was disgusted by the incident.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn also denounced the assault, saying: Absolutely shocked at attack on young Kurdish asylum seeker, who came here searching for safety. I fervently hope he makes a full recovery.
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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 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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
Scotland Yard said a 23-year-old man was arrested in Croydon on Sunday on suspicion of attempted murder, while a 26-year-old man and 17-year-old girl were detained on suspicion of attempted murder and violent disorder.
Five other people are still being questioned by detectives while a sixth, a woman aged 20, was released without charge.
The group three men aged 20, one aged 24 and a 24-year-old woman are also being held on suspicion of attempted murder and violent disorder.
Appealing for help identifying three people in relation to the attack, Detective Inspector Gary Castle, from Croydon CID, said: Whilst arrests have been made, we now know that a large number of people, approximately 20, were involved in the attack on the victim.
A number of them approached the victim as he waited at a bus stop with two friends outside the Goat Public House in Shrublands.
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 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.
A number of people came to the aid of the victim as he lay unconscious and injured following the assault. Two friends of the victim managed to escape the attackers and suffered only minor injuries [...] All communities stand together against hate. No one should be subjected to violent behaviour, especially those who have come to London to seek refuge and a place of safety.
Anyone with information about the attack should call police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.
Additional reporting by Press Association
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Detectives investigating a suspected hate crime that left a teenage asylum seeker fighting for his life have released the images of three people they wish identify and question.
The two men and a woman are being sought in connection with the attack on a 17-year-old Kurdish Iranian who was attacked at a bus stop in Croydon, south east London.
Eight people are being held on suspicion of attempted murder following a series of arrests over the weekend.
The Metropolitan Police said they know approximately 20 were involved the incident that left the boy with a fractured skull and a blood clot on his brain.
On Monday police renewed their appeal for witnesses and information as the victim remained in hospital in a serious but stable condition.
The bus stop near the Goat Pub in Croydon, London, where the assault took place (Neil Hall/Reuters) (Reuters)
Detective Inspector Gary Castle, from Croydon CID, said: Whilst arrests have been made, we now know that a large number of people, approximately 20, were involved in the attack on the victim.
A number of them approached the victim as he waited at a bus stop with two friends outside The Goat public house in the Shrublands.
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 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.
A number of people came to the aid of the victim as he lay unconscious and injured following the assault.
Two friends of the victim managed to escape the attackers and suffered only minor injuries. There are no other reported injuries.
The Goat pub in Croydon
If you can help identify any of these people please call my team without delay.
Neighbours claimed up to 20 people watched while the teenager was kicked and beaten on the ground.
One resident of Shrublands Avenue told the Press Association: There were more than eight people, there was a massive group coming up from The Goat pub.
You couldn't see who was hitting who.
There was one person, the one who ended up in hospital, he was getting absolutely beaten up - kicked, mostly in the facial area. He was getting kicked and punched by everyone.
There was a group of roughly 10 people that was kicking and punching him, and the rest, another 10 or 20, were all just around watching.
Then when they heard sirens they started to go. People that were there, witnesses, because they couldn't do anything against a group of 30 people, they had to wait until they moved off and that's when they managed to help him.
That's eventually when the ambulance and police (arrived), and that was it.
The attack has drawn widespread condemnation, with Tory minister Gavin Barwell describing the attackers as scum.
Mr Barwell, Croydon Central's MP, said: It's an appalling crime and I hope the people responsible are caught quickly and receive the full force of British justice.
London mayor Sadiq Khan also condemned the attack, saying hate crime has no place in London, Britain or anywhere else, while the Refugee Council said it was disgusted by the assault.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn also denounced it, saying: Absolutely shocked at attack on young Kurdish asylum seeker, who came here searching for safety. I fervently hope he makes a full recovery.
Scotland Yard said a 23-year-old man was arrested in Croydon on Sunday on suspicion of attempted murder, while a 26-year-old man and 17-year-old girl were detained on suspicion of attempted murder and violent disorder.
Five other people are still being questioned by detectives while a sixth, a woman aged 20, was released without charge.
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 group - three men aged 20, one aged 24 and a 24-year-old woman - are also being held on suspicion of attempted murder and violent disorder.
Anyone with information about the attack should call police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.
Press Association
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Child trafficking referrals in the UK have hit a record high after rising by 30 per cent in a year, statistics have revealed.
The number of children referred to the UK Governments National Referral Mechanism (NRM), which identifies victims of human trafficking, increased to 1,278 in 2016, the highest figure on record, according to the latest figures from the National Crime Agency.
More than a third of all potential victims of trafficking were children aged 18 and under, with a majority of children drawn into exploitative labour, including forced criminality, such as cannabis cultivation. Overall, the NRM identified 3,805 potential victims of trafficking in 2016, a 17 per cent increase on 2015.
Trafficking covers children moved within the UK, as well as move to the country from abroad. The most prominent country of origin for trafficked children was the UK, with a total of 255 reported cases during the year, followed by Albania (227), Vietnam (227), Afghanistan (74) and Eritrea (48).
The largest increase was the number of UK national children reported to have been abused in sexual exploitation, which showed a staggering 104.8 per cent rise on the previous year a rise that it is hoped reflects a growing awareness that child sexual exploitation often manifests in the form of trafficking.
Also featuring highly in the figures were countries affected by conflicts, including Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iraq, Sudan, Pakistan and Syria, indicating that children fleeing war and instability are also vulnerable to trafficking and exploitation.
A large number of these cases are thought to have travelled from northern France through unauthorised means notably in the back of lorries facilitated by traffickers or people smugglers indicating that they can remain at risk of exploitation by the same networks after they have arrived in the UK.
All reported forms of exploitation affecting children domestic servitude, labour exploitation and sexual exploitation increased by considerable percentages, indicating a worrying diffusion of the types of abuses suffered by children.
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Alarmingly, while numbers of potential victims of trafficking increased, positive conclusive decisions which enable victims to access support decreased to the lowest point in NRM history to 635, compared with 1,028 the previous year.
Responding to the new figures, Chloe Setter, Head of Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns, ECPAT UK, a leading childrens rights organisation in the UK campaigning against child trafficking, said: These statistics show that the amount of identified child victims has risen significantly, but this is far short of the Governments own estimates of number of victims.
"This means that there are thousands of children who have not actually been identified and who are likely still in situations of horrific exploitation.
The National Referral Mechanism in its current form is an ineffective tool that fails to accurately identify the true number of trafficked children in the UK and fails to provide meaningful support to those affected. ECPAT UK is calling for a complete overhaul of the way the system works so that, instead of being a tick box for data collection, it becomes a child-focused tool to protect young victims, deliver effective support and prevent further abuse.
Barnardos Chief Executive, Javed Khan, meanwhile said: We welcome the fact that more victims of human trafficking are being identified. However, we believe this figure is just the tip of the iceberg.
Anti-Slavery Day: One victim of child sex trafficking is one too many Show all 2 1 /2 Anti-Slavery Day: One victim of child sex trafficking is one too many Anti-Slavery Day: One victim of child sex trafficking is one too many 6462-000039.jpg Getty Creative Anti-Slavery Day: One victim of child sex trafficking is one too many chart.jpg
Child victims of trafficking are some of the most vulnerable children in the country. Most of the trafficked children weve supported were sexually abused, used as slaves in nail bars, or forced to commit crimes.
They need specialist foster parents who have the skills and knowledge to help them overcome their trauma and keep them safe from traffickers. Its also vital that professionals working with children can spot the signs of trafficking to prevent children being subjected to this horrible crime.
It comes after the Local Government Association (LGA) issued a stark warning to the British public that communities must be more aware of modern slavery in order to help tackle criminal gangs exploiting vulnerable workers living in squalor and on scandalous wages.
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Five people, including two sets of siblings, have appeared in court charged with violent disorder following a suspected hate crime which left a teenage asylum seeker fighting for his life.
Kurdish Iranian Reker Ahmed, 17, was chased and subjected to what police described as a "brutal attack" after a group of people discovered he was an asylum seeker.
Detective Superintendent Jane Corrigan said said he was "starting to make a recovery", but "obviously he is going to be scarred for life as a result of the beating he sustained."
She said: "His face did receive some significant injuries, that was the main focus of the attack. But what I can say is that without a doubt this will leave lasting scars."
She added that the incident was being treated as a hate crime.
"I think this was probably confidence by numbers," she said. "It started off with this smaller group of people who were joined by between 20 to 30 and they just viciously attacked these individuals because they were asylum seekers."
Detectives are continuing efforts to trace the victim's family, who are believed to live Iran
They have also released images of three people they wish to identify and question in connection with the crime.
Daryl Davis, 20, Danyelle Davis, 24, Barry Potts, 20, George Walder, 20, and Jack Walder, 24, all from Croydon, south London, have all been charged with violent disorder.
George Walder has also been also charged with racially aggravated grievous bodily harm.
Appearing in Croydon Magistrates' Court, they spoke only to confirm their names, dates of birth, and addresses during the short hearing at on Monday afternoon.
Potts, Jack Walder and siblings Danyelle and Daryl Davis were released on conditional bail.
George Walder was remanded in custody.
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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 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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. 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Deputy District Judge Richard Hawgood sent the case for trial at Croydon Crown Court, where the five defendants will appear for a plea and trial preparation hearing on 1 May.
Two other people have been charged in connection with the attack.
Kyran Evans, 23, and a 17-year-old girl, both from the Croydon area, are charged with violent disorder.
They are due to appear at Croydon Magistrates' Court on Tuesday.
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An elderly couple who were married for 71 years have died just four minutes apart from each other.
Vera Russell and her husband Wilf were not together when they died as they were both being cared for in separate institutions just three miles away from each other.
Mr Russell, who had been living in a care home in Wigston, near Leicester, died at 6:50am on Wednesday, the Leicester Mercury reported. He was 93-years-old.
Recommended Elderly couple together for 70 years allowed to stay in same care home
His granddaughter, Stephanie Welch, said her 91-year-old grandmother died at 6:54am at Leicester Royal Infirmary before she had been told of her husbands death.
I think she was waiting for him to go, she told the newspaper. She was broken hearted.
Mr Russell had been moved into the care home a few months ago after being diagnosed with dementia a year ago. He didnt recognise his wife Vera on a recent trip she made to see him, and her health began to deteriorate from that point, Ms Welch said.
The couple met when they were 16 and 18-years-old respectively and were engaged before Mr Russell was sent to Europe and North Africa during WWII. They married when he returned.
Mr and Mrs Russell are survived by two sons, five grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.
Last year a Texas couple in their early nineties died just hours apart from each other, after they had been married for 74 years.
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Britain needs to calm down over Gibraltar, Spain's foreign minister has said.
Alfonso Dastis said that he was surprised that the UK government was so excited about the dispute over the rock, in response to suggestions that the two countries could go to war.
"The Spanish government is a little surprised by the tone of comments coming out of Britain, a country known for its composure," he said during a conference in Madrid. He said comparing the dispute to the Falklands is "out of context".
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. 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His comments came after a former government minister suggested that Theresa May could be ready to go to war over the rock, if it is threatened as part of the Brexit negotiations. Former Conservative leader Michael Howard compared the territory dispute to the Falkland Islands, and said that Britain would be prepared to take similarly aggressive measures.
Current ministers haven't been so extreme, but have suggested that the sovereignty of Gibraltar won't be threatened during the negotiations. Boris Johnson said Gibraltar's sovereignty "is not going to change and cannot conceivably change without the express support and consent of the people of Gibraltar and the United Kingdom."
Recommended Boris Johnson intervenes in Gibraltar sovereignty row
Alfonso Dastis has said that Madrid must have a veto over any agreements made over Gibraltar, which sits on Spain's southern tip and is an important strategic enclave. The EU's plans for the Brexit negotiations let the two countries argue about the territory, which Spain has wanted back since it ceded it to the British more than 300 years ago.
Mr Dastis's comments were similar to those made by Dutch foreign minister Bert Koenders, who called for calm and argued that the Brexit divorce is difficult enough already.
"Let's be cool and carry on, and not use too harsh language, I would say. Let's just negotiate. I think that's the most important," he said.
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More than a quarter of Jewish students are living in fear of an anti-Semitic attack, a new report has found.
Published by the National Union of Students (NUS), the study found 26 per cent of Jews in further or higher education were either fairly worried or very worried about being subjected to a physical attack, property damage,verbal abuse or theft as a result of their religion.
Almost two-thirds of Jewish students had not been the victim of crime at their place of study.
But two thirds (66 per cent) said they believed they were targeted a result of their faith.
More than one in four Jewish students (28 per cent) have been subjected to personal abuse on social media or other communication channels.
The findings come amid ongoing concern about allegations of anti-Semitism within the NUS.
The organisations president, Malia Bouattia, was recently condemned by the Home Affairs Select Committee for outright racism after she referred to the University of Birmingham as a Zionist outpost.
Ms Bouattia denied her language was anti-Semitic but apologised for any offence she had caused.
The number of recorded anti-Semitic incidents at educational institutions almost doubled last year, from 21 to 41.
Reports of anti-Jewish sentiment within the NUS could help explain why fewer than half (49 per cent) of Jewish students said they would feel comfortable attending NUS events.
Two-thirds thought the union would not respond appropriately to allegations of anti-Semitism.
The shadow of anti-semitism falls on Europe once more as Hungary's far-fight Jobbik party protests against World Jewish Congress meeting in Budapest Show all 2 1 /2 The shadow of anti-semitism falls on Europe once more as Hungary's far-fight Jobbik party protests against World Jewish Congress meeting in Budapest The shadow of anti-semitism falls on Europe once more as Hungary's far-fight Jobbik party protests against World Jewish Congress meeting in Budapest 28-Jobbik-party-EPA.jpg EPA The shadow of anti-semitism falls on Europe once more as Hungary's far-fight Jobbik party protests against World Jewish Congress meeting in Budapest 28-Eniko-Kovacs-Hegedus-Reu.jpg Reuters
Meanwhile 45 per cent of Jewish students said they did need feel comfortable voicing their opinions on the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Some claimed that during discussions on the issue, they had been accused of being spies working for the Israeli government.
Others students reported academics making anti-Israel generalisations during discussions on unrelated topics and fellow students refusing to sit next to them and justifying this in the name of Palestine.
Anecdotal evidence in the report includes allegations of Jewish students being the victim of anti-Semitic comments made by lecturers.
One student said an academic had made jokes about gas chambers during a lecture on atmospheric gasses, while another reported a lecturer saying the only reason a person they were studying was thrown in jail is because he was taking money from Jewish and they are resourceful..
A different student was told they would be marked down for leaving a class early to observe the Jewish Sabbath, because the university is a secular institute.
Nearly two-thirds of Jewish students said they had encountered problems with classes and exams being scheduled on days of Jewish festivals, while almost half reported difficulties accessing kosher food on campus, the study found.
Rob Young, NUS Vice President Society and Citizenship, said: "In a wider context of increasing antisemitism across the UK, we know that Jewish students have been feeling increasingly uncomfortable on University campuses and that there is a lot of work to be done to change that.
"This research has given us a greater understanding of some of the challenges faced by Jewish students in Universities and in the student movement. I hope that the sector will act on the recommendations in this report. Everyone should feel able to participate fully in campus life and NUS and I are fully committed to ensuring that that is the case."
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The NHS has launched an urgent investigation into allegations that suicidal patients calling 111 are being left on hold until they hang up.
Staff at the health services non-emergency hotline were allegedly found asleep on duty, claimed a reporter for The Sun who went undercover at the NHS 111 call centre at St Charles Hospital in Ladbroke Grove, west London.
The newspaper reported an alleged conversation with one of the call handlers about how they dealt with suicidal patients.
According to The Sun, a handler told the undercover reporter: After a while you cant talk to them no more, it just gets awkward.
She was crying and I was asking her stuff like, 'do you not really want to talk', she was like, 'no'... I put her on mute, the reporter was allegedly told.
A Department of Health spokesman described the claims as clearly completely unacceptable if found to be true.
The NHS is now urgently investigating and if any wrongdoing whatsoever is found, including criminal actions, we will want to see the police and relevant NHS regulators alerted as necessary, they said.
Thousands gather in London for NHS rally to protest against cuts to services
The St Charles Hospital centre provides 24-hour support for callers from 11 boroughs in north, west and central London.
The 111 helpline, offered to direct patients with urgent conditions to the best form of care, is described by the NHS as fast, easy and free.
Call 111 and speak to a highly trained adviser, supported by healthcare professionals. They will ask you a series of questions to assess your symptoms and immediately direct you to the best medical care for you, says the NHS website.
The newspaper said it found call handlers asleep at their desks or describing themselves on busy on the internal computer system to avoid new calls and new patients.
Technical glitches reportedly ended with one handler hanging up on at least three patients, including one with heart palpitations.
Workers were told to tell callers they were experiencing technical failures when they may have been struggling to work the system, according to The Sun.
The report also claimed that managers changed the undercover reporter's time sheets to show he had done more training hours than he had.
Simon Douglass, medical director of the London Central and West Unscheduled Care Collaborative, which runs the centre, said: I would like to reassure patients and the communities that patient safety is, and always will be, our highest priority.
We take any allegations extremely seriously and have launched an urgent investigation. The matters leading to the allegations appear to have arisen earlier this year when the undercover reporter participated in training.
All issues relating to staff conduct are extremely important to us, particularly in relation to patient safety. We strictly enforce our policies for managing staff conduct at all times including whenever we receive reports of inappropriate conduct or behaviour.
William Doan's art tackling mental health Show all 13 1 /13 William Doan's art tackling mental health William Doan's art tackling mental health William Doan's art tackling mental health William Doan's art tackling mental health William Doan's art tackling mental health William Doan's art tackling mental health William Doan's art tackling mental health William Doan's art tackling mental health William Doan's art tackling mental health William Doan's art tackling mental health William Doan's art tackling mental health William Doan's art tackling mental health William Doan's art tackling mental health William Doan's art tackling mental health
Last February the NHS 111 service was investigated over allegations that 17-year-olds without the right medical training were answering calls.
And it is the same service where a call handler failed to recognise that one-year-old William Mead, who died following a string of NHS failings, had sepsis caused by an underlying chest infection.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the service would undergo "fundamental" reform in the wake of the report into the Mead's death.
Recommended Surge in online mental health appointments attacked by specialists
An inquiry into the effectiveness of NHS 111 launched after the incident found that a trained doctor or nurse would have been more likely to successfully identify that the child was suffering from sepsis.
The report said that might have saved the boys life because the tool used by the untrained call handlers was not adequate to detect the condition.
We are working closely with the NHS clinical commissioning groups to ensure that any concerns are thoroughly investigated and we have appointed a senior investigating officer to oversee this process, said Mr Douglass.
The Sun did not share their evidence prior to publication and we will be asking them to disclose this to us to assist our investigation.
As an NHS service provider we are committed to delivering high-quality services.
Additional reporting from Press Association
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Gibraltar's sovereignty is unchanged and "cannot conceivably change" unless consent is given by both Gibraltar and Britain, Boris Johnson has said.
It comes after speculation about The Rock's future following Brexit and even a suggestion the UK might go to war over the issue by former Tory leader Michael Howard.
Mr Johnson said on Monday morning: "I think the position of the Government is very, very clear. Which is that the sovereignty of Gibraltar is unchanged and it's not going to change, and cannot conceivably change without the express support and consent of the people of Gibraltar and the United Kingdom."
Gibraltar's Chief Minister added the territory will not allow itself to become a bargaining chip or a victim in Brexit negotiations.
Fabian Picardo said Spain was "bullying" Gibraltar and that a clause in the EU's joint position on exit talks embroiling the territory in any final agreement should be removed.
"We voted to stay in the European Union so taking it out on us is to allow Spain to behave in the manner of the bully," he said.
Former foreign secretary Jack Straw called the idea of war with Spain over Gibraltar is "absurd" and said it "reeks of 19th century jingoism".
The Labour ex-cabinet minister said Gibraltar was unlikely to be a key facet of Brexit negotiations over the next two years.
He intervened following Mr Howards outlandish claim that Theresa May would go to war to protect the territorys sovereignty, amid increased tension around its status in the wake of the decision to trigger Article 50.
Spain's Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis said on Monday: "The Spanish government is a little surprised by the tone of comments coming out of Britain, a country known for its composure."
Additional reporting by agencies
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Germanys Foreign Minister has cast doubt on Theresa Mays insistence that both a Brexit divorce deal and new free trade agreement with the EU can be completed by 2019.
In an exclusive interview with The Independent, Sigmar Gabriel said new trade relations would be "a laborious endeavour", suggesting the UK may have to settle for simply getting "as far as we can" in the two years allowed for talks.
Mr Gabriel, also Angela Merkels Vice Chancellor, then said Ms May must give "certainty" that the UK will settle its Brexit divorce bill before talks begin on any future trade deal between Britain and Europe.
Article 50 triggered: What happens now?
As Mr Gabriel prepares to meet Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, he also dealt a further blow to the Prime Ministers attempts to tie security to trade talks, saying the fight against terrorism is a "necessity" and not a "political choice".
He also underlined "concerns" about the climate faced by foreigners in the UK amid heightened concerns over hate crime, in particular following a serious assault that left an asylum seeker with a fractured skull.
Mr Gabriel arrives in Britain on his first official visit as Foreign Minister in a bid to shore up "special, close and friendly" relations that he says exist with Britain ahead of Brexit talks, but he made clear that the "coherence and unity" of the remaining 27 EU states will come first in negotiations.
He spoke to The Independent less than a week after Ms May sent her letter to European Council President Donald Tusk triggering Article 50 and launching a two-year countdown to Britain's departure from the EU.
Both in the letter and previous speeches, Ms May has said she wants both a withdrawal deal and future trade terms "agreed in the time period set out" under the article of the Lisbon Treaty.
Mr Gabriel said guaranteeing the rights of both EU and UK citizens who have settled abroad should be a priority (Getty)
But asked whether it was possible, Mr Gabriel questioned the feasibility of what has now become a key premise of Ms May's approach to Brexit.
"We are as keen as the UK is to complete both agreements as soon as possible," he said.
"First, we have to get things right on the orderly withdrawal, then we will want to talk as soon as possible about our future relationship and get as far as we can within the next two years.
"However, I dont want to speculate on time frames at a time when negotiations have not even started yet. Both sides must recognise that an agreement on a wide-ranging partnership will be quite a laborious endeavour."
Ms May was also clear in her letter that she wants both the divorce talks and those related to a future trade agreement to occur in parallel, something that would allow them to be completed quicker.
Donald Tusk outlines EU guidelines for Brexit talks
But Chancellor Merkel was among the first European politicians to pour cold water on the plan.
Mr Tusk followed suit when he set out the EUs draft negotiating position, stating that sufficient progress would have to be made on withdrawal talks before trade talks could begin.
Asked what sufficient progress would mean to Germany, he said: "We want to minimise...uncertainties as soon as possible. This is why I believe the UK and the EU should strive to secure an orderly withdrawal as their first order of business. Its also why we share the position that has been laid out by President Tusk in the guidelines.
He then added: "Well also have to work together towards achieving certainty that the UK will honour its financial obligations towards the EU.
Some have put the bill the UK could face - to settle existing commitments to EU programmes and costs - as high as 60bn, though lower estimates come in at half as much.
Ms May faces a battle on the continent to clear the issue and begin trade talks, while also under intense pressure from the Tory right to pay as little as possible.
Her Article 50 letter appeared to suggest she would use the UK's valued intelligence and security cooperation in the fight against crime and terror as leverage to force her point in Brussels, sparking dismay from Europe's politicians.
Only after calls from Downing St did they take the Government's "word" that Ms May had not meant to threaten withdrawing cooperation.
Mr Gabriel said of the furore: "If you look at the security threats we are facing today, from terrorism to organised crime to cyber attacks, youll see terrorist and criminal acts are increasingly transnational.
"These people dont care about borders, and they surely wont wait for us to figure out a way to work together on security matters after Brexit.
"The nature of these threats makes security cooperation more of a necessity than a matter of political choice. No citizen in the EU or the UK would accept a negative impact on security due to a reduced level of cooperation after Brexit. Thats why I believe its in our shared interest to maintain close security cooperation."
Mr Gabriel highlighted guaranteeing the rights of both EU and UK citizens who have built up a life abroad, as another priority.
But the Foreign Minister went on to raise concerns about the general climate faced by foreigners in Brexit Britain.
He spoke as police question individuals in relation to the severe beating of an asylum seeker in South London and in addition to comments made by French Ambassador Sylvie Bermann on how her country's citizens faced abuse following the EU referendum.
He said: "We often hear from foreigners who reside in the UK and who are very concerned about Brexit and its consequences, not only for their rights but also for the general climate towards foreigners. This concerns me.
"I am very fond of the strong bonds of friendship which have developed over the last 70 years between the people of the UK and Germany. It would be very sad to see these bonds weakened or broken."
He emphasised that it would be essential to "continue fostering our friendship and people-to-people contacts between the UK and the continent, adding: "Brexit is a fact and there will always be friendship between our people."
Brexit Concerns Show all 26 1 /26 Brexit Concerns Brexit Concerns Brexit will put British patients at 'back of the queue' for new drugs Brexit will put British patients at the back of the queue for vital new drugs, the Government has been warned forcing them to wait up to two years longer A medicines regulator has raised the alarm over a likely decision to pull out of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), as well as the EU itself. ealth Secretary Jeremy Hunt dropped the bombshell , when he said he expected the UK would quit the EMA because it is subject to rulings by the European Court of Justice. Getty Images Brexit Concerns London to lose status as 'gateway to Europe' for banks One of Germanys top banking regulators has warned that London could lose its status as gateway to Europe for the banking sector after Britain quits the European trading bloc. Andreas Dombret, who is an executive board member for the BundesbankGermanys central banktold a private meeting of German businesses and banks earlier this week in Frankfurt that even if banking rules were equivalent between the UK and the rest of the EU, that was still miles away from [Britain having] access to the single market, the BBC reports. Jason Hawkes Brexit Concerns Exodus The number of financial sector professionals in Britain and continental Europe looking for jobs in Ireland rocketed in the months after the UK voted to leave the European Union Shutterstock Brexit Concerns Brexit is making FTSE 100 executives richer Pay packages of many FTSE 100 chief executive officers are partly tied to how well share prices are doing rather than the CEOs performance -- and some stocks are soaring. ritish equities got a boost since the June vote because the likes of Rio Tinto, Smiths Group and WPP generate most sales abroad and earn a fortune when they convert these revenues back into the weakened pound. Sterlings fall also made UK stocks more affordable for overseas investors. Rex Brexit Concerns Theresa May: UK to leave single market Theresa May has said the UK "cannot possibly" remain within the European single market, as staying in it would mean "not leaving the EU at all". Getty Brexit Concerns Lead campaigner Gina Miller and her team outside the High Court Getty Brexit Concerns Raymond McCord holds up his newly issued Irish passport alongside his British passport outside the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns SDLP leader Colum Eastwood leaving the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns Migrants with luggage walk past a graffiti on a wall as they leave the 'Jungle' migrant camp, as part of a major three-day operation planned to clear the camp in Calais Getty Brexit Concerns Migrants leave messages on their tents in the Jungle migrant camp Getty Brexit Concerns The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (Adra) which distributes approximately 700 meals daily in the northern Paris camp states that it is noticing a spike in new migrant arrivals this week, potentially linked the the Calais 'jungle' camp closure - with around 1000 meals distributed today EPA Brexit Concerns Migrant workers pick apples at Stocks Farm in Suckley, Britain Reuters Brexit Concerns Many farmers across the country are voicing concerns that Brexit could be a dangerous step into the unknown for the farming industry Getty Brexit Concerns Bank of England governor Mark Carney who said the long-term outlook for the UK economy is positive, but growth was slowing in the wake of the Brexit vote PA Brexit Concerns The Dow Jones industrial average closed down over 600 points on the news with markets around the globe pluninging Getty Brexit Concerns Immigration officers deal with each member of the public seeking entry into the United Kingdom but on average, 10 a day are refused entry at this London airport and between 2008 and 2009, 33,100 people were detained at the airport for mainly passport irregularities Getty Brexit Concerns A number of global investment giants have threatened to move their European operations out of London if Brexit proves to have a negative impact on their businesses Getty Brexit Concerns Following the possibility of a Brexit the UK would be released from its renewable energy targets under the EU Renewable Energy Directive and from EU state aid restrictions, potentially giving the government more freedom both in the design and phasing out of renewable energy support regimes Getty Brexit Concerns A woman looking at a chart showing the drop in the pound (Sterling) against the US Dollar in London after Britain voted to leave the EU Getty Brexit Concerns Young protesters outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, to protest against the United Kingdom's decision to leave the EU following the referendum Getty Brexit Concerns Applications from Northern Ireland citizens for Irish Passports has soared to a record high after the UK Voted in favour of Leaving the EU Getty Brexit Concerns NFU Vice President Minette Batters with Secretary of State, Andrea Leadsome at the National Farmers Union (NFU) took machinery, produce, farmers and staff to Westminster to encourage Members of Parliament to back British farming, post Brexit Getty Brexit Concerns The latest reports released by the UK Cabinet Office warn that expats would lose a range of specific rights to live, to work and to access pensions, healthcare and public services. The same reports added that UK citizens abroad would not be able to assume that these rights will be guaranteed in the future Getty Brexit Concerns A British resident living in Spain asks questions during an informative Brexit talk by the "Brexpats in Spain" group, about Spanish legal issues to become Spanish citizens, at the town hall in Benalmadena, Spain Reuters Brexit Concerns The collapse of Great Britain appears to have been greatly exaggerated given the late summer crowds visiting city museums, hotels, and other important tourist attractions Getty Brexit Concerns The U.K. should maintain European Union regulations covering everything from working hours to chemicals until after the government sets out its plans for Brexit, said British manufacturers anxious to avoid a policy vacuum and safeguard access to their biggest export market Getty
Mr Gabriel, who belongs to the centre left SPD that rivals Ms Merkel's CDU despite being in coalition, said pending German elections would have little impact on the country's Brexit stance.
The SPD's Martin Schulz, ex-president of the European Parliament, will launch a challenge against Ms Merkel in September, but Mr Gabriel said: "The idea of European integration has been one of the strongest continuities in the history of German political thinking since World War II.
"Every German government from Konrad Adenauer to Willy Brandt, from Gerhard Schroder to Angela Merkel, has known - Germanys future lies in the European Union. This explains why there is a solid consensus on Brexit."
A spokesman for Boris Johnson said: "The foreign secretary will tell the minister face to face that we want a deep and special partnership and want to work closely with our EU partners to get the best deal for both sides.
"He will make clear that this should not be like a divorce and we should enter discussions in a positive way. He will also reassure him that we will not use defence and security as a bargaining chip in negotiations but also that Gibraltar is also not a chip for bargaining."
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Downing Street has refused to condemn ex-Tory leader Michael Howard's claim that the UK would go to war with Spain over Gibraltar.
Number 10 said all the Conservative grandee was doing was trying to establish "the resolve" that Theresa May's administration has to defend the sovereignty of the territory.
Ms May also laughed off suggestions Britain was willing to use its military muscle to influence the debate with the EU on Gibraltar, saying it was "jaw jaw not war war" - borrowing a phrase from Winston Churchill.
It came after the Spanish Foreign Minister urged the UK Government to "be cool", following the furore around Lord Howard's comments that Britain would go to war over Gibraltar in the same way it had over the Falklands.
Theresa May's official spokesman said "it isn't going to happen", when asked about the former Tory leader's comments on a potential war with Spain.
But when repeatedly asked if Ms May had found the intervention unhelpful, he said: "All that Lord Howard was trying to establish, was the resolve that we have to protect the rights of Gibraltar and its sovereignty as I have set out.
"We've been very clear that we will support fully Gibraltar's right to its sovereignty."
On Friday morning, European Council President Donald Tusk published his draft guidelines for the forthcoming Brexit negotiations with the EU, which said Spain would be given a veto over any deal that would affect the status of Gibraltar.
The Number 10 spokesman added: "These are draft guidelines that were issued on Friday. We expect the position to come back to us later this month...and obviously we will wait and see what is agreed by the 27 [EU nations]."
Earlier on Monday, Spanish minister Alfonso Dastis said Madrid must have a veto over any agreements made over Gibraltar, which sits on Spain's southern tip and is an important strategic enclave that the country has wanted back since it ceded it to the British more than 300 years ago.
In response to the growing furore in the UK press, he said: "Let's be cool and carry on, and not use too harsh language, I would say. Let's just negotiate. I think that's the most important."
Mr Dastis's comments were similar to those made by Dutch foreign minister Bert Koenders, who called for calm and argued that the Brexit divorce is difficult enough already.
Brexit Secretary David Davis also raised Gibraltar with Spanish counterparts in what Downing Street described as "friendly and constructive" talks in Madrid on Monday.
The Prime Minister was forced at the weekend to reiterate the UKs steadfast commitment to Gibraltar after Lord Howard caused embarrassment by suggesting the UK could go to war with Spain over the territory, as it had done with Argentina over the Falklands.
Mr Howard told Sky News: Thirty-five years ago this week, another woman prime minister sent a taskforce halfway across the world to defend the freedom of another small group of British people against another Spanish-speaking country, and Im absolutely certain that our current Prime Minister will show the same resolve in standing by the people of Gibraltar.
Jack Straw says threat of war with Spain over Gibraltar is 'absurd and reeks of 19th century jingoism'
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Monday: "I think the position of the Government is very, very clear. Which is that the sovereignty of Gibraltar is unchanged and it's not going to change, and cannot conceivably change without the express support and consent of the people of Gibraltar and the United Kingdom."
Gibraltars First Minister Fabian Picardo had said the possibility of shared sovereignty with Spain would strip of us who we are before adding that the United Kingdom goes to war over the principle of consent all around the world.
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Michael Howards suggestion that Britain might go to war over Gibraltar has been dismissed by a defence expert as both hilarious and completely unrealistic.
Peter Felstead, editor of Janes Defence Weekly, told The Independent that however tense Brexit negotiations got, Britain and Spain going to war over Gibraltar was something that is just not going to happen.
We are talking about two Nato allies, he said. There are occasional differences between allies, but this would never be allowed to blow up into anything that would constitute open conflict.
Its quite hilarious, he added. I would say its a very bolshy way to talk to a Nato ally, and not very helpful.
His comments came as the Spanish government suggested that Britain should calm down and regain its traditional composure, and as former Labour Foreign Secretary Jack Straw dismissed Tory ex-leader Lord Howards idea of war over Gibraltar as absurd 19th-century jingoism.
Invoking the spirit of Margaret Thatcher during the Falklands War, Lord Howard told Sky News on Sunday: Thirty-five years ago this week, another woman Prime Minister sent a taskforce halfway across the world to defend the freedom of another small group of British people against another Spanish-speaking country, and Im absolutely certain that our current Prime Minister will show the same resolve in standing by the people of Gibraltar.
Downing Street has now sought to defend Lord Howard, saying all the Conservative grandee was doing was trying to establish "the resolve" that Theresa May's administration has to defend the sovereignty of the territory in negotiations with the EU over Brexit.
Mr Felstead, however, pointed out that no two Nato countries have ever fought a war with each other, and in Nato you have allies who have in the past been much more belligerent to each other I am thinking of Greece and Turkey.
Nato has managed to stop Greece and Turkey engaging in open conflict for many decades, so I dont think it would be a problem for them to stop the UK and Spain.
The nearest two Nato allies got to war, he said, was in 1974 when Turkey invaded northern Cyprus, an island with a large Greek population, but nonetheless independent from Greece.
Gibraltar, Mr Felstead added, Is not the same situation. For a start, its not an island. Its right along the coast from where many Brits will have experienced going on holiday.
And from a military point of view its also a key strategic listening post in the Mediterranean for the UK and Nato as a whole, so Nato certainly wouldnt want a war over that bit of territory.
35th anniversary of Argentine invasion of the Falklands
As a retired Rear-Admiral told the Telegraph that Britain could still singe the King of Spains beard, but the Government had to invest appropriately in military hardware if it wanted to talk big over Gibraltar, Mr Felstead said the Falklands comparison was at least interesting in one respect.
If the Argentinians had waited to make their move and not been so impatient because of their own political situation, they would have been much more successful, because in 1982 we were planning to can our aircraft carriers: within months or a year we wouldnt have had them for that operation.
Of course at the moment, we dont have any aircraft carriers. We will soon have the largest warships the UK has ever produced, the aircraft carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, but they are still being built.
And we are not yet actually at the point where we are training up our pilots on the F-35 joint strike fighters that will go on the carriers. The RAF is just at the stage where it has prepared the flight simulators to start training our pilots.
Mr Felstead stressed, however, that he was not suggesting that this was Spains golden opportunity to have a go at retaking Gibraltar, because in the totally improbable event of such a war, aircraft carrier capability would be irrelevant.
If we really wanted to do something, we have got RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, and there would be no problem flying from the UK because it is closer, and you could refuel in the air to give you more time over the target.
Nor, he added, should military chiefs worry about the significant reduction in size of the Royal Navy since the Falklands War. By comparison, Spain decommissioned its only aircraft carrier the Principe de Asturias in 2013:
You would have to say we have stronger armed forces because we spend more. The Spanish have gradually been spending more on their armed forces, but only after quite significant cuts.
They are solid Nato ally, but not one of the stronger European Nato allies.
In previous military confrontations over Gibraltar, Spain has tended to come out second best. Britain captured the Rock in 1704 during the War of Spanish Succession, when an Anglo-Dutch fleet under the command of Admiral George Rooke conducted a five-hour, 15,000-cannon bombardment followed by a weakly opposed landing.
The 1713 Treaty of Utrecht ending the war stated that "the town, castle and fortifications [of Gibraltar] were to be held and enjoyed for ever without any exception or impediment whatsoever."
But in June 1779, with Britain distracted by the American War of Independence, Spain allied with France and tried to reclaim the Rock, leading to what became known as the Great Siege of Gibraltar.
Lasting three years and seven months, until February 1783, it became the longest siege endured by British Armed Forces.
The British suffered so severely from lack of food that at the sieges height that the Governor, General George Augustus Eliott, felt compelled to live on 4 ounces of rice a day as an example to his troops.
They had at most 7,000 men and only 96 guns, against more than 30,000 French and Spanish sailors and marines, and more than 200 guns.
But when the Grand Assault came in September 1782, the tens of thousands of Spanish spectators who had gathered on the surrounding hills in anticipation of victory were disappointed. The British responded with red-hot shot which blew up three floating gun batteries. Seven other batteries were so badly damaged that the Spanish had to scuttle them. The Spanish and French suffered more than 700 casualties.
Mr Felstead, however, said that Lord Howard probably shouldnt expect any rematch to follow the same lines, because the nature of conflict is changing so much.
He said: If you look at what Russia did in Crimea, you are no longer talking about state against state. You now have hybrid warfare: cyber warfare, disinformation, people patrolling the streets the little green men armed to the teeth but with no insignia on their uniforms, and then it turns out they are Russians and the place is annexed.
It wouldnt necessarily be that Spain would do the same thing, but it wouldnt look like open conflict.
We would reassert our sovereignty with patrol boats, there would perhaps be welling up of sentiments among local populaces in support of one way or another.
People might get hurt there could be riots, demonstrations, hot-headed individuals but it would look like that as opposed to an open military confrontation.
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Former foreign secretary Jack Straw has said the idea of war with Spain over Gibraltar is absurd and reeks of 19th century jingoism.
The Labour ex-cabinet minister said Gibraltar was unlikely to be a key facet of Brexit negotiations over the next two years.
He intervened following ex-Tory leader Michael Howards outlandish claim that Theresa May would go to war to protect the territorys sovereignty, amid increased tension around its status in the wake of the decision to trigger Article 50.
Recommended Gibraltar has certainly spiced up the Brexit negotiations
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme Mr Straw said: The idea of Britain going to war, or Spain going to war against Britain, over Gibraltar is frankly absurd and reeks of 19th century jingoism.
He added: I doubt very much that Gibraltar will be the deal breaker."
Mr Straw went on to point out that Spain had a large trade surplus with the UK in goods and services and would likely be unwilling to disturb it for the sake of a statement on Gibraltar.
He later said: This is 2017/18 not 1851, when Palmerston sent gunboats to shell the Piraeus, because the Greeks wouldnt comply with a request for compensation for one British individual, born in Gibraltar by the way, who had been refused that compensation when his house was sacked by rioters.
Those days are long gone.
Lord Howard suggests May will seek to protect Gibraltar as Thatcher did the Falklands
The Prime Minister was forced at the weekend to reiterate the UKs steadfast commitment to Gibraltar after Mr Howard caused embarrassment by suggesting the UK could go to war with Spain over the territory as it had done with Argentina over the Falklands.
Mr Howard told Sky News: Thirty-five years ago this week, another woman prime minister sent a taskforce halfway across the world to defend the freedom of another small group of British people against another Spanish-speaking country, and Im absolutely certain that our current Prime Minister will show the same resolve in standing by the people of Gibraltar.
And Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Monday: "I think the position of the Government is very, very clear. Which is that the sovereignty of Gibraltar is unchanged and it's not going to change, and cannot conceivably change without the express support and consent of the people of Gibraltar and the United Kingdom."
Gibraltars First Minister Fabian Picardo had said the possibility of shared sovereignty with Spain would strip of us who we are before adding that the United Kingdom goes to war over the principle of consent all around the world.
A Downing Street spokesperson said Theresa May had spoken to Mr Picardo that morning, and said she would never allow Gibraltar to share sovereignty with Spain, for as long as Gibraltars people did not wish for that to be the case.
On Friday morning, European Council President Donald Tusk published his draft guidelines for the forthcoming negotiations with the EU, which said Spain would be given a veto over any deal that would affect the status of Gibraltar.
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Jeremy Corbyn is set to launch Labours local election campaign amid claims the party could lose dozens of seats across the UK.
In a defiant speech, the party leader will argue that Labour is standing up for you and that the Conservatives are running our country down in every way ahead of local elections on 4 May.
There will be over 2,000 seats contested in the elections next month alongside Mayoral elections in city regions such as Greater Manchester and the West Midlands.
Referring to falling life expectancy for British pensioners and those aged 45 at a speech in Nottinghamshire, Mr Corbyn is expected to add: We are rich country, the sixth richest in the world. We are not at war, there is no epidemic sweeping our land. So how on earth can life expectancy be falling?
The truth is that the Tories are running our country down. Home ownership, opportunities for our children, wages and conditions at work, the NHS, care for our elderly, and now, life expectancy: theyre all going backwards, run down by a Conservative Government that looks after those at the top and manages decline for the rest of us.
The launching of Labours campaign for the 4 May elections comes as a new poll showed the party is still trailing the Conservatives by 18 points, equalling the lowest level it has ever reached in a series of ICM polls for the Guardian dating back to 1983.
At a briefing on Monday polling expert and Conservative peer Robert Hayward claimed Labour could lose as many as 125 seats next month and suffer a cataclysmic defeat among Scottish voters.
Mr Haywards warning came after Professor John Curtice considered one of the countrys top elections experts also had grim forecasts in mind for the party. He predicted a 12-point swing from Labour to the Conservatives in Mays contests, with Mr Corbyns party at risk of losing control of councils in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.
Describing Mr Curtices forecasts as pretty depressing Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth said Labour must win key counties outside of London. Weve got to be winning in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Lancashire, he said. Those types of places because they contain a lot of marginal constituencies that decide general elections.
On Tuesday Mr Corbyn will add: "We are offering a real alternative that reflects the priorities of the majority of our people to rebuild and transform Britain, so that no one and no community is left behind.
"Instead of a country run for the rich, we can create a Britain where all of us can lead richer lives: investing in a better Britain, creating educational opportunity for all, guaranteeing the health and social care services you need, providing safer neighbourhoods and building homes people can afford.
This election is your chance to send a message to the Tories: that you wont accept our NHS in crisis, your childrens future betrayed, a deepening housing crisis, damaging cuts to the police and insecure jobs that dont make ends meet.
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Theresa May has announced a plan to send British military trainers to Jordan to boost the nation's air force at the start of a three-day tour of the Middle East.
The programmes aim is to help the country fight Isis but comes amid controversy surrounding the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen, which also involves Jordan.
The Prime Minister wants to focus her visit, taking in both Jordan and Saudi Arabia, on tackling the Jihadi group and deepening trade ties.
But the trip was accompanied by an embarrassing announcement from the Metropolitan Police that its war crimes unit is considering an investigation into Saudi activities in Yemen.
Ms May said: It is clearly in the UK's security and prosperity interests to support Jordan and Saudi Arabia in tackling regional challenges to create a more stable region, and in delivering their ambitious reform programmes to ensure their own stability.
An even deeper partnership with these countries, and greater knowledge and understanding of one another, will increase our ability to address the issues that concern us, including the promotion of international standards and norms.
To tackle the threats we face from terrorism and from geopolitical instability, we must meet them at their source.
The child victims of Yemens civil war
She added: Jordan is on the front line of multiple regional crises and I'm clear that by working with them, we are helping keep British people safe. Likewise in Saudi Arabia, we must never forget that intelligence we have received in the past from that country has saved potentially hundreds of lives in the UK.
On Tuesday Ms May will head to Saudi, the UK's largest trading partner in the Middle East with goods and services exports totalling 6.6bn in 2015. Talks are set to focus on stronger ties following the vote for Brexit.
The Prime Minister has faced repeated calls to suspend arms sales to Riyadh amid claims of widespread human rights abuses in Yemen during the coalition bombing campaign it is leading, which includes Jordan.
The Saudis back the war-torn country's internationally recognised government against Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
2.1 million children are facing famine in Yemen
Britain has continued to allow arms sales, with more than 3.3bn of exports since the bombing began in March 2015. At least 10,000 people have been killed during the war, according to the United Nations.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson apologised at the weekend to the Saudi government after an activist in London tried to carry out a citizen's arrest of one of the Gulf states generals, while another protester threw an egg at the senior officer as he arrived at an event.
But further embarrassment has been caused after the Met made its announcement, in a statement: On Thursday 30 March 2017, the Metropolitan Police Service received a referral of an allegation of war crimes, made against Saudi Arabia, committed in Yemen.
Following receipt of the referral, the MPS war crimes team began a scoping exercise and contacted those making the allegations.
The situation in Yemen Show all 14 1 /14 The situation in Yemen The situation in Yemen Houthi supporters trample on a US flag during a gathering mobilizing more fighters into several Yemeni battlefronts, in Sana'a, Yemen EPA The situation in Yemen People carry the coffins of men, who were killed in the recent Saudi-led airstrikes during their funeral, in the Old City of Sanaa, Yemen AP The situation in Yemen Pro-government fighters give food to Yemeni children on the road leading to the southwestern port city of Mokha. Yemeni rebels are putting up fierce resistance in a key Red Sea port city where they are encircled by pro-government force Getty Images The situation in Yemen A Yemeni stands in front of a graffiti protesting US military operations in war-affected Yemen, in Sana'a, Yemen. According to reports, US Special Forces troops allegedly disembarked from US helicopters in the Yemeni town of Yakla and attacked several houses belonging to members of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda, killing three high-ranking Al-Qaeda members and nine civilians, six women and three children. One American serviceman has been killed and three injured in the attack EPA The situation in Yemen US Special Forces troops allegedly disembarked from US helicopters in the Yemeni town of Yakla and attacked several houses belonging to members of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda, killing three high-ranking Al-Qaeda members and nine civilians, six women and three children. One American serviceman has been killed and three injured in the attack EPA The situation in Yemen A Yemeni female fighter supporting the Shiite Huthi rebels, and carrying weapons used for ceremonial purposes, takes part in an anti-Saudi rally in the capital Sanaa Getty Images The situation in Yemen Yemeni female fighters supporting the Shiite Huthi rebels, and carrying weapons used for ceremonial purposes, take part in an anti-Saudi rally in the capital Sanaa Getty Images The situation in Yemen A boy shouts slogans next to pro-Houthi fighters, who have been injured during recent fighting, during a rally held to honour those injured or maimed while fighting in Houthi ranks in Sanaa, Yemen Reuters The situation in Yemen Balls of fire and smoke rise from a Houthi-held military camp following alleged Saudi-led airstrikes, in Sana'a, Yemen EPA The situation in Yemen Yemenis search under the rubble of damaged houses following reported Saudi-led coalition air strikes on the outskirts of the Yemeni capital Sanaa Getty Images The situation in Yemen A Yemeni boy looks on as Yemenis search under the rubble of damaged houses following reported Saudi-led coalition air strikes on the outskirts of the Yemeni capital Sanaa Getty The situation in Yemen A Yemeni boy sits amidst the rubble of damaged houses following reported Saudi-led coalition air strikes on the outskirts of the Yemeni capital Sanaa AFP/Getty The situation in Yemen Marine One with US President Donald Trump flies with a decoy and support helicopters to Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware, for the dignified transfer of Navy Seal Chief Petty Officer William 'Ryan' Owens who was killed in Yemen Getty Images The situation in Yemen US President Donald Trump aboard the Marine One to greet the remains of a US military commando killed during a raid on the al Qaeda militant group in southern Yemen on Sunday, at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, US Reuters
There is no investigation at this time, and the scoping exercise continues.
The Saudi visit comes days after the Government was pressed to explain why the state consistently features in the back story of terrorists, including the Westminster attacker.
Khalid Masood, the extremist who carried out the 82-second rampage on 22 March, worked in the country for several years.
The Kent-born 52-year-old mounted the kerb twice as he sped across Westminster Bridge, killing three people and leaving dozens injured, before charging the Palace of Westminster grounds armed with two knives, killing PC Keith Palmer.
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A Downing Street spokesperson has played down the significance of a report saying Scotland Yard is examining allegations of war crimes by Saudi Arabia in Yemen.
The Metropolitan Police do have powers to invest allegations of war crimes, but when when asked specifically about claims that it was, the spokesperson said: There is no Met investigation. What has happened is that they received an allegation of war crimes. They are now conducting what is known as a scoping exercise, which is a different thing entirely to an investigation.
The spokesperson also played down the prospect of human rights abuses in Yemen being raised by the Prime Minister on her visit to Saudi Arabia. The talks would mostly focus on defence and trade issues, he said. Yemen war crime allegations were not on the agenda, he said.
Responding to the report, The Liberal Democrats Defence spokesperson Tom Brake said: "Theresa May has scrubbed human rights from the agenda in a panicked bid to get a trade deal.
"It is well known that Saudi Arabia has repeatedly infringed the rights of its own citizens as well as those in neighbouring countries yet Theresa May is silent.
"Human rights are a core value that we must defend. To ignore them, to sweep them under the carpet to avoid a difficult conversation, is a shameful indictment of how desperate May has become."
Green Party co-leader Jonathan Bartley said: "It is deeply disturbing to see the prime minister cosying up to an oppressive regime in an attempt to get a trade deal after Brexit. Saudi Arabia has an appalling human rights record and we should not be exposing ourselves to a dependent relationship with a country that was accused of killing civilians as recently as last month.
"The Met police are currently investigating Saudi Arabia for war crimes in Yemen and Theresa May must raise the allegations during her visit.
"We have repeatedly called on the Government to stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia. If theres any chance UK weapons were used to violate international law and human rights, we must stop supplying them immediately."
Andrew Smith of Campaign Against Arms Trade, who have campaigned to highlight the deteriorating human rights situation in Yemen and brought to light allegations that banned British made munitions have been used to attack civilians said: "The humanitarian situation in Yemen is terrible. Thousands have been killed in a two year long bombardment and a civil war that has left the country on the edge of a famine. Whitehall has been complicit in the destruction since day one. It has sold billions of pounds worth of arms and offered an unlimited and uncritical political support to the Saudi regime."
Andrew continued: "We are always being told how much influence the UK supposedly has over Saudi Arabia. But it hasn't led to the regime improving human rights at home, and has only served to legitimise its brutal bombing campaign in Yemen. If May wants to play a positive role in turning around a dire situation, then she must end the arms sales and her government's complicity in the destruction."
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The Metropolitan Police is examining allegations of war crimes made against Saudi Arabia just as Theresa May is preparing to visit the country on a trade mission.
The Prime Minister began a three-day trip to the Middle East on Monday designed to strengthen trade and security ties as Britain prepares to quit the European Union.
But the potential for embarrassment arose when it was revealed detectives were looking into an accusation of war crimes made against the Saudis relating to the war in Yemen.
The conflict began in March 2015 after Houthi rebels drove the government out of the capital Sanaa, sparking an intervention by Saudi Arabia and its allies to support the internationally-recognised government.
More than 7,600 people have been killed so far in the fight for control between forces loyal to President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and those allied to the rebels, while the UN human rights office said the Saudi-led air campaign was responsible for 60 per cent of civilian deathsalmost 2,300 lives.
Scotland Yard confirmed its war crimes unit was conducting a "scoping exercise" to decide whether it could identify a suspect and begin an investigation.
A Met spokesman said: "On Thursday 30 March 2017, the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) received a referral of an allegation of war crimes, made against Saudi Arabia, committed in Yemen.
"Following receipt of the referral, the MPS war crimes team (part of the Counter Terrorism Command) began a scoping exercise and contacted those making the allegations.
"There is no investigation at this time, and the scoping exercise continues."
The Met's war crimes team is responsible for investigating all allegations of war crimes, genocide, torture and crimes against humanity.
Ms May is to visit Jordan on Monday, and Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia is the UK's largest trading partner in the Middle East, with goods and services exports totalling 6.6 billion in 2015. Talks will focus on stronger ties following the vote for Brexit.
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. 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The PM has faced repeated calls to suspend arms sales to Riyadh amid claims of widespread human rights abuses in Yemen during the coalition bombing campaign it is leading, which includes Jordan.
Britain has continued to allow arms sales, with more than 3.3 billion of exports since the bombing began.
Additional reporting by agencies
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Somali pirates have seized a small boat, and its 11 Indian crew members, and taken the vessel to along the central coast, a state official has said. It is the latest ship targeted by Somalia's resurgent hijackers.
The pirates today anchored the sailing boat on the coast off Elhur, 31 miles south of Hobyo, which was a centre of the piracy that was rampant several years ago, said Ahmed Mohamed, an official with the Somali state of Galmudug.
Local elders are trying to negotiate with the pirates to secure the release of the crew and the boat, he said. Somali pirates often release boats chartered by Somali businessmen without ransom.
The attack on the small ship happened on Saturday as the vessel passed through the narrow channel between Yemen's Socotra Island and the Somali coast, said Graeme Gibbon Brooks, CEO of Dryad Maritime, a shipping security firm. He said the pirates were taking the vessel to the Eyl area of northern Somalia.
There was conflicting information over the boat's name and where it was heading.
Brooks said the small dhow, a traditional wooden sailing ship common in regional waters, initially was heading from Dubai to Bosaso, Somalia. Malini Shankar of the Indian Directorate General of Shipping told the Press Trust of India news agency that the vessel was instead heading to Yemen, where a Saudi-led war against Shiite rebels holding its capital has raged for years.
Other Indian media reported the boat was heading to Mukalla, a southern port city once occupied by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) that has since been captured by Saudi-led forces. India's Ministry of External Affairs said it was trying to gather information about the hijacking.
Databases also showed the boat was named either the MV Al Kausar or the MV Al Kaushar. It wasn't immediately known what cargo the vessel is carrying or who owns or operates it.
Lieutenant Ian McConnaughey, a spokesman for the US Navy's 5th Fleet in Bahrain, said sailors there are aware of the reports and we are monitoring the situation. The 5th Fleet oversees regional anti-piracy efforts.
Piracy off Somalia's coast was once a serious threat to the global shipping industry. It has lessened in recent years after an international effort to patrol near the country, whose weak central government has been trying to assert itself after a quarter-century of conflict. Since then, concerns about piracy off Africa's coast have largely shifted to the West Africa's Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean.
But frustrations have been rising among Somali fishermen, including former pirates, at what they say are foreign fishermen illegally fishing in local waters.
In March, Somali pirates hijacked the Comoros-flagged oil tanker Aris 13, marking the first such seizure of a large commercial vessel since 2012. They later released the vessel and its Sri Lankan crew without conditions, Somali officials said at the time.
Pirates in late March also seized a fishing trawler, which police warned could be used for further piracy.
Dryad Maritime, the maritime safety company in Britain, is warning its clients to stay at least 100 nautical miles away from the so-called Socotra gap over piracy concerns.
The fact they've taken three now in a row is an indicator or a warning of a growing problem Brooks said. I don't think they are going to stop doing this.
AP
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Donald Trump is trying to deflect attention away from his teams alleged links with Russia by calling reports on the issue, fake news, according to the most senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.
I would tell people whenever they see the President use the word fake it ought to set off alarm bells and I think that is really what has gone on here.," Adam Schiff told CNN's, State of the Union show.
The California congressman added that Mr Trump was trying to divert attention away from the issue by claiming the real story was about government leaks.
The President's tweets "tell the story", he said, adding that by blaming leaks or his predecessor Barack Obama's administration, Mr Trump was was saying: "Whatever you do, under no circumstances look here at me or at Russia."
Despite repeated denials from Mr Trump, in January, US intelligence agencies said Kremlin-backed hackers had broken into the email accounts of senior Democrats and released embarrassing ones in order to help Mr Trump defeat Hillary Clinton.
And last month FBI Director James Comey testified before the House Intelligence Committee, the the Bureau was investigating Russian interference with the US elections, including any links with members of the Trump campaign, and whether the latter constituted any crimes.
Separate investigations have been launched by both the House of Representatives and the Senate into the influence of Russian hacking on the US presidential election.
Over the weekend, Mr Trump fired off two tweets in his customary combative style, lambasting the media for its continued focus on the Russia story.
When will Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd and @NBCNews start talking about the Obama SURVEILLANCE SCANDAL and stop with the Fake Trump/Russia story? he said, in reference to a news presenter he has previously attacked.
He added: The real story turns out to be SURVEILLANCE and LEAKING! Find the leakers.
He also paid a back-handed compliment to the failing New York Times who he said had finally got something right in a story about Obamacare and insurance companies.
Mr Trump went to war with the media before he had taken office, naming individual journalists and publications including NBC, BuzzFeed and The New York Times as peddlers of fake news.
Mr Trumps latest tweets come after a week of twists and turns in the Russia story, including reports that his former national security adviser Michael Flynn is seeking immunity before offering testimony against the US leader.
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The right to protest is fundamental to American democracy. The country was born, after all, out of decades of civil disobedience by people angry about taxation without representation. (In Washington, FWIW, we are still angry.)
But according to United Nations human rights investigators, this very basic principle is under attack. Over the past few months, on the heels of a fresh wave of organising by liberals, at least 19 states have introduced measures that would criminalise peaceful protest. In places such as Minnesota, Michigan and Iowa, Republican lawmakers have proposed laws that would stiffen penalties for demonstrators who block traffic.
In North Dakota, GOP leaders are pushing a bill that would allow motorists to run over and kill agitators, as long as the crash was accidental. In Indiana, conservatives want to instruct police to use any means necessary to remove activists from a roadway. Opponents worry this could lead to more brutal police response.
Colorado lawmakers are considering a big increase in penalties for environmental protesters. Activists who tamper with oil or gas equipment could be, under the measure, face felony charges and be punished with up to 18 months behind bars and a fine of up to $100,000. A bill pending in the Virginia state legislature would dramatically increase punishment for people who unlawfully assemble after having been lawfully warned to disperse. Those who do so could face a year in jail and a $2,500 fine.
In Missouri, some lawmakers want to make it illegal to wear a robe, mask or disguise (remarkably, a hoodie would count) to a protest. Lawmakers in North Carolina want to make it a crime to heckle lawmakers.
Taken together, the United Nations warns, these bills represent an alarming and undemocratic trend that could have a chilling effect on activism.
From the Black Lives Matter movement, to the environmental and Native American movements in opposition to the Dakota Access oil pipeline, and the Womens Marches, individuals and organisations across (American) society have mobilised in peaceful protests, Maina Kiai and David Kaye, independent UN experts on freedom of peaceful assembly, said in a statement. These bills would make that harder.
The trend also threatens to jeopardise one of the United States constitutional pillars: free speech, the pair wrote. And the bills violate international human rights law, they said.
In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Show all 32 1 /32 In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London An image of President Donald Trump is seen on a placard during the Women's March in London, England Getty In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney A view of the skywriting word reading 'Trump' as thousands rally in support of equal rights in Sydney, New South Wales EPA In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Rome People shout and hold signs during a rally against US newly sworn-in President Donald Trump in Rome Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London A protester holds a placard during the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Marseille A placard ready 'Pussy grabs back' is attached to the handle bar of a bike during a 'Women's March' organized by Feminist and human rights groups in solidarity with women marching in Washington and around the world for their rights and against the reactionary politics of the newly sworn-in US President Donald Trump, at the Old Port (Vieux Port) of Marseille, southern France Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Bangkok A young Thai girl holds a "women's rights are human rights" sign at Roadhouse BBQ restaurant where many of the Bangkok Womens March participants gathered in Bangkok, Thailand Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Bangkok A Thai woman takes a photo of a "hate is not great" sign at the women's solidarity gathering in Bangkok, Thailand Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Bangkok American expats and travellers gather with the international community in Bangkok at the Roadhouse BBQ restaurant to stand in solidarity in Bangkok, Thailand Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London Protetesters gather outside The US Embassy in Grosvenor Square ahead of the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Marseille Women's March at the Old Port (Vieux Port) of Marseille, southern France Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Marseille Protestors hold placards reading 'My body my choice, my vote my voice' during a 'Women's March' organized by Feminist and human rights groups in solidarity with women marching in Washington and around the world for their rights and against the reactionary politics of the newly sworn-in US President Donald Trump, at the Old Port (Vieux Port) of Marseille, southern France Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Rome A person holds a sign during a rally against US newly sworn-in President Donald Trump in Rome Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Kolkata Activist Sarah Annay Williamson holds a placard and shouts slogan during the Women's March rally in Kolkata, India AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Kolkata Activists participate in the Women's March rally in Kolkata, India AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London A Women's March placards are rested on a bench outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square ahead of the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London A women carries her placard ahead of the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Manila Women protesters shout slogans while displaying placards during a rally in solidarity against the inauguration of President Donald Trump, in suburban Quezon city, northeast of Manila, Philippines AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Berlin Protesters attend a 'Berlin Women's March on Washington' demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Berlin Protesters attend a 'Berlin Women's March on Washington' demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Berlin Protesters attend a 'Berlin Women's March on Washington' demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Melbourne Protesters take part in the Melbourne rally to protest against the Trump Inauguration in Melbourne, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Macau Protesters take part in the Women's March rally in Macau Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Melbourne Womens march on Melbourne protestors marching during a rally where rights groups marched in solidarity with Americans to speak out against misogyny, bigotry and hatred Rex In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Macau Protesters hold placards as they take part at the Women's March rally in Macau Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Macau Protesters hold placards as they take part at the Women's March rally in Macau, Macau. The Women's March originated in Washington DC but soon spread to be a global march calling on all concerned citizens to stand up for equality, diversity and inclusion and for women's rights to be recognised around the world as human rights Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Manila A mother carries her son as they join a rally in solidarity against the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States in suburban Quezon city northeast of Manila, Philippines AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney An infant is held up at a demonstration against new U.S. President Donald Trump in Sydney, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney A woman attends a demonstration against new U.S. President Donald Trump in Sydney, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney A woman expresses her Anti-Trump views in Sydney, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydeney Protesters demonstrate against new U.S. President Donald Trump in Sydney, Australia. The marches in Australia were organised to show solidarity with those marching on Washington DC and around the world in defense of women's rights and human rights Getty In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London Protesters march from The US Embassy in Grosvenor Square towards Trafalgar Square during the Women's March in London, England Getty In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London Protesters carrying banners take part in the Women's March on London, as they stand in Trafalgar Square, in central London Reuters
Supporters of the measures argue that the laws are needed to maintain public safety. The experts, though, disagreed. One persons decision to resort to violence does not strip other protesters of their right to freedom of peaceful assembly, Kaye and Kiai said.
The Washington Post
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Fox News is the Bill Cosby of corporate America" as the cable network has paid out millions of dollars to combat sexual harassment lawsuits levered against its most powerful male staff, according to a top lawyer.
Lisa Bloom, the lawyer representing a woman accusing Bill OReilly of sexual harassment, as well as representing four women who accused President Donald Trump of similar crimes, told CNN that there should be an immediate independent investigation of sexual harassment at the news network.
How many women have to come forward? How many millions of dollars have to get paid before Fox News takes sexual harassment seriously? she asked.
In my view, Fox News is the Bill Cosby of corporate America. Women over and over again are driven out.
Fox News could not be immediately reached for comment. Comedian Bill Cosby was himself accused by multiple women of sexual harassment and assault which he denied.
Mr OReilly, the man with the arguably top job in television, was exposed by the New York Times to have been accused multiple times over the past decade of sexual harassment, which he denied, and Fox News paid $13 million to settle the cases. In a statement, Mr OReilly said he settled the cases to spare his children from negative publicity. Fox News also backed him, saying the claims had no merit.
Roger Ailes, the former CEO and Chairman of the network, resigned with a multi-million dollar pay-out last year after denying a series of sexual harassment and assault allegations from former female anchors, including Andrea Tantaros, Megyn Kelly and Gretchen Carlson.
After Ms Bloom spoke to CNN, former anchor Ms Carlson tweeted: All I can say is thank you @LisaBloom.
Ms Bloom, her mother and some of the accusers attended the womens marches on Washington DC last month in a show of unity. Mr Trump also denied the allegations against him and called his accusers "sick" and "liars".
Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Show all 18 1 /18 Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Protesters gather outside the White House at the finish of the Women's March on Washington on January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Large crowds attended the anti-Trump rally a day after U.S. President Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th U.S. president. Getty Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Protesters hold up signage near the Washington Monument during the Women's March on Washington January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Large crowds are attending the anti-Trump rally a day after U.S. President Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th U.S. president. Drew Angerer/Getty Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Protesters gather during the Women's March on Washington January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. The march is expected to draw thousands from across the country to protest newly inaugurated President Donald Trump. Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Protesters arrive at the Capital South Metro station for the Women's March on Washington on January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Following the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States, the Women's March has spread to be a global march calling on all concerned citizens to stand up for equality, diversity and inclusion and for women's rights to be recognised around the world as human rights. Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Protesters arrive on the platform at the Capital South Metro station for the Women's March on Washington on January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Following the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States, the Women's March has spread to be a global march calling on all concerned citizens to stand up for equality, diversity and inclusion and for women's rights to be recognised around the world as human rights. Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Demonstrators protest during the Women's March along Pennsylvania Avenue January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Hundreds of thousands of protesters spearheaded by women's rights groups demonstrated across the US to send a defiant message to US President Donald Trump. Joshua Lott/AFP/Getty Images Thousands attend Women's March on Washington WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 21: Protesters attend the Women's March on Washington on January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Following the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States, the Women's March has spread to be a global march calling on all concerned citizens to stand up for equality, diversity and inclusion and for women's rights to be recognised around the world as human rights. Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Thousands attend Women's March on Washington A marcher holds a sign during the Women's March on Washington January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. The march is expected to draw thousands from across the country to protest newly inaugurated President Donald Trump. Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Thousands attend Women's March on Washington A woman chants while attending the Women's March on Washington on January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Large crowds are attending the anti-Trump rally a day after U.S. President Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th U.S. president. Mario Tama/Getty Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Protesters attend the Women's March on Washington on January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Large crowds are attending the anti-Trump rally a day after U.S. President Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th U.S. president. Mario Tama/Getty Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Protesters march in Washington, DC, during the Women's March on January 21, 2017. Hundreds of thousands of people flooded US cities Saturday in a day of women's rights protests to mark President Donald Trump's first full day in office. Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images Thousands attend Women's March on Washington A protester gestures toward the White House on the Ellipse near the South Lawn of the White House during the Women's March on Washington January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Large crowds are attending the anti-Trump rally a day after U.S. President Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th U.S. president. Drew Angerer/Getty Thousands attend Women's March on Washington A protester, holding a Donald Trump doll wearing a pink cap, marches in Washington, DC, during the Womens March on January 21, 2017. Hundreds of thousands of people flooded US cities Saturday in a day of women's rights protests to mark President Donald Trump's first full day in office. Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Protesters take to the National Mall to demonstrate against the presidency of Donald Trump Washington, DC on January 21, 2017. Hundreds of thousands of protesters spearheaded by women's rights groups demonstrated across the US to send a defiant message to US President Donald Trump. Dominick Reuter/AFP/Getty Images Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Protesters march during the Women's March on Washington on January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Large crowds are attending the anti-Trump rally a day after U.S. President Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th U.S. president. Mario Tama/Getty Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Demonstrators gather on The Ellipse during the Women's March on Washington January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Hundreds of thousands of protesters spearheaded by women's rights groups demonstrated across the US to send a defiant message to US President Donald Trump. Zach Gibson/AFP/Getty Images Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Demonstrators march down Pennsylvania Avenue during the Women's March on Washington January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Hundreds of thousands of protesters spearheaded by women's rights groups demonstrated across the US to send a defiant message to US President Donald Trump. Zach Gibson/AFP/Getty Images Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Protester's signs are left near the White House during the Women's March on Washington on January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Large crowds are attending the anti-Trump rally a day after U.S. President Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th U.S. president. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) Mario Tama/Getty
Ms Bloom, daughter of lawyer Gloria Allred who also represents women who have accused the President of sexual assault, asked CNN: Do womens careers mean anything at Fox News? Do the laws of sexual assault get enforced there?
She said the networks newly-enforced sensitivity training was not sufficient and said it should drive out the predators of the network and bring back the women workers who were booted out.
Wendy Walsh, the psychology professor and radio host who has accused Mr OReilly of sexual harassment, posted a video on her twitter page encouraging women to report any inappropriate contact in the workplace.
If you dress beautifully, if you smile a lot, if you stroke the ego of the big dog, the one who feeds your family or could offer you a dream job it is not your fault if you are sexually harassed, she said.
Before the press conference on 3 April with her lawyer, Ms Bloom, to explain it all, she tweeted: Have headache and stomach in a knot. Many feelings: rattled by the mean letter from his lawyers, worried Ill be misquoted. And sad for Bill.
Mr O'Reilly has already come under fire in the past year for praising the working conditions of slaves who built the White House and saying he was "distracted" by the "James Brown haircut" of congresswoman Maxine Waters. He vigorously defended Mr Trump as he was coming under attack for sexual assault allegations in the run-up to the election last November.
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Hundreds gathered outside Ivanka Trumps home in Washington to protest Donald Trumps regressive policies on climate change.
President Trump signed an executive order last week overhauling and rolling back Barack Obamas measures to tackle climate change.
LGBT activists hosted a dance party on Saturday night to display their opposition to the controversial order which seeks to suspend, rescind or review more than a half-dozen measures in an effort to boost domestic energy production in the form of fossil fuels.
Brandishing rainbow flags and placards about the first daughter, fancy-dress-clad protesters danced their way down Embassy DC and gathered outside Ms Trumps $5.5 million home in the affluent Washington DC neighbourhood of Kalorama. Chants of Ivanka come dance! and complicit could be heard as activists danced on top of cars to blaring pop music.
Ms Trump, the presidents third child who is said to be his favourite, did not appear to be home but metal barricades, police tape and armed agents were still put in place to block off the sidewalk.
One of the organisers of the protest, Firas Nasr, argued Ms Trump was not doing enough to challenge her father.
"We definitely believe that Ivanka Trump should leverage the power she has to stand up to the bigotry and hate that Trump and his administration, more broadly, spews," he told The Independent.
"That means speaking out and acting in solidarity with the LGBTQ and Climate Justice communities when they are under attack."
Mr Nasr said there was a considerable police presence, including secret service, at the event.
"One old white man came out of his house to harass and threaten protesters, which we found saddening in light of the fact that it was a peaceful protest," he said.
Fellow activists said the protest was organised to protest against Mr Trump's order and push the message our climate and our communities matter.
The entire Trump Administration has shown a blatant disregard for our planet and its inhabitants, like paving the way for the Dakota Access Pipeline displacing the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, a Facebook page for the protest read.
Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town Show all 18 1 /18 Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town The 12th-century castle dominates Sevnica old town Getty Images Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town The old town has a beautiful riverside setting Getty Images Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town 'White House' slippers in Sevnica castle Nick Redmayne Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town The annual salami festival, the Salamiada Nick Redmayne Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town Sevnica was a nondescript town before Melania hit the big time AFP/Getty Images Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town Sevnica butchers take their sausage-making skills seriously Nick Redmayne Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town Only men are allowed in the Salamiada Nick Redmayne Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town As American as.... a Sevnica apple pie Nick Redmayne Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town There are no plans to make a Donald pie Nick Redmayne Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town The slippers featured in a recent fashion show AFP/Getty Images Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town The castle is one of the top tourist sites in town Getty Images Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town Melanija cake has gone down a storm AFP/Getty Images Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town The smart house still owned by Melania's parents Nick Redmayne Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town They live in America but visit occasionally Nick Redmayne Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town The communist block of flats in which Melania grew up Nick Redmayne Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town Melania skin cream, for a presidential complexion Nick Redmayne Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town First lady chocolates, dusted with gold Nick Redmayne Sevnica: Melania Trump's home town Even locals can't get enough of the Melanija cake Nick Redmayne
The reality is that the people most affected by the administrations bad climate decisions are our most vulnerable friends: our poor, working class, native, trans & POC siblings. We must put our bodies on the line for our earth and for all who depend on its resources."
Recommended Protesters stage vigil urging Ivanka Trump to stand up to father
Organisers drew attention to fact Rex Tillerson, the Secretary of State and former ExxonMobil chief executive, is one of Ms Trumps neighbours. Ms Trump recently sparked fury among her neighbours for disturbing the upmarket area, which is also home to the Obamas and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, with heavy security and taking up parking space.
Organisers were subject to dozens of homophobic and abusive messages on their Facebook page. Some critics argued Ms Trump should not be held responsible for the Trump administration's policies.
Ms Trump, who lives in Washington with her husband and senior Trump advisor Jared Kushner, has been widely accused of failing to stand up to her father or hold him to account for his divisive policies or rhetoric. Despite the fact she was regularly brought into the presidential campaign to help her father boost his popularity among female voters, she has been accused ofceasing to carry through on some of her promises.
Last week it was announced Ms Trump has been appointed as an official government employee and would be joining Mr Kushner who also serves as an unpaid White House advisor to her father.
This is by no means the first time protesters have assembled outside a location associated with Ms Trump. Last November, activists held a candlelight vigil outside the Puck Building in Manhattan, which is owned by the family of her husband, the property developer and investor, Mr Kushner.
The quiet, calm protest attracted renowned artists such as Cecily Brown, Ryan McNamara, Rob Pruitt, Jonah Freeman and Marilyn Minter and protesters held signs and candles.
Im afraid Mike Pence will make conversion therapy legal to do LGBT youth, one placard read, while another said: Dear Ivanka, can you tell your father that dozens of species going extinct every day is NOT A HOAX.
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Philanthropist Melinda Gates has urged Americans to resist President Donald Trump's cuts to the US foreign aid budget, saying they will hit women and girls the hardest.
The 52-year-old who shares an estimated fortune of $85.7bn (68.6bn) with her husband and Microsoft founder Bill added that many underestimated the impact that contraceptives had on living standards in less developed nations.
They are "one of the greatest antipoverty innovations the world has ever seen", she said.
Mr Trump's proposed first budget would cut funding for both the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the State Department - which advises on foreign policy issues - by 28 per cent.
On his first day as President, he also reinstated the "global gag rule", a policy that blocks US federal funding for non-governmental organisations that provide abortion counselling or referrals, advocate to decriminalise abortion or expand abortion services.
But Ms Gates has urged people to fight the changes.
"As the debate over cutting funding for development assistance continues, we will be asked whether we believe that investing in developing countries and the women and girls who live there is worth it," she wrote in an article for the USA Today newspaper. "I hope you will insist that it is."
Referencing a recent visit to Indonesia, she added: "Many people dont realise the role contraceptives play in building a more stable and prosperous world. When I started looking at the data, I learned that contraceptives are actually one of the greatest anti-poverty innovations the world has ever seen."
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
In 2016, the Gates Foundation launched a $30m (24m), four-year project to increase access to contraceptives and reduce unplanned pregnancies among 15 to 19-year-olds in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Nigeria.
Highlighting the economic benefits to the US of its investment in developing nations, Ms Gates pointed to the strong trade links Indonesia has developed with America.
"I hope you will speak up loud and clear for the power of contraceptives to transform nations and build a better world for all of us and that you will keep the image of the Indonesians who are carrying out this work in your mind and in your heart," she said.
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A woman who was allegedly murdered by her boyfriend was told by the police the same night to stop calling 911.
The suspect Allen Cashe went on a deadly rampage, firing 24 bullets and killing Latina Herring and her eight-year-old son, just a few hours after police came to their home and claimed Cashe had called 911 as he was afraid he was going to do something.
Cashe first called police about 3.20am as the couple stood outside a convenience store, claiming Herring had stolen his keys. When police arrived, they were arguing and Cashe said Herring had an attitude" after "coming home from the club drunk. Herring said her boyfriend had her house keys.
Police received a call 20 minutes later to Herring's home in Sanford, Florida, where they were arguing on the lawn.
Authorities decided it was a civil matter and did not make an arrest. It was unclear who called authorities the second time.
Were going to handle it, maam, just stop calling 911 and making up accusations that you dont know about, alright? one officer can be heard speaking to Herring in video footage, released by the local police department.
Shes making false accusations, an officer added on body-cam video. Its the second time shes done it.
Herring reportedly claimed that Cashe had a gun but police disputed her claim.
Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Show all 18 1 /18 Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Protesters gather outside the White House at the finish of the Women's March on Washington on January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Large crowds attended the anti-Trump rally a day after U.S. President Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th U.S. president. Getty Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Protesters hold up signage near the Washington Monument during the Women's March on Washington January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Large crowds are attending the anti-Trump rally a day after U.S. President Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th U.S. president. Drew Angerer/Getty Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Protesters gather during the Women's March on Washington January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. The march is expected to draw thousands from across the country to protest newly inaugurated President Donald Trump. Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Protesters arrive at the Capital South Metro station for the Women's March on Washington on January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Following the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States, the Women's March has spread to be a global march calling on all concerned citizens to stand up for equality, diversity and inclusion and for women's rights to be recognised around the world as human rights. Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Protesters arrive on the platform at the Capital South Metro station for the Women's March on Washington on January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Following the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States, the Women's March has spread to be a global march calling on all concerned citizens to stand up for equality, diversity and inclusion and for women's rights to be recognised around the world as human rights. Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Demonstrators protest during the Women's March along Pennsylvania Avenue January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Hundreds of thousands of protesters spearheaded by women's rights groups demonstrated across the US to send a defiant message to US President Donald Trump. Joshua Lott/AFP/Getty Images Thousands attend Women's March on Washington WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 21: Protesters attend the Women's March on Washington on January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Following the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States, the Women's March has spread to be a global march calling on all concerned citizens to stand up for equality, diversity and inclusion and for women's rights to be recognised around the world as human rights. Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Thousands attend Women's March on Washington A marcher holds a sign during the Women's March on Washington January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. The march is expected to draw thousands from across the country to protest newly inaugurated President Donald Trump. Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Thousands attend Women's March on Washington A woman chants while attending the Women's March on Washington on January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Large crowds are attending the anti-Trump rally a day after U.S. President Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th U.S. president. Mario Tama/Getty Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Protesters attend the Women's March on Washington on January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Large crowds are attending the anti-Trump rally a day after U.S. President Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th U.S. president. Mario Tama/Getty Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Protesters march in Washington, DC, during the Women's March on January 21, 2017. Hundreds of thousands of people flooded US cities Saturday in a day of women's rights protests to mark President Donald Trump's first full day in office. Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images Thousands attend Women's March on Washington A protester gestures toward the White House on the Ellipse near the South Lawn of the White House during the Women's March on Washington January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Large crowds are attending the anti-Trump rally a day after U.S. President Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th U.S. president. Drew Angerer/Getty Thousands attend Women's March on Washington A protester, holding a Donald Trump doll wearing a pink cap, marches in Washington, DC, during the Womens March on January 21, 2017. Hundreds of thousands of people flooded US cities Saturday in a day of women's rights protests to mark President Donald Trump's first full day in office. Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Protesters take to the National Mall to demonstrate against the presidency of Donald Trump Washington, DC on January 21, 2017. Hundreds of thousands of protesters spearheaded by women's rights groups demonstrated across the US to send a defiant message to US President Donald Trump. Dominick Reuter/AFP/Getty Images Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Protesters march during the Women's March on Washington on January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Large crowds are attending the anti-Trump rally a day after U.S. President Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th U.S. president. Mario Tama/Getty Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Demonstrators gather on The Ellipse during the Women's March on Washington January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Hundreds of thousands of protesters spearheaded by women's rights groups demonstrated across the US to send a defiant message to US President Donald Trump. Zach Gibson/AFP/Getty Images Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Demonstrators march down Pennsylvania Avenue during the Women's March on Washington January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Hundreds of thousands of protesters spearheaded by women's rights groups demonstrated across the US to send a defiant message to US President Donald Trump. Zach Gibson/AFP/Getty Images Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Protester's signs are left near the White House during the Women's March on Washington on January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Large crowds are attending the anti-Trump rally a day after U.S. President Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th U.S. president. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) Mario Tama/Getty
An officer also claimed that Herring, frustrated by the police response, said she should have lied that her boyfriend had hit her.
Police waited until Cashe had left the house.
Cashe returned to the house around 6am - less than two hours later - with his handgun, kicked the door in and murdered Herring in her bed and her young son Branden Christian as he was asleep on the sofa. He also shot Herrings father, Bertis Gerard Herring Jr, and Herrings other seven-year-old son, Brendon Christian.
In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Show all 32 1 /32 In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London An image of President Donald Trump is seen on a placard during the Women's March in London, England Getty In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney A view of the skywriting word reading 'Trump' as thousands rally in support of equal rights in Sydney, New South Wales EPA In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Rome People shout and hold signs during a rally against US newly sworn-in President Donald Trump in Rome Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London A protester holds a placard during the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Marseille A placard ready 'Pussy grabs back' is attached to the handle bar of a bike during a 'Women's March' organized by Feminist and human rights groups in solidarity with women marching in Washington and around the world for their rights and against the reactionary politics of the newly sworn-in US President Donald Trump, at the Old Port (Vieux Port) of Marseille, southern France Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Bangkok A young Thai girl holds a "women's rights are human rights" sign at Roadhouse BBQ restaurant where many of the Bangkok Womens March participants gathered in Bangkok, Thailand Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Bangkok A Thai woman takes a photo of a "hate is not great" sign at the women's solidarity gathering in Bangkok, Thailand Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Bangkok American expats and travellers gather with the international community in Bangkok at the Roadhouse BBQ restaurant to stand in solidarity in Bangkok, Thailand Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London Protetesters gather outside The US Embassy in Grosvenor Square ahead of the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Marseille Women's March at the Old Port (Vieux Port) of Marseille, southern France Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Marseille Protestors hold placards reading 'My body my choice, my vote my voice' during a 'Women's March' organized by Feminist and human rights groups in solidarity with women marching in Washington and around the world for their rights and against the reactionary politics of the newly sworn-in US President Donald Trump, at the Old Port (Vieux Port) of Marseille, southern France Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Rome A person holds a sign during a rally against US newly sworn-in President Donald Trump in Rome Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Kolkata Activist Sarah Annay Williamson holds a placard and shouts slogan during the Women's March rally in Kolkata, India AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Kolkata Activists participate in the Women's March rally in Kolkata, India AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London A Women's March placards are rested on a bench outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square ahead of the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London A women carries her placard ahead of the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Manila Women protesters shout slogans while displaying placards during a rally in solidarity against the inauguration of President Donald Trump, in suburban Quezon city, northeast of Manila, Philippines AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Berlin Protesters attend a 'Berlin Women's March on Washington' demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Berlin Protesters attend a 'Berlin Women's March on Washington' demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Berlin Protesters attend a 'Berlin Women's March on Washington' demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Melbourne Protesters take part in the Melbourne rally to protest against the Trump Inauguration in Melbourne, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Macau Protesters take part in the Women's March rally in Macau Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Melbourne Womens march on Melbourne protestors marching during a rally where rights groups marched in solidarity with Americans to speak out against misogyny, bigotry and hatred Rex In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Macau Protesters hold placards as they take part at the Women's March rally in Macau Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Macau Protesters hold placards as they take part at the Women's March rally in Macau, Macau. The Women's March originated in Washington DC but soon spread to be a global march calling on all concerned citizens to stand up for equality, diversity and inclusion and for women's rights to be recognised around the world as human rights Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Manila A mother carries her son as they join a rally in solidarity against the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States in suburban Quezon city northeast of Manila, Philippines AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney An infant is held up at a demonstration against new U.S. President Donald Trump in Sydney, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney A woman attends a demonstration against new U.S. President Donald Trump in Sydney, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney A woman expresses her Anti-Trump views in Sydney, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydeney Protesters demonstrate against new U.S. President Donald Trump in Sydney, Australia. The marches in Australia were organised to show solidarity with those marching on Washington DC and around the world in defense of women's rights and human rights Getty In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London Protesters march from The US Embassy in Grosvenor Square towards Trafalgar Square during the Women's March in London, England Getty In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London Protesters carrying banners take part in the Women's March on London, as they stand in Trafalgar Square, in central London Reuters
Herring Jr is in critical condition while Brendon is in stable condition.
Two bystanders were also shot and injured after Cashe fired his gun and tried to make his escape. They are in stable condition.
Neighbours called 911 to report gunshots and that Herring Jr, who was injured, was standing outside screaming for help.
Cashe was formally charged with first degree murder of Herring and her son. He also allegedly attempted to kill her other seven-year-old son and her father. Cashe is in custody at the Seminole County Jail and is being held without bail.
Every day, three women in the US are killed by their current or former partners, according to the National Network to End Domestic Violence.
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Donald Trump has apparently changed the rules of the trust overseeing his business empire so that he can withdraw money at any time without telling the public.
Days before his inauguration on January 20, Mr Trump held a press conference in New York where he introduced a lawyer who outlined what he claimed was a trust that would protect against any allegations of a conflict of interest.
Mr Trump said he would turn over operational control of the Trump Organisation to his two eldest sons, abstain from new deals with foreign partners, refrain from discussing company matters and appoint an independent ethics adviser. His lawyer, Sherri Dillon, said Mr Trump wanted "there to be no doubt in the minds of the American public that he is completely isolating himself from his business interests.
Yet critics and ethics experts said what he established fell short of building a genuine barrier between Mr Trumps business holdings, and his role as the president.
Now, it has emerged that Mr Trump, or his lawyers, changed the wording of a trust document to allow him to remove money from any of his more than 400 businesses, at any time, and without disclosing it.
Trump walks out of an executive-order signing ceremony without signing the executive orders
ProPublica said that previously unreported changes to a trust document, signed on February 10, stipulated that it shall distribute net income or principal to Donald J Trump at his request or whenever his son and longtime attorney deem appropriate.
That can include everything from profits to the underlying assets, such as the businesses themselves, it said.
The news site said there is nothing requiring Mr Trump to disclose when he takes profits from the trust, which could go directly into his bank or brokerage account. Thats because both the trust and Trump Organisation are privately held.
Its incredibly broad language, said Frederick Tansill, an estate and trust lawyer, who reviewed the documents for ProPublica.
It said the Trump Organisation did not answer detailed questions about the trust.
In a statement about the companies corporate structures, a Trump Organisation spokeswoman, Amanda Miller, said: President Trump believed it was important to create multiple layers of approval for major actions and key business decision.
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Donald Trump has released a series of tweets lashing out at Hillary Clinton as pressure mounts over a probe into links between the Trump campaign and Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
The President tweeted: "Was the brother of John Podesta paid big money to get the sanctions on Russia lifted? Did Hillary know?"
In a follow-up tweet, he asked: "Did Hillary Clinton ever apologise for receiving the answers to the debate? Just asking!"
Russian President Vladimir Putin has vehemently denied his country meddled in the 2016 contest between Mr Trump and Ms Clinton.
While Mr Trump himself has said he believes Russian operatives hacked Democratic Party emails during the election, he has repeatedly lambasted as "fake news" any suggestion he or his staff had connections to Russia.
Trump walks out of an executive-order signing ceremony without signing the executive orders
US intelligence agencies concluded Russia tried to help Mr Trump's campaign effort.
The FBI, as well as congressional committees, is investigating whether the Russian government coordinated with Trump associates during the campaign.
The White House is also trying to quell a firestorm over its behind-the-scenes role in helping the Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee, Representative Devin Nunes, view secret intelligence reports that he says pointed to inappropriate leaking.
The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Show all 9 1 /9 The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the media White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer takes questions during the daily press briefing Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Union leaders applaud US President Donald Trump for signing an executive order withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington DC. Mr Trump issued a presidential memorandum in January announcing that the US would withdraw from the trade deal Getty The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Mexico wall A US Border Patrol vehicle sits waiting for illegal immigrants at a fence opening near the US-Mexico border near McAllen, Texas. The number of incoming immigrants has surged ahead of the upcoming Presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, who has pledged to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. A signature campaign promise, Mr Trump outlined his intention to build a border wall on the US-Mexico border days after taking office Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and abortion US President Donald Trump signs an executive order as Chief of Staff Reince Priebus looks on in the Oval Office of the White House. Mr Trump reinstated a ban on American financial aide being granted to non-governmental organizations that provide abortion counseling, provide abortion referrals, or advocate for abortion access outside of the United States Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the Dakota Access pipeline Opponents of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines hold a rally as they protest US President Donald Trump's executive orders advancing their construction, at Columbus Circle in New York. US President Donald Trump signed executive orders reviving the construction of two controversial oil pipelines, but said the projects would be subject to renegotiation Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and 'Obamacare' Nancy Pelosi who is the minority leader of the House of Representatives speaks beside House Democrats at an event to protect the Affordable Care Act in Los Angeles, California. US President Donald Trump's effort to make good on his campaign promise to repeal and replace the healthcare law failed when Republicans failed to get enough votes. Mr Trump has promised to revisit the matter Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Donald Trump and 'sanctuary cities' US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January threatening to pull funding for so-called "sanctuary cities" if they do not comply with federal immigration law AP The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and the travel ban US President Donald Trump has attempted twice to restrict travel into the United States from several predominantly Muslim countries. The first attempt, in February, was met with swift opposition from protesters who flocked to airports around the country. That travel ban was later blocked by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The second ban was blocked by a federal judge a day before it was scheduled to be implemented in mid-March SANDY HUFFAKER/AFP/Getty Images The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued Trump and climate change US President Donald Trump sought to dismantle several of his predecessor's actions on climate change in March. His order instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to reevaluate the Clean Power Plan, which would cap power plant emissions Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
It came after the President warned the US is prepared to act alone if China does not take a tougher stance against North Korea's nuclear program.
He also told The Financial Times he thought Brexit would be a "very good thing" for both Britain and the EU.
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Donald Trump has praised the European Union's response to Brexit, claiming the UK's withdrawal from the bloc could be a "very good thing" for both parties.
The US President said other members were "getting their act together" and it had become less likely that other countries would follow the UK's example.
"I think Brexit is very good for the UK, it is going to be very good for UK," he told the Financial Times. "I would have thought when it happened that more would follow, but I really think the European Union is getting their act together. It could be a very good thing for both."
He added: "If you would have asked me that the day after the election... I would have said, 'Yeah, it will start to come apart'. But they have done a very good job and - I am meeting with them very soon - they have done a very good job in bringing it back together."
The US president, has previously boasted that he "predicted Brexit" and enthusiastically supported the decision taken by UK voters in the EU referendum.
Mr Trump, who frequently criticised Angela Merkel during the 2016 presidential campaign, insisted he had a "great" recent meeting with her, despite appearing to decline a handshake with the German chancellor in front of the press.
"I had a great meeting with her," he said. "I really liked her. She said the same thing to me."
Donald Trump apparently snubs handshake with Angela Merkel
He said the centre ground in Europe appeared to be holding: "I think they've done a better job since Brexit. I think they have done a better job."
There is a "different spirit" that was not there "when they were fighting with the UK".
He added: "I actually think it is going to be a great deal for UK, and I think it is going to be really, really good also for the European Union."
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Donald Trump was scheduled to meet with an alleged Russian gangster in Washington DC, it has been claimed.
Alexander Torshin, a Russian banker, was supposed to meet with Mr Trump ahead of the National Prayer Breakfast on 2 February.
Mr Torshin is said to be an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and was in town leading a delegation invited to the event.
The meeting was cancelled after an aide realised Mr Torshin had been named by Spanish police as a suspected godfather of an organised crime and money-laundering ring, according to Yahoo News.
Yahoo reported that sources were unable to say who decided to cancel the meeting or when it was actually cancelled.
Mr Torshin was only informed of the change in plans the night before the Prayer Breakfast event.
There were no specific questions or statements that Mr Torshin had in mind during what we assumed to be a five-second handshake, Mr Torshins assistant, Maria Butina, wrote in an email to Yahoo.
Spains El Pais newspaper reported that Mr Torshin was almost arrested on the Spanish island of Mallorca in 2013 where he was scheduled to arrive for the birthday party of another suspected Russian crime boss of the syndicate called Taganskaya.
The paper said that Spanish National Police questioned if Mr Torshin was alerted to the arrest warrant by Russian authorities who were supposed to be helping with the investigation rather than hindering it.
Taganskaya has been suspected of laundering profits from racketeering, extortion and other criminal activities through real estate and hotel investments on Mallorca, Yahoo reported.
Bloomberg News reported in 2016 that Mr Torshin was a suspected gangster, citing a police dossier.
Mr Torshin also has strong ties to the National Rifle Association, which contributed $30m in funds to Mr Trumps presidential bid.
Republican congressman Dana Rohrbacher, who met with Mr Torshin in February, even called him conservatives favourite Russian.
Mr Trump has come under fire since the early days of his presidential campaign for what some call a lenient stance on Russia.
He has said on many occasions that he wants to be on friendly terms with Mr Putin. He has tried to direct public attention away from the Congressional investigations into his campaign teams alleged ties to Russia as well as the foreign powers alleged interference into the US election. He used Twitter to accuse former President Obama of wiretapping Trump Tower in New York during the election.
FBI Director James Comey and several officials in the intelligence community have confirmed there is no evidence to confirm Mr Trumps claims. The House and Senate Intelligence Committees are continuing their investigations into Russian influence and ties.
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There is no question that Russia interfered in the presidential election, according to the US ambassador to UN, who became the latest Trump appointed official to break ranks and suggest Kremlin interference.
Nikki Haley insisted the US President was not stopping her from "beating up on Russia" and she unequivocal about Moscow's involvement in the leadership race.
Well, certainly, I think Russia was involved in the election, she told ABC News' Martha Raddatz. There's no question about that. And I think when they finish with all of this process, yes, they need to address Russia, they need to act, and they need to make sure they're loud about it.
We don't want any country involved in our elections ever.
Her stance appeared in stark contrast to her leaders, as Donald Trump has vehemently denied reports that he or members of his team have had any connections to Moscow.
He eventually conceded that Russian operatives may have been behind of the hack of Democratic National Committees (DNC) emails which were leaked just before their party conference last summer, but he has insisted that it did not affect the outcome of the election.
He has nonetheless continued his vitriolic attacks on media organisations who report on the Russian allegations.
Over the weekend, he tweeted: "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! The real story turns out to be SURVEILLANCE and LEAKING! Find the leakers."
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
But in December, both the CIA and the FBI concluded that Russia had tried to interfere in the election.
At a congressional hearing last month, FBI Director James Comey confirmed the intelligence service was currently investigating whether the Kremlin coordinated with Mr Trump's team during the campaign.
General Michael Flynn, Mr Trumps first choice to be national security adviser, was also forced to resign after just three weeks in the job when it was revealed he had failed to disclose a meeting he had had with Russian officials during the campaign.
Ms Hayley who was appointed ambassador by Mr Trump in January, said there was no contradiction between her tough attitude and his seemingly soft stance on Russia.
The former South Carolina governor, said he has not once told her to stop beating up on Russia over issues like its annexation of Crimea and continued actions in Ukraine and Syria.
"There's no love or anything going on with Russia right now," Ms Haley said. "They get that we're getting our strength back, that we're getting our voice back and that we're starting to lead again, and, honestly, at the United Nations, that's the No 1 comment I get is that they're just so happy to see the United States lead again."
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Donald Trump has commented on the St Petersburg subway bombing attack, describing it as "a terrible thing"
"Happening all over the world," the President said, "absolutely a terrible thing."
He was sitting in a meeting with Vice President Mike Pence, senior US officials, and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who is on his first official state visit to the White House.
Recommended Bombing on St Petersburg metro leaves at least 11 dead
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the blasts in the St Petersburg metro could be terror attacks. Authorities are still investigating the incident that has left at least 11 dead and 50 injured but are considering terrorism "first of all", Mr Putin said in a statement.
Mr Putin happened to be visiting the city the day of the attack when an unidentified explosive device went off on a train travelling from Sennaya Ploshchad station to the Technology Institute station, Russia's National Anti-Terrorist Committee said.
A second device was found by authorities at the city's busiest station, Ploschad Vosstaniya station.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer offered US assistance to Russia and said "our thoughts and prayers are with the injured and with the Russian people".
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Donald Trump shook hands Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi during their White House meeting, two weeks after appearing to snub Angela Merkel by refusing to shake her hand.
Mr Trump said the Egyptian President, who led a military coup to oust his predecessor in 2013, had done a "fantastic job" and declared his support for Egypt and the Egyptian people.
He also said he had was "very much behind" Mr Sisi and been very close to him since the first time they met.
Mr Sisi told Mr Trump he had a deep appreciation for his "unique personality" and called him "your excellency" three times.
He also vowed to work with the US to eradicate the "evil ideology" that is "terrorising communities."
During the meeting, Mr Trump noted the US plans to build its military to "possibly" its highest levels as it looks to fight Isis and lend support to its allies.
"I just want to let everybody know in case there was any doubt that we are very much behind President Sisi," Mr Trump said.
"He's done a fantastic job in a very difficult situation. We are very much behind Egypt and the people of Egypt."
While Mr Trump noted the US and Egypt "have a few things" they do not agree on, he did not air US concerns about human rights in Egypt.
"I just want to say to, Mr President, that you have a great friend and ally in the United States, and in me," Mr Trump said.
Human rights groups have estimated that Mr Sisi's government has detained at least 40,000 political prisoners.
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Mr Trump has repeatedly mentioned Egypt as a critical Muslim-majority ally in the fight against extremists such as Isis.
The White House welcome comes after a tense relationship between Egypt's leader and the previous administration.
Former President Barack Obama never invited Mr Sisi to the White House and allowed his administration to repeatedly admonish his government over its human rights record.
He froze aid to Egypt for two years after Mr Sisi, then a general, overthrew President Mohamed Mursi in mid-2013 after mass protests against his rule. Mr Mursi, a Muslim Brotherhood member, had been elected the previous year.
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Donald Trump has said he is very much behind President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who led the Egyptian military to oust his predecessor in 2013, as the two men met in the White House.
The White House said the purpose of the visit the first official visit in eight years by an Egyptian head of state was to reboot relations between the two countries as Mr Trump ramps up his focus on defeating Isis.
Mr Sisi was the first head of state to congratulate Mr Trump on his election victory in November and Mr Trump said in Washington that Mr Sisis and himself agree on so many things.
You have a great friend and ally in the US and me, said Mr Trump before the two shook hands in the Oval Office.
It is in sharp contrast to Mr Sisi's relationship with former President Barack Obama, who never invited the Egyptian President to the White House.
Mr Obama also blocked billions in various aid and assistance packages due to a concern over allegations by human rights groups that Mr Sisi had overseen mass violations of human rights.
Mr Sisi was head of the military in 2014 when he deposed former President Mohamed Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood who was elected to the post in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring uprising.
Mr Obama eventually unblocked military aid to Egypt in 2015 because it was in the interest of US national security despite claims he would not do so until Mr Sisi showed sufficient progress towards improving human rights for Egypt's 82 million citizens.
The White House confirmed that alleged human rights violations would be addressed in the meetings, but done in a private, more discreet way compared with Mr Obama's approach.
Tens of thousands of political dissidents, including American citizens and human rights advocates, remain in Egyptian jails today due to Mr Sisi's policies, according to Human Rights Watch.
Mr Trump however, called Mr Sisi a fantastic guy when the two had met last September in New York during Mr Trump's 2016 presidential campaign in an effort to boost the then-candidate's scant foreign policy credentials.
In turn, Mr Sisi said he has a deep appreciation and admiration of your unique personality", as the two vowed to fight terrorism together ahead of a day of meetings in Washington.
The two leaders may have different personalities military versus celebrity but they have a similar philosophy. The "Make America Great Again" slogan and "Long Live Egypt" seem to mirror each other in sentiment.
They also share views on media in their countries reporting "fake news" and criticising their respective judicial branches for being biased against them.
Mr Sisi may want to discuss increasing the $1.3bn (1bn) in US military aid Egypt already receives in an effort to counter Isis in the Sinai peninsula. Mr Trump's proposed federal budget includes a $54bn increase for US defence.
It includes an increase to foreign aid to Israel but could also cut subsidies to foreign militaries to buy US weapons and cuts to other aid to countries like Egypt, Jordan, and others in the Middle East. The State Department budget, which houses the US Agency for International Development, is supposed to be cut by 28 per cent under the proposed budget. The White House will issue a full proposal in May.
Mr Trump said his Egyptian counterpart had done a fantastic job in a difficult situation and that the relationship between them would be a very long and strong relationship.
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Veteran US Senator John McCain has said he is more worried about his country than "I've been in my entire lifetime".
Voicing concern that the world order was under strain, he told CNN host David Axelrod, that he saw "a world in incredible turmoil".
We are seeing strains on the world order," he said. "We are seeing China, we're seeing 6 million refugees, 400,000 killed, the list goes on and on."
Blaming Barack Obama for much of the turmoil, the 80-year-old Arizona senator said the former president's policies had been an "unmitigated disaster".
"I am more worried about this country than I've been in my entire lifetime, he told Axelrod, who served as a senior adviser to Mr Obama.
Mr McCain, who ran against Mr Obama for the US presidency in 2008, was no less critical of the current Republican President, Donald Trump.
Mr Trump's recent claim that the US lacked the moral standing to question Russian President Vladimir Putin's human rights abuses was "appalling", he said.
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
Weve got a lot of killers," Mr Trump said. "What do you think, our countrys so innocent?
But Mr McCain dismissed that suggestion.
He said: "To state that there's some moral equivalency between an imperfect nation - that's the United States of America - and Vladimir Putin is appalling."
The senator, who was tortured while being held as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War, also claimed that alleged Russian interference in the US presidential election was potentially worse than if the Kremlin had launched a conventional military attack.
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"It's one thing to destroy a building with a bomb or inflict damage, but if you destroy the fundamentals of a free and open society, which is what democracy is all about, you inflict incredibly heavier damage," he said.
Mr McCain, who chairs the Senate Armed Service Committee, also voiced concern about the differences between the US Presidents national security team, which he described as the strongest Ive seen, and the instincts of Mr Trumps close advisers such as chief strategist Steve Bannon.
"I know that the President has great respect for these former military people that he has given the most important national security posts, he said. Everybody tells me that Mr Bannon has his ear constantly. So there is a contradiction within this administration."
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A refugee who came to the US seven years ago was shocked to come home and find his door smashed with an axe, his furniture slashed and racist graffiti all over the walls.
Hasel Afshar said he had experienced racism and xenophobia before, but nothing like this.
In his home in Troutdale, Oregon, the word terrorist was spray-painted across the kitchen cabinets.
The word Muslim was painted in red, dripping letters in the bedroom, and die was written across the mirror. Other phrases and graffiti were slashed across the television, the fridge and the coffee table. All the doors had been taken to with an axe.
The Iranian refugee told KPTV that he found a note, weighted down with seven bullets in the shape of a cross. It read, If I see you here next month, I will shoot and burn your house.
The funny thing, Im not Muslim, Mr Afshar said.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations said he is Bahai, a religion founded in 19th century Persia which focuses on prayer, reflection and serving humanity.
I dont want anything to happen to him, I just hope he [the vandal] grow[s] up and dont hate people.
Trump Inauguration protests around the World Show all 14 1 /14 Trump Inauguration protests around the World Trump Inauguration protests around the World Activists from Greenpeace display a message reading "Mr President, walls divide. Build Bridges!" along the Berlin wall in Berlin on January 20, 2017 to coincide with the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United State Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World An activist holds up a sign at the "We Stand United" rally on the eve of US President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration outside Trump International Hotel and Tower in New York on January 19, 2017 in New York Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World Protesters burn a U.S. flag and a mock flag with pictures of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump outside the U.S. embassy in metro Manila, Philippines Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World Filipino protestors hold placcards during a protest rally in front of the US embassy in Manila, Philippines, 20 January 2017. On the eve of President-elect Donald Trump's inaguration as the 45th president of the United States, Filipinos and Fil-Americans held a protest in front of the US embassy in Manila to denounce the incoming US president. Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World Hong Kong police officers and security guards look on as an anarchist protester belonging to the Disrupt J20 movement sits after using a heavy duty D-lock and motorcycle lock to chain himself to a railing at the entrance gate to the Consulate General of the United States of America in Hong Kong to protest the inauguration of United States President-elect Donald Trump, Hong Kong, China, 20 January 2017. Two activists were arrested and taken away by Hong Kong police during the demonstration. Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World A banner is unfurled on London's Tower Bridge, organised by Bridges Not Walls - a partnership between grassroots activists and campaigners working on a range of issues, formed in the wake of Donald Trump's election, which aims to build bridges to a world free from hatred and oppression. Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World Protesters chain themselves to an entry point prior at the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in Washington, DC, U.S. Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World Bridges Not Walls banner dropped from Molenbeek bridge in Brussels, Belgium, 20 January 2017, in an Greenpeace action part of protests Wolrd protest in solidarity with people in the US, the day Donald Trump sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World A woman holds an anti-U.S. President-elect Donald Trump placard during a rally in Tokyo, Japan, Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World A Palestinian protester holds a placard during a demonstration against the construction of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and against US President-elect Donald Trump, on January 20, 2017, near the settlement of Maale Adumim, east of Jerusalem Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World Banners on North Bridge in Edinburgh as part of the Bridges Not Walls protest against US President Donald Trump on the day of his inauguration Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World Russian artist Vasily Slonov (L) and his assistant carry a life-sized cutout, which is an artwork created by Slonov and titled "Siberian Inauguration", before its presentation on the occasion of the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, in a street in Krasnoyarsk, Russia Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World A woman holds a banner during a march to thank outgoing President Barack Obama and reject US President-elect Donald Trump before his inauguration at a park in Tokyo, Japan, 20 January 2017. EPA Trump Inauguration protests around the World Palestinian demonstrators protesting this week against a promise by Donald Trump to re-locate the US embassy to Jerusalem Reuters
You can hate me, that's your problem, but we can go and sit and talk about it, why you hate me, and maybe you just change your mind, he told the news channel.
Mr Afshar said he was really scared but added that he would like to talk to the vandals about why they broke into and ransacked his home.
The vandal was speculated to have climbed through the bathroom window.
Multnomah County Sheriffs Office has launched an investigation of a potential bias crime, and has not released information of any suspects. It has notified the FBI.
Mr Afshar told the news outlet that he already been considering leaving the country after other people had shouted at him and allegedly pointed a gun in his face, and the recent vandalism has further convinced him to leave.
The FBI reported a 67 per cent increase in hate crimes against Muslims in 2015, and CAIR is set to release a report which shows a record number of hate crimes against the same community in 2016.
As of mid-March, there were 32 incidents against mosques, CAIR said, compared to 16 last year.
Acts of vandalism inside peoples homes are less frequent, but last year saw violent incidents including two Muslim teenagers in Brooklyn who were badly beaten, the fatal stabbing of a Muslim woman in Queens and the shooting of a Muslim doctor in Texas.
CAIR reported there had also been an increase of people who were wrongly identified as Muslim and were targeted as a result.
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A tweet by White House social media director Dan Scavino Jr. urging supporters of President Trump to challenge a GOP lawmaker may have violated a federal law that prohibits officials from using their positions for political activity, ethics experts said.
On Saturday, Scavino went after Representative Justin Amash of Michigan, calling him a big liability in a tweet from his personal account. #TrumpTrain, defeat him in primary, he added.
Amash is a member of the House Freedom Caucus, which Trump blames for derailing legislation that would have repealed parts of the 2010 Affordable Care Act.
Even though Scavino was tweeting from his personal account, the page at the time listed his official White House position and featured a photo of him inside the Oval Office, noted Richard Painter, who served as the chief White House ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration.
You can't just load up your personal Twitter page with a lot of official stuff, Painter said. This is way over the top. Its not a personal page. It's chock full of official stuff.
Painter said he thinks Scavino's tweet violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits the use of one's office for political purposes.
We would have fired him in the Bush White House, he said. This is use of official position for a partisan election. You cant avoid it.
A White House official said the tweet did not violate the Hatch Act as it clearly comes from his personal account and not his official White House account.
He created an official account upon entering 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, the official said.
By Sunday morning, Scavino had changed the biography on his personal Twitter page, removing the reference to his current post at the White House and noting solely that he was director of social media for Trump's campaign. He also altered the photo at the top of his personal and official pages, removing images of Trump supporters at a rally holding signs.
Scavino's missdirected Twitter bio
However, the profile photo on his personal account is still an image of Scavino inside the Oval Office. And in his apparent haste, he typed the wrong handle for the president, using @realDonaldTump instead of @realDonaldTrump. After the Washington Post noted the typo, Scavino removed the reference to Trump's handle.
Later Sunday, Scavino rejected the suggestion that he had done anything wrong when asked by a reporter on Twitter if he had a response to the ethics lawyers who say he violated the Hatch Act.
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
What 'ethics lawyers?' The ones from the Obama Admin who want to take Trump down, or the Bush Admin who were #NeverTrump? No thanks! he wrote.
The Washington Post
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A couple who launched a legal challenge to try and remove a Holocaust memorial plaque removed from the front of their house, have withdrawn the case.
The pair's request prompted uproar after they went to court to try and have a cobblestone taken out of the pavement near the front door of their home in Amsterdam.
They argued that it reminded them of murder and that it attracted visitors, compromising their right to privacy.
It is one of an estimated 50,000 brass-plated cobblestones, known as Stolpersteins, that have been placed around the Dutch capital to commemorate former Jewish residents who died in Nazi death camps.
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Sebastiaan Capel, the director of Amsterdams southern district told Het Parool newspaper that it had already been moved to a location "as far away as possible from the door of the residents", but they sought to have it removed altogether.
In a statement reported by Dutch television station AT5, the couple said they has asked for the stone to be removed because their child had died and they found the stone was an "upsetting" reminder of the event.
"We are ending the court case because we are shocked by the way this has been publicised and the misunderstandings that have arisen as a result," they said.
"Since the death of our child, the Stolperstein pointing to our house has been too upsetting. We think it is very important to remember all victims of the Holocaust and will continue to do this respectfully. We do not wish to offend anyone and are very sorry that this has happened."
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
In a previous legal filing, the pair had said they wanted the cobblestone removed because it constantly reminded them of the deportation and murder of Joachim Elte, a 51-year-old accountant who died at a Nazi concentration camp in 1945.
They also argued it compromises the atmosphere of their upscale neighbourhood and violated their privacy because it attracted visitors.
The City of Amsterdam has received two complaints in the past over memorial cobblestones. One was made by a Holocaust survivor who said it reminded him of the traumatic event and the other by hotel owners who claimed their business suffered because of it.
Following the survivors request, the cobblestone was moved, but the second request was not successful, Paul de Haan, a public servant who issued memorial plaque permits, told Het Parool.
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A matador has suffered horrific injuries after being gored through his throat, face and tongue during his debut bull fight.
Daniel Garcia Navarrete was pierced multiple times by a 1,000lb bull in Spain's infamous bullring, Las Ventas, in Madrid.
The attack was witnessed by a 10,000-strong audience who screamed when they realised the 23-year-old was in trouble.
Warning: graphic footage
Bullfighter gored through the throat during first bullfight
Staff rushed to distract the bull after Mr Navarrete was thrown into the air and repeatedly gored by the animal's horns.
It was initially thought the bull had only wounded the matador once, but after he was rushed to hospital it emerged he had been pierced four times, twice through his neck and twice through his jaw. He also sustained a fractured collarbone and severe nerve and muscle damage.
No official figures of how many are injured during the fights are recorded (EPA)
Surgeons at the Hospital San Francisco of Assisi, where Mr Navarrete was taken, described his condition as "severe".
Bull fighting has existed in Spain since at least Roman times and is run by the country's Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport.
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
No official figures of how many are injured during the fights are recorded, although there have been a number of high-profile gorings in recent months.
In March, Juan Jose Padilla, a one-eyed matador who has been injured by bulls some 40 times, was once again gored by one of the animals.
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Donald Trump has warned that outside distractions have taken place that have "changed" the French presidential race.
I dont know what is going to happen," he told the Financial Times. "I know that some outside distractions have taken place which have changed that race."
The US President added that he thought the election would be "interesting."
He added that he did not know the far right leader of the Front National party, Marine le Pen, "but you know some outside things have happened that maybe will change the course of that race.
Mr Trump did not elaborate on what he meant by "outside distractions".
But French intelligence have previously warned about the risk of a Russian cyber attack in support of Ms Le Pen, who met with Vladimir Putin in Moscow last month.
In January, US intelligence agencies said Kremlin-backed hackers had broken into the email accounts of senior Democrats and released embarrassing ones in order to help Mr Trump defeat Hillary Clinton.
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
And last month FBI Director James Comey testified before the House Intelligence Committee, the the Bureau was investigating Russian interference with the US elections, including any links with members of the Trump campaign, and whether the latter constituted any crimes.
Germany's spy chief has also warned that Russian hackers are pelting his country with disinformation that could disrupt the countrys general election in September.
In the Netherlands, ballots in last month's election were hand counted in order to prevent potential interference from hackers.
French voters will go the ballot box on 23 April for the first round of voting and the second round will take place on 7 May.
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As the French presidential elections approach, and with the far-right Front National leading in the polls ahead of the youthful En Marche party of Emmanuel Macron, romance is likely the last thing on anyones mind.
But a charming and refreshing detail about Mr Macron's personal life could offer an insight into the sort of leader he might prove to be.
Mr Macron's relationship with his wife dates back to 1994, when the then 15-year-old schoolboy met 39-year-old mother-of-three Brigitte Trogneux, at a Jesuit school in the conservative town of Amiens, France. Ms Trogneux taught literature and ran the theatre club at Mr Macrons school, and the pair grew closer after he convinced her to write a play with him.
After a young Mr Macrons parents found out about the couples budding romance, they insisted that he leave for Paris to complete the rest of his secondary education. He reportedly promised Ms Trogneux that he would return one day to marry her, and he did.
The fact that his wife is 24 years his senior is hardly remarkable, considering that this is almost an expected norm when the genders are reversed - Donald Trump is 24 years older than Melania. But this doesnt stop the press, both local and international, from repeatedly drawing attention to the age gap.
Such bizarre fascination hasnt stopped Mr Macron from charmingly displaying his devotion to the love of his life. Their public displays of affection have led to French gossip magazine Paris Match running a number of covers of the couple as they hold hands, go on holiday and attend state events.
Seeing a man who is attractive and powerful with a woman who is 24 years older than him has led some of his critics to spread rumours about his sexuality. There were recently unfounded claims in Parisian circles that he had an affair with Mathieu Gallet, chief executive of Radio France.
Mr Macron is as open about the interest in his home life as he is with the other main criticism people seem to have about him - his youth and relative inexperience as a politician. At a rally in London he said: I boast of my political immaturity and inexperience because their political experience is political inefficiency. He knows that people, especially the young, are fed up with the current systems that are in place and are desperate for something new.
The way in which Macron is able to attract young voters is the envy of every politician. He has been able to do what the Liberal Democrats have failed to do and what the Tories are still desperately working towards. At his rally in London in February, an overwhelmingly young group of people cheered him on to the sound of the Ting Tings playing in the background.
His pro-European and proudly pro-internationalist values may have something to do with his popularity among an increasingly mobile and international generation. His rallies in cities outside of France invariably see large turnouts - the London event had an estimated 4,000 attendees.
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
Speaking to the Swiss broadcaster RTS, Anne Dardelet, a French legal practitioner living in Geneva, Switzerland, says Mr Macron appeals to young people who have felt disillusioned by politics for a while. She says shes supporting En Marche because its time that politicians served the people. Politics of today leaves way too many people in the margins. [...] We need this to change.
Similarly, one of Mr Macrons young "les helpers", Axelle Tessandier, who is based in En Marche's startup-like Paris headquarters, says she looks forward to the positive change the party offers: With En Marche, we dont feel angry, we dont feel hate, we dont spread fear. We are just working towards a vision, and a positive project that looks forward to the future.
On the surface, Mr Macron has the usual tell-tale signs of a pro-establishment, pro-elitism figure. He bears the title of enarque, having studied at Frances most prestigious higher education establishment for people seeking office, the Ecole nationale dadministration (ENA). ENA boasts the likes of Jacques Chirac, Valery Giscard dEstaing and Segolene Royale as alumni. Mr Macron is also former Rothschild banker, and then cemented his name in politics as a civil servant in Francois Hollandes office.
His clean image and overall ambiguity have led some critics to accuse him of being dishonest or not being truly himself. But his ability to win the hearts of the most sought-after demographic in France has put the En Marche campaign up there with the most successful, and has convinced many people of Mr Macron's potential to offer something different.
One thing is certain: whether in his personal life or his policies, Mr Macron does not follow convention, nor does he do things half-heartedly. In an interview with the Sunday Times he said: Taking risks is part of life. Wishing that away is to start lying to yourself ... and to give in to the gloom. Succumbing to indifference, to the morose, to the day-by-day that is the gravest risk. You only change things by taking risks, you only build things by taking risks.
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French presidential candidate Francois Fillon, an outsider to win after involvement in financial scandal, said on Monday he would order a parliamentary inquiry into allegations President Francois Hollande interfered in the justice system, if elected.
Once the frontrunner, the conservative former prime minister's poll ratings have slumped since allegations surfaced that he paid his wife, a son and a daughter hundreds of thousands of euros of public money for minimal work.
Although some polls show his support recovering slightly with less than three weeks to the 23 April first round, he is well behind far-right leader Marine Le Pen and independent centrist Emmanuel Macron, who are tipped to go through to a 7 May run-off.
Mr Fillon, 63, who is being investigated by magistrates over the jobs allegations and over a gift of expensive suits, insisted on his innocence.
"If I had the slightest doubt about my guilt I wouldn't be a candidate in the presidential election," he told BFM TV.
He said he was the victim of "manipulation" and believed his case was being closely followed "by the highest authorities".
He drew back from previous allegations that Mr Hollande, a Socialist president who is not standing for a second term, had personally led a smear campaign against him. He said he could not prove this.
Fillon announces he will not be standing down from the French presidential race
He said however that prosecutors should open an inquiry into allegations made in a book by two journalists from the satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaine that Mr Hollande had had judicial wiretaps that interested him sent to his office.
"Prosecutors should take up this case. If they don't do so and if I am elected president, there will be a parliamentary commission of inquiry," Mr Fillon said.
Mr Hollande's office has rejected Mr Fillon's accusations and denied interference in the justice system.
Mr Fillon said that, given the investigations against him, there was "every chance" his own phone was tapped.
Mr Fillon also said that Francois Baroin, a former finance minister, would be a "very good choice" for prime minister if he won election to the Elysee.
Investors are concerned the wave of frustration with political elites behind Britain's vote to leave the European Union and the election of Donald Trump in the United States could sweep Ms Le Pen into power in France.
The National Front leader would take France out of the euro and hold a referendum on EU membership.
The latest poll, by Opinionway, showed Ms Le Pen, with 25 per cent in the first round, one point ahead of Mr Macron and six points ahead of Mr Fillon.
It showed Mr Macron would easily beat Ms Le Pen in the run-off, but former Prime Minister Manuel Valls said last week he believed Ms Le Pen's potential score was seriously underrated.
Mr Macron told Le Monde in an interview on Monday that Mr Fillon and Socialist candidate Benoit Hamon were wrong to focus their attacks on him, when Ms Le Pen was the real threat.
"Those who say Marine Le Pen can't win the second round are the same as those who said Trump could never win. We don't know what can happen if she is far ahead in the first round," he said.
Reuters
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Russia has developed the capability to launch an attack on the Baltic states with as little as 24 hours' notice, limiting Nato's options to respond, according to Lithuania's intelligence service.
In its annual threat assessment, it noted that Russia had upgraded its military in the Kaliningrad region last year, reducing lead times for any attack and potentially preventing Nato reinforcements.
Su-30 fighter aircraft and missile systems deployed to region would allow ships to be targeted almost anywhere in the Baltic Sea, it said.
Lithuanian defence minister Raimundas Karoblis has also claimed that Russia is spreading historical propaganda by creating an alternative history, aiming to destabilise the region.
"They are saying our capital Vilnius should not belong to Lithuania because between the first and second world wars it was occupied by Poland. Its history of course, but Russia is using this pretext, he told the Guardian.
Describing the situation as terrifying he said his country feared the campaign to rewrite history, could be an attempt from Russia to justify a military operation to attack the country.
The misinformation campaign was being propagated through government news agencies and state TV but also from politicians in the lower house of the Russian parliament, he said.
There were parallels with Crimeas annexation from Ukraine by Russia in 2014, he said.
Russia's military build up in Kalingrad was "a signal to NATO to improve its decision speed," Mr Karoblis said in a separate interview with reporters at the launch of the threat assessment.
"Nato's reaction time is not as fast as we would like it to be," he said.
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
Earlier this year, Germany sent more than 1,000 troops as well as tanks and armoured vehicles to Lithuania as part of a Nato mission to protect its eastern border with Russia.
Troops from Belgium, Croatia, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Norway are also stationed in the country.
Four Dutch F-16 jets are aslo policing the Baltic air space and soldiers from Nato battle-groups led by the US, the UK and Canada are also deployed in Estonia, Latvia and Poland.
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Russias submarine patrols have reached a level of operation not seen since the Cold War, according to its navy chief.
Admiral Vladimir Korolev told state media that Russian submarine crews had spent more than 3,000 days on patrol last year.
The patrols match the activity of the country before the Soviet collapse in 1991, which Mr Korolev told state media is an excellent level.
He made the remarks at the launch of the Yasen-class Kazan, a new nuclear-powered attack submarine, Sky News reported.
Russias navy, along with its military, suffered after 1991 when a lack of money caused many ships to be kept in harbour and others scrapped, but it has revived its strength in recent years through an arms modernisation programme, the Associated Press reports.
Mr Korolev said the new submarines are quieter and therefore more difficult to track than other machines. It represents the cutting edge of nuclear submarine design, he said on TV.
The submarines are fitted with torpedoes and Kalibr cruise missiles, and another five similar machines are expected to be built by 2023, The Times reported.
The cruise missiles were reportedly used during Russias campaign in Syria.
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Isis supporters are cheering the attack in St Petersburg that killed at least 10 people.
While the motivations and cause of the attacks still aren't clear, Vladimir Putin has said that Russia is considering a terror attack "first of all".
Isis supporters are cheering what they claim is a terror attack, and sharing images of people caught up in and killed by the blasts.
The attacks come after waves of Isis propaganda that encouraged its supporters to launch strikes on Moscow. Isis propaganda shows bullet holes through Mr Putin's head as well as a poster circulated just days before the attack that showed a falling Kremlin and included the message "We Will Burn Russia".
St. Petersburg metro blast Show all 5 1 /5 St. Petersburg metro blast St. Petersburg metro blast An injured person is helped by emergency services outside Sennaya Ploshchad metro station, following explosions in two train carriages at metro stations in St. Petersburg Reuters St. Petersburg metro blast Emergency services work outside Sennaya Square metro station in St Petersburg Reuters St. Petersburg metro blast An injured person is helped by emergency services outside Sennaya Ploshchad metro station, following explosions in two train carriages at metro stations in St. Petersburg Reuters St. Petersburg metro blast Emergency services direct pedestrians outside Sennaya Ploshchad metro station, following explosions in two train carriages at metro stations in St. Petersburg Reuters St. Petersburg metro blast Twitter/ varlamov
Some posters on Isis forums linked the explosions to Russia's backing of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, who is fighting Isis as well as other groups in the Syrian civil war.
The group hasn't yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but often takes as long as a day to do so. If it does claim responsibility for the incident which it has done with attacks that officials have later said it had no role in it would be far from the first time it has done so, after it said it had inspired attempted attacks in Chechnya and Russia earlier this year.
Recommended Vladimir Putin says St Petersburg blasts could be terror attacks
The explosion in a St Petersburg Metro train killed at least 10 people and injured 50 more, according to a spokesman for the city's governor. It came as Vladimir Putin was visiting the city, his home town.
As well as saying that investigators were exploring the motive for the attack, Mr Putin offered his condolences to the families of those killed.
The unidentified explosive device went off at 2.20pm local time on a train that was leaving the Technology Institute station and heading to the Sennaya Square station, Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee said.
The St Petersburg subway immediately shut down all of its stations and the national anti-terrorism body said security measures would be tightened at all key transport facilities across Russia.
Maxim Liksutov, Moscow's deputy mayor, told Interfax that authorities were tightening security on the subway in the Russian capital.
Social media users posted photographs and video from the Technology Institute subway station in the city centre, showing injured people lying on the floor outside a train with a mangled door.
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Russian police are hunting for two suspects in the wake of a bomb blast in the St Petersburg metro system that killed at least 11 people and wounded 45 more.
Law enforcement officials have said that a suicide bomber was responsible for the blast, according to reports in Russian media.
The suspected bomber is thought to have links to radical Islamists and is believed to be a 23-year-old from central Asia.
Definitive conclusions cannot be made until DNA is examined but there are reports the attacker carried the bomb in a backpack.
St. Petersburg metro blast Show all 5 1 /5 St. Petersburg metro blast St. Petersburg metro blast An injured person is helped by emergency services outside Sennaya Ploshchad metro station, following explosions in two train carriages at metro stations in St. Petersburg Reuters St. Petersburg metro blast Emergency services work outside Sennaya Square metro station in St Petersburg Reuters St. Petersburg metro blast An injured person is helped by emergency services outside Sennaya Ploshchad metro station, following explosions in two train carriages at metro stations in St. Petersburg Reuters St. Petersburg metro blast Emergency services direct pedestrians outside Sennaya Ploshchad metro station, following explosions in two train carriages at metro stations in St. Petersburg Reuters St. Petersburg metro blast Twitter/ varlamov
An unidentified explosive device went off at 2:20pm on a train after leaving Sennaya Ploshchad station and heading to the Technology Institute station, Russia's National Anti-Terrorist Committee said.
Russian security agencies found and defused a second explosive device at the Ploschad Vosstaniya station, one of the city's busiest stations, the committee also said.
Polina, who was travelling in the next carriage, told Bumaga when the train pulled into the Technology Institute station she "saw that the neighbouring carriage was mangled, window glass was broken, there was no light and there was blood."
Russia's health minister, Veronika Skvortsova, said seven people were killed immediately while another died in an ambulance and two more died in hospital. The death toll was later updated from 10 to 11.
However, further casualties were seemingly avoided after the driver made the decision not to stop the train immediately and pulled into the Technology Institute station.
This allowed for the swift evacuation of the train and the driver was praised by authorities for his quickness of thought.
After the explosion, the subway station was a terrible scene of suffering.
The damaged train carriage at Technological Institute metro station in Saint Petersburg after Monday's blast (Getty)
Anastasia, a St Petersburg student at the Technology Institute said: "I saw a young woman with a black face, she was crying and had blood on her clothes."
Another eyewitness said when smoke started pouring out of the carriages, people began to flee in panic.
People were bleeding, their hair burned, one man told Russian channel Life News.
Smoke poured out of the carriages. We were told to move to the exit, because the movement stopped. People just fled. My girlfriend was in the next car that exploded.
"She said that he began to shake. When she came out, she saw that people were mutilated.
Footage from the scene showed commuters evacuating the platform (Youtube) (YouTube)
The blast came as Russian President Vladimir Putin was visiting the city, his hometown, for talks with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
He said investigators are looking into whether the explosion was a terror attack although Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev used that exact phrase in a Facebook post.
Russia's state investigative committee said it had opened a criminal inquiry under the section of Russia's criminal code dealing with terror.
The agency, which has sweeping powers, said it had sent a group of investigators to St Petersburg, but would consider all other possible causes.
Mr Putin made this clear earlier in the day. He said: The causes of this event have not been determined yet, so its too early to talk about [possible causes].
"The investigation will show. Certainly, we will consider all variants, common, criminal, first of all, of a terrorist nature."
He offered his condolences to the families of those killed in the attack.
Emergency services direct pedestrians outside Sennaya Ploshchad metro station (Reuters)
Officials issued arrest warrants for two suspects in relation to the bombing
Some Russian media released CCTV images with the face of a man they said was one of the suspects, who appeared to be wearing what appeared to be a skullcap characteristic of Muslim regions in the forrmer Soviet Union.
Ambulances and fire engines descended on the scene near the centre of the former Russian imperial capital.
St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city with over five million residents, is the country's most popular tourist destination.
The two stations that were the site of the blast are some of the subway's busiest.
An injured person is helped by emergency services outside Sennaya Ploshchad metro station (Reuters)
Video footage posted on social media showed injured people lying bleeding on the platform, some being treated by emergency services and fellow passengers.
Others ran away from the platform amid clouds of smoke, some screaming or holding hands to their faces.
A huge hole was blasted in the side of a carriage with metal wreckage strewn across the platform. Passengers were seen hammering at the windows of one closed carriage.
Russian TV said many had suffered lacerations from glass shards and metal.
The St. Petersburg subway immediately shut down all of its stations and the national anti-terrorism body said security measures would be tightened at all key transport facilities across Russia.
A three-day mourning period was announced across the city while other countries also stepped up their security measures including France.
"I appeal to you citizens of St Petersburg and guests of our city to be alert, attentive and cautious and to behave in a responsible matter in light of events," St Petersburg Governor Georgy Poltavchenko said in an address.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson tweeted to say: "Horrified by news of explosion in St Petersburg. "My sympathies are with the victims and their families."
Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg tweeted his sympathies, as did Vice-President of the EU Commission Federica Mogherini.
When asked about the blast, US Presdient Donald Trump told reporters it was a "terrible thing happening all over the world absolutely a terrible thing."
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer says the US is condemning the "reprehensible" attack.
Mr Spicer said: "Our thoughts and prayers are with the injured and with the Russian people," as he offered US assistance to Russia.
Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said killing innocent people "is the most humiliating act for achieving political goals."
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said those responsible for the bombing must be held accountable.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said his nation would "stand by all those who suffer."
An injured person is helped by emergency services outside Sennaya Ploshchad metro station (Reuters)
Russia has been the target of attacks by Chechen militants in past years and Chechen rebel leaders have frequently threatened further attacks.
At least 38 people were killed in 2010 when two female suicide bombers detonated bombs on packed Moscow metro trains.
Isis, which has drawn recruits from the ranks of Chechen rebels, has also threatened attacks across Russia in retaliation for Russian military intervention in Syria.
Russian air force and special forces have been backing President Bashar al-Assad in fighting rebel groups and Isis fighters now being driven out of their Syrian strongholds.
Supporters of the terror group have celebrated the explosion, though no group has claimed responsibility.
The Foreign Office currently warns of a high threat from terrorism in Russia, and says further attacks are likely."
The travel advice adds: Although theres no indication that British nationals or interests have been specific targets, attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places visited by foreigners."
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World leaders have paid tribute to the victims of the bomb attack on St Petersburg's metro system.
At least nine people were killed and 20 more injured in the blast on a train travelling between the Sennaya Ploshchad and Tekhnologichesky Institut stations.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said said investigators are looking into whether the explosion was a terror attack.
Leading the tributes, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said he was "horrified" by the explosion, adding that his "sympathies are with the victims and their families."
His German counterpart, Sigmar Gabriel, said he felt "deep sorrow" when he learned of the attack.
"Much right now indicates that it was a perfidious attack against innocent people who were simply going about their daily life," he said, adding that his country's thoughts were "with our friends in Russia, the victims and their families in this dark hour".
German government spokesman Steffen Seibert also tweeted: These are terrible news from #StPetersburg: Our compassion applies to all concerned and their families.
The French Foreign Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault said his country stood in solidarity with Russia.
Similar comments were made by the Prime Minister of Malta, Joseph Muscat.
Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano said that the world had to continue "to unite to fight against terror".
"Deep condolences and solidarity from Italy to the state and people of Russia. We will continue to unite to fight against terror," he said.
Austria's Foreign Minister, Sebastian Kurz, sent a similar message and said "we must close ranks in countering terrorism".
St. Petersburg metro blast Show all 5 1 /5 St. Petersburg metro blast St. Petersburg metro blast An injured person is helped by emergency services outside Sennaya Ploshchad metro station, following explosions in two train carriages at metro stations in St. Petersburg Reuters St. Petersburg metro blast Emergency services work outside Sennaya Square metro station in St Petersburg Reuters St. Petersburg metro blast An injured person is helped by emergency services outside Sennaya Ploshchad metro station, following explosions in two train carriages at metro stations in St. Petersburg Reuters St. Petersburg metro blast Emergency services direct pedestrians outside Sennaya Ploshchad metro station, following explosions in two train carriages at metro stations in St. Petersburg Reuters St. Petersburg metro blast Twitter/ varlamov
The Vice-President of the EU Commission, Federica Mogherini, also tweeted her condolences.
"Following the news coming from #SaintPetersburg, together with all EU Foreign Ministers. Our thoughts are with all people of #Russia."
Secretary General of Nato, Jens Stolenberg, also took to social media to pay tribute to the victims.
"Deepest sympathy to those affected by the #StPetersburg metro explosion, their loved ones and the Russian people," he said.
Belgiums Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister, Didier Reynders tweeted: My sincere condolences to the families of the victims and my thoughts go to all of the injured during the explosion".
Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen also said his thoughts were with the victims and their families.
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Vladimir Putin is visiting St Petersburg, as deadly explosions are reported to have injured scores of people.
The Russian president was due to meet with his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, in the city when the explosions happened. It isn't clear whether Mr Putin was already in the city at the time of the blasts.
Mr Putin has been informed of the blasts, RIA reported, citing a Kremlin spokesperson.
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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. 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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. 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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. 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The subway in the Russian city of St. Petersburg is reporting that several people have been injured in an explosion on a subway train.
The subway's administration says several stations in the northern Russian city have been closed and that an evacuation is underway Monday afternoon.
Social media users posted photographs from one subway station in the city centre, showing people lying on the floor and a train with a mangled door nearby.
More follows
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Violence erupted as thousands of protestors gathered in Paris to demand justice for the Chinese man who was killed at his home by police.
Shaoyo Liu, 56, was shot dead by officers in his apartment. They were responding to a report that a man with a knife had burst into the property.
Police have claimed that Mr Liu attacked an officer with a pair scissors when they entered the property, which led to him being gunned down - a claim disputed by his family.
A week after he was killed, his wife and two daughters were among the crowds at a demonstration about his death in Paris' Place de la Republique.
Although largely peaceful, as the rally ended a group of a few hundred Chinese youths clashed with police officers.
As scuffles broke out and projectiles were thrown some members of the crowd shouted the police are murderers, according to the Russia Today TV news channel.
Police responded by firing tear gas to disperse the crowds.
It was unclear whether anyone was injured or whether any arrests had been made, but the protest followed a number of similar demonstrations about Mr Liu's death.
Last week, three officers were slightly injured in the incident and one police vehicle was damaged by an incendiary device.
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
Relatives of Mr Liu have disputed the official account and claimed he was holding kitchen scissors because he was cooking.
Many of the demonstrators held scissors made of cardboard, which have become a symbol of the attack.
The family have appealed for an end to violence at the protests over what many members of the Chinese community believe to be an unjustified killing.
A French intelligence report leaked to Le Parisien newspaper said Chinese criminals, including a mafia boss known for involvement in prostitution and unlicensed gambling, had been spotted coordinating the demonstrators.
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Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Isis and self-declared Caliph, escaped from the siege of Mosul two months ago when the road to the west was briefly re-opened by a fierce counter attack by Isis fighters, according to a senior Kurdish official.
Isis used 17 suicide car bombs from Mosul and some of their units from Syria to clear the road leading out of Mosul for a few hours, said Fuad Hussein, chief of staff to Kurdish President Masoud Barzani, in an interview with The Independent. He says that he and other Kurdish leaders believe that Isis would only carry out such an elaborate operation, in which they suffered heavy casualties, in order to bring al-Baghdadi to safety.
The escape took place after the fall of east Mosul and before the Iraqi security forces began their final attack on Isis-held west Mosul on 19 February. Mr Hussein says that Isis brought 300 of their fighters from Syria and it was a very fierce fight. The only possible escape route out of Mosul for Isis is to the west, through territory held by the Hashd al-Shaabi Shia militia who were forced to retreat, enabling Isis briefly to gain control of the road.
I believe myself that they freed al-Baghdadi, says Mr Hussein saying that the Isis unit from Syria returned there immediately and monitoring of Isis radio traffic showed that they were jubilant that they had carried out a successful operation. Al-Baghdadi, who became leader of Isis in 2010, is the movements iconic leader who led it to a series of spectacular victories including the seizure of Mosul in 2014. His death or capture would be a further body blow to the movement, which has lost much of its territory in Iraq and Syria.
Mr Hussein said that he expected Isis to survive after the fall of Mosul, where its fighters still hold the Old City which the UN says has a population of 400,000. But I dont think they will survive as a state, he said. He expects Isis will revert to being a guerrilla-type organisation carrying out terror attacks but without its previous resources. Despite its current implosion, it still has sanctuaries in different parts of Iraq and Syria where it can try to regenerate itself.
A serious problem in Iraq is that there is no political plan for sharing power or running the regained territory after the fall of Mosul and the defeat of Isis. Mr Hussein said that Jared Kushner, President Donald Trumps son-in-law and senior adviser, is expected in Irbil on Tuesday to see the status of the anti-Isis campaign for himself. Mr Kushner arrived in Baghdad on Monday, accompanying the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford, and saw the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
In pictures: Mosul offensive Show all 40 1 /40 In pictures: Mosul offensive In pictures: Mosul offensive A doctor carries an Iraqi newborn baby at a hospital in Mosul, Iraq July 18, 2017. Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi girls play at a yard of a school in Mosul, Iraq July 18, 2017alal Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive A woman on crutches who is a relative of men accused of being Islamic State militants is seen at a camp in Bartella, east of Mosul, Iraq July 15, 2017. Picture taken July 15, 2017. Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive A displaced girl, who fled from home carries a doll at Hamam al-Alil camp south of Mosul, Iraq July 13, 2017. Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi federal police members and civilians celebrate in the Old City of Mosul on 9 July 2017 after the government's announcement of the "liberation" of the embattled city. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's office said he was in "liberated" Mosul to congratulate "the heroic fighters and the Iraqi people on the achievement of the major victory" AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive A picture taken on 9 July 2017, shows a general view of the destruction in Mosul's Old City. Iraq will announce imminently a final victory in the nearly nine-month offensive to retake Mosul from jihadists, a US general said Saturday, as celebrations broke out among police forces in the city. AFP In pictures: Mosul offensive Members of the Iraqi federal police raise the victory gesture as they ride on a humvee while advancing through the Old City of Mosul on 28 June 2017, as the offensive continues to retake the last district held by Islamic State (IS) group fighters. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Smoke billows as Iraqi forces advance through the Old City of Mosul on 26 June 2017, during the ongoing offensive to retake the last district held by the Islamic State (IS) group. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi man wearing the green scarf of the Shi'ite faith kisses an Iraqi Army soldier on safely reaching the Iraqi forces position as Iraqi civilians flee the Old City of west Mosul where heavy fighting continues on 23 June 2017. Iraqi forces continue to encounter stiff resistance with improvised explosive devices, car bombs, heavy mortar fire and snipers hampering their advance. Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive A picture taken from the inside of an Iraqi forces armoured vehicle shows residents walking through a damaged street as troops advance towards Mosul's Old City on 18 June 2017, during the ongoing offensive to retake the last district still held by the Islamic State (IS) group. Military commanders told AFP the assault had begun at dawn after overnight air strikes by the US-led coalition backing Iraqi forces. They said the jihadists were putting up fierce resistance. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi Army soldiers advance in a destroyed street after an Iraqi forces airstrike targeted an Islamic State sniper position 17 June 2017 in al-Shifa, the last district of west Mosul under Islamic State control. IS snipers, as well as car and suicide bomb attacks continue to hinder the Iraqi forces efforts to retake the final district. A series of airstrikes by Iraqi helicopter gunships attempted to hit multiple Islamic State sniper positions in al-Shifa. Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier frisks a displaced Iraqi man at a temporary camp in the compound of the closed Nineveh International Hotel in Mosul on 16 June 2017 which was recovered by Iraqi troops from Islamic State group fighters earlier in the year. A screening centre set up in the compound's fairgrounds sees a constant stream of Iraqis fleeing the battle for Mosul, awaiting their turn to be checked by the Iraqi forces who are searching for suspected Islamic State (IS) group members. The small fairground lies at the end of a pontoon bridge across the Tigris recently opened to civilians that is the only physical link between the two banks of the river. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqis staying at the al-Khazir camp swim in a river near the camp for internally displaced people, located between Arbil and Mosul on 11 June 2017. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi government forces drive on a road leading to Tal Afar on 9 June 2017, during ongoing battles to retake the city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi policeman carries a poster bearing an image of Mosul's iconic leaning minaret, known as the "Hadba" (Hunchback), on 22 June 2017. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqis stand in line to receive food aid in western Mosul's Zanjili neighbourhood on 7 June 2017, during ongoing battles as Iraqi forces try to retake the city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters. Living conditions in Mosul have again deteriorated since the start of the Iraqi government's offensive on the city in October in which they retook a large part of the west of the city. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Displaced Iraqis carry lightbulbs and sacks as they evacuate from western Mosul's Zanjili neighbourhood as government forces advance in the area during their ongoing battle against Islamic State (IS) group fighters on 13 May 2017 AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) flashes the victory gesture as he patrols in western Mosul's al-Islah al-Zaraye neighbourhood on 13 May 2017 AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi army soldiers from the 9th armoured division on a truck flash the sign of victory as they drive back from Mosul to the town of Qaraqosh (also known as Hamdaniya) Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Members of Iraqi forces flash the sign of victory on their vehicle as they advance towards Hammam al-Alil area south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of Iraqi security forces gestures in Hammam al-Alil, south of Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi children, one flashing the sign of victory, greet Iraqi army's soldiers from the 9th armoured division in the area of Ali Rash, adjacent to the eastern Al-Intissar neighbourhood of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Peshmerga forces look at a tunnel used by Islamic State militants near the town of Bashiqa, east of Mosul, during an operation to attack Islamic State militants in Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier takes a photograph with his phone as his comrade stands next to a detained man, whom the Iraqi army soldiers accused of being an Islamic State fighter, who was fleeing with his family in the Intisar disrict of eastern Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iranian Kurdish female members of the Freedom Party of Kurdistan (PAK) hold a position in an area near the town of Bashiqa, some 25 kilometres north east of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi families, who fled their homes in Hamam al-Alil, gather on the outskirts of their town Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Displaced people walk past a checkpoint near Qayara, south of Mosul, Iraq AP In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi families who were displaced by the ongoing operation by Iraqi forces against jihadists of the Islamic State group to retake the city of Mosul, are seen gathering in an area near Qayyarah In pictures: Mosul offensive A boy who just fled Abu Jarbuah village is seen with his family at a Kurdish Peshmerga position between two front lines near Bashiqa, east of Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi child eats a pomegranate upon the arrival of Iraqi forces in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive People who just fled Abu Jarbuah village sit as they eat at a Kurdish Peshmerga position between two front lines near Bashiqa, east of Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive A couple who just fled Abu Jarbuah village are escorted by Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Women carry a boy over a wall as civilians flee their houses in the village of Tob Zawa, Iraq AP In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier and a civilian ride a motorbike as smoke rises behind them, on the road between Qayyarah and Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of Iraqi forces, wearing a skull mask, waits at a checkpoint for people fleeing the main hub city of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier sits at a checkpoint in an area near Qayyarah Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi men prepare food portions for Iraqi forces deployed in areas south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi forces celebrate upon the arrival of vehicles bringing food to them Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi childen smoke cigarettes upon the arrival of Iraqi forces in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of Iraqi forces distributes drinks to children in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty
When Mr Kushner does arrive in Irbil, he will find a situation which is bewilderingly complex even by the standards of Iraqi politics, and poses questions that may prove insoluble. When the offensive against Isis started on 17 October last year, it followed a military agreement between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraqi central government whereby the Kurdish Peshmerga would play only a limited military role, taking part of the Nineveh Plain east of Mosul. But there was no political agreement on how long term security can be provided to the mosaic of different parties, militias, sects and ethnic communities living in and around Mosul.
Mr Hussein says that there was no political plan for post-Isis Mosul put forward last year, because it would have raised divisive issues that might have prevented a military campaign against Isis. It is unclear who will hold power in Mosul in the long term or what will happen to Kurds and Christians who were forced out of the city. A short drive across the Nineveh Plain reveals political and sectarian rivalries and hatreds stopping any return to normality. There is not much sign of the Iraqi army and most checkpoints are manned by the Hashd al-Shaabi, often recruited from the Kurdish speaking Shia minority known as the Shabak.
The Sunni Arab population of Mosul has been traumatised by the six month siege, which is far from ended and is destroying a large part of the city. Mr Hussein says that it was a serious mistake in the planning of the Mosul operation to believe that Isis would be defeated quickly or the population might rise up against the jihadis. There was an idea in Baghdad that there would be an uprising against Isis, says Mr Hussein. The optimistic conviction that this would happen, and over-confidence about how quickly Isis could be defeated, led to the government telling people in the city to stay in their houses, a miscalculation that is leading to heavy civilian loss of life.
Mr Hussein does not doubt that Isis will eventually be defeated in Mosul. But, unless there is an agreement about what to do next, he says the logic of war will take over and everybody will hold onto territory they have already taken. Driving around government-held east Mosul there is a noticeable lack of local police or any other security forces to replace elite military detachments. like the Counter-Terrorism Service, that have moved into west Mosul to fight Isis there.
In the plains around Mosul, insecurity is even greater with many towns and villages, recaptured from Isis last year, still deserted. The Christian town of Qaraqosh, for example, retaken from Isis at that time, remains empty and without electricity or fresh water. Yohanna Towaya, a local Christian leader, says the community will not go back unless they are guaranteed protection by the KRG and the Baghdad government. He says that two or three Christian families are leaving KRG each day for Lebanon or Australia. Everywhere there are predatory militias on the payroll of different masters staking their claim to power, money or land , something which exacerbates the deep distrust felt by all communities in northern Iraq towards each other.
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President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, is visiting Iraq with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, an official said Sunday night.
Details about the trip to the Middle East with General Joseph Dunford were not released. A senior administration official said Kushner wanted to see the situation in Iraq for himself and show support for the Iraqi government. The official wasn't authorised to speak about confidential meetings by name and demanded anonymity.
Kushner's West Wing portfolio is robust. He has been deeply involved with presidential staffing, recently launched a task force meant to modernise government using lessons drawn from the private sector, and has played the role of shadow diplomat, advising on relations with the Middle East, Canada and Mexico.
And though Kushner had no previous diplomatic or government experience, Trump also tasked him with trying to broker a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
If you can't produce peace in the Middle East, nobody can, Trump told Kushner at a gala a few days before his inauguration.
Kushner was also the latest Trump associate to be swept up into the ongoing probe into contacts with Russian officials. The White House confirmed last week that he had volunteered to be interviewed by the Senate intelligence committee. North Carolina Senator Richard Burr, the committee's chairman, said that Kushner would likely be under oath and would submit to a private interview about arranging meetings with the Russian ambassador and other officials.
Kushner is married to Trump's oldest daughter, Ivanka. He was expected to have a major role in meetings later this week between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at Trump's winter retreat in Palm Beach, Florida.
The Iraq trip was first reported by The New York Times.
Kushner's trip began against a backdrop of an ongoing investigation into civilian deaths in an area of Mosul near the site of an air-strike by US-led coalition forces last month.
His visit marked an early foray for the Trump administration into the situation in Iraq and came just two weeks after Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said he was assured by the President the US will accelerate its support for his country's struggle against Isis.
Al-Abadi met with Trump and Kushner in Washington last month and said he had the impression that the Trump administration would take a more aggressive approach, although he did not say what that might entail.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis recently presented Trump with the outlines of a comprehensive approach to defeating Isis and other extremist groups on a global scale, but specifics have yet to be worked out. Officials have indicated that the approach is unlikely to depart radically from the Obama administration's strategy, at least with regard to ongoing efforts in Iraq and Syria.
In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Show all 30 1 /30 In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump President-elect Donald Trump acknowledges guests as he arrives on the platform at the US Capitol in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th president of the United States by Chief Justice John Roberts as Melania Trump looks on during the 58th Presidential Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in Washington AP In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump President Donald Trump shakes hands with Justice John Roberts after taking the oath at inauguration ceremonies swearing in Trump as the 45th president of the United States Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump President Donald Trump raises his fists after his inauguration on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol Getty In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump U.S. President-elect Donald Trump greets outgoing President Barack Obama before Trump is inaugurated during ceremonies on the Capitol in Washington Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump resident-elect Donald Trump arrives on the platform of the US Capitol in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Attendees partake in the inauguration ceremonies to swear in Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States at the U.S. Capitol in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump US President Donald Trump delivers his inaugural address during ceremonies at the US Capitol in Washington DC Getty In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump U.S. President Donald Trump waves with wife Melania during the Inaugural Parade in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Protesters registered their rage against the new president Friday in a chaotic confrontation with police who used pepper spray and stun grenades in a melee just blocks from Donald Trump's inaugural parade route. Scores were arrested for trashing property and attacking officers AP In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators protest against US President Donald Trump in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A woman holds a sign before the start of the Presidential Inauguration of Donald Trump at Freedom Plaza in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Anti-Trump protesters prepare banners for a protest against the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump, in Berlin REUTERS In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators shout slogans against US President-elect Donald Trump in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators march, block foot traffic and clash with U.S. Capitol Police at the entry checkpoints for the Inauguration of Donald Trump Alamy Live News In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators display a banner as people arrive for US President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A man displays a placard as people lineup to get into the National Mall for the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Protesters demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump raise their hands as they are surrounded by police on the sidelines of the inauguration in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A demonstrator wearing a mask depicting Donald Trump protests outside the US Embassy in London Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators hold placards as they protest outside the US Embassy in London Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Former US President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush arrive for the Presidential Inauguration at the US Capitol Rex In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden share an umbrella as President Donald Trump delivers his inaugural address at the inauguration in Washington DC Rex In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton arrive on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump U.S. Vice President Mike Pence takes the oath of office on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Advisors to President-elect Donald Trump, Kellyanne Conway and Steve Bannon depart from services at St. John's Church during the Presidential Inauguration in Washington Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Protesters demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump take cover as they are hit by pepper spray by police on the sidelines of the inauguration in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump An activist demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump is helped after being hit by pepper spray on the sidelines of the inauguration in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A police officer tries to tackle a protester demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump Reuters/Adrees Latif In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Police arrest and detain a protester in the street in Washington DC Rex In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A police officer falls to the ground as another shoots pepper spray at protesters demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the inauguration in Washington DC Reuters
Iraq was part of the Trump administration's original travel ban but was removed from the revised version after a request from the Pentagon and the State Department highlighting Iraq's key role in fighting the Islamic State. The second travel ban, which restrictions immigration from six Muslim-majority countries, has been halted by a federal court. The US Justice Department has announced an appeal.
Associated Press
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More civilians caught up in the Syrian conflict were killed by US-led coalitions than by Isis or Russian-led forces in the last month, according to figures released by a human rights organisation.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), found Isis killed 119 civilians in Syria in March, including 19 children and 7 women, with Russian forces believed to have killed 224 civilians in the same month, including 51 children and 42 women.
The SNHR found the international coalition forces, led by the US, killed 260 civilians, including 70 children and 34 women.
Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Show all 12 1 /12 Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A man crosses a street in Aleppo, December 12, 2009 Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A vendor sits inside an antique shop in al-Jdeideh neighbourhood, in the Old City of Aleppo, December 12, 2009 Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A view shows part of Aleppo's historic citadel, overlooking Aleppo city, Syria Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A view shows part of Aleppo's historic citadel, Syria Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Visitors walk inside Aleppo's Umayyad mosque, Syria Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War People walk inside the Khan al-Shounah market, in the Old City of Aleppo, Syria Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A man walks past shops in al-Jdeideh neighbourhood, in the Old City of Aleppo, Syria Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War People walk along an alley in al-Jdeideh neighbourhood, in the Old City of Aleppo, Syria Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Visitors tour Aleppo's historic citadel, Syria December 11, 2009 Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A general view shows the Old City of Aleppo as seen from Aleppo's historic citadel, Syria December 11, 2009 Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War People walk near Aleppo's Bab al-Faraj Clock Tower, Syria October 6, 2010 Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A man stands inside Aleppo's historic citadel, overlooking Aleppo city, Syria December 11, 2009 Reuters
In the same month, reports of civilian deaths from US air strikes across Syria and Iraq soared to an all-time high, according to Airwars, a British monitoring group, which found there were 1,472 casualties linked to US air strikes in March.
While on the campaign trail in 2015, Donald Trump pledged to bomb the s**t out of Isis if he became President, and coalition warplanes have dramatically increased their strikes against Isis in both Mosul and Raqqa, while the number of US troops on the ground has also increased.
At the same time, Russia has scaled down its campaign following a partial ceasefire in December 2016.
Recommended Syria ceasefire in doubt amid fresh clashes
Syrian regime forces killed 417 civilians including 61 children and 46 women, the SNHR found.
The SNHR, which monitors Syrian casualties of all the parties, acknowledges the real number of civilians killed in the conflict could be much higher, however, because of the difficulties in keeping track of victims.
The Syrian Government and Isis do not publish, reveal, or record their victims and many people are killed on battlefronts and not inside cities, making it more difficult to keep track of numbers.
The SNHR report said: From our perspective, the statistics published by some groups on this category of victims are fictitious and are not based on any actual data.
Therefore, the report only includes civilian victims who were killed by all parties and compares them.
Airwars says that while all data coming from the region should be treated with caution, the US has so far been responsible for 68 per cent of all airstrikes against Syria, and the rest of the allied forces including the UK for 32 per cent.
The number of civilian casualties is apparently surging both in Syria and Iraq as the allies regain territory lost to Isis, with the battle shifting away from rural areas to more densely populated cities like the Iraqi city of Mosul.
As many as 200 residents of Mosul are believed to have been killed by airstrikes in recent weeks, including one on March 17 which may have taken the lives of more than 100 people in a single hit.
A US strike in a rural area of Raqqa in Syria killed up to 30 civilians who had taken shelter in a school last week, according to reports. The previous week, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed that 42 people, most of whom were civilians, were killed by a US bombing in the town of Al Jinah, in what it deemed a massacre.
Airwars said in a statement: Almost 1,000 civilian non-combatant deaths have already been alleged from coalition actions across Iraq and Syria in March a record claim.
These reported casualty levels are comparable with some of the worst periods of Russian activity in Syria.
US military officials said they worked hard to avoid civilian casualties and insist there have been no changes to the rules of engagement in Iraq and Syria, in spite of Mr Trumps campaign pledges to up the ante in the region.
A spokesperson for the US Central Command said the head of the command, General Joseph Votel, was "not looking into changing the way we operate, other than to say our processes are good and we want to make sure we live by those processes.
Some military experts in the US have suggested the ramping up of the airstrikes may have more to do with the ebb and flow of war than the Trump administration.
The US is moving more into environments that look like conventional warfare, moving up the spectrum from targeting individuals to participating in ongoing conflict, and thats going to produce more casualties, said Heather Hurlburt, a policy director at the New American Foundation and a former State department official.
In March, 400 more American troops were deployed to Syria, including a team of Army rangers and a Marine artillery unit, almost doubling their presence in the country, and it was announced last week the US will send an additional 240 soldiers to Iraq as part of the fight to take back western Mosul from Isis.
Recommended Pentagon to nearly double number of US troops fighting Isis in Syria
Some experts have suggested the increased number of US troops on the ground could make commanders more accepting of large numbers of civilian casualties because decisions are taken to protect US military personnel.
US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis insisted coalition troops always do everything humanly possible to reduce the loss of life or injury among innocent people. The same cannot be said for our adversaries.
But Amnesty International has questioned the legality of the attacks in Mosul.
Evidence gathered on the ground in East Mosul points to an alarming pattern of US-led coalition airstrikes which have destroyed whole houses with entire families inside, said Donatella Rovera, Senior Crisis Response Adviser at Amnesty International.
The high civilian toll suggests that coalition forces leading the offensive in Mosul have failed to take adequate precautions to prevent civilian deaths, in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law."
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Rising from the waters of Guanabara Bay, the Museu do Amanha, or Museum of Tomorrow, is Rio de Janeiros most visited museum. Santiago Calatrava designed it; it cost $100m (80.2m) to build, was heralded as one of the main draws for Rio in the run-up to last years Olympic Games, and has been credited with the regeneration of the entire port area.
One mile west of the much Instagrammed building stands another museum. Few visitors hear of the Instituto Memoria e Pesquisa Pretos Novos, or IPN. Despite its 21-year existence, the privately run museum has received consistent financial support from the city for just the past two years. But that support around 1600 a month ended earlier in March. Without a consistent cash flow, the museum announced four weeks ago, it must close.
Yesterday, it got a stay of execution. Having announced plans to close on 31 March, supporters raised enough money to secure its continued existence for April. Following crisis talks with local authorities, it received 2040 to see it through till May, with a plan to fund basic activities for another year. But beyond this month-to-month existence, its future is uncertain. And its programme of exhibitions, workshops and courses remain unfunded.
Museums close all the time, of course, but the IPN isnt just a museum. The Institute for the Memorial and Research of the New Blacks is the final resting place of up to 30,000 enslaved Africans, who were shipped to Brazil in the 18th and 19th centuries and died on arrival in Rio de Janeiro.
The IPN is part museum, part memorial to the enslaved Africans dumped at the site (Wikimedia Commons/Halley Pacheco de Oliveira)
When we first uncovered the [skeletons] no one wanted to do anything with them, said Merced Guimaraes, who runs the museum from her own home (the site was discovered when she had builders in; she promptly stopped the work and turned her house into a memorial). No one wanted to research them and take care of them. But we fought and fought. We built all of this and now they are continuing to disrespect the dead.
The parlous state of the IPN pretos novos means new blacks is, some say, the latest example of the systematic whitewashing of Rios heritage. At the tourist information point by the Museu do Amanha, visitors can pick up information about the new Olympic Boulevard and the regeneration of the port area. The Brazilian tourist board waxes lyrical about the Santa Teresa tram and gliding off Pedra Bonita, but the IPN merits only a small listing in the museums section.
About 6000 bodies are thought to rest below the IPN (Kiratiana Freelon/IPN)
Afro-Heritage tourism in Brazil is usually synonymous with Salvador, the capital of Bahia province. But Rio received more enslaved Africans than Salvador more than two million arrived at the port, where the Museum of Tomorrow now stands, between 1500 and 1856. More enslaved Africans landed here than in any other port on earth.
I always thought of Rio as a tropical getaway full of shopping and beach lounging, Ashleigh Reddy, an American tourist visiting the IPN this week, told The Independent. It feels like black history needs to be erased from Rio to sell it as a cosmopolitan destination.
Praca XV de Novembro is the site or RIo's original slave auction (Flickr/Brian Godfrey)
The port area now billed as Rios newest district is strongly intertwined with the Atlantic slave trade. Sites include Praca XV de Novembro, a square beside the ferry terminal, which was the site of Rios original slave auction; Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Rosario e Sao Benedito, the 18th century black church that was the centre of Afro-Brazilian life; and the Pedra do Sal, or salt stone, known for its weekly outdoor samba party thrown by locals. Considered the birthplace of samba, Pedra do Sal is the historical centre of Rios Little Africa, a historical neighbourhood where enslaved Africans escaped during slavery.
The weekly party has actually helped to create more interest in the history of the area, Gracy Mary Moreira, founder of the Organizacao Cultural Remanescentes de Tia Ciata, told The Independent. When tourists ask locals about Pedra do Sal, we always describe how the area was a place of resistance for blacks.
Pedra do Sal is now home to a weekly samba party, but it's been a place of black resistance throughout history (Getty)
As has happened with Pedra do Sal, the promotion of the port areas African and Afro-Brazilian history has largely been a feat undertaken by private entities and individuals. Guimaraes was renovating her house in 1996 when workers uncovered the remains of 26 Africans. Their bodies aged between three and 25 years old had been dumped and incinerated; archaeologists estimate that more than 6000 enslaved Africans who had died on the transatlantic passage were buried at this site, with 30,000 dumped in the surrounding area. Guimaraes turned her house into a museum, at her own expense. Over 72,000 people have visited over the past two decades, but she told The Independent, I cant charge people to visit a cemetery.
Shes not the only one who feels queasy about charging people to learn about Rios Afro heritage.
I cant bring myself to be just another person making money off of black bodies, historian Sadkane Baroudi told The Independent. Baroudi offers a self-guided tour via her website, but also offers full-day guided visits to those who request them and refuses to charge a fee.
Sadakne Baroudi refuses to profit from "black bodies" (Kiratiana Freelon)
For her, its more important to bring visitors face to face with the more shameful parts of Rios history at a time when she feels the city is covering them up and letting existing monuments deteriorate.
To put [the Museum of Tomorrow] at the exact location of the slave port is a gross slap in the face, she said.
A plaque that once explained Pedra do Sals history has deteriorated so much that it has been removed. Local authorities created an African Heritage Circuit as part of the pre-Olympics port regeneration, yet few know of its existence.
Valongo Wharf, where over 500,000 enslaved Africans were brought, gets no more than a plaque (Creative Commons/Halley Pacheco de Oliveira)
In 2011, when construction work uncovered the Cais do Valongo the wharf where more than 500,000 enslaved Africans docked between 1811 and 1831 locals campaigned for the port area to be transformed into an Afro-Brazilian cultural destination; instead, they got a plaque. Plans to build a proper public memorial at the wharf have been stymied even though an elaborate design already exists. UNESCO will add to its World Heritage list in July, and the Cais do Valongo is in the running. But Guimaraes is sceptical as to whether the authorities will support the bid.
The citys new culture secretary, Nilcemar Nogueira, has lofty dreams of building a Museum of Slavery and Liberty near the wharf, and last week, Rios authorities announced plans for it to work in tandem with the IPN. But the behaviour of new mayor Marcelo Crivella has sown doubts as to his commitment to the citys black heritage. An evangelical pastor, he failed to appear at a single carnival event this year, the first mayor ever to boycott the event. His absence and silence from some of Rios largest Afro-Brazilian festivals and religious rituals since taking office in January have also raised eyebrows.
Calatrava's Museum of Tomorrow is located at the port where enslaved Africans were brought to Brazil (Getty)
Ten minutes west of the Cais do Valongo, the IPN lives to see another day or so the authorities say. Beyond their promises, though, the future is uncertain. If, in due course, the museum closes, Guimaraes will remain in her home but, she warns, the bones may have to be interred.
We had to agree [to the funding deal] or we would close, she told The Independent last night. We will keep fighting to demand that the government keeps the memories alive.
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Scott Keyes has saved his followers a lot of money. In the past 18 months, he reckons, hes helped them save around 20m on flights alone. Hes the king of cheap and mistake air fares, flagging deals to his followers that can get them across oceans and continents for the price of a domestic train ticket. And it all started in October 2013 with a 104 airfare from New York to Milan.
Keyes, from Colorado, had always loved to travel and, by necessity, had got pretty good at finding cheap flights. As he was clicking around the various flight tracking sites that autumn day four years ago, he noticed a return ticket from NYC to Milan on sale for just 104.
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I booked two flights immediately for me and a friend, even though I wasnt sure what Id just stumbled upon, he tells the Independent over Skype from his home in Fort Collins, Colorado. Hed found a mistake fare, it turned out where a flight is accidentally sold far below market value, and is usually corrected within a couple of hours. Back from Milan with his nose for a bargain established, friends and family asked Keyes to pass news of good deals their way. He set up a mailing list for his loved ones, and they added their friends; a year in, he had garnered about 10,000 subscribers. Today only 18 months after its official launch Scotts Cheap Flights has over 424,000 people receiving multiple deals per day on flights from 141 countries.
Deals within the past week alone have included Dublin to San Francisco on British Airways for 197, Heathrow to Lima for 331, and Heathrow to Shanghai with Virgin Atlantic for 338. Birmingham to Sofia was on sale over the weekend for just 21 return. He estimates that his deals have so far saved travellers somewhere in the region of 20 million.
His nose for a bargain has made Keyes a seven-figure salary (Scott Keyes)
Scotts Cheap Flights is an email newsletter that sends out alerts to its subscribers for you guessed it cheap flight deals and mistake fares. While cheap airfare deals pop up for myriad reasons (an airline needs to sell a dozen seats, there are more planes on a new route or theres a fare war between carriers), mistake fares the mythical rock bottom bargains are more rare.
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As the name suggests, theyre not intentional maybe theres a computer glitch within the airlines system or a particular deal was keyed in incorrectly. They can offer unbelievable savings for example that 104 New York-Milan deal, or a package deal with hotel thrown in for less than the price of a one-way flight. But mistake fares can disappear as swiftly as they arrive, and arent always honoured (Keyes reckons about 10 per cent of mistakes are voided by the airlines).
There is a free version of Scotts Cheap Flights that gets you roughly one deal a day, and a premium version for 31 per year that emails two to three deals per day and crucially sends them 30 minutes before everyone else (these subscriptions, he says, are largely how he makes a seven-figure salary). Want to fly from London to Los Angeles? 199 for a non-stop return. How about Christmas in NYC? 244 return from Manchester. The deals are never ending.
We get a lot of testimonials, says Keyes. Newlyweds who didnt think they could afford a honeymoon; school leavers who never thought theyd be able to go on that backpacking trip; but one of my favourites was from a guy who was able to buy his ageing father a ticket to Milan to visit family he hadnt seen in over a decade.
Keyes couldnt have known that booking that NYC-Milan flight would lead to what Scotts Cheap Flights is now, but looking back, it makes perfect sense that it happened in an instant. Lots of the best deals only last for a few hours, he explains. That makes it all the more important to find out about them early before they disappear.
Keyes with fiancee Anya Mironets, who helps run the business (Scott Keyes)
Keyes has a team of eight across the world (five of whom are women and only one of whom hes met in person) who search the web for these deals all day long, every day.
Airline pricing is opaque, he says. Its not like buying a Big Mac, which is always going to be the same price. [Airline fares] are changing not only day-to-day, but hour-to-hour. Were acting as translators or decoders to try and make these complicated booking landscapes easier for the masses.
Want to get the best deal possible? Scott Keyes recommends the following:
Be flexible
If getting a cheap flight is your priority, see what prices are available on aggregators such as Google Flights and Momondo to various places are around the world, then decide which of the cheap destinations appeals to you.
Book fast
If you see a deal especially if its a mistake fare book immediately. Once the mistake has been unearthed, they rarely last long. Airlines dont have to honour mistake fares, but Keyes reckons up to 90 per cent get through because of PR concerns.
Dont clear your cookies
It doesnt make a shred of difference when trying to find a cheap flight.
Dont sweat the time
Its a myth that booking at a specific time each week (typically cited as Tuesday afternoon) is when the cheapest flights are available. This was the case a couple of decades ago when airlines loaded their fares once a week, but hasnt been true for years.
Track flights
Tracking your favourite routes on Google Flights or Kayak is an easy way to plug in destinations youre interested in and then sit and wait to see how those fares fluctuate. If youre flexible, this method can save a pretty penny.
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Italian police have arrested four people in Venice suspected of planning an attack on the Rialto Bridge.
The group had been under surveillance for a year, said police. On intercepted phone calls they had praised last weeks London terror attack and had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.
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Three men from Kosovo Fisnik Bekaj, 25, Arjan Barbaj, 28, and Dake Haziraj, 26 and an unidentified minor were arrested at an address in Calle de la Mandola, in the historic San Marco district near the Palazzo Fortuny art gallery. The street is one of the main pedestrian thoroughfares to the Rialto Bridge.
In an intercepted phonecall, one of the men is reported to have said: Youll go straight to paradise with all the non-believers in Venice blow up the Rialto. The other person on the call agreed: Put it there and then boom.
Police said they had studied how to put a bomb in a backpack and were studying in a "scientific and almost medical" way of the most effective way to kill using a knife.
We must die, another is reported to have said. If I swear allegiance [to ISIS] tomorrow and they give me the order, Ill be obliged to kill.
Reporting on the raid this morning, local newspaper Il Gazzettino said they were known as extremely well behaved boys.
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Manuela Malandra, wife of the apartment administrator, said: The only thing that seemed a bit strange to us for their young age was that they were always alone, surrounded by men. We never saw women going into the apartment. But otherwise, they were extremely well behaved boys.
Today, things are "business as usual" in Venice, gondolier Alessandro Dalla Pieta told The Independent.
"People are talking about it but nothing's different - the tourism 'machine' never stops."
The Rialto is the oldest of Venices four bridges, and dates back to the 12th century in its current form. One of Venice's main tourist sites, it reopened last winter after an 18-month, 5m renovation.
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The Russian government was careful in the hours after the murderous attack on St Petersburgs underground system. Vladimir Putins spokesman said the cause was being ascertained while Andrei Przhezdomsky, the head of the countrys anti-terrorist committee, stated it was an an unidentified explosive device. The prosecutor-general added later that it was a terrorist act.
There is little doubt that that what took place was an act of terrorism. Isis will no doubt claim credit as it does routinely with all similar atrocities. But it remains unclear for the time being which of Russias many enemies were responsible for the carnage.
Rail facilities have been hit in Russia before. Thirty-eight people died in a double suicide bombing on the Moscow metro in 2010. Another explosion, the previous year, claimed 27 lives and injured another 130 on the Nevsky Express from Moscow to St Petersburg. The first attack was initially claimed by far-right nationalists and then by Islamists, calling themselves the Caucasian Mujaheddin, who were fighting the Kremlin in former Soviet central Asian republics. The group are also believed to have been responsible for the 2010 metro bombing.
Large numbers of Islamists from the Caucasus had gone to join in Syrias bloody civil war. One of the most effective military chiefs of Isis, who played a key role in the groups initial successes there and in Iraq, was Abu Omar al-Shishani, of Chechen and Georgian background, who was killed in a US air strike in Iraq last July. President Putin raised the threat of them returning to carry out attacks in Russia as one of the reasons for military intervention in the conflict two years ago.
Russia has also been accused of lethal covert action to counter the Islamists. A series of killings had taken place across the Syrian border, in Turkey, of men from former Soviet central Asia. The 12 victims have been Chechens, Uzbeks and Tajiks with their exiled communities accusing Moscow of orchestrating the assassinations.
St. Petersburg metro blast Show all 5 1 /5 St. Petersburg metro blast St. Petersburg metro blast An injured person is helped by emergency services outside Sennaya Ploshchad metro station, following explosions in two train carriages at metro stations in St. Petersburg Reuters St. Petersburg metro blast Emergency services work outside Sennaya Square metro station in St Petersburg Reuters St. Petersburg metro blast An injured person is helped by emergency services outside Sennaya Ploshchad metro station, following explosions in two train carriages at metro stations in St. Petersburg Reuters St. Petersburg metro blast Emergency services direct pedestrians outside Sennaya Ploshchad metro station, following explosions in two train carriages at metro stations in St. Petersburg Reuters St. Petersburg metro blast Twitter/ varlamov
Isis and Jabhat al-Nusra, the al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, have repeatedly declared they will take jihad to Russia. But they were not, allegedly, the only ones making threats. In 2012, in the run-up to the Sochi Winter Olympics, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the then head of Saudi intelligence, supposedly told Mr Putin that Chechen Islamists would be activated to carry out attacks in Russia unless the Kremlin stopped its support for Assad. The Prince was rebuffed by a furious Russian President, and soon afterwards Prince Bandar was relieved of the Syria brief by the Saudi King.
There is, of course, no evidence of Saudi involvement in any attack on Russia, but the Syrian factor may have played a part in what happened in St Petersburg. Ordering in his warplanes, President Putin had stressed that more than 2,000 fighters from Russia and ex-Soviet republics are in the territory of Syria. There is a threat of their return to us. So, instead of waiting for their return, we are better off fighting them on Syrian territory. The blast today could be a reminder that the fight cannot always take place in another country.
Talks aimed at restoring Northern Ireland's powersharing government have resumed.
Stormont parties missed last week's deadline for forming an executive after negotiations broke down and Sinn Fein said it would not nominate a deputy first minister.
UK Political leaders were subsequently invited by Secretary of State James Brokenshire to participate in a fresh round of talks in a bid to break the deadlock.
Officials met this morning in Stormont Castle, Belfast, to discuss how the agenda will shape up in the coming fortnight. Party leaders then held talks.
The UK and Irish governments have said they want regular round table meetings - something that was absent in the last process.
The two governments have described it as "an intensive process to drive progress".
Two of the main stumbling blocks to a successful outcome are the divisive issues of Irish language and how to deal with the toxic legacy of the Troubles.
Devolution imploded in January over a row about a botched green energy scheme. The subsequent snap Assembly election campaign laid bare a series of other disputes between the main two parties - the Democratic Unionists and Sinn Fein.
The parties missed the three-week post-election deadline to form a new coalition administration last Monday.
While the government is statutorily obliged to call another snap election if such a deadline is missed, Mr Brokenshire has said he believes there is no public appetite to go back to the polls.
He has said if an agreement is reached he will move to amend legislation to allow an executive to be formed without the need for an election.
If no deal materialises he has made clear the Government will countenance the reintroduction of direct rule from London - a step that would also require emergency legislation to be passed.
Mr Brokenshire has signalled April 18 as an effective deadline for progress to be made.
The lack of ruling executive, and agreed budget, at the start of the financial year has forced a senior civil servant to take control of Stormont's finances.
David Sterling, the permanent secretary at the Department of Finance, is using emergency powers to release cash and resources to departments to keep public services operating amid the crisis.
Last month's election was triggered after the late Martin McGuinness quit as Sinn Fein deputy first minister in protest against the DUP's handling of the error-ridden Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme.
The March 2 poll returned an Assembly shorn of an overall unionist majority for the first time ever, with the DUP's lead over Sinn Fein cut from 10 seats to just one.
On top of legacy and language, another logjam preventing the formation of a new government is Sinn Fein's insistence that it will not accept DUP leader Arlene Foster as first minister until the conclusion of a public inquiry into the RHI scandal.
Ireland can look to bend EU borrowing and spending rules to help cope with Brexit fallout, a letter from an influential European commissioner suggests.
The EU commissioner responsible for the euro and financial stability, Valdis Dombrovskis, has stated in writing the reality that Ireland could be deemed to be in "exceptional circumstances" due to the Brexit economic fallout. The Department of Finance has estimated that, in a worst case scenario, Ireland could lose 20bn over a decade to Brexit, giving the economy a huge jolt.
Other member states have already been granted such exemptions to cover the sudden costs of additional security to cope with threats from terrorism, and from the cost of catering for a huge influx of refugees. The concession is real recognition by Brussels of Ireland's economic risks from Brexit.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny has already complained about the EU limits on Ireland's public spending. There have been additional fears that the Brexit fallout would further stress provision of public services and infrastructure investment.
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Recognition by Brussels of "exceptional circumstances" arising from Brexit means exemptions from EU rules on short-term deficit and longer-term debt can be invoked to allow Ireland support vulnerable sectors like food exporters.
In reply to a European Parliament question to Fine Gael MEP Brian Hayes, Mr Dombrovskis notes Articles 5 and 9 of the law underpinning the EU's 1997 Growth and Stability Pack allow for these exemptions.
The rules also allow member states to retrospectively apply for permission to exceed the limits when the spending demands are very suddenly increased by exceptional events.
But the commissioner, who comes from Latvia, also warns that the exemptions must be very tightly defined - and not based on arguments that the overall Irish economy has been put under strain from Brexit.
"The clause focuses on short-term, well-identified costs, rather than the impact of long-term structural economic shocks."
Mr Hayes said: "No other country has such close economic and trading ties with the UK. The commissioner has given us a strong signal that Ireland can avail of these flexibility provisions if the effects from Brexit become overwhelming."
Farmers across Northern Ireland have seen their incomes plummet by almost 10,000 (11,700) in a single year.
The total cash income, including subsidies, fell from an average of 42,784 (50,135) in 2014/15 to 33,673 (39,458) the following year, according to a report by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs.
The average farming business income fell too, from 25,094 to just 14,788.
But it wasn't all bad news, and, with subsidies taken into account, two of seven farm types actually saw their incomes increase - general cropping by more than 4,000 and cattle and sheep by 1,522.
When direct subsidies were not included, however, it was only pig farms which generated any money. All the others - cereals, general cropping, dairy, mixed farms as well as hill and lowland cattle and sheep farms - lost cash.
Direct payments - which cover a range of subsidies including the Basic Payment Scheme, formerly the Single Farm Payment, as well as the Areas of Natural Constraint payments, which used to be the Less Favoured Area Compensatory Allowance - decreased by almost 500 per farm between 2014/15 and the following year, averaging 24,972 per farm.
Industry experts warn the financial situation for Northern Irish farmers could be drastically hit by Brexit if the right assurances aren't put in place before Britain leaves the EU.
"There is no question that farm business profitability remains the single most important issue facing farmers," said Ulster Farmers' Union president Barclay Bell. "Clearly the supply chain is not delivering proper returns for farmers, which is why direct support payments remain absolutely essential for farm incomes. In this Brexit era, and given the long term nature of farming, we need a commitment from the UK Government that they will support agriculture.
"Funding after 2020 is crucial to provide us with more certainty and confidence going forward so that UK consumers can continue to source the food locally at the standards that they expect." Other elements of the report included the news that farmers' spouses on 26% of farms were employed elsewhere, while on 5% of farms the farmer themselves had other work.
On another 2% of farms, both the farmer and their spouse had income from somewhere else. Off-farm income averaged more than 9,000 per farm.
External liabilities, made up mainly of bank loans, average 51,177 per farm, although 44% of farms recorded no bank borrowings at all. Of the farms which had borrowed money, 80% owed less than 50,000.
Over the past eight years, business income on dairy farms has been an average of 22,408 higher per farm than the same for cattle and sheep hill farms. Both these farm types account for more than two-thirds of full-time farming businesses across Northern Ireland.
A report earlier this year showed the total income from farming across Northern Ireland had increased by 22% to 244m last year. This was up from 199m in 2015, although down considerably from 336m in 2013 and 312m in 2014.
Ireland needs to slash personal tax rates to create jobs and secure a Brexit dividend as the UK leaves the EU, according to leading entrepreneurs. Photo: Stock Image
High personal tax rates are holding back the establishment and growth of businesses and stunting job creation, a major report warns today.
Ireland needs to slash personal tax rates to create jobs and secure a Brexit dividend as the UK leaves the EU, according to leading entrepreneurs.
Nearly three-quarters said the overall cost of doing business in Ireland, coupled with the high rate of capital gains tax, is dampening entrepreneurial activity, according to the report from accountancy and consulting giant EY published this morning.
Ireland is set to be one of only two English-speaking countries within the EU, along with Malta, once the UK leaves the trading bloc in 2019. Making the most of that opportunity will be key to the future prosperity of Ireland's entrepreneurs, according to the EY report.
Some 59pc of the 160 entrepreneurs surveyed said agencies such as the IDA, Enterprise Ireland and Invest Northern Ireland helped them do business, while 57pc said the agencies had helped them penetrate other European markets.
But 72pc cited the punitive personal tax rate as a significant obstacle to growing a business.
That tax burden - which bumps any single person earning more than just 32,800 a year into the high 40pc tax band - has been frequently criticised by chief executives as being a major deterrent to luring staff and executives to Ireland.
In the UK, a single person does not enter its 40pc tax band until they earn more than 43,001 (50,624) a year.
In Germany, a 42pc personal tax rate for a single person doesn't kick in until they are earning more than 54,058 a year.
Kevin McLoughlin, partner lead at EY Entrepreneur of the Year Ireland, acknowledged that "strides have been made to foster entrepreneurship in Ireland, particularly through incentives such as the recent changes to corporate tax exemption for businesses in the start-up phase".
But he added: "We still have a long way to go to improve Ireland's personal tax competitiveness and compete to retain the exceptional entrepreneurial talent that is being created here."
Rewards
He said that while entrepreneurs contribute to Ireland's economic prosperity, 76pc of those it surveyed believe the Government isn't doing enough to support entrepreneurship.
"At the moment, entrepreneurs suffer a higher tax burden than those in employment, so this is an area that needs to be tackled head on by Government," said Mr McLoughlin.
"In doing so, Ireland's economy will reap the rewards through increasing the amount of capital available for investment, helping to reduce upward pressure on wages, and encouraging the creation of wealth through growing businesses in Ireland and increasing employment."
While 54pc of entrepreneurs said Ireland's education system was a positive, 57pc said that recruiting experienced staff had been a challenge, with 43pc saying they had struggled to compete for talent against large multinationals.
Still, 77pc of entrepreneurs surveyed said they increased their headcount in the past 12 months, with the same proportion planning to grow their workforce in the next year.
Mr McLoughlin said the battle for talent is impacting all businesses. "This, coupled with the fact that basic salaries and non-cash benefits can't be delivered tax-efficiently in Ireland, creates a further challenge for entrepreneurs," he said.
Tony OReilly was declared bankrupt in the Bahamas in 2015. Photo: Mark Condren
A luxury Caribbean home that was owned by former billionaire businessman Tony O'Reilly has been sold for less than 12m.
The exclusive property at the Lyford Cay resort in the Bahamas, called Lissadell Tamura, was sold by his bankruptcy trustee. Mr O'Reilly was declared bankrupt in the Bahamas in 2015.
It had been expected that the exclusive property in a gated community on New Providence Island in the Bahamas would have fetched about $17m (16m). Lyford Cay properties are much sought after by wealthy expats and celebrities.
Marketed by Sotheby's International Realty, Lissadell Tamura was described as a private, elevated beachfront property on three acres with 287ft of sandy beach.
The former business mogul once counted a 29pc stake in the publisher of this newspaper, INM, among his assets.
Mr O'Reilly, a former Ireland rugby international, had a 22m judgment secured against him by AIB in 2014.
Aside from his prestigious Bahamas home, he also owned other trophy properties, including his prized 750-acre Castlemartin estate in Co Kildare. It was sold in 2014 to US tycoon John Malone for 28m.
The property had been described as Mr O'Reilly's "spiritual home". His parents and two of his grandchildren are buried in a private graveyard beside a medieval church on the grounds.
His holiday home in Glandore, Co Cork, was sold in 2015 for 1.5m.
Mr O'Reilly (80), a former chief executive of Heinz, has endured a precipitous decline in his fortunes.
He also once owned a significant stake in Waterford Wedgwood, alongside his brother-in-law Peter Goulandris. The pair stuffed hundreds of millions of euro into the business in a failed effort to keep it alive. Waterford Wedgwood collapsed in 2009. Mr Goulandris has also owned a property in the exclusive Lyford Cay resort.
Tullow Oil's founder Heavey will step down as chief executive this month, having been in the post since 1985. The former Aer Lingus accountant has seen his fortune hit by the tumbling price of oil. Heavey, who has a Lamborghini jeep, is now based in Surrey. He also has homes in Wentworth Estate, Dublin and the Caribbean. At one stage, his Tullow stake was worth more than 100m before shares tumbled.
Charlie O'Loughlin is the man behind the Eurogiant retail group, which has around 80 shops nationwide. It swung to a loss of over 600,000 in its last set of financial results and wrote off an investment in a subsidiary. Sales were close to 70m, with the pound shop business expanding to include sales of higher value goods. Companies Office records base O'Loughlin in Cabinteely. He set up his first Pound City shop on Dublin's Moore St in the 1990s.
Under Hugh O'Donnell, Clonmel-based engineering firm Kentz became a global player in the oil-services sector. He floated the company on the stock markets in 2007 moving on four years later. The Limerick-based engineer sold 15m shares at the IPO, and when the company was sold to Canadian engineering and construction company SNC-Lavalin in 2014, he netted about 51m more. O'Donnell's Mac X3 investment firm is committed to sustainable development of high-potential start-up companies and to the people who make it happen.
Belfast-based Michael Herbert has a diverse portfolio. He owns the biggest KFC fast food franchise in Europe as well as the Haagen-Dazs franchise. He also owns a large property portfolio and, like all the other developers, he was hit hard by the crash. But he is back planning three major housing developments in east Belfast with development firm Kirk Bryson. The schemes include plans for 100 apartments and 50 homes.
Financier Michael O'Shea made good money from recruitment with his Atlantic Rimec group. He moved into private equity, with his Kerten Group investing in hotels, clothing, property and engineering businesses across eastern Europe, Africa and Turkey. It also owns part of Turkey's biggest chocolate-maker, Elit Cikolata, as well as a 10pc stake in Poland's largest car parts-maker, Fota. Last year, Geneva-based O'Shea (51) launched a new business hotel chain, Cloud 7, focusing on eastern Europe, the Caucasus and the Middle East. The chain is geared at tech savvy' travellers.
Paddy Campbell became known as Mr Bewley's when his firm acquired Ireland's most celebrated coffee brand in 1986. US multinational Aramark paid about 64m to buy Campbell's catering business in 2004. Campbell Catering was founded in the 1960s by Paddy and his wife Veronica. Tyrone-born Campbell is now an acclaimed sculptor. He was chosen to sculpt the official portrait of President Mary McAleese in 2007.
Retail turnaround expert Paul McGowan owns 18pc of distressed asset and restructuring group Hilco Capital, which has specialised in buying bombed-out high street brands, fixing them up and flipping them for big profits. The Dundalk-based financier has also been active in Ireland with deals for A-Wear and HMV. The hoped-for turnaround of Xtravision didn't materialise, however. A former accountant, Belfast-born McGowan stepped down as chief executive of Hilco in January to become chairman with responsibility for UK and international business development. In his new role, McGowan will oversee the progress of Hilco's operating companies in the UK, the USA, Canada and South Korea.
Ray Coyle's Largo foods bought the Tayto brand from drinks firm C&C for 68m in 2006, adding brands such as Hunky Dory, which adopted controversial, headline-grabbing ads.
German food group Intersnack bought a minority stake and bought the company outright in 2015. It emerged last month that he is stepping down as company chairman and as a director. Defying the naysayers, Coyle developed the Tayto Park theme park in Meath, spending over 45m to turn it into one of the country's biggest outdoor tourist attractions. Visitor numbers continue to grow.
Wicklow-based Richard Roche (59) sold the leasehold of his family's Roches Stores department store business to Debenhams for 29m just before the crash. The family held on to nine of the properties, which had an 18m annual rent roll. The family sold the Frascati shopping centre to Invesco for 68m in 2015. Debenhams' decision to put its Irish stores into examinership lifted the lid on a rental dispute between the retailer and the notoriously media-shy Roche family and ultimately resulted in rents to the family being cut. Richard lives on a 300-acre estate outside Wicklow and has invested in healthcare and US property ventures.
Music legend Van Morrison has sold over 48m albums during a five-decade career. Cash from concerts and royalties keep coming in. The low-profile rocker knighted last year by the Queen of England also owns residential properties in Belfast and Bath.
Accumulated profits at his firm last year rocketed more than 12-fold. The profits surge at Morrison's Exile Productions Ltd coincided with the Belfast man playing a number of gigs to celebrate his 70th birthday. His firm generated profits of 2.6m in 2015. Last year, Morrison sold the rights of 33 of his albums to Sony, which represents another big payday for the star.
Derry meat processor Foyle Food Group swung back into profit last year after Irish beef exports to the US resumed. The Campsie-headquartered beef giant recorded 3.5m (4.1m) profits in 2015 following a 5.3m loss the previous year. The group is wholly owned by the Acheson family and employs 1,007 people across nine facilities. Headed by racing driving fan Wayne Acheson (48), Foyle Food Group has been providing beef and lamb to retailers such as Tesco, as well as to food processors across Europe.
Dubliner and Trinity College graduate Sir William Sargent is the CEO and co-founder of Framestore, a London-headquartered Oscar and Emmy-award winning creative and visual effects studio that employs 800 people, with offices in LA, Montreal and New York. Founded in 1986, among the movies it's worked on are Gravity, Avatar, Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts and all the recent Marvel superhero ones, to name just a few.
Last November, Chinese investment firm Cultural Investment Holdings bought 75pc of the business in a deal that valued it at 175m, and one of its new directors is the 80s and 90s martial arts movie star Jackie Chan.
Sargent who worked as a Galway barman and a radio DJ in his youth is believed to have retained a 10pc stake in the firm. A 30pc stake had been sold in 2014 to a group backed by Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund for about 15m at a lower valuation.
Software company SL Controls has announced that it is to create 40 new jobs.
The company which is headquartered in Sligo, says that is needs highly skilled engineers as it expands internationally.
Recruitment for 40 positions has already commenced. The roles will be based in Ireland and successful candidates will work with their European and US clients.
Keith Moran, SL Controls Managing Director and co-founder said: "This significant boost to our work force will allow us to grow further into Europe, the US and other markets as well as continue to support our existing clients. It is important to us to hire only full-time engineers as this creates clear career paths for our employees as well as stability for our customers.
The new recruits will bring the companys total workforce to over 100.
Sligo based engineering and solutions provider, LotusWorks is currently recruiting for technicians and engineers. The company has just been named as one of the best places to work in Ireland. Its a testament to the team at this successfully Irish company says HR manager Mark Butler.
We want to attract the best people and keep the terrific staff we already have. The best way to make that happen is to offer people a great place to work. It really is that simple says Mark Butler, HR manager of the international engineering and solutions provider, LotusWorks.
LotusWorks has recently been named as one of the Best Workplaces in Ireland in 2017, winning in the category for Best Medium Sized Workplaces at an award ceremony in Dublin last month.
LotusWorks has always been a Great Place to Work for me as HR Manager, and I am delighted we have the stamp of approval from those who are the keepers of the LotusWorks brand in the form of the Great Place to Work title says Butler.
For over 27 years, the Sligo based company has been supporting some of the worlds largest manufacturers in Ireland, and the U.S.
The award is immensely valuable when it comes to attracting talent but Butler says it matters just as much to employees.
Working on this project has been exciting and has empowered our staff and teams nationwide. We have been rewarded and recognised for creating and implementing a Great Place to Work culture and we are thrilled that our employees have voiced their true opinions which are reflective of LotusWorks hard work and determination.
The company is currently recruiting for engineers and technicians for projects around Ireland.
Were looking to add a wide range of disciplines to the organisation, our teams are working with major manufacturers in a variety of industries from datacentres to Medical device and biopharma. commented Edith Gardiner, Talent Acquisition Manager, LotusWorks.
Were the leading calibration provider here in Ireland so we seek instrumentation /metrology disciplines on an ongoing basis. The other disciplines we hire include manufacturing engineers, process engineers and technicians, electrical build talent & mechanical design talent.
We select people who love making a real difference and enjoy new challenges, ideally they are people who are very good at what they do and want to work with the best. Our teams are eager to understand the latest technologies and manufacturing processes on our client sites, these clients are in most cases saving and transforming lives.
LotusWorks is a fun and exciting place to work. Theres a range of initiatives to keep our staff safe, healthy and happy. We support learning and further education for staff and provide good benefits and opportunity for growth and promotion.
To see jobs with LotusWorks on IrishJobs.ie click here
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Australian fans who saw Dara O'Brian at the Sydney Opera House on Sunday night were treated to a special snack.
The 45-year-old comedian played to a sold-out Sydney Opera House crowd last night.
But were they there for the funnyman who talks a mile-a-minute or were they there for the newest addition to the Opera House's menu?
As the Bray comedian arrived in Sydney for his Dara O'Briain Live show, concession stands in the prestigious concert venue stocked bags of Tayto for the big event - much to the delight of cheese and onion-starved Irish comedy fans.
Comedy and crisps.
Is there a better combination?
And while Dara himself didn't request the snack, he appreciated the gesture.
Renault F1 boss Cyril Abiteboul believes Renault's prospects will rise meaningfully from Bahrain when the team initiates a promising update cycle.
The team kicked off its season with alow-profile performance in Melbourne marked by a crash and brake issues on Jolyon Palmer's car, while Nico Hulkenberg came home just outside the points.
Abiteboul is very excited however on the development potential of the team's RS17.
"We have a team that is still growing and we have a lot to come, Abiteboul told Motorsport.com.
"But I am sure our direct competitors, like Toro Rosso and Force India, even though [in Australia] they had the upper hand, I am sure they are not sleeping and they will also be bringing updates.
"So it will be interesting to see who is bringing the most. I think clearly we have potential. We know what is in the pipeline, and it is exciting.
"And what we have in the pipeline, if we had it on the car now, it would allow us to be easily in the points."
Abiteboul admitted however that Renault lacked valuable mileage, not only as a consequence of issues encountered during winter testing but also because of Palmer's mishap in Australia.
The limitations have taken a bit of a toll on its level of performance in an ultra-competitive series of mid-field runners.
"I think frankly, and I am not putting the blame on him, absolutely not, but things were starting with Jo when he went off, said Abiteboul.
"From there we lost a car, so in general we were losing 50 percent of the capacity to learn the data about your own performance, doing high fuel run, low fuel run and so on and so forth.
"These things count so much now, in particular with these tyres that are new.
"It is a new Formula 1 in which everything has to go right, and it will be very difficult to make it up. Even if you are faster, it wont be enough.
"We have a very competitive midfield, and we are in that midfield. Where in the midfield I am not sure, but we need to get everything perfect in order to score points."
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James Arthur's single Impossible has notched up a sales record for The X Factor
James Arthur has announced an Irish date at the 3Arena on November 21.
Having bagged the X Factor's biggest winner's song of all time with Impossible in December 2012, the British artist subsequently fell foul of the public with a series of controversies.
After he used a homophobic slur to take down Croydon battle rapper Micky Worthless he was forced to apologise and defend himself against criticism from the LGBT community and public.
The 28 year old star admits he 'cracked' and suffered a breakdown. And last summer he was attacked with a pint glass by Christopher Revell and received five staples in his skull.
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However, he has bounced back from his troubles with the aptly titled new album, Back from the edge, and tour which includes the Irish date.
Those two years have benefited me a lot. Ive used the time well and actively participated in my new album a lot more than I did on the first one.
He's anxious to convey just how involved he was this time around.
"Theres a lot of my personality in the album. Its about love, hope, and the challenge of having your own back. However, this time, I wasnt only songwriter but co-producer as well, working up to eight hours in the studio every day. I put my own ideas into effect and got involved in great detail.
He adds, I grew up with my mothers soul music, but my father loves hardrock like AC/DC and Thin Lizzy. You get a little bit of everything on this album but in essence, its very consciously a pop album.
Im absolutely happy with the album Ive made. Ive enjoyed every minute in the studio, and Im ready for this new chapter everything thats going to happen with it.
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Arthur will be supported on the night by fellow former X Factor contestant Ella Henderson who is currently working on her second album.
Her debut went platinum in the first week of released and reached number 1 in the UK album charts in 2014.
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Tickets from 37 go on sale this Friday from Ticketmaster.
It's still very difficult, in 2017, to take male vanity seriously. Corporations that try to sell us stuff, they take it seriously, and Louis Walsh knows it's no sniggering matter, but, to the rest of us, it's a bit of a joke. You see it in the way we treat male and female vanity differently. If a woman loses her hair, it's all counselling and fun runs and ribbons of support, whereas if a man loses his hair, he just gets open derision from his mates and (creepily) targeted ads for plugs on Facebook. If a woman has to have a mastectomy, it may well be the subject of a photo essay about how brave she is to embrace her new body. Whereas if a guy develops moobs, he just gets gags about buying a bra.
I thought about all this a while ago as I watched what was dubbed Hughie Maughan's "fake tan disaster" on Dancing With The Stars. Underneath this headline, a pair of huge, hopeful eyes blinked, like those of the Dalmatian that falls in the soot in 101 Dalmatians. Hughie was a deep-mahogany, Donatella Versace-in-August kind of colour. It did look a bit alarming. Had he been a girl, the tan would, at most, been the subject of some Daily Mail sidebar tutting. He would be a subject of pity. But, because Hughie is a guy, and a Traveller, there was open mockery from all sides. Death threats came from Americans, who presumed he was in blackface, taking the piss. And the RTE make-up artist said something like she tried to wrestle the bronzer out of his not-brown-cos-he-forgot-to-do-it hand. As soon as Dancing With The Stars was over, Hughie got even browner. And everyone wondered, is Hughie going to be the Amy Winehouse of fake tan?
I took this all in with the weariness of a survivor who once waged my own brief, terrible battle with the tan bottle. I was 22 and going through the standard 1990s-southside-boy thing of wearing a solid head of Dax wax with Ben Sherman shirts and horrific boot-cut jeans. I had not yet made peace with my mousey grey Irishness. I didn't realise that most people worth listening to are translucently pale. I just wanted to be all golden-coloured, like a German exchange student or a porn star. So I went into this salon in town, and wore their paper underwear, and got sprayed by a girl who winkingly told me I was the third guy that day. Still, I did feel like this had to be the guy equivalent of the boat to England. The shame and secrecy, for one thing. The cash payment. The humiliation of being prodded by strangers. The new life awaiting. Yet, nobody was marching for my rights.
There is a moment when you emerge from these places and rejoin society, and you have a choice: do you 'fess up to your enhancement, or do you lie through your teeth and just pretend you got a colour? With jaw-dropping brazenness, I opted for the latter. "I'm just back from Spain," I told friends, who wondered where they'd seen me before. I was Bollywood brown. I was the colour of Hughie. Except, had I been a Traveller, a better name would have been Blackie.
It was, by today's high standards, a fairly tame moment of youthful experiment. It wasn't like I was getting someone's name tramp-stamped on me, or having permanent eyebrows tattooed on (those will always be the dream). But still, I had to be punished. I left a trail behind me, like a slug. Hotel sheets looked like they had the skid marks of a giant on them. Plus, the tanning liquid turned my beard red, so I looked like a sort of ginger Pakistani; not in danger of getting laid, but certainly a possibility for a flight watch list.
In the long, dark years since that disaster, I have managed to stay clean and dry. Not a single sponge or air gun has been aimed at me. I still appear as though I bathe in milk on a daily basis. And when I look back at the self who thought tan was a good idea, I realise it's really not that shameful to be so vain. It takes tremendous self-belief to be overly brown. It might help you charm everyone on Big Brother, or it might take you to the White House. Or it might, very simply, help you to brazen out the statement, "I've just been outside in the sun a lot lately".
Alan Hughes has said Amanda Byram has little chance of making a rival breakfast show on Irish TV while he is on Ireland AM.
Dancing With The Stars host Amanda recently revealed that she had pitched an idea for a feisty morning show.
I was pitching the idea of a Big Breakfast for Irish television the other day. Id love something fun and feisty on Irish TV in the mornings, she said.
However, Alan does not think RTE could ever overtake Ireland AMs dominance of morning TV, no matter who was presenting it.
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But the broadcaster admitted that he would not mind seeing them try.
We own breakfast. RTE will never do a breakfast show, I dont think. I dont think theres any chance of that. I mean, bring it on, he said.
Amanda doing a breakfast show in Ireland isnt going to happen, not while Im on TV I dont think, just because we are such a dominating force at the morning time.
Incidentally, Amanda knows a thing or two about breakfast TV she was the first host of Ireland AM in 1999 alongside Mark Cagney.
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Alan was also working on the show at the time.
She left TV3 in 2001, and was soon presenting Channel 4s Big Breakfast. She has since described it as one of her favourite jobs to date.
The Castleknock woman became a regular face on Irish television again when she began hosting hit series Dancing With The Stars, and also has a new online series with RTE Player.
If Amanda manages to make breakfast TV with RTE, Alan said Ireland AM has nothing to fear.
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We had a big meeting recently about the extra half hour and they showed us that the ratings are amazing. Things are bigger and better, he told the Herald.
Were going to be doing a lot of stuff that will be announced in September. Its all positive.
Alan revealed he was asked to take part in Dancing With The Stars, but had to turn it down because of his commitment to his pantomime productions with husband Karl Broderick.
I only saw bits of it. I was asked to do it, but time-wise with the panto, I just couldnt. I would have been working 24 hours a day, he said.
The TV3 host reckoned he would never be able to take part in the dancing show unless it was moved to a different time of the year.
I can never do it because of panto. If it was on during the summer, I would jump at the chance to do it, he said.
Its glitzy and they all did a great job on it.
I was sorry Katherine Lynch got kicked off because she really put her heart and soul into it.
Growing up in Dublin, against "the low background throb of the Troubles", Stephen Hall ignored Irish history but he "couldn't help but be immersed in contemporary events". He remembers a neighbour, a judge, being kidnapped and witnessed a police/INLA shootout. Suspicious of "nationalist pieties, Ireland's quasi-religious state and prevailing hypocrisy about homosexuality and women's rights", at 18, "with a bicycle and 100 quid" he ran away to London where he was cast by Danny Boyle in a play about the Birmingham Six at the Royal Court. Having lived in Naples, Frankfurt, Brooklyn, "I've realised what it meant to be Irish, culturally".
But Irish history, in the enigmatic and controversial figure of Roger Casement, prompted Hall's recent series of 20 paintings. "I came across Casement again when Bertie Ahern announced an investigation with Goldsmiths College into the authenticity of The Black Diaries, in an attempt to come to terms with the scandalous and controversial indigestible candour of them."
Realising how Casement is so "globally revered", Hall saw him as "a missing link between good faith and a positive brand" and, discovering that the artist, Herbert Ward, was once Casement's closest friend, "the idea of Casement the undiscovered artist popped up, fully formed". Hall wanted "to rewrite history and reclaim Casement's genuinely heroic status". This painting, using Casement's photographs and travel itineraries, imagines Casement himself creating it; "I'm interested in expanded concepts of authorship". Manaus, in Northern Brazil, "beneath a Casper David Friedrich sky", is where the Negro and Solimoes rivers meet. Casement went there in 1910 to investigate the alleged atrocities of a British-owned rubber company. Hall's painting depicts boats with transport workers, animals, servants, pilots, boatmen, landing station manager and overseer - in the smaller boat, an overseer's family with oarsman. "It's more proposition than experiment". It's Hall's work but Casement is its ghostwriter.
Fourteen people were found hidden in a truck that arrived by ferry at Rosslare Harbour yesterday afternoon.
Garda immigration officers found the 12 men and two women during a routine search after the ship from France docked around 2pm.
All of the 14 people, including one juvenile, were found inside a refrigerated trailer unit aboard the Irish Ferries Oscar Wilde ferry.
The people, who are believed to be of Kurdish origin from Iraq and Afghanistan, were hidden inside the refrigerated unit for three days.
It is understood that the truck was transporting apples and the temperature of the unit was around 5C.
All members of the group are in good health.
However, one man has been taken to Wexford General Hospital as a precaution.
The ferry had set sail from Cherbourg in France on Saturday night.
All 14 people are being assessed by immigration officers. They will later be referred to the refuge application commissioners. Garda enquiries are ongoing.
It's not the first time people have been found stowed inside containers in Irish ports. Last October, five people, including a three-year-old girl, were found in the back of a lorry in New Ross, Co Wexford.
At the time, members of the group told immigration officers they had paid 5,000 each to be smuggled into Ireland.
In February 2016, nine male refugees were discovered in New Ross huddled in the back of a truck that had arrived at Rosslare Port, Co Wexford.
They had been hidden inside the trailer for at least two days.
"As routes shut down and fences and walls go up, people are finding new ways and methods to reach places of safety," Caroline Reid, communications officer for the Irish Refugee Council, said at the time.
"Until we see more proactive responses and solutions which open up safe and legal ways for people to escape persecution, we will continue to see people making these types of journeys.
"No person should find themselves in a situation where they feel that their only choice is to pay smugglers to transport them on dangerous and arduous journeys with no guarantees for their safety or how or where their journey might end."
Last November, the Garda National Immigration Bureau said 124 migrants had been found at Irish ports during the previous two years.
Dublin Bus and Irish Rail are suing the National Bus and Railworkers' Union (NBRU) for the losses they suffered due to unofficial wildcat strike action.
The legal action has arisen as a result of secondary picketing by Bus Eireann workers last Friday, in a dispute with management over cuts and cost-saving measures.
Thousands of commuters were inconvenienced when, without warning, pickets were placed at Dublin Bus and Irish Rail depots.
"Irish Rail and Dublin Bus have sent a letter to NBRU by email, with hard copy to follow, signalling intention to take legal proceedings against the union to recover losses from Friday, estimated in hundreds of thousands," a spokesman for CIE said.
Read more: 'Outrageous' disruption could cost economy millions of euro, say businesses
The spokesman said all "necessary steps" would be taken to prevent further secondary pickets, including seeking a court injunction.
It is understood CIE claimed it has evidence of the involvement of the union in the unofficial picketing - something which the NBRU has robustly denied.
NBRU general secretary Dermot O'Leary told the Irish Independent he was aware of the threat of legal action following last week's secondary pickets.
"We're expecting a letter. Any allegations in relation to official NBRU involvement we'll pass over to our legal team for comprehensive review," he said.
He declined to speculate on whether further wildcat strike action would be organised in the course of the ongoing dispute.
Siptu organiser Willie Noone said that his union had not received a letter from Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann, nor did it expect to get one.
He said it was unlikely talks to find a resolution could take place in the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), if there was still the threat of secondary picketing.
Picketing
The dispute was high on the agenda at the national conference of the People Before Profit party, which took place yesterday. Two bus drivers spoke at the conference, defending the secondary picketing.
NBRU member Sean Thunder said the workers did not earn huge wages and that if the cuts went through he'd be better off on the dole.
"We want an honest day's pay for an honest day's work," he said.
Referring to the secondary pickets that caused travel chaos last week, Mr Thunder said he was making no apologies, other than to the individual commuters.
"What happened, and it was the drivers themselves that organised it, it had to happen," he said.
Siptu member John North said drivers were worried about their jobs, but wouldn't be treated "like doormats" by the management.
"CIE as a group, we can't be done away with," he said.
Mr North said the action on Friday was an inconvenience, but called on people to support the bus workers.
"It was an inconvenience to the people on the Dart and those people that cannot think for themselves and actually say 'you know what? Let's get behind these people'," he said.
The party said it would set up a fund to help the striking drivers.
The first images have emerged of a 'House of Horrors' where an Irish couple kept a mentally disabled woman imprisoned as a sex slave for years.
Last October Keith (61) and Caroline (54) Baker pleaded guilty to the repeated rape and sexual abuse of their victim over eight years.
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They are to be sentenced on Tuesday. At the weekend it was reported that the pair also allowed dozens of other men to abuse their vulnerable victim, "rewarding" her with Quality Street sweets at their home in Craigavon, Co Armagh.
The newly-released images give little insight into the torture the couple subjected their helpless victim to at their Drumellen Mews home, which has since been redecorated.
The pair kept their victim in squalid conditions, forcing her to use a toilet overflowing with human waste, and preventing her from leaving her tiny room by removing the door handle on the inside.
When she was rescued, she had only one sound tooth, and was "severely emaciated". She was kept in a bedroom with no light bulb, carpet, bedclothes or furniture. The room was cold as the radiator was never turned on, and had only a broken wardrobe for furniture.
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Last year Keith Baker pleaded guilty to 11 charges and his wife Caroline to seven.
The Bakers confessed to the three charges they jointly faced, two of engaging in sexual activity with a mentally disabled person and one of inciting such a person to engage in sexual activity knowing that she had such a disorder and "knowing that because of it she was unlikely to refuse".
Keith Baker admitted a further six counts of rape of the same woman and a final count of indecently assaulting the woman. Caroline Baker pleaded guilty to three offences of "aiding and abetting, counselling and procuring" her husband to rape their victim and a single count of indecent assault, with all of the offences against the couple occurring on dates between March 15, 2004 and December 20, 2012.
The offences came to light when another woman, known only as Miss X, alerted the authorities that a woman was being held hostage at the Bakers' home.
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The court heard that Mrs Baker and Miss X had given birth to four children to Keith Baker and that in the two adjoining semi-detached houses "men lived in one half and the women in the other".
Video recordings and still images showing the victim engaged in sexual activity with Mr Baker, his wife and the woman who alerted the authorities were found on computers, cameras and storage devices seized by police.
During police questioning Keith Baker initially claimed he had no idea what went on in that half of the house and that he had "rescued" his victim her from an "abusive relationship in England".
He told police they were in a "consensual" sexual relationship and that his victim was the instigator of any sexual trysts.
Caroline Baker also admitted sexual activity but, like her husband, claimed it had been consensual and that the victim had been the instigator. She also claimed she suffered from "battered wife syndrome", after being physically and emotionally abused by her husband for years.
A jobless man has been charged over an estimated 1.4m cocaine and cannabis seizure at a lockup in north Dublin.
Emmett Fogarty (45) appeared in court charged with possession of drugs following a garda raid on the premises in a business park in which a cache of ammunition was also found.
Judge Anthony Halpin granted him bail totalling 15,000, of which 10,000 must be lodged in cash.
Mr Fogarty was remanded in custody until he can take bail up.
The accused, with an address at Brookhaven Drive, Blanchardstown is charged with possession of both drugs with intent to sell or supply.
The offences are alleged to have taken place at Mount Dillon Business Park, Brookville Park, Malahide Road on March 31.
Garda Ivor Scully of the Special Crime Task Force told Dublin District Court the defendant made no reply to the charges after caution at Coolock Garda Station.
Objecting to bail, he cited the seriousness of the charges, saying the premises was searched under a drugs warrant and it was alleged that 20kg of cocaine was found, along with 3kg of cannabis.
It was further alleged there were 300 rounds of ammunition as well as components for six different types of firearm, magazines, gun barrels and GPS trackers.
There were no charges in relation to the ammunition and firearm components and directions on these were being sought from the DPP, Garda Scully said.
He told the court the accused was detained at Coolock Garda Station and made a number of admissions in relation to the items seized.
The drugs had a combined estimated value of 1.4m, Garda Scully said.
The accused was believed to have been in control of the lockup and there were allegedly documents linking him to it.
It was believed he had control and custody of the drugs.
Garda Scully said he believed the accused would commit offences, could interfere with witnesses and was a "high" flight risk. He also said there was a possibility of further serious charges.
He alleged Mr Fogarty was leaseholder of the lockup under a false alias and address and was capable of concealing his identity.
Applying for bail, defence solicitor Anarine McAllister said Mr Fogarty enjoys a presumption of innocence.
He was living with his wife, who was present in court. The accused had worked in hospitality but was now on jobseekers' allowance.
The garda agreed with Ms McAllister that the defendant had no substance abuse problem.
Mr Fogarty was willing to abide by conditions and make a "sizeable cash lodgement" for bai.
Asked if this would allay his fears, Garda Scully said he would be "somewhat satisfied in that regard."
Judge Halpin said he was concerned that the accused was unemployed, yet he had leased a commercial premises.
Ms McAllister said this was an allegation.
Garda Scully told the judge about 500 per month was paid for the lockup. Ms McAllister said there was "nothing sophisticated."
"No, it was a simple lockup," the garda agreed.
Judge Halpin granted bail in the defendant's own cash bond of 5,000 and an independent surety of 10,000, half of which is to be lodged in cash.
He must sign on daily at Blanchardstown Garda Station, observe a curfew and surrender his passport.
Judge Halpin remanded him in custody with consent to bail, to appear in Cloverhill District Court on April 5, for the directions of the DPP to be made available.
The defendant, wearing a grey jumper, purple shirt, blue jeans and brown shoes, did not address the court.
A man accused of murdering his former partner and mother of their two children tape-recorded his meeting with a social worker on the date of the alleged attack, his trial has heard.
A transcript of Vesel Jahiris audio recording was read to a Central Criminal Court jury today in the seventh week of the 35-year-olds trial.
Mr Jahiri, originally from Kosovo but of no fixed abode, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Anna Finnegan (25) at Allendale Glen, Clonsilla, Dublin 15 on September 21, 2012.
He has also pleaded not guilty to assaulting Karl Finnegan, causing him harm, at the same place on the same date.
Mr Jahiri previously dismissed his legal team and was representing himself at the trial.
Last week, Mr Justice Paul Coffey very reluctantly excluded Mr Jahiri from his own trial. The judge said this was a very unusual situation but the accuseds mans right to be present at his trial was not an absolute right and he had to be willing to abide by procedure.
Prosecution counsel Mr Patrick Marrinan SC told the jury that Karen Byrne, a social worker from The Wellman Clinic, attended a meeting with Anna Finnegan and the accused on September 21. Mr Marrinan said the court had excused Ms Byrnes attendance from this trial but Mr Jahiri was eager for the jury to hear her evidence from the previous trial.
Mr Marrinan said the significance of Ms Byrne's evidence was that she had made a statement to gardai and "attributed certain comments to the accused" during the course of their meeting. "Mr Jahiri, unknown to Ms Byrne, had audio taped that meeting from beginning to end, he said.
The prosecution then read a transcript of Ms Byrnes evidence from the previous trial. The court heard that Ms Byrne gave her direct evidence in the previous trial to Mr Marrinan commencing on May 7, 2014. Ms Byrne told Mr Marrinan that she was allocated as a social worker for Anna Finnegans and Vesel Jahiris two children on September 6, 2012.
Ms Byrne agreed with the prosecution that she had received a call from Bray Womens Refuge and Anna Finnegan arrived at The Wellman Centre on September 6 to speak to her. Ms Byrne said that the referral came about as a result of a domestic abuse concern. Ms Byrne agreed with the prosecution that part of the plan in place was that Vesel Jahiri should not go to Allendale Glen.
Ms Byrne said in her evidence that Mr Jahiri told her in a conversation on September 21 that it would be easy if he wanted to kill Anna but he would not do that as he loved her.
In cross-examination Mr Jahiri's then defence counsel, Mr Brendan Grehan SC, put it to Ms Byrne that Mr Jahiri had a recording device in his pocket on September 21, had recorded their entire conversation and that there was no reference on this recording to Mr Jahiri making a threat to kill Anna. Ms Byrne said Mr Jahiri had one hundred percent said this to her even though it had not appeared on the tape recording. Ms Byrne told the barrister that she believed the tape had been doctored in some way saying: There are pieces missing off that tape.
A transcript of Vesel Jahiris audio recording was then read to the jury.
Opening the prosecution case to a jury five weeks ago, Mr Marrinan said that Mr Jahiri and Anna Finnegan were in a relationship for about ten years and had two children together. However, their relationship turned sour prior to September 2012 and they ended up separating. It is alleged that Mr Jahiri stabbed Ms Finnegan to death after he battered down her front door and attacked her and her brother.
The trial continues before Mr Justice Coffey and a jury of nine men and two women.
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.
An Irish town is in shock after a man was assaulted and stabbed last month.
Vitor Vieira was enjoying a night out in Longford town on St Patrick's Day when he was attacked by three people.
The 37-year-old bricklayer lost a substantial amount of blood and spent over two weeks in the Midlands Regional Hospital in Mullingar.
Vitor moved from Portugal to Longford over 17 years ago and was described as "a really amazing person" by locals who have set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to help with his medical bills and to cover his costs while he's off work.
It's already raised more than 3,500 in just ten days and Maria Phillips, the woman behind the fundraiser, told Independent.ie about why everyone is so determined to help Mr Vieira.
She said: "He's a really amazing person, he's a very hard worker.
"I remember the first day he moved to Longford he searched every building site until he got a job, he's just a fantastic person.
"Everybody loves him and we said we would do something to help because he can't work at the moment, it'll also help with his medical bills, any future treatment and if he needs counselling or anything.
"He's also going to need skin grafts and more surgery."
She continued to say about the attack: "He was out for a few drinks on St Patrick's Day with his friends and he was going home when he was assaulted by three people with knives.
"His face was completely cut and he's needed stitches, he lost a lot of blood.
"He has a few injuries to his body, he bled into his lungs and almost drowned.
"He was heavily sedated and asleep for about ten days after and has only just been released...
"It was bright out, it was still very early, he just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"He's an extremely nice lad and it's shocking something like this could have happened to him."
Maria, 39, saidhe was discharged from hospital last week.
She explained: "He's gone away for a while and I don't know whether Longford will be a home to him again. He's so emotional, he's traumatised, this is the place where he's lived most of his life but he doesn't feel he can come back just yet."
The childcare assistant said that Vitor has been touched by the fundraising efforts.
Maria said: "Longford has got such bad press over the last few years but this shows the community spirit and how people are coming together.
"It was only set up last week but there's already over 3,500 and we've more fundraisers planned.
"He can't believe how people in Longford are pulling together, but there are good people who want to help.
"He's so well-liked and you can see that in the messages of support he's getting, it's unbelievable, it's really helping him."
A Garda spokesman said: "Gardai are investigating an assault on a male at 8.30pm on March 17 on New Street, Longford.
"Three males have been arrested in connection with the incident and have appeared before the courts. Investigations are ongoing."
Dublin hospitals are coming under pressure to provide parking spaces free of charge to cancer patients and their families.
A December report on parking charges from the Irish Cancer Society for cancer patients revealed costs of up to 63 a week, on top of the huge out-of-pocket payments cancer patients already face.
A motion will be brought forward to a Dublin City Council meeting on Tuesday by Independent councillor Nial Ring in relation to the issue.
The motion will call on Crumlin, Beaumont, the Mater, St James's and St Vincent's Hospitals to ensure that free car parking in their hospital car park facilities are made available for cancer patients.
Cllr Ring said the cost of parking was so bad that patients "were being forced to get taxis because it's a cheaper alternative".
Cllr Ring added that the cost to hospitals would be minimal and that the "technology is there" to start making parking spaces available to cancer patients.
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"Patients, including some from my own constituency, are going through enough as it is without having to worry about the extra costs," he said.
"In extreme cases, when patients are lying on a trolley the last thing they want to worry about is facing extra costs that could be avoided."
A letter to the council from the Irish Cancer Society's head of services and advocacy Donal Buggy said "no progress has been made".
"Currently, at the six hospitals within Dublin City Council's boundaries that provide cancer treatment, on average, a typical four-hour stay during treatment costs cancer patients 8," he said.
Expensive
"This includes St Luke's in Rathgar, which provides free parking.
"One day's parking at the Mater costs 15. This is just one euro less than a day in the Stephen's Green car park, one of the most expensive spots to park in the city."
If the motion is passed, Dublin City Council's chief executive Owen Keegan will write to the hospitals referred to asking for measures to be taken to allow cancer patients free parking.
A series of Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) raids at a number of locations in Leinster is believed to be linked to money laundering through the sale of "high-end horses".
It is understood associates of a west Dublin criminal gang are behind the suspected scam.
The raids took place yesterday at 12 locations in Dublin, Kildare and Meath and were part of an ongoing investigation into the gang.
Large amounts of financial documentation and electronic media were seized.
Sources close to the operation said that, although it relates to the sale of "high-end animals", it is not linked in any way to the horse racing industry in Ireland.
During the raids, a luxury car and a small quantity of controlled drugs and drugs paraphernalia were also seized.
The searches were carried out at private residences and business premises.
The CAB was supported by the Special Crime Task Force (SCTF), the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (DOCB), the Dublin Regional Armed Response Unit and gardai from Clondalkin and Ronanstown garda districts.
No arrests were made during this phase of the investigation and no other assets were seized.
The latest raid comes after a busy three months for CAB officers.
In February, the Supreme Court ruled that the CAB was entitled to seize three properties linked to criminal John Gilligan, including the Jessbrook equestrian centre in Co Meath.
The 65-year-old has been living on the grounds of the centre in recent months, but the CAB is understood to be preparing to seize it on the back of the court judgment.
PROCEEDS
Other property owned by his family was also found to be the proceeds of crime.
Separately, it emerged last month that the CAB is seeking a judgment of more than 2m from the alleged leader of one of the country's most prolific burglary gangs.
John Wall (51), of Fortunestown Lane, Tallaght, has been ordered to pay the CAB a total 2,014,864 in a judgment that the bureau obtained against the veteran criminal last month.
Dubliner Ibrahim Halawa has been in jail in Egypt awaiting a mass trial since August 2013, when he was aged just 17
The Irish government arranged a doctor to visit Ibrahim Halawa in prison last week, Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan has confirmed.
Minister Flanagan called Mr Halawa's case is "a high priority" for our Government and claimed it's receiving " unprecedented attention and resources."
The Dubliner was arrested in a mosque in Cairo, Egypt in August 2013 after he was accused of being involved in the banned Muslim Brotherhood, he has been in prison since and his trial has been postponed 19 times.
Minister Flanagan alleged he is doing all he can to try and ensure Ibrahim (21) is safely allowed to return to Ireland.
He said: "As in any consular case, the health of an individual citizen and details their medical history and treatment are private and confidential.
"I can confirm that the Government arranged for a doctor to visit Ibrahim Halawa in prison last week. The doctor recommended further medical assessments and that Mr Halawa be released to facilitate such tests.
"It has long been the Government's stated desire to see Mr Halawa returned to Ireland and we have made direct appeals to the Egyptian government on a number of occasions.
"Having made arrangements for a medical visit and received a report, the Taoiseach has again written to President el-Sisi about this complex and sensitive case."
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Minister Flanagan was speaking from Luxembourg, where he is participating in the EU Foreign Affairs Council, he said he has used the event to highlight Ibrahim's case.
He said: "Today I discussed the case with the Secretary General of the League of Arab States, former Egyptian Foreign Minister, Abou El Gheit. "I also again raised the case with the EU's High Representative, Vice President Federica Mogherini who has taken a personal interest in the case.
"This case remains a high priority for the government and it continues to receive unprecedented attention and resources in Dublin and in Cairo. We will continue our efforts to see Ibrahim returned to Ireland without delay. In the interim we will continue to provide very high levels of consular care."
There are hopes that Bus Eireann and union bosses could enter into further talks and end the ongoing dispute.
As the strikes reached day 11 both sides confirmed they would be willing to meet for further discussions at the Workplace Relations Commission.
However National Bus and Rail Union boss Dermot O'Leary refused to comment on whether he would instruct his members to call off their industrial action during potential talks.
Mr O'Leary said he had "no prior knowledge" about Friday's action, which caused commuter chaos when Dublin Bus and Irish Rail workers went on strike.
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Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast, he said: "I spent every day last week talking to people on picket lines all over this country gauging the opinion of people, not just from my trade union, I spoke to people from all trade unions, there are five involved in this dispute and of course I come out and talk on behalf of mine.
"We try and provide leadership, that leadership goes beyond the NBRU, it goes to the agencies and we're supposed to assist those who provide public transport.
"We show leadership and they're supposed to do that at the same time, by that I mean the CIE group, the Department of Transport and the National Transport Authority."
He added: "It was unfortunate what happened on Friday but thank God that we live in a democracy."
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He criticised claims by Dublin Bus and Irish Rail that they are planning to sue the NBRU for losses they made on Friday during the disruption.
He said: "We've been calling for intervention in that group for quite a while and it seems quite strange and insulting that the only thing they've done in this dispute is to write a letter to the Department."
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Bus Eireann also said that they will engage in crunch talks to prevent further action.
A spokeswoman said: "It is an all-out strike and, as per day one, all services are affected bar school transport and Eurolines.
"There are currently no plans for talk but the company has said we are willing to enter time limited talks on changes to work practices and efficiencies so Bus Eireann can remain solvent and have a sustainable future."
Meanwhile Dublin Bus services were running as usual today, a representative for the company said that there should be "no disruption to their services."
National joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy has invited interested companies to use available gas transport capacity booked by Naftogaz at Budince interconnection point on the Ukrainian-Slovak border for April 2017.
Naftogaz said that this would ensure stable supply of natural gas to Ukraine and increase competition in the domestic gas market.
"All interested companies are welcome to discuss conditions for the use of available capacity. Naftogaz is offering gas suppliers a flexible cooperation framework depending on volumes and supply period," the company said.
The letters of the companies should specify the expected transmission volume and period, as well as the suppliers shipper code obtained from the Slovak transmission system operator Eustream, a.s.
If the requested capacity is available in the specified period, Naftogaz will provide the counterparty with the list of documents required for verification procedures and a standard confidentiality agreement. Upon the completion of the procedures, Naftogaz will send the counterparty a commercial offer.
"Available capacity will be awarded to the companies as the relevant agreements are concluded. Naftogaz reserves the right to accept or reject any capacity request prior to concluding an agreement as well as to cancel the application procedure at any time with no liability towards applicants," Naftogaz said.
After five years as Papal Nuncio, the Pope's ambassador in Ireland will leave our shores tomorrow.
Ahead of his departure, Archbishop Charles Brown said he was "deeply grateful for the kindness, graciousness, and the welcome" he received during his time here.
The New Yorker leaves Ireland to take up his new role as Papal Nuncio of Albania.
He held a farewell gathering for Church figures at the Apostolic Nunciature on Dublin's Navan Road last Thursday.
His successor has not yet been announced.
In a video message for the 'Irish Catholic' newspaper, Archbishop Brown said: "My predominant emotion on leaving is a sense of tremendous gratitude for being here.
"I thank people for the edification I received by seeing their faith.
"I want to thank everyone for the amazing welcome I received since arriving in January 2012. I am so deeply grateful for the kindness from every quarter, a welcome, a graciousness that continued for five years during my time here."
Archbishop Brown's appointment to Ireland by Pope Benedict in November 2011 followed the publication of four reports in to clerical child sex abuse.
Last year, the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) - which represents a third of Ireland's priests - severely criticised him over his selection of bishops.
The ACP said it was "reluctant to call for Archbishop Brown's removal" but said his appointment was "widely interpreted as an opportunity of disciplining the Irish Church".
During his term, Archbishop Brown was involved in the appointment of 16 bishops.
The ACP expressed "grave disquiet" at the lack of consultation involved as well as a "preference for candidates drawn from a particular mind-set".
However, Archbishop Eamon Martin said he "endeared himself to so many people in Ireland, thanks to his down-to-earth and friendly nature.
"For me, his energy, courtesy, openness, warmth and co-operativeness have exemplified the style of Pope Francis," he said.
Search teams have been unable to find two missing Irish Coast Guard crewmen after managing to raise the wreckage of the Rescue 116 helicopter off the Mayo coast.
Rescue workers had "desperately hoped" that Ciaran Smith (38) and Paul Ormsby (53) would be in or near the main section of the aircraft.
However, after managing to raise the wreckage onto the Commissioner of Irish Lights vessel the Granuaile and inspecting both the aircraft and the seabed yesterday afternoon, investigators said they had not been able to recover the missing men.
The aircraft sections recovered include the rotor head, the main gear box, one engine and "wreckage associated around that" which will be inspected as part of the formal probe into the tragic crash.
Poignant
Last night, Irish Coast Guard operations manager Gerard O'Flynn said they would continue to look for their missing colleagues in the hope of bringing them home, while asking the crewmen's families "not to give up hope".
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In a poignant moment, rescue workers aboard the Granuaile held a prayer service for the Rescue 116 crew as they brought the remains of the Sikorsky S-92 back to Blacksod Bay, from where the search is being co-ordinated.
Read more: Late Late Show praised for 'beautiful tribute' to four members of tragic Irish Coast Guard crew
A Naval Service dive team earlier managed to attach equipment to the wreckage to help the lifting process on what was the 20th day of the large-scale search operation.
Despite the massive disappointment in not being able to find the two crewmen after extensive examinations near the crash site, senior rescue workers and investigators last night stressed that the search would continue for winch operator Mr Smith and winch man Mr Ormsby.
"The hope remains, we haven't given up hope. We will continue to search for another period given that we have resources on scene and available," Mr O'Flynn said.
Supt Tony Healy also paid tribute to the hundreds of rescue personnel who had been involved in the painstaking operating over the last three weeks.
"We achieved our target today of lifting the wreckage and inspecting underneath it. Unfortunately, we didn't find any of the crewmen today, but the conditions were just really on the edge and it's a tribute to all the people out there," Supt Healy said yesterday.
"Weather conditions are expected to disimprove over the next period of time and the air and land searches will continue and will progress.
"It is a very disappointing day; we go out expecting to find two remaining crewmen. Where there's hope of recovering our two missing crewmen we will continue," the senior garda added.
Investigators have recovered all the available data from the aircraft's blackbox, which will help determine what caused Rescue 116 to crash into Black Rock island in the early hours of March 14.
Read more: 'No mechanical anomalies identified' in initial analysis of data retrieved from Rescue 116
Chief Inspector of the Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) Jurgen Whyte said the investigative aspect was a "long way" from concluding and that more evidence would be gathered to determine what caused the tragic crash.
"We have recovered all of the data from the flight data recorder . . . it takes a significant amount of time to analyse.
"As we said, our opinion is that there were no mechanical anomalies and we must now focus on the operational side. It's a long, arduous investigation which will take several months," Mr Whyte said.
"There's a lot more evidence to gather and there's a lot of interviews to do . . . a lot of procedures and we must talk to the different players involved.
"That takes time; takes time to gather facts, time to analyse and time to come to a conclusion," the senior investigator added.
The aircraft's pilot, Capt Dara Fitzpatrick (45), was recovered in the immediate aftermath of the tragic crash but was later pronounced dead. The second crewman, Capt Mark Duffy (51), was recovered from the helicopter's cockpit on Sunday, March 26.
A stark look at Ireland's property market, aired on RTE tonight, has hit home with viewers across the country.
The first installment of 'Ireland's Property Crisis' offered snapshot of those at the front-line of the housing crisis, including people who are struggling to clear arrears and those who are currently without a home.
IT worker and Trinity College graduate Colin McSweeney (45) told his story of becoming homeless.
He revealed how he works in a library but each day he also has to find a bed for the night.
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He is forced, from night to night, to secure accommodation in different hostels.
He was working in the IT sector in a firm based in Tallaght but when the company folded he found himself unable to pay his rent.
He spoke about waiting for the call all day to let him know if he will have a bed for the night.
Sometimes he was forced to spend the night in Dublin's only 24-hour Starbucks in the city centre.
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Colin later appeared on Claire Byrne Live and Housing Minister Simon Coveney offered to speak with him off-air about his situation.
People watching were outraged at Colin's story and praised his composure and dignity as he battled homelessness.
The show also looked at a single mum of two, Selena, who is trying to find a home before being forced to vacate her current home on Easter Monday.
Meanwhile, the Sadlier family are trapped renting a house and payaing a mortgage on an apartment they bought ten years ago which is no longer suitable for their family.
Widow Anna, whose home was at risk after her debt was sold onto a vulture fund, was told following the show that she would be able to stay in her home.
People were also incensed by insights into the rental market with people forced to compete with dozens of people at viewings and a look at an apartment in an upcoming development, complete with a fold out bed in the living area.
People watching at home were quick to point out similarities to the previous property bubble here, questioning if Ireland had learned anything.
Housing Minsiter Simon Coveney this week denied that we are careering toward a repeat of the Celtic Tiger when the boom and bust of the housing market forced the country into a deep downturn.
John McAreavey and Michaela McAreavey on their wedding day (Irish News)
An elite task force has been set up in Mauritius in a bid to bring those responsible for the killing of Michaela McAreavey to justice.
Prosecutor Satyajit Boolell said the investigation is still on-going and that those who killed her will face justice.
"We can't say this case is closed," he told the BBC.
Ms McAreavey (27) was killed just 12 days after marrying her husband John.
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The newly-weds were honeymooning in Mauritius when she was discovered dead at their luxury hotel.
The young woman, who is the daughter of Tyrone GAA boss Mickey Harte, was strangled.
Nobody has ever been prosecuted for the murder.
We want to find out who the culprits are, Mr Boolell told the BBC.
"Those who have taken the life of this young woman will have somehow to face justice.
"We are as determined, we are as concerned, as he is.
"Any crime on our territory is a blot on our peaceful reputation."
Mr McAreavey has travelled to Mauritius with his sister, Claire, and Mark Harte, Michaela's eldest brother.
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On Monday a meeting was held with senor police and speaking afterwards Mr McAreavey told Mauritin newspaper L'Express that the meeting was "short but positive".
"We've had a short but positive meeting here with the police. We've been updated on developments, on how progress is being made.
"We're enthused by what we hear. We have communicated that we are very much involved in this process now.
"We'll be doing all we can to assist the Mauritian authorities to deliver justice for Michaela.
"The police now are very aware of what we are here to achieve. We are hoping and praying that in the next coming weeks and months we'll be doing everything we can to ensure justice is served.
The family also met the country's prime minister Pravind Jugnauth.
The prosecutor also said new legislation was introduced after her death, making it possible where there is "fresh and compelling evidence" for a new trial to be held.
He said he hoped the new task force uncovered "fresh and compelling evidence".
A confidential telephone line is being set up by his lawyer on the island, Dick Ng Sui Wa.
In 2012 two hotel workers - Avinash Treebhoowoon and Sandip Moneea -were found not guilty of Michaela's murder following a trial.
The watchdog overseeing charities has received a flood of complaints from the public who are reporting potential wrong-doing by organisations fundraising for good causes.
The scale of tip-offs reached around 60 a month in the wake of last year's expose of unscrupulous spending of public donations by Console, the former suicide counselling agency.
Although the public outcry has abated, the extent to which trust in charities has been shaken means that Charity Regulator John Farrelly's office is still getting some 30 reports a month from people who are uneasy about some form of fundraising activity.
Around 324 charities have been subject to some allegation by concerned citizens, he said.
"We want the public to feel free to raise anything with us. I trust them and their report is completely confidential. Tell us, and we will do the validation," Mr Farrelly said.
He said it was a call to his office by a concerned citizen that led to the first prosecution taken by the office of the Charity Regulator against the "Twist charity" in Sligo.
It resulted in the District Court closing down an unregistered charity shop and soup kitchen while imposing a suspended sentence on Oliver Williams, who was behind the operation.
"It was information from the public which also led us to use other enforcement powers," he said. "When we get a report, we go to the charity to seek assurances. If it cannot do so, we bring in the trustees."
Most so far have been able to prove they are compliant and they are given time to produce the evidence.
In other instances, a statutory investigation has been launched which involves examining books, documents and records.
Charity regulation is still relatively new in Ireland and a regulator's office was only set up in 2014.
Mr Farrelly was appointed last summer having previously worked in the Health Information and Quality Authority where he was involved in the early inspection of nursing homes and disability centres.
So far, 8,162 charities have registered with his office but he says there are potentially 15,000 out there which need to do so.
Despite the scandals, more than 300 newly-formed charities have been registered since May. But more than 700 were turned down.
"The vast majority of charities are based in communities with people doing good work for free. Most are voluntary. There is an assumption all are big entities but that is not the case," he said. "I interview the chairpersons and the trustees when they apply.
"It must be for the public good. A piece of paper does not tell you the full story."
Some well-intentioned groups have been turned down because they lack the expertise to run a charity.
But other reasons are more toxic.
Mr Farrelly has been threatened with being sued by one would-be new charity.
Background checks have uncovered past history of fraud or trustees made up of relatives.
"When you interview people and go through documents, other matters can come out from their past, including behaviour that would not be acceptable.
"There have always been gaps in society and it has been decent people, pioneers who have stepped in.
"We want to work with them in a pragmatic way. We are not there to torment charities.
Gatekeeper
"If anything, we are a gatekeeper to allow the right people in. But the public wants to have confidence in the charity and believe it can do the job."
He has interviewed around 700 trustees so far and sees them as central to keeping their charity's house in proper order.
"I am very clear that a charity and charitable purpose is too precious to be lost by a few. The trustees need to be informed and engaged, otherwise the charity is at risk," he said.
When it comes to salaries - how well paid should a charity chief be?
He said the average management salary is around 60,000.
It can be higher where a chief executive is responsible for a big budget. But already he has summoned in a number of charities to quiz them about the size of salaries, mostly in the health sector.
"They heeded us. We are not happy if charitable donations are not carefully minded," he said.
New guidelines are also on the way on the methods used by charities to fundraise in pursuit of cash.
In the past, some charities were seen as too hard-nosed in their approach, with others lacking in safeguards as good-hearted people donate money and cheques in good faith.
As the Console controversy raged last summer, it emerged that the regulator was without statutory powers of investigation.
These were since granted and it has allowed him to recruit new expertise in areas like forensic accounting, increasing staff to 33.
Investigations into Console, founded by Paul Kelly who squandered lavish sums on salaries, cars and holidays, are continuing by other agencies.
It was put into liquidation and creditors have yet to be paid.
The office of the Charity Regulator recently moved to a new base in George's Dock, near the Financial Services Centre. It has a tight team, including the regulator himself, who work in a open-plan office.
It is likely to be some years before the full register of charities is complete and intact.
So does he feel that another Console could happen again?
"To say it could not happen again would be totally naive. A banking crisis happened in America in the 1920s.
"Charities are made up of human beings. They flourish and fail. There is always potential there for a small minority.
"You have to be cynical. I have a simple belief - trust and verify. We cannot rely just on people's word - we have to look beneath."
"When it's happening, it's all you think about, and it's very intense," says chef Alain Kerloc'h. "You are not in your zone, or in your kitchen; they are not your plates. But the person who's bought a ticket for the pop-up doesn't want to hear excuses - they want to know what you're about. And you're telling them your story but you're relying on others to source your ingredients the way you would yourself."
Later this month, Alain Kerloc'h, Stevie Toman and their team from the Michelin-starred Ox restaurant in Belfast will pack up their cars with ingredients and kitchen equipment and drive to Dungarvan in Co Waterford. There, they'll unload into the kitchen of The Tannery, Paul and Maire Flynn's excellent restaurant (see review, page 35), and start preparations for their Sunday lunch pop-up, one of the hot tickets at this year's West Waterford Festival of Food.
Why on earth would people who've worked hard to earn their Michelin star and garnered armfuls of glowing reviews in the process want to do this - and on what's supposed to be their day off?
"Paul Flynn is someone we all look up to," explains Toman. "He's been there, done that, bought the T-shirt - one of only two Irish chefs [the other is Clare Smyth] to have headed up a three-star Michelin restaurant. He's a legend, a great ambassador for Irish food, and we are big fans. So when he called to ask us, there was no question of saying no."
Toman and Kerloc'h are no strangers to this pop-up lark. In 2014, they were honoured to host their former boss, Alain Passard of the three-Michelin-star L'Arpege in Paris, for a collaborative pop-up at Ox, with some courses devised by Passard and others by Toman. Passard is a true culinary superstar and it's clear that - almost three years after that memorable night - the pair can still hardly believe they managed to pull it off.
The following year, Ox popped up at the Ballymaloe Litfest, having driven down in three cars after evening service, arriving at five in the morning. "None of us had any sleep for three days - it was Red Bull all the way," says Toman. "But it was brilliant. We loved it, and none of us will ever forget it."
Last year, they popped up in Greece, as part of a festival celebrating new one-star restaurants in Europe organised by Sani Resorts, and in New York, at The Dead Rabbit - officially the world's best bar, owned by two Belfast natives, Jack McGarry and Sean Muldoon.
"That was hardcore," says Toman. "New York is the biggest buzz of all and it was amazing to challenge ourselves to put on an event there with just a couple of days' prep. It was great exposure for the restaurant. We were on an incredible high after that."
And just a couple of weeks ago, the pair put on a St Patrick's Day pop-up in London, flying back to Belfast on the early morning red-eye to be home in time for Saturday lunch service. Whatever about the highs, it all sounds completely exhausting.
"It has to be worth it to do it, in terms of meeting new people and getting our story out there," explains Kerloc'h, who says that they are choosy about which invitations they will accept. "It is stressful when you are doing a full menu, and last year we did so many.
"Our business is established now, but you can't stand still - the restaurant has to progress, which is why we will continue to do pop-ups. If you stand still, then it's all over for you. We are constantly trying to improve what we do, and we are more ambitious now than we ever have been. When we started out, it was very pressured, and we worked hard to get the star. The food has come on in leaps and bounds since we started.
"But now we can't allow ourselves to be happy with what we did last year - we have to do better. A pop-up is always a risk: the stakes are high. We get many invitations, but we have to put the restaurant first. And we have to restrict ourselves to things that we are excited about; it's important to us to feel like we are going to enjoy it, otherwise what's the point?"
It's not just the chefs who are travelling for pop-ups - last year, diners travelled from across the island to attend the pop-up between Takashi Miyazaki, a Japanese chef based in Cork, and Irish chef Katie Sanderson. Their two-night pop-up called Ichigo Ichie, meaning 'once in a lifetime', was at The Fumbally Stables in Dublin. The nine-course meal included dishes such as mirin-dried mackerel osuimono paired with green tea and cardamom kombucha, and sea urchin with wasabi, kaisou and tosazu.
"The first time I met Katie was at the Ballymaloe Litfest, where she was giving a cookery demonstration," says Miyazaki. "I liked what she did and a couple of months later we decided to do a pop-up together. Katie's cooking is vegetable-focused, inspired by Asian cuisine - especially Japanese - and she uses fermentation techniques. I learnt a lot from her. Making and discovering new dishes together was fun; her taberu rayu (peanut sauce) and my mochi (rice cake) dish collaboration was one of the big hits of the dinner.
"We only agreed on the final menu a week before the event. I would have liked to agree it earlier, but Katie and I are quite different - she is much more relaxed, and I mean that in a good way. In the end we made it, though, and it was an absolutely brilliant experience."
On Monday, Miyazaki will be popping up again at a charity dinner for Breakthrough Cancer Research in Bally- volane House (ballyvolanehouse.ie). This time he'll be collaborating with fellow chefs Jess Murphy of Kai in Galway, Ross Lewis from Chapter One in Dublin, Enda McEvoy from Loam in Galway and Robbie Krawczyk, formerly of Tankardstown House in Co Meath, who is rumoured to be opening a new restaurant in Dublin later this year.
"I like doing pop-up ups because they are an opportunity to showcase my food in a way that I can't in my own restaurant," says Miyazaki. "My restaurant in Cork is a simple takeaway premises, with no tables, no menu of courses, and no licence to serve alcohol. At a pop-up I can do a full Japanese kaiseki course menu. I like working on a particular concept in a different location and telling a story, and I get a lot out of working with other chefs, sharing ideas and creating passionate new dishes.
"Last year I did a pop-up in Mitchelstown Caves that was really something special. There was no kitchen equipment, no gas and no cooking facilities inside the cave, and we had to bring in all the tables and chairs. It was tough but it was worth it."
It's not just established chefs who get involved in pop-ups. For young chefs at the start of their careers, the exposure that comes from being able to test their food out on the public before they invest in premises and set up a permanent restaurant is an attractive proposition. Last weekend, young chef Andrew Cox put on Ceviche, his first pop-up, at Sprout & Co on Sir John Rogerson's Quay, Dublin, which is owned by his cousins Jack and Theo Kirwan. Cox learned about ceviche during an internship at the Llama Inn in New York, where he worked in the evenings a few nights a week after completing a day's work as a data analyst.
"I kept trying to get a table there when friends or family were in town visiting and I never could," says Cox, "so I thought that if I went to work there, then I might at least get to try the food."
The Kirwans sampled Cox's ceviche when he served it as an unusual starter last Christmas Day, and the idea for a pop-up was born. And the cousins got together every Thursday for the eight weeks leading up to the pop-up to sample and refine dishes and hone the menu for the night.
In the end, the five-course menu included an exceptional tiradito con maracuya - lemon sole with passion- fruit leche de tigre, crunchy quinoa and amaranth - and a ceviche of sea bass with caramelised banana. A deliciously tart and tangy dessert of sorpresa de lima - lime, meringue and oat crumb - was devised by his friend and fellow chef Jake McCarthy.
Now Cox is off to Lima, hoping to find work in a restaurant there, looking to deepen his knowledge of Peruvian food and develop what is already a prodigious talent. Delighted with the success of Ceviche, the Kirwans hope to put on more pop-ups in the coming months - watch their Facebook page (facebook.com/sproutfoodco) for details.
At the West Waterford Festival of Food pop-up (westwaterfordfestivaloffood.com) meanwhile, the Ox team will be collaborating with Paul Flynn himself, and are hoping that not being responsible for the whole menu will mean that the day will be enjoyable rather than stressful. "Paul will come into the kitchen and do a few courses, which makes it more fun and relaxed than it would be with us just doing a tasting menu," says Toman.
"We'll be doing beef aged in lard - it's a technique that we've been experimenting with and it's really good. The meat is aged for 10 days on the bone, and then taken off the bone, dipped in lard and aged for another couple of weeks. This is something new, and the flavour is much more intense. I saw them doing this in Copenhagen - ageing beef in clarified butter - and I showed my butcher how to do it.
"Paul's asked us to do a Jerusalem artichoke ice-cream that he had when he ate at Ox a few months ago. We'll do a few snacks as well. And then hopefully we'll all be able to go and have a few pints of Guinness afterwards."
Watch out for
GRUEL GUERRILLA
Twitter: @gruelguerrilla
Occasional eight-seat BYO dinners put on by Gruel Guerrilla in Dublin. Expect inventive, hyper-seasonal menus featuring plentiful foraged ingredients. There's a suggested donation at the end of the evening, usually around 60.
NORTH EAST
Twitter: @northerncuisine
Chef Eric Heilig hosts monthly Sunday-night dinners showcasing Baltic cuisine at Heron & Grey in Blackrock, Co Dublin, where he works alongside Damien Grey. His partner, Floriane Loup, looks after front of house. Expect to pay in the region of 48 for snacks, a four-course dinner and drink pairings.
Head of the People's Front Party and ex Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk has declared in his electronic declaration for 2016 more than $1 million and UAH 4 million held in bank accounts. The ex PM said he has UAH 300,000 in cash, owns a painting collection, coin collection, books and rights to the Arseniy trademark.
Yatsenyuk owns a 3,031 square meter land parcel in Novi Petrivtsi (Kyiv region), a 343.5 sq m house, two apartments in Kyiv measuring 83.35 sq m and 224.9 sq m, respectively, a third of an apartment in Chernivtsi measuring 104.9 sq m, 114.5 sq m summer house in Novi Petrivtsi, as well as a garage in Kyiv measuring 13.4 sq m.
Yatsenyuk's wife Terezia declared usage of her mother's 185.2 sq m meter apartment in Kyiv for free, and a 172.5 sq m lease apartment from Yatsenyuk's mother Maria in Kyiv.
Arseniy Yatsenyuk declared valuable property consisting of a Blazer rifle, ten paintings of Ukrainian and foreign artists, a collection of Ukrainian and foreign money, a Breguet watch, library of old and modern books, antique clocks and fireside candle holders.
Yatsenyuk's wife declared gems and a Winston watch.
The ex PM owns a Mercedes S manufactured in 2010 worth UAH 610,000 and rents a Toyota Sequoia made in 2010. His wife owns a Range Rover Sport 2012 worth UAH 828,229.
Yatsenyuk owns 100 military bonds worth UAH 100.192 each and a 6.045% share in the Chernivetsky Cement Works and Construction Factory. He also declared authorship of the book, titled "Banking Secrets from the Orange Revolution," as well as a number of trademarks and commercial brand names.
Yatsenyuk said he earned UAH 117,598 in 2016 and received interest on deposits in Oschadbank, Raiffeisen Bank Aval.
Later this month, Dungarvan will host the 10th annual West Waterford Festival of Food. It's Ireland's best- attended food festival, and Paul and Maire Flynn have been at the heart of its success ever since it started in 2008. Their Tannery restaurant, which will celebrate its 20th birthday in July, has hosted some memorable festival events over the years, including dinners by guest chefs Angela Hartnett, Fergus Henderson and Robin Gill. (Who could ever forget the pigs' heads gracing each table when the man from St. John came to town?)
This year, the Tannery will put on a Saturday night dinner by Stephen Harris from The Sportsman in Kent - the self-described "grotty rundown pub" last year named the best restaurant in the UK by Restaurant magazine in the National Restaurant Awards - and a pop-up Sunday lunch by Stevie Toman and Alain Kerloc'h from Ox (see feature on page 32).
Because Dublin- centric journalists like me still think that Dungarvan is the four-hour drive from the capital it was 15 years ago, I've only made the trip down at festival time for the past few years. And so, although I've been to the Tannery several times, it's been quite a while since I've eaten Paul Flynn's own food. (The drive is, by the way, now a much more appealing two-and-a-half hours - no excuse.)
As it turns out, Flynn - who is something of a media star these days, thanks to his various television gigs, of which my favourite is Lords & Ladles - is in New York putting on a pop-up for Kerrygold when we arrive in Dungarvan, but he has left the kitchen in the capable charge of his young head chef, Sam Burfield, who came to work at the Tannery two-and-a-half years ago from The Castle Hotel in Taunton, Somerset.
A while back, the Flynns introduced a wine bar downstairs at the Tannery. There's an attractive and eclectic menu of tapas and small plates put together by New Zealander Suzette Bliss, as well as more substantial dishes. Judging by the buzz, it's a hit that has expanded the restaurant's demographic. We share a portion of bold bone marrow croquettes so deliciously substantial that later we wish we'd had more willpower.
Upstairs, there's a great loft space of a room, with a tall, vaulted ceiling. The staff are young, friendly and well-trained, though casually dressed: jeans and Converse being no impediment to excellent service. There's a good atmosphere in the room.
We started - how could we not? - with Flynn's signature Helvick crab creme brulee, the dish that he's not ever going to be allowed to take off the menu. It's as lusciously good as we remember it, the note of ginger a subtle counterpart to the ribbons of pickled cucumber on the side. A warm salad of monkfish with boudin noir (blood sausage), cauliflower and tart green apple is impeccable, elevated by sprigs of samphire.
Slow-cooked beef rib with Coolea cauliflower cheese, apple and dukkah is majestic, rich and deeply flavoursome, while confit pork neck with caramelised cauliflower, grapes and spiced black pudding is its luscious equal. The portions are far larger than you would find in the capital, and a dish of sublime buttery mash comes to each table, just in case. We have misguidedly ordered a side of fries - they too are excellent - but we make little inroads on them. (We wish that we had climbed up to nearby Mahon Falls before dinner.) The lightest-sounding of the desserts is poached rhubarb with a yoghurt mousse, jelly and rosewater meringue. It's simple and lovely and right on the money in terms of seasonality.
Paul Flynn was head chef at Nico Ladenis's two-Michelin star Chez Nico in London before returning to Ireland, first to La Stampa and then home to Dungarvan. At the Tannery, he has put together a team of young chefs who are delivering exciting food while still remaining faithful to a clientele that is fiercely loyal to Flynn's earthy, almost rustic food which prioritises flavour over fashion.
The opening of the Waterford Greenway cycle route from Dungarvan to Waterford this month has brought a new optimism to an area that has seen a drop in visitor numbers in recent years, as a result of the success of the Wild Atlantic Way, which ends in Kinsale. For the first time, says Flynn, on the phone a few days later, people are talking about opening up rather than closing down, and he is optimistic for the future of the Tannery and Dungarvan.
The next morning, we are back at the restaurant for breakfast before hitting the road to Dublin. Poached pears, a melange of not-too-sweet plums and berries, thick Greek yoghurt, great croissants, gorgeous creamy mushrooms topped with Parmesan on a toasted brioche bun, and as much good cafetiere coffee as we can drink.
We visited the Tannery on a 'Spring Break' deal available on its website. Dinner, bed (in the stylish Tannery Townhouse across the road) and breakfast cost 100 per head, with the only additional charges being 4.50 for a side of fries and 39 for a bottle of Paper Road Pinot Noir from New Zealand. Our final bill for two came to 243.50 before service - exceptional value, we thought.
THE RATING
9/10 food
9/10 ambience
10/10 value for money
28/30
ON A BUDGET
For a budget-friendly experience of the Tannery, check out its wine bar, which offers small plates and tapas, plus pasta and steak, and a good selection of wines by the glass. Expect to pay about 20 a head for a couple of tapas and a glass of wine.
ON A BLOW-OUT
he seven-course tasting menu is priced at 65.
THE HIGH POINT
Sophisticated yet relaxed, the Tannery is an essential destination restaurant.
THE LOW POINT
That we weren't greedy enough to eat in both the wine bar and the restaurant on the same night.
You might hate Monday, but you'll love our selection of the week's best travel offers...
247pp: Away to the Algarve
ClickAndGo.com has several May specials to the Algarve, including a seven-night package at the 3-star Rio in Vilamoura from 247pp. It departs May 1, including transfers and flights with Aer Lingus (checked baggage extra). 01 539-7777; clickandgo.com.
405pp: Return flights to Canada
Air Transat has launched a seat sale from Dublin, with return flights from 405pp when booked by April 17. The airline flies direct to Montreal and Toronto, with checked bags and in-flight meal included. 00 800 872 672 83; airtransat.ie.
445pp: 5-star Murcia
GoHop.ie has flights plus four nights at the 5-star La Manga Club Resort in Spain from 445pp departing May 24. The package, based on room-only accommodation, departs on May 24. 01 241-2389; gohop.ie.
100 off Over 50s Spain holidays
John Galligan Travel has a sale on Over 50s group holidays this week, with 4-star trips including seven nights half-board in Roquetas de Mar or Torremolinos from just 499, including flights. That's a 100 discount per couple. Book by April 7 for select departures in May and October. 01 207-6555; jgt.it.
589pp: Family fun in Florida
Tour America has seven-night packages to Orlando, Florida from 549pp next November. The price is based on four sharing at the 3-star Rosen Inn at Pointe Orlando, and includes flights. 01 817-3535; touramerica.ie.
NB: All travel deals subject to availability/change.
Premium
John Downing Opinion New British prime minister Rishi Sunaks succession proves an important milestone in British political inclusivity
There is an old saying in British politics that goes: The right looks for converts while the left seeks out traitors. It comes to mind when one reflects upon the election of Rishi Sunak as the UKs first non-white prime minister in a party traditionally seen as most opposed to mass immigration and the dilution of national identity via multiculturalism.
At religion class in school, when we were told that Joseph and Mary took Jesus with them to Jerusalem, I always assumed that it was because Joseph and Mary couldn't get a baby-sitter.
Forty-something years later, and now that I have a child of my own, I understand the problems that Joseph and Mary might have had wanting to go away for a romantic weekend, but finding it tricky because they had a particularly precious baby to factor in.
Daithi O Se and wife Rita Talty, who have a baby son, Michael Og, are finding a similar problem next weekend - albeit the RTE star and the former Rose of New Jersey are not going as far away as Jerusalem, but to Sneem in County Kerry.
Daithi and Rita are attending the wedding of their pal, Emma Dwane, to Sean Donal O Se. "No relation," said Daithi, adding that Emma was the Dubai Rose in 2008, the same year that Rita was a Rose, and they have been great friends ever since.
"It is our first weekend away together in a year," Daithi said, continuing that they are staying in the luxurious five-star Parknasilla.
And where, I hear you ask, is their baby staying? Michael Og is staying at home in Galway, where he is being babysat by his grandparents - who have flown a long distance to do Daithi and Rita a good turn. They are flying all the way from New Jersey, which is not quite as far as Jerusalem.
Dance star trips the light fantastic at Lillie's
They could have danced all night? Possibly. And where else but in Lillie's Bordello nightclub.
And who else but the winner of RTE's Dancing with the Stars Aidan O'Mahony (above, with dance partner Valeria Milova) who celebrated his triumph last Sunday in the famous nightclub on Grafton Street. Also spotted enjoying the show's after-party were its former-star-turned-model Thalia Heffernan and her beau, dancer Ryan McShane, plus singer Dayl Cronin and comedian extra-ordinaire Katherine Lynch. Ms Lynch will co-host Rock Against Homelessness in aid of Focus at the Olympia on Friday with another comedian extra-ordinaire, Al Porter.
Cagney to mark wife's birthday in style at spa hotel
Expand Close Mark Cagney is set to spoil wife Audrey Byrne on her birthday / Facebook
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Mark Cagney is set to spoil wife Audrey Byrne on her birthday
To sleep, perchance to dream and all that? Chance would be a fine thing, says a certain Mr Cagney. Well, he has been getting out of his bed in Sutton at 4am for over 17 years to front Ireland AM on TV3 at their studios in Ballymount. So the aforementioned Mark Cagney deserves a lie-in next weekend, don't you think?
And presumably this is what the fabulous founding father of Irish breakfast TV will be doing next Saturday morning when he wakes up in the swish Seafield Hotel in Wexford.
After which presumably he will personally give his beautiful wife Audrey Byrne breakfast in bed, before taking her for a long swim in the hotel's glorious pool in its state-of-the-art spa.
The luxurious trip is to mark awesome Audrey's birthday.
She and Mark - who were married on September 25, 2002, and have four grown-up children - deserve their romantic break in that most scenic part of Ireland.
I bumped into Mark last weekend in the VIP enclosure at the Aviva Stadium for the Ireland v Wales game on Friday night. (Your diarist also bumped into Ian Rush and girlfriend Carol Anthony, Bertie Ahern and son-in-law Nicky Byrne and his sons Rocco Bertie Byrne and Jay Nicky Byrne, and Chris de Burgh.)
Mark was with Joe O'Herlihy, U2's veteran sound engineer, who has a beard that those preachers in the Old Testament used to wear before ZZ Top and, more recently, before Rick Rubin rebooted the hirsute hipster look for the older gentleman.
Leo and Matt Moonlighting
Coincidence, they say, is merely God's way of remaining anonymous. Be that as it may, riddle me this...
Last weekend, a famous Irish politician randomly went to see a movie in Dublin's city centre with his partner, and, in the same cinema, another equally famous Irish politician just as randomly pitched up at the same movie at the same time with his partner.
"We went to see Moonlight in the Light House last week and the President was also there with Sabina. Total coincidence," Leo Varadkar told me, adding that he and his doctor other-half Matt had come from an intriguing emporium. "We went to Fish before that on Queen Street. An interesting fish restaurant with no menu.
"They give you what they have. It was good."
I am increasingly drawn to the idea of a future Taoiseach who gets his movie fix in the Light House, eats in Fish, listens to late-period Blur and vintage Grace Jones, and goes to the Electric Picnic every year without fail.
Somehow I couldn't imagine Simon Coveney going to the rave in the woods at Electric Picnic like Leo does.
But I am open to be proved wrong this year. Or any year.
Jenny leads way into the west
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All roads lead west on May 5. On that date, UTV Ireland mainstay Jenny Buckley is MC-ing the Galway Rape Crisis Centre lunch.
GRCC ambassador John Muldoon, captain of Connacht rugby team, will attend this worthwhile event at Kirwan's restaurant, as will Sharon Shannon and half of Galway and one or two of its politicians. It all kicks off at 12.30 with a Champagne reception; after which, if the west isn't awake, by the end of the GRCC lunch, it will be.
The suave do (sponsored by Kirwan's Restaurant, Monroe's Tavern, and Carried Away PR) also features a fashion show. Tickets, 65, are available from Kirwan's or GRCC.
The poster at the protest read: "If Bus Eireann was a private bank it would have been bailed out with public funds by now." The cynicism is amusing, but it raises a fundamental question - what do we really want our public monies to be spent on?
It is true that Bus Eireann received in the region of 34m in public subvention last year, but Irish greyhound racing received almost the same amount and Irish horse racing received almost double the amount at 60m.
We have to ask ourselves if we want our public transport system to be a business or a service.
If we want to go down the road of running a business then, yes, Bus Eireann cannot survive with almost 10m in losses. But then neither can the State broadcaster RTE with losses of over 20m, yet I have not heard of any difficulty in signing off on the accounts at RTE recently, only rumours of increased licence fees and the introduction of new electronic taxes. Does this mean that TV is more important than a bus service?
The outcomes of a subsidised public service being transferred to a private business model is already well documented in the UK. The BBC reported in 2013 that average fares on the UK's privatised rail network had increased by up to 160pc since privatisation. Furthermore, ongoing state subsidies of public monies are still required, albeit now for the benefit of the private owners rather than the traveling public.
There is no doubt that these recent strikes are an inconvenience both to the travelling public and, by all accounts, to the Transport Minister. But for those who use the service, the consideration here is not the present disruption but the question of how transport in Ireland will continue to be run. Think about your current bus fare and multiply it by 160pc before you answer that.
It is not just rights of the workers that hang in the balance here, but the public right to an affordable and inclusive service. If the workers at Bus Eireann lose this strike, then getting a bus to the next race meeting might become very expensive indeed.
Glyn Carragher
Ballygar, Co Galway
Having our say on Brexit
David McWilliams in his excellent article (Irish Independent, April 1) was exactly right - the Brexit negotiations are far too critical and important to be left to men in Brussels.
We need to take note of the last-minute intervention by Spain concerning Gibraltar and know that what we don't ask for we are not going to get. It's our future and we must take charge of it, and very quickly too.
William Shortland
Blessington, Co Wicklow
Signed, sealed, delivered
Recent events relating to Garda inefficiencies have brought an old troublesome chestnut to the fore. The age-old question of whether or not a summons was sent or received has plagued our court system for years and is used and abused by both sides in countless court cases to their own benefit.
As the postal system has been deemed to be legally sufficient to deliver the documents, it perplexes me as to why for an extra amount these summonses cannot be sent via registered post. The extra cost cannot be of nearly the same magnitude as the costs of wasted court time and would prove receipt of the documents effectively.
Surely this is a simple solution to a simple problem?
Ray Dunne
Enfield, Co Meath
Respect and the gardai
From time immemorial, failings within law and order organisations have been either swept under the carpet or, when made public (as by Sgt McCabe), those in power seek to deflect criticism from the organisation by targeting others.
When the truth is eventually confirmed, albeit through public inquiries, you can be assured that the excuse of the upper echelons will be that, under any circumstances, it is imperative to maintain public confidence in the forces of law.
What they really mean is that it is of prime importance that no blame can be attached to them or to the government of the day.
The result is that the corruption of the few finds the soft underbelly of those in a position of power who take the easier option - to connive to protect themselves.
What should be asked is not whether we might lose respect for An Garda Siochana, but whether the rank and file gardai might lose respect for us, whom they protect, if we do not insist that the immoral activity of the top brass of An Garda Siochana and the grievous and unforgivable errors of the Minister of Justice are not investigated under the fullest extent of the law.
Harry Spillane
Mount Merrion, Co Dublin
War compromises the religious
William Tate (Irish Independent, April 1) describes the near conquest of Vienna by Muslim Ottoman forces in 1683 as "mayhem". Well, the Christian army reconquest of Jerusalem in 1099, in which both the Muslim and Jewish populations were slaughtered, could also be described as mayhem. This was the end result of the First Crusade called for by Pope Urban II in 1095.
It should be obvious from history that religious people who go to fight - even in defensive wars for their own survival - take a risk with their own noble principles. For they risk turning their backs on the peaceful and universal love aspirations at the heart of their religion. To quote the 'Bible', "for all who draw the sword shall die by the sword".
Sean O'Brien
Kilrush, Co Clare
Dublin's squeaky wheel
We learn once again, the calamity of a strike by Bus Eireann workers and its impact on rural passengers over the last week is only fully understood when it affects Dublin commuters.
Quite suddenly it is big news on radio, television, newspapers and all types of media coverage regarding the hardships endured by the travelling public to work, college, hospital appointments, and just getting home, etc.
Seamus Boland, chief executive of Irish Rural Link, wrote an article for the Irish Independent (April 1) that was headlined 'Rural Ireland is allowed to bleed to death, but if Dublin feels the strike pain, action is taken'.
It appears that the inconvenience of the bus strike endured by the rural dwellers over the past eight days went unheeded by the powers that be, and it was only when the residents of our capital city were reduced to getting about on "shanks mare" that real headlines were made.
It now looks like urban and rural Ireland are two separate countries, with very different agendas being followed by the decision-makers at the highest level in the State.
Tom Towey
Cloonacool, Co Sligo
A police officer, left, and people walk past the damaged train at the Tekhnologichesky Institut subway station in St Petersburg (AP video via AP)
Police and emergency service officers stand near fire engines at Sadovaya Square in St Petersburg (Evgenii Kurskov/AP)
A bomb blast has torn through a subway train deep under Russia's second-largest city, St Petersburg, killing 11 people and wounding about 40 others.
Hours later, anguish and fear rose again when police found and defused a shrapnel-packed explosive device at another St Petersburg station.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which came while President Vladimir Putin was visiting the city, his hometown.
In the past two decades, Russian trains and planes have been frequent targets of terrorism, usually blamed on Islamic militants.
News reports said police were searching for two suspects, and Russian state television showed a photo of one suspect wearing what appeared to be a skullcap characteristic of Russia's Muslim regions.
The Investigative Committee, the country's top criminal investigation body, said it had begun a probe based on the assumption that it was terrorism but added that other possibilities were being considered.
St Petersburg, a major tourist destination famed for its imperial palaces and lavish art museums, had been spared previous attacks.
"From now on, I will be scared to take the subway," said Marina Ilyina, 30, who brought flowers to the station where the train stopped after the bombing. "We in St. Petersburg thought we wouldn't be touched by that."
The explosion occurred in mid-afternoon as the train travelled between stations one of the city's north-south lines.
The driver chose to continue on to the next stop, Technological Institute, a decision praised by the Investigative Committee as aiding evacuation efforts and reducing the danger to passengers who would have had to walk along the electrified tracks.
The National Anti-Terrorism Committee said the death toll was 11, with another 45 people being treated for wounds in hospitals.
Amateur video broadcast by Russian TV showed people lying on the platform of the Technological Institute station, and others bleeding and weeping just after the damaged train pulled in.
"Everything was covered in smoke. There were a lot of firefighters," Maria Smirnova, a student on a train behind the stricken one, told independent TV station Dozhd.
Within two hours of the blast, authorities had found and deactivated another bomb at another busy station, Vosstaniya Square, the anti-terror agency said.
That station is a major transfer point for passengers on two lines and serves the railway station to Moscow.
Russian law enforcement agencies confirmed the device was loaded with shrapnel, and the Interfax news agency said it contained up to one kilogramme of explosives.
The entire St Petersburg subway system was shut down and evacuated, but partial service resumed after about six hours.
Security was immediately tightened at all of the country's key transportation sites, Russia's National Anti-Terrorist Committee said. Moscow officials said that included the subway in the Russian capital.
Mr Putin, who meeting with the president of Belarus at the Constantine Palace on the city's outskirts, offered condolences on national television.
"Law enforcement agencies and intelligence services are doing their best to establish the cause and give a full picture of what happened," a somber-looking president said.
The bombing drew widespread condemnation.
President Donald Trump said it was "absolutely a terrible thing". White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the US was prepared to offer assistance to Russia.
Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group, which is backing Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces along with Russia, says the incident was the type of "terrorism" Russia was fighting in Syria.
Most of the terrorist attacks in Russia have been connected to the insurgency in Chechnya and other Caucasus republics in the southern part of the country.
The last confirmed attack was in October 2015 when Islamic State militants downed a Russian airliner heading from an Egyptian resort to St Petersburg, killing all 224 people on board.
AP
The Interfax news agency said Russian police suspect that the explosion on the St Petersburg subway train was caused by a suicide bomber.
The agency quoted an unidentified law enforcement official saying that authorities had identified the suspected attacker as a 23-year old national of an ex-Soviet Central Asian nation. It did not name the suspect or the country.
Russian news reports had previously said that police were seeking a man caught on security cameras who was suspected of leaving a bomb behind him on a subway train.
Russian media published photos of the suspect wearing what appeared to be a skullcap characteristic of Russia's Muslim regions.
Interfax later quoted a law enforcement official saying that the man in the video had gone to police to profess his innocence.
A grim search for the missing has resumed in southern Colombia after surging rivers sent an avalanche of floodwaters, mud and debris through a city, killing at least 200 people and leaving many more injured and homeless.
A grim search for the missing has resumed in southern Colombia after surging rivers sent an avalanche of floodwaters, mud and debris through a city, killing at least 200 people and leaving many more injured and homeless.
People in Mocoa searched through piles of rocks and wooden planks that entombed homes. Streets were covered in thick sand, mud and tree limbs from the rivers and rainforest that surround the city. There was little drinking water and no power, which forced authorities to suspend the search and rescue effort during the night.
The National Disaster Agency said the death toll had hit 200, with another 200 injured, but authorities conceded it could easily go higher because many people were still unaccounted for and dozens, mostly children, were airlifted to hospitals in other cities in critical condition. Bodies were being placed in a temporary morgue where three teams of medical examiners were working around the clock to swiftly identify the remains.
In addition, Governor Sorrel Aroca of Putumayo Department, which includes Mocoa, said there were also people reported missing in surrounding communities.
Authorities and residents in the city, tucked between mountains along Colombia's southern border, spent the weekend tending to victims, trying to find homes on streets reduced to masses of rubble and engaged in a desperate search to locate loved ones who disappeared in the dark of night.
Eduardo Vargas (29), was asleep with his wife and seven-month-old baby when he was awoken by the sound of neighbours 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.
Huddled
Mr Vargas and his family huddled with about two dozen other residents as rocks, trees and wooden planks ripped through their neighbourhood below. They waited there until daylight, when members of the military helped them down.
When he reached the site of his home, nothing his family left behind remained.
"Thank God we have our lives," he said.
President Juan Manuel Santos travelled to Mocoa and declared the city a disaster zone. Medicine and surgical supplies were being sent to the city as the area's regional hospital struggled to cope with the crisis.
Mr Santos blamed climate change for the rains that triggered the avalanche.
The family of Sherri Papini, who disappeared for 22 days last November, have called reports of earlier police investigations into the mother-of-two "victim-blaming at its most egregious".
Papini went missing for more than three weeks last year only to reappear on Thanksgiving morning. According to her husband KEith, she was found with a chain around her waist and wrists, a broken nose and her hair "chopped" off as she flagged down a driver 150 miles from her home.
She told police she was taken by two Hispanic women while she was out for a job one morning, but has not yet spoken publicly about her ordeal.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that Papini was previously investigation for suspected transgressions by her family, a prior investigation which police say was entirely separate to her disappearance.
Between 2000 and 2003, Sherri's family previously reported her to police for alleged misconduct, claiming she was hurting herself and blaming her mother Loretta Graef. It was also alleged she vandalised her father's home before, according to documents obtained by the Sacramento Bee.
"There is a lot still unknown about her assailants," Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko said after Sherris return.
He added they have no reason "not to believe" her account and said the earlier probe has not influenced their ongoing investigation, while her family have blamed "clickbait media" on "victim blaming".
"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 family said in a statement via spokesperson Nicole Wool.
"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."
"It is our hope that the media will honour their privacy as they work through this difficult time."
Ukraine seeks to import 2.5-3 million tonnes of anthracite from the United States, Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Minister Ihor Nasalyk has said.
"We have received information that we can supply around 2.5-3 million tonnes of coal from the United States. I as minister has sent a letter to the U.S. Department of State asking for help with anthracite," he told reporters in Kyiv on Monday.
He said that power generating companies have started contracting anthracite from South Africa and other countries. According to the balance, by the end of 2017 Ukraine must import 4.7 million tonnes of steam coal.
Early February Nasalyk said that private companies are holding talks on supply of anthracite from the United States in the amount of 1 million tonnes.
As reported, Head of Ukrenergo Vsevolod Kovalchuk said that supplies of anthracite to thermal power plants (TPPs) should start no later than May for providing for stable operation of the Ukrainian power grid.
Heres what we know so far.
Twin explosions on subway trains in St Petersburg have killed 10 and injured 50, according to Russian News Agency Tass.
What happened?
The blasts occurred around 3.30pm local time at Tekhnologichesky Institut and Sennaya Ploschad stations. Social media users began to post videos and pictures following the incident, showing a city-centre subway station filled with smoke and the mangled doors of a train carriage hanging open.
Russian Senator Viktor Ozerov told Russian news agency Interfax that the explosion looks like a terrorist attack.
What are officials saying?
Andrei Kibitov, spokesman for the St Petersburg governor, told Russian television 10 people have been killed and 50 injured in the explosion.
Russias National Anti-Terrorism Committee has announced that security will be tightened at all critical transport facilities following St Petersburg blast.
FILE - This combination of file photos shows U.S. President Donald Trump on March 28, 2017, in Washington, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Feb. 22, 2017, in Beijing. Trump is suggesting ahead of his two-day meeting starting Thursday, April 6, 2017 with Xi that with or without Beijings help, he can totally handle North Korea, but his solution would have to be pretty clever. (AP Photo/Files)
Trump says it wont be good for anyone if the US has to act alone.
Donald Trump has warned the US is prepared to act alone against North Korea if China does not take a tougher stand against North Koreas nuclear programme.
In an interview with the Financial Times, ahead of his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the US president said: Yes, we will talk about North Korea.
And China has great influence over North Korea. And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they wont. And if they do that will be very good for China, and if they dont it wont be good for anyone.
Heres everything you need to know about the White Houses position on China and North Korea as the US prepares for a visit from Chinas president.
When will the meeting with Xi Jinping take place?
Trump is set to host Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Mar-a-Lago estate in south Florida on April 6-7.
The two world leaders are expected to discuss a number of issues, including North Korea, trade and territorial disputes in the South China Sea during their meeting.
But given Trumps position, North Korea is more than likely to be at the centre of the talks.
What are the expected discussions about North Korea?
The US is likely to put pressure on China to play a more proactive role in dealing with North Korea.
Trumps ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said on ABCs This Week: They need to show us how concerned they are. They need to put pressure on North Korea. The only country that can stop North Korea is China, and they know that.
However, while Trump said trade was the incentive for China to work with him, he added that the US could totally handle the situation in Pyongyang without Chinas help.
Asked how he would tackle North Korea, he told the FT: Im not going to tell you. You know, I am not the United States of the past where we tell you where we are going to hit in the Middle East.
While China provides diplomatic and economic support to its neighbour, it claims that its influence over Kim Jong Uns government is limited.
How has the USs relationship been with China in recent months?
Since Trumps election, the relationship between the US and China has been uncertain.
During his campaign, Trump accused Beijing of unfair trade practices and threatened to raise import taxes on Chinese goods and declare China a currency manipulator, although it is unclear whether he will follow through with either threat.
However, Trump told the FT he does not want to talk about tariffs yet, perhaps the next time we meet.
In the past, Trump accused the country of creating the concept of global warming.
Last month, the Trump administration announced sanctions on Friday on 30 foreign companies and people from 10 countries, including China, and accused the entities of engaging in nuclear proliferation activity.
Why is Trump worried about North Korea?
UN resolutions have failed so far to deter North Korea from conducting nuclear and missile tests. Last year, the North conducted two nuclear tests and two dozen tests of ballistic missiles.
During the handover of power, Barack Obamas administration identified North Korea as the top national security issue for Trumps administration.
Many US security officials believe North Korea may have a nuclear-armed missile capable of hitting the US within four years.
Officials are said to have already increased surveillance over the isolated, communist country and claim to have has seen a missile launcher moving around, as well as construction of VIP seating in the eastern coastal city Wonsan.
What is expected of this meeting?
It is possible that the US will want China to re-examine the diplomatic and economic support the country provides to its neighbour.
When asked what the US would do if China did not co-operate, Haley said: China has to co-operate.
However, former defence secretary Ash Carter said he doubted that Beijing would co-operate, saying on ABC: Ive been working on the North Korea problem since 1994.
And we have consistently asked Chinese leaders because they uniquely have the historical and the economic relationship with North Korea to make a difference.
They havent used that influence, and so its hard for me to be optimistic with that.
Its more than just monkeys
Gibraltar, Britains sunny outpost at the southern end of Spain, is in the news after Michael Howard suggested we could go to war to defend it.
If you only have a vague sense of what and where Gibraltar is, heres everything you need to know about one of Britains last remaining territories.
Seriously, what is Gibraltar?
Gibraltar is a tiny coastal territory on a peninsula at the southern tip of Spain. It is a British Overseas Territory, and has been under British control since 1713. The 30,000 Gibraltarians who live there have full British citizenship.
Wait, what? We own a Spanish peninsula?
Kind ofQueen Elizabeth is Gibraltars head of state, but its a self-governing democracy.
Gibraltar has an elected parliament consisting of just 17 representatives. The legislature consists of 10 members of government, and seven members in opposition.
So how did Gibraltar become British in the first place?
Good question. The War of the Spanish Succession (1701-14), began when the Spanish king, Charles II, died without an heir (bear with us here).
With no one to succeed him war broke out, as European powers pushed to have their preferred candidate crowned. As part of the war, an Anglo-Dutch force captured Gibraltar in 1704.
In 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht confirmed Philip V as king, a grandson of the King of France.
European countries were given some Spanish territories in compensation for the French victory, and Britain was given Gibraltar.
Why are there so many monkeys?
Its the question you always wanted the answer to. The Rock of Gibraltar is famous for its Barbary Macaques more than 200 of them live there.
They are descended from the monkeys brought from North Africa by British troops, and are the only free-living monkey population in Europe.
They are often described as tame, but that isnt strictly true be careful with your food and cameras, as the monkeys are prone to stealing!
So whats the argument with Spain all about?
Britain says that as Gibraltar was ceded by Spain in the 1713 treaty, and in the absence of any law since then to return it to them, Gibraltar remains British.
Spain says Gibraltar was taken in the context of a dynastic war. It also cites the UN principle of territorial integrity, which states: Any attempt aimed at the partial or total disruption of the national unity and the territorial integrity of a country is incompatible with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
What do Gibraltarians think?
In 1967, a referendum was held in Gibraltar, asking residents to choose between retaining its democratic institutions and links to Britain, ie remaining the same, or ceding to Spanish sovereignty under proposals made by the Franco regime. Of the votes cast, 99.64% chose to retain ties to Britain.
In 2002 another referendum was held, on whether there should be shared sovereignty between Spain and Britain over Gibraltar. This time, 98.97% voted against the proposal.
Should I go on holiday to Gibraltar?
Yes! Its basically Britain-upon-sea. Better than Brighton, hotter than Hastings, Gibraltar has all the things you love about the British sea side (fish and chips anyone?) but 10 degrees warmer.
Check out the cable car for astonishing views, or if youre scared of heights pop on a boat to see the dolphins.
So whats going on now?
Brexit promises to confuse the debate on Gibraltar draft EU negotiating guidelines published last week suggested that Spain would have veto over Gibraltars participation in a Brexit deal.
However, the UK maintains that they will not give up sovereignty of the Rock until the people of Gibraltar consent to it, which is unlikely.
Residents are desperately searching their ruined homes and a local hospital for loved ones after a torrent of water, mud and debris swept through a city in southern Colombia, killing more than 200.
Neighbourhoods were left strewn with rocks, wooden planks, tree limbs and brown muck after heavy rain caused the three rivers that surround Mocoa to rise up and surge through the city of 40,000 on Friday night and early Saturday.
The deluge smashed houses, tore trees out by the roots and washed cars and trucks away. Hundreds more residents are missing or injured.
Search-and-rescue teams are combing through the debris and helping people who had been clawing at huge mounds of mud by hand.
President Juan Manuel Santos, who visited Mocoa for a second day on Sunday, declared the area a disaster zone and said the death toll stood at 210. That could still rise because there were more than 200 injured, some in critical condition and people were continuing to locate remains in the debris.
The president said on Twitter that 170 of the dead had been identified.
Dozens stood around the doorway of a hospital, hoping for news of family members who were not on the list of those confirmed dead or injured.
Others frantically knocked on relatives' doors, hoping to find someone with information about their loved ones.
The disaster seemed to hit young people particularly hard. Mr Santos said more than 40 of the dead identified so far were under 18, perhaps because youngsters were already in bed when the floodwater struck.
He said the torrent of water and debris also knocked out power in half of the province of Putumayo, where Mocoa is located, and destroyed the area's fresh water network, creating dangerous and unsanitary conditions.
Mocoa is vulnerable to flooding, surrounded by the three rivers in a natural basin created by mountains.
The danger has become worse in recent years because of deforestation, which eliminates some protection from run-off, and because many people built their homes close to the water, but the triggering event was rainfall of more than 5in that began late on Friday.
A 1989 hydrology report for the Agricultural Ministry warned that such a disaster could happen unless steps were taken to reinforce the riverbanks, channel water away from the town and restore some of the forest.
Colombian officials have pledged aid to rebuild homes, and the attorney general launched an investigation into whether local and national authorities responded adequately to the disaster.
AP
Emergency services direct pedestrians outside Sennaya Ploshchad metro station, following explosions in two train carriages at metro stations in St. Petersburg, Russia April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Anton Vaganov
A subway train hit by a explosion stays at the Tekhnologichesky Institut subway station in St.Petersburg, Russia, Monday, April 3, 2017. Image: AP
At least 11 people were killed and 40 were injured when an explosion tore through a train carriage in the St Petersburg metro system on Monday.
A police hunt is now underway for two suspects who are believed to have been involved.
Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close An injured person is helped by emergency services outside Sennaya Ploshchad metro station, following explosions in two train carriages at metro stations in St. Petersburg, Russia April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Anton Vaganov An iniured person walks outside Sennaya Ploshchad metro station, following explosions in two train carriages at metro stations in St. Petersburg, Russia April 3, 2017. Photo: REUTERS/Anton Vaganov An injured person is helped by emergency services outside Sennaya Ploshchad metro station, following explosions in two train carriages at metro stations in St. Petersburg, Russia April 3, 2017. Photo: REUTERS/Anton Vaganov A view shows the entrance to Sennaya ploschad metro station in St. Petersburg, Russia September 14, 2016. Photo: Alexander Nikolayev/Interpress/via REUTERS / Facebook
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Whatsapp An injured person is helped by emergency services outside Sennaya Ploshchad metro station, following explosions in two train carriages at metro stations in St. Petersburg, Russia April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Anton Vaganov
Russian news media said police were searching for a man recorded on surveillance cameras who was thought to have been involved in the attack.
Private television station Ren TV broadcast grainy pictures, it said were captured by a camera on board a metro train of a middle-aged man with a beard, a long black coat and black hat. Closed-circuit footage from a few minutes later showed him outside the station hit by the blast, looking at his telephone.
"Two people are being sought on suspicion of planning the blasts, one of whom is thought to have placed the explosive device in the metro wagon and the second person for leaving a bomb at the metro station 'Ploshchad Revolutsii'," the source told Interfax.
Officials say surveillance cameras in St Petersburg's metro system may have captured images of the person suspected of organising the deadly train blast.
"Images of the suspected organiser of the metro blast were captured on metro station cameras," the source said.
It is suspected suicide bomber thought to be responsible for a deadly blast in the St Petersburg metro on Monday had links with radical Islamist groups banned in Russia, a law enforcement source told Interfax news agency.
The source added that remains found at the scene of the blast suggested that a suicide bomber was responsible but that final conclusions would be made after DNA tests had been conducted.
Interfax news agency quoted an unnamed source as saying the blast was caused by a bomb filled with shrapnel. It's believed the explosive was left in a briefcase in a metro carriage.
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The Russian anti-terrorism committee said it has found and deactivated a bomb at another St Petersburg subway station. It was hidden in a fire extinguisher.
The device was found at the "Ploshchad Vosstaniya" metro station, a different location from where a blast earlier took place.
The Committee also said that 10 people were killed and 20 injured in the blast, which took place as a train traveled between the "Sennaya Ploshchad" and "Tekhnologichesky Institut" stations.
Russia's state investigative committee has opened a criminal case over the blast on charges of a terrorist act.
The agency, which has sweeping powers, said it had sent a group of investigators to St Petersburg to look into the incident.
It said however that while it had opened a case under charges of terrorism, it would consider all other possible causes of the incident.
Interfax news agency has cited a source who said search warrants have been issued for two people in relation to the incident.
President Vladimir Putin, who was himself in St. Petersburg for a meeting with Belarussian leader Alexander Lukashenko, said he was considering all possible causes for the blast, including terrorism. He was consulting with security services.
Ambulances and fire engines descended on the concrete-and-glass Sennaya Ploshchad metro station. A helicopter hovered overhead as crowds gathered.
"I appeal to you citizens of St Petersburg and guests of our city to be alert, attentive and cautious and to behave in a responsible matter in light of events," St Petersburg Governor Georgy Poltavchenko said in an address.
An attack on St Petersburg, Russia's old imperial capital, would have some symbolic force for any militant group, especially Islamic State or Chechen secessionist rebels. Attacks in the past have largely concentrated on Moscow, including an attack on an airport, a theater and in 2010 a metro train.
Video from the scene showed injured people lying bleeding on a platform, some being treated by emergency services and fellow passengers. Others ran away from the platform amid clouds of smoke, some screaming or holding their hands to their faces.
A huge hole was blasted in the side of a carriage and the door blown off, with metal wreckage strewn across the platform. Passengers were seen hammering at the windows of one closed carriage after the train had pulled into the station.
Russian TV said many had suffered lacerations from glass shards and metal, the force of the explosion maximized by the confines of the carriage and the tunnel.
Anna Sventik, a St Petersburg resident, was traveling on a metro train that passed through the same station moments after the blast.
"Our train slowed down a bit, and one woman started having hysterics when she saw the people lying on the platform, blackened, in some places with no clothes, burned," she told Reuters. "It was very scary."
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Russia has been the target of attacks by separatist Islamist Chechen militants in past years. Islamic State, which has drawn recruits from the ranks of Chechen rebels, has also threatened attacks across Russia in retaliation for Russian military intervention in Syria.
Russian airforce and special forces have been backing President Bashar al-Assad in fighting rebel groups and Islamic State fighters now being driven out of their Syrian strongholds.
St. Petersburg emergency services at first said that there had been two explosions. But a source in the emergency services later said that there had been only one but that the explosion had occurred in a tunnel between stations.
The blast occurred at 2.40 pm, well shy of the evening rush hour.
US President Donald Trump has said the blast was a "terrible thing".
Trump told reporters that it was a "terrible thing - happening all over the world - absolutely a terrible thing."
The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Charlie Flanagan TD has said that he was appalled to hear of the explosion.
I was deeply saddened and appalled to hear of the explosion that took place today on the St. Petersburg metro.
I wish to offer the heartfelt condolences of the Irish people and the Government of Ireland to the families of those who have lost their lives and those who have been injured in the explosion.
My thoughts and deepest sympathies are with the Russian people at this difficult time.
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Authorities closed all St Petersburg metro stations. The Moscow metro said it was taking unspecified additional security measures in case of an attack there.
Russia has been on particular alert against Chechen rebels returning from Syria and wary of any attempts to resume attacks that dogged the country several years ago.
At least 38 people were killed in 2010 when two female suicide bombers detonated bombs on packed Moscow metro trains.
Over 330 people, half of them children, were killed in 2004 when police stormed a school in southern Russia after a hostage taking by Islamist militants. In 2002, 120 hostages were killed when police stormed a Moscow theatre to end another hostage taking.
Putin, as prime minister, launched a 1999 campaign to crush a separatist government in the Muslim southern region of Chechnya, and as president continued a hard line in suppressing rebellion.
A general view shows a bus stop near the Goat Pub in Croydon, London, Britain April 2, 2017. Local media quoted neighbours saying that a group of up to 20 people watched a gang attack a teenage asylum seeker at a bus stop in south London, on Friday. REUTERS/Neil Hall
Five people have been charged over an attack which left a teenage asylum seeker fighting for his life.
Earlier police in London issued pictures of two men and a woman sought in connection with the attack on a 17-year-old Kurdish Iranian who was set upon at a bus stop in Croydon, south-east London.
Eight people were being held on suspicion of attempted murder following a series of arrests over the weekend.
The Metropolitan Police said they know "approximately 20" people were involved in the incident that left the boy with a fractured skull and a blood clot on his brain.
Expand Close Graffiti is seen on a wall near the scene of a violent attack in Croydon, London, Britain April 2, 2017. Local media quoted neighbours saying that a group of up to 20 people watched a gang attack a teenage asylum seeker at a bus stop in south London, on Friday. REUTERS/Neil Hall / Facebook
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Whatsapp Graffiti is seen on a wall near the scene of a violent attack in Croydon, London, Britain April 2, 2017. Local media quoted neighbours saying that a group of up to 20 people watched a gang attack a teenage asylum seeker at a bus stop in south London, on Friday. REUTERS/Neil Hall
On Monday police renewed their appeal for witnesses and information as the victim remained in hospital in a serious but stable condition.
Detective Inspector Gary Castle, from Croydon CID, said: "Whilst arrests have been made, we now know that a large number of people, approximately 20, were involved in the attack on the victim.
"A number of them approached the victim as he waited at a bus stop with two friends outside The Goat public house in the Shrublands.
"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 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: "If you can help identify any of these people please call my team without delay."
Neighbours claimed up to 20 people watched while the teenager was kicked and beaten on the ground.
One resident of Shrublands Avenue told the Press Association: "There were more than eight people, there was a massive group coming up from The Goat pub.
"You couldn't see who was hitting who.
"There was one person, the one who ended up in hospital, he was getting absolutely beaten up - kicked, mostly in the facial area. He was getting kicked and punched by everyone.
"There was a group of roughly 10 people that was kicking and punching him, and the rest, another 10 or 20, were all just around watching.
"Then when they heard sirens they started to go."
The resident said witnesses had to wait until the group moved off before they could help. The attack has drawn widespread condemnation, with Tory minister Gavin Barwell describing the attackers as "scum".
Mr Barwell, Croydon Central's MP, said: "It's an appalling crime and I hope the people responsible are caught quickly and receive the full force of British justice."
London mayor Sadiq Khan also criticised the attack, saying hate crime "has no place in London, Britain or anywhere else", while the Refugee Council said it was "disgusted" by the assault.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn also denounced it, saying: "Absolutely shocked at attack on young Kurdish asylum seeker, who came here searching for safety. I fervently hope he makes a full recovery."
Scotland Yard said a 23-year-old man was arrested in Croydon on Sunday on suspicion of attempted murder, while a 26-year-old man and 17-year-old girl were detained on suspicion of attempted murder and violent disorder.
Five other people are still being questioned by detectives while a sixth, a woman aged 20, was released without charge.
The group - three men aged 20, one aged 24 and a 24-year-old woman - are also being held on suspicion of attempted murder and violent disorder.
Anyone with information about the attack should call police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.
Police officers detain young men during the anti-government protest in Moscow yesterday. Photo: Reuters
Police in Moscow detained 36 people at unauthorised rallies yesterday, a week after anti-government protests broke out across Russia.
The police presence was notably heavy in central Moscow. Pedestrians could access Red Square only by passing through metal detectors, and police blocked off Pushkin Square, traditionally a gathering point for demonstrations.
Twenty-nine people were arrested while trying to conduct a march on Triumphalnaya Square and seven others were detained at Manezhnaya Square, which is adjacent to the Kremlin.
Separately, well-known opposition activist Ildar Dadin was arrested while picketing outside a police station, according to OVD-Info, a group that monitors political repression.
Mr Dadin gained prominence in Russia's opposition community after being the first person sentenced to time in prison under harsh protest-suppression measures pushed through by the Kremlin in 2014.
The representatives of the United Nations (UN) have handed over medicines worth UAH 60 million to treat cancer-stricken children, the UN office in Ukraine said on Monday.
"Major shipment of #cancer medicines for thousands of #Ukraine #Children delivered by @UNDPUkraine. @usuprun [Health Minister Ulana Suprun] meets the medicines at warehouse," a message, posted on the official Twitter page of the representative office, says.
Pope Francis blesses a pregnant woman after meeting the people affected by the earthquake in Mirandola, Italy. Photo: Reuters
Pope Francis was mobbed by tens of thousands of enthusiastic faithful as he visited a northern region of Italy which has largely been rebuilt from a pair of deadly earthquakes five years ago.
His first stop in the Emilia Romagna region was the quake-damaged Duomo cathedral of Carpi, where he laid a bouquet of white flowers at the foot of a statue of the Madonna inside.
After years of restoration, the cathedral reopened just last weekend.
"There are those who remain buried in the rubble of life," the pope said in his homily before an estimated 20,000 gathered in the piazza outside the cathedral for an open-air Mass.
"There are those, like you, who with the help of God rise from the rubble to rebuild."
Another 50,000 people watched the Mass on screens throughout the city of 70,000.
Flowers
During his day-long visit, the pope also met families who lost loved ones in the quake and hold a discussion with priests, nuns and seminarians.
He later visited the town of Mirandola, where the crowd included family members of people killed in a pair of 2012 earthquakes. Francis laid a bouquet of flowers at the altar of the cathedral, which is still under scaffolding five years after the quake and not functioning as a house of worship.
He thanked the people of Mirandola "for the example you gave to all humanity, the example of courage to go ahead".
A 6.1-magnitude quake on August 24 last year in Italy's central regions of Umbria, Abruzzo and Marche killed nearly 300 people and toppled thousands of buildings.
It was followed by a series of quakes in October, including the strongest in Italy in nearly four decades at 6.6-magnitude, but there were no further deaths due to previous evacuations.
France's polling watchdog has issued a warning over what it says is a misleading Russian news report claiming that Francois Fillon, the scandal-hit conservative candidate, has regained the lead in the presidential race.
The Polling Commission criticised a French-language report by Sputnik, a state-run Russian news agency, for presenting a social media survey by Brand Analytics, a Moscow-based online research firm, as a "poll" showing Mr Fillon as the frontrunner.
In fact, French opinion polls, which are supervised by the authorities, show Emmanuel Macron leading on about 26pc, with Marine Le Pen, the Front National leader, one point behind.
Mr Fillon is currently polling in third place, on 19pc. If he comes third in the first round of voting in three weeks, he will be eliminated from the second and final vote next month.
In a statement released yesterday, the watchdog said the survey could not be described as representative of public opinion and that Sputnik had improperly described it as a "poll" because it did not fulfil the legal definition of the term under French law.
"It is imperative that publication of this type of survey be treated with caution so public opinion is aware of its non-representative nature," the commission's statement said.
Sputnik published a similar online survey by the same firm in mid-February, also showing Mr Fillon in the lead while opinion polls were placing him third.
The unusual cautionary note from the Polling Commission, which monitors pre-election opinion polls, follows multiple allegations of Russian meddling in the French election.
Mr Macron, the centrist candidate, has said he is being targeted by "fake news" put out by Russian media.
Mr Macron backs European sanctions on Moscow over the Ukraine crisis, whereas Mr Fillon (inset) has said they are ineffective and create a "Cold War" climate. The conservative candidate also favours an alliance with Russia in Syria.
Warnings of Russian efforts to sway France's election have also come from the French government and intelligence agencies, and Richard Burr, the head of the US Senate intelligence committee.
The Kremlin has denied interfering in the French election campaign or orchestrating attacks against Mr Macron.
Mr Fillon had been the favourite until he was accused of giving his wife and children "fake" jobs as his parliamentary aides, paying them more than 900,000 of public money.
Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
Defendant Marco G stands in the courtroom during his trial in Duesseldorf, Germany (Federico Gambarini/dpa via AP)
A German court has handed lengthy prison sentences to four Islamic extremists over plots to bomb a train station and kill a far-right politician.
The Duesseldorf regional court found 30-year-old Marco G, whose surname was not published in line with privacy laws, guilty of attempted murder for placing an explosive device at the main train station in the western city of Bonn in December 2012.
Although the home-made bomb was discovered and defused before it detonated, the court said the German convert to Islam deserved a life sentence due to the seriousness of the crime, the dpa news agency reported.
It ruled out his release after 15 years, the usual life term in Germany.
He and three others were also found guilty of forming a terrorist organisation and planning to kill a member of the far-right Pro NRW party who had taken part in protests against mosques during which caricatures of the Muslim prophet Mohammed were shown.
Judges sentenced Albanian citizen Enea B, 46, German-Turkish dual national Koray D, 28, and German citizen Tayfun S, 27, to between nine-and-a-half years and 12 years in prison.
Prosecutors said the men's plan was partly fuelled by an audio message disseminated by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.
They were arrested in March 2013, the night before the planned killing.
Their lawyers had asked the court to acquit them, according to dpa.
AP
Lenin Moreno at the end of the day of the presidential election in Ecuador (AP)
Leftist candidate Lenin Moreno appeared on the verge of victory in Ecuador's presidential election but his opposition rival refused to recognise the results, calling on his supporters to take to the streets to guard against "fraud".
Sunday's second-round run-off in the Andean nation of 16 million was being watched closely as a barometer of whether the left, which had dominated South American politics for the past 15 years, could stop a string of right-wing victories across the region.
With more than 96% of the votes counted, Mr Moreno had 51% while conservative banker Guillermo Lasso had 49%. A difference of about 220,000 votes separated the two candidates with fewer than 300,000 still left to count.
Mr Lasso said he would challenge the results in all of Ecuador's 24 provinces after three exit polls showed him winning. He also questioned why results that took three days to calculate following the first round of voting in February were announced so quickly in Sunday's run-off.
"This is very sickening. We're not going to allow it," he said, adding that he had shared his concerns with the head of the Organisation of American States in a phone conversation.
He accused President Rafael Correa of trying to install an "illegitimate" government.
Thousands of outraged Lasso supporters shouting "fraud" crashed through metal barricades to almost reach the entrance of the electoral council's headquarters in Quito. By midnight a few hundred protesters remained.
In Guayaquil, where Mr Lasso is from, supporters shouted "Get out Correa!" and threw sticks at riot police in formation before being pushed back with tear gas. There were reports of small scuffles and clashes in other cities.
Mr Correa accused Lasso supporters of trying to disavow the results and provoke violence, while the head of the electoral council, a favourite punchbag of the opposition, appealed for calm.
"Ecuador deserves that its political actors show ethical responsibility in recognising the democratic will expressed by the people at the voting booths," said National Electoral President Juan Pablo Pozo.
So far the only evidence of possible fraud presented by Mr Lasso's campaign are the results in one tiny provincial voting centre that it said were reversed when they were reported to electoral authorities in Quito. There was no immediate comment from the OAS, which sent a mission of electoral observers.
Mr Moreno, meanwhile, said he would start work immediately on his transition. With Mr Correa standing behind him, the two joined supporters in singing leftist classics at an outdoor rally.
Outside the region, the election was being closely watched by supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been living under asylum at Ecuador's embassy in London since 2012.
Before the election, Mr Lasso had said he would evict the Australian activist, who is wanted for extradition by Sweden, within 30 days of taking office. Mr Moreno said he would allow him to stay.
On his Twitter account shortly after the results became known, Mr Assange took a jab at Mr Lasso's pledge.
"I cordially invite Lasso to leave Ecuador within 30 days (with or without his tax haven millions)," he wrote.
Three exit polls had shown Mr Lasso winning, including one which accurately predicted the first-round results and gave him a six-percentage point victory.
A quick count of voting acts by a respected local watchdog found there was a technical tie with a difference of less than 0.6 percentage points separating the two candidates. The group refrained from saying which candidate had the advantage.
Mr Correa said the exit polls had "lied".
"The moral fraud of the right-wing won't go unpunished," he wrote on Twitter.
For weeks Ecuadoreans polarised by 10 years of Mr Correa's iron-fisted rule had been braced for a contested vote
With Ecuador's economy predicted to shrink by 2.7% this year as oil prices remain low and with a majority of citizens stating in surveys that they are eager for change, analysts had been anticipating that Ecuadoreans would back Mr Lasso and join the growing list of Latin American nations - Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Venezuela - shifting to the right in recent elections.
Voters also looked hungry for change amid ongoing corruption allegations related to bribes Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht paid to officials in Correa's government and a 12 million US dollar (9.6 million) contracting scandal at state-run PetroEcuador.
Yet in the final weeks of the race, Mr Moreno had inched ahead in polls amid an aggressive campaign led by Mr Correa to cast Mr Lasso as a wealthy, out-of-touch politician who profited from the country's 1999 banking crisis.
Mr Moreno also benefited from last-minute doubts that Mr Lasso if elected would gut social programmes which have endeared poor voters to Mr Correa's "Citizens' Revolution".
Mr Moreno, who has used a wheelchair since being shot in an attempted robbery two decades ago, cuts a softer image than the infamously irritable Mr Correa which was on display on Sunday night as he addressed supporters.
"It's time for peace and union. Everyone will have a new opportunity and we will seek dialogue and harmony," said Mr Moreno. "Our hand is outstretched."
AP
The remains of a trailer lie where a woman and her three-year-old daughter were killed during a severe storm (Daily Advertiser/AP)
A tornado has overturned a mobile home in Louisiana, killing a mother and her three-year-old daughter as a storm system with hurricane-force winds crawled across the Deep South, damaging homes and businesses.
Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards put the state on "high alert" and warned residents to stay off the roads. He urged people to keep their mobile phones charged and close by so they can get weather alerts through the day.
"It is an extremely dangerous weather event," he said.
Parts of Arkansas and Mississippi were also under threat of tornadoes, but the bullseye was on much of Louisiana. The system packed heavy rain and large hailstones and sparked flash flooding. Up to 6in of rain could fall in some areas.
A tornado with peak winds of 110mph travelled for nearly a mile on the ground in the rural community of Breaux Bridge, about 50 miles west of Baton Rouge, the National Weather Service reported.
St Martin Parish Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Major Ginny Higgins said the tornado touched down soon after a warning was issued.
"Seconds later it hit," Ms Higgins said. "It hit the trailer, flipped it and tore its side off. There was a mother and daughter inside and both were killed."
She said 38-year-old Francine Gotch and three-year-old Nevaeh Alexander were pronounced dead at the scene. Witnesses told KLFY-TV that the father out when the storm hit and returned home to find the bodies amid the debris.
Relatives described those killed as a fun-loving pair who smiled frequently.
Nevaeh "was the sweetest little girl", said Sheryle Rubin, who is engaged to the girl's uncle. "She was only three years old but was the smartest girl in the world. She would've started school in August."
The weather agency warned that it was a "particularly dangerous situation" in Louisiana, which the governor noted was a rare high-level warning. Straight-line winds could reach upward of 80mph winds. Hurricanes have at least 74mph winds.
"This is a statewide weather event," the governor said. "It's likely to be an all-night event. We don't expect the weather system to leave the state of Louisiana until some time tomorrow morning."
Another hard-hit area in Louisiana was the city of Alexandria, where winds blew off the roof of a filling station and knocked out power to thousands, KALB reported.
National Weather Service meteorologist John Hart said there was a significant risk for Mississippi and Alabama as the system keeps moving east.
Fire officials in the Texas village of Point Venture said several people witnessed an apparent funnel cloud on Sunday morning, and several structures suffered severe damage.
A Texas state trooper reported seeing a suspected tornado touch down early on Sunday near Centre Point, about 55 miles north west of San Antonio. National Weather Service meteorologist Yvette Benavides said there were no reports of major or structural damage.
AP
Donald Trump said the US could "totally" handle the situation in North Korea without China's help (AP)
Donald Trump says the US is prepared to act alone against North Korea if China does not take a tougher stand against Pyongyang's nuclear programme.
The president's comments in an interview with the Financial Times came days before he is set to host Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Mar-a-Lago estate in south Florida.
The two are expected to discuss a number of issues, including North Korea, trade and territorial disputes in the South China Sea during their meeting on Thursday and Friday.
"Yes, we will talk about North Korea," he said. "And China has great influence over North Korea. And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they won't. And if they do that will be very good for China, and if they don't it won't be good for anyone."
Mr Trump said trade was the incentive for China to work with him, but he added that the US could "totally" handle the situation in North Korea without China's help.
Asked how he would tackle North Korea, he said: "I'm not going to tell you. You know, I am not the United States of the past where we tell you where we are going to hit in the Middle East."
While China provides diplomatic and economic support to its neighbour, it claims that its influence over Kim Jong Un's government is limited.
The relationship between the US and China has been uncertain since Mr Trump's election. During his campaign he accused Beijing of unfair trade practices and threatened to raise import taxes on Chinese goods and declare China a currency manipulator, although it is unclear whether he will follow through with either threat.
He told the newspaper he does not "want to talk about tariffs yet, perhaps the next time we meet".
Mr Trump's ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, also offered tough talk on China, saying on ABC's This Week that the US is pressing Beijing to take a firmer stand on North Korea's nuclear programme.
UN resolutions have failed so far to deter North Korea from conducting nuclear and missile tests. Last year, the North conducted two nuclear tests and two dozen tests of ballistic missiles.
"They need to show us how concerned they are," Ms Haley said. "They need to put pressure on North Korea. The only country that can stop North Korea is China, and they know that."
Asked what the US would do if China did not co-operate, she said: "China has to co-operate."
Former defence secretary Ash Carter said he doubted that Beijing would co-operate.
"I've been working on the North Korea problem since 1994," he said on ABC. "And we have consistently asked Chinese leaders ... because they uniquely have the historical and the economic relationship with North Korea to make a difference.
"They haven't used that influence, and so it's hard for me to be optimistic with that."
Five women have received payments totalling about $13m (12m) from Fox News host Bill O'Reilly or the network's parent company 21st Century Fox in exchange for their silence on accusations of sexual harassment.
The 'New York Times' has revealed that two settlements came after Fox News' former chairman, Roger Ailes, quit last summer after a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by former host Gretchen Carlson (inset right).
The women had worked for O'Reilly or appeared on his show and accused him of verbal abuse, lewd comments, unwanted advances, and phone calls in which it sounded as if Mr O'Reilly was masturbating, the 'Times' reported.
"21st Century Fox takes matters of workplace behaviour very seriously," a company spokesman 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. Mr O'Reilly is fully committed to supporting our efforts to improve the environment for all our employees at Fox News."
O'Reilly, who is of Irish descent, said in a statement: "Just like other prominent and controversial people, I'm vulnerable to lawsuits from individuals who want me to pay them to avoid negative publicity."
He added: "Most importantly, I'm 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."
Expand Close Former host Gretchen Carlson. Photo: AP / Facebook
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Whatsapp Former host Gretchen Carlson. Photo: AP
Fox's reputation has been in turmoil since Carlson's lawsuit against Mr Ailes became public last summer. Mr Ailes stepped down as head of Fox News in late July following an investigation of sexual harassment accusations, and Fox named Jack Abernethy and Bill Shine as co-presidents of Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network to fill the leadership void.
The scandal has done little to damage Fox News' ratings or its parent company's stock price. Fox shares are up 22pc from July 5, the day before Carlson's suit became public. Fuelled by seemingly insatiable viewer demand for news on US President Donald Trump's administration, Fox News remains the most-watched cable channel in the US, averaging 2.8 million viewers in prime time so far this season.
O'Reilly's show, 'The O'Reilly Factor', is one of the highest-rated cable shows in prime time.
He earns an annual salary of $18m (16.8m) but his show has pulled in $446m (418m) in advertising since 2014, according to the 'Times'.
Aleksandar Vucic speaks during a press conference after claiming victory in the presidential election, in Belgrade, Serbia (Darko Vojinovic/AP)
Serbian prime minister Aleksandar Vucic has won by a landslide in the first round of voting in the country's presidential election, a near-complete official vote count confirmed.
The vote further strengthens Mr Vucic's authoritarian rule in the Balkan country.
The State Election Commission said that after counting 91% of ballots, Mr Vucic had won 55% of votes, followed by liberal candidate Sasa Jankovic with 16% and Luka Maksimovic, a parody politician, with 9%.
The triumph in Sunday's balloting is a major boost for Mr Vucic, who is now expected to further tighten his already firm grip on power in Serbia.
Mr Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party also dominates the parliament.
A former extreme nationalist who has rebranded himself as a pro-European Union reformer, Mr Vucic has said he wants to lead the Balkan country into the EU, while also pushing for deeper ties to longtime ally Russia.
Mr Vucic's candidacy was endorsed by Russian President Vladimir Putin amid fears from some of Moscow's expanding influence in the tense Balkan region.
Opposition candidates have accused Mr Vucic of control over the media, mudslinging and intimidation of voters.
Critics say Mr Vucic's full control deals a blow to Serbia's fragile democracy.
"No run-off means our society is politically immature," analyst Jovo Bakic said. "Where else is there no run-off? Only in North Korea!"
Mr Vucic has been prime minister since 2014.
He is expected to appoint a figurehead successor as prime minister and transform the presidency from a ceremonial office into a more powerful post.
AP
Deputy Head of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NACP) Ruslan Radetsky has said that the agency has completed the verification of about 3,000 of electronic declarations, ten of them has been handed over to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU).
"As of today, we have carried out an audit of about 3,000 subjects of e-declarations," Radetsky said on the Inter TV channel on Sunday.
He noted that according to the results of the audit, ten declarations had been submitted to the NABU, 17 protocols on administrative responsibility drawn up and submitted to the court.
According to Radetsky, it is possible to increase the number of verified declarations due to the automation of the process stipulated by legislation. However, he said such a system was not created, adding that the head of the department Natalia Korchak is responsible for this issue in the NACP.
Donald Trump said the US could "totally" handle the situation in North Korea without China's help (AP)
Donald Trump says the US is prepared to act alone against North Korea if China does not take a tougher stand against Pyongyang's nuclear programme.
The president's comments in an interview with the Financial Times came days before he is set to host Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Mar-a-Lago estate in south Florida.
The two are expected to discuss a number of issues, including North Korea, trade and territorial disputes in the South China Sea during their meeting on Thursday and Friday.
"Yes, we will talk about North Korea," he said. "And China has great influence over North Korea. And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they won't. And if they do that will be very good for China, and if they don't it won't be good for anyone."
Mr Trump said trade was the incentive for China to work with him, but he added that the US could "totally" handle the situation in North Korea without China's help.
Asked how he would tackle North Korea, he said: "I'm not going to tell you. You know, I am not the United States of the past where we tell you where we are going to hit in the Middle East."
While China provides diplomatic and economic support to its neighbour, it claims that its influence over Kim Jong Un's government is limited.
The relationship between the US and China has been uncertain since Mr Trump's election. During his campaign he accused Beijing of unfair trade practices and threatened to raise import taxes on Chinese goods and declare China a currency manipulator, although it is unclear whether he will follow through with either threat.
He told the newspaper he does not "want to talk about tariffs yet, perhaps the next time we meet".
Mr Trump's ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, also offered tough talk on China, saying on ABC's This Week that the US is pressing Beijing to take a firmer stand on North Korea's nuclear programme.
UN resolutions have failed so far to deter North Korea from conducting nuclear and missile tests. Last year, the North conducted two nuclear tests and two dozen tests of ballistic missiles.
"They need to show us how concerned they are," Ms Haley said. "They need to put pressure on North Korea. The only country that can stop North Korea is China, and they know that."
Asked what the US would do if China did not co-operate, she said: "China has to co-operate."
Former defence secretary Ash Carter said he doubted that Beijing would co-operate.
"I've been working on the North Korea problem since 1994," he said on ABC. "And we have consistently asked Chinese leaders ... because they uniquely have the historical and the economic relationship with North Korea to make a difference.
"They haven't used that influence, and so it's hard for me to be optimistic with that."
AP
CONCORD There is a lot of stress relief going on at Cannon School thanks to the continuously growing yogi population.
A yogi is a practitioner of yoga; and if you look around campus you will find pockets of yogis of all ages. They are inhaling, exhaling, focusing on their movements and pushing stress away for an hour during their busy weeks; and they are starting to have an impact on the schools culture.
We are trying to reach that tipping point where there are more yogis than non-yogis, Monty Coggins, Upper School science teacher who is also certified in yoga, said.
Coggins said the yoga program has grown organically, starting with a class once a week for teachers.
I got certified in 2010 and shortly after that I started teaching a class for whoever wanted to come, which was basically teachers. And over time we invited students to that too, Coggins said. People need that connection; they need that physicality of it I believe. They need a different way to build community. And particularly around here, they need a place and opportunity to slow down.
When information about Coggins and his class began to spread, students took notice.
In what he referred to as a convergent evolution the culture continued to grow after one student requested to work with Coggins on a yoga independent study.
So we did it during planning period and I taught her basic practice and we built our own curriculum, he said. Then that program became part of the Cannon fabric.
That was about three years ago and Coggins said more and more upper school students have volunteered to participate every year.
If you do anything around here and there is any success, it takes like 20 years to get rid of it, he said while laughing. So the next year we had six people and that was an incredible experience. And we have eight working with me this year.
Those eight students are all seniors, all taking high level courses and most of them participate in another sport. But they said when they come to yoga, the thoughts of their extremely busy lives are put on pause and they just enjoy spending time together.
Senior year can get very stressful and just to be able to have a place during the day with people that youve gotten close to and feel super comfortable with is great. You just kind of like take a minute and be super present and not worry about everything else that is kind of spinning at 300 miles per hour around you, student Morgan Batley said. Its just totally different out of left field for me, and its been really cool to have that kind of in my wheelhouse as something that I can connect with other people.
The students are all at different levels of the practice and beamed as they talked about their progress with poses.
Sam Norvell said at the beginning of the year he could only do a regular handstand, but now with his growing flexibility and strength he can do four different kinds.
My day consists of six hours, five of which are very difficult and one of which is very fun and very helpful and much-needed, Norvell said about yoga. I run a lot so the flexibility is very beneficial. I like figuring out new ways to do different poses.
Growing, learning and teaching
Middle School Guidance Counselor Megan Thompson said it was for selfish reasons that she approached Coggins to ask if her students could get involved in the yoga. She had been practicing for a while and wanted to share it.
I do a lot of yoga and Ive really found it has transformed my life and really helped me manage stress levels, Thompson said. And just talking to so many students here who are overwhelmed and stressed with academics and wanting to always do their best and be their best, I was like, gosh these kids need yoga. They need some stress relief.
Thompson knew Coggins worked with upper school students, so she reached out to see if there was a way to get middle schoolers involved. And Coggins had a great plan.
He said that his students could actually come and teach, Thompson said.
Thompson brought the idea to her younger students and told them yoga would be offered during study hall. At first, she was worried that there was too much interest and she would have to turn some away. But as schedules became full and other activities got in the way, a core group developed.
Some of them probably do feel less stress when they come, like they are in a calmer place afterwards. And honestly some of them just like doing something different than study hall and they need that academic brain break because theyve been in class all day long, she said. And I think some just wanted to try something new and challenge themselves.
Once a week, the upper school students come over to the middle school building ready to share their love of yoga with new, eager yogis.
The young students are excited to learn something new and seventh-grader Harshini Gadudasu said it is a good break for her continuously-growing workload.
There are a lot of times when there are three tests a week or two tests in the same day and Im getting stressed out. Yoga has been a really good way to distress and let everything go, she said. I think its the idea of being grounded with the Earth and letting all of your troubles out while you are moving. I think thats really calming in itself.
A Cannon yoga community
With yoga going on at different levels with students and staff on any given day, the school is well on its way to having as many yogis as Coggins hopes.
And Amy Reiss, marketing and communications manager for Cannon, said the impact isnt just on stress. The classes are also bringing people together.
Its interesting to watch, from my perspective because Ill pop in there with my camera sometimes. Its a neat vibe in there because it stretches across levels, Reiss said. We still are a school of three different divisions and youll find teachers in the upper school who dont know teachers in the lower school because they dont cross paths. But this mixes everybody and its done in kind of a peaceful vibe kind of way. So its a neat way for faculty and staff to get to know each other as well.
The credit for this developing vibe is given to Coggins. Students and teachers that have taken his class gush about him, how cool he is and his yoga-teaching abilities.
He has taught us that yoga is more than just a practice, its a mindset too and way of being empowered, senior Grace Turner said. He has taught us to just go for it and not hold back as much.
But Coggins also gushes about his upper school students and said they are the key to keeping the trend going. This is why he gives them the opportunity to teach the middle schoolers, usually without supervision because he knows they are ready for that step.
I think that its really important, if we are going to grow a yoga community here, for the guys in the middle school to see these guys (upper school) and their degree of expertise and their commitment and the way they show up. Thats really important, Coggins said.
He smiled and shed a tear or two as he talked about his senior yogis. He called them wickedly intelligent and successful academically. He hopes that yoga is giving them a different way to learn and experience a school environment.
They are ready to teach, they not only do the practice they assist the practice, Coggins said. And they have taught. Weve taught each other. These guys have taught each other until they are blue in the face. They know the practice and so Im very comfortable with them coming out and working with these guys (middle school students). I would trust them to go anywhere and teach anybody.
The quality of education, whether good or bad, is a constant debate in every community in the United States.
The 2015 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) showed the United States as scoring average in science, reading and mathematics. Theres been little change going back to 2000 in the tests.
The U.S. scores are middle of the pack, not terrible but not the greatest, while countries like Japan and Finland have continued to post some of the highest.
While consistency in their performances is one thing all three nations have in common, obviously Japan and Finland are doing something to set themselves apart.
One commonality between the two of them, and other top performing countries in education, is some form of national standard they follow one guiding educational philosophy.
Japan and Finland take different paths in the classroom, but the end result for both is a focus on producing life-long learners, students capable of working their way through a problem with critical thinking skills, according to a 2009 Common Core report.
Grandview Middle AIG teacher Erin Roberts saw this firsthand when she took a trip overseas to England during her senior year in the N.C. Teaching Fellows Program defunct since 2011 but possibly returning by the General Assembly. It paid for a college degree in education in exchange for service in a North Carolina public school.
During her trip, Roberts was in the English version of a kindergarten class.
Even there you can tell the expectations are different. Students, 4- to 5-year-olds, are fairly independent, Roberts said. They would go to lunch. They would go to recess. There would be a person on the playground, but the teacher did not follow them. They were expected to be independent.
Foreign countries also tend to hold educators in higher esteem.
In Finland, teachers in basic and general upper secondary education are required to hold a Masters degree, according to a report by the Finnish National Board of Education (FNBE) in 2013.
In Japan, teachers are still, by law, among the highest paid of Japans civil servants, according to a 2010 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report. When they start their service, they are paid as well as novice engineers.
North Carolinas Teaching Fellows program provided a taste of this level of respect for students like Roberts and fellow Grandview Middle teacher Christina Lancaster.
A math teacher, Lancaster finished the program in 2012 and remembers the intensity of the interviews just to be considered and saw it as the standard the Fellows were expected to meet.
One interview was in a courtroom, and there was a board of people and they were all educators, Lancaster said. They were really looking for high quality answers, awareness of your local community and the global community, and I could tell from the kind of questions they were asking that they were weeding out people who they felt didnt reach a standard or didnt have a passion for teaching.
Hickory High English/literature teacher Madison Yount finished the Fellows program in 2014 and also remembers being expected to know current educational issues and global events during her interviews.
I was specifically asked what piece of legislation I would change if I had an option, and I was asked that as a senior in high school during the interview, Yount said. I remember being impressed with that because they really wanted top-notch students to get the scholarship.
They also were completing projects as freshman and sophomores other education students werent required to do until their final two years of college.
To test or not to test
Another similar characteristic among high performing countries is their approach to evaluating students.
Japans only tests are the entrance exams for high school and university, according the OECD, and in Finland, there are no national tests for pupils in basic education, according to the FNBE.
The results Finland scored a 526 in the 2015 PISA assessment for reading, 511 in math and 531 in science, and Japan scored 516 in reading, 532 in math and 538 in science. All scores were 20 or more points above the average scores.
The United States North Carolina was one of two states who participated in the 2015 PISA scored 497 in reading, 470 in math and 496 in science, just above average in reading and below average by 20 points in math.
The 2015 PISA results reflect science, reading and mathematics literacy for 15-year-olds in 73 education systems worldwide. PISA launched by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development is a system of international assessments that allows countries to compare outcomes of learning as students near the end of compulsory schooling.
The assessments are given to a sample of participating nations and states every three years. The United States has participated in every cycle of PISA since it began in 2000.
Yount spent part of her senior year in the Fellows program on a trip to Ireland to observe schools and saw a similar difference in the focus of education there.
The main thing I saw, and it was across the board, the schools were not test driven. It was all problem-based learning, Yount said. Lets get these kids into the classroom. Lets challenge them, and lets grow them and not test them.
She also learned Irish students have a more global perspective.
Here we have a major focus on American and British studies. We do study world history, but typically we have a year-long American History class and American literature, Yount said. Over there they did a really good job of creating a global awareness. They taught Irish history, but they made sure the kids were very much globally and culturally minded of everyone around them.
In comparison, Yount doesnt think students in North Carolina are as globally aware.
Justin Lunsford teaches math at Hickory Career and Arts Magnet High School and is another Fellows Teaching graduate who got a firsthand look at another countrys approach to education.
In Ireland, Lunsford saw what it looked like when a community made education the top priority.
The biggest thing was where the responsibility belonged. It wasnt with the teachers as much, he said. Stateside right now, everything is teacher accountability and make sure you work to the standards. In Ireland, it was more on the student and the parent. All the responsibility fell on that kid and the home life of that student.
The trip also helped him realize how much a students home life in any community impacts their education, for the good and bad, before they ever step into a classroom.
If you dont have parents who care about your education, youre not going to care about your education, Lunsford said.
He also liked the cohesiveness of education in Ireland. In high school, rather than having so many smaller tests, students took one test at the beginning of the year and then one their senior year. The results determine what they would qualify to do in college.
Over there, every single college and university has the same scale, so if you want to be a doctor, you have to get a certain score on that final exam, Lunsford said. I think thats a huge deal because we dont make education equal here.
When a kid transfers from Texas, they may be in a completely different spot in the pacing guide. They may have different standards they were covering.
Irelands 2015 PISA scores: 503 in science, 521 in reading and 504 in math all above the PISA averages and a 13-point, three-year trend in reading.
While the U.S. as a whole doesnt have as cohesive an educational strategy as countries like Japan, Finland and Ireland, there are national trends individual school districts and states are adopting to help close the gap.
The N.C. Teaching Fellows Program proved successful in producing knowledgeable and passionate teachers for the state.
In Catawba County, schools have adopted programs like Leader in Me, Blended Learning, STEM (Science, technology, engineering, mathematics), IB (International Baccalaureate) and project-based teaching.
India and Malaysia to sign 15 business pacts
15 business pacts are expected to be signed between India and Malaysia on Monday, April 4, on the occasion of the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razaks five-day visit to India.
The business-to-business agreements aim to deepen commercial linkages between the two countries. Total projects under bilateral discussion amount to US$5 billion.
This will be the Malaysian PMs third official visit to India since 2009, and the current itinerary included visits to Chennai, Tamil Nadu state (March 30) and Rajasthan state (April 2). In Rajasthan, Malaysian companies have invested in road and infrastructure projects worth an estimated US$1 billion.
PM Modis talks with the Malaysian Prime Minister centered on improving economic ties between the two countries, where he pitched investment opportunities for Malaysia in Indias smart cities, infrastructure, and food security.
Malaysia is Indias third largest trading partner in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) after Singapore and Indonesia. Bilateral trade between Malaysia and India was at US$12.8 billion in 2015-2016, with the trade balance in Malaysias favor; both countries seek to upscale bilateral trade to US$15 billion.
Malaysia has invested more in India at an overall estimate of US$7 billion, while Indian investments amount to about US$2.5 billion in Malaysia. Malaysian companies have so far completed 53 highway and road projects in India worth US$2.84 billion. In addition, there are seven projects valued at $0.34 billion under construction. Currently, there are 61 Indian joint ventures, seven Indian public sector undertakings, and 60 Indian IT companies operating in or from Malaysia.
FMCGs rush to Assam to avail of tax benefits before GST rollout
Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) firms have invested nearly US$461.33 million (Rs 3,000 crore) in the past few months to build new plants in the northeastern state of Assam. The rush to set up manufacturing units in the state was primarily to avail of fiscal benefits before the deadline of March 31, 2017.
Assam has offered FMCG companies decisive financial incentives a 10-year tax holiday (excise benefits) for those who set up plants before March 31 this year. Such incentives were earlier offered in the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, both of which expired in 2010.
The tax benefits hold crucial for companies as tax havens will close up following the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) by July 1.
FMCG companies taking advantage of the industry sops include Hindustan Unilever (HUL), Patanjali, Dabur, Marico, Jyothy Labs, Emami, and Bajaj Corp.
Huge losses estimated for hospitality industry after SC liquor ban
Recently, the Indian Supreme Court (SC) banned the sale of liquor near highways across the country, forcing prominent hotel chains like the Taj, Oberoi, Hyatt, and Accor groups to stop serving alcoholic beverages to guests after April 1. The losses to the hospitality industry and respective states amount to an estimated US$10 billion (Rs 65,000 crore).
As per lobby group National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI), the ban will cause loss of jobs for around 100,000 people in the hospitality sector. Further, states could lose tax revenue worth about US$7.7 billion (Rs 50,000 crore), while restaurants and pubs could suffer losses worth US$1.54 to US$2.3 billion (Rs 10,000 to 15,000 crore).
The Supreme Court announced the drastic measure to reduce the number of drunk driving accidents as India is among the most cash-prone countries in the world. Industry representatives have called the move short-sighted and negative for the economy, instead calling for awareness initiatives about road safety and dangers of drunk driving.
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Dezan Shira & Associates Brochure Dezan Shira & Associates is a pan-Asia, multi-disciplinary professional services firm, providing legal, tax and operational advisory to international corporate investors. Operational throughout China, ASEAN and India, our mission is to guide foreign companies through Asias complex regulatory environment and assist them with all aspects of establishing, maintaining and growing their business operations in the region. This brochure provides an overview of the services and expertise Dezan Shira & Associates can provide. An Introduction to Doing Business in India 2017 An Introduction to Doing Business in India 2017 is designed to introduce the fundamentals of investing in India. As such, this comprehensive guide is ideal not only for businesses looking to enter the Indian market, but also for companies who already have a presence here and want to stay up-to-date with the most recent and relevant policy changes.
New Delhi, Apr 3 (IBNS) : Iran has released 15 Tamil Nadu fishermen nearly five-and-a-half months after they were captured after straying into the central Asian country's waters, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Monday.
"I am happy to inform that Iran has released our 15 fishermen from Tamil Nadu. They were detained with their 3 Bahraini boats," Swaraj said in a tweet.
The fishermen working in Bahrain were held on October 22 last year when they were on their way from Bahrain to Sharjah.
Twentytwo other fishermen are still being held in Iran. They were arrested between August 2016 and January 2017.
Last month, DMK MP Tiruchi Siva had raised in Rajya Sabha the issue of Tamil Nadu fishermen languishing in Iranian prisons.
10:29 03.04.2017 Press conference 'Adoption of a Law Stimulating Household Waste Incineration Will Become Black Day for Ukraine's Ecology and Economy'
1 min read
On Monday, April 3, at 11.00, the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency's press center will host a press conference entitled "Adoption of a Law Stimulating Household Waste Incineration Will Become Black Day for Ukraine's Ecology and Economy." The participants will include Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee for Construction, Urban Development, Housing and Utilities Services MP Olena Babak; Researcher at the Nature Management Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Ph.D. Tetiana Omelyanenko; founder of the "Ukraine without Garbage" eco-project Yevhenia Aratovska; and head of the Association of Hazardous Waste Management Enterprises Kyrylo Kosourov (8/5a Reitarska Street). Registration requires press accreditation. More information by phone: (067) 393 3537, (050) 548 4599.
Foreign Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin has declared EUR 47,000 and $33,000 in cash in 2016.
According to Klimkin's e-declaration posted on the unified state register of declarations, the expenses for the construction of a house in the village of Kozyn, Obukhiv district, Kyiv region, the owner of which is Nina Havrylivna Mykhailenko, and which is wholly or partly constructed from the materials paid by Klimkin or members of his family, amounted to UAH 192,000.
The minister also declared salary of UAH 439,530 for 2016.
According to the declaration, Klimkin's wife Maryna Mykhailenko has declared EUR 45,000 and $60,000 in cash.
Mykhailenko also declared UAH 240,945 in salary at the State Affairs Department, as well as UAH 1.536 million income from the sale of real estate. At the same time, Mykhailenko's 2015 declaration included a land plot with an area of 973 square meters in Kyiv.
Klimkin does not own or lease real estate, and his wife owns an apartment in Kyiv with an area of 68.2 square meters and a third of an apartment in Kyiv with a total area of 90.4 square meters.
The minister owns a 2000 Skoda Felicia car, his wife has a 2008 Volvo S40.
As we all know, actor Ajith and his 'Vivegam' crew are presently busy shooting the final schedule of the film on in Bulgaria since last month.
Now we learn that the shooting will go on till the mid of April and the entire crew will return to India on April 19, 2017.
It is also said that the teaser of the film will be released on May 1, 2017 to mark the 46th birthday of Ajith.
'Vivegam' is touted to be an international espionage thriller directed by Siva and produced by Sathya Jyothi Movies banner. The film stars Kajal Aggarwal as the female lead and Vivek Oberoi as the lead villain. Anirudh Ravichander has rendered the music score.
'Vivegam' is expected to hit the screens in August 2017.
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Rakhi Sawant has landed herself in a legal soup lately for the comments that she made against Valmiki on a show, which aired on a private TV channel last year.
An arrest warrant was issued by a local Ludhiana court on March 9 after it received a complaint against her. The complainant allegedly said that she hurt the sentiments of the Valmiki community by making objectionable comments against the harbinger-poet who wrote Hindu mythological epic Ramayana.
Calling Valmiki a murderer, Rakhi Sawant said, "Hum Valmiki ki baat karte hain, vo ek time pe logo ke murder karte the. Lekin baad mein Ramayan likhi na?"
By doing so she has hurt the religious sentiments of a large number of his followers , the complainant said.
A post shared by Rakhi sawant (@rakhisawant151) on Mar 27, 2017 at 1:34am PDT
Rakhi Sawant has apparently failed to appear before the court despite repetitive summons. She didnt appear before the court on March 9 as well.
A two-member team of the Ludhiana police has left for Mumbai with the arrest warrant, said the police.
A post shared by Rakhi sawant (@rakhisawant151) on Mar 27, 2017 at 1:47am PDT
The next hearing is reportedly scheduled for April 10.
The US Navy is very interested in technology that provides cognitive enhancement for its special ops teams. The idea is to create almost inhuman, super soldiers of science fiction lore by enhancing the mental and physical performance of regular soldiers.
Halo Neuroscience
At a conference near Washington DC, Military.com reports, Rear Admiral Tim Szymanski, commander of all Navy special operations units, made the request to the tech industry. We plan on using that [the technology in question] in mission enhancement, he said. The performance piece is really critical to the life of our operators.
In a later interview Szymanski said hes keeping an eye on miracle drugs and the like to further his goals, but one slightly different breakthrough has caught his attention. By directly applying electrical stimulation to a soldiers brain, researchers have found they can prolong the subjects concentration by significant amounts.
In experiments, people who were watching these screens ... their ability to concentrate would fall off in about 20 minutes, Szymanski said. But they did studies whereby a little bit of electrical stimulation was applied, and they were able to maintain the same peak performance for 20 hours.
Transcranial electrical stimulation, as its called, is a technique thats been previously suggested by defense researchers in the field. Ever since 2016, multiple Navy SEAL units have reportedly been testing the idea for active usage in the future, especially the Hollywood-famed SEAL Team Six.
Halo Neuroscience is the company behind the testing, using a sort of headset designed to stimulate the brain into a more flexible state. Originally developed for top-level athletes, it fires up the brain to better allow the user to learn and improve any techniques theyre practicing.
Halo Neuroscience
Over a four-month-long test alongside a control group, researchers noticed a 13 percent increase in performance in physical training, particularly improving the test subjects ability to generate explosive bursts of energy.
The idea is that the device helps put a persons brain into a more receptive state for training, using electro-stimulation to help them overcome exhaustion, sleep-deprivation, and even boredom. All of which go hand in hand with the heavily trained SEAL units. Essentially, it lets someone train harder, and for longer periods of time, at peak performance.
They're training at this amazingly high level, and the amount they can train is actually limited by things like physical recovery, Halo Neuroscience co-founder Brett Wingeier says.
An ominous side effect could be what experts have worried about for a long time, that the long-term effects of neuro-priming are still unexplored. However, Halo believes the technology is safe, as it hasnt shown any side effects during extended testing with athletes.
However, the results the technology provides are inarguable. Using this technique, military organisations across the world could eventually train special operations teams in a fraction of the time usually required, without skimping on the efficiency of that training. It may not be the super soldier cyborgs we might envision in movies, but its a start.
Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama has been living in India since 1959 after having fled Tibet, fearing for his life. And after 58 years he met with the soldier who had escorted him to safety from India-China border. The soldier was retired jawan Naren Chandra Das.
PTI
The Dalai Lama embraced Naren Chandra Das at an interactive session organised at the Namami Brahmaputra River festival by the Assam government in Guwahati.
Thank you very much.... I am very very happy to meet such an old member of the Assam Rifles who guarded and escorted me to India 58 years ago, a visibly emotional Dalai Lama said on the occasion.
Looking at your face, I now realise I must be very old too, he said to Das in jest. Dressed in his Assam Rifles uniform, the 76-year-old Das, later told PTI that he had escorted the Dalai Lama as his armed guard in 1959, two years after joining the force in 1957.
ALSO READ: China Warns India Against Dalai Lama's Visit To Arunachal, Calls It A 'Big Mistake'
PTI
At that time, he was posted at Lungla near the China border after completing his training at Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, he said.
Guards of Assam Rifles Platoon no. 9 had brought the Dalai Lama from Zuthangbo and handed him over to five of us at Shakti. We brought him to Lungla from where he was escorted on his onward journey to Tawang by another group of guards, the retired jawan said.
Asked whether he had any interaction with the Dalai Lama during that journey, Das said they were not allowed to talk or interact with him. Our duty was only to guard and escort him during a part of his journey.
He said he was overwhelmed by the warmth in his embrace.
PTI
Asked what the Dalai Lama whispered in his ears while they embraced, he replied, He was happy to see me.
The Dalai Lama also presented a silk shawl to the guard. For the Assam Rifles, he also signed an old photograph of his during his journey into India.
Assam Rifles director general Lt Gen Shokin Chouhan was also present on the occasion.
The head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO), 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 Ukrecoresursy, 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 Ukrecoresursy 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.
It's now official. The Undertaker has retired from the WWE after losing to Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 33.
This means his WrestleMania record ends at 23-2. The only other defeat he suffered was at the hands of Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 30. Before that loss he had a 21-0 record. Read more
Here are other top stories of the day:
1) Leopard Scare Shuts Down Nepal International Airport Briefly, Search Goes On For The Big Cat
Kathmandu, home to Nepal's only international airport had to witness a strange encounter earlier today. The airport was closed for around half an hour after a leopard was spotted close to the runway. Read more
2) Kerala Police Arrests 21-Year-Old Woman For Sexually Assaulting 17-Year-Old Boyfriend
A 21-year-old woman was arrested in Kerala under the Prevention of Children against Sexual Offence act (POCSO) for staying with her minor boyfriend at his house in the Kottayam district of the state. Read more
3) A Wedding Invitation With The Swachh Bharat Logo Leaves PM Narendra Modi Impressed
After the iPhone marriage card, the latest one to hit the internet has a Swachh Bharat logo on it. Akash Jain, an entrepreneur, took to micro-blogging platform Twitter and tweeted a photo of a marriage card with Swachh Bharat logo printed on it. Read more
4) Cops Seize 14 Mobile Phones From Kashmir Jail, That Used To Connect To Pakistani Numbers Via WhatsApp
In a major crackdown, police today seized 14 mobile phones from a sub-jail in Baramulla district of Kashmir which were allegedly being used by the inmates to be in touch with their contacts in Pakistan via WhatsApp. Read more
5) Kolkata Shows The Way, Will Charge Flat Fare Of Only Re 1 On City's First Bio-Gas Fuel Bus
A company based in Kolkata has just launched the first bio-gas fuelled bus in the city with a flat fare of just Re 1. Read more
We all have seen those iconic red telephone boxes in many movies, videos, and photographs. One of the many indigenous things to the Britan, these ubiquitous telephone boxes are famous and loved as ever.
Telegraph
Giles Gilbert Scott's famous design was first introduced in 1924 and became indispensable to London. But now, more than 90 years later, these telephone booths are becoming obsolete.
The advent of technology and popular usage of the telephone is seeing less use of these booths, as a result, they've now been transformed into cosy cafes and coffee shops.
CNN
New World Payphones are set to revolutionise urban spaces in London and nationwide with state-of-the-art kiosks, inspired by the originals.
Phoning in my latte #london #redtelephonebox #londoncalling A post shared by Vicky Shen (@vickyyshen) on Apr 2, 2017 at 8:18am PDT
These booths will be revitalised with modern technology, updates design, bringing cutting edge architecture to Britain's street. Entrepreneurs and communities are eyeing it as a spot to swap books, buy coffee or even enjoy a meal.
UK telecommunications company British Telecom introduced an 'adopt a kiosk' program, encouraging individuals and communities to buy these boxes and transform it. They can buy it for 1 (less than $2).
The new kiosks are set to offer so much more to these communities, starting from free WiFI to interactive touch screen journey planners and local information services.
Furthermore, for every red box removed or replaced, a tree will be planted in the spot, making the city environments enriched.
This transformation will find itself a spot in the history lesson for sure. For giving the city a new look, more trees, and chilling spots.
The Beneficiaries of Conflict With Russia
By Brian Cloughley
April 02, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - On January 30 NBC News reported that On a snowy Polish plain dominated by Russian forces for decades, American tanks and troops sent a message to Moscow and demonstrated the firepower of the NATO alliance. Amid concerns that President Donald Trumps commitment to NATO is wavering , the tanks fired salvos that declared the 28-nation alliance a vital deterrent in a dangerous new world.
One intriguing aspect of this slanted account are the phrases dominated by Russian forces for decades and vital deterrent which are used by NBC to imply that Russia yearns, for some unspecified reason, to invade Poland. As is common in the Western media there is no justification or evidence to substantiate the suggestion that Russia is hell-bent on domination, and the fact that US troops are far from home, operating along the Russian border, is regarded as normal behaviour on the part of the worlds indispensable nation.
Then Reuters recorded that Beginning in February, US military units will spread out across Poland, the Baltic states, Bulgaria, Romania and Germany for training, exercises and maintenance. The Army is also sending its 10th Combat Aviation Brigade with about 50 Black Hawk and 10 CH-47 Chinook helicopters and 1,800 personnel, as well as a separate aviation battalion with 400 troops and 24 Apache helicopters.
As the US-NATO military alliance continues its deployments along Russias borders, including the US-UK supported Joint Viking 2017 exercise in Norway that began on March 1 and the deployment of more US troops in Poland from the start of April, as the alliance sets up a new force in response to Moscows 2014 annexation of Crimea, the campaign by the US and British governments against alleged Russian Aggression continues to increase in volume and intensity, aided by an ever-compliant media.
During his visit to Washington on March 6-7 Ukraines foreign minister Pavlo Klimkin met with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Senator Marco Rubio of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and received assurances of US support in confronting Russian aggression while in Britain it was announced that its foreign minister, Boris Johnson, the mop-haired buffoon was about to visit Russia in to tell it to keep its nose out of western affairs. Mr Johnson declared that Russia was up to all sorts of no good and engaged in cyber-warfare.
The splendid irony of the Johnson allegation about cyber warfare is that it came just before the revelation that Britains intelligence agencies were deeply involved with those of the United States in cyber-chicanery on a massive scale. WikiLeaks once again showed the depths of deceit and humbug to which the Wests great democracies submerge themselves, and revealed that leaked files describe CIA plans and descriptions of malware and other tools that could be used to hack into some of the worlds most popular technology platforms. The documents showed that the developers aimed to be able to inject these tools into targeted computers without the owners awareness . . . the documents show broad exchanges of tools and information between the CIA, the National Security Agency and other US federal intelligence agencies, as well as intelligence services of close allies Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
ABC News then announced , without a shred of proof, that Julian Assange, the man behind WikiLeaks, appears to have a strong relationship with Russia but could not disguise the report by CNN that the documents disclosed that to hide its operations, the CIA routinely adopted techniques that enabled its hackers to appear as if they were Russian.
There has been no comment on the WikiLeaks revelations by such as US Senator Amy Klobuchar who declared in January that Russia used cyberattacks and propaganda to try and undermine our democracy. We are not alone. Russia has a pattern of waging cyberattacks and military invasions against democracies across the world. She was echoed by Senator Ben Sasse who declared that increased US sanctions would upend Putins calculus and defend America from Russian cyberattacks and political meddling.
Of course it would be impossible for the Senators to revise their rabid hatred of Russia and overcome their dismal pride to acknowledge that on March 1 the US National Reconnaissance Office launched a spy satellite carried by an Atlas V rocket that was powered by a Russian RD-180 engine. In an astonishing example of petty-minded obfuscation, the 1,500-word official report on the launching mentioned RD-180 three times but failed to state its country of manufacture. The mainstream media followed suit.
There was to be another Atlas V launch in March, carrying supplies to the International Space Station, but it was delayed by a hydraulic issue that was uncovered on ground support equipment required for launch. Had it been deferred because of malfunction of the Russian engine that powers it, there would have been gloating headlines.
Reaction by the US government to the WikiLeaks disclosures has been to denounce them because they supposedly not only jeopardise US personnel and operations, but also equip our adversaries with tools and information to do us harm. Predictably, Senator Sasse tweeted that Julian Assange should spend the rest of his life wearing an orange jumpsuit. Hes an enemy of the American people and an ally to Vladimir Putin.
There should be no surprise about the activities of US and British intelligence agencies, because they already have a proven record of spying on UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Chancellor Merkel of Germany, French Presidents Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, to name but a few world leaders subjected to the indignity of greasy little eavesdroppers sniggering at their private conversations.
In June 2013 it was revealed that the United States of America had been spying on European Union computer networks in the EU offices in Washington and New York. According to Germanys Der Spiegel a document of September 2010 explicitly named the Unions representation at the UN as a location target. Der Spiegel discovered that the NSA had also conducted an electronic eavesdropping operation in a building in Brussels where the EU Council of Ministers and the European Council were located. Together with their British colleagues, the techno-dweebs of Government Communications Headquarters, the US agencies have been having a ball but have been unable to prove that Russia used cyberattacks and propaganda to try and undermine our democracy.
The faithful CIA mouthpiece, the New York Times, stated in December that American spy and law enforcement agencies were united in the belief, in the weeks before the presidential election, that the Russian government had deployed computer hackers to sow chaos during the campaign. Not only this, but CIA officials presented lawmakers with a stunning new judgment that upended the debate: Russia, they said, had intervened with the primary aim of helping make Donald J Trump president.
But there is no evidence whatever that there was election-time hacking by Russia, and now there is proof that to hide its operations, the CIA routinely adopted techniques that enabled its hackers to appear as if they were Russian.
Although none of the assertions that Russia has been conducting a cyber war against America can be substantiated, Washingtons anti-Russia propaganda campaign will continue for the foreseeable future, while President Trumps initial intentions to enter into dialogue with his counterpart in Moscow wither away to nothing. Even if he does resurrect the sensible policy he seemed to endorse, his acolytes in Washington will do their best to maintain confrontation by spreading more allegations of Russian aggression and cyberattacks. The anti-Russia campaign is gathering force, and it is not difficult to put a finger on why such a counter-productive crusade appeals to so many in the West.
The US arms and intelligence industries are the main beneficiaries of confrontation with Russia, closely followed by the hierarchy of the defunct US-NATO military alliance who have been desperately seeking justification for its existence for many years. For so long as the military-industrial complex holds sway in Washington, there will continue to be sabre-rattling and mindless military posturing.
Is the Russian Government Insouciant?
By Paul Craig Roberts
April 02, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - On March 1 the US National Reconnaissance Office launched a spy satellite carried by an Atlas V rocket that was powered by a Russian RD-180 engine .
The Unites States, an alleged superpower, is not capable of putting its own spy satellites into space. The "superpower is dependent on Russia, which provides the superpower with the rocket engines to put up spy satellites to spy on Russia!!!
Here we have in Lenins words, the Russians selling Washington the rope with which to hang Russia!
Does Russia value a few more US dollars more than it values its national existence? Apparently so.
Do the Atlanticist Integrationists, the Washington funded and supported Fifth Column inside Russia, inside the Russian media, and inside the Russian government, so much desire to be part of the decadent and immoral West that they are willing to sacrifice Russian sovereignty and are willing, like all of Europe, Canada, Australia, and Japan, to be Washingtons vassal? Yes.
What other explanation is there for Russia enabling Washington to spy on Russia and to have the capability compliments of Russia to target Russia with nuclear weapons in a pre-emptive nuclear attack?
It seems Russia is more interested in US dollars and cooperation with Washington than in national survival.
Little wonder the neoconservatives believe that Putin will acquiesce in Russias demise at Washingtons hands.
Washingtons New World Order of tyranny toward all seems safely on course. Russia is enabling Washingtons dominance by putting Washingtons spy satellites in space for Washington.
Perhaps next Russia will provide Washington with the location of all its nuclear-armed submarines and the movement schedule of its train track-based ICBMs. Why not if it ensures cooperation with Washington, apparently the Russian governments only goal.
Isnt it amazing. Washington imposes sanction package after sanction package on Russia, and Putin continues to sell Washington the rocket engines it needs to send up its spy satellites!!!!!
God help the Russians.
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. Roberts' latest books are
The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West
,
How America Was Lost
, and
The Neoconservative Threat to World Order
.
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.
Bill Clinton Laid the Groundwork for Trumps Ugly Immigration Policies
By Bill Blum
Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past. The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living.
Karl Marx, The 18th Brumaire of Louis Napoleon (1851-52)
April 02, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - " TruthDig " - The most cruel, divisive and dangerous policies adopted thus far by the administration of President Donald John Trump are those embodied in the executive orders (EOs) he has signed into law in the areas of immigration, terrorism and border security. Theyre so cruel, indeed, that many influential commentators have fostered the narrative that they are unprecedented.
Yet they are not. In both the larger historical context and the smaller scope of the recent past, they fall well within the boundaries of Americas deep-seated nativist traditions.
Trump isnt the first chief executive to tap into those traditions. His policies havent sprung from thin air. From the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the red scares of the 20th century, the Operation Wetback mass deportations of the Eisenhower administration, and the deportation records set by President Obama, our immigration laws and policies in good measure have been driven by political expediency, paranoia, scapegoating, racism and economic exploitation.
But while Trumps programs fit nicely into the broad sweep of our nativist legacy, they also owe a specific debt to legislation enacted during the tenure of none other than President William Jefferson Clinton.
Yes, you read that right. Much that is repugnant and regressive in Trumps EOsthe ballyhooed southern wall, the expansion of the border patrol, the mass detentions and expedited removals of the undocumented and criminal aliens, the deployment of local police to enforce immigration laws, even the violation of international standards governing the treatment of refugeescan be traced back to the statutory framework constructed during the Clinton era.
The great triangulator didnt just fuel an already existing trend toward mass incarceration with the enactment of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, or add to the miseries of the poor by upending the welfare system with the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. He also left a stain in the field of immigration.
In his Jan. 23, 1996, State of the Union address , Clinton stressed the need for tough federal action on illegal immigration. After years of neglect, he declared, this administration has taken a strong stand to stiffen the protection of our borders. We are increasing border controls by 50 percent. We are increasing inspections to prevent the hiring of illegal immigrants. And tonight, I announce I will sign an executive order to deny federal contracts to businesses that hire illegal immigrants.
In short order, he went far beyond the hiring ban, signing into law two pieces of omnibus legislation that paved the way for Trumps current nativist agenda: the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA), enacted in April 1996; and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA), which passed in September of the same year.
Together, the two acts (along with a few smaller bills) combined to do the following:
Expand the Definition of Criminal Immigrants Subject to Deportation
Prior to 1996, immigrants were subject to deportation following state or federal convictions for murder, rape and other serious felonies. The AEDPA added 17 aggravated felonies to the list, including theft, counterfeiting and receiving stolen property in cases involving terms of imprisonment of five years or more. Under the IIRIRA, the term of imprisonment needed to render theft and forgery offenses as grounds for deportation was reduced to one year, including probationary sentences.
The net effect of the changes was to vastly expand the number of immigrants, both documented and undocumented, subject to removal from the country. Trumps EOs build on the AEDPA and IIRIRA by targeting for removal undocumented immigrants either convicted of, or simply charged with, any criminal offenses.
Mandatory Detention
Along with broadening the definition of deportable crimes, the 1996 acts called for the mandatory detention of immigrants convicted of aggravated felonies pending their removal. As a result, the average daily number of immigrants held in detention centers skyrocketed from 6,785 in 1994 to 19,458 by the time Clinton left office . Many were held in private, for-profit facilities.
Today, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) holds some 34,000 immigrants per day in custody, many in privately run jails. That number, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), will jump to 80,000 under Trumps plans .
Ending Traditional Deportation Hearings and Instituting Expedited Removal
The IIRIRA did away with traditional deportation hearings, replacing them with removal proceedings. The change was by no means semantic. Along with the revised nomenclature, under the new law, immigrants were accorded fewer procedural rights.
Among other changes, the IIRIRA eliminated an often-invoked defense known as suspension of deportation, which permitted immigrants to seek deportation relief if they had been physically present in the U.S. for at least seven years, were of good moral character and were conviction-free for such period, and could demonstrate that they or their family members (if lawfully present) would suffer extreme hardship if they were deported.
The IIRIRA replaced the suspension remedy with cancellation of removal, a form of discretionary relief that requires immigrants to meet the very stringent bar of proving 10 years of continuous presence and establishing that their expulsion would cause exceptional and extremely unusual hardship to a qualifying U.S. spouse or child. Hardship to immigrant applicants themselves was eliminated as no longer relevant .
The number of cancellation grants, moreover, was capped at 3,000 per year . Those who didnt qualify were barred from seeking lawful admission to the U.S. for either three or 10 years, depending on how long they had been illegally in the country.
Even more importantly, the IIRIRA instituted the dreaded process of expedited removal. Under the program, immigration agents were empowered to expel immigrants, without even bringing them before an immigration judge for a hearing, if they could not show that they had been in the country for two years .
In practice, until Trump, expedited removals without hearings were largely reserved for immigrants apprehended within 100 miles of the border within 14 days of entry. Others were caught and released into the community pending their hearings. Trumps EOs vow to end catch and release and apply the tools of expedited removal nationwide to the letter of the Clinton-era law to anyone who crosses the border within the previous two years .
Fortifying the Border Patrol and Building a Deportation Force
To deliver on his promises of mass deportations, Trump has advocated the hiring of 5,000 additional Border Patrol agents and 10,000 more immigration officers in the nations interior.
Far from being outliers, both demands are in keeping with historical trends. Among its myriad provisions, the IIRIRA authorized a sharp increase in the number of Border Patrol personnel, which doubled in size between 1996 and the 9/11 attacks, and have doubled again since 9/11 .
Partnering with Local Governments and Punishing Sanctuary Cities
In addition to beefing up the Border Patrol and ICE, Trumps EOs call for a rapid expansion of the 287(g) program (named after a provision of federal law) aimed at deputizing local and state police agencies to serve as quasi-immigration agents in the apprehension of undocumented immigrants. The EOs also threaten crackdowns on so-called sanctuary cities that refuse to partner with immigration authorities by denying such jurisdictions federal grants and funding.
The 287(g) programyou guessed itwas added to the books by a provision of the IIRIRA .
Refugee Violations
While there is nothing in the legislation signed by Clinton that approaches Trumps two Muslim bans (which to date have been derailed by the courts), Clinton took executive actions to suspend entry into the U.S. of designated classes of people from several nations, including Zaire, Nigeria, Bosnia and Serbia, Sudan, Angola and Sierra Leone . Both George W. Bush and Barack Obama did the same.
More generally, according to Human Rights Watch , the IIRIRA ran afoul of the U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees by making it impossible for any immigrant convicted of an aggravated felony to obtain protection from a return to persecution. Even relatively minor drug and theft offenders with sentences of one year or more can be sent to persecution by U.S. immigration authorities. International standards, by contrast, limit such returns to those convicted of serious crimes and who would constitute a danger to the community.
The Southern Border Wall
Trumps EOs also could make good on his campaign promises to erect a great and beautiful wall along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border.
Here, too, the promises, while financially exorbitant and diplomatically disastrous, find firm footing in past practices.
In 1990, a 14-mile, triple-deep fence was constructed in San Diego . In 1996, the IIRIRA authorized the federal government to build additional barriers. And in 2006, the Secure Fence Act was passed, authorizing completion of still more. Today, there are 700 miles of fencing along the southern border .
Among those voting in favor of the Secure Fence Act was Hillary Clinton, then the junior Democratic Senator from New York . Among those voting against was Bernie Sanders, then a member of the House of Representatives from Vermont.
Understanding the full political, social and legal underpinnings of Trumps xenophobic immigration proposals is the key to defeating them. It isnt sufficientnor is it factually accurate, as this look back at the ugly legacy of Bill Clinton showsto brand them as unprecedented or an aberration.
To combat and ultimately destroy Trumpism, we cant return to Clinton-style neoliberalism. When it comes to immigration, we have to promote a progressive approach that, as advocacy groups like Americas Voice suggest, emphasizes a direct, fair and inclusive road to citizenship for immigrants, fair labor standards for all working people on both sides of the border, stringent environmental protections, equitable international trade agreements and law enforcement practices that recognize and protect immigrants rights.
Its time to come together for the battles ahead.
Bill Blum is a former judge and death penalty defense attorney. He is the author of three legal thrillers published by Penguin/Putnam (Prejudicial Error, The Last Appeal and The Face of Justice) and is a contributing writer for California Lawyer magazine. His nonfiction work has appeared in such publications as Crawdaddy magazine, In These Times, The Nation, The Progressive, the ABA Journal, the Orange County Register, the San Jose Mercury News, the Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly and Los Angeles magazine. @BlumsLaw
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.
See also
Killer of former Russian State Duma deputy Denis Voronenkov, Pavlo Parshov, who has earlier been dismissed from the Ukrainian National Guard, has visited Donetsk, while the law forbade him from doing so, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko said.
"We have identified the killer shot by a guard. He has earlier served as a Ukrainian Interior Ministry national guard. The criminal has stayed in the temporarily occupied territory on March 6, what is more, right in Donetsk. This gave the president and me a reason to assume that Russia is behind the crime. National guards, including former ones, are prohibited from staying in this area," Lutsenko said in an interview with Germany's Bild magazine published on Saturday.
"The murderer had some connections in the area currently outside Ukraine's control. I do not say that the killer has been a Russian agent. But he could have been such [...] during his service in the Ukrainian National Guard. When we detain his accomplices, we will find out more," he also said.
The prosecutor general recalled that the former Russian MP had planned to set up a center of resistance in Kyiv seeking to uncover corruption in the Russian Federal Security Service, and it could have been Russia's motive for eliminating him. "The matter was about drug trafficking. He said it publicly, either," Lutsenko said.
Voronenkov was assassinated "not because of testimony, which he had already given, but due to statements, which he should have issued," he said.
As reported, former State Duma deputy Voronenkov was killed in central Kyiv on March 23. The killer was injured by the former deputy's guard and died at hospital later. Pavlo Parshov was the killer, Ukrainian MP Anton Gerashchenko said.
I do not understand the squeamishness about the use of gas. I am strongly in favor of using poison gas against uncivilized tribes. It would spread a lively terror. Winston Churchill, 1920, with regard to the uprising in Iraq.
April 02, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - London.- 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.
ISIS, which has been under serious threat in Iraq and Syria, has called upon people around the world to conduct acts of criminal violence in its name. There is no evidence yet that Masood acted on the instructions of ISIS or that he was following the ISIS edict to attack people in public areas in the West. What is known is that right after the attack, ISIS took credit for it, calling Masood its soldier. ISIS social media celebrated the attack. There is a form of delirium at work herea group weakened now seeks to glorify itself by a pathetic attack by a man with a criminal record, using an old car and a knife.
Attribution bias is a familiar theme in the literature of modern psychology. It refers to the problem that occurs when people evaluate the actions of themselves or others based not on the facts but on attributions transferred from inherent biases. Fritz Heider, who first developed this theory in The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations (1958), suggested that attributions are made mostly to preserve ones self-conceptnamely ones sense of self. Rather than evaluate ones own behavior in a bad situation, one tends to blame others and to disregard the constraints that others operate under. This is typically considered to be a self-serving biasthe winner of an election says, I won because the people voted for me, whereas the loser says, I lost because of voter fraud.
Masoods act has already been pinned on ISIS, and ISIS has already adopted him as one of its combatants. Both decisions are self-servingthe one to deny any native role for the production of Masood and the other to uplift a flagging insurgency. Masoods own convulsions with racism, his own desire to seek glory above his miserable situation: these are not taken seriously. Home-grown terrorists have home-grown problems. But the term terrorist allows the home-grown person to be exportedas it wereto other countries, to defer blame to themto ISIS, in this case.
Al-Mansoura
Three thousand miles southeast of London sits the town of al-Mansoura, near the city of Raqqa (Syria). Aerial bombardment by the United States in the area around Raqqa had pushed about fifty families to take shelter in the al-Badia school in the town. The US bombings had come to soften up ISIS positions in the towns around Raqqa as hundreds of US forces take their positions in its periphery. The US forcesand their allies, the Syrian Democratic Forceshave sought to seize a major dam on the Euphrates River at the town of Tabqah. This dam is essential to the water supply for Raqqa. The battle over Tabqah, one of the last remaining conduits into and out of Raqqa, will be essential before the US and its allies turns its firepower against ISISs capital.
On 22 March 2017, hours before Khalid Masood conducted his terror attack in London, US aircraft bombed the school. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, based in London, says that thirty-three civilians died in this bombing run. Hamoud Almousa of Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently says that the number might be as high as 101 civilians. The day before, on 21 March, US aircraft bombed the town of Tabqah, hitting the Maysaloon school, a field hospital and homes on al-Synaa streetkilling twenty civilians. A week before, US aircraft bombed the town of al-Jineh (near Aleppo), hitting a mosque and killing forty-six civilians. Col. John Thomas of the US Central Command said that the US aircraft did not hit a mosque. We are going to look into any allegations of civilian casualties in relation to this strike, he said. This statement always suggests that the Central Command knows that it hit civilians, but does not want to make a direct statement one way or another.
AirWars, a non-profit group that maintains a record of casualties from aerial bombardment, says that in March alone there have been over a thousand civilian non-combatant deaths in Iraq and Syria as a result of what it calls Coalition actionswith the US aircraft inflicting the bulk of the casualties. This considerable spike has led AirWars to suspend its investigation of Russian-inflicted casualties (fifty in March) and to divert its staff to look at those inflicted by the Coalition aircraft alone.
The Western media focused on the actions of Khalid Masood and remained silent on these deaths. Brief notes of this or that massacre appeared, but without the focus and intensity of the kind of coverage given to the attack by Masood. No front page story with a large picture, no Breaking News coverage on television with correspondents insisting that spokesperson for US Central Command give them more than pabulum. It is as if we live in two alternative universesone, where terror confounds the population with moral indignation and two, where large deaths from jet fighters are treated as the necessary side-effects of war. One is terrorism; the other is an accident.
It does not feel accidental to the people of al-Mansoura or al-Jineh.
Binaries
I have spent decades thinking about the asymmetry of reactions to these sorts of incidents in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan. I have written about them, indignation as the mood of these essays. But this is spitting into the wind. It is futile on Facebook, for instance, to make the suggestion that the 2016 Karrada bombings in Baghdad (Iraq), which killed over 300 people, should have driven people to turn their profile pictures into Iraqi flags (as the world had done after the 2015 Paris attacks, when 137 people were killed). Je Suis Charlie is easy to write, but not #AmiAvijit. Eyes roll when these gestures are urged, whether through bewilderment at their meaning or exhaustion at their sanctimoniousness. After all, the eye-roll suggests, how could one compare a satirical French magazine with obscure Bangladeshi bloggers who have been hacked to death? It takes an immense act of will to push editors to run stories on tragedies that seem distant even from the places where they occur. All eyes focus on the latest attack in Molenbeek, but few turn with the same intensity to look at the tragedies in Beirut or in Cairo.
Over the years I have settled on some binaries that operate to blind thinking about violence in the world. Our days have become hallucinations, with violence always at the edge of consciousness. But violence is understood through these binaries in ways that befuddle those who believe in a universal humanity, those who believein concrete termsthat people in Kabul deserve empathy and sympathy as much as people in Berlin. In fact, the scale of the violence in Kabul is so much greater than in Berlin that you would imagine greater sympathy for those in far more distress. But actually the logic of these binaries moves consciousness in the opposite direction.
Eastern Malevolence / Western Benevolence
There is standard belief amongst reportersfor examplethat Western actions are motivated by the highest values and are therefore benevolent. The loftiest values of our timedemocracy and human rightsare sequestered inside the concept of the West. The Eastbedraggledis treated as a place without these values. It is bereft, a bad student. There is what Aime Cesaire calls shy racism, for it suggests that Easterners cannot be given the benefit of doubt when they act, or that Westerners could not also be malevolent in their objectives. The way this logic runs it is the Eastern bombing of Syrias Aleppo, conducted by the Oriental despot Bashar al-Asad, that is inhumane, while it is the Western bombing of Iraqs Mosul (250 to 370 civilians killed in the first week of March) that is humane. It would pierce the armor of Western self-regard to admit that its armed forces couldwithout sentiment of carebomb mosques and schoolhouses.
What about Hitler? Is he not the epitome of Western malevolence? Hitler is the madman, much as white terrorists in the West are madmen. They do not define the society or the culture. No one asks after their attacks for Christianity to answer for their crimes or for Western Civilization to stand condemned. They are not compared to Hitler. The modern analogues of Hitler are always to be found in the EastSaddam, Bashar, Kim Jong-unbut not in the West.
It took some guts for the Indian politician Shashi Tharoor to remark that Churchill was no better than Hitler a statement that has led to the routine objections from the British political class. US President Donald Trump insisted on returning his bust to the Oval Office, where he showed it with great aplomb to the UK Prime Minister Theresa May (she gave him a copy of a Churchill speech during her visit). It does not bother either Trump or May that Churchill was a racist, who believed that the Aryan stock is bound to triumph. Cliches are mobilized to defend him: he was a man of his time, when such ideas were commonplace. But such ideas were being vigorously challenged from the colonies and from within Britain. Hitlers Endlosung was not of a different quality from Churchills Bengal Famine of 1943. Tharoors comparison of Churchill to Hitler will not stick. It will eventually be swept away. Far easier to see Hitler in Bashar al-Assad or in Kim Jong-un than in Churchill or George W. Bush. Hitler was Europes aberration, notas Cesaire pointed outthe logical culmination of colonial brutality.
State Legality / Non-State Illegality
States do not normally act outside the confines of international law. If they do, then it is in error. Or there are some states that are not proper states, but rogue states that do not behave according to the principles of civilization. Normal states, not rogue states, the logic of shy racism goes, never intentionally violate the laws of war and behave in a barbaric way. Their acts of murder are always unintentional because it would be too costly for them to intentionally murder civilians.
When the United Nations Human Rights Council wanted to investigate NATOs 2011 bombing of Libya, based on UN Security Council resolution 1973, its Brussels headquarters stalled. NATOs legal adviser, Peter Olson, wrote to the United Nations saying that NATO deserved immunity. We would be concerned if NATO incidents were included in the commissions report as on par with those which the commission may ultimately conclude did violate law or constitute crimes, Olson wrote. What NATO would like, he concluded, was for the UN commission to clearly state that NATO did not deliberately target civilians and did not commit war crimes in Libya. In other words, without any investigation, the UN Human Rights Council should give NATO a certificate of high moral character.
If civilians are killed, then it is either entirely accidental or it is because the enemy has used them as human shields. Strange illogical statements emerge from the power centers of the West to befuddle criticism. US President Obamas drone strike policy allowed his operators to strike at crowds of people who looked like enemies (the signature strike). If, later, the intelligence services determined that some of them were not indeed enemies then those civilians would be posthumously exonerated. But they wouldof coursebe dead, murdered by a state actor that is not seen to be rogue and that sees itself as abiding by international law.
Rogue states and rogue non-state actors do not abide by the protocols of the laws of war, and therefore they are the only ones who violate them intentionally. The violence of the rogue state and the rogue non-state actor is always worse than that of those who are deemed to be legitimate states and legitimate non-state actors. The nuclear weapons of India, Israel and Pakistan are acceptable, but Irans nuclear energy program is a grave threat to humanity. A knife attack by a Palestinian child is horrendous and it is taken to define not only the Palestinian liberation movement, but Palestinian culture in general. The bombing of four young Palestinian boys on a Gaza beach is accidental and not definitive of either Israeli state action or of Israeli culture. This asymmetry of evaluation is fundamental to the ruling ideas of our time.
Violence to Heal / Violence to Hurt
When the US military conducted its massive bombing run against Iraq in March 2003 under the name Shock and Awe, it was considered to be in the service of human rights and security. But the language used by its architects was genocidal. Harlan K. Uliman, who developed the theory of Shock and Awe, said in 2003, You take the city down. You get rid of their power, water. In two, three, four, five days, they are physically, emotionally and psychologically exhausted. A Pentagon official said of the actual bombing runs, There will not be a safe place in Baghdad. The sheer size of this has never been seen before, never been contemplated before. Hundreds of cruise missiles rained on Baghdad. Eventually, after a decade of war and occupation, the violence of the war would claim at least a million Iraqi lives.
But yet, the language to define the war is muted. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said of the war that from the [UN] charter point of view, it was illegal. This should mean that US President George W. Bush and his coterie are war criminals. But his successor, US President Barack Obama refused to open an investigation and the world followed suit. Bushs language about bringing democracy and freedom to Iraq became the anthem. If a million people died, so be it. It was all to heal Iraq, to free Iraq.
The violence of the Iraqi insurgency, on the other hand, was immediately considered to be violence intended to hurt, to create problems not only for the United States, but for Iraq itself. The violence of the West is prophylactic, while the violence of the East is destructive.
Precious Life / Disposable Life
When news broke of the failed US raid on the village of al-Jineh (Yemen), the Western media concentrated on the death of Ryan Owens who was a Seal Team 6 member. There was a great deal of discussion on his death and little mention of the civilians who were killed by Owens comrades in that raid. If they were mentioned it was as a number: twenty-eight or thirty. There were no names in the stories, no way to make these people into human beings. Nothing about Mohammad Khaled Orabi (age 14), Hasan Omar Orabi (age 10), Ahmad Nouri Issa (age 23), Mustapha Nashat Said al-Sheikh (age 23), Ali Mustapha (age 17), Abd al Rahman Hasim (age 17), and not even Nawar al-Awlaki (age 8) whose father and brother had been killed in earlier raids. No mention of the names of the forty-two Somali refugees gunned down by a Saudi helicopter gunship, a weapons system provided by the United States. To offer these names would be to give these people humanity.
When twenty thousand or more people died because an US-owned factory exploded in Bhopal, Michael Utidjian, medical director of American Cyanamid said in 1984, it is sad but needs to be seen in context. What is that context? Indians do not have the North American philosophy of the importance of human life. They do not mind when people die, it seems. They have a different standard of humanity. Their lives are disposable. They are not precious. Thirty-three dead here, forty-two dead there. Sad yes, but not tragic. Tragedy is only possible if one has the North American philosophy of the importance of human life.
Legible Narrative / Illegible Narrative
It would be an illogical narrative to suggest that Western generals want to raze cities. That is not their motivation. When the US flattened Fallujah (Iraq) in 2004, under the command of then Major General James Mattis of the 1st Marine Division, this was not the intent. That the use of Depleted Uranium led to cancer rates fourteen times higher than in Hiroshima (Japan) after the atom bomb was dropped there was incidental, not deliberative. It is impossible to imagine an American, for instance, being cruel in military strategy. On the other hand, it is easy to imagine a Syrian general, such as General Issam Zahreddine, being systematically vicious. It is not possible to see both as ferocious. It would be an illegible narrative if these two stories were set side by side. One is so obviously a better man (Mattis) than the other (Zahreddine). The character of the man of the West always surmounts the character of the man of the East.
Violent Shock
Who needs censorship when you have ideology? When anything outside the governing ideology tries to make an appearance it is dismissed as the rants of a conspiracy theorist or as alt-facts. Terrorism is terrorism and counter-terrorism is counter-terrorism. To break down the distinctions between them is a scandal against civilization itself. Of course al-Qaida is bad and the US military is good! That is ipso facto, the essence of reality.
None of this is the blame of individual reporters or editors or indeed of individual readers of the press reportage. It is not something restricted to the West, for these attitudes are shared widely around the world. This is not a consequence of the impact of CNN or of BBC, but of much earlier, much deeper attitudes with deep roots from colonial times. It was an old colonial view that the violence of the imperial armies must have some Enlightenment logic behind them, whereas those of the darker world came motivated by messianism, tribalism, millenarianism or other illogical views of older times.
When in the 1950s the British violently crushed the aspirations of the Kenyans, sending thousands to concentration camps and killingas the historian Caroline Elkins argues a hundred thousand people, this was done for rational reasons. The Empire had to be protected. The uprising of the Mau Mau, which they were countering in Kenya, could not be allowed to succeed. Indeed, it could not succeedthe British suggestedbecause it was merely the eruption of older African instincts. Even the name of the group powerfully allowed the British to paint their insurgency in diabolical colors. The rebels called their outfit the Kenya Land and Freedom Army. The use of the words land and freedom suggested a link to the national liberation movements of that decolonization era. They also suggested a rational political platform, to distribute land to the colonized population in a free Kenya. The British insisted on calling them the Mau Mauthe name carrying for a British audience the full flavor of traditional Africa in its sound, the rhythm of a drum, the call from deep in the forest, the sly racism of the denial of the more traditional national liberation force. In the name Mau Mau appeared the forest and in it would dissolve the accusations of concentration camps and mass killings. It was not the British that did those killings, but the Mau Mau. Always the Mau Mau, never Lord Evelyn Baring who wrote that the British had to inflict violent shock against the Kenyans or else the British Empire would be defeated in Kenya.
Cassius Was Correct
How many Amerikans, like the good Germans in 1940, cheered the carpet bombing of Iraq, and the subsequent invasion?
By Philip Farruggio
We from the true progressive (AKA Socialist) and true conservative (Libertarian) political spectrum of thought should and do know better. We all see through this obvious super rich controlled Two Party/One Party system that is the servant of what Eisenhower labeled in his 1961 farewell address as a Military Industrial Complex. This writer has always referred to it as the Military Industrial Empire, which is what we have become since the Soviet Unions dissolution over 25 years ago. Our cherished home, America, has become Amerika. The weeds transplanted from that terrible Nazi Germany mindset have been strangling us for over three generations. Even those who still consider themselves good Republicans or Democrats realize somewhere deep inside their consciousness the folly of such an affiliation. Yet, they continue to go along to get along with this empire, in a childish hope of heaven forgive us, reforming it.
This latest con job perpetrated on many of our fellow citizens is Making America Great Again via Donald Trump. Who would have ever imagined, even three or four years ago (while he was on the air with his mindless dribble of a reality show) that this man would now be elected president? Well, Trump really won because the other person selected by the super rich who run Amerika was so full of baggage and contempt for working stiffs. Thus, it was many working stiffs who still believe in this Two Party scam who in reality voted against by voting for. Now this man who many refer to as President Cheetos (you know, the orange hair and tan) is running things well, not exactly. You see, all of our presidents, especially in modern times, are just servants of the super-rich who sit behind the curtain, like Wizards of Oz. Trumps predecessor, Mr. Obama, that nice guy who spoke articulately about Hope and Change, only served the interests of this empire, giving little hope and less in change to working stiffs. Mr. Trump will do as he has already done, what with his cabinet selections and plans to aid the super rich, to further demise working Americans. Yet, a large percentage of the very people he and his ilk are screwing will continue to rally behind the demagoguery.
Today, as I write this column, is the 14th anniversary of one of the most heinous acts our country has ever perpetrated: The pre-emptive attack, invasion and occupation of Iraq. How many of our neighbors and fellow citizens drank the kool-aid the empire was handing out via our elected stooges and mainstream media? How many Amerikans, like the good Germans in 1940, cheered the carpet bombing of Iraq, and the subsequent invasion? We know most of the mainstream media had career moves upward for their cheerleading. People like Lester Holt of MSNBC (the , duh, Democratic-leaning channel?) later on became a celebrated anchor on NBC, even hosting a 2016 presidential debate. Little Katie Couric, who marched along the hallways of NBC shouting with a big grin Marines Rock, also furthered her career. So many of the right wing pundits were 100% in favor of invasion, many either as guests or hosts on Fox cable, like Sean Hannity, who said: [A]s we pointed out, this is a noble cause, and weve got to be so proud of these men and women and what theyve been able to accomplish in such a short period of time so the weapons of mass destruction that we will be finding dont end up in American cities. And we applaud them all. [Fox News, Hannity & Colmes, 3/24/03. What about some others, who have since been labeled as centrist journalists? Lets look at one guy who has had his own news talk show going on ten years, Morning Joe, on that Democratic leaning station MSNBC. Joe Scarborough in 2003 was one of the strongest proponents of war with Iraq outside of Fox News.
In March of 2003 , he repeatedly made claims that toppling Saddam Hussein would mean the end of his weapons of mass destruction.
In April of 2003, Scarborough said that, For six months now, George Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld have been telling the world that the people of Iraq needed to be liberated from Saddam Husseins bloody reign. The past three weeks have shown us just how right these three men have been.
In that same commentary, Scarborough pondered whether journalists at The New York Times and NPR or at ABC or at CNN are going to ever admit just how wrong their negative pronouncements were over the past four weeks. Meanwhile, while all of this hype and spin was going on, many folks, worldwide for that matter, saw thru the lies and disinformation. So much so, that even before the dastardly deed of March 19th, 2003, on February 15, 2003 the BBC reported that There were between six to ten million people marching in over sixty countries all to say NO to any US invasion of Iraq. Still, millions of our own citizens followed the pied piper over the cliffs of reason!
Cassius was correct: The fault dear Brutus is not in our stars, but ourselves
Philip A Farruggio is son and grandson of Brooklyn, NYC longshoremen. A graduate of Brooklyn College ( class of '74 with a BA in Speech & Theater), he is a free lance columnist. Philip can be reached at PAF1222@bellsouth.net
The Surreal World of Foreign Interventionism
By Jacob G. Hornberger
April 02, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - " FFF " - On March 21 9 days ago I published an article entitled Prepare Now for Blowback , in which I pointed out what would seem to be obvious to any reasonable person after some 27 continuous years of U.S. interventionism in the Middle East and 16 continuous years of interventionism in Afghanistan: that some people who sympathize with the people who the U.S. government is killing, bombing, and destroying are going to retaliate with terrorist attacks. Its just a fact of interventionist life.
I suggested that people should ponder the blowback from U.S foreign policy now, when things are relatively calm, because when another big retaliatory terrorist attack occurs here in the United States, rational thinking is going to be in short supply. Thats when U.S. officials will be exclaiming about how the terrorists (or the Muslims) hate us for our freedom and values and will be completely ignoring the role that U.S. interventionism plays in producing the deep anger and hatred that motivates acts of anti-American revenge.
Back on December 1, 2016, I published an article entitled, OSUs Foreign Policy Blowback , in which I commented on how large crowds of people on sidewalks in Las Vegas were an inviting target for a terrorist vehicle attack. I wrote: There was nothing local authorities in Las Vegas could do to prevent a car going at top speed from plowing into the throng of people on some sidewalk on the strip.
A couple of weeks later, on December 19, 2016, a terrorist intentionally drove a giant truck into a crowded market in Berlin with the intent to kill as many people as possible. He succeeded in killing 12.
Then, last week, two days after I published my March 21 article, a terrorist struck in London by intentionally driving a sport utility vehicle into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, killing four and injuring dozens more.
No, I am not some sort of Nostradamus or psychic who is able to predict the future. Its just a matter of logic and common sense. When a government goes abroad and kills, maims, bombs, assassinates, and destroys individuals, wedding parties, families and homes, businesses, and properties, there are likely to be some people who get angry about that.
Of course, from the standpoint of the U.S. government, the ideal is that foreign citizens passively and submissively accept their death and and destruction as simply their plight in life.
But that ideal is not reality. The fact is that people tend to get angry when a foreign regime invades their lands and kills, maims, bombs, and destroys people, businesses, and country, and some of them inevitably decide to retaliate.
Longtime readers of FFF know that prior to the 9/11 attacks, here at FFF we were saying that there was likely to be more blowback on American soil. I say more because what many Americans tend to forget is that there was pre-9/11 terrorist blowback from the massive death and destruction that the U.S. government had been wreaking in Iraq throughout the 1990s, including the killings of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi children with the sanctions that the U.S. government and the UN were enforcing against Iraq. That pre-9/11 blowback included the 1993 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, the attack on the USS Cole, and the attacks on the U.S. embassies in East Africa.
Thats how we were able to foresee the 9/11 attacks we had seen the terrorist blowback arising from U.S. foreign policy prior to 9/11.
It also came as no surprise to us when U.S. officials immediately claimed that the 9/11 attacks were motivated by terrorist (or Muslim) hatred for Americas freedom and values. When I brought up U.S. foreign policy as the motivating attack in an article entitled Is This the Wrong Time to Question Foreign Policy? on 9/27/2001, FFF was inundated with hateful emails, cancellation of support, and invective that suggested that we we were blaming America and that we were terrorist justifiers anything to avoid focusing on the imperialist and interventionist actions of the U.S. government. Like I say, when blowback from U.S. foreign policy comes, there is a severe shortage of rational thinking.
Consider the recent attack in London. According to the New York Times , immediately after the attack, British Prime Minister Theresa May issued a variation of the they hate us for our freedom and values nonsense that we heard here in the United States after the 9/11 attacks. She said an act of terrorism tried to silence our democracy and that it was an attack on free people everywhere. Britains foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, doubled down and implied that it was a Muslim or Islam problem: The world is united to defeat the people who launched this attack and to defeat their bankrupt and odious ideology.
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See what I mean? Just like after the 9/11 attacks, these people cannot bring themselves to acknowledge the concept of blowback from the death, maiming, and destruction that comes with interventionism. To do that would cause people to focus on the root cause of the terrorism foreign interventionism. People would then be faced with a choice: Interventionism, along with the perpetual threat of terrorism, or non-interventionism, along with a peaceful and harmonious society.
Why attack Great Britain when it is the U.S. government that is the driving force of imperialism and interventionism? Because ever since Great Britain lost its empire as a consequence of World War II, it has served as a loyal poodle of American interventionists, loyally supporting U.S. interventionism in the Middle East and Afghanistan. That puts the British people at risk for the blowback that comes with U.S. interventionism.
Notice something important here: The terrorists (or the Muslims) havent attacked Switzerland with terrorist attacks. Switzerland has the same freedom and values as people in Great Britain and the United States. The difference is that the Swiss government hasnt been killing, bombing, shooting, and assassinating Muslims and others for the past 27 years, as the U.S. and British governments have.
Meanwhile, U.S. officials are now acknowledging that a recent U.S. bombing attack in Mosul, Iraq, the country they have been attacking, invading, or occupying for 27 long years killed scores of innocent civilians, perhaps as many as 100. My initial assessment is that we probably had a role in these casualties, stated Lt. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend.
Mark my words: If blowback comes from family members of any of those victims, U.S. officials will immediately tell us how the attackers just hate America for its freedom and values, are trying to destroy our democracy, have an odious ideology and religion, and that killing and maiming their loved ones in that bombing attack in Mosul had absolutely nothing to do with the terrorism.
An important point I have been making since FFFs inception 27 years ago bears reemphasizing, especially before the next terrorist blowback: If Americans want a peaceful, prosperous, harmonious, and free society, a necessary prerequisite is: Dismantle Americas military empire and end all foreign interventionism. Bring the troops home all of them from everywhere and discharge them and abandon all foreign military bases. Limit the U.S. government to defending the United States, just as the Swiss government does for Switzerland. Restore a constitutionally limited-government republic to our land.
Otherwise, everyone should continue to continue to brace himself for endless terrorist blowback, along the anti-American terrorist blowback, loss of liberty and privacy, and financial financial bankruptcy that come with foreign empire and interventionism.
Jacob G. Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation. He was born and raised in Laredo, Texas, and received his B.A. in economics from Virginia Military Institute and his law degree from the University of Texas. He was a trial attorney for twelve years in Texas. He also was an adjunct professor at the University of Dallas, where he taught law and economics. Send him email .
Iraqi WMDs Anyone?
Washington Post Makes Unfounded Claims Of Iranian Supplies To Insurgencies
By Moon Of Alabama
The Washington Post falls back into its 2005 mode of blaming Iran for the capabilities of a local insurgency. This time it is not Iraq where Iran is allegedly providing to insurgents, but Bahrain.
Old and debunked claims are hauled up and propaganda from the U.S. proxy Sunni dictatorship is cited as "evidence". It is a top-right front-page story in the Sunday edition and thereby "important". It is also fake news.
The headline: U.S. increasingly sees Irans hand in the arming of Bahraini militants .The core:
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.
The authors insert caveats:
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.
But after noting that Bahraini authorities notoriously lie the authors regurgitate approvingly the claims of exactly those authorities:
... the countrys investigators said in a confidential technical assessment ... a copy of which was shown to The Washington Post ...
That is supported, the authors say, by:
... interviews with current and former intelligence officials ...
Surly, "current and former intelligence officials" are paragons of truth and veracity and whatever they claim MUST be true.
At issue is the detection of one basement workshop in Bahrain where someone is using "$20,000 lathes and hydraulic presses" to produce shaped charges and also stored a pile of C4 explosives.
A $20,000 lathe is at the lower end of low-quality professional tooling. Hydraulic presses can be made from car jacks. How to make hollow charges and explosive formed penetrators (EFPs) is described in the CIA's Explosives for Sabotage Manual which the U.S. translated and distributed for decades in Afghanistan and elsewhere. C4 explosives of various origins, including from Iran, are available on black weapon markets throughout west-Asia.
Source: CIA Handbook
Nothing of the above points to the conclusion that these are "cells supplied and funded .. by Iran". The only connection to Iran the Bahrani police found and which is noted in the piece is:
One of the six caches involved C-4 in its original Iranian military packaging, the report said.
The piece does not note where the C4 in the other five caches came from. A detailed chemical analysis will be able to find the "signatures" of the chemical production facilities. If only one of six explosive caches comes from an Iranian manufacturer the problem Bahrain has on hand with the C4 is hardly of Iranian origin. So why are the manufacturing origins of the other five caches of explosives not mentioned at all? Did those caches come from the U.S. or from Saudi factories?
But the problems with the piece do not end there.
After noting how unreliable Bahrain official claims are, it discussed at length such Bahraini claims.
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After describing the cheap equipment used to make shaped charges in Bahrain it goes on to explain how Iran, and only Iran, gives those to insurgencies. It quotes some guy from the Zionist propaganda shop Washington Institute who:
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.
Iran did not and does not supply EFPs to Iraqi insurgents. The Iraqis made those themselves. That was documented here and elsewhere even ten years ago :
The WaPo story, though on today's Sunday paper's frontpage, has a (web-)dateline of April 1. That is probably the only reliable claim it carries.
There is no evidence that Iran provides for a Shia insurgency in Shia majority-Sunni ruled Bahrain just as there is no evidence that it supplies Zaidi fighters in Yemen who fight Al-Qaeda and its Saudi sponsors.
But there is by now a steady stream of Saudi and U.S. propaganda that makes such claims. These claims sound awfully similar to the claims made before the war on Iraq of (non-existing) Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. To find such again on page one of the Sunday edition of a major newspaper is more than disturbing.
Our Dishonest President
Los Angeles Times Editorial
April 02, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - " LA Times " - I t was no secret during the campaign that Donald Trump was a narcissist and a demagogue who used fear and dishonesty to appeal to the worst in American voters. The Times called him unprepared and unsuited for the job he was seeking, and said his election would be a catastrophe.
Still, nothing prepared us for the magnitude of this train wreck. Like millions of other Americans, we clung to a slim hope that the new president would turn out to be all noise and bluster, or that the people around him in the White House would act as a check on his worst instincts, or that he would be sobered and transformed by the awesome responsibilities of office.
Instead, seventy-some days in and with about 1,400 to go before his term is completed it is increasingly clear that those hopes were misplaced.
In a matter of weeks, President Trump has taken dozens of real-life steps that, if they are not reversed, will rip families apart, foul rivers and pollute the air, intensify the calamitous effects of climate change and profoundly weaken the system of American public education for all.
His attempt to de-insure millions of people who had finally received healthcare coverage and, along the way, enact a massive transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich has been put on hold for the moment. But he is proceeding with his efforts to defang the governments regulatory agencies and bloat the Pentagons budget even as he supposedly retreats from the global stage.
It is impossible to know where his presidency will lead or how much damage he will do to our nation.
These are immensely dangerous developments which threaten to weaken this countrys moral standing in the world, imperil the planet and reverse years of slow but steady gains by marginalized or impoverished Americans. But, chilling as they are, these radically wrongheaded policy choices are not, in fact, the most frightening aspect of the Trump presidency.
What is most worrisome about Trump is Trump himself. He is a man so unpredictable, so reckless, so petulant, so full of blind self-regard, so untethered to reality that it is impossible to know where his presidency will lead or how much damage he will do to our nation. His obsession with his own fame, wealth and success, his determination to vanquish enemies real and imagined, his craving for adulation these traits were, of course, at the very heart of his scorched-earth outsider campaign; indeed, some of them helped get him elected. But in a real presidency in which he wields unimaginable power, they are nothing short of disastrous.
Although his policies are, for the most part, variations on classic Republican positions (many of which would have been undertaken by a President Ted Cruz or a President Marco Rubio), they become far more dangerous in the hands of this imprudent and erratic man. Many Republicans, for instance, support tighter border security and a tougher response to illegal immigration, but Trumps cockamamie border wall, his impracticable campaign promise to deport all 11 million people living in the country illegally and his blithe disregard for the effect of such proposals on the U.S. relationship with Mexico turn a very bad policy into an appalling one.
1 Trumps shocking lack of respect for those fundamental rules and institutions on which our government is based. Since Jan. 20, he has repeatedly disparaged and challenged those entities that have threatened his agenda, stoking public distrust of essential institutions in a way that undermines faith in American democracy. He has questioned the qualifications of judges and the integrity of their decisions, rather than acknowledging that even the president must submit to the rule of law. He has clashed with his own intelligence agencies, demeaned government workers and questioned the credibility of the electoral system and the Federal Reserve. He has lashed out at journalists, declaring them enemies of the people, rather than defending the importance of a critical, independent free press. His contempt for the rule of law and the norms of government are palpable.
2 His utter lack of regard for truth. Whether it is the easily disprovable boasts about the size of his inauguration crowd or his unsubstantiated assertion that Barack Obama bugged Trump Tower, the new president regularly muddies the waters of fact and fiction. Its difficult to know whether he actually cant distinguish the real from the unreal or whether he intentionally conflates the two to befuddle voters, deflect criticism and undermine the very idea of objective truth. Whatever the explanation, he is encouraging Americans to reject facts, to disrespect science, documents, nonpartisanship and the mainstream media and instead to simply take positions on the basis of ideology and preconceived notions. This is a recipe for a divided country in which differences grow deeper and rational compromise becomes impossible.
3 His scary willingness to repeat alt-right conspiracy theories, racist memes and crackpot, out-of-the-mainstream ideas. Again, it is not clear whether he believes them or merely uses them. But to cling to disproven alternative facts; to retweet racists; to make unverifiable or false statements about rigged elections and fraudulent voters; to buy into discredited conspiracy theories first floated on fringe websites and in supermarket tabloids these are all of a piece with the Barack Obama birther claptrap that Trump was peddling years ago and which brought him to political prominence. It is deeply alarming that a president would lend the credibility of his office to ideas that have been rightly rejected by politicians from both major political parties.
Where will this end? Will Trump moderate his crazier campaign positions as time passes? Or will he provoke confrontation with Iran, North Korea or China, or disobey a judges order or order a soldier to violate the Constitution? Or, alternately, will the system itself the Constitution, the courts, the permanent bureaucracy, the Congress, the Democrats, the marchers in the streets protect us from him as he alienates more and more allies at home and abroad, steps on his own message and creates chaos at the expense of his ability to accomplish his goals? Already, Trumps job approval rating has been hovering in the mid-30s, according to Gallup, a shockingly low level of support for a new president. And that was before his former national security advisor, Michael Flynn, offered to cooperate last week with congressional investigators looking into the connection between the Russian government and the Trump campaign.
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Those who oppose the new presidents reckless and heartless agenda must make their voices heard. Share this quote
On Inauguration Day, we wrote on this page that it was not yet time to declare a state of wholesale panic or to call for blanket non-cooperation with the Trump administration. Despite plenty of dispiriting signals, that is still our view. The role of the rational opposition is to stand up for the rule of law, the electoral process, the peaceful transfer of power and the role of institutions; we should not underestimate the resiliency of a system in which laws are greater than individuals and voters are as powerful as presidents. This nation survived Andrew Jackson and Richard Nixon. It survived slavery. It survived devastating wars. Most likely, it will survive again.
But if it is to do so, those who oppose the new presidents reckless and heartless agenda must make their voices heard. Protesters must raise their banners. Voters must turn out for elections. Members of Congress including and especially Republicans must find the political courage to stand up to Trump. Courts must safeguard the Constitution. State legislators must pass laws to protect their citizens and their policies from federal meddling. All of us who are in the business of holding leaders accountable must redouble our efforts to defend the truth from his cynical assaults.
The United States is not a perfect country, and it has a great distance to go before it fully achieves its goals of liberty and equality. But preserving what works and defending the rules and values on which democracy depends are a shared responsibility. Everybody has a role to play in this drama.
Copyright Los Angeles Times
Home Americans Right to Protest is in Grave Danger Under Trump, United Nations Warns By Amanda Erickson April 02, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - " WP " - The right to protest is fundamental to American democracy. The country was born, after all, out of decades of civil disobedience by people angry about taxation without representation. (In Washington, FWIW, we are still angry.) But according to United Nations human rights investigators, this very basic principle is under attack. Over the past few months, on the heels of a fresh wave of organizing by liberals, at least 19 states have introduced measures that would criminalize peaceful protest. In places such as Minnesota, Michigan and Iowa, Republican lawmakers have proposed laws that would stiffen penalties for demonstrators who block traffic. In North Dakota, GOP leaders are pushing a bill that would allow motorists to run over and kill agitators, as long as the crash was accidental. In Indiana, conservatives want to instruct police to use any means necessary to remove activists from a roadway. Opponents worry this could lead to more brutal police response. Colorado lawmakers are considering a big increase in penalties for environmental protesters. Activists who tamper with oil or gas equipment could be, under the measure, face felony charges and be punished with up to 18 months behind bars and a fine of up to $100,000. A bill pending in the Virginia state legislature would dramatically increase punishment for people who unlawfully assemble after having been lawfully warned to disperse. Those who do so could face a year in jail and a $2,500 fine. In Missouri, some lawmakers want to make it illegal to wear a robe, mask or disguise (remarkably, a hoodie would count) to a protest. Lawmakers in North Carolina want to make it a crime to heckle lawmakers. Taken together, the United Nations warns , these bills represent an alarming and undemocratic trend that could have a chilling effect on activism. No Advertising - No Government Grants - This Is Independent Media Get Our Free Daily Newsletter From the Black Lives Matter movement, to the environmental and Native American movements in opposition to the Dakota Access oil pipeline, and the Womens Marches, individuals and organizations across (American) society have mobilized in peaceful protests, Maina Kiai and David Kaye, independent U.N. experts on freedom of peaceful assembly, said in a statement. These bills would make that harder. The trend also threatens to jeopardize one of the United States constitutional pillars: free speech, the pair wrote. And the bills violate international human rights law, they said. Supporters of the measures argue that the laws are needed to maintain public safety. The experts, though, disagreed. One persons decision to resort to violence does not strip other protesters of their right to freedom of peaceful assembly, Kaye and Kiai said. Amanda Erickson writes about foreign affairs for The Washington Post. Previously, she worked as an editor for Outlook and PostEverything. The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House. Click for Spanish , German , Dutch , Danish , French , translation- Note- Translation may take a moment to load. What's your response? - Scroll down to add / read comments 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.
U.S. Out of Korea
By David Swanson
April 03, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - My biggest concern is not the embarrassment of a U.S. public afraid of the tiny impoverished nation of North Korea. If that embarrassed me, how would I survive what U.S. culture makes of ISIS, or -- for that matter -- the election of Donald Trump? My biggest concern is that U.S. war profiteers may end up using Korea to get us all killed.
The United States bombed the living hell out of North Korea, and -- in hopes that nothing would survive -- dropped diseased insects on the place, hoping to start plagues. One bit of later collateral damage was the release of Lyme disease in Lyme, but Hollywood came out of it with the concepts of brainwashing and Manchurian candidates, so some might call it a fair trade.
The United States has thus far refused to ever end the war, sign a peace, or allow reconciliation. Southern and Northern efforts toward peace have been thwarted. Northern proposals (echoed by China) to halt nuclear testing if the U.S. will halt the "exercises" in which it practices for the nuclear bombing of the North have been mocked and scorned. North Korea has committed to no first use, as has China. The U.S. has proposed first use and made plans for it, while heavily militarizing South Korea, building a new base on Jeju Island, sending armed drones to the border, and installing THAAD.
Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, formerly Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), is part of what the United States calls "missile defense" and much of the world thinks of as missile offense. The U.S. calls it a (highly profitable) tool to protect South Korea from the attack that the North is not threatening. China sees it as part of U.S. efforts to encircle China and to be prepared to strike first and to minimize the Chinese response.
Giving not a rat's rear what China or North Korea or even South Korea has to say, distracted by its efforts to stir up World War III with Russia, and obsessed with prolonging its numerous wars in the Middle East and Africa, the United States simply pushes ahead.
On Wednesday, April 5, a group of South Koreans plans to demonstrate against the current course in front of the White House in Washington, D.C. One of them, Rea-kyung Lee, Chairman of the board of the Tomorrow Association , provided me with a statement that I paraphrase thus:
"The Korean people will be closely watching how U.S. President Trump and the Chinese National Chairman Xi Jin Ping deal with the deployment of THAAD onto the Korean Peninsula when they meet in the United States on April 6 and 7.
"The United States is unilaterally imposing THAAD deployment without any normal and proper agreement with South Korea. The former Korean president who initiated the process has recently been impeached for corruption. A new election is planned for early May. Meanwhile, China is imposing sanctions on South Korea in retaliation.
"The United States must halt THAAD deployment. China must end sanctions.
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"The democratic citizens of South Korea have ousted a corrupt president using peaceful, non-violent candlelight demonstrations. The hurdles still faced are long-standing. Following the period of Japanese imperialism, the Korean people desired to establish an independent and unified nation, but were frustrated by the U.S.-Soviet military occupations of the peninsula, and the war between the United States and China.
"The residents of the Korean peninsula have been being forced to undergo the tragic status of national division, while constantly experiencing daily life under the threat of war for more than 70 years. The U.S. and China, in fighting for supremacy over the Korean peninsula, should not repeat such historical crimes."
Two ways to help:
1. Join the demonstration at the White House from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on April 5.
Pentagon - and Daesh - Target Iran
By Pepe Escobar
April 03, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - " Sputnik " - CENTCOM commander Army Gen. Joseph Votel channeled his full Dr. Strangelove in front of the US House Armed Services Committee this past Wednesday.
"We need to look at opportunities where we can disrupt [Iran] through military means or other means."
As Orwellian as our times may be, this still ranks as a declaration of war. With the inbuilt consequence of smashing to bits the UN nuclear deal struck with Iran in the summer of 2015.
Joseph Strangelove did not bother to chainsaw his words.
Iran is one of the greatest threats to the US today (Pentagon official doctrine; number four after Russia, China and North Korea). Iran has increased its "destabilizing role" and poses "the greatest long-term threat to stability" in the entire Middle East.
Iran is sneaky; "I believe that Iran is operating in what I call a gray zone." And thats "an area between normal competition between states and it's just short of open conflict."
Iran is involved in "lethal aid facilitation"; the use of "surrogate forces"; plenty of "cyber activities."
The US has "not seen any improvement in Irans behavior." The naughty boy/country in question still poses "credible threats" through its "nuclear weapons potential" and "robust" ballistic missile program.
So this is it; were going to take them out.
CENTCOMs Endless Jihad
The easy way out would be to characterize this juvenile mobster-style outburst as brought to you by the House of Saud petrodollar fund.
Or to be reminded that Joseph Strangelove was addressing the very same crowd who despite acronym-laden 17 multibillion dollar intel agencies telling them over and over, via National Intelligence assessments, that Iran did not have, and was not planning to have, nuclear weapons, still mightily denounced Iran's "nuclear threat."
But reality always tops fiction.
the Islamic State/Daesh released a video in Farsi complete with a message to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei declaring war on Iran because they are apostate Shiites and because they "tolerate" Jews.
No, this is not a Monty Python sketch. In fact, we have been propelled to the curioser and curioser situation of a CENTCOM that invaded and occupied Afghanistan and Iraq; distributed death and destruction free of charge; provoked a myriad, monster refugee crisis; is back at war in Iraq; is still implicated in regime change by all means in Syria; and "leads from behind" the Saudi destruction of Yemen, is now de facto, on the record, allied with Daesh which it let fester to take out Iran.
Feel free to call it CENTCOMs jihad.
Joseph Strangeloves performance took place right on cue as the neocon/neoliberalcon axis hysterically peddling its Russophobia and Iranophobia across the Beltway and beyond was celebrating a tasty geopolitical candy: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in the magnificent Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow. Or, in neocon shorthand, the mullahs meet Hitler.
There were predictable developments; Foreign Minister Javad Zarif confirmed the Russian military may use air bases in Iran on a case by case basis essentially against Salafi-jihadis in Syria, as was the case in August last year, when Tu-22M3 long-range bombers and Su-34s flew missions from Hamadan airbase.
But, as Rouhani and Putin made it quite clear, the meeting went way beyond cooperating on a real, on the ground, war on terror.
The partnership now encompasses increased trade; energy investments; scientific exchanges; Russia building two new nuclear power plants in Bushehr, site of Irans first reactor; the upcoming membership of Iran in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO); and in the near future, the possibility of Russia-China helping Iranian banking institutions.
As the White House tries to get its act together before Secretary of State T.Rex Tillersons first official trip to Russia, in two weeks time, Russian overtures to Iran is now being packaged as one of the key problems preventing some sort of deal alongside the same old Russian aggression meme in Ukraine, Eastern Europe and cyberspace.
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For the Pentagon, Iran-Russia cooperation is anathema in Syria or anywhere else, especially after Aleppo. That happens to mesh quite well with the White House Richelieu/Macchiavelli Steve Bannons worldview; Bannon was a naval officer during the Iran hostage crisis and regards Iran as an existential threat as much as the Pentagon brass.
So the picture now sold to internal US public opinion could not be more frightful; Iran destabilizes the entire Middle East while Russia destabilizes Eastern Europe, the Western Balkans, Ukraine, actually the whole planet.
What Nuclear Deal?
At least Washingtons road map ahead on Iran is now being fully laid out; more and tougher sanctions; non-stop harassment coupled with brainwashing of Western public opinion; covert ops; and last but not least, outright war.
Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is avidly promoting the Countering Irans Destabilizing Activities Bill which, if approved, will bury the American commitment to the UN-sponsored nuclear deal; brand the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization; and open the gates to yet another sanctions flood.
It might as well be a case of all bark, no bite. Anyone whos seen the writing on the wall across the Beltway knows that the Iran-Russia strategic partnership is one of the three key nodes, along with China, in the big story of the young 21st century; Eurasia integration, with Russia and Iran closing the energy equation and China as the investment locomotive. And theres not much they can do to prevent it.
So once again the dogs of demonization bark while the Eurasian caravan passes.
Pepe Escobar is an independent geopolitical analyst. https://www.facebook.com/pepe.escobar.77377?
At Least 9 Killed At St. Petersburg Metro Blast
Live Video Report By RT
April 03, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - The head of Russia's National Anti-Terrorist Committee said the blast hit the train between Sennaya Ploschad and Tekhnologichesky Institut stations.
Images posted on social media showed a badly mangled carriage, with a number of casualties nearby.
A spokesman for St Petersburg's governor said at least 10 people had been killed and 50 injured. But minutes later, Russian National Anti-Terrorist Committee said the death toll was nine, with 20 hurt.
President Vladimir Putin said all causes, including terrorism, were being investigated.
Another bomb found, deactivated after St. Petersburg subway blast kills 10, injures 50 ; Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee says it has found and deactivated a bomb at another St. Petersburg subway station.
Follow all the latest updates - Live updates in Russian
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.
See also -
Another bomb found, deactivated after St. Petersburg subway blast kills 10, injures 50 ; Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee says it has found and deactivated a bomb at another St. Petersburg subway station.
CCTV image of suspect emerges after at least 10 killed by 'briefcase' bomb : Russian authorities were hunting for two suspected terrorists on Monday after a bombing on the Saint Petersburg subway system killed 10 people and wounded dozens.
ISIS Celebrates St. Petersburg Metro Blast That Killed 9 ; We ask Allah to bless the operation by the lions of the Caliphate, we ask Allah to kill the Crusaders, said an ISIS supporter from the terror groups al-Minbar online forum
ISIS is Obama's Legacy: Strip Him of His Nobel
By Scott Stockdale
April 03, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - It's time for Barack Obama, the American President, January 20, 2009 - January 20, 2017, to return the Nobel Peace Prize because his support of ISIS has resulted in untold death and destruction - the opposite of peace.
Not even 12 months in office, on October 9, 2009, when The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that it was awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to then U.S. President Barack Obama, for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples, it did so with the full knowledge that he was Commander-in-Chief of the military of a nation in the midst of two wars.
That alone would make the decision questionable at best.
But now that the poorly kept secret that the Obama administration helped create and then support ISIS, is slowly leaking out, how can he, in good conscience, keep the award?
For years, Obama has misled the American people, while his misdeeds have led to massive loss of life and suffering for hundreds of thousands of people, who will continue to suffer if they're lucky enough to survive for years to come.
A Defense Intelligence Agency document, formerly classified SECRET//NOFORN, dated August 12, 2012, shows that as early as 2012, U.S. intelligence predicted the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS). But the report envisions the terror group as a U.S. strategic asset.
The document - part of a selection of formerly classified documents obtained from the U.S. Department of Defense and State Department, through a federal lawsuit filed by the conservative government watchdog group Judicial Watch is a confirmation that an Islamic State is desired in Eastern Syria to fulfil the West's policies in the region.
The document by the highest level of internal U.S. Intelligence - states that the U.S. and its allies see ISIS as their tool for regime change in Syria.
This may explain why ISIS spiritual leader, the Egyptian-born Dr. Yousef Al-Qaradai, was able to issue fatwa after fatwa imploring Muslims to join ISIS in an Islamic jihad against the governments of Iraq and Syria, while living metres away from a U.S. Navy Base in Qatar, under the watchful eye of Obama's CIA.
On May 26, 2016, on his website www.chuckbaldwinlive.com , Chuck Baldwin, an American politician, radio host , and founder-former pastor of Crossroad Baptist Church in Pensacola, Florida asked why the mainstream media (MSM) in America isn't reporting the fact that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton admitted in public that the U.S. government created Al Qaeda, ISIS, Al Nusra, etc.
It is a sad reality that if one wants to get accurate news reporting, one must mostly bypass the U.S. propaganda media and look to sources outside the U.S., Mr. Baldwin said.
He then refereed to a Canadian publication that covered the Hillary Clinton admission: www.globalresearch.ca .
On www.globalresearch.ca , in an article entitled Twenty-Six-Things-About-The-Islamic-State-ISIS-that-Obama-does-not-want-you-to-know-about, first published on November 18. 2014, Michel Chossudovsky, an award-winning author, Professor of Economics (emeritus) at the University of Ottawa, Founder and Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), Montreal, and Editor of Global Research, said that the Obama administration is not telling the public the truth about its policy toward ISIS.
He said that although Americas anti-terrorist campaign consists in supporting a so-called moderate Al Qaeda entity (Al Nusra), which is supposed to be fighting ISIS formerly designated as Al Qaeda in Iraq - with a view to going after another al Qaeda entity entitled The Islamic State, the facts on the ground indicate otherwise.
Al Qaeda is going after Al Qaeda, and both wings of al Qaeda are supported covertly by US intelligence. Moreover, the Al Qaeda affiliated rebels responsible for countless atrocities are trained and financed by US-NATO and its allies including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and Israel.
In the above-mentioned article, Prof. Chossudovsky also said the Obama administration's air campaign against ISIS was really the US-led coalition protecting ISIS, while bombing the civilian infrastructure of Syria and Iraq, as part of the counter-terrorism operation.
And all the while, the mainstream media has been acting as cheerleaders for the slaughter.
Moreover, where does ISIS continue to get its funding, year-after-year which amounts to tens of millions of dollars - to continue its campaigns in Syria and Iraq? Meanwhile, we're supposed to believe that year-in, year-out, tens of millions of dollars are passed through the international banking system without the knowledge of the U.S. and its allies.
Gunter Meyer, Director of the Center for Research into the Arabic World at the University of Mainz, said he has no doubt about where ISIS gets its funding.
"The most important source of ISIS financing to date has been support coming out of the Gulf States, primarily Saudi Arabia but also Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates," Mr. Meyer told Deutsche Welle.
He said that the Gulf States' motivation in financing groups like ISIS was to support their fight against the regime of President Bashar al Assad in Syria.
Three quarters of the Syrian population are Sunni Muslims, but Syria is ruled by an elite drawn mostly from the Alawite minority. The Alawites are an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
According to the U.S. Treasury Department, a number of terrorist financiers have been operating in Qatar.
In an interview broadcast on Guns and Butter, in February 2016, with Dr. Michael Hudson, President of the Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends, a Wall Street financial analyst, and Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, Dr. Hudson said the Obama Administration not only helped finance ISIS, it also supplied ISIS with weapons.
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ISIS and Al Nusra are acting as Americas Foreign Legion. When Hillary Clinton overthrew the Libyan government, the arms and military stockpiles were turned over to ISIS. Libyas central bank resources were robbed and also turned over to ISIS. When America marched into Iraq, it turned the Sunni army and all those billions of dollars of shrink-wrapped hundred-dollar bills over ultimately to ISIS. So although America opposes ISIS when they kill Americans, ISIS is basically Americas way of breaking up countries that may threaten not to be part of the global dollar standard.
It is difficult to get an accurate estimate for the cost of the war, in no small part because there are so many costs: people killed and injured, cost of caring for refugees, destruction of infrastructure and the environment and lost growth opportunities.
In September of 2016, The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the death toll from Syria's then five-year civil war had past 300,000 victims with 86,000 civilians among the 301,781 reported killed.
Moreover, destruction of Syrian villages and cities fuelled a refugee crisis that has confounded political leaders in Europe and the Middle East.
Subsequently, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimated that between March 15, 2011 and March 12, 2017, between 312,358 and 451,358 people had been killed.
There is no accurate estimate for the economic cost of the ongoing war.
A recent report by the charity group World Vision and the consultant group Frontier Economics estimated that the conflict has so far cost Syria $275 billion in lost growth opportunities.
If the conflict ends in 2020, the cost of the conflict will grow to $1.3 trillion, it estimated. A World Bank report estimates the damage to the capital stock in Syria as of mid-2014 to be $70-80 billion.
According to a U.N. Report in March 2017, about 11 million Syrians have been displaced from their homes.
This includes about 4.8 million refugees who have been forced to seek safety in neighbouring countries.
Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq have borne the brunt of the economic impact of the war. Already in fragile situations, many of them are facing tremendous budgetary pressure.
The World Bank estimates, for instance, that the influx of more than 630,000 Syrian refugees has cost Jordan over $2.5 billion a year. Cash-strapped Lebanon is also stretched to a breaking point and Turkey needs continuous financial assistance from EU countries, as it can no longer afford to take in refugees.
In response to this carnage, aided and abetted by the U.S. Government, at taxpayers' expense, Rep. Tulsi Gabbards Stop Arming Terrorists Act has been introduced in the U.S. Senate by Senator Rand Paul. The bipartisan legislation ( H.R.608 and S.532 ) would prohibit any Federal agency from using taxpayer dollars to provide weapons, cash, intelligence, or any support to al-Qaeda, ISIS and other terrorist groups; and it will prohibit the government from funnelling money and weapons through other countries who are directly or indirectly supporting terrorists.
The legislation is currently cosponsored by Reps. John Conyers (D-MI), Scott Perry (R-PA), Peter Welch (D-VT), Tom Garrett (R-VA), Thomas Massie (R-KY), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Walter Jones (R-NC), Ted Yoho (R-FL), and Paul Gosar (R-AZ), and endorsed by Progressive Democrats of America (PDA), Veterans for Peace, and the U.S. Peace Council.
While this is a significant show of bipartisan support, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is calling for the support of all Americans, including every member of Congress.
The fact that American taxpayer dollars are being used to strengthen the very terrorist groups we should be focused on defeating should alarm every Member of Congress and every American. We call on our colleagues and the Administration to join us in passing this legislation, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard said.
Can American liberals sue their government for its share of responsibility for the Syrians and Iraqis killed, refugees, and the future they lost for generations?
Can the American courts give fair compensation to the families of victims of ISIS who were killed by ISIS's American arms?
Ukrainian army positions in Donbas came under 32 attacks in the past 24 hours, and one serviceman was injured, the Anti-Terrorist operation (ATO) headquarters said on Facebook.
The gunfire was most intense in the Mariupol sector, the staff said, adding that 120mm mortars, grenade launchers, machineguns and small arms were used against Pavlopil, 82mm mortars, grenade launchers, machineguns and small arms were fired in Krasnohorivka, while Vodiane, Shyrokyne and Chermalyk came under attack of grenade launchers, machineguns and small arms.
In the Donetsk sector, Avdiyivka was shelled by 82mm mortars, grenade launchers and heavy machineguns, Zaitseve, Troyitske and the Butovka mine were bombarded by grenade launchers, and heavy machineguns were used in Kamyanka and Opytne. A sniper was active in the Troyitske area, the staff said.
In the Luhansk sector, grenade launchers fired on Krymske, while small arms were used in Valuiske and Stanytsia Luhanska, the staff said.
The Bloodstained Rise of Global Populism
A Political Movements Violent Pursuit of Enemies
By Alfred W. McCoy
April 03, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - " Tom Dispatch " - In 2016, something extraordinary happened in the politics of diverse countries around the world. With surprising speed and simultaneity, a new generation of populist leaders emerged from the margins of nominally democratic nations to win power. In doing so, they gave voice, often in virulent fashion, to public concerns about the social costs of globalization.
Even in societies as disparate as the affluent United States and the impoverished Philippines, similarly violent strains of populist rhetoric carried two unlikely candidates from the political margins to the presidency. On opposite sides of the Pacific, these outsider campaigns were framed by lurid calls for violence and even murder.
As his insurgent crusade gained momentum, billionaire Donald Trump moved beyond his repeated promises to fight Islamic terror with torture and brutal bombing by also advocating the murder of women and children. The other thing with the terrorists is you have to take out their families, when you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families, he told Fox News. They care about their lives, dont kid yourself. When they say they dont care about their lives, you have to take out their families.
At the same time, campaigning in the Philippines on a law-and-order program of his own, Rodrigo Duterte, then mayor of a remote provincial city, swore that he would kill drug dealers across the nation, sparing nothing in the way of violent imagery. If by chance that God will place me [in the presidency], he promised in launching his campaign, watch out because the 1,000 [people executed while he was a mayor] will become 100,000. You will see the fish in Manila Bay getting fat. That is where I will dump you.
The rise of these political soulmates and populist strongmen not only resonated deeply in their political cultures, but also reflected global trends that made their bloodstained rhetoric paradigmatic of our present moment. After a post-Cold War quarter-century of globalization, displaced workers around the world began mobilizing angrily to oppose an economic order that had made life so good for transnational corporations and social elites.
Between 1999 and 2011, for instance, Chinese imports had eliminated 2.4 million American jobs, closing furniture manufacturers in North Carolina, factories that produced glass in Ohio, and auto parts and steel companies across the Midwest. As a range of nations worldwide reacted to such realities by imposing a combined 2,100 restrictions on imports to staunch similar job losses, world trade actually started to slow down without a major recession for the first time since 1945.
The Bloodstained History of Populism
Across Europe, hyper-nationalist right-wing parties like the French National Front, the Alternative for Germany, and the UK Independence Party won over voters by cultivating nativist, especially anti-Islamic, responses to globalization. Simultaneously, a generation of populist demagogues either held, gained, or threatened to take power in democracies around the world: Marine Le Pen in France, Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, Viktor Orban in Hungary, Vladimir Putin in Russia, Recep Erdogan in Turkey, Donald Trump in the U.S., Narendra Modi in India, Prabowo Subianto in Indonesia, and Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines, among others.
Indian essayist Pankaj Mishra recently summed up their successes this way: Demagogues are still emerging, in the West and outside it, as the promise of prosperity collides with massive disparities of wealth, power, education, and status. The Philippine economy offered typically grim news on this score. It grew by an impressive 6% annually in the six years before Duterte launched his presidential campaign, even as a staggering 26 million poor Filipinos struggled to survive on a dollar a day. In those years, just 40 elite Filipino families grabbed an estimated 76% of all the wealth this growth produced.
Scholar Michael Lee suggests that a populist leader succeeds by rhetorically defining his or her national community by both its supposedly shared characteristics and its inevitable common enemy, whether Mexican rapists or Muslim refugees, much as the Nazis created a powerful sense of national selfhood by excluding certain groups by blood. In addition, he argues, such movements share the desire for an apocalyptic confrontation through a final mythic battle as the vehicle to revolutionary change.
Although scholars like Lee emphasize the ways in which populist demagogues rely on violent rhetoric for their success, they tend to focus less on another crucial aspect of such populists globally: actual violence. These movements might still be in their (relatively) benign phase in the United States and Europe, but in less developed democracies around the world populist leaders havent hesitated to inscribe their newfound power on the battered bodies of their victims.
For more than a decade, for instance, Russian President Vladimir Putin, a reasonable candidate for sparking this wave of populism, has demonstrated his famously bare-chested version of power politics by ensuring that opponents and critics meet grim ends under mysterious circumstances. These include the lethal spritz of polonium 210 that killed Russian secret police defector Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006; the shooting of journalist and Putin critic Anna Politkovskaya outside her Moscow apartment that same year; a dose of rare Himalayan plant poison for banker and Putin nemesis Alexander Perepilichny in London in 2012; a fusillade that felled opposition leader Boris Nemtsov in downtown Moscow in 2015; and four fatal bullets this March for refugee whistleblower Denis Voronenkov on a Kiev sidewalk, which Ukraine has denounced as an act of state terrorism.
As an Islamist populist, Turkish president Recep Erdogan has projected his power through a bloody repression of, and a new war with, the countrys Kurdish minority. He portrays the Kurds as a cancer within the countrys body politic whose identity must be extinguished, much as his forebears rid themselves of the Armenians. In addition, since mid-2016, hes overseen a wholesale purge of 50,000 officials, journalists, teachers, and military officers in the aftermath of a failed coup, and in a brutal round of torture and rape filled Turkish prisons to the brim.
In 2014, retired general Prabowo Subianto nearly won Indonesias presidency with a populist campaign of strength and order. In fact, Prabowos military career had long been steeped in such violence. In 1998, when the authoritarian regime of his father-in-law Suharto was at the brink of collapse, Prabowo, then commander of the Kopassus Rangers, staged the kidnapping-disappearance of a dozen student activists, the savage rape of 168 Chinese women (acts meant to incite racial violence), and the burning of 43 shopping malls and 5,109 buildings in Jakarta, the countrys capital, that left more than 1,000 dead.
During his first months in power, newly elected Philippine President Duterte waged his highly publicized war on the drug trade in city slums by loosing the police and vigilantes nationwide in a campaign already marked, in its first six months, by at least 7,000 extrajudicial killings . The bodies of his victims were regularly dumped on Manilas streets as warnings to others and as down payments on Dutertes promises of a new, orderly country.
And he wasnt the first populist in Asia to take such a path either. In 2003, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra launched his red shirt movement as a war on his countrys rampant methamphetamine abuse. In just three months under Thaksins rule, the police carried out 2,275 extrajudicial killings of suspected drug dealers and users, often leaving the bodies where they fell as a twisted tribute to his power.
Such examples of populist political carnage and the likelihood of more to come -- including what Donald Trumps presidency might have in store -- raise certain questions: Just what dynamics lie behind the urge toward violence that seems to propel such movements? Why does the virulent campaign rhetoric of populist political movements so often morph into actual violence once a populist wins power? And why is that violence invariably aimed at enemies believed to threaten the imagined integrity of the national community?
In their compulsion to protect the nation from what are seen as pernicious alien influences, such populist movements are defined by their need for enemies. That need, in turn, infuses them with an almost uncontrollable compulsion for conflict that transcends actual threats or rational political programs.
To give this troubling trend its political due, its necessary to understand how, at a particular moment in history, global forces have produced a generation of populist leaders with such potential compulsions. And at the moment, there may be no better example to look to than the Philippines.
During its last half-century of bloodstained elections, two populists, Ferdinand Marcos and Rodrigo Duterte, won exceptional power by combining the high politics of diplomacy with the low politics of performative violence, scattering corpses scarred by their signature brutality as if they were so many political pamphlets. A quick look at this history offers us an unsettling glimpse of Americas possible political future.
Populism in the Philippines: the Marcos Era
Although now remembered mainly as a kleptocrat who plundered his country and enriched himself with shameless abandon (epitomized by the discovery that his wife possessed 3,000 pairs of shoes), Ferdinand Marcos was, in fact, a brilliant populist, thoroughly skilled in the symbolic uses of violence.
As his legal term as president came to an end in 1972, Marcos -- who, like many populists, saw himself as chosen by destiny to save his people from perdition -- used the military to declare martial law. He then jailed 50,000 opponents, including the senators who had blocked his favored legislation and the gossip columnists who had mocked his wifes pretensions.
The first months of his dictatorship actually lacked any official violence. Then, just before dawn on January 15, 1973, Constabulary officers read a presidential execution order and strapped Lim Seng, an overseas Chinese heroin manufacturer, to a post at a Manila military camp. As a battery of press photographers stood by, an eight-man firing squad raised their rifles. Replayed endlessly on television and in movie theaters, the dramatic footage of bullets ripping open the victims chest was clearly meant to be a vivid display of the new dictators power, as well as an appeal to his countrys ingrained anti-Chinese racism. Lim Seng would be the only victim legally executed in the 14 years of the Marcos dictatorship. Extra-judicial killings were another matter, however.
Marcos made clever use of the massive U.S. military bases near Manila to win continuing support for his authoritarian (and increasingly bloody) rule from three successive American administrations, even effectively neutralizing President Jimmy Carters human rights policy. After a decade of dictatorship, however, the economy began to collapse from a too-heavy dose of crony capitalism and the political opposition started to challenge Marcoss self-image as destinys chosen one.
To either sate or subdue an increasingly restive population, he soon resorted to escalating raw violence. His security squads conducted what were referred to as salvagings, more than 2,500 of them (or 77% of the 3,257 extrajudicial killings during his 14-year dictatorship). Bodies scarred by torture were regularly abandoned in public plazas or at busy intersections so passers-by could read the transcript of terror in their stigmata. In the capital, Manila, with only 4,000 police for six million residents, the Marcos regime also deputized hundreds of secret marshals responsible for more than 30 shoot-on-sight fatalities during May 1985, the programs first month, alone.
Yet the impact of Marcoss version of populist violence proved mutable -- effective at the start of martial law when people yearned for order and counterproductive at its close when Filipinos again longed for freedom. That shift in sentiment soon led to his downfall in the first of the dramatic people power revolutions that would challenge autocratic regimes from Beijing to Berlin.
Populism in the Philippines: Dutertes Violence
Rodrigo Duterte, the son of a provincial governor, initially pursued a career as the mayor of Davao City, a site of endemic violence that left a lasting imprint on his political persona.
In 1984, after the communist New Peoples Army made Davao its testing ground for urban guerilla warfare, the citys murders soared, doubling to 800, including the assassination of 150 policemen. To check the communists, who took over part of the city, the military mobilized criminals and ex-communists as death squad vigilantes in a lethal counterterror campaign. When I visited Davao in 1987 to investigate death squad killings, that remote southern city already had an unforgettable air of desolation and hopelessness.
It was in this context of rising national and local extrajudicial slaughter that the 33-year old Rodrigo Duterte launched his political career as the elected mayor of Davao City. That was in 1988, the first of seven terms that would keep him in office, on and off, for another 21 years until he won the countrys presidency in 2016. His first campaign was hotly contested and he barely beat his rivals, taking only 26% of the vote.
Around 1996, he reportedly mobilized his own vigilante group, the Davao Death Squad . It would be responsible for many of the citys 814 extrajudicial killings over the next decade, as victims were dumped on city streets with faces wrapped bizarrely in packing tape. Duterte himself may have killed one or more of the squads victims. Apart from liquidating criminals, the Davao Death Squad also conveniently eliminated the mayors political rivals.
Campaigning for president in 2016, Duterte would proudly point to the killings in Davao City and promise a drug war that would murder 100,000 Filipinos if necessary. In doing so, he was also drawing on historical resonances from the Marcos era that lent some political depth to his violent rhetoric. By specifically praising Marcos, promising to finally bury his body in the National Heroes Cemetery in Manila, and supporting Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for vice president, Duterte identified himself with a political lineage of populist strongmen epitomized by the old dictator at a time when desperate Filipinos were looking for new hope of a decent life.
On taking office, President Duterte promptly started his promised anti-drug campaign and dead bodies became commonplace sights on city streets nationwide, sometimes accompanied by a crude cardboard sign reading I am a pusher, or simply with their faces wrapped in the by-now trademark packing tape used by the Davao Death Squad. Although Human Rights Watch would declare his drug war a calamity, a resounding 85% of Filipinos surveyed were satisfied, apparently seeing each body sprawled on a city street as another testament to the presidents promise of order.
At the same time, like Marcos, Duterte deployed a new style of diplomacy as part of his populist reach for unrestrained power. Amid rising tensions in the South China Sea between Beijing and Washington, he improved his countrys bargaining position by distancing himself from the Philippines classic alliance with the United States. At the 2016 ASEAN conference, reacting to Barack Obamas criticism of his drug war, he said bluntly of the American president, Your mothers a whore.
A month later during a state visit to Beijing, Duterte publicly proclaimed separation from the United States. By setting aside his countrys recent slam-dunk win over China at the Court of Arbitration in the Hague in a legal dispute over rival claims in the South China Sea, Duterte came home with $24 billion in Chinese trade deals and a sense that he was helping establish a new world order.
In January, after his police tortured and killed a South Korean businessman on the pretext of a drug bust, he was forced to call a sudden halt to the nationwide killing spree. Like his role model Marcos, however, Dutertes populism seems to contain an insatiable appetite for violence and so it was not long before bodies were once again being dumped on the streets of Manila, pushing the death toll past 8,000.
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Success and the Strongman
The histories of these Filipino strongmen, past and present, reveal two overlooked aspects of the ill-defined phenomenon of global populism: the role of what might be termed performative violence in projecting domestic strength and a complementary need for diplomatic success to show international influence. How skillfully these critical poles of power are balanced may offer one gauge for speculating about the fate of populist strongmen in disparate parts of the globe.
In Russias case, Putins projection of strength through the murder of selected domestic opponents has been matched by unchecked aggression in Georgia and Ukraine -- a successful balancing act that has made his country, with its rickety economy the size of Italys , seem like a great power again and is likely to extend his autocratic rule into the foreseeable future.
In Turkey, Erdogans harsh repression of ethnic and political enemies has essentially sunk his bid for entry into the European Union, plunged him into an unwinnable war with Kurdish rebels, and complicated his alliance with the United States against Islamic fundamentalism -- all potential barriers to his successful bid for unchecked power.
In Indonesia, Prabowo Subianto failed in his critical first step: building a domestic base large enough to sweep him into the presidency, in part because his call for order resonated so discordantly with a public still capable of remembering his earlier bid for power through eerie violence that roiled Jakarta with hundreds of rapes, fires, and deaths.
Without the popular support generated by his local spectacle of violence, President Dutertes de facto abrogation of his countrys claims to the South China Seas rich fishing grounds and oil reserves in his bid for Chinese support risks a popular backlash, a military coup, or both. For the time being, however, Dutertes deft juxtaposition of international maneuvering and local bloodletting has made him a successful Philippine strongman with, as yet, few apparent checks on his power.
While the essential weakness of the Philippine military limits Dutertes outlets for his populist violence to the police killings of poor street drug dealers, Donald Trump faces no such restraints. Should Congress and the courts check the virulence of his domestic attacks on Muslims, Mexicans, or other imagined enemies and should his presidency run into further setbacks like the recent repeal-Obamacare humiliation, he could readily resort to violent military adventures not only in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Libya, but even in Iran, not to speak of North Korea, in a bid to recover his populist aura of overweening power. In this way, unlike any other potential populist politician on the planet, he holds the fate of countless millions in his much-discussed hands.
If populisms need for what scholar Michael Lee calls an apocalyptic confrontation and a mythic battle proves accurate, it might, in the end, lead the Trump administrations systemic revolutionaries far beyond even their most extreme rhetoric into an endlessly escalating cycle of violence against foreign enemies, using whatever weapons are available, whether drones, special operations forces, fighter bombers, naval armadas, or even nuclear weapons.
Alfred W. McCoy, a TomDispatch regular , is the Harrington professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the author of the now-classic book The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade, which probed the conjuncture of illicit narcotics and covert operations over 50 years, among other works. His newest book, In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of U.S. Global Power (Dispatch Books/Haymarket) will be published this September. This article is based on a lecture he delivered in February at the Third World Studies Center, University of the Philippines.
Follow TomDispatch on Twitter and join us on Facebook . Check out the newest Dispatch Book, John Feffer's dystopian novel Splinterlands , as well as Nick Turses Next Time Theyll Come to Count the Dead , and Tom Engelhardt's latest book, Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World .
Copyright 2017 Alfred W. McCoy
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.
Al Qaeda Is Attacking Syrian Cities with US Weapons but You Wouldn't Know That from the Media
Rebranded Syrian al-Qaeda, Tahrir al-Sham, has been leading offensives in Hama and Damascus while mainstream media whitewash it
By Ben Norton
April 03, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - " Alternet " - In the West, rare al-Qaeda-linked attacks are seized on to justify draconian anti-Muslim policies and growing racism and xenophobia. In Syria, however, the fact that frequent similar attacks are even al-Qaeda-linked at all is played down.
An Islamist extremist went on a rampage in London on March 22, killing at least five people and wounding dozens more. At the same moment, there were also al-Qaeda-linked attacks going on against major Syrian cities with drastically different media responses.
In fact, the same Western media outlets that made sure every person on the planet knew about the attack in London simultaneously grossly understated, and even outright ignored, the ties of the Syrian jihadists to the extremist group that carried out the 9/11 attacks.
Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, a military alliance that represents an attempt to rebrand Syria's original al-Qaeda affiliate, Jabhat Al-Nusra, initiated an assault near the city of Hama on March 21, in collaboration with fighters from the so-called Free Syrian Army, or FSA, which has for years been supported by the U.S. and its allies.
In the days before, the same al-Qaeda-linked group and another extremist Islamist militia, Ahrar al-Sham, launched two other attacks inside and on the outskirts of Syrias capital, Damascus, targeting civilian areas under the control of the Syrian government.
In her coverage of the assault on Damascus, the Washington Post's Liz Sly provided a prime example of how this media whitewashing works: Sly did not even mention Tahrir al-Sham's links to al-Qaeda, referring to the group simple as "extreme." She also described a U.S.-vetted FSA faction that was fighting alongside rebranded al-Qaeda, Faylaq al-Rahman, as "moderate."
Another disturbing development that has been virtually ignored by U.S. mainstream media are the videos of Tahrir al-Sham and the FSA-affiliated Jaish al-Izza , which is fighting alongside rebranded al-Qaeda in the Hama offensive, attacking the Syrian army with TOW anti-tank missiles, which were manufactured by the American weapons company Raytheon and supplied to CIA-vetted rebels.
Echoing Western governments' extensive support for armed rebels committed to overthrowing the Syrian government, Western media outlets have for years consistently downplayed the influence of extremists in the Syrian opposition.
Recent reports continue this trend. Headlines on the jihadist offensives in Hama and Damascus refer to sectarian extremist fighters ambiguously as "Syrian rebels," and articles bury the extremists' ties to al-Qaeda several paragraphs down in the story, where most readers , who simply skim headlines and leads, do not tread.
AlterNet analyzed numerous reports in major outlets and detailed how they have egregiously understated the role of al-Qaeda-linked militants in the recent attacks in Syria while, at the same moment, fueling paranoia about infrequent attacks in the West.
Al-Qaeda's PR strategy
Jabhat al-Nusra, Syrias former al-Qaeda affiliate, established itself as the most effective fighting force in the opposition committed to overthrowing the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Willing to carry out suicide bombings and attack its foes with unreserved brutality, it has taken on a leadership role in Syria, as even longtime supporters of U.S. regime change in the country have acknowledged .
The extremist group is not seeking freedom and democracy; rather, it hopes to create an ultra-reactionary Islamic state in Syria and, eventually, beyond. Unlike its former ally ISIS (the two split in 2014), however, Jabhat al-Nusra has been much more careful with its public relations strategy.
Aware of the stigma of being associated with an international jihadist group that massacres civilians, al-Nusra formally distanced itself from al-Qaeda in mid-2016, and rebranded as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham.
Then, in January of this year, Jabhat Fatah al-Sham created a new alliance: Hayat Tahrir al-Sham . The group was formed in a merger of Jabhat Fatah al-Sham with other influential Salafi jihadist militias in Syria, including Nour al-Din al-Zinki, which had previously been CIA-vetted and armed with TOW anti-tank missiles by the U.S.
A few weeks before the Hama and Damascus attacks, Tahrir al-Sham released another video showing it using U.S.-manufactured anti-tank missiles against the Syrian army in west Aleppo.
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U.S.-made TOW missiles have ended up in the hands of a variety of extremist groups in Syria, including ISIS . Before rebranding, Syria's official al-Qaeda afilliate Jabhat al-Nusra had taken anti-tank weapons from so-called moderate rebels, and close U.S. ally Saudi Arabia has also transferred TOW missiles to militants in Syria.
Western media outlets have consistently treated Jabhat al-Nusra, in its various rebranded forms, differently than other branches of al-Qaeda, as it happens to be attacking Western enemies: the Syrian government and its allies Iran, Hezbollah and Russia.
The Hama Offensive
Tahrir al-Sham's attack near Hama on March 21 received extremely inadequate media coverage. Reuters described the extremist militants merely as "Syrian rebels," titling its report "Syrian rebels press major assault near Hama." The major international news agency did not mention until the 11th paragraph that this "attack is being led by Tahrir al-Sham, an alliance of Islamist factions dominated by a group that was formerly al Qaeda's official affiliate in the Syrian war."
In another brief article entitled "Syrian rebels advance to within 4 km of Hama city - Observatory," Reuters noted that the assault was being "spearheaded by the jihadist alliance," but did not report this alliance's ties to al-Qaeda.
Turkish media outlet the Anadolu Agency was extremely misleading in its coverage. It titled its report "Syrian opposition makes gains near Hama," and opened the story writing, "The Free Syrian Army (FSA) and other opposition groups have reportedly made gains against regime forces as part of a new offensive near Hama city in west-central Syria."
The Anadolu Agency report did not mention once that this offensive is being led by rebranded al-Qaeda, as at least Reuters had belatedly acknowledged. The major Turkish news outlet completely left out this crucial detail.
The Turkish government supports Syrian militant groups, and has invested vast resources in trying to overthrow the Syrian government, in collaboration with the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Expert Marc Lynch, director of the Institute for Middle East Studies at George Washington University, noted in his book The New Arab Wars that the idea of the so-called moderate Free Syrian Army, incessantly invoked by the U.S. and its allies, has been "something of a myth, with a media presence far outstripping its actual organizational capacity." Major media outlets continue to propagate this myth, nevertheless.
Middle East Monitor wrote early in its report that "the Hama offensive also includes Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters who had agreed to a truce in December brokered by Russia and Turkey." The news outlet, which tends to take a pro-Gulf editorial stance, refers to Syrian government-aligned fighters as "Iranian-sponsored Shia jihadist militias," yet does not disclose until the 11th paragraph that, "Although the FSA are involved in the operation, the attack is being spearheaded by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, or the Syrian Liberation Organisation (SLO), an alliance of Islamist factions dominated by a group that was formerly Al-Qaedas official affiliate in the Syrian war."
Syria Direct a non-profit journalism organization that is partnered with the U.S. State Department and Canadian government and that is funded by the Global Peace & Development Charitable Trust, which in turn is partnered with and funded by Western governments and large corporations was even more disingenuous in its coverage.
Syria Direct did not even mention Tahrir al-Sham's connections to al-Qaeda; it simply described the extremist Salafi group as an "Islamist coalition," and noted it was fighting alongside an FSA-affiliated militia. The website also ambiguously titled its report "Syrian rebel forces launch campaign, again, to breach Hama city and airport."
While referring to numerous Salafi militias without mentioning their ties to al-Qaeda, Syria Direct also quoted three unidentified "rebel spokesmen," who "all stressed that the attack was not just a diversionary tactic but rather an all-out effort to breach the fortified regime bastion of Hama city, a long-sought prize for Syria's northern rebels."
Turkish state media TRT World titled its report "Rebels launch fresh offensive ahead of Syria peace talks," and waited until the sixth paragraph to acknowledge the role of Al Qaeda in that offensive.
Al-Masdar News was one of the only news outlets to make the presence of the extremist militants clear in its headlines: " Jihadist rebels capture key village in northern Hama," "Syrian Army reinforcements arrive to northern Hama to fend off jihadist offensive " and " Jihadist rebels take control of Khattab village in northern Hama."
Damascus Attacks
This was not the only recent jihadist-led offensive that was whitewashed by major media outlets in recent days.
On March 19, al-Qaeda's local franchise and the extremist group Ahrar al-Sham carried out an attack inside the center of Syria's capital, Damascus.
Ahrar al-Sham, a violent sectarian Salafi group that has at various points aligned itself with al-Qaeda, is supported by close U.S. allies Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
The Guardian published a report by the Associated Press titled "Clashes in Damascus after rebels tunnel into government-held areas." The article did not mention until the eighth paragraph that the "Levant Liberation Committee (LLC), a group linked to al-Qaida, and the independent Failaq al-Rahman faction also participated in the attack."
The Associated Press article put the word terrorists in "scare quotes," writing, "Syrian state media said the military had repelled an attack by a group linked to al-Qaida after 'terrorists' infiltrated through tunnels in the middle of the night." Yet it did not use such scare quotes on the word "liberated" when writing, "The ultraconservative Ahrar al-Sham rebel faction said fighters had liberated the area."
"Artillery shells and rockets had landed in the heart of the city," the leading international new service noted, citing local residents. Like the pro-Gulf Middle East Monitor, the Associated Press stressed the presence of government-aligned "Shia militias" before it even acknowledged the fact that the militant-offensive was being led by an al-Qaeda-linked group.
On March 21, al-Qaeda-linked extremists launched a similar series of attacks on the outskirts of Damascus, in addition to the Hama offensive on the same day.
In the second paragraph of her report, titled "Resurgent Syrian Rebels Surprise Damascus With New Assaults," The New York Times ' Anne Barnard conceded that the fighters were "a mix of Islamist rebel groups and hard-line Qaeda-linked jihadists."
Reuters was much less open in its reporting. The major international news agency did not acknowledge until the 20th paragraph that these attacks were led by an al-Qaeda-linked group, and only then indirectly, through the Syrian government. "The government says the attack is being carried out by fighters of the Nusra Front, a jihadist group that was al Qaeda's official affiliate in the Syrian war until it declared they had broken off ties last year," Reuters wrote near the end of its report. "The Nusra Front is now part of an Islamist alliance called Tahrir al-Sham."
Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham and Jabhat Fatah al-Sham made it clear that their rebranding efforts were an attempt to gain more legitimacy and support. Major corporate media outlets are helping the extremist group accomplish this goal.
Ben Norton is a reporter for AlterNet's Grayzone Project. You can follow him on Twitter at @BenjaminNorton .
Home FBIs Comey, not Russia, Tilted the Election Toward Trump: Interview with Dennis Kucinich
By Mike Whitney April 03, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - " Counterpunch " - MW: Should FBI Director James Comey be investigated for meddling in the 2016 presidential election? Dennis Kucinich, Former Congressman: The Director of the FBI is not beyond accountability. President Obama should have demanded Director Comeys resignation immediately after Comey interfered in the 2016 Presidential election with his October 28, 2016 pronouncement of the discovery of new emails in the Clinton case. Comey breached protocol, bypassed channels, and tilted the outcome away from Clinton and toward Trump. If Comey refused a presidential demand that he resign, then President Obama should have dismissed him. There is a precedent. President Clinton dismissed FBI Director Session in 1993. Also The FBI Director can also be subject to impeachment by the House and removal by the Senate. Given his role in upending the 2016 President election, it is astonishing that Director Comey is being given a chance to prove it was the Russians what did it. MW In a recent Fox News article, you discussed Director Comeys unprecedented intrusion into presidential politics, (that) has damaged public confidence in the Bureau. In an earlier article you mentioned that independent surveys have been conducted that strongly suggest that Comeys meddling may have changed the outcome of the election. Heres is an excerpt from an article about one of those surveys. The article clearly states that Comeys letter, 11 days before the election, was the precipitating event behind Clintons loss, and that it was the single, most indispensable factor in the surprise election result. Here is the entire except from the article: Most decisively, there was a sudden change in the net sentiment results that followed immediately after FBI Director James Comey released his Oct. 28 letter to Congress about a renewed investigation of Clinton emails. Immediately afterwards, there was a 17-point drop in net sentiment for Clinton, and an 11-point rise for Trump, enough for the two candidates to switch places in the rankings, with Clinton in more negative territory than Trump. At a time when opinion polling showed perhaps a 2-point decline in the margin for Clinton, this conversation data suggests a 28-point change in the word of mouth standings. The change in word of mouth favorability metric was stunning, and much greater than the traditional opinion polling revealed. Based on this finding, it is our conclusion that the Comey letter, 11 days before the election, was the precipitating event behind Clintons loss, despite the letter being effectively retracted less than a week later. In such a close election, there may have been dozens of factors whose absence would have reversed the outcome, such as the influence campaign of the Russian government as detailed by US intelligence services. But the sudden change in the political conversation after the Comey letter suggest it was the single, most indispensable factor in the surprise election result. (Comey Letter Swung Election For Trump, Consumer Survey Suggests, Brad Fay, Huffington Post) How should Congress deal with this situation? Dennis Kucinich: Congress could impeach Comey, but that will not happen for two reasons. (1) Democrats want to maintain the fiction that the Russians tipped the election to Trump. (2) Republicans want to maintain the fiction that Trump won because voters preferred Republicans. I believe it is essential to focus on Comey. His interference was a miscarriage of justice, which must still be rectified. Congress must pass a law which requires all FBI officials to refrain from an public or private comment, within four weeks of a primary or general election, on any case involving a candidate for public office, or executing any search warrant, or seeking charges against any candidate for elected office, under penalty of criminal charges. No Advertising - No Government Grants - This Is Independent Media Get Our Free Daily Newsletter The FBI must not be permitted to interfere in elections through supposition, rumor or stuffing the ballot box with allegations or indictments. If voters elect someone who is later proven to have committed a crime, there are plenty of legal procedures to force removal. MW Heres a quote by Masha Gessen from an article titled Russia: The Conspiracy Trap at the New York Review of Books. Gessen thinks the Democrats are actually hurting themselves by pursuing the Russia hacking story. Heres what she says: Trump is doing nothing less than destroying American democratic institutions and principles by turning the presidency into a profit-making machine for his family, by poisoning political culture with hateful, mendacious, and subliterate rhetoric, by undermining the public sphere with attacks on the press and protesters, and by beginning the real work of dismantling every part of the federal government that exists for any purpose other than waging war. Russiagate is helping himboth by distracting from real, documentable, and documented issues, and by promoting a xenophobic conspiracy theory in the cause of removing a xenophobic conspiracy theorist from office. Do you agree with Gessen, is Russiagate actually helping Trump? Do you think the investigation could backfire on the Democrats and hurt them politically? Dennis Kucinich: RussiaGate is not helping Trump, nor is it hurting him. It is hurting the Democratic party as its minions in Congress perform weak imitations of Senator Joe McCarthy. McCarthyism does not sound better spoken out of the left side of the systems mouth than it did out of the right side. The Democrats are losing valuable time trying to blame the 2016 election results on Moscow. 2020 will be not decided in Moscow, but in Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee and like cities in the US, which is why the party should be promoting an alternative economic vision with jobs for all, health care for all, education for all, retirement security for all, a clean environment, fair trade and an end to war. 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 . The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House. 'If you want to know who influenced US election look no further than the FBI' - Dennis Kucinich https://soundcloud.com/radiosputnik/if-you-want-to-know-who-influenced-us-election-look-no-further-than-fbi-dennis-kucinich 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. Click here to comment on our Facebook page
The Real Russiagate: Obamas Stasi State
By Michael Hudson and Paul Craig Roberts
April 03, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - Mike Whitney has written an excellent expose of the Russiagate cover story for Obamas political use of national security to help his party oppose Republicans.
Covert surveillance of politicians on Obamas Nixon-like Enemies List has been going on for many years, but is only now being unmasked as a result of the failure of Obamas cover storyWe werent spying on political opponents; only on Russians to protect America.
The presstitute media has passed on the cover story authored by former Obama-administration officials led by CIA director John Brennan, FBI director James Comey, the DNC, and Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff. The loose ends in this cover-up have now been so widely exposed as hearsay and political that only 13% of Republicans believe the fact-free story but 67% of Democrats cling to it.
Whitney reports that Comey began the investigation in July 2016. As of last Friday (March 31, 2017) not a scrap of evidence has turned up. This did not deter Comey from telling Congress that 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. So the Russians allegedly engaged in a multifaceted campaign to undermine our democracy.
Comey based this conclusion on what has become a hilarious bit of gullibililty. The Russians, he said 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.
Alternatively, someone wanted investigators to infer that the Russians were doing the hacking. As Wikeleaks Vault 7 releases prove, the CIA can hack computers and leave anyone elses signature. Due to poor security, the CIAs cybertechnology ended up in the Internet domain.
Theyll be back. Theyll be back, in 2020. They may be back in 2018, warned Mr. Comey. But who is the they? They seem to be us, or at least what numerous former national security officials have suggested: either the NSC, CIA or its Five Eyes partner, British MI6.
Wall Street Journal editorialist Kimberley A. Strassel poses the real question : Why hasnt the Trump administration had the Secret Service to arrest Comey, Brennan, Schiff, the DNC and Hillary for trying to overthrow the President of the United States? Mr. Nunes has said he has seen proof that the Obama White House surveilled the incoming administrationon subjects that had nothing to do with Russiaand that it further unmasked (identified by name) transition officials. This goes far beyond a mere scandal. Its a potential crime.
What we are watching is turning out to be traces of a plot against a government elected by the American people. Attempts to get at the truth by House national security committee Chairman Devin Nunes have been countered with demands by Democrats to recuse himself so as to stop his expose of how Team Obama was spying broadly on the incoming administration.
It seems that this has been going on for many years now. Former Rep. Dennis Kucinich has dropped a bombshell about what appears to be his own illegal surveillance under Obamas NSC. When the president raised the question of wiretapping on his phones in Trump Tower, he was challenged to prove that such a thing could happen. It happened to me.
Heres what happened, which was revealed two years after he left office in 2013 when the Democrats were overjoyed to see Ohio Republicans redraw the election district lines to get rid of his candidacy. The Washington Times asked him to authenticate a secret recording of a cell phone call from Saif el-Islam Qaddafi, a high-ranking official in Libyas government and a son of the countrys ruler, Moammar Qaddafi.
Before taking the call, Rep. Kucinich checked with the Houses general counsel to ensure that such a discussion by a member of Congress with a foreign power was permitted by law.
I was assured that under the Constitution a lawmaker had a fundamental duty to ask questions and gather informationactivity expressly protected by the Article I clauses covering separation of powers and congressional speech and debate.
Given the quality of the recordings was excellent on both ends of the call, Kucinich concluded that the tape was made by an American intelligence agency and then leaked to the Times for political reasons. If so, this episode represented a gross violation of the separation of powers.
His repeated Freedom of Information Act requests made in 2012 before leaving office have been stonewalled by the intelligence agencies for five years.
We are now in a position to see the real story behind Russiagate. Its not about Russia. The real news is the Obama regimes abuse of the governments surveillance powers to spy on Donald Trump and other Republicans in order to build a dossier for the DNC to leak to the press in an attempt to slander or compromise Trump and throw the election to Hillary.
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Theyve been caught, but we can now see that they took steps to protect themselves against this. They prepared a cover story. They pretend they were not spying on Trump, but on Russians which only by fortuitous happenchance turned up alleged incriminating smoke against Trump.
This cover story was buttressed by the fake news story prepared by former MI6 freelancer Christopher Steele. As Whitney reports, Steele was hired as an opposition researcher last June to dig up derogatory information on Donald Trump. Unvetted and unverified information by so-called informants somehow found its way into U.S. intelligence agency reports. These reports were then leaked to Democrat-friendly media. This is where the crime lies. Obama regime and DNC were using these agencies for domestic political use, KGB style.
The Obama/Clinton cover story is now falling to pieces. That explains the desperation in the attack by Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, on Committee Chairman Devin Nunes to stop the exposure. Russiagate is not a Trump/Putin collusion but a domestic spy job carried out by Democrats.
Law requires Trump to arrest those responsible and to put them on trial for treason and conspiracy to overthrow the government of the United States. If Trump fears to prosecute the Obama operatives within the Deep State, they will try all the harder to attack him to the point of forcing his removal or at least discrediting him and his fellow Republicans to pave the way for the 2018 elections.
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. Roberts' latest books are The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West , How America Was Lost , and The Neoconservative Threat to World Order .
Michael Hudson is one of the world's leading economists. Michael acts as an economic advisor to governments worldwide including Greece, Iceland, Latvia and China on finance and taxation. mh@michael-hudson.com
The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) is set to host all Banking Institutes, including over 1000 banking and finance professionals in the world at the 22nd edition of the World Conference of Banking Institutes (#WCBI_2017) which holds in Lagos from April 24-28, 2017 at Eko Hotels & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos State, Nigeria.
The theme of this years edition is Re-Thinking the Future of Banking and Finance & Life Long Learning The Conference is a biennial global forum that brings together, a large number of CEOs, senior executives, professionals and other stakeholders engaged in banking and other financial services, education and training.
The event which promises to be intellectually enriching and impactful will also provide a platform for networking and business opportunities. The Conference is also an avenue to brainstorm on how to get ahead of the challenges associated with the future of banking.
To this effect, a handful of distinguished speakers, panelists and paper presenters across the globe Americas, Australia, Asia, Europe and other parts of Africa have confirmed their participation.
The Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, is expected to be the Distinguished Guest of Honour at the opening ceremony of the conference.
The Conference which doubles as this years Annual Banking and Finance Conference will have in attendance renowned speakers from various parts of the world including Mr. Adjiedj Bakas, a distinguished thought leader and author of the Future of Banking; Mr. Kevin Moore, Director Global Business Development, Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI, UK); Mr. Kay Luan Tay, Executive Director, Australia New Zealand Institute; Mr. Collin Morrison, President, European Banking and Financial Services Training Association; His Highness, Muhammad Sanusi II, CON, FCIB, Sarkin Kano, former Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria; Ms. Samantha Louis, FCMA, CGMA, Vice President Advocacy for Management Accounting, The Association of International Certified Professional Accountants and Ms. Tanya McCartney, Chief Executive Officer, The Bahamas Financial Services Board (BFSB).
Other speakers expected include, Dr. Siong Choy Chong, Chief Technical Officer (Quality Assurance) Finance Accreditation Agency (FAA), Malaysia; Ms. Gloria Grandolini, Senior Director, Finance and Markets Global Practice, The World Bank Group; Dr. J. N. Misra, Chief Executive Officer, Indian Institute of Banking and Finance; Mr. Folashodun Adebisi Shonubi, FCIB, Managing Director, Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System PLC; Mr. Simon Thompson, Chief Executive, Chartered Banker Institute, Scotland; Mr. Milton Alvin Weeks, Executive Governor, Central Bank of Liberia; Mr. Herbert Wigwe, FCIB, Group Managing Director/Chief Executive, Access Bank Plc; Dr. (Mrs.) Olateju Abiola Somorin, President/Chairman of Council The Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) and many more speakers of international repute.
The Conference began in the United Kingdom in 1975 with the objective of providing a global platform for the review of the achievements recorded and challenges faced by banking and finance institutes in the world in playing their role of supporting the financial sector performance and profitability.
CIBN won the rights to host the Conference on April 7, 2015 after it was unanimously voted, in Seoul, South Korea, at the 21st edition of the Conference organised by the Korea Institute of Bankers.
CIBN had secured the support of regional groups from different continents such as the European Banking & Financial Services Training Association (EBTN), Asian-Pacific Association of Banking Institutes International Conference (APABI) and Alliance of African Institutes of Bankers (AAIOB), as well as the Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Bankers Committee, as well as the Nigerian Embassy in the Republic of South Korea and the Federal Government of Nigeria to host the Conference.
The Executive Governor of Lagos State, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, has also lined up the Conference as part of the activities to celebrate the 50 years anniversary of the creation of the Lagos. For him the Conference is a platform to promote financial tourism in the State.
According to the Governor, the Conference will be an avenue to showcase the rich cultural heritage, hospitality and investment potentials of Lagos whilst attracting more foreign direct investments into the State.
In a similar vein, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunusi, Ojaja II, the Ooni of Ife and the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnanyelugo Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe have, in separate fora, said they would personally leverage the event to advance the culture of the African race.
Twenty-one countries have hosted the Conference in the past, some of which include USA, Ireland, Italy, Australia, Canada, France, Taiwan, Sweden, the Netherlands South Africa, Zimbawe, Kenya and several others. This is the first time a West African country will be hosting the world event.
For additional information about the 2017 World Conference of Banking Institutes, please visit the conference website www.wcbi2017.com
Ile-Ife has not known rest for the past couple of weeks as the community keep moving from one crisis to another crisis.
Last weekend, another crisis broke but according to the information gathered from an eye-witness report, one of the residents of the town told newsmen that the crisis started on Saturday when a youth, who was alleged to be involved in Internet fraud also known as Yahoo Yahoo successfully duped his client and decided to celebrate it.
The fraudster, it was gathered, duped an unsuspecting client of N8m and he was said to have gathered his friends to celebrate this.
The resident, who identified himself as Taye, said some policemen got to know about this and went to meet the youths to collect their part of the loot. The youth was said to have offered the policemen N100,000.00 which they allegedly rejected as they considered the amount meagre.
He said, The policemen rejected the N100,000 and wanted to arrest the boys but they resisted and this led to a fight. One of the youths was shot dead by a policeman in the process and this led to a protest.
But another resident, Moho, gave a different account , saying that the yahoo boy was dating a girl and the girl jilted him and started dating a policeman.
The policeman was said to have got some of his colleagues and moved to arrest the ex-boyfriend but the boy and his friends were said to have resisted arrest and this resulted into a clash. The victim was said to have been shot dead during the clash.
The Police Public Relations Officer in Osun State Command, Mrs. Folashade Odoro, did not answer repeated calls put across to her telephone to confirm the story.
However, when contacted, the Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in the state, Mr. Afolabi Babawale, confirmed that one Basiru was shot dead and this resulted into a protest.
Source: ( Punch Newspaper )
The House of Representatives has proposed a 20 years jail term for any person convicted of financial crimes in the country.
This was part of new ammendments to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Act, 2004.
The Act currently prescribes a penalty of not less than two years for economic and financial crimes.
Lawmakers consider this to be lenient for the serious crime of stealing public money or other forms of financial crimes.
Four consolidated bills before the House are seeking to further empower the EFCC to fight crime, insulate the anti-graft agency from interference by the Presidency and enhance its financial autonomy.
One of the bills, which was sponsored by a member from Cross River State, Mr. Bassey Ewa, proposes to raise the two-year term for economic and financial crimes offenders to 20 years.
In the new bill, Section 18 of the Principal Act is amended to prescribe tougher punishments for economic and financial crimes.
The new subsection (C) reads: All convicted persons shall serve an imprisonment of a term not less than 20 years and have their ill-gotten property, accounts or investment confiscated by the government.
The new proposal also states that plea bargaining or returning the full amount stolen does not exclude the convict from penalty.
Subsection (d) adds, Where the accused person, upon investigation, accepts to refund the total amount standing in his/her name and willing to plea bargain, he or she shall be convicted for not less than two years.
Similarly, a company found guilty of economic or financial crimes, will be barred from doing business in Nigeria for 50 years.
This is captured under subsection (e), which states that, Any company found guilty of offences under this Act, both its assets and finances shall be frozen and the company blacklisted from doing business in Nigeria for 50 years.
Another key amendment seeks to remove the power of appointing the Chairman of the EFCC from the President and to be vested directly in the hands of Nigerians.
Under the extant provisions, the President appoints the chairman and forwards the name to the Senate for approval.
But in the new amendment, members of the public, through a petition to the National Assembly, are empowered to make the appointments.
For example, Section 3 of the Principal Act is amended to insert new subsections (4) and (5).
The proposed subsection 4 reads: Petitions against the Chairman or any of the members of the EFCC emanating from the public or the private sector shall be submitted to the National Assembly.
If upon investigation and found culpable, a simple majority vote of members of the National Assembly is required in considering the fate of the chairman or any of the affected member.
Subsection (5) provides that the resolution, when passed, will be forwarded to the President, who shall within 30 days, either accept the resolution or reject it.
The section empowers the National Assembly to override the Presidents veto with a two-thirds majority vote of senators and members of the House of Representatives.
To make the EFCC financially autonomous, the House proposes in Section 35 of the Act that the commission should retain 0.1 per cent of recovered looted funds.
It is also to retain 0.1 per cent of its Internally-Generated Revenue.
Another 0.1 per cent of contracts awarded by the Federal Government is to the credited to the account of the commission.
The PUNCH also obtained the details of amendments proposed to the Act by the Chairman, House Committee on Financial Crimes, Mr. Kayode Oladele.
Oladeles bill, A Bill for an Act to Amend the EFCC Act, 2004 to Enhance Effectiveness of the Act, and for other Related Matters, seeks to grant full autonomy to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit.
When contacted, Ewa explained why he sought harsher punishment for economic thieves.
He said, This provision of two years imprisonment, is mild and it should be raised to not less than 20 years. This will deter public servants from stealing money.
If your are 40 years old and you know that you will be 60 years by the time you are out of jail, you will have some fear in you and think about your children.
But to say two years is to encourage stealing the more because people say after all, it is only two years.
The four bills passed second reading last week at a session presided over by the Speaker, Mr. Yakubu Dogara.
Source: ( Punch Newspaper )
Parents of Queens College have queried the silence of the Ministry of Education after the breakout of an epidemic in the school after three people were allegedly killed three pupils.
According to the parents, only the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, who had visited the school, the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, had not given the case the seriousness it deserved.
According to reports, a large number of the students were admitted to the schools sickbay after eating spaghetti and drinking water suspected to have been polluted in the schools refectory.
Two pupilsVivian Osuiniyi and Bithia Ituluawho were in Junior Secondary School two and three respectively, reportedly died as a result of the epidemic.
The Minister of Health, Adewole, had led a team to the school and ordered an investigation into the incident, just as the former Principal of the school, Dr Lami Amodu, denied the incident, blaming the report on haters of the school.
Amodu was later transferred from the school.
The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Jide Idris, after a few weeks, released a statement saying health records from the schools sickbay indicated that a total of 1,222 pupils presented themselves at the schools clinic on account of abdominal pain, fever, vomiting and diarrhoea.
The statement noted that 16 ill pupils were admitted to various hospitals. While nine had been discharged, two had been confirmed dead, one was still on admission at the Intensive Care Unit of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, and three in the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi Araba.
Our correspondent, in a follow-up, reported that more pupils of the school had taken ill and were being admitted to different hospitals in the state.
On Friday, an orphan, identified as Praise Sodipo, a Senior Secondary School one pupil, died, bringing the number of deaths to three.
A parent told reporters on Sunday that the 14-year-old orphan was in the care of a guardian.
She said, She was an orphan. At a point, there was nobody to pay her hospital bills and a group of us had to raise money for her treatment. Another parent, whose daughter was also admitted to the hospital at that time, coordinated the fundraising for the girl before she died.
We are angry because despite all these, the Federal Ministry of Education is not investigating anything. We believe corruption is involved.
If investigations start, a lot of questions will be raised about finances. If the former principal is questioned, heads will roll. We believe that was why she was quickly transferred to another school.
Another parent, who claimed to have spent a lot of money on his daughter, said the schools financial system might have been compromised.
He said, Queens College has five vice principals vice principal academic, senior school; vice principal administration; vice principal special duties; vice principal junior school; and vice principal student affairs.
There is also the federal ministry of education inspectorate department, which should oversee whatever is happening in the school. But how things degenerated to the level of losing three girls without any of these officials knowing, beats my imagination.
I am pained because although lives had been lost and some pupils are still sick, the ministry of education has not issued any statement.
Another parent urged the Federal Government to step into the case and ensure the three girls did not die in vain.
The PTA Chairman of Queens College, Dr John Ofodike, said his administration only resumed in October, 2016, adding that the schools problem had been on for some time.
He called on the Federal Government to address the problems and probe the deaths of the three pupils.
He said, We have set up a panel to look into the management of funds by the previous PTA administration.
The PTA does not run the college; we are just playing supervisory and advisory roles.
Since my administration came in, we have been using our personal money to support the school. There has been a long time decay of infrastructure in the college. We have been using our personal funds to run the college.
And please, note that the proprietor of the school is the Federal Ministry of Education. Tell the Federal Government to probe the deaths. When the pupils were stooling and had diarrhoea, the PTA medical team played its part and left.
Source: ( Punch Newspaper )
Africans have taken to the streets in Delhi, Indian to protest against the attacks that they have experienced in recent weeks, they have called the recent mob attacks on some Nigerian students near the national capital as racial and xenophobic acts.
In a statement, the heads of African missions slammed the Indian government for failing to adequately condemn the violent incident.
No known, sufficient and visible deterring measures were taken by the Indian government.
These reprehensible events, both outstanding and unresolved cases against Africans, were not sufficiently condemned by the Indian authorities, the group said.
It has agreed to call for an independent investigation by the Human Rights Council as well as other human rights bodies.
The mob attack on the Nigerian students took place on March 27 and it coincided with a protest that was organised by online groups who blamed the unexplained death of a teenage student on the African community.
The protesters had alleged that the student, identified as Manish Khari, was supplied drugs by Africans who live in the area.
India has described the attack on Nigerian students as deplorable and said it is committed to ensuring the safety and security of all foreigners in this country.
People from Africa, including students and youth, remain our valued partners, the External Affairs Ministry has said.
The police had said that some seven people have been arrested in connection with the mob attack so far, adding that efforts are on to arrest the other suspects.
Attacks on Africans in and around Delhi is not uncommon.
In 2016, several Nigerians were beaten up in Delhis Chhatarpur area.
Source: (NAN)
The role of former and current top managers of Ukraine's Antimonopoly Committee is to be assessed during the investigation into tax evasion schemes used by Megapolis Ukraine LLC (now TEDIS Ukraine), Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko has said.
"To my opinion, along with legal responsibility for violation of sanctions, withdrawal of capital, possible financing of terrorists' organizations the assessment of actions of former and current top managers of the Antimonopoly Committee, which created this monopoly (the previous managers) and did not destroy this monopoly (current managers)," he said at a briefing in Kyiv last week.
Lutsenko said that in 2012, cigarette producers had to sell their products at retail chain via Megapolis LLC.
"Since 2012, monopoly Megapolis Ukraine appeared in our country instead of the competitive market," he said.
He said that during raids law enforcers seized photos of owners of the company hugging ex-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.
"After the Revolution [of Dignity] some Ukrainian firms involved in retail trade tell cigarette producers: we want to trade with cigarettes in own supermarkets, while producers send them to Megapolis or TEDIS Ukraine. This does not meet antimonopoly or competitive legislation," Lutsenko said.
He said that owners of retail chains asked the Antimonopoly Committee to provide for competitive environment in the area, while they received only formal responses.
"Once the Antimonopoly Committee made a decision declaring Megapolis is a monopolist on the market. The case was not forwarded," Lutsenko said.
He said that the committee imposed fines on the monopolist, but no steps were made to remove monopoly from the market.
Lutsenko also said that there is no information that the owner of Megapolis Igor Kesayev entered Ukraine after the Revolution of Dignity. He spoke to managers remotely. According to Lutsenko, top managers of TEDIS Ukraine are staying in Ukraine.
The account of Chief Mike Ozekhome,has been unfrozen by the Federal High Court in Lagos after he was denied access to his Guaranty Trust Bank account into which he received N75m legal fee from the Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had on February 7, 2017, obtained an interim order stopping Ozekhome from dissipating the N75m on the grounds that it formed part of proceeds of alleged criminal activities by Fayose.
According to the EFCC, they claim that the N75m which Fayose paid to Ozekhome was part of the N2.26bn arms procurement funds, which a former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), allegedly looted.
The anti-graft agency claimed to have traced N1.22bn out of the N2.26bn, which Dasuki allegedly looted, to Fayose.
On that basis, Justice Abdulaziz Anka had on February 7 frozen Ozekhomes account for 120 days.
Displeased, however, Ozekhome approached the court urging the court to vacate the interim order.
In a ruling on Monday, Justice Anka granted Ozekhomes prayer and dismissed the counter-affidavit filed in opposition by the EFCC.
The judge said though it was not in doubt that the N75m came from Fayose, Ozekhome could not be held liable because there was no restriction on Fayoses account as of the time the N75m was paid to his law firm.
Justice Anka noted that the freezing order earlier obtained by the EFCC in respect of Fayoses accounts had been lifted by Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Federal High Court in Ado-Ekiti.
Justice Anka said he would not allow himself to be lured into sitting as an appellate judge over the counter-decisions of Justice Mohammed Idris who earlier froze Fayoses accounts and Justice Taiwo who later unfroze the accounts.
Justice Anka held, There is no argument whatsoever as to the source of the funds as rightly argued by the learned counsel for the EFCC, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, but the question is: can the respondent/applicant be liable for any infraction as of the time he received the amount in his account?
His evidence was not controverted that the same proceeds were unencumbered as of the time they were transferred into the account of Mike Ozekhome Chambers as rightly argued by Chief Mike Ozekhome.
The Federal High Court sitting in Ado Ekiti, Coram Taiwo J, ordered that the unfreezing of the said account belonging to Governor Ayodele Fayose.
considering the order above quoted and the depositions, I do not understand or comprehend why the applicant/respondents counsel, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, would still argue and stand his ground that the same account has not be unfrozen by the Federal High Court sitting in Ekiti State.
In both the order and the depositions, the account numbered 1000312625, was evidently and manifestly unfrozen, such an argument, therefore, by Mr Oyedepo Esq cannot hold water.
In the final analysis, the judge said he found sufficient grounds to reject the EFCCs counter-affidavit, including the fact that Ozekhome had already dissipated the N75m which the EFCC sought to stop him from touching.
He added, From the circumstances and facts as outlined above, my decision is based on the following considerations: considering the fact that the source of the fund of the respondent/applicant is derivable from an unencumbered account; considering also the fact that such account has also been unfrozen via the order of the Federal High Court sitting in Ado-Ekiti; considering also that the amount has been dissipated; put into consideration also was the fact that the funds are monies paid for the services rendered by the respondent/applicant in prosecuting various actions before various courts..I find it very doubtful if the objection of the EFCC can be lawfully sustained.
Ozekhome had in his application contended that the action of the EFCC was unconstitutional, had no legal justification and was a gross violation of sections 36, 37 and 41 of the 1999 Constitution.
The first lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Aisha Muhammadu Buhari, has indicated her interest in the case of the 16-year-old JSS 111 student raped and impregnated by the Vice Principal of her Day Secondary School Tunga Minna institution, Muhammad Muhammed.
This came on the heels of the appearance of the accused person before Magistrate Fati Auna, in Minna on Monday.
According to reports, Mrs Buhari contacted the first lady of Niger state , Dr. Amina Sani Bello, immediately the news broke last week, instructing her that she should ensure justice was done in the matter.
Reports have it that the governors wife directed the Director General of the state Child Rights Office to make sure the matter was handled diligently and ensure justice is done.
The legal department of the Child Rights Office has been briefed and are handling the case, the source said.
The Chief Press Secretary to the wife of the Niger state governor, Aisha Wakaso, confirmed the story.
The accused person in the meantime appeared before Magistrate Auna charged with contravening sections 19and25 of the state Child Rights Act.
The prosecutor Abdullahi Maiyaki, told the court that the accused had sex with the girl three times in his office.
However, the accused said though he had sex with her it was only once.
Auna, therefore, adjourned the case to Wednesday 5th April, for further hearing and ordered him to be remanded in prison custody.
Source: ( Punch Newspaper )
National leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has described Chief Ebenezer Obey-Fabiyi, nicknamed Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey, as an astute entertainer whose songs would remain evergreen. National leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has described Chief Ebenezer Obey-Fabiyi, nicknamed Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey, as an astute entertainer whose songs would remain evergreen.
Asiwaju Bola Tinubu Tinubu, in a statement in Lagos to congratulate Obey on his 75th birthday on Monday, wished him many more years on earth, urging him to let the music play on.
I congratulate Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey on his 75th birthday. Its a great accomplishment to so be blessed by God as he has been.
Ebenezer Obey, whose professional career began in the mid-1950s when he moved to Lagos, has contributed a lot to the development of music in Nigeria and Africa. As a musician with a deep Christian spiritual bend, Obeys music is unique in the way and manner he turns Yoruba axioms bearing rich religious messages into dance-hall compositions.
His popular tracks like What God Has Joined Together, Aimasiko, Eyin Pegan Pegan, Anjade Loni Eledumare, Jesu Olore, Africa is My Home, Ambe o, I am a Winner, etc, remain masterpieces any day. When in early 1990s, he retired into Nigerian gospel music ministry, I knew it could only be short-lived, because when you have a passion for a profession, like Chief Obeys zeal for music, whether secular or gospel, there is no room for retirement.
Security officials said on Monday that two police officers received minor injuries when explosive materials were thrown at their vehicle in the southern Turkish province of Mersin.
A state run Anadolu Agency reported that security forces have launched a full investigation following the attack in the Mezitli district.
Provincial Police Chief Mehmet Sahne said that Mersin Governor Ozdemir Cakacak told Anadolu Agency that the wounded officers were based out of the Tece Police Station.
Cakacak said the explosives could have been detonated by remote control. Investigation of the incident is ongoing.
Colleagues are carefully examining every detail. Our security forces will capture the perpetrators very soon.
The injured police officers were taken to Mersin University hospital, he said, adding that their injuries were minor.
Former Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr Mohammed Adoke might soon be behind bars as the Federal Government is seeking the arrest of the former Attorney. The Federal Government approached the Federal High Court, Abuja, to seek guidance on whether it could make an oral application for issuance of warrant of arrest against .
The warrant was in relation to charges filed against two multinational oil firms, and others including Adoke in connection to an alleged $1.1billion Malabu Oil scam
When the matter was called, counsel to the Federal Government, Mr Johnson Ojogbane, told the court that the defendants were not in court because they were not yet served with court processes.
Ojogbane who is prosecuting for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), said that he had been unable to serve them particularly Adoke because he was not in the country.
We have been unable to serve the defendants in this case particularly the first defendant, because we have been told that he is outside the jurisdiction of this court; outside the country actually.
So I will appreciate if my lord will guide me, because I actually wanted to make an application for a warrant of arrest, so I want to know if I can do that orally or come by way of a motion, Ojogbane said.
He maintained that the EFCC had powers to arrest anyone anywhere, but since Adoke was outside the jurisdiction of the court, they required a warrant of arrest to bring him into the country.
He said that if the court gave the order for a warrant of arrest, it could be endorsed to the International Police (Interpol ) who would begin the process of extradition.
The judge, Justice John Tsoho, however, said that such an application could not be brought orally before the court.
According to Tsoho, if he is already before the court and is attempting to escape trial, then the court could issue a warrant for his arrest.
If he was already arraigned before the court and was trying to run away, then we can issue a warrant, but it is still under investigation, the court cannot make such an order.
Tsoho adjourned the matter till June 13 for arraignment.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), recalls that the EFCC in December 2016, charged nine suspects, including Adoke, over the purchase of OPL 245.
Adoke was accused of illegally transferring more than $800 million, purportedly meant for the purchase of the OPL 245 to Dan Etete, Malabu Oil.
The Federal Government also on March 2, filed fresh charges against Shell Nigeria Exploration Production Company Limited and Agip Nigeria Exploration Limited for alleged complicity in the Malabu $1.1 billion scandal.
Adoke, Etete, Aliyu Abubakar, ENI Spa, Ralph Wetzels, Casula Roberto, Pujatti Stefeno, Burrafati Sebestiano, and Malabu Oil and Gas were charged alongside the two multinational oil firms.
Two persons have been arrested by the Operatives of the 4 Brigade Command of the Nigerian Army in Uhunmwode Local Government Area of Edo State.
One of those arrested was said to be a lady who had gone to the illegal refinery with a truck load of gallons apparently to buy diesel and kerosene.
It was learnt that the large illegal refinery camp located in Obazagbon had several storage tanks for crude which was allegedly siphoned from a broken crude oil pipeline belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
It was gathered several items, including pipes used for the distribution of the refined products to tankers, were abandoned at the scene by the operators, most of whom fled before the arrival of the army personnel.
Over 300,000 litres of crude oil and other refined products were said to have been destroyed during the military operation.
The Brigade Commander, Brigadier-General Ibrahim Garba, who led the team, decried the degradation of the environment during the illegal refining of crude oil in the area.
Garba said that the special force put in place by the army would not tolerate the sabotage of the economy by those he mischievous persons.According to him, the Nigerian Army would not fail in its responsibility of ridding the state of all forms of criminal activities, including economic sabotage.
He, however, urged the management of the NNPC to install sensors on its oil pipelines or use Air Force helicopters for surveillance.
The brigade commander also commended members of the public for providing information which led to the discovery of the camp.
Source: ( Punch Newspaper )
A lifeless body of a commercial motorclist identified as Adewale Aderogba was at the weekend found at the entrance of a pentecostal church(name withheld) at Amuludun street in Ondo city, the headquarters of Ondo west local government area of Ondo State.
The cause of the middle-aged man was not known at the press time.
LEADERSHIP learnt that the deceased used to be an epiletic patient before his untimely death.
The incident, according to a source has thrown the residents of the area into confusion as it was gathered that some of them had fled for fear of indiscriminate arrest by the police.
The source explained that , the deceased went out with his friends to drink on Friday night and his lifeless body was found on Saturday morning by the residents.
Also, some residents of the area called on the police to conduct a thorough investigation over the matter because the deceased was found dead and half-naked.
LEADERSHIP investigation revealed that the police have already arrested the deceaseds friend who went out together with him to drink, for interrogation.
Confirming the incident when contacted on telephone , the Police Public Relations Officer of the Ondo State Police Command, Mr. Femi said that the deceased was an epileptic patient.
The PPRO said , He was an epileptic patient and the same time he is a drunkard. He went out with his friend to drink, at that point he had an epileptic crisis and his friends rushed him to the church for resuscitation and spiritual healing but he died on the way.
He added that in the investigation conducted there was no foul play on the death of Late Aderogba.
Source: Leadership
The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ),has charged the Governors in the Southwest States to use the second tranche of the refund Paris Club for the payment of workers salaries and entitlements of pensioners.
The Union, in a communique issued at the end of B-Zone meeting in Akure, the Ondo State capital, urged the Governor to use judiciously the money ,when realise to them by the federal government.
The communique, jointly endorsed by the Zonal Secretary, Lawal Afolabi, the Chairman of the drafting committee Abiodun Olalere, Bola Ogunlayi and Leke Adegbite, noted with serious concern the high rate at which government and private media workers are being owed salaries.
The union called on media owners to devise better strategies at improving the welfare of media practitioners to justify their commitments to duties.
The communique condemns the recent delay in the confirmation of new INEC RECs as a result of power play between Executive and the National Assembly.
While commending the recent working visit of the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, SAN, to the south west states, the union called on Federal government to improve power supply and address the deplorable condition of roads in the region for enhanced economic development.
The NUJ B-Zone who expressed satisfaction with the steady appreciation of Naira against dollars, urged the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN and Federal Government to evolve more policies that will make the naira strong and move the country out of economic recession.
The zonal meeting which was presided over by the Vice President of the Zone, Cosmas Oni, had in attendance , NUJ National President, Waheed Odusile and union executives from Oyo, Ekiti, Osun, Lagos, Ogun and Ondo states.
Source: Leadership
Pirates have hijacked an Indian commercial ship that was off the coast of Somalia with the vessel heading toward the shore, a Former Government anti-piracy Official revealed.
Abdirizak Dirir, a former director of the anti-piracy agency in Somalias semi-autonomous Puntland region, told Reuters on Monday.
He said: we understand Somali pirates hijacked a commercial Indian ship and (it is heading) towards Somalia shores.
NAN recalls that on March 15, armed pirates off the coast of Somalia hijacked an oil tanker with eight Sri Lankan Nationals on board, demanding a ransom for the release of the vessel.
On March 16, the pirates released the tanker without condition.
In the prime of the crisis in 2011, there were over 220 attacks and the annual cost of piracy was estimated to be up to eight billion euros.
However, some smaller fishing vessels have recently been seized in the area. (Reuters/NAN)
In 2015, Somali officials warned that piracy could return unless the international community put efforts in create jobs and security ashore, as well as combating illegal fishing at sea.
Some Somali fishermen turned to piracy after their livelihoods were destroyed by illegal fishing from foreign trawlers, which benefited from the lack of a functioning coastguard in the country following years of conflict.
Much as Nigerians are comfortably expressing themselves through the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM), illegal depletion of data bundles and deduction of recharged credits are fast eroding that comfort zone.
Almost all subscribers across the country have one complaint or another over these fraudulent deductions by the telcos and they never cease to lament that when GSM came into the country in 2001, there was no inkling that they would be fleeced to the marrow.
GSM is a digital mobile telephony system widely used in Europe and other parts of the world. GSM uses a variation of Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) and is the most widely used of the three digital wireless telephony technologies (TDMA, GSM, and CDMA).
With the current subscriber base of these operators rising each day with MTN Nigeria at 61 million; Globacom, 37.1 million; Airtel, 34.8 million and Etisalat Nigeria at 20 million, so also is the underhand tactics of shortchanging subscribers.
From the estimation of Daily Sun, with N100 daily deductions, MTN would have smiled to the bank with N6.1 billion in one day, N1.8 trillion monthly, while Glo would have done same with N3.7 billion in one day and also N111.3 billion monthly.
Etisalat Nigeria would have also been smiling to the bank with N200 million daily and N6 trillion on monthly basis, while Airtel would have carted away N3.5 billion daily and N105 billion on monthly basis.
With burning anger in their minds, some subscribers of the networks alleged that the service providers are in agreement to over-milk their subscribers.
According to an angry subscriber, Paul Sampson, his MTN is often loaded with N10,000 airtime but this would be deplete under two days without any data subscription. I have sent the Do not disturb code severally but nothing changed and that alone is an issue, he fumed.
Another subscriber, Dan Ugo, a Globacom subscriber, also alleged that his recharged credit seems to be disappearing within hours. It has been on for a while but I just felt that my kids were probably using my phone to call their friends. But since these teenagers are not currently in the country, so how come my credit is evaporating at the wink of an eye?
On his part, Mr. Paul Onomuakpokpo, MTN has fleeced him not just once but severally. Said he: An unsolicited message was sent to my phone that my name will feature in a draw for N10,000,000 and N100 and N200 were deducted from my credit The second day, I had to send Stop to 38427 to opt out even when I never subscribed to it.
The response was that you have successfully unsubscribed from the VIP class but from the third to the fifth days, MTN continued the deduction again. And I have made several attempts to unsubscribe without any success.
Similarly, an Airtel subscriber, Patricia Emem, said her grouse is that her data bundle gets depleted at every subscription. She said she was aware that its possible for a data bundle to be exhausted before the 30-day expiration but when it disappears under one week, then it calls for concern and caution.
For Chinyere Ago, an Etisalat subscriber, she became a loyal subscriber owing to the quality of its data bundle but unfortunately, these days, so many messages she didnt subscribe to keep floading her phone even after sending the stop code, have become nightmare.
You can imagine, loading credit on your phone every other day and discovering that it has disappeared even before you can finish saying hello. It is quite annoying. I learnt all the networks are culpable. I dont know what their regulator, Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), is doing in this regard.
However, the National Co-ordinator of Wireless Application Service Providers Association (WASPAN), Chijioke Ezeh, explained that what subscribers consider as unsolicited mails are bulk messages from the networks and as long as they are on the networks, irrespective of which of them, these bulk messages are from authorised channels where networks can reach their subscribers.
And as long as subscribers have mobile banking or online retail apps on their phones, they will always get such messages because they are authorised. But if the messages are asking to be subscribed to, that is quite rare because there is a fine imposed on that as well as the Do not disturb code to 2442.
Whoever has an issue should get on 2442 because the fines are heavy if contravened.
For data, Ezeh further explained that Value Added Service (VAS) operators have little or nothing to do with data depletion.
VAS operators have virtually nothing to do with data because we do not control that aspect. We route services through the networks, we do not control data or consume data. Whoever is experiencing that has subscribed to services without knowing or even set his phone to update automatically. The challenge is that it will be eating into the data. Most people have lots of games and other apps; they should go back to setting. Whoever has such app running on their mobile phone may experience data depletion or consumption. It has nothing to do with the VAS companies.
He, however, disclosed that when people dont have much apps and are still experiencing data depletion, then it is a breach from the networks, adding that customers should report to the customer care unit because they also have records and if there is no legitimate consumption, such data may be restored.
On his part, Head Public Relations,Consumers Protection Council (CPC), Abiodun Obimuyiwa explained to Daily Sun that though he was just hearing the issue for the first time but would still make enquiries into the issues.
Said he: I am just getting this information about depletion on recharged units but will find out from our complaints section.But if actually, it is happening, subscribers should talk to Consumer protection council. Dont forget that the Minister of Communications, Barr Adebayo Shittu gave his personal account on how he was short changed in the sum of N200 of every N1000 loaded, so, I wont be surprised if Nigerians are going through it. Actually is an abuse of consumer right, which is fradulent and not acceptable to us.
One thing, we should also do as consumers is to monitor units and know how much is left because consumers are the best protector of their rights. Though, monitoring the units may be cumbersome. Sometimes, one may be on a high tariff without knowing but with monitoring one would be active to know which is. However, if the complaints are true, they are abuse of consumers right.
Commenting on this issue, Director, Public Affairs of the NCC, Mr. Tony Ojobo, said affected subscribers should escalate the issue to the 622 platform if the complaints are genuine, and the commission would take it up and sanction such network operator.
The consumers parliament is also another avenue to make public their complaints. Many complaints like that have been addressed and sorted out at such platforms; even a customer got compensation to the tune of N2 million. If the complaints are genuine, there is no problem because we have also discovered that some subscribers are not truthful when the analytical reports on their lines are presented.
Have they reported the case to their network providers? Or even sent stop to 2442? If all these are yes, then they should escalate the issue to 622 for further action. However, NCC will not revoke their licences because of that reason. The business environment has not changed, there is no steady power supply, among other things, so we should also look at their efforts in providing better quality of service.
Most subscribers who use smart phones dont know that automatic updates are not free; once the subscription is exhausted, it eats into the recharged units and they will complain of data and recharged units depletion. The commission has found out on several occasions that subscribers always exhaust their units or subscribe unknowingly to a platform.
One thing I know is that NCC will sanction where appropriate when the findings prove that the network operators are culpable.
Meanwhile, industry critics have said that with the recent publication by the NCC on impact of recession on brand loyalty shows that subscribers appear not quite happy with their service providers and that is why the internet space and subscription shrunk in February.
According to the latest report, telecommunications networks lost about 1,275,573 internet users in February, with MTN losing 714,700 subscribers, the highest in the industry.
The publication indicated that internet users on both GSM and CDMA networks dropped from 91,304,755 in January to 90,029,182 in February. It also showed that of the 90,029,182 internet users in February, 89,998,873 were on GSM networks, while 30,309 were on CDMA networks. Further analysis also showed that GSM service providers lost 1,275,573 internet customers as they recorded 89,998,873 users in February as against 91,274,446 they had in January. The CDMA operators retained 30,309 internet subscribers in February as recorded in January.
The data also revealed that MTN had 30,300,705 subscribers browsing the internet on its network in the month under review but recorded a drop of 714,700 internet subscribers in February after recording 31,015,405 in January.
According to the data, Globacom had 26,932,485 customers surfing the net on its network in February, revealing a decline of 143,787 users from the 27,076,272 who surfed the internet on the network in January.
Airtel had 19,468,684 internet users in February, reducing by 149,801, the number of customers in its January record of 19,618,485.
The data also showed that Etisalat had 13,296,999 customers who browsed the internet in February. It recorded a decrease of 267,285 users from the 13,564,284 users it recorded in January.
The NCC data revealed that the CDMA operators, Multi-Links and Visafone, had a joint total of 30,309 internet users on their networks in February, maintaining their January record.
According to the data, Visafone had 30,305 customers surfing the internet in February, while Multi-Links had four.
Meanwhile, a source in Globacom explained that it would be vague to say that their subscribers are complaining of recharge depletion without the complaints being be backed by a list of affected numbers.
If actually there are complaints, the numbers have to be accessed in order to identify what the problem was to have warranted such, he said.
Source: TheSun
Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman is convinced that it will be possible to raise pensions to citizens of the country from October 1 with the implementation of the pension reform proposed by the government.
"When implementing the pension reform, which the government will propose, I guarantee, that we will qualitatively raise pensions for all Ukrainians from October 1," he said at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers in Kyiv on Monday.
The Enugu Command of the Nigeria Police Force Command has warned masquerades and their assistants against assaulting, harassing, and intimidating Nigerians in the state under whatever guise.
This warning was given by the commands Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu, in a statement he signed and issued in Enugu on Monday.
According to Amaraizu, the police would arrest anyone caught committing any offense under the guise of masquerade displays and festivals.
He noted that the command had continued to say that peoples rights should not be infringed upon in any show or festivity.
The police spokesman also advised communities to celebrate their culture and masquerade festivities within the confines of the law.
He said: The Police have frowned at the report received concerning the alleged recklessness of some masquerades and their assistants on the issue of assault, molestation, and intimidation of good people of the state.
Anyone caught committing offense or wrecking havoc on members of the public under the guise of masquerade festivities will be promptly arrested and prosecuted, he said.
He also disclosed that the command, through its operatives in Nsukka Police Divisional Headquarters, nabbed one of the assistants of Oriokpa Masquerade, Nnamdi Okoro, in Nsukka on March 26.
Okoro was alleged to have assaulted Mr. Ezeugwu Lawrence, which caused him injury on his head at Ugwuoye axis of Nsukka.
Okoro is now helping police operatives in their investigation.
He will be arraigned properly in court after investigation, the police spokesman said.
Source: Dailypost
If you want a tech job in the United States, your chances are better living in California.
According to industry analyst group CompTIA in its Cyberstates 2017 report, California still leads the country when it comes to total tech sector employment. But cities in other states also make a good showing. New York City (and New York state in general); Austin, Texas; Raleigh, N.C.; Boston; Washington, DC; Atlanta; and Chicago are all major hot spots for tech jobs by one measure or another.
Whats more, the overall trend for the U.S. tech job market in 2016 was positive, no matter where you lived.
State of the union
The raw numbers for tech workers in the United States remain upbeat. Approximately 4.4 percent of the overall U.S. workforce6.89 million peopleare employed in some manner of tech job. That's more than are employed in finance/insurance (5.8 million) or construction (6.6 million).
The tech trend has been up across the board since 2010, according to CompTIA, with 2016 seeing a year-over-year gain of 2.7 percent for the overall tech job market. The smallest sector is in software development, where only 357,000 people are employed. But that sector also experienced the fastest annual growth (7.6 percent).
The CompTIA report confirmed another point about the overall robust IT market: People in computer and engineering occupations suffer unemployment at half the average rate for U.S. workers. Average wages are also almost double what they are for other U.S. workers, a rate thats been pretty consistent over the last few years.
One issue with CompTIAs job stats on the tech sector has surfaced time and again, namely that tallies of tech workers can be tough to pin down because of the use of imprecise categories. In its report, CompTIA cited the blurring of lines across industries results in a degree of undercounting in tech sector as a percentage of U.S. employment. In other words, its sometimes not clear what counts as a tech job, as the categories devised by Bureau of Labor Statistics remain behind the times.
Lone star standout
Where you live in the United States is a major determinant for how much access youll have to the IT job market. For years, California has been the biggest tech sector employerand not by a little. There are 1.186 million tech jobs in that state, with 48,000 added last year. California also boasts three of the biggest urban centers for tech in the nation: San Jose, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
Fans of San Francisco may be dismayed to learn that San Jose leads the pack of urban tech centers in California. It ranked No. 1 in tech sector employment concentration vs. overall employment (29.6 percent), No. 1 in average annual tech wages, and only New York City beat it out as a top employer for tech workers generally. San Francisco is No. 3 in concentration (11.5 percent) and No. 2 in annual wages ($168,000 per year vs. San Joses $217,000).
New York City also ranked highly in CompTIAs report, thanks to the prevalence of finance and the city positioning itself as a tech incubator. Texas made a strong showing as well. It ranks No. 2 in total tech sector employment (592,960), although thats roughly half of Californias figure (1,186,470). The state is No. 4 in overall growthneck and neck with New York and North Carolina at 11,060 jobs added last year, although again, California led with 48,580 jobs added in 2016. Aside from its perennial indie-scene rep, Austin has become a major tech employment center, with 12.1 percent of its workers employed in that sector. Texas has 36,250 tech business establishments, putting it ahead of New York (24,330) but still behind California (51,140).
When discussing the modern economy, the contrast isnt so much between cities and rural areas, or between manufacturing and desk jobs. Its now between IT-oriented work and previous-generation jobs. A good tech incubator can pop up anywhere theres a good broadband connection. That said, it remains to be seen if that rejuvenation can come to places once dominated by manufacturing and mining, like Detroit or West Virginia, and not only urban centers already primed to be tech hubs.
S&P500 (ES) Weekly MACD Positively Crossing Tradable Patterns - 1 hour ago The S&P500 (ESZ22) is consolidating a 2 day bounce, and appears to be gearing up this week for a retest of the October high and the 50% Fib retrace of the August to October slide. Any reclaiming of... ESZ22 : 3,806.25 (-0.24%) SPY : 379.95 (+0.96%) SPXS : 23.70 (-2.87%) SPXU : 17.99 (-2.86%) SPXL : 62.52 (+2.88%)
Hog Commentary Walsh Trading - Mon Nov 7, 5:00PM CST Hog markets rallied significantly today with the Dec contract up over $4 and the Feb contract up over $2.50, hitting a high of $89.65 before settling at 89.05 on the day. This rally comes after speculation...
Cotton Closes in Black on Monday Barchart - Mon Nov 7, 4:46PM CST Mondays cotton trade added 16 to 87 points to the rally. December ended the day up by 56 points and to levels not seen since 10/11. NASS reported 62% of the cotton crop was harvested through 11/6. That... CTZ22 : 86.72 (-0.88%) CTH23 : 85.04 (-0.92%) CTK23 : 84.36 (-0.83%)
Cattle Close Higher on Monday Barchart - Mon Nov 7, 4:46PM CST Live cattle futures ended the week with $0.47 to $1.40 gains led by the Dec contract. Feeder cattle closed the day with 30 to 70 cent gains. Cash trade was quiet on Monday. Last weeks cash price was... LEZ22 : 153.050s (+0.92%) LEG23 : 155.025s (+0.42%) LEJ23 : 158.550s (+0.35%) GFX22 : 178.225s (+0.22%) GFF23 : 179.925s (+0.17%)
$4 Gain for Dec Hogs Barchart - Mon Nov 7, 4:46PM CST December hogs rallied $4.60 of their $4.75 limit at the high on the day, and closed with a $4.07 gain. That took the contract back to 10/27 levels. The other front months also closed higher, but the gains... HEZ22 : 87.050s (+4.91%) HEJ23 : 94.350s (+2.11%) KMZ22 : 96.200s (+2.48%)
Double Digit Pullback for Soy Futures Barchart - Mon Nov 7, 4:46PM CST The new week of soybean trading ended with beans 8 1/4 to 12 cents in the red. Jan beans closed near their low on a 22c range. Meal prices bounced in the afternoon to end mixed within $1.50/ton of UNCH.... ZSX22 : 1440-4 (unch) ZSPAUS.CM : 14.1524 (-0.72%) ZSF23 : 1449-4 (unch) ZSH23 : 1458-0 (unch)
Wheats Fade into Close Barchart - Mon Nov 7, 4:46PM CST Afternoon action in Mondays wheat market left the board mixed but mostly higher. CBT prices went home with a penny to 3 cent losses. Dec closed mostly mid ranged on the 30 cent range. KC HRW futures... ZWZ22 : 839-4 (-0.74%) ZWH23 : 857-4 (-0.75%) ZWPAES.CM : 7.7799 (-0.24%) KEZ22 : 954-2 (-0.31%) KEPAWS.CM : 9.1529 (+0.44%) MWZ22 : 956-4 (-0.39%)
Corn Market Closes Monday Red Barchart - Mon Nov 7, 4:46PM CST Mondays corn futures market ended the session with 2 to 5 1/4 cent losses for the front months, For December that was the weakest close since 10/6. The December to December premium tightened to now... ZCZ22 : 675-2 (unch) ZCPAUS.CM : 6.7306 (-0.72%) ZCH23 : 681-2 (unch) ZCK23 : 681-2 (unch)
AT 4:47 IN THE afternoon on Sunday, February 12, more than 13,000 Californians were ordered to leave their homes.
Some, at the direction of the Butte County Sheriffs Office, headed north, past the town of Oroville. Others, however, heeded the call of the Yuba County Office of Emergency Services, whose bulletin screamed different directions: Take only routes to the east, south, or west. DO NOT TRAVEL NORTH TOWARD OROVILLE!!!!!
Confusion and fear reigned. Highways turned into parking lots and then closed. Emergency evacuation centers filled up. This is not a drill, warned the initial alert. Repeat, this is not a drill.
After weeks of rain and snowmelt, immense flooding had severely strained the Oroville Dam. Authorities feared it could burst within the hour.
A Look Inside the Californian Water Crisis
Suspended above Oroville and the Sacramento Valley, the Oroville Dam blocks the Feather River as it emerges from the snow-covered mountains of the Sierra Nevada. On a typical day water freed from the dam flows in an orderly fashion through a hydraulic power plant before making its way down through the Central Valley and eventually to Los Angeles. But February 12 was no typical day.
The lake had been rising all week. By 3:00 that afternoon water levels were dangerously high. The decision had been made to use an emergency spillway to drain off the excess, like a valve releasing heat from a pressure cooker. But cracks and then a massive hole appeared in the spillway. Authorities were forced to turn to the backup spillway, which had not been used since the dam was constructed in 1968. That spillway began to rapidly erode; water flowed over the top of it. Suddenly, California was facing a disaster beyond the scope of most peoples imaginations.
That same day Orovilles mayor, Linda Dahlmeier, was flying back from a business trip. Upon boarding her flight to Sacramento, she decided to get some rest. When she landed and turned on her cell phone, it exploded with urgent alerts, voice mails, and e-mails. During the mayors short flight, an emergency had been declared.
Dahlmeier immediately called Ted Craddock, chief of utility operations for the California Department of Water Resources. I asked him two questions, she recalls. How could this have happened? Nobody could have predicted it, Craddock replied. Then I asked him, How far down is the water?
Forty feet, he said.
Dahlmeier has lived around water her entire life, and she knew immediately what that meant: A tidal wave of water could come crashing down on the communities below the dam.
Nobody would have lived, she says. Life as we know it in California would have changed forever.
FLOODING IS ONLY one of many water concerns in America. Although images of Hurricane Katrinas aftermath still sear the countrys consciousness, droughts and contamination are more persistent, if less immediately damaging, than disasters on that scale. For every New Orleans there are many Flints (lead contamination) and Californias (until recently, persistent water shortages). The human toll is immense and hardly limited to the U.S.: flooding, droughts, and poor water quality affect countries worldwide.
A significant contributing factor is massive underinvestment. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the U.S. needs to spend a minimum of $655 billion on water infrastructure over the next 20 years to continue supplying Americans with healthy, safe water. California forecasts that it needs more than $50 billion to reduce flooding risk within its borders. Governor Jerry Browns ambitious WaterFix program a controversial project formerly known as the Bay Delta Conservation Plan seeks to address some of the states most pressing water problems. It is estimated to cost about $17 billion.
The scale of global water needs is hard to fathom. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development puts the bill for improved water supply and sanitation at $6.7 trillion by 2050. In remarks at the landmark 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris, OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria explained that by 2050, nearly 4 billion people will live in river basins under severe water stress, and global nitrogen effluents from wastewater are projected to grow by 180 percent. Over the same period, global demand for water is expected to grow by 55 percent. The international community is finally waking up to the gravity of the situation, and we have set ourselves a number of ambitious objectives. Gurria continued, But lets be clear: These efforts will fall short unless we resolve the question of access to finance for water infrastructure.
Governments alone will not be able to foot the bill. Private investors realize that water has the potential to be a multibillion-dollar market, but the peculiar nature of water it is essential for life, considered a human right, and the most valuable commodity on earth even though its often given away makes privatization particularly sensitive. Yet investors participation is essential for a solution.
First, they must overcome waters unique problems.
For one, scale is a challenge. There are 53,000 regulated community water systems in the U.S. Some are very large; most are tiny. The diffuse nature of Americas control over water makes it hard for investors to put money to work and for smaller entities often those most in need of capital to raise it.
Price is another problem. Bluntly put, water is not as expensive as it should be. Ultimately, the solution is to price it and have everyone pay the same price, or a reasonable market price, for the cost of providing the water, says David Richardson, a managing director at Impax Asset Management Group, one of the few equity managers to offer a specific water investment fund.
The price of water is going to rise because it has to, agrees Tom Ferguson, vice president at Imagine H2O, a San Franciscobased accelerator for water-focused start-ups. The question is how fast and how far.
Perhaps more problematic than waters complexity and price is the fact that people arent entirely comfortable with billionaires and private equity firms owning what comes out of their taps. Because of this, investors experiences with water have been mixed. Legendary financier T. Boone Pickens is among the best known of the investors who have sought to get rich in water. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, the oil speculator began acquiring water rights in the Texas panhandle, with plans to sell the water located on 443,000 acres below ground, in the Ogallala Aquifer to the Dallas metro area. Pickenss proposal outraged many environmentalists and communities, especially as it would have taken resources away from drought-stricken areas. In 2011, after more than a decade of negotiations, Pickens sold the rights to a local supplier for $103 million, having failed to strike a deal with Dallas or make as much money as hed hoped. Other investors, such as private equity firm Carlyle Group, have dabbled in water with only moderate success.
Despite such controversies, outside money is expected to flow into this space like water over the Oroville Dam. The need for it is too great and in California that need can be traced, in part, back to these very same investors.
THE PEOPLE OF OROVILLE fled their homes because of almonds.
Their town is a straight one-hour drive north of Sacramento, Californias sleepy capital. The Feather River, passing through the Oroville Dam, is a major tributary of the Sacramento River, which shapes the Sacramento Valley. That valley and the San Joaquin Valley farther south make up the states Central Valley, which stretches 450 miles down the backbone of California.
The Central Valley is one of the most fertile places on earth. The vast majority of Americas fruits and vegetables are grown in California; the state and its Central Valley are responsible for 99 percent or more of the countrys almonds, artichokes, dates, figs, grapes, olives, peaches, pistachios, pomegranates, and walnuts. In January and February, when farmers markets in New York City offer only endless radishes and sad-looking root vegetables, the stalls in California boast a bounty of fruit, including avocados and Meyer lemons.
Such abundance requires immense amounts of water, and this demand, dating back to the California gold rush, spawned arcane rules governing the usage of the water pouring through, among other places, Oroville. The states fundamental problem isnt so much a lack of water but its uneven distribution: Northern California has too much, while most of Central and Southern California has too little.
To solve this problem, a complex infrastructure developed, including the 21 dams and 700 miles of tunnels that make up the California State Water Project (SWP). On top of this are overwhelming numbers of water authorities and regulators. Rights are often fought over in court. Infrastructure construction is perpetual, and ambitious plans are always being proposed and opposed.
Established in 1960, the still-incomplete State Water Project was an engineering marvel of its time. The initiative gathers water from where it is plentiful and redistributes it to 28 agencies or enterprises farther south. Beneficiaries include Los Angeles, San Diego, the San Francisco Bay Area, the Santa Clara Valley, the Central Coast, and the San Joaquin Valley. Key to the project is the Oroville Dam, which at 770 feet is the tallest in the U.S. (The more famous Hoover Dam is 45 feet shorter.)
While 70 percent of the projects water goes to urban areas, a crucial 30 percent is allocated to farmers. Their water is cheap. The second-largest SWP entitlement holder, Kern County Water Agency, which primarily serves agriculture, pays about $45 an acre-foot, while Los Angeles Metropolitan Water District of Southern California pays $298 per acre-foot. Farmers also tap rivers, inlets, and underground sources.
The complexity of Californias system of water rights and access was starkly highlighted by the recent drought, from 2012 to 2016. Water was in such short supply that cities and towns were asked to drastically cut back their usage. In April 2015, Governor Brown issued an executive order directing the State Water Resources Control Board to cut urban water usage statewide by 25 percent. Farmers werent entirely spared: In February 2014 the Bureau of Reclamation, a federal agency under the Department of the Interior that oversees water resource management, announced that some farms in the Central Valley would be getting none of the water they had requested for that year; others would get up to 40 percent. The next year was more of the same. With federal water supplies down, farmers turned to their local rights, leading to intense battles and lawsuits. At the same time, several of the states valuable (and irreplaceable) aquifers were depleted.
A popular villain emerged from this scorched earth: the almond farmer. The almond industry is hypersensitive to any accusations that it exacerbated the California drought, but the nuts are an undeniably thirsty, and popular, crop. Producing one almond takes approximately one gallon of water. A grape takes less than a third of a gallon.
Anywhere from 70 to 80 percent of Californias water is used by agribusiness, says F. Rowe Michels, the Southern Californiabased CEO of Alpheus Water Research. One has to question whether agribusiness is sustainable, because for the past 30 years the number of wells that go into the aquifers to pull up water has been increasing exponentially. Michels adds that the Colorado River, Southern Californias other great source of water, often does not get to Mexico anymore. And the big reservoirs are drawing down. The past year of good moisture will help some, but its really a little hiccup.
Almond farmers feel unfairly maligned by the backlash. Their product, they argue, is highly nutritious and consumes little water compared with, say, cattle. Yet it is striking how much the California almond industry has grown over the past decade. The state had 1.1 million acres of almonds in 2015, up from 700,000 in 2005, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. At the height of the drought, farmers converted vineyards to almond operations. The reason was simple: money. In 2013 a pound of almonds fetched $3.21; in 2000 it was worth 97 cents. The value of the California almond crop in 2013 was $6.4 billion, up from $666 million in 2000.
And who owns the almonds? Big investors. TIAA Investments, part of the TIAA family of financial businesses, is among the worlds top almond producers. TIAA and other investment managers, including Hancock Agricultural Investment Group, have been buying up farmland in California. In some cases Hancock replaced existing crops with more lucrative, and thirstier, pistachio and almond trees. (When asked for comment, a TIAA spokesperson e-mailed the following to Institutional Investor: TIAA is a long-term investor in farmland committed to sustainable agricultural practices such as our water management and conservation programs which are designed to efficiently use natural resources to meet the demands of local climates and geographies where we invest.)
For investors the allure of these lucrative crops is clear. But for California where most experts believe droughts are set to continue despite the recent reprieve the move toward crops that are less, not more, sustainable in a low-water environment merely adds to the states burdens. And if profit-driven investors cannot be trusted to support the delicate California ecosystem with their farming practices, some wonder what will happen when they get their hands on the water itself.
VISITING OROVILLE almost a month to the day after the forced evacuations, one sees a town facing a major renovation project.
Engineers were able to increase the flow to the primary spillway and draw down water levels, avoiding disaster. Residents were allowed back within a few days. But the damage to the water system and surrounding area was significant, and repairs are estimated to cost in the hundreds of millions. Roads and pathways near Lake Oroville and its dam were still closed, with hundreds of workers beavering away to fix what broke. Showing remarkable resilience and a Californian sense of whimsy, many residents in the affected areas displayed signs in their front yards featuring slogans such as Thanks for not cracking under pressure and In concrete we trust. Massive cement trucks trundled by, delivering their loads to the construction area.
Locals had never felt they were in particular danger from their dam. As one resident says, It was always just there. Though some red flags were raised about a decade ago concerning the state of Orovilles water system, Californias largest state-operated dam was on practically no ones list of critical infrastructure projects. Instead, what concerned, and still concerns, the people of Oroville is how little they get in return for sharing their most valuable resource with the rest of the state, including investors like TIAA and other owners of water-heavy crops.
Mayor Dahlmeier likes to say that my tap water comes from God; everyone else gets their water from us. She lives in a painstakingly restored midcentury modern home in one of Orovilles elevated neighborhoods. She wears cowboy boots and denim. This is what rural America looks like, she says. Below her house the Sacramento Valley rolls out, a carpet of farms and water. A Meyer lemon tree grows in her yard.
The mayor, who took office in January 2011, hopes to use the dam crisis to draw attention to the pressures her community is under. Undercapitalized and underresourced, Oroville lacks the political clout for its voice to be heard at either the national or the state level. Lacking much in the way of jobs or prospects, town residents voted almost overwhelmingly for Donald Trump, not necessarily because they agreed with his policies like most of rural America, the local farming industry relies heavily on migrant labor but because they felt he at least gave voice to their dissatisfaction.
With a population of 19,000, Oroville only recently got its first Starbucks. Jerry Brown waited nine days after the dam crisis before visiting, for which he was severely criticized. When the governor did show, some felt his public remarks focused more on large, flashy infrastructure projects like the LA-toSan Francisco bullet train and his own WaterFix, which would build two new tunnels to channel water from Northern to Southern California than on little Oroville.
In particular, the town feels it got a rotten deal when the dam was built. Oroville was promised that jobs and tourism would come, but much of the promise was never fulfilled. Although money is now coming in to fix the dam, Dahlmeier is worried that her town will once again miss out on its share of the pie.
She is probably right.
CALIFORNIA IS ABOUT to embark on something of a water spending frenzy. The problem, however, is that the spending may overlook places like Oroville.
In November 2014 voters passed Proposition 1, which raised a $7.5 billion bond for water investments in support of the California Water Action Plan, an initiative to put the state on a path to sustainable water. The largest chunk of that $7.5 billion, some $2.7 billion, is being directed toward water storage projects. This is not your typical grant program, says California Water Commission board member Joseph Byrne. It is considered an investment program. We are not just giving money for people to just broadly do whatever they want. To be eligible for the program, projects must have a public benefit. The largest portion of the fund 50 percent or more will go to projects that enhance the ecosystem, but other projects can deal with recreation, flood control, emergency response, and water quality. Projects must be for-profit and 50 percent externally funded.
But private money rarely invests so heavily in water. ?Today the private sector accounts for just 9 percent of U.S. water and sewage infrastructure spending, according to consulting firm McKinsey & Co. For the power sector that figure is 92 percent.
One possible solution is for local communities and utilities to issue their own bonds to make up for the 50 percent of Water Action Plans that must be externally funded. Yet these groups, seeking to tap the commission for smaller projects, could be challenged to raise outside capital. Because they do not oversee large populations and often are responsible for poorer rural areas like Oroville, they lack the potential revenue base to raise money.
The Aspen Institute, which hosts an annual forum on water in partnership with Duke University, identified funding for these smaller utilities as a key problem in its 2016 report. Small water utilities or agricultural businesses dont often have the revenue base to recover full costs, and so are unlikely to take financial risks, the report said. Additionally, the transaction costs . . . are high, incentivizing investors to focus on larger deals.
Trevor dOlier-Lees, senior director in the infrastructure practice at S&P Global Ratings, contributed to the Aspen Institute discussion. He says one option for these smaller projects and utilities is bundling grouping a number of similar projects together. The trouble with water is a lot of typical projects might only cost $7 million, $10 million, or even $40 million, and you really dont get investors excited about that size of project. What bundling does is it takes a series of projects into one financing and suddenly investors say, Im interested in that. DOlier-Lees says bundling has been used to great effect for infrastructure-related projects in Canada and the U.S., and is just now being explored by some water-related entities.
To some, the most effective means of funding water projects is through big money: sovereign funds, state pension plans, and private equity firms. One such investor that owns water is the California Public Employees Retirement System. The $300 billion, Sacramento-based fund is the major owner of the Willow Springs Water Bank. Located in Antelope Valley, part of the Mojave Desert, the water storage facility helps keep Southern California hydrated during dry periods and allows it to store water during times of plenty. The water bank currently offers local utilities as much as 500,000 acre-feet of water storage in underground aquifers. Willow Springs long-term plan includes 1,000 acres of percolation ponds, pump stations, 62 water wells, a 72- to 84-inch two-way pipeline, and 640 acres of solar panels. The water banks partners are among the groups expected to apply for part of that $2.7 billion in water storage bond money to help finance the next stage of development.
When it comes to private sector money, Californians might want to be careful what they wish for.
One example makes this clear. Private equity firm Carlyle Group acquired Park Water Co. in 2010. The family-owned utility in Downey, California, provided water to southeast Los Angeles County. It also owned two other utilities, Apple Valley Ranchos Water Co. and Montana Water Co.; the first served Apple Valley, California, and the latter provided water to Missoula, Montana. Since Park Waters deal with Carlyle, both Missoula and Apple Valley have sued under eminent domain in an attempt to take back control of their water providers. Starting in 2011 the people of Apple Valley saw their rates increase repeatedly, including a 2015 surcharge to make up for lower usage; they now pay $300 to $400 per year more for water than customers of local public water utilities.
The challenges are even greater in developing countries. A 2013 study by a group of nongovernmental organizations accused Dutch institutional investors, including pension plans ABP and PGGM funds that pride themselves on being progressive and sustainable investors of participating in a global land and water grab through investments in real assets in countries such as Sierra Leone and Mozambique. For countries with very little in the way of water infrastructure, even the slightest change to land use can have devastating effects on local communities.
RATHER THAN WAITING on old-line private equity firms or other large institutional investors to ride to the rescue, the people of California are looking 150 miles southwest of Oroville. There, in the office buildings of San Francisco and Silicon Valley, are the nonprofits and early-stage venture funds that give the area its unique culture and potentially give the state and world a solution to their water woes.
As California baked in its recent drought, the Bay Area came under increasing pressure to turn its attention away from social networking and toward fundamental problems of water and climate. Water and venture capital arent an entirely natural fit, however. First, water suffers from a lack of market pricing. Second, as with energy, anyone brave enough to plunge into water investing faces a preexisting and complex system.
Imagine H2Os Tom Ferguson believes there is immense potential at the nexus of new money and water. The firm was founded in 2009 as a hub for water-related businesses. If you are brave enough to be an entrepreneur, that is one thing, Ferguson says. If you are brave enough to be an entrepreneur in water, that is a whole other thing. Water is largely overlooked by Silicon Valley, he asserts, but lack of competition isnt necessarily a bad thing from an investors perspective. In water, Ferguson says, you can throw a cat and hit a billion-dollar market. Of the 80 start-ups Imagine H2O has invested in, the survival rate is an impressive 85 percent. If you are looking to build a sustainable business over the long term, there are oceans of opportunity, Ferguson says, though he warns that many water companies are not good candidates for venture capital, lacking the type of rapid growth that this money demands.
Along with entities like Imagine H2O, the venture philanthropy, not-for-profit, and impact investing communities have started to take up the challenge of water. The Walton Family Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, for example, have founded the Colorado River Collaborative, an effort to address water scarcity in the Colorado River basin. But water is crying out for its own charismatic billionaire an Elon Musk or a Bill Gates to take up the cause.
Dahlmeier, for her part, would like Silicon Valley to come to Oroville. She points out that Oroville is only a short 20-minute helicopter ride from the San Francisco Bay Area, but sometimes when it rains it is impossible to get a reliable phone connection there. We are the thread that sews the tapestry of America together, she says. If it were not for rural America, urban America would not exist.
Dahlmeier sincerely believes that with the right investment her town could yet become a sort of Facebook on the Forebay, a hub of learning and technology set in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. This is where the future is going to lie, the mayor says. In all of us. This is how you are going to fix things.
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The president will take a more aggressive stance with China and Russia if Republicans win the House or the Senate, according to BCA Researchs Matt Gertken.
The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has extended the catastrophe declaration in the wake of Cyclone Debbie.
Areas of northern New South Wales and south-east Queensland that were not included in the original catastrophe declaration before Cyclone Debbie made landfall last week have now been included.
Rob Whelan, CEO of the ICA, said that 7,500 claims had been lodged on Friday by noon, Queensland time, but he expects that insured losses could reach hundreds of millions as home and business owners return to their properties.
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This level of catastrophe has not been seen since ex-TC Oswald in 2014, when storms and flooding affected large parts of Queensland and NSW and caused insurance losses of almost $1.2 billion, Whelan said.
I assure NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk that the insurance industry is harnessing its resources to help customers in a fair and timely manner.
Up to 20,000 people were ordered to evacuate Lismore and surrounding areas in northern New South Wales last week as flood waters rose to unprecedented levels.
The city is expected to be declared a natural disaster zone as flood levels reached 11.5 metres, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
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Poroshenko, Merkel and Hollande discuss over phone violation of ceasefire regime in Donbas from April 1
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko on Monday held a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, the presidential press service has reported.
"The interlocutors discussed the situation in Donbas. Poroshenko condemned the continuing aggression on the part of Russia and the continuation of shelling by its military, as well as Russian militants, in particular, with the use of heavy weapons, despite the announcement of the ceasefire regime from April 1," a message says.
The sides noted the need to consolidate the ceasefire.
At the same time, the president of Ukraine stressed the importance of the release of all hostages in the occupied Donbas and Russia.
"The leaders of Ukraine, Germany and France confirmed the importance of further work towards the implementation of the Minsk agreements," the information says.
Poroshenko also thanked Merkel and Hollande for their support in introducing a visa-free regime for Ukrainians.
A new strategic partnership for the marine sector has been forged between Proteus Marine Insurance Pty Ltd, a specialist underwriting agency that is part of NM Insurance Group, and QBE Insurance Australia, for the Steadfast network.The new partnership will include new business development underwriters focused on supporting the Steadfast network locally, with QBE providing security.The deal will see Proteus act as the underwriting agent for QBE for Steadfast brokers new business from May 01.Marine Insurance is at the core of what NM Insurance stands for, and we look forward to working with our partners to maximise the opportunities they have in this sector, and continue to be a partner of choice nationwide, said Lyndon Turner , NM Insurance CEO. Robert Kelly , CEO and managing direct of Steadfast Group Ltd added: QBE and Steadfast have a strong working relationship and I am sure this venture will build on the strength of both companies to further our expansion into the Commercial Marine market.
Corcoran officials are advising residents to buy flood insurance as early as possible to protect them from the potential damage that may ensue from snow melt at the nearby Tulare Lake.Local officials have been alert to potential flooding that may result from snow melt which is expected to flow through the Kaweah, Kings and Tule rivers and converge at the lowest point in the San Joaquin Valley.A February survey also revealed that the California city had sunk two feet in two years due to land subsidence.The Sacramento Bee reported that to cope, the local flood district undertook an expansion of the levee protecting the city by raising the levee by four feet. When finished, the 14 mile long levee will be 15 feet tall and 20 feet wide. It is expected to finish in May.Apart from the city residents, local officials are concerned about two prison facilities that are at risk from flooding as well.Corcorans 23,000 residents have been advised to buy flood insurance because it takes some time for the policy to take full effect, while contingency plans have been made to ensure the safety of the 9,000 inmates in a correctional facility and a substance abuse treatment institution in the city.
A 2014 Louisiana lawsuit against State Farm is in stasis, but the Attorney Generals office does not want it dismissed.The legal action was originally filed by former Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, which alleged that the insurer pushed auto repairs to predetermined shops and engaged in underhanded cost-cutting practices, which involved using old or damaged parts to repair the cars of claimants.Local media outlet Louisiana Record reported that District Judge Donald Johnson dismissed the case in December 2015, but Caldwell refiled the case for review in January 2016.However, he lost to Jeff Landry in the November 2015 attorney general derby, so Caldwell was not able to follow through with the complaint.Still, Landry said in a statement that he does not want the case dismissed even if the last action taken in the case was recorded in March 2016.The Record also quoted a statement from Press Secretary Ruth Wisher as saying, All cases and contracts begun in the previous administration are under review to ensure the Department of Justice upholds the rule of law, adheres to the Constitution, and protects the right of the state and its citizens.
Financial services provider Securian Financial Group has closed its purchase of a cluster of companies that provide and distribute insurance in Canada, according to a news release.Securian first announced plans for the acquisitions in November. The US company purchased several companies from Canadian insurer ivari, including providers Canada Premier Life Insurance Company and Legacy General Insurance Company, distributor CRI Canada, and Selient, a company that provides customized loan and insurance point-of-sale technology to Canadian credit unions.The companies will remain in Canada as independently operated affiliates of Securian, according to the release. CEO Nicole Benson, who has had the reins of the businesses since 2005, will remain in charge.The move marks Securians first foray into the Canadian insurance market. The transaction will give the US company more than 2 million Canadian customers, $284.6 million in direct premium boosting Securians direct premium from financial institutions by 43% and about 150 new employees.This acquisition leverages Securians deep expertise in the financial institution space and furthers our leadership position in the North American Market, said Securian President and CEO Chris Hilger. We are also expanding our platform to reach middle-market consumers, a strategic growth priority.
The pull out of the proposed replacement for the Affordable Care Act has left many states in the lurch.In a bid to find solutions, California Senator Ricardo Lara has proposed a single player healthcare system, in which the state will undertake negotiations with various suppliers on behalf of its policyholders.Under the proposed program, the state government will be the one to deal with providers, pharmaceutical companies, and other carriers and suppliers to negotiate prices for services and prescriptions.The Sacramento Bee outlined an explanation from Laras office that enrolment in the public program will be compulsory for California residents, and that insurance providers will not be allowed to offer coverage for services already included in the state initiative.With Republicans failure to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Californians really get what is at stake with their healthcare, Lara told the publication. We have the chance to make universal healthcare a reality now. Its time to talk about how we get to healthcare for all that covers more and costs less.In addition, The Healthy California Act, also known as Senate Bill 562, will provide all medical care, covering inpatient, outpatient, emergency care, dental, vision, mental health and nursing home care. It would also do away with co-pays and insurance deductibles, allowing members to choose their doctors and eliminating the need for referrals.However, Governor Jerry Brown expressed skepticism over the measure.This is called the unknown by means of the more unknown. In other words, you take a problem, and say I am going to solve it by something thatsa bigger problem, which makes no sense, he said in the report.This is not Californias first encounter with single player insurance. The Sacramento Bee said that several similar programs have been proposed over the years, but have not won voter approval.Furthermore, Lara has yet to outline a plan for financing his proposed program.
Pennsylvania businesses will see another cut in workers compensation insurance rates while maintaining benefit levels for injured workers, Wolf Administration cabinet secretaries for the Pennsylvania Insurance Department and Labor & Industry announced.
Insurance Commissioner Teresa Miller and Labor & Industry Secretary Kathy Manderino made the announcement at an event at Global Advanced Metals in Boyertown, Penn.
Workers comp insurance rates will drop 6.21 percent, effective April 1, reducing a key expense for many companies and saving Pennsylvania businesses an estimated $150 million this year.
This significant rate cut comes on top of reductions during my administrations first two years, which improved our states standing across the nation for this cost of doing business, Governor Tom Wolf said in a statement. [This] reduction will further help business owners create jobs that pay in Pennsylvania and at the same time, maintain fair benefits for workers injured on the job, something that is vital for families financial well-being and peace of mind.
The rate cut announcement comes following a national study released last November, showing Pennsylvania improved its standing among states in workers comp insurance costs under the Wolf Administration, dropping from 17th highest to 26th highest from 2014 to 2016.
The Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services conducted the study comparing workers comp insurance rates for 50 selected employment classes based on methods that put states workers comp rates on a comparable basis with a constant set of state-specific risk classifications.
Commissioner Miller said her department under Gov. Wolfs leadership is working to maintain a vibrant and competitive workers compensation insurance market, helping keep costs down.
More than 325 companies offer workers compensation insurance coverage in Pennsylvania, Commissioner Miller said in a statement. This means employers are able to find attractive, cost-efficient options for this vital insurance.
The rate reduction follows the Insurance Departments approval of the Pennsylvania Compensation Rating Bureaus annual loss cost filing. These loss costs are used to determine the premiums businesses pay for workers compensation insurance. The premium savings for an individual employer will vary based on the employers risk classification, claims experience and other factors. Not all employers will see a decrease.
This is the sixth consecutive workers compensation insurance cut in as many years, and brings the cumulative savings to $720 million for the past six years. Workers compensation insurance covers the cost of medical care and rehabilitation for injured workers and lost wages and death benefits for the dependents of those killed in work-related accidents.
Another important component of this announcement is that benefit levels have been maintained for injured workers. Labor & Industry Secretary Manderino said certified workplace safety committees, overseen by her department, are key for both cost and safety.
Certified workplace safety committees help employers and workers keep safety top-of-mind at all times, Secretary Manderino said in a statement. And those companies with a committee receive a five percent discount on their workers comp insurance premiums.
More than 11,220 state-certified workplace safety committees have been established since March 1994, protecting more than 1,463,000 workers. Additionally, employers with certified workplace safety committees have saved close to $604.2 million in workers compensation premiums. These savings in insurance costs are due solely to the five percent premium discount provided to businesses that have these committees.
Secretary Manderino added her departments Bureau of Workers Compensation Health & Safety Division provides employers with the most up-to-date and relevant safety information and benefits possible for employees. Employers should contact their insurance company or agent for more information about how their workers compensation premiums will be affected.
Source: Pennsylvania Press Room
Topics Workers' Compensation Pennsylvania
Connecticut state workers and retirees will not get part of a $94 million stock windfall received by the state in 2001 and then used to help fill a budget gap.
The state Supreme Court on Friday rejected the workers appeal that they, not the state, should have received the Anthem Insurance stock that was issued when the company switched from a mutual to a shareholder-owned company.
The court ruled in 2010 that Connecticut had immunity from the workers lawsuit, but it allowed the case against Anthem to go forward.
Anthem argued that a provision of its 1997 merger with the Connecticut company that insured state employees was that policies held before the merger kept their original terms. Before 1997, policies in Connecticut considered the group to be the official member, not the individuals.
The high court, in a unanimous ruling, agreed with a judge who found the Anthem policy documents were ambiguous with respect to the plaintiffs entitlement to membership in Anthem Insurance and a share of the demutualization proceeds.
Anthem said in a written statement that it was pleased with the ruling.
Anthem has maintained throughout that its demutualization was conducted properly and in a manner that was fair and reasonable to Anthems members, the company said. Both the Connecticut Supreme Court and the trial court have now agreed with Anthems position.
The attorney representing the state employees, who had been granted class-action status in the case, did not immediately return a phone call Friday seeking comment.
The state received 1.6 million shares of Anthem stock in 2001 and sold it for $93,768,950, according to the decision. The money went into the 2002-03 state general fund to help erase a budget deficit.
If the workers and retirees had won against Anthem, the value of their stock payouts would have ranged from a few hundred dollars to up to $15,000, depending on factors such as how much they paid in insurance premiums.
Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Topics Connecticut
Damage to rail lines in cyclone-hit northeast Australia is set to disrupt exports of the steel-making material from the worlds largest coking coal region, underpinning prices and raising the prospect of major producers declaring force majeure.
The extent of the damage, which will hit coal mines operated by BHP Billiton Ltd and Glencore PLC, was revealed in the wake of deadly Cyclone Debbie, which struck last week and left a disaster zone stretching 1,000 km (600 miles). Four people have died in floods in Queensland and New South Wales states, with another three missing.
Coal hauler Aurizon Holdings said on Monday it would take up to five weeks to repair parts of its network of rail lines that connects mines to ports in Queensland, with alternative routes being considered for coal transported on the worst-affected Goonyella line.
Queensland accounts for more than 50 percent of global seaborne coking coal supplies, with Goonyella alone transporting more than half of the states coal mostly coking coal, used for steel making.
The entire industry is facing a force majeure issue. I dont see any way around it if it is going to impact that amount of shipments, said a senior industry source.
Yancoal Australia Ltd already declared force majeure on its Middlemount mine, with bigger operators waiting to see if they will be able to fulfill contracts with customers in Japan, China, South Korea and India.
The floods are the worst to hit the region since Cyclone Yasi in 2011 which inundated many coal mines and led to a surge in prices as miners struggled to resume output.
By Monday several coal terminals, including Abbot Point and Dalrymple Bay, had reopened but had not yet commenced shipping coal, officials said.
AME Group chief economist Mark Pervan said the export of 12 to 15 million tonnes of coal shipments could be affected.
Were talking 3 to 4 percent of global coking supply with a question mark over it, Pervan said.
The disruptions could push up the price of hard coking coal, currently around $159 a tonne, and feed into second-quarter contract prices between miners and steelmakers, depending on stockpiles held at ports and by steelmakers.
Once those are depleted expect the spot market to be well bid, said Commonwealth Bank commodities strategist Vivek Dhar.
U.S.-based coal producer Peabody Energy Corp said its Queensland mines had restarted but it was too early to assess the impact of the rail outages. A Glencore spokesman said coal export volumes would be significantly impacted until repairs to the rail system were completed.
Representatives from Anglo American PLC Rio Tinto and BHP, which runs its mines in partnership with Japans Mitsubishi Corp, could not immediately comment on the impact of the rail stoppages.
Human Toll
While the low pressure system is moving out to the Tasman Sea, persistent rain and run-off mean floodwaters continue to rise in some areas.
Its just debris everywhere, with piles of rubbish and desks and chairs and computers and all sort of stuff just pulled out of shops and put on the kerb, said emergency services worker Narelle Johnson, speaking to Reuters from the flooded town of Lismore.
I think in a lot of ways today is when its really sort of starting to hit, but the town itself is really pulling together.
The Insurance Council of Australia said nearly 20,000 claims had already been filed, with an early insured loss figure of A$224 million ($171 million), a number sure to rise.
In the cyclone-hit tropics, Australias Defence Force was helping to deliver medical personnel and supplies, while tens of thousands of people remain without electricity.
At Rockhampton in Queensland, river levels are still rising and are due to peak on Wednesday, with major flooding predicted.
($1 = 1.3158 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Jamie Freed and Tom Westbrook in Sydney. Additional reporting by Melanie Burton in Melbourne and Henning Gloystein in Singapore. Writing by Jonathan Barrett; editing by Richard Pullin)
Related:
Topics Flood Tech Australia Mining
The City of London should emerge largely unscathed from Brexit even though thousands of banking and insurance jobs could move to the continent, the financial districts policy chief said.
The City or Square Mile, home to over 250 foreign banks and the Lloyds of London insurance market, faces upheaval as firms decide whether to shift jobs to continental Europe to keep serving customers there after Britain leaves the EU in 2019.
Mark Boleat, head of policy at the City of London, the local government that administers Europes biggest financial center, said talk of a massive exodus has been mistaken.
If it was going to be Armageddon, we would have noticed it by now, Boleat told Reuters in an interview in a room off the local governments seat of power in the medieval Guildhall.
They are never all going to up sticks and leave We expect the steady flow of new business coming in.
This contrasts with harsher predictions, such as a report from EY consultancy forecasting a loss of 232,000 jobs financial jobs in Britain as result of Brexit, though with many of those from other parts of the country.
Boleat steps down in May after five years in the job that included confronting protests against corporate greed and being at the heart of industry efforts to respond to Brexit, which threatens to cut off London from mainland Europe.
He predicts even in the worst-case Brexit scenario resulting in tens of thousands of financiers moving from Britain in a decade, the City where 360,000 people are employed will end up with the same number of jobs.
Our projection for employment in the City is that in the next 10 years there will be another 50,000 jobs or more, Boleat said, mainly in IT and professional services such as accounting and law. If with Brexit we lose 50,000 jobs, we end up where we started.
He said the commercial property market was a bellwether of the Citys resilience and that it was holding up pretty well. He pointed to a decision taken since the referendum to go ahead with a 59-story skyscraper.
What is significant is they are building it. It is a building without a tenant. A building of that size is clearly quite risky, he said.
Boleat does not speak for all of Londons financial sector, however. The capitals other main financial area, Canary Wharf, is home to about 112,000 jobs.
Change in Tone
Boleat spoke of a rollercoaster ride of emotions for banks since June 23, when Britain voted to leave the EU.
Initially, the sector hoped to keep passporting rights to offer services across the bloc from a single base in London. But after a few months it became clear that Britain would give up unfettered access to single market to restrict immigration.
He said the low point was at the ruling Conservative Partys annual conference in October when Prime Minister Theresa May criticized big business and citizens of nowhere, widely interpreted as an attack on an international-minded elite.
That speech was aimed at the Conservative Party and it was a pity that other people heard it, Boleat said.
Mays letter to the EU on Wednesday to kick off formal divorce talks set a more helpful tone by singling out financial services and the need for transitional arrangements, he said.
He senses the government is becoming more pragmatic ahead of what are likely to be tough negotiations with the EU.
Maybe there is an increasing recognition that the other side can be bolshy and we need good relationships to get the right result, Boleat said.
We have found the Treasury very good indeed. No complaints at all The issue is whether they can get their voice heard in Number 10 (the PMs office), where any trade-offs are needed, he added.
Attempts to encourage European companies to warn their own governments about the economic impact of loss of access to the Londons financial sector have made little headway, Boleat said.
One thing I have learned is that we shouldnt be looking a great deal of help from European corporates. They are as committed to the EU project as their governments.
A company like BMW is far more worried about supply chains and tariffs, rather than market fragmentation or more expensive derivatives, he added.
(Reporting by Huw Jones and Andrew MacAskill; editing by Pravin Char)
Topics Europe Talent London
Governments have created worldwide momentum to slow climate change despite threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to pull out of the 2015 Paris Agreement to slash greenhouse gas emissions, the U.N.s climate chief said on Friday.
The Paris Agreement remains a remarkable achievement, universally supported by all countries when it was adopted, Patricia Espinosa, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat in Bonn, wrote in a letter to staff.
Trump, who doubts that greenhouse gases from fossil fuels are warming the planet, began undoing former President Barack Obamas policies to slow global warming this week in a shift to favor the U.S. coal industry.
He expects to decide by late May whether to carry out a campaign promise to withdraw from the 2015 Paris Agreement, reached by almost 200 nations. It sets a goal of phasing out greenhouse gas emissions in the second half of this century.
Espinosa listed signs of worldwide momentum including that solar power capacity globally grew 50 percent in 2016 led by the United States and China and that ever more governments were passing laws to curb global warming.
This governmental momentum continues to be underpinned by companies, investors, cities, regions and territories including now many oil majors whose CEOs have in recent weeks publicly spoken out in support of the Paris Agreement, she said.
She said the United States was still a member of the agreement and that we look forwards to welcoming and working with its delegations at meetings in 2017. Governments are trying to write a rule book to guide implementation.
Many countries, led by China and the European Union, have reaffirmed backing this week for the pact, meant to be the cornerstone of efforts to limit heatwaves, floods, extinctions of animal and plant species and a rise in sea levels.
(Reporting By Alister Doyle; editing by Toby Davis)
Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.
Topics USA Trends Climate Change
Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges at NATO Headquarters Jamie Patrick Shea considers it inappropriate to impose a ban on the use of social networks by military personnel performing combat missions, but recommends increasing their awareness of information security.
In an exclusive interview with the Interfax-Ukraine agency, he said that the military in the area of combat operations are unprotected in terms of information: "If you have a soldier in an area of operations who takes pictures which give away his position to the adversary: "Look mom, I'm here with my unit." That of course is silly."
"I think what we have to do is not to take mobile phones away from soldier. But just like you do with children at school these days, to teach them about the responsible use of the Internet. Be careful what you put on there. Don't reveal embarrassing information about yourself. Protect your own privacy. It's the simple things, because people do not realize the insecurity that comes from this domain," Shea said.
According to the representative of NATO, it is important to inform the military about the possible consequences of any actions in social networks.
"Even today some 90 percent of all cyber attacks come from simple human error. It's still the human factor. The weak link in the cyber area continues to be the human being. So it's very much a question of training and education," the Alliance's representative said.
Ohios lieutenant governor stepped down on March 31 as the states insurance director.
Republican Gov. John Kasich said in a statement that Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor was leaving her job as director of the Ohio Department of Insurance. He named the departments deputy director, Jillian Froment, to serve as the new director.
Taylor is continuing as Kasichs lieutenant and is one of four high-profile Ohioans aspiring to governor. The others are Attorney General Mike DeWine, Secretary of State Jon Husted and U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci.
Taylor announced the creation of the Mary Taylor for Governor committee in February, clearing her to begin campaigning, raising money and seeking endorsements. She has said she plans to make her official campaign announcement in the next couple of months.
Taylor told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that she has enjoyed her time as insurance director, a position she has held since becoming lieutenant governor in January 2011.
Its just the right time for me to step down and start focusing more on the future of the state of Ohio and the people I represent as lieutenant governor, she said.
Taylor, a former state auditor and state representative from the Akron suburb of Green, also said the decision to step down was made partly to allow more time for campaigning for governor.
Kasich said that Taylor has provided steady, knowledgeable leadership as insurance director.
Froment has served as deputy director since 2011 and has a deep knowledge of the insurance industry and the department, the governor said.
Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Topics Ohio
Republican lawmakers are seeking a way to guarantee that health insurers get $7 billion promised to them to help low-income people afford the out-of-pocket costs of Obamacare plans, in an effort to keep more companies from leaving markets created by the law.
The payments are threatened by a lawsuit that GOP House members filed during the Obama administration that argues the Department of Health and Human Services inappropriately funded the payments on its own, rather than going through the congressional appropriations process. Insurers have said they would consider nonpayment a breach of contract and may drop the plans mid-year, Rep. Greg Walden, an Oregon Republican who chairs a key health committee, told reporters in the Capitol last Thursday.
I will do everything I can to make sure the cost-sharing reduction payments get made, especially this year where they were promised by the federal government under the contracts, said Walden, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Thats an obligation not only to insurers but also to the people who took on those plans. We cannot leave them high and dry.
Several big insurers have already retreated from the ACA, often called Obamacare, because of financial losses, and more may follow suit. UnitedHealth Group Inc. and Aetna Inc. have left ACA markets in most states, while Humana Inc. is planning to stop offering individual ACA plans entirely for 2018. Analysts at Jefferies wrote in a research note that Anthem Inc. is considering pulling back from the Obamacare market next year.
Separation of Powers
While the payments are being made as the issue works its way through the courts, the lawsuit heightens insurers uncertainty about whether the funds will continue to be available. House Speaker Paul Ryan said the suit concerns a vital issue and will continue.
We dont want to drop the lawsuit because we believe in the separation of powers, Ryan said. We believe in Congress retaining its lawmaking power.
Walden said the funds needed for the payments should be appropriated by Congress when lawmakers are expected to pass legislation to continue funding the government by April 28 or face a shutdown. The money would be available next year, and Republicans hope to have worked out a deal to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act by then.
Republican leaders proposal to repeal and replace Obamacare, the American Health Care Act, failed to garner the votes needed to pass last week. The bill didnt address the issue of how to fund the cost-sharing payments.
It is a big issue we need to address in the future, and probably sooner rather than later, because the insurers are trying to figure out what the marketplace will look like in 2018 and whether theyll have the cost-sharing reductions, Walden said.
Topics Lawsuits Carriers Legislation Profit Loss Politics
It took Jaclyn Bentley nearly three years to prove she didnt burn her house down for the insurance money, allegations she and her lawyer say were born of the junk practice of analyzing cellphone tower data.
She was camping with her husband and co-workers at least 17 miles from her Iowa home in May 2014, she says, when it burned down. An investigator for State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. said cell tower data showed Bentleys phone was 5 to 12 miles from the campsite in the direction of her home just after the fire was reported the suggestion being she could have been heading back to camp after starting the blaze.
Her claim was denied, and she was arrested on arson and insurance fraud charges. But she was acquitted after questioning State Farms analysis of the tower data, and she has a lawsuit pending against the company for failing to pay her claim.
Despite acquittals like Bentleys and expert testimony that cellphone tower data should not be used to pinpoint peoples locations, insurance companies continue to use the information to deny claims by casting doubt that customers were where they said they were. The problem, experts say, is that a cellphone can be up to 20 miles away when it pings, or connects with, a tower.
Ive gone through hell, said Bentley, 37, of Clinton, Iowa, who cares for people with brain injuries and mental illness. Its ridiculous what happened. Youre innocent until proven guilty. Ive never felt like I was treated like I was innocent. As far as the insurance company was concerned, I was guilty.
State Farm does not comment on pending litigation or specific claims, spokesman Justin Tomczak said.
We handle each claim on its merits and conduct a diligent investigation to determine what we owe under the policy, he said. That work can include many things, including phone records, that become pertinent to completing our investigation. While I cannot comment on a specific claim, I can tell you that we rarely obtain phone records.
The records can be obtained only by a court order or a customers consent.
A private investigator, Tim Wilcox, chief executive of International Investigators Inc. in Indianapolis, said he believes cell tower data analysis can be fairly accurate in tracking someones movements, within a half-mile. He said the information is just one of many pieces of evidence needed for a strong fraud case.
Michael Cherry has testified in successful cases to free people who were imprisoned based in part on cell tower evidence. Among the early design team members of the Apollo 11 moon trip, Cherry is now chief executive of Cherry Biometrics, a computer and cellphone data analysis firm in Falls Church, Virginia.
Phones can be miles away when they ping towers, Cherry said, because calls are not simply routed to the nearest cell tower or the cell tower with the strongest signal. Rather, a number of factors decide which tower handles the call, including which has the clearest signal and is the most cost-effective, he said.
Theyre misinterpreting it, and its not very reliable to begin with, said Cherry, who played no role in Bentleys case.
Bentley, who spent three days in jail including her birthday after being arrested, said the insurance company claimed cellphones can be only up to 3 or 4 miles away when they ping towers. But she was able to disprove that claim with her cellphone records.
Hours after the fire was out and she had returned to the campground, she checked her voicemail and her phone pinged a tower near the campground. A few minutes later, her mother called her, and her phone pinged a tower back in Clinton, 17 miles away. Minutes later, her husband called her, and her phone pinged a tower about 20 miles away, she said.
That information, she believes, resulted in the not guilty verdict.
A couple Cherry is helping, Monica and Ali Almazni of Perris, California, are facing trial next month on insurance fraud charges, stemming from the theft of their car in 2013. Their insurer, Progressive, said that before the car was reported stolen, the Almaznis cellphones pinged a tower near where the car was later found.
The Almaznis say that Progressives take on the cellphone data is wrong, and that they didnt stage the theft to get the insurance money. Cherry said the couple could have been where they said they were Ali Almazni at a mall where the car was stolen and his wife at home based on the tower information.
Jeff Sibel, a spokesman for Progressive, said the company collects a variety of information when investigating insurance claims. He said he would check into the Almaznis case and provide a response, but did not follow up with The Associated Press.
Another California couple, Linda and Eric Norwood, of Hemet, said they gave up on pursuing an insurance claim for their stolen pickup after State Farm used cell tower information to insinuate they were involved. They said they couldnt afford a lawyer to try to fight State Farm, and no criminal charges were filed against them.
Tomczak, the State Farm spokesman, declined to discuss the case.
Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Topics Carriers Claims Data Driven
Insurance tech startup Slice Labs has created a pay-per-use rideshare insurance app and is now testing the technology with a select set of rideshare drivers.
Plans call for testing the technology and algorithms with a group of 50 people in multiple locations, according to a Slice Labs spokesperson.
Tests are necessary because technology and pricing are complicated by time, distance, location and other sensors in the phone.
Slice will then roll out the app and actually issue policies in one state toward the end of the 2017 second quarter, depending on how the tests go.
Slice bills its product as a first-of-its-kind platform that protects the rideshare drivers while covering the liability associated with the commercial activity of ridesharing. The Slice policy is issued from the time the driver goes online and starts work to the time the driver goes offline at the end of a shiftfrom app on to app off.
The market has untapped demand. Two related surveys found that most rideshare drivers dont have the insurance they need when they are conducting business, but more are interested in the coverage.
Also, insurers including GEICO, USAA, American Family Insurance, Allstate and Farmers Insurance have started in recent months offering or testing rideshare insurance in select markets. These policies are not on-demand but are typically endorsements or extensions of policies designed to ensure drivers have coverage until they accept a ride, during the ride itself, or both.
This is the second insurance product for Slice Labs. Last October the firm launched its on-demand insurance product for homeshare hosts who participate in platforms such as AirBnb, HomeAway, OneFineStay and FlipKey. The commercial insurance policy can be purchased via app or online, and it covers the time period hosts rent their homes, whether for a day, a week or other timeframe.
The homeshare product is now being offered in six states on a limited basis: Iowa, Colorado, Maryland, Massachusetts, Texas and Washington. Homeshare hosts in those states can get access to the Slice offerings on an individual basis. Slice is doing what it calls a preview release and taking a grassroots approach, meaning Slice workers will onboard individual customers into the process and get feedback from these customers along the way.
Slice Labs, which is based in New York, disclosed in March 2016 an initial $3.9 million of seed funding from XL Catlins XL Innovate and Horizon Ventures. Tusk Ventures is also a backer. Last July, Munich Re signed on as a coverage partner.
Slice and Munich Re have agreed to an ongoing rollout program of products and territories with Slice creating the technology platform to deliver unique products directly to the consumer. The Slice platform includes automated underwriting rules agreed upon by Munich Re. Service and processing of claims will are handled by Slice.
Source: Slice Labs
Topics Tech Personal Auto
Spencer Timmel, has joined Safety National as national director of Cyber and Technology. In his new capacity with Safety National. Timmel will be responsible for leading Safety Nationals effort to become a provider of cyber liability and other related coverage.
Timmel has nearly 20 years of experience in the industry and a decade of cyber-related experience in the areas of risk identification and modeling, breach preparedness, coverage analysis and claims advocacy. He worked at Ohio-based broker Hylant Group for the past almost nine years, and since 2016 as vice president for Cyber Security and Privacy Liability. Prior to being at Hylant, he worked as an underwriter at Chubb and, before that, at Cincinnati Financial.
Safety National said it expects to launch its cyber liability offerings in the second quarter of 2017.
Safety National is a member of the Tokio Marine Group.
Topics Cyber
A former Florida insurance agent has been convicted and sentenced to four years in prison for stealing more than $100,000 from two elderly clients, according to a statement from the states Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater.
The Florida Department of Financial Services said that a scheme, concocted by Vinodh Raghubir, was discovered in late 2015 when employees with one of the clients financial institutions, Fairwinds Credit Union, noticed that their client had written a large check to pay a life insurance premium.
However, that check was written to a contracted insurance agent instead of directly to the insurance company, which is standard procedure. Concerned, the credit union staff immediately reported their suspicions to AmeriLife Group, the company that managed the insurance agent, according to DFS
AmeriLife Group asked the DFS Insurance Fraud division to launch an investigation. Their investigation revealed that Raghubir gained the trust of two clients, both over the age of 70, and convinced them to purchase life insurance policies and oil annuities. He prepared the paperwork and collected premium payments, but Raghubir never purchased the products. Instead, he took their money and deposited it into his personal account. In total, he collected $123,898.
As a former banker myself, I applaud the keen awareness and good judgement exercised by the Fairwinds Credit Union employees who flagged this transaction, said CFO Atwater. Floridians are the eyes and ears of their community, and I am proud that savvy professionals identified this crime so we were able to stop his fraud. Stealing from the elderly will absolutely not be tolerated.
The Orange County State Attorneys Office prosecuted the case. In addition to his four-year sentence, hes ordered to pay full restitution to his two victims. Following his incarceration, he will serve a 20-year probationary period, during which he will be restricted from working in a sales position or financial field, with the exception of retail, and is forbidden from having unsupervised contact with anyone over the age of 65.
In addition, his insurance agent license was revoked by the Department and he has been permanent barred from working in the insurance industry.
Source: Florida Department of Financial Services
Topics Florida Agencies Fraud
A Raleigh man has been charged in an apartment fire that displaced dozens of people.
Local media outlets report that Anthony Antoine Ridley has been charged with first-degree arson.
The two-alarm fire broke out Thursday night at the Pines of Ashton Apartments. Officials say it took about an hour to get the fire under control.
Fire officials say 41 people have been displaced, and 29 people lost their homes altogether.
Ridley was being held in the Wake County jail on a $500,000 bond. It wasnt immediately clear if he had an attorney.
Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Topics North Carolina
Kentucky lawmakers completed quick work Thursday evening on a proposal championed by the Senates top leader to reduce the beleaguered coal industrys costs to cover claims by workers suffering from black lung disease.
The plan, presented by Republican Senate President Robert Stivers, was in the works for weeks but surfaced on the final day of the 2017 legislative session.
It beat the clock by making a quick trip through the General Assembly. The proposal cleared the Senate on a 38-0 vote, followed by final passage in the House on an 86-3 vote. The measure now goes to Gov. Matt Bevin.
The bill would change how future black lung claims are paid by reducing and phasing out assessments paid by coal companies to help cover claims. As the coal sector has shrunk, it has left fewer businesses to pay higher assessment rates.
There would be no changes in benefits for ailing coal workers, advocates said.
In typical end-of-the session maneuvering, the proposal was attached to a little-noticed bill dealing with the Workers Compensation Funding Commission.
In touting the plan to his Senate colleagues, Stivers said the failure to relieve coal companies of the black lung-related assessments would drive another nail in the coffin of an industry thats meant a lot.
Later, in a sign of the bills bipartisan support, House Minority Floor Leader Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook, told colleagues he has a comfort level that the changes will help the coal industry and protect current and future black lung claims.
As coal operations have shed thousands of jobs in recent years, the industrys downturn has led to a spike in the number of out-of-work miners filing workers compensation claims.
That has resulted in sharply higher costs for coal businesses that have survived the industrys downturn. Some companies have seen 200 percent to 300 percent increases in their assessments to help cover black lung costs, Stivers said.
It has put a real strain on the industry, almost untenable, Stivers told the Senate Economic Development, Tourism and Labor Committee earlier in the day.
Stivers said the plan had undergone close scrutiny to review its impact.
We have looked at this actuarially every way possible to make sure that what we are doing is actuarially sound for the industry and for the individuals involved, said Stivers, a Republican from Manchester.
During the House debate, Rep. Lynn Bechler expressed frustration that the proposal was offered so late in the session and without more time to study it.
I think a measure of this magnitude should be vetted a little bit more, said Bechler, R-Marion.
Under Stivers plan, coal businesses would continue paying into the black-lung fund for an estimated two more years. The proposal would sharply reduce the amount of those assessments until those payments are phased out. The fund is supported in part by assessments on every ton of coal produced in the state.
The fund currently has about $15 million to $20 million in assets and about twice that much in liabilities, the bills supporters said. In July, the funds assets and liabilities would be transferred to the quasi-public Kentucky Employers Mutual Insurance group to manage if the proposal becomes law.
Meanwhile, future black-lung claims would be covered completely by the workers comp insurance policies purchased by coal companies. Currently, those policies cover half those costs, while the separate black-lung fund covers the rest, coal industry officials said. Stivers predicted that coal companies would face only slight increases in insurance costs as a result.
Rusty Ashcraft, an executive with Alliance Coal, which has about 2,000 employees in Kentucky, said the changes would bring needed relief to the states coal sector. The assessments have been far outpacing the amounts that operators pay out for black-lung claims, he said.
It will enable us to continue to maintain our current level of production, hopefully until market conditions improve, he said.
The states coal industry has lost about 11,000 mining jobs in the past decade, he said.
The coal sector has been reeling from pollution restrictions and growing competition from natural gas, wind and solar.
___
The legislation is House Bill 377.
Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Topics Workers' Compensation Kentucky
An Oakland fire captain recommended in January that a building that burned this week, killing four people, should be shut down immediately for safety reasons, but department officials opted to take less drastic measures, records released Friday show.
In an email dated Jan. 8 and titled Fire Safety Hazard, Fire Captain Richard Chew reported that a fire alarm had been pulled and not reset and there were open piles of garbage on the third floor of the building and a padlock on the door to the fire escape.
He recommended officials consider shutting the building down immediately due to the danger to life safety.
The records show Battalion Chief Geoff Hunter ordered Chew to cut the padlock and other officials to contact the buildings owner to fix the alarm and remove trash.
Acting Assistant Fire Marshal Maria Sabatini, head of the fire prevention bureau, responded that it was appropriate to give the owner 30 days to make repairs.
Oakland became the site of the deadliest structure fire in the U.S. in a decade when 36 people died in a December blaze at a warehouse known as the Ghost Ship that had been illegally converted into live and work spaces for artists. Officials then vowed to crack down on substandard housing and conduct more inspections.
A Jan. 9 email by another fire captain regarding the building that burned Monday reported there were no fire extinguishers in the building. Fire Lt. Steve Padgett reported in a Feb. 25 email that the address is a known fire hazard.
There are no fire extinguishers. Storage in the hallways. Faulty or unmaintained smoke detectors, he wrote. This building is dangerous! Please let Station 15 know what we can do to get this place shut down, updated and repaired.
The city disclosed the emails as Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf announced Friday she was ordering an overhaul of fire safety inspection services.
Schaaf told The Associated Press this week that new streamlined communications she put in place after the Ghost Ship fire to keep problem buildings from slipping through the cracks seem to have improved and worked in this case.
She said firefighters answering a call in February at the building reported possible problems, which prompted an inspection last week.
Yet the emails appear to contradict Schaafs account, showing that Chew raised concerns in January, and possibly earlier, though officials did not release emails from before January.
She said the city didnt have the authority to immediately shut down the property, which requires a declaration that a building is unsafe for human habitation.
The buildings owner, Keith Kim, has not responded to repeated messages, including ones left Friday, and his attorney also has not responded to calls and emails.
Kim was in the process of evicting Urojas Community Services, the tenant that leased two of the three floors. Urojas provided services to low-income people recovering from addiction or who had been recently homeless.
The emails released Friday show mounting concerns _ and growing frustration_ by fire officials.
In a March 18 email, Fire Lt. Frank Mui listed what appears to be household extension cords used to supply electricity to different units in the building, including between the second and third floors via the central stairway. Rats had chewed through the insulation on one extension cord, he wrote.
Minutes later, Battalion Chief Jeff Hunter shot off an email to Sabatini, of the fire prevention bureau. He wrote that the problems still exist and seem to be getting worse and that this building appears to be hazardous to both our public and our firefighters.
Inspectors finally conducted an annual inspection on March 24. They again found multiple fire code violations, including inoperable sprinklers and alarms. Officials also noted a lack of fire extinguishers and overloaded electrical cords during the inspection.
This is the beginning of a coordinated effort along with Building Services to address the issues at this location, Sabatini wrote.
The owner was given 30 days to correct the problems.
Three days later, the fire broke out.
The nonprofit organization also said they called on the landlord to make necessary repairs. Residents complained of serious rodent infestations, plumbing and electrical problems, garbage-strewn hallways and an unusable kitchen on the first floor.
Jasper Lowery, the founder of Urojas Community Services that sub-leased rooms to about 40 residents, said the landlord ignored his pleas for repairs. Instead, Lowery said he was served eviction papers, alleging Urojas owed thousands of dollars in past-due rent.
The eviction process was still underway when the fire started Monday.
We are grieving and heartbroken, said Aurea Lewis, Lowerys partner at Urojas. Lewis said her brother Ed Anderson, 64, was one of those residents who died in the fire.
Lewis said her brother was a U.S. Air Force veteran and one of 11 siblings who grew up in Oakland.
If you only knew how devastating this is for our family, she said.
Related:
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Child care providers would be required to carry liability insurance under a bill in the Hawaii Legislature.
Its part of an effort to increase oversight of state-licensed child care facilities.
Supporters say requiring liability insurance will reduce unnecessary legal costs and provide families peace of mind.
The Hawaii House of Representatives passed the bill Friday.
But critics are concerned some child care providers could shut down because they cant afford it.
The bill goes next to the Senate, which passed a different version of the bill. Senators will decide whether they agree with changes made in the House.
The chief of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Vasyl Hrytsak has said that the main version of the death of a member of the Security Service, Colonel Oleksandr Kharaberiush in Mariupol, Donetsk region is a terrorist act related to the professional activities of the deceased.
"The main version, which is being developed by the SBU, is a terrorist act, and this is connected with his professional activities. We clearly understand that they came for him. He was the best counterintelligence officer in Ukraine," Hrytsak told journalists in Mariupol on Sunday after the farewell ceremony with Kharaberiush, who died as a result of a car explosion on Friday.
According to the SBU chief, when the incident was reported to President Petro Poroshenko, he made an unequivocal decision to reward the deceased with a military medal "For Courage." "For us it is a matter of honor to find those who did it [undermined the car]. We will do our best," Hrytsak said.
After the farewell ceremony the SBU chief handed the medal over to the deceased's father, a correspondent of the Kyiv-based news agency Interfax-Ukraine reports.
As reported, the explosion occurred at the junction of Metalurhiv Avenue and Kafaiska Street in the central district of Mariupol at 8:35 a.m., the Donetsk regional police's liaison department said. Kharaberiush himself, who served as deputy head of the main counterintelligence department of the Donetsk SBU Directorate, died on the spot.
Viacheslav Abroskin, chief of the National Police department in the Donetsk region, said on Facebook a terror attack perpetrated by a sabotage-and-reconnaissance group from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) was being pursued among the possible theories of the explosion. Police patrols are being reinforced in Mariupol and across the Donetsk region, he said.
A second Montana Roman Catholic diocese will file for bankruptcy protection as part of settlements involving more than 400 people in sex abuse lawsuits, church officials said Friday.
The Diocese of Great Falls-Billings said it expected to make the Chapter 11 reorganization filing later in the day, and the diocese and its insurance carriers would contribute to a fund to compensate victims and set aside additional money for those who have not yet come forward.
The amount of the settlement involving 72 people was not released.
On behalf of the entire Diocese of Great Falls-Billings, I express my profound sorrow and sincere apologies to anyone who was abused by a priest, a sister or a lay church worker, Bishop Michael Warfel said in a statement. No child should experience harm from anyone who serves the church.
None of those who have been credibly accused are active in parish ministry and nearly all are deceased, Warfel said.
Attorney Timothy Kosnoff, who represents some of the plaintiffs, said it marked the 15th diocesan bankruptcy in the U.S. involving sex abuse claims.
Bankruptcy represents the only realistic mechanism for working through the myriad of issues involved in case of this nature, he said. Despite this sensible step forward, speedy resolution is unlikely and the future of the diocese remains clouded.
The Diocese of Helena filed for bankruptcy in early 2014 to settle about 360 claims of abuse and sexual abuse by priests, nuns and lay workers who served in the diocese.
That settlement, also negotiated before the bankruptcy filing, created a $21 million fund for victims named in the lawsuit and any others that might come forward
Two sexual abuse lawsuits were filed against the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings _ one in February 2012 and another the following June.
One lawsuit was initiated by a woman in her 60s who said she was molested and raped by the Rev. Emmett Hoffman while she was a student at the St. Labre Parish and School between 1955 and 1962.
Hoffman died in 2013.
The diocese has had abuse prevention programs in place for more than two decades, church officials said. The programs include screening and training for employees, volunteers, priests and seminarians and an independent board to review claims.
Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Topics Claims
LIstat ha rivisto al rialzo la crescita del primo trimestre del 2017, con il Pil che balza allo 0,4% sui precedenti tre mesi e all1,2% su base annua. Le prime indicazioni dellIstituto, diffuse a meta maggio, davano il Prodotto interno lordo a +0,2% a livello congiunturale e a +0,8% in termini tendenziali. La revisione, a sorpresa, e dovuta, spiegano dallIstat, allintegrazione nei dati della buona performance dei servizi.
LIstat rileva che il primo trimestre del 2017 ha avuto due giornate lavorative in piu sia rispetto al trimestre precedente, sia rispetto al primo trimestre del 2016. La variazione acquisita per il 2017 e pari a 0,9%.
Rispetto al trimestre precedente, i principali aggregati della domanda nazionale hanno registrato una crescita dello 0,5% dei consumi finali nazionali e un calo dello 0,8% gli investimenti fissi lordi. Le importazioni sono aumentate dell1,6% e le esportazioni dello 0,7%. La domanda nazionale al netto delle scorte ha contribuito per 0,3 punti percentuali alla crescita del pil (0,3 i consumi delle famiglie e delle Istituzioni Sociali Private (Isp), 0,1 la spesa della pubblica amministrazione (Pa) e -0,1 gli investimenti fissi lordi).
Anche la variazione delle scorte ha contribuito positivamente alla variazione del Pil (0,4 punti percentuali), mentre lapporto della domanda estera netta e stato negativo per 0,2 punti percentuali. Si registrano andamenti congiunturali positivi per il valore aggiunto di agricoltura (+4,2%) e servizi (+0,6%), mentre quello dellindustria risulta negativo (-0,3%).
#Istat Riviste al rialzo le stime per il 2017. LItalia cresce piu del previsto e limpegno continua ha commentato su Twitter il premier Paolo Gentiloni.
Per Matteo Renzi i dati di ieri e di oggi dellIstat dimostrano che con la flessibilita ottenuta nei Mille Giorni e con le riforme fatte, leconomia riprende fiato. Sulla sua pagina Fb il segretario del Pd parla di risultati figli degli anni di lavoro serio e rigoroso che abbiamo alle spalle.
Con la revisione delle stime sul Pil lItalia recupera anche a livello europeo. Il +0,4% congiunturale e il +1,2% tendenziale non vedono piu lItalia isolata, fanalino di coda. LIstat infatti, diffondendo i conti trimestrali, riporta anche i dati relativi agli altri Paesi. Svetta la Germania (+0,6% e +2,9% su anno), ma la Francia fa come noi a livello congiunturale (+0,4%) e peggio su base annua (+1,0%). Restiamo pero sotto la media dellEurozona (+0,5% e +1,7% annuo).
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According to the Australian Defense Forces Defense Economic Trends 2016 report as seen in Figure 1, the countrys military expenditure increased yearly from just USD 100 million in 2008 to about USD 400 million in 2015.1 Defense spending continued to rise to USD 383 million in 2016 and USD 455 million in 2017 out of a USD 4.3 billion and USD 5 billion total national budget respectively.2 In defending its defense budget increase, the government asserts that the majority of the increase in defense expenditure has been allocated for the ever-increasing pension and salary costs for military personnel.3 As a result, military personnel salaries were increased. At the same time, more funds have been allocated for military facilities such as military barracks and equipment.
Figure 1. Cambodias Defense Budget
Source: Australian Department of Defense, Defense Economic Trends in the Asia Pacific 2016
As part of its roles in contributing to the building and developing of the nation, the RCAF has been actively contributing to the rehabilitation of physical infrastructure, building and repairing roads for communication and irrigation systems, demining, rescuing people during natural disasters and participating in international peacekeeping missions. The RCAF has been in the process of developing its capability for rapid response to both domestic and international natural disasters.4
RCAFs Role in UN Peacekeeping
In addition to its role in addressing national threats, the RGC has committed to increasing its international credibility and prestige through increased RCAF participation in regional and international cooperation activities, including the deployment of the RCAF in support of UN operations. From being a country that had UN Peacekeepers from 1992-93, Cambodia is now one of the major contributors to UN peacekeeping operations for the maintenance of global order, security, and humanitarian assistance around the world, particularly on the African continent and the Middle East. The RGC is committed to UN Peacekeeping and this is one of the government's top priority policies. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has clearly stated that Cambodia has been transformed from a war-torn nation grateful to receiving assistance from UN forces to one which now proudly contributes to UN peace-keeping missions in other troubled countries.5
The RCAF has a unique experience and capability in the field of demining. After emerging from decades of war, Cambodia is a country with millions of long-buried landmines and other explosives. This experience has placed Cambodia in a good position to contribute its niche capability in demining to UN peace support operations. According to Irwin Loy:
Cambodia is one of the most contaminated countries in the world when it comes to land mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO). But with almost two decades of experience slowly cleaning away that legacy from contaminated rice fields and jungle brush across the country, Cambodian authorities have also become reluctant experts. They are now hoping to use that expertise to help other developing countries afflicted with similar problems.6 Similarly, Mely Caballero-Anthony and Holly Haywood write:
Cambodias role in demining in peace operations is therefore indicative of the value of specialized capacities in fragile postconflict environments. Given its tragic legacy of war, Cambodia has developed competencies in demining and subsequently participated in its first UN peacekeeping mission in 2006 when it deployed combat engineers to Sudan to clear landmines. It has continued to supply combat engineers to Sudan and has since also provided personnel to Chad and the Central African Republic. In November 2010, Cambodian peacekeepers were deployed to the UN Interim Force in Lebanon to provide demining and construction support. As was put by the UN Resident Coordinator in Phnom Penh at the time, its represents an important step forward in Cambodias transition from a recipient country of peacekeepers to one that deploys highly skilled experts to assist in other countries where the need is great.7
According to the DWP, the Cambodian government has directed the RCAF to enhance Cambodian international credibility and national prestige through increased participation in regional and international cooperation activities, to include deployment of the armed forces in support of United Nations operations. Strictly adhering to the RGCs Strategic Guidance to integrate Cambodia into international community, RCAF has been actively trained and equipped its military under the auspices of Cambodias friends and partner countries, in particular the US Governments Global Peace Operations Initiative. As a result, Cambodia has sent its troops to a number of hotspots in the world.
Cambodia made its first successful contribution to a UN peacekeeping overseas mission in 2006. The strategic rationale for the RGCs expansion of the RCAFs international role was elaborated in the Cambodian defense strategic objective document of the Ministry of National Defense of Cambodia in 2002:
With the evolution of global security trends and apart from its contribution to security and development for the nation, the RCAF must have another duty: engagement in international affairs. Therefore, the new objectives of the defense policy are Security, Development and International Cooperation: The objective of international cooperation is consistent with the Royal Governments policy of integrating Cambodia into the international community. From now on, the RCAF must be more active in getting engaged in the international environment, which is an important activity for promoting its prestige. Enhancing international cooperation is not only a task of building good relations or of strengthening alliances between country and country, but it also indicates our goodwill in the cause of fostering peace, stability and the protection of mutual interest among neighbouring countries and those in the same region.8
Recently, Prime Minister Hun Sen stated that the RCAF is the leading force in promoting Cambodias prestige on the international arena through participation in peace and humanitarian missions within the framework of the United Nations request.9 The RCAF has actively engaged in peacekeeping operations under the framework of the United Nations since 2006 and has been sent to other countries such as Sudan, Chad, Central Africa, and Lebanon, where Cambodia led a second leading military UN mission among ASEAN nations.10
Security Trends in the Asia-Pacific Region
Some emerging security trends have become important issues for the region. Terrorism remains a pre-eminent national and global security threat, especially after September 11, 2001. Cambodia has classified terrorism as one of its top national security concerns.11 As a result, in 2002, Cambodia official published its policy on countering international terrorism.12
Maritime security threats are common issues in the Asia Pacific region. The region continues to face a wide range of related maritime security threats, such as illegal exploitation of national resources, illegal activities in protected areas, maritime terrorism, piracy, and maritime territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Cambodia has also placed maritime security as one of its top security issues.13 Having limited capability to respond, Cambodia is a transit point for human trafficking, drug smuggling, and other illegal activities. It can also be a potential shelter and transit point for international terrorist groups.14
The region also faces other non-traditional security threats in addition to terrorism. These include transnational crimes, epidemics, and national disasters. Geographical security issues involving territorial disputes with neighboring countries remain a threat to Cambodias current and future national security. The overlapping maritime claims between Cambodia and Thailand present significant challenges for Cambodias economic development as Cambodia remains highly optimistic that offshore natural resources could significantly boost its economy.15
The Way Ahead for RCAF
By all emerging trend indications, and by understanding Cambodias future security challenges, the RCAF must be prepared to meet the national strategic objectives in the 21st century. It is recommended that the following changes be made to the RCAFs mission. The RCAF, particularly the Army, has done well. The RCAF is the largest standing force, and has achieved its missions such as defending territorial sovereignty from external invasions and transnational security threats, performed UN peacekeeping operations, and contributed to maritime security and disaster relief operations. At the same time, the RCAF has faced a wide range of challenges in terms of preparedness, readiness, and capability because of limited equipment and resources. The development of core skills and fundamental systems are required to focus and sustain a credible military force capable of ensuring the defense of Cambodias national territory.
As for counter-terrorism, although there is no pressing terrorist problem in Cambodia, it is still important for the RCAF to build and retain the capability to deter any new or emerging terrorist threat. Peacekeeping operations align well with Cambodias aspiration to participate in regional and international agreements to contribute to regional and global peace and stability as well as to enhance Cambodias international credibility and national prestige through cooperation in peacekeeping operations.
The RCAF should have only one or two army units in the Phnom Penh area. Concentrating on fewer units will allow the RCAF leadership to design, build, and test model units prior to introducing large forces. Possible candidates are one battalion of the Royal Gendarmes for peacekeeping and the 9-11 Brigade for counter-terrorism. Moreover, the RCAF needs to coordinate and work with the Ministry of Interior (Homeland Security) to defend against specific terrorist threats by protecting strategic locations such as airports and foreign embassies.
As a poor country, the RCAFs transformation will be a challenge for Cambodia without foreign assistance: The RCAF must continue to strengthen and expand cooperation with security partners in the region and in the international arena by using bilateral and multilateral mechanisms based on unbiased political or ideological grounds and in the spirit of mutual interests. The RGC stresses on the importance of comprehensive cooperation in bilateral and multilateral frameworks in order to develop the RCAFs professionalism. Cambodias Defense Strategy Review 2013 stresses:
The RCAF must increase an in-depth cooperation with security partner countries to ensure the sustainability of scholarship offers and other skill courses to develop human resources. Efforts should also be made to seek other support for the defense force. The exchange of study tours, military students and intelligence information should be increased. Protocols, conventions, memorandums of understanding, agreements, joint statements, joint training exercise programs should all be expanded including humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, maritime security, peacekeeping operations, counter terrorism.16
In terms of the necessity for the RCAF to engage in multilateral cooperation, the document also states that:
The RCAF must continue to cooperate with security partner countries in the framework of multilateral mechanisms, seminars and training exercises, internally and externally, to increase capabilities to jointly strengthen regional security, especially peacekeeping operations (demining, engineering, policing), counter terrorism, maritime security, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (health and civil engineering), etc., and to enhance the prestige of the Kingdom of Cambodia in the international arena.17
Conclusion
To conclude, the RCAF is in the process of transforming into a professional armed force that is outward-looking. The security outlook of the Kingdom of Cambodia has changed due to the evolving regional and global security environment. In the current external environment, the RCAF has played an increasingly important role as the leading force to support the nations strategic objectives and in implementing national policy. Defending the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of the country from external invasion and transnational threats, and contributing to national stability, safety, and security are primary roles of the RCAF. As part of its international obligations, the RCAF has a strong commitment to combating terrorism and participating in peacekeeping and humanitarian missions.
Cambodia is in need of assistance from friendly countries to actualize its RCAF reform program as elaborated in the Cambodian defense documents. As a small and poor state in the region, Cambodia usually makes practical choices for its people by seeking to capitalize on its relations with China, the US, and any other countries that may suit its interests.18 Therefore, the RGC should strengthen military cooperation with friends. Different friendly countries bring different defense cooperation to the improvement of Cambodias military professionalism. For example, the US has provided support in a wide range of military cooperation areas to improve RCAFs capability in humanitarian assistance, peacekeeping, maritime security, and in broadening Cambodias counterterrorism strategy. The RGC should also develop an effective military defense cooperation plan that provides priority areas for international assistance. This will lead to effective international military cooperation.
This is the second of a two-part paper. The first part can be found here.
Notes
1. Australian Department of Defense. (August 2016). Defense economic trends in the Asia Pacific 2016. Retrieved from http://www.defence.gov.au/dio/documents/DET_16.pdf
2. Grevatt, J. (November 18, 2016). Cambodia boosts 2017 defense budget. IHS Jane's Defense Weekly.
3. Ibid.
4. Chheang, V. (2010). Cambodia security and defense policy. In Asia Pacific Countries Outlook and Its Implications for the Defense Sector. National Institute for Defense Studies, Japan, NIDS Joint Research Series no.5, p. 7.
5. Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. (n.d.). Cambodia candidate for the United Nations Security Council 2013-2014. Cambodian Embassy in United Kingdom. Retrieved from https://www.cambodianembassy.org.uk/downloads/Cambodia%20UN%20Brochure%20BLUE.pdf
6. Loy, I. (October 26, 2010). Development: Cambodian deminers now train others. Global Information Network.
7. Caballero-Anthony, M. and Haywood, H. (2010). Defining ASEANs role in peace operations: Helping to bring peacebuilding upstream?, Asia Pacific Civil-Military Centre of Excellence, Civil-Military Working Paper no. 3/2010. Retrieved from https://www.acmc.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/5392R-CIVMILCOE-Working-Papers-A4-WEB-BOOKLET-3-Caballero.pdf
8. Cambodian Ministry of National Defense. (2006). Cambodia Defense White Paper: Defending the Kingdom of Cambodia 2006: Security, Development and International Cooperation. Phnom Penh: Royal Government of Cambodia.
9. Ibid., Introduction.
10. Thayer, C. (April 25, 2014). ASEAN and UN peacekeeping. The Diplomat.
11. ASEAN Regional Forum. (July 2013). Annual Security Outlook 2013. ASEAN Document File, p. 24.
12. Ibid.
13. Ibid.
14. Chheang, V. (January 2010). Cambodia: Maritime security challenges and priorities. Cambodia Institute for Cooperation and Peace Working Paper no.32, p. 9. Retrieved from http://www.cicp.org.kh/download/CICP%20Working%20series/CICP%20Working%20Paper%20No%2032_Cambodia%20Maritime%20Security%20Challenges%20and%20Priorities%20.pdf
15. Annual Security Outlook 2013.
16. Ministry of National Defense of Cambodia. (2013). Cambodias Defense Strategic Review 2013. Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
17. Ibid.
18. Cambodias postponed exercises and the US pivot to Asia (August 22, 2013). ASPI The Strategist. Retrieved from https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/cambodias-postponed-exercises-and-the-us-pivot-to-asia/
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has signed the law on ratification of the free trade agreement between Ukraine and Canada.
According to the press service of the Ukrainian president, this agreement was signed during the visit to Ukraine of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on July 11, 2016.
The agreement will enter into force on the first day of the second month after the parties' receiving the notice on completion of the procedures required for its entry into force.
"From the entry into force of the agreement, Canada will open 98% of its market of goods that are subject of bilateral trade for Ukrainian exporters. Considering the different level of economic and social development of Ukraine and Canada, the parties will apply the principle of asymmetric tariff obligations, which will allow our state to adapt trade with this country in terms of free trade," the report reads.
The document contains a number of norms and obligations related to non-tariff measures that will help ensure that access to the markets will not be limited to unjustified barriers to trade.
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Gardai are seeking the public's help in tracing a teenager missing from County Waterford.
16-year-old Sameer Nasir from Tramore was last seen yesterday.
Sameer is described as 5 foot 8 inches in height, of thin build with black hair and brown eyes.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Tramore Garda Station.
Update 5pm: The Health Minister has played down fears that a new Oireachtas committee on abortion will overlap with the Citizens Assembly.
Simon Harris says he believes the committee being set up tomorrow will only look at how to implement the Citizens Assembly's findings.
Campaign groups had earlier expressed concern that the committee would duplicate the work of the assembly through its ability to call witnesses.
Simon Harris said he thinks instead, the focus will be on issues like the wording of any such referendum.
"Obviously it is a matter for the committe to decide how to do its work rather than for me, but I would obviously think it best that it would focus its attention on how to progress and implement the recommendations of the Citizens Assembly from a legislative and/or constitutional point of view," he said.
So I do think that it's a distinct role. There's some degree of overlap I guess but I do think it's a separate and distinct role."
Earlier: TDs will tomorrow be asked to set up a committee to investigate whether Ireland should have a referendum on abortion.
The committee of 16 TDs and four senators will examine the findings of the Citizens Assembly which is due to report on the issue before the end of June.
However it has also emerged that the Dail committee will have the rights to hold its own hearings on the subject before making a final recommendation.
David Quinn of the Iona Institute says the committee was always planned, but believes its outcome is already determined.
We know the Citizens Assembly is really an attempt by Fine Gael to slightly distance themselves from the holding of a referendum - so they can say it wasnt our decision, it was the decision of the Assembly followed by the decision of the Oireachtas committee.
"But the whole thing has a huge sense of inevitability about it.
Fine Gael would fare best in an election with Leo Varadkar in charge.
A new poll in the Irish Daily Mail suggests voters have lost patience waiting for Enda Kenny to quit and are more likely to vote for the party if someone else takes over.
Donald Trump says the US is prepared to act alone against North Korea if China does not take a tougher stand against Pyongyang's nuclear programme.
The president's comments in an interview with the Financial Times came days before he is set to host Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Mar-a-Lago estate in south Florida.
The two are expected to discuss a number of issues, including North Korea, trade and territorial disputes in the South China Sea during their meeting on Thursday and Friday.
"Yes, we will talk about North Korea," he said. "And China has great influence over North Korea. And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they won't. And if they do that will be very good for China, and if they don't it won't be good for anyone."
Mr Trump said trade was the incentive for China to work with him, but he added that the US could "totally" handle the situation in North Korea without China's help.
Asked how he would tackle North Korea, he said: "I'm not going to tell you. You know, I am not the United States of the past where we tell you where we are going to hit in the Middle East."
While China provides diplomatic and economic support to its neighbour, it claims that its influence over Kim Jong Un's government is limited.
The relationship between the US and China has been uncertain since Mr Trump's election. During his campaign he accused Beijing of unfair trade practices and threatened to raise import taxes on Chinese goods and declare China a currency manipulator, although it is unclear whether he will follow through with either threat.
President Trump tells the FT he's ready to tackle North Korea alone https://t.co/DiI27gMLCj pic.twitter.com/o12DeRvZgn Financial Times (@FT) April 2, 2017
He told the newspaper he does not "want to talk about tariffs yet, perhaps the next time we meet".
Mr Trump's ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, also offered tough talk on China, saying on ABC's This Week that the US is pressing Beijing to take a firmer stand on North Korea's nuclear programme.
UN resolutions have failed so far to deter North Korea from conducting nuclear and missile tests.
Last year, the North conducted two nuclear tests and two dozen tests of ballistic missiles.
"They need to show us how concerned they are," Ms Haley said. "They need to put pressure on North Korea. The only country that can stop North Korea is China, and they know that."
Asked what the US would do if China did not co-operate, she said: "China has to co-operate."
Former defence secretary Ash Carter said he doubted that Beijing would co-operate.
"I've been working on the North Korea problem since 1994," he said on ABC. "And we have consistently asked Chinese leaders ... because they uniquely have the historical and the economic relationship with North Korea to make a difference.
"They haven't used that influence, and so it's hard for me to be optimistic with that."
AP
Irish international development agency Vita launched the book by John Burke in Teagasc headquarters at Oak Park, Carlow. The book, Growing the Potato Crop, is effectively a training manual for farmers, crop specialists, agronomists and extension workers across the region and beyond.
It is based on John Burkes own expertise, arising from his vast experience of working with Teagasc, Vita and potato farmers in Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Through his guidance, over 12,000 farmers in East Africa have already seen their yields increase by 300% on average, while the programme is now being rolled out in five more sub-Saharan countries.
Director of Teagasc, Professor Gerry Boyle, said it was very proud to have collaborated with John Burke and Vita on the book.
It will have an enduring impact long after we have all moved on. It is a vital tool in combatting poverty through sound, informed, researchled agriculture, he said.
The printing of the book was sponsored by potato grower John OShea, Iverk Produce in Kilkenny, a key driver, along with other Irish Potato Federation members, of Vitas potato programme from the start in 2011.
Mr OShea said nothing gives him greater pleasure than to see the joy on a farmers face when he harvests his crop and sees that he can improve his yield from four tonne per acre to 12 tonne by following some simple steps.
Vita chief executive John Weakliam said the book will enable potato farmers everywhere to improve their situations and that of their families, and therefore, its value is almost immeasurable.
He thanked all involved with the project as well as the University of Wageningen, who alongside Teagasc, co-sponsored three PhD students. The programme is also strongly supported by the Government, through Irish Aid funding.
Macras leaders have long disputed the logic of paying successful applicants under the Young Farmer Scheme for a maximum of five years, dated from the year of setting up the holding. A new Macra policy paper urges the EU to abolish the five-year rule and instead say a mandatory agricultural education requirement for all young farmers be applied in all members states.
Macra has launched a policy paper Cap 2020: Young Farmer Road Map for Generational Renewal, which calls for all Cap 2020 measures to be young farmer proofed.
Macra wants a specific young farmer focus to aid generational renewal, which the European Commission has outlined as a key priority for Cap 2020. In a recent survey, 85% of young farmers have said that young farmers should have completed an agricultural education to receive a Cap payment.
Macra president, Sean Finan, said: We are calling for a minimum of 10% of the total Cap budget be dedicated toward young farmer measures. We need a young farmer proof Cap post-2020 which contains a top up for all young farmers under 40 on all Cap and rural development measures.
76% of young farmers have said that the five-year rule should be abolished. In the current Cap programme the five-year rule is creating two tiers of young farmers, with those in their first five years of farming receiving all the benefits from Cap and those farming longer than five years are reaping none of the rewards of the Cap young farmers measures.
This is not equitable and is resulting in young farmers competing with each other.
The Macra policy paper was presented to EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Phil Hogan and members of the European Parliament, the European Council of Young Farmers in Brussels and to members of the Dail here.
The policy paper represents the views of approximately 1,000 young farmers who engaged in a series of face to face consultation meetings and answered an online survey questionnaire. Macra na Feirme and young farmers are concerned about the Cap budget and the threat it faces from Brexit and other political circumstances.
To offset the establishment costs, the Macra policy outlines details of a mandatory start-up aid package for young farmers. Start-up aid would be available for vouched expenditure and key capital inputs and investments at establishment.
Once the young farmer is established, Macra na Feirme is calling for a mandatory young farmer top-up for all young farmers up to the age of 40 who meet the young farmer definition criteria as well as for a continuously funded National Reserve to provide young farmers under the age of 40 with national average payments. n www.macra.ie/ downloads
Security has been tightened in Ukraine in the light of the explosions in the St. Petersburg metro on Monday, Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said.
"Security has been tightened," the Interior Ministry press service quoted Avakov as saying.
An explosion occurred in a train car in the St. Petersburg metro between the stations Sennaya Ploshchad and Tekhnologichesky Institut. According to the National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAC), nine people were killed and over 20 were injured.
WHILE online retailers across the globe have been working on ways of making online shopping easier for consumers, Dublin start-up SuperDisty has been working on software which makes it easier for manufacturers and distributors to supply those online retailers.
Online shopping has opened up huge opportunities for suppliers but also created huge difficulties for them since they have to meet demanding rules and regulations set by online retailers. Their difficulties are increased by the fact that each online retailer has different requirements, reveals SuperDisty CEO and founder Elaine Ralph.
In 2015, her company launched on the market with a software product designed to allow manufacturers and distributors to sell directly to online retailers such as Amazon, Google, and eBay. Our cloud portal sits between our customers internal system and that of the online retailer and manages the new business processes, explains Ms Ralph.
She says SuperDistys software is more comprehensive than existing products on the market and expects this to give the company a competitive edge as it develops sales internationally.
Now selling to seven Irish companies which use it to manage global transactions, the company has recently signed its first export customer. Last year our software was used to manage 10m worth of business for customers selling into nine European countries. This year we plan to take on new clients in the UK and Germany.
SuperDistys software was originally developed as an in-house product for Memory Bank, an IT distribution company set up in 1995 by Ms Ralph and her business partner Gay Nolan.
Having successfully used the software to grow sales for Memory Bank, Ms Ralph identified an opportunity to set up a separate company to commercialise the software.
Establishing SuperDisty (short for Super Distribution) at the Synergy Centre in Tallaght in early 2015, she took on one developer and set out to verify that the software which worked so well for the online selling of IT products, could work equally well in other areas.
She started out by offering free 90-day trials to large Irish distribution companies and by enrolling in the Enterprise Ireland New Frontiers Programme for start-ups.
Id been running a distribution company for 22 years, but running a software company was a different ball game and I availed of all the support on offer, she says.
The majority of the companies that signed up for the trial went on to become paying customers, which meant SuperDisty began generating revenue very quickly. We charge a transaction fee for each sale made through our portal. Our selling point is that, since it doesnt involve upfront costs, this is a cost-effective way for customers to grow their business.
During 2015 and 2016, SuperDisty worked on enhancing the software and creating a single portal which provides customers with access to a range of online retailers including Amazon Europe, and Lazada in East Asia and will soon include eBay and Alibaba.
By the end of last year the company was ready to begin selling internationally. Ms Ralph raised 225,000 in an Employment Incentive and Investment Scheme and secured matching funding from Enterprise Ireland as part of the High Potential Start Up programme.
This allowed us to increase our staff size to six. We are still recruiting and plan to double our headcount within 12 months, she says. During 2016, SuperDisty began negotiations with a large UK-owned distribution company which has operations across multiple industries in the UK, Ireland, France, and Spain. We have now signed contracts and are rolling out the solution. This is our first export customer and out biggest project to date, says Ms Ralph. SuperDisty is now focusing on companies supplying consumer products. This year the company aims to see its software used to manage 20m worth of business for clients. By 2019, Ms Ralph expects SuperDisty to have expanded into the US and to have grown turnover to 3m.
Evie Nevin, aged 30, her son Alexander, 7, and daughter Olivia, 2, have the rare and debilitating condition, hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS).
Although EDS is slowly becoming more widely known in Ireland, there are no specialists or facilities in the country to help people with this condition.
There is no cure for EDS, but with careful management and specialised physiotherapy the quality of living for someone with EDS can be improved.
Most Irish EDS sufferers are referred to Rodney Grahame, consultant rheumatologist at the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth, London, who has said: No other disease in the history of modern medicine has been neglected in such a way as EDS.
Members of the EDS community have campaigned for specialist treatment here, to no avail. They recently learned that there are no plans by the Government or health services to implement any.
Evie, from Clonakilty, Co Cork, is prone to hip and wrist dislocations on almost a weekly basis. She is extremely effected by changes to pressure and can be left bed-ridden with pain from something as small as a rain shower.
I went from getting up at 6.30am and getting home at 9pm working as a journalist in 2012 to being someone just existing in 2013, she explains.
I remember being very self-conscious all the time because I rarely had the energy to get dressed and people only really saw me in my pyjamas. I got called lazy a lot. That hurt. I didnt know what was wrong with me, but I knew it wasnt laziness.
When Alex was diagnosed my heart broke. I felt so guilty. My genes did this to him but, thankfully, Ive moved past that now because whats the point in feeling guilty? Hes lucky that he has been diagnosed so young and that he has an excellent school who support him by providing resource hours, an SNA and movement breaks.
It was confirmed for me before Olivia was born. I felt her skin and saw the hint of blue in the whites of her eyes when she was born.
My heart goes out to Martin. He didnt ask for this at all. When we first met I was still relatively normal.
Evies husband Martin, 29, has thrown himself into fundraising to get his family the specialist treatment they need, as well as being a videographer. Hes also determined to keep their spirits up.
To see this post on Facebook, click here.
I feel like such a burden to him, but he never makes me feel like that, says Evie. Even on days when Im in agony and not so pleasant in my manner, he doesnt complain. He has never once made me feel bad for being sick or for the kids inheriting my genes. Its all down to me and my issues.
He took his in sickness and in health vow very seriously! Hes a brilliant dad and husband and treats us when he can so we have things to look forward to. When youre stuck at home six days out of the week, most weeks, looking at the same four walls, you need something to keep you looking forward.
For now, the focus is on fundraising, but the Nevins are facing the fact that they may have to emigrate to properly deal with the condition. They have been told they cannot access either the Treatment Abroad Scheme (TAS) or the Cross-Border Directive (CBD).
The TAS only covers treatments available on the NHS, says Evie.
The Hypermobility Unit in St Johns and St Elizabeths in London is a private hospital so our consultancies and treatments wont be covered.
The CBD will only cover medical issues that are also available here in Ireland and the tests and scans I must have in London are not available in Ireland.
In a statement, the HSE said: EDS is treated across Europe by multidisciplinary teams, often led by physiotherapists, with extreme cases being sent to orthopaedic for corrective surgery. EDS is readily treated in Ireland by physiotherapists. There is no specialist centre in Europe or the UK.
Evie refutes this: There is no treatment available here, no matter what they say. The people in charge will say rehab in Harolds Cross is an option, but they are in no way experts and the reviews from my community havent filled me with any confidence that they could take care of me and my complex conditions.
Right now, we are aiming to move abroad somewhere where there is better care and where the air pressures are more stable than Ireland. The kids are becoming affected by the pressure changes too. Both of them wake in pain when we have particularly nasty weather.
Obviously I cant blame the Government for the weather, but I do blame them for not setting up a clinic for people with connective tissue disorders.
We need somewhere with a multi-disciplinary team like in London. We need consultants that communicate with each other. Things slip through the cracks because of the lack of communication and a holistic approach.
One development that could make a huge difference to the familys lives is medicinal cannabis. Those with EDS are often resistant to pain medications and they find it difficult to manage their pain. Medical cannabis is recommended for EDS patients in the US.
There is an increasing call by medical support organisations for greater access to medicinal cannabis for patients with debilitating conditions.
A Health Products Regulatory Authority report published last month advised that, if a policy decision is taken to permit cannabis under an access programme, it should be for the treatment of patients with three conditions spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis; intractable nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy; and severe, treatment-resistant epilepsy that has failed to respond to standard anticonvulsant medications.
When health minister Simon Harris announced that only three conditions would be approved, none of which are related to chronic pain, I was devastated, says Evie. I had been hopeful and excited at the idea of having some normality back in my life.
Medical cannabis could be seriously life-changing for my family and me. In the US, EDS experts highly recommend cannabis as a form of pain relief as many patients are resistant to painkillers, specifically opiate-based pain medications.
I have changed pain medications so many times because Ive become resistant pretty quickly to them. This is now starting to happen with my current medication, Tramadol.
Id rather have medical cannabis over my Tramadol because taking 5,000 painkillers a year can have serious repercussions on my body. If I can access cannabis safely and with help from the HSE, I may not develop symptoms of long-term opiate use such as depression, hormonal dysfunction, and respiratory depression, to name just a few.
I have used cannabis-based products to manage my symptoms. I use a MediPen, which has been helpful for my chronic fatigue, but not for my pain. I have smoked cannabis and I find that, on days when my Tramadol isnt working, its the only thing that helps manage the pain.
I also find it good for my appetite because I dont eat a lot when Im in a lot of pain. Im so nauseas and I find Tramadol suppresses my appetite sometimes. There are days Id be lucky to get 800 calories into me. I would like to be able to access cannabis legally so that I can function a bit better in my day-to-day life and be a better mother and wife to my family.
For now, another round of tests and physiotherapy for Evie, Alexander, and Olivia at St Johns and St Elizabeth hospital in London, as well as flights, accommodation, and private medical consultations in Ireland, mean the young family need to raise in the region of 10,000 for the first trip.
Martin says: It pains me to see my family suffer. I can do nothing but watch when their symptoms flare up. Im left helpless.
So Im asking the public for their help, as a father and as a husband, to send my family to get the treatment they need. Anything you can spare, even a few euro, will make a massive difference.
You can find out more on their GoFundMe page, or on Facebook.
The symptoms
Ehlers-Danlos syndrome is a genetic connective tissue disorder that affects the joints, skin, and blood vessel walls.
Sufferers usually have overly flexible joints and stretchy, fragile skin. This can become a problem if a wound requires stitches.
There are 13 types of The Ehlers Danlos Syndromes and symptoms vary.
Overly flexible joints can result in dislocations and early-onset arthritis. Fragile skin may develop prominent scarring. Those with the vascular disorder are at risk of often-fatal ruptures of major blood vessels. Some organs, such as the uterus and intestines, may also rupture. Pregnancy can increase these risks.
In other forms of the disorder, fainting and low blood pressure occurs because blood vessels stretch. Stomach wall lining is fragile and bowel ruptures can occur. Constipation and other motility (movement) disorders feature, as does gastroparesis (paralysis of stomach; inability to process food).
Excessively loose joints are the hallmark of hypermobility disorder as suffered by Evie, Alexander, and Olivia. Large joints and small joints are affected. Partial and total joint dislocations are common. Many experience chronic limb and joint pain.
The Irish Examiner has this weekend spoken to six members of Cabinet and confirmed that a save Noirin campaign is being mounted in the face of increased pressure from opposition parties.
Housing Minister Simon Coveney has said his party will seek the help of Fianna Fail to bolster the position of the embattled Commissioner, while demanding reform continues.
Clearly, there will be a conversation between Fine Gael and Fianna Fail to ensure efforts by Sinn Fein to force a resignation dont happen. Everyone needs a reassurance of reform. We will get a further update on Tuesday, he told the Irish Examiner.
Fianna Fail sources were last night cautious about coming to the aid of Ms OSullivan, saying such talk from Government is simply, Fine Gael trying to drag us back into the fold.
Formally, the party is not in a position to express confidence in her and its justice spokesman Jim OCallaghan has written to the chair of the Policing Authority, Josephine Feehily, over the weekend requesting they further investigate the breath test and fixed charge penalty scandals.
But Fine Gael is hoping that it can convince Micheal Martins party to buttress the commissioner from the daily calls from Sinn Fein for her to resign.
The news comes as the Cabinet readies itself to discuss its planned independent review of An Garda Siochana at its weekly meeting on Tuesday.
While not expected to sign off on the matter conclusively, Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald is expected to bring a memo seeking permission to begin dialogue with opposition parties.
But detailed talks between Independent Alliance chief of staff Tony Williams and Department of Justice official John OCallaghan are said to be well advanced.
It is understood:
The independent review, which is likely to follow the example of the Chris Patten Commission in Northern Ireland which ushered in the PSNI will be given up to a year to complete its work.
It is expected that the commission, like Patten, will have multiple members on it rather than one person and would produce an interim report within three to six months of establishment.
The Alliance are claiming the setting up of the review as a major victory and a vindication for calling for such oversight in the wake of the Sgt Maurice McCabe scandal in February.
Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe said the Government is open to extending the powers of the Policing Authority should the review deem it necessary.
In his letter to the Police Authority, Jim OCallaghan called on Ms Feehily to further examine two key issues which the Garda Commissioner failed to answer properly when before the Oireachtas Justice Committee on Thursday.
Why did the Gardai wait until 23 March 2017 to disclose that there were significant discrepancies between the number of breath tests publicised and the number that actually occurred and Why has there been a delay of eight months in notifying persons who have been wrongly convicted before the District Court, he asks of the chairman.
Meanwhile, former Northern Ireland police ombudsman Nuala OLoan has said that a commission of inquiry, staffed by international experts and with powers to access garda documents would be required to restore trust in policing.
I think a national commission of inquiry is required now, and possibly an international commission of inquiry, that would send a very clear message about the intentions of Government, she said on RTEs This Week programme.
I think if such commission were appointed, it would need to have people from outside the island of Ireland serving on it, she added.
The operation was led by the Criminal Assets Bureau and targeted a drug trafficking and money laundering outfit based in the Clondalkin area of west Dublin.
Twelve searches were carried out on homes and businesses in counties Dublin, Meath and Kildare.
THE Greek God Hephaestus was said to inhabit Mount Etna. With his servants, the Cyclopes, the ancient god of blacksmiths, sculptors and metallurgy toiled in his forge, harnessing the hellish conditions near the volcanos core to make armour for the gods.
Danny Osborne would probably object to being called a modern-day Hephaestus, but watching footage of the sculptor at work casting artworks in actively erupting volcanoes certainly brings the comparison to mind.
During a three-month trip to Volcan Pacaya in 2010, and in further outings to Chile and Hawaii, Osborne, who lives part of each year on the Beara Peninsula in West Cork, devised a technique for forging sculptures of molten rock. He was, he says, driven by the primordial nature of lava as a medium.
The whole world was covered in lava when it was first formed, and everything in it is made of those same elements and molecules, and they metamorphised into different minerals and then all life evolved from that.
The resulting sculptures poignantly evoke artefacts from Pompeii, but there are other commentaries present here too; casts of conquistadores helmets, in juxtaposition with native Guatemalan wide-brimmed hats and Pith helmets are making an obvious reference to colonialism.
Other objects baby bottles, caskets have less obvious meanings. For Osborne, the art is in the process, in the trial-and-error journey of discovery that this cycle of work has taken him on. Sculptors are very interested in process and the physical aspects of doing things, so its a kind of performance in a way, going through the whole process of climbing the mountain and working with a difficult material, he says. Its a bit theatrical.
Difficult material seems a vast understatement. The conditions he describes are fraught with danger; he matter-of-factly describes his shoes occasionally catching fire, and the sulphur dioxide gas and heat were overwhelming to work in. You get very faint and lethargic. You feel like falling down sometimes, but you know that if you fall down, your face will get burnt, so thats a pretty good incentive to stay on your feet.
There cant be a less hospitable environment for the fragile human body on the planet, surely?
Osborne disagrees; hes based for part of each year in Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, where temperatures reach as low as -22C in the winter. He says that working there is even more perilous than working on a volcano.
That kind of landscape is quite carved by glaciers and has quite a destructive force, he says.
Yet underlining the perils of Osbornes lava-sculpting, just ten days after he departed from Volcan Pacaya, planning a return to keep working, it erupted, sending a plume of ash and debris 1.5km into the air, closing Guatemalas airports and causing several fatalities, including that of the first reporter to arrive on the scene to cover the eruption.
Originally from the rather more hospitable environs of gentle Dorset, Osborne first came to Beara in the 1970s. Volcanoes first became a subject in his painting, when he travelled with his wife along a ridge of Andean volcanoes in the 1980s, but as a sculptor, his interest evolved from experimenting with his own home-made lava recipes.
I was casting porcelain, glass and bronze and I started melting rocks in my furnace, he says. A friend of mine was coming back from the Canaries with big bags of lava for me, which Id melt. I was experimenting, but like anything new, theres a lot of technical problems. One of my problems was that it was cooling too fast when I was pouring it from the crucible; I just didnt have the volume of material, so I decided I needed to go to a living volcano.
For Landmarks and Lifeforms in the Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre, Osbornes sculptures, as well as other works such as whale ribs etched with depictions of the West Cork coastline, are accompanied by the work of fellow Beara inhabitant, Frieda Meaney. Meaneys work is based on themes of extinction and biology. Friedas work is very much the Lifeforms side of the exhibition, while mine is the Landmarks, he says.
The new 38.3.1A.0.91 firmware update for Xperia X devices features the Sony Audio Effects Engine which replaces Androids integrated audio effects, meaning that all MusicFX functionalities are now run on the device through Sonys algorithm rather than the original Android algorithm.
The update also adds WoWiFi and VoLTE support for some countries, and fixes an issue some users were experiencing when restarting their devices default Bluetooth application.
ON March 25, Europes leaders convened in the birthplace of the European project to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome. But what exactly was there to celebrate?
Were they revelling in Europes disintegration, which they now call multi-speed or variable geometry Europe? Or were they there to applaud their business-as-usual approach to every crisis an approach that has fanned the flames of xenophobic nationalism throughout the European Union?
Even dyed-in-the-wool Europhiles admitted that the Rome gathering felt more like a wake than a party. A few days later, British Prime Minister Theresa May sent her letter to the EU formally triggering the United Kingdoms slow but irreversible exit.
The liberal establishment in London and around the continent is aghast at how populism is tearing Europe apart. Like the Bourbons, they have learned nothing and forgotten nothing. Not once did they pause for critical self-reflection, and now they feign shock at the legitimacy gap and the anti-establishment passion that threatens the status quo and, consequently, their authority.
Back in 2015, I often warned Greeces creditors the creme de la creme of the international liberal establishment (the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission, the European Central Bank, German and French officials, and so on) that strangling our new government in its cradle was not in their interest. If our democratic, Europeanist, progressive challenge to permanent debt bondage were snuffed out, I told them, the deepening crisis would produce a xenophobic, illiberal, anti-European wave not only in Greece but across the continent.
Like reckless giants, they did not heed the omens. Greeces brief rebellion against permanent depression was ruthlessly suppressed in the summer of 2015. It was a very modern coup: EU institutions used banks, not tanks. Unlike the coups that overthrew Greeces democracy in 1967 or Czechoslovakias Prague Spring a year later, the usurpers wore suits and sipped mineral water.
The official version of these events was that the EU was obliged to intervene to force a wayward population back to the path of fiscal rectitude and structural reform. In reality, the coup leaders main concern was to avoid admitting what they had been doing since 2010: extending a generalised bankruptcy into the future by forcing Greece to accept new, European taxpayer-funded loans, conditional on ever-greater austerity that could only shrink Greek national income further.
The only way to continue doing this in 2015 and beyond, however, was to push Greece deeper into insolvency. And that required crushing our Greek Spring.
Interestingly, the surrender document forced upon Greeces prime minister, and approved by Parliament, was phrased as if it had been written at the request of the Greek authorities. Like Czechoslovakias leaders in 1968, forced by the Kremlin to sign a letter inviting the Warsaw Pact to invade their country, the victim was required to pretend that it had requested its punishment. The EU was only responding kindly to that request. Greece experienced collectively the treatment Britains poor receive when they claim benefits at Job Centres, where they must accept responsibility for their humiliation by affirming condescending platitudes such as: My only limitations are the ones I set for myself.
This punitive turn on the part of the European establishment was accompanied by the loss of all self-restraint. As Greeces finance minister, in early 2015, I learned that the salaries of the Chair, CEO, and members of the board of a public institution (the Hellenic Financial Stability Facility [HFSF]) were stratospheric. To economise, but also to restore fairness, I announced a salary cut of around 40%, reflecting the average reduction in wages throughout Greece since the start of the crisis in 2010.
The EU, usually so keen to shrink my ministrys outlays on wages and pensions, did not exactly embrace my decision. The European Commission demanded that I reverse it: after all, these salaries went to functionaries selected by EU bureaucrats people they considered their own. After the EU forced our government into submission, and following my resignation, those salaries were raised by up to 71% the CEOs annual pay was bumped to 220,000. In the same month, pensioners receiving 300 per month would have their monthly benefits cut by up to 100.
Once upon a time, the liberal projects defining feature was, in John F Kennedys stirring words, the readiness to pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty. Even neoliberals, like Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, strove to win hearts and minds, to convince the working class that tax cuts and deregulation were in its interest.
Alas, following Europes economic crisis, something other than liberalism, or even neoliberalism, has taken over our establishment, seemingly without anyone noticing. Europe now has a highly illiberal establishment that does not even try to win over the population.
Greece was just the start. The repression of the Greek Spring in 2015 led the left-wing Podemos party to lose its momentum in Spain; no doubt many of its potential voters feared a fate similar to ours. And, having observed the EUs callous disregard for democracy in Greece, Spain, and elsewhere, many supporters of Britains Labour Party went on to vote for Brexit, which in turn boosted Donald Trump, whose triumph in the United States filled the sails of xenophobic nationalists throughout Europe and the world.
Now that the so-called liberal establishment is feeling the nationalist, bigoted backlash that its own illiberalism brought about, it is responding a little like the proverbial parricide who appeals to the court for leniency on the grounds that he is now an orphan.
It is time to tell Europes elites that they have only themselves to blame.
And it is time for progressives to join forces and reclaim European democracy from an establishment that has lost its way and endangered European unity.
Yanis Varoufakis, a former finance minister of Greece, is Professor of Economics at the University of Athens.
Terry Prone is away
On Tuesday, April 4, at 10.00, the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency's press center will host a press conference entitled "Does the Parliamentary Majority Really Exist?" The participants will include Chairman of the Coalition of Extra-Parliamentary Parties and NGOs of Ukraine 'Coalition of Dignity' Mykola Haber; Chairman of the People's Democratic Party of Ukraine Liudmyla Suprun; Chairman of the Party of Local Self-Government Oleksandr Kondrashov; Assistant-consultant of People's Deputy of Ukraine Vitaliy Lohinov (8/5a Reitarska Street). Registration requires press accreditation. More information by phone: (097)218 2232, (095)818 9685.
Monday, April 3rd, 2017 (1:42 pm) - Score 540
Communications provider KCOM has today confirmed that around 10,000 extra premises in Hull (East Yorkshire) will, between now and the end of June, gain access to their new ultrafast Fibre-to-the-Premise (FTTP) dominated fibre optic broadband network.
At present the operator has already deployed their new network to well over 104,000 homes and businesses in the region and they aim to reach 150,000 premises passed by December 2017, which equates to 75% of KCOMs overall network in Hull and East Yorkshire. Take-up is also strong with around 40,000 customers choosing to subscribe.
Cathy Phillips, KCOMs Chief Marketing Officer, said: We are delighted to be welcoming thousands more homes to our Lightstream network, which will truly make Beverley one of the fastest and most connected towns in all of the UK. Not only is this good news for people using the internet at home, but its also great news for local businesses many of which are already using our ultrafast broadband to compete nationally and internationally.
The Spring 2017 phase of deployment has now begun and this is anticipated to add another 9,800 or so premises to the total by June 2017, although most of those will come from the on-going deployment in Beverley (97% of the town will soon be within reach of the new service) and East Hull. As well as residential properties, all of Beverleys business parks have also been connected.
Roll-out List April to June 2017 Beverley Phase 2 (April) 5,000 Premises Eastgate, Highgate, Holme Church Lane, Beaver Road, Grovehill Road, Cherry Tree Terrace, Cherry Garth, Beverley Parklands, Bielby Drive, Swinemoor Lane, Norwood Grove, Waterside Road, Figham Road, Mill View Road, Grovehill Road, Flemingate, St Nicholas Road, Morton Lane, Wilbert Lane Willerby Phase 1 (Mid-April) 2,500 Premises Oaklands Drive, Tudor Court, Carr Lane, Gorton Road, Ashdene Close, Aston Road, Hazelbarrow Drive, Derrymore Road, Well Lane, Main Street, Beverley Road, Kingston Road, Chesnut Avenue, Wolfreton Lane, The Parkway Longhill Estate Phase 1 + 2 (May June 2017) 2,300 Premises
Residential consumers are generally offered a maximum line speed of 250Mbps (30Mbps upload) on FTTP, although we should point out that around 8% of the operators new network is based upon their slower up to 75Mbps Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC / VDSL2) service.
Major: Communication
Hometown: Brazil, IN
Student Media Involvement: Syc Creations
Favorite Food: Burgers with everything but mustard
Fun Fact: He really loves superhero movies, and wants to make his own someday
If its been a while since youve changed your passwords, especially on your social media accounts, dont feel too bad. Security professionals arent following their own advice about password hygiene.
Thycotic, a provider of privileged account management, conducted a survey at RSA in February, and the results were a little surprising, when you consider the respondents. More than half said that its been more than a year since theyve changed their social media passwords, while 20 percent said theyve never changed the password for their accounts. Another 25 percent said theyll change their passwords only when the system requires them to do so.
Not only are security professionals lazy about changing their passwords, they are also lazy about how they come up with their passwords in the first place. It seems like common sense and everything they preach to their fellow employees about good password practices went right out the window, as Joseph Carson, chief security scientist at Thycotic, told me in an email comment:
We were surprised to learn that 30 percent of IT security professionals still use birthdays, addresses, pet names or children names for their work passwords, which are readily hackable. Its hard to expect employees to follow their companys security policies when some security practitioners dont set better examples.
The problem with poor password practices, Thycotics study pointed out, is that a single compromised social media account can lead a hacker to all sorts of valuable information about the user. Theres also the possibility of the hacker taking over your social media account and using it for social engineering purposes, turning your friends and contacts into victims.
My own thoughts on this survey mirrored a comment in Dark Reading, that security professionals arent practicing what they preach, but the article goes on to say there may be a reason for this:
Typically, security pros are aware of the potential dangers of single sign-on passwords and will have a separate password for each account they hold, both work-related and personal. . . . As a result, in some ways, it may not be so surprising that security professionals find it hard to maintain the same level of vigilance with their personal accounts as they perform with work-related accounts.
You know that if security professionals are struggling to keep up with passwords, so is everyone else in the company (who hasnt complained about too many passwords, after all). So what are some possible solutions to this password mess? One is requiring the use of multi-authentication to access everything, at least wherever possible. Setting up password change reminders may help, too (I know Im more likely to address passwords when I get a reminder about it). Blocking access of social media sites on company networks might not be popular, but it could add a level of security. Password vaults may help, too, but they have their own security problems that must be taken into consideration.
As a Forrester report found, 80 percent of all cyber security attacks involve a weak or stolen password. What are you doing to improve your password hygiene?
Sue Marquette Poremba has been writing about network security since 2008. In addition to her coverage of security issues for IT Business Edge, her security articles have been published at various sites such as Forbes, Midsize Insider and Toms Guide. You can reach Sue via Twitter: @sueporemba
A Chinese tech entrepreneur is on a mission to bring Americans up to speed about how advances in technology have dramatically changed Chinese society and culture in recent years, and about how China and the United States have a lot to learn from each other in the areas of technology and innovation.
That entrepreneur is Jack Zhang, founder and CEO of GeekPark, a tech innovation advocacy forum in Beijing, who thinks understanding the geek culture in China would go a long way toward helping people in the United States get a fuller appreciation of whats happening on the technology front in that country.
The concept of geek in China and the United States is quite different, Zhang said in a recent interview. In China, if someone calls you a geek, thats a compliment it doesnt mean youre weird or socially awkward. It just means youre super cool and you know about technology.
It was a fascinating interview, and I opened it by asking Zhang what misperceptions Americans have about China from a technology perspective. He said people in the United States can easily misunderstand whats really happening there, because China has changed so drastically in the last 10 years:
Technology has had such an impact, and has changed society the social culture. People may have an image of China the way it was 20 or 30 years ago, so they need more information to catch up. Even 10 years ago, China had very basic social services systems, and a very immature media industry. In the last 10 years, the internet and mobile technology have changed Chinese society very quickly. All of those geeks have created applications that have changed peoples lives. Now in China, you can order whatever you want online and have it delivered in 24 hours delivery is totally free because of competition between Jingdong and Alibaba. They want to improve the user experience so they can get more market share. Also, the people in China are all using WeChat, so information power is rising for people in China. My friends and I were just talking about that topic yesterday. We talked about how 10 years ago when I was a reporter, the amount of information I got in one week is the same as what I get now in one day. People are getting 10 times more information that means people know things, and society will be more open and equal, and people will be more intelligent because they have so much information compared to 10 years ago. Most of the change has been brought about by information technology, the internet, and all those geeks who have changed peoples way of life.
I cited a report released in December by the National Security Agency and the Department of Energy that expressed concern that China may surpass the United States in the area of high-performance computing by 2020. I asked Zhang how he thinks China is managing to gain so fast on the United States in the area of advanced computing. He said he didnt know how much money the Chinese government is spending in this area, but he was able to speak about the private sector in China:
I can tell you in the private sector, there is a great deal of capital focused on artificial intelligence, machine learning, and new technology like IoT it has created a new concept of intelligence. We have a saying here that a new era of intelligence is happening in China thats the theme in the next decade for the internet and technology. This new era of intelligence will release so many possibilities, and change industries. For example, the most popular startup company in China is Mobike, a dock-less city bicycle-sharing system in which people can leave the bike wherever they want. Because the bicycles have built-in intelligence, the operator knows where every bicycle is located, the usage, the status, so they can operate more efficiently. If the bicycle is lost or stolen, it can be traced, recovered, repaired and used again. So thats the sort of thing the new era of intelligence makes possible, and an example of why technological development in China is accelerating so quickly. Again, Im not in a position to talk about the governments strategy, but I can share the perspective of startup companies and innovators.
I noted that a lot of students from China are attending universities in the United States over 328,000, more than from any other country, according the Institute of International Education. I asked Zhang why he thinks so many Chinese students come to the United States for higher education. He said a lot of Chinese people are interested in learning in a different environment and education system:
Silicon Valley, for example, is the perfect place to study tech innovation, even better than China right now. A concurrent trend is that many of these Chinese students gain experience as engineers and businessmen, and come back to China because right now, China is a better environment in which to do a startup. They have the market, the capital, and even more intelligent people and potential partners. So I think its become a pattern people go to the United States to gain the perspective of a global entrepreneur, and then they come back to China and start their business, and then go global. I think that may be the pattern for the next decade.
I asked Zhang what lessons he thinks the United States can learn from China to strengthen its competitiveness in the global economy. He said the United States can learn from companies like Mobike to build intelligence into their products, and create more advanced products:
Its like rebuilding the world, the way the world was rebuilt, for example, when we learned to forge steel and no longer had to rely on copper tools. Chinese startups, and Chinese society in general, are more determined, and they have access to the market and the capital that enable them to try new things. Theres a focus on the user experience, and the value that can be brought to customers and China is doing that very, very fast. Competitive tension is far greater than it is in the United States. Maybe not every innovation is suitable for the U.S. market, but I believe whats happened in the last 10 years in China will be duplicated in some other parts of the world. Countries like Brazil, Argentina, Zambia, and many others in many ways are similar to where China was 10 years ago, with very basic social services and immature industry. But through technology and the internet they can change it very fast by unleashing a lot of energy. So the lesson the United States can learn from China is that there are still many things that can be done, using technology, to change society very, very fast.
Finally, I asked Zhang what lessons China can learn from the United States. His response:
There are still many things China can learn from the United States in the area of technology innovation, and from the research being conducted at universities to bring technology into business. The United States really has a great system to create that energy to transform business. In China, there are still many, many things to learn, and the thing Chinese geeks most want to learn from the United States is the spirit to try different things what we call the Silicon Valley spirit. I believe the new generation of Chinese entrepreneurs already has some of those qualities they believe in technology, they want to do innovation, and they want to build products for good. They believe technology will open new possibilities. And they believe if they can build products for good not just for money they will make their companies stronger and more lasting. Startup companies are born with those qualities. Its a trend that we are very optimistic will make China better.
A contributing writer on IT management and career topics with IT Business Edge since 2009, Don Tennant began his technology journalism career in 1990 in Hong Kong, where he served as editor of the Hong Kong edition of Computerworld. After returning to the U.S. in 2000, he became Editor in Chief of the U.S. edition of Computerworld, and later assumed the editorial directorship of Computerworld and InfoWorld. Don was presented with the 2007 Timothy White Award for Editorial Integrity by American Business Media, and he is a recipient of the Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for editorial excellence in news coverage. Follow him on Twitter @dontennant.
President Donald Trump's administration has decided to "actively reconsider" an Obama-era rule allowing certain H-1B spouses to hold jobs, according to court documents filed Monday. It is asking the court to give it until September to consider changing the H-4 work authorization rule.
This is becoming a high-stakes case for approximately 180,000 spouses of H-1B visa holders who gained the right to work in 2014. These are spouses of H-1B visa holders who are seeking a green card.
The motion was filed in a Washington federal appellate court, under the case name Save Jobs USA, in a case brought by former Southern California Edison (SCE) IT workers. These workers trained visa-holding replacements in 2015 before losing their jobs.
The SCE IT workers are challenging an executive order by President Barack Obama. The plaintiffs said the spouse work authorization rule was designed to "increase the supply of foreign labor in the United States" and complicates their job search.
The plaintiffs lost in federal district court but appealed. On February 1, the Trump administration asked the appellate court for a 60-day abeyance "to allow incoming leadership personnel adequate time to consider the issues." The court granted it.
"Since then," the government wrote in its motion filed Monday, "the Department of Homeland Security has concluded that it is appropriate to actively reconsider whether to revise the H-4 Rule through notice-and-comment rulemaking."
In other words, the Trump administration is considering writing an entirely new rule. Before implementing that rule, it would seek public comment.
The government now wants a 180-day abeyance, taking it to September 27, "to reconsider the H-4 rule and whether issuance of a notice of proposed rulemaking is appropriate."
The government said it will update the court every 60 days concerning its review, and "will inform the Court promptly should it determine new rulemaking is or is not appropriate before 180 days elapse."
Immigration Voice, a group that advocates for immigrants, recently filed a motion to intervene in this case. The group says it has about 100,000 members.
Aman Kapoor, the group's president, said in court papers last month that if the H-4 employment authorization is invalidated, many of the group's members "will suffer significant harm." It said H-1B visa holders routinely wait years, and even decades, "to obtain legal permanent residency," and have employment authorization during the interim period. A program such as the H-4 regulation is "crucial for their families," Kapoor said.
A new bipartisan Senate bill would let Medicare experiment with paying for more telehealth services, enabling physicians and other healthcare providers to evaluate patients via video chats such as Facetime.
Sponsored by Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Col.) and Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), the Telehealth Innovation and Improvement Act would allow selected hospitals to test telehealth services for Medicare beneficiaries, particularly those who live in hard-to-reach rural areas.
"It would also incentivize the healthcare industry to develop new technologies that could potentially reduce costs and improve patient health," Gardner said in a statement.
This isn't the first time a bill has been introduced that aims to expand the use of physician services via technology; similar bills were introduced in the House in 2015 and in the Senate in 2016. Both died.
The 2015 bill, "Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health Act" won statements of support from over 50 organizations, including the American Medical Association, the American Heart Association, the American Telemedicine Association, the American Association of Retired Persons, Anthem, Intel and Kaiser Permanente.
A study by Washington-based consultancy Avalere Health found telehealth had the potential to reduce federal Medicare spending by $1.8 billion through efficiencies over a decade.
The use of electronic communications or so called telemedicine is nothing new and includes video conferencing such as Facetime, as well as electronic messaging through emails, instant messages and even Facebook and Twitter.
Last month, the RAND Corp. published a study in the journal Health Affairs that found even though individual telehealth visits are less expensive than in-person appointments, using remote telehealth services could boost the use of healthcare services, which would lead to greater costs.
"We estimated that 12% of direct-to-consumer telehealth visits replaced visits to other providers, and 88% represented new utilization," the study stated. "Net annual spending on acute respiratory illness increased $45 per telehealth user. Direct-to-consumer telehealth may increase access by making care more convenient for certain patients, but it may also increase utilization and health care spending."
Critics of the H-1B program have little to celebrate, so far, from President Donald Trump. He promised reforms of the visa program during the campaign, but nothing has happened of consequence -- at least until Monday.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a warning to H-1B employers not to use the visa program to discriminate against U.S. workers. And it promised to investigate and prosecute employers who do so.
By itself, the Justice Department notice may be a poor consolation prize to critics who wanted more. But if the DOJ files a lawsuit alleging discrimination against U.S. workers "because of their citizenship or national origin in hiring, firing and recruiting" it may be breaking ground.
The IEEE-USA, in particular, has long argued that it isdiscrimination to replace U.S. workers. It's not alone. When Southern California Edison laid off IT workers after hiring H-1B-using contractors, 10 U.S. senators signed a letter asking the Justice Department to look at the situation. Nothing happened.
Russell Harrison, director of government relations at the IEEE-USA, said Monday's notice might be important.
"We have them (DOJ) putting out a public statement suggesting that something bad is happening in the H-1B program," said Harrison. "But this isn't action."
The change in tone at the DOJ, which has previously limited itself to prosecuting H-1B fraud cases, may be the result of its new attorney general, former Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.). As a senator, he frequently attacked the visa program.
[ To comment on this story, visit Computerworld's Facebook page. ]
The Justice Department office that handled discrimination cases had long been called the Office of Special Counsel. It was since renamed by Sessions to the Immigrant and Employee Rights Section.
John Trasvina, who was special counsel from 1997 to 2001, said that even then "there was serious congressional concern about the danger of high-tech employers favoring H-1B holders over U.S. engineers.
"Little has changed over that period of time - the industry has grown dramatically in significant part because of the contributions of H-1B visa holders, employers maintain that they can't find U.S. engineers, and laid-off or older engineers say they are passed over for younger, cheaper and widely available engineers either trained in U.S. colleges or trained abroad," said Trasvina, who is dean of the University of San Francisco School of Law.
"U.S. engineers can and should make these claims and have them investigated by the Justice Department and adjudicated by immigration judges," he said.
It's not clear why the Justice Department didn't bring a discrimination case previously. IT workers may have been unaware that they can file complaints, and many workers are are fearful of jeopardizing severance or reemployment prospects. But over the past year, the IEEE-USA has been urging affected employees to file complaints if they believe they have been discriminated against.
In a statement, Assistant Attorney General Tom Wheeler of the Civil Rights Division said: "The Justice Department will not tolerate employers misusing the H-1B visa process to discriminate against U.S. workers. U.S. workers should not be placed in a disfavored status, and the department is wholeheartedly committed to investigating and vigorously prosecuting these claims."
(Xinhua) 09:51, April 03, 2017
People hold a banner reading "For peace and justice, against violence" during a protest in front of the police headquarters in the 19th arrondissement of Paris on March 28, 2017, following the death of a Chinese national during a police intervention on March 26. [Photo: VCG]
French prosecutors have pledged that the judicial inquiry into a deadly Chinese man shooting case will be handled "with the greatest transparency" and should result in a fair and fast conclusion, Paris police chief Michel Cadot said on Saturday.
Liu Shaoyao, a 56-year-old Chinese man and a father of five children, was shot dead by police in his apartment in Paris last Sunday. The incident sparked outrage and aroused protests by the Chinese community in Paris.
Progress has been made jointly by France and China to improve the security climate of Paris, Cadot said after a work meeting with Chinese Ambassador to France Zhai Jun as well as representatives of Chinese nationals.
Cadot said the atmosphere of the talks is "very constructive." He also expressed condolence to Liu Shaoyao's family.
Cadot stressed that the Paris police will considerably increase security measures to guarantee that Paris is one of the safest destinations of Europe to Chinese tourists.
To achieve this common objective, the Paris police and the Chinese embassy have an "old, excellent and real trust" relationship in solving concrete security problems, he said.
Zhai said China hopes that the judicial inquiry launched by the French side on the truth of Liu Shaoyao's shooting to death case will lead to a "fair and understandable" conclusion and the China-France relationship can continue to move forward in a good way.
"We want to believe in the sincerity of the French side in investigating the case of Liu Shaoyao, and we appreciate the security measures launched by France, particularly by the Paris police," said Zhai.
China has paid attention to the fact that the French government and the Paris police have repeatedly stated that the safety of the Chinese in France is a priority, and "we hope that these words will be effectively applied," said the ambassador, adding that the efforts made by the French side to improve the safety of the Chinese in Paris have been in Beijing's eyes.
China also hopes that the police in Paris will respond in a reasonable manner to the reactions of the Chinese community following the shooting to death of Liu Shaoyao, said Zhai, who also called on Chinese nationals in Paris to express themselves "in a legitimate and reasonable way."
The Paris police headquarters said Saturday in a statement that to facilitate communication between tourists and the authorities in Paris, a digital complaint system with an integrated translation module is being developed, which is expected to be put into use this summer.
During the tourist season, an urban supervision center will be set up to operate video surveillance cameras and 131 new video protection devices will be added to the 216 cameras already present in the main tourist areas, according to the statement.
A CROWDFUNDING campaign to cover the cost of veterinary bills after a puppy was attacked has raised over 3,500 since Friday.
Ozzy, the 12-week-old puppy, was Ozzy, the 12-week-old puppy, was brutally attacked by another dog at Seaview beach with owner Isy Johnson, and her two-year-old daughter Poppy, on Thursday morning.
Isy said: "I just thought he was dead. I couldnt see how he could have survived such an awful attack. Hes a resilient little chap."
Since the story was reported in the County Press, Isys sister-in-law Madeline Dew set up a crowdfunding page to help cover the estimated veterinary bill of 5,000.
Isys husband, Ben, said: "The amount of support we've received has been unbelievable. Its amazing. Weve even been contacted by people from Australia and America with their best wishes."
Isy added: "Its been absolutely amazing, it has completely restored my faith in humanity. I cant believe what a wonderful community the Isle of Wight is and I feel so lucky to live here and that my girls get to grow up here.
"Im just overwhelmed by peoples kindness."
Ozzy has been receiving care at Lumbry Park in Farnham but is set to return to his family tomorrow (Tuesday).
His muzzle and jaw have been reconstructed, and there are two pins in his broken leg.
A spokeswoman for the Isle of Wight Police said officers had identified the owners of the other dog and investigations were ongoing.
Isy also extended her thanks to the police for following up the incident.
The fundraising page can be found here
(Xinhua) 09:54, April 03, 2017
A photovoltaic revolution is taking place with the emergence of all-weather solar cells, according to a Chinese scientist.
"Solar cell research is mainly focused on elevating photoelectric conversion efficiency upon direct sunlight until new light has been shed on persistent high-efficiency power generation in poor light conditions such as rain, fog, haze and night," said Tang Qunwei, a professor with Ocean University of China.
Tang's team and one led by Yang Peizhi, a professor with Yunnan Normal University, developed a solar cell using a crucial material called long persistent phosphor (LPP), which can store sunlight energy in the day and harvest it in darkness.
"Only partially visible light can be absorbed by light absorbers and then converted into electricity. But solar energy from unabsorbed visible and near-infrared light can be stored in LPP, releasing monochromatic visible light at night,' Tang said. "The released light is re-absorbed by light absorbers to convert it into electricity, realizing persistent power generation in the day and in the dark."
The work of Tang and Yang was recently published in an academic journal published by the American Chemistry Society, ACS Nano, and the publication Nano Energy.
Tang has published in Chemistry - A European Journal, where he wrote that the physical proof of all-weather solar cells would open the door for an upcoming photovoltaic revolution.
"All-weather solar cells could indicate that the global solar industry will bring down the cost of energy harvesting," Tang said.
Reduktion des Gewichtsverlustes
In einem Kuhlraum werden die Produkte in der Regel in Kisten oder durchbrochenen Paloxen gelagert. Die Kuhlung erfolgt durch ein Kuhlgerat, das die Luft im Raum umwalzt. Durch die Abkuhlung im Kontakt mit dem Gerat trocknet die Luft, bevor sie beluftet wird. Bei Kontakt mit den zu kuhlenden Produkten erwarmt sich die Luft und erwirbt die Fahigkeit, Feuchtigkeit zu absorbieren: Sie nimmt also jedes Mal, wenn sie uber das Produkt streicht, ein wenig Wasser auf und bewirkt so, dass es allmahlich seine Frische und mogliche Knusprigkeit verliert. Bei Apfeln oder Kirschen zum Beispiel sind Gewichtsverluste von ca. 10 % am Ende der Lagerung in konventionellen Verpackungen ublich; bei einem Produkt wie Kastanien konnen es bis zu 20 % sein!
Beim Janny MT-Verfahren sind es die Module, die gekuhlt werden. Die Wande der Module kuhlen die Produkte, ohne sie auszutrocknen, so dass der Gewichtsverlust auf maximal 1,5 % reduziert wird. Bei Produkten, die nach Gewicht verkauft werden, ist der wirtschaftliche Vorteil offensichtlich.
Latest Federal Public Service Commission FPSC Management Posts 2022
Case No/Job Title:
F4-79/2017-R [JOINT COMMISSIONER FOR INDUS WATERS]
Ministry/Department:
WATER AND POWER/OFFICE OF THE PAKISTAN COMMISSIONER FOR INDUS WATERS,
Grade:
BS-19
Special Pay:
Job Duties:
(i) Responsible to assist Pakistan Commissioner for Indus Waters in the implementation of the Indus Waters Treaty and allied matters.
(ii) The cases to be dealt with by the joint Commissioner are a varied nature and work is not of a routine nature and the work scrutinized by them submitted to Government.
(iii) In addition to technical work, a lot of legal work has to be done in the implementation of the Indus Waters Treaty. The joint Commissioner has to keep abreast with the development of International Law regarding the International waters and other allied matters.
(iv) In connection with implementation of the Indus Waters Treaty 1960, meetings of the permanent Indus Commission are held alternately in India and Pakistan. To assist the Pakistan Commissioner for Indus Waters and participates in all these meetings, record the minutes and prepare draft reports for submission to Government.
(v) The matters with come up for discussions in the meetings of the Permanent Indus Commission are of great national importance and those who participate in the meetings have to shoulder the onerous responsibilities of watching the interest of the country within the framework of the Treaty.
Job status:
Permanent
Eligibility:
Both male and female candidates are eligible
Any relaxation in Maximum age limits
plus five (5) years general relaxation in upper age limit.
Min Age:
32
Max Age:
40
Qualification/Experience required:
Bachelors degree in Civil Engineering/ Agricultural Engineering, Registration with PEC required or recognized by HEC. EXPERIENCE: Twelve (12) years post qualification experience in any or all the fields of Designing/ Construction/ Maintenance and operation of irrigation or River Works in responsible position equivalent to BS-17 and above in Govt./ Semi Govt./ Public or highly reputable private Organization.
Domicile:
MERIT=1, PUNJAB=1,
Closing Date:
17-APR-17
Apply online: http://online.fpsc.gov.pk/index.php
For more jobs: FPSC Jobs
For more jobs register with Jobz.pk.
Chinese President Xi Jinping sent on Sunday a message of condolences to his Colombian counterpart Juan Manuel Santos over the flooding and landslides that hit the Latin American country and caused heavy losses of life and property on Saturday.
On behalf of the Chinese government and Chinese people as well as in his own name, Xi extended his deep condolences to the victims, and sincere sympathy to the afflicted and the families of the victims.
The Chinese people would like to offer help in disaster relief and post-disaster reconstruction, he said, adding that he also believed that the Colombian people will definitely be able to overcome the aftermath of the disaster and rebuild their homeland under the leadership of President Santos and his government.
Flooding and landslides killed at least 193 people and injured 202 others on Saturday in the Colombian city of Mocoa, the capital of southwestern Putumayo department.
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Xiongan will spur economic growth, take over Beijing's noncapital roles
China will develop a new area in the northern region parallel to the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone in the south and the Shanghai Pudong New Area in the east to serve as another economic engine and advance the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.
The establishment of the Xiongan New Area in Hebei province is a "major historic and strategic choice made by the Communist Party of China Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core," said a circular issued by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Saturday.
"It (the decision to set up the new area) is a strategy crucial for a millennium to come," the circular said.
The 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 area features geological advantages, convenient transportation, an excellent ecological environment, ample resources and lots of room for development, according to the circular.
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, the circular said.
President Xi, who is also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, has said that priority should be given to developing an area to pool noncapital functions that will be shifted from Beijing. He has ordered that a modern urban district 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 new area.
He called for efforts to build Xiongan into "a demonstration area for innovative development".
The area should prioritize ecological protection and improve people's well-being as well as protect and carry forward Chinese traditional culture, he said.
Zhao Kezhi, Party chief of Hebei, said on Saturday that the development of such a new area is a historic project that will push forward the integration of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and accelerate the social and economic growth of Hebei.
Zhao required careful planning of the area. "Construction should not begin until every inch of the area is clearly planned," he told senior officials in Hebei.
Experts said that the new area bears the double task of becoming a growth pole in northern China and helping cure severe "urban ills", such as traffic congestion and air pollution in Beijing.
"The new area, together with Beijing and Tianjin, will form a world-class city cluster, and drive the entire economic growth in northern China," said Xing Tianhe, head of the Urban Planning Association of Hebei.
He said the area, which is now comparatively less developed, offers plenty of room for urban planning and construction. The area is also home to Baiyangdian, northern China's largest freshwater wetland, so it boasts sound environment conditions.
Li Guoping, head of Peking University's Beijing Development Institute, said the new area will be the place where Beijing's noncapital functions will be redistributed to.
A bipartisan group of House members, led by Rep. Donny Lambeth, are testing the winds of socioeconomic change in North Carolina with a bill that would raise the smoking and vaping age to 21.
House Bill 435 has been sent to the Committee on Rules, Calendar and Operations.
The bill covers all tobacco and tobacco-derived products, electronic cigarettes and vaporizers, and cigarette wrapping papers. It would take effect Jan. 1 if signed into law.
The bill carves out an exemption for active military personnel and contains a grandfather clause for those born in 1998 and 1999.
After Jan. 1, 2021, all consumers would have to be at least 21 to purchase those products.
Although raising the minimum smoking age to 21 may be a major challenge in a state with a deep tobacco heritage, there has been momentum toward such restrictions nationwide.
The legislatures in California and Hawaii raised their minimum age to 21 in 2016. There are at least 220 municipalities, mostly in Massachusetts but also in Missouri, New Jersey and New York, that have done the same.
Four states have raised the minimum age to 19.
HB435 mostly addresses the fines that brick-and-mortar and online retailers and wholesalers would face if caught selling these products to anyone under age 21. It also amends the punishment for those caught buying these products to individuals under age 21.
Lambeth, R-Forsyth, serves as a co-chairman of the House Health committee. He is a former president of N.C. Baptist Hospital.
The law has a practical and personal side for him, he said, since his mother died from lung cancer.
When she started smoking at a young age, there was little warning about the risk of smoking to your health, Lambeth said.
Smoking in North Carolina represents the single largest factor in preventable deaths. Many older people who smoke started in their teen years. Many of them have told me they wish they had not even started.
Many other states are addressing this issue with teens, and it is time that North Carolina takes a stand to reduce preventable deaths from smoking, Lambeth said.
Multiple states
At last count, 24 states, including North Carolina, had bills introduced in their current legislative session with a minimum age of 21 as the goal.
The legislatures in Arizona, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa and Utah already have rejected their bills, according to Cigar Aficionado research.
The state senates in Oregon and Vermont have passed their bill, but the House has not acted.
Other states with pending age-21 tobacco products bills are Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Texas, Washington and West Virginia.
Reynolds American Inc. has said states already can limit underage smoking by implementing stronger laws banning youth purchase and possession, tackling the growing problem of illicit tobacco trade and improving enforcement of existing youth tobacco prevention laws.
A total of 47 states, including North Carolina, have passed age restrictions on e-cigarette sales. Reynolds supported that law in North Carolina.
The Food and Drug Administration recommends a federal ban on selling e-cigs to people younger than 18.
Its generally a good idea to let adults make their own decisions, whenever possible, about permitting or restricting access to legal products, said Mitch Kokai a policy analyst with Libertarian think tank John Locke Foundation.
As long as these tobacco products are legal, I have a hard time buying into the argument that adults from ages 18 to 21 should not be allowed to buy them.
Kokai acknowledges that North Carolina is much less dependent on tobacco money than it was decades ago, and years of in-migration of people from states more amenable to new controls on smoking have had an impact on the states policies.
Studies, debate
In July 2015, a federal study found that about half of adults strongly favor increasing the minimum age for buying tobacco products from 18 to 21.
Another 25 percent said they somewhat favored the proposal, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
An article on the report was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
About 11 percent of adults strongly opposed raising the age limit, while 14 percent somewhat opposed. The study was comprised of 4,219 adults who were surveyed online in 2014.
Shifting the minimum age to 21 could benefit society in several ways, said Brian King, deputy director for Research Translation in the CDCs Office on Smoking and Health.
It could delay the age of first experimenting with tobacco, reducing the likelihood of transitioning to regular use and increasing the likelihood that those who do become regular users can quit, King said.
The CDC report was released four months after the federal Institutes of Medicine reported there could be a 3 percent drop in tobacco consumption by raising the age limit to 19, a 12 percent drop if the minimum age were raised to 21, and a 16 percent decrease if the minimum age were raised to 25.
The Institutes of Medicine report said raising the age limit to 19 will not have much of an effect on reducing the social sources of those in high school.
Raising to 21 will mean that those who can legally obtain tobacco are less likely to be in the same social networks as high school students.
The authors estimated raising the limit to 21 could result in 4.2 million fewer deaths related to tobacco use for those born between 2000 and 2019. They cautioned that results from the models suggest that these results will not be observed for at least 30 years.
The FDA requires approval from Congress on regulatory recommendations. Both chambers are controlled by Republicans, many of whom have expressed a preference for less not more regulation of the tobacco industry.
Raising the tobacco age will help counter the industrys efforts to target young people at a critical time when many move from experimenting with tobacco to regular smoking, said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. It will also help keep tobacco out of high schools, where younger teens often obtain tobacco products from older students.
Brian May, a spokesman for Philip Morris USA, has said that we believe states and localities should defer to this process and allow FDA and Congress the opportunity to think through this issue further before enacting different minimum wage laws.
In March 2016, a second Ivy League study has found a connection between higher age requirements for purchasing electronic cigarettes and increased use of traditional cigarettes by youths.
Researchers with Weill Cornell Medicine, in a study published this month in Preventive Medicine, said lawmakers should be cautious in establishing the same legal purchasing age for electronic devices as for traditional cigarettes, which is age 18 in most states.
We should regulate tobacco products proportionate to their risks, and e-cigarette evidence suggests theyre less risky products, said Dr. Michael Pesko, an assistant professor of health-care policy and research.
While recent statistics from the British government found that e-cigarettes are only 5 percent as harmful as cigarettes, they still carry health risks, the Weill Cornell researchers said.
In October, a Yale University study found that states that have banned the use of e-cigs and vaporizers by people younger than 18 including North Carolina have experienced an increase in the number of youths smoking traditional cigarettes.
The paper by Yale researcher Abigail Friedman, published in the Journal of Health Economics, appears to counter a prevailing anti-tobacco advocacy message: that e-cigs and vaporizers serve as a youth gateway to traditional cigarettes.
Scott Ballin, past chairman of the Coalition on Smoking or Health, said that no matter where the age restriction is set, it will be critical that it is enforced if it is to be effective.
Gregory Conley, president of the American Vaping Association, said a significant deterrent for many states in raising the minimum age is the loss of of tobacco excise tax revenue directly and from annual Master Settlement Agreement payments from the Big 3 manufacturers.
With so many states experiencing serious fiscal issues, it seems doubtful that more than a handful will move forward with these proposals in the next few years, Conley said.
Updated 7:18 p.m.
The N.C. Center for Missing Persons has canceled a Silver Alert for Jason Andrew Bishop. No further details were immediately released.
Posted 4:46 p.m.
The N.C. Center for Missing Persons issued a Silver Alert for a missing Winston-Salem man.
Jason Andrew Bishop, 46, was last seen at 805 Timberline Drive in Winston-Salem. He is believed to have a cognitive impairment.
Police describe Bishop as 6-feet tall and weighing 190 pounds. He has short brown hair and brown eyes.
Bishop was last seen wearing dark colored pants and shoes.
Officials from the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts told two area district attorneys that hiring their wives was illegal, then gave its approval to the two women trading jobs.
Emails obtained by the News & Record show this job swap in January 2015 by Pamela Bradsher and Cindy Blitzer was sanctioned by the state courts office, or AOC, after a lawyer had suggested the wives of the district attorneys should resign.
What happened after that decision ultimately ignited an ongoing investigation by the State Bureau of Investigation and a lawsuit by a whistleblower who said the wives were paid when they didnt work.
Craig Blitzer, the Rockingham County district attorney, who has since resigned, hired his wife, Cindy, on Jan. 1, 2015, to work as his legal assistant at a salary of $46,900 a year.
That same day, Wallace Bradsher, the district attorney for Person and Caswell counties, gave his wife, Pamela, a substantial raise and a promotion to investigator, making $48,000. She had begun working for him on Jan. 7, 2011.
On Jan. 13, 2015, the wives swapped jobs and salaries without public explanation.
The district attorneys offices in Person, Caswell and Rockingham counties have been under an investigation by the SBI since July 25, 2016, for the alleged theft of state money through misuse of the states payroll system. That whistleblowers subsequent lawsuit accused Blitzer and Bradsher of paying their wives a salary despite their rarely having worked.
The News & Record since October has asked AOC officials about the legality of these district attorneys hiring their wives and the involvement of AOC officials in the decision for their wives to exchange jobs. AOC officials repeatedly declined comment and said that particular information was protected by personnel law.
On Monday, AOC officials, responding to a public records request from the News & Record, provided 251 email documents sent to and from Wallace Bradsher and Craig Blitzers work accounts between Jan. 1 and Jan. 15, 2015.
These documents clarify the AOCs role in the discussion of the wives employment and include the minutiae of the prosecutors daily concerns in the workplace.
Craig Blitzer was sworn into office for the first time on Jan. 1, 2015. Included in his correspondence are concerns about choosing new furnishings for his Rockingham County office and complaints about the janitorial staff.
Wallace Bradsher, who was just beginning his second term, reviewed biblical imagery for flyers to be sent to his staff to illustrate his leadership.
And included in Bradshers emails was a proposal to give his wife a 28 percent pay raise, a plan that led to 21 email chains among the Blitzers, the Bradshers and AOC officials.
A salary increase
On Dec. 16, 2014, Person/Caswell County Senior Assistant District Attorney Hollie McAdams sent an email to Margaret Wiggins, who at the time was the AOCs human resources officer, explaining Wallace Bradshers plan to restructure his office. The note discussed promotions and salary adjustments, including Wallace Bradshers plan to give a 28 percent pay raise to someone who shared his last name.
Wiggins replied directly to Wallace Bradsher on Dec. 17, 2014: Is Pam Bradsher a relative? If so, I caution you about the hiring of relatives. I see that she was hired January 7, 2011. The policy definitely speaks to authority over relatives regarding promotions and salary. Although she may be reporting to someone else in the office, you are the authority for classification changes and salary increases.
The email included the AOCs policy.
That policy states: If a hiring authority should employ an immediate family member of another Judicial Department employee, the hiring authority should certify that the employment does not result in a conflict of interest in which one employee supervises, or otherwise has influence over his or her other immediate family member in regard to their employment, transfer, promotion, salary administration, or related management or personnel considerations.
Emailed conversations about Pamela Bradsher ceased until a few weeks later, when, at 1:15 p.m. on Jan. 8, 2015, Wiggins wrote again to Wallace Bradsher to express concern about Pamela Bradshers employment:
I recently discussed with you my concerns and cautions about our employment of relatives policy as it related to the promotion and salary increase you proposed to implement for Pam Bradsher, your spouse. Yesterday I was reminded that in addition to our policy, as an elected official you are subject to the State Government Ethics Act.
Wiggins included applicable portions of that law in her email. Definitions have been added by Wiggins in parenthesis:
A covered person (the DA) shall not cause the employment, appointment, promotion, transfer or advancement of an extended family member (spouse) of the (DA) to ... a position to which the (DA)... supervises or manages.
Ethical issue
Within 14 minutes of that message from Wiggins to Wallace Bradsher, Wiggins also sent an email to Craig Blitzer: It has come to my attention that you have employed Cindy Blitzer, who I understand is your spouse. The hiring of relatives is an issue as it relates to our policy on the employment of relatives and the State Government Ethics Act.
Wiggins recommended that Blitzer seek a waiver from the State Ethics Commission to employ his wife.
Wiggins wrote that she regretted not having talked about the policy and state law in the training for new district attorneys that Blitzer received before taking office. She also said she was working to add additional information in the human resources policy.
Wiggins did add more details to the human resources policy that included the portion of the State Government Ethics Act that deal with the hiring of relatives. But that update would not happen until Jan. 13, 2015.
That date is significant because it is the day the wives swapped jobs, a process that is detailed in subsequent messages among the AOC, Craig Blitzer and Wallace Bradsher.
At 8:02 a.m. Jan. 9, 2015, Craig Blitzer forwarded the email about his wife from Wiggins to his legal assistant, Melinda Richardson. He then replied at 8:07 a.m. to Wiggins, thanking her for informing him his actions were illegal:
Margaret Thank you for this information!!! I will contact the State Ethics Commission today and will advise you accordingly.
Three days passed before the next email.
At 8:59 a.m. on Jan. 12, 2015, Wallace Bradsher wrote to inform Wiggins that he had spoken to the State Ethics Commission and wanted to have a discussion with her.
A few hours later, Wiggins wrote to Bradsher to recommend that his wife resign.
Today you ask (sic) me what appropriate action should be taken if the State Ethics Commission does not find an exemption for this situation, Wiggins wrote. I am advised, by our General Counsel Pamela Best, that if that is the case, Pamela Bradsher should resign her position with your office effective immediately.
A solution
Less than an hour later, Wiggins discussed an alternate plan. Its unclear from the correspondence who made this proposal.
At 12:46 p.m. Wiggins wrote to Wallace Bradsher: We do not see an issue with Pam Bradsher resigning her position with your office and taking a position with another judicial office if one is offered. Im glad you found a workable solution to this issue.
At 1:59 p.m. Best emailed Richardson, Blitzers legal assistant: Melinda, I tried to return your call, but all circuits were busy. I believe Mr. Blitzer and Mr. Bradsher have found a solution to this issue. If you still need to discuss this with me, please give me a call.
A minute later, Richardson forwarded the email to Blitzer and asked if she needed to do anything.
At 2:27 p.m. Craig Blitzer responded: No we have it resolved THANK YOU !!!
At 3:03 p.m. Craig Blitzer emailed Wallace Bradsher: Just called your cell. I left a message for Margaret. Ill call you as soon as I hear from her. Thx!!
Theyre hired
At 7:49 p.m. the first email from one of the wives is sent. Cindy Blitzer emailed Wallace Bradsher: I accept your offer of employment for under (sic) the terms that you set forth in your letter.
Wallace Bradsher sent this email to his legal assistant, Gayle Peed, at 8:46 a.m. Jan. 13: Please contact HR and take whatever steps are necessary to get Mrs. Blitzer transferred into our system; Beacon, Courthouse Badge, etc. Thank you. WB
Person and Caswell county officials confirmed last month that they never received a request to provide a courthouse badge to Cindy Blitzer.
At 10:14 p.m. Wallace Bradshers wife emailed Craig Blitzer: Dear Mr. Blitzer, I accept your offer for the VWLA (victim witness legal assistant) position under the terms you set forth in your letter.
At 2:32 p.m. Craig Blitzer responds: Thank you!! And welcome aboard!!
How it works
The AOCs policy for recruiting people to fill vacancies requires district attorneys to post their positions but not necessarily all of them.
Positions that are identified as policy-making, appointed or elected are not required to be publicized. Exceptions include temporary or contract positions, such as during a budget reduction, to avoid a reduction in force, or in a disciplinary transfer or demotion.
Executive positions or certain judicial department positions, which only include assistant district attorneys in a prosecutors office, dont have to be posted.
Other exceptions occur in order to maintain the essential services of the division or office or if it is recognized that candidates for the vacancy are in short supply.
The AOC and the hiring authority set minimum training and experience standards needed for applicants and specify a period of time in which applicants must apply. Anyone who applies outside that posting period is ineligible for that position.
The day after Cindy Blitzer accepted her new job, Wallace Bradsher sent an email to McAdams to create a schedule for his staff for the month of February. He wrote, I would not put Cindy on the schedule for February; that will be a work in progress and will be primarily doing indictments and felony file prep.
Within 12 days of going to work for her husband, Cindy Blitzer was promoted from legal assistant to investigator, a job that requires a year of legal, judicial, law enforcement or investigative experience and an associate degree. It also requires knowledge of evidence collection, investigative techniques and the judicial system.
AOC spokeswoman Sharon Gladwell did not answer questions last week about why Pamela Bradsher and Cindy Blitzer were given preferential treatment instead of those positions being open to the public or why Cindy Blitzer was able to swap into a position for which by definition she did not qualify.
Gladwell said in an email that she could not comment on specific questions because of the pending whistleblower lawsuit, but she did provide details about the AOCs relationship with district attorneys.
In general, Gladwell said, the agency can tell an official when something violates the law, but the agency does not have enforcement powers.
District attorneys are constitutional judicial officials, independently elected by the people of their districts, Gladwell said. NCAOC has no authority over the decisions judicial officials make. This includes employment decisions.
Voicemail messages left for Cindy Blitzers attorney, Joe Zeszotarski, and the Bradshers joint attorney, Heather Adams, had generated no response by Friday.
Craig Blitzers attorney, Chris Clifton, said he could not comment on a pending lawsuit.
Wiggins, who has retired, answered her cell phone Tuesday and said she was interviewed by the SBI. She declined comment, saying she did not want to rely on her memory to discuss something that happened more than two years ago.
SBI agents reportedly began investigating allegations against the two district attorneys offices after Debra Halbrook, a former employee in Wallace Bradshers office, reported that the district attorneys were having employees falsify time sheets for their wives in what Halbrooks whistleblower lawsuit calls the Bradsher-Blitzer Hire My Wife scheme.
Halbrooks attorney, Drew Erteschik, said Tuesday that, when he filed the lawsuit, he sent the AOC requests for the production of documents of this kind, but he said he had yet to receive a response. Having not seen the emails, Erteschik said he wasnt prepared to comment.
The investigation
Halbrook filed her lawsuit in February, claiming she was fired from the job she held for more than 20 years when Wallace Bradsher learned she reported him to the SBI.
Halbrook alleges in her lawsuit that Cindy Blitzer worked in the Person/Caswell County district attorneys office for only a few hours a day and only five days a year. She also stated that law enforcement officials and members of the local bar association had never met Cindy Blitzer.
While employed in the Person/Caswell offices, Cindy Blitzer did not have keycard access, which means to get to the district attorneys office she would have had to stand in a security line with the general public.
Iredell Superior Court Judge Joe Crosswhite, who initiated the SBIs investigation, has named both Cindy Blitzer and John J. Stultz, the former Person/Caswell chief assistant district attorney and now a District Court judge, as suspects in the investigation.
According to Halbrooks lawsuit, Wallace Bradsher fired Cindy Blitzer on Oct. 25, 2016, only three days before the public learned about the SBI investigation.
Pamela Bradsher, who did possess a Rockingham County Courthouse keycard and used that card on 36 of the 156 business days of her employment in that office, resigned Aug. 18, 2015.
Rockingham County Courthouse records also revealed that since Halbrook filed her lawsuit on Feb. 21, Craig Blitzer had stopped using his own keycard. He resigned from his position as district attorney March 10.
(Xinhua) 14:17, April 03, 2017
People pay tribute to the deceased at Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery in Beijing on Sunday, April 2, 2017, the first day of the Tomb-sweeping Day holiday. [Photo: VCG]
A total of 5.3 million Chinese visited 150 major cemeteries to honor their deceased relatives Sunday, the first day of the three-day holiday for the Tomb-Sweeping Day which falls on Tuesday.
The number of people visiting burial sites across the nation increased by 34.2 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA).
The cemeteries deployed 33,000 service staff, 76.6 percent more than a year earlier, to maintain order during heavy traffic, helping disperse 899,000 vehicles, up 43.5 percent year on year.
Tomb-Sweeping Day, or Qingming, falls early April, when Chinese people commemorate their deceased loved ones by visiting tombs and offering sacrifices.
Modern and more eco-friendly ways of honoring the deceased have emerged in recent years, such as "Internet tomb-sweeping" and sea-burials.
The ministry said no severe accidents were reported on the day.
Summerville, SC (29483)
Today
Except for a few afternoon clouds, mainly sunny. High 72F. Winds NNE at 10 to 20 mph..
Tonight
A few clouds from time to time. Low near 50F. Winds NNE at 10 to 15 mph.
04/03/2017
Dr. Tina Deshotels, professor and coordinator of the sociology program at JSU, arrived on campus in August 2005.
Originally from Opelousas, La., Deshotels completed her Bachelor of Arts at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and went on to earn her Master of Arts from Middle Tennessee State University and Ph.D. at Florida State University.
Specializing in theory, gender, and deviance, she stated, My interests are very broad, and sociology - especially gender theory and deviance - gave me the ability to study many topics from a similar theoretical and methodological frameworkResearch gives me the ability to explore my curiosity and use that information to help inform my teaching and community/professional service.
Deshotels varied research interests range between exotic dancing to gender and depression in the nursing home, to pickpocketing to shelter in place kits at the Anniston Army Depot - and all matters in between.
A typical day in Deshotels classroom will begin with a reading comprehension quiz in the first five minutes. Additionally, she always starts her day off with an outline on the board, which serves as their map for the days topic and as a study guide for the exams. She will open the lecture, which she tries to make no more than 15 minutes long, by giving a definition of the subject and a variety of examples to illustrate the topic. Active learning is encouraged, as she also incorporates exercises, role-playing, games, and discussion questions. She believes in clear communication and makes a serious effort to ensure that students are fully aware of what is expected of them. Students who take her class can expect extensive feedback on written assignments, which is helpful when progressing through the class.
The biggest changes Ive made [over my teaching career] is that I now tell students why Im doing what Im doing, how it is related to the other assignments, and how it will benefit them, explained Deshotels. I also make sure I connect this directly to the job market, advanced education goals, citizenship responsibilities, and/or personal family life. I do most of the same things, but I let students know the purpose and benefit. Ive implemented a section in the syllabus titled marketable skills you will gain in the course and refer to it as we move through the material.
Deshotels enjoys the continual growth that happens to both her and her students during a course. My teaching is guided by a passion for learning that involves an ethical responsibility to have students, when they walk out of class, be better people, in terms of knowledge, skills set and/or disposition, than when they walked in, she stated.
To students wishing to be successful not only in her classroom but also in college, Deshotels stated, Generally, Id advise students to be a scholar, a life-long learner in particular; be curious, critical and constructive. Dont short change yourself by doing the bare minimum to get by. Motivate yourself to become responsible for your own learning. Dont be afraid to be wrong.
On her JSU experience, Deshotels stated, JSU is special for a number of reasons but what most drew me here was that the culture is student focused, focusing on ensuring we are giving students access to high quality education that includes specific skills, content and dispositions designed to give them the tools to become active and engaged citizens and scholars.
JSU is lucky to have Deshotels and instructors like her who seek to make the lessons learned in the classroom pertinent to everyday life.
Photo: Tina Deshotels (courtesy Deshotels).
04/03/2017
National Weather Service projections
According to the Calhoun County Emergency Management Agency, a significant severe weather outbreak is expected today, April 3, over the southern half of Alabama. The risk for Calhoun County is not quite as high, but we could still see some severe weather anytime from the mid-morning through mid-afternoon. Please stay weather aware. All students, faculty and staff are strongly encouraged to enroll in the university's Emergency Alert System.
The Egypt Court of Urgent Matters on Sunday struck down a ruling by the Egypt High Administrative Court regarding the transfer of two uninhabited Red Sea islands from Egypt to Saudi Arabia. The Egyptian government transferred the two islands [reuters report], Tiran and Sanafir, to Saudi Arabia in April 2016, based on the belief that they had always belonged to Saudi Arabia. Sundays decision will let the transfer move forward, but the decision is still subject to appeal and parliamentary approval. The decision is controversial, as critics hold that the Court of Urgent Matters is a lower court and does not have jurisdiction [news report] to overrule decisions made by the High Administrative Court. The Court of Urgent Matters is seen by some as a tool the Egyptian parliament is using to either stall or push the deal through, despite the deal being struck down the High Administrative Court. The transfer of the islands has also been controversial, as critics have accused the Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi of giving the islands to Saudi Arabia in exchange for financial support [BBC report] for al-Sisi and the current Egyptian government.
The relationship between Saudi Arabia and Egypt has been getting closer since President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi took power in Egypt. In 2015 Egypt and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement [JURIST report] to improve stability and safety in the region. A year later, in 2016, the agreement to transfer the two islands in question was made between the two countries. In June 2016 the transfer was invalidated [JURIST report] by a lower court in Cairo. In January 2017 the High Administrative Court rejected an appeal [JURIST report] of the lower courts decision, thereby halting the transfer of the islands to Saudi Arabia.
[JURIST] A local Munich Court [official website, in German] denied Friday a motion by Volkswagen (VW) [official website] to bar evidence seized during searches of a law firm working for the company. Volkswagen filed its complaint last week in an attempt to prevent German prosecutors from analyzing material confiscated during the March 15 raid [NYT report ] on Jones Day [corporate website], the law firm conducting an internal investigation for VW into emissions test cheating at the company. The court concluded [Reuters report] that the raids were lawful and the evidence would thus be available to prosecutors. The courts decision will now be reviewed by the Munich District Court.
The VW scandal began in September 2015 when it was leaked that VW had intentionally circumvented emissions tests through installing technology to determine when emissions testing would take place and alter the cars emissions during inspections. It was found that the practice took place for at least six years. In February VW agreed to plead guilty and pay billions of dollars [JURIST report] to correct their 3.0 liter diesel engine vehicles. VW pled guilty [JURIST report] earlier this month per the agreement. In December the EU decided to take action [JURIST report] against seven member states over the emissions scandal. A US judge approved [JURIST report] a $14.7 billion settlement in October between VW and the US Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, the state of California and car owners who filed a class action lawsuit over the companys emissions scandal. In September the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission sued [JURIST report] VW and its local subsidiary for misleading customers. In July a judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of California gave preliminary approval [JURIST report] to a $15 billion settlement between VW and the US Environmental Protection Agency, California officials and consumers.
China-US trade is highly complementary and has mutual benefits, China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said on Saturday, adding that bilateral trade follows the rule of economic globalization and reveals the structural difference and internal demands of both nations.
The ministry made the statementafter US President Donald Trump signed executive orders on Friday focused on reducing its trade deficit.
The reality, cause and possible impact for the US trade deficit with China are well understood by both countries,a spokesperson of the MOC said.
As the world's top two economies, China and the US shoulder a special mission in boosting global trade and investment, as well as global economic prosperity, it added.
What the US should do is to follow the world-recognized rules, including implementing the obligations stipulated in Article 15 of the Protocol on China's accession to the World Trade Organization, the ministry stressed.
China is willing to work alongside its US partner to intensify dialogue and properly address disagreements on the basis of equality, mutual benefits and win-win cooperation, it added.
Trump signed two executive orders at White House on Friday over its trade policies, claiming on the same day that the move aims to revitalize the US manufacturing industry.
The orders asked the Commerce Department and the US trade representative to conduct a 90-day review of the causes of massive US trade deficits by examining deficits country by country and product by product.
Whats more, a tougher investigation against the products exported to the US will be launched, and those they asserted as rule violators will be levied with higher duties.
Both US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and National Trade Council adviser Peter Navarro, at a press conference held a day earlier, defined the dramatic cut of trade deficits as an important promise made by Trump during his presidential campaign, stressing that the two orders are by no means targeting at China.
Data released in February by the US Department of Commerce showed that the US logged a 502.3 billion dollars trade deficit in 2016, of which the gap with China totaled at 347 billion dollars. At the same time, the deficit with the EU and Mexico stood at 146.3 billion dollars and 6.32 billion dollars respectively.
China-US trade and economic relations have developed to such a stage that the two countries' interests are inextricably intertwined. For issues that might crop up amid cooperation, the two sides should properly resolve them through consultation, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang repeated Chinas stance on China-US trade deficit on Friday.
The trade in goods between China and the US last year reached 519.6 billion dollars.You may say that China holds a trade surplus on trade in goods, but the US also has huge trade surplus in services, he told the press conference, adding that even in terms of trade in goods, 40 percent of China's trade surplus was created by US enterprises operating in China.
The spokesman, at last, urged China and the US to work together to make bigger the cake of common interests, which the two sides certainly have the potential to achieve, instead of bending over on which side grabs a larger share.
[JURIST] Advocacy group Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] on Sunday criticized [press release] US President Donald Trumps plan to meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, saying the move effectively endorses the countrys poor recent human rights record. Al-Sisi overthrew the democratically elected Mohamed Morsay in July 2013 and oversaw opposition protests that left 1150 people dead. The group says that Under al-Sisis presidency, tens of thousands of Egyptians have been arrested and security forces have committed human rights abuses including torture, disappearances, and extrajudicial executions. According to Sarah Margon [professional profile], Washington director at Human Rights Watch, inviting al-Sisi for an official visit to Washington as tens of thousands of Egyptians rot in jail and when torture is again the order of the day is a strange way to build a stable strategic relationship.
Egypt has been under the international spotlight lately for its human rights abuses, particularly, its treatment of journalists. In February, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official profile] welcomed [JURIST report] the decision by Egyptian authorities to release on bail two Al Jazeera journalists awaiting retrial on terror charges. The men were arrested [JURIST report] in December 2013 along with fellow Al Jazeera journalist and Australian national Peter Greste. In March Greste was released [JURIST report] from the Cairo detention facility and deported, under a law allowing the deportation of foreign nationals to their home countries.
[JURIST] The top prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC)[official website] released a statement [text] Friday alleging that recent acts of violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) could amount to war crimes. According to Fatou Bensouda [official profile], the prosecutor, there have been reports of violent clashes between local militia and Congolese forces, particularly in the Kasai provinces. The reports detail large numbers of killings of both civilians and non-civilians. If the reports are true, the killings could be prosecuted as they fall under the jurisdiction of the ICC. Jurisdiction for the Conglese killings would be granted to the ICC under the principle of complementarity derived from the Rome Statute [text, PDF] which confers on states primary responsibility for investigating and prosecuting alleged violent acts within their domains. In a stern warning to the DRC, the prosecutor stated I further urge the government to resolutely implement and follow-up on the measures announced so that justice is done, and to take the appropriate steps to prevent the subsequent commission of such acts.
The DRC [BBC profile] has seen ongoing violence for the past several decades, which has led to growing international concern. In March seven army officials were arrested and charged [JURIST report] with war crimes. Last month Human Rights Watch called on [JURIST report] the DRC to investigate the killing of alleged militia which was recorded in a released video. Earlier in February the UN human rights chief urged [JURIST report] the DRC to end violence against civilians. Also in February the UN human rights office expressed concern [JURIST report] over reports that at least 101 people were killed by Congolese soldiers. Last October violent protests erupted [JURIST report] after the electoral commission announced that the next presidential election, originally scheduled for November 2016, would be pushed back to 2018. The commission stated that it needed more time to prepare supplies and voter registration lists. In the beginning of 2016 [JURIST report] former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon urged African leaders to avoid using loopholes and undemocratic constitutional changes to cling to power.
[JURIST] King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain [official profile] ratified a constitutional amendment Monday that would allow for military trials of civilians suspected of terrorism in the country. The amendment [explanatory note, PDF] modifies the text of Article 105(b) of the Kingdom of Bahrains Constitution [text, PDF] to read:
The Law governs the military judiciary and defines its jurisdictions for Bahrain Defense Force, the National Guard and the Public Security Forces.
The Bahraini government says the amendment is necessary in light of the spreading of terrorism in the area. They further argue that the amendment will secure the nations independence, sovereignty, and security by expediting legal investigations and convictions. Rights group Amnesty International criticized the move [press release], saying the law was vaguely worded and could be abused.
Bahrains human rights record has been closely scrutinized in recent months. In September 32 nations joined [JURIST report] a statement to the UN urging Bahrain to protect freedom of peaceful assembly and speech, and to investigate reports of torture used on prisoners. In April a human rights group said [JURIST report] that Bahrains post-2011 reforms had failed to put a stop to human rights violations including illegal detentions and torture. And last February the Bahrain Ministry of the Interior started [JURIST report] a criminal investigation against a political opposition group for allegedly illegal content posted on social media. The Bahraini parliament approved [JURIST report] the amendment in March.
On Sunday, United Nations [official website] officials said Afghan repatriation is set to continue on Monday with reduced cash incentives [Aljazeera report] for Afghan refugees to leave Pakistan. The cash incentive, which was initially $400, was cut in half to $200 in order to facilitate voluntary Afghan repatriation. Despite these cuts many refugees are continuing to register for repatriation. The current efforts to deport Afghan refugees is an effort that, according to the Pakistani government, is designed for national security. According to various human rights organizations, the number of police abuses and extortion efforts against Afghan refugees has increased following this initiative. Currently, Pakistan is home to approximately 1.3 million registered Afghan refugees and 1 million unregistered Afghan refugees.
The rights of refugee and migrant populations has emerged as one of the most significant humanitarian issues around the world. In January the Slovenian parliament passed amendments to the Aliens Act [JURIST report] to enact emergency measures to deny refugees entry into the country and to expel those whom did not have their asylum claims properly assessed. Also in January US President Donald Trump issued [JURIST report] an executive order restricting access to the US for refugees and visa holders from seven countries. The order also indefinitely suspends the entry into the US of Syrian refugees. The order further suspended admission of refugees from any country for 120 days while the administration is reviewing the visa program and limited the number of possible refugees for 2017 to 50,000. In November experts questioned humanitarian conditions at Grecian migrant camps when a 66-year-old woman and six-year-old boy died [JURIST report] in a camp fire. In April 2016 several aid organizations urged [JURIST report] EU leaders to stop deportations of migrants from Greece to Turkey and to stop detaining asylum seekers. Also in April 2016 Human Rights Watch reported [JURIST report] that the first deportation of 66 people from the Greek island of Chios to Turkey was riddled with an array of irregularities. In March 2016 former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged [JURIST report] world leaders to accept more refugees and to combat the growing international anti-refugee sentiments. That same month, an independent UN human rights expert encouraged EU leaders to remain steadfast [JURIST report] in their obligations to handle the recent influx of migrants to the EU.
[JURIST] The UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples [official website], Victoria Tauli-Corpuz [official profile], said Monday she was appalled [press release] by the living conditions of Aboriginal Australians following her week-long visit to Australia. According to the report, many Aboriginal people live in town camps without access to basic sanitation. Tauli-Corpuz said:
As I have travelled across the country, I have found the prevalence of racism against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples deeply disturbing. This manifests itself in different ways, ranging from public stereotyped portrayals of them as violent criminals, welfare profiteers and poor parents and to discrimination in the administration of justice.
She was particularly concerned with the number of Aboriginal children imprisoned for petty crimes. Tali-Corpuz stated that while Aboriginal people make up 3 percent of the Australian population, they account for 27 percent of the prison population and 95 percent of the juvenile prison population. The focus urgently needs to move away from detention and punishment towards rehabilitation, she said.
Australias treatment of Aboriginal people has drawn criticism from the international community. Last month, another UN rapporteur said that Australias policies to prevent violence against women do not benefit [JURIST report] Aboriginal women. In December the UN called on [JURIST report] Australia to end all forms of racial discrimination, including against indigenous Australians. Last July Amnesty International said Australia must address [JURIST report] abuse of child prisoners.
[JURIST] Venezuelas Supreme Court of Justice reversed a prior ruling to take over the National Assembly on Sunday. The court effectively dissolved [JURIST report] the legislature in its decision last Wednesday. The Supreme Court and Venezuelas President Nicolas Maduro [official profile, in Spanish] support [Reuters report] the Socialist Party, while the opposition party leads the legislature. Protests broke out after the original decision on Wednesday, with protesters accusing the Socialist Party of creating a dictatorship. The international community also voiced opposition. A special state security committee persuaded the court to reverse their decision.
There has been considerable legislative tension between the pro-government controlled Supreme Tribunal of Justice and the opposition-majority National Assembly of Venezuela following the December 2015 election. Last November the National Assembly postponed a symbolic trial of President Nicolas Maduro in an effort ease political tension [JURIST report] in the nation. In October the National Assembly voted to open criminal impeachment proceedings [JURIST report] against Maduro, alleging that he manipulated the constitution to remain in power. That same month the Assembly also declared [JURIST report] that there is a breakdown of constitutional order and that the government had staged a coup by blocking an attempt to remove Maduro from power. In June government officials asked the Supreme Court to deny a referendum [JURIST report] to remove Maduro proposed by opposition leaders. In April Venezuelas opposition-led parliament approved [JURIST report] new referendum rules.
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New freight train linking China and Europe sets off in Xian
The first China-Europe new freight train linking Xi'an with Budapest is departing from Xian on April 1, 2017.
A new freight train connecting China's northwestern city of Xi'an with Budapest, capital and most populous city of Hungary, has formally started operation after the first 41-carriage train departed from Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province on Saturday.
The train was loaded with over 100 items including garments, toys, daily necessities, household appliance and electronic products.
It will leave China through the Alataw Pass in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, and pass Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia before reaching its destination in Hungary.
The trip spans 9.312 km and takes 17 days, over 30 days shorter than the previous sea and rail route.
It is the fourth freight train between China and Europe, following the routes linking Xian with Warsaw, Hamburg and Moscow. The trains will on one hand help Shaanxi province open up to the West, and on the other hand build a new global logistics corridor along the Silk Road Economic Belt.
Dallas, 04/03/2017 /SubmitPressRelease123/
When it comes to knowing the roads, perhaps no other profession has as deep of a knowledge base as truck drivers. Semi-truck operators spend their workdays crisscrossing the country, and theyre exposed to all sorts of road conditions.
Although its not always possible to avoid a particular stretch of road, it helps to know which roads have a reputation for being especially dangerous. According to one commercial trucking site, here are the top 13 worst roads in the U.S. based on truck drivers experiences as well as data from the Department of Transportation and other organizations.
I-10 in Arizona
Arizonas I-10 is the fourth-longest interstate highway as well as the southernmost interstate highway. Its 150-mile span from Phoenix to the California border sees about 85 fatalities each year.
I-95 in Connecticut
Running north and south from Maine all the way to Miami, I-95 is one of the countrys oldest highways. Altogether, it stretches over 1,900 miles. Because it runs through numerous heavily populated areas, it accounts for many highway fatalities.
Dalton Highway in Alaska
Alaskas Dalton Highway is dangerous because of its meandering route through mountainous terrain with just one fuel stop and little access to emergency help if needed.
Highway 2 in Montana
The University of Minnesota claims that Montanas Highway 2 has the highest traffic death rate of any other region. Winter weather and an 80-minute wait time for an ambulance makes the highway especially treacherous.
Highway 550 in Colorado
A specific 25-mile stretch of Highway 550 is particularly twisting and winding, with heights that reach up to 11,000 feet. This dangerous stretch of highway also lacks shoulders and guardrails.
California & Arizonas I-15
The most heavily traveled section of I-15 sees a lot of Las Vegas tourist traffic. It has high rates of drunk driving accidents and injuries due to low seat belt use.
Californias Route 138
Route 138 runs through the Mojave Desert and has been named the Highway of Death after a five-year period in which 56 people were killed and 875 were injured.
I-285 in Georgia
At 64 miles long, I-285 loops around the city of Atlanta. It sees about 2 million vehicles each day.
I-26 in South Carolina
Between 2000 and 2010, there were 286 accidents that claimed 325 lives on I-26, which has been called South Carolinas most dangerous road.
US 431 in Alabama
The 98-mile section of US 431 that runs between Phenix City (yes, it is spelled Phenix), Alabama and Dothan. The Alabama stretch has a reputation for being extremely dangerous.
US 24 Fort Wayne to Toledo
Built in 1926, US Route 24 is a main commercial route between Toledo, Ohio and Fort Wayne, Indiana. For decades, the narrow road saw an overwhelming number of serious accidents, leading to its nickname, The Killway.
US 6 in Utah
Because its a curvy road in an area that experiences a lot of ice and snow, US 6 is particularly dangerous.
US 129 in North Carolina
One section of US 129 in North Carolina has 318 curves in just 11 miles, earning its spot in the top 13 most dangerous roads.
Truck accident lawyer Amy Witherite of 1-800-Truck-Wreck explains, Some roads are more dangerous than others. Before you get behind the wheel, know your route and identify any potential hazards, such as winding curves or bad weather. Adjust your speed or even your route to make sure you stay safe. Although you cant always avoid a careless driver, you can take steps to make sure youre not putting yourself in harms way when it comes to driving factors that you can control.
If you have been involved in a semi-truck accident, or you have lost a loved one in a tractor-trailer crash, you may be entitled to money for your injuries and other losses. Dont wait to speak to a truck accident attorney. Call an experienced truck accident lawyer today to discuss your case.
Sources:
Media Contact:
Lucy Tiseo
Eberstein & Witherite, LLP
Phone: 800-878-2597
Email: [email protected]
www.1800truckwreck.com
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source: http://www.1800truckwreck.com/roads-truckers-call-dangerous-america.html
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It is in Finlands interests to prioritize ties with China: politician
Chinese President Xi Jinpings upcoming Finnish trip, coming upon the 100th anniversary of Finnish independence, is the best evidence of bilateral traditional friendship, said former Finnish Prime Minister MattiVanhanen, adding that it is in his countrys interest to prioritize its ties with China.
He said so in an interview with the Peoples Daily before Xi kicks off his state visit to Finland on April 4.
Vanhanenfirst recalled his talks with Xi, then Vice President, in Helsinki seven years ago. He said that as Finnish Prime Minister then, he was happy to accompany Xi for a visit to Rovaniemi, known as hometown of Santa Claus.
He added that their talks in the capital city focused more on politics, economy and trade, while the Rovaniemi trip covered more on cultural exchanges and communication between young generations.
Most impressed by Xis fortitude and persistence, the former prime minister said that that Xi grew into a top leader by starting from grassroots, and what is more important is that he can implement all the far-sighted decisions he has made.
It is an easy job for politicians to make a commitment, but arduous efforts are required to fulfill those promises, he explained.
Vanhanen, current chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Parliament, stressed the importance of international cooperation amid the uncertainties brought by Brexit, US policies as well as rising tide of European protectionism.
Against such backdrop, the ideas on international cooperation, open market and multilateralism put forward by Xi at the Davos Forum earlier this year are impressive and significant, according to Vanhanen.
He urged each country to never damage the interests of the third parties while protecting their own interest and seeking bilateral resolutions, explaining that the world agendas are always intertwined and interconnected.
Each member of the world should abide by the common rules and safeguard international multilateral system, he said.
Xis Finnish trip on this special occasion, according to the official, is of great value. He said that the distance between both countries is not as far as someone imaged, since a flight between them only takes eight hours.
The direct flight between both countries is one reason why Finland could be one of Chinas largest trade partners in Northern Europe, he added.
Vanhanen said that the increasingly closer economic, trade and investment relations between both countries can be attributed to quite a number of reasons. A sound economic and trade environment, first of all, was ensured by their long-term political friendship and mutual respect.
The business expansion of some big Finnish companies in Chinese market paved a road for the countrys latecomers, he said, adding that their similar development strategies also contributed to an intensified relationship.
Chinas shift to a more sustainable economic growth has provided abundant business opportunities for clean energy, forestry, innovative technologies and other industries of Finland, he further pointed out.
Highly appreciating the Belt and Road initiative put forward by China, Vanhanen believed that his country can play a part in it.
Someone has advised to build a tunnel to connect Finland with Tallinn, capital and largest city of Estonia, so that the country will be included in the railway network linking Europe and Asia, he illustrated.
Finland also expects to open more direct flights to Chinese cities, the politician cited Rovaniemi, administrative capital of Finland's northernmost Laplandprovince, as an example, adding that Chinese visitors to the province increased over 40 percent each year.
With an aim to build an information Silk Road spanning Northern Europe and Asian nations, Finland has proposed to build a trans-Arctic data cable, he added.
Vanhanen stressed that the Finnish political circle holds friendly attitudes towards China because it is also in the interest of Finland to place China as a diplomatic priority.
What Do You Know About Your Right To Counsel?
Dallas, 04/03/2017 /SubmitPressRelease123/
No matter how many police or courtroom dramas youve watched, few things can truly prepare you for being taken into police custody or questioned by the cops. When your blood pressure is spiking and your heart is beating out of your chest, its easy to forget your rights assuming you understand them in the first place.
According to the School of Public Affairs at the American University in Washington, D.C., 90 percent of Americans currently incarcerated were represented by public defenders, and 80 percent of Americans believe that the nations public defenders dont have the time to properly handle their caseloads. Another 70 percent said that their public defender was doing a fair or poor job on their defense case.
When Does Your Right to a Lawyer Start?
The right to counsel is found in the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, however, it only applies to felony offenses. Furthermore, the right to counsel wasnt extended to state felony prosecutions until 1963, when the U.S. Supreme Court extended the right to counsel in Gideon v. Wainwright. Although criminal defendants today have a right to counsel in both state and federal felony prosecutions, there is no right to counsel in state non-felony cases.
Furthermore, an individual must be able to show that they are financially unable to hire their own lawyer. If they satisfy this burden, the court must appoint a public defender free of charge. In some jurisdictions, the court might appoint a local attorney, with the taxpayers picking up the cost of the attorneys fees.
Another subject that tends to generate confusion is the right to receive Miranda warnings (also sometimes called Miranda rights). Specifically, people often wonder when police are required to inform you of your right to stay silent, your right to counsel, and all the other rights police officers and detectives rattle off in Hollywood movies.
The reality is that the police dont have to inform you of your Miranda rights until they subject you to custodial interrogation. This means you must be in police custody and not free to leave and the police must be actively asking you questions about a crime or asking you questions calculated to prompt you into making an incriminating statement.
As you might imagine, there is gray area when it comes to what qualifies as being in police custody, as well as what types of police questions count as interrogation. If you suspect the police abused their authority, or you believe they violated your constitutional rights, its important to speak with a criminal defense lawyer about your case.
Sources:
Dallas Criminal Defense Lawyer http://www.brodenmickelsen.com/
Broden & Mickelsen, LLP
2600 State St Dallas, Texas 75204
Main Phone: (214) 720-9552
source: http://www.brodenmickelsen.com/blog/know-right-counsel/
Social Media Tags:Dallas Criminal Defense Lawyer, Right to a Lawyer, Right to Counsel
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The upcoming meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump will go well, former US Ambassador to China Stapleton Roy predicted on Friday ahead of Xis upcoming visit, adding that they will both try to work for positive outcomes rather than poor outcome.
He made the comments in an interview with the Peoples Daily on the sidelines of a seminar organized by Washington-headquartered Center for Strategic and International Studies over the upcoming Xi-Trump meeting.
I think both leaders recognize that they are dealing with probably the most important country from each sides standpoint, the diplomat explained.
Therefore, if things go wrong, there can be very serious potential consequences, he said, believing that both leaders have understood the importance of bilateral ties.
"We wouldn't be having this summit if the two sides didn't want it to go well. I don't see it that difficult to have it go reasonably well," Roy noted.
Roy believed Mar-a-Lago resort as an ideal venue for Xis meeting with Trump, saying that I think the pattern that they have a more relax meeting, in which you touch a wide range of issues is much better than the one hour meetings.
It is very difficult to deal with difficult issues in a one-hour meeting,the envoy explained.
The arrangement of a meeting between heads of state in such an early stage, according to the former ambassador, will provide chances for progress of bilateral ties.
A close and frequent contact between both top leaders will help the two nations bolster ties and manage disagreements, he said, adding that a series of important agendas will be discussed in this meeting.
Recalling his multiple meetings with Chinese leaders when working as US diplomat, he was impressed by the elaborate preparations for bilateral meetings of Chinese leaders and their good mastery of discussed topics.
Born in Nanjing, capital city of eastern-central coastal Jiangsu province, Roy spent most of his 40-plus-year diplomatic career in dealing with the US relations with China. He also witnessed big events including the establishment of bilateral diplomatic ties.
After assuming the post of US Ambassador to China in 1990s, he became a direct witness of the vicissitudes and development of bilateral relationship.
Both countries have managed to settlethe complicated and thorny challenges they encountered through diplomatic approaches, the diplomat said.
I think it is very important for them to discuss not only the issues we have common interests, but also the areas we have differences, he said, adding that it needs to be done in a respectable fashion.
You can actually make progress on difficult issues if you try to make progress rather than creating new obstacles, the former ambassador stressed.
He also called on US enterprises to engage in projects related to Chinas Belt and Road initiative, in a belief that it will benefit the US businesses.
International trade always involves trade deficits and trade surpluses with other countries, and for variety of reasons. You have to look differently, he said so when commenting on China-US economic and trade ties.
Roy at last suggested the US and China show respect to each other, expand shared interests, and manage disagreements.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 3
Trend:
President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev visited the Alley of Martyrs in Baku Apr. 3.
A guard of honor was lined up for the Kazakh president there.
President Nazarbayev paid tribute to Azerbaijani heroes who gave their lives for the country`s independence and territorial integrity.
He laid a wreath at the Eternal Flame monument.
A military orchestra played the national anthems of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 3
By Seba Aghayeva Trend:
The round table entitled "Russia-Azerbaijan: 25 Years of Diplomatic Relations: Partnership Strategy" is being held in Baku April 3.
The event has been organized by the North-South political center and Baku International Policy and Security Network (Baku Network) analytical center.
The event, organized jointly with Trend news agency, is being held on the eve of celebrating the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Azerbaijan.
The Russian and Azerbaijani experts, politicians and public figures, media representatives of the two countries were invited to participate.
The round table was opened by Gulnara Mammadzade, moderator of the event, director of the Baku Network analytical center and Angelika Trapeznikova, executive director of the North-South political center.
Trapeznikova said that the attention paid to that event by the embassies, the Azerbaijani government and representatives of civil society testifies to its importance.
"On behalf of the Russian expert community, I will express a common opinion that it is possible to more effectively counter modern challenges through cooperation," Trapeznikova added.
Matanat Baghiyeva, representative of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration, also attended the event.
She said that the event not only contributes to the formation of good-neighborly relations between Russia and Azerbaijan, but also helps outline new ways of cooperation.
Assistant to the Russian ambassador Oleg Murashev was also among those who attended the event.
He said that today the relations between Azerbaijan and Russia are actively developing in various spheres, including the economic sphere.
A sincere dialogue between the leaders of Azerbaijan and Russia plays a huge role in strengthening relations between two countries, Murashev said.
Elkhan Alasgarov, PhD, head of the expert council of the Baku International Policy and Security Network (Baku Network), also attended the event.
While speaking at the event, Alasgarov said that the friendly and trusting relations have been established between Azerbaijan and Russia thanks to mutual understanding between the two leaders.
He added that the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will become the main guarantee of establishing stability in the region, which is in the interests of all countries.
The massive support for Slovak fascists (LSNS) is a response to the countrys socio-economic division.
A few weeks ago, the Slovakian NGO Institute for Public Questions (IVO) released the results of a comprehensive quantitative survey focusing on the online behaviour of young Slovaks. It came to quite a few important and staggering conclusions: the media immediately jumped on the revelation that the party with the most support from voters aged between 18 and 39 (although it remains somewhat questionable whether middle-aged people should be considered young Slovaks) was the Peoples Party of Our Slovakia (Ludova strana Nase Slovensko LSNS) led by the infamous fascist leader Marian Kotleba.
Nevertheless, the survey tells us that around a quarter of young Slovaks would vote for LSNS and ninety per cent of them have no qualms about their style, political program and plans. Furthermore, a third of Slovakias youth openly sympathizes with the values and activities of the party. During the last parliamentary elections, when LSNS gained over 8% of the vote, it had the support of 22% of first-time voters and their electorate consisted of 70% of people under the age of 39.
Knots and causes
What is even more striking is the amount of support for concrete measures proposed by LSNS. For example, over 66 per cent of all respondents agree with lowering the social benefits for the Romani meaning that an explicitly racist policy is now a part of young Slovaks political mainstream. Another surprising popular consensus was reached on the question of downsizing the one hundred and fifty-member Parliament by fifty, which is supported by more than 70% of Slovak youth.
Perhaps the most interesting, however, is the critical stance half of the respondents take towards the current democratic regime.
This phenomenon is less surprising if we look at the other parties mentioned in the survey: it turns out young Slovaks favour obscure parliamentary entities such as Sme Rodina (We Are Family an anti-immigration party led by controversial businessman and tabloid celebrity Boris Kollar), the nationalist SNS resurrected by popular nationalist Andrej Danko or the movement OLANO-NOVA headed by Igor Matovic a man whose political program remains in a perpetual state of quantum superposition.
The obvious question would be: which was the first? Did LSNS invent its eclectic critique of democracy or did it just become a channel for the anger of the young generation, a reflection of deeper socio-economic inequality that cuts through the entirety of Slovak society? All the governments to this date polished to perfection their art of ostracising the poor: either by enforcing austerity policies, as was the case with right-wing cabinets, or by fanning the flames of ethnic hatred during the monochromatic rule of Robert Fico.
The employment policies of Slovak governments have displayed signs of labour precarisation for a long time, and together with their investment policy, this resulted in a situation where we can find the sixth richest region in EU, Bratislava, in the same country as the extremely poor areas of central and eastern Slovakia, such as Rimavska Sobota, Revuca, Velky Krtis, Kezmarok, Gelnica, Trebisov, or Sabinov. It is no coincidence that some of these places lie in the Banska Bystrica region, for the last three years led by the fascist Kotleba.
These areas suffer from high unemployment as well as the lowest education level and room space per person in the country. Households without fresh running water are a fairly common sight. The poverty line in Slovakia is set to 347 euro and 640 000 people are directly threatened by poverty, many of whom are families with children.
Demographically and geographically, Slovakia is a textbook example of a semi-peripheral late neoliberal country.
Its geographical distribution consists of the centre (Bratislava and part of the Trnava region), semi-periphery (the cities of Trencin, Zilina, Banska Bystrica, Kosice, Nitra and Poprad plus their satellite towns and villages), and periphery (most of the rest of Slovakia, apart from regional centres). The economic and educated elite is concentrated exclusively in Bratislava, which functions as a regional accelerator of sorts by catapulting individuals and companies into cosmopolitan networks, like a giant electric socket that leads into the currents of global capital. Even the location of Slovakias capital on the Western edge of the country is self-explanatory.
But as is often the case with capitalism, most of the money is concentrated in a very few places and trickles outwards only in incremental amounts. You can easily see the real face of Slovakian structural poverty that afflicts entire communities less than a hundred kilometres from Bratislava. This is the reality hundreds of thousands of Slovaks have to live in: its fundamental qualities are boredom, futility, loss of any perspective for personal or communal life, and the ever-present feeling of deep uncertainty. This poverty is ethnographically documented for example in the tracks of the rapper Cavalenky from the Slovak-Czech border.
Parallel universes
Material-wise, it would seem obvious that the strong support for LSNS is the latest expression of long-term socio-economic deprivation of a large part of Slovak society. The critical attitude towards liberal democracy is the direct result of the soul-destroying everyday reality experienced by Slovaks not just the poor, but also the wide spectrum of precarised employees in both the state and private sector.
A high school teacher, a nurse, an assembly line worker in Detva and a store clerk in Nove Zamky earn the same pittance. The hope for better working conditions is a privilege reserved for the people in the economically strongest regions and the best jobs are and will be for another decade or two taken by the generation that was economically active during the late eighties.
Young people lose hopes and options.
Unless you live in Bratislava or nearby, your life will most likely consist of the tempting combination of thankless senseless work, boredom, slacking, idiotic TV culture, unsatisfactory relationships and, eventually, unplanned children.
If you happen to be in luck that is, if you graduated from a solid high school, if your parents managed to pay for your student lifestyle in Bratislava (or, even better, abroad) and if you managed to actually graduate in an at least slightly interesting field as opposed to just getting dead drunk (networking, its called today), then you might become a part of a liberal social bubble consisting of roughly 25% of Slovakias youth.
If this happens to be the case, you are living in a parallel universe that runs on rules, cartography and temporality completely unrelated to the regional reality of Slovakia. You are more likely to defend the status quo and prefer slow, gradual changes for the better over the radical turn desired by those betrayed and repressed by the unholy union of neo-liberal capitalism and liberal democracy.
According to the IVO survey, this segment overlaps with the electorate of the Sloboda a Solidarita party (SaS), which currently represents a rather contradictory hybrid of every liberal political school of thought imaginable, diluted by the pragmatic racism of its chairman Richard Sulik.
The public in death throes
The general political orientation of young Slovaks indicates an oft-repeated variation on a theme well-known outside Slovakia: the exclusion of the Left s from the wider public debate. Given the media dimension and political climate unnaturally steered towards the Right for the entirety of the first two decades of independent Slovakias existence, the results described in the IVOs survey are only logical.
Youths brought up in this atmosphere will inevitably incline towards rebellion against the established order by converting to the extreme Right because progressive left-wing alternatives are simply inconceivable for todays university students. Without a strong parliamentary and non-parliamentary Left (especially in local government) it is all too natural for the primary anti-system forces to be fascists and maniacs. And it is only logical that instead of a wide array of realistically electable parties ranging from the left to the centre, there are only one or two opposition parties in the vein of SaS eclectic by definition since they have to accommodate for all the contradictions brought by appealing to voters from all over this unrepresented spectrum.
Another survey results that is also worth our attention is the lack of an easily defined relationship between political orientation and digital literacy. It turns out the young voters of the fascist LSNS are the most active when it comes to looking up information online (right above the voter base of SaS) although they often resort to sources typologically similar to Breitbart News.
Anti-systemic thinking is fueled by false alarms, hoaxes or conspiracy theories; these can entertain and articulate ones political views in exactly the same way as criticism based on working with mainstream media sources. From the point of view of search engine algorithms and social networks segmenting content for end-users, there are no real differences between these two kinds of infotainment.
And it is digital platforms that are becoming the meta-media of today, generating social realities and creating mutually impermeable bubbles. The public, as the nexus of communicative activity in Slovakia, is slowly ebbing out as society takes a downward spiral towards becoming a constellation of parallel universes on a dangerous collision course.
Translated by Michal Chmela.
Lukas Likavcan is a philosopher, environmental activist, and regular contributor to A2larm.cz
This article is republished as a part of an editorial cooperation with PoliticalCritique.org.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 3
By Seba Aghayeva Trend:
Over the past 25 years, the level of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Russia has grown significantly, Igor Seleznev, Ph. D., senior research fellow of the Institute of Social and Political Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences, said.
Seleznev made the remarks Apr. 3 in Baku at a round table meeting titled Russia-Azerbaijan: 25 Years of Diplomatic Relations. Partnership Strategy.
Maintaining stability and security has become one of the important issues of cooperation between Moscow and Baku in the Caspian region, Seleznev said. Recently, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu said that he considers Azerbaijan to be an outpost of security in the Caspian Sea at a meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart Zakir Hasanov.
Seleznev also added that the status of the Caspian Sea is an important issue, and the Caspian littoral states havent been able to reach an agreement yet regarding the seas status.
It is encouraging that all sides are interested in maintaining stability in the Caspian Sea, he said.
Baku and Moscow are expanding cooperation in the Caspian Sea, including in the military and military-technical field, as well as in the sphere of fighting international terrorism, he added.
Protection of the Caspian environment is another important area of the interstate cooperation, Seleznev said. The Caspian Sea has a vulnerable ecosystem, including due to energy projects implemented at sea.
He added that preserving Caspian biodiversity is an important issue for the countries of the region.
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Follow the author on Twitter: @Asebaa
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 3
Trend:
An expanded meeting of President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev has been followed by the signing of Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan documents.
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev signed the Joint Declaration of the Presidents.
Chairman of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC Javid Gurbanov and President of Kazakhstan Railways National Company Kanat Alpysbayev signed The Agreement on strategic cooperation between Azerbaijan Railways CJSC and Kazakhstan Railways National Company in the field of logistics and rolling stock engineering.
Azerbaijani Ambassador to Kazakhstan Rashad Mammadov and Kazakh Ambassador to Azerbaijan Beybit Isabayev signed The Protocol on supplements and amendments to the Agreement on double taxation between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Azerbaijans Minister of Economy Shahin Mustafayev and Kazakh Minister of Investments and Development Zhenis Kassymbek signed The Agreement on international road transportation between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Azerbaijani Foreign Affairs Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and Kazakhstans Minister of Foreign Affairs Kairat Abdrakhmanov signed The Cooperation Program for 2017-2018 between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Azerbaijani Minister of Agriculture Heydar Asadov and First Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Askar Mamin signed The Agreement on cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the field of plant quarantine and conservation.
KEARNEY For the eighth year, area residents and organizations will be recognized in June for developing programs that make central Nebraska a healthier place to live.
The recognition is part of the Healthy Community Awards program, an opportunity to celebrate the good health of Kearney and Buffalo County citizens and individuals and groups who, through their leadership, education and assistance, help make the community healthier.
The Healthy Community Awards have six categories: advocacy, education, prevention, partnership, leadership and recreation. A local committee will select award recipients based on their contributions in a particular category.
Nomination forms are available at www.CHIhealthGoodSamaritan.org. The deadline to submit a nomination is May 1, and forms should be returned to Anissa Paitz at Good Samaritan.
AXTELL A Holdrege woman was sent to the hospital after her car collided with the rear of a pickup.
According to a Kearney County Sheriffs Office press release, April Moorisette, 47, was driving a 2006 Honda southbound on Highway 44 when she collided with a 1997 GMC pickup driven by Ricky Bubak, 53, of Axtell. Bubak was also driving south and had slowed to turn right into Riverside Trailer Court about two miles south of Kearney.
Moorisette was transported to CHI Health Good Samaritan, and Bubak was not transported to the hospital. A Good Samaritan representative said Moorisette is in fair condition this morning.
Bubak was wearing his seat belt, and it hasnt been determined whether Moorisette was wearing hers.
Kearney Volunteer Fire Department and the Nebraska State Patrol assisted at the accident scene.
KEARNEY Could you be fair and impartial when hearing testimony about law enforcement from defense and prosecution witnesses?
Thats one of several questions Deputy Attorney General Doug Warner of Scottsbluff asked potential jurors in the felony second-degree assault case against Kearney Police Department Officer Derek Payton.
Payton, 36, is scheduled for trial the next four days in Buffalo County District Court in the alleged June 5 assault of Jose Klich, 36, of Kearney.
Warner went through the list of potential witnesses scheduled to testify, asked potential jurors about their feelings toward law enforcement and media coverage and if they had family or friends who were officers. One potential jurors father had been a law enforcement officer for 20 years in Ainsworth, but she said she could be impartial and fair.
Late this morning, one juror had been eliminated from the jury pool for health reasons. Almost 100 people were summoned for jury selection.
Kearney attorney Charles Brewster is representing Payton.
Payton, 36, has denied the allegations from an incident that began when he contacted Klich in southeast Kearney. Payton is accused of shooting Klich as Klich fled the scene in his vehicle. Klich and his passenger, Amanda Journey of Kearney, were wanted on Buffalo County warrants at the time of the incident.
Klich was shot once in the stomach and spent 18 days in a hospital.
Fourteen KPD officers and Buffalo County Sheriffs Office deputies have been subpoenaed to testify, as have Klich, Journey and paramedics from CHI Health Good Samaritan who transported Klich to the hospital. KPD issued a statement last fall saying neither the department nor staff will comment on the matter and that Payton remains on administrative leave pending the completion of the criminal trial.
Payton faces up to 20 years in prison.
@HubChic
GIBBON Beka Yates arrived at Audubons Rowe Sanctuary from Illinois on Feb. 20 having visited the Kearney area once, briefly, and never before seeing a sandhill crane.
So stepping into the role of Rowes new education manager at the start of the annual Central Platte Valley migration stop by 500,000-600,000 sandhill cranes was a challenge.
Im kind of like a first-time visitor, Yates said last week after leading Wood River first-graders in crane behavior activities.
She was born and raised in Springfield, Ill.
I grew up loving animals, she said. I watched all the nature shows. I loved the Crocodile Hunter and when he died, it was very hard to get over.
Yates read animal books and spent time at a pet store once owned by her grandmother, mom and aunt.
She intended to be a classroom teacher, but then decided she didnt want to be a front-of-the-class style teacher. Yates majored in biological sciences, with an emphasis on biology and public outreach, at Illinois State University and hoped the degree would help prepare her for informal teaching involving nature.
She interned at Sugar Grove Nature Center near Bloomington, Ill., while in college and then at the St. Louis Zoo.
In March 2014, Yates was hired part time as the zoos early childhood (up to age 8) instructor. She taught classes, worked in the discovery room with live animals from the childrens zoo and helped with a summer day camp for 4- and 5-year-olds.
Zoo specialists trained her to handle the animals insects, birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles she showed to children. Ive never had a problem with any animals. The snakes were my favorite to bring into a class, she said.
Yates also had a part-time job at a childrens museum, which meant she was working seven days a week but with no benefits.
Remembering how much she enjoyed her nature center internship, Yates searched online for nature center-related job postings. Thats how she learned about the Rowe Sanctuary position and decided to apply.
It wasnt until I was interviewing that I realized how important this (place) is for the migration, Yates said, while sitting in the Iain Nicolson Audubon Center along the Platte River.
After being contacted for the first of two interviews done via video conferencing, she did research on Rowe Sanctuary, the Central Flyway and the spring migration of sandhill cranes.
Its been really, really great. The cranes are something Ive never seen before, especially all those birds, Yates said about her first impression of one of the worlds great migration events.
One responsibility has been to teach Rowe Sanctuarys Crane Behavior Basics class.
Yates said she learned the presentation, but cant always answer non-crane questions asked by visitors. She refers to more veteran staff members any questions about area farming methods and Rowes relationships with rural neighbors.
She has worked from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and Saturdays to help educate visitors of all ages. It is important to get the adults involved as well. ... Kids really do take their cues from parents, Yates said.
She also has taken her turn at being in the Nicolson Center at early morning and evening check-in times for people taking tours to Rowes viewing blinds along the river.
Its been great. Its been a little bit of trial by fire and learn as you go, Yates said, adding that all staff members and volunteers have been working long hours during migration season.
She was staying in Rowe volunteer housing until she moved over the weekend into a Minden apartment. Her dad brought furniture from Illinois.
Yates said she will continue to lead school groups after all the cranes have continued their migration to northern nesting grounds, but the topics will be more spring focused.
She is helping with Rowes Searching for Spring family program at 1-4 p.m. Saturday. In June, she will help with the annual Platte River Safari day camps for second- through fifth-graders planned by Tess Bruner and will lead the Flying Higher Camp overnight camp for sixth- through eighth-graders.
Yates described her job as helping bring up the next generation of nature lovers and conservation leaders. It can be a challenge to inspire children who dont spend as much time as their parents and grandparents playing outside.
They dont know how to explore and investigate anymore. I feel like most of them are pretty receptive to it. They are really open to learning new things. Kids are naturally inquisitive, Yates said, especially when theyre asked questions about what they hear and see.
Her enthusiasm comes from her own love of nature. Just sitting outside is good. I will take nature walks. I like to read. Just being still for awhile is nice sometimes, she said.
Yates hasnt had much still time since arriving at Rowe Sanctuary, and thats OK. Its been fun, even though its been busy. I like to be busy, she said.
Three countries in Africa Nigeria, Somalia and South Sudan are facing famine. According to a March 28 Hub article, nearly 16 million people will be at risk of dying the next few months from lack of food.
At a time like this, our President Donald Trump plans to cut foreign aid. The budget proposal would cut programs that help some of the most vulnerable people on earth. The United States of America, the wealthiest nation in the world, turns its back on those who really need our help, when help is needed the most.
Mr. Trump, where is your common human decency? As Christians, I believe it is our duty, and our privilege, to help those who are in need.
At this time, only 0.19 percent of our national income goes to poverty-focused development. To me, that is shameful, especially when compared to some smaller and less wealthy nations. For example, the country of Luxembourg gives 1.07 percent and Sweden gives 1.10 percent toward poverty-focused development. We who have so much, give so little to help others.
It seems to me that instead of cutting back, we should be increasing our foreign aid, especially to the countries where it is most needed.
President Trump, I urge you, do not cut our poverty-focused foreign aid. Instead, I ask you to increase it. And my fellow citizens, if this is a concern of yours also, write or call your congressional representatives and call the White House. Make your voice heard.
Sister Ruth Ellen Rebelein, Kearney
In mid-March, the Nebraska Attorney Generals office cited the four beer stores in Whiteclay with 22 violations of state liquor laws, including selling to bootleggers who transport the beer a few miles north into South Dakota to sell on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, where alcohol is banned.
On Thursday and Friday, the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission will be holding a hearing at the Capitol to determine whether law enforcement in Whiteclay is adequate to determine whether it will renew the licenses of the beer stores in the unincorporated town of about a dozen people, where millions of cans of beer and malt liquor are sold each year, most of it consumed by people on the reservation.
The citations against the stores will not be considered by the commission until May or June, long after the license renewal decision has been made.
But the simple fact that the charges were filed, stemming from an audit of the stores begun in 2015, and came from the attorney general is, in itself, evidence that law enforcement in Whiteclay by Sheridan County has been far from adequate.
That should be and can easily be considered by the commission in April and, perhaps, serve as the linchpin of a decision to deny the renewal of the licenses and, at last, shut down the stores.
The charges, which also include keeping inadequate records and selling alcohol after hours, are in the words of Attorney General Doug Peterson serious violations and should have been uncovered by the county sheriff.
Bootlegging, for example, has been far from a secret to the point where a bootlegger was one of the main characters in Songs My Brother Taught Me, a 2016 movie about life on Pine Ridge.
As any Lincoln bar or liquor store owner will attest, its easy enough to see if alcohol is being sold after hours. But law enforcement needs to actually be in Whiteclay to make those observations, and it has long been clear that there is rarely a sheriffs deputy in the town.
Lawyers for the stores are scrambling to try to get the licenses renewed, arguing in legal filings that a quick renewal is a constitutionally protected right. It is no such thing. The commission needs to take into account the Whiteclay evidence, including the filing of the charges. That should be sufficient to deny the renewal and shut down the stores.
Lincoln Journal Star
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 3
Trend:
Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan always emphasize closeness of history, culture, language and religion, and after gaining their independence, they have built relations on trust, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said.
He made the remarks Apr. 3 in Baku during a meeting in a narrow format with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
The Kazakh president said the relations between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have never been overshadowed by anything. Nazarbayev added that he laid foundations of these relations together with Azerbaijans national leader Heydar Aliyev.
I am visiting your country with great pleasure, because I feel like at home here, Nursultan Nazarbayev said to Ilham Aliyev. Our delegation arrived with sincere confidence that this visit and negotiations will lay new foundations for strengthening of trade, economic and political relations, and will affect the further rapprochement of our peoples and countries.
Nazarbayev noted that on Apr. 2, he and Ilham Aliyev started the initial negotiations, defined the prospects and opportunities given the new conditions when economic and political crises as well as major changes are taking place in the world.
We see opportunities in diversifying the economy, creating new production areas, doing new things and involving science and innovations in this. These works are being carried out both in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, and we can significantly improve the economic relations between our countries on a new basis.
The Kazakh president also congratulated Azerbaijan on the referendum held in the country in September 2016.
I am confident that this will benefit the Azerbaijani people, and this referendum once again demonstrated the peoples confidence in you personally, this is very important in this difficult time, Nursultan Nazarbayev said to Ilham Aliyev.
The Kazakh president noted that he sees the way Baku is developing and becoming more beautiful.
As a man who built a new capital, it is clear to me, and I know how all this developed. The city is becoming more beautiful because it is the image of the country. Each visitor sees the capital city, the country. Azerbaijan is also developing. I would like to reiterate that we are close neighbors and friends who rely on each other.
Nazarbayev also thanked the Azerbaijani president for the warm welcome in Baku.
The talks we will hold, the declarations we will sign are indicative of the great future affairs of our two countries for the benefit of our peoples, Nazarbayev added.
Is the Republican party capable of governing? That question was posed on NBC by Mick Mulvaney, President Donald Trumps budget director. So far, the answer is no. And until party leaders stand up to their own right-wing purists Sen. John McCain once called them wacko birds the answer will continue to be no.
The crushing defeat of the Republicans health care overhaul is just the latest symptom of a chronic condition that has crippled the House GOP for years. A determined band of about 35 ideologues, calling themselves the Freedom Caucus, has dominated party policy by opposing virtually any initiative that violates their narrow-minded orthodoxy.
Their adamant opposition was not the only reason the health care bill died it was a poorly drafted, widely derided document that failed to generate public support but the Freedom Caucus was the biggest factor in the measures demise.
Former Republican Sen. Judd Gregg summed up the problem facing his party for The Washington Post: Most of the people who are in opposition to this have never governed, dont know how to govern, and dont want to govern. Unfortunately, Republicans now control the government and have to learn how to govern.
They cannot govern if the crazies call the shots. This is a vast and diverse country, comprising countless economic, regional, political, racial, religious and ethnic interests. The only way to govern America effectively is through a spirit of compromise and consensus.
But that is the exact opposite of the Freedom Caucus theology. To them, compromise is betrayal, and consensus is treason. Rep. Ted Poe of Texas resigned from the group after the health care debacle and blasted his former friends on CNN: Theres some members of the Freedom Caucus, they would vote no against the Ten Commandments if they came up for a vote.
Another Republican, Mike Coffman of Colorado, said of the caucus: They vote as a bloc. And so youve got to penetrate that bloc ... Weve got to figure out how to do that.
Coffman is correct, but that will be very hard to do. For one thing, the Freedom Caucus has been highly successful, frustrating former Speaker John Boehner so badly on issues like funding the government and reforming immigration that he resigned in disgust.
Moreover, the group does not exist in isolation. They enjoy the strong support of outside pressure groups, like Heritage Action and the Club for Growth, which reinforce their rigidity and thrive on constant agitation. As a Wall Street Journal editorial noted, Legislative compromises dont help Heritage Action raise money for its perpetual outrage machine.
That outrage machine is fueled as well by incendiary talk radio hosts and websites, who swell their audiences and incomes with incessant assaults on the whole notion of accommodation.
Caucus members are largely insulated from political accountability because they represent safe districts and have only one fear: a primary challenge from the right. And party leaders have lost many of the traditional tools they once used to keep members in line.
Withholding campaign funds as a pressure tactic no longer works, because members today can raise cash directly from wealthy donors like the Koch brothers or individual supporters around the country. And leaders cannot barter votes for earmarks appropriations that favor projects in a members district because they were banned years ago.
So the president and his congressional allies are left with a profound problem. Despite Poes defection, fragmenting the Freedom Caucus will be very difficult. So what are the options for the rest of the GOP?
If they kowtow to the wacko birds, whatever bills they produce would be far too extreme to pass the Senate. If they defy the caucus, they wont have enough Republican votes to pass anything. Which leaves a third option: working with the Democrats.
Sen. Lindsay Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, was talking about health care, but his words apply to a whole series of issues crowding the agenda: raising the debt ceiling, passing a budget, reforming taxes, refurbishing infrastructure.
I dont think one party is going to be able to fix this by themselves, Graham told a town meeting. So heres what I think should happen next: I think the president should reach out to Democrats.
Many Democrats, however pressured by their own hardliners on the left, and encouraged by Trumps plunging poll numbers have decided that massive resistance to Republican rule is their best route to political revival.
Still, Mulvaneys question hangs over Washington. If Republicans dont at least try to work with Democrats, doubts about their ability to govern will continue to grow.
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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. OAoReilly didnAot discuss harassment allegations detailed against over the weekend in his first show back at work, Monday, April 3, 2017. A story on Sunday by The New York Times outlined how five women who said OAoReilly had either sexually harassed or verbally abused him had been paid a total of $13 million in settlements. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
FILE - In this Jan. 6, 2017 file photo, Japanese Ambassador to South Korea Yasumasa Nagamine, center, leaves the Foreign Ministry in Seoul, South Korea, after being summoned by South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se after Japan announced it would recall Nagamine and suspend economic talks in response to the placing of a "comfort woman" statue representing wartime sex slaves in front of its consulate in the Korean port city of Busan. Japan says it is sending back Nagamine despite an ongoing impasse over a "comfort women" statue. Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said on Monday, April 3, Nagamine will fly back to Seoul on Tuesday along with the consul-general in Busan. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 3
Trend:
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who was on an official visit to Azerbaijan April 3, expressed his deep gratitude during an expanded format meeting with President Ilham Aliyev for the invitation to pay a visit to Azerbaijan.
We feel Azerbaijans sincerity and hospitality, President Nazarbayev said. Five documents, relevant agreements, interministerial agreements have been prepared and we will attend a document signing ceremony.
Issues of cooperation in the economic and financial spheres will be solved through these documents, which mark a new stage in the Kazakhstan-Azerbaijan relations, the president added.
President Nazarbayev said that all the issues have been discussed and the Kazakhstan-Azerbaijan relations in all spheres have been taken into account in a declaration prepared for signing.
We have specified that it is possible to greatly increase the Kazakhstan-Azerbaijan trade turnover by several times in the next 2-3 years.
The documents, relevant agreements to be signed between the Kazakh and Azerbaijani ministries, in particular, between the transport and communication ministries, promise great benefits for both countries, the president added.
To outline the Kazakhstan-Azerbaijan relations in other issues both economic and political, and cultural and humanitarian we must pay attention to admission of young people to the relevant universities in our countries, cultural relations, restoration of meetings of representatives of the intelligentsia, and mutual days of culture of two countries, he said.
For this, there are good opportunities, some kind of bridge.
President Nazarbayev added that 130,000 ethnic Azerbaijanis live in Kazakhstan.
They are our citizens actively involved in all the issues, he said. I know these citizens open joint ventures, build business and help improve relations between the two countries. I think we should support it.
FILE - In this Wednesday, March 8, 2017 file photo, the former pirate village of Eyl is viewed from a nearby hill, in Somalia's semiautonomous northeastern state of Puntland. Somali pirates have seized a small boat, kidnapped its Indian crew members, and are taking the vessel to the Eyl area of northern Somalia, an investigator said Monday, April 3, 2017, the latest vessel targeted by the region's resurgent hijackers. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)
People work to rescue a dolphin near St.John's in a handout photo. Residents of a Newfoundland island have managed to pluck at least three dolphins out of thick pack ice and carry them to open water, even as hope fades for a humpback whale trapped in a cove not far away.The dolphins had become trapped in a small bay near St. John's that had frozen over.THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Charlene Bickford MANDATORY CREDIT
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 3
Trend:
Positions of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan on all the issues under discussion fully coincide, said Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev during the expanded meeting with his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev, who was on an official visit in Baku on Apr. 3.
President Aliyev welcomed Kazakhstans President Nursultan Nazarbayev and his delegation, voicing his gratitude for having accepted the invitation to visit.
This visit is of great importance for the further strengthening of friendly, fraternal relations between our countries," he said. "First of all, I want to congratulate you once again on the occasion of Kazakhstans election as a member of the UN Security Council. This means recognizing the role of Kazakhstan in issues of global scale, your personal authority and the initiatives you put forward to strengthen peace not only in our region, but also worldwide. We are very satisfied with the development of our relations. We are in a constant contact. Today we have already exchanged views on a number of issues. We began our work last night, and the exchange of views that we had shows that our positions on all issues under discussion fully coincide. In particular, we mulled our active cooperation in the field of politics, good prospects in the economic and transport spheres, and now we will continue the discussion with the participation of delegations, said President Aliyev.
He expressed confidence that the decisions made today will allow to significantly increase the trade turnover in a short time and create new conditions in terms of regional cooperation.
Both Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are carrying out huge work to strengthen regional cooperation through specific transport, energy projects and projects related to economic development, said the Azerbaijani leader.
President Aliyev also expressed satisfaction with mutual investments by the two countries companies and good results that they yield.
In my opinion, your visit and the decisions to be made will also stimulate the private sector to increase the volume of investments. I would like to once again welcome you and express confidence that this visit will be very successful and further bring our nations closer, President Aliyev said.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 3
Trend:
Israels position on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains unchanged; Israel supports Azerbaijans territorial integrity, said Foreign Ministry Deputy Director General Alon Ushpiz.
He made the remarks during the meeting with Azerbaijans Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov.
Ushpiz noted that the relations between the two countries are above the strategic level and it became possible thanks to the historically friendly relations of the two nations, cooperation in such important spheres as energy and security.
The Israeli official also expressed satisfaction with the growth of the volume of trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Israel. Israel is interested in the development of cooperation with Azerbaijan in all spheres, added Ushpiz.
Khalafov, for his part, noted the high level of cooperation in political, economic, military and technical spheres.
The diplomat named such fields as agriculture, tourism, renewable energy as priority spheres for cooperation and added that Israels experience in these areas is interesting for Azerbaijan.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 3
Trend:
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has offered condolences to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
I am deeply shocked by the news of casualties as a result of an explosion in Saint Petersburg metro, said President Aliyev in his letter of condolences.
We resolutely condemn any act against innocent civilians, he noted. On behalf of the people of Azerbaijan and on my own behalf, I extend my deepest condolences to you, the families and loved ones of those who died. I wish all the injured the swiftest possible recovery.
Thousands of visitors have walked through the new Outlet Shoppes of Laredo, but now the city is reaching out across the border to draw in tourists.
The city is seeking new tourist groups through travel agents and tour operators based in Monterrey, Mexico.
During a trip to Monterrey, city officials announced a new incentive program for travel agencies willing to offer trips to Laredo.
The incentive program offers items such as special promotional gifts for booking hotel accommodations and raffling items for tour participants.
However, in return the travel agencies must book through the Laredo Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Also, they must include a minimum of one overnight stay in a Laredo hotel.
Another condition is motor coach vehicles must have a minimum of 75 percent seats sold and at least one day of the tour must stop at the outlet shops for a minimum of three hours.
The program has already been introduced to travel agents, and tour operators in Monterrey, Leon, Mexico City and Queretaro.
During the visit, city officials also discussed ways to create safe routes to Laredo by possibly lowering toll roads and improving Mexico's road.
Tour groups that qualify for the Laredo CVB shopping tour incentive will also receive special perks from the Outlet Shoppes at Laredo including a complimentary coupon book.
Ribbons of teal were worn proudly by students of the Texas A&M International University as they proclaimed the month of April to be Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
This month will be aimed toward educating students on what sexual assault means, how to identify it and how to keep away from it.
According to TAMIU President Pablo Arenaz, teachers and staff have a protocol set-up for when a student approaches them with a situation of sexual assault: "It's set up where we have, where everyone on campus understands, faculty and staff understand, and if assault is reported, whether it's a sexual assault or any other kind of assault, that it's their responsibility to make sure that it gets reported to the Police Department."
Sexual Assault Awareness Month was first observed nationally in 2001.
Local parents marched through the streets of Kilkenny City this morning to highlight their ongoing grievances with the Irish health service and the Government.
The event was part of a series of Enough is Enough protests which took place around the country over problems such as long waiting lists, interventions, and a lack of services for children and families with additional needs. Around 40 people turned out to make their voices heard.
The demonstration began at 10am at the HSE offices at Lacken. It followed a route through town and ended at HSE Local Health Office at James' Green, where a silent demonstration took place.
Organiser Linda Comerford said she was happy with the turnout.
This was not a one-day thing; this is the very start of this campaign, she told the Kilkenny People.
One of the organisers is going to the Dail next week, and we are organising a Dublin march, where all the counties will go to Dublin. There will be more local events as well.
Until children across Ireland are treated fairly, and until the get the services they need. Our children deserve it.
We are not tolerating the lack of services from the HSE any more. We are not tolerating our Government turning a deaf ear any more. There was a lot of anger among parents today.
Meanwhile, the HSE has issued a statement in response to the protest marches, acknowledging the frustrations of those parents involved.
It said it was committed to having the best possible services in place from within available resources.
We want to assure the public that continued attempts are being made to provide a better and more timely service to those we serve in counties Carlow, Kilkenny, South Tipperary, Waterford and Wexford, said the statement.
The HSE is rolling out the Progressing Disability Services for Children and Young People Programme (PDS) programme. This involves a reconfiguration of all HSE and HSE funded childrens disability services into geographically-based Childrens Disability Network Teams (Early-Intervention and School-aged or 0-18 Teams).
This programme aims to achieve a national, equitable approach in service provision for all children based on their individual need and regardless of their disability, where they live or where they go to school.
Based on the recommendations of the Report of the National Reference Group on Multidisciplinary Services for Children aged 5-18 Years (2009), the intention is to roll out an integrated care model that will allow children, whatever the nature of their disability, to be seen as locally to their home and school as possible; at primary care level when their needs can be met there and by a network specialist interdisciplinary team if their needs are more complex.
The primary and network teams will be supported as appropriate by specialist support services with a high level of expertise in particular fields.
Since 2014, the roll out of the "Progressing Disability Services for Children and Young People (0-18s)" Programme has entailed targeted investment of 14 million nationwide and the provision of 275 additional therapy staff, to increase services for children with disabilities.
HONG KONG, April 3 (Reuters) - Guotai Junan Securities Co Ltd , China's third-largest brokerage by assets, raised $2.1 billion in a rare fixed-price share offering that was the biggest such sale in Hong Kong in six months, a source with direct knowledge of the deal said on Monday.
The Shanghai-listed company offered 1.04 billion new shares at a fixed price of HK$15.84 each, putting the total deal at HK$16.5 billion ($2.12 billion). The shares were originally offered at a discount of 25 percent to Guotai Junan's closing price in Shanghai on March 24, but a decline in the shares last week narrowed that discount to about 23 percent.
A fixed-price share offering is unusual, with most deals setting an indicative range before deciding on the final pricing, depending on demand.
Guotai Junan did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the share sale.
(Reporting by Elzio Barreto; Editing by Stephen Coates)
Gold and silver imports have dropped to seven-year lows during the 2016-2017 fiscal year in Indias westernmost state of Gujarat, according to the latest data provided by Ahmedabad Air Cargo Complex.
Gold imports were down 25.6% during the last fiscal year, which ended on March 31, totalling only 62.33 metric tonnes in comparison to last years 83.86 tonnes, The Times of India reported.
Silver imports took an even bigger hit, down 69.8% at 36.19 tonnes.
Both gold and silver imports stood at a new seven-year lows.
Commodity experts pointed to worsening demand and a quiet year. "For two months, jewellers were on strike to protest the government's decision of imposing 1% excise duty on gold, and there were practically no sales. Consequently, the bullion trade was low as well," local media quoted Piyush Bhansali, president of Manek Chowk Bullion Traders Association, as saying.
India saw more than 300 jewellers associations go on strike on March 2, 2016, keeping their doors closed for 42 days in response to governments proposed 1% excise duty on non-silver jewellery.
On a positive note, gold imports saw an improvement in March 2017, the last month of the fiscal year, advancing 12.8% on a monthly basis.
* NSE rises as much as 0.51 pct to record high
* Rupee gains to strongest vs dollar since Oct 2015
* Bonds also up; 10-yr yield down as much as 14 bps
By Tanvi Mehta
April 3 (Reuters) - India's NSE index hit a record high on Monday, while the rupee strengthened to its highest in nearly 1-1/2 years and bonds rallied, with investor sentiment lifted by a surge in foreign investments last month.
Data out on Friday showed overseas investors bought a net $8.84 billion worth of Indian shares and bonds during March, the biggest monthly total since at least 2002, according to stocks depository services provider NSDL.
Foreign flows surged after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party won key state elections last month, bolstering hopes for additional economic reforms just as the government gears up to unveil a national goods and services tax later this year.
Investors have also been encouraged by signs the economy may not have been hit as hard by India's shock action to remove high-value bank notes from circulation last year.
Meanwhile, activity in India's manufacturing sector expanded at the fastest pace in five months in March as output and new orders accelerated, a private survey showed on Monday. "It's a combination of FII (foreign institutional investor) liquidity, which is back, and the general atmosphere is as positive as can be for the market," said Jayant Manglik, president of retail distribution at Religare Securities.
India's broader NSE index rose as much as 0.51 percent to a record high of 9,220.65 points, surpassing its previous milestone of 9,218.40 points hit on March 17.
The NSE index was up 0.41 percent at 9,211.60 as of 0649 GMT.
The benchmark BSE index was 0.68 percent higher at 29,822.22.
The rupee strengthened to as much as 64.7650 per dollar, its strongest since October 2015, from its previous close of 64.8550, but gave up gains to trade at 64.8700/8750.
Bonds also rallied, sending the benchmark 10-year bond yield down as much as 14 basis points to 6.55 percent. It was last trading at 6.60 percent.
Reliance Industries jumped as much as 4.5 percent to its highest since May 2008 after its telecoms unit Reliance Jio signed up 72 million paying customers. Rival Bharti Airtel fell as much as 3.3 percent, while Idea Cellular down as much as 1.6 percent.
Infosys Ltd fell as much as 1.5 percent after founder N.R. Narayana Murthy criticised a salary hike given to Chief Operating Officer Pravin Rao, raising concerns about disputes between founders and the board at the firm. (Reporting by Tanvi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Biju Dwarakanath)
By Claire Ruckin
LONDON, April 3 (Reuters) - A 560m loan will back the acquisition of a 25% stake in Spanish oil transportation and storage company CLH by CVC Capital Partners' Strategic Opportunities Platform, banking sources said.
CVC announced on Monday it was acquiring a 10% stake from Ardian as well as a 5% stake from each of Kutxabank, Abanca and clients of Alberta Investment Management Corp.
Natixis was the sole arranger and underwriter of the acquisition financing, the announcement said.
The 560m term loan will have a five-year maturity and is expected to pay an interest margin of 250bp over Euribor, the sources said.
Some of the loan could be sold down to other banks and funds, with Spanish banks expected to take a share of the debt, the sources said.
CVC was not immediately available to comment on the loan.
CLH raised a 320m loan in February 2016, to back Borealis Infrastructure's 24.15% acquisition of a stake in the company.
That loan comprised of a 120m term loan A and a 200m term loan B, both maturing in 2021, provided by Abanca, Banco Santander, Export Development Canada and Natixis, according to Thomson Reuters LPC data.
CLH is CVC's 15th major investment in Spain in the last 20 years. CLH is the fourth investment made from CVC's Strategic Opportunities Platform, which was established in response to growing demand from large investors to be able to invest in long term, stable, high-quality businesses.
CLH has over 4,000 kilometres of oil pipeline and a storage capacity of more than 8 million cubic metres in Spain, which is available to all oil operators that do business in the country. The Company also owns the largest oil pipeline network in the UK.
(Editing by Alasdair Reilly)
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 3
Trend:
Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry has issued a statement in connection with the terrorist attack on the St. Petersburg metro.
We strongly condemn the bloody terrorist attack committed in the St. Petersburg metro that caused the death and injury of many people. We express our deep condolences to the families of those killed as a result of this terrorist act, friendly and neighboring Russia, and share your sorrow, and wish the wounded the swiftest recovery, says the statement.
According to the statement, Azerbaijan, as a state suffering from terrorism, resolutely condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and strongly supports the efforts of international community in the fight against terrorism, the ministry told Trend Apr. 3.
(Kitco News) - Large speculators boosted their net-bullish positioning in gold futures by 62% during the latest reporting week for Commodity Futures Trading Commission data, yet one bank says the investment interest is still well below where it was for much of last autumn.
Buying of gold was helped over the course of the CFTC reporting week, which ended March 28, by a softer tone in equities and failure of the U.S. House Representatives to push through a new health-care law, analysts said.
During the week-long period to March 28 covered by the report, Comex June gold rose to $7.30 to $1,254.80 an ounce, while May silver climbed 66.5 cents to $18.215.
Net long or short positioning in the CFTC data reflect the difference between the total number of bullish and bearish contracts. Traders monitor the data to gauge the general mood of speculators, although excessively high or low numbers are viewed by many as signs of overbought or oversold markets that may be ripe for price corrections.
The commission issues two reports each Friday -- a so-called legacy report and a disaggregated report, started in 2009 and meant to offer more detail.
As of March 28, the net-long position of money managers in the disaggregated report rose 62% to 91,043 futures contracts from 56,195 the week before. This was fueled by a combination of fresh buying (total longs rose by 20,620 lots) and short covering (total shorts, or bearish trades, declined by 14,228).
Gold specs continued to add more long exposure last week, said a research note from TD Securities. Equity markets sold off in the aftermath of the health-care bill failure and along with rising prices prompted specs to cover short exposure and take out new long positions.
Risk markets have since recovered, but gold has held firm as fiscal stimulus doubts linger, especially with the risk of a government shutdown looming overhead at the end of April if President Trump cannot pass a fiscal-stimulus bill. As long as the Fed continues to take a measured approach to future rate hikes, interest in the yellow metal should remain firm.
Still, gold positioning on both the Comex market and for exchange-traded funds remains relatively light, said Citi Research. The bank commented that money-manager positioning of roughly 99,000 lots for futures and options combined is still roughly 60% below the average net-long position from the third quarter. Gold ETF holdings have climbed some 60 tonnes for the year to date but remain around 170 tonnes shy of the 2016 peak, Citi added.
Money managers net-long position in silver climbed by 25% to 81,170 futures contracts from 64,785 the prior week.
As such, speculative financial investors contributed to the rise in the silver price to well over $18 per troy ounce, Commerzbank said.
The increased net length was fueled largely by fresh buying, as the number of total longs rose by 14,086 lots. There was also a smaller amount of short covering, as reflected by a decline of 2,299 gross shorts.
HANOI, April 3 (Reuters) - Following is a snapshot of Vietnamese dong exchange rates in the official and unofficial markets, indicative SJC gold prices in Hanoi and interbank offered rates at 0408 GMT.
April 3 USD/VND mid-point 22,281 USD/VND interbank 22,770/22,780 USD/VND unofficial 22,750/22,770 SJC gold (mln dong/tael) 36.33/36.55
Interbank offered rates Overnight 4.6-5.2
1 week 4.7-5.3
1 month 4.9-5.3
3 months 4.9-5.3
NOTES: As of Jan. 4, 2016 the State Bank of Vietnam has begun setting the mid-point rate on daily basis, allowing dollar/dong transactions to move in a band of +/- 3 percent around the mid point. The dong's exchange rate against other currencies is not restricted by a band. Interbank offered rates are the latest indicative bid/ask prices, quoted from market sources.
One tael is equivalent to 37.5 grams or 1.21 troy ounces. SJC gold prices are quoted by state-owned Saigon Jewelry Co.
For more interbank rate fixings released at 0400 GMT, click on .
For Vietnam market overview click on: Vietnam's bonds market auctions: Bonds auction results: (Compiled by Hanoi Newsroom; Editing by Biju Dwarakanath)
Daniel Hannan MEP writes:
In 1917, Lenins Red Guards stormed the Winter Palace in Petrograd. The revolution, in other words, began as it was to continue: with looting. It wasnt long, though, before the looting turned to bloodshed bloodshed on an unimaginable, oceanic scale. Nothing had prepared humanity for so much slaughter. Perhaps ten million indigenous Americans were killed by European pathogens after Columbus. A similar number of people died in the Atlantic slave trade. The Nazis killed 17 million. The Communists killed 100 million some shot after show trials, some tortured to death, some starved to enforce collectivisation.
Never have so many died for an ideology.
The Communists took over or banned every voluntary association, emptying the civil space that used to exist between state and citizen. When the Hungarian Socialist Workers Party seized power in 1948, for example, Janos Kadar, as Minister of Home Affairs, abolished over 5,000 independent associations: churches, charities, chess clubs, Boy Scout troops, village bands.
If you think the state must be all powerful, then you want to eliminate all other institutions.
How often we see some moral idiot wearing a Che Guevara tee-shirt. We should react as we would to someone wearing an Adolf Hitler or Osama bin Laden tee-shirt; but, in general, we dont.
I recall the Labour and Green MPs mourning the death of Fidel Castro, despite the murders, executions and torture he oversaw.
There are always ideologues who say theyd be happy to break a few eggs in order to make an omelette. These ideologues need to be refuted with the observable data of the last hundred years. Setting aside the vast fact that human beings are not eggs, there has not been a single case of an omelette actually emerging. Communism leaves us with empty eggshells and empty bellies. Every time. This story shall the good man teach his son.
Communism has failed in literally every country that has tried it.
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Stuff reports:
One of the frontrunners to potentially take over from Paul Eagle as Wellingtons deputy mayor has only been a city councillor for just over five months. Northern ward councillor Jill Day is understood to be one of Wellington Mayor Justin Lesters two preferred candidates to take over as his sidekick should Paul Eagle become the MP for Rongotai after Septembers general election. The other potential candidate is long-time Lambton ward councillor Iona Pannett. Lester would not comment on potential deputy mayor replacements on Tuesday. But sources close to the mayors office confirmed he was only considering Day and Pannett.
This is probably code for The Mayor speaking off the record
When asked for comment and opinion on the frontrunners, all other city councillors said the ultimate decision was up to Lester and they would support whoever he chose. Although Day has been tipped as Lesters favourite, it was clear that Pannetts decade of civic experience made her the clear favourite among her colleagues. Many were surprised a first-term councillor would be considered for such a big job. None of the other councillors expressed an interest in the deputy position and most were surprised that experienced councillor Simon Marsh was not in the mix.
Simon is one of the more moderate Councillors and would be a more reassuring pick than a Green Party councillor who has opposed almost every roading project the city has seen.
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Stuff reports:
Wellingtons oldest cinema The Paramount on Courtenay Place will celebrate its centenary before it closes its doors.
Cinema Paramount (CPL) director Janet Carson said the theatre would close in September.
After 100 years were gutted to be the ones closing the door its hard, Carson said.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 3
By Elmira Tariverdiyeva Trend:
Presentation of the Caspian Expert Club project was held in Baku April 3 at a round table titled "Russia-Azerbaijan: 25 Years of Diplomatic Relations. Partnership Strategy.
The presentation was held by the head of the Caspian-Eurasia Center Andrey Syzranov.
The new initiative should unite experts of the region that could communicate both in person and via web-conferences, according to Syzranov.
Expert communities from Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have already joined this format, he said.
As part of the new project, the sides will discuss the Caspian Seas status, cooperation of the Caspian countries, and formation of a common media area of the Caspian region.
Meanwhile, Ali Hajizade, a member of the Caspian Expert Club, said the purpose of the new expert community is to close the gap in the media sector of the Caspian region, if possible.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 3
By Anvar Mammadov Trend:
A meeting of heads of Azerbaijani, Turkish and Georgian customs services will be held in Baku in May 2017, Shahin Baghirov, deputy chairman of the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan, said.
He made the remarks in Baku at a trilateral technical meeting on customs issues regarding the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway project.
He said that types of customs bodies activity after the commissioning of the BTK railway will be defined and the corresponding memorandum will be signed at the meeting.
Construction of the BTK railway will be completed soon, Baghirov said. Most part of the work has already been completed, and some minor work remains to be done on the Georgian and Turkish sections of the railway. This minor work will be completed in the coming months.
The BTK railway is being constructed on the basis of the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey intergovernmental agreement. Peak capacity of the railway will be 17 million tons of cargo per year. At the initial stage, it will serve one million passengers and transport 6.5 million tons of cargo.
The LG Art Center has revived its popular "Rush Hour Concert" which ran from 2011 to 2014.
The concert aims to provide office workers, mostly in the Gangnam region, who would rather escape the rush hour traffic jam and spend their time on a musical activity. The concert is held at 7 p.m. for one hour, allowing drivers a musical getaway while traffic subsides.
The concert will be offered three times this year on April 4, May 16 and Nov. 23 at the LG Art Center.
The concert series was held 19 times between 2011 and 2014 and garnered over 14,000 spectators. Well-known artists such as rock bands Kim Chang-wan Band, Guckkasten and Crying Nut have performed as well as a variety of jazz pianists, hip-hop artists, guitarists and world music orchestras and ensembles.
This year's Rush Hour Concert is organized in three themes _ pop, rock and tango. Vocal trio the Barberettes and Japanese jazz guitarist Hata Shuji will perform on April 4 under the theme "Be My Baby" while legendary guitarist Kim Do-kyun will conquer with "School of Rock" on May 16. Bandoneon performer Koh Sang-ji will showcase "Buenos Aires Tango Club" on Nov. 23.
Ticket prices are 20,000 won for regular seats and 12,000 won for third-floor seats. For more information, visit www.lgart.com or call 02-2005-0114.
ysy@ktimes.com
By Yoon Ja-young
Korea will lead construction of a smart city in Kuwait, which will be three times bigger than Bundang in Gyeonggi Province, one of Seoul's major satellite cities.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said Monday that the Korea Land and Housing Corp. (LH) signed a contract with Kuwait's housing and welfare ministry to manage the master plan of building South Saad Al-Abdullah New City in the Middle East country.
A Korean consortium, comprised of a group of Korean urban architects, will undertake the project.
During a Korea-Kuwait summit in 2015 the latter proposed that Seoul create the new city plan for the country. It highly evaluated Korea's experience in developing new mega-cities.
Korea's land ministry, which was looking for opportunities to advance overseas, also actively engaged in the deal.
The South Saad Al-Abdullah New City project will provide homes for at least 25,000 households.
LH dispatched specialists in new city development to examine the site and start design work, drawing up a master plan to construct a futuristic city connected with smart devices.
South Saad Al-Abdullah New City is one of nine new cities that Kuwait plans to build. Located 30 kilometers to the west of Kuwait City, the area of land to be used is 64.4 square kilometers. When a Kuwait man gets married, the government provides a home for the new couple. Around 110,000 are waiting to get homes in Kuwait, but the annual supply of homes stands at a mere 1,800, on average.
Kuwait plans to make New City an example of a global smart city as well as the first environmentally friendly city in the Middle East. It is likely to provide more business opportunities for Korean construction companies as well.
After analyzing the feasibility of the master plan, which will take two years to complete, the Korean consortium will set up a special purpose vehicle jointly with Kuwait. Construction will begin in 2019.
"South Saad Al-Abdullah New City will be the first example of a Korean smart city design being exported overseas. When the project is successfully completed, Korean firms will have the upper hand in city development projects in the Middle East, which has much demand for cities thanks to its increasing working-age population," an official at LH said.
"Using our experience in new city development, we will contribute to enhance housing welfare for the Kuwaiti people as well as help Korean firms advance into the Middle East. We hope the city will be the pride of both Kuwait and Korea when completed," said LH CEO Park Sang-woo.
By Park Hyong-ki
Mirae Asset Chairman Park Hyun-joo
Mirae Asset Financial Group Chairman Park Hyun-joo will donate all of the dividends he receives from Mirae Asset Global Investments for young adults, the company said Monday.
Mirae Asset Global Investments decided to hand out 2016 dividends worth 1.6 billion won to Park at its shareholders meeting last week.
Park is the largest shareholder with a 60 percent stake in the asset management company, according to an audit filing.
Mirae Asset Global Investments' second-largest shareholder is Mirae Asset Consulting, a consultancy and investment firm owned by Park as well.
His dividends will be sent to his foundation, which will use them to provide college scholarships and improve the welfare of local children, the company said.
The foundation was established in 2000 with his personal capital of 7.5 billion won. This year marks its 17th anniversary. It has supported more than 4,000 students to study abroad in more than 40 countries as part of Mirae Asset's social contributions to foster next-generation business leaders.
Overall, 160,000 participated in its various education and cultural programs.
It is looking to expand the foundation's role and help improve the welfare of children of low-income families this year.
Since 2010, Park has been donating his dividends from Mirae Asset Global Investments, which totaled about 20 billion won.
Mirae Asset Global Investments, Park's privately held company, posted a consolidated net profit of 108.5 billion won in 2016, up from 80.6 billion won the previous year.
Its funds invested about 1.9 trillion won in the KOSPI as of the end of last year. Its assets stood at 2.05 trillion won with an equity capital of 1.3 trillion won. The asset manager has 12 overseas subsidiaries.
North Korea on Sunday threatened a preemptive strike in response to South Korean and US special operations troops' recent drills for incapacitating Pyongyang's leadership in case of conflict.
The North Korean People's Army issued a statement saying that it is ready to fend off any attempts by enemy commandos to attack its leader.
"We will mercilessly trample on all their attempts with our own preemptive special operations and our own preemptive strikes," a spokesman of the General Staff Department said.
By Lee Han-soo, Park Si-soo
If China does not solve the North Korean problem, the U.S, will do it, President Donald Trump has warned Beijing before his first summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week.
"China has great influence over North Korea, and China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they won't," Trump told The Financial Times in an interview published on Monday. "And if they do, that will be very good for China, and if they don't it won't be good for anyone. If China is not going to solve North Korea, we will. That is all I am telling you."
The meeting is scheduled at Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Thursday-Friday (local time).
Asked if he believed he could solve North Korea's nuclear armament issue without China, Trump replied: "Totally."But he didn't elaborate on what "totally" meant. Trump also did not comment on the much-talked about option of a preemptive strike on the North's nuclear and military facilities.
North Korea said Monday it plans to mark its two key anniversaries slated for April, including the birthday of the country's late founder, as "big" political festive events, hinting at a massive military parade.
The Rodong Sinmun, the country's main newspaper, cited the 105th birthday of Kim Il-sung, which falls on April 15, and the 85th anniversary of the creation of the Korean People's Army on April 25.
"The meaningful April holidays should be marked as big political festive events that can be remembered in the national history," the newspaper said.
North Korea usually holds big military events or parades at anniversaries whose final numbers end in a five or a zero. The North's April calendar is full of such anniversaries.
As the country has conducted nuclear tests and launched a long-range rocket around its key anniversaries, there is a high possibility that Pyongyang could stage provocative acts this month, analysts said.
North Korea is believed to be preparing for a massive military parade at Mirim Airport in Pyongyang in a bid to show off its military prowess at the military's founding anniversary.
"The military parade may be held on April 25 to display its military power," a government source said.
The country's last military parade, the largest ever, was held Oct. 10, 2015, the 70th founding anniversary of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea.
The North's military parades are closely watched by outside experts to get a glimpse of the North's latest missile programs and other new military equipment.
North Korea may put its strategic missiles on display, such as a newly developed intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), called the Pukguksong-2, at the parade, analysts said.
But there is a possibility that the North could hold the parade on the birthday of Kim Il-sung, the grandfather of the current leader Kim Jong-un.
North Korea unveiled its intercontinental ballistic missile known as the KN-08 for the first time in its military parade to mark the 100th birthday of the founder in 2012.
South Korea's unification ministry said it is closely watching North Korea's possible provocations around major anniversaries.
"We are calling on North Korea to refrain from making provocative acts and (make efforts) for the improvement of inter-Korean ties," Lee Duk-haeng, ministry spokesman, told a regular press briefing. (Yonhap)
U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. Vincent Brooks, left, speaks to U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who is on a two-day visit to South Korea, at the truce village of Panmunjeom on the inter-Korean border,
Friday, while a North Korean soldier takes a photo of them from outside. / Joint press corps
US vows to use all options against NK including military actions
By Jun Ji-hye
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson declared an end to the Barack Obama administration's policy of strategic patience in dealing with North Korea, Friday, vowing to explore all options including harsher sanctions and military action.
The U.S. top diplomat also stressed the importance of China's role in forcing Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, urging Beijing to stop taking retaliatory actions against South Korea over the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery here.
He made the comments during a joint news conference with his South Korean counterpart Yun Byung-se at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul, before the two held the ministerial talks.
"The policy of strategic patience has ended," Tillerson told reporters. "We are exploring a new range of diplomatic, security, economic measures. All options are on the table."
He also said military action against nuclear-armed North Korea remains a possibility.
"Certainly, we do not want to, for things to get to military conflict," he said, but added: "If they elevate the threat of their weapons program to a level that we believe requires action, then that option's on the table."
In the policy of strategic patience, the allies ruled out engaging North Korea and waited for positive changes in Pyongyang. The policy sometimes provoked the criticism that Obama did not come up with any new incentives to help curb the North's missile and nuclear programs.
Tillerson indicated that further harsher economic sanctions against the North would follow, saying: "I don't believe we have ever fully achieved the maximum level of action that can be taken under the U.N. Security Council resolution with full participation of all countries."
He also made it clear that there would be no talks with the North unless it gives up its nuclear ambitions, noting that all the efforts for the past 20 years to bring the repressive state to the negotiating table ended in failure.
Japan's top envoy to South Korea, who was recalled to Tokyo amid diplomatic friction over a girl statue symbolizing the victims of its wartime sexual slavery, will return to Seoul this week, a foreign ministry official here said Monday.
The Japanese government recalled its Ambassador to South Korea Yasumasa Nagamine in January in protest over the statue that civic groups erected in front of its consulate in the southern port city of Busan.
"We are aware that the Japanese government has decided to send Ambassador Nagamine here tomorrow," the ministry official said on condition of anonymity. "We hope that his return to work will serve as a chance for both countries to better and more closely communicate with each other."
Nagamine is expected to come back to Seoul, along with Japanese Consul General in Busan Yasuhiro Morimoto, who was also recalled over the statue dispute.
It was not immediately known when South Korea was notified of his return. A Japanese Embassy official was not reached for comments and more information.
His return comes amid worries that a prolonged vacancy over the absence of the top Japanese envoy could hamper diplomatic communication between the two neighbors.
The two diplomats were called in to their home country on Jan. 9 as Japan strongly protested the installation of the girl statue in Busan.
Tokyo claimed that the statue built before its consulate, along with another one standing in front of its embassy in Seoul, runs counter to a landmark deal reached between the two countries in late 2015 to resolve the long-running rift over Japan's atrocity of forcing Korean women into front-line brothels during World War II.
Under the deal on Dec. 28, 2015, Tokyo apologized and agreed to provide 1 billion yen ($8.9 million) for the creation of a foundation aimed at helping the victims, euphemistically called comfort women. They also agreed to resolve the rift over the wartime atrocity "once and for all."
The South Korean government has called for a appropriate solution to the dispute over the statue but veered off from making a promise to get it removed or moved to another place, saying that it is not in its purview to do so since the statue was built by civic groups. (Yonhap)
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 3
By Maksim Tsurkov Trend:
Russias IrAero has obtained permission to carry out flights to Azerbaijan, says a protocol of the Interdepartmental Commission for the selection of carriers on international routes, posted on the website of Russias Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia).
According to the protocol, IrAero gets permission to carry out flights on the Krasnoyarsk-Baku route twice a week.
IrAero is an air carrier based in Irkutsk, Russia. It carries out domestic and international scheduled passenger services, charter and cargo flights.
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Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov
By Yi Whan-woo
Yasumasa Nagamine
Japanese Ambassador to Korea Yasumasa Nagamine will return to Seoul, Tuesday, about three months after Tokyo recalled him amid a diplomatic row over "comfort women," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Monday.
"Japan notified us that Ambassador Nagamine will come back here," a ministry official said, without giving further details.
Nagamine has been out of Korea for 84 days - the longest absence of a Japanese ambassador to Korea.
Japan summoned him Jan. 9 in retaliation for Korea's "lack of commitment" to remove a statue of a girl set up outside the Japanese consulate in Busan.
Tokyo said the statue, which symbolizes former Korean sex slaves, was against a bilateral agreement reached in December 2015 to end the dispute over so-called "comfort women."
The foreign ministry said Japanese Consul General to Korea Yasuhiro Morimoto will also return. Japan also summoned Morimoto from Busan, Jan. 9.
"We expect the two countries will work more closely on their relationship on the occasion of Nagamine's return," the ministry official said.
The statue in Busan was set up amid a controversy over the original girl statue installed outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul in December 2011.
Japan has argued that Korea agreed to remove that statue in return for receiving 1 billion yen ($8.9 million) to help the surviving "comfort women" in their December 2015 deal.
US Pacific Fleet head arrives: Defense Minister Han Min-koo, right, talks with Admiral Scott Swift, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, at the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul, Monday, about North Korea's growing nuclear and missile threats. The two shared the need for enhancing cooperation between their navies, with Adm. Swift reaffirming the ironclad alliance between the two countries. The commander arrived in South Korea earlier in the day to attend the annual Pacific Amphibious Leaders Symposium (PALS) that kicked off Saturday for a five-day run in Seoul, Pohang and Ganghwa. / Yonhap
By Jun Ji-hye
South Korea, the United States and Japan began a three-day joint naval exercise, Monday, to counter growing threats from North Korea's submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM).
This is the first time for the three countries to carry out joint anti-submarine exercises, the Ministry of National Defense said.
The drills came after they discussed the issue in their Defense Trilateral Talks (DTT) in December.
"The exercise is taking place until Wednesday in international waters between South Korea and Japan near Jeju Island," the ministry said in a release.
"The drills are designed to enhance the three countries' abilities in searching, identifying and tracking enemy submarines in order to ensure an effective response to North Korea's submarine threats including its development of an SLBM capability."
Seoul dispatched the 4,400-ton destroyer Kang Gam Chan with its Lynx anti-submarine helicopter, while Washington sent the 9,200-ton Aegis-equipped destroyer USS McCampbell and its MH-60 anti-submarine chopper and a P-3 Orion patrol plane. Tokyo dispatched destroyer, the Sawagiri, with its anti-submarine helicopter.
"During the practice, the navies will search, identify and track a mock submarine, and exchange relevant information," the ministry said. "This exercise reflects the three nations' determination to better deter North Korea's nuclear and missile threats."
Pyongyang test-fired SLBMs in April, July and August last year. Among them, the one fired in August flew about 500 kilometers and splashed down in waters under Japan's Air Defense Identification Zone in the East Sea, showing a significant improvement from past tests.
In December, Japan's public broadcaster NHK also reported, quoting U.S. officials, that the U.S. had detected a ground test of an SLBM in North Korea.
South Korea believes the North will be able to deploy operational SLBMs within one to three years.
In response to this growing threat, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration said, Monday, that it has decided to introduce additional anti-ballistic missile early warning radars that will become part of the Korean Air and Missile Defense, designed to track and shoot down North Korean missiles heading for South Korea.
South Korea's military said Monday it may consider supporting the search for the remains of the victims of the 2014 Sewol ferry sinking.
There is no official request yet, though, from the maritime ministry, which recently brought the ship to surface and took it to the Mokpo port in the southwestern province of Jeolla, according to the Ministry of National Defense.
The 6,825-ton passenger ship sank off the nearby coast in an apparent accident, leaving 304 people, mostly students, dead. The remains of nine people are still missing.
Search operations are ongoing for the Korean cargo ship Stellar Daisy that went missing and is presumed to have sank in the South Atlantic, after making its last contact off Uruguay, Friday.
Two Filipino sailors were rescued from a life raft, Saturday, among the 24-member crew, which consisted of eight Koreans and 16 Filipinos.
According to AFP, Monday, Gaston Jaunsolo, a spokesman for the Uruguayan navy, said the two rescued sailors are in good condition, and the search is ongoing for the others.
He said a Brazilian aircraft has joined the search, and four other Korean merchant ships and an Argentine navy ship were also assisting.
On Sunday, a C-130 aircraft of the Brazilian Air Force conducted a search within a 500-kilometer radius of the ship's last reported position including the point where the two Filipino crewmembers were picked up.
Two more rafts have been recovered, but without any survivors. The navy spokesman said a search was ongoing for two more life rafts.
Jaunsolo said the cause of the ship's disappearance was unclear.
A crew member sent a distress signal to its operator Polaris Shipping, late Friday, claiming water was entering the vessel and that it was listing.
According to a statement from the Uruguayan navy, the first ships to approach the scene noted a "strong smell of fuel" and noticed debris, "an indication that the damaged ship had sunk."
The surviving Filipino crewman said water had rapidly filled the vessel through a crack before the sinking.
Based on the testimony, the ship operator is presuming the freighter sank within five minutes of the sending of the distress signal.
Family members of missing crew members claimed the vessel was too old.
At a briefing on the incident held at Polaris Shipping in Busan, Sunday, family members said the hull must have cracked due to its age.
The 25-year-old vessel had originally been an oil tanker, which was remodeled into a bulk carrier in 2009.
Polaris Shipping officials acknowledged the ship was old, but said it was unclear whether this was the cause of the sinking.
The Stellar Daisy left port in Brazil, March 26, carrying 260,000 tons of iron ore for China.
By Jung Min-ho
Former President Park Geun-hye will be questioned Tuesday at the Seoul Detention Center, her first interrogation since being taken into custody on bribery and other charges in the presidential scandal involving her friend Choi Soon-sil.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office said Monday that Han Woong-jae, one of the two prosecutors who interrogated Park two weeks ago, will visit the detention facility in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, to question her.
One or two assistant prosecutors from the team investigating the scandal may accompany him.
Unlike the questioning at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office where she was summoned and prosecutors focused on listening to her side of the story, Han is expected to be more aggressive this time to extract a confession.
Signs are already palpable that prosecutors have become more reluctant to give her special treatment.
Prosecutors initially asked her to come to their office with her hands handcuffed for questioning, which was rejected by her lawyers because of her psychological state and for security reasons. Due to time constraints, they then decided to send investigators to her instead.
Many were surprised that the prosecution, which was long criticized for being slow and political in investigating the scandal, dared to ask the former president to visit the office.
Park has so far denied all the charges against her, but this strategy appears to have failed. Her flat-out denials even in the face of solid evidence hurt herself politically and eventually led to her impeachment and removal from office. This attitude was also one of the reasons behind a court issuing an arrest warrant for her over the risk of the destruction of evidence.
Lawyer Yoo Young-ha, who has been playing a leading role in defending Park, is reportedly struggling to get along with other lawyers in her nine-member team.
Park Ji-man, her brother, is reportedly trying to help her find new faces to revamp the legal team. Some observers say his lawyer wife, Seo Hyang-hee, may join the defense soon.
Park Ji-man, Seo and Yoo all visited the former president at the detention center Monday morning.
With all the key suspects in the scandal pinning responsibility on each other, prosecutors are considering calling some of them in for joint-questioning.
Park, who is charged with 13 crimes, including bribery, abuse of authority and the passing of confidential state information to an unauthorized person Choi, claims that she did not do anything illegal or order her aides to do so to support Choi.
But former presidential secretaries An Chong-bum and Jeong Ho-seong who have been indicted for their roles in the scandal have insisted that they just carried out her orders.
One of the key tasks for investigators is to prove the bribery charge against Park and Choi, who allegedly colluded in taking money from major companies, including Samsung, in return for business favors.
While Park and Choi claim the companies voluntarily made "donations" to the Mir and K-Sports foundations, which were controlled by Choi, the companies insist they were forced to do so by Park.
However, prosecutors think all of them are lying. They believe Park and Choi made backdoor deals with the companies and the two shared the profits from the deals. In return, prosecutors have accused Park of abusing her power for the interests of the companies, for example, by granting pardons for their owners.
Depending on the nature of the money Park and Choi received from the companies, prosecutors will indict the two on charges of either abuse of authority or bribery, which is a more serious crime that could put them in prison for life.
Meanwhile, the prosecution plans to send Choi to a different detention center in Seoul because of concerns that she may contact Park to coordinate their stories while they are in the same facility.
The prosecution also said it plans to question Woo Byung-woo, another key suspect in the scandal, Thursday, over abuse of power and dereliction of duty among other allegations.
Korean and foreign journalists pose at the opening ceremony of the World Journalists Conference 2017 at the Press Center in downtown Seoul, Monday. / Courtesy of the Journalists Association of Korea.
By Park Si-soo
Nearly 100 journalists from 55 countries will discuss the mass media's role in building peace, at the five-day 2017 World Journalists Conference (WJC) that began in Seoul on Monday.
The opening ceremony was held at the Press Center in downtown Seoul with 120 guests including Vice Culture Minister Song Soo-keun, now acting culture minister, Korea Press Foundation chief Kim Byung-ho and Journalists Association of Korea President Jung Kyu-sung.
"This event will enable participants to take a close look at the world's last divided country, which is Korea," Jung said in an opening speech. "And it will let them think about the media's role for peace.
"People gathered here are different in many ways including state of origin, gender and philosophy. But they have one thing in common: striving to deliver the truth and bolster freedom and peace, with warm hearts and cold heads."
Jung said the conference will provide a "precious opportunity (for them) to build a network and share their thoughts about the issues."
As well as attending the conference, some foreign journalists will travel to major cities such as Suwon, Busan, Incheon and the venue for 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. The journalists will also participate in activities that will help deepen their understanding of Korea and its culture.
From left are, Lee Jun, Lee Sang-seol and Lee Wi-jong, who were sent by King Gojong in 1907 as special envoys to attend the International Peace Conference held in Hague, to protest Japan's forced "protection" of Korea. / Korea Times file
By Yoon Ja-young
A signpost will be set up at the site of the house of Lee Jun, a patriot who was one of the three secret envoys deployed by King Gojong to The Hague, the Netherlands, in 1907 to oppose Japan's forced treaty which made Korea, then Joseon, its protectorate.
Born in 1859, Lee passed the exam to become government official in 1887. He graduated from Waseda University in Japan, studying law.
After returning to Korea, he dedicated himself to the movement to protect Korea from Japan's ambition to colonize it.
Amid growing pressure from Japan, King Gojong sent three special secret envoys - Lee Jun, Lee Sang-seol and Lee Wi-jong - to attend the International Peace Conference held in The Hague in 1907, to appeal to the international community concerning the unfairness of the treaty Japan forcibly used to make Korea its protectorate.
However, they failed to attend the conference due to obstruction by Japan. Greatly disappointed, Lee passed away at the hotel they were staying at in The Hague, and King Gojong was dethroned.
Seoul City's cultural assets committee is scheduled to set a signpost at the site where Lee's house was, on July 14 this year. That is the date Lee Jun is estimated to have died back in 1907.
The location of Lee's house site had not been known until recently. Institute for Research in Collaboration Activities, which engages in research about modern history, confirmed the exact location in February, based on diverse historic documents.
The signboard will also read that the site included "The Anhyeon Shop for Women." That is the first shop in the country that was operated by a woman and specializing in items for women. At that time it was rare for a woman to operate a store. Lee Il-jeong, the second wife of Lee Jun, opened the shop in 1905.
The house was later owned by a Chinese person until the Duksung School foundation purchased it in 1964.
By Kim Se-jeong
The Seoul Metropolitan Government will kick off the Seoul Summer Sale on May 23, earlier than usual to minimize the effects of the decreasing number of Chinese tourists visiting the city.
Chinese visitors accounted for a major portion of tourists coming to the capital, and fear is mounting their disappearance may impact the local economy.
During the sale promotion which will last until May 27, shopping malls, restaurants, banks, medical clinics, amusement parks and hotels in the city will have special offers for travelers. In total, 136 businesses will participate in the sales project.
"We've forwarded the sale period by two weeks," the city said in a statement. "We hope this will encourage more people to visit Seoul and help boost local businesses."
The highlight will be hotel offers. Nineteen hotels, including those with five stars, will offer special room rates with discounts of up to 50 percent. The list of participants includes Grand Ambassador Seoul, Grand Hilton Seoul, Mayfield Hotel, Grand Walkerhill Seoul, Vista Walkerhill Seoul, Conrad Seoul and Four Points by Sheraton Seoul, Namsan.
The Korean and U.S. decision to deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) unit on the Korean Peninsula sparked fierce protests from China which discouraged its citizens from visiting Korea and purchasing Korean-made goods and services.
The early sale promotion is one of the measures the city government rolled out last month.
Among the measures is offering people in the local tourism industry jobs so they can stay employed, diversifying the market and encouraging domestic visitors.
The city also vowed to reach out to unconventional markets such as India this year to attract tourists and is investing in meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) travelers.
By Yi Whan-woo
Ahn Cheol-soo
Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, the odds-on favorite to win the presidential nomination of the People's Party, is emerging as a serious rival to presidential frontrunner Moon Jae-in of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK).
Ahn has soared as a runner-up in the latest polls of presidential hopefuls after joining a handful of minor candidates whose support rating remained in the single-digits.
Analysts said Monday that Ahn, 55, an entrepreneur-turned-politician, can expand his support base because he, unlike Moon, can attract both conservative and centrist voters while securing support from the liberal bloc's stronghold in the Jeolla region.
Ahn's popularity is 19 percent at the highest, which is still below Moon's that has been hovering around the 30 percent-range for months.
But it can break into the 20 percent-range and go higher considering Ahn's favorability has been rising quickly over the past few weeks, according to the experts.
Ahn garnered support of 19 percent, up from 10 percent a week ago, in a survey conducted by Gallup Korea from March 28 to 30.
In a separate weekly poll taken by Realmter last week, his support rating jumped from 12.6 percent to 18.7 percent, while Moon's rose by 0.5 percentage points to 34.9 percent.
The experts speculated that Ahn may gain more of an advantage over Moon if they become the only two presidential contestants left.
A poll released Monday showed that Ahn had 43.6 percent against Moon's 36.4 percent in a hypothetical two-man race.
It is the first time that Ahn beat Moon in a survey concerning the May 9 presidential election. Ahn also led his rival well beyond the margin of error at 3.1 percent.
"The two have overlapping home turfs in Gwangju, North and South Jeolla provinces. And Ahn appears to have the edge over Moon considering the former is backed by more veteran politicians from the region, such as the People's Party floor leader Park Jie-won," said Yoon Hee-woong, a senior researcher at Opinion Live.
Other analysts viewed that Ahn is gaining support from young and centrist voters who used to favor South Chungcheong Gov. An Hee-jung, one of DPK presidential hopefuls. An lost to Moon in all the DPK's primary elections so far.
"An's supporters tend to be conservative when it comes to issues on national security and economy although they are generally viewed as liberals," said Shin Yul, a political science professor at Myongji University. "In that regard, they are not necessarily DPK loyalists mainly favoring Moon."
Shin said up to 80 percent of An's supporters are eventually expected to throw their support to Ahn over Moon.
The professor, however, said Ahn may still need to prove that he is capable of handling state affairs. He pointed out that Moon was a former chief of staff to late President Roh Moo-hyun.
"Otherwise, Ahn's popularity may not rise beyond 30 percent," he said.
By Jun Ji-hye
South Chungcheong Governor An Hee-jung and Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung could not overcome Moon Jae-in in the primaries of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), but the two showed potential throughout the race to become the next leaders of the liberal party.
Both An, 52, and Lee, 53, have positioned themselves as liberal bigwigs, with the public awareness of the two young politicians significantly having improved through the primary race.
An Hee-jung Lee Jae-myung
"An and Lee have become politicians with national reputations, which would make it possible for both of them to have their eyes on the next term's political power," said Bae Jong-chan, the chief director of pollster Research and Research. "Regardless of whether the DPK wins the May 9 presidential election, the two are already being mentioned as the next presidential candidates of the party."
In the short term, An could challenge for the party presidency, given that there have been no influential figures such as former Chairman Moon in the liberal party, Bae noted. For his part, Lee could run for local elections next year to become Gyeonggi Province governor or Seoul mayor, Bae added.
"The two have raised their political influence significantly as they hit a kind of jackpot in the political circle," Bae said.
Taking a centrist stance, An has caught the attention of voters from a wider range of the political spectrum than other DPK contenders. He has also put forth efforts to embrace conservatives by vowing to form a grand coalition government, even with allies of former President Park Geun-hye who was removed from office last month over a massive corruption scandal. Such remarks sometimes invited criticism from liberals.
Lee has become popular especially after the National Assembly passed an impeachment motion of then-President Park as he became one of the first presidential hopefuls to demand her resignation. The tough-talking mayor also delivered speeches in streets strongly criticizing Park, earning considerable attention from young voters.
During the lead-up to the primaries, Moon was often engaged with conflicts with the two politicians, but the three will from now on apparently seek to harmonize again to win the election, analysts said.
As An and Lee are currently serving as a governor and mayor, they would be unable to make political activities openly to support Moon in accordance with the Public Official Election Act, but the two are expected to do so behind the scenes, Bae said.
"Their roles will become more significant after the presidential election," he said. "In the case of Moon losing in the election, the two will be tasked with resolving a crisis facing the party."
AccessBank has presented a new myAccess mobile banking application to its customers. Being issued for Android and iOS platforms, myAccess application provides an opportunity for clients to perform their bank transactions in an extremely easy and convenient way.
"The lifestyle of people has rapidly been changing and smartphones have become an integral part of their personal and business life. For sure, along with the development of digital technologies the customer service channels are changing as well. The experience of recent years reveals that while the number of our online banking users has been showing an upward trend, the need of clients to receive direct banking services has been decreasing. Digital banking expands the geographic scope of the Bank, makes products and services closer and more accessible for our clients regardless of their location. We understand that banks that actively realize the delivery of banking services via digital channels and transforms own service distribution network will be in a more advantageous position in the future "- said Anar Hasanov, Deputy CEO of AccessBank.
myAccess mobile banking service provides high security level of operations and will constantly be developed by being enhanced with additional functions. myAccess application is now available to be downloaded from App Store and Google Play.
AccessBank was founded in 2002 by the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, EBRD, IFC, KfW, a German consulting company LFS Financial Systems and AccessHolding. Being one of the leading banks of Azerbaijan, AccessBank offers a full range of banking services.
Moon Jae-in, alongside Democratic Party of Korea Chairwoman Rep. Choo Mi-ae, waves to the crowd at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, Tuesday, after he was nominated as the party's presidential candidate. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk
By Kim Hyo-jin
Moon Jae-in, former leader of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), was elected as the party's candidate for the May 9 presidential election, Monday.
Moon swept all of the four primary elections, each by a large margin, avoiding a run-off election.
In the last primary, he garnered 60.4 percent of votes ahead of Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung and South Chungcheong Province Governor An Hee-jung who received 22 percent and 17.3 percent, respectively.
He won a total of 57 percent of the votes in all of the primaries An gained 21.5 percent, while Lee had 21.2 percent.
"Thank you for your tremendous support. I will pay you back with a victory on May 9," Moon said in an acceptance speech at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul.
He vowed to revitalize the stagnant economy, strengthen national security, and eradicate corruption, irregularities and injustice, mindful of the presidential corruption scandal that has hit the country hard.
Moon will vie for the top elected post against Hong Joon-pyo of the former ruling Liberty Korea Party (LKP), the conservative Bareun Party's Yoo Seong-min, and the minor Justice Party's Sim Sang-jung.
Ahn Cheol-soo of the People's Party is expected to join the race. Ahn, the party's ex-leader has won sweeping victories in primary polls so far, raising speculation he will win the party's nomination at the last party convention slated for today.
The latest Realmeter poll showed that Moon topped a five-way competition with support of 43 percent, followed by Ahn with 22.7 percent, Hong with 10.2 percent, and Yoo and Sim, each with 3.9 percent.
Moon has been the strongest contender since the corruption scandal involving former President Park Geun-hye erupted, followed by her impeachment and removal from office. In the liberal-tilting presidential race, the former opposition leader has led opinion polls with support of over 30 percent for weeks.
Moon's high popularity reflects the publics' wish for an end to the decade-long conservative rule, according to observers. Moon was defeated by Park in the 2012 election, but has used this experience for his campaign, saying he is the only "verified and prepared" presidential candidate.
Political commentators say whether other competitors join hands to field a unified candidate against Moon could be a challenge to his bid.
"If not in a one-on-one competition, Moon will win the final race," said Bae Jong-chan, the chief director of pollster Research and Research. Although an alliance among Ahn, Hong and Yoo is not a likely scenario, he said.
The talk of an alliance among conservative parties has already got off to a rough start with Hong and Yoo exchanging barbs. Hong dubbed Yoo, who is leading the party that broke away from the LKP, a "traitor" while Yoo questioned Hong's qualification to be a presidential candidate as he faces a Supreme Court ruling on his involvement in a bribery scandal.
Ahn has so far dismissed the possibility of forming an alliance with any other forces. If he joins hands with the LKP of which Park is still a member Ahn would risk losing his main support base, voters in the Jeolla region, the liberals' home turf.
An offensive by other contenders is expected to escalate against Moon. Political analyst Hwang Tae-soon said that Moon would have to clarify his position on the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system and views on North Korea.
Moon has only claimed the issue of placing a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery here should be postponed until the launch of the new government. Earlier, his comment that he intends to visit North Korea first if he takes power, produced a barrage of attacks by conservatives who put the country's highest priority on the alliance with the United States. These issues still remain a possible point of contention, Hwang said.
Another challenge for Moon is if he can heal the wounds between him and his rivals in party's primaries, said Lee Jun-han, a politics professor at Incheon National University. Whether An and Lee Jae-myung deliver a robust endorsement will affect whether he can gain further momentum in the presidential race, he noted.
By Kim Se-jeong
Formosan Sike deer
The government said Sunday it will continue efforts to remove Formosan Sika deer from mountains in Korea, in an attempt to preserve the habitat for indigenous species.
According to the Ministry of Environment, almost 150 of the deer, which are native to Taiwan, are believed to be living on Mount. Songni.
Their rising population poses a threat to Amur goral and Siberian roe deer that are native to Korea and share the habitat. The Amurs goral deer is on the list of endangered species in Korea.
The project began in 2010 and 85 deer have been removed so far. The forest rangers capture the deer alive and they are donated to zoos and schools among others.
Foremosan Sika deer first appeared in Korea in the 1970s, after the government allowed them to be imported by herders who wished to sell their antlers, which are considered a critical ingredient in Oriental medicines.
They began to be seen in the wild after the farmers let them go and religious groups purchased them and freed them as part of a religious ritual. Allowing exotic animals to go free in the wild is no longer legal, and is punished with up to a 300,000 won fine.
"We expect to remove them completely by 2021," the ministry said.
By Noah Smith
The U.S. white working class is in big trouble. The data is piling up.
Economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton have a new paper out, exploring mortality trends in the U.S. The results confirm the finding of their famous 2015 study white Americans without college degrees are dying in increasing numbers, even as other groups in and outside the country live longer. And the negative trends continued over the past year.
The problem appears to be specific to white Americans.
Mortality rates among blacks and Hispanics continue to fall; in 1999, the mortality rate of white non-Hispanics ages 50-54 with only a high school degree was 30 percent lower than the mortality rate of blacks in the same age group; by 2015, it was 30 percent higher. There are similar crossovers between white and black mortality in all age groups from 25-29 to 60-64.
In contrast to the U.S., mortality rates in Europe are falling for those with low levels of educational attainment, and are doing so more rapidly than mortality rates for those with higher levels of education.
Why is this happening? Case and Deaton don't really know. Obesity would seem to be a culprit, but it's also up among black Americans and British people, whose mortality rates from heart disease have fallen. Deaths from suicide, alcoholism and drug overdoses what the authors collectively call "deaths of despair" have been climbing rapidly. But they only account for a minority of the increase. And no one knows the definitive reason for white despair.
One tempting explanation especially for those on the political right might be that immigration and diversity are causing white people to lose a sense of community and cultural homogeneity, driving them to self-destruction. But mortality rates for working-class white people in the U.K. and Europe, which are experiencing even bigger fights over immigration, have fallen very rapidly in recent years. Europe also casts doubt on the hypothesis that the decline in marriage is to blame, because marriage also fell in European countries and among black Americans.
Case and Deaton instead suggest economic causes lack of opportunity, economic insecurity and inequality. But this is hard to square with falling mortality for black Americans, who also suffered mightily in the Great Recession and have been on the losing end of increasing inequality.
So the reason for the increase in non-college white mortality remains a mystery, for now. Perhaps it will always just be a mysterious nationwide episode of anomie, like the massive increase in Russian death rates after the Soviet Union's fall.
But whatever the cause, I know of one policy that would go a long way toward fighting the baleful trend national health care.
A national health service which also goes by the names of single-payer health care and socialized medicine would drive down the price of basic health care. Because an NHS would be such a huge customer, it would be able to use its market power to get better deals from providers. This is probably why the same health-care treatments and services cost so much less in Europe than in the U.S. those other countries have their governments do the bargaining.
In fact, this already works in the U.S. Medicare, the single-payer system that ensures the elderly, has seen much lower cost growth than private health insurance, even though Medicare isn't yet allowed by law to negotiate for cheaper drugs.
Another way an American NHS would be able to help the white working class is by having doctors monitor patients' behavior. In the U.K., doctors ask patients about their alcohol consumption, exercise and other habits at free checkups. There's some evidence that this sort of checkup doesn't increase health in Canada, but that may be because Canadians already mostly avoid heroin, alcoholism and suicide. A U.S. NHS would be able to check patients' mental health (to prevent suicide), their alcohol intake, their opiate and other drug use, and a variety of warning signs.
Finally, an NHS could prevent overuse of opioids. Prescription of painkillers has been a major factor in the opiate epidemic, which has hit the white working class hard. Drug manufacturers, however, have lobbied to preserve widespread access to opioids. These companies have also given doctors incentives and perks essentially, bribes to keep prescribing these dangerous drugs. An NHS would be able to resist lobbying pressure and make sure doctors didn't have an incentive to hand out too many opioid pills.
A NHS wouldn't require the creation of a new bureaucracy it would just require expanding Medicare to cover the whole nation. There's already a campaign to do this, led by none other than Sen. Bernie Sanders. An NHS also wouldn't prevent rich people from buying expensive or rapid treatment in private markets.
So while an NHS might not solve all the health problems of the U.S. white working class, it would go a long way toward doing so. If President Donald Trump wanted to prevent the people who elected him from continuing to die in rising numbers, he would join Sanders in the campaign to extend Medicare to cover all Americans.
Unfortunately, the health-care proposal that Trump backed went in the opposite direction, reducing health coverage rather than expanding it. The self-styled champion of the white working class has not yet answered their despair with action.
Noah Smith is a Bloomberg View columnist. Readers may email him at nsmith150@bloomberg.net. It was distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
James Kim, AMCHAM chairman, speaks during the recent Korea Times Roundtable discussion on Korea-U.S. trade issues.
/ Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk
AMCHAM aims to host presidential debate
Question: Does Korea need to make concessions to the U.S.?
James Kim (JK): A $23 billion deficit took place last year. And this year, the number is expected to go a bit higher than that. An 80 percent deficit is coming from the auto industry. We should be careful when we talk about big numbers. Sometimes when you look at the whole thing, it looks really bad.
If you take one industry out of the equation the auto industry , there are a number of actors as well. So we really need to tell the real story behind it. The numbers are really important. Anytime you go over $20 billion in a trade deficit with the U.S., currency manipulation also kicks in. That is why $20 billion is the magic number. I had many meetings with Korean government officials, for them, they know math. They are trying to bring the deficit down to $20 billion.
Jeffrey Jones, chairman of the Partners for the Future Foundation, is in the Korea Times Roundtable.
Jeffrey Jones (JJ): It is a political sound bite. Whether the deficit is $30 billion, $20 billion, $10 billion, any of these would be difficult numbers for President Trump because he promised the American people that he would improve the economy and create jobs in America. With trade deficits, it looks like we are losing jobs, manufacturing jobs. That is why he needs to fix things. The fact is that KORUS prevented the deficit from getting larger, permitted the U.S. to expand its share of imports coming into Korea. What happened was from 2011, the U.S. imports have dramatically increased; Korean imports have declined. A huge increase in U.S. imports, relative large decrease in Korean imports means there is an economic imbalance.
Since 2011 when the FTA was implemented, the U.S. started to import more but Korea did not import as much as the U.S. did. Korea has nothing so it has to import to eat, manufacture, whereas in the U.S. we have certain raw materials. Korea has to import in order to survive. The difficulty we have in solving that political dilemma of that sound bite that the U.S. has deficits with Korea. Our deficit with Japan is five times, deficit with China is 10 times. Korea's is smaller.
When you look at EU imports into Korea, they have lost more market share than the U.S. China's imports into Korea have also declined. But the U.S. has maintained a bigger share of the import market than these countries. So KORUS has actually helped the U.S. tremendously but the political sound bite is also a reality.
Question: Is bringing down the deficit to $20 billion enough?
JK: If we can make noticeable improvements on the deficit, I think they would say, "Wow, Korea is doing something about it." Together with it are things the Korean government and companies are doing today jobs Korean companies are creating. Companies like CJ 200 jobs in a small town in Iowa. And Alabama and Tennessee. Jobs they are creating are meaningful.
JJ: The thing the Korean government should do is cooperate with the Trump administration to create a new type of sound bite which is Korea has agreed to try to fix it. What we should not do is say we will reduce the deficit to $10 billion or eliminate deficits. That is not economically possible and would put nonmarket strains on both economies. We have to maintain market principles and we have to be a fair and free market. We have to work to find a solution.
JK: Trump wants to spend trillions of dollars on U.S. infrastructure. He wants foreign companies to invest in manufacturing in the U.S. Korean companies are investing in the U.S. manufacturing base.
JJ: Direct investments Korean companies have made in the United State since KORUS have exceeded trade deficits with Korea. Total Korean investments wipe out the deficits. The latest figures show Korean investments have resulted in 45,000 jobs in America. There exclude those created by small companies following them, like a ripple effect.
Question: Don't we need something positive for Trump to tweet about?
JJ: It's important for Trump to post favorable tweets about Korea, like Samsung. But we also have to worry about the Korea public, politicians and how they feel. We need to tell them a story that is believable and credible. The U.S. would come and tell Korea, "You should do this." That is not credible. Korean leadership and the National Assembly should get involved in finding solutions. The challenge for Korea is that the new administration and the National Assembly must work together to help the public to appreciate what sound bite we are creating for President Trump.
JK: They need to get more businesspeople involved. There are a lot of businesspeople that have joined the Trump administration. Sometimes, it needs more businesspeople-to-businesspeople contact.
Q: Do we have big changes coming to the FTA?
JJ: KORUS is already five years old. For those five years, the way we use computers, the way I talk to my wife have changed. FTA was agreed to in 2007 and took five years for confirmation. In many ways, it is already outdated. We need to update it. Trump has been accused of being protectionist but he is not. He is an open and free trader. He wants to get a fair deal. That is not a bad thing for Korea. A fair deal for America is a fair deal for Korea as well.
Q: How would the auto industry be affected?
JK: From the U.S. government standpoint, knowing that the biggest contributor to the trade deficit is the auto industry, it would be asking the U.S. auto industry what they want to see as the result of negotiations, what they are occurring and what are the challenges.
Q: What are AMCHAM's grievances or areas that need improving?
JJ: When we are going to the U.S., we cite all good things that happened under the FTA. There will be a list of things that can be improved.
JK: Some of them are big issues. Everybody knows of the problems of the labor market, the rigidity of the system. For instance, doing labor negotiations every year is a very difficult thing to do. Some of labor's inflexibility is also a challenge for foreign investors because business is good sometimes and bad other times so you need flexibility.
JJ: One of the biggest domestic political problems is the issue of temporary workers. If we have labor flexibility, they would work full-time on regular jobs. Unions fear massive layoffs but that fear is unfounded. When you look at every country that has labor flexibility, their unemployment is lower.
JK: There is a mandatory retirement at age of 60. Now people live to be 80 and 90. So forcing them to retire at 60 is a problem. In some modern countries, there is no such limit. If you are willing and strong, you can work until you are 75 years old.
Q: What would be an immediate fix Korea can give the U.S.?
JJ: Government procurement or public sector procurement. If they simply make bidding more open and transparent, fair to domestic and foreign bidders, that will help eliminate deficits.
Q: What areas should be addressed?
JJ: When you look at the auto sector, where the biggest deficits occur, relaxing some environmental regulations such as CO2 emissions can be considered. Korea has very strict C02 emissions standards, the highest standards in the world. Relaxing some of those regulations in the FTA can help. Making cars imported and inspected at a lower cost would help. Recognizing U.S. inspections would also help. That would make cars cheaper for Koreans, and that is a good thing.
JK: For the U.S. automotive companies to bring cars here requires a lot of investment just to meet the world's highest CO2 standards, which are higher than California standards. By 2020, 97 grams would be the rule. That requires a lot of investment.
JJ: Koreans love baloney (Spam) but we can't bring baloney today due to regulations on testing on mixed meat. There is a justification for that but it is also an example of Korea's unique standards. Three hundred million Americans eat baloney without health problems. Few millions of Koreans wouldn't get sick for eating it. Now, it has become such an emotional issue as if the U.S. is trying to force Koreans to eat unhealthy food.
JK: Procter & Gamble and 3M also face regulatory problems that prevent them from investing and hiring more here.
This year, we will invite a couple of Korean companies with huge presences in the U.S. for "door knock" for the first time. Currently, we have five on the short list.
AMCHAM Chairman James Kim, right, poses with Jeffrey Jones left, Partners for the Future foundation chairman, and Oh Young-jin, The Korea Times chief editorial writer. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk
Q: If Korea rejects renegotiations, what would happen?
JJ: It would make Trump very unhappy. We should call it renegotiations. The points we agree upon are fine but things that are missing in the FTA should be included so as to make the FTA better serve us. Therefore, it would be an upgrade or renewal.
JK: If there is a rejection, there would be a very negative situation in the U.S. It will affect US. companies' confidence in Korea and make it reconsider its investment decisions in Korea.
JJ: Trump often talks about sharing burdens, having U.S. forces in various locations. If we reject any notion of FTA discussions, it will have a spillover effect on that cost of the burden of keeping U.S. troops.
Q: Would Moon as president cause problems with U.S.?
JJ: I heard his statement about Korea learning to say no was taken out of context. Korea is an independent sovereign country. Korea is not subservient or a puppet of the U.S. We believe that it is Korea's public interest to have a strong relationship with the United States. We know Moon as President Roh Moo-hyun's chief of staff learned politics from Roh. Although in 2002, Roh ran for president as part of an anti-American platform, Roh was the one who signed the FTA. Moon sometimes is labeled a leftist but I think he is a capitalist advocating for a free market and wants to help those who need help in that system.
JK: AMCHAM is planning a presidential debate with the top three candidates strictly about the issues about Korea and the United States. When I was at Yahoo, we were the first to interview President Lee Myung-bak during the beef crisis it was globally carried out by Yahoo.com. From AMCHAM, we can give the candidates a global reach.
What's on Trump's mind
The United States under President Donald Trump wants to fix the global trade order so as to make it serve the U.S. better. The first priority is to fix trade deficits with China, Japan, India and, well, Korea. Some expect a trade war of global scale, while others hope for a modest overhaul. With Trump having a summit with Xi Jinping this week, the world is holding its breath to see how Trump will deal with China, which has reaped the biggest trade surpluses with the U.S. The outcome will allow Korea and other countries a peek into Trump's trade thinking. Influencing the Trump government on its thinking over Korea, a perennial surplus country, is input from U.S. businessmen in Korea and their lobby, the American Chamber of Commerce Korea (AMCHAM) in Korea. The Korea Times met two prominent members, AMCHAM Chairman James Kim, CEO of GM Korea, and Jeffrey Jones, chairman of the affiliated Partners for the Future Foundation, on the issue in its roundtable discussion at its Yeouido office last week. This is an edited version. Business reporter Jhoo Dong-chan transcribed the discussion. ED.
By David Shambaugh
Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump will hold a get-acquainted summit next week at Trump's seaside retreat in Florida. Simply the fact that the two are meeting is a positive sign that provides some much-needed reassurance to a very uncertain relationship between the two countries. The entire Asia-Pacific region and the wider world have been nervously anticipating how the two major powers will deal with each other.
While each leader will take the other's measure in their first encounter, it is important that they establish such direct lines of communication. The signals the two presidents convey from their body language to substantive policy discussions will set the tone of the broader bilateral relationship in the months and years to come. If it goes well, the summit could contribute some much-needed stabilization to the volatile and stressed relationship. A productive framework and process can be established to manage the complex agenda between the two countries.
To be sure, we should not expect too much from one meeting, but it does offer the opportunity for a fresh start in this new chapter of the Sino-American relationship. If the two leaders can establish a respectful and positive tenor between them, it will help their respective bureaucracies and officials cope with the weighty set of issues they confront.
Conversely, if their personal chemistry is poor and the talks are contentious, this could lock in a negative dynamic that will be difficult to undo. In this regard, Trump's volatile personality and propensity to overreact will be a wild card at the summit while Xi's steely calm and measured persona will be an asset if Trump proves caustic or confrontational. But if Xi is wooden and mechanically follows scripted talking points as Chinese leaders are prone to do it could irritate Trump, who is impatient and prefers impromptu dialogue.
Thus, summit meetings are not just about issues on the agenda they are very much affected by the leaders' personalities and how they react to each other. This is particularly the case with initial encounters. Ronald Reagan engaged well with the effusive Zhao Ziyang while Bill Clinton's interactions with Jiang Zemin were frosty; both George W. Bush and Barack Obama found it difficult to penetrate Hu Jintao's reserved bureaucratic nature, while Obama and Xi established a businesslike but not personally warm relationship.
Trump will do well to establish a similar businesslike rapport with Xi. The Chinese like this about Trump a transactional businessman who can cut deals.
When it comes to the substance of their discussions, there exist both opportunities and dangers. The principal opportunity is to create a framework for effective management of the litany of serious differences that divide the two sides. There does exist a real opportunity for a "reset" or breakthrough.
By the end of the Obama administration, the relationship had become quite stressed in a number of areas. Despite the 2015 cyber and climate change accords, little was going right in the broad relationship, which had become cluttered with complex issues and declining mutual trust.
Trump, however, has exhibited no knowledge of or interest in this long list of complex issues. He is unschooled and uninterested in the history or catechism of the relationship, as was evidenced by his provocative words and actions concerning Taiwan during the presidential transition period. (He subsequently reversed himself and articulated support for "one China"). Many issues on the U.S.-China agenda are seemingly irrelevant to Trump such as China's human rights record and crackdown on civil society; climate change and other global governance challenges; the regional security balance in Asia; Hong Kong's declining autonomy; the obstacles faced by American multinational companies in China; even cybersecurity.
The only China-related issues he has commented on publicly are North Korea, the South China Sea, and commercial relations. It is unclear the degree to which he grasps the facts and complexities of the first two, and his real focus obsession is on the commercial relationship and bringing jobs back to the U.S.
On U.S.-China trade, Trump is seemingly not even in favor of U.S. businesses operating in China, or the deteriorating operating environment they face there. Thus, it is not clear that pushing Xi to improve the commercial conditions inside China matter much to Trump. To the contrary, his own denigration of China on the campaign trail and stark warnings about slapping 45 per cent tariffs on Chinese goods, declaring China a currency manipulator, and the appointments to his administration of new National Trade Council chief Peter Navarro and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, all suggest Trump views U.S.-China trade in an archaic zero-sum fashion.
As Trump and Xi prepare to meet, an opportunity for a Sino-U.S. grand deal presents itself
This all suggests the greatest potential danger of the Xi-Trump summit: the temptation to reach a "grand bargain" that oversimplifies the complex agenda between the two governments and instead reduces it to a quid pro quo such as Chinese promises of huge investment into the U.S. to build infrastructure and factories (things China wants to do) in exchange for Chinese promises to put more pressure on North Korea (but not significantly more). China might also try to wring concessions out of Trump on Taiwan arms sales or the South China Sea all in return for investing in America. In his eagerness to get Chinese investment into the American homeland, Trump might also seek to override the legitimate restrictions instituted by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States against such investments in some sectors because of national security concerns. This would be music to China's ears, as several Chinese companies have been blocked for access to several sensitive sectors such as telecoms, information technology, robotics, aerospace, energy and port management.
Thus, while there are opportunities to be grasped at the Florida summit, there are also significant potential downside risks for the U.S. if Trump tries to "do a deal" with Xi. For the Chinese side, the summit is far less risk-prone. Simply getting face time and a one-on-one summit with the new American president is already a major accomplishment, given Beijing's very real concerns when he came into office just eight weeks ago.
Since then, China's top two America hands, State Councillor Yang Jiechi and the Chinese ambassador in Washington Cui Tiankai, have brilliantly worked to establish high-level lines of communication into the new administration by assiduously cultivating Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. The Mar-a-Lago summit is the culmination of a series of carefully calibrated steps that Yang and Cui seemingly worked out with Kushner.
Both sides looked into the abyss and opted to pragmatically pull back
Some of these steps had to do with language sacred to the Chinese side the most important of which was Trump's affirmation of the "one China" policy in his phone conversation in February with Xi. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson did his bit during the recent visit to Beijing, where he inexplicably (and inexcusably) endorsed stock Chinese verbiage that the US-China relationship should be built on "non-confrontation, no conflict, mutual respect, and always searching for win-win solutions". If Trump and his team are not careful, the Chinese side will trap the American side into more such phraseology at the Florida summit just as they did Obama at the Sunnylands summit in 2013.
Two months ago when Trump entered office, the US-China relationship seemed, to many experts, a train wreck waiting to happen. Trump had given every indication of a far more confrontational posture towards Beijing, as did Tillerson in his Senate confirmation hearings. What we have witnessed over recent weeks, however, has been nothing short of a major turnaround with the Trump team now willing to engage with, instead of bash, Beijing. This is indeed good news, given the high stakes and equities the world's two leading powers have vested in the relationship. It seems that both sides looked into the abyss and opted to pragmatically pull back.
Both governments have common cause in giving the appearance of a successful summit next week and that would be profoundly reassuring to the nervous Asia-Pacific region, international markets, and the rest of the world.
David Shambaugh is a distinguished visiting professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, on leave from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Copyright belongs to the South China Morning Post.
Getting to bottom of her crimes is priority
Two frontrunners for the May 9 presidential election traded jabs with each other about pardoning Park Geun-hye, the former president who was impeached, removed from office and has now been arrested on corruption charges.
Last Friday, Ahn Cheol-soo of the People's Party talked about setting up a committee to deal with the issue of pardoning Park fairly. It triggered a sharp response from Moon Jae-in of the Democratic Party of Korea, who criticized Ahn for using the issue to gain the support of conservative voters who sympathize with the disgraced head of state. Ahn countered that he only talked in principle and said that it was Moon who showed how narrow-minded he was.
Now conservative voters are up for grabs with no significant candidates from their ideology. For Ahn and Moon, it is pivotal to take a slice of these conservative stragglers to win the election, with pardoning Park likely to emerge as a hot campaign issue during the short one-month campaign period.
But Moon, Ahn and conservative candidates should bear in mind the dangers of Park's fate becoming a campaign issue of contention.
Park has been under arrest for less than a week after denying all charges against her _ 13 counts of influence peddling, collusion with and extortion from chaebol to fill up the coffers of two organizations that belonged to her friend, Choi Soon-sil.
In the process, Park showed little remorse by playing the role of a victim of a political conspiracy, refusing to accept the political resolution of her disservice to the nation by stepping down in the lead-up to and during the impeachment trial. It was only the outpouring of popular outrage of unprecedented proportions that pushed the National Assembly to act on her impeachment motion in the first place.
At least three things are needed to even begin to consider pardoning Park. The first is the completion of investigations and court proceedings to determine whether she is guilty or not. So far, she has claimed her innocence in the court of law so there are no grounds to pardon her.
Second, there should be the people's consensus about an amnesty. Many Koreans remain indignant and want to know the whole truth about Park's scandal that is still shrouded by mythic elements such as Choi being a shaman. They want this episode to set an example and forewarn future leaders to behave.
Third, Park should contribute to the national healing process by being apologetic about her total failure as a leader and the damage it has bought the nation to bear. So far, she is defiant, not admitting the scope of her misdeeds. No apologies, no forgiveness.
Moon, Ahn and other politicians should refrain from making a political issue out of this during the heat of campaigning. Rather, they would be best advised to postpone this issue until the election is over so as to bring a more sober mind to it.
By Michael Breen
Political parties and commentators have welcomed the court decision last week to put former President Park Geun-hye behind bars, saying it represents a victory for public sentiment-based democracy.
Presidential hopefuls for the upcoming election took a break from their illegal pre-campaign speeches and tours through markets to humbly credit voters and not themselves for the ruling.
"It's what the people wanted," said Park Mi-bum (no relation) of the minority People's Party.
In a statement, the Prosecutor's Office which had requested Park's detention said jailing people before their trial is a necessary step when they are unpopular. "The people would have been angry if we had not made this request," the statement said.
In a statement of their own, the people agreed.
"Had Park not been jailed, we would have been angry," the people said.
Asked if their regular Saturday protests in downtown Seoul had achieved their aim, the people said that as they didn't have other plans for weekends, the protests would continue.
Meanwhile, foreign media, which do not understand Korea, wrote false reports about the country being "divided." Defending his absurd article, one foreign correspondent prattled about naysayers waving the national flag outside Ms. Park's house.
"She has a lot of supporters," the foreigner, an American, said in English after admitting that the only Korean words he knew were "tangshinyeppoyo."
This is an insult to the people because, following the court decision, the people declared that people who wave flags outside private houses do not represent public sentiment.
"We can't say these people are really the people," a people's representative said. "They are just persons. Democracy is about the people. From this democratic point of view, it is ridiculous to claim that the opinion of persons can be considered. Therefore, to be logical, we must conclude that Park's jailing has been applauded unanimously by the people."
Despite the popularity of the move, however, the court's decision was not a foregone conclusion.
"Judges are very detail-oriented and sometimes they fail to catch the people's will," said Seoul National University law professor Noh Mo-sit. "Judges were those kids in school who were always studying. They are nerds and often don't get it."
Asked about the arguments judges normally consider regarding the jailing of suspects before a trial, Noh said that, besides some technical issues such as flight risk and destruction of evidence, there are two main legal additional arguments.
"One is the need to see how media reacts," he said. "Pre-trial jailing, in other words, is a test of public sentiment."
The other reason is that it is easier for a judge to find a defendant guilty if the defendant is coming to court straight from jail. "It's easier to convict defendants who are wearing the blue prison uniform. I mean, they already look guilty. Again, this helps judges understand what the people want."
Confirming the legal backing for the decision, the presiding judge also credited the people. "This was a very complex matter from a legal point of view," said Ahn Ah-seol after being surrounded by journalists trying to shake his hand.
"Do you think this was fair?" one foreign reporter shouted in English.
Responding in fluent English, Judge Ahn said, "Yes."
He then explained in Korean to reporters about the concept of equality before the law. "We had to consider the question of fairness," he added."For example, if the former President's friend Choi and if Mr. Lee of Samsung are in jail, is it fair that the former president is allowed to wander freely around? The law says no."
Asked what absurd arguments the president's lawyers made, Judge Ahn said they presented the court with several boxes which they claimed contained legal arguments for the court's review. "We thought they might contain money," he said, "so we didn't touch them."
Michael Breen is the CEO of Insight Communications Consultants, a public relations company, and author of "The Koreans" and "Kim Jong-il: North Korea's Dear Leader." This is the author's fictional account and does not reflect The Korea Times' editorial policy.
By Kang Seung-woo
Samsung Electronics is seeking to regain its past success in China with a dedicated version of its new Galaxy S8 smartphone.
According to the South China Morning Post, Sunday (local time), Samsung is expected to hold a press conference in mid-April to launch its latest smartphone with a bigger memory of 6 gigabytes (GB) for China exclusively.
The Korean tech giant unveiled its two S8 models last week in New York -- the S8 and a larger S8 Plus -- both of which came with a 4GB memory.
It is not the first news report indicating that Samsung would offer 50 percent more RAM in its smartphone for Chinese consumers who love to play games or watch videos with their handheld devices.
The reports came as Samsung has seen its market share falling in the Chinese smartphone market.
Samsung was the No. 1 smartphone vendor there in 2013 with a market share of 19.7 percent, but since then, its dominance has steadily declined to 5 percent in 2016 -- the sixth best -- due to the meteoric rise of Chinese rivals such as Oppo, Vivo and Huawei, who are offering cheaper yet competitive products.
According to market researcher IDC, OPPO has the market leadership since 2016 with 16.8 percent, followed by Huawei with 16.4 percent and Vivo with 14.8 percent. Apple was fourth at 9.6 percent.
Koh Dong-jin, the president of Samsung's mobile communications business, also stressed the importance of the Chinese market.
"China was our third biggest market three years ago, but we are struggling there now," he told a press conference in New York, last week. "Having regrouped, we are trying to make a comeback."
Along with rising Chinese competitors, a recent diplomatic row could mount a challenge to Samsung's efforts to attract consumers there.
Due to Korea's recent decision to deploy a U.S. missile defense system, Beijing has taken a number of retaliatory economic measures against Seoul. Furthermore, Chinese consumers are shunning Korean brands although Koh is confident that Samsung will be able to overcome the boycott with its high quality.
"Given the strong level of competition with Huawei, Apple and to a lesser extent with Vivo or Oppo, it will be tougher for Samsung," Forrester Research's principal analyst Thomas Husson told the South China Morning Post.
However, Samsung said that nothing has been decided yet about the Chinese release.
Samsung is scheduled to hit stores on April 21 in the United States, Canada and Korea. And the new Galaxy phone will be available in all of Europe and some other countries, including Singapore and Hong Kong, on April 28
A visitor listens to music at the Harman flagship store in Manhattan, New York, on March 28. Samsung Electronics' Galaxy S8 smartphone will come bundled with a pair of wired earphones from Harman's AKG brand. Samsung acquired Harman last month. / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics
By Kang Seung-woo
NEW YORK Samsung Electronics and its newly acquired affiliate, Harman International Industries, have teamed up to offer smartphones equipped with high-end earphones.
Last month, Samsung completed the acquisition of the Connecticut-based firm, which owns several renowned audio brands including AKG, JBL and Harman Kardon.
Although Samsung has remained one of the world's best premium smartphone makers along with Apple, there have been questions on the quality of its bundled earphones.
Considering consumers' complaints, Samsung decided to make the most of its new subsidy's audio expertise as the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus will come bundled with a pair of $99 AKG earphones.
The latest Samsung smartphone will hit shelves on April 21 in the United States, Canada and Korea, while it will be available in Britain and Europe on April 28.
Dave Rogers, senior vice president of Harman's consumer audio business unit, said at a press conference last week that cooperation between Samsung and Harman will create huge benefits, adding that Samsung's broad global network will help both sides grow. The press conference was held at the Harman flagship store in Manhattan.
Although the Galaxy S3 tablet, unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in February, was featured with AKG's four powerful speakers placed in each corner of the device, it marked the first cooperation between Samsung and Harman in the smartphone segment.
The new high-performance earphones, which will come as an in-box accessory, have dual drivers -- 11 and 8 millimeters -- to offer uncompromised audio for unbeatable sound quality. In addition, the earphones will have a comfortable hybrid canal fit for better noise cancellation and will be made from anti-tangle metal-fabric material.
Samsung will more proactively take advantage of Harman's audio technologies in its Galaxy S9 model, which is likely to come next year, and it is likely to serve as a yardstick to gauge its potential for success in the sector crowded with audiophiles.
Samsung purchased Harman for $8 billion on March 10, but the U.S. firm operates as an independent subsidiary, with Dinesh Paliwal remaining as its CEO.
Visitors look at Samsung Electronics' new smartphones Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus at the Central City Famillie Station in Banpo-dong, southern Seoul, Sunday. Courtesy of Samsung Electronics
By Yoon Sung-won
Samsung Electronics will start receiving preorders for Galaxy S8 smartphones here on April 7, following its unveiling event in New York last week. In the United States, Samsung is already getting preorders.
Expectations are high that the tech giant's newest flagship handset, dubbed the "iPhone killer," will perform strongly both in North America and Korea.
IHS Markit's Senior Director Ian Fogg said, "Assuming the S8 has no significant hardware issues, we forecast Samsung will ship 331 million smartphones in 2017, up 6.8 percent from 2016 as it counters a recent strong performance from Apple and competitive pressure from Chinese handset makers."
U.S. mobile carriers including AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile started receiving preorders for the S8 series on March 30 (local time), a day after Samsung Electronics unveiled the handsets in New York. The smartphone maker said it will launch the S8 series on April 21 in the United States, Canada and Korea.
"On top of the top-notch hardware specifications, the S8 series has new designs and features that many consumers will desire," an industry official said, declining to be named. "In particular, the improved design will give the latest Galaxy smartphones an edge over the iPhones, helping Samsung Electronics boost its presence in the premium handset market not just in Korea but also in North America."
Marketing drive
Aiming at winning back the hearts of U.S. consumers from the painful memory of Galaxy Note 7's failure, Samsung Electronics stepped up its marketing drives in North America. It has promised to offer its new head-mounted virtual reality (VR) device and VR contents to those who preorder the handset. The giveaways cost about $180.
Samsung Electronics is also working with Best Buy for the new handsets. As the largest U.S. electronics outlet chain, Best Buy has been a close partner for the Korean IT giant to distribute not just the Galaxy smartphones but also its home appliances including TVs, refrigerators and washing machines in the U.S. market.
For the Chinese market, the company has been expected to release the special version of S8 smartphones with 6-gigabytes (GB) of memory capacity to beat local brands like Huawei, Oppo, Vivo. The ordinary model of S8 and S8 Plus will have a 4GB memory.
In Korea, Samsung Electronics has initiated multiple marketing events to promote the S8 and its preorder reception this week. The company highlighted that those who have preordered the smartphone can receive and start using it on April 18, which is before the official introduction of the S8 series on April 21.
On Sunday, it opened about 3,000 hands-on demonstration corners for the S8 and the larger S8 Plus at electronics stores, handset outlets, shopping malls and even banks.
"We plan to expand the communication channels with consumers both online and offline," a Samsung Electronics official said. "We will continue to set up more hands-on demonstration corners for the S8 and S8 Plus nationwide. We will also put the handsets on display at some 50 banks in Korea to allow visitors to watch demonstrations of the iris recognition feature for financial transactions."
Telecom companies have also joined the marketing drive. SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus started exhibiting the new Galaxy smartphones at their stores during the weekend.
An SK Telecom official said, "The number of customers visiting our stores has increased by more than 50 percent this weekend than ever before as many of them are asking about when they can preorder the S8 or the S8 Plus."
Netmarble Games also joined hands with Samsung Electronics for the new handsets. The company said its latest three-dimensional mobile game "Lineage 2: Revolution" will be provided at Samsung Electronics' demo zones for the S8 series nationwide to demonstrate the high-end hardware specifications of the handsets.
Under a technological partnership between the two companies, the S8 series' 18.5:9 screen ratio and the graphics technology will be compatible with the mobile game, Netmarble said.
"The Galaxy S8 will provide the users of the Revolution' with the optimal gaming environment and the best performance," a Netmarble official said.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 3
Trend:
Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) has invited everyone to visit its stand at the 16th Azerbaijan International Travel and Tourism Fair Exhibition, AITF 2017, which will be held April 6-8 in Baku.
At the joint stand of AZAL and its exclusive partner Silk Way Travel, visitors will be able to communicate with representatives of the airline and the travel agency, said a message from AZAL on Apr. 3. Interesting business meetings await participants and visitors of the exhibition.
During the exhibition, it is planned to raffle off free air tickets to the destinations, where Azerbaijan Airlines fly, as well as other valuable prizes among visitors of the stand.
Also, participants and visitors will be able to register and become members of AZAL MILES frequent flyer program, thus receiving 50 bonus points.
AITF is the main event in Azerbaijans fast growing tourism market attracting a large number of international participants and trade visitors from various countries of the world annually. It is where important meetings are organised, partnership agreements are concluded, new programs and destinations are announced.
Bakers promote a French-style burger at Brioche Doree bakery in Shinsegae Department Store's Yongin branch in Gyeonggi Province in this file photo. / Courtesy of DW Development
By Park Jae-hyuk
Brioche Doree has started a franchise business in Korea, according to DW Development, an official Korean licensee of the world famous bakery brand, Monday.
The signature brand of French restaurant conglomerate Le Duff has become Europe's largest bakery chain, operating about 330 stores across the continent. Globally, more than 1,600 stores have been opened in such places as the U.S. and the Middle East.
In Korea, the first Brioche Doree bakery opened in 2013 on Yeouido, southern Seoul, claiming to be an authentic French bakery.
All nine stores launched here have been directly managed by the headquarters so far.
To meet the growing consumer demand for the bakery, however, it reached an agreement with DW Development so the latter will recruit franchisees.
The Incheon-based construction company held its first business information session about Brioche Doree last Thursday at Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul, for those seeking to run franchise stores.
"Both the construction business and restaurant business need to understand customers' minds," Choi Jin-won, head of the company's restaurant business division, said in the session. "And this is the reason why we entered the restaurant business."
To maintain the authenticity of the brand, DW Development vowed not to open more than 10 franchise stores a year. It will continue to open stores directly managed by the headquarters as well.
According to the company, all ingredients used at Korean branches are imported from France. In particular, they use butter certified by the French government.
Including baguettes and sandwiches, 44 types of breads and 36 types of desserts are sold in Korean branches. Also, the stores are designed in unique and meticulous ways so customers can experience French culture.
Professor Chae Kyung-yeon of Osan University said: "Providing Korean consumers with qualified ingredients directly imported from France, Brioche Doree has opened a new horizon of bakeries."
Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin speaks during the group's 50th anniversary ceremony at Lotte Hotel World in Jamsil, southeastern Seoul, Monday. / Courtesy of Lotte Group
By Park Jae-hyuk
Lotte Group came up with its new vision, "Lifetime Value Creator," timed with the 50th anniversary of its establishment, Monday, to overcome recent difficulties locally and globally.
"I'm sure Lotte will be a 100-year-old enterprise because of you. Let's take on challenges with pride," Chairman Shin Dong-bin said during a ceremony at Lotte Hotel World in Jamsil, southeastern Seoul, encouraging 800 executives and employees there.
Korea's fifth-largest conglomerate declared to focus on qualitative growth, instead of quantitative growth which was represented by the previous vision, "Asia Top 10 Global Group," unveiled in 2009.
According to Lotte, the new vision implies the group's aim to offer social value to all generations from toddlers to senior citizens, rather than being obsessed with numerical goals.
"After sincerely reflecting on ourselves, we realized that profit-making is not the only reason for a company's existence," CEO Hwang Kak-kyu, head of the group's control tower, said in a press conference at Lotte Hotel Seoul. "The chairman also realized the necessity of social responsibilities, so he proposed the reform plans last October."
The retail giant has entered into 23 countries so far, last year posting 92 trillion won ($82 billion) in sales.
Over the past two years, however, Lotte has suffered from a family feud over the control of the group and has been criticized for being involved in a variety of corruption including the scandal that involved the ousted former President Park Geun-hye.
It also faces economic retaliation in China, including suspension of 80 percent of Lotte Mart outlets operating there, in response to its offering of land for the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system here.
Lotte Group admitted to recent hardships. Hwang said the initial public offering (IPO) of the group's de facto holding company Hotel Lotte will be delayed due to the slow duty-free business which is troubled with decreasing Chinese tourists.
But he said the group will continue to operate its businesses in the world's most populous country.
"We are doing everything required by the Chinese local governments," he said. "Our businesses in China are still at an early stage so they need further investments. We will continue to foster our businesses there."
On the same day, Lotte Group held a grand opening ceremony for Lotte World Tower, the 123-floor, 555-meter building in southeastern Seoul.
"Thanks to everyone who tried their best at each field for the tower's opening," the chairman said at the ceremony. "I'd like to pay homage to Lotte founder Shin Kyuk-ho, who has dedicated his whole life to building the tower with patriotism."
The nation's tallest tower symbolizes the 95-year-old tycoon's grand plan of building a landmark representing the country. However, the founder, who is also the father of the chairman, did not attend the opening ceremony.
According to Lotte Group, former Lotte Holdings Vice Chairman Shin Dong-joo the chairman's older brother who is taking care of the founder did not respond to the invitation. The brothers have been fighting over control of the group.
A Lotte official said: "The company officials are ready to welcome the founder whenever he visits the tower."
On Sunday, Lotte World Tower hosted an 11-minute-long fireworks show to celebrate the eve of the opening, attracting about 400,000 visitors to Seokchon Lake.
Liang Xiongzhi opened' the window of minivan where the villain was hiding.
By Kristin Huang
A man in southern China has taken the law into his own hands a machete he uses for work to persuade a group of swindlers to return a large sum of money they had cheated from his elderly neighbours, a mainland newspaper reported.
Recently, many elderly residents in Zhenlong county had fallen victim to the gang, losing from 500 yuan to more 3,000 yuan each (US$72 to US$435), according to the Southern Metropolis Daily.
The victims were conned into buying expensive but non-effective health care products and nutritional supplements, police said.
When police caught up with the gang during a raid in the village on Saturday, one of the salesmen refused to refund the money and hid in a minivan.
At that moment, Liang Xiongzhi, a 44-year-old forest worker who lives in the village, cracked open the van's window with his machete.
Liang makes his livelihood harvesting agarwood, used in incense, and always carries the knife in his car.
The swindlers then decided it would be a good idea to return the money more than 100,000 yuan in total to the old folks.
"It's very hard for older villagers to save money. If these people drove away, they would never see their money again," said Liang."For me, I would only have to pay for the broken window if police asked me to shoulder responsibility."
Not surprisingly, the swindlers did not return nor seek police help, the report said.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 3
By Maksim Tsurkov Trend:
Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping CJSC and Kazakhstan Railways JSC are creating a joint venture in the field of freight traffic on the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TCITR), said the Azerbaijani company in a message posted on its website Apr. 3.
The agreement on creation of the JV was signed by Head of Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Rauf Valiyev and President of Kazakhstan Railways Kanat Alpysbayev in Baku. This document is a main part of the agreement on strategic cooperation signed between the two sides in December 2016.
The joint ventures creation will give a momentum to the development of the TCITR, implementation of its potential and its effective use, and will become effective after the full commissioning of the Baku International Sea Trade Port and Kazakhstans Kuryk port, as well as the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, says the message. Moreover, both Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are planning to use unique ferries on the Caspian Sea, an the signed agreement will be useful for these ferries operation.
Fifty percent of the JVs shares is owned by Azerbaijan, while the remaining part is owned by Kazakhstan.
The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route runs through China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and then through Turkey and Ukraine to Europe. New competitive tariffs were introduced for the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route since June 1, 2016.
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Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 3
By Maksim Tsurkov Trend:
Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) shipped 13.01 million tons of CPC Blend oil from Russias terminal Yuzhnaya Ozereyka-2 in the first quarter of 2017 as compared to 11.93 million tons in the same period of 2016, reads a message posted on the CPC website Apr. 3.
The consortium shipped 44.3 million tons of CPC Blend from the terminal in 2016 compared to 42.76 million tons shipped in 2015.
CPC shareholders are Transneft (24 percent), KazMunayGas (19 percent), Chevron (15 percent), LUKARCO (12.5 percent), Mobil Caspian Pipeline Company (7.5 percent), Rosneft Shell Caspian Ventures Ltd. (7.5 percent), CPC Company (7 percent), BG Overseas Holdings Limited (2 percent), Eni (2 percent), Kazakhstan Pipeline Ventures (1.75 percent) and Oryx Caspian Pipeline (1.75 percent).
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Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 3
By Maksim Tsurkov Trend:
Azerbaijani Energy Minister Natig Aliyev and his Kazakh counterpart Kanat Bozumbayev mulled transportation of oil from the Kazakh Kashagan field via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline at a meeting in Baku, Azerbaijani Ministry of Energy told Trend April 3.
The ministerial meeting was held as part of the official visit of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev to Azerbaijan.
During the meeting, Azerbaijani Minister Natig Aliyev noted that a number of measures need to be implemented within the intergovernmental commission to further strengthen ties between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.
"In May, Baku will host the 14th meeting of the Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan intergovernmental commission for the purpose of increasing trade turnover between the two countries and maximizing the use of their export and import capacity, he said.
Bozumbayev, in turn, said Kazakhstan will take similar measures and proposed to hold a meeting of deputy ministers in early May to exchange views.
The ministers also discussed the possible transportation of oil from the Kazakh Kashagan field to world markets via the BTC pipeline.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 3
By Elena Kosolapova Trend:
Kazakh National Wealth Fund Samruk-Kazyna plans to invest 121 billion tenges (313.73 tenges = $1) in the development of growing companies in 2017 to catalyze new industries and contribute to modernization of the economy.
It is envisaged by the fund's Development Plan for 2017-2021 approved by the Board of Directors of Samruk-Kazyna, the fund said in a message April 3.
By the end of 2021, the cumulative investment in new and growing companies will reach 273 billion tenges, the fund said.
Within the Development Program, in the next 5 years Samruk-Kazyna will continue to focus on improvement of portfolio management; implementation of the privatization program; development of the investment portfolio with a focus on new industries; transformation of the portfolio companies; transition of the funds corporate center to the new functional model; and enhancing financial sustainability.
Samruk-Kazyna is owned by the Government of Kazakhstan. The funds assets hit about 22.33 billion tenges as of September 30, 2016. Samruk-Kazyna group includes biggest Kazakhstans companies in oil and gas, transport and logistics sectors, chemical and nuclear industry, mining and metallurgy, energy, machinery building and real-estate sectors.
Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova
Arkansas House members voted against requiring online retailers to collect Arkansas sales taxes. The proposal received only 43 votes in the 100-member House on Monday.
Opponents say the bill creates a new tax and infringes on congressional power to regulate trade among the states. Supporters say Arkansas needs it to balance competition among online retailers and brick-and-mortar stores.
The bill would have required companies without a physical presence in Arkansas that make more than $100,000 in annual sales or at least 200 transactions in the state to collect and remit sales taxes on those purchases.
Even without the law, Amazon last month began collecting Arkansas sales taxes on purchases made by state residents.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 3
By Fatih Karimov Trend:
Trade turnover between Iran and China stood at $5.76 billion in first two months of 2017, according to the latest statistics released by the Chinese Customs Administration.
The figure indicates an increase by 52 percent compared to the same period of 2016, which was $3.8 billion.
China's exports to Iran in the 2-month period amounted to $2.791 billion, 25.6 percent more, year-on-year.
The country also imported $2.964 billion worth of goods from Iran in that period, 89.7 percent more compared to the 2-month period of 2016.
Irans imports from China reached $831.2 million in February 2017, meanwhile exports to the Asian country amounted to $1.63 billion
The trade turnover between the two countries was $51 billion in 2014, 31 percent more compared to the preceding year.
The figure stood at $34 billion in 2015, indicating a 34-percent plunge.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 3
By Fatih Karimov Trend:
More than 422,000 tons of non-oil goods, worth $208 million, were exported through customs in Irans north-western city of Astara in the last Iranian fiscal year (ended March 20), the head of Astara Customs Administration, Rasoul Omidi said.
Agricultural and food products, cement, plaster, chemicals, detergents, handicrafts, textile, shoes, bags, carpet, construction materials, mineral products, metals and plastic products were the main exported items, Omidi said, the official IRNA news agency reported Apr. 3.
The official named Azerbaijan, Georgia and Russia as the main destinations for the exported items.
Omidi further said Iran also imported about 257,000 tons of goods, worth $86 million, via Astara customs during the 12-month period.
Chemicals, wood, metal products, machinery and electrical appliances were the main imported goods, he said, adding the mentioned goods were imported from Russia, Georgia and Azerbaijan.
About 241,000 tons of goods, worth $977 million, were also transited via Astara to foreign countries during the period, added Omidi.
The goods including electrical appliances, cars, furniture, machinery, medical equipment, construction materials, textile products, chemicals and agricultural products were transited to Ukraine, Georgia, Russia and Azerbaijan, he added.
Also 55,000 tons of goods, worth $112 million, including petroleum products, cotton, synthetic fibers, iron ingots and iron sheets, copper, fiberglass and wood were transited inside the Islamic Republic via Astara, the official said, adding the figures indicate an increase by 12 percent in terms of volume and an increase by 11 percent in terms of value year-on-year.
The goods were transited from Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Georgia and Russia to Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.
The LA Times editorial page follows up Sunday's Our Dishonest President editorial with Why Trump Lies, a piece that argues that the current president is not the first White House occupant to lie or even all that good at it. His whoppers are sometimes entertaining "in the vein of a Moammar Kadafi speech to the United Nations or the self-serving blathering of a 6-year-old. But he is not merely amusing. He is dangerous."
Sample:
Though he is neither terribly articulate nor a seasoned politician, he has a remarkable instinct for discerning which conspiracy theories in which quasi-news source, or which of his own inner musings, will turn into ratings gold. He targets the darkness, anger and insecurity that hide in each of us and harnesses them for his own purposes. If one of his lies doesnt work well, then he lies about that....
He gives every indication that he is as much the gullible tool of liars as he is the liar in chief. He has made himself the stooge, the mark, for every crazy blogger, political quack, racial theorist, foreign leader or nutcase peddling a story that he might repackage to his benefit as a tweet, an appointment, an executive order or a policy. He is a stranger to the concept of verification, the insistence on evidence and the standards of proof that apply in a courtroom or a medical lab and that ought to prevail in the White House. There have always been those who accept the intellectually bankrupt notion that people are entitled to invent their own facts consider the 9/11 was an inside job trope but Trumps ascent marks the first time that the culture of alternative reality has made its home at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
The editorial ends with a call to action.
Investigate. Read. Write. Listen. Speak. Think. Be wary of those who disparage the investigators, the readers, the writers, the listeners, the speakers and the thinkers. Be suspicious of those who confuse reality with reality TV, and those who repeat falsehoods while insisting, against all evidence, that they are true. To defend freedom, demand fact.
The Times editorial page, you might recall, declared Trump unfit to serve during the campaign. On Sunday's NBC 4 News Conference, editorial page editor Nick Goldberg talked to host Conan Nolan about how the series of editorials came about. Goldberg said in his 15 years at the paper the editorial page has criticized presidents Obama and Bush, but nothing like this.
"We've never written anything with the kind of language we use here because we think it is a particularly scary, frightening, difficult troubling moment," Goldberg says.
The interview runs about seven minutes.
The Times is promoting the series on social media with interesting Trump silhouette graphics.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn says its not the county sheriffs job to be involved in immigration issues.
Hahns comment, made during a talk to the Los Angeles Current Affairs Forum, is a contrast to what Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell has said about his departments treatment of undocumented immigrants, especially since President Donald Trump has begun cracking down on them. We will not be involved in immigration issues, Hahn said.
McDonnell is a central figure in the undocumented immigrant controversy. He is in charge of the countys huge jail system. Sheriffs deputies send the names and fingerprints of those booked into jail to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which identifies those it would like to pick up. These are usually undocumented workers with a record of arrests for offenses ranging rom major to minor. At ICEs request, the sheriff hands over undocumented inmates who have been arrested for what the federal government considers major crimes or who have prior convictions.
McDonnell told the Los Angeles Times that if immigration officers cant pick up people in jails, the ICE officers will scour the streets for them, disrupting immigrant communities. He and other sheriffs around the state oppose a bill by State Sen. President Kevin deLeon restricting sheriffs ability to cooperate with ICE. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck have said they dont want LAPD officers acting as immigration cops.
While McDonnell is nominally supervised by the Board of Supervisors, the supes generally keep hands off his department unless a scandal explodes. So its not known whether Hahns remarks will impact his policies.
The question, from Current Affairs Forum director Emma Schafer, first brought a chuckle from Hahn, who said she had been assured it would be a friendly, intimate gathering and now she found herself hit with controversy with a table full of reporters in front of her. But she answered the question in depth and with good-natured openness. She treated other questions the same way, showing her years of experience as a Los Angeles city council member and congresswomanand as the daughter of the famed late Supervisor Kenneth Hahn.
Her position reflects the strongly liberal tilt of the five-member board with four Democrats and a moderate Republican, Kathryn Barger.
Like her father, Hahn favors expansion of the board to nine members. Having one supervisor represent 2 million people, as she does, is too much, Hahn said.
PRESS RELEASE
Fox News Lead Points to Clapper or Brennan on Illegal Unmasking
April 1, 2017 (EIRNS)Fox News posted a lead story today indicating very strongly that either then-CIA head John Brennan or then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper began improperly "unmasking" and leaking the names of Donald Trump associates captured by communications intercepts, as long ago as the Spring of 2016. Because Fox reporters Malia Zimmerman and Adam Housley identified their sources as in "the intelligence community and the House Intelligence Committee," an offensive may be in the works by its Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), on the issue of illegal leaking of foreign-intelligence intercepts for domestic political advantage.
One of Foxs sources described the "unmasker" of Trump associates and the intercepts on which they were captured, as "someone very well known, very high up, very senior in the intelligence community, not with the FBI." This points almost exclusively to Clapper or Brennan. Zimmerman and Housley report that Nunes now knows who did the unmasking, having been trying to determine this since early January, when he first learned of the existence of the intercept reports which he was only shown one week ago. Nunes apparently chose the ultimate path of meeting an intelligence whistleblower in the Old Executive Office Building, with National Security Council (NSC) staff arranging secure computers, only because the CIA and FBI were unresponsive for two months to his requests to learn about these intercepts.
These sources told Fox, as Nunes has also reported, that the foreign intercepts whose American participants were unmasked in 2016, were unrelated to Russia. The purpose of the unmasking, nonetheless, appeared to be to injure the Trump team politically.
They also challenge the March 31 New York Times story claiming that White House/NSC aides showed Nunes the intercept documents. Both Nunes himself, and these Fox sources, say White House/NSC were involved only in making arrangements as to where Nunes could go to see them, and were not the source making them available to him. EIR has been told that source was in the office of the Director of National Intelligence, currently Sen. Dan Coats.
Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Adam Schiffs (D-Calif.) Twitter messages Saturday, after going to the White House Friday to view the intercepts Nunes saw, are rather defensive. Schiff says the White House/NSC [sic] should have just released these documents to the whole committee "in the course of routine business." The whole world can see that nothing has been routine in this matter.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer commented on March 30 on the March 28 bragging by former Obama Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Dr. Evelyn Farkas to MSNBC, about the extraordinary actions by her and other Obama loyalists to leak such anti-Trump intercepts as far throughout the Hill and the press as possible in the final weeks of Obamas Presidency. "Dr. Farkas admissions alone are devastating," Spicer said. Farkas, by her own account, urged Congressional staffers who lacked security clearances even to know about the intercepts existence, to find ways to get them. Farkas was not even in government any longer during her self-described mobilization to leak secret intercepts, but was a senior fellow at the NATO-funded Atlantic Council.
Anti-Trump press became even more high-pitched on Saturday. The Washington Posts lead story bragged that it and the New York Times were so dominating media cycles with anti-Trump scandal propaganda, that Trump was stalled in pursuing his governing agenda. The U.K. Guardian aired a new story about Gen. Michael Flynn (ret.) and an alleged Russian academic temptress, not even qualified for a Tony Blair dodgy dossier.
PRESS RELEASE
Mattis, in London, Toes British Line on Russia
April 1, 2017 (EIRNS)U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis was in London yesterday for meetings with British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon; his performance there, illustrates the dangers of the so-called U.S.-U.K. "special relationship" and why re-establishing full military-to-military relations between the United States and Russia is absolutely crucial. Mattis exhibited full acceptance of the British line about Russian "aggression" and went so far as to express support for the idea that Russia "mucks around in" the elections of other countries. This would seem to be contrary to President Trumps stated intentions to seek to improve relations with Russia.
"Russias 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, that sort of thing,"
he said, during his joint press conference with Fallon. This, he claimed is the reason why NATO is so important, on which Fallon fully agreed. Fallon declared that the United Kingdom wants to see NATOs forward presence in Eastern Europe be as
"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 weve seen recently: military build-up, use of hybrid techniques, and indeed, interference ininthrough cyber andand other techniques."
On the subject of NATO commander Gen. Curtis Scaparrottis and U.S. Central Command chief Gen. Joseph Votels testimony alleging Russian support to the Afghan Taliban, Mattis said,
"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 were 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 ten years ago, five years ago,"
he said. "Its no longer a cooperative engagement with them."
The U.S. and British press jumped on Mattiss remarks in particular, as if saying hes "seen the light" on Russias alleged bad behavior. But the Russian Embassy in London pushed back, dismissing Fallons remarks as a "string of unfounded accusations." "Russia is an independent and sovereign state pursuing its national interest as defined by ourselves," a spokesperson told the Independent, saying that it was "clearing up the mess" made by Western states in Syria, Libya and Afghanistan.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, at the NATO foreign ministers meeting, was more discreet. He "sought to assuage worries that the new administration would seek closer ties with Russia at NATOs expense," according to Bloomberg News. "[T]he U.S. commitment to NATO is strong and this alliance remains the bedrock for trans-Atlantic security," Tillerson said March 31 in Brussels. "The NATO alliance is also fundamental to countering both nonviolent, but at times violent, Russian agitation and Russian aggression." He said U.S. sanctions on Russia for annexing Crimea "will remain until Moscow reverses the actions that triggered our sanctions" and "we will continue to hold Russia accountable."
In response to the NATO meeting, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that it was "astonished" at Tillersons remarks.
"As far as we can see, maintaining unity within a multilateral structure, like NATO which incorporates such different states, is not an easy mission,"
the ministry said.
"It requires a strong uniting motive. It did not take much effort for NATO ministers to find it, as follows from their comments. They have always on their mind one and the same thing a myth of a Russian threat.... We were astonished at the corresponding pronouncements by U.S. State Secretary Rex Tillerson,"
the ministry said.
More generally, the ministry said it saw no evidence that NATO was ready to resume practical cooperation. "Actually, we are being drawn into a confrontational paradigm of relations based on the logic of military confrontation," the ministry said.
PRESS RELEASE
Senator Grassley Demands Answers on FBIs Role in Steele Dossier, Trump Investigation
April 2, 2017 (EIRNS)In a March 28 letter to FBI Director James Comey, the second such letter to Comey in the space of a month, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, demands answers to questions about the FBIs role in the case of the "dodgy dossier" prepared by "ex"-MI6 agent Christopher Steele, and about the murky role of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe in the Trump-Russia investigation.
As indicated by his March 24 letter to the head of the political opposition research firm Fusion GPS, Grassley is unrelenting in pursuing issues related to the British intelligence origins of the assault on President Donald Trump.
In his March 28 letter, reported by the Washington Examiner, Grassley asked the FBI to turn over all records relating to Steele and the dossier, as well as an explanation of
"all FBI policies, procedures and guidelines applicable when the FBI seeks to fund an investigator associated with a political opposition research firm connected to a political candidate or with any outside entity."
As for Andrew McCabe, Grassley points out that he didnt recuse himself from the Clinton email investigation, despite the fact that his wife had received a $700,000 donation from a close Clinton associate for her campaign for Virginia State Senator. Moreover, if McCabe is participating in the Trump-Russia proble, how could he investigate Trump if he had a conflict of being too close to Clinton? Senator Grassley underscores that the importance of these questions is magnified
"if Mr. McCabe was involved in approving or establishing the FBIs reported arrangement with Mr. Steele, or if Mr. McCabe vouched for or otherwise relied on the politically-funded dossier in the course of the investigation.... The American people should know if the FBIs second-in-command relied on Democrat-funded opposition research to justify an investigation of the Republican presidential campaign."
Grassley concludes with several pointed questions about McCabe, including whether he had had any interactions with Steele; whether he had briefed anyone in the Obama administration on the Trump-Russia investigation; whether he was ever authorized to speak to the media about the case; and whether "anyone in the FBI [has] raised questions about McCabes possible Clinton-Trump conflict of interests."
PRESS RELEASE
Rosatom Plans Stunning Array of Projects for Arctic Development
April 2, 2017 (EIRNS)During the just-concluded international forum, "The Arctic: Territory of Dialogue," Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev presented a stunning array of projects that his agency has proposed, spanning energy, mining and environmental protection, Sputnik reported today. As this article by the Russian news service makes clear, Rosatom, Russias state nuclear corporation, is truly "on the front lines of Moscows Arctic expansion."
Among the many projects outlined, one of the largest involves the building of a major new industrial cluster on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago for mining and processing of lead and zinc ores. At the forum, Atomredmetzoloto (ARMZ), Rosatoms mining division, signed an agreement with the Arkhangelsk Regions government dealing with several aspects of the project. As Sputnik explains, once completed, Novaya Zemlya will be the largest mining and processing plant in the Arctic, processing about 220,000 tons of zinc and 50,000 tons of lead concentrate per year, plus 16 tons of silver. It is expected to begin operations in 2021 or 2022, with an investment of $479 million. Rostoms Likhachev reported that there is great interest in the projects output from both domestic and foreign buyers, and a number of preliminary agreements have already be signed.
There was extensive discussion at the Arctic forum on the building of new nuclear icebreakers, which will strengthen Russias leadership in the Arctic. Sputnik reports that the St. Petersburg Baltic Shipyard is building a series of three universal nuclear icebreakers, the LK-60Ya, the first of which, when commissioned in 2019, will become the worlds largest and most powerful icebreaker, at 33,500 tons. It will escort convoys through the the Arctics very challenging maritime conditions, allowing cargo vessels to carry hydrocarbons from fields in the Yamal and Gydan peninsulas to the Kara Sea, or even Asian markets. The other two ships will be delivered in late 2020 and 2021. Discussion is already underway on construction of another, 55,600-ton icebreaker, the LK-110Ya, the Leader, which when completed in 2019, will allow for year-round Arctic navigation.
Add to this the plan to build floating nuclear plants, intended to ensure a stable source of electricity for a range of Arctic development projects.
Rosatom also has its own "Program for Innovative Development and Technological Modernization to 2020," whose purpose is to increase the efficiency in construction and operation of facilities being built in the Arctic, in the energy, transport and communications infrastructure sectors "through the use of new technologies," Sputnik reports.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 3
By Fatih Karimov Trend:
Iran has released 15 Indian fishermen, who were detained last September, the Indian foreign minister, Sushma Swaraj, said.
I am happy to inform that Iran has released our 15 fishermen from Tamil Nadu. They were detained with their 3 Bahraini boats, Swaraj wrote on his Twitter account April 3.
She further appreciated the Indian Embassy in Tehran for its good work regarding the issue.
The fishermen, working for some Bahrainis, were detained for entering the Iranian waters without permission.
A photograph of a young Harriet Tubman, the abolitionist hero of the Underground Railroad, has been acquired by the Library of Congress and the recently opened National Museum of African American History and Culture, NBC Washington reports.
Taken sometime in the mid-19th century, the photo is contained in an album with 43 other pictures, including portraits of abolitionist Charles Sumner and author Charles Dickens.
The album had belonged to Emily Howland, a Quaker abolitionist and teacher also known for her work in the suffrage movement. The album was purchased by a collector for $250 years ago.
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The purchase was announced in a news release from the Library of Congress and the African American History and Culture museum, which is part of the Smithsonian Institution.
To have a new glimpse of such key figures in American history is rare indeed, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden said. Through this extraordinary collaboration, these images will be forever part of our shared heritage and will be a source of inspiration for many generations to come.
Tubman was born into slavery in Maryland around 1822, and later escaped to Philadelphia, where she began helping other slaves escape to freedom via the Underground Railroad network of safe houses.
During the Civil War, Tubman worked as a spy for the Union, and helped lead the Combahee Ferry Raid in South Carolina, which resulted in the liberation of more than 700 slaves.
The photograph of Tubman was sold at an auction for $161,000, more than $100,000 more than the auction house Swann Galleries expected, reports the (Salisbury, Md.) Daily Times.
The library and the museum will own the photo album jointly, reports the Washington Post.
Lonnie Bunch, founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, said it was a distinct honor to acquire the photo album.
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, Bunch said.
Tubmans image will soon be familiar to Americans when shell be featured on the front of the $20 bill in the coming years. Andrew Jackson, who currently holds that honor, will be moved to the back.
Big Little Lies finally answered the questions viewers have been asking all season: Who died, and who killed them? And who is Ziggys dad?
(If its still waiting on your DVR, or if you were planning on reading the book version in the near future, this article contains spoilers. Youve been warned.)
Perrys dead, and Bonnie did it. And the witnesses Madeline, Jane, Celeste and Renata helped cover it up by telling the police that he tripped and fell over the ledge on his own.
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Just before that happens, Jane realizes Perry is the man who sexually assaulted her and fathered Ziggy. Based on the looks she exchanges with the other moms, they all figure it out it too.
Thats all true to Liane Moriartys original book ending. On the show, we see Perrys funeral, and then all the women and kids together on the beach. But there was more to the story.
Heres what viewers didnt learn:
Bonnie witnessed domestic violence growing up.
Nathan visits Madeline and Ed the morning after trivia night, when the women have all decided to pretend they didnt see what happened when Perry fell.
Bonnies father was violent, Nathan tells them. Very violent. I dont think I even know half the stuff he did. Not to Bonnie. To her mum. But Bonnie and her little sister saw it all. He says he thinks she snapped when she saw Perry hit Celeste, and that hes sure she didnt mean for him to die.
Bonnie also goes to visit Celeste that day. She asks her to tell police the truth, and says thats what she plans to do.
From the book:
I was going to lie. Ive had a lot of practice, you see. Im a good liar. When I was growing up I lied all the time. To the police. To social workers. I had to keep big secrets. I went to pick up my little girl from my mothers place, and when I walked in the front door, I remembered the last time I saw my father hit my mother. I was twenty. A grown-up. Id gone home for a visit, and it started. Mum did something. I dont remember what. She didnt put enough tomato sauce on his place. She laughed the wrong way. Bonnie looked directly at Celeste. You know.
I know, said Celeste hoarsely.
Later, Celeste says she would have kept lying for Bonnie. I can lie, she tells her.
I know you can, Bonnie responds. I think youre probably very good at it too.
I was going to lie. Ive had a lot of practice, you see. Bonnie
Bonnie confronts Perry before shoving him and later admits she did it.
The big moment in the finale left something out from the book. Instead of rushing in from the wings, Bonnie confronts Perry, saying she can tell hes hit Celeste before, and thats why his son is hurting other little girls. Perry denies that his children ever saw him abuse their mother, prompting Bonnie to say Your children see. We see before pushing him.
Eventually, in the book version, Bonnie confesses to the police. Shes found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 200 hours of community service: According to Madeline, Bonnie had performed her community service with great pleasure, Abigail by her side the whole time.
Renata apologizes and moves away.
The book contains a short note where Renata tells Ziggy shes sorry for being not very nice to you at the kindergarten orientation. She also invites him to bring his light saber to Amabellas Star Wars-themed going-away party before the family moves to London.
Later, another mother Thea, one of the background chorus of women talking to police throughout the series says Renatas marriage is kaput"after her husband sleeps with their nanny.
Celeste sets up a trust fund for Ziggy.
In the book, after Perry dies, Celeste moves the boys to the oceanfront apartment shed rented and sells their house and other properties. The boys have some behavior problems at school, so she transfers them to a new one. She also speaks to a group of hospital workers about the signs of domestic violence.
Max and Josh have a trust fund set up for them. Celeste also sets up one of equal value for Ziggy, which she tells Jane about.
From the book:
Its Ziggys money. If Perry knew Ziggy was his son he would have wanted him to treated exactly the same as Max and Josh, Celeste had told her. Perry was
But then shed found herself unable to speak, because how could she say to Jane that Perry was generous to a fault, and scrupulously fair. Her husband had always been so fair, except for those times when he was monstrously unfair.
But Jane had reached across the cafe table and taken her hand and said, I know he was, almost as if she did understand everything that Perry was and wasnt.
Follow me on Twitter @jessica_roy.
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A Los Angeles County judge has denied the latest effort by Roman Polanski to resolve his 40-year-old statutory rape case, saying that the filmmaker cannot be sentenced in absentia because he remains a fugitive from justice.
In a written decision handed down Monday, L.A. County Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon said that Polanskis current motions are based on the same arguments previously presented and rejected by other judges. No sufficient or compelling basis for reconsideration of these issues has been presented, he wrote in the 13-page decision.
Gordon wrote that Polanskis fugitive status prevents him from obtaining the relief he desires until he presents himself in the courts jurisdiction. The ruling is similar in substance to previous court decisions in which judges have said that Polanski, who fled the United States in 1978 and resides in France, must return to the country in order to pursue his requests.
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But on Monday, Gordon agreed to a hearing later this month to consider a controversial piece of testimony that the filmmaker is seeking to unseal.
In recent court filings and at a court hearing in March, Polanski asked to be sentenced in absentia, arguing that he has already exceeded the custody time he was originally required to serve. He also noted that courts in Poland and Switzerland have turned down separate extradition requests by U.S. officials, citing procedural irregularities in the case.
The 83-year-old filmmaker has offered to return to the United States and appear in court if it agrees to sentence him first.
Harland Braun, Polanskis defense attorney, said in an interview Monday that the decision is a total whitewash and abdication of judicial responsibility. He said the decision fails to address crucial elements of the case, including allegations that prior judges were told by court officials how to rule.
I represent an attempt to straighten out 40 years of judicial misconduct and to see if L.A. Superior Court can heal itself. It cant, Braun said.
When asked if Polanski plans to continue pursuing the case, Braun said: Were going to decide what to do.
For years, Polanski has alleged extensive judicial misconduct, starting with the original judge. The filmmaker contends that the corruption has continued for decades, arguing that subsequent judges followed marching orders set by court officials.
The director has long sought to unseal testimony given in 2010 by Roger Gunson, the original prosecutor in the case. Polanskis lawyer has argued that the testimony contains vital information and should be part of the public record.
At the March hearing, the filmmakers attorney withdrew his request to unseal the documents but reinstated the request days later, asking the court to lift this unnecessary veil of secrecy.
The court said Monday that a hearing regarding the Gunson testimony has been set for April 26.
The decision marks the latest chapter in a complex legal battle that began when Polanski was arrested at a Beverly Hills hotel in 1977 on suspicion of having sex with a 13-year-old girl he had photographed for a magazine assignment. He later pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor.
L.A. County Superior Court Judge Laurence Rittenband sent the director to a Chino prison for a 90-day diagnostic study. Polanski was released after 42 days on the recommendation of the prison.
What happened next has been the subject of contention between Polanski, the court and the district attorney.
Polanski has argued that Rittenband promised that his stay in Chino would constitute the entirety of his time in custody. But he contends the judge, facing intense media scrutiny, reneged on the promise. Fearing additional prison time of indeterminate length, Polanski left the country.
The highly sensationalized case was one of the most-followed legal dramas of the era. Polanski was already a highly acclaimed filmmaker at the time, having directed movies such as Rosemarys Baby and Chinatown.
The slaying of his pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, a decade earlier by members of the Manson family only added to the publics fascination.
A deal was almost reached in 1997 for Polanski to return to the United States and be sentenced to time served. But the director backed out at the last minute upon learning that the court proceedings would be televised.
In 2008, the documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired reignited public interest in the case with new interviews alleging judicial misconduct on the part of Rittenband.
The following year, Polanski was arrested in Switzerland while on his way to a film festival in Zurich. After spending several months in prison and under house arrest, Polanski was freed by Swiss officials who declined the United States extradition request.
A similar request failed in Poland in 2015, with a judge citing alleged unethical behavior by Rittenband.
Braun, Polanskis attorney, argued at the March hearing that the filmmaker has served more time than he was originally promised when counting the time spent in custody in Switzerland.
But prosecutors argued that Polanskis fugitive status disqualifies him from seeking any resolution. Deputy Dist. Atty. Michele Hanisee called Polanski a celebrity who wants special treatment.
The new ruling echoes past court decisions in the case in which judges have invoked the fugitive disentitlement doctrine to bar Polanski from resolving the case from the safety of his home in Europe. Since fleeing the United States, Polanski, who holds dual French-Polish citizenship, has resided primarily in Paris.
In 2009, a California appeals court judge said that the lower court could sentence Polanski in absentia and urged an investigation into the allegations of judicial misconduct in the case. But Polanskis lawyer contends that the recommendation was ignored by the lower court.
Samantha Geimer the victim who was 13 years old when the crime took place has in recent years voiced her support for the dismissal of the case against Polanski.
The L.A. County district attorneys office declined to comment.
Polanski has continued to make movies in Europe. He won an Oscar in 2003 for directing the Holocaust drama The Pianist, but didnt return to the United States to accept the award.
He is in post-production for his latest movie, Based on a True Story, which stars his wife, the French actress Emmanuelle Seigner.
david.ng@latimes.com
Twitter: @DavidNgLAT
UPDATES:
5:45 p.m: This article was updated with comments from defense attorney Harland Braun.
This article was originally published at 3:50 p.m.
A chemical leak at a natural gas facility that had long been owned by San Diego-based Sempra Energy has been found to have contributed to the troubled health of residents in a poor Alabama community.
The Alabama Department of Public Health announced in a recent press release that the ongoing review of the 2008 leak in Eight Mile, Ala., has determined that the chemical odorant used to detect natural gas leaks is affecting residents in the predominantly African American community of 8,000.
In October, the Los Angeles Times reported about the leak in Eight Mile after residents in the community complained that they were largely ignored for years although 2,000 miles away, in the affluent Porter Ranch neighborhood, people were relocated and compensated following the methane leak from the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility also owned by a Sempra subsidiary.
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In both incidents, residents complained of nosebleeds, headaches and vomiting, which they attributed to the natural gas-related odor. In Eight Mile, residents have questioned whether the chemical odor contributed to seizures in children, respiratory ailments and other serious health effects.
Based on the current scientific evidence and available information, we believe that the community is affected by the odors, said Dr. Mary McIntyre, chief medical officer for the Alabama health department.
These odors may impact residents sense of well-being and quality of life, McIntyre stated. Mercaptan causes irritation to mucous membranes and has been associated with some of the symptoms reported by the residents of Eight Mile.
Mercaptan, a class of chemical that includes compounds of sulfur and mercury, has been used for decades to give odor to natural gas and has been considered fairly harmless by government and industry. Whether the smell is the source of the illnesses in Porter Ranch and Eight Mile has been a subject of debate.
At the Aliso Canyon facility, mercaptan was released along with vast amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, during a leak from a single well in October 2015. The leak forced thousands of residents in Porter Ranch and other nearby neighborhoods from their homes for months.
The Eight Mile leak was discovered a few months before Sempra acquired Mobile Gas Co., which owns the facility where the leak occurred. Sempra sold Mobile Gas in September.
Jenny Gobble, a spokeswoman for Spire Energy, the new owner of Mobile Gas, said the mercaptan leak did cause an odor in the community, but the company contends that the chemical used to safely odorize natural gas for nearly 100 years has not made residents sick.
We are confident that Mobile Gas appropriately handled the situation in Eight Mile, Gobble said. Mobile Gas workers responded quickly when the odor was first noticed, and since that time, they have installed effective treatment systems that use ozone to eliminate mercaptan in the water.
Carletta Davis, president of the We Matter Eight Mile Community Assn., has asked local officials to help protect residents as a result the health departments statement.
We respectfully demand action be taken on behalf of the children, elderly and all individuals and entities affected by this tragic chemical spill, Davis said in a letter to government officials.
ivan.penn@latimes.com
For more energy news, follow Ivan Penn on Twitter: @ivanlpenn
UPDATES:
2:30 p.m.: This article was updated with comment from Jenny Gobble, a spokeswoman for Spire Energy.
This article was originally published at 11:50 a.m.
For California, its the $101-billion question: Will Congress eliminate a major tax break that benefits state residents more than those anywhere else in the country?
A plan by House Republicans calls for axing the federal deduction for state and local taxes. The provision allowed Californians to reduce their taxable income by that amount in 2014, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation.
That figure was one-fifth of the total value of the deduction nationwide.
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Californias pain may be Republicans gain, though, as lawmakers and the White House turn to tax reform after the failed attempt to repeal and replace President Obamas healthcare law.
The break, one of the most costly in terms of lost federal revenue each year, largely benefits states with high taxes and high earners and most of those states are Democratic strongholds.
California and New York receive nearly a third of the deductions total value, the Tax Foundation found. Of the top 10 states for the deduction, President Trump carried only three in last falls election.
The only reason to single out state and local taxes is because the Republicans view it as a poke into the eye for the blue states, said Edward Kleinbard, a USC professor and former chief of staff to Congress Joint Committee on Taxation. They view this as a war on blue states and thats really quite unfair.
Officials from California and other states whose residents would be hit hard by the loss of the deduction are concerned. They worry about the cost to taxpayers and the broader effect of possibly increasing resistance to state and local tax hikes.
Californias got a deal thats working well and allows our state to deliver the services that our citizens need and if you pull something like that it disrupts it, said Rep. Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena), a member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee.
I think youre going to see opposition come out of the woodwork, he said.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has warned that eliminating the deduction would be devastating for his state, California and others. New Yorkers used the provision to reduce their taxable income by $68 billion in 2014, according to the Tax Foundation.
The break has been around since the U.S. began collecting income taxes in 1913. It allows taxpayers to deduct what they pay in state and local real estate, personal property and income taxes.
The Treasury Department estimated the deduction would reduce federal tax revenue by $96 billion this year. (The deduction lowers taxable income by much more money, but that only partially translates into less taxes paid.)
It is one of three major deductions for individuals, along with those for home mortgage interest and charitable contributions. The A Better Way tax reform plan released by House Republican leaders last year called for eliminating all individual itemized deductions except those for mortgage interest and charitable giving.
These two provisions help accomplish two important goals that strengthen civil society: home-ownership and charitable giving, the plan said.
The changes are designed to simplify tax filing and offset the revenue lost from lowering rates and increasing the standard deduction.
Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas), chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and a driving force behind the House GOP plan, said that the state and local deduction was unfair. Residents of his home state of Texas were major beneficiaries of the break, reducing their taxable income by $20 billion in 2014.
Today, Washington increases taxes on everyone so a few people can receive help, he said. Our plan lowers taxes for everyone regardless of what they earn or where they choose to live so families can keep more of their hard-earned dollars or put that money toward state and local taxes.
The tax plan President Trump campaigned on called for keeping the state and local tax deduction but offsetting rate reductions by capping itemized deductions at $100,000 for single filers and $200,000 for married couples filing jointly. The Trump administration is working on its own tax overhaul proposal but has not yet released it.
Eliminating the state and local tax deduction would increase federal revenue by about $1.3 trillion over 10 years, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, which is run jointly by the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution.
The deduction has been targeted in the past because eliminating it would result in a big revenue boost. But opposition from lawmakers in large states such as California and New York have kept the provision mostly intact.
A bipartisan coalition from New York helped save most of the deduction in the Tax Reform Act of 1986 under President Reagan. It was trimmed to eliminate the deduction for state sales taxes, but Congress later partially restored that for a while.
Jared Walczak, a policy analyst at the Tax Foundation, said the state and local tax deduction is an unusual provision that shifts money largely from lower-income individuals and lower-tax states to higher-tax individuals and higher-tax states.
Only about 30% of taxpayers mostly high earners -- itemize their deductions and are eligible for the break. Walczaks analysis noted that 88% of the benefit in 2014 went to people with incomes of more than $100,000.
States with higher taxes and more wealthy taxpayers benefit the most. For Californians claiming the deduction, it reduced adjusted gross income by an average of nearly 8% in 2014, Walczak found.
I dont know who in California, who in New York votes for this. Rep. Mike Thompson, (D-St. Helena)
The Tax Policy Center said the deduction provides an indirect subsidy to state and local governments...in effect allowing those jurisdictions to export a portion of their tax burden to the rest of the nation.
But eliminating the deduction could lead to reductions in spending for programs and services, the centers analysis said.
California Gov. Jerry Browns 2017-18 budget summary warned that the Trump administration and congressional leaders have suggested major changes to Medicaid, trade and immigration policy, and the federal tax structure.
Many of the proposed changes could have serious and detrimental effects on the states economy and budget, the summary said.
Its difficult to know the impact of tax changes until a specific bill is introduced, said H.D. Palmer. a budget spokesman for Gov. Jerry Brown.
Palmer said California residents who filed state returns reported $206 billion in federal itemized deductions in 2014. Eliminating all but the mortgage interest and charitable contribution breaks would have reduced itemized deductions by about $120 billion.
Thompson, whose district includes expensive areas in Contra Costa, Napa and Sonoma counties, said he opposed eliminating the state and local tax deduction. He predicted it would be difficult for Republicans from California and some other key states to support it.
I dont know who in California, who in New York votes for this, Thompson said. Thats a big bloc.
Matt Sparks, a spokesman for House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) wouldnt comment on the state and local tax deduction. But McCarthy supports the House Republican tax blueprint, Sparks said.
We are focused on a tax code that is simpler and fairer so that Americans keep more of their hard-earned money, Sparks said.
Spokespeople for several other House Republicans from California did not respond to requests for comment.
Kleinbard, the USC law and business professor, said the only way to lower individual tax rates without sending the country into a tailspin of uncontrollable deficits is to reduce or eliminate the major personal deductions.
But its not fair to get rid of the state and local tax deduction while keeping the mortgage interest and charitable giving breaks, said Klienbard, author of a 2015 book titled We Are Better Than This: How Government Should Spend Our Money.
I think there is a case for scaling back all of them collectively and funneling that very large amount of additional revenue toward the real middle class, he said.
Targeting only the state and local tax deduction, however, is just political warfare by Republicans aimed at Democrats in blue states, Kleinbard said.
Twitter: @JimPuzzanghera
jim.puzzanghera@latimes.com
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UPDATES:
1:35 p.m.: This article was updated with comment from House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady.
This article originally was published at 11:45 a.m.
Technicians for Best Buys Geek Squad City computer repair facility had a long, close relationship with the FBI in a joint venture to ferret out child porn, according to claims in new federal court documents, which also say that Best Buys management was aware that its supervisory personnel were being paid by the FBI and that its technicians were developing a program to find child pornography with the FBIs guidance.
The allegations are made by lawyers for a California doctor charged with possessing child pornography, after the doctor took his computer to a Best Buy store for repair. Computers that require data recovery are typically sent from Best Buy stores around the country to a central Geek Squad City facility in Brooks, Ky., and customers consent to having their computers searched and turned over to authorities if child porn is found.
Although there is no question that Geek Squad technicians have notified authorities after finding child porn, the new court documents assert that there is a deeper relationship than has previously been revealed between the company and federal authorities. The court is now considering the extent of that relationship and whether it is grounds to throw out a pending child porn case, though it could also have ramifications for the dozens of cases that originate from the Kentucky facility each year.
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Defense lawyers for the doctor argue that Geek Squad Citys technicians acted as government agents by receiving payments from the FBI, regularly speaking with and referring cases to the FBI, and creating a program to search for child porn. If a government agent wants to search a computer, they need a warrant, and the case has raised issues of privacy invasion and violation of constitutional search and seizure rights.
Both Best Buy and the U.S. attorneys office in Los Angeles deny any violations in the search of surgeon Mark Rettenmaiers hard drive, for which the FBI obtained a warrant after being contacted by a Geek Squad supervisor. That in turn led to a warrant and search of Rettenmaiers home, which led to the discovery of thousands of images of child pornography, according to a reply brief by assistant U.S. Attys. Anthony Brown and Gregory Scally.
The 4th Amendment is offended by none of this, the federal prosecutors wrote. Nothing unreasonable occurred here, and there was no arbitrary invasion of anyones privacy by governmental officials and theres not a shred of evidence that anyone at the FBI directed anyone at Geek Squad City to detect and locate child pornography for the purpose of reporting it to the FBI.
Best Buy said in a statement that Geek Squad employees inadvertently discover child porn about 100 times a year while trying to recover lost customer data. As a company, we have not sought or received training from law enforcement in how to search for child pornography. Our policies prohibit employees from doing anything other than what is necessary to solve the customers problem. In the wake of these allegations, we have redoubled our efforts to train employees on what to do and not to do in these circumstances.
But James Riddet, the lead attorney for Rettenmaier, contends documents released by the FBI after an evidentiary hearing in January show years of close cooperation between Geek Squad and the FBI field office in Louisville, Ky., which would then launch federal investigations around the country based on where the computer had come from. The actual documents were ordered sealed in the case, but were described and often quoted in briefs filed after the January hearing that were first reported by R. Scott Moxley in the Orange County Weekly.
Riddet declined to be interviewed. But in court filings he said that there were eight FBI informants at Geek Squad City between 2007 and 2012, and that the facilitys data recovery system was designed to identify and report child porn from all over the country. A number of Geek Squad employees received $500 or $1,000 payments from the FBI, documents and testimony showed. Riddet cited an FBI letter to the U.S. attorney in Kentucky that said: Under the control and direction of the FBI, the CW [confidential witness] agreed to notify the FBI when CW detects the presence of child pornography during the regular course of CWs employment and is willing to testify in a court of law.
One Geek Squad employee who received a $500 payment from the FBI filed an affidavit saying he was extremely reluctant and irritated that the FBI gave me money, and tried to give it back. The FBI indicated to me they could not take the money back because they had to spend it as part of their budget. But he then said, I contacted our legal department to tell them about the payment, which led Riddet to emphasize that Best Buy management was put on notice about the FBI payments.
Best Buys statement said: We have learned that four employees may have received payment after turning over alleged child pornography to the FBI. Any decision to accept payment was in very poor judgment and inconsistent with our training and policies. Three of these employees are no longer with the company and the fourth has been reprimanded and reassigned.
Federal prosecutors wrote: It is true that a few payments to Geek Squad City supervisors by the FBI unnecessarily muddied the waters here. But however ill-advised those payments may have been the money, more of an embarrassment than an incentive, did nothing to turn Geek Squad City supervisors into government agents or Geek Squad City itself into a secret FBI surveillance machine. Employees there are working on about 2,000 computers at any one time, the prosecutors said.
Riddet also cited an internal FBI report announcing a meeting at Geek Squad City, which said: The Louisville Division [of the FBI] has maintained close liaison with the Geek Squad management in an effort to glean case initiations and to support the divisions computer intrusion and cybercrime programs. The same agent wrote in a separate memo that agents were seeking training of the Geek Squad facility technicians designed to help them identify what type of files and/or images would necessitate a call to the FBI.
The FBI turned over informant files on only four of the eight Geek Squad employees it worked with, Riddet wrote, but in one of the files, an employee told agents he was in the process of writing a software program [that] would help them identify potential images of child pornography in their computer systems, and FBI investigative information/techniques [were] revealed to source for operational purposes.
Federal prosecutors Brown and Scally responded that the software was intended to identify child porn on employees work-issued computers, not customers computers. They said that Geek Squad City supervisors reached out to the FBI, not the other way around, and did so only when they stumble[d] across disturbing images of children being sexually abused. Best Buy said: We have a moral and, in more than 20 states, a legal obligation to report these findings to law enforcement. We share this policy with our customers in writing before we begin any repair.
But Riddet argued that the discoveries made by Geek Squad technicians were more than accidental, such as the one made in Rettenmaiers case: a single photo of a nude girl, found in the unallocated space of the hard drive where deleted items reside. The Geek Squad supervisor who alerted the FBI to that photo, Justin Meade, sought out and scrolled through multiple images of suspected child porn to prepare them for viewing by the FBI, and that dozens of emails showed a very close working relationship between Meade and an FBI agent in Louisville, Riddet wrote.
During the January hearing on the case, Meade denied receiving payment from the FBI, though FBI agents and records said he had been paid. Meade also testified that when a technician found possible pornography, it was reported to him and he would go beyond that and look and see are there things here worth reporting to the FBI either find whats on that page or scroll down and find more problematic images and make that available to the FBI.
Riddet wrote that Best Buy was an agent of the FBI because all data recovery jobs were sent to Geek Squad City where the vast majority of hard drives were searched for child pornography, possible criminal material was then funneled to a paid FBI informant (Meade) and that Geek Squad City and the FBI worked closely together to search out child porn.
Prosecutors responded that technicians never searched computers for child pornography, that Best Buy was not developing software to find customers child porn, and that Meade never viewed himself as an informant, but simply as Geek Squads liaison to the FBI for reporting the inadvertent discovery of child pornography. Riddet wrote that FBI records show that agents assigned Meade a code name, that he operated for more than five years and that one FBI report stated one of Meades co-workers recovered erased data on a customers computer which contained possible child pornography.
Riddet has asked U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney to suppress the searches of Rettenmaiers hard drive and home as illegal because they were done by government agents Geek Squad employees without a search warrant. A trial date is set for June, so Carney must rule before then.
Jackman writes for the Washington Post.
The Danish National Symphony Orchestra rolled into Costa Mesa on Friday night as part of a quick, five-city tour of California. On the podium was the ensembles newly appointed Italian principal conductor, the widely traveled Fabio Luisi, perhaps best known as the soon-to-be-departing principal conductor of the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Not often seen on these shores, the Copenhagen-based orchestra was making its first appearance at Segerstrom Concert Hall as well as its first appearance for the Philharmonic Society of Orange County, started in 1954.
The program offered a taste of Danish music in the form of Carl Nielsens Helios Overture (from 1903), but nothing contemporary from the homeland. Orange Countys own Deborah Voigt appeared at concerto time as the soloist in Wagners Wesendonck Lieder. As it unfolded, the concert took a little time to get going, but Mahlers Symphony No. 1 brought up the rear and that, as usual, did it.
Luisi has a firm, incisive and vigorous conducting style, well suited, it turned out, for the busy expressive traffic of the Mahler. From the very start of the work, as the sounds of spring began to awaken, Luisi sought and found a variety of accentuation, articulation and color. At the same time, the rhythm remained well motivated (his command of the myriad tempo changes was impressive) and the pacing aimed carefully at thrillingly dispatched climaxes.
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The orchestra, which describes itself as having a straightforward personality, gave Luisi what he asked for; the rustic-sounding woodwinds were especially satisfying. The strings supplied a lovely sheen and ready nimbleness but lacked somewhat in power, at least for Mahler, the fortes more brilliant than intimidating. The brass, too, though solid, wanted muscle here and there, and the horns were apt to minor bobbles all evening. These things matter on tour.
For a conductor so attentive to detail, Luisi ignored at least two in Mahlers score. He had the entire bass section play the solo at the beginning of the third movement, ruining Mahlers intended effect. And in the closing pages of the finale, the horn section stayed seated, despite the composers instructions to get up. Still, these amounted to quibbles in a reading that seemed more succinctly characterized by the vehemence with which Luisi unintentionally shattered his baton in an emphatic moment in the finale. (It went flying into the orchestra.)
Voigts website indicates that her performance schedule is on the light side these days. In the Wesendonck songs, at any rate, she didnt sound entirely at ease. Her diction was excellent, though, and she crested imposingly with the orchestra. She brought particular urgency to the second number, Stehe still!. These songs, written at the same time as Tristan und Isolde, arent often encountered in concert, and after hearing them here, this listener thinks he knows why: The orchestrations, by Felix Mottl not Wagner, are pedestrian.
Advertised as the worlds foremost Nielsen orchestra, the group opened with the composers early Helios Overture, a work that traces the suns progress throughout a day in Greece. It sparkles in a different way than, say, Ravels sun, with a mellow warmth rather than dazzle. The cool, liquid tone in the strings and oboes somehow added a Nordic touch of color, and Luisi shaped the piece in a satisfying arc.
The encore was Danish composer Jacob Gades famous Tango Jalousie, which conductor and orchestra had a swooning good time with.
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Henry Mancini was one of the most popular film and TV composers of the 20th century, with 72 Grammy nominations, 18 Oscar nominations (including four wins) and his music playing in concert halls and living rooms alike.
Henry Mancini, photographed at home in 1994. (Los Angeles Times) (Durell, Robert / Los Angeles Times)
And though Mancini died in 1994, his friends, family and fans got to time-travel back to his heyday of the 1960s during a star-guided tour Saturday, a concert titled Mancini Delivered: A Musical Tribute to Ginny and Henry Mancini at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills.
Among those assembled for the evening were John Williams, Kristin Chenoweth, Quincy Jones, Patti Austin and Julie Andrews, who co-hosted part of the show. Andrews husband, director Blake Edwards, collaborated with Mancini on 26 films, including The Pink Panther and Breakfast at Tiffanys. Andrews relayed how the two men met on the Universal Studios lot in the late 50s, and Edwards asked Mancini to write the music for his new TV series, Peter Gunn.
Blake told me that when he first heard that iconic Peter Gunn theme, he just about fell down, Andrews said. He was gobsmacked.
She also recalled the time in 1968, while she was filming Star! in France, when Edwards phoned her from L.A. and played the new recording of Mancinis ballad for the film The Party.
Ive never told anybody this story before, Andrews told the Wallis audience. When the song ended, I said, Blake, that is gorgeous. It is, isnt it? he said. There was a small pause. Then he said, Now he cleared his throat Will you marry me?
The concert Saturday was produced by Gregg Field, who is married to the composers daughter, Monica Mancini, and serves on the USC Thornton School of Music board alongside Wallis Managing Director Rachel Fine.
Ginny Mancini, flanked by son Christopher and daughter Monica at the Wallis on Saturday. (Alex J. Berliner / ABImages)
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In an interview before the event, Field noted that Ginny Mancini, Henrys wife of 47 years, is 92. Shes in perfect shape theres nothing old about her but shes not going to agree to another big event like this, he said. So this is really the last gathering of these old friends, and making music together and celebrating Hank.
The Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra was present to back performers and to play selections from Victor Victoria and The Thorn Birds. Henry Mancinis friend Jack Elliott founded the institute in 1997 at UCLA, and it relocated to the University of Miami in 2009.
The Wallis program was part concert, part remembrance; in the intimate 500-seat Bram Goldsmith Theater, it felt something like a private birthday party.
Robert Wagner (Alex J. Berliner / ABImages)
Pink Panther cast member Robert Wagner slinked onstage in Inspector Clouseau garb during the shows opening theme, and he summoned two costumed police officers to cart away saxophonist Dave Koz.
Monica Mancini sang some of her fathers songs, including It Had Better Be Tonight. Her brother, Christopher, a songwriter who remixes his fathers music, sang a reworded version of the bossa nova standard Dindi by Antonio Carlos Jobim as a tribute to his mother.
Henrys beloved Ginny, Andrews said, addressing her friend. You were a huge force in his life, and by his side always. I remember you telling him off in words that are unspeakable up here. And he teased you mightily.
When composer Williams took the stage, after conducting Chenoweth in an arrangement of Moon River, he too directed his memories at Ginny.
Kristin Chenoweth with John Williams. (Alex J. Berliner / ABImages)
I was all of 25 years old when Henry invited me to Universal Studios to play in his orchestra for a film session, he recalled. And apparently, it went very well, and I began to play with Henry on all of his recording sessions. He frequently had a chorus, and there was a beautiful young girl I kept noticing on session after session. One day I said to one of my musician friends, Who is that fabulous blond girl up in the chorus? The third one in from the left. And he said, Forget it. Thats Ginny, and shes married to Hank.
So when Ginny invited me to be her date tonight, after I think 60 years Williams savored the pause I feel like I have finally made it.
Quincy Jones followed, describing how badly he wanted to score films and how hard that was for an African American in the 1960s. He credited Mancini for his first big gig, The Pawnbroker, in 1964.
Then the concert, a benefit that raised nearly $1 million for the Wallis, continued with Jones calling Williams back to the stage and conducting the orchestra in the sizzling, snarling theme from Peter Gunn, with Williams playing the famous revolving piano ostinato a part he played on the original recording.
The music was from 60 years ago, but it could not have sounded more fresh.
Follow The Times arts team @culturemonster.
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Some people say there are no high-quality Old Master artworks for museums to buy anymore. Curator J. Patrice Marandel said those people are wrong.
There are fabulous things on the market, Marandel said. What you need is money.
Marandel should know. He retired Friday as chief curator of European painting and sculpture at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, ending a 24-year career there. In the weeks leading up to his final day, Marandel talked with The Times about the hundreds of works he has added to the museums collection the favorite pieces that visitors might see in the galleries, and all the necessary sleuthing, schmoozing and deal-making that came along the way.
He spoke of the characters he encountered at art fairs and auctions, and the suitors who pursued him in letters and phone calls at the rate of five to 10 a day.
People can be odious, people can be charming, and people can be a bit of both, Marandel said. But working in that world amuses me endlessly. I just find it very funny.
Portrait of Jean-Pierre Delahaye by Jacques-Louis David (Museum Associates / LACMA) (Museum Associates / LACMA)
And very stressful.
Take Portrait of Jean-Pierre Delahaye by Jacques-Louis David, leader of the French Neoclassical movement and Napoleons official painter.
I never thought I would get the painting, Marandel said of the last work that David completed in Paris, before the defeat of Napoleon forced the artist into exile. But in 2006, it was put up for auction in Paris. I got it against a dealer who is or was a friend of mine.
The dealer kept pushing against us in the bidding, Marandel said, even though the dealer knew that LACMA was in the drivers seat.
At the end he said this incredible thing: I could not let you have it for so little money. I was very upset. So I said, Well, its unfortunate because if you had stopped, I would have bought a painting from you. Now I dont have any money left. It was not quite true, but I let him believe it.
After Marandel won the $2.7-million competition, LACMA Director Michael Govan called the acquisition a very big deal for us (and described Marandel as a nervous wreck during the quest to land it). The curator was besieged by French television and a swarm of reporters.
There was all this publicity and it sort of went to my head, he said. So I went to the airport, looked at the planes leaving Paris and flew to Fez, where it was lovely. It was a long way from David to Morocco, but funny things happen when you have to reorient yourself. You cannot just go back to business and have dinner and go to bed.
Plague in an Ancient City, a 17th century painting by Flemish artist Michael Sweerts, purchased for $3.85 million at Sothebys New York in 1997, was another coup. But LACMA rarely buys art at auction because the prices are moving targets and securing the resources and approvals is difficult.
Marandel usually worked with a network of trusted dealers, but opportunities could have come from everywhere. Although Old Masters are relatively modestly priced they havent begun to reach the stratospheric prices of Andy Warhol paintings the curator rejected what he considered to be outrageous offers for a painting of Sleeping Beauty by French artist Marie Antoinette Victoire Petit-Jean and a pair of 6-foot-tall marble sculptures by Italian artist Giovanni Baratta. Marandel snapped them up later only when the price was right.
Most people dont realize the skill set involved in connoisseurship and how difficult it is, Govan said in praising Marandels legacy. Curators can spend millions and make mistakes. Its a risky business. Patrice has done it with style and aplomb.
Born and raised in France, Marandel has spent his adult life in the United States, including 13 years as curator of European art at the Detroit Institute of Arts. The LACMA collection he took charge of in 1993 contained very good things that did not necessarily relate to each other, he said. I wanted to build bridges between these things and add to them, and redesign the galleries completely, to give some kind of order to it.
The challenge was made more enticing by the Ahmanson Foundation, which provides funds for the museum to buy European Old Master works.
Musical Party by Valentin de Boulogne, acquired by J. Patrice Marandel for LACMA with funds from the Ahmanson Foundation. (Museum Associates / LACMA) (Museum Associates / LACMA)
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I can boast that I have a 100% success rate with them, Marandel said. Ive always been a bit envious of museums that have larger acquisition funds, but it is easier to deal with a small group of interested people than with a board thats always looking at other things. Its a more personal relationship that has worked well for me.
Apparently the feeling is mutual.
Patrice has a knack for finding works of value that are consistent with the collection and appealing to the public, as well as academics, said William H. Ahmanson, president of the foundation. We look forward to what he finds every year, with eager anticipation.
Sir Wyndham Knatchbull-Wyndham by Pompeo Batoni (Museum Associates / LACMA) (Museum Associates / LACMA)
Marandels first Ahmanson purchase, in 1994, was Sir Wyndham Knatchbull-Wyndham, a portrait by Italian artist Pompeo Batoni that had been in the family of the elegantly attired Englishman since 1759, when it was painted.
Usually you dont meet the people who own the paintings, Marandel said. You meet the dealers who have the paintings on consignment. He was surprised by an invitation to meet the Batoni seller and after traveling to England completely unprepared to learn that she was Countess Mountbatten, great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria.
Suddenly I was thrown into this world of an aristocratic English family, something I knew nothing about, he said. I didnt even know how to address these people.
Now a veteran of such adventures, Marandel got high marks from colleagues such as Keith Christiansen, chairman of European paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Patrice is an extraordinary curator whose broad interests and keen sense of quality have informed his many acquisitions, Christiansen wrote in an email. By rehanging the European galleries at LACMA, Marandel laid out a narrative of wonderful richness that made a visit to the museum very special. Wonderful juxtapositions, great works by well-known masters alongside others by lesser known or unfamiliar artists, but with individual voices. Is this not what we look for in a major institution?
Marandel has a two-year contract to serve the museum as a consultant, and his stories will be preserved in a book, Abecedario: Collecting and Recollecting, to be published this spring by Art Catalogues/LACMA. His successor has yet to be named, Govan said. In the interim, curator Leah Lehmbeck will oversee the department.
There is a bit of sadness, Marandel said of his departure. I hope its not pretentious to say that LACMA is a little bit my museum. But it should move on and be reappraised by someone else and enjoyed differently.
"There is a bit of sadness, J. Patrice Marandel says of his departure from LACMA. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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When director Alankrita Shrivastava set out to make her second feature film, she had no idea that a modest story about four small-town Indian women would create such a furor.
Lipstick Under My Burkha, which follows two Hindus and two Muslims searching for personal and sexual freedom, was blocked from Indian theaters this year by the national censor board even as it collected awards at international film festivals.
The censor board cited the films lady-oriented content, sexual scenes and audio pornography reasons that might have confused fans of Indias mainstream Bollywood cinema, in which writhing dance moves, blatant double entendres and near-naked bodies are practically requirements for a studio release.
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The decision made Shrivastavas film, which opens the 15th Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles on Wednesday, the latest flashpoint in an escalating culture war in India, where powerful conservative forces are exerting increasing control over art and expression.
The Central Board of Film Certification, whose chairman Pahlaj Nihalani was appointed after a Hindu nationalist party rose to power in 2014, stoked controversy last year for demanding cuts to a movie about the drug menace in the northern state of Punjab. Many independent artists also objected when the government installed loyalists to lead Indias most prestigious film school, and after the countrys Supreme Court made standing for the national anthem mandatory at movie theaters.
Its about their secret desires, their secret dreams and acts of rebellion to help them find breathing space. Lipstick Under My Burkha director Alankrita Shrivastava
Shrivastava said the censor board has hardly objected to films that objectify women or insert them into stock, nonthreatening roles: the pin-up, the good girl, the vamp. It is part of the challenge of independent cinema in India, which struggles to find an audience in a Bollywood-obsessed country.
They [the censor board] are very interested in perpetuating the male gaze, and anything that is an alternative point of view makes them uncomfortable, Shrivastava said. Their point of reference seems to be mainstream cinema that has very convenient representations of women and theres no space for ordinary women with their ups and downs, their flaws, their quirks. That representation is really missing in Indian culture.
Those stories are what Shrivastava sought to explore with Lipstick, whose intertwined stories involve a Muslim college student who wears a full-body burkha at home but rebels by shoplifting lipstick and clothes; a Hindu beautician with a robust sex life who is being forced into an arranged marriage; a Muslim mother of three with a repressive husband; and a 55-year-old Hindu widow trying to restart her life.
Set in the central city of Bhopal, which like all Indian urban centers is experiencing a dramatic transformation, the film also grapples with the tension between tradition and change. The widow, who in orthodox Hindu culture would be expected to mourn for the rest of her life, secretly devours steamy pulp fiction, dreaming of a sexual reawakening she is not supposed to have.
They live these very claustrophobic lives and they want to live a little, feel a little bit of freedom, Shrivastava said. Its about their secret desires, their secret dreams and acts of rebellion to help them find breathing space.
It is not clear what the Indian censors objected to. The letter they sent to producer Prakash Jha is oddly worded and riddled with misspellings, at one point referring to a bit sensitive touch about one particular section of society.
If the censor board meant Muslims, who make up 14% of Indias 1.25 billion people, Shrivastava said she set her story in Bhopal because Muslims and majority Hindus live alongside each other in older neighborhoods there, unlike other Indian cities where the communities are more segregated.
The film has achieved a notoriety that surprised Shrivastava, who only wanted to tell a story from a female perspective.
I fear that when people watch it, they will think, What is there in this film, theres nothing explosive! she said. Its really just the point of view.
Last week, before leaving for Los Angeles, Shrivastava screened Lipstick to an appellate body that will decide whether to overturn the censors and allow it to be released in India.
I feel we have to fight this, she said. The more we give in the worse its going to get. Its 2017 and India is a free and democratic country. We have to make that democracy real for ourselves.
Lipstick Under My Burkha opens the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles on April 5 at at 7:30 p.m. at Regal Cinemas L.A. Live, 1000 W. Olympic Blvd.
shashank.bengali@latimes.com
@SBengali
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It is suspicious that the UK has recently removed the sanctions on a number of Iranian entities, says Shahrooz Barzegar Golshani, a member of the Iranian Parliaments National Security and Foreign Policy Commission.
It is suspicious because it was made shortly before Irans presidential election, the MP told ICANA news agency April 3.
The British Department for International Trade in a new post-sanction notice last week announced that Iran list was removed from the UK governments website.
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The lifting of some sanctions means that Iran is able to trade more freely with the international community. This offers an opportunity for UK companies to win business in the biggest market to enter the global economy in decades, the notice read.
Before closing in 2015, there was a Trina Turk store on a busy stretch of 3rd Street between Crescent Heights Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles for eight years. Thats until parking and traffic became too much of a nightmare.
But the L.A. designer, who has retail spaces in Palm Springs, Manhattan Beach, Newport Beach and other locations, didnt give up on the City of Angels.
Her new spot on Larchmont Boulevard, which opened March 30, allowed Turk to add her menswear retail component its called Mr Turk to her signature vividly-hued womens pieces. (And theres plenty of parking for shoppers.)
We liked the idea of having a co-branded Mr Turk and Trina Turk store with two different entrances, said the designer last month. Its a replication of our boutique in Palm Springs.
A look at the new Trina Turk store in Larchmont Village. The space is also home to Mr Turk mens selections. (Trina Turk)
Now, Trina Turk has 17 retail spaces in the United States, including a new pop-up at the El Paseo Village shopping area in Palm Desert.
The Mr Turk collection, available in the 2,000-square-foot outpost on Larchmont Boulevard, conveys the designers trademark flamboyance (think trim suits in a geo pattern and floral-emblazoned skinny pants), perhaps perfect for trendy Los Angeles events, where standing out counts.
Assortments are customized for each store, said Turk, who founded her line in 1995 with her husband, photographer Jonathan Skow. Angelenos are proud of being Angelenos. We are working on a few special items that will only be in the Los Angeles store.
Otherwise, expect to see an abundance of color and pattern, including the spring bestseller, the $298 Theodora dress.
It has a scarf print designed specifically for the shape of the garment, said Turk of the dress. Its a great expression of the brand, which is about print, color and textile design. Lately, anything that weve done where the print is designed specifically for the garment has really resonated with our clientele.
Prices range from $128 for swimwear to $398 for dresses; up to $498 for mens blazers.
Trina Turk / Mr Turk, 212 N. Larchmont Blvd. Los Angeles. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday through Saturday, (323) 536-9122
A look at clothes from the Mr Turk summer 2017 collection. (Trina Turk)
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The Balmain army can stand easy. Olivier Rousteing, the creative director of the brand known for $4,000 sequined evening dresses and $2,000 gold-buttoned mens jackets, plans to shift his design aesthetic and open up Balmain to a wider audience, as the Paris-based house gears up for its next growth phase under a new chief executive officer.
Balmain on Monday named Massimo Piombini to the top post, succeeding Emmanuel Diemoz, signaling its ambition to become a global leader in luxury goods under its new Qatari owners.
Piombini, already a member of the Balmain board of directors, was previously worldwide commercial director of Valentino S.p.A., which like Balmain is owned by Mayhoola for Investments, the investment fund backed by the emir of Qatar. His appointment is effective immediately.
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Having introduced accessories for fall, Rousteing is looking for additional ways to draw new customers to the brand, which despite its notoriety logged only one-eighth of Valentinos revenues in 2015 the latest year for which figures are available.
Diemoz, who joined Balmain in 2000 and owned a stake in the label, steered the company through an explosive growth phase while maintaining high profitability. In a statement, Balmain said he had decided to leave the company after several years of exemplary leadership.
But Balmain has plenty of room to grow. In an exclusive interview with WWD, Piombini and Rousteing said they would work together to open stores and expand the product assortment. The brands teams have moved into new headquarters in central Paris that will soon house a showroom.
There is a great opportunity in the market. Balmain is one of the best hidden secrets, because its not developed at full potential yet, and so with the support of Olivier and a structure that we have and that we are going to reinforce, I think were going to have a great future, Piombini said.
Since Mayhoola acquired Valentino in 2012, the Italian brands revenues have tripled to 1.11 billion euros, or $1.23 billion, in 2016. Piombini said the deep-pocketed fund was willing to support a big retail push to make Balmain its next success story.
At a certain point, if retail starts performing, its going to be in our interest to keep pushing the development, and fortunately we can count on a very ambitious shareholder, he said. When they understand that the company, the business, the brand is strong, they are very, very happy to finance the development.
Rousteing indicated Balmain would expand its offering without straying from its core luxury positioning. We want to rethink casual luxury, he said. We want to put more denims, we want to bring more jersey in the collection, knitwear something more casual, but still keeping it couture and luxury.
Balmain has become one of the most visible brands in fashion thanks to the 31-year-old designers glitzy creations, which have made him a favorite of celebrities including Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, Rihanna, Kendall Jenner and Jennifer Lopez.
The term Balmainia was coined in 2015 when H&M conscripted Rousteing for its annual holiday designer collaboration. Shoppers hoovered up the merchandise in minutes, with sources describing the tie-up as the Swedish fashion giants most successful to date.
Rousteing has amassed 4.4 million followers on Instagram and Balmains fall show received the highest overall social engagement during Paris Fashion Week, reaching 1.9 million people, the brand said, quoting data from Instagram.
The designer now plans to develop his daywear offering for women.
Shes still powerful, shes confident, but I think I will bring a bit of fragility in my clothes as well, a bit more romanticism, because I think now its time for me to explore a different kind of style and aesthetic, keeping the DNA of the house which Im known for and Balmain is known for, he said of his female customer.
He will also address a broader male audience.
You know the Balmain customer for being really rock n roll or hip-hop style or pop star, but I think were going to open Balmain to different kinds of ages, different kinds of men, and this is really important. Im known for the superstar Balmain, but I think now its time for Balmain to show another aspect, and this is what excites me, Rousteing said.
Mayhoola acquired 100 percent control of the brand last year, putting an end to the period of uncertainty that followed the death in December 2014 of Alain Hivelin, the companys majority owner and the architect of its recent global expansion.
Under Diemoz, Balmain tracked an average of 25 percent sales growth between 2013 and 2015. It posted revenues of 121.5 million euros, or $134.8 million at average exchange rates, in 2015. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization totaled 33 million euros, or $36.6 million.
Piombini declined to disclose figures for 2016, but indicated the momentum continued despite a challenging environment for luxury goods. The brand had a very good 2016, not only from a revenues point of view but also from the profitability, he said.
The executive, who had been at Valentino since 2008 and previously held positions at Bally, Boucheron, Gucci and Bulgari, said the first order of business was to develop a new retail concept and expand Balmains network of 16 directly operated stores.
For us, its not difficult to open stores, but its more difficult to make stores work, so to make stores work we need the proper concept, the proper retail format, the proper retail culture overall. And this is something that Olivier and I will build together for Balmains future, he said.
Wholesale accounts for 80 percent of Balmains revenues, a proportion he hopes to bring down to 55 to 60 percent within the next five years. Overall, we want to create a regional structure to open and operate stores, and in the next years were going to go from the current 16 to 30, 35 stores, Piombini added.
Balmain, which last year opened its first freestanding U.S. store in New York, is set to add a boutique in Los Angeles in June and is also looking at Miami.
There is a strong bond between Olivier and the United States, so the United States is a market where we have to really become visible and relevant, both in the retail and in the wholesale channel, said Piombini.
He sees leather goods as another avenue for growth.
We just launched the first collection with fall-winter 2017, and this was just the beginning of something that Olivier has in mind thats going to be much bigger than what everybody saw so far. When we have a strong accessories business, Asia will be a natural development for us, he added.
Balmain is also expected to redevelop its fragrance portfolio following the early termination of its agreement with Inter Parfums SA, initially signed for 12 years starting from January 2012.
The brand plans to keep its Paris boutique at 44 Rue Francois 1er, but will no longer have offices at the historic address, where Pierre Balmain founded the house in 1945. The new headquarters are located at 25 Rue Pasquier, a stones throw from Place de la Madeleine in the 8th arrondissement.
Now Balmain has this opportunity to group under the same roof everything from the style office, the management team, the commercial and eventually also a beautiful new showroom. So I think this is a great asset for the brand and a great opportunity, and its also a message that we want to give to the market that now is like the beginning of a new life for the brand, Piombini said.
Rousteing was upbeat about the change. Its a new chapter, and an amazing and beautiful chapter, thats happening to the house, he said. With this new operation, I think its just going to be even stronger, bigger and more structured and that makes me really, really happy.
Piombini credited Rousteing, who took over as creative director at the age of 25 following the sudden departure of Christophe Decarnin in 2011, as integral to the success of the brand.
Olivier is one of a kind. Hes very intelligent, hes very smart, hes very talented, hes very friendly, and believe me, this is not easy. This makes the difference and adds a quality to a very important professional challenge that I have, he said.
Rousteing returned the compliment.
Massimo has a strong vision, a really smart vision of the future, and knows how to analyze the past, has a sense of an aesthetic, of creativity, he said. Hes ambitious thats what Balmain needs right now.
Following Piombinis departure, Valentino revealed separately that Simone Dominici has been appointed managing director, global markets, effective Tuesday. In this new position, Dominici will report to Valentino ceo Stefano Sassi.
Dominici was most recently executive vice president, global markets at Bottega Veneta, a company he joined in 2015. He started his career at Unilever, where he spent 14 years, and has also held positions at Gruppo Coin and Bolton Group.
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Food & Wine magazine has honored three Los Angeles chefs with its 29th annual Best New Chefs list. The magazine named Jordan Kahn, chef-owner of Culver City restaurant Destroyer, along with Sara Kramer and Sarah Hymanson of Kismet in Los Feliz and Madcapra at Grand Central Market, as three of its 12 Best New Chefs for 2017.
This is the first time the magazine has recognized three Los Angeles chefs in a single year. Last year, Night Markets Kris Yenbamroong was among the winners. Other past SoCal winners have included some of this citys most lauded chefs, including Ori Menashe of Bestia, Ari Taymor of Alma, Michael Voltaggio of Ink, Bryant Ng of Cassia, Ricardo Zarate of the late Mo-Chica, Roy Choi of the Kogi trucks and Carlos Salgado of Taco Maria in Costa Mesa.
The magazine editors chose the chefs over a monthlong selection process that included opinions from restaurant critics and food writers from across the country.
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We love to find chefs who are defying convention and helping us rethink how we eat, said Food & Wine editor Nilou Motamed
Kahn, Hymanson and Kramer represent a larger group of Los Angeles chefs who tend to play by their own rules. This is, after all, the city that gave you an all-day market counter devoted to runny egg yolks (Eggslut), the Kogi Korean BBQ/Mexican food truck (thank you, Roy Choi) and Wes Avilas terrific sweet potato tacos (Guerilla Tacos).
Kahn, who is working on a second Culver City restaurant called Vespertine, made a name for himself in Los Angeles at the late avant-garde restaurant Red Medicine. Hes now making pretty bowls of beef tartare, smoked egg cream and pickled mushrooms at Destroyer, his tiny restaurant in the Hayden Tract area of Culver City.
At Destroyer, Jordan holds the line for a style of cooking that is often locked up inside extravagant tasting menus, said Motamed. Hes an artist, using food as a medium.
Hymanson and Kramer introduced Los Angeles to their version of falafel at Madcapra, their stall inside Grand Central Market in 2015. The two chefs, who hail from Glasserie in Brooklyn, recently opened their version of a Mediterranean restaurant in Kismet, a sunlit space in Los Feliz that turns out Turkish-ish breakfast platters, plates of kuku and bowls of Persian cucumber with zaatar-dusted labneh.
Sara and Sarah have a modern, global perspective that allows them to encounter Middle Eastern ingredients with fresh eyes and combine them in a thoughtful way that feels exciting, progressive, deeply Californian, unapologetically feminineand, of course, wildly delicious, said Motamed.
Kahn, Kramer and Hymanson will be honored, along with the nine other honorees, on Tuesday in New York City. The winners will also be featured in the July issue of the magazine.
The full list of winners is available at Foodandwine.com.
Jenn.Harris@latimes.com
@Jenn_Harris_
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Like all siblings, Robin and Jessica McIntyre have had their share of battles yet theyve always been close. And that bond grows stronger as they contend with the exceptional cruelties life has visited upon their family.
This latest challenge may be hardest of all.
I have probably lived more of my life than I have left, said Robin matter-of-factly.
Robin carries the genetic mutation for early onset Alzheimers disease. Barring a major medical breakthrough, her chances of getting the disease are 100%. Her chances of surviving are zero. She recently turned 34, and symptoms could appear as early as age 40.
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But Jessica has vowed to accompany her on that journey. When Robin was diagnosed, they made a pact. Once symptoms appear, Jessica would take care of her.
Im her big sister; thats my job, said Jessica, who is two years older. I would do anything for her.
Jessica lives in Colorado, Robin in Wyoming, and they recently shared their story as they sat on the sofa in Jessicas sun-filled living room. They were still groggy after Robins birthday celebration the night before.
We went to the Denver Nuggets game, Jessica said. And we got home very, very late. Robin laughed wearily.
After Jessica vowed to take care of her sister, she recalled, she sought out advice from her financial planner.
He told me, Youre going to need more money, Jessica said.
Robin teared up.
Her commitment brings a lot of relief to me. I hear stories all the time about terrible conditions that people with Alzheimers are living in, she said. I never want that to happen to me.
Their pact is loose, unofficial, but with some specific requirements. For one, Robin wants a service dog to retrieve her clothes when she forgets them and to remind her to take her medicine.
And since both women are hairstylists, looking good is a must.
I want my hair and makeup to look nice every day, Robin said. I want to maintain my dignity.
Jessica nodded.
We did that for my mom, Robin continued. She was the greatest lady ever. The hardest part was watching the sparkle go from her eye. She went vacant.
Their mother, Lori DeMoe, was one of six siblings. Five of them carried the mutation for early onset Alzheimers. Over the last three generations, at least 15 DeMoe family members have been diagnosed with the disease. An additional 13 dont know whether they have it.
Of the 5 million Americans with Alzheimers disease, fewer than 5% have the early onset type. The fatal disease causes abnormal clumps of proteins, known as plaques and tangles, to form in the brain, leading to the death of nerve cells that serve memory and other functions.
Researchers have studied the DeMoe family for years, looking for clues into how Alzheimers develops in its earliest stages.
The family is the subject of a new book by journalist Niki Kapsambelis, titled The Inheritance: A Family on the Front Lines in the Battle Against Alzheimers Disease.
I got to know Lori really well, and I watched the dynamic unfold between Jessica and Robin, Kapsambelis said. They continue to blow me away by how they are dealing with this. For Robin, its a struggle some days, but she has deep reserves of resilience. Their mother made them the way they are.
Lori DeMoe grew up in Tioga, N.D. She was a teachers aide for special-needs children while her husband Steven, 62, worked for the Union Pacific Railroad. Her rural upbringing instilled competency and self-reliance. She sewed all her kids Halloween costumes, knitted clothes and taught the women in her small town how to breast-feed.
After Loris diagnoses in 2006 at age 50, Kapsambelis asked her how she wanted to be remembered.
I want to be remembered for being happy and for being a good mother, she replied.
Her children, Jessica, Robin and their youngest sister, Chelsey, 31, knew they had a 50% chance of having the mutation. Jessica wanted to know immediately.
I found out in 2006, she said. I felt very, very relieved, but also guilty because I had all these cousins with the gene.
Chelsey, who lives in Wyoming, was also negative.
Robin resisted. She looked like her mom, acted like her mom and inherited her moms penchant for arts and crafts. She worried about what else she may have inherited.
All the while, her family was part of an Alzheimers study at the University of Pittsburgh. As a participant, Robin could find out whether she carried the gene mutation.
The uncertainty weighed on her. She would lose her car keys and wonder whether the disease was starting.
Her father, Steven, who has no Alzheimers on his side of the family, was caring for her mother in Laramie, Wyo. He urged Robin not to find out.
At the time I didnt know if she could handle it, he said.
Robin made a decision.
I needed to know so I could move forward, she said.
In 2012, she sat in a conference room at the University of Pittsburgh with Jessica and her aunt awaiting the results. A genetic counselor came in.
Robin had the mutation.
She cursed and broke into tears. No one knew what to say.
Jessica finally blurted out, Ill carry a baby for you.
Robin declined the baby, but the pact was born. Details would come later.
Time took on a new urgency now. Robin quit doing things she didnt like. She ended an unhappy five-year relationship, left her job in a Denver chiropractors office and moved to Laramie to be a hairstylist and help take care of her mother.
Lori was declining fast. Her memory was fading; she wrecked the car and grew increasingly combative.
The family decided to put her in a long-term care facility in Tioga. She refused. Steven told her she was needed for a research project involving her brother who was in the same facility. As sick as she was, she jumped at the chance to be part of something that might lead to a cure. Except it wasnt true.
Basically we lied to her, but sometimes you have to do that with Alzheimers, Steven said. They wont go into a facility willingly.
Lori died last year at age 56.
Robin had kept her diagnosis secret from her dad, not wanting to burden him as he struggled with her mother. Two months after her mothers death she told him.
My heart broke, he said. Its an odd feeling to know your daughter will not live as long as you will. I thought I had two out of three daughters safe and one more to go. I hoped to bat a thousand.
The familys experience with the disease has left Robin and Jessica with few illusions.
You dont go gracefully when you have Alzheimers, Robin said. My biggest fear is that they wont find a cure, and Ill go through what my mom went through.
Jessica believes shes ready for what may be coming.
I can say that for certain, she said. I have already seen it. It happens slowly, not overnight.
The two have recently been traveling the country to give talks and raise awareness about Alzheimers.
So far, Robin has no symptoms. Shes part of a clinical trial involving people certain to get early onset Alzheimers and receives the drug gantenerumab, which she hopes will prevent or slow down the disease.
Researchers are giving the drug or a placebo to participants before symptoms start.
We are hoping it will prevent the abnormal amyloid plaque from accumulating in the brain, said Dr. Sarah Berman, an associate professor of neurology who heads up the trial site at the University of Pittsburgh. This is a very exciting trial because we have never had anything that might possibly prevent this devastating disease.
Robin gets an injection each month. Every other month she comes to Denver for an MRI. Once a year she goes to the University of Pittsburgh for three days of tests, including a lumbar puncture, half a dozen brain scans, and cognitive testing and mental exams.
The tests are grueling but offer a glimmer of hope.
I am planning my future like any normal person, she said. I plan to be the first survivor of Alzheimers disease.
Kelly is a special correspondent.
Click here for a Spanish version of this story
On the advice of budget officials, the Los Angeles City Council agreed earlier this year to consider borrowing tens of millions of dollars to pay for high-profile legal settlements and court judgments.
The money would help offset several multimillion-dollar settlements approved by the city in recent years, including a $200-million agreement to end a lawsuit brought by disability-rights groups over the lack of accessible housing.
But the proposal to borrow up to $60 million using a judgment obligation bond is now coming under fire.
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Backers contend that borrowing the money will help offset the need to rely on the citys reserves. Skeptics say theyre not convinced that the city needs to incur the $20 million in interest payments that come with the bond.
A City Council vote on the borrowing was postponed Friday to provide for more discussion of the plan.
City Councilman Paul Krekorian, who chairs the councils Budget and Finance Committee, described himself as hesitant about the proposal. He said increased revenues and cost-cutting by city departments have helped reduce this years deficit, which now stands at $9.75 million.
Im not convinced that the judgment obligation bond is a necessary step for us to take, Krekorian said.
In a letter sent to city leaders earlier this month, Controller Ron Galperin opposed the bond proposal. He cited improving city finances and the high cost of borrowing.
About $38 million in unspent city money will be returned by departments at the end of this fiscal year, Galperins office said.
I believe that debt financing of liability claims should only be used in extraordinary circumstances and in times of great need, Galperin wrote in a letter to the council and Mayor Eric Garcetti. This year does not meet those criteria, and the city should live within its means instead of borrowing unnecessarily.
The bond vote comes months after the citys top budget official issued a report in January warning of a new trend of increased liability payouts due to lawsuits and court settlements.
The city normally budgets about $60 million for its liability fund, but paid out about $110 million for legal cases last fiscal year.
Assistant City Administrative Officer Ben Ceja said Friday his office still stands by the bond proposal. Hes concerned the city will have unexpected borrowing needs and need to dip into the reserve fund.
The city seeks to keep its reserve at 5% of the General Fund, but the reserve recently dipped below that level.
Speaking to reporters last week, Garcetti defended the borrowing plan, saying the city would experience a shock to the system if it attempted to pay those legal costs from this years budget.
On Friday, however, Garcetti spokesman George Kivork said the mayor remains open to other strategies.
The mayors priority is maintaining the citys ability to deliver critical services while maintaining healthy reserves, Kivork said. He is evaluating all options to protect services and the reserve fund, which include a judgment obligation bond.
dakota.smith@latimes.com
Twitter: @dakotacdsmith
Times staff writer David Zahniser contributed to this report.
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A man who refused to pay for coffee and doughnuts at an eatery was shot and wounded by El Monte police Monday morning after he threw a knife at them, authorities said.
The shooting occurred just before 1 a.m. in the 10500 block of Garvey Avenue in El Monte, according to Deputy Juanita Navarro-Suarez, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department, which is assisting in the investigation.
The man, whose identity wasnt released, was taken to a hospital, where he was treated for a gunshot wound to his leg, Navarro-Suarez said in a written statement. He is expected to survive.
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No officers were injured during the shooting.
According to sheriffs investigators, the man approached a window at a Yum Yum Donuts shop, tapped on the glass with a knife and demanded doughnuts and coffee.
A doughnut shop employee handed the man some pastries and coffee. The man refused to pay and walked away, Navarro-Suarez said.
When officers responded to a report at the shop, they saw the man, who was still holding a knife, she said.
The man threw a cup of hot coffee toward one of the officers, the deputy said.
Two officers used a Taser, but both attempts were ineffective, authorities said.
After the Taser attempts, the man allegedly raised the knife and threw it toward the officers, Sheriffs Homicide Bureau Lt. Joe Mendoza said. Thats when police fired at the man.
Detectives found a large, metal knife at the scene.
veronica.rocha@latimes.com
Twitter: VeronicaRochaLA
UPDATES:
1:45 p.m.: This article was updated with details about the shooting and the suspects condition.
This article was originally published at 6:05 a.m.
Human remains believed to be those of a missing Northern California woman have been recovered from a lake days after her husband confessed to dumping her body there, authorities said.
Divers were searching the waters surrounding Brandy Creek Marina at Whiskeytown Lake, 14 miles west of Redding, on Friday when they possibly found Bridget Marie Jacobs leg anchored to a cement cinder block with a tie strap, according Sgt. Brian Jackson of the Shasta County Sheriffs Office.
Based upon the condition of the leg, it appears that Bridgets body has been dismembered, he said in a written statement.
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The next day, divers discovered additional remains, which also appeared to have been dismembered, Jackson said.
Her husband, Philip Jacobs, directed detectives to the location on Tuesday when he confessed to throwing her body into Whiskeytown Lake, the sergeant said. Philip Jacobs, 56, has been arrested on suspicion of murder after he reportedly told deputies that his wife died during an argument.
Authorities began to investigate the case on March 15, when deputies received a frightening 911 call from the couples home in the 3800 block of Westridge Road in Cottonwood. A woman could be heard screaming before the line was disconnected, Jackson said.
When deputies arrived at the couples home at 11 p.m., no one was home.
Investigators checked phone records and determined the call came from Philip Jacobs cellphone, authorities said. The call was made in the area of Cottonwood, a historic frontier town 57 miles north of Chico.
Five days later, Bridget Jacobs father reported her missing. Deputies also discovered she missed two days of work.
When deputies went to the couples home again, Philip Jacobs said he made the 911 call during an argument with Bridget Jacobs. He told them his wife had left home with her purse, cellphone and 4-year-old Pomeranian/Yorkshire-mix dog, Abijah, Jackson said.
Detectives with the Sheriffs Offices Major Crimes Unit took over the investigation and began searching the couples neighborhood.
Detectives also searched the couples home and found Bridget Jacobs phone in a safe as well as other items of evidence indicating foul play, sheriffs officials said.
They also discovered Philip Jacobs had driven to Whiskeytown Lake on the night of March 19 with a blue boat in tow, Jackson said.
Throughout the probe into Bridget Jacobs whereabouts, Philip Jacobs maintained that his wife had left their home after the argument on March 15, he said. According to deputies, the couple had marital problems.
In an interview with detectives, Philip Jacobs later explained that he needed to talk about how accidents happen, Jackson said.
He told deputies that Bridget Jacobs fell down a flight of stairs, possibly broke her neck and died during the March 15 argument, the sergeant said.
Philip Jacobs admitted to keeping his wifes body inside the home until March 19, when he placed her in the blue boat and drove to Brandy Creek Marina at Whiskeytown Lake, Jackson said.
Jacobs rowed to an area of the lake and dumped the body, which he anchored to a cinder block, and then drove home, Jackson said.
During the interview with detectives, Jacobs showed detectives the area where he dumped his wifes body, but declined to give details, Jackson said.
Bridget Jacobs dog is still missing.
veronica.rocha@latimes.com
Twitter: VeronicaRochaLA
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San Diego police installed audio sensors that detect gunfire in four neighborhoods last November, and the first batch of data shows that only one in four shootings were reported to police.
Of 61 shootings, 26% were called in by residents, according to data collected by the system called ShotSpotter.
The sensors were installed in Valencia Park, Lincoln Park, Skyline and OFarrell. Most of the activations between Nov. 26 and March 27 included multiple gunshots, and nearly all of them happened at night many between 9 p.m. and midnight.
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San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman said the early data seem to confirm what officers have heard from residents: Theyre afraid to reach out to police for fear of retaliation.
ShotSpotter has given a voice to the voiceless, she said.
But community leaders critical of the system said the network has done little to give voice to residents, most of whom werent included in any talks about the technology.
Its almost like [this technology] is being shoved down the communitys throat. said Bishop Cornelius Bowser of Charity Apostolic Church. It tells the community, We know whats best for you rather than letting the community tell [the department] what they need, he said.
The audio equipment is placed at least 30 to 40 feet above street level to determine when and where shootings take place. Once the sensors pinpoint where the gunshots came from, the sound is sent to a review center where a specialist determines if it was gunfire.
The review center is staffed by employees of SST Inc., the company that sells ShotSpotter, not the police department.
If the sound is determined to be gunfire, the incident is forwarded to police. Officers in the field get the location, time of the shooting and the number of rounds fired. They also can get information such as how many shooters are present and if theyre on the move.
The technology is used in more than 90 cities worldwide including New York, Oakland and Miami.
Zimmerman said the system has informed officers of shootings they never would have known about, and allowed them to respond more quickly and accurately to ones the community did call in.
Theyre able to swoop in on evidence left at the scene and, in one case, it led officers to a weapon used in a killing and several home invasion robberies. In another instance, officers got to the scene so fast a teenager who fired his gun didnt have time to get rid of it and was arrested.
What we want to be is proactive, Zimmerman said, and send a message that if youre going to fire a gun in our neighborhoods, were going to do everything that we possibly can to prevent that.
And if we cant prevent it, to take you into custody as quickly as we can.
When the technology was first unveiled, San Diego community leaders were concerned that it was installed with little to no input from residents living in those neighborhoods. They also worried it would contribute to the over-policing of communities of color.
Those concerns persist, said Bowser, who is also a member of the Black Advisory Board to the San Diego Police Department.
Bowser partnered with the department to combat gang violence nearly a decade ago, and he helped shape the Community Assistance Support Team to stop retaliatory gang violence.
Over the years, he said, he has seen how effective community policing initiatives can be in trying to diminish violence and create strong ties with the community.
Bowser said he doesnt feel ShotSpotter is a system that will help build partnerships, in part because of how little the community was involved in the implementation, he said.
This should have been something the community wanted, not just something the police wanted, Bowser said.
Invasion of privacy is also a concern, he said.
Although the system isnt designed to pick up conversation, there have been instances in which conversations immediately following shootings have been used in court.
In one case, an Oakland mans dying words were used as evidence against his suspected killer.
Chief Zimmerman said it was too early to say whether the department will keep or expand the year-long program. It cost $245,000 and was paid for through asset forfeiture funds.
Winkley writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.
lyndsay.winkley@sduniontribune.com
Varun Soni straightened his shoulders and grasped the podium, his dark suit flanked by the stately white robes of priests and ministers.
A beloved professor had been stabbed to death. As USCs head chaplain, it fell to Soni to help the hundreds gathered outside that day to process their loss.
And so he spoke to them of the stories hed collected, the pain hed shared, the grief he had witnessed. And he offered words to help them, though not from the Bible or any other religious text.
People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel, he said, quoting Maya Angelou, before he bowed his head in a universal Amen.
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Soni is an unusual college chaplain. He is a Hindu. He has a law degree. In 2008, when USC hired him as its dean of religious life, he was the sole head chaplain at a major American university who was not only not a Christian but not an ordained Christian at that. Today, at a time when differences religious and otherwise grow ever more fraught and complex, he remains all but alone in breaking the Protestant chaplain mold, except for a rabbi at Dartmouth, another at Wesleyan, a Buddhist at Emerson.
Its very, very hard to divorce the pomp and circumstances of academia from particularly Protestant traditions, said Dena Bodian, president of the National Assn. of College and University Chaplains. Chaplains like Varun enable us all to rethink what chaplaincy in higher ed could look like.
Father Richard Sunwoo, left, pastor at the Caruso Catholic Center, Varun Soni, middle, the dean of religious life, and Rev. James Burklo, associate dean of religious life, embrace during a ceremony of prayer and remembrance at USC. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
The job, after all, is about much more than Christianity. As USCs spiritual leader and moral voice, Soni oversees about 90 campus religious groups including atheists and agnostics, Bahais, Zoroastrians.
Inside and outside the lecture halls and dormitories, he bridges what he sees as the gap between the slow-moving wheels of academic change and a new generations impatience with tradition. He counters the tendency to split apart and subdivide with a message of tolerance, coexistence, respect.
If we want to know what religion is going to look like in the United States in 20 years, just look at whats happening on college campuses now, he said. Particularly at a time when our country is so polarized, and people arent speaking to each other.
Soni himself exemplifies the many in the one. He holds five degrees from Harvard Divinity School, UC Santa Barbara, UCLAs law school and the University of Cape Town, where he wrote his doctoral dissertation in religious studies on Bob Marley as a spiritual figure who used his work to spread a divine message. While an undergraduate at Tufts University, he studied in India at Bodh Gaya, where Buddha attained enlightenment.
Hes consulted for the Obama administration, produced a graphic novel and advises celebrity religious scholar Reza Aslan. The son of immigrant doctors, he was raised in Newport Beach, where he went to a Catholic elementary school and learned from his best friends, who were Jewish, and his grandfather, a Buddhist who grew up around Mahatma Gandhi.
Gandhi, thats why I went to law school and studied religion, Soni said, nodding to a framed portrait hung alongside the Dalai Lama and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in his office. Those are my guys people who brought together the spiritual and the scholarly world for the purposes of social change.
What better place to bridge these two worlds than a college campus?
Were oriented around meaning and purpose and authenticity and identity and significance. Varun Soni
Its not easy, Soni acknowledged, to guide a generation that grew up seeing religion as a source of terrorism and patriarchy, whose institutions covered up child abuse and preached discrimination. More and more millennials are rejecting formal religion but seeking a spiritual sense of purpose.
It helps that Sonis approach centers more on commonality than God.
Were oriented around meaning and purpose and authenticity and identity and significance, he said. My concern is that as students leave traditional religious congregations, they havent been taught how to build an intentional community of like-minded people in a way that creates empathy and compassion and a sense of belonging. Thats compounded by the fact that this is a generation that was born into technology. You may have 500 friends on Facebook, but what does that mean in real life?
Around campus, hes facilitated interfaith retreats, promoted LGBTQ Bible studies and taught courses on misunderstood religions such as Islam and Sikhism. My programming is my pulpit, he likes to say. After the Trump administration announced a travel ban that alienated Muslims, his phone rang nonstop. Empowered by Sonis inclusive approach, dozens of students, professors and religious leaders rallied alongside their Muslim peers and attended a local mosque, where they joined in the midday Jumah prayer.
If we want to know what religion is going to look like in the United States in 20 years, just look at whats happening on college campuses now, said Varun Soni, dean of religious life at USC. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Varun does a good job of keeping us moving in the same direction, said Dov Wagner, a rabbi at USC.
Soni, who is 42, could be mistaken for a graduate student. His hair is cut in a fade. He often teaches in jeans. He knows how to speak to a generation used to abbreviations and hashtags.
One afternoon, he walked his students through the religious history of northern Indias Punjab, where his family is from. He rolled up his sleeve to show them his Sikh kara, a delicate steel bracelet he has worn since his mother gave it to him when he was small.
Traditionally, these are much thicker and protected ones wrist when you went to war, he said, attempting to mimic a sword fight with his hands. Luckily, my days of swordplay are over.
After class, one student came up and said he was Punjabi as well, then shyly reached out for a handshake.
Right on, Pun-ja-bis! Soni cheered.
Soni tries hard to reach everyone. As a way to include students who dont believe in God, for instance, he hired a humanist chaplain to collaborate with other religious leaders on campus.
Because of Varun, these other chaplains arent threatened by me, said Bart Campolo, who uses his skills as a former pastor to guide students in a secular way. Im not here to attack anybodys belief system. They realize Im just another guy trying to help students answer lifes ultimate questions.
Eugenia Huang, whose father died a week before she went off to college, said she was grateful to encounter Soni at a freshman dinner, at which he urged students to feel free to come talk to him.
I really liked the idea that he was about spirituality, instead of forcing any religion down my throat, Huang said. You often see people turn to religion when theyre sick or experiencing pain, and so I had always viewed it as something for the weak.
Now a sophomore, she is taking Sonis global religions course, which has changed her thinking: Im learning that a lot of the times, people turn to religion for the community and they just want to know: Whats our purpose?
Soni also has inspired a number of non-Christian students to pursue careers in religious leadership.
Interfaith Youth Core in Chicago has led the way in bringing college students of different faiths together. Founder Eboo Patel speaks of students whove learned from Soni as if theyre top players in a fantasy draft. The Buddhist who went to multiple divinity schools in order to one day be a campus chaplain like Soni. The Muslim doctor who is studying religious diversity as it applies to healthcare.
You dont get interested in that unless youre influenced by somebody like Varun, Patel said. Now multiply that by 25 or 50 young people a year, and multiply that by 10 or 15 years, and think about the number of people who are going into everything from diplomacy to chaplaincy to medicine to business who have a really refined sense of religious diversity.
As an ever more diverse group of religious leaders seeks positions on ever more diverse campuses, universities will need to let go of outdated assumptions about what a head chaplain should look like, said Adeel Zeb, the imam at the Claremont Colleges.
Were at a crossroads, said Zeb, who was elected recently as the first Muslim to lead the national group of college chaplains. If you start defining a chaplain as a spiritual healer, an ethical leader and emotional healer on campus, regardless of anyones faith traditions, if you start focusing on the human emotions and the human spirit, it enables more diverse possibilities.
One day in February, dozens of USC religious leaders of many faiths gathered in a conference room next door to Sonis office. It was their first all-chaplain meeting since Donald Trumps inauguration, and each came troubled by the anxieties many of their students were feeling.
Soni sat back and listened to his colleagues Episcopalian, Catholic, Mormon, Buddhist, Jewish weigh in on the hatred unleashed by the recent political rhetoric.
So what should our role be, running our different groups on campus? Soni asked. Is an attack on one religion an attack on all religions?
Campolo, the humanist chaplain, brought up the words of German Pastor Martin Niemoller, familiar to everyone in the room:
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me.
A fellow pastor led the group in a prayer. They stood in a circle, raised their right hands toward Soni and vowed as one to lead their communities on the path they all shared.
rosanna.xia@latimes.com
Follow @RosannaXia for more education news
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Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 3
By Khalid Kazimov Trend:
A group of Iranian conservatives have called on Ebrahim Raisi, the custodian of a wealthy charity and the organization in charge of the countrys holiest shrine, to put up his candidacy in the upcoming presidential elections to be held May 19.
Some supporters of the conservative front in the Islamic Republic have launched a social media campaign calling on the cleric who is in charge of the charity organization of Astan Quds Razavi to participate in the election.
In the meantime, a group of the members of Irans Islamic Society of Students have also issued a statement urging the cleric to run for the 12th round of presidential elections in Iran.
Ebrahim Raisi, however, has not responded to the calls, yet.
President Trump pledged strong backing for one of the United States most important and controversial Arab allies, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi, as the two held private White House meetings Monday at the start of a week of high-stakes international diplomacy.
We agree on so many things, Trump said of Sisi as the two men met in the Oval Office and shook hands.
Sisi, Trump said, has done a fantastic job in a very difficult situation. We are very much behind Egypt and the people of Egypt.
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You have a great friend and ally in the United States and in me, Trump told Sisi.
Sisi, whose government has been accused of killing, jailing or torturing tens of thousands of opponents, is the first Egyptian head of state to visit the White House since 2009.
Responding to Trump through an interpreter, Sisi said he admired the U.S. presidents unique personality and praised Trump for fighting this evil ideology, an allusion to Islamist-inspired terrorism.
In sharp contrast to the Obama administration, which kept its distance from Sisi and never invited him to Washington, Trump had not been expected to raise critical issues such as human rights, the presidents aides said. Instead, the daylong session was aimed at rebooting a bilateral relationship often strained in the past, a senior administration official said. Trump allowed numerous photo ops throughout his day with Sisi.
At $1.3 billion a year, Egypt is the second-largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid, after Israel. In exchange, Egypt is one of the few Arab countries to maintain diplomatic ties with Israel and serves as a backstop control over the Gaza Strip.
Planned budget cuts that would gut foreign aid may put some of Egypts funding in danger, but administration officials said the security of the Arab worlds most populous country will not be threatened.
Sisi is also seeking to have the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist movement that dates to 1928, designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization. In 2013, Sisi, as commander of the military, overthrew Egypts first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, who was a Muslim Brotherhood leader. The group has since been outlawed in Egypt, but many human rights organizations and longtime regional observers do not consider it to be a radical advocate of terrorism.
Yet evoking the fight against Islamist-inspired terrorism seemed to be sufficient to win Trumps support.
President Trump aims to reaffirm the deep and abiding U.S. commitment to Egypts security, stability and prosperity, the administration official said, briefing reporters before Mondays meetings on condition that he not be named, a common practice in government. We are going to maintain a strong and sufficient level of support to Egypt and Jordan, the official added.
Sisis visit kicked off a consequential foreign-policy week for the Trump administration. Jordans King Abdullah II goes to the White House on Wednesday, followed by Chinese President Xi Jinpings two-day summit with Trump at his resort in Florida, a meeting that likely will be the businessman and former reality TV celebritys most complex diplomatic challenge yet.
Even before Monday, the Trump administration had unusually kind words for Sisi, a heavy-handed strongman who won election in 2014 with 93% of the vote after leading a bloody crackdown on Islamic and other opponents.
Trump has cited Sisis courage in fighting Islamic State, the Sunni Muslim terrorist group that has made inroads in Sinai and other parts of Egypt and killed dozens of Egyptians, including Coptic Christians, in attacks.
In 2013, the Obama administration suspended the $1.3-billion aid package after the Sisi-led Egyptian military ousted Morsi and embarked on a broad crackdown against perceived domestic opponents.
But the Trump administration has indicated human rights will not be a public priority. The senior official said it was most effective to handle such issues in a private, more discreet way.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer echoed that stance Monday, as the Trump-Sisi meeting was underway, when pressed by reporters on the lack of a public White House condemnation of Egypts human rights record.
We understand the concern, and I think those are the kind of things that I believe progress is made privately, Spicer said.
He hinted that what he called the new day in the relationship between Egypt and the United States was not free of blemishes. It was a candid dialogue during which they discussed both areas of cooperation and of concern, he told reporters.
Human rights advocates here and abroad were appalled.
Inviting [Sisi] for an official visit to Washington as tens of thousands of Egyptians rot in jail and when torture is again the order of the day is a strange way to build a stable strategic relationship, said Sarah Margon, Washington director at Human Rights Watch.
Sisi has presided over near-total impunity for abuses by the military and security forces and restrictions on civil and political rights, she said, a heavy blow to hopes of liberalization after the so-called Arab Spring uprisings and the ouster of longtime Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
Egypt is also holding an American citizen, Aya Hijazi, in prison on what supporters say are trumped-up charges. She was arrested in 2014 for setting up a nongovernmental organization in Cairo to aid street children. Many such groups promote democracy and human rights, and the Sisi government regards them as subversive.
President Obama restored the military aid package, which included Cairos purchase of a dozen F-16 fighter jets, in early 2015 as he sought support from the regions Sunni leaders for the U.S.-brokered nuclear deal between world powers and Iran.
However, the Obama government slated for 2018 an end to the so-called cash-flow financing system, which allows Egypt to place advance orders for expensive U.S. weaponry. Trump officials said they were prepared to reexamine ending cash-flow financing in their conversations with Sisi and his delegation.
Ahead of Sisis arrival at the White House, Secret Service officers cleared Lafayette Park, across the street, of demonstrators.
Sisi may also have pressed Trump on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Egypt, which, like Jordan, has a peace treaty with Israel, was alarmed by the administrations lack of endorsement of a Palestinian state. The so-called two-state solution of Israel and a Palestinian nation living side by side, sovereign and in peace has for a generation been the bedrock of a solution to the seemingly intractable conflict. But Trump, during a visit from hard-line Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said he would be open to either a two-state or a one-state solution. Critics say the latter would make it impossible for Israel to retain both its democratic and Jewish character.
tracy.wilkinson@latimes.com
For more on international affairs, follow @TracyKWilkinson on Twitter
noah.bierman@latimes.com
Twitter: @noahbierman
Patricia Washington sees a simple calculus: If you take someones life, you better be prepared to lose your own.
The death penalty is just, she believes an unsurprising view in this rural town a short drive from the state prison that houses death row. Executions have come up a lot lately in conversations at Washingtons work, a tiny eatery tucked into an Exxon service station off Highway 65.
As she carried trays brimming with chicken tenders, fried okra and corn nuggets one recent morning, she reflected on some of her regulars the prison guards.
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Theres a lot on their mind. You can see it in their eyes, Washington said.
Starting the day after Easter, the state is scheduled to execute eight men in 11 days, and people in Gould and across Arkansas are wondering how so many executions will affect prison staffers and color perceptions of this Bible Belt state. Two men will die each day on April 17, 20, 24 and 27.
No state has executed this many people in such a short span since the Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976. The closest was Texas, which executed eight men in both May and June of 1997, according to the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center, which opposes capital punishment.
Walk around Gould, and its easy to find someone who has an opinion about the looming executions. (Gareth Patterson / For The Times)
Arkansas hasnt put anyone to death since 2005. That year, Eric Nance, 45, having offered no final words, was pronounced dead on Nov. 28 at 9:24 p.m. at the Cummins Unit just outside Gould. Since then, court challenges and difficulties in obtaining lethal injection drugs have stopped the killings.
But now the states Republican governor, Asa Hutchinson, says the state must act before its supply of midazolam, an anesthetic used in the lethal injection cocktail, expires at the end of the month.
Hutchinson set the execution dates in February after state Atty. Gen. Leslie Rutledge informed him that the condemned four black, four white, and all convicted of murders between 1989 and 1999 had exhausted their legal challenges. In all, they killed 11 people, some by the gun, some by strangulation.
This action is necessary to fulfill the requirement of the law, Hutchinson said in an email. It is also important to bring closure to the victims families.
Walk around Gould, a predominantly black town of 837, and its easy to find someone who has an opinion on the looming executions. The presence of two prisons, the Cummins Unit and Varner Unit, is inescapable even if the main features north of town are towering grain silos and freshly tilled rice and cotton fields, with soil so dark it appears as if theyve been covered with miles of coffee grounds.
But off in the distance, one can see the glistening barbed wire of Cummins and Varner, which together can house nearly 3,500 inmates. At Cummins, guards on horseback patrol green gullies bordering the prison grounds as lower-level inmates, dressed in all white, guide lawn mowers and weed whackers along the impeccably manicured slopes.
Lower-level inmates from Cummins Unit walk back to the prison after cutting grass along the highway. (Gareth Patterson / For The Times)
On a recent muggy afternoon, Mayor Essie Mae Cableton sat behind her desk at City Hall, a tiny single-level structure with barred windows and peeling paint that also includes the Police Department, the fire station, a courtroom and a place for people to pay their water bill.
Cableton, 75, worked as a guard for the Department of Correction for nearly two decades 10 of those years at Cummins, which houses the execution chamber. She recalled walking the prison grounds on the days of past executions. It felt, in some ways, like business as usual.
But this time feels different.
Its too many at one time, Cableton said. Now, Im not saying that theyre not some bad individuals. But its just too many at one time.
Gould Mayor Essie Mae Cableton used to work as a prison guard, including 10 years at Cummins Unit. (Gareth Patterson / For The Times)
This is just a ghastly assembly line of death. Rita Sklar, executive director of the ACLU of Arkansas
Death penalty opponents say conducting so many executions in 11 days increases the likelihood of mistakes that could cause needless suffering. They also object to the use of midazolam, which they say has contributed to some botched executions in which inmates took a long time to die. Some states bar the use of midazolam for executions.
Hutchinson and Wendy Kelley, the director of the Arkansas Department of Correction, have not expressed any concerns about possible mishaps during the executions.
Thats little comfort to critics.
This is just a ghastly assembly line of death, said Rita Sklar, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas. It does not comport with human decency.
Sklar, along with members from the nonprofit Arkansas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, have held vigils outside the governors mansion, calling on him to halt the executions.
Last month, nearly two dozen former corrections officers from around the country sent a letter to Hutchinson, urging him to consider the strain and stress eight executions will place on corrections staff.
For those of us who have participated in or overseen executions, we have directly experienced the psychological challenges of the experience and its aftermath, they wrote. Others of us have witnessed this same strain in our colleagues.
Arkansas law requires that at least six citizens who dont know the victim or the condemned witness each execution, but the state has had trouble finding as many as 48 volunteers.
Last month, Kelley attended a Rotary Club lunch meeting in Little Rock, about 80 miles north of here, and asked a question: Would anyone like to sit in on the executions? No one volunteered. A corrections spokesman said Kelleys efforts to find witnesses are continuing.
Back at the Exxon station, Washingtons co-worker, Betty Petty, thought about how shed answer such a question from Kelley.
Id consider it, said Petty, who lived in California for decades but recently returned to Gould to care for her ill mother. Justice is justice. I think this is justice.
Washington, a lifelong Gould resident whom customers affectionately call Miss Trish, wondered whether she was serious.
Would you, for real? she asked.
I would consider it, Petty said with a nod. I would.
Washington, with no response, turned and walked back into the kitchen.
Nationwide, support for the death penalty has steadily declined in recent years from its peak of about 80% support in 1994. A Pew Research Center poll last September found that 49% of Americans favored the death penalty for convicted murderers, while 42% opposed it. (Blacks tend to oppose the death penalty at higher rates than do whites.)
By comparison, a University of Arkansas survey of voters in 2015 found that 71% of Arkansans supported the death penalty, while 19% opposed it.
In Gould, the issue splits some households.
When asked about executions, David Day a 78-year-old retired serviceman who grew up working on a cotton farm where the Arkansas and Mississippi rivers meet cited the Old Testament.
Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, he said. They cant live in society anymore.
But his wife, Deborah, 63, disagreed: I could never take a life or want to see someone lose their life. Im a Christian woman.
The men scheduled to die a portion of the 34 on death row in Arkansas are Don Davis, Stacey Johnson, Jack Jones, Ledell Lee, Jason McGehee, Bruce Ward, Kenneth Williams and Marcel Williams.
The story of Kenneth Williams resonates strongly here in Lincoln County in the southeastern part of the state. Shortly after getting sentenced to life inside Cummins Unit for killing a college cheerleader in 1998, Williams managed to escape.
Genie Boren, wife of Cecil Boren, who was shot by Kenneth Williams in 1999. (Gareth Patterson / For The Times)
It was a Sunday morning and Cecil Boren was tending his yard on a farm about two miles from Cummins where he and his wife, Genie, lived. She wasnt home when Williams broke in, stole Cecils guns and shot him to death before driving off down a gravel road in his truck.
Genie, 73, still lives on the farm. On a recent afternoon, she stood in the yard, near the flowering camellia bush where her husband collapsed in a pool of blood nearly 18 years ago. Since then, one of her husbands sisters has died, and now another is in hospice care.
Weve been ready a long time, Genie said. If this doesnt happen now, who knows, I may be dead without seeing justice.
She plans to attend Williams execution on April 27.
kurtis.lee@latimes.com
Twitter: @kurtisalee
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The dates with death are set.
Arkansas is scheduled to execute eight men in 11 days later this month.
No state has executed this many individuals in such a short span since the death penalty was reinstated by the Supreme Court in 1976. The men were all convicted of murders that took place between 1989 and 1999.
Here are the men and the dates they are scheduled to die.
April 17
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Don Davis
Sentenced to death: 1992
Crime: Murder of Jane Daniels, who lived in Rogers, Ark., and was shot and killed inside her home.
Bruce Ward
Sentenced to death: 1990
Crime: Murder of Rebecca Doss, 18, at a Little Rock, Ark., gas station.
April 20
Stacey Johnson
Sentenced to death: 1994
Crime: Murder of Carol Heath of De Queen, Ark., who was beaten to death inside her apartment as her two young children slept. Johnson says hes innocent.
Ledell Lee
Sentenced to death: 1995
Crime: Murder of Debra Reese, who was beaten to death in her Little Rock home. Lee says hes innocent.
April 24
Jack Jones
Sentenced to death: 1996
Crime: Murder and rape of Mary Phillips in Bald Knob, Ark.
Marcel Williams
Sentenced to death: 1997
Crime: Murder and kidnapping of Stacy Rae Errickson, who was pumping gas at a suburban Little Rock service station.
April 27
Jason McGehee
Sentenced to death: 1997
Crime: Murder and kidnapping of John Melbourne Jr., 15, in Boone County, Ark.
Kenneth Williams
Sentenced to death: 2000
Crime: Murder of Cecil Boren in Grady, Ark., who was shot and killed on his farm.
kurtis.lee@latimes.com
Twitter: @kurtisalee
Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. Its Monday, April 3, and heres whats happening across California:
TOP STORIES
Arrests plummet
Police across California in 2015 recorded the lowest number of arrests in nearly 50 years. Some in law enforcement say the decline is due to diminished manpower and changes in the criminal justice system. Others say officers have lost motivation in the face of increased scrutiny by the public. Los Angeles Times
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Falling down
Once middle class, she hung on as long as she could. Now she and her two dogs live in a car in Carlsbad. Steve Lopez tells her story. Los Angeles Times
Traffic deaths rise
L.A. officials have vowed to dramatically reduce traffic deaths in the city. Despite the new campaign, fatalities involving drivers, pedestrians and cyclists are on the rise, sparking questions and alarm. Los Angeles Times
Hot, hot, hot
Created in California by Vietnamese immigrants, Sriracha is trying its luck in Vietnam. Los Angeles Times
L.A. STORIES
Reinventing the mall: Malls around the country are struggling with declining traffic and the rise of online shopping. But the Westfield mall in Arcadia is an exception to the rule thanks to a focus on Asian retailers, trendy eateries and upscale service. Los Angeles Times
Refinery battle: Elected officials and community activists say the use of a hazardous chemical at the troubled Torrance Refining Co. should be eliminated after repeated fires and explosions at the facility in recent years. Los Angeles Times
Car war: The very Echo Park note you write when your neighbor hasnt moved his car off the street in months. The Eastsider
Homeless help: With billions of dollars at the ready, how much headway can L.A. make on homelessness? LA Observed
Access debate: The Hollywood sign access battle is about to heat up. On April 18, the Beachwood Drive gate to Hollywood sign trail will close. Los Angeles Times
Suburban king: Orange Countys master builder looks back at what he created. Orange County Register
POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT
Movie plug: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told a top government ethics official that he should not have publicly plugged The Lego Batman Move a film in which he has a financial stake and promised to exercise greater caution in the future. Los Angeles Times
Election daze: Yes, theres another election in L.A. on Tuesday. Heres everything you need to know and why it matters. Los Angeles Times
Common ground: Beyond the rhetoric and anger, there is room for common ground on immigration if we try. Sacramento Bee
Fighting back: Californias game plan to block Trump at the border. The American Prospect
Hairy lesson: Does Rep. Maxine Waters response to Bill OReilly over his comments about her hair offer a broader lesson for Democrats in the Trump era? Quartz
Home support: Despite facing heavy criticism in Washington for his handling of the Trump-Russia inquiry, Rep. Devin Nunes has plenty of support back home in Tulare. CNN
CRIME AND COURTS
Cameras off: Police now wear body cameras, but they dont always have them turned on when they open fire. Since the Los Angeles Police Department launched its ambitious 7,000-camera deployment in August 2015, there have been at least four shootings in which officers didnt have their cameras on at the time, according to an L.A. Times review of LAPD statements and reports. Los Angeles Times
Court changes: If a November ballot measure to speed up executions goes into effect, the California Supreme Court will have to decide hundreds of death penalty appeals in rapid succession. That mandate would turn the states highest court into what analysts say would be a death penalty court, forced for years to devote about 90% of its time to capital appeals. Los Angeles Times
CALIFORNIA CLIMATE
Bugging: Long-legged bugs that look like mosquitoes on steroids are the first wave in whats expected to be a prolonged inundation of insects this year in California. Experts said heavy winter precipitation has fueled plant growth not seen since at least 2005, and that in turn should produce bumper crops of butterflies, moths, beetles, mosquitoes and even subterranean termites. San Diego Union-Tribune
Rivers edge: The awesome story of how water from the Colorado River arrives at our tap. The New Yorker
Dam secrets: Officials refuse to release key records about the design and safety of the Oroville Dam, despite a near catastrophe there this year. Sacramento Bee
CALIFORNIA CULTURE
Inspirations: Varun Soni is an unusual college chaplain. He is a Hindu. He has a law degree. He is one the few non-Christians to be head chaplain at an American university. And he doesnt spend a lot of time talking about God. He talks about bringing people together a message that is timely given how splintered and segmented college campuses can be. Los Angeles Times
Nose for new: From L.A. to Tehran, nose jobs are a rite of passage and a quiet rebellion for many Persian women. Los Angeles Times
Play ball: The ultimate guide to Dodger Stadium. Curbed Los Angeles
Master designs: Frank Gehry didnt design the Getty. But many of the master architects papers and designs will be housed there, in what is seen as a major coup. New York Times
CALIFORNIA ALMANAC
Los Angeles: Partly cloudy in the mid-70s. San Diego: Sunny in the low 70s. Bay Area: Clear in the 60s, rain later in the week. Sacramento: Mid-70s, rain later in the week. More weather is here.
AND FINALLY
This weeks birthdays for those whove made a mark in California: actress Doris Day (April 3, 1922), L.A. City Councilman Paul Koretz (April 3, 1955), Gov. Jerry Brown (April 7, 1938) and filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola (April 7, 1939).
If you have a memory or story about the Golden State, share it with us. Send us an email to let us know what you love or fondly remember about our state. (Please keep your story to 100 words.)
Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints and ideas to Benjamin Oreskes and Shelby Grad. Also follow them on Twitter @boreskes and @shelbygrad.
On Tuesday, voters in the heart of Los Angeles will send a message to Washington. How? By voting in the special election to replace Xavier Becerra in the U.S. House of Representatives.
What that message will be depends on which two of the 23 candidates (24 if you count the one qualified write-in candidate) earn the most votes and advance to the June runoff election. Will it be that the progressive movement begun by Sen. Bernie Sanders run for president is alive and well? If so, the two Sanders Democrats, Arturo Carmona and Wendy Carrillo, may advance.
Will it be that, all things considered, campaign donations are still the best indicator of electability? If so, the candidates who have raised the most cash, Robert Lee Ahn, an attorney and former city planning commissioner, and Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez (D-Eagle Rock) will be the the top two.
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Will the message be that we need a woman or an immigrant in this job? More than half of the candidates are women, among them Yolie Flores, Sara Hernandez, Alejandra Campoverdi, Tracy Van Houten and Vanessa Aramayo. And most of the Democrats in the race are immigrants, the children of immigrants or grandchildren of immigrants.
The only thing thats virtually guaranteed in this race is that the ultimate winner will be a Democrat. The district, stretching north to south from Eagle Rock to Pico Union and east to west from Boyle Heights to Koreatown, is not just solidly blue, its deeply progressive. It was one of a handful of congressional districts in California that voted for Sanders in the June presidential primary
The editorial board evaluated the candidates and believes the best message to send is to send the best candidate to Washington: Maria Cabildo, an affordable housing developer in East L.A. and former city planning commissioner. The board concluded that Cabildo has the right mix of leadership, humility, strength and experience to be able to be the most junior member of the Democrats in Congress and still have an impact.
Whatever voters do on Tuesday, hopefully they dont send a message that they dont care who wins. That kind of apathy may well be responsible for the election of President Trump. Nationally, about 40% of Americans eligible to do so didnt vote in November. How many of them are now kicking themselves for not taking the time to cast a ballot? Dont make that same mistake. Vote on Tuesday, Angelenos.
Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
University of California administration is paying excessive salaries and mishandling funds, state audit says
UCLA campus (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
The administration of the University of California system pays top workers salaries and benefits significantly higher than that of similar state employees, and failed to disclose to the Board of Regents and the public that it had $175 million in budget reserve funds while it was seeking to raise tuition, a state audit found Tuesday.
The audit triggered a dispute with UC President Janet Napolitano, who said charges of hidden funds were false, while two members of the UC Board of Regents charged recommendations to give the Legislature budget authority over the Office of the President encroached on UCs constitutional powers.
Among the sticking points, the auditors believe the regents should contract with an independent third party that can assist the regents in monitoring a three-year corrective action plan.
The audit of the Office of the President also found that it failed to satisfactorily justify its spending on system-wide initiatives and inappropriately screened surveys submitted by auditors to campus officials.
Our report concludes that the Office of the President has amassed substantial reserve funds, used misleading budgeting practices, provided its employees with generous salaries and atypical benefits, and failed to satisfactorily justify its spending on systemwide initiatives, State Auditor Elaine Howle wrote to Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature.
Furthermore, when we sought independent perspective from campuses about the quality and cost of the services and programs the Office of the President provides to them, the Office of the President intentionally interfered with our audit process, Howle wrote.
The auditor said that because of recent tuition hikes, she recommends the Office of the President should refund available funds in the reserves by returning them to the campuses for the benefit of students.
Ralph Washington Jr. president of the U.C. Students Assn. said if any reserve money is found it should go to help students, possibly by killing the tuition increase or helping students who are starving or homeless, but he is concerned legislators may use the audit to say the U.C. doesnt need so much general fund money.
Students definitely dont want their tuition to go up, he said.
Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount), who serves on the board of regents, said the audit requires more inquiry.
The audit of the UC Office of the President appears to have uncovered the same kind of budgetary misrepresentations and executive excess that weve seen before with the State Parks Department and the Public Utilities Commission, Rendon said in a statement. There are many questions that need to be answeredand answered honestly.
The audit was requested by legislators concerned about high tuition and complaints of a bloated administration overseeing the UC systems 10 campuses.
The reserve included $32 million in unspent funds it received from an annual charge levied on the campusesfunds that campuses could have spent on students, the audit said.
Auditors said salaries paid to those in the presidents office are much higher than the pay of comparable positions in other state government jobs.
President Napolitano agreed with the vast majority of recommendations for improving budget processes and spending, but denied that $175 million was hidden from the UC Board of Regents.
In a letter to Howle, the president said changes were already underway.
The recommendations to [the UC presidents office] are helpful, Napolitano wrote. We welcome this constructive input, which aligns with our proactive efforts to continually improve UCOPs operations, and UCOP intends to implement the recommendations.
However, Board of Regents Chair Monica Lozano and Regent Charlene Zettel asked Howle to remove recommendations that they feel encroach on the constitutional autonomy of the university system, including proposals to have the Legislature approve the Office of the Presidents budget.
As written, we believe these recommendations threaten the Universitys standing as a constitutionally autonomous entity, and the Board of Regents itself, the regents wrote.
Administrative salaries amounted to $2.5 million more than the maximum annual salary ranges for comparable state employees, auditors found.
For instance, an accounting managers maximum annual salary is $169,000 at UC compared to $156,000 for other state employees.
An information system manager can make $258,000 with UC, but $150,000 with other state agencies.
The audit said: 10 executives in the Office of the President whose compensation we analyzed were paid a total of $3.7 million in fiscal year 2014-15 over $700,000 more than the combined salaries of their highest paid state employee counterparts.
On benefits, the Office of the President provided a regular retirement plan but also offered its executives a retirement savings account into which the office contributes up to 5% of the executives salariesabout $2.5 million over the past five years, the audit found.
The Office of the President also spent more than $2 million for its staffs business meetings and entertainment expenses over the past five yearsa benefit that the State does not offer to its employees except in limited circumstances, the audit said..
The audit also said the Office of the President reimbursed questionable travel expenses, including a ticket for a theater performance and limousine services. One person spent $350 per night on hotel rooms, which is above the allowable standard for other state agencies.
The audit said the Office of the President has not managed its own budget which amounted to $747 million in fiscal year 201516 in a fiscally prudent or transparent way.
Napolitano said the audit was in error in claiming her office failed to publicly disclose tens of millions in surplus funds.
In fact, UCOPs budget and financial approaches reflect strategic, deliberate and transparent spending and investment in UC and state priorities, said a statement by the Office of the President.
Howle disagreed.
Significant reforms are necessary to strengthen the publics trust in the Office of the President, the audit concluded.
Read the audit here.
President Trumps erratic style and free-form diplomacy have U.S. cybersecurity experts concerned that he might undermine an Obama-era deal with Beijing that sharply curbed widespread Chinese cyberthefts for economic gain and unleash a new flood of hacks against U.S. companies.
As Trump prepares to host Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Florida resort Thursday, Trumps demands that Beijing provide more trade concessions and do more to restrain North Korea could prompt Xi to use other points of leverage, including Beijings control of a far-reaching network of sophisticated hackers.
For years, according to U.S. officials, Chinese-backed hackers repeatedly looted valuable intellectual property and other business secrets from U.S. manufacturers, drugmakers, financial institutions and other companies, often with the assistance or tacit approval of the Chinese government or military.
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But a late night negotiation involving U.S. and Chinese officials in a Washington hotel in September 2015, days before Xi was due in Washington for his first state visit, produced an accord with Beijing the exact details of which remain secret not to sponsor cyberattacks on U.S. corporations for commercial gain.
Chinese officials capitulated because they were afraid President Obama would impose economic sanctions against Chinese firms that benefited from the hacking, a move that would taint Xis high-profile visit, according to two former U.S. officials who participated in the talks who were not authorized to speak publicly.
Although Chinese espionage against the Pentagon and other U.S. government targets has continued, Chinese hacks against U.S. companies have dropped by more than 90% in the past year and a half, Dmitri Alperovitch, co-founder of the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, said in an interview.
The dramatic drop in Chinese digital thefts of U.S. business secrets has eased a major point of tension between Washington and Beijing.
But other major foreign policy disputes remain, including U.S. concerns about Chinas military buildup on disputed shoals in the resource-rich South China Sea and Chinese displeasure at Trumps pre-inauguration phone call with the president of Taiwan, which Beijing considers a breakaway province.
Some experts now worry that China could ramp up corporate hacking again like turning on a tap if Trumps first meeting with Xi goes badly.
If the relationship goes very sour because of either trade issues or the South China Sea or Taiwan or something like that, the hacking would be an easy way for the Chinese to express their displeasure, said Adam Segal, an expert on China at the nonpartisan Council on Foreign Relations.
The Trump administrations relations with China have been rocky, Segal said. It seems to have gone through a lot of swings in a very short time period.
Several weeks before he took office, Trump infuriated Chinas government when he publicly questioned the one China policy, which acknowledges Beijings position on its borders and sovereignty, a mainstay of U.S. foreign policy since the 1970s.
As a candidate, Trump accused China of deliberately devaluing its currency, stealing American jobs and dumping steel and other products into U.S. markets at artificially low prices. He threatened to impose a 45% tariff on Chinese imports.
During his confirmation hearing, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson raised the stakes by appearing to threaten a U.S. blockade to keep China away from the man-made islands it claims in the South China Sea.
But in recent weeks, the administration has shifted course. The White House put out a statement accepting the one China policy. Tillerson met with Xi in Beijing and both men came out promising to improve relations in what they termed win-win cooperation.
Summits between U.S. and Chinese leaders are normally carefully scripted in advance. But with Trumps unconventional diplomacy and significant disagreements on trade, North Korea and climate change, among other issues Xis visit this week could create unexpected fallout especially on cyber.
Chinese digital theft of U.S. intellectual property was high on the agenda at Obamas two-day meeting with Xi at the Sunnylands estate in Rancho Mirage in June 2013, and the two governments agreed to negotiate what Obama called common approaches for cybersecurity.
After signing a bilateral cyberdeal in September 2015, China made similar pacts with several other nations, including the United Kingdom.
Some experts said Xi agreed because he wanted to crack down on Chinese military officials who were using state-sponsored hacking to enrich themselves and cronies, as well as to bring the network of Chinas cyberforce under tighter government control.
Xi recently oversaw a massive reorganization of the Peoples Liberation Army, removed a number of military leaders suspected of corruption and disloyalty, and consolidated military cyberforces.
But the bilateral agreements are fragile, Robert Silvers, a former top cybersecurity official at the Department of Homeland Security, said in an interview. If China feels cornered in other aspects, they may decide to revisit their calculation about reducing hacking.
Those earlier hacks were significant. In 2014, U.S. prosecutors charged five Peoples Liberation Army officers with stealing trade secrets, and the indictments revealed the Chinese governments hand in hacking into U.S. Steel computers during trade disputes as well as the theft of proprietary plans from Westinghouse power plants and manufacturing metrics for solar panels and other products.
It was the first time the U.S. government had publicly blamed Beijing, Silvers said.
China got very, very upset, reacted poorly and denied it all, Silvers said. Bilateral discussions about cybersecurity iced over.
Then, in June 2015, U.S. officials said Chinese hackers had stolen a vast database of background security investigations from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. The digital theft compromised sensitive personal, financial and biometric data of more than 22 million current and former federal employees.
After news reports said the White House was considering retaliating by imposing sanctions weeks before Xis state visit, Beijing quickly sent Meng Jianzhu, who oversees all Chinese domestic security agencies, to Washington.
Meng carried a message from Xi: China was willing stop using state resources to steal U.S. business secrets. But on Sept. 11, the night before Meng was scheduled to return to Beijing, the details had still not been finalized.
Hoping to hammer out a deal, a group of junior Chinese officials rushed to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House grounds at 9 p.m. to meet with Obama administration officials. But a snag at the Secret Service gatehouse prevented the Chinese delegation from entering the building.
They met instead at the Marriott Wardman Park hotel in a leafy neighborhood near the Smithsonians National Zoo. Working until 3 a.m., about two dozen U.S and Chinese officials and interpreters passed terms of a deal back and forth over bottles of water and hard candies.
The U.S. side wanted Xi to publicly acknowledge that China would not help companies steal intellectual property, a request that nearly derailed the deal since China had always denied stealing U.S. secrets.
In the end, Beijing agreed. Speaking to businessmen in Seattle before the summit, Xi pledged that China would not conduct economic espionage in cyberspace. The U.S. side said privately that it would not pursue sanctions.
Since then, the two governments have set up a hotline for emergency communications in case of a potentially catastrophic series of hacks. And senior officials have met every six months to discuss cooperation on improving cybersecurity and blocking cybercrime.
Last December, then-Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson met with Chinas Minister of State Guo Shengkun in Washington. The next meeting is set for June in Beijing, but it is unclear if the Trump administration plans to continue the dialogue.
Twitter: @ByBrianBennett
brian.bennett@latimes.com
At home, Devin Nunes remains what he has always been, an auspiciously successful man who rose swiftly to unexpected heights, a man high school teachers point to when they tell kids in this often-overlooked place what is possible in this world.
Outside the farming community southeast of Fresno that has sustained him and his family for generations, though, many see the 14-year Republican congressman very differently as a national symbol of political bungling or worse.
The House investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election, which he heads, has stalemated. A senator from his party has acidly compared him to Inspector Clouseau, the bumbling French detective from the Pink Panther movies. Democratic leaders have accused him of working with the White House to divert attention from the investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to derail Hillary Clintons candidacy. In much of official Washington, the mention of Nunes name prompts dismissive shakes of the head.
The two views of Nunes are impossible to reconcile, not that many in his district are trying to. In a region where troubles often take the form of drought or pestilence, his longtime constituents greet Nunes difficulties with a shrug, their faith in him undiminished.
Devin Nunes steps aside from Russia probe
For many here, the 43-year-old congressman represents something bigger than himself: the ambitions of a band of immigrants who worked their way to success and the respect yearned for in a place long in the shadows of glitzy metropolises to the north and south.
But the two perspectives on Nunes merge on one point that may explain what has brought him so much trouble. As his lifelong friend and longtime political aide Johnny Amaral put it: Devin is a fiercely loyal person. Hes the kind of guy you want next to you in a fight. Hes the kind of guy you want next to you in life.
Some who have watched Nunes for years, though, suggest that the current public scrutiny has exposed a blind spot -- an excess of loyalty to Trump, on whose transition team he worked, and to the House GOP leadership that has advanced his career.
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FOR THE RECORD
4:50 p.m.: An earlier version of this report misspelled two-time Olympic gold medalist Bob Mathias last name as Matthias.
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Nunes himself brushes off such criticism. He is publicly serene about what lies ahead. He blames Democrats and the news media for politicizing the House investigation, and flatly denies that hes crossed any line.
Theres no question that this is all politics for the Democrats, he said in an interview, Theyre just engaged in typical D.C. politics, which is, If you dont have a message, just destroy the messenger. I dont view it any differently than that.
Yet the public denunciations, even ridicule, he faces is new and different for a man who won a seat in Congress by the age of 29.
The farming community of Tulare, southeast of Fresno, has sustained the Nunes family for generations. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
For years, Dave Caetano, who teaches agriculture at Tulare Union High School, has considered the congressman so inspirational that he points out Nunes former chair to students in need of motivation.
He just got things done, said Caetano, who taught Nunes for three years. He didnt jump on a table and scream and holler, nothing like that. It was more, you need something doneDevin, can you get this done?and it was done.
Now, protesters pester him at events and show up outside the gates of the tract of tile-roofed middle-class homes called Presidential Estates where he and his family live. Democrats even dream of defeating him in 2018a long shot given that Nunes has gotten more than two-thirds of the vote in seven of his eight congressional elections.
To some in Tulare, and to Nunes himself, the storm that surrounds him only reinforces the argument that President Trump made when he captured this region and similar ones around the country in November: Elites in places like Washington and San Francisco and Los Angeles are out to destroy conservatives and the people who support them.
That view has ensured Nunes a comfortable embrace here amid the maelstrom, as the two worlds he has long inhabited deliver vastly different judgments of him.
On the national stage, he has been obscure until very recently, a fact evident each time television pundits mangle his name. It is Portuguese NEW-nes, not NOON-yes.
The Portuguese immigrants arrived here in two large movements, one at the early part of the 20th century and one in the 1950s, that saw families leave their homes in the Azores islands of the mid-Atlantic and migrate to Californias great agricultural valley. Relegated to peasant status at home, they worked the fields and dairies of their new country and scrambled for enough cash to buy one cow, then another, eventually accumulating a herd and land. Ultimately they would control huge portions of the states dairy operations.
A lot of these farm families, one to two generations back were immigrants with nothing. And they built pretty expensive land holdings and wealth, said Elmano Costa, a professor of education at Cal State Stanislaus and a Portuguese American. Only the foolhardy, he said, underestimate their ambition.
Nunes wife, Elizabeth, also is Portuguese American. They married in 2003 at St. Aloysius Church, where Mgsr. Richard Urizalqui estimated 70% of the congregation descended from Azorean immigrants. They have three young daughters.
Nunes ancestors came in the first wave and built a dairy that relatives still run on a side road north of Tulare, where homes and mini-malls give way to open fields fields that this year, for the first time in what seems like ages, are joyfully muddy. Herds of brown cows loll near a small tan craftsman-style house, where the congressmans grandfather was born, according to a relative.
As a young man, Nunes worked there and led a typical teen life, favoring the hairstyles of the 90s, listening to AC/DC and Journey, adoring Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics, cheering for the Oakland Raiders. He joined the Future Farmers of America, worked on the student-run farm, and, Amaral remembered, nurtured an interest in conservative talk radio.
After graduation, Nunes attended College of the Sequoias, a community college in Visalia, then transfered to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, where he earned two agricultural degrees. Earlier generations of young men would have joined the family business, but Nunes came of age as that tradition gave way to other options. For him: politics.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank), left, chats with Nunes during a break in a House Intelligence Committee hearing on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign. Schiff is the panels ranking Democrat. (Mangel Ngan / AFP/Getty Images)
At 22, he ran for a seat on the College of the Sequoias board; set up as the sacrificial lamb, the congressman joked, he won. Two years later, in 1998, he ran for Congress and lost. In 2002, luck went his way: a newly created congressional seat opened and he won. He joined Congress just two years after another ambitious young Californian, Rep. Adam Schiff of Burbank, now the House Intelligence Committees ranking Democrat.
Nunes early House races provided a template for his Washington career: He built relationships with powerful mentors and benefited greatly from their backing. In both congressional races, he won a rare endorsement from local legend Bob Mathias, the two-time Olympic gold medalist in the decathlon and later a four-term congressman, who also attended Tulare Union.
Over time, Nunes crafted similar relationships with Bill Thomas, then the powerful Republican congressman from Bakersfield, and the last two speakers of the House, Ohio Rep. John Boehner and Wisconsins Paul Ryan.
He also was bolstered by expanding Portuguese American political power. By the time Nunes was growing up, the immigrants, by virtue of being landowners, had become a political force. Nunes is one of six Portuguese Americans to have represented the Central Valley in Congress in recent years, a remarkable record for a relatively small immigrant group.
He arrived in Washington as a George W. Bush Republican, affable but still outspoken. He lambasted environmentalists for costing the Central Valley its water supply; he said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger should resign for failing to aid farmers. In 2013, when some conservative Republicans sought to close down the federal government in a dispute over Obamacare, he termed the outliers lemmings with suicide vests.
He was acting in defense of party leaders, and it paid off. Boehner appointed him as head of the Intelligence committee in 2015. Ryan has defended Nunes in recent weeks.
Nunes also has tried to forge a relationship with Trump, whose support he would need to achieve his goal of getting more water for the regions farms. He is fluent in Trumps outsider language, asserting that those in the cities consider a rural resident a lower-class citizen.
Nunes position as head of the Russia investigation has been complicated from the start, since he served as a member of Trumps transition team, advising on intelligence.
For a time, he sought to display public unity with Schiff. He also joined other GOP leaders in casting aspersions on former President Obama and his allies, focusing attention on Trumps allegations of misconduct rather than the questions about the president and his team that the FBI and U.S. intelligence agencies have been examining.
Even after FBI Director James B. Comey confirmed he was investigating whether Trump associates colluded with Russians to affect the election, Nunes has remained stubbornly focused on finding who had leaked information damaging to the new administration.
Yet his recent actions have divided Republicans while outraging Democrats.
The most damaging to his committee and perhaps to his reputation started with Nunes abrupt early evening visit to the White House complex nearly two weeks ago to view classified intelligence reports.
The next day, he dramatically announced to reporters that he had seen evidence that some of Trumps transition advisors, and perhaps Trump himself, had been swept up in U.S. intelligence surveillance. He raced to the White House to brief Trump on what he called the alarming turn, and afterward held another news conference outside the West Wing.
The furious activity seemed intended to back up Trumps assertion that hed been the victim of surveillance by Obama a claim that has been roundly dismissed by law enforcement agencies and most Republican leaders and to suggest that Trump had been in the dark about it until alerted by Nunes.
That, it turned out, was false. Not only was the administration aware, it was administration officials, including a lawyer on the National Security Council staff who recently had worked for Nunes committee, who had shown him the documents, according to news reports confirmed by U.S. officials.
Rep. Devin Nunes listens during the committees hearing. (Manuel Balce Ceneta / Associated Press)
It is in his explanations of those events that the local and Washington views of Nunes divide most jarringly. In Tulare, supporters describe him as a man who bluntly and plainly says what he means. In the Capitol, he has hurt his standing with confusing and often contradictory language. His actions have created a sharp contrast with Schiff, who has proven a more effective messenger for his party.
Regarding the secret intelligence, he first told reporters that the classified documents showed that Trump associates, and perhaps even the president-elect himself, had been picked up by intelligence surveillance during the transition. Pressed on that point, he later said that was merely possible. He said the documents showed that the names of transition aides had been disclosed unmasked, in the jargon of surveillance then acknowledged that most of the names remained secret but said that he could discern the identities.
In an interview with The Times, he bridled at insinuations that, under pressure from the White House, hed canceled a committee hearing that was to feature former Acting Atty. Gen. Sally Yates, who was fired by Trump early in his administration.
Theres a story ... that the Trump administration asked me not to invite Sally Yates and not have a hearing, which is 100% accurate, I mean inaccurate, he said.
Later, describing the evidence that he said had alarmed him enough to alert the president, he said that it was involving RussiaI mean it was not involving Russia.
He also suggested that the information had come from people that I know within the intelligence agencies that he had cultivated over a long period of time a statement that seemed misleading when the actual sources became known.
Still, his future will be mostly determined by the sentiments at home, and judging by past elections, his seat would appear safe.
Jack Pitney, a professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College who worked for the Republican National Committee, was withering in his criticism of Nunes. Nevertheless, he said, Democrats face extremely long odds on unseating him.
Before all this started, he didnt get a great deal of attention, and if people thought of him at all it was as a mainstream, conservative Republican, Pitney said. Now hes in the limelight and things change. Some people flourish and some people flounder. Hes floundering.
But Nunes also is boxed in by his districts strong support of Trump, Pitney pointed out, making the president a difficult ally to cross even if the congressman wanted to.
Among Nunes supporters in Tulare, there are few visible dents in his popularity. Michelle Nunley, the Tulare Union principal, said she had heard nothing negative around town.
Everyone I know is extremely proud of the work hes doing in Washington, Nunley said.
Caetano, his former high school teacher, stipulated that the work of the Intelligence Committee is way beyond my comprehension, but said he has confidence in Nunes.
This may be just one of those firestorms that you have to weather, he said.
Nunes himself is plowing ahead. In the midst of a long defense of his actions, his honesty, and his fairness, he hit upon what sustained him.
At the end of the day, he said, Im held accountable by my votersIm very happy in this role that I do. I really dont look that far over the horizon.
For more on politics
Lead photo: Devin Nunes (R-Tulare) gives reporters an update about the ongoing Russia investigation. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press)
cathleen.decker@latimes.com
Twitter: @cathleendecker
ALSO
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How Trump supporters survive in blue California: 'You kind of keep your head down'
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Updates on California politics
The latest from Washington
It will likely mean a big change in Senate rules, but Republicans are adamant they will approve a new associate justice to the Supreme Court by the end of this week.
Conservatives have made it a top priority to confirm Judge Neil M. Gorsuch to fill the seat vacated when Justice Antonin Scalia died last year, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) says if Democrats try to block him, hell trigger a change in the rules and allow Supreme Court nominees to be confirmed on a majority vote instead of the 60 votes now required to end debate.
Im Sarah Wire, and I cover the California delegation in Congress. Welcome to the Monday edition of Essential Politics.
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Today the Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote to send the Gorsuch nomination to the full Senate. Debate in the Senate is expected to start Tuesday, with a final decision by weeks end. David G. Savage has more on what the next few days should look like and how it could change the Senate.
Get the latest about the Trump administration on Essential Washington and follow @latimespolitics. Keep an eye on our Essential Politics news feed for California political news.
RUSSIA INVESTIGATION
The White House offered late last week to show lawmakers intelligence reports that purportedly mention associates of President Trump. Theyre apparently the same documents that were given to House Select Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Tulare), raising new questions about whether the presidents staff leaked details about the classified documents. The committees ranking Democrat, Burbanks Adam Schiff, viewed the documents Friday and disputed what Nunes says they show.
While many people are focused on Nunes right now, this is Schiffs first turn in the political spotlight as well. I sat down with the former federal prosecutor for a look at how hes handling his new role as Trumps foil, and what might be next for him.
Meanwhile, a new poll shows a majority of Americans want an independent prosecutor to look into Russian attempts to influence the election and what, if anything, the Trump campaign knew.
WHITE HOUSE ROUNDUP
The White House on Friday began disclosing financial holdings of 180 administration officials, revealing the significant personal wealth of President Trumps top aides. Michael A. Memoli has a look at what the public now knows about the financial dealings of the presidents aides and staff.
Don Lee reports on the opening skirmish of what promises to be a long and bitter struggle over trade policy that so far is being waged behind the scenes in the Trump administration.
Over the weekend, Trump stepped up his threats to cut a deal with Democrats over healthcare if conservatives in the House wont back his proposals.
Memoli and Lisa Mascaro took a look at the tenuous bonds between Trump and Republicans in Congress, and what that means for accomplishing their respective goals.
Catch up on whats going on in Trumpworld in our weekly wrap-up. And each week were asking people to grade Trumps time in office on a scale of A through F. Heres what people had to say about week 10.
BROWNS TRANSPORTATION PLAN
Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic lawmakers unveiled a transportation plan last week they say would raise more than $5 billion annually in its first 10 years by hiking the gas tax and vehicle fees in the state. Its expected to come up for a vote this week.
Brown and legislative leaders hit the road last week, visiting the districts of members who havent committed to vote for the package. And a coalition of business and labor leaders on Friday began running television and radio ads that target eight legislators who have not yet committed to vote for the measure.
But several environmental groups came out against the plan Friday, saying it would give the trucking industry a break on future antipollution rules.
On this weeks California Politics Podcast, John Myers and his guests take a closer look at the political wrangling by Brown and Democratic legislative leaders.
While the plan isnt perfect, the pay-as-you-go proposal is a much-needed fix to Californias wrecked roads, highways and bridges, and lawmakers should vote for its passage, George Skelton writes in his Monday column.
34th DISTRICT RACE
Some Los Angeles voters head to the polls Tuesday for the primary election in the race to replace Xavier Becerra in Californias 34th Congressional District.
Its a crowded field, with 24 candidates on the ballot, and our team broke down who has been getting the most contributions and where they are coming from. Of the more than $2.4 million that has been raised by candidates since December, nearly 75% has gone to just five candidates.
Heres a voter guide if you want to learn about the whole race.
SPEAKING OF ELECTIONS ...
Counties across California have been told for the last several years that they dont have to offer absentee ballots to all voters or follow specific procedures to verify voter signatures on provisional ballots. Why? Because the state stopped paying for those mandated services.
In his Sunday column, Myers takes a look at both the total outstanding IOU from the state government counties have largely kept following the rules, just paying the tab themselves and proposed changes to ensure the money flows again from Sacramento.
TODAYS ESSENTIALS
UC Irvine law professor Katie Porter will challenge Republican Rep. Mimi Walters in Orange Countys 45th District in 2018.
No, Mr. Sulu is not running for Congress.
Star Trek actor and civil rights advocate George Takei posted a link Friday on social media to an article that said he planned to challenge Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Tulare), but the timing hinted it was an April Fools joke.
Congressional candidate Arturo Carmona denied accusations of sexism leveled at him Friday by a former Bernie Sanders campaign staffer.
New amendments to a sanctuary state bill will allow police and sheriffs departments to contact Immigration and Customs Enforcement about violent felons.
To fight against human trafficking, this state senator wants to train motel employees to spot signs of abuse.
The Teddy Bear and Toaster Act would crack down on toys and electronics that pick up conversations and personal information.
A San Diego assemblywoman is trying again in her bid to let Uber and Lyft drivers collectively bargain for pay and benefits, but there are hurdles to fitting a new workforce into old union models.
President Jerry Brown? He refused to shoot down a supporters suggestion that he run for president even as he noted his 79th birthday is next week.
California could soon have an official state dinosaur.
State Controller Betty Yee says Californias tax collection agency has been mismanaged and needs a complete overhaul.
A new bill would give the state attorney general the ability to investigate local police shootings instead of leaving them to district attorneys.
Sen. Kamala Harris opened a campaign fundraising account to run for governor in 2026, but she doesnt actually plan to run, her staff says.
LOGISTICS
Essential Politics is published Monday, Wednesday and Friday.You can keep up with breaking news on our politics page throughout the day for the latest and greatest. And are you following us on Twitter at @latimespolitics?
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Tehran, Iran, April 3
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
Iran says only Iraqi national colors must be allowed to fly in the countrys northern province of Kirkuk.
The principled stance of the Islamic Republic of Iran is to support the territorial integrity and national sovereignty of Iraq, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said, following a recent bid by the Kirkuk Provincial Council to raise the regional flag in front of some buildings.
We regard raising any flag other than the Iraqi flag in Kirkuk, which is governed by the federal government based on the countrys constitution, as a move at odd with the constitution and a source of tension, the Iranian spokesperson said, the Foreign Ministrys website reported April 3.
He added that the fight against terrorists is the most important issue of the Iraqi government and nation, emphasizing that Iran has so far supported and would continue to back the campaign.
Qassemi further expressed concern that recent moves by some Iraqi sides in Kirkuk would divert the attention and resources of the Iraqi government and nation away from the battle against terrorism.
The Iraqi parliament voted April 1 to ban the hoisting of flags of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region over government buildings in Kirkuk.
The lawmakers passed the bill days after the Kirkuk Provincial Council decided to raise the regional flag next to the Iraqi national flag in front of some buildings.
An Uber driver from Costa Mesa was arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting a female passenger who had fallen asleep in his van, officials said Sunday.
The incident allegedly occurred Thursday, when the womans friends helped her request a ride to her Santa Ana home from a company gathering because she was intoxicated, according to Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna.
They did all the right things, she did all the right things, Bertagna said. Unfortunately, she came across a sexual predator.
An Uber driver picked up the woman in a 2016 Toyota Sienna in Huntington Beach, police said. During the ride, the woman fell asleep, and when she woke up she was being sexually assaulted in the back seat of the van on a street near her home, according to Bertagna.
She fought him off, she broke free (and) she immediately called us, he said. By the time we got to the location, obviously he was gone.
Officers worked with Uber to determine the drivers identity, and on Saturday, police detained Angel Sanchez, 37, at his Costa Mesa home. Based on physical evidence and his statements, he was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault and booked into Orange County Jail with bail set at $100,000, Bertagna said.
He was released on bond early Monday, according to jail records. The Orange County district attorneys office had not filed charges as of Tuesday afternoon.
Sanchez has been working as an Uber driver for about a year, officials said, and Santa Ana police are working with Uber and other local agencies to determine which cities he worked in. Officials said they believe Sanchez may have other victims.
An Uber representative said Tuesday that Sanchez was removed from the companys ride-hailing app as soon as Uber became aware of the allegation.
What the rider has reported to police is deeply troubling and will not be tolerated, the company said in a statement. The driver has been banned from the app. We will continue to support police with their investigation.
Anyone with information related to the case is asked to call (714) 245-8412.
Daily Pilot staff writer Hannah Fry and Los Angeles Times staff writer Anna M. Phillips contributed to this report.
Several weeks before I found myself uncomfortably close to the worlds largest shark, I told a few folks I would be going to Holbox.
Whole what? asked more than one.
Holocene, corrected my smartphone.
Ohl-bosch, corrected the locals when I arrived.
Isla Holbox, a Mexican island with turquoise waters, unpaved streets and about 3,000 residents, lies about 120 miles northwest of Cancun, 500 miles south of New Orleans.
Its not an American household name yet, but it has fine sand, palm trees, wild flamingos and beachfront hotels charging less than $200 a night.
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Moreover, if you take a boat out from mid-May through mid-September, you have a good chance of swimming with a whale shark. There is no bigger fish.
They grow to as much as 40 feet long and 30,000 pounds. Their gray flanks are peppered with white polka dots. Their mouths are up to 3 feet tall and 4 feet wide. Because theyre filter-feeders, consuming mostly plankton, they swim through life with their wide mouths open, no teeth in sight.
1 / 21 At Mexicos Isla Holbox, you stand a good chance of swimming with the giant yet gentle whale shark. (Jonathan Bird / Getty Images) 2 / 21 Octopus is on the menu at Milpa, a small restaurant in Isla Holbox, Mexico, opened in early 2016. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 21 There is no menu at Isla Holboxs El Chapulim. Chef Erik Winckelmann usually serves four main dishes each night, coming to diners tables to collect orders. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 21 Empanadas are a house specialty at El Hornito Argento, opened in 2016 on Isla Holbox, Mexico. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 21 Whale Shark Pier at Isla Holbox, Mexico. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 21 Isla Holbox is part of Mexicos Yum Balam Nature Reserve, one reason why growth has been limited. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 21 Koy Lopez and his 2-year-old nephew Jack Toledo feed a raccoon, or maybe a coatimundi, near a freshwater spring on Isla Holbox, Mexico. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 21 Even the busiest streets in tiny Isla Holbox, Mexico, are unpaved and dominated by pedestrians, bikes, golf carts and dogs. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 21 Yalahau, a freshwater spring with bracingly cool water, is part of many boat tours around Isla Holbox, Mexico. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 21 The Posada Mawimbi is one of many rustic resorts on Isla Holbox, Mexico. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 21 The tiny town of Isla Holbox, Mexico, includes many colorful murals, including one of a raccoon, or perhaps its a coatimundi. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 21 After swimming with whale sharks, tourists visit an undeveloped beach at Isla Holbox, Mexico. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 21 In the waters near Isla Holbox, Mexico, snorkelers swim alongside whale sharks, which are considered the largest fish on Earth. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 21 Sunrise on Isla Holbox, Mexico. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times) 15 / 21 On Isla Holbox, Mexico, vendors like this man peddle fresh coconuts for $2 each. He cuts the top off and inserts a straw so you can drink the coconut milk. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 21 Even the busiest streets in tiny Isla Holbox, Mexico, are unpaved and dominated by pedestrians, bikes, golf carts and dogs. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times) 17 / 21 Besides whale shark sightings from May through September, the turquoise waters off Isla Holbox, Mexico, offer colorful snorkeling. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times) 18 / 21 A cyclist relaxes on the beach at Holbox Island, Mexico. (Dallas Stribley / Getty Images/Lonely Planet Image) 19 / 21 Most cars are banned at Isla Holbox, where the streets are dominated by pedestrians, golf carts (you can rent one), scooters, bikes and dogs. (Dallas Stribley / Getty Images/Lonely Planet Image) 20 / 21 The bohemian-chic Hotel Casa Las Tortugas is one of the most stylish lodgings on Isla Holbox, Mexico. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times) 21 / 21 Besides whale shark sightings from May through September, the turquoise waters off Isla Holbox, Mexico, offer colorful snorkeling. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
But first, the island.
Its about 26 miles long and a mile wide and is developed only at its eastern end. Youll want mosquito repellent.
Most visitors arrive after a three-hour ride by taxi, van or bus from Cancun, then a half-hour ferry from the coastal town of Chiquila.
The temperature is rarely cooler than 65 degrees, rarely hotter than 90.
Before long, somebody will explain that the word Holbox comes from a Mayan phrase for black hole, perhaps derived from local freshwater springs.
So far there are no global hotel or restaurant brands in fact, no hotels with more than about 45 rooms. About a dozen beachfront lodgings are lined up along Holboxs north-facing shore, where the dock is.
The bohemian-chic, Italian-owned Hotelito Casa las Tortugas, where I was lucky enough to land, is more stylish than most of the islands lodgings. It has 26 rooms, a pool, a raked-sand beachfront and rates that start at about $186 a night.
Most islanders live in low-rise, no-frills homes constructed in the last 50 years on the flat, sandy island. Most of the buildings are boxy and modern, often splashed with murals.
There is nothing Spanish Colonial here.
Because the island is part of the Yum Balam Nature Reserve and a hefty distance from Cancun, growth has been limited. One major development proposal has been tied up in court for years.
Yet the place is getting busier as travelers rush in from the U.S., Europe and Mexico City. As tourism grows (and debate increases about whats sustainable and what isnt), a sophisticated crop of restaurants has arisen.
What to do before whale shark watching
Here are some of the things you do before heading out to find a whale shark:
Prowl around downtown Holbox. This wont take long. The built-up east end is about five by 12 blocks. Most cars are banned, and the streets are dominated by golf carts (you can rent one), scooters, bikes and pedestrians. So far theres not much nightlife.
Laze on the beach. The sand is fine. The waves are too gentle for surfing, but the winds lively enough to encourage kite boarders.
On nights when the moon is dim, locals say you can spot bioluminescent phytoplankton glowing blue and green in the shallows. I didnt see that, but I did catch sunrise and sunset at the dock as pelicans swooped and idle fishing boats bobbed.
Milpa, a restaurant opened in early 2016 on Isla Holbox, Mexico. Dishes include this octopus plate. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
Eat well. At El Chapulim, where theres no menu, chef Erik Winckelmann typically cooks four main dishes each night and comes to your table to collect orders.
At Mandarina, the restaurant at Casa las Tortugas, your dinner might be duck in orange mole and brioche of huitlacoche (a.k.a. corn fungus).
At Milpa, a small, sophisticated dining room that opened in 2016, you might order the Drunken Octopus Roaming Valladolid, which is octopus soaked in beer sauce under a dome of swirling fumes, with bits of bacon and chorizo, corn and bell peppers.
This was my favorite meal of the visit. Until that night, Id never before walked home on unpaved streets from a dinner of molecular cuisine.
Look for feathers and scales. Some people get boat rides to the mangroves, where they paddle kayaks and often see crocodiles.
Many visitors sign up for a half-day island-hopping boat tour that includes Isla del Pajaros, where I spotted two flamingos, and Yalahau, a freshwater spring where you can swim and snack on ceviche while iguanas and a coatimundi (a close relative of the raccoon) skirmish for scraps.
On most Mondays, tour company V.I.P. Holbox Experience offers a free boat excursion for travelers who want to collect marine litter from the islands remote northern beaches.
Never touch a whale shark
The companys whale shark expedition costs about $125 per person. You borrow wet suits, mask and fins. A guide instructs you never to touch the creatures, which have been labeled endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Thats in large part because of demand in Asia for the fins, meat and oil of the animals, which are supposed to be protected worldwide. But harvesting isnt the only threat.
The World Wildlife Fund says that reckless tour-boat captains can interrupt sharks feeding or collide with them, and it works with whale tour operators to promote safe practices.
If your expedition is like mine, youll board a motorboat and ride about two hours to a cluster of whale sharks, which will likely be surrounded by a gaggle of boats bearing tourists from Holbox, Cancun and Isla Mujeres.
At some point in your day, there will be snorkeling and a sand bar to explore. But the sharks are the main event.
Once your captain gets the boat close to one of their telltale dorsal fins, your guide flops into the water. Guests follow, two at a time.
For most people the greatest astonishment comes the moment you duck your head beneath the surface. Beneath those dorsal fins, 10 to 15 tons of animal loom like the hidden bulk of an iceberg, but living and swimming at your side.
You might notice a harmless remora or two (they use a sucker on the top of their heads to attach themselves to larger fish) gliding along in the sharks shadow.
But apart from swimming to keep up, you have nothing to do but gawk at this docile wonder and forget the wider world.
Thats what I did, anyway, until my guide gestured for me to swim back to the boat. I turned and started kicking my way through the open, blue water.
Your peripheral vision is limited in a mask. And I was swimming at an angle. And now something else was moving nearby.
After swimming with whale sharks, a boatload of tourists visits an undeveloped beach at Isla Holbox, Mexico. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
Suddenly I was staring at a big, black oval directly in front of me. The mouth of another whale shark. Three feet tall, 4 feet wide, 5 feet away. It was like staring into the open end of a sleeping bag and finding deep space inside.
That waterproof camera in my right hand? Completely forgotten.
Fortunately the shark which probably swam alongside a dozen scrawny, flailing mammals that day showed no sign of caring. It made no sudden moves.
I made a bunch and barely succeeded in getting out of its way. Never touched it.
Then its flank passed before me, a blur of white dots, and I was alone again. The whole encounter took about three minutes.
The only thing left to do was find my boat, flop aboard and hope that these sharks and this island can thrive, or at least survive, amid the greater attention thats bound to come.
THE BEST WAY TO ISLA HOLBOX, MEXICO
From LAX, Delta, Southwest, United and Virgin America offer nonstop service to Cancun, and American, United, Southwest and Aeromexico offer connecting service (change of planes). Restricted round-trip airfare from from $355, including taxes and fees.
From Cancun, travelers take a two- to three-hour drive to the town of Chiquila. By public bus, one-way fares are about $15. By shuttle bus, fares are $40-$80 per person (for a couple) from V.I.P. Holbox and Holbox Shuttle. By taxis, fares are usually $100-$130 each way. The only way to reach Holbox from Chiquila is the Chiquila-Holbox ferry, about $5 each way for a 20-30-minute ride.
TELEPHONES
To call the numbers below from the U.S., dial 011 (the international dialing code), 52 (country code for Mexico), the area code and the local number.
WHAT TO DO
Several companies offer daylong whale-shark tours ($125-$135 per person) and half-day trips to Isla Pajaros, Isla Pasion and Yalahau Lagoon (about $30 per person). Among them: V.I.P. Holbox, and Holbox Adventure.
WHERE TO STAY
The island is small enough that these hotels dont have street addresses.
Hotelito Casa de las Tortugas, (984) 875-2129. Twenty-six rooms. Doubles $186-$421, breakfast and taxes included. Three-night minimum with full payment in advance.
Posada Mawimbi, (984) 875-2003. Nine rooms, two bungalows. Doubles $158-$248, depending on season. Continental breakfast and taxes included.
La Chaya Eco Hotel, (984) 875-2142. Nine rooms, many with sea views. Doubles about $95, breakfast and taxes included.
WHERE TO EAT
El Chapulim, Avenida Tiburon Ballenas; (984) 137-6069. Mexican bistro and artisan beer house. Dinner entrees about $15.
Restaurante Milpa, Calle Palomino; (984) 875 2026. Modern Mexican. Dinner entrees about $10-$13
Mandarina Restaurant and Beach Club, Hotelito Casa las Tortugas, (984) 875-2129. Dinner entrees about $15-$25.
TO LEARN MORE
Isla Holbox
christopher.reynolds@latimes.com
Follow Reynolds on Twitter: @MrCSReynolds
Question: We recently traveled to India. We were denied boarding our flight from LAX to New Delhi because we didnt have an email confirmation code for our visa application. We had the printout of the application form that included our uploaded photos, but somehow we never received a confirmation code by email. We were given the option of staying in Los Angeles or taking our first leg to Hong Kong and sorting it out there. We chose Hong Kong because there is an Indian consulate there, and there is not one in L.A. Between losing hotel nights in India, the money for a visa service, paying a flight change fee and more, we spent a lot of money to fix this. When we were in the immigration area of the New Delhi Airport we noticed that there was a separate line for visa on arrival. Could we have obtained a visa on arrival and avoided all the extra hassle and expense?
Cathy Larson and Roger Allen
Santa Monica
Answer: The short answer is no, according to a spokesman for Cox & Kings, whose global services division handles many (but not all) visas for the Indian government.
There are visa on arrival lanes at airports in 16 cities across India, Warren Chang, chief operating officer for Cox & Kings, said in an email.
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To be eligible for a visa on arrival, U.S. passport holders must first apply online for an e-tourist visa at least four days prior to arrival.
If the applicant is approved, he or she receives an electronic authorization by email.
The applicant must present a copy of the authorization to the airline in order to travel to India and present a copy to the immigration officer in India to obtain the visa upon arrival, Chang wrote.
Since your reader was unable to produce a copy of the authorization, it was within the rights of the airline to deny boarding.
But couldnt the airline bend the rules just a little?
Probably not.
Airlines [that] carry passengers without proper paperwork into a country are subject to significant fines, Chang wrote.
You can get an Indian visa in different ways: the e-visa, the method that led to the problem above; applying by mail; or using a visa service.
How difficult are these methods? When you go to the website of the Consulate General of India in San Francisco (there is not a consulate in L.A.), there is this red flag: It notes theres an open house every two weeks to talk about problems with visas, passports and such.
To see how difficult the e-visa process is, I started through it. Start with the Indian Consulate website www.cgisf.org and you will be directed to the e-visa site.
It was a little confusing, and I got stuck at one point because I did not mark that I was a U.S. national by birth, which is a two-part question.
Chang had told me readers could call this number--011-91-11-2430-0666so I did. The man who answered told me I needed a temporary number in order to receive help.
I hadnt gotten that far in the process so I could not provide that and told him so.
He demanded to know where I got that phone number.
When I told him I got it from Cox & Kings, he said, in a not indifferent voice, We are not able to help you. Call them.
I managed to figure it out on my own. Because Im not going to India, I did not complete the process, but I did just enough to know that the visa was going to cost me about $120.
Given the experience of Larson and Allen and the fact that there is no consulate in L.A., if I were going to India, I would go to a visa service to avoid such a situation.
I spoke with Ken Ripoll, owner of Los Angeles-based AllStar Sierra Passports & Visa, who said Indian visas could be a bit tricky. Because hes a pro, his answer tells me that I would be better off letting someone else mind the details, which are not my strong suit, especially temperamentally. Its good to have an ally and an advocate, especially when the world is increasingly cranky about rules.
As was the case with Larson and Allen, its often what you dont know that can trip you up. It may cost you more to use a visa service, but in the end, having someone on your side to untangle things is like money in the bank.
Have a travel dilemma? Write to travel@latimes.com. We regret we cannot answer every inquiry.
travel@latimes.com
@latimestravel
The loan sharks thugs entered Su Yinxias brake-lining factory last April. They restrained her and her son, demanding she repay her debts, according to multiple accounts. They beat her and shoved a shoe in her mouth. One exposed his genitals.
What happened next has been the talk of China.
Police came, surveyed the situation and left. Sus son, Yu Huan, snapped, according to accounts in Chinese media. He brandished a kitchen knife and attacked four of his mothers tormentors, killing one.
A court sentenced Yu, 23, to life in prison for causing grave bodily harm. Then he became a folk hero.
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The case struck a nerve in China, where loan sharking is widespread, hired toughs often operate with impunity, and courts, which are controlled by the ruling Communist Party, convict almost everyone they try. Chinas conviction rate was 99.92% in 2015.
Last month, the Chinese newspaper Southern Weekly published an account of the incident, which quickly went viral on Sina Weibo, Chinas equivalent of Twitter (the topic Yu Huan intentional homicide case has since racked up more than up 27.8 million views).
A day later, Chinas top prosecutors office said it would revisit the case and send investigators to Yus hometown of Liaocheng, a midsize city in coastal Shandong province. China has been attempting to address high-profile miscarriages of justice since March 2015, when President Xi Jinping said they should be properly resolved.
Any normal person would want to fight for his mother when she was insulted like that. Tian Mu, Yu Huans lawyer
China has a criminal justice system that puts an emphasis on retributive justice, said William Nee, a Hong Kong-based China researcher at Amnesty International. For example, if someone rapes or kills somebody, society generally would want retribution for that. When officials abscond with billions in assets, people call for the death penalty online.
It looks like the details here are unclear, whether he was acting in self-defense, but people are claiming he was, Nee said. So [the conviction] doesnt fit that template of retributive justice.
Yus case carries echoes of another incident, in May, in which Lei Yang, 29, a middle-class husband and father, mysteriously died in police custody. Police brutality and impunity is also widespread in China, and that case also went viral. Authorities detained five police officers involved, then released them in December, despite finding that they had used excessive force and attempted to cover up the circumstances of Leis death.
Yu is also not the first person in China to take on hired thugs as police look the other way.
In 2013, Fan Mugen, a resident of eastern Chinas Suzhou city, killed two members of a demolition gang after they raided his family home and beat his wife and son. Fans home was slated to be demolished to make way for a major development project, and Fan refused to leave. He had called police, who turned up but did not stop the assault. He was charged with intentional injury and jailed for eight years.
In another forced eviction case, in 2012, a kung fu master and his son in Hebei province, near Beijing, beat up several hired hands who had forcibly entered their home. An eight-minute video of the incident went viral online, and many Internet users cast the kung fu master, Shen Jianzhong, as a folk hero. Shen later fled to Beijing, and his son was arrested.
Su Yinxias troubles began in July 2014, when she borrowed the equivalent of about $217,000 from a local real estate mogul, Wu Xuezhan, at 10% monthly interest, according to the state-run Global Times. Her debt quickly ballooned, and she was unable to pay it back.
Su Yinxias troubles with thugs stemmed from a loan she took out in 2014. With a 10% monthly interest rate, the debt quickly ballooned, and she was unable to pay it back. (STR / AFP/Getty Images)
So Wu dispatched thugs. They hounded her mercilessly at one time, they defecated in her house and pushed her face into the toilet, according to the Southern Weekly report. She put her house up for collateral, and although she had repaid nearly $300,000 by the following summer, she still fell about $30,000 short.
So the harassment continued. On April 14, 2016, they forcibly entered her factory. One man, Du Zhihao, took off his pants, exposing himself. If you dont have the money, you can become a prostitute, Du said, according to a witness quoted in Southern Weekly. Ill give you 80 yuan [$12] for each go.
Sus brother called the police, according to the Chinese newsmagazine Caixin. They arrived at 10:13 p.m., but they left the room four minutes later. Yu attempted to follow them out, but the thugs restrained him, and Yu brandished the knife. He wounded four of the assailants, before police returned to the scene. Du drove himself to the hospital, where he died the following morning.
Yu was charged with intentional injury, and on Feb. 17, 2017, Liaocheng Intermediate Peoples Court sentenced him to life in prison. Yu then appealed to a higher court, citing police negligence.
Any normal person would want to fight for his mother when she was insulted like that, Tian Mu, Yus lawyer, told the Paper, a Shanghai-based online magazine. [After] the police were gone, Du Zhihao thought Yu shouldnt report to the police, so Du and his people scolded and beat his mother more severely. Du even said Ill beat you to death. Under no protection, Yu had every reason to believe Du would take his life.
Chinese authorities tightly censor the Internet to block dissenting views, and the online conversation about Yu Huan has stopped short of implicating systemic issues in Chinas courts and police force.
This case is an all-encompassing reflection of Chinas economy, legal institution, democracy and civilization, said one censored post, according to the censorship tracking website FreeWeibo.com. Chinas real economy is raped by the real estate industry; Chinas legal system is a total mess; the police and gangsters are getting closer to one another.
Yet the outpouring of support for Yu online was too great to entirely suppress. Some users equated him with an outlaw in the classical Chinese novel Water Margin a heroic champion of vigilante justice.
Yu is innocent, wrote Yi Zhongtian, a writer with 3.6 million followers on Weibo. Stabbing the people who insulted his mother was a legitimate act of self-defense.
Yingzhi Yang in The Times Beijing bureau contributed to this report.
jonathan.kaiman@latimes.com
For more news from Asia, follow @JRKaiman on Twitter
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A newspaper in the Mexican border city of Juarez announced Sunday that it is shutting down because of the climate of insecurity and the impunity for killings of journalists.
Norte executive Oscar Cantu Murguia informed readers of his decision in a farewell letter titled Adios! that was published on the papers front page and online.
He cited the recent slaying of journalist Miroslava Breach in the city of Chihuahua, which like Juarez is in Chihuahua state. Breach was a reporter for the national newspaper La Jornada and had also collaborated with Norte.
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On this day, esteemed reader, I address you to report that I have made the decision to close this newspaper due to the fact that, among other things, there are neither the guarantees nor the security to exercise critical, counterbalance journalism, Cantu wrote.
Everything in life has a beginning and an end, a price to pay, he continued. And if this is life, I am not prepared for any more of my collaborators to pay it, nor with my own person.
Cantu also mentioned ambiguous financial concerns that he blamed on authorities: the arrogant refusal to pay debts contracted for the provision of services.
In Mexico government advertising is a major source of revenue for many news outlets, and media critics say reliance on that often leads to tame coverage and self-censorship.
At least 38 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 1992 for motives confirmed as related to their work, according the Committee to Protect Journalists. The New York-based media advocacy group says 50 more were slain during the same period for reasons that remain unclear.
Mexico is clearly going through a deep, full-blown freedom of expression crisis, said Carlos Lauria, Americas director for the Committee to Protect Journalists. Its affecting Mexicans, not only journalists, because the fact that a newspaper closes is depriving people of information that they need in order to take informed decisions.
There was a spate of attacks on journalists in March.
In addition to Breach, who was gunned down as she left home March 23, two other journalists were killed in Guerrero and Veracruz, both states that are hot spots of drug cartel violence.
Another journalist was shot in Poza Rica, Veracruz, on Wednesday, and left in critical condition. And an armed attack on a journalist in San Jose del Cabo, Baja California Sur, left his bodyguard dead.
Russian officials were trying to determine who was responsible for an explosion Monday that killed at least 11 people in a subway train in St. Petersburg, the countrys second-largest city and the hometown of President Vladimir Putin.
There was no indication that Putin, who was in St. Petersburg for talks with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, was near the underground blast, which the National Anti-Terrorism Committee said also left 45 people hospitalized.
Law enforcement agencies and intelligence services are doing their best to establish the cause and give a full picture of what happened, Putin said in televised remarks at the start of his talks with Lukashenko, about an hour after the explosion.
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Alexander Kurennoi of the General Prosecutors Office initially called the bombing a terrorist attack, but later told Interfax that it was too early to draw any definitive conclusions.
Authorities also found and deactivated another bomb at another busy station, according to officials.
Russia has seen numerous acts of terrorism, including twin bombings on the Moscow subway system that killed 40 people and wounded at least 100 in 2010.
The high-speed Moscow-to-St. Petersburg train was bombed on Nov. 27, 2009, in an attack that left 26 dead and about 100 injured.
The attacks have consistently been blamed on Chechen separatists, who have sought to establish an independent Islamist republic in the southern Russian region. Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov claimed responsibility for the attacks on the Moscow metro and the high-speed train.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for Mondays attack, which occurred on a train between Sennaya Square station and Technological Institute station.
Interfax cited an unidentified source who said a suspect in the blast might have left the explosive device in a bag. Russian state television channel Rossiya 24 said police were looking for two possible suspects.
Videos and photos posted by witnesses and survivors showed a wrecked train car and people lying on the floor of a subway station.
In a phone interview, Marianna Vlastyeva, 43, said her train had entered the Technology Institute station when she saw another train with smoke coming out of it.
People on my train started panicking, running to the escalator, I ran after them, Vlastyeva said. I noticed several bodies lying next to the train and people carrying more bodies out of the car, all covered in blood. Im still shaking. I cant believe [terrorist attacks] are happening in my country again. So sad. I still feel like screaming.
The social media site Vkontakte was abuzz with comments about the explosion.
A woman who gave her name as Tatyana and said she was at Sennaya Square station wrote: Hell, terrible! People [covered] in blood ... in other peoples remains ... charred ..... everyone is being driven from the station ... fear !!!!
The explosive device went off at 2:20 p.m., the anti-terrorism organization said. The device was stuffed with pieces of metal, Valery Parfyonov, an emergency health official, said in televised remarks.
. https://t.co/YyDxxsMJDa pic.twitter.com/ic7G7o7BGQ (@MBKhMedia) April 3, 2017
The St. Petersburg subway immediately shut down all its stations, and the national anti-terrorism body said security measures would be tightened at all key transport facilities across Russia.
Russian news media reported that security had also been stepped up at St. Petersburgs Pulkovo airport, including enhancement of controls at the airports entrances and pre-flight screening areas.
Maxim Liksutov, Moscows deputy mayor, told Interfax that Moscow authorities were tightening security on the subway in the Russian capital.
St. Petersburg, Russias second-largest city with more than 5 million residents, is the countrys most popular tourist destination. The stations involved in the blast are among the subways busiest.
Many people expressed outrage and conveyed condolences to the victims and their loved ones.
What horror when innocent people die, wrote Sergey Rykov in a comment on the Russian website Life Novosti.
Makeshift memorials were created at the Sennaya and Technology Institute stations. And some people brought red carnations, roses and candles to the St. Petersburg government office in Moscow, according to Tass Russian news agency.
Authorities in St. Petersburg declared three days of mourning, starting Tuesday, the Russian media reported.
Officials thanked thousands of cab drivers and volunteers who transported stranded commuters free of charge after the subway shut down for several hours.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said President Trump had been briefed on the bombing.
The United States condemns this reprehensible attack and act of violence, Spicer said.
Special correspondent Mansur Mirovalev reported from Moscow. Simmons reported from Los Angeles. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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UPDATES:
3:50 p.m.: This article has been updated throughout with additional reactions from Russian officials and others.
9:10: This article has been updated throughout with Times reporting.
8:38 a.m.: This article was updated with details about those who died after the blast, as well as news reports about security footage depicting a person who could be responsible.
7:27 a.m.: This article was updated with officials saying a second explosive device had been deactivated.
7:10 a.m.: This article was updated with additional details about the explosion, the ongoing Russian terrorism investigation and a quote from President Vladimir Putin.
6:10 a.m.: This article was updated with reports of 50 injuries and a tightening of security on the Moscow subway.
5:52 a.m.: This article was updated with reports of 10 deaths.
This story was originally posted at 5:25 a.m.
All material is subject to strictly enforced copyright terms & conditions and cannot be repurposed or reproduced. 19882022 Latin American Financial Publications Inc.
Banks in Colombia feel the pinch from the bribery scandal, but sources are confident deal flow will pick up again
On Thursday, the company announced Sprint International Value Roaming, a discounted data, text, and calls for subscribers to stay in touch with their loved one abroad. The Sprint telecommunications company makes it easier for their subscribers as they worked hard to improve the company's unlimited offerings.
According to Digital Trends, the Sprint International Value Roaming is a bundled plan of the company's Unlimited Plus Plan, which serves 15 countries across Latin America, Europe, and Asia. It is partnered with Telefonica-owned Movistar Mexico and El Salvador. The subscribers can avail the new feature in the Sprint's World Top-Up application.
The Sprint International Value Roaming is an extension of the Unlimited Freedom promotion that was launched in December. For the subscribers who have a family in Mexico and El Salvador can add-up a Plan Conectados to the subscribers Sprint account with the cost of $25 per month. The relatives, however, in Latin America and the Caribbean can release funds directly to a prepaid account.
Moreover, Yahoo reported that the benefit of Sprint International Value Roaming is aiming to the growing numbers of immigrants who sends money to their home country. The benefit may vary by what country, where in Mexico, the subscriber will receive unlimited calls and text with a 5GB browsing data, and 2GB of data for social networks like WhatsApp.
The Sprint International Value Roaming subscribers in El Salvador will also receive the unlimited call and texts, a 400 minutes of calls to the U.S. within Movistar's network, and 300 minutes for the national calls for other networks along with a 4GB of browsing data. Sprint CEO, Marcelo Claure said that the company's objective is to make it easier for the subscribers abroad to provide their relatives needs by offering a wireless plan that is created to be a unique in a practical way. Sprint has been the fourth largest wireless carrier posted strong growth and beating AT&T.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 3
By Orkhan Quluzade Trend:
Unknown people threw explosives at a police car in Mersin province (south of Turkey), the Turkish media reported Apr. 3.
Two police officers, who were injured in the explosion, were taken to a hospital.
An operation to apprehend the criminals was launched in the province.
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Follow the author on Twitter: @o_quluzade
The Samsung Galaxy S8 was just recently introduced last week, and it brought the house down. The headline change in Samsung's new flagship phone, which was just introduced last week in New York, is the massive display screen that the company was able to incorporate into the device, which is thanks in part to the removal of the traditional home button and much of the bezels around the screen.
However, hidden inside the Galaxy S8 is another feature, something that won't get to fully showcase itself for another few months. The Galaxy S8 is the first smartphone to use the latest and fastest Qualcomm Snapdragon 835. According to CNET, the Snapdragon 835 includes the ability to connect to the so-called Gigabit LTE-class speeds, which is a benchmark that every U.S. carrier company is moving toward this year.
For most who hasn't heard about it, Gigabit LTE is simply your average 4G LTE connection, with full afterburners on. This incorporation would then make the Samsung Galaxy S8 the first ever phone to tap into the said network speed, which is as high as 300 megabits per second, nearly 18 times better compared to average speeds posted by T-Mobile and Verizon's recent performance in an OpenSignal test.
To put that in perspective, having the Gigabit LTE it would take a user only 15 seconds to download a two-hour-long movie. Keep in mind that Gigabit LTE won't just mean faster browsing on the Samsung Galaxy S8, it will also enable some new services like the 360-degree live video streaming for VR, and help power Google's goal of "instant apps," which are programs that would load immediately upon opening.
According to Tech Investor News, Gigabit LTE would also mean users will now be able to pull videos and photos from the cloud, where they will open instantly as if they were already on your Galaxy S8. This makes the connection speed actually faster than a typical smartphone reading a flash memory card.
INTRODUCTION
Sources of family law
A codified system of law is possessed by Denmark. The Acts of Parliament supplemented by court decisions are the primary sources of family law; in which judges have interpreted and applied the legislation.
The most important Acts are: No 256 of 4 June 1969, with subsequent amendments regarding the formation and dissolution of marriage (hereafter called Marriage Act 1) and No 56 of 18 March 1925, with subsequent amendments regarding the legal effects of marriage (hereafter called Marriage Act 2).
Family law also comprises the law of parents and children. The principal statutes are: No 460 of 7 June 2001 on paternity (the Paternity Act), No 200 of 18 May 1960 with subsequent amendments on child maintenance (the Child Maintenance Act) and the Act of 2 June 1995, with subsequent amendments on custody and visitation (the Custody Act). The law governing inheritance is contained in No 215 on 31 may 1963 (hereafter called the Succession Act). The law relating to practice and procedure is found in secondary legislation (e.g., the Administration of Justice Act No 90 of 1916 with subsequent amendments The Administration of estates Act No 155 of 30 November 1874, with subsequent amendments and the act on the Administration of the Estate of the Deceased, No 383 of 22 May 1992 (with subsequent amendments).
Courts
Family cases are heard in ordinary courts as there are no special family courts in Denmark. The county governor settles most of the cases by an administrative procedure; this is a faster and cheaper way than judicial proceedings. The county governor's decision can be appealed to the Department of Private Law in the Ministry of Justice. Decisions from the city court can be appealed to the High Court and, if the case started in the High court or gets a special permission from 'Procesberillings nevnet', to the Supreme Court.
Adjudication of disputes
Family law disputes related to maintenance and property are settled out of the court by private agreement between the parties by negotiation between lawyers. Conciliatory approach is recommended by the practitioners rather than litigious approach for the resolution of disputes. The parties are referred to out-of-court conciliation services in some cases, with respect to arrangements for children. Parties are encouraged to reach an agreement but they are not completely free to enter into an agreement in respect of divorce and custody of children. Investigation and consideration of extraneous evidence is done by the judge and he may reach to a decision contrary to parties' agreement. Family cases are taken place in camera.
Lawyers
The profession is unified in Denmark; there is no split between solicitors and barristers. There is an association of family lawyers, who are specialised in family law.
Legal aid
Some clients might get qualified for legal aid (Sections 330 and 330 (a) of the Administration of Justice Act). The reasonable ground for bringing the action and an inability to pay the costs based on a mean test are the conditions required for the provision of legal aid. Court and lawyer's fee is covered under the legal aid. Legal aid in Denmark is available to resident and non-resident nationals and resident and non-resident foreigners taking a legal action. Court chooses the lawyer for the assistance of the legal aided person. There is also an availability of emergency legal aid. In a typical case, only half of the lawyer's fees is covered by legal aid. If an applicant received legal aid in case of distribution of estate, there has to be a partial repayment of legal aid provided to him or her and considerable value in the division of property. There is no obligation to recover legal costs in matrimonial cases.
The County Governor and Ministry of Justice administer the schemes of legal aid. In addition a party can, according to his or her means, obtain a state subsidy to receive legal advice short of appearing in court. The Danish Bar and Law Society runs a free initial advising and assistance scheme known as 'Advokatvagten'
'Civilretsdirektoratet' (Department of Private Law) provides the information about the legal aid schemes and provisions.
To pursue actions under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction 1980, legal aid is available. Denmark is also a party to the 1977 European Agreement on the Transmission of Applications for Legal Aid. This allows a person residing in a state party outside Denmark, to make an application for legal aid for civil, commercial or administrative (but not criminal) proceedings in Denmark. An application in English or French is also acceptable.
Domicile
The law of domicile is not highly developed in Denmark. If a party is residing in Denmark permanently and has no intention of staying temporarily then the party is 'domiciled' in Denmark. Though, the concept of Danish 'domicile' is close to that of 'habitual residence', a person's intention is also referred. A Danish domiciled person residing in another country because of education or work may well be regarded as habitually resident in that country, but also be treated as domiciled there unless he intends to reside there permanently. The Danish citizen might regain his or her domicile after a short period of residence after returning Denmark. A person may be without a domicile but cannot have more than one domicile.
Marriage
INTRODUCTION
Act No 256 of 4 June 1969, with subsequent amendments, makes provision for the formation (or dissolution) of marriage ('marriage Act 1').
There need to have a capacity to marry and comply with certain formalities by the parties to a marriage. Breaching these requirements may lead to the nullity of marriage. The municipal authority must establish that each party has the capacity to marry, before the ceremony of marriage.
Capacity to marry
The parties must:
(i) not be within the prohibited degrees of relationship. Marriage between lineal ascendants and descendants and between brothers and sisters is prohibited, but is permitted between uncle and niece, or aunt and nephew, and between cousins. Where a party to a marriage has previously been married to a lineal ascendant or descendant of the other party, permission to marry must be obtained from the Minister of justice. An adopter and adoptee cannot marry while the adoption is in force.
(ii) be over the age of 18 and not declared incapable. Both parties must be at least 18 years old at the time of marriage, but a person under this age can marry with parental consent and with the special permission of the county governor. The latter can also dispense with parental consent where it is unreasonably withheld. A person declared incapable can only marry with his or her guardian's consent.
(iii) not be already married.
(iv) be respectively male or female. Although it is not expressly stated in legislation, parties to marriage must be of the opposite sex. However, parties of the same sex can enter into a registered partnership.
Conditions of a valid marriage
The marriage ceremony is performed by a proper authority before which the parties must jointly declare their wish to marry and thereafter be declared married. The marriage will be rendered void if these conditions are not satisfied. Where special reasons exist, the minister of justice is authorized to approve an invalid marriage and the cases of invalid marriage are rare.
Nullity of marriage
A marriage is considered null and void if:
(i) The parties are not male and female; or
(ii) The marriage is between a person and a young child (under 15 years).
The court can annul a marriage where:
(i) a marriage is bigamous;
(ii) the parties are within the prohibited degrees of relationship;
(iii) the marriage has been contracted as a result of duress or fraud; and
(iv) a party's mental state prevented him or her acting rationally.
The state brings the application for an annulment on the ground of bigamy or prohibited degree of relationship, or by one of the parties or, in the case of a bigamous marriage, the spouse of the previous marriage. One of the parties can bring the application on the grounds of duress, fraud or the mental state of one of the parties. Such marriages are voidable, i.e., they are valid until annulled.
Formalities
A marriage can be solemnised by either a civil or religious ceremony:
(i) A civil marriage is performed by the Chairman of the Municipal Board (in Copenhagen, a Mayor), who is obliged to perform a wedding for any couple wishing to marry, even though the marriage conditions have been verified elsewhere.
(ii) A religious marriage is valid if it is performed within:
(a) the Danish established Church to which at least one of the parties belongs;
(b) a recognized religious community, provided that one of the parties belongs to the religious community in question;
(c) an unrecognized religious community of which one party to the marriage is a member, provided there are ministers authorized to perform marriages; or
(d) A religious community in another country placed on an equal footing with the Danish Established Church.
Recognition of foreign marriages
If the foreign marriage is celebrated in accordance with the formal requirements of the law of the country then that marriage is recognized as formally valid ('lex loci celebrationis'), except the marriage is contrary to the Danish public policy. A marriage by proxy is not recognized in Denmark.
Legal consequences of marriage
Act No 56 of 18 March 1925, with subsequent amendments ('marriage Act 2') laid down the legal consequences of marriage.
Citizenship
Under the Danish Nationality Act:
(a) A child is Danish citizen if, at the time of birth, his or her father or mother is a Danish citizen.
(b) If the parents are unmarried and only the father is a Danish citizen the child will only receive Danish citizenship if he or she is born in Denmark.
(c) An unmarried minor child of a Danish father and foreign mother, who has not acquired Danish citizenship at birth, acquires Danish citizenship on his or her parents' marriage.
(d) A foreign child under the age of 12 years old adopted by a Danish adoption order acquires Danish citizenship on adoption, if the child is adopted by a couple, where one of the spouses is a Danish citizen or by an unmarried Danish citizen.
(e) An alien who has lived in Denmark for most of his or her childhood and youth (ten years in total, including five years within the last six years) can acquire Danish citizenship by a written declaration before the county governor made by the young person between 18 and 23 years, if he or she has no criminal record.
(f) When a parent is naturalised, the unmarried children under the age of 18 are also naturalised and acquire Danish citizenship, provided that the child is resident in Denmark and in the event of a parent being divorced or separated, the parent seeking naturalisation has custody.
(g) A party to a marriage does not automatically acquire Danish citizenship, although in the case of marriage the required period of residence is not as strict as it is in other cases for acquiring citizenship.
(h) Special provisions exist in relation to persons who acquired Danish citizenship at birth, but lost it at later time.
Property rights
Spouses are considered as two independent persons but with equal rights. Spouses have a mutual duty to support each other and jointly safeguard the interests of the family.
Spouses are generally subject to the same principles of property law as private individuals, but certain special provisions apply:
(a) there is an obligation of mutual support during marriage;
(b) a deferred community of property regime usually applies on divorce;
(c) special provisions apply to the distribution of property on the death of a spouse;
(d) special provisions apply to the occupation of the matrimonial home;
(e) there are special provisions relating to tax, pensions and social security arrangements for spouses
Financial obligations
It is the mutual duty of spouses to support and contribute to maintain a standard of living for the family, according to his or her means. The fulfillment of obligations is done either financially or by household works.
Parental authority
Until the child reaches majority, both parents have authority over him or her. Both parents are obliged to support their children financially. Child is in joint custody of married parents.
FINANCIAL PROVISION DURING MARRIAGE
Introduction
The disputes concerning property and finance occur on termination of marriage. A spouse might wish to apply for financial provision either for him or herself and/or any children.
Financial provision between spouses
When a spouse has failed to fulfil his or her support obligations or by either spouse when the spouses are living apart due to disagreement, an application for financial provision is made to the county governor by the applicant spouse and/or any child. Applications are common when spouses are separated but rare when cohabiting.
Right to claim a division of the community of property is given to the spouse who is deserted. For example, a deserted spouse might wish to apply if there is a risk of the other spouse misusing any property held in community or if the other spouse is facing bankruptcy proceedings. The community property may also be changed into separate property by making a settlement if the spouses want so.
Under the child legislation, an application can also be made to the county governor for the financial provision for a child.
State benefits
In the form of a general public social benefit, families have a right to cash payments in respect of children.
Pension rights
Citizen residents aged 65 or over are entitled to get national pension, irrespective of employment, income, sex and civil status, in Denmark. For wage earners a labour market supplementary pension is widespread.
A state social pension is entitled to the persons who have lost their ability to work.
Taxation
Although, the spouses are taxed personally, but there are provisions which take the close personal and economic relations between the spouses into consideration. Most of these tax provisions are beneficial for the spouses, but some provisions like joint liability for tax debts are disadvantageous too.
PROPERTY DURING MARRIAGE
Introduction
The matrimonial property regime is one of deferred community property. When spouses get married, this regime is applied automatically, unless an alternative property regime is chosen by them. It extends not only to acquisition during marriage, including gifts and inheritance, but also the property that each spouse brings into marriage.
Ownership
Community of property is deferred under the Danish system: it cannot come into effect until the marriage is terminated, either by legal separation, divorce or death. During marriage, the system is similar to a separate property system which each spouse entitles, on his or her own behalf, to dispose of property which he or she has brought into marriage, or has acquired in any way during the marriage (including gifts and inheritance).
The other spouse can ask that the community be dissolved and the property to be divided and/or claim compensation when there is a misuse, or risk of loss by misuse.
Separate property ownership
The spouses can be subjected to total or partial separate property ownership after opting out the system of community. Registration of alternative property arrangements can be made by the public registry in a written agreement. It is the considerable autonomy of the spouses as to how they own a property. Spouses can register a new agreement in which they are agreeing that community of property, in whole or in part, shall apply, when they have agreed to own property separately.
Where a donor or testator has specifically stated that a gift shall be separately owned, then the separate property ownership will arise and such property cannot be changed into community property by the spouses, without donor's consent.
No property division takes place on marriage breakdown or death in case of separately owned property. The undivided possession of the entire community property can be retained by the surviving spouse; this advantageous rule is not applicable to separate property even where there are children. Rules relating to damages for misuse of the property and restricted rights to dispose of the matrimonial home do not apply either.
Contracts and tortuous liability
Spouses enter into a binding contract with each other during marriage and are liable to each other in tort.
Creditors
Both spouses are liable for the purchases made for the household or necessities for children but the creditor can only take proceedings against the property of the debtor spouse. For the personal purchases made by the wife, the husband also becomes the debtor but this right is not similar in case of husband's personal purchases.
Gifts between spouses
Gifts between the spouses might require formalities. A gift to be valid between spouses and in respect of creditors or heirs of the donor, there is a requirement of registration, except for usual gifts. If the donor is not able to pay, the creditors may claim against the donor spouse and demand that the donee spouse pays an amount corresponding to the value of gift, if the gift is validly registered.
Occupation of the matrimonial home
Spouses have restricted rights to dispose of the matrimonial home (and any business with which the other or both spouses are connected). Mutual consent of both the spouses is necessary for the selling, giving away, leasing or mortgaging the matrimonial home. This same rule is applicable for the furniture and equipments needed for the work in the matrimonial home.
When one spouse is violent or is molesting the other spouse, an order can be obtained from the police. In case the spouses are still living together, obtaining such order is not possible.
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Tags : Family Law
Trump believes that UK withdrawal from the European Union will be good both for London and Brussels, Sputnik reported.
"I think it is going to be a great deal for UK, and I think it is going to be really, really good also for the EU," Trump said Sunday in an interview with The Financial Times newspaper.
Trump stressed that he would have thought when the Brexit vote happened that some other EU states would follow, however, he thought the European Union was "getting their act together."
The US president added that he did believe in alliances and partnerships.
"I do believe in alliances. I believe in relationships. And I believe in partnerships. But alliances have not always worked out very well for us," Trump said.
The United Kingdom's exit from the EU formally began on Wednesday after a letter triggering Article 50 of the EU treaty signed by UK Prime Minister Theresa May had been delivered to Brussels.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi will visit the White House on Monday to meet with US President Donald Trump, Sputnik reported.
The two leaders are expected to discuss multiple bilateral issues, according to the White House.
A senior White House official said Trump plans to discuss aspects of his approach to fighting Daesh, which the administration has been working on since Trump took office in January, but has not released it to the public.
The Trump administration plans to continue providing military and economic support to Egypt as happened under previous administrations, a senior White House official noted.
Moreover, Trump wants to reboot the bilateral relationship between the United States and Egypt during the Sisis upcoming visit, the official noted.
"He [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," the official stated.
Although the White House hopes to increase the economic and commercial ties between US and Egypt, security will remain the key element of the bilateral relationship.
Apr 3, 2017, 1:27am ET
Hyundai previews Kona crossover
The Kona is aimed at the Toyota C-HR and the Honda HR-V.
Hyundai's upcoming entry-level crossover has a name: Kona. Named after a district on Hawaii's Big Island, the soft-roader is scheduled to make its public debut in the coming months.
The South Korean automaker promises the Kona features "true SUV genes, progressive design, and premium features." That's not a lot to go on, but the teaser image suggests the Kona will receive a bolder style than recent additions to the Hyundai lineup. The LED daytime running lights (pictured) will be positioned a little bit higher than the grille, while the headlights will be much lower, a look reminiscent of Nissan's Juke and Jeep's Cherokee.
Technical specifications remain unconfirmed. Similarly, it's too early to tell whether the Kona will be available with four-wheel drive.
The United States will be one of the Kona's biggest markets, but it was developed as a global model. Notably, Hyundai hopes adding a smaller, more city-friendly crossover to its lineup will help it reach its goal of becoming the number one Asian brand in Europe by 2021.
The 2018 Hyundai Kona will arrive in showrooms before the end of the year. When it lands, it will compete in the same segment as the Toyota C-HR, the Honda HR-V, and the Mazda CX-3.
Apr 3, 2017, 9:05am ET
Hyundai to launch next fuel-cell vehicle in 2018, Kia by 2020
Stalling the Kia FCV launch will allow hydrogen powertrain prices to drop before the technology moves downmarket.
Hyundai Group has confirmed plans to stagger arrival of its next two fuel-cell vehicles.
The company will launch its next Hyundai-badged FCV next year, five years after the Tucson FCV landed in showrooms, while the Kia FCV will be brought to market in 2020.
Hinting at the high costs of current hydrogen powertrains, the Tucson FCV and its Japanese rivals are only available via lease in the US. All appear to serve as second vehicles for most owners, severely limiting demand. Even the Toyota Mirai averages less than 100 deliveries each month in the US.
Hyundai-Kia Eco Technology Center senior vice president Lee Ki-sang suggests the company's next-generation fuel cell technology is expected to elevate sales volume into the tens of thousands of units, according to an Automotive News report. Still, demand must climb before per-unit costs drop to a level that makes sense for a Kia model with a cheaper price tag.
"We thought [2020] was good timing to introduce a fuel cell to the market in Kia," Lee said. "In the meantime, we will reduce the material costs dramatically."
The next Hyundai FCV was previewed in the futuristic FE Fuel Cell Concept that debuted in Geneva. The improved powertrain will be more efficient, lighter and with longer range than that of the Tucson.
The Korean automaker is hedging its bets against hydrogen, with plans for eight new plug-in hybrids and as many pure EVs by 2020.
Image by Ronan Glon.
A pair accused of attacking a man and stealing $140 during a sneaker sale arranged on an app were caught after they tried to sell stolen tools from a separate burglary on the same app, Allentown police said.
Zackery Kevan Alston, 19, and Ottis Gerard Petro Jr., 26, face robbery and related charges from the sneaker incident Thursday night in Allentown, and burglary and related charges from the tools reported stolen Friday morning from a city home.
Alston and Petro, both of the 300 block of North Lumber Street in Allentown, are each being held in Lehigh County Jail in lieu of $150,000 bail.
Allentown police said a seller only known to the robbery victim as "Ottis," arranged to sell a pair of Nike sneakers for $90 via the OfferUp app.
While the victim was waiting Thursday morning at North Eighth and Gordon streets in the city, two men jumped into his car, police said; one man in the front passenger seat, and the other in a rear passenger seat.
The man had cash resting on the center console, and one man choked the victim by his hooded sweatshirt, while the other took the cash, according to police.
The pair fled, but city surveillance cameras recorded the two men before the robbery and fleeing after it. A witness also reported seeing the men hanging around the same intersection a few days before, police said.
On Friday morning, police were investigating the theft of construction tools from a home in the 400 block of North Lumber Street. The burglary victim reported seeing the stolen tools on the OfferUp app, and they were being sold by a man named Ottis, police said.
The burglary victim posed as a buyer, and arranged with "Ottis" to buy the tools at Alston and Petro's address on North Lumber Street, police said.
A city officer arranged to stand in as the "buyer" and police put a perimeter around the home.
Officers initially wanted to meet the seller at North Lumber and Gordon streets, but "Ottis" insisted the buyer pull up in front of the house, police said.
Officer Kevin Birosik pulled up to the house in an unmarked police cruiser with tinted windows, and Alston and Petro walked out of the home, police said.
Birosik, in full uniform, then got out of the car, and the pair ran into the house, locked the front door and ran out a back door, according to police.
The two were arrested after a foot chase, police said, with one man hit with a stun gun and the other stopping after being threatened to be stunned.
Officers found the stolen tools in the home's family room, as well as clothing the men wore to the robbery, which they were recorded wearing by city surveillance cameras, authorities said.
Both men reportedly admitted to their roles in the robbery and burglary.
Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
A man accused of holding a woman at knife-point followed by an hours-long standoff in Whitehall Township reportedly said he was not going back to prison.
Zachary Weller was back behind bars on Monday, however, held in Lehigh County Jail on $260,000 bail in two cases: aggravated assault and related charges from the incident on Saturday and an alleged assault with the same woman from Nov. 10.
Whitehall Township police said police were called by a neighbor at 11:38 a.m. in the apartment building in the 1200 block of Broad Street. The neighbor reported hearing a struggle in another apartment, then a woman screaming for someone to help her and call police.
No one initially responded when an officer knocked on the apartment door for the 31-year-old Weller and his ex-girlfriend, police said. The ex then ran out of the apartment, leaving the front door open, according to police.
Whitehall police Cpl. Kevin Querio saw Weller walk out of a bedroom holding a large knife. Weller was told several times to drop the knife but did not comply, police said.
Querio discharged a stun gun twice unsuccessfully, and Weller went back into the bedroom with the knife.
Township police negotiated with Weller, and the Lehigh County Emergency Response Team was activated. The ERT began negotiating with Weller, but were unsuccessful, authorities said.
Weller was "incapacitated" by the ERT and Weller was arrested.
The victim told authorities Weller was agitated that morning, then screamed at her.
The woman alleged Weller previously took her cellphone so she couldn't call for help. That morning, she texted two friends to call police if they did not hear from her in a certain amount of time, police said.
Weller allegedly took her phone that morning. When Weller let the woman go outside to smoke, she tried to run and scream for help, according to police.
Weller allegedly chased her down and dragged her back to the apartment, where he grabbed a butcher knife.
Police said Weller threatened the kill the woman, himself and police, and said "he was not going back to prison and would not back down without a fight."
Records show Weller was sentenced to four months to one year in county jail for violating his probation in a simple assault case.
Weller faced false imprisonment and other charges stemming from the February 2010 incident, but they were dropped when he pleaded guilty in June 2010, records show.
Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Lehigh Valley innovator and philanthropist Edward Donley died Saturday at the age of 95.
Philanthropist and former Air Products Chairman and CEO Edward Donley died on April 1, 2017, at the age of 95. (Courtesy photo | For lehighvalleylive.com)
Donley was hired as the 22nd employee at Air Products and rose to become only its second CEO, succeeding founder Leonard Pool. Donley was president and CEO at Air Products from 1966-1978, CEO from 1973-1986 and chairman from 1978-1986, according to the company.
Air Products and Chemicals Inc. has its corporate headquarters at 7201 Hamilton Blvd. in Upper Macungie Township. The company has annual sales of $7.5 billion and employs about 16,000 people in more than 50 countries.
"Our heartfelt condolences go to the Donley family for their loss," Seifi Ghasemi, Air Products' chairman, president and and CEO, said in a statement Monday. "Air Products is deeply saddened by the passing of this remarkable man.
"Mr. Donley played a deeply impactful role in the formation of our company. His accomplishments as a leader were many and substantial, as he led the company through some challenging times and positioned Air Products in several areas for the success we continue to have today. Many of his ideals carry on daily in our company's objectives, one of the most important being our total commitment to safety.
"Mr. Donley was also a strong advocate of education at local and national levels, and his and his late wife Inez's contributions were valued and continue to have great impact today. Personally, I have always had great respect for him and his leadership, as I worked in the industrial gases industry and had great familiarity with Air Products at the time he was chairman and CEO.
"Everyone in the industrial gases industry owes a debt of gratitude for the pioneering role Mr. Donley played in shaping the business and markets we serve today," Ghasemi continued.
Inez Donley died on Jan. 27, 2013, at 97. The two had three children and 10 grandchildren.
With his wife, Edward Donley maintained a strong philanthropic presence in the Lehigh Valley. The Association of Fundraising Professionals, Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter, presented the couple with its distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award for Philanthropy in October 2011. The pair recognized academic achievements and community service through their annual Donley Awards to Lehigh Valley high school students, slated to be distributed this year on April 13 at DeSales University.
Edward Donley graduated from Lawrence Institute of Technology (now Lawrence Technological University) in 1943 with a bachelor's in mechanical engineering. He completed Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Program in 1959 and received honorary degrees from Lawrence Tech, Villanova University, Lehigh University, Muhlenberg College, Allentown College of St. Francis DeSales (now DeSales University), Cedar Crest College, Drexel University, Wilkes College, Lafayette College and Moravian College. The Society of the Chemical Industry gave him its highest honor, the Chemical Industry Medal, in 1980. The Pennsylvania Society awarded Donley its Gold Medal for Distinguished Achievements in 1986.
Hired by Air Products in 1943, he began his career as an engineer and designed portable oxygen generators for the Allied bombers in World War II. He was also a sales engineer, sales manager, vice president, vice president and general manager, and executive vice president prior to his appointments to higher positions held with the company.
Donley retired in 1986 but continued to serve on Air Products' Executive Committee until 1992 following his term as chairman and CEO.
In addition to serving on Air Products Board from 1957-87, Donley served on many business and nonprofit boards. He was a director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for 11 years (chairman 1986-87), a board member of the Chemical Manufacturers' Association (chairman 1978-79) and a member of the Business Roundtable. Donley was a director of American Standard Companies for 18 years (chairman 1992-93), Mellon Bank Corporation (lead outside director), Cooper Tire & Rubber Co., Koppers Company, and Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. He served on the Grace Commission, NASA Advisory Council, the National Endowment for Democracy and the Business-Higher Education Forum.
Donley was active in health care and served as a trustee of Lehigh Valley Health Network and the Dorothy Rider Pool Health Care Trust. He worked with the Rotary Club to found Lehigh Valley Hospice Inc. in 1980 -- just the second hospice in the United States at the time, according to Air Products' statement.
Donley's main cause and passion was education. Donley served on the boards of Lawrence Tech (11 years as chairman), Carnegie-Mellon University, American College Testing (ACT), the Pennsylvania State Board of Education, University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering, the Council for Higher Educational Accreditation, the National Assessment Governing Board and the United Negro College Fund. He helped found Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, led Pennsylvania 2000 and America 2000 initiatives and was chairman of the Lehigh Valley Business-Education Partnership.
Donley also led many projects and partnered with several local organizations in the Lehigh Valley. He was on the board of Lehigh Valley Business-Education Partnership, where he served as chairman from 1989-1992. He served on the board of directors of the Lehigh Valley Partnership and the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp. He also served as chairman of the Development Committee of Community Services for Children/Head Start programs.
He and his late wife gave most of their assets to The Donley Foundation, a trust now run by their children and grandchildren, which has granted millions to literacy and early-childhood education groups.
Services to be set
Bachman, Kulik and Reinsmith Funeral Home is making arrangements for a memorial service in the Lehigh Valley on a date to be determined. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that any memorial donations go to Community Services for Children, 1530 Hanover Ave., Allentown, PA 18109.
Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Kathleen Rich has her routine: hit Wegmans on Wednesdays, the YMCA on Fridays.
But the retired Bethlehem Area School District French teacher has been warned to stay away from those places. Many times.
Bethlehem police have responded 47 times to her unwanted visits at the Y. Colonial Regional police have responded 28 times at the local supermarket.
Despite numerous warnings, the 74-year-old Bethlehem woman keeps returning. Now she faces jail time if she's convicted at trial of 17 trespassing charges. The most recent was a felony.
Why isn't she wanted at these places?
And why does she keep going there?
"It's a long story," she said.
Her story highlights the difficulty treating mentally ill individuals who refuse to be helped, the limitations of the mental health system and the challenges those limitations put on the courts, police and social service agencies.
Why it's a long story
Rich knows she suffers from schizophrenia. She's also been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She acknowledges she's been hospitalized repeatedly, most recently in Allentown State Hospital in 2008.
But she believes she's cured. She lives independently, pays her bills, and keeps herself and her home clean.
Her only missteps come during her unwanted visits to the YMCA and Wegmans.
She feels the need to "defend her life, honor and dignity" to other shoppers. She believes a man she dated 48 years ago is spreading rumors in the community that Rich is promiscuous, specifically that she engages in oral sex and drug use.
So she tells random customers at length that the story isn't true.
"I'm not dangerous. I don't threaten people," she said. "If somebody doesn't want to talk to me I just move on. But I can talk. There's nothing wrong with talking."
She feels she has a right to go to these places like any other patron. Local police chiefs disagree.
"Her comments to shoppers are not solicited and are very sexually explicit," said Colonial Regional Police Chief Roy Seiple, whose jurisdiction includes the Wegmans in Hanover Township.
"You can't just trespass and fight or scream and curse at people," adds Bethlehem police Chief Mark DiLuzio.
While police reports don't detail Rich's comments, she has said in court she's not an "oral sex whore" or a "mouth whore." A corporate spokeswoman from Wegmans wouldn't comment on the case. Nor would Audrey Gerhart, the YMCA member services director who reported Rich to the police.
Rich doesn't understand why her actions are criminal.
"All I do is walk in, say hello. I sit down. I see a lot of people. I say 'I'm just defending my life, honor and dignity.' I have a loud voice. I am used to projecting a little bit. Considering what I'm up against I think I'm entitled to get a little excited," she said.
She refuses to stop going to these places. She invites police to arrest her if they dare.
Seiple said police have used discretion. She has four pending trespassing charges over the past four years. Seiple said police have stopped charging her until those charges are resolved at court.
"We have contacted MHMR (Northampton County's division of mental health and mental retardation), her family and her attorney for help," Seiple said. "We have been looking for their guidance to do some type of court-ordered evaluation."
Help wanted?
Rich's attorney, Jennifer Toth, didn't return numerous phone messages. Rich's parents are deceased. She has no siblings, never married and has no children. She said she's estranged from the rest of her family.
County workers are prohibited from discussing her case, although sources did confirm she is schizophrenic.
Andrew Grossman, the Northampton County mental health department administrator, said no one can force someone suffering from mental illness to comply with treatment or take medication. They must agree to seek help.
"Unless you're committed to a state center, all our services are voluntary," he said.
Involuntary commitment is available for those who pose an immediate danger to themselves or others. Or, if their living conditions are so poor that they're likely to die within 30 days, they can be committed.
Rich said she received a court-ordered geriatric evaluation on March 13. Sources who spoke under condition of anonymity weren't sure whether the evaluation would trigger more services to help her. The sources confirmed she refused treatment from county mental health workers.
Northampton County has a relatively new mental health court program where defendants can have charges dismissed if they comply with treatment. Rich didn't apply for the program, according to program coordinator Stephanie Spencer. It's possible Rich didn't apply because she refuses to seek treatment.
Police let Rich bother customers dozens of times while they tried to find her help, but the police chiefs said they decided finally they had no choice but to charge her. She has spent weekends in Northampton County Prison waiting to be bailed out while continuing her quest to maintain her dignity.
Her most recent stint went from Feb. 21 to 27, when she was charged with felony trespass at the YMCA.
"I hate jails and I hate hospitals," she said. The inmates' foul language bothers her, she said. She went to minimum security in February. She tried to stick with the older inmates because the younger ones teased her.
"There was a woman who was snoring next to me," she said. "There was some cackling going on with these young kids. I started complaining about the snoring and then the kids were doing a duet with the snoring. Then I knew it wasn't an accident. It was harassment. So I complained about that and I got put in the hole."
She spent 23 hours a day in her cell until she finally made bail.
"It was horrible," she said.
Her April trial date was postponed because she has a preliminary hearing coming up April 10 on her three latest trespassing charges, and her attorney wants to consolidate every case into one trial. If she's convicted of all 17 trespassing charges, Northampton County Judge Samuel Murray has the discretion to sentence her to up to 22 years in prison.
While on bail Rich is under the supervision of Northampton County Pre-Trial Services. So her pre-trial officer is trying her best to keep her out of Wegmans and the Y so she can remain out on bail. It hasn't always worked well.
Rich is extremely polite and checks in with her pre-trial officer when she's supposed to. Her only issue is her "obsession with her virtue," said Nina Reynard, who heads the pre-trial office.
Rich has been known to call her pre-trial officer to warn her she intends to violate her bail conditions and trespass again.
"It's challenging," Reynard said.
She would rather not bring Rich in front of a judge for a bail revocation hearing because putting her in jail won't solve the problem.
"Nobody wants to put a 74-year-old woman in prison," Reynard said. Prison seems to be the only thing keeping her from offending, at least for now.
Asked whether she'll go back to Wegmans or the YMCA some day, Rich said, "Not right now. It depends on what happens in court."
'Throwaway' people
A case like Rich's was a novelty when Bethlehem's Chief DiLuzio started as a cop more than 30 years ago. Now his officers deal with mentally ill people every day.
DiLuzio blames the state for closing inpatient hospitals and putting the mentally ill on the street. A pennlive.com report says the state has closed 10 hospitals since 1955 and the number of patients has gone from 41,000 a day to about 1,500. Two more hospitals will close over the next two years.
"This is one of the issues that have been dumped on police," DiLuzio said. "We're dealing with so much mental illness now."
Many of the city's homeless population are too mentally ill to take care of themselves, he said. The National Alliance on Mental Illness reports 26 percent of homeless adults in shelters live with serious mental illness and 46 percent live with severe mental illness and/or substance use disorders.
The alliance says 20 percent of state prisoners and 21 percent of local jail prisoners have "a recent history" of a mental health condition.
DiLuzio remembers a case in the last three years where police found a person with maggots growing out of an open wound.
"You're telling me some doctor can't look at this guy and say he has a mental health issue?" the chief asked. He calls the mentally ill society's "throwaway" population.
He thinks Rich probably belongs in Allentown State Hospital, but that facility closed in 2010.
"It's a sad commentary on a supposedly modern society," he said.
A spokeswoman for the state department of human services didn't respond to the chief's concerns. The trend is to put mentally ill people into the community where they'll have to live at some point.
"People do better when they are in the community," Pennsylvania Secretary of Human Services Ted Dallas told pennlive.com. "They get to interact with the world. They are closer to their families."
Diane Gilroy, president of the Bethlehem-based office of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said you can't blame Rich's situation on a lack of state hospital beds. Another big part of the problem is "anosognosia," an inability of someone suffering from mental illness to comprehend the illness.
Half of schizophrenia sufferers and 40 percent of those with bipolar disorder suffer from this condition. When they refuse treatment, it's not accurate to call it "denial," because people with mental illness can't think clearly enough to be in denial, Gilroy said.
"If someone came up to you and said 'You have diabetes and you need to start getting treatment right now,' you'd look at him and say 'What are you talking about?' When people have this lack of awareness, that's what they feel like," Gilroy said.
Psychotropic medications can have side effects such as weight gain, tremors and loss of sex drive. Even if you factor out the side effects, officials said, dependency on a pill for the rest of one's life isn't always embraced.
When someone with schizophrenia "feels OK," they can justify throwing away their pills because they "don't need them," Gilroy said.
"Someone being in a position where they are not willing to admit mental health issues is not at all uncommon," added Margaret Murphy, the executive director for the National Alliance for Mental Illness-Lehigh Valley. "Unfortunately many of these people do end up in the court system."
Looking ahead
If she's convicted of all or some of her crimes, Rich might escape prison but will likely face some form of probation or parole.
Handling mentally ill defendants is nothing new for Northampton County Director of Adult Probation Marie Bartosh. Her staff reviews each case looking for a criminal offender's involvement in the mental health system. If they're not involved but should be, probation officers will look to reconnect them, according to probation officer Paul Singley.
Bartosh and Singley work closely with the county's mental health court.
The goal is not just to get defendants in therapy or medicated in the short term, but to get them to live a crime-free and illness-free life.
"We want to work with you to work this out because we don't want you back here," Singley said.
"We're always walking a line between being a caseworker and being in law enforcement," Bartosh said.
Probation officers can increase compliance by increasing the frequency of contact with offenders. They can call on an Assertive Community Treatment team consisting of a psychiatrist, caseworker and other counselors that meets with the offender once a week. An intensive case manager can also help.
"You try to increase those services to the point where that person every day has some type of point of contact," Bartosh said.
Of course, none of the treatment works unless the offender participates willingly. Not only has Rich declined treatment, she has suggested she'll go back to the YMCA as soon as her case is disposed of.
Patience is the key. The offender may be dead-set against treatment, but a good probation officer or counselor can show the offender that not only will treatment keep them out of trouble, it will improve their quality of life.
Communication is critical. The probation officer must strive to reach the offender on his or her level to convince them to accept the program, Bartosh said.
"Perception is everything," she said. "You need to step back and try and see what they are seeing."
Bartosh tells offenders that if they stop taking their medication, they should be honest about it. Maybe a doctor can prescribe something different to eliminate unwanted side effects. Maybe a doctor can alter the dosage.
Ultimately, the decision to seek treatment rests with the mentally ill individual.
"You do everything you can do," Bartosh said. "Jail is the final option."
Reynard, the pre-trial services director, admits Rich's case raises more questions than answers.
"Should we force these sorts of people into treatment? Should the police take a different approach? Who knows," she said.
THE CHARGES
Trespassing charges for Kathleen Rich:
Jan. 18, 2016, ShopRite in Greenwich Township (dismissed)
May 3, 2016, Wegmans (dismissed)
May 11, 2016, Wegmans (dismissed)
Sept. 7, 2016, Wegmans (also charged with disorderly conduct)
Sept. 23, 2016, Bethlehem YMCA (non-traffic citation)
Sept. 30, 2016, Bethlehem YMCA
Oct. 21, 2016, Bethlehem YMCA
Oct. 26, 2016, Wegmans
Oct. 28, 2016, Bethlehem YMCA
Oct. 30, 2016, Bethlehem YMCA
Nov. 9, 2016, Wegmans
Nov. 23, 2016, Wegmans
Nov. 25, 2016, Bethlehem YMCA
Dec. 2, 2016, Bethlehem YMCA
Dec. 9, 2016, Bethlehem YMCA
Dec. 16, 2016, Bethlehem YMCA
Dec. 23, 2016, Bethlehem YMCA
Feb. 3, 2017, Bethlehem YMCA
Feb. 14, 2017, Bethlehem YMCA
Feb. 21, 2017, Bethlehem YMCA (felony)
Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 3
Trend:
The latest on the explosion in St. Petersburg metro
02:00 (GMT +4) According to latest data, 11 people were killed and 45 hospitalized following the St. Petersburg metro blast, TASS reported citing the Information Center of the National Anti-Terrorist Committee (NAK) .
Specialists from the Health Ministry have taken measures to provide all the necessary medical and psychological assistance to those injured in the blast as well as their families.
21:23 (GMT +4) Ten people were killed and 37 injured in the St. Petersburg metro blast, TASS quoted Russias Minister of Health Veronika Skvortsova as saying April 3.
The countrys Investigative Committee qualified the explosion as a terrorist attack, TASS reported.
At the same time, the investigators are not excluding other possible reasons apart from terrorism, the committee said.
20:10 (GMT +4) Forty-three people injured in the St. Petersburg metro blast were hospitalized, said the press service of the city administration, TASS reports.
18:31 (GMT +4) An improvised explosive device was found and defused at the Ploshchad Vosstaniya station of the St. Petersburg metro, Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee said, TASS reports.
18:17 (GMT +4) The blast that hit the St. Petersburg metro killed nine and left 20 people injured, TASS reported citing the Russian Anti-Terrorism Committee.
18:10 (GMT +4) Russian Prosecutor Generals Office said the St. Petersburg metro blast was a terrorist attack, TASS reported.
18:04 (GMT +4) The reports suggesting that an unattended item, previously found in the St. Petersburg metro, is an explosive device were not confirmed, RIA Novosti reports citing a source.
17:28 (GMT +4) TASS coverage of the incident suggests that there was one explosion, between the Sennaya Ploshchad (Sennaya Square) and Tekhnologichesky Institut stations of the St. Petersburg metro.
17:13 (GMT +4) About 50 were wounded in the St. Petersburg metro blast, press secretary of the St. Petersburg governor, Andrei Kibitov, said, TASS reports.
16:55 (GMT +4) Ria Novosti reports about another blast in the St. Petersburg metro, this time in the Tekhnologichesky Institut station.
The report, citing a healthcare source, said 30 were injured in the incident.
Meanwhile, Russias President Vladimir Putin, commenting on the incident, has said all the possible reasons of the blasts, including a terrorist attack, are being considered.
16:33 (GMT +4) TASS reports that 10 were killed in the explosion in the Sennaya Ploshchad (Sennaya Square) metro station in St. Petersburg.
Initial information suggests that about 10 people have been killed in the blast. There are wounded people, a source in Russias emergency services has told TASS.
TASS said it has no official confirmation of this information yet.
Rescuers and law enforcement officers are working on the incident site.
16:06 (GMT +4) A blast has occurred in the St. Petersburg metro, Russias TASS reports.
A blast has occurred at the Sennaya Ploshchad metro station; several people have been injured, TASS quoted a source as saying.
IFA National Livestock Chairman Angus Woods has met with Irish MEPs, senior officials in the EU Commission in DG Sante, DG Agriculture, Commissioner Hogans cabinet and COPA, to reiterate the IFA call for a ban on Brazilian meat imports.
He said IFA received strong political support for a ban on Brazil and secured agreement that Commissioner Andriukaitis will be called before the Agriculture or Environment Committee in the European Parliament to answer questions.
Angus Woods said the EU must respond strongly and ban substandard Brazilian meat imports.
Commissioner Andriukaitis is going to Brazil next week and he must tell them in the strongest possible terms that Europe will not accept substandard meat imports that fail to meet European standards.
In the European Parliament, the IFA Livestock Chairman met with Irish MEPs Mairead McGuinness, Sean Kelly and Marian Harkin as well as Northern Ireland MEP Jim Nicholson. All of the MEPs were very strong in their views over the meat scandal that has emerged from Brazil in the last week.
Angus Woods also met with senior officials in DG Sante and in Commissioner Hogans cabinet.
We made it very clear to the Commission that there are systematic failures in the controls in Brazil and the EU can no longer credibly rely on the authorities there to certify meat exports to the EU.
The IFA Livestock leader said the real story and details behind this scandal have not emerged. It is incredible that the EU Commission were only made aware of the issue through media reports.
Attempts by the Brazilian authorities to try and confine the scandal to a limited number of establishments are not credible, when the reports indicate that the government inspection and control authorities were operating fraudulently and taking bribes from processors to buy certificates.
Angus Woods said this latest scandal and ongoing difficulties in Brazil point to a systematic breakdown of standards and controls. Based on previous FVO reports and the work of the IFA/Irish Farmers Journal investigation in 2006/2007, the EU Commission is fully aware of the failure of the Brazil authorities to meet EU standards. On this basis, the EU should act strongly now and impose a full ban.
IFA has written to the EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis demanding a full ban.
So far it is reported Japan, Canada, Korea, China, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Mexico and Chile have banned Brazilian beef and poultry in recent days.
The IFA Poultry Chairman Nigel Renaghan said the EU Commission must withdraw from trade talks with Mercosur while this investigation in Brazil is ongoing.
Standards and controls have to be at the centre of any trade discussions.
The EU Commission cannot stand over negotiations with the Mercosur group against the backdrop of the very serious issues raised in Brazil.
The latest developments also highlight the need for a strong policy on standards in the context of Brexit.
He said, In the IFA policy document on Brexit we have set out very clearly the need for equivalent standards on food safety, animal health, welfare and the environment and the need for the application of the Common External Tariff for imports to both the EU and UK.
A Mountrath man who tried to bite a garda as he was being arrested for roaring and shouting abuse has paid 400 to a local charity as part of an appeal against a prison sentence.
Patrick McDonnell, Newline Close, Mountrath, was a passenger in a car that was stopped at a multi-agency checkpoint in Clonenagh, Mountrath, on October 30, 2015.
As Garda Darrell Rigney was speaking to the driver, the front seat passenger, Patrick McDonnell began shouting and roaring abuse at him, saying who the f**k do you think you are.
He got out of the car shouting and roaring and started walking in and out of traffic shouting abuse.
McDonnell was told to desist and leave the scene a number of times, but he continued to shout abuse, telling Garda Rigney to f**k off and he was only a scumbag.
Garda Rigney called for assistance, and McDonnell was arrested for both his own safety and the gardai's.
As Garda Rigney was trying to restrain him and handcuff him, McDonnell attempted to bite the gardas hand.
I just pulled away - Im convinced he would have bit me, said Garda Rigney.
McDonnell had 12 previous convictions.
He was given one month in prison in the district court for this offence, but he appealed this sentence before Judge Keenan Johnson at the circuit court last July.
At that court, Judge Johnson described the offence as pure gougerism and increased the prison sentence to two months, but suspended it for two years on condition McDonnell keep the peace and donate 1,500 to a local charity.
For failing to comply with the gardai, McDonnell was given 240 hours community service in lieu of four months in prison.
When the case returned to the circuit court recently, defence barrister, Mr Colm Hennessy said his client had 400 in court.
Judge Johnson put the matter back to June 14 for an up to date probation report. He also directed that the money in court go to the Laois Offaly Families For Autism.
Sinn Fein TD Brian Stanley is calling on the Government to ensure Laois is included in the new National Planning Framework and not ignored again as it was in the failed National Spatial Strategy.
Laois has been completely left out of the process and none of the towns have been considered as a centre for development and growth, he said.
Deputy Stanley has made a submission to the Department of Housing, Community and Local Government outlining the strengths of the county and the need for Laois to be part of this Planning Framework.
He is calling for a balanced regional development to reverse the situation of having a congested capital and the regions left behind.
He said Laois is in a strategic location with regard to the road networks, the M7 and M8 motorways connecting and the N77 and N80 regional roads running through the county.
The county town is less than an hour from Dublin and one a half hours from the port of Rosslare, and he emphasised the excellent rail network with three rail stations and direct connections to Dublin, Limerick and Cork.
He also pointed out that MANS broadband is in Portlaoise and broadband coverage is being upgraded in the rest of the county. He concluded his submission by saying that Laois has excellent facilities in terms of leisure and recreational use.
It is imperative that Laois is not left out this time around as happened with the National Spatial Strategy 14 years ago under the then Fianna Fail government, he said. The county has subsequently been deprived of inward investment and IDA jobs as a result.
A Kildare Guide Leader has received a 50-year service award from Irish Girl Guides (IGG).
Margaret Dunne received her 50-year service pin from IGG President Maureen Dillon at the organisations annual Council meeting held in Airfield Estate, Dublin, on Saturday 1 April 2017.
Ms Dunne started her Guiding career as Lieutenant in Rathfarnham Company, Dublin. She subsequently became a Brownie leader in Athy for 7-10 year olds and was responsible for the development of Guiding in the Kildare area for many years. She fulfilled the roles of Area Commissioner for Kildare and Regional Commissioner for Eastern Region before going on to chair several national committees and serving six years as Chief Commissioner. She also acted as the World Conference administrator when Ireland hosted the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts World Conference in 1999.
Presenting the award, Ms Dillon said: It is with an enormous sense of gratitude that Irish Girl Guides acknowledges today the extraordinary service given by Margaret Dunne over the last 50 years. Margaret is one of the extraordinary women volunteers who has given exemplary service to our organisation over this time - as a member, a leader, an informal educator and a trainer of other adult leaders. It is through the example of women like Margaret that Irish Girl Guides is the revered and respected organisation of high standing it is and we honour that valuable contribution today.
Ms Dunne said she was very pleased to receive the award.
I can honestly say that I have enjoyed all the roles I have been in during my time in Guiding, she said. Becoming a member of IGG at the age of seven was one of the best things that ever happened to me so many avenues opened up as a result. My life has been enhanced enormously by the wonderful people who guided me as a Brownie, Guide, Cadet and adult leader. I really appreciate the effect they had on my life.
As a member of IGG I received knowledge, skills, opportunities, experiences, fun and, above all, friendship. I really believe in Guiding; it is a wonderful movement and the principles of the Law and Promise are as valid now as they were over 100 years ago.
Over 80 people in Kildare are diagnosed with bowel cancer every year according to the Irish Cancer Society which launched it's bowel cancer awareness campaign recently.
According to the Society bowel cancer information and support is consistently the most sought after by the Irish public
April is bowel cancer awareness month and the Society said that the symptoms and diagnosis of bowel cancer was one of the top four pages visited on the Irish Cancer Societys website in 2016, and was looked-for more than any other specific cancer type.
Bowel cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in Ireland with the latest figures saying that over 2,500 people are diagnosed every year, and approximately 82 of these cases are in Kildare.
Around 1,000 people die from the disease annually, making it the second most common cause of cancer death in Ireland. While the numbers of new cases per year continue to rise, survival rates have increased gradually with 5 in 10 surviving five years post-diagnosis in 1994 compared with 6 in 10 in 2012.**
Joan Kelly, Cancer Support Manager with the Irish Cancer Society said Bowel cancer usually occurs in people over 60 years of age and is often diagnosed in the later stages. However, if bowel cancer is caught early, it is extremely treatable.
"During the Month of April the Society will be campaigning to make everyone in Kildare aware of the signs and symptoms of bowel cancer. This year we have also developed an easy to use online Bowel Health Checker (www.cancer.ie/bowelhealth) which is a short quiz designed to inform people about staying healthy, being aware of their bowel health and informing people about the signs and symptoms of bowel cancer. Once completed, there is a handy printout to take to your doctor should it be needed."
Andrew Jones, 38, a bowel cancer survivor, said I was diagnosed with stage 3 bowel cancer in 2013 and I just couldnt believe it when I got the news. I had been experiencing some abdominal pain but I really thought it was something minor. What followed that diagnosis was a year of treatment and sickness and it was a huge challenge to beat the disease.
Thankfully I have come out the other side but it is absolutely essential that we do more to raise awareness of this cancer and encourage people to go to their doctor if they are experiencing any of the symptoms. For me, it was abdominal pain that I had put down to too much coffee.
Bowel cancer is very treatable, I am living proof of that, but the earlier it is caught the better. If you get a letter calling you for your bowel screening just go. Take it from someone who has actually been through bowel cancer.
To speak to a cancer nurse on any aspect of bowel cancer contact the Cancer Nurseline on Freephone 1800 200 700, email cancernurseline@irishcancer.ie
Visit www.cancer.ie/bowel for further information on bowel cancer and to take the Online Bowel Health Checker.
Two dozen people staged a demonstration at Naas Hospital and the Vista Primary Care centre today.
They are angry over delays experienced by children with special needs.
The protestors, who marched from the hospital to the Vista building on the Ballymore Road, want the Health Service Executive to recruit more staff so that assessments can be carried out and assistance provided within a reasonable timeframe.
There are a lot of kids with special needs across the county. Some. like my four year old nephew, have been waiting for an assessment for 30 months, said Newhall resident Amanda Clarke, one of the organisers.
Ms Clarke added: This is vital for kids because vital time is lost in terms of their development and the assessment can decide whether a Special Needs Assistant is needed for the school that the child will attend.
The parents say there is a shortage of occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, psychologists and counsellors. Its estimated that there are more than 8,000 people, including adults on waiting lists.
Another protester Chris Pender from Newbridge said his brother James, who needed assistance, following an accident had waited for many months to be assessed only to find that, once that was done, the actual services were spread too thin.
In the end he got help for about two years but this dried up and we had to try to arrange it privately, said Mr. Pender.
Fianna Fail TD James Lawless said many families have had traumatic experiences because of the delays.
Its hard enough for many of them to even take part in a protest given the pressures on their time. He said there is a shortage of personnel trained in providing special needs care and carrying out assessments.
He criticised the Government for being slow to adopt the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities. Once this is done, the State will obliged to act, said Dep. Lawless.
enet, Irelands open-access network operator, today announced it will be investing over 5M in broadband infrastructure to supply high-speed connectivity to ten towns in the next phase of its fibredirect initiative.
The towns selected are Donegal Town, Buncrana, Ballybofey, Stranorlar, Ballyshannon, Bundoran, Cootehill, Castleblayney, Ballinasloe and Manorhamilton.
Announcing the network build, enet Chairman and lead shareholder, David C. McCourt said: Having already invested over 100 million in the sustained development of telecoms infrastructure since we acquired enet, the construction of these ten fibre networks will further deliver affordable, state-of-the-art broadband services to businesses in regional Ireland.
The enet board are happy with the support the Irish Government has given us and we look forward to maintaining our partnership with the State, as well as continued investment in world class infrastructure in regional and rural Ireland, McCourt added.
Donegal T.D. and Minister of State, Joe McHugh welcomed the announcement and said: I want to congratulate enet on its latest announcement. Providing high-speed broadband connections across rural and regional areas of the country is vital for the continued success of the growing economy. This investment by enet will provide massively improved connection speeds directly to businesses which will allow companies to expand and create new jobs.
Conal Henry, CEO of enet, hailed the investment programme by saying: We are delighted to announce our plans to create ten new regional fibre towns. The fibredirect network will completely replace the out-of-date copper network which has reached its end of life. Were building a broadband network to deliver real broadband Henry added: ComReg recently reported that there were only 7,623 premises that have a fibre service so this investment in genuine fibre infrastructure will increase that by at least a third.
Right to Read literacy pilots took place in a number of authorities in the Summer of 2016.
The overall findings from story-time pilots which were run by libraries in 11 local authorities showed strong attendance and identified high levels of demand for story-time sessions in branches, particularly story-times which include a focus on parent/carer engagement.
Based on the experiences of the 11 authorities, the Literacy and Reading Development Working Group proposed a national story-time initiative, Spring into Story-Time, to be held in all authorities during the month of April this year.
The Department have confirmed that Minister Damien English will launch the new initiative, Spring into Story-Time, in Pearse Street Library, Dublin 2 on Wednesday, April at 11am.
In Leitrim the Spring into Story- Time for young children and their parents/guardians is happening in Carrick-on-Shannon library, on Wednesday April 12 at 12noon and Ballinamore Library at 6pm. To book a place for these sessions contact either Carrick-on-Shannon library at (071) 9620789 or Ballinamore at (071) 9645566 These will be fun events and everyones welcome.
Story Sessions will take place in all other branch libraries in the following weeks. Full details will be available on the library Facebook page and by contacting your local branch library.
FPCs meetings tend to be dominated by two things: consideration of consultation and policy papers, which are ultimately put to conference for discussion and debate; and trying to find ways to improve the process of policy-making and policy discussion within the party. Last Wednesdays meeting featured both.
For the first hour or so of the meeting we discussed our responses to two of the consultation papers we published in February, on the 21st Century Economy, and on Education. The working groups which wrote the papers for us will take our comments, along with the many received from party members and made at the consultative sessions at York, into consideration when they write their policy papers for the FPC to consider in June or July. The final papers will then be submitted to the Bournemouth conference in September for debate.
The rest of the meeting was mainly devoted to process issues. FPC is keen to improve the opportunities for debating policy within the party. While plenty of policy debates take place at federal and state conferences, at the local party level its quite variable. Many local parties run popular and effective pizza and politics events (or their culinary equivalents), but in others their efforts may be entirely taken up with campaigning and fund-raising. We believe policy debate is good in itself: it improves members experience of involvement in the party (after all, its the reason many members joined) and their knowledge of what we stand for, and it improves input into the formal policy-making process which FPC oversees.
We discussed a range of possible actions, including improving access to existing policy through the party website, publishing pocket guides to party policy and philosophy, helping to promote local party discussions (including learning from the successful Your Liberal Britain experience http://liberalbritain.org), organising the Festival of Ideas Tim Farron talked about in his leadership campaign (see http://www.markpack.org.uk/132763/exclusive-tim-farrons-festival-of-ideas/) and many more. We aim to implement these, as far as possible, over the next few years, and well let you know, through these reports and through the policy-making section of the party website (http://www.libdems.org.uk/making_policy) what progress were making.
FPC also discussed which policy papers to commission for the autumn 2018 conference. That may seem a long way away, but if working groups are to do their job properly, including consulting within the party and hearing evidence from experts outside it, and writing a consultation paper and a full policy paper, they need close to a year; and of course it takes us several weeks to advertise for and recruit the group itself. We agreed to schedule three of the policy papers listed in the Agenda 2020 paper approved by conference last year: health and social care; climate change and the low-carbon economy; and taxation. In addition, and in response to various suggestions, we will produce a policy paper on race equality. We will shortly be advertising for the chairs of the working groups who will draft these papers, and well recruit the full membership after the local elections in May. Watch this space. (Also see below for the current schedule of consultation and policy papers.)
FPC also decided to add one more paper to those well be submitting to conference this year: on the partys core policy stance, a policy priorities paper. Normally we dont produce papers like this until nearer the election, as part of the process of agreeing the manifesto, but we believe this will be valuable this autumn both because of the dramatic changes in the political scene since the 2015 election and because of the huge growth in party membership since then more than half the party have joined since the last election, and wed like to give them the chance to read and debate a paper that sums up the Liberal Democrat position.
We also discussed a series of policy issues which we think need further development but dont warrant a full policy paper, such as land use planning or democracy at work; we aim to work with our parliamentary spokespeople and our LGA group to produce a series of conference motions and short papers to flesh out these issues. And on top of all that, we had a quick look at the party vision document produced by the Your Liberal Britain group, discussed a paper developing the partys position on the rights of EU citizens after Brexit, and reviewed what happened at the York conference. It was a pretty full meeting!
Current schedule of consultation and policy papers
September 2017 conference Policy papers: Britain in the World; Education; Rural Affairs; 21st Century Economy; Policy Priorities. Consultation papers: Immigration and Identity; Power to People and Communities.
March 2018 conference Policy papers: Immigration and Identity; Power to People and Communities. Consultation papers: Climate Change and the Low-Carbon Economy; Health and Social Care; Race Equality; Taxation.
September 2018 conference Policy papers: Climate Change and the Low-Carbon Economy; Health and Social Care; Race Equality; Taxation. Consultation papers: still to be decided.
* Duncan Brack is the Editor of the Journal of Liberal History and former Vice Chair of the Federal Policy Committee.
The latest on the explosions in St. Petersburg metro
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 3
Trend:
17:15 (GMT +4) TASS coverage of the incident suggests that the explosion occurred between the Sennaya Ploshchad (Sennaya Square) and Tekhnologichesky Institut stations of the St. Petersburg metro.
17:13 (GMT +4) About 50 were wounded in the St. Petersburg metro blast, press secretary of the St. Petersburg governor, Andrei Kibitov, said, TASS reports.
16:55 (GMT +4) Ria Novosti reports about another blast in St. Petersburg metro, this time in the Tekhnologichesky Institut station.
The report, citing a healthcare source, said 30 were injured in the incident.
Meanwhile, Russias President Vladimir Putin, commenting on the incident, has said all the possible reasons of the blasts, including a terrorist attack, are being considered.
16:33 (GMT +4) TASS reports that 10 were killed in the explosion in the Sennaya Ploshchad (Sennaya Square) metro station in St. Petersburg.
Initial information suggests that about 10 people have been killed in the blast. There are wounded people, a source in Russias emergency services has told TASS.
TASS said it has no official confirmation of this information yet.
Rescuers and law enforcement officers are working on the incident site.
16:06 (GMT +4) A blast has occurred in St. Petersburg metro, Russias TASS reports.
A blast has occurred at the Sennaya Ploshchad metro station; several people have been injured, TASS quoted a source as saying.
You wish to buy a house, but cant afford one a predicament many face. You approach the bank for a loan, repayable over 25 years. Youd think that the money the bank has loaned is actually other customers savings that is held in some physical form, yet youd be wrong. In reality, when the bank made this loan they created the money by inputting numbers into a spreadsheet; bank-created money accounts for over 97% of money in circulation today.
Effectively this means 97% of our money is also debt. When times are good people pay down their debts and the amount of money in circulation shrinks, along with the economy. Government desires to rid household debt is almost impossible; to do so would shrink our economy and wipe out almost all of the money in circulation.
Moreover, history has shown banks are not fair distributors of money; they create too much money (through reckless lending) in a push for profits and most of the money they create is speculated on financial markets and asset bubbles, fuelling the housing crisis. Regulations have proven to not be worth the paper they are written upon, because banks know that no matter how recklessly they lend, they must be bailed out because many people would lose their savings and no government could allow this. Thus the banking sector is a neither free, nor fair, market; its lending is largely monopolised and it is people outside the financial sector that pay the price for its reckless decisions.
This is why the task we face is clear: make banking a genuinely free and fair market. To do this the solution is straightforward take the power to create money away from high-street banks and put it in the hands of an independent body that is accountable to the government. The money this body creates would be debt-free, and thus could be genuinely invested into infrastructure and jobs, without adding to the pre-existing insurmountable mountain of debt.
I wont go into the quirks of how such a system would work as a) Im no expert and b) that would go beyond the word limit of this site, but of course this change would have profound effects for banking. It would not mean banks cease to be important; they are a legitimate means of distributing money in our economy, but they would now have to do so within the limits of the money they hold. To do this, whilst preventing banking remaining a too big to fail market, you would have to create a type of bank account that enables money to be stored without gaining interest but without being loaned out, so the money would always remain the customers property. If the bank went bust the customers money would be safe. There would also be an investment account; where deposited money would accumulate interest, with the risk that this money could be loaned out and the customer could get no return, or even suffer a loss on their investment. This would allow the banks and financial speculators to speculate, without risking the savings of those who could least afford to gamble.
Clearly there are benefits in creating a free market for banking, and this article cannot claim to explain them all. I intend to explore these benefits more fully in a future article, and am keen to hear other Liberal Democrats opinions on this policy. I would highly recommend reading Modernising Money by Andrew Jackson and Ben Dyson to see a more elaborate description of our current system and what it should be replaced with; most of this article is based upon their recommendations. Positive Money UK is also running an excellent campaign calling for this change to the banking system.
But, for now, recent history shows us the current banking system is neither a free, nor fair, market; something that any liberal should deplore. Taking the power to create money away from banks is the only way to make banking a genuinely free, and fair, market.
* Callum Gurr is a member of the Thanet Liberal Democrats branch and the Policy Officer of the University of Birmingham Liberal Democrats.
I was taken in by Saturdays April 1st joke on the pages of The Liberal Democrat Voice: that we should stop remoaning, and be a bit more positive about the Brexit process. No doubt some readers will call me foolish, but I absolutely agreed with the thrust of the article. After all, many a true words spoken in jest
So here are three reasons for my optimism:
1) Moving past the romanticism of the EU would help, not hinder a more pragmatic pro-European cause. During both the referendum and the period before Article 50 was triggered, extreme arguments flourished on both sides: a nostalgia for British Imperialism or a desire for Singapore on steroids on the one hand, and too romantic an image of the EU on the other. Having lived in Europe both in the EU and in Switzerland I am surprised at how much fellow Liberal Democrats idealise the EU as an organisation. One that, in the romantic story, has simply enabled individuals across the continent to lead freer lives, become more open-minded, and move beyond ugly nationalism. Now that Article 50 has been triggered, the negotiations will pour cold water on so much idealism on both sides of the Brexit divide.
Of course, I think that many of the most ardent Brexiteers exaggerate and talk nonsense, dangerously so. But still passionately insisting on the virtues of the EU will prove much more difficult to defend as a stance over the coming months, too. Take Gibraltar. Its saddening, maddening even that Michael Howard says Theresa May will show the same resolve over Gibraltar as Maggie Thatcher did over the Falklands hes recklessly pouring petrol on the flames. This fire of nationalist fervour, however, was started not by the Article 50 letter, but by an EU document. And it was started by Spains position towards a territory that has democratically (and overwhelmingly) voted against shared sovereignty. Im no colonialist, with dual British and Irish citizenship. I am instead, and above all, a democrat. And at times, the EU has operated with a democratic deficit, despite its many other benefits and virtues.
So as negotiations get underway, Id be optimistic if we began to pick our battles, rather than entrenching ourselves in a position of wholesale Remain.
2) Creative compromises are what the Liberal Democrats do best. I first joined the party during the coalition government. The Liberal Democrats stepped up to the challenge of sharing power when the 2010 election results showed a divided nation. With Labour in disarray, we could speak for the whole nation again. But that entails a more centrist stance on the EU question than remoaning, or stereotyping the 52% some of whom share our values, and whom we could win over.
3) Reform of the House of Lords has long been on the Liberal Democrat agenda. Now the role of that house is in the spotlight more than ever, with commentary and scandals in the pages of both the right- and the left-wing press. There is greater public debate on what an upper house should do than ever before. If Brexit is to give effect to taking back control at all, then the Liberal Democrats could at the very least take command of the Lords debate as a result.
* Sean Williams is a Lib Dem member in the Sheffield Hallam constituency
Tom Brake has written a letter to the Prime Minister urging her to raise human rights issues in her meeting with Saudi Arabia.
Here is the letter:
Dear Theresa, I am writing in advance of your visit to Saudi Arabia tomorrow, to ask you to raise urgently with the regime a number of serious human rights concerns. 1. The targeting of civilians in Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition
According to the United Nations, over 7,600 people have been killed and 42,000 injured since fighting began in March 2015, the majority in airstrikes led by the Saudi coalition. The conflict and a blockade imposed by the coalition have also triggered a humanitarian disaster, leaving 70% of the population in need of aid, including millions on the verge of famine. The Saudi coalition, in contravention of humanitarian law, has repeatedly targeted civilians, including at funerals, weddings and in market places.
Normally I try to switch off on holiday. I am in the Canary Islands with my family. When I switched on my Twitter feed I nearly choked on my cafe con leche after reading Lord Howards comments about Gibraltar.
Today was the 35th Anniversary of the start of the Falklands war and should have been a day to remember the dead and learn from the past. Yet instead Lord Howard used an interview on a Sunday politics program to remind people of what Thatcher did in 1982 and support a similar reaction in relation to Gibraltar.
This was wrong at so many levels. As my wife who is from Argentina said, how can someone of his experience make a comparison between the military junta of Argentina in 1982 and the democratically elected government of Mariano Rajoy.
Secondly, we want to set up trade deals with the EU and other Latin American countries. Does Lord Howard think that being the class room bully will help us to enter this wonderful global world we are told by Brexiteers was created on June 24, 2016 ?
Thirdly, there is the issue of people. There are 300,000 British citizens living in Spain. Did Lord Howard stop to think for one second about those people or indeed the Spanish who work in the U.K. treating the sick, teaching in our schools and doing many other invaluable tasks ?
I am told many times by Brexiteers to stop doing my country down. Well Lord Howard has done a fine job of that today. By comparison as I watched Spanish television I noted a calm and measured response.
Similarly the Telegraph headlined with a piece on our military readiness in the event of a war with Spain. A totally ridiculous piece given Spain is a NATO ally and has no intention of invading Gibraltar.
I will enjoy the rest of my holiday in the wonderful country which is Spain, but next time will have to turn off the news to avoid being reminded of the little Britain I have left behind for a break.
* Chris Key is dad of two girls, multilingual and internationalist. He is a Lib Dem member in Twickenham who likes holding the local council and MPs to account.
LIMERICK City and County Council should not have to carry the bulk of the cost of horse control in the city and county, Sinn Feins Cllr Seighin O'Ceallaigh argued at a recent council meeting.
At present the Department of Agriculture only covers one third of the cost of horse control in Limerick, which costs around 500,000 every year, he said. The department, he argued, should fully reimburse the council.
The horse problem is a department problem, which has been left with the council to deal with at our expense. Like some government ministers, such as Shane Ross, Minister Michael Creed, and previous ministers, have washed their hands of this problem and need to finally accept responsibility, and this is long overdue, he said.
If any horse owner, or cow owner or sheep owner etc. left their animals roam freely through our city, or towns, or villages, or left them malnourished or left them tied to a road sign next to a busy road, the department would have them shut down that very day.
The rules must apply to everyone equally, and the department must pay for the implementation of these rules.
Ireland has a great reputation for its horse industry, the Sinn Fein councillor continued.
It is a shame that the actions of few would tarnish the reputation of responsible horse owners who care for their animals.
However, he felt that a horse project similar to the one in Tralee which he visited recently would work in Limerick.
The situation in Tralee is completely different to the one here in Limerick.
But he was adamant that the Horse Committee must continue to meet in an effort to find a solution for Limerick. We need to discuss this complex issue thoroughly to ensure that taxpayers money isnt wasted. In the meantime the Department of Agriculture must fully fund the horse control programme, to free up the much needed, and much stretched resources of this Council.The practice of taking horses away to the pound only to have them returned days later had caused a huge amount of anger and backlash, Cllr Cian Prendiville, Solidarity, said.
RESIDENTS in Mungret are calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to carry out a full and thorough investigation of what they believe to be another blow-out from the Irish Cement factory over the weekend.
Residents awoke on Sunday to find another blanket of dust covering their cars in Raheen, Dooradoyle and Mungret, but officials with Irish Cement informed residents that this was not related to any incident at the factory.
In July 2015 Irish Cement admitted an emission from their Mungret plant had led to a similar dust covering and many people were compensated with free car washes.
The company asserted that the emission caused no risk to the public and alerted the EPA in accordance with its licence requirements.
However, on this occasion Irish Cement says there has been no blow-out at the Mungret facility.
The company say they were contacted by a number of neighbours on Sunday morning about the dust and personnel visited the area and are liaising with the individuals in question.
Councillors opposed to Irish Cements plans to burn waste for energy at its plant at Mungret are preparing to make a submission to the EPA which controls emission licences.
Earlier this month, Limerick City and County Council gave planning permission for the proposal.
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.
A DELEGATION from Limericks sister city in Nanjing have visited the city to examine the possibility of cross-continental investment.
Over the last five years, Limerick has developed the relationship with the south-west China city.
And the delegation from the citys municipal economic and information technology commission were on Shannonside eyeing up opportunities last week.
Wang Shaojun, the associate counsel, said there were many areas where two cities could collaborate.
Speaking through a translator, he said: We think we have a lot in common in terms of areas where we can co-operate. Especially in the areas of biomedicine, the technology, the education and the tourism sectors.
The Limerick-China forum chairman Jim Long was mayor when the two cities signed a memorandum of co-operation back in 2012.
He joined the delegation in the city this week, as they visited Mayor Kieran OHanlons office, as well as the University of Limerick.
Mr Long said: When we visited Nanjing in 2012 and signed a memorandum of co-operation, we were very well advised that it would take six to seven years [for us to see results].
Since then, there has been ongoing dialogue and I think we are nearly at an end of discussions.
I think very soon, there will be advancement in the areas of tourism, education and technology. And Im looking forward to that day.
Asked why he picked Limerick, Mr Shaojun added: We have a lot in common. Limerick is famous for its software industry, and we want to co-operate in this instance.
Limerick University is famous in Nanjing. We would like to see further co-operation in education, he added.
Members of the Limerick-China forum will head east this September for a major expo highlighting the possibilities of the regions computer industry.
Mayor OHanlon said: I think there is huge opportunity with the Chinese community. They are looking for opportunities to invest and Limerick is ideal for business, cultural and sporting events.
A SPECIALIST software firm has announced 15 additional jobs at its Limerick city base this Monday morning.
SL Controls, which is based in Castletroy, will recruit 15 'highly-skilled' engineers, as well as 25 other roles in its offices in Sligo, Galway and Dublin over the next year.
The company specialises in pharmaceutical serialisation, which is the practice of tracking and tracing prescription drugs and healthcare products, from the producer to the consumer.
According to a spokesperson for firm, which will see a 30% workforce expansion, the clampdown on counterfeit drugs has been a major factor in SL Controls growth.
It said that this has led to an increased demand for SL Controls specialist expertise in the integration of software to track medicines and medical devices.
Welcoming the news, SL Controls co-founder Keith Moran said that the business has doubled in size over the last number of years, and that the new jobs will assist in the expansion of its regional offices, as well as an expansion into European trade.
It is important to us to hire only full-time engineers as this creates clear career paths for our employees as well as stability for our customers.
He added: The serialisation side of our business is one of our business units that is rapidly expanding due to the regulation deadlines that are looming across Europe and the US. It is boosting our business outside of Ireland, which is, in part, why we require the new staff.
Recruitment has already started for the specific engineering roles, including validation, control systems, quality, computer science, vision and field engineers.
SL Controls, which is headquartered in Sligo, was established in 2002 and serves a variety of clients across mainland Europe and the Unites States.
Notorious Limerick criminal Wayne Dundon has opened an appeal against his conviction for the murder of innocent businessman Roy Collins almost eight years ago.
Wayne Dundon, aged 39, of Lenihan Avenue, Prospect and Nathan Killeen, aged 27, of Hyde Road, Prospect had pleaded not guilty at the non-jury Special Criminal Court to the murder of Mr Collins at the Coin Castle amusements arcade, Roxboro on April 9, 2009.
The 35-year-old father of two, who was engaged to be married, died in hospital a short time after he was shot.
In July 2014, the three-judge Special Criminal Court found Wayne Dundon had ordered the murder from prison and that Killeen was the getaway driver for the gunman, James Dillon.
Mr Collins father, Steve Collins, was believed to have been the intended target of the murder, due to his involvement in a previous successful prosecution against Dundon for a threat to kill.
Following a 29-day trial, Wayne Dundon and Killeen were found guilty of the murder.
Ms Justice Iseult O'Malley, presiding, spent almost two hours outlining the three-judge court's reasons before delivering its verdict.
Accordingly, Wayne Dundon and Killeen were given mandatory life sentences.
Opening an appeal against conviction this Monday Dundon's barrister, Remy Farrell SC, said the Special Criminal Court's judgment failed to engage in an analysis of the controversies in the case, failed to deal with specific inconsistencies in accounts given by prosecution witnesses and failed to deal with specific factual issues.
Evidence against Dundon came from witness testimony in the trial, with a number of former associates of Dundon and Killeen testifying against them.
These were siblings Gareth Keogh-Collins, Lisa Collins and April Collins (no relation to Roy Collins) along with Dundons cousins, Christopher McCarthy and Anthony 'Noddy' McCarthy.
Central to the defence's case, Mr Farrell said, was clear and explicit evidence of collusion between 'Noddy' McCarthy and other witnesses.
But the trial court simply asserted, he said, that it had decided to rely on the uncorroborated testimony of 'Noddy' McCarthy without indicating how the controversies had been resolved.
He said 'Noddy' McCarthy measured up very poorly when one considered an Innocence Canada report on jail house informers. It was very easy to make an assertion but virtually impossible to disprove.
The approach of the Special Criminal Court on this issue was truly startling, he said, because it suggested that, while this was interesting, the trial court would not consider it in the absence of evidence.
The trial court seemed to think it was up to the defence to establish how the Canadian judicial system treated jail house informers, he said.
Mr Farrell said an appeal court would have no difficulty quashing a decision of the Refugee Appeal's Tribunal, for example, if that body had identified a whole series of controversies and failed to grapple with them.
Mr Farrell said he took issue with the Special Criminal Court's treatment of prosecution witnesses as not being accomplices in law.
He alleged that they were chargeable persons arising out of the same set of facts. It was patent on the evidence that each and every one of them committed the offence of withholding information, he alleged.
He said the McCarthy and Collins families had been engaged in discussions amongst themselves about what benefits were going to be reaped and the trial court's judgment was manifestly defective in failing to deal with any of those issues.
Mr Farrell said the defence applied for a direction to find his client not guilty on the substantive issue as well as on the lack of a proper Garda investigation. It was notable, he said, that the court never dealt with the latter application.
Counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions, Michael O'Higgins SC, said Dundon's lawyers had made a lot of points but most of them simply did not stack up.
Mr O'Higgins said the case was brought on the basis that 'Noddy' McCarthy heard Wayne Dundon in a prison cell across the corridor threatening James Dillon and commanding him to do something over a phone.
If that call was proved to be a direction to murder a member of the Collins family then the case came down to a very narrow issue whether 'Noddy' McCarthy was telling the truth.
Mr O'Higgins said the Special Criminal Court summarised the witness' testimony in its judgment warts and all.
Mr Farrell was submitting, he said, that there was a bit missing in the middle about why the court ignored the warts.
It was simply not sustainable for Wayne Dundon to claim, when looking at the judgment, that he did not know how he found himself in this position, Mr O'Higgins said.
He said the Special Criminal Court believed 'Noddy' McCarthy as it was entitled to do.
Mr O'Higgins will continue making submissions before Mr Justice George Birmingham, Mr Justice Alan Mahon and Mr Justice John Edwards on Tuesday.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday called the explosion in a St. Petersburg metro tunnel a "terrible thing", Reuters reported.
When asked about the blast that killed 10 people and injured more than 20 in Russia on Monday, Trump told reporters that it was a "terrible thing - happening all over the world - absolutely a terrible thing."
A bomb exploded in a subway car as it was travelling between the Sennaya Ploshchad and Tekhnologichesky Institut metro stations in St. Petersburg at about 3 pm Moscow time on April 3.
At least ten people were killed and some 40 hospitalized with injuries, according to Russian Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova.
The Russian Investigative Committee said the explosion was a terrorist attack, adding that it is considering other versions of the tragedy.
Apr 3, 2017, 6 AM
To purchase the 2018 Scott catalogs, contact your favorite dealer, or call Amos Media at 1-800-488-5349. You can also visit www.AmosAdvantage.com to buy directly from us online.
The number of value changes among the Azerbaijan listings topped 800 in the 2018 Vol. 1B edition of the Scott Standard catalog.
From the Scott Editors By Donna Houseman
Whats new for the 2018 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue? The recently published set of Vols. 1A and 1B offers more than 13,600 value changes and numerous editorial enhancements.
Here are breakdowns of each volume:
2018 Scott Standard Vol. 1A
Vol. 1A of the 2018 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue includes United States, United Nations, and countries of the world A through Australia.
Slightly more value changes (1,022) were made in United States for Vol. 1A of the 2018 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue than were made in the 2017 Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps and Covers (783), with greater numbers of changes made in all categories from Postage through Stamped Envelopes (cut squares). Once again, there are few changes in the U.S. Postage areas through Scott 771.
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Among the U.S. 20th-century U.S. coils, used singles of Scott 349 and 352 show increases, and the scarce 2 coil (388) climbs slightly, to $1,400 unused, from $1,350 in the 2017 Scott U.S. Specialized catalog.
Large selections of error stamps appeared in several auctions in 2016, and the realizations, quite frankly, were disappointing (unless you were an eager buyer). Even the scarcer errors did not fare well. The results mirror other auctions from recent years.
As a result, quite a few errors had their catalog values further trimmed for the 2018 catalog. Countering the general trend were Liberty Series perforation errors Scott 1035b, 1035f and 1054c, all of which show significant value increases.
Other errors that show large value increases include Scott 2484c, 2853b, 2884b, and 2992c. Several error stamps that previously were dashed in the value columns have been assigned values, which should be helpful to buyers and sellers.
Official stamps performed well because some quality examples made their way to the marketplace. The scarcer Official special printings did especially well. Several of these stamps had large value increases, and two of the rarest, Scott O70S and O71S, saw huge increases in catalog value.
Values for mint cut squares of stamped envelopes, like errors, have been weak for a few years, and values fell for many of them. Revenue stamps stand firm, with a couple of the inverted centers from the third issue showing value increases.
Elsewhere in Vol. 1A, take note of the substantial increases in used condition for the 26 stamps of La Aguera. The 1920 10-peseta orange (Scott 13), for example, advances from $100 used in the 2017 catalog to $125 this year.
More than 750 value changes are recorded for French Andorra, and the bulk of these changes are seen among stamps issued during 1976-2010. Overall, values are down 10 percent to 25 percent. The three high denominations of the 1949-51 regular issue (Scott 121-123) go against this trend by increasing in value in both mint never-hinged and used condition. The 30-franc ultramarine Provost (123) jumps to $40 mint and $22.50 used, from $35 and $13.50, respectively, last year.
Angola received a thorough review this year, resulting in almost 2,700 value changes, which reflect mostly downward movement. Scattered increases can be found among the scarce issues and varieties. The 1-angolar airmail stamp (Scott C10) soars from $11.50 unused to $16, but decreases from $7 used to $5.25.
The modern issues of Armenia come in with more than 800 value changes. A small number of increases are scattered among mostly decreases. The 1992 7-ruble Eagle and Mt. Ararat souvenir sheet (Scott 431) jumps from $50 mint and used in 2017 to $55 both ways in the 2018 catalog.
Vol. 1A Editorial Enhancements
In addition to the many updated notes of clarification throughout the listings, new listings for U.S. error stamps have been added. Perhaps the most interesting is Scott 5036b, the imperforate error of the 2016 Quilled Paper Heart stamp. This stamp was issued in imperforate press sheets, but all of those were printed from plate S11111. A later printing was printed from plate B11111, and it is from this printing that the imperforate errors come. But in order to differentiate the error stamps from the more commonly issued imperforates, examples of the error must be collected with the B11111 selvage attached.
Much new work has been done on the Computer Vended Postage section of the U.S. listings, mostly in clarifying listings and footnotes.
In the Hunting Permit Stamps section, a footnote has been added after Scott RW13 explaining that the previously listed RW13a shade variety was deleted because it has been determined to be chemically induced changeling.
Another new listing of a postmasters provisional appears in the Confederate States of America section. This is the unique 5 Danville, Va., No. 21XU3B.
2018 Scott Standard Vol. 1B
Vol. 1B of the 2018 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue includes Austria through B countries of the world.
The majority of the more than 800 value changes in Azerbaijan point downward and are concentrated in the issues of 1996-2014. A good deal of the market uncertainty surrounding modern Azerbaijan issues has dissipated. As a result, values for these stamps are no longer italicized.
A concentrated review of Bangladesh yielded slightly more than 1,200 value changes. In general, stamps issued through 2005 show declines in value. After that, however, dramatic gains in value are seen. The 2011 souvenir sheet of five celebrating the 40th anniversary of independence, Scott 782, skyrockets from $1.75 mint and used in the 2017 catalog to $7.50 both ways this year. The 2007 issue honoring 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Muhammad Yunus, Scott 724, shows a $10 jump in value, from $20 mint and used last year to $30 in the 2018 catalog.
A bump in collector interest for Barbuda prompted the editors to do a careful review, which resulted in somewhat more than 2,000 value changes. Almost without exception, these changes are declines on the order of 10 percent to 25 percent.
More than 405 value changes occur in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Scott catalog editors vetting results in mostly decreases of 10 percent to 30 percent. Among the few increases are the values for the 1906 issue perforated gauge 9 in never-hinged condition. Declines also are reflected among the more than 2,500 value changes for stamps of Bosnia and the Bosnian Croat and Serbia administrations.
Vol. 1B Editorial Enhancements
In addition to the many updated notes of clarification throughout the listings in this volume, new varieties and other editorial enhancements have been made.
The National Republic first issue of Azerbaijan has been expanded to include varieties printed on grayish paper. These new listings are Scott 1A-10A. The heading above Nos. 1-10 now indicates that these stamps were printed on white paper.
Some editorial improvements were made among the Bhutan listings. Selected footnotes were expanded. For example, the footnote for Scott 559-563 notes that the set exists imperforate and is valued at $100.
To purchase the 2018 Scott catalogs, contact your favorite dealer, or call Amos Media at 1-800-488-5349. You can also buy online by visiting Amos Advantage website or ScottOnline.com for Scott eCatalogues.
U.S. President Donald Trump moved to reset U.S. relations with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday after the prior Obama administration's strained ties, giving him firm backing and vowing to work together to fight Islamic militants, Reuters reported.
"I just want to let everybody know in case there was any doubt that we are very much behind President Sisi. Hes done a fantastic job in a very difficult situation. We are very much behind Egypt and the people of Egypt," Trump said in an Oval Office meeting with the Egyptian leader.
The trip was Sisi's first official U.S. visit since being elected president in 2014. Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama, never extended an invitation.
Obama froze aid to Egypt for two years after Sisi, then a general, overthrew President Mohamed Mursi in mid-2013 after mass protests against Mursi's rule. Mursi, a Muslim Brotherhood member, had been elected the previous year.
The one-on-one meeting between Trump and Sisi, followed by a separate gathering with top aides, showed how intent the new U.S. president is on rebooting the bilateral relationship and building on the strong connection the two presidents established when they first met in New York last September.
Pressemitteilung: Silvia Kuhn startet YouTube-Kanal Clever Money mit Silvi Die Tochter der Honorarberater und Stiftung Warentest Autoren Stefanie und Markus Kuhn startete Mitte Mai mit ihrem neuen YouTube Kanal Clever Money mit Silvi. Ziel ist es, jungen Menschen alles Wissenswerte rund um Geld und Finanzen auf einfache Art und Weise nahe zu bringen. Die Idee zu einem YouTube Kanal ist aus einem Schulerpraktikum in 2019 entstanden. Silvia Kuhn hat
[mehr] Die Tochter der Honorarberater und Stiftung Warentest Autoren Stefanie und Markus Kuhn startete Mitte Mai mit ihrem neuen YouTube Kanal Clever Money mit Silvi. Ziel ist es, jungen Menschen alles Wissenswerte rund um Geld und Finanzen auf einfache Art und Weise nahe zu bringen. Die Idee zu einem YouTube Kanal ist aus einem Schulerpraktikum in 2019 entstanden. Silvia Kuhn hat
Pressemitteilung: Buntes Wachstum: Ceresana untersucht den Markt fur Farben Farben und Lacke verschonern nicht nur, sie konnen auch schutzen. Die Wande von Krankenhausern zum Beispiel werden zunehmend mit antibakteriellen Eigenschaften versehen. Hauchdunne, aber sehr haltbare Lackschichten bewahren Fahrzeuge vor Rost. Ceresana hat bereits zum vierten Mal den gesamten europaischen Markt fur Farben und Lacke untersucht: Im Jahr 2019 wurden 9,1 Millionen Tonnen dieser Beschichtungen verbraucht. Farbenfrohe Hauser und Autos Bautenfarben sind
[mehr] Farben und Lacke verschonern nicht nur, sie konnen auch schutzen. Die Wande von Krankenhausern zum Beispiel werden zunehmend mit antibakteriellen Eigenschaften versehen. Hauchdunne, aber sehr haltbare Lackschichten bewahren Fahrzeuge vor Rost. Ceresana hat bereits zum vierten Mal den gesamten europaischen Markt fur Farben und Lacke untersucht: Im Jahr 2019 wurden 9,1 Millionen Tonnen dieser Beschichtungen verbraucht. Farbenfrohe Hauser und Autos Bautenfarben sind
Pressemitteilung: Altlasten 2.067 Mrd. Euro - Krisensubvention 1.000 Mrd. Euro Die Welt leidet unter der Corona-Pandemie, deren Kosten viele Staaten an den Rand der Exixtens bringen konnte. Wie konnte es in Deutschland dazu kommen? Die Welt leidet unter der Corona-Pandemie, deren Kosten viele Staaten an den Rand der Exixtens bringen konnte. Wie konnte es in Deutschland dazu kommen? Lehrte 29.05.2020 In Deutschland wurden in den letzten 50 Jahren 25 Steuerarten
[mehr] Die Welt leidet unter der Corona-Pandemie, deren Kosten viele Staaten an den Rand der Exixtens bringen konnte. Wie konnte es in Deutschland dazu kommen? Die Welt leidet unter der Corona-Pandemie, deren Kosten viele Staaten an den Rand der Exixtens bringen konnte. Wie konnte es in Deutschland dazu kommen? Lehrte 29.05.2020 In Deutschland wurden in den letzten 50 Jahren 25 Steuerarten
Pressemitteilung: 16. Juni und 18. Juni um 15 Uhr CEST europaischer Zeit Real-Time Innovations (RTI) organisiert zwei neue Webinare speziell fur den europaischen Markt. Hier geht es um die Themen Konnektivitat von Elektrofahrzeugen sowie Landfahrzeugplattformen in Kombination mit Software-Systemen und DDS. Sie finden zu europaischer Zeit um 15 Uhr CEST statt und sind im Anschluss on Demand verfugbar. Sunnyvale (USA)/Munchen, Mai 2020 - Real-Time Innovations (RTI) organisiert zwei neue Webinare speziell fur
[mehr] Real-Time Innovations (RTI) organisiert zwei neue Webinare speziell fur den europaischen Markt. Hier geht es um die Themen Konnektivitat von Elektrofahrzeugen sowie Landfahrzeugplattformen in Kombination mit Software-Systemen und DDS. Sie finden zu europaischer Zeit um 15 Uhr CEST statt und sind im Anschluss on Demand verfugbar. Sunnyvale (USA)/Munchen, Mai 2020 - Real-Time Innovations (RTI) organisiert zwei neue Webinare speziell fur
Pressemitteilung:
[mehr] MCM Investor: Wohnen in Deutschland bis 2060 teuer Laut einer aktuellen Untersuchung der Universitat Freiburg wird das Wohnen bis 2060 vorrausichtlich. Magdeburg, 28.05.2020. In dieser Woche analysiert die MCM Investor Management AG aus Magdeburg eine aktuelle Untersuchung der Uni Freiburg uber die zukunftige Entwicklung des deutschen Immobilienmarktes. Demnach gehe die Bevolkerungszahl hierzulande zwar tendenziell zuruck, die Nachfrage nach Wohnraum steige aber weiter an. In der Studie geht
Pressemitteilung: Latest in Electronic Test & Measurement Equipment MICHIGAN - May, 2020 - An international provider of electronic test and measurement equipment, AAATesters has announced that it now offers the INNO View 500 SM Fiber Optic OTDR w/ V20 Fiberscope (https://www.aaatesters.com/Inno_View_500_OTDR_Model_View500_Inno_500_1.html). This new addition to AAATesters expanding inventory of electronic test and measurement equipment, will assist consumers save time and money with greater testing proficiency and success. AAA
[mehr] MICHIGAN - May, 2020 - An international provider of electronic test and measurement equipment, AAATesters has announced that it now offers the INNO View 500 SM Fiber Optic OTDR w/ V20 Fiberscope (https://www.aaatesters.com/Inno_View_500_OTDR_Model_View500_Inno_500_1.html). This new addition to AAATesters expanding inventory of electronic test and measurement equipment, will assist consumers save time and money with greater testing proficiency and success. AAA
Pressemitteilung: Thomas May ist neuer Chefredakteur fur Perfect Eagle Thomas May ubernimmt mit 1. Juni 2020 die redaktionelle Leitung der fuhrenden multimedialen Golf-Lifestyle-Plattform im deutschsprachigen Raum. Bilder zur Meldung in der Mediendatenbank: Mato Johannik https://leisure-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/office_leisure_at/Es4aLP2m5bhHtlEPowWj1SEB5hhgDDEv96D9i9Z_Ok9ajA?e=Xi0L1x Wien (LCG) Perfect Eagle hat heuer allen Grund zum Feiern. Nachdem das Golf-Lifestyle-Magazin mit der Marz-Ausgabe seine erste Dekade feierte, begrut Herausgeber Thomas Wasserburger nun Thomas May als neuen Chefredakteur fur das multimediale Golf-
[mehr] Thomas May ubernimmt mit 1. Juni 2020 die redaktionelle Leitung der fuhrenden multimedialen Golf-Lifestyle-Plattform im deutschsprachigen Raum. Bilder zur Meldung in der Mediendatenbank: Mato Johannik https://leisure-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/office_leisure_at/Es4aLP2m5bhHtlEPowWj1SEB5hhgDDEv96D9i9Z_Ok9ajA?e=Xi0L1x Wien (LCG) Perfect Eagle hat heuer allen Grund zum Feiern. Nachdem das Golf-Lifestyle-Magazin mit der Marz-Ausgabe seine erste Dekade feierte, begrut Herausgeber Thomas Wasserburger nun Thomas May als neuen Chefredakteur fur das multimediale Golf-
Pressemitteilung: Frische fur den Sommer mit UNIKA Kalksandstein Frische fur den Sommer mit UNIKA KalksandsteinFur die einen ist es eine Wohltat, fur die anderen eine Herausforderung: sommerliche Warme. Keine Frage, Menschen lieben die Sonne. Aber nicht jeder mag hohe Temperaturen, schon gar nicht in den eigenen vier Wanden. ... Fur die einen ist es eine Wohltat, fur die anderen eine Herausforderung: sommerliche Warme. Keine Frage, Menschen lieben die
[mehr] Frische fur den Sommer mit UNIKA KalksandsteinFur die einen ist es eine Wohltat, fur die anderen eine Herausforderung: sommerliche Warme. Keine Frage, Menschen lieben die Sonne. Aber nicht jeder mag hohe Temperaturen, schon gar nicht in den eigenen vier Wanden. ... Fur die einen ist es eine Wohltat, fur die anderen eine Herausforderung: sommerliche Warme. Keine Frage, Menschen lieben die
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[mehr] Humor und Lachen - ein ernstes Thema Humor und Corona Rechtzeitig zu einer Zeit, in der vielen das Lachen vergangen ist, mit oder ohne Corona, erscheint das 14. Buch von Jurgen W. Goldfu. Wahrend sich die bisherigen Werke des Autors mit Themen der Fuhrung (von sich und anderen) sowie Wirtschaftsthemen beschaftigten, geht es nun ums Lachen, die Welt und sich selbst mit lachenden Augen zu betrachten. Auf
Pressemitteilung: ...einfach, schnell und effizient ...einfach, schnell und effizientUberall da verkaufen, wo die Kunden sind, ist das Ziel aller Handler. plentymarkets bietet als Softwarehersteller eine E-Commerce-Losung, die genau diese Philosophie im Markenkern tragt. ... Uberall da verkaufen, wo die Kunden sind, ist das Ziel aller Handler. plentymarkets bietet als Softwarehersteller eine E-Commerce-Losung, die genau diese Philosophie im Markenkern tragt. Eine, die alle relevanten Marktplatze unterstutzt
[mehr] ...einfach, schnell und effizientUberall da verkaufen, wo die Kunden sind, ist das Ziel aller Handler. plentymarkets bietet als Softwarehersteller eine E-Commerce-Losung, die genau diese Philosophie im Markenkern tragt. ... Uberall da verkaufen, wo die Kunden sind, ist das Ziel aller Handler. plentymarkets bietet als Softwarehersteller eine E-Commerce-Losung, die genau diese Philosophie im Markenkern tragt. Eine, die alle relevanten Marktplatze unterstutzt
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[mehr] Neuer Corona-Mitarbeiterschutz - digitaler Abstandshalter Auch nach den Lockerungen beeinflusst die Corona-Pandemie die Weltwirtschaft tiefgreifend. Die Betriebe sollen wieder sicher anlaufen. Die Schlusselrolle spielen dabei die Einhaltung der Hygieneregeln und des Mindestabstands fur Mitarbeitende. Auch nach den Lockerungen beeinflusst die Corona-Pandemie die Weltwirtschaft tiefgreifend. Die Betriebe sollen wieder sicher anlaufen. Die Schlusselrolle spielen dabei die Einhaltung der Hygieneregeln und des Mindestabstands fur Mitarbeitende. Dazu
Pressemitteilung: HUP aktiviert neuen Geschaftsbereich ready2boxx my-buddy-app die HUP Reminder App. Schutzt vor Verlust des iPhones. Mit den ersehnten Lockerungsmanahmen rund um die Coronavirus-Pandemie steigt ein ganz anderes Risiko: der Verlust des iPhones auf Geschaftsreise, beim Einkauf oder etwa dem Besuch von Oma und Opa. Einfach, weil man das mittlerweile nahezu unverzichtbare Device schlicht und einfach liegen lasst. Das Braunschweiger Software-Entwicklungsunternehmen HUP hat fur Apple
[mehr] my-buddy-app die HUP Reminder App. Schutzt vor Verlust des iPhones. Mit den ersehnten Lockerungsmanahmen rund um die Coronavirus-Pandemie steigt ein ganz anderes Risiko: der Verlust des iPhones auf Geschaftsreise, beim Einkauf oder etwa dem Besuch von Oma und Opa. Einfach, weil man das mittlerweile nahezu unverzichtbare Device schlicht und einfach liegen lasst. Das Braunschweiger Software-Entwicklungsunternehmen HUP hat fur Apple
Pressemitteilung: Das Lernen, wie wir es kennen, andert sich immer mehr. Online ist die neue Ara der Weiterbildung, die Freude macht und die viel leichter in den eigenen Lebens-Zyklus integrierbar ist! Ayurveda-Seminare und Ayurveda-Ausbildungen fordern ein gesundes Leben und geben viel Sinn-Erfullung. Viele Menschen sind wissbegieriger geworden und wollen ihr volles Potenzial durch Bewusstseinsveranderungen ausschopfen. Durch die digitale Welt ist es einfacher und schneller denn je geworden an Informationen zu kommen. Ich stelle
[mehr] Online ist die neue Ara der Weiterbildung, die Freude macht und die viel leichter in den eigenen Lebens-Zyklus integrierbar ist! Ayurveda-Seminare und Ayurveda-Ausbildungen fordern ein gesundes Leben und geben viel Sinn-Erfullung. Viele Menschen sind wissbegieriger geworden und wollen ihr volles Potenzial durch Bewusstseinsveranderungen ausschopfen. Durch die digitale Welt ist es einfacher und schneller denn je geworden an Informationen zu kommen. Ich stelle
Pressemitteilung:
[mehr] Gasnetz Hamburg pruft monatlich 1.200 Hausanschlusse Arbeiten unter umfassenden Schutzmanahmen Haushalte erhalten detaillierte Informationen zum Corona-Schutz Sichere Gasanschlusse stehen im Mittelpunkt Hamburg. Ab sofort klingelt an vielen Hamburger Hausturen wieder der Gasanlagen-Prufer. Die turnusgemae Inspektion der Anschlusse in Kellern oder Wirtschaftsraumen von Ein- und Mehrfamilienhausern ist alle zwolf Jahre vorgeschrieben. Seit Marz hatte Gasnetz Hamburg die Hausbesuche unterbrochen. Nun schickt das Unternehmen wieder seine Fachleute zu den Anschlusskunden
Pressemitteilung: Wie COVID-19 unsere Kommunikation verandert Sprachexpertin Tatjana Lackner von Die Schule des Sprechens analysiert, wie sich das Kommunikationsverhalten in der COVID-19-Zeit verandert und welche Kommunikations-Trends daraus entstehen. Bilder zur Meldung in der Mediendatenbank https://leisure-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/office_leisure_at/EuP2VeRtjsdPpxlLUzBimIsB-GcG-m5aFr4de0hEQ_WCPw?e=s2GwN1 Wien (LCG) Die Manahmen zur Eindammung der COVID-19-Verbreitung verandern durch Physical Distancing und zahlreiche neue Verhaltensregeln den personlichen Umgang miteinander. Korpersprache, Social Codes und Rituale bekommen eine wichtig Bedeutung in der neuen
[mehr] Sprachexpertin Tatjana Lackner von Die Schule des Sprechens analysiert, wie sich das Kommunikationsverhalten in der COVID-19-Zeit verandert und welche Kommunikations-Trends daraus entstehen. Bilder zur Meldung in der Mediendatenbank https://leisure-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/office_leisure_at/EuP2VeRtjsdPpxlLUzBimIsB-GcG-m5aFr4de0hEQ_WCPw?e=s2GwN1 Wien (LCG) Die Manahmen zur Eindammung der COVID-19-Verbreitung verandern durch Physical Distancing und zahlreiche neue Verhaltensregeln den personlichen Umgang miteinander. Korpersprache, Social Codes und Rituale bekommen eine wichtig Bedeutung in der neuen
Pressemitteilung: Facebook diskutiert Strategie in der COVID-19-Pandemie Beim Moving Forward-Round-Table sprechen Facebook-Manager uber die Zusammenarbeit mit der WHO, die Intensivnutzung in Italien und andere Strategien gegen Falschmeldungen. Bilder zur Meldung in der Mediendatenbank: JMC https://leisure-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/office_leisure_at/EsGAMdDUM2lNt4Jo2RfF_R4BhwzfZ8LXK305xeAAjGcAdw?e=EyC94A Video zur Meldung auf Facebook https://www.facebook.com/movingforwardconference/videos/973105823109354 Dublin/Wien (LCG) Die Verbreitungsgeschwindigkeit der sozialen Medien war in den letzten Wochen essenziell, um Informationen zu COVID-19 zu streuen. Auch Fake News fanden in diesem Umfeld einen fruchtbaren
[mehr] Beim Moving Forward-Round-Table sprechen Facebook-Manager uber die Zusammenarbeit mit der WHO, die Intensivnutzung in Italien und andere Strategien gegen Falschmeldungen. Bilder zur Meldung in der Mediendatenbank: JMC https://leisure-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/office_leisure_at/EsGAMdDUM2lNt4Jo2RfF_R4BhwzfZ8LXK305xeAAjGcAdw?e=EyC94A Video zur Meldung auf Facebook https://www.facebook.com/movingforwardconference/videos/973105823109354 Dublin/Wien (LCG) Die Verbreitungsgeschwindigkeit der sozialen Medien war in den letzten Wochen essenziell, um Informationen zu COVID-19 zu streuen. Auch Fake News fanden in diesem Umfeld einen fruchtbaren
Pressemitteilung: Musikfestival Steyr: Kulturgenuss trotz Pandemie Als kultureller Impulsgeber fur die Region ermoglicht das Musikfestival Steyr auch heuer Kulturgenuss und wartet mit einem neuen Programm auf. Bilder zur Meldung in der Mediendatenbank https://leisure-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/office_leisure_at/EnbiYHVH3KNOg_ZakCqco3wBz529TPFExmEgRThtSEHHQA?e=fAzk1G Steyr (LCG) In den vergangenen Wochen und Monaten haben die Manahmen der osterreichischen Bundesregierung zur Eindammung der COVID-19-Verbreitung die Kulturnation Osterreich in einen regelrechten Stillstand versetzt. Seit Anfang Mai 2020 setzt die neue Normalitat
[mehr] Als kultureller Impulsgeber fur die Region ermoglicht das Musikfestival Steyr auch heuer Kulturgenuss und wartet mit einem neuen Programm auf. Bilder zur Meldung in der Mediendatenbank https://leisure-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/office_leisure_at/EnbiYHVH3KNOg_ZakCqco3wBz529TPFExmEgRThtSEHHQA?e=fAzk1G Steyr (LCG) In den vergangenen Wochen und Monaten haben die Manahmen der osterreichischen Bundesregierung zur Eindammung der COVID-19-Verbreitung die Kulturnation Osterreich in einen regelrechten Stillstand versetzt. Seit Anfang Mai 2020 setzt die neue Normalitat
Pressemitteilung: OstseeResort Olpenitz bei Kappeln/ Schlei Private Vermietung von ausgefallenen Ferienobjekten an der Ostsee - "Nie mitten drin, aber immer ganz nah dran!" ist hierbei die Devise. Auch wenn die Corona-Pandemie Urlaub und Ferienvermietung weltweit lahm gelegt hat das Leben im OstseeResort Olpenitz ist trotzdem weitergegangen, und Ferienobjekte in diesem neuen Ferienresort bei Kappeln/ Schlei verkaufen sich weiterhin gut. Oder aber jetzt erst Recht? Das
[mehr] Private Vermietung von ausgefallenen Ferienobjekten an der Ostsee - "Nie mitten drin, aber immer ganz nah dran!" ist hierbei die Devise. Auch wenn die Corona-Pandemie Urlaub und Ferienvermietung weltweit lahm gelegt hat das Leben im OstseeResort Olpenitz ist trotzdem weitergegangen, und Ferienobjekte in diesem neuen Ferienresort bei Kappeln/ Schlei verkaufen sich weiterhin gut. Oder aber jetzt erst Recht? Das
Pressemitteilung: Gut vernetzt: Ceresana-Report zum Markt fur Kunststoff-Rohre Die Nachfrage nach Kunststoffrohren steigt in vielen europaischen Landern. Besonders in Ballungsraumen werden derzeit neue Wohnungen gebaut. Allerdings boomt die Bauwirtschaft nicht uberall: Ausgelastete Kapazitaten, steigende Preise, Fachkraftemangel, fehlendes Bauland und zunehmende wirtschaftliche Unsicherheit bremsen die Dynamik. Dabei konnen sich Hochbau, Tiefbau und Infrastrukturbau sehr unterschiedlich entwickeln: Die verschiedenen Bausegmente sind in hohem Mae von den offentlichen Investitionen im jeweiligen
[mehr] Die Nachfrage nach Kunststoffrohren steigt in vielen europaischen Landern. Besonders in Ballungsraumen werden derzeit neue Wohnungen gebaut. Allerdings boomt die Bauwirtschaft nicht uberall: Ausgelastete Kapazitaten, steigende Preise, Fachkraftemangel, fehlendes Bauland und zunehmende wirtschaftliche Unsicherheit bremsen die Dynamik. Dabei konnen sich Hochbau, Tiefbau und Infrastrukturbau sehr unterschiedlich entwickeln: Die verschiedenen Bausegmente sind in hohem Mae von den offentlichen Investitionen im jeweiligen
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The Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) dismissed Monday 45 judges and prosecutors as part of ongoing investigations in Ankara over Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) linked members, Anadolu reported.
The move is part of an ongoing probe into the defeated coup that left 249 people martyred and nearly 2,200 wounded.
Led by U.S.-based Fetullah Gulen, FETO is accused of orchestrating Turkeys July 15, 2016, coup plot as well as being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and the judiciary.
Over 4,000 judges and prosecutors have been dismissed since last July 15, according to HSYK.
Meanwhile, HSYK also temporarily suspended the delegation and the trial prosecutor of Istanbul 25th Heavy Penal Court from work, who had released 21 detainees out of 29 as part of HSYK's ongoing case regarding FETO's media network.
The HSYK Deputy Chair Mehmet Yilmaz told reporters that the members were temporarily suspended from their work until a investigation into claims over them concluded. He said the final decision would be taken after the HSYK inspectors finish their reports over the suspects.
The discharged members are the Istanbul 25th Heavy Penal Court Head Ibrahim Lorasdagi, the court members Baris Comert and Necla Yesilyurt Gulbicim as well as the trial prosecutor of the case, Goksel Turan.
The team under the presidency of Lorasdagi had decided to release 21 detainees out of 29 who are allegedly FETO-linked. 26 of those were under arrest when the decision for the release was made.
Right after the rule, an Istanbul court had objected to the decision and it was approved by the Istanbul 26th Heavy Penal Court, which had reissued an arrest warrant for eight suspects.
The Istanbul prosecutor's office had also decided for detainment of other seven suspects. Due to the objections made quickly after the decision on the release of the suspects, the 21 detainees were not released.
Chinese residents in New Zealand welcome the arrival of Premier Li Keqiang. (Photo : Getty Images)
When Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrived in Wellington, he stated that the ties between China and New Zealand is significant and are still going smoothly amid various issues.
Premier Li Keqiang, the second most powerful man in China, assured Prime Minister Bill English that although there have been different takes on various issues, China will still be a loyal trade partner. Li said that, in spite of Beijing's rift with the White House, the two countries will remain friends.
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The relationship between New Zealand and China has come to a crossroads as U.S. President Donald Trump refused to participate in the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Trump clearly wanted to steer clear of alliances with other countries.
Premier Li explained that China will still uphold its trade relations with the U.S. despite differences in the approach to globalization.
He said, "Because Li is an expert on both economies he understands and explains very well the economic interdependence of China and the U.S. They both realize that they need each other if they're going to lift incomes, particularly in China where there are strong expectations about rising incomes."
Referring to China-New Zealand ties, English noted, "As Li said today it's a relationship that goes through a few twists and turns but it is fundamentally sound."
Meanwhile, many New Zealanders do not agree with opening the country's market to more Chinese investments.
Financial and corporate law expert Cathy Quinn wrote an article stating her opinion on the critics of China's economy and the racist behavior of some New Zealanders.
She wrote, "Many kiwis are working positively with Chinese people both in tourism and in developing business in China from New Zealand-sourced products. But more ordinary New Zealanders need to get with the program."
The New Zealand Herald reported that a young New Zealand-born Chinese woman was being abused with racist slurs. She is Deana Yang, who was bashed online for appearing in an ad.
"That is not a story any New Zealander should be proud of," Quinn commented.
Based on data gathered by Tourism Australia, nearly 1.2 million Chinese tourists visited Australia in 2016, spending a total of over $9 billion. (Photo : Getty Images)
Australia is growing popular among Chinese tourists who are looking for new adventures, Xinhua News Agency reported.
Chinese travelers are more confident, more adventurous, and more experiential, and they are making more local Australian friends as they travel, said Andy Jiang, China Country Manager of Tourism Australia, in an interview with Xinhua.
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To me, this is the true spirit of friendship between two countries, manifested through rapid development in tourism exchange, Jiang added.
Jiang told the story of befriending two young Chinese couples during his recent trip to South Australia.
They were young, full of passion for travel, and were telling me great experiences that they just had--tasting fresh oysters from the ocean at Coffin Bay, swimming with sea lions at Baird Bay, gazing at beautiful stars at night in the Flinders Ranges, Jiang shared.
According to Jiang, the two couples are the perfect example of todays Chinese travelers, who are increasingly going off the beaten path by traveling to Australias best-kept regional locations, such as Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula, located in South Australia.
Based on data gathered by Tourism Australia, nearly 1.2 million Chinese tourists visited Australia in 2016, spending a total of over $9 billion. Experts estimate that by 2020, the Chinese market will be worth $13 billion.
Additionally, Chinese travelers have overtaken other groups as Australias fastest growing and highest spending international market. China also ranks as the third and fourth biggest markets in Australia for international business events arrivals and international business events spending.
Independent and affluent Chinese travelers played a large role in this growth, making them one of the primary targets of Australias marketing campaigns in China. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang also encouraged Chinese people to travel to China for the 2017 China-Australia Year of Tourism.
The more Chinese people visit our nation and the more Australians come here to China, the better we understand each other and the more opportunities we have for further engagement and cooperation at every level, Premier Li said during his recently concluded official visit to Australia.
Baidu to Rival Tesla in Electric Cars with Help of French Firm Dassault Systemes
Robin Li, Baidu's CEO (Photo : Getty Images News)
Baidu Inc. is looking to rival Tesla Inc. in the burgeoning electric cars industry by tapping the expertise of French 3-D design software maker Dassault Systemes.
The two groups are seeking cooperation in developing electric cars, Internet-connected cars and smart city projects.
Bernard Charles, CEO of Dassault Systemes, met with Baidu president Zhang Yaqin last week on the sidelines of the Boao Forum for Asia in Hainan Province before the Chinese firm announced that it has made an investment in Chinese electric car, NextEV.
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Charles said that NextEV is their client which "uses Dassault Systemes to design" cars. However, he declined to share details of the plan, but hinted about Baidu patterning their virtual city program to Singapore.
Dassault Systemes collaborated with Singapore to launch a 3-D city model platform for community collaboration and knowledge sharing in Dec. 2014.
Called Virtual Singapore, the city model has a rich data environment and visualization techniques utilized by Singaporeans and local businesses for developing tools and services.
Charles said that as Baidu is also working to provide cloud infrastructure, and the French company can share its 3-D experience on the cloud.
Last Nov. 30, Baidu launched an artificial intelligence platform called "Tianzhi" that expands cloud use among commercial users during the "ABC Summit" in Beijing. The platform boasts of three sub-layers, namely: deep learning, machine learning and perception.
According to Wenfeng Automobile Consultancy founder and CEO Zhang Zhiyong, the virtual reality partnership with Dassault will allow Baidu's online services become integral to electric cars right from the design stage.
He added that with Dassault's years of experience in the area, the ties will boost Baidu's competitiveness.
Charles added that Dassault Systemes is also eager about applying virtual reality to the manufacturing industry of China, and believes that the cost of its industrial application will quickly go down over the next five years.
WASHINGTON Where you live within your time zone could be associated with a slightly increased risk of developing certain cancers that have been linked to disruptions of the biological clock, a new study suggests.
People's biological clocks can become out of whack which scientists call "circadian disruption" if they work the night shift, for example. Such disruptions have been linked to an increased cancer risk in shift workers, said Dr. Neil Caporaso, an epidemiologist at the National Cancer Institute and the lead author of the study.
But the disruptions that shift workers experience in their circadian rhythms are major, because they switch from working during the day to working at night. Caporaso and his team were curious about whether smaller, subtler disruptions to the biological clock could also have an effect on people's cancer risk. [10 Do's and Don'ts to Reduce Your Risk of Cancer]
Indeed, most people experience small disruptions in their circadian rhythm in the form of social jet lag, Caporaso told Live Science. Social jet lag is commonly thought of as getting up at the same time during the week, and then sleeping in on the weekend when you don't need to get up early for work, he said.
But social jet lag can also occur across a time zone, Caporaso said.
What time is sunrise?
Within a given time zone, dawn and dusk times at any spot vary: Moving 5 degrees of longitude westward across a time zone is equal to a 20-minute delay in sunrise, according to the study, which Caporaso presented here today (April 2) at the American Association for Cancer Research's annual meeting. The findings have not been published in a peer-reviewed journal.
For example, when a person in Boston wakes up at 8 a.m., it's light out, Caporaso said. But when a person living in Ohio gets up at the same time, in the same time zone, it could still be dark outside, he said. The sunlight in Boston cues that person's biological clock that it is morning, but the person in Ohio doesn't get that same cue when he or she wakes up, he said. This leads to a discord between the time on the clock and the biological clock.
Social jet lag has been linked to various conditions including obesity and diabetes, Caporaso said. In the new study, the researchers focused on cancer.
Cancer and the biological clock
In the study, the researchers looked at data on 4 million white adults who had been diagnosed with cancer between 2000 and 2012. The people in the study lived in more than 600 counties in 11 states, all within the continental U.S.
Results showed that for every 5 degrees of longitude toward the west that a person lived from the eastern edge of their time zone, his or her risk of developing any type of cancer increased by 3 percent in men and 4 percent in women.
The researchers also looked at people's risk of developing specific cancers.
For example, men who lived in the western-most region of a time zone had a 4 percent greater risk of prostate cancer, and 13 percent greater risk of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, a cancer that affects white blood cells, compared with men who lived in the eastern-most regions of a time zone, the researchers found.
Women living in the western-most regions had a 4 percent greater risk of breast cancer, a 12 percent greater risk of chronic lymphocytic leukemia and a 10 percent greater of a type of uterine cancer compared with women living in the eastern-most region of a time zone, the researchers found.
All of these increases in cancer risk are relatively small, and Caporaso said that more studies are needed to establish whether there may be a cause-and-effect relationship between cancer and disturbances to a person's biological clock. [5 Surprising Sleep Discoveries]
The mechanism that may link circadian rhythms and cancer isn't clear, Caporaso said. But it could have to do with a relatively recent change in humans' daily lives, he said.
All throughout life on Earth, there was one constant, Caporaso said: Living things were exposed to the sun during the day and darkness at night. "Suddenly, we're not doing that," he said. People are indoors during the day and exposed to bright lights at night, he said. This could lead to lower levels of melatonin at night, the hormone linked to sleep, he said. It's possible that the lower levels of melatonin could affect the immune system, and raise a person's risk of cancer, he said.
Although more research is needed, Caporaso said it's likely that everyone could benefit from exposure to more natural light during the day and avoiding light at night.
Originally published on Live Science.
Hebrew scrolls
A detail of fragments of the 2000-year-old Dead Sea scrolls at a laboratory before photographing them on December 18, 2012 in Jerusalem, Israel. (Image credit: Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)
From virtual unwrapping to old-fashioned archaeological excavation, scientists are using a variety of techniques to reveal new information about the Dead Sea Scrolls. These scrolls contain copies of books in the Hebrew Bible as well as community rulers, calendars, astronomy texts and other writings that scientists say were penned between about 200 B.C. and A.D. 70. In this countdown, Live Science looks at seven of these techniques.
Textile analysis
First excavated by Roland de Vaux in the 1950s, the site of Qumran in Israel is mired in controversy. De Vaux believed that it was a monastic settlement used by the Essenes and that the Dead Sea Scrolls were composed here. More recent archaeological work has cast doubt on this idea. The new textile research may help resolve the debate. (opens in new tab) | | (opens in new tab) ) (Image credit: Joseph Calev | | Shutterstock
In addition to the Dead Sea Scrolls, the caves near Qumran also contain the remains of about 200 textiles. In 2011, a team of researchers reported that found that the scrolls are all made of linen, don't contain decoration and in some cases are bleached white finds that support the idea that Essenes, an ancient Jewish sect, wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls. Their study is detailed in the journal Dead Sea Discoveries.
Virtual unwrapping
The charred scroll from En-Gedi (right) that experts digitally unfurled (left). (Image credit: From Seales et al., Sci. Adv. 2:e1601247 (2016). Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC).)
Using a technique called "virtual unwrapping," scientists were able to read the remains of a charred 1,700-year-old scroll found at the site of En-Gedi, located in the Judean Desert. The scroll had been damaged by fire in ancient times and couldn't be unwrapped, physically, without falling apart. Instead, the scientists digitally scanned the scroll and then flattened the scanned results so they could read the text. They found it contained the beginning of the Hebrew bible's Book of Leviticus, the third of the five books of Moses, known as the Pentateuch.
New excavations
Cave of the Skulls in the Judean Desert. (Image credit: Isreal Antiquities Authority)
While archaeological excavation is not a new technique, it is important in the story of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Excavations are being carried out in caves in the Judean Desert to make sure that archaeological remains (including any undiscovered scrolls) are found before looters get to them. This image shows an excavation underway in a place that has come to be known as the "Cave of the Skulls," in Nahal Tse'elim in the Judean Desert. While this cave was previously excavated by archaeologists, recent looting activity indicates that there is more to be found.
Monitoring antiquities market
Archaeologists recently discovered a cave (entrance, shown at left) near Qumran in Israel, though most of the "Dead Sea Scrolls" in the cave had been taken in the mid-20th century. (Image credit: Oren Gutfeld & Ahiad Ovadia)
Over the past 15 years, more than 70 scroll fragments have turned up on the antiquities market. While some of them are forgeries, others may be real and scientists have been monitoring these fragments as they come on the market, using social media platforms such as Academia.edu to post updates on new scroll fragments.
Antiquities interdiction
The rare papyrus from the time of the First Temple, or the seventh century B.C. (Image credit: Shai Halevi, courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority.)
To stem the tide of looting in the Judean Desertk, archaeologists with the Israel Antiquities Authority have been working as part of a special unit to recover looted material. While the archaeologists are not at liberty to discuss details of how their unit recovers material, one operation led to the discovery of a papyrus dating back around 2,700 years, according to tests.
Digitization
Shown in this image, a conservation analyst from the Israeli Antiquities examines fragments of the 2000-year-old Dead Sea scrolls at a laboratory before photographing them on Dec. 18, 2012, in Jerusalem. (Image credit: Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)
In 2011, a digitization project was completed that allows anyone in the world to view high-resolution images of the Dead Sea Scrolls for free online. This project, a collaboration between the Israel Museum in Jerusalem and Google, made it easier for researchers all over the world to access the scrolls. It also meant that members of the general public who are simply interested in viewing the scrolls could see them, in minute detail, at any time without having to travel to Israel.
Shown in this image, a conservation analyst from the Israeli Antiquities examines fragments of the 2000-year-old Dead Sea scrolls at a laboratory before photographing them on Dec. 18, 2012, in Jerusalem.
Ink analysis
This fragment preserves part of the Book of Genesis and tells part of the story of Jacob. (Image credit: Image by Bruce and Kenneth Zuckerman and Marilyn J. Lundberg, West Semitic Research. Courtesy of Museum of the Bible. )
Researchers have analyzed the ink of Dead Sea Scrolls, finding, among other things, a ratio of chlorine to bromine that indicates the ink was created near Qumran. Analysis has also suggests that a special type of ink, sometimes called "red ink," was used on at least one of the scrolls.
President Xis state visit, which will run for three days, was upon the invitation of Sauli Niinisto, the president of Finland. (Photo : Getty Images)
Chinese President Xi Jinping has recently met with Serbian counterpart, Tomislav Nikolic, and vowed to deepen the China-Serbia cooperation, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.
The meeting between the two leaders aimed at enhancing the countries' partnership in terms of the Belt and Road Initiative and the "16+1" initiative, which refers to the cooperation mechanism between China and the 16 Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC).
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Serbia serves as the first country to enter into a China-CEEC partnership.
According to Xi, the Chinese government is willing to "work with Serbia to deepen the all-weather friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation," Xinhua wrote.
The Chinese leader also urged both countries to sustain high-profile exchanges, including exchanges that involve governments, political parties and legislatures.
Xi also expressed hope to foster his Belt and Road initiative's alignment with Serbia's adamant efforts to introduce reindustrialization. He particularly delved into advancing huge, collaborative endeavors such as the Serbia-Hungary railway.
Apart from the infrastructure sector, the Chinese president further called for a more solidified partnership when it comes to renewable energy, agriculture, biomedicine as well as tourism.
Meanwhile, Nikolic noted that Serbian people laud the developments China has achieved throughout the years. He is optimistic that the Asian country will play a bigger role in both global and regional affairs in the future.
The Serbian leader also voiced out his appreciation of China's mutual respect in fostering its ties with other nations. He also seconded Xi's invitation to enhancing the China-Serbia cooperation, particularly in the sectors of infrastructure, mining, production capacity and agriculture.
Nikolic added that his country will actively involve itself in Xi's Belt and Road initiative and participate in projects that will boost the China-CEEC partnership.
After the meeting, a ceremony was held to award Nikolic the title of "honorary citizen of Beijing. He visited China last March 28 until April 1 upon Xi's invitation.
Around the US
(Image credit: Map by Owen Jarus, template from Wikimedia Commons, CC Attribution 3.0 Unported)
A map showing the location of Dead Sea Scroll fragments that are currently in America. Note 15 fragments were recently sold to an institution in the United States that hasn't made a public announcement and whose identity is unknown. The Museum of the Bible in Washington DC has 13 fragments, the largest collection in America whose location we know of.
A sample
(Image credit: Photo courtesy Les Enluminures)
A black and white picture of one of the 15 fragments that was recently sold and is now in an institution in the United States that hasn't made a public announcement. It was sold by an anonymous seller through the manuscript company Les Enluminures.
Greek letters
(Image credit: Photo courtesy Les Enluminures)
Another of the 15 fragments that was recently sold. There appears to be Greek letters on this fragment. Some of the Dead Sea Scrolls were written in Greek.
Uncertain authenticity
(Image credit: Image by Bruce and Kenneth Zuckerman and Marilyn J. Lundberg, West Semitic Research. Courtesy of Museum of the Bible.)
A Dead Sea Scroll fragment, published last year, which is now in the collection of the Museum of the Bible. The authenticity of this fragment is uncertain. Scientific tests are being done and the museum plans to discuss the possibility of forgery and the challenges of authenticating ancient texts in their exhibit. If genuine this scroll fragment preserves parts of Micah 1:4-6 "the valleys will split open, like wax before the fire; like water poured down a slope. By the transgression of Jacob."
Burned by fire
(Image credit: Image by Bruce and Kenneth Zuckerman and Marilyn J. Lundberg, West Semitic Research. Courtesy of Museum of the Bible.)
A Dead Sea Scroll fragment, published last year, which is now in the collection of the Museum of the Bible. It preserves parts of Nehemiah 2:13-16. The authenticity of this scroll fragment is also uncertain. The scroll fragment was scorched by fire at some point.
Commands from the lord
(Image credit: Photo courtesy Azusa Pacific University)
This fragment is at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, California. It preserves part of Deuteronomy 27:4-6, a passage in which the lord commands that an altar be built for him at Mount Gerizim. A preliminary study of the fragment was written and published online in 2010 by James Charlesworth, a professor at Princeton Theological Seminary.
Preserving the past
(Image credit: Photo courtesy Lanier Theological Library)
A Dead Sea Scroll fragment which is at Lanier Theological Library in Houston. It preserves part of Amos 7:17 8:1. It was studied and published by Emanuel Tov, a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
One of the 15 fragments that was recently sold and is now in an institution in the United States that hasn't made a public announcement.
Twenty-eight fragments from the Dead Sea Scrolls that were purchased from the antiquities market have yet to be published, but are now sitting in three U.S. institutions, Live Science has found.
Forthcoming publications will describe some of these fragments within the next year, experts said. The 28 "new" fragments are part of a growing number of Dead Sea Scrolls that have appeared in the United States. At least 45 fragments of Dead Sea Scrolls have popped up in the U.S. over the past two decades.
Scholars have questioned whether some of these fragments are modern-day forgeries or if they come from caves in the Judean desert that were looted in the past few decades.
Often, anonymous individuals sold these fragments that have appeared in the U.S., claiming that they were once owned by Khalil Iskander Shahin, an antiquities dealer in Bethlehem, in the West Bank, Live Science found. Shahin collected many of the Dead Sea Scrolls from the Bedouin people in the 1940s, '50s and '60s; he often went by the name Kando, which his son William Kando now uses. [In Photos: Dead Sea Scrolls from the Antiquities Market]
However, William Kando has raised concerns about the number of scroll pieces claimed to have shown up in the United States. In conversations with Live Science, he said that while his family has sold some scroll fragments to collectors in the United States over the past few decades, the family didnt sell them in the numbers that some collectors are claiming.
During the conversations with Live Science, William Kando also revealed that, after the Kando family sold scroll fragments to U.S. collectors, these artifacts were often resold multiple times, creating a tangled collecting history that makes it difficult to determine which of the 45 fragments the Kandos actually owned.
Qumran caves
The Dead Sea Scrolls come from 12 caves, which contained thousands of scroll fragments and are located near the site of Qumran in the West Bank. Excavations of the caves by professional archaeologists uncovered some of the scrolls, while private Bedouin residents removed other scrolls, before selling them to Shahin.
The scrolls contain text from books in the Hebrew Bible as well as community rules, calendars and astronomical texts, among other writings.
Eleven of these caves were discovered between 1947 and 1956, and the discovery of a 12th cave was announced earlier this year. Archaeologists found that most of the scrolls in the 12th cave had been plundered decades earlier. More caves that contain (or once contained) scrolls could await discovery, said Randall Price, a professor at Liberty University in Virginia, who was one of the leaders of the team that excavated the 12th cave.
Unpublished scroll fragments
Altogether, there are nine unpublished Dead Sea Scroll fragments at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas; four at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, California; and another 15 fragments that were recently sold through a company called Les Enluminures on behalf of an anonymous seller and are now in an undisclosed U.S. institution. Sandra Hindman, the president of Les Enluminures, said that the institution has not yet made a public announcement and she is not at liberty to disclose the identity. [See Photos of Dead Sea Scrolls Fragments]
As the 28 unpublished scroll fragments are studied and described in scientific journals, more information will appear on what the artifacts contain. Already, multiple scholars who are concerned about the fragments have called for the publication of as much information on their collecting history as possible.
"Southwestern purchased nine Dead Sea Scroll fragments approximately seven years ago. We currently have a contract to publish them with Brill ," a publisher of scholarly books, said Ryan Stokes, a professor of the Old Testament at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. "Hopefully, the volume will be available in the next year."
When Southwestern purchased the fragments seven years ago, the seminary stated in its news releases that the fragments included writings from the biblical books of Exodus, Leviticus, Daniel, Psalms and Deuteronomy. According to these past statements, one of the fragments holds passages from Leviticus 18, a biblical passage that forbids incest and homosexuality.
The four unpublished fragments at Azusa Pacific University include writings from the biblical books of Daniel, Leviticus and Deuteronomy, and should be published soon.
"We're hoping in the very, very, near future, with more feedback, our publication will come to light," said Robert Duke, dean of the School of Theology at Azusa Pacific University. Before Azusa Pacific University purchased the scroll fragments, the university received assurances from William Kando that the Kando family had owned those fragments in the past, Duke said.
It's not certain when the 15 fragments sold through Les Enluminures will be studied and published. The institution in the United States that now owns those fragments has not made a public announcement about the acquisition, Hindman said.
Spokespersons for the Museum of the Bible, Azusa Pacific University, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Lanier Theological Library all told Live Science that their institutions had not bought the Les Enluminures fragments.
Les Enluminures sent a batch of black-and-white photographs of the fragments to Live Science. The images show what appears to be Greek text on some of the fragments, a language that has been seen on other Dead Sea Scrolls. Hindman said she believes all 15 fragments were once in the collection of Bruce Ferrini, a collector in Ohio who died in 2010.
Hindman said that her information indicates that the 15 fragments were originally sold by the Kando family in 2002 before being passed through a series of collectors. William Kando expressed concerns about this claim, saying that he sold seven fragments in that year to a man named Craig Lampe and that he thinks some of those fragments later went to a "library in California" (a description that better matches Azusa Pacific University).
Duke said that he's not certain if Azusa's Dead Sea Scroll fragments were among those sold by the Kando family to Lampe in 2002.
Some of the 15 fragments may be part of the same scroll, and it's possible that in 2002, the 15 fragments were part of a few larger fragments that have since fallen apart Hindman said. She said she is convinced that the fragments are authentic. Lampe's antiquities business is now run by his son Joel Lampe, who did not return requests for comment.
Lingering questions
A number of Dead Sea Scroll fragments in America have already been published. These include 13 fragments that were published last year in the book "Dead Sea Scrolls Fragments in the Museum Collection" (Brill, 2016) and are now in the collection of the Museum of the Bible, which is set to open in November 2017 in Washington, D.C., just three blocks from the U.S. Capitol. [The Holy Land: 7 Amazing Archaeological Finds]
In the book, scholars noted a number of suspicious features that might indicate the fragments are forgeries. The 13 scrolls were purchased in four lots from anonymous sellers between 2009 and 2014, according to the book. William Kando told Live Science that while a few fragments may have come from his family's collection, not all of them are from the Kandos.
However, the case for forgery is not settled. Ada Yardeni, a professor at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who is in an expert in the paleography of the Dead Sea Scrolls (the study of their handwriting), told Live Science that her analysis indicated that all 13 fragments are authentic.
Curators at the Museum of the Bible said that they are treating the scroll fragments at their institution as potential forgeries and are conducting scientific tests on them. The curators said they also plan to address the issue of authenticating Dead Sea Scroll fragments in the museum display.
Other Dead Sea Scroll fragments that have appeared in the past two decades in the United States have been described in scientific publications. These include: one fragment at Lanier Theological Library in Houston, one fragment at Ashland Theological Seminary in Ashland, Ohio; a fragment from a collector in Pasadena, California, that scholars from the Foundation on Judaism and Christian Origins studied and published; and one published fragment at Azusa Pacific University.
Additionally, previously published fragments arrived in the U.S. in the mid-20th century and are now at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago and the Syrian Orthodox Church's eastern U.S. archdiocese.
Original article on Live Science.
Does a warming world beget more wars? A new study that investigates the relationship between climate change and clashes among the Classic Maya believes so, drawing an explicit link between temperature increases and growing conflicts.
The study, published in Quaternary Science Reviews, examined about 500 years of Maya history, from 363 to 888 A.D.
This is the so-called Classic period in which the Mesoamerican civilization boomed, with its people constructing extensive cities and massive pyramids, as well as developing one of the earliest writing systems in the Americas.
Indeed, the Maya began a tradition of recording historical events on stone monuments.
"The inscriptions that have been translated provide often remarkably detailed accounts of myths and political events, including conflicts between city-states," said the report, which was authored by Mark Collard, Canada research chair at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia and professor of archaeology at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, along with Christopher Carleton and David Campbell, both of Simon Fraser University.
RELATED: US Physicians Urge Action on Climate Change, Say Health Problems Are Rising
The researchers cataloged inscriptions on monuments related to violent struggles and compiled temperature and rainfall records for the regions inhabited during the Classic period: the lowlands of the Yucatan Peninsula, which includes parts of southern Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize.
A total of 144 unique conflicts emerged from inscriptions on monuments from more than 30 major Maya centers. The research team then compared conflict records to palaeoclimate data, and the correspondence was impressive.
"The change in conflict levels between 350 and 900 A.D. was considerable," they wrote. "The number of conflicts increased from 0 to 3 every 25 years in the first two centuries to 24 conflicts every 25 years near the end of the period."
They noted the exacerbation of conflicts could not be explained by change in the amount of rainfall. It was instead associated with an increase in summer temperature.
"There's been quite a bit of discussion about the impact of climate change on the Classic Maya, but this discussion has focused on drought," Collard told Seeker. "Our study suggests that we've been looking in the wrong place and that the impact of temperature needs to be looked at more closely."
Experts think that there are two potential mechanisms by which increases in temperature can lead to greater conflict.
One is psychological when temperatures rise, tempers shorten. Several studies suggest it is possible that increased average summer temperatures made the Classic Maya more bellicose.
RELATED: The Mental Health Toll of Climate Change Could Be Dire
The other mechanism, which Collard and his colleagues find more likely and compelling, is economic, and involves the staple crop for the Classic Maya: maize.
Throughout the Classic period, average temperature fluctuated between 82.4 degrees Fahrenheit (28 degrees Celsius) and 84.2F (29C). During periods when the temperature was around 82.4F (28C) or less, maize yields were reasonably stable, with little or no food shortage and little conflict.
But as temperature continued to rise and the region experienced days at or above 86F (30C), crop shortfalls occurred frequently. Large-scale deforestation throughout the Classic period caused by urban expansion worsened the effect, increasing regional temperatures by reducing soil moisture availability. The result was food shortage, which led to spiking levels of conflict.
"Small year-to-year changes in climate can result in large, negative effects over the long term. This is a problem for us humans, because most of us are oriented towards the short term."
"We had originally thought that it all came down to starvation, but after talking with Maya specialists, we decided that wasn't convincing," Collard said.
He explained that maize would have been difficult to transport, in which case the idea of attacking neighbors for food did not seem very likely.
"Instead, it's probably better to consider the increase in warfare in a way that we often think about warfare today namely as a tool for the elite to maintain support," Collard said.
With declining maize yields, a ruler could not have relied on opulent festivals or fed large labor forces needed to build impressive monuments. Consequently, going to war more often would have been an effective tactic to maintain status, prestige, and power.
"I think of it as being similar to the way that some modern political leaders seem to use conflict with neighbors to distract from problems within their country," Collard said.
Eventually, the growth in conflict became explosive.
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The researchers believe the findings have implications for the debate about contemporary climate change. Concern is growing that climate change effects would increase violence within and between human societies.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has cautioned that climate change will exacerbate conflict at a range of scales, from inter-personal violence to civil war, while the US Department of Defense has classified climate change as a threat multiplier, suggesting that it could lead to political and social unrest and increased terrorism.
"Our study shows that small year-to-year changes in climate can result in large, negative effects over the long term," Collard said. "This is a problem for us, humans, because most of us are oriented towards the short term."
"We run the risk of ignoring changes that will affect our children and grandchildren, because we can't perceive those changes," he added.
Some very important questions still need to be investigated.
"Most obviously, we need to know whether the effect is a regional one, specific to the Maya area, or one that holds for other parts of the world," Collard said.
But he warned that without government support it wont be possible to answer this and other crucial questions.
"The data we used in the study were collected by researchers funded by US agencies that have been targeted for massive cuts by President Trump and his administration," he noted, pointing to the impact of politics on his research. "I think most people most voters want evidence-based government policies, and we can't have evidence-based policies without evidence."
Originally published on Seeker.
'No Such Thing' as Man-Made Islands in Disputed Waters of South China Sea, Chinese Defense Ministry Clarifies
China is accused of building military facilities on man-made islands in the South China Sea. (Photo : Getty Images)
The Chinese Defense Ministry has clarified that there is "no such thing" as man-made islands in the disputed waters of South China Sea, a Reuters article noted.
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"There is no such thing as man-made islands. Most of the building is for civilian purposes, including necessary defensive facilities," spokesman Wu Qian remarked in his monthly news briefing.
The statement comes as the Chinese government reiterates that the ongoing South China Sea construction is intended mainly for civilian purposes.
China, which faces a territorial dispute with fellow Asian countries such as the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam on several Spratly Islands, has been carrying out land reclamation and construction in the region.
The infrastructure undertaking has covered the building of airports, harbors and other facilities. In some instances, the project has also involved dumping of huge amounts of sand on reefs in order to build up a land where the establishments will be constructed.
During his news briefing, Wu nonetheless emphasized that China has the rights for the South China Sea construction as the Spratly archipelago inherently belongs to the Chinese territory.
The spokesman added that generally, the situation in the South China Sea is stable. Countries outside the region are likely hyping things up to create tensions among the involved Asian nations.
Asked for further explanation about the man-made islands in the disputed waters, Wu remarked that China has already provided a detailed statement about the construction and land reclamation projects.
Recently, a U.S. think tank revealed that China has already finished a major military infrastructure construction on the artificial islands in the South China Sea. The report shared that with the said completion, China now has the capacity to deploy combat planes in the area.
China has been adamant in denying allegations about militarizing the lucrative maritime area. Yearly, around $5 trillion worth of ship-borne trade passes through the South China Sea.
A Texas death row inmate will have his case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court after the justices decided on Monday to take up his appeal.
The high court, in a two-sentence order, said it will consider the case of 47-year-old Carlos Ayestes.
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In addition to all the other things that are against the law, there is eating at a bus stop.
A man who bought pizza for his companion on her birthday was cited for eating pizza at a bus stop at Market and Seventh streets in San Francisco.
This is a real waste of police services, said Kelley Cutler, an organizer with the Coalition on Homelessness.
Cutler said the pizza eater, a homeless San Francisco senior citizen, brought his citation to homeless-outreach workers Friday.
According to Cutler, a police officer cited the man March 5 after he was observed eating pizza in the bus shelter. Eating on most public transit is prohibited but the rule is rarely enforced and Cutler said she could not recall it ever being enforced at a bus shelter.
The offense described on the citation is eating in the shelter.
Cutler said the man was more amused than outraged by the ticket.
Some people get agitated or upset, but he was being a good sport, Cutler said. He laughed about it. He kept saying he bought the pizza for his friend on her birthday.
The citation said the man is due in court Wednesday, but Cutler said the citation would likely be dismissed if the man can show court officials he is seeking homeless services. Her client was cited for violating an ordinance against eating or drinking in or on a system facility or vehicle in areas where those activities are prohibited by that system, which can carry a fine of $250.
Homeless outreach workers said Monday that they could not recall a similar instance of pizza prosecution, although another coalition worker did recall that a client of his had been cited some months ago for skateboarding on a Fulton Street sidewalk at 3 a.m., instead of in the street.
Muni spokesman Paul Rose said he didnt know whether it was OK or not OK to eat at a bus shelter. He said that passengers can be cited for eating on vehicles and inside Muni Metro stations but that the food prohibition doesnt necessarily extend to bus shelters.
The pizza citation, Cutler said, was what some authorities refer to as a quality of life enforcement.
The problem is, whose quality of life are you talking about? Cutler asked. The officer can say, Move along, move along. The problem is, theres nowhere to move along to.
Steve Rubenstein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com
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Calling from the back of a cab in New York City on Monday afternoon, chef Diego Galicias mind was 1,800 miles away, back home in San Antonio. What was on his mind was how he and chef Rico Torres would juggle reservations at their 12-seat Mexican restaurant Mixtli now that theyre part of the celebrity chef machine.
The machine fired up Monday morning with the news that Food & Wine magazine had just named Galicia and Torres among the 12 Best New Chefs in the country.
That means a cocktail party In New York Monday to meet the 10 other Best New Chefs from eight other cities. Then a photo shoot and a bigger party on Tuesday, then the Austin Food & Wine Festival April 28, then a James Beard Foundation dinner in Chicago, then the Aspen Food & Wine Festival in June and the cover of Food & Wine in July.
Somewhere in there, Galicia and Torres have to carve out time to make dinner in a converted boxcar in Olmos Park four nights a week like theyve been doing since they opened Mixtli in 2013.
The support has been incredible, Galicia said. Were getting slammed with tickets right now, Galicia said, referring to the reservation Mixtli sells for its 12 seats. I just hope everybodys patient while we move things around.
Its been almost 30 years since Food & Wine cast its brightest national spotlight on young talent in San Antonio. Chef Bruce Auden of Biga on the Banks was part of the magazines inaugural Best New Chefs class in 1988, for his work at the late Polos.
The drought since then has overlooked the work of chefs in San Antonio like Andrew Weissman, Mark Bliss, Steve McHugh, Stefan Bowers and others whove shaped the citys restaurant future.
San Antonio has long been in the shadows of other Texas food cities like Austin and Houston, said Food & Wine editor Nilou Motamed. But with rising talents like Diego and Rico bringing new energy, the town is on the rise as a culinary destination.
Motamed said Galicia and Torres impressed us with their ability to constantly reinvent Mixtli. Their cuisine is incredibly studied, technical and transportive all attributes of amazing Best New Chefs.
With just 12 seats, tickets for Mixtlis $95 tasting menu are sold out sometimes weeks in advance. The menu changes regularly, with 10 or more courses built around food from specific regions of Mexico and then given a modernist twist.
Austin also made the Food & Wine list, for the fourth year in a row, with Yoshi Okai of the 12-seat sushi restaurant Otoko. Other chefs chosen from among those whove been in charge of their own kitchens for five years or less come from Portland, San Francisco, Chicago, New Orleans, Los Angeles, New York and Washington state. Find the full list of winners at foodandwine.com.
The celebrity machine started humming for Galicia and Torres three weeks ago, with a phone call from the magazine saying they wanted to interview the guys for a story about Mexican food. There was no article. It was a cover for letting them know about the award.
We lost it completely. I started crying, Galicia said. Look where we are. Were in a metal box. In a little metal box in Olmos Park in San Antonio.
I was dancing and screaming, Torres said. Twenty or 30 minutes later, it was really hard to get back to it. We said, were sold out tonight and tomorrow; lets get back to it.
Before Mixtli, Torres ran Rico Caterers for 10 years. Galicia worked at Apple and washed cars on Broadway, then discovered a love for cooking at the late Patty Lous on McCullough Avenue. That led to his enrolling in the Culinary Institute of America-San Antonio.
Torres and Galicia met in 2012 as part of an informal group called the Texas Cooks Co-Op with Luis Colon of Folc and others to stage multicourse dinners once a month. Their styles naturally gravitated toward each other.
Rico and I would always end up together, because we would pair really well, Galicia said. Wed talk all day, pretty much, about dishes and food. And then one day, I said, Hey, man. I have this idea. I have this thing. But I want you to come with me.
Mixtli was born after the two spent $15,000 of their own money to convert a 40-by-10-foot boxcar at The Yard, a restaurant hub in Olmos Park that now includes Mings Noodle Bar, Alberico Fine Wine and others, including the upcoming Sabor Cocina Bar in the former home of the Mixtli teams short-lived side project, Mezcaleria Mixtli.
San Antonio chefs reacted to the news on social media Monday with enthusiasm and support. On Facebook, Stefan Bowers of Rebelle and the new Battalion said, This level can only be reached by changing not just the culinary, but the cultural landscape surrounding you.
Facebook accolades also poured in from chefs Jason Dady of Tre Trattoria, Geronimo Lopez of Botika and Tim McDiarmid of The Good Kind. Food & Wine parent company Time promoted the awards on its Twitter account with 13.5 million followers.
The news of the win for Torres and Galicia also draws attention to Audens win in 1988. For Auden, being a member of the first group of Best New Chefs came just before he left Polos to set the stage for opening his own restaurant, the original Restaurant Biga on Locust Street. I just wanted to do my own thing, he said.
Still, he said, the award carried prestige in those pre-internet days. Instead of social media, there were magazines like Gourmet and Food & Wine. Those were the places other than local or regional papers where youd get any recognition, Auden said. It was surprising, coming from such a great magazine.
On a broad scale, Auden said hes pleased to see San Antonio get more national attention. On a more personal scale, hes also happy for Galicia: Auden gave the commencement address for the young chefs CIA class.
msutter@express-news.net
Twitter: @fedmanwalking
This has been a good brunch month for San Antonio, with two new restaurants specializing in that most glorious of hybrid meals opening in San Antonio. Established places are upping their brunch game, too, and the options for coffee, mimosas, Benedicts and all kinds of carb-laden dishes are better than ever.
Consider this the ultimate list of places in San Antonio that celebrate the weekend tradition. Some offer brunch only on Sunday; others only on Saturday. A few offer brunch all weekend and a handful of spots get down on the brunch party all week long.
Chinese children in a fashion show (Photo : Getty Images News)
U.S. children's apparel manufacturer Carter's Inc. plans to open at least 40 new outlets this year in China, with a target of opening 200 stores by 2022.
Carter's chairman and CEO Michael Casey revealed that they are going to open 10 to 15 stores in Beijing and will focus on big Chinese cities such as Shanghai, Hangzhou and Chengdu.
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Describing China as the "largest and most important" international market, Casey said that they will target mass consumers in the country with affordable prices.
He added that Carter's, which has been manufacturing children's apparel for 152 years, is "excited" about the growth opportunities that China has to offer.
The country's consumption of children's products is massive at about $12 billion and is expected to double to $25 billion by 2025 with the relaxation of the one-child policy.
The company currently has 12 stores and an online shop on Alibaba's platform, Tmall. Half of the online demand for Carter's products was from international customers, with the most coming from China.
Carter's launched Weibo and WeChat accounts to provide information about their products to Chinese mothers.
Country manager of Carter's China, James No, said that after long-term preparations and market research, it is ripe for them to enter the Chinese market.
He added that they intend to get closer to Chinese consumers by having a team based in China.
There is weak brand awareness for baby products in China, which has a fragmented market due to high competition, making it challenging to stand out.
Carter's, which was founded in 1865 by William Carter in Needham, Massachusetts, acquired major children's brand and its competitor OshKosh B'Gosh for $312 million in 2005.
Last month, it acquired another infant and child product company, New York-based Skip Hop Inc., for $140 million plus up to $10 million in future payments
In 2014, children's clothing and shoes manufactured by global brands such as Adidas, Nike, Puma, Li-Ning, American Apparel, Burberry, C & A, Disney, Gap, H & M, Primark and Uniqlo were found to contain potential toxic chemicals, according to Greenpeace, which analyzed 82 products made in 12 countries, with 29 coming from China.
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An incident earlier this week where several court staff and two local judges found themselves stuck in a Webb County Justice Center elevator isnt the first time an elevator at the Justice Center has malfunctioned, according to court records.
A former bailiff for the 406th District Court is suing Thyssenkrupp Elevator on allegations he suffered injuries during an elevator ride in the Justice Center in March 2015.
On Wednesday, County Court at Law I Judge Hugo Martinez and Magistrate Judge Melissa Joy Garcia found themselves trapped in an elevator with several court staff members moments after the completion of a press conference they participated in regarding courthouse security and courtroom personnel.
In response to Wednesdays incident, Thyssenkrupp Elevator said their first priority is the safety of everyone who rides the elevators they build and maintain.
RELATED: Video: Two Laredo judges trapped in elevator for half an hour
We are pleased to report the elevator at the Webb County Justice building in Laredo, Texas is safe and fully operational, Thyssenkrupp Elevator said in a statement.
The elevator company said it is working closely with building management to determine the cause of the incident.
Our investigation has just begun and we cannot speculate on what happened. We do know the elevator is more than 25 years old and has been receiving regular routine elevator maintenance, Thyssenkrupp Elevator said.
The elevator system in the Justice Center passed its last state elevator inspection in December 2016.
Webb County Spokesman Larry Sanchez said the county keeps service contracts on all elevators in county buildings.
As with anything mechanical, breakdowns can happen. We strive to make our buildings as safe as possible for the public and all Webb County employees, Sanchez said.
The lawsuit
Former 406th District Court Bailiff Horacio Lopez filed a lawsuit against Thyssenkrupp Elevator in December 2016, seeking monetary relief in excess of $200,000.
Lopez says he has incurred medical expenses, physical pain, mental anguish, physical impairment, lost wages, scarring and disfigurement due to the elevator incident.
Thyssenkrupp Elevator denied all allegations brought by Lopez in a response to the lawsuit.
In a letter sent March 24 to County Commissioner John Galo, 406th District Court Judge Oscar J. Hale Jr. said Lopez was forced to retire due to medical conditions.
The county said Lopezs last day of employment was Friday.
(Lopez) suffered serious and debilitating bodily injuries as a direct result of the fall which was proximately caused by the unreasonably dangerous condition of (the elevator), his petition states.
Lopez was exiting the elevator when he suddenly fell. He alleges this was caused by the elevator and its failure to properly level when stopping.
The Justice Center lost power at or near the time of the incident, causing the elevator to drop significantly, according to the petition.
Lopez alleges Thyssenkrupp Elevator was aware of the unreasonably dangerous condition prior to his incident and failed to take any actions to repair, remedy, make safe, correct or even warn him.
RELATED: Webb County Commissioners Court holding emergency meeting
Thyssenkrupp Elevator has an excellent safety record consistently above industry standards. We are responsible and commit to our safety program for the good of the public we serve and our customers, the company said.
As per company policy, Thyssenkrupp Elevator declined to comment on the pending litigation.
Lopez claims Thyssenkrupp negligently allowed the area to become unreasonably dangerous, negligently permitted such condition to exist, and negligently failed to warn (Lopez) of the condition of the area despite the fact that (Thyssenkrupp) knew, or in the exercise of ordinary care, should have known of the existence of the condition, and that there was a likelihood of someone being injured as happened to (Lopez).
The condition of the elevator system continued for such a period of time that ordinary care in maintenance would have remedied the situation, according to the lawsuit.
Court documents filed Thursday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Diana Song Quiroga indicate the case will not head to trial until early next year.
Taryn Walters may be reached at 956-728-2528 or twalters@lmtonline.com.
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Three individuals allegedly involved in a large narcotics trafficking organization that spanned across the world pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy this week in federal court.
Hector Ortiz, Stephanie Ozuna and Maria Lilia Ozuna entered guilty pleas before U.S. Magistrate Judge Guillermo R. Garcia, records state.
A filed order states a sentencing date will be set after the court receives a final version of the defendants presentence investigation reports.
The defendants are three of 35 individuals indicted for their alleged involvement in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and fentanyl through the use of the U.S. Postal Service or other means such as Federal Express.
Other named defendants include Antonio Romero Jr., Nora Arlette Romero, Tito Garcia, Oscar N. Mancillas, Karina Mancillas-Rubio, Isael Joddai Romero, Eric Arturo Ocampo, Luis Felipe Santos-Alejandro, Daniel Villegas Jr., Jason Aguilar-Blake, Homar Guerrero, Dennis Alvarez Boquin, Loreto Castaneda Macedo, Francisco Javier Salazar-Diaz, Jesus Miguel Torres, Daniel Laurel, Marco Antonio Salazar, Oscar Mancillas Santos, Olga Calzado de Mancillas, Bede Hawkins Jr., Martin Ramirez, Olinda Romero and Jose Luis Ruiz.
RELATED: Former Nuevo Laredo police officer, four others arrested in connection with local armed robbery
They each face various charges including engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and fentanyl, conspiracy to launder drug proceeds and numerous other money laundering violations.
Laredoan Antonio Romero Jr., 30, was identified as the head of the drug trafficking cell that operated out of Orlando, Florida.
The investigation, dubbed Operation Tres Equis, is spearheaded by the Drug Enforcement Administration and is a long-term, worldwide investigation.
They allegedly used various U.S. bank accounts to transfer drug proceeds from U.S. distribution hub cities to U.S. cities along the Mexican border, including Laredo, and to places outside the United States, such as Mexico, Ecuador and Peru, the Attorney Generals Office said.
Ortiz and the Orzunas plea agreements state that they, along with others, assisted, aided and abetted with functions of the organization to include the receipt and collection of drug proceeds.
Although they are not familiar with all aspects of the organization, the trio admit that they worked for or assisted others in financial transactions while knowing that the transaction was to conceal and disguise the nature, source, ownership or control of the proceeds of some form of unlawful activity, according to their plea agreements.
Ortiz admits to laundering more than $40,000 but not more than $95,000; Maria Ozuna admits to assisting in laundering $15,001; and Stephanie Ozuna admits to assisting in laundering more than $15,000 but not not more than $40,000 during the course of the conspiracy.
Their involvement
Maria and Stephanie Ozunas involvement allegedly began when they were recruited by a family member to use their personal bank account to receive out of state cash deposits, followed by immediate cash withdrawals in Laredo, according to their plea agreements.
The total amount of transactions laundered via Maria Ozunas account during the course of the conspiracy is $28,500. Transactions laundered through Stephanie Ozunas account totaled $47,500. Each transaction was under $10,000, court records state.
Ortiz was recruited by defendants Laurel and/or Oscar Mancillas to use his personal bank account to receive deposits and conduct withdrawals, according to his plea agreement.
RELATED: Local arrests on the decline since implementation of intake program
The total amount of transactions deposited into Ortizs accounts include $129,450 in deposits from Nov. 12, 2015 to Feb. 9, 2016 from Massachusetts for immediate withdrawal in Laredo.
The defendants allege they were not aware of what happened to the funds after they were delivered, but knew the funds must be proceeds from some illegal activity, otherwise, they would not have been asked or paid to assist in conducting these type of transactions that conceal the trust ownership and source of funds.
The trio claim they would hand withdrawn cash to others and would receive a fee of about $200 per transaction for the use of their accounts and for the withdrawal of funds.
Taryn Walters may be reached at 956-728-2528 or twalters@lmtonline.com.
Eric Gay/STF
The University of Texas at Austin is investigating a poster found on campus accusing Chinese students of cheating and misrepresenting their skills.
Did you know copying someone elses intellectual property is actually stealing their work and its against the law? We know it isnt bad in your culture the flyer reads, advertising a special class to teach Chinese more about ethics.
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This column, reprinted below, ran on Sept. 9, 1975, in the Chronicle. Ann Holmes, fine arts editor, also wrote a review for the same day's edition, and it is excerpted under the headline "Barbara Jordan opens 62 symphony season."
Two remarkable Houston women, one of them in absentia, dominated a brilliant 62nd season opening of the Houston Symphony in Jones Hall Monday night.
The Honorable Barbara Jordan, whose rich and resonant voice commands respect far beyond the halls of Congress, came home to narrate Aaron Copland's "Lincoln Portrait" with Maestro Lawrence Foster conducting the orchestra.
Elegant in a black velvet gown sprinkled with rhinestones, Congresswoman Jordan chatted backstage before the concert with Maestro Foster and wife Angela, Symphony Society Board Chairman Chas. F. Jones and wife Edith, President Fayez Sarofim and wife Louisa.
A bystander who had heard her flawless performance at rehearsal earlier in the day asked if she ever in her life had stage fright.
"Right now," she said, flashing the famous Jordan smile.
Missing and missed from the scene was the late Miss Ima Hogg, described in Mrs. McClelland Wallace's program tribute as "an incomparable force for good, and indomitable spirit, an extraordinary and fascinating woman."
But the name of the late Symphony founder and past president of the Symphony Society was on the lips of many, including Conductor Foster who decided Beethoven's "Coriolanus" to her memory.
Wherever Miss Hogg's friends and admirers gathered before the concert and at intermission, the reminiscences flowed.
Dr. Lee Pryor, UH English professor and patron of the arts who frequently was her escort, brought back an interesting tribute from a Hogg admirer in England - Lord Lionel Bertrand Sackville-West.
Lee had gone to London to join Miss Hogg for a tour of the great homes, including the largest of them all - the 365-room Knole Park at Seven Oaks, Kent, that has been in the Sackville family since Queen Elizabeth I conferred the rights in the 15th century.
(The Houstonian arrived in London shortly after Miss Hogg's accident and remained with her at the hospital until her death on Aug. 19.)
He later went on his way alone as a tourist to Knole Park. Lord Sackville happened to wander into the Great Hall and Lee apprised him of Miss Ima's death.
"She was a great lady," said His Lordship. "When I visited her at Winedale she pinned the Lone Star of Texas on the lapel of my dinner jacket and I've never removed it. I wanted to tell her that."
From Austin for the opening if the Houston Symphony season came two of Miss Hogg's closest friends - Mrs. Albert Jones and Wayne Bell, professor of architecture at the University of Texas who also had toured England with the indefatigable 93-year-old traveler. And in his group were Miss Hogg's cousins, Mrs. William McDugald and son Douglas (who flew to England following her accident) her friend and nurse, Mrs. Yvonne Coates, who also was with her there and architectural designer Roger Rosbach whose twin sons gave her a dachshund puppy she called Ludwig von Beethoven.
Early arrivals at the concert included Betty Filerman, who came with husband Peter, a Symphony violist and former orchestra librarian. They're former Chicagoans and now ardent Houston boosters who'll be celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary in October.
Young Jeff DeBevis who designed the Symphony logo flashing on the Jones Hall marquee along with the names of Jordan and Foster was escorting pretty Hope Miller. She's the Symphony administrative intern who'll be departing this week to wind up her studies at Brown University in January.
Dr. Alfred Neumann, chancellor of UH at Clear Lake City, and Mrs. Neumann, Symphony board member, were there as were UHCLC publicist Kate Rodwell and husband Dave Rodwell the Rice publicist.
First nighters who went on later to the women's Committee black tie dinner at the Petroleum Club honoring members of the orchestra and Congresswomen Jordan included vice president Max Levine and wife Marty, board member Oscar Wyatt and wife Lynn.
Longtime Symphony supporters Pat and Mazie Marshall (she was super elegant in a pale pink gown and matching coat) were there as were Houston Grand Opera founder Elva Lobit and husband Louis who arrived with Alice Bruce Currlin, handler of both Symphony and Opera publicity before her retirement.
The younger set included Stephanie Sakach, Katherine Criswell and Charles Criswell, all members of the Jordan fan club, accompanied by their mothers, Mrs. Steve Sakach and Mrs. Jim Criswell.
Barbara Jordan opens 62nd symphony season
Nothing creaky about the Houston Symphony as it charged into its 62nd season Monday night in Jones Hall with bicentennial fife and drum and much more going for it.
Music Director Lawrence Foster, sporting a neatly trimmed beard and bouncing with energy, coordinated and eventful evening, brimming with poignance, patriotism, and provocative new music capped by an especially rewarding, splendidly cohesive Schubert Great C Major Symphony.
But no note was sounded before the conductor observed what all were aware of: the palpable absence of Ima Hogg, the founding spirit of the Houston Orchestra and who died August 20 in London at 93.
"Because of the strength and vitality it conveys," the Beethoven "Coriolan" overture was conducted by Foster for Miss Ima in dedication along with the entire program, he announced.
In an entirely different musical language, "Symphony in Celebration" (Ceremony V) created by Paul Chihara, at the behest of the Fromm Foundation for this orchestra, is an expressionistic tone poem. While Chihara employs traditional instruments, the effects are often otherworldly and evocative. Several sections of the five-part work are boisterous and almost implosive, yet the second is fragile and pathetic, suggesting an almost tragic vulnerability.
If there is an aspect of groaning anguish, there are also outbreaks of jazzy statements from the deep strings. At one point a compulsive wave went over the ensemble as if a magnet has been drawn across steel shavings. And at the end Chihara summoned one dramatic glow from the orchestra and Foster sent it arching into the house like a tonal rainbow, lingering.
"Symphony in Celebration suggests a transfiguration. It is a difficult and uneasy tonal environment, a spiritual adventure that seeks elusive human values in a tormented time. It uses a large orchestra, stretches the sounds beyond the expectable.
Popular triumph of the night belonged to Barbara Jordon, Texas Congresswoman who relayed with beautiful gun metal tones and every show of conviction even to a break or two in her voice the text of Aaron Copland's "Lincoln Portrait." In a simple black velvet gown, she spoke of the man, his ways and his words quoting from the Gettysburg Address, as counterpart to Copland's moody American symphonic poem.
An absolutely winning number was Ives' Variations on "America" in William Schuman's version, which Foster and the orchestra played with verve. It had a ringing, brassy good humor with musical doodles, skirls and curliques, dissonance, witty interpolations and a resoundingly fine mix of the folksy, patriotic and sophisticated.
But top all that off with the prime entree, the Great C Major!
At no opening in recent memory has Foster had the orchestra so firmly at his finger tips. The concentrated ensemble quality was repeatedly a joy. The tempo in the lyrical opening andante was momentarily unstable, but this settled down and the work prospered in the fine shaded expression of the quieter moments contrasted to the brilliant theatricality in its repetitive device in the fourth movement.
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The Coldspring Area Art League (CAAL) hosted its annual judged art show on April 1 with some unique pieces of art and new talent showcasing their work.
Dozens of pieces of art were displayed at the Coldspring Community Center to be judged for their creativity and artistic beauty.
Artists are divided into categories for professional, semi-professional, non-professional, adult student and school student. They are further divided into categories representing art medium such as oil and acrylic, watercolors, pastels, drawings, mixed media, photography, digital art, abstract, sculptures and more.
Best in show went to Nancy Borne for her piece called "Christ Church," which was entered in the semi-professional division. Her medium category is watercolor and acrylic.
Best Floral work of art went to Linda Deeter for her oil and acrylic piece titled "Peach Rose." She is in the non-professional division.
"I'm happy with the collection," said CAAL President Julie Dutton-Meeks.
Part of this collection involves newcomers such as Jonnie and Annie Lee.
"They're loving it," said Meeks.
Jonnie Lee entered his first ever work of art in the judged art show called "Ghost in the Grass," which received honorable mention.
Artists are awarded ribbons for placing first, second, third or getting an honorable mention. Any work of art that receives a ribbon is eligible to enter the Lone Star Art Guild's (LSAG) judged art show held in The Woodlands at the end of June. This is up to the individual artist if they wish to enter LSAG's judged show.
"All of the winners here have the right to go," said Meeks.
While this year's judged art show is over, Meeks encourages potential artists to join CAAL or enter in future judged art shows. This includes people outside of the Coldspring area as some who entered this year's show are from outside of the county such as Wendy Moreland who entered more than six pieces of art.
"It was nice to have some people outside of our group entering this year," said Meeks.
CAAL meets at Paradise Grill in Coldspring, Texas, every first Monday of the month at 6 p.m. Anyone with children who wish to develop their artistic abilities should also be aware of the Kids Art Camp coming up in June. For more information call Meeks at 713-557-8477.
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Citizens of Shepherd, Texas, discussed opportunities in purchasing affordable housing or repairing their existing homes during the Housing Fair hosted at the Shepherd Community Center on March 31.
Hosted by the City of Shepherd in conjunction with Shepherd EDC and the Rural Development Division of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Housing Fair gives local citizens a chance to learn more about various housing opportunities.
"We came today to assist citizens in the area with their housing needs," said USDA Rural Development Area Director Sabrina Glenn.
Glenn and other volunteers assisted dozens of citizens in learning about purchasing or repairing a home with a low income. This assistance also comes in the form of loans, which many of the volunteers assisted in helping citizens filling out to accomplish their objectives.
Rural home loans in the direct program assist low and very low income applicants to obtain decent, safe and sanitary housing in any rural areas that are considered to be eligible. They provide payment assistance to increase an applicant's repayment ability.
Section 504 repair loans and grant applications also help low and very low income applicants find the funds needed to repair their homes or to improve them for safety, sanitation or other reasons.
"We're just outreaching to let the citizens know what we have to offer," said Glenn.
According to Glenn, a sign-up sheet provided at the fair has over 90 names on the list.
"We've probably talked with at least 50 of these," she said.
One applicant, Leona Taylor, expressed how helpful the members of USDA Rural Development are in providing assistance with her questions in regards to remodeling her home.
"I would say that everything is going great," said Taylor.
Christie White, who is a resident of Coldspring, also extended her thanks for the assistance provided and is extending that same helping hand to others as she took pamphlets and other documents to provide for friends, family and others in need of the information.
"I know that a lot of people in my community are low income or retired and might need some assistance," she said. "I learned a lot and I believe I will be able to help a lot of people."
For more information on how you can apply with the USDA Rural Development office for housing loans, contact their Lufkin office at 936-634-9900 or their Huntsville office at 634-291-1901.
Glenn extends her thanks to Shepherd Mayor Earl Brown for showing his support of the city and collaboration with the USDA.
Laser Technology for Military Use (Photo : Getty Images)
A Washington-based expert is questioning Canada's approval of a Chinese company's bid to acquire a Montreal firm engaged in weapons technology, which could trigger U.S. concern.
An article by TheTyee.ca said that the move came after the Trudeau government reversed the 2015 decision to block the Chinese takeover of ITF Technologies over national security concerns.
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China's offer to buy the Montreal firm was made by O-Net Communications, a Chinese communication firm where the Chinese government has 25 percent stake, the report said.
The Harper administration blocked the sale for fear the takeover would allow the Chinese government and its military to gain access to ITF's laser technology and could be harmful to the interest of Canada and its allies.
The sale was initially approved by Conservation but the decision was later reversed following security evaluation by the Department of National Defense and the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service.
In recent years, deals involving Chinese firms received tighter scrutiny in the U.S. and Europe. According to James Lewis of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, Europe wants China to meet some requirements before they approve the deals.
"Allowing this transaction to go forward is a mistake and goes against the trend we see in Europe and the U.S. to apply greater scrutiny to deals with China," Lewis said.
Lewis added that China acquires Western technology to modernize its own but sometimes this is done by stealing intellectual property or going into a joint venture with companies doing business in China.
Chinese deal implications
The expert said that there is a growing concern in Europe and the U.S. about the implications of the Chinese acquisitions and the have put restrictions and oversight function over deals and technology that the Chinese firms can own.
Lewis said that in the ITF's case, the U.S. is concerned that its laser systems could be used by the Chinese military against Canada's Asian allies such as Japan and Taiwan during extreme situations.
The U.S. expert asked what steps Canada has taken to ensure against the said possibility, He said that the risk could not be managed sufficiently by its own intelligence report.
NDP innovation critic Brian Masse said that the reversal of the decision "isn't very helpful" to the tension between China and the U.S. He said that the U.S. is wary of Chinese access to technology that can be used for military purposes.
"It's absolute arrogance on their part or it's a willful snub to the United States," Masse said. "That will be acknowledged. The United States is not unknowing of a large corporate sale in the defense industry in North America that has technology that is rather unique."
Masse also warned that the Chinese deal with the Canadian firm could become an issue during coming NAFTA negotiations. He added that the lack of transparency is the deal is also a concern since Trudeau's government had kept the conditions of the sale confidential.
By 2020, Booming China Pet Food Market to Be Worth 150 Billion Yuan
Rare dog breed? Not quite. Theyre Chow Chow remarkably groomed to become panda dogs, a huge demand in China. Some of these dogs attract attention on Orchard Road, Singapore. (Photo : Anton V./YouTube)
As the master eats, so will the creature.
An estimated annual domestic growth rate of over 30 percent in the countrys pet economy could potentially bring in some 150 billion yuan by 2020, reported China Daily.
The surging demand will eventually catapult China pet food market to rank as the third largest in the world.
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Only in 2013, market demand reached 19.32 billion yuan. In 2016, it shot to a tremendous 53.5 billion yuan or more than $7.7 billion.
The creation of a cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) comprehensive pilot zone in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province--the State Council released a written response on its approval on March 12, 2015--bolstered the cross-border pet industry in the country.
Hangzhous Jianggan District serves as the location of a cross-border pet industry experimental zone, deemed as the first of its kind in the country. Zhejiangs provincial government inaugurated it on March 27.
Part of its many functions is to monitor the cross-border pet food imports, presenting reforms on its regulation.
According to Jianggans deputy head, Li Yuan, close to 30 companies already operate in the said experimental zone. They include CBEC sites, such as Alibabas Tmall Global.
Xing Yue, Tmall Globals deputy general manager, said that China pet food market relies primarily on local distribution channels and on resellers who buy the food items abroad. The latter includes WeChat stores.
Feed me: Rising pet food market
In 2015, the country produced 700,000 tons of pet food, according to Wang Jinquan, an associate professor at the Feed Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, reported PetfoodIndustry.com.
Wang, who revealed the information during the Shanghai International Pet Expo (SIPE) 2016 on Aug. 17, said that the pet food industry achieved a 23 billion yuan overall sales in 2015.
From 2013 until April 2016, the average price of pet food per kilogram increased to 12.1 percent, according to Gfk, a German market research company and one of the SIPE presenters.
The overall sales of local cat food registered an 81 percent growth.
Chinese consumers are willing to spend more on their pets, according to the executive summary of a May 2016 report by Euromonitor on Chinas pet care, which led to value growth in pet food being even stronger than that in the overall pet care market in 2016.
The report added: Premium dog and cat food is expected to outperform the overall market, thanks to the trading-up trend.
Compared to mid-priced dog food, according to another Euromonitor report, premium dog food captures more market.
The increase in household income renders pet owners additional buying power, making them opt for the more expensive dog food.
Chinas love affair with four-legged friends
Owning a pet or two is now something commonplace in China and no longer an elitist pastime, according to Forbes.
The rise in the number of pet ownership in China led to the increase in pet care centers, even in the existence of the so-called pet hotels. In addition, it contributed to the creation of jobs in the pet industry.
Cats and dogs top the choices for animal pets, according to National Bureau of Statistics of China.
Some 58.1 million cats and 27.4 million dogs are being kept as pets in China.
Chinese pet owners simply love their animal companions.
My life revolves around them, said dog beauty therapist Huang Yuwen, quoted Forbes, referring to her eight pet dogs.
Huang was just one of the numerous pet owners who attended SIPE 2016.
Pet Fair Asias Grace Wu, its organizing committees senior manager, said that owners ensure that they attend to the needs of their pets, from healthcare to grooming.
Just like parents would be with their children, she said.
A Lubbock woman Friday was sentenced to five years in prison for assisting a narcotics operation that linked back to the Sinaloa Cartel.
Julia Ann Puentes, 33, was found guilty of one count of use of the mail in aiding racketeering and aiding and abetting in a methamphetamine distribution effort led by the cartel.
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NEW BRAUNFELS Wearing white dress shirts, black pants, and purple ties and scarves which they don during the first Sunday service of each month the seats of those lost during the fatal head-on collision Wednesday remained empty among the choir at First Baptist New Braunfels on Sunday.
Its important for us to recognize this mourning. That our pain is real, our loss is real, our grief is real, Senior Pastor Brad McLean said at the Sunday service to remember the 13 killed Wednesday in a head-on crash in Uvalde County. As a church family, we will have to work through these losses together.
The victims plus a sole survivor were in a church mini-bus heading back to New Braunfels from a senior retreat at Alto Frio Baptist Camp and Conference Center in Leakey, which is about 100 west of San Antonio.
Jack D. Young, 20, of Leakey, was driving the opposite direction on U.S. 83 when his 2007 Dodge dually pickup crossed the line, colliding with the bus at high speed, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
McLean paused several times as he delivered his sermon. Many in the pews listened with hands folded or raised, while others were in tears and embraced each other.
He smiled in comfort while reading bible verses from Psalms 42, Romans 8 and Isaiah 61.
These 13 precious things did not see death, they saw Christ, McLean said. Their hope is fulfilled.
Beth Scarborough, 50, a former pianist at the church, was one of 946 worshipers and visitors who packed the sanctuary, which spilled into the overflow section. She said it was hopeful to see the choir back so soon.
I was surprised when I came in and saw the senior adult choir up in the sanctuary, but then I thought, Wow, she said.
McLean hailed their persistence as an example of their confidence in the Lord, and of their resiliency and dedication.
McLean also read aloud each of the first names of the deceased: Rhonda Allen, 61; Murray Barrett, 67; Harold B. Barber, 87; Margaret R. Barber, 82; Cristie Moore, 68; Addie M. Schmeltekopf, 84; Dorothy F. Vulliet, 84; Donna Hawkins, 69; Howard B. Allen, 81; Avis S. Banks, 83, of Austin; Martha Walker, 84; Sue Tysdal, 76; and Mildred G. Rosamond, 87.
They were not perfect people, but they are forgiven people they are forgiven people, McLean said as the word Amen resounded from the pews.
Read the full story at Express-News.com
jbeltran@express-news.net
Twitter: @JBfromSA
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San Antonio police officer Robert Encina took the stand Monday in the federal wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Marquise Jones, telling a jury there is no doubt in his mind he saw Jones carrying a revolver on the evening of Feb. 28, 2014.
Theres no doubt in my mind. He definitely had the revolver in his hand in the car, Encina said on the sixth day of the trial. I believed he was going to shoot and kill me right there, or someone around me.
It was intense, Encina added. Very intense.
The testimony is the first time Encina, who had been on the force for six years at the time of the fatal shooting, had spoken publicly about it. Encina has maintained for three years that Jones was carrying a gun as he ran from the scene of a fender bender in the parking lot of the Chachos and Chaluccis restaurant on Perrin Beitel Road.
It was all happening in seconds, Encina said Monday. I had to refer to my training. That's what we're taught.
The San Antonio Police Department conducted its own investigation of the shooting and found Encina was justified in using force. In 2015, a Bexar County grand jury voted not to indict Encina, who was off-duty working private security but in full uniform.
During cross examination, Encina admitted that Jones did not lift the gun or point it directly at him as Jones ran away. But Encina maintained that he still felt justified shooting Jones because SAPD training emphasizes that action beats reaction.
Otherwise, Id be dead right now, Encina said.
Earlier in the day, prior to his testimony, a lawyer for the city of San Antonio revealed that three pages were missing from the internal SAPD summary of the shooting that was provided to the Bexar County District Attorneys Office and entered into evidence.
I dont know why they werent provided to us, said Debbie Klein, assistant city attorney. Were looking into it.
This is the second time city lawyers have claimed they werent provided key information from the police department. Two weeks ago, the city revealed that the gun police claim Jones was carrying was in fact tested for fingerprints. Previously, the city claimed the handgun was not tested.
City Manager Sheryl Sculley and City Attorney Andy Segovia hired an outside law firm to review how police detectives investigated some of the evidence in the shooting.
Encinas testimony
Encina, who was filling in for another officer on that February evening, said he first learned there was a disturbance in the parking lot of Chachos and Challucis after an employee approached him and said a customer in the drive-thru area was possibly driving while intoxicated.
Encina walked to the drive-thru window, where he saw a beer can in the car and witnessed the driver put his car in reverse and then forward, hitting a car in front of him.
Encina said he walked out the building where he could smell the odor of marijuana coming from the car. He approached the driver, Fabian Garza, and asked him to turn off the car and step out of the vehicle. Encina said he had to ask the driver to follow his commands several times, eventually ended up grabbing him by the arm and pulling him out.
Encina said Garza continued to resist his commands, so he pulled out his handcuffs and attempted to detain him.
Meanwhile, Encina said, he could see Jones moving around in the car and putting his hands in his pockets. He also said he could see Jones holding a gun with one hand between his knees.
Excuse the language, Encina testified. But I told him to Get your (expletive) hands out of your pockets.
Shortly after, Encina said Jones got out of the vehicle, still carrying the gun, and turned his head toward Encina.
James Marks, an attorney for the Jones family, asked Encina why he didnt take other actions to de-escalate the situation prior to shooting Jones, like asking the driver of the vehicle if he was drinking or to provide his ID.
I didnt have the opportunity, said Encina, who remained calm and collected throughout the questioning.
A restaurant employee also testified Monday that there is no doubt in his mind Jones pointed a gun at Encina.
It was a revolver, said Anthony Molina, a manager at the time. Jones started to raise the weapon in my direction and (Officer Robert) Encina's direction.
During cross examination, a lawyer for the Jones family asked Molina to explain why several details from his testimony and deposition weren't included in his witness statement. Molina said he didnt think those details were as important as seeing the gun.
The lawsuit, which is asking for an unspecified amount of money, claims the city and SAPD failed to properly discipline Encina for a prior incident in which he exhibited animosity toward black customers at another restaurant where Encina worked private security, leading to Jones death. Jones was African American.
Jones family also claims that there were a number of inconsistencies in the police narrative of events that detectives failed to properly investigate.
eeaton@express-news.net
Twitter: @emilieeaton
AUSTIN -- As the spotlight shifts to the House, which plans to pass its version of the state budget on Thursday, look for no let-up in the bickering between the two legislative chambers.
The House plan proposes spending $218.2 billion over the next two years, compared to the $217.7 billion plan approved by the Senate last week.
Public unpleasantness has been flying back and forth between House and Senate leaders for weeks over whose budget plan is best. The debate in legislative chambers is a good place for average Texans to hear the arguments for and against the most controversial parts -- and it could be an entertaining show.
Grab the popcorn and watch the live budget debate in the House here on Thursday.
Special education
At 8 a.m. on Tuesday, the House Public Education Committee is planning to hear testimony on a half dozen different bills related to special education. The legislation would prohibit the state from ever again capping enrollment in special education, increase funding for services for students with dyslexia and with autism and study the impact of standardized testing on disabled students, among other problems.
It will be the first major hearing on special education of the session, but it won't be the last. Fifty-one different bills have been filed related to the issue, including 16 written directly in response to the Houston Chronicle investigation that revealed that the state had been capping enrollment well below the national average.
The legislation has bipartisan support, including from the chairs of the House and Senate education committees. The question is whether lawmakers find the money to fund the proposals.
Bullet train
The Senate State Affairs Committee on Monday will consider several bills by Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, that opponents said could derail -- or at least slow down -- the development of a bullet train in Texas.
Plans for a Dallas-to-Houston train that supporters say would allow speedier travel between Texas' two largest cities has proven controversial. Landowners along the route have elicited the support of lawmakers to try to change eminent domain rules to make it harder for the route to be built.
The hearing starts at 9 a.m. Watch it here.
Bestiality
Texas is one of only eight states that don't have a law on the books banning sex with animals, and the Senate Criminal Justice Committee will hold a hearing Tuesday to discuss the issue.
Senate Bill 1232 by Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, would would ban the act that is now prosecuted as public lewdness or animal cruelty. Instead, it would become a crime punishable by a minimum two years in prison.
A similar bill by Rep. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, is moving its way to passage in the House. You can watch the Senate hearing here starting at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
Music discord
A controversy over the proposed location of a new Texas State Music Museum in Austin will hit the House Culture, Tourism and Recreation Committee at 2 p.m. on Tuesday.
State officials have proposed locating the new museum across from the Bullock State History Museum north of the Texas Capitol, and creating a new private foundation to run it without state funding.
Operators of private museums across the state are angry that the state had no competitive selection process before choosing Austin, especially supporters of a Houston museum that claim they were supposed to get $10 million in funding through the state several years ago.
When the plan was considered by the Senate Business and Commerce Committee last week, opponents gave senators a musical serenade to convince them to reject the Austin site. The bill was left pending.
See what happens at the Tuesday hearing here on House Bill 2495 by Rep. Charles Geren, F-Fort Worth.
1 Detained American: An Iranian American serving an 18-year prison sentence in Iran for collaboration with a hostile government has been released on bail after staging a weeks-long hunger strike protesting his imprisonment alongside other dual nationals targeted by hard-liners, activists said Monday. Robin Shahini of San Diego was freed from prison in recent days on bail of about $62,000, said Hadi Ghaemi, the executive director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran. Its unclear whether Shahini can leave the country. Shahinis release on bail is good news as his prosecution did not produce any credible evidence justifying charges against him, Ghaemi said.
2 Armenia vote: Armenias ruling party has won just under half of the vote in the nations parliamentary election, enough to claim a majority of seats, authorities said Monday. Sundays election was the first since the ex-Soviet nation modified its Constitution to expand the powers of parliament and the prime minister. Critics see the constitutional amendments as part of President Serzh Sargsyans efforts 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 that.
A logo sits illuminated outside the Nokia 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)
After the Nokia brand's epic return on the mobile market with the release of its Nokia 6, Nokia 5, Nokia 3, and the revamped Nokia 3310, HMD Global is expected to release new phones under its mid-range portfolio. Right now, the mentioned devices that are next in line are the Nokia 7 and Nokia 8 with latest leaks revealing some of their key specs.
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Earlier reports on the Nokia 7 and Nokia 8 had already been out in the web with details revealing the phones' key specs. Some famous specs rumored to be included in the next Nokia-branded phones are Qualcomm's upcoming Snapdragon 660 mobile chipset.
Now, another wave of the key specs on Nokia 7 and Nokia 8 are revealed. The latest information came from a user named Nokibar on Chinese site Baidu, where the schematics for the upcoming Nokia-branded phones are posted.
According Value Walk, the design sketches show both the front and rear of the handsets. The new feature seen on the sketches of the Nokia 7 and Nokia 8 phones is their Carl Zeiss lenses. Since the Carl Zeiss lenses missed the spot on the early releases of HMD Global, the company stated that future devices could have it on board.
Following the schematics, the sketches reveal the "Zeiss" text sitting on the center where the rear camera is placed. In addition, another sketch shows a different setup, which shows dual camera setup. The smartphone is highly expected to be the Nokia 8, which will be the more premium device of the two, NDTV reported.
As per previous leaks, the Nokia 8 is rumored to be the high-end phone while the Nokia 7 will be marketed in the mid-range segment. The former is rumored to feature a 5.7-inch Quad HD display, with 6GB of RAM that is coupled with 4GB or 128GB of built-in storage and a microSD card slot.
On the other hand, the Nokia 7 will sport a smaller display with 1080p resolution. Based on many leaked images, both the smartphones are expected to come in a metallic unibody finish and thin bezels. The Nokia 7 and Nokia 8 will run on Android Nougat firmware and will support a fingerprint sensor and fast charging support as well.
In terms of their processors, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chip might have custom Kryo cores or could pack a combination of four Cortex-A73 CPUs clocked at 2.2GHZ and four Cortex-A53 CPUs clocked at 1.9GHz.
As of now, no details on the launch and availability of the Nokia 7 and Nokia 8 are known. HMD Global is likely to release the two Nokia-branded phones sometime in May.
Local News, Crime, Health & Wellness
By Long Island News & PR Published: April 03 2017
Christopher Quinones Will Be Sentenced To 7 Years In Prison; Heroin Ring That Quinones Operated Sold Drugs Laced With Animal Tranquilizer.
New York, NY - April 3, 2017 - Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced the guilty plea of Christopher Quinones, the leader of a large-scale heroin trafficking ring. Quinones, of Brooklyn, pled guilty today to Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree, a class B felony. He will be sentenced on April 21 to seven years in prison followed by three years of post-release supervision.
We have no tolerance for dangerous drug trafficking rings like the one Christopher Quinones orchestrated, said Attorney General Schneiderman. As New York continues to suffer through a serious opioid crisis, my office will continue to aggressively prosecute those criminals who fuel the cycle of addiction.
Christopher Quinones was the leader of the heroin trafficking ring, and personally stamped the heroin he sold with Times Up and other monikers to signal to his customer that the product was coming from him. The investigation, conducted by the Attorney Generals Organized Crime Task Force and the NYPDs Brooklyn North Gang Squad, led to the recovery of over 1,000 glassines of heroin, some of which was cut with the animal tranquilizer ketamine. Quinones purchased and re-sold heroin on a daily basis out of several locations in Brooklyn.
At the time of his arrest in January 2017, Quinones attempted to flee police by running across rooftops while holding onto a book bag. When he was apprehended, police discovered Quinones had filled his bag with his drug stash. The bag included hundreds of glassines, bags of heroin, cocaine, and marijuana. Quinones also had a scale and his stamping equipment, including ink, inside of the bag.
The investigation, which began in fall 2015, led to the arrests of 9 other individuals who were all charged with Conspiracy to commit Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Second Degree:
Melvin Nieves, of Staten Island, New York
Raphael Rodriguez, of Queens, New York
Pablo Rodriguez, of Queens, New York
Walter Quinones, of Brooklyn, New York
Jose Perez, of Brooklyn, New York
Johnny Gonzalez, of Brooklyn, New York
Victor Beltran, of Brooklyn, New York
Saul Drullard, of Queens, New York
Brian Estevez, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The charges against the remaining defendants are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
In addition to prosecuting major drug trafficking rings, the Attorney General has taken numerous steps to combat the opioid crisis in New York. In June of 2011, Attorney General Schneiderman introduced state legislation for I-STOP, an online Prescription Monitoring Program or a PMP, that enables doctors and pharmacists to report and track controlled narcotics in real time. The OAG has also aggressively enforced laws that require parity in health plan coverage of mental health and addiction treatment, reaching agreements with six companies. Attorney General Schneiderman also announced national agreements with Cigna and Anthem, who both agreed to remove prior authorization requirements for medication-assisted treatment nationwide. The office has also reached agreements with Purdue Pharma and Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc., to ensure that these opioid makers engage in responsible and legal marketing.
Tech & Science, Local News, Business & Finance, National & World News, Health & Wellness
By Long Island News & PR Published: April 03 2017
For allegedly illegally blocking cost-saving, pollution-cutting energy efficiency standards.
New York, NY April 3, 2017 Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, leading a state and municipal coalition, today announced that he is commencing legal action against the Trump Administration for violating federal law by delaying energy efficiency standards for several common consumer and commercial products - such as ceiling fans, portable air conditioners, walk-in coolers and freezers, commercial boilers, and more.
The six standards being blocked by the Trump Administration offer dramatic air pollution reductions, as well as energy- and cost-savings to consumers and businesses. According to federal Department of Energy (DOE) estimates, the standards would combine to eliminate emissions of 292 million tons of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, 734 thousand tons of the pollution that creates soot and smog, 1.2 million tons of the potent climate change pollutant methane, and over 1,000 pounds of highly-toxic mercury, over a 30 year period.
Over this same period, the Appliance Standard Awareness Project estimates that the efficiency standards would together save over 443 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity the equivalent of the annual electricity consumption of over 36 million households. The DOE itself estimates that the six standards would provide net savings to consumers and businesses of approximately $23.8 billion.
"Energy efficiency standards are vital to public health, our environment, and consumers. This is yet another example of how the Trump administrations polluter-first energy policy has real and harmful impacts on the public health, environment and pocketbooks of New Yorkers, Attorney General Schneiderman said. By blocking these common sense standards, the administration is reversing progress in cleaning the air we breathe and fighting climate change and denying consumers and businesses some $24 billion in savings. I will continue to use the full force of my office to compel the Trump administration to live up to its obligations to the law and the people of New York.
Attorney General Schneiderman and the coalition charge that the Trump DOE is violating both the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) and Administrative Procedures Act (APA) in the following ways:
delaying the effective date of final energy efficiency standards for ceiling fans.
stalling the final standards for compressors, walk-in coolers and freezers, power supply equipment, portable air conditioners, and commercial boilers, by failing to publish them in the Federal Register.
Joining Attorney General Schneiderman in the lawsuit regarding ceiling fans are the Attorneys General of the states of California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington, as well as the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the City of New York. The same coalition, plus the Attorney General of Maryland, are joining Attorney General Schneiderman in sending a 60-day notice regarding the other standards.
The DOE published new energy efficiency standards for ceiling fans as a final rule on January 19, 2017, with an effective date for the rule of March 20, 2017. However, the Trump Administration has subsequently delayed the rules effective date twice most recently pushing it back to September 30, 2017 asserting that stalling the standards was a non-substantive action, and that seeking public input on the delay would be impractical, unnecessary, and contrary to the public interest.
Attorney General Schneiderman and the coalition charge that these delays are illegal, violating EPCAs anti-backsliding provisions by effectively weakening the final standards published in January, and violating the APA by being undertaken without the public notice and comment required by law when substantive changes are made to published final rules. Accordingly, the coalition has filed a lawsuit in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals against the Trump DOE over its illegal delay of the effective date of the ceiling fan efficiency standards. The suit seeks a court order to require the standards to go into effect immediately. Click here to read the petition for review.
Regarding energy efficiency standards for compressors, walk-in coolers and freezers, power supply equipment, portable air conditioners, and commercial boilers, DOE issued a prepublication notice of a final rule for compressors on December 5, 2016 and for the four other products on December 28, 2016. The posting of these five rules triggered a limited error correction period for the public to identify any typographical or numbering errors for correction by the Department. By law, DOE was then required to publish final energy efficiency standards for compressors by February 21, 2017 and for the four other products by March 15, 2017. To date, the DOE has not published any of these final standards.
The coalition charges that the DOEs failure to publish these five final energy efficiency standards violates EPCAs standards setting deadline requirements. In accordance with requirements of EPCA, the coalition is sending a 60-day notice today to the DOE of its intention to sue the Department over these violations. If the Department fails to publish the five energy efficiency standards as final rules within 60 days, the coalition intends to file a lawsuit in U.S. District Court asking the court to declare that the DOE has failed to perform mandatory legal obligations, and require the Department to immediately publish the final rules. Click here to read the 60-day notice.
School & Education, Community, Charity & Cause, Arts & Culture, Politics
By Long Island News & PR Published: April 03 2017
Marcus Zagorski, a student at Silas Wood Sixth Grade Center, competed in the 2017 New York State Geographic Bee.
Albany, NY - April 3, 2017 - Assemblyman Chad A. Lupinacci (R,C,I,Ref-South Assemblyman Chad A. Lupinacci (R,C,I,Ref-South Huntington ) recently visited the New York State Museum to cheer on Marcus Zagorski, a student at Silas Wood Sixth Grade Center participating in the New York State Geographic Bee 2017. Accompanied by his teacher and competition judge Dr. Gay Bullock, Lupinacci commended the incredible young student for his competitive spirit and remarkable knowledge of the worlds geography.
It takes a lot of courage, smarts and confidence to participate in a competition like the New York State Geographic Bee, and Marcus clearly has all three, said Lupinacci. Its so wonderful to see students from our own 10th Assembly District excel at the statewide level, especially in competitions that encourage students to study and broaden their academic horizons. Congratulations to Marcus and his teacher Dr. Bullock. This is an accomplishment for which you both should be very proud, and one that each of you will remember forever, Lupinacci concluded.
Local News, Crime
By Long Island News & PR Published: April 03 2017
Suspects responsible for overdose of Nassau County resident, cops say.
NCPD reports the arrests of (L to R) John Roberts, 42, and Robert Johnson, 46, two New York City men for possession of heroin on Sunday, April 2, in Syosset.
Syosset, NY April 3, 2017 The Major Case Bureau reports the arrests of two New York City men on Sunday, April 2, 2017 at 5:10 pm in The Major Case Bureau reports the arrests of two New York City men on Sunday, April 2, 2017 at 5:10 pm in Syosset
According to Narcotics Vice detectives and with the assistance of the Electronics Squad and Bureau of Special Operations Officers, an investigation involving the defendants Robert Johnson, 46, and John Roberts, 42, was being conducted for being responsible for an overdose to a Nassau County resident that occurred on March 11, 2017 and for possessing heroin with the intent to sell it in Syosset.
On Sunday, April 2, 2017 the defendants Johnson and Roberts were arrested after a meeting was arranged by Narcotic Vice detectives at the Syosset Train Station. Defendant Johnson was found to be in possession of heroin. Both defendants were placed into police custody without incident.
Robert Johnson is charged with Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance 3rd Degree and Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance 3rd Degree. John Roberts is charged with Criminal Facilitation 4th Degree. Both men are being arraigned at First District Court in Hempstead on Monday, April 3, 2017.
Local News, Crime, Community, Charity & Cause, Health & Wellness
By Long Island News & PR Published: April 03 2017
The funding will support a community coalition that includes schools, police departments, the City of Oceanside, and various other organizations.
Oceanside , NY April 3, 2017 State Senator Todd Kaminsky is proud to announce that NYS Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) has awarded the State Senator Todd Kaminsky is proud to announce that NYS Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) has awarded the Oceanside Counseling Center a $149,000 grant to support the Oceanside S.A.F.E. coalition - comprised of schools, police departments, city officials and other vital civic organizations - to combat substance abuse.
"Thank you to Governor Cuomo for this $149,000 grant to help Oceanside fight substance abuse," said Senator Todd Kaminsky. "I am proud to have advocated for and helped secure this funding to advance the great work the Oceanside Counseling Center and all members of the Oceanside S.A.F.E. Coalition are doing to combat substance abuse and support impacted families. I will continue fighting to secure the necessary funding to tackle the growing drug epidemic across Long Island and New York.
Assemblyman Brian Curran: "I am proud to work with Senator Todd Kaminsky helping to secure this vital funding for combating substance and alcohol abuse, while keeping the community informed, updated, aware and united. Working together, this funding will help our children, and families become 1 step closer to making recovery a priority, and giving residents the tools they need to heal and maximize a real lifestyle change. The Opiate epidemic is killing a generation and I am extremely grateful for this funding to stop this scourge on our society."
Teresa Maguire, Clinical Supervisor at the Oceanside Counseling Center: This grant will greatly help our efforts to develop our peer engagement program and assist families in our community to find alternative addiction treatment support services. We will be able to expand and further our efforts to help families in crisis and facilitate the treatment process. We are greatly appreciative of Sen. Kaminskys efforts on behalf of the Oceanside Counseling Center and our community.
Sandie Schoell, Oceanside School Board Vice President and Member of Oceanside S.A.F.E. Coalition: "Thank you to Senator Kaminsky, who has been our longtime partner in the fight to combat substance abuse and was invaluable in securing this grant. The Oceanside community is passionate about acting now to support families and individuals affected by addiction, and I am excited we have funding to bring schools, police departments, the Oceanside Counseling Center, and various other sector and community organizations together to fight substance abuse. Bringing this coalition to life has been our dream for some time, and I couldn't be happier."
Local News, Business & Finance, Community, Charity & Cause, Health & Wellness
By Long Island News & PR Published: April 03 2017
The collection was a week-long effort and is part of TD Banks "Bring Change" initiative.
Hauppauge, NY April 3, 2017 Customers and employees at TD Bank stores across Long Island recently came out and pitched in to help Customers and employees at TD Bank stores across Long Island recently came out and pitched in to help Island Harvest Food Bank help our Long Island neighbors who struggle with hunger and food insecurity each and every day.
The collection was a week-long effort and is part of TD Banks Bring Change initiative that fosters stronger bonds to improve the communities where TD Bank and its employees live, work and play. Despite the winter weather, including a noreaster, food and funds donated to Island Harvest Food Bank supplemented approximately 11,657 meals to assist our neighbors in Nassau and Suffolk counties who rely on our services.
Were grateful to TD Bank and its customers for their caring and support of what we do in helping the 316,000 Long Islanders who face the uncertainty of not having enough to eat every day, said Randi Shubin Dresner, president and CEO, Island Harvest Food Bank. Partnerships with TD Bank are making a positive impact on the lives of people facing hunger and food insecurity on Long Island.
About Island Harvest Food Bank
A photo surfaced on Friday claiming to show Major General Qassem Soleimani, chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) extraterritorial branch aka the Qods Force, in the northern countryside of Syrias central province of Hama. Meanwhile, a senior Guard commander and two Iranians have been announced killed in Syria.
The Assad regime and its allies are attempting to counter a major insurgent offensive that was launched last month in northern Hama. Pro-regime forces have managed to reverse some opposition gains, according to reports.
Arab media citing local sources reported that Soleimani met with the chief of the Assad-loyalist Tiger Forces, which dispatched to Hama last week to counter the rebel offensive. The picture was allegedly taken after Soleimani met with a Syrian general.
Backed by Russian airpower, pro-regime forces including the IRGC, Harakat al Nujaba (an Iranian-controlled Iraqi militia) the Tiger Forces, the National Defense Forces and other pro-Assad militias have deployed to bolster the northern Hama front against the opposition assault. Unverified reports on social media claim the IRGC-controlled Afghan Fatemiyoun Division and additional Iranians have transferred to Hama from south Aleppo.
The insurgents include a number of jihadist, Islamist and Free Syrian Army-branded groups. Al Qaedas joint venture, Hayat Tahrir al Sham, is playing a significant role.
The IRGC has announced fatalities as the Hama battles have raged. Earlier this week, at least two members of the IRGC Basij paramilitary a volunteer force which operates under the authority of the Ground Forces branch were announced killed in Hama battles. On Friday, Iranian media and officials confirmed three more Guard members, including a brigadier general second class, were killed in Syria. Their remains arrived in Iran on that same day, indicating they were killed prior to the announcement. Officials and media initially did not confirm whether they were killed in Hama. The three were attached to the IRGC 19th Fajr Operations Division (Fars province), according to Iranian media, indicating that members of the unit have deployed as part of the Ground Forces present rotation. The IRGC expeditionary forces have previously rotated different units stationed across Iran. Iranian media described the two non-commanders as basijis. If that is true, then they could have been special members who held dual membership in the IRGC and the Basij and were attached to a Ground Forces unit. The Iranian fatalities highlight the regular IRGC forces continued involvement in the Syrian war.
Reporting directly to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Soleimani has executed Iranian strategy in Syria since the popular uprisings in 2011, and has significant influence in shaping the pro-regime military campaign. After six years, Soleimani, with heavy Russian assistance, has prevented the fall of Bashar al Assad, ensuring Irans supply route to Lebanese Hezbollah. He has recruited or coerced thousands of Iranians, Syrians, Lebanese, Iraqis, Afghans and Pakistanis to fight in Syria, forming an international Shiite expeditionary force.
The insurgent offensives in Hama and Damascus this past month indicate that despite significant victories, such as the recapture of Aleppo, regime holdings remain vulnerable. Fighting along nearly every directional front continues to strain pro-regime forces. Insurgents still control pockets of territory across those areas, including a firm hold on most of Idlib province.
The pro-regime alliance has scampered to address its vulnerabilities. Since Aleppo, pro-regime forces have been focused on responding to rebel offensives, making gains and clearing small pockets of rebel-held territory in western Syria. They have launched a counteroffensive in the south, retook Palmyra from the Islamic State, accelerated offensive in the eastern suburbs of Damascus and replicated evacuation deals in the al Waer district of Homs last month that bused out rebels in exchange for territory. The arrangements have allowed the regime to further minimize the number of active fronts and condense opposition positions, creating leverage for political negotiations and consolidating resources.
The impeding end of the Mosul campaign could free several thousand additional Iraqi militiamen that may volunteer to redeploy to Syria. This could already be the case with Harakat al Nujabas recent formation of the Golan Liberation Brigade. Several militiamen and officials of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces have floated deployment to the Iraqi border with Syria, and potentially into eastern Syria, though this remains to be seen.
Soleimani and the senior leadership in Tehran are committed to continuing their military campaign in Syria. They consider it an existential war that directly threatens regime survival. As the American-backed Syrian Democratic Forces appear poised to siege and retake the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa in eastern Syria, Tehran hopes further military gains would help secure its core interests in future political negotiations over the countrys fate.
Amir Toumaj is a independent analyst and contributor to FDD's Long War Journal.
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Reports recently circulated about Jeremy Renner joining the squad of "Ant-Man and the Wasp" as Hawkeye. (Photo : YouTube/Movieclips)
Jeremy Renner is rumored to appear as Hawkeye in "Ant-Man and the Wasp." According to reports, the actor is expected to film "Ant-Man 2" in summer this year.
The announcement came shortly after Paramount's CinemaCon, where the studio introduced the cast for "Mission: Impossible 6." Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Alec Baldwin, Ving Rhames and Sean Harris are confirmed to appear. There was one missing cast member - Jeremy Renner.
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Renner played second-in-command to Cruise's Ethan Hunt in the last two films, making it a huge surprise that he wasn't included in the cast reveal. It is speculated that Renner's absence is due to the fact that he is filming two "Avengers" movies back to back.
IGN reported that Henry Cavil is likely to fill in for Renner in "M:I6." Director Christopher McQuarrie confirmed Cavil's involvement in the movie earlier this March. Aside from Cavil, McQuarrie said there will be a few familiar faces joining the sixth "Mission: Impossible" movie.
According to Showbiz 411, there are also rumblings that Renner would reprise his role as Hawkeye in "Ant-Man and the Wasp," the filming of which could begin shortly after the "Avengers" shoot wraps up.
Renner's Hawkeye bonded with Paul Rudd's Ant-Man in "Captain America: Civil War." Despite the minor bickering, the two worked well together during fight scenes. As a matter of fact, Hawkeye shot an arrow with a tiny Ant-Man riding on it.
However, this does not necessarily mean Renner is out of "Mission: Impossible 6." In fact, he was also torn between "Mission: Impossible 5" and "Avengers: Age of Ultron" filming schedules, but still managed to appear in both films. Interestingly, Renner still has one more "Mission: Impossible" film left in his contract.
Meanwhile, Renner is flying out to Scotland to film his scenes for "Avengers: Infinity War." Production for the movie went into high gear in February, and filming is now moving to Scotland. Also spotted filming in Scotland are Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bethany and Karen Gillan, to name a few.
"Avengers: Infinity War" will open in cinemas on May 4, 2018.
Our online privacy rights have almost always eroded in the U.S., rather than improved. The Obama Administration created a new set of restrictions on Internet service providers (ISPs) intended to define more clearly and explicitly bar greater use of our information that ISPs could conceivably gather, store, and sell. A Congressional joint resolution may be signed by President Trump by the time you read this that prevents those new rules from going into effect. The status quo remains.
However, the aggressive enforcement of certain privacy rules and net-neutrality polices by the FCC and FTC during the Obama era seemed to prevent ISPs from pushing forward. With the new rules rejected and a friendlier FCC chair in place, theres legitimate concern that ISPs will ramp up efforts to use our browsing habits and behavior to sell to marketers to better target ads against us, to create new ISP-operated targeted advertising systems, and to have information available to release to the U.S. government without the requirement of a warrant.
Many well-meaning people immediately suggested a host of different ways to block your behavior from being tracked, but some of them dont increase your privacyand could, in fact, reduce it. Let me look at whats most effective and what you should avoid.
Https and VPN: Bury yourself in a tunnel
Youve probably heard a lot (from me and everywhere else) about the increasing usefulness and need to encrypt Web communications in order to protect yourself from criminals, malicious snoopers, and overreaching government entities. Web encryption via an https connection from your browser protects end to end, though the Web servers operator can obviously see what youre up to. But nobody in between can.
With https, an ISP can intercept the name of the Web site to which you connect, but not the full URL with the path and potentially variables sent. It also cant read interactions that happen in Web apps. It also prevents code injection, which some ISPs and hotspot operators use to insert popup messages, swap out or insert ads on a Web page, and otherwise interfere with the page sent from a Web site.
But ISPs can see how often you connect, when, and the size of payloads sent and returned, from which a lot of insight can be gleaned. You cant rely on https to protect you from snooping, but it turns the dials down on a lot of specifics. The Web is rapidly moving to https being available everywhere, and beyond that to https-only Web sites.
To ratchet it up a notch, you could use a virtual private network (VPN) connection, which encrypts all the connections of any kind leaving your computer and decrypts it at some point on the Internet where the VPN operator has a termination point, usually in a data center, which can be located in a country thats not your own. (Ive also written about using the Tor network, which securely anonymizes browsing, but its difficult to use for day-to-day purposes in which you log into accounts or make purchases.)
VPNs have the advantage of cloaking everything. Neither an ISP nor any party between you and the VPN termination point can inspect what youre doing, except the amount of traffic flowing. However, because youre terminating at another point, this can slowdown throughput (the net amount of bytes flowing) and latency (the time between an action happening on one side of the connection and a response being received on the other). Depending on your networks bandwidth and other factors, a VPN could slow you down or stall you quite a bit.
Not all VPN operators are equal. There are thousands of VPN services out there, many of which advertise or offer affiliate networks, so that other parties promote their services in exchange for a piece of revenue. Its important to find a VPN run by a company with some history you can find online, so they arent freshly minted or anonymous, and in a country that upholds legal norms. Some VPN services are run from China and Russia or owned by companies in those countries. Because of local laws, practices, and problems with the court systems in those two lands and many others, regardless of the ability and reputation of a given company, it would be very difficult to ensure the integrity and privacy of your information.
Brian Krebs, a long-time security writer, explained at length his philosophy about finding a VPN which has the policies and reputation that aligns with user-privacy and security interests. He also pointed to a site that runs down in even greater depth a lot of the specifics of what to look for.
What a good privacy policy looks like
While I hesitate to recommend any service in particular, Ive used Cloak off and on for years as travel and other circumstances dictate. The founders, based in Seattle, sold it and joined StackPath a year ago, but continue to operate as a separate organization with in it. StackPath is in Texas and operates as a U.S. company. Cloak sells access for many platforms, and offers recurring subscriptions and term-based passes.
In Cloaks privacy policy, it talks a lot of the right talk, making statements that are legally enforceable. As Ive noted before, the FTC cant typically proscribe policies to digital or other firms, but it can sue based on when promises made are broken. Thus the more explicit a policy, the more a company can be subject to individual, state, or federal liability if the firm fails to uphold it.
Cloak notes:
We will never share your personally identifiable information with any third party, for any reason, ever. We will never share your anonymized session data with any third party, for any reason, ever. The one important exception is if we need to respond to a legal request.
Under that legal request section, it notes:
First, we would only respond to a legally binding requestfrom a United States federal, state, or local authority. Second, our data collection and retention policies are quite specific; in practice, there is likely to be little or no valuable data that we could share with law enforcement.
Finally, they note:
When you use Cloak to secure your connection, we collect: The number of bytes youve sent and received The amount of time youve been connected The IP address youre connected from The assigned (virtual) IP address on our VPN network The source port of each outgoing connection with start and end times We keep this information for at most sixteen (16) days, after which we permanently delete it.
This specificity is what you should look for with any VPN provider.
Routing around privacy failures
The Internets resiliency often lets it route around failures, meaning that with many paths to reach a destination, a single point of failure doesnt cause the net to break.
If Congress and the current administration choose to walk back privacy for literally no consumer benefit, we can route around this failure.
Henry Cavill posing during the red carpet premiere of "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" (Photo : Getty Images/Jamie McCarthy)
"Mission: Impossible 6" is on the way, and the film has just finalized its official cast. Tom Cruise will be back as lead character Ethan Hunt, but this time, he is going on a mission without his right-hand-man William Brandt, played Jeremy Renner.
Renner played William Brandt in the last two "Mission: Impossible" movies, how it has been confirmed that Renner won't be back for the sixth "Mission: Impossible" film. There's a fair reason to, however. Renner couldn't do "Mission: Impossible 6" due to his commitments to Marvel.
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According to Collider, Renner is joining the entire Marvel roster in "Avengers: Infinity War," which is also filming back-to-back with "Avengers 4." Both films are expected to involve Renner's character, Hawkeye, as he has been an integral part of the franchise since the first "Avengers" movie.
On a brighter note, Renner isn't saying goodbye to the "Mission: Impossible" franchise. It's likely he'll return in future movies, especially since he reportedly signed up to do one more movie. Fans would also love to see him return, considering Renner's William and Tom's Ethan have such a great dynamic in the spy films.
In a previous interview, Renner also said that he would love to work with the "Mission: Impossible" gang again. "Avengers is going to eat up a lot of next year, I certainly hope it doesn't ultimately get in the way of Tom and I and the gang getting back together for that because I'd love to," Renner told Collider in 2016.
"Man of Steel" star Henry Cavill is joining "Mission: Impossible 6." He is expected to take Renner's place Cruise's second-in-command. According to Variety (via IGN), Cavill's character could be a right hand to Ethan's special unit.
He will be doing a lot of intense stunts and action sequences, too, as director Christopher McQuarrie has informed Cavill that he "must enjoy extreme heights, high speeds, motor vehicles of all varieties (especially aircraft), practical stunts, firearms, and sporadic exposition" to fit the mold.
In the meantime, Renner is filming "Avengers: Infinity War" in Scotland together with co-stars Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen and Karen Gillan.
"Mission: Impossible 6" has a release date of July 27, 2018.
The 14th Dalai Lama flees from Tibet to India across the Himalayas, following a failed uprising against the Chinese occupation, 1959. He is riding a white pony, third from the right. (Photo : Getty Images)
Chinese Foreign Ministry said that the Dalai Lama fled from Tibet to India after a failed armed rebellion in 1959. The statement was to contradict the Tibetan leaders comment that he had no choice but to take flight because of increased movement of the Chinese military.
"As it is known to all, the 14th Dalai Lama is an anti-China separatist who has long lived in exile following a failed armed rebellion by the reactionary group of high-ranking feudal serf-owners in Tibet in March 1959," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said as a response to the Dalai Lamas comments.
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"His remarks which serve his anti-China separatist purpose have no trace of facts at all," the Ministry continued.
Regarding the Dalai Lamas stay in India, the Ministry said that the Chinese government is absolutely against any country giving support and facilitation for the anti-China separatist activities of his group.
During his visit to Assam yesterday, the Dalai Lama recalled the Tibetan rebellion.
"On March 10, 1959, there were huge demonstrations in Lhasa. Chinese military action also increased. I had no option but to escape. On March 17, I fled," the 81-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader said.
Lhasa is the capital of the Tibetan region.
The Dalai Lama views the compassionate welcome given to him upon his coming in Arunachal Pradesh 58 years ago as a "moment of freedom."
In Oct. 1950, Chinese troops entered Tibet, prevailing against the Tibetan army. A year later, the Chinese army gained control over the area. In 1959, the Dalai Lama escaped from Tibet and has lived in India as an exile since.
Last Friday, the Chinese government warned India that the Tibetan leaders visit to Arunachal Pradesh will leave a "serious damage" to bilateral ties. This was Chinas third warning to India over the past few weeks. The country claims Arunachal Pradesh to be a part of Tibet.
On April 4, the Dalai Lama is scheduled to visit Tawang for religious engagements.
China and the Dalai Lama have been in a word war ever since the failed armed rebellion. Beijing sees the Tibetan leader as a separatist, trying to make the country fall apart.
People gather during a demonstration for justice on the Place de la Republique (Republic's Square) on March 30, 2017 following the death of Chinese Liu Shaoyo during a police intervention. (Photo : Getty Images)
On Sunday, the Chinese community in Paris gathered to mourn the death of a Chinese man killed by police last week. Liu Shaoyao, a father of five, was shot by a police officer at his Paris home.
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Thousands have gathered Sunday afternoon in the landmark Place de la Republique to protest against police violence. Participants held white roses and placards with the words Justice, Truth, Dignity.
Among the protesters were Lius two daughters. They have expressed their gratitude to all those who have given support to their family following their fathers death.
"We believe that the law will give us a truth and will result in a fair decision," the daughters said.
At the rally, Ren Limin, the president of the Association of Chinese Residing in France, said that both Chinese and French citizens share the tragedy of Liu Shaoyaos death.
The French authorities must perform the fastest judicial investigation and make the truth known to everyone, said Ren.
The Chinese community in France seeks for a public apology from certain French media after rumors unfavorable to Sino-French relations have spread. They will also assist Lius family in seeking state compensation, Ren added.
Prior the Sunday rally, minister of the Chinese Embassy in France Guan Jian conveyed his condolences to the victims family. He said that the Chinese Embassy in France will assist in administrative procedures to encourage Lius other family members in China to come to France.
Guan also said that Chinese diplomacy will also keep communicating with concerned French ministers and persist on its appeal to France for a prompt and fair investigation.
The Chinese community in the southern French city of Marseille conducted a similar mourning rally on Sunday.
Several protests have been conducted by the Chinese community in Paris to condemn the death of Chinese man killed by police a week ago. Demonstrations are expected to continue as people seek justice for Liu Shaoyao.
Interview with Dr. Yousef Al-Ibrahim, Economic Adviser at Al-Diwan Al-Amiri, Minister's Degree
What are the major projects that Kuwait is working on when it comes to empowering the younger generation?
The composition of young Kuwaitis in our society is very large. Nowadays, the new developments in social media, communications, and education have given the youth a power, not only in Kuwait but all over the world. With the vision of His Highness the Emir, quite a long time ago Kuwait started to pay a lot of attention to the youth and tried to help them get on the path to be a positive power in society instead of a destructive power in society. Mainly through the Amiri Diwan, we started to be catalysts for many projects. Within the Kuwait Foundation for Advancement of Sciences (KFAS), we established a very important centre called the Sabah Al Ahmad Centre for Giftedness and Creativity. They truly try to help young Kuwaitis, especially between the ages of 8 to 10, to discover their capabilities and ingenuity in science and math. I would love for you to visit the new academy for the gifted students, which was opened this year. It is in cooperation with KFAS and the Ministry of Education, and we are bringing more than 120 students from the sixth grade to the eighth grade into one building where they are taught a different approach and we try to accelerate their knowledge with special teachers to teach them. This is one project we have.
The second project was the National Youth Project in 2013, where we worked for one year asking all the NGOs in Kuwait to nominate two to five young members, be it in the economic society, the accounting society, the graduate society, the environment society and so on and so forth. These young Kuwaitis met and they started an approach to communicate with the rest of the youth to identify their priorities in the society and their environment particularly in education. They met Ministers, MPs, and the decision makers. They did research and they came up with a fully-fledged document with recommendations on these areas. It was submitted to His Highness the Emir who looked at it in detail and asked the prime minister and the government to start to look into these recommendations and start to implement them. Then the council of ministers formed a subcommittee of ministers and of members of this youth group to follow up on the adaptation of these recommendations and so many things came out of this. The first was the Ministry of Youth which is one of the first ministries in the region that is only concerned with youth affairs. Second was the National Fund for Small and Medium Businesses with a capital of 2 billion KD, which is about 7.5 billion US dollars. They also started to identify some young Kuwaitis to assume responsibilities within certain advisory councils like the Council of Planning and Development where we have three young Kuwaitis who are now members when usually it was limited to few retired ministers and businessmen. Now they have young blood and fresh ideas.
Kuwait's Ministry of Youth is one of the first ministries in the region that is only concerned with youth affairs.
I can go on and on about so many projects. For example, there is Dr Fatma Mousawi, she is in charge of one of the programs called KAFU, which is a very important project where we are developing a database and a virtual gathering for young Kuwaitis in different fields. We are helping them to identify each other and their interests and fields of work. This will really help them in their careers and help to direct them and also to create interest among groups because Kuwait is now becoming a huge country with a population of 4 million, so you need to communicate and build these relationships. We are trying to build these clusters, for example of photographers, small businesses, environmentalists etc.
As we know, Kuwait is running a budget deficit so there is a great need to finally diversify away from oil. Some say the deficit could last until 2025.
That is a possibility but oil prices are very difficult to predict because it involves so many variables, some of them are economic variables and the rest political and social variables. Regardless of this, Kuwait has been trying very hard and I hope this time it will be more serious about diversifying the economy and to become less and less dependent on oil. To do this it will take a lot of work, convincing people especially. As we are a democratic country, we have a lot of institutions so there is an institutional process, it is not a one man show, you cannot just decide to increase fees or increase or remove subsidies. It is more complicated than that which is good in a sense as everyone has a voice to be heard but one has to be very careful in planning the future path of Kuwait; especially as we talked earlier about the composition of young Kuwaitis in society, these people are coming to the job market and now we have about 20,000 young Kuwaitis entering the labour market compared to 3,000 ten years ago or 500 during my graduation days. This is a snow ball that is growing and one has to be very careful when dealing with it. Of course the solution is not employing them in the government sector because that is the worst scenario. I think the solution is encouraging them to start their own businesses through the Kuwait Fund for SMEs or through encouraging them into the private sector to work in certain industries, mainly productive industries. This requires a lot of prerequisites; one is to improve your education system, as well as changing social behaviour and values. It is not bad to work in a factory, you dont need to work a desk job but you can work in a factory. Also you can use technology. The future of any economy is using technology and embracing technology for all economic activities. Another challenge is to try to be less dependent on foreign labour, especially skilled foreign labour which you see all over the country. These are real, serious challenges and the more the oil prices continue to be low, the more serious action will need to be taken.
In which sectors do you see the biggest growth and most opportunities for investments?
The most promising investment in Kuwait would be in education, food processing, IT, renewable resources and maybe trade, particularly exports. In diversification you have to develop industries that produce tradeable goods. You dont want to develop what they call Dutch disease where societies like the oil exporting countries started to develop non-tradeable industries and these non-tradeable industries are only local. You need to develop tradeable goods and industries that can be exported and bring in foreign currencies and so on and so forth with China, Singapore, the UK etc. These may be the sectors that need to be developed. Kuwait can also do a lot with financial services especially with Islamic financial services.
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MARTINSVILLE A Patrick Henry Community College administrator is being considered for the presidents job at another college.
Kristen Westover, PHCCs vice president for academic and student development services since 2011, has been certified as one of four finalists for the presidency of New River Community College (NRCC), the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) announced Friday.
NRCC has about 4,500 students and serves Montgomery, Floyd, Pulaski and Giles counties and the city of Radford. It has campuses in Dublin and at the New River Valley Mall in Christiansburg.
PHCCs main campus is off Kings Mountain Road near Collinsville. The colleges enrollment averages about 2,900, according to its website.
Before coming to PHCC, Westover was the higher education program coordinator at the University of Texas at Austin from 2009 to 2011. She was director of technical programs and curriculum for the Kansas Board of Regents from 2008 to 2009. At Colby Community College in Kansas, she was on the math faculty before being promoted to the colleges vice president for academic affairs. She also has taught high school math.
After dropping out of high school at 16, Westover earned a general educational development (GED) certificate, which is considered the equivalent of a diploma. She later earned a bachelors degree in math plus a masters degree in instructional technology from Fort Hays State University in Kansas, followed by a doctorate in education from Nova Southeastern University in Florida.
Last year, the Aspen Institute chose to include Westover, a Martinsville native, in the inaugural class of its national Aspen Presidential Fellows program for community college administrators.
In a phone interview Friday afternoon, Westover said she is happy at PHCC but during the past year, she has developed a strong desire to be a community college president.
She would like to stay within the VCCS, she said.
The area that NRCC serves has similar demographics to Martinsville-Henry County, Westover noted.
New River Community College is an extremely strong sister college to PHCC, she said, adding it has strong academic programs and student services.
Patrick Henry has implemented some of its programs, including ones involving course scheduling and keeping track of instructors teaching loads, Westover said.
Im excited about the opportunity to become New Rivers president, she added.
Other finalists for the job include Pat Huber, NRCCs vice president for instruction and student services and an employee of the college for 29 years; David Brand, senior vice president and chief academic officer for Fayetteville Technical Community College in North Carolina; and Susan Short, associate vice president for engagement at Virginia Tech.
The New River Community College presidency is attracting some impressive and diverse talent from both inside and outside Virginia, VCCS Chancellor Glenn DuBois said in a release.
The focus our colleges are placing on student success, our innovative approaches to providing short-term workforce training and our stability make us attractive to high-performing education leaders who are seeking their next career step, DuBois added.
All four finalists have doctorates. Each will visit New River this month to meet with faculty and staff members, students and the community, according to the release.
Westover said she anticipates the selection of a new NRCC president by the end of April.
Whoever ultimately is hired will succeed Jack Lewis, who retired last year after working at NRCC for 42 years. He was president for 17 of those years.
Over the last few days the political crisis in the country has deepened. The ANC government is in turmoil after President Zumas midnight purge of his cabinet on Thursday. Leading members have openly come out against Zuma, bringing the factional battles which have been raging over the last period clearly into the open.
The split in the ANC
Since Zumas dramatic cabinet purge in the middle of the night on Thursday, he has come under increasing pressure from leading party members. The top six officials are split down the middle. Supporting Zuma is the partys chairperson Baleka Mbete and the deputy secretary-general, Jessie Duarte. The three opposing him is deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa, secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, and treasurer-general Zweli Mkhize.
Ramaphosa, Mantashe, and Mkhize have made unprecedented scathing public condemnations of Zuma, sparking an open rebellion in the party. They said that Zuma did not consult them before making the changes, but merely informed them by tabling a list of new ministers. I can't use the word consulted on the matter. That's how I describe it because we were given a list that was complete. And in my own view as the secretary-general I felt that this list has been developed elsewhere and given to us to legitimise it", Mantashe revealed.
He did not say where he thought the list was developed, but in the past leading officials and party members have divulged that cabinet appointments have been arranged from the compound of the Gupta family in Saxonwold.
For his part, Ramaphosa publicly said that he opposed finance minister Pravin Gordhan's removal "largely because he was being removed based on an intelligence report that I believe had unsubstantiated allegations about [him] and his deputy going to London to mobilise financial markets against our country". He said he found the decision totally unacceptable.
On Saturday, Ramaphosa upped the ante again. Speaking at a gala dinner he declared:
Be in support of those who will be leading that charge because a moment of great renewal is upon us, and we should not let it go by. We should grasp this because that moment has arrived. Let us act together in unity. Unite our movement, unite our country about one goal the goal of making South Africa great, the goal of making South Africa corruption free, the goal of making South Africa a South Africa that we can all be proud of, and getting rid of greedy people, corrupt people within our midst.
The partys treasurer-general, Zweli Mkhize also released a statement saying that 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 responsibility to advise politically on executive matters.
This echos Mantashes statement that the decision was taken elsewhere and that the officials were merely informed of the decision.
Interestingly, Mkhize further reveals the divisions in the party by questioning the removal of some ministers and not others:
There are many outstanding cabinet ministers with integrity and who are performing exceptionally well in their portfolios. However, we need to admit that there are also several serving ministers whose performance is rather unsatisfactory, hence they have attracted severe criticism as public representatives against whom appropriate action would be expected. The ANC leadership can therefore not justify to be seen to have ignored or not considered these glaring factors in a cabinet reshuffle.
Since this is a government which is pursuing capitalist policies, the point we want to make here is not about the competence and merits of the ministers. Indeed, we would agree that many are personally very competent in implementing capitalist policies. The point is that Mkhize publicly calls out the unsatisfactory performance of some ministers, and thereby exposes the divisions that exist within the ANC.
In response, ANC Mpumalanga chairperson and Zuma aly David Mabuza called Ramaphosa, Mantashe and Mkhize ill disciplined. He said that the three must remember they are not the president.
I dont know if they want to exercise the same powers that the president has. It is quite ill disciplined that people will go out and say they differ with the president. [...] You cant hang your dirty linen out there. What are you trying to do, whom are you trying to appease? We are working very hard to unite the ANC but they are doing their best to divide it he said.
This is very hypocritical, coming from Mabuza who belongs to the so-called premier league faction which is close to the Gupta family. But it once again glaringly shows the open split in the party.
We must emphasise that it is unprecedented for officials of the ANC to openly come out against a decision of the partys president. Normally these are done by provincial structures or the partys leagues, not directly from members of the top six. The effect that this has had was to spark an open rebellion in the party and the alliance.
Jackson Mthembu, the ANCs highest ranking official in parliament, also came out against Zuma, highlighting the open splits and divisions in the party. He called the firing of Gordhan and Jonas plain rubbish, specifically referring to the so-called intelligence report Zuma was carrying around which alleged that Gordhan and Jonas were mobilising investors to undermine the government. I disagree with the removal of Gordhan and Jonas based on a suspect intelligence report. Their commitment to the NDR is unquestionable he tweeted.
This defiance of Zuma continued openly at a memorial service of anti-apartheid activist, Ahmed Kathrada which was held on Saturday. Speaker after speaker lambasted Zuma and called on him to step down.
On Monday, another structure of the ANC, the Integrity Committee, made up of liberation-era stalwarts also came out against Zuma. In a letter to the party the IC said: We are also concerned about his [Zuma's] decision to remove Comrade Pravin Gordhan as Minister of Finance and the impact that this decision will have on the stability of the South African economy. We do not accept the reasons given for this decision, namely, that Comrade Pravin conspired with Western governments to destabilise the government or the economy.
The role of the SACP
On Friday night the Political Bureau of the SACP released a statement calling for Zumas resignation: This recklessness has provoked widespread concern and anger within the ANC itself, and across all sectors of our society. We have reached a decisive moment in which, in the considered view of the SACP leadership, Zuma must now resign.
It also alluded to the divisions in the ANC and the government: It is frankly outrageous, particularly while the worst performers in cabinet continue to enjoy presidential protection and even, in some cases, promotion.
But this statement reeks of hypocrisy. In anticipation to Thursdays announcement, the communists were blowing hot air about pulling their members out of the cabinet should Zuma continue with his purge. But when the purge did not extend to them, they retreated back into their comfortable ministerial posts.
It is also no small matter that they have called for Zuma to resign, but did not lobby the ANC to recall Zuma. Zuma has refused to heed calls for his resignation for a number of years. In fact, there are huge implications for him if he does, including being prosecuted on 783 charges of corruption, fraud and racketeering. He is using his powers as president to shield him from such an outcome. Therefore the call for Zuma to resign, while it might seem radical, is in fact as impotent as it can be. The SACP knows this but is trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the working class. It is intended to lull the senses and put everyone to sleep, whilst giving an image that they are on the right side of the issue.
Then there is the issue of mass mobilisations. In the statement it says the following: In the coming days the SACP will be meeting with our provincial structures, all our alliance partners and a wide range of social movements and formations. It is imperative that popular anger is mobilised and organised in constructive ways that unite South Africans of all persuasions and backgrounds in the defence of our countrys interests. This is not a struggle against an individual. This is not a factional struggle. It is a struggle against a network of parasitism and patronage in defence of our hard-won democratic sovereignty.
But the question must be asked: what is the character of a protest called by the SACP and in whose interests? Here it is important to read the fine print. In the statement and on other occasions the SACP clearly comes out in defence of Gordhan: The recall from an overseas trip of comrades Pravin Gordhan and Mcebisi Jonas while on a promotional tour in South Africas interests, and now the firing of these comrades and other well-performing ministers is more than regrettable. So the call to unite South Africans of all persuasions and backgrounds which is devout of all class content is a call to unite the working class behind the big business faction of the South African ruling class. This is extremely reactionary and shows the scandalous role the communist party is playing.
The turning tide
Now Jacob Zuma is hanging on for dear life. The tide has turned and he is facing an open rebellion in the party. The critical point in this process occurred last weekend at the partys NEC meeting. A few weeks before, Zuma flew to to the Eastern Cape province to endorse Andile Lungisa, a low-ranking leader who was defying the party boss Gwede Mantashe by standing for a position which he did not qualify for. By endorsing Lungisa, Zuma was trying to give his former wife, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma a better chance of succeeding him as ANC president.
But this blew up in Zumas face when Mantashe took the matter to the NEC, who came out against Zuma. This was a highly significant moment because it showed that Zuma cannot take support of the NEC for granted anymore. This development started already late last year when Zuma had to fight for his life when members of the NEC discussed the possibility of removing him as state president.
Although he survived on that occasion, the direction of the movement could clearly be seen. With the defeat at last weekends NEC and the enemies he has made now by his reckless cabinet purge, it is now a real possibility that he could be recalled as president of the country at the next NEC meeting. This explains Zumas paranoia and his reliance on fake and amateurishly written intelligence reports to get rid of his enemies.
But the tide has now turned. Zumas actions have forced the hand of his enemies in the party. As we have said before, the last thing big business wants is to split the ANC. The consequences of this, from their point of view is too ghastly to contemplate. The implosion of the ANC could unleash the working class into the struggle in a decisive manner. With a split in the only organisation that millions of black workers have known for decades, there would be nothing to hold them back. But Zuma has forced their hand and now they have no option to try to navigate the ship through the storm.
Zuma is now fighting for his survival. Party members at all levels are now mobilising for his removal. Leading members are talking with the opposition about removing him from office. But Zuma will not go without a fight. His allies in the Youth League, the Womens League, the MK veterans associations and the premier league will put up a fight to the finish in defence of their material interests. With two upcoming congresses of the ANC this year - the policy conference in June, and the national conference in December - a split in the party is only a matter of time.
Crisis of Capitalism
This is the most turbulent period in South Africas history. It is a reflection of the general crisis of capitalism. With the economy in a deep slump and a rising class struggle, the divisions in the ruling class are widening. On the one hand there is a struggle over their rights to plunder the state and exploit the working class. On the other hand, the Zuma cliques desperate struggle for survival, is undermining the legitimacy of the regime itself. Zumas actions are adding to the anger and discontent which is simmering amongst the workers and the youth. The big bourgeoisie recognise this and want to push away Zuma, however they are restrained by the fact that Zuma threatens to destroy the ANC on his way out.
For the the working class, there is nothing to be gained by supporting either faction. This is why attempts by the likes of the SACP to mobilise the working class behind the big business faction are so reactionary. Now, more than ever, the South African working class with its revolutionary traditions needs to rely on its own strength. It is the only force which can solve the crisis by taking power out of the hands of these capitalist parasites, expropriating their wealth and beginning the socialist transformation of society.
Retired Marine Richard J. Tyrell was only 18-years-old when he lost many of his friends in an attack during the Vietnam War.
"It was March 12, 1968. That was a big event for me... I had just lost people that meant the world to me. From that point on I never developed a close relationship in Vietnam. After the first group I knew I could not endure losing friends, so I stopped making friends," said Tyrlell, the keynote speaker at the 39th annual Vietnam Veterans Commemoration ceremony held at the Vietnam Veteran's Monument in Court Square Sunday.
Tyrell served in Vietnam as a Marine rifleman from October of 1967 to June of 1969. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion 4th Marines and was awarded the Navy Commendation for Valor, two Purple Hearts and a Combat Action Ribbon. He has been chairman of the Springfield Veterans Activities Committee for 12 years and has also served on the city's Commission on Disabilities since 2003.
He said returning home after the war was an incredibly difficult process.
"I'm sure a lot of people thought that many of us Vietnam veterans were angry and bitter, but we weren't angry or bitter, we were hurt and alone," he said.
Over the years Tyrell has worked with many veterans from different wars and it has helped him cope with the loss of his friends.
"Getting together with other veterans we find love and support," he said.
U.S. State Rep. Richard Neal and Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno spoke at the event along with several veterans.
Sarno thanked Vietnam veterans for helping younger veterans even though they faced many struggles when they returned home from Vietnam decades ago.
"You did not come back to a hero's welcome. You came back being disrespected," Sarno said. "These were young men and women who sacrificed to make sure that we can lead the lives we lead and many of them did not come back at all."
Sarno added, "Who led the way to make sure that our young veterans were not only respected, but were honored? It was the Vietnam veterans. I commend you for what you continue to do."
The event also included a reading of the names of those who died in the war, a rifle salute, a laying of the wreath on the monument as well as a tribute to Jeannette Hurst the mother of Army Spc. Ronald Charles Hurst, who was killed in Vietnam. Jeannette Hurst attended every memorial service. She died last August at age 92.
Springfield City Councilor Justin Hurst and his wife School Committee member Denise Hurst were present to accept flowers in honor of her family. A white seat cover was placed on a chair and will be placed there ever year in remembrance of Hurst.
"She has always inspired us. We have grown to love her over the years and her presence will be missed," Tyrell said.
For a lesson on the history of the whaling industry in Massachusetts, head to the New Bedford Whaling Museum.
The museum features a collection of more than 750,000 items, from the bones of a 48-foot sperm whale on display - one of five full whale skeletons - to the world's largest model whaling ship, the 89-foot Lagoda.
More than 3,000 pieces of scrimshaw - carvings, engravings and other creations made from the bones and teeth of whales - are housed in the museum, the largest collection in the world. It also features fine art collections, including the works of William Bradford, a painter from Fairhaven, Massachusetts.
The museum was founded more than a century ago to commemorate whaling, an industry that helped shape the region. In years since, the museum has expanded to offer augmented reality, a discovery center customized for children and an event space featuring water views geared towards weddings.
BOSTON Boston police are scouring the Roxbury section of Boston looking for two men they say shot and wounded a 5-year-old boy as he sat in his father's car.
The boy was with his family on Copeland Street just before 9 p.m. Sunday when police said a silver car pulled alongside and opened fire, the Boston Globe reported. Witnesses said at least eight shots were fired.
The family started to bring the child to the hospital in their car but was stopped by an ambulance near the intersection of Warren and Dudley streets. The boy was transferred to the ambulance and rushed to the Boston Medical Center, where police said he is being treated for a non-life threatening wound to the lower back. Police did say the boy was conscious and alert when he arrived at the hospital.
Police believe the boy's father was the intended target of the shooting.
Police are searching for two black males, said to be between 18 and 20 years old. They were riding in a silver vehicle of unknown make or model.
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Boston Police Department pulled this 7.65 caliber Deutsche Werke handgun off a 17-year-old Jeremiah E. Burke High School student in February. The gun was loaded.
(Courtesy Boston Police Department)
Juvenile gun arrests in Boston have seen a 100 percent increase in the year's first quarter, according to a Boston Herald report.
19 youths under age 18 have been arrested by city police on gun charges so far in 2017, better than double the nine who were arrested in the same period last year, police data shows.
"Obviously, there are too many guns," Mayor Martin J. Walsh told The Herald. "I don't think we're at epidemic proportions. But the fact that we have one juvenile with a gun is epidemic. We work at this every single day."
The city council plans to hold a hearing on gun violence at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Thelma Burns Building in Roxbury.
Chinese employees working on an energy-saving bulb production line at a lighting factory in Suining, southwest China's Sichuan Province. (Photo : Getty Images)
Chinas economy shows growth in both the manufacturing and service sector.
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According to the report released by Beijings official National Bureau of Statistics on Friday, the countrys manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) for March arrived at 51.8, a little higher than the 51.6 recorded in February. A reading above 50 signals expansion.
The state-run Xinhua News Agency has reported the result beat market expectations and was the highest in nearly five years.
The Chinese economy is growing strong again, as indicated by the official PMI last month. The expansion started during the last quarter of the previous year and was exceptionally apparent in January and February.
The manufacturing industry leads the growth, which implies state-owned companies now flourish.
The rise in the rates is no mystery. China has employed both monetary and fiscal stimulus in almost unparalleled amounts since 2016.
Once again, Chinese leaders have proved that they can generate gross domestic product by command. But they are doing so to the detriment of Chinas new economy.
A wide track of unofficial surveys verifies that there was a strong growth in the previous quarter. However, the development was concentrated in state-owned enterprises.
Analysts are astounded that the service sector is expanding at a faster rate than manufacturing as based on official figures. Last months NBSs reading for services spiked to 55.1, the highest in two years. The reading rapidly increased from 54.2 in February.
In a report by Bloomberg, James Laurenceson of University Technology Sydney said the fact that the real strength is with the non-manufacturing PMI suggests that theres fundamentally a good story going on."
Its increasingly looking like the growth uptick is broadening out beyond the initial impact of the stimulus, in particular into private sector services companies, said Shane Oliver of AMP Capital Investors.
The expansion of Chinas economy is expected to continue with its government providing monetary and fiscal spur.
President Trump meets with the National Association of Manufacturers . DC
U.S. President Donald Trump looks on during a meeting with the National Association of Manufacturers in the Roosevelt Room of the White House March 31, 2017 in Washington, D.C. .(Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press/TNS)
The Cambridge City Council is slated to vote Monday on a proposal asking the U.S. House of Representatives to push for an impeachment investigation of President Donald J. Trump.
The proposal, filed by Vice Mayor Marc McGovern, asks the House to support an investigation by the judiciary committee into possible corruption by Trump, according to the Associated Press.
If approved, Cambridge would be the first city in Massachusetts to make a formal request for an impeachment investigation. Richmond, California became the first U.S. city to make the request, followed by places like Berkeley, California and Charlotte, Vermont.
Cambridge Vice Mayor McGovern, a Democrat, reportedly believes Trump profits from foreign business entanglements and is therefore violating the emoluments clause in the U.S. Constitution.
The manhole fires in Boston that caused two manhole covers to shoot up into the air were caused by a faulty underground cable, an Eversource spokesman told the Boston Globe.
Eversource spokesman Michael Durand told the newspaper the underground cable powered the traffic lights, but it failed and may have ignited built-up underground gas.
The fires began around 11 a.m. Sunday near Government Center. Video was captured by international journalists who were in the area at the time.
WHDH News reports one manhole cover went flying into the air and landed in the middle of the road. Video of the scene shows a manhole cover landing near a group of first responders.
Fire officials reported no injuries.
Crews will work on repairs, which are expected to be completed by Monday evening, according to WCVB News.
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CHICOPEE - City officials have closed a part of James Street because of a gas leak.
Police and Fire Department personnel are currently on the scene of the gas leak, which was detected at about 12:20 p.m. Monday The street is closed from Memorial Drive to College Street, said Michael Wilk, public information officer for Chicopee Police.
Police are asking motorists to avoid the area.
Westover Air Reserve Base has closed the James Street gate until the leak can be fixed. People are being asked to instead use the Westover Road entrance to the base, Wilk said.
Several schools are also located on James Street including Herbert V. Bowie and Chicopee Academy at Selser. John Leonard, the principal at Chicopee Academy, said the school is far enough away from the leak to not pose a problem but buses are monitoring the situation and drivers have been told they may have to access the school from a different route.
This is the second gas leak that has shut down a major street in Chicopee in a week. Last Monday Memorial Drive was closed due to a gas leak at the former Day's Inn.
This is a breaking story. Masslive will update as more information is available.
SPRINGFIELD -- Christen May Longley on Monday pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the fatal stabbing of Jennifer Best in West Springfield.
Longley, 32, of West Springfield, admitted to stabbing Best to death at an apartment on Chester Street in that town on Nov. 27, 2015.
Best, 30, of West Springfield, was dating Longley's former boyfriend, David Cullison.
Hampden Superior Court Judge Mark D. Mason sentenced Longley to life in prison with parole eligibility in 18 years, the agreed-upon recommendation of prosecution and defense.
She had been charged with first-degree murder, which carries a life sentence with no opportunity for parole.
About a dozen family members of the victim were on one side of the courtroom and a similar number of family members of Longley were on the other side.
Best died from a stab wound to her chest which punctured her aorta, Assistant District Attorney Henry Rigali said. Best also had a wound on her scalp and a second wound to her chest, he said.
Longley has 499 days credit on her sentence for time served awaiting trial.
Mason asked Longley the standard question of whether she has any mental health conditions. She said she has dissociation, bipolar disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression.
Defense lawyer William J. O'Neil told Mason Longley has had a lifelong struggle with mental health issues and was the victim of physical and sexual abuse when she was young.
Police found a note allegedly written by Longley to Cullison before Best's death.
"David, I always loved you. Sorry I had to do this. But I know you were gone for good. She took my life so I take hers." the note read.
Longley told police that on Nov. 27, 2015 she and Best were both at 21 Chester St.
Longley told officers she did not remember if she stabbed Best that night.
Cullison told police he had a 15-year relationship with Longley and they had broken up about a month-and-a-half earlier. Cullison told police he recognized the knife as belonging to Longley.
Longley had claimed Best sent threatening texts to her. A search of the phone showed there were no threats sent by Best, Rigali said.
A separate case against Longley -- involving charges of breaking and entering in the daytime with intent to commit a misdemeanor, malicious injury to property over $250 and disorderly conduct -- was dropped by the prosecution after the plea in the murder case.
She was accused of committing those crimes Sept. 30, 2105, at the West Springfield apartment shared by Best and Cullison.
According to police reports on the Sept. 30 incident, Longley arrived at the apartment carrying a hammer.
Minutes later, Cullison called 911 to report "someone with a hammer smashing the door and window," according to court documents. By the time police arrived, the former lovers were wrestling in the doorway as a dozen neighbors watched, according to the arrest report.
Tracey Bartula, Jennifer Best's mother, said Jennifer was her first born child and only daughter.
She said she would talk with her daughter just about every day and spent holidays and most vacations together.
Now, she said, Jennifer Best's three children have to grow up with no mother.
She said her heart is broken and the family's life will never be the same again.
David Bartula, Jennifer Best's father, said she was not just his daughter "but also my best friend."
He recounted the many things he did with his daughter including fishing and camping.
He said his daughter, with her heart of gold, is gone forever because of a premeditated and senseless act of violence.
In a statement read to the court Beverly Garvey, Jennifer Best's grandmother, said Jennifer was kind, loving, caring and "much too young to die."
Zachary Bartula, the victim's brother, said his sister grew up with two loving parents who devoted their lives to helping her grow up the best that she could.
"Death is supposed to come naturally," he said, and not out of an act of rage.
O'Neil said Longley's father suffered depression and had violent tendencies, being physically abusive to his wife and to Longley.
The father sexually abused Longley on various occasions, O'Neil said. Her parents divorced when she was eight but Longley visited with him until she was 16 when he beat her badly, O'Neil said.
Longley started having anger problems when she was three years old and had her first outpatient treatment for behavioral issues when she was seven.
She was in treatment at the time of the killing, O'Neil said.
Longley began a relationship with Cullison when she was 16 years old but left him in the summer of 2015 primarily because she didn't approve of his lifestyle, O'Neil said.
Longley and Cullison have a daughter 11 or 12 years old, O'Neil said, who her mother has adopted but with whom she is still close.
"Unfortunately the break from Mr. Cullison did not go well," O'Neil said.
She spiraled downward and began to feel worse, rather than better, about leaving him.
Longley has started medications within two weeks of the killing. She had a crisis evaluation to see if she needed a respite program but at that time it was determined she didn't need hospitalization, O'Neil said.
Longley said, "First and foremost I would like to apologize to Jennifer's family for the pain and suffering I have caused them. I am truly sorry."
She said she had tried to kill herself and had just begun to get help at the time she stabbed Best. Of her mental health problems Longley said, "I understand they are no excuse for my behavior."
Mason said, "There is no greater crime than murder."
He said he would be without a job but for the issues of substance abuse, mental health problems and trauma.
Saying Longley's record indicates substance abuse as well, Mason told her, "Life has dealt you a trifecta."
He said when the three challenges come together they can on occasions result in horrific outcomes.
"Make no mistake about it what you have committed is a horrific crime," Mason said.
A cloned pig met the public for the first time in Shenzhen Wildlife Park in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, on March 27.
The pig, called "GHR cloning pig," is a miniature version of a real pig, and was cloned by Shenzhen Huada Gene Research Institute (BGI) - a world leading genomics research center based in Shenzhen.
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The park signed a deal with China National GeneBank (CNGB) on Monday to offer strong support to the development of the genetics industry in the country.
CNGB, as the country's first national gene bank, was officially put into use in 2016 and is operated by BGI. It is also the world's fourth national-level gene bank. The other three are in the U.S., Europe and Japan.
Credit: Xinhua
A Montana milling company is countersuing Daves Killer Bread following a suit filed in February by the Oregon-based bakery that alleges the milling company breached its contract.
In the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Great Falls last week, Montana Milling Inc. http://www.montanamilling.com/ claims the bakery was at fault for breaching the multi-year contract and costing the processor and various Montana wheat growers millions of dollars.
According to court documents:
By Lewis Kendall Chronicle Staff Writer
Full Story: http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/economy/montana-milling-company-mired-in-lawsuit-with-dave-s-killer/article_a929254a-3c10-5301-a857-6cc9c7cdb58a.html
Montanas two largest labor unions announced at their annual meeting that they were exploring a possible merger.
Montana Education Association-Montana Federation of Teachers made the announcement at the meeting that started Friday. Representatives from the Montana Public Employees Association and MEA-MFT announced the proposal.
Full Story: http://www.kbzk.com/story/35052261/mea-mft-announces-proposal-for-merger-with-mt-public-employees-association
Good Monday Morning, MEDA Members
Available online http://www.medamembers.org/media/userfiles/subsite_107/files/April%202017.pdf is your April MEDA News.
A few quick reminders:
* Register http://www.medamembers.org/media/userfiles/subsite_107/files/medaspring2017agenda.pdf for the MEDA Conference! Obtain lodging by April 10th; early bird rates end April 21st.
* Contact Brett Doney [email protected] if you would like to present during the Ignite Montana! segment of the agenda there are only a few slots left.
* This is a big week for HB473 http://leg.mt.gov/bills/2017/billpdf/HB0473.pdf , the fuel tax bill for funding infrastructure. Please see the information from Darryl James below.
Have a great day,
gloria
Coalition Members
We have learned today that HB 473 has been referred to Senate Highways and Transportation, and Chair Vance told a member of the Coalition that the hearing will be scheduled for Tuesday at 3:00 p.m..
We need to put together another very strong hearing for the Senate, so please let me know as soon as possible if you are available and intend to participate. I will coordinate a lineup much as we did for the House side.
Please remember as you prepare your testimony, that we need to keep each one to about two minutes, three at a maximum.
Following is the list of committee members:
Sen. CYDNIE ( CARLIE ) BOLAND (D)
Sen. DEE L BROWN (R)
Sen. EDWARD BUTTREY (R)
Sen. STEVE FITZPATRICK (R)Vice Chair
Sen. TERRY GAUTHIER (R)
Sen. JEN GROSS (D)
Sen. JP POMNICHOWSKI (D)
Sen. GORDON GORDY VANCE (R)Chair
Sen. ROGER WEBB (R)
Sen. LEA WHITFORD (D)Vice Chair
Please get back to me by mid-day Monday to let me know who will be in attendance.
[email protected]
Thank you,
Darryl
Darryl James, Executive Director
Montana Infrastructure Coalition
Gloria ORourke
Member, Montana Economic Development Services, PLLC
118 E. Seventh St.; Suite 3F
Anaconda, MT 59711
Ph: 406.563.5259 Cell: 406.490.0462
Travel just few miles west of bustling Cheyenne, Wyoming, a youll find yourself in big-sky country. (WHAT??? Montana is Big Sky Country) Tall-grass plains line the highway, snow-packed peaks pierce the sky, and round-edged granite formations jut out of the ground. But in this bucolic scene sits an alien building: a blocky, almost pre-fab structure with a white rotunda, speckled with dozens of windows that look out onto the grounds. Inside, its home to two supercomputers that focus on the vast landscape above.
Sarah Scoles
Full Story: https://www.wired.com/2017/03/put-supercomputer-wyoming/
To share with friends and brethren The Gospel of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (the Everlasting Gospel), and to prepare a people to stand when He returns to redeem His remnant. Also, to share relevant information of current events, and to show how they relate to prophecy; By means of articles, editorials, opinions, scripture readings, and poetry.
Disclaimer
Endrtimes does not necessarily endorse or agree with every opinion expressed in every article/video posted on this site. The information provided here is done so for personal edification; It's up to the reader to separate truth from error, and to examine everything (like the Bereans) from a Biblical perspective. Let the Holy Scriptures be you guide! - - - FAIR USE NOTICE: These pages/videos may contain copyrighted () material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available to advance understanding of ecological, POLITICAL, HUMAN RIGHTS, economic, DEMOCRACY, scientific, MORAL, ETHICAL, and SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES, etc. It is believed that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior general interest in receiving similar information for research and educational purposes.
Egypt's deputy foreign minister for human rights said FM Shoukry would seize Sisi's visit to Washington next week to respond in detail to the report
In a meeting of the Egyptian parliament's human rights committee, Deputy Foreign Minister for Human Rights Laila Bahaaeddin accused the Obama administration of painting a "bleak view" of the human rights situation in Egypt.
"The most recent report issued by the US State Department on human rights in Egypt reflected the view of the former Obama administration which had always sought to tarnish the image of Egypt in any way," said Bahaaeddin, adding that "this report was issued in a secret way and without the media taking note of it."
The foreign ministry said it decided to give a private response to the report.
"We gave orders to Egypt's ambassador in the US to respond to this negative report in an official way and without much fuss in media circles," said Bahaaeddin.
The report, mandated annually by congress and put together by staff in US embassies, was released earlier this month, documenting human rights conditions in nearly 200 countries and territories.
This year's report was largely compiled under President Barack Obama's administration.The report said Egypt's "excessive use of force included unlawful killings and torture."
The foreign ministry responded at the time in an official statement, saying the report was not based on any "legal frameworks," and that "human rights conditions in Egypt are held to clear constitutional obligations and are being monitored by national Egyptian organisations, both governmental and independent."
On President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi's visit to Washington next week to meet with new US president Donald Trump, Bahaaeddin said "as we see, Trump is different from Obama and has said he wants closer relations with Egypt."
"As we want to open a new page with this administration, we decided not to make a lot of fuss in the media on a negative report which was issued by the outgoing administration of Obama," she added.
Bahaaeddin said however that Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, who will be part of El-Sisi's official visit, will give a detailed response to the report.
"[He] will be ready to respond to any accusations in this respect in a diplomatic and wise way," said Bahaaeddin, adding that "we want to give the new administration a chance to change this negative view of Egypt."
Bahaaeddin's words, however, were seen as highly insufficient by most MPs. Alaa Abed, head of parliament's human rights committee, said "the US State Department's negative report about the situation of human rights in Egypt reflected the political view of Barack Obama who was supportive of political Islam movements, especially the Muslim Brotherhood."
"The report also reflected the lies which were disseminated by the Brotherhood and radical liberal media in America, especially in the area of street protests, sectarian tension and what they call hundreds of political prisoners," said Abed.
The report cited the most significant human rights concerns in Egypt as "excessive use of force by security forces, deficiencies in due process, and suppression of civil liberties."
Abed slammed the foreign ministry for what he called "its very brief and incomplete" response to the US State Department's report.
"I am afraid that this report might be exploited by Trump's political foes and the US mainstream media which are supportive of political Islam and the Brotherhood in a bid to disrupt president Sisi's first state visit to Washington," said Abed, adding that "I had high hopes that the foreign ministry's response would be strong, comprehensive and corroborated with documents, but all of my hopes were dashed."
Abed said the foreign ministry should send parliament a detailed response to the state department's report, or else he would submit a complaint against Soukry, accusing him of negligence.
Abed said the US State Department's reports on human rights in general reflect "a radical liberal viewpoint."
"This viewpoint only leads to chaos and disruption because it ignores national security considerations in favour of focusing on controversial issues such as street protests and religious freedoms. Not to mention that the State Department reports are always based on information from local human rights organisations which receive money from America," said Abed.
The report said that due process problems in Egypt included "the excessive use of preventive custody and pre-trial detention, the use of military courts to try civilians," trials without evidence and arrests without warrants.
Civil liberties violations included societal and government restrictions on freedoms of expression and assembly, the report said.
Nabil Bolous, a Coptic MP, asked the foreign ministry to take the matter as a national security issue, complaining that the report is rife with lies, particularly in the area on sectarian tension.
"While the ministry of defence is responsible for defending the country's borders, the foreign ministry's job is to safeguard Egypt's national security and international image against malicious attacks," said Bolous.
"I am a Coptic Christian who has never felt that there is a sectarian problem in Egypt or that Christians feel that they are being treated as a minority as the report alleges," Bolous said, adding that "by contrast we see that it is America which has been rife with sectarian tension, racial discrimination incidents and police brutality throughout the year 2016."
The MP said he wanted the foreign ministry to send the world a strong message that Egypt is safe and secure and that it is a land of peace. "Unfortunately the foreign ministry is not doing enough, leaving Egypt vulnerable to malicious attacks in the Anglo-American media and to radical liberal human rights organisations and politicians in the United States."
In response, Bahaaeddin insisted that the foreign ministry is doing its job.
"All we want now is to make sure that President El-Sisi concludes a successful visit to the US. [we don't want to] cause any kind of trouble with anyone in Washington at that time," she said.
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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.
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Beyond the "personal chemistry", the presidents of Egypt and the US have so many deals to make if agreement can be reached
It is with high expectations and a positive outlook that President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi goes to the Oval Office for his Monday afternoon meeting with US President Donald Trump.
This is the second meeting between the two men in less than six months but the first one after Trump's inauguaration. An earlier meeting took place in New York on the sideline of Sisis participation in the UNGA in September 2016, while Trump was still running for president.
As early as autumn last year, the talk was about an exceptional chemistry between the two men, who saw eye to eye on the need to combat militant Islamism and to find a holistic approach to resolving Middle East issues, including the Israeli-Palestine conflict and the instability in Syria and Libya.
It is a meeting with a long agenda of talks on topics of interest of both sides.
An exercise of give and take was how veteran Egyptia journalist Makram Mohamed Ahmed described the anticipated meeting in a recent column.
Ahmed was not alone there. Emadeddine Adib, another well-known mainstream Egyptian journalist, in one of his daily columns this week, also anticipated a meeting involving demands from each side, both at the bilateral and regional levels.
An Egyptian diplomat speaking to Ahram Online on condition of anonymity said that the demands of the Egyptian side are really about showing the true strategic commitment of the US to its partnership with Egypt; we want Washington to prove its words on its plans to provide Egypt with economic and security support.
Security and economy were two points that a senior US administration official stressed in a White House Briefing a few days ago ahead of El-Sisis arrival in Washington.
President Trump aims to assert deep US commitment to Egypts security, stability and prosperity, the senior official said, according to the text posted on the White House website.
According to the same text, The US wants to support Sisis efforts for the reform and modernization of Islamic discourse, his bold economic reforms, his campaign to defeat the threat in Sinai and his attempt to restablish Egypts regional leadership role.
Our relationship has historically been driven by security and that will remain a key component of the engagement with Egypt, the senior official said in the same briefing.
This statement might, however, be broken down in different ways by the Egyptian and US sides.
According to Egyptian officials involved in the preparation for El-Sisi's visit, Cairo wants to see advanced security cooperation that goes beyond anything that the two countries have had since the construction of a close alliance in the late 1970s in the wake of the Egypt-Israel peace treaty.
Egypt, the same officials said, wants to advance the terms of the annual US military assistance to make it include a higher degree of accessibility and more flexibility to buy equipment from the US, the main provider of arms for Cairo.
In the context of the annual military assistance, this is known as free cash flow.
Preliminary talks on the matter between Cairo and Washington, including those conducted by Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri during the preparatory work he did for the presidential visit, failed to secure a tentative US agreement on the expected Egyptian demand.
I cannot say that our request has been overlooked, no. Actually, I could say that it is being considered, the same official said.
In his White House briefing, the senior White House official declined to share any concrete position on the matter on the part of the Trump administration. However, he said that the issue would be discussed.
An informed Western diplomat who spoke to Ahram Online in Cairo two days before the visit suggested that the matter will depend on how much El-Sisi and Trump agree on other matters related to security across the Middle East.
The diplomat said the US is expecting Cairo to be unequivocally committed to cooperatng on acting against militant Islamist groups, especially the IS group, not just in Sinai but across the region.
She said that there is not yet a final plan to which the US is expecting Egypt to agree, but there is a general outline that Trump will discuss with Sisi.
Depending on the position El-Sisi takes, Egypt's demand for free cash flow will be approved, the diplomat said.
Meanwhile, the same diplomat said that Trump might not be ready to agree to the request that the US place the Muslim Brotherhood on its "terror list".
I know that our Egyptian friends are very keen on this but this is a very complex issue, she said.
According to identical Egyptian and American sources, the US has been advised against the move by several Arab and European countries who say it would deprive the political Islam movement of any potentially moderate wing, forcing the Muslim Brotherhood across the Arab world to go underground and probably turn militant.
Turkey was also among the warning voices,expressing concern to the White House..
This said, Egyptian officials involved in preparations for El-Sisi's visit said that the matter would still be discussed during the presidents meeting on Monday.
And according to the White House briefing on the visit, the debate on the matter in the administration is still underway.
That is going to be a discussion that will unfold between us and Egypt [and] it is safe to say that the discussion will continue within the administration.
However, officials in Cairo seemed encouraged by the very fact that Washington was not immediately ruling out the demand. They said that El-Sisi would provide his host with enough evidence on the Muslim Brotherhood's involvement in "acts of instability in Egypt and other countries in the region" to secure support for the group being placed on the terror list. They added that nobody was expecting an immediate decision from Trump on the matter and that it was good enough that "unlike his predecessor" Trump was willing to listen and discuss.
Relations between the El-Sisi regime and the Barack Obama administration were not particularly comfortable, given the hesitation of the previous US administration in acknowledging the political change that occurred in Egypt in June 2013.
A meeting between El-Sisi and Obama in New York a year later, following the election of El-Sisi to the top executive job in June 2014, secured stable bilateral relations, including strong support from the Obama administration for Egypt in getting an IMF loan last year. However, it failed to move beyond that.
El-Sisi never visited the White House during the Obama administration.
Today, he is hoping to turn a new page in bilateral relations with a new administration.
In his White House briefing ahead of El-Sisis visit, the senior administration official said that the interaction between the two men since their meeting last September in New York already improved the tone of the relationship.
He added that the White House hoped that the visit would continue the positive momentum.
According to concerned officials in Cairo, there is much that the US could do to actually give a positive push to the bilateral relations between Cairo and Washington, especially on the economic front.
Egypt, they said, is hoping to reach a clearer understanding with Washington on the expansion of the economic assistance it gets on an annual basis, on the release of funds that have not been used by Egypt from the annual assistance package and on the possible negotiation of a free-trade agreement.
The US, according to the White House briefing, will be looking seriously at the Egyptian demands with an eye on helping Egypt overcome the difficulties it is facing due to its economic reforms.
The US official said that Trump wants to increase focus on economic and commercial cooperation in our bilateral relationship.
Egypt, he stated, is one of the traditional pillars of stability in the Middle East and has been a reliable US partner for years.
Egyptian officials in Cairo said that they were confident about "a breakthrough" in economic relations with the US.
Then again, according to the Western diplomat in Cairo, the length and breadth of this advancement of economic cooperation depends on how much effort Egypt is willing to invest in helping regulate regional issues, especially the Israel-Palestine file and of course, also Libya.
On Monday, Trump and El-Sisi will be discussing potential avenues for action on the Israel-Palestine peace process, which has been stalled for almost a decade. The same issue will be subject to discussion with the Jordanian Monarch as he meets with Trump at the Oval Office on Thursday morning, and later with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
Trump has already listened to the Israeli views on the matter during a Washington meeting in mid-February.
According to Egyptian and US views shared with Ahram Online, there will be "no conditionality" on the part of the US for improving the terms of its economic support to Egypt on matters related to human rights. However, the matter of human rights will not be completely off the table in talks between the two presidents.
Human rights are first and foremost in our discussions ... we handle these issues in private, said the senior administration official in his White House briefing prior to the arrival of El-Sisi.
However, also prior to the Egyptian president's arrival, a bipartisan "Egypt resolution" was tabled for the consideration of Congress to reaffirm US commitment to partnership with Egypt and its participation in the Global Coalition to counter the Islamic State group, and its potential role as a facilitator for a settlement in many conflicts in the Middle East, including in Libya, Syria and Yemen.
The resolution also recognizes that Egypt faces legitimate security threats and expresses condolences for the loss of life suffered by the Egyptian people in attacks by violent extremist organizations.
Meanwhile, the resolution recognizes the necessity for Egypts leaders to take steps toward genuine political reform that prioritizes human rights, fundamental freedoms, and rule of law.
It specifically demanded the the immediate release of unjustly imprisoned American citizens, including Aya Hijazi, who has been detained in Egypt since May 2014 on unsubstantiated charges and an immediate end to the harassment and interference in the operations of independent civil society and media organizations in Egypt, including the closure of Case 173 and the revision of Egypts non-governmental organization law in accordance with international best practices.
An official accompanying the Egyptian president on the US visit said that this draft resolution is unlikely to cast a shadow over the talks he was planning with Trump.
He added that nobody was expecting zero reference to matters related to human rights anyway, but what we expect is for our point of view to be heard and respected and that our differences of view, which are expected and legitimate, are not going to obstruct the wider scope of our cooperation.
The draft bipartisan congressional resolution stated that "any proposed restructuring of US assistance to Egypt, which is subject to the approval of Congress, will take into account progress on meaningful political reform, human rights, and fundamental freedoms.
However, for his part, the Egyptian official on the tour stated that Trump and El-Sisi have to work on issue that are much larger in scope and higher on the scale of priority to both leaders, such that they should not be obstructed by a negative press coverage or a skeptical Congressional take.
After all, he added, Egypt too has good friends in Congress and they will meet with the president and listen to his views.
El-Sisis visit to the US will also include meetings with leading investors, think-tankers, and officials from the World Bank and the International Monatery Fund.
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Boca Raton, FL, April 3, 2017 COMPTOLIFE, a startup medical device Company is working on developing its advanced defibrillator technologies and kits that will adapt common tablet and laptop computers enabling each, along with the computers usual functions and capabilities, to be used as an automated external defibrillator (AED) and/or a manual defibrillator for treating victims of sudden cardiac arrest.
There are more than 350,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) annually in the U.S., nearly 90% of them fatal, according to the American Heart Associations newly released Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics 2017 Update.
Key in the process of resuscitation is the immediate initiation of quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and the early use of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) by bystanders pending arrival of professional rescuers.
With respect to out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrest, CompToLifes technologies and devices are seen as fulfilling an urgent unmet need as an addition and complement to, not as a replacement of, the current state of the art in Public Access Defibrillation.
According to the American Heart Association, early CPR and rapid defibrillation combined with early advanced care can produce high long-term survival rates. When bystanders provide immediate CPR, and the first shock is delivered within 3 to 5 minutes, the reported survival rates from sudden cardiac arrest are as high as 48 to 74 percent.
CompToLifes extensive pipeline covers technologies that detail the direct embedding of AED and manual defibrillator capabilities into tablet and laptop computers at the time of manufacture; thus, resulting in free-standing tablet and laptop computers with their usual computer functions plus integrated AED and manual defibrillator capabilities. Also covered, kits and methods for retrofitting and adapting aftermarket tablet and laptop computers, to enable each to be used as an AED or as a manual defibrillator in addition to their usual computer functions.
One of several kits in development for the post-market retrofitting and adaptation of currently existing common tablets and laptop computers; the CompToLife Kit I (above) is designed as a device with AED elements and power source contained in an adjustable universal frame for encompassing and holding a tablet or laptop computer. The elements are connected to and controlled by the joined computer, thus enabling the tablet or laptop to be used as an AED and/or a manual defibrillator.
CompToLife is currently working towards applying its technologies with two versions of the CompToLife Kit I; the CompToLife Kit I-A, a rugged version, for rugged tablets and laptops, such as those used in the field by first responders, the military, and in government, schools, sports, and industry and the CompToLife Kit I-B (above), for consumer-grade tablets, such as the Microsoft Surface Pro and similar devices.
One example of the potential use of the CompToLife Kit I the current trend of placing AEDs in police vehicles throughout the U.S. and abroad. As the vehicles are commonly equipped with rugged tablets or laptops, such as the Panasonic Toughpad FZ-G1 or similar computers, the CompToLife Kit I-A will eventually retrofit and adapt these law enforcement computers, enabling each to be used as an AED or as a manual defibrillator.
With the manual defibrillator option, the Company is also moving towards applying these technologies to medical tablets and mobile clinical assistants (MCAs); rapidly increasing in use by physicians, nurses and other medical support staff given the current trend toward electronic health records (EHRs).
Just one of the many advantages of these CompToLife technologies and devices the simultaneous charging of the tablet or laptop battery and the CompToLife device power source will insure the constant readiness and immediate availability of the device for any emergency requiring an AED or manual defibrillator.
About CompToLife LLC
CompToLife a startup medical device Company based in Boca Raton, FL is focused on developing its advanced technologies for the treatment of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). The Company is currently moving forward with the development of several of its numerous devices. CompToLife has technologies in progress for addressing the issues of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) and in-hospital cardiac arrest. CompToLifes primary goal universal defibrillator access.
CONTACT:
COMPTOLIFE
950 Peninsula Corporate Circle
Suite 2014
Boca Raton, FL 33487
561-756-1100
www.COMPTOLIFE.com
Egypt's PM Sherif Ismail said on Sunday that the cabinet is ready to provide parliament with all relevant documents on the sovereignty status of the two Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir to help the legislature reach a decision on the April 2016 Egyptian-Saudi border redemarcation deal.
The PM's comments came hours after a Cairo Court for Urgent Matters ruled that a previous annullment of the deal by the High Administrative Court (HAC) was not valid.
In press statements published in Al-Ahram newspaper on Monday, Ismail said the government will present parliament with a detailed file on the various developments in sovereignty discussions [with Saudi Arabia] since 1990.
In January 2017, the HAC affirmed Egyptian sovereignty over the islands, thereby declaring the Egypt-Saudi deal null and void.
However, on Sunday, the Court for Urgent Matters ruled that the HAC had no jurisdiction in such matters.
The controversial agreement, which places the two Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir under Saudi sovereignty, sparked widespread public outcry and legal challenges since its inception.
On 1 January, the cabinet referred the deal to parliament for voting, but no discussions or votes have yet taken place.
Lawyer Ashraf Farahat, who filed the lawsuit that was the subject of Sunday's ruling, explained to Al-Ahram Arabic website that he filed the lawsuit because, according to Article 11 of Egypts State Council law, the High Administrative Court should not rule on such cases, which should be left to the parliament to vote on.
In March, Egypt's Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel-Aal said parliament will discuss and vote on the deal, despite the annulment of the deal by the High Administrative Court in January.
Abdel-Aal said that parliament will discuss the deal "in accordance with its constitutional powers once some procedures and paperwork are completed in the next few days."
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A new study finds that adults with post-traumatic stress disorder are much more likely to experience sleep disorders, gastrointestinal problems, cardiovascular diseases, and numerous other health conditions. As such, researchers say that post-traumatic stress disorder should be considered a systemic disorder, as opposed to just a psychological condition.
Share on Pinterest Researchers suggest that PTSD should be viewed as a systemic disorder.
According to the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, around 7 to 8 percent of the U.S. population experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at some point in their lives.
PTSD normally arises as a result of witnessing a shocking, dangerous, or life-threatening event, and it is particularly common among people in the military.
Symptoms of PTSD may include flashbacks of the traumatic event, nightmares, frightening thoughts, tense feelings, and avoidance of places or objects that cause memories of the traumatic event to resurface.
With these symptoms in mind, PTSD is considered to be a mental health disorder. However, researchers of the new study including Sarah C. McLeay of the University of Queensland in Australia suggest that PTSD should instead be viewed as a systemic disorder, due to its associated comorbidities.
The team came to this conclusion after conducting an analysis of 298 Australian veterans aged between 60 and 88 years who had fought in the Vietnam War.
All participants underwent psychological assessments and interviews in order to identify any symptoms of PTSD. Data on the presence of 171 other health conditions were also gathered.
It is well-known that prolonged exposure to high doses of antibiotics can increase tolerance and sometimes strengthen the very bacteria that antibiotics are trying to kill. New research, however, suggests that an extract from maple syrup may boost the efficacy of antibiotics and reduce their side effects.
Share on Pinterest New research shows that the phenolic extract from maple syrup can dramatically boost antibiotics efficacy in fighting off infection.
Antibiotics the commonly used drugs that fight off bacteria have been helping us to ward off infections for almost a century, since the invention of penicillin in 1929.
However, in recent years, antibiotics have been losing to certain forms of highly resistant bacteria known as superbugs.
In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that more than 2 million people in the United States are infected with these superbugs every year, and more than 23,000 die as a result.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) also warn against the dangers of developing resilient forms of gonorrhea, tuberculosis, and staph infections as a result of over-prescribing or misusing antibiotics. The NIH caution that antibiotics kill a lot of the good bacteria that are responsible for keeping the human body healthy and immune to infections.
A new study, however, offers hope in the fight against superbugs. A team of researchers at McGill University in Quebec, Canada led by Nathalie Tufenkji, Ph.D. set out to examine the effects of a natural extract from maple syrup on the therapeutic action of antibiotics.
Native populations in Canada have long used maple syrup to fight infections. I have always been interested in the science behind these folk medicines, says Tufenkji, who came up with the idea of investigating the antimicrobial action of maple syrup extract while studying the same aspects in cranberry extracts.
The study which is presented at the American Chemical Societys 253rd National Meeting & Exposition in San Francisco, CA suggests that maple syrup extract can drastically improve the action of antibiotics, without enhancing any of their side effects.
The findings published in the journal Current Biology point to errors in chromosomal segregation as a new mechanism for explaining female age-related infertility.
New research, carried out by scientists at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Center (CRCHUM) in Canada, uses state-of-the-art microscopy technology in order to examine the genetics behind this aging process.
Age is thought to play a crucial role in the ability to procreate. For a woman, the number of oocytes that is, female egg cells before they fully develop into ova naturally declines with age. Additionally, the quality of the eggs also decreases, particularly after a woman reaches the age of 37.
Approximately 1 in 8 U.S. couples are struggling to get pregnant or maintain a pregnancy. One third of infertility is typically attributed to men, another third to women, and a final third is thought to be caused by a combination of problems in both partners.
Infertility is recognized as a disease both in the U.S. and worldwide. It is clinically defined as the inability to get pregnant, or to successfully carry a pregnancy to term, after 1 year of unprotected sex.
Infertility affects millions of couples in the United States, and age is one of the main factors that influence a persons ability to procreate. New research examines the genetic basis for age-related infertility in women and finds a potential new explanation for it.
Eggs with an abnormal number of chromosomes are called aneuploid eggs, explain the researchers. As a woman ages, and particularly as she ages beyond 35 years, the number of aneuploid eggs increases.
Until now, the widely accepted hypothesis for this increase in abnormal eggs stated that the glue-like substance made of protein complexes called cohesins that keeps the chromosomes unified starts to malfunction. This hypothesis has been called the cohesion-loss hypothesis.
The new research does not contradict this theory, but it does find an additional problem.
In the new study, the microtubules which are small cylindrical structures within the cell that are responsible for cell movement and which organize themselves into a spindle were found to be dysfunctional in older mice.
Microtubules pull the chromosomes together around their spindle-like structure and sort them when it is time for the cells to divide. After cell division, microtubules send out these chromosomes to the opposite poles of the nucleus of the daughter cells in a process commonly known as chromosome segregation.
CRCHUM researcher and Universite de Montreal professor Greg Fitzharris explains the findings:
We found that the microtubules that orchestrate chromosome segregation during cell division behave abnormally in older eggs. Instead of assembling a spindle in a controlled symmetrical fashion, the microtubules go in all directions. The altered movement of the microtubules apparently contributes to errors in chromosome segregation, and so represents a new explanation for age-related infertility.
In fact, Fitzharris says that approximately 50 percent of the eggs of older females have a spindle with chaotic microtubule dynamics.
The researchers learned this by micromanipulating the eggs of mice, a classic approach whereby the oocytes were swapped among young mice (aged between 6 and 12 weeks) and old ones (aged 60 weeks).
We swapped the nuclei of the young eggs with those of the old eggs and we observed problems in the old eggs containing a young nucleus, explains Shoma Nakagawa, a postdoctoral research fellow at CRCHUM and the Universite de Montreal. This shows that maternal age influences the alignment of microtubules independently of the age of the chromosomes contained in the nuclei of each egg.
The findings also hold for humans, the authors explain. Chromosomal defects due to spindle malfunctioning occur in women as well, so age-related infertility does not seem to be caused by the age of the chromosomes themselves.
In the future, the authors hope that their findings will help women to become pregnant despite their older age.
We are currently exploring possible treatments for eggs that might one day make it possible to reverse this problem and rejuvenate the eggs, says Fitzharris.
Learn how fertility treatment failure may harm womens heart health.
A new study indicates that the success of a kidney transplant may rely in part on a kidney donor's weight and sex, factors that are not typically considered when choosing a recipient for a deceased donor kidney. The findings, which appear in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN), suggest that changes may be needed to current immunology-based protocols that match donors and recipients.
Previous research has shown that there may be a higher risk of kidney transplant failure if a kidney donor is smaller than the recipient, perhaps due to increased strain on the relatively smaller transplanted kidney. Very few studies have investigated outcomes associated with donor and recipient weight mismatch, however. There is also a suggestion that sex mismatch between kidney donor and recipient may lead to worse outcomes post-transplant, but studies have generated conflicting results.
To investigate these issues, a team led by Amanda Miller, MD and Karthik Tennankore, MD (Dalhousie University and the Nova Scotia Health Authority, in Canada) examined whether receiving a kidney transplant from a smaller donor of the opposite sex would impact a recipient's transplant outcomes. The researchers analyzed information on a cohort of US deceased donor recipients between 2000 and 2014 who were listed in the Scientific Registry of Transplants Recipients. Over a median follow-up of 3.8 years, 21,261 of 115,124 kidney transplant recipients developed transplant failure.
After accounting for other transplant variables, the researchers demonstrated that if a kidney transplant recipient was >30 kg (66 pounds) heavier than the donor, there was a 28% higher risk of transplant failure compared with equally weighted donors and recipients. If the kidney was from a smaller donor of the opposite sex, the relative risk of transplant failure was further elevated to 35% for a male receiving a kidney from a female donor and 50% for a female receiving a kidney from a male donor. This risk is similar to that observed when a recipient receives a kidney transplant from a donor who has diabetes, a known risk factor for kidney failure.
"This study is extremely important because we have shown that when all else is considered, something as simple as the combination of a kidney donor's weight and sex is associated with a marked increase in kidney transplant failure," said Dr. Miller. "While more research is required before including these variables in a recipient matching strategy, this study highlights the importance of donor and recipient matching above and beyond current immunology-based protocols."
In an accompanying editorial, Bethany Foster, MD, MSCE and Indra Gupta, MD (McGill University) noted that while matching for sex and body size in organ allocation algorithms deserves consideration, this idea must be approached with a great deal of caution. It would require complex matching, and special care would have to be taken to avoid disadvantaging larger recipients. "Restricting transplant options by prioritizing sex matching may also lead to longer waiting times," they wrote. "Females with a large body size would be particularly disadvantaged by an approach that favoured allocation of sex- and body-size matched kidneys."
Article: Donor-Recipient Weight and Sex Mismatch and the Risk of Graft Loss in Renal Transplantation, Amanda J. Miller, Bryce A. Kiberd, Ian P. Alwayn, Ayo Odutayo, Karthik K. Tennankore, doi: 10.2215/CJN.07660716, published online 30 March 2017.
Editorial: Donor Quality in the Eye of the Beholder: Interactions between Nonimmunologic Recipient and Donor Factors as Determinants of Graft Survival, Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, doi: 10.2215/CJN.02180217, published online 30 March 2017.
Can't sleep? Your sleep problems may be improved if you try an Indian herb, Ashwagandha. Researchers in the sleep institute in Japan found that an active component of Ashwagandha leaves significantly induces sleep.
Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) is a central herb in Ayurveda, the traditional home medicine native to India. As signified by its Latin name somnifera, meaning sleep-inducing, it has been recommended for sound sleep through centuries. Even though scientific studies also support that crude powder of Ashwagandha promotes sleep, the active component with sleep-inducing property remains unknown.
The research group led by Mahesh K. Kaushik and Yoshihiro Urade of the International Institute for Integrative Sleep Medicine (WPI-IIIS), University of Tsukuba, investigated the effect of various components of Ashwaganda on sleep in mice by recording electroencephalogram and electromyography. The water extract of Ashwaganda leaf containing rich in triethylene glycol (TEG) promoted non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep significantly and changed rapid eye movement (REM) sleep slightly, while the alcoholic extract containing active withanolides showed no effect on sleep. The sleep induced by TEG was similar to normal sleep. Furthermore, commercially available TEG also increased the amount of NREM sleep. They thus concluded that TEG is the active component that induces physiologically sound sleep.
Sleeplessness and other sleep disorder such as restless leg syndrome are common complaints among the middle-aged population. Insomnia is one of the most common neuropsychiatric disorders, with an estimated incident of 10-15% in general population and 30-60% in elderly population. It is closely linked with certain other diseases including obesity, cardiovascular diseases, depression, anxiety, mania deficits etc. Currently available synthetic drugs often show severe side effects. On the other hand, Ashwagandha crude powder including the significant amount of TEG can be consumed for better sleep without any side effects. The findings in this study could revolutionize the natural plant-based therapies for insomnia and sleep related disorders.
However, the clinical application of TEG to treat insomnia is still in the immature status, because the TEG is primarily used for industrial purpose and very little is known about its applicability and toxicity to the biological systems. Further studies will thus be needed to confirm the safety of TEG.
According to the authors, they are currently evaluating the effect of TEG administration on stress, because Ashwagandha is believed to mitigate stress and correct imbalance of various nervous systems. Future studies also include the identification of target brain area of TEG, its BBB permeability and the mechanism through which TEG induces sleep.
This study was conducted in collaboration with Renu Wadhwa and Sunil Kaul of National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan.
Greek Life or sorority and fraternity houses on college campuses: It is well-known that the campuses of colleges and universities are a primary location of different forms of sexual abuse. SAAM calls for leadership from members of these campus organizations in the context of sexual assault.
Parents of young children/teenagers: Parents can play a pivotal role in preparing young children for a healthy sexual experience. Instructing the child earlier on, about the parts of the body, including genitals, letting the little one choose whom to hug, are healthy ways of shaping the mind for later sexual encounters.
For teens too, dispelling any discomfort regarding discussions on sexuality, and
clarifying the importance of consent, is essential. Let your adolescent kid know that
is essential. Let your adolescent kid know that you're there for him, or her.
Coaches: Coaches can control the power dynamics on the field. By clamping down onderogatory jokes with referecne to the human body, and fostering respect and appropriate behaviors among team members, coaches can provide timely intervention in a process of power play that could eventually express itself through sexual abuse.
Faith Leaders: Leaders of a faith community have the opportunity to set an example for others. Sexual violence affects people across faiths, religions, races, genders and ages. SAAM calls on these leaders to be there for the members of their congregations. Believing survivors of sexual trauma, organizing educational programs to raise awareness on healthy sexuality, are some of the ways in which this group of people can address the issue.
Survivors: SAAM calls upon assault survivors to make themselves heard. If you are a survivor, or if you know one, speak up. Do not hold it within you. You might find more comrades than you know. And know that you are the victim. It is not your fault!
Community Members: Finally, your community can play a significant role in diffusing the climate of tolerance and acceptance. Communities, especially online ones, can respond maturely to online sexual jokes, dissipating the victim's accountability, and placing responsibility at the perpetrator's door.
The WHO defines sexual violence as
Thewas observed for the first time in the U.S.A, on April 1, 2001. The aim was to raise awareness on sexual assault issues, provide an opportunity for interaction to advocates and survivors, and encourage preventive measures within communities.TheNSVRC) founded in 2000, was the main driving force behind this movement. Since 2001, the organization, primarily a national information and resource center that actively participates in the collection and circulation of data and information, and advocacy of the rights of sexual assault survivors, has consistently aided communities in organizingactivities with data and resources.Theis observed annually on the first Tuesday of April, to kickstart the awareness month. A soothing teal blue is taken to signify the month, and is often symbolized by aThis year the day of action is onTheslogan is ''.The worldwide culture of acceptance of sexual abuse and violence continues to be a major hindrance to addressing and eliminating the evil. Theslogan 2017 focuses on bringing together people and groups that might play a positive role in implementing preventive measures and raising awareness.Thecalls for action the following groups:In a country where about 22% of the population still lives in abject poverty, it is disturbing to imagine the actual extent of sexual abuse. It is, therefore, essential to know what exactly qualifies as sexual assault, to help oneself as well as others.Any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, unwanted sexual comments or advances, or acts to traffic, or otherwise directed, against a person's sexuality using coercion, by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim, in any setting, including but not limited to home and work.Moreover,although social stereotypes of manliness usually prevent male survivors from coming forward. However, in the US, 1 in 25 reported cases involve men. While India still does not recognize male sexual assault, the Delhi-based Center for Civil Society conducted a survey whereMen, as well as members of other genders, are subjected to sexual brutality, especially during armed conflict, and within prisons, but also during times of peace, at home and outside.Source: Medindia
No matter which year you were born in, there are certain movies that surpass every age barrier and make it to the list of every individuals binge-watch list. One such movie was the 1999 blockbuster action-adventure fantasy horror movie, The Mummy. This Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz movie still gives us chills irrespective of whether you watch it in the day or night. And who can forget the iconic character of Imhotep played by Arnold Vosloo. Those crawling beetles which can move in and out of your body, the mere thought still gives us sweaty nightmares.
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Well, recalling that dreadful horror, The Mummy is getting a reboot and by the looks of the trailer, its going to be 10 times scarier than the first one and it wont come as a surprise if we secretly pee in our pants out of fear. This 2017 movie packs stalwarts like Russell Crowe, Annabelle Wallis, Tom Cruise and Sofia Boutella of Star Trek Beyond fame. While Tom Cruise will be the first and foremost reason to look forward to the movie, actress Sofia Boutella has not disappointed us at all. The fear that Imhotep instilled in us with the first movie, was revived perfectly by Sofias fierce Egyptian princess Ahmanet avatar in this installment.
The trailer is extremely creepy and the characterization is perfect. In other words, it is the ultimate amalgamation of a crowd of rats, buildings getting exploded, evils being unleashed, plane crash, dead coming back to life, and an underwater battle that can beat the sh*t out of people. This movie talks about an Egyptian princess who murdered her father and was buried alive in a tomb deep beneath the sands as punishment. 2000 years later, her tomb is rediscovered and she gets resurrected. Thus begins her thirst to own the world and there is only person (Tom Cruise) who can stop this monster and the destruction caused by her. Honestly, with all the creepiness and kickass action, Director Alex Kurtzman has already left us craving for this movie that will hit the theatres on June 9.
An Egyptian criminal court sentenced 17 people to five years in prison on Thursday for involvement in illegal protests in Talaat Harb Square in downtown Cairo in January 2015, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.
The 17 people sentenced include one juvenile, who was sentenced in absentia.
The prosecution in the case referred the defendants to court on charges of protesting without permission, illegal assembly, disrupting public transportation and assaults on police.
The verdict is a first-degree ruling and can be appealed before the Court of Cassation.
Since it was passed in late 2013, the controversial protest law has led to the detention of hundreds of youth activists, as well as secular and Islamist protesters.
The law has been widely criticised by local and international rights groups.
In December, the High Constitutional Court, Egypt's highest court, ruled that Article 10 of the law granting the interior ministry the authority to reject applications for peaceful protests is unconstitutional.
However, the court rejected legal challenges against Articles 7, 8 and 19 of the protest law.
Article 7 defines what constitutes obstruction of traffic and threats to "citizens interests" in relation to protests, while Article 8 outlines police notification procedures. Article 19 stipulates that violators of the law are to receive a mandatory minimum two years in prison and a fine of EGP 50,000.
According to a joint report prepared by parliament's committee on legislative and constitutional affairs and the committee on defence and national security, the government-drafted, 25-article bill amends Egypt's 2013 law on the "regulation of public assemblies, processions and peaceful protests."
The ammended bill is set to be discussed by the parliament.
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Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama on Sunday had an emotional reunion with Naren Chandra Das, one of the five Assam Rifle guards who escorted him to India during his escape from Tibet in March 1959.
"Thank you very much.... I am very very happy to meet such an old member of the Assam Rifles who guarded and escorted me to India 58 years ago," a visibly emotional Dalai Lama said during the interactive session organized at the Namami Brahmaputra River festival by the Assam government.
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Looking at your face, I now realize I must be very old too he said to Das in jest.
76-year-old Das, dressed in his Assam Riffles uniform told that he escorted the Dalai Lama as his armed guard in 1959, two years after joining the force in 1957.
"Guards of Assam Rifles Platoon no. 9 had brought the Dalai Lama from Zuthangbo and handed him over to five of us at Shakti. We brought him to Lungla from where he was escorted on his onward journey to Tawang by another group of guards," the retired jawan said.
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On being asked whether Das had any interaction with Dalai Lama that time, he said, "Our duty was only to guard and escort him during a part of his journey." The two looked very happy after meeting each other and Dalai Lama also presented a silk shawl to the guard.
For the Assam Riffles, he also signed an old photograph of his during his journey into India.
Egypt's cabinet approved on Monday a national health insurance draft law and referred it to the legislative committee at the State Council for legal review, health minister Ahmed Emad said at a press conference.
The health minister said that according to the law, the government will fully cover treatment for citizens who cannot afford to pay who comprise 30-40 percent of the population.
Emad said that the new law will also guarantee a certain standard for quality of medical service, state news agency MENA reported.
Emad added that the Ministry of Social Solidarity will be in charge of determining which patients qualify for free medical care.
The draft law would establish three new administrative bodies to manage the new system: a financing body; a healthcare body that delivers the service in primary healthcare units and hospitals; and a body that will handle accreditation of service units and providers, quality of service, and supervision of operations.
Emad added that public hospitals will be the government's arm in the provision of services under the proposed health insurance law, while the participation of the private sector will be based on rules and standards set by the healthcare body.
The minister said that primary healthcare units will provide services to almost 70 percent of the cases, and overflow cases or patients in need of surgeries will be referred to hospitals.
An actuarial study commissioned by the ministry will determine the number of citizens who qualify for coverage.
If passed by parliament and ratified by the president, the new system will be implemented gradually, starting in the Suez Canal region.
The Doctors Syndicate had criticised an earlier version of the cabinet's draft for designating the National Healthcare Insurance Authority, the government body that has provided affordable healthcare to the population for decades, as a for-profit body where profits are made off patients.
The Doctors Syndicate had also criticised the bill for tasking public hospitals with providing healthcare, citing a decline in the quality of service in the public health sector.
It is not yet clear if the proposed bill addresses the syndicate's concerns.
Many Egyptians have for decades suffered from poor medical service and grim conditions at dilapidated state-run hospitals.
Egypt has allocated EGP 53.3 billion in the current 2016/2017 fiscal years budget to healthcare spending, representing 5.7 percent of total government spending or 1.6 of the GDP.
The share for healthcare in the budget has been criticised in recent years by doctors and patients as insufficient and far below international standards.
Article 18 of the country's constitution says that "every citizen has the right to complete healthcare, according to quality standards, and the government should preserve the healthcare infrastructure and support raising its efficiency. The government is obliged to accredit a percentage of their public expenditure to healthcare that is not less than 3 percent of the GDP."
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Egypt has denounced the Monday bombing in Russia's second largest city St Petersburg, which killed at least 10 people and injured dozens in an explosion that tore through a train carriage in the underground metro system.
In a statement on its official Facebook page, the Egyptian foreign ministry stressed Cairo's solidarity with the Russian government and people.
"There is no doubt that the recurrence of terrorist operations proves that no state is immune to terrorist attacks, and this shows the need for all to unite to put an end to this unprecedented wave of terrorism," the statement read.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was in St. Petersburg for a meeting with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko when the bombing took place, said that all possible reasons for the blast are being considered, including terrorism, media outlets reported.
Interfax news agency quoted an unnamed source as saying that the blast was caused by a bomb filled with shrapnel, according to AP.
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Shocked at today's deadly explosions in the St. Petersburg metro, Greece stands by the people of Russia and their government, expresses its deep condolences to the families of the victims and wishes the injured a speedy recovery.
The Greek Consulate General in St. Petersburg is monitoring developments closely, in cooperation with the competent Russian authorities.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has ended a two-hour meeting with US President Donald Trump, where the two announced they would be cooperating in the fight against terrorism.
El-Sisi praised Trump's "unique personality" and stressed Egypt's support of the US in the fight against terrorism, to which Trump said, "we will do that together."
The Egyptian president is set to meet on Tuesday with Jordan's King Abdullah II in Washington. He is also planned to meet with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson as well as members of Congress, the Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported.
This is the first official visit by an Egyptian president to the White House since 2010, when Hosni Mubarak met with Barack Obama.
Rhetoric from the two leaders since Trump's election in November has been warm, in contrast with relations under the administration of former US president Barack Obama, which grew strained after the ouster of Egypt's Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.
The Egyptian president was the first Arab leader to congratulate Trump on the phone after he was elected on 9 November, inviting him to visit Cairo.
In January, Trump said during a phone call with El-Sisi that his administration is committed to maintaining annual military aid to Egypt, praising El-Sisi's efforts in the war against terrorism and extremism.
Egyptian Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr said in a TV interview on Monday that US support of Egypt's economic reform programme was one of the main points of discussion between the two presidents.
Egypt has introduced a number of fiscal reforms, including subsidy cuts and new taxes aimed at stemming a growing budget deficit.
Last November, the Egyptian Central Bank floated the Egyptian pound with the aim of alleviating a dollar shortage and attracting foreign investors.
President Trump's administration had previously announced its support of Egypt's economic reform plan as well as El-Sisi's approach to counterterrorism.
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Bahrain's top court on Monday reduced the jail sentence of Shiite opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman, who has been in prison since 2014, a judicial source said.
The Sunni-ruled kingdom's court of cassation reduced Salman's sentence from nine to four years, the source said on condition of anonymity.
The cleric, who headed the now-banned Al-Wefaq opposition movement, had been arrested on charges of inciting hatred and insulting the state in December 2014.
He was found guilty in July 2015 and sentenced to four years in jail.
An appeals court later more than doubled his jail term to nine years, after reversing an earlier acquittal on charges of calling for regime change by force.
Salman, 51, is considered a moderate who has pushed for a constitutional monarchy in Bahrain, unlike hardline groups who have demanded the toppling of the Sunni Al-Khalifa dynasty in a string of protests that go back to 2011.
Bahrain has cracked down over the past six years on dissent by members of the Shiite majority, whom it accuses of being manipulated by Iran.
The kingdom last year ordered the dissolution of the Shiite Al-Wefaq, the country's main opposition party, for "harbouring terrorism".
Al-Wefaq was the largest bloc in Bahrain's elected lower house of parliament. Its lawmakers resigned en masse in protest against the state crackdown on the 2011 protests
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An agreement between Italy and Libya to fight people-smuggling in the north African nation will lead to migrants being returned to camps where they are held against their will, extorted and abused, Doctors without Borders (MSF) said on Monday.
Italy signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.N.-backed Libyan government in Tripoli - which was endorsed by the European Union - in February that promised training, equipment and money to fight human traffickers.
However, Arjan Hehenkamp, general director of MSF and head of the group's Libya mission, said the idea that migrants can be housed in a humane way on Libyan soil "is simply impossible".
"It's a dangerous fiction to think otherwise," Hehenkamp told reporters in Rome after flying in from Libya.
He added that anyone who thinks Libya is a safe port for migrants "is purposely living between alternative facts and la la land... It's simply impossible right now to think that Libya can be considered part of the solution."
He described seven of the camps in and around Tripoli as detention centres controlled by militias that are rife with violence and abuse.
Interior Minister Marco Minniti has said that human rights must be respected and that new camps should be opened with the help of U.N. agencies, but so far this has not happened.
The EU has so far trained about 90 people to work in the Libyan Coast Guard and Italy has promised to give them 10 patrol boats, the first of which are to be delivered by mid-May.
After a deal between the EU and Turkey largely shut down the sea route to Greece last year, the main passage for migrants to Europe now is through Italy by boat from Libya, where people-smugglers operate with impunity.
Migrant arrivals in Italy are up some 30 percent this year to 24,000, according to official figures, and an estimated 600 have perished trying to make the crossing.
Often they are rescued by humanitarian groups, which have come under scrutiny from an Italian court for allegedly favouring departures. The Libyan coast guard is already turning back some migrant boats.
Often those turned back end up in the same detention centres they were trying to flee, Hehenkamp said, where "a system of abuse and extortion" means migrants either pay smugglers for a sea passage or risk being sold into a form of slave labour.
Libya is controlled by a patchwork of armed groups that have built local fiefdoms which have vied for power since Libya's 2011 uprising, and two governments - one in the east and another in Tripoli - are competing for control.
"Returning people to Libya by the Libyan Coast Guard is questionable because they end up in detention centres," Othman Belbeisi, the International Organization for Migration's chief of mission for Libya, told Reuters last week.
"(But) smugglers are still known and seen. You can meet them in a cafe in the middle of Tripoli."
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LANSING The Michigan House, on Thursday, passed a four-bill package that would allow high schools students to take different courses needed to fulfill specific graduation requirements.
The legislation would change requirements in mathematics, health, English and foreign language.
Under current legislation, Michigan high school students are required to complete the Merit Standard Curriculum that requires a specific number of credits in science, English, mathematics and other courses to graduate.
The package of bills was supported by various trade and manufacturing associations.
The bills will now move to the Senate, where they are expected to be considered after lawmakers return from a two-week break.
Joe Murphy, superintendent of the Huron Intermediate School District, said the changes might provide more flexibility for students and their education.
"I think the key thing is we need to focus on the particular interest in every kid," Murphy told the Tribune. "... I think we aim to meet the individual needs for every child in Huron County."
"I'm still a firm believer that every kid needs education past high school," he added.
Under the new bills, English credits could be replaced with a combination of different classes students could take like computer coding or science classes.
Murphy said visual, performing or applied arts and world language courses can be replaced with three credits with "21st century skills."
"There are several high-paying trade jobs that kids can be introduced to at the high school level," he said.
One of the bills would allow for 30 hours of safety training by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to replace the requirement for a health education requirement.
The Huron Intermediate School District currently has a program in place that would meet those standards, Murphy said, and also has safety training courses implemented within several courses at the tech center, he said.
Although other districts in the state might see a change in graduation rates, due to the potential changes, Murphy anticipates Huron County will not see any major changes.
"I think Huron County's graduation rates are great already," he explained. "They may shift a little, but I see them staying relatively the same."
If the Senate passes the bills, Murphy said an implementation date hasn't been determined, but he said it could be for next school year.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
PIGEON The Mission/Outreach Ministry of Cross Lutheran Church will host a Mom 2 Mom Plus Sale and Bake Sale from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, April 29.
Direct sales reps, vendors, crafters, bake sales, businesses, advertisers, garage sale type booths, etc. and more are invited to rent tables. Individuals will have items for babies, children, families and moms. Entrance fee is only $2. Concessions will be available.
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...
Tunisian authorities have shut down a nightclub and begun an investigation after a DJ played a remix recording of the Muslim call to prayer, an official said on Monday.
A video, widely shared online since Sunday, shows clubbers dancing at the weekend to music that includes the call to prayer at the club in the northeastern town of Nabeul.
The footage sparked a storm of debate on social media.
The party, near the popular resort of Hammamet, had been organised by two European DJs.
"After confirming the facts, we decided to close this nightclub" until further notice, Nabeul governor Mnaouar Ouertani told AFP.
He said an investigation had been opened and the club's manager detained "for violation against good morals and public outrage against modesty".
"We will not allow attacks against religious feelings and the sacred," Ouertani said.
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At least 10 people were killed and 50 injured when an explosion tore through a train carriage in the St. Petersburg underground system on Monday, Russian authorities said.
Interfax news agency quoted an unnamed source as saying the blast was caused by a bomb filled with shrapnel.
President Vladimir Putin, who was himself in St. Petersburg for a meeting with Belarussian leader Alexander Lukashenko, said he was considering all possible causes for the blast, including terrorism. He was consulting with security services
Ambulances and fire engines descended on the concrete-and-glass Sennaya Ploshchad metro station. A helicopter hovered overhead as crowds gathered.
Video showed injured people lying bleeding on a platform, some being treated by emergency services and fellow passengers. Others ran away from the platform amid clouds of smoke, some screaming or holding their hands to their faces.
A huge hole was blasted in the side of a carriage with metal wreckage strewn across the platform. Passengers were seen hammering at the windows of one closed carriage.
Russia has been the target of attacks by separatist Islamist Chechen militants in past years. Islamic State, which has drawn recruits from the ranks of Chechen rebels, has also threatened attacks across Russia in retaliation for Russian military intervention in Syria.
Russian airforce and special forces have been backing President Bashar al-Assad in fighting rebel groups and Islamic State fighters now being driven out of their Syrian strongholds.
All Stations Closed
St. Petersburg emergency services at first said that there had been two explosions. But a source in the emergency services later said that there had been only one but that the explosion had occurred in a tunnel between stations.
The blast occurred at 2.40 p.m., well shy of the evening rush hour.
Authorities closed all St. Petersburg metro stations. The Moscow metro said it was taking unspecified additional security measures in case of an attack there.
Russia has been on particular alert against Chechen rebels returning from Syria and wary of any attempts to resume attacks that dogged the country several years ago.
At least 38 people were killed in 2010 when two female suicide bombers detonated bombs on packed Moscow metro trains.
Over 330 people, half of them children, were killed in 2004 when police stormed a school in southern Russia after a hostage taking by Islamist militants. In 2002, 120 hostages were killed when police stormed a Moscow theatre to end another hostage taking.
Putin, as prime minister, launched a 1999 campaign to crush a separatist government in the Muslim southern region of Chechnya, and as president continued a hard line in suppressing rebellion.
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Ford is recalling nearly 53,000 of its F-250 series pickup trucks due to the risk that they could roll away while in park due to a manufacturing error.
The recall affects the 2017 Ford F-250 built at the Kentucky Assembly Plant between Oct. 9, 2015 and March 30, 2017. The truck comes with a gasoline 6.2-liter engine.
"In the affected vehicles, a damaged park rod actuating plate might not achieve mechanical park within the automatic transmission after the driver moves the shift lever to park," Ford reports in a news release. "If the parking brake is not applied, this could result in unintended vehicle movement with the gear selector in park without warning, increasing the risk of injury or crash."
So until drivers are able to get that F-250 into the dealership, make sure the parking brake is active to make sure that big truck doesn't go rolling away.
The Dearborn-based automaker said it is unaware of any incidents or injuries related to the recall. This recall covers more than 48,000 pickup trucks in the United States, with the other 4,000-plus coming in Canada.
Dealers will replace the defective part outlined by Ford in the release for free.
Authorities say three people have been killed in a boiler explosion in a building in an industrial area of south St. Louis.
The St. Louis Fire Department said on Twitter that four other people also were injured, two critically, in the blast shortly before 8 a.m. Monday at the Loy-Lange Box Co.
Fire officials say at least three buildings have been damaged by debris.
No other details were immediately released.
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Venezuela's opposition sought to keep pressure on President Nicolas Maduro with scattered protests on Monday, but there was relief for the Socialist government when the Organization of American States cancelled a crisis meeting.
One group of protesters tried to block a major Caracas highway and another dropped a pile of straw in front of the Supreme Court, which last week controversially assumed the responsibilities of the opposition-led congress.
Though the top tribunal rowed back on that decision, which was condemned globally and led to unrest, the opposition is pushing to remove the judges responsible.
The OAS meeting was called at the weekend by a group of 20 countries concerned about democratic erosion in Venezuela under Maduro, who replaced socialist firebrand Hugo Chavez in 2013.
No reason was given for the cancellation of the meeting.
The cancellation, as Maduro's leftist ally Bolivia takes the bloc's presidency, was a "win for Venezuela," one Latin American diplomat told Reuters.
After a turbulent last week, the 54-year-old Venezuelan president was also delighted on Monday to see a win for socialist Lenin Moreno in Ecuador's presidential election, bucking a regional shift to the right.
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French presidential candidate Francois Fillon, an outsider to win after involvement in a financial scandal, said on Monday he would order a parliamentary inquiry into allegations President Francois Hollande interfered in the justice system, if elected.
Once the frontrunner, the conservative former prime minister's poll ratings have slumped since allegations surfaced that he paid his wife, a son and a daughter hundreds of thousands of euros of public money for minimal work.
Fillon, 63, who is being investigated by magistrates over the jobs allegations and over a gift of expensive suits, insisted on his innocence.
"If I had the slightest doubt about my guilt I wouldn't be a candidate in the presidential election," he told BFM TV.
He said he was the victim of "manipulation", but drew back from previous allegations that Hollande, a Socialist president who is not standing for a second term, had personally led a smear campaign against him. He said he could not prove this.
He said however that prosecutors should open an inquiry into allegations made in a book by two journalists from satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaine that Hollande had had judicial wiretaps that interested him sent to his office.
"Prosecutors should take up this case. If they don't do so and if I am elected president, there will be a parliamentary commission of inquiry," Fillon said.
Hollande's office has rejected Fillon's accusations and denied interference in the justice system.
NECK-AND-NECK
Two polls on Monday showed far-right leader Marine Le Pen and centrist Emmanuel Macron neck-and-neck in the race, with each predicted to receive about 25 percent of the vote in the April 23 first round.
Macron had a half-point lead over Le Pen in an IFOP-Fiducial poll, while an Opinionway poll gave Le Pen a one-point lead over Macron. Both polls had Fillon lagging well behind in third place.
Only the top two candidates go through to the May 7 run-off, where polls predict Macron would easily beat Le Pen, who wants to take France out of the euro and hold a referendum on EU membership.
All 11 candidates will take part in a televised debate lasting more than three hours on Tuesday evening, one of the main opportunities for many of them to reach a wide audience.
Investors are concerned the wave of frustration with political elites behind Britain's vote to leave the European Union and the election of Donald Trump in the United States could sweep Le Pen into power in France.
Former Prime Minister Manuel Valls said last week he believed Le Pen's potential vote was being seriously under-rated.
Macron told Le Monde in an interview on Monday that Fillon and Socialist candidate Benoit Hamon were wrong to focus their attacks on him, when Le Pen was the real threat.
"Those who say Marine Le Pen can't win the second round are the same as those who said Trump could never win. We don't know what can happen if she is far ahead in the first round," he said.
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White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer says the U.S. is condemning the "reprehensible" attack on the St. Petersburg subway that killed 10 people and injured about 40.
Spicer said: "Our thoughts and prayers are with the injured and with the Russian people," after a bomb blast tore through a subway train in Russia's second-largest city Monday.
Spicer says the U.S. is prepared to offer assistance to Russia.
He said, "Attacks like these on ordinary citizens just going about their lives remind us that the world must work as one to prevent violence in all forms."
Trump earlier denounced the attack as "absolutely a terrible thing."
There has been np immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
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Egypt's Minister of Petroleum Tarek El-Molla has signed four gas deals with Jordanian officials on the sidelines of the third Jordan International Energy Summit held on Monday in Amman.
The deals included a memo to import and export natural and liquefied gas, in addition to other deals brokered by the Jordanian-Egyptian Fajr Company for Natural Gas Transmission and Supply.
During the summit, El-Molla highlighted the latest gas deals signed by Cairo with Iraq and Cyprus, as well as Egypt's recently discovered Zohr natural gas field, the largest ever found in the Mediterranean.
The field was discovered in August 2015 by Italian oil company Eni, with an estimated 850 billion cubic metres of gas.
The first production from the gas field is scheduled by the end of 2017.
Egypts production of natural gas is currently estimated at around 4.4 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd), and is expected to increase by 1.5 bcfd by the end of 2017, according to a statement from the petroleum ministry last month.
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Alliance Air, a subsidiary of the debt-ridden Air India, is planning to go all-in on the government's Udan scheme. In fiscal year 2018 alone, the airline plans to add 20 more aircraft to its existing fleet of only 10.
"We will induct 10 ATR 72-600 planes in September. We plan to lease another 10 ATR aircraft within this financial year. In the following year, we hope to procure another 10 to 20 ATRs," Air India Chairman and Managing Director Ashwani Lohani had said addressing the media.
The ATR 72-600s, being 70 seaters, would be perfect for regional routes which are part of Udan. But with its parent company already neck-deep in losses, does such a huge investment justify the scheme, which hasn't even commenced?
Going by what analysts say, the Udan scheme poses a plethora of challenges for airlines that have won bids in the country's ambitious regional connectivity scheme.
Udan (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) is a scheme that will have five airlines namely SpiceJet, Alliance Air, Turbo Megha, Air Odisha and Air Deccan, to fly various regional routes to promote air connectivity in the country. On a one-hour flight, in these routes, 50 percent of the seats would be charged Rs 2,500.
The government will provide a viability gap funding (basically a subsidy) and bring down taxes for airlines that fly these routes. The government also promises to improve airport infrastructure of certain airports that are part of the new initiative.
Also, the airlines that have won the bids will enjoy three years of exclusivity on these new routes, which means no competition. Also, the aviation turbine fuel tax will also be brought down (Delhi and Goa have already agreed to bring down ATF tax to 1 percent on such routes from about 25 percent on an average).
Crude prices, which are expected to remain low, can also be considered a huge positive for airlines.
Despite the benefits, experts feel there are other aspects that are going to weigh on the airlines.
Airlines, for one, will be running on wafer-thin margins on RCS (regional connectivity scheme) routes. They will only be making money from the subsidies that will be provided. However, analysts fear that the government may delay subsidies, due to the high amount of bureaucracy in the system and corruption that may bog down the process.
Analysts are also wary of the state governments' commitment to provide tax benefits.
However, the biggest hurdle for the airlines, is going to be that of demand. While experts see certain routes, say Delhi to Shimla, to see better demand, most flights are expected to fly empty. This would mean the load factor, or capacity utilisation, is going to take a hit.
Even as the government makes tries to make air travel cheaper, the response from the aam nagrik remains key. It begs the question: Is Alliance Air right in spending so heavily on an uncertain scheme which hasn't even taken off?
Alliance Air is going to fly the very first flight under the Udan scheme from Bhatinda to Delhi later this month.
Morocco is hosting a month-long festival to celebrate African art and culture, featuring some of the continent's most prominent artists.
Activities including theatre, exhibitions and concerts are being held around Rabat as part of the Africa in the Capital event.
The festival follows a vast diplomatic, political and economic offensive by Morocco across the continent which culminated in its return to the African Union in January.
"We wanted to celebrate our Africanity and the return of Morocco to the African Union through the universal language of culture," said painter Mehdi Qotbi, president of Morocco's National Foundation of Museums.
Africa in the Capital is giving pride of place to contemporary art, "because we want to try to erase everything that is folklore and talk about Africa in the present," said Qotbi.
Works by artists including Congolese painter Cheri Cherin, Bruce Onobrakpeya of Nigeria, Aboudia of Ivory Coast and Wahib Chehata of Tunisia will be on display at Mohammed VI Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art until April 28.
Elsewhere in the capital, graffiti by German artist Hendrik Beikirch adorns a building while a train at Rabat station has been dressed in the multi-coloured works of the Ivorian artist Mederic Turay.
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
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Commercial vehicle companies were not as lucky as two-wheeler manufacturers as at least half of their BS-III stock remains unsold which are collectively worth more than Rs 5,400 crore.
Despite offering sky-high discounts during the last two days of March the commercial vehicle industry is saddled with stocks of 40,000-45,000 unsold BS-III trucks and buses.
Tata Motors, the countrys largest CV maker, is believed to own at least half of that inventory while the balance is shared between Ashok Leyland, VE Commercial Vehicles and Mahindra & Mahindra.
The inventory of Tata Motors is believed to be at least Rs 2500 crore while that of Ashok Leyland is expected to be at around Rs 750 crore. A mail sent to Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland, both of whom control 60 percent of the CV market, remained unanswered.
While the average discount ranges between Rs 3-4 lakh on medium and heavy commercial vehicle on some cases the discount went up as high as Rs 12 lakh on a Rs 20 lakh truck, as per dealers of both the companies.
Commercial vehicle (CV) makers disposed of over half their stock of BS-III vehicles before the Supreme Court-set April 1, 2017, deadline. The discounts and incentives on vehicles sold till March 31, 2017, are expected to have cost them about Rs 1,200 crore. Additionally, Rs 1,300 crore would be incurred to dispose of the unsold inventory. CRISIL Research estimates the impact of this on the Ebidta margins of listed truck makers (Ashok Leyland and Tata Motors standalone) to equal ~2.5 percent of their revenues, said a report by CRISIL released today.
When the Supreme Court asked the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers to submit data on unsold BS-III stock it was learnt that there were 97,000 units (equivalent to 1.7 months of sales) valued at Rs 11,600 crore left to be sold.
We estimate the remaining 40,000-45,000 units of unsold inventory to be returned in the upcoming months, mainly comprising less-popular models since there were instances of supply shortage in some popular BS-III models. The truck makers are likely to adopt a mix of the following steps to manage unsold BS-III inventory - upgrading them for resale, dismantling vehicles for spares or incur higher working capital for holding the inventory until it is exported (which could take 5-6 months), added the report.
Truck makers like Ashok Leyland are expected to shortly begin buying back the BS-III stock from its dealers. Dealers of Tata Motors are also hoping that the manufacturer will do the same though they have not been given any written assurances by the company.
The additional discounts and incentives are expected to have cost about Rs 1,200 crore of which the truck makers are likely to bear about 80 percent and their dealers the rest, added the report.
N.R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman Emeritus of Infosys, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Bangalore, February 28, 2012. India's IT industry, with Bangalore firms forming the largest component, is now worth an annual $100 billion and growing 14 percent per year, one of the few bright spots in an economy blighted by policy stagnation and political instability. Firms like Infosys, India's $6 billion outsourcing giant, are moving up the value chain in their own way and switching from traditional markets in the United States and Europe. Picture taken on February 28, 2012. To match Insight INDIA-OUTSOURCING/ REUTERS/Vivek Prakash (INDIA - Tags: BUSINESS EMPLOYMENT SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY) - RTR30CVS
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In February, questions over high payouts to current and former employees triggered a row between the Infosys board and the companys founders. The saga played out over a fortnight before an uneasy truce was called. Now, after a 40-day lull, the tension has resurfaced on the same issue.
On Sunday, Infosys informed the exchanges that its shareholders had ratified a move to grant a massive pay hike to Chief Operating Officer UB Pravin Rao.
Rao will now earn Rs 12.5 crore a year, an increase of 35 percent over his 2016 pay. He had received a 53 percent increase the previous year.
Soon after, founder and former chief executive NR Narayana Murthy circulated a letter to the media in which he objected to Raos raise, saying the steep hike was not proper and grossly unfair given that most employees only received a 6-8 percent increase in their salaries.
Those of us who have always stood for fairness in compensation and practised it, right from the day Infosys was founded, will have to demonstrate it when needed. This is a time when it is needed. Nothing more and nothing less, read Murthys letter.
With another boardroom battle set to play out at the countrys second-largest IT firm , lets recap how we got here:
First Salvo
Five of the seven original founders Murthy, Nandan Nilekani, SD Shibulal, Kris Gopalakrishnan and K Dineshare categorised as promoters of the company. Together, they own a 12.75 percent stake in the company.
On February 8, it emerged that the Infosys founders had written a letter to the board raising concerns over the governance of the company.
At the heart of the concerns raised in the letter, written in January, were high payouts to top-level personnel, including Chief Executive Officer Vishal Sikka.
Sikka's High Salary
Vishal Sikkas pay was hiked last year to USD 11 million a year. Of this, USD 3 million is his fixed salary and USD 8 million is a variable component, subject to Infosys progress in achieving its targets.
Infosys had earlier linked Sikkas compensation to its target of becoming a USD 20 billion company by 2021.
Severance Payouts
The founder also raised question marks over the severance packages given to former Chief Financial Officer Rajiv Bansal and General Counsel David Kennedy.
While Bansal, who quit in October 2015, was handed a Rs 17.38 crore severance package, Kennedy was in line to receive aggregate severance payments of USD 868,250 plus reimbursements.
Infosys issued a statement saying all these decisions had been made with full transparency.
Murthy Speak
Murthy wondered aloud whether Infosys was using the steep severance payments as hush money to hide something.
He also demanded that some good people be inducted to the board.
Amid reports that he questioned Sikkas extravagant lifestyle, Murthy said he had no personal issues with him.
Whistleblower Letters
In between, two whistleblowers sent letters to the countrys market regulator criticising the payout to Bansal and alleging irregularities in the USD 200 million acquisition of Israeli firm Panaya.
Sikka had refuted the allegations, saying they were calculated to mislead and sensationalise.
Press Conference
As the row threatened to escalate, Sikka and Infosys Chairman R Seshasayee called a press conference to explain the companys stand on various issues.
Sikka claimed it was not a battle and the duo promised to engage with the founders on their concerns. They also said a new severance package plan had been put in place to ensure there would be no more Rajiv Bansals.
Old Hands Speak Out
Infosys was then said to have hired Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas to review and address questions over governance.
Former CFO and founder V Balakrishnan had criticised this move and said the board had been a big let-down in engaging with shareholders. Fellow ex-CFO Mohandas Pai had also questioned Infosys capital allocation strategy.
Uneasy Calm
Murthy eventually called a truce with the Infosys board, saying it was made up of decent people. He said, however, that he was not withdrawing his concerns and expected the board to address them.
Seshasayee also claimed he had received a commitment from the Infosys founders and that they would convey their differences in-house and make them public. With his latest remarks, Murthy has now ended the truce.
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Shares of Dr Reddy's were up 4.21 percent on Monday with rumours that the company's Srikakulam active pharmaceutical ingredient unit cleared US FDA inspection with no major observations.
Srikakulam API plant also called CTO-6 is going through an US FDA re-audit that begun on 27 March. The audit is expected to end tomorrow.
Dr Reddy's declined to comment on the development citing market speculation.
Srikakulam API plant was issued a warning letter from US FDA in November 2015 and has undertaken remediation measures. US FDA in its warning letter reprimanded the plant for non-compliance of data standards in lab tests, unauthorized access, and poor record-keeping practices.
The plant supplies active ingredients for Dr Reddys captive consumption as well as for meeting its customer needs. The CTO-6 is the largest API manufacturing plant of the company contributing about 10 percent of sales when Dr Reddys received the warning letter.
Dr Reddy's said it collectively spent about USD 35-40 million on remediation work that includes legal and professional charges.
The drugmaker March received repeat observations from the US Food and Drug Administration on its Duvvada oncology formulation facility in Visakhapatnam.
Reliance Industries was up at 9-year highs on the back of Reliance Jio subscription numbers (72 million) and extension of the Jio Prime offer.
Most research houses are bullish on RIL. According to CLSA, Jio is a roaring success and expects 80 million subscribers by April 15 and March 2018, Jio will hit 100 million subscriber mark. The house has Rs 1500 price target on RIL.
Meanwhile, Credit Suisse expect the Jio to have average users of 120 million in FY18 and FY19 would be around 160 million.
However, Nitin Soni, Director-Asia Pacific TMT at Fitch Ratings says although the 72 million number looks good, they are the customers who have paid Rs 99 for the prime membership but it is not necessary that these customers my pay Rs 300 on a monthly basis.
So the exact number of customers that will remain with Reliance Jio will be known after the extension ends.
However, this would surely be credit negative for the other incumbents.
Fitch has a B+ and rating watch on Reliance Communications and on Bharti Airtel they have a BBB- stable outlook.
Disclaimer: Reliance Industries Network 18 Media that publishes moneycontrol.com
After Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy publicly slammed the company over COO UB Pravin Raos compensation hike, the IT major's management now is seeking clarity from shareholders on the role of promoters.
Infosys has written to its institutional shareholders for a reply on what role should promoters play in the day-to-day working of the company, people privy to the developments told CNBC-TV18.
On Sunday, an email from Murthy criticising the hike given to Rao went viral. Raos fixed salary was increased by Rs 4.62 crore while the variable component was Rs 3.87 crore, depending upon the companys and his performance.
Read more: A recap of Infosys row: Narayana Murthy's fresh salvo revives spat over compensation
Giving nearly
Pakistan: History of assassinations | Imran Khan: Victim of an endless cycle of violence| World News
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The Centre has given green nod for setting up 1,320 MW coal-based super critical Khurja Thermal Power Project at a cost of Rs 9,747.5 crore in Bulandshahar district, Uttar Pradesh.
The proposed project to be implemented by state-run THDC India Ltd (THDCIL) along with the UP government will address the electricity shortage being faced in northern India.
The proposal is for setting up two units of 660 MW and the power generated from the project will be evacuated through 400 KV transmission systems by Power Grid Corporation Limited.
"The environment ministry has given the final green clearance to the Khurja Power Project with some conditions," a senior government official said.
Among conditions specified, the company has been asked to take separate environment clearance for township construction. It has also been told to take necessary permission from Water Resource Department for diverting the Aligarh natural drain from the project site.
Estimated cost of the project is Rs 9,747.5 crore.
About 1,400 acres of land is required for the project, of which 1,200 acres has already been acquired. The coal requirement would be 5.4 million tonnes per annum which will be sourced from the Madhya Pradesh State Mining Corporation.
A total population of 4,171 will be affected from five villages due to the project activities. Employment generation during construction phase will be 2,000 and operation phase will be 900, the company said in its proposal.
It may be noted that THDCIL is establishing generating stations in various regions of the country for supply of power to states in the concerned and other regions. Khurja Super Thermal Power Station in Bulandshahr district is one such station being set up for supply of power to the beneficiaries of northern region and Uttar Pradesh.
THDCIL presently has 16 projects totalling to an installed capacity of 8,796 MW under various stages of implementation/development.
Educational institutes, which rank higher in the governments rankings based on the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), will be given additional grants and funding by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD). The ministry has brought out the India Rankings 2017 based on NIRF where Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore topped the overall list of institutes.
Prakash Javadekar, Minister of Human Resource Development, said, These rankings will help increase the credibility of these institutes. From now on, the grants/funds to institutes will based on their rankings as per NIRF. This will promote healthy competition.
Data infographics by Ritesh Presswala
NIRF was approved by the MHRD and launched in September 29, 2015. This is the second year of the ranking. In 2017, general degree colleges have also been made part of the ranking.
Apart from the overall ranks, categories like engineering, management, pharmacy, universities and colleges have been classified in various buckets. Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad bagged the top slot among management institutes while Indian Institute of Technology, Madras secured the top rank among engineering institutes.
While it was a surprise to see many top institutions like Presidency University of Kolkata and St.Stephens College, Delhi missing from the list, Javadekar said that this could be because several institutes did not participate in the ranking. He added that now that funding to the institutes is linked to the ranking, many more institutes will come forward and be a part of the process.
He added that this will also be helpful for students as well as parents to choose an appropriate institute. Apart from using metrics like placements, faculty qualifications, peer perception, public perception to rank the institutes, MHRD has also included employer perception to rank them from this year onwards.
Among universities, IISc Bangalore topped the list followed by Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and Banaras Hindu University. JNU also secured the sixth position among the overall rankings.
With the Supreme Court's ban on liquor sales within 500 metres of national and state highways coming into force from April 1, several states are staring at a huge revenue loss and are looking at ways to minimise the impact on revenue.
Many states are considering denotifying state highways within cities and towns and turning them into urban roads. States have also approached the Centre to find out if it can convert national highways into city roads to steer clear the Supreme Court order to shut down liquor vends and bars along highways.
According to officials, a state can denotify the state highways within cities and towns in the state. For national highways, states need to approach the Centre.
To counter the ban, the state administrations of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and the Union Territory of Chandigarh have reportedly begun denotifying state highways to circumvent the ruling, an excise official told The Times of India.
According to the official, there have been several cases earlier where national highways were denotified as urban or major district roads.
The Ring Road stretch that passes through areas such as South Extension and Bikaji Cama Place in Delhi was a national highway earlier, which was rechristened as an urban road. Union Territory of Chandigarh has declared state highways as major district road about a month ago to avoid a Supreme Court ban.
According to an industry body estimate, the collective revenue loss from the ban could around Rs 50,000 crore. States which are dependent on tourism are the worst hit. These include Goa, Rajasthan, and union territories of Daman and Diu.
Maharashtras Excise Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Sunday said the state government will lose Rs 7,000 crore as a result of the ban on liquor sale along the highways, according to Press Trust of India. Around 15,699 establishments are likely to be hit in Maharashtra and the state is looking to denotify state highways around major cities like Mumbai, Pune and Thane.
In Haryana, around 200 bars around Gurugram (Gurgaon) are likely to be affected by the ban. Goa has seen around 30 percent of its liquor outlet shut down following the Supreme Court order.
Tamil Nadu has been hit very badly, with as many as 3,320 outlets run by state-owned sole retailer TASMAC being closed. In the national capital Delhi, about 100 bars and hotels along the highway have been closed located.
The ban has also put millions of jobs at risk in the hotel and tourism sector. The Indian hospitality industry has government intervention to seek a way out of the ban as many five-star hotels, restaurant and pubs have stopped serving liquor. Cities of Mumbai, Delhi and Gurugram are the worst hit the ban as many pubs and hotels along the highways have gone dry.
In a tweet, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant also said: "Tourism creates jobs. Why kill it?".
Oberoi Group President Kapil Chopra also alluded to the impact on jobs.
"It is very important that government and private sector should come together to resolve the issue as around 1 million jobs will be impacted due to the ban and the revenue loss too would be enormous," he said.
Malaysia today expressed keen interest in investing in Rajasthan, especially in tourism and infrastructure sectors.
Prime Minister Najib Razak, who arrived in the pink city as part of his six-day visit to the country, held talks with Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and senior officials to discuss investment opportunities for Malaysian companies.
Najib noted that the state has emerged as an investment- friendly destination. He said Malaysian investors are interested in several sectors including tourism, one of the prominent industries in Rajasthan, and infrastructure development in which the Malaysian companies have expertise.
Raje invited Malaysian companies to invest in infrastructure development, tourism, water management, urban development, transport, health care and other sectors.
Both the leaders explored possibilities of direct air connectivity between Malaysia and Rajasthan, developing the state capital Jaipur as medical tourism hub, strengthening of healthcare infrastructure and building affordable housing.
Additional Chief Secretaries of Public Works, Urban Development and Tourism departments of Rajasthan gave presentations in the meeting.
Transport minister Yunus Khan, Urban Development and Housing minister Srichand Kriplani, Industry Minister Rajpal Singh, Tourism minister Krishnedra Kaur, senior officials of the state government, Indian High Commissioner in Malaysia T S Tirumurti, High Commissioner of Malaysia to India Hidayat Abdul Hamid were also present in the meeting.
Earlier in the day, the Malaysian PM, his wife Rosmah Mansor and other delegates were given a traditional welcome at the airport here.
They were greeted by state ministers and Jaipur Mayor Ashok Lahoti.
Kalbelia dancers and other artistes enthralled the guests with their performance.
The Art of Moving is a feature length documentary by German filmmaker Liliana Marinho de Sousa.
The film won the Best Feature Documentary award at the 3rd BBC Arabic Festival, which ran between 24 and 30 March.
The Art of Moving tells a touching story of Daya El-Taesh, which is an anti-Islamic State satirical web series created by a group of Syrian video activists. They produce the episodes from their base in Gaziantep, Turkey. The film shows how they had to keep changing houses to avoid being discovered.
The film uses the video diaries of the four protagonists while moving from one place to the other, we see their daily lives and conversations in Istanbul and non-typical interviews with the protagonists reflecting on their lives, futures and the Syrian revolution.
On a rare sunny day, Ahram Online met with the filmmaker in Londons Regents Park to talk about the film and its production process.
Ahram Online (AO): You are basically a social worker and you do not have a background in filmmaking. This is your first feature documentary. What triggered your interest in the film's topic?
Liliana Marinho de Sousa (LS): I have been working as a social worker for many years with several NGOs in Germany, teaching teenagers and school students how to make mobile videos and short documentaries to tell their own stories and report on their societies. Then I decided to study film, and this was my graduation project from the Film Institute in Germany.
AO: But why Syria? You live in Europe and work with European teenagers.
LS: I went to Istanbul to volunteer at a documentary film festival, and this is where I got to know filmmakers from Syria living in exile in Turkey.
It was fascinating to me how they still insist on supporting the revolution by making films about Syria. It was inspiring how they are trying to sort out their personal lives in a new country, yet they are still working for the Syrian revolution.
I decided to make a film about this, and I met a lot of people and visited lots of cultural institutes searching for a story, until one day I met a German journalist working for The Guardian in Istanbul who told me she wrote an article about Daya El-Taesh.
I read the article and decided to meet them. She put us in contact, I took my camera and they came to meet me at a bus stop in Gaziantep; a town in south eastern Turkey, 60km from Syria.
They were very cautious. They did not give me their address. They met me first at the bus station, and when they trusted me they took me to the place where they worked. I did some pre-shooting and went back to Istanbul to get the German film fund's approval, and by the time I got it they were already threatened and had to move to Istanbul.
I sent them a video camera by mail and asked them to do a video diary documenting the car ride from Gaziantep to Istanbul.
AO: The film portrays a very sad reality, a real story of a group of satirical video makers who are threatened by Daesh and the Syrian regime, yet the film is funny and the audience couldn't stop laughing during many scenes. Did you do that on purpose?
LS: It was very important for me not to make it too heavy. They are funny and they keep making jokes even in the darkest situations. I was lucky, they gave me a good movie.
At many times I was feeling bad as the more they fell in trouble the more I was shooting. On the one hand, I wanted to be there for them and help them out. On the other hand, I wanted to document their lives and the irony that they make people laugh, yet their lives are so difficult. I was having a guilty conscience, but in the end when the film was finished I was glad I was able to document their journey.
AO: You do not speak Arabic, yet your protagonists do. How did you deal with the language barrier?
LS: I was talking to them in English and they were answering in Arabic. I tried to get a Syrian translator but this did not happen without difficulties. Two translators left in the middle of production as they were waiting in Istanbul in transit heading to Europe. In fact, the same happened with two sound technicians who left me for the same reasons.
There was also the trust issue. My protagonists were hiding and were always threatened, so they had to run a background check on anyone I bring to their place. In the end I decided not to bring any more translators, and I worked with the DOP, who is Turkish.
AO: In your film, you do not have traditional interviews, and sometimes it looks very natural with the camera following them as they go about with their lives Did you have a script? Did you plan the scenes?
LS: No, I never told them what to do. I sometimes asked them questions in English that I cut out at the editing. I had very few interviews. I was asking them free-form, non-structured questions.
AO: How did you decide on the format of the film?
LS: I wanted to follow their daily lives. We didn't have a fixed schedule, like shooting every Monday or Tuesday. I was always calling them and asking them what they are doing, and sometimes I decide I would shoot the next day.
I started by shooting their dairies until the police and the previous tenant broke their studio. Because of the language barrier, it was very tense. We needed time to get close and have this relationship that allows us to film their difficult lives full of uncertainties and constant moving.
For six months I was calling them and visiting them, sometimes they told me they are under too much pressure with the TV series they were shooting and the threats from the Turkish authorities, as they were residing and shooting illegally.
Sometimes they were under so much pressure that they would cancel the shooting on the same day after I had booked everything. Sometimes it was very difficult and there were moments I when wasn't sure the project would ever see the light of day.
AO: Did you ever feel that your personal safety was at stake during the production?
LS: No, I didn't feel threatened at all. My protagonists were threatened; their house was destroyed, the Turkish police was after them. They were threatened by both the Syrian regime and ISIS.
They were living with no electricity or water. I found myself worried about them and their safety. Maen, the main protagonist, took the bus to Izmir, and then a boat to Greece, then crossed to Europe by foot, to Hungary then Macedonia, it was very scary, and borders were getting more difficult to cross.
I had daily challenges like how to shoot with no electricity or how to follow my protagonists who are constantly moving, but I never felt unsafe.
AO: Did you find it difficult pitching the film to festivals?
LS: Yes, some festivals were not interested as there were so many films coming from Syria or about refugees, and sometimes they didn't even want to see my film as the market is saturated. But the film is going to the Istanbul Film Festival in April, and this is very special to me because the film was shot there. Mohamed and Youssef, my two protagonists, live there and the production company is there.
There has been one screening and there will be another in Germany. The film was nominated for Best Production at the 46th Potsdam Student Film Festival.
AO: You are German, and you lived and worked there most of your life. Why were you interested in making this film?
LS: The thing I love most about this film is that it is an intercultural production, with Germans, Turks and Syrians.
The language barriers were not easy to handle, it was very painful yet very fruitful, and I enjoyed every minute of it.
We live in one world, and there are so many refugees in Europe and the threat of Daesh is not only in the Middle East, it's everywhere. We need to understand that we are living together.
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The government's fight against counterfeit currency and black money may get a leg up with the Reserve Bank of India exploring the possibility of bringing in new Rs 200 bank notes. The central bank is awaiting approvals from authorities to print new Rs 200 notes, people privy to the developments told Network18.
Besides, the RBI has also proposed printing new Rs 1,000 notes.
They said that the new notes will come with additional security features, sources said. To check counterfeiting and for better security, the central bank has also proposed changing features of all notes every 3-4 years, they added.
Meanwhile, plastic currency notes will soon be a reality in India, with the RBI being authorised to conduct field trials of plastic Rs 10 banknotes.
In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal had last month said "it has been decided" to conduct a field trial with plastic notes at five locations of the country.
While the minister said that the plastic notes are expected to last longer than the existing cotton-substrate based banknotes, durability is only one of the factors that may have prompted this change in thinking
The plastic notes will also be difficult to imitate, offer better security features and will also be more energy efficient.
Central banks across the world have been exploring different solutions like plastic notes to have better security and easy movement. Currently, 20 countries including Canada, New Zealand, Vietnam and Australia use polymer or plastic notes.
A report by the PTI states that in a high-level meeting last week, Home Ministry officials said that like other countries, India must change security features on notes every few years.
Indian currency hasnt been changed much in the last decade. Only after demonetisation in November last year, changes were made in the Rs 500 note, which was launched in 1987.
According to officials, even the new notes that were introduced had features similar to the old notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500.
British Finance Minister Philip Hammond will lead a "heavyweight" trade mission to India next week with the message of 'Make in India, Finance in UK' in an effort to boost international trade post-Brexit.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Hammond will visit Delhi and Mumbai alongwith Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney and UK government ministers, including Commercial Secretary Baroness Neville-Rolfe and International Trade minister Mark Garnier, the UK government said today.
The delegation is part of the annual UK-India Economic and Financial Dialogue and also includes some of the UK's most experienced leaders in financial services and leading FinTech entrepreneurs.
"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," Hammond said in a statement.
"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," he noted.
British Prime Minister Theresa May had set the ball rolling on Britain's exit from the European Union (EU) as she triggered Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty last week.
The trip has been described as a significant opportunity 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.
"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," the Conservative party minister added.
During the visit, Hammond is set to focus on "Prime Minister Modi's 'Make in India' vision, which is devised to transform the country into a global manufacturing hub".
He will set out how the UK is perfectly placed to become India's leading finance partner to help it deliver on its plans.
The UK is already the world's largest exporter of financial services and the leading centre for FinTech.
India's ambitious growth aspirations require it to develop its financial infrastructure and tap into global investors, with estimates suggesting that it needs over USD 1.5 trillion of capital in infrastructure investment alone in the coming years, said the statement from Hammond's No 11 Downing Street office.
"The UK and the City of London are therefore perfectly placed to be India's partner of choice to raise the finance it needs to deliver on its plans," the Chancellor will say in his message during the visit.
Hammond will also recognise the major opportunities for collaboration for British FinTech firms, specifically as India continues its drive towards a society "less dependent on cash, using technology to increase access to banking and finance for everyone".
This ongoing push across India means that its "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."
Almost 80 per cent of all masala bonds issued in London was highlighted as a sign of the strong bond between the two countries.
Another recent collaboration highlighted includes British firm Standard Chartered, who employ over 18,000 people in India, recently sponsoring a new Chevening Scholarship programme between the two countries.
This will see eight top Indian leaders of the future attend an intensive course in financial services in London this year.
Exim Bank plans to raise up to USD 3 billion from overseas markets this fiscal.
"We would be looking to raise between USD 2.5-3 billion in the current fiscal year," Export Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) Managing Director David Rasquinha told PTI.
In 2016-17, the bank raised more than USD 2 billion from markets abroad, he said.
Depending upon market conditions, Exim Bank borrows money tapping overseas resources.
"Even if we don't use money right away, I can deploy it as liquidity because as a financial institution we have to think long term. Our assets go right up to 20 years," Rasquinha said.
Exim Bank funds long-term projects in Africa, SAARC countries and those in far east. Of its total funding every year, half of the credit goes to African nations.
Talking about geographical mix in terms of lending, Rasquinha said that Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Myanmar are strong areas in the Indian neighbourhood.
In East Asia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos are important countries, he added.
The African continent poses tremendous opportunities for Indian businesses and there are a lot of commonalities between India and Africa when it comes to development, he said.
"At Exim Bank, we are trying to promote Indian investors to do business in Africa in power, renewable energy, railways, roads and agriculture," Rasquinha said.
Intas Pharma has emerged as India's most-valued privately-held pharmaceuticals company, at USD 3.5 billion (Rs 23,000 crore) following a private-equity transaction.
According to a report in the Times of India, PE firm ChrysCapital sold 3 percent stake in the company for Rs 690 crore.
A privately-held company is a firm that has less than 50 shareholders.
Intas is among India's top 10 pharma companies with annual revenues of Rs 6,600 crore (USD 1 billion) and has a 2.8 percent domestic market share.
The company was founded by Hasmukh Chudgar about 40 years ago. He still remains the chairman of the company, while his sons Binish, Nimish and Urmish are part of executive management.
After the transcation, ChrysCap's stake in Intas will come down to 3 percent: it is one of the most successful PE investments made in the country.
The PE firm had purchased 10 percent in the company for Rs 50 crore in 2005 and added another 6 percent subsequently. In 2014, it sold 10.16 percent in the company to Singapore Temasek Holding, valuing it at USD 1.5 billion making a 20-fold gain.
Intas has a 5.3 percent share in Indian chronic illness market and is ranked fourth largest pharma player as per IMS data. The company is also present in cardiovascular system, diabetology, gynaecology, respiratory care, gastroenterology and most other therapeutic segments.
Intas acquired Actavis UK and Ireland from Israel's generic drug giant Teva for USD 750 million in an all-cash transaction last year, boosting its international operations. The company garners 60 percent revenue from over 70 global markets.
Speaking about business outlook and demand scenario going forward Baba Kalyani, CMD of Bharat Forge said that North American heavy truck market is beginning to show signs of some robustness.
North American Class 8 truck orders reported double-digit growth for two months. The order average for last 3 months at 21,900 vs 15,200 between August and November. Year on year orders in February were up 28 percent at 22,900 units in 2017.
Markets including Western Europe, North America and even to some extent Latin America are better positioned than what they were last year, said Kalyani in an interview to CNBC-TV18.
Below is the verbatim transcript of the interview.
Latha: What is the status of the North American truck market? Are you definitely sure that it has troughed out and you are seeing more strength?
A: The North American heavy truck market has bottomed out. It is beginning to show signs of some robustness. However, I would say that from our side, where we are sitting, we are seeing almost all markets whether it is Western Europe, North America and even to some extent Latin America, all in a much better position than what they were last year.
Sonia: On an average for the last three months, we have seen these truck orders come in at around 22,000 units or so. Do you think things can get better from here or is this level that could be sustained over the next few months?
A: Last year the heavy truck market was somewhere in the region of 205,000-210,000. We have not got the full numbers yet. This year's projection was that it would be around the same. The expectation now is it might be at least 10-15 percent better than that. So, things are looking up; things are looking up in every geography, every sector of the economy and that is good news.
Anuj: Last year in November you had made an acquisition as well in US, Walker Forge, and we had spoken about it after that, that was this sense of market bottoming out, any more acquisitions in the work right now?
A: We are always on the lookout for something that works for us. Our acquisition strategies are very different than other companies, but we wanted to get a footprint in North America for a long period of time. We had one, many years ago which had to be sold out because it was in a location where we were not being very competitive. However, this one is good and we plan to expand the footprint organically, not necessarily through acquisition, but we will also look at opportunities as and when they exist.
Latha: Can you give us a little more colour about the domestic auto ancillary market. The medium-heavy commercial vehicle segment was showing a bit of a subdued performance. Is that turned around or looking like turning around and what about the non-commercial vehicle demand?
A: As I have said in my Q3 update, we had expected Q4 truck market in India to be pretty strong largely on pre-buy because of Euro-IV implementation and that exactly is what happened. There was a strong pre-buy. Now, because of the Supreme Court order on no Euro-III vehicles can be sold after April 1, we expect to see even Q1 to be much better than the original plan.
Sonia: I also wanted to ask you about the shale gas drilling equipment business because we have seen a significant amount of pickup there and you have a big presence there or rather a growing presence in that segment. What kind of growth do you see over the next three to six months? Your oil and gas revenues itself went up four times quarter-on-quarter in the quarter gone by, are you looking at more growth from this segment?
A: In the medium-term, yes, we are looking at a much higher growth from the segment. In short-term what you saw, it went up from almost nothing to wherever it was. So, that is why it looked like four times. The base level was very low.
However, we are now focusing to a very large extent on the domestic requirements of oil and gas equipment. What we have seen is that we supply to the US market and the US customers then supply the same product back into the Indian market. Under the 'Make In India' activity, it might be a lot better if we supply it directly.
Sonia: So that would mean better margins and more volumes for you as well, right. If you don't have to route it through the US markets and back to India?
A: It physically goes to the US and then comes back.
Latha: You see that changing?
A: Yes, I think it will change. I think we have to get 'Make In India' activity bite into our economy a little harder than what it is biting right now.
Latha: The other segments - railways and aerospace, aerospace in particular, have you seen anything come by, any timeline when we can see it hit the profit and loss (P&L)?
A: We are exactly on track as far as our aerospace business is concerned. We have said that by 2020 we will have that as a USD 100 million vertical and we are pretty much on track. We have the domestic aerospace market which has started getting traction. So, we are quite confident that we will be on track.
However, you have to understand, in the aerospace, the USD 100 million is the critical mass that we have to do hard manufacturing. After that it is going to be exponential growth.
Latha: Final question on the state of the economy itself. You service a large number of segments even if automobiles dominate. What is the sense you are getting, is there a capex uptick, are we turning around as an economy?
A: I think the Indian economy is doing, in my opinion, extremely well. One can always argue that it needs to do better, but it is doing extremely well. Look at the auto sector numbers; they are doing well in spite of a very major decision of demonetisation where we had all kinds of debate. I think that decision was very wisely taken, very reasonably well implemented and that is behind us, most important is that it is behind us.
We are seeing a lot of investment in the core sector; we are seeing a lot of opportunities in railways. Defence opportunity is something that is, I would say, in the pipeline, we havent seen anything on the ground yet, but it is just a matter of time when you will start seeing it on the ground.
To safeguard investors interest, the capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India has asked credit rating agencies (CRAs) to give a 30-day prior notice to investors before withdrawing ratings of any open-ended mutual fund scheme.
Open-ended mutual fund schemes being perpetual in nature and having no specified maturity, withdrawal of rating of such schemes is permitted, SEBI said in a circular.
However, as units of such schemes are held by many investors, such ratings shall be placed on notice of withdrawal for at least 30 days, which shall be publicly available on the CRAs website.
This move has been taken post consultation with credit rating agencies and representations received from the industry.
The credit rating agencies will also have to cite appropriate reasons on withdrawal of rating. Further, CRAs will have to issue a press issue before such a withdrawal.
To be sure, credit rating agencies are already providing an assessment of debt funds depending on investment objectives, management and creditworthiness of the portfolio. Though a positive credit rating gives confidence to investors and distributors, the fund selection largely depends on the portfolio of a scheme, believe experts.
Further, the market regulator has asked CRAs to withdraw their ratings after receiving request from AMCs. Currently, very few AMCs use CRAs to rate their funds. The primary purpose is to cater to institutional clients as such clients have internal guidelines for selecting a fund for investments.
If you have just breathed easy after running around for one week to make those investments to save on income tax, here is an opportunity to avoid a repeat of the last weeks headaches next year. Most individuals prefer to forget about money and taxation when the new financial year starts in April. Hence there are shorter or no queues, nor is there pressure to decide quickly. Put simply, NOW is that time of the year where distributors and advisors are willing to listen to you and make the extra effort to fulfill your demands. Do not let the income tax and money management take the back seat once you enter April.
Here are five money moves that you should make now.
Open a PPF account: Public provident fund (PPF) may appear to be the least glamorous thing to do when the stock indices are touching new high. However experts take a different view. Given the government guarantee backing PPF, it is a good vehicle to start investing. Invest in the first five days of April to maximize the interest on your investment, says Amar Pandit, CEO of Mumbai based My Financial Advisor. If you invest at the beginning of the year you enjoy the interest for the entire year whereas if you invest towards the end of the year you miss on the interest earning opportunity. For the quarter April-June 2017, you are offered tax free interest at the rate of 7.9% per year in addition to the tax break it fetches for the investment up to Rs 1.5 lakh per year under section 80C of the Income Tax Act.
National Pension System (NPS) makes a strong case given the low charges and the exposure it offers to stocks, bonds and government securities. It helps you to build your retirement corpus over your working life. You can buy an annuity from an insurance company after you retire from the proceeds of NPS account. If you are below 35 years, go for autooption in NPS which enables you to invest as high 75% in stocks. Over a period of time the exposure to stocks is reduced and ends up creating large corpus for the investor by the time you retire, says Nikhil Kothari, chief financial planner, Etica Wealth Advisors.
The enhanced tax benefits make it further attractive. One can enjoy tax benefit for an investment up to Rs 50,000 per year. Lack of liquidity was a serious issue for NPS. However over last two years the government has allowed tax exempt withdrawal of money up to 40% of NPS account balance at the age of 60. Budget 2017 also proposes for a tax exempt withdrawal of 25% of the money before retirement.
Sip your ELSS: Investments in tax saving funds, technically termed as equity linked saving schemes (ELSS) are catching the investors interest. Till February 2017, tax saving mutual funds have seen net inflows of Rs 7,191 crore in FY 16-17 as compared to Rs 4,577 crore in the same period previous year. Though buoyant stock markets make one consider ELSS as a tax planning tool, one should not ignore volatility in the stock market. The best way to invest in tax saving fund is through systematic investment plan. If you start in April, you get enough time to invest in ELSS through SIP and benefit from rupee cost averaging, explains Pankaj Mathpal, certified financial planner and Managing Director, Optima Money Managers.
Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana: Aimed at creation of corpus for well-being of a girl child, Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY) makes a smart investment option for you. You can open an account in your daughters name and invest money every year. You get 8.4% tax free rate of interest on your investments in SSY as of now. Contributions to SSY are also eligible for tax deductions under section 80C of Income Tax Act.
Buy the right cover: Insurance bought in a hurry generally leads to either inadequate cover or unwanted product. If you begin planning your insurance purchase in April, you have adequate time on hand to research available options in the market, points out Pankaj Mathpal. You can quantify your insurance needs and pick the right option that serves the purpose. Buy adequate amount of life, health and personal accident insurance cover.
If you start investing early, you give more time to your money to compound . Define your financial goals as soon as possible and save money as per your asset allocation, advises Amar Pandit. If you take some serious steps in the right direction now, you stand to get a good head start in your money matters.
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Angel Broking's currency report on EURINR
Euro currency spot traded lower by 1.4 percent (EURUSD) and 2.2 percent (EURINR) higher in the last week owing to mounting fears over Brexit negotiations and Greeces debt deals. Greece and its international creditors are discussing on pointer like labor reforms, spending cuts and energy issues. Adding to the chaos, the IMF has asked the debt - ridden nation to adopt strict labor reforms as a condition to join an 74billion (86 billion) bailout program, so far funded only by Euro - zone creditors. It is very important that both the parties move closer to clinching a deal before a meeting of euro zone finance ministers on 7 th April 2017. Due to all the above factors, EURINR spot is expected to trade sideways owing to ongoing political uncertainty.
EURINR spot is expected to trade sideways owing to ongoing political uncertainty.
Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts/broking houses/rating agencies on moneycontrol.com are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
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Shares of MEP Infrastructure Developers touched 52-week high of Rs 55.25, gains 4.8 percent intraday Monday as it has achieved financial closure of the project in the state of Gujarat.
The companys subsidiary MEP SANJOSE Mahuva Kagavadar Road has achieved financial closure as per the concession agreement executed with NHAI for the project of four laning of Mahuva to Kagavadar section in the state of Gujarat on Hybrid Annuity Mode under NHDP Phase IV," as per company release.
The bid project cost is Rs 604.68 crore out of which project finance will contribute Rs 272.11 crore and remaining contribution will be funded by grant of Rs 241.87 crore from NHAI and equity contribution of Rs 90.70 crore of the subsidiary company.
The construction period of the project is for 2.5 years from the appointed date and concession period of 15 years (excluding construction period).
The company will receive Bi-Annual Annuity from NHAI post COD.
The company has now achieved financial closure of six of its HAM projects which are awarded by the authority and successfully tied up total project finance of Rs 1726.65 crore towards all six HAM projects.
At 09:48 hrs MEP Infrastructure Developers was quoting at Rs 55.25, up Rs 2.50, or 4.74 percent on the BSE.
Posted by Rakesh Patil
A robot speaks to attendees at the Oberthur Technologies stand at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain March 1, 2017. REUTERS/Paul Hanna - RTS110JB
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Tata Motors said its subsidiary TAL Manufacturing has received 'CE' certification for Made-in-India robot 'BRABO' for its commercial sale in Europe.
"The TAL BRABO now complies with essential requirements relevant to European health, safety and environmental legislation, permitting export of the TAL BRABO Robot to customers in Europe," Tata Motors said in a statement.
It said the BRABO can be used for varied applications like pick and placement of materials, assembly of parts, machine and press tending, as a sealing application, camera and vision based jobs, among others.
The BRABO can also complement human workforce by taking over dull, dangerous and monotonous jobs.
With the BRABO, TAL Manufacturing will focus on automotive, electronics, logistics, food, packaging, pharmaceutical and other industries.
The current list of BRABO customers includes Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Diebold, CPG Industries, Hydromatik, SGK Industries, RTA Spa Italy, BITS Dubai Campus, Suparna Plastics, Micromax Systems, Twin Engineers, AM Ecosystems and Kaziranga University, the company said.
The movie competed with 11 films from different countries
Egyptian actor Amr Saad has won the Best Actor Award on Saturday for his role in Egyptian film Mawlana at the 23rd Tetouan International Mediterranean Film Festival in Morocco, according to Ahram Arabic news website.
The film won in the Feature-Length Films category, where it competed with 11 other movies from different countries. Egyptian Director Yousry Nasrallah presided over the judging committee in this category.
Directed by Magdy Ahmed Ali, Mawlana explores the misuse of religion in politics in recent past years and the hidden world of Sheikhs and their relations with security institutions, politicians, and businessmen.
The script is written by prominent Egyptian journalist and editor in-chief of Tahrir newspaper Ibrahim Eissa based on his book of the same name.
Starring Amr Saad, Dorra Zarrouk and Ahmed Magdy, the movie was also selected in the Dubai International Film Festival's Muhr category.
Sabah Distribution Company chose not to screen Mawlana in Lebanese cinemas after the Beirut Censorship Authority objected to scenes that it said could incite sectarian strife.
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From The Namesake to Outsourced, films and sitcoms about immigrant Indians in the US are not a new phenomenon. But a new film on the theme is causing a stir with its subject matter.
Starring Ali Fazal (Fukrey) and Omi Vaidya (3 Idiots), For Here Or To Go? highlights the struggles by Indian immigrants who live in the US on the H1B temporary work visa and reflects on how ambition is affected by immigration status. It claims to be inspired by true immigrant stories.
The protagonist of the comedy-drama is Vivek Pandit (Ali Fazal), a young techie set to become a top hire at a healthcare startup. However, everything falls apart when the company realises that he has less than a year remaining on his work visa.
As he tries all means possible to get his visa extended, he encounters fellow immigrants who are considered temporary workers.
The film comes at a time when the US government has strongly hinted at implementing strict visa curbs to crack down on foreign workers, as the new regime pivots towards an 'America First' policy. A bill was introduced in the US House of Representatives proposing to double the minimum wage limit for highly skilled workers from abroad.
Indian IT workers would be the worst affected by this reform and tech companies are now making efforts to step up their local hiring in light of the uncertainty. But White House spokesperson Sean Spicer said recently that the US may take longer than expected to tighten the laws as it undertakes a "comprehensive" review of the policy.
The film was directed by Rucha Humnabadkar and is written by Rishi Bhilawadikar, an IIT graduate who experienced the H1B uncertainty first-hand and currently works in San Francisco as an interaction designer.
While it has received moderate reviews from the mainstream media, the film has ruffled the feathers of American right-wingers.
The movies basic message is that foreigners are entitled to live in the US if they want to do so, regardless of American law or Americans wishes, reads an article on Breitbart News headlined "Cheap-Labor Lobby Funds New H-1B Song-and-Dance Movie".
The H1B visas are meant for highly-skilled foreign workers, but the article says the movie offers a very flattering image of the almost 1 million H-1B middle-skill contract-workers holding white-collar jobs throughout the United States.
Until recently, Breibart News was headed by President Donald Trumps Chief Strategist Steve Bannon.
The movie was released just four days before the US starts issuing H1B visas from April 3. In all, 85,000 H1B visas are up for grabs in this financial year. More than 2.36 lakh petitions were submitted last year and the recipients will be decided by lottery.
Restaurant and bar owners in Gurgaon have decided to meet Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma and Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar seeking resolution to their problems after the Supreme Court order banning sale of liquor along highways came into effect.
Calling it a "black day" for the hospitality industry, Kapil Chopra, President of the Oberoi Group, said, "We completely respect of the Supreme Court judgment, but with this judgment thousands of bars and restaurants have been affected in India."
"We are trying our best to solve this problem in all mediums as it has severe impact on us. We should have strict law on drunken driving. We should spread more awareness about drunken driving," he said.
"We have big hotels and licence for running bars and pubs, a small liquor vend near highway can be relocated but how can we relocate such a big hotel?" he asked.
Manbeer Choudhary, President of Haryana Restaurants and Hotels Association, said, "It will hit government revenue, employment and tourists. We are hoping that the Centre as well as the Haryana government will help us and give a suitable way to come out from this problem."
"We will talk to the Haryana chief minister to guide us as it is a loss of Rs 5,200 crore revenue," Choudhary said, adding that they would also raise the issue with Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma.
Out of 375 bars, 200 pubs have been closed in Gurgaon.
Choudhary said many banquet halls and marriage halls along the national highway too will be affected.
The Supreme Court had in an order said that liquor vends within 500 metres of national and state highways will have to shut down from April 1.
There was a time where using your thumb impression was a sign of lack of education.
But thanks to the government's efforts, the thumb can soon be used by everyone to carry out bank transactions.
The Narendra Modi government plans to launch Aadhaar pay on April 14, coinciding with the birthday of BR Ambedkar, according to a report in the Economic Times.
What is Aadhaar Pay?
This is a payment system that requires biometric data of an individual. For a person to deposit cash or transfer money or carry out any other bank transaction, all they would need is their thumb impression and the transaction will be carried out. This provision is for people who have linked their bank accounts to their Aadhaar.
How does it work?
It is a simple process. To complete your financial transaction, you have to punch in your Aadhaar number and then give your thumb impression which acts as a password.
Public sector banks (PSBs) have to adopt Aadhaar Pay by April 14 as per the Finance Ministry directive and the state-run banks will have to convince merchants to come on board.
As per an official, the government is expecting 5 lakh merchants to bring the new payment system in place.
To encourage merchants to embrace Aadhaar Pay, PSBs have been advised to make sure the rental charges to set up a PoS terminal does not exceed Rs 100 per month for small merchants.
As the government is persuading more and more people to go digital, it is also taking efforts to make it easy for all to use internet. People have been reluctant to carry out payments online but post demonetisation the shift is visible.
Aadhaar Pay is another initiative by the government to make banking and payments quick, easy and hassle free.
Representative Image
According to a Supreme Court judgment, One for the road is permissible if the joint you are having a drink at is located 500 metres away from a highway. Recently clarifying upon its December 2016 order banning the sale of liquor within 500 metres of national and state highways the apex court said the directive covers hotels and restaurants apart from all liquor vends.
There is no doubt that the impact on the liquor and tourism industry will be huge apart from the tax collection for the government. Industry bodies are crying about job losses.
When Kerala imposed a ban on liquor, several industry conferences usually held in the picturesque state shifted to Sri Lanka. The states hospitality industry is still coming to terms with the ban and is battling the withdrawal symptoms.
Ironically, the man behind the PIL (public interest litigation) Harman Sidhu is himself saddened with the outcome as his own favourite watering holes were along the highway. Sidhu intended to stop people from drinking and driving but the Supreme Court has delivered a judgment that will impact the economy in a big way.
An injury from a drink driving incident had prompted Sidhu to file the PIL. He blamed the Chandigarh administration for the predicament of watering holes across the countrys highways.
Highways are supposed to be on a city perimeter meant for long distance traffic, but in Chandigarh many city roads have been termed highways. Chandigarh had declared many of its thoroughfares as state highways in 2006 as the municipal corporation did not have the resources to maintain these stretches. It wanted central funds for their upkeep.
Now, the entire country has to bear the brunt of this action by the Chandigarh administration.
Irrespective of Chandigarh administrations mess up, the Supreme Court judgment causes a lot of inconvenience. It seems to be making the assumption that drivers cannot take a 500 metre diversion to get their fill. Further, the presumption is that people who drink are all drivers, even those having their drinks in 4- or 5- star hotels. Finally, does drink-driving occur only on highways?
The judgment is expected to hit hotels which are along the airport and most airport roads are highways. In states like Goa, where an arterial road doubles up as a highway, the 500-metre rule essentially covers locations where majority of tourist hotels are present. Reports say that the Taj Palace and Taj Mansingh hotels in Delhi will also be impacted by the ruling and will have to stop serving liquor.
Rather than an outright ban, the ideal way would have been to improve monitoring of drink-driving with severe punishment for offenders. Mumbai has shown the way in strict monitoring with a sharp drop in drink-driving cases.
Drink-driving is a menace and needs to be tackled with a severe hand, but stopping sales on the highways will only take the business underground. This will cause more social problem in contrast to the honourable Supreme Courts intentions.
State governments are already finding a way around the apex court's judgment by de-notifying the highways. The very route adopted by Chandigarh administration to notify its roads as highways is now being used to circumvent the SC judgment. This could impact the infrastructure quality of roads, an issue that the states hope can be handled at a later date. Right now the priority is to get people intoxicated.
For a week The French Institute in Cairo and Cimathque will offer films, publications, and discussions on Serge Daney's work
The French Institute in Cairo and Cimatheque present a homage and retrospective for the French film and television critic Serge Daney, running between 9 and 12 April.
Daney, who died in 1992, was an influential film critic, who went on to develop television criticism, and personal theories of the image.
His theory on the moving image highly influenced the direction of the tenth Documenta exhibition in 1997, one of the most important international contemporary art exhibitions.
He was the subject of a number of documentaries between 1987 and 1994, and also hosted hosted a weekly broadcast on France-Culture radio station called Microfilms between 1985 and 1990.
He published four books in his lifetime that held collections of his articles.
Daney's work is less known outside France and Europe film circles to a large extent because it hasnt been widely translated.
Under the direction of Egyptian film critic Aly Hussein El-Adawy, the week will include a number of film screenings, discussions and publications all centered on the work of Daney.
Programme:
Film screenings will take place daily between 9 and 12 April
At 4pm at Cimatheque, 19A Adly St., 5th floor, Downtown, Cairo
At 7pm at The French Institute in Cairo, Madrasset El-Hoqooq St., El-Mounira, Cairo
For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture
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NORRISTOWN With just days until the 2022 general election a board room on the eighth floor of One Montgomery Plaza was filled with an air of contention. Public comment surrounding election practices including the dozen drop boxes posted across...
The only one that couldn't make it had a pretty good reason not to be there...
2 hours ago
Spring is finally here for good, and as light green and new blooms fill our landscapes, it might be time for me to suggest a few books for the new season.
In Argos: The Story of Odysseus as Told by His Loyal Dog, Carrboro author Ralph Hardy retells the classic adventure story of Odysseus travels after the battle of Troy. Seagulls, sparrows, turtles, and other animals tell the dog Argos about his masters encounters in the cave of the Cyclops, on the island of the lovely Kalypso, and on the sea at the mercy of Zeus and other Greek gods.
Young Adult author Renee Adhieh from Charlotte has wowed the Young Adult book market with The Rose & The Dagger and her earlier book, The Wrath and the Dawn. Both are based on an ancient Persian tale in The Arabian Nights about the beautiful Scheherazade. She volunteers to marry a murderous king who each night marries a woman and then has her killed the next morning. Her stories reminded me of the Biblical book of Esther. Adhieh says her stories are like a Persian version of Beauty and the Beast.
Duke Professor Timothy Tysons new book, The Blood of Emmett Till, relates the 1955 kidnapping and brutal killing of Till, a 14-year-old black youth from Chicago visiting relatives in Mississippi. Tills encounter with an attractive white woman broke the color code and prompted her husband and brother-in-law to punish him. When Till's bloated and mangled body was discovered and returned to Chicago for an open-casket funeral, America was horrified and, according to Tyson, the impact of the Till lynching resonated across America for years, touching virtually everyone who heard.
These are the opening words of Hillsborough author Nancy Peacocks novel, The Life and Times of Persimmon Wilson:
I have been to hangings before, but never my own.
Her book is a wild adventure tale of a slave, who escapes, serves in the Union Army and becomes a ranch hand in Texas. Then, after being captured by Indians, he becomes one of their warriors, attacking and killing white settlers, stealing their horses and burning their homes and barns all the time seeking his beloved, another former slave.
Every North Carolinian who wants to understand our states struggle for social justice should know the role Julius Chambers played in opening the doors for blacks and other minorities and in opening the eyes of whites to see how an oppressive segregated system burdened all citizens.
Julius Chambers: A Life in the Legal Struggle for Civil Rights by Richard A. Rosen and Joseph Mosnier tells Chambers amazing story.
Beginning in 1964 when Chambers opened his law practice in Charlotte, he initiated a whirlwind of legal actions that attacked and often overturned traditional discriminatory practices in education, employment, and government.
How Chambers overcame the racism that permeated North Carolina public life to gain recognition as one of the nations greatest lawyers is an important story the authors tell very well.
Greensboro native Matthew Griffins debut novel, Hide, is the story of two older men who have long lived together on the outskirts of a small North Carolina town. Frank is a World War II veteran, tough talking and covered with tattoos. Wendell is a taxidermist. They have paid a heavy price for being gay, but the storys power comes from the tortured and tender way in which Wendell and Frank adapt to the aging Frank's rapidly deteriorating physical and mental condition. Griffins accomplished and beautiful writing signals that Hide will be only his first in a long line of successful novels.
All these books will be featured on UNC-TVs North Carolina Bookwatch during April.
D.G. Martin hosts North Carolina Bookwatch, which airs Sundays at noon and Thursdays at 5 p.m. on UNC-TV.
Developed market indices hit all time highs in March, driving discounts on close-ended funds to their narrowest level in 15 years. Investment trusts are trading at an average of 5% discount today, moving from an 11% discount directly after the Brexit vote, according to a report issued by an investment firm Stifel. Among the 33 investment trust sectors examined by Stifel, a third of them have seen discounts narrow to less than of 2%. Investors interested in adding closed-end funds to their portfolio are in danger of missing out on a bargain if they do not act promptly.
The S&P 500 hit all-time high at 2,395 on March 1, while the FTSE 100 reached its highest level at 7,429 on March 20. The FTSE 250, which includes smaller and more domestic-focused companies in the UK, also hit its highest level of 19,151 last month.
The narrowing of discounts reflects supply and demand dynamics for trust shares in the market, with investors being net buyers of shares against a background of strong stock market return. Following the EU referendum investors have generally seen strong returns from many investment trust sectors with a combination of forex gains, buoyant stock markets and discount narrowing being a perfect cocktail to generate some strong capital gains, said Stifel.
The other driver of narrowing discounts in investment trusts are increasing use of discount control mechanisms and other measures to enhance shareholder value, Stifel added. Infrastructure Trading at Highest Premium The narrowing average discount has also been boosted by the increased number of infrastructure and renewable energy funds which are now trading on the highest premium across all sectors. These sectors now make up 11% of the total sector market cap, Stifel said. US President Donald Trumps promise to increase infrastructure spending, alongside the UK Chancellor Philip Hammonds similar plans, have created a solid backdrop for investment in infrastructure assets. Investors, keen to profit from the politics, are buying infrastructure funds. This rise in demand has meant infrastructure trusts are trading at the highest premium across sectors at 10.2% in March. Amongst the infrastructure sector, the largest premium on a trust is 20.6% and the lowest premium is 7.9% in the last 12 months to March. The renewable energy sector is trading at 9% premium. Data from Morningstar Direct showed that among Gold Rated funds by Morningstar analysts, Gold Rated Scottish Mortgage (SMT) and Gold Rated Baillie Gifford Japan (BGFD) are trading at the highest premium at 3.5% and 3.3% respectively. Scottish Mortgage was on a 5% premium last week after joining the FTSE 100, compared with an average 2% premium, Stifel said. Another trust Monks (MNKS) has also seen demand tighten the discount, currently at 2%, compared with a 12-month average of 9%. This fund is Bronze Rated by Morningstar analysts. Commodities Trading at Discount Despite Rally Commodities and natural resources trusts are trading at an average 18.1% discount, the highest discount across sectors, despite of their gains in 2016. Commodities were the best performing sector in 2016, with Silver Rated BlackRock World Mining (BRWM) topping the best performing investment trusts in 2016. The fund gained 100% in 2016. It is currently trades on a 14.7% discount. The trusts performance longer term has been more volatile and over a 10-year period it has annualised returns of 2%. This trust carries significant risks, as its holdings incorporate high exposure to movements in base-metal and gold prices, said Fatima Khizou, Morningstar fund analyst. This trust is only for investors seeking dedicated exposure to miners, Khizou added. The management team at the trust is highly experienced and investors here have been well compensated over the long term, said Khizou. Political Headwinds for European Trusts Europe and European Smaller Companies trusts were among the cheapest sectors, trading at 7.3% and 10.7% discounts respectively. Ahead of French presidential elections in April, investors are feeling nervous of European equities. UK investors appetites for Eurozone equities remain at the lowest level relative to other asset classes, according to the latest Lloyds Bank investor sentiment index. However, as the European electoral season and the political landscape becomes clearer, the political risk premium on Europe should fade, raising new investment opportunities, European equities team at Invesco Perpetual said in a published note. The more potent driver to long-term equity market returns is not politics, but rather, economic and corporate fundamentals, the note read. The Cheapest Gold Rated Trusts Morningstar data showed that seven closed-end funds rated Gold by Morningstar analysts are trading at discounts. Gold Rated BlackRock Smaller Companies (BRSC) offers the largest discount of 17.6%. It follows by Aberdeen Asian Smaller (AAS) that is trading at 14.5% discount. David Holder, senior analyst with Morningstar said BlackRock Smaller Companies performance has been robust over all time frames, together with a solid process and competitive fee structure. The trust aims to achieve long-term capital growth for shareholders through investment mainly in smaller UK quoted companies. Other Gold Rated investment trusts trading at discounts are Standard Life UK Smaller Companies (SLS), Schroder Japan Growth (SJG), Schroder Asian Total Return Inv. Company (ATR), Jupiter European Opportunities (JEO) and Murray International (MYI).
Shares in Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) fell 60% this morning after the UK chipmaker reported Apple (APPL) would stop using its products in 15 months to two years time.
Being the largest customer of Imagination Technologies, Apple paid license fees and royalty revenues to the chipmaker for its technology and intellectual property. The chipmaker has formed the basis of Graphics Processor Units in Apples phones, tablets, iPods, TVs and watches.
The chipmakers business is expected to take a hit as Apple said it is developing its own technology to reduce its future reliance on Imagination Technologies. Apple license fees and royalties, as disclosed in Imaginations Annual Report, represented revenue of 60.7 million for the year ended April 30 2016 and are expected to be approximately 65 million for the year ending April 30 2017.
However, Imagination Technologies expects that it would be extremely challenging for Apple to design a new technology from basic without infringing its intellectual property rights, according to its statement.
Apple has not presented any evidence to substantiate its assertion that it will no longer require Imaginations technology, without violating Imaginations patents, intellectual property and confidential information. This evidence has been requested by Imagination but Apple has declined to provide it.
"Apples notification has led Imagination to discuss with Apple potential alternative commercial arrangements for the current license and royalty agreement, the statement read.
In early trading, shares of Imagination Technologies fell sharply as the market digested the news regarding its deal with Apple. At one point, the companys shares were down more than 70%. Shares of the chipmaker are down 63.8% to 97p at midday.
Data compiled by Morningstar.co.uk revealed that Baillie Gifford & Company Limited is the largest shareholder of Imagination Technologies with 11.6% holdings. It is followed by M&G Investment funds and Standard Life Investments which owns 10.5% and 8.7% of the UK chipmaker. Apple owns 8% of Imagination Technologies.
Apple: What the Analysts Say
Brian Colello, senior equity analyst with Morningstar thinks Apple is still innovating with introductions of Apple Pay, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and AirPods, each of which could drive incremental revenue but, more important, help to retain iPhone users over time.
Apples iPhone and IOS operating system have consistently been rated at the head of the pack in terms of customer loyalty, engagement and security, which bodes well for long term customer retention.
We suspect that Apple is trying to accelerate replacement cycles for the iPad, as it appears that the useful life of an iPad does not mirror that of a smartphone in the two- to four-year range, but rather approaches the life of a PC in the four- to six-year range, said Colello.
Apple's iPad unit sales in 2016 were 43% lower than those in 2013, which analysts attribute not only to longer useful lives for iPads, but also to cannibalization from larger-screen iPhones. In light of aggressive low-end tablet competition from Amazon in particular, Colello thinks it is important that Apple keeps iPhone users within the iOS ecosystem as much as possible, rather than having users become device- and operating-system-agnostic, which in turn could limit Apple's pricing power on its crown jewel iPhones over time.
However, Apples recent decisions to maintain a premium pricing strategy may help fend off gross margin compression but could limit unit sales growth as devices may be unaffordable for many emerging-market customers, said Colello. Future US immigration and trade policy could have negative ramifications for Apple, which has significant overseas operations and manufacturing partnerships, Colello added. The stock is rated three stars by Morningstar analysts, meaning analysts believe the stock is trading on its fair value estimate.
President Donald Trump says if China is not going to solve the problem of North Korea, "we will."
"China has a great influence over North Korea," Trump told London's Financial Times. "And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they won't... and if they don't, it won't be good for anyone."
Trump hosts Chinese President Xi Jinping at the U.S. leader's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida Thursday. Their two-day summit will undoubtedly focus on North Korea and its nuclear program. Threats and sanctions, including China's recent cut-off of coal imports from North Korea, have failed to deter Pyongyang's drive to become a nuclear armed power.
U.S. experts warn North Korea is planning its sixth nuclear text. Tokyo called a February North Korean ballistic missile launch over the Sea of Japan "intolerable." Deputy National Security Adviser K.T. McFarland told the Financial Times it is conceivable North Korea could have the ability to hit the U.S. with a nuclear-armed missile by the end of the Trump administration in 2021.
Appearing on ABC television's This Week broadcast Sunday, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said it is time for China to act and stop making "excuses that they're concerned, too."
"They need to show us how concerned they are. They need to put pressure on North Korea. The only country that can stop North Korea is China," Haley said.
Canadas apartments are emblematic of the broad regional differences in terms of real estate sector performance, if a recent report from real estate search platform RentSeeker.ca is any indication.Leading the pack among the priciest cities for apartments is Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories, with one-bedroom units going for an average of $1,401. Wood Buffalo in Alberta came second at $1,251 for the same housing type, while Oakville in Ontario is next at $1,214.Despite being long-time epicentres of Canadian housing activity, one-bedroom apartments in Vancouver and Toronto are surprisingly not the most expensive in the country, clocking in at (respectively) $1,159 (ranked 4th) and $1,132 (ranked 6th).RentSeeker.ca emphasized, however, that the real-time asking price for a majority of new rental properties is likely closer to $1,700 to $2,300 in Vancouver, and closer to $1,300 to $1,400 in Toronto.Meanwhile, Atlantic Canada hosts all ten of the cities with the most affordable apartments nationwide. Eight of these marketsincluding least expensive Shawinigan ($381 for a one-bedroom unit)are in Quebec, while two are in New Brunswick.
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Toronto condo sales reach record highs in February
New home construction picks up, offering latest evidence of economic momentum
Attorneys Weigh in on MSAs, Builder Incentives, The CFPB, and RESPA
Welcome to Q2! I am attending the NYMBA conference for a few days, but 1,300 miles south, in Florida (aka "God's waiting room"), folks are talking "real estate boom." Tampa now takes the title of the nation's healthiest housing market, at least according to TenX, a real-estate auction and analytics company which rates locations based on a number of key factors, including population and job growth, unemployment rate and wage growth, as well as industry-specific indicators like inventory and construction.
Builder Incentives, RESPA, and MSAs
Following the Prospect Mortgage Consent Orders there has been a lot of RESPA chatter, including questions about builder incentives. I received this note from Chicago-based attorney Brian Levy (Katten & Temple, LLP) about it.
"The Prospect Orders did not directly address RESPA issues with builder incentives, but many of the same concerns raised in Prospect regarding coupling payments with referral type obligations could be extended to builder/lender relationships as well. At the same time, builders, who are in the business of selling their own homes, are very differently situated than the Realtors in Prospect.
"The Prospect Orders pose a challenge for anyone who couples MSA's or similar arrangements with offering incentives to consumers to use the providers making the payments. The CFPB's conclusion in Prospect was that the payments made by Prospect to the Realtors was in return for referrals, not something else like leads, marketing services, or web advertising etc. The Orders did not analyze whether the payments were for 'services rendered' as would be expected under Section 8 (c) (2) of RESPA and CFPB probably contends that 8 (c)(2) analysis needs to wait for certainty from the PHH appeal. Rather, CFPB simply looked at what else was going on in Prospect's relationships (i.e., payments made by Realtors to their agents, statements made about the relationship, endorsements, exclusivity, incentives etc.) and concluded that the relationships were really just about paying for referrals. Specifically, of concern to the builder incentive question, the Prospect Order suggests that even a prequalification requirement in a Realtor's form agreements (allegedly based on having confidence in only certain lenders' approvals), was likely a subterfuge for a paid referral arrangement. CFPB took the position that any lender's approval is as good as another and even argued that offering a consumer discount by the Realtor was another example of referral activity in return for payment.
"Yet, whether a pre-qual requirement or financial incentive, standing alone, is the same thing as a 'referral' under RESPA remains an open legal question. CFPB staked out a position in Prospect much different from where HUD came down on that issue. The Eghbali Consent Order from last May only adds to the confusion on when a consumer discount can be a RESPA violation. On the other hand, not all incentives to use a provider are coupled with any MSA type payments or relationships. Further, as home sellers, builders have a much stronger argument that it is truly in their best interests to offer incentives to consumers to use preferred lenders, and that is what drives the desire to have an incentive, rather than as an effort to drive referrals for payment. Meanwhile, Affiliated Business Arrangements have a special RESPA exemption that is technically a safe harbor if the 3 requirements are met. For AfBA's, the critical test on incentives is whether the consumer is 'required' to use the affiliated lender. Courts have found that reasonable incentives not to be a 'required use,' so it seems unlikely that the Prospect reasoning would be extended to builders offering reasonable incentives to use an affiliated lender."
Mr. Levy wrapped up with, "Ultimately, a builder (or any referral source) who offers reasonable incentives to consumers to use preferred lenders based solely on confidence in service levels should have nothing to fear under RESPA. Coupling such an incentive, however, with an MSA or similar arrangement, could raise similar issues to Prospect for the CFPB if your narrative isn't strong enough to overcome CFPB skepticism. At that, builders have a much better story to tell than Realtors, but it is imperative that the parties to strategic alliance arrangements understand and can articulate that any incentives are unconnected to any payments." Thanks Brian!
And Shumaker Williams, P.C.'s J. Steven Lovejoy, Esq., writes, "Recently you posted yet another piece on Zillow advertising and, generally, Marketing Services Agreements in the context of possible RESPA issues. You included a 'Top 10 things you need to know before you buy a lead or participate with a referral source in lead generation.' I subscribe to most of those, but have a caveat about 'thing' number 7, which read: 'Paying for a Referral Partners ad to generate leads on any platform, such as print or Internet, is a RESPA Section 8 violation unless you have shared space equal to the percentage you are contributing. For instance, if you pay for 50% of the ad, then you must have 50% of the size of the ad.'
"It's not that simple. If the cost is split 50-50, the size allocation is not the only factor. One must consider the overall content of the ad, its component parts and the respective benefits received from the ad. For example, assume a mortgage company and a realtor get together to sponsor one of those magazines you find at the grocery store with pages and pages of property listings. You might think the realtor gets more bang from the listing ad than the mortgage company. But the mortgage company is unlikely to get business from the ad unless the recipient is firstly interested in the property. So, the portion of the ad that talks about the property benefits BOTH the realtor and the mortgage company. We also need to look, however, at whether the space use, prominence and content of the copy identifying the realtor and the mortgage company are 50-50. Is there roughly equal contact information for both parties?
"In our joint marketing agreements, we also include a monitoring and adjustment clause such that, if, over time, the mortgage company gets little business from the ad in comparison to the realtor, the 'split' of the cost is adjusted accordingly. Even a fair 50-50 split described above in 'thing' #7 could violate RESPA if the mortgage company received little or no business from the ad, in comparison to business received by the Realtor.
"The upshot is that any proposed joint advertising should be vetted with a RESPA-knowledgeable attorney to determine whether there is any significant risk that the arrangement could be considered payment of a referral fee. Moreover, the joint marketing arrangement should be spelled out in a contract that applies these RESPA-derived principles. True joint advertising to the public has not been declared violative of RESPA so long as each party pays a fair portion of the cost, each side gets benefit from the ad, and the benefit is not tied to referrals.
Rob also indicated that the MSA/Zillow discussion has triggered renewed questions about builder incentives to new home buyers for using a preferred, or even related, lender or mortgage broker. I refer you to my January 16, 2016 piece on Rob's blog that analyzes this issue in depth. Nothing has changed on that front since then. RESPA does not prohibit offering a financial incentive to a borrower. That is not a kickback or referral fee, UNLESS the lender directly or indirectly funds the incentive offered to the buyer by the builder." Thank you, Steve!
Capital Markets
One person's opinion is just as good as someone else's, right? Certainly, Fed presidents have been talking about "reducing the balance sheet," e.g., the trillions of dollars of MBS on its books. The Federal Reserve is likely to begin reducing its $4.5 trillion balance sheet in early 2018, JPMorgan economist Michael Feroli wrote in a research note. He expects the Fed to stop reinvesting in mortgage-backed securities next year and to reach its target by early 2024. Projecting things 7 years out? Wow.
Looking at rates, on Friday they stayed in the range we've been for a while despite the Chicago PMI topping expectations for March. And MBS prices held their own. The 10-year note closed nearly .250 better to yield 2.40% while the 5-year note and agency MBS prices improved about .125 by the end of the day.
Looking ahead to this week we have a lot of scheduled news cumulating with Friday's employment figures. Today, besides another spate of Fed speakers, we'll have Markit PMI, whatever that is, along with the March Institute of Supply Management PMI, and February Construction Spending. Tomorrow is February's Trade Balance and February Factory Orders. Wednesday is the usual MBA's survey of last week's apps, but also the March ADP Employment Change, March ISM Services, and March FOMC Minutes. Thursday things continue with March Challenger Job Cuts, and Initial Jobless Claims. Friday is the big kahuna with the March employment numbers. With all that coming up we commence the week with rates not much different than Friday afternoon: the 10-year is yielding 2.39% and agency MBS prices are "unched a bunch."
Jobs and Announcements
For business opportunities, an independent mortgage banker seeks an equity partner to expand its current platform. The Company is licensed in several Western States (including Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington) with a full operations center in California. Approvals include Fannie-Mae, FHA full Eagle, VA and Reverse, and current channels include retail and consumer direct. Ideal candidates include real estate brokerage firms looking to establish an in-house lending division, a mortgage banker looking to increase its footprint in California, or investment firms looking to add a mortgage banker into its portfolio of investments. For a confidential discussion, please e-mail Rob Chrisman; principals only please; specify opportunity.
A retail mortgage banker, based in the Los Angeles area, is seeking a motivated DE underwriter for an Underwriting Manger position. The candidate must have at least 7 years of continuous experience in conventional and government underwriting and guidelines, and their responsibilities will include but are not limited to managing underwriting pipeline and the team, underwriting files sales scenarios, and escalations. Great benefits and positive work environment. The Lender is currently licensed in California but has pending approvals in several other Western states. It is a direct lender/correspondent and a HUD DE and VA Approved office with over 30 LOs. Confidential resumes can be submitted to me for forwarding; please specify opportunity.
"Would you like the opportunity to sell the most disruptive technology in the mortgage industry space? If you are self-motivated, a team player, able to communicate clearly, and have sales and mortgage experience Indecomm Global Services wants you. Indecomm is looking to hire a dynamic Sales Director to represent Indecomm's SaaS technology platforms. If this sounds like something you are interested, please email your resume to Linda Bomar."
The Mortgage Bankers of the Carolina's Executive Director Rhonda Marcum (who was partially responsible for naming my cat Myrtle) is retiring, and MBAC is searching for an Executive Director. "The next Executive Director must have drive, determination, and passion for our industry and our members deserve the best of the best. This person, who should reside in N or S Carolina, must possess or be willing to master strategic planning, budgets, team building, data gathering, growth strategies, assessment, communication, bookkeeping, sales, the website, operations plans goals and objectives for the organization just to name a few. Travel and overnight stays will be required. The salary will be determined by The Board and the job will be very rewarding to the right individual." Contact Candy Nicodin (843-958-1092).
Evergreen Home Loans is growing and looking for a Director of Information Technology. "The qualified candidate will have strong leadership & strategic skills and a passion for supporting a sales culture and promoting a family atmosphere grounded in mutual respect as we continue to grow organically and support the addition of new branches. Must have proven track record with leading the Help Desk, Network Infrastructure, Business Applications Development, Business Intelligence department and with Loan Origination Systems. A moving allowance for qualified candidates to relocate to Bellevue/ Seattle, WA area will be provided. Since 1987, Evergreen's focus has been on providing a WOW full service home buying experience. We originate, fund, and service home loans and have approvals with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae, and have been one of Washington's 100 Best Companies to work for by Seattle Business Magazine in 2016, 2015 and 2014. Fortune Magazine ranked Evergreen no. 12 in their national survey of best workplaces in finance and insurance and Fortune named Evergreen a 2016 'Great Place to Work for Women.'" Please contact Arlene Evans, Talent Acquisition, or apply online.
Central European University, founded by Soros in 1991, says the bill is aimed at driving it out of the country, a charge the government has denied.
There is growing opposition in Hungary and abroad to a bill proposed by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government that would tighten regulations on foreign universities.
Thousands of people took to the streets of Hungary's capital Budapest Sunday to protest legislation that a university founded by U.S. billionaire George Soros says is aimed at shutting it down.
The proposed new rules affect universities from non-European Union countries and would ban their awarding of Hungarian diplomas without an agreement between national governments.
Such institutions also would be required to have operations in their home countries.
The future of the CEU, which does not have a U.S. campus, now "depends on talks between the governments of Hungary and the United States," Orban said on Friday. He also said the "Soros university" was "cheating" because it can award both a Hungarian diploma and an American one, which gives it an "unfair advantage" over local institutions.
Hungarian scholars and teaching organizations, as well as more than 500 leading international academics, including 17 Nobel laureates, have come out in support of CEU, saying it is one of the preeminent centers of thought in the country.
CEU enrolls more than 1,400 students from 108 countries.
From Bollywood superstars to political heavyweights, the Regal theater hosted some of India's biggest names over more than eight decades.
But with nostalgic theater-goers singing their way to the exits after a final showing of a Bollywood classic, the iconic New Delhi theater has closed its doors to make way for a multiplex.
"It's the end of an era. It's very sad," said Nanak, who had worked at the theater since 1979. Nanak, whose grandfather and father were part of the Regal's management team in the 1950s and '60s, uses one name.
With its corridors studded with black-and-white images of Bollywood stars such as Nargis, Madhubala, Meena Kumari, Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor, the magic of a bygone era was visible throughout the theater.
For its final screening, the Regal showed "Sangam," or "Union of Two Hearts," on Thursday night in a tribute to producer-director Kapoor, Bollywood's biggest showman, who premiered his movies at the theater from the 1950s to the '70s.
North Texas law enforcement is on the hunt for three masked bandits who they say robbed an unsuspecting elementary school early Monday.
Around 2 a.m. March 27, three middle- or high-school-aged boys broke into Freedom Elementary School in Fort Worth, police said.
Park's lawyers also asked to postpone the date so they have more time to prepare.
Prosecutors originally wanted Park to be taken to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office on Monday, but caved in to requests by her lawyers to question her in jail due to her "psychological state and security concerns."
Prosecutors on Sunday said they will question ex-President Park Geun-hye again at a remand prison in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province where she has been held since Friday.
De facto Samsung chief Lee Jae-yong, her neighbor in the remand prison in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, has been questioned five or six times since he was indicted in mid-February.
Park spent her third day in jail on Sunday in her cell on the first floor of the facility without seeing her lawyers, who are barred on weekends and public holidays.
Park's attorney Yoo Yeong-ha stopped by briefly on Friday to leave eight books for her to read and W500,000 in cash since she brought no money when she went to court to contest her arrest warrant (US$1=W1,119).
Inmates are allowed to buy toiletries and other necessities but can order no outside food. They are given 30 minutes to an hour to exercise outside, but Park stayed in her cell, warders said.
The former leader is under 24-hour watch with two female corrections officers monitoring her in shifts. They can watch Park through a plastic window to see if she requires assistance and makes sure she does not come into contact with other inmates when venturing out of her cell.
Normally six prisoners share one cell, but Park has it to herself. She also has a TV, but it plays only one channel run by the Justice Ministry with repeats of old shows or programs produced by corrections officials. The only live program is the daily news, which is shown for an hour at night.
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More than 1 million Koreans are expected to head overseas for the long break in early May when several holidays create essentially a whole week off work.
The break lasts effectively from Saturday, April 29 across the week with Labor Day on May 1, Buddha's Birthday on May 3, Children's Day on Friday, May 5 and the following weekend.
Korea's top travel agency Hana Tour said 59,000 overseas trips have been booked for the period, 2.5 times more than the same dates last year. At Mode Tour, the nations No. 2, booking are up 63 percent.
At this rate, the number of overseas travelers could surpass 1 million to reach a new record over the week.
Only about 500,000 Koreans traveled abroad over the Lunar New Year and Chuseok or Korean Thanksgiving.
One striking fact this season is that the bookings to China have dropped sharply amid a Chinese boycott over Korea's decision to deploy a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery from the U.S. here.
Instead, booking are up to Japan and Southeast Asia, while trips to the U.S., Europe and Australia are also popular because the nine-day break makes longer flights a viable option.
There are no signs so far that Chinese authorities will lift closure orders for most Lotte Mart stores in the country, which were transparently imposed last month in retaliation for Korea's deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery from the U.S.
As of Sunday, 87 of 99 Lotte Marts in China were closed, 75 of them over ostensible health and safety violations and the rest voluntarily amid a boycott from customers. Another month of closures could result in W200 billion worth of losses for Lotte (US$1=W1,119).
More than a dozen of the Lotte Marts have come to the end of their one-month suspension, but Chinese authorities have yet to notify them that they can reopen, which will require a fresh inspection.
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A search for the missing 22 crewmembers of a Korean freighter that sank in the South Atlantic on Friday is under way after two sailors were rescued.
Polaris Shipping, which operates the Stella Daisy, said Sunday it rescued two Filipino crew who were drifting in a life raft, and search efforts are continuing for the rest.
The freighter had eight Korean and 16 Filipino sailors on board. The Korean captain surnamed Cho is still missing. The ship made its last contact 2,495 km southeast of Santos en route from Brazil to Qingdao, China.
There is relief in east Charlotte on Monday after a missing 11-year-old girl was found safe in Washington, D.C. Meanwhile, the man accused of taking her is in custody.
Arieyana Forney was found safe in Washington, D.C.
Her grandparents, who were her guardians, were found slain
Investigators think her uncle killed the couple, then took girl
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Police think Arieyana Forney was kidnapped Sunday after her grandparents, who were her legal guardians, were killed in their home.
Authorities say Arieyana's uncle, Curtis Atkinson Jr., murdered Curtis Atkinson Sr. and his wife, Ruby Atkinson, at their east Charlotte home and then kidnapped Arieyana.
After police found Arieyana's grandparents dead inside their east Charlotte home, they issued an Amber alert for the little girl. Hours later, she was found safe in Washington, D.C.
Police got a call from someone, possibly Arieyana, on Sunday night.
After a brief chase and a minor wreck, police found the girl, Atkinson Jr. and another woman in the car. No one was seriously hurt in the crash.
Atkinson is being held on local charges in Washington, D.C., but he will also be charged with the murders of his parents.
His criminal history shows he's served prison time for drug and stolen property convictions dating back to 1999. In 2015, he was charged with assaulting a woman.
Police couldn't say when Atkinson will be brought back to Charlotte to face those murder charges.
He was 13 months and still no words.
AUTISM AWARENESS MONTH BLOG: Our own Margarita Rivera is mom to 5-year-old Romeo, who is on the autism spectrum. Come with us as she shares their journey.
There are on average seven to 10 pediatric appointments between birth and 18 months. I remember feeling like I should have a cot in the exam room! For me, appointments had become fairly predictable: Doctor checks babys height, weight, ear, nose, throat; then, we discuss milestone successes.
Everything seemed perfectly on schedule until that last question: How many words can he say?
My answer was always the same: None.
The doctor casually marked "no" on the medical chart.
Shouldnt he be saying something by now, doctor? I asked this question, and with every following appointment, I felt more unsure of what I was to expect.
Hell get there in the next few months, is what I was told.
As a first-time parent, you enter a new world that no one and nothing could prepare you for. Sleep patterns are altered, priorities are forever analyzed and your time is dedicated to the details of your little persons development. Its only natural that when something is new to you, you search for answers in those who have experienced. So I did. I listened to what many had to say about my son. I received mixed opinions, but the comment, He is a boy, and boys tend to develop later prevailed.
While children normally form consonants at 8 months the mamas, dadas, yayas, etc. I was extremely excited when I finally saw what I thought was progress when Romeo began at 16 months.
Unfortunately, by 18 months, he completely lost that communication, sending him on a regression that left him mute until the age of 4 1/2 years.
Along with no speech, Romeo provided no eye contact with anyone. He wouldnt respond to his name and began the habit of banging his head on the wall or floor repeatedly with no expression of concern or pain.
Gratefully, I was referred to Florida Early Learning, and without hesitation, we began this journey.
I cannot tell you how glad I am to have followed my intuition. Florida Early Learning was able to send an intake specialist to my house after-hours for prescreening in having my son evaluated. This program is available to those under the age of 3 in need of therapy services. Once Romeo turned 3, they helped us transition into public school for additional therapies.
The road through yearly evaluations has not been an easy one. But with Romeo having been in a full-day school program for the past two years, he has been able to make tremendous progress! Romeo enjoys repeating everything he hears in both English and Spanish. He loves singing songs and reciting his shapes, colors and months of the year. Although we continue to work on the reciprocation of communication, this progress in my little boy pushes me to encourage any parent hesitant in reaching out for assistance not to delay.
Have a proactive approach and follow your intuition.
An Orlando man is accused of slamming a 66-year-old man's face into a SUV and breaking the man's teeth over a misunderstanding, according to Orange County deputies.
Deputies: Man thought Parkinson's patient was stealing his SUV
Wilfredo Hernandez incurred multiple broken teeth
Witnesses: SUV owner drove off without offering help
At about 2:30 p.m. Sunday at a shopping plaza in Orlando, deputies say 66-year-old Wilfredo Hernandez was attempting to get into a SUV that he thought was his daughter's. Her vehicle, however, was actually parked two spaces away.
The driver of the SUV, Kevin Mena, saw Hernandez and became confrontational, according to an Orange County Sheriff's Office's arrest affidavit.
A witness told authorities that he saw the 21-year-old Mena "pushing the back of an elderly male's head, and smashing it towards the driver's side door," according to the affidavit, which said authorities have video footage of the incident.
Hernandez, who suffers from Parkinson's disease and was on vacation from South Carolina, had many of his teeth broken, a cut on his lip and a possible fractured nose, Orlando Regional Medical Center staff told authorities.
According to both the witness and Hernandez's daughter, Joan Hernandez, the "aggressive" Mena thought the man was trying to steal his SUV, then sped away without offering help, the affidavit described.
Orange County deputies found Mena and charged him with aggravated battery with permanent disfigurement and battery of a person 65 years of age or older.
The affidavit noted that Mena is currently on probation from Polk County for carrying a concealed firearm.
What if there were a place in Midland where inventors and entrepreneurs could have space to develop their ideas and products while having business guidance and the funding support necessary to see them through?
Thats the question Brent Hilliard, Keith Stretcher and the rest of the Midland Development Corp. board have wanted to answer for three years since first allocating $5 million for the creation of a business incubator and makerspace. This week, that dream could come closer to reality.
On Monday, the MDC board will vote on approving the terms of a partnership between the economic development organization and the University of Texas of the Permian Basin that would not only create a place at the Center of Energy and Economic Development for scientific creativity and business growth, but also facilitate the addition of engineering programs.
The MDC is offering UTPB $5 million, to be paid in five yearly installments, that would fund the construction of a third floor of UTPBs under-construction engineering building and convert no more than 10,000 square feet of space at the CEED building for use as a makerspace and incubator, according to a term sheet obtained by the Reporter-Telegram.
The extra space at the engineering building will allow UTPB to add chemical and electrical engineering programs, and the conversion at CEED will enable the MDC to do what it has wanted for many years.
Hilliard, the MDC board chairman, said he and other city officials traveled years ago to learn more about another citys economic development. Thats when I fell in love with something I had never head of: an incubator program, he said.
Business incubators take many forms, but their primary goal is to facilitate business growth. They offer mentorship, networking and training opportunities to startups, and some help direct businesses to find capital investments. As an economic development organization, the incubator is apropos to the MDCs mission. But being successful means having the right partner.
If you look at incubator programs, the next questions are: Can one be successful in Midland, and what does it actually take? Hilliard said. Theres a bit of a curve there to figure out who has had a successful incubator program. What we learned is that in order to have a successful incubation program, you have to have a university involved in it because its so closely tied to education.
Having the incubator and makerspace -- which provides resources for the creation of any number of technologies -- adjacent to the new engineering building creates greater opportunities for new technologies to grow right here in Midland.
You can get educated in an engineering class. You can take the ideas you have and move over to a makerspace facility and create your vision, move over to an incubation program and then go to (the Small Business Development Center) and get the money you need to actually start your program, Hilliard said. Its a one-stop shop for four things.
The incubator and makerspace, which, per the term sheet, will be operated by UTPB, isnt just for college students.
Theres something for everyone here, Hilliard said. If you have the money for a (college) education, you can get an education. If you dont have a (college) education and want to start a business, you can still come here. Each thing will build on itself.
Stretcher says the partnership provides the opportunity to allow Midlanders to get the skills they need in the Tall City and stay here rather than moving outside the area and possibly never returning. Its a problem known as brain drain, where communities lose skilled workers to other communities.
We have heard people tell us over and over that they want their sons and daughters to be able to come back to Midland and get good, high-paying jobs, Stretcher said. What were trying to do is partner with UTBP to provide that opportunity for a Midlander to stay here and get a good job.
A person can graduate from high school from Midland Independent School District or one of our excellent private schools and go to UTPB and get an engineering degree and never leave the city of Midland, he said.
Plus, the partnership is a chance for Midlanders to see their tax money put to good use. The MDC is funded by the quarter-cent Type A sales tax. It brings in between $8 million and $11 million per year.
The people in Midland pay the sales tax, and they rightfully have the expectation that were going to do something to help their sons and daughters and make it where brain drain doesnt continue, Stretcher said. Thats really important to us. Were going to do everything we can to partner with whomever wants to partner with us.
The partnership itself came from a request by UTPB to City Councilman J.Ross Lacy, an alumnus.
(UTPB President David Watts) reached out to me in November and said we had the $52 million for the engineering building but are about $8 million short on building out the third floor, Lacy said. He said our goal is to bring chemical and electrical engineering. I thought that was a fantastic idea because it gets two more engineering programs localized out here.
Lacy brought the issue to Hilliard, and the solution to be voted on this week was rendered in just a few months. The partnership is one of several the MDC has engaged in recently.
On Wednesday, their cooperation with the SBDC was formally announced. The MDC will fund and the SBDC will facilitate the Midland Entrepreneurial Challenge, a competition that will help four or five Midland-based businesses grow though mentorship and financial backing of between $50,000 and $75,000 apiece. Its not free money, however. Businesses will have to meet certain goals, such as having 50 percent of revenues come from outside the Midland area within three years.
The MDC is also partnering with Texas Department of Transportation and local government entities to get transportation projects completed faster. In vein of its deal with UTPB, the MDC has also worked with Midland College on its nursing program to educate nurses who can stay in the Tall City and work at Midland Memorial Hospital.
What MDC is interested in is to get those relationships in place to direct or co-sponsor some other program that hasnt been thought of or hasnt been funded. Both of the colleges in our city know that, said Hilliard, who foresees the partnership with UTPB producing great opportunities in Midland. Were stronger together than we are apart, so we need the universitys help in molding this and making it work for us. And theyre really good at it.
The issue will be voted on by the MDC board at its monthly meeting Monday. City Council must also approve it, as must the University of Texas System board of regents.
We have every reason to believe the UT System, City Council and our board will approve this, Hilliard said.
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AMARILLO Producers may be concerned about planting sorghum this season, but several Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service specialists said there are ways to prepare for upcoming issues and be profitable.
During the Interstate 40 Sorghum Luncheon recently in Amarillo, producers heard the latest on managing sugarcane aphids, weed control and how it all figures into the bottom line as producers manage crop budgets and pricing strategies.
Dr. Ed Bynum, AgriLife Extension entomologist in Amarillo, said, Think outside of the box.
Planting earlier, rather than the traditional dates, allows grain sorghum to reach later grain maturity growth stages where sugarcane aphids do not cause as severe yield losses, Bynum said. Also, planting a commercially adapted sorghum variety with sugarcane aphid tolerance should be considered, as well as seed treatments.
You need to try to avoid the risk of infestation at certain growth stages pre-boot to milk stage, he said. This is very important to protect the crop. After the dough stage, the damage from the sugarcane aphid does not cause as much yield loss.
Also, you need to be talking to your seed representative to find those sugarcane aphid tolerant hybrids that are high yielding on the Texas High Plains and best for irrigated or dryland production, Bynum said.
We havent been able to evaluate a lot of hybrids, but we do know they make a difference. You may still have to treat, but these hybrids are better than sugarcane aphid susceptible hybrids when infested.
Bynum said scouting fields is critical to the battle against the sugarcane aphid.
You cannot let them get too far ahead before you make a treatment or you wont be able to knock them back where they cant recover, he said.
When insecticide applications are needed, Bynum said it is important to spray promptly at the proper threshold levels, use solid rates of either Sivanto Prime or Transform, and use the maximum amount of recommended gallonage per acre for spray equipment.
For the Texas High Plains, AgriLife Extension suggests using 5 fluid ounces per acre of Sivanto Prime and 1.5 ounces per acre of Transform. The application rate by air should be 5 gallons per acre and 15 gallons per acre by ground.
For the complete AgriLife Extension guidelines on treatments in the High Plains, go to http://bit.ly/2mQJ4QJ.
Once the decision is made to plant sorghum and the seed is purchased, producers need to outline their herbicide program, said Dr. Jourdan Bell, AgriLife Extension agronomist in Amarillo.
We are really going to see a lot of spring annual weeds start to germinate and a herbicide program will be key to controlling them, Bell said. In addition to burn-down herbicides for current weed pressure, it is also time to begin applying residual herbicides.
It is important to begin the production season with clean fields because in-season weeds will reduce the yield potential if not sprayed because they rob many of the nutrients and water.
She emphasized having a season-long program, which means knowing what weeds typically occur in the field and when they need to be controlled. Most weeds need to be treated before they reach more than 4 inches or the knock-down of any chemical will be limited.
Bell outlined a number of preplant herbicides that can be used, as well as some that are not yet labeled for sorghum but are a part of the sorghum herbicide research program sponsored by the United Sorghum Checkoff program.
A list of approved herbicides, including the weeds they treat and the crop tolerance considerations, can be found at http://bit.ly/2mSLvm5.
Herbicides can be expensive, but weed pressure robs our resources and we know there is a return on the investment, Bell said. While many producers do not want to invest in herbicides when commodity prices are down, it is important they do not lose their yield potential to weed pressure. There are many effective options that can be worked into a budget.
DeDe Jones, AgriLife Extension risk management program specialist in Amarillo, continued the discussion on sorghum and the economics of growing the crop and dealing with the issues previously outlined.
While initially it didnt appear sorghum was going to pencil out in our crop budgets, I would caution that might not be true, Jones said. Ask yourself what do I grow most effectively before you begin changing crops.
She said many crop budgeting programs assume a producer reaches certain yield levels, and should be adjusted based on individual averages. The 2,500 pounds-per-acre dryland sorghum yield projected in the crop profitability analyzer may be lower than what an experienced producer can make, while the budgeted 400-pound cotton yield may be a stretch for someone who hasnt grown it before.
We have interactive budgeting software so you can determine your breakeven costs to know what you need to make, Jones said. Keep in mind you need to factor in all the different components, including input costs, water requirements, crop insurance, and dont forget about basis. Make sure you look at the total picture.
The AgriLife Extension 2017 Crop Profitability Analyzer can be found at http://amarillo.tamu.edu/ under Facts and Figures. The Excel document will download and then each individual producer can plug in their acreage and yields.
While it is expected to be a tough year price-wise for many crops, she said planning to market the crop throughout the year leaves room for a producer to take advantage of the different things affecting supply and demand that can cause the price to rise and fall.
Her advice was, Control your expenses, know your breakeven prices and be ready to capitalize on market rallies.
COLLEGE STATION U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency Acting Administrator Chris Beyerhelm has announced that physical loss loans are available for nine counties in Texas. Farm operators who suffered major physical losses caused by wildfires that occurred from Feb. 15 through March 13, 2017, may be eligible for emergency loans.
This Administrators Physical Loss Notification has been issued for Carson, Gray, Hemphill, Lipscomb, Ochiltree, Potter, Roberts, Swisher and Wheeler counties as the primary damaged area. Thirteen Texas counties are contiguous to this designated disaster area, making these producers also potentially eligible for programs based on this designation. The contiguous counties are: Armstrong, Briscoe, Castro, Collingsworth, Deaf Smith, Donley, Floyd, Hale, Hansford, Hutchinson, Moore, Oldham and Randall.
LUBBOCK -- Plainview/Hale County Economic Development Corp., along with the Lubbock Economic Development Alliance (LEDA), Workforce Solutions South Plains and the Texas Workforce Commission announced their plans to leverage funds and grant Plainview ISD a total of $26,908 to assist in enhancing and maximizing the capacity of various Career and Technical Education programs.
The announcement was made Monday afternoon in Lubbock by Texas Workforce Commission Chairman Andrews Alcanta and local representatives.
the effort, known as the South Plains High Demand Job Training Project, will facilitate occupational training at the secondary level during the 2017-18 school year to prepare high school students for high-demand occupations.
Training will take place on Plainview ISD campuses, and is anticipated to educate a total of 351 students to prepare them for employment in such high-demand occupations as welding, culinary arts and business administration.
Funds will be used to cover the costs of equipment and supplies, and boost capacity to enable the schools to train an increased number of students, both now and in years to come. Participants who successfully complete the training can earn industry-recognized credentials in high-demand occupations.
Developing a local workforce with skills needed by our current and future employers is one of our essential goals and is crucial to growing our local economy, explains Mike Fox, executive director of the Plainview-Hale County EDC. This cooperative effort between LEDA, TWC, Workforce Solutions South Plains, PISD and Plainview-Hale County EDC will help us achieve that goal.
For additional information on the Plainview-Hale County EDC, contact Mike Fox at 806-293-8536 or email michael.fox@plainviewedc.org.
For the entire South Plains, $235,000 in funding was announced Monday for job training in high demand industries. The funding is made possible using a $100,000 High Demand Job Training grant from TWC awarded to Workforce Solutions South Plains. LEDA and PHCEDC will leverage matching funds of $125,000 and $10,000, respectively.
This TWC grant is part of a $1 million statewide effort to support collaborations between Texas Workforce Solutions partners and local economic development entities to create employment training opportunities in high-demand occupations such as construction, welding, culinary arts and business administration.
About PHCEDC: Plainview-Hale County EDC has helped create more than 4,000 Hale County jobs over its 50 year history. The EDC enjoys a great partnership with the City of Plainview, Hale County and the Plainview Chamber of Commerce in economic development efforts. Approximately 200 businesses and individuals support the EDC through their annual membership dues.
About LEDA: Since its inception in 2004, LEDA has assisted 147 companies with expansion or relocation to Lubbock. These companies committed to creating 7,393 jobs and investing more than $940 million in new capital improvements that have resulted in more than $1.3 billion in cumulative economic impact to the Lubbock area.
About Workforce Solutions South Plains: Workforce Solutions South Plains is the Regional Workforce Development Board serving the 15-county South Plains Region. The mission of the workforce system is to meet the needs of the region's employers for a highly skilled workforce by educating and preparing workers. For information, visit www.spworkforce.org.
About TWC: The Texas Workforce Commission is a state agency dedicated to helping Texas employers, workers and communities prosper economically. For details on TWC and services it offers in coordination with local workforce development boards, call 512-463-8942 or visit www.texasworkforce.org.
HARTFORD A 20-year-old student at Sacred Heart University has died after choking during a pancake eating contest on campus.
Police say Caitlin Nelson, of Clark, New Jersey, died at a New York City hospital on Sunday, three days after the contest during a fraternities and sororities event at the Catholic school in Fairfield.
Fairfield police say nursing students and first responders performed lifesaving measures on Nelson and she was taken to a hospital, where she initially was in critical but stable condition. She was transported to a New York hospital on Friday.
Nelsons father, James Nelson, was a Port Authority police officer who died in the Sept. 11 attacks.
Associated Press
GUILDERLAND -- Western Avenue (Route 20) will be closed for brief utility work about 10 a.m. Tuesday between Fuller Road and the State University Campus at the Albany city line, town police said.
The road is expected to be closed for no more than 30 minutes, police said.
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As the federal government braced for Mondays avalanche of applications for the highly coveted H-1B work visa, immigration officials shifted some ground rules.
The immigration agency said Monday it will take a more targeted approach in choosing employers whose workers receive visas. And under guidance issued late Friday, a computer programmer with a bachelors degree is not automatically eligible for an H-1B visa a reversal of a 17-year-old federal policy.
The H-1B visa program, which allows foreign workers with specialized skills to spend three to six years working at a sponsor company in the U.S., has been a constant point of contention between Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C.
While Northern California tech companies as established as Google and as fresh as startups rely on H-1B visas to staff many engineering positions, critics say the program is rife with loopholes that allow companies to squeeze out American workers in favor of foreigners willing to work for lower wages. Reforming the H-1B program was one of President Trumps campaign promises.
ALSO Trump visa changes toughen hiring of foreign programmers
In an attempt to deter and detect H-1B visa fraud and abuse, the immigration agency said it will continue random and unannounced visits around the country to H-1B-dependent companies. The agency will focus on companies that have a high ratio of H-1B workers, and companies whose H-1B workers work at an office other than the employers. Indian technology-outsourcing companies like Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys, which submit tens of thousands of visa requests a year, could be a target.
Too many American workers who are as qualified, willing and deserving to work in these fields have been ignored or unfairly disadvantaged, the agency said in a statement. Protecting American workers by combatting fraud in our employment-based immigration programs is a priority.
The Justice Department also warned employers petitioning for H-1B visas not to discriminate against American workers.
U.S. workers should not be placed in a disfavored status, and the department is wholeheartedly committed to investigating and vigorously prosecuting these claims, acting Assistant Attorney General Tom Wheeler said in a statement Monday.
To qualify for an H-1B, an applicant has to be in a specialty occupation, defined as a job complex or unique enough that at least a bachelors degree is required. Under previous guidance, programming was assumed to qualify. According to a memo issued by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services on Friday, employers now may have to provide additional evidence that any computer programmer job they want to fill with a foreign worker is so complex and specialized that it requires at least a bachelors degree. Its unclear how many people will be affected by the rule change.
Coding academies and education websites have sprung up in recent years that promise to teach software skills faster and cheaper than colleges.
Sharon Rummery, an agency spokeswoman, said the memorandum overturned obsolete guidelines that had not been used as a standard for years.
Stacey Gartland, an attorney and immigration specialist at the law firm Van Der Hout, Brigagliano & Nightingale, said that the original memo, crafted in 2000, was created at a time when the computer industry was newer, and the immigration office was getting lots of H-1B petitions for jobs that had not previously existed. They werent sure how to evaluate them, Gartland said.
But some lawyers argue that the new guidance, which is effective immediately, muddies the language of who is eligible for the visa and will likely target lower-paid and entry-level positions. The agency now has more latitude to question whether a foreign worker is needed for a specific position over an American citizen.
Applicants vying for an H-1B are typically required to spell out the nature of their duties, and why a bachelors degree is required to perform them.
Generally, computer-related positions used to qualify for an H-1B, but what this new memo is saying is, No, not every single computer-related position is a high-skill position, said Jason Finkelman, an immigration attorney in Austin, Texas.
According to the Foreign Labor Certification Data Center, a computer programmer is defined as someone who may develop and write computer programs to store, locate, and retrieve specific documents, data, and information. The average salary for a programmer in Santa Clara County ranges from $52,229 to $93,933 a year. There is no minimum education or training level specified.
Finkelman said some employers who filed for an H-1B application for a computer programmer Monday may get a request from the government to prove that the position could not be filled with a U.S. worker without a bachelors degree.
Depending on how (the agency) decides to adjudicate, they could deny a whole bunch of H-1Bs, even though people have a bachelors degree, said Greg Siskind, an immigration attorney.
The new provision regarding computer programmers is yet another abrupt change to the H-1B application process under the Trump administration. Last month the agency temporarily suspended its expedited processing program, used last year by 59 percent of applicants, who pay a fee for a faster decision.
With uncertainty over the fate of the program under the Trump administration, combined with a strong economy, immigration attorneys expect a surge in applications this year.
The applications, which overwhelmingly come from India, have nearly doubled since 2014, but the number of visas granted to for-profit companies has remained at 85,000 per year.
For fiscal year 2017, United States Citizens and Immigration Services received a record 236,000 H-1B applications. They began accepting applications for the next fiscal year on Monday. Several immigration attorneys expect 250,000 to 300,000 petitions this year. For a number of years, the government has received so many H-1B applications that it typically stops accepting them within a week.
H-E-B has purchased 26 acres in a region of western Bexar County that developers see as one of San Antonios next big boom areas.
The local supermarket chain purchased two lots on the northeast corner of Texas 211 and Potranco Road in March, according to Bexar County deed records. Company spokeswoman Dya Campos said H-E-B has no immediate plans for the property. Campos would not say how much the company paid for the property.
Shareholders of the former DHanis State Banks holding company are suing a San Antonio accounting firm for allegedly failing to uncover a scheme that overstated DHanis assets by more than $800,000 and led to the imprisonment of its president.
Fisher, Herbst & Kemble should have detected and reported the the accounting irregularities orchestrated by ex-DHanis State Bank President Laurie Mayfield, according a newly filed lawsuit.
Mayfield, 56, last year pleaded guilty to manipulating the banks books from 2004 through 2014, which led to the overvaluation of the bank. She also admitted to embezzling more than $68,000, using some of that money to pay her daughters sorority dues.
The scheme was uncovered only after DHanis State Bank and its holding company, were acquired by San Antonios Vantage Bancorp Inc., parent of Vantage Bank Texas, in 2014. Vantage Bank has alleged the manipulation caused it to overpay for DHanis State Bank.
Vantage Bancorp and Vantage Bank assigned their rights to pursue legal claims relating to the scheme to Banprop, comprised of former shareholders of Medina Bankshares, parent of the former DHanis State Bank. Banprop filed the lawsuit against Fisher, Herbst & Kemble on Thursday in Bexar County district court.
Mayfield was sentenced to two years in federal prison, three additional years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $817,892 in restitution. She is serving her sentence in the minimum-security Federal Prison Camp in Bryan in Brazos County and is scheduled to be released the day after Christmas.
It is a common misunderstanding among the public, including some attorneys, that an audit is designed to detect fraud and embezzlement. It is not, Gary Kessler, a Dallas lawyer representing Fisher, Herbst & Kemble, said in an email. Typically the client whose employee has embezzled is in the best position to catch an employee who is stealing from the company, not the auditor.
McAllen-based Banprop principal James Collins, said Banprop has paid $817,892 to Vantage Bank to make up for the amount it overpaid for DHanis State Bank.
Banprop and Medina Bankshares which for the most part have the same shareholders are now pursuing recoveries from the accounting firm, Vantage Banks bond company and Mayfield, Collins said.
DHanis State Bank was a community institution in Medina County for nearly a century before the sale to Vantage Bank.
Vantage Banks decision to invest large sums of capital in Medina Bankshares was based in large part on Fisher, Herbst & Kembles audits, Banprops lawsuit stated.
The accounting firms audit reports expressly stated that Medina Bankshares financial statements accurately depicted the financial position of the holding company and DHanis State Bank, the suit said.
Fisher, Herbst & Kemble recognized the risk of management override of controls but failed to properly implement measures to respond to (those) risks, the suit added.
According to the suit, Mayfield would generate and file false general ledger account statements and quarterly financial reports with federal and state bank regulators. Those reports made it appear that DHanis State Bank had more than $800,000 in assets that it didnt possess, the suit added.
Had Vantage Bank known about that, the suit said, it would have required an adjustment to the consideration paid in the merger or terminated the deal altogether. Guy Bodine, Vantage Banks CEO, declined to comment.
Banprop is accusing Fisher, Herbst & Kemble of gross negligence, civil fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and negligent misrepresentation.
The suit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
Meanwhile, Mayfield is appealing the part of her sentence that requires her to pay $817,892 in restitution.
At Mayfields sentencing, her lawyer, Kira Anne West, argued the former banker shouldnt be responsible for the full amount of restitution because she didnt take all of the money. U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez said that even if Mayfield didnt take all of the money, she was responsible for the full amount because she concealed the discrepancy.
Somebody else caused that loss, long before Ms. Mayfield had any real power in that bank, or authority, West said in a phone interview on Monday. West added that banking regulators missed the overstatement of assets at DHanis State Bank.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans has yet to rule on Mayfields appeal.
The DHanis bank, which became a Vantage Bank branch, was destroyed by a tornado that swept through the town in October 2015. About a year ago, Vantage Bank opted not to reopen the branch.
More than 50 economic development leaders from 25 different countries in the Americas arrived in San Antonio Sunday to start a six-day tour of Southwest and South Central Texas.
The U.S. Commerce and State departments and the Organization of American States organized the seventh meeting of the Americas Competitiveness Exchange, or ACE, starting in the Alamo City this year. The group met in Toronto, Canada last year.
The group toured the World Heritage-designated Spanish missions with some going to the AT&T Center to watch the San Antonio Spurs beat the Utah Jazz on Sunday.
Mayor Ivy Taylor welcomed the group over breakfast tacos Monday morning. They were pitched on trade with San Antonio target industries health care, new energy, technology, advanced manufacturing and aerospace. They later visited San Antonios Military Medical Center and the nearby Center for the Intrepid rehabilitation facility.
The group will spend the rest of the week touring Austin, San Marcos, New Braunfels, Fredericksburg and College Station.
All of these regions have a story to tell, said Judy Rising Reinke of the U.S. International Trade Administration.
Some of the Latin American representatives already were familiar with the University of Texas at San Antonios Institute for Economic Development because of the institutes longtime program to start small business development centers 118 of them so far based on the U.S. model of centers operated in part by the U.S. Small Business Administration, including the one at the UTSA downtown campus.
San Antonio has an opportunity to be a big sister to Belize, said one delegation member, Lejia Melanie Gideon, general manager of the Belize Trade and Investment Development Service.
Economic development is a new concept to Belize. San Antonio can teach us how to do economic development, what pitfalls there are and what to avoid. San Antonio is a veteran at what we are to trying to accomplish. San Antonio should be proud of that, Gideon said.
One hundred and forty-five people from 32 countries applied to participate in the 2017 ACE tour focusing on the Americas, Reinke said. Only three participants arent from the Americas. They are from Germany, Ghana and Israel, she said.
The ACE goal is to share economic development best practices among the participants, which includes people from senior government officials to chamber of commerce leaders.
The purpose is to exchange those ideas to see what makes a regional cluster competitive. They have much to learn from each other, said Rene Dominguez, city economic development director.
San Antonio Economic Development Foundation Chairman Wayne Peacock told the group San Antonios cultural and business diversities often are described as what the rest of America someday will look like.
Weve added 30 percent of our workforce since 2000, Peacock said. We will continue to grow with the industries of the future.
dhendricks@express-news.net
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services department issued a memorandum that makes it harder for companies to bring foreign technology workers to the U.S. using the H-1B visa process.
The new guidelines, issued late Friday, require additional information for computer programmers applying for the work visa to prove the jobs are complicated and require more advanced knowledge and experience. The new policy is effective immediately, so it will change how companies apply for the visas in an annual lottery process that begins Monday. Indian outsourcing firms, which have faced the most amount of criticism, stand to lose the most.
The changes don't explicitly prohibit any applications for a specific type of job. Instead, they bring more scrutiny to those for computer programmers doing the simplest jobs.
"This is a step in the right direction in terms of tightening up the eligibility," said Ron Hira, an associate professor at Howard University, who has done extensive research on the H-1B program. "You're going to have to beef up your argument for why you need this person."
President Donald Trump has called for companies to hire more Americans instead of outsourcing jobs to countries with cheaper labor or bringing in lower-paid foreign workers. The H-1B program has been a target for changes. Last month, the immigration department suspended a program that expedited visa processing for certain skilled workers who paid extra, which some critics saw as a first step to dismantling the H-1B program altogether.
Technology and outsourcing companies are the largest users of the H-1B program. India-based outsourcing companies receive a disproportionate percentage of the visas and tend to pay lower salaries than U.S.-based tech firms. Employers sought H-1B visas for more than 13,000 computer programmers in 2016, citing an average salary of about $72,000, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Caitlin Webber.
Computer programmers made up about 12 percent of all H-1B applications approved by the Department of Labor in 2015. Of those, 41 percent were for positions at the lowest wage level, defined as jobs requiring people to perform routine tasks that require them to exercise little judgment on their own. The guidelines issued Friday refer specifically to entry-level computer programmers, which the U.S. Department of Labor defines as those who write and test code to allow computer applications and software to work properly.
"This is not a change in policy on H-1B and H-1B1 eligibility in computer-related fields," USCIS spokeswoman CeCe Gwathmey said in an email. The memorandum rescinded a 17-year-old set of guidelines that "relied on obsolete information and had not been used as a standard" to decide on H-1B petitions for many years, she said.
Microsoft Corp., Facebook Inc., Alphabet Inc., International Business Machines Corp. and Accenture PLC didn't immediately have a comment.
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Forces seem to be converging on the historic 1949 Alameda Theater downtown, making plans to restore the architectural treasure to its former glory more viable than at any time in the last 20 years.
The City of San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas Public Radio and the Cortez Family of Market Square are all behind a new proposal presented to the City Council for a $26.4 million renovation of the Alameda.
Arts management guru Michael Kaiser of DeVos Arts Management in Washington, D.C., also has been brought in to consult on the project and make recommendations about facilities and programming.
It is sort of a perfect storm, said Assistant City Manager Lori Houston.
That forecast includes the $175-million San Pedro Creek Improvements Project, which will transform the urban ditch that runs by the Alameda into a linear park, and the recent groundbreaking nearby for the $142-million Frost Tower, which includes a 733-space city-owned public parking facilty, which would be available for Alameda events at night.
The entire city has confidence in downtown, said District 1 City Councilman Roberto Trevino. Theres a lot of momentum, and the growth hasnt happened by accident. Its growth in a thoughtful way, and the Alameda fits right into that.
RELATED: Construction projects that will transform downtown San Antonio
Built by show business entrepreneur Gaetano Tano Lucchese and opened in 1949 as a Spanish-language movie and vaudeville palace, the Alameda along with the Casa de Mexico International Building, which houses the theater has a historic past.
Arists of the Mexican golden age Pedro Infante, Maria Felix, Vicente Fernandez, Cantinflas performed on the fabled stage. It was home to KCOR-AM Spanish-language radio and the first Mexican American Chamber of Commerce in the country. Civil Rights attorney Gus Garcia had his offices there.
City owned since 1994, the theater is located in the Citys Zona Cultural, an area designated by the Texas Commission of the Arts in 2015 as a cultural arts district.
The Alameda has such a tradition, particularly relative to the Hispanic community and to that part of the city, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, who was mayor when the city purchased the theater in 1994, told the Express-News in 2014. Trying to get the doors back open has been a long, complicated process over 20 years.
A master plan was formulated in 1998, and the iconic facade and marquee were restored in the early 2000s. Soon after, the city fixed the roof.
Stopping the water leaks was absolutely essential, said Killis Almond, a San Antonio architect specializing in theater restoration who has worked on the Alameda off and on since 1996.
RELATED: Historic downtown Solo Serve building demolished, makes way for River Walk hotel
Three years ago, hopes were high as work at the theater was renewed under the leadership of Latino advertising legend Ernest Bromley, also chairman of the nonprofit Alameda Theater Inc., which held a lease on the building.
This is a sacred place, Bromley said in 2014.
That year, the $7-million first phase of a planned three-phase $25 million renovation was completed. It included dressing rooms, offices, an orchestra pit and a loading dock capable of accommodating a 53-foot tractor/trailer full of sets, props and equipment. But that was as far as it went; fundraising proved too difficult to finish the work.
Efforts to reach Bromley this week were unsuccessful.
Getting the infrastructure work done was absolutely essential, Almond said. Mr. Bromley did yeomans work, but this current effort is the first time that the city and the county have really backed the building and understood the needs. And its the first time theres been a partner, in TPR, that will come in with not only money, but will use the building on a daily basis. All historic buildings are searching for that daily use to make them viable again.
The current intiative for the 80,000 square foot Alameda renovation calls for a 1,500-seat main theater, a 250-seat black box theater, a small outdoor amphitheater and 35,000 square feet of newly constructed office space for the local public radio affiliate.
Funding, which still must be approved by the City Council, will come mostly from the Houston Street Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone, a funding tool that retains tax dollars generated within the district.
READ ALSO: Fire station gets glammed for new restaurant in Southtown
According to Houston, about $16 million will come from the tax increment reinvestment zone, with $5 million from state and federal historic tax sources, while TPR is reponsible for the final $5 million.
Its a big endeavor that requires a lot of preparation and planning, said Joyce Slocum, TPR president and CEO, of the public radio affiliates portion of the funding. Weve done a feasibility study that shows broad community support among our audience for our participation in the facility. Were really enthusiastic about the opportunity to better serve our community. Downtown is really where we need to be because it is often where news happens.
While the effort is still in the conceptual and planning stages, Trevino said, things are moving pretty fast especially by Alameda standards.
A non-profit organization with a five-member board with representatives from the various entities involved will be formed in the next couple of months, and community meetings are being scheduled for input from local arts groups on programming, which will be Latino-focused.
Programming could include performing arts such as theater, dance and music, film festivals, symposiums, arts education and private events.
Slocum said the black box would be perfect for events such as a mayoral debate the radio station has scheduled in April or musical events recorded in the stations studio.
Those kind of events would be great with a live audience there, she said.
RELATED: $142M Frost Tower breaks ground, raising expectations downtown
Houston said a master lease and funding agreement could go before the City Council for a vote in June. If it passes, an architect would be chosen and an executive director hired. Eventually, a board of 15 to 20 people would be responsible for fundraising and programming, along with the director.
According the the proposed timetable, construction would begin by the summer of 2018, with a grand opening in the spring of 2020, Houston said.
Unlike other (restoration) efforts in the past, this project is funded, she said.
Longtime supporters of the Alameda are heartened by the latest renovation efforts.
Everything has come together, and I am very hopeful, said Almond. At no time in the past 20 years have we had all these parties come together, with government support and TPR, for the Alameda. Ive been involved in this for such a long time, but it seems the stars have aligned.
sbennett@express-news.net
A prominent local law enforcement officer gunned down Monday in an apparent ambush told county officials last week he felt threatened by a man he'd once targeted in a corruption investigation.
Clint Greenwood - three months into a new job as a chief deputy constable - shared his concerns with officials in the Harris County Attorney's Office who were handling an administrative matter related to the case, according to a source who asked not to be identified because of the nature of the investigation.
"I believe [this person] poses a real threat to my and my family's safety," Greenwood said in an email sent Thursday to the county attorney's office.
Greenwood was shot to death just before 7 a.m. Monday, moments after pulling into the parking lot of the courthouse annex in Baytown where he worked, officials said.
"It's a hit, no doubt," said one top federal official assisting with the investigation. "He basically got ambushed."
The killing sparked a massive manhunt that shut down portions of the neighborhood surrounding the courthouse, as deputies combed the area while helicopters circled overhead.
Authorities said late Monday they were investigating several leads but had not made any arrests. Greenwood's concerns about the corruption case were passed along to law enforcement, the source said.
Late Monday, Baytown police released a video of a vehicle possibly linked to the slaying and a description of a man who was seen in the area at the time of the shooting. Police described him as a white or Hispanic man, about 6 foot to 6-feet-3, with short hair and a medium to stocky build. He wore a dark jacket with some kind of patch on the sleeve.
Career Timeline Clinton Greenwood served nearly three decades in Harris County law enforcement and also worked as a lawyer, defending and eventually prosecuting police accused of misconduct. He is survived by his wife, two children and two stepchildren. January 2017: Joined the Harris County Precinct 3 Constable's Office as assistant chief deputy
2013-2016: hired as a major in the Harris County Sheriff's Office, where he supervised the Internal Affairs Division and the inspector general
2009-2013: Supervised the Police Integrity Division at the Harris County District Attorney's Office, including the Chad Holley HPD beating case
1989-2009: Operated a private law practice, defending police in criminal cases for 20 years; also started with the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable's Office, where he served nearly 20 years as a reserve officer
1986: Earned law degree from South Texas College of Law Houston; worked as prosecutor with the Harris County District Attorney's Office, where he previously interned
1983: Graduated from Rice University See More Collapse
A reward of up to $65,000 is being offered for information leading to an arrest and charges in the case through Crime Stoppers, 713-222-TIPS.
THE VICTIM: 10 things to know about the officer shot and killed in Baytown
LifeFlight carried Greenwood to Memorial Hermann Hospital in the Texas Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. A police motorcade then escorted his body to the medical examiner's office.
He is survived by his wife, two children and two step-children.
Greenwood - a former private attorney, prosecutor and law enforcement officer who spent the last years of his career fighting corruption - had started work Jan. 1 as an assistant chief deputy constable.
"The Harris County Precinct 3 Constable's Office has suffered a great loss," Constable Sherman Eagleton said, at a press conference Monday. "I just want to send my condolences out to the family. And also the deputy's brothers and sisters in law enforcement that worked with Chief Greenwood."
Baytown police are leading the investigation with help from state, local and federal law enforcement officials.
Greenwood's slaying was one of five high-profile shooting attacks on officers in Harris County in the last two years.
In August 2015, Harris County Sheriff's Deputy Darren Goforth was shot and killed at a northwest Harris County gas station. Precinct 7 Deputy Constable Alden Clopton was shot in an ambush attack late at night while helping a colleague with a traffic stop, but survived. In February, two Houston police officers were shot and wounded while conducting anti-burglary operations on the city's southwest side.
On Monday, Greenwood arrived at his usual time and parked in his usual spot before gunfire rang out.
He was shot once, Baytown Police Lt. Steve Dorris said shortly after the shooting.
"Whether or not he was specifically targeted, or whether this was because of the uniform he was wearing or the place he pulled up to in the morning, we just don't know that right now," Dorris said.
Wanda Asbeck, who lives next to the courthouse annex, heard the gunfire just before 7 a.m. She looked outside and saw Greenwood lying on the pavement next to his SUV.
Asbeck works in the constable's office and recognized him right away.
"It just made me sick," she said. "He was such a good man. Why would anyone want to kill him?"
Greenwood grew up in north Harris County and quickly became a fixture in the Harris County criminal justice system.
He worked as a reserve deputy at the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable's Office for nearly two decades, while simultaneously working as a private defense attorney, largely representing police officers.
In 2009, he joined the Harris County District Attorney's Office as chief of the Police Integrity Division under DA Pat Lykos, the district attorney's unit responsible for investigating police officers and presenting the cases to grand juries.
During his four years with the DA's office, he led the case against Houston police officers accused of beating 17-year-old Chad Holley, a case that sparked widespread protests.
In 2013, he joined the Harris County Sheriff's Office as a major, overseeing the department's Internal Affairs Division, General Investigations Division and Office of the Inspector General. He oversaw the internal probe into misconduct by an investigator in the Goforth case.
He had moved into a leadership position with the Precinct 3 constable's office, where he had put together field training and use-of-force manuals.
A graduate of Spring Woods High School, Rice University and what was then South Texas College of Law, he also had worked as a visiting justice of the peace and taught cadets at the Houston Police Department's training academy.
Over the years, he took 4,200 hours of education classes as well as 1,600 hours of additional training, obtaining a master peace officer certification in 2012, state records show.
"He was one of the best guys you'd ever want to work around," said Ron Hickman, a former Harris County sheriff and Precinct 4 constable.
LifeFlight transported Greenwood to Memorial Hermann Hospital in the Texas Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead soon after arriving.
Outside the hospital, officers greeted each other with hugs and handshakes. Police escorted a young man, possibly a relative, into the hospital as he cried and held his head in his hands.
Houston police spokesman Kese Smith confirmed that family members had arrived. HPD motorcycle units escorted Greenwood's body to the medical examiner's office, Smith said.
"He was an incredible human being, a cop's cop," Precinct 1 Constable Alan Rosen said, minutes after Greenwood's body was escorted to the medical examiner's office local law enforcement.
At least a dozen police motorcycles, lights flashing, flanked the white minivan carrying Greenwood's body as the car pulled east on Cambridge Street away from the hospital.
Representatives from at least three constable precincts, the sheriff's office, the district attorney's office and the Houston Police Department came to Memorial Hermann Monday, Rosen said.
Greenwood's death sparked attention statewide.
"Texas is taking action to strengthen penalties for those brazen enough to commit crimes against law enforcement, and we will send a message that such vile acts will not be tolerated in the Lone Star State," Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement. "I am confident that the perpetrator of this swift and despicable act will be apprehended and that murder will be met with swift justice."
Attorney General Ken Paxton added: "This is a reminder to pray for and support all law enforcement officials in our state, especially at this time of grief."
At the Harris County Criminal Courthouse in downtown Houston, lawyers and officers who had known Greenwood for years, if not decades, were in shock.
"He was a great friend, a great husband and a great father," said Jim Leitner, an administrator in the District Attorney's Office. "He was one of the best friends I ever had."
With tears in his eyes, Leitner arrived at the courthouse after being with Greenwood's family at the hospital. On his way in, he hugged a female bailiff who broke down in tears in the lobby. Leitner and defense attorney Danny Lacayo, with the Public Defender's Office, consoled the bailiff and helped her to a private office. Leitner said he and the bailiff had lunch with Greenwood on Friday.
"I'm glad we did," he said.
The shooting Monday brought a swift outpouring of condemnation from local and state leaders.
"We will send a message that such vile acts will not be tolerated in the Lone Star State," Gov. Greg Abbott promised. "I am confident that the perpetrator of this swift and despicable act will be apprehended and that murder will be met with swift justice."
Outside Memorial Hermann Hospital, Greenwood's colleagues and relatives greeted each other with hugs, handshakes and tears.
"He was an incredible human being, a cop's cop," Precinct 1 Constable Alan Rosen said, minutes after a motorcade escorted Greenwood's body from the hospital to the medical examiner's office.
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg was among those grieving at the hospital.
"We knew him as a lawyer, law enforcement officer and colleague respected in every role," Ogg said later, in a statement. "Our prayers are with his family."
Harris County Judge Ed Emmett and Sheriff Ed Gonzalez also offered support to the family.
"I am sickened and profoundly saddened by the brutal killing of Deputy Greenwood this morning," Emmett said.
"We ask the entire community to please stand by us," Gonzalez said. "We're going to do everything we can to track down whoever was responsible for this."
At the Harris County Criminal Courthouse in downtown Houston, lawyers and officers who had known Greenwood for years were in shock.
"He was a great friend, a great husband and a great father," said Jim Leitner, an administrator in the district attorney's office. "He was one of the best friends I ever had."
Brian Benken, Greenwood's former law partner who also worked with him at the Harris County District Attorney's Office was shaken by the news.
Benken said he and Greenwood ran a law practice together for several years before they both went back into investigations. "We both just liked the investigative side better," said Benken, who now works as a private investigator.
Even those who clashed with his anti-corruption efforts said Greenwood was affable outside of work.
"We used to butt heads," said Bob Goerlitz, a Harris County Sheriff's Office patrol deputy who headed the Harris County Deputies Organization for five years. "He was very stern on the business side."
Mourners held an impromptu vigil Monday evening, with plans for a "Back the Blue" convoy Tuesday.
Friends recalled Greenwood as a service-minded, hardworking person who went out of his way to help people.
Montgomery County Sheriff's Lt. Tim Cannon first met Greenwood in high school in the 1970s.
They raced motorcycles and went shooting together. Cannon bought his motorcycle - a Honda Elsinore 125 - from Greenwood in 1974.
"Whenever I had a problem with my motorcycle, he'd come over and help me," he said. "Clint was always the go-to guy. If something needed service, he knew how to work on it. And he knew how to get something fixed."
Greenwood also loved shooting, he said.
"He was an expert shot," Cannon said. "He built pistols; he built rifles. He did it for people. If someone couldn't afford it, he'd do it for free. It was just his way."
He and other friends struggled Monday to come to terms with his death.
"Clint was absolutely a target, for whatever reason," he said. "But he didn't need to be a target. Clint was there to help. And whoever this person was, Clint probably would have reached out to help him as well."
Margaret Kadifa, Marialuisa Rincon, Lindsay Ellis, Brian Rogers, Keri Blakinger and Mike Glenn contributed to this report.
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Wednesday marks the 30th anniversary of one of the deadly natural disasters in the region's history: the collapse of a Thruway bridge over the Schoharie Creek that killed 10 people.
The April 4, 1987 collapse of the bridge in Fort Hunter, Montomery County, came in the midst of a spring thaw and torrential rains that undermined the bridge's pilings. An investigation later blamed faulty construction for the collapse of the bridge: It's pilings were built on the riverbed instead of driven into the bedrock beneath the surface.
Here's what the Times Union wrote on the 25th anniversary of the collapse:
Three men returning from a bowling tournament. A mother and daughter heading to a baby shower. Two Shriners who had gone to a black-tie dinner and were heading home to Toronto. A married couple driving to Texas. A truck driver heading from Green Bay, Wis., to Goshen in Orange County.
One fateful moment brought them all together 25 years ago at 10:50 a.m. on a Sunday morning, April 5, 1987. As they drove along the New York State Thruway near Fort Hunter, the bridge collapsed. All 10 died.
The bridge came down during a spring flood caused by snow melt and torrential rains.
George King, who was then assistant fire chief of Fort Hunter Engine and Hose Co., remembers monitoring water levels on Schoharie Street in Fort Hunter that day.
"I had my binoculars looking up the creek," he said. "I could see a tractor-trailer coming off the bridge into the creek. I thought he was rubbernecking and drove off the bridge. When the water subsided, there was a gap. The bridge was gone."
The 540-foot-long bridge plunged 84 feet, sending four cars and one truck into the raging waters of a flooded Schoharie Creek in Montgomery County. The cause was determined to be a failure to properly design, build and maintain the bridge. Built in the 1950s, the bridge's supports had concrete footings dug 6 feet into the riverbed, instead of piles driven into the bedrock needed because the riverbed soil was vulnerable to washing away.
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DANBURY School districts in the Danbury area and across Connecticut, feeling the pressure of state budget cuts, would get relief from a handful of mandates under legislation proposed in Hartford.
The legislation, which would give school districts more local control over their calendars and their discipline cases, was passed by the bipartisan Education Committee by a 29-2 vote last week, clearing the way for a vote in the House of Representatives.
We hear a lot in the Legislature about the need for mandate relief, and these proposals are generally well supported on both sides of the aisle, said state Rep. Michael Ferguson, a member of the Education Committee who represents Danbury, New Fairfield and Ridgefield. There is a large consensus that we need some type of mandate relief for our schools.
The legislation proposes six areas of mandate relief:
Removing the requirement that districts adopt a uniform regional school calendar.
Removing the requirement that expelled students be offered an alternative education program defined by the state, substituting an alternative program defined by the school district.
Making it the states responsibility to study the requirements for a central digital reporting system, which could be offered free to districts.
Removing the requirement that all school personnel be trained on how to restrain students during crisis, and substituting a requirement that only a core group of educators in the school district be trained.
Limiting the scope of background checks for prospective employees to 20 years.
Removing the requirement that an administrator be present during placement meetings for children with special needs.
Weve had superintendents come up and testify, and overall they were very supportive, said Ferguson, a member of the Danbury Board of Education. This is good for school districts.
The state Education Department agrees, up to a point.
State Education Commissioner Dianna Wentzell said the department supports mandate relief efforts related to calendars, crisis-intervention training, and background checks, but it does not support allowing districts to decide what alternative education program is appropriate for students who are kicked out of school.
Currently, the department is working to settle a federal lawsuit that pertains to this very issue, and the essence of the settlement effort is implementing the alternative education requirement that you are seeking to remove, the commissioner said during testimony before the Education Committee.
(H)aving no standard at all for expelled students is simply bad policy.
Nor does the department support the proposal to excuse administrators from special education placement meetings, saying it likely violates the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
The legislation comes at a time when the state government is trying to close a billion-dollar budget deficit. In mid-winter, the state announced a $20 million cut in education ranging from a $250,000 cut to urban districts such as Danbury and Stamford to a $1.3 million cut to affluent districts such as Greenwich.
Ferguson said the legislation would not compensate for the funding cuts, but it represents progress.
This represents a good start to the conversation, although more work needs to be done, he said.
rryser@newstimes.com; 203-731-3342
As part of the probe, the statements of the complainant and those alleged to be involved in the case would be recorded.
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GREENWICH Author Jonathan Kozol has been drawing attention to the separate and unequal schools that educate the nations inner city children since the height of the Civil Rights movement.
We are developing two classes of education in this country, he said last week.
One drills black and Latino children with test-prep and memorization until they regurgitate pre-digested answers, he said. The other teaches white students of the suburbs to question, to create, to think critically and to love learning.
I dont think thats good for democracy, he said.
Kozol, now 80 years old, spoke at Round Hill Community Church in Greenwich Friday to nearly 100 people, many of whom were teachers and educators.
In a question-and-answer-style talk moderated by The Rev. Edward Horstmann of Round Hill Community Church, Kozol described his lengthy career teaching in urban schools and writing about the inequities of Americas public school system.
Spurred by the Civil Rights movement in its peak, the Harvard graduate said he abandoned his dreams of a doctorate degree in literature in order to join the fight for equality for all people.
Kozol taught fourth grade in a public school in one of the roughest neighborhoods in Boston. The school was so decrepit, he said, that one day a rotting window, frame and all, fell into his classroom.
To shift his students minds from the realities of their surroundings, Kozol hung mobiles from the ceiling and put up whimsical paintings. He introduced his students to the poetry of Langston Hughes; they didnt know people who looked like them could be artists, he said.
Later, Kozol spent 20 years working with children and minority families in the South Bronx, N.Y., and pushing his way into neighborhoods where taxi drivers refused to go.
Over his career, he wrote more than a dozen books about inner-city education, homelessness and illiterate adults. His book Savage Inequalities was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1992 and his best-seller, Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation, received the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in 1996, an honor previously granted to the works of Langston Hughes and Martin Luther King Jr.
For years, he traveled to classrooms around the country, interviewing children and giving voice with his writing to those he described as withering under an education system that remains separate and unequal.
Kozol continues to call for reform, speaking to audiences around the country. He still visits struggling schools around the nation last week he found himself in the San Joaquim Valley in California at a school whose students are largely the children of undocumented immigrants.
He is planning yet another book, The Present Tense of Childhood, which he said will argue for returning joy to schools and abandoning the rigid test preparation and strict discipline common to many urban schools.
Many members of Kozols audience asked the writer how they can try to improve U.S. public education.
Choose battles big enough to matter, but small enough to win, Kozol advised.
Since research shows that 90 percent of a childs brain capacity develops before a child turns 5, community members could make a big difference by advocating for quality early childhood education for all children, a privilege currently afforded mostly to more affluent parents who can afford private preschools high price tags.
Its a good investment, he said. Thats where I would put my money.
Horstmann said Round Hill Community Church congregation already donates time and money to education initiatives. Now, he said, the church hopes to expand its efforts.
One program he said the church was interested in following is the Westminster Crossroads Learning Program model, which links a local church, the private Westminster School and the Hartford Public Schools to improve Hartford Public Schools graduation rates.
The nonprofit Westminster Crossroads Learning Program was started by Westminster School faculty member Tod Eckerson after listening to a lecture by Jonathan Kozol in Bridgeport in the early 2000s, Horstmann said.
Horstmann is a friend of Eckerson.
I love that model. Its collaborative. Its working with one group of children for a long period of time, Horstmann said.
emunson@greenwichtime.com; Twitter: @emiliemunson
GREENWICH Greenwich police officers will be taking extra steps to crack down on distracted driving beginning on Tuesday.
Along with extra units dedicated to pulling over drivers found texting or talking on the phone, a public-service campaign will remind motorists about the dangers that come with those bad habits behind the wheel.
Were going to patrol out there, and youll see advertisements about the dangers of distracted driving, said Traffic Sergeant Patrick Smyth.
The rise of motorists using their mobile devices has been associated with numerous accidents in town.
Its inherently dangerous, said Smyth. Were seeing rear-end collisions, people not paying attention.
Greenwich police will be especially active at high-volume locations, including areas in central Greenwich and access points to I-95.
More deadly collisions are being linked to the trend of texting and driving.
According to the federal highway safety administration, 3,477 people were killed and an estimated 391,000 people injured in motor vehicle crashes involving distracted drivers in 2015. Thats a 9 percent increase in fatalities as compared with the previous year.
Drivers who are ticketed for driving and texting, a violation, can be fined $150 for a first offense, $300 for a second offense and $500 for third and subsequent offenses.
Police said they want the driving public to be aware that distracted driving isnt just another societal trend that cant be controlled.
Dont accept that its OK because everyone else is doing it. Its dangerous, said police Lt. Kraig Gray.
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FAIRFIELD Sixteen years ago, when she was 5, Caitlin Nelson lost her father, a Port Authority police officer, in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center.
As a young woman Nelson, a social work major at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, aided survivors of another tragedy the 2012 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.
Its about healing and helping, Nelson once told tapintoclark.net, a news website covering her hometown of Clark, N.J. Its about paying it forward.
Now Nelsons family and friends are mourning her unexpected death.
More for you SHU student rushed to hospital after choking during contest
The 2021-year-old died Sunday after falling ill at a pancake-eating contest at the University Commons.
An autopsy is pending. Police said she had multiple food allergies and was choking during the contest.
While waiting for help to arrive, a nursing student began CPR after realizing Nelsons pulse was diminished. Officers eventually cleared her airway by physically removing food from her throat.
Police said CPR was continued on the ride to the hospital. Nelson was first taken to St. Vincents Medical Center in Bridgeport, then transferred to Columbia University Medical Center on Friday.
Nelson, according to her social media profiles and media reports from her hometown, was a social work major, led campus fundraising efforts and volunteered supporting trauma victims, including at Sandy Hook.
"The Resiliency Center of Newtown was honored to have had Caitlin Nelson volunteer for us over the past several years, said director Stephanie Cinque, in an email. Caitlin helped with groups at the center, always offered an extra hand for events and was a counselor at both our camps. Caitlin always had a smile and loved the children as much as each of them loved and adored her. Caitlin will be missed immensely by the Newtown-Sandy Hook community, she touched the lives of so many and always did with such love."
She was motivated, at least in part, by the death of her father.
James Nelson participated in rescue efforts in both the 2001 and 1993 World Trade Center attacks, according to the Star-Ledger in New Jersey. In 1993, he braved heavy smoke despite his asthma to evacuate occupants from a bombing.
He was evacuating people from the building again on 9/11, this time from the 27th floor of one of the towers, when it collapsed, according to the Port Authority Police Benevolent Association.
It was at a 9/11 memorial service for her father in 2016 that Nelson told tapintoclark.net she and her sister had worked with the survivors of the Sandy Hook School shooting as they struggle through their loss.
A candlelight vigil at the schools Chapel of the Holy Spirit drew thousands, and the university is providing counseling services to students. Sacred Hearts flags also flew at half-staff Monday in Nelsons honor.
I wish to convey my deepest sympathies to Caitlins family, friends and to the Sacred Heart community, Bridgeport Bishop Frank Caggiano wrote on his Facebook page Monday. As we mourn Caitlins passing, we draw from yesterdays powerful scripture, containing the shortest verse in the Gospel: And Jesus wept.
Fairfield Police Chief Gary McNamara said his officers were also deeply moved by the tragedy.
We were praying for a better outcome, said McNamara. Learning the tragedy that touched this family already ... our officers are certainly affected by this.
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GREENWICH Two years after a leukemia diagnosis in 2013, oncologists discovered Stamford resident Margie Benefico had developed a more aggressive form of non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
They said it had transformed, Benefico said. I thought I was over the hump at that point.
One thing that helped her through that difficult period was going to support groups run by the national nonprofit CancerCare. The New York City-based charity provides professional counseling to cancer patients and their families out of a regional office in Norwalk, as well as in phone and online sessions.
Benefico, 53,was among the more than 250 people who walked and ran through Greenwich Point on Sunday morning at CancerCares 5K Walk/Run for Hope. As of Sunday morning, the event had raised $35,000 toward its $40,000 fundraising goal to support CancerCare, which provides financial assistance with medical costs and living expenses to families of those battling cancer.
Benefico said CancerCares support groups helped her work through some emotional issues that came with facing cancer for a second time. She attended local support groups where she talked other cancer patients about their struggles. Benefico is now in remission, having received a bone marrow transplant.
It was emotional support and also support of knowing what others are going through in the same situation, said Benefico, who works as a Realtor in Stamford.
Her husband, Vincent, appreciated CancerCares role is his wifes journey. They were terrific and provided the kinds of support that was outside of medical care that most people wouldnt even think about, said Vincent Benefico.
The Walk/Run for Hope, which took place in Greenwich for the fifth year, brought together teams to run in honor of those lost to cancer, celebrate survivors and support cancer patients.
Former Norwalk resident Donna Gardiner Spano, 64, said CancerCare provided emotional, as well as financial, help ever since her late husband Peter was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 2009. Two months after Peter Spano died in early 2009, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
They were able to help us with the emotional and financial difficulties we faced, Gardiner Spano said. They were able to help me cope and also with financial help. The costs were overwhelming.
During her husband Peters three-year illness, Gardiner Spano said a caretakers support group helped her feel less alone. When she became ill, CancerCare guided her through the trauma of losing her hair, helping her choose a wig that looked normal.
I needed help and some support emotionally in coping with my husbands very serious illness, Spano said. But they helped in so many ways, even paying an electric bill at one point. Im here because I want to support other people going through the same thing.
On Sunday, Gardiner Spano walked the 5K with her younger sister, Jean Butensky, 58, of Rockville Centre, N.Y. who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Her sisters experience encouraged Butensky to get regular checkups, which led to her cancer being spotted at an early stage, and her prognosis is good.
If it had been a few months later, it might not be as hopeful a story, she said.
To learn more about the group, visit cancercare.org or call 800-813-HOPE.
Jason Hoekema/MBO
AUSTIN -- Education Commissioner Mike Morath's recent decision to reverse decades of practice on local-option homestead exemptions to the betterment of Houston Independent School District, among others is headed to court in a legal challenge filed by attorneys for two small Texas school districts.
This new case centers on a Texas Education Agency decision to reverse decades of policy on local-option homestead exemptions, a decision seen as beneficial to the HISD.
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Fast-paced slapstick comedy, swashbuckling swordplay and a show-within-a-show highlight Ken Ludwig's madcap farce, "Moon Over Buffalo," which plays through April 9 at College of the Mainland Community Theatre.
"It has mistaken identities, slamming doors and twists in the plot," boasted director H. Russ Brown, describing the show's tale of a bickering, washed-up acting couple reduced to performing onstage in Buffalo, N.Y.
Ludwig wrote the part of Charlotte, one-half of the thespian duo, with Carol Burnett in mind. After starring in "The Carol Burnett Show" on television from 1967 to 1978, she garnered a Tony Award nomination for best leading actress in a play when "Moon Over Buffalo" premiered on Broadway in 1995.
Phillip Bosco was nominated for a best-actor Tony in his role as Charlotte's drunken husband, George, who is excited to hear that Oscar-winning director Frank Capra will fly to Buffalo to scout the couple for a movie.
Capra not coming is just one of many complications in the script, which is performed by both COM students and veteran Bay Area actors, including Candy Howard and Paul Hager as Charlotte and George.
Howard is an elementary school principal in Pasadena ISD.
"We only do age-appropriate casting, so students play characters their ages alongside seasoned actors in older roles," explained Brown, who heads the college's theater program and serves as artistic director of COM Community Theatre.
More Information Want to go? What: Ken Ludwig's "Moon Over Buffalo" Where: College of the Mainland Community Theatre, 1200 N Amburn Road, Texas City When: 8 p.m. April 6-8; 2:30 p.m. April 9 Cost: $11-$23 Information: 409-933-8345, www.com.edu/community-theatre/ See More Collapse
"It's tons of fun," said freshman Zachary Dockal, 19, of Dickinson. "It's not only a great experience for a novice actor to work with experienced actors, but you also make friends with people in the local theater community."
Dockal, who was home-schooled before attending college, plays Paul, the stage manager and ex-fiance of Charlotte and George's non-thespian daughter, Roz (Cailey Miller).
Roz's current fiance, Howard, is portrayed by Max Bailey, who was nominated for a Tommy Tune Award for best supporting actor when he co-starred as Robert Martin, a roller-skating groom, in the musical "The Drowsy Chaperone" at Clear Springs High School in 2012.
Rounding out the cast are Anne Boyd as Ethel, Isabella Delgado as Eileen and William Krause as Richard.
Don Maines is a freelance writer who can be reached at donmaines@att.net
Jennifer Mathieu is an English teacher at Belliare High School and a published author of young adult fiction, but soon she may be able to add film maker to her resume with the help of comedian and Hollywood mogul Amy Poehler.
Mathieu's latest novel, "Moxie" from Roaring Brook Press will be released Sept. 19, 2017. Amy Poehler, the star of NBC's "Parks and Rec," expressed interest in the manuscript along with a few other companies late last year. But when Poehler's Paper Kite Productions contacted Mathieu in December to talk about optioning the book for a film, the teacher knew her story had found a home.
During talks with the company, the author was shocked when she learned Poehler herself would be on an upcoming call. She assumed Poehler would be too busy to take the phone call and wondered if the TV and film star had even read the book.
"Not only had she read it, she really read it," said Mathieu. "She mentioned her favorite scenes and she really got the relationship between Vivian and her mom. I couldn't believe it, I admire her so much."
Vivian is the main character in the book. She's a high school student who learns about the riot grrrl movement of the 1990s through her mother who was a part of the feminist culture in her youth that included all-girl punk rock bands and home-made magazines called "zines" that contained essays, cartoons and other edgy commentary on gender issues.
The story is set in a fictional Texas town called East Rockport and Vivian is sick of sexist rules and offensive behavior from the boys in her class. Inspired by her mother, she incites a resurgence of the '90s phenomenon at her high school and starts her own 'zine with her friends called "Moxie". There's even one friend new to the south Texas high school who Mathieu said is from Houston in the story, and helps bring big-city progressive ideas to the small town.
Mathieu says the idea to write about feminism in her fourth novel came to her a few years ago, and feels it's more relevant than ever.
"I'm a feminist, I consider myself one since I was 17," she said. "It does seem weirdly timely given the kinds of discussion going on about gender issues during the election. I think that even if Hillary Clinton had won, that wouldn't have suggested feminists' work is done."
And Mathieu not only tackles those issues with her pen, but she showed up and marched with 20,000 other people in Houston's Women's March in January.
But, she says, the book is not out to persuade anyone politically.
"I firmly believe gender equality should not be a political issue. I think you can be a conservative and be a feminist, I don't they're mutually exclusive. It's not a political book, it's a human rights book," she said.
She also writes from experience when she brings the riot grrrl movement back to life in the novel.
"I used to make 'zines, and was in the zine culture. I loved Sleater-Kinney and Bikini Kill, still do," said Mathieu of two bands who helped define the voice of the feminist message at the time.
There are pages in the book devoted to the zine Vivian writes that reflect the aesthetic and tone of the retro publication. Readers of "Moxie" at the school are called "Moxie girls" and the zine allows the girls to organize peaceful protests like telling girls to draw stars on their hands to help identify other "Moxie girls" and tells them what to wear in a show of unity and protest of what they consider demeaning dress code checks at the school.
Mathieu considers the protest activities important to the character's growth in the novel, but strives to illustrate how it also helps foster strong female relationships too, similar to those she says feminism has given her throughout her life.
"The big message is that feminism is a joyful thing," she said. "Living my life as a feminist has given me a life of joy and friendship with other women. Yes, feminism is about getting things done, but it's also about having another woman say, 'I believe in you and I've felt those things too.'"
She says her students at Bellaire HS are aware that "Moxie" has been tapped by Hollywood, but, she said she tries not to bring her literary endeavors into the classroom and the students are usually too focused on their assignments to give it much attention.
That may change, though, if they eventually see thier teacher's name on big-screen movie credits.
Poehler's company has 18 months to get the film green-lit, but there's no guarantee that they will said Mathieu. However, Poehler called it a "priority project for her," said the author.
Whether or not the novel becomes a film, Poehler seems to have already been won over by Vivian. Her blurb on the cover of the book reads: "Moxie is sweet, funny and fierce. Read this and then join the fight," said Poehler.
Friendswood Scoutmaster Peter Zehrer brought his Boy Scouts of America Troop 452 of about 20 for a recent weekend re-enactment of Goliad Massacre re-enactment at Presidio La Bahia.
This year marked the 32nd year for the re-enactment, which started about the time of the Texas Revolution's 150th anniversary, said Scott McMahon, Presidio La Bahia director.
The massacre happened March 27, 1836, during the Texas Revolution. Nearly 500 soldiers from the Texas army were killed by the Mexican Army.
Zehrer and his assistant scoutmaster, Winston Whittington, have brought their troop for the last five years from Friendswood to camp out in Goliad State Park for the re-enactment.
"They learn about Texas history firsthand," Whittington said. "They see the good and the bad parts of it, what people sacrificed for our freedoms. They really appreciate that. To be able to see it helps them understand a little bit better."
The sons of the troop leaders, Ashton Whittington, 13, and Andrew Zehrer, 14, have been to the re-enactment several times.
"I like walking around in the middle of the day and just seeing everything like how it was," Ashton said. "We learned about this in school. ... They can only tell you so much about this in school, but now we come here and learn more."
"It's important to remember history like this so you can remember where you came from," McMahon said. "Who you are as a people, as a state."
Edward Teniente continued in his father's footsteps during his part in the Goliad Massacre re-enactment at Presidio La Bahia.
Teniente, 31, of Laredo, has been acting in the Goliad Massacre re-enactment weekend event for 12 years and played a Mexican sergeant during the re-enactment's pivotal moment: the massacre.
"My dad is the one who got me started," Teniente said. "My dad and his love of history and living history - He's the reason why I'm here. All the credit goes to him."
Teniente's father, Eduardo, died in 2009.
Teniente said he feels like he is paying his respects to history during the re-enactments.
"A big part is educating our future generations because one day we'll be gone and need someone to replace us and carry the torch," he said. "That's why we're here."
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An era, albeit a short one, has ended in the Memorial Villages. Chief of Police J.D. Sanders performed his last day in the post Friday as he retires from 35 years in law enforcement.
MVPD held the "Change of Command" ceremony at Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church near Piney Point Road. Sanders pinned Assistant Chief Ray Schultz as the new Chief of Police at the gathering, though it was announced in January that Schultz would take over.
Sanders headed out of Houston after almost four years as Chief the next day back to Troy, Tennessee where he and wife bought a farm and where the two grew up. But it wasn't without plenty of kind of words, gestures and tokens of appreciation that he departs the Memorial Villages.
Mayor Jay Williams of Bunker Hill and Mayor Jim Pappas of Hunters Creek were in attendance as well as police commissioners, city council members, MVPD police officers and even an aid of Rep. Jim Murphy's in the Texas Legislature.
During his remarks to the crowd of about 50 people gathered in the church's fellowship hall, Sanders repeatedly lauded Schultz as a professional and forward-thinking Chief who will help the Villages maintain and improve the department the retiring Chief helped shape.
Sanders and Schultz met previously when they were both working in separate New Mexico police departments before coming to Texas, and have known each other for about nine years. Schultz was Chief of Police for Albuquerque and often went to the state legislature to testify and was the face for police in New Mexico said Sanders.
"When I got to New Mexico, it took me about 15 minutes sitting down with Ray to realize that I had met one of the most professional police chiefs," said Sanders. "That's where I became a big fan of Ray's."
But before the two would later run into each other at a San Diego conference where Sanders would convince Schultz to come to Texas and join MVPD, the new Chief of Police was cleaning up a mess.
Mayor Williams remarked on the state of the police department when Sanders was hired in 2013, "Most people don't know how dire our situation was. At that time MVPD didn't get called for back-up by nearby departments because no one thought they could. Things were bleak.
Sanders returned the sentiment from the podium and thanked Williams for being one of the first Mayors in the Villages to reach out to him and bridge the gap that often divides law enforcement and political entities within a community.
In a matter of months, Sanders hired new police officers, lobbied for and won a new command center for the police department and hired a full-time administrator to organize personnel files and track finances more accurately.
The investment in time and staff proved beneficial when an FBI survey showed that in 2015 Memorial Villages were the safest communities in the greater Houston area, a quick turn-around time which Sanders attributes not only to the hard work of police officers, but to the residents themselves.
"This is the first community I've been in that supports police officers like you do. This is such a special place and it makes a difference," said Sanders.
Schultz helped emcee the event and presented his former boss with gag gifts from the city offices. Like an extra large pair of overalls, coon-skinned cap and a corncob smoking pipe, an apparent jab at Sanders' country roots.
Williams joked they seriously considered whether the Tennessee-native was a little "too country" for the Villages when they interviewed him, but that the chief's aggressive style and ability to not back down when challenged proved to them he was the man for the job.
One MVPD officer at the event said the transition from Sanders to Schultz has been smooth and that because they've been working with Schultz for over two years, they feel they know what they're getting moving into the next phase of command.
Schultz said he felt blessed to be with MVPD but didn't comment on any plans he has in mind for the department now that he's at the top.
But MV Fire Chief David Foster said he and Schultz recently implemented a system that alerts fire officials when a 911 call is made so that medical first responders can show up at the scene earlier than they have been. It started last week and he said it's been going well. As both departments must work closely together on life or death situations, Foster is pleased with the advancement of Schultz.
"It's always good to have continuity and he's a good choice," said Foster.
Sanders remained on the podium throughout the presentation where numerous city officials offered thanks and well wishes. He seemed to realize this was his last stand as Chief of Police and wanted to savor the moment before he offered his final thoughts: "The best days are ahead for the Memorial Villages."
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A decade ago, Mitchell Intermediate School teacher Eric Patton, 57, learned his wife Ina, 56, had breast cancer. But Saturday morning, he watched her cancer-free and standing side by side with survivors cut a long, pink ribbon.
The ribbon marked a milestone moment for the 10th anniversary of the Paint the Path Pink 5k race, started by The Passionately Pink Teachers in 2007 when the Pattons, along with another teacher and his wife, started the battle. The teachers each set a goal to raise $1,800 to walk in the 26.2-mile Avon 39 Walk for Breast Cancer April 22-23 in Houston.
Paint the Path Pink raised $35,000 Saturday, bringing its 10-year total to more than $350,000 for the Avon Foundation, which goes toward Breast Cancer awareness, research and treatment, according to founding member Dawn Caldwell. The funds from the event stay in the greater Houston area, supporting women through several organizations, including Baylor College of Medicine, UT's MD Anderson Cancer Center, The Houston Methodist Foundation and The Rose and Sisters Network, according to Caldwell.
"It means an awful lot," said Ina Patton, standing beside her husband who was "her rock" through nine months of chemotherapy and nine weeks of radiation in her two-year battle. "The fact it has continued on so long is heart-wrenching. Words don't describe it. This is a family."
While the inaugural event started with 300 runners, this year Caldwell said the run had more than 1,000 participants.
"Ina Patton is the motivation behind this," Caldwell said. "It feels pretty good to see her cut the ribbon."
Passionately Pink staff member Katie McLean, like Caldwell, has been involved since the inception.
"The statistics are one in eight women will be diagnosed every three minutes," McLean said. "When you think about how many people are here and how many people that one out of eight women you know could be possibly diagnosed, it's pretty powerful to know you are having an impact on that."
The Passionately Pink team filled a void for the Pattons, who do not have relatives in the area. Their passion instilled hope, which has since spread to the participants, including those who are enduring the diagnosis, their supporters, their family members, their community and survivors.
Positive and motivational messages for the runners and walkers from "You Rock" to "Keep Going" was incscribed with colorful chalk on the route, which started and ended at 6800 Alden Bridge Drive.
A pop of blue could be spotted behind the waves of pink runners.
The light-colored head scarf belonged to Alexandra Garcia, 48, of The Woodlands. The substitute teacher felt sick from the chemotherapy treatment, so she supported the participants from the sidelines. She didn't have a chance to see the messages on the pavement, but she receives them in text message on the tough days.
Garcia sat in the doctor's office in January with her 15-year-old daughter when her "world collapsed." She had three tumors Stage 2 breast cancer. Her family is originally from Argentina, her mother is in New York and unable to be physically present and she pushes to persevere. But she discovered this event while giving her daughter driving lessons in the school parking lot a couple of months ago.
While Garcia is "scared" of her upcoming mastectomy and reconstruction, she feels like she has support. On Saturday, Garcia stood by Stage 1 breast cancer survivor Spring resident Nell Lorenze, 74, who comforted her as she talked about her upcoming surgery.
"I don't feel like I'm alone," said Garcia, who emphasized getting checked every year as she did. "Breast cancer can be depressing, especially for women. But this is for a good cause, it raises money and it makes me happy. It makes you think different (when someone sends words of encouragement)."
At the end of the day, the winners were announced and the Chick-Fil-A cow busted out some dance moves with participants to celebrate to music spun by a live DJ.
Mitchell Intermediate student Auldyn Plant, 12, ran for the third year and once again placed first overall with a time of 17 minutes, 34 seconds. She remembers having a third-grade teacher diagnosed with breast cancer and participates because she enjoys running.
"It's a fun thing," said Plant, referring to the run and describing what pushes her to finish first. "As long as you try your best and never give up because people fighting never do."
She offered her own words of encouragement for those currently fighting the battle.
"Never give up," Plant said. "Always keep hoping they will find a cure, and you will survive."
This year's 10th anniversary event ribbon-cutting survivors included: Ina Patton, Edith McLaughlin, Stephanie Knific, Susan McLean, Kathy Ledbetter, Dana Clark, Kim Beale, Nell Lorenz, Zender Wallace with mother Marcy Lennox, Elizabeth Sherman and Lea Cordier.
To help support the Passionately Pink Teachers who have a Facebook page, donations can be made at avonwalk.org.
To the editor:
It has come to my attention that our Texas senator, Brandon Creighton, has introduced SB 1964 for consideration during this legislative session.
After reading this bill, I would like to publicly oppose this measure, which would allow deforestation and destruction of the Jones State Forest which the residents of Montgomery County now use for public recreation.
As a resident of Montgomery County for 26 years, I can honestly say that Montgomery County certainly does not need more commercial/mixed-use development, especially at the cost of losing a wonderful nature preserve that we all enjoy.
Please contact Creighton at brandoncreighton.com/contact to express your opinion.
Susan Olver
The Woodlands
Albatross of a building blocks Lake Woodlands view
To the editor:
How did this happen? The ugly albatross has arrived. I drive over the North Shore Park bridge every day, and last week this strange "out-of-place" monster started growing up beside the bridge. Upon further investigation on my part, I realized this is not temporary, but a permanent "never to go away" 5,000-square-foot, two-story metal building on the shore line in the park, designed to block the view of our beautiful lake.
I called The Woodlands Parks Department to find out what this was all about. They informed me that this was the storage building for the rowing teams. So, 200 rowing members get 5,000 square feet of the park and "1" ugly building, never mind the other 100,000-plus residents of The Woodlands.
They assured me this was well vetted through numerous public meetings. From now on, I will pay close attention to the "goings on" with The Woodlands government. After all, I live very close to the beautiful North Shore Park and am really going to hate seeing the "blue monster" building every day, not to mention that 30 percent of the cost came from our local taxes for those 200 people versus 100,000 Woodlands residents.
More Information VOICE YOUR OPINION The Villager welcomes all letters and suggest a 300-word limit. All letters are subject to editing. Send letters to Letters to the Editor, The Courier, 100 Ave A, Conroe, Texas 77301. Letters must include name, address and phone number for verification purposes. See More Collapse
Ed Renner
The Woodlands
Thankful to be alive, for the support
To the editor:
As you may have heard, earlier this week I was in a car accident while traveling to the Capitol March 28. For much of the week, I was hospitalized for observation. But by God's grace, I was discharged with no lasting injuries and no broken bones.
The outpouring of support that Kim and I received was overwhelming. I'd like to thank my constituents, Texans everywhere, my staff and my colleagues in the House for your encouragement. Words really cannot describe what your messages, texts, calls, letters and visits meant to us.
This past week is a reminder of how things can happen and change so quickly with notice given to no one. It is a reminder of how fragile life can be and truly refocuses what's most important in that life. This coming week, tell someone you love them, give someone close to you a hug, make a new connection just make every day special.
From the bottom of my heart Thank You.
Yours for Texas,
Mark Keough
County needs to stop spending hemorrhage
To the editor:
As one of the little people, I just have to comment on Mr. Gooch's letter 3-24-17 "LITTLE PEOPLE, RATS HECKLE COUNTY JUDGE". He decries roadblocks to undermine the "activities" of our commissioner's court. My daughter's house payments went up $200 a month due to their activities. Noack would soon be CEO if he was in private industry because he has a sense of economic restraint that he applies with a strong dose of common sense that he applies to everything he does. We need more people like that serving on the county commission. We need to stop the spending hemorrhage that is going to enslave generations yet unborn with insurmountable debt. Maybe you big guys can afford it but we little people can't.
Jim Doyle
Conroe
Keep Medicare Advantage funding steady
To the editor:
Like many retired seniors, I need a health care plan that offers comprehensive coverage, but at a price that I can afford on a fixed income. The TexanPlus Medicare Advantage Plan I use has served me well for over a decade. Many seniors are in this same position and have chosen Medicare Advantage because of the affordable cost.
If the Medicare Advantage program receives less funding in the future, some plans could raise prices or disappear altogether. Many doctors might choose to stip taking Medicare Advantage plans. This would be bad for me because I've had the same primary care doctor for a long time. He knows me, and I trust him.
The plan I have satisfies everything I need. I have had a few medical procedures, but my out-of-pocket expenses have been affordable, even when I had to go to the emergency room. I have back problems and have to take medication for that. I also take cholesterol and high blood presssure medication, which my plans pays for entirely. If I had to pay these costs myself, I woudn't be able to take the medications I need.
Medicare Advantage plans are a valuable resouce for over 17 million seniors. Funding cuts would lead to serious problems for so many of us. Luckily, Senator Cornyn and Representative Brady have been hard at work in Washington. I'm grateful that elected officials from Texas are taking a stand to ensure that this vital program continues to receive the funding it needs.
Douglas Needham
The time to ameliorate county spending has come
To the editor:
As Montgomery County Commissioners Court prepares to consider increasing the recently adopted general homestead exemption to the statutory limit of 20 percent, the need for meaningful and sustained relief for the tax payers of this county continues to loom.
As I mentioned in a previous letter, providing the taxpayers with a general homestead exemption is merely one leg of the proverbial three-legged stool.
If the Legislature does not act on appraisal reform, we will see any homestead exemption, whether 10 percent or 20 percent, merely eroded away by unbridled and rampant appraisal increases.
These consistent increases have provided taxing entities in Montgomery County with record revenues and the opportunity for exorbitant spending increases while forcing some taxpayers to consider whether they can afford to stay in their homes as they move into different stages of their life.
Appraisal reform is paramount to providing relief to the tax payers of this county. I know some of the members of Commissioners Court have been to Austin to let their opinion be known, nonetheless we are reliant on the Legislature to act or we will be burdened with the same system for at least another two years.
The third leg of this stool, and one for which Commissioners Court themselves solely hold control, is reigning in county spending increases.
As has been well documented, Montgomery County has increased spending triple digits, while only experiencing double digit growth over the last 10-15 years.
While some of this may be the pains of Montgomery County transitioning from a rural county to a suburban/urban county, it is a trend we have sustained for too long and can no longer continue. The time to ameliorate our spending has come.
It is time for Montgomery County Commissioners Court to not simply consider superficial spending controls for the sake of campaign sound bites or appeasing the voices of overburdened tax payers, but for them to engage in meaningful and lasting spending controls. Improved stewardship of our tax dollars will always go the furthest at providing relief for the tax payers of Montgomery County.
There is a better way, the taxpayers of Montgomery County deserve it.
Brian K. Dawson
Is greed driving Jones State Forest bill?
To the editor:
Regarding Senate Bill 1964 concerning the use of land in Jones State Park for academic and economic purposes, this bill is sponsored by Sen. Brandon Creighton.
The comments I have heard from neighbors and homeowners who live in this area, so far, are negative. I am hearing that commerce and money are not everything, our families need trees and hiking to understand science and nature, and trees produce oxygen.
Many residents think Creighton should keep his developer hands off of Jones State Park. This land is an oasis in the middle of traffic and commercial building that is already out of control. How many fast-food places and gas stations do we need? But the comment most heard is greed, greed and more greed.
Linda Anderson
The Woodlands
Stand behind Brady on healthcare system reform
To the editor:
As a resident of Montgomery County, I am proud to have a great conservative man represent my voice in Congress and, more importantly, as the chair of the Ways and Means Committee. Congressman Kevin Brady stands for the American people. Healthcare reform has long been overdue. He champions a new healthcare reform that will release the people from the harsh penalties and sanctions of the authoritarian Affordable Care Act. With the American Health Care Act, Congressman Brady intends to put money back into our pockets while providing quality health care for the American people.
It is highly disconcerting that instead of working toward a common goal, House Democrats look for ways to hinder the newly proposed overhaul of the healthcare system despite the fact that they chose to exempt themselves from the implementation of the very flawed healthcare system they created.
The American Health Care Act would have ended harmful taxes on families and local businesses, lower federal spending and restore the free market allowing more choices and better plans. Most importantly, it would have stopped the government from forcing Americans to buy unaffordable health insurance. Now more than ever, we should all stand behind Congressman Brady as he returns to the drawing board to amend the bill to improve the American way of life.
Steven L. Banes
Montgomery County Child Welfare/CPS, Board of Directors, Secretary
Orphan Care Solutions of Texas, Secretary
Nothing fake about town hall
To the editor:
Representative Kevin Brady's characterization of the town hall on March 25 as "fake" is patently false and a slap in the face to his local constituents who worked so hard to put it together. None of us were paid, few if any, were out of district. We have serious concerns about repeal/replace healthcare, immigration and the environment, to name a few. My deep, ongoing concern is the Trump- Russia connections. B.P. Herrington's letter was accurate and spot on.
Glenna Sloan
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Visiting 221st state District Court Judge Randy Clapp will make his decision Friday regarding a motion to dismiss a charge against Montgomery County Judge Craig Doyal following almost four days of testimony concerning the constitutionality of a statute in the Texas Open Meetings Act.
"I intend to put this to rest by Friday," said Clapp, who reiterated that his decision will be made "fairly quickly." He added that he will not reconvene court to announce his decision but will contact the attorneys directly.
The hearing was prompted by Houston attorney Rusty Hardin's motion on behalf of Doyal to dismiss his Class B misdemeanor charge of conspiring to circumvent the Open Meetings Act. Hardin claims Section 551.143 of the act is unconstitutional.
Doyal, Precinct 2 Commissioner Charlie Riley and political consultant Marc Davenport face one count each on the same charge. They, along with Precinct 4 Commissioner Jim Clark, were indicted June 24, 2016, stemming from negotiations in August 2015 to place a $280 million road bond on the November 2015 ballot. Riley and Davenport joined Doyal's motion to dismiss.
According to Clapp, if he rules in favor of the defense, the charges against the three would be dropped. If he rules in favor of the state, a trial date for the three would be set.
However, either decision could trigger an appeal.
Special prosecutor Chris Downey said he is positive about the hearing.
"We were able to get everything into evidence we wanted to get into evidence to address whether or not the statute is constitutionally sound," he said. "We believe it is.
"We believe this matter has been thoroughly addressed by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals when it addressed another statute of the Texas Open Meetings Act; and the arguments the defense made were all the same arguments made at that time."
Downey said the arguments aren't "new or novel."
While Downey said he recognizes the confusion on the part of several witnesses and their confusion of the act, he said it boils down to education.
"The confusion is a function of poor education in the public arena in what the Texas Open Meetings Act actually criminalizes," Downey said. "I don't think that is a function of complicated wording; instead, I think it is a function of people being confused on how criminal principal apply to this administrative statute."
Joel White, Austin-based First Amendment media attorney, testified for the state saying the statute is not vague or confusing.
"It's certainly not vague," White said. "It's specific. There's plenty of authority to look at that. Section 143 does not criminalize three commissioner getting together, per se," White said. "What it criminalizes is three of them getting together to conspire to violate the act."
He said Section 143 is a content-neutral statute, meaning he believes the statute does not bar any certain type of speech based on its content as argued by Hardin.
Hardin, who believes the statute is content-based, called into question White's credibility as an expert since White cannot recollect a pivotal U.S. Supreme Court decision in Reed v. Gilbert, in which a city's ordinance barring certain types of roadside signs was brought into question. Ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the city's ordinance, which put greater restrictions on religious signs than political, was an unconstitutional content-based restriction.
Hardin is contending the Reed decision should be applied to this case, saying it would hold that Section 143 is unconstitutional.
"(Clapp) has been incredibly attentive to both sides and incredibly civil to both sides," Hardin said. "I have no idea how he will rule."
Hardin added he is satisfied with the fact that both sides were able to present all the evidence and testimony they wanted.
"Only the judge's ruling will tell us if one side could have done something differently," he said. "It's a matter that hasn't been litigated before; it is therefore a case of first impression, and I have no doubt the judge will give it the attention it deserves."
Clapp, judge of the 329th state District Court in Wharton County, is overseeing the case because 221st state District Court Judge Lisa Michalk recused herself.
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SPRING A Spring homeowner who allegedly shot at two men attacking his fiance in their front yard is facing felony charges for the shooting.
Jeremiah Morin, 34, was arrested and charged with third-degree felony deadly conduct for allegedly firing "indiscriminately" at the two men who were accosting his fiance in the 30000 block of Wisteria Trace Drive. The two men who attacked Morin's fiance are still on the loose, law enforcement said.
Morin's fiance got home around 11:45 a.m. Friday with two of her children. She took her first child inside and was on her way back out to get her second child when two men came from around the side of her home and attacked her, according to Montgomery County Sheriff's Capt. Bryan Carlisle.
Detectives believe the two men brought tie straps with them and left them as they fled the home, located in Estates of Legends Trace off of Rayford Road in South Montgomery County.
"It looked like some nefarious stuff was going to happen," Carlisle said. "There's no doubt about that."
Neighbors said one of the two men had Morin's fiance in a headlock and looked to be dragging her against her will. Carlisle said that's when Morin stepped out of his garage and opened fire on the two as they ran down the street.
"He began to indiscriminately shoot multiple rounds down the street," said Carlisle, adding that detectives were not sure whether the two men returned fire or even had guns in the first place. "These rounds definitely went down a very crowded street."
Carlisle also said Morin was being uncooperative with detectives prior to his arrest. In a press release, Sheriff's officials said Morin's fiance also was uncooperative and said she would not want to press charges if any suspects are detained.
The Sheriff's Office also stated Morin was a member of the gang Tango Blast.
"I do not know what to read into that," Carlisle said. "That's what our detectives do. Clearly there's information we need that we're just not getting right now. When you have an event of this magnitude, we need information."
A person commits third-degree felony deadly conduct when the person "knowingly discharges a firearm at or in the direction of one or more individuals or a habitation, building or vehicle and is reckless as to whether the habitation, building or vehicle is occupied," according to the Texas Penal Code.
Detectives looked at nearby homes that may have been hit by stray bullets, but Carlisle said they did not find any. There also was no blood trail left by the attackers as they fled. Carlisle said the attackers are described as short, black males wearing dark clothing and ski masks or bandanas on their heads.
"You can make the assumption that maybe they were trying to take her or take one of the kids," Carlisle said. "We don't know for sure, we're looking at the totality of the circumstances."
As for Morin, he is facing up to 10 years in prison, if convicted.
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LA VERNIA Paula Thompson wants the kids of La Vernia to be educated on sexual assault, because some in town do not seem to know what it is, she said.
I have spoke with many parents who said their children were unaware that this type of behavior was against the law, said Thompson, a mother with two daughters enrolled at La Vernia High School. Which is no excuse, but each of their boys said that if they would have seen this type of behavior, they may have joined in, because they did not realize it was considered assault.
Thompson was the one and only parent to speak up at La Vernia Independent School Districts board meeting on Monday evening, the first to be held since 10 high school student athletes were arrested on sexual assault charges. Part of a wide-ranging hazing investigation that includes at least 10 victims over several years, the arrests have rattled the small town outside San Antonio.
Earlier in the day, Wilson County Attorney Tom Caldwell announced that the Texas Rangers will take over the police investigation from the La Vernia Police Department, while the Texas Attorney General's office will handle the prosecutions of all who have been arrested so far.
Mondays meeting was also the first time that Superintendent Jose Moreno addressed the public in person about what has happened in his district. Before more than 100 people gathered in the high school cafeteria, Moreno acknowledged that the past few weeks have been extremely difficult for parents and school staff, but most of all for the students.
The school has been unable to release much information, he said, due to the ongoing investigation.
Were all hurt, and thats obvious, and thats why were all here this evening, said Moreno, who has headed the district for four years. Theres a lot of unanswered questions, and I get that, and I understand that.
Police arrested seven juvenile students on March 23, followed by three adult students last week. Local prosecutors made the decision to request state help in order to ensure complete neutrality, Caldwell said. Both he and Wilson County District Attorney Audrey Gossett Louis have children who attend schools in La Vernia, he said.
Previously, the county attorneys office planned for a special prosecutor from neighboring Atascosa County to handle cases where he or his first assistant knew the suspects or victims.
Its not us kicking the can somewhere else. Its us kicking the can to people who are truly impartial and cannot be questioned otherwise, Caldwell said. We would do our jobs if we had to, but we also want to protect the integrity of the investigation.
Except for Morenos comments, the La Vernia ISD board spent much of the meeting in closed session.
During that time, attendees began to slowly trickle out the doors. One of them was Timothy Padelford, a father with three children enrolled in La Vernia schools, one of them a high school senior. He expressed frustration with the way the district has handled things, including a lack of communication with parents. He did not hear about Mondays meeting until he was on his way home from his job as a physicist at Brooke Army Medical Center.
Mainly, were in the dark here. Were not being informed, he said, adding, They could address maybe not who, but what, and when.
Padelford said information sessions with parents and students, which Moreno has previously said were being planned, should have already happened. Padelfords son, who has learning disabilities, has had trouble understanding the arrests of his classmates.
Its too late, in my opinion, Padelford said. Something already should have been done. Youve got people already upset.
Louis Silva, a 2016 graduate of La Vernia High who played on the football team his freshman year, knew two of the students who have been arrested.
I didnt believe it at first, he said. I really didnt.
Silva and others in his class are really disappointed and devastated over what has happened, he said. But he was glad to hear about the involvement of the Texas Rangers, citing the additional resources they will bring to the investigation.
Shortly before the meeting adjourned at 8 p.m., the board unanimously voted to retain special legal counsel for any student expulsions and resulting appeals for the remainder of the school year.
Four Odessans -- including an 8-year-old girl -- died Sunday afternoon in a two-vehicle wreck on South Loop 338, 4 1/2 miles north of Odessa, according to a press release from the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Thirty-year-old Christopher Soliz was driving a Ford F250 northbound, and Calistro Carrillo, 35, was driving a southbound Dodge pickup towing a cargo trailer. Soliz lost control, entered the southbound lane, and the vehicles collided, according to the release.
A child was hospitalized Sunday afternoon after sustaining injuries in a shooting at a North Side residence, authorities said.
Bexar County Sheriffs deputies received a call just before noon Sunday from a local hospital detailing that a child was injured in a shooting that occurred in the 24100 block of Acanthus. An unidentified family member took the child to the hospital.
The child was injured in the shooting, according to a news release from the Bexar County Sheriffs Office. It is unclear how the child was hurt.
BCSO officials were dispatched to the local hospital and the residence to investigate the shooting.
Investigators said they would file charges for making a firearm accessible to a child with injuries, the release stated. It is still unknown who may face charges.
The investigation is still underway. No further details were immediately available.
qramirez@express-news.net
Twitter: @quixem
Proposed legislative changes to Texas' voter ID law wont affect a lawsuits claim that the law is discriminatory, a federal judge has ruled.
U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos, based in Corpus Christi, made the declaration in an opinion that also allowed the Justice Department to withdraw from the case.
The opinion follows a hearing in February in which as directed by a federal appeals court, the U.S. Fifth Circuit she heard more arguments about whether the law, SB 14, was passed with discriminatory intent.
The state argued that lawmakers planned fixes to be made in Austin with a measure called Senate Bill 5.
The court holds that the Fifth Circuit did not direct this Court to withhold a decision on the discriminatory purpose claim and that the claim is not, and will not be, moot as a result of pending or future legislation, Gonzales Ramos wrote.
The civil rights groups that brought the suit say the proposed changes, if passed in the newly introduced legislation, are irrelevant and that the GOP-controlled Legislature designed and passed the 2011 voter i.d. law with discriminatory purpose.
The groups argue that the Texas law has the potential to keep 600,000 voters, mostly African-Americans and Hispanics, away from the polls. They point, for instance, to a provision that allows Texas voters to use their hunting licenses as identification at the polls, but not student identification cards.
The Justice Department, under new U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, reversed course in the case when in February it abruptly ended the five years it spent fighting the law alongside the plaintiffs. The department withdrew an amicus brief that had been filed under Sessions predecessor, Loretta Lynch, who had argued that the law was discriminatory.
The judge granted the Justice Department request to dismiss its discriminatory purpose claim and set the case for a status conference in June.
Having heard re-argument, this Court intends to issue its new opinion on whether SB 14 was passed with a discriminatory intent in violation of the Voting Rights Act at its earliest convenience and in due course. The Court will, however, await the end of the current Texas legislative session to address remedies, Gonzales Ramos wrote.
gcontreras@express-news.net
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The San Antonio Zoo was up to some monkey business on April Fools Day, pretending that one of its researchers had discovered a new species, a mix between a giraffe and a zebra.
The animal was actually an okapi, an endangered species related to the giraffe. The prank was a way to raise awareness of the mammal, whose population is dwindling in a habitat limited to a small area of rain forest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, said Chuck Cureau, the zoos director of public relations and events.
The zoo already has two okapis that it is attempting to mate Epulu, a four-year-old male, and Ludimi, a five-year-old female. The couple is becoming more affectionate, but Epulu suffers from a lack of experience, said Kelsey Crandall, an animal care specialist at the zoo.
Hes new, hes never bred before, so hes sort of figuring it out, she said. He looks like hes getting it. He just needs to get a little more confident.
Crandall became hopeful on Saturday afternoon when Epulu started making huffing noises at Ludimi, a sign that hes starting to become more serious about their relationship. She noted that Ludimi has been more careful about grooming herself since she started seeing Epulu.
The zoo has a tradition of playing a prank every year on April 1. Last year, it announced on Facebook that it had created the worlds first chupacabra exhibit.
This years Facebook post claimed that a researcher from the zoo went on an expedition in the Democratic Republic of the Congo searching for a mystical animal that had been portrayed in cave drawings in the area.
The supposed researchers name Ima Uranokapi offered a hint of the animals real identity.
According to the post, the researcher set up a web of camera traps that captured a photo of the animal. But a live camera feed on the website was actually from the back yard of the zoos CEO, Tim Morrow, Cureau said. A link on the post routed readers to a page of the zoos website informing them that they had been pranked.
The website includes a link that allows readers to donate to the Okapi Wildlife Reserve, which protects the animal.
The footprint of the San Antonio Zoo is more than just San Antonio. We support conservation projects around the world, Cureau said.
The zoo got its first okapi, a two-year-old male named Muka, in 2002. Eight years later, the zoo got approval from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to breed the animals.
Okapis are solitary creatures, so Epulu and Ludimi generally dont hang out together unless theyre being mated. Like their giraffe cousins, they have long, black tongues that they can use to pull leaves off of trees, or even to swat flies off their backs.
The prank seemed to do well on Facebook, with nearly 300 likes and more than 100 shares by Saturday afternoon. Most of those who commented on the post seemed to recognize it as a prank, but a few replied indignantly that the animal in the pictures was an okapi.
Footage of two rattlesnakes embroiled in a tussle over a female was captured by a hiker at a San Antonio-area park in March and the video has grabbed the internet's attention.
A standoff between two male snakes was caught on video by Roni Martin at Government Canyon State Natural Area March 24.
A Fort Worth man was arrested last month after a boy who borrowed the man's computer allegedly found pornographic photos of his underage sister, later learning she was raped, according to court documents.
Joe Garza Jr., 65, faces a third-degree felony charge of possession of child pornography and a first-degree felony charge of continuous sexual abuse of a child.
RELATED: Indictment: Former Northside ISD swim coach had sex with minor for years
Garzas arrest occurred in Fort Worth after a boy borrowed his computer. The boy allegedly found a folder on the computer that contained nude pictures of his sister, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by mySA.com.
The boy then notified his parents, and borrowed the computer again so they could see the photos for themselves, the affidavit said.
The parents called Garza over to their home and confronted him about the photos, where he allegedly said he had a problem and urged them not to contact the police. He also allegedly said he would disappear and never come back.
He was arrested in early March on the child porn possession charge.
RELATED: Law enforcement officer accused of sexually abusing 13-year-old girl
The ongoing investigation determined the girl in the photos was 10 years old at the time they were taken and the suspect allegedly sexually assaulted her and her sister multiple times over a time period spanning more than 30 days, according to the affidavits.
Police took the computer, a camera and other devices in the home during the execution of a search warrant.
During an interview with Garza, he said he sexually assaulted both girls at various times over the course of at least a year.
Garza allegedly would make one of the girls wear a blindfold while he abused her, the documents said.
In one of the alleged videos on Garzas computer, of one of the girls is seen hanging upside down in the mans dining room area, the affidavits said.
RELATED: Police arrest ex-church volunteer accused of sexually abusing nursery children during evening prayer
A subsequent search warrant resulted in the discovery of a wooden swing-like contraption with a white rope, which investigators believed was the device used in the video footage, according to the arrest report.
If convicted, Garza faces up to 10 years in prison for the child porn charge and five to 99 years, or life in prison, for each of the sexual abuse charges.
Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com
twhite@mysa.com
Twitter: @tylerlwhite
The House Committee on Business and Industry heard testimony on more than half a dozen workers' compensation-related bills on Monday, with members of the committee showing particular sympathy for measures that would provide more support to first responders and their families.
House Bill 1983, submitted by State Rep. John Wray, R-Waxahachie, would allow firefighters and peace officers to obtain workers' compensation benefits for job-related post-traumatic stress disorder. Current law only covers the broader category of mental impairment, which Wray and others say carries potential stigma and financial burdens that could prevent some from seeking treatment.
Wray has cited last year's shooting in Dallas, which left five officers dead and nine others injured, as an example of the need for the legislation.
Under the proposed legislation, PTSD would be a "compensable injury" if it was caused by events that occurred in the course of a first responder's employment and evidence shows that the job was a major factor contributing to the condition.
House Bill 2082, introduced by Dustin Burroughs, R-Lubbock, would establish a liaison to help first responders in disputes over workers' compensation claims, which can be a lengthy and expensive process.
Public testimony was largely in support of the bills and came primarily from active and retired first responders and their lobbyists.
Many spoke from personal experience, with several describing long battles to obtain workers' compensation benefits and the long-term mental distress caused by parts of the job, such as witnessing fatalities involving young children.
"These are the things you take home at night, and you can't get them out of your mind,"
said Chris Jones, training coordinator for the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, who served on the Houston Police Department for 31 years.
Representatives from law enforcement and firefighters' associations also pointed to the number of suicides among their memberships. According to Mitch Landry, deputy executive director of the Texas Municipal Police Association, in 2015 more officers took their own lives than were killed on duty and in motor vehicle accidents. John Riddle, president of the Texas State Association of Firefighters, said that 6 Texas firefighters had committed suicide over the last year and half.
Carton Marshall, a former Dallas police SWAT lieutenant who was paralyzed after being shot in the neck during a 2007 raid, spoke in support of HB 2082. He said he spent close to three years fighting to obtain lifetime income benefits, and was only able to prevail with the help of his wife, who is also a police officer, and by hiring a lawyer and going to arbitration.
The bills were left pending for at least one week, as is the committee's usual practice, though committee chair Rep. Rene Oliveira, D-Brownsville, said that he expected to put them up for a vote next week.
Senate hopeful and U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke introduced himself to Houston on Sunday as a potential check on President Donald Trump, urging voters to send a Democrat to the upper chamber in 2018 rather than waiting to make a dent in deep red Texas.
The El Paso Democrat - best known as an ex-punk rocker who recently livestreamed a "bipartisan roadtrip" to Washington, D.C. with Texas Republican Congressman Will Hurd - announced his bid Friday to unseat hometown U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.
O'Rourke, who has little name recognition across Texas, faces a steep uphill battle in a state that has not elected a Democrat statewide since 1994.
His pitch on Sunday focused more on counterbalancing Trump rhetoric and policies than it did ousting Cruz.
"If we want balance - if we want a check on this president - it runs through the Senate," O'Rourke said, asking hundreds of attendees to picture themselves years from now, trying to answer questions from their children. "'When you knew what was happening, and you knew what we needed, and you knew what it took, what did you do?'"
O'Rourke, 44, is the first to jump into what could be a crowded race.
U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, also is openly mulling a bid, and U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Dallas, has considered a run at Cruz's seat.
Cruz, 46, has been a Republican favorite in the Lone Star State since vanquishing establishment favorite and then-Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst by 14 points in 2012.
The first-term senator carried the state in last year's Republican presidential primary with 44 percent of the vote to Trump's 27 percent.
Cruz has shown some vulnerability throughout the last year, however, after some on the right grew dissatisfied with his delayed embrace of Trump.
O'Rourke, who pledges to refuse contributions from political action committees, appears to have taken a page out of Cruz's 2012 campaign playbook by announcing his bid early and taking a grass-roots approach.
"I think a people-powered, people-driven, Texas-first campaign is going to make the difference," O'Rourke said.
He criticized Cruz for helping to shut down the government in 2013 and setting his sights on the White House.
"He shut it down because he put party over country, ideology over the interests of the people he served, and has used Texas for four years as a platform from which to pursue the presidency," he said to a packed hall at northwest Houston's IBEW Local Union 716.
O'Rourke named immigration reform, mental health services for veterans, military spending and health care as top campaign issues.
"It's not a function of what you can afford or what you make or who you happen to work for or where you live or who you were born to," he said of health care. "It's a right."
That message hit home for Tim Delauder, a 49-year-old who lives in Katy.
"The Trump administration and what's going on in our country is what drove me to become more politically active," said Delauder, an independent whose politics have been shifting further left. "A lot of people think it's a losing cause in Texas, but I think the way our demographics are changing in Texas, I think this could be the year ... that we do flip the Senate race."
Sixth Ward resident Mia Mundy was less inspired by O'Rourke, whom she came out to see because she dislikes Cruz.
"He didn't blow me away," said Mundy, 35, whose core political concerns - including LGBTQ rights - differ from the topics O'Rourke discussed.
Mundy still hopes O'Rourke can pull off an upset, though.
"I'm staying because I need (him) to get rid of who I don't care about," she said.
Rice University political scientist Mark Jones stressed that O'Rourke's is a long-shot candidacy.
"What some Democrats are counting on is that the Trump administration will be a complete disaster, and that if the Trump presidency implodes, it'll have negative repercussions for Republican candidates across the country," Jones said.
Still, he added, "2018 could be a great time for O'Rourke to make a name for himself across Texas, but also nationwide."
Philanthropist Betty Stieren Kelso, a member of the Coates Energy family, stands with generations of benefactors championing meaningful change in San Antonio.
She came from a long line of leaders in our community, said Katie Luber, director of the Kelso Foundation at the San Antonio Museum of Art. She was an extraordinary dreamer and visionary.
Kelso died unexpectedly Thursday. She was 84.
A lover of art, Kelso was an avid collector of Jose Arpa y Perea, an artist who made his way from Spain to San Antonio and painted Texas scenes. His painting En El Jardin, bought by the Kelso Foundation, is displayed at SAMA.
Kelso, a generous benefactor, did not want her left hand to know what her right hand was doing. Most of her stewardship was done quietly, friends and family said.
Her mother, Elizabeth Huth Coates, also a philanthropist, was her mentor while she was growing up, son Barry Coates Roberts said.
Best friend Rosemary Leon remembers childhood days she and Kelso shared.
San Antonio was a small town, Leon said. Then, it stopped at Austin Highway. It was a quiet life.
More Information Betty Stieren Kelso Born: Aug. 19, 1932, San Antonio Died: March 30, 2017, San Antonio Preceded by: Parents Elizabeth Huth Coates and Arthur T. Stieren Sr.; son Todd Hunter Roberts; and brother Arthur T. Stieren Jr. Survived by: Her husband, retired Lt. Col. Robert "Bob" Kelso; daughters Jenny Roberts Schimpff and son-in-law Rick, and Catherine Roberts; son Barry Coates Roberts and daughter-in-law Elizabeth; stepdaughters Gloria Kelso Riddle and son-in-law Jeff, and Barbara Kelso; and numerous friends and family. Services: Visitation 5-7 p.m. today at Porter Loring Mortuary, 1101 McCullough Ave. Memorial Mass at 3 p.m. Tuesday at St. Peter Prince of the Apostles, 111 Barilla Place, Alamo Heights. See More Collapse
Kelso went to school at St. Marys Hall, then transferred to the Ethel Walker School in Connecticut, where she graduated from high school.
Continuing her education, Kelso received a degree from Trinity University. In 2012, she and her husband, retired Lt. Col. Robert Kelso, received honorary doctorates from the University of the Incarnate Word.
A monetary gift from her to UIW aided the renovation of the schools art complex, now named the Kelso Art Center.
Kelso also loved the outdoors.
We went to Wyoming when I was in my teens, Roberts recalled. I have a love for wildlife. I got that from her.
Animals and wildlife held such a special place in her heart that Kelso was a generous patroness to rescue organizations.
The Humane Society of San Antonio named a 45-kennel section devoted to puppies and small dogs the Chula Marie Kelso Puppy Palace, after one of her dogs.
As I prepared to enter the field of education, both institutions I attended, Victoria College and Sam Houston State University, told us that Texas had a massive shortage of teachers. This shortage existed especially in critical areas such as math, science and foreign language.
After six years behind the desk, I can definitely see this shortage and its causes. Low pay, mediocre insurance and benefits, an emotionally demanding workload, the unspoken requirement of personal investment on a financial level, constantly changing regulations written by people who have not entered a public school classroom since their own high school graduation.
Teachers, especially Texas teachers, endure these things as just the trappings of working in education. However this year we have had to face two particularly insulting developments that go too far, even for those of us laboring in in public schools: Privatization and Senate Bill 1751.
The movement to privatize public education to this public educator feels like a slap in the face. Not because we feel as if public schools exist in a perfect state, but because those same politicians who decry the terminal illness of the public education system caused those flaws with consistent cuts to public funding as well as obtrusive and flawed accountability and testing measures that strain an already overburdened and underfunded system.
Until recently, Texas long stood with one of the best economies of any state in the union as measured by GDP, gross domestic product, or the total value of economic activity in a state. Yet we consistently rank in the bottom 10 for education funding.
If this didnt insult public educators enough, SB 1751 aims to change the Texas teacher retirement system from a defined benefit program like Social Security to a 401(k)-like program. In the current defined benefits program, teachers pay into the system every month for the entirety of their career and when they retire they receive a fixed amount based on their working salary every month for the rest of their life.
A 401(k) system works like a savings account. Employees pay into the account pre-taxes, and is able to access the money when they retire. A finite amount of money goes in and the retiree have only the money in the account, no more.
Most people who have 401(k) through their non-education jobs also get Social Security to supplement retirement, but educators in Texas dont. State law says that teachers cant collect both Teacher Retirement and Social Security. If a district uses TRS then every teacher there uses it. Less than 20 of the 1,100-plus districts in the state choose that teachers use Social Security rather than TRS, according to the Association of Texas Professional Educators website.
Most teachers in the state make less than $70,000 a year and most are in rural districts, which make up the majority of those in Texas who make between $35,000 to $50,000 a year.
Based on that, few of us can afford to put meaningful amounts of money into a 401(k) program, even with state or district contributions. Many retirees would find the 401(k) sufficient if we could supplement it with Social Security, but we cant despite the fact that other state employees dont bear similar restrictions.
Politicians such as Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, say the retirement system costs too much. We can give corporate tax breaks for businesses to come to Texas, we can afford to not have a state income tax, and we can afford to spend literally billions of dollars on STAAR testing, but we cannot afford to guarantee the pensions of retired teachers.
For almost two decades, salaries have stagnated, benefits have deteriorated and increased in cost, educators bear abuse and denigration from public officials and now we may have to endure the one-two punch of privatization and reduction in pension benefits. No wonder we have hemorrhaged teachers for so long.
Im not a politician, but I am a teacher, and this is no way to fix our education system.
Greg Knowlton teaches social studies in the Victoria area and lives in Victoria. He is from Ganado and graduated with a degree in history from Sam Houston State University. He may be emailed at greg.t.knowlton@gmail.com.
Southside High School principal Nathaniel Session, one of the top 30 highest-paid principals in Bexar County, did the right thing by resigning. His immediate departure is in the best interest of the embattled Southside Independent School District.
Session was hired last summer despite a troubling criminal record. Had parents been saddled with such a record, it could have prevented them from volunteering in their childs school.
Session should never have been hired. Impressionable teenagers need administrators to be their role models.
While Sessions hire was perfectly legal, it has caused a major distraction for the school district and given the beleaguered school yet another black eye.
School administrators are allowed wide discretion on how much weight is given to the findings of a criminal background check. Among the factors they consider are the type of criminal case and the time that has lapsed since the incident occurred.
In Sessions case, more attention should have been given to his baggage. He has a misdemeanor family assault conviction from Harris County. The 2012 case involved a woman he since has divorced.
He also had a hot check case, a misdemeanor theft charge, pending at the time of his hire at Southside. The case was dismissed last semester when he made good on the check.
When the news media started asking questions about his criminal record, Session submitted a letter of resignation in early March, effective June 30. Late last week he resigned, effective immediately.
As part of a plea bargain agreement in the assault that sent his then-wife to the hospital, Session was given a one year probated sentence, assessed a $200 fine and ordered to make payments to a Houston-area womens shelter.
As a condition of that probation, he was also ordered to complete a batterer intervention/prevention program, and undergo random drug and alcohol testing, according to Harris County court records.
Session completed the terms of this probation in March 2014. His employer at the time reported the assault case to Texas Education Agency, which has the option to sanction certified educators in such cases. None was issued in this case.
Session was one of Southside Superintendent Mark Eads first hires after he came onboard in May 2016. Sessions $112,000 annual salary ranked among the top 30 for high school principals in Bexar County, according to a list compiled by mySA.com last fall.
Its clear that Southside routinely conducts criminal background checks on prospective employees. So the district should have known of Sessions criminal record.
Whats unclear, then, is why the district weighted the criteria the way it did to hire him anyway. The district wont say.
Southside ISD has been in turmoil for years, and much change is afoot. Optimism was growing that things were finally moving in the right direction after Eads arrived.
Earlier this year, the community welcomed the TEAs assignment of a conservator in Southside ISD and has been anxiously awaiting the replacement of the elected board with appointed members.
Rebuilding this troubled district is going to take a team effort and community support.
Recruiting community members to serve on the appointed board and educators to work in what has been a dysfunctional district are difficult enough under normal circumstance. Administrative missteps like the one that resulted in the hiring of Session only undermine the process.
Who knew?
The Donald recently said, Nobody knew health care was so complicated.
Expect, in another 100 days, the statement: Nobody knew tax reform was so complicated. Then 100 days after that, Nobody knew immigration reform was so complicated. And then, Nobody knew the climate patterns were so complicated. Then in about a year, after wars break out everywhere, Nobody knew foreign policy was so complicated.
The movement against experts, and toward electing simpletons, has happened in Britain, the United States and maybe France soon. Germany seems to be better, but I still blame the elitists for while making the right decisions doing such a poor job of communicating the why (on every issue) to a voting public.
For example, while having millions without insurance hurts them, it also hurts us the taxpayer. We pay more when they end up in the emergency room. Yet you never hear anything about how hospital expenses work.
True, the media used to make these explanations. But while I am thrilled by what the internet can do and has done, the bad news is its effect on the media and the way journalism has suffered.
Bill Hurley
Club of dismay
Re: Nepotism in action, Your Turn, March 27:
I can understand the letter writers dismay at Ivanka Trump, an unpaid employee/adviser in the White House with the presidents ear.
Many Americans, including myself, were dismayed and upset and fearful about Valerie Jarrett living with the Obamas in the White House she had access to the president day and night. And she had the final word on who could and could not speak to the president (as reported in the news).
We had eight years of dismay. Welcome to our club.
Ramona Jones
Independent probe
We need an independent commission to investigate the Russian meddling in the presidential election.
Rep. Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, has violated protocol and cast a huge shadow of doubt on his credibility as an impartial investigator. He circumvented his own committee and supported President Donald Trumps false accusation that then-President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower.
The ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, Rep. Adam Schiff, complained that Nunes decision to share information with the White House before he provided it to the committee was a profound irregularity. Clearly, Nunes should not brief the president whose election campaign his committee is expected to scrutinize.
We, the public, deserve a trustworthy investigation and account. It is time for an independent commission.
Deborah Field
Going solar
Re: Google sees city as hot prospect for solar power, ranks it No. 4, Business, March 17:
This study from Google showing the potential for solar energy is amazing to read, but it really proves that we need a push in local government to commit to renewable energy. Solar energy is clean, efficient and dependable with the development of the new CPS renewable battery, and readily available in San Antonio.
There is absolutely no reason for San Antonio not to be taking advantage of this energy source! Money can be a misunderstood issue, but with the use of Property Assessed Clean Energy financing programs, commercial solar energy use can be on the rise.
Solar energy has been a topic of debate among the mayoral candidates recently, but there is lack of commitment. For the sake of the citys current health and future, I hope the candidates take a closer look at harnessing this solar energy potential and put the city on the map for sustainability.
Breana Trevino, Helotes
Dedicated workers
As legislators make critical decisions about state government within a 140-day window, its important to acknowledge the contributions of the nearly 150,000 state employees who carry out the Legislatures assigned missions 365 days a year.
Their work touches our lives daily. State employees design and build our roads, ensure the quality of our fuel, regulate child care providers, license our plumbers, and provide countless other essential services efficiently and at the best possible value to the taxpayer.
The pensions and health insurance benefits state employees work so hard to earn offset infrequent pay raises and salaries that private-sector employees would scoff at, particularly given the increasing cost of living. Most people are surprised to learn that state employees have not seen a pay increase since September 2014, and that more than 70 percent make less than $49,500 a year. Most people would struggle to support a family on that income.
So why do many Texans still choose to work for the state? As the executive director of the nonunion Texas Public Employees Association, I can tell you its because they are dedicated public servants something citizens and lawmakers should respect.
We must recognize their contributions and treat them with the dignity befitting any group of hardworking professionals.
Gary Anderson, executive director, Texas Public Employees Association
Highway to sloth
Are we becoming so lazy or inept that we cannot safely operate our own vehicles?
Do we really need self-driving cars? All its going to do is increase the cost of the vehicle and probably create more need for expensive repair work. I dont really see how the average motorist benefits.
Why not work on making certain our vehicles are safer and economical rather than concentrating on questionable improvements?
Hank Forrest
Kudos, E-N
Re: Express-News picks up Star honors at TAPME, Metro, March 27:
Congratulations to the Express-News and their talented staff reporters, photographers, designers and others for their 26 awards and recognitions at TAPME. Its good to know that our local paper is being hailed for the excellent job it does day after day. Its not easy keeping the Texas Legislature under scrutiny!
Patricia A. Ireland
Three suspected robbers have been nabbed by Police in Ngundu after a foiled armed robbery on a villager at Zivuku Village under Chief Nemauzhe in Chivi.
The incident happened on Thursday evening last week, and the three are now facing five counts of armed robbery.
A woman foiled the robbery when she banged the door of her sitting room in the face of an armed robber who wanted to force his way into the house. Having failed to enter the house, one of the suspects fired two shots into the upper part of the door.
Rosebita Chagumira and her husband Alfonse Zivukwa screamed for help, and villagers responded in their numbers and rushed to the scene forcing the three suspects to escape.
The suspected robbers are Talkmore Maruva (38) and Jacob Gwenhamo (38), both from Headman Masundas area under Chief Nemauzhe in Chivi and a former South African Defence Forces (SADF) Frank Fannie Manzini (54), who was now staying at Ngundu Business Centre.
Masvingo Provincial Police Spokesperson Inspector Kudakwashe Dhewa confirmed the incident to The Mirror and advised the public to be cautious against armed robbers.
As Zimbabwe Republic Police in Masvingo, we received the report. We are proud of the community that showed unity and set the pace for others. Therefore, I urge the public to also ensure their safety as they deal with armed robbers, said Dhewa.
According to sources, the accused met Chagumira at the door on her way out of the sitting room, and she slammed the door forcing the accused out. The accused then discharged a firearm twice on the door.
Villagers ran after the robbers, and another villager (name withheld) who had a car pursued the robbers towards Ngundu but the suspects vanished into the bush.
A Police report was filed at Ngundu at 7:30 pm on the same day. CID Mwenezi attended the scene and collected empty cartridges. Gwenhamo was arrested the following day after police investigations, and this led to the arrest of Maruva and then Manzini. A Glock 17 pistol with a magazine with 11 rounds was recovered from Manzini.
Mirror
Breaking News via Email
NEW YORK CNN reports that the "world's strongest coffee" is now available in the United States, a jolt that delivers way more than the recommended daily caffeine limit.
"If you want to stand out, you need to be the 'est'the biggest, smartest, strongest, or cheapest," Black Insomnia founder Sean Kristafor told CNN. "So when we wanted to compete in coffee, as a caffeine product, we had to be the strongest, but obviously, we don't exceed the world guidelines."
At 58.5 mg per fl. oz., Black Insomnia is more than twice as strong as Starbuck's dark roast, at around 21.25 mg per fl. oz., depending on how consumers brew the coffee. Kristafor told CNN that this level is well within limits for a shot, but one cup (12 oz.) could add up to 702 mg of caffeine. The FDA recommends 400 mg of caffeine for daily consumption.
Caffeine Informer, a website about caffeine, lists Black Insomnia as one of the "Most Dangerous Caffeinated Products." Ted Kallmyer, editor of Caffeine Informer, told CNN: "While the amounts are still much higher than what we experts recommend as a safe daily amount (400 mg), this group of people has, over time, built up their caffeine tolerance and/or their livers process caffeine really well so it doesn't affect them adversely. However, the problem with these products is that they can inadvertently be consumed by people who are not in the targeted category."
Not to be outdone, Black Insomnias competitor, Death Wish, is another leader in the strong caffeine category. Caiden Tuller of the New York-based company told CNN that Death Wish "is much different than the competition, due to the fact that our roast is USDA Certified Organic and Fair Trade Certified as well."
Both coffees are available for sale on Amazon.
The United Nations is the one international organization with the reach and vision capable of solving global problems.The United Nations Foundation links the UN's work with others around the world, mobilizing the energy and expertise of business and non-governmental organizations to help the UN tackle issues including climate change, global health, peace and security, women's empowerment, poverty eradication, energy access, and U.S.-UN relations.Job Opening Number: 17-Public Information-OCHA-77125-J-Abuja (X)Department/Office: Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian AffairsJob Type: TemporaryWithin delegated authority and depending on location, the Public Information Officer may be responsible for the following duties:Manages reporting and analysis, by establishing and maintaining reporting system within the country; oversees drafting and distribution of regular reports on the humanitarian situation; ensures flow of information and analysis of developments in the country/region, including tracking trends and sharing reports with HQ, and key partners engaged in multi-agency crisis response.Takes the lead in strategy, planning, development and implementation of large, complex communications campaigns (e.g. global advocacy initiatives, regional public information programmes) and joint communications strategies in humanitarian contexts, leading common media and communications efforts, including common messaging and chairing a humanitarian communications group. Identifies sources and seeks funding and other assistance for major campaigns.Provides advice and expertise to managers, senior officers and other public information staff on a range of public affairs issues, methods, and approaches; on key media developments and appropriate approaches for media engagement to raise awareness of humanitarian needs and advocate timely and coordinated response; anticipates and resolves communications/public relations issues/problems.Develops strategic partnerships with key constituencies to elicit support for and maximize impact of humanitarian advocacy objectives; serves as principal liaison to governmental bodies, national groups, private sector organizations, educational organizations, international organizations, etc.Prepares or oversees preparation of a diverse range of information communications products in support of priority humanitarian initiatives and advocacy efforts. Drafts complex material for UN newsletters, periodicals, reports and books and edits drafts prepared by junior officers.Evaluates results and impact of communications activities; reports on developments, trends and attitudes regarding the UN and the broader humanitarian community.Represents the institution in meetings and conferences; fulfills speaking engagements and makes presentations to groups on humanitarian activities and advocate issues of concern; organizes media coverage and arranges or conducts briefings, interviews; organizes seminars, lectures, conferences, media trips, public events on major issues and events concerning the organization.Builds information networks; plans and oversees maintenance of publicly accessible information materials on humanitarian issues and joint activities of the humanitarian community; plans and develops strategic public outreach activities. Manages publications programme; produces materials for print/electronic/voice/visual and social media outreach.Leads day-to-day country or regional communications operations to include participating in coordination of substantive and administrative activities of the unit, interpreting and disseminating policy, providing procedural advice, improving reporting systems, handling operational and administrative queries, preparing budget submissions, establishing and/or coordinating training programmes and monitoring and evaluating results.May coordinate and direct a team of public information staff and/or mentor and supervise the work of junior officers on specific projects.Org. Setting and ReportingThis position is located in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Abuja, OCHA Nigeria.The Public Information Officer reports to the Head of Office.OCHA is the part of the United Nations Secretariat responsible for bringing together humanitarian actors to ensure a coherent response to emergencies.OCHA also ensures there is a framework within which each actor can contribute to the overall response effort.Professionalism:Knowledge of different aspects of public information and communication.Ability to address a range of issues in the context of political developments, public attitudes and local conditions.Ability to conceptualize, design and implement major information campaigns.Ability to rapidly analyze and integrate diverse information from varied sources.Ability to diplomatically handle sensitive situations with target audiences and cultivate productive relationships.Ability to produce a variety of written communications products in a clear, concise style.Ability to deliver oral presentations to various audiences.Shows pride in work and in achievements; demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations.Takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work.Communication:Speaks and writes clearly and effectively;Listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and responds appropriately;Asks questions to clarify, and exhibits interest in having two-way communication;Tailors language, tone, style and format to match audience;Demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed.Planning & Organizing:Develops clear goals that are consistent with agreed strategies;Identifies priority activities and assignments;Adjusts priorities as required;Allocates appropriate amount of time and resources for completing work;Foresees risks and allows for contingencies when planning;Monitors and adjusts plans and actions as necessary;Uses time efficiently.EducationAn advanced University Degree (Master's Degree or equivalent) in Communication, Journalism, International Relations, Public Administration or related field, is required.A first-level University Degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced University Degree.A minimum of seven years of progressively responsible experience in public information, journalism, international relations, public administration or related area, is required.Humanitarian experience in the field (actual setting where a mission and/or project is being implemented) managing public communications and outreach in emergency situations (complex emergency or natural disaster) is required.Experience with crisis communications is desirable.Languages:English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the position advertised, fluency in English is required.Knowledge of another UN official language is desirable.Assessment:Evaluation of qualified candidates may include a desk review of the applications, an assessment exercise and/or a competency-based interview.United Nations ConsiderationsJob openings posted on the Careers Portal are taken off at midnight (New York time) on the deadline date.Applications are automatically pre-screened according to the published evaluation criteria of the job opening on the basis of the information provided by applicants.Applications cannot be amended following submission and incomplete applications shall not be considered.The selected candidate will be subject to a reference checking process to verify the information provided in the application.Applicants are urged to follow carefully all instructions available in the online recruitment platform, inspira. For more detailed guidance, applicants may refer to the At-a-Glance on "The Application Process" and the Instructional Manual for the Applicants, which can be accessed by clicking on Manuals on the upper right side of the browser on Inspira.The United Nations shall place no restrictions on the eligibility of men and women to participate in any capacity and under conditions of equality in its principal and subsidiary organs. (Charter of the United Nations - Chapter 3, article. The United Nations Secretariat is a non-smoking environment.Candidates will be required to meet the requirements of Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter as well as the requirements of the position.The United Nations is committed to the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity for all its human resources, including but not limited to respect for international human rights and humanitarian law.Candidates may be subject to screening against these standards, including but not limited to whether they have committed, or are alleged to have committed criminal offences and/or violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law.6 April, 2017
Conductive graphene ink wins science photography competition's top prize (Nanowerk News) An image of spectacular swirling graphene ink in alcohol, which can be used to print electrical circuits onto paper, has won the overall prize in a national science photography competition, organised by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
'Graphene - IPA Ink', by James Macleod, from the University of Cambridge, shows powdered graphite in alcohol which produces a conductive ink. The ink is forced at high pressure through micrometre-scale capillaries made of diamond. This rips the layers apart resulting in a smooth, conductive material in solution.
(Image: James Macleod, University of Cambridge) (click on image to enlarge)
The image, came first in two categories, Innovation, and Equipment and Facilities, as well as winning overall against many other stunning pictures, featuring research in action, in the EPSRC's competition - now in its fourth year.
James Macleod, explained how the photograph came about: "We are working to create conductive inks for printing flexible electronics and are currently focused on optimising our recipe for use in different printing methods and for printing onto different surfaces. This was the first time we had used alcohol to create our ink and I was struck by how mesmerising it looked while mixing."
The competition's five categories were: Eureka and Discovery, Equipment and Facilities, People and Skills, Innovation, and Weird and Wonderful.
One of the judges was physicist, oceanographer and broadcaster, Dr Helen Czerski, Lecturer at UCL, she said: "Scientists and engineers are often so busy focusing on the technical details of their research that they can be blind to what everyone else sees first: the aesthetics of their work. Science is a part of our culture, and it can contribute in many different ways. This competition is a wonderful reminder of the emotional and artistic aspects of science, and it's great that EPSRC researchers have found this richness in their own work."
Congratulating the winners and entrants, Professor Tom Rodden, EPSRC's Deputy Chief Executive, said: "The quality of entries into our competition demonstrates that EPSRC-funded researchers are keen to show the world how beautiful and interesting science and engineering can be. I'd like to thank everyone who entered; judging was really difficult."
Researchers obtain Bose-Einstein condensate with nickel chloride (Nanowerk News) Bose-Einstein condensates - often called the "fifth state of matter", the other four states being solids, liquids, gases and plasmas - are obtained when atoms are cooled almost to absolute zero. Under these conditions, the particles no longer have free energy to move relative to each other, and some of these particles, called bosons, fall into the same quantum states and cannot be distinguished from one another. At this point, the atoms start obeying what are known as Bose-Einstein statistics, which are usually applied to identical particles. In a Bose-Einstein condensate, the entire group of atoms behaves as though it were a single atom.
Bose-Einstein condensates were first predicted and theoretically calculated by Satyendra Nath Bose (1894-1974) and Albert Einstein (1879-1955) in 1924, but it was not until 1995 that Eric A. Cornell, Carl E. Wieman and Wolfgang Ketterle managed to produce one using ultracold rubidium gas, for which all three were awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Research by an international collaboration recently produced the equivalent of a Bose-Einstein condensate using the chemical compound nickel chloride (Physical Review B, "Nuclear magnetic resonance study of the magnetic-field-induced ordered phase in the NiCl 2 -4SC(NH 2 ) 2 compound"). More importantly, theoretical treatment of the data enabled the researchers to obtain a set of equations that can be applied to other materials that are not characterized as Bose-Einstein condensates.
Armando Paduan Filho, Full Professor at the University of Sao Paulo's Physics Institute (IF-USP) in Brazil, participated in the study. "At temperatures close to absolute zero and in the presence of a very intense magnetic field, nickel chloride behaves like a Bose-Einstein condensate, so that the properties of a large group of atoms can be described using a single equation, a single wave function," Paduan Filho told.
This discovery makes calculations possible that would otherwise be impracticable. For example, the magnetic moment of a macroscopic body can theoretically be calculated as the sum of the magnetic moments of its atoms, but in practice, this calculation is not feasible because of the huge numbers of atoms and interactions involved. "One way to solve the problem is to use the statistics of quantum mechanics. In this case, we have to think of atoms not as points or solids but as waves," Paduan Filho said.
In bosons, i.e., in materials that obey Bose-Einstein statistics, all waves associated with the particles of which they supposedly consist are equal. Meanwhile, the lower the temperature of a material, the longer the wavelengths of its constituent particles, and as the temperature of the material approaches absolute zero, the wavelengths increase until all of the waves overlap. "So we have a situation where all the waves are equal and overlapping, and we can therefore represent all of them as a single wave. Energy emissions and electrical, magnetic, thermal, luminous and other properties can be calculated by means of a single wave function," he explained.
When the researchers studied nickel chloride, they found that when the material was cooled almost to absolute zero and subjected to a strong magnetic field, its atoms behaved like bosons and it could therefore be characterized as a Bose-Einstein condensate. "The fact that the atoms can be perceived as waves is an experimental finding that corroborates the theory, whereas saying that they form a Bose-Einstein condensate comes from applying a theoretical instrument to explain the properties observed," he said.
Physicists at the University of Sao Paulo (USP) have been investigating the magnetic properties of nickel chloride for more than a decade. "In some materials, the magnetic moments of the atoms are disorderly at room temperature but orderly when the material is chilled. We discovered that this orderliness doesn't happen in nickel chloride, but at very low temperatures and in the presence of a high magnetic field, it exhibits an induced magnetic moment," Paduan Filho said.
The investigation proceeded through collaboration with several foreign institutions, such as the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL) in Los Alamos, USA, and the similarly named French facility in Grenoble (LNCMI), among others. These partnerships enabled the researchers to reach temperatures in the order of 1 millikelvin - one-thousandth of a degree above absolute zero - and to use techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to study matter at the atomic and subatomic scales. This is how the researchers succeeded in characterizing ultracold nickel chloride as a Bose-Einstein condensate.
'It wasn't meant to be': Chandler Smith comes up short in third Chandler Smith talks about what more was needed tonight and what could've been done differently as he puts a cap on the season.
Find the newest releases to watch from National Geographic on Disney+, including favourite documentary series and films Free Solo, The Rescue, Shark Beach with Chris Hemsworth and The World According to Jeff Goldblum.
Five Tipperary students were highly commended at the Mental Health Irelands Art & Photography competition ceremony in Dublin recently.
CBS High Clonmels Evan Phelan and St. Annes Secondary School in Tipperary Towns Laura OKeeffe were amongst the secondary school students awarded for their innovations influenced by the theme Mind Your Mental Health.
St. Annes Secondary School in Tipperary Towns Laura OKeeffe was highly commended at the awards ceremony.
Other Tipperary students recognised included Gareth McCarthy and Kayleigh Cronin from Colaiste Mhuire Co-Ed in Thurles, and Nenagh Colleges Nicola Kennedy.
Issues including anxiety, self-harm and depression can be difficult for teenagers to talk about. The feedback from teachers and students has been that this competition opened up a space for the students to think about their own mental health and those around them.
Nenagh Colleges Nicola Kennedy.
Martin Rogan, CEO Mental Health Ireland, said: Young people in Ireland have taken a great interest in mental health and this is very obvious from the entries we have received this year. They are not just interested in their own mental health but show interest in supporting others.
This competition creates a platform for discussion that provokes and evokes a deeper conversation. The standard of work received was at a very high level in both categories and we are delighted to host our second exhibition this year to showcase the top 44 entries from the 1,500 received.
Gareth McCarthy from Colaiste Mhuire Co-Ed in Thurles being highly commended.
The exhibition took place in the Dublin City County Office on Wood Quay on Wednesday, March 29. Nearly 200 people attended from the four corners of Ireland including students and their families, friends and teachers. The week-long exhibition had a very high footfall and received a very positive reaction.
Kayleigh Cronin from Colaiste Mhuire Co-Ed in Thurles being highly commended.
Artist Lisa Butterly was amongst those who selected the winning entries and those chosen to feature in the exhibition. Lisa displayed some of her art alongside the competition winners and gave both national winners a print of her artwork.
Art is so important to me, highlighted Lisa Butterly.
Its a way for me to express my feelings in my own unique way. I thoroughly enjoyed looking at every single entry into the competition and it was really refreshing to see so much talent and awareness of mental health and wellbeing from teenagers around the country. You dont need to be experienced to create something magical so I would encourage everyone to just give it a go.
The national winners in Art and Photography received a 250 All4One voucher and the provincial winners received 50 All4One vouchers. The winning pieces and a number of selected entries will appear in Mental Health Irelands 2017 calendar which will be available to buy here.
(Natural News) If you thought the Flint, MI lead poisoning was bad, it turns out that numerous communities in California are even worse. Blood testing data gathered by Reuters has revealed that children from one Fresno community had blood lead levels up to three times higher than those seen in children from Flint.
Even though California is known for their staunch environmental advocacy, it appears that the Golden State is not immune to the hazards of lead. High rates of childhood lead poisoning have been observed in a number of Bay Area communities, along with downtown Los Angeles. In one area of Fresno, 13.6 percent of blood samples collected from children under the age of six revealed high levels of lead compared to just 5 percent across the city of Flint, MI during the water contamination crisis.
Altogether, 29 Californian communities were found to have childhood lead poisoning rates that were at least as high as Flints.
California Assemblymember Bill Quirk, who chairs the state legislatures Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials stated,Its a widespread problem and we have to get a better idea of where the sources of exposure are.
As Reuters explains, other states provided the media outlet with testing results from all zip codes or census tracts. California, however, withheld data from areas where there were fewer than 250 children screened, stating that data from those areas would be less reliable. The available data included 400,000 children from 546 zip codes, which Reuters notes likely omits many neighborhoods where lead poisoning is still a serious issue, but not enough children were screened. Unsurprisingly, Californias Public Health Department claims that comparisons of their blood testing results to other states arent warranted, because the state tests children that they deem at risk of lead exposure. In areas affected by high levels of lead poisoning, government officials are at least taking action. Cities like Oakland and Emeryville have proposed ordinances and resolutions to help combat exposure to lead.
Lead exposure strikes the nation
Flint, Michigan made headlines when it was revealed that the municipal water supply had been poisoning the townspeople with lead. Childhood lead poisoning rates reached 5 percent in the area, and hearts went out to the community. But Flint is sadly not alone in their lead poisoning crisis, and the communities of California are not the only ones keeping it company. In fact, the Flint crisis is downright mild compared to the levels of lead some other communities have been afflicted with. Countless cities and towns across the United States are riddled with the toxic heavy metal: Its in the soil, the water and many homes.
In 2016, Reuters discovered that there were some 3,000 communities in the US with childhood lead poisoning rates that were at least double that of what was seen in Flint. And over 1,000 of these communities exhibited elevated blood lead levels that were four times higher than those seen in Flint. For example, in Warren, Pennsylvania, a staggering 36 percent of the children tested had high blood lead levels. And in some areas of Baltimore, Cleveland and Philadelphia, the rate of high lead content in blood samples has reached between 40 and 50 percent within the last decade. (RELATED: Follow more news on heavy metals poisoning and contamination at METALS.news.)
The dangers of lead
Lead poisoning is a national problem. In children under the age of 6, the threshold for elevated blood lead levels is just 5 micrograms per liter. Because there is no safe level of exposure, even this seemingly small amount is enough to be damaging, especially to children.
Lead was once commonly used in fuel, household paint and plumbing materials, and is still often found in older buildings. Lead is a known neurotoxin, and children are especially susceptible to its effects. It can cause irreparable damage to almost all organ systems in the human body, but is most known for its ability to disrupt cognitive development and cause learning disabilities. The neurological effects of lead are generally the most immediate, but this does not mean that other ill effects cannot occur, even later in life. According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease, childhood lead poisoning can contribute to other health issues later in life such as kidney issues, hypertension, reproductive difficulties and it can also affect the health of future offspring. So not only can lead poisoning harm children, it can set the stage for your childrens children to have health issues.
Sources:
Reuters.com
News.Vice.com
Reuters.com
ATSDR.CDC.gov
(Natural News) After the food-safety scandals in 2015 that affected at least 491 people and the steady market decline that came with that, Chipotle Mexican Grill is getting a fresh start with a clean menu makeover in the hope to revive sales.
In an attempt to save the brands reputation, Chipotles founder and CEO Steve Ells announced a food safety rollout, favoring high-quality ingredients. For the past two years, the burrito chain has been working hard to eliminate all additives and preservatives from its menu and has now finally been able to achieve that goal.
The way to grow the business is not through limited-time offers, extra value meals or menu proliferation with all kinds of new items, said Steve Ells in an interview. For us, instead its about improving the basic, wholesome ingredients. (RELATED: See FastFood.news for more coverage of the fast food industry.)
Serving better quality ingredients and preservative-free food
In a press release, Steve Ells explained that they have always used high-quality ingredients and prepared them using classic cooking techniques. He added that unlike other fast food chains, they never resorted to using added colors or flavors because they interfere with the taste of the food. Nonetheless, the commercially available tortillas they used were filled with dough conditioners and preservatives.
Therefore, Steve Ells has been on a mission to make a better tasting tortilla, made the way you would make them at home. In collaboration with wheat breeder Stephen Jones from the Bread Lab, Steve Ells finally managed to make a delicious, additive-free wrap. The flour tortillas now contain just five ingredients flour, water, oil, salt, and yeast while the corn tortillas have just two corn masa and water.
Chipotle has whittled down the entire menu to just 51 different, wholesome ingredients including fresh organic produce and hormone-free meat. According to the company, the only preservatives left on the menu are lemon and lime juice. Things like distilled monoglycerides, sodium metabisulfite, propionic acid, and 13 other hard-to-pronounce ingredients are no longer to be found in their ingredients list.
As consumers turn away from processed foods, restaurants like Panera Bread, McDonalds, and Subway have also been on a mission to sell antibiotic- and additive-free foods to lure more health-conscious customers to their shops. Chipotle, however, is the first fast food chain to completely rid its food ingredients list of all additives, even the so-called natural versions of artificial additives.
The distinction between artificial and natural additives can be very confusing and misleading. While many people think that they are getting a 100 percent natural product, these natural additives are also made in the lab. Take French fries for example. Among other questionable ingredients, they often contain natural beef flavor. Even though the flavoring does not include meat, the natural term can be used since the chemical is derived from plant material.
In a press release, Mark Crumpacker, Chief Marketing and Development Officer for Chipotle, said that rather than making the switch from artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners, and preservatives to natural alternatives, food chains should be asking themselves why their meals need all these extra ingredients in the first place.
If you prepare meals using fresh, wholesome ingredients and classic cooking techniques, the food will taste delicious without the need for any of these industrial flavor enhancers. Thats why Chipotles food is so delicious, Mark Crumpacker added. (RELATED: Learn more about clean, wholesome foods at Ingredients.news.)
While Chipotles changes are a good start toward improving the nutritional values of fast food, the companys statement that it has eliminated all added colors, flavors, and preservatives should be taken with a grain of salt. The rule only applies to Chipotle-branded restaurants in the United States and the ingredients used in food preparations. Thus exempting all beverages sold at Chipotle from the no-additive promise.
Sources:
GrubStreet.com
FoodSafetynews.com
ChicagoTribune.com
IR.Chipotle.com
(Natural News) Capsaicin, an active ingredient that gives chilies and peppers their pungent taste, was shown to inhibit the growth of breast cancer cells, a study found. To assess this, German researchers at the Ruhr-Universitat Bochum and their colleagues used the SUM149PT cell culture, which serves as a model for highly aggressive forms of breast cancer such as the triple-negative type. The researchers then identified a transient receptor potential channel and named it TRPV1. The receptor, which appeared to be activated by the spicy compound, was found in tumor cells in various samples from breast cancer patients.
The researchers then used capsaicin to activate the TRPV1 receptor in cell cultures. The pungent compound was added to the cell cultures with varying time frames of several hours of days. Data showed that the treatment caused cancer cells to divide at a slower pace. The therapy was also associated with a higher number of deaths among tumor cells. The remaining cancer cells became more sluggish, which implied that the treatment was able to inhibit their ability to form metastases in the body. (RELATED: Follow more news on natural remedies for cancer at Remedies.news.)
In this study, we aimed to identify the TRP channels in different breast cancer subtypes and to investigate the effect of TRPV1 ligand [capsaicin] on breast cancer progression. To our knowledge, no studies have yet conducted a large-scale comparative study of the TRP channels expression profiles in breast cancer cell lines. In our experiments, a significant reduction in cell proliferation after capsaicin stimulation was observed. This finding was in accordance with the results of other scientists, who demonstrated a significant decrease in the cell growth rate of MCF-7 breast cancer cells upon capsaicin stimulation, said researcher Dr. Lea Weber.
If we could switch on the TRPV1 receptor with specific drugs, this might constitute a new treatment approach for this type of cancer, said researcher Dr. Habil Hanns Hatt.
The findings were published in the journal Breast Cancer Targets and Therapy.
Previous studies tout capsaicins cancer-fighting properties
The results of the current study reflect those of a meta-analysis published in the International Journal of Cancer Research and Treatment. According to the review, capsaicin showed strong anticancer properties by targeting multiple signaling pathways and disease-related genes in various stages of tumors such as initiation, promotion, progression and metastasis. The compound was also shown to promote apoptosis otherwise known as cell death in cancer cells, inhibit cancer cell growth and prevent metastasis, the analysis stated. Furthermore, the compound interacts well with other anticancer treatments. This mechanism demonstrated capsaicins potential in cancer treatment as an add-on to other chemotherapeutic compounds, researchers wrote.
Various animal studies have also demonstrated the compounds efficacy in fighting cancer cells. A 2006 study in the journal Cancer Research found that the compound specifically targeted prostate cancer cells and tumors without harming healthy cells in albino rats. Researchers said capsaicin triggered cell death among cancer cell lines and related hormones. The compound was also shown to help reduce the expression of prostate-specific antigens, and prohibit dihydrotestosterone from activating the PSA, data showed. The animals also showed significant declines in prostate cancer growth and size following a four-week treatment with capsaicin. The findings were published in the journal Cancer Research.
A study by the American Chemical Society also found that combining capsaicin with the compound 6-gingerol in ginger may help keep lung cancer at bay. Researchers examined lab mice predisposed to lung cancer and found that only 20% of the animals that received the combination treatment developed the disease at the end of the study. The results were published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
Sources:
Sci-News.com
ScienceDaily.com
Mirror.co.uk
IIARJournals.com
NaturalHealth365.com
CellSignal.com
Express.co.uk
(Natural News) The latest census numbers are in and one thing is for certain: Americans have had enough of urban liberalism. Almost every area of the country where people are fleeing in record numbers, according to the data, has been under Democratic Party rule for many decades. Meanwhile, the places seeing the most growth are, in many cases, enclaves of conservatism with low crime and booming economies.
The three cities with the largest numbers of people leaving, reports the U.S. Census Bureau, include Chicago, Detroit, and Baltimore all cities with high rates of poverty and crime, and increasingly fewer economic opportunities. The Cook County region of Chicago tops the census list as having the greatest population losses for the most recent years calculated, showing a net domestic migration away from the city of 66,244 people between July 1, 2015, and July 1, 2016.
Even though it continues to see an influx of immigrants from foreign countries, Cook County is losing its native population by the tens of thousands every year. And Cook County just so happens to include the bulk of the city of Chicago proper, which in 2016 saw a murder rate of 762 people. As far as population losses, Wayne County, Michigan came in second with a net loss of 17,346 people between 2015 and 2016, while the city of Baltimore, Maryland came in third with a net loss of 11,008 people.
During the year, births outnumbered deaths in Cook County by 68,049 to 42,297, and 18,434 people moved into the county from foreign nations, reports CNSNews.com. But at the same time, 66,244 residents left Cook County for other places in the United States.
Phoenix, Houston, Las Vegas, and Seattle see biggest population increases
So where are all these people moving? South and west, apparently. The same census data shows that the Phoenix area of Arizona is currently the number-one destination for people to move, with Maricopa County having seen a domestic migration increase of 43,189 people between 2015 and 2016. Maricopa County overtook the previous contender, Harris County, Texas, which includes the city of Houston.
Maricopa County, Ariz., replaced Harris County, Texas, as the county with the nations highest annual population growth, according to U.S. Census Bureau population estimates released today, a statement by the Census Bureau reads. Harris County was the largest numeric gainer for eight years in a row.
Besides the nice weather and conservative-to-moderate political climate, Maricopa County is a region of high economic growth that is appealing to folks both in the north and in the west including in high rent district places like California. Cities like Phoenix that are newer than most and much more affordable than similarly-suited regions like Southern California continue to draw in folks who hope for a better quality of life.
Las Vegas is another major contender in the net growth arena, coming in third on the list. And while more expensive and not necessarily conservative as a whole, Seattle is another highly desirable area due to its natural beauty and strong economy, bringing it to fourth place on the list of U.S. counties seeing the highest population growth increases.
Other areas of major growth throughout the U.S. include Tarrant County, Texas (Fort Worth), Riverside County, California, Bexar County, Texas (San Antonio-New Braunfels), Orange County, Florida (Orlando), Dallas County, Texas, and Hillsborough County, Florida (Tampa). The fastest-growing metropolitan areas, according to census data, included The Villages areas to the west of Orlando, Florida, with a 4.3 percent population growth between 2015 and 2016, and the Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach area of South Carolina, with a 3.9 percent population growth rate during the same time period.
Sources:
CNSNews.com
CNN.com
A team of Medics at the Clinica Santa Cruz de Bocagrande in Bolivar, Colombia has been fired from their work after a camera caught them grinding and twerking next to an unconscious patient.
The video went viral a few days ago and the medics have been a subject of ire of the people who saw the video, citing that their behavior was inappropriate. The clip showed a naked patient lying face down on a surgery table while medics take turn to twerk and the others laugh.
The clinic has already issued a statement in response to the viral video, mentioning that they have already axed five people involved in the incident.
In a report, The Mirror quoted the statement of the clinic, which read as follows:
"The respect for dignity of every patient is the most important thing in our clinic, therefore we strongly regret the inappropriate behavior of those who are working as professionals in the health sector, seen in the video records in one of our surgery rooms... their actions are against the dignity of the patient and are breaking the protocols and the political values of our institution focused on the quality and humanization of our service."
They added that this is the first time something like this has happened since the establishment of the clinic.
According to the New York Post, the clinic has taken measures to avoid a repeat of the same offensive deed. Each hospital has a policy that sets out how attending physicians/surgeons should act toward their patients.
In the operating room, particularly, law, ethics and concern for patient are important considerations of the operating team. Online Journal of Health Ethics mentions that the problems of apathy, carelessness and indifference in the operating room may prove to be a larger barrier to achievement of sound ethical practices in the operating room.
Recently, an Ontario MD was found guilty of misconduct after rubbing himself against patients. The Star reported Dr. Rodion Andrew Kunynetz had displayed disgraceful, dishonorable and unprofessional conduct and is currently facing 11 criminal counts of sexual assault and one count of gross indecency.
Every year, a Japanese whaling fleet embarks on a Antarctic hunt in the name of science and research. This year's haul counted 333 dead minke whales.
According to a report from The Guardian, the Japanese fleet consisted of five ships, three of which returned to the Shimonoseki port last Friday morning. The hunt kicked off last November, an annual event that the country's Fisheries Agency described as research to learn more about the ecological system of the Antarctic Sea.
This annual slaughter of 333 minke whales is part of a project called New Scientific Whale Research Program in the Antarctic Ocean (NEWREP-A), which is mandated by Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research to kill 4,000 whales over 12 years, a report from Gizmodo revealed. Last year, 333 whale carcasses were also brought to shore for the program.
"Since a majority of both the males and females taken were mature, this indicates that the species is reproducing healthily," the Japanese agency concluded after this year's whale hunt.
Read Also: 20 Dolphins Slaughtered on Day One of Japan's Annual Taiji Hunt, 1,800 to Go
The International Court of Justice (IJC) as well as environmentalists all over the world are highly critical of the annual whale program, saying the primary goal of the expedition is not research but to hunt whales for their meat.
"Each year that Japan persists with its discredited scientific whaling is another year where these wonderful animals are needlessly sacrificed," Humane Society International's Executive Vice President Kitty Block said. "It is an obscene cruelty in the name of science that must end."
A global moratorium under the International Whaling Commission (IWC) has prohibited hunting whales since 1986. However, Japan manages to sidestep this restriction by claiming that their whaling hunts are for scientific research.
There are also campaigns in Tokyo that are trying to justify a return to commercial whale hunting because of a big enough population. Japan, after all, has hunted and eaten whales for centuries, although consumption of their meat has greatly declined in the past few decades.
Read Also: 'Near Threatened' Beluga Whales in Danger as Arctic Sea Ice Shrinks Due to Global Warming
Staff of Metro Nashville Animal Care and Control has successfully rescued over 300 animals in what is considered to be the shelter's largest bird and small animal hoarding case to date.
"It was a long day, but an amazing effort by our hardworking staff and rockstar volunteers! What great teamwork! We will continue to update you as we have more information regarding placement of the animals," the shelter posted on their Facebook page.
According to the report from Nashville Patch, shelter staff, together with some volunteers, confiscated 111 rabbits, 182 quails, 58 pigeons and 27 chickens. At present, all animals are being taken care of at the shelter.
However, the large number of animals coming all at once will be difficult to handle. Due to this, staff members of Metro Nashville Animal Care and Control are working with local and national rescues to assist with the safe placement of the animals.
The shelter has not yet released any details regarding the hoarding case. Due to the sudden influx of animals, Metro Nashville Animal Care and Control is asking the help from the community. The most needed items in the shelter right now include timothy hay, fresh veggies, towels, rabbit pellets and washcloth.
The Metro Nashville Animal Care and Control is a government organization that fosters safe, healthy and caring relationship between people and animals in the Nashville-Davidson county. Working with individuals and other organizations, the shelter helps domestic animals find caring homes, decreases over-population of cats and dogs through spaying and neutering, supports widespread rabies vaccinations, and promotes responsible pet ownership.
Located at 5125 Harding Place, Nashville, Tennessee, the Metro Nashville Animal Care and Control is open for adaptation services from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursdays. Animal drop-off hours start at 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. from Tuesday to Saturday.
Calm, collected and usually seemingly indifferent, felines are always the picture of mystery. Even after thousands of years of domestication, cats can be very difficult to read, especially when compared to the wear-it-on-their-paw affection of most dogs.
According to a report from Mother Nature Network, a team of scientists from the University of Lincoln in the U.K. analyzed the expressions of 29 cats in an animal shelter in Canada. The researchers made use of a computer program called Cat Facial Action Coding System (CatFACS), observing the changes in the cats' expression both with and without humans nearby.
It turns out cats are either angry, afraid or engaged. Angry felines are quite easily identifiable with flat ears. They also tend to hiss or growl. Other behavioral signs are cats licking their noses, dropping their jaws, opening their mouths wide or meowing loudly.
Meanwhile, scared cats -- who can be dangerous as well -- can be recognized by their excessive blinking or half-blinking. They also tend to tilt their heads and look to the left. Cats in a more relaxed mood exhibit much of the same behavior, except they tilt their head and look to the right side.
Read Also: Cats Actually Enjoy Spending Time With Their Owners, Study Shows
While limited, this offers a significant glimpse in the workings of the cat's mind and provides a first step for pet-owners struggling to decode their feline's cues. A recent study already revealed that cats like humans more than most believe, preferring the company of people over food and toys. The next goal is understanding them.
It's important to note that the sample size for decoding cat expressions are still quite limited. Scientists cautioned that cats living in a single home may show different facial expressions from their experiment subjects who are in a rescue center surrounded by other felines.
The paper is published in the journal Behavioural Processes.
Read Also: Purrrfect! Now There's a Perfume That Smells Like a Kitten's Neck
Blackwater founder Erik Prince represented Donald Trump at a secret overseas meeting in early January with an unnamed Russian emissary close to Vladimir Putin, two intelligence sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.
The meeting on the Seychelles islands, which was first reported by the Washington Post and confirmed by NBC News sources, was arranged by the United Arab Emirates. The Post said the meeting was an effort to convince Russia to stop backing Iran.
According to intelligence reports filed at the time, no Trump transition people were directly involved and it is unclear if the meeting was undertaken on behalf of Trump's people or was a UAE initiative, the official said.
Prince donated to Trump's campaign and is the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. His firm Blackwater became a private security provider for the U.S. government in Iraq.
Put the phone away. That's the message police departments across Connecticut have for drivers as they announced the return of the U Drive. U Text. U Pay 2017 Distracted Driving High Visibility Enforcement Campaign.
Teaming up with the Connecticut Department of Transportation, the Cromwell Police Department and other local police departments aim to bring attention to distracted driving. This will take place during April for National Distracted Driving Awareness Month.
According to The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 3,477 people were killed and an estimated 391,000 injured in motor vehicle crashes involving distracted drivers in 2015. This is a 9 percent increase in fatalities from 2014, officials said.
Cromwell police said they, like other departments across the country, will add special patrols this month that are geared toward catching drivers who are using their phones and other distracted drivers. Patrol officers will be posted in various areas in undercover vehicles. It will begin on April 4, and officers will look out for those using hand-held cell phones and other hand held electronic devices while driving.
The fine for a first offense of drivers using a hand-held cell phone or electronic device will be $150, $300 for a second offense, and $500 for a third offense.
Legislators are set to discuss a series of bills regarding the states budgeting system Monday.
Lawmakers are considering several bills that would require the government to figure out how much money they have to spend before actually spending it by implementing a constitutional spending cap.
Connecticut voters instituted an income tax 25 years ago, and at the same time they approved a cap on spending. However that cap was never really established. Now lawmakers are considering that cap, which could limit government spending.
Also on the agenda is talks to set a deadline to decide how much money will go to cities and towns.
Right now two dates have been floated March 1 or April 1. Each of those bills would require the General Assembly to adopt the education cost sharing formula and other aid to municipalities.
This is significant because often cities, towns and school districts struggle to make decisions without knowing how much funding they will receive from the state.
That scenario is playing out in Bristol right now the district is considering laying off more than 100 teachers and administrators.
The public hearing begins at noon Monday in room 2E of the Legislative Office Building.
President Donald Trump signaled a new era in U.S.-Egypt relations on Monday, assuring his Egyptian counterpart that years of tepid relations will now give way to a "great bond" between their two nations.
Trump reunited with President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi for talks ranging from collaboration against the Islamic State group to bolstering Egypt's flailing economy.
In Trump, el-Sissi sees new opportunity after years of lukewarm relations with President Barack Obama.
"This is my first state visit to the United States since my inauguration and this is the first visit in eight years for an Egyptian president to the United States," el-Sissi pointed out at the start of his remarks.
Obama never invited the Egyptian leader to the White House and Egypt's government was repeatedly admonished over its human rights record. Obama even briefly suspended some U.S. military aid.
It's the second meeting for the pair. Reflecting on their first encounter in New York shortly before the general election, Trump said el-Sissi is someone "very close to me."
El-Sissi hailed Trump on Monday for his "unique personality" and said that after their first meeting, "I bet on you," the latter being comments he made in Arabic that were not translated.
For Egypt, the objective is clear: Help us help you.
In recent months, U.S. and Egyptian officials have sought to stress commonalities.
Like Trump, el-Sissi believes he can eradicate radical Islamic extremism.
"Together, we will fight terrorism and other things and we're going to be friends for a very, very long time," Trump said, citing a "great bond with the people of Egypt."
El-Sissi vowed to work with the U.S. "to counter this evil ideology that is claiming innocent lives, that is bringing devastation to communities and nations and that is terrorizing the innocent people."
Since the military overthrew Egypt's first post-revolution president, the popularly elected Mohamed Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood member, el-Sissi has cracked down on political Islamists. El-Sissi also has taken a heavy hand on Egyptians who've deemed his presidency illegitimate, often relegating human rights concerns to national security.
But el-Sissi's government believes its success in fighting radicalism depends critically on U.S. aid.
Egypt is among the top recipients of U.S. military and economic assistance, but the aid is being evaluated as part of the Trump administration's push for dramatic budget cuts to diplomacy and development. It receives $1.3 billion annually in aid, plus hundreds of millions in economic assistance from the U.S. Agency for International Development and other programs potentially on the chopping block.
Trump has vowed to work closely with Arab allies in the fight against the Islamic State group. As a neighbor to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, Libya and Sudan, maintaining stability in Egypt is a high priority. But it has sometimes been a relationship from which the U.S. receives little in return, and Trump has said he won't tolerate imbalances in other partnerships, as with China and many European allies.
Egypt's economy is forecast to grow by 4 percent this year, according to the World Bank, but the figure heavily accounts for capital gains in oil and gas.
Conditions on the Egyptian streets tell a very different story.
Unemployment hovers at 12.7 percent a sore spot for millions of Egyptians who protested in 2011 to demand the removal of then-President Hosni Mubarak. Then, unemployment was 9 percent. Youth are hardest hit by job shortages, with about 30 percent out of work.
Egyptians supporters of el-Sissi criticize the Obama administration's handling of the Egyptian uprising six years ago, believing American complacency ushered in Muslim Brotherhood control.
Since then, extremist attacks have spiked, particularly on the Sinai Peninsula which borders Israel and Gaza. Cairo home to some 20 million people has seen several militant attacks, including a December bombing at a church that killed more than two dozen people.
Egypt's minority Christians, who comprise about a tenth of the population, are particularly encouraged by Trump's presidency, hoping the American president will team up with el-Sissi to more forcefully address Egypt's growing extremism.
For Trump and el-Sissi, it's also a meeting of kindred spirits.
Both maintain a contentious relationship with the media and believe "bad" or "evil" people are infiltrating their borders. Both whip up supporters with talk of victories and seek to project a mystic sense of inevitable success. They've both challenged whether their country's judges are acting as roadblocks to democracy.
El-Sissi, like Trump, is widely viewed as a polarizing figure in his country. That view manifesting itself on the streets outside the White House Monday, where rival protests for and opposing both Trump and el-Sissi swelled before the Egyptian's arrival.
In the sea of American and Egyptian flags, some chanted "We love el-Sissi, we love Trump!" Others held signs of el-Sissi and Trump and chanted "Illegitimate," a cry harkening back to the Arab Spring.
President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, flew to Iraq with the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford on Monday.
Kushner's travel plans initially were revealed late Sunday by a Trump administration official who said Kushner wanted to see the situation there for himself and show support for Baghdad's government.
The official said Kushner had already arrived. But when presented with information indicating that was not accurate, the official said the timing of his arrival was unclear but confirmed that Kushner was scheduled to be in Iraq Monday. Such visits from high-ranking officials are typically kept secret out of security concerns.
The administration official who provided the information late Sunday wasn't authorized to speak about confidential meetings by name and demanded anonymity.
Such trips are usually kept quiet, with the cooperation of journalists, until the officials arrive in order to ensure maximum security. For the military and security professionals managing the mission, the public disclosure of the unannounced trip was a security breach. Gen. Joseph Dunford, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, also was on board.
Although the plane landed safely in Baghdad on Monday, the Iraqi capital is hardly a secure location, having suffered countless extremist attacks over the years. The threat is no less acute today as Iraq wages a bitter battle to try to rid the Islamic State from its territory. For trips to the city, the military seeks to avoid public mention of plans ahead of time so extremist groups can't plot attacks.
"It's been longstanding practice to strictly avoid announcing the visits of senior U.S. officials in advance of their travels to warzones," said George Little, a Pentagon and CIA press secretary for Leon Panetta, who managed both departments under President Barack Obama. "The main reason is obvious. You want to avoid giving the enemy any information that could help them to target these delegations, especially in areas where the battle lines aren't clear on the map."
Kushner's Monday arrival with Dunford and Thomas P. Bossert, a presidential assistant for homeland security and counterterrorism, was announced by Capt. Greg Hicks, a spokesman for Dunford.
The trip began against a backdrop of an ongoing investigation into civilian deaths in an area of Mosul near the site of an air-strike by U.S.-led coalition forces last month.
"Gen. Dunford invited Mr. Kushner and Mr. Bossert to meet with Iraqi leaders, senior U.S. advisors, and visit with U.S. forces in the field to receive an update on the status of the counter-ISIS (an acronym for the Islamic State group) campaign in Iraq and Syria," Hicks said. The spokesman added that Kushner was "traveling on behalf of the president to express the president's support and commitment to the Government of Iraq and U.S. personnel currently engaged in the campaign."
Kushner's West Wing portfolio is robust. He has been deeply involved with presidential staffing, recently launched a task force meant to modernize government using lessons drawn from the private sector, and has played the role of shadow diplomat, advising on relations with the Middle East, Canada and Mexico.
And though Kushner had no previous diplomatic or government experience, Trump also tasked him with trying to broker a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
"If you can't produce peace in the Middle East, nobody can," Trump told Kushner at a gala a few days before his inauguration.
Kushner was also the latest Trump associate to be swept up into the ongoing probe into contacts with Russian officials. The White House confirmed last week that he had volunteered to be interviewed by the Senate intelligence committee. North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr, the committee's chairman, said that Kushner would likely be under oath and would submit to a "private interview" about arranging meetings with the Russian ambassador and other officials.
Kushner is married to Trump's oldest daughter, Ivanka. He was expected to have a major role in meetings later this week between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at Trump's winter retreat in Palm Beach, Florida.
His visit marks an early foray for the Trump administration into the situation in Iraq and came just two weeks after Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said he was assured by the president the U.S. will accelerate its support for his country's struggle against the Islamic State group.
Al-Abadi met with Trump and Kushner in Washington recently and said he had the impression that the United States would take a more aggressive approach, although he did not say what that might entail.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis recently presented Trump with the outlines of a comprehensive approach to defeating IS and other extremist groups on a global scale, but specifics have yet to be worked out. Officials have indicated that the approach is unlikely to depart radically from the Obama administration's strategy, at least with regard to ongoing efforts in Iraq and Syria.
Iraq was part of the Trump administration's original travel ban but was removed from the revised version after a request from the Pentagon and the State Department highlighting Iraq's key role in fighting the Islamic State. The second travel ban, which restrictions immigration from six Muslim-majority countries, has been halted by a federal court. The U.S. Justice Department has announced an appeal.
Associated Press writers Jonathan Lemire, Lolita C. Baldor, Vivian Salama and Catherine Lucey contributed to this report.
In exactly one week, hundreds of thousands of people will descend into downtown Dallas to march for immigration reform and racial equality for all.
Organizers of the Dallas Mega March announced on Sunday that civil rights leader Martin Luther King III will be walking alongside North Texans.
Half a million people attended the citys previous Mega March in 2006. It was geared specifically toward the Latino immigrant community.
For one local woman, next Sundays march will bring back many memories.
Esseiny Alanis spent the Sunday before the Mega March handing out flyers promoting the event outside of a Mexican market in Pleasant Grove.
The 23-year-old will be at the march next Sunday, just as she was at the citys previous Mega March 10 years ago.
I was 13 years old, she said. It was packed It was very positive, very inspiring to see how many people were not scared to come out.
She posed for a picture with the American flag in 2006, just a few years after her family emigrated illegally from Mexico. She says her father was a teacher in Mexico but wanted a better education for her.
So he migrated to Dallas and worked at a chicken plant, then washing dishes.
Alanis went on to become the first person in her family to graduate college.
She is currently a teacher in Dallas.
I have shared my story with my students and they feel comfortable and they feel happy being in my classroom and knowing that there's hope for them, she said.
A decade later, she feels her personal success is dampened by the current political picture.
To see that there's still racism going on it's very heartbreaking, said Alanis.
Organizers of the Dallas Mega March announced on Sunday that they are enlisting the help of a Freedom Fighters son: Martin Luther King III.
Civil rights leader, Revered Peter Johnson says he personally asked MLK III to be here on what will be the 49th anniversary of Dr. King's burial.
This is a sacred day for us and this would make Dr. King very happy Jews and Gentiles and Protestants and Catholics, he said. This is something we worked for all of these years to bring everyone together to fight for justice.
Alanis is still facing an uncertain future.
Her humanitarian visa is about to expire. Shes also still awaiting her green card. If neither comes through in two weeks, I might become illegal again, she said. It hurts because how can I tell my students that everything will be OK when I don't know if I'm going to be able to be there for them.
Congressman Joaquin Castro of San Antonio will also be joining in the march.
Organizers are urging those who attend to wear red, white and blue and only bring American flags.
The Dallas Mega March will take place on Sunday, April 9 at 2 p.m.
It will begin at the Cathedral of Guadalupe in downtown Dallas and will make its way to city hall for a rally at 5 p.m.
Organizers say Dart will double the number of buses running on Sunday.
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story said police told the victim to stop calling 911. In fact, they were speaking to a third party in another location who was on the phone with police.
A few hours before a Florida woman and her 8-year-old son were fatally shot last week, police responded to a domestic dispute between the woman and the suspect, NBC News reported.
Early on the morning of March 27, Sanford police were twice called to intervene between Latina Verneta Herring, 35, and Allen Dion Cashe, 31, who were quarreling over the keys to her house and car, according to an arrest report obtained by NBC affiliate WESH of Orlando and The Orlando Sentinel.
About three hours later, around 6:30 a.m., Cashe emptied the magazine of an assault-style rifle, investigators said. Herring, who was shot seven times, died at the scene. Her 8-year-old son, Branden, was critically wounded; he died Tuesday. Police said four other people were also shot Herring's father and 7-year-old son, who were critically wounded, and two bystanders.
North Korea's "desperate" dictator is prepared to use nuclear weapons against the United States and its allies, a senior defector told NBC News.
Thae Yong Ho was North Korea's deputy ambassador to the United Kingdom until he defected to South Korea this summer. Though not directly involved in his country's nuclear program, he believes it "has reached a very significant level of nuclear development."
Estimates peg North Korea's nuclear arsenal at upward of eight weapons, but with no ability to attach them to a long-range rocket, or ICBM, capable of hitting the U.S. Thae said that ruler Kim Jong Un wants to maintain his rule with ICBMs, and a senior official told NBC News in January that Kim's government was ready to test-fire an ICMB.
"Once he sees that there is any kind of sign of a tank or an imminent threat from America, then he would use his nuclear weapons with ICBM," Thae said in an exclusive interview on Sunday.
"I realized it was in kind of a trail, so I just followed the trail and it lead me to the laptop."
Zoltan Katona expected to wake up to a fully charged laptop last month.
"So I turned on the lights. I didn't expect anything like that," said Katona.
But what he discovered caught him completely off guard.
"[There were] burn spots on the carpet like carbon and little pieces of copper foil. I was looking around like where, where did this come from?"
He says it didn't take him long to identify the culprit: his son's Acer Aspire Laptop.
"The battery had exploded. There was a big hole burned in the laptop so I unplugged it very quickly," Katona said.
All day he says there was one thought that kept coming to mind.
"I was glad to be alive. I thought the house could have easily burned down," said Katona.
He purchased the device six years ago for about $400 brand new. He has other Acer products that have done him well over the years.
"[I've] always had good luck with them," says Katona.
But his luck may have run out, and he doesn't know how this could have happened. There weren't any storms the night before and he hasn't had problems with the laptop in the past.
"Now, it's making me think about all my devices with batteries."
We reached out to Acer to find out what may have gone wrong.
Acer tells NBC 5 Responds:
"Customer safety is our top priority, and we appreciate your putting us in contact with Mr. Zoltan. We have set up his unit for an evaluation and he is also sharing the photos with us."
Acer voluntarily recalled about 22,000 Aspire laptops due to overheating in 2010.
Since then, the CPSC has received six reports of the Aspire laptops overheating, exploding or catching fire. None of the reported models match Katona's exploded laptop.
We asked Acer what kind of battery was used in his Acer Aspire Laptop. The company says:
"We can't comment on most of your questions until we've had a chance to evaluate the unit and determine the source of the damage; however, I can confirm that we are unaware of any similar issues on this notebook line."
It's now a waiting game for Katona, but he says he's glad he and his dog came out unscathed.
Katona did ship the laptop to Acer last week and we expect to hear more about the company's findings.
We want to keep you and your family safe so here are Samantha's Solutions to prevent a device from catching fire:
Storms in Texas affect more cities in Collin County than any other part of the state, according to a new Allstate Insurance report.
Because of the population increase in that area, more people are buying homes, and that leads to an increase in property damage, said Mark Tucker, of Allstate.
The insurance company assessed the top 25 Texas counties impacted by severe weather, identifying areas with high wind, hail, and lightning related homeowner property damage claims.
This means that homeowners really need to stay proactive. When you know a storm is coming, clear out your garage so you can put your vehicles inside. Tie down or bring in patio furniture, and make sure you have a safety plan, said Tucker.
Dallas County, Tarrant County, and Denton County also made Allstates list. All three were in the top ten.
Below are Allstate's top 25 Texas counties for frequency of wind and hail claims between 2012 and 2016:
A 50-year-old Napa, California, man with a criminal past was arrested Saturday morning for allegedly drugging, raping and kidnapping a 13-year-old girl, according to the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department.
Authorities made the arrest after the man, who was identified as Timothy Lee Marble, called police after the girl jumped from his moving car traveling along Highway 1 in Bodega Bay, according to authorities. When officers arrived, the girl, who was covered with road rash, jumped out of nearby bushes and claimed that Marble a convicted drug felon without a history of sexual assault offenses sexually assaulted her.
The ghastly string of abusive events ignited on March 30 when the girl became entangled in an argument with her mom before running away from her Napa home, according to the sheriff's department.
The teen ended up at a Shell gas station during the early hours of March 31 when she came into contact with Marble, according to the sheriff's department. Marble convinced the teen that he would give her a ride in his pickup truck.
Marble drove the teen to "an unknown location in the country," according to the sheriff's department. That's when the pair smoked marijuana together before Marble began to make sexual advances. The teen resisted, but Marble exerted his force. He tied the teen to a tree and sexually assaulted her, according to the sheriff's department.
The two hopped back into Marble's car and started driving, according to the sheriff's department. Some time later, Marble pulled out a syringe and injected the teenager with methamphetamine.
Marble also cut the girl's leg using a razor blade and a knife, according to the sheriff's department. He also etched his name into the girl's skin. That name was still on the victim's body when detectives began investigating the case.
Before his run of criminal behavior was over, Marble managed to sexually assault the girl two more times, according to the sheriff's department.
The victim escaped Marble's control when she dove from his truck Saturday morning. Marble tried to find the girl in the bushes and reportedly told her he was going to kill her after she failed to show herself, according to the sheriff's department.
Marble called 911 when the girl didn't answer his demands, according to the sheriff's department. After arriving and hearing the girl's story, sheriff's deputies arrested Marble on a number of counts related to sexual acts with a minor, child abuse and kidnapping. He was transported to the Sonoma County Jail, and he was booked without bail.
Marble is expected to appear in court Tuesday afternoon.
A female dog was rescued Sunday after she fell into a 30-foot well in the Santa Monica mountains in Malibu, according to a Los Angeles County spokesman.
Lucy, a 13-year-old Welsh Terrier, fell into the dirt well near the 27200 block of Winding Way about 11:45 a.m., according to fire department spokesman Brian Jordan.
*Animal Rescue in Malibu. USAR 103 with the save, no injuries to dog or rescuers. Keep your pet on a leash #rescue #LACoFD #USAR @LACo_FD pic.twitter.com/4cODCOi1MT L.A. County Fire Department (@LACoFDPIO) April 2, 2017
Lucy was not injured in the fall, according to Jordan.
The department dispatched its Urban Search and Rescue team to the scene but it took them about two hours to get there because of traffic, according to Jordan.
The county fire team then lowered one firefighter down into the well to make the rescue, Jordan said.
The Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority also assisted with the rescue.
The entire operation was finished about 5 p.m., according to county fire Dispatch Supervisor Cheryl Sims.
The department warned pet owners to keep their dogs on a leash when they are hiking on trails through the mountains.
A 37-year-old Uber driver working in Santa Ana was arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting one of his unconscious passengers in his van, police said.
Authorities believe there may be other victims.
Angel Sanchez, who had been an Uber driver for a little over a year, was arrested Saturday at his home in Costa Mesa, the Santa Ana Police Department said.
On Thursday evening, friends of the victim requested an Uber ride from a company gathering at a Newport Beach pizza restaurant to her home in Santa Ana. Her friends told police she was intoxicated, so they summoned the Uber and sent her by herself.
She was picked up by Sanchez in a 2016 gray Toyota Sienna and told police she woke up to being sexually assaulted inside the van in the area near Euclid Avenue and E. 22nd Street.
She told police after the assault, she ran from the suspect's van and immediately called the police.
Police believe there may be more victims out there because of the way the assault was committed -- when the victim was vulnerable and unconscious.
"She had fallen asleep and woke up being sexually assaulted," said Cpl. Anthony Bertagna.
Uber and Santa Ana police worked together to track down the driver.
The map route, app documentation and the suspect's incriminating interview statements corroborated the victim's story and gave them enough evidence to arrest him.
He was being held on $100,000 bail.
Santa Ana police detectives asked anyone who may have witnessed Sanchez commit other sexual assaults to call 714-245-8412.
Uber released the following statement after the arrest and noted the driver was removed from the app as soon as the information about the arrest came to light:
"What the rider has reported to police is deeply troubling and will not be tolerated. The driver has been banned from the app. We will continue to support police with their investigation."
Uber also said the driver had no negative feedback related to incidents like this in the past.
City News Service contributed to this report.
The school has more dual-enrollment classes on its campus than any other high school in Broward County. It leads the district in reassignment requests, meaning more students want to transfer in to Coral Springs High School than to any other high school. So theres a lot to brag about at the home of the Colts.
"We have so many more choices than other schools, we have four innovative programs, we have so many programs for each different student, said Vivian Suarez, the schools principal.
For example, the Colt Chorus is an institution, 250 students in harmony, regularly winning superior awards. On the other hand, for kids who want to bang on their drums all day, the Colt Drumline makes a raucous noise that will make your heart pound. Different strokes, as they say, for different folks.
Lets say your kid is a techie. The school has a four-year course in video game design, complete with motion-capture capability. It allows the students to design games with characters that move like real people. The course gives the kids an avenue into tech careers.
"Just knowing the ins and outs of gaming and computers, its gonna give them an opportunity to be able to launch to any kind of technology career, said Jason Freedman, who teaches video game design. Whether they do want to go into gaming and animation or they want to go into something like network engineering.
Thanks to a partnership with the Coral Springs Fire Department, students here can train like real firefighters. They wear the gear, they practice with real hoses, they learn fire suppression and emergency medical response skills. The idea is to expose them to a career option.
"They get early education, they get a jump start on a career, a lot of kids when they started werent sure what they were going to do, and this gives them a little direction to let them know this could be something theyre interested in or not, said Zac Roseboom of the Coral Springs Fire Department.
The school also has a growing agricultural science program, in which students raise fruits, vegetables, and chickens. Those chickens produce lots of eggs, which are sent directly to the culinary program. Farm to table.
"So the agricultural science actually feeds, for lack of a better word, into the culinary so we have our own chickens that hatch eggs and our students prepare the eggs, explained Principal Suarez.
The students do catering jobs, they make lunch for the faculty, and they get real-world culinary experience in the process.
Coral Springs High also has a solid athletic program. Their boys won the class 8A state basketball championship last year, and the cheerleading team almost won a national championship, recently finishing second in a nationwide competition.
"What makes us most proud is that we really have a welcoming environment, our teachers and staff welcome all students, and we treat everyone as is they are really focused on just that one child, Suarez said.
The protest continues in South Miami as some Miami-Dade neighbors are banding together to stop a charter school from coming to town.
A group of protestors are against the development of a 2,500 student K-12 charter school.
The proposed location's causing quite the stir as heavy traffic congestion is already an issue on Sunset Drive from 87th Avenue to 72nd Avenue.
"There is no need for another school in an area gridlocked it's difficult during rush hour from South Miami Hospital to Baptist Hospital, said protestor Mary Faraldo.
Protestors say they're not protesting against schools, but arguing there's no need for another one since they believe local public schools in the area are underfunded.
What to Know Gov. Andrew Cuomo called for a two-month extension of the last state budget to prevent a government shutdown
Cuomo said the stopgap budget would give legislators time to resolve their differences
Cuomo said he has assurances from the leaders of the Assembly and the Senate that the temporary spending plan will pass by Monday afternoon
Gov. Andrew Cuomo called for a two-month extension of the last state budget to prevent a government shutdown after he and state lawmakers on Sunday failed to reach agreement on a new spending plan.
Cuomo said the stopgap budget would give legislators time to resolve their differences while postponing the decision until after the release of the federal budget, which is expected to contain spending cuts that could drastically impact state finances.
"The Legislature has not been able to reach total agreement on all issues necessary for a complete annual agenda," Cuomo, a Democrat, said in an emailed statement just before midnight Sunday. "... Given the inability of both houses to reach an agreement, I am sending up an extender of the current budget to keep the government fully functioning until May 31."
Cuomo said he has assurances from the leaders of the Assembly and the Senate that the temporary spending plan will pass by Monday afternoon, which he said was the deadline to avoid any government disruption.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, a Bronx Democrat, said the Assembly will continue negotiations on the annual budget but will agree to a temporary one if a deal cannot be reached.
"The Assembly is prepared to pass a temporary budget extender should one be necessary to avoid a shutdown of government while we resolve these issues," he said in a statement released shortly before Cuomo's.
A new budget was due by Saturday, the first day of the new fiscal year, raising the possibility of a government shutdown later this week. Closed-door negotiations continued through the weekend but showed little progress.
"I'm numb, not optimistic," said Republican Sen. John DeFrancisco, of Syracuse, on Sunday, expressing the frustration felt by many lawmakers. "I'm not pessimistic, I'm numb."
One key sticking point remains a proposal known as "raise the age," which would end the state's practice of prosecuting and incarcerating 16- and 17-year-old offenders as adults. The change is a priority for Heastie and other Democrats, but it has raised concerns among Senate Republicans.
Lawmakers in North Carolina, the only other state where 16- and 17-year-old offenders are prosecuted as adults, also are considering legislation to raise the age.
Negotiations in Albany were also bogged down over how to divide increased education funding, the details of an affordable housing and development tax credit in New York City and whether to increase the number of authorized charter schools.
The proposed temporary budget wouldn't raise the age or include any of the other high-profile initiatives that Cuomo had wanted.
Cuomo has not said whether his temporary budget will include pay for legislators. State law requires pay to be withheld when a budget is late, though Cuomo could include it in the budget extender.
Top lawmakers had expressed optimism that they could reach a deal before the late budget impacted state payroll and spending.
"I don't think anyone would like to shut the government down," said Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Morelle, a Rochester-area Democrat.
Cuomo introduced his $152 billion budget proposal in January. The proposal would keep the status quo when it comes to taxes, add $1 billion in new public education spending and include expanded child care tax credits and a new initiative making state college tuition free for students from families earning $125,000 or less annually.
The budget delay is a defeat for Cuomo, who likes to boast of a string of on-time budgets early in his tenure as governor. Cuomo is considered a possible White House contender in 2020 and has won two terms as New York's executive on promises to tackle government dysfunction.
On Sunday, Cuomo appeared to blame Republicans in Washington for the decision to postpone the adoption of a new budget, citing "looming threats from Washington." The federal budget is expected to be released next month, and Cuomo said the extra two months would allow the new budget to reflect any federal funding cuts.
Three people died while another suffered injuries in a quadruple shooting in North Philadelphia Monday afternoon and a day later, homicide detectives announced a $70,000 reward in hopes of tracking down the killers.
The victims were standing on the 1100 block of Stiles Street around 3:30 p.m. when two men approached and fired 25 shots.
"We believe that someone came east from this location and started firing," Philadelphia Police Captain James Clark said.
Tyair Jabbar of Southwest Philadelphia was struck several times, including twice in the head. The 20-year-old died a short time later at Hahnemann University Hospital, police said.
Ronald Fenwick, who lived nearby on Girard Avenue, was shot in the head and body. The 32-year-old died a short time later at Temple University Hospital, police said.
Marcello Robertson of Hunting Park was shot in the chest. The 27-year-old died shortly before midnight at Hahnemann Hospital, police said.
A 26-year-old was shot in the stomach and listed in stable condition at the hospital, police said.
"People were laid there dead and the kids had to walk past a dead body," Sophie Coles, a woman who witnessed the shooting, said. "It's crazy."
All four victims are known to police for previous arrests and one man had a gun on him, Clark said.
As of Tuesday afternoon, not one person in the community had come forward with a tip, Clark said. Investigators hoped a $60,000 reward for an arrest and conviction would inspire someone with information to speak up. The Philadelphia Housing Authority kicked in another $10,000 in reward money.
"PHAs thoughts and prayers are with the families that were affected by this act of violence," PHA president and CEO Kelvin Jeremiah said in a statement. "We are firmly committed to the safety of our residents and the neighborhoods where our developments are located. Anything that threatens the safety of our residents or their neighbors cannot be tolerated. PHA is calling on the community to help put these cowards behind bars."
Family friends say the four victims grew up in the public housing development near where the shooting took place.
"Senseless man," one resident in the neighborhood said. "Senseless. I mean I'm just praying for the families right now man."
Police have not yet released a detailed description of any suspects but say two men were seen fleeing the scene shortly after the shooting and possibly jumping into a small gray SUV.
Two people were killed while two others were injured after a gunman opened fire in North Philadelphia Monday. NBC10s Drew Smith has the latest on the search for the killer.
A block over from the shooting is the intersection of 10th and Thompson, the namesake for the "TNT Gang." Last year several members of the gang were arrested for alleged ongoing feuds and gun battles. Police have not confirmed whether or not the gang was connected to Monday's shooting. They continue to investigate.
The incident occurred around the same time students were leaving the nearby St. Malachy School. The school went into lockdown due to the shooting.
"I was in the office and all you heard was multiple shots," one student said.
On Tuesday, multiple police cruisers could be seen patrolling the area. Philadelphia Police confirmed to NBC10 that the police presence was a surveillance response to Monday's shooting.
Two teenagers face murder charges in the deadly shooting of a 13-year-old inside a Nicetown neighborhood takeout restaurant last month.
The March 10 shooting inside Gold Fish takeout restaurant on the 2000 block of W. Hunting Park Avenue left Khisser Davis-Papther in critical condition, Philadelphia Police said. The 13-year-old boy died nine days later at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children. He was shot in the head.
An argument proceeded the deadly shooting, investigators said. Surveillance video showed the victim siting with three friends when two males walked in, one spoke to the victim and then pulled a gun and shot him.
Police released surveillance images and asked for the publics assistance in identifying the two men. The video along with detective work helped police to zero in on Tymear Johnson, 19, and Christopher Southerland, 18.
Police nabbed Southerland, who lives just blocks from the shooting scene on March and charged him with murder. On Sunday they charged Johnson, the suspected gunman, with murder and related offenses.
Both suspects remained jailed Monday without bail and no lawyers could be reached to comment on their cases.
[NATL] Top News Photos: Pope Visits Japan, and More
The white Oklahoma police officer charged with manslaughter in the September killing of Terence Crutcher said race was not a factor in the shooting, NBC News reported.
Tulsa officer Betty Shelby spoke in an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes" on Sunday, saying she fired at 40-year-old Crutcher, who was unarmed at the time of the shooting, "based on his actions, his behaviors. Race had nothing to do with my decision making."
Shelby added that she felt Crutcher wanted to "do me harm." She said she repeatedly shouted for him to stop when he moved closer to his vehicle and tried to reach into the driver's side door. The officer explained that's when she "took aim."
Crutcher's family has spoken about the Sept. 16 incident, saying physical and video evidence disputes the officer's account. The Tulsa County District Attorney's Office concluded Shelby "became too emotionally involved" in the situation and overreacted.
The number of police shootings in this country is astoundingly high, Chris Hayes tells NBC 7 while promoting his new book A Colony in a Nation.
The book explores the divergent way in which different populations of people in this country have interactions with the police often falling along racial lines.
The title of the book comes from what Hayes refers to as a throw away line from Nixons famous law and order speech in 1968.
[Nixon] tells the people there its time for some frank talk about order in the United States, Hayes tells the crowd at a Los Angeles Barnes and Noble Monday night. The argument is that we have allowed chaos to reign and order to come unraveled and that leads to criminality, and what you have to do is go back to maintaining and reinforcing order Black citizens as well as white, they dont just want to be supplicants of state aid, they dont want to be a 'colony in a nation.'
Hayes, a veteran reporter who's covered shootings in Ferguson, Baltimore, New York and Chicago, argues that racial inequality has barely improved since Nixon made that speech nearly 50 years ago.
I thought to myself, he says, 'a colony in a nation is in some ways kind of what weve created, that weve created two distinct judicial regimes, two regimes of justice: In the nation a criminal justice system and a policing system that functions like you would want in a democratic society, minimal interaction, due process, etc. The ideal number of interactions for anyone to have with the police is zero In the colony where criminal justice is a constant intrusion, the intrusion and disruption themselves become normal.
In the beginning of the book, he asks the reader to look inward when they think about the last time they called the police and why they called the police. He then explains a time when he heard a loud argument outside his apartment in his upscale Brooklyn neighborhood. He called the police fearing the man would become violent toward the woman he was yelling at, but later after the police and the couple had gone away he wondered what his intentions really had been. Was it to help keep the woman from being abused or was it to make his neighborhood quiet and safe again?
The book seems particularly relevant to the political climate now, especially considering President Trump calling himself the 'law and order president,' and the prevalence of officer-involved shootings of unarmed black men throughout the country.
Alfred Olangos shooting by El Cajon police last September garnered national attention and protests here and in the rest of the country. Olango was shot by officers in an El Cajon shopping center after they demanded he take his hand out of his pocket.
Its hard to ignore the prevalence of these types of shootings as they are splashed across the news, bringing groups like Black Lives Matter into the forefront of political discussions and creating riots throughout the country.
Hayes has a theory on how the media has handled those stories and whether or not the coverage has been accurate.
Theres a little bit of the basic problem of the news, he begins, which is as we say in the newsroom we dont cover the planes that land. So if you just watch the news to get your conception of how dangerous air travel is you think its more dangerous than it is. So apply that in the situation of policing, and there are many police and officers who I deeply respect who I think are incredible at their jobs, who feel that every good thing theyve ever done has never been on any news program and the only representation of American policing are these sorts of incidents caught on tape etc. And I empathize with that But on the other side theres a few things I would say. One is that policing is a uniquely dangerous function in a society not just dangerous to them. Its dangerous because they are the armed agents of the state. Theres a reason that we have the term 'police state'. A police state is a state that abuses the power of policing. Theres a level of accountability that we require from people that are empowered by the law to use violence that is higher than other professions.
He says, however, the challenge between covering the spectacle of a story or giving it accurate context is a judgment call he feels the media doesn't always make well.
I get criticism from everyone, he laughs about pushback he may receive on his reporting. In the course of this Im in dialogue with a lot of police officers ... We go back and forth, and that, I think, has really improved my understanding in a lot of ways.
Hayes will make two more stops in New York City next week to finish out his three-week book tour. A Colony in a Nation can be purchased on Amazon.
Activists say an Iranian-American who has been serving an 18-year prison sentence for "collaboration with a hostile government" has been released on bail.
Hadi Ghaemi, the executive director of the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran, said on Monday that Robin Shahini is out of prison.
Shahini, a graduate student who lives in San Diego, was detained July 11 while visiting family in Iran.
Ghaemi says Shahini was freed on bail of 2 billion rials, which is about $62,000. It's unclear whether Shahini can leave the country.
Iranian officials and state media did not report on Shahini receiving bail. The Iranian mission to the United Nations and the U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Shahini is one of several dual nationals detained and sentenced by hard-liners in the country's judiciary and security services following the nuclear deal.
A retired University of Maryland professor who was reported missing nearly a month ago was found dead in a Prince George's County lake by students participating in a community service effort.
Police identified the victim as 80-year-old Stan Fromovitz Monday.
Fromovitz was last seen March 8 in the 6100 block of Westchester Park Drive, police said.
The Maryland-National Capitol Park Police said the students found Fromovitz's body in Lake Artemesia about 9:30 a.m. Saturday near Indian Creek.
"I didn't believe that it was a body at first," said UMd. student Abigail Peters.
"We didn't know if it was real, because it was April Fools' Day," Sophia Giavotto, another UMd. student, told News4.
"Once we brought the park ranger down and police officers, they confirmed it," Peters said.
Police said no foul play is suspected, but there's no word on whether Fromovitz's death was accidental or a suicide.
A man accused of killing his parents and abducting his niece in North Carolina was arrested in the nation's capital Sunday night after a brief chase near D.C.'s monuments and memorials.
The 11-year-old girl was found in the car with the suspect, 37-year-old Curtis Atkinson Jr., the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said in a news conference.
An Amber Alert was issued for the victim in Charlotte, North Carolina, after her grandparents were found dead inside a home Sunday afternoon, according to NBC Charlotte.
Atkinson is suspected of killing the victims, his parents. His parents became guardians of his brother's daughter after his brother was killed in 2013.
D.C. police flooded the area near the memorials after getting a call from someone who said they had been kidnapped, according to Maj. Mike Smathers of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.
Based on the caller's description of her location, police searched the area for the car, Smathers said. Police didn't say whether the caller was the missing girl.
Police found the suspect's vehicle, a 2005 white Chevy Impala with North Carolina plates. There was a short chase before the car crashed into another car on Independence Avenue SW near the Washington Memorial, police said.
Atkinson, 25-year-old Nikkia Cooper and the victim were found inside the car.
Atkinson and Cooper were taken into custody.
The girl was taken to a hospital but appeared to be OK, Metropolitan Police Department Capt. David Sledge said.
Cooper is being held in Washington on drug charges, police said. She is wanted in North Carolina for kidnapping, according to court records.
Authorities planned to extradite Atkinson and Cooper to North Carolina.
Mark Czerner told The Washington Post he was photographing cherry blossoms near the Washington Monument when he heard what was likely the sound of the crash.
"I heard a loud thud,'' Czerner said, adding that he then saw police with guns drawn approach the car. Someone was pulled from the driver's seat and after the front passenger side door was pried open, two more people were pulled out.
He said one appeared to be the girl and she sat crying on a curb next to an officer.
Atkinson was charged in North Carolina with murder in the deaths of his parents, Ruby Atkinson, 62, and Curtis Atkinson Sr., 63. Curtis Atkinson Jr. lived in the home, police said.
Officers were called to the Atkinsons' home Sunday morning to assist fire officials with a call about a house fire, police said. The victims were found dead inside the home. Police learned that a white Chevrolet Impala left the scene just before firefighters arrived and later issued an Amber Alert requesting help finding the missing girl and the car.
Atkinson's cousin Nina Chandler of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, said Atkinson was not estranged from his parents and the family doesn't know what happened or why, the Associated Press reported.
A new chapter is about to begin in Burlington, Vermonts effort to reduce homelessness, but a recent emergency has left some calling for even more resources to address mental health problems within the transient population.
The Committee on Temporary Shelter, or COTS, unveiled its new Daystation Monday, replacing a series of temporary spaces that followed the 2012 loss of the drop-in centers permanent home to flash floodwaters.
At the center, which is opening next week, homeless adults can get a noontime meal, do their laundry, take a shower, and launch a job search. Other services are also offered through the facility.
People whove sort of given up on the world begin to feel human again, said Rita Markley, the executive director of COTS. When youre just in survival mode, you lose a lot of who you really are when youre not in crisis.
The facility is a critical component, COTS said, of breaking the fall into homelessness and providing people a first step back toward housing.
The COTS celebration of its new facility comes just days after a shocking daytime stabbing death involving two homeless men who were not associated with the non-profit.
The crime took place last Wednesday in the heart of the citys shopping and dining district, in plain view of pedestrians.
Police said Richard Medina and his suspected killer, Louis Fortier, both had long criminal records and histories of erratic, sometimes dangerous behavior.
Fortier pled not guilty and is being jailed without bail.
COTS said neither the victim nor the suspect in the rare killing on the busy Church Street Marketplace was receiving services from the non-profit at the Daystation or its other facilities.
However, COTS did say the case underscores a real need in the community.
We strongly support investments in a strong mental health system, Markley told necn, noting that resources available to people experiencing mental health crises have been declining.
Vermonts governor expressed concern, too, about responses to mental health crises.
This is an area that we need to pay attention [to], Gov. Phil Scott, R-Vermont, said Monday.
Congressman Peter Welch warned funding for human services would slip even more under President Trumps proposed budget, which calls for deep cuts to domestic programs, and for a shift of tens of billions of dollars to defense spending.
The budget is a real threat to our capacity to continue to meet the needs of local communities, and not just Burlington, but all around the state and all around the country, said Rep. Welch, a Democrat.
As community leaders look for fixes, including to the strained mental health system, theyre grateful for the new COTS project.
Through a partnership with Housing Vermont, the renovated historic building on North Avenue also features 14 affordable apartments.
Seven of the apartments are fully furnished and are set aside for people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. The other seven apartments are designated as permanently affordable housing.
The funding for the project totaled $8.2-million, which came from a mix of private and public sources, according to COTS and Housing Vermont.
Maine lawmakers are looking to get the federal government involved in anticipated troubles competing with Canada's lobster exports to Europe.
Canada is nearing finalization of a deal with the European Union that would get rid of tariffs on Canadian lobster, putting Canada at a huge advantage over the United States in sending valuable seafood products overseas.
EU nations imported more than $150 million in lobsters from America last year. American lobster exporters say the combination of a strong U.S. dollar and the tariffs would make it hard to compete with Canada.
Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree says the Trump administration needs to recognize the trade deal has "critical" consequences for Maine. The state's Republican governor, Paul LePage, has reached out to the administration.
Police in Falmouth, Massachusetts, say the crash that killed two teenagers in December was caused by illegal passing and a high rate of speed.
Police responded to the single-car crash on Thomas B. Landers Road around 6:45 p.m. on December 22.
The driver, 17-year-old James Lavin from East Falmouth, died at the scene. Crews extricated 17-year-old Owen Higgins from East Falmouth, who was airlifted to Hasbro Children's Hospital in Rhode Island, where he later died.
Officials say Lavin illegally passed another vehicle over double yellow lines, lost control and crashed into a tree.
An investigation of the road and vehicle show there were no issues with the road or car that could have contributed to the crash.
Both Lavin and Higgins also had THC in their system.
A Massachusetts lawmaker has proposed a bill that would enact tolls on major highways like Interstate 93, Route 128 and Route 3.
State Rep. Brian Murray, a Democrat from Milford, filed legislation in January seeking to install electronic tolling systems on other major roadways.
Murray said that the bill was only meant as a way to start a discussion. He said it's not fair that the Massachusetts Turnpike is the state's only toll road, forcing drivers in the central and western part of the state to subsidize state highways.
"So not just the western Mass. drivers and the central Mass drivers are footing the bill for the bulk of the transportation costs," Murray explained.
Massachusetts drivers have mixed opinions on Murray's proposal. Joseph Harfoush, a livery driver, says the current tolls are really starting to add up on the Mass Turnpike.
"What happened to the discussion they wanted to take the tolls away," Harfoush asked.
He said dealing with even more tolls on other state highways would dip into his profits.
"If it essentially makes the costs about the same to use all the highways and they are just redistributing it, then that sounds like a pretty good plan to me, said driver Jessica Brady.
Chip Faulkner with Advocacy Group Citizens for Limited Taxation says the bill wont pass.
"Whether you call them tolls, taxes, whatever, it is just a scheme for more revenue for the state which is already overspending anyway," Faulker said.
Murray admits there are still some roadblocks and that his proposal is still in the early phase. He also says he is open to more input before it goes to the transportation committee.
Authorities say an elderly Maine woman has died after an intruder entered her home.
State Department of Public Safety spokesman Steve McCausland says 72-year-old Joyce Wood dialed 911 after a woman got into her house early Sunday in Burnham.
McCausland says family members arrived at the scene before the authorities, found Wood and placed her in a vehicle in the driveway. Wood died in the car.
McCausland says the intruder was found in Wood's home, questioned for several hours and released. No charges have been filed against the woman. She'll likely be interviewed again as evidence from inside the home is analyzed.
The state medical examiner's office has performed an autopsy on Wood's body. The results have not been released.
State police are investigating.
Norfolk author asks Do You Believe in Miracles? Norfolk author asks Do You Believe in Miracles?
Inspired by a miracle in her sons life, Norfolk author Jane Finch set out to gather together stories of others who have experienced miracles and has now published them in a new book.
This column is available in a weekly newsletter called IT Best Practices. Click here to subscribe.
Bring-your-own-device (BYOD) has become a fairly standard practice in most businesses today. Who among us hasnt pulled out their cell phone to do a quick check of company email while killing time in a restaurant or a checkout line? The prevalence of public Wi-Fi makes it so easy to connect and tend to a little business while on the go.
Many people look at public Wi-Fi as a convenience, or even as a requirement, when choosing where to spend time and money. Look in the window of any coffee shop today and count how many people are engaged with a laptop, tablet or mobile phone. How many of them would still be there if the shop didnt provide free Wi-Fi?
Despite the convenience, public Wi-Fi can be risky unless security precautions are taken. Many people have a sense that its not quite safe to use an open Wi-Fi connection, but they figure its worth the risk since theyll only be connected for a few minutes. The fact is, an attack using public Wi-Fi can happen in just a few seconds.
Heres a sample of some of the common dangers that lurk in the public airwaves:
Sniffers Sniffing software, which is readily available to anyone, enables a hacker to passively intercept data between the users web browser and web servers on the Internet.
Sniffing software, which is readily available to anyone, enables a hacker to passively intercept data between the users web browser and web servers on the Internet. Sidejacking An attacker sniffs the packets to steal session cookies from the websites a user visits. Cookies often contain usernames and passwords in unencrypted form, which can be used to takeover a users session to steal valuable data.
An attacker sniffs the packets to steal session cookies from the websites a user visits. Cookies often contain usernames and passwords in unencrypted form, which can be used to takeover a users session to steal valuable data. Evil Twin This is a rogue Wi-Fi access point that appears to be legitimate, but which has been set up to lure users and eavesdrop on the traffic passing through. Its the Wi-Fi equivalent of a phishing scam.
This is a rogue Wi-Fi access point that appears to be legitimate, but which has been set up to lure users and eavesdrop on the traffic passing through. Its the Wi-Fi equivalent of a phishing scam. Rogue networks These ad hoc networks promise to provide free public Wi-Fi. Once a user connects to a rogue network, a hacker (and anyone else on this network) can access shared folders on the users device.
These ad hoc networks promise to provide free public Wi-Fi. Once a user connects to a rogue network, a hacker (and anyone else on this network) can access shared folders on the users device. Man-in-the-middle A device that sits between the user and a legitimate web server can intercept and modify data exchanged between the two systems. An Evil Twin is often used for this purpose.
Sometimes users arent even given the choice of whether to connect to a network or not; their device connects to a detected Wi-Fi network automatically. For example, a worker stops in his favorite coffee shop to grab a latte. He has used his PC there in the past and the computer remembers the Wi-Fi connection and automatically connects againwithout any action on the users part. The connection gets broken when he walks out of the shop and out of range of the access point.
Cell phones, too, can automatically connect to unsecured Wi-Fi networks, unbeknownst to the phones owner. For example, the city of Tel Aviv in Israel offers public Wi-Fi to residents and visitors. Amit Bareket, founder of the technology company SaferVPN, says he signed up for the free Wi-Fi service and went about his daily routines in the city. Over the following six months, his phone got automatically connected to unsecured Wi-Fi networks in and around Tel Aviv 16,000 times. He didnt do anything to invoke any of those connections; they just happened because his phone detected them.
The best way for users to protect themselves on public Wi-Fi networks which truly are convenient in a pinch is to use a virtual private network (VPN). SaferVPN says it has developed several solutions that make it convenient for users and businesses to establish a secure VPN connection every time over public Wi-Fi.
Individuals can download the SaferVPN app to their smartphone, tablet or notebook computer, which creates an automatic connection to a secure VPN in the cloud. It creates a virtual network within any Wi-Fi network, establishing a secured connection to the public Internet. Once the VPN is invoked, an attacker cannot access or alter the users information traversing the network or within shared folders. SaferVPN says it utilizes 256-bit encryption to protect network traffic.
This app is available for Android, iOS, Windows and Mac. SaferVPN got special approval from Apple to activate its VPN automatically when a Mac or iPhone user gets connected to an unsecured network. (Approval wasnt necessary from Google and Microsoft, since the Android and Windows platforms are open for developers.) With this app, the worker on the go doesnt need to worry about a device automatically detecting and connecting to public networks in an unsecured way. Instead the device connects to the SaferVPN cloud infrastructure.
For organizations that want to provide a VPN solution for all on-the-go employees, SaferVPN supports integration to Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) and Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) authentication mechanisms. Employees can authenticate to the corporate network and get different user and group policies based on their credentials. The organization makes some initial configurations to make it easy for employees to login using unified logins, but then everything is managed and supported by SaferVPN.
The vendor is working to integrate its solution to leading Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) and Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions so customers can use those services to push the VPN application to all users devices. The app can be deployed through an EMM or MDM tool and all configuration is done automatically. For organizations without a mobility management solution, SaferVPN has ad hoc integration to Active Directory or SAML services. Once it is configured, users can download the app via a dedicated link and login with their companys details.
The SaferVPN cloud-based solution eliminates the need for an organization to maintain its own VPN infrastructure. This should simplify operations, and could also improve the customer experience by eliminating the latency of having to backhaul traffic through the corporate infrastructure.
SaferVPN has deployed its cloud VPN infrastructure in numerous countries worldwide, which enables a quick and efficient connection for end users. For example, if a worker travels to Israel from his home location in the United States and connects to the cloud-based VPN, SaferVPN establishes the connection with a server in Israel to eliminate latency and create a seamless customer experience.
The traditional Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) VPN market hasnt changed much in 15 years. With its automatic secure connections and the ability to run a scalable VPN in the cloud, SaferVPN believes it is bringing real innovation to the world of the VPN as we know it.
If I could give only one piece advice for CTOs and IT teams, it would be this: Data security is not just an IT taskit comes down to people and processes. As a startup CTO, youre often going to lead the charge when it comes to information security for your firm.
According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, U.S. companies and government agencies suffered a record 1,093 data breaches in 2016a 40 percent increase over 2015. Weve all seen the headlines and the high-profile victims, but attackers dont discriminate when it comes to security breaches. Any company can become a victim, leading to losses of your data, your customers data, financial information, proprietary product information, and, ultimately, a loss of goodwill in the market. As more processes move online and into the cloud, companies increasingly feel this burden of staying secure.
The solution? Establish information security standards
To reduce your risk of an incident or breach, I highly recommend obtaining an information security certification that makes sense for the markets that your firm serves. In addition to making your data and services safer, it will give your customers peace of mind and provide a competitive advantage in the market.
It will also help lower expenses or prevent loss of business due to interruptions in service or data leakage. If your company has been growing rapidly, obtaining a certification will provide an organized method for escalation and response to security incidents and will force you to define responsibilities, such as who will manage information assets, who has the right to access certain systems, and how to manage the offboarding of employees so they dont take your data with them.
At Cloud9 Technologies, we recently went through the process of obtaining the ISO 27001 and SOC2 compliance certification, two of the most widely recognized security standards that provide best practices for information security management.
4 key components of the security certification process
Ill be honest with you: Obtaining a certification required exhaustive documentation and a dedicated team, but the result was a robust method for protecting our firm and the data of our users, as well as a distinctive talking point for sales. Here are four important things to keep in mind when going through the security certification process.
1. Choose the right certification
Do some research on certifications that are relevant to your industry and your product. What are your customers looking for? Will that certification help reassure your customers and help you win more business? Common certifications that not only provide comprehensive security systems, but will also be recognizable to your customers are ISO 27001, SOC (1, 2 & 3), PCI Certification, NIST and COBIT. Once you determine the certification youre working toward, appoint a manager or a management team that understands the procedures and milestones needed for that accreditation.
2. Take your time when assessing risk
The first step when beginning a security certification process is risk analysis and assessment. You will likely need to submit a formal risk assessment report as part of your certification, but this process also helps provide a roadmap for addressing the gaps in your current security policy. Look at the standards required by your certification, and find out your assets, vulnerabilities, threats, acceptable levels of risk, and availability of information. Risk assessment may take weeks, or in many cases, monthsbut thats a good thing. This effort should be detailed and comprehensive.
Once the risk assessment process is finished, youll know what areas are crucial for your company, and youll be able to create a step-by-step plan for addressing any gaps in your security coverage.
3. Documentation, documentation, documentation
This is so important that Ill say it one more timedocumentation. Its crucial to keep detailed records of your policies, controls, procedures and progress against the certification standards. When you undergo a security certification audit, you need these documents to prove objectives have been achieved and procedures are actively being implemented. Its also the most reliable way to keep track of what youve done and what you still need to accomplish.
Plus, you dont just achieve the certification and get off the hook. Many standards involve annual review processes and periodic re-certification, so you cant become careless after the auditor leaves. Make sure you have concrete plans to continuously improve and document the security practices that are integrated into daily operations. It will make your re-certification process that much easier, and it will ensure you are consistently de-risking your firms business on an ongoing basis.
4. Get everyone in your company involved
Engage each and every one of your employees in information security best practices. Its crucial to establish a mindset and culture of compliance to protect your firm. This step is easy to overlook, but absence of employee engagement in the accreditation process is the second most common reason for project failure. It should be emphasized that the entire organization shares the responsibility for keeping company data, proprietary information and even the office premises safe.
Hold regular meetings to explain the significance of the certification, how it will help your company and what it means for customers. Keep employees informed of the objectives, and let them know what they can do to contribute to your companys certification success.
Keep track of what is working and what isnt with employees, and communicate to them about what needs to be improved. Dont be afraid to game-ify the process. At Cloud9, for example, we gave out red cards if employees didnt lock their computers, which kept people aware of their actions. Through the certification process, as well as after, its important to designate an internal champion who maintains standards and motivates these security effortsand whom employees know to alert in the event of a security issue.
Following these steps will assist you as a CTO in chartering the waters of information security. They will also ensure you implement comprehensive safeguards against security threats at your firm regardless of if youre in the process of securing compliance certifications.
Move over, Microsoft Windows. Thanks to mobile, Googles Android is now king, as it has become the worlds most popular operating system for getting online.
Web analytics firm StatCounter reported that, for the first time ever, Android topped the worldwide OS internet usage market share. In March, looking at combined usage across desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile, Android usage hit 37.93 percent. That was enough to narrowly overtake Windows 37.91 percent.
This is a milestone in technology history and the end of an era, said StatCounter CEO Aodhan Cullen. It marks the end of Microsofts leadership worldwide of the OS market, which it has held since the 1980s. It also represents a major breakthrough for Android, which held just 2.4 percent of global internet usage share only five years ago.
StatCounter, which gets its data from 2.5 million websites, ranked iOS as the third most popular OS for getting online with 13.09 percent; only .75 percent of internet usage came from Linux.
A hefty chunk of Android users came from locations others than the U.S. Last week, StatCounter reported that mobile internet usage in India was at 79 percent, which was more than double that of the U.S. (37.2 percent) or the U.K. (34.8 percent).
The firms analytics shows Android dominating the worldwide mobile OS market share with 71.61 percent in March. iOS had 19.5 percent, while Windows had a measly 1.01 percent. That isnt surprising considering how poorly the Windows Phone platform has been received.
Windows still holds the title as the worlds most used operating system on desktops and laptops. With a 39.5 percent market share in March, Windows is still the most-used platform in North America. The iOS platform is next with 25.7 percent usage in North America, followed by 21.2 percent of Android usage. In Europe, Windows is on 51.7 percent of devices. Yet in Asia, Android is on 52.2 percent, and Windows is on only 29.2 percent of devices.
Windows won the desktop war, but the battlefield moved on, said Cullen. It will be difficult for Microsoft to make inroads in mobile, but the next paradigm shift might give it the opportunity to regain dominance. That could be in augmented reality, AI, voice or continuum"a product that aims to replace a desktop and smartphone with a single Microsoft powered phone.
Android apps secretly steal data without your permission from other apps
Elsewhere, in other Android news, Virginia Tech researchers warn that some Android apps that dont ask for overreaching permissions are actually stealing personal information from other apps.
Researchers were aware that apps may talk to one another in some way, shape or form, said Assistant Professor of Computer Science Gang Wang. What this study shows undeniably with real-world evidence over and over again is that app behavior, whether it is intentional or not, can pose a security breach depending on the kinds of apps you have on your phone.
After analyzing 110,150 Android apps over a period of three years, the researchers found thousands of pairs of apps that could potentially leak sensitive phone or personal information and allow unauthorized apps to gain access to privileged data.
The study, funded by DARPA, took 6,340 hours and used DIALDroid software. DIALDroid is open source and available on GitHub. The team is presenting its findings at the Association for Computing Machinery Asia Computer and Communications Security Conference in Dubai. You can read the full report via the research paper Collusive Data Leak and More: Large-scale Threat Analysis of Inter-app Communications (pdf).
Town Council becomes frustrated at lack of progress on application for 2,000-homes
DEVELOPERS of the proposed Sandleford Park scheme have been accused of holding Newbury to ransom as discussions over the 2,000- home project continue to stall.
During last Mondays meeting of Newbury Town Councils planning and highways committee, vice-chairman John Gardner criticised Sandleford developers Bloor Homes and Donnington New Homes, claiming delays to the vast development could affect the future planning of Newbury.
Members were discussing the recent approval of a separate 401-home development around the Vodafone headquarters in Donnington, north Newbury.
The development was granted permission on appeal by the planning inspector after delays to the Sandleford scheme.
West Berkshire Council revealed that without the scheme progressing it no longer had a five-year land supply as required by Government planning policy.
Discussing the Donnington development, Mr Gardner (Lib Dem, St John) said: Its clear from the recent inspectors report Sandleford has an impact on appeals and may continue to have an impact on appeals one way or another.
We need some information from Bloor and Donnington New Homes.
At the moment they are holding us to ransom as far as planning future development in Newbury.
The Sandleford Park development, if approved, would be the largest housing development seen in West Berkshire.
However, some key issues, including the number of access roads needed to the site, remain unresolved.
In February, it was revealed a decision on the applications has been delayed indefinitely as the developers and council planners remain locked in discussions.
Speaking at Mondays meeting, Miles Evans (Con, Victoria) said the delays were frustrating for residents as well the town council.
He added: To have this hanging over them for this length of time with no decision is unacceptable.
However, committee chairman Anthony Pick (Con, St Johns), who also sits on West Berkshire Council, said that with the extra 401 homes at Vodafone now approved, the district councils five-year land supply should be secured.
He said: Hopefully it provides us with protection against further developers who go to appeal and say West Berkshire doesnt have the five-year land supply.
Mr Pick also pointed out that there was little more the committee could do, having already backed West Berkshire Councils view that the Sandleford development should be served by four access roads.
Mr Gardner said: Im not sure what the hold up is.
Theres three applications in limbo somewhere.
Whats happened to them?
Committee members suggested writing to both West Berkshire Council and Bloor Homes to air their views.
However, Elizabeth OKeeffe (Lib Dem, Victoria) expressed concern, saying: It might have some affect on whatever negotiations West Berkshire are having with the developer at the moment.
I know we are an independent council but...
Mr Pick as committee chairman resolved to discuss the possibility of writing to West Berkshire Council and the developers with the town councils chief executive.
Multi-faith event will be held to show that "terrorists will not divide us"
A MULTI-faith event to condemn last month's Westminster terror attack will be held in Newbury this week.
Newbury Mosque and Muslim Youth Group (MYG) will be uniting to show solidarity and remember those who were killed and injured.
The group said that "all participants agreed that we strongly condemn the attack in London Westminster and are coming together on the 5th of April 2017 to show unity and solidarity in response to this outrage by an insane individual and will not allow terrorists to divide us."
Members will walk from the mosque in Pound Street to Newbury town hall at 2pm on Wednesday, April 5.
A minute's silence for the victims of the attack - PC Keith Palmer, Kurt Cochran, Aysha Frade, and Leslie Rhodes - and a laying of flowers will be held 2.40pm.
Prayers lead by Imam Mobasshir Mushtaq and the Revd David McLeod from St Marys Church in Greenham will then be held; followed by speeches from local Muslim leaders, Newbury MP Richard Benyon and the mayor of Newbury, Julian Swift-Hook.
All are welcome at the event, which is part of the Community Cohesion Initiative.
The attack was carried out by Khalid Masood, who drove a car into pedestrians on Westimister Bridge before crashing into railings outside the Palace of Westminster on March 22.
Masood then ran through the palace gates and stabbed PC Palmer before being shot by police.
Newbury MP Richard Benyon on 'the only guarantor of our security'
After the momentous events in Parliament following the invocation of Article 50 last week, it was interesting being in Berlin at the weekend.
I lead the UK delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. This is a gathering of parliamentarians from across the alliance who provide some democratic accountability for those running NATO.
As someone brought up in the Cold War, Berlin has always had a fascination for me. I found time to walk the line of the old Berlin Wall and to try and get a feel for how life was in the scary days when West and East faced off against each other over the Iron Curtain.
In a recent poll of young people in the USA, a third believed that President George Bush had been responsible for more deaths than Stalin. Such ignorance seems incredible to many of us but serves as a reminder that we must state the case for democracy and the many virtues of the democratic West over the vile misery that both communism and national socialism brought on the world. For the record, the Nazis were responsible for the deaths of 17 million, including the six million who died in the holocaust. Communism out did that by killing around 100 million.
We now live in what people call the post-Cold War era. But it feels pretty chilly to me.
Russia is ruled by a dangerous kleptocrat who threatens the peace of Europe as much today as when I was a soldier in the early 1980s when the British Army was on high readiness for what could so easily have been a nuclear conflict.
At least in Soviet days there were checks on the actions of its Government with so called 'doves' as well as 'hawks' in the politburo. Now there is only one person, a hawk who will do anything to stay in power by suppressing dissent in Russia and even killing his enemies on the streets of London.
We need to explain the threat to a society weary of war, that NATO is the only guarantor of our security. This should not just be a matter of concern to Parliamentarians sitting in a conference room in Berlin but understood here at home where all our lives could be affected if a resurgent Russia is not deterred by a coherent military alliance in the West.
Gurbir Singh By
Express News Service
The country is in desperate need of affordable housing, and the government is aware of it. National Housing Bank (NHB) and private estimates suggest the shortage of homes is around 18.66 million. Of these, the overwhelming shortage 17.84 million units is staring at the face of the poor and economically weak. The middle classes have a manageable shortage of just 8.2 lakh units.
To achieve Housing for All By 2022 the ambitious Prime Minister Awas Yojana (PMAY) for the urban poor aims at building 20 million homes across 305 cities with a humungous investment of $30 billion. This translates into constructing 37.5 lakh homes every year. A tall order, indeed! Union minister for housing and urban poverty alleviation M Venkaiah Naidus statement in the Rajya Sabha recently conceded that only 82,048 units had been constructed since the scheme kicked in, in June 2015. At this rate, the Housing for All Mission may not see completion even after a century!
Roping in private builders
Who, then, will construct these huge numbers? Government Housing Boards at best account for 10-15 per cent of the supply, and it is the private building industry that has to deliver the bulk. Therein lies the catch: private builders dont want to enter the mass/low-cost segments as they perceive the margins to be too thin and marketing task to the poor a veritable nightmare. They are happy to build high priced homes for the middle classes and the rich, even though sales are sluggish.
The irony of the situation can be seen in the burgeoning inventory of unsold stocks at the rich end, while there is a huge, unsatiated demand at the poor end of the market. When the Maharashtra Housing & Area Development Authority (MHADA) advertised last September for buyers for 4,275 homes in Mumbais distant suburbs, it received an eye-popping 1.65 lakh applications for these low cost homes!
No wonder, there is a desperate bid to rope in private developers. The latest February Union Budget has enlarged the definition of affordable homes 30 sq meters (323 sq feet) for the 4 big metros and 60 sq metres (646 sq ft) for other cities as carpet area compared to the earlier smaller built up area definition.
Builders making these homes can now claim 100 per cent deduction of profits under Section 80-1BA of the Income Tax Act, and projects under this scheme have been given up to five years for completion instead of three years earlier.
What is affordable?
But, can size define what is affordable? A 320 sq ft carpet area in south Mumbai today costs Rs 1.2 crore and a 645 sq affordable home in Bangalores city centre will carry a tag of Rs 1.4 crore. Hardly affordable!
Ultimately, affordability is the cost to the buyer. The accepted norm is: a home should cost no more than 4-5 times a persons annual income. Beyond that, it becomes unaffordable.
By this definition, an income earner of Rs 10,000 a month cannot afford a home above Rs 6 lakh; and at the top range, a Rs 30,000 a month earner, can muster up Rs 18 lakh for a home, if he wants to keep aside money for other needs such as education and food. Thats the earning range of 90 percent of Indians, and therefore affordability for the poor means a price range of Rs 6 to Rs 20 lakh. Size has to bow to cost!
There are builders who are servicing this end, and for them success is all about price points. P Suresh, managing director of Arun Excello Realty, says his company has been constructing small, low-cost homes in Chennai and marketing them at just under Rs 3,000 a sq ft, and still making a profit. His target is the rickshaw driver, and anyone who earns in the Rs 10,000-20,000 per month range.
Similarly, Sanjay Shah, founder of DBS Communities, has sold over 4,000 homes in projects spanning Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara -- all in the price range of Rs 7 to Rs 17 lakh.
Suresh of Arun Excello, however, insists the government can do more. Stamp duty, registration and other taxes add Rs 90 per sq ft to my sale price, or a jack up of about 12.5 per cent. Multiple permissions cause six to 18 months of delay that add five per cent in admin costs. Take these two away, and the home can be 20 per cent cheaper!
It is obvious that both the central and state governments need to do a lot more before affordable homes become mainline construction.
(The writer is a senior journalist)
The country is in desperate need of affordable housing, and the government is aware of it. National Housing Bank (NHB) and private estimates suggest the shortage of homes is around 18.66 million. Of these, the overwhelming shortage 17.84 million units is staring at the face of the poor and economically weak. The middle classes have a manageable shortage of just 8.2 lakh units. To achieve Housing for All By 2022 the ambitious Prime Minister Awas Yojana (PMAY) for the urban poor aims at building 20 million homes across 305 cities with a humungous investment of $30 billion. This translates into constructing 37.5 lakh homes every year. A tall order, indeed! Union minister for housing and urban poverty alleviation M Venkaiah Naidus statement in the Rajya Sabha recently conceded that only 82,048 units had been constructed since the scheme kicked in, in June 2015. At this rate, the Housing for All Mission may not see completion even after a century! Roping in private builders Who, then, will construct these huge numbers? Government Housing Boards at best account for 10-15 per cent of the supply, and it is the private building industry that has to deliver the bulk. Therein lies the catch: private builders dont want to enter the mass/low-cost segments as they perceive the margins to be too thin and marketing task to the poor a veritable nightmare. They are happy to build high priced homes for the middle classes and the rich, even though sales are sluggish. The irony of the situation can be seen in the burgeoning inventory of unsold stocks at the rich end, while there is a huge, unsatiated demand at the poor end of the market. When the Maharashtra Housing & Area Development Authority (MHADA) advertised last September for buyers for 4,275 homes in Mumbais distant suburbs, it received an eye-popping 1.65 lakh applications for these low cost homes! No wonder, there is a desperate bid to rope in private developers. The latest February Union Budget has enlarged the definition of affordable homes 30 sq meters (323 sq feet) for the 4 big metros and 60 sq metres (646 sq ft) for other cities as carpet area compared to the earlier smaller built up area definition. Builders making these homes can now claim 100 per cent deduction of profits under Section 80-1BA of the Income Tax Act, and projects under this scheme have been given up to five years for completion instead of three years earlier. What is affordable? But, can size define what is affordable? A 320 sq ft carpet area in south Mumbai today costs Rs 1.2 crore and a 645 sq affordable home in Bangalores city centre will carry a tag of Rs 1.4 crore. Hardly affordable! Ultimately, affordability is the cost to the buyer. The accepted norm is: a home should cost no more than 4-5 times a persons annual income. Beyond that, it becomes unaffordable. By this definition, an income earner of Rs 10,000 a month cannot afford a home above Rs 6 lakh; and at the top range, a Rs 30,000 a month earner, can muster up Rs 18 lakh for a home, if he wants to keep aside money for other needs such as education and food. Thats the earning range of 90 percent of Indians, and therefore affordability for the poor means a price range of Rs 6 to Rs 20 lakh. Size has to bow to cost! There are builders who are servicing this end, and for them success is all about price points. P Suresh, managing director of Arun Excello Realty, says his company has been constructing small, low-cost homes in Chennai and marketing them at just under Rs 3,000 a sq ft, and still making a profit. His target is the rickshaw driver, and anyone who earns in the Rs 10,000-20,000 per month range. Similarly, Sanjay Shah, founder of DBS Communities, has sold over 4,000 homes in projects spanning Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara -- all in the price range of Rs 7 to Rs 17 lakh. Suresh of Arun Excello, however, insists the government can do more. Stamp duty, registration and other taxes add Rs 90 per sq ft to my sale price, or a jack up of about 12.5 per cent. Multiple permissions cause six to 18 months of delay that add five per cent in admin costs. Take these two away, and the home can be 20 per cent cheaper! It is obvious that both the central and state governments need to do a lot more before affordable homes become mainline construction. (The writer is a senior journalist)
By PTI
MUMBAI: Promoters of Air Carnival are all set to sell their 100 per cent stake "possibly this week" for about Rs 73 crore in the regional airline, which started flying less than a year ago.
Air Carnival is the second regional carrier after grounded Air Pegasus to scout for new owners amid funding issues.
Promoted by Coimbatore Marine College (CMC) group, Air Carnival commenced operations in July last year with one ATR- 72 aircraft. Confirming that the airline is on the block, Air Carnival Chairman and MD S Irudaya Nathan said discussions are in "advanced stages". "We are diluting entire stake in the carrier. The discussions (with the prospective buyer) are about to be finalised within this week," Nathan told PTI from Coimbatore. He said the airline had planned to acquire two more aircraft by October 2016, but the efforts did not materialise as it could not raise the requisite funds. Subsequently, it was decided to "sell it (the airline) to a new owner and keep it afloat", Nathan said.
Without divulging details about the potential investor, he said, "The new investor has been chosen on first come first serve basis." According to him, a price of Rs 73 crore has been quoted for the stake sale and that the "deal is likely to be signed by this Friday".
Air Carnival operates 10 daily flights to three cities -- Chennai, Trichy and Tuticorn -- from Coimbatore. While starting operations, the promoters had announced funds infusion to the tune of USD 12 million and plans to have a fleet of three aircraft by October 2016.
MUMBAI: Promoters of Air Carnival are all set to sell their 100 per cent stake "possibly this week" for about Rs 73 crore in the regional airline, which started flying less than a year ago. Air Carnival is the second regional carrier after grounded Air Pegasus to scout for new owners amid funding issues. Promoted by Coimbatore Marine College (CMC) group, Air Carnival commenced operations in July last year with one ATR- 72 aircraft. Confirming that the airline is on the block, Air Carnival Chairman and MD S Irudaya Nathan said discussions are in "advanced stages". "We are diluting entire stake in the carrier. The discussions (with the prospective buyer) are about to be finalised within this week," Nathan told PTI from Coimbatore. He said the airline had planned to acquire two more aircraft by October 2016, but the efforts did not materialise as it could not raise the requisite funds. Subsequently, it was decided to "sell it (the airline) to a new owner and keep it afloat", Nathan said. Without divulging details about the potential investor, he said, "The new investor has been chosen on first come first serve basis." According to him, a price of Rs 73 crore has been quoted for the stake sale and that the "deal is likely to be signed by this Friday". Air Carnival operates 10 daily flights to three cities -- Chennai, Trichy and Tuticorn -- from Coimbatore. While starting operations, the promoters had announced funds infusion to the tune of USD 12 million and plans to have a fleet of three aircraft by October 2016.
Pramod Thomas By
Express News Service
KOCHI: With consolidation being the buzzword in banking circles these days, two of the country oldest banks Catholic Syrian Bank and Dhanlaxmi Bank which have also been takeover targets for long, are back in focus. According to experts, either a merger or an acquisition of these banks will happen soon.
India is marching towards the idea of fully digital banking. Under the scenario, consolidation of small banks will be the new normal. Now banks are investing more on technology which smaller banks could not do. Hence, it is irreversible that consolidation of small banks would happen, said V K Vijayakumar, investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
For one, the financial health of Dhanlaxmi Bank and CSB is at alarming levels. The gross non-performing assets of Dhanlaxmi Bank rose to Rs 504 crore as of December-end 2016 from Rs 481 crore in the preceding quarter. The gross NPA of CSB is Rs 463 crore and net NPA at Rs 331 crore for the first six months of 2016-17 (the last reported figures).
Merger or acquisition of small banks with lesser financial health will happen in the future. In the past also, it had happened in Kerala. Many small banks have merged with larger banks. But this will not happen as swift as it is expected. The major reason is low capital with banks. In the Budget, only Rs 10,000 crore was provided for capitalising banks, which is too low, said Abraham Tharian, former executive director, South Indian Bank.
At present, we do not think about any consolidation as we have got a good partner in Fairfax Financial Holdings. The Rs 1,000-crore investment will be enough for the bank to sustain. Also, the Fairfax investment comes with a lock-in period of five years. At present, an independent agency is doing the valuation of CSB. We expect that it will be completed by April-end. The deal with Fairfax Financial is likely to be completed by mid-June, T S Anantharaman, chairman, Catholic Syrian Bank, told Express.
An email sent to Dhanlaxmi Bank for a response did not elicit any response.
Dhanlaxmi Bank was incorporated in 1927 and employs 2,500 people. CSB, started in 1920, will complete 100 years by 2020. It has 3,000 employees.
KOCHI: With consolidation being the buzzword in banking circles these days, two of the country oldest banks Catholic Syrian Bank and Dhanlaxmi Bank which have also been takeover targets for long, are back in focus. According to experts, either a merger or an acquisition of these banks will happen soon. India is marching towards the idea of fully digital banking. Under the scenario, consolidation of small banks will be the new normal. Now banks are investing more on technology which smaller banks could not do. Hence, it is irreversible that consolidation of small banks would happen, said V K Vijayakumar, investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services. For one, the financial health of Dhanlaxmi Bank and CSB is at alarming levels. The gross non-performing assets of Dhanlaxmi Bank rose to Rs 504 crore as of December-end 2016 from Rs 481 crore in the preceding quarter. The gross NPA of CSB is Rs 463 crore and net NPA at Rs 331 crore for the first six months of 2016-17 (the last reported figures). Merger or acquisition of small banks with lesser financial health will happen in the future. In the past also, it had happened in Kerala. Many small banks have merged with larger banks. But this will not happen as swift as it is expected. The major reason is low capital with banks. In the Budget, only Rs 10,000 crore was provided for capitalising banks, which is too low, said Abraham Tharian, former executive director, South Indian Bank. At present, we do not think about any consolidation as we have got a good partner in Fairfax Financial Holdings. The Rs 1,000-crore investment will be enough for the bank to sustain. Also, the Fairfax investment comes with a lock-in period of five years. At present, an independent agency is doing the valuation of CSB. We expect that it will be completed by April-end. The deal with Fairfax Financial is likely to be completed by mid-June, T S Anantharaman, chairman, Catholic Syrian Bank, told Express. An email sent to Dhanlaxmi Bank for a response did not elicit any response. Dhanlaxmi Bank was incorporated in 1927 and employs 2,500 people. CSB, started in 1920, will complete 100 years by 2020. It has 3,000 employees.
Sangeeta Bora By
Express News Service
BENGALURU: After a woman from Bengaluru was allegedly singled out for a strip search at Frankfurt airport, family and friends have expressed outrage on social networking sites.
The incident came to light when 30-year-old Shruti Basappa narrated the entire ordeal on her Facebook page. She has now sent a formal complaint to Frankfurt Airport authorities. She is yet to receive a reply from them. Meanwhile, a verified Facebook account of Frankfurt airport sought details on the incident. Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj has also sought a report on the issue.
Charmaine Kenita, a close friend of Shruthi Basappa who is from Bengaluru and now lives in Europe, told Express, This has happened subtly before as well. But this time it was too blatant. She has written to the airport authorities, but they are asking for a specific time when it happened and the person who conducted the search and so on.
Chaitra Pavan, a schoolmate of Shruthis, told Express, she said, This is demeaning. I am so happy that she spoke about the issue on public platforms.
On Wednesday (March 29), Shruthi Basappa was travelling with her husband, a native of Iceland, and her four-year-old daughter from Bengaluru to Iceland. After a full body scan at the Frankfurt airport, security officers asked Shruthi to remove her dress in front of her four-year-old daughter. She refused to do so and demanded that her husband be called in.
In her Facebook post, she mentioned that when the officers saw that her husband was from Iceland, their tone mellowed down. She was then asked to undergo a pat-down instead of a strip search which she was willing to do much before.
Express tried to contact Shruthi but she was unavailable.
BENGALURU: After a woman from Bengaluru was allegedly singled out for a strip search at Frankfurt airport, family and friends have expressed outrage on social networking sites. The incident came to light when 30-year-old Shruti Basappa narrated the entire ordeal on her Facebook page. She has now sent a formal complaint to Frankfurt Airport authorities. She is yet to receive a reply from them. Meanwhile, a verified Facebook account of Frankfurt airport sought details on the incident. Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj has also sought a report on the issue. Charmaine Kenita, a close friend of Shruthi Basappa who is from Bengaluru and now lives in Europe, told Express, This has happened subtly before as well. But this time it was too blatant. She has written to the airport authorities, but they are asking for a specific time when it happened and the person who conducted the search and so on. Chaitra Pavan, a schoolmate of Shruthis, told Express, she said, This is demeaning. I am so happy that she spoke about the issue on public platforms. On Wednesday (March 29), Shruthi Basappa was travelling with her husband, a native of Iceland, and her four-year-old daughter from Bengaluru to Iceland. After a full body scan at the Frankfurt airport, security officers asked Shruthi to remove her dress in front of her four-year-old daughter. She refused to do so and demanded that her husband be called in. In her Facebook post, she mentioned that when the officers saw that her husband was from Iceland, their tone mellowed down. She was then asked to undergo a pat-down instead of a strip search which she was willing to do much before. Express tried to contact Shruthi but she was unavailable.
Kiran Parashar K M By
Express News Service
BENGALURU: As you enter West Bengaluru, it may appear that there is no dearth of water, courtesy scenes of people cleaning the roads and the vehicles with water. However, on crossing a couple of roads, one will come across women carrying plastic pots to fetch water.
While water crisis haunts the poor in areas like Bapujinagar, Gangondanahalli and Padarayanapura, the rich can be seen using water recklessly in apartments in West Bengaluru. Most apartments have borewells and do not depend on BWSSB supply.
During summer, water is supplied to many parts of West Bengaluru once in two days. People who do not store water are forced to depend on other resources in extreme cases. Private players charge `10 for each pot of water.
Slum dwellers without storage capacity suffer during summers, said trader Ashok Shetty.
Abdul Rehman, a resident of Bapujinagar, said, We save water for two days in two big drums. If the water gets over, we go to the nearest water tanks.
Mahesh, Executive Engineer of BWSSB west division said, Water is supplied once in every two days. There is no crisis.
BENGALURU: As you enter West Bengaluru, it may appear that there is no dearth of water, courtesy scenes of people cleaning the roads and the vehicles with water. However, on crossing a couple of roads, one will come across women carrying plastic pots to fetch water. While water crisis haunts the poor in areas like Bapujinagar, Gangondanahalli and Padarayanapura, the rich can be seen using water recklessly in apartments in West Bengaluru. Most apartments have borewells and do not depend on BWSSB supply. During summer, water is supplied to many parts of West Bengaluru once in two days. People who do not store water are forced to depend on other resources in extreme cases. Private players charge `10 for each pot of water. Slum dwellers without storage capacity suffer during summers, said trader Ashok Shetty. Abdul Rehman, a resident of Bapujinagar, said, We save water for two days in two big drums. If the water gets over, we go to the nearest water tanks. Mahesh, Executive Engineer of BWSSB west division said, Water is supplied once in every two days. There is no crisis.
By Express News Service
CHENNAI: Amidst long-standing speculation over superstar Rajinikanths political entry, office-bearers of Rajini fans association from all districts of the State met in the city on Sunday. However, Sathya Narayana, secretary of the All India Rajinikanth Fans Association, said they only discussed arrangements for the meeting between the actor and his fans, due to take place from April 12 to 16.
The meeting, held at the actors Raghavendra Kalayana Mandapam in Kodambakkam for a little more than an hour, saw district presidents and secretaries, numbering around 60, taking part. This apart, office-bearers from Puducherry and Karaikal also participated.
Rajinikanth would be meeting fans from every district for the five days, with 6-7 districts slotted per day, Sathya Narayana said, adding that a crowd of 10,000-12,000 is expected. Fans who wish to meet the actor have been advised to approach their district association president or secretary and get a coupon.
All keen eyes were on the meeting that aroused expectations in some quarters that Rajinikanth, who has till now appeared to be averse to politics, will be persuaded by fans to take the political plunge.
However, the actor clarified a few days ago that there was nothing political about the meeting and he would just have a meeting with his fans, a long overdue affair, and take photographs with them.
The clarification notwithstanding, several fans stood outside the Raghavendra Mandapam on Sunday and raised slogans requesting him to join politics.
CHENNAI: Amidst long-standing speculation over superstar Rajinikanths political entry, office-bearers of Rajini fans association from all districts of the State met in the city on Sunday. However, Sathya Narayana, secretary of the All India Rajinikanth Fans Association, said they only discussed arrangements for the meeting between the actor and his fans, due to take place from April 12 to 16. The meeting, held at the actors Raghavendra Kalayana Mandapam in Kodambakkam for a little more than an hour, saw district presidents and secretaries, numbering around 60, taking part. This apart, office-bearers from Puducherry and Karaikal also participated. Rajinikanth would be meeting fans from every district for the five days, with 6-7 districts slotted per day, Sathya Narayana said, adding that a crowd of 10,000-12,000 is expected. Fans who wish to meet the actor have been advised to approach their district association president or secretary and get a coupon. All keen eyes were on the meeting that aroused expectations in some quarters that Rajinikanth, who has till now appeared to be averse to politics, will be persuaded by fans to take the political plunge. However, the actor clarified a few days ago that there was nothing political about the meeting and he would just have a meeting with his fans, a long overdue affair, and take photographs with them. The clarification notwithstanding, several fans stood outside the Raghavendra Mandapam on Sunday and raised slogans requesting him to join politics.
By Express News Service
VIJAYAWADA: Over 96,000 students from the State appeared in the JEE Mains 2017 offline examination on Sunday. The qualifying students can appear for JEE advanced examinations to be held next month.
The State has four examination centres Vijayawada, Guntur, Tirupati and Visakhapatnam.
Apart from this offline examination, over 17,000 have opted for JEE Mains online examinations, which will be held on April 8 and 9. The paper- I of JEE Mains exam was conducted from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm while Paper II was conducted from 2 pm to 5 pm.
While paper-I was conducted for the admission into BE/BTech courses in various engineering courses, paper-II was conducted for admission into B-Arch courses. All the questions were objective type with equal weightage to physics, chemistry and mathematics (Class XI and Class XII syllabus).
In 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, the cut-off was 113,115,105,100 respectively. However, the cut-off will be finalised by CBSE authorities by the end of April 2017, before the commencement of JEE Advanced exams. From this year, there shall be no weightage for the 12th class marks in the JEE Mains exams.
VIJAYAWADA: Over 96,000 students from the State appeared in the JEE Mains 2017 offline examination on Sunday. The qualifying students can appear for JEE advanced examinations to be held next month. The State has four examination centres Vijayawada, Guntur, Tirupati and Visakhapatnam. Apart from this offline examination, over 17,000 have opted for JEE Mains online examinations, which will be held on April 8 and 9. The paper- I of JEE Mains exam was conducted from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm while Paper II was conducted from 2 pm to 5 pm. While paper-I was conducted for the admission into BE/BTech courses in various engineering courses, paper-II was conducted for admission into B-Arch courses. All the questions were objective type with equal weightage to physics, chemistry and mathematics (Class XI and Class XII syllabus). In 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, the cut-off was 113,115,105,100 respectively. However, the cut-off will be finalised by CBSE authorities by the end of April 2017, before the commencement of JEE Advanced exams. From this year, there shall be no weightage for the 12th class marks in the JEE Mains exams.
N KALYANI By
Air Indias Captain Nivedita Bhasin says she will cherish the Delhi-Vienna return flight she piloted to mark International Womens Day this year till eternity. After we took off from Delhi on March 1, the four-day trip was quite a celebration, she adds.
Team Vienna is what the vivacious pilot christened the 11-member crew of the flight. She was all excited that she flew to Austria and could meet Renu Pall, the Indian ambassador and her childhood friend. Co-incidentally, the Austrian charge daffaires to India was also on the flight.
Friends through their years at Delhis Carmel Convent School, Bhasin and Pall met at Vienna this March, after many long years. Bhasin, who has been with Air India since 1984, says, I remember fondly the many birthday parties we enjoyed as kids.
And what was significant was the coming together of two strong and bold Indian women at the top of their professions, diplomacy and aviation, in Vienna.
Bhasin, 54, who became the youngest woman jet captain to pilot a commercial flight in 1990, says, Flying is my passion. The moment I don my uniform, Im transported to another world. And then I concentrate on the execution of the flight with devotion.
In the Bhasin family, it is the next generation that is taking to the skies. Two women pilots among five pilots in the family is quite a distinction.
Bhasins father-in-law was a pilot, her husband and her two childrena son and a daughterare also pilots. The children nurtured this desire secretly, she says when asked if her children had been vocal about their desire to take to their parents profession.
When asked how she feels when she is ready for a flight, she says, As captains we become the ambassadors of the airline. For, its the captains sole responsibility to be in charge of all that happens in the plane, and on the flight.
Our job is to safely ferry the passengers to their destinations on time, irrespective of bad weather, ATC constraints, aircraft performance and many other factors, which are mostly unforeseen. A pilot needs a lot of skillful maneuvering and patience.
The trend of operating all-woman crew flights was started by Indian Airlines in 1985. It was a flight from Kolkata to Silchar, and it co-incidentally had Bhasin on it as a co-pilot.
In fact, the Indian Airlines became International Air Transport Associations (IATA) first airline in the world to fly an all-woman crew flight. And since then the airline has been operating all-woman crew flights to mark International Womens Day.
Revealing what life has been for her as a pilot, Bhasin, who was 21 when she joined Indian Airlines, the domestic service of Air India, back then, says, Turbulent days, filled with trepidation, years of sacrifice, guilt-ridden days leaving family and kids behind, and the ultimate satisfaction of pursuing my hobby.
Aviation education is something Bhasin is very committed to. The charming pilot says she has been lucky in pursuing other hobbiesphotography, painting and trekking. If I could, I would go to space. That is something which I dream of, says the pilot.
And for aspiring pilots she advises, With dedication, discipline and determination, one can accomplish everything you want. And to be able to continue to excel and sustain, you have to be passionate about whatever you do.
Air Indias Captain Nivedita Bhasin says she will cherish the Delhi-Vienna return flight she piloted to mark International Womens Day this year till eternity. After we took off from Delhi on March 1, the four-day trip was quite a celebration, she adds. Team Vienna is what the vivacious pilot christened the 11-member crew of the flight. She was all excited that she flew to Austria and could meet Renu Pall, the Indian ambassador and her childhood friend. Co-incidentally, the Austrian charge daffaires to India was also on the flight. Friends through their years at Delhis Carmel Convent School, Bhasin and Pall met at Vienna this March, after many long years. Bhasin, who has been with Air India since 1984, says, I remember fondly the many birthday parties we enjoyed as kids. And what was significant was the coming together of two strong and bold Indian women at the top of their professions, diplomacy and aviation, in Vienna. Bhasin, 54, who became the youngest woman jet captain to pilot a commercial flight in 1990, says, Flying is my passion. The moment I don my uniform, Im transported to another world. And then I concentrate on the execution of the flight with devotion. In the Bhasin family, it is the next generation that is taking to the skies. Two women pilots among five pilots in the family is quite a distinction. Bhasins father-in-law was a pilot, her husband and her two childrena son and a daughterare also pilots. The children nurtured this desire secretly, she says when asked if her children had been vocal about their desire to take to their parents profession. When asked how she feels when she is ready for a flight, she says, As captains we become the ambassadors of the airline. For, its the captains sole responsibility to be in charge of all that happens in the plane, and on the flight. Our job is to safely ferry the passengers to their destinations on time, irrespective of bad weather, ATC constraints, aircraft performance and many other factors, which are mostly unforeseen. A pilot needs a lot of skillful maneuvering and patience. The trend of operating all-woman crew flights was started by Indian Airlines in 1985. It was a flight from Kolkata to Silchar, and it co-incidentally had Bhasin on it as a co-pilot. In fact, the Indian Airlines became International Air Transport Associations (IATA) first airline in the world to fly an all-woman crew flight. And since then the airline has been operating all-woman crew flights to mark International Womens Day. Revealing what life has been for her as a pilot, Bhasin, who was 21 when she joined Indian Airlines, the domestic service of Air India, back then, says, Turbulent days, filled with trepidation, years of sacrifice, guilt-ridden days leaving family and kids behind, and the ultimate satisfaction of pursuing my hobby. Aviation education is something Bhasin is very committed to. The charming pilot says she has been lucky in pursuing other hobbiesphotography, painting and trekking. If I could, I would go to space. That is something which I dream of, says the pilot. And for aspiring pilots she advises, With dedication, discipline and determination, one can accomplish everything you want. And to be able to continue to excel and sustain, you have to be passionate about whatever you do.
Pushpesh Pant By
Who would have thought that closing down of unauthorised slaughterhouses and butcheries would have raised such a storm not quite in a teacup? But then, when the newly sworn-in chief minister of the most populous state in the country is donning a saffron robe and presides over a religious mutt, any decision taken by the government becomes suspect in the eyes of the secular-liberal-democratic opposition.
An open season can be declared to raise myriad issues from fundamental right to eat what you wish, to systematic targeting of Muslim minority.
To this list, you can add livelihood issues, very real threat posed by zealot vigilantes. Blend all these ingredients in the well-heated political cauldron and you have an idiot-proof recipe for a tasteless but highly-poisonous qorma. Alas! We cant follow in the matter of meat due to the honourable apex courts sage advice to settle the dispute amicably out of court.
First things first. Lets get rid of the myth that India is a vegetarian nation or a nation predominantly of vegetarians. Countless credible surveys have demonstrated that a large majority outside the minority community is happy to bite into delicacies prepared with flesh, fowl or fish.
The closet carnivores are reluctant to come out and make a big fuss about eschewing non-vegetarian repast on Navaratra, shradha, Tuesdays, Ekadashi etc; but truth be told, the lovers of meat cut across secular and religious fanatics of all hues.
The problem arises when meat prohibited for consumption by one community (read Hindus and beef in this context) is claimed to be the protein of the poor, or preferred over all else by the minority (read Muslims mostly in this case).
What is amazing is that there is only a minuscule minority that appreciates the difference between beef and buff. In the Hindi belt, where the fierce controversy is raging, buffalo meat is euphemistically referred to as barhe ka. What the rabble-rousers on both sides mischievously forget is that what the law in most states prohibits is beef, not buff.
Also, the self-styled custodians of constitutional rights conveniently fudge or forget that those who framed the Constitution did include specific provisions about the protection of the cow.
This is not the place to debate whether this was a fatal folly committed succumbing to the emotional blackmail of the Father of the Nation, or due to a conspiracy hatched by the revivalist members of the Constituent Assembly who wanted to establish a Hindu Rashtra. Nonetheless, we cant remain blind to the correct legal position. No fundamental right is absoluteeither for citizen belonging to the majority or the minority community. These can be curtailed or restricted in public interest.
The argument is unexceptionable that individuals or a community should be free to eat what they wish to. This applies to matters of attire, and for adults to read what they like, or watch films they prefer. There is no place for moral policing or imposition of dictatorial culinary prohibition by the brute majority in a democracy.
But at the same time one must concede that no minority can exercise a veto in perpetuity over all decisions taken by a democratically-elected majority in all matters unacceptable to it. What would have been amusing, had it not been fraught with such peril, is that a minority within the minority is holding all of us to ransom.
All kinds of figures are being brandished. The closure of illegal slaughterhouses will cause a loss of over `50,000 crore and render over two million people, mostly daily wage earners in the unorganised sector, jobless and push them towards the precipice of pauperisation. If you believe these figures, then Uttar Pradesh under Akhilesh-SP Raj had no other source of revenue or employment either in industrial or agricultural sector!
The greatest irony is that the unauthorised and illegal slaughterhouses were allowed to flourish despite the orders of Green Tribunal and courts.
Obviously, the rampant corruption during the previous regime with pronounced proclivity for appeasement of the minority vote bank rendered it impotent to enforce court/tribunal orders. No less specious the argument that no one ever communicated any information about legal provisions that have to be complied with.
It was hilarious to encounter a very articulate owner of a slaughterhouse arguing in a television debate on how can the government lock slaughterhouses or meat processing units that comply with say six of 10 conditions prescribed by the law?
Who is to decide which of the 10 conditions prescribed by the law are hazardous and which are minor and harmless?
Surely, not the accused. Then there was this charming old lady who claimed that her family had been plying the trade for centuries since the reign of Moguls without the need to acquire any licence!
We look forward with sadness to more myth-making and post-truth history in days to come.
pushpeshpant@gmail.com
Who would have thought that closing down of unauthorised slaughterhouses and butcheries would have raised such a storm not quite in a teacup? But then, when the newly sworn-in chief minister of the most populous state in the country is donning a saffron robe and presides over a religious mutt, any decision taken by the government becomes suspect in the eyes of the secular-liberal-democratic opposition. An open season can be declared to raise myriad issues from fundamental right to eat what you wish, to systematic targeting of Muslim minority. To this list, you can add livelihood issues, very real threat posed by zealot vigilantes. Blend all these ingredients in the well-heated political cauldron and you have an idiot-proof recipe for a tasteless but highly-poisonous qorma. Alas! We cant follow in the matter of meat due to the honourable apex courts sage advice to settle the dispute amicably out of court. First things first. Lets get rid of the myth that India is a vegetarian nation or a nation predominantly of vegetarians. Countless credible surveys have demonstrated that a large majority outside the minority community is happy to bite into delicacies prepared with flesh, fowl or fish. The closet carnivores are reluctant to come out and make a big fuss about eschewing non-vegetarian repast on Navaratra, shradha, Tuesdays, Ekadashi etc; but truth be told, the lovers of meat cut across secular and religious fanatics of all hues. The problem arises when meat prohibited for consumption by one community (read Hindus and beef in this context) is claimed to be the protein of the poor, or preferred over all else by the minority (read Muslims mostly in this case). What is amazing is that there is only a minuscule minority that appreciates the difference between beef and buff. In the Hindi belt, where the fierce controversy is raging, buffalo meat is euphemistically referred to as barhe ka. What the rabble-rousers on both sides mischievously forget is that what the law in most states prohibits is beef, not buff. Also, the self-styled custodians of constitutional rights conveniently fudge or forget that those who framed the Constitution did include specific provisions about the protection of the cow. This is not the place to debate whether this was a fatal folly committed succumbing to the emotional blackmail of the Father of the Nation, or due to a conspiracy hatched by the revivalist members of the Constituent Assembly who wanted to establish a Hindu Rashtra. Nonetheless, we cant remain blind to the correct legal position. No fundamental right is absoluteeither for citizen belonging to the majority or the minority community. These can be curtailed or restricted in public interest. The argument is unexceptionable that individuals or a community should be free to eat what they wish to. This applies to matters of attire, and for adults to read what they like, or watch films they prefer. There is no place for moral policing or imposition of dictatorial culinary prohibition by the brute majority in a democracy. But at the same time one must concede that no minority can exercise a veto in perpetuity over all decisions taken by a democratically-elected majority in all matters unacceptable to it. What would have been amusing, had it not been fraught with such peril, is that a minority within the minority is holding all of us to ransom. All kinds of figures are being brandished. The closure of illegal slaughterhouses will cause a loss of over `50,000 crore and render over two million people, mostly daily wage earners in the unorganised sector, jobless and push them towards the precipice of pauperisation. If you believe these figures, then Uttar Pradesh under Akhilesh-SP Raj had no other source of revenue or employment either in industrial or agricultural sector! The greatest irony is that the unauthorised and illegal slaughterhouses were allowed to flourish despite the orders of Green Tribunal and courts. Obviously, the rampant corruption during the previous regime with pronounced proclivity for appeasement of the minority vote bank rendered it impotent to enforce court/tribunal orders. No less specious the argument that no one ever communicated any information about legal provisions that have to be complied with. It was hilarious to encounter a very articulate owner of a slaughterhouse arguing in a television debate on how can the government lock slaughterhouses or meat processing units that comply with say six of 10 conditions prescribed by the law? Who is to decide which of the 10 conditions prescribed by the law are hazardous and which are minor and harmless? Surely, not the accused. Then there was this charming old lady who claimed that her family had been plying the trade for centuries since the reign of Moguls without the need to acquire any licence! We look forward with sadness to more myth-making and post-truth history in days to come. pushpeshpant@gmail.com
Prasanta Mazumdar By
Express News Service
GUWAHATI: Three Kuki (tribe) militants, two of them from Manipur, were gunned down by Army personnel in Assams Karbi Anglong district. Defence sources told The New Indian Express that the operation was carried out in the wee hours of Sunday based on specific intelligence about the presence of the militants.
As the army team was closing in on a suspected house, the armed men opened indiscriminate fire. Our troops opened controlled retaliatory fire and it lasted for almost twenty minutes. Two terrorists were killed in the firefight and another was found in a severely injured condition. He succumbed to his injuries while being evacuated, the defence sources said.
One M-16 rifle, one 7.62 mm rifle, two hand grenades, a large number of live cartridges and war-like stores were recovered during the operation.
Some of the slain militants belonged to Manipur, exposing the nexus among terrorist outfits in the Northeast, the sources said.
Karbi Anglong has a sizeable Kuki population and the army had carried out the operation at a Kuki village.
This is the second incident where militants from Manipur were killed in Assam. In the last incident last year, two militants from Manipur were gunned down in Assams Tinsukia district bordering Arunachal.
GUWAHATI: Three Kuki (tribe) militants, two of them from Manipur, were gunned down by Army personnel in Assams Karbi Anglong district. Defence sources told The New Indian Express that the operation was carried out in the wee hours of Sunday based on specific intelligence about the presence of the militants. As the army team was closing in on a suspected house, the armed men opened indiscriminate fire. Our troops opened controlled retaliatory fire and it lasted for almost twenty minutes. Two terrorists were killed in the firefight and another was found in a severely injured condition. He succumbed to his injuries while being evacuated, the defence sources said. One M-16 rifle, one 7.62 mm rifle, two hand grenades, a large number of live cartridges and war-like stores were recovered during the operation. Some of the slain militants belonged to Manipur, exposing the nexus among terrorist outfits in the Northeast, the sources said. Karbi Anglong has a sizeable Kuki population and the army had carried out the operation at a Kuki village. This is the second incident where militants from Manipur were killed in Assam. In the last incident last year, two militants from Manipur were gunned down in Assams Tinsukia district bordering Arunachal.
By PTI
MUMBAI: A cargo ship with 11 Indian crew members on board has been hijacked by pirates off the Somalian coast, officials from the Directorate General of Shipping said today.
"It is not a big ship but a dhow. It was hijacked yesterday and is now sailing towards the shore of Somalia," DGS Malini Shankar told PTI.
The Indian-flagged ship was on a voyage from Dubai to Yemen when it was hijacked, she said, adding that it had 11 Indian crew members on board. Shankar said the pirates are interested in the cargo on the ship and have not put forward a ransom demand so far, adding that the details of the cargo are not known yet.
There is a possibility of the vessel being released without the cargo once it reaches the shore this evening, she said.
Instances of Somali pirates striking have come down considerably over the past few years, helping India convince the insurance bodies to do away with a high-risk premium the trade was paying.
MUMBAI: A cargo ship with 11 Indian crew members on board has been hijacked by pirates off the Somalian coast, officials from the Directorate General of Shipping said today. "It is not a big ship but a dhow. It was hijacked yesterday and is now sailing towards the shore of Somalia," DGS Malini Shankar told PTI. The Indian-flagged ship was on a voyage from Dubai to Yemen when it was hijacked, she said, adding that it had 11 Indian crew members on board. Shankar said the pirates are interested in the cargo on the ship and have not put forward a ransom demand so far, adding that the details of the cargo are not known yet. There is a possibility of the vessel being released without the cargo once it reaches the shore this evening, she said. Instances of Somali pirates striking have come down considerably over the past few years, helping India convince the insurance bodies to do away with a high-risk premium the trade was paying.
By Express News Service
BHOPAL: Two double murders in two nights have jolted the Madhya Pradesh capital over the last 24 hours exposing the state of policing, law and order in the city.
While two men, including a ruling BJP worker, were allegedly murdered in Bajaria locality on Saturday night by contract killers hired from Gwalior, two more men were shot dead following a dispute over Rs 2,500 in the crowded Moti Masjid locality on Sunday night.
The latest double murder happened in Moti Masjid area at around 10 pm on Sunday, when a man identified as Rahman, opened indiscriminate fire on medical shop owner Rashid (34), and his employee Om Soni (22), killing the duo.
The alleged crime took place while Rashid and Soni had downed the shutters of the medical shop and were returning home.
According to deputy IG (DIG) Bhopal Raman Singh Sikarwar, the accused 40-year-old Rahman, who was waiting for Rashid, fired thrice from his fathers licensed rifle, killing both Rashid and Soni.
The accused fled from the spot and went into hiding at a relatives house in Teela Jamalpura locality but was tracked and nabbed at night, after the police raided several possible hideouts.
According to police sources, Rahman confessed to the crime to avenge an attack on him by Rashid on March 30 over pending payment of Rs 2,500. Rahman had recently bought medicines from Rashids shop for his ailing wife, but despite repeated reminders had failed to pay Rashid back.
He has also told police that he only intended to kill Rahman, but opened fire on Soni, as the latter was fleeing and could have later identified him.
Earlier, on Saturday night, armed assailants on two motorbikes had hacked to death a BJP worker, Amit alias Ammu Chouhan, and his aide Mannu Kushwah, in Bajaria area.
According to SP (Bhopal South) Siddharth Bahuguna, police have so far arrested two men- Pawan Sisodia and Bhola Sahu, who have disclosed to cops information about the two contract killers from Gwalior hired by the double murder mastermind and history-sheeter, Bunty.
BHOPAL: Two double murders in two nights have jolted the Madhya Pradesh capital over the last 24 hours exposing the state of policing, law and order in the city. While two men, including a ruling BJP worker, were allegedly murdered in Bajaria locality on Saturday night by contract killers hired from Gwalior, two more men were shot dead following a dispute over Rs 2,500 in the crowded Moti Masjid locality on Sunday night. The latest double murder happened in Moti Masjid area at around 10 pm on Sunday, when a man identified as Rahman, opened indiscriminate fire on medical shop owner Rashid (34), and his employee Om Soni (22), killing the duo. The alleged crime took place while Rashid and Soni had downed the shutters of the medical shop and were returning home. According to deputy IG (DIG) Bhopal Raman Singh Sikarwar, the accused 40-year-old Rahman, who was waiting for Rashid, fired thrice from his fathers licensed rifle, killing both Rashid and Soni. The accused fled from the spot and went into hiding at a relatives house in Teela Jamalpura locality but was tracked and nabbed at night, after the police raided several possible hideouts. According to police sources, Rahman confessed to the crime to avenge an attack on him by Rashid on March 30 over pending payment of Rs 2,500. Rahman had recently bought medicines from Rashids shop for his ailing wife, but despite repeated reminders had failed to pay Rashid back. He has also told police that he only intended to kill Rahman, but opened fire on Soni, as the latter was fleeing and could have later identified him. Earlier, on Saturday night, armed assailants on two motorbikes had hacked to death a BJP worker, Amit alias Ammu Chouhan, and his aide Mannu Kushwah, in Bajaria area. According to SP (Bhopal South) Siddharth Bahuguna, police have so far arrested two men- Pawan Sisodia and Bhola Sahu, who have disclosed to cops information about the two contract killers from Gwalior hired by the double murder mastermind and history-sheeter, Bunty.
By Express News Service
KOLKATA: Bengal has had a history of celebrating every festival with equal fervour. A Bengali proverb sums up the mood: Bangalir baro mashe tero parbon (Bengalis have 13 festivals in 12 months). However, with West Bengal witnessing communal riots during every festival in the past six months, the religious festivities have turned into new communal flashpoints in the State. One such festival that the State government is worried about is Ram Navami.
With the emerging force BJP-RSS vowing to celebrate Ram Navami in a big way in all the districts of the State on April 5, the State administration is on its toes to curb any possible communal violence during the festivities that sees a display of aggressive Hindutva with the dance of swords, trishuls resonating with frantic chants of politco-religious slogan, 'Jai Shree Ram'.
Who are the police to issue permission? In Ram Rajya, people worshipped Ram for centuries. People of Bengal will worship lord Ram and with weapons on April 5. Show of strength in West Bengal will protect the Hindus in Bangladesh, BJP state President Dilip Ghosh said.
On the other hand, police are worried with this show of strength. Ram Navami has never been celebrated on a big scale in Bengal, other than in urban pockets with substantial Hindi speaking populace. There is history of Ram Navami sparking communal riots in various north Indian states. Most flashes have taken place when the Ram Navami procession passed through Muslim areas during which youths of both communities provoked and threatened each other. West Bengal has almost 30% Muslim population and several Ram Navami processions are likely to traverse Muslim-dominated localities. We are preparing to deploy West Bengal security personnel, including special forces STRACO and Eastern Frontier Rifles (EFR) in areas where Ram Navami will be celebrated in a big way, a top police official of Police Headquarters Lalbazar told New Indian Express on conditions of anonymity.
More deployment will be in areas that have witnessed communal violence in the past six months such as Kharagpur, Chandannagar, Hazinagar, Naihati, Chanchol and Dhulagarh, he added. More than 150 rallies would be held throughout the State, the bigger ones being held at Islampur, Raniganj, Siuri, Krishnanagar and Kharagpur among others.
Opposition CPM has also expressed fears of riots in the State on Ram Navami.
RSS masterminding Communal riots on D day of Ramnabami in diff parts of d state.D Vigilant Left has 2 protect communal harmony at any cost, Left Fronts leader in Assembly, Surjya Kanta Mishra tweeted. Another top Left Front leader, Biman Bose also alleged at a rally on Monday that RSS and BJP were trying to instigate riots during Ram Navami.
However, Hindutva groups have asserted their rights to hold Ram Navami procession in a big way. Hindus are under attack in West Bengal which is why there is a need to mark Ram Navami. People from all sections of society are participating in the programme, said Bidyut Mukherjee, organisational secretary of RSS in West Bengal and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Ground cadres seem prepared for the mega event. Nobody questions when Muslims hold Muharram procession with open swords. Only when Hindus assert themselves with swords and trishuls, the State government in West Bengal fears riots, Ram Prasad Yadav, a Bajrang Dal activist from Kharagpur said. Preparations are nearing completion. Our boys will put up a grand show, he added.
As part of the Ram Navami festivities, a recorded CD chanting 'Jai Jai Shree Ram' with a DJ mix is being played on loudspeakers in various localities of Kharagpur that have a fine balance of religious demography. Kharagpur is Bengal BJP President Dilip Ghoshs constituency. We are preaching in the mosques during Friday sermons asking youth to maintain absolute peace during Ram Navami and not to fall for any provocation or rumours. When Hindus cooperate with us during Muharram, it is equally our duty to cooperate with them during their festivals, said Maulana Zakiruddin Sheikh of Panchberia Idgah and mosque in Kharagpur.
Nevertheless, security forces indicated that their preparations to deal with exigencies are intact. Sources revealed that reserves have also been called for deployment in sensitive areas of the State.
KOLKATA: Bengal has had a history of celebrating every festival with equal fervour. A Bengali proverb sums up the mood: Bangalir baro mashe tero parbon (Bengalis have 13 festivals in 12 months). However, with West Bengal witnessing communal riots during every festival in the past six months, the religious festivities have turned into new communal flashpoints in the State. One such festival that the State government is worried about is Ram Navami. With the emerging force BJP-RSS vowing to celebrate Ram Navami in a big way in all the districts of the State on April 5, the State administration is on its toes to curb any possible communal violence during the festivities that sees a display of aggressive Hindutva with the dance of swords, trishuls resonating with frantic chants of politco-religious slogan, 'Jai Shree Ram'. Who are the police to issue permission? In Ram Rajya, people worshipped Ram for centuries. People of Bengal will worship lord Ram and with weapons on April 5. Show of strength in West Bengal will protect the Hindus in Bangladesh, BJP state President Dilip Ghosh said. On the other hand, police are worried with this show of strength. Ram Navami has never been celebrated on a big scale in Bengal, other than in urban pockets with substantial Hindi speaking populace. There is history of Ram Navami sparking communal riots in various north Indian states. Most flashes have taken place when the Ram Navami procession passed through Muslim areas during which youths of both communities provoked and threatened each other. West Bengal has almost 30% Muslim population and several Ram Navami processions are likely to traverse Muslim-dominated localities. We are preparing to deploy West Bengal security personnel, including special forces STRACO and Eastern Frontier Rifles (EFR) in areas where Ram Navami will be celebrated in a big way, a top police official of Police Headquarters Lalbazar told New Indian Express on conditions of anonymity. More deployment will be in areas that have witnessed communal violence in the past six months such as Kharagpur, Chandannagar, Hazinagar, Naihati, Chanchol and Dhulagarh, he added. More than 150 rallies would be held throughout the State, the bigger ones being held at Islampur, Raniganj, Siuri, Krishnanagar and Kharagpur among others. Opposition CPM has also expressed fears of riots in the State on Ram Navami. RSS masterminding Communal riots on D day of Ramnabami in diff parts of d state.D Vigilant Left has 2 protect communal harmony at any cost, Left Fronts leader in Assembly, Surjya Kanta Mishra tweeted. Another top Left Front leader, Biman Bose also alleged at a rally on Monday that RSS and BJP were trying to instigate riots during Ram Navami. However, Hindutva groups have asserted their rights to hold Ram Navami procession in a big way. Hindus are under attack in West Bengal which is why there is a need to mark Ram Navami. People from all sections of society are participating in the programme, said Bidyut Mukherjee, organisational secretary of RSS in West Bengal and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Ground cadres seem prepared for the mega event. Nobody questions when Muslims hold Muharram procession with open swords. Only when Hindus assert themselves with swords and trishuls, the State government in West Bengal fears riots, Ram Prasad Yadav, a Bajrang Dal activist from Kharagpur said. Preparations are nearing completion. Our boys will put up a grand show, he added. As part of the Ram Navami festivities, a recorded CD chanting 'Jai Jai Shree Ram' with a DJ mix is being played on loudspeakers in various localities of Kharagpur that have a fine balance of religious demography. Kharagpur is Bengal BJP President Dilip Ghoshs constituency. We are preaching in the mosques during Friday sermons asking youth to maintain absolute peace during Ram Navami and not to fall for any provocation or rumours. When Hindus cooperate with us during Muharram, it is equally our duty to cooperate with them during their festivals, said Maulana Zakiruddin Sheikh of Panchberia Idgah and mosque in Kharagpur. Nevertheless, security forces indicated that their preparations to deal with exigencies are intact. Sources revealed that reserves have also been called for deployment in sensitive areas of the State.
By Express News Service
NEW DELHI: Following concerns from several quarters on the ban of liquor shops, bars and restaurants alongside the national highways, Centre on Monday said that it will try to find a middle path.
On the concern of impact of the ban on tourism sector, union Tourism minister Mahesh Sharma said that government is trying to find a solution.
Amitabh Kant, CEO of Niti Aayog has also said that lakhs will be left unemployed due to the shutting of restaurants and bars.
After a protest by hoteliers and restaurant owners in Chandigarh, Union tourism minister Mahesh Sharma said that the ministry will try to find a middle way on the issue and will take legal consultations. Sharma said this after meeting a group of hoteliers on Monday.
He also said that the states hold exclusive jurisdiction on the subject of alcohol, said that he would hold discussions with states and refer hoteliers concerned to take necessary action.
NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant took to Twitter as he wrote, Tourism creates jobs. Why kill it? Supreme Court's highway liquor ban verdict may hit 1 million jobs.
Earlier on Monday, hoteliers and restaurants owners had gathered to stage a protest in Chandigarh against the Supreme Courts order on banning the sale of liquor within 500 m of national and state highways. The purpose behind the protest was for the government to consider its demands and move the apex court.
NEW DELHI: Following concerns from several quarters on the ban of liquor shops, bars and restaurants alongside the national highways, Centre on Monday said that it will try to find a middle path. On the concern of impact of the ban on tourism sector, union Tourism minister Mahesh Sharma said that government is trying to find a solution. Amitabh Kant, CEO of Niti Aayog has also said that lakhs will be left unemployed due to the shutting of restaurants and bars. After a protest by hoteliers and restaurant owners in Chandigarh, Union tourism minister Mahesh Sharma said that the ministry will try to find a middle way on the issue and will take legal consultations. Sharma said this after meeting a group of hoteliers on Monday. He also said that the states hold exclusive jurisdiction on the subject of alcohol, said that he would hold discussions with states and refer hoteliers concerned to take necessary action. NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant took to Twitter as he wrote, Tourism creates jobs. Why kill it? Supreme Court's highway liquor ban verdict may hit 1 million jobs. Earlier on Monday, hoteliers and restaurants owners had gathered to stage a protest in Chandigarh against the Supreme Courts order on banning the sale of liquor within 500 m of national and state highways. The purpose behind the protest was for the government to consider its demands and move the apex court.
Fayaz Wani By
Express News Service
SRI NAGAR:Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated Indias longest and Asias first bi-directional road tunnel at Battal Ballian in Jammu and Kashmirs Udhampur district. The 10.89 km Chenani-Nashri tunnel on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway would reduce travel time by about 2 hours, cutting short the distance by over 30 km.
Speaking at a time when youth from the region have been attacking security forces during encounters with militants, the Prime Minister said, Some misguided youngsters are pelting stones, but here, the youth of Kashmir are using the same stones to build infrastructure. Asserting that bloodshed would never help, he said youngsters would have to choose between tourism and terrorism.
If the youth ignore the invaluable tradition of Sufi culture, they would lose the present and put their future into darkness... For the last 40 years, so much blood has been spilled, but nothing has been achieved. If tourism was the focus over the last 40 years, Kashmir would have been the hub of tourists, he said, adding that the tunnel, which is environment friendly and would help fight global warming, would provide a boost to tourism in the region as it connects Kashmir to the rest of the country.
The beauty of this land (Jammu and Kashmir) can draw so many people this would also bring economic growth. People from across the country who were scared of visiting the Valley due to bad roads would now not have to worry about accidents, he said, and remarked that the tunnel has been built in accordance with the best standards in the world.
Taking a dig at Pakistan, Modi said those across the border cant even take care of themselves, and added that he wants to show the people of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) how the region progresses. Let them see what development is, he remarked.
The Prime Minister also extended his gratitude towards Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and said, I congratulate her government and her colleagues. Earlier, packages announced by the Central government remained only on paper and never saw the light of day.
Meanwhile, normal life was affected in the Valley due to a strike called by separatist groups against the Prime Ministers visit. Most shops, business establishments and fuel stations were shut in Srinagar, where public transport stayed off the roads.
SRI NAGAR:Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated Indias longest and Asias first bi-directional road tunnel at Battal Ballian in Jammu and Kashmirs Udhampur district. The 10.89 km Chenani-Nashri tunnel on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway would reduce travel time by about 2 hours, cutting short the distance by over 30 km. Speaking at a time when youth from the region have been attacking security forces during encounters with militants, the Prime Minister said, Some misguided youngsters are pelting stones, but here, the youth of Kashmir are using the same stones to build infrastructure. Asserting that bloodshed would never help, he said youngsters would have to choose between tourism and terrorism. If the youth ignore the invaluable tradition of Sufi culture, they would lose the present and put their future into darkness... For the last 40 years, so much blood has been spilled, but nothing has been achieved. If tourism was the focus over the last 40 years, Kashmir would have been the hub of tourists, he said, adding that the tunnel, which is environment friendly and would help fight global warming, would provide a boost to tourism in the region as it connects Kashmir to the rest of the country. The beauty of this land (Jammu and Kashmir) can draw so many people this would also bring economic growth. People from across the country who were scared of visiting the Valley due to bad roads would now not have to worry about accidents, he said, and remarked that the tunnel has been built in accordance with the best standards in the world. Taking a dig at Pakistan, Modi said those across the border cant even take care of themselves, and added that he wants to show the people of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) how the region progresses. Let them see what development is, he remarked. The Prime Minister also extended his gratitude towards Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and said, I congratulate her government and her colleagues. Earlier, packages announced by the Central government remained only on paper and never saw the light of day. Meanwhile, normal life was affected in the Valley due to a strike called by separatist groups against the Prime Ministers visit. Most shops, business establishments and fuel stations were shut in Srinagar, where public transport stayed off the roads.
By Express News Service
Replacing the existing images, the Health Ministry has released a new set of pictorial warnings for mandatory display on packets of cigarettes, bidis, and chewing tobacco with effect from April 1 this year. Under the new rules, manufacturers will now need to display graphic pictures of throat cancer on cigarette and bidi packets and pictures of mouth cancer on chewing tobacco packets.
According to the public notice on the Health Ministry's website, the government notified the new health warnings on October 15, 2014 and issued a notification dated September 24, 2015 for mandatory display of new health warnings covering 85 per cent of the principal display area on all tobacco products from April 1, 2016.
"As per Rules, during the rotation period of 24 months, two images of specified health warnings as notified in the Schedule, shall be displayed on all tobacco product packages and each of the images shall appear consecutively on the package with an interregnum period of 12 months.
"Further as per notification dated March 24, 2017, all tobacco products manufactured on or after April 1, 2017 shall display the second image of specified health warning," the notice said. It further said any person engaged directly or indirectly in production, supply, import or distribution of cigarettes or any other tobacco products shall ensure that all tobacco product packages have these specified health warnings.
"Violation of the provisions is a punishable offence with imprisonment or fine as prescribed under section 20 of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act 2003," it said.
India is third among countries with the largest pictorial warnings on tobacco products, according to a recent report. The Health Ministry has implemented, from April 2016, large pictorial health warnings occupying 85 per cent of the principal display area of tobacco packs and on all forms of tobacco.
Replacing the existing images, the Health Ministry has released a new set of pictorial warnings for mandatory display on packets of cigarettes, bidis, and chewing tobacco with effect from April 1 this year. Under the new rules, manufacturers will now need to display graphic pictures of throat cancer on cigarette and bidi packets and pictures of mouth cancer on chewing tobacco packets. According to the public notice on the Health Ministry's website, the government notified the new health warnings on October 15, 2014 and issued a notification dated September 24, 2015 for mandatory display of new health warnings covering 85 per cent of the principal display area on all tobacco products from April 1, 2016. "As per Rules, during the rotation period of 24 months, two images of specified health warnings as notified in the Schedule, shall be displayed on all tobacco product packages and each of the images shall appear consecutively on the package with an interregnum period of 12 months. "Further as per notification dated March 24, 2017, all tobacco products manufactured on or after April 1, 2017 shall display the second image of specified health warning," the notice said. It further said any person engaged directly or indirectly in production, supply, import or distribution of cigarettes or any other tobacco products shall ensure that all tobacco product packages have these specified health warnings. "Violation of the provisions is a punishable offence with imprisonment or fine as prescribed under section 20 of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act 2003," it said. India is third among countries with the largest pictorial warnings on tobacco products, according to a recent report. The Health Ministry has implemented, from April 2016, large pictorial health warnings occupying 85 per cent of the principal display area of tobacco packs and on all forms of tobacco.
Avay Shukla By
The knives are out for Arvind Kejriwal and his AAPif you follow the mainstream (English) elite media, you would believe he has been wiped out as a political entity. This same media will politely ignore some telling figures released by the ADR (Association for Democratic Reforms): Of the 403 newly elected MLAs in UP, 322 are crorepatis (multimillionaires) and 143 have serious criminal cases registered against them (107 relate to murder, kidnapping and crimes against women). In the five states that went to polls, 75 per cent of the seats were won by one of the top three wealthiest candidates! These figures are the reason why Kejriwal and AAP will continue to be relevant with the people.
Yes, he lost Punjab (and Goa, where he shouldnt have gone in the first place) but not without a fight: AAP and its ally won 22 seats out of 70 with a vote share of 23.7 per cent in Punjab. It also came second in 27 seats. It is the principal Opposition in the state. Not a bad showing for a three-year-old party confronting three mainstream parties who between them have more funds than many states do!
The problem with the Breaking News culture is that it expects instant successes, to match the instant solutions it offers every night on its panel discussions. It forgets, for example, that Kejriwal had won just 28 seats in Delhi in his first attempt there too. It is ironic that TV channels first build you up, and then slaughter you for not living up to the hype!
That being said, the AAP could have done much better, given the Akali-BJP votes were up for grabs, just as the Congress vote was in Delhi earlier, which it hoovered up so spectacularly.
Since the Punjab Congress was hanging on to its vote share, Kejriwal had to poach on the Akalis, which he failed to do. No judicial commission is needed to find out where he went wrong, the reasons are common knowledge in every Sher-e-Punjab dhaba: Excessive back seat driving from Delhi, the expulsion of the man who built up the organisation in Punjab, cosying up to ex-Khalistanis, too many Duterte-like threats of locking up all and sundry, proximity to Panthic elements, the ego clash with the biggest ego east of the Indus, Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Kejriwal should not now rush off to Bangalore for another bout of naturopathy but should sit in Delhi and accept with all humility that he made mistakes. He should accept that his style of agitational politics has lost its novelty and is becoming repetitive, that his opponents have learnt how to counter it, a strategy which Napoleon knew all about when he famously said, You should not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war.
Kejriwal should acknowledge that he needs to create genuinely vibrant state organisations and refrain from micro-managing them. He needs more Yogendra Yadavs and Prashant Bhushans around him, not just Sanjay Singhs and Aashish Khaitans, if he wants the educated middle classes and working youth to support him.
He should stop attacking Modi personally: the prime minister has a teflon coating which is impermeable for the moment. Perhaps most important, he should completely overhaul his style and substance of campaigning: He is no longer a revolutionary but a chief minister and should observe the responsibility that comes with the post. People tire of negativity very soon and the halo of victimisation fades quickly. What the AAP needs is a booster dose of positivity in its outreach, a vitamin supplement to balance the antibiotic, as it were. And the irony is that Kejriwal has plenty of this, if only he would prescribe it.
AAP has done exceptional work in Delhi in the areas that matter: universal health care, education, slum improvement, water and power supply. Delhi is the only metro that has had the courage to successfully implement the odd-even car scheme. Its persistent demand for more autonomy to union territories finds resonance with the citizens. Its tenacious stand against corruption is its USP. These are the achievements that Kejriwal needs to take to the people, instead of the disruptive politics he is being identified with.
The strident opposition to demonetisation was a misreading of the peoples pulse; it is unfortunate that he is now following it up with another ridiculous claim that EVMs were tampered with in the recent elections. The misguided promise of waiving off residential property tax in Delhi is a mistake: The voters are wearying of the politics of sops and subsidies.
With the Congress being rolled back everywhere, the AAP has a golden opportunity to occupy the space being vacated by it. It has built up a constituency that cuts across caste and class barriers, its bona fides are not doubted. All that is needed is for it to change its style of leadership, public engagement and governance.
The AAP must also curb its overweening ambition to become a national party overnight. It should eschew all state elections till 2019 and concentrate on Delhi and Punjab. In the former, it finally has an enlightened and open-minded lieutenant governor and therefore the opportunity to deliver all-round good governance. If it can win the municipal elections next month, its ability to do so shall be further enhanced. In Punjab, it should function as a constructive, not disruptive, opposition. It should quietly go about building its organisational structures in the states where it plans to contest the 2019 parliamentary elections.
The country and its citizens need a party like the AAP, but one which dares to reinvent itself. In 2013, Kejriwal had the courage to make the change from activism to politics. Can he take this leap of faith again?
Avay Shukla
served in the IAS for 35 years and retired as Additional Chief Secretary of Himachal Pradesh
Email: avayshukla@gmail.com
The knives are out for Arvind Kejriwal and his AAPif you follow the mainstream (English) elite media, you would believe he has been wiped out as a political entity. This same media will politely ignore some telling figures released by the ADR (Association for Democratic Reforms): Of the 403 newly elected MLAs in UP, 322 are crorepatis (multimillionaires) and 143 have serious criminal cases registered against them (107 relate to murder, kidnapping and crimes against women). In the five states that went to polls, 75 per cent of the seats were won by one of the top three wealthiest candidates! These figures are the reason why Kejriwal and AAP will continue to be relevant with the people. Yes, he lost Punjab (and Goa, where he shouldnt have gone in the first place) but not without a fight: AAP and its ally won 22 seats out of 70 with a vote share of 23.7 per cent in Punjab. It also came second in 27 seats. It is the principal Opposition in the state. Not a bad showing for a three-year-old party confronting three mainstream parties who between them have more funds than many states do! The problem with the Breaking News culture is that it expects instant successes, to match the instant solutions it offers every night on its panel discussions. It forgets, for example, that Kejriwal had won just 28 seats in Delhi in his first attempt there too. It is ironic that TV channels first build you up, and then slaughter you for not living up to the hype! That being said, the AAP could have done much better, given the Akali-BJP votes were up for grabs, just as the Congress vote was in Delhi earlier, which it hoovered up so spectacularly. Since the Punjab Congress was hanging on to its vote share, Kejriwal had to poach on the Akalis, which he failed to do. No judicial commission is needed to find out where he went wrong, the reasons are common knowledge in every Sher-e-Punjab dhaba: Excessive back seat driving from Delhi, the expulsion of the man who built up the organisation in Punjab, cosying up to ex-Khalistanis, too many Duterte-like threats of locking up all and sundry, proximity to Panthic elements, the ego clash with the biggest ego east of the Indus, Navjot Singh Sidhu. Kejriwal should not now rush off to Bangalore for another bout of naturopathy but should sit in Delhi and accept with all humility that he made mistakes. He should accept that his style of agitational politics has lost its novelty and is becoming repetitive, that his opponents have learnt how to counter it, a strategy which Napoleon knew all about when he famously said, You should not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war. Kejriwal should acknowledge that he needs to create genuinely vibrant state organisations and refrain from micro-managing them. He needs more Yogendra Yadavs and Prashant Bhushans around him, not just Sanjay Singhs and Aashish Khaitans, if he wants the educated middle classes and working youth to support him. He should stop attacking Modi personally: the prime minister has a teflon coating which is impermeable for the moment. Perhaps most important, he should completely overhaul his style and substance of campaigning: He is no longer a revolutionary but a chief minister and should observe the responsibility that comes with the post. People tire of negativity very soon and the halo of victimisation fades quickly. What the AAP needs is a booster dose of positivity in its outreach, a vitamin supplement to balance the antibiotic, as it were. And the irony is that Kejriwal has plenty of this, if only he would prescribe it. AAP has done exceptional work in Delhi in the areas that matter: universal health care, education, slum improvement, water and power supply. Delhi is the only metro that has had the courage to successfully implement the odd-even car scheme. Its persistent demand for more autonomy to union territories finds resonance with the citizens. Its tenacious stand against corruption is its USP. These are the achievements that Kejriwal needs to take to the people, instead of the disruptive politics he is being identified with. The strident opposition to demonetisation was a misreading of the peoples pulse; it is unfortunate that he is now following it up with another ridiculous claim that EVMs were tampered with in the recent elections. The misguided promise of waiving off residential property tax in Delhi is a mistake: The voters are wearying of the politics of sops and subsidies. With the Congress being rolled back everywhere, the AAP has a golden opportunity to occupy the space being vacated by it. It has built up a constituency that cuts across caste and class barriers, its bona fides are not doubted. All that is needed is for it to change its style of leadership, public engagement and governance. The AAP must also curb its overweening ambition to become a national party overnight. It should eschew all state elections till 2019 and concentrate on Delhi and Punjab. In the former, it finally has an enlightened and open-minded lieutenant governor and therefore the opportunity to deliver all-round good governance. If it can win the municipal elections next month, its ability to do so shall be further enhanced. In Punjab, it should function as a constructive, not disruptive, opposition. It should quietly go about building its organisational structures in the states where it plans to contest the 2019 parliamentary elections. The country and its citizens need a party like the AAP, but one which dares to reinvent itself. In 2013, Kejriwal had the courage to make the change from activism to politics. Can he take this leap of faith again? Avay Shukla served in the IAS for 35 years and retired as Additional Chief Secretary of Himachal Pradesh Email: avayshukla@gmail.com
By Express News Service
ELURU: The cash situation after demonetisation of higher value notes has not returned to normalcy yet. It is evident with the reappearance of No Cash boards at majority of ATMs in West Godavari district in the past few days. People of the district faced severe hardships due to acute cash crunch in the aftermath of demonetisation of `1,000 and `500 notes.
A closed bank ATM in Eluru on
Monday | Express
At a time when people started feeling that the cash situation improved following removal of curbs on withdrawals from ATMs and bank accounts, the cash crunch resurfaced.
There are about 680 ATMs of different banks in the district. The number of ATMs in Eluru city is 85. There are 12 Reserve Bank of India chests in the district and of them eight belong to State Bank of India (SBI). According to the bank officials, the district gets `100 crore every Monday for its weekly cash needs.
M Krishna Murthy of Western Street who could not withdraw money from ATMs of SBI and other banks despite several attempts, said: People are experiencing cash crunch again as No Cash boards are greeting them at many ATMs in recent days. Some bank officials also expressed their helplessness in this regard.
K Srinivas, a customer of a private bank, said: I could not get Rs 5,000 despite several attempts. Most of the bank ATMs are either closed or displaying No Cash boards. I am facing severe cash crunch.
Admitting shortage of cash in banks, District Lead Bank Manager M Subrahmanyeswara Rao said: The matter has already been taken to the notice of Reserve Bank of India. It is likely to send cash to the district within two days.
The decline in bank deposits is also one of the reasons for the shortage of liquid cash. The money problem is only a temporary phenomenon. The cash situation is likely to improve in a few days.
ELURU: The cash situation after demonetisation of higher value notes has not returned to normalcy yet. It is evident with the reappearance of No Cash boards at majority of ATMs in West Godavari district in the past few days. People of the district faced severe hardships due to acute cash crunch in the aftermath of demonetisation of `1,000 and `500 notes. A closed bank ATM in Eluru on Monday | Express At a time when people started feeling that the cash situation improved following removal of curbs on withdrawals from ATMs and bank accounts, the cash crunch resurfaced. There are about 680 ATMs of different banks in the district. The number of ATMs in Eluru city is 85. There are 12 Reserve Bank of India chests in the district and of them eight belong to State Bank of India (SBI). According to the bank officials, the district gets `100 crore every Monday for its weekly cash needs. M Krishna Murthy of Western Street who could not withdraw money from ATMs of SBI and other banks despite several attempts, said: People are experiencing cash crunch again as No Cash boards are greeting them at many ATMs in recent days. Some bank officials also expressed their helplessness in this regard. K Srinivas, a customer of a private bank, said: I could not get Rs 5,000 despite several attempts. Most of the bank ATMs are either closed or displaying No Cash boards. I am facing severe cash crunch. Admitting shortage of cash in banks, District Lead Bank Manager M Subrahmanyeswara Rao said: The matter has already been taken to the notice of Reserve Bank of India. It is likely to send cash to the district within two days. The decline in bank deposits is also one of the reasons for the shortage of liquid cash. The money problem is only a temporary phenomenon. The cash situation is likely to improve in a few days.
A Satish By
Express News Service
PALAKKAD: When the rotors of the National Hydro Power Corporations wind farm in Kavundikkal of Attappadi begin to turn, the fortunes of the tribals in the locality will change for the better. They will smell moolah as the corporation has promised them 5 per cent share of its profit in return for permission to set up windmills on their land.
Work on the 8 MW project spread across 10 acres will begin soon. ANERT project officer in charge of Palakkad, Malappuram and Kozhikode, P Jayachandran Nair told Express Ooru Kootams (tribal gatherings) had agreed to the project.
Earlier in 2011, the Oommen Chandy government had promised to give a portion of energy giant Suzlons profit to the tribals in Palakkad on whose land it had set up windmills. But the plan was changed when the ministry decided to return 85 acres encroached by the multinational firm. Following a Vigilance inquiry, the project was called off after 30 windmills had been set up. They were later sold to private business houses in the state. As per the agreement between the state government and NHPC in 2014, it was proposed 82 MW of wind power would be generated in Attappadi in stages.
Palakkad will be home to the states largest wind energy project when the 22 MW Inox Wind Farm is commissioned at the Kinfra Industrial Park in Kanjikode. Its trial run was successfully completed last month and 100 units of power were generated.
As much as 27.5 acres were allotted from Kinfra Industrial Park in 2010, said V Murali Krishnan, junior manager of Kinfra Integrated Industrial and Textile Park. Each machine required 2.5 acres and various formalities had to be completed accounting for the delay.
Inox Wind corporate consultant K Suku Nair told Express each windmill costs Rs 14 crore. He said the Electricity Regulatory Commission would fix the tariff once the farm is commissioned. Inox Wind has already commissioned 1,600 MW in the country and will enhance it to 2,000 MW by the end of the current financial year, he said.
Feasibility studies found Palakkad had immense wind energy potential. If the government is willing, the company is ready to associate and produce clean energy, said Suku.
Another 10 MW project is coming up at Vadakarapathy bordering Tamil Nadu. A prominent media house has been given technical sanction to set up the wind farm to be installed by Spanish firm Gamesa.
ANERT officers say the state generates 43.1 MW of wind energy from Palakkad and Idukki. It is in the process of assessing the potential at other locations. Data generated by eight monitoring stations in Idukki, Palakkad, Malappuram and Kozhikode is being updated.
PALAKKAD: When the rotors of the National Hydro Power Corporations wind farm in Kavundikkal of Attappadi begin to turn, the fortunes of the tribals in the locality will change for the better. They will smell moolah as the corporation has promised them 5 per cent share of its profit in return for permission to set up windmills on their land. Work on the 8 MW project spread across 10 acres will begin soon. ANERT project officer in charge of Palakkad, Malappuram and Kozhikode, P Jayachandran Nair told Express Ooru Kootams (tribal gatherings) had agreed to the project. Earlier in 2011, the Oommen Chandy government had promised to give a portion of energy giant Suzlons profit to the tribals in Palakkad on whose land it had set up windmills. But the plan was changed when the ministry decided to return 85 acres encroached by the multinational firm. Following a Vigilance inquiry, the project was called off after 30 windmills had been set up. They were later sold to private business houses in the state. As per the agreement between the state government and NHPC in 2014, it was proposed 82 MW of wind power would be generated in Attappadi in stages. Palakkad will be home to the states largest wind energy project when the 22 MW Inox Wind Farm is commissioned at the Kinfra Industrial Park in Kanjikode. Its trial run was successfully completed last month and 100 units of power were generated. As much as 27.5 acres were allotted from Kinfra Industrial Park in 2010, said V Murali Krishnan, junior manager of Kinfra Integrated Industrial and Textile Park. Each machine required 2.5 acres and various formalities had to be completed accounting for the delay. Inox Wind corporate consultant K Suku Nair told Express each windmill costs Rs 14 crore. He said the Electricity Regulatory Commission would fix the tariff once the farm is commissioned. Inox Wind has already commissioned 1,600 MW in the country and will enhance it to 2,000 MW by the end of the current financial year, he said. Feasibility studies found Palakkad had immense wind energy potential. If the government is willing, the company is ready to associate and produce clean energy, said Suku. Another 10 MW project is coming up at Vadakarapathy bordering Tamil Nadu. A prominent media house has been given technical sanction to set up the wind farm to be installed by Spanish firm Gamesa. ANERT officers say the state generates 43.1 MW of wind energy from Palakkad and Idukki. It is in the process of assessing the potential at other locations. Data generated by eight monitoring stations in Idukki, Palakkad, Malappuram and Kozhikode is being updated.
By Express News Service
KOZHIKODE: The Excise authorities seized unaccounted money worth Rs 15 lakh during a vehicle inspection, and took a man into custody at Onchiyam, in Vadakara on Sunday night. As many as 750 notes of Rs 2,000 have been seized, as the man failed to produce documents pertaining to its source. , police officials said.
According to Excise officials, the cash and the man were later handed over to local police for further investigation. The car was heading towards Nadapuram from Chokli near Mahe here.
In another incident, Railway police seized 2 kg of gold ornaments from a native of Belgaum, Karnataka at Kozhikode railway station on Monday morning.
According to the police, the person was identified as Nazrul Islam Sheikh, 28, and he was arrested after he failed to produce documents relating to the source of the gold. The officials assume that the gold was brought from Karnataka for a Thrissur based jewellery shop.
KOZHIKODE: The Excise authorities seized unaccounted money worth Rs 15 lakh during a vehicle inspection, and took a man into custody at Onchiyam, in Vadakara on Sunday night. As many as 750 notes of Rs 2,000 have been seized, as the man failed to produce documents pertaining to its source. , police officials said. According to Excise officials, the cash and the man were later handed over to local police for further investigation. The car was heading towards Nadapuram from Chokli near Mahe here. In another incident, Railway police seized 2 kg of gold ornaments from a native of Belgaum, Karnataka at Kozhikode railway station on Monday morning. According to the police, the person was identified as Nazrul Islam Sheikh, 28, and he was arrested after he failed to produce documents relating to the source of the gold. The officials assume that the gold was brought from Karnataka for a Thrissur based jewellery shop.
By Express News Service
THRISSUR: The cyber cell recovered some voice and text messages of deceased student Jishnu Prannoy which indicate that the student of Nehru College of Engineering and Research, Pampady had tried to organise students to go against the decision of A P J Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU) to conduct examinations in December.
The students of colleges under KTU were on strike during the period, and Jishnu allegedly took the initiative to lead the strike at Pampady which apparently angered the management.
Jishnu, a first year student of Nehru College of Engineering and Research Pampady, was found hanging at his college hostel in January. He was allegedly beaten and tortured by college management which could have led him to take the extreme step.
The cyber cell had recovered WhatsApp messages which were brought out on Monday. "After Jishnu's death on January 6, the special investigation team had sent his mobile phone for examination to the cyber cell," said Thrissur rural SP Vijaya Kumar.
Letters written by Jishnu to the Education Minister, Professor C Raveendranath, and KTU authorities asking them to intervene and postpone the examinations after Christmas vacation also came out on Monday.
Meanwhile, Mahija and Asokan, Jishnus parents, will start an indefinite strike in front of the DGPs office in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday to protest the delay in arresting the accused. Earlier, they had withdrawn the strike as the DGP sought one more week to arrest the culprits. However, no arrest has been made yet.
Vijaya Kumar said police will issue a lookout notice for the accused, vice principal Sakthivel and Praveen, a teacher with Pampady College, at public places.
The Kerala High Court had granted anticipatory bail to Nehru group chairman P Krishnadas, the first accused in the case.
THRISSUR: The cyber cell recovered some voice and text messages of deceased student Jishnu Prannoy which indicate that the student of Nehru College of Engineering and Research, Pampady had tried to organise students to go against the decision of A P J Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU) to conduct examinations in December. The students of colleges under KTU were on strike during the period, and Jishnu allegedly took the initiative to lead the strike at Pampady which apparently angered the management. Jishnu, a first year student of Nehru College of Engineering and Research Pampady, was found hanging at his college hostel in January. He was allegedly beaten and tortured by college management which could have led him to take the extreme step. The cyber cell had recovered WhatsApp messages which were brought out on Monday. "After Jishnu's death on January 6, the special investigation team had sent his mobile phone for examination to the cyber cell," said Thrissur rural SP Vijaya Kumar. Letters written by Jishnu to the Education Minister, Professor C Raveendranath, and KTU authorities asking them to intervene and postpone the examinations after Christmas vacation also came out on Monday. Meanwhile, Mahija and Asokan, Jishnus parents, will start an indefinite strike in front of the DGPs office in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday to protest the delay in arresting the accused. Earlier, they had withdrawn the strike as the DGP sought one more week to arrest the culprits. However, no arrest has been made yet. Vijaya Kumar said police will issue a lookout notice for the accused, vice principal Sakthivel and Praveen, a teacher with Pampady College, at public places. The Kerala High Court had granted anticipatory bail to Nehru group chairman P Krishnadas, the first accused in the case.
By Express News Service
KOCHI: The Kerala high court on Monday declined to issue an order directing police not to arrest the accused employees of a Malayalam Television channel that allegedly honey trapped former transport minister AK Saseendran.
Though the petitioner sought a directive not to arrest the petitioners, the court said that it could only record the submission of prosecution if it undertook that the petitioners will not be arrested. But the director general of prosecution C Sreedharan Nair submitted that it will not give any assurance in this regard.
The court adjourned hearing of the case to Thursday and had issued the order while considering the petition filed by R Ajith Kumar, chief executive officer of the channel, and eight others seeking anticipatory bail.
The police had served notice to employees asking them to appear before the Special Investigation Team. The petitioners submitted that they apprehend arrest in the case.
NCP leader AK Saseendran had resigned as Transport minister after the TV Channel aired a lewd phone conversation between him and an unidentified lady in connection with its launch.
KOCHI: The Kerala high court on Monday declined to issue an order directing police not to arrest the accused employees of a Malayalam Television channel that allegedly honey trapped former transport minister AK Saseendran. Though the petitioner sought a directive not to arrest the petitioners, the court said that it could only record the submission of prosecution if it undertook that the petitioners will not be arrested. But the director general of prosecution C Sreedharan Nair submitted that it will not give any assurance in this regard. The court adjourned hearing of the case to Thursday and had issued the order while considering the petition filed by R Ajith Kumar, chief executive officer of the channel, and eight others seeking anticipatory bail. The police had served notice to employees asking them to appear before the Special Investigation Team. The petitioners submitted that they apprehend arrest in the case. NCP leader AK Saseendran had resigned as Transport minister after the TV Channel aired a lewd phone conversation between him and an unidentified lady in connection with its launch.
By Express News Service
BHUBANESWAR:In the changed circumstances following severe reverses of the party in Zilla Parishad (ZP) polls and speculation of a split in BJD doing the rounds in political circles here, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday interacted with partys elected panchayat representatives and discussed development issues with them.
Naveen met elected members of different panchayats from Jajpur and Koraput districts separately. This is for the first time that the Chief Minister undertook such an exercise to get closer to the grassroots workers of the party.
The meeting took place in the party headquarters instead of Navin Nivas, which has been the venue for interactions with party leaders on earlier occasions. The Chief Minister told mediapersons that the panchayat representatives gave suggestions and raised demands to be fulfilled for the benefit of people in their areas. I have also asked them to work honestly and hard for the people, he said.
The exercise will continue in the coming days and the Chief Minister will meet elected representatives of other districts in a phased manner. Besides meeting the panchayat representatives, he also reviewed the performance of the party in the polls in these two districts with the party leaders.
Though BJD won 33 ZP zones out of 39 in Jajpur district, the BJP made an entry by winning six seats. However, in election to Panchayat Samiti chairperson, the BJD supported candidates won in eight out of 10 blocks in the district while nominees supported by Congress and Independents won one each.
BJD won 24 out of 29 seats in Koraput district in the ZP polls while Congress and BJP won four and one zone respectively. Congress performance improved in the panchayat samiti chairperson polls with the party winning six out of 14 blocks while BJD won eight.
On Monday, the Chief Minister will meet the panchayat representatives from Mayurbhanj district where the BJD was almost wiped out in the elections. The party could win in only five ZP zones out of 54 while 49 seats went to BJP. JMM and others won one seat each.
However, situation went in favour of BJD in the panchayat samiti chairperson polls in which candidates supported by the party won the post in 20 out 26 blocks while BJP and JMM supported nominees won in five and one blocks respectively.
BJD MLA from Badachana and party spokesperson Amar Prasad Satpathy said the CM asked the panchayat representatives to remain in close contact with the people who elected them and make them aware about the welfare schemes launched by the State Government for their benefit. He also asked them to work in a transparent manner, Satpathy said.
Besides the elected panchayat representatives of Jajpur and Koraput, Minister of State for Panchayati Raj Arun Sahu, party spokesperson Suryanarayan Patro, MLAs, MPs and senior leaders were also present. The next review meeting will be held after six months.
BHUBANESWAR:In the changed circumstances following severe reverses of the party in Zilla Parishad (ZP) polls and speculation of a split in BJD doing the rounds in political circles here, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday interacted with partys elected panchayat representatives and discussed development issues with them. Naveen met elected members of different panchayats from Jajpur and Koraput districts separately. This is for the first time that the Chief Minister undertook such an exercise to get closer to the grassroots workers of the party. The meeting took place in the party headquarters instead of Navin Nivas, which has been the venue for interactions with party leaders on earlier occasions. The Chief Minister told mediapersons that the panchayat representatives gave suggestions and raised demands to be fulfilled for the benefit of people in their areas. I have also asked them to work honestly and hard for the people, he said. The exercise will continue in the coming days and the Chief Minister will meet elected representatives of other districts in a phased manner. Besides meeting the panchayat representatives, he also reviewed the performance of the party in the polls in these two districts with the party leaders. Though BJD won 33 ZP zones out of 39 in Jajpur district, the BJP made an entry by winning six seats. However, in election to Panchayat Samiti chairperson, the BJD supported candidates won in eight out of 10 blocks in the district while nominees supported by Congress and Independents won one each. BJD won 24 out of 29 seats in Koraput district in the ZP polls while Congress and BJP won four and one zone respectively. Congress performance improved in the panchayat samiti chairperson polls with the party winning six out of 14 blocks while BJD won eight. On Monday, the Chief Minister will meet the panchayat representatives from Mayurbhanj district where the BJD was almost wiped out in the elections. The party could win in only five ZP zones out of 54 while 49 seats went to BJP. JMM and others won one seat each. However, situation went in favour of BJD in the panchayat samiti chairperson polls in which candidates supported by the party won the post in 20 out 26 blocks while BJP and JMM supported nominees won in five and one blocks respectively. BJD MLA from Badachana and party spokesperson Amar Prasad Satpathy said the CM asked the panchayat representatives to remain in close contact with the people who elected them and make them aware about the welfare schemes launched by the State Government for their benefit. He also asked them to work in a transparent manner, Satpathy said. Besides the elected panchayat representatives of Jajpur and Koraput, Minister of State for Panchayati Raj Arun Sahu, party spokesperson Suryanarayan Patro, MLAs, MPs and senior leaders were also present. The next review meeting will be held after six months.
By PTI
CHENNAI: The ban on liquor shops abutting national and state highways has hit Tamil Nadu in a big way with closure of 3,320 outlets, more than half of the total shops run by state-owned sole retailer TASMAC.
Complying with the Supreme Court order, as many as 3,320 TASMAC outlets have been closed across the state with immediate affect, top government sources told PTI today.
Opposition parties, including DMK and PMK, have welcomed the Supreme Court judgement banning liquor vends within 500 metres of national and state highways from April 1.
According to TASMAC Employees State Association General Secretary Thiru Selvam, the company operated a total of 5,700 Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) outlets.
DMK Working President M K Stalin said the shops that were being shut should not be relocated in the same vicinity, adding employees, however, should not be affected.
PMK chief S Ramadoss, whose party approached the Supreme Court on the issue, claimed the state government was trying to relocate the liquor outlets that were being shut in residential areas and it was "strongly condemnable."
Asked on the relocation of shops, government sources said that the liquor outlets will be relocated without contravening the court directive.
Shutting down liquor shops and bringing total prohibition was being "pursued and done in phases" and already 1,000 shops had been closed in line with the government's policy as announced by late chief minister Jayalalithaa, they said.
CHENNAI: The ban on liquor shops abutting national and state highways has hit Tamil Nadu in a big way with closure of 3,320 outlets, more than half of the total shops run by state-owned sole retailer TASMAC. Complying with the Supreme Court order, as many as 3,320 TASMAC outlets have been closed across the state with immediate affect, top government sources told PTI today. Opposition parties, including DMK and PMK, have welcomed the Supreme Court judgement banning liquor vends within 500 metres of national and state highways from April 1. According to TASMAC Employees State Association General Secretary Thiru Selvam, the company operated a total of 5,700 Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) outlets. DMK Working President M K Stalin said the shops that were being shut should not be relocated in the same vicinity, adding employees, however, should not be affected. PMK chief S Ramadoss, whose party approached the Supreme Court on the issue, claimed the state government was trying to relocate the liquor outlets that were being shut in residential areas and it was "strongly condemnable." Asked on the relocation of shops, government sources said that the liquor outlets will be relocated without contravening the court directive. Shutting down liquor shops and bringing total prohibition was being "pursued and done in phases" and already 1,000 shops had been closed in line with the government's policy as announced by late chief minister Jayalalithaa, they said.
By Express News Service
VELLORE/CHENNAI: A serpentine queue, barricades placed to prevent stampede, cops ensuring men follow the line to the counter; this scene isnt outside a theatre or a ration shop, but at the only liquor shop in Vellore that remained open on Sunday. The Supreme Courts order banning sale of liquor close to highways hit Vellore the hardest, as 31 of the 32 outlets in the town, with nearly 7.5 lakh people, downed shutters.
The situation wasnt any better for tipplers across other parts of the State. According to sources, nearly 50 to 80 per cent of liquor shops have been shut across the State after the Supreme Court order. A total of 3,300 of the 5,700 Tasmac outlets have been closed, says N Periyasamy, president of the Tasmac employees union.
We have been asked to identify a place to relocate, he says, adding that it would be a challenging task, as residents of these areas are likely to oppose the move.
I did not expect this. I just wanted to have a drink at the bar in my hotel. But they arent serving any, says an NRI from Malaysia staying at the Hablis, a star hotel in Chennai. The hotels bar - Moon and Six Pence - one of the citys popular watering holes, was also shut after the SC order.
We were asked to close the bar on Saturday. We havent gotten any notice about our jobs so far, said an employee at Hablis who didnt want to be named. As the bars remain shut, food too is not being served in these places. The employees of these bars have been temporarily asked to help with other restaurants in the hotel.
A few high-end bars attached to hotels, however, continued to serve liquor on Sunday. A staff at a bar located on the East Coast Road said the number of customers have plummeted to a fifth, despite being open.
Putting the happiness of travelling tipplers ahead, some states have already begun measures to bypass the verdict. According to reports, BJP-ruled Maharashtra is trying to denotify its State highways in Mumbai, Pune and other cities to circumvent the ruling.
VELLORE/CHENNAI: A serpentine queue, barricades placed to prevent stampede, cops ensuring men follow the line to the counter; this scene isnt outside a theatre or a ration shop, but at the only liquor shop in Vellore that remained open on Sunday. The Supreme Courts order banning sale of liquor close to highways hit Vellore the hardest, as 31 of the 32 outlets in the town, with nearly 7.5 lakh people, downed shutters. The situation wasnt any better for tipplers across other parts of the State. According to sources, nearly 50 to 80 per cent of liquor shops have been shut across the State after the Supreme Court order. A total of 3,300 of the 5,700 Tasmac outlets have been closed, says N Periyasamy, president of the Tasmac employees union. We have been asked to identify a place to relocate, he says, adding that it would be a challenging task, as residents of these areas are likely to oppose the move. I did not expect this. I just wanted to have a drink at the bar in my hotel. But they arent serving any, says an NRI from Malaysia staying at the Hablis, a star hotel in Chennai. The hotels bar - Moon and Six Pence - one of the citys popular watering holes, was also shut after the SC order. We were asked to close the bar on Saturday. We havent gotten any notice about our jobs so far, said an employee at Hablis who didnt want to be named. As the bars remain shut, food too is not being served in these places. The employees of these bars have been temporarily asked to help with other restaurants in the hotel. A few high-end bars attached to hotels, however, continued to serve liquor on Sunday. A staff at a bar located on the East Coast Road said the number of customers have plummeted to a fifth, despite being open. Putting the happiness of travelling tipplers ahead, some states have already begun measures to bypass the verdict. According to reports, BJP-ruled Maharashtra is trying to denotify its State highways in Mumbai, Pune and other cities to circumvent the ruling.
By Express News Service
MADURAI/NAGERCOIL:Fifteen fishermen from three southern districts, who were working in Bahrain and were arrested by Iran for allegedly entering its territorial waters, have been released after about five months of detention.
They have returned to Bahrain and are completing necessary formalities there. We are now completing government formalities in Bahrain, V Vargees, one of the fishermen, told Express over mobile phone.
We could not sleep at night because the boats were full of mosquitoes. We were also forced to clean other boats stationed there, he said, adding, Our families also faced hardships because of our long detention.
Vargees belongs to Kanyakumari district. Among those detained are fishermen from Tirunelveli and Ramanathapuram districts.
All of them were working for a sponsor (employer) in Bahrain and when three of his boats allegedly entered Iranian waters, the fishermen were arrested on charges of poaching on October 22 last year. They were kept captive in their boats, said Sr Valarmathi, State coordinator, National Domestic Workers Movement, Migrants Forum India, a Chennai-based NGO.
The fishermen used to speak to Sr Valarmathi without the knowledge of the Iranian coast guard.
Though their sponsor had paid Iran the requisite fine, the captive fishermen were not released because of an Iran-Bahrain dispute. Bahrain had seized two vessels belonging to Iran, and Iran would not free the Indian captives unless Bahrain released the Iranian boats, Sr Valarmathi told Express.
The fishermen initially suffered much due to lack of food and medical help, but the Indian embassy in Iran chipped in after continuous reminders about the hostages. With the help of the Ministry of External Affairs, they received release orders on April 2, Sr Valarmathi added.
We had taken a loan of `75,000 for his travel, visa, etc. He used to send `5,000 to `10,000 every month after getting the Gulf job. But after the detention, the payments stopped, said Kala, wife of Vargees.
During this period, she had no money for food and education of her two children, but neighbours helped, Kala said.
MADURAI/NAGERCOIL:Fifteen fishermen from three southern districts, who were working in Bahrain and were arrested by Iran for allegedly entering its territorial waters, have been released after about five months of detention. They have returned to Bahrain and are completing necessary formalities there. We are now completing government formalities in Bahrain, V Vargees, one of the fishermen, told Express over mobile phone. We could not sleep at night because the boats were full of mosquitoes. We were also forced to clean other boats stationed there, he said, adding, Our families also faced hardships because of our long detention. Vargees belongs to Kanyakumari district. Among those detained are fishermen from Tirunelveli and Ramanathapuram districts. All of them were working for a sponsor (employer) in Bahrain and when three of his boats allegedly entered Iranian waters, the fishermen were arrested on charges of poaching on October 22 last year. They were kept captive in their boats, said Sr Valarmathi, State coordinator, National Domestic Workers Movement, Migrants Forum India, a Chennai-based NGO. The fishermen used to speak to Sr Valarmathi without the knowledge of the Iranian coast guard. Though their sponsor had paid Iran the requisite fine, the captive fishermen were not released because of an Iran-Bahrain dispute. Bahrain had seized two vessels belonging to Iran, and Iran would not free the Indian captives unless Bahrain released the Iranian boats, Sr Valarmathi told Express. The fishermen initially suffered much due to lack of food and medical help, but the Indian embassy in Iran chipped in after continuous reminders about the hostages. With the help of the Ministry of External Affairs, they received release orders on April 2, Sr Valarmathi added. We had taken a loan of `75,000 for his travel, visa, etc. He used to send `5,000 to `10,000 every month after getting the Gulf job. But after the detention, the payments stopped, said Kala, wife of Vargees. During this period, she had no money for food and education of her two children, but neighbours helped, Kala said.
By Associated Press
ST. PETERSBURG: A bomb blast tore through a subway train deep under Russia's second-largest city today,killing 11 people and wounding about 40 in a chaotic scene that left victims sprawled on a smoky platform.
Hours later, anguish and fear rose again when police found and defused a shrapnel-packed explosive device at another St. Petersburg station.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which came while President Vladimir Putin was visiting the city, his hometown. In the past two decades, Russian trains and planes have been frequent targets of terrorism, usually blamed on Islamic militants.
News reports said police were searching for two suspects, and Russian state television showed a photo of one suspect wearing what appeared to be a skullcap characteristic of Russia's Muslim regions.
The Investigative Committee, the country's top criminal investigation body, said it had begun a probe based on the assumption that it was terrorism but added that other possibilities were being considered.
St. Petersburg, a major tourist destination famed for its imperial palaces and lavish art museums, had been spared previous attacks.
"From now on, I will be scared to take the subway," said Marina Ilyina, 30, who brought flowers to the station where the train stopped after the bombing. "We in St. Petersburg thought we wouldn't be touched by that."
The explosion occurred in midafternoon as the train traveled between stations one of the city's north-south lines.
The driver chose to continue on to the next stop, Technological Institute, a decision praised by the Investigative Committee as aiding evacuation efforts and reducing the danger to passengers who would have had to walk along the electrified tracks.
The National Anti-Terrorism Committee said the death toll was 11, with another 45 people being treated for wounds in hospitals.
Amateur video broadcast by Russian TV showed people lying on the platform of the Technological Institute station, and others bleeding and weeping just after the damaged train pulled in.
"Everything was covered in smoke. There were a lot of firefighters," Maria Smirnova, a student on a train behind the stricken one, told independent TV station Dozhd.
Within two hours of the blast, authorities had found and deactivated another bomb at another busy station, Vosstaniya Square, the anti-terror agency said. That station is a major transfer point for passengers on two lines and serves the railway station to Moscow.
ST. PETERSBURG: A bomb blast tore through a subway train deep under Russia's second-largest city today,killing 11 people and wounding about 40 in a chaotic scene that left victims sprawled on a smoky platform. Hours later, anguish and fear rose again when police found and defused a shrapnel-packed explosive device at another St. Petersburg station. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which came while President Vladimir Putin was visiting the city, his hometown. In the past two decades, Russian trains and planes have been frequent targets of terrorism, usually blamed on Islamic militants. News reports said police were searching for two suspects, and Russian state television showed a photo of one suspect wearing what appeared to be a skullcap characteristic of Russia's Muslim regions. The Investigative Committee, the country's top criminal investigation body, said it had begun a probe based on the assumption that it was terrorism but added that other possibilities were being considered. St. Petersburg, a major tourist destination famed for its imperial palaces and lavish art museums, had been spared previous attacks. "From now on, I will be scared to take the subway," said Marina Ilyina, 30, who brought flowers to the station where the train stopped after the bombing. "We in St. Petersburg thought we wouldn't be touched by that." The explosion occurred in midafternoon as the train traveled between stations one of the city's north-south lines. window.__ventunoplayer = window.__ventunoplayer||[]; window.__ventunoplayer.push({video_key: 'OTE1NzMxfHw4fHw2fHwxLDIsMQ==', holder_id: 'vt-video-player', player_type: 'vp', width:'100%', ratio:'4:3'}); The driver chose to continue on to the next stop, Technological Institute, a decision praised by the Investigative Committee as aiding evacuation efforts and reducing the danger to passengers who would have had to walk along the electrified tracks. The National Anti-Terrorism Committee said the death toll was 11, with another 45 people being treated for wounds in hospitals. Amateur video broadcast by Russian TV showed people lying on the platform of the Technological Institute station, and others bleeding and weeping just after the damaged train pulled in. "Everything was covered in smoke. There were a lot of firefighters," Maria Smirnova, a student on a train behind the stricken one, told independent TV station Dozhd. Within two hours of the blast, authorities had found and deactivated another bomb at another busy station, Vosstaniya Square, the anti-terror agency said. That station is a major transfer point for passengers on two lines and serves the railway station to Moscow.
By Associated Press
DUBAI: Dubai police have arrested foreign hackers who targeted five senior White House officials in a blackmail email scam, state-owned media reported on Monday.
The Arabic-language Al Bayan newspaper and the television channel Dubai One reported the arrests, while Dubai police did not answer repeated calls for comment. The arrests come as the United Arab Emirates, which hosts some 4,000 U.S. troops fighting the Islamic State group, remains a crucial regional ally.
The White House had no immediate comment on the reports.
Al Bayan quoted Maj. Saud al-Khalidi of Dubai police's cybercrime division as saying an "African gang" broke into the emails of the five senior officials and "got highly confidential information." He said the hackers then demanded money from their targets in threatening emails. The U.S. then asked Dubai police for assistance.
Al-Khalidi was quoted as saying that investigators tracked down the gang "in two hours" to an apartment in the emirate of Ajman and arrested three suspects with the help of local authorities.
"Police reportedly faced resistance from the hackers but they were effectively subdued and arrested," Dubai One reported in its nightly newscast. "Police say this was not their first operation, although it was their first offense here in the UAE. The hackers allegedly made it a business to sell information they managed to extract, moving from one country to another after every cyberattack."
Those arrested are between 24 and 26 years of age and had a list of "5 million bank accounts," as well as hacking software and millions of dollars in assets, al-Khalidi said.
The reports did not identify the White House officials targeted. Al-Khalidi reportedly said those suspects would be handed over to the United States for possible criminal trials.
The U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi did not respond to requests for comment.
DUBAI: Dubai police have arrested foreign hackers who targeted five senior White House officials in a blackmail email scam, state-owned media reported on Monday. The Arabic-language Al Bayan newspaper and the television channel Dubai One reported the arrests, while Dubai police did not answer repeated calls for comment. The arrests come as the United Arab Emirates, which hosts some 4,000 U.S. troops fighting the Islamic State group, remains a crucial regional ally. The White House had no immediate comment on the reports. Al Bayan quoted Maj. Saud al-Khalidi of Dubai police's cybercrime division as saying an "African gang" broke into the emails of the five senior officials and "got highly confidential information." He said the hackers then demanded money from their targets in threatening emails. The U.S. then asked Dubai police for assistance. Al-Khalidi was quoted as saying that investigators tracked down the gang "in two hours" to an apartment in the emirate of Ajman and arrested three suspects with the help of local authorities. "Police reportedly faced resistance from the hackers but they were effectively subdued and arrested," Dubai One reported in its nightly newscast. "Police say this was not their first operation, although it was their first offense here in the UAE. The hackers allegedly made it a business to sell information they managed to extract, moving from one country to another after every cyberattack." Those arrested are between 24 and 26 years of age and had a list of "5 million bank accounts," as well as hacking software and millions of dollars in assets, al-Khalidi said. The reports did not identify the White House officials targeted. Al-Khalidi reportedly said those suspects would be handed over to the United States for possible criminal trials. The U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi did not respond to requests for comment.
By Associated Press
QUITO (ECUADOR): Ruling party candidate Lenin Moreno was declared the winner of Ecuador's presidential runoff Sunday, delivering a major setback to a recent right-ward surge in Latin American politics and providing continuity to President Rafael Correa's "Citizens' Revolution."
But his rival, conservative banker Guillermo Lasso, has yet to concede defeat and demanded a recount after three exit polls showed him winning, setting the stage for protests and charges of election fraud in this historically turbulent Andean nation.
"We're not fools, nor are the Ecuadorean people," Lasso said on Twitter, hours after claiming victory based on the exit polls results. "We will act democratically and with respect for authorities but firmly to defend the will of the people."
With more than 94 percent of voting acts counted, the National Electoral Council said Moreno beat Lasso 51 percent to 49 percent.
Thousands of outraged Lasso supporters shouting "fraud" broke through metal barricades and almost reached the entrance of the electoral council's headquarters in Quito before being pushed back by police. A similar scuffle took place outside the electoral offices in Guayaquil, where Lasso voted.
Moreno supporters celebrated and accused their opponents of trying to disavow results. The head of the electoral council, a favorite punching bag of the opposition, appealed for calm.
"Ecuador deserves that its political actors show ethical responsibility in recognizing the democratic will expressed by the people at the voting booths," said National Electoral President Juan Pablo Pozo. "Not a single vote has been given or taken away from anyone."
Three exit polls, including one that accurately predicted the first-round results, showed Lasso winning by as much as six percentage points. A quick count of voting acts by a respected local watchdog found there was a technical tie with a difference of less than 0.6 percentage points separating the two candidates. The group refrained from saying which candidate had the advantage.
"The moral fraud of the right-wing won't go unpunished," Correa said on Twitter, referring to what Moreno called misleading exit polls that had "lied" to his rival.
Earlier, a jubilant Lasso claimed victory and told supporters in Guayaquil that he would free political prisoners and heal divisions created by 10 years of iron-fisted rule by Correa. Before the election, he said he would evict WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange from the Ecuadorean embassy in London within 30 days of taking office while Moreno has said he will allow him to stay. .
With Ecuador's economy slated to shrink by 2.7 percent this year as oil prices remain low and with a majority of citizens stating in surveys that they are eager for change, analysts had been anticipating that Ecuadoreans would back Lasso and join the growing list of Latin American nations shifting to the right.
Yet in the final weeks of the race, Moreno had inched ahead in polls amid an aggressive campaign led by Correa to cast Lasso as a wealthy, out-of-touch politician who profited from the country's 1999 banking crisis.
Authorities deployed thousands of officers to beef up security at vote-processing centers around the country after a contentious first-round election on Feb. 19, in which Moreno fell just short of the required threshold to avoid a runoff.
The vote count dragged on for several days before the official results were announced, provoking accusations of fraud from both sides and angry protests that have injected an unusual degree of volatility in the election results.
Fearing a contested election, church leaders have appealed to both campaigns to accept whatever the results.
Lasso has put forward a pro-business agenda aimed at attracting foreign investment, reducing taxes and generating more jobs and in recent days drew comparisons between continuing a Correa-style government and going down the same path as socialist Venezuela.
Lasso has benefited from ongoing corruption allegations related to bribes Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht paid to officials in Correa's government and a $12 million contracting scandal at state-run PetroEcuador, but analysts say he has not connected with lower-income voters.
While Lasso has said he would evict Assange from the embassy where Ecuador granted him asylum in 2012 to prevent his extradition to Sweden, Moreno has said he could stay, increasing international interest in Sunday's vote.
QUITO (ECUADOR): Ruling party candidate Lenin Moreno was declared the winner of Ecuador's presidential runoff Sunday, delivering a major setback to a recent right-ward surge in Latin American politics and providing continuity to President Rafael Correa's "Citizens' Revolution." But his rival, conservative banker Guillermo Lasso, has yet to concede defeat and demanded a recount after three exit polls showed him winning, setting the stage for protests and charges of election fraud in this historically turbulent Andean nation. "We're not fools, nor are the Ecuadorean people," Lasso said on Twitter, hours after claiming victory based on the exit polls results. "We will act democratically and with respect for authorities but firmly to defend the will of the people." With more than 94 percent of voting acts counted, the National Electoral Council said Moreno beat Lasso 51 percent to 49 percent. Thousands of outraged Lasso supporters shouting "fraud" broke through metal barricades and almost reached the entrance of the electoral council's headquarters in Quito before being pushed back by police. A similar scuffle took place outside the electoral offices in Guayaquil, where Lasso voted. Moreno supporters celebrated and accused their opponents of trying to disavow results. The head of the electoral council, a favorite punching bag of the opposition, appealed for calm. "Ecuador deserves that its political actors show ethical responsibility in recognizing the democratic will expressed by the people at the voting booths," said National Electoral President Juan Pablo Pozo. "Not a single vote has been given or taken away from anyone." Three exit polls, including one that accurately predicted the first-round results, showed Lasso winning by as much as six percentage points. A quick count of voting acts by a respected local watchdog found there was a technical tie with a difference of less than 0.6 percentage points separating the two candidates. The group refrained from saying which candidate had the advantage. "The moral fraud of the right-wing won't go unpunished," Correa said on Twitter, referring to what Moreno called misleading exit polls that had "lied" to his rival. Earlier, a jubilant Lasso claimed victory and told supporters in Guayaquil that he would free political prisoners and heal divisions created by 10 years of iron-fisted rule by Correa. Before the election, he said he would evict WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange from the Ecuadorean embassy in London within 30 days of taking office while Moreno has said he will allow him to stay. . With Ecuador's economy slated to shrink by 2.7 percent this year as oil prices remain low and with a majority of citizens stating in surveys that they are eager for change, analysts had been anticipating that Ecuadoreans would back Lasso and join the growing list of Latin American nations shifting to the right. Yet in the final weeks of the race, Moreno had inched ahead in polls amid an aggressive campaign led by Correa to cast Lasso as a wealthy, out-of-touch politician who profited from the country's 1999 banking crisis. Authorities deployed thousands of officers to beef up security at vote-processing centers around the country after a contentious first-round election on Feb. 19, in which Moreno fell just short of the required threshold to avoid a runoff. The vote count dragged on for several days before the official results were announced, provoking accusations of fraud from both sides and angry protests that have injected an unusual degree of volatility in the election results. Fearing a contested election, church leaders have appealed to both campaigns to accept whatever the results. Lasso has put forward a pro-business agenda aimed at attracting foreign investment, reducing taxes and generating more jobs and in recent days drew comparisons between continuing a Correa-style government and going down the same path as socialist Venezuela. Lasso has benefited from ongoing corruption allegations related to bribes Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht paid to officials in Correa's government and a $12 million contracting scandal at state-run PetroEcuador, but analysts say he has not connected with lower-income voters. While Lasso has said he would evict Assange from the embassy where Ecuador granted him asylum in 2012 to prevent his extradition to Sweden, Moreno has said he could stay, increasing international interest in Sunday's vote.
By AFP
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Monday resumed its mass repatriation of Afghan refugees despite past accusations of coercion in the supposedly voluntary UN programme to return hundreds of thousands to a war-torn nation.
The operation, which saw 380,000 registered refugees sent back from Pakistan in 2016, was halted in December for a routine winter break.
"The UNHCR voluntary repatriation programme for registered Afghan refugees resumed today," Duniya Aslam Khan, a spokeswoman for the refugee aid body, told AFP.
The UN had cut its cash grant for returnees from $400 to $200, she confirmed, citing "financial constraints facing humanitarian operations worldwide".
The grant was doubled in 2016 and became a factor in the surge of returnees across the border to Afghanistan after July last year, the UN has said.
But fears of a crackdown by Pakistan on refugees, many of whom left Afghanistan decades ago, also contributed.
Human Rights Watch in a scathing report in February accused Pakistan of coercion, threats and abuse in the mass repatriation, and the UN of complicity.
The report said a combination of insecure legal status, the threat of deportation during winter and police abuses - including extortion, arbitrary detention and night raids - had left the Afghan refugees with no choice but to leave.
It also accused UNHCR of effectively encouraging the exodus by doubling the cash grant, and said the UN body should end the "fiction" that the returns are voluntary.
The UN has previously rejected the criticism.
"UNHCR advocates for all refugee returns from Pakistan to be voluntary, gradual and take place in conditions of safety and dignity," Khan said Monday.
The refugees are returning to an Afghanistan still torn apart by decades of war. They will compete for resources with a record half a million people who were internally displaced by the fighting in 2016, according to UN figures.
The mass migrations are draining local resources, especially in safer urban areas, officials have said.
Some 4.2 million Afghan refugees have returned to Afghanistan voluntarily under the UNHCR-funded Voluntary Repatriation programme since 2002.
But UNHCR and Pakistani officials have said some 1.34 million registered refugees still live in Pakistan.
A further half a million undocumented refugees are also estimated to still be in the country, making Pakistan one of the world's largest refugee-hosting nations.
Pakistan has extended a deadline for the refugees to leave its territory from March 2017 to December.
Some Afghan refugees have been sheltering in Pakistan for decades, first fleeing over the border after the Soviet invasion of 1979.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Monday resumed its mass repatriation of Afghan refugees despite past accusations of coercion in the supposedly voluntary UN programme to return hundreds of thousands to a war-torn nation. The operation, which saw 380,000 registered refugees sent back from Pakistan in 2016, was halted in December for a routine winter break. "The UNHCR voluntary repatriation programme for registered Afghan refugees resumed today," Duniya Aslam Khan, a spokeswoman for the refugee aid body, told AFP. The UN had cut its cash grant for returnees from $400 to $200, she confirmed, citing "financial constraints facing humanitarian operations worldwide". The grant was doubled in 2016 and became a factor in the surge of returnees across the border to Afghanistan after July last year, the UN has said. But fears of a crackdown by Pakistan on refugees, many of whom left Afghanistan decades ago, also contributed. Human Rights Watch in a scathing report in February accused Pakistan of coercion, threats and abuse in the mass repatriation, and the UN of complicity. The report said a combination of insecure legal status, the threat of deportation during winter and police abuses - including extortion, arbitrary detention and night raids - had left the Afghan refugees with no choice but to leave. It also accused UNHCR of effectively encouraging the exodus by doubling the cash grant, and said the UN body should end the "fiction" that the returns are voluntary. The UN has previously rejected the criticism. "UNHCR advocates for all refugee returns from Pakistan to be voluntary, gradual and take place in conditions of safety and dignity," Khan said Monday. The refugees are returning to an Afghanistan still torn apart by decades of war. They will compete for resources with a record half a million people who were internally displaced by the fighting in 2016, according to UN figures. The mass migrations are draining local resources, especially in safer urban areas, officials have said. Some 4.2 million Afghan refugees have returned to Afghanistan voluntarily under the UNHCR-funded Voluntary Repatriation programme since 2002. But UNHCR and Pakistani officials have said some 1.34 million registered refugees still live in Pakistan. A further half a million undocumented refugees are also estimated to still be in the country, making Pakistan one of the world's largest refugee-hosting nations. Pakistan has extended a deadline for the refugees to leave its territory from March 2017 to December. Some Afghan refugees have been sheltering in Pakistan for decades, first fleeing over the border after the Soviet invasion of 1979.
By Associated Press
WARSAW: Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman quickly rejected the Polish claims, which seemed likely to deepen already tense ties between Russia and NATO member Poland.
"The circumstances of this tragedy have been thoroughly studied, and we cannot agree with such conclusions," Dmitry Peskov said.
Poland's National Prosecutor Marek Kuczynski said there is "no doubt" that one of the causes of the crash was the behaviour of those in the control tower. Deputy prosecutor Marek Pasionek said the two air traffic controllers were guilty of "deliberately causing an air traffic catastrophe," and said the third Russian official present was guilty of "assisting in deliberately causing a catastrophe."
Polish investigators said they want to question the men and cannot reveal details about the evidence until that happens.
The crash on April 10, 2010, killed President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others, many of them top Polish state and military leaders. The disaster occurred when the Polish crew tried to land in heavy fog at a rarely used airport near Smolensk, Russia. The plane clipped a tree on approaching the runway and crashed.
It was the worst tragedy in modern Polish history and at first, the nation united in grief.
But the Smolensk tragedy has since become a highly divisive political issue, pitting liberal Poles against conservative supporters of Kaczynski and his twin brother Jaroslaw Kaczynski, a former prime minister who now heads the populist ruling Law and Justice party.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski has suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Polish prime minister at the time, Donald Tusk, now a top European Union leader, bear guilt for the tragedy.
Kaczynski and his allies have made a range of allegations, at times suggesting that there was an explosive device on board that brought the plane down or that Putin ordered the assassination of the Polish leader, who was deeply critical of Russia.
Other suggestions have included an unproven claim that the Russians produced fake fog to disorient the pilots.
"The Polish authorities continue to use the tragedy to spread political accounts in their country," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Monday. "We consider this tactic to be unpromising, damaging Russian-Polish relations, which are already not in the best condition."
Some Polish officials have also alleged that Tusk, as prime minister, failed to provide adequate security for the presidential flight, did not have the tragedy properly investigated and neglected to get back the wreckage or flight recorders, which remain in Russia almost seven years later.
Polish Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz sent a note to military prosecutors last month accusing Tusk of committing the crime of diplomatic treason, alleging he worked with Putin to harm Poland's interests after the crash.
Tusk strongly denies those claims and government critics believe Kaczynski and his nationalistic supporters have encouraged conspiracy theories to win political points with voters sceptical of Russia and pro-European liberals like Tusk.
Some critics said they consider allegations against the Russians as a sign that a commission headed by Macierewicz that is investigating the tragedy has not uncovered anything new.
There were two major investigations into the crash separately carried out by Poland and Russia.
The Polish investigation blamed the disaster on a combination of factors, including bad weather and errors made by a pilot who was not adequately trained on the plane he was flying, a Tupolev-154. That probe also said Russian air traffic controllers gave incorrect and confusing landing instructions to pilots but it stopped short of alleging intentional wrongdoing.
A Russian investigation at the time put all blame on the Polish side, finding no fault with the Russian air traffic controllers.
WARSAW: Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman quickly rejected the Polish claims, which seemed likely to deepen already tense ties between Russia and NATO member Poland. "The circumstances of this tragedy have been thoroughly studied, and we cannot agree with such conclusions," Dmitry Peskov said. Poland's National Prosecutor Marek Kuczynski said there is "no doubt" that one of the causes of the crash was the behaviour of those in the control tower. Deputy prosecutor Marek Pasionek said the two air traffic controllers were guilty of "deliberately causing an air traffic catastrophe," and said the third Russian official present was guilty of "assisting in deliberately causing a catastrophe." Polish investigators said they want to question the men and cannot reveal details about the evidence until that happens. The crash on April 10, 2010, killed President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others, many of them top Polish state and military leaders. The disaster occurred when the Polish crew tried to land in heavy fog at a rarely used airport near Smolensk, Russia. The plane clipped a tree on approaching the runway and crashed. It was the worst tragedy in modern Polish history and at first, the nation united in grief. But the Smolensk tragedy has since become a highly divisive political issue, pitting liberal Poles against conservative supporters of Kaczynski and his twin brother Jaroslaw Kaczynski, a former prime minister who now heads the populist ruling Law and Justice party. Jaroslaw Kaczynski has suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Polish prime minister at the time, Donald Tusk, now a top European Union leader, bear guilt for the tragedy. Kaczynski and his allies have made a range of allegations, at times suggesting that there was an explosive device on board that brought the plane down or that Putin ordered the assassination of the Polish leader, who was deeply critical of Russia. Other suggestions have included an unproven claim that the Russians produced fake fog to disorient the pilots. "The Polish authorities continue to use the tragedy to spread political accounts in their country," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Monday. "We consider this tactic to be unpromising, damaging Russian-Polish relations, which are already not in the best condition." Some Polish officials have also alleged that Tusk, as prime minister, failed to provide adequate security for the presidential flight, did not have the tragedy properly investigated and neglected to get back the wreckage or flight recorders, which remain in Russia almost seven years later. Polish Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz sent a note to military prosecutors last month accusing Tusk of committing the crime of diplomatic treason, alleging he worked with Putin to harm Poland's interests after the crash. Tusk strongly denies those claims and government critics believe Kaczynski and his nationalistic supporters have encouraged conspiracy theories to win political points with voters sceptical of Russia and pro-European liberals like Tusk. Some critics said they consider allegations against the Russians as a sign that a commission headed by Macierewicz that is investigating the tragedy has not uncovered anything new. There were two major investigations into the crash separately carried out by Poland and Russia. The Polish investigation blamed the disaster on a combination of factors, including bad weather and errors made by a pilot who was not adequately trained on the plane he was flying, a Tupolev-154. That probe also said Russian air traffic controllers gave incorrect and confusing landing instructions to pilots but it stopped short of alleging intentional wrongdoing. A Russian investigation at the time put all blame on the Polish side, finding no fault with the Russian air traffic controllers.
By PTI
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan today said the conflict in Afghanistan can only be resolved through Afghan-led political settlement and not by military means. Pakistan Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said terrorism was the common enemy both countries were facing.
He called for close cooperation and meaningful engagement between the two governments in the areas of security, counter-terrorism and border management for preventing cross-border movement of terrorist groups, a Foreign Office statement said.
"Reiterating Pakistan's desire for lasting peace in Afghanistan, Adviser Sartaj Aziz said that there was no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan and the focus should be on political settlement through an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led peace process," it said.
Highlighting serious efforts made by Pakistan for peace talks between Afghan government and Taliban, Aziz said cooperation between the two countries was important for promoting peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan. He said the relations between the "two brotherly countries" were rooted in common history, religion, culture and people to people ties.
He said just like past, Afghanistan and Pakistan also shared their destiny. "It was, therefore, important that the two countries closely work together for dealing with the common challenges and pursue the welfare and progress of the people," he said while interacting with a 14-member delegation of the Afghan media personnel.
The delegation is on a week-long visit to Pakistan starting yesterday for interaction with government, parliamentary and civil society institutions. Meanwhile, Afghan Ambassador Hazrat Omer Zakhilwal called on Special Assistant to the Prime Minister for Foreign Affairs (SAPM) Syed Tariq Fatemi, according to the office.
Fatemi stressed the importance of a peaceful, politically negotiated settlement as the best solution to the Afghan conflict. He also highlighted the serious efforts undertaken by Pakistan for facilitating an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led peace process. Fatemi also emphasised that terrorism was a common threat that required cooperation between the two countries for the elimination of the menace.
Recalling the recent terrorist attacks in Pakistan carried by Jamatul Ahrar (JuA) and Tehrek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) from the Afghan soil, he underlined the need for effective border management for preventing cross-border movement of terrorists.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan today said the conflict in Afghanistan can only be resolved through Afghan-led political settlement and not by military means. Pakistan Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said terrorism was the common enemy both countries were facing. He called for close cooperation and meaningful engagement between the two governments in the areas of security, counter-terrorism and border management for preventing cross-border movement of terrorist groups, a Foreign Office statement said. "Reiterating Pakistan's desire for lasting peace in Afghanistan, Adviser Sartaj Aziz said that there was no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan and the focus should be on political settlement through an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led peace process," it said. Highlighting serious efforts made by Pakistan for peace talks between Afghan government and Taliban, Aziz said cooperation between the two countries was important for promoting peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan. He said the relations between the "two brotherly countries" were rooted in common history, religion, culture and people to people ties. He said just like past, Afghanistan and Pakistan also shared their destiny. "It was, therefore, important that the two countries closely work together for dealing with the common challenges and pursue the welfare and progress of the people," he said while interacting with a 14-member delegation of the Afghan media personnel. The delegation is on a week-long visit to Pakistan starting yesterday for interaction with government, parliamentary and civil society institutions. Meanwhile, Afghan Ambassador Hazrat Omer Zakhilwal called on Special Assistant to the Prime Minister for Foreign Affairs (SAPM) Syed Tariq Fatemi, according to the office. Fatemi stressed the importance of a peaceful, politically negotiated settlement as the best solution to the Afghan conflict. He also highlighted the serious efforts undertaken by Pakistan for facilitating an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led peace process. Fatemi also emphasised that terrorism was a common threat that required cooperation between the two countries for the elimination of the menace. Recalling the recent terrorist attacks in Pakistan carried by Jamatul Ahrar (JuA) and Tehrek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) from the Afghan soil, he underlined the need for effective border management for preventing cross-border movement of terrorists.
By PTI
POTOMAC: President Donald Trump says that the United States is prepared to act alone if China does not take a tougher stand against North Korea's nuclear program. Trump's comments in an interview with the Financial Times come just days before he is set to host Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Mar-a-Lago estate in South Florida.
The two are expected to discuss a number of issues, including North Korea, trade and territorial disputes in the South China Sea during their meeting on Thursday and Friday. "Yes, we will talk about North Korea," Trump told the newspaper for a story that appeared yesterday on its website. "And China has great influence over North Korea.
And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they won't. And if they do that will be very good for China, and if they don't it won't be good for anyone." Trump said trade was the incentive for China to work with the United States. Still, he said the United States could "totally" handle the situation in North Korea without China's help.
Asked how he would tackle North Korea, Trump said: "I'm not going to tell you. You know, I am not the United States of the past where we tell you where we are going to hit in the Middle East." While China provides diplomatic and economic support to its neighbor, it claims that its influence over Kim Jong Un's government is limited. The relationship between the United States and China has been uncertain since Trump's election.
During his campaign he accused China of unfair trade practices and threatened to raise import taxes on Chinese goods and declare Beijing a currency manipulator, though it is unclear whether Trump will follow through with either threat. Trump told the newspaper that he doesn't "want to talk about tariffs yet, perhaps the next time we meet."
Trump's ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, also offered tough talk on China, saying on ABC's "This Week" that the US is pressing China to take a firmer stand regarding North Korea's nuclear program. UN resolutions have failed so far to deter North Korea from conducting nuclear and missile tests. Last year, the North conducted two nuclear tests and two dozen tests of ballistic missiles.
POTOMAC: President Donald Trump says that the United States is prepared to act alone if China does not take a tougher stand against North Korea's nuclear program. Trump's comments in an interview with the Financial Times come just days before he is set to host Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Mar-a-Lago estate in South Florida. The two are expected to discuss a number of issues, including North Korea, trade and territorial disputes in the South China Sea during their meeting on Thursday and Friday. "Yes, we will talk about North Korea," Trump told the newspaper for a story that appeared yesterday on its website. "And China has great influence over North Korea. And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they won't. And if they do that will be very good for China, and if they don't it won't be good for anyone." Trump said trade was the incentive for China to work with the United States. Still, he said the United States could "totally" handle the situation in North Korea without China's help. Asked how he would tackle North Korea, Trump said: "I'm not going to tell you. You know, I am not the United States of the past where we tell you where we are going to hit in the Middle East." While China provides diplomatic and economic support to its neighbor, it claims that its influence over Kim Jong Un's government is limited. The relationship between the United States and China has been uncertain since Trump's election. During his campaign he accused China of unfair trade practices and threatened to raise import taxes on Chinese goods and declare Beijing a currency manipulator, though it is unclear whether Trump will follow through with either threat. Trump told the newspaper that he doesn't "want to talk about tariffs yet, perhaps the next time we meet." Trump's ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, also offered tough talk on China, saying on ABC's "This Week" that the US is pressing China to take a firmer stand regarding North Korea's nuclear program. UN resolutions have failed so far to deter North Korea from conducting nuclear and missile tests. Last year, the North conducted two nuclear tests and two dozen tests of ballistic missiles.
By AFP
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump meets his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Washington on Monday, welcoming a strongman leader who has faced harsh criticism for his human rights record.
For Sisi, the first foreign leader to congratulate Trump following his surprise election victory, the Oval Office meeting will have special meaning -- he was never invited to the White House by former president Barack Obama.
The thorny issue of the Palestinian-Israeli peace process is expected to be on the agenda as is the fight against the Islamic State jihadist group.
Egypt and Jordan are the only two Arab states to have signed peace treaties with Israel and would likely be considered key players in any renewed peace effort.
Trump has sent mixed signals over how he will address peace process, deadlocked since April 2014.
He broke with decades of US policy during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in February when he declared that he was not bound to a two-state solution, meaning an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.
Trump said he'd be open to a single state if it meant peace. But he also called on Israel to "hold back on settlements for a little bit."
MORE DISCREET
The former New York property tycoon and the former Egyptian army general, who don't plan to hold a joint press conference, previously met in September when the campaign was in full swing.
Trump at the time called Sisi a "fantastic guy."
Their meeting Monday will give valuable insight on how the Trump White House plans to address the issue of human rights.
A senior administration official said in a briefing that the topic will be handled in a "private, more discreet way."
"We believe it's the most effective way to advance those issues to a favorable outcome."
This stance was slammed by rights groups.
"Inviting al-Sisi for an official visit to Washington as tens of thousands of Egyptians rot in jail and when torture is again the order of the day is a strange way to build a stable strategic relationship," said Sarah Margon, Washington director of Human Rights Watch.
The Obama administration froze military aid to Egypt after the 2013 ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi -- led by Sisi, who was defense minister at the time -- and a bloody crackdown on his supporters.
But Egypt's key role as the most populous and best armed Arab nation meant that the aid was fully reinstated in 2015.
The United States gives $1.5 billion annually in aid to Egypt, including $1.3 billion in military aid.
The White House, which recently unveiled a budget that proposes drastic cuts in international aid, has pledged to maintain a "strong and sufficient" level of support for Egypt, without committing to any specific figure.
The new Republican administration is also considering whether to designate Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood group as a terror organization.
Trump "is interested in hearing president al-Sisi's views on the Muslim Brotherhood issue," the senior administration official said.
"We, along with a number of countries, have some concerns about various activities that the Muslim Brotherhood has conducted in the region. But that's going to be a discussion that will unfold between us and Egypt."
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump meets his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Washington on Monday, welcoming a strongman leader who has faced harsh criticism for his human rights record. For Sisi, the first foreign leader to congratulate Trump following his surprise election victory, the Oval Office meeting will have special meaning -- he was never invited to the White House by former president Barack Obama. The thorny issue of the Palestinian-Israeli peace process is expected to be on the agenda as is the fight against the Islamic State jihadist group. Egypt and Jordan are the only two Arab states to have signed peace treaties with Israel and would likely be considered key players in any renewed peace effort. Trump has sent mixed signals over how he will address peace process, deadlocked since April 2014. He broke with decades of US policy during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in February when he declared that he was not bound to a two-state solution, meaning an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. Trump said he'd be open to a single state if it meant peace. But he also called on Israel to "hold back on settlements for a little bit." MORE DISCREET The former New York property tycoon and the former Egyptian army general, who don't plan to hold a joint press conference, previously met in September when the campaign was in full swing. Trump at the time called Sisi a "fantastic guy." Their meeting Monday will give valuable insight on how the Trump White House plans to address the issue of human rights. A senior administration official said in a briefing that the topic will be handled in a "private, more discreet way." "We believe it's the most effective way to advance those issues to a favorable outcome." This stance was slammed by rights groups. "Inviting al-Sisi for an official visit to Washington as tens of thousands of Egyptians rot in jail and when torture is again the order of the day is a strange way to build a stable strategic relationship," said Sarah Margon, Washington director of Human Rights Watch. The Obama administration froze military aid to Egypt after the 2013 ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi -- led by Sisi, who was defense minister at the time -- and a bloody crackdown on his supporters. But Egypt's key role as the most populous and best armed Arab nation meant that the aid was fully reinstated in 2015. The United States gives $1.5 billion annually in aid to Egypt, including $1.3 billion in military aid. The White House, which recently unveiled a budget that proposes drastic cuts in international aid, has pledged to maintain a "strong and sufficient" level of support for Egypt, without committing to any specific figure. The new Republican administration is also considering whether to designate Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood group as a terror organization. Trump "is interested in hearing president al-Sisi's views on the Muslim Brotherhood issue," the senior administration official said. "We, along with a number of countries, have some concerns about various activities that the Muslim Brotherhood has conducted in the region. But that's going to be a discussion that will unfold between us and Egypt."
By PTI
NICOSIA: Rival Cypriot leaders failed to set a date to restart stalled peace talks on reunifying the island after meeting for dinner in the UN-controlled buffer zone, the United Nations said. The dinner was hosted by UN envoy Espen Barth Eide for Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci yesterday, who met for the first time since talks were suspended in February.
A UN statement issued afterwards said more "groundwork" needed to be done after the two leaders "had an open and constructive exchange about the challenges experienced over the last months". It said the pair "exchanged ideas about the way ahead". "As the two leaders will be abroad in the coming days... Mr Eide, will be continuing his interaction with them in order to lay the groundwork for the resumption of the negotiations as soon as possible," said the statement.
The four-hour dinner was held at the Ledra Palace Hotel in the buffer zone in the divided capital, Nicosia. Outside the venue, scores of Greek and Turkish Cypriots chanted for a "solution now". Anastasiades and Akinci have been engaged in fragile peace talks since May 2015 that observers saw as the best chance in years to reunify the island.
But the UN-backed process came to a standstill in February in a row over Greek Cypriot schools marking the anniversary of an unofficial 1950 referendum supporting union with Greece. Akinci suspended his participation over the Cyprus parliament's approval of a move for Greek Cypriot schools to commemorate the poll. Since the bill passed, a climate of trust between the sides has deteriorated, with each blaming the other for the impasse. But MPs are expected to amend the bill, allowing the education minister, rather than parliament, to decide on such issues.
Much of the progress in recent talks was based on the strong personal rapport between Anastasiades and Akinci, leader of the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. And there will be obstacles in place even when the negotiations resume as the leaders are still far apart on core issues such as power sharing, territorial adjustments and property rights.
Also added in to the mix is Greek Cypriot presidential elections next February and the Republic's search for oil and gas -- new drills are expected in June -- which Ankara wants to see stopped until peace talks have reached an outcome. The eastern Mediterranean island has been divided since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded the northern third in response to an Athens-inspired coup seeking Enosis, the term for political union between Greece and Cyprus.
After a failed referendum on a UN peace plan in 2004, the Cyprus Republic now headed by President Anastasiades joined the European Union as a divided country. The self-declared republic in the Turkish-held north is recognized only by Turkey.
NICOSIA: Rival Cypriot leaders failed to set a date to restart stalled peace talks on reunifying the island after meeting for dinner in the UN-controlled buffer zone, the United Nations said. The dinner was hosted by UN envoy Espen Barth Eide for Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci yesterday, who met for the first time since talks were suspended in February. A UN statement issued afterwards said more "groundwork" needed to be done after the two leaders "had an open and constructive exchange about the challenges experienced over the last months". It said the pair "exchanged ideas about the way ahead". "As the two leaders will be abroad in the coming days... Mr Eide, will be continuing his interaction with them in order to lay the groundwork for the resumption of the negotiations as soon as possible," said the statement. The four-hour dinner was held at the Ledra Palace Hotel in the buffer zone in the divided capital, Nicosia. Outside the venue, scores of Greek and Turkish Cypriots chanted for a "solution now". Anastasiades and Akinci have been engaged in fragile peace talks since May 2015 that observers saw as the best chance in years to reunify the island. But the UN-backed process came to a standstill in February in a row over Greek Cypriot schools marking the anniversary of an unofficial 1950 referendum supporting union with Greece. Akinci suspended his participation over the Cyprus parliament's approval of a move for Greek Cypriot schools to commemorate the poll. Since the bill passed, a climate of trust between the sides has deteriorated, with each blaming the other for the impasse. But MPs are expected to amend the bill, allowing the education minister, rather than parliament, to decide on such issues. Much of the progress in recent talks was based on the strong personal rapport between Anastasiades and Akinci, leader of the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. And there will be obstacles in place even when the negotiations resume as the leaders are still far apart on core issues such as power sharing, territorial adjustments and property rights. Also added in to the mix is Greek Cypriot presidential elections next February and the Republic's search for oil and gas -- new drills are expected in June -- which Ankara wants to see stopped until peace talks have reached an outcome. The eastern Mediterranean island has been divided since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded the northern third in response to an Athens-inspired coup seeking Enosis, the term for political union between Greece and Cyprus. After a failed referendum on a UN peace plan in 2004, the Cyprus Republic now headed by President Anastasiades joined the European Union as a divided country. The self-declared republic in the Turkish-held north is recognized only by Turkey.
By AFP
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner was in Iraq today with the top US military officer to meet with Iraqi leaders and review the fight against Islamic State, a military spokesman has said.
General Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, asked Kushner and White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert to accompany him on the trip, Navy Captain Greg Hicks said in an emailed statement to AFP.
"General Dunford invited Mr Kushner and Mr Bossert to meet with Iraqi leaders, senior US advisors, and visit with US forces in the field to receive an update on the status of the counter-ISIS campaign in Iraq and Syria," Hicks said, using an alternate acronym for the Islamic State group.
"As well as receiving briefings and updates, Kushner is travelling on behalf of the president to express the president's support and commitment to the government of Iraq and US personnel currently engaged in the campaign," he said.
"Mr Bossert is travelling in his role as assistant to the president and will participate in meetings and briefings to reinforce the strong US-Iraqi partnership to defeat ISIS," he added. The United States is leading an international coalition fighting IS in Iraq and Syria.
Coalition-backed Iraqi forces have been engaged in a grinding battle for west Mosul since last month, prompting more than 200,000 civilians to flee the northern city, Iraq's second largest. Although Kushner has no previous experience in government, he has become one of the most powerful men in Washington as a trusted adviser to the president with a broad portfolio of responsibilities.
Valued by Trump for his discretion and loyalty, the baby-faced 36-year-old is officially a White House senior adviser with far-reaching influence over domestic and foreign policy. His wife Ivanka, the 35-year-old first daughter, also plays a key role in advising her father.
A regular presence in the White House since Trump's election, she officially became assistant to the president last week amid accusations about possible conflicts of interest involving the couple's business interests, worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner was in Iraq today with the top US military officer to meet with Iraqi leaders and review the fight against Islamic State, a military spokesman has said. General Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, asked Kushner and White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert to accompany him on the trip, Navy Captain Greg Hicks said in an emailed statement to AFP. "General Dunford invited Mr Kushner and Mr Bossert to meet with Iraqi leaders, senior US advisors, and visit with US forces in the field to receive an update on the status of the counter-ISIS campaign in Iraq and Syria," Hicks said, using an alternate acronym for the Islamic State group. "As well as receiving briefings and updates, Kushner is travelling on behalf of the president to express the president's support and commitment to the government of Iraq and US personnel currently engaged in the campaign," he said. window.__ventunoplayer = window.__ventunoplayer||[]; window.__ventunoplayer.push({video_key: 'OTE1NjQ1fHw4fHw2fHwxLDIsMQ==', holder_id: 'vt-video-player', player_type: 'vp', width:'100%', ratio:'4:3'}); "Mr Bossert is travelling in his role as assistant to the president and will participate in meetings and briefings to reinforce the strong US-Iraqi partnership to defeat ISIS," he added. The United States is leading an international coalition fighting IS in Iraq and Syria. Coalition-backed Iraqi forces have been engaged in a grinding battle for west Mosul since last month, prompting more than 200,000 civilians to flee the northern city, Iraq's second largest. Although Kushner has no previous experience in government, he has become one of the most powerful men in Washington as a trusted adviser to the president with a broad portfolio of responsibilities. Valued by Trump for his discretion and loyalty, the baby-faced 36-year-old is officially a White House senior adviser with far-reaching influence over domestic and foreign policy. His wife Ivanka, the 35-year-old first daughter, also plays a key role in advising her father. A regular presence in the White House since Trump's election, she officially became assistant to the president last week amid accusations about possible conflicts of interest involving the couple's business interests, worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
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'Illegal' Hurriyat doesn't have right to call for Kashmir Bandh: RSS on PM's visit
Patna (Bihar) , Apr. 1 : 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.
(Posted on 01 April 2017, 1667893451 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/more-news.php (Posted on 01 April 2017, 1667893451 173O212O198O32)
"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.
Centre releases Rs 2014.45 crore as assistance for Tamil Nadu
New Delhi , Apr. 1 : The Centre on released an amount of Rs 2014.45 crore as Central Assistance for Tamil Nadu yesterday.
(Posted on 01 April 2017, 1667893452 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/tamil-nadu-news.php (Posted on 01 April 2017, 1667893452 173O212O198O32)
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had chaired a High Level Committee meeting for the above assistance to Tamil Nadu, on March 23rd.The assistance to Tamil Nadu includes Rs 1748.28 crore for drought, Rs 264.11 crore for cyclonic storm 'Vardha' and Rs. 2.06 crore under National Rural Drinking Water Programme.The Government of Tamil Nadu had submitted a memoranda seeking central assistance in the wake of drought and cyclonic storm 'Vardha' -2016 in the state.The Government of India had sent Inter-Ministerial Central Team to Tamil Nadu to assess the situation.On the recommendations of the IMCT and the Sub Committee of the National Executive Committee, the HLC had approved the above central assistance.
MP EVM tampering row: Akhilesh demands probe, says public faith can't be misused
Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) , Apr. 1 : 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.
(Posted on 01 April 2017, 1667893452 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/more-news.php (Posted on 01 April 2017, 1667893452 173O212O198O32)
"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.
President Mukherjee hails India as 'the land of tolerance'
Kolkata (West Bengal) , Apr. 2 : Dubbing the importance of free thinking and debate in India, President Pranab Mukherjee asserted that India's strength is its ability to manage diversity and forge unity in divergence.
(Posted on 02 April 2017, 1667893453 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/india-news.php (Posted on 02 April 2017, 1667893453 173O212O198O32)
Addressing the 52nd Annual Convocation of Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, West Bengal, here on Saturday, President Mukherjee said that Indians can be termed as argumentative, but not intolerant.Lauding the efforts of educational institutions in the country towards becoming a confluence of civilisational thoughts and ideas, President Mukherjee said that the atmosphere in our institutions should be free from both physical as well as mental violence.Quoting Mahatma Gandhi in his address, he 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."He also urged that those institutions of higher learning in India, should find their place in the top global rankings as per rating agencies.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 Nehru as national institutions of excellence in engineering and management education that would mould high caliber of human capital.
Accidental blast in French carnival injures 18
New York [U.S.A.], Apr. 2 : Around 18 people were injured after a fireworks display gone off into the crowd at a carnival near Paris on Saturday.
(Posted on 02 April 2017, 1667893453 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/world-news.php (Posted on 02 April 2017, 1667893453 173O212O198O32)
As per the Fox News, five of the injured people were rushed to the hospital, which included one child.The shocking incident took place in Villepinte, in the French capital's northern suburbs, when a wooden guy-style figure dubbed as Mr Carnival suddenly exploded.The Paris fire brigade spokesperson, Nathalie Crespin informed that number of people have suffered facial injuries.She further said that five has been hospitalised, but their lives are not in danger.
Kejriwal suffers from 'Modi-phobia': BJP
New Delhi , April. 2 : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday hit back at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for his unwarranted rant directed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo suffers from Modi-phobia.
(Posted on 02 April 2017, 1667893454 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/more-news.php (Posted on 02 April 2017, 1667893454 173O212O198O32)
BJP MLA Vijender Gupta taunted Kejriwal for pointing fingers at the EVMs."When Arvind Kejriwal won 67 seats in the 2014 Delhi elections, we did not complain about the EVMs. I think he is suffering from Modi phobia," he told ANI.The BJP MLA also alleged that no action has been taken against Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain, who is involved in Hawala case.Citing failures of the AAP Government, Gupta asserted that the citizens of Delhi are still facing power shortage problems despite firm promises made by Kejriwal to improve the condition of electricity."The citizens of Delhi are still suffering because of power shortage. The AAP Government has used 97 crores for publicity outside Delhi," he added.The BJP leader's outburst came a day after Kejriwal told a group of men, who tried disrupting his rally by raising slogans in support of Prime Minister Modi, that shouting "Modi, Modi" will not satiate your hunger.Kejriwal said that if doing so would have resulted in the abolition of house tax, the key poll promise of AAP for the upcoming municipal polls, then even "I would shout Modi, Modi".In his address at north east Delhi's Ghonda, Kejriwal repeated his allegation that the BJP and the Congress were "conspiring" to take over the departments of water and power to effect a tariff hike in these areas.
Jaitley to chair SASEC Finance Ministers' meeting tomorrow
New Delhi (India), Apr. 2 : Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will chair the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) Finance Ministers' meeting here on Monday.
(Posted on 02 April 2017, 1667893455 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/more-news.php (Posted on 02 April 2017, 1667893455 173O212O198O32)
The meeting to be held in Shahjehan Hall, Taj Palace Hotel, will be attended by the seven Finance Ministers from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal and Sri Lanka besides officials from these countries and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).As a part of the SASEC initiative, the member countries have come up with SASEC Vision for the economic growth of the sub-region, which will be launched by Jaitley during the meeting. It will be followed by consideration of the Joint Ministerial statement.The event will be a unique opportunity for the member countries to discuss and exchange ideas and strive to foster better cooperation in the sub-region. Myanmar has joined the SASEC programme as its seventh member and will be officially welcomed during the event.Shaktikanta Das, Secretary Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance of India, will deliver the welcome address at the event.The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is supporting SASEC in this endeavor. The Vice President of ADB will also address the gathering on this occasion.
BJP using issue of cow protection for consolidating its Hindutva vote-bank: CPI (M)
New Delhi , Apr. 2 : After BJP's candidate for the Malappuram Lok Sabha by-poll, N Sree Prakash, promised supply of 'good beef' in the constituency if elected, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Sunday alleged that the saffron party was using its old tactics of consolidating the Hindutva vote-bank.
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"It is very obvious that the BJP is using the old issue of cow protection as an issue for its communal polarization amongst the people and for consolidating its Hindutva vote-bank. All this is being done for vote bank politics and in this process innocent lives of Dalits of Muslims are being lost because of this aggressive communal polarization," CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury told ANI.He said the BJP by doing this is destroying the country's communal harmony."Therefore, what it says in Kerala and what it says in northeast, what it says in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh are completely opposite to each other.And in this process, they are destroying the harmony of the country," he added.Sree Prakash had earlier said he will ensure that the slaughter houses in the district make available quality meat to all households and restaurants."Within limits of law, I will ensure clean slaughter houses and ensure quality beef," Prakash said.Following Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's order to close down illegal slaughterhouses, several states including as many as five of the BJP-ruled states have followed in for the closure of illegal abattoirs across the country., who is contesting the by-elections to Malappuram Lok Sabha seat, said "Within limits of law, I will ensure clean slaughter houses and ensure quality beef."Following Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's order to close down illegal slaughterhouses, several states including as many as five of the BJP-ruled states have followed in for the closure of illegal abattoirs across the country.
Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner travels to Iraq
New York [U.S.], Apr. 3 : White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law, went to Iraq this weekend and is likely to be back in the United States early this week.
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This is his first visit to Iraq since assuming a portfolio of foreign affairs in the Trump Government.Kushner was invited by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Joseph Dunford, and is traveling with him, sources told CNN.However, it is still not clear as to what is on his itinerary.Meanwhile, Kushner is expected to have a major role in the meetings later this week between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.Not only is Kushner married to the President's daughter Ivanka, but he is also one of his most influential advisers.After taking the office on January 20th, Trump swore on planning out a new strategy to defeat the Islamic State that seized major portions of Iraq and Syria in 2014.
33 Indians rescued from ISIS held Iraq return home
New Delhi , Apr.3, ANI: 33 Indians who were stuck in ISIS captured Erbil in Iraq, arrived in India on Monday after being rescued by the Indian government.
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The rescued people claimed that they were duped by their agent with the promise of employment in Iraq and further informed that many people like them are still stranded there."Earlier 35 people were rescued and came back to India and this time we are 33. The agent deceived us by promising for giving jobs and took us to Iraq. More people like us are still there," said a rescued person.They arrived at Indira Gandhi Airport (IGI) after efforts by both state and central government.Earlier also, 11 nurses hailing from Kerala have been safely evacuated from conflict hit city Kirkuk in Iraq.Meanwhile, an Indian Catholic priest Father Tom was abducted by ISIS some months ago in Yemen and the India government is still trying very hard to get him back to India.
JK: Pakistan troops violates ceasefire in Poonch, India retaliates
Poonch (Jammu and Kashmir) , Apr. 4 : The Pakistani troops on Monday violated ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, prompting the Army to retaliate.
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Pakistani Army initiated indiscriminate firing of small arms, automatics and mortars at 9:30 a.m. on the Indian Army posts.The Indian Army posts are retaliating strongly and effectively and the firing is presently on.No casualties have been reported so far in the incident. This is the second ceasefire violation in less than 24 hours.A civilian was injured when Pakistan violated ceasefire along the LoC on Sunday.This comes after India had on March 9 summoned the Deputy High Commissioner of Pakistan and expressed deep concern over continued ceasefire violations in Jammu and Kashmir.
Oman Foreign Affairs Minister meets PM Modi
New Delhi , Apr. 3 : , Apr. 3 : Foreign Affairs Minister of Oman Yousuf Bin Alawi Bin Abdullah met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Monday.
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Abdullah earlier in the day, Abdullah held a delegation-level talks with his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj.The two ministers discussed bilateral and regional issues in the meeting, the details of which were not known immediately."Meeting a close partner from Muscat. EAM @SushmaSwaraj met HE Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, Oman's Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs," tweeted Gopal Baglay, Spokesman of India's foreign ministry.Abdullah arrived in the Indian capital of New Delhi last night.Abdullah had earlier visited India in February and June 2014 for which Swaraj paid a return visit to the Sultanate of Oman from 17-18 February 2015.India has vital stakes in the security and stability of the Gulf region which hosts about 7 million Indians.Also, the Gulf countries are the source of two-third of India's crude oil requirements and form the largest trading regional block for India accounting for about a quarter of our global trade.Recently, the two countries held 14-day joint military exercise in northern Himachal Pradesh state of India.
Rashtrapati Bhawan to host summit on promoting smart village for inclusive growth
New Delhi , Apr. 3 : The Rashtrapati Bhawan will host a summit on 'Mentoring Grassroots Entrepreneurs in Smart Grams for Inclusive Growth on April 5.
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The summit is being organized by the Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust (BYST), as part of its Silver Jubilee Celebrations with the aim of supporting employability initiatives in the country and encouraging youth to take up entrepreneurship.The event will bring together industry veterans, mentors from different fields and BYST's entrepreneurs, to share views on achieving sustainable employability.The day-long summit will have six sessions including- setting a national agenda for Youth entrepreneurship for inclusive growth; Gurukul Diaries: In conversation with a Mentor; Promoting 'Smart Grampreneurs'; "Entrepreneurship: How it can power urban development"; 'Guftgu' - A freewheeling dialogue on mentoring and a special plenary with the President Pranab Mukherjee.Union Ministers Venkaiah Naidu, Suresh Prabhu and Rajiv Pratap Rudy will also address the summit.
Summary of the Joint Ministerial Statement delivered by Arun Jaitley
New Delhi, April 3: Following is the text of Summary of the Joint Ministerial Statement delivered by the Union Minister of Finance of India Shri Arun Jaitley, who chaired the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) Finance Ministers' meeting today:
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"In the Joint Ministerial Statement (JMS), we recall the SASEC Program's journey, from its establishment in 2001 to the present. Now comprising seven members, we welcome Myanmar as the newest member, to play a key role in linking South Asia with Southeast and East Asia.We recall the gains of the program - in terms of improved transport connectivity, better trade facilitation, and enhanced electricity trade and energy security. The recently adopted SASEC Operational Plan, 2016-2025, further sharpens the strategies and priorities in these areas and for economic corridor development.Our collective Vision is for SASEC to power Asia in the 21st Century, sustaining growth that synergizes the subregion's natural resources, industry and infrastructure potentials through enhanced cooperation. This can possibly generate incremental $70 billion GDP and 20 million employment annually by 2025.We direct the SASEC Nodal Officials to develop a Road Map to implement the Vision in a participatory and consultative manner. We note recent hard and soft initiatives in support of the Vision, the pursuit of which will be a means to achieve our Sustainable Development Goals - spreading the benefits of growth and delivering better social services to remote and poor communities. Our unwavering commitment to SASEC cooperation will help us realize our Vision of powering Asia in the 21st century.We recognize the important role of the Asian Development Bank in supporting SASEC, and look forward to strengthening this partnership, as well as improving our engagement with other regional programs such as BIMSTEC, ASEAN and SAARC.On behalf of the Finance Ministers and Heads of Delegations present here today, I hereby declare the Joint Ministerial Statement earlier considered, as formally adopted by this Meeting of the Honorable Ministers of Finance of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, and Heads of Delegations of Maldives and Myanmar, held here in New Delhi, India, on this Monday, the 3rd of April 2017."
In the 2016 annual report of Resilience Center of Stockholm University, an article about a meeting on "Sustainable Seafood Production and Better Management of The Oceans" that was held on November 11-13 in Soneva Fushi resort of Maldives and about several dialogues was published. At that meeting, Crown Princess Victoria established dialogue with the strongest actors of the world in seafood sector and received several promises regarding sustainable seafood production and better management of the oceans. The follow-up meeting will be held this year in Stockholm. The Crown Princess is the ambassador of UN Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
A new restaurant has plans to move into the former Carmella's Pizzeria
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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.
People with type 2 diabetes who are "night owls" and prefer the evening for activity report having more symptoms of depression than those who are early to bed and early to rise, regardless of the quality of their sleep, a new study finds. Study results are being presented Saturday at the Endocrine Society's 99th annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.
"These findings are important because depression is common in patients with type 2 diabetes," said lead investigator Sirimon Reutrakul, M.D., an associate professor at Mahidol University Faculty of Medicine, Bangkok, Thailand. "Also, previous studies show that untreated depression is related to worse patient outcomes, including diabetes self-care, blood glucose control and diabetes complications."
In the general public, people with a later "chronotype," meaning a preference to go to bed late and wake up late, tend to have more symptoms of depression than do people who go to bed early and wake up early (early chronotype or morning preference), past studies have found. Reutrakul and her co-investigators wanted to study people with type 2 diabetes, who have an increased risk of depression, to learn whether a later chronotype, or preference for evening activity, was independently associated with greater depression symptoms.
Because chronotype may differ by geographic location, with a greater morning preference near the equator, the investigators studied diabetic patients from two different geographic regions: Chicago and Thailand. They received research funding from Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Mahidol University Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital in Bangkok and the Endocrine Society of Thailand.
The U.S. group consisted of 194 patients, 70 percent of whom were women. Similarly, in the Thai group, women comprised 67 percent of 282 patients. All participants answered questionnaires regarding symptoms of depression, sleep quality and preferred times for activity and sleep. Chicago patients answered the questionnaires between February and early April, whereas in Thailand, which has little seasonal variation, patients participated throughout the year, Reutrakul said.
For both groups, those who preferred the evening reported more depression symptoms than did those with a morning preference. This result remained even after the researchers adjusted their statistical analyses for sleep quality, age, sex and other factors that could affect depression.
Their findings, Reutrakul said, support an association between circadian regulation and psychological functioning in patients with type 2 diabetes. She pointed out, however, that they did not prove cause and effect and that the strength of the association was "only modest."
"We need further research to explore a combination of interventions that help with circadian timing, such as light therapy and melatonin," she said. "Learning more about the relationship between depression and circadian functioning might help us figure out strategies to improve physical and mental health for patients with diabetes."
Commenting on todays update on the NHS England Five-Year Forward view delivery plans to tackle early diagnosis and treatment of cancer, Dr Nicola Strickland, President of The Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) said:
We applaud the ambition of these updated plans but remain saddened by the lack of detail about delivery. In short, these are delivery plans that are still failing to deliver. While the plans appear to address the need to speed up and expand diagnostic capacity and promise continued investment in radiotherapy services, they will still fail to enable the outcomes envisaged by the English Cancer Strategy as the workforce needed to deliver them has not been funded.
The idea of Rapid Diagnostic and Assessment Centres is admirable, but this is very unlikely to lead to patients getting their test results any sooner. There are already almost a quarter of a million patients waiting over a month for the results of scans in the UK due to a severe shortage of radiologists.
Investment in radiotherapy can only be good for cancer patients. What we need to ensure sustainability is a fully funded, rolling linear accelerators (LINACs) replacement programme. This upgrade is no more than a stopgap measure and not the transformation promised by the Cancer Strategy.
The additional 35 training places for clinical radiologists are welcome but sadly that will make very little impression on the 460 plus consultant radiologist vacancies. Neither will it begin to match radiology capacity in Europe: the UK has less than eight radiologists per 100,000 population; the average in mainland Europe is 12.
Dr Strickland added:
Researchers from the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), University of Cambridge, the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and the Cancer Research UKCambridge Institute (CRUK-CI) have shed light on a long-standing debate about why the immune system weakens with age. Their findings, published in Science, show that immune cells in older tissues lack coordination and exhibit much more variability in gene expression compared with their younger counterparts.
An artist's interpretation of the study findings: older cells losing their ability to coordinate an attack. Credit: Spencer Phillips, EMBL-EBI.
Settling the debate
Weve all witnessed the progressive decline of function that comes with ageing, but what exactly causes this decline and why does it happen at different rates for different parts of the body? To find answers, scientists need to unpick all of the mechanisms of ageing at the molecular level, for every tissue. Todays study focused on immune tissue: specifically, CD4+ T cells.
The immune system is like a symphony orchestra, with many different types and subtypes of cells working together to fight infections. But as the immune system ages, its response to infection weakens for reasons that are not yet clear. One long-standing debate amongst scientists concerns two central hypotheses: either the functional degradation is caused by a loss of cellular performance, or it is down to a loss of coordination among cells.
To resolve the debate, scientists have studied many different cell types, analysing average gene expression profiles. Todays study employed high-resolution single-cell sequencing technology to create new insights into how cell-to-cell variability is linked with ageing. The researchers sequenced the RNA of naive and memory CD4+ T cells in young and old mice, in both stimulated and unstimulated states.
Their findings clearly showed that loss of coordination is a key component of the impaired immune performance caused by T cell ageing.
The DNA smoothie
You could think of DNA sequencing as a fruit smoothie, explains John Marioni, Group Leader at EMBL-EBI and at CRUK-CI. Traditional sequencing technology is a bit like taking a sip of the smoothie, then trying to guess what the ingredients are. Single-cell genomics now lets us study the ingredients individually, so we get direct insight into the constituent parts. Extrapolating, this means that single-cell sequencing allows researchers to individually look at thousands of genes at any given time.
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A phalanx of immune cells
Duncan Odom, Group Leader at the University of Cambridges Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute and associate faculty at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, shares a further analogy to explain how immune cells fight infection.
Imagine the immune system as a cell army, ready to protect the body from infection, says Odom. Our research revealed that this army is well coordinated in young animals, with all the cells working together and operating like a Greek phalanx to block the infection.
Odom goes on to explain that this tight coordination makes the immune system stronger, and allows it to fight infection more effectively. The teams study shows that as the animal gets older, cell coordination breaks down.
Although individual cells might still be strong, the lack of coordination between them makes their collective effectiveness lower, Odom concludes.
Older and more variable
Previous studies have shown that in young animals, immunological activation results in tightly regulated gene expression (see Box). This study further reveals that activation results in a decrease in cell-to-cell variability. Ageing increased the heterogeneity of gene expression in populations of two mice species, as well as in different types of immune cells. This suggests that increased cell-to-cell transcriptional variability may be a hallmark of ageing across most mammalian tissues.
There is a great deal of interest in how biological ageing happens, but not much is known about molecular ageing, says Celia Pilar Martinez-Jimenez, experimental lead and Postdoctoral Fellow at the Sanger Institute and CRUK-CI. This research initiative explored a new facet of cell response to disease, while also tackling questions related to ageing.
Nils Eling, computational lead of the project and PhD student at EMBL-EBI and CRUK-CI highlights that the advantage of analysing gene expression from single cells is to detect how cell populations synchronise their response. It is interesting to see that ageing strongly distorts this response a phenomenon which could not be observed before.
The interdisciplinary study paves the way for a more in-depth exploration of the mechanisms by which different types of cells age. It also illustrates the potential of single-cell sequencing to enable a richer understanding of cell development and activity.
In response to the yellow fever outbreak currently on-going in Brazil some 3.5 million doses of vaccine from the emergency stockpile were deployed to the country through the International Coordinating Group (ICG) on Vaccine Provision for yellow fever. The ICG oversees a continuously replenished emergency stockpile of 6 million doses of yellow fever vaccine. The ICG includes four agencies: the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF,) the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), and Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). The Government of Brazil will reimburse the cost of the 3.5 million doses sent through the yellow fever emergency stockpile financed by Gavi Alliance.
Vaccination campaigns against yellow fever are currently ongoing in Brazil. WHO/A. Costa
The government of Brazil with the support of PAHO/WHO is working to ensure protection of its population and preventing further spread of the yellow fever virus which is transmitted to humans via mosquitoes. Brazil is carrying out vaccination campaigns for yellow fever in several states, while strengthening surveillance and case management throughout the country since the outbreak began in January 2017. More than 18.8 million doses of vaccine have been distributed. PAHO/WHO has mobilized more than 15 experts through the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN), including US CDC, to provide specialized technical support to the federal authorities managing the outbreak. On 14th March 2017, Brazilian authorities formally requested the ICG for 3.5 million doses of yellow fever vaccine which arrived in Rio de Janeiro on 24 March to be used for vaccination campaigns in the states where outbreaks have been reported. Distribution plans are being updated as the situation evolves .
WHO is also supporting other yellow fever endemic countries through the Eliminating Yellow Fever Epidemics (EYE) Strategy. Implementation of the global strategy which is jointly governed by WHO, UNICEF and GAVI, ensures support to countries to respond to an increased risk of urban outbreaks of yellow fever with international spread. The strategy aims at protecting at-risk populations, preventing international spread and containing outbreaks rapidly. The most vulnerable countries and regions are prioritized and global risk is mitigated by building resilience in urban centres and preparedness in areas with potential for outbreaks. The EYE strategy aims to ensure reliable vaccine supply with a global coalition of partners to predict needs and shape vaccine production.
During 2016 some 30 million doses of yellow fever vaccine from WHOs emergency vaccine stockpile were deployed to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola during the 2016 yellow fever outbreaks in those countries.
Source: http://www.who.int/csr/disease/yellowfev/vaccination-in-Brazil/en/
After the United States, Indian techies are now finding it difficult to procure visas to work in Singapore, following which the government has put on hold the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), the Times of India reported on Monday.Indian companies have reportedly been advised to hire locally, promoting the firms to mull a move to other countries in the region, the report said."This (visa problem) has been lingering for a while but since early-2016, visas are down to a trickle. All Indian companies have received communication on fair consideration, which basically means hiring local people," Nasscom president R Chandrashekhar told Times of India.India is currently engaged with the Donald Trump administration in the US as well as members of the US Congress on concerns regarding the H-1B visa issue.Trumps executive order not only strangulates H-1B and L1 visas, but also increases inspector raj and ends employment authorisation cards to spouses on such work visas, which was recently introduced by the previous Obama Administration.The H-1B is a non-immigrant visa that allows American firms to employ foreign workers in occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. It is highly popular among Indian techies and the technology companies depend on the programme to hire tens of thousands of employees each year.
Success in Aircel Maxis in SC, CBI files letter stating FIPB pC decision is being investigated. ED files status report on Karti. Next 2/5 Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) April 3, 2017
The Aircel-Maxis deal refers to a series of allegations of kickbacks in the telecom sector, which was part of the wider 2G scam that engulfed the UPA regime. In 2011, former Aircel head C Sivasankaran complained to the CBI that he was being forced by then telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran to sell Aircel to the Malaysia-based Maxis Communications group owned by T Ananda Krishnan.
In a sign that former finance minister P Chidambarams legal troubles are mounting, the Enforcement Directorate has announced that it will investigate his and his son Karti Chidambarams alleged role in the controversial Aircel-Maxis deal.BJP leader Subramanian Swamy said in a tweet that CBI files letter stating FIPB pC decision is being investigated. ED files status report on Karti.Swamy has alleged that Chidambaram withheld investment clearance for Aircel-Maxis deal in 2006 until his son Karthi Chidambaram received a 5% stake in Aircel.The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) is a body under the Finance Ministry that clears investment proposals.Sivasankaran also alleged that the Maran brothers Dayanidhi and Kalanidhi received kickbacks in the form of investments by the Maxis group through the Astro network in their flagship media house, the Sun TV Network.Although the CBI found no evidence of coercion in the Aircel sale, they found substantial evidence of Maran having favoured the company's takeover by Maxis, and delaying Sivasankar's files.In 2012, the Enforcement Directorate launched a case of money laundering against the Maran brothers for allegedly receiving kickbacks of about Rs 550 crore.In 2014, a special CBI judge said that he had found enough evidence to proceed with the prosecution. Based on the CBI charge sheet, the ED attached the Maran brothers' properties.Meanwhile, Subramanian Swamy alleged that in 2006 a company controlled by Karthi Chidambaram received a 5% share of Aircel to get part of Rs 4,000 crore paid by Maxis for a 74 percent stake in Aircel. According to Swamy, Chidambaram withheld FIPB clearance till the 5% was paid to Karthi.
: Commercial vehicle (CV) manufacturers are expected to have incurred a cost of Rs 2,500 crore in disposing of BS-III vehicles banned by the Supreme Court for sale and registration after April 1, 2017, said a report on Monday.According to the report by Crisil Research, a division of ratings agency Crisil, the CV makers disposed of over half of their BS-III vehicles' stock before the Supreme Court set deadline of April 1, 2017.The report showed that discounts and incentives on vehicles sold till March 31, 2017, are expected to have cost the CV manufacturers about Rs 1,200 crore. Additionally, Rs 1,300 crore would be incurred to dispose of the unsold inventory."CRISIL Research estimates the impact of this on the Ebidta margins of listed truck makers (Ashok Leyland and Tata Motors' standalone) to be equal to 2.5 percent of their revenues," the report said."The impact would be staggered across fiscals 2017 and 2018, because the unsold inventory will have to be brought back from dealerships and then dealt with."The report elaborated that leading CV makers had continued manufacturing BS-III vehicles all the way to March in anticipation of strong buying in the closing weeks of the fiscal year, given price hikes of 8-10 per cent expected on BS-IV vehicles."Indeed, for want of clarity on ban on production or registration, the industry had expected some BS-III trucks to be sold even in April. This had bloated up inventories," the report said."When the Supreme Court ruling came, CV dealers' inventory at risk was around 97,000 units (equivalent to 1.7 months of sales) valued at Rs 11,600 crore. The industry is expected to have sold -- 55 per cent of this in the last three days of March by offering discounts of 20-40 percent on the sticker price compared with -- 10 per cent before the ruling.""The additional discounts and incentives are expected to have cost about Rs 1,200 crore, of which the truck makers are likely to bear about 80 per cent and their dealers the rest."In addition, the report highlighted that the unsold BS-III inventory is expected to entail a cost of another Rs 1,300 crore for CV makers."We estimate the remaining 40,000-45,000 units of unsold inventory to be returned in the upcoming months," the report said."Assuming the truck makers would have to incur an additional cost of Rs 3-4 lakh per vehicle on reverse logistics and remodeling to BS-IV, it would mean an additional expense of Rs 1,300 crore."
A day after Murthy wrote an email slamming the boards approval of the 60-70% hike in compensation given to Rao, Infosys shares slipped by 0.94% to Rs 1,011.25 apiece in early trade on the Bombay Stock Exchange. At National Stock Exchange (NSE), shares of the company went down by 1.15% to Rs 1,010.45.
It is unfortunate that Murthy is still talking about this, but over time, other investors could start ignoring him, he said, adding For a company to pay Rs 10 or 20 crore in compensation to anyone when it is sitting on Rs 40,000 crore is for its Board to decide. What should be seen is, if the COO is worth it, and is he delivering the results?
The statement said, The company undertook a comprehensive survey of best practices and benchmarked senior management compensation with key Indian and global companies.
In an email sent to media organizations, including News18, on Sunday evening, Narayana Murthy questioned move saying that, The impact of such a decision will likely erode the trust and faith of the employees in the management and the board.
An analyst who tracks Infosys stock said that Murthys statements dont mean anything since he is just another shareholder. If a majority of shareholders, including big institutional firms, have okayed the proposals then even a Murthy raising such issues doesnt cut much ice.
Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthys latest spat with the company board over the salary hike given to chief operating officer UB Pravin Rao could impact the image of the company negatively, analysts and corporate governance experts told News18.Most of them spoke to News18 on the condition of anonymity, given the nature of the boardroom battle roiling one of Indias biggest software services firm.Shriram Subramanian, head of the corporate governance research and advisory firm InGovern, termed Murthys letter as unfortunate.Subramanian pointed out Murthy held just 3% of the shares in Infosys. As founders, they may have been frugal in compensation packages, but times have changed. Shareholders don't care about how much the COO is paid as long as the company makes money, he added.Another analyst who didnt want to be named said Infosys founders are losing credibility by raising such issues through the media. He could have taken the formal route and spoken to the board directly instead of raising these issues via the media, he said.Infosys in a statement today said that its pay structure for top management was a reflection of the need to attract and retain top quality talent since the company was in a transformative phase.Regarding Pravin Raos compensation, Infosys said that the breakup of the pay packet reduced the cash component from Rs 5.2 crore to Rs 4.6 crore, while the performance based component was increased from 45% to 63% of the total compensation.The board proposal was sent for shareholder approval, since Infosys is a listed firm, and 67% of the shareholders said yes, while 33% voted against the raise.Former Infosys chief financial officer Mohandas Pai backed Narayana Murthys contention that the pay hike to Pravin Rao was not proper.Pai said that the salary in this case is "spectacular" but the performance is not. Alleging that Infosys' board was "misguided", Pai said the "fundamental problem" was the pay hike given earlier to CEO Vishal Sikka was "without any justification", because of which other executives were also expecting a higher pay.He said salary levels in India cannot be compared with that in the US."I totally agree with Murthy that it was not proper. We should have Indian norm for compensation, we can't follow American norm, we (Infosys) are not an American company," Pai told PTI in a phone interview.A corporate governance expert told News18 that any conflict within a company had the capacity to affect its image, especially one with the storied history that Infosys boasts of.The analyst added that when Murthy and the other founders were at the helm Infosys was the bellwether of the Indian IT sector, but currently the firm has slipped and IT is no longer a sunrise industry. The only thing that matters is results and CEO Vishal Sikkas promise to the board and shareholders of doubling revenue to $20 billion by 2020-21 has takers. And they want to pay Sikka and his team a market remuneration in order to achieve the target.Another corporate governance expert that News18 spoke to said that the issue highlighted the fact that Indian founders have difficulties in letting go of the companies they set up, even though the company may no longer be theirs in terms of public shareholding.Narayana Murthy has made a virtue out of thrift and it served them well in the past. But to insist on it all times, even under changed circumstances shows that Murthys vision differs from that of the board, the analyst said.
After offering to resign, he told the media that the Congress leadership was treating veteran leaders like Class 8 students.
Former Congress MP from East Delhi Sandeep Dixit, too, expressed disappointment and said, Jis terah se Delhi Congress ne senior netao ke sath bartaav kiya hai wo thik nahi hai (The way senior Congress leaders are being treated is not correct).
Delhi Congress spokesperson Sharmishtha Mukherjee, however, laid all speculation to rest.
Rebellion is brewing within the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) and the timing couldn't be worse. Just 20 days before the all-crucial Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections, veteran Congressman A K Walia, reportedly unhappy over ticket distribution in the polls, threatened to quit the party on Monday.Walia, a former cabinet minister in the Sheila Dixit government, was not alone. Senior leaders Haroon Yusuf and Pervez Hashmi also threatened to quit the party. Three-time Congress MLA, Dalit leader and ex-deputy speaker of the Delhi Assembly, Amrish Gautam made matters worse for the Grand Old Party by joining the BJP on Monday.Speaking to CNN-News 18, Walia expressed his displeasure and said: "There are four tickets in our ward. I was promised all four but we were given only three. We have been very disturbed since last night and nobody has reached out to us till today morning. There have been many discussions and I have been assured by the top leadership that the issue will be resolved. I have not yet taken back my resignation. I am waiting for them to fulfill their promise."Soon enough, the knives were out for Delhi Congress Chief Ajay Maken.According to sources, senior Congress leader Anand Sharma headed a committee which had recommended names of 27 candidates. Maken had reportedly rejected these names.Former Cabinet minister Arvinder Singh Lovely said: "Dr. Walia and Haroon Yusuf are senior members of the party and definitely, their sentiments have been hurt somewhere. While I agree that all decisions cannot be taken with everyones consent, it is a lack on part of the leadership to hurt sentiments of senior leaders. I will talk to them personally.While the drama was playing out, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Nitin Tyagi, who represents Walias former seat of Laxmi Nagar in the Assembly, went to his residence. This fueled speculation that the veteran Congressman would soon be joining the AAP. Tyagi, however, told said that it was a mere courtesy call."The purpose of my visit was not political at all. I had heard that Walia Sahib was in ill health. As a courtesy, I went to see him. He may belong to another political party but he is still a respected figure in our area. I was only concerned about his health," he said."Walia Ji has not resigned. There has been no formal resignation and as of now, he is very much within the party. He is a very senior and respected leader of the party. If there was any misunderstanding, it has been sorted out. Walia Ji, Haroon Yusuf Ji and Hashmi Sahib are all going to stay within the party," she said.When asked if Maken is to blame for the discord, Mukherjee said: "It is absolutely untrue that Mr. Maken is to blame for anything of this sort. We have had a very transparent and fair selection of candidates. All sections have been represented. Apart from senior leaders, we have also taken the views of local booth-level workers."
Bengaluru: Seven persons were arrested by Udupi Police on the charge of attempt to murder the Udupi District Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner who conducted on a surprise raid on illegal sand mining.
The incident happened around 12:30 am on Monday in Kandlur village in Kundapur, when DC Priyanka Mary Francis and AC Shilpa Nag went in private cars to raid illegal sand extraction. The district officials had received a tip-off about the activity.
After reaching the spot, the miscreants fled the spot. According to reports, DCs gunman chased one extractor and held him, meanwhile a large number of people rushed towards the DC's car. Fearing for their lives the DC and the AC got into the car; however, the culprits started hitting the car.
Escaping from the site, DC later lodged a complaint with Kundapur Police. K.T Balakrishna, Udupi Superintendent of Police, said, "We have arrested 7 people under IPC 307 and 353. One accused is in the hospital right now."
Before the Kandlur inspection, the duo visited Halnad, another place, where the illegal sand extraction was done and six people were arrested.
New Delhi: Right to Information (RTI) activists and researchers have taken exception to some of the proposed changes to the Right to Information Rules 2017.
One activist described the changes suggested by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) as aimed at inciting more attacks on RTI activists and far from the NDAs digital revolution idea.
The reactions are coming in thick and fast after the DoPT put up the proposed changes on its website, inviting comments from public.
Venkatesh Nayak, programme coordinator, Access to Information Programme, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, told News18 that the proposed clause in the rules which specifies withdrawal and abatement of appeals in case of death of an applicant is nothing short of a death sentence.
In 2011, the DoPT had proposed a similar provision that was vehemently opposed by the civil society. Both measures were eventually dropped after civil rights activists highlighted media reports of murder attempts on RTI applicants who sought information in public interest. In 2017, there have been more than 375 recorded instances of attacks on citizens who sought information to expose corruption and wrongdoing in various public authorities. Of these, 56 are murders, at least 157 cases of physical assault and more than 160 cases of harassment and threats some of which have resulted in death by suicide, said Nayak.
Dr. Anand Rai, RTI activist and the Vyapam scam whistleblower, opposed the clause, saying it would cause uncertainty among RTI applicants.
This could prove very dangerous because people who do not want specific disclosures to be made can just get the applicant killed or murdered. Even the proposal to charge Re1 as postal fee is unreasonable, said Rai.
Nayak also pointed out that the rules were a far cry from the NDA governments push for digital revolution.
Draft Rule 4 continues to prescribe fees for providing information in the form of 'diskettes and floppies'. According to Nayak, Both forms of electronic storage have become outdated.
The DoPT is directly under the Prime Minister who is pushing India towards the digital age in the TINA mode (There Is No Alternative mode) without ascertaining whether people want it, and if there is adequate infrastructure and awareness for such an initiative. It must discard floppies and diskettes and adopt more modern methods of information storage, said Nayak.
The other controversial clause in the proposed rules is the one which now allows the Central Information Commission (CIC) to convert a complaint into a second appeal, meaning it can order the disclosure of information to an applicant who has come under complaint clause of the RTI Act which was not the case earlier.
However, both Nayak and Rai seem to differ on the applicability of this provision. Although Rai feels that this proposition would now mend pendency and also expedite the process of filing a second appeal, Nayak said that appeals and complaints mechanism is being turned into complicated legal procedures.
Instead, the Rule should specify that a copy of the complaint/appeal should be transmitted to the public authority concerned simultaneously or after submission to the CIC with proof to be shown at the time of hearing, said Nayak.
RTI activists have also taken note of the positive developments in the draft rules.
Nayak told News18 that although 60-65% of the rules should be re-drafted, there were indeed some merit in the new rules.
For instance, there is a provision for dealing with non-compliance of the orders and directives of the Central Information Commission. Besides, non-compliance cases can be posted before a larger bench of CIG too. The rule, which makes it mandatory for the public authority to serve an advance copy of its counter to an appeal or complaint on the appellant/complainant, is also a positive development, said Nayak.
The UP Chief Minister said that Budelkhand was continuously ignored in the last 15 years and no steps had been taken to ensure the holistic development of the region.
In April last year, the Centre had said that farmers in Bundelkhand will get Rs 1,304 crore for drought relief under National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF). Also, mandays under the MNREGA were increased to 150 as a review was undertaken by the Prime Ministers Office of the situation in the region.
In May 2016, a 'water train' had led to a war of words between the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government when it arrived in Jhansi without the "promised" 70,000 litres of water.
The Yogi Adityanath government on Sunday approved Rs 47 crore package to ensure immediate availability of drinking water in the parched Bundelkhand region.The UP Chief Minister also said that if needed, the state government would make available additional funds under this head, but there should not be any problem of drinking water for the people and the cattle in Bundelkhand region."Adityanath is also expected to visit the region this month," a UP government spokesperson said.Adityanath said he was aware of the hardships faced by the people of the region. "Now, the state government will make all efforts to ensure the development of the region in a planned manner," the spokesperson said quoting the Chief Minister.During his 'Deoria to Dilli Kisan Yatra' in September, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had accused the Uttar Pradesh government of failing to improve situation in the Bundelkhand region, which was battling continuous drought."The requirement in Bundelkhand is different and it needs to be addressed differently," he had said at a 'khat sabha' in Banda.Rahul had alleged that the Congress-led UPA government had given a special package to the area, but the SP government in Uttar Pradesh did not lend support to improve the situation in the region.The CM also decided that the National Rural Livelihood Mission will be intensified and would be extended to all the blocks for alternative sources of income, construction of water tanks and building of dug wells and farm ponds on a priority basis under various projects and schemes for Bundelkhand.At a review meeting, held on the directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and attended by the Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh, it was decided that the Centre and the state government will work together for long-term sustainable solutions to address the problem of vulnerable regions in natural distress.The train was sent from Madhya Pradesh's Ratlam district for the drought-hit Bundelkhand on the instruction of Railway Board, days after a similar arrangement was made for Latur in Maharashtra.SP members on May 6, 2016 walked out of Rajya Sabha charging the Centre with playing petty politics by sending an empty water train to drought-hit Bundelkhand region.The SP members alleged that while the Centre has not heeded to state governments requests for additional funds for tankers and dam to deal with drought in Bundelkhand, it sent the water train without speaking to the state government.The UP government on May 5, 2016 had turned down the Centre's offer to send a water-train to the state's drought -hit Bundelkhand region, saying the water crisis was not as serious as in Maharashtra's Latur.It, however, requested the Centre to provide it 10,000 water tankers for distributing water in the region.
"Any act of killing bovine species for its flesh should attract life imprisonment. In fact, cow should be declared Indias national animal. It is a matter of respecting the feeling of our Hindu brethren and that cannot be compromised. To safeguard the teachings of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, I declare that from today, me and my family members will not consume beef, said Dewan Syed Zainul Abedin.
"The root of all the hatred between the two communities in India should be given up and the government should ban the slaughter of all bovine species in India," he said.
According to the Gujarat Animal Preservation (Amendment) Bill, people found in possession of beef would face up to a maximum of a 10-year jail term and be fined up to Rs 5 lakh.
He said divorce, as it is practiced among Muslims, is nothing close to what the Holy Quran prescribes.
: One of the most revered Sunni Muslim leaders in India, the spiritual head of Ajmer shrine, has announced he and his family were voluntarily giving up beef and exhorted Muslim leaders to support a nationwide ban on cow slaughter so as to put an end to this issue that he said was at the "root of all hatred" between Hindus and Muslims.Hereditary Sajjadanashin (Spiritual Head) of Ajmer Dargah, Dewan Syed Zainul Abedin the direct descendant in the 22nd generation of acclaimed Sufi mystic Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti also called for an end to the practice of Triple Talaq, which he said was a violation of Islamic jurisprudence.Abedin was addressing a congregation of other spiritual heads, Sufi saints and religious heads to mark the 805th annual Urs of Khwaja Chisti."Since time immemorial, we have been living in harmony with our fellow brothers and sisters. The fact that we eat beef has hurt the religious sentiments of our brothers and sisters. Hence, it is our duty that we stop eating the meat of any bovine species. Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti strived for communal harmony in the country and we must respect that," he said.Abedin praised the recently passed animal preservation bill by Gujarat assembly which penalizes anyone who is found in possession of beef. He said governments should introduce such legislations in all the states of the country.Abedin's statements come close on the heels of the recent crackdown on slaughter houses in Uttar Pradesh after the BJP victory in the assembly polls. In Chhattisgarh, Chief Minister Raman Singh had triggered controversy by saying that those who kill cows would be "hanged" in his state.Abedin also dwelled on the Triple Talaq row, which is now sub-judice."Shariat does not mention the practice of Triple Talaq. When Muslims divorce their spouses by this method, then there is a strict disobedience of the Islamic law. When there is a Muslim marriage, the terms and conditions must be explicitly mentioned in the contract of marriage. I also wonder that when in a marriage, there is consent of both the parties then even divorce must have mutual consent. When families are present for marriages, then why are divorces given in seclusion?" said the head of Ajmer Dargah."When there is a dispute in marriage, the parties must resort to conciliation and mediation to solve the issues. If the problem persists then one member from each of the two families must be appointed to conduct a mutual discussion to resolve the cracks in wedlock. These attempts must persist for at least 90 days, and between each utterance of Talaq, there should be a gap of 30 days," said the spiritual leader who also highlighted the status accorded to women in Islam.
: A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) head constable was killed and five other troopers and two civilians, including a girl, injured when militants attacked a CRPF convoy on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in the state's Pulwama district on Monday, police said. Two of the troopers were in critical condition."Six CRPF jawans, their civilian truck driver and a girl were injured in Sempora Panthachok area of Jammu-Srinagar highway in the attack," said a police officer in Srinagar.The injured were brought to the army's base hospital in Badami Bagh area in Srinagar, where one of the injured, Head Constable G.D. Basappa succumbed to his injuries.The place, where the attack took place, is barely five km away from Srinagar district.. (Cordon and search operations in the area, barely five km away from Srinagar district, were called off Monday evening as militants reportedly managed to escape after carrying out the attack.The Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) outfit has owned responsibility for this attack.The other injured, including both the civilians, are out of danger, police said.The girl, identified as Zainab, daughter of Ashiq Hussain Wani of Drangbal area of Pampore town, was admitted to Srinagar's Bone and Joint Hospital.The CRPF jawans were on their way to Srinagar for election duty for Lok Sabha bypolls scheduled to be held on April 9. (Doctors at the hospital have described her condition as out of danger, saying she had been injured in the leg by a bullet.The incident came less then a day after a police constable was killed and 11 other security personnel including eight policemen and three CRPF troopers were injured on Sunday evening in Srinagar's Nowhatta area when militants hurled a grenade when security personnel were being withdrawn from the area.Earlier, terrorist outfit Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen had claimed responsibility for this attack.
"The time given is too less. There is no official press release in this regard as well. How will people know that something like is placed on website for them to give opinion," RTI activist Commodore (Retd) Lokesh Batra told PTI.
"The Commission may in its discretion allow a prayer for any amendment of a complaint during the course of its hearing, including conversion of the complaint into second appeal, if available remedies have been exhausted, on a prayer made by the complainant," the draft rules state.
It had said that the CIC while hearing a plea under complaint clause cannot order disclosure of the information which can only be provided if the person is approaching it under second appeal or Section 19 of the Act.
The rules also introduce provisions like providing a copy of complaint and appeal to the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) before approaching the CIC.
The government has proposed a new set of rules for processing Right to Information applications, complaints and appeals and has sought suggestions from the public by April 15.The proposed rules, aimed at replacing RTI rules of 2012, have been placed by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) on its website for comments from public.A major proposal now allows the Central Information Commission (CIC) to convert a complaint into second appeal which would mean it can order the disclosure of information to an applicant who has come under complaint clause of the RTI Act which was not the case earlier.The Supreme Court had held in one of its orders that Section 18 of the RTI Act provides for complaint while Section 19 of the RTI Act provides mechanism of second appeal.Another provision says that the proceedings before the Commission will abate in case of death of the appellant.The new draft rules also allow the Commission to use its discretion for allowing withdrawal of appeal or a complaint if appellant requests but such requests cannot be entertained once the matter has been decided by it.Some RTI activists have objected to such suggestions by the government in the past saying information seekers may be coerced by people with vested interests and may even be killed as the information against them cannot be ordered to be disclosed in such cases.A proof in this regard will also be submitted to the Commission along with the complaint or appeal.The applicants will have to declare that the matter submitted by them before the Commission has not been decided or pending before the Commission or any court.The applicants can now file complaints within 135 days of filing the RTI application only. Any delay in filing the complaint will have to be accompanied with the request for condonation of delay.If the RTI applicant does not know the name and address of the CPIO or the First Appellate authority in a government department, he will have to provide a copy of his complaint to the department before approaching the Commission.The new proposed process asks the Commission to get replies from the CPIO within a specified time before issuing notices to them.
I am happy to inform that Iran has released our 15 fishermen from Tamil Nadu. They were detained with their 3 Bahraini boats. /1 Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) April 3, 2017
I appreciate the good work by Indian Embassy in Iran. /2 Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) April 3, 2017
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday said that Iran has released 15 Indian fishermen who were detained with their Bahraini boats last year."I am happy to inform that Iran has released our 15 fishermen from Tamil Nadu. They were detained with their 3 Bahraini boats," Swaraj said in a tweet.She also thanked the Indian Embassy in Tehran, appreciating their "good work" for facilitating the release.The fishermen, working for some Baharainians, were detained for entering the Iranian waters without permission.They were said to be confined to their boats since their arrest on September 22.
Kabul: Military operations have killed nine civilians in the southern Helmand province of Afghanistan, a local security official said.
"During operations which launched at 2.00 a.m. local time today (Sunday) in Malgir area of Gereshk district, nine civilians including three women, four children and two men were killed," Xinhua news agency quoted the official as saying on condition of anonymity.
The official also added that Afghan and NATO-led Resolute Support forces discovered a weapon cache of Taliban in a house in Malgir area and detonated it due to which one house collapsed due to the blast killing nine members of a family.
Two Taliban militants present in the house were also killed due to the nearby blast, the official said.
Meanwhile, spokesman for provincial government Omar Zawak confirmed the incident but without giving information said, "investigation is underway".
Taliban outfit has also confirmed the death of the two militants.
The poppy growing and militancy-plagued Helmand province has been regarded as a Taliban hotbed in the southern region of Afghanistan.
Christ the Redeemer will #LightItUpBlue on April 2 for World Autism Awareness Day! Will you? https://t.co/8mzxIqgBWQ pic.twitter.com/janxX8oC6G Autism Speaks (@autismspeaks) March 30, 2017
Delhi: Qutub Minar turned blue on World Autism Awareness Day (2.4.17) pic.twitter.com/vyv5cGYzOB ANI (@ANI_news) April 3, 2017
ACE has associated with Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to light up the monument.
The Qutub Minar was on Sunday lit in blue coloured lights to observe the ninth annual World Autism Awareness Day as a part of the international #lightitupblue campaign to raise awareness about the disorder."Lighting up the minaret in blue is a symbolic representation towards inclusion for disability and a real attempt to create a shift in consciousness," Archana Nayar, Founder, Autism Centre of Excellence (ACE), said.Recognised internationally, World Autism Awareness Day witnesses events across the globe that attempt to sensitise people towards the disorder as well as aim at increasing acceptance of autistic individuals in the mainstream society."The #lightitupblue campaign is an internationally-led effort to create awareness about autism involving architecturally significant structures."The Qutub Minar is a unique historical monument which is a visible and accessible part of our capital city while being a popular landmark," she said.The move, Nayar said, was an expression of India's support for the global autism community.Keeping in mind the spirit of inclusion and acceptance, ACE has also collaborated with PVR Cinemas for a sensory-friendly screening of the 2016 American 3D computer-animated musical comedy "Sing" at PVR Sangam."For us to have a proper movie experience, the sounds qualities are higher as compared to the lights and viewers are obviously not allowed to move around the movie theatres. But, for autistic people, it is the other way round," Nayar said.The screening was slightly modified wherein the lights were turned up while the sound was turned down, and the viewers were able to move about freely.
If two of your things are getting manicures and drinking bubbly, then a new edible wine-flavored nail polish could be for you.Prosecco Polish is the latest weird and wonderful beauty innovation to hit the market, thanks to Groupon, and it is being hailed as a world-first.Made using real Prosecco, the sparkly golden polish apparently tastes and smells exactly like our favorite tipple, and, as a promotional video shows, it is designed to be licked off the fingers for a calorie-free slurp. However, despite the potential temptation, the product's small print strongly advises against drinking the polish straight from the bottle.Unfortunately the polish, which was developed to mark Mother's Day, will not be available for general purchase any time soon. Beauty fans looking to get their hands on a bottle will have to enter a Groupon prize draw to be eligible to win one for free.Quirky edible nail polishes are becoming something of a niche marketing trend for brands. Last year, KFC exploited its "Finger Lickin' Good" slogan to offer Hong Kong clients two nail varnishes designed to taste like its chicken recipes for "Original" and "Hot and Spicy." The fast food chain is a serial offender when it comes to controversial cosmetics -- in August 2016 it hit the headlines when it debuted Extra Crispy, an SPF 30 sunscreen that allegedly smelled like its famous fried chicken.
Salman Khan and his entire Khan-daan recently flew down to Maldives for a family getaway. And if the recent photos are anything to go by, the family, that looked a bit more tanned, undoubtedly had a blast during their vacation.The family was seen at the Mumbai airport on Sunday evening.Salman joined his family in Maldives to celebrate his nephew Ahil's first birthday bash.Salman's sister Arpita was accompanied by husband Aayush and son Ahil.As reports mentioned, the family flew to Maldives a day in advance for Ahil's birthday.Salman is currently busy filming Tiger Zinda Hai in Austria.What was really interesting to see was how Iulia and Salman looked impressive in colour coordinated outfits. Even though Khan sported a casual look, he managed to make heads turn. Iulia completed her relaxed look with a floral tiara and white sneaker.
Mumbai: Eyebrows were raised when Karan Johar, who has as much link with Hindustani classical music as the sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan has with tabloid gossip, released the latter's new book Master On Masters. But the musician says has only good things to say about Karan, who he feels is not just multi-faceted, but courageous too.
When asked why Karan, the softspoken sarod exponent became sentimental and said: "My family I have always shared close ties with Karan's parents Yashji and Hirooji. All of us have in my family have the greatest regards for Karan Johar."
"In such a short time of his life, he has achieved so much. Barely in his 40s, he is a multi-dimensional, multi-faceted personality. He has produced and directed so many successful films, carrying his father's legacy forward."
Khan is all praise for Karan's autobiography An Unsuitable Boy.
"You need tremendous courage to share your most private thoughts. He has tremendous courage of conviction. This is why we all love and respect him in our family. We wish a great life for his two children the angels Yash and Hiroo," he said, referring to Karan's newly-born surrogate twins.
About his new book on the maestros of Hindustani classical music, Khan said: "I hope my book is well received by the people of India and overseas, especially by those associated with the classical musical fraternity."
He wonders why only the kith and kin of classical musicians pen biographies.
"Classical musicians, especially performing artistes, choose to write only about their fathers or gurus. I wanted to change that in my own humble way. I am grateful to my publishers and to Karan Johar. At the release he read a paragraph from the chapter on Begum Akhtar so eloquently."
This comes after EC on Sunday advised AAP to "introspect" on its Punjab performance and said it's "unfair to blame EVMs".
The Aam Aadmi Party on Monday accused the Election Commission of siding with the BJP and not functioning like a independent body it is mandated to be.Reacting to the EC dismissing their allegation of tampering with Electronic Voting Machines (EVM), AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said, EC is not behaving like a neutral body. They are behaving like ally partner of the BJP.I doubt the education knowledge of those talking on behalf of the EC. They are working like puppets, he said.I understand how this machine works, I am computer science student. Even best codes can also be tampered, he added.AAP which was widely expected to win the elections won 20 seats in the Punjab Assembly, came second in 26 constituencies while over two dozen AAP candidates lost their security deposit.The AAP wrote to the Election Commission, alleging large scale rigging and tampering of EVMs in Punjab and demanding verification of paper trail.AAP's national secretary Pankaj Gupta said his party analysed booth-wise voting pattern and reached a conclusion that EVMs were tampered with. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had on March 15 also alleged that manipulation of EVMs may have led to the AAP's poor showing in Punjab and said it could be part of a conspiracy to keep the party out of power in the state.Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati too alleged tampering of EVMs during the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday stressed on a grand alliance of opposition parties at the national level to stop the surge of the BJP and urged the Congress and Left parties to take initiative for this."The BJP's victory in Uttar Pradesh was mainly because of lack of a Bihar-like 'mahagathbandhan' (grand alliance) there ... If you add the vote percentage of the Samajwadi Party, the Congress and the BSP, it is 10 percent more than the votes polled by the BJP," he told mediapersons in Patna.Kumar, who is also the JD(U) national president, said, "A Bihar-like grand alliance is the solution to check the surge of the BJP and for this, the Congress and the Left parties should take the initiative.""A 'mahagathbandhan' like this at the national level will be 'maha safal' (a grand success)," he claimed.Kumar, the architect of the Bihar grand alliance comprising the JD(U), the RJD and the Congress, said, "Being a bigger party, it is the Congress' responsibility to take the initiative of bringing all major non-BJP parties on one platform.""I had talks with some Left leaders in this connection and I wish they take an initiative to this effect to throw the BJP-led NDA out of power in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls," he said after his weekly 'Lok Samvad' (public interaction) programme. Reacting on the outcome of elections in the five states recently, the Bihar Chief Minister said the BJP was "unnecessarily" jubilating on the outcome of the polls as the results were mixed."The Congress emerged victorious in Punjab and as the single largest party in two places (Goa and Manipur). So it is wrong to read that the results are tilted towards the BJP. They (BJP) managed to form government in Goa and Manipur by 'jor-tor' (cobbling numbers)," he said.On the JD(U), the RJD, the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party contesting the Delhi civic polls, slated to be held on April 23, separately, Kumar said it is a local body election in which every party has the right to field its candidates. "MCD (Municipal Corporations of Delhi) elections should not be seen as lack of unity among opposition parties," he said.About doubts expressed about EVM machines by the BSP and the RJD, Kumar said it is an old debate and the Election Commission should solve it.
When asked if the party was trying to poach Walia from the Congress, Pandey did not out rightly deny. "Many senior BJP and Congress leaders are unhappy with their respective parties. They are silently supporting the Aam Aadmi Party.
Walia's threat rattled the Congress top brass since it came at a time when three-time Congress MLA, ex-deputy speaker of the Assembly and Dalit leader Amrish Gautam joined the BJP.
: Just 20 days before the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls, rebellion seems to be brewing within the Congress. Dr. Ashok Kumar Walia, four-time MLA and Cabinet minister in the Sheila Dixit government, threatened to quit the party after he was upset over not being included in the ticket distribution process for the polls.Hours after he offered to quit the party, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Nitin Tyagi, who represents Walia's former seat of Laxmi Nagar in the Assembly, went to his residence for a meeting.While it fuelled speculation that Walia may soon join the AAP, Tyagi claimed that the visit was just a "personal courtesy call".Speaking to News 18, Tyagi said, "The purpose of my visit was not political at all. I had heard that Walia Sahib was in ill health. As a courtesy, I went to see him. He may belong to another political party but he is still a respected figure in our area. I was only concerned about his health. As it turned out, the news of him being unwell was a hoax. Nonetheless, it was my duty to check on him."AAP sources, however, said that the party was "exploring the possibility" of Walia's possible entry into the party while adding that "nothing is confirmed". AAP Delhi state convener Dileep Pandey, while speaking to the media, spoke of "massive internal rebellion" within both the BJP and the Congress.Even the people of Delhi have seen that BJP and Congress have looted the city through corruption in the MCD over the last 20 years. These parties have turned the civic body into a den of corruption and the city into a dustbin. That is why the people have decided to vote for the good work done by the AAP government over the last two years."While threatening to quit the party, Walia had said senior leaders were being treated like Class 8 students. Speaking to Network 18, he said, "There are four tickets in our ward. I was promised all four but we were given only three. We have been very disturbed since last night and nobody has reached out to us till today morning. There have been many discussions and I have been assured by the top leadership that the issue will be resolved. I have not yet taken back my resignation. I am waiting for them to fulfil their promise."Senior leaders Haroon Yusuf and Pervez Hashmi also threatened to quit the party on Monday.
As per the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) data, 104 Kashmiris have taken to terrorism in the last 15 months. This number is a sharp increase from what was witnessed two to three years before it. Over 90 percent of the youths who have taken up arms are from South Kashmir which saw maximum violence in this period.
Revealing the differences between PDP and BJP, the main components of the coalition government of Jammu and Kashmir, Singh said, "Yes, there are ideological differences between the two parties but the mandate was such that we had to come together."
: Minister of State to the PMO Jitendra Singh said on Monday that not enough was being done in Kashmir in terms of governance which has led to the present state of unrest in the Valley.Speaking exclusively to CNN-News18, Singh said, "I will not be a hypocrite and say no. Much more can be done in current situation."Without naming the PDP, Singh made it clear that non-implementation of the basic model of governance in the state has bred deep alienation amongst Kashmiri youngsters.On the proposed changes to norms regarding the Right to Information Act (RTI), which has drawn flak from various quarters, Singh said, "Our government is committed to transparency. We are not trying to make it difficult for people to get information under RTI. These amendments to the RTI draft rules were suggested by the UPA government. We are seeking public opinion to get an understanding whether people agree with these changes or not."While he blamed Pakistan for fomenting trouble in the Valley using social media platforms like WhatsApp, he also said that Pakistan's nefarious designs can be thwarted by implementing the model of good governance in Jammua and Kashmir."Terrorism is sponsored by ISI and the powers sitting in Islamabad. The world view is gradually coming to India's point of view. Pakistan stands exposed as epicentre of terrorism around this area," Singh said.When asked if he thought that teenagers were picking up stones because basic governance is missing in the valley, Singh said, "Governance always makes a difference and good governance always acts as a buffer in these kind of situations."An MP from Uddhampur in Jammu, Singh has never openly criticised the Mehbooba Mufti government.Taking potshots at the state government, Singh said, "Governance has been a difficult task in Kashmir. But the very art of governance in such a state requires that those who hold the reins ensure equitable development of all three regions (Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh)."Mufti had said on Monday that dialogue is the way forward in Kashmir. When asked about the comment, Singh said, "Dialogue with whom?"He was reticent to make a comment when asked if the talks with separatists, like the Hurriyat Conference, were the way to win over agitating youth. "I am not in a position to comment on that. The MHA and Ministry of External Affairs should be asked."
: Aam Adami Party (AAP) convener and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on Monday challenged the Election Commission that EVMs can be tampered with, asking it to give him EVMs, and he will read and rewrite the machines in 72 hours in presence of EC's experts and camera."Give us 72 hours... I will reveal the software, and tell you how it can be tempered with," he said.Kejriwal also demanded that the upcoming MCD voting in New Delhi be conducted on paper ballots."There is no other option but paper ballots. Globally, it is known that the machines can be tampered with," he said, adding that's why most of the developed countries still used paper ballots.Launching into his diatribe against the EC, Kejriwal said: "A particular machine showed BJP winning and now even the EC has accepted that the machine had come from UP," adding that as per law these machines cannot be used before April 26.Also read: Election Commission Behaving Like BJP Ally, Alleges AAP Predicating his allegations on machines that malfunctioned, Kejriwal wondered if there were "many such machines".Demanding the EC make all the machine-related details public, Kejriwal questioned "why all the EVMs were coming from Uttar Pradesh", where the elections were recently held, and the BJP won with flying colours.Earlier in the day, AAP had accused the Election Commission of siding with the BJP, and not functioning as an independent body. EC is not behaving like a neutral body. They are behaving like an ally of the BJP, AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj had said.The AAP-led delegation had on Saturday registered its displeasure with EVMs, after a machine in Madhya Pradesh's Bhind dispensed only the BJP slips no matter what button was pressed.However, rubbishing their allegations, the EC had asked the Aam Aadmi Party to introspect their Punjab performance instead of levelling allegations.
New Delhi: Echoing the Supreme Court, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said the Ram Temple dispute should be solved amicably through dialogue.
In an interview with RSS mouthpiece Panchjanya Magazine, Adityanath said his decision to crack down on illegal slaughterhouses was in line with the Allahabad High Courts directives.
Speaking on the Ram Mandir issue, the CM said: "I welcome the Supreme Courts observations on the matter. This should be resolved amicably through dialogue. If the governments cooperation is required at any stage then we are ready to do so."
While the Adityanath governments decision to crack down on illegal slaughterhouses has come under fire from the opposition, he defended the move in the interview.
"The National Green Tribunal (NGT) in 2015 and the High Court in 2017 had made comments on illegal slaughterhouses in UP and given some directions to the state government. We have started taking action along those lines. You cannot confuse legal and illegal slaughterhouses. The governments orders are clear. If a slaughterhouse meets all conditions and has a license, nobody can touch it. If any official does so, he or she will be punished. However, nobody will be allowed to spoil public order in the name of illegal slaughterhouses."
Adityanath further advocated for vegetarianism as a way of life.
If somebody is turning vegetarian, it is a good thing and they will stay healthy. However, I understand that everybody has their own needs and tastes. I cannot curtail individual choice. The constitution gives them that freedom. However, freedom should be exercised within a limit. If something is illegal, it is the governments obligation to crack down on it, the CM said.
Having been unable to keep pace with satellite fabrication, the ISRO has now roped in the private industry to bridge the gap.
A consortium led by Alpha Design Technologies, Bengaluru is tasked to make two full satellites for India's navigation system.
After almost 150 missions and three decades of space faring, the ISRO is on a mission like never before, handholding the private industry to make a full navigation satellite.
Towards that, a high-tech defence equipment supplier from Bengaluru, Alpha Design Technologies has been chosen as the first private industry tasked with making not one but two full satellites for the ISRO.
A team of 70 engineers is working hard to make a flight ready satellite in the next six months.
Colonel H S Shankar, the man who helped India get its first bulk supply of electronic voting machines (EVMs), is leading the consortium and he is keeping a hawk's eye on the fabrication process.
Shankar, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Alpha Design Technologies, says, "It is a challenging task for any Indian company to undertake assembly, integration and testing of a satellite and that too for the first time in India."
With seven satellites already in orbit, the NAVIC or the Swadeshi GPS system is today fully functional but to be on the safe side the ISRO needed two spare satellites on the ground for a quick launch in case something went wrong.
It signed up with the Rs 400 crore company to give India its first large private satellite.
The ISRO also wants to seed an ecosystem where the private sector takes a lead in the future.
M Annadurai, Director of ISRO Satellite Centre in Bengaluru, says, "Basically there is a gap between what we are capable of doing now versus what we are supposed to make. There is a gap between the requirement and our capability. That gap we want to fill up with support from the industry."
"...16 to 17 satellites we have to make every year. So it is a really-really quantum jump and to fill that gap..., we thought the industry could come in," he added.
Satellite fabrication requires high precision as these birds cost hundreds of crores of rupees and after the launch they remain functional for up to 10 years with no scope for repair.
The space environment is very punishing and the untested fail miserably and space faring remains a high risk activity.
Annadurai thinks the ISRO is not taking any risk by relying on the private sector, adding, "I do not think it is a risk. It is basically an incremental improvement over what we have already done. When you look at NAVIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation) satellite system, except for the first satellite, on all the other remaining satellites more than 95 per cent of the systems that were flown basically came from industry."
"Similar thing is being done for this mission. For the first standby Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) satellite, we will be handholding the private team. Some 70 young engineers are there and they will be watching what we are doing and then at the end of the first satellite fabrication, the private team will come out with a document of what they have understood and how will they make the second satellite, this document will be audited by the ISRO's quality assurance team," he said.
And once the ISRO teams clears it and are convinced that the private team is really trained and they are equipped with the necessary skill sets, only then the second satellite fabrication they will do on their own.
"Hopefully, together we will be able to succeed because anyhow they are learning under our watch. So once they start to do one or two satellites like that, they will be able to take on making subsequent satellites totally on their own," he said.
India recently launched 104 satellites on a single mission, creating such a global sensation that an intelligence officer from the US expressed his "shock" at India's singular achievement and this paved the way for India's foray into the multi-billion dollar launch industry.
By supporting the private industry to learn the processes of making satellites, India hopes to create a robust space industry in the private sector. In the past the ISRO has designed and made a satellite for the Europeans and this new and bold move could in times pave the way for India being a global hub for the space sector.
Towards that a high-tech space park is almost ready at one of ISRO's newer satellite facilities in Bengaluru, and here the private sector could make the best of the best satellites.
Annadurai says once ready this space park will be unique since from the smallest components to the flight ready birds-- all will be made under one roof.
No other facility like this exists anywhere in the world, he insists.
India is regarded as a low cost and reliable space power.
Today for the first time a satellite is being fabricated in the private industry - a giant leap for the ISRO and a giant leap for the Indian space industry.
So in the corner of an airtight room of India's satellite fabrication unit where even the smallest speck of dust is not allowed to enter, a giant breathe of 'private' fresh air has been ushered in.
In a highly secure, clean room of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) here, a new jugalbandi is unfolding -- teams from the private sector are working shoulder-to-shoulder with government engineers to create a new bird that will soar in the sky very soon.The Indian space establishment has crossed a new threshold, engaging for the first time a private sector industry to make a full multi-crore, heavy duty satellite.
The careers website was shut down after McDonald's learned of the attack, and will remain closed until an ongoing investigation is complete, the unit said.
The company said it currently had no evidence that the information taken had been misused.
McDonald's Canada said its job application forms do not ask for sensitive personal information such as social insurance numbers, banking or health information.
McDonald's said earlier this month its official Twitter handle was compromised after a tweet sent from the account slammed U.S. President Donald Trump.
McDonald Corp's Canadian unit said on Friday personal information of about 95,000 restaurant job applicants was compromised in a cyber attack on its careers website.The information included names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers and employment backgrounds of candidates who applied online for jobs at McDonald's Canada restaurants between March 2014 and March 2017.
In the run-up to setting up LIGO in India by 2024, researchers are pushing boundaries of modern science to enhance sensitivity of detection of gravitational waves. They are, in fact, toying with quantum mechanics to "squeeze light".Squeezed light (a squeezed state of light) is a special form of light that is generated by tweaking quantum properties of light, to lower "noise" below the fundamental quantum limit.The resulting "quieter detector" can be harnessed for even more extreme precision and sensitivity of the gravitational wave detectors."Squeezed light will be used in Advanced LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) by the early next decade. By the time LIGO-India comes up, US detectors will start using squeezed light (by 2022) and we will also be ready to start experiments with it," Tarun Souradeep, spokesperson, LIGO-India Science, told IANS at the conclusion of the latest meeting on the project.The recently-concluded 'LIGO-India: The Road ahead' (LITRA-3) two-day meet at IUCAA-Pune, involved a discussion between the LIGO-India Science Management Board, members of the LIGO Directorate (Dave Reitze, LIGO Director and Fred Raab, LIGO Associate Director), and prominent researchers from all over the country.Participants were from IIT Madras, IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur, IISER Pune, CSIR-NPL, BITS-Pilani Goa, IIT Hyderabad, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics and National Physical Laboratory."We are making sure there are people who are taking up advanced areas of experimentation like squeezed light sources, so that we have all the technology for the RnD in LIGO-India," explained Souradeep, also the senior professor at Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, one of the three lead Indian institutions involved in implementing the collaborative LIGO-India project.He said IITs like the ones at Madras (Chennai), Delhi, Kanpur and IISERs Pune are taking up responsibilities related to quantum photonics, including squeezed light."Many of them are running smaller-scale projects on squeezed light. Many elements of LIGO are lab physics but the challenge is to scale it up from lab physics to the level of LIGO. It is like scaling up 100 times," he explained.Some of the other issues on the table are seismic properties and the mitigation of associated noise of the shortlisted site where the observatory will be established and designing even more advanced laser sources and better optical coatings."We have to also start research now for long-term RnD and some of the key areas are laser systems and optics," added Souradeep.LIGO project operates two gravitational-wave (GW) detectors, in Washington and Louisiana, US.India is poised to set up world's third advanced LIGO. It is expected to start operating by 2024.
Both candidates in Ecuador's tight presidential runoff claimed victory in what's shaping up to be a nail-biter race that could either further tilt Latin America toward the right following a series of conservative election victories or reinforce President Rafael Correa's "Citizens' Revolution."
Three exit polls, including one by a firm that accurately predicted the results of the first-round, showed conservative former banker Guillermo Lasso winning the race by a slim margin of between 3 and 6 percentage points. But a fourth survey gave Correa's hand-picked successor, Lenin Moreno, a 4-point edge.
A jubilant Lasso on Sunday told supporters in Guayaquil that he would free political prisoners and heal divisions created by 10 years of iron-fisted rule by Correa.
"Today a new Ecuador has been born," Lasso said to loud shouts of "freedom." ''Behind us are those dark pages of hatred among Ecuadoreans."
But Moreno was defiant, urging supporters to wait for official results that he said would confirm his "triumph." Correa cast his vote shortly after polls opened early yesterday, saying that the contest would be "very important" for determining whether the small Andean nation of 16 million takes a turn for the right or if "progressive tendencies resume their force."
With Ecuador's economy slated to shrink by 2.7 per cent this year as oil prices remain low and with a majority of citizens stating in surveys that they are eager for change after 10 years of Correa's iron-fisted rule, analysts had been anticipating that Ecuadoreans would back Lasso and join the growing list of Latin American nations shifting to the right. Yet in the final weeks of the race, Moreno has inched ahead amid an aggressive campaign led by Correa to cast Lasso as a wealthy, out-of-touch politician who profited from the country's 1999 banking crisis.
"We know how to put ourselves in your shoes, understand your dreams and wishes," Moreno said in a final campaign announcement.
Authorities are deploying thousands of officers to beef up security at vote-processing centers around the country after a contentious first-round election on February 19, in which Moreno fell just short of the required threshold to avoid a runoff.
The vote count dragged on for several days before the official results were announced, provoking accusations of fraud from both sides and angry protests that have injected an unusual degree of volatility in the election results. Fearing a contested election, church leaders have appealed to both campaigns to accept whatever the results.
Lasso has put forward a pro-business agenda aimed at attracting foreign investment, reducing taxes and generating more jobs and in recent days drew comparisons between continuing a Correa-style government and going down the same path as socialist Venezuela. After casting his ballot in his native Guayaquil, Lasso said he is vote "for change, so Ecuador can recover its freedom."
Lasso has benefited from ongoing corruption allegations related to bribes Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht paid to officials in Correa's government and a USD 12 million contracting scandal at state-run PetroEcuador, but analysts say he has not connected with lower-income voters.
The election results are also being watched for a sign whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will be able to remain at the Ecuadorean embassy in London. Lasso has said he'll evict the Australian activist within 30 days of taking office while Moreno says he'll allow him to stay.
Washington: US President Donald Trump has condemned the Saint Petersburg metro blast which claimed 11 lives, calling it a "terrible thing", as America offered to help Russia in investigating the "act of violence".
"Terrible. Terrible thing. Happening all over the world. Absolutely a terrible thing," he told reporters yesterday during a brief media appearance with visiting Egyptian President Abdel al-Sisi.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said America condemns the act of violence and expresses condolences for the victims.
"The President has been briefed on today's attack on St Petersburg Metro. The United States condemns this reprehensible attack and act of violence," Spicer told reporters at his daily news conference yesterday.
The United States is prepared to offer assistance to Russia that it may require in investigating this crime, he said.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the injured and with the Russian people as we extend our deepest condolences to the loved ones who have been killed and injured," he added.
Spicer said that attacks like these on ordinary citizens just going about their lives remind that the world must work as one to combat violence in all forms. The Investigative Committee, Russia's top criminal investigation body, said it had begun a probe based on the assumption that it was terrorism but added that other possibilities were being considered.
The bomb blast tore through a subway train deep under Russia's second-largest city yesterday, killing 11 people and wounding about 40 in a chaotic scene that left victims sprawled on a smoky platform.
Condemning the blast, US State Department's acting spokesman Mark Toner said, "We extend our deepest condolences to the loved ones of those who were killed, and our thoughts and prayers are with those injured in the attack and with the Russian people".
"Terrorism anywhere threatens the universal values and norms that bind us in common humanity," Senator Ben Cardin, Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said.
"It is my hope that the Russian authorities conduct a thorough investigation and that the perpetrators are brought to justice," he said.
Berlin: Germany has no plans to introduce an 'Islam law' codifying the rights and obligations of Muslims, a government spokesman said on Monday, dismissing an idea floated by allies of Chancellor Angela Merkel ahead of federal elections in September.
Merkel, who will seek a fourth term in what is expected to be a close-fought ballot, has come under fire for opening Germany's doors to refugees, more than one million of whom - mostly Muslims - have entered the country over the past two years.
Seeking to boost support for the chancellor's conservatives, senior Merkel ally Julia Kloeckner stoked the integration debate at the weekend by calling for stricter rules for Islamic preachers and a ban on foreign funding of mosques.
Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert dismissed the idea, which Kloeckner - who is deputy leader of the chancellor's Christian Democrats (CDU) - and other senior party members want to enshrine in an Islam law.
"Such a law is now not an issue for government business," Seibert told a news conference, stressing the high regard Merkel's ruling coalition has for religious freedom in Germany.
While stopping short of calling for an Islam law, Merkel said in her weekly podcast on Saturday that refugees in Germany must respect tolerance, openness and freedom of religion.
The message backed up a less compromising tone on integrating migrants that Merkel set at a CDU party conference in December, when she called for a ban on full-face Muslim veils "wherever legally possible".
By talking tougher on integration, Merkel is also seeking to reclaim support her party lost last year over her refugee policy to the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which punished the CDU in regional elections in 2016.
The AfD has lost voter support this year, hurt by infighting that has sent its ratings down to around 8 percent from a high of 15.5 percent at the end of 2016.
In the Netherlands, Prime Minister Mark Rutte used a similar tactic to win re-election this year, seizing back the initiative from anti-Islam populist rivals by matching some of their tough rhetoric on immigration.
He told the country's half-million ethnic Turks that they should integrate and accept Dutch views on freedom of speech or "get lost" after some had been filmed behaving aggressively toward a reporter during a demonstration.
"Our norms and values are all or nothing: you can't pick and choose," he said in response to the footage in an interview last September.
Islamabad: Iran on Monday said it has reservations on the appointment of Pakistan's former army chief Gen Raheel Sharif as the head of the Saudi-led 39-nation Islamic military alliance, warning that it may "impact" the unity among Muslim countries.
Iran's state-run IRNA news agency quoted the country's Ambassador to Pakistan Mehdi Honardoost as saying that Tehran had conveyed its concerns to Islamabad.
"We are concerned about this issue... that it may impact the unity of Islamic countries," Honardoost said. "But that does not indicate that Iran is satisfied with this decision or it has accepted the same," the envoy was quoted as saying by Dawn newspaper.
He also said that Pakistan had contacted Tehran before issuing the no-objection certificate (NOC) to the retired general to head the Saudi-led alliance.
He said Tehran had informed Islamabad that Iran would not become part of such a military alliance, adding that neither had Iran been extended an offer to join a coalition of this sort.
He proposed that all important Islamic countries come together to form a "coalition of peace" in order to resolve their issues "rather [than] forming a controversial military alliance".
Gen Sharif, who retired as army chief last November, is likely to assume command of the anti-terrorism alliance, being dubbed the 'Muslim Nato', this month, the newspaper reported.
The Pakistan government had issued an NOC for Sharif to join the alliance after an understanding was reached between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia on the matter, retired Maj Gen Ijaz Awan, a defence analyst and close associate of the former army chief, said.
The appointment of Gen Sharif as the leader of the military alliance sparked debate over how the move will impact Pakistan's foreign policy, and whether it was fully sanctioned by parliament, the report said.
Pakistan had initially found itself in the cross-hairs of Middle Eastern politics as Saudi Arabia named it as part of its newly formed military alliance of Muslim countries meant to combat terrorism, without first getting its consent.
However, after initial ambiguity, Islamabad had confirmed its participation in the alliance, but had said that the scope of its participation would be defined after Riyadh shared the details of the coalition it was assembling.
Raheel's appointment had been criticised by some Pakistani politicians, retired army officers, journalists, intellectuals, who had questioned the decision of the ex-army chief to join a foreign military alliance after retirement.
The coalition was envisaged to serve as a platform for security cooperation, including provision of training, equipment and troops, and involvement of religious scholars for dealing with extremism.
The Saudi government had surprised many countries by announcing that it had forged a coalition for coordinating and supporting military operations against terrorism in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Egypt and Afghanistan, the report said.
Iran, Saudi Arabia's archrival for influence in the Arab world, was absent from the states named as participants, as proxy conflicts between the two regional powers rage from Syria to Yemen, it added.
LU's odd choice for graduation
So, Liberty University leadership chose President Trump as the schools commencement speaker. What a shame they couldnt get a Christian you know, someone who believes in and practices things like feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless and caring for the sick.
Was there no one available who loves their enemies and not just their friends? Could they not find someone who rather serve God than mammon?
Im sure they have their own agenda. I suppose they will soon bill themselves as the worlds largest conservative university.
FRANK SPAULDING
Bedford
Thank you, Lynchburg!
After nearly 34 years in the Lynchburg restaurant scene, we have hung up our aprons! We have been so honored to serve the lovely people of Lynchburg and around the world since our introduction to the area in 1981. Our foray into the local restaurant scene started at the Rutledge Inn in the Town of Amherst while we were still newcomers to the United States from our home countries of Switzerland and Austria and was followed by 12 great years at Emils in the Boonsboro Shopping Center. Finally, we opened the Main St. Eatery and Catering Co. in April 1998 and participated with enthusiasm in the rejuvenation of Lynchburgs historic downtown.
Throughout this time, we had the privilege to meet so many interesting, friendly and kind people who made us feel welcome in the community. Lynchburg has been good to us, and we would like to thank our loyal customers whom we have loved and grown with over the decades. The Main St. Eatery will continue to evolve and provide the best customer service and quality dishes under the capable leadership of the new owners, as we will enjoy our retired life here in Central Virginia. Thanks to all and see you around town!
URS AND MICHELLE GABATHULER
Lynchburg
Didnt fool me for a minute
I wasnt fooled by Bill Blackwells March 30 letter to the editor, claiming to become a Republican. Im like smart, you know. I figured right off that he was only being sarcastic.
The Democrats, crooked media and left-wing judges still cant accept the fact that Donald J. Trump was elected in a landslide victory. They dont understand that he now has the authority to do whatever he deems necessary to protect the security of our country and the interests of big business, financial institutions and real-estate developers that have been so important to the trickle-down prosperity that made America great. (Until Barack Obama came and messed it all up.)
These so-called people even question our Liberators honesty and integrity! Cant they see his unwavering commitment to Truth, Justice, and The American Way? Not to mention his love for this country, the Constitution and people of all races, religions and ethnic groups.
I am reminded of the immortal words of another great president, Richard M. Nixon, 43 years ago: [P]eople have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I am not a crook. Those sentiments are just as valid and appropriate today as they were then.
GERALD I. KERLEY
Appomattox
Greens will lead the charge
As co-chairman of the Lynchburg Green Party, it saddens me that the local Democratic Party decided to abstain from protesting President Trumps visit to Liberty University, electing instead to be planting flowers, painting and picking up trash.
Though the national Democratic Party has become nothing more than a servant to its corporate donors, we assumed that the local level would be supportive, not dissenters to actions of grassroots democracy. The association between LU and the Trump administration is seen by many people in this area as an affront to both true Christian values and democracy. It also outlines the truth behind Thomas Jeffersons comments in a letter to Horatio Spofford in 1814 in which he stated In every country and in every age the priest has been hostile to Liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own. It is error alone that needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.
Our resistance on May 13 will not be against students or parents of LU graduates, but against the golden calf of greed and unregulated capitalism that Jerry Falwell Jr. alone has aligned with. It is in protest against a president who lacks any moral compass, against his disastrous policies and his attacks on minorities, the sick, the poor and democracy in general. We will not sit back and allow Lynchburg to be a safe place for Trumps rhetoric and fascist leanings. We welcome all who wish to come out and join us and the Seven Hills Progressive Society on May 13 as we make certain the voice of resistance is never silenced.
MARCUS SUTPHIN
Lynchburg
Nineteen years after opening Main Street Eatery, Michelle and Urs Gabathuler handed over the keys to a longtime employee last month and are heading into retirement.
Taking the helm of the longtime downtown restaurant is Wendy Williams, who has worked for the Gabathulers in various roles at all three of the restaurants they have operated in the region over the years.
Williams has been our right hand for close to 25 years, Michelle Gabathuler said. She was with us first at the Rutledge Inn when she was just a college student and then off and on worked with us in all of our restaurants doing anything from bartender to assistant manager, and now she is the boss.
Louis Cambeletta, Williams partner, is doing marketing and providing financial backing for the restaurant.
Two Lynchburg restaurants opening soon will further expand group's offerings Two more new restaurants are coming to Lynchburg before this summer: one in Wyndhurst servin
Williams said she stayed on with the Gabathulers for so many years because she enjoyed the job and is excited about her future as the owner of the restaurant.
This was one of those opportunities of a lifetime, she said. Im very excited.
According to both Michelle Gabathuler and Williams, the upscale European restaurant will remain largely the same as it was under the original owners. The cozy space with white tablecloth-topped tables will continue to feature a rotating menu of central European favorites such as the Swiss national dish Veal Zurich, Austrian-inspired Wiener Schnitzel and a selection of fresh seafood.
Originally hailing from Switzerland, the Gabathulers moved to the United States in 1979 because Urs Gabathuler a classically trained chef was hired to work in the catering business in Atlanta. After hearing about Virginia from friends, the couple decided to relocate to the town of Amherst and take over the Rutledge Inn, which they owned from 1981 to 1983.
After selling the Rutledge Inn, they purchased EMILS restaurant in the Boonsboro Shopping Center in Lynchburg, which quickly became a popular restaurant for special events, business meetings and gatherings due to the high-quality food and fine dining experience.
I still know so many customers from then because we were one of the only shows in town, Michelle Gabathuler said. There wasnt that much competition. People would come to us if they wanted something a little bit fancier, with white tablecloths, tableside service and a fancy wine list.
After 12 years of running EMILS at full tilt, the Gabathulers decided it was time for a break and sold the restaurant in 1996. Two years later, the couple decided to jump back into the restaurant business and take a risk by moving to a starkly different downtown Lynchburg that did not have nearly as active a restaurant and nightlife scene as it does today.
Across the street [from the restaurant], the entire area was just sort of abandoned, Michelle Gabathuler said. Nobody really lived downtown, and the streets were just empty at night. People just had to overcome the internal barrier that its OK to go downtown, especially in the evenings.
They purchased and extensively renovated a building next door to L. Oppleman Pawn Shop and turned it into a new restaurant, with similar dishes to EMILS.
From the start, actually we had so many old customers that followed us to the new restaurant, Michelle Gabathuler said. Many of our good old customers came to see us so they became regulars and came downtown. We became a destination restaurant. People came and drove downtown and saw us, and we were really successful.
Lynchs Landing, a downtown advocacy organization, said they are glad the restaurant has flourished over the years.
Were especially excited that they sold it to a longtime employee, said Blake Gederberg, Lynchs Landing events manager. It shows that downtown is a place you can invest in and grow into.
Michelle Gabathuler said Lynchburgs dining scene has evolved greatly since she and her husband originally started cooking and serving customers in the area.
When we first took over the Rutledge Inn, my husband couldnt find anyone who would sell him any veal or fresh fish that hadnt been frozen, she said. People looked at him and said, We have fresh, but its been frozen, but that has changed because now we have much more options for ingredients.
Despite the increased competition from newer upscale restaurants in the area, Michelle Gabathuler said she is happy to see the growth in the dining scene.
Its wonderful to see the expansion of restaurants because I like to go out to other places and try new dishes, she said. Especially when we came downtown, the whole area was undeveloped on the culinary aspect of things, so its great to see the changes.
The couple plans to stick around in Lynchburg area after retirement and enjoy time with family and friends.
Were going to take care of our health and enjoy a little bit more free time, Michelle Gabathuler said.
I am enjoying being a little more free to do things like go to the YMCA and enjoying my grandchild. Well be traveling a little bit more too, just when we feel like it.
Theres the retirement that looks like the commercials: biking, travel, enjoying the family.
And then theres the one where you cant get up the stairs anymore.
Most of us happily plan for the first, when our health is good and energy high. The second can be hard to contemplate, when health falters and medical crises can change lives in an instant.
Yet a focus on just the active part of retirement can shortchange your quality of life once you begin to decline, which is why financial advisers suggest you also look at how youll live in that later phase. Heres what you should consider for that second stage.
Certified financial planner Dana Anspach of Scottsdale, Arizona, doesnt want her clients to prematurely give up their homes or make other moves that may not suit them. One couple she advised, for example, moved into a continuing care community one that includes independent living, assisted living and nursing home care in their 80s and moved back out again a year later because they couldnt entertain or decorate their apartment the way they wanted. (They used their refunded deposit to buy a condo and had enough money to pay for in-home care.)
Anspach also has heard horror stories of elders who stayed too long in unsafe conditions until health crises propelled them into the hospital and left their families scrambling to deal with the costs, their care and what to do with the family home.
The key, planners say, is to start thinking and talking about how you want to cope when your health begins to fail.
You have so many more options if you plan earlier and set up the trajectory of where youre wanting to go, says Danielle Howard, a CFP in Basalt, Colorado.
Howard starts with the somewhat easier decisions, such as whom the clients want to make medical and financial decisions should they become incapacitated. Then the discussion moves to the harder topics imagining life when they cant navigate stairs or drive or handle daily activities such as cooking, cleaning, dressing or bathing themselves.
Could they stay in their current home? Would it need to be modified? Who will provide their care, and how will they pay for it?
Anspach advises clients who dont have long-term care insurance or family members willing to provide care to save their home equity for such expenses, rather than using it to boost their retirement income. (Home equity can be tapped with lines of credit or reverse mortgages or by selling the home.)
If parents do expect children to help, Anspach says, they need to make sure the kids are on board and that those kids lives are stable enough to provide care if the parents move closer.
You dont want to move across the country and have them get transferred somewhere else, Anspach says.
Parents also should consider how they can make things easier for their caregivers, says Ed Vargo, a CFP in Cleveland. Vargo encouraged his in-laws to move from a home that was 20 minutes away to one that was five minutes away.
That 20 minutes can turn into an hour back and forth, and you may be going multiple times a day, Vargo says.
His mother-in-law, Rose Forrester, understood those dynamics well. Before she retired three years ago, Forrester was a physical therapist who provided in-home care to older patients and a caregiver to her mother, who also lived 20 minutes away. Eventually, Forrester and her husband, Dan, moved the elderly woman into their home, where she lived for three years until her death.
Then the couple began to talk about what they should do to make things easier for themselves and their kids in coming years. Neither wanted to leave their home of four decades, but both realized its stairs and layout would be tough to navigate someday.
I could have stayed 10 more years, but in 10 years I knew I wasnt going to have the energy to move, Forrester says. The couple moved to a one-level, ranch-style home three years ago, when he was 68 and she was 66.
Vargo is now talking with his father about moving closer. The older man initially rejected the idea but after a few years of discussions has said hes now considering it.
Theres a tendency for people to tell other people what they should do. That doesnt really work, Vargo says. Have a discussion, share your concerns, but be patient.
This column was provided to The Associated Press by the personal finance website NerdWallet. Liz Weston is a certified financial planner and columnist at NerdWallet. Email her at lweston@nerdwallet.com or find her on Twitter: @lizweston.
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Revisit the founding of the JSA and foreshadow its future in The New Golden Age #1 preview
And see what lies ahead in the future of the DC Universe
The Outsider is a satisfying mystery
A LAW student seeking employment after graduation lands in a conspiracy inside the US Supreme Court in The Outsider, Anthony Franzes latest legal thriller.
Grayson Hernandez gets a job with the court, but its in the mailroom. He listens to the various clerks discuss the cases and dreams of one day being in their company as an equal. One evening while heading home, he witnesses a mugging in the parking garage and intervenes. He ends up stopping the attack and saving the victim, who happens to be the Chief Justice of the United States. As a thank you, the head of the Supreme Court appoints him as a law clerk.
His happiness is short-lived, however, when FBI Special Agent Emma Milstein approaches him and asks for help. The case shes investigating involves murder that may be connected to the Supreme Court. She wants him to be an informant, and he reluctantly agrees. As he secretly begins investigating his fellow law clerks and the justices, he soon realises that everything seems to be pointing at him being the one the FBI is seeking.
Descriptions of the law and how the Supreme Court operates are engaging, and Franze knows how to showcase the ins and outs of that world without diving into too much legalese.
Readers unfamiliar with elements of the justice system will still find this a satisfying mystery.
Its like a mix of John Grisham and Scott Turow alongside the inner workings of the court system.
Toss it all together and the end result is this winning novel.
Tom Brady Just Became
First NFL Player to Do This
That a trucker drove cross-country while high on illegal drugs is worrisome enoughbut police say Gary Robbins did that without any rest. The Alaska man was arrested in Deerfield, Mass., on Tuesday, and reportedly admitted to driving straight there from Seattle. His ride ended at a Circle K gas station, where an employee called police after witnessing erratic behavior in the parking lot, reports the Recorder: After inserting his credit cards into the fuel tank and locking himself out of the vehicle, Robbins was seen trying to break into the truck from the space between the trailer and front cab. Police say the 49-year-old admitted to using crystal meth, LSD, and cocaine to fuel his non-stop, cross-country ride.
"They thought he was having a medical emergency," a cop tells the Boston Herald, but his argumentative nature and dilated pupils suggested drugs were involved. On Facebook, the Deerfield Police Department wrote, "Officers had quite the struggle to get this truck driver to the Baystate Franklin Medical Center. He was clearly a danger to himself and others"though Syracuse.com observes Robbins "amazingly" didn't injure anyone on what it calculated was likely a 44-hour drive. Robbins' license has been revoked; he is being charged with operating under the influence of drugs and will face "many additional charges," per police. Prior to his arrest, Robbins had managed to deliver his cargo of raspberry roots in a town less than 10 miles away. (This is the fastest NY-to-LA drive ever.)
It was a rare form of eye cancer seen only a few times in the US in the past two decades. So when 10 New Yorkers developed vitreoretinal lymphoma within four years of each other, researchers hunted for a common link. That search led them across the world to the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster: It turned out that six of the patients lived near the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine at the time of the catastrophic 1986 meltdown that spewed massive amounts of radiation into the atmosphere. Four patients lived in Ukraine, one in Poland, and one in Moldova. Now they were living in New York City, and all were diagnosed with eye cancer between 2010 and 2013more than two decades after the disaster. Vitreoretinal lymphoma attacks white blood cells in the retina, the optic nerve, or the vitreous humor.
Since its cause is unknown, "any clues that you get as to possible causes make you very excited," genetic epidemiologist Roxana Moslehi of SUNY Albany tells Live Science. Moslehi, whose research has not yet been published, eventually figured out that radiation, blamed for other lymphomas linked to Chernobyl, could be the cause of the eye cancers. More research is needed to prove that radiation was to blame, but Moslehi has unearthed another interesting lead: She found an Israeli cluster of myeloproliferative disorders, which cause blood cells to proliferate. As with eight of the NYC cases, the Israeli patients were of Ashkenazi Jewish origin and lived near Chernobyl in 1986. (The Chernobyl zone has one thing going for it.)
President Trump is taking a tough line on the North Korean nuclear threat days ahead of his first meeting with his Chinese counterpart. He says he plans to raise the issue with Xi Jinping when they meet in Florida this week. "China has great influence over North Korea," and they will "decide to help us with North Korea, or they won't," Trump told the Financial Times in an Oval Office interview. "If they do, that will be very good for China, and if they don't, it won't be good for anyone." Asked if he would consider a deal that includes the withdrawal of US troops from South Korea, he replied: "If China is not going to solve North Korea, we will. That is all I am telling you." He added that it was "totally" possible for the US to deal with Pyongyang alone.
Trump said he had great respect for Xi and that he "would not be at all surprised if we did something that would be very dramatic and good for both countries." Trump has implied that trade issues could be used as leverage when dealing with China, though he says he won't be raising the issue of tariffs with Xi, the BBC reports. Former CIA China analyst Dennis Wilder tells the FT that Trump appears ready to bring in "secondary sanctions" against Chinese individuals and companies that deal with North Korea, and he may also pressure China to stop using North Korean labor. (Pyongyang was furious last week after John McCain described Kim Jong Un as a "crazy fat kid.")
A tornado flipped a mobile home Sunday in Louisiana, killing a mother and her 3-year-old daughter as a storm system with hurricane-force winds crawled across the Deep South, damaging homes and businesses. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards put the entire state on "high alert" and warned residents to stay off the roads. He urged people to keep their cellphones charged and close by so that they could get severe weather alerts through Monday, the AP reports. "It is an extremely dangerous weather event," he said. Parts of Arkansas and Mississippi were also under a threat of tornadoes, but the bull's-eye was on much of Louisiana. The system packed heavy rain and large hail and sparked flash flooding.
A tornado with peak winds of 110mph traveled for nearly a mile on the ground in the rural community of Breaux Bridge, about 50 miles west of Baton Rouge, the National Weather Service reported. St. Martin Parish Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Maj. Ginny Higgins tells the AP that the tornado touched down soon after a warning was issued. "Seconds later it hit," Higgins says. "It hit the trailer, flipped it, and tore its side off. There was a mother and daughter inside and both were killed." Higgins says 38-year-old Francine Gotch and 3-year-old Nevaeh Alexander were pronounced dead at the scene. Witnesses told KLFY-TV that the father was at the store when the storm hit and returned home to find the bodies amid the splintered debris. (Read more Louisiana stories.)
They've said it before and, sadly, they have to say it again: No phone is worth risking your life for. New York City transit authorities urged riders to stay safe Sunday after a 13-year-old girl was killed while trying to retrieve a dropped phone from the track bed at the 63rd Drive-Rego Park subway station in Queens, the New York Daily News reports. Police say Dina Kadribasic, who lived two blocks away, was trying to climb back onto the platform when she was hit by a train. The driver was unable to stop in time, police say. She died after being rushed to Elmhurst Hospital Center.
Subway rider Stephan Topete tells ABC 7 that he heard screams after the train he was on stopped with a jolt. "People were trying to push the train, and everybody on the train moved to the side so we could push the weight of the train to the side," he says. "We thought the person was actually trapped in between the train." Topete says that after riders asked to be let out to lighten the train, they found a distressed crowd on the platform. "A lot of them were crying on the platformI think two of them were even throwing up," he says. (Read more New York City Subway stories.)
The Russia investigations aren't the only fallout from his successful campaign that President Trump is still dealing with. A federal judge ruled Friday that a lawsuit from three protesters who accuse Trump of inciting a riot during a campaign rally in Kentucky last year can go ahead with their complaint, CNN reports. US District Judge David Hale decided that it was "plausible" that Trump incited the use of violence at the Louisville event on March 1 last year, where he told supporters to "get 'em out of here" during a disturbance. The protesters, Henry Brousseau, Kashiya Nwanguma, and Molly Shah, say they were assaulted by Trump supporters.
The protesters are also suing two audience members they say they were assaulted by, including white nationalist Matthew Heimbach. Jeff Klusmeier, chairman of rally organizers Young Professionals for Trump, tells the Courier-Journal that the lawsuit should never have gotten this far. "If anything, they should have been arrested," he says. "They took part in promoting violence." Hale ruled that Trump at least "implicitly encouraged the use of violence or lawless action," though he rejected the claim that the other defendants should be considered agents of Trump. Hale noted that before and after the Louisville rally, there was an apparent pattern of Trump encouraging violence against protesters, the Washington Post reports. (Read more Donald Trump 2016 stories.)
The triggering of Brexit was expected to lead to some robust exchanges between Britain and other EU membersbut not many people expected open talk of war within days. The BBC reports that on Sunday, former Conservative Party leader Michael Howard warned that if it has to, Britain will defend its Gibraltar territory from Spain the same way it defended the Falklands Islands 35 years ago. In 1982, "another woman prime minister sent a task force halfway across the world to defend the freedom of another small group of British people against another Spanish-speaking country" and Theresa May "will show the same resolve in standing by the people," Howard said.
Howard's remarks followed the EU's release of Brexit negotiating guidelines stating that Spain would have to sign off on any decisions affecting Gibraltar, a 2.6-square-mile territory on its south coast. "Someone in the UK is losing their cool and there's no need for it," said Spain's foreign minister, Alfonso Dastis. "The Spanish government is a little surprised by the tone of comments coming out of Britain, a country known for its composure," he added, per the Guardian. Opposition UK lawmakers called talk of war "ludicrous," while May promised that Britain would stand by the territory. Some 99% of Gibraltarians rejected sharing sovereignty with Spain in a 2002 referendumand last year, 96% of them voted against Brexit. (Read more Gibraltar stories.)
The influence of President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner apparently continues to grow: He arrived in Iraq on Monday for a surprise visit. The 36-year-old senior adviser traveled there with Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and plans to meet with Iraqi leaders and US officials to help assess the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, reports CNN. His dance card is full: Kushner also helped arrange the meeting later this week between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Florida, has been tasked with bringing peace to the Israelis and Palestinians, and had a role in talks with Mexico, notes the New York Times. The newspaper suggests that, with Kushner, the president is creating a "parallel structure" to the diplomatic efforts of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
Kushner is "traveling on behalf of the president to express the president's support and commitment to the government of Iraq and US personnel currently engaged in the campaign" against the Islamic State, says Capt. Greg Hicks, a spokesman for Dunford. With them is homeland security adviser Thomas Bossert. The trip to Iraq comes amid intense fighting to reclaim the city of Mosul, where coalition airstrikes are believed to have killed dozens of civilians last month. The US also has deployed about 275 members of the 82nd Airborne Division to northern Iraq, notes NBC News. (Kushner also is leading a new government office.)
It's not unusual for newspaper editorials to criticize a president's policies. But the editorial board at the Los Angeles Times is taking the concept to a new level with a multi-part series called "Our Dishonest President." Part one on Sunday issued a warning that President Trump is "so unpredictable, so reckless, so petulant, so full of blind self-regard, so untethered to reality that it is impossible to know where his presidency will lead or how much damage he will do to our nation." Those traits may have helped him get elected as an "outsider," but hopes that they would be reined in once he entered the White House are fading. The editorial ends with a plea for voters, protesters, members of Congress, state legislators, the courts, the media, etc., to be vigilant about protecting America from its own president.
On Monday, part two focuses on Trump's capacity to lie. Plenty of politicians lie, of course, but what Trump "brings to the equation is an apparent disregard for fact so profound as to suggest that he may not see much practical distinction between lies, if he believes they serve him, and the truth." What makes this especially dangerous is that Trump repeats the lies of others, even crackpots. "He gives every indication that he is as much the gullible tool of liars as he is the liar in chief." Verification seems to be a foreign concept to Trump, but it can't be for everyone else, write the editors, who close with advice: "Investigate. Read. Write. Listen. Speak. Think. ... Be suspicious of those who confuse reality with reality TV, and those who repeat falsehoods while insisting, against all evidence, that they are true. To defend freedom, demand fact." Read part one and part two. (Read more President Trump stories.)
Shaking heads. Disgusted looks. Giggles. These are all reactions you'll spot in a YouTube video documenting a Mexico City subway experiment that definitely caught commuters' attention. In what's described as an empathy-building campaign, the city's government teamed up with UN Women to create the #NoEsDeHombres campaign (per the New York Times, that translates to "this isn't manly"), created to show how women regularly deal with sexual harassment. In the "Experimento Asiento" ad by the J. Walter Thompson agency, the camera shows what happens when people riding the Mexico City subway spy a repurposed seat, with the top half designed to look like a male torso, the bottom half like a penis, right where someone would sit. A sign in front of the seat reads: "It is annoying to travel this way, but not compared to the sexual violence women suffer in their daily commutes."
"We need to make clear that [harassment] is violent, not flattering," Ana Guemez, the director of the Mexican UN Women office, tells the Times, which notes the goal was to put the onus on men for this behavior, not on women. Various surveys show women in Mexico in general (and in Mexico City specifically) are prone to feeling unsafe or reporting they were groped or harassed while on public transportation. The BBC notes the video, which has so far been viewed more than 1.7 million times, is receiving mixed reaction, with some hailing it and others calling it sexist. "It's important not to stigmatize all men as violent and potential attackers of women," says the chief of a Mexican group working to educate men on sexual harassment. J. Walter Thompson also created a second ad showing men's butts. (A Mexican man was acquitted of sexual assault because a judge found no proof of "desire.")
Caitlin Nelson was just 5 years old when her father, James Nelson, a Port Authority police officer, was killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, World Trade Center attack. Sixteen years later, tragedy struck the Nelson family again when Caitlin, a student at Connecticut's Sacred Heart University, died after apparently choking during a pancake-eating contest, the Hartford Courant reports. Per the Connecticut Post, Nelson had eaten four or five pancakes during the March 30 event when she started shaking uncontrollably and collapsed. Police say she spit out some pieces of pancake but was still choking; officers were not able to successfully use the Heimlich maneuver but did physically remove food from Nelson's throat and performed CPR. Nelson was initially said to be in critical but stable condition and was transferred to a New York hospital Friday, but died Sunday.
Nelson, who was from New Jersey, also had multiple food allergies, but officials do not believe those contributed to her death. An autopsy report and official cause of death have not yet been released. All police will confirm is that she died from complications related to the event, which was put on by the campus's Greek Life department. "Its a tragic event that started out as something fun," a police rep tells CBS New York. Nelson, reported as either 20 or 21 years old, was majoring in social work and often volunteered in support of trauma victims. A source tells the New York Daily News the contest was part of a charity event. "To die for a charity eating pancakes after the dad went down is terribly sad," the source says. (In a double tragedy for an Alabama family, a father and son were killed in a head-on crash with each other.)
Polish prosecutors allege that a new analysis of evidence from the April 10, 2010, plane crash in Russia that killed the Polish president shows that two Russian air traffic controllers and a third Russian official in the control tower deliberately contributed to the disaster. Poland's National Prosecutor Marek Kuczynski said Monday there is "no doubt" that one of the causes of the crash was their behavior. Vladimir Putin's rep quickly rejected the Polish claims: "The circumstances of this tragedy have been thoroughly studied, and we cannot agree with such conclusions." Polish investigators say they want to question the men and cannot reveal details about the evidence until that happens, reports the AP.
The disaster occurred when the Polish crew tried to land in heavy fog at a rarely used airport near Smolensk, Russia. The plane clipped a tree on its approach and crashed, killing President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others. The tragedy at first united the nation in grief but has since become a highly divisive political issue, pitting liberal Poles against conservative supporters of Kaczynski and his twin brother, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, a former PM who now heads the populist ruling Law and Justice party. Jaroslaw Kaczynski and his allies have made a range of allegations, at times suggesting that there was an explosive device on board that brought the plane down or that Putin ordered the assassination of the Polish leader, who was deeply critical of Russia. Other suggestions have included an unproven claim that the Russians produced fake fog to disorient the pilots. (Read more Lech Kaczynski stories.)
The nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court is poised to go nuclear. Senate Democrats now have 41 votes against him, enough to hold up his nomination in the Senate by means of a filibuster, reports the AP. In order to circumvent the filibuster, Republicans would have to change the rules of the chamber to allow Gorsuch's nomination to pass by a simple majority, a controversial maneuver known as the "nuclear option," explains the Hill. They are expected to do so later this week: The Judiciary Committee passed Gorsuch's nomination 11-9 on Monday, reports Politico, and it now moves on to the full Senate. GOP leaders have promised a final vote by Friday in order to have him on the court in late April.
Democrats got to 41 on Monday when Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware announced he was on board with his party leaders. "I have decided that I will not support Judge Gorsuchs nomination," he said. "I am not ready to end debate on this issue. So I will be voting against cloture." Only four Democrats are behind Gorsuch: Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, and Michael Bennet of Colorado. At the White House, press secretary Sean Spicer accused the Democrats of "setting a very dangerous precedent" with the expected filibuster, per CNN. (Chuck Schumer and most Democrats want a new nominee.)
Military operations have killed nine civilians in the southern Helmand province of Afghanistan, a local security official said.
Kabul : Military operations have killed nine civilians in the southern Helmand province of Afghanistan, a local security official said.
"During operations which launched at 2.00 a.m. local time today (Sunday) in Malgir area of Gereshk district, nine civilians including three women, four children and two men were killed," Xinhua news agency quoted the official as saying on condition of anonymity.
The official also added that Afghan and NATO-led Resolute Support forces discovered a weapon cache of Taliban in a house in Malgir area and detonated it due to which one house collapsed due to the blast killing nine members of a family.
Two Taliban militants present in the house were also killed due to the nearby blast, the official said.
Meanwhile, spokesman for provincial government Omar Zawak confirmed the incident but without giving information said, "investigation is underway".
Taliban outfit has also confirmed the death of the two militants.
The poppy growing and militancy-plagued Helmand province has been regarded as a Taliban hotbed in the southern region of Afghanistan.
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#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...
Fairbanks, AK (99707)
Today
Snow this evening will give way to lingering snow showers late. Low 16F. Winds light and variable. Chance of snow 60%. Snow accumulating 1 to 3 inches..
Tonight
Snow this evening will give way to lingering snow showers late. Low 16F. Winds light and variable. Chance of snow 60%. Snow accumulating 1 to 3 inches.
New Delhi:
A 26-year-old man was arrested for allegedly stalking a JNU student. The accused, Shailesh Kumar is a resident of Munirka village, and was arrested from outside a girls' hostel located inside JNU campus on Saturday.
A few days back, he had tried to talk to the victim but she refused.
Infuriated, he started stalking her. The victim told the police that he followed her for a fortnight and even came outside her hostel, breaching the security of the college campus.
Also Read : JNU moves Delhi HC to restrain students from holding demonstration
On finding the accused outside her hostel, she immediately alerted college security. The youth was detained and later handed over to the police.
"On Saturday, we received a PCR call from a girls' hostel in JNU campus about a stalker. A police team reached the spot and arrested him. The arrested person is a college dropout and works at a shop in the locality," a senior police officer said.
New Delhi :
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday said that Iran has released 15 Indian fishermen who were detained with their Bahraini boats last year.
I am happy to inform that Iran has released our 15 fishermen from Tamil Nadu. They were detained with their 3 Bahraini boats, Swaraj said in a tweet.
I am happy to inform that Iran has released our 15 fishermen from Tamil Nadu. They were detained with their 3 Bahraini boats. /1 Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) April 3, 2017
She also thanked the Indian Embassy in Tehran, appreciating their good work for facilitating the release.
I appreciate the good work by Indian Embassy in Iran. /2 Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) April 3, 2017
The fishermen, working for some Baharainians, were detained for entering the Iranian waters without permission.
They were said to be confined to their boats since their arrest on September 22.
Also Read | Racial profiling with Indian women: Sushma Swaraj takes up issue with Frankfurt airport authorities
For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:
The Supreme Court on Monday said that Akhilesh Yadav must have vacated the official bungalow in Lucknow as he is no more a chief minister after losing Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
This has become infructuous. He (Yadav) has lost the election and must have vacated the bungalows by now. He is no more the chief minister. How can he retain both the houses, a bench comprising Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice D Y Chandrachud said.
The apex court termed as infructuous a plea seeking a direction to former UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to vacate a bungalow being used by him as his office in Lucknow besides occupying another house for residential purpose.
The appeal filed by NGO Lok Prahari against the order of the Allahabad High Court in the matter was then disposed of by the bench.
The NGO had earlier moved the apex court alleging that Yadav has been using two official bungalows for residential and official purposes, respectively, and it was an illegal occupation.
ALSO READ | Yogi Adityanath govt recalls 80 lakh ration cards bearing former CM Akhilesh Yadav's image
The apex court had earlier said that it would hear the plea after conclusion of the assembly polls in the state.
It was alleged that the chief minister, who has an office in the State Secretariat, cannot retain an official bungalow besides his residence for official purposes.
ALSO READ | Akhilesh govt ignored illegal slaughterhouse problem for 3 years, alleges UP minister Siddharth Nath Singh
(With inputs from PTI)
For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi :
An army jawan has been arrested from the Srinagar international airport following recovery of two grenades from his possession. The Jawan was about to board a charted flight to Delhi.
Bhupal Mukhiya of JAK Rifles, who is posted at Uri, was taken into custody after two hand grenades were recovered from his possession during search at the main gate of the airport, an official of the anti-hijacking force said.
Army sources has revealed that the Jawan belongs to Darjeeling and has accepted he was carrying grenades and has said that it was for causing blast in rivers to catch fish.
Also Read | J&K: Pakistan violates ceasefire along LoC in Poonch, India retaliates
The Jawan has now admitted to the involvement of junior level officers, with him being courier. He is being questioned and further investigation is on about the explosives.
Reacting to the arrest, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abudullah tweeted that this 'tells a wider story of the problem of unaccounted weapons & ammo'.
Not some thing one would usually forget to unpack before boarding a flight. Tells a wider story of the problem of unaccounted weapons & ammo https://t.co/VsnqB7mT2z Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) April 3, 2017
However, the incident has not yet been confirmed by either the army or police.
Read More | J&K: Soldier dies in IED blast along LoC in Poonch
(With Inputs from PTI)
For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday continued his tirade against the use of EVMs as he alleged that the Election Commission (EC) had violated rules. He also demanded the EC to reveal the software being used in the machines.
The Delhi CM also raised doubts over the software being used in the EVMs. Challenging the Election Commission, Arvind Kejriwal has asked it to hand over the EVM machine for 72 hours and his software experts will reveal what kind of software has been used in it.
In a letter to the EC, he has demanded it to disclose the name of the software. "We have software experts. They will tell you what kind of software is being used in the EVMs. The EVMs have been bugged," he said.
Kejriwal said no EVM machine can be shifted for 45 days after being used in any election. However, he said, the same EVMs which had been used in Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections had been sent for Madhya Pradesh bypolls. He claimed EC had also admitted about the shifting of EVMs used in Govindnagar in UP to MP.
ALSO READ | Election Commission says EVMs totally tamper-proof, rejects AAP's allegation of poll rigging
He said this raised a major issue of concern. "Why were the same machines used in Govindnagar sent to MP?" he said.
Claiming that the use of paper ballots was the only solution to the problem, he said, "I dare the EC to hand over its EVMs to us under the observation of its officials.
Kejriwal reiterated that the EVMs in Bhind district of MP were tampered with and alleged that these raise questions over the functioning of the EC.
Watch: When Arvind Kejriwal 'chanted' Modi-Modi during MCD polls campaign in Delhi
(With inputs from PTI)
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New Delhi:
The recent attacks on African nationals in Greater Noida have been widely condemned and criticised by Indian as well as African govt. Now, African missions in India has reacted strongly and called the attacks "xenophobic and racial."
The envoys, who recently held a "special" meeting on the incident, called for an independent investigation by the Human Rights Council as well as other human rights bodies and also to comprehensively report the matter to the Commission of the African Union.
They said they expected a strong condemnation from the highest political level both nationally and locally.
A press release dated March 31 from the office of the dean of the African group head of the missions in India, said the meeting was convened to look into the recent attacks againstAfrican students in Greater Noida.
Read More: Attack on Africans: India refuses to categorise as racial
"The meeting unanimously agreed that those accumulated attacks against Africans are xenophobic and racial in nature," visible deterring they said.
They reviewed the incidents that have taken place in the past and concluded that no known and visible deterring measures were taken by the Indian government, it said.
Condemning the recent attacks, they expressed their deepconcern and also noted that these "reprehensible events, bothoutstanding and unresolved cases against Africans, were notsufficiently condemned by the Indian authorities".
There are missions of more than 50 African countrieswhich are accredited to India.
Four Nigerian students were attacked by a group ofGreater Noida residents who took out a candle-light march lastafter a 17-year-old boy Manish died due to suspected drugoverdose.
The protest march was taken out after the police releasedsome Nigerians detained for questioning in connection withdeath of Manish, a class 12 student, due to "lack ofevidence."
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New Delhi:
Over 120 Lok Sabha constituencies, where the BJP had lost in the last polls but sees as winnable in the next, will be at the centre of its eight-day drive between April 6 and 14 with a host of senior party leaders scheduled to visit these areas.
Party President Amit Shah will be in Hyderabad and senior ministers like Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley and Nitin Gadkari in Kolkata South, Bengaluru (Rural) and Nazimabad respectively during this period and hold a number of public events.
Most of the Union ministers will be visiting states and constituencies which the party's top brass has identified as winnable and party MPs will also visit one seat each where it had lost as part of its efforts to boost its chances there in 2019.
The move underlines the BJP's aggressive attempts to win over new territories. Its decision to hold its two-day National Executive in Odisha for the first time in 20 years is also being seen as a move in this direction after it put up an impressive show in the recent local body polls there.
Also Read: Former Samajwadi Party leader Gaurav Bhatia joins BJP
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had identified a long to-do list for the party in his address to its MPs. While April 6 is the party's Foundation Day, April 14 is the birth anniversary of Dalit icon Bhim Rao Ambedkar. "We will inform the masses about the central government's achievements, the GST legislation and our win in the recent assembly polls," party general secretary Bhupender Yadav said.
Yadav, who is in charge of party affairs in Bihar, will be visiting Madhepura, a stronghold of the Lalu Prasad-led RJD.
He said Bhim App, a digital payment interface, will also be popularised by party leaders and workers who will also undertake cleanliness drives.
Union ministers J P Nadda, Smriti Irani and V K Singh will be visiting Thrissur, Amethi and Rae Bareli -- the last two being parliamentary constituencies of Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and its chief Sonia Gandhi.
Kerala, another state where the party believes it has prospects, will see visits by several ministers, besides West Bengal. Its general secretary Anil Jain and union minister Ram Kripal Yadav will travel to Ferozabad and Mainpuri, two Samajwadi Party bastions in Uttar Pradesh.
After taking over as the BJP chief, Shah had begun work on boosting its strength in a number of states, including Odisha, West Bengal, Kerala and those in the Northeast, as he identified them as places where it can win many more seats in 2019.
A better performance in these states can make up for the losses it may suffer in states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan where it is likely to find it hard to repeat its 2014 feat.
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New Delhi:
The act of inaugurating India's longest tunnel between Jammu and Srinagar by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not gone down well by opposition Congress.
The party, which was in power at Centre when the Chenani-Nashri tunnel project was launched in 2011 did not seem to be pleased with the fact that current govt gets to enjoy the credit for the landmark development project.
In a jibe at PM Modi and his speech at the inaugural ceremony, the Indian National Congress on Monday tweeted: 'Cutting ribbons before cameras is not 'hard work', Mr Prime Minister'.
Cutting ribbons before cameras is not 'hard work', Mr Prime Minister. pic.twitter.com/8KuyZekOzO INC India (@INCIndia) April 3, 2017
On Monday, PM Modi inaugurated the 9.28 km long Chenani-Nashri tunnel that cuts down the distance of 31 kms between Jammu and Srinagar.
During his speech, the prime minister encouraged Kashmiri youth to choose tourism over terrorism and work towards development of the state.
He said his government was committed to ensure fast-paced development of Jammu and Kashmir, which would also tell the people living under occupation in the other parts of the state how they are being destroyed.
At the event attended by Governor N N Vohra, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and some union and state ministers, Modi promised to stand shoulder-to-shoulder in the development of Jammu and Kashmir and sought the cooperation of the people in this regard. (Read full story here)
Read | Chenani-Nashri tunnel inaugurated: Know 10 facts about Indias longest tunnel
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New Delhi:
Pakistan has violated ceasefire on Monday in Digwar sector of Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir. The Indian security forces have retaliated to unprovoked firing.
The Pakistani troops fired mortar shell to distract the attention of Indian Army which is believed as an attempt to pave way for infiltration.
No casualty has been reported so far.
The violation comes after Indian high commission had summoned the Pakistan high commissioner and lodges its protest over regular ceasefire violations.
On March 9, the Ministry of External Affairs had summoned Syed Haider Shah and lodged its protest over unprovoked firing in which an Indian soldier was killed.
J&K: Pakistan violates ceasefire in Digwar sector of Poonch, Indian troops retaliate pic.twitter.com/RUZnn4RRLj ANI (@ANI_news) April 3, 2017
Also Read: Army pays floral tributes to jawan Ghadge killed in Pak firing across LoC
The Ministry had said the Pakistani Deputy High Commissioner was also conveyed Indias expectation that Pakistan will not take any step detrimental to peace along the LoC and IB and to the security of India.
Also Read: Timeline of terror attacks and ceasefire violations in J&K after Indian army's surgical strikes across LoC
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New Delhi:
In a shocking revelation, the Jammu and Kashmir police seized 16 mobile phones during a raid in Baramulla jail which were used in instigating unrest in the state.
The police officials informed that a few hardcore terrorists and separatists were using mobiles to keep contact with the Pakistani handlers so they can create unrest in the Valley.
The police officials are probing the matter as they are trying to connect the dots after tracing Whats App calls which were made to Pakistan.
Also Read: Separatists call for strike against PM Modi's visit to J-K on Apr 2
There were a few militants who were in touch with people in Pakistan. They have Whats App and calls have been made. We are probing the incident, a senior police official informed.
Also Read | Video | PM Modi advises Kashmiri youth to choose between terrorism and tourism
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New Delhi :
Jammu and Kashmir police chief S P Vaid on Thursday asserted that the Pakistan ISI was trying to instigate and provoke innocent youth to come out from their houses and reach the site of exchange of fire in Kashmir Valley.
Vaid met Union Minister of State in PMO, Jitendra Singh in New Delhi on Wednesday and held a detailed discussion with him about the prevailing situation in Kashmir, in the aftermath of Tuesday's violence which resulted in the death of three persons and injuries to others as well as to the security personnel.
"As per the inputs received, Pakistan ISI is trying to instigate and provoke innocent young boys to come out from their houses and reach the site of exchange of fire," an official statement quoting the Director General of Police (DGP) said.
"There are also recorded messages indicating that as soon as an encounter begins, the Pakistan propaganda mill immediately gets into action," the DGP said. Singh said that it is the responsibility of both the administration as well as the civil society to make the youth of Kashmir understand the reality.
"Time has come, for that the common youth of Kashmir should demand that if this so-called Jehad is so holy and great, then each of the separatist or Kashmir-centric leader should set an example by sending their own children to pelt stones and to stand in the line of fire during the counter-militancy operations," he said.
Also Read | Kashmir: Extra security forces deployed after deadly clashes
Lauding the role of security forces including the army, paramilitary and Jammu and Kashmir police, Singh said, we have among the best forces in the world and the nation is eternally indebted to them. Therefore, he said, none of us should say or do anything which tends to lower the morale of the forces.
Describing the stone pelting as a "mercenary" exercise, Singh lambasted the "so-called Kashmiri leaders who are sponsored by Pakistan and are separatist only by convenience". Denouncing the remarks of a former chief minister who is contesting Lok Sabha bypoll and using separatist rhetoric, Singh took a dig saying, "If he becomes a minister tomorrow, he will overnight turn a nationalist."
Also Read | Budgam encounter: 43 CRPF men, 20 cops injured in stone-pelting by unruly protesters, civilian death toll reaches 3
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Kanchipuram :
A 38-year-old German woman tourist has been allegedly sexually assaulted at Mamallapuram beach in Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu.
In her complaint to the police, the victim alleged that she was forcibly taken away and sexually assaulted by some men, a district police official said on Sunday.
The official said the incident took place when the victim was taking a stroll alone along the seashore in the tourist town of Mamallapuram.
Also Read: 5-year-old girl sexually abused, smothered to death in Ghaziabad
The woman has been taken to a hospital for medical examination and the probe is on, he said.
Several persons are being questioned and some of them have been detained, he added.
Read More | Odisha: Physically-challenged minor girl raped inside Jagannath temple
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Lucknow:
Key issues in the BJPs poll manifesto, especially farm loan waiver, electricity in rural areas and an ordinance on slaughterhouses, are likely to be taken up during the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh governments first cabinet meeting in Lucknow on Tuesday.
State Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi said a proposal prepared for farm loan waiver will be presented before the cabinet at its first meeting.
Though state Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh maintained that the agenda of the meeting was yet to be finalised, sources said the government was likely to take a decision on waiving the loans of small and marginal farmers.
Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said the promises made in the BJPs manifesto for the just-concluded state Assembly polls will be on the agenda of the Adityanath governments first cabinet meeting.
Read | BJP's farm loan waiver promise in UP is state-specific: Venkaiah Naidu
Decisions on a number of important issues will be taken at the cabinet meeting on April 4. The focus will be on honouring the promises made in the partys manifesto, he said.
The BJP, in its Lok Kalyan Sankalp Patra (manifesto), had promised to waive the loans of small and marginal farmers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi too had said in his campaign speeches that writing off farm loans would be among the foremost tasks of the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh.
Although there is no Constitutional compulsion of convening the first cabinet meeting within a certain period, traditionally the ruling party has held it within a week or so of forming the government.
The Adityanath government was sworn-in on March 19 and its first cabinet meeting will be held tomorrow, over a fortnight after the swearing-in ceremony.
Read | Keeping BJP's poll promise, Centre initiates discussion on farm loan waiver scheme
Government sources said around 2.30 crore farmers in the state suffered losses due to natural calamities in the recent past and were unable to repay loans amounting to about Rs 62,000 crore.
They also said that it could be difficult to handle the burden of loan waiver in a single financial year and that was one of the reasons to put the cabinet meeting on hold till a way was found to honour the prime ministers poll promise that the BJP government would take a decision on farm loan waiver at its first cabinet meeting.
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Lucknow:
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday has directed officials to prepare a draft for a new industrial policy with the aim of creating an investor-friendly climate in the state.
"The state government is preparing an atmosphere conducive to more and more investments and making single window system operational so as to provide all facilities to investors under one roof," the chief minister was quoted as saying in an official release.
The government is working on improving law and order in a big way and has already instructed district magistrates and police chiefs to take all issues of law and order concerning entrepreneurs very seriously, the release said.
Chief Minister Adityanath also directed the officials to take serious note of the problems being faced in industrial areas including Noida and resolve them.
Also Read: UP CM Yogi Adityanath to hold crucial meeting of senior bureaucrats today
The Uttar Pradesh chief minister also met a five-member delegation of Samsung India Electronics led by its president and CEO Hyun Chil Hong today.The delegation, which had earlier met Industries Development Minister Satish Mahana, said their company was keen to invest in the state and by 2020, it would like to create 10,000 employment opportunities.
According to the statement, Adityanath said stress will also laid be on imparting training to youth for which the help of national skill development mission will be taken. The UP government will implement industry-friendly policies so as to create better job opportunities for the youth to check migration, it added.
Also Read: Yogi Adityanath govt approves Rs 47-crore package for Bundelkhand drinking water project
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New Delhi:
In a delight for space enthusiasts, US space agency NASAs Juno spacecraft has captured not one, not two but six breathtaking pictures of Jupiters poles. NASA has just released all these beautiful, finely detailed images of Jupiter.
NASAs Juno spacecraft has been on its journey around the gas giant Jupiter for around five years. The JunoCam imager that sits atop the NASA Juno spacecraft has taken this path-breaking image.
The pictures reveal a swirling storm just south of the white oval storms on Jupiter. According to NASA, the picture dates back to March 27, 2017 at 2:12 am PDT (5:12am EDT), when the Juno probe took a close flyby of Jupiter. The NASA Juno spacecraft was 12,400 miles (20,000 kilometers) from the planet when the image was taken.
The colour and contrast in this image have been enhanced by citizen scientist Jason Major, which is why it looks like a Jovian work of art. The picture is cropped so as to highlight the stunning example of Jupiters spinning storms.
On July 4, 2016, NASA Juno spacecraft arrived in orbit around Jupiter. On March 27, it successfully completed its fifth flyby around Jupiter.
When NASA Juno spacecraft was performing the flyby, all its science instruments as well as the JunoCam were switched on so that it can collect data. The Juno probe is now beaming back that data to Earth. NASA Juno aircraft will perform its next flyby on May 19.
The JunoCam also gets guidance from public assistance. The public can register their participation by voting on which features on Jupiter should be imaged during each flyby.
ALSO READ | NASA Juno spacecraft skims 2,700 miles over Jupiters cloud tops, JunoCam releases breath-taking images
"Juno is providing spectacular results, and we are rewriting our ideas of how giant planets work," said Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator from Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "The science will be just as spectacular as with our original plan."
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London:
A loving 71 years married life of a British couple came to an end when they breathed their last within 4 mins of each other.
Wilf Russell, 93, died at a care home after battling dementia, which sadly resulted in him no longer recognising his wife. Wilfs wife Vera, 91, passed away at a nearby hospital having become ill since her husband stopped remembering her.
Frail Wilf took his final breath at Magna Care Home in Wigston, Leicestershire, at 6.50am last Wednesday. And without knowing that her beloved husband had died, Vera was pronounced dead four minutes later at Leicester Royal Infirmiry. Their granddaughter Stephanie Welch told Leicester Mercury, My grandad was diagnosed with dementia a year ago and he had to go into the care home a couple of months back.
My nan went to see him recently and he didnt recognise her at all her health started deteriorating from that day.
I went to visit her at Leicester Royal Infirmary on Sunday and she opened her eyes and asked me where Wilf was. The last thing she said to me was, Were a right pair, arent we?' Welch said. He died at 6.50am and she died at 6.54am without being told about Wilf. I think she was waiting for him to go. She was broken-hearted, she said.
Wilf met Vera when he was 18 and she was 16 and they got engaged before he went to North Africa and Italy with the Royal Air Force during World War-II. They married when he returned home and Wilf worked as an engineer in the West Midlands. Wilf and Vera moved to Oadby a decade ago to be near their son, Stephanies dad, Peter Russell and his family in Leicestershire. They had three sons. Wilf and Vera leave two sons, five grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.
Welch said they were always a very close couple who adored their family. They had a lot in common and never spent a night apart throughout their entire marriage until Wilf had to move into the care home, she said.
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Islamabad:
Pakistan on Monday summoned Indias Deputy High Commissioner J P Singh to condemn the alleged ceasefire violation by Indian security forces along the Line of Control (LoC), killing a civilian.
Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement that India resorted to unprovoked firing on April 1 along the LoC in Chirikot sector.The statement claimed that an 18-year-old civilian, who was injured in the firing, died on Sunday.
The Director General (South Asia & SAARC), Dr Mohammad Faisal, summoned the Indian Deputy High Commissioner, Mr J P Singh and condemned the unprovoked ceasefire violation by the Indian occupation forces, it said.
Read | J&K: Pakistan violates ceasefire along LoC in Poonch, India retaliates
It said that the deliberate targeting of civilians is indeed condemnable and contrary to human dignity and international human rights and humanitarian laws.
The Director-General urged the Indian side to respect the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding; investigate this and other incidents of ceasefire violations; instruct the Indian forces to respect the ceasefire, in letter and spirit and maintain peace on the LoC.
Read | PM Modi takes apparent jibe at Pakistan in Udhampur rally: Those across border can't even take care of themselves
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Beijing:
China on Monday rejected spiritual leader Dalai Lama's remarks that he fled to India from Tibet in 1959 as he had no other option but to escape due to rise in Chinese military action.
"As it is known to all, the 14th Dalai Lama is an anti-China separatist who have long lived in exile following a failed armed rebellion by the reactionary group of high-ranking feudal serf-owners in Tibet in March 1959," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday reacting to his comments.
"His remarks which serve his anti-China separatist purpose have no trace of facts at all," the Ministry told in a written response to a query about his comments.
About his stay in India, the Ministry said, "the Chinese government is resolutely opposed to any country's support and facilitation for the 14th Dalai group's anti-China separatist activities".
The 81-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader recalled yesterday during his visit to Assam that "On March 10, 1959, there were huge demonstrations in Lhasa", the Tibetan region's capital.
Also Read: Dalai Lama reunites with the man who escorted him to India 58 yrs ago
"Chinese military action also increased. I had no option but to escape. On March 17, I fled."
He said the warm-hearted welcome he received on his arrival at Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh 58 years ago was a "moment of freedom" for him. Chinese troops entered Tibet in October 1950 overcoming the resistance from the Tibetan army and later the Chinese control over the area was formalised in 1951.
The Dalai Lama fled from Tibet in 1959 and lived in India in exile since then. For the third time in recent weeks, China warned India last Friday the Dalai Lama's to Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing claims as part of Tibet, will cause "serious damage" to bilateral ties. The Tibetan spiritual leader will visit Tawang on April 4 to attend religious engagements.
Also Read | Dalai Lama: I am the longest guest and a messenger of Indian culture
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New Delhi:
Malaysian Prime Minister Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak has picked up the famous South Indian delicacy idli as his favourite breakfast dish.
"I want to make a confession to all of you that I am beginning to consider idli as my favourite breakfast item and you can see how much of India has crept into our Malaysian way of life", he said.
He was addressing Indian leaders during a lunch at a meeting in New Delhi.
The Prime Minister also said that Malaysia is home to the largest Indian population outside India.
Read more: Looking forward to the sequel of Kabali: Malaysian PM
"Over 7 per cent of our population are of Indian origin. Indian Malaysians play a key role in building Malaysia", he added.
He also spoke about his meeting with Tamil superstar Rajinikanth.
"I met famous actor Rajinikanth and shared a selfie with him and I am beginning to like Tamil movies in addition to Bollywood", he added.
The Malaysian Prime Minister and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, last week met the Tamil superstar at his residence in Chennai.
Read more: PM Modi, Malaysia PM vow to strengthen strategic, trade ties
During the hour-long informal meeting, they discussed among other things, Rajinikanth's film Kabali, a large part of which was shot in Malaysia.
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New Delhi:
As it plans to expand operations to the US besides launching services to Canada, the Air India board has approved a proposal seeking to induct the wide-bodied Boeing 787-9aircraft in the fleet.
Air India will lease seven B787-900 planes, the higher range of B787-8 aircraft, for which the Board has given its go-ahead, Chairman and Managing Director Ashwani Lohani said.
"The board's approval for leasing of seven B787-900 planes has come by", Lohani told PTI.
The airline currently has 23 B787-800 planes among others in its fleet, and four more of these aircraft are expected to be delivered to it between July and October this year.
Read more: Air India gives free tickets to 3 patients from Bangladesh
Air India has proposed a host of international destinations for launch this year as part of its overseas expansion plans.
The national carrier is looking to launch one more destination in the US this year in addition to Washington DC,which will commence operations from July, Lohani said.
At present Los Angeles, Dallas and Houston are being explored and air services to one of them could start later this year, he said.
Air India is also mulling launching flights to either Vancouver or Toronto in Canada from New Delhi going forward, according to Lohani.
Plans are also afoot to increase frequency to Australia and to look at routes in Africa by connecting Mumbai with Mauritius or Nairobi, he added.
Read more: Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad uses aliases to book Air India flight tickets, fails
The Air India CMD also said that flight services to the Danish capital Copenhagen are now likely to start from August instead of May. Air India will also be commencing operations directly to Israel next month.
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Email leaks show Huma was asking to plan Hillarys funeral back in 2010
Well, they say that Huma Abedin is about as close as anyone can be to Hillary Clinton, and a leaked email that was recently published appears to prove it.
As reported by the New York Post, Abedin was asked in 2010 to begin planning both Hillary and Bill Clintons funerals, because planning is best done when they are still with us, the email, released last week by conservative government watchdog group Judicial Watch, said.
The email was part of a new trove of some 1,184 emails and documents obtained by Judicial Watch via a Freedom of Information Act request from the State Department. The documents are from the period when Hillary Clinton served as President Obamas secretary of state. (RELATED: Connection Found Between Hillarys Campaign And Russian Intelligence Agents.)
As the Post noted further:
Capricia Marshall, who was chief of protocol for the State Department when Hillary Clinton served as secretary of state, wrote to Huma Abedin, Doug Band and Cheryl Mills on Feb. 23, 2010, saying everytime someone significant passes, I am flooded with requests about the Clintons arrangement.
Continuing, she wrote, Planning is best done when they are still with us.
As well, Huma, I would make the same suggestion to you for her it will be a little different And once affirmed it will be very hard for someone to deny the type of ceremony she wanted as well I understand that the President can request certain arrangements for her that she/her rep cannot (i.e. if you want the motorcade to go through DC stop somewhere), Marshall wrote.
In addition she told the Clinton aides that she would have to contact the military to prepare for both funerals as protocol has a lot to do with planning, notification, etc.
A separate 2010 message notes a level of tension was present between Clinton advisors when Band asked Abedin to continue processing a request by daughter Chelsea to schedule a White House tour for a Haitian-American sailor aboard the USNS Comfort, a U.S. Navy Mercy-class hospital ship.
I dont want to get cross wise with cdm [Cheryl D. Mills] on anything Haiti related, Abedin responded. Then, three minutes later, she followed up with this: Have you met Cheryl Mills she asked in all CAPS, regarding Clintons former chief of staff during the formers tenure as secretary of state. You have no idea.
Good point, Band replied.
Abedin wrote him back, saying, She will kill the tour if she find out I set it up To which Band replied, Wow.
More than a year-and-a-half after it was discovered that Clinton set up her own personal email server for use as secretary of state likely to avoid federal disclosure laws that require all public servants and appointees to have their communications and papers archived for future reference there is still fall-out from the scandal. (RELATED: Schweizer: Theres More Evidence Of Podesta-Clinton Collusion With Russia Than There Ever Was With Trump.)
Despite the fact that she was not recommended for indictment by what many now see as a politicized FBI under Director James Comey, it became clear over the months that Clinton was careless in her handling of classified information, which is a major violation of federal statutes governing sensitive data.
Even Comey, in his July 2016 statement to the press where he said the bureau would not be recommending to the Justice Department she be indicted, he made it clear the FBI found plenty of evidence of her mishandling classified information a felony for which many other people not named Hillary Clinton have been charged, prosecuted and jailed.
The Hillary Clinton email saga may not yet be over, but one thing is clear: President Donald J. Trump has not ruled out a future prosecution if the evidence is strong enough.
J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for NaturalNews.com and NewsTarget.com, as well as editor of The National Sentinel.
Sources:
NYPost.com
JudicialWatch.org
NaturalNews.com
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DANBURY - Powdered non-dairy creamer is highly flammable and should be kept away from open flames, the city fire department says.
And thats not all.
Birds nests on lights, crystal decor caught in sun beams, and linseed oil on a rag are also fire threats, according to a release by Danbury Fire Chief T.J. Wiedl.
No fooling here - these are rare but true, Wiedl said in the release.
The chief advised homeowners about the following fire hazards:
Powdered non-dairy creamer is highly flammable and must be kept away from open flames.
Bird nests on outdoor light fixtures can combust from the heat of the light bulbs.
Glass or crystal decor can reflect highly concentrated beams of sunlight into homes and start fires.
Linseed oil left on a rag, used to polish wood furnishings, can spontaneously combust.
Rambunctious dogs and naughty cats can knock flammable items onto stoves, candles, fireplaces, or other heat sources.
For a limited time travellers can extend their journey in Western Canada compliments of Rocky Mountaineer
VANCOUVER, April 3, 2017 /CNW/ - Rocky Mountaineer, the world's largest privately owned luxury tourist train, is offering its guests a free hotel night in honour of Canada's 150th birthday. Now through July 7, 2017, guests booking a qualifying vacation package of five days or more can extend their trip to spend an extra night to explore Seattle, Vancouver, Victoria, or Calgary.
One of the many eligible Rocky Mountaineer vacations is the Canadian Rockies Adventure. The eight-day/seven-night journey brings guests to the stunning mountain towns of Banff and Lake Louise, with a trip to the Columbia Icefields and a helicopter tour through the soaring peaks of the Rockies. It includes activities in each destination for guests to explore and discover the unmatched beauty of Western Canada. Guests will continue the journey through the Canadian Rockies with overnight stays in Vancouver, Kamloops, Banff, Lake Louise, and Calgary.
The Free Hotel Offer is available for a limited time on select dates. It is exclusively applicable to bookings of five or more days in GoldLeaf Deluxe, GoldLeaf, or SilverLeaf Service. This offer has no cash value, cannot be combined with other offers, and other restrictions apply.
For more information about the Free Hotel Offer, please contact Rocky Mountaineer directly at 1-877-460-3200, or online at www.rockymountaineer.com. For the latest news and offers follow us on Twitter, tune into our YouTube channel, and connect with us on Facebook.
About Rocky Mountaineer
Rocky Mountaineer is the world's largest privately owned luxury tourist train and, since 1990, has welcomed more than 1.7 million guests to inhale the mountain air and let nature take their breath away. Guests can choose from over 65 vacation packages and four unique rail routes, including the recently upgraded three-day Rainforest to Gold Rush rail journey, that travel through iconic destinations such as Seattle, WA, Vancouver, B.C., and the majestic Canadian Rockies in Alberta. The unparalleled experience onboard the all domed fleet offers rich, historic storytelling, world class cuisine, and a first-hand look at the vast and untouched wild beauty of Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest.
Rocky Mountaineer is considered one of the best ways to see the Rocky Mountains, having received numerous international awards and accolades for service excellence. These honours include eight World Travel Awards for "World's Leading Travel Experience By Train" and "World's Leading Luxury Train," and being listed as one of the world's "Dream Trips" by Travel + Leisure magazine. With year-long celebrations planned for Canada's 150th anniversary, and Lonely Planet naming Canada as the #1 Country in Best in Travel 2017, this is the ideal time to travel with Rocky Mountaineer and experience the country's vast, awe-inspiring beauty.
*Access to Rocky Mountaineer's new photo library is available upon request.
SOURCE Rocky Mountaineer
For further information: Media Contacts: Hilary Strath, Communications Specialist, Rocky Mountaineer, 604-606-6322, [email protected]; Jenny McKenzie, Account Executive, Citizen Relations, 778-227-0274, [email protected]
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www.rockymountaineer.com
TORONTO, April 3, 2017 /CNW/ - Community events, tributes at Queen's Park and special receptions that promote students' innovations and achievements will help mark today's official kickoff of Colleges Week in Ontario.
"College education is pivotal to Ontario's efforts to meet the heightened demand for highly qualified graduates with specialized skills," said Fred Gibbons, the president of Northern College and chair of Colleges Ontario. "Our graduates are enjoying tremendous success throughout the world. Their expertise will be even more important to Ontario's prosperity in the years ahead as new innovations revolutionize the world economy."
The Colleges Week activities in Ontario are part of a national celebration to help mark Canada's 150th anniversary. The scheduled activities include clean-up days, tree plantings, meal preparations for people in need, and other student volunteer events to support college communities.
Colleges Week is particularly important in this province as Ontario celebrates the 50th anniversary of the college system. Queen's Park has unanimously proclaimed the week of April 3 as Colleges Week, with tributes to be delivered in the legislature.
"This is a huge milestone year for students, alumni, and everyone associated with Ontario's colleges," said Don Lovisa, the president of Durham College and chair of the college sector's 50th anniversary task force. "It's exciting to reflect on just how much our college system has evolved and will continue to evolve in the years ahead."
Other Colleges Week highlights include:
Colleges Ontario chair Fred Gibbons will deliver a luncheon address Rethinking College Education in the Fourth Industrial Revolution to the Canadian Club of Toronto on April 5 . The speech will examine how colleges will be at the forefront of advancements in higher education.
chair will deliver a luncheon address Rethinking College Education in the Fourth Industrial Revolution to the Canadian Club of on . The speech will examine how colleges will be at the forefront of advancements in higher education. A morning event today at Queen's Park, called the Creativity Zone, will feature a number of innovative and creative student projects from throughout the province.
The annual College Day hospitality reception takes place this evening at Queen's Park, with students from nine colleges preparing and serving a range of culinary specialties.
The career-specific programs at colleges give Ontario a competitive advantage over many competing jurisdictions that don't offer the same level of professional and technical programs at the post-secondary level. In fact, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development says Canada is a world leader in post-secondary attainment rates because of the access to college programs.
"Growing numbers of students of all ages are acquiring real-world experience and expertise at Ontario's colleges," said Linda Franklin, the president and CEO of Colleges Ontario. "As we look to the next 50 years, colleges will lead the way in producing the highly skilled workforce that will be essential to Ontario's growth and prosperity."
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SOURCE Colleges Ontario
For further information: Amy Dickson, Manager, Media Relations and Communications, Colleges Ontario, 647-258-7686, [email protected]
Related Links
www.collegesontario.org
RNC will host a call/webcast on April 3 at 10:00 a.m. (Eastern Time) to discuss 2016 results. North American callers please dial: 1-888-231-8191, international callers please dial: (+1) 647-427-7450. For the webcast of this event click [here] (replay access information below).
TORONTO, April 3, 2017 /CNW/ - RNC Minerals (TSX: RNX) ("RNC") announces its review of activities and financial results for the year ended December 31, 2016. All amounts are expressed in Canadian dollars, unless otherwise noted, and are based on the audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2016, unless otherwise noted.
Mark Selby, President and CEO, commented, "RNC has been very active seeking to build shareholder value by advancing our long-held strategy of building a high-quality portfolio of precious and base metal assets. To this end, RNC has completed and entered into a series of transactions that will allow RNC to generate cash and unlock value from our portfolio of production, development, and exploration assets as we progress through 2017. As previously announced, production from our Beta Hunt Mine fell short of our guidance during 2016. We implemented a management change at the beginning of Q4 2016 in order to get the mine back on track, and we expect to achieve our initial goals for the operation by mid-year 2017. We are also actively moving to create value from our other assets through: our recent announcements of a first-of-its-kind 50/50 joint venture with Waterton to build a nickel business through the continued advancement of Dumont and the opportunistic acquisition of nickel assets with a focus on unlocking value from roasted nickel concentrate; and the spin out of highly prospective exploration assets into a self-funded company to be listed on the TSX venture exchange in the near future."
2016 and Recent Highlights
As a result of two transactions announced in early 2016, RNC transformed itself from a single nickel project development company to a multi-asset producer of gold, nickel, and copper. To recognize the evolution and better reflect its asset base, RNC began operating under the name RNC Minerals in September 2016 .
Beta Hunt pre-commercial gold production was 27,882 ounces in 2016, including 7,553 ounces in the fourth quarter. Gold sales were 20,958 ounces in 2016, including 4,571 ounces in the fourth quarter. Gold sales in 2016 were impacted by the completion of a toll of material mined in 2016 that was not completed until early 2017. The mine remains in ramp-up phase. Commercial production of gold is expected to commence during the second quarter of 2017. As previously reported, Beta Hunt gold production came in lower than expectations. New management was put in place on October 1, 2016 to make the changes required to achieve targeted run rates of in excess of 60 kilo ounces per annum ("kozpa"). For 2016, gold cash costs net of by-product credits were US$1,331 per ounce sold and all-in sustaining costs net of by-product credits were US$1,608 per ounce sold (see note 5 to below Beta Hunt Gold and Nickel Operation table). As previously reported, throughput levels and costs were adversely affected by lower than expected development rates, which delayed access to new stopes, and equipment availability issues, which impacted both development rates and throughput levels.
Beta Hunt 2016 nickel in concentrate production was 1.8 kt. As previously reported, Management reduced nickel production due to depressed nickel prices and in order to focus on gold production.
Reed Mine 2016 copper and gold contained in concentrate was 7.5 MM lbs. (3.4 kt) and 935 ounces (30% basis), respectively for the April 27, 2016 to December 31, 2016 period. Cash costs were US$1.40 per pound sold and all-in sustaining costs were US$1.49 per pound sold.
On September 19, 2016 , RNC announced the discovery of two new high grade gold mineralized zones at its TNN subsidiary's Qiqavik Project in Northern Quebec . Prospecting in 2016 resulted in the discovery of two new intrusion-related high grade gold occurrences, the Aurora and Esperance zones, yielding multiple surface grab samples ranging from 5 to 189 g/t gold and up to 10% copper. The new discoveries extended the district-scale mineralized trend at Qiqavik to over 40 km, more than doubling the known extent of the trend.
RNC also successfully restructured the two financing facilities it inherited when it completed the SLM and VMS acquisitions earlier in 2016. RNC replaced the existing Beta Hunt credit facility with a US$16.5 million senior secured gold loan and a US$7 million working capital facility entered into with Auramet International LLC ("Auramet"). RNC also replaced the Reed facility with a US$6.5 million senior secured copper loan and a US$5 million working capital facility entered into with Auramet.
Combined operating loss from Beta Hunt and Reed Mine was $0.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2016 . Until commercial production is declared, Beta Hunt gold cost of sales, net of gold revenue, are capitalized to property, plant and equipment.
Adjusted EBITDA1 loss for the year ended December 31, 2016 was $4.5 million or $0.02 cents per share. RNC incurred a net loss of $28.6 million ( $0.13 per share) for the year ended December 31, 2016 , compared to a net loss of $5.6 million ( $0.04 per share) for the same period in 2015, due largely to a number of one-time items and write-downs related to the acquisitions of SLM and VMS (based on market and operating assumptions on the date of acquisition, not current market and operating assumptions) and the recent sale of 50% of Dumont to Waterton (described below). These figures also include the review and amendment of the method of allocation between nickel extraction and gold operations ramp-up during the fourth quarter of 2016.
Subsequent to the end of the quarter, RNC announced the following significant transactions:
On February 13, 2017 , RNC announced it had reached a toll processing rights and asset purchase option with Westgold Resources Limited ("Westgold"). Under the agreement, in exchange for a tolling rights payment of A$3 million (to be satisfied with RNC shares), Westgold granted RNC access to 50% of its South Kalgoorlie Operations ("SKO") plant capacity for a twelve-month period commencing July 1, 2017 . Upon commencement of toll processing, RNC will pay Westgold processing fees on a fixed plus variable arrangement on commercial terms. Westgold also granted RNC a six-month option to purchase SKO, including all existing mining, milling and infrastructure, for A$80 million . RNC will pay Westgold an option fee of A$4.0 million (5% of the Purchase Price), also to be satisfied with RNC shares. This fee will be deducted from the purchase price on an exercise of the option. RNC will issue a total of 23.4 million shares to secure these tolling rights and the initial option to acquire SKO. In the event RNC elects to exercise the option, the remaining purchase price would be satisfied with a combination of cash and RNC common shares (with the share portion increasing Westgold's ownership interest up to 19.9% of RNC).
On March 7, 2017 , RNC announced that it had agreed with Focused Capital Corp. to spin out True North Nickel ("TNN") into a public entity via a reverse take-over ("RTO") of Focused. RNC also announced that TNN had entered into an option agreement with Carolina Gold Resources in respect of two U.S. gold properties, which will be included in the spun-out TNN assets. Following completion of the RTO, the resulting issuer will hold all of TNN's assets and conduct the business of TNN.
On March 21, 2017 , RNC entered into a contribution agreement under which Waterton Precious Metals Fund II Cayman, LP and Waterton Mining Parallel Fund Onshore Master, LP (collectively "Waterton") will, subject to the satisfaction of certain closing conditions, acquire 50% of RNC's interest in the Dumont Nickel Project for US$22.5 million ( C$30 million ) in cash. RNC and Waterton will each also contribute US$17.5 million ( C$23.3 million ) into a newly established joint venture vehicle that will own Dumont and pursue other nickel opportunities. US$5 million of this amount will be allocated to Dumont-related carrying costs and other expenses incurred over the next four years (expected to include the cost of an updated feasibility study).
1. EBITDA is a non-IFRS measure. Please refer to "Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA per share" section of RNC's Management Discussion & Analysis for the period ended December 31, 2016.
2016 Results and Outlook
For the year ended December 31, 2016 the Beta Hunt Mine was not 100% owned until May 31, 2016. The following is a summary of the 2016 Production from Beta Hunt Mine:
Beta Hunt Gold and Nickel Operation YTD Q4 2016 Q3 2016 Q2 2016 Q1 2016 Gold tonnes mined (000s) 371 104 105 95.4 66.2 Gold mined grade (g/t)1 2.3 2.26 2.102 2.481 2.41 Gold tonnes milled (000s) 354 89.96 140.0 80.4 43.1 Gold mill grade (g/t)1 2.29 2.26 2.24 2.23 2.65 Gold mined (ounces)1,2 27,882 7,553 7,094 7,599 5,636 Gold sales (ounces) 20,958 4,571 7,570 5,401 3,416 Nickel tonnes mined (000s) 73.3 11.7 13.1 19.1 29.4 Nickel tonnes milled (000s) 73.9 11.7 13.3 19.2 29.7 Nickel mill grade, nickel (%) 2.72 2.80 2.48 2.34 3.04 Nickel in concentrate tonnes (000s) 1.80 0.29 0.29 0.42 0.8
Beta Hunt Gold and Nickel Operation YTD Gold all-in sustaining cost, net of by-product credits (US$ per ounce sold)3,4,5 $1,608 Gold C1 cash operating cost, net of by-product credits (US$ per ounce sold)3,4,5 $1,331 Nickel C1 cash operating cost (US$ per lb. sold)4 $2.20 Nickel C1 cash operating cost (US$ per tonne sold)4 $4,854 Nickel all-in sustaining cost (AISC) (US$ per lb. sold)4 $2.23 Nickel all-in sustaining cost (AISC) (US$ per tonne sold)4 $4,927
1. The difference in gold sales ounces and gold mined ounces is due to a delay in reporting outturns from the Perth Mint in the last two weeks of December 2016. The outstanding gold sales occurred in Q1 2017. 2. As of December 31, 2016, 22 kt of gold mineralization from December 2016 production remained on the ROM pad for tolling in the subsequent quarter, compared to 5 kt of gold mineralization from September 2016 production as of September 30, 2016. 3. Gold operations in 2016 were at the early stage of the ramp up towards commercial production and operating and sustaining costs per ounce are not comparable to other companies. 4. All-in sustaining cost, net of by-product credits, cash operating cost, net of by-product credits, cash operating cost, cash operating cost per tonne, all-in sustaining cost, and all-in sustaining cost per tonne are not recognized measures under IFRS. Such non-IFRS financial measures do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and are therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. Management uses these measures internally. The use of these measures enables management to better assess performance trends. Management understands that a number of investors, and others who follow RNC's performance, assess performance in this way. Management believes that these measures better reflect RNC's performance and are better indications of its expected performance in future periods. This data is intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. 5. Excluding in each case inventory adjustments of C$4.3 million as of December 31, 2016.
2016 was a period of transition for the Beta Hunt Mine as it ramped up gold production and prepared for commencement of commercial production expected by mid-2017. Until commercial production is declared, Beta Hunt gold cost of sales, net of gold revenue, are capitalized to property, plant and equipment.
Cautionary Statement: The decision by SLM to produce at the Beta Hunt Mine was not based on a feasibility study of mineral reserves, demonstrating economic and technical viability, and, as a result, there may be an increased uncertainty of achieving any particular level of recovery of minerals or the cost of such recovery, including increased risks associated with developing a commercially mineable deposit. Historically, such projects have a much higher risk of economic and technical failure. There is no guarantee that that anticipated production costs will be achieved. Failure to achieve the anticipated production costs would have a material adverse impact on SLM's cash flow and future profitability. It is further cautioned that the PEA is preliminary in nature. No mining feasibility study has been completed on Beta Hunt. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no certainty that the PEA will be realized.
Beta Hunt Mine Guidance
Full year 2017 gold production is expected to be 65-70,000 ounces at an all-in-sustaining-cost of $US900-1,000 per ounce. During 2017, it is expected that costs will initially be higher and then decrease as production levels rise. Costs will also be affected by the level of nickel production which continues to be subject to market conditions.
Reed Mine
RNC's acquisition of 100% of VMS Ventures, whose main asset is a 30% interest in the Reed Mine, closed on April 27, 2016.
Reed Mine 2016 Production
For the year ended December 31, 2016, VMS's 30% share of metal contained in concentrate production from the Reed Mine was 5.0 kt of copper and 1,357 oz of gold. Production from the mine continued to be robust with mined tonnes consistent year-over-year, grades 26% higher than 2015, and AISC cash costs per pound of $1.49. Mined grades for Q4 were lower as expected, than the record grades achieved in the second quarter of the year, as the mine moved into lower grade production blocks.
Reed Mine Q4 2016 Operating Review (100% basis)
Q4 2016 Q3 2016 Q2 2016 Q1 2016 Q4 2015 Q3 2015 Q2 2015 Q1 2015 Ore (tonnes hoisted) 104,719 112,929 114,452 111,461 119,183 113,043 112,505 118,645 Ore (tonnes milled) 123,596 119,795 111,002 94,997 114,835 115,741 109,429 122,609 Copper (%) 2.90 3.59 4.87 4.38 3.51 3.18 3.12 2.81 Zinc (%) 0.63 0.59 0.45 0.82 0.88 1.48 0.93 0.68 Gold (g/t) 0.44 0.42 0.60 0.54 0.49 0.50 0.59 0.60 Silver (g/t) 5.76 6.61 7.47 7.21 7.56 6.55 6.21 6.68
Reed Mine 2016 Production and Costs (30% basis)
2016 Copper contained in concentrate ( kilo tonnes) 1 5.0 Gold contained in concentrate (ounces) 1 1,357 Copper cash operating cost per pound sold 2 $1.40 Copper all-in sustaining cost per pound sold 2 $1.49
1. RNC closed the acquisition of its interest in Reed on April 27, 2016. Production figures are full year 30% share of production attributable to VMS 2. Cash cost and all-in sustaining cost per pound sold, net of by-product credits. Costs above are for the April 27 December 31, 2016 period.
Reed Mine 2017 Guidance
In 2017, RNC expects its 30% share of production from the Reed Mine to be 4-5 kt of copper and 0.8-1.1 koz of gold. Hudbay Minerals (the operator) has not provided guidance for the Reed Mine. The above guidance is RNC management's estimate of our expected 30% share of 2017 production.
Dumont Nickel Project
RNC continues to explore all financing and partnership opportunities to allow Dumont to advance to construction when market conditions permit. As described above, RNC recently announced that it had entered into a contribution agreement under which, subject to the satisfaction of certain closing conditions, Waterton will acquire 50% of RNC's interest in Dumont for US$22.5 million (C$30 million). RNC and Waterton will each also inject US$17.5 million (C$23 million) into a newly established joint venture vehicle owned 50/50 by RNC and Waterton that will own 100% of Dumont and have US$35 million in cash to continue to advance Dumont and pursue other nickel opportunities. US$5 million of this amount will be allocated to Dumont-related carrying costs and other expenses to be incurred over the next four years and is expected to include the cost of an updated feasibility study.
Financial Results
RNC incurred a net loss of $28.6 million ($0.13 per share) for the year ended December 31, 2016 compared to a net loss of $5.6 million ($0.04 per share) for the same period in 2015. The net loss increase of $23.0 million is due primarily to impairment charges ($17.4 million), higher general and administrative expenses ($5.7 million) and losses on retired debt ($6.3 million).
Highlights of RNC's financial position are as follows (in millions of dollars):
December 31, 2016 December 31, 2015 Cash position1 Working capital2 Total assets Shareholder's equity $4.8 $(26.2) $159.3 $87.8 $9.6 $7.8 $82.6 $68.3
1 Includes Cash and Cash equivalents. 2 Working capital is a measure of current assets less current liabilities
RNC's ability to operate as a going concern is dependent on its ability to raise financing. While management has been successful in securing financing in the past, there can be no assurance that adequate or sufficient funding will be available in the future, or available under terms acceptable to RNC.
Conference Call / Webcast
RNC will be hosting a conference call and webcast today beginning at 10:00 a.m. (Eastern time).
Live Conference Call and Webcast Access Information:
North American callers please dial: 1-888-231-8191
Local and international callers please dial: 647-427-7450
A live webcast of the call will be available through CNW Group's website at: www.newswire.ca/en/webcast/index.cgi
A recording of the conference call will be available for replay for a one week period beginning at approximately 1:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) on April 3, 2017, and can be accessed as follows:
North American callers please dial: 1-855-859-2056; Pass Code: 93508509
Local and international callers please dial: 416-849-0833; Pass Code: 93508509
About RNC Minerals
RNC is a multi-asset mineral resource company focused primarily on the acquisition, exploration, evaluation and development of base metal and precious metal properties. RNC's principal assets are the producing Beta Hunt gold and nickel mine in Western Australia, the Dumont Nickel Project located in the established Abitibi mining camp in Quebec and a 30% stake in the producing Reed Mine in the Flin Flon-Snow Lake region of Manitoba, Canada. RNC also owns a majority interest in the West Raglan and Qiqavik projects in Northern Quebec. RNC has a strong management team and Board with over 100 years of mining experience at Inco and Falconbridge. RNC's common shares trade on the TSX under the symbol RNX. RNC shares also trade on the OTCQX market under the symbol RNKLF.
Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains "forward-looking information" including without limitation statements relating to the liquidity and capital resources of RNC, production guidance and the potential of the Beta Hunt and Reed mines as well as the and the potential of the Dumont development project and Qiqavik, West Raglan, Jones-Keystone Loflin and Landrum-Faulkner exploration properties.
Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of RNC to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Factors that could affect the outcome include, among others: future prices and the supply of metals; the results of drilling; inability to raise the money necessary to incur the expenditures required to retain and advance the properties; environmental liabilities (known and unknown); general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; political instability, terrorism, insurrection or war; or delays in obtaining governmental approvals, projected cash costs, failure to obtain regulatory or shareholder approvals. For a more detailed discussion of such risks and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, refer to RNC's filings with Canadian securities regulators, including the most recent Annual Information Form, available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
Although RNC has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this news release and RNC disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws.
SOURCE RNC Minerals
For further information: Rob Buchanan, Director, Investor Relations, T: (416) 363-0649, www.rncminerals.com; Melanie Corriveau (French contact), Community Relations Coordinator, T: (819) 727-3777
Related Links
http://www.rncminerals.com/
TORONTO, March 31, 2017 /CNW/ - The President of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union is renewing his call to have government contractors covered by the Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act.
"The problem with the 'Sunshine List,' released today, is that it doesn't show the whole picture," Warren (Smokey) Thomas said. "Kathleen Wynne's Liberals are pouring billions into the private sector through public-private partnerships and other forms of privatization, yet the public has no idea where that money goes.
"Let's shine the light on construction companies like EllisDon, and law firms like McMillan LLP, and all the Bay Street banks and hedge funds that are getting fat off public dollars," he said. "Let's follow the money."
Thomas pointed to the recently-privatized Hydro One, whose top five executives raked in $11 million last year, as a perfect example of a company whose high-end salaries should be public.
"I had to laugh when I saw Treasury Board President Liz Sandals say that those salaries wouldn't affect electricity prices because $11 million is just a drop in the bucket," he said. "It's no wonder Ontarians think the Liberals are out of touch with regular people."
Thomas said the rise in the number of high-income earners on the Sunshine List revealed a provincial public sector that has become increasingly top heavy under the Liberals.
"I've been saying for a long time that there are too many managers in many areas of the public sector, from hospitals to conservation authorities to you name it," he said. "And the wages of those managers have all been paid for, for close to a decade, by austerity, layoffs, and real wage cuts for frontline workers.
"The true message of the Sunshine List is this: we need to move money to the frontlines of public service delivery. Too many people and too many of my members are struggling to survive in precarious jobs where they can't get enough hours and their wages aren't enough to live on.
"This has to stop."
SOURCE Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU)
For further information: Warren (Smokey) Thomas, 613-329-1931
Related Links
http://www.opseu.org
MISSISSAUGA, ON, March 31, 2017 /CNW/ - On Friday, March 31, UPS Canada was proud to induct our 150th service provider, John de Villers into the elite Circle of Honor, a recognition awarded to UPS drivers who achieve 25 years of at-fault accident-free driving. Member of Parliament for the riding of Brossard Saint-Lambert, Alexandra Mendes attended the morning festivities and presented John with a certificate congratulating him on his 25 year achievement. UPS Canada also presented a $1,000 CAD grant donation to L'Antre-Temps Longueuil, on John's behalf. To celebrate UPS Canada's 150th Circle of Honor inductee and the anticipated 150th milestone of our nation, a birthday card from UPS Canada will be signed by UPS service providers across Canada and will be delivered to Parliament Hill before July 1, 2017. UPS Canada would like to extend its appreciation to John, UPS Canada's 150 Circle of Honor drivers and service providers across Canada for continuing to keep the communities in which we live and serve safe.
From left to right: Rico-Victor Alexandre, comprehensive health and safety process manager at UPS Canada, Magali Lacerte-Tremblay, vice-president of industrial engineering at UPS Canada, John de Villers, service provider at UPS Canada, Member of Parliament Alexandra Mendes, Brossard Saint-Lambert, Sonia Langlois, executive director at L'Antre-Temps Longueuil, Sean Doherty, operations division manager at UPS Canada, Dimitrios Vassilopoulos, comprehensive health and safety process director at UPS Canada, Louis Petitclerc, operations manager at UPS Canada.
SOURCE UPS Canada Ltd.
Related Links
http://www.ups.com/canada
mcpherson_brandon.JPG
Brandon T. McPherson, 30, of Horseheads in Chemung County, was charged with planning to have someone killed, according to New York State Police.
(Provided photo)
HORSEHEADS, N.Y. -- An active-duty U.S. Navy sailor, who was charged in December for planning to have someone killed, now faces a new charge, according to New York State Police.
Brandon T. McPherson, 30, of Horseheads in Chemung County, was charged with a second count of second-degree conspiracy, a felony, for allegedly conspiring with another person to commit second-degree murder.
McPherson was first charged Dec. 9. During the state police investigation another co-conspirator was located who admitted to agreeing with McPherson to kill the same subject from the previous charge.
State police have not released the names of McPherson's co-conspirators.
McPherson was arraigned in Bath Town Court and remanded to the Steuben County Jail in lieu of $10,000 cash bail or $20,000 bond. He is currently out of custody on a court order, according to VineLink.
He was previously assigned to work in the recruiting office out of the Arnot Mall, troopers said.
No other information on the investigation is available at this time.
I answered a Quora question about How close are we to nuclear fusion ?
The popular question is when will we have commercial nuclear fusion that has a significant impact on the energy production of the world.
Updated Prospects for Commercial Nuclear Fusion
I have had several articles summarizing the prospects for commercial nuclear fusion
The ITER project and the national ignition projects are decades away according to their own timelines. They are really counting on advanced superconductors to reduce the size and improve projected cost and performance.
So the near term possibilities are the smaller projects.
Helion Energy got funding increased towards tens of millions instead of a few million. John Slough works out of the University of Washington. If all proceeds on schedule then a Helion Energy machine that that proves commercial energy gain would be a 50 Megawatt system built in 2019. $200 million will be needed for the commercial pilot plant. The plan would be to start building commercial systems by 2022. I would give Helion the edge in terms of odds to be first to succeed. However, just like nuclear fission, their can be more than one successful technology. Different countries can adopt different or even multiple designs. There will also be nuclear fusion for space propulsion (actually easier than beating coal or natural gas for energy production. Run a fusion propulsion for minutes or hours and it is better than ion drive. Nuclear fusion will have a lot of applications that will need different designs.
Prototypes every two years
LPP Fusion (Lawrenceville Plasma Physics) the target is to make LPP Fusion with a commercial system 4 years after net energy gain is proved. The hope is two years to prove net energy gain. Then 2019-2022 for a commercial reactor (2022 if we allow for 3 years of slippage). They could lower energy costs by ten times.
LPP Fusion is very public about their research. They are minimally funded with a few million. They are trying to get tungsten and berrylium anodes and cathodes to work for their dense plasma focus design. Think of an advanced spark plug design. They are trying to get a handle on contamination from the firings. They are looking to coat their chamber with titanium. They have to up the amperage to about 3-4 megaamps.
General Fusion- has a steam punk like design with giant pistons striking a sphere with molten metal and plasmoids. They have Jeff Bezos funding as well as Canadian and Malaysian government. 2023 (targeting 4 cents per kwh)
Tri-Alpha Energy (previously talked about 2015-2020, but now likely 2020-2025). They have best funding of the venture funded fusion. They have raised over $150 million.
Lockheed Compact Fusion has a target date of 2024 and made big news recently with some technical details and an effort to get partners. Not much news out of Lockheed. Experts have criticized the technical details that they released. Outsiders think that they are too optimistic about how small they can make it by several factors.
There are several other projects.
IF they all stall out or do not deliver anywhere near their target dates, then I think the progress in high energy rapidly pulsed lasers will be where nuclear fusion is produced. Lasers keep improving by orders of magnitude and the pulsing also has rapid improvement.
It has been proposed for space propulsion but I think it would work for energy generation.
There was also a claim of ultradense deuterium generated fusion.
If no nuclear fusion works out and the LENR/cold fusion take a lot longer then I expect the molten salt nuclear fission to transform energy. In particular the Terrestrial energy reactor.
China is also working on supercritical water reactors that along with factory production efficiency and massive industrial scale could provide lower cost energy.
Really good solar with really good batteries scaled up by 100 times or more could also be transformative.
There are currently petawatt lasers in Japan and the USA. The EU has funded several ten petawatt lasers. Japan and the USA also have ten petawatt laser projects funded.
Japan recently fired a 2 petawatt laser and believe this could be a pathway to commercial nuclear fusion.
Ultrapowerful lasers have been increasing in power by 1000 times every ten years for the past forty years.
Current technology is sufficient for the ten petawatt lasers.
The formulation for the glasses needed for exawatt lasers is known but there is currently no vendor.
Liquid cooling can enable one shot per minute or better. There are other laser types that have lower power but very high repetition rates. One of many goals is to increase the power and increase the repetition rate.
30 Petawatts once per second with 30kJ of energy should be enough for proton boron fuel commercial fusion
The researchers at the Japan LFEX 2 petawatt laser calculated that 30PW picosecond laser pulses with 30kJ energy irradiating a solid cylinder of HB11 fuel of centimeter length and millimeter radius in a 10 kilotesla magnetic field may produce more than 280kWh electric energy (worth about $28). The calculation assumed a spherical reactor of more than 1 meter radius around a central reaction unit that is charged to 1.4 million volts. This voltage stops the generated alpha particles and converts their kinetic energy into electric energy. A very small fraction of this energy is needed to drive the lasers, and we further estimated costs of about $18 per shot associated with replacing the HB11 fuel and the reaction unit (which is destroyed each time) and recharging it. At a rate of one reaction per second, the generated electricity would produce a net income of over $300 million/year.
General Fusion has revealed that one of the most critical and complex areas of its research and development plasma injector technology has now reached the minimum performance levels required for a larger scale, integrated prototype.
First plasmas had been expected for the PI3 (Plasma Injector 3) in late 2016. There seems to have been some unsurprising slippage in the PI3 start of testing.
General Fusion presented its most recent plasma injector results at the American Physical Societys Division of Plasma Physics annual meeting in November, 2016, demonstrating plasma that now lasts long enough to be compressed using the companys system. The results were produced on the companys 40cm diameter experimental scale SPECTOR plasma injectors, and the technology is now being developed into a new large-scale injector, matching the size required for integration with General Fusions compression technology.
General Fusions proprietary fusion system is designed to use compression to heat a magnetized plasma of superheated hydrogen gas to temperatures above 150 million degrees Celsius. The companys program is now advancing to the next stage developing and integrating plasma injector, compression chamber and pistons in the design of a larger scale prototype.
Previously General Fusion had the timeline of
Plan to demonstrate proof of physics DD equivalent net gain in 2013
Plan to demonstrate the first fusion system capable of net gain 3 years after proof
Validated by leading experts in fusion and industrial engineering
Industrial and institutional partners
Getting the PI3 and other scaled up components into a net gain prototype looks like something that General Fusion would be reasonably expected to achieve by 2025.
There was a first commercial fusion proposal for increased investment in Canada It is the Fusion for 2030 roadmap for Canada.
The General Fusion magnetized target fusion approach is the bottom of the following chart.
It should be noted that engineering the demo (like the multi-billion dollar international tokamak project is not making a first commercial scale first of a kind reactor. Demo would be at commercial scale but would not have the economics or capability to operate commercially. The ITER plan would have decades of further work to get to commercial fusion reactors.
About once every 6 months, Nextbigfuture looks at the prospects for commercial nuclear fusion.
General Fusion has decent funding of about $100 million (major backing from the governments of Canada and Malaysia and Jeff Bezos).
The small projects with a technical chance of success are
LPP Fusion (dense plasma focus) is critically underfunded but is making shoe string efforts to move their demonstration forward. This year they are advancing their Tungsten anode tests and even their Berrylium tests.
Helion Energy has working prototypes and are trying to build a breakeven machine.
Tri-alpha energy is the best funded of the nuclear fusion startups with about $500 million.
There have not been reports of major progress from Helion Energy and Tri-alpha Energy.
Combined there currently seems to be a somewhat less than 10% chance of truly engineering commercial nuclear reactors before 2030.
Some are more technically promising in that they would seem to be able to rapidly scale to higher energy returns (more energy out than in) but most are very poorly funded. Funding problems cause delays and do not leave the resources to quickly overcome development adversity.
The physics and technical challenges have continued to prove to be very difficult. It is good that there are many different approaches.
Ongoing advances in critical technologies will make the problem of commercial nuclear fusion more solvable over time.
Better superconductors help. We are now getting to relatively common superconductors in the 10 to 30 tesla ranges. Getting to 100+ tesla would be extremely useful for various nuclear fusion designs.
Rapid fire (once a minute or better) exawatt lasers would be another path to commercial nuclear fusion.
Ultra advanced rapid fire exawatt lasers and super powerful superconductors could be the capabilities that overpower the technical and other challenges to nuclear fusion. This could make commercial nuclear fusion highly solvable by 2040.
Before 2030, Nextbigfuture would give the first breakthrough commercial molten salt nuclear reactors as a 80%+ probability. China and other companies will also probably have next generation breeder reactors, pebble bed reactors and supercritical water reactors by 2030 or 2035.
Japan recently fired a 2 petawatt laser and believe this could be a pathway to commercial nuclear fusion.
Ultrapowerful lasers have been increasing in power by 1000 times every ten years for the past forty years.
Current technology is sufficient for the ten petawatt lasers.
The formulation for the glasses needed for exawatt lasers is known but there is currently no vendor.
Liquid cooling can enable one shot per minute or better. There are other laser types that have lower power but very high repetition rates. One of many goals is to increase the power and increase the repetition rate.
30 Petawatts once per second with 30kJ of energy should be enough for proton boron fuel commercial fusion
The researchers at the Japan LFEX 2 petawatt laser calculated that 30PW picosecond laser pulses with 30kJ energy irradiating a solid cylinder of HB11 fuel of centimeter length and millimeter radius in a 10 kilotesla magnetic field may produce more than 280kWh electric energy (worth about $28). The calculation assumed a spherical reactor of more than 1 meter radius around a central reaction unit that is charged to 1.4 million volts. This voltage stops the generated alpha particles and converts their kinetic energy into electric energy. A very small fraction of this energy is needed to drive the lasers, and we further estimated costs of about $18 per shot associated with replacing the HB11 fuel and the reaction unit (which is destroyed each time) and recharging it. At a rate of one reaction per second, the generated electricity would produce a net income of over $300 million/year.
Local Airlines Lose N39.2 Billion Yearly to Expatriates
Local airlines are weighed down by a yearly wage bill of N39.2 billion for expatriate pilots and engineers.Some of these domestic carriers which are already in distress parade no fewer than 682 foreign pilots with cumulative wage bill in excess of N3.27billion a month. Foreign maintenance engineers are also in the excess of 300 across the board.Figures from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) show a total of 2,269 active licensed pilots of who 1,646 are Nigerians. Non-Nigerian pilots are 623, while there are at least another 59 pilots with certificates of validation, though not licensed by Nigeria as at March 27, 2017.The situation encourages capital flight. The expatriate wage bill of N3.27billion is enough to pay a total of 1,646 active licensed Nigerian pilots. Put to different use, the expatriate wage bill of N39.2billion per year can offset the airlines outstanding liabilities to regulatory agencies in the last six years and still keep them afloat.Comparatively, a foreign captain earns at least $12,000 (N4.8million) a month. The best paid Nigerian captains are those in managerial positions, who earn about N2.5million a month, while most of them earn about N1million.Arik Air, which started with a foreign managing director, has 28 aircraft fleet-size and parades the largest retinue of expatriates, including pilots, engineers and crew. German Airline, Lufthansa, is saddled with maintenance, while Indians do the reservations.Dana Air started operations with planes that required foreign pilots with over 500-hours of experience on MD 82/83 aircraft type. Till date, foreigners still man its cockpits. Two foreign pilots were in the cockpit of the aircraft that crashed in 2012 in Lagos.The Secretary General, Aviation Round Table (ART), Group Captain John Ojikutu, noted that the penchant for foreign pilots is not about them being better than the Nigerian pilots; it is more about capital flight than any other consideration.About three years ago when the oil market was booming, and with about 200 private jets in the airspace, the ratio of expatriate to local pilot was three to four, with at least 1,000 foreign pilots in Nigeria.The Chairman, Nigerian Aviation Safety Initiative (NASI), Capt. Dung Rwang Pam, said the wage bill would not have been much about two years ago when the exchange rate was less than N200 to $1 and more expatriates were around. But with dollar to naira rate hitting the roof, some of the airlines are beginning to buckle under their overhead.Investigation shows that some operators are quite unsettled with the bloated overhead and are considering ways to reduce it.The aviation sector is high-capital intensive and dollar-denominated but with very low profit margin. On a good day, a well-run airline earns six per cent profit margin.Leading rotary wing helicopter services operator, Bristow Helicopters Nigeria, recently sacked 118 expatriates including pilots and engineers, citing downturn in the oil and gas sector.Similarly, Caverton Helicopters dismissed 150 staffers, among them foreigners.Arik Air was in February taken before a UK High Court of Justice (Chancery) by 20 of its foreign pilots. The expatriates sought to wind up the company over the non-payment of their salaries by the airline amounting to $600,000 (N240million).Since the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) took over the management of Arik, The Guardian learnt that efforts are on to tackle the challenge of too expensive pilots and engineers where there are cheaper equivalents in the Nigerian workforce.But the challenge is that a layoff will require compensation that is even more crazy than their wages. So the management wanted the current contracts to run, without a plan to renew any once they expire. The burden is too much to bear at this time, a source said on a condition of anonymity.One of the airlines was apparently more innovative with the expatriate release strategy. It was learnt that the airline started paying the foreigners in naira, instead of dollars, to absolve it from the attendant excess cost on account of dollar fluctuations. Displeased with the mode of payment, the foreigners began to leave on their own, and are seeking better prospects in other airlines.Meanwhile, there has been an upsurge in the global demand for good pilots lately, where some of the expatriates have been finding new opportunities.Domestic carriers have not been spared of the poaching, with about 12 Arik pilots, and six from Air Peace, moving to RwandAir, Emirates, Etihad and others.With the foreign pilots and some Nigerians finding better offers abroad, fresh opportunities are opening up for about 400 young Nigerian pilots that are unemployed. President, ART, Gabriel Olowo, said poaching was a plus, especially in the light of the downturn being experienced by some airlinesHe said: What will a pilot do if there is no aeroplane to fly? If I am in Arik and aeroplanes go from 30 to nine, and the pilots are sitting down, they cant fly, what do I do? Ill roster them but there are no aeroplanes and they ask me to pay allowances. That was why they (unions) picketed Landover, because pilots were scheduled and there were no service for them. Let them poach them and go and gather the experience; the day we need them, we will look for them.The challenge, however, is the little or no experience at the disposal of unemployed pilots. More so, domestic airlines are reluctant to fund the cost of type-conversion course in excess of $30,000 (N12million) per pilot.Its cheaper and easier to employ an already rated pilot. With less than 300 flying hours (instead of 500 to 700 required to fly certain categories of aircraft), and no jet experience, very few airlines are attracted to freshly licensed pilots, a chief operating officer said.Doyen of the aviation sector, Capt. Dele Ore, called for an urgent review of the operating expatriate quota that has over the years been responsible for widening the imbalance between expatriate and indigenous aviators in the sector.According to Ore, for security reasons, we need to make it a policy that all registered aircraft in Nigeria must have a Nigerian onboard the cockpit. This means that either the commander is a Nigerian or the co-pilot is a Nigerian.Lets face it. Havent you heard of situations where one pilot goes to the toilet and the other locks himself up? That is the security aspect of it. Second is that you are providing jobs for those Nigerians that are roaming the streets. That way, you are also helping government policy that wants to stop capital flight because what is spent on one expatriate is enough to train and nurture five to six Nigerians, Ore said.
Nothing will stop President Muhammadu Buharis administrations war against corruption, the Presidency said yesterday.
Nothing will stop President Muhammadu Buharis administrations war against corruption, the Presidency said yesterday.It said that not even the strong resistance being put up by the opposition and its calculated actions to thwart the efforts at sanitising the system would force the government to give up on the crusade.In a statement by the Presidents Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the Presidency recalled that Nigerians gave their votes in 2015 to Buhari because of his commitment to rooting out corruption as one of the cardinal policies of his election campaign.He said: Let me say one thing. Those whose illicit ways of accumulating money have been stopped will criticise this government, but all that will not derail the unfaltering commitment of the President, Muhammadu Buharis administration to the war against corruption.He is aware that this was one of the main reasons Nigerians, in their millions, put their trust in him; the main reason they voted him into power in 2015.To keep that trust of ordinary Nigerians who voted him into the office, he has vowed to give corruption a good fight. He will not let them down.The Presidential spokesman also admitted that so far, the battle to uproot corruption has not been easy as corruption has been fighting back.Corruption has been fighting back vehemently, finding accomplices in various forms and guises. Nevertheless, the Buhari administration will not relent, Shehu said, adding that the days when corruption reigned indiscriminately were gone for good.He said: Nothing will return our country to those sad, old days of wanton thievery that have plunged us into the economic mess from which Nigeria is currently recovering. The war against corruption in Nigeria is one of those clashes between good and evil, where good is determined to triumph.He dismissed rumours that members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) were being spared, saying that all are equal before the law.Highlighting the various measures introduced to promote transparency by the administration, Shehu disclosed that upon directives by the President, the National Hajj Commission audited accommodation agents in both Makkah and Madina in Saudi Arabia. More than $16.7 million will be saved by the paying pilgrims this year.The statement reads: Each Hajj pilgrim is being saved between 600 to 1,000 Saudi Riyals, which is about N60, 000-N100,000, from accommodation, money that had lined the pockets of agents in the past. This year, houses are being rented directly from owners.Shehu praised ordinary citizens for embracing the whistleblower policy by taking extraordinary risks to expose corruption.On the rehabilitation of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja and the relocation of flight services to Kaduna for six weeks, the presidential aide said the government and people of Kaduna should think hard to devise ways by which the social and economic benefits brought to Kaduna in this period would not depart the city with the reopening of the Airport in Abuja.He said: The government of Nigeria has done a big thing for Kaduna. You must show appreciation of this by supporting the administration.On the cash releases for capital projects in excess of a record N1 trillion in last years budget, Shehu praised Works, Power & Housing Minister Babatunde Raji Fashola with the record of being the first-ever minister to ride on all the federal roads across the nation.He listed the Mambila Power Project, the Lagos-Kano, Lagos-Calabar and Port Harcourt-Maiduguri railway modernisation and the new Presidential Initiative on Fertiliser (PIF) as other projects dear to the Presidents heart.According to him, the impact of the PIF was already being felt in the reduction by half in the price of fertiliser.
Mujahid Asari-Dokubo, the leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, has described President Muhammadu Buharis administration as ...
Mujahid Asari-Dokubo, the leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, has described President Muhammadu Buharis administration as a deaf and dumb regime.He said the government is the most insensitive and hostile in Nigerias history.In an interview with PUNCH, Asari-Dokubo said the current administration came with the mindset to kill but unfortunately, they found it very difficult to kill us.The former militant said palliative measures were not enough to resolve the issues in the Niger Delta.He laughed off the anti-corruption fight of the Buhari administration, saying: What manner of corruption could be greater than giving some persons dollars at N185/N190 and others are buying at N520?Asari-Dokubo said few people were racketeering with the foreign exchange at the detriment of others.This is the most hostile government. This is the most insensitive government in the life of this country. All our (bank) accounts were put on surveillance, till today, but they found that this man did not steal any money and he is not involved in any criminal activities, Asari-Dokubo said.We just thank God. A lot of people think I must be corrupt but they have looked everywhere and they found nothing. This government wrote to us that it was going to pay what they were owing us for contracts we concluded and they certified that the contracts were excellently concluded but they refused to pay.This is a deaf and dumb regime. Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo is trying to placate (Niger Delta people) but that is not enough. We are talking about fundamental issues of self-determination and this issue cannot be swept under the carpet by palliative measures and all sorts of things that people are demanding. This is the worst government in Nigeria because they came with the mindset to kill but unfortunately, they found it very difficult to kill us.Some people are buying a dollar for N520, while others are buying it for as low as N185 from the Central Bank of Nigeria. So, when people are talking about fighting corruption, I laugh.When I was driving recently, somebody asked me to come down but I told him I have a waist problem and I cannot walk a far distance. I am not ashamed to tell somebody I cannot walk a far distance.People like Femi Fani-Kayode, Ayodele Fayose and I raised the alarm that Buhari was not (feeling) fine but people said we would be the ones to die first. We will all die but why should one lie? This is the question of integrity and Buhari has no iota of integrity.
The Federal High Court in Lagos on Monday lifted the order barring a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Mike Ozekhome, from accessing his G...
The Federal High Court in Lagos on Monday lifted the order barring a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Mike Ozekhome, from accessing his Guaranty Trust Bank account into which he received N75m legal fee from the Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose.The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had on February 7, 2017, obtained an interim order stopping Ozekhome from dissipating the N75m on the grounds that it formed part of proceeds of alleged criminal activities by Fayose.The EFCC claimed that the N75m which Fayose paid to Ozekhome was part of the N2.26bn arms procurement funds, which a former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), allegedly looted.The anti-graft agency claimed to have traced N1.22bn out of the N2.26bn, which Dasuki allegedly looted, to Fayose.On that basis, Justice Abdulaziz Anka had on February 7 frozen Ozekhomes account for 120 days.Displeased, however, Ozekhome approached the court urging the court to vacate the interim order.In a ruling on Monday, Justice Anka granted Ozekhomes prayer and dismissed the counter-affidavit filed in opposition by the EFCC.The judge said though it was not in doubt that the N75m came from Fayose, Ozekhome could not be held liable because there was no restriction on Fayoses account as of the time the N75m was paid to his law firm.Justice Anka noted that the freezing order earlier obtained by the EFCC in respect of Fayoses accounts had been lifted by Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Federal High Court in Ado-Ekiti.Justice Anka said he would not allow himself to be lured into sitting as an appellate judge over the counter-decisions of Justice Mohammed Idris who earlier froze Fayoses accounts and Justice Taiwo who later unfroze the accounts.Justice Anka held, There is no argument whatsoever as to the source of the funds as rightly argued by the learned counsel for the EFCC, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, but the question is: can the respondent/applicant be liable for any infraction as of the time he received the amount in his account?His evidence was not controverted that the same proceeds were unencumbered as of the time they were transferred into the account of Mike Ozekhome Chambers as rightly argued by Chief Mike Ozekhome.The Federal High Court sitting in Ado Ekiti, Coram Taiwo J, ordered that the unfreezing of the said account belonging to Governor Ayodele Fayose.considering the order above quoted and the depositions, I do not understand or comprehend why the applicant/respondents counsel, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, would still argue and stand his ground that the same account has not be unfrozen by the Federal High Court sitting in Ekiti State.In both the order and the depositions, the account numbered 1000312625, was evidently and manifestly unfrozen, such an argument, therefore, by Mr Oyedepo Esq cannot hold water.In the final analysis, the judge said he found sufficient grounds to reject the EFCCs counter-affidavit, including the fact that Ozekhome had already dissipated the N75m which the EFCC sought to stop him from touching.He added, From the circumstances and facts as outlined above, my decision is based on the following considerations: considering the fact that the source of the fund of the respondent/applicant is derivable from an unencumbered account; considering also the fact that such account has also been unfrozen via the order of the Federal High Court sitting in Ado-Ekiti; considering also that the amount has been dissipated; put into consideration also was the fact that the funds are monies paid for the services rendered by the respondent/applicant in prosecuting various actions before various courts..I find it very doubtful if the objection of the EFCC can be lawfully sustained.Ozekhome had in his application contended that the action of the EFCC was unconstitutional, had no legal justification and was a gross violation of sections 36, 37 and 41 of the 1999 Constitution.
United States President, Donald Trump will meet with Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at the White House making him the first Af...
United States President, Donald Trump will meet with Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at the White House making him the first African Leader to meet with Trump as President.He was also the first African leader to speak to and congratulate Mr Trump after his shock election victory.Reuters report that the Palestinian-Israeli peace process is expected to be on the agenda, as is the fight against so-called Islamic State group.
,Many people were saved at a wedding party in Maiduguri, yesterday, as a teenage suicide bomber, who attempted to detonate a bomb at the...
,Many people were saved at a wedding party in Maiduguri, yesterday, as a teenage suicide bomber, who attempted to detonate a bomb at the ceremony was attacked by a dog.Both the dog and suicide bomber died in the explosion that resulted from detonation of the bomb, following the dog attack. The incident occurred barely hours after the police in Borno confirmed that three suspected male suicide bombers were killed in separate foiled attacks at Muna and Dusuman village on the outskirt of Maiduguri.The dog which, according to the police, belonged to a resident of the neighbourhood where the wedding was holding, stopped the teenage suicide bomber from detonating her explosives in the crowd. The suicide bomber was about making her way into the gathering at the wedding ceremony before the dog pounced on her. The girl, whose original mission appeared to have been thwarted, detonated her explosives while battling to wriggle herself from the canine grip of the dog.The gallant dog, it was learned, paid the supreme sacrifice as it died alongside the suicide bomber. Spokesperson of the Nigeria Police Force in Borno State, Victor Isuku, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, said the incident happened at about 7.30 a.m. at Belbelo community of Jere Local Government Area in Borno State.Meanwhile, the police in Borno State, yesterday, confirmed that three suspected male suicide bombers were killed in separate foiled attacks at Muna and Dusuman village at the outskirts of Maiduguri. Spokesman of the state police command, Mr Victor Isuku, said in a statement that the first incident happened around Muna garage near the entrance of the city when two suspected male bombers were killed.
President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, on Monday, said he had no power to reverse the suspension of a former Senate Leader, Ali Ndume.
President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, on Monday, said he had no power to reverse the suspension of a former Senate Leader, Ali Ndume.Saraki said this in an interview with State House correspondents after meeting behind closed doors with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.He said he would only convey the message of the Borno State Governor on the matter to the larger house that suspended Ndume.He said being a Senate President or Speaker of the House of Representatives only make them first among equals.
The Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has denied having certificate scandal. He said it was troubling and unfair to categorise him w...
The Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has denied having certificate scandal.He said it was troubling and unfair to categorise him with persons having issues with their certificates.Obaseki made this known in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, John Mayaki, on Sunday.The governor had been listed among prominent Nigerians allegedly involved in certificate controversy bysome Nigerian newspapersBut the statesman read in part, It is highly displeasing, troubling, and quite unfair to the governors person and image to categorise him among those who have had scandals on account of the often questionable reports from the opposition party.It explained that the governor had, in the build-up to the 2016 governorship election, sworn to an affidavit declaring his certificates missing to the best of his knowledge, as required by the Electoral Act 2010.It noted that he had actually had no cause to look for them for 25 years prior to that time, but proceeded to furnish the public and the electoral body with existing photocopies, which were duly signed and validly stamped by the issuing institutions.It also stated that Obaseki, however, put the issue to rest when he publicly tendered the original copies.The statement added, However, those rightly threatened by his profile and educational attainments, which stood in sharp contrast to those of their own candidates for the same election, chose to seek refuge in deliberate misrepresentation of the contents of the affidavit until the governor later produced the original copies.
Nasiru Usman, treasurer, Katsina state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),...
Nasiru Usman, treasurer, Katsina state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), along with 4,000 others.The defectors presented themselves to the Kankia local government chapter of their new political abode, on Saturday.Speaking on behalf of other defectors, Usman said they decided to jump ship because the APC neglected them.It is a fact that I led many others in the struggle that ensured victory for the APC in the 2015 general election, he said.I campaigned vigorously against the then PDP candidate, Musa Nashuni, who is from my own local government Kankia and ensured he lost even his village, to Aminu Masari of APC.However, after the polls and the subsequent assumption of Masari as governor of Katsina state, majority of us were neglected by the APC.In my own case, some party stalwarts in Kankia went to the partys state headquarters and ensured that I was suspended from its fold, for reasons best known to them.I have been on suspension for 14 months, with the state office refusing to recall me as directed by the north-west zonal chapter of the party, following my successful petition against the illegal action.He said his defection to the PDP was not to contest for any position.We left the party because of neglect. The 4,000 people defecting with me are from the 10 political wards of Kankia, he said.Nashuni, Masaris PDP rival in 2015, who also spoke, said the PDP would not repeat the mistakes that led to the loss of the 2015 election.He urged PDP members to remain focused, steadfast and united so as to be able to wrestle power from its rivals in 2019.Salisu Majigiri, who received the defectors, promised a leveled playing ground for all PDP members.In PDP, we are one and the same and have equal opportunities at all time, he said.
Former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of worsening Nigerias economic and political s...
Former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of worsening Nigerias economic and political system in the last two years.The former governor spoke at the weekend at a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caucus meeting at Bamaina, Birninkudu Local Government. He described the countrys economic, social and political problems as a manifestation of APCs immature leadership style.According to him, APC and its governments are confused, and consequently confused the country by their incredible ignorance of leadership and what it entails.Today, what we are witnessing in Jigawa is clueless leadership and bragging, with no any meaningful development project that could improve the common mans life, he lamented.
The Army has denied reports that 22 women were abducted by Boko Haram insurgents after an attack on Pulka town in Borno State.
The Army has denied reports that 22 women were abducted by Boko Haram insurgents after an attack on Pulka town in Borno State.According to the Director, Army Public Relations, Brig.-Gen. Sani Usman Kukasheka, the report is false and misleading. He called on the public to disregard the report, adding that Pulka is fortified by security agents.The attention of the Army has been drawn to a story circulating on Social Media and some mainstream media that suspected Boko Haram terrorists attacked Pulka and abducted 22 women, attributing it to an unidentified Bulama as source.We wish to state that the report is false and should be ignored. For the avoidance of doubt, Pulka and environs is heavily fortified and there has been no security breach. Media houses are pleased requested to always cross check their facts before publishing or broadcasting, the statement read.A dog reportedly averted a suicide attack at a wedding in Belbelo community in Jere Local Government.A statement by the police spokesman Victor Isuku said the wedding was underway when a female suicide bomber attempted to infiltrate proceedings but was attacked by the watchdog, compelling her to detonate her explosives, which caused her death and the dogs.The statement reads: Information received today (yesterday) at about 07.33hrs said a female suicide bomber attempted to infiltrate a wedding at Belbelo community in Jere council. She was prevented by a watchdog, so she detonated her explosives, killing herself and the dog.No other casualty was recorded and normalcy has been restored.
Two Nigerian siblings thrashed by a mob inside a Greater Noida mall, India, last Sunday, suffered facial injuries and minor fractures bu...
Two Nigerian siblings thrashed by a mob inside a Greater Noida mall, India, last Sunday, suffered facial injuries and minor fractures but have been ruled out of danger by doctors.Endurance Amarawa (21) and Precious Amarawa (24) attacked by scores of people who were enraged by the death of 17-year-old student Manish Khari who died of a suspected drug overdose.Residents say that Khari procured drugs from the Africans residing in Greater Noida. The brothers were among five Africans arrested by the police in connection with the teenagers death but released because of lack of proof.On Sunday evening, we were shopping in Ansal Plaza when suddenly a mob attacked us viciously. When we tried to enter a showroom to save ourselves, the staff refused to let us inside, said Precious.They kept beating us viciously, hurling abuses at us, said Endurance. Endurance is a first year BA-LLB student at Noida International University (NIU). His brother Precious has been pursuing political science from NIU for the past two years.A video put out by the Association of African Students in India shows a mob ganging up on a man identified as Endurance and kick and punch him repeatedly inside Greater Noidas Anzal Plaza mall.The video which couldnt be independently verified by HT shows a man trying to fend off a torrent of blows from the mob, which repeatedly hits him with sticks, stools and trash cans. The video doesnt show anyone trying to stop the attackers from beating up the man, who tries to escape unsuccessfully.The following day, Monday, a protest march by residents turned violent as people assaulted several Africans at Greater Noidas busy Pari Chowk. Rumours startled swirling that residents had abducted a Nigerian woman a speculation denied by police. The waves of violence have left the foreigners rattled.Recounting the Monday incident, a paan kiosk owner, Rohit Sharma, told HT that hundreds of men carried out a candle march to Pari Chowk and sat at the junction for over an hour.As dusk fell, a few men were seen raising slogans against Nigerian nationals and turned furious at the sight of them. Sharma said, The protesters caught hold of a Nigerian national in front of gate no. 2 of Ansal Plaza and thrashed him. Then the mob barged into the shopping complex and roughed up two more inside.They threw soft drink bottles and also used a dustbin to attack them. A Honda City sedan was damaged by the mob in front of the shopping complex. Kasna SHO Avnish Dixit said, Following the scuffle last evening, we have taken all necessary steps to ensure safety of African nationals.The police kept vigil all night to control the situation. We had also held a few persons responsible for violence and disruption and due course of action is being taken, the police officer said. Tight security, cops assure action Meanwhile, the Greater Noida police stepped up security in the city against the backdrop of racial attacks. At least 200 additional police personnel were deployed in all sectors of Greater Noida, with special instructions issued to secure residential societies with African population.After the racial attacks, an uneasy calm prevailed at violence-hit Pari Chowk and Ansal Plaza shopping complex on Tuesday morning, while the policemen were seen gearing up to take charge of the day. Additional men were called from other police stations in Kasna, Knowledge Park and Surajpur where tempers still run high, as most of the African nationals stay in nearby localities. A strict vigil was in place throughout the night, and several teams of police are deployed at different junctions in Greater Noida to observe movement of people, said an intelligence officer.We wont be bullied by assailants Nigerian students after attacks Separately, African students living in Greater Noida said they faced daily prejudice and were living in fear after the two days of violence targeted at them. The students who hail from various nations in Africa allege political pressure behind the attacks amid rising tensions between local residents and the foreigners. We come to India to live in peace but we will not be bullied by force or violence. The need of the hour is for African students to unite against this blatant racism, said Lawrence, a Nigerian national.We have been living in a sense of fear as there is no protection for us even after the attack, said Bukola, a commerce student at IEC college.Lawrence said the attacks were well-planned. We had assembled at Kasna Police Station on Monday morning demanding the release of five students who had been arrested without proper investigation. As soon as the detainees got bail and we left the spot, several African nationals were attacked by the local people, said Lawrence. The Association of African Students in India (AASI) also condemned the attack and have also asked the central government to ensure that the community got protection in the national capital region.The government has also sought a report and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has assured foreign minister Sushma Swaraj of a fair and impartial investigation.More than 4,000 Africans stay in Greater Noida and study in a clutch of private universities and colleges that have come up in the area over the past decade.But many of them say that they feel uncomfortable at the hostile attitude of locals, who see the Africans as the source of crime and drugs.For now, we have decided to drop our protest against racist attacks by locals. Further course of action will be decided soon, said Bukola.(Hindustantimes)
Nigerians with new passports seeking to travel to Indonesia will need to present a certificate of recommendation from the National Drug La...
Nigerians with new passports seeking to travel to Indonesia will need to present a certificate of recommendation from the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, among other documents, to process their visas.Indonesian Ambassador to Nigeria, Harry Purwanto, who told the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Monday, said the new visa policy was in line with global measures to promote safety.He said the visa conditionals were reviewed in October 2016.He, however, said it was easier for those with frequently used passports to get visas.He explained that applicants seeking to travel to Indonesia also need to be invited or have certain recommendations to visit that country.The envoy added that the policy had made visa application process for Nigerians quite tough but added that it was for the safety of all.We (the embassy) could authorise the issuance of visas without having to get in touch with Jakarta; but since October 2016, we have to send visa applications from here to Jakarta for approval.We here can make only recommendations on visa applications, especially if applicants have programmes to undertake in Indonesia, but it is at the discretion of authorities in Jakarta to approve the visas that will be issued.He also said that about 2,000 visas were issued to Nigerians in 2016.Purwanto also said that in 2015, the embassy issued 2,000 visas.He further said that both countries were working on programmes that could enhance people-to-people relations, adding that such relations would promote understanding between both cultures.We have about 50 Nigerian students in Indonesia, some under scholarship, and they serve as ambassadors for Nigeria there.The Nigerian community in the country is not so large, that is why crimes committed by a few could tarnish the image of others.Purwanto, however, assured that both governments were working to change such bias.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) faction loyal to Governor Ayo Fayose o...
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) faction loyal to Governor Ayo Fayose of raising false alarm on an alleged plot to remove him from office.The party said there was no place where its Chairman, Chief Olajide Awe, granted any interview or issued any statement boasting of any plot to manipulate the Judiciary to remove Fayose from office.The Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, stated this in Igede-Ekiti, at the weekend, during an empowerment programme organised by the Architect Deji Adetuberu Foundation (ADAF) for over 200 widows in Ekiti Central.Olatunbosun said: The statement did not emanate from the office of the Chairman neither did the office of the Publicity Secretary has knowledge of such. So it is the handiwork of the factional PDP in Ekiti State and of course, the governor.They are doing this to deceive Nigerians that their government of fraud and electoral robbery should continue to perpetrate illegality.
Loading activities at both private depots and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation depots in Lagos were on Monday paralysed as Petr...
Loading activities at both private depots and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation depots in Lagos were on Monday paralysed as Petroleum Tanker Drivers commenced a nationwide strike to press home their demands for enhanced welfare.Correspondents who monitored the strike in Lagos observed that all tank farms in Apapa were empty, without the usual loading of products associated with depots.The Apapa depots visited included Total Oil and Gas, Capital Oil and Gas, NIPCO Oil and Gas, Aiteo Oil and Gas, Sahara Oil and Gas, Conoil, as well as Mobil Oil and Gas.The drivers were seen in groups discussing, while others were leaving the depots for unknown destinations.Alhaji Taofeek Lawal, the Head, Corporate Communications of NIPCO, Apapa said that all depots in Apapa were empty as a result of the strike.According to him, there are no loading activities at present because the tanker drivers are on strike.He appealed to the National Association of Road Transport Owners, PTD, NNPC representatives and other stakeholders to step in and find a lasting solution to the strike.Meanwhile, Alhaji Tokunbo Korodo, the South-West Chairman of NUPENG had said that the Federal Governments representatives were meeting with NARTO and NUPENG representatives, to resolve the matter.Korodo said that the outcome of the meeting would decide if the strike would continue or not.He, however, said that there was no distribution or loading of products in any part of the country.One of the depot officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, however, said that the strike was uncalled for.He said that the tanker drivers should have resolved the problem with the truck owners, instead of resorting to go on strike.The depot official noted that the country had lost over N20bn to the ongoing strike.The strike was as a result of some unresolved issues bordering on the welfare of workers, such as bad roads, poor remuneration, insecurity and the alleged excesses of some security agencies.
For decades, United Nations (UN) peacekeepers accused of sexual exploitation and abuse have operated under an umbrella of impunity.
For decades, United Nations (UN) peacekeepers accused of sexual exploitation and abuse have operated under an umbrella of impunity.Last week, Christian Saunders, the UN director of the Office of the Under-Secretary-General for Management, told Al Jazeeras The Stream that this was about to change.There is no longer going to be impunity, he said, adding that UN Secretary-General Antonio Gutteres is going to work with member states to ensure abusers are held criminally responsible for sexual abuse.He highlighted that Gutteres had committed to zero tolerance and the creation of a high-level task force.This was almost the first thing he did taking office, said Saunders.Saunders outlined the new four-part UN strategy, which revolves around a victim-centric approach, with victims rights advocates in all the major peacekeeping operations; an end to impunity; increased transparency; and an awareness of the broader context of sexual abuse as a danger for women all over the world.Saunders also highlighted what Gutteres didnt do: He didnt wait for a crisis in order to act.Of course, that depends on how you define a crisis.Since 1948, the UN has been raping third world women, said Ezili Danto, the founder of the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network.Al Jazeeras recent Faultlines documentary, Haiti By Force: UN Sex Abuse, spotlighted one current example. Femi Oke, who presents both Faultlines and The Stream, spoke to Haitian women who say they were raped by UN peacekeepers there. Some of them were under-age at the time; some of them are now single mothers as a result; most described anonymous, violent attacks they didnt report to the authorities.The United Nations cites 85 allegations of sex abuse in Haiti between 2008 and 2015, but independent estimates suggest the figure should be much higher, at more than 500 women raped or exploited by UN personnel since 2005.Haiti isnt an anomaly. There are reports of abuse by UN workers in several other countries, including the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. Africa hosts nine of the 16 UN peacekeeping missions currently active.On The Stream, Megan Nobert, founder and executive director of Report The Abuse, pointed out that sexual abuse by UN personnel is not just happening to the local population, but against the humanitarian community itself.Impunity is enjoyed by those who commit these crimes because international laws are interpreted to grant peacekeepers immunity from any criminal liability in the countries they serve.Former UN investigator Peter Gallo calls this a fiction. There is no immunity under the 1946 Convention on Privileges and Immunities for sexual offences; the UN has maintained the fiction that there is to not allow these cases to get in front of the Haiti courts.Danto agrees. The law doesnt actually give impunity. It gives immunity to the UN for the purposes of the mission. Raping a four-year-old child in return for food is not part of the mission of the UN in Haiti or anywhere else, so they dont have any immunity So this whole conversation about the UN having immunity and not being able to do anything about the perpetrators is false.Gallo says the UN have even stretched this Convention to stop UN staff members testifying as witnesses in sexual abuses cases, even when the UN is not accused of any wrongdoing. Citing a case in the Central African Republican against French peacekeepers, he said, This is the equivalent situation: can you imagine someone who works for the UN, goes out for a sandwich at lunchtime in New York, and witnesses a crime, a mugging. And the UN prevents them from giving a statement to the New York police because Im a UN staff member and Im somehow magically protected that Im above the law. Not because a UN staff member committed a crime but because a UN staff member was involved in the loop of reporting it. That is a complete and utter abuse of the 1946 convention.Danto dismissed the UNs new policy and promises. Its an absolute joke, she said. The UN has been saying this since 1948: zero tolerance. She added that in practice this only resulted in nine-day suspensions for impregnating a minor, when any action was taken at all.She labelled Saunders statements as mythological, variously calling the UN an imperial force, a colonial screen, a criminal organization, an abomination and an institution that is above the law.She called on US President Donald Trump to not fund the UN mission in Haiti. Haitian women want the UN out of Haiti, she said.In February, the UN announced the number of reported cases worldwide has risen since 2015, something they attribute to their efforts to encourage victims to come forward.
Tukur Buratai, chief of army staff, says Nigeria needs the assistance of United Nations (UN) to demine Sambisa forest in Borno state.
Tukur Buratai, chief of army staff, says Nigeria needs the assistance of United Nations (UN) to demine Sambisa forest in Borno state.In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Buratai said the army is doing a limited demining of the forest to enable the troops move around for operations.He said that this is in order to create safe routes for the troops to move from one place to another.The army is currently doing a limited demining of routes in the forest to enable troops to move around for operations, Buratai said.Strictly speaking, we have not started demining the Sambisa forest. The areas we are concentrating on are where we are working, where our troops will have to move from one point to the other.These are the efforts we are making to create safe lanes for troops to pass from one point to the other. But, for our deliberate demining efforts, it will require much, much resources, much more effort, and we may even request for the civilian demining support in that regard.Demining is not restricted to the military only, there are several organisations that have been doing this, the UN is one and there are other NGOs that are involved which actually work under the umbrella of the UN.So, as comprehensive efforts, these bodies need to be invited to support what the military is doing right now in a limited capacity in that regard.The chief of army staff said there was need for the police to take over strategic areas so it would enable the army concentrate on the mop up of the remnants of Boko Haram insurgents.We need more policemen deployed even in Maiduguri, Damaturu, Bama, Damasak, Gubio, Monguno and Baga and other towns where people have returned, they police need to really take over, Buratai said.Apart from the regular police, the Mobile Police also are key, we need them to be there. There are concerns all over that at this stage we really need the civil authority to come and take up their responsibilities fully.He added that the army was guided by laws, including the 1999 constitution which specified its own rules of engagement and international law on armed conflict in its operations.We know what we are doing, definitely we will not infringe on individual rights. We have our own constitutional role; we have our own rules of engagement which are in tandem with our constitution, in tandem with even the international humanitarian law and the laws of armed conflict, he said.If, in course of our duty, someone feels that something has gone wrong contrary to what they believe in and they go beyond to call for arms embargo and denial of certain weapons or equipment to the Nigerian military, I think the government will address that appropriately.
Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has said that the Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, has executed more projects...
Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has said that the Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, has executed more projects in the last two years than the Federal Government.Akpabio, who spoke with journalists in Port Harcourt shortly after accompanying Wike on inspection of projects on Monday, explained that the governors outstanding performance stemmed from his love for Rivers people.The immediate past governor of Akwa Ibom State pointed out that performance was not necessarily because of the availability of resources, but because Wike judiciously applied scarce resources to the development of state.He said, Governor Wike has done more work and projects in the last two years than the Federal Government. That is my considered opinion. Performance is not necessarily an issue of the availability of resources. If your state gets N5bn, do projects of that amount.If you get N1bn, do projects commensurate with that figure. For Governor Wike, he has judiciously applied the scarce resources available to the state to develop needed infrastructure.The resources available to Rivers State is nothing compared to that of the Federal Government. Rivers State Government gets far less than a quarter than one per cent of what accrues to the Federal Government, but we can see the tremendous quality of transformation taking place in the state.It is not so much money that makes performance. It is love for your people. When you are elected, if you love your people, you will perform, no matter the little money that you have.What I am seeing here in Rivers State is not like a recession economy because the governor of Rivers State loves his people. The kind of projects that Governor Wike is doing in Rivers State will attract the world to the state. Today, there is a song that the handwork of Wike is beautiful.Akpabio, however advised Wike never to be distracted by political detractors engaging in political blackmail, adding that no matter the attempt at distraction, the governor should continue his transformation of the state.Do not be distracted by any unnecessary blackmail against your person by political detractors. I want to urge all governors who have the opportunity to lead their states to visit Rivers State, he said.
While adversaries argued in front of the U.S. Supreme Court last week, 79 people who once worked at St. James Hospital in Newark watched the clock.
Tick-tock. Tick-tock.
Their pension fund would go belly up in less than a month. The money was almost gone.
They would lose retirement income that was promised for a lifetime.
And no one is taking responsibility.
But the case being decided by the highest court in the land could give new hope to the pensioners, including Josephine Trimarco, 74.
Trimarco, like other retirees, received a letter in November saying their pension fund would be out of money next month. Those who hadn't started taking benefits never received any notification, retirees said.
A copy of the letter sent to pensioners, saying the fund is almost out of money.
This all started decades ago, when St. James and other Catholic hospitals petitioned the IRS to change the status of their pension plans to so-called "church" plans. This would mean the pensions would no longer have to follow federal rules that required them to purchase insurance to guarantee the pensions -- even though plans had been subject to the rules for since their inception.
The IRS said yes.
Because the St. James plan no longer had to adhere to federal protections, the plan is almost broke, and the safety net that would have been there under federal rules doesn't exist.
When the payments stop, Trimarco will lose half of her retirement income.
"I really depend on my pension," said Trimarco, who retired after 32 years at St. James and started taking her pension at age 62 in 2004. "It was financial security for me."
It looks like that security will be gone -- unless the Supreme Court decides in pensioners' favor.
"CHURCH" PLAN STATUS
The Supreme Court heard arguments from attorneys representing pensioners from three other Catholic hospitals -- including St. Peter's University Hospital in New Brunswick -- debating whether the hospitals' pension plans should have remained subject to the federal pension rules.
Previously, the employees argued in separate lawsuits in three states that the hospitals' pensions should not be considered "church" plans because while they were affiliated with churches, they were not, in essence, religious institutions.
Those lower courts agreed, saying the hospital plans should be subject to the federal rules and therefore, protected.
But the hospitals took the fight to the Supreme Court, and the decision should come before the end of the current session in late June.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Supreme Court Justices Anthony Kennedy, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan arrive for U.S. President Donald Trump's first address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress on February 28, 2017 in the House chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC.
If the justices vote in favor of the pensioners, their individual lawsuits against the Catholic hospitals can continue.
"It's a toss-up," said Karen Ferguson, director of the Pension Rights Center, who was at the court last week.
She said the justices seemed less concerned with the devastating impact the ruling could have on retirees, who have worked a lifetime counting on a guaranteed pension. Instead, she said, the court focused on statutory interpretation and the history of such IRS rulings.
"They didn't seem to realize these hospitals had for decades complied with the federal pension law," she said, noting that changes to "church" plans only came after consultants showed hospitals how much money they could save by no longer paying for federal pension insurance.
The decision would have reach beyond Catholic hospitals, impacting organizations of all faiths, from Jewish social services agencies to Protestant educational organizations, Ferguson said.
Attorneys for the retirees told the court as many as 1 million pensioners could be impacted by the court's decision.
With only eight justices on the court, if there's a tie, the decision would ultimately favor the pensioners because the lower court rulings that the plans should not be "church" plans would stand.
That would give ammunition to the St. James pensioners.
But, Ferguson said, if Neil Gorsuch is confirmed by the Senate and takes the empty court seat before the current session ends, the hospitals could ask for re-argument.
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?
Whatever the court decides, the St. James folks have a long road ahead.
That's because St. James itself was sold several times, and all the parties say they never took on the hospital's pension liabilities.
An article in The Catholic Advocate said Catholic Health East took on the pension liability for St. James Hospital.
Cathedral Health, which was associated with the Archdiocese of Newark, sold St. James to Catholic Health East (CHE) in 2008. A press release said St. James and two other hospitals would essentially be shut down and absorbed by St. Michaels, but CHE agreed to "assume responsibility for all three hospitals' liabilities -- important news for employees, vendors, and bond holders."
CHE later merged with Trinity Health, and eventually, Trinity sold St. Michael's to Prime Healthcare.
When Bamboozled tried to nail down who had the pension obligation, the archdiocese said it wasn't responsible, and the pension obligation wasn't included in the 2008 deal.
RETIREES ASK TOBIN FOR HELP
Trimarco, the St. James retiree, said she contacted the Newark archdiocese after she learned the pension would fail, but that was before Newark's new archbishop, Cardinal Joseph Tobin, was installed.
"They didn't want to take responsibility," she said.
Ann Ciriello, an 86-year-old widow who worked at St. James for 32 years, said she hoped Tobin would listen.
"I've heard he's a very kind, compassionate man," said Ciriello, who will lose 40 percent of her retirement income when the pension fails. "I would like to approach him and see what he has to say for us. We were under the church. They should be responsible."
"It's an injustice to us all," Ciriello said.
Charles Brennan, the former president and CEO of St. James, wrote to Tobin in December 2016.
The letter said while no one claims the pension liability, "Among honorable people, liabilities do not disappear. Someone must still be accountable or more than 79 decent souls will suffer."
"Although we have never met, and I know your plate is already full, I am asking that you pause and reflect upon what will shortly happen to these people," Brennan wrote. "I ask that you reevaluate the attitude and reaction of the diocese in this matter."
No one responded to his letter.
Nor did the archdiocese respond to a letter by St. James' former chief financial officer Rich Salvia, a 17-year St. James vet.
A 1996 letter saying the St. James pension plan was fully funded.
Salvia said even if the plan maintains "church" plan status, someone should be on the hook for the pension.
He shared a 1996 notification from Cathedral Health, the original St. James owner, saying the pension plan was being terminated: "This change will have no impact on your right to receive a future monthly retirement benefit from us."
The letter also said the plan was fully funded.
Back then, Salvia suggested in writing that plan trustees either purchase annuities for each vested pensioner or offer them a lump sum benefit.
In response, Cathedral Health said the "purchase of annuities may be considered in the future if the trustees believe it is prudent action to take."
Apparently, the trustees didn't think it was "prudent." Now the fund is almost broke.
"I think any actuary would say when a plan terminates and if it's fully funded, get rid of it," Salvia said. "Why take the risk? Only bad things can happen."
So to Salvia, "church" plan status doesn't really matter.
"What matters is responsibility and in 1996 the plan was fully funded," he said.
Salvia is spearheading a campaign to present retiree complaints to the Attorney General's office, with more than 30 people on board so far. He's actively seeking others, and legal action is being considered, he said.
Newark archdiocese spokesman Jim Goodness didn't respond to our requests for comment.
In the meantime, the retirees will have to make due.
Trimarco said knowing the pension will end has already changed her lifestyle and spending habits.
"It was such a shock," she said. "If they had told us our pension was not reliable and would end at some point, I would have changed and done something more to provide financial security for myself."
Tick-tock.
Tick-tock.
Have you been Bamboozled? Reach Karin Price Mueller at Bamboozled@NJAdvanceMedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KPMueller. Find Bamboozled on Facebook. Mueller is also the founder of NJMoneyHelp.com.
Stay informed and sign up for NJMoneyHelp.com's weekly e-newsletter.
GLOUCESTER TWP. -- A police tactical force breached a home here early Sunday morning to end a standoff with a township man who had barricaded himself inside after a reported domestic violence incident, police said.
Charles H. Williams, 39, was charged with aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of children and several other related offenses after police used a robotic device to break open a garage door shortly after 7:30 a.m. and find him hiding in a crawl space at his residence in the 500 block of Estelle Avenue, a police report said.
The incident started six hours earlier when authorities received a phone call from a juvenile in the home who alleged that Williams assaulted them and other family members. The family members made their way out of the house and Williams fled. Two hours later, police said they received another emergency call that Williams had returned to the home and started destroying property. The family was at a police station filing a report at the time.
"I heard him banging on the door and yelling 'Let me in, Let me in!,'" neighbor, Jess Ritchie said later Sunday afternoon. "That was about 3:30 in the morning."
Ritchie, 27, who works as a collection agent, said she, her 7-year-old daughter, Madison and 4-month-old boxer puppy, Joe, were in the home at the time. She said she was nervous and scared, but decided to ignore the noise and go back to sleep.
She was awakened again when police banged on her door just before 6 a.m.
"I didn't open the door," she said. "I didn't know if it was him or not."
She said she peeked out of her bedroom window and saw a police tactical officers spread out around the house. They used a bullhorn to try to coax Williams out, she said.
"They were saying, 'Charles, Charles, answer your phone. Come on out and end this so nobody gets hurt. We're not going anywhere.'"
Ritchie said police finally used a robotic device to breach the garage door and she eventually saw Williams come out with his hands up.
"He was disheveled," she said. "He didn't have a shirt on and his pants were around his knees."
Ritchie said he moved into the neighborhood in December and nothing like this has happened before. She said some neighbors stopped by after the incident to assure her that it was a good neighborhood, despite the tense standoff.
Sunday afternoon her father mowed the lawn and her mother helped her plant flowers near her front door. Her daughter played with other children on the front sidewalk. All was quiet, for now.
"I hope he doesn't come back," she said.
Williams was being held at the Camden County jail on Sunday, police said. The family members were being assisted by state family protection agents and social workers, authorities said.
Bill Duhart may be reached at bduhart@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @bduhart. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Robert Mitchell.jpg
Robert Mitchell, 30, of Downingtown, Pennsylvania, admitted to sexual assault of a 14-year-old in Deptford Township. (Salem County Correctional Facility)
WOODBURY -- A Pennsylvania man pleaded guilty Monday to sexually assaulting a girl in 2015, according to the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office.
Robert Mitchell, 30, of Downingtown, admitted to a second-degree charge of assaulting the 14-year-old victim in Deptford Township "through the use of force or coercion."
Prosecutors will recommend a 6-year sentence.
Superior Court Judge M. Christine Allen-Jackson accepted the plea and deferred sentencing until Mitchell is evaluated to determine if he is a repetitive and compulsive offender. If he is found to be repetitive and compulsive, he could serve his sentence in the state's Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Avenel.
Once he has completed his sentence, Mitchell will have to register as a sex offender, according to the prosecutor's office.
Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattGraySJT. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook.
mixsons.jpg
Daquan Mixson, left, Sammy Mixson, top right, and Dashawn Mixson, are all in custody and charged in connection to three separate fatal shootings.
JERSEY CITY -- Brothers Daquan and Sammy Mixson await sentencing for manslaughter in two separate killings, while their cousin, Dashawn Mixson, was recently charged with a daytime murder last week.
Sammy Mixson, 31, was charged with murdering Darren "Reese" Talington, 25, of Jersey City, outside the now-closed A-Plus Deli near the Grove Street PATH Station on April 26, 2014, officials said.
A clerk at the deli said Talington was in the store when a man who appeared drunk entered and hit a woman with a beer bottle. Talington confronted the man and the two stepped outside. It is alleged that Sammy Mixson intervened in the ensuing scuffle, shooting Talington several times.
Darius Dashawn Redmon, 21, was fatally shot on May 1, 2014 outside the Booker T. Washington housing complex. At about 11:30 a.m. that day a vehicle pulled up to a Jersey City police station and the men inside told police someone had been shot, officials said.
Redmon was found unconscious in the back seat of the vehicle with a gunshot wound to his head, the prosecutor's office said. Daquan Mixson, 26, of Jersey City, was charged with killing Redmon, officials said.
A spokesman for the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office said at the time that investigators believed the two homicides were connected.
Last month, the Mixson brothers both pleaded guilty to reckless manslaughter and each face seven-year prison sentences when sentenced on June 15 by Hudson County Superior Court Judge Paul DePascale.
The brothers will have to serve nearly six years of their sentences before becoming eligible for parole, but they will get credit for a considerable amount of jail time already served since their arrests.
Dashawn Mixson, 20, has been charged with murdering DaJour Riley, 19, on Union Street near Garfield Avenue on March 28. Riley was shot multiple times while inside a car and died hours later at the Jersey City Medical Center, officials said.
Vernell Mohammed, 19, had already been arrested in connection with Riley's death. Mohammad and Dashawn Mixson are charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder and weapons offenses related to a gun, officials said.
The state has moved to detain Dashawn Mixson and Mohammed pending trial and their detention hearings will be held Tuesday before Hudson County Superior Court Judge Paul DePascale in the Hudson County Administration Building in Jersey City.
marist-georgerrmartin.jpg
A parent of a Marist High School student hopes author George R.R. Martin, who graduated from Marist, will help save the Catholic school from closing (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal/Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
( )
The parent of a Marist High School sophomore is offering a public plea to the Catholic school's most famous alumnus in hopes he will help save it from closing.
Melida Rodas, whose 16-year-old daughter attends Marist, has penned a letter to George R.R. Martin, whose books inspired the hit HBO drama "Game of Thrones," telling Martin "the survival of Marist means so much to my daughter and her friends."
The letter (read it below) is peppered with references to the "A Song of Ice and Fire" fantasy series that is the basis for the HBO show.
"'The White Walkers' and 'WINTER' (are) a metaphor for what is coming for" Marist students, Rodas' letter says. "Their school is on the verge of extinction."
Officials at Marist, which opened its doors in Bayonne 62 years ago, told parents last month that it would close in June if it could not raise $1.5 million by April 24. Officials cited declining enrollment as the primary cause of the possible closure.
Martin did not respond to an email seeking comment. The author, whose work output is so slow the storylines in the HBO show have surpassed the narrative in Martin's books, wrote about his Marist years on his website, saying he was thrown off the school paper "in a censorship dispute."
"My four years at Marist High School were not the happiest of my life," he wrote on the site.
Rodas, 44, said she and other parents are reaching out to possible donors big and small. A writer herself -- she wrote Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop's inaugural poem -- Rodas describes herself as an obsessive fan of Martin and "Game of Thrones."
"I wanted to touch his heart and say, I get you," she said. "I know what it's like not to be accepted. I know what it's like not to be in the in-crowd."
Martin is planning two more books in the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series. The most recent, "A Dance with Dragons," was published in 2011.
The seventh season of "Game of Thrones" will premiere on July 16.
An open letter to
Mr. George R. R. Martin, writer of "Game of Thrones:"
I have enjoyed your work astounded by your insight into the human condition. The essence of your work is the protection of family and all the things we hold dear: a sense of home, brotherhood/sisterhood and our future survival.
The politics of what this involves is not lost on me. We do what we must do in order to maintain ground and hope in the midst of uncertainty or impending doom.
As a mother I certainly relate to the primal instincts of all your characters, to fiercely protect loved ones. Jon Snow is who I identify with the most.
As a brother of "The Night's Watch", he is relentless in his fight against those who threaten to extinct his family and friends. His path is always noble and upright. He guards a precious structure, "The Wall," in your writings.
I see my child's school as a similarly precious structure. "The White Walkers" and "WINTER" as a metaphor for what is coming for them. Their school is on the verge of extinction.
I am also sorry that I don't know what your experience was like when you attended Marist High School. I plead to you because the survival of Marist means so much to my daughter and her friends.
I also know that today at Marist, Mr. Cassaro, Mr. Murphy, Mr.Tabora, Ms. John, Ms. Miesnik and countless others show true love and devotion for their craft and our children.
For this reason it is unfortunate that "The Marist Brothers" have warned that the school will close if we do not raise 1.5 million dollars by April 24, 2017.
"WINTER IS COMING"
I wish to align myself with you in order to create awareness about the calamity we are facing.
I want my child to have what you have: a decent education, an extraordinary way of looking at things and the ability to dream what others see as possible.
Of all your characters, Samwell carries a special place in my heart because of his quiet strength, his sweetness and his devotion. He reminds me of my daughter.
I hope that this letter finds you - for this cause is not a cause about Politics, Religion, or "Marist," the entity owned by The Marist Brothers.
This is about MARIST-our children, the teachers they love, and the things they hold dear: a sense of home, brotherhood/sisterhood and their future survival.
Please help us get the word out because, as you have often articulated in your works," there is strength in numbers."
We hope for survival.
We hope for your assistance.
Melida Rodas,
Proud parent of a Marist student
BAYONNE -- The Hudson County Sheriff's Office is investigating a Sunday afternoon crash on Kennedy Boulevard near 26th Street.
The two car crash was reported sometime around 3 p.m. and at least one driver was brought to a nearby hospital, sources say.
At the scene Sunday afternoon, an airbag was deployed inside a black Toyota while the side of a red Honda was mangled with its windows completely blown out.
The windshield of the Honda was smashed, with one person at the scene saying it appeared the driver was nearly thrown from the car. The Bayonne Police Department said the Sheriff's Office is leading the investigation. A spokesman with the department could not immediately be reached for comment.
The driver of the Toyota remained at the scene with swelling on his head before leaving with police. He was not handcuffed or in custody.
Kennedy Boulevard was closed to traffic while crash investigators probed the collision. Additional information was not immediately available.
Caitlin Mota may be reached at cmota@jjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitlin_mota. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
WALL TOWNSHIP - A Florida man wanted by authorities for failing to register as a sexual predator was arrested by township police Thursday after trying to avoid apprehension by fleeing out the window of his hotel room.
Dontae Antwan Peterson, 29, of Tampa, was staying in a room at the Budget Inn & Suites on Highway 35 when Wall Township police officers arrived at his door shortly before 4:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Dontae Antwan Peterson, 29, of Tampa, was arrested by Wall Township police on Thursday on a warrant out of Florida for failing to register as a sex offender. (Florida Department of Law Enforcement)
He was wanted on an extradition warrant out of Tampa for failure to follow registration procedures, police said in a release.
Peterson was convicted in 2008 of engaging in sexual activity with a juvenile between the ages of 12 and 15, according to Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
When the officers announced themselves at his door, Peterson fled out of a second-floor window, police said.
Additional police officers and a K9 responded to the area near Old Mill Road and Route 35, which was the direction Peterson was last seen running.
Patrolman Vincent Reinecke saw Peterson run behind a building off Old Mill Road and took him into custody, police said.
Reinecke suffered a minor undisclosed injury while making the arrest, but was treated and released, police said.
Peterson was arrested on the fugitive warrant and also charged with being a fugitive from justice, obstruction of the administration of law and resisting arrest.
He was taken to Monmouth County jail in Freehold pending a court hearing.
Rob Spahr may be reached at rspahr@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TheRobSpahr. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
MORRISTOWN -- Virginia Vertetis was convicted of murder Monday in the 2014 shooting death of Patrick Gilhuley, a retired New York City police officer who was her boyfriend.
The jury rejected Vertetis's testimony that she shot Gilhuley, whom she dated for more than five years, in self-defense at her Mount Olive home.
Vertetis, 54, was standing with her knees slightly bent and gripping the defense table when the jury returned with its verdict at 11:45 a.m.
The former elementary school teacher also was convicted of possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.
Morris County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Matthew Troiano, who said in his closing argument that Vertetis made up the assault, hugged several members of Gilhuley's family, including his daughters.
Superior Court Judge Stephen Taylor revoked Vertetis' $500,000 bail, a formality since she has been held in jail since the shooting.
She faces 30 years to life in prison at her May 23 sentencing.
Jurors were looking straight ahead, with none appearing to glance at Vertetis, upon entering the courtroom to deliver the verdict.
The trial got underway March 6 and jurors began deliberating Friday afternoon, breaking for the weekend.
Vertetis' lawyers told the judge they planned to appeal.
Exiting the courtroom, her lead attorney, Edward Bilinkas, said, "We're obviously disappointed with the verdict."
"We thought we put on a strong defense," he said.
Asked about Vertetis, Bilinkas said, "She's extremely, extremely upset and distraught."
More than a dozen uniformed officers were in the courtroom for the verdict, which came about an hour after jurors finished rehearing testimony from two key prosecution witnesses.
The court reporter read back the testimony of Jennifer Gilhuley, one of Gilhuley's two daughters, and John Denora, a work colleague and friend.
Jennifer Gilhuley testified March 8, on the trial's third day, that she received three phone calls from her father just before the March 3, 2014 shooting, and that she heard him say a woman was hitting him and the sound of shots being fired.
Denota, on March 20, recounted Gilhuley, 51, describing an unsuccessful effort on his part to end his relationship with Vertetis and that she was continuing to pursue him.
Gilhuley had broken up with Veretis about a month before the shooting, but Bilinkas said in his closing argument that it was not uncommon for them to separate, remain in contact and get back together.
Denora said he encouraged Gilhuley to meet with Vertetis in order to convey that this time was different.
In her four days on the stand, Vertetis testified that Gilhuley was enraged, believing she was reporting him to the IRS, when he threatened to kill her, choked her and threw her to the ground.
She said she retrieved his NYPD-issued handgun from under her second-floor bedroom mattress, where she claimed he stashed it some time earlier, and opened fire as he was approaching on the stairwell.
Troiano disputed her version, including her claim of getting his gun from under her mattress.
He said in his summation that Vertetis was "quite frankly upset with everything going on in her life," including Gilhuley's decision one month earlier to end their relationship, when she shot him without provocation.
Rob Jennings may be reached at rjennings@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RobJenningsNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
The state Attorney General's Office will overhaul its rules for how local police departments can obtain military equipment such as heavily armored vehicles in response to concerns that such purchases were being made without the public's knowledge, NJ Advance Media has learned.
The office said in a letter to state Sen. Nia Gill (D-Essex) and Assemblyman Gordon Johnson (D-Bergen) that Attorney General Christopher Porrino supports their call for requiring local governments to approve a public resolution before acquiring any military hand-me-downs.
"Attorney General Porrino has directed that the state Plan of Operation be revised to reflect this requirement," according to the letter, obtained by NJ Advance Media.
A spokesman for the attorney general declined comment on the letter and the proposed changes.
Lawmakers first raised concern about the 1033 Law Enforcement Support Office program in 2014 after a report by NJ Advance Media detailed the state's growing local arsenal of military equipment, which included automatic rifles, armored trucks and, in one case, a grenade launcher.
In response, Gov. Chris Christie signed legislation in 2015 requiring local police departments to pass resolutions to inform the public of their activities: one to enroll in the federal program, and another each time a department made a request to acquire gear.
But a subsequent NJ Advance Media report published in February found that local departments had acquired nearly $40 million in additional heavy equipment in the past two years, including 13 heavily-armored vehicles, and most of the approvals happened behind closed doors.
Many resolutions for municipalities to enroll in the program contained language that allowed them to obtain smaller-ticket items like mop heads and sand bags by consent of local officials but without public disclosure, according to the State Police, which distributes the equipment.
Only high-profile items - such as mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles, or MRAPs - were required to be approved in separate, public resolutions, and only within 30 days after the agency received the gear. That meant many municipalities acquired them before any public notice or approval.
See what your local law enforcement has received from the military surplus program. Look through our searchable database.
Of the 12 municipalities that received one of those vehicles in the past two years, only one passed a resolution before placing an order, according to a review of the municipal agendas.
"The taxpayers have a right to know the type of surplus military equipment their local police force is receiving and to have a voice in the process," Gill said. "I was very concerned to learn about violations of the law that I sponsored setting forth specific requirements for participating."
Howell Police Chief Andrew Kudrick, whose department received the most valuable MRAP in the state last year worth $865,000, says he thinks the program has been a boon for local departments, allowing the agencies to acquire gear at nearly no cost to the taxpayer.
The town only had to pay for shipping and any future maintenance, Kudrick said, adding that it would be "irresponsible" for him as chief to turn down such a deal.
But Kudrick said transparency is important to maintaining the trust between the local community and police, especially in light of the 2014 demonstrations in Ferguson, Mo. after the shooting death of Michael Brown by police.
The acquisition of MRAPs became controversial in New Jersey shortly after those demonstrations. The Bergen County Sheriff's Office that year withdrew its request for the 13-ton truck, which would have been the third in the state, saying "it was no longer worth the effort."
Three years later, 16 local law enforcement agencies have an MRAP parked at their headquarters.
Craig McCarthy may be reached at CMcCarthy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @createcraig and on Facebook here. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
UPDATE:
Students and faculty at Sacred Heart University are mourning the death of a college student from New Jersey who died three days after choking during a pancake eating contest at the school, according to reports.
Caitlin Nelson
Caitlin Nelson, 20, of Clark, died Sunday at a New York hospital, three days after taking part in a pancake eating contest at the school.
She was rushed to the hospital Thursday evening during the Greek Life event, a spokeswoman from the school said in an emailed statement to NJ Advance Media.
Officers who arrived at the scene were not able to clear her airway and had to remove food from her throat, according to the Fairfield Citizen.
Police said that Nelson suffered from multiple food allergies, but it is yet unclear what caused her death, the report said.
"The SHU flag has been lowered to half-staff in Caitlin's memory," the statement said.
The Sunday evening Mass was dedicated to Nelson, and was followed by a candlelight vigil.
Thank you to all our students n faculty/staff that attended the Mass for Caitlin. Amazing turnout. WE ARE SHU. Dr. P (@SHUprez) April 3, 2017
My heart is so heavy. Rest is the sweetest peace Caitlin. It was an honor being your OL Sending my love to the sisters of @KappaDelta_SHU Elizabeth Calianese (@lizcalianese20) April 3, 2017
According to ctpost.com, Nelson majored in social work and helped support trauma victims.
Her father, James, was a Port Authority police officer who died on 9/11.
Editor's note: A previous version of this story incorrectly listed Nelson's age and where she died.
Rajeev Dhir may be reached at rdhir@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @googasmammoo. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
CAMDEN -- A Camden County teen admitted in federal court Monday to plotting to kill Pope Francis during his 2015 visit to Philadelphia.
Santos Colon, 17, of Lindenwold, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Noel L. Hillman in Camden to a charge of attempting to provide material support to terrorists, according to court records.
Colon, also known as Ahmad Shakoor, had tried to recruit a person he thought was a sniper to join him in his plot, which involved shooting the Pope during his Papal mass and setting off explosive devices, according to a statement from Acting U.S. Attorney William E Fitzgerald and Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security Mary B. McCord.
Authorities say the "sniper" was actually an undercover operative for the FBI, which arrested Colon after he scoped out possible targets with an informant, who Colon also instructed to purchase bomb components.
ABC News, citing a bulletin circulated among federal law enforcement agencies, previously reported that Colon had been inspired by ISIS and had obtained instructions to make explosives over the internet.
Documents filed in U.S. District Court indicate Colon was initially charged under seal as a juvenile in August 2015. His case was transferred for prosecution as an adult as part of his plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Under the terms of the plea deal, prosecutors have agreed not to pursue further charges against him for attempting to provide support to ISIS and attempting to obtain a weapon of mass destruction.
Colon is a U.S. citizen, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Prosecutors say he faces up to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Colon is next scheduled to appear before Hillman for a status conference on May 5, according to court records. A sentencing date has not been set.
Ted Sherman contributed to this report.
Thomas Moriarty may be reached at tmoriarty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ThomasDMoriarty. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
A Gastonia, North Carolina man has become the first to publicly identify himself as one of the alleged victims of the Pingry School teacher accused of molesting boys decades ago, according to a published report.
Raymond Dackerman gave an interview to The Charlotte Observer before he said he planned to tell his son about the abuse he suffered as a 12-year-old student of Thad "Ted" Alton, a teacher who the school now says molested at least 27 students in the Seventies.
He recalled he participated in the first camping trip Alton arranged as a Scout leader. When he returned from the outing, he told The Observer, he retreated to his bedroom and burst into sobs.
"All I wanted to do was go camping," he said. The effect of the abuse was profound: "The clock stopped for all of us," he said.
He also recounted a missed opportunity for law enforcement to have discovered Alton's crimes decades earlier than they did. Dackerman said in the interview that he recalled camping in a tent in Alton's back yard.
At one point the Millburn police came by and asked if everything was all right. Alton said it was, and they left. Dackerman said he recalls having a brief spring of hope that Alton would be found out.
During the six years Alton taught at the Short Hills Country Day School, later acquired by Pingry, he lived first in Millburn, then in Chatham. The incident happened at the Millburn house, which was owned by Pingry and was adjacent to the school's baseball field, Dackerman said.
Eventually authorities learned of a episode in which he played strip poker with his Boy Scout troop, and he was charged in 1979 in Essex County with six counts of private lewdness and impairing the morals of a minor.
But he avoided any prison time and was able to relocate to upstate New York, where he got into trouble a decade later for sodomizing a young teen in a kayaking youth group he founded. He now works in New York and is on the state's sex offender registry.
A group of 18 men, calling themselves the Pingry Survivors, had engaged an Oregon law firm the specializes in suing institutions such as schools and churches for long-time patterns of abuse.
Pingry earlier this week released a long-awaited outside investigation that concluded Alton had molested at least 27 students, and that two other teachers had molested students or acted in highly inappropriate ways.
Kathleen O'Brien may be reached at kobrien@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @OBrienLedger. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
President Donald Trump no doubt thinks today's visit from Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi couldn't have gone better.
Our President reiterated that he is "very much behind" Sisi, whom he has called a "fantastic guy," despite the military strongman's repressive and murderous record, including the repeated rape and electrocution of 14-year-olds.
He "took control of Egypt, and he really took control of it," is how Trump has described it.
Sisi's way of returning the compliment? To say he deeply appreciates Trump's "unique" personality.
Trump ignores swamp, shreds safety net on his supporters | Editorial
He is also happy to accept the more than $1 billion we give his country in military aid annually - which Obama temporarily froze in 2013 because of human rights abuses - and is hoping for even more.
Yes, America under Trump has completely abandoned the cause of human rights and abdicated its role as a democratic leader in the world, for a new one: As fanboy of tyrants.
You may recall that Sisi used to be the head of Egypt's military, became president in a bloody coup, and is now head of a regime that is jailing and torturing innocent people.
Among the most shocking examples, according to Amnesty International: two 14-year-old boys, one repeatedly raped with a wooden stick, the other given electric shocks and suspended from his limbs, in order to extract false "confessions."
Trump's defense budget follows a warped logic | Editorial
Trump also might have asked: What, exactly, we are getting for the tens of billions we have spent in Egypt?
Sisi is losing the battle with Islamic extremists in the Sinai Peninsula. His state-sponsored media is anti-Western jibber-jabber. Experts say his brutal hand is radicalizing youth and mass-producing jihadists.
Now that America is applauding him for doing a "fantastic job," who do you think they're going to target next?
Sisi's jails hold tens of thousands under absurd pretenses - like a U.S. citizen imprisoned for more than 1,000 days on bogus charges related to her work with street children. His regime is responsible for 1,400 extrajudicial killings in 2016 alone, and 912 disappearances between August 2015 and August 2016, the Washington Post reports.
Yet while Trump set strict new conditions for defending our NATO allies, he's cozied up to Sisi so tightly you wonder if a certain dictator in Moscow is jealous.
Trump also claims a moral equivalency between America and Russia: "We have a lot of killers," he said. "You think our country is so innocent?"
He's declared sympathy for Philippine President Rodrigo Duerte's brutal crackdown. And when he meets the leader of China on Thursday, you can bet it will be more of the same.
America has relinquished the moral high ground; the very ideals that bind our democratic allies together against attack. How is that making us great, or safer?
Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.
U.S. Rep. Donald Norcross (D-1) demonstrated his support for the Delaware River Basin Restoration Program by casting a critical "yes" vote late last year to add the Delaware River to the list of nationally important waters benefiting from dedicated federal restoration and protection funding.
The Delaware River Basin is among the nation's valuable sources of drinking water. It also provides habitat for diverse species and recreational opportunities for millions. But, like most of our nation's waterways, it faces mounting stresses from climate change and pollution. The Coalition for the Delaware River Watershed is grateful to Norcross for his support.
The next step is to secure robust funding so that the important work of restoring and protecting the basin actually can begin. Despite strong bipartisan support, this will not be easy because President Donald Trump's recently released budget calls for drastic cuts to similar waterway programs across the country.
This approach is short-sighted. The Delaware River watershed is a national treasure. Its beauty is outranked only by its functionality: Millions rely on it for clean drinking water. Watershed restoration programs don't cost a lot compared with the myriad public health, economic and recreational benefits they provide.
The Delaware River Basin Conservation Act, which President Barack Obama signed before leaving office, was a major victory. Now, we must work together to ensure that adequate funds are appropriated so the program can yield results. The watershed needs the advocacy of supporters like Rep. Norcross more than ever to ensure that basin restoration is properly funded.
Drew Tompkins, State Lead, Coalition for the Delaware River Watershed, New Jersey League of Conservation Voters
Back Sweeney's school aid plan
It's always a struggle for South Jersey its fair share of anything in New Jersey which is why it's extremely important that we have Stepen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) as president of the state Senate.
One of the most important examples of this is on the issue of state aid to school school districts. Many districts around the state, especially in South Jersey, are being deprived of additional state funding at the same time other districts are receiving excess funds -- based on the full-funding amounts dictated by a 2008 formula.
This is very clearly unfair and short-changes far too many students and educators while requiring property tax increases in the districts with the aid shortfalls.There shouldn't be underfunded or overfunded districts. That is why Sweeney is leading the charge for reforming this system so that every district is ultimately funded at 100 percent of the formula amount.
Sweeney's plan is fair and simple, which is why it's incredibly frustrating to see Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto (D-Hudson) prevent it from even being voted on. Our taxes are being wasted and students and teachers are suffering because Prieto, who supports a different reform plan, will not allow an Assembly vote on Sweeney's.
Things can't continue this way. Reform needs to happen now. It's time to approve Sweeney's plan and finally end the unfair political favoritism that has poisoned the state school funding system.
Daniele Spence, Glassboro
Send a letter to the editor of South Jersey Times at sjletters@njadvancemedia.com
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By Ben Barlyn
I am the whistleblower who cost the State of New Jersey almost $4 million in legal fees plus a $1.5 million settlement conditioned on not disclosing certain incriminating evidence of wrongdoing by the Christie administration.
I am frankly astounded that my life took this turn. I hope to shed light on the circumstances and prevent such a thing from happening again.
Some background first. Before I became a whistleblower, I spent 18 years as a hardworking career prosecutor, first at the Division of Criminal Justice as a deputy attorney general, and subsequently as an assistant prosecutor with the Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office.
The events that led me to complain began in February 2010, when the local Grand Jury returned a 43-count indictment against then-Hunterdon County Sheriff Deborah Trout and two subordinates. At that time, one of the defendants boasted that Gov. Chris Christie himself would step in and have the whole case thrown out.
My colleagues and I dismissed this bizarre boast as idle chatter at the time. It wasn't.
Shortly thereafter, the Attorney General's Office took over the Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office and assumed responsibility for the prosecution of Sheriff Trout. Three months after that, the AG's Office preemptively moved to dismiss the entire indictment for alleged "legal and factual" deficiencies. That same day, I protested to the Acting Prosecutor (installed by the AG) that the dismissal was corrupt and unlawful. The very next day, two state detectives arrived at my office and escorted me out without explanation.
Two weeks later, I was fired in a one-sentence fax signed by the then-Director of Criminal Justice (and now Superior Court Judge) Stephen J. Taylor.
I filed suit for unlawful termination.
From early 2012 through 2016, my lawyer, Robert Lytle, waged a grueling and largely successful battle to obtain documentary evidence from the state relevant to the case, overcoming resistance at every turn first by the AG's Office and then for two years by Gibbons P.C., the politically connected law firm hired by the Christie administration to defend against the suit.
These lawyers invoked a host of privileges to keep highly incriminating documentary evidence from our grasp. Eventually, the state conditioned release of this discovery material on our agreement not to disclose it to third parties. To avoid further delay, as well as costs, we acquiesced and our agreement was ultimately incorporated into the final settlement reached in August 2016.
The confidentiality provision insisted upon by the state as a condition of the final settlement has not sat well with legislators and members of the public. Nor should it.
Underpinning my civil suit are allegations of grave and patently criminal abuses of authority engaged in by those sworn to uphold the law. The confidential material, including the grand jury record, certainly bears upon the truth of these allegations. That the Gibbons law firm billed the state (i.e., you, the taxpayer) almost $4 million in legal fees for only two years of work while simultaneously representing the governor in his failed presidential bid compounds the stench.
The fact is, however, that civil law suits, even those brought by whistleblowers against public entities, are flawed vehicles for vindicating the broader public interest. Recognizing this, I and others tried our best to encourage the U.S. Attorney's Office, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the Legislature to investigate the Hunterdon case, but without success.
In mid March, the Assembly Judiciary Committee, chaired by Assemblyman John McKeon (D-Essex), unanimously approved Bill A4243 that, if enacted, would require the State to make public a negotiated settlement between a public entity and public employee seeking damages under the Conscientious Employee Protection Act.
On March 23, The Assembly unanimously approved the bill, which now goes to the Senate. McKeon cited my hard fought legal battle with the Christie administration as inspiration for the legislation. He also advocated a broad inquiry into the events that gave rise to my lawsuit. Both the bill and the proposed investigation deserve widespread support.
McKeon's bill is a welcome and needed reform.
The resolution of civil law suits that involve the expenditure of public money and implicate matters of great public interest - as most whistleblower suits typically do - should not reside in the shadows at the whim of the parties.
Transparency promotes the entwined goals of accountability and deterrence. Better still, where the Hunterdon case is concerned, would be the willingness of the Assembly to convene a genuinely probing and thorough investigation to address all outstanding questions. The people of New Jersey deserve nothing less.
Ben Barlyn, served as a state and county prosecutor, as well as a executive director of the New Jersey Commission to Review Criminal Sentencing. He resides with his family in Bucks County, where he now is a middle school teacher.
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Rafael Schincariol is listed as an alumnus of Brazil's University of Sao Paolo, in the Department of Philosophy and General Theory of Law.
The federal government plans to pour $125 million into the fight against a mysterious disease that has ravaged corals in Florida and much of the Caribbean, and now poses a dire threat to the treasured reefs off the Louisiana and Texas coasts.
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.
Currently in New Orleans
74 Clear 84 / 69
06:19:23 AM
Feels Like:
Today
Sunny. High 82F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph.
Tonight
A few clouds. Low 69F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.
Tomorrow
Sunshine and clouds mixed. High 73F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph.
North Dakota is not developing its own ABLE program, but you can open an ABLE account in another state.
ABLE accounts are bank accounts that allow people with special needs to save money without jeopardizing their disability benefits. ABLE accounts come from the federal ABLE (Achieving a Better Life Experience) Act, but they are established and managed on a state level.
Not all states have ABLE accounts (yet), and each state will have slightly different rules and procedures for opening and using an ABLE account.
North Dakota has adopted laws related to the ABLE Act, but it does not currently run an ABLE program. According to the Bank of North Dakota website (https://bnd.nd.gov/able/) , North Dakota has decided not to run its own ABLE program. Instead, it encourages residents to open ABLE accounts in another state.
Save Money Without Penalty
When people with special needs apply for disability benefits, they must show that they do not have enough money to support themselves independently. Money saved in a traditional bank account counts against the ability to qualify for disability benefits.
As a result, people with special needs are not able to build savings with the money they earn or that they receive through inheritance or gifts. On a day-to-day basis, this means that people with special needs must live with very little money if they want to receive government aid.
One workaround for this issue is to use a special needs trust which provides a place to save money that can be used for the benefit of the person with special needs (without affecting his or her eligibility for benefits). But special needs trusts must be controlled by a trustee not by the person with special needs who benefits from the trust. Not only does this leave a person with special needs with little control over his or her finances, it also limits the person's independence.
ABLE accounts fill this gap by giving people with special needs the opportunity to manage a modest bank account without penalty against their eligibility for SSI, Medicaid, or other government benefits.
Rules for ABLE Accounts in North Dakota
The basic rules for all ABLE accounts come from the federal ABLE Act. (Read the federal act here: https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/647/). When states adopt and implement the ABLE Act, they must follow the federal rules and can also add their own rules and regulations. Here are the federal rules:
Disability qualifications. In order to open an ABLE account, you swear under penalty of perjury that you have a disabling "condition that began prior to reaching age 26" and you must fall under the Social Security administration's definition of "disabled" for children. (CFR 416.906.)
In order to open an ABLE account, you swear under penalty of perjury that you have a disabling "condition that began prior to reaching age 26" and you must fall under the Social Security administration's definition of "disabled" for children. (CFR 416.906.) Only one account . Each person can only have one ABLE account.
. Each person can only have one ABLE account. Anyone can put money in the account . Anyone can contribute money to an ABLE account, including the owner with a disability.
. Anyone can contribute money to an ABLE account, including the owner with a disability. Contributions are capped at $14,000 per year (in 2017) . This limit is equal to the annual personal gift tax exclusion, so it will rise every few years. Also, to be clear, this is per account, not per donor. The owner of the account must keep track of all contributions to ensure that they do not exceed $14,000 for the calendar year.
. This limit is equal to the annual personal gift tax exclusion, so it will rise every few years. Also, to be clear, this is per account, not per donor. The owner of the account must keep track of all contributions to ensure that they do not exceed $14,000 for the calendar year. For many, the account cannot exceed $100,000 . For those who qualify for SSI, the balance of an ABLE account cannot exceed $100,000. For those who do not qualify for SSI, the account can reach the limit allowed for 529 plans in that state. In North Dakota, the limit for 529 accounts is $269,000 however, North Dakota does not currently offer an ABLE account, so the limit would be set by the provider-state of the plan you choose.
. For those who qualify for SSI, the balance of an ABLE account cannot exceed $100,000. For those who do not qualify for SSI, the account can reach the limit allowed for 529 plans in that state. In North Dakota, the limit for 529 accounts is $269,000 however, North Dakota does not currently offer an ABLE account, so the limit would be set by the provider-state of the plan you choose. Funds must be used for Qualified Disability Expenses (QDE). QDE are expenses that are "related to the blindness or disability" of the account holder. Thankfully, this is a fairly broad definition and can include expenses for housing, education, transportation, employment training, health and wellness, financial management, legal fees, and more.
QDE are expenses that are "related to the blindness or disability" of the account holder. Thankfully, this is a fairly broad definition and can include expenses for housing, education, transportation, employment training, health and wellness, financial management, legal fees, and more. Account funds are not taxed if used properly. The income earned from the funds in ABLE accounts is not taxed. Contributions are made with post-tax dollars, and distributions made for QDE are tax-free.
The income earned from the funds in ABLE accounts is not taxed. Contributions are made with post-tax dollars, and distributions made for QDE are tax-free. Unused funds pay Medicaid. If the account owner dies with funds in an ABLE account, those funds must be used (in this order), to pay any outstanding QDE bills including funeral expenses, to provide payback to Medicaid for all Medicaid benefits received, and then to be distributed to the account holders legal beneficiaries.
When individual states adopt the ABLE Act and provide ABLE accounts for its residents, they may also make rules and policies about:
Minimum amounts required to open an account
Fees
Availability of accounts to non-residents.
State income tax deductions for contributions
Account rollovers
Debit cards
Investment portfolios
ABLE Accounts in North Dakota and Other States
North Dakota has passed ABLE legislation but has not yet established its own program. You can find North Dakota's ABLE statue in North Dakota Century Code 6-09-38.1. If you want to open an ABLE account before they're available in North Dakota, you can open one in another state that opens its ABLE accounts to non-residents. Keep in mind however, that each person can only have one ABLE account.
You can learn about and compare ABLE accounts across the country at the website for the ABLE National Resource Center.
An ABLE account is just one planning tool for people with special needs. You might also be interested in learning more about Special Needs Trusts or Estate Planning in North Dakota on Nolo.com.
Qualified South Dakota residents can open an ABLE account in another state.
ABLE accounts are bank accounts that allow people with special needs to save money without jeopardizing their disability benefits. ABLE accounts come from the federal ABLE (Achieving a Better Life Experience) Act, but they are established and managed on a state level.
Not all states have ABLE accounts (yet), and each state will have slightly different rules and procedures for opening and using an ABLE account.
South Dakota has not adopted the ABLE Act, and is not expected to develop its own ABLE program.. Instead, The South Dakota Investment Council suggests that you open an ABLE account in another state.
Save Money Without Penalty
When people with special needs apply for disability benefits, they must show that they do not have enough money to support themselves independently. Money saved in a traditional bank account counts against the ability to qualify for disability benefits.
As a result, people with special needs are not able to build savings with the money they earn or that they receive through inheritance or gifts. On a day-to-day basis, this means that people with special needs must live with very little money if they want to receive government aid.
One workaround for this issue is to use a special needs trust which provides a place to save money that can be used for the benefit of the person with special needs (without affecting his or her eligibility for benefits). But special needs trusts must be controlled by a trustee not by the person with special needs who benefits from the trust. Not only does this leave a person with special needs with little control over his or her finances, it also limits the person's independence.
ABLE accounts fill this gap by giving people with special needs the opportunity to manage a modest bank account without penalty against their eligibility for SSI, Medicaid, or other government benefits.
Rules for ABLE Accounts in South Dakota
The basic rules for all ABLE accounts come from the federal ABLE Act. (Read the federal act here: https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/647/). When states adopt and implement the ABLE Act, they must follow the federal rules and can also add their own rules and regulations. Here are the federal rules:
Disability qualifications. In order to open an ABLE account, you swear under penalty of perjury that you have a disabling "condition that began prior to reaching age 26" and you must fall under the Social Security administration's definition of "disabled" for children. (CFR 416.906.)
In order to open an ABLE account, you swear under penalty of perjury that you have a disabling "condition that began prior to reaching age 26" and you must fall under the Social Security administration's definition of "disabled" for children. (CFR 416.906.) Only one account . Each person can only have one ABLE account.
. Each person can only have one ABLE account. Anyone can put money in the account . Anyone can contribute money to an ABLE account, including the owner with a disability.
. Anyone can contribute money to an ABLE account, including the owner with a disability. Contributions are capped at $14,000 per year (in 2017) . This limit is equal to the annual personal gift tax exclusion, so it will rise every few years. Also, to be clear, this is per account, not per donor. The owner of the account must keep track of all contributions to ensure that they do not exceed $14,000 for the calendar year.
. This limit is equal to the annual personal gift tax exclusion, so it will rise every few years. Also, to be clear, this is per account, not per donor. The owner of the account must keep track of all contributions to ensure that they do not exceed $14,000 for the calendar year. For many, the account cannot exceed $100,000 . For those who qualify for SSI, the balance of an ABLE account cannot exceed $100,000. For those who do not qualify for SSI, the account can reach the limit allowed for 529 plans in that state. In South Dakota, the limit for 529 accounts is $350,000. However, South Dakota does not currently offer an ABLE account, so the limit would be set by the provider-state of the plan you choose.
. For those who qualify for SSI, the balance of an ABLE account cannot exceed $100,000. For those who do not qualify for SSI, the account can reach the limit allowed for 529 plans in that state. In South Dakota, the limit for 529 accounts is $350,000. However, South Dakota does not currently offer an ABLE account, so the limit would be set by the provider-state of the plan you choose. Funds must be used for Qualified Disability Expenses (QDE). QDE are expenses that are "related to the blindness or disability" of the account holder. Thankfully, this is a fairly broad definition and can include expenses for housing, education, transportation, employment training, health and wellness, financial management, legal fees, and more.
QDE are expenses that are "related to the blindness or disability" of the account holder. Thankfully, this is a fairly broad definition and can include expenses for housing, education, transportation, employment training, health and wellness, financial management, legal fees, and more. Account funds are not taxed if used properly. The income earned from the funds in ABLE accounts is not taxed. Contributions are made with post-tax dollars, and distributions made for QDE are tax-free.
The income earned from the funds in ABLE accounts is not taxed. Contributions are made with post-tax dollars, and distributions made for QDE are tax-free. Unused funds pay Medicaid. If the account owner dies with funds in an ABLE account, those funds must be used (in this order), to pay any outstanding QDE bills including funeral expenses, to provide payback to Medicaid for all Medicaid benefits received, and then to be distributed to the account holders legal beneficiaries.
When individual states adopt the ABLE Act and provide ABLE accounts for its residents, they may also make rules and policies about:
Minimum amounts required to open an account
Fees
Availability of accounts to non-residents.
State income tax deductions for contributions
Account rollovers
Debit cards
Investment portfolios
ABLE Accounts in South Dakota and Other States
South Dakota has not passed ABLE legislation and does not appear to be starting its own ABLE program. The South Dakota Investment Councila government office that manages the financial assets of South Dakotasuggests opening an ABLE account in another state.
You can learn about and compare ABLE accounts across the country at the website for the ABLE National Resource Center.
An ABLE account is just one planning tool for people with special needs. You might also be interested in learning more about Special Needs Trusts or Estate Planning in South Dakota on Nolo.com.
ABLE accounts are not yet available in Utah.
ABLE accounts are bank accounts that allow people with special needs to save money without jeopardizing their disability benefits. ABLE accounts come from the federal ABLE (Achieving a Better Life Experience) Act, but they are established and managed on a state level.
Not all states have ABLE accounts (yet), and each state will have slightly different rules and procedures for opening and using an ABLE account.
Utah has adopted the ABLE Act, and it is currently developing its ABLE program. If you're a Utah resident who wants to open an ABLE account before Utah starts its program, you can open an ABLE account established by another state.
Save Money Without Penalty
When people with special needs apply for disability benefits, they must show that they do not have enough money to support themselves independently. Money saved in a traditional bank account counts against the ability to qualify for disability benefits.
As a result, people with special needs are not able to build savings with the money they earn or that they receive through inheritance or gifts. On a day-to-day basis, this means that people with special needs must live with very little money if they want to receive government aid.
One workaround for this issue is to use a special needs trust which provides a place to save money that can be used for the benefit of the person with special needs (without affecting his or her eligibility for benefits). But special needs trusts must be controlled by a trustee not by the person with special needs who benefits from the trust. Not only does this leave a person with special needs with little control over his or her finances, it also limits the person's independence.
ABLE accounts fill this gap by giving people with special needs the opportunity to manage a modest bank account without penalty against their eligibility for SSI, Medicaid, or other government benefits.
Rules for ABLE Accounts in Utah
The basic rules for all ABLE accounts come from the federal ABLE Act. (Read the federal act here: https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/647/). When states adopt and implement the ABLE Act, they must follow the federal rules and can also add their own rules and regulations. Here are the federal rules:
Disability qualifications. In order to open an ABLE account, you swear under penalty of perjury that you have a disabling "condition that began prior to reaching age 26" and you must fall under the Social Security administration's definition of "disabled" for children. (CFR 416.906.)
In order to open an ABLE account, you swear under penalty of perjury that you have a disabling "condition that began prior to reaching age 26" and you must fall under the Social Security administration's definition of "disabled" for children. (CFR 416.906.) Only one account . Each person can only have one ABLE account.
. Each person can only have one ABLE account. Anyone can put money in the account . Anyone can contribute money to an ABLE account, including the owner with a disability.
. Anyone can contribute money to an ABLE account, including the owner with a disability. Contributions are capped at $14,000 per year (in 2017) . This limit is equal to the annual personal gift tax exclusion, so it will rise every few years. Also, to be clear, this is per account, not per donor. The owner of the account must keep track of all contributions to ensure that they do not exceed $14,000 for the calendar year.
. This limit is equal to the annual personal gift tax exclusion, so it will rise every few years. Also, to be clear, this is per account, not per donor. The owner of the account must keep track of all contributions to ensure that they do not exceed $14,000 for the calendar year. For many, the account cannot exceed $100,000 . For those who qualify for SSI, the balance of an ABLE account cannot exceed $100,000. For those who do not qualify for SSI, the account can reach the limit allowed for 529 plans in that state. In Utah, the limit for 529 accounts is $430,000 however, Utah does not currently offer an ABLE account, so the limit would be set by the provider-state of the plan you choose.
. For those who qualify for SSI, the balance of an ABLE account cannot exceed $100,000. For those who do not qualify for SSI, the account can reach the limit allowed for 529 plans in that state. In Utah, the limit for 529 accounts is $430,000 however, Utah does not currently offer an ABLE account, so the limit would be set by the provider-state of the plan you choose. Funds must be used for Qualified Disability Expenses (QDE). QDE are expenses that are "related to the blindness or disability" of the account holder. Thankfully, this is a fairly broad definition and can include expenses for housing, education, transportation, employment training, health and wellness, financial management, legal fees, and more.
QDE are expenses that are "related to the blindness or disability" of the account holder. Thankfully, this is a fairly broad definition and can include expenses for housing, education, transportation, employment training, health and wellness, financial management, legal fees, and more. Account funds are not taxed if used properly. The income earned from the funds in ABLE accounts is not taxed. Contributions are made with post-tax dollars, and distributions made for QDE are tax-free.
The income earned from the funds in ABLE accounts is not taxed. Contributions are made with post-tax dollars, and distributions made for QDE are tax-free. Unused funds pay Medicaid. If the account owner dies with funds in an ABLE account, those funds must be used (in this order), to pay any outstanding QDE bills including funeral expenses, to provide payback to Medicaid for all Medicaid benefits received, and then to be distributed to the account holders legal beneficiaries.
When individual states adopt the ABLE Act and provide ABLE accounts for its residents, they may also make rules and policies about:
Minimum amounts required to open an account
Fees
Availability of accounts to non-residents.
State income tax deductions for contributions
Account rollovers
Debit cards
Investment portfolios
ABLE Accounts in Utah and Other States
Utah has passed ABLE legislation, but has not yet established its ABLE program. You can find Utah's ABLE statue in Utah Code 35A-12-101 to 35A-12-402. If you want to start an ABLE account before Utah establishes its program, you can open one in another state. Keep in mind however, that each person can only have one ABLE account.
You can learn about and compare ABLE accounts across the country at the website for the ABLE National Resource Center.
An ABLE account is just one planning tool for people with special needs. You might also be interested in learning more about Special Needs Trusts or Estate Planning in Utah on Nolo.com.
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Bright lights powered by the sun have been switched on at Nottingham's latest landmark building transforming the view for people travelling in and out of the city.
BioCity's new 30m Discovery building, in Lower Parliament Street, is illuminated by a sculpture that uses live activity from the surface of the sun.
The artwork named "Corona", meaning a coloured halo or electrical glow will light up at day and night, and will be visible from the southern entrance to the city.
It will also act as an energy-efficient sunscreen for the new five-storey structure, which will support more than 700 new bioscience jobs over the next 30 years, building on innovative research of existing BioCity tenants and cementing Nottingham's position as the UK's fastest-growing life sciences community.
West Bridgford artist Wolfgang Buttress has designed the sculpture, using scientific research conducted by Dr Martin Bencsik, a physicist at Nottingham Trent University .
Speaking after Monday evening's light switch-on, Dr Bencsik said: "'Corona' uses live data from the sun, which is made available to us by NASA.
"The result is a spectacular ever-changing light pattern that reflects the sun's status in the latest 24 hours. It will never appear the same at any two moments in time and so each viewing is unique."
Dr Glenn Crocker, CEO of BioCity, said: "We are all delighted that the collaboration between Wolfgang Buttress and Dr. Martin Bencsik has produced such an exciting and inspirational artwork for BioCity's Discovery Building.
"This is art that the whole city can enjoy and I'd like to thank Nottingham City Council for making this possible.
"There are some who see the arts and sciences as distinct, almost polar opposites but that is not the case and this installation reflects that perfectly.
"The sheer magnitude of the project will inspire us all on a daily (and nightly) basis, with the dynamism of the structure chiming perfectly with our business model and the companies that are growing at BioCity."
Construction of the Discovery building received 24m from Nottingham City Council and 6m from the Local Growth Fund run by the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership a private and public sector partnership that aims to drive economic growth and create jobs in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire as well as funding from the council.
Some 30,000 sq ft of the 50,000 sq ft lab and office space has already been taken up by expanding BioCity tenant Sygnature Discovery, the UK's largest independent provider of integrated drug discovery resource and expertise, which had outgrown its existing space at BioCity.
Councillor Jon Collins, leader of Nottingham City Council, said: "It speaks volumes to Nottingham's progress that we are able to open not only 50,000 sq ft of new lab space, but we have a unique display of what scientific discovery can create from such a renowned artist as Wolfgang.
"We have been keen to work with BioCity and Wolfgang to develop this building and highlight that we support the growing and innovative life sciences sector and our local artists in Nottingham."
Councillor Graham Chapman, deputy leader of the city council, added: "We are very grateful to Wolfgang and Martin for their creativity and dedication to producing something special for Nottingham, which visually highlights not only our commitment to biosciences but also to an attractive and innovative city centre.
"I am looking forward to seeing this ever changing display for years to come and hope it will inspire local artists to think big and be bold."
CPMG Architects, based in the Lace Market, designed the building, while Nottingham-based Pick Everard delivered building surveying services, as well as new engineering and construction contract supervision.
Nick Heath, operations director at construction contractor Willmott Dixon in the East Midlands, said: "We are so proud to be part of this iconic scheme at BioCity which will have a positive impact on the local community and cement Nottingham as the place for life sciences in the UK.
"The biosciences building has been a great project for us, allowing us to support the skills and training of young people locally through site visits, training and apprenticeships."
The key talking points, match reports, highlights, injury and judiciary news from the weekend's Telstra Premiership action.
Bulldogs v Broncos
A desperate and disciplined Canterbury side overcame a saturated ANZ Stadium pitch to defeat the Broncos 10-7 on Thursday night.
Injuries: James Roberts (hamstring), Sam Kasiano (concussion).
Judiciary: No charges.
Match report: Desperate Dogs down Broncos in the wet
Bulldogs v Broncos: Five key points
WATCH: Match highlights
Match Draw Widget
[2017] Telstra Premiership - Round 5: Bulldogs vs Broncos
Roosters v Sea Eagles
A Dylan Walker try two minutes from full-time helped the Sea Eagles down the Roosters in an incredible contest at Allianz Stadium.
Injuries: Dylan Napa (ankle).
Judiciary: No charges.
Match report: Walker heroics help Manly down the Roosters
Roosters v Sea Eagles: Five key points
WATCH: Match highlights
Match Draw Widget
[2017] Telstra Premiership - Round 5: Roosters vs Sea Eagles
Cowboys v Rabbitohs
The North Queensland Cowboys did enough to beat the South Sydney Rabbitohs at 1300SMILES Stadium and return to the winners circle.
Injuries: Coen Hess (concussion), Robbie Farah (back).
Judiciary: No charges.
Match report: Cowboys too good for Rabbitohs
Cowboys v Rabbitohs: Five key points
WATCH: Match highlights
Match Draw Widget
[2017] Telstra Premiership - Round 5: Cowboys vs Rabbitohs
Sharks v Knights
A 78th-minute field-goal from Sharks five-eighth James Maloney saw the Sharks survive a scare against the Newcastle Knights in a frantic finish on Saturday.
Injuries: Jack Stockwell (facial cut), Sione Mata'utia (concussion), Paul Gallen (head cut).
Judiciary: No charges.
Match report: Maloney field goal ends Knights comeback
Sharks v Knights: Five key points
WATCH: Match highlights
Match Draw Widget
[2017] Telstra Premiership - Round 5: Sharks vs Knights
Raiders v Eels
A brilliant individual effort from rookie winger Nick Cotric sealed an all-important win for the Canberra Raiders over Parramatta at GIO Stadium on Saturday.
Injuries: No major injuries.
Judiciary: No charges.
Match report: Cotric stunner seals Raiders victory
Raiders v Eels: Five key points
WATCH: Match highlights
Match Draw Widget
[2017] Telstra Premiership - Round 5: Raiders vs Eels
Storm v Panthers
A superb defensive display from Melbourne helped the Storm to a 24-6 win over an impressive Penrith Panthers side at AAMI Park on Saturday.
Injuries: No major injuries.
Judiciary: No charges.
Match report: Clinical Storm outclass Panthers
Storm v Panthers: Five key points
WATCH: Match highlights
Match Draw Widget
[2017] Telstra Premiership - Round 5: Storm vs Panthers
Warriors v Titans
The Warriors staged a big comeback in Kieran Foran's first game to score 16 unanswered points in the second half to down an injury-ravaged Titans outfit at Mt Smart Stadium.
Injuries: Tyrone Roberts (knee), Joe Greenwood (head knock), Nathaniel Peteru (foot), Bodene Thompson (leg).
Judiciary: TBC.
Match report: Warriors scrape past wounded Titans
Warriors v Titans: Five key points
WATCH: Match highlights
Match Draw Widget
[2017] Telstra Premiership - Round 5: Warriors vs Titans
Wests Tigers v Dragons
Dragons captain Gareth Widdop put on a playmaking clinic as Jason Nightingale bagged a first-half hat-trick in the Red V's comfortable win over Wests Tigers, but St George Illawarra might be without fullback Josh Dugan for a few weeks after he was assisted from the field in the second half.
Injuries: Josh Dugan (leg), Matt Ballin (knee).
Judiciary: TBC.
Match report: Dugan injured as Dragons thump Tigers
Wests Tigers v Dragons: Five key points
WATCH: Match highlights
Match Draw Widget
[2017] Telstra Premiership - Round 5: Wests Tigers vs Dragons
St George Illawarra winger Jason Nightingale says he was delighted to bag his second hat-trick of his career but it wouldn't have come without some sublime playmaking from his skipper Gareth Widdop a man Nightingale believes is now remembering just how good he is.
Nightingale was on the end of some special Widdop playmaking in a 28-6 win against the Tigers; the highlight was arguably a stunning right-to-left spiral cut-out pass but a pinpoint cross-field chip kick was almost as impressive.
Widdop, along with halves partner Benji Marshall, was pilloried in both regular and social media during season 2016 as a sputtering Dragons attack outscored only wooden spooners Newcastle but those days seem a distant memory as the second-placed Dragons head the competition for points scored and points differential after five rounds of 2017.
"He's going great, he's got a lot of ability and he's remembering how good he is," Nightingale said of the England international.
"Halves cop a lot of scrutiny and are under a lot of pressure to control the team and he's doing a great job of that."
Match Draw Widget
[2017] Telstra Premiership - Round 5: Wests Tigers vs Dragons
Nightingale said the quality of players around Widdop had also helped to take the pressure off him with fullback Josh Dugan in commanding form, hooker Cam McInnes a revelation at his new club and halfback Josh McCrone providing a steady hand.
"All those players in the spine are helping Gareth with his role and enabling him to focus on what his strengths are," Nightingale added.
His own three-try effort just the second hat-trick of his storied career was certainly a pleasing effort for the veteran winger.
"We made the most of our opportunities and managed to get some really good ball in that first half," he said.
"It led to a few tries and I'm very excited, I love scoring tries as every player let alone wingers do so very excited to get a first half hat trick and capitalise on some of the opportunities that we had.
"The most pleasing thing out of that whole game was the fact that we defended really well then when we did get down their end through building pressure we were able to capitalise most times.
"We stuck to our defensive patterns and managed to build pressure through that and then get across the line when we did find those opportunities. Some really good plays to open up some space for myself and 'Laf' (centre partner Tim Lafai)."
Nightingale said the Dragons weren't getting too carried away with the wins they was banking (four from five so far, and three in a row now for the first time since a six-game winning run at the start of 2015) but were more pleased with the fact the effort and performances have been consistent.
"The last few weeks haven't been the prettiest wins with Cronulla, Warriors and [the Tigers] game but I think the fact that our defence has held strong and we haven't conceded a lot of points is the reason we won our games and the opportunities we have had we've capitalised on where in the past we probably not capitalised on those opportunities," he said.
Wests Tigers v Dragons: Five key points
Dugan injured as Dragons thump Tigers
ADM will showcase the breadth of the capabilities it has honed during its 120 years in the pharmaceutical and dietary supplement industry at the forthcoming CPHI 2022 in... Read More
Everyone, it seems, has heard of Rosie the Riveter. But a generation earlier, during World War I, women also entered the workforce in droves. It was a shift that helped change American society.
The 20th century's second decade was a happening time for Indiana. Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, a Hoosier Democrat, had just won the election in 1916 against Charles W. Fairbanks, a Hoosier Republican. The song "Indiana," with music by James Hanley and lyrics by Ballard MacDonald, was released in 1917 by the Knickerbocker Quartet, the Original Dixieland Jazz Band and the Homestead Trio.
Northwest Indiana was booming then, too, with the steel mills and refineries hiring African-American men from the South and white men from Eastern Europe to supply the growing nation and the war effort. The nation's workforce was on the move, leaving farms for factory jobs in the north and the west.
"The Great Migration is really just beginning to get into full swing during World War I," said Ruth Needleman,who taught labor studies at Indiana University Northwest in Gary for 35 years.
It was a time of great change for the United States. Jeanette Rankin was sworn in as the first female member of Congress on April 2, 1917, just in time to vote against declaring war on Germany.
Even women's fashions were changing. Just look at ads from 1914 and then from 1924 to see how much more revealing they became over the decade.
By 1934, Cole Porter another famous Hoosier had written the hit song "Anything Goes" for his musical with the same name.
"War always changes lives at home. Both of the world wars in the early 20th century changed the nation," said Valparaiso University history professor Heath Carter.
Workforce perils
Prior to "the war to end all wars," there weren't as many options for women in the workforce.
The textile and apparel industries were dominated by women who did the sewing and weaving. On the East Coast, women took over the transportation industry, Needleman said.
"They got a lot of jobs on trolleys, trains, collecting cash as collectors," she said.
"This area, women were making money by housing immigrants, cooking and cleaning," Needleman said.
It was highly unusual for them to be employed in heavy industry like the giant steel mills and refineries in Northwest Indiana, Needleman said. Those jobs were dangerous.
"BOY RAILROADER LOSES LEGS AND ARMS AT GIBSON," said a headline on the March 26, 1917, front page of The Lake County Times. Read enough newspapers from that era, and you'll see many more stories about men and even children, like the 17-year-old boy at Gibson Yard in Hammond, being killed or injured in the workplace.
"They say that the death rate was higher among workers than soldiers," Needleman said. "We lost more workers in the plants than on the battlefield because they were pushing so hard for production."
Child labor laws were being passed, but struck down by the courts, at that point.
For women, the big barrier to employment in heavy industry was the trade unions, Needleman said. Unions restricted the hours they could work, including nights. Shifts in the steel industry were typically 12 hours, and nursing was the only real occupation that allowed women to work overnight, she said.
There were a number of women working at Standard Oil's Whiting Refinery in World War I, however. A group photo of them, provided by the Whiting-Robertsdale Historical Society, offers proof.
"This is what young women did in certain areas instead of going to school," said University of Mississippi history professor Susan R. Grayzel, who has written a series of books on women during World War I.
Changes for women
The growth of the war effort meant the growth of bureaucracy, Needleman said. Technology like typewriters made some jobs appear to be easier, so men felt better about hiring women to do clerical work, which wasn't dangerous, she said. Clerical work used to be a male domain.
Having women take additional jobs in the workforce was a comfort for the men going overseas to fight, Grayzel said, because it meant the women would have spending money.
"The U.S. government doesn't want men to be reluctant to fight because they're worried about their wives and mothers," Grayzel said.
In France, factory owners even put child care facilities in place for the first time during World War I because women were needed there while the men were on the battlefield, she said.
In the United States, the women's suffrage movement capitalized on the war drawing additional women into the workforce.
The argument that women sacrificed for the country by learning to drive tractors and do other work traditionally done by men gave men in Congress the political cover to grant women the right to vote shortly after the war ended, Grayzel said.
The 19th Amendment was ratified Aug. 18, 1920, by a 50-49 vote in the Tennessee House of Representatives.
War's effect on women
After the war, jobs that had opened when men left for Europe were given back to the returning heroes. There was significant pressure to conform to the previous norms of domesticity, Carter said, but the world was changing.
"It's one thing to change the law, and another thing to change cultural norms."
Grayzel said history often looks at the major events, like battles and political decisions, but the effect on everyday life merits more study.
"War has probably a deeper impact on women than many of us know," she said.
Women during the Civil War weren't connected to the world the way they were a half century later, during World War I, Grayzel said.
Charitable organizations were largely driven by women during WWI. The Oxford, Mississippi, women's club adopted a French family, and letters written back to them in gratitude by one of the boys in that family tell of life in France at the time, she said. Those letters had to be translated from French to English to be read during meetings.
Grayzel has her students dig into local museums and women's diaries to learn more about war's effect on women.
"I think they're genuinely moved by some of the letters they're reading," she said.
CROWN POINT Walter T. Stein, a 26-year-old man charged in June with child neglect on allegations he took his 7-year-old daughter to a crack house in Gary, was sentenced Monday in Lake Criminal Court to 18 months in jail, which was suspended in favor of probation.
Stein, also known as Walter Eli, pleaded guilty March 6 to neglect of a dependent, a level 6 felony, on allegations he left his child in a vehicle June 27 while he and the girl's mother, Sandra A. Johns, smoked crack at a Gary home, according to a probable cause affidavit.
The girl, whom police said was shirtless and dressed in urine-stained pants, was transported to St. Mary's Medical Center in Hobart, where a nurse said the child had blistering and a rash on her pelvic area, the affidavit states.
Stein entered his plea in an agreement with the state. His sentence to 18 months probation was stipulated as part of the plea agreement.
Defense attorney Adrian Guzman told Judge Salvador Vasquez at Monday's sentencing hearing that Stein would live with his father in Chicago after he is released from jail.
Stein told the judge he was addicted to crack at the time of his arrest, but he had gotten clean in jail.
Stein was ordered to pay $700 in restitution as part of his sentence.
Johns pleaded guilty to the same offense as Stein on Jan. 5. She was sentenced to one year in jail, suspended for probation.
HAMMOND A 38-year-old woman was wounded Friday when her boyfriend accidentally shot her in the right hip, police said.
Hammond police were dispatched about 8:30 p.m. to a home in the 6800 block of Arizona Avenue, Lt. Steven Kellogg said.
The woman told police her 38-year-old boyfriend, who also lives at the home, was outside the bathroom "messing" with a semi-automatic pistol when it accidentally went off.
The woman was in stable condition, police said Monday.
The man was taken into custody pending further investigation and filing of charges, police said.
VALPARAISO Police are asking businesses to be vigilant after receiving four reports in a week about counterfeit money.
In each case, at least one counterfeit $20 bill was used at a fast-food restaurant, Valparaiso police said. In some cases, numerous counterfeit bills were used or presented to businesses.
Those using the counterfeit bills often use a restaurant's drive-thru window, police said.
Business owners are asked to call police if they have accepted any counterfeit bills or encountered anyone attempting to use counterfeit money.
EAST CHICAGO Truckers will want to take notice of the City Council's consideration of an ordinance that would limit truck parking in residential zones.
The ordinance would make it unlawful for the owner or operator of a commercial vehicle or truck with more than two axles to park it on any street or alley in the city for more than one hour between midnight and 6 a.m.
The ordinance also would not allow trucks with more than two axles to be parked on any street or alley in a residential district for more than one hour except for moving and delivery trucks loading or unloading property, or service trucks conducting service calls.
The City Council approved the ordinance by an 8-0 vote on second reading Monday and is expected to consider it on third and final reading at its April 10 meeting.
Councilman Kenneth Monroe, D-at-large, was not present for the vote.
The ordinance was co-sponsored by Councilman Ronald London, D-at-large, and Councilwoman Gilda Orange, D-6th.
Orange said residents have been calling about large trucks being left on main streets where residents also live.
She said people are dropping off their trucks and then getting into cars and leaving while their trucks remain there overnight as opposed to at a truck facility.
"That's what the truck stops are for," London said.
Orange said it is not just the main streets on which the trucks have been parking.
"Even on the side streets where it's hard for the buses, the school buses, to come down," Orange said. "And then people have been complaining about that, because they can't maneuver around the big trucks."
London said sometimes trucks are left running at night and fumes can then enter a home.
The ordinance as written states the City Council believes the placement of residential parking restrictions on trucks will reduce or prevent congestion and dangerous traffic situations in residential areas, protect residents from unreasonable difficulty as far as access to their properties and preserve the residential character of the areas as well as property values.
Council Attorney Stephen Bower said violating the ordinance, if approved on final reading, could result in a fine of up to $250.
"The police really couldn't do anything, because we never had an ordinance that said that you couldn't park it on residential streets," Orange said.
INDIANAPOLIS The emergency manager for the cash-strapped Gary Community School Corp. would have near-total control over the district's finances and academics, under legislation revised and approved Monday by the House Ways and Means Committee.
Senate Bill 567 now not only would transfer all the authority of the elected school board to the state-appointed emergency manager the board previously retained control over academics but the board even would be prohibited from meeting more than once a month.
In its place, the emergency manager would be empowered to act unilaterally to reduce district expenses and alter its academic program with an overriding goal of achieving a balanced budget and paying off the district's more than $100 million in debt.
The district superintendent, along with a chief financial officer and chief academic officer selected by the emergency manager, could help decide what cuts to make.
A four-person fiscal management board, consisting of one member each appointed by the school board, mayor, state superintendent of public instruction and state board of education, also could weigh-in on the manager's decisions in a strictly advisory capacity.
But the measure specifies that only the state's Distressed Unit Appeals Board would have the authority to override a decision made by the emergency manager.
State Rep. Tim Brown, R-Crawfordsville, the Ways and Means chairman, said the revisions clarify the role of the emergency manager and give that person the best chance of succeeding in turning around the financially struggling Gary schools.
Brown's amendment additionally made Muncie Community Schools eligible for takeover by a state emergency manager.
State Sen. Eddie Melton, D-Merrillvile, the sponsor of the proposal, was not pleased that the changes remove control over academics from the Gary school board, especially since the state has had little success in past "turnaround" efforts with low-performing schools.
He also said Indiana needs to consider capping the number of charter and voucher school slots in Gary, which are draining students, and their state tuition support, from the public school system.
The Republican-controlled House is expected to vote on the revised legislation Wednesday or Thursday.
If approved, it then will go to a House-Senate conference committee where a small group of lawmakers will craft a compromise proposal that must again pass both chambers to advance to Gov. Eric Holcomb for his signature or veto.
INDIANAPOLIS The Indiana House agreed Monday that all Hoosier schoolchildren in kindergarten through 12th grade should receive annual, age-appropriate instruction in child abuse and child sexual abuse identification and prevention.
Senate Bill 355, sponsored by state Rep. Julie Olthoff, R-Crown Point, would require public, charter and private schools to teach every child about abuse starting in 2018.
Current law limits mandatory abuse instruction to students in grades two through five.
Olthoff said child abuse is on the rise across Indiana with some 17,500 cases reported last year, or approximately 47 incidents each day.
"These innocent children live in fear, their homes are not safe places," Olthoff said. "Let's help empower Hoosier children to understand what safe and unsafe touches are, and what safe and unsafe secrets are."
The measure was approved by the House, 93-0, after previously passing the Senate, 49-0.
It now returns to the Senate for lawmakers either to consent to House changes, which would advance the legislation to the governor, or to send it to a conference committee where members of both chambers would work out a compromise final version.
Among the revisions adopted by the House is a recommendation that a legislative study committee determine how much training the state obligates teachers to undergo concerning student behavior and health issues.
Enacting the child abuse education requirement is a top priority for the "No More Secrets" campaign, led by North Township Trustee Frank J. Mrvan, that seeks to end child sexual abuse in Northwest Indiana.
EAST CHICAGO NAACP and Twin City Ministerial Alliance leaders will host a community listening session Wednesday to discuss a series of topics related to the city's lead crisis.
Among the topics up for discussion will be East Chicago's status as an environmental justice community, as well as lessons learned from Flint, Michigans water crisis.
East Chicago is considered an environmental justice community because many of its residents are low-income people of color and the city is home to several polluters and industry, said Denise Abdul-Rahman, state director of the NAACP Climate and Environmental Justice Program.
East Chicago more than exemplifies this definition, Abdul-Rahman said. This crisis is truly an environmental injustice and we seek to obtain environmental justice.
Abdul-Rahman said a panel discussion will begin at 5:45 p.m. at First Baptist Church, 4911 McCook Ave., in East Chicago. Each panel participant will quickly introduce themselves, but individuals will, for the most part, be on hand to answer audience questions, she said.
The main goal is to provide a platform for the community to air concerns. Whatever concerns that are lingering. Theres the displacement of residents (in West Calumet), concerns about home buyouts, health issues, declining property values," Abdul-Rahman said.
Panel experts include Jacqueline Patterson, director of the NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program; Katherine Egland, Environmental & Climate Justice committee chair for the NAACP National Board of Directors; Pamela Pugh, environmental, health and education chair for NAACP in Flint, Michigan, and chief public health officer for the city of Flint; Douglas Ballotti, acting division director for the Superfund division for EPA Region 5; John Hall, field director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Developments Region 5; and Richard Hites, executive director for the Indiana Civil Rights Commission
The NAACP plans to partner with local organizations to provide water filters. The East Chicago Health Department will be on hand to provide lead testing, while EPA will provide information on water filter installation.
Last year, the NAACP connected with local Strack & Van Til and Whole Foods stores to deliver fresh fruits and vegetables to two churches in the Superfund site. The NAACP also visited with the West Calumet community last summer, visited the East Chicago City Council, and met with ministers and a number of other local, state and federal groups, according to the news release. The NAACP was also among the number of community groups to sign a petition, urging for lead pipe replacement and water filters for residents.
Before the panel discussion, Janet Pope, a community outreach coordinator with the EPA, will lead a 2:15 p.m. tour of the Superfund site, Abdul-Rahman said.
With the South Shore Line's West Lake expansion hitting a roadblock of sorts in Gary and Merrillville, a few other Lake County towns and cities that are not in the train's path see some benefits to the project.
The Merrillville Town Council recently voted to reduce its South Shore contribution to 8 percent of its economic development income tax revenue from 22 percent, and Gary's Common Council is considering a similar reduction of its 7.5 percent of CEDIT (County Economic Development Income Tax) money to the project, or even eliminating it entirely.
However, state legislators this week will vote on Senate Bill 128, which would allow the state treasurer to intercept local funds if a municipality or county has not paid its commuter rail obligation to the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority.
The town of Winfield, just west of Porter County, is committing 15 percent of its CEDIT funds, which is $13,204 for 2017. Clerk-Treasurer Rick Anderson believes Winfield would see limited benefits from the proposed project, but is aware of the potential development impact for the Region as a whole.
"I believe the Winfield Town Council will continue to monitor what is occurring with other neighboring communities and modifications to commitments," he said.
In Crown Point, where 10 percent of CEDIT funds have been committed to the project, Councilman Chris Retson said the benefit of the South Shore extension is companies relocating their high-paying skilled and professional jobs to the Region.
"However, this is still many years off and a 30-minute drive from Crown Point, so we would benefit from implementing our own commuter bus service to Chicago," he said.
"This will provide immediate opportunities to bring Chicago job money home to Crown Point, at minimal cost. Combined with the future jobs along the extension, this will secure a bright economic future for Crown Point residents."
Councilman Andrew Kyres said even though the proposed expansion of the South Shore will not run through Crown Point, "it behooves us to think regionally.
"Research has proven that economic development initiatives provide direct and indirect benefits beyond the immediate location of a project," Kyres said.
A train station in St. John remains part of the South Shore extension's long-term plan. Although it's not part of the current West Lake project, the goal is to continue south from Munster/Dyer someday.
St. John does not currently contribute to the South Shore extension project. Town Council President Michael Forbes said that while he supports the concept of a train station somewhere in St. John, numerous issues and questions with the current proposal have come to light that raise concerns as to whether the station would be a benefit to residents.
Other legislation moving through the Statehouse is House Bill 1144, which authorizes the RDA to use increment financing to develop areas near rail stations to maximize the economic benefits of extending service between Hammond and Dyer, as well as double-tracking the existing line between Gary and Michigan City.
PORTAGE The abundant talent filling Oakwood Grand Hall at Woodland Park on April Fools Day was no joke.
Sixty wood carvers showed off their creations depicting birds, animals, fish, flowers, Santas, cowboys, pets and more Saturday at the 41st annual Duneland Woodcarvers Show.
More than half the displays came from members of the organization, which has been around since 1973, treasurer Bruce Johnston said. Other carvers traveled from Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and even Delaware to show off their wares.
The annual show serves to further the art of wood carving, Johnston said.
We try to get people excited about it, said Johnston, who estimated 1,000 people would attend Saturday and Sunday.
Judges awarded prizes to exhibitors in 47 categories, including best table display and best in show.
Clarence McCoy, a member whos been carving since 1985, was surprised he won the award for his table display, which was loaded with depictions of whimsical cowboys, bears and pets.
The ideas just come to me, said McCoy, of Cedar Lake. I come up with some crazy ideas, just from everyday life.
One cowboy toted sticks of dynamite instead of bullets, and another was getting ready to scrape up road kill in a piece entitled Soups On.
Member Kevin Sturgeon creates wooden pens and gives them to military veterans.
Its a thank you, said Sturgeon, of Hobart.
Kathy Voyles started collecting gourds to make birdhouses 30 years ago and has since learned to carve intricate shapes into them with a special drill.
This has just evolved, said Voyles, of Hebron. There are so many things you can do with a gourd. Ive been blessed with a good imagination.
Dan Stolarz and his granddaughter Keely Kualkenbush, 12, walked around the room looking for ideas.
Keely said she wants to learn the art of wood burning burning designs into wood with a special burning pen.
We came to get her creative juices flowing, said Stolarz, of LaPorte.
McCoy, who taught woodcarving in adult education classes in Merrillville, said the hobby is very relaxing because it keeps your hands and mind occupied.
McCoy has completed some 3,000 pieces since he started the hobby.
I dont carve to sell, I carve for my own enjoyment, McCoy said. Its just fun.
NEW YORK A Fox News contributor came forward Monday to level more sexual harassment allegations against deposed chief executive Roger Ailes, two days after it was revealed that the network's most popular on-air personality, Bill O'Reilly, has settled multiple complaints about his own behavior with women.
O'Reilly was due to return to the air on Monday following a weekend report in The New York Times that he and his employer had paid five women a total of $13 million to settle allegations of sexual harassment or other inappropriate conduct by Fox's ratings king.
Meanwhile, the lawyer for another woman who says she was punished for rebuffing O'Reilly's advances called on New York City's Human Rights Commission to investigate O'Reilly's behavior.
The new lawsuit against Ailes was brought by Fox's Julie Roginsky and is notable because it accuses Fox's current management of trying to cover up for Ailes.
Roginsky said that Ailes, who lost his job last summer following sexual harassment complaints that he has denied, suggested she have sex with "older, married, conservative men." She said Ailes would insist upon a kiss hello at their meetings, requiring Roginsky to bend over so he could look down her dress.
She was seeking a permanent role on Fox's show "The Five." But after a meeting in April 2015 where she turned down Ailes' advances, he wouldn't meet with her again, and she never got the regular role on the late afternoon show, she said.
Later, she said, she was pressured to join "Team Roger," a group of people who publicly defended Ailes when the first harassment complaint made public against the Fox boss was brought by Gretchen Carlson last summer. Roginsky refused.
She said that even though Fox executives knew she had her own harassment allegations against Ailes, she was never encouraged to speak to the law firm hired by Fox News parent 21st Century Fox to investigate claims against him. And she said Fox never looked into her charges. Her lawyer would not say Monday why Roginsky never contacted the firm on her own.
Roginsky said that during a meeting in December, new Fox top executive Bill Shine told her that he didn't believe the allegations against Ailes until recently. But the lawsuit alleges that Shine and other top Fox executives should have known about Ailes' behavior much earlier. "Shine and other senior executives kept Ailes' conduct secret and enabled it," said the lawsuit, filed in state court in New York.
Fox News representatives did not immediately return messages for comment.
Roginsky said she believes that Shine hasn't given her an opportunity for advancement in retaliation for her harassment complaint and her refusal to speak out against Carlson.
At a Los Angeles news conference Monday, lawyer Lisa Bloom detailed allegations against O'Reilly by Wendy Walsh, a regular guest on the prime-time show "The O'Reilly Factor."
Bloom said that O'Reilly had told Walsh that he would recommend her for a paid contributor role on the network. Walsh and O'Reilly had dinner in Los Angeles in 2013, but when Walsh refused his invitation to come to his hotel room, his attitude changed and she was soon dropped from the show, according to Walsh.
Bloom was seeking an investigation by the city Human Rights Commission. A spokesman for the commission said no claim had been filed. Claims have to address activity that happened within New York City's five boroughs and must be filed within one year of an alleged infraction.
Walsh said she came forward because she was told by a Times reporter that many of the women who have accused O'Reilly of harassment are bound by gag orders. She said she is not bound by any such agreement, and the statute of limitations for suing has run out.
"Nobody can silence me because my voice is not for sale," Walsh said. "Nobody can buy my voice."
O'Reilly said over the weekend that he is vulnerable to lawsuits from people who threaten to cause him bad publicity unless they get paid. He said he had "put to rest any controversies" to spare his children.
O'Reilly is host of Fox's most popular program, and his ratings have gone up over the past year with the intense interest in politics. Independent studies show he generates more than $100 million in advertising revenue per year for TV's top-rated cable news network.
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Associated Press writer Anthony McCartney in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
NEW YORK - The man who shot and killed an NYPD officer in East Harlem in October 2015 was given a life sentence without parole Monday.
Tyrone Howard was convicted earlier this month in the shooting death of Detective Randolph Holder.
Holder, 33, and his partner were responding to reports of gunfire when they were approached by Howard.
Police say Howard then pulled out a gun and shot Holder.
Holder was promoted posthumously to detective.
More than 100 NYPD members crowded around Holder's family Monday and packed the courtroom for the sentencing.
The judge told Howard he was a danger to the community. After four days of deliberations in March, a jury found the repeat offender guilty of all charges, including aggravated- and first-degree murder.
Two Orange County surf wear companies took top honors for Apparel Brand of the Year with the womens accolades going to an iconic company well-known in the industry, and the mens awarded to newcomers to the surf scene.
Billabong Womens and Vissla earned the top honors at the Surf Industry Manufacturing Association Image Awards held Thursday night at Rancho Las Lomas in Silverado, an event that drew about 400 industry insiders for a night of recognizing products, marketing campaigns, environmental innovations and other aspects of the coastal culture.
The event kicked off with Billabong Womens, which has its North American headquarters in Irvine, winning an award for the Womens Marketing Campaign of the Year. The brand won three awards through the night more than any other brand after also nabbing the Womens Swim Brand of the Year.
This takes a village, we have such an impassioned, talented dedicated team, said Allison Roberts, creative director for Billabong swim. We love what we do.
Vissla, based out of Aliso Viejo, has made waves since former Billabong executive Paul Naude created the brand about three years ago. Vissla won not only Mens Apparel Brand of the Year, for the second year in a row, but also took home the Mens Boardshort of the Year award.
Ive been doing this a long time and last year tested us to the limit Were all here because we love what we do, Naude said. Were so fortunate to make a living doing what we love.
The awards are a night to celebrate during a time when the surf industry has had its share of hardships especially with consumer shifting from brick-and-mortar to online shopping, said Gibson.
And while core consumer base has never been stronger, the mass consumers have found other options outside of surf wear in the athleisure trends during the past 5-8 years, he said.
The awards are a chance to recognize whats unique just in the surf world, such as the Patagonias Yulex wetsuit, which uses only plant-based products to make the suits. The new technology is a shift from using neoprene, which requires fossil-fuel production, and earned the Ventura company Environmental Product of the Year.
This years wetsuit award went to Irvine-based Xcel.
We strive to build the warmest, most flexible, highest performing product in the world, said Robert Hyland, sales manager.
List of winners:
Accessory Product of the Year: The Mission Smartwatch by Nixon
Environmental Product of the Year: Patagonia Fall 16 Yulex Wetsuits by Patagonia
Footwear Product of the Year: Reef Rover with Swellular Technology by REEF
Hardgoods Accessory Product of the Year: SurfEars 2.0 by Creatures of Leisure
Wetsuit of the Year: Infiniti Comp TDC by Xcel Wetsuits
Performance Shortboard of the Year: SCI-FI by Slater Designs
Longboard of the Year: The Wingnut Noserider by Firewire
Alternative Surfboard Model of the Year: Bonzer Biscuit by Channel Islands Surfboards
Mens Marketing Campaign of the Year: Volume 11: Hellbound In Clayoquot Sound by The Roark Revival
Mens Apparel Brand of the Year: Vissla
Mens Boardshort of the Year: Vissla Upcycled Boardshorts by Vissla
Womens Marketing Campaign of the Year: A BIKINI KINDA Life by Billabong Womens
Womens Apparel Brand of the Year: Billabong Womens
Womens Swim Brand of the Year: Billabong Womens
Breakout Brand of the Year: Slater Designs
ANAHEIM Students at Betsy Ross Elementary School will have a unique opportunity Monday, April 3: theyll get to speak directly to astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
More than a dozen students are prepped to ask questions of Expedition 50 Commander Shane Kimbrough and Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson during a 20-minute Earth-to-space call at 8:40 a.m. that will air live on NASA Television and the agencys website.
Betsy Ross students will watch the exchange and so will thousands of students in classrooms across the Anaheim Elementary School District.
RELATED: Betsy Ross Elementary School, this is Mission Control Houston
All the kids are thrilled and they are recognizing this as a once in a lifetime experience, said third-grade teacher Sarah Cordett, one of the teachers who applied to NASA for the opportunity to speak with the astronauts.
The students researched the topic and participated in a spelling bee-style competition, where the best questions were selected by a committee.
The usual how do astronauts go to the bathroom wouldnt do. The answer to do that is easily found on You Tube.
(NASA) wanted the questions to be unGoogleable, as much as possible, Cordett said.
The exchange culminates a months-long exploration of the space program in classrooms across Betsy Ross Elementary, where teachers integrated the subject into language arts, sciences and other classes.
Students engaged in various research projects and activities: third-graders created paper mache astronaut helmets while fourth-graders built models of the International Space Station made from re-purposed materials; students read articles and researched various space-related themes to write reports; they also used virtual reality goggles to tour the space station and see how astronauts live.
Our school is a technology-based school. Were already doing coding, robotics, we have a Maker Space for science, technology and math activities and filming production, said Tony Beeson, a Betsy Ross Elementary teacher who specializes in technology. This is a natural next step for us.
Anaheim-based Gateway One Lending & Finance has laid off 54 people in Anaheim and four in Rocklin in a company realignment.
The layoffs, which were filed in state documents, will be effective May 15.
We recently announced a realignment of our leadership team at Gateway, and that process included a strategic evaluation of the business, the company said in an email. We are shifting our focus of this business toward stable profitability and improving the overall efficiency and effectiveness of our auto lending services to consumers. As a result, we determined that these roles did not align with our strategic fit.
The cuts were distributed among many departments, the company stated.
The company would not say if severance packages were being offered.
The team members who are leaving Gateway One are receiving appropriate support from the company, including outplacement assistance, the firm said in its email.
Gateway One has been a subsidiary of Minnesota-based TCF National Bank since 2011.
Earlier this month, the company announced executive changes. Todd A. Pierson, who joined Gateway One as chief operating officer when it started, was promoted to president. Andrew B. Sturm, who joined the company in 2010 as its executive vice president of loan servicing, was promoted to executive vice president and chief operating officer.
Former chief executive officer Brian MacInnis and David MacInnis, who served as president of the business, decided to pursue other endeavors outside of TCF, according to a press release.
Todd is the ideal choice to lead Gateway One through its next chapter and formulation of a new strategy together with his leadership team, Michael S. Jones, executive vice president of consumer banking for TCF, said at the time.
Gateway One reported $3.6 billion in auto loans in 2016.
Contact the writer: hmadans@ocregister.com or Twitter: @HannahMadans
ANAHEIM Betsy Ross, you guys hear us from the space station?
Yes!
Some 150 students, in the auditorium of Betsy Ross Elementary School, had the chance on Monday to chat with astronauts living aboard the International Space Station.
Expedition 50 Commander Shane Kimbrough and Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson spent 20 minutes answering questions from students, who have been preparing for months for the Skype from Space event by doing space-related research and projects.
Fourth-grader Tavion Mills got the ball rolling: I know that there are many terrifying things in space like darkness and no oxygen. What is the scariest thing about space for you?
Whitson, who last week set a world record for the most spacewalks by a woman, answered: Youre right. There are a lot of scary things in space and the way we work around that we practice what were going to do in an emergency.
We know our roles and responsibilities, she said. With that practice, that helps us overcome those fears.
Kindergarteners through sixth-graders peppered the astronauts with questions about life in outer space:
What would they change about their suits?
What happens if they get sick in space?
How do they communicate and get along with astronauts from other countries?
This is what first-grader Kevin Corea wanted to know: How do astronauts play in space? What do you do for fun?
Zero gravity is a lot of fun. Sometimes we do different tricks in space, actually even with food or just hanging out, answered Whitson.
Kimbrough simply demonstrated: He flipped upside down effortlessly. And as he hung upside `down, another crew member appeared to swim through space under him.
Jessy Romero, a second-grader, asked: Are you working on anything top secret that we cant know about yet?
Both astronauts smiled. A lot of people think that, answered Kimbrough. There were some secret missions back in the early days of the space programs but not anymore. We like to share our data so that everybody on Earth can benefit.
Desiree Serrato, a sixth-grader, said her research taught her that astronauts sometimes suffer eye damage, a flattening to the back of the eyes. How do astronauts survive this side-effect, she asked.
There have been some cases. Youre right. Thank goodness its the minority of astronauts and nobody in our crew has had these issues yet, said Kimbrough, who said astronauts do ultrasound images on each others eyes about once a month, with the data sent back to Earth for analysis.
While the boys and girls asked their questions, thousands of other students across Anaheim Elementary School District watched the video chat live online via NASA Television.
Betsy Ross Elementary applied for the opportunity last year, citing its emphasis on technology, science and math on campus. About 12-14 educational organizations nationwide are chosen each year to speak with astronauts in space, according to NASA spokesman William Jeffs.
It was Betsy Ross outstanding education plan and student engagement aspect that earned them the downlink, Jeffs wrote in an e-mail.
Sarah Cordett, a third-grade teacher who helped make the event possible, said: The students had a once in a lifetime amazing experience.
Mondays talk was followed by presentations from Olivia Dawson, an engineer from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who interwove photos and data about other planets with her personal story on achieving her goals.
For parents Angelica Sanchez and Tracy Garcia, the event was inspirational, but so was all the preparation leading up to it.
My daughter signed up to do the extra homework, and every night last week went out to look at the sky and study the stars, Sanchez said of daughter Magaly Huerta, 9.
Anything is possible, Sanchez told her daughter: She can be up there one day with them.
That message was echoed by astronaut Whitson in response to a question from fifth-grader Kiana Prado, who asked what needs to happen to get more women into NASA?
Whitson replied: I think we need more young ladies like yourself, studying science, math and engineering. You need to study and get out there and help us out.
Fast-food trade publication QSR magazine has released a list of the industrys most exciting new fast-casual brands.
Dubbed the 40/40, the list includes 40 rising star brands with less than 40 units. The list includes a handful of concepts from Orange and Los Angeles counties, including food-truck-turned seafood shack, Slapfish.
Criteria included restaurants with chef-driven menus, a focus on experience rather than value, enhanced beverage programs, use of high-quality and/or local ingredients, ambitions other than growth and profit and community involvement.
The list was segmented into four tiers, with Tier One dedicated to larger chains ready to break onto the national stage. Tier Four represented the smallest chains, in terms of units. Fast-casual is a segment tracked by fast-food industry consultants and market research firms. These chains offer counter-service in an environment considered fancier than drive-through fast food chains.
Mendocino Farms (Tier One): The Los Angeles-based chain, with 15 units, was called out for its sales strength at dinner, generating 40 percent of its business during the evening daypart. Sandwich concepts dont usually build out 3,000-square-foot spaces. Sandwich concepts dont usually do over $3 million in average unit volume (or $2 million, or $1 million), QSR stated.
In Orange County, Mendocino has locations in Irvine, Costa Mesa, Brea and Tustin (inside Whole Foods Market.)
Tender Greens (Tier One): The Los Angeles-based chain, with 24 units, was called out for having relationships with local farmers. The locally-sourced slow food done fast ethos is a driving force for Tender Greens since it started 11 years ago, QSR reported. In Orange County, Tender Greens has two locations in Irvine.
Dog Haus (Tier One): The Pasadena-based burger and sausage concept, which started in 2010, has 21 locations. Hot dogs have long been a mainstay of concession stands, and even some chains like Wienerschnitzel have cornered the market in quick service, but Dog Haus fare raises the bar to a near gourmet level, the magazine said. In Orange County, Dog Haus has locations in Santa Ana and Fullerton.
Lemonade (Tier One): The Los Angeles-based California comfort food brand has 27 locations. The company considers itself a destination for seasonal food and refreshments. In Orange County, it has locations in Newport Beach and Huntington Beach.
Slapfish (Tier Three): With eight locations, this Huntington Beach-based seafood concept was called out for making seafood affordable. The concept started as a food truck and is now on track to grow brick-and-mortar stores through franchising. In Orange County, Slapfish has locations in Huntington Beach, Irvine, Brea, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach and San Clemente.
Other chains on the 40/40 list with locations in Orange County included Urban Plates, Luna Grill, Cava Grill and Hopdoddy Burger Bar.
CAIRO Making his first official visit to Washington, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissis meeting this week with U.S. President Donald Trump would be a significant step in the international rehabilitation of the general-turned-politician who was kept out of the Obama White House.
But, analysts caution, there may not be much more that Egypts president could take from Mondays White House visit, branded as historic by pro-government media at home.
There has been no official word on the specifics of the wish list el-Sissi is taking to Washington, but expectations include more military aid, designating el-Sissis nemesis the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group, and restoring the kind of strategic partnership Egypt enjoyed with the United States for more than 30 years.
Another issue that may arise is the Arab Leagues territorial demands in exchange for peace with Israel, reaffirmed last week. El-Sissi, whose country already has peace with Israel, may be in a position to help Trump push for a broad deal and gain points in Washington but there is potential for disagreement as well.
Admittedly, the Egyptian leader has reason to be optimistic about his relations with Trump.
Former President Barak Obama kept el-Sissi at arms length after the Egyptian leader rose to power in 2013 when, as defense minister, he led the militarys ouster of the Islamist Mohammed Morsi. He was elected president a year later but has ruled with an iron grip.
Obama never invited el-Sissi to the White House, allowed his administration to repeatedly admonish his government over its human rights record and briefly suspended some U.S. military aid, which normally runs at $1.3 billion a year.
The Egyptian media responded by accusing Obama of supporting the Brotherhood and destabilizing the country through his administrations backing of a popular 2011 uprising that ousted long-time ruler Hosni Mubarak.
In contrast, Trump and el-Sissi hit it off from their first encounter in September, when the Republican nominee spoke of good chemistry between them following a meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.
The same media that vilified Obama hailed Trump as a strong leader who will treat Egypt with respect and appreciated el-Sissis leadership. Moreover, there is expectation that a Trump administration will be far more tolerant of human rights abuses in the name of stability and counter-terrorism.
A senior White House official was non-committal on what the administration was prepared to do on military aid and the Brotherhood. Briefing reporters, he spoke of Washingtons wish to sustain a strong security assistance relationship with Egypt.
Washington wants to use el-Sissis visit to reboot the bilateral relationship and build on the strong connection the two leaders established when they met in New York, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Short-term, it is an important victory for el-Sissi, said Michael W. Hanna of New Yorks Century Foundation.
The Egyptian leader, Hanna said, has steadily earned international respectability in large part due to a key Western shift in the perception of Egypt and the rest of the Middle East emphasizing stability over human rights or democratic reform.
El-Sissi has also recently won plaudits for some painful economic reforms.
But a convergence of interests on Monday is far from guaranteed.
Probably too much has been made of the chemistry between Trump and el-Sissi there are convergences of interest, and there is the absence of tension that existed with the Obama administration, but thats about it, said H.A. Hellyer, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.
El-Sissi may find himself pushing back against some of the Middle East policies reportedly being considered by the Trump administration, like creating a military coalition of Sunni Arab U.S. allies against the perceived threat of non-Arab Shiite Iran. There has been talk of deeper U.S. involvement in the Saudi-led coalitions fight against Shiite rebels in Yemen, with Egypt possibly being urged to contribute forces.
Egypt has never shared Saudi Arabias view of Iran as a looming existential threat and has also resisted pressure from Riyadh to contribute troops to the war in Yemen. Trumps position on Tehran seems closer to the Saudi perspective.
Egypt, however, does see an existential threat from the turmoil in Libya, with which it shares a porous desert border. Cairo would prefer Washington more involved in the search for a political settlement unifying the countrys rival administrations, thus paving the way for crushing militant groups operating there.
El-Sissi may find it difficult to afford, politically or financially, involvement in a foreign military adventure.
His country is in the middle of a deep economic crisis, his army is engaged in a tough fight in Sinai against militants led by a local affiliate of the Islamic State group and his security forces are conducting a long-term crackdown on critics while watching for any signs of public unrest fueled by the soaring cost of living.
The weakness of the Egyptian economy and the continuing predicament over terrorism in Sinai dont leave in Egypts hands many important cards, wrote Mohamed el-Menshawy, a U.S.-based analyst.
Another possible source of differences between Trump and el-Sissi may be the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Egypt has for decades been a staunch supporter of the Palestinians right to statehood. El-Sissi reasserted that position when he addressed an Arab summit in Jordan last week, saying a Saudi peace plan adopted by Arab leaders in 2002 remained the basis for a settlement.
The plan provides Arab recognition of Israel in exchange for its withdrawal from lands occupied in 1967, allowing the creation of a Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.
Veteran columnist Raghida Dergham wrote in the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat Friday that Trump could push el-Sissi to abandon this initiative and convince other Arab countries to de-emphasize the Palestinian issue.
What the American president wants from Egypt is to remove the Palestinian question from Arab priorities and marginalize the Arab initiative, which cannot be delivered by el-Sissi, she wrote.
Associated Press writer Jill Colvin in Washington contributed to this report.
An outbreak of mumps at Chapman University has grown to nine students, prompting public health officials to recommend that fully vaccinated students get another dose of the Measles, Mumps, Rubella (MMR) vaccine for added protection.
Dr. Helene Calvet, deputy county health officer for the Health Care Agency, said Monday that more cases are expected.
Chapman will hold free vaccination clinics for students, faculty and staff from 1-6 p.m Tuesday and Thursday in the student union.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the recommended two doses of the vaccine are 88 percent effective against mumps, while one dose is 78 percent effective.
Calvet said among the nine students, four were fully vaccinated with two doses and the other five have said they were but dont have their shot records.
Were recommending that third dose to try to slow the outbreak, Calvet said. It does seem to help if you get good uptake on that third dose.
Students who have never had the MMR vaccine or have had only one dose, should also be vaccinated.
Even with high rates of vaccination, outbreaks can occur in communities with close contact, such as colleges and camps, the CDC says.
Six of the Chapman cases have been confirmed by lab testing while the other three people had contact with a student with a confirmed case. Six are law students and three are undergrads, ranging in age from 19 to 34. Two more cases are also suspected, Calvet said.
It certainly is not over yet and it seems at this point its spreading to the undergraduate population, Calvet said.
Among the students, symptoms started between Jan. 26 and March 26. The incubation period is 12 to 25 days.
The outbreak started after Chapman law students attended a back-to-school event Jan. 27 in Newport Beach.
Sheri Ledbetter, a Chapman spokeswoman, said the university continues to update students and staff, with the most recent advisory sent Friday.
It is highly contagious but its also highly recoverable, Ledbetter said. Classes have not been impacted by this at all. There have been no cancellations or postponements.
Symptoms include a swollen jaw and puffy cheeks as well as fever, headache, muscle aches and tiredness. Calvet said to avoid transmission students should wash their hands frequently and refrain from sharing food, drinks or cigarettes.
Anyone with mumps should stay home for at least five days after onset.
Were hoping that folks recognize the symptoms and dont go to class or work so that will minimize risk to other people, Calvet said.
Democrat Katie Porter, a prominent consumer advocate lawyer and UC Irvine professor, has announced shell challenge the 2018 reelection bid of Rep. Mimi Walters, R-Laguna Beach.
Porter is part of a growing wave of high-profile Democrats announcing challenges of Orange County Republican Congress members, all four of whom saw their districts favor Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump last year.
Porter, 43, has specialized in the abuses of home mortgage lenders and was appointed by then-Attorney General Kamala Harris to oversee Californias share of a $25 billion national mortgage settlement.
She has been endorsed by Harris and by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. Porter studied with Warren at Harvard Law School and the two co-authored The Law of Debtors and Creditors.
The powers in Washington have favored Wall Street banks over middle-class families, Porter said. Ive spent my career fighting powerful interests. Im running to take that fight to Washington.
Porter is the first to declare her candidacy against Walters, but like Democratic candidates in other local districts, she is looking to link her GOP opponent closely to Trump.
She got a head start in that direction last week when the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee launched online ads attacking Walters for supporting Republicans abandoned effort to replace Obamacare.
Walters voted for the measure in committee and was the sole Orange County Republican member of Congress to offer unequivocal support.
The AHCA is a rare opportunity to provide Americans access to the low cost, high quality, patient-centered health care that they deserve, Walters said before the measure was set aside. This bill will lead to lower premiums, greater choice in coverage options and large reductions in the federal deficit.
Walters, 54, easily won election to her second term last year over businessman Ron Varasteh, 59 percent to 41 percent, thanks in part to her $1.7 million to $118,000 advantage in campaign spending.
With her political connections and with the seat being targeted by the national Democratic Party, Porter is expected to be more competitive with fundraising.
Porter will have to contend with Republicans 9-percentage point advantage in voter registration. But she can find hope in the fact that Clinton outpaced Trump by 5 points in the district, which includes Irvine, Tustin, Lake Forest, Mission Viejo, Laguna Hills, Rancho Santa Margarita, Laguna Woods and Villa Park.
Walters lives outside the district in Laguna Beach, although she previously represented a large portion of the district while a state senator. District residency is not a requirement for Congress.
Porter discussed her candidacy with the Register on Friday, March 31, although her campaign said it would not be official until Monday, April 3. Included in information she provided was a statement of support from Warren.
(Porters) been in the trenches with me fighting for families for nearly two decades and shes gotten real results, Warren said. Shes fought relentlessly for important protections that safeguard consumers and force banks to give families a fair shake.
Theres no one I trust more to take on Donald Trump and the entrenched special interests in Washington on behalf of working families.
Pam Edstrom, 71, partner and co-founder of WE Communications, who was the commanding voice behind Microsofts story as it grew into a software giant, died March 28 after a four-month battle with cancer.
Pam Edstrom (L) with Melissa Waggener Zorkin
That summary of her role with Microsoft was made by The Seattle Times in an obit by Rachel Lerman, who noted that Edstrom was Microsofts first PR director before joining with Melissa Waggener Zorkin to launch Waggener Edstrom Communications in 1983.
WE was the third largest firm in last year's ODwyer rankings with $98.7 million in net fees and 645 employees. It did not take part in the rankings released this year.
Edstrom had worked with Zorkin when they both at Tektronix, Portland tech firm. Zorkin then persuaded Edstrom to join her and leave her job as PR director of Microsoft.
A presentation by the four-person Zorkin firm to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, at which Edstrom was present, convinced Edstrom to join the firm.
Edstrom Saw Future
Frank X. Shaw, Microsofts VP of corporate communications and former president of WE Communications, told the Seattle Times that Edstrom was always thinking ahead, seeking out what would come next. Pam was just a really creative, energetic, idea machine, he said.
John Markoff, who covered Edstrom as a reporter for InfoWorld and who later joined The New York Times, working more than 30 years with Edstrom, told the Seattle Times, She was the architect, she created the image for Microsoft.
Edstrom believed in bringing reporters in and giving them a sense of the company and its executives, rather than the typical Silicon Valley PR strategy of the time, which was to keep a polite distance, said, Markoff. She saw reporters as her customers.
About 20 members of the national media once visited the Gates family retreat near Hood Canal and spent a weekend with him.
Surviving are her husband, Joseph Lamberton; daughter Jennifer Edstrom; stepchildren Suzanne Goodman, Todd Lamberton, Bryan Lamberton, Greg Lamberton and their spouses, and her seven grandchildren.
Beef Buzz News
Cattle Market Hitting on All Cylinders Right Now, But CattleFax Serves this News with a Grain of Salt
Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays attended the Texas and Southwest Cattle Raisers Association Convention in San Antonio this past weekend and reports that one of the highlight from the event, was the analysis offered by CattleFax CEO Randy Blach, on the current position of the cattle market. According to him, the end of 2016 and the early days of 2017 have proved to be very good indeed for cattle producers.
"It's been a really good recovery we've seen since last fall," Blach observed. "The markets have come back about 35 percent, so we're seeing cattle profitable in all segments of the industry which is a very welcome situation."
In fact, feeder cattle in particular, have to this point even outperformed what the folks at CattleFax had projected. Blach says that right now things are hitting on all cylinders but points out, too, that the market has behaved almost erratically during the last several months and warns producers against putting all their eggs in one basket so to speak.
"We're in one of the most volatile times in the history of our industry," he said. "I think we all have to take it with a grain of salt. With the magnitude of moves that we're seeing in these markets, we're quite likely going to continue to see bigger swings from highs to low, and from lows to highs that what we've seen over the last 20 or 30 years. I think we just need to get used to that."
Listen to Hays and Blach review the performance of the cattle market over the last several months along with his concerns, on today's Beef Buzz.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR below for today's show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
Listen to Blach review the performance of cattle markets over the last several months with Ron Hays
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Questions of Trade Prospects Dominate Talks at NCBA Legislative Conference with Policy Leaders
Cattlemen from across the United States just recently wrapped up their visit to Washington, D.C. during the National Cattlemen's Beef Association Spring Legislative Conference, where they met with policymakers to lobby for issues most concerning to the beef industry. Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays caught up with NCBA President and Nebraska feeder Craig Uden, to discuss how the meeting went for the organization, which he says attracted roughly 250 cattlemen. You can listen to the conversation between Hays and Uden regarding NCBA's Spring Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C., by clicking or tapping the LISTEN BAR below at the bottom of this story.
"It was a really exciting conference," Uden said. "We had 'Boots on the Hill,' so everybody got to go see their congressmen and their senators. The really neat thing is - this year we did something different-"
Uden reveals that several of the new leaders from the different agencies, including some of the cabinet members themselves, met one-on-one with the group to talk and answer questions. Notable guest speakers included both Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt.
"Mr. Pruitt was really encouraging that we're going to have a little more opportunity to help control some of these burdensome policies," Uden said. "Putting the people back in charge is kind of what we heard out there."
Trade remained as one of the most prominent talking points during the conference. With the Trans-Pacific Partnership off the table and still yet, no trade representative confirmed to uphold the industry's economic interests abroad, Uden asserts that much attention was focused on the subject. And although he says markets have remained fairly strong in recent month, he says it is important to work towards policies that will ensure the markets stamina.
"What's really surprised everybody I think has been the solid, solid demand," he said. "Beef is growing leaps and bounds as far as the domestic product and the choice of the American consumer. But, we still have to continue to work on trade because if we don't, we'll have to consume that much more."
Listen to the conversation between Hays and Uden regarding NCBA's Spring Legislative Conference
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Creighton University won the right to brag that it is Nebraskas most beautiful college from the publication Travel + Leisure.
St. Johns Church and the Harper Center represent the old and new beauty of the campus, the publication said in its list, titled: The Most Beautiful College in Every State.
The list is provided online only, a Creighton spokeswoman said.
Iowa State University in Ames won the designation in Iowa. In other neighboring states, the most beautiful campuses were the University of Colorado-Boulder, the University of Wyoming, Washington University in St. Louis, Kansas State and Augustana in South Dakota.
The publication said it considered setting, scenery, building design, grounds upkeep and other elements.
MCC, Fremont area businesses team up for diesel academy
Metropolitan Community College, the Greater Fremont Development Council and area businesses will offer a new Diesel Technology Career Academy.
Classes begin in July and will be held at Butler Ag Equipment, 2831 N. County Road 20th Ave. in the Fremont area.
Metros enrollment in diesel courses has more than doubled over the past five years, an indication of the value such training holds in the job market.
For information or to register, visit mccneb.edu or call 531-622-2400.
Trashion Show, march to mark Earth Day at Hastings College
A Hastings College group will hold a series of events this month to honor science in policymaking and conservation.
The events will lead up to Earth Day on April 22.
Among the events, the Hastings College Student Environmental Action Coalition will host a Trashion Show at 7 p.m. April 12 in French Memorial Chapel.
Student contestants will model outfits created with recycled trash.
The buildup to Earth Day will include talks by environmental entrepreneurs at 7 p.m. on April 19 in the Morrison-Reeves Science Center.
Earth Day festivities on April 22 will start at noon in the Steinhart Plaza with a March for Science. The march will include organizations concerned about climate change and social justice.
After the march a workshop will be offered on the best methods to communicate with elected representatives. That will take place in Hazelrigg Student Union and will be given by Robert Amyot and Lucas Sabalka.
Amyot is a faculty member at Hastings; Sabalka is an applied mathematician with a technology group in Lincoln.
James B. Milliken, the former president of the University of Nebraska system, recently announced that he was diagnosed with throat cancer.
Milliken released the information in a letter posted Friday on the website of the City University of New York, where he serves as chancellor.
Fortunately, it is a fairly common and highly curable form of this disease, Milliken, 60, wrote. The cancer was discovered during a routine physical earlier this month and, since that time, I have undergone numerous tests and meetings with doctors to determine the best treatment plan. I am otherwise in excellent health, the cancer has not spread beyond the throat area, and my prognosis is very good.
Milliken, a Fremont native, served as NUs president from 2004 to 2014, when he left for the New York post.
He is being treated at Memorial Sloan-Kettering in New York. The treatment program prescribed for me, which will include radiation and chemotherapy, will begin soon and continue for about seven weeks, and then there will be a recovery period. My doctors have advised me that I can continue a fairly routine work schedule during much of this period.
Bob Phares, who has served on the University of Nebraska Board of Regents since 2006, said Monday that he sent Milliken a card over the weekend.
Phares said he told Milliken that he was blessed to have access to great medical facilities nearby.
Im concerned about him, said Phares, who is from North Platte. I told him they would be in our prayers. Ill be anxious to hear a progress report.
Milliken said he will meet with his senior staff and the college presidents in the coming days to plan for what I expect will be minimal disruption in our operations during the period of my treatment and recovery. He said he looks forward to making a complete recovery before the fall term begins.
Milliken received his bachelors degree with distinction from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1979. After he graduated from UNL, Milliken worked for one year as a legislative assistant for U.S. Rep. Virginia Smith, R-Neb. After that, he attended the New York University School of Law. He graduated in 1983 and began work in a New York law firm.
From 1988 to 1998, he worked in NUs central administration. He was vice president for external affairs when he left to join the University of North Carolina system. He stayed there until returning to Nebraska in 2004.
The City University of New York is the third-largest public university system in the nation, with 24 colleges and graduate schools across New York City. It has more than 270,000 degree-credit students.
DES MOINES (AP) With Republicans in control of state government, Iowa union leaders approached this legislative session with apprehension, but say they never envisioned that lawmakers would approve such dramatic changes to laws governing worker rights and pay.
GOP legislators, with support from Republican Gov. Terry Branstad, have tightened the workers compensation system, severely limited the scope of collective bargaining rights for public employee unions and banned local minimum wage increases, reversing raises in some counties.
Amid budget shortfalls, Republicans allowed only a small increase for K-12 schools and reduced funding for state agencies and Iowas three public universities.
GOP leaders said they made tough but necessary budget choices to ensure stability and have approved changes that will spur business activity. Others describe it as a war on workers.
I knew unions were going to be in for some tough times, said Danny Homan, president of the states largest public employee union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Iowa Council 61. I never envisioned that they would go to this extreme.
Ken Sagar, president of the Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, offered a similar assessment, adding that hes especially worried lawmakers simultaneously pushed several laws restricting worker rights.
In a typical experiment you might introduce one variable to see what the impact would be, he said. They have introduced so many variables here, and I think they will have many unintended consequences. We put our state on a path in the wrong direction.
Republicans and business groups acknowledged that the Legislature has approved major changes, but they argue that after nearly 20 years with Democrats in control of one or both chambers, the state needed to update its laws.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Dix said Republicans were delivering on campaign promises and carrying out the will of constituents.
Matt Everson, Iowa director of the National Federation of Independent Business, said small businesses needed legislative action to rein in costs because it allows them to grow and ultimately add employees.
This was part of the whole picture, he said. All of these things the Legislature is doing for businesses is just creating a climate for Iowa to compete with Minneapolis, Chicago, Kansas City and Omaha, and those states, to get people here. It creates a more competitive business climate for Iowa.
Sen. Rob Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids, called the session the worst assault on workers by the Iowa Legislature certainly in my 15-year career and probably longer.
Homan called the session a nightmare scenario.
Copyright 2017 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
WASHINGTON Sgt. Donald Noehrens faded cursive isnt easy to read.
The young soldier was presumably shivering as he wrote his sister back in Harlan, Iowa, from the Korean Wars frigid front lines.
Its colder than h___ over here, Noehren scrawled. You see the building Im in hasnt any windows and one end was hit by a mortar shell and its wide open.
He sent that letter on Nov. 1, 1950, just weeks before being captured when his unit was overrun by Chinese forces.
Indications are that he spent a couple of months in a North Korean camp before he succumbed to various illnesses and died on Jan. 22, 1951, at age 23.
His remains were recovered in 2005 but identified only recently thanks to advances in DNA testing and will be laid to rest today with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.
Relatives from Iowa and across the country have gathered for the occasion.
They include Peg Booth, now of Carlsbad, California. Her mother, Dorothy Chipman, was the sister Noehren was writing to just before his capture.
Booth welcomed everyone to a visitation Sunday at an Arlington funeral home not far from the cemetery. None of them had truly met Uncle Donald; Booth was only 2 years old when he was captured.
Her mother, Noehrens last surviving sibling, died in 2015.
But they traded recollections about Uncle Donald passed on over the years stories of a likable, patriotic young man who passed up a life of farming in favor of the military he felt was his calling.
They talked about the sacrifice he made for his country and the sacrifices of those he served alongside as a member of the 2nd Infantry Divisions 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion.
Phil Steward, president of the 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion Association, talked about the fighting in which Noehren and so many other soldiers were killed or captured.
When it became apparent the enemy would overrun the American troops, the units commander ordered that its colors be burned along with the rosewood box in which they were transported.
They were determined to deny the other side a coveted war trophy.
Steward noted that there are still more than 7,000 American soldiers missing from the Korean War, including 167 from the battalion. Noehren is among several recently identified and buried.
Its a good feeling, Steward said, his voice cracking. They finally are home.
Peg Booth said she hopes her mother is looking down on the funeral today and knows that her long-lost brother is at rest.
She would be so pleased because she worried so much about him, she said.
Booth pulls out the 66-year-old letter from Uncle Donald and reads it all the way through aloud. It mentions seeing entertainers including Bob Hope, but keeps coming back to the cold and the lack of proper winter clothing.
He notes down to the minute a recent early morning guard duty that chilled him to the bone.
Her voice stays steady at least until she gets to his final words, the postscript below his signature.
Hi Peggy. Hows Uncle Dons girl? he added in a message to his toddler niece.
All that hes going through, that far away, freezing his you-know-what off, and hes thinking of me, Booth said. That was pretty special.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is defending itself at trial against more than 300 farmers and landowners who say the agencys management of the Missouri River has contributed to major flooding in five states, most notably 2011 flooding that caused billions of dollars in damage.
The states in question are Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, Missouri and Kansas.
The lawsuit, filed in 2014 in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, argues that the Corps has altered its practices regarding the rivers water storage, release and flow management since the mid-2000s, de-emphasizing flood control while pushing to restore habitat for endangered species. It contends that the Corps unconstitutionally deprived plaintiffs of their land, essentially taking it without compensation.
Although the lawsuit doesnt specify the amount of damages being sought, the landowners attorney has said it could exceed $250 million. The plaintiffs believe case law is on their side, given a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in December 2012 that the federal government is not automatically exempt from paying for damage caused by temporary flooding from its dams.
The case reflects long-standing debate about the Corps management of the river as the agency tries to strike a balance among competing interests: landowners, the barge industry, water suppliers, hydropower utilities, environmentalists and recreational users of the waterway, notably on upriver reservoirs. Regulating the rivers levels comes through the Corps management of discharges from a half dozen large upstream reservoirs, each meant to hold snowmelt and other excess water during the spring before the Corps gradually releases it the rest of the year.
In court filings, the federal government argues that authorities never promised to stop all flooding along the river, which flows into the Mississippi River north of St. Louis.
The Corps which has said it is required by Congress and the courts to act in the best interests of the river maintains that providing habitat for endangered species didnt exacerbate the inundation six years ago.
The Corps typically does not comment publicly about litigation, and it didnt reply to recent messages from the Associated Press.
Outside experts who reviewed the 2011 flooding said the Corps did the best it could in dealing with record amounts of water that flowed into the river after unusually heavy spring rain in Montana and North Dakota.
That flooding lasted more than three months after the Corps began releasing massive amounts of water from swollen upstream reservoirs. It overwhelmed levees, carved gouges up to 50 feet deep, created sand dunes 15 feet high, deposited debris in farmers fields and devastated hundreds of thousands of acres of mostly farmland.
Caroline Pufalt, the St. Louis-based chairwoman of the Sierra Clubs Missouri River Network, said blaming the Corps on environmental grounds is a red herring, and that while the Corps may make decisions in the interest of habitat, such actions are rare.
Pufalt said the Corps did the best it could six years ago, given unusual circumstances involving so much water in the Missouri River system.
These floods were kind of unavoidable, Pufalt said. The folks who have filed this lawsuit mistakenly think theres some magic thing the Corps can do, given the current river, that will take away their flood risk, and thats not going to happen.
Copyright 2017 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
WASHINGTON (AP) A deeply divided Senate panel favorably recommended Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch on Monday, sending the nomination to the full Senate for what is expected to be a partisan showdown and eventual confirmation.
The 11-9 committee vote for President Donald Trump's nominee, strictly along party lines, came shortly after Democrats secured enough votes to block the nomination in the full Senate. But that Democratic success was virtually certain to be a short-lived political victory, as Republicans vowed to change Senate rules to put Gorsuch on the court and score a much-needed win for their party.
Delaware Sen. Chris Coons said before the vote that he would vote with his fellow Democrats to block the nomination later this week, giving them the 41 votes needed. Once they do block it, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is likely to change Senate rules so that Gorsuch can be confirmed with a simple majority in the 100-seat chamber instead of the 60 votes now required.
The starkly divided Senate panel weighed Gorsuch's nomination, with Republicans casting the Denver-based appeals court judge as fiercely independent and Democrats complaining that his ambiguous testimony makes him the wrong choice.
Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, strongly defended Gorsuch as a fair and independent man. He said Democrats had worked to try and find fault with him, but "that fault will not stick."
"He's a mainstream judge who's earned the universal respect of his colleagues on the bench and in the bar," Grassley said. "He applies the law as we in Congress write it_as the judicial oath says, without respect to persons. And he refuses to compromise his independence."
However, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the panel, said Gorsuch's answers during two days of questioning before the committee were "diluted with ambiguity." She announced her opposition to the nominee.
"Judge Gorsuch's views were difficult to discern because he refused to answer questions, even basic questions that had been answered by previous nominees," Feinstein said.
Democrats are angry in part because McConnell and Grassley last year blocked President Barack Obama's pick for the job after the February 2016 death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Even before Obama nominated Judge Merrick Garland, McConnell said the next president should choose the nominee, and Grassley's committee never held a hearing on Garland.
"This action by my colleagues was unacceptable and has scarred this process and this body," Coons said before announcing his opposition. Coons said he hoped the Senate could still find agreement on a way to avoid the rules change, but the chances of such a deal were slim.
With Coons' announcement, 40 Democrats and one independent have announced they will vote to block the nomination on a procedural cloture vote a parliamentary step to advance the nomination and oppose the choice.
Sens. Coons, Feinstein, Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Mark Warner of Virginia all said for the first time Monday that they'd vote to block. On Sunday, Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., who is up for re-election next year in a state Trump won handily, announced his opposition.
But another Democrat in a Republican-dominated state up for re-election next year, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, announced he would support the president's nominee Sunday. Donnelly called Gorsuch, 49, "a qualified jurist who will base his decisions on his understanding of the law and is well-respected among his peers."
Donnelly is one of three Democrats who is supporting the nomination. Sens. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Manchin of West Virginia have also said they will vote for him.
The majority of Senate Democrats have vowed to support Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who has led the effort to block the nominee. Republicans argue the action is exceedingly rare for Supreme Court choices.
Although a change in Senate rules might seem procedural or obscure, it is known on Capitol Hill as the "nuclear option" because it would amount to a dramatic departure from Senate norms of bipartisanship and collegiality. It could also mean that Trump and future presidents will not have to be as concerned about compromising with the minority party when nominating Supreme Court justices.
It would not be unprecedented. In 2013, Democrats were in the majority and upset about appellate court nominees being blocked by Republicans. They pushed through a rules change lowering the vote threshold on all nominees except for the Supreme Court from 60 votes to a simple majority.
In addition to Gorsuch, the Judiciary Committee approved two other nominations Rod Rosenstein to be deputy attorney general and Rachel Brand to be associate attorney general. If confirmed, they will be the No. 2 and No. 3 officials at the Justice Department under Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
British authorities have recorded a three-fold increase in complaints about drones since 2015, when 1,237 complaints were recorded.
Armed police walk amongst shoppers along Oxford Street in London, Britain, in this file photograph dated December 23, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]
As prices for drones have fallen, making them more accessible, complaints have risen. They range from intrusive flying over neighbors' homes to the use of drones to deliver drugs and illicit mobile phones over prison walls.
There have also been complaints about near misses with aircraft approaching London's main airports.
Anyone in the United Kingdom can legally control a drone, as long as it weighs less than 20 kilograms, and is not being used for commercial reasons. Flying drones within 150 meters of a congested zone and within 50 meters of a person, vessel, or vehicle is not allowed under UK legislation.
Operators must keep their drones within their line of sight, which effectively limits them to being within 122 meters vertically and 500 meters horizontally.
"As awareness of what drones are, and what they can do, continues to grow, police forces have seen increases in concerns and reports by the public," Assistant Chief Constable Steve Barry of the National Police Chiefs Council told the Daily Telegraph.
Professor David Dunn, of Birmingham University, said walls, hedges and fences had previously assured people of privacy on their own properties.
"That has changed because of drones," he said. "I've heard that burglars using drones is a big issue for police forces."
UK government ministers are now considering mandatory registration for newly purchased drones.
The use of drones for legal purposes has boomed in recent years. Drones were used to photograph every inch of China's Great Wall, and Amazon is experimenting with delivering parcels by drone in California.
The BBC now routinely uses drones in some reporting situations.
The cost of a small drone purchased from an online supplier can be as little as $50, and dealers report a surge in miniature "selfie" drones, in which the user can photograph themselves from a few meters away.
China's National Earthquake Response Service regularly uses drones to search for people trapped by tremors.Specially equipped drones with infrared technology can cover 5.2 square kilometers per trip and dramatically improve the time taken to locate survivors.
With a shrewdly calculated innocence, Judge Neil Gorsuch told a big fat lie at his confirmation hearing Tuesday. Because it was a lie everyone expected, nobody called it that.
Theres no such thing as a Republican judge or a Democratic judge, Gorsuch said.
Gorsuch, the amiable veteran of many Republican campaigns, is well-placed to know how serious a fib that was. As Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., noted, President Donald Trumps nominee for Merrick Garlands Supreme Court seat actually received a citation for helping win confirmation for Republican-appointed judges.
We now have an ideological judiciary. To pretend otherwise is naive and also recklessly irresponsible because it tries to wish away the real stakes in confirmation battles.
Face it: If partisanship and ideology were not central to Supreme Court nominations, Gorsuch would be looking at more years in his beloved Colorado.
Notice that I referred to the Supreme Court seat as belonging to Garland, the chief judge for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, appointed by President Barack Obama to replace the late Antonin Scalia. In an appalling act of extreme partisanship, the Republican-led Senate would not even give Garland a hearing.
The reason Republicans wouldnt even let the moderately liberal Garland make his case is that conservatives who regularly denounce liberal judicial activism now count on control of the Supreme Court to get results they could never achieve through the democratically elected branches of government.
They could not gut the Voting Rights Act in Congress. So Chief Justice John Roberts court did it for them. They could never have undone a centurys worth of legislation limiting big moneys influence on politics. So the Citizens United decision did it for them.
And its true, as Franken and other Democratic senators noted, that Gorsuch has done what economic conservatives count on the judges they push onto the courts to do: He regularly sides with corporations over workers and consumers. We cant know exactly where the millions of dollars of dark money fueling pro-Gorsuch ad campaigns come from, but we have a right to guess.
Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer tried to slow the Gorsuch train by noting that if a Democratic president were under investigation by the FBI, as Trumps campaign is, Republicans would be howling at the moon about filling a Supreme Court seat in such circumstances.
Republicans, of course, just shrugged off Schumers accurate rendition of their hypocrisy. The nominee himself flicked away White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus declaration to the Conservative Political Action Conference that Gorsuch represents the type of judge that has the vision of Donald Trump and it fulfills the promise that he made to all of you.
Conservatives, including Trump, want the court to sweep aside decades of jurisprudence that gave Congress broad authority to legislate civil rights and social reform, along with environmental, worker and consumer protections.
Gorsuch good-naturedly evaded nearly every substantive question he was asked because he could not acknowledge that this is why he was there.
There are only six states that have yet to enact some form of medicinal marijuana use. Nebraska is one of them.
A few years ago, research began emerging regarding medicinal marijuana and its possibility for slowing the progression of Alzheimers. My grandmother died of this heart-wrenching disease.
Medicinal marijuana has been shown to help treat a variety of maladies diabetes, seizure disorders, nausea from chemo, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and glaucoma, to name a few.
Marijuana is relatively benign. Alcohol and tobacco use are perfectly legal for adults, and neither has the compelling medicinal qualities of marijuana.
It is time for a little common sense. The evidence is now overwhelming that marijuana helps some people with certain medical conditions. Lets allow Nebraska doctors to prescribe this medication so that our Nebraska citizens have the best medication options for their disease. Ask your state senator to vote yes on Legislative Bill 622.
Autumn Burns, Papillion
Unicorn India Ventures invests in micro lending platform SmartCoin
Business
oi-Oneindia
By Oneindia Staff Writer
Mumbai, April 3: Unicorn India Ventures, a Mumbai-based VC firm, has announced its investment in Bangalore-based startup SmartCoin. Unicorn has led the round with participation from a clutch of angel investors. This is Unicorn's seventh investment from its maiden fund. The Fund has already announced investments in six startups - Roder, Grab on Rent, VanityCube, Pharmarack, Inc42 and NeuroEquilibrium.
SmartCoin, a Bangalore-based data-driven micro lending startup, was started by IIT/IIM alumni Rohit Garg, Amit Chandel, Vinay Kumar Singh and Jayant Upadhyay last year, who come with around a decade of work experience across finance and technology domain before joining hands to start this venture.
SmartCoin is a mobile app based lending platform, capable of assessing the risk profile of a prospective borrower in real time, using data science and machine learning algorithms. Their proprietary credit underwriting engine aggregates thousands of data points on a customer's smartphone, including financial transactions, device usage and app behavior, to build a customized credit score.
A customer is instantly offered personalized loan products on the basis of his risk and capacity, and the money is transferred digitally to the bank account. All that a customer needs is a bank account, Aadhaar card and social media presence. The entire process, from app download to loan approval, takes less than five minutes providing an unprecedented customer experience.
"The idea behind SmartCoin is new age. The technology has been designed keeping the end customer at the heart of it, thus ensuring convenience in filling in their information and offering them a loan product suited to their needs.
The concept of app based micro lending has proven successful in several other emerging markets and we see a huge potential in such a business model for India," says Archana Priyadarshini, Venture Partner with Unicorn India Ventures, who has recently joined Unicorn to head their Bangalore office. She will also be joining the board of SmartCoin and will be working closely with the team to scale up their business.
Since its' launch last quarter, SmartCoin has disbursed more than 3,000 loans and is growing over 50% MoM. SmartCoin plans to disburse 50,000 loans by the end of next financial year. The company is partnering with leading NBFCs and microfinance companies, who are looking to leverage their technology to expand customer base.
Rohit Garg, Co-founder and CEO, SmartCoin, says, "Traditional underwriting methods are largely reliant on credit histories, and thus unable to serve people with limited credit data. As a result, there is a huge underserved segment spanning not just the corporate workforce, but also the emerging aspirational class working in semi-white collar and blue-collar jobs.
We believe credit should be accessible to everyone, and the process should be as simple as online shopping or cab booking." He adds, "Long term partnerships with NBFCs are beneficial to everyone in the ecosystem. These borrowers, traditionally underserved by the financial institutions owing to thin-file or no-file data, are generating a lot of digital data as a result of deepening smartphone penetration. Our data-driven technology can score them more accurately reducing the risk of underwriting and opening newer growth avenues for NBFCs."
The funding round raised will be used for upgrading technology platform and to scale up operations.
OneIndia News
Anti-India slogans didn't get them ranking, Javadekar taunts JNU
India
oi-Anusha
"Jawaharlal Nehru and Jadavpur Universities didn't get rankings for Afzal guru and anti-India slogans but for good work done by students," said Union Minister for Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar on Monday. The minister was speaking to the media after releasing countrywide university and college rankings in New Delhi. The JNU was ranked second among universities while IISc Bangalore was ranked first.
The Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore was rated as the best university in the country while Miranda house was ranked as the best college in a countrywide assessment of educational institutions. While Loyola College in Chennai was placed third, Shri Ram College was rated as the third-best college in India. Delhi's JNU was ranked second among universities while Banaras Hindu University secured the third position according to the government.
IIT-Madras emerged the top engineering school while Jamia Hamdard was judged the best pharmacy institute in the country. The ranking plays a vital role in determining government funding for institutions.
OneIndia News
No more lovers enemy? UPs anti-Romeo squad sheds its past image with help from IIM
Anti-Romeo squad: Complaint against Prashant Bhushan for controversial remark on Lord Krishna
India
oi-Oneindia
By Oneindia Staff Writer
New Delhi, April 3: Two police complaints were filed against senior lawyer and Swaraj Abhiyan leader Prashant Bhushan for his alleged 'derogatory' remarks against Hindu god Lord Krishna in the context of anti-Romeo squads on Sunday.
While one complaint was filed by Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson in Delhi Tajinder Bagga, the second was filed by Congress spokesperson in Uttar Pradesh Zishan Haider.
Thus along with the Congress, the BJP and several social media users, many took offence of Bhushan's remarks against Lord Krishna on Twitter. Those who criticised Bhushan's remarks said that he has hurt religious sentiments of Hindus.
This is what Bhushan had tweeted:
Romeo loved just one lady,while Krishna was a legendary Eve teaser.Would Adityanath have the guts to call his vigilantes AntiKrishna squads? https://t.co/IYslpP0ECv Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) April 2, 2017
However, Bhushan issued a clarification after he was slammed on Twitter for his remarks.
My tweet on Romeo brigade being distorted. My position is: By the logic of Romeo Brigade, even Lord Krishna would look like eve teaser. Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) April 2, 2017
We have grown up with legends of young Krishna teasing Gopis.The logic of Romeo squad would criminalise this.Didnt intend to hunt sentiments Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) April 2, 2017
The anti-Romeo squads have been started by the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh recently to punish eve-teasers, stalkers and molesters. The latest drive to provide safety to women in the state has created a nationwide debate. While many have welcomed the step undertaken by Chief Minister Adityanath Yogi, others say it is moral policing. The formation of the anti-Romeo squad is a poll promise made by the BJP in its manifesto for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
OneIndia News
Africans, Muslims did it for France in World Cup; will it return back the favour, asks writer
Attacks "racial", India took no steps: African envoys
India
pti-PTI
New Delhi, Apr 3: Denouncing attacks on African nationals as "xenophobic and racial" in nature, heads of African missions in India have hit out at the government, saying it took no "known, sufficient and visible" deterrent action.
In a strongly-worded press release, the envoys, who recently held a "special" meeting on the incidents, agreed to call for an independent investigation by the Human Rights Council as well as other human rights bodies, and also to comprehensively report the matter to the Commission of the African Union.
Photo Credit: African nationals protest in Delhi
They said they expected a strong condemnation of the attacks at the highest political level, both nationally and locally, indicating their disappointment over lack of response from the prime minister and Uttar Pradesh chief minister, it said.
The press release dated March 31 from the office of the Dean of the African Group Head of the Missions here said the meeting was convened to look into the recent attacks against African students in Greater Noida.
"The meeting unanimously agreed that those accumulated attacks against Africans are xenophobic and racial in nature," they said. The envoys reviewed the incidents that have taken place in the past and concluded that no "known, sufficient and visible" deterrent measures were taken by the Indian government, it said.
Condemning the attacks, they expressed their deep concern and noted that these "reprehensible events, both outstanding and unresolved cases against Africans, were not sufficiently condemned by the Indian authorities".
There are missions of more than 50 African countries which are accredited to India. Four Nigerian students were attacked by a group of Greater Noida residents who took out a candle light march on March 26 after a 17-year-old boy Manish died due to suspected drug overdose.
The protest march was taken out after the police released some Nigerians detained for questioning in connection with death of Manish, a class 12 student, due to "lack of evidence".
PTI
Chandra Grahan 2022: Check the start and end timing of lunar eclipse in major cities
Total Lunar Eclipse LIVE: Know sutak time and everything about Chandra Grahan
IRCTC update: 136 trains cancelled on Nov 08; here is the complete list
Bharatiya Kisan Union offers support to protesting TN farmers
India
pti-PTI
New Delhi, Apr 3: The Bharatiya Kisan Union led by Balbir Singh Rajewal on Monday offered its support to Tamil Nadu farmers protesting at the Jantar Mantar in the national capital.
The southern state's farmers protesting for the past 21 days have received support from various other outfits and political parties.
The farmers are demanding loan waiver, drought-relief package of Rs 40,000 crore and setting up of Cauvery Management Board from the Centre.
Rajewal said difference in language is not an issue as farmers across the country are facing similar problems.
He said his outfit plans to hold such protests across the country after the harvest season.
With an aim to attract the Centre's attention, the farmers have been resorting to a variety of protest methods, one of which saw them protesting with half-shaved heads on Sunday. Tamil students studying at Jawaharlal Nehru University in the national capital are also expected to join the farmers tomorrow.
PTI
Centre sanctions Rs 98.35 cr for Assam Heritage Circuit
India
oi-PTI
Guwahati, Apr 3: Union Ministry of Tourism has sanctioned Rs 98.35 crore for a Heritage Circuit in Assam under the Swadesh Darshan scheme.
This amount which has been sanctioned for development of the Tezpur, Majuli and Sivasagar circuit under the Swadesh Darshan scheme,Union Minister of State for Tourism and Culture, Mahesh Sharma announced following a meeting with Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal in Guwahati on Sunday night.
The first instalment of Rs 19.67 crore against the sanctioned amount was released by the Centre on March 31, 2017. The scheme also includes development of a composite tourist infrastructure in Majuli comprising a centre near Kamalabari ghat, log huts, watch towers, cafeteria, elevated walkway, solar illumination, landscaping, etc, worth Rs 61.26 crore, development of Ranghar, Joy Sagar and Talatal Ghar in Sivasagar and Kanaklata Udayan and Bamuni Hills in Tezpur.
.@tourismgoi under the scheme Swadesh Darshan has sanctioned Rs 98.35 crores for development of a #HeritageCircuit in Assam. pic.twitter.com/NPV9dS5U1W Sarbananda Sonowal (@sarbanandsonwal) April 2, 2017
Development of this heritage circuit will give a tremendous boost to Tourism in Assam against the background of the publicity received during the Namami Brahmaputra festival.
The Union Tourism Ministry has decided to transfer the rights of Brahmaputra Ashok Hotel, which is presently managed by the ITDC, to the Assam government and all necessary modalities to formalise the transfer will be executed within the next 15 days.
The Tourism Ministry has also decided to work collectively to enlist Majuli in the coveted list of World Heritage Site and has already engaged the Archaeological Survey of India to prepare the dossier for submitting it to the UNESCO.
The Union Tourism Ministry has also sanctioned Rs 2 crore for the Namami Brahmaputra festival organized for the first time by the Assam Government to glorify the river Brahmaputra as well as to promote globally tourism, economy and civilization of the state.
The Chief Minister also expressed his gratitude to the Centre for this gesture and has expressed hope that the Tourism Ministry will continue to provide support in developing Assam as a prime tourist destination.
The Government of Assam has also submitted a memorandum to the Union Tourism Minister on various issues concerning development of tourism sector in the state.
PTI
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Story first published: Monday, April 3, 2017, 15:52 [IST]
Charge sheet filed against Teesta, two others; accuses her of conspiring to create false cases against Modi
Citing Teesta Setalvad, US report slams India over human rights violations
India
oi-Vicky
Citing the police case against activist Teesta Setalvad, a report has slammed India over alleged human rights violations. A US state department report titled Human Rights Practices in India for 2016 also made a mention about restrictions on foreign funding of Non-Governmental Organisations.
The report makes a mention about the rejection of renewal of government permission to 25 NGOs to receive foreign funds. It said the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Assembly and Association published a legal analysis claiming that Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (a law that governs foreign funding) did not conform to international law, principles, and standards, after which the Indian government was asked to repeal the Act.
On Setalvad, the report termed the police case as an alleged violation of human rights. She was charged with embezzlement after donors claimed Setalvad, the founder of NGO Citizens for Justice and Peace, misused Rs 1.5 million collected for building a memorial to the victims of the Gulbarg Housing Society massacre during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
The killing of eight suspected members of the outlawed Students Islamic Movement of India in a police encounter after they escaped from Bhopal central jail also found a mention in the report. The encounter has been termed as a politically motivated killing.
A reference to the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh was also made. The report termed it as an example of corruption and lack of transparency in government. A lack of accountability for misconduct at all levels of government persisted, contributing to widespread impunity, the report states.
OneIndia News
Man booked for rape of 12-year-old after video of injured girl surfaces on internet
Man rapes 8-year-old to use her blood for removing obstacles to his marriage
German tourist raped in Tamil Nadu; 2 suspects detained
India
oi-Oneindia
By Oneindia Staff Writer
Chennai, April 3: In one more horrific incident of crime against women in the country, a German tourist has alleged that she was raped in Tamil Nadu's Mahabalipuram on Sunday, said media reports.
Following her complaint, police had detained two suspects. The police had formed special teams to investigate the matter, added media reports.
German woman alleges rape, 2 suspects detained by police in Tamil Nadu's Mahabalipuram. Police forms Special teams, investigation underway. pic.twitter.com/NFWHpLq6t8 ANI (@ANI_news) April 2, 2017
The woman was allegedly sexually assaulted at Mahabalipuram beach. In her complaint to the police, the victim alleged that she was forcibly taken away and sexually assaulted by some men, a police official told PTI.
The official said the incident took place when the victim was taking a stroll alone along the beach in the tourist town of Mahabalipuram.
The woman was taken to a hospital for medical examination and the probe is on, he said. Several persons are being questioned and some of them have been detained, he added.
OneIndia News
Five years of demonetisation: Notes in circulation on rise; so are digital payments
Govt asks companies to provide details of scrapped notes
India
pti-PTI
New Delhi, Apr 3: The government has asked companies to disclose details about transactions involving scrapped notes post demonetisation till December 30. Besides, auditors are required to mention in their reports whether the companies have made adequate disclosures about dealings in junked notes during the specified period.
In its efforts to fight the black money menace as well as curb corruption, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8 last year announced cancelling old Rs 500 and 1,000 notes. From November 8 till December 30, 2016, entities, including individuals, were allowed to deposit the invalid notes with banks.
For a brief period, exchange of junked notes was also permitted. The Corporate Affairs Ministry, which is implementing the Companies Act, has asked all registered firms to provide details about the scrapped notes during the said period in their annual balance sheets.
"Every company shall disclose the details of Specified Bank Notes held and transacted during the period from November 8, 2016 to 30th December, 2016" in a given tabular form, according to a notification. SBNs are the demonetised notes.
The companies are required to mention 'closing cash in hand' as on November 8 and on December 30. Among others, corporates have to furnish information about 'permitted payments' and amount deposited in banks using the junked notes.
In this regard, amendments have been made in certain provisions of the Companies Act, 2013. Further, the ministry has directed auditors to mention whether a particular company has given necessary disclosures regarding holdings as well as dealings involving scrapped notes during November 8 and December 30, 2016.
Auditors have to state 'whether the company had provided requisite disclosures in its financial statements as to holdings as well as dealings in SBN during the period from November 8, 2016 to December 30, 2016 and if so, whether these are in accordance with the books of accounts maintained by the company'.
The requirement is under the Companies (Audit and Auditors) Amendment Rules, 2017. Apex body of chartered accountants ICAI has asked its members to take care of the latest amendments made by the ministry with respect to the abolished notes.
"We request you to please note the amendment and take care in your professional capacity for disclosure requirements and reporting requirements while accounting and auditing the financial statements for 2016-17," ICAI said in a notice.
Post demonetisation, use of the scrapped notes were allowed in certain areas, including for paying utility bills and highway tolls, buying fuel and air tickets. While the junked notes cannot be used or deposited anymore, NRIs have been allowed to exchange them at the select offices of the Reserve Bank of India till June end.
PTI
Indian Mujahideen wanted Gujarat to bleed
India
oi-Vicky
By Vicky
The Indian Mujahideen had planned big attacks in Gujarat to avenge the 2002 riots, its operative Yasin Bhatkal told the police. Bhatkal, who is in Gujarat on a transit remand was questioned by members of the Anti Terrorism Squad.
Yasin said that the IM wanted to carry out several more blasts in Gujarat as they wanted to send out a loud message and avenge the killings in the 2002 riots and the Babri Masjid demolition.
On July 26, 2008, 20 blasts rocked Ahmedabad in which 56 people were killed. After the blasts, Yasin travelled to Surat where he wanted to carry out another blast. He said that he had planned on planting 29 bombs and triggering off a series of blasts.
"Our plan was focussed around Gujarat. We wanted to carry out big attacks in the state," he said. The ATS is currently going through his conversation with another key operative, Asadullah Akthar. During the conversation, both are heard discussing their plan to carry out deadly attacks in Gujarat.
OneIndia News
Karnataka: Congress MLC's kin arrested with Rs 9 crore demonetised notes
India
oi-Anusha
By Anusha Ravi
The Bengaluru police arrested Congress MLC Veeranna Mattikatti's son-in-law along with 14 others for illegally possessing Rs 9 crore in demonetised currency notes. Praveen Kumar who was arrested by the officials of the city crime branch is suspected to be part of a bigger money exchange racket. Mattikatti, a Congress MLC and former chairman of the Karnataka legislative council has distanced himself from his son-in-law.
The Bengaluru police had arrested a middleman last week and recovered Rs 3 crore in demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. Initial investigations revealed that the money was being transported for exchange with new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 currency notes.A probe in the case led the police to Kumar.
"Raids were conducted at residences of the accused on the basis of information received while probing a previous case. Rs 9.1 crore in demonetised notes were found and seized. Fourteen people have been detained and 13 mobile phones and two cars have also been seized. We are in the process of decoding how this racket worked. The money was being used to exchange it with new legal tender," said S Ravi, additional commissioner of police, crime.
All 14 members are suspected to be running a currency exchange racket but were caught when the police arrested one of the middlemen near Shankarapura in the city last week. Rs 3 crore that was seized from the man was meant to be exchanged with new notes to favour a real estate businessman. Following the leads in the case, police landed at Kumar's residence in Benson town where raids were conducted on Saturday.
Demonetised notes were found stashed there. Initial information suggests that Praveen Kumar along with 13 others, who are realtors and private businessmen, was taking old currency notes from various people and exchanging them with new notes.
Congress MLC distances himself
Meanwhile, Veeranna Mattikatti claimed that he had nothing to do with either his son-in-law or the case at hand. "I am not in touch with my son-in-law for at least 6 months now. I have no knowledge about him or his activities and have no role to play in it. Let the law take its course," said Mattikatti. He claimed that his distance from his son-in-law was a personal matter and he did not wish to elaborate on the same.
The police have registered cases against the 14 accused and are in the process of identifying the source of the new as well as demonetised currency notes.
OneIndia News
I will break your legs: SFI issues threat to principal in presence of cops in Kerala
'If I have nominated even one person using authority, I'll resign': Kerala governor on VC row
Kerala BJP leaders meet Rajnath Singh, discuss Munnar issue
India
oi-PTI
Kochi, Apr 2: Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday assured necessary steps would be taken to save ecologically sensitive Munnar, which Kerala BJP leaders claimed may face 'an Uttarakhand-like disaster' due to encroachments.
"I will go through it. Then, what is needed will be done," he told a delegation of Kerala BJP leaders led by state party chief Kummanam Rajasekharan. The delegation had met him at the nearby Aluva Palace seeking the Centre's intervention in addressing the issue of encroachments and illegal constructions at the tourist town of Munnar in Idukki district.
It informed Singh that the hill station "may witness an Uttarakhand-like disaster" if encroachments and illegal construction on the fragile land were not stopped. The leaders alleged that the encroachments were being carried out with complete support of a local MLA and MP and the CPI-M-led Left Democratic Front government was doing nothing to save the hill station from ecological disaster.
They said they met Singh as he was handling the National Disaster Management Authority. The BJP leaders said the Home minister assured them of necessary steps to deal with the situation.
Singh was in Kochi to attend the P Parameswaran Navati celebrations organised by Bharathiya Vichara Kendram, a Sangh outfit.
Meanwhile, CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran said in Kottayam the LDF government would act firmly against the encroachment and illegal construction going on in Munnar.
Revenue portfolio is held by the CPI's representative in the government, E Chandrasekharan.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said the government would bring in restrictions on building tourist resorts in Munnar and take stringent action against encroachments.
R L V Ramakrishnan, the brother of late actor Kalabhavan Mani, also met Singh, seeking a CBI probe into Mani's death. The actor was taken to a hospital in Kochi from his farmhouse near Chalakuddy on March 6 last year. He died two days later while undergoing treatment.
PTI
Know why this cop is the face of PM Modis Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in Nagaland
India
oi-Oneindia
By Oneindia Staff Writer
Kohima, April 3: There a few Samaritans who don't need any official designation or monetary reward to work for the betterment of society. One such example is the story of a Nagaland policeman, who is voluntarily cleaning garbage of his town alone for more than a week now.
Meet Neingupe Maru, who works as a constable in the Nagaland police department and regularly cleans his town, Pfutsero, voluntarity. Pfutsero is a block-headquarter in Phek district of Nagaland and located nearly 70 kilometres from the state capital, Kohima.
The cop decided to clean his town after the town committee was dissolved in January this year before the municipal elections. Maru's small town, with a population of over 10,000 residents, is running without a municipal council for the last three months as the scheduled elections are yet to take place due to the opposition from Naga tribes against reservation of women.
Moreover, the designated garbage van of the town is also lying defunct for a few months now. All these 'roadblocks' did not deter the policeman to take the matter into his hands after his town turned into a garbage dumping yard in the recent months.
Maru decided to use his own old Maruti van as a dumper to collect waste from across the town. After collecting the garbage from the neighbourhoods and roads, Maru started depositing the waste in a dumping ground outside his town.
"I was concerned with the large amounts of garbage getting accumulated and was worried it could lead to an outbreak of some disease," Maru told Hindustan Times.
"Sometimes, I clean the streets in the morning and sometimes on evenings, depending on my duty hours. It takes 3-4 trips these days to clean the entire town," he said.
It is not just time and energy that Maru is investigating to keep his hometown clean. He also pays from his pocket to buy petrol for the garbage van and tools and garbage bags needed to clean the waste.
"He's doing a very commendable job. Not many of us are willing to do such work, which is considered dirty. It is a very encouraging sight to see him working," said Kupelhi Losou, a Pfutsero resident and director of Kalos Society, a local NGO.
Maru's commitment to keep his town clean makes him a perfect 'brand ambassador' of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet project Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
OneIndia News
Vaishali Takkar suicide: Her e-gadgets to be probed; hunt for the harasser is on
Man beats up traffic cop when questioned about tinted glass in his car
Madhya Pradesh: BJP MLA demands complete liquor ban
India
pti-PTI
Indore, Apr 3: A local BJP MLA on Monday demanded a complete ban on liquor in Madhya Pradesh, amid a movement by Indore residents opposing the opening of new liquor shops in residential areas.
During an agitation by some women against opening of a liquor shop in Tirupati Nagar in Indore, BJP MLA from Indore-1 constituency Sudarshan Gupta said, "Liquor shops should not be opened in the vicinity of residential areas, religious places and educational institutions."
"I appeal to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to impose a complete ban on liquor in the state in the coming days," he said.
Several agitations, mostly led by women, are being held in different parts of city for last three days against the new liquor shops in different parts of the city.
Extending his support to these agitations, the legislator said, "Earlier, people used to tolerate liquor shops in residential areas, but now the people have become aware and are protesting against it."
PTI
Malaysian PM praises Modi for 'unwavering commitment'
India
pti-PTI
New Delhi, Apr 3: Malaysian Prime Minister Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak today praised his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi for his "unwavering commitment" to bilateral relationship between the two countries.
He also appreciated Modi's hospitality, saying the Prime Minister welcomed the Malaysian delegation and held fruitful discussion despite being on a nine-day long fast.
"I would like to pay tribute to my good friend PM Modi for his unwavering commitment and his great confidence in this relationship and has given so much importance and prominence even on a Saturday," Razak said while addressing industry chambers.
"Even when he was fasting, surviving on water for nine days, he was still at the top of his game welcoming me and my delegations and we have a such a fruitful meeting." Modi observes a 9-day fast on Navratri festival every year.
PTI
Man held for stalking JNU student
India
oi-PTI
New Delhi, Apr 2: A 26-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly stalking a Jawaharlal Naehru University student, the police said on Sunday. The accused, Shailesh Kumar is a resident of Munirka village, and was arrested on Saturday from outside a girls' hostel located inside JNU campus, they added.
A few days ago, he had tried to talk to the victim but she refused. Infuriated, he started stalking her. The victim told the police that he followed her for a fortnight and even came outside her hostel, breaching the campus security.
On finding the accused outside her hostel, she immediately alerted college security. The youth was detained and later handed over to the police.
"On Saturday, we received a PCR call from a girls' hostel in JNU campus about a stalker. A police team reached the spot and arrested him. The arrested person is a college dropout and works at a shop in the locality," a senior police officer said.
PTI
MCD Election 2017: Congress doesn't see AAP as factor
India
ians-IANS
By Ians English
New Delhi, April 3: The Delhi Congress on Monday said it is looking at a straight contest with the Bharatiya Janata Party in the upcoming civic body polls, and not with the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party.
"I think our fight is with the BJP, not the AAP. Woh (BJP) abhi josh me hain (They are high on power). On the other hand, the AAP has been exposed. The Punjab and Goa results are for all to see," senior Delhi Congress leader and former speaker of Delhi Assembly Subhash Chopra told IANS.
Asked about a few Congress leaders quitting the party and a few other seniors threatening to do so, Chopra said that although there is 'some resentment', true Congressmen would not desert the party.
"Of course, there is some resentment in the party. And that is natural because there were 10-12 aspirants for each seat, but the ticket could be given to only one. Those who did not get tickets, or senior leaders whose choice candidates were not given ticket are bound to be somewhat unhappy. But that does not mean they are quitting the party," Chopra said.
He said that Ashok Kumar Walia 'did not even once' speak of quitting the Congress.
"I have spoken to him just now and he said that he did not say anything to that effect," Chopra said.
He said that Amrish Gautam quit the party because his son was not given a ticket.
"Quitting your party because your son was not given a ticket? A true Congressman would never do that," he said.
Chopra said that a transparent method of ticket distribution was adopted this time around.
"Candidate's winnability and workers' choice were the criteria. As many as 39,000 Congress workers were contacted over telephone before making a final choice," he said.
IANS
Delhi MCD Election 2017: No common symbol for Yogendra Yadav's Swaraj India
India
oi-Anusha
The Delhi high court on Monday dismissed Swaraj India's plea seeking common symbol for the upcoming Municipal corporation of Delhi polls. The division bench of the high court in its interim order said that there was little time to assign a common symbol for Swaraj India member Yogendra Yadav's party. An appeal on the plea had come before a division bench after a single judge bench had also dismissed the party's plea.
A bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and Chander Shekhar said that due to the paucity of time an interim order was passed but the matter would require further consideration. Senior advocates Shanti Bhushan and Prashant Bhushan, who appeared for Swaraj India, submitted before the 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.
Delhi poll panel's counsel Sumeet Pushkarna had opposed their appeal on the grounds that 42 more requests have been made by similarly placed parties. The court was also informed that each candidate's photo was going to be displayed on the machine for benefit of voters and unrecognised parties.
Swaraj India was floated in October 2016 by Yadav and Prashant Bhushan, who were expelled from Aam Aadmi Party for rebelling against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Swaraj India had sought quashing of Delhi poll panel's March 14, 2017, notification and an April 2016 order which had said that the nominees of unrecognised parties would be treated as independent candidates for allotment of symbols.
OneIndia News
Narayana Murthy attacks Infosys COOs salary hike; accuses poor governance
India
oi-Oneindia
By Oneindia Staff Writer
Bengaluru, April 3: All is not well in India's most well-known IT giant--Infosys. The tussle between the founding members and the current board is rocking the stability of the company for the last few months.
In a latest development, Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy on Sunday termed the board-approved compensation hike for Chief Operating Officer UB Pravin Rao as 'not proper' and said it will 'erode the trust and faith of the employees in the management and the board'.
In an email, he said that given the current poor governance standards at Infosys, the targets for variable pay may not be adhered to if the board wants to favour a top management person.
Murthy said giving nearly 60-70 per cent increase in compensation for a top-level person (even including performance-based variable pay) when the compensation for most of the employees in the company was increased by just 6-8 per cent is 'in my opinion, not proper'.
"This is grossly unfair to the majority of the Infosys employees including project and delivery managers, analysts, programmers, sales people in the field, entry level engineers, clerks and office boys who are toiling hard to make the company better. The impact of such a decision will likely erode the trust and faith of the employees in the management and the board.
"With what conscience, can a decent person like Pravin (a man schooled in Infosys values for over 30 years) tell his juniors that they should work hard and make sacrifice to reduce cost and protect margin? I have got so many mails from these people asking whether this resolution is fair. No previous resolution in the history of the company has received such a low approval," he added.
Murthy, however, said he has lots of affection for him. "I recruited Pravin in 1985 and had nurtured him throughout my stay at Infosys since then. He had been sidelined. He was not even a member of the executive council at Infosys in 2013 when I came back. Kris, Shibu and I encouraged him, elevated him to the board, and made him the COO when we recruited Vishal as the CEO. So, this abstention has nothing to do with Pravin," he said.
"Those of us who have always stood for fairness in compensation and practised it, right from the day Infosys was founded, will have to demonstrate it when needed. This is a time when it is needed. Nothing more and nothing less," he wrote.
Murthy said he always believed in striving towards reducing differences in compensation and equity in a corporation.
"You may not know that my salary at the time of the founding of Infosys was just 10 per cent of my salary in my previous job. I ensured that my younger, co-founder colleagues got 20 per cent more over their salaries in their previous jobs even though I was seven levels above them in my previous job and was 11 years older than them.
"I gave them huge equity compensation the like of which has never been replicated in this world. So, this abstention comes from somebody who has walked the talk," he said.
Murthy said he always felt that every senior management person of an Indian corporation has to show self-restraint in his or her compensation and perquisites. "He or she has to fight for maintaining a reasonable ratio between the lowest salary and the highest salary in a corporation in a poor country such as India. The board has to create a climate of opinion for such fairness by their actions," he added.
"This is necessary if we have to make compassionate capitalism acceptable to a majority of Indians who are poor. Without compassionate capitalism, this country cannot create jobs and solve the problem of poverty. Experts tell me that capitalism may come to an end in the not-so-distant future if the current corporate leaders do not heed this advice in India," he said.
OneIndia News
Petrol bombs will soon replace stones in Kashmir, says IB report
India
oi-Vicky
By Vicky
An input picked up by the Intelligence Bureau has suggested that petrol bombs would replace stones in the Kashmir valley. Security forces have been battling stone pelters, and in the days to come, their job is about to get harder. They have already been told by the IB to brace up for such attacks.
"Deal with the situation appropriately and do not give in as the youth are gearing up to replace stones with petrol bombs," the IB directive to security forces in the valley reads.
With security forces upping the ante against the stone pelters who have disrupted not just normalcy by encounters with terrorists, a directive from Pakistan states that petrol bombs must be used. The use of the Molotov cocktail or petrol bomb is likely to replace the stones in the valley very soon, the IB warns.
The operational commanders have been advised to gear up for the situation, as these persons are readying to take violence to the next level. In the wake of this intercept, several steps are being taken. The youth are likely to land up at encounter sites and hurl petrol bombs at the security forces, the IB says.
The government and the police have urged the youth not to land up at encounter sites. Recently, the J&K police chief said that landing up at encounter sites is suicidal and hence the youth must stay away.
The IB says that the stone pelters who are paid anything between Rs 500 and 1,000 a day are likely to get a pay raise if they use petrol bombs. Using a petrol bomb would make the situation grave and the security forces have been told to stay on high alert.
OneIndia News
KARTET Result 2022: Answer Key to be out by this week
Plea seeking to shift Sasikala to a Tumakuru jail rejected
India
oi-Vicky
A petition seeking the transfer of Sasikala Natarajan from a Bengaluru jail to a woman's prison in Tumakuru has been rejected by the Karnataka High Court. The petitioner sought the transfer of Sasikala to a woman's prison in Tumakuru.
The petition was filed by Tamil Nadu based social activist, Traffic Ramaswamy who also sought a directive not to allow any of the minister to meet her. Sasikala was jailed after being convicted by the Supreme Court in the disproportionate assets case.
The government advocate submitted that as per the rules visitors were allowed to meet Sasikala. The visitors were allowed to meet her as per the rules in the Karnataka Prisons Manual and hence there was no violation.
The petition which was heard by a division bench comprising Chief Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee and Justice P S Dinesh Kumar was rejected following the submission made by the government's counsel.
OneIndia News
R K Nagar bypoll: Panneerselvam camp denies misusing symbol in reply to EC
India
oi-Anusha
In its reply to the Election Commission's notice, Panneerselvam faction of the AIADMK has denied any misuse of the symbol. The reply also states that no attempts were being made to hijack the AIADMK's two leaves symbol and influence voters or confuse them as alleged by AIADMK Amma faction. Deputy general secretary of the AIADMK TTV Dinakaran had filed a complaint with the EC, that the AIADMK Puratchi Talaivi Amma faction was misrepresenting their 'electric pole' symbol as the AIADMK's 'two leaves' symbol while campaigning.
The EC that had taken cognisance of the complaint had issued a notice seeking a reply from the Paneerselvam camp. The complaint from Dinakaran was filed after a video campaign showed AIADMK Puratchi Talaivi Amma team superimpose the two leaves symbol on their electric pole symbol.
In its reply, Panneerselvam's camp has also alleged that it was AIADMK Amma faction that was misrepresenting the symbol and had bribed voters. Both parties have accused each other of violating the model code of conduct by distributing money to voters. Meanwhile, the police arrested a member of Dinakaran's party while he was bribing voters.
OneIndia News
Reality of Gujarat's cow protection law: Just one conviction since 2011
India
oi-Anusha
The Gujarat assembly recently made amendments to the Cow Protection Bill making it the only state to punish cow slaughter with a minimum imprisonment of 10 years and maximum of life term. While the state's Chief Minister Vijay Rupani claimed proudly that Gujarat now had the harshest punishment for cow slaughter, there has been just one conviction so far since 2011.
In October 2011, the then chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi amended the Gujarat Animal Preservation Act, 1954, by inserting clauses banning cow slaughter and the sale and transportation of cow meat. The recent amendment only made the punishment stronger under the act, however, despite strong laws, a 35-year-old resident of Gandevi is the only person to be convicted under the law.
On May 8, 2016, Rafik Khalifa was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment of three years by a local court under various sections of the Gujarat Animal Preservation amendment Act, 2011, for possessing beef. This was the first conviction under the amended act and remains the only one so far.
The lone convict under the 2011 amended law was caught by members of a vigilante group when he was allegedly on his way to sell the beef. On July 11, 2016, four Dalits were flogged by self-proclaimed cow protectors on suspicion of cow slaughter but probe revealed that the cow had been killed by a lioness and that the local police had fudged the record to book the youths for cow slaughter.
Much like the incident in Una, the law has been abused time and again by those in authority and those who run parallel governments in the garb of 'gau rakshaks' and vigilante groups. In September 2016, the driver of a car was thrashed by cow vigilantes who claimed that they assaulted the man to save cows from slaughter. Ayub, the injured driver, lost his life in the hospital and a case was registered against seven persons.
Across the state, the police receive calls from vigilante groups after they have 'intercepted' vehicles transporting cattle or beef. Many times, the police have traced the owners of the vehicles and booked them.
Reports suggest that orders pronounced between 2012 and 2017 in close to 12 cases, the Gujarat high court found that the police had registered cases for either carrying buffaloes for slaughter or buffalo meat. The accused had moved the court for the release of vehicles impounded under the 2011 Act, that provides for their seizure for six months. The court ordered police to release such vehicles since they were carrying animals or meat other than that of the cow.
OneIndia News
Rift in Congress ahead of MCD polls, Amrish Singh Gautam joins BJP
India
oi-Anusha
Former deputy speaker of Delhi assembly and three-time Congress MLA, Amrish Gautam joined the BJP on Monday. Gautam, a well-known Dalit leader jumped to the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the municipal corporation of Delhi polls. His move comes on the day A K Walia also decided to quit the Congress.
Infighting in the Congress is becoming public ahead of the civic polls with leaders of the party reportedly rejecting list of candidates for the civic polls picked up by the party's panel. Former Delhi minister Haroon Yusuf and Rajya sabha MP Parvez Hashmi have also threatened to quit the party. Ticket distribution for the MCD polls 2017 has led to rifts in the party.
Gautam is the latest to join the list of politicians from other parties jumping to the BJP ahead of the civic polls. Ved Prakash, an former AAP MLA joined the BJP last week. More leaders joining the saffron party is acting as a morale booster for the cadres.
OneIndia News
Saeed, Lakhvi at war: Is the Lashkar heading for a two-way split?
India
oi-Vicky
By Vicky
Are the number 1 and his next in command in the Lashkar-e-Tayiba at war with each other. The appointment of Abdul Rehman Makki as the chief of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and the Jamaat-ud-Dawa has not gone down too well with Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the plotter-in-chief of the Mumbai 26/11 attack.
The problem between Lakhvi and Lashkar founder Hafiz Saeed began with the planning of the Kashmir unrest. Lakhvi felt that the planning which was approved by Saeed was not sustainable and the outfit needed to go harder in Kashmir.
Lakhvi who is considered to be the father of all jihadis was upset that he was not consulted before the unrest was planned.
This led to a rift with his mentor Saeed who went to appoint Makki, his brother-in-law as the chief of the outfit. Saeed appointed a successor after he was placed under house arrest by the Pakistan agencies. Intelligence Bureau officials say that the rift is a serious one. There is a good chance that the LeT may split into two.
Lakhvi moving away from the LeT would deal a bloody blow to the outfit. He has several supporters and if he leaves, he would take them all with him. What works for Lakhvi is that the fighters of the outfit back him considering he is the one who has trained most of them in the capacity of the operations commander of the outfit.
While Lakhvi always handled the operations part of the group, Saeed was an ideological mentor. Both had become crucial to the outfit and the LeT needs them in order to be the lethal force that it is. The Inter-Services Intelligence, which nurtures the outfit has still not been able to find a solution to the problem, IB officials say.
OneIndia News
Jaitley statue at Kotla: Angry Bedi asks DDCA to remove his name from stands, quits membership
Reforms in India being done by conviction, not compulsion: PM Narendra Modi
BJP leaders pay tribute to former minister Arun Jaitley on his third death anniversary
SE Asian nations should 'stand together' in times of crisis: Jaitley
India
pti-PTI
New Delhi, Apr 3: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday said India's Act East policy will help in improving connectivity and relationship with South-East and East Asian countries.
Addressing the South Asia Sub-regional Economic Cooperation conference, he expressed hope that that the initiatives taken by the seven-member grouping will help the member nations deal with challenges of unemployment and macro-economic and structural vulnerabilities.
"India is following a policy of Act East to improve connectivity and relations with countries of South-East Asia and East Asia. Improved access to gateway ports, particularly in Bangladesh and Myanmar, may help unleash the latent potential of agro and forest-based industries in India's North East region," he said.
Stressing that SASEC members should 'stand together' in times of crisis, Jaitley said India has always played a pro-active role to support the neighbours. During the recent earthquake in Nepal or tsunami in Sri Lanka or cyclone in Bangladesh in the last decade, India lent a helping hand to rebuild and rehabilitate affected people, he pointed out.
Finance ministers of India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Myanmar met in the national capital on Friday to reshape the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation, which was originally founded 16 years ago by four nations - Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal.
About initiatives taken by India, Jaitley said the country together with Nepal is building a cross-border power transmission line to help in the distribution of electricity from power projects being developed in Nepal.
"I am confident we will be able to fully harness the hydropower potential of the region and act as a bridge connecting power surplus and power deficient regions," he said.
In the vision document released, the SASEC pledged to improve intra-regional connectivity to boost trade and tourism as they eye USD 70 billion incremental GDP and 20 million jobs by 2025. The SASEC initiative, guided by a vision, will help the member countries optimally utilise their resources and facilitate access to trade gateways and linkages with global markets.
"Improved connectivity and infrastructure development could substantially spur economic growth in the region. Enhanced cooperation among the member countries would also give an impetus to small and medium enterprises in the region. Collaboration in knowledge sharing would facilitate innovation and research," he said.
The SASEC vision is expected to help the member countries overcome the problems and challenges associated with unemployment, macroeconomic and structural vulnerabilities, access and integration, and limited investment and growth, Jaitley said.
PTI
UP polls: Law against triple talaq saved families of thousands of Muslim women from breaking-up: PM
Explained: What the SC said and how is Talaq-e-Hasan different from triple talaq
For triple talaq victims, judicial verdict in favor but social verdict still against them!
Talaq over phone: Muslim woman seeks justice at Yogi Adityanaths Janta Darbar
India
oi-Oneindia
By Oneindia Staff Writer
Lucknow, April 3: In recent times, several Muslim women have openly spoken against the 'ills' of 'triple talaq' destroying their and their children's lives in a matter of no time because of the unilateral decision taken by their husbands to divorce them.
One such young Muslim woman came to the 'Janta Darbar' of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath Yogi to seek justice from the government on Monday. The Uttar Pradesh chief minister hosts a regular Janta Darbar to address to the problems of the public in an open space.
Speaking to the news agency, ANI, the young woman identified as Sabreen, said, "After harassing me since marriage, my husband gave me talaq on phone. I hope the CM gives me justice."
After harassing me since marriage,my husband gave me talaq on phone. I hope CM gives me justice:Sabreen at UP CM's Janta Darbar #TripleTalaq pic.twitter.com/eaTuukW7sQ ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 3, 2017
The practice of triple talaq allows a Muslim man to divorce his wife by saying the word 'talaq' (divorce) three times.
On March 30, the Supreme Court fixed May 11 for the commencement of hearing on pleas challenging the validity of triple talaq, nikah halala and polygamy practices among Muslims.
A bench comprising of Chief Justice JS Khehar and Justice DY Chandrachud said the matter will be heard by a Constitution bench during the summer vacation.
On March 27, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board told the SC that the pleas challenging such practices among Muslims were not maintainable as the issues fell outside the realm of judiciary.
The Centre, on October 7 last year, had opposed in the Supreme Court the practice of triple talaq, nikah halala and polygamy among Muslims and favoured a relook on grounds like gender equality and secularism.
The Ministry of Law and Justice, in its affidavit, had referred to constitutional principles like gender equality, secularism, international covenants, religious practices and marital law prevalent in various Islamic countries to drive home the point that the practice of triple talaq and polygamy needed to be adjudicated upon afresh by the apex court.
The apex court had taken suo motu cognisance of the question whether Muslim women faced gender discrimination in the event of divorce or due to other marriages of their husband.
The board had also said that the validity of Mohammedan Law, founded essentially on the Holy Quran and sources based on it, cannot be tested on the particular provisions of the Constitution.
OneIndia News
On camera: Varanasi folks in panic as 'ghost in white' goes for a walk on rooftops
Varanasi to light up for Deep Deepavali, a festival of lights that is not Diwali
When a look-alike of UP CM Yogi Adityanath roamed in Varanasi!
India
oi-Preeti Panwar
Varanasi, April 3: In what can be described as a major breach of law and order in Uttar Pradesh, a look-alike of the state's newly-elected 21st Chief Minister Adityanath Yogi was seen in Varanasi.
According to reports, the shocking incident took place on Wednesday, March 29, on the occasion of Sant Jhulelal Jayanti. The event was being held by people belonging to the Sindhi community and to mark the event, tableaux were organised.
The person who bore resemblance with 44-year-old Adityanath was spotted with a convoy of 'security commandos', who were allegedly carrying fake guns. Later on, it was found out that it was a part of one of the programmes, to mark the Jayanti.
Onlookers believed that the person was the chief minister himself and showered flower petals on his red-beaconed car.
The incident drew sharp criticism from many and was looked as a serious case of law and order breach.
No action has been taken against the person who was allegedly dressed as Yogi Adityanath.
Interestingly, shortly after being sworn-in as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, decided to completely do away with the lal batti (red beacon) culture. He made the announcement during his first cabinet meeting in Lucknow on March 20. [Yogi Adityanath bans Lal Batti culture in UP]
OneIndia News
Woman IAS officer alleges murder attempt by sand mafia in Udupi
India
oi-Anusha
District Deputy Commissioner of Udupi, Priyanka Francis has alleged that an attempt on her life was made on late Sunday night by those involved with the sand mafia. Priyanka, an Indian Administrative Service officer, in her complaint to the local police has claimed that attempts to assault her and Assistant Commissioner Shilpa Nag, another woman bureaucrat, was made when they tried to stop illegal sand miners.
A case was registered in the wee hours of Monday. Priyanka, who addressed the media later said that illegal sand mining was taking place at Kandlur near Kundapur. The duo along with two drivers, a gunman and a village accountant had gone on rounds in a private car. They had raided an illegal mining den in Halnad earlier on Sunday night and had taken six persons into custody. The same team raided a place at Kandlur later when the culprits allegedly attacked them.
"We had to run from the place in order to save ourselves but one of our colleagues could not come with us. He was rescued later with the help of police," Priyanka said.
Meanwhile, one person accused of illegally mining sand narrated a different story. Bhaskara, who has been admitted to a hospital in Kundapur for injuries, said that the bureaucrats came to his house late last night and committed atrocities against him. "When I questioned them, they took me away. They tried to arrest me and put me into a car. They closed the door suddenly and I lost two of my fingers. I was dragged by the car covering a distance of 300 meters," Bhaskara said.
Fourteen people have been arrested in total, following the raids and consequent complaint by the bureaucrat. While a complaint has been registered, the police is verifying why private vehicles were used for the raids and why no prior intimation to them (the police), as the procedure, was given. The bureaucrat claimed that they did not inform the police beforehand to ensure that the plan was not compromised.
OneIndia News
Adityanath Yogi pushes for talks to resolve Ram Mandir issue
India
oi-Anusha
In his interview to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh mouthpiece Panchjanya, Uttar Pradesh Chief Miniter Adityanath Yogi said that the Ayodhya's Ram Mandir issue should be resolved through dialogue. Panchjanya quoted Adityanath as saying that he welcomed the Supreme Court's suggestion.
"I welcome the Supreme Court's observations on the matter. This should be resolved amicably through dialogue. If the government's cooperation is required at any stage then we are ready to do so," Adityanath said in his interview.
Elaborating on his government's crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses, Adityanath claimed that the action was in line with the Allahabad high court's directives. "The National Green Tribunal in 2015 and the high court in 2017 had made comments on illegal slaughterhouses in Uttar Pradesh and have given some directions to the state government. We have started taking action along those lines. You cannot confuse legal and illegal slaughterhouses. The government's orders are clear," he said.
Adityanath maintained that if a slaughterhouse meets all conditions and has a licence, authorities won't stop it. "If any official does so, he or she will be punished. However, nobody will be allowed to spoil public order in the name of illegal slaughterhouses," he added. He claimed that it was the government obligation to crackdown on anything illegal.
OneIndia news
Adityanath Yogi to waive off 1.5 crore farmer loans in UP
India
oi-Vicky
By Vicky
Farmers of Uttar Pradesh may get major relief as the government has decided to waive off 1.5 crore agriculture loans. A final call would be taken at a cabinet meeting headed by UP Chief Minister Adityanath Yogi.
A list of 1.5 crore loans availed by the farmers was finalised and sent to the CM for approval. The waiver of farmer loans was one of the many promises made by the BJP during its election campaign. The Bharatiya Janata Party had promised to waive of loans of small and marginal farmers.
Minister for Agriculture Surya Pratap Shahi told media persons that the list was prepared immediately after the government was formed. He said his department was also setting up wheat purchase centres to meet the target of purchasing 80 lakh metric tonnes of wheat from farmers.
OneIndia News
Dreaded Somali pirates hijack Indian ship with 11 crew members onboard
International
oi-Gulam Rabbani
By Gulam Rabbani
Mogadishu: The Indian Cargo ship named as 'AI Kaushar' is believed to has been hijacked on April 1 with 11 crew members on board. The ship was on its way from Dubai to AI Mukala port in Yemen.The crew onboard are said to be the residents of Mandavi in Mumbai.
It is learnt that Somali armed pirates are responsible for hijack. The captain of the ship had informed the authorities in Dubai and to the ministry of the External Affairs as well.
The naval authorities has also been alerted about the incident and the action will be taken at the earliest to save the crew members.
[Also read: Pirates hijack ship with 23 Indian sailors aboard near Nigeria]
According to European Union Anti-Piracy operation in Somalia, on March 15, the pirates had demanded a ransom for the release of an oil tanker they have seized and the crew members being held hostage off the coast of Somalia.
An EU Force statement said that the ship's master has confirmed that the armed pirates were onboard the Comoros-flagged Aris Tanker 13. It is to be mention that, it is the first such hijacking of a large vessel since 2012.
OneIndia News
K'taka govt will not ask IT companies to open offices, WFH may continue: Minister
VK Singh to unveil two projects in South Africa on Saturday
International
oi-PTI
Johannesburg, Apr 3: Minister of State for External Affairs General VK Singh will inaugurate two India-funded welfare projects during his visit to South Africa this week. Singh will be in South Africa from April 7 to 10 on an official visit.
On Saturday, he will inaugurate the two projects funded by India in Durban, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced for the welfare of the local community in July last year.
A grant of one million rand was provided to establish a kitchen and dining hall at Abalindi, a non-profit organisation which supports the poor, aged people, the terminally ill, AIDS or HIV patients and has facilities including a creche for poor children, an orphanage and a skills development centre for youth.
The project in Inanda, near where Mahatma Gandhi had set up the Phoenix Settlement from where he ran his community projects and led his fight against discrimination, is now complete and will be officially opened for the use of the community.
After this, at the nearby Gandhi Settlement, Singh will inaugurate the Mahatma Gandhi Centre for Information Technology. A grant of over one million rand was provided by the Indian government for setting up the facility, which is equipped with latest computers and other IT equipment.
Modi had directed the donation on behalf of the people of India after his visit to the Phoenix Settlement last year as an important step to provide education and skill development to the youth of the area.
A day later, Singh will be in Johannesburg to visit the Satyagraha House, a living museum-hotel converted from a house in which Gandhi lived as a lawyer at the turn of the last century. He will also visit the Constitutional Hill, once the site of the Old Fort Prison where Gandhi, and later Nelson Mandela, were once imprisoned.
The visit will conclude with a concert in Pretoria to mark the 20th anniversary of the Red Fort Declaration, signed by Mandela and then-Indian prime minister H D Deve Gowda in New Delhi.
The agreement set the tone for the development of relations in all areas between the two countries after Mandela was installed as the country's first democratic president following decades of international isolation.
PTI
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Accesswire 04 Nov 2022
*TAMPA, FL / ACCESSWIRE / November 4, 2022 / *One of the hottest housing markets in the Southeastern U.S. has been quietly thriving..
Papua New Guinea Governor Gary Juffa, says 12 per cent of land in Papua New Guinea covering 65,000 hectares have been stolen under the guise of Special Agriculture Business Leases (SABLs).Todays world is driven by profit and greed, he said during a debate on the ministerial statement by Lands and Physical Planning Minister Benny Allan on the status of SABLs.The SABL situation saw 65,000 hectares of land 12 per cent of Papua New Guinea literally stolen from Papua New Guineans.Yes, the SABL idea was a great idea, like many great ideas that come here, but was hijacked by those with ulterior motives and purposes, profit and greed.He said that those charged with protecting the interests of the people had failed to recognise the threats and as a result, 12 per cent of Papua New Guinea was stolen.Juffa said it was good to see the establishment of a K15 million SABL inquiry, but the cost of that 65,000 hectares, we have not yet calculated.He said only 425 hectares of the total were deemed to be legitimate SABLs.When the reports were furnished, the prime minister made an undertaking that those SABLs would be cancelled, and actions would be taken against those named in the report, entities, individuals, etc.It has taken almost three years.I feel that the government departments responsible have dragged their feet, have not acted responsibly or have not taken heed of the prime ministers instructions.Juffa said when it was first deemed that special agriculture business leases were illegal, the Government should have evicted the operators.
New Swedish Regulation Will not Spel End
Published April 3, 2017 by Lee R
Licensing foreign operators is designed to increase GGR tax income.
Tangible news regarding the course of long-awaited Swedish adaptations to dissolve the longstanding monopoly has come out.
GGR Percentage System
Reuters reports that the monopoly will be replaced according to a new regulation system taxing licensed regulator 18% of Gross Gaming Revenue GGR.
Adding Taxable Entities
Drafted for government review by special investigator Hakan Hallstedt, the recommendations are designed to bring into the fold foreign-based online gambling companies which have established a strong Swedish market niche.
Big Names Entrenched
Large operators such as Kindred Group and Betsson are among those foreign operators who have established themselves in the Swedish market.
Preparing for Entry
A Kindred spokesperson explained to iGaming Business the obtainance of local licenses in re-regulated markets is part of standard organisational procedure at this point, but the course of entry will not be chartable until we know what set of regulations the Parliament will actually adopt in 2018."
Reform Movement
The notion of reforming the monopoly system to increase tax revenues entered realistic consideration in 2015 when the Swedish government commissioned an investigation into an online licensing system, a year after the European Commission announced that it was taking the country to the European Unions top court.
Raising Income
The Swedish Gambling Authority estimates that an open market system could push the take of online-licensed and taxed gambling take from the current level of 77% of the gambling landscape up to 90%, with no negative impact on Swedens existing government-run casino and lottery operator Svenska Spel.
Swedish Spel Remains
The interesting note here is that people commonly assume that when monopolies get broken up, so does the government-run operating company. In this case, it appears an arrangement is being made for the governments Svenska Spel to operate alongside a free market of licensed operators within Swedish jurisdiction.
See How it Goes
A regulated market integrating the GGR distribution among government-owned and private license enterprises is a rather unique experiment, and possible solution, to adaptation in government-monopolised markets.
Research report covers the Eyewear Market share and Growth, 2015-2025
http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-459
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Eyewear Market OverviewEyewear is anything which one wears to protect the eyes or to correct the vision. It could be of different types depending on the quality, size, material, and frame. The demand for eyewear is increasing globally. People are becoming more aware and have realized the importance of regular eye checkup/examination. As a result, demand for corrective eyewear, such as contact lenses and spectacles is increasing. Also, a number of people wear it just to make a fashion statement or because it looks good on them.Eyewear Market SegmentationThe global eyewear market can be segmented into spectacles, contact lenses and sunglasses. Spectacles, which includes frames as well as lenses, are the preferred choice for visual inaccuracies such as hyperopia and myopia. Frames cost significantly more than the lenses, but their replacement rate is lesser. Frames can be made of different materials like nylon, plastic, metal, etc. Contact lenses can be of two types, soft contact lenses: which are easily adaptable to the eyes, and rigid gas permeable lenses: which is mainly used for correcting astigmatism.Request For Report Sample@Contact lenses are also used for cosmetic purposes or to look glamorous (example colored contact lenses). Great care should be taken while wearing lenses and they should be changed when required, or else it can lead to a condition known as contact lens-induced acute red eye (CLARE).Globally, the demand for eyewear market is robust in North America. Europe and Asia Pacific are the other dominant regions for the eyewear market. It is anticipated that the eyewear market will witness steady growth in these regions in the future as well.Eyewear Market DynamicsThe growth is expected to be driven by lifestyle changes due to growing urbanization, acceptance of eyewear products, high number of individuals using corrective eyewear, increased usage of silicon hydrogel, and growing ageing population. The growth of the industry can be hindered by price differentiation between branded and unbranded frames, sale of illegal novelty contact lenses, and the challenging local conditions in various countries.Visit For TOC@Eyewear Market: Key PlayersMajor players in the industry are Carl Zeiss AG, Essilor, Luxottica, Safilo Group, Acuvue, and Crizal. Distribution channels include retail chains, independent stores, drugstores, mass merchandisers as well as specialty stores. Notable retail stores include Sunglass Hut, Oliver Peoples, Sun Planet and Sunglass Icon.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Global Lithium Ion Battery Market to grow at a CAGR of 15.43% during Forecast period 2016-2020
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Albany, NY, March 31, 2017: Li-ion batteries are rechargeable batteries in which the Li-ion acts as the cathode and the carbon acts as the anode. Li-ion batteries have a good electrochemical performance with low resistance. The advantage of using Li-ion batteries is that they increase the thermal stability, have higher current density, and a longer shelf life as compared with other batteries available in the market. This technology has an excellent deep-discharge cycle life that shields the battery from damage. Li-ion is used in high power applications such as HEVs, EVs, and consumer electronic devices.The global Li-ion battery market to grow at a CAGR of 15.43% during the period 2016-2020. The report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global Li-ion battery market for 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenues that are generated by Li-ion battery vendors in the market.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:- Americas- APAC- EMEAGet a Sample Research PDF with TOC:Technavio's report, Global Li-ion Battery Market 2016-2020, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key vendors- Panasonic Industrial Devices- Automotive Energy Supply- LG Chem- Samsung SDI- Toshiba- A123 SystemsOther prominent vendors- Blue Energy- BYD- China BAK Battery- Coslight- GS Yuasa- Hitachi- Saft- Johnson Controls- Kokam- Li-Tec- MANZ AG- NEC- SK Innovation- Sony- Tianjin Lishen BatteryEnquiry at:Key questions answered in this report- What will the market size be in 2020 and what will the growth rate be?- What are the key market trends?- What is driving this market?- What are the challenges to market growth?- Who are the key vendors in this market space?- What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?- What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?ResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn at:
Product Overview And Scope Of Global Flat Panel Display Equipment Market For 2017
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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Product Overview And Scope Of Global Flat Panel Display Equipment Market For 2017" to its huge collection of research reports.This report studies Flat Panel Display Equipment in Global market, especially in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan, focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with capacity, production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringApplied MaterialsManzTokyo ElectronULVACJTEKTLasertecSoleras Advanced CoatingsMarket Segment by Regions, this report splits Global into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate of Flat Panel Display Equipment in these regions, from 2011 to 2021 (forecast), likeNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanKoreaTaiwanSplit by product type, with production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, can be divided intoA-SiLTPSOtherSplit by application, this report focuses on consumption, market share and growth rate of Flat Panel Display Equipment in each application, can be divided intoAutomotiveConsumer ElectronicsOtherTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Table of ContentsGlobal Flat Panel Display Equipment Market Research Report 20171 Flat Panel Display Equipment Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Flat Panel Display Equipment1.2 Flat Panel Display Equipment Segment by Type1.2.1 Global Production Market Share of Flat Panel Display Equipment by Type in 20151.2.2 A-Si1.2.3 LTPS1.2.4 Other1.3 Flat Panel Display Equipment Segment by Application1.3.1 Flat Panel Display Equipment Consumption Market Share by Application in 20151.3.2 Automotive1.3.3 Consumer Electronics1.3.4 Other1.4 Flat Panel Display Equipment Market by Region1.4.1 North America Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.2 Europe Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 China Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 Japan Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Korea Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 Taiwan Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Flat Panel Display Equipment (2012-2022)2 Global Flat Panel Display Equipment Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Flat Panel Display Equipment Production and Share by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.2 Global Flat Panel Display Equipment Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.3 Global Flat Panel Display Equipment Average Price by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.4 Manufacturers Flat Panel Display Equipment Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Flat Panel Display Equipment Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Flat Panel Display Equipment Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Flat Panel Display Equipment Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion3 Global Flat Panel Display Equipment Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2012-2017)3.1 Global Flat Panel Display Equipment Production by Region (2012-2017)3.2 Global Flat Panel Display Equipment Production Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.3 Global Flat Panel Display Equipment Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.4 Global Flat Panel Display Equipment Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)Make an Enquiry of this report @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
Nail Polish 2017 Global Key Players OPI, Maybelline, Revlon, LOreal, Zotos Accent, Dior Market Analysis and Forecast to 2022
Nail Polish Market
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Nail Polish Market 2017Wiseguyreports.Com Adds Nail Polish Market -Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities, Manufacturers, Analysis of Top Key Players and Forecast to 2022 To Its Research Database.Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Nail Polish in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaRequest for Sample report @Global Nail Polish market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingOPIZotos AccentMaybellineDiorChanelORLYANNA SUIRevlonSally HansenMisshaCNDButter LondonKikoCOSMAYNails IncEssieLOrealBobbi BrownNarsRimmelChina GlazeOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoOrganic Solvent Based Nail PolishWater Based Nail PolishOtherOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate of Nail Polish for each application, includingNail Art InstitutionsIndividualsOtherTo get complete report visit@Key Points in Table of Content:Global Nail Polish Market Research Report 20171 Nail Polish Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Nail Polish1.2 Nail Polish Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Nail Polish Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category) (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Nail Polish Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Organic Solvent Based Nail Polish1.2.4 Water Based Nail Polish1.2.5 Other1.3 Global Nail Polish Segment by Application1.3.1 Nail Polish Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Nail Art Institutions1.3.3 Individuals1.3.4 Other1.4 Global Nail Polish Market by Region (2012-2022)1.4.1 Global Nail Polish Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 North America Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.7 India Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Nail Polish (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Nail Polish Revenue Status and Outlook (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Nail Polish Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2012-2022).7 Global Nail Polish Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 OPI7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 Nail Polish Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 OPI Nail Polish Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 Zotos Accent7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 Nail Polish Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 Zotos Accent Nail Polish Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 Maybelline7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 Nail Polish Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 Maybelline Nail Polish Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 Dior7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.4.2 Nail Polish Product Category, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 Product A7.4.2.2 Product B7.4.3 Dior Nail Polish Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.5 Chanel7.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.5.2 Nail Polish Product Category, Application and Specification7.5.2.1 Product A7.5.2.2 Product B7.5.3 Chanel Nail Polish Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.6 ORLY7.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.6.2 Nail Polish Product Category, Application and Specification7.6.2.1 Product A7.6.2.2 Product B7.6.3 ORLY Nail Polish Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.7 ANNA SUI7.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.7.2 Nail Polish Product Category, Application and Specification7.7.2.1 Product A7.7.2.2 Product B7.7.3 ANNA SUI Nail Polish Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.7.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.8 Revlon7.8.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.8.2 Nail Polish Product Category, Application and Specification7.8.2.1 Product A7.8.2.2 Product B7.8.3 Revlon Nail Polish Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.8.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.9 Sally Hansen7.9.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.9.2 Nail Polish Product Category, Application and Specification7.9.2.1 Product A7.9.2.2 Product B7.9.3 Sally Hansen Nail Polish Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.9.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.10 Missha7.10.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.10.2 Nail Polish Product Category, Application and Specification7.10.2.1 Product A7.10.2.2 Product B7.10.3 Missha Nail Polish Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.10.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.11 CND7.12 Butter London7.13 Kiko7.14 COSMAY7.15 Nails Inc7.16 Essie7.17 LOreal7.18 Bobbi Brown7.19 Nars7.20 Rimmel7.21 China GlazeContinued...Buy this report @Contact Us:NORAH TRENTSales@Wiseguyreports.ComPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)Follow on LinkedIn @ABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.ADDRES:WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India
Roasted Almond Butter 2017 Global Key Players - JUSTIN'S, Barney Butter, Maranatha, Futter's Nut Butters, Once Again Nut Butter, Eden Nuts Inc. Market Analysis and Forecast to 2022
Roasted Almond Butter
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Roasted Almond ButterReport Details:Global Roasted Almond Butter market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingJUSTIN'SBarney ButterMaranathaFutter's Nut ButtersOnce Again Nut ButterEden Nuts Inc.Cache Creek FoodsZinke OrchardsThe J.M.Smucker CompanyNuts'N MoreClick here for sample report @Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Roasted Almond Butter in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoGlass jarsPlastic jarsOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate of Roasted Almond Butter for each application, includingResidentialCommercialSome Major Points from Table of content:Global Roasted Almond Butter Market Research Report 20171 Roasted Almond Butter Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Roasted Almond Butter1.2 Roasted Almond Butter Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Roasted Almond Butter Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category) (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Roasted Almond Butter Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Glass jars1.2.4 Plastic jars1.3 Global Roasted Almond Butter Segment by Application1.3.1 Roasted Almond Butter Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Residential1.3.3 Commercial1.4 Global Roasted Almond Butter Market by Region (2012-2022)1.4.1 Global Roasted Almond Butter Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 North America Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.7 India Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Roasted Almond Butter (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Roasted Almond Butter Revenue Status and Outlook (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Roasted Almond Butter Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2012-2022)For Detailed Reading Please visit @7 Global Roasted Almond Butter Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 JUSTIN'S7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 Roasted Almond Butter Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 JUSTIN'S Roasted Almond Butter Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 Barney?Butter7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 Roasted Almond Butter Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 Barney?Butter Roasted Almond Butter Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 Maranatha7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 Roasted Almond Butter Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 Maranatha Roasted Almond Butter Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 Futter's?Nut?Butters7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.4.2 Roasted Almond Butter Product Category, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 Product A7.4.2.2 Product B7.4.3 Futter's?Nut?Butters Roasted Almond Butter Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.5 Once?Again?Nut?Butter7.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.5.2 Roasted Almond Butter Product Category, Application and Specification7.5.2.1 Product A7.5.2.2 Product B7.5.3 Once?Again?Nut?Butter Roasted Almond Butter Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.6 EdenNuts?Inc.7.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.6.2 Roasted Almond Butter Product Category, Application and Specification7.6.2.1 Product A7.6.2.2 Product B7.6.3 EdenNuts?Inc. Roasted Almond Butter Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.7 Cache?Creek?Foods7.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.7.2 Roasted Almond Butter Product Category, Application and Specification7.7.2.1 Product A7.7.2.2 Product B7.7.3 Cache?Creek?Foods Roasted Almond Butter Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.7.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.8 Zinke?Orchards7.8.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.8.2 Roasted Almond Butter Product Category, Application and Specification7.8.2.1 Product A7.8.2.2 Product B7.8.3 Zinke?Orchards Roasted Almond Butter Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.8.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.9 The?J.M.?Smucker?Company7.9.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.9.2 Roasted Almond Butter Product Category, Application and Specification7.9.2.1 Product A7.9.2.2 Product B7.9.3 The?J.M.?Smucker?Company Roasted Almond Butter Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.9.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.10 Nuts'N?More7.10.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.10.2 Roasted Almond Butter Product Category, Application and Specification7.10.2.1 Product A7.10.2.2 Product B7.10.3 Nuts'N?More Roasted Almond Butter Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.10.4 Main Business/Business Overview..ContinuedBuy now @Contact Us:NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)About UsWise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. 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Nickel Powder Market 2022: by Key Manufacturers covering Vale, MMC Norilsk Nickel, BHP Billiton Ltd
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Market Size Forecasters delivers significant information and realistic data of the Global Nickel Powder Market. The report presents a deep study of the market growth factors and drivers. In-depth research of the Global Nickel Powder Market limitations and the opportunities enable the user to make the future projection.Nickel (atomic symbol: Ni, atomic number: 28) is a Block D, Group 4, Period 4 element with an atomic weight of 58.6934. Nickel Bohr Model. The number of electrons in each of nickel's shells is [2, 8, 16, 2] and its electron configuration is [Ar] 3d84s2. Nickel was first discovered by Alex Constedt in 1751. The nickel atom has a radius of 124 pm and a Van der Waals radius of 184 pm. In its elemental form, nickel has a lustrous metallic silver appearance. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal that is considered corrosion-resistant because of its slow rate of oxidation. Elemental Nickel. Nickel powder is a powder of nickel metal. Nickel powder is gray irregular powder, easily oxidized in moist air. Usually, it can be divided into two types: Carbonyl Nickel Powder and Electrolytic Nickel Powder. It can be widely used in Alloy, Functional Materials, and Electroplate & Battery because of its excellent performance in these fields. Different content of nickel and particle size have huge influence on the price of Nickel powder.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Nickel Powder in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Request a sample copy of Global Nickel Powder Market Research Report @Nickel Powder Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversValeMMC Norilsk NickelBHP Billiton LtdXstrata PlcAnglo AmericanSherrittJinchuan GroupJilin Jien NickelSumitomo Metal MiningTritrust IndustrialNizi InternationalNickel Powder Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Nickel Powder Market Segment by Type, coversCarbonyl Nickel PowderElectrolytic Nickel PowderNickel Powder Market Segment by Applications, can be divided intoAlloyFunctional MaterialsElectroplate & BatteryOthersThe listed pricing for this Global Nickel Powder Market report starts at $ 3480. Request Discount for Global Nickel Powder Market Research Report @There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Nickel Powder market.Chapter 1, to describe Nickel Powder Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Nickel Powder, with sales, revenue, and price of Nickel Powder Market, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Nickel Powder, for each region, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 12, Nickel Powder market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Nickel Powder sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceBrowse full table of contents and data tables For Global Nickel Powder Market Report @Related Reports: -Global and Chinese Copper Fluoborate Industry, 2017 Market Research ReportGlobal and Chinese Copper Fluoborate Industry, 2012-2022 Market Research Report' is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the global Copper Fluoborate industry with a focus on the Chinese market. The report provides key statistics on the market status of the Copper Fluoborate manufacturers and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the industry.MarketSizeForecasters.com, a Skyline Market Research LLP brand, is an online aggregator of market research reports. MarketSizeForecasters.com offers a comprehensive collection of full length reports on global and regional markets in 100+ industry verticals. We have partnered with some of the leading business and market research publishing houses and regularly update our online library to offer wide range of reports to our customers.Market size forecastersThe Green Suite #4594,Dover, DE 19901United StatesPhone: 1-201-355-0868US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketsizeforecasters.comWebsite:
Online Recruitment Market by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022
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The market research report Global Online Recruitment Market Research Report 2022 (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa) aims to offer insights into new business opportunities for companies active in Global Online Recruitment Market as well as for those players that are aiming to get an entry into the industry.This report studies the Online Recruitment market, Online Recruitment is through the use of IT technical in network systems, help enterprises to complete the recruitment process, through the third party recruitment website or online recruitment services, to complete the process of recruitment by using established database or search engine tools, mainly in the recruitment website, mainly in the recruitment website.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Online Recruitment in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Request a sample copy of Global Online Recruitment Market Research Report @Online Recruitment Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversLinkedInCareerBuilderMonsterSEEKZhilian51jobNaukriStepStoneDice HoldingsGlassdoorSimplyHiredTopUSAJobs104 Job BankOthersOnline Recruitment Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Online Recruitment Market Segment by Type, coversPermanent online recruitmentPart Time online recruitmentOnline Recruitment Market Segment by Applications, can be divided intoSecretarial/ClericalAccounting/ FinancialComputingTechnical/EngineeringProfessional/ManagerialNursing/Medical/CareHotel/CateringThe listed pricing for this Global Online Recruitment Market report starts at $ 3480. Request Discount for Global Online Recruitment Market Research Report @There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Online Recruitment market.Chapter 1, to describe Online Recruitment Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Online Recruitment, with sales, revenue, and price of Online Recruitment Market, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Online Recruitment, for each region, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 12, Online Recruitment market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Online Recruitment sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceBrowse full table of contents and data tables For Global Online Recruitment Market Report @Related Reports: -Honduras: Upcoming 3G and 4G Spectrum Allocations to Attract New Player and Drive Mobile CompetitionHonduras: Upcoming 3G and 4G Spectrum Allocations to Attract New Player and Drive Mobile Competition? a new Country Intelligence Report by GlobalData, provides an executive-level overview of the telecommunications market in Honduras today, with detailed forecasts of key indicators up to 2021.MarketSizeForecasters.com, a Skyline Market Research LLP brand, is an online aggregator of market research reports. MarketSizeForecasters.com offers a comprehensive collection of full length reports on global and regional markets in 100+ industry verticals. We have partnered with some of the leading business and market research publishing houses and regularly update our online library to offer wide range of reports to our customers.Market size forecastersThe Green Suite #4594,Dover, DE 19901United StatesPhone: 1-201-355-0868US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketsizeforecasters.comWebsite:
Piston Market is Expected to Grow at a CAGR of 5% by 2022
Piston Market
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Market Research Future published a half cooked research report on global piston market. The global piston market is expected to grow over the CAGR of around 5% during the period 2016 to 2022.Market Highlights:The global piston market will be driven by the rapidly developing light weighted pistons market and the increase in the number of passenger vehicles, which require the use pistons. The increase in sales of automobiles, including both two-wheelers and four wheelers, is also expected to drive the market of pistons. The increase in demand of lightweight pistons, owing to the rise in fuel prices and the disposable income of the people, is also expected to boost the growth of the global piston market. The market is challenged by the need of the manufacturers to supply high quality pistons at low cost.Request a Sample Copy @Market Research Analysis:Among all types of coatings used in pistons, the oil shedding coating is used the most. The oil shedding coating is applied to the underside of the piston and it requires no additional manufacturing. It is intended to reduce the reciprocating weight by repelling oil quicker than an untreated part. The thermal barrier coating is applied to the top of the piston and is designed to reflect heat into the combustion chamber, thereby increasing exhaust gas velocity and greatly improving the scavenging potential.Asia-Pacific region is expected to dominate the global piston market with the highest CAGR owing to the boom in the automotive piston market resulting from the rapidly changing lifestyle, increase in the disposable income, and the extensive growth in population. The increase in adoption and sales of light weight pistons for both light commercial vehicles and the heavy commercial vehicles is also driving the growth of the market in the region.Key Players of Piston Market: Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd. (Japan) Federal-Mogul Corporation (U.S.) Rheinmetall Automotive AG (Germany) MAHLE GmbH (Germany) Arias Pistons Ltd (U.K.) Shandong BinzhouBohai Piston Co., Ltd. (China) Burgess-Norton Mfg. Co., Inc. (U.S.) Ming Shun Industrial Co. Ltd (Taiwan) Ross Racing Pistons (U.S.) Shriram Pistons and Rings ltd. (India)Scope of the Report:This study provides an overview of the global piston market, tracking three market segments across four geographic regions. The report studies key players, providing a five-year annual trend analysis that highlights market size, volume and share for North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC) and Rest of the World (ROW). The report also provides a forecast, focusing on the market opportunities for the next five years for each region. The scope of the study segments the Global Piston market by its material, coating, vehicle type and region.By Material Steel AluminumBy Coating Thermal Barrier Oil Shedding Dry Film Lubricating OthersBy Vehicle Type Passenger cars Light commercial vehicle Heavy commercial vehicleBy Region North America Asia Pacific Europe Rest of the WorldBrief TOC for Piston Market:1 Executive Summary2 Research Methodology2.1 Scope of the Study2.1.1 Definition2.1.2 Research Objective2.1.3 Assumptions2.1.4 Limitations2.2 Research Process2.2.1 Primary Research2.2.2 Secondary Research2.3 Market size Estimation2.4 Forecast Model3 Market Dynamics3.1 Market Drivers3.2 Market Inhibitors3.3 Supply/Value Chain Analysis3.4 Porters Five Forces Analysis4 Global Piston Market, By Material4.1 Introduction4.2 Steel4.3 Aluminum Glass5 Global Piston Market, By Coating5.1 Introduction5.2 Thermal Barrier5.3 Oil Shedding5.4 Dry Film Lubricating5.6 OthersContinueAccess Report Details @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com
U.S. Beauty Devices Market to Account US $25,375.7 Million by 2020
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The U.S. beauty devices market was valued at USD 9,034.2 million in 2014 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 18.8% from 2014 to 2020, to reach an estimated value of USD 25,375.7 million by 2020.The U.S. beauty devices market is witnessing significant growth due to rising in geriatric population, as these beauty devices help reverse skin aging. Moreover, increasing the prevalence of obesity resulting in cellulite accumulation and skin diseases, and harmful effects of ultraviolet radiation are also driving the market. However, there are various risks and complications associated with beauty devices such as bruising, swelling, and redness. Furthermore, the wide availability of easy-to-use beauty products inhibits the growth of the U.S. beauty devices market. The U.S. beauty devices market is anticipated to grow from USD 9,034.2 million in 2014 to USD 25,375.7 million by 2020 at a CAGR of 18.8% during the forecast period.A sample of this report is available upon request @In North America, increasing aging population and availability of advanced devices are driving the growth in demand for beauty devices in the market. In addition, in the U.S., there are around 750,000 beauty salons and spas. These beauty salons and spas have propelled the demand for beauty devices and personal care products in order to offer better services to their customers.Request to view table of content @LOreal Group, Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc., Home Skinovations Ltd., PhotoMedex, Inc., TRIA Beauty, Inc., Koninklijke Philips N.V., Syneron Medical, Ltd., Cynosure, Inc., and Procter & Gamble Company are some of the major players in the U.S. beauty devices market.Buy Now: You can now buy a single user license of the report @About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Persistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd.305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Gas Leak Detector Market to Register US $3143.67 Million by the End of 2020
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Global gas leak detectors market accounted for US$ 2,312.2 Mn in 2014 and while exhibiting a CAGR of 5.3% over the forecast period. The Global Gas Leak Detector Market is expected to reach US$ 3143.67 Mn by the end of 2020, representing a CAGR of 5.29% through 2015 to 2020.A sample of this report is available upon request @Key driving factors, identified in the global gas leak detectors marketare stringent government safety norms, growing investment in oil & gas and chemical Industries and increasing commercial and residential infrastructure development. However, lower profit margin due to intense competition, deferred investments in oil and gas might pose a challenge towards the growth of the global gas leak detector market. Some of the major trends identified in the global gas leak detector market are the use of internet of everything (IoT) and artificial neural network technology and gas leak detectors.The global gas leak detector market report is categorically split under four sections namely: market analysis by region, applications, product type and technology. The report analyses the global gas leak detector market in terms of market value (US$ Mn) and volume (Million Units).From a regional perspective, North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe and Western Europe together contributed 50% of the global gas leak detector market value in year 2014. Whilst Asia Pacific excluding Japan contributed total 35%, making it the largest geographical segment in the global gas leak detector market. The Middle East and Africa gas leak detector market is projected to grow at promising CAGR of 6.27% through the forecast period.From the product type perspective, Portable type gas leak detectors accounted a leading share in the global gas leak detector market value in 2014, which is projected to remain dominant throughout the forecast period. The fixed type gas leak detector market is projected to exhibit CAGR of approximately 3.8% for the year 2015 to 2020.On the basis of technology type, the electrochemical based gas leak detector is the predominant segment with total share of about 38%, whilst the ultrasonic, semiconductor and infrared based gas leak detector cumulatively accounted for 46.6% % in the global gas leak detector market value in 2014. When compared with other remaining technology segment the infrared based gas leak detectors is projected to grow at higher CAGR of 6.30% over the forecast period.Request to view Table of content @From an application perspective, the Industrial application segment of the gas leak detector is the largest segment of the global gas leak detector market in 2014. Out of the sub-segment oil & gas is the major segment, holding the largest market share as compared with other remaining sub-segment. On the other hand, the market value accounted in year 2014 by commercial establishment application segment is approximately 2.5X of the value registered by the residential segment. Others application segment is expected to grow with a CAGR of 7.1% from 2015 to 2020.Key market participants covered in the report include MSA Safety Inc., Honeywell International Inc., TycoInternational plc, Dragerwerk AG & Co. KgaA, Emerson Electric Company and other players.To Buy Full Report for a Single User @About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Persistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd.305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Global Metering Pump Market Plying for Significant Growth During 2015 2024
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Growing demand for the modernization and environmental friendly water treatments and waste water management are driving this metering pump market. APAC is growing economy and have the great potential for this market. Development and launch of new products is a trend observed in this market. The players in this market are focusing of research and development in order to develop improved new products.A sample of this report is available upon request @Government regulations and promotions or the energy efficiency, product standards, precision stimulates digitization and high growth application areas such as demand in pharmaceutical product, growing need for water treatment and waste water management and rising demand for oil and gas expansion are driving forces for this market. Maturity in North America and Europe market, market recession and lack of Greenfield investments are some factors restraining the growth of market. Players in this market have opportunity in Coal bed Methane reserves.Global metering pump market is segmented on the bias of pump types, applications and geography. On the basis of pump types the market is segmented into Diaphragm Metering Pumps, Plunger/Piston Metering Pumps and Other Type of Metering Pumps. On the basis of applications the market is segmented into Water Treatment, Water & Waste Water Treatment, Oil & Gas, Chemical Processes, Pharmaceuticals, Food & Beverages, Pulp & Paper, Agriculture & Pesticides and textiles with others. And on the basis of geography the global market for metering pump is segmented into North America, Europe, APAC and rest of world (RoW).Request to view Table of content @Alltech Dosieranlagen GmbH, Blue-White Industries Ltd., Emec S.R.L., Grundfos Water Treatment GmbH, Idex Corporation, Injection Tecnical Control Inc., KNF Neuberger GmbH.,Lewa GmbH, Lutz-Jesco GmbH, Mcfarland-Tritan LLC, Milton Roy Company, Moyno Inc., Neptune Chemical Pump Company, Prominent Dosiertechnik GmbH, Seepex GmbH, Seko S.P.A.,SPX Flow Technology Norderstedt GmbH, Swelore Engineering Pvt. Ltd., Walchem and Watson-Marlow Pumps Group are some of the major players in metering pump market.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Persistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd.305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Natural Protein A Resins Market will grow at 8% CAGR from 2016 to 2024
Global Market Insights, Inc.
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The global report Protein A Resins Market Size By Application (Immunoprecipitation, Antibody Purification), By Product (Natural protein A, Recombinant Protein A), By Matrix (Agarose, Glass/Silica Gel, Organic Polymer), By End Use (Biopharmaceutical, Clinical Research, Academic Research, CRO), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, Germany, UK, Spain, Italy, Russia, Poland, Japan, China, India, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt), Growth Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2016 2024 by Global Market Insights, Inc. says Protein A Resin Market size is slated to surpass USD 900 million by 2024.Protein A resins are crucial and are broadly used as purification and separation materials owing to high resolution, across the biopharmaceutical industry. They exploit the chemical and physical variances among biomolecules for separation of antibodies by immunoprecipitation and antibody purification. Growing diagnostic and therapeutic applications of monoclonal antibodies will be the major driver for protein A resins market size.Request for a sample of this research report -High selectivity and improved antibody yield coupled with ease of operation in large and small scale antibody purification and immunoprecipitation will further drive the protein A resins market growth. Chromatography with these has several advantages as a separation method, over conventional techniques like solvent extraction, crystallization, and distillation. For instance, it can separate all the components of a multicomponent biochemical mixture without demanding a detailed foreknowledge of the number, identity, or relative quantities of the materials present in the mixture.U.S. market growth will continue to dominate other regions due to presence of well-established infrastructure for clinical trials. Recombinant protein A resins market will grow at significant CAGR of around 8% during the forecast period owing to the wealth of techniques and products used for their expression and purification. Contract research organizations (CROs) provide modified solutions for monoclonal antibody and recombinant protein production from mammalian cell culture. The segment accounted for second highest revenue share of around 15%. CROs also offer large-scale protein production and virus production, making it suitable for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies as well as academic institutions to outsource processes.Browse key industry insights spread across 127 pages with 123 market data tables & around 8 figures & charts from this 2017 report Protein A Resins Market in detail along with the table of contents at:In 2015, Spain protein A resins market size was over USD 25 million, increasing investments by public and private companies in the development of biosimilars and increasing demand for biosimilar products are the significant factors driving the market for monoclonal antibodies and eventually Spain market growth.Asia Pacific protein A resins market will grow at highest CAGR of over 8.5%, favorable government policies, dynamic infrastructure development will attract international companies to set-up manufacturing plants in the region and availability of skilled professionals at affordable costs. The region has emerged as a preferred destination for contract research organizations and various biopharmaceutical companies to establish business.Japan protein A resins market accounted for over 40% share, as its healthcare infrastructure is experiencing noteworthy transformation. The government is strategically planning a regulatory system in which public and private companies will contribute to develop novel biosimilar products.India antibody purification market has witnessed notable growth in recent years, which could continue in the vicinity of 10%, with factors such as increasing research into the development monoclonal antibodies, driving protein A resins market growth.Major industry companies include GE Healthcare, Repligen, GenScript, Tosoh Bioscience, Merck Millipore (EMD Millipore), Thermo Fisher Scientific, Novasep, Expedeon, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Danaher Corporation, Sigma-Aldrich, Purolite Life Sciences, Takara Bio, and Agarose Bead Technologies.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @Table of Contents:Chapter 1. Methodology and Scope1.1. Research Methodology1.1.1. Initial data exploration1.1.2. Statistical model and forecast1.1.3. Industry insights and validation1.1.4. Research scope and assumptions1.2. List of Data Sources1.2.1. Primary sources1.2.2. Secondary sourcesChapter 2. Executive Summary2.1. Protein A Resin industry 3600 synopsis, 2012 - 2024 (USD Million)2.1.1. Business trends2.1.2. Matrix trends2.1.3. Regional trendsChapter 3. Protein A Resin Industry Insights3.1. Industry segmentation3.2. Industry size and forecast, 2012 - 20243.3. Industry impact forces3.3.1. Growth drivers3.3.1.1. Increasing demand for therapeutic antibodies3.3.1.2. Increase in use of chromatography techniques for food additives3.3.1.3. Drugs discovery and other research and development around the globe3.3.2. Industry pitfalls & challenges3.3.2.1. High cost associated with Protein A Resins3.4. Growth potential benchmarking3.4.1. New business models3.5. Porter's analysis3.6. Regulatory landscape3.6.1. U.S.3.6.2. Europe3.6.3. China3.7. Technology landscape3.8. PESTEL analysis3.9. Industry ecosystem analysis3.10. Company market share analysis, 2015Browse Related Reports: Precision Medicine Market Size By Technology (Big Data Analytics, Gene Sequencing, Drug Discovery, Bioinformatics, Companion Diagnostics), By Application (Oncology, CNS, Immunology, Respiratory), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, Germany, UK, France, Scandinavia, Italy, Japan, China, India, Singapore, Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia), Application Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2016 2023About Global Market Insights:Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Blog:
Cosmetic Packaging Market is Expected to Reach USD 35.6 Billion by 2022
Cosmetic Packaging Market
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Market Research Future published a half cooked research report on global cosmetic packaging market. The global cosmetic packaging market is expected to grow over the CAGR of around 5.2% during the period 2016 to 2022.Taste the market data and market information presented through more than 100 market data tables and figures spread in 125 numbers of pages of the project report. Avail the in-depth table of content TOC & market synopsis on Global Cosmetic Packaging Market Research Report - Forecast to 2022".Market Highlights:The Global Cosmetic Packaging Market is competitive due to the high growth potential in the market and the presence of many small and large vendors. The key drivers of cosmetic packaging are growth on innovative and alluring packaging. Major cosmetics and personal care brands have started considering effective packaging as an important attribute of product marketing. Therefore, the strategy enhanced brand visibility, increased sales, reduced brand recall rates.The market is majorly influenced by the presence of plastic. It is the most preferred material which is used as packaging by the manufacturers and consumers. The use of plastic ensures the durability of the packaging along with retention of the important minerals and chemical properties of the product. The rising awareness about anti- aging products with the flourishing e-commerce sector in the APAC region is expected to increase the demand of this market.Request a Sample Copy @The hair and skin care industries accounts for a major share of the market. Packaging is very crucial to these industries as lot of chemical components are at play which needs very secured packaging for the product to retain its properties for which it is designed for. The cosmetics are directly or in directly applied on the human body, which makes it even more important for the product to deliver the right results.Key Players of Cosmetic Packaging Market: ABC Packaging Ltd Aptar Group Inc. Amcor Limited Albea S.A Fusion Packaging Gerresheimer AG HCP Packaging. Libo Cosmetics Company, Ltd. Quadpack Industries RPC Group Plc.Scope of the Report:This study provides an overview of the global cosmetic packaging industry, tracking three market segments across four geographic regions. The report studies key players, providing a five-year annual trend analysis that highlights market size, volume and share for North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World. The report also provides a forecast, focusing on the market opportunities for the next five years for each region. The scope of the study segments the Global Cosmetic Packaging Market as material, product and application. On the basis of material it is segmented as metals, plastics, paper, glass and others. On the basis of product it is segmented as bottles, tubes, jars, containers, sticks, roller balls and others. On the basis of application it is segmented as hair care, skin care, nail care, makeup care and others.Brief TOC for Cosmetic Packaging Market:1 Executive Summary2 Scope Of The Report2.1 Market Definition2.2 Scope Of The Study2.2.1 Research Objectives2.2.2 Assumptions & Limitations2.3 Markets Structure3 Market Research Methodology3.1 Research Process3.2 Secondary Research3.3 Primary Research3.4 Forecast Model4 Market Landscape4.1 Five Forces Analysis4.1.1 Threat Of New Entrants4.1.2 Bargaining power of buyers4.1.3 Threat of substitutes4.1.4 Segment rivalry4.2 Value Chain of Global Cosmetic Packaging Market5 Industry Overview of Global Cosmetic Packaging Market5.1 Introduction5.2 Growth Drivers5.3 Impact analysis5.4 Market Challenges5.5 Impact analysisContinueMarket Research Analysis:The market is highly application based. The key drivers of cosmetic packaging are growth on innovative and alluring packaging. Major cosmetics and personal care brands have started considering effective packaging as an important attribute of product marketing. Therefore, the strategy enhanced brand visibility, increased sales, reduced brand recall rates.On the basis of materials such as glass, plastic, paper, metal, and wood are used for packaging cosmetics. Plastic leads the market in terms of both value and volume. The changing lifestyles and rising consumer preference the demand for eco-friendly products are increasing. The share owes to the properties of plastic such as light-weight, and durability. On the basis of applications, hair care and skin care accounts for the largest share in the market. The share is attributed to the changing lifestyles and preferences. The industry demands durable and light weight packaging.On the basis of region, UK, US and Germany contributes largely to the global cosmetic packaging market, majorly due to increase in demand for luxury goods. In terms of demand APAC is currently dominating the market. The rising awareness about anti- aging products with the flourishing e-commerce sector in the APAC region is expected to increase the demand of this market. The region has also seen a lot of investment in R&D towards the technological advancement in cosmetic packaging industries.Access Full Report @Target Audience: Manufactures Raw Materials Suppliers Aftermarket suppliers Research Institute / Education Institute Potential Investors Key executive (CEO and COO) and strategy growth managerAbout Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.Contact:Akash AnandMarket Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com
Global Silent Air Gun Market Analysis by Application, Type, Revenue, Price and Trend 2012 - 2022
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Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Silent Air Gun in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversSilventExairFestoParkerSmcJwlCejnGROZCoilhosePrevostAventicsAirtxRequest a sample copy of Silent Air Gun Research Report @Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, coversStraight NozzleAngled NozzleOthersMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoIndustrial MachineryElectronicsAutomotiveOthersBrowse full table of contents and data tables For Silent Air Gun Market Research Report @There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Silent Air Gun market.Chapter 1, to describe Silent Air Gun Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving forceChapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Silent Air Gun, with sales, revenue, and price of Silent Air Gun, in 2016 and 2017Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Silent Air Gun, for each region, from 2012 to 2017Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regionsChapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017Chapter 12, Silent Air Gun market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Silent Air Gun sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceEnquire for Discount Global Silent Air Gun Market Research Report @Related Reports: -2007-2016 Global Bicycles Trading ReportThis report is an essential reference for who looks for trading information on global Bicycles market. The report covers 10-years data on global, regional and national for trading information.Report Scope:The report covers North America and Countries-wised Bicycles Import and Export InformationThe report covers South America and Countries-wised Bicycles Import and Export InformationThe report covers Europe and Countries-wised Bicycles Import and Export InformationThe report covers APAC and Countries-wised Bicycles Import and Export InformationThe report covers MEA and Countries-wised Bicycles Import and Export InformationMarketSizeForecasters.com, a Skyline Market Research LLP brand, is an online aggregator of market research reports. MarketSizeForecasters.com offers a comprehensive collection of full length reports on global and regional markets in 100+ industry verticals. We have partnered with some of the leading business and market research publishing houses and regularly update our online library to offer wide range of reports to our customers.Market size forecastersThe Green Suite #4594,Dover, DE 19901United StatesPhone: 1-201-355-0868US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketsizeforecasters.comWebsite:Connect with us: LinkedIn | Twitter
Trend Expected to Guide Dehydrated Food Market by 2021
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Dehydrated food market can be segmented on the basis of technology which includes spray dried, freeze dried, vacuum dried, sun dried, hot air dried and others. Traditionally among all these segments sun dried process of dehydration was the major segment in terms of usage by food manufacturers followed by hot air dried process. However due to the introduction of new technology spray dried is expected to account for largest share in terms of market revenue contribution, followed by freeze dried during the forecast period. Vacuum dried segment is expected to show a consistent growth as compared to others. Limited usage in food products is expected to be the restraining factor for the growth of vacuum dried technology in dehydrated food market in the near future.Drying or dehydration is a process through which moisture or water content is removed from the food. Removing of water content from food makes them lighter and smaller. It helps in preservation of food for longer period of time. Dehydrated food do not require any refrigeration while preserving at home or at the time of consumption. Moreover, dehydrated food is ideal for preserving seasonal fruits and vegetables. Dehydrated food offer high nutritional value, easy storage properties and availability at low price, which is driving the demand of dehydrate food across the globe.Furthermore, dehydrated food market can also be segmented on the basis of types. This includes dehydrated dairy products, dehydrated fruits, dehydrated meat products, dehydrated vegetables and others. Among all these segment meat products is expected to account for largest market share followed by dairy products. Increasing demand for enhanced year around availability of processed and canned meat products among the manufacturers is expected to support the demand of dehydrated meat products in the near future. Moreover the dehydrated fruits and dehydrated vegetables segments respectively are expected show a favorable growth during the forecast period. This is attributed to rising demand of seasonal fruits and vegetables.Dehydrated food market can also be segmented on the basis of region. Globally, North America is expected to account for the major market share. In North American region the U.S is expected to be the major contributor in terms of revenue followed by Canada. Increased consumption of meat products in North America is expected to support the demand of dehydrated food products across the region. Europe is also expected to be one of the prominent contributor in dehydrated food products market in terms of revenue followed by Asia Pacific. Among all the countries in the European region United Kingdom is expected to contribute the highest during the forecast period. Moreover in terms of production of dehydrated food China is expected to be one of the prominent producer of dehydrated food products. In addition, China is one of the largest meat products producer along with prime producer of various seasonal fruits and vegetables. This is expected to contribute towards significant growth in the country.Request to view table of content @Rising demand of food products with longer shelf life coupled with the increasing demand of seasonal products across the year is supporting the growth of dehydrated food market during the forecast period. Moreover, increasing demand of food manufacturers for preserving food product for longer period so that they could use it as an ingredient in their final product is also fuelling the demand of dehydrated food market during the forecast period.A sample of this report is available upon request @Some of the international players operating in dehydrated food market are General Mills Inc., Ting Hsin International Group, Unilever China Ltd, Ajinomoto Co. Inc., House Foods Corp, Nissin Food Holdings Co. Ltd. and Kraft Foods Inc, among others.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Trend Expected to Guide Protein Hydrolysate Ingredients Market 2021
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Protein hydrolysate Ingredients Market demand is anticipated to increase globally owing to the increasing number of health conscious consumers. Protein hydrolysate ingredients market is expected to exhibit strong growth in North America due to the increasing number of high affluent class people coupled with rising awareness of consumers regarding the health .In North America, U.S. is the most dominating market, followed by other European countries. There is increasing demand of Protein Hydrolysate Ingredients Market in U.S. due the increasing disposable income of consumers and also rising number of health conscious consumers. Furthermore, Europe is expected to exhibit consistent growth due to increasing production of milk in the European regions. However, Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing market in the forthcoming years due the increasing investment of companies to launch new ingredients especially in infant formula segment. This trend is especially witnessed in China due to the increasing consumer interest in specialist nutrition. Protein hydrolysate ingredients market is growing drastically in China due to the increasing upper middle class population that supports the growth of protein hydrolysate ingredient rich products, which are higher in price.Protein hydrolysate ingredients are the group of peptides derived from proteins. Protein hydrolysate are rich in protein content and are absorbed more quickly in comparison to other proteins. The different type of protein hydrolysate ingredients include milk protein hydrolysate and meat protein hydrolysate. These protein hydrolysate ingredients have relatively low antigenic properties. Protein hydrolysates ingredients enhance the digestibility and reduces the protein allergy especially in infants.There are various form of protein hydrolysate ingredients available in the market. Protein Hydrolysate ingredients market can be segmented on the basis of ingredients, application and region. Based on ingredient type, the segmentation includes milk protein hydrolysate and meat protein hydrolysate. Milk protein hydrolysates are type of peptides derived from milk proteins. There are two main sources of milk protein hydrolysates that includes whey protein hydrolysates and casein hydrolysates. The protein hydrolysates ingredients most commonly used in nutritional products are casein, whey protein and soy protein. These ingredients are the type of peptides that possess high nutritional properties and are comparatively absorbed quickly than other types of protein or amino acids. In Protein hydrolysates market, milk hydrolysate is anticipated to exhibit robust growth in the next four to five years. This is due to the comparatively less preference of consumers for meat hydrolysates ingredients.On the basis of application protein hydrolysate ingredient market is segmented into infant formula, clinical nutrition and sport and slimming food. Among all the segments infant formula is the fastest growing segment, which is anticipated to witness double digit growth over the forecasted period, followed by the sport nutrition and clinical nutrition. The protein hydrolysates market is studied across various regions that includes North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific excluding Japan, Japan and Middle East and Africa.A sample of this report is available upon request @Protein hydrolysate ingredients market is witnessing healthy growth. This is due the increasing demand for protein hydrolysate ingredients by consumers owing to the health benefits coupled with nutritional benefits associated with it across developed regions. However, various factors that restrict the growth of protein hydrolysate ingredients market include less awareness among consumers regarding the health benefits associated with the consumption of protein hydrolysate ingredients in emerging economies.Request to view table of content @Major Players that operate in protein hydrolysate ingredients market include Abbott Laboratories, Danone S.A., Davisco Foods International, Inc. Arla Foods Ingredients Group P/S, Kerry Group plc, Carbery Group.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Automated Hospital Beds Sales Market 2017 Global Strategy Analysis, Forecast 2022 Research Report
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Orbis Research always aims to bring their clients the best research material and in-depth analysis of the information for any market. This new report Global Automated Hospital Beds Sales Market for 2017 aims to fulfil the needs of the clients looking for a fresh outlook towards the Global Automated Hospital Beds Sales Market, or fill in the knowledge gaps with the data available in the report. The well-presented and curated report is compiled by seasoned and professional research experts and subject matter experts in the field. The clients will find the report complete in all aspects as it covers all key components with valuable statistics and expert opinions in all regards.The Global Automated Hospital Beds Sales Industry report contains a complete product overview and its scope in the market to define the key terms and provide the clients a holistic idea of the market and its tendencies. This is followed by the classification, applications, and the regional analysis of the market to ensure the clients are well informed about each section. The report also contains key values and facts of the Global Automated Hospital Beds Sales market in terms of value and volume, sales and its growth rate, and revenue and its growth rate.Request a Sample Copy of Global Automated Hospital Beds Sales Market Report @One of the major mainstays of the Global Automated Hospital Beds Sales Industry report is the coverage on the competition. The report covers all key parameters such as market share, revenue generation, new products or marketing strategies of the competition, latest R&D, and market expert comments, along with the contact information. Key market trends, expert opinions, and a well curated forecast are all included in Global Automated Hospital Beds Sales Market report.Also, some key information such as the cost analysis, industrial chain, sourcing strategy, distributors, marketing strategy, and factor analysis of the Automated Hospital Beds Sales Market are all a part of the report. The report concludes with the customary SWOT analysis and the analysis on investment feasibility and returns.Browse Complete Report @As always has been the aim at Orbis Research with every report put up, the information on offer is complete and true knowledge seekers will benefit from it. Irrespective of the interest, academic or commercial, the Automated Hospital Beds Sales Industry report curated and compiled by domain experts will definitely shed light on key information which the clients require.Place purchase order on this report atSome points from Table of Content:Chapter One: Methodology/Research ApproachChapter Two: Global Automated Hospital Beds Competition by Players/Suppliers, Type and ApplicationChapter Three: USA Automated Hospital Beds (Sales, Revenue and Price)Chapter Four: China Automated Hospital Beds (Sales, Revenue and Price)Chapter Five: Europe Automated Hospital Beds (Sales, Revenue and Price)Chapter Six: Japan Automated Hospital Beds (Sales, Revenue and Price)Chapter Seven: India Automated Hospital Beds (Sales, Revenue and Price)Chapter Eight: Southeast Asia Automated Hospital Beds (Sales, Revenue and Price)Chapter Nine: Global Automated Hospital Beds Players/Suppliers Profiles and Sales DataChapter Ten: Automated Hospital Beds Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter Eleven: Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter Twelve: Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter Thirteen: Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter Fourteen: Global Automated Hospital Beds Market Forecast (2017-2022)Chapter Fifteen: Research Findings and ConclusionChapter Sixteen: AppendixAbout Us:Orbis Research (orbisresearch.com) is a single point aid for all your market research requirements. We have vast database of reports from the leading publishers and authors across the globe. We specialize in delivering customised reports as per the requirements of our clients. We have complete information about our publishers and hence are sure about the accuracy of the industries and verticals of their specialisation. This helps our clients to map their needs and we produce the perfect required market research study for our clients.Contact Us:Hector CostelloSenior Manager Client Engagements4144N Central Expressway,Suite 600, Dallas,Texas - 75204, U.S.A.Phone No.: +1 (214) 884-6817; +912064101019Email ID: sales@orbisresearch.comFor More PRs Visit @
Dental Carpule Market: Industry Analysis, Future Growth, Business Prospects and Global Forecast to 2027
Dental Carpule Market
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Dental Carpule Market:The Dental caruples is cylindrical glass containing anesthetic drug. The carpules are cartridges that come in different sizes. In recent years the manufacturers of the dental carpules have developed the carpules composed of plastic. These plastic carpules have several disadvantages as the result glass made carpules are most preferred.Key Players of Dental Carpule Market: Septodont Dentsply Ritter GmbH Henke-Sass Wolf GmbH Gerresheimer TrifarmaRequest a Sample Copy @Market Segmentation:Segmentation by End Users: Dental clinic Hospitals Clinics Home caresSegmentation by Types: Glass carpules Plastic carpules Dental cartridge syringeThe dental carpules can be segmented in different standard sizes such as 1.7 ml, 1.8ml, 1.76ml, 2ml and 2.2ml.Dental Carpules Applications:The dental carpules are mainly used in medical environment like Dental clinics, Hospitals, home care, etc. These dental carpules contain various solutions like Local anesthetic drug, Sodium chloride, sterile water, Vasopressor, Sodium bisulfite, Methylparaben and many others. The carpules can hold up to 2.2 ml of solution and can be increased depending upon the requirement. The dental carpules ensures efficiency by reducing the risk of air entrapment, thus safe and clean application.Access Report Details @Key Market Driver:Dental professionals are looking for safer and high technology dental carpules. There is increasing growth in Dental carpules market. The main reason for the demand of dental carpules is the development and new innovation in carrying the anesthetic solutions.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.Contact:Akash AnandMarket Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com
United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia M2M and IoT Market Size, Status and Forecast 2021
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This report studies the global M2M and IoT market, analyzes and researches the M2M and IoT development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeMasternautOnAssetSFparkInovgridGATSORedflexAmerican Traffic SolutionsAMKOCMHG CapitalHitachiEast Coast RailwaysTapiolaCozifyTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEUJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaMarket segment by Application, M2M and IoT can be split intoApplication 1Application 2Application 3Browse Complete Report with TOC @Table of ContentsUnited States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia M2M and IoT Market Size, Status and Forecast 20211 Industry Overview of M2M and IoT1.1 M2M and IoT Market Overview1.1.1 M2M and IoT Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global M2M and IoT Market Size and Analysis by Regions1.2.1 United States1.2.2 EU1.2.3 Japan1.2.4 China1.2.5 India1.2.6 Southeast Asia1.3 M2M and IoT Market by End Users/Application1.3.1 Application 11.3.2 Application 21.3.3 Application 32 Global M2M and IoT Competition Analysis by Players2.1 M2M and IoT Market Size (Value) by Players (2015-2016)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 Masternaut3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 M2M and IoT Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 OnAsset3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 M2M and IoT Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 SFpark3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 M2M and IoT Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 Inovgrid3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.4.4 M2M and IoT Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.4.5 Recent Developments3.5 GATSO3.5.1 Company Profile3.5.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.5.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.5.4 M2M and IoT Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.5.5 Recent Developments3.6 Redflex3.6.1 Company Profile3.6.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.6.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.6.4 M2M and IoT Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.6.5 Recent DevelopmentsQYResearchReports.com is an unimpeachable source of market research data for clients that comprise acclaimed SMEs, Chinese companies, private equity firms, and MNCs. We provide market research reports on various categories such as Energy, Chemicals, Alternative and Green Energy, Manufacturing, Machinery, Pharmaceuticals and Materials, and Glass.QYResearchReportsContact Us1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Trend Expected to Guide Foaming Agents Market by 2021
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Global foaming agents market is segmented on the basis of type, application and region. Based on the type, food foaming agents is segmented into natural and artificial. Of which, the natural foaming agent is the leading segment in terms of revenue contribution, followed by the artificial foaming agents. The natural foaming agent is the dominating segment, as companies are primarily manufacturing natural foaming agents in order to meet the rising preference of the customers for the food products that contain natural ingredients. On the basis of application food foaming agents, segmentation includes beverages and dairy. Of which, beverage segment is expected to be the dominating segment over the forecast period due the expanding market for the beverage such as alcohol globally, However, followed by the dairy, dairy segment is expected to witness consistent growth in the coming four to five years. Global foaming agents market is segmented on the basis of the region into North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia-Pacific excluding Japan, Middle East and Africa and Japan.Foaming agents are used create foam in food products and also used to add flavour to the food products. Various types of foaming agents include Gelatin and Lecithin.Gelatin is used in various food products to stabilize the foam. However, Lecithin is primarily used for converting juices to foams. Foaming agents are of various types including natural and artificial foaming agents. Natural foaming agents such as Yucca schidigera and Quillaja saponaria are used in various applications such as carbonated beverages, juices and beer. These foaming agents are especially used in products that require enhanced foaming properties.The Global foaming agents market is expected to witness robust growth over the forecast period due to the expanding beverage and dairy industry. Globally among all regions, North America is the most dominating segment followed by other regions. In North America, U.S. is expected to contribute highest market share, followed by other countries during the forecast period. North America is expected to contribute maximum market share owing to the high consumption of food products, especially in the dairy segment. However, Asia-Pacific is expected to witness fast growth in the next four to five yearsA sample of this report is available upon request @A major factor that fuel the growth of foaming agents market includes the growing demand of consumers for the food products that are superior in taste. Another factor that is expected to boost the demand of foaming agent is increasing consumption of beverages such as alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks. Moreover, application of foaming agent in beverages such as alcohol is the cost-effective method for releasing foam in drinks. However, major factor that is expected to hinder the growth of foaming agents is adverse effects related to the consumption of food products in beverage and dairy segmentRequest to view table of content @Major companies operating in Foaming Agents are Nature S.A., Bergen International, Adams Food Ingredients Ltd, Desert King International, Garuda International Inc., Kerry Inc., RIKEN VITAMIN Co., Ltd. Companies operating in foaming agent market are adopting strategy to launch numerous foaming agents in order to cater to the evolving demand for foaming agents especially from food and beverage industry. Companies are also adopting a strategy to expand its geographical reach in order to increase its market presence and grab the maximum untapped and potential market related to foaming agents. Companies operating in foaming agents market are also adopting a strategy to increase the revenue by manufacturing foaming agents tailored for the specific application.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Taiwan Power Market Trends, Regulations, and Competitive Landscape Outlook to 2030, Update 2017
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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Taiwan Power Market Outlook to 2030, Update 2017 - Market Trends, Regulations, and Competitive Landscape" to its huge collection of research reports.This report elaborates Taiwan's power market structure and provides historical and forecast numbers for capacity, generation, and consumption up to 2030. Detailed analysis of the Taiwan power markets regulatory structure, import and export trends, competitive landscape, and power projects at various stages of the supply chain is provided. The report also gives a snapshot of the power sector in Taiwan on broad parameters of macroeconomics, supply security, generation infrastructure, transmission infrastructure, degree of competition, regulatory scenario, and future potential. An analysis of the deals market scenario in the countrys power sector is also included in the report.Scope- Snapshot of the countrys power sector across parameters - macro economics, supply security, generation infrastructure, transmission infrastructure, degree of competition, regulatory scenario and future potential of the power sector.- Statistics for installed capacity, power generation and consumption from 2000 to 2016, forecast for the next 14 years to 2030.- Break-up by technology, including thermal, hydro, renewable and nuclear- Data on leading current and upcoming projects.- Information on grid interconnectivity, transmission and distribution infrastructure and power exports and imports.- Policy and regulatory framework governing the market.- Detailed analysis of top market participant, including market share analysis and SWOT analysis.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Reasons to buy- Identify opportunities and plan strategies by having a strong understanding of the investment opportunities in the countrys power sector- Identification of key factors driving investment opportunities in the countrys power sector- Facilitate decision-making based on strong historic and forecast data- Develop strategies based on the latest regulatory events- Position yourself to gain the maximum advantage of the industrys growth potential- Identify key partners and business development avenues- Identify key strengths and weaknesses of important market participants- Respond to your competitors business structure, strategy and prospects.Table of Contents1 Table of Contents 21.1 List of Tables 41.2 List of Figures 52 Executive Summary 62.1 Taiwan, Power Sector Outlook 63 Introduction 103.1 GlobalData Report Guidance 114 Taiwan, Power Market, Snapshot 124.1 Macroeconomic Factors 124.2 Supply Security 144.3 Opportunities 154.4 Challenges 155 Taiwan, Power Market, Market Analysis 175.1 Taiwan, Power Market, Market Structure 175.2 Taiwan, Power Market, Key Market Players 175.3 Taiwan, Power Market, Financial Deals 185.3.1 Deal Value and Volume Analysis, 2004-August 2016 185.3.2 Deals by Type, August 2016 205.4 Taiwan, Power Market, Demand Structure 205.4.1 Power Consumption by Sector, 2015 226 Taiwan, Power Market, Regulatory Scenario 236.1 Taiwan, Power Market, Regulatory Framework 236.2 Major Policies 236.2.1 The Electricity Act 236.2.2 The Petroleum Administration Act 236.3 Other Initiatives 246.3.1 The Natural Gas Business Act (The Natural Gas Enterprise Act of 2011) 246.3.2 Promotion of Independent Power Producers 246.4 Nuclear Power Policy 246.5 Renewable Power Policy 256.5.1 Big Boost for Solar Power in Taiwan 286.5.2 Wind Power Promotion in Taiwan 286.5.3 Feed-in Tariffs for 2017 29Make an Enquiry of this report @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
Radiata Plywoods Market 2017 - Arauco, Pfleiderer, Weyerhaeuser, Daiken New Zealand, Louisiana-Pacific
Radiata Plywoods Market
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A market study based on the "Radiata Plywoods Market" across the globe, recently added to the repository of Market Research, is titled Global Radiata Plywoods Market 2017. The research report analyses the historical as well as present performance of the worldwide Radiata Plywoods industry, and makes predictions on the future status of Radiata Plywoods market on the basis of this analysis.Get Free Sample Copy of Report Here :Top Manufacturers Analysis Of This ReportAraucoDaiken New ZealandLouisiana-PacificWeyerhaeuserPfleidererThe report studies the industry for Radiata Plywoods across the globe taking the existing industry chain, the import and export statistics in Radiata Plywoods market & dynamics of demand and supply of Radiata Plywoods into consideration. The 'Radiata Plywoods' research study covers each and every aspect of the Radiata Plywoods market globally, which starts from the definition of the Radiata Plywoods industry and develops towards Radiata Plywoods market segmentations. Further, every segment of the Radiata Plywoods market is classified and analyzed on the basis of product types, application, and the end-use industries of the Radiata Plywoods market. The geographical segmentation of the Radiata Plywoods industry has also been covered at length in this report.The competitive landscape of the worldwide market for Radiata Plywoods is determined by evaluating the various industry participants, production capacity, Radiata Plywoods market's production chain, and the revenue generated by each manufacturer in the Radiata Plywoods market worldwide.Enquire Here :The global Radiata Plywoods market 2017 is also analyzed on the basis of product pricing, Radiata Plywoods production volume, data regarding demand and Radiata Plywoods supply, and the revenue garnered by the product. Various methodical tools such as investment returns, feasibility, and market attractiveness analysis has been used in the research to present a comprehensive study of the industry for Radiata Plywoods across the globe.About UsApexResearch offer reports from top publishers and update to serve you with immediate on-line access to professional insights on global industries, companies, products, and trends. Customers can buys different reports across various categories such as Chemical and Material, Biotechnology, Healthcare, Food and beverages, Automobile and various sectors. Our Website offers safe and secure online ordering experience, convenient payment options.Contact UsFrank ValadezBusiness Development Executive| sales@apexresearch.biz
Sawn Timbers Market 2017 - Arauco, Masisa, Norbord, Kronospan, Georgia-Pacific
Sawn Timbers Market
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A market study based on the "Sawn Timbers Market" across the globe, recently added to the repository of Market Research, is titled Global Sawn Timbers Market 2017. The research report analyses the historical as well as present performance of the worldwide Sawn Timbers industry, and makes predictions on the future status of Sawn Timbers market on the basis of this analysis.Get Free Sample Copy of Report Here :Top Manufacturers Analysis Of This ReportAraucoKronospanGeorgia-PacificMasisaNorbordThe report studies the industry for Sawn Timbers across the globe taking the existing industry chain, the import and export statistics in Sawn Timbers market & dynamics of demand and supply of Sawn Timbers into consideration. The 'Sawn Timbers' research study covers each and every aspect of the Sawn Timbers market globally, which starts from the definition of the Sawn Timbers industry and develops towards Sawn Timbers market segmentations. Further, every segment of the Sawn Timbers market is classified and analyzed on the basis of product types, application, and the end-use industries of the Sawn Timbers market. The geographical segmentation of the Sawn Timbers industry has also been covered at length in this report.The competitive landscape of the worldwide market for Sawn Timbers is determined by evaluating the various industry participants, production capacity, Sawn Timbers market's production chain, and the revenue generated by each manufacturer in the Sawn Timbers market worldwide.Enquire Here :The global Sawn Timbers market 2017 is also analyzed on the basis of product pricing, Sawn Timbers production volume, data regarding demand and Sawn Timbers supply, and the revenue garnered by the product. Various methodical tools such as investment returns, feasibility, and market attractiveness analysis has been used in the research to present a comprehensive study of the industry for Sawn Timbers across the globe.About UsApexResearch offer reports from top publishers and update to serve you with immediate on-line access to professional insights on global industries, companies, products, and trends. Customers can buys different reports across various categories such as Chemical and Material, Biotechnology, Healthcare, Food and beverages, Automobile and various sectors. Our Website offers safe and secure online ordering experience, convenient payment options.Contact UsFrank ValadezBusiness Development Executive| sales@apexresearch.biz
Hybrid Power Systems Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, And Forecast 2016 - 2024
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The research study is designed to analyze the global hybrid power systems market. The market is calculated in terms of revenue (US$ Mn) based on the annual sales of hybrid power systems. The market for hybrid power systems has been segmented on the basis of type, end-use, and country/region. The global hybrid power systems market, based on type, has been segmented into wind-solar-diesel-hybrid, PV-diesel-hybrid, and others. On the basis of end-use, the hybrid power systems market has been segmented into residential, rural facility electrification, and others.The regional segments included in this study are North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa (MEA), and South and Central America (SCA). These regional segments are further divided into country-wise segments. The report provides a detailed growth forecast for the 20162024 period, considering 2015 as the baseline year. Projections have been provided for revenue (US$ Mn) through the annual sales of hybrid power systems.Download Sample Copy Of This Report:The report includes the key market dynamics affecting the demand for hybrid power systems. As a part of our market dynamics analysis, we have analyzed the market drivers, market restraints, and market opportunities. A comprehensive competitive landscape, which includes company market share analysis and market attractiveness analysis, has also been provided in this report. The report also provides a detailed industry analysis of the global hybrid power systems market with the help of Porters Five Forces model. The Porters Five Forces analysis aids in understanding the five major forces that affect the industry structure and profitability of the global hybrid power systems market. The forces analyzed are the bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers, threat of new entrants, threat of substitutes, and degree of competition.The study also includes the value chain of the global hybrid power systems market which provides a glimpse of key suppliers, manufacturers, and distribution channel as well as interaction of suppliers and buyers with end-users. The company market share analysis has been done considering the revenue and global penetration of key market players in the hybrid power systems industry. The market attractiveness involves benchmarking and ranking each technology and region on the basis of numerous parameters. The parameters selected are likely to have a pronounced effect on the demand for each technology in the current scenario as well as in the near future.Browse More ICT Market Research Reports:Key participants in the global hybrid power systems market include Bergey WindPower Co., BORG Inc., Guangzhou HY Energy Technology Limited Corp., Kestrel Renewable Energy, KYOCERA Corporation, Panasonic Corporation, Schneider Electric SE, Sharp Electronics, Siemens AG, and Suzlon Group. This report provides an overview of these companies, followed by their financial revenues, business strategies, technical information, and recent developments.Global Hybrid Power Systems Market: Type AnalysisWind-Solar-Diesel-HybridPV-Diesel-HybridOthersGlobal Hybrid Power Systems Market: End-Use AnalysisResidentialRural Facility ElectrificationOthersGlobal Hybrid Power Systems Market: Regional Segment AnalysisNorth AmericaU.S.CanadaMexicoEuropeTurkeyKazakhstanRussiaRest of EuropeAsia PacificChinaJapanAustraliaIndonesiaRest of Asia PacificMiddle East and Africa (MEA)South AfricaTanzaniaEgyptUAERest of MEASouth and Central America (SCA)BrazilChileRest of SCAMarketResearchReports.biz supports your business intelligence needs with over 100,000 market research reports, company profiles, data books, and regional market data sheets in its repository. Our document database is updated by the hour, which means that you always have access to fresh data spanning over 300 industries and their sub-segments.State Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948(USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Titanium Dioxide Market: Popularity of Fuel-efficient Lightweight Vehicles Driving Demand By 2024
Global Titanium Dioxide Market
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A recent study by Transparency Market Research (TMR) observes that the global titanium dioxide market is concentrated with top five companies collectively accounting for 59% of the shares in 2014. These four companies are The Chemours Company, Huntsman International LLC, CRISTAL, Tronox Ltd., and KRONOS Worldwide, Inc. The Chemours Company is the most prominent manufacturer of titanium dioxide with a capacity of approximately 1.2 mn tons.The company focuses on establishing major research, development, and production facilities across the world to consistently expand its product portfolio. In the recent past, Huntsman International LLC has emerged as the second most important vendor in the global titanium oxide market, actively acquiring regional players in order to expand its business both geographically and in capacity.According to the TMR report, the global titanium dioxide market had an opportunity worth US$12.18 bn in 2014, and estimates it to reach a valuation of US$16.79 bn by the end of 2023, rising at a CAGR of 3.7% during the forecast period of 2015 to 2023.Obtain Report Details @Paints and Coatings Remains Primary SegmentBy application, the report segments the global market for titanium dioxide into paints and coatings, plastic, paper, and others including inks and artificial fibers. In terms of volume, the segment of paints and coatings currently dominate the demand and is expected to maintain its dominance during the forecast period due to increasing requirement for paints and coatings across various end-user industries such as automotive, construction, electronics, personal care, and optical devices. The plastic titanium dioxide segment is likely to expand at a rapid pace too, particularly in Asia Pacific, although stringent regulations in North America and Europe is anticipated to obstruct this segment from attaining its full potential in these two regions.Geographically, Asia Pacific is the most important region, which is expected to account for 46.1% of the global demand for titanium dioxide in 2023. Most of this requirement comes from the country-wide market of China, the primary manufacturer and consumer of titanium dioxide globally. North America another lucrative region for titanium dioxide market, and is expected to account for 24.5% of the market in 2023. By volume, the U.S. contributes most of the demand with paints and coatings segment as the primary application, closely followed by Canada.Make an Enquiry @Construction Industry Driving DemandProsperity of the construction industry across the globe is the primary driver of the titanium dioxide market. Government-funded infrastructure plans, economic growth, rising population, and rapid urbanization are some of the factors favoring the construction industry, which is positively reflecting on the global market for titanium dioxide. Low scratch resistance of polycarbonates coupled with increasing demand for lightweight vehicles are two other prominent driving factors of this market. With escalating energy requirements and depleting natural resources, the need to increase vehicle fuel-efficiency is touching new peaks, which makes titanium dioxide highly useful for the automotive industry.Conversely, strict environmental regulations is hindering the markets growth rate. Sulfate and chloride processes are chiefly employed in the production of titanium dioxide and wastes such as solid acid and acid wastes that are produced during the manufacturing process pose severe environmental and health hazards.According to the author of the report, Increase in the demand for high-efficiency photovoltaic installations is likely to offer high growth opportunities for titanium dioxide coatings. These coatings are applied on solar panels to improve its efficiency.The information presented in this review is based on a Transparency Market Research report, titled, Titanium Dioxide Market (Application - Paints & Coatings, Plastic, and Paper) - Global and China Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2015 - 2023.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insights for decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, TMR employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Visit Blog:
Off-Grid Solar Lighting Market Analysis By Type - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth Trends, And Forecast 2016 - 2024
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This research study analyzes the off-grid solar lighting market in terms of volume (million units) and revenue (US$ Mn). The market has been segmented on the basis of type and geography. For the research, 2015 has been taken as the base year, while all forecasts have been given for the period from 2016 to 2024. Market data for all the segments has been provided at the regional and country level from 2015 to 2024. The report provides a broad competitive analysis of companies engaged in the off-grid solar lighting business. The report also includes the key market dynamics such as drivers, restraints, and opportunities affecting the off-grid solar lighting market. These market dynamics were analyzed in detail and are illustrated in the report with the help of supporting graphs and tables. The report also provides a comprehensive industry analysis of off-grid solar lighting with the help of Porters Five Forces model. This analysis helps in understanding the five major forces that affect the market structure and profitability of the off-grid solar lighting market. The forces analyzed are bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers, threat of new entrants, threat of substitutes, and degree of competition.The high-level analysis in the report provides detailed insights into the off-grid solar lighting business globally. There are currently numerous drivers of the market. One of the most prominent drivers is decreasing cost of off-grid solar lighting products. Market attractiveness analysis was carried out for the off-grid solar lighting market on the basis of revenue realization and industrial growth. Market attractiveness was estimated on the basis of common parameters that directly impact the market in different regions.Request To Download Sample Copy Of this Report:The off-grid solar lighting market was analyzed across four regions: Asia Pacific, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. These regions are further segmented by country and type of installed off-grid solar lightings globally. Segmentation on the basis of types (solar lantern system (SLS), solar home system (SHS), and large solar home system (LSHS) has been provided for each country and region. Regional data has been provided for each sub-segment of the off-grid solar lighting market.Some of the key manufacturers of off-grid solar lightings are Koninklijke Philips N.V., OSRAM GmbH, Niwa Solar, Tata Power Solar Systems Ltd., SunnyMoney, Omnivoltaic Power Co. Ltd., WakaWaka, BBOXX Ltd., Sinoware Technology Co. Ltd., and Azuri Technologies Ltd.Browse More ICT Market Research Reports:The off-grid solar lighting market has been segmented as follows:Off-grid Solar Lighting Market: By RegionAsia PacificAfricaLatin AmericaMiddle EastOff-grid Solar Lighting Market: By TypeSolar Lantern System (SLS)Solar Home Systems (SHS)Large Solar Home Systems (LSHS)MarketResearchReports.biz supports your business intelligence needs with over 100,000 market research reports, company profiles, data books, and regional market data sheets in its repository. Our document database is updated by the hour, which means that you always have access to fresh data spanning over 300 industries and their sub-segments.State Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948(USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Integration of Vernacular Medical Assistance in Defibrillators Proves Beneficial for Saudi Arabia Market
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The key players operating in the Saudi Arabia defibrillators market are HeartSine Technologies, Inc., Cardiac Science Corporation, Philips Healthcare, Physio-Control Inc., Schiller AG, and ZOLL Medical Corporation. These players are anticipated to focus on improving and assuring product quality to end users to build goodwill with products that are safer, observes Transparency Market Research in its latest research report. Companies will also endeavor to expand their market share by raising awareness about defibrillation through impactful promotional campaigns.Obtain Report Details @With these collaborative efforts of market players, the Saudi Arabia defibrillators market is expected to be worth US$49.8 mn by 2020 steadily rising at a CAGR of 8.3% from US$28.6 mn in 2013. The market will be driven by the ALS defibrillators segment as the opportunity in this product segment is anticipated to reach US$36.5 mn by 2020. An increasing adoption of ALS defibrillators in the ever-expanding healthcare sector has created a remarkable opportunity for this product segment over the past few years. However, the affordability of AEDs is expected to propel this segment as well.Hospitals Lead the Way with High Adoption of ALSAmongst the end users, hospitals held a dominant share in the overall market as ambulances are the first point of contact in case of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) in out-of-hospital settings. Furthermore, hospitals, being the primary caregivers, have a high adoption rate of ALS defibrillators as they facilitate monitoring of various health parameters at the same time. During the forecast period, the hospitals segment in the Saudi Arabia defibrillators market will reach a valuation of US$37.6 mn, expanding at a CAGR of 7.5% between 2014 and 2020.Vernacular Medical Assistance Wins Hearts of End UsersTechnologically advanced defibrillators that provide audio and video medical assistance in Arabic languages have boosted the overall market in recent years. As these machines require highly-skilled persons to operate them safely, the integration of vernacular language has enabled less-skilled professionals to also use these machines in a non-hospital setup. Features such as voice assistance have further increased the uptake of defibrillators across Saudi Arabia.Initiatives taken by public and private medical organizations to safeguard human life have also worked in favor of this market. For instance, the installation of AEDs in aircraft and in religious places to resuscitate pilgrims in case of emergencies has given this market a substantial boost in the past few years.Poor Regulatory Framework Hampers Market GrowthThe lack of government interventions and supportive regulatory framework has hampered the sales of defibrillators across Saudi Arabia. The market is also being restrained by the poor collaboration between the public and private enterprises to raise awareness about defibrillators. Analysts predict that poor knowledge amongst overall population about sudden cardiac arrest and the importance of defibrillator and CPR has largely discouraged the overall market.The expensive import duty that public hospitals, as well as private units, have to pay to own defibrillators has created a negative impact on the overall market. Furthermore, lack of interaction with the consumers and the poor branding and awareness campaigns are further dissuading the market growth.Fill The Form To Gain Deeper Insights On This Market @To stay ahead of the competition, players should focus on enhancing the quality of their products, suggest the lead author of this research report. Integrating features such as remote patient monitoring and telemedicine are anticipated to be game-changing strategies for the players operating in the Saudi Arabia defibrillators market in the coming years. Furthermore, these features might also help by facilitating a prompt or a right line of treatment that paramedics should take in case of an emergency.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
2012-2022 Report on Global Cattle Feed Market Competition, Status and Forecast, Market Size by Players, Regions, Type, Application
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Qyresearchreports include new market research report "2012-2022 Report on Global Cattle Feed Market Competition, Status and Forecast, Market Size by Players, Regions, Type, Application" to its huge collection of research reports.The global market for Cattle Feed has been witnessing constant movement over the recent past. This research study on the global Cattle Feed market tries to divulge the factors responsible for these movements and aims at presenting a comprehensive overview of this market to the readers.The research report emphasizes on the key trends to understand the inclination of the worldwide Cattle Feed market and examines the growth drivers, restraints, and opportunities to gain a deep insight into it. The report further does the qualitative and the quantitative assessment of this market on the basis of a number of important market parameters. The regional markets for Cattle Feed has also been assessed based on their performances during the review period and future projections concerning each of the regions have been provided too.Fill the form for an exclusive sample of this report @Further, the worldwide market for Cattle Feed has been examined on the basis of the production chain of the products manufactured in this market, their pricing, and the revenue they generate. The dynamics of production and supply chain, together with the effect of the government regulations and norms on them, has also been talked about at length in this market study.Analysts have performed multiple analyses to determine the production volume and the efficacy of the global Cattle Feed market on the basis of the demand and supply statistics for Cattle Feed across the world. In conclusion, the research report employs several analytical tools, such as investment return analyses, feasibility analysis, and SWOT analysis, on key participants to identify the market hierarchy in this market. Important market recommendations from both, demand and supply perspectives, have also been provided in this study.Get more information from Research Report Press Release:Table of Contents1 Executive Summary2 Preface2.1 Abstract2.2 Stake Holders2.3 Research Scope2.4 Research Methodology2.4.1 Data Mining2.4.2 Data Analysis2.4.3 Data Validation2.4.4 Research Approach2.5 Research Sources2.5.1 Primary Research Sources2.5.2 Secondary Research Sources2.5.3 Assumptions3 Market Trend Analysis3.1 Introduction3.2 Drivers3.3 Restraints3.4 Opportunities3.5 Threats3.6 Emerging markets4 Porters Five Force Analysis4.1 Bargaining power of suppliers4.2 Bargaining power of buyers4.3 Threat of substitutes4.4 Threat of new entrants4.5 Competitive rivalry5 Global Cattle Feed Market, By Animal5.1 Introduction5.2 Mature ruminants5.2.1 Dairy5.2.2 Meat5.3 Young ruminants5.4 Other Animals6 Global Cattle Feed Market, By Additive6.1 Introduction6.2 Antibiotics6.3 Antioxidants6.4 Amino acid6.5 Feed enzymes6.6 Feed acidifier6.7 Vitamins6.8 Other Additive7 Global Cattle Feed Market, By Industry7.1 Introduction7.2 Agro-Based7.3 Fodder7.4 Feed8 Global Cattle Feed Market, By Ingredients8.1 Introduction8.2 Soybean meal8.3 Wheat8.4 Corn8.5 Oilseeds and Grains8.5.1 Maize8.5.2 Barley8.5.3 Oats8.5.4 Sorghum8.5.5 Cottonseed8.5.6 Rapeseed8.5.7 Rice8.5.8 Sunflower8.6 Other ingredients8.6.1 Alfalfa meal8.6.2 Palm kernel8.6.3 Dicalcium phosphate8.6.4 Fish meal9 Global Cattle Feed Market, By Geography9.1 North America9.1.1 US9.1.2 Canada9.1.3 Mexico9.2 Europe9.2.1 Germany9.2.2 France9.2.3 Italy9.2.4 UK9.2.5 Spain9.2.9 Rest of Europe9.3 Asia Pacific9.3.1 Japan9.3.2 China9.3.3 India9.3.4 Australia9.3.5 New Zealand9.3.9 Rest of Asia Pacific9.4 Rest of the World9.4.1 Middle East9.4.2 Brazil9.4.3 Argentina9.4.4 South Africa9.4.5 Egypt10Key Developments10.1 Agreements, Partnerships, Collaborations and Joint Ventures10.2 Acquisitions & Mergers10.3 New Product Launch10.4 Expansions10.5 Other Key Strategies11 Company Profiling11.1 Van Aarsen International11.2 Wen's Food Group11.3 Land Olakes Inc11.4 Archer Daniels Midland Company11.5 BASF SE11.6 Cargill, Inc11.7 Evonik Industries AG11.8 V. H. Group11.9 J.R Simplot Company11.10 Hansen Holdings A/SRead More @QYReseachReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYReseachReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United States
United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Whole Exome Sequencing Industry Key Players, Analysis & Forecast 2021
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Qyresearchreports include new market research report "United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Whole Exome Sequencing Market Size, Status and Forecast 2021" to its huge collection of research reports.This report is a descriptive and analytical dissemination of information in the Whole Exome Sequencing, for those associated with it or those who wish to enter the market in the immediate future. The report provides within its predetermined forecast period the latest installment of this stream of research reports. The report offers accurate and actionable perceptions on the market that will allow its readers to generate new perspectives on the key segments of the market. These include the leading features that are currently augmenting its growth rate. The report also elaborates on the constraints that are currently hampering its growth rate. It also provides emphasis on the leading trends that are affecting the Whole Exome Sequencing at the moment, as well as the ones that are likely to be carried forward in the future.Fill the form for an exclusive sample of this report @The report includes an analysis overview of the industry as a whole based on its key segments analysis compiled using opinions and insights from experts in the industry. This creates the differentiator that asserts for a superior quality of research and analysis within this report. The clients can use these insights to act upon their business strategies and gauge their regional and/or United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asialy relevant segments that are likely to be beneficial the foreseeable future.There are a few drivers that stand out, and this report discloses their importance through a profound scrutiny of the various openings that players may improve their goals upon. The report also creates a timeline of all developments in the market that have recently occurred and those that have directly or indirectly impacted it, thus offering readers with an improved knowledge set in the Whole Exome Sequencing for the given forecast period.Get more information from Research Report Press Release:Table of Contents1 Industry Overview of Whole Exome Sequencing1.1 Whole Exome Sequencing Market Overview1.1.1 Whole Exome Sequencing Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Whole Exome Sequencing Market Size and Analysis by Regions1.2.1 United States1.2.2 EU1.2.3 Japan1.2.4 China1.2.5 India1.2.6 Southeast Asia1.3 Whole Exome Sequencing Market by End Users/Application1.3.1 Application 11.3.2 Application 21.3.3 Application 32 Global Whole Exome Sequencing Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Whole Exome Sequencing Market Size (Value) by Players (2015-2016)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 Illumina3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Whole Exome Sequencing Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Thermo Fisher3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Whole Exome Sequencing Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 Roche3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Whole Exome Sequencing Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 Angilent3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.4.4 Whole Exome Sequencing Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.4.5 Recent Developments4 Global Whole Exome Sequencing Market Size by Application (2011-2016)4.1 Global Whole Exome Sequencing Market Size by Application (2011-2016)4.2 Potential Application of Whole Exome Sequencing in Future4.3 Top Consumer/End Users of Whole Exome Sequencing5 United States Whole Exome Sequencing Development Status and Outlook5.1 United States Whole Exome Sequencing Market Size (2011-2016)5.2 United States Whole Exome Sequencing Market Size and Market Share by Players (2015-2016)6 EU Whole Exome Sequencing Development Status and Outlook6.1 EU Whole Exome Sequencing Market Size (2011-2016)6.2 EU Whole Exome Sequencing Market Size and Market Share by Players (2015-2016)7 Japan Whole Exome Sequencing Development Status and Outlook7.1 Japan Whole Exome Sequencing Market Size (2011-2016)7.2 Japan Whole Exome Sequencing Market Size and Market Share by Players (2015-2016)8 China Whole Exome Sequencing Development Status and Outlook8.1 China Whole Exome Sequencing Market Size (2011-2016)8.2 China Whole Exome Sequencing Market Size and Market Share by Players (2015-2016)9 India Whole Exome Sequencing Development Status and Outlook9.1 India Whole Exome Sequencing Market Size (2011-2016)9.2 India Whole Exome Sequencing Market Size and Market Share by Players (2015-2016)10 Southeast Asia Whole Exome Sequencing Development Status and Outlook10.1 Southeast Asia Whole Exome Sequencing Market Size (2011-2016)10.2 Southeast Asia Whole Exome Sequencing Market Size and Market Share by Players (2015-2016)12 Whole Exome Sequencing Market Dynamics12.1 Whole Exome Sequencing Market Opportunities12.2 Whole Exome Sequencing Challenge and Risk12.2.1 Competition from Opponents12.2.2 Downside Risks of Economy12.3 Whole Exome Sequencing Market Constraints and Threat12.3.1 Threat from Substitute12.3.2 Government Policy12.3.3 Technology Risks12.4 Whole Exome Sequencing Market Driving Force12.4.1 Growing Demand from Emerging Markets12.4.2 Potential ApplicationRead More @QYReseachReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYReseachReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United States
The Fuhrer's lavish guest house In an extensive research effort the art historian Imma Walderdorff investigated the Nazi past of Klessheim Palace, unearthing hitherto unknown facts and making an important contribution to provenance research.
Klessheim Palace in Salzburg owes a great deal of its current appearance to conversions made during the period of National Socialism (NS). Upon instructions from Adolf Hitler, it underwent state-of-the-art refurbishment to serve as a prestigious "guest house of the Fuhrer". In the process, the interior of the former Baroque hunting lodge was decorated opulently in line with Nazi aesthetics. Money and labour were no object, since "the refurbishment was categorised as important to the war effort' and given the highest priority", as Imma Walderdorff relates.
Nazi history in Klessheim
In a three-year research project funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, the art historian undertook the first scientific investigation of a wealth of documents to study the furnishings, function and politico-cultural significance of the palace complex that played an important role during the NS period. "Compared to other structures used by the NS leadership for entertaining, Klessheim is certainly unique because of the massive refurbishments", explains Walderdorff. She notes that the palace and the surrounding grounds exemplified in a special way a demonstration of power and ostentation of supposedly superior taste. Monumental sculptures of eagles crowned the entrance gates, for instance, and the palace had its own railway station. All Nazi luminaries came together at Klessheim, and it was there that Hitler received like-minded politicians such as Benito Mussolini, Ion Antonescu from Romania or the "Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary" Miklos Horthy.
In her effort to gather comprehensive data on the history of the palace, Imma Walderdorff vetted international archives in Berlin, Koblenz, Munich, Paris and Washington, talked to knowledgeable interlocutors such as descendants of artists involved and inspected holdings in the inventory of the Land of Salzburg the current owner of the palace. She also received assistance from provenance researchers worldwide (including from the USA, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, France), making surprising discoveries in the process. She learned, among other things, that the lion's share of furnishings for the palace was not supplied by the art dealer Friedrich Welz from Salzburg, but that an unknown Berlin-based businessman, Arthur Heinrich Kreiser, was the main source of furniture, paintings, rugs and decorative objects.
Wartime purchases and vanished depots
Among the objects archived by the Land of Salzburg, the researcher was able to identify 20 paintings as being wartime purchases. Only one of them was acquired via Friedrich Welz, the other 19 coming through Arthur H. Kreiser. It is not known where the paintings came from and who their owners were. Many of the paintings are still used by the Land of Salzburg. Delivery lists with inventory numbers suggest that Kreiser had a large storage depot for trading in antiques and works of art. The highest inventory number found in Klessheim is 46,277. The findings raise many questions for provenance research: what sort of a depot was this? Where did Kreiser get his goods and where did they end up?
Imma Walderdorff identified pieces of furniture and Asian vases as wartime purchases from Berlin, and she found lost miniatures from the famous Czernin collection that had been stolen from the Lauffen salt mine near Bad Ischl and were stored temporarily in Klessheim after having been accidentally rediscovered in Salzburg. In addition, the art historian was able to refute the opinion held by the Salzburg authorities that other paintings had previously been owned by the archbishopric. As she could demonstrate, the paintings were loans from Viennese museums arranged by Joseph Goebbels to decorate Klessheim Palace as a residence for the summer festival season even before it was refurbished as a guest residence.
An important contribution from basic research
With the valuable new insights gained in the course of the FWF-funded project, Walderdorff not only made an essential contribution to investigating Nazi looting and art deals. Her comprehensive investigation of sources, both as regards the refurbishment and the furnishings with a focus on provenance issues, provides also the first documentation of the function and politico-cultural significance of this building used by the NS regime for representational purposes. Walderdorff has meanwhile become a member of the international research group for provenance research ("Arbeitskreis Provenienzforschung") and contributes her expertise to the Austrian Federal Chancellery's commission on provenance research as well as to the Land of Salzburg. The results of her research on "the Fuhrer's guest house" will appear in the autumn of 2017 as part of a series published by the "Salzburger Landesarchiv".
Personal details
In 2010, the art historian Imma Walderdorff completed her thesis on the Salzburg Residenz Palace at the University of Vienna. Before focusing on Klessheim Palace, Walderdorff investigated the history of the famous Czernin private collection. Her main research interests are issues of historical and politico-cultural significance as well as looted art (provenance research).
Publications
Walderdorff, Imma: Lexikon der osterreichischen Provenienzforschung, im Auftrag der Kommission fur Provenienzforschung beim Bundeskanzleramt (Beitrage: Friedrich Welz, Kunsthandlung Welz, Karl Wilczek, Arthur Heinrich Kreiser, Schlosser: Kleheim, Fischhorn, Kogl, Seefeld, Niederleis, Seebarn, Moosham).
Walderdorff, Imma: Arthur H. Kreiser Ein unbekannter Berliner Kunsthandler fur Adolf Hitler, RIHA Journal (to be released)
Walderdorff, Imma: Castle Klessheim Adolf Hitler's Guesthouse and its unknown inventory, Tagungsband Documentation Centre for Property Transfers of the Cultural Assets of WWII Victims/Praha Czech Republic: PLUNDERED BUT BY WHOM?, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and Occupied Europe in the Light of the Nazi-Art Looting (to be released)
Walderdorff, Imma: Verschollene Miniaturen aus der Czernin'schen Gemaldegalerie: Ausgelagert gestohlen/verloren wiedergefunden, in: Scholnberger, Pia und Sabine Loitfellner (Ed.), Bergung von Kulturgut im Nationalsozialismus, Mythen Hintergrunde Auswirkungen, Bohlau 2016
Juffinger, Roswitha, Imma Walderdorff: Czernin. Verzeichnis der Gemalde, Wien 2015.
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Bio-implants Market to Cross US$ 134 Billion Globally by 2022
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New York, April 03: Market Research Engine has published a new report titled as Bio-Implants Market By Application Analysis (Ophthalmic and Neurostimulators implants, Dental, Orthopedics and trauma implants, Spinal implants, Cardiovascular implants, Pacing devices, Stents); By Origin Analysis (Allograft, Xenograft, Auto graft); By Materials Analysis (Ceramics, Alloys, Biomaterial metal, Polymers) and By Regional Analysis Global Forecast by 2016 2022.How Big is the Global Bio-Implants Market?The Global Bio-implants Market is expected to exceed more than US$ 134 billion by 2017 in the given forecast period.Browse Full Report:Bio-implants are bioengineered products, employ in human living cells or in tissues with the support of active agents used to replicate certain physiological function. The Bio-Implants Market has brought about an example change in the medical device trade with more demand for wound care divisions, dental, spine, trauma, orthopedics cardiology and vascular therapy. Advanced technologies including 3D printing, nanotechnology, and laser technology set out to manufacture bio- implants significantly develop their biocompatibility, so projected to increase the market expansion during the forecast period. Bio implants includes bio functionalized implants, biologised implants and biological implants.The major driving factors of Global Bio-implants Market are as follows: Increase in aging population Changing lifestyles Improvement in implants technologies Rising awareness about cosmetic implants.The restraining factors of bio-Implants market are as follows: Hostile reimbursement concern High cost of implantsThe Global Bio-implants Market is segmented on the lines of its application, origin, material and regional. Based on application segmentation it covers ophthalmic and neurostimulators implants, dental, orthopedics and trauma implants, spinal implants and cardiovascular implants. Cardiovascular implants are further segmented into pacing devices and stents.Under origin segmentation the Bio-Implants Market covers allograft, xenograft and auto graft. Based on material segmentation it covers ceramics, alloys, biomaterial metal and polymers. The Bio-Implants market on geographic segmentation covers various regions such as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East and Africa. Each geography market is further segmented to provide market revenue for select countries such as the U.S., Canada, U.K. Germany, China, Japan, India, Brazil, and GCC countries.Download Free Sample Report:This report provides:1) An overview of the global market for Bio-Implants and related technologies.2) Analyses of global market trends, with data from 2013, estimates for 2014 and 2015, and projections of compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) through 2017.3) Identifications of new market opportunities and targeted promotional plans for Bio-Implants.4) Discussion of research and development, and the demand for new products and new applications.5) Comprehensive company profiles of major players in the industry.REPORT SCOPE:The scope of the report includes a detailed study of global and regional markets for Bio-Implants with the reasons given for variations in the growth of the industry in certain regions.The report covers detailed competitive outlook including the market share and company profiles of the key participants operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report include Stryker Corporation, Boston Scientific Corporation, Depuy Synthes, St. Jude Medical Inc, Wright Medical Group, Tornier N.V., Medtronic, Smith and Nephew, DENTSPLY International, Biomet Inc and Invibio Biomaterial Solutions. Company profile includes assign such as company summary, financial summary, business strategy and planning, SWOT analysis and current developments.The Top Companies Report is intended to provide our buyers with a snapshot of the industrys most influential players.The Bio-Implants Market has been segmented as below:By Application Analysis Ophthalmic and Neurostimulators implants Dental Orthopedics and trauma implants Spinal implants Cardiovascular implants Pacing devices StentsBy Origin Analysis Allograft Xenograft Auto graftBy Materials Analysis Ceramics Alloys Biomaterial metal PolymersBy Regional AnalysisNorth AmericaEuropeAsia-PacificRest of the WorldReasons to Buy this Report:1) Obtain the most up to date information available on all Global Bio-implants Market.2) Identify growth segments and opportunities in the industry.3) Facilitate decision making on the basis of strong historic and forecast of Global Bio-implants Market data.4) Assess your competitors refining portfolio and its evolution.About MarketResearchEngineMarket Research Engine is a global market research and consulting organization. We provide market intelligence in emerging, niche technologies and markets. Our market analysis powered by rigorous methodology and quality metrics provide information and forecasts across emerging markets, emerging technologies and emerging business models. Our deep focus on industry verticals and country reports help our clients to identify opportunities and develop business strategies.Media ContactContact Person: John BayEmail: john@marketresearchengine.comPhone: +1-855-984-1862Country: United StatesWebsite:Address: 3422 SW 15 Street, Suite #8942, Deerfield Beach, FL 33442, United States
Calcium Chloride Market to Exceed US$ 1100 Million Globally by 2022
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New York, April 03: Market Research Engine has published a new report titled as Calcium Chloride Market - Global Industry Analysis and Forecast 2016 - 2022How Big is the Calcium Chloride Market?The calcium chloride market is expected to exceed more than US$ 1100 million by 2022; Growing at a CAGR of more than 4% in the given forecast period.Browse Full Report:Calcium chloride is one of the main stand chemicals present in market. It contains many properties which useful in many applications and it is used in many industries includes pharmaceutical, construction and food. Calcium chloride occurs as an unusual mineral which is manufactured by using many basic raw materials includes hydrochloric acid and limestone. It is formed as a byproduct of the lime stone hydrochloric process as well as solvay process. The useful of calcium chloride to reduce the temperature of water has led high demand in colder regions. Its used as a de-icing salt to get rid of snow and ice from roadways and sidewalks, therefore preventing accidents. Calcium chloride is additionally wont to increase the potency and production of recent oil and gas wells. Thus, demand for Calcium chloride is high within the oil and gas business.The major driving factors of calcium chloride market are as follows:Increasing requirement for food preservatives to increase demand for calcium chloride.Increasing demand for deicing salt supplements calcium chloride market.The restraining factors of calcium chloride market are as follows:Potential side effects of calcium chloride and regulations could slow down market growth.The calcium chloride market is segmented on the lines of its application and regional. Based on application segmentation the calcium chloride market covers construction, oil and gas, de icing and dust control and others such as food, medicine, etc. The calcium chloride markets geographic segmentation covers various regions such as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East and Africa. Each geographic market is further segmented to provide market revenue for select countries such as the U.S., Canada, U.K. Germany, China, Japan, India, Brazil, and GCC countries.Download Free Sample Report:This report provides:1) An overview of the global market for calcium chloride and related technologies.2) Analyses of global market trends, with data from 2013, estimates for 2014 and 2015, and projections of compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) through 2022.3) Identifications of new market opportunities and targeted promotional plans for calcium chloride.4) Discussion of research and development, and the demand for new products and new applications.5) Comprehensive company profiles of major players in the industry.REPORT SCOPE:The scope of the report includes a detailed study of global and regional markets for Calcium chloride Market for variations in the growth of the industry in certain regions.The report covers detailed competitive outlook including the market share and company profiles of the key participants operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report include BJ Services Company, Occidental Chemical Corporation (OxyChem), Qingdao Huadong Calcium Producing Co. Ltd., Solvay, Tangshan Sanyou Group, TETRA Chemicals (Tetra Technologies, Inc.), Tiger Calcium Services Inc., Ward Chemical, Weifang Haibin Chemical Co. Ltd., Weifang Taize Chemical Industry Co. Ltd., and Zirax Group. Company profile includes assign such as company summary, financial summary, business strategy and planning, SWOT analysis and current developments.The Top Companies Report is intended to provide our buyers with a snapshot of the industrys most influential players.The Calcium Chloride Market has been segmented as below:By Application AnalysisConstructionOil and gasDe-icing and dust controlOthers (food, medicine, etc)By Regional AnalysisNorth AmericaEuropeAsia-PacificRest of the WorldReasons to Buy this Report:1) Obtain the most up to date information available on all calcium chloride.2) Identify growth segments and opportunities in the industry.3) Facilitate decision making on the basis of strong historic and forecast of calcium chloride data.4) Assess your competitors refining portfolio and its evolution.About MarketResearchEngine.comMarket Research Engine is a global market research and consulting organization. We provide market intelligence in emerging, niche technologies and markets. Our market analysis powered by rigorous methodology and quality metrics provide information and forecasts across emerging markets, emerging technologies and emerging business models. Our deep focus on industry verticals and country reports help our clients to identify opportunities and develop business strategies.Media ContactCompany Name: Market Research EngineContact Person: John BayEmail: john@marketresearchengine.comPhone: +1-855-984-1862, +91-860-565-7204Country: United StatesWebsite:Address: 3422 SW 15 Street, Suite #8942, Deerfield Beach, FL 33442, United States
Igor Iankovskyi Foundation kick-starts the fifth, milestone National children drawing contest entitled UKRAINE THE LAND OF TALENTS
Milestone National children drawing contest entitled ?UKRAINE ? THE LAND OF TALENTS
As of the 3rd April 2017, Igor Iankovskyi Charity Foundation Initiative for the Future starts collection of pieces for the anniversary 5th National children drawing contest entitled UKRAINE THE LAND OF TALENTS. The contest will end on the 1st of June 2017.Ukraine has rich cultural and historical heritage, which every Ukrainian is being proud of. Everybody knows recognized national genius: Taras Shevchenko, Lesia Ukrainka, Ivan Franko. A lot of people are aware of that postal coding, helicopter, missile engine and the first artificial satellite of Earth have been created by Ukrainians. However, we are almost unaware about the accomplishments of modern Ukrainians, who live just next door and glorify our nation far beyond its borders.This year we propose to our young artists-contestants to demonstrate their knowledge of modern Ukrainian achievements in different domains: culture, science, arts, medicine, energy and innovations. The pieces should describe either people, who modern Ukraine is proud of, or a scientific or technical discovery, achievement in culture, arts, architecture and so on. Our nation is extremely talented and we should learn to show it, - that is an opinion of the Charity Foundations Initiative for the Future founder, Igor Iankovskyi.As it was before, the Contest UKRAINE THE LAND OF TALENTS is opened for participation for children aged 5 to 17 years old from all-over Ukraine. The Contest accepts pieces of children visual art, notably: pictures, drawings and gravures in different art techniques, on paper formatted 2 and A3.Traditionally, Initiative for the Future Foundation will sum up the Contest in June by solemn prize-awarding ceremony.Iankovskyi Foundations National children drawings contest receives hundreds of pieces from all-over Ukraine. Last year, the contest received more than 500 pieces from 485 young Ukrainian artists. The outcomes of the contest entitled Ukraine: the way to peace by young talents were exhibited at Ukrainian House on the Khreshyatyk Street, free for the general public.To recall, the outcomes of the previous National children drawings contests editions My native land Ukraine, My peaceful Ukraine and FAITH.HOPE.LOVE, were exhibited abroad in large-scale dimensions and solemn occasions with the support of Igor Iankovskyi Charity Foundation Initiative for the Future, representing the talents of our young artists to the world community at Ukrainian Cultural Center in Paris, Economic Forum in Poland, at the European Parliament building in Brussels an United Nations Headquarters in New-York."Initiative for the Future" is a Ukrainian Charity Foundation, founded by Igor Iankovskyi a successful Ukrainian businessman, financier and philanthropist. Charities unite like-minded people in a common goal - to develop and implement educational and cultural programs in Ukraine. Activities of the organization are based on voluntary initiatives.Since its creation, the Foundation supports talented young people from all over Ukraine, contributing to the creation of a highly cultured society. The Foundation has a strong international dimension, having successfully completed a range of projects abroad: in Belgium, Hungary, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom and the USA.Horizon Park business center12 Amosova str, 12/1, Level 5,Kyiv, 03038, Ukraine
Medical Tourism Market to Exceed US$ 54.00 Billion Globally by 2022
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Florida, April 03: Market Research Engine has published a new report titled as Medical Tourism Market by Treatment Type and by Geography - Global Industry Analysis by Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2015 2022.The Global Medical Tourism Market will Grow at CAGR of 18% in the given forecast period and will cross USD 54.00 Billion mark by 2022.Browse the full report here:Due to the rising medical services cost in the western countries and availability of high quality medical services at lower prices in the Asian countries like Singapore, India, Brazil, Thailand, Malaysia, Mexico, Taiwan, Turkey, South Korea, Costa Rica, Poland, Dubai and Philippines has led to the expansion of medical tourism industry in this area. Many countries are planning to leverage medical tourism as a strategy to boost their healthcare services and tourism industry. By encouraging its presence in the medical tourism market, a country can stimulate its economic growth and create employment opportunities.Consequently, the medical tourism industry is rapidly expanding and is anticipated to have a significant growth in the near future. According to the one study done by Medical Tourism Association it was estimated that approx 1.6 million Americans have travelled to other destinations in 2012 for medical/healthcare services and this number is anticipated to grow in the near future.This market research report on the global medical tourism helps in understanding the important forces responsible for the growth of this industry. The research report provides in-depth analysis of the geographies facilitating inbound medical services that include Singapore, India, Thailand, Brazil, Malaysia, Mexico, Turkey, Taiwan, South Korea and prospective countries. The market overview section of the report comprises qualitative analysis of the overall market considering the factors determining the market dynamics such as drivers, restraints and opportunities along with Porters five forces analysis. These different analyses would provide a thorough understanding about the market from its past, present and future perspectives and help market players to design effective business strategies. Further, the report on medical tourism comprises executive summary chapter that will help you understand the overall market size, growth rate of various segments, geographies and competitors present in the market in a very precise manner.Download Free Sample Report:The medical tourism industry is segmented on the basis of type of treatment and geographyBY TREATMENT TYPE Cosmetic Treatment Dental Treatment Cardiovascular Treatment Orthopedics Treatment Fertility Treatment Other General TreatmentBY GEOGRAPHY Singapore India Malaysia Mexico Costa Rica Brazil Turkey South Korea Thailand Taiwan Philippines Dubai PolandAbout MarketResearchEngine.comMarket Research Engine is a global market research and consulting organization. We provide market intelligence in emerging healthcare technologies, niche technologies and markets. Our market analysis powered by rigorous methodology and quality metrics provide information and forecasts across emerging markets, emerging technologies and emerging business models. Our deep focus on industry verticals and country reports help our clients to identify opportunities and develop business strategies.Media ContactCompany Name: Market Research EngineContact Person: John BayEmail: john@marketresearchengine.comPhone: +1-855-984-1862, +91-860-565-7204Website:Address: 3422 SW 15 Street, Suite #8942, Deerfield Beach, FL 33442, United States
Endocrine Testing Market to Exceed US$ 13 Billion Globally By 2023
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New York, April 03: Market Research Engine has published a new report titled as Endocrine Testing Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth Trends and Forecast, 2015 - 2023The global endocrine testing market was valued at US$6 billion in 2014 and is estimated to reach near about US$ 13 billion by 2023 at a CAGR of 8.8% from 2015 to 2023.Browse Full Report:Endocrinology is a science of the study of Endocrine glands its structure and functions. The Endocrine glands consists of pituitary glands, thyroid glands, adrenal glands and pancreas. The Endocrine glands secrete hormones directly into the main blood stream and help in the normal body functions. The endocrine tests help in detecting the deviations in the secretion of the hormones which is helpful to understand the disorders like infertility, menopause, thyroid dysfunction.The major driving factors of Endocrine Testing market are as follows: The occurrences of endocrine disorders are increasing these days such as diabetes, thyroid disorders, and infertility. The advancement of the technology Increasing health care awareness.The restraints factors of Endocrine testing market are as follows: The high cost of development of the technology.The Endocrine Testing market is segmented on the lines of its Test, Diagnostic technology, End User. The Endocrine Testing market is segmented on the lines of its Test type like Follicle stimulating hormone(FSH) Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG) Thyroid stimulating Hormone(TSH) Dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) Prolactin Progesterone Insulin Cortisol Testosterone Estradiol(E2) Luteinizing Hormone (LH). The Endocrine Testing market is segmented on the lines of its Diagnostic Technology as Immunoassay Clinical Chemistry Monoclonal and Polyclonal Antibody Tandem Mass Spectroscopy. The Endocrine Testing market is segmented on the lines of its End User as Hospitals Physicians Offices Health Care Centers Commercial Laboratories.Download Free Sample Report:The Endocrine Testing market geographic segmentation covers various regions such as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East and Africa. Each geography market is further segmented to provide market revenue for select countries such as the U.S., Canada, U.K. Germany, China, Japan, India, Brazil, and GCC countries.This report provides:1) An overview of the global market for Endocrine Testing and related technologies.2) Analyses of global market trends and projections of compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) through 2020.3) Identifications of new market opportunities and targeted promotional plans for Endocrine Testing market.4) Discussion of research and development, and the demand for new products and new applications.5) Comprehensive company profiles of major players in the industry.REPORT SCOPE:The scope of the report includes a detailed study of global and regional markets for various types of Endocrine Testing market with the reasons given for variations in the growth of the industry in certain regions.The report covers detailed competitive outlook including the market share and company profiles of the key participants operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report include Quest Diagnostics, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Siemens Healthcare, Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, bioMerieux, Agilent Technologies, Abbott Laboratories and others. Company profile includes assign such as company summary, financial summary, business strategy and planning, SWOT analysis and current developments.The Top Companies Report is intended to provide our buyers with a snapshot of the industrys most influential players.The endocrine testing market is segmented as follows:Market by Test Follicle stimulating hormone(FSH) Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG) Thyroid Stimulating Hormone(TSH) Dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) Prolactin Progesterone Insulin Cortisol Testosterone Estradiol(E2) Luteinizing Hormone (LH)Market by Diagnostic Technology Immunoassay Clinical Chemistry Monoclonal and Polyclonal Antibody Tandem Mass SpectroscopyMarket by End User Hospitals Physicians Offices Health Care Centers Commercial LaboratoriesMarket by Geography North America Europe Asia Pacific RoWReasons to buy this Report:1) Obtain the most up to date information available on all active and planned endocrine testing market globally.2) Identify growth segments and opportunities in the industry.3) Facilitate decision making on the basis of strong historic and forecast of Endocrine Testing market industry and unit capacity data.4) Assess your competitors refining portfolio and its evolution.About MarketResearchEngine.comMarket Research Engine is a global market research and consulting organization. We provide market intelligence in emerging, niche technologies and markets. Our market analysis powered by rigorous methodology and quality metrics provide information and forecasts across emerging markets, emerging technologies and emerging business models. Our deep focus on industry verticals and country reports help our clients to identify opportunities and develop business strategies.Media ContactCompany Name: Market Research EngineContact Person: John BayEmail: john@marketresearchengine.comPhone: +1-855-984-1862, +91-860-565-7204Country: United StatesWebsite:Address: 3422 SW 15 Street, Suite #8942, Deerfield Beach, FL 33442, United States
QR Code based Access Control
www.MatrixSecuSol.com
Everything we do today is done through a single tap on our mobile devices. With a single tap we can share things on social media, check our health status, communicate with others, so on and so forth. A similar trend can be seen with access control, which first started with the RFID cards. Then it was biometrics and now we see the dawn of mobile credentials for access control. Matrixs Your Mobile is Your Identity technology offers QR Code based Identification for opening doors by simply scanning the QR code from an authorized mobile phone through COSEC APTA App. It is a simple process of authentication that offers convenience to users while increasing the overall security of an organization at the same time.BENEFITS Access in Less than One Second Easy to Use in Challenging Installations Mobile Works as a Credential Secured Communication between Server and Mobile Reduce Hardware Cost and MaintenanceSOLUTIONSCreate and Paste QR Code for Entry and ExitTo eliminate costs involved in expensive devices, wiring, installation and AMC, Matrix Your Mobile is Your Identity technology offers QR Code based Identification for users. Using multiple QR Codes speeds up entry/exit, avoiding congestion and queues. It works where biometric or card readers are not easy to deploy. e.g. glass doors.Scan QR Code and Get AccessMatrix offers QR Code based Identification, which ensures quick identification. It marks users attendance and opens door when a user scans the QR Code by the mobile phone camera in the COSEC mobile application.Reliable and Secured CommunicationMatrix provides organizations with the flexibility of creating their own QR Codes by embedding two-byte key. Centralized server creates a QR Code and distributes to the respective users through encrypted communication. Mobile users does not have any access or control over the QR Code that is generated. This provides encrypted and secured communication between the device and server. Contact: MATRIX COMSEC394 GIDC, Makarpura, Vadodara+91 93744 74302More@MatrixComSec.comAbout MatrixEstablished in 1991, Matrix is a leader in Telecom and Security solutions for modern businesses and enterprises. An innovative, technology driven and customer focused organization, Matrix is committed to keep pace with the revolutions in the telecom and security industries. With more than 40% of its human resources dedicated to the development of new products, Matrix has launched cutting-edge products like IP-PBX, Universal Gateways, VoIP Gateways and Terminals, GSM Gateways, Access Control, Time-Attendance and Video Surveillance solutions. These solutions are feature-rich, reliable and conform to the international standards. Having global footprints in Asia, Europe, North America, South America and Africa through an extensive network of more than 500 channel partners, Matrix ensures that the products serve the needs of its customers faster and longer. Matrix has gained trust and admiration of customers representing the entire spectrum of industries. Matrix has won many international awards for its innovative products.Matrix Comsec394 GIDC, Makarpura, Vadodara-390010
Optometry Market By Key Players Analysis (Johnson and Johnson Vision Care, Inc., Allergan, Inc., Bausch and Lomb, Inc.,)
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Optometry Market: Key PlayersCurrently, the market for optometry is fragmented with many players developing technologically advanced treatment and therapies. Some of the top companies operating in optometry market are Johnson and Johnson Vision Care, Inc., Allergan, Inc., Bausch and Lomb, Inc., F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Carl Zeiss, Inc., Hoya Corp and others.Download A PDF Sample Copy of Report:The research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data, and statistically supported and industry-validated market data. It also contains projections using a suitable set of assumptions and methodologies. The research report provides analysis and information according to categories such as market segments, geographies, types and applications.Optometry Market: OverviewOptometry is concerned with ocular health and correction of eye problems such as vision and visual systems that can hinder the vision capacity in humans. Optometrists carry out general eye exams and prescribe lenses or glasses to improve vision or any other visual complications. Optometrists treat individuals who have acquired eye diseases due to various medical conditions such as oral medications (antibiotics, steroids etc.), injectable medications and topical medications (eye drops to treat red eye or glaucoma). They are licensed to diagnose and treat various eye diseases through topical diagnostics and therapeutic drugs. Optometrists are also trained in surgical procedures such as removal of foreign particle from the eye, corneal injury, and eyelid and lacrimal disease.In a few countries, patients requiring eye surgery are sometimes referred to other medical practitioners such as ophthalmologists and neurologists for further treatment. The scope of practice in optometry is regulated differently in each country and state. For instance, in Oklahoma, the optometrists are allowed to perform surgery limited only to the anterior segment of the eyes. On the other hand, in Kentucky, optometrists are allowed to perform a large number of laser procedures.Browse Global Strategic Business Report:Optometry Market: Drivers and TrendsIn the optometry industry, the demand is totally governed by changing healthcare practices, eye wear fashion trends and demographics. The wide usage of contact lenses and glasses due to various eye disorders is on the rise which is driving the growth of the optometry market. Contact lenses have few unique features such as accuracy and efficiency which is attracting the end users, thereby fueling the growth of the market. Furthermore, the increasing risk of developing various eye disorders such as cataract, glaucoma and refractive errors is also affecting the growth of the global optometry market. On the other hand, low patient compliance would most likely hinder the growth of the optometry market.Optometry Market: Region-wise OutlookGeographically, the optometry market can be segmented into four major segments: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World (Row). Of all of these segments, North America currently boasts the largest share in the optometry market trailed by Europe. The prime factors which are driving the growth of the market in these regions are increase in the prevalence of eye disorders, rapidly increasing awareness programs by the government on technologically advanced therapies available for the treatment of eye problems, and increase in the adoption of ophthalmic drugs and devices.According to Prevent Blindness America, vision problems due to diabetic retinopathy are on the rise presently. Asia Pacific is the most promising market for the growth of optometry market due to various developing and emerging economies. The factors that will help bring about the growth of the market in Asia Pacific are an increase in the geriatric population with a number of eye disorders, various recent developments and advancements in the field of optometry and constantly changing lifestyle of the population in developing regions. Furthermore, easy market penetration in countries such as China, Malaysia, Brazil and India; and increasing disposable incomes of the people would boost the growth of optometry market in the near future.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Medical Automation Market - Global Industry Analysis 2024
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Medical Automation Market: OverviewIn a highly competitive pharmaceutical industry, automation can prove to be a massive operational advantage and a key differentiator for players of all sizes. The future of the healthcare industry is increasingly being defined by the advent of faster, more accurate, and easy-to-use devices that are riding high on the wave of medical automation. With a massive number of people crossing the 60-year threshold, the healthcare industry is facing a pressing need to scale up resources and brace for a spike in healthcare needs. This is where automation is expected to be the real game changer.Download A PDF Sample Copy of Report:There are several market dynamics that are collectively creating a need for more automation in the medical industry. According to an article published in Health Affairs, there will be a shortage of 260,000 registered nurses by 2025 in the U.S. The scenario wont be drastically different in other developed countries where the workforce is aging rapidly. With fewer humans available to carry out all of the tasks in the healthcare industry, healthcare institutions and pharmaceutical companies are focusing on automation to get redundant and repetitive tasks done. However, as has been the case with several other industries, automation is regarded as a job killer and has been opposed in several countries worldwide.These push and pull factors will decide how this market shapes up in the coming years. This is what the report aims to assess. The report creates segments of the global medical automation market based on criteria such as applications, end-users, and geography.Global Medical Automation Market: Drivers and RestraintsCompanies and medical institutions are channeling more funds into medical automation systems and software enticed by benefits such as cost containment, increased speed, greater transparency in processing, and reduction in errors. This thus lays a strong foundation for the growth of the global medical automation market. Another change that is driving the adoption of medical automation is the high degree of interest in point-of-care testing devices for pregnancy, blood glucose levels, blood pressure, and HIV.On the flip side, the lack of widespread standardization and a heterogeneous regulatory environment will create several obstacles for companies operating in the medical automation market. Moreover, not all healthcare institutions can afford medical automation. It will be a few years before developing countries wholly embrace this trend.The top trends that are shaping the global medical automation market are affordable automation software and systems that make everyday tasks easier. There is a massive market that hitherto remains untapped in emerging countries, where the healthcare sector is heaving under the burden of obsolete machinery and techniques. This gap could provide a window of opportunity for companies offering medical automation software and solutions.Global Medical Automation Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe global market for medical automation can be segmented broadly based on the following fronts: End user, application, and geography. The key application areas of medical automation are therapeutic automation, lab automation, pharmacy automation, and medical automation. The segment of medical automation is composed of automated imaging and analysis and point of care testing market. The market for therapeutic automation can similarly be split into surgical and non-surgical automation. Each of these sub-segments can be further segmented based on the automation devices.Likewise, the market for lab automation can be classified into liquid handling, automated storage systems, robots and informatics, and microplate readers. The market for pharmacy automation can be further split into automated dispensaries, automated pharmaceutical packaging, and automated/smart medication compounding. The key end users in the global medical automation market are: Research labs, pharmacies, hospital and diagnostic centers, and home care centers.Browse Global Strategic Business Report:Using geography as a criteria, the global medical automation market has been segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World. The market for medical automation is currently the largest in North America. It is also well-established in Europe. The rising demand for medical automation solutions and software in Asian countries such as Taiwan and China will be a crucial turning point for the market.Companies that are currently at the forefront of the global medical automation market are: Carefusion Corp, Medtronic, Inc., GE Healthcare, Intuitive Surgical Inc., Roche Holding AG, Omnicell, Inc, Siemens Healthcare, Philips Healthcare, Stryker Corporation, St. Jude Medical, Inc., and others.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Adaptive Optics Market Growth Analysis & Projections Forecast to 2022
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Objective Study of Adaptive Optics Market: To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast for the next 10 years of the various segments and sub-segments of the global Adaptive Optics Market. To provide insights about factors affecting the market growth. To Analyze the Adaptive Optics Market based on various factors- porters five force analysis, mega trend analysis, macroeconomic indicators etc. To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of the World (ROW). To provide country level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future prospective To provide country level analysis of the market for segment by type, by components, by applications and sub-segments. To provide strategic profiling of key players in the market, comprehensively analyzing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the market To track and analyze competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments in the global Adaptive Optics Market.Request a Sample Report @Market Synopsis of Adaptive Optics MarketMarket ScenarioThe major growth driver of Adaptive Optics Market includes growing investment in Optical research & development, growing demand for adaptive optics in medical sector, and high usage of adaptive optics in telescope, astronomy and cellular imaging sectors among others.Hence the market for Adaptive Optics is expected to grow at XX% CAGR (2016-2022).However, lack of technical expertise and high initial cost are some of the factors which are hindering the growth of Adaptive Optics Market.SegmentsGlobal Adaptive Optics Market can be segmented as follows:Segmentation by Type: Natural guide star adaptive optics (NGAO), Laser guide star adaptive optics (LGAO), Multi-conjugate adaptive optics (MCAO), Multi-object adaptive optics (MOAO), and Ground-layer adaptive optics (GLAO) among others.Segmentation by Components: Wave front sensors and controllers, deformable mirrors among others.Segmentation by Applications: Automotive, Military & Defense, Consumer electronics and Medical among others.[Note: only quantitative information will be provided in Type segment]Browse Report @Regional Analysis of Adaptive Optics Market:North-America is dominating the Global Adaptive Optics Market with the largest market share in the region, and therefore accounting for $XX million and is expected to grow over $XX billion by 2022. Adaptive Optics Market in Asia-Pacific market is expected to grow at CAGR of XX% from $ XX million in 2016 to $XX million by 2022. The European market for Adaptive Optics Market is expected to grow at XX% CAGR (2016-2022).Key PlayersSome of the major players in Global Adaptive Optics Market include Aplegen, Inc. (U.S.), Benchmark Electronics, Inc.(U.S.), Boston Corporation (U.S.), Holoeye Photonics AG.(Germany), Northrop Grumman Corporation (U.S.), Baker Adaptive Optics (U.S.), Phasics Corp. (France), Synopsys Optical Solution Group (U.S.), Adaptive Optics Associates, Inc. (U.S.) and Sacher Lasertechnik Gmbh (Germany) among others.Industry News:- Benchmark Electronics, Inc. has acquired Secure communication systems Inc. in the year 2015. The acquisitions is done to provide high performance electronics, and component solutions to the end-users which include Industry, aerospace and defense market.- Northrop Grumman Corporation has got a contract of deformable mirror development in June 2016 for developing thirty meter telescope to image the edge of the observable universe.The report for Adaptive Optics Market of Market Research Future comprises of extensive primary research along with the detailed analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain the deeper insight of the market and industry performance. The report gives the clear picture of current market scenario which includes historical and projected market size in terms of value and volume, technological advancement, macro economical and governing factors in the market. The report provides details information and strategies of the top key players in the industry. The report also gives a broad study of the different market segments and regions.Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research Future+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.comAbout Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Market Research FutureAmanora Town Centre, Office No. 528,, Amanora Chambers, Hadapsar, Pune, Maharashtra 411028
Virtual Private Network Market 2016: Market Segments, Landscape, Company Profiles, Demand and Forecast 2022
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Market Overview:A VPN or virtual private network is a network technology which is used to provide an additional security layer to the over a less secure network. The VPN offers various benefits and ensures that the appropriate level of security is given to the connected systems where underlying network infrastructure is not able to provide it. Elimination of unauthorized access to the networks and creation of secure bridge between the source computers to destination are some of the application of a VPN and VPN market is majorly driven by these factors because growing technology is also bringing new threats into the current network environment. Cyber security has become a core concept in any organization. Companies have become more sensitive towards their data and loss of a single file from the organization could hamper the image of company very badly, thus companies are adopting new cyber security technologies just after it is arriving. VPN is a very core component of cyber security and growth of cyber security market is also driving the market of VPN.High technological adoption along with the increasing number of connected devices is also creating various vulnerability into the current network infrastructure. This vulnerability needs to be addressed properly and a VPN could be an option to remove these security vulnerabilities.The global market of VPN is expected to reach at USD 106 billion by the end of year 2022 with compound annual growth rate of 13% but factors such as high deployment cost and need of technical knowledge are some of the restraints of the market.Access Report Details @Major Key Players: Microsoft Inc. (U.S.), Private Internet Access (U.S.), CyberGhost (Romania), NordVPN (Panama), Purevpn (Hong Kong), IPVanish (U.S.), Golden Frog (U.S.), Buffered VPN (Hungary), SaferVPN (Israel)Access the market data and market information presented through more than 25 market data tables and 25 figures spread over 110 numbers of pages of the project report Global Virtual Private Network Market - Forecast to 2022Market Research Future Analysis:Market Research Future analysis shows that the market of Virtual Private Network will increase significantly with growth of cyber security and technology. Cyber security is a parent market of VPN and with the growth in the cyber security market, the demand for VPN from government sector will rise significantly. Today, every organization is taking hard steps to secure their virtual infrastructure and environment and for that they are adopting various tools and methods. With wide feature option, a VPN in their infrastructure is their top priority. Companies are also investing heavily in the R&D sector to make this technology more efficient. By Region North America is dominating the market as U.S. and Canada are getting lots of cyber-attacks compare to other countries. Europe stands as second biggest market whereas Asia-Pacific has emerged as fastest growing market. High growth of manufacturing and service industry in China and Asia are some of the major factor behind the high adoption of VPN.Request a Sample Report @Study Objectives of Virtual Private Network Market: To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast of the various segments and sub-segments of the Virtual Private Network markets Market. To provide insights about factors affecting the market growth. To analyze the Virtual Private Network markets market based porters five force analysis etc. To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of the World (ROW) To provide country level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future prospective To provide country level analysis of the market for segment by Products, Deployment, Verticals and sub-segments To provide strategic profiling of key players in the market, comprehensively analyzing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the market To track and analyze competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments in the Virtual Private Network.List of TablesTABLE 1 Global Virtual Private Network Market, By ProductsTABLE 2 Global Virtual Private Network Market, By DeploymentTABLE 3 Global Virtual Private Network Market, By TypeTABLE 4 Global Virtual Private Network Market, By VerticalsTABLE 5 Global Virtual Private Network Market, By RegionsContinuedAbout Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.ContactAkash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com
Electroceutical Devices Market: Global Markets & Advanced Technologies
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Electroceutical devices are target specific and stimulate nerves or tissues through electric impulses, which enable to alleviate or relieve various conditions of the body. Electroceutical devices are employed as an alternative to drug-based remediation. Furthermore, the technological enhancements, including wearable devices, and miniaturized devices, among others have been a significant contributing factor for the growth of the market. The technological innovations in the market include the development of the Stimwave electroceutical device which does not contain toxic materials and does not hold any internal batteries. In August 2016, GlaxosmithKline entered into an agreement with Googles life science spinoff, Verily to form a joint venture, Galvani Bioelectronics for the development of miniature electroceutical devices. Through this joint venture, both the companies intend to invest over US$ 700 Mn over a period of four years. In addition, National Institute of Health (NIH) also invested US$ 250 Mn on its project SPARC (Stimulating Peripheral Activity to Relieve Conditions).Download A PDF Sample Copy of Report:Electroceutical devices market can be segmented based on the products, by application, by end users and by region. The market can be segmented into implantable electroceutical devices and non-invasive devices, on the basis of product. Implantable electroceutical devices can be further segmented into cardiac pacemakers, implantable cardioventer defibrillators, spinal cord stimulators, deep brain stimulators, and vagus nerve stimulators, among others. On the basis of application, electroceutical devices market can be segmented into pain management, neurology, urology, hearing aids, cardiology, gasteroenterology, and ophthalmology, among others. Hospitals, individual users, and research institutes form the major end users of the market. On the basis of region, the market has been segmented into North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa.Electroceutical devices are gaining importance as an alternative to pharmaceutical products as they do not lead to side effects. In addition, growing prevalence of neurological conditions such as Parkinsons disease, and depression among others contribute to the growth of the market. Furthermore, increasing investments by market players on research and development, along with the cost effectiveness of these devices has been driving the growth of the market. However, the usage of these devices is done as a trial and error method and This might have a negative impact on the growth of the market.Implantable electroceutical devices are the widely employed product category, of which pacemakers and ICDs are the key products contributing to the growth of the market. North America accounts for the major share followed by Europe in the global electroceutical devices market. This can be attributed to increasing geriatric population, rising prevalence of chronic diseases, growing technological innovations, and increase in product approvals. In addition, availability of reimbursement and high investments in healthcare infrastructure contribute to the growth of the market. However, the sluggish economic conditions in North America and Europe, and the changing government regulations related to healthcare spending might negatively impact the market. Asia Pacific is expected to grow at an impressive CAGR during the forecast period. The growing healthcare industry, rising medical tourism, increasing awareness among people and the growing economy contribute to the growth of the market in the region. India, China and Brazil are expected to drive strong growth among the emerging countries, owing to the increasing investments by the government to enhance the healthcare facilities.Browse Global Strategic Business Report:Major players in the electroceutical devices market include Biotronik, Boston Scientific Corporation, Cochlear Limited, ElectroCore LLC, EnteroMedics Inc., LivaNova PLC, Medtronic plc, NeuroSigma, Inc., Nevro Corporation, Second Sight Medical Products, Inc., Sonova Holding AG, and St. Jude Medical, Inc., among other significant players worldwide.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Spain Bronchoscopes Market Outlook to 2023
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ReportsWorldwide has announced the addition of a new report title Spain Bronchoscopes Market Outlook to 2023 to its growing collection of premium market research reports.GlobalDatas new report, "Spain Bronchoscopes Market Outlook to 2023", provides key market data on the Spain Bronchoscopes market. The report provides value, in millions of US dollars, volume (in units) and and average prices (USD) within market segments - Non-Video Bronchoscopes and Video Bronchoscopes.The report also provides company shares and distribution shares data for each of these market segments, and global corporate-level profiles of the key market participants. Based on the availability of data for the particular market and country, information related to pipeline products, news and deals is available in the report.Extensive interviews are conducted with key opinion leaders (KOLs), physicians and industry experts to validate the market size, company share and distribution share data and analysis.To Enquire about this Report please visit @Scope of the Research Report- Market size and company share data for Bronchoscopes market segments - Non-Video Bronchoscopes and Video Bronchoscopes.- Annualized market revenues (USD million) and volume (units) data for each of the market segments. Data is provided from 2009 to 2016 and forecast to 2023.- 2016 company shares and distribution shares data for each of the market segments.- Global corporate-level profiles of key companies operating within the Spain Bronchoscopes market.- Key players covered include Olympus Corporation, PENTAX Medical Company, Fujifilm Holdings Corporation and Others.To view a detailed description and Table of Contents please visit:Reasons to buy- Develop business strategies by identifying the key market segments poised for strong growth in the future.- Develop market-entry and market expansion strategies.- Design competition strategies by identifying who-stands-where in the market.- Develop investment strategies by identifying the key market segments expected to register strong growth in the near future.- What are the key distribution channels and whats the most preferred mode of product distribution - Identify, understand and capitalize.About ReportsWorldwide.comReportsWorldwide.com is a leading provider of global market intelligence reports and services. With research reports from top publishers, consulting and advisory firms, ReportsWorldwide.com offers instant online access to a growing database of expert insights on global industries, companies, products, geographies and trends.Press Contact:Abigail CrastoSenior Vice President101, Arch StreetBoston, MA 02110USPhone +1 (617) 398-4994Fax +1 (617) 398-4995abigail@reportsworldwide.com
Spain Bariatric Surgery Devices Market Outlook to 2023
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ReportsWorldwide has announced the addition of a new report title Spain Bariatric Surgery Devices Market Outlook to 2023 to its growing collection of premium market research reports.GlobalDatas new report, "Spain Bariatric Surgery Devices Market Outlook to 2023", provides key market data on the Spain Bariatric Surgery Devices market. The report provides value, in millions of US dollars, volume (in units) and and average prices (USD) within market segments - Bariatric Stapling Devices, Gastric Bands and Gastric Balloons.The report also provides company shares and distribution shares data for each of these market segments, and global corporate-level profiles of the key market participants. Based on the availability of data for the particular market and country, information related to pipeline products, news and deals is available in the report.Extensive interviews are conducted with key opinion leaders (KOLs), physicians and industry experts to validate the market size, company share and distribution share data and analysis.To Enquire about this Report please visit @Scope of the Research Report- Market size and company share data for Bariatric Surgery Devices market segments - Bariatric Stapling Devices, Gastric Bands and Gastric Balloons.- Annualized market revenues (USD million) and volume (units) data for each of the market segments. Data is provided from 2009 to 2016 and forecast to 2023.- 2016 company shares and distribution shares data for each of the market segments.- Global corporate-level profiles of key companies operating within the Spain Bariatric Surgery Devices market.- Key players covered include Medtronic plc, Ethicon Inc and Others.To view a detailed description and Table of Contents please visit:Reasons to buy- Develop business strategies by identifying the key market segments poised for strong growth in the future.- Develop market-entry and market expansion strategies.- Design competition strategies by identifying who-stands-where in the market.- Develop investment strategies by identifying the key market segments expected to register strong growth in the near future.- What are the key distribution channels and whats the most preferred mode of product distribution - Identify, understand and capitalize.About ReportsWorldwide.comReportsWorldwide.com is a leading provider of global market intelligence reports and services. With research reports from top publishers, consulting and advisory firms, ReportsWorldwide.com offers instant online access to a growing database of expert insights on global industries, companies, products, geographies and trends.Press Contact:Abigail CrastoSenior Vice President101, Arch StreetBoston, MA 02110USPhone +1 (617) 398-4994Fax +1 (617) 398-4995abigail@reportsworldwide.com
Diagnostic Imaging Agents Market : Popular Trends & Technological advancements to Watch Out for Near Future; Global Industry Analysis 2025
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The major players operating in the global diagnostic imaging agents market include GE Healthcare, Bayer HealthCare, Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited, Eisai Co., Ltd., Aytu BioSciences, Inc., Guerbet Group, and Bracco Imaging S.p.A.Diagnostic imaging is a technique of producing visual representation of internal parts of the body. The diagnostic imaging technique is used for visualization of the function of internal organs, clinical analysis, and medical interventions. Diagnostic imaging helps to reveal internal picture hidden by the bones and skin and is used widely for diagnosing diseases and disorders. Radiology is a branch of medical science that uses diagnostic imaging to diagnose diseases within the human body. There are many imaging techniques such as X-ray radiography, computed tomography (CT), ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and nuclear medicine, including positron emission tomography (PET).Diagnostic imaging agent is a substance administered to enhance contrast in the inside images of the body obtained using X-rays, gamma rays, sound waves, radio waves (MRI), or radioactive particles in order to diagnose diseases. The diagnostic imaging agents are commonly referred as contrast agents. Diagnostic imaging lacks visualization clarity which is peculiar, considering contrast agents have long been used with all imaging techniques. In general, the contrasting agent works on the principle with determining echo scattering in all cases of diagnostic imaging techniques.Developed and introduced microbubble contrast agents are safe and effective in clinical practice, which are likely to open new opportunities for the global diagnostic imaging agents market. In addition, increase in number of diagnostic procedures with growing medical infrastructure is anticipated to drive the global market during the forecast period. Omnipaque, Visipaque, Iopamiron, Ultravist, and Cardiolite are the highest selling diagnostic imaging agents present in the market. Ideally, imaging agents should have characteristics such as selectivity for biochemical targets, good ratio of specific to non-specific binding, better safety profile, and signal amplification capabilities. However, high costs and significant break in the development of imaging agents for commercialization are estimated to limit the growth of the global market. The market growth is likely to get slower as long as the issue of commercialization of diagnostic imaging agents are not addressed.Browse full report on Diagnostic Imaging Agents Market -The global diagnostic imaging agents market has been segmented on the basis of type, route of administration, procedure, application, and geography. In terms of type, the market is classified into ionic and nonionic imaging agents which consist of barium-based imaging agents, iodinated imaging agents, gadolinium-based imaging agents, and microbubble contrast media. The iodinated imaging agents segment is estimated to drive the growth of the market owing to high volume globally. Based on route of administration, the global market is classified into oral, rectal, urethral, and parenteral. Increase in use of injectable in various procedures such as X-ray, CT scan, MRI, and ultrasound are expected to drive this segment of the market. Based on procedure, the global diagnostic imaging agents market has been classified into X-ray imaging agents, CT scan imaging agents, MRI imaging agents, and ultrasound imaging agents. The high number of approvals for ultrasound contrast media in various markets is a key factor driving the growth of this segment. Based on application, the global market has been divided into radiology, interventional cardiology, and interventional radiology. The radiology segment is estimated to contribute a high share of the market owing to increase in number of diagnostic procedures.Geographically, the global diagnostic imaging agents market is segmented into Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America is estimated to dominate the global diagnostic imaging agents market during the forecast period owing to developed health care infrastructure and high number of diagnostic procedures. Europe is expected to be the second leading market during the forecast period globally. India, China, and Japan are the developing countries in Asia Pacific, and hence fuel the growth of the Asia Pacific market.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.Request for brochure of this report -About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Cerebral Oximeters Market by Application, Types, End-User, Regional Analysis and Forecast upto 2024
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The prominent players operating in the global cerebral oximeters market are GE Healthcare, Medtronic, Masimo, Natus Medical Incorporated, Omron Healthcare, Nonin Medical, Boston Scientific, Edwards Lifesciences, and Spacelabs Healthcare.The fundamental aim of the anesthetic process is maintenance of sufficient amount of oxygen to organs and tissues, especially the brain. Though the dangers to the brain of reduced oxygen delivery and prolonged hypoxia are well documented, the brain is still the least monitored organ in the course of anesthesia. Cerebral oximeters are used to obtain cerebral oxygenation values using continuous, noninvasive near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) technology or near-infrared spectroscopy technology.The cerebral oximeter setup includes an oximeter probe which is attached to a cable that is then connected to the cerebral oximeter monitor. Most cerebral oximeters are able to support 2 to 4 oximeter probes with their respective monitor cables. Probes are attached to the scalp of a patient using adhesive pads, where the frontal lobe is the chosen part of the scalp. Probes are composed of fiber optic light source along with light detectors. Light is released by the source in the infrared range either by light-emitting diodes (LED) or through stimulated emission of the radiation.The emitted light which is in the infrared range is able to reach the underlying cerebral tissue by easily penetrating through the skull. The light which is emitted is either redirected, absorbed, reflected, or scattered. A change is observed in the light spectrum when infrared light comes in contact with hemoglobin. The change depends upon the hemoglobin molecules oxygenation status. The light detectors present in the oximeter probes detect the reflected light once it returns toward the surface.Browse full report on Cerebral Oximeters Market -The growth of the global cerebral oximeters market is due to factors such as growth in the older population, increase in prevalence and incidence of neurological disorders, and gradual rise in the awareness levels about neurodegenerative diseases. In addition, the market growth is driven by increase in prevalence of traumatic brain injuries and sustained efforts by manufacturers to bring in technological advancements in the equipment. The demand for these devices can grow as there is a huge untreated population with neurological conditions as well as rise in demand for minimally invasive and non-invasive devices. Greater focus of the manufacturers on digitalized devices, their extended therapeutic applications, and increase in use of these devices in clinical trials are some of the opportunities that could drive the growth of the market. However, the market growth could be impeded due to high cost of the equipment. As the devices are complex, the costs associated with them are very high. Furthermore, factors such as shortage of highly trained professionals, concerns about the accuracy of the diagnostic devices, and unfavorable reimbursement policies may hinder the growth of the market during the forecast period.The global cerebral oximeters market is segmented based on product type, therapeutic application, end-user, and geography. The market in terms of product type is divided into portable oximeters and finger oximeters. Based on therapeutic application, the market is classified into traumatic brain injuries, stroke, and other therapeutic applications. In terms of end-user, the market is divided into hospitals, clinics, diagnostic centers, and others.Geographically, the global cerebral oximeters market is divided into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America is expected to have the prime share of the market. Factors such as rise in prevalence of various neurodegenerative disorders, government initiatives and support for technological advancements, well-established sales & distribution network of major neurodiagnostic companies, and ease of reimbursement for brain monitoring techniques. North America is followed by Europe in terms of market size. The market is expected to grow in Asia Pacific due to improvement in health care infrastructure, rise in disposable incomes, and increase in incidence of neurodegenerative disorders as well as health care reforms initiated by governments.Request for sample of this report -About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Global Well Cementing Services Market Size, Share, Development, Growth and Demand Forecast to 2022
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The global well cementing services market is projected to grow at a significant level, during the forecast period (2016-2022), on account of increasing demand for energy that has urged exploration and production (E&P) companies to increase investments in onshore and offshore oil and gas reserves. Additionally, the growing E&P activities for recovering unconventional hydrocarbon sources like shale gas, tight gas and coal bed methane are further expected to spur the growth of the global well cementing services market, during the forecast period. Technological advancements in well cementing equipment and services offered by major oil service providers and large unexplored reserves, worldwide, including China, Brazil and Russia, are expected to drive the demand for well cementing services, during the forecast period. The well cementing services market is dependent on two factors - crude oil prices and oil and gas production. Reduction in crude oil prices is likely to have a positive impact on the global market, resulting in stronger national economic growth.To Browse Full Report Visit Here:Based on application, onshore was the largest application in the global well cementing services market in 2015. The offshore application is expected to exhibit the fastest growth rate during the forecast period. Several factors such as the rising well operations in the onshore fields, in countries such as Saudi Arabia, the U.S., China and Russia, and the increasing demand for oil and gas, the onshore market is expected to witness a stable growth rate, during the forecast period. Additionally, the offshore segment is likely to grow significantly in the near future on account of significant development of existing offshore wells in deep and ultra-deep waters, growing exploration activities and technological advancements in equipment and service, which has made drilling operations more cost-effective and feasible in the offshore application.Based on service, primary well cementing generated the maximum demand in the global well cementing services market in 2015. The market is expected to grow further, during the forecast period, on account of increasing exploration for recovering unconventional hydrocarbon sources, worldwide. Remedial well cementing is likely to be the fastest growing segment, during the forecast period, due to increasing need for rehabilitation of oil and gas wells in countries such as Gulf of Mexico, North America, North Sea and Russia. The advanced cementing services are forecasted to witness considerable growth over the forecast period, due to the growing requirement for oilfield services, particularly in deep sour gas wells.Browse For Related Research Visit Here:North America is the leading market in the global well cementing services market, in terms of value, followed by Asia-Pacific. The major factors driving the growth of the North American market for well cementing services are growing production of oil and natural gas in the region, rising offshore drilling activities, boom in shale gas production in Gulf of Mexico and increasing quest for finding untapped oil and gas reserves. Asia-Pacific is likely to witness the highest growth rate, owing to increasing investment from exploration and production companies and favorable government policies such as allowance of tax redemption, and FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) policies that have enabled high investment opportunities in the region. These factors are expected to help in enhancing the oil and gas production in the region.About P&S Market ResearchP&S Market Research is a market research company, which offers market research and consulting services for various geographies around the globe. We provide market research reports, industry forecasting reports, business intelligence, and research based consulting services across different industry/business verticals.As one of the top growing market research agency, were keen upon providing market landscape and accurate forecasting. Our analysts and consultants are proficient with business intelligence and market analysis, through their interaction with leading companies of the concerned domain. We help our clients with B2B market research and assist them in identifying various windows of opportunity, and framing informed and customized business expansion strategies in different regions.Contact:AbhishekExecutive Client Partner347, 5th Ave. #1402New York City, NY - 10016Toll-free: +1-888-778-7886 (USA/Canada)Email: enquiry@psmarketresearch.comWeb:
Arteriovenous (Av) Fistula Needle Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 - 2024
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AV fistula needle is a connection of artery to vein. The arteriovenous fistula needle is recommended as the first choice for hemodialysis. Arteriovenous fistula needles are used in conjunction with a connector of hemodialysis blood tubing set. These needles connect blood lines to the blood vessel through during dialysis procedure via an internal fistula. Health care providers recommend an arteriovenous fistula needle due to its good blood flow for dialysis, long lasting than other types of access, safety and less possibility of getting infected and blood clotting. According to DaVita Patient Citizens (DPC), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), National Kidney Foundation (NKF), arteriovenous fistula is the gold standard vascular access due to the low rate of complications. According to disease control and prevention, 14.6 million transfusions are carried out per year in the US.Download A PDF Sample Copy of Report:The arteriovenous fistula needles are available in different gauge size depends on blood flow rates, such as 17 gauge for 350450 ml/min and 14 gauge for >450 ml/min. The arteriovenous (Av) fistula needles are used for Hemodialysis, self-cannulation, etc. Cannulation technique is a primary driver of needle choice. Flexible plastic cannula needles are used for comfort and to prevent needle infiltration during nocturnal home dialysis.The arteriovenous fistula needle is selected based on needle gauge and needle length. Gauge is defined as the needle shafts outer diameter, while the inner diameter also depends on the thickness of the needle wall. Smaller gauge needles have a greater resistance to flow, thus require a slower rate of blood flow. The larger the inner diameter, the higher the blood flow rate. In countries where arteriovenous fistula cannula needles are available, patients can self-cannulate either with plastic cannulas or with standard sharp needles. Metal arteriovenous fistula needle have a silicone coating for smooth insertion and low flow resistance.Growing geriatric population, increasing the prevalence of end-stage renal disease, technological innovation, favorable insurance and reimbursement policies, and rising per capita healthcare expenditure drive the arteriovenous fistula needle market. According to Fresenius medical care, the prevalence of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) was estimated to be 3,200,000 at the end of 2013 and continues to increase at a significantly high rate. Arteriovenous fistula needle market. However, factors such as needle associated risks may be act as restraints for arteriovenous fistula needle market.Browse Global Strategic Business Report:Arteriovenous Fistula Needle Market is segmented by needle type, by location, by application, by end users, and by geography. By needle type includes sharp needle and Blunt needle. By location includes wrist, elbow and transposed brachial-basilic vein fistula. By application includes Hemodialysis, Home dialysis, and Self-cannulation. By end users includes diagnostic centers, hospitals, clinics, homecare and ambulatory surgery centers. By geography, it includes North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa.Geographically, the arteriovenous fistula needle market is dominated by North America, followed by Europe, Asia-Pacific. Growth in the North American segment is primarily driven by rising prevalence of end-stage renal diseases along with growing geriatric population, early adoption of the treatment procedure and technological advancements. According to Fresenius Medical, the prevalence of hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis patients in the USA is 18%. Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at the highest rate due to increasing population, insurance coverage, better healthcare facilities, rising healthcare income and increasing the prevalence of diseases. The prevalence of dialysis in Japan is 13% according to Fresenius medical care.Some of the Key players in this market includes B. Braun Melsungen Ag, Becton Dickinson, and Company, C.R. Bard, Inc., Medtronic Plc, Cook Medical, Inc, Teleflex Medical, Fresenius Medical Care AG & CO., NxStage Medical, Inc., Poly Medicure Limited and others.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Considering the political temperature, "Shrek" would have been the safer choice.
But Oregon Children's Theatre chose for its spring musical a biographical work focusing on the mentorship between a white Iowa librarian and Tomas Rivera, a young Mexican-American migrant farm worker who would become a teacher, author, poet and the first Chicano chancellor of a University of California campus.
Recounting the Rivera family's annual trek from Texas to the Midwest to pick corn, "Tomas and the Library Lady" doesn't gloss over details such as rummaging through the town dump for firewood or homesteading in a chicken coop. As the librarian (played by Kate Mura) encourages Rivera (Marcelino Lauren Hernandez) to learn and read -- and as she masters her first Spanish words with his help -- the boy contends with persistent nightmares of a previous teacher who admonished him to declare: "I will not daydream, be lazy or speak Spanish."
The play runs through April 29 at the Winningstad Theatre downtown; this fall, a mobile version will tour rural areas in Oregon. You can't help but wonder if that tour will include wine country, where some of the state's 90,000 immigrant Latino laborers could catch the show and perhaps greet it positively. Or will there be static when the show is performed in districts where representatives are sponsoring bills to make English the official state language?
Certainly, there's much more to take away from the show than the headlines parents and older kids might remember going into it. What can be cultivated across congressional district boundaries are the play's core lessons: There is value in working with your hands; education expands horizons; and, contrary to "The Music Man," Iowans may, in fact, be friendly.
Strengths: Selling the joy of books as a visual story is a puzzler whether in a small-scale show at the Winningstad or a Broadway-size production at the Keller Auditorium. "Matilda," for all of its elaborate sets and stage illusions, couldn't quite pull it off when the musical visited Portland last month.
Here, director Rebecca Martinez has better luck with a script that's mostly about a road trip, with the family's tales during roadside stops naturally feeding into Tomas' desire to read. Because the actors, particularly Hernandez and Carlos Manzano (playing Tomas' father and grandfather), are so animated and invested in bringing the tales to life, you never feel like you're trapped in a story about a boring bookworm.
Weaknesses: Rivera, who died in 1984, may be a household name in California and among Mexican-American families, but a lot of other children likely haven't heard of him. It's up to parents, then, to make the case that a play about a boy who discovers dusty old books is as worthwhile as the latest Disney blockbuster or anthropomorphized Lego figurines flick.
There's some interesting backstory on the librarian that would have been additional meaty material onstage. (The story is set in 1944, and because the librarian is of German descent, she may have felt some of the same prejudices Tomas experienced.)
But this is a play for children, not PBS' "American Masters."
Memorable moments: Sofia Vergara, the world's top-earning TV actress -- or actor, for that matter -- is the punchline nearly every week on "Modern Family" for her thick Colombian accent and mispronounced English. What a change to see two characters laugh with each other as they pick up each other's language, verbal stumbles and all.
Take-away: After curtain, the cast appears with the director to lead a quick question-and-answer session about the play. "What's one word this show makes you think of?" is the first question. Here's what the kids in the audience say:
"Love."
"Bravery."
"Teacher."
"School."
"Friendships."
"Hope."
-- Lee Williams, for The Oregonian/OregonLive
***
"Tomas and the Library Lady"
Where: Winningstad Theatre, 1111 S.W. Broadway
When: 2 and 5 p.m. Saturday, 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Sunday, through April 29 (no 11 a.m. show on Sunday, April 16, or 5 p.m. show on Saturday, April 29)
Tickets: This show is recommended for ages 5 and up. $14-$28; www.octc.org or 503-228-9571
Sacred Heart Medical Center at Riverbend
PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at Riverbend is in Springfield. The regional health care provider will shed 271 jobs in Oregon, mostly in Lane County.
(Creative Commons)
EUGENE -- The recent partnership between PeaceHealth Laboratories and Quest Diagnostics is the latest example of the giant global company taking over a regional health system's diagnostic labs.
Quest, a Fortune 500 company based in New Jersey, recently struck similar deals with other groups, including MemorialCare Health System in Southern California, Montefiore Health System in New York City and HCA Healthcare in the Denver area.
Betting that PeaceHealth, and local patients and health providers, will gain more than they lose with the switch to Quest, PeaceHealth agreed to a two-part deal with Quest, which is expected to take effect in May.
PeaceHealth will continue to own -- and Quest will manage -- labs at 10 PeaceHealth hospitals in Alaska, Washington and Oregon, including the Sacred Heart Medical Centers in Springfield and Eugene, and hospitals in Cottage Grove and Florence.
And Quest will buy, for an undisclosed price, PeaceHealth's nonhospital lab business, which includes about 10 labs, mostly in clinics, throughout Eugene and Springfield.
Similar acquisitions have helped spur growth at Quest, which had revenues of $7.52 billion last year.
Quest has spent about $1 billion on 10 acquisitions since 2012, and it intends to continue making strategic purchases to boost revenues by 1 percent to 2 percent a year, the company told investors late last year.
PeaceHealth is a nonprofit, Catholic-affiliated health system based in Vancouver, Washington. It owns and operates hospitals, doctors' groups and labs in Oregon, Washington and Alaska.
PeaceHealth's alliance with Quest will end PeaceHealth's decades-long history of running its own labs. The deal will eliminate 413 PeaceHealth Labs' jobs, including 271 in Oregon, with most of those in Lane County. Other lab cuts are possible PeaceHealth labs outside Oregon.
And the deal will destroy a Lane County resource, as more tests are shifted away from PeaceHealth Labs' central lab in Springfield to Quest labs in Seattle and other sites.
Quest has said it will hire 275 employees in Oregon and Washington, but it hasn't indicated how many of those positions will be in Lane County.
A PeaceHealth Labs employee, who asked not to be named for fear of jeopardizing severance pay, said only about a quarter of workers at PeaceHealth's nonhospital labs have applied with Quest. Some who have been offered jobs said Quest pays less than PeaceHealth -- up to 90 cents an hour less in one case, the unnamed worker said.
While some local health care providers expressed confidence in the new alliance, others had doubts, predicting that turnaround times for many important tests would change from hours now to days with Quest.
Quest spokeswoman Wendy Bost said the company is working to sort out which tests would be performed in Seattle and which would be handled at Quest's rapid-response labs in Portland, Salem and Roseburg.
"There are numerous factors in that decision making and turnaround time is one of them," she said.
"We're committed to a smooth transition, and PeaceHealth and Quest Diagnostics will be working closely together to ensure high standards (for quality and innovation) are met," Bost said.
Industry changes
Health care in the United States, including lab services, is in the throes of great change.
"Technology advancements, competition, regulations, the need for sustained capital investment and other factors have created profound challenges" for laboratory services, PeaceHealth spokeswoman Marcy Marshall said.
New Medicare rules that will reduce laboratories' Medicare payments starting next year is one example of changing regulations that factored into PeaceHealth's decision to team up with Quest, she said.
PeaceHealth began assessing lab services nationwide about two years ago to find a partner to ensure high-quality lab services for patients over the long-term, PeaceHealth officials said.
They said teaming up with Quest will enable PeaceHealth to tap into Quest's vast network of labs and diagnostic services, Quest's investment in new equipment and technologies and its innovation.
With 43,000 employees, Quest is among the largest diagnostic labs in the United States. It also has labs in India, England, Mexico and Puerto Rico, according to its website. The company says its products and services are used by customers in more than 130 countries.
Fortune magazine has named Quest one of the "World's Most Admired Companies" in the health care industry for two years in a row. Winners are chosen by industry peers.
"We're considered an employer of choice in many communities," Quest spokeswoman Bost said, adding that the company offers competitive compensation and benefits.
But the firm has been subject to legal challenges over the years. A class-action suit filed by northern California phlebotomists, alleging that understaffing forced them to work unpaid overtime, led to a $2.35 million settlement last year, according to published reports.
Innovative steps
Quest is known for innovation. Last year it partnered with the Safeway grocery chain to open small 400- to 500-square-foot patient services centers next to Safeway's in-store pharmacies.
The sites are convenient for customers and efficient for Quest, which is piggybacking on Safeway's properties instead of having to secure its own.
Quest had 56 Safeway centers by the end of last year and expects to have 200 of them by the end of this year, Bost said.
Customers are "pleased by the convenience of it," she said.
"They might sign in, do their shopping and carry a buzzer that tells them when to go in and get testing," she said.
Quest operates one of these centers in the Safeway on Coburg Road in north Eugene. The center is open 7:30 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Quest has a site in Springfield's Gateway area that is a training center for phlebotomists, or blood-draw experts, Bost said.
Quest also will own and operate other former PeaceHealth Labs' sites in the Eugene-Springfield area.
As part of the PeaceHealth deal, Quest will buy PeaceHealth's nonhospital labs in community clinics in Eugene and Springfield. They will include some labs in clinics operated by PeaceHealth Medical Group, PeaceHealth's doctors' groups.
Quest also offers technology, including its MyQuest by Care360 Internet application, as a convenience for customers.
The app enables patients to schedule testing and view results on their smart phones.
Nearly 3 million patients track and access their lab results and health data through the company's Quest by Care360 patient portal and mobile app.
But the convenience isn't without risk. In late November, a hacker broke into the system, accessing personal information, such as names, dates of birth, lab results and phone numbers, of 34,000 patients.
The company said no Social Security, credit card, insurance or other financial information was compromised.
Quest said it would take steps, including hiring a leading cybersecurity firm, to prevent additional breaches.
Another Quest innovation has potential to help both patients and health care providers.
Quest teamed up with Maryland-based tech company Inovalon on Data Diagnostics, a health-care analytics tool that providers can use while they're seeing patients.
Data Diagnostics has received numerous accolades and last year was recognized as "Most Innovative Product of the Year for Health Care" in the "Best in Biz" award annual competition, judged by journalists and industry analysts.
The technology works with the electronic health record a doctor already uses, Bost said.
It matches a patient's clinical profile against hundreds of quality measures and other "big-data" metrics, offering insights to doctors, often in seconds.
A doctor might be sitting with a patient going through the patient's history, Bost said. Data Diagnostics could screen the patient record and notify the doctor, for example, that the patient is 51, but has never been screened for colon cancer. Typically a first colonoscopy is recommended when patients turn 50.
It helps doctors adhere to guidelines for preventive care and helps patients get quality care, Bost said.
That's an example of the kind of innovation that Quest Diagnostics is providing nationally, which Bost said could potentially make its way to insurers, health care providers and patients in the Eugene-Springfield community.
-- Sherri Buri McDonald, Eugene Register Guard
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A $20 million lawsuit filed Monday in Multnomah County Circuit Court accuses Jeff Hays of child sexual battery of two former students between 2005 and 2009 while he was principal of Deep Creek Elementary School. He is now principal of City View Charter School in Hillsboro.
(Oregonian/OregonLive file photo)
Two former Damascus elementary school students are suing the Gresham-Barlow School District and their former elementary school principal for $20 million, alleging the top official sexually abused them over four years.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in Multnomah County Circuit Court, accuses Jeff Hays of child sexual battery between 2005 and 2009, while he was principal of Deep Creek Elementary School. He left the school in June 2009. He is now principal of City View Charter School in Hillsboro.
According to the complaint, Hays began abusing the students when they were 7, the lawsuit said. He routinely spent time alone with them in his office with the door closed and window blinds drawn.
The school's booster club president once warned Hays against having children holed up in his office and "specifically forbade" Hays from having her child alone with him, according to the suit.
Hays is currently under criminal investigation by the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office for child sex abuse related to his time at the school, said Jason Kafoury, one of the alleged victims' attorney. The investigation is also mentioned in the lawsuit.
The sheriff's office has not immediately responded to requests for comment Monday. The Gresham-Barlow School District has declined comment citing the pending litigation. Todd Sanna, the charter school's board president, also declined comment.
"There is no greater betrayal of trust than the sexual abuse of an innocent child," said Greg Kafoury, who also represents the alleged victims. "The experience of many children needs to be reconsidered in light of these young women's revelations."
Hays declined comment on the investigation when reached at City View Charter School on Monday, saying he wanted to consult with his attorney.
"The allegations are false," he said.
According to the lawsuit, a now 19-year-old woman alleges Hays abused and manipulated her from 2005 to 2008. He regularly held her hand and praised her when she wore pants he liked. He would put his hand on her leg when he asked her questions on educational subjects and inch it up when she responded incorrectly, the lawsuit said.
"Are you sure about that answer?" Hays would ask the student when quizzing her according to the lawsuit.
Hays touched the student's genitals 20 to 25 times over the three years, the lawsuit said.
The second student, now 16, alleges Hays also sexually abused her in his office between 2007 and 2009.
Both of the students continue to struggle with depression, lack of male trust and other emotional trauma since the alleged abuse, the lawsuit said. They both also feel a sense of guilt and anxiety, because Hays remains a principal.
-- Everton Bailey Jr.
ebailey@oregonian.com
503-221-8343; @EvertonBailey
Han Oak chef Peter Cho has been named a 2017 Food & Wine Best New Chef, the magazine's annual list honoring the most innovative and talented up-and-coming chefs.
Named for Korea's traditional homes, Cho's in-home restaurant Han Oak is anything but conventional. A native Oregonian who cut his teeth alongside Spotted Pig chef (and former Food & Wine Best New Chef) April Bloomfield, Cho serves a whimsical, Korean-American menu four nights a week. Two of those days are reservation-only prix-fixe menus centered on Korean barbecue. The other two nights are walk-in-only, dedicated to creative dumplings and housemade noodles.
This year, the 29th annual list honors 12 chefs from nine restaurants across the country, all of whom have been in charge of a kitchen for five years or less. Past winners have included Daniel Boulud, Thomas Keller and David Chang.
Winners will be honored at a party at Rock & Reilly's NYC at the Renaissance New York Midtown Hotel April 4. They'll also be featured in the July issue of Food & Wine and will be showcased at the magazine's Classic in Aspen June 16-18. See the full list of winners.
Earlier in March, Castagna wine steward Brent Braun was named a 2017 Sommelier of the Year.
511 N.E. 24th Ave.; 971-255-0032; hanoakpdx.com
-- Samantha Bakall
sbakall@oregonian.com
Follow @sambakall
Jianbing.jpg
Portland now has two versions of jianbing, China's crepe-like answer to the breakfast sandwich. We tried both: Danwei Canting's (left) and Bing Mi's (right).
(Samantha Bakall/The Oregonian)
Found most frequently in and around Beijing, jianbing are a sort of crunchy, egg-slathered crepe, brushed with black bean paste and chili sauce and wrapped around a crisp wonton skin or slender doughnut. In China, lines for popular vendors wind their way along the street.
Portland got its first taste of jianbing at Bing Mi, a downtown Portland food cart that has been griddling up the breakfast snack since 2014. Owners Alisa and Neal Grandy and Tim Harris opened the cart after Alisa tasted the crepe on a layover in Beijing. Using only flavor memories and scraps of online recipes, she slowly recreated the crepe she ate that day in China's capital city.
In March, Bing Mi was joined by a pop-up jianbing cart in front of Danwei Canting, a best-of-Beijing restaurant from James Kyle and chef Kyo Koo. Their recipe is a fancified version of the weekly jianbing Kyle ate for the 13 years he lived in China's capital city, with house-blended sauces and homemade sesame crackers.
Last month, we did a morning bing-bing to see how they held up, back-to-back.
Danwei Canting's cart
For the past several weeks, Southeast Portland's newest Chinese restaurant has set up a makeshift jianbing cart in front of their new space. The royal blue, plastic-covered mechanic's cart is outfitted with a French crepe machine, a tray of Chinese egg tarts and a carafe of Portland Roasters coffee. Jianbing here are a work in progress. All it needs is a big pot of warm, fresh soymilk to make the scene complete (a collaboration with Ota Tofu, perhaps?). The overly thick crepe, spread with egg, too little hoisin and a skimpy sesame cracker, took nearly 10 minutes to make. Most bites were doughy, while the flimsy sesame cracker had lost its crunch before the first bite. For an additional $.75, you can add sweet Taiwanese sausage, and you should. The restaurant has big ambitions, eventually adding housemade veggies and sausage to the recipe, but needs more practice with the crepe machine.
Price: $5.50
7:30-9:30/10 a.m., Monday - Friday; 803 S.E. Stark St., 503-236-6050, danweicanting.com
Bing Mi
Despite their initial lack of experience, Bing Mi has really dialed in their jianbing over the past two years. Based on a singular crepe eaten in haste on the street in Beijing, with a fried wonton at the core and pickled mustard stems in the filling, their crispy, lightning quick version is clearly superior to Danwei's. Within five minutes of ordering, we had two, crunchy-yet-pliable crepes in hand, each customized to the preferred spice level from a house-mixed chili paste. Unlike Danwei's, Bing Mi's jianbing are best without the additional sausage ($1.25), here a mild, kielbasa-esque pork sausage from Zenner's Sausage Company. They're hot, crispy, spicy, and despite being on the second half of our bing-bing, went down within minutes.
Price: $6
7:30 a.m. - 3 p.m., Monday - Friday, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m., Saturdays; Southwest Ninth and Alder, 503-539-3617, bingmiportland.com
-- Samantha Bakall
sbakall@oregonian.com
Follow @sambakall
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The roast pork torta from Bunk Sandwiches.
(The Oregonian)
Bunk Sandwiches is on its way to becoming the next big thing, according to QSR Magazine, a quick-service industry publication.
The homegrown sandwich chainlet, started by Bladen County Records founder Matt Brown, Tommy Habetz and Nick Wood in 2008, is among 40 restaurants named on the magazine's inaugural 40/40 List.
The list honors the most exciting fast-casual brands with fewer than 40 locations across the country based on their "unit count, expansion rate, buzz-worthiness, brand niches, and (the magazine staff's) general gut feeling."
Bunk, known for its pork belly cubano, Oregon Albacore tuna melt among other hearty sandwiches, has five stand-alone locations in Portland. It has another five stands between the Moda Center and Providence Park.
See the full list here.
-- Samantha Bakall
sbakall@oregonian.com
Follow @sambakall
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(AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Realtor Kerri Hartnett's commentary on House Bill 2006 is long on self-interested alarmism and short on facts ("Not sold on changes to Oregon's mortgage interest deduction," March 31). The bill proposes to limit the mortgage interest deduction on the Oregon tax return to households with no more than $200,000 of income ($100,00 for single people). It also limits deductible interest to $15,000 per year, roughly the amount paid on a $350,000 mortgage. And it eliminates mortgage interest deductions for second homes. Extra revenue is dedicated to affordable housing measures.
This is a reasonable adjustment to address the housing crisis in our state. As it stands now, lower-income residents are underwriting the cost of better-off residents' vacation homes. They are also helping the more comfortable among us buy more expensive primary homes. Because of how rental properties are taxed, this will not affect landlords and so will not adversely affect renters.
HB 2006 is a common-sense adjustment that will not be a hardship for homeowners and is a reasonable way to shift state money to the urgent need for more affordable housing. I encourage people to check the facts for themselves and ask their representative to support the bill.
Joan Sears, Southeast Portland
As the population ages, the United States is being faced with a startling increase in the number of individuals with Alzheimers, a brain disease that causes a slow decline in memory, thinking and reasoning skills. It is the nations sixth leading cause of death.
Currently, more than five million Americans are living with the disease and, by 2050, the number of people aged 65 and older may nearly triple. In Michigan, approximately 180,000 people in that age group are suffering from the disease and, by 2025, 40,000 more will.
Early detection of Alzheimers is key. It not only provides time to get affairs in order, but it also allows for the maximum benefit from available treatments that could provide some relief and independence for a longer period of time. However, there is often confusion between symptoms of the disease and age-related changes.
Mark Hitchcock, event manager at the Alzheimers Association of Michigans Midland office, explains, Typically, issues related to age are one-time occurrences, such as sometimes forgetting a persons name. Memory loss caused by Alzheimers actually impedes daily living.
According to the Alzheimers Association of Michigan, which serves nearly 200,000 individuals and their families in Michigan with Alzheimers disease or related dementia, there are ten early signs and symptoms of Alzheimers. Those who exhibit one or more, at any degree, are encouraged to see their doctor.
One of the most common signs of Alzheimers is memory loss, especially when it happens shortly after the information has been learned, Hitchcock said. Also, its important to keep an eye out for variations in mood and personality, which often take place when an individual is out of their comfort zone.
Another sign is when people exhibit confusion with time or place. This means that they lose track of dates and the passage of time, and may even forget where they are or how they got there.
Additional signs include: challenges in planning or solving problems; difficulty completing familiar tasks at home, work or leisure; trouble understanding visual images and spatial relationships; new problems with words in speaking or writing; misplacing things and losing the ability to retrace steps; decreased or poor judgment and withdrawal from work or social activities.
As the number of those with Alzheimers increases, the nonprofit is in greater need of funding to meet its growing number of clients.
For the third consecutive tax season, taxpayers have the option to contribute all or part of their return to the Alzheimers Association of Michigan on the states Tax Form 4642, also known as the Voluntary Contributions Schedule. Individuals need only check-off the organizations name and indicate their desired donation amount, all of which will stay in Michigan. If the taxpayer is not receiving a refund, they can still make a charitable donation to the schedule.
The organizations services include support groups, community-based educational programs, a free 24/7 Helpline telephone service, counseling programs, community engagement opportunities, art programs, advocacy, adult day programs and much more.
For more information on the Alzheimers Association of Michigan, signs and symptoms of Alzheimers and the Voluntary Contributions Schedule, call (800) 272-3900 or visit www.alz.org/gmc
Barnes & Noble Midland will celebrate Spring Educator Appreciation Days, now through Sunday.
Barnes & Noble at its Midland Mall location and online at www.BN.com will offer pre-K through grade 12 public, private and home school educators and administrators special discounts, events, sweepstakes and giveaways during this time.
Barnes & Nobles Educator Appreciation Days occur several times during the year, recognizing educators and providing them with an opportunity to explore the companys selection of products, learn about programs and events, as well as save money with deeper discounts. Also during Educator Appreciation Days at Barnes & Noble, Midland, educators can enter for a chance to win a $1,000 Barnes & Noble Gift Card.
Barnes & Noble, Midland, will host a special grant writing workshop that will assist educators in getting grant money for various initiatives and projects. Educators who learn how to write grants and find grant makers can create amazing programs for their classrooms and schools from 7-8 p.m. Wednesday.
The store will also be hosting an event from 9-11:30 a.m. Saturday with author Joel M. Vernier. He will be selling and signing his book The Guinea Pig in the Freezer. The second signing event will be from 2-4 p.m. and authors include: The Joy of Love by Norbert Bufka, Isabella County by Jack Westbrook, Namaste-Stoked by Ryan Gembarowski, You are Like a Rainbow by Robin Devereaux-Nelson and Sparks and Shadows by Kendrick von Schiller.
The special discounts offered during Educator Appreciation Days are available to pre-K to grade 12 teachers and administrators enrolled in the free Barnes & Noble Educator Discount Card Program. To take advantage of these offers, educators can apply for their Barnes & Noble Educator Discount Card at Barnes & Noble, Midland. The application form is available in store or it can be downloaded from the Educator Application page online.
The Big Give recently donated its largest single gift ever: $14,000 to the Foster Closet of Midland County.
Since 2013, $134,750 has been donated to local nonprofit agencies through the Midland-based group. The giving circle of men meets three times a year. Each member agrees to donate $100 before each meeting. Midlanders John Wilson, Kevin Kendrick and Jim Nigro founded the group.
The Foster Closet is new to Midland, and we were thrilled to help as they begin their important work in our community, said Wilson, chair of The Big Give. Midland County has over 100 children in foster care. The Foster Closet, as the name implies, offers quality clothing and other supplies for local foster children in need, free of charge.
Grant funds will be utilized to purchase items for foster children, ages birth to 18. The Foster Closet also accepts donated items including clothing, blankets, personal hygiene items and baby items. It is located at Holy Family Episcopal Church.
The Big Give fund is held at the Midland Area Community Foundation, which processes donations and provides administrative support. The group is open to any male in Midland County who agrees to donate $300 per year toward the effort. A similar giving circle called the Midland 100 Club is open for local women to join.
We are simply a group of guys dedicated to improving the quality of life in our community, Kendrick said. Its exciting to see the donations grow. We love adding new members, so if $300 a year is doable for you, please consider joining.
For more information about The Big Give, visit www.TheBigGive.weebly.com or contact the Midland Area Community Foundation at (989) 839-9661.
To the editor:
The next Equal Pay Day is Tuesday, April 4. This date symbolizes how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year.
Equal Pay Day was originated by the National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE) in 1996 as a public awareness event to illustrate the gap between mens and womens wages. NCPE leadership decided years ago to select a Tuesday in April as Equal Pay Day. (Tuesday was selected to represent how far into the next work week women must work to earn what men earned the previous week.) The date also is selected to avoid religious holidays and other significant events. Because women earn less, on average, than men, they must work longer for the same amount of pay. The wage gap is even greater for most women of color.
The Midland Area branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) is calling on all AAUW branches in the area, and other womens groups such as League of Women Voters (LWV), Zonta and WOMAN (Women of Michigan Action Network) to join us at the MICHIGAN Equal Pay Legislative Day rally in Lansing, April 25, on the steps of the state house. We urge as many women as possible to gather in Lansing to raise our voices for equal pay. Please contact Judy Donahue judit.donahue@sbcglobal.net or Kim Steinke@mac.com if you or your group is interested.
JUNE TURLEY
Midland
Yokota welcomes 2nd C-130J Super Hercules
A U.S. Air Force C-130J Super Hercules approaches the runway at Yokota Air Base, Japan, March 29, 2017. This is the second C-130J delivered from Lockheed Martin, less than a month after the first was delivered March 6th. Yokota serves as the primary Western Pacific airlift hub for U.S. Air Force peacetime and contingency operations. Missions included tactical air land, airdrop, aeromedical evacuation, special operations and distinguished visitor airlift. (U.S. Air Force photo by Yasuo Osakabe)
Airmen, Marine participate in Jump training
U.S. Marines, assigned to the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force. wait for their jump during an airborne training aboard an Air Force C-130H Hercules during jump week at Yokota Air Base, Japan, March 23, 2017. The Marines are The training not only allowed the Marines to practice jumping, but it also allowed the Yokota aircrews to practice flight tactics and timed-package drops. (U.S. Air Force photo by Yasuo Osakabe)
U.S. and Japanese pilots with the 35th Fighter Wing and 3rd Air Wing participated in dissimilar air combat-training as part of their monthly bilateral ritual here, last week.
DAC-T is a practice of using various aircraft while integrating with other national forces to execute one common goal, said Maj. Matthew Sabraw, the 13th Fighter Squadron Assistant Director of Operations. The goal of this exercise focused on mitigating enemy missiles from locking on to the offensive aircraft.
We attacked with two different target areas, Sabraw explained. We had a dedicated air-to-air game plan and a dedicated suppression of enemy air defenses game plan, to facilitate mission success, which amounted to the [Japan Air-Self Defense Force pilots] bombing the targets.
As part of Pacific Commands commitment to the Indo-Asia-Pacific region, Misawa works with the JASDF to provide a continuous fight tonight posture in the area of responsibility, supporting the focus to rebalance the area throughout the year.
Pilots with the 35th Fighter Wing and 3rd Air Wing participated in a dissimilar air combat-training at Misawa Air Base, March 15 to 17.
DAC-T is a practice of using various aircraft, while integrating with other national forces, to execute one common goal, said Maj. Matthew Sabraw, the 13th Fighter Squadron assistant director of operations. The goal of this exercise focused on mitigating enemy missiles from locking on to the offensive aircraft.
We attacked with two different target areas, Sabraw explained. We had a dedicated air-to-air game plan and a dedicated suppression of enemy air defenses game plan, to facilitate mission success, which amounted to the [Japan Air-Self Defense Force pilots] bombing the targets.
As a part of Pacific Commands commitment to the Indo-Asia-Pacific region, Misawa works with the JASDF to provide a continuous fight tonight presence in the area of responsibility, safeguarding the Pacific Air Forces focus on the Indo-Asia-Pacific region throughout the year.
The commitment to the PACAF area of responsibility will be a gradual process not characterized by a sudden increase in US presence, but rather by deepening our sustained long-term defense engagement and political focus through directing attention towards the Indo-Asia-Pacific with principles, partnership, presence and power projection.
"By training together with the JASDF, we perfect communications and strengthen the fluidity of our tactics, said Lt. Col. Kevin Lord, the 35th Operation Support Squadron commander. DAC-T is integral to flawlessly execute our bilateral missions and contribute to the rebalance of the Indo-Asia-Pacific theatre."
Misawa holds a DAC-T each month, ensuring they are proficient when it comes to carrying out objectives.
Just like sports, there are skill sets in life which repetition and practice helps you create and refine, said Capt. Drew Clasen, an 13th Fighter Squadron F-16 Fighting Falcon pilot. When we have larger exercises it generates new problems we dont always see, and when were flying with 16 other aircraft, it helps us have a better vision of how the larger picture will be [working with other JASDF members].
According to Maj. Yasuyuki Kawamura, a 3rd Air Wing pilot, said there has been a notable difference in working with their Misawa American partners.
When youre not stationed in Misawa it takes a lot of coordination to hold a DAC-T, Kawamura said. Because we share the same base we have the opportunity to easily hold DAC-T missions that are a benefit for the [Japan Air Self-Defense Force].
Clasen said with the DAC-T helping to identify potential errors and increasing their coherence as a taskforce, their alliance has grown closer.
Training with our JASDF and American brothers and sisters, plays an important role in strengthening our alliance as the U.S. pivots more focus towards the Pacific region, Clasen said. If a time came where we have to defend Japan, on behalf of Japan, we can easily interact with them.
The rebalance will be a gradual process not characterized by a sudden increase in US presence, but rather by deepening our sustained long-term defense engagement and political focus through directing attention towards the Indo-Asia-Pacific with principles, partnership, presence and power projection.
"By training together with the JASDF, we perfect communications and strengthen the fluidity of our tactics, said Lt. Col. Kevin Lord, the 35th Operation Support Squadron commander. DAC-T is integral to flawlessly execute our bilateral missions and contribute to the rebalance of the Indo-Asia-Pacific theatre."
Misawa holds a DAC-T each month, ensuring they are proficient when it comes to carrying out objectives.
Just like sports, there are skill sets in flying that repetition and practice helps you create and refine, said Capt. Drew Clasen, an 13th Fighter Squadron F-16 Fighting Falcon pilot. When we have larger exercises it generates new problems we dont always see, and when were flying with 16 other aircraft, it helps us have a better vision of how the larger picture will be [working with other JASDF members].
According to Maj. Yasuyuki Kawamura, a 3rd Air Wing pilot, there has been a notable difference in working with their Misawa American partners.
When youre not stationed in Misawa it takes a lot of coordination to hold a DAC-T, Kawamura said. Because we share the same base we have the opportunity to easily hold DAC-T missions that are a benefit for the [Japan Air Self-Defense Force].
Clasen said with the DAC-T helping to identify potential errors and increasing their coherence as a taskforce, their alliance has grown closer.
Training with our JASDF and American brothers and sisters plays an important role in strengthening our alliance as the U.S. pivots more towards the Pacific region, Clasen said. If a time came where we have to defend Japan, on behalf of Japan, we can easily work with them.
Airmen, Soldiers and U.S. and Japanese civilian personnel from six different locations around the world teamed up to provide the largest aeromedical evacuation ever at Misawa Air Base, Japan for two critical patients March 22.
The Air Force AE System is a unique and significant part of the nations mobility resources. Its mission is to provide time sensitive, mission critical en route care to patients during transit to medical treatment facilities. Care is provided by Air Force medics specially trained to operate within the global AE system.
Two C-17 Globemaster IIIs, one from March Air Force Base and one out of Travis Air Force Base, both in California, were requested to transport the patients to two separate locations, Tripler Army Medical Center at Honolulu, Hawaii and Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.
The care in the air is provided by AE crews who are comprised of flight nurses, aeromedical technicians, and medical attendants trained to perform routine care and to stabilize patients in flight, said Maj. Inna Mikhailova, the 35th Medical Group group practice manager. Regular AE crews may also be augmented with a critical care air transport team if the patients require more intensive care.
CCATT is the highest echelon of care comprised of a critical care physician, a critical care nurse and a cardiopulmonary technician.
We worked together with the Theater Patient Movement Requirements Center-West to conduct a telephone consult with our attending physician, Chief Medical Officer, flight surgeon and AE office personnel, said Staff Sgt. Brek Halgren, the 35th Medical Support Squadron aeromedical evacuation NCO in charge. After conferring over the details and criticality of the case, it was determined this patient would require a few specialized teams.
Due to one of the patients life threatening conditions, a CCATT team was required, calling upon multiple forces to be joined together to provide critical care.
Normal missions fly with three to five medical personnel, said Halgren. We brought in a CCATT team from Kadena Air Base, Japan, an Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation team from Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston, Texas and a few other specialists to assist the patient in critical condition.
Halgren continued by stating due to the life threatening condition of the patient, off-site medical attention was needed at a host-nation hospital an hour away.
This required careful coordination with the host-nation hospital staff. Our local Medical Group liaison, Mrs. Naoko Takahashi, was instrumental in working with the facility to set up this transfer, he continued.
When an emergency occurs, everyone drops what they are doing and pitches in to make sure the highest quality of care is provided. When the case is too serve for the 35th MDG, Japanese counterparts in the surrounding area leap into action assisting in patient care.
It was remarkable to see that much medical capability converge on our base for this service member, Halgren said. Three doctors from Hachinohe City Hospital accompanied the transfer and were able to witness this incredible capability. It was a great opportunity to forge ties and form relationships with the hospital and medical staff that care for many of our critical Misawa beneficiaries.
NORMAL An anchor at the Shoppes at College Hills likely will close after all.
Gordmans at 306 S. Towanda Ave., Normal, is likely to shut down despite the purchase of its parent company in a bankruptcy proceeding, according to documents filed over the weekend in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
Normal's Gordmans is the only downstate Illinois store proposed for closure following the sale of the company to Stage Stores Inc., a Houston-based department store chain. Omaha, Neb.-based Gordmans also operates stores in Champaign, East Peoria, Peoria, Springfield and Fairview Heights.
At the time of the purchase, Stage said it planned to keep about 50 Gordmans locations open and to close a similar number.
The judge overseeing the bankruptcy case will have the final say on store closings, so the list provided in court documents could change slightly, according to Lee News Service reporting.
No closing date has been announced.
The news follows the closing late last month of Macy's at Eastland Mall and the pending closure of another anchor there, J.C. Penney.
Officials at M&J Wilkow, the Chicago real estate company that owns the Shoppes, could not be reached Monday.
"(M&J Wilkow) said if they do close ... they have lots of options for that space," said Normal City Manager Mark Peterson of Gordmans. "The fairly large space gives them lots of options. Whether these are existing businesses wanting to expand or new businesses, they didn't get into that."
Peterson said incentives for a future user of the building would be considered, as elsewhere in the town, on a case-by-case basis. The town provided a sales tax incentive to the developer of the Shoppes that Peterson said is still active.
"(M&J) Wilkow has never mentioned anything like that with us. They've never suggested that," he said.
Mayor Chris Koos said he heard from Gordmans that the Normal location "does pretty well," which "would give you some hope they would continue."
Gordmans filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month after working to reduce its expenses over the past several months.
Chief Financial Officer James B. Brown said in documents filed in court that the company's sales declined because retail traffic slowed and less than 1 percent of Gordmans sales were made online in the past year.
NORMAL A Bloomington man was killed after being struck by an SUV Friday night on Veterans Parkway in Normal, police said.
Preliminary autopsy results indicate Jeffery A. Darr, 50, died from multiple blunt injuries, said McLean County Coroner Kathy Davis. Toxicology reports are pending.
Police were called at 8:24 p.m. to the scene between Fort Jesse and Shepard roads. Witnesses said Darr entered the southbound lanes of traffic near Shepard and was struck by a vehicle.
Firefighters and police found Darr showed no signs of life and was pronounced dead at the scene at 9:19 p.m. by the McLean County coroner's office.
Police said Darr was crossing the road in an area that was not designed for pedestrian traffic and the road was not well-lit. Investigators are working to determine why he was in the roadway.
The driver of the car remained at the scene and cooperated with police, police said.
Southbound traffic was stopped at Shepard Road and northbound traffic from Fort Jesse Road was restricted to one lane as authorities investigated the scene.
Anyone who may have witnessed this crash is asked to contact Normal police at 309-454-9535.
Business of Fashion reports today that Jenna Lyons is leaving J.Crew after 26 years at the brand's creative helm and seven years as its president.
"It has been beyond my wildest dreams to work with such an amazing team of people at such an incredible brand and alongside Mickey one of retail's most talented visionaries," Lyons said in a statement, referring to J.Crew's chief executive Millard "Mickey" Drexler, who was instrumental in Lyons' rise as the de facto face of the brand.
"I am excited about the next chapter for J.Crew as well as the opportunity for other creative leaders within the organization to step up and take on new responsibilities," she added. "Having spent the better part of my life with J.Crew, I feel an immense pride and love for everyone at the company."
"Jenna and I got together and we both agreed it was time for a change," Drexler told BoF. "That being said, she's got plans to do other things. It's been a great run. There's a lot of mutual respect between Jenna and me."
Somsack Sikhounmuong, J.Crew's current head of women's design and previous head of its super successful sister label Madewell, will be promoted to chief design officer and will oversee all men's, women's and children's designs, effective immediately. All other creative departments will report to Drexler.
"Somsack and our design teams have a deep understanding of the aesthetic and style our customers rely on us to deliver, with a proven track record of driving creative vision in-line with our brand DNA," Drexler said. "We are excited to extend Somsack's vision across all design categories and look forward to the team's contributions. As always, delivering the very best product, value and brand experience across channels is our top priority."
Under Lyons, J.Crew transcended brand-status and became a cultural phenomenon, influencing the way Americans approached fashion and daily wear. Lyons' personal style - of which her statement glasses are the most recognizable piece - also became an iconic part of the brand's identity.
With the ever-growing rise of fast fashion, J.Crew has seen sales decline in recent years. The transition to a market flooded by lightning-fast trend cycles and defined by increasingly casual dress has affected J.Crew as much as any speciality retailer, and Lyons' transition is likely the first in a set of changes to J.Crew's strategy.
[h/t Business of Fashion]
Image via John Salangsang/BFA.com
April is Autism Awareness Month and in line with this, Legoland in Florida announced some major additions to its amenities and features. The theme park installed and devised autism-friendly facilities for the benefit of its guests under the autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Legoland partnered with Autism Speaks in coming up with the improvements. David Brady, the theme park's spokesperson, said they wanted to give all their guests a memorable experience but they know how parks can be triggering for those with ASD.
"Sometimes they throw themselves on the ground," Brady said, who has first-hand experience with autism tantrums. Brady has a son with special needs, as per Fox 13.
To make things smoother, guests with special needs children can pick up a free "Blue Hero Pass" at Guest Services areas. With this card, families with children with autism won't have to wait in line at popular attractions, as stated in the press release.
To prevent overstimulation in the rides, guests can preview "social stories" also at the Guest Services areas. This provides a step-by-step guide for each ride, especially where there is sudden noise or darkness.
Around the park are "quiet rooms" where the kids can play Legos or squishy toys. These sites have noise-cancelling headphones and weighted blankets, should the children need soothing or calming. "Instead of going all the way back to your hotel room or all the way back to your car to leave the park, you now have a safe, quiet place in the park where you can take a break," Brady said, as per My9NJ.
To assist the families, Legoland has Model Citizens. These are employees who received specialized training to assist children with autism and their families.
Legoland also announced it will be donating $15 per ticket sold to Autism Speaks for the month of April. Supporters of the organization may also purchase discounted print-at-home tickets, which will be available until May 31, 2017.
Legoland will also commemorate Autism Awareness Day on April 2, Sunday. The park will turn blue lights on at night.
A student majoring in English at the Northern Arizona University slammed her feminist professor for the way she graded her essay. Cailin Jeffers called out Dr. Anne Scott after she deducted a point from her paper. The professor apparently didn't like Jeffers' use of a non-gender neutral word.
The word the teacher opposed was "mankind," which had a gender neutral equivalent in "humanity" or "humankind," as per Campus Reform. The professor had "mankind" as a "don't use" in her "do's and don'ts" list for students' essays.
Jeffers said she thought the teacher was not serious about this list but she wanted to see if the policy stuck. So, she used "mankind" in her essay and got a point deduction after Scott checked her paper.
Jeffers then sought a meeting with her professor and Scott explained in detail the point deduction she gave the student. "I would be negligent, as a professor who is running a class about the human condition and the assumptions we make about being 'human,' if I did not also raise this issue of gendered language," Scott told her student.
When Jefferson pressed on and insisted "mankind" was not a sexist word, Scott told her otherwise and called the student out for being wrong. "She told me that 'mankind' does not refer to all people, only males," Jeffers related.
Jeffers also sat as a guest on the "Tucker Carlson Tonight" following the controversy. The student said she cannot understand the obsession of some feminists "over tiny, little micro-aggressions," as per Fox News.
Jeffers also said her professor couldn't show her concrete proof in any English standards that it was incorrect to use "mankind" in an essay. She felt punished for choosing the word and accused Scott of grading her paper for the teacher's political convictions and not academic merits. Watch Jeffers talk about her experience with her feminist teacher below.
As the world marks World Autism Day, a father shared his story about how he raises awareness regarding the condition. He has a son with autism and he said he uses his radio show and the social media to battle the stigma related to autism.
The father, Hassan Dennaoui spoke to CNN via their "Connect the World" segment and he talked about his six-year-old son Ahmad. Dennaoui, best known as Big Hass as the host of the first FM hip-hop radio show in Saudi Arabia, moved to the United Arab Emirates with his family after they knew of their son's condition.
They once lived in Jeddah but decided to move to Dubai because they want their son to be in an area with the right atmosphere so he would excel. He said since they got to the area a year ago, Ahmad started to speak and became more aware of the people around him and his surroundings, Arab News reported.
Dennaoui also talked about how parents in Saudi Arabia treat their children with autism and Down's syndrome. He shared, "They're boxed down, put in houses with a 'nanny' while the parents are out, and that really brings tears to my eyes."
Due to this known fact, Dennaoui talks about his son having the condition whenever he goes on air and when he posts about it on social media. He uses and continues to use the hashtags "#AutismNotADisease" and "#AutismParent" on his posts related to his son.
The radio host and father-of-one also said despite his pure intentions to promote awareness regarding autism, some people leave rude comments on his post. He said one time someone questioned him about why he is so proud of a son who is disabled. Dennaoui said he then engaged in the discussion and he believed that is what is needed in order to impart knowledge about the condition.
More on autism, Quebec just announced their plan to help children affected with the condition to reach their full potential. Montreal Gazette shared the research and training are the first steps in the plan.
This is the first time officials in Quebec made such move. In the area, more than 5,000 families are affected by autism but only one fourth of them have the opportunity and access to technology, tests and therapies related to the condition.
The two eldest children of the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson, always showed their love of tattoos and the latest ink that Prince Jackson got was to honor his father. The eldest son of Jackson took to Instagram to show off his new ink.
The 20-year-old got inked on his leg and in the new tattoo, Michael's iconic pose, wherein he crossed his legs and had his arms pointed towards the sky. In the new ink of Prince, it showed angel wings substituted the arms of the iconic musician.
It also featured pixie dust on the bottom of the tattoo as well as his white fedora, the well-known sequined white gloves, white socks, and the red and black outfit of Michael. Prince said on his post it took nine hours to get the tattoo done, Huffington Post shared.
Thanks @dermagraphink for sittin 9hrs with me for such an incredible and beautiful tattoo. I will be posting more of this A post shared by Prince Jackson (@princejackson) on Mar 31, 2017 at 10:59pm PDT
Just last month, Prince sat for an interview on "Good Morning America." He talked about working behind the scenes via his own company called King's Son productions.
"So, it's a form of motivation because my name is Prince, but for all intents and purposes I am the king's son and working to get my own epithet," he further explained, People reported. Meanwhile, Prince's sister, Paris, also got a tattoo in 2016 to achieve the same goal of Prince, to honor their father.
She took to Instagram during that time to post a tattoo of her new ink that showed the words "Queen of My Heart" with his own handwriting. The statement came from a letter Michael wrote to his daughter when she was younger.
Prince and Paris also got matching tattoos and they revealed it on Sunday. It showed the Chinese symbol for Yin and Yang. Paris revealed it on her Instagram page.
Michael died from cardiac arrest in June of 2009 and was only 50 years old. Prince was only 12 while Paris was 11. Their youngest sibling, Blanket, who remained out of the public eye, was only seven years old and is now 15.
This was not the first time Prince paid tribute to his father. Last year, on what was supposed to be the 58th birthday of the late King of Pop, he shared a sonnet on his Instagram account for his father.
Patna: Former Janata Dal U legislator Suryadeo Singh, notorious for his short fuse and previous run-ins with the law, opened fire randomly on a group of children playing outside his home in Sasaram district on Sunday killing a 13-year old Muslim while injuring five others including four children and his nephew 35-year old Guddu Kumar.
The incident took place in Tenduni village in Bikramganj block when Singh and another person opened indiscriminate firing from the top of the roof of their house at the children playing on the street. The bullets struck four children and Singh's relative Guddu Kumar who had just stepped out of his home to go somewhere.
People in the area rushed all five victims to Karuna Nursing Home where 13-year old Hazara Khatun was declared dead on arrival. As reported, Guddu Kumar also later died of his wounds and while two children - Diwakar, age 8, and Sahil, age 4 - remained at the hospital in serious condition, another victim who was identified as Prakash, age 12, was rushed to the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) in critical condition.
As reported, police have arrested Singh and six others in the case though no FIR had been filed against them till the time of reporting.
Police also recovered a revolver and three rifles from Singh's home.
Meanwhile, in view of the communal nature of the crime, situation remains tense in Bikramganj where security has been beefed up to avoid any untoward incident.
Starting his political career as a Communist Party of India (ML) member, Singh later joined Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and even much later JD-U.
Correction: It was erroneously reported that Guddu Singh had died of his injuries. However, he remains alive in critical condition. PD regret the error.
The win in Ecuadors presidential elections of leftist government candidate Lenin Moreno will likely have provided relief to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who had been threatened with eviction from the countrys embassy in London by the opposition candidate.
The election in the South American country had aroused interest in part because the conservative opposition candidate, Guillermo Lasso, had said that if elected he would evict Assange within 30 days of assuming power, because it was costing the country too much to keep him at the embassy.
The embassy is being constantly monitored by U.K. police ever since Assange slipped into it in 2012 and was granted asylum by the Ecuador government. Police say they will arrest Assange if he comes out of the embassy to meet an extradition request from Sweden in connection with an investigation into a sexual assault. Assange supporters are concerned that he may be moved from Sweden to the U.S. to face charges in connection with several leaks of confidential U.S. government information.
On Sunday, Assange tweeted his congratulations to Moreno and officials in Ecuador, including Rafael Correa, the current president of Ecuador. I cordially invite Lasso to leave Ecuador within 30 days (with or without his tax haven millions), wrote Assange in another message, referring to charges that Lasso had avoided taxes by stashing cash abroad.
On Friday, WikiLeaks released files that allegedly show how the CIA was masking its malware attacks, the latest dump by the whistleblower site of confidential information from the agency.
During the run-up to the U.S. presidential elections, WikiLeaks also leaked mails from the Democratic National Committee that showed that the Democratic Partys national strategy and fund-raising committee had favored Hillary Clinton over her rival Senator Bernie Sanders for the party nomination. The website also published mails from the account of John Podesta, chairman of Clintons campaign.
The administration of former President Barack Obama and Clintons campaign have accused WikiLeaks of cooperating with Russian hackers with the aim of raising questions about the legitimacy of the presidential elections.
The Lasso camp is demanding a recount of the votes cast in the presidential election, according to reports. Although he backs Assanges continuation at the embassy, Moreno said he would ask him to to be very delicate when he addresses international politics, especially regarding countries with which we have good relations, according to Latin American news outlet teleSUR.
An Austrian man who died after a skydiving accident in Lake Elsinore last week was experienced at the sport and had completed 20 to 30 dives here in the days before the fatal jump, said the general manager of the facility he was using.
Josef Marhl, 55, of Vienna, died Friday, March 31, at Inland Valley Medical Center in Wildomar, coroners officials said.
Riverside County sheriffs deputies were called to Skylark Airport about 10:20 a.m. Wednesday in response to a report of a skydiver who had landed hard, a department spokesman said in an email Monday. The deputies turned the injured man over to medical personnel, who took him to the hospital.
The victim had been jumping out of Skydive Elsinore with a group of European visitors over the last week and a half, said General Manager Joshua Hall.
He said Mahrl had more than 2,000 jumps to his credit.
He was experienced, Hall said. He had done two jumps previously that day (with) perfectly normal landings.
Hall said there were at least three witnesses to the incident, two of whom had videotaped the jump.
He was seen flying under a good parachute, Hall said. Nothing appeared to be wrong with the parachute. There was no air traffic and no other canopies that he was avoiding.
Hall said it the ultimate factor was Mahrl turned the parachute too low to the ground and did not give it enough time to recover to a flat, level flight.
While the dangers of skydiving are obvious, Hall said incidents such as the one last week are rare at the Elsinore site and nearby Skydive Perris at Perris Valley Airport, where he used to work.
Based on Press-Enterprise reports, the last skydive fatality in Lake Elsinore occurred in April 2015, when an 88-year-old man from San Pedro died. The last skydiver fatality in Perris was in March 2015, when a Navy SEAL from Colorado died from injuries suffered in a parachute jump training operation.
The Elsinore drop zone, in operation since 1958, has been averaging about 75,000 jumps per year over the last couple of years, Hall said.
Maria Antonia Apis had seven children, fathered by three different men.
A couple of the children died young; the rest were raised at a time of uprisings, massacres and as California began to emerge as a new state.
That was nearly 200 years ago, when women were treated dramatically different than today.
And you thought raising kids and fighting local traffic in the Southwest Riverside County of today was challenging. Suck it up; things could be worse, way worse.
Apis only survived for 33 years, dying perhaps of small pox, which is easily treated today.
Her fascinating story was pieced together by psychologist and historian Anne Miller and presented recently to a crowd of about 50 at a Temecula Valley Historical Society meeting.
Fortunately, life for three of Apis daughters got better.
In an article Miller did for the Historical Society of Southern California, she wrote that those three daughters were later accepted into California society circles and seemingly had better lives.
In contrast to the lives of her daughters, much of Maria Antonias years might be described as harsh, difficult and rather sad, Miller wrote.
Apis was baptized as a newborn at the Mission San Luis Rey in Oceanside in 1830. Her two sisters died as very young children. Can you imagine?
About 1840, Apis grandfather Pablo was given about 2,200 acres in our area, today known as Little Temecula Rancho. It was near what we call the corner of Temecula and Redhawk parkways today.
The family had an orchard, planting fields, a pond and livestock. Many travelers passed through and the family provided supplies.
She had her first child, Victoria, with Isaac Williams in 1846. He was 47, a wealthy landowner from Chino who grazed cattle and sheep in our area. Concepcion, Feliciano and Refugia followed, all fathered by Williams, a widower.
Apis and her children lived in a turbulent time.
In January 1847, 40 local Indians died in the Temecula Massacre; Apis would have known some of the Indians, Miller says.
Williams died in 1856 and Apis and her younger brother were given the Little Temecula Rancho, as well as 100 sheep and 100 cattle.
So, she was a woman with assets.
Eventually, she leased half an acre and a building to John Magee, who then ran a local store of considerable historical note.
In 1857, she married David Holman in faraway Los Angeles and they had two children, both of whom died young. Holman died just two years later.
Apis wed John Place in the fall of 1859 and quickly filed for divorce, alleging he had an affair with a local woman.
In a court filing related to the divorce, she reported he treated her with extreme cruelty, by inhumanly beating and striking her, hauling her by the hair with violence along the highway, and threatening her with a knife.
She had another daughter in the early 1860s with George Kauffman, who lived in San Bernardino County.
Apis died in 1863.
Fast forward to the current day and Millers riveting presentation.
Audience member Penelope Johnson says Apis life was probably pretty typical for what was famously called the Wild West.
Women didnt have the same kind of rights they do today and frontier life was hard for a single mom, so having a man around was critical, Johnson says.
And audience member Toni Benson says the constant ups and downs of Apis life are dramatically different from our lives now.
Its something we cant conceive of today, she said.
Her world is best viewed from afar, helping us appreciate how good we have it.
Reach Carl Love at carllove4@yahoo.com
A man who was struck by a vehicle and killed in Perris late Saturday, April 1, was crossing the street on a red light with his grandson, authorities say.
Brian Lille, 70, and his grandson were walking in a crosswalk at the intersection of Ramona Expressway and Lake Perris Drive at 11:57 a.m. when Lille was struck by a GMC Envoy, according to a news release from the Riverside County Sheriffs Department.
The grandson was able to make it safely across the expressway, but Lille died at the scene, the release said. Investigators have determined that the two crossed the street against a red light.
Part of the eastbound lanes of Ramona Expressway were closed in the area during the investigation, the release said.
United Bank for Africa (UBA) Ghana Limited announced its audited 2016 financial results, showing a remarkable 134% growth YoY in profit before tax of Ghc 210bn.
The Bank also recorded significant positive performances in other headline numbers, with a 114% growth in Gross Earnings, and 68% growth in Customer Deposits.
Commenting on the sterling results, the MD/CEO of UBA Ghana, Mrs. Abiola Bawuah stated despite the adverse global and regional macro-economic climate that affected businesses in Ghana and beyond, we leveraged on our entrepreneurial culture, excellent customer service delivery to drive growth in all our major income lines while significantly improving on our operational efficiencies, evidenced in the moderation of our cost to income ratio at 31%.
The MD/CEO also confirmed that the 2016 performance was a key milestone to becoming a systemically important bank in the industry. She further stated that in addition to the significant growth in earnings indices, UBA Ghana also enhanced its productivity to continue to rank as one of the most efficient and profitable banks in the industry.
While commenting on the outlook for 2017, she was optimistic the Ghanaian economy will experience significant growth, and that UBA Ghana is committed to creating value for all her stakeholders by harnessing the opportunities created in the expected growth of the economy in 2017.
She also highlighted the banks strategic intent to become the dominant financial institution in Ghana and the undisputed leader in digital banking. In this light, we have redefined our Core Values to reflect our commitment to achieving our corporate objectives.
Our new core value statement of Enterprise, Excellence and Execution (The 3 Es) reflect the underpinning foundation to achieving superior performance in the coming year and beyond she stated.
In line with the banks positioning statement and strategic intent, UBA Ghana has a footprint of 28 fully networked branches across Accra, Tema, Kumasi, Takoradi, Tamale, Tarkwa and Aflao and 49 Visa and MasterCard enabled ATM's.
Source: Peacefmonline.com
Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
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Policy think tank, Strategic Thinkers Network, STRANEK wants UKs High Commissioner to Ghana, Jon Benjamin to cease forthwith, his "provocative tweets" which only "breeds unwarranted tension and hatred" and rather channel his energy in "harmonizing peace among political parties and Ghanaians".
A statement issued by the policy think tank slammed the British diplomat for provocative tweets such as Im in a non-V8 car which hasnt been painted; Did someone inaugurate the Harmattan already which particularly brought about a lot of controversy, stressing that diplomacy, which is fundamentally working with people, bringing people together to deal with difficult issues, is a "serious business that trickles down to ones comported modus operandi.
Jon Benjamin has been described as a controversial diplomat due to his views and comments on issues especially on social media.
Below is the full statement
JON BENJAMINS PROVOCATIVE TWEETS NOT THE BEST- STRANEK
Observing from our end, it is one provocative tweet to another.
Poking of nose in affairs outside the scope of diplomacy. Such tweets from a United Kingdom High Commissioner and now former sends a rolling eyeball as we believe he should know his limits.
In advocating for an open and cooperative international relations, we at Strategic Thinkers Network (STRANEK) think the former UK High Commissioner to Ghana must halt on his provocative tweets.
It only breeds unwarranted tension and hatred. Provocative tweets such as Im in a non-V8 car which hasnt been painted; Did someone inaugurate the Harmattan already which particularly brought about a lot of controversy must be curbed by him.
We think he should divert his energy in harmonizing peace among political parties and Ghanaians in lieu of his provocative tweets. Diplomacy, they say is fundamentally working with people, bringing people together to deal with difficult issues hence we believe its a serious business which it trickles down to ones comported modus operandi.
We dont think our once colonial masters who have seen Ghana through the mill will endorse provocation from their diplomats. Harmony and good relations is the raison detre.
In order not to leapfrog the issue, we will pause here and hope that advise is taken in good faith by Former High Commissioner Jon Benjamin as he turns a new leaf. We are indeed all involved in building our motherland.
Signed.
Nii Tettey Tetteh Executive Director
Charles Kwadade Deputy Executive Director
Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana
Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
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The daughter of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Anne, will pay a visit to Ghana today as part of a two-day visit to West Africa.
A statement from British High Commission in Ghana said the visit which is Princess Royals third to Ghana, will celebrate the unique friendship between the UK and Ghana, as it commemorates its 60th Anniversary of independence.
The statement added that it will also reinforce the strength and depth of our bilateral relations. Ghana is marking its 60th Anniversary with themes of reflection, celebration, challenge and togetherness. Its partnership with the UK embodies just that built on deep social and cultural ties and a shared future.
The Princess Royal is expected to meet a number of dignitaries including the Asantehene, Otumfuo Nana Osei Tutu II at the Royal Palace in Kumasi and former President Kufuor.
The Princess Royal will also undertake a wide-ranging programme that builds on her previous visits in 1998 and 2011, which according to the statement focuses on empowering women who act as role models for others, exploring the importance of support for girls, female education and entrepreneurs in delivering Ghanas future.
She will also meet with a number of UK volunteers including the alumni of UK sponsored scholarship programmes, Chevening, Commonwealth and the Queens Young Leaders
The Princess Royal visit follows similar ones paid by former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair and Britains Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson.
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.
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The Kumasi Academy Senior High School in the Asokore Mampong Municipality of Ashanti has been deserted following the death of three male students in thirteen days.
The students suspect their colleagues died as a result of food poisoning but autopsy reports are yet to be issued to determine the cause of the deaths.
The three students died at separate hospitals after they each complained of not being well and were given permission to go home and get medical care.
The deaths occurred at the Tafo Trinity Hospital, Jachie Pramso Hospital and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Hospital.
The deaths were greeted with spontaneous reaction of stone-throwing by some students. The school bus and a number of street lights were vandalized on Friday.
The commotion led to shocks especially among a number of female students who were rushed to the KNUST Hospital where they were treated and discharged.
When news of the deaths got to town, panicking parents stormed the school for their wards.
Subsequently, a commotion ensued between the schools security and parents who had insisted on taking their children home without recourse to the headmaster.
The scuffle at the entrance of the school led to a beefing up of security by police men who restored calm and prevailed on the authorities to allow parents to take their wards home.
Indeed, at the time Graphic Online visited the school on Saturday morning, some parents were still around to evacuate their wards.
With the exception of the final year students who were preparing for the WAEC exams on Monday and a few others who have internal exams to write on Wednesday, the school remained virtually empty.
Source: Daily Graphic
Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
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The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu, has revealed that former President John Mahama has confessed his regret for ignoring his advice.
According to the Ashanti monarch, all other presidents, under the fourth republic, including the late President John Mills expressed similar sentiments to him after their exit from office.
Addressing a gathering at the Manhyia palace when the President paid a courtesy call on him, the monarch urged Nana Akufo-Addo to be careful of the people around him.
I had conversations with former presidents and they admitted they should have listened to my counsel. Rawlings and Kufuor were all here; I spoke with Prof. Mills ten days before his death and he said the same thing. Shortly after his term ended, President Mahama was here and he mentioned he ignored a number of things I counselled him on which he has paid dearly for, Otumfuo said.
For his part, the President said he will ensure he delivers on the promises he made to Ghanaians.
I made a lot of pledges during the campaign. We have started fulfilling them. The Free Senior High School policy will commence from September 2017. So you should know that what I said during the campaign was not political talk. Yesterday, in Parliament, the Asempa budget became law. The Appropriations Act has been made, so there is financial provision for Free SHS in the budget. Ghanaians should know that I did not lie to them during the campaign, in order to get their votes. Whatever I said I was going to do, I will do.
Source: Starrfmonline.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.
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The 2016 flag bearer of the Progressive Peoples Party (PPP), Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom has called for the abolishment of illegal mining (galamsey) due to the destruction it causes to our lands and rivers.
The leader of the PPP stalwart voiced out that galamsey is against the constitution of Ghana.
Speaking on ATVs Ghana Great and Strong programme, Dr. Nduom differentiated between galamsey and small scale mining underscoring that galamsey is illegal whilst small scale mining is legal, he continued that illegal mining destroys most of our lands and rivers in Ghana.
The mining organisation led by the ministry of mines should ensure that inspection goes on effectively at mining sites and those who provide mining licence must also go to the field, he advised.
Fearing for Ghanas future, Dr. Nduom noted that our lands are the source of food so if they are being destroyed, the cost of food will rise. We should all help in driving galamseyers away. When our lands, rivers and water are destroyed, our future is also destroyed.
Let us deal with this matter called galamsey, let deal with it well but let us deal with it quickly, he advised.
Source: ATV
Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
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Ghanaian gospel big names- GiftyOsei, Tagoe Sisters, Noble Nketsiah- and two UK-based artistes- will join praise &worship veteran, Rev Yawson in a tour of the UK from June 23.
Dubbed #OurGratitudeUKConcerts, Rev Yawson explains: it seeks to create the strongest gathering of lovers of Ghanaian gospel music as we give thanks to God for how far Hes brought us amidst the challenges both home and abroad.These concerts will primarily inspire you in your gratitude, praise and thanksgiving.
#OurGratitudeUK Concerts kicks off on Friday June 23rd from 6pm to 10:30pm, at the Oasis Recreational Center in Telford [Grange Avenue, Stirchley in Telford, TF3 1ET]
The Team will stop in London on Saturday June 24 at a venue to be announced soon. Manchester will have her turn on Sunday June 25 from 5pm, at the Christ Apostolic Church Manchester Hall, 167 Edge Lane M43 6BE.
Noble Nketsiah: I have been around the world, but it would be my first time with my fans in the UK. GiftyOsei added: The forces of darkness can't stand to be around hearts that give thanks and honour to God. Our Praises and thanksgiving in Telford, Manchester and London this summer will surely make the enemies flee.
These encounters will surely help us to recognize we have so much to be thankful for. Join us as we take our attention off of our problems and reflect on the goodness of His many blessings, according to the Tagoe Sisters.
Reverend Yawson will use this platforms to announce and perform for the first time, songs off his upcoming 7thalbum, hislatest since 2013.
#OurGratitudeUKConcerts is organized byBase GroupInc, Ozberga Promotions UK,LaBoroGH and Showbiz Africa. Entry for each of the concerts is 15 at the door and 10 in advance. Part of the proceeds from these concerts would be used to support Charity Organizations in Ghana.
For more info email [email protected] or hithttps://twitter.com/ShowbizAfricaGH
https://www.instagram.com/showbizafrica
https://www.facebook.com/showbizafricaonline
https://www.facebook.com/ShowbizAfricaGH
Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
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According to reports, 10 people have been killed and at least 50 people have been injured after two separate explosions occurred in the Russian city of St Petersberg.
The Moscow Times is reporting that the Emergency Situations Ministry has confirmed that explosions took place at roughly 2:30pm local time at Sennaya Ploshchad and Tekhnologicheskiy Institut station.
The Daily Mail is describing the explosive devices as nail bombs and a Rossiya-24 anchorwoman has been quoted describing devices rigged with destructive elements.
According to The Independent, Russias Anti-Terrorist Committee has stated that the explosion at the two train stations was the result of an improvised explosive device on a train travelling between the two stations.
President Vladimir Putin, who is in St Petersberg for talks with the president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, said it is too early to comment: Its too early to speak about the reasons. The investigation will show. Were considering all options. Both non-criminal and criminal, of a terrorist character.
More on this story as it develops.
Sources: Moscow Times / Daily Mail.
Photo: Twitter.
Doughnut Time is one of the fastest growing brand in hospitality across Eastern Australia. DT work relentlessly to deliver the most delicious hand-made doughnuts to cities around the country, including ya more conventional flavours like the OG, eccentric sorts such as the maple-bacon and even signature shakes. The team at Doughnut Time are looking for a Social Media Assistant (BRIS) to join the drool worthy cause that is nutella-freaking-filled doughnuts. Youll need to have a solid understanding of social media and customer service. Youll get not only work for DT, but work across brands such as Mister Fitz, Chester Street Bakery, Les Bubbles, Alfred & Constance + more. If you know how to write compelling copy for social, consider yourself a creative thinker, froth on all sorts of food (not just doughnuts) and you want a foot in the social media door, this could be the gig for you. Apply here.
Sydney Restaurant Group is a leader in hospo land, boasting some premium venues that encapsulate that suave Sydney dining. From 2 hatted fine dining to some whopping waterfront views and the more caj cafe feels, they offer resto experiences to suit everyones vibe. Sydney Restaurant Group are now after a creative and profesh young gun of a Marketing Assistant (SYD) to provide profesh support to their Events & Marketing department. As Marketing Assistant, youll be helping with reservations, responding to general enquiries, assisting with eCommerce support and database development. Youll get exposure to Marketing where youll assist with the prep of marketing material, Advertising and Marketing scheduling support and copy writing. If youve been hoping, waiting and wishing for the job stars to align and enable you with a way to combine your love for marketing and food, get applying now.
Prefer sentences over paragraphs? We hear ya. Snag some 10/10 roles below.
Into epic eyewear? Become an Office Junior (SYD) for AM Eyewear here.
Froth on fashion? Become a Design Room Coordinator for Aje (SYD) here.
Bit of a bike enthusiast? Become a Bike Counts Coordinator (MELB) for Bicycle Network here.
Stoked on social media? Become a Social Media Account Manger (SYD) for L&A Social Media here.
Proud of ur ppl skills? Become a Junior Account Manager for Digipool (SYD) here.
Passionate about PR? Become an Account Director for Liquid Ideas (SYD) here.
Got some gr8 graphic skillz? Brands to life is looking for a Mid Level Designer (MELB) here.
Thanks us later.
All deets courtesy of Pedestrian Jobs.
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Well then.
Melbourne horror-themed venue Witches In Britches has been accused of distilling moonshine and passing it off to customers as name-brand liquor.
The whole potions in cauldrons thing would be stone-cold incredible, if the allegations werent quite so serious. After all, its staggeringly easy to create literal fucking poison in the pursuit of potable alcohol.
A post shared by Witches In Britches (@witchesinbritches) on Oct 24, 2016 at 11:36pm PDT
According to The Herald Sun, police will allege 450 litres of homemade liquor were discovered at the dinner theatres premises last September.
Its claimed the venue poured the counterfeit devil water into empty bottles from legitimate distillers. Its alleged Witches In Britches then attempted to pass some of the liquor off as Jim Beam, along with four other reputable spirits.
The alleged scam was pointed out to police by understandably concerned employees. Undercover cops then visited the premises, ordered drinks and took samples. Those drams were forensically tested, and even sent to Jim Beam to confirm their illegitimacy.
A 55-year-old man with connections to the spooky joint has been charged with obtaining property by deception, and a raft of charges related to a handgun discovered at his property.
Hell front Melbourne Magistrates Court in the near future regarding those charges.
Source: The Herald Sun / The Age.
Photo: @fur.n.elk / Instagram.
An American bloke who saved a baby bear cub from almost certain death accidentally sparked a huge debate about human interference with animals.
Corey Hancock, 41, was hiking a remote trail near Oregons Santiam River last Monday evening, when he came across a baby black bear cub lying face-up in the meadow. It was emaciated, soaking wet, and barely breathing.
He wasnt two feet off the trail, laying there on his back, seeming by all appearances to be dead, Hancock wrote on Facebook. His lips were blue. His eyes were open, but unmoving and hazy. The rain was pouring down, drenching his belly. I might have seen a shallow breath. Now, Ive trained my whole life to be observant of my environment, to notice the small details along my path. This cub definitely hadnt been there when Id passed a half hour earlier. So where did he come from? A fear started to hit me. Wouldnt his mother be close by? This was the kind of situation that ends up in documentaries about animal attacks. How many people have been mauled after accidentally encountering a black bear cub on the trail? Ive hiked all over the Pacific Northwest, and never come across a bear before. It wasnt a possibility Id ever given much thought to, even though Id seen signs of their presence on occasion. I definitely wasnt prepared to deal with a protective mama.
He retreated and waited 10-minutes for any sign of the mother (who would have certainly murdered him, if shed been around), then wrapped the lil cub up in his flannel shirt and rainproof sack and sprinted the 2.4km to his car.
After posting a plea on Facebook for help, he rushed the cub to the Turtle Ridge Wildlife Centre in Salem, performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation twice on the drive when the animal stopped breathing.
The cub which he nicknamed Elkhorn arrived at the wildlife centre near death.
Examining him in the Turtle Ridge facility, Mary [a worker at the centre] could see right away that the cub was near death, Hancock wrote. He should have had a lot more fat on his body. He was starving and dehydrated, and would have had to have been in this condition for some time to end up so thin and weak. Mary put Elkhorn on a heating pad and injected him with electrolyte fluids, which we massaged into his deeper tissues. Together, she and I worked to warm him up, and hydrate him. Even though hed been wrapped in my flannel, and inside the warm interior of my car for the drive back to town, Elkhorns paws were still as cold as though hed been in a refrigerator.
Nearly 12 hours later, Elkhorn was showing significants signs of improvement, and the next day was turned over to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW).
Photos and news of Elkhorns progress were shared far and wide on social media, prompting a fierce debate as to whether or not Hancock should have rescued the cub in the first place.
Part of that debate was fanned along by early media reports reminding readers that removing an animal from the wild can result in a Class A misdemeanour, which carries a maximum charge of $8,213 (US $6,250) and up to one year in prison.
We advise people to never assume a young animal is orphaned unless they saw the mother die, said ODFW spokesperson Michelle Dennehy to Oregon Live. It is quite common for young to temporarily be left alone in the wild. We see this happen a lot in the spring, with all sorts of young animals including birds, deer fawns and elk calves, and even cougar kittens, getting picked up because people assume they are orphaned. Removing young animals from the wild is not a good thing to do for them. These animals miss the chance to learn important survival skills from their parent.
And as she later told the Washington Post:
Every year we see deer fawns and bear cubs and cougar kittens removed from the wild because people assume the animal is orphaned when the mother is just eating or doing something else.
Some people even compared Elkhorns rescue to the baby bison who died last year after tourists in Yellowstone thought the animal was cold and so put it in the back of their car. The mother bison later rejected her baby thanks to the human contact, leaving park officials with no choice but to euthanise it.
Apparently, because Id made the rescue effort so public over Facebook, Elkhorns story had gained a lot of attention overnight, both positive and negative, Hancock wrote. My message boards were being flooded with all kinds of malicious notes sent by people who had no idea what actually occurred. Some among them must have alerted the ODFW.
However, most people were absolutely on Hancocks side including the sanctuary.
While I can appreciate why the press would include [the ODFWs] official position in their reports, the reality is that Elkhorn was not a cub whod been waiting while his mother ran out for groceries, wrote Hancock.
Far more likely, there was no mother. He wouldnt have come to be in the condition that I found him in if there had been. Maybe he got separated from her, and remained lost for several days before I came upon him. Or perhaps something tragic happened to his mom. He could have simply been abandoned. I dont know. Nor does anyone else. But regardless, my encounter was nothing like the kind of scenarios that were being described. Elkhorn would have died that evening, for sure, if I didnt take the action that I did.
The latest news is that Elkhorn is doing well. Hes being restricted from human contact as much as possible, keeping the chances of him imprinting on humans to a minimum. Theres also a chance hes joining another orphaned cub from the area in being relocated to a facility in Seattle that specialises in releasing animals back into the wild.
Oh yeah and police issued Hancock with a warning, but decided not to cite him.
You can read his full account of events below.
Photos: Corey Hancock / Facebook.
A top fashion industry player stormed out mid-interview with 60 Minutes host Tara Brown, after becoming agitated with the line of questioning.
The report which aired on Channel 9 last night was an explosive look into the exploitative nature of the modelling industry, where young girls are starving themselves to meet the impossible standards required.
Much of the report focused on French ex-model Victoire Macon Dauxerre, who battled anorexia during her time in the industry and penned an memoir in 2016 called Never Skinny Enough: the Diary of a Top Model.
In 2010, 17-year-old French model Victoire weighed a slim 58 kilos yet was told she was 10 kilos overweight for the runway. #60Mins pic.twitter.com/ecqHWAv7jk 60 Minutes Australia (@60Mins) April 2, 2017
In the course of things, Brown lined up an interview with Carole White, owner of Premier Model Management, to address claims made by the tell-all. (Dauxerre was never signed to Premier Model Management, but worked for a rival company.)
The interview started off well, if by well you mean White becoming highly defensive when probed about the expectations on models to stay thin (she demanded proof of models dealing with anorexia, and insisted that her models simply had fast metabolisms to keep off the weight from the Big Macs and chips they were apparently eating all the time).
But it was when Brown asked her about Dauxerres claim that models would lie about their real size to get booked for fashion week, in the hope that they would lose the weight by then, that White began to get quite agitated.
Not here, she said, appearing to visibly lose the train of her argument. Your words are really quite strong, actually. Its sort of quite annoying me. Lying.
Brown attempted to placate her and move the conversation along. Im not trying to annoy you, Carole, but theres clearly a problem in the industry with people being asked to do stuff that is unhealthy, she said.
I am very outspoken but I dont like your terminology to me, White fired back, searching around for a cigarette.
Im very happy to answer, but I dont like your terminology and I dont like how youre asking me the questions. She turned to the camera. You still fucking filming me? Just dont.
She stands up. Im really annoyed because I thought this would be quite a broad interview, she says, walking out of the office with a dejected Brown offering a thank you for your time.
You can catch up on the episode here.
Photo: 60 Minutes.
Politicians are not people like us. Some part of the process of becoming a successful politician saps your essential humanity and leaves you as an empty husk in a suit who has to try and figure out how a normal, non-wealthy Australian would react to a given situation. More often than not, they will get it wrong.
Bill Shorten had his lettuce moment and his eating-a-sausage-sandwich-like-a-mutant moment. Tony Abbott had his onion eating moment and his second onion eating moment.
Now Turnbull has done the unthinkable: knocked back a sausage sanga from a CWA volunteer while doing a tour of flood-affected Lismore in Queensland.
Why would he possibly refuse when itll only make him look like a dickhead, you might ask? Because hes running around a bit [too] much to be eating. Mate, its a fucken sausage and a bit of bread. I think youll be alright.
Prime Minister turns down Sausage Sandwich now we have seen everything pic.twitter.com/JFSMTMpRkD Charles Croucher (@ccroucher9) April 3, 2017
Obviously, this flimsy excuse is a code for I ate an entire goose on the plane and Ive been eating fresh oysters out of my jacket pocket since 9 in the morning.
The internet did not take kindly to this gross violation of everything that Australia stands for (primarily meat, it turns out):
if youre the pm and i walk up with a platter of sausages you better smile and open your gob. i pay my taxes. my grandad fought in the war life is, a highway (@mattvbrady) April 3, 2017
if youre the pm and i walk up with a platter of sausages you better smile and open your gob. i pay my taxes. my grandad fought in the war life is, a highway (@mattvbrady) April 3, 2017
Malcolm Turnbull has turned down a DEMOCRACY SAUSAGE & @samanthamaidens reaction is all of Australia right now. Ping @KKeneally #auspol pic.twitter.com/UCXW5gnTYI Joanne Cleary (@politijo) April 3, 2017
Turnbull refused a sausage sanga from CWA ladies. That redefines unaustralian. Hes the most foreign thing in this country. Andrew Ferguson (@AndrewRLP) April 3, 2017
Turnbull touring floods knockbacks a sausage from volunteer what no truffles on it not good enough for him paganine (@luckey7sss) April 3, 2017
Next time just eat the damn sausage.
Photo: Getty Images / Stefan Postles.
PEDESTRIAN.TV has teamed up with Virgin Australia to celebrate one of their newest routes: Melbourne to Los Angeles. As of April 4th, youll be able to throw on those oversized Miu Miu shades, pack your LV cabin trunk and hotfoot it straight to the City of Angels, all glam, no stopover. You can book a flight here.
If youre looking for a slightly insane, incredibly over-the-top beauty treatment, youd best be starting in Los Angeles. Its obvious why the city is home to pretty much all the biggest celebrities, who are constantly on the hunt (at least, according to the tabloids) for the next big thing thatll tighten, smooth, plump or polish their faces and bods. If the Fountain Of Youth was ever gonna get created/discovered, itll likely be in some LA lab, basically.
Theres plenty of wild stuff happening in the beauty treatment world over in sunny La La Land, but weve rounded up some of the latest crazes if youve got cash to throw around, throw some at one of these. Given how nuts they are, were pretty sure you wont be disappointed.
ANTI JET LAG FACIAL
Before youve even exited the airport, you can get into the LA spirit with airport-only wellness spa Be Relax. They offer everything from oxygen therapy to hot stone massages, and its all designed to freshen you up after a long-haul flight. Were here for the Anti Jet Lag Facial though, coz no matter how much hydration mist you spritz on that Oz-US flight, youre gonna be stepping off feeling less than 10/10. It helps improve skin tone, relieve neck tension and firm up your skin. Oh, and in true Hollywood style, you can get the add-on of eyelash extensions too, if you want.
Cost: POA
24K GOLD LEAF FACIAL
These have been around for a while, but really hit their peak right before the Victorias Secret Fashion Show last year. A whole gang of the VS Angels hit up Mimi Luzon, a famous Parisian facialist, for 24K gold facials. While Mimi makes her own products, the technology which is meant to brighten and hydrate the skin allegedly hails from Japan via company UMO. In LA, hit up Veronica Malibu Skin & Body Care Center.
Cost: $390
APPLE STEM CELL FACIAL
Get this. A rare, endangered apple from Switzerland was, according to celeb facialist Sonya Dakars website, studied for its amazing self-regenerating properties. Apparently, it stayed fresh for months after being picked from the tree. The stem cells from these fancy apples were them extracted, and are injected into your skin during this facial experience.
Cost: $589
DIAMOND ROSE BODY TREATMENT
If youve been neglecting your bod a bit, why not take it down to the Beverly Wilshire Hotel and get it scrubbed with freakin diamond dust. Thats whats on offer with this luxurious body rejuvenation, which uses damask rose absolute oil mixed with actual dust of actual diamonds to exfoliate.
Cost: $556
FULL BODY LIGHT THERAPY
LED light therapy is a huge thing in skincare right now its designed to boost collagen production which leaves fine lines less obvious, and skin looking plump and super fresh. In Oz, its mainly limited to face LED therapy only. But in LA, at famed celeb facialist Joanna Vargas salon, you can get the full body experience in a futuristic looking LED light bed. Called the Sleeping Beauty treatment, it also features microdermabrasion and oxygen serum for your face.
Cost: $294
FACIAL CUPPING
Kimmy K made this a thing when she Snapchatted her facialist, nicknamed Nurse Jamie, prepping for her own experience. The technique uses glass cups with little balloons attached, that gently suck at the skin like a more low key version of regular cupping. The action supposedly helps to drain lymph nodes and increase the supply of oxygen to the skin. Nurse Jamie (yep, she legit goes by that nickname) offers the treatment herself so you can legit be Kim K for the day. Kinda.
Cost: $426
WELLNESS OXYGEN BUBBLE
Speaking of Nurse Jamie, she also has another LA specialty the oxygen bubble. Yes, it is a literal bubble. Yes, your whole body goes into it. The premise is this the bubble is filled with 99.9% pure air. As in, almost completely pure oxygen. This is meant to enhance the efficacy of any treatments applied to your skin while youre in there, plus revitalise your system to help it eliminate toxins and dead skin cells. This is one for the really cashed-up folks though its only available for private parties and special events.
Cost: POA
Wanna fly to LA, ASAP? Why not enter our lil comp right here you could win return tix from Melbs > LA.
WIN RETURN TIX FROM MELBOURNE TO LA THANKS TO VIRGIN AUSTRALIA
Image: Instagram / Mimi Luzon.
An all-out search over the weekend by family, friends and police looking for a 55-year-old man missing since March 20 turned up the worst of news: the body of the missing man was discovered in the western Pennsylvania woods.
Now, police are probing how he died under some suspicious circumstances.
According to the Butler Eagle, the body of Greg W. Bosko, 55, was discovered in a wooded area of Armstrong County around 4:10 p.m. Saturday, Pa. state police confirmed.
The body of Greg W. Bosko, 55, was discovered in a wooded area of Armstrong County around 4:10 p.m. Saturday. Now, there is a criminal investigation into the man's death, with police saying there is reason to believe there was foul play involved.
In wake of the discovery, there is a criminal investigation into the man's death, with police telling the Butler Eagle that there is reason to believe there was foul play involved.
There were "substantial injuries" on Bosko's body, police told the Butler Eagle, but did not elaborate.
Two people found in Bosko's car on March 24 - identified as Joshua K. Greaves, 34, of Mercer, Mercer County, and Tiffany N. Hilliard, 30, of Butler -- were charged for giving police false names and booked in Butler Prison County on bench warrants, the Butler Eagle writes. Greaves was also charged with having three stamp bags of heroin on his person.
Both were in the prison as of Sunday.
In addition, Bosko's brother tells KDKA that his big-screen TV, laptop computer and his mountain bike were all missing from Bosko's Kittanning apartment.
The brother tells KDKA that Bosko disappeared after driving a couple to the city from Kittanning, where he had permitted them to live temporarily in his apartment. At the time of the report, the couple wasn't identified.
The police investigation continues.
UPDATE: Girl, 5, witnesses her mom crushed to death at Pa. laundromat
It began with a minor car crash - a mere bumper-bender in the parking lot of a Pennsylvania laundromat over the weekend.
It would end with 46-year-old Tanya Heath of Easton, Pa., crushed to death by her own car, according to our sister website, LehighValleyLive.com, which adds:
The bizarre incident occurred just before 6:30 p.m. Saturday outside the Coin Laundry in Easton, as Heath was backing out of a parking spot and grazed or lightly bumped another vehicle.
Northampton County Coroner Zachary Lysek describes what happened next:
"She then went forward and opened her door but the car was still in drive. She was leaning out or fell out and the car ran her over," Lysek said.
Heath was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Lysek has ruled her death accidental, saying the cause was severe "crushing injuries."
heroin AP.jpeg
Associated Press photo
(Associated Press)
Officials in Dauphin County on Monday announced two town hall meetings focusing on the heroin addiction crisis will be held this month, and said others will be scheduled.
"If you watch the news any day of the week, you know that addiction and drug overdose is tearing families apart and destroying lives - and no neighborhood is immune to this crisis," Dauphin County Commissioner Mike Pries said in a news release. "If you or a loved one is suffering from addiction, we want you to know that help is available."
The first town hall meeting will be held next Tuesday in the Middle Paxton Township municipal building at 10 Elizabeth Avenue. The second will be held April 18 at Trinity United Methodist Church at 25 E. Main St. in Elizabethville. At both events, doors will open at 6 p.m. and the town hall will begin at 6:30 p.m. Commissioners said others will soon be held elsewhere in the county.
According to county Commissioner George Hartwick III, heroin-related deaths rose 23 percent in the Dauphin County last year. That marks a continued rise in deaths even after several years of public events and news reports calling attention to the crisis, which often begins with addiction to a prescription painkiller such as oxycontin, and progresses to use of heroin, which has become far cheaper and easier to get.
The town hall sessions will feature information about accessing treatment, accounts from people affected by the crisis, and training on the use of naloxone, a drug that can reverse an overdose and which is now available without a prescription.
More information, including information about getting help for an addict, can be obtained by contacting Dauphin County Drug and Alcohol Services at 717-635-2254 or by emailing drugsandalcohol@dauphinc.org.
A Millersburg caregiver is accused of smearing food on a disabled 57-year-old woman's face and spraying her with cold water to "teach her a lesson," state police said.
Ashley Hampton, 27, of Millersburg, an employee at NHS Human Services in Upper Paxton Township, is charged with simple assault, negligent care of a dependent person, reckless endangerment, theft and harassment.
The incidents, reported by fellow employees, occurred between September 2016 and February in Upper Paxton Township, police say. The patient has severe medical conditions that prevent her from being able to speak, court records say.
Once when the victim fell and suffered minor injuries, Hampton was notified but refused to get her medical treatment, court records state.
One worker described Hampton's treatment of the woman as "rough."
On one or more occasions when the woman fell and was trying to get up, a worker said she saw Hampton put her foot on her the woman's back to push her back down.
Two worker said they reported the incidents to a superior, after which Hampton was transferred to an administrative position.
Police said employees accused Hampton of:
Spraying the victim with cold water when she "would not behave or listen to her."
Smearing food in the victim's face when it had been thrown at Hampton or dropped on the floor.
Taking food and clothing that belonged to the victim. In one case, Hampton was seen putting on the victim's clothes, taking them from the residence, bringing some of the them back and putting them in the dirty clothes hamper.
MILFORD - Eric Frein seemed to be concerned about his rifles. He didn't want any kids to come across them in the woods.
Though the guns were buried and topped with boards and leaves, he wanted to show the police just where the weapons could be found, Frein said in a video-recorded statement played this morning for a Pike County judge.
And in that same statement - shortly after the troopers who were questioning him brought in a laptop connected to Bing Maps and a pack of cigarettes - Frein seemed to get emotional when they discussed some other children.
Those of Cpl. Bryon Dickson II.
But the decision of whether or not a jury will ever see this video will soon be in the hands Pike County Judge Gregory Chelak.
Frein, 33, is accused of shooting and killing Dickson and injuring Trooper Alex Douglass in a September 2014 ambush at the nearby Blooming Grove State Police Barracks, kicking off a 40-plus day manhunt through the wilderness of the Poconos.
Read more about the Eric Frein case.
His trial starts on Tuesday, but some final pre-trial motions were brought to the court today, including that of the recorded statement.
Frein's defense team is asking the judge suppress the statement, arguing their client was not properly advised of his right to an attorney, adding the troopers continued to question him, even though he had only agreed to discuss the location of the hidden rifles.
In the recording, Frein and the questioning troopers seemed to be cordial and respectful as they discussed the weapons, but as the troopers continued to talk to him, Frein seemed to open up a bit.
At one point during their small talk, as the police gave him the cigarettes and laptop, Frein longed for the days before smoking was prohibited in most restaurants.
"Diner pancakes haven't tasted the same ever since," Frein said.
After scouring the map for the hidden guns, Cpl. Benjamin Clark told him, "I'm happy to call your parents tonight."
His mother and father were worried when Frein was hiding in the woods for nearly two months, he said.
The troopers continued to talk to Frein, telling him "you're famous," and that he had appeared in newspapers and on the news all around the country as the massive manhunt ensued.
"You, sir, are the champion of hide and seek," one of the troopers said.
And though the video played in the courtroom crackled a bit, it was clear that Frein was getting emotional as the troopers talked about his parents and about how parents feel about their children.
Frein, voice breaking a bit, said there is one father who did not make it home - seeming to reference Dickson.
"You feel terrible, we can see that," Clark said, telling Frein that Dickson had two young children.
Following the video, Frein's defense attorneys pointed out that not only had Frein told the troopers he would only talk about the rifles, but an attorney had been hired to represent him, but could not get in to Frein that night.
That attorney is expected to testify this afternoon.
Other matters up for discussion included whether or not an autopsy photo showing the bullet trajectory could be used at trial. The defense argued it's inflammatory and is duplicative to other autopsy photos.
They also want to prevent Dickson's State Police Academy graduation video from being played during the penalty phase, which will occur if Frein is found guilty of first-degree murder and could be facing the death penalty.
Check back with PennLive later this afternoon for more on today's hearing.
It was two and a half years ago when a gunman opened fire at a rural state-police barracks in northeastern Pennsylvania.
Two and a half years since the shots from that ambush attack rang out through the Poconos.
Two and a half years since Trooper Alex T. Douglass was seriously injured and Cpl. Bryon K. Dickson II was killed.
And on Tuesday, the man investigators say shot the two troopers before kicking off a massive manhunt through the mountains and woods is going to trial.
Eric Matthew Frein, 33, of Canadensis, who is facing the death penalty, is looking at a host of charges, including first-degree murder of a law-enforcement officer, criminal attempt at the murder of a law enforcement officer and terrorism.
After two years of pre-trial build up and nearly three weeks of jury selections, it has been a long process to get to this point.
"We're looking forward to starting the trial," Pike County District Attorney Raymond Tonkin said this week.
But much like the manhunt, the jury selections, and the buildup, the trial itself is shaping up to be a lengthy process.
So, what can we expect?
Strategy for a long trial
Frein's trial will last anywhere from five and eight weeks.
It's a trial that can potentially involve many witnesses, from investigators to forensic experts to those who were actually there when the shooting occurred.
Tonkin, naturally, did not want to share his entire witness list or reveal his trial strategy, but looking at the case as a prosecutor in another part of the state, Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico said the amount of evidence against Frein, as well as 48-day manhunt, could both be contributing factors in the trial's duration.
"Putting together the case before the crime, his background, his efforts to commit these crimes and all the steps he took to conceal himself after the murder could involve a lot of different witnesses with different pieces of the puzzle," Marsico said.
And how will all this evidence and all these witnesses be laid out over the course of the trial?
"In general, prosecutors like to start strong and finish strong," Marsico said. The most memorable and important witnesses will often bookend the prosecution's case.
Some prosecutors like to present their evidence chronologically, he said, but others will leap around the timeframe, flashing backward and forward, as they weave a narrative for the jury.
It's hard to tell just what the most important pieces of evidence will be, but eyewitness testimony from Trooper Douglass could be key.
"From an evidentiary standpoint, and of course, from a dramatic standpoint, hearing from someone who was wounded by the defendant has an impact on the jury," Marsico said.
So could testimony about the manhunt that followed the shootings.
"From someone's flight after a crime, you can infer guilty," he added. "I think that will be important in this case."
But first, a hearing
Before the trial even starts, there's one more bit of business for the sides to attend to.
A hearing is being held Monday for Judge Gregory Chelak to decide whether statements Frein made to the police after his arrest can be presented to the jury. Here are some tweets from the morning hearing.
Defense is arguing a right-to-an-Attorney issue for Frein, who, in recorded statements, discusses hidden rifles. @PennLive Steve Marroni (@SteveMarroni) April 3, 2017
Police call Frein "champion of hide and seek" in recorded interview. Judge to rule soon if properly advised of right to Attorney. @PennLive Steve Marroni (@SteveMarroni) April 3, 2017
Frein also seemed to express remorse in video played in court when police mention Cpl. Dickson's children. Read more soon @PennLive Steve Marroni (@SteveMarroni) April 3, 2017
In April 2016, the defense team of Michael Weinstein and William Ruzzo asked the court to prevent those recorded statements from being played at trial - a motion that Tonkin opposed.
The judge ordered that a suppression hearing in which those statements would be reviewed would be held in closed court due, in part, to the amount of media attention the case garnered.
But television station WNEP filed an objection to that ruling, asking that the recording be played in open court.
A ruling on the suppression motion could come on Monday.
Who is Eric Frein?
Frein has been described as a survivalist with a vendetta against the police. A Cold War-era re-enactor. A heavy smoker.
Various reports gathered at the time of his arrest painted a bit of a picture.
He attended East Stroudsburg University for one semester as a history student in 2005 and again in 2011 and 2012 as a chemistry major but didn't graduate, according to The Associated Press. He also attended classes infrequently at Northampton Community College between 2008 and 2013 but did not earn a degree.
Read more about the Eric Frein case.
He was a member of the shooting team at Pocono High School and purchased an AK-47 rifle called a Saiga at a gun store in Strasburg two years before the shooting, CBS News reported.
He also studied the Russian and Serbian languages.
The town
The trial will be held in Milford, the county seat of Pike County.
It's a quiet town in the Poconos with small restaurants and specialty shops dotting the downtown area.
The town is about 35 minutes from Scranton, but seemingly isolated as you traverse the highway, leaving behind the chain restaurants and hotels for thick wilderness and small-town life.
The residents were likely on edge during the manhunt and, over the last two years, became used to the numerous news vans rolling into town for hearings.
And, chances are, it will be a busy place for the next five to eight weeks.
MILFORD - A decision on whether or not the recorded statements Eric Frein made to the police after his arrest is expected to come this afternoon.
It's a statement in which his defense team says he incriminated himself -- but only after his right to remain silent and his right to an attorney were violated.
On the day before Frein is set to go to trial, Pike County Judge Gregory Chelak heard from both sides on the video that the prosecution wants jurors to see and the defense team wants to keep out of trial.
Frein, 33, is accused of ambushing two state troopers at the Blooming Grove barracks in September 2014, fatally shooting Cpl. Bryon Dickson II and critically injuring Trooper Alex Douglass.
Read more about the Eric Frein case.
At today's hearing, the sides argued about whether or not the video can be played for the jury.
In the portion of the video played for the judge today, Frein discussed rifles buried in the woods, and he seemed to get emotional when the questioning troopers discussed Dickson's children.
Frein's defense attorneys, William Ruzzo and Michael Weinstein, however, argued that his attorney at the time was kept from him during the questioning.
Plus, they said their client had only agreed to discuss the location of the hidden rifles and nothing else about the case, but the police continued to question him, anyway.
In much of the remaining interview, which was not played at today's hearing, Frein went on to incriminate himself, Ruzzo said, which only happened because of the state police's interrogation, which he said was "skillful," but a violation of Frein's rights.
Check with PennLive soon for updates.
Billy Kelly
Billy Kelly, left, and substitute letter carrier Todd Smith hold the 10-foot long April Fools letter that Kelly left in the mail slot of the front door of his Lewisburg home Saturday.
(Billy Kelly)
LEWISBURG - People with letters to mail often leave them for their carrier instead of finding a curbside box or taking them to the post office.
That's what Billy Kelly did Saturday, only it was not the standard letter.
The stamped letter Kelly put in the mail slot in the door of his Lewisburg home on Fourth Street was 10 feet long. It was addressed to A.Prilfools, 123 Main St., Anytown, U.S.A.
Kelly, a professional comedian and musician who used to go by Earl Pickens, said he thought of the idea two years ago, but kept putting it off.
On Saturday when he commented to his Jackie "I got to do this next year," she responded do it now, he said. They went to a Lewisburg arts store and bought the paper, he said.
After putting the end of the letter in the slot they "staked out" their home from their car waiting for their carrier.
Letter carrier Todd Smith begins to pull out a 10-foot long letter from the mail slot in the front door of the Lewisburg home of Billy Kelly Saturday. Kelly took the picture while "staked out" in his car to see the carrier's reaction to the April Fools prank.
Kelly videoed the carrier pulling out the long letter that was blank except for "April Fools" at the end.
Unfortunately their regular carrier who was to be the victim of the prank was off but the substitute, Todd Smith, took it well, he said.
"I was apologizing and he was cracking up," he said. "He was a good sport."
"I love comedy," Smith told Kelly.
He has nothing against letter carriers, Kelly explained. "I love getting mail and I go to the post office several times a week," he said.
His assessment of his prank was it was a light hearted positive thing. It has been a hit since he put pictures on Facebook, he said.
This is not the first time Kelly has been in the news.
In 2008, while performing as Pickens, he wrote "Obama Anywhere," a parody of the country song "I've Been Everywhere" but with names of Pennsylvania towns.
He wrote it in support of then Illinois senator who was running for president in the primary against Hillary Clinton and put it on YouTube, he said.
Obama's staff heard about it and asked Kelly, then Perkins, to open for the candidate at a campaign stop in Lancaster, which he did.
UPDATE: Incident has cleared.
An overturned vehicle is blocking eastbound traffic prior to the Blue Mountain Tunnel on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
The accident occurred at 7:57 a.m. at milemarker 199, and all eastbound lanes are affected. The incident is between Exit 189-Willow Hill and 201-Blue Mountain.
For more traffic information, follow live traffic updates, accident reports and road closures below from PennDOT, Total Traffic Network and other Twitter sources.
Get a look at conditions on local roads -- via PennDOT traffic cameras -- anytime here on PennLive. For Pennsylvania Turnpike updates and possible travel delays visit the Turnpike website here.
Tweet us at @pennlive with any incidents you see on your commute or send a submission to submissions@pennlive.com.
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Woman from Pa. murdered in Florida; 'bloody' man also from Pa. charged
Brooke Preston, 21, originally from Bradford County, Pa., who moved to West Palm Beach, Florida, was found dead there Saturday, and Randy Allen Herman Jr., 24, also from Pa., has been charged with first-degree murder and jailed in her killing.
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Pa. woman, 23, accused of taking bite out of crime fighters
McGruff the Crime Dog always implored people to "take a bite out of crime." But suspect Destiny Lee Lombardo, 23, of Luzerne County, Pa., is accused of doing the opposite, allegedly taking a bite out of a pair of crime fighters, instead.
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Pa. dad goes missing after separating from new baby's mom
Among the final, cryptic texts from 29-year-old new dad Travis Wayne Wingrove, who hasn't been seen since Wednesday in western Pennsylvania, was a message to his 5-month-old daughter, saying that he "loves her." However, a happy ending was in store.
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Pa. girl's suicide blamed on bullying
Click for all the most recent crime stories from across Pa., including the details of this story: Last week's tragic suicide of Nina E. Zendarski, a 14-year-old girl in Luzerne County, is being blamed on bullying carried out on social media. Here's what happened.
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Pa. college student dies in freak accident: More Pa. Buzz
Click for all the latest crime stories from across Pa., including the details on this story: Swarthmore College students who witnessed the accident on campus knew immediately that their friend was seriously hurt. Days later, the Swarthmore sophomore, Sam Jenkins, would be dead of his injuries.
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via LehighValleyLive.com
What happened next isn't typical of most love stories gone sour
Anyone who has loved and lost can identify with the stab of pain - and yes, anger - when one first sees an ex with a new flame. It just so happened that 61-year-old Bonnie B. Starner of Easton, Pa., was behind the wheel when she happened upon her ex-boyfriend and his new woman. What happened next isn't typical of most love stories gone sour.
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Pa. wrestling coach accused of raping 2 boys is held on 369 counts, $1M bail
The sheer numbers in the child sex abuse case against a former Stroudsburg area youth wrestling coach are staggering. Ron Gorman, 51, who has since moved to Georgia, faces 369 counts and is being held on $1 million bail for allegedly raping and sexually abusing two boys.
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Pa. college student faces homicide charge for 'choking out' fraternity brother
Indiana University of Pennsylvania college student Brady DiStefano, 19, allegedly "choked out" fellow Phi Delta Theta fraternity brother, 20-year-old Caleb Zwieg, during a Feb. 3 fight. Zwieg died at Indiana Regional Medical Center the next morning. And DiStefano now faces criminal homicide charges.
Two 17-year-old Dauphin County boys have been charged as juveniles with sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl at gunpoint.
Swatara Township police said Monday that the boys, who they did not identify, committed the crime around 7:30 p.m. Sunday on Chambers Hill Road near Mushroom Hill Road.
They said the girl told them she was walking along the road when a car pulled up beside her. The girl said the boys ordered her into the car at gunpoint and molested her. Police said the girl identified her attackers as two classmates from Central Dauphin East High School.
Both boys were arrested and placed in juvenile detention, police said.
Shannon Leib, CD spokeswoman, said the incident did not occur on school property nor did it occur during school hours. "We are unable to comment further on student disciplinary matters," she said, referring questions to Swatara Township police.
UPDATE: Comments from CD School District were added.
Lorelei Williams, left, rests her head on Michelle Pineault's shoulder as they listen during a Coalition on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls news conference, in Vancouver, B.C., on Monday April 3, 2017. The coalition of family members and more than 35 advocacy and support organizations voiced concerns about the roll out of the National Inquiry on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. The remains of Pineault's daughter Stephanie Lane, were found on serial killer Robert Pickton's farm. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
A trumpet band wearing traditional Serbian hats play in front of a picture of current Serbian Prime Minister and presidential candidate Aleksandar Vucic at a press conference after claiming victory in the presidential election, in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, April 2, 2017. Vucic claimed victory Sunday in the presidential election that was a test of his authoritarian rule amid growing Russian influence in the Balkan region. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
FILE - In this combination of file photos, then Attorney General Michael Mukasey, left, speaks at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington on Dec. 16, 2008 and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani arrives for meetings with President-elect Donald Trump on Nov. 20, 2016, in Bedminster, N.J. A messy web of connections in a complex sanctions-busting case is raising troubling questions about potential conflicts of interest, corruption in Turkey and pro-Turkey lobbying by those close to the center of President Donald TrumpAos orbit. Reza Zarrab, a young business mogul married to a Turkish pop star, was arrested in Florida last year. Giuliani and Mukasey are among those helping him. Turkey is pressing the U.S. to get the case tossed. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, left, and Carolyn Kaster, Files)
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.
China to import first oil from U.S. Guf Coast in April
SINGAPORE/HOUSTON
Petroleumworld 04 03 2017
China will import Southern Green Canyon (SGC) and Thunderhorse crude oil from the Gulf Coast of the United States for the first time when a supertanker carrying 2 million barrels arrives in April, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.
Oil major BP has sold the cargoes, carried on board the oil tanker Shaybah, to independent refiners in China's eastern Shandong province, one of the sources said on Friday.
Independent refiner Shandong Dongming Petrochemical bought 1 million barrels of SGC, he said. The buyer for the same-sized Thunderhorse cargo was not immediately known.
BP and Dongming have declined to comment on the deal.
SINGAPORE
Petroleumworld 04 03 2017
China's largest crude oil buyer Sinopec aims to ship more cargoes from Brazil, the United States and Canada, to help ensure stable crude supplies as the Middle East boost refining capacity and Africa suffers disruptions.
Shipments from the Americas hit an all-time high in March, boosting the region's share of the Chinese market by 1.1 percentage points in the first quarter to close to 14 percent, data from Thomson Reuters Oil Research & Forecasts showed.
"We're facing a big challenge on the supply side," said Chen Bo, president at Unipec, which purchases crude for Asia's largest refiner Sinopec.
Asia needed to step up crude imports from the "new frontier", the greater U.S. Gulf Coast region made up of the United States, Canada and Latin America, to meet its growing demand, he told a seminar this week.
Chen said China, the world's second largest oil consumer behind the United States, is on track to become the largest crude importer this year ahead of the United States.
China will add just under 2 million barrels per day (bpd) of refining capacity between 2016 and 2020, taking its total capacity to nearly 12.5 million bpd by the end of this decade.
Also, by end-2018, the total crude import quota for independent refineries will grow to 2 million bpd, about 500,000 bpd more from March 2017 as government approvals flow through, he said.
SUPPLY DIVERSITY
Asia, which will account for a third of the world's refining capacity by 2020, will have to look beyond traditional markets Middle East and Africa for crude supplies, Chen said.
Security of supply and the optimization of supply were vital for Unipec.
"If every consumer goes to the Middle East and Africa we don't know what will happen to the market. So we have to diversify," he said.
China's crude imports from the Americas, led by Brazil, Venezuela and Colombia, hit 5.61 million tonnes (1.3 million bpd) in March, the highest in Reuters' data going back to 2006.
In the same month, China's crude oil deficit came in a hefty 15 million tonnes after touching a record 19 million tonnes in December 2016 as domestic production shrank while imports surged, customs data showed.
"Record imports are being driven by falling production, higher refinery runs, huge infrastructure and SPR (Strategic Petroleum Reserves) builds," Virendra Chauhan from consultancy Energy Aspects said. The agency expects Asia's crude imports, led by China, to rise by 900,000 bpd on year in 2017.
A preference for low-sulphur oil produced in the Americas by China's private refineries, the so-called "teapots", helped boost imports from the region, while increasing U.S. shale output and production cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries have made it economical for traders to send huge volumes of crude from west to east.
Brazil overtook Venezuela as the top South American crude supplier to China in the first two months of this year due its favoured medium-heavy quality grades, while China became the No. 3 destination for U.S. crude exports in 2016.
The Americas has the potential to become a "global trading hub" in the next decade, Chen said.
India's Essar and Rosneft-led deal to buy refinery delayed until April
NEW DELHI/MOSCOW
Petroleumworld 04 03 2017
The purchase of Indian refiner Essar Oil by a consortium led by Russian oil company Rosneft has been delayed by a few weeks, the two sides said on Friday, because some Indian lenders to Essar have yet to sign off on the deal.
The $12.9 billion deal, in which Rosneft is set to take a 49 percent stake in Essar to pursue its global expansion, was expected to close by the end of this month.
Russia's second-biggest bank VTB, which is involved in financing the deal, has said that 19 more days would be needed to settle all the payments.
"The closure of the deal is delayed by a few weeks due to the pending approvals from the Indian banks. Both parties are still committed to close this deal as soon as the few remaining approvals from the banks are obtained," the bank said in emailed comments to Reuters.
The deal, the largest foreign acquisition of an Indian company, would give Rosneft a foothold in the growing Indian market. It already operates in a number of regions, including Europe and Latin America.
A 49 percent share will be split between commodities trader Trafigura and Russian investor United Capital Partners (UCP).
The billionaire Ruia brothers would retain a 2 percent stake.
"The closing was postponed into April because the buyers were dealing with 28 Indian banks that had credit lines with Essar Oil," a source close to the transaction said.
The source added that separate debt of holding company Essar Global was also affecting negotiations indirectly as some banks were lenders to both Essar Global and Essar Oil.
Essar Oil operates a 400,000 barrel-a-day refinery in Vadinar on India's west coast and sells fuels through its 2,470 filling stations across the country.
"The parties are working towards obtaining the requisite approvals to complete the transaction," Essar said on Friday.
The Economic Times reported last week that one of Essar's creditors, India's LIC, had demanded dues from Essar to give its clearance to the deal.
Petrobras select five major assets in new divestment program
SAO PAULO
Petroleumworld 04 03 2017
Brazil's state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA is eyeing five major assets for a renewed divestment program to be formalized in the next two weeks, after a court forced it to restart most of its $21 billion asset sale program from scratch.
In a securities filing on Friday, Petrobras, as the firm is known, said new divestments may include fuel distribution unit BR Distribuidora, shallow offshore fields in the states of Sergipe and Ceara, the Bauna and Tartaruga Verde oil fields in the Santos and Campos Basins, onshore fields in the state of Sergipe, and deepwater rights in the Gulf of Mexico.
The ruling by Brazil's federal audit court earlier this month allowed Petrobras to proceed with the sale of liquefied gas unit Liquigas, gas pipeline unit NTS and petrochemical companies Suape and Citepe, which already had firm buyers.
The sale of a stake in the Saint Malo field in the Gulf of Mexico was also exempted from the court ruling, but Petrobras said it would be called off because it "did not achieve the expected results," without elaborating.
Reuters reported on Wednesday that Petrobras scrapped the sale of the Bauna and Tartaruga Verde fields because the deal fell through after the Australian buyer's partner backed out amid protracted legal challenges in Brazil.
Since Chief Executive Pedro Parente took charge in May 2016, Petrobras has pursued aggressive asset sales as it sought to cut the largest debt burden among global oil firms.
The Brazilian firm is particularly keen on restarting the sale process of BR Distribuidora, the country's largest fuel distributor and retailer, with 7,500 gas stations nationwide.
Philadelphia is ranked amongst the top 50 most dog-friendly cities in America. This comes as no surprise since the town is home to countless beautifully maintained parks for pets to enjoy. Were breaking down the best dog parks in Philly
BIVALVE, N.J. -- When they look out over the languid Maurice River these days, Joan Riggin Harper and Clyde Phillips can still see the regatta of sorts that used to appear each Sunday afternoon, when hundreds of wooden boats would be under sail, racing out of the mouth of the river to get to oyster beds in the Delaware Bay to begin the work week of harvesting the shellfish.
"It was a beautiful sight ... all those boats and sails on the river. I don't even have to close my eyes to still see it," said Harper, 93, of Upper Deerfield, as she stood on the docks of what is now the Bayshore Center at Bivalve. The site was once the center of a thriving maritime industry in which her family played a key role in the early 1900s.
"We'd hop in the car and go to Gandy's Beach and wait to see Dad's boat pass by Ship John Light. We didn't care about seeing any other boat, though, we just wanted to see Dad's pretty bugeye go by," said Harper, recalling her childhood along the bay shore in Cumberland County in the 1920s and 1930s, during the heyday of New Jersey's once-lucrative oyster industry.
"It was an amazing thing to see," agreed Phillips, 83, of Mauricetown. "New Jersey boats had four corner sails, and they looked pretty under sail."
"I always say that around here, people were defined by their boats, and many boats were defined by their people," he said.
For more than two hours, they talked of people and things that are long gone -- eccentric teachers they had in school, a factory that produced rope made of salt hay harvested from the surrounding marshland, how boats got their sometimes unusual names, the thriving grocery stores and small shops that sold ladies' finery and men's haberdashery in Port Norris.
The memories came in fragments for the pair, who are among a cadre of lifelong residents invited by the Bayshore Center to share in storytelling sessions, held at least twice a year. The sessions -- members of the public are invited to participate -- help the museum record oral histories about the people and places that created a unique maritime culture in the region, according to Rachel Dolhanczyk, a spokeswoman for the museum.
And while the streets of this tiny fishing village and neighboring Port Norris and Mauricetown -- where most of the oyster boat captains and their crews lived -- were then paved in crushed clam shells, for a time they may as well have been paved in gold.
So lucrative was the oyster industry in Cumberland County -- and there were so many millionaires per square mile cashing in on the shellfish -- that Port Norris was the wealthiest municipality per capita in the state and was among the top ones in the country during the early 20th century. Now, Port Norris is among the poorest towns in the most impoverished county in New Jersey.
Remnants of that heyday survive in the unique collection of 19th century buildings -- many paint-chipped and boarded up -- that line Port Norris's once-thriving Main Street, boasting ornate details like the carved gingerbread porches and woodwork facades found in Cape May.
The oyster industry flourished -- producing more than a million bushels a year -- until the 1950s, when a blight caused by a parasitic protozoan known as MSX killed off most of the shellfish beds.
Science and shellfish management have helped New Jersey's oyster harvest recover slowly over the ensuing decades, to what is now a kind of boutique fishery that supplies about 72,000 bushels of oysters annually.
"You can just learn so much more about a history and a culture by listening to the stories of the people who were there, who remember it," Dolhanczyk said. "And that's why it's so important for us to preserve this valuable resource through our recordings. These are memories and recollections about a time and a place that you won't find in a history book."
In a recent session, Harper, Phillips, and members of the audience of about a dozen people exchanged recollections about the way things once were in what is now a rural, windswept corner of New Jersey where ramshackle, used-to-be-type buildings seem to be more plentiful than people.
Dolhanczyk wanted participants to share stories specifically about the boats and the "characters" that lived and worked in the region.
A previous session brought out more than three dozen people to talk about the rum-running that went on in the area during Prohibition.
Phillips said he recalled that as a child -- even after Prohibition had been repealed -- there were as many as 52 speakeasies in homes and businesses in the immediate area.
"This was a dry area; there weren't any restaurants and bars, and a lot of people didn't have cars like they do now to drive to places where they could get liquor," Phillips said. "So all these little speakeasies and drinking clubs were all around. Once cars became a regular thing and everybody had one, the speakeasies all dried up."
Mark Allen, 63, of Cape May, who came to the center's recent storytelling session to hear Phillips and Harper speak, shared his own family history with the crowd when he talked of how his matriarchal great-great-grandmother -- whose name he has not been able to ascertain -- was said to have come ashore along the Maurice River in a shipwreck in the late 1800s inside a hogshead. Hogsheads were large wooden casks used to transport goods on ships.
Allen said the story goes that she had refused to marry a man in Ireland to whom she had been betrothed, and was secretly stowed inside the hogshead by her friends with enough food and water to make the journey across the sea to America. But the ship was wrecked in a storm on Delaware Bay, and its cargo and survivors were strewn along the shore of the Maurice River, where a scavenger -- who would become Allen's great-great-grandfather -- rescued the young maiden and eventually married her.
"There are so many stories that when you hear them, they bring other stories full circle for people who have deep connections to this area," said Allen. "I think it's important that people learn about these stories, these connections, so they can have a better understanding of the important history of this part of New Jersey."
Dolhanczyk said the Bayshore Center plans to have another storytelling session in a few months. In the meantime, the nonprofit organization that works to inspire the public to preserve the history and culture of New Jersey's so-called Bayshore region operates its museum and folklife center and its restored 1928 oyster schooner, the A.J. Meerwald, the state's official tall ship.
More information about the Bayshore Center at Bilvalve may be obtained at Bayshorecenter.org or by calling 856-785-2060.
Photo: Boston PD/Facebook
Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh voiced concern last week about issuing military-grade equipment to police, even as he backed war-inspired training for Boston officers a stance that drew fire from a national union leader who said officers need the gear to go with the skills, reports the Boston Herald.
"If he says, 'Oh yeah, I want to use these tactics,' that equipment is part and parcel of those tactics," said Jim Pasco, senior adviser to the president of the national Fraternal Order of Police. "The mayor is suggesting they deploy these tactics, but how? Barehanded? This shows callous disregard for the safety of police officers in Boston."
The Herald reported that Boston police want to conduct training for SWAT and Bomb Squad officers to counter terrorist tactics used in Iraq and Afghanistan, suggesting they could be used here.
In a slam on President Trump, Walsh said last week he is not worried about Boston police officers adopting a military stance, but added, "I'm more concerned about the president using armored vehicles and grenade launchers in police departments around the country than I am about (officers) getting trained."
Los Angeles police officers began making fewer arrests in 2013. The following year, the Los Angeles Police Department's arrest numbers dipped even lower and continued to fall, dropping by 25% from 2013 to 2015, reports the Los Angeles Times.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the San Diego Police Department also saw significant drops in arrests during that period.
Statewide numbers are just as striking: Police recorded the lowest number of arrests in nearly 50 years, according to the California attorney general's office, with about 1.1 million arrests in 2015 compared with 1.5 million in 2006.
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 isn't 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.
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.
It would be "naive" to think the national debate over policing hasn't affected the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, Sheriff Jim McDonnell said. Nevertheless, he said, his deputies are not shying away from potentially dangerous situations.
Photo: Screenshot from WITI
Milwaukee police are investigating an incident during which a gunshot was fired in the area of an occupied squad car and the bullet struck the squad, reports WITI.
The shooting occurred around 1:45 p.m. Friday near 37th and Burleigh. Police blocked parts of the roads trying to figure out who was shooting and why.
As two Milwaukee police officers sat in a parked squad, a bullet struck the windshield. They were just one block away from Milwaukee Police District Seven.
Neither officer was hit by the gunfire. However, one suffered minor injuries from glass shattered by the bullet. It's unclear whether they were the intended targets.
"Nobody is expecting a bullet to come crashing through the windshield of their car. So, like anybody experiencing something like that, the officers were very shaken and alarmed by this incident," said Assistant Chief James Harpole.
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Senate Democrats have enough votes to filibuster Trump Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch as Sen. Chris Coons has announced that he will vote against cloture.
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Coons said that he was not ready to end debate on Gorsuch, and would be voting against cloture until the Senate can work together to find a way around Mitch McConnells threatened nuclear option.
Sen. Coons is the 41st Democrat who has stated that they will vote against cloture. The Gorsuch nomination will be filibustered by Democrats, and it is now up to Mitch McConnell and his fellow Republicans to decide whether or not they are going to blow up the traditions of the worlds greatest deliberative body just to get a failing president a win, and a single Supreme Court nominee confirmed.
Here is where the filibuster stands currently:
If McConnell changes the rules for Supreme Court nominees, it will be a short-sighted mistake that Republicans will live to regret for decades to come. The Republican Senate majority is just a few seats. After the 2018 midterm election, the Senate map turns favorable for Democrats.
Majority Leader McConnell put the Senate on this path to destruction when he refused to allow a vote on Obama Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland. Senate Democrats are calling McConnells bluff and daring him to change the Senate rules.
Coons was correct. A great Majority Leader could look at this moment and use it to fix what has gone wrong in the Senate, but McConnell is not a great leader. He is not even a good Majority Leader.
The Supreme Court fight that McConnell started last year is about to reach its logical conclusion as Democrats are going to filibuster Trump nominee Neil Gorsuch.
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NBCs Katy Tur hammered the hypocrisy of Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) who said that he would trust Trump even though he is under federal investigation while also claiming that Hillary Clinton should not have been trusted.
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Tur asked Rep. Mo Brooks would you trust a president who was under FBI investigation?
Rep. Brooks answered that the FBI investigation might exonerate Trump of false claims. Brooks told the American people to wait and see and give Trump the benefit of the doubt.
Tur followed up by asking if Brooks would have the same opinion if Clinton were president.
Brooks responded that Clinton has a longer track record in public policy and that she misrepresented the truth about Benghazi and Libya.
Tur responded, Respectfully, Congressman, President Trump has misrepresented the truth so many times that I cant count them on my two hands.
Brooks brought up the debunked Clinton Russian uranium deal conspiracy, and Tur had more facts, That had to be approved by seven different agencies, including an independent agency.
Rep. Brooks said that Trump had only been in office, but Clinton had been there for years and years.
Tur came back with, Respectfully, in the two months that he has been there, he has brought up a number of things that just dont have any evidence to support it. That includes voter fraud. That includes President Obama wiretapping his phones. He said certainly a lot of things that are not true, a lot of things, so it doesnt seem like your argument holds water in that respect.
Katy Tur showed what happens to Republicans who find themselves having to defend Donald Trump. The arguments that Rep. Brooks made to defend his hypocrisy ranged from conspiratorial to nonsensical. Watching Brooks struggle to defend the president, it was easy to see why Trump is a giant liability for the Republican Party.
A journalist who is prepared with facts can wipe the floor with any Trump defender because facts and reality are this presidents kryptonite.
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That oft-cited phrase, words have consequences took on yet another special meaning for Donald Trump late last week when a Kentucky federal judge ruled that there is a limit to what constitutes free speech especially when that speech incites Trump supporters to assault other Americans. The courts, including the Supreme Court, have ruled in the past that not all speech is free or protected, and it is particularly true when a presidential candidate incites violence against people he considers his enemies.
The Federal Judge, David J. Hale ruled against Trump in a lawsuit where Trumps legal team attempted to get the assault case thrown out of court on free speech grounds. The lawsuit accused Trump of inciting violence against protesters at a campaign rally in March 2016 where Trump repeatedly ordered, instructed, and commanded his acolytes to get em out here the judge said resulted in protestors being punched and kicked as they were leaving. Trumps attorneys claimed the candidate did not intend for his zealots to use force or punch and kick the protestors, but that pathetic argument didnt sway Judge Hale.
The Judge reminded Trumps legal team that any speech inciting violence is not protected by the First Amendment and ruled that there is plenty of evidence that the protesters injuries were a direct and proximate result of Trumps words. It is plausible that Trumps direction to get em out of here advocated the use of force. It was an order, an instruction, a command.
It is likely that Federal Judge Hale remembers Donald Trump commanding his vicious supporters in February 2016 that somebody
Should knock the crap out of them [protestors], would you? Seriously. Okay? Just knock the hell I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees. I promise, I promise. It wont be so much cause the courts agree with us too. Apparently, based on Judge Hales ruling, the courts absolutely do not agree with Trump.
This is the third time federal judges have used Trumps own words to rule against him and the third time his legal team has argued that nothing he says, especially provocative or controversial words, should be taken literally; something about free speech. In Hawaii a little over a week ago another Federal Judge rejected Trump attorneys argument that his second Muslim ban should only be evaluated without considering Trumps and his acolytes comments about the Muslim ban being exactly what Trump promised it was going to be; a religious ban targeting one specific faith.
As a reminder, Trump claims his executive order banning Muslims is not really about banning Muslims. And yet throughout the presidential campaign, he promised to order a blanket ban on all Muslim immigration to the United States; the campaign promise in the form of a news release remains on his campaign website.
Trumps first travel ban was struck down by the courts that ruled that this rhetoric was relevant to their decisions in halting his first travel ban. During that cases hearing Trumps people argued, and lied that Trumps order wasnt a Muslim ban even though it specifically gave the highest priority to Christian immigrants from Trumps list of undesirable and unprofitable Muslim majority nations.
In fact, when they struck down his first Muslim ban the courts particularly cited Trump operative Rudy Giulianis comments that Trump directed him to make his ban on Muslims legally practical. Giuliani actually said, So when [Trump] first announced it, he said, Muslim ban, He called me up. He said, Put a commission together. Show me the right way to do it legally. There is no way to legally single out one religion for special dispensation and if the Trump or Giuliani or any of his team had even a rudimentary comprehension of the 1st Amendment they would know that fundamental fact.
The Muslim ban words came back to haunt Trump when the courts halted his second travel ban and specifically cited his past rhetoric to prove the intent of the ban was targeting Muslims. The Federal Judge in Hawaii also cited words of Trumps team when he specifically noted that one of Trumps top advisers, Stephen Miller, openly claimed the second Muslim ban was in all practicality exactly the same as the first. Miller said,
Fundamentally, youre still going to have the same basic policy outcome for the country, but youre going to be responsive to a lot of very technical issues that were brought up by the court, and those will be addressed. But, those basic policies are still going to be in effect.
The basic policies are that practitioners of one specific religion, Islam, were the target of the travel ban; but only if the Muslims came from nations where Trump has no business dealings.
No doubt Trump and his supporters will rail on Judge Hale accusing him of being an activist judge with a grudge who is out to get the Trump. No doubt they will also continue claiming that nothing untoward Trump says should be taken seriously and that no-one should hold him accountable when his words produce consequences for people who he considers his enemies.
Trump cannot have it both ways; either his words mean exactly what he meant when he uttered them or they dont. That is not a baseless concept; it is the opinion of at least three federal judges in three separate cases where they especially cited Trumps own speech in their rulings against the Trump.
In this most recent case, the Judge rejected Trumps claim that he wasnt really inciting violence against protestors despite the simple fact that he issued an order, command, and instruction to his followers. As the Judge remarked, they were commands that provided plenty of evidence the protestors injuries were the direct and proximate result of Trumps words inciting violence against protestors.
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Donald Trumps counter-scandal claims ratchet up in direct proportion to the amount of heat he is feeling from investigators, and complaints about the unmasking of his associates have become a daily feature of his tweets.
For Trump, this perfectly understandable intelligence gathering process and not selling out his country to Russia is the real scandal.
The New York Times Maggie Haberman tweeted that,
.@EliLake reports that Susan Rice repeatedly requested to unmask Trump aides picked up on intercepts of other people https://t.co/fT7chqiS6M Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) April 3, 2017
Lake wrote in Bloomberg that,
White House lawyers last month discovered that the former national security adviser Susan Rice requested the identities of U.S. persons in raw intelligence reports on dozens of occasions that connect to the Donald Trump transition and campaign, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter.
Ana Navarro claims the revelation that Susan Rices involvement muddies the water. However, national security expert John Schindler tweeted that this is much ado about nothing:
I truly despise Susan Rice but her asking #NSA to unmask USPs in SIGINT reports is utterly normal. There is no scandal here. John Schindler (@20committee) April 3, 2017
SIGINT is Signals intelligence as opposed to some other form of intelligence gathering, such as HUMINT, which is intelligence gathered from human sources, for example, debriefings or chats with military attaches.
According to the NSA:
SIGINT is intelligence derived from electronic signals and systems used by foreign targets, such as communications systems, radars, and weapons systems. SIGINT provides a vital window for our nation into foreign adversaries capabilities, actions, and intentions.
So as Schindler then pointed out,
OF COURSE the National Security Advisor had questions about SIGINT regarding Trump's foreign ties.#duhhttps://t.co/96Lgqfabm5 John Schindler (@20committee) April 3, 2017
If Donald Trump didnt want Susan Rice asking about who among his team was talking to the Russians, he shouldnt have had his people colluding with Russia to help propel him into the White House.
All that has followed from that has been of his own making. As John Schindler said, this is no scandal. This is a perfectly natural outcome of Trumps people talking to Russians during the 2016 presidential campaign.
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Donald Trump wasnt done this morning when he praised Fox News fake scandals in an effort to divert attention from the Russia scandal that threatens to destroy his presidency. He followed that up by desperately pointing his finger at John Podesta and Hillary Clinton in a childish play on the tried and true schoolyard diversion of Oh yeah? What about her!
His first tweet pointed the finger at GOP bogeyman John Podesta:
Was the brother of John Podesta paid big money to get the sanctions on Russia lifted? Did Hillary know? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 3, 2017
His next tweet focused on his old and oft-debunked complaint about Hillary Clinton getting answers to the debate:
Did Hillary Clinton ever apologize for receiving the answers to the debate? Just asking! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 3, 2017
Oh dear. He really didnt think this one through, as Toronto Star fact checker Daniel Dale quickly pointed out:
there are no answers to a debate https://t.co/2qPJpus4TC Daniel Dale (@ddale8) April 3, 2017
Right. Lets assume he meant questions then. Even then, getting debate questions ahead of time, even if true, is not even in the same ballpark as selling out your country to the Russians. Nice try, but thats not going to sell.
As PolitiFact said of Trumps tweets a few days ago on the same subject Hillary Clinton, John Podesta, and Uranium to Russia Trump is downplaying reality here.
The fact is, there is no scandal about Hillary Clinton or Clinton associates and Russia. The scandal surrounds Trumps own people Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn, and even Attorney General Jeff Sessions, possibly all the way to Trump himself.
Pointing fingers at Clinton at this late date is desperation defined. As PolitiFact went on to say,
In his tweets, Trump seems to suggest that the Clintons and their associates were working on behalf of Russias interests. Thats hard to square with the intelligence communitys conclusion that Russia interfered in the election in order to harm Hillary Clinton and elect Trump instead.
And that is Trumps problem here. All along he has relied on the old Republican tactic of accusing Democrats of what Republicans are already guilty of.
The evidence has led straight to Trumps not Clintons doorstep. And pointing fingers at Hillary Clinton isnt going to save Donald Trump from the consequences of his own deeds.
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Republicans were already deeply worried about the special election for the House seat vacated by Tom Price in Georgias 6th district, and their concern will only deepen after watching Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff excel during his first nationally televised interview.
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In a little more than two minutes, which the video skipped during his first answer, but Ossoff dropped a few keywords like corruption and investigation that are certain to motivate voters who both oppose and are disappointed by Trump.
Ossoff talked about the energy in the district, Well, the atmosphere here is electric right now. Weve got thousands of folks going out every weekend to knock on doors. The community is standing up because we recognize this is the first chance in the country to demonstrate that we believe that America can only become more prosperous, more secure, and stronger if we stay true to our core values and that those values are under threat right now by whats happening in Washington.
Facing a talented and legendary Washington journalist like Andrea Mitchell is no small task, but Ossoff wasnt thrown by her question about one of his ads potentially exaggerating his credentials.
Ossoff is running as the outsider, and he is the test for the Democratic message in 2018. The New York Times recently reported that Ossoff has a good chance of avoiding the June 20 runoff by getting 50% of the vote April 18.
Democrats are now able to run as the outsiders against Donald Trumps Washington. Republicans are not only finding out that governing is hard, but also that being in the majority having to defend an unpopular president is equally difficult.
Ossoffs national television interview debut underscored the fact that Republicans are not only stuck with Trump, but they are also facing the sort of young, and polished candidate that is capable of winning.
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Trump falls below 40% approval for the first time in our average, Nate Silver of 538 noted, linking to their approval ratings for Trump.
Trump falls below 40% approval for the first time in our average > https://t.co/XxvWwz6NaM pic.twitter.com/kQxtJ5PB0o Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) April 3, 2017
According to 538s compilation, Trump is now at 39.8% approval and 53.6% disapproval as an average of the major polls. That is to say, Donald Trump is way under water. He is holding on to the hardcore Republican base in this average, but some individual polls have shown a peeling off of support by Trump supporters.
A McClatchy-Marist Poll published on March 31st showed 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.
This looks like a trend, because in a Politico/Morning Consult poll that covered the days of March 24 to the 25th, President Trump took a beating in approval ratings after the humiliating defeat of Trumpcare, with the strongly approve/strongly disapprove showing him at an astonishing low 23/38. The decline in Trumps approval ratings in this poll was sharper among Republicans and Independents than Democrats, and he lost his own supporters by 6%.
Republicans have a solid 35-37% in polls. Today, in the 538 average of polls, Trump is clinging barely to 39.8%. That is to say, his agenda is dead on arrival, and his presidency is taking on water. Its hard to say if its the Russia scandal, the Twitter meltdowns, the failure to follow through on promises like repealing Obamacare or the repeated rejection of his immigration executive order by a judge, but overall Trump entered office with a historically low approval rating, having lost the popular vote and run a campaign comprised mostly of divisive hatred topped off with violent rhetoric.
Trump is in office only due to a Russian assist that he may or may not have colluded with, but he and Republicans certainly benefited from.
The illegitimate president has the numbers to prove it.
It also depends on Hungary if it will still have EU funds after 2020
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It depends also on Hungary whether EU funds will still be available after 2020, and in order to ensure they are the country needs to make sure the best projects creating real economic impact are selected, the European Commissioner for Regional Policy told Portfolio in a video message which was presented at a recent Portfolio conference on EU funds. Corina Cretu projected tough negotiations" to start this year on EU funds to be available after 2020.
It's time for the EU to take a stand against Hungary's Orban
The European Union has tolerated Hungarys Prime Minister Viktor Orban for too long, and its time to take a stand," a former professor at Budapests Central European University (CEU), now in Orbans cross-hair targeted for demolition, wrote in an opinion piece published in The Guardian on Monday.
Cas Mudde, associate professor in the School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) at the University of Georgia in the United States and researcher at the Center for Research on Extremism at the University of Oslo, was teaching at CEU for two years.Today, my former students include a professor at Yale Universityand a vice president of a university in the region. They would not be where they are today without the CEU, which provided them a fully funded opportunity to get a top-notch western education," he said.Hungary devised new rules that CEU says are targeted at the university directly and would make it impossible ... to continue its operations" in Budapest.The universitys departure would deal a serious blow to higher education in Hungary and the countrys reputation as a regional leader, The Guardian said on 29 March.The planned new legislation comes after the Education Office discovered that 28 foreign-linked universities are operating in Hungary unlawfully", including CEU, Oxford Brookes, Edinburgh Napier, CECOS London College, Anglia Ruskin University, and the universities of Middlesex, Buckingham, Hertfordshire, and Newport in Wales. Institutions from the US, Germany and France are also listed, The Guardian reminded.He added Orban has become a bitter opponent" of Hungarian-born billionaire financier George Soros, who had founded CEU in 1991, two years after the fall of communism in Hungary. The PM accused Soros of encouraging Europes refugee crisis and acting as a shadowy influence on Hungarian and global politics. Orban has talked of promoting illiberal democracy" and portrayed himself as a leader protecting Europe from migration, the paper added.The speech itself drew the ire of several key world figures. What he had said was condemned by the worlds most prestigious newspapers, including The Washington Post ,The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Economist and Newsweek, or renowned U.S. economist and philosopher Francis Fukuyama and a number of European Commission officials. It drew criticism by U.S. President Barack Obama , German Chancellor Angela Merkel former U.S. President Bill Clinton who said Orban "never wants to leave power" and U.S. Senator John McCain who went as far as calling the PM a neo-fascist dictator ".Mudde said the law proposal in itself not that surprising,
as CEU is everything Orban detests: it is critical, global, independent and multicultural."
He added that while 20 years ago Orban was still seen, and mostly acted, as a pro-western, rightwing politician", he is no longer the darling of the western establishment, but rather the role model of illiberal democrats across Europe, from Marine Le Pen in France to the current government in Poland."He has already transformed his own country into an illiberal democracy," he added.
It should be clear by now that Orbans actions are not merely a domestic affair
, Mudde said.He reminded that Hungary is a member of the EU and should respect its laws, and that the country has become a bellwether for illiberal democracy in Europe and an inspiration for illiberal democrats throughout the region."Hence, in Muddes view, the struggle over CEU is not just about that unique university, it is about all universities, and it is about liberal democracy."
If we dont take a stand now, we will be fighting similar measures in Poland and other countries soon. The time of accommodating Orban must end now. It has failed. Rather, it is radicalising others and hollowing out the very values the EU, and EPP, claim to stand for.[...]"
Charleston, SC (29403)
Today
Generally sunny despite a few afternoon clouds. High 74F. Winds NNE at 10 to 20 mph..
Tonight
Partly cloudy in the evening with more clouds for later at night. Low 53F. Winds NNE at 10 to 20 mph.
The Men's Center in Mount Pleasant seeks to provide a comfortable place for men to address health concerns that doesn't feel like a trip to the doctor's office, while getting the help they need for things like erectile dysfunction. Read morePutting men in their place: Men's Center focuses on male health issues
North Charleston Councilman Mike Brown, District 1 (right), discusses what he describes as an incident of racial profiling by a Best Buy employee that occurred Thursday, March 30. He is accompanied by his lawyer, David Aylor (center), who said he had not decided yet whether to take legal action or not. Mary Katherine Wildeman/Staff
It looks like South Carolinas first early voting general election went off really well, with more than 600,000 casting votes early, mostly in person but some by absentee ballot. That blows away pre-Election Day voting from any year except 2020, when nearly a million voters took advantage of Read moreEditorial: It's your last chance to cast your vote. We help make sure you don't blow it.
FILE - In a Monday, March 27, 2017 file photo, United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaks to reporters outside the General Assembly at U.N. headquarters. Haley said Sunday, April 2, 2017, in an interview aired Sunday on ABCs This Week theres no question Russia was involved in the U.S. presidential election and that the actions of the Kremlin will be addressed after the investigations are completed. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Budget bills will continue to dominate at the Minnesota Capitol this week.
Lawmakers are putting long hours in a push to pass all budget bills by Friday. Legislators are running about a month ahead of schedule when it comes to passing budget bills. The big question is whether or not that head start will lead to a smoother end to session.
First, the Republican-led House and Senate need to reach agreement on each budget bill via a conference committee. Then those final bills must win support from both chambers before heading to DFL Gov. Mark Dayton's desk. Will legislators work in conference committee to put together bills that Dayton will be willing to sign? Or will they go ahead and send him bills he will veto knowing they still have time to put together other proposals?
There are some major disagreements between the GOP-led Legislature and Dayton when it comes to the budget. Lawmakers and the governor are $1 billion apart when it comes to spending, with the GOP-led Legislature putting forward $45 billion budget proposals and Dayton advocating a $46 billion plan.
Republicans want a hefty portion of the state's budget surplus to go toward tax cuts. Dayton's proposal uses most of those dollars for additional spending.
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Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka recently told reporters that lawmakers have been working with the governor's office to get bills signed and it is a trend he wants to continue.
"We'll get better bills if we work that way. I see no reason why that trend will not continue," Gazelka said. "If we send a bill and he vetoes it, then you know that things are breaking down."
Dayton told reporters that it remains to be seen how the budget process will turn out. He said several budget bills include policy language he opposes. In addition, he and Republicans have profound philosophical disagreements that have to be addressed.
"The question is will people be willing to meet in the middle," Dayton said.
Walz calls on Nunes to recuse himself
First District Rep. Tim Walz issued a statement last week calling on House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes to recuse himself from an investigation in Russian interference with last year's presidential election. He joins several other Democrats calling for Nunes to step aside after reports that Nunes met on White House grounds with a source who showed him secret intelligence reports.
At the very least, it appears Chairman Nunes' ability to independently investigate Russia's attack on our democracy is compromised. As the credibility of any congressional investigation relies on a commitment to bipartisanship and the independence of those conducting it, I call on Chairman Nunes to immediately recuse himself from the Committee's Russia investigation," Walz said in a statement.
The Mankato Democrat also renewed his calls for an independent commission to investigate Russia's actions during the election. Walz announced last week he is running for Minnesota governor. He is not the other southern Minnesota to jump in the race. Over the weekend, longtime Rochester DFL Rep. Tina Liebling announced she would also be running for governor.
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Talking about transportation
An upcoming forum will focus on transportation bills advancing at the Capitol.
The Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce's Eggs & Issues event will feature Minnesota Department of Transportation Chief of Staff Eric Davis. Local lawmakers are also expected to attend and field questions from the audience. The event runs from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. on Friday, April 14.
CHATFIELD When Ron Zeigler first heard about Destination Medical Center, he said his reaction was, "Wow, what an undertaking -- how does someone get their arms around the magnitude of the impact of $5 billion?"
It's even hard to imagine that much money going into such a small area, he said.
But Zeigler is in a position where he can help cities near Rochester take advantage of the jobs and people who may be coming their way. He's president and CEO of the nonprofit Community & Economic Development Associates , based in Chatfield.
The company supplies the expertise of its 18-member staff to as many as 30 small communities in the southeast, as well as a few in Iowa and Wisconsin, to develop new businesses, improve housing and win grants. Most small-town city clerks or managers don't have time or expertise to do that work, he said.
From what he's seen, the overwhelming majority of the cities "look at this as a positive," Zeigler said.
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Reaching out
It has helped that representatives of Journey to Growth and other groups associated with DMC have reached out to the small towns, meeting there to explain what's happening.
DMC will focus on Mayo Clinic, including both hospitals as well as the immediate area around Mayo. But DMC has made it very clear it won't work unless the smaller towns around Rochester are included in the planning and growth.
DMC leaders have said the project needs their involvement because Rochester alone can't absorb that many more people, and many will prefer to live in smaller towns. Many patients are in Rochester for extended stays, and they want to get out and see the area, as well as shop and dine in area towns.
Zeigler said it's hard to pinpoint anything happening directly because of DMC right now. But look at all the apartments going up close to the downtown and a new hotel in Rochester. He suspects the decision to build them got at least a push from DMC. "And I think it's that way in all of the small towns," he said. "The whole aura of economic development that is going on in southeast Minnesota DMC is a part of that one way or the other."
Zeigler believes Lanesboro was able to get a grant to add broadband in part because of DMC. The state gave AcenTek, based in Houston, nearly $1.8 million in grant funding for the $4.7 million project. Several other towns also were able to add better internet access.
Fillmore County Economic Development Authority Coordinator Sam Smith said access to high-speed internet will be even more critical as DMC advances. "With the advent here of Destination Medical Center and communities working to position themselves as desirable places to live, work and do business, internet infrastructure is going to be critical for that," he said.
Keep it local
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DMC has had two impacts on the smaller towns that CEDA serves, Zeigler said. First, it has brought excitement and enthusiasm to this part of the state. Its shown the state's largest private employer is putting its time and money into infrastructure that means it's staying here.
It might already have had an effect on Chatfield, he said.
"One interesting thing to note by doing a little research on single-family home permits that I would expect might be the case in many of the communities adjacent to Rochester such as Stewartville and Byron, adjusted for population, Chatfield had more houses built last year than Rochester did," he said. "Rochester is about 39 times larger than Chatfield. Rochester had 418 new single-family home building permits issues in 2016; Chatfield had 14." That ratio is higher than Rochester's, he said
Second, DMC is forcing smaller towns to look at themselves and ask how good is the local sewer or water service or other things new companies or families might want when looking for a new place to move or build. Communities that aren't ready immediately might miss out on some new businesses or people, he said.
They want to get the communities ready "to get a swing at the plate," he said.
If the smaller towns do their job, they can expect to see steady growth in people and tax base, he said. That would mean more homes, more children in schools, maybe more downtown businesses or some manufacturing.
If Rochester prospers and expands because of DMC, it will lift up all the surrounding towns, Zeigler said. "Everything is interconnected. One thing drives another."
DMC -- it's an acronym none of us had heard of 10 years ago, at least with reference to Rochester, and now surfaces in nearly every discussion we have about our community.
For some, the changes it might bring are worrisome. Others welcome the growth and the new opportunities it promises.
But what is DMC? I first learned of it about five years ago. Mayo Clinic had decided to expand its medical foot print in Rochester to the tune of $3.5 billion in new investments. They further estimated their investments would bring about another $1.5 billion in non-Mayo investments. They also noted all of this would bring about another 25,000 jobs to the city.
For all of this to happen, however, the city of Rochester would need assistance. Local property taxes are not sufficient to pay for all of the needed infrastructure to make these new investments happen. At the present time, city property taxes are sufficient to pay for police and fire protection plus a portion of the public works costs of the city. All other costs are paid for by other revenue sources.
Five billion dollars is obviously a huge investment. If city leaders in New York, Chicago or Los Angles were presented such a proposal they likely would take immediate note. As it is, we have it right here in Rochester. In my opinion, we are incredibly fortunate, as from a Mayo perspective their investment in their future could well have been in Phoenix, Ariz., or Jacksonville, Fla., both large cities where Mayo already has sizeable investments.
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Given that local property tax revenues would not be sufficient to pay for the local infrastructure costs of DMC, the state, with legislative approval, agreed to provide funding for this purpose up to $585 million. This is about 10 percent of the Mayo and private investment expected. Money from the state will come only after Mayo spends its money. The state money goes to the city, not Mayo. Additionally, the legislation required the city contribute $127 million to the cause and that Olmsted County contribute up to $60 million with a focus on transportation infrastructure.
So, about four years have passed the DMC legislation was approved. Some would say things have not moved quickly enough. Others would say it's too much change too quickly. With credit to those who have been working so hard on implementing DMC, I believe things have moved at an appropriate pace. Mayo has spent $200 million toward DMC since its enactment. There are three new hotels in the queue. Mayo has announced a 2-million-square-foot plan for the Discovery Square area -- larger than U.S. Bank Stadium. Plans are moving ahead for the Heart of the City district and other projects.
I often am asked, "How are things going in Rochester?" For me, the answer is quite simple, given the challenges faced by many cities across Minnesota and our country: Things in Rochester are great. DMC is on course and going well.
As Destination Medical Center begins taking form, reactions to it also are taking shape. Interviews with people in Rochester and area cities last month found some love it, some fear that Mayo is taking over the city and a few have never heard of it or think it will have little impact on their lives. Here's what they told us.
Dennis Moenwas relaxing on a bench in the Peace Plaza about a block from the Mayo building. He lives in Byron and is a custodian at Mayo. He thinks DMC will help Mayo and his town, but he also knows Rochester won't be the same.
"There are going to be a lot of changes," he said. "Hopefully, they are for the better."
He believes it will help Byron, which is about 10 miles to the west and a lot of other small towns around Rochester. He's not sure DMC will help him because he might retire before there are any big changes.
Dr. Ravinder Jeet Kaur,a research trainee in the gastrointestinal field at Mayo, was interviewed in the Peace Plaza as well. She believes DMC is a good move because it will make it easier and faster to do research and get that research out to other medical professionals worldwide.
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With it, "there are more options for the research in that field," she said. And there will be better and more research in the future thanks to DMC, she said. That research will be spread out to help actual cases faster, she said.
Edward Milner,of Rochester, was sitting in the plaza in front of the Chateau Theatre and he had a strong opinion about DMC: "I think it's bad." He read how Mayo is being accused of favoring patients who have private insurance and disagrees with that. He fears that will continue and as Mayo gets bigger, things will get worse. "I think they're getting too big for their britches," he said.
"There are enough Mayo buildings around here" and across Minnesota, he said. He thinks Mayo controls too many businesses. "Everything is all centered around Mayo and everyone else is getting overlooked," he said.
Charlie Applequistwas driving his wheelchair across Center Street near where the new Hilton hotel is under construction. He fears such development could hurt him because as the clinic and private developments expand, it will be harder for him to get around and find places to live.
DMC planners have proposed a type of light rail or people-mover connection between downtown and Saint Marys, and he thinks that will make it harder for buses to get around. "We're not that big a town," he said.
Also, as Mayo expands, more and more apartments are being built around it "and rent is getting higher because of the Mayo stuff," he said. It also can make it harder for small businesses, or those with disabilities, not connected to Mayo to survive or get jobs, he said.
"I think it's going to get too fancy," he said. "Mayo has gotten too big for its britches." He thinks doctors are making him feel like a number.
Heather Plasswas walking down Lewiston's main street, her hood pulled up against the cold, when we stopped her to ask about DMC. She's a transcriptionist for Mayo, working from her home. She thinks DMC surely will help Rochester and is hoping that can be said for Lewiston.
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"They are making the town of Rochester bigger and better and more approachable for activities," she said. "There will be more stuff for us to do in the Rochester area or within 40 minutes."
As for Lewiston, "We could maybe see growth in Lewiston, more business coming in, more houses and more development," she said. "That would be good for us at Lewiston, all the extra growth we could get would be awesome."
In Pete's Meats near where Plass was walking, co-owner Judy Lewiswas filling display cases with hot dogs. She's ambivalent on DMC. "Really doesn't have an effect on us," she said. "What Rochester does doesn't affect us."
Some other towns such as Lanesboro will see a benefit, but "we're not a touristy location," she said. "I think we are just far away enough that it's just not going to do much here." St. Charles, on the other hand, could benefit.
As she was talking, Tony Langwalked in and began putting baked goods in a display case. He works for the St. Charles Bakery and plans to take it over someday from his dad, Elroy Lang. Tony, 25, hadn't heard about DMC but, when told a bit about it, said it could help him. If more people come, "they would be going to more restaurants, and we would have to make more buns for the restaurants, so that would be good," he said. Or they might come into his main street bakery and buy doughnuts, cakes, cupcakes and Danish. "We make a lot of different things from scratch," he said. But as far as he knows, no one talks much about DMC in St. Charles.
Inside the Town & Country Store in Rushford, Paul Bartshwas selling feed for local farmers. He knows little about DMC: "I have no idea, I don't pay attention to it," he said. And he isn't sure what farmers think. "When I go on a farm, I talk about selling feed," he said.
He's not that interested in it. "I just don't think it will affect my life that much," he said.
Amber Specewas coming out of the Rushford Post Office when we talked with her. She hadn't heard of DMC, either. She works in a local nursing home and thought someone would have said something. "I'm honestly surprised I have never heard about it," she said.
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But when told a bit about it, she said "This is a small town -- it would be nice if we could see new faces."
Sue and Gary Hoff,of Rushford, were walking a park along Rush Creek.
"I really don't know much about it," she said.
"To be honest, there is going to be great growth in the Mayo Clinic," her husband said.
When Sue heard more about it, she looked to the northeast where a crane was working on the new Rushford school. "We have a beautiful school here," she said referring to the new school. "More people should move here, move to Rushford," she said.
Actually, it's not that long of a commute to Rochester, about 40 minutes, Gary said. "I keep hearing it will probably spread out this far," he said. "I think the wave might take a while," he said. "It's not going to happen right away."
"Maybe sooner," Sue said.
A major development in the Obama spy/leak scandal: former Obama national security adviser Susan Rice has been identified as a person who repeatedly requested that associates of Donald Trump (and perhaps Trump himself) be unmasked in raw intelligence intercepts. Eli Lake of Bloomberg reports:
White House lawyers last month learned that the former national security adviser Susan Rice requested the identities of U.S. persons in raw intelligence reports on dozens of occasions that connect to the Donald Trump transition and campaign, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter. The pattern of Rices requests was discovered in a National Security Council review of the governments policy on unmasking the identities of individuals in the U.S. who are not targets of electronic eavesdropping, but whose communications are collected incidentally. Normally those names are redacted from summaries of monitored conversations and appear in reports as something like U.S. Person One. The National Security Councils senior director for intelligence, Ezra Cohen-Watnick, was conducting the review, according to two U.S. officials who spoke with Bloomberg View on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly. In February Cohen-Watnick discovered Rices multiple requests to unmask U.S. persons in intelligence reports that related to Trump transition activities. He brought this to the attention of the White House General Counsels office, who reviewed more of Rices requests and instructed him to end his own research into the unmasking policy.
If true, this is a bombshell, if not exactly a surprise. We know from her tour of the Sunday morning talk shows to misrepresent Benghazi that Rice was a political hack, more than willing to do dirty work on behalf of President Obama. Her alleged role here would fit with that history.
Rice apparently has not yet commented:
Rice did not respond to an email seeking comment on Monday morning.
Lake notes that Rices requesting raw intelligence in which Trump associates figured might not be illegal:
The standard for senior officials to learn the names of U.S. persons incidentally collected is that it must have some foreign intelligence value, a standard that can apply to almost anything. This suggests Rices unmasking requests were likely within the law.
That strikes me as a generous interpretation. In any event, if Rice and others conspired to leak confidential information or publicly disclose information about individuals like General Flynn, it would be a crime.
For an optimistic take on where the multiple Russia-related stories are heading, check out Kurt Schlichters piece at Townhall: The Russiagate Scam Will Blow Up In The Democrats Smug Faces.
This part certainly seems correct:
[I]ts safe to say that there was absolutely no collusion of any kind between Team Trump and anyone Russian. None. How do I know this to a near certainty? Because we havent seen anybody leak any evidence of any in the six-plus months that theyve been pushing this nonsense. Nothing.
***
You think the geniuses leading our intelligence community not the brave and dedicated folks in the trenches but the clowns and political suck-ups lording over them could have or would have kept real collusion secret? Do you think if Trump was cavorting with the former commies we wouldnt have heard about it from the NYT, the WaPo and the rest of the Democrat steno pool about a week before November 8th? Get. Real.
***
Does anyone here think for a millisecond that the Obama-appointed leadership in the intelligence community, whose loyalty is to their own political class and not to the country, would hesitate for a microsecond before leaking something they thought would hurt Trump? We know they wouldnt hesitate because they didnt hesitate they feloniously released a classified transcript involving Mike Flynn just to shaft him and the Administration.
Which, as Schlichter says, is the only crime we have any evidence of in the entire Russian saga.
Human rights groups are expressing concern about a meeting between Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House Monday.
The White House has stressed discussions with Mr. al-Sisi on security cooperation, including the fight against Islamic State, and rights groups have said they fear traditional U.S. concerns on rights may be pushed aside.
Inviting al-Sisi for an official visit to Washington as tens of thousands of Egyptians rot in jail and when torture is again the order of the day is a strange way to build a stable strategic relationship, Sarah Margon, Washington director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
Amnesty International called on Mr. Trump to hold Egypt accountable for its crackdown on human rights, including mass arrests, the killing of dissidents and unfair trails.
The Trump administration cannot turn a blind eye to Egypts human rights crisis, said Amnestys advocacy director Sunjeev Berry.
White House officials who previewed the meeting praised Egypt as one of the traditional pillars of stability in the Middle East and a reliable U.S. partner for decades.
They said human rights remain a concern for the U.S., but would likely be discussed privately.
Instead they emphasised security cooperation, including support for Egyptian security operations in the Sinai and billions in military aid for Cairo, as well as economic reforms.
Mr. Al-Sisi due to arrive at the White House at 1600 GMT.
(Reuters/NAN)
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Somali militants on Monday recaptured Elbur town in central Somalia after Somali Government and the African Union peacekeeping (AMISOM), forces pulled out.
Elbur District Commissioner, Nur Hassan Gutale, said that the joint forces withdrew from the town on Monday morning, allowing the heavily armed Al-Shabaab fighters to return.
Ethiopian troops under AMISOM and Somali National Army (SNA) withdrew from their bases in Elbur town, a strategic town in Galgudud region today.
The withdrawal was made by AMISOM first, and then government forces as they could not stay there alone because they were not prepared, Mr. Gutale said.
He accused AMISOM troops of not informing them of the pull-out from the town which allowed the insurgents to enter without any resistance.
The reason for the troops withdrawal from the town was not clear.
They did not inform us that they are leaving and this is a sudden decision. Al-Shabaab militants recaptured the town and our forces are in an area west of the town, the government official said.
Mr. Gutale added that Galmudug State Administration would take action against the militants in the coming week.
The enemy group (Al-Shabaab) will target civilians, therefore, we are working to flush them out of the town and liberate the town, he added.
Local residents said the militants who have waged near-daily attacks against government and AU bases in Somalia hoisted their black banner on the top buildings to alert the locals about their return to the town.
The residents said the allied forces backed by tanks and armoured vehicles were seen heading to Dhusamareb, the regional capital of Galgaduud region.
The allied forces have been in Elbur town since 2014 after several residents had fled the town due to fear inflicted by the insurgents.
(Xinhua/NAN)
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An explosion has hit a busy underground station in St. Petersburg, Russia killing at least 10 people and injuring dozens of others.
An official of Russias National Anti-Terrorist Committee said the explosion rocked a train travelling between Sennaya Ploshchad and Tekhnologichesky Institute stations.
Another explosive device was found and detonated at nearby Ploshchad Vosstaniya station.
Anti-Terrorism officials said it was too early to determine whether the blast was carried out by terrorists but Russian leader, Vladimir Putin said all possible causes are being investigated.
Mr. Putin who was in the city for a meeting with the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, said the government will do everything to take care of the injured.
No organisation has claimed responsibility for the blast yet.
Local media said the bomb, a home-made device filled with shrapnel, went off in the third car just after the train entered the tunnel.
The government told residents to be vigilant and announced that all surface transportation will be free until further notice. However, the citys entire underground system was shut down after the attack.
I appeal to you, citizens of St. Petersburg and guest of our city, to be alert, attentive and cautious, and to behave in a responsible manner in light of events, said Georgi Poltavchenko, the governor of St. Petersburg.
Security has been beefed up in Moscow Metro and major airports after the explosion that occurred around 2.45 p.m. local time.
The last fatal attack on an underground station in Russia occurred seven years ago when two explosions rocked stations in Moscow killing at least 33 people.
The suicide attacks were blamed on Islamic insurgent groups in Chechnya.
Terrorist attacks in Russia are mostly carried out by Islamic insurgents who fled Russias Northern Caucasus to join the Islamic State in Syria.
Russia deployed its military personnel in Syria in September 2015.
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Security has been beefed up in Moscow Metro and major airports after an explosion that occurred around 2.45 p.m. local time.
The explosion hit a busy underground station in St. Petersburg, Russia killing at least 10 people and injuring dozens of others.
An official of Russias National Anti-Terrorist Committee said the explosion rocked a train travelling between Sennaya Ploshchad and Tekhnologichesky Institute stations.
Another explosive device was found and detonated at nearby Ploshchad Vosstaniya station.
Anti-Terrorism officials said it was too early to determine whether the blast was carried out by terrorists but Russian leader, Vladimir Putin said all possible causes are being investigated.
Mr. Putin who was in the city for a meeting with the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, said the government will do everything to take care of the injured.
No organisation has claimed responsibility for the blast yet.
Local media said the bomb, a home-made device filled with shrapnel, went off in the third car just after the train entered the tunnel.
The government told residents to be vigilant and announced that all surface transportation will be free until further notice. However, the citys entire underground system was shut down after the attack.
I appeal to you, citizens of St. Petersburg and guest of our city, to be alert, attentive and cautious, and to behave in a responsible manner in light of events, said Georgi Poltavchenko, the governor of St. Petersburg.
The last fatal attack on an underground station in Russia occurred seven years ago when two explosions rocked stations in Moscow killing at least 33 people.
The suicide attacks were blamed on Islamic insurgent groups in Chechnya.
Terrorist attacks in Russia are mostly carried out by Islamic insurgents who fled Russias Northern Caucasus to join the Islamic State in Syria.
Russia deployed its military personnel in Syria in September 2015.
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The Nigeria Medical Association, NMA, Zamfara chapter, and residents of the state, have accused the state government of negligence in the handling of the current meningitis outbreak that has killed nearly 200 people there.
The medical association said the government failed to prepare despite warnings, and has still not responded appropriately to the epidemic.
Residents who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES over the weekend, also accused the government of neglect.
Zamfara is worst hit by the current meningitis outbreak that has killed nearly 300 people across Nigeria.
The state commissioner for Health, Adamu Suleiman, had in a radio programme confirmed that 160 people had so far lost their lives to the outbreak.
Mr. Suleiman told journalists on Tuesday that the outbreak had spread to all the 14 local government areas of the state.
He said the disease first emerged in Birnin-Magaji local government area over a week ago. He also said that areas worst hit were Maradun and Bindin villages in Maru local government.
He also announced the formation of a task force to deal with the outbreak.
However, the NMA in its statement as reported by the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, said it had observed that the state government was not prepared for the outbreak despite glaring signs of epidemic.
It said months into the present outbreak of meningitis, Zamfara government was yet to provide the needed vaccines for the general population or at least for the most at risk population.
The association also decried non-engagement of relevant officials and individuals in the management of the outbreak in the state.
We note that the constitution of the state governments main committee for the prevention and control of meningitis in the state has no single medical personnel, the statement signed by its chairman and secretary, Tijjani Abubakar and Mannir Bature, on Saturday, said.
Therefore, it is unacceptable to the NMA to allow politicisation of health sector.
Another issue that worries the NMA is the inadequate provision of drugs for the treatment of identified cases.
According to the association, the drugs being given to the patients are not enough.
There is no Emergency Operation Centres for coordinating and updating the stakeholders and general public on the progress as it affects the outbreak.
We also noticed that health institutions in the state especially state primary health centres and the general hospitals are weak and lacking capacity to address the outbreak of this magnitude, it said.
The association urged the state government to improve its commitments and provide lasting solutions to the following observations in order to have good arrangements to protect lives of people.
NMAs major responsibility is to advise the government at all levels on issues affecting healthcare services and delivery in order to ensure effective protection of lives of the people.
More people dying as drug vendors take advantage
Days after the confirmation of the spread and casualty figure, checks by PREMIUM TIMES showed that more people continue to die from the outbreak.
Some of the people interviewed in one of the first three affected local governments expressed their dismay over the situation, describing it as negligence on the side of the government.
Mustafa Ibrahim, a trader based in Bungudu town of Bungudu local Government, told our reporter that he lost two of his children to the disease.
I was surprised when I took my children to our clinic for treatment but only to be told that none of the staff were in the clinic, he said.
Mr. Ibrahim also said the only person I met was a labourer, and what he told me was that for the past two days none of the staff has come to work.
Also speaking, Sani Buhari of the same area explained that government had not played its role as far as the outbreak was concerned despite repeated complaints from the people.
We have now resorted to self-medication, he said.
Meanwhile, PREMIUM TIMES observed that drug vendors in the state were taking advantage of the chaos to make money out of the hapless citizens.
Patent medicine dealers charge between N6, 000 to N7, 000 to immunize a child.
In Kaura Namoda local government, one of the three local governments badly affected by the disease, some parents had to sell their grains or other valuables in order to get their children treated.
We have waited for long to see whether we can get any assistance from the government, but up to now there was nothing tangible coming out from that side, said a resident, Nasiru Musa .
According to him, since the outbreak, no single drug or injection has been given to them.
Battling tears, the 68-year-old Mr. Musa said he had to leave his house for a nearby village in order to have relief and hope of survival for his children.
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The Senate president, Bukola Saraki, has arrived the presidential villa for a meeting with President Muahammadu Buhari.
Mr. Buhari is currently meeting with the speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara.
Mr. Dogara went into the presidents office at about 11:57 a.m.
Sources at the villa had said Mr. Saraki was also expected to meeting with Mr. Buhari.
The meeting is coming on the heels of apparent Executive/ Legislative rift following the refusal of the Nigerian Senate to consider and approve the list of 27 Resident Electoral Commissioners, REC.
The Senate said it is stepping down the confirmation hearings in protest against the continued retention of Ibrahim Magu as acting chairman of the EFCC by Mr. Buhari in spite of the lawmakers refusal to confirm him twice.
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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has approached the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, with a request to compel former justice minister, Mohammed Adoke, to attend his ongoing trial for alleged fraud.
Mr. Adoke and a former minister of petroleum, Dan Etete, and other defendants are currently facing trial for alleged diversion of $1.1 billion, during a controversial transfer of a rich Nigerian oil block, OPL 245 to Malabu, a company linked to Mr. Etete.
The counsel representing the EFCC, Johnson Ojogbane, made the application during Mondays hearing before justice John Tsoho.
The judge however said he could not grant the request because other parties to the matter were not in court, and had not been served with the notice of summons for Mr. Ojogbanes motion.
Subsequently, the EFCCs lawyer requested a long adjournment to allow his client sufficient time to serve the necessary notice of summons to all the defendants. The case was adjourned till June 13.
The $1.1 billion 2011 deal
After several political and judicial intrigues that ensured OPL 245 changed hands several times between Malabu, Shell, and the Nigerian government, the block oil was again given back to Malabu in 2010 on the prompting of Mr. Adoke.
Persons close to former President Goodluck Jonathan told PREMIUM TIMES the former president took the decision because of his closeness to Mr. Etete who had helped him during his tenure as petroleum minister and because of the perception among persons from the oil producing Niger Delta that OPL 245 was one of the few oil blocks awarded to someone from the region.
By 2010, Mr. Etete had schemed out other owners of Malabu including by fraudulently altering Corporate Affairs Corporation, CAC, documents, investigations revealed.
The CAC recently said its official in charge of the Malabu documents was brutally murdered.
Despite Mr. Jonathans directive that Malabu be given OPL 245, the company really did not exist and had no staff or technical competence to manage the block. Based on advice from desperate businessmen including an Israeli, Ednan Agaev, Mr. Etete decided to cash in on the block.
Through various middlemen, the former minister approached oil giants, Shell and ENI, to buy the block. Knowing Mr. Etetes history including the fact that he had been convicted in France for money laundering, the oil firms would not do a direct deal.
For the transaction to continue, a legally recognised mediator would have to be found.
That mediator turned out to be the Nigerian government, represented by Mr. Adoke.
The agreements that were sealed led to Shell and ENI paying the $1.1 billion into a Nigerian government account in JP Morgan Chase in London. The money was to then be transferred to Malabu accounts controlled by Mr. Etete.
Although Shell and ENI have repeatedly claimed they did not know the money was going to end up with Malabu, investigations in Nigeria and Italy as well as leaked documents revealed that claim to be false.
Mr. Adoke himself would later admit that he, on behalf of the federal government, only acted as a mediator for two willing parties Malabu and the oil majors. Mr. Adoke was, however, aware of the various fraudulent manipulations of Malabu by Mr. Etete when he authorised the transaction, multiple sources have told PREMIUM TIMES.
THE TRANSFERS TO FRAUDULENT FIRMS
Immediately Mr. Etete received the money, curious transfers began. PREMIUM TIMES investigations, now confirmed by the EFCC, reveal that shady companies linked to Abubakar Aliyu received about $479 million dollars from Mr. Etete. Our investigations later showed that most of the companies were non-existent and used fake addresses in their registration documents.
The companies Rocky Top Resource Ltd, Imperial Union Ltd, Novel Properties & Dev. Co. Ltd, A-Group Construction Ltd, and Megatech Engineering Ltd were all charged in the suit filed by the EFCC.
While Mr. Etete later admitted that only $250 million of the money paid into his account was his, Mr. Aliyu is believed to have acted as a front for officials of the Goodluck Jonathan administration including Mr. Adoke.
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The Federal High Court, on Monday in Abuja fixed May 16 to rule on the application for no-case-submission filed by Charles Okah and Nwabueze Obi, to dispel terrorism charges brought against them.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the applicants were alleged to be the masterminds of the 2010 Independence Day bombing in Abuja that killed at least 12 people and wounded over 17 others.
Justice Gabriel Kolawole fixed the date to rule on the motion after counsel to parties had canvassed their arguments.
Mr. Okah, a younger brother of Henry Okah, the leader of the Movement for the Emancipation Niger Delta, (MEND) and others standing the trial are expected to open their defence.
The MEND leader, also tried for terrorism charges, is presently serving his life jail term in South Africa.
The prosecution had on January 31 closed its case but the applicants opted to file a no-case submission, urging the court to dismiss the charges brought against them.
The applicants argued that the charges and the evidence presented by the prosecution so far had not established prima facie case against them.
At the resumed hearing, counsel to Mr. Okah, Emeka Okafor, told the court of his clients motion of no-case-submission.
It is our final submission that Okah does not need to go through rigorous trial as the prosecutor has no evidence to prove any ingredient of offence he is charged with, he said.
Oghenovo Otemu, counsel to Mr. Nwabueze, aligned himself with the submission of counsel to Okah.
Mr. Otemu said the prosecution had failed to link the second defendant with the alleged offence he was charged with.
He said prosecutions inability to link the second defendant with offences was fatal to the prosecution of his client, urging the court to uphold the no case submission and dismiss the charges against him.
On his part, Alex Iziyon, the prosecuting counsel, asked the court to dismiss the motion, saying the prosecution had sufficiently linked the 2010 bombing to the applicants.
Mr. Iziyon pleaded with court to order the applicants to open their defence, adding that the no-case-submission was aimed at wasting the time of the court.
The prosecuting counsel said the essential element of evidence required in the trial of the applicants had been established.
He said it was established that the applicant had links with the vehicles and explosive materials used on Independence Day in Abuja.
One of the applicants confessed he drove the vehicle into Abuja and the other linked with the money used in purchasing the vehicle, he said.
The prosecution therefore, urged the court to dismiss the no case submission and ask the defendants to enter their defence.
(NAN)
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Investors generally gauge a stocks potential return by examining earnings growth and valuation multiples. At the same time, its important to measure the performance of such a stock relative to its industry or peers, or the appropriate benchmark.
If you see that a stock is underperforming on fundamental factors, then it would be prudent to move on and find a better alternative. However, those outperforming their respective sectors in terms of price should be selected because they stand a better chance to provide considerable returns.
Then again, it is imperative that you determine whether or not an investment has relevant upside potential when considering stocks with significant relative price strength. Stocks delivering better than the S&P 500 over a period of 1 to 3 months at the least and having solid fundamentals indicate room for growth, and are the best ways to go about this strategy.
Finally, it is important to find out whether analysts are optimistic about the upcoming earnings results of these companies. In order to do this, we have added positive estimate revisions for the current quarters (Q1) earnings to our screen. When a stock undergoes an upward revision, it leads to additional price gains.
Screening Parameters
Relative % Price change 12 weeks greater than 0
Relative % Price change 4 weeks greater than 0
Relative % Price change 1 week greater than 0
(We have considered those stocks that have been outperforming the S&P 500 over the last 12 weeks, 4 weeks and 1 week.)
% Change (Q1) Est. over 4 Weeks greater than 0: Positive current quarter estimate revisions over the last four weeks.
Zacks Rank equal to 1: Only Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks that have returned more than 26% annually over the last 26 years and surpassed the S&P 500 in 23 of the last 26 years can get through. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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Current Price greater than or equal to $5 and Average 20-day Volume greater than or equal to 50,000: A minimum price of $5 is a good standard to screen low-priced stocks, while a high trading volume would imply adequate liquidity.
VGM Score less than or equal to B: Our research shows that stocks with a VGM Score of A or B when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 or #2 (Buy) offer the best upside potential.
Here are the 5 of the 8 stocks that made it through the screen:
The Children's Place Inc. PLCE: Headquartered in Secaucus, NJ, The Childrens Place is a leading North American specialty retailer of apparel and accessories for children from newborn to 14 years of age. The company has a VGM score of A and an excellent earnings surprise history. It surpassed estimates in each of the last four quarters at an average rate of 39.04%.
Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. ANW: A marine fuel logistics company that physically supplies and markets refined marine fuel and lubricants to ships in port and at sea, Athens, Greece-based Aegean Marine Petroleum Network has a VGM score of A. Over the past 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal years 2017 and 2018 increased 6% and 12%, to $1.64 and $1.87 per share, respectively.
Entegris Inc. ENTG: Entegris is one of the leading providers of contamination control and carrier solutions. Headquartered in Billerica, MA, the company specializes in products for processing and manufacturing in semiconductor and other sophisticated industries. Entegris has a VGM score of B and outperformed/met earnings estimates in all the last 4 reported quarters.
Tech Data Corp. TECD: Tech Data is one of the leading wholesale distributors of information technology (IT) products, logistics management and other value-added services. Sporting a VGM score of A, this Clearwater, FL-headquartered companys expected EPS growth rate for 3 to 5 years currently stands at 22.80% comparing favorably with the industry growth rate of 14.90%.
BMC Stock Holdings Inc. BMCH: Headquartered in Atlanta, GA, BMC Stock Holdings is a leading distributor of diversified lumber and building materials to U.S. builders and contractors. The 2017 Zacks Consensus Estimate for this company is $1.33, representing some 53% earnings per share growth over 2016. Next years average forecast is $1.63, pointing to 23% growth. BMC Stock Holdings has a VGM score of A.
You can get the rest of the stocks on this list by signing up now for your 2-week free trial to the Research Wizard and start using this screen in your own trading. Further, you can also create your own strategies and test them first before taking the investment plunge.
The Research Wizard is a great place to begin. It's easy to use. Everything is in plain language. And it's very intuitive. Start your Research Wizard trial today. And the next time you read an economic report, open up the Research Wizard, plug your finds in, and see what gems come out.
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Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material.
Disclosure: Performance information for Zacks portfolios and strategies are available at: https://www.zacks.com/performance.
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Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. (ANW): Free Stock Analysis Report
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Persons suspected to be herdsmen have attacked two villages in Kwande Local Government Area of Benue State killing two people on Sunday.
This is coming barely two weeks after a market in Zaki Biam was attacked causing the death of at least 17 people.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Moses Yamu, confirmed the latest attack to the News Agency of Nigeria in Makurdi on Monday.
Mr. Yamu said the suspected herdsmen killed two villagers including a 65-year-old farmer.
He said the police were yet to establish the motive of the attack but said investigations were under way.
The police spokesperson said a detachment of the mobile police unit had been deployed to the area to restore normalcy.
He said the corpses had been deposited at the NKST Hospital, Jato Aka, also in Kwande local government council of the state.
The attacks in Benue, Kaduna and other states by suspected herdsmen have caused the death of thousands of people in the past two years.
The attacks have mainly been over grazing rights as cattle owned by roving herdsmen destroy local farmers crops; but they sometimes take ethnic and religious dimensions.
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Encomiums poured in from across Nigeria as Juju music maestro, Ebenezer Obey-Fabiyi, clocked 75 on Monday.
Among the dignitaries who paid glowing tributes to the musician on Monday were former President Olusegun Obasanjo and former governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu.
President Muhammadu Buhari had on Sunday paid tribute to the music legend.
Mr. Obasanjo said the music of the man known by music lovers as Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey always intoxicates him (Obasanjo) and has propelled him to do well in his life.
The former president disclosed this while speaking at the birthday ceremony of the musician in Abeokuta.
I am always intoxicated by Ebenezer Obeys music. When I want to do serious business, I play his music, I am always inspired and encouraged. His music teaches morals, he stated.
Speaking about the fame the musician has achieved, Mr. Obasanjo pointed out that anyone can reach the top, no matter how poor the back ground is, if the person is focused and determined.
He fondly recalled that Obey sang about the Operation Feed the Nation (OFN), a policy he (Obasanjo) initiated in the 70s as a military Head of States to make Nigeria self reliant in food production and consumption.
Mr. Tinubu, in his own congratulatory message, described Obey as an astute entertainer whose songs will always remain evergreen.
In a statement on Monday by his Media Office, the All Progressives Congress, APC, leader said: I congratulate Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey on his 75th birthday. Its a great accomplishment to so be blessed by God as he has been.
Ebenezer Obey, whose professional career began in the mid-1950s when he moved to Lagos, has contributed a lot to the development of music in Nigeria, nay Africa.
As a musician with a deep Christian spiritual bend, Obeys music is unique in the way and manner he turns Yoruba axioms, bearing rich religious messages into dance-hall compositions.
His popular tracks like What God Has Joined Together, Aimasiko, Eyin Pegan, Anjade Loni Eledumare, Jesu Olore, Africa is My Home, Ambe o,I am a Winner, etc remain masterpieces any day.
When in early-1990s, he retired into Nigerian gospel music ministry, I knew it could only be short-lived, because when you have a passion for a profession like Chief Obeys zeal for music, whether secular or gospel, there is no room for retirement.
I saw him in action in December last year at an event held at the Lagos State House, Alausa, Ikeja, tagged Evening with Governor Ambodeto end 2016 and usher in 2017, he was the cynosure of all eyes. He remained his true self, the true entertainer that we have always known, churning out one rich number after another.
At 75, I wish and pray that God grants Obey more years and the strength and energy to continue with his music. So to Chief Commander, I say let the music play on, Mr. Tinubu stated.
in his own remarks, the Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, said his administration would construct a museum in honour of the musician, where all his works would be kept for references.
He described Obey as a great ambassador and expressed the hope that Ogun would accord him his rightful place in the annals of the state.
All I see in him at 75 is the awesomeness of God in your life. Your music teaches totality of the essence of life and living. You have used music to do a lot even internationally, Mr. Amosun said.
You are a great ambassador of Nigeria and have shaped our lives positively. Im a fan of your music and listen to it every morning because some of them remind me to pray every morning, he added.
We are looking forward to a time where we will build a museum for your music, where people will go to study you and your work. You have put Ogun State on world map because when people enquire about your roots, they will be told you are from Ogun State.
The General Overseer of Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, Enoch Adeboye, revealed that he elected to bend his rules and abandoned his schedules for the day to attend Obeys event because of his love and admiration for him.
The cleric added that he and the musician arrived the world at the same period and walked in different directions before both also found their way to Christ.
I have known Obey a very long time since the days of Miliki. I enjoyed everything about his music and we came to the world at the same period. And at the time I was giving my life to Christ, he too was moving the same side.
I have to bend the rules to leave the Camp to attend this birthday ceremony because of my love and admiration for Obey, Mr. Adeboye said.
In his sermon at the evet, Francis Oke, anchored his message on Psalm 71vs 1-3 and urged man to keep seeking the face of God for his favour, protection and mercy when old age beckons.
In response to all the encomiums, Obey expressed joy and gratitude to God for sparing his life, and also appreciated his guests across the globe.
Other dignitaries at the church service include former governors of Ogun State, Segun Osoba and Gbenga Daniel; Folake Marcus-Bello, former Nigeria Ambassador; and Sarafa Ishola, former minister.
Prominent musicians at the ceremony include Sunny Ade, Salawe Abeni, Tony Okoroji, Wasiu Ayinde, Bola Are, Tope Alabi and Yinka Ayefele.
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The Good Governance Grassroot (3G) project team, an advocacy group, has embarked on a mission to empower the voiceless and undeserved communities on how to go about good governance in local communities.
At a two day programme held at Tarkwa Bay, Lagos, over the weekend, the group engaged members of the community in discussions on the promotion of good governance at grass root levels.
The 3G project team is a youth outreach initiative of the United States Consulate that champions the cause of good governance at local level in Lagos.
The Capacity Building Training for Community Leaders involved six local communities in the Atlas Cove Area, Tarkwa Bay island.
The team developed a toolkit to guild Tarkwa Bay communities and to empower them with skills in resource mobilising and strategies for effective civil engagement.
The team, through its research, found that Tarkwa Bay communities lack the knowledge, skills and resources required to bring about sustainable development in their communities.
Emilian Amaku, a community leader, said they lacked so many amenities particularly potable water.
We dont have bore holes that produce good water for consumption, what we have here isnt good enough for the health, she said.
Secondly, Tarkwa Bay is a riverine area, the bridge we use is very risky, sometimes ago when the politicians came around for their campaign we told them about the bridge and they promised us they would do something about it but at the end, nothing was done, we didnt hear from them again and theres was no means of reaching them either.
Mrs. Amaku also said due to the abundance of coconut in the community, the women produce coconut oil in large quantities but there are no buyers or investors.
Also, we need skill acquisition center because our youths dont have anything doing, they just roam about after their secondary school education, she said.
Tarkwa Bay has tourist attraction at the beach, a very beautiful beach but there is nothing there to attract people to visit the beach, people are afraid of crossing the water to get to this place, the ferry provided by the government doesnt run on weekends which is when people will love to visit the beach, so we beseech the government to help us develop the beach so that people over the world can patronize us.
The seminar which took place at the Tarkwa Bay Town Hall also aimed at building the capacities of the community people to help them address thedevelopment issues facing them.
Fransica Chiedu, a policy and public affairs advisor, said the 3G project team had been working with Tarkwa Bay communities in the last one year to build their capacities on how to go about good governance at grass root level .
Myself and the rest of the team had a focus group discussion with the communities and found that they had so many problems and skills they are lacking, said Ms. Chiedu.
With that, we developed a toolkit based on the engagement we had with them to see where they were lacking and thats where we formulated the topics for the capacity building training.
Abayomi Akinbo, a transparency advocate, said the communities in Tarkwa Bay were chosen because of the publics lack of awareness of the area.
We did our research and found that a lot of people know about Tarkwa Bay beach but they dont know about the community itself which is one of the issue they have, Mr. Akinbo said.
When we got to the community, we discover they have so many problems and because we are not economically empowering or trying to invest in this communities, we see that we can build their capacity and help them by showing them the way for them to solve some of their issues.
We are here to bring the youth together both the men and women to help gain attention and reach out to the government and other stake holders.
In a bid to help Tarkwa Bay communities achieve good governance, the 3G project team said its acting as a mediator between the government and members of the communities, and that so far, Tarkwa Bay communities have been benefiting from the scheme.
Mrs. Amaku admitted the initiative had helped the community.
Initially we were like blind people but since this program was initiated last year into this community, we have been enlightened on the ways to reach out to the government and that we are not excluded from benefiting from the government, she said.
The 3G project team promised to bring investors to buy our products and they have kept to their promises, this is the opportunity we have been looking and we appreciate the effort of this organization.
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A former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Nuhu Ribadu, will on Thursday be part of a panel to discuss the Panama Papers leak as they affect Africa.
The forum is organised by the European Parliament Inquiry Committee, PANA, following revelations published by a consortium of international media, including PREMIUM TIMES, showing secretive offshore companies used by powerful individuals and criminals to hide wealth, evade taxes and commit fraud.
The event will hold in Strasbourg France on Thursday, April 6.
The committee, which had been working since July last year had held a series of public hearings with the journalists who revealed the Panama Papers, representatives of international organisations, academics, the business society.
The Members of the Committee have now decided to hold a hearing on The impact of the schemes revealed in the Panama Papers on developing countries.
Information from the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, reveals that members of the PANA Committee will use the meeting to get a better understanding of the impact of money-laundering and tax evasion on developing countries.
The Members of the Committee will hear about the experience and findings of relevant stakeholders (journalist and experts in taxation and money-laundering) in this area, with a focus on the level of cooperation between EU and African authorities, the difficulties faced by them and the deficiencies observed in the existing legal framework in this field (including, if appropriate evidence of no respect of EU law), one of the released information said.
Mr. Ribadu will be part of a panel that will discuss Panama Papers and Africa alongside Carlos Lopez, a former UN representative, as well as Alvin Mosloma, the founding executive director of Tax Justice Network Africa.
Others are Jean Ziegler, an author from Switzerland, Will Fitzgibbon, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, ICIJ, reporter focusing on the Panama Papers impact in Africa and De Pasquale, an Italian prosecutor.
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The Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, has announced the commencement of Army War College, with a number of senior lieutenant colonels and junior colonels already nominated as pioneer students.
Mr. Buratai made the announcement on Monday at the 1st quarter Chief of Army Staff conference in Maiduguri.
According to him, the college will begin this month.
This aimed at bridging the gap between operational and strategic level commanders, who will be well grounded in operational art, design, campaign, planning, decision making process as well as the theories of peace and war, he said.
Mr. Buratai noted that apart from the Boko Haram insurgency, the country still had other security challenges to contend with.
He said the army had to progress as a fighting organisation and brace up to those evolving security challenges.
The army chief also announced the upgrading of the Nigerian Army Institute of Technology and Environmental Studies, Biu in Borno to University of Technology and Environmental Studies.
He said the concept behind the upgrading was to make the institution a solution provider and centre of excellence for variety of technically related ventures such as power generation and armament production.
According to Mr. Buratai, the Borno Government has allocated 500 hectares of land for the project.
He used the occasion to warn against unauthorised disclosure of classified information, as well as the inappropriate use of the social media by personnel of the army.
Mr. Buratai said such acts contravened the army policies, adding that they compromised some of our operations.
This attitude would no longer be tolerated. Appropriate measures are being taken against defaulters to prove our resolve, he said.
He also stressed the need for personnel to carry out their duties in line with the rule of law and respect for human rights.
It is with this in mind that I have directed that standards based on regimentation must be maintained and evaluated over time to attain international best practices.
To this end, I have also directed the establishment of the Nigerian Army Information/Call Centre to enable the public to reach the army through dedicated lines on issue of security concern and other emergencies, he said.
According to Mr. Buratai, the 1st quarter conference is to establish benchmarks, and chart a course for the army in consonance with its forecast of events for 2017.
(NAN)
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A Nigerian PhD student at the International Islamic University, Malaysia, IIUM, has died.
PREMIUM TIMES gathered that Adedeji Liadi, 44, slumped while jogging
on the campus field.
The late Mr. Liadi, who was popularly known as Olubadan because he hailed from Ibadan, Oyo State, was reportedly rushed to the schools medical facility where he was pronounced dead last week.
He was a lecturer at the Department of Economics, National Open University Nigeria (NOUN), Lagos.
Sources said he had been buried according to Islamic rites at the Muslim burial ground in Malaysia, with members of the Nigerian community in Malaysia in attendance.
The late Mr. Liadi attended Eleta High School, Ibadan, before proceeding to the Lagos State University, LASU, and the University of Lagos, UNILAG, for higher studies.
He joined NOUN as a lecturer in 2013 and started his PhD programme in Malaysia in 2014.
He was about to submit his thesis for viva before he died, sources said.
Speaking with PREMIUM TIMES, Lambe Mustapha, a lecturer at the Department of Mass communication, University of Ilorin, who studied alongside the deceased in Malaysia, said the late Mr. Liadi was a promising young man with great potentials.
He was a nice fellow and his death remains a great loss, he said
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President Muhammadu Buhari has congratulated Nigerias first female Senior Advocate, Folake Solanke, on her 85th birthday.
Read the presidents message below.
President Muhammadu Buhari congratulates eminent lawyer, administrator and the first female Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Folake Solanke, on her 85thbirthday.
President Buhari joins all members of the Bar and the Bench, her friends and family in celebrating the landmark age of the octogenarian, who has won many awards and recognitions, including the Commander Order of the Niger (CON), for her courage in pursuing the truth, and advocating a better life for the less privileged.
The President extols the legal luminary for the patriotism she has demonstrated over the years in speaking against poor governance, and always making herself available in times of need, like working variously as Commissioner in Western Nigeria and Chairperson of the first television network in Africa, Western Nigeria Television Broadcasting Corporation.
As a leading light in her profession, President Buhari believes Chief Solankes achievement has been an inspiration to many Nigerians, especially young women, who earnestly yearn to pursue rewarding careers.
President Buhari prays that God will grant Chief Solanke good health and longer life to serve her country.
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Johnson Suleman, the clergyman accused by a Canada-based Nigerian woman of having amorous relationship with her, on Sunday, declined to speak on the allegation, saying he would only open up at the appropriate time.
PREMIUM TIMES met Mr. Suleman, the founder of Omega Fire Ministry, OFM, in his Auchi, Edo State office for about 20 minutes shortly after a church service that lasted about four hours.
Our reporters joined the service midway, where Mr. Suleman spoke about the need for unity in the body of Christ in his sermon.
The cleric, who said he was rushing to the Benin airport to catch a flight to Cyprus and Turkey for religious crusades, pleaded with PREMIUM TIMES to be excused from commenting on the matter because it would be subjudicial to speak on it.
This newspaper had on Saturday interviewed Ms. Otobos mother, Bukky, at her Sapele, Delta State base.
The light-complexioned woman had said during the interview that she travelled to Auchi to beg Mr. Suleman because her daughter had been manipulated by lawyers.
She had said, 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.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXIvQ9fhI4w&w=560&h=315]
Mr. Suleman who was approached by this newspaper to speak on the issue, said he would only do so at the appropriate time.
He assured that he would speak to PREMIUM TIMES because of the newspapers credibility.
He thereafter offered to take a group photograph with the newspapers reporters in his palatial office.
Apart from veiled references to the matter during church services, Mr. Suleman has not publicly reacted to the allegations in the media.
His publicists, Phrank Shaibu, had however issued several statements denying the alleged illicit affair with Ms. Otobo.
Ms. Otobo was recently re-arraigned by the police for alleged blackmail, threat to life, conspiracy, and intent to steal from Mr. Suleman.
She was arraigned alongside her associate, Wisdom Godstime, before Magistrate Kikelomo Bukola-Ayeye of the Tinubu Magistrates Court in Lagos. Ms. Otobo and her co-defendant pleaded not guilty to the charges.
They were granted bail in the sum of N100,000 each. The case was then adjourned to April 27 for commencement of trial.
This development comes a week after Ms. Otobo formally filed a petition asking the police to investigate multiple allegations against the preacher.
In a letter to the Lagos State Police Commissioner, she accused Mr. Suleman of illegal procurement of abortion, threat to life, and attempted murder.
Ms. Otobos petition came days after she told journalists at a press conference that her relationship with Mr. Suleman ended after the preacher began to insist he wanted a sexual activity that involved a threesome.
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I present myself before the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions on (the) allegation of non-Payment of customs duty on an Official Vehicle by Senate. I did not import any vehicle, I did not ask anybody to act on my behalf. The vehicle is not my personal car.
Senate President, Bukola Saraki, said of his appearance before a senate committee investigating the allegations of importation of a vehicle with fake document (Source: Facebook)
Let our losses not be the gains of other areas who had never seen how crude oil look like, let our losses not be the gains of our neighbouring countries, let our losses not be the gains of the Western world but let our gains be shared among ourselves.
Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State making a case for International Oil Companies (IOCs) in Nigeria to patronize local companies in the Niger Delta region (Source: Premium Times)
The way I am seeing her is not the way I brought her up. The way she is behaving is not normal.
Bukky, the mother of mother of Canadian-based Nigerian woman, Stephanie Otobo, who accused the pastor of the Omega Fire Ministry, Auchi, Johnson Suleman, of having amorous relationship with her, explaining why she begged the clergy to forgive her daughter (Source: Premium Times)
Nothing will return our country to those sad, old days of wanton thievery that have plunged us into the economic mess from which Nigeria is currently recovering. The war against corruption in Nigeria is one of those clashes between good and evil, where good is determined to triumph.
Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari, declaring that the Nigerian president remains committed to the administrations ongoing fight against corruption (Source: The Nations newspaper)
Why are the herdsmen being allowed to run riots, and kill people, rape women, and do all kinds of things, and we dont pursue them with the same kind of force that we pursue the Boko Haram people?
Victor Attah, former governor of Akwa Ibom State, commenting on the activities of Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria (Source: Premium Times)
Jacob Zuma doesnt care about ANC and South Africa. You can see that you are dealing with a problematic mind, a mind that doesnt care about consequences. The challenge here is for the ANC, and what does it do with a President like that. Its also for us as citizens of the country what do we do about the President who is acting against our national interest and doesnt care about us.
Prince Mashele, a political analyst in South Africa, weighing in on the current political tension in South Africa over the sacking of the countrys finance minister, Pravin Gordhan and other top ministers by President Jacob Zuma (Source: http://www.702.co.za)
The test of a successful leader is in the number of leaders that he has created. Using this globally accepted parameter, Asiwaju, at 65, is without doubt, a winner in this category. Asiwaju is a made-in-Nigeria product. We should make more products out of him.
Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State eulogising Bola Tinubu, a former governor of the state and a chieftain of the APC during Mr. Tinubus 65 birthday celebration (Source: the Punch newspaper)
The power to do great good or evil lies with a few people who form what we refer to as our civil service. When some in such an elite see the opportunity as one for self-enrichment by corrupt practices then the nation faces a monumental tragedy.
Nigerias Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said while commenting on the state of the federal civil service during the inaugural quarterly civil service lecture series at Abuja (Source: Vanguard newspaper)
I sympathise with the Senate because if care is not taken this set of Senators will expose the National Assembly to such unfathomable ridicule.
Femi Falana, a renowned Nigerian lawyer, on the deepening conflict between the senate and the executive arm of government in Nigeria (Source: Channels Television)
The president is in the position to respect the decision of the Senate, and by so doing respect democracy.
Muyiwa Sobo, a Nigerian lawyer, commenting on the Senates rejection of Ibrahim Magus nomination as chairman of the EFCC (Source: Channels Television)
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The leadership of the state oil firm, NNPC, has scheduled a meeting with striking tanker drivers whose strike is already affecting the distribution of petroleum products across Nigeria.
The Petroleum Tankers Drivers, PTD, section of the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, commenced the strike on Monday.
The spokesperson of the NNPC, Ndu Ughamadu, told PREMIUM TIMES that the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Maikanti Baru, has scheduled a meeting with leaders of the oil workers for Monday afternoon.
Mr. Ughamadu said representatives of the National Association of Transport Owners, NARTO, the employers of the drivers, would also be attending the meeting scheduled for the NNPC Towers in Abuja.
The tanker drivers had said at the end of their Central Working Committee, CWC, meeting in Lagos on Friday that their demands included a reminder to the federal government on some unresolved issues bordering on their welfare.
The NUPENG President, Igwe Achese, had said the welfare issues included the perennial problem of bad roads, poor salaries and other conditions of service, insecurity and alleged high-handedness of some security operatives against their members.
But, Mr. Ughamadu said the NNPC management was uncomfortable with some underlining issues about the strike, which appeared beyond what the tanker drivers have given as reasons for their latest action.
Although Mr. Ughamadu refused to expatiate on these underlining issues, another senior official of the national oil company said they may not be unconnected with an attempt by some union leaders to politicise the NNPC managements recent decision to recover huge debts from some products marketers.
The official, who requested that his name should not be revealed, as he does not have the permission to speak, said it appeared some oil workers were sympathetic to the travails of the chairman of Capital Oil & Gas Limited, Ifeanyi Ubah.
The official said the oil workers, particularly in the south-west zone, were pushing for the current strike to arm-twist the NNPC to abandon its resolve to recover its debt from some oil marketers.
It is clear that the tanker drivers union has been infiltrated by members sympathetic to Mr. Ubah, particularly in the South-West led by the Zonal Chairman of NUPENG, Tokunbo Korodo.
But, we should guard against politicising the issue. We should try to divorce genuine issues affecting the welfare of members from those affecting NNPCs legal effort to recover its debt, the official said.
Recently, the NNPC petitioned the State Security Service, SSS, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, as well as the committee in charge of the downstream oil industry in the National Assembly to facilitate the recovery of the missing 130 million litres of premium motor spirit, PMS, popularly called petrol.
The missing product, valued at about N11 billion, was owned by the NNPC Retail, a downstream subsidiary of the NNPC, but stored in the products depots belonging to Capital Oil & Gas and MRS Petroleum as part of the NNPC national strategic reserve.
The products stored in the companies private facilities under a throughput arrangement was used in controversial circumstances without proper authorisation from the NNPC.
In the past one week, Mr. Ubah has been reporting to the SSS headquarters in Abuja twice daily to hold discussions expected to culminate in an agreement on a debt repayment schedule.
So far, sources close to the security agency told PREMIUM TIMES, Mr. Ubah was unable to come up with an acceptable schedule on when he would repay the debt, blaming the NNPC for refusing to consider several written requests for full reconciliation of accounts for debts owed his company over the last two years.
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DETROIT, MI--(Marketwired - April 03, 2017) - Aeromexico, Mexico's global airline, announces its new route in the United States: Detroit-Mexico City that started with a daily non-stop flight on April 1st. This flight adds to the recent announcement of the Monterrey-Detroit route, starting on May 1st.
The Mexico City flight is operated with Boeing 737-700 and 737-800 aircraft. And the Monterrey flight will be operated with Embraer 190 aircraft. The flight schedules are listed below:
Detroit-Mexico City* Mexico City-Detroit* AM 431 3:35 p.m. 7:05 p.m. Daily AM 430 9:01 a.m. 2:20 p.m. Daily Detroit-Monterrey* Monterrey-Detroit* AM 627 2:45 p.m. 5:40 p.m. Daily AM 626 8:39 a.m. 1:16 p.m. Daily
*Schedules are published in local time and are subject to changes without notice
"These new routes will increase connectivity options between Mexico and the United States, as we offer more than 3,000 seats per week to our business and leisure customers, convenient connections will be available to Aguascalientes, Queretaro, Bajio, Hermosillo and other key cities with a strong influence on the automotive industry," said Jorge Goytortua, Senior VP Global Sales.
"Detroit adds to our destination network in the United States, and its customer flow will arrive from our main airline hubs: Mexico City and Monterrey; over 85,000 domestic automotive passengers transit between Mexico and 'The Motor City' every year," added the executive.
"Local traffic to Mexico is growing, so it makes sense that Aeromexico wants to be here in Detroit," said Airport Authority CEO Joseph Nardone. "As Michigan bounces back, we continue seeing more airlines take an interest in Detroit, which is positive economic news for our businesses and community."
Aeromexico has served the U.S. market for more than 60 years, and has a strong presence in major cities in Central and South America, Canada, Europe and Asia.
About Grupo Aeromexico
Grupo Aeromexico, S.A.B. de C.V. is a holding company whose subsidiaries are engaged in commercial aviation in Mexico and the promotion of passenger loyalty programs. Aeromexico, Mexico's global airline, operates more than 600 daily flights and its main hub is in Terminal 2 at the Mexico City International Airport. Its destinations network features more than 80 cities on three continents, including 44 destinations in Mexico, 19 in the United States, 15 in Latin America, four in Canada, four in Europe and three in Asia.
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The Group's fleet of more than 130 aircraft is comprised of Boeing 787, 777 and 737 jet airliners and next generation Embraer 145, 170 and 190 models. In 2012, the airline announced the most significant investment strategy in aviation history in Mexico, to purchase 100 Boeing aircraft including 90 MAX B737 jet airliners and 10 B787-9 Dreamliners.
As a founding member of SkyTeam, Aeromexico offers customers more than 1,000 destinations in 177 countries served by the 20 SkyTeam airline partners rewarding passengers with benefits including access to 672 premium airport lounges around the world. Aeromexico also offers travel on its codeshare partner flights with Delta Air Lines, Alaska Airlines, Avianca, Copa Airlines and Westjet with extensive connectivity in countries like the United States, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia and Peru. www.aeromexico.com www.skyteam.com
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Striking petroleum tanker drivers have called off their strike less than 24 hours after it commenced.
The Petroleum Tankers Drivers, PTD section of the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, commenced the strike on Monday.
NUPENG President, Igwe Achese, announced on Monday evening the decision to immediately call off the strike following the intervention of the NNPC management in the crisis.
The tanker drivers had said at the end of their Central Working Committee, CWC, meeting in Lagos on Friday that they were embarking on the strike pursuant to their demands which included welfare matters.
Mr. Achese had said the welfare issues included the perennial problem of bad roads, poor salaries and other conditions of service, insecurity and alleged high-handedness of some security operatives against their members.
However, in calling off the strike, Mr. Achese said the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Maikanti Baru, had demonstrated sufficient commitment by his management to resolve the issues.
Earlier at the opening of the meeting, Mr. Baru said the federal government had approved the immediate increment of bridging cost allowance payable to petroleum product marketers by 16.13 per cent.
He said the approval by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, raised the allowance from the current N6.20 per litre to N7.20 with immediate effect.
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After two positive days focused on documentaries and formats, as well as the successful second edition of MIPDrama Screenings today, April 3, MIPTV 2017 opens it doors. It is a shared perception from the participants that there are less executives in Cannes compared to other years, but the business movement is going on another way.
The MIPDrama Screening was the major event of the weekend. With a growth of almost a 30% compared to last year, more than 450 key decision makers from Europe, Asia, MENA and Latin America watched brand new full episodes or work in progress dramas narrated in a new way. The 12-series selection from the Grand Jury, the Buyers Jury and TV Critics highlighted killing, bloody, techy and futuristic stories from many parts of the world, and they were well received.
Ride Upon the Storm (DR Drama, ARTE and SAM le Francais) received the TV Critics and Buyers Jury awards on the work in progress category; Missions (AB Distribution) got the TV Critics award on full episodes; Jailers (Globo/Gullane/Spray Films) won the Grand Jury on full episode; Clique (BBC Three/) won on full episodes, chosen by the Buyers; and Babylon Berlin (Beta Film/SKY/ARD) received the Grand Jury award in work in progress.
Two main subjects have been confirmed: first, the drama is a global trend and there is more production of it everywhere. TV channels and producers are jointly looking for new ways and stories to reach an extremely dynamic audience; second, production quality has become fundamental to choose a drama series.
Opinions from the Buyers Jury? Ruediger Boess, ProSiebenSat (Germany): Weve seen much more this year in all senses (stories, production values) compared to the first edition. Choosing the titles and winners have been very difficult. Sarah Wright, SKY (UK): We are at the era of storytelling with more complex narratives and characters. Drama is enterting into a new stage. Ignacio Barrera, Grupo Alvavision (USA): It is difficult to say which of them can be bought as a buyer, but Im sure all them will find a screen.
Buyers opinions? Fadi Ismail, MBC (MENA): MIPDramas arrived in a great moment, as it allows us to see products before MIPTV starts. It helps us to plan a better market. Giorgi Gachechiladze, GPB (Georgia): We are buying long running fictions in different formats, series, miniseries and movies. Patricio Hernandez, Mega (Chile): Weve seen product that kept us on the seat, but seems to be a bit difficult to program on Free TV as it drives away women. It is more related to Pay TV or OTTs.
Montse Besada, TV de Galicia (Spain): We have a limitted budget for series acquisitions, but we found on The Territory (Russia) a good example of what can work in our screen. Kazufumi Nagasawa, Hulu Japan: The Brazilian production Jailers is truly impressive and it is a very good product that could be exhibited on an OTT platform.
There were key announcements and programming releases in every genre. At MIPDoc, ARTE (France) had two big premiers about historical documentaries: first, The Vietnam War, produced with PBS (USA); second, Tokyo Phoenix, with NHK (Japan).
Turkey has an intense weekend, too: Inter Medya launched Joint Instant, an interactive game show played live by the participants at the Audiorium, and Global Agency released the singing talent show Bring Your Fame Back, where former stars compete to win a prize money. Last but not least, Kanal D announced War of Roses as the second top-selling drama of the year achieving 40 territories worldwide, according to Turkish Electro Technology Exporters (TET).
Non-scripted? Two news from Israel: Keshet has bought Tresor TV (Germany), a leading non-scripted producer to expand its footprint in Europe. Both companies are also planning to create a scripted division, capitalizing Keshet catalogue (Prisioner of War and The A Word).
Amos Neumann, COO, Armoza Formats described two top trends: Social experiments are definitely taking the scene, but the formats that are bringing reality into a game are also being considered by the buyers. The company launched the docu-reality Play Date, a new reality + talk show + game show where two groups of parents watch their kids on TV and discuss about their behaviors. And Sex Tape, where a couple shot themselves having sex and then has to discuss about how they see each other. Surprisingly, they dont talk about sex, but about their relationship.
Nicolas Smirnoff, Fabricio Ferrara, and Rodrigo Cantisano
MipTV 2017 Coverage
Wrap Up | April 6 | April 5 | April 4 | April 3 | April 2 | April 1
ATLANTIC CITY When Revel Casino Hotel closed in September 2014, it left many including club owner Ivan Kane looking for their next project in the city.
Now, restaurant and club owners, such as Kane and his Kanes Royal Jelly Burlesque nightclub, are starting to return to the resort, just in a different location as the former Revel, now named TEN, struggles to reopen.
Last month, Jose Garces returned to Atlantic City by opening several new restaurants at Tropicana Atlantic City, while Kane opened a new club at Tropicana late last year.
Kane said while he left Revel with a heavy heart, he was still thrilled to return to Atlantic City, which he said em-braced him during his three-year run at Revel.
As the casinos continue to try to increase nongaming revenues, the competition for restaurants and clubs has increased, said Robert Ambrose, an instructor of hospitality and gaming at Drexel University.
In 2015, nongaming revenue totaled more than $592 million, more than 16 percent of the casino industrys $3.6 billion in revenue, according to the state De-partment of Gaming Enforcement.
Nongaming attractions have become big profit centers for casino hotels, Ambrose said.
When a well-known brand in food and beverage or other amenity establishes a footprint at a casino hotel property, they become formidable partners with the entire operation, he said. There is a strategic marketing alliance that takes place, and both the brand and the casino hotel benefit.
Garces lost four hugely successful operations when Revel closed in 2014: the Spanish tapas restaurant Amada; the burger-meets-whiskey pub Village Whiskey; the Asian-inspired Yuboka Dim Sum & Noodle; and Guapos Tacos/Distrito Cantina. Now Garces has turned to Tropicana and opened three new restaurants, with three distinct themes.
Each of the three restaurants has a unique look and feel that transports guests to either a Japanese streetscape, seafront coastal town and beachside beer bar, Garces said in a statement.
Meanwhile, IDEA Boardwalk, the operators of Center Bar, the HQ Nightclub and HQ Dayclub, are all planning on returning to the as-yet unopened TEN. IDEA is involved in a legal dispute with owner Glenn Straub over issues related to the propertys bankruptcy.
But Kane said the Tropicana opportunity was too good to turn down.
Kane said he jumped at the chance to once again become part of the fabric of A.C.
He added, Its good to be home.
SOMERS POINT Unlike Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, this city wont always have Paris.
But Somers Point plans to have Paris this weekend and even to try to turn the town into the City of Light from Friday through Sunday for its first-ever April in Paris.
The weekend will feature three days of all things French, from language lessons to music to art to food and wine, being promoted by many merchants and restaurants and more local businesses.
Nick Regine, a resident whos been active in Somers Point for years, is happy to acknowledge that he borrowed the idea for April in Paris from a promotion he read about in Philadelphias restaurant world.
I thought we could do wine tastings, some French dishes and have an art show, he said. But you need a framework, and I thought the Somers Point Business Association would be perfect, because this is going to bring business into town.
So he pitched the idea to that group and others.
We got some money from the Somers Point Arts Commission, a little money from AtlantiCare, the business association kicked in some money, the South Jersey Jazz Society where Regine is a board member kicked in some money, and some individuals did too, he said.
We went from not only restaurants and wine tastings and an art exhibit to now theres a French onion soup competition, were having French language lessons, a French movie shown with complimentary Champagne tastings and the weekends French-accented activities roll on like the River Seine after a spring rainstorm.
Walt Gregory is a co-owner of Gregorys Restaurant & Bar and a member of the business association. He liked the idea of importing April in Paris to Somers Point as soon as he heard it.
Everything about the event has growth written all over it, Gregory says. Its just the hardest to get off the ground the first year.
Gregorys is hosting the French lessons Friday afternoon and then again every Friday through the end of April.
The Shore Road bar and restaurant, a Somers Point staple since shortly after France was liberated in World War II, will also offer free French music Saturday night, plus a special French menu ranging from escargots to bouillabaisse and beyond.
The Friday evening art exhibit will be paired with a wine tasting at Great Bay Gallery, run by Regines wife, Kathy Arleth.
Passion Vines plans a more elaborate tasting Saturday a Wine Tour of France that includes geographical and photographic help from its Somers Point neighbor, Sojern Travel.
Tavern on the Bay is the venue for Saturdays onion soup contest, which had drawn chefs from five restaurants around the town at last count. And Clancys by the Bay kicks off the French music scene around Somers Point on Friday night with two free sets of music by Ameranouche, a band that specializes in the Gypsy jazz that was all the rage in Paris cafe society from the 1920s to the 40s, Regine said.
To increase local involvement, the organizers recruited the French club from Mainland Regional High School to become part of April in Paris. French teacher Danielle Berndt, who leads the club, says the students plan a French-inspired trivia contest.
When we got that invitation to participate, we were so surprised and really excited, Berndt said. This isnt the kind of event that happens very often, so it should be great.
A lot of local businesses hope this French expert is right about that. But when the job is turning Somers Point into the city of Paris, even for just a weekend, Regine confirms the obvious suspicion: It takes a lot of work.
DailyFX.com -
Talking Points
Asian shares managed gains to greet 2017s second quarter
Investors cast a wary eye at the White House, where
The US Dollar held steady, its Australian cousin weakened
Asian shares were mostly higher as a new trading quarter got under way Monday.
Risk aversion may have been slightly elevated as US President Donald Trump told the Financial Times at the weekend that he was prepared for unilateral action against North Koreas nuclear program. However, as China can hardly be expected to meekly accept this line, the President may well have been setting the starting point for negotiation on the issue before he meets with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Florida later this week.
In any case the Nikkei 225 was up 0.4% at the close. The Bank of Japans quarterly Tankan business survey showed that large manufacturers mood had picked up, but not as much as the markets had hoped. The Kospi added 0.2%, with the Hang Seng up by a similar amount. In Sydney, the ASX was flat. Earlier data showed that Februarys retail sales slipped unexpectedly, by 0.1% on the month in February. However, new-home approvals soared, despite official efforts to take some froth from an already simmering housing market. Mainland Chinese and Taiwanese markets were closed for holiday.
Currency markets were torpid affairs through the Asia/Pacific session, with the US Dollar index steady just above the 100 handle. However the Australian Dollar took a heavy knock on those weak retail numbers.
Take that. Retail sales hit AUD/USD
Asian Markets Firm Despite US Warnings Over North Korea
Crude oil prices retraced a little on Monday, with investors reportedly worrying anew about the impact of increasing shale-oil output in the US. Gold prices held up, boosted by tepid consumer-spending data out of the US at the end of last week and Fridays suggestion by St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard that the Fed could put interest-rate rises on pause while it sheds some bond holdings.
Would you like to know more about trading the financial markets? DailyFXs trading guide should be your first stop.
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--- Written by David Cottle, DailyFX Research
Contact and follow David on Twitter: @DavidCottleFX
original source
DailyFX provides forex news and technical analysis on the trends that influence the global currency markets.
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LINWOOD Carl Wilkens knows firsthand how quickly people can turn on each other.
A humanitarian aid worker and the only American to remain in Rwanda during the genocide of the Tutsi people in 1994, he watched as neighbors committed both atrocities and extraordinary acts of courage.
In just three months, an extreme faction of the majority Hutu tribe incited and carried out the murder of as many as 800,000 people, many of them members of the Tutsi minority tribe. The Tutsis organized and fought back, leaving thousands more dead.
Americans were evacuated, but Wilkens chose to stay to try to protect their two Tutsi assistants, Anitha and Janvier, and later help at an orphanage, sometimes risking his own life.
Today Wilkens and his wife, Teresa, run a nonprofit called World Outside My Shoes and work to inspire and equip people to stand up against genocide, racism and intolerance.
This week, Wilkens is in Atlantic County, speaking to students at area high schools and holding a free, public screening and discussion at Stockton University of a film about his experiences.
Based on the book he wrote, Im Not Leaving, Wilkens uses the horrors of Rwanda to address the larger issues of intolerance he believes are needed more than ever today.
This is time of incredible opportunity to have the conversations we need to have, he said.
He has traveled back to Rwanda several times, learning from his own anger and resentment, and watching how the country has grappled with what happened.
But we have issues here at home, too," he said, "a sleeping crisis has woken a giant that has been there, a latent anger. When people have a sense that they dont matter, or they are not being heard, they get angry.
On Monday, Wilkens visited Mainland Regional High School, where he talked to students in psychology classes and Kaylee Dellingers Holocaust and Genocide class about his experiences and what he has learned.
He told them about the fear, and making the decision to stay behind while his wife and three children left for Nairobi. He credits his wife with keeping their young children safe and unafraid and not resenting him for choosing to stay. He talked about returning to prisons where the murderers are being held and watching how some slowly reintegrated into society.
This has been a journey for me to reframe my anger, he said. How do you respect someone who killed their neighbor? My anger and resentment are saying, Lock them up and throw away the key. But do they forfeit their value if they do horrible things, and who am I to decide?
Some of the students were aware of the Rwandan genocide but were especially interested in Wilkens personal decision to stay behind.
We dont get to hear about someones personal experiences, said Lexi Miller, 18, of Egg Harbor Township. It makes you think, What would I do to help?
Ayden Nino, 17, of Little Egg Harbor Township, said he focused on the life lesson of what Wilkens did and the idea that there is a greater good that has to be considered.
Dellinger said the class has discussed bystanders and upstanders in class, and she wanted students to recognize that intolerance and genocide are still happening through a first-person account.
It is so much easier to just give in and do what everyone else is doing, she said. We look at the Syrian refugee crisis today and the Jewish refugee crisis (during World War II) and there are similarities.
Wilkens said he believes if United Nations troops had remained in Rwanda, they could have stopped the genocide. He said the one commander who stayed with 350 troops managed to save thousands. One person speaking up can make a difference.
I went back last summer (to a prison), he said. I said: Before, I looked at you as killers. But I am not the same person now, and I think they are different, too. But its still a slow journey, back and forth.
He said more of his discussions now turn to issues facing the United States.
We have gone from conversations about somewhere else, to conversations about here, he said.
At the Bayshore Center at Bivalve in Port Norris, you can see a fairly large tin can with a name written across it.
Phillips, the can reads. The cans purpose was to package oysters something that brings Clyde Phillips fond memories.
Phillips and others have family boating and oyster history around Port Norris and often return to the Bayshore Center at Bivalve to tell their stories and talk with others about their memories.
Recently, Phillips paneled a storytelling session and friendly conversation with the crows. Phillips mentions a couple by the names of Nick around Bivalve and owned a fish market.
But the greatest memory, and his closest relationship with the sea, came from his father, Claude.
Claude Phillips owned the historic A.J. Meerwald in the 1940s during World War II and used the boat for his oyster business much like many of the other boats in Port Norris at the time.
Clyde Phillips was in sixth grade when his father bought the boat. He began working for his fathers oyster business once he graduated from high school. In his teens, Phillips said, he even helped with design for his fathers canned saltwater oysters.
She (the Meerwald) was the best sea boat I ever rode, said Phillips, 83, of Mauricetown.
Phillips remembers riding with his dad and crew through Long Island, New York. He would do winter harvesting in the frigid air at sea on the famous Meerwald.
He remembers going down into the wheelhouse of the boat when temperatures would drop dramatically, and he would rest up against the muffler to get warm.
When Claude Phillips died in 1957, Clyde Phillips said, the bank had loaned money to Claude for the oyster business and asked Clyde whether he wanted to take over. Clyde Phillips, who was still in the Army, was capable of captaining the ship but didnt want to take over the business and the oyster-shucking house. The ship changed ownership through the following decades.
Phillips laughed over the phone describing the storytelling sessions something he really enjoys when he gets into a back-and-forth with other residents.
It brings back other peoples memories, and then they have a story to tell. You never know where these story sessions are going to go, he said.
Joan Riggin Harper is one of those people. She joined Phillips recently at a Saturday storytelling session. Both of Harpers grandfathers were part of the oyster business as well.
Her fathers father was Walter Riggin who ran an oyster business himself. Harpers fathers cousin ran the J&E Riggin one of her familys boats that still sails today out of Maine as part of a windjammer fleet. A painting of the J&E Riggin is displayed at the Bayshore Center.
Its thrilling to see things I had heard about all my life. They had Daddy and Uncle Bills letterhead up there. They have the J&E Riggins (painting), said Harper, 93, of Bridgeton. She tells the audience when describing her memories that its hard for her to stop talking once she starts.
And all of the audio from those biannual talks are recorded each year by the Bayshore Center, saved as oral history.
Phillips said we need that history.
I think its a good idea otherwise people wouldnt know what was going on way back when, Phillips said. The oyster industry has changed since I was in it, and younger captains dont know what old captains went through.
Ive always had a love of travel. My first real trip took me to Disney World in Orlando, Florida, with friends while I was in college. It was soon followed by several more road trips to the land of Mickey and Minnie and Cinderella.
Later, I turned my attention to more exotic trips, beginning with a winter escape to Montego Bay, Jamaica. The next few years featured a chance to practice my years of French with a springtime visit to Paris, repeat trips to the Bahamas, Cancun and Acapulco in Mexico and a Caribbean cruise.
I still get to the beach as much as possible, whether its Cabo in Mexico, Aruba or the Dominican Republic, but these trips are now coupled with some less relaxing excursions.
Several years ago, a friend expressed an interest in visiting as many national parks and other opportunities to hike as possible, and her sister and I were more than happy to go along for the ride.
And it has been quite an adventure thus far. We generally take anywhere from four to 10 days to explore either a single park or an area, such as Maui, that has several parks or other locations which showcase natures beauty.
Hiking the various trails, you are always rewarded with countless displays at incredible natural creations. But you do have to work to be so privileged to see these eye-dropping sights, each one more beautiful than the one before. There are seemingly endless ascents, and many of the trails are littered with painstakingly countless miles of switchbacks.
The first on an ever-growing list was Zion National Park in Utah. Zion, in particular, is packed with trails. Because there are so many things to see in Zion, its the only park which I have made repeat visits. One of my favorite hikes in Zion was The Narrows, a trail that is so susceptible to runoff and flash floods its often closed to hikers. It took three separate trips to Utah before we were able to finally make the hike. Outfitted with neoprene socks, pants, boots and walking sticks we managed to make it through the trail basically the Virgin River making our way over the slippery rocks in the stretches where the water at its highest only reached mid thigh. But it was so worth it to see the spectacular, picturesque sights through the slot canyon.
Weve since ventured to Bryce Canyon, also in Utah; Lake Mead and Red Rock Canyon, outside Las Vegas, Nevada; and Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. Ive seen nature from the beaches to higher elevations throughout the Hawaiian islands of Maui and Kauai.
Mauis famed Road to Hana, consisting of 617 hairpin curves and 59 one-lane bridges, was a memorable sightseeing trip. Stops along the 50-plus mile highway offered views of several towering, fast-running waterfalls.
A trip to Yosemite National Park and all its grandeur was among my most memorable. Just actually being within eye-shot of the famous granite cliffs of El Capitan and Half Dome and braving a sudden downpour which stepping precariously on the rocks making my way to the top of XX falls was overwhelming.
My most recent excursion took me to the Canadian Rockies. Exploring Banff National Park and all its outlying lakes and nature trails easily resulted in 1,000 more photos added to my growing collection of images worthy of finding their way on the walls of my home.
My friend pays meticulous attention to weather conditions when scheduling our trips. But it couldnt be avoided that we ended up doing one early morning hike with starting temperatures hovering in the 20s. The start of that hike and the late conclusion of a scenic gondola ride to a viewing deck at the summit of Sulphur Mountain (resulting in fabulous sunset images) were actually colder than our trek onto the surface of the Athabasca Glacier.
The ride on a massive all-terrain vehicle and a stop along the glacier, where we were permitted to walk on the ice for 10 to 20 minutes and the following walk along a circular half-mile, cliff-edged, glass-floored skywalk 918 feet above the glacier-formed Sunwapta Valley only whetted my appetite for our next stop Glacier National Park in Montanas Rocky Mountains.
And of course, this strenuous vacation will be closely followed up with a relaxing return to Cabo.
ATLANTIC CITY Sister Grace Nolan, a dedicated educator and servant to the poor in a city where deep poverty and shiny hotels and casinos live side by side, died Saturday. She was 97.
Nolan was so respected she was awarded both Woman of the Year and Man of the Year honors by groups in Atlantic County. She formed friendships with politicians, casino executives and others who were drawn to her charisma and her mission, those who knew her said.
She gave a piece of herself to everyone she met, said Kevin Hickey, executive director of Catholic Charities for the Diocese of Camden. Spiritually, you can only do that if you are centered, and that was her.
Nolan took time every morning to enjoy prayer and a cup of coffee, he said.
She grew up in Trenton and was taught by the Sisters of Mercy at St. Mary School and Cathedral High School. She joined the convent in 1946.
In 1948, Nolan began her career as a teacher at Our Lady Star of the Sea School in Atlantic City. She taught at several schools in New Jersey and was both a teacher and principal at Holy Spirit School when it was in Atlantic City.
Nolan was appointed administrator and coordinator of the Atlantic City branch of Catholic Charities in 1970, where she served for 41 years.
She drew all kinds of people to herself, Monsignor William Hodge said Monday. Hodge served as pastor of St. Nicholas of Tolentine in Atlantic City for 18 years.
Hodge recalled one event, the Harley Toy Run, where more than 500 bikers rode from Pleasantville to the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort.
She would have hundreds of bikers on motorcycles provide toys and clothing for children at Christmas time, Hodge said. She had a charismatic personality that really helped those in great need.
State Sen. Jim Whelan, a former mayor of Atlantic City, said Nolan was dedicated to her work but always kept a great sense of humor.
Whelan worked closely with Nolan over the years, including sending baskets of donated food, which Nolan distributed during the holidays.
But she always held one back for a last-minute emergency ... that person who would call Thanksgiving morning and was in need, he said.
She was honored by the Atlantic City Womens Hall of Fame, named Woman of the Year by the Atlantic City Business and Professional Womens Club and received the Pro Ecclesia Pontifice Papal Medal. She received the Proclaimer of Life Award and the St. Vincent DePaul Award from the Camden Diocese.
The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick Atlantic County chapter gave Nolan the Outstanding Man of the Year award. To this date, Nolan is the only woman to receive the award.
In 2004, Catholic Charities created the Grace Nolan Award for Social Ministry, awarded every year to a person in the Diocese of Camden who personifies the pursuit of social justice.
Nolan retired in 2011 and lived at the McAuley Hall Health Care Center in Watchung, Somerset County, until her death.
Visitation and a Mass of Christian Burial will take place Wednesday at Mount Saint Mary Chapel in Watchung. Nolan will be buried in St. Marys Cemetery in Trenton. The Parish of St. Monica in Atlantic City is planning a memorial Mass after Easter.
MAYS LANDING All eastbound lanes of the Atlantic City Expressway were closed Sunday afternoon after a tractor-trailer carrying fuel overturned on the Atlantic City Expressway, spilling more than 6,000 gallons of gasoline.
State Police spokesman Sgt. Jeff Flynn said he could not estimate how long the hazardous material cleanup would take, but police would reopen the road after that was complete.
As of 7:20 p.m., emergency personnel on scene said the hazmat cleanup was done and wreckers were arriving to handle the debris of the crashed tanker.
As of 10 p.m., the road remained closed.
The tanker's driver was walking and talking with police and emergency responders after the crash, emergency personnel on scene said. There was no word on whether the driver was injured.
Police have the eastbound lanes blocked off near the Frank S. Farley service area.
Motorists can drive into the rest stop and cross over to the westbound lanes to leave the area and seek an alternate route.
Drivers said eastbound traffic approaching the police roadblock was very slow, with some motorists getting out of their cars and walking toward the roadblock, while others drove into the rest stop to park and wait.
Major backup at mile 20 AC Expressway east, truck off into middle embankment. Police on scene. pic.twitter.com/NOKOTYcOXa Erin @ #GearsAC (@ACPressGrugan) April 2, 2017
The accident occurred just after 1 p.m. Sunday near mile marker 20 eastbound. Passing drivers reported seeing a liquid spilling from the tank and a strong odor of gasoline.
The state Department of Environmental Protection's emergency response unit is on the scene in support, said Bob Considine, DEP press director.
The environmental impact of the spill is milder than it could have been.
"The spill will not impact any water body. There are no homes or residences in the area of concern," Considine said.
The state Forest Fire Service is on the scene to provide support to the incident commander, he said.
"The responsible party has two contractors on site who are setting up to offload the tanker and recover the product," Considine said. "Vineland Hazmat is also assisting in those cleanup efforts, which should carry on throughout the evening."
Police and emergency crews remained on scene Sunday evening, including the Atlantic County hazmat team and Cologne and Laureldale fire companies. Firefighting crews applied foam to the spilled gasoline.
The gasoline tanker, which holds 8,700 gallons, was full and appeared to have spilled all but about 2,000 gallons, emergency personnel on scene said.
Mutual aid also included Millville hazmat personnel and fire companies from Rosenhayn, Galloway and Mullica townships and the Atlantic City International Airport, and the Collings Lakes Fire Department's heavy rescue unit.
The state DEP would not have a cost estimate on the cleanup Sunday, Considine said.
This is a developing story, check back for updates.
ATLANTIC CITY Mayoral candidate Joseph Polillo will not run in the June Republican primary and will instead compete as an independent in the November general election.
Polillo, a perennial candidate who has run for mayor several times since 1990, derided the two-party system in a statement Sunday announcing he would not file a petition to take part in the primary.
It is the two parties and their political bosses that have caused most of the problems that plague Atlantic City to begin with, he said.
Polillo, who usually runs as an independent, flirted with the idea of challenging Republican Mayor Don Guardian in that partys primary. He also sought the endorsement of the Atlantic City Republican County Committee, but the committee voted to support Guardian and give him the coveted Column A line on the June ballot.
In his statement, Polillo accused Guardian of initially representing the interests of political bosses before realizing they could not be trusted.
(But) it was too late and the taxpayers suffered tremendously, Polillo said. They experienced enormous property-tax increases year after year during his administration as a direct result of party politics.
Meanwhile, Atlantic City Democrats will decide who to endorse in their mayoral primary Monday night. Council President Marty Small, Councilman Frank Gilliam and Fareed Abdullah are running for mayor on the Democratic side. The citys Democratic Committee will meet 6 p.m. at Irish Pub.
The Atlantic County Economic Alliance took an important step last month toward reviving the area, finally restoring a tourism marketing campaign for the whole county.
Many years ago, the county had robust tourism promotion, carried out by a tourism association and funded by the state. Then casino gambling dominated visitation to the area and sucked up all the marketing money.
With the closing of half of Atlantic Citys casinos, gaming isnt so dominant and doesnt deserve all the eggs in the marketing basket. As planning consultant James Rutala noted, gaming accounts for just $2.6 billion of the nearly $6.7 billion in countywide tourism revenue. And thats without any meaningful marketing of county attractions and activities outside Atlantic City.
The ACEA, a nonprofit created to encourage development in line with the recommendations of the Angelou Economics report of 2015, will spend $40,000 for a years worth of marketing.
The campaign, including promotion at trade shows and online, will be conducted by the NJ Southern Shore DMO. That destination-marketing organization already does similar work for Cape May and Cumberland counties.
The alliances effort is welcome and so much better than doing nothing but so far from enough.
Richard Perniciaro, the economist heading the Center for Regional & Business Research at Atlantic Cape Community College and a dean there, told The Press Editorial Board in September that Cape May Countys well-marketed nongaming tourism industry delivers per-person incomes there that are $8,000 more than in Atlantic County.
Perniciaro said Cape May County puts a couple million dollars every year into the tourism budget a lot of money because the county sees the reward from it. Atlantic County would benefit from a similar effort.
State tourism funding for Atlantic County would pay off better for residents if it marketed nongaming visits and vacations, instead of just adding to the already substantial gambling promotion by the remaining casinos. Convincing state officials will be tough because state revenues from casinos are clearer than the greater but diverse stream of revenue from the accommodations, restaurants, service businesses and retailers where nongaming visitors spend their money.
The county should put money into countywide tourism as well. When it gets its 13.5 percent share of casino payments in lieu of taxes, as it should, that would be a good time to announce some additional money to promote the region.
The current government in South Africa led by President Jacob Zuma has come under fresh scrutiny. This time Zuma has been criticized for a Cabinet reshuffle that favors ministers who are loyal to him. The Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan was replaced by Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba while Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas was replaced by Sifiso Buthulezi.
Gordhan was seen as a positive for markets. He was admired for standing up to the President and the corruption prevailing in his government. Apart from Gordhan, nine other ministers who Zuma considered disloyal to him were replaced. Three of the six major leaders in the governing party, the African National Congress, strongly opposed Gordhans dismissal. This move is seen as an effort to reassert the Presidents strength amid a bitter battle for his successor.
The rand fell 4% against USD after Gordhan was sacked. It was down 8% last week. Many South African companies slammed the move saying the countrys credit rating now faces the risk of a downgrade.
Zuma has been asked to step down on allegations of corruption. He has been accused of being influenced by the members of an India-born Gupta family and their interests. The Democratic Alliance, South Africa's chief opposition party said that it will call a vote of no-confidence in the President in parliament.
Therefore, its evident that there is high political turmoil in the region and its prudent to avoid the South Africa ETF.
iShares MSCI South Africa ETF EZA
This fund offers investors exposure to the emerging market nation of South Africa by investing in companies based out of the nation.
EZA has AUM of $402.92 million and charges a fee of 64 basis points a year. Consumer Discretionary, Financials, and Consumer Staples are the top three sectors with 35.7%, 30.6%, and 8.5% allocation, respectively. The fund has high concentration risk, with over 59.6% allocated to the top 10 holdings. EZA generated 4.96% in the past one year and 5.4% in the year-to-date time frame (as of March 31, 2017). It currently has a Zacks ETF Rank #4 (Sell) with a High risk outlook.
Story continues
We will now compare the performance of EZA to a broader Africa based ETF, AFK (see all Africa-Middle East Equity ETFs here).
VanEck Vectors Africa Index ETF AFK
This fund has over 50% allocation to Africa, covering economies like South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Morocco, Kenya, and Mauritius. It also invests in offshore listings of companies incorporated outside of Africa but who generate at least 50% of their revenues from the continent.
It manages AUM of $67.3 million and charges 80 basis points in fees per year. The fund is concentrated with 43.3% of its assets allocated to the top 10 holdings. Financials, Materials, and Consumer Discretionary are the top three sectors with almost 68% of fund assets allocated to them. The fund returned 11.84% in the past one year and 5.51% in the year-to-date time frame (as of March 31, 2017). As such, AFK currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) with a Medium risk outlook.
Source: Yahoo Finance
To Conclude
The broader Africa based ETF AFK outperformed EZA by almost 6.9% in the past one year. It is evident that EZA fell drastically when rumors of Pravin Gordhan being fired were doing the rounds and continued to go down when the news broke. There is reduced confidence in the nation owing to corruption and high political uncertainty. Hence, we believe it is prudent to avoid the South Africa ETF, EZA. There is high uncertainty in the region and we therefore think its best to remain on the sidelines for now (read: Avoid Nigeria ETF amid Economic Challenges).
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NATO jets Baltics Norway Italy fighter plane
Signs of an intensifying Moscow-led information campaign have the Lithuanian government worried that Russia is laying the groundwork for "kinetic operations" a euphemism for combat similar to its recent actions in Crimea and eastern Ukraine.
Lithuania's defense minister and military communications officials told The Guardian that they were "taking very seriously" Russia-organized propaganda efforts to undermine stability in the Baltics, which consist of Lithuania and its northern neighbors, Latvia and Estonia.
"Russia is a threat," Lithuanian Defense Minister Raimundas Karoblis told The Guardian. "They are saying our capital Vilnius should not belong to Lithuania because between the first and second world wars it was occupied by Poland."
"There are now reports that Klaipeda never belonged to Lithuania, that it was a gift of Stalin after the second world war," Karoblis said. Klaipeda is Lithuania's third-largest city.
"There are real parallels with Crimea's annexation [from Ukraine] ... We are speaking of a danger to the territorial integrity of Lithuania," Karoblis added.
Lithuanian officials said attempts to dispute or alter history could be a prelude to offensive action, similar to more than a decade of such disinformation efforts in Ukraine that led to Russia's annexation of the Crimean peninsula.
putin military russia
Prominent Russian politicians have challenged Lithuania's right to exist, and television and social-media campaigns have charged that Vilnius is mistreating ethnic Russians or laid claim to parts of Lithuania, which does not border Russia but abuts Kaliningrad, a Russian semi-exclave on the Baltic Sea.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested or justified Russian action in the past on the basis of defending Russian speakers abroad, which some of those groups have embraced.
Story continues
The Lithuanian military's strategic-communications department has noticed the creation of Facebook pages for "statelets" in the Baltics another development reminiscent of the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Recent developments in Russian military capabilities have given more weight to fears over looming kinetic actions.
russian troops
Lithuania's intelligence service said in its annual threat assessment that Moscow last year upgraded its military in Kaliningrad, reducing lead times for any attack and potentially preventing NATO reinforcements. Vilnius said Moscow was able to launch an attack on the Baltics with as little as 24 hours' notice.
Russia has recently deployed nuclear-capable missiles to Kaliningrad, which prompted protests from Lithuania. Moscow is making its biggest push into the Arctic and running its submarine force at the highest operational tempo since the fall of the Soviet Union.
"This is a signal to NATO to improve its decision speed," Lithuanian Defense Minister Raimundas Karoblis told reporters during the presentation of the report. "NATO's reaction time is not as fast as we would like it to be."
US Marine Lithuania
Moscow, for its part, denounced recent reports about its capabilities in the Baltics as "total Russophobia," but other NATO members and neighboring countries have been stepping up their military activities in Eastern Europe, which is already bristling with offensive and defensive weaponry.
Germany is to lead a contingent of 1,000 troops from NATO states to Lithuania. Battle groups led by the UK and Canada will also take up positions in Latvia and Estonia.
More than 1,100 troops 900 of them from the US recently took up position in Poland, which plans to buy $7.6 billion worth of Patriot air-defense missiles to counter Moscow, in a move that was greeted with Russian ire.
US troops military Germany Poland NATO Russia
"This is a mission, not a cycle of training events," said US Army Lt. Col. Steven Gventer, who heads the battle group in Poland. "The purpose is to deter aggression in the Baltics and in Poland ... We are fully ready to be lethal."
Finland, which is not a NATO member but has a long, bloody history with its Russian neighbor, is beefing up its military force as well.
The US has deployed dozens of helicopters and thousands of pieces of military equipment to Germany in recent weeks to underscore Washington's "rock-solid commitment to Europe."
French jets have also shadowed Russian fighters in the skies above the Baltics, identifying and observing Russian planes in international airspace along NATO's northern border.
Angela Merkel Donald Trump
Heightened tensions between NATO and Russia in Europe come as relations between the military bloc and the US have become more contentious with the arrival of President Donald Trump.
Trump and other US officials have emphasized that NATO countries need to step up their defense spending or risk US pullback from the alliance.
At least one NATO member Estonia which sits at the northern edge of the Baltics, has thrown in with Trump on the issue of NATO commitments.
"There is the legitimate expectation of the Americans that the Europeans spend more money on defence," Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid told Die Welt in mid-February.
NOW WATCH: Russia jailed the man who may become Putins biggest challenger in the next election
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April 3 (Reuters) - Asian Micro Holdings Limited-
* Acquisition Of Land
* Entered into a sales and purchase agreement with third party to acquire a piece of land in Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
* Transaction is not expected to have any material impact on earnings per share of company for fy ending 30 june 2017
* Asian micro holdings - consideration will be funded by bank borrowings with an established local malaysian bank
* Deal to acquire a piece of land situated in malaysia, at purchase price of myr1.9 million Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Fineqia International Inc. (the "Company" or "Fineqia") (CSE: FNQ) (OTCPink: FNQQF) (Frankfurt: FNQA) today welcomes the founder of Ebookers.com, Dinesh Dhamija, to its board of advisors.
Dinesh Dhamija is the founder, former chairman and CEO of Ebookers.com, one of Europe's most successful Internet travel agencies. He is also the founder of the Copper Beech Group, a company that manages investments in sustainable education, ecotourism and real estate.
Currently Dinesh is President of TiE London, part of a worldwide organisation that fosters entrepreneurship. He is Chairman of CEO (Chief Executive Organisation UK) and is a member of the Federal Board of the Liberal Democratic Party and advisor to the leader of the party on Enterprise.
In 2006 Dinesh graduated from the President's Programme in Leadership at Harvard Business School. He has won a number of awards over the years including Entrepreneur of the Year from Management Today Magazine in 2003 and the GG2 Awards' Asian Man of The Year in 2004.
"We are very excited to welcome Dinesh to our highly respected board of advisors," said Fineqia's CEO, Bundeep Singh Rangar. "His unprecedented experience in building a successful online platform and investment background will be very important to us when building out Fineqia."
Fineqia's board of advisors and its members are not officers or directors of the Company. The Company's board of advisors now consists of: Dr. Tryggvi Thor Herbertsson, Rudra Dalmia, Julian Costley and Dinesh Dhamija.
About Fineqia International Inc.
Fineqia's business model is to provide an online platform and associated services for the placement of debt and equity securities, initially in the UK. The platform will transparently highlight the risks and objectively outline opportunities involved. For more information, visit http://www.fineqia.com.
NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATORY SERVICE PROVIDER HAS REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THE CONTENT OF THIS NEWS RELEASE.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Some statements in this release may contain forward-looking information. All statements, other than of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future (including, without limitation, statements regarding potential acquisitions and financings) are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by use of the words "may", "will", "should", "continue", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "believe", "intend", "plan" or "project" or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's ability to control or predict, that may cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, without limitation, the inability of the Company to complete the Change of Business, failure to obtain sufficient financing, and other risks disclosed in the Company's public disclosure record on file with the relevant securities regulatory authorities. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and except as may be required by applicable securities laws. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement.
Karolina Komarnicka, Chief Marketing Officer, T: +1 (778) 654-2324, E: info@fineqia.com, W: http://www.fineqia.com
SOURCE Fineqia International Inc.
BANGALORE, India, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
TO ALL STOCK EXCHANGES
BSE LIMITED
NATIONAL STOCK EXCHANGE OF INDIA LIMITED
NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE
EURONEXT LONDON
EURONEXT PARIS
Dear Sir/Madam,
Please find enclosed the Company Statement dated April 3, 2017.
The same will be made available on the Company's website at the following link - https://www.infosys.com/newsroom/press-releases/Pages/company-statement-3april2017.aspx
This is for your information and records.
Yours sincerely,
For Infosys Limited
A G S Manikantha
Company Secretary
Infosys has the responsibility to attract and retain top quality talent to be effective in the transformation journey that the company has embarked upon. In this context, the company undertook a comprehensive survey of best practices and benchmarked senior management compensation with key Indian and global companies. The compensation structure revised thereafter reduces the proportion of cash component in the total compensation and has introduced higher stock incentives (to be vested over a 4-year period); it was rolled out for the entire senior leadership including Mr. Pravin Rao, Chief Operating Officer. The details were disclosed in the stock exchange filings on October 14, 2016.
Mr. Pravin Rao's compensation revision reflects the philosophy of aligning the interests of our leadership team to long term shareholder interests. While the breakup of Mr. Pravin Rao's compensation has been provided in the postal ballot, it is relevant to note the following:
The cash component of his compensation has decreased from Rs. 5.2 crores (including annual cash bonus) to Rs. 4.6 crores, a decrease of 10.6%
The performance based component of the compensation (directly linked to company and individual performance) has been increased from 45% to 63% of total compensation.
Given the 4 year vesting period of stock, the net increase in Mr. Pravin Rao's compensation for FY 18 will be 1.4%. This could go up to 33.4% in year 4, assuming similar grants are made in subsequent years based on Company and individual performance
Referring to Mr. Rao's compensation revision, Dr. Vishal Sikka, Chief Executive Officer said, "Pravin's commitment and contribution to the company has been immense, and his partnership over the past ~3 years has been critical to the successes and growth of our company. It is essential for us to see that this revision in his compensation, as with several of our senior leadership team, is focused on making Infosys more competitive, is benchmarked against peers, is critical for us to retain key talent and aligns the long term interests of our leadership team with that of our shareholders."
The revised compensation proposal was placed before the shareholders and the recommendations have been approved by 67% of the company's shareholders in a postal ballot, the results of which were disclosed to the stock exchanges on Saturday, April 1, 2017. The Infosys Board would like to state that it acknowledges the sentiments of shareholders who have not voted in favor of the resolution, and has also taken careful note of the statements expressed by the company's promoters. This Board views this as important feedback as it continues to work with all stakeholders to ensure the long term interests of the company.
About Infosys Ltd
Infosys is a global leader in technology services and consulting. We enable clients in more than 50 countries to create and execute strategies for their digital transformation. From engineering to application development, knowledge management and business process management, we help our clients find the right problems to solve, and to solve these effectively. Our team of 199,000+ innovators, across the globe, is differentiated by the imagination, knowledge and experience, across industries and technologies that we bring to every project we undertake.
Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise thrive in the digital age.
Safe Harbor
Certain statements in this press release concerning our future growth prospects are forward-looking statements regarding our future business expectations intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, industry segment concentration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which Infosys has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, and unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2016. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. In addition, please note that any forward-looking statements contained herein are based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable as of the date of this press release. The company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the company unless it is required by law.
For further information, please contact:
Asia Pacific
Sarah Gideon
Infosys, India
+91 80 4156 3998
Sarah_Gideon@infosys.com
EMEA
Margherita Di Cerbo
Infosys, Europe
+44 (0)2075162748
margherita.dicerbo@infosys.com
Americas
Chiku Somaiya
Infosys, USA
+1 7136706752
Chiku.Somaiya@infosys.com
This is a disclosure announcement from PR Newswire.
SOURCE Infosys Limited
LONDON and NEW YORK, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Bloomberg announced today that Intesa Sanpaolo , the Italian banking group, is using accounting data from Bloomberg to comply with the International Financial Reporting Standard 9 , known as IFRS 9, an accounting framework released by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB).
Intesa is the latest financial services organization to choose Bloomberg's IFRS 9 Solely Payments of Principal and Interest (SPPI) data to determine how securities should be classified under the new accounting standard. Accounting and reporting departments can use Bloomberg's IFRS 9 SPPI data to systematically classify securities and conclude whether they pass or fail the SPPI test.
IFRS 9 will replace the existing IAS 39 accounting standard that prescribes how financial organizations should classify and value financial instruments on a current and ongoing basis. The new guidelines are designed to bring greater transparency and consistency to financial instrument accounting practices when they take effect in January 2018. The guidelines also necessitate more descriptive security-level data to reach an informed conclusion about how they should be classified and valued.
"The IFRS 9 SPPI requirements present a tremendous challenge because they require a data-intensive review of investment and loan portfolios to determine how securities should be treated," said Chris Casey, Global Head of Regulatory and Reference Data at Bloomberg. "To comply with confidence, organizations need high-quality instrument data and a comprehensive methodology that allows them to accurately and defensibly perform this analysis on an ongoing basis."
Nicola Torresani Head of Debt Pricing and Analysis at Intesa Sanpaolo said, "Using Bloomberg's IFRS 9 SPPI in our accounting process will help us classify portfolio securities accurately and consistently across our organization. We also expect it will save us time and resources required to evaluate how our investments should be treated under the new standard. Bloomberg delivers high-quality data in a form we can readily use to assess the impact of the new rules on our accounting, reporting and risk management processes. We feel confident in the analysis performed by Bloomberg's product and the methodology that drives it."
The new IFRS 9 classification and measurement model requires an assessment of whether a financial asset's contractual cashflows are solely payments of principal and interest, or SPPI. This SPPI test is done to identify whether an instrument has non-basic features and is presented at fair value, instead of using the effective interest method.
Making this determination on an instrument-by-instrument basis requires tremendous manual effort, as the prospectuses and legal documents for each financial asset must be reviewed individually and thoroughly to identify potentially non-SPPI features or cashflows. In order to properly assess and conclude the SPPI test, and the resulting classification and measurement of an investment portfolio, IFRS filers need to assess SPPI characteristics at a security level on a large scale. This analysis requires a large amount of descriptive data and the ability to organize this data in logical rule sets.
Bloomberg's IFRS 9 SPPI data automates the process of performing the SPPI test and was developed in collaboration with a number of key industry stakeholders to deliver an industry standard SPPI classification.
The IFRS 9 SPPI solution is part of Bloomberg's Regulatory and Accounting Product suite, which assists senior compliance officers at banks, asset managers, insurers and other financial organizations navigate an increasingly complex regulatory and accounting disclosure environment. For more information please visit www.bloomberg.com/professional/
About Bloomberg
Bloomberg, the global business and financial information and news leader, gives influential decision makers a critical edge by connecting them to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas. The company's strength delivering data, news and analytics through innovative technology, quickly and accurately is at the core of the Bloomberg Professional service. Bloomberg's enterprise solutions build on the company's core strength: leveraging technology to allow customers to access, integrate, distribute and manage data and information across organizations more efficiently and effectively. For more information, visit www.bloomberg.com or request a demo.
The BLOOMBERG PROFESSIONAL service and Bloomberg data products are owned and distributed by Bloomberg Finance L.P. and its affiliates. BLOOMBERG and BLOOMBERG PROFESSIONAL are trademarks and service marks of Bloomberg Finance L.P., a Delaware limited partnership, or its subsidiaries. All rights reserved.
About Intesa Sanpaolo Group
The Intesa Sanpaolo Group is the leading provider of financial products and services to both households and businesses in Italy. It has 11.1 million customers and approximately 4,000 branches in Italy, is the country's leading banking group. It is also one of the top banking groups in Europe.
The Group was formed in January 2007 following the merger of Sanpaolo IMI and Banca Intesa. Both these banks were already key players in the Italian market and had contributed to the consolidation process of the country's banking industry.
The Group also has strategic operations in Central and Eastern Europe and in Middle Eastern and North African countries. It is among the top players in several countries with 7.8 million customers and a network of approximately 1,200 branches. Through its local subsidiary banks, the Intesa Sanpaolo Group ranks first in Serbia, second in Croatia and Slovakia, fourth in Albania, fifth in Egypt, seventh in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and Hungary.
Related Links
http://www.bloomberg.com
SOURCE Bloomberg
SANTA MONICA, Calif., April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- 18th Street Arts Center presents a campus-wide festival on Saturday, April 29th from 1-5pm to celebrate the cultural treasures of the Pico Neighborhood of Santa Monica in its very first Pico Block Party. The event will include live music, cultural dance performances, lowrider cars, open artist studios, food trucks, tabling by neighborhood organizations, and an exhibition celebrating the launch of Culture Mapping 90404, an interactive website collecting the cultural histories of the Pico Neighborhood as told by its long-time residents. The event is free and family-friendly, with RSVP requested. (https://picoblockpartyspring2017.eventbrite.com)
Inside Pico Youth and Family Center. Photo by Johanna Brown.
The traditionally working-class African-American and Latino Pico Neighborhood of Santa Monica (90404) where 18th Street Arts Center (18SAC) was founded 29 years ago, remains largely ignored by history keepers and undervalued for its cultural assets, especially in light of the mainstream depictions of Santa Monica focused on beach life and consumerism.
In 2015, 18SAC began developing a Cultural Asset Map of 90404 with resident mappers that the organization trained. Much of the map became an exercise in making the unseen seen again - bringing to light a thriving community and diaspora who return for family gatherings and celebrations hidden in the shadow of tourist Santa Monica and threatened by the explosive growth of Silicon Beach.
18SAC seeks to celebrate this mapping work and the launch of Culture Mapping 90404 by opening its campus to neighborhood organizations, performers, residents, car clubs and more to showcase the rich cultural life of this neighborhood both then and now. The exhibition will display oral histories collected by neighborhood residents, archival photographs from the Quinn Research Center, and the map itself. The Pico Block Party event will feature:
Music by Salsa band Flaco
Folklorico dance from Cabeza de Vaca Cultural Dance School
Performances from Community Corps' Zumba Group
Lowrider cars from west side car clubs
Food trucks
Tabling by neighborhood organizations
Art-making Workshop with Sherin Guirguis
Move Like a Microbe workshop with Nina Waisman
And more!
LINKS
Pico Block Party Webpage: http://18thstreet.org/pico-block-party-spring-2017/
RSVP: https://picoblockpartyspring2017.eventbrite.com
18TH STREET ARTS CENTER is the largest artist residency program in Southern California. Our mission is to provoke public dialogue through contemporary art-making. 18th Street provides a hub for contemporary art through two program areas that reflect its mission: 1) A three-tiered Residency Program that fosters inter-cultural collaboration and dialogue and 2) A Public Events and Exhibition Program that focuses on engaging the public and revealing the art-making process through exhibitions, events, talks, publications and other opportunities.
Additional information about 18th Street Arts Center's programming and artists can be found at 18thstreet.org
Follow 18th Street on social media:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/18thStreetArt
Twitter: http://twitter.com/18thStreetArts
Instagram: http://instagram.com/18thstreetarts
Tumblr: http://18thstreetarts.tumblr.com
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/18thStreetArts
PRESS CONTACT:
SUE BELL YANK
[email protected]
310-453-3711 x104
SOURCE 18th Street Arts Center
Related Links
http://18thstreet.org
LUBBOCK, Texas, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Lubbock-based Abuelo's Mexican Restaurants, famous for its authentic, made-from-scratch, Mexican cuisine, will open its first restaurant in the Houston area on Monday, April 10. The new restaurant, located in Katy at the Shoppes at Parkwest at 24600 Katy Freeway, will be the company's 39th location nationwide.
Since 2006, Abuelo's has consistently been voted the #1 Mexican Restaurant in America by consumers, as published in the nation's most respected consumer rating magazine. Abuelo's menu selections combine authentic standards with the rich, subtle flavors of coastal and interior Mexican cuisine.
The new Abuelo's will feature approximately 7,600-square-feet of interior space and will include an outdoor, climate controlled patio with operable doors that can be opened in nicer weather or closed as needed. It will also feature a natural light skylight over an interior courtyard, with a mix of both modern and traditional Mexican decor.
"We designed Abuelo's to have a gracious, yet friendly environment that's compatible with our authentic, creative dishes," said Mike Lilly, Abuelo's general manager in Katy. "We are excited to bring our unique Mexican concept to Katy, and we look forward to being an active part of the community."
The new restaurant will include many of Abuelo's regular menu items, but will also feature new items that are specific to the Katy location only. New shareable appetizers are Seared Tuna with Shrimp Ceviche, Beef Tenderloin Flameado and Canas, Mexican-style pork "wings." Several new House Specialty items have also been added to the menu including Carne Asada a la Tampiquena, fire-grilled skirt steak topped with green chile rajas con queso ,and Shrimp Enchiladas.
Abuelo's also features a number of hand-crafted and award-winning Margaritas, including the El Jefe, La Grandeza and the 1800 Hand-Shaken Margarita. Abuelo's also features its famous Sangria Swirl, a mixture of frozen Sangria swirled with La Grandeza Margarita, as well as fresh Sangria, Mojitos and a wide selection of domestic and Mexican beers.
The Katy restaurant will also offer flights of premium tequilas, accompanied with a shot of traditional Sangrita, a non-alcoholic, citrus and spicy cocktail that highlights the tequilas' flavors and cleanses the palate between each sip. Additionally, Abuelo's will offer several highly rated wines, as well as a Sommelier's List Special where guests will receive either a complimentary entree or two appetizers when they purchase a bottle of 90+ rated wine.
Abuelo's pre-opening training services will raise funds to benefit Child Advocates of Fort Bend, a nonprofit agency whose mission is to provide a voice, heal the hurt and break the cycle of abuse and neglect for all children in Fort Bend County.
On opening day, Monday, April 10, the first 100 guests who are seated beginning at 11 a.m., will receive a special "Savor the Flavor of Mexico" calendar that includes offers for free items, monthly for April through December 2017. The calendar includes offers valued at more than $100.
"Our theme is 'beyond Tex-Mex,'" added Robert Lin, president of Food Concepts International, Abuelo's parent company. "At Abuelo's, our goal is to offer our guests an opportunity to experience the diverse and distinct flavors of Mexico in a beautiful setting with superior service at a great value."
Meals at Abuelo's are reasonably priced, with dinner costs of $10.99 to $24.99 and lunch costs of $8.99 to $14.99. All major credit cards are accepted. Restaurant hours are Sunday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Fridays and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. For more information, call (281) 392-1009. Also, get the latest news on events and promotions by becoming a fan of Abuelo's Katy Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AbuelosMexKaty/, follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/AbuelosMexKaty or follow us on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/eatabuelos/.
About Abuelo's
Since its first opening in 1989, Abuelo's has consistently been on the leading edge of Mexican cuisine, combining menu creativity, outstanding food and beverage quality, colorful plate presentations and superior service in a true Mexican courtyard atmosphere. Abuelo's has received national accolades as the top-ranked Mexican food restaurant and as one of America's top overall restaurant chains in four consecutive biennial surveys by a leading national consumer rating magazine. Owned and operated by Food Concepts International in Lubbock Texas, the company currently has 39 full-service restaurants located in 13 states, and a fast casual Abuelo's Taqueria, located in Lubbock, Texas. For more information, visit www.abuelos.com or Abuelo's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/Abuelos.
SOURCE Abuelos
Related Links
http://www.abuelos.com
WEST CHESTER, Pa., April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- AccessLex Institute is pleased to announce that Chris Guthrie, dean, and John Wade-Kent Syverud, Professor of Law at Vanderbilt Law School, and Ralph D. Sinsheimer, co-founder and managing director of The Solaris Group LLC, have joined the Company's Board of Directors, effective April 1.
Guthrie is a leading expert on behavioral law and economics, dispute resolution, negotiation and judicial decision making. He has been recognized for his research and teaching with two CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution Professional Article Prizes, the Outstanding First-Year Course Professor Award at Northwestern University Law School and multiple teaching and research prizes at the University of Missouri, among other awards. He is one of the authors of the influential textbook, Dispute Resolution and Lawyers, and has published more than 50 scholarly articles and essays in leading law journals.
Sinsheimer oversees institutional consulting and wealth management activities, including strategic and tactical asset allocation, manager selection and philanthropic services for The Solaris Group, a specialized global wealth strategy and asset management firm for ultra-high net-worth individuals, foundations and charitable programs, and institutional clients. He is a former senior vice president and head of Wealth Management for Neuberger Berman Trust Company and Neuberger Berman Group LLC, and served as director of Marketing and Philanthropy Management at OFFITBANK.
"We are pleased to welcome Chris Guthrie and Ralph Sinsheimer as new members. The Board of Directors plays an integral role in helping AccessLex Institute expand its reach and deepen its impact in legal education, and Chris and Ralph bring significant experience and valuable insight to the table," said Hannah R. Arterian, AccessLex Institute's Board Chair and professor of law at Syracuse University College of Law. "I am grateful for their willingness to serve and look forward to working with them."
About AccessLex Institute:
AccessLex Institute is a nonprofit organization committed to helping talented, purpose-driven students find their path from aspiring lawyer to fulfilled professional. In partnership with its nearly 200 Member law schools, improving access and positively influencing legal education have been at the heart of the Company's mission since 1983. AccessLex Institute has offices in West Chester, Pa., and Washington, D.C., with a team of accredited financial education counselors based throughout the United States. Learn more at AccessLex.org.
SOURCE AccessLex Institute
Related Links
http://accesslex.org
Dr. Orel is the driving force behind Advocare's continued growth as one of the largest 100 independent medical groups in the country. He has advanced Advocare's expansion of patient access, and has led clinical education initiatives for physicians around value-based programs.
"I am honored and humbled to have been included in this list alongside so many distinguished peers," said Dr. Orel. "Collectively, we are all working together to advance healthcare delivery in New Jersey. A critical part of the state economy, healthcare contributes to approximately 7% of New Jersey's gross domestic product, contributing nearly $35 billion in 2012, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. I'm proud to be contributing to our state's success, to be a practicing physician, and to be leading Advocare's more than 550 providers in providing high quality medical care to our patients."
Dr. Orel graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with degrees from The College of Arts and Sciences, the Wharton School of Business, and the Perelman School of Medicine. He then completed his pediatric internship and residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital and has been continuously certified by the American Board of Pediatrics since 1989. A Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Orel runs an active general pediatric practice, Advocare Marlton Pediatrics. Dr. Orel has been honored multiple times as a "Top Doc" by South Jersey magazine.
About Advocare
Advocare, LLC ("Advocare") is a physician-owned medical group operating in New Jersey and the greater Philadelphia metropolitan region. Founded in 1998 as an alliance of 33 physicians in southern New Jersey, Advocare has grown to become widely recognized and highly respected as one of the region's largest, independent, multi-specialty physician groups. Advocare serves approximately 600,000 patients at nearly 200 locations throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Patients visit Advocare's 550+ primary care physicians, specialists, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants more than 1.5 million times each year. Advocare physicians are regularly recognized among the region's top doctors. Since 2012, more than 60 Advocare doctors have been named "Top Docs" by New Jersey and Pennsylvania consumer magazines. Learn more at www.advocaredoctors.com.
SOURCE Advocare
Related Links
http://www.advocaredoctors.com
By Tsvetelia Tsolova
SOFIA, April 3 (Reuters) - Bulgaria's largest party, the centre-right GERB, expects to form a government with three nationalist parties by late April and return Boiko Boriskov to power as prime minister, a senior party official said on Monday.
Borisov's GERB won 95 seats in the general election on March 26, beating its leftist Socialist rivals, but it failed to gain an outright 121-seat majority in parliament.
His resignation late last year triggered the early election.
GERB has told the third-placed United Patriots (UP), a nationalist alliance of three parties, that the prime minister's post will not be subject of their coalition negotiations.
"The prime minister of the next government that will be formed I suppose by the end of this month ... will be Boiko Borisov", said Vladislav Goranov, an MP and member of GERB's political negotiating team. "There's no doubt about that."
Goranov's comments to reporters came after one of the nationalist leaders had suggested that Borisov, 57, should not lead the next government.
Borisov quit as premier after a GERB-backed candidate lost a presidential election in November to Rumen Radev, a Russia-friendly ally of the Socialists. Bulgaria is currently being run by a caretaker administration.
The UP alliance campaigned to boost low living standards and double the minimum monthly state pensions, now at 160 levs ($87.25) - the lowest in the European Union.
Analysts say such demands, coupled with GERB's plans to double teachers' wages within four years, may boost public spending and pose risks to Bulgaria's currency peg to the euro.
But Goranov, a former finance minister likely to get the same post in the next government, told reporters he was not worried for state coffers.
A coalition with the nationalists would have just one seat above the majority threshold of 121 seats and Goranov said GERB would also seek support of smaller, populist grouping of businessman Veselin Mareshki.
Story continues
Bulgaria's polls suggested the country would continue with its fiscal and economic policies but was unlikely to break a pattern of unstable governments that have hindered structural reforms, Fitch rating agency said last week.
The timing for inter-party negotiations has yet to be set.
GERB has not ruled out leading a minority government, but Goranov called such an option "extreme."
(1$= 1.8338 leva) (Editing by Radu Marinas and Tom Heneghan)
"We need to be proactive instead of reactive about suicide prevention programs in our schools. Passing the Youth Suicide Awareness and Prevention legislation will get us a step closer to saving our children," said Meredith Swafford, Co-Chair of the AFSP NC Chapter and suicide prevention advocate. "I became an advocate for suicide prevention after the loss of my husband Doug in 2005. I realized then how much I didn't know about suicide and mental illness so I educated myself. As the founding chair and current co-chair of the AFSP NC chapter, I get calls and emails far too often from schools, friends and acquaintances about the loss of yet another child or young adult to suicide. I personally know of the loss of one young adult and four losses to suicide of children between the ages of 10-14 in just the last three weeks in our state. This is four too many."
Youth Suicide Awareness and Prevention, H 285 and S 316
If passed, this legislation would amend Article 25A of Chapter 115C of the General Statutes to include youth suicide awareness and prevention training and risk referral protocols for school personnel for local schools. School personnel interact with children and teens on a daily basis and are therefore in a prime position to recognize the signs of suicide risk and make the appropriate referrals for help. Educators must receive regular training in youth suicide awareness and prevention to ensure they have the necessary skills and confidence to intervene with youth at risk for suicide. Similar to refreshers in CPR, repeat trainings in suicide prevention are essential.
The training program would:
Be provided to school personnel who work directly with students in grades 6-12
Consist of two hours of evidence-based instruction on suicide awareness, identification of risk facts and warning signs, and information on referral to suicide prevention resources and support
Be completed within 12 months of employment and every five years thereafter
The training and risk referral protocols include:
A plan to provide training for student support personnel (administrators, school nurses, counselors, social workers and psychologists)
A safety plan for the school in the event of a student being at risk of suicide or the suicide death of a student
Designation of a school suicide prevention responder
Protocol for school-parent communication
Postvention resources (for after a suicide)
This is the first time AFSP is hosting a State Capitol Day in North Carolina. The advocates are part of a larger national movement of AFSP volunteer advocates who will be visiting 35 state capitols across the United States in spring 2017 to bring best practices in suicide prevention to state legislators.
Suicide in North Carolina
Suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in North Carolina. It is the third leading cause of death in children between the ages of 10-14. It is the second leading cause of death for teens and young adults between the ages of 14-24.
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is dedicated to saving lives and bringing hope to those affected by suicide. AFSP creates a culture that's smart about mental health through education and community programs, develops suicide prevention through research and advocacy, and provides support for those affected by suicide. Led by CEO Robert Gebbia and headquartered in New York, AFSP has local chapters in all 50 states with programs and events nationwide. AFSP celebrates 30 years of service to the suicide prevention movement. Learn more about AFSP in its latest Annual Report, and join the conversation on suicide prevention by following AFSP on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
SOURCE American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
Related Links
http://www.afsp.org
IRVINE, Calif., April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Bascom Group, LLC ("Bascom") has acquired Villas at Tustin Apartments ("Villas at Tustin"), a 406-unit infill apartment community located in the heart of Orange County, California. The $94.0 million sale ($231,527/unit) closed on March 28, 2017. Sean Deasy and Ryan Fitzpatrick of HFF were the listing brokers for the sale. Charles Halladay and Jamie Kline of HFF arranged the $66.5 million loan with California Bank & Trust.
Villas at Tustin
Villas at Tustin was constructed in 1972 and is located at 2414 N. Tustin Avenue, Santa Ana, California. Chad Sanderson, Senior Principal for Bascom states "Villas at Tustin is one of the best investment opportunities we have seen in Orange County. Villas is in a great location with easy access to the 55, 22, 91, and 5 freeways. This is extremely attractive to potential tenants. We are excited to modernize Villas at Tustin's interiors and exteriors to allow the property to compete with newly-constructed Class A properties."
Villas at Tustin marks Bascom's 21st multifamily property closed in Orange County and its 166th multifamily property closed in California. Over the past twelve months Bascom has acquired $1.3 billion in multifamily properties throughout the United States.
Villas at Tustin is conveniently located near major employment centers in Orange, Tustin, Irvine, and Anaheim. Several notable companies house regional offices or are headquartered in the South Coast Metro, including Xerox, T-Mobile, and CoreLogic. Villas at Tustin is minutes from major retail centers, including Tustin Marketplace, The District at Tustin Legacy, and South Coast Plaza, which offer a combined 5.3 million square feet of retail space.
Lee Nguyen, Senior Vice President of Bascom, comments "The South Coast Metro continues to be a strong draw to younger generations of tenants. To appeal to this group, we plan to give a modern update to Villas at Tustin's unit interiors and property amenities. Villas at Tustin presents a strong value-add opportunity in a location we are very excited about."
About Bascom: The Bascom Group, LLC is a private equity firm specializing in value-added multifamily, commercial, and non-performing loans and real estate related investments and operating companies. Bascom sources value-added and distressed properties including many through foreclosure, bankruptcy, or short sales and repositions them by adding extensive capital improvements, improving revenue, and reducing expenses by realizing operational efficiencies through implementation of institutional-quality property management. Bascom, founded by principals Jerry Fink, David Kim, and Derek Chen, is one of the most active and seasoned buyers and operators of apartment communities in the U.S. Bascom has completed over $13 billion in multi-family and commercial value-added transactions since 1996 including more than 306 multifamily properties containing over 80,000 units. Bascom has ranked among the top 50 multifamily owners in the U.S. Bascom's subsidiaries and joint ventures include the Southern California Industrial Fund, Rushmore Properties, Bascom Portfolio Advisors, Shubin Nadal Associates, Spirit Bascom Ventures, REDA Bascom Ventures, MHF RM Holdings, Bascom Northwest Ventures, Bascom Arizona Ventures, Harbor Associates, Village Venture Partners, and the Realm Group. Bascom's subsidiaries also include Premier Business Centers, the largest privately held executive suite company in the U.S. For additional information, please visit www.bascomgroup.com.
Contact: Chad Sanderson
Tel: 949-955-0888 ext. 23
Email: [email protected]
SOURCE The Bascom Group, LLC
Related Links
http://www.bascomgroup.com
This much-anticipated "holiday" was established in 1979 when Ben & Jerry's marked its first year in business by giving out free scoops to customers in Burlington, Vermont, where the company was founded. Ben & Jerry's realized then that business has an opportunity, and a responsibility, to give back to the community. Today that community stretches across the globe; more than one million scoops will be given away worldwide on Free Cone Day. Fans will be able to choose a classic favorite like Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, or try something entirely new.
"Our customers are incredibly loyal and share our values on important issues like marriage equality, climate change, and racial justice," said Ben & Jerry's CEO Jostein Solheim. "Through the power of ice cream, we are able to form strong connections and create positive social change together. Free Cone Day is one way we show our fans how much we appreciate them."
Ben & Jerry's has developed a Line Survival Guide to help fans pass the time in line and get the most of Free Cone Day:
Try again (and again, and again!) You're welcome to get in line as many times as you'd like. Once you've chosen your cup or cone, go straight back to the end of the line. Often, that first scoop is finished by the time you reach the counter again. Rinse and repeat. Experience something new. As Bogie might say, you'll always have Paris , and Cherry Garcia . Free Cone Day is a great time to move out of your ice cream comfort zone. Proceed from light to dark. Some people approach Free Cone Day like a wine tasting, going from the more delicate notes of vanilla to the satisfying mouthfeel of chunk-filled Chocolate Fudge Brownie. Release your inner ice cream sommelier. Think of your neighbors. Many Scoop Shops partner with community groups on Free Cone Day to raise awareness and funds. You can eat something good AND do something good at the same time. Feel good about feeling full. Between values-led sourcing and linked prosperity, every Ben & Jerry's flavor pays it forwardhelping farmers, communities and the environment. Above all, have fun! Invite your friends, spread the word, and create a pop-up party. After all, if it's not fun, why do it?
To find a participating Scoop Shop near you, visit www.benjerry.com.
About Ben & Jerry's
As an aspiring social justice company, Ben & Jerry's believes in a greater calling than simply making a profit for selling its goods. The company produces a wide variety of super-premium ice cream, yogurt and sorbet using high-quality ingredients. Ben & Jerry's incorporates its vision of Linked Prosperity into its business practices in a number of ways including a focus on values-led sourcing. In 2015 the company completed its transition to using entirely non-GMO (genetically modified organisms) ingredients by source as well as to fully source Fairtrade-certified ingredients wherever possible, which benefits farmers in developing countries. Ben and Jerry's products are distributed in 35 countries in supermarkets, grocery stores, convenience stores, franchise Ben & Jerry's Scoop Shops, restaurants and other venues. Ben & Jerry's, a Vermont corporation and wholly-owned subsidiary of Unilever, operates its business on a three-part Mission Statement emphasizing product quality, economic reward and a commitment to the community. Ben & Jerry's became a certified B Corp (Benefit Corporation) in 2012. The Ben & Jerry's Foundation's employee-led grant programs totaled $2.5MM in 2016 to support economic and social justice, environmental restoration, and peace through understanding. For the inside scoop on Ben & Jerry's visit www.benjerry.com.
SOURCE Ben & Jerry's
Related Links
http://www.benjerry.com
SANTA MONICA, Calif., April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Governor Jerry Brown's gas tax to fix roads should come out of oil companies' windfall profits and not out of consumers' wallets, Consumer Watchdog said today.
"No one disputes that California's roads are crumbling and we need to invest in fixing them," wrote consumer advocate Liza Tucker in a letter to California lawmakers. "In recent years, Californians have been paying an unjustifiable amount at the pump, and oil companies should be giving some of that back to fix the roads themselves. Consumer Watchdog calls upon you to oppose the gas tax Governor Brown has proposed until it requires oil refiners to pay some of the billions of dollars in windfall profits they have made recently at the pump."
Read the report here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/sites/default/files/resources/lettertoleggastax.pdf
"Governor Brown has consistently given the oil industry a pass while talking about the evil effects on the climate of the products they sell," said Tucker. "Brown is letting the oil companies keep their ill-gotten gains while protecting them from taxation including nixing an oil severance tax that lawmakers favored in 2014 that could have raised $1.5 billion a year in revenue. It's outrageous that the governor would continue to protect the oil industry at the expense of consumers by taxing the rest of us for road repairs when Big Oil can well afford to pick up the tab."
Californians paid $10 billion dollars more for their gas than the rest of the nation in 2015 alone, with the gap between state and national prices reaching as much as $1.50 a gallon, according to a review of oil refiners' quarterly reports submitted to the California Energy Commission's Petroleum Market Advisory Committee by Consumer Watchdog. Prices skyrocketed at the pump in the wake of mismanagement that put two refineries offline in 2015. Consumers are currently paying nearly 70 cents a gallon more than the $2.30 a gallon price in the rest of the country. The price gap can only be explained as price-gouging by an oligopoly that keeps too little gasoline on hand, the letter said.
"Big Oil has Californians over a barrel. Driving up gas prices still further at the pump for millions of California drivers is not the right course. Let the oil companies reimburse Californians by paying to fill in the gouges and the potholes. It's only fair. A vote for this gas tax is a vote against the consumer and for the oil companies that have feathered the governor's campaign committees and causes and the California Democratic Party with $3.8 million in contributions," the group wrote lawmakers.
"We urge you to stand by consumers and against the oil companies. Demand that any gas tax comes out of the oil refiners' pockets."
Windfall profits allowed major oil companies to pour more money into lobbying in 2015, helping to kill off a provision in legislation on renewable energy standards to slash petroleum use in cars in half. "Big oil is the market force behind slowing a transition away from gasoline-powered cars, so let big oil pay for fixing the roads our cars pound every day," said consumer advocate Liza Tucker.
A Consumer Watchdog report called Brown's Dirty Hands found that 26 energy companies, including Chevron, Occidental, ExxonMobil, and Conoco-Phillips, contributed $9.8 million to Jerry Brown's campaigns, causes, and ballot initiatives, as well as to the state Democratic Party since Brown's election. See: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org//dirtyhands
The report traced a pattern of legislative and administrative favors done for these companies sometimes in close proximity to donations. The pattern included donations of $4.4 million by these companies to the state Democratic Party, which in turn donated $4.7 million to Brown's 2014 re-election campaign. Brown's Dirty Hands led the Fair Political Practices Commission to open an investigation into the Democratic Party and potential violations of the Political Reform Act the report uncovered.
SOURCE Consumer Watchdog
Related Links
http://www.consumerwatchdog.org
BOSTON, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- BioDirection, Inc., a privately held medical device company developing novel and rapid point-of-care products for the objective detection of concussion and other traumatic brain injury (TBI), announced today results from a pre-clinical study show that the company's Tbit System for the detection of TBI is sensitive, provides actionable results in point-of-care settings, and has the potential to reduce the number of unnecessary computerized tomography (CT) scans. The study was recognized with the best overall abstract award in neurotechnology among more than 800 submissions at the International Brain Injury Association's 12th World Congress on Brain Injury, the world's largest gathering of clinicians, scientists, and industry representatives focused on brain injury, held March 29 April 1, 2017 at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana.
"Early, objective diagnostic testing of patients who have experienced head trauma can support more rapid and appropriate treatment decisions while potentially reducing unnecessary head CT scans," said Eric Goorno, president and CEO of BioDirection. "The Tbit System allows for testing to be performed at the earliest stages of a concussion using a single drop of blood. The results from this pre-clinical study, coupled with our meeting with the FDA to review our pre-submission package, have positioned us to initiate our formal clinical trials to support FDA clearance."
The Tbit System is based on a patented nanotechnology biosensor that rapidly detects and accurately measures protein biomarkers released from the brain immediately following a head trauma, including S100 calcium binding protein beta (S100) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). The system includes a disposable cartridge and portable analyzer designed for testing to be performed with a single drop of blood at the earliest stages of a concussion.
The pre-clinical study was designed to evaluate the ability of the Tbit System to screen TBI patients for a CT positive or CT negative test. Frozen plasma samples were collected from a total of 100 patients who had undergone CT scans post hospital admission. The Tbit System demonstrated 100% sensitivity with no false negative results, and a 41% specificity level.
"The Tbit System provides a sensitive and rapid diagnostic platform that enables the detection of biomarkers of TBI at the molecular level," said Sergey Dryga, PhD, MBA, chief scientific officer of BioDirection. "This pre-clinical study demonstrated the potential to detect any brain injury requiring further assessment, while reducing the number of unnecessary CT scans by over 40%. The Tbit System also has the potential to enable a much broader range of applications by detecting any number of proven biomarkers in a complex biological sample such as whole blood."
About BioDirection
BioDirection, Inc. is a privately held medical device company developing novel and rapid point-of-care technologies for the objective diagnosis and management of concussion and other traumatic brain injury (TBI). The company's lead product, the Tbit System, delivers rapid biologically-based results to accurately confirm a traumatic brain injury/concussion. BioDirection's platform system utilizes a patented bio-nanowire technology with the potential for use in a range of applications in point-of-care diagnostics. To learn more about BioDirection visit http://www.biodirection.com.
Contact:
Adam Daley Eric Goorno Berry & Company Public Relations BioDirection, Inc. Tel: +1 (212) 253-8881 Tel: +1 (508) 308-8592 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]
SOURCE BioDirection, Inc.
Related Links
http://www.biodirection.com
ALBANY, New York, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
According to a research report by Transparency Market Research (TMR), the global biotech flavor market is highly consolidated and competitive in nature, with Naturex occupying the dominant position. The leading companies in this market mostly rely on mergers, acquisitions, and partnerships to improve their visibility and the trend is likely to continue over the forthcoming years, increasing the competition between the players, reports the research study.
As per the report, the global market for biotech flavors, which stood at US$430.6 mn in 2015, is expected to proliferate at a CAGR of 9.70% during the period from 2016 to 2024, increasing the opportunity in this market to US$991.0 mn by the end of the forecast period. The market is projected to touch 23,980.3 tons in terms of volume over the same period of time. The demand for biotech flavors is higher in beverages compared to other end-use segments. On account of the surging consumption of flavored beverages, globally, analysts predict this segment to continue as the leading end user of biotech flavors over the period of the forecast.
North America to Lead Market; Asia Pacific to Report High-paced Growth
The research report further evaluates the worldwide market for biotech flavors on the basis of its regional classification. The Middle East and Africa, North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and Latin America and is led by North America, thanks to the high awareness among consumers regarding the benefits of biotech flavors. In 2015, the regional market, followed by Europe, acquired a share of more than 32% in the overall market. Researchers anticipate the North America market for biotech flavors to retain its leadership over the forthcoming years.
Get Sample of Research Report for more info: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=16178
On the other hand, Asia Pacific is anticipated to exhibit a high-paced growth in its market for biotech flavors in the near future, thanks to the strong demand for biotech flavors from emerging economies, such as China and India. The health and wellness trend is also expected to support the growth of the Asia Pacific biotech flavor market and prompt manufacturers to apply innovative strategies across the supply chain to ensure wide availability of biotech flavors for consumers over the years to come. Apart from this, the increasing demand for beverages in this region is expected to create vital opportunities for the players in the global market.
Rising Awareness among Consumers to Boost Growth of Global Biotech Flavor Market
"The rising health consciousness among consumers has augmented the demand for natural ingredients and biotech-based flavors in food products and beverages, which, resultantly, is boosting the global biotech flavor market," says a TMR analyst. The growing awareness among consumers in developed economies concerning the negative impact of artificially-produced food flavors and the increased knowledge of consumers pertaining to the nutritional advantages of biotech flavors is projected to propel this market in the years to come.
Although the future of the worldwide biotech flavor market looks thriving, the low shelf-life of biotech flavors and issues related to their stability may hinder the growth of this market in the near future, states the research report.
The study presented here is based on a report by Transparency Market Research (TMR), titled "Biotech Flavors Market (Flavor - Vanilla and Vanillin and Fruity Flavor; Form - Liquid, Powder, and Paste; Application - Dairy Products, Beverages, Confectionery Products, Non-dairy Ice Cream, Bakery Products, and Nutraceuticals - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016 - 2024."
The global flavors market is segmented into:
By Flavor
Vanilla and Vanillin
Fruity
Others
By Form
Liquid
Powder
Paste
By Application
Dairy products
Beverages
Confectionery Products
Non-dairy ice cream
Bakery products
Nutraceuticals
Others
By Region
North America
U.S.
Canada
Latin America
Mexico
Brazil
Argentina
Rest of Latin America
Europe
Germany
France
U.K.
Spain
Italy
Nordic
Benelux
Russia
Poland
Rest of Europe
Asia Pacific
China
India
Japan
Australia and New Zealand
and Rest of Asia Pacific
Middle East & Africa
GCC
North Africa
South Africa
Rest of MEA
Browse Other Related Market Research Reports:
Flavors and Fragrances Market: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/flavors-fragrances-market.html
Food Additives Market: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/food-additives.html
About TMR
Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The company's exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.
TMR's data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.
Contact
Transparency Market Research
State Tower
90 State Street,
Suite 700,
Albany NY - 12207
United States
Tel: +1-518-618-1030
USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com
Blog: http://www.editiontruth.com/
SOURCE Transparency Market Research
PHILADELPHIA and NEW YORK, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
BizEquity today announces the addition of '5500 Benefit Plan Data', or Qualified Investment Plan Data, to its successful Big Data Prospector feature on the Advisor Office platform and online service, allowing advisors, bankers, and planners the ability to better serve existing and prospective clients. To date, BizEquity has helped over 200,000 business owners in the US, UK, Singapore and India discover and monitor their business value and potential.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160914/407722LOGO )
BizEquity has served over 440 financial services clients that license their patented cloud based Big Data service. The addition of this new data asset into their big data file of over 33 million businesses will help the nearly 700,000 advisors and bankers in the US to target and better serve their clients with retirement planning assets.
"As an advisor, BizEquity has helped me find new prospects and care for more existing clients better by being able to add a new capability in my arsenal. Now with the addition of this new data asset it will help me find the over one million businesses with retirement planning needs," said James Erben, CEO Erben Associates, an M Financial member company.
Jeffrey Fleischman, CMO of Penn Mutual Insurance added: "BizEquity has been a tremendous service for our advisors at Penn Mutual to work and have success with. Their commitment to continuing to innovate an already powerful data service shows their desire to help the private companies and the advisors that serve."
Vice President of Data and Engineering for BizEquity Amir Tahvildaran concluded with, "BizEquity will not stop adding data to our patented service until we provide the most powerful insight for every private company and for the advisors that serve them. The incorporation of 5500 data is another step in our US market file to show our big data on small business leadership."
BizEquity is providing this new data capability for free to any existing or new Advisor Office client until June 1st, 2017.
More information can be found at Advisoroffice.BizEquity.com
http://www.bizequity.com
For further information please contact:
Morgan Rossiter
Richard Morgan Evans, Kathleen Edmondson, Harriet Adams & Sarah Cooper-Lesaad
T: +44(0)203-195-3240
SOURCE BizEquity
HOOD RIVER, Ore., April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- After ten years of building, growing, and thriving in Hood River, Oregon, Blue Collar Agency is tacking back towards its East Coast roots and opening an office in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Centered on front and back-end development, top-tier omni-channel experience design, and sharp-as-a-tack project management, the three new team members, Chris Cook, Tom Loder, and Kris Murphy officially fire up the engine on April 3, 2017. Read the blog: http://blcllr.ag/m1U130awd8t
Philadelphia, PA
This addition only fortifies our golden conviction: learning the customer and the client is paramount. The work won't begin until we know it inside out. The operation is set to run as a lean ship, not dissimilar to our core office: Each team is only as big as it needs to be, but the work is thorough. Everyone plays an active role; there are no benchwarmers. Even so, core services given particular attention by Blue Collar East are broad and deep:
Blue Collar East Offerings
Digital Strategy
Customer Research
Experience Design
Data Driven Design
Development and Engineering
Usability Testing
Project Management
As we fine-tune our new stride and tighten the knit of this refreshed Blue Collar foundation, we broaden our capabilities and ready our sales team to pursue new accounts that were once out of reach. This tangible leap has given our shop renewed energy, and a drive to bite off more than ever before.
Blue Collar Agency: Blue Collar builds brands with power and performance. With top creative marketing talent from Portland to Philadelphia, we serve multinational brands across the country with proven business strategy.
At the core, Blue Collar is a group of inspired and experienced thinkers, adventure seekers, tinkerers, and curious souls with a never-say-die creative drive to improve each and every day. Let's collaborate. Get in touch:
April Donovan
(541) 436-2800
[email protected]
Related Links
Contact Us
Our Work
Related Video
https://vimeo.com/203199630
This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com
SOURCE Blue Collar Agency
The logo of Burberry outlet store is seen in Paris, France, March 10, 2016. REUTERS/Charles Platiau
By Paul Sandle
LONDON (Reuters) - British luxury brand Burberry (BRBY.L) has agreed to license its fragrances and cosmetics business to Coty (COTY.N) for $162 million, plus a $63 million payment for inventory, in a deal that will help it develop new products and give it the benefit of the U.S. group's extensive distribution network.
Best known for its British-made trenchcoats, Burberry's beauty range is led by fragrances My Burberry and Mr Burberry, and includes cosmetics to help introduce its brand to new consumers.
The company, which took the perfume business back in house in 2013, said it would retain creative control while Coty, which counts Gucci, Hugo Boss and Calvin Klein in its portfolio, would bring its global distribution network to the table.
Chief Financial Officer Julie Brown said Burberry had repositioned the business by cutting secondary-channel sales, and it was now time to team up to develop it further.
"Coty has very broad experience of working closely with other luxury brands," she said in an interview. "We will benefit from their deep beauty industry expertise and also their first-class distribution."
Coty will pay 130 million pounds ($163 million) for the long-term license, plus about 50 million pounds for inventory and other assets, Burberry said. It will also pay royalties from October.
Beauty contributed 7 percent of Burberry's revenue in the first half of its 2016/17 financial year, down 17 percent on the prior period, partly as a result of the repositioning.
It launched men's fragrance Mr Burberry a year ago and young British model Iris Law has promoted its cosmetics.
Chief Operating Officer John Smith said there was an opportunity to increase cosmetics sales, which currently account for about 8 percent of beauty sales against an industry average of a third.
"Make-up is a key recruitment tool for a luxury brand, in that the price points are a lot lower than any other product," he said. "As a means of recruiting people into the brand, it's perfect."
Story continues
Shares in Burberry were trading up 1 percent at 1,739 pence at 1306 GMT (9:06 a.m. ET).
Analysts at Exane BNP Paribas said they welcomed the decision to find a partner to develop the beauty business.
"In fact, we never liked the idea of Burberry managing its beauty business directly, as beauty is an FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) business where you win on the back of global reach," they said.
Burberry said the deal would be broadly neutral to adjusted profit before tax in 2017/18 and accretive the following year.
(Additional reporting by Kate Holton; Editing by Susan Thomas, Greg Mahlich)
HOUSTON, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation (NYSE: COG) will host its first quarter 2017 earnings conference call on Friday, April 28, 2017 at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time. The Company plans to issue its financial and operating results prior to the market opening on the same day.
To access the live audio webcast, please visit the Investor Relations section of the Company's website at www.cabotog.com. A replay of the call will also be available on the Company's website.
Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation, headquartered in Houston, Texas, is a leading independent natural gas producer with its entire resource base located in the continental United States. For additional information, visit the Company's website at www.cabotog.com.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT
Matt Kerin (281) 589-4642
SOURCE Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation
Related Links
http://www.cabotog.com
THE WOODLANDS, Texas, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CB&I (NYSE:CBI) today announced it has signed a strategic alliance with Jinzhou Port Co., Ltd. (Jingang) to become the master licensor for an integrated refining and petrochemicals project in Jinzhou City, China. The alliance includes the exclusive license, engineering design, catalyst supply and proprietary equipment for the complex. CB&I will be the primary licensor to provide up to 30 proprietary technologies from gasification and refining to petrochemicals.
"CB&I is proud to partner with Jingang as the master licensor for this large-scale complex, which could employ more than one-third of CB&I's technology portfolio," said Philip K. Asherman, CB&I's President and Chief Executive Officer. "The scope of the alliance offers the largest supply of CB&I technologies to a single project, and leverages our breadth of portfolio to Jingang for optimum configuration of their complex."
About CB&I
CB&I (NYSE:CBI) is a leading provider of technology and infrastructure for the energy industry. With over 125 years of experience and the expertise of more than 40,000 employees, CB&I provides reliable solutions to our customers around the world while maintaining a relentless focus on safety and an uncompromising standard of quality. For more information, visit www.CBI.com.
Important Information For Investors And Shareholders
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding CB&I and represents our expectations and beliefs concerning future events. These forward-looking statements are intended to be covered by the safe harbor for forward-looking statements provided by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. When considering any statements that are predictive in nature, depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, or use or contain words, terms, phrases or expressions such as "achieve," "forecast," "plan," "propose," "strategy," "envision," "hope," "will," "continue," "potential," "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "project," "estimate," "predict," "intend," "should," "could," "may," "might" or similar forward-looking statements, we refer you to the cautionary statements concerning risk factors and "Forward-Looking Statements" described under "Risk Factors" in Item 1A of our Annual Report filed on Form 10-K filed with the SEC for the year ended December 31, 2016, and any updates to those risk factors or "Forward-Looking Statements" included in our subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC, which cautionary statements are incorporated herein by reference."
Investors: Scott Lamb, +1 832 513 1068, [email protected]
Media: Gentry Brann, +1 832 513 1031, [email protected]
SOURCE CB&I
Related Links
http://www.cbi.com
NEW YORK, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Consumer Capital Group Inc. (OTCQB: CCGN) - a subsidiary of CCGN, Yin Hang Financial Information Service (Shanghai) Co. Ltd ("CCG Yin Hang") and Beijing Tongcheng Yilong Network Technology Co. Ltd. ("Yilongdai") successfully signed a strategic cooperation agreement. Partnering with Yilongdai, CCG Yin Hang can provide better financial advisory service for micro, small-to-medium sized enterprises ("SMEs") in China.
CCG Yin Hang offers financial consulting services such as loan origination criteria checkup, risk assessment and loan monitoring to SMEs and financial institutions in China. Yin Hang has developed its own big data risk assessment system to provide credit rating and risk management solutions to borrowers and financial institutions to facilitate loan origination process and reduce default risks for all parties involved in a particular lending transaction. In 2014, Yin Hang introduced IPC credit risk assessment technology, which CCGN considers is one of the best risk management technologies for SMEs.
In 2017, CCG Yin Hang upgraded and optimized its 'Ingenuity IPCs' risk assessment technology, developing a unique and mature risk management system. The new system not only is based on advanced technology, but also strengthened managers' awareness of risk management. By using this new risk assessment system, the company can provide better financial and risk-management consulting services to SMEs and rebuild the small micro-financial ecology.
Yilongdai, a member of Lenovo Holdings, is the first 'City O2O' model online lending platform. Yilongdai aims to provide P2P loan service to farmers in rural areas and SMEs. The platform serves as an information provider, a matchmaker between lenders and borrowers and a risk controller. Yilongdai provides public with low threshold, efficient, safe and reliable financing means to meet their capital needs.
CEO and Chairman of the Board, Mr. Jack Gao stated that, "Partnering with Yilongdai, CCG Yin Hang will offer SMEs alternative financing means through risk-controlled private lending to meet their capital needs and develop their business."
About Consumer Capital Group Inc.
Consumer Capital Group Inc. plans to implement three primary strategies to expand our market presence within the industry: (i) increase Arki E-Commerce's lending capacity through the cash generated from operations and capital raised from this offering; (ii) increase the Company's offering of financial services by expanding the business into financial consulting services throughout China; and (iii) expand the Company's geographic coverage for both microfinancing, financial advisory service and wealth management business to major metropolitan areas such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou through the establishment of sales force. We believe that we can experience significant growth in these areas because there is a large number of established SMEs and sole proprietors in need of capital resources but lack the ability to finance either due to their limited size of business or local banks' preferences to finance bigger and more established companies. In addition, we believe that our wealth management business will be able to provide potential investors a more attractive return comparing to traditional investment products.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain as they are based on current expectations and assumptions concerning future events or future performance of the company. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are only predictions and speak only as of the date hereof. In evaluating such statements, prospective investors should review carefully various risks and uncertainties identified in this release and matters set in the company's SEC filings. These risks and uncertainties could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements.
http://www.ccgusa.com/
http://tou.bangnitou.net/
http://www.ccmus.com/
http://www.zybaoli.net/
Corporate/Investor Relations:
Jack Gao
CEO & Chairman of the Board
Consumer Capital Group Inc.
136-82 39th Ave, 4th Floor, Unit B
Flushing, New York, 11354
Tel: 646-346-3735
Email: [email protected]
SOURCE Consumer Capital Group Inc.
For a limited-time travelers can extend their journey in Western Canada compliments of Rocky Mountaineer
VANCOUVER, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - Rocky Mountaineer, the world's privately owned luxury tourist train, is offering its guests a free hotel night in honor of Canada's 150th birthday. Now through July 7, 2017, guests booking a qualifying vacation package of five days or more can extend their trip to spend an extra night to explore Seattle, Vancouver, Victoria or Calgary.
One of the many eligible Rocky Mountaineer vacations is the Canadian Rockies Adventure. The eight-day/seven-night journey brings guests to the stunning mountain towns of Banff and Lake Louise, with a trip to the Columbia Icefields and a helicopter tour through the soaring peaks of the Rockies. It includes activities in each destination for guests to explore and discover the unmatched beauty of Western Canada. Guests will continue the journey through the Canadian Rockies with overnight stays in Vancouver, Kamloops, Banff, Lake Louise, and Calgary.
The Free Hotel Offer is available for a limited time on select dates. It is exclusively applicable to bookings of five or more days in GoldLeaf Deluxe, GoldLeaf or SilverLeaf Service. This offer has no cash value, cannot be combined with other offers, and other restrictions apply.
For more information about the Free Hotel Offer, please contact Rocky Mountaineer directly at 1-877-460-3200, or online at www.rockymountaineer.com. For the latest news and offers follow us on Twitter, tune into our YouTube channel, and connect with us on Facebook.
About Rocky Mountaineer
Rocky Mountaineer is the world's largest privately owned luxury tourist train and, since 1990, has welcomed more than 1.7 million guests to inhale the mountain air and let nature take their breath away. Guests can choose from over 65 vacation packages and four unique rail routes, including the recently upgraded three-day Rainforest to Gold Rush rail journey, that travel through iconic destinations such as Seattle, WA, Vancouver, B.C., and the majestic Canadian Rockies in Alberta. The unparalleled experience onboard the all domed fleet offers rich, historic storytelling, world class cuisine, and a first-hand look at the vast and untouched wild beauty of Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest.
Rocky Mountaineer is considered one of the best ways to see the Rocky Mountains, having received numerous international awards and accolades for service excellence. These honours include eight World Travel Awards for "World's Leading Travel Experience By Train" and "World's Leading Luxury Train," and being listed as one of the world's "Dream Trips" by Travel + Leisure magazine. With year-long celebrations planned for Canada's 150th anniversary, and Lonely Planet naming Canada as the #1 Country in Best in Travel 2017, this is the ideal time to travel with Rocky Mountaineer and experience the country's vast, awe-inspiring beauty.
*Access to Rocky Mountaineer's new photo library is available upon request.
SOURCE Rocky Mountaineer
Related Links
www.rockymountaineer.com
EAST HAMPTON, N.Y. and HUNTINGTON, N.Y., April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Cook Maran & Associates ("Cook Maran"), one of New York and New Jersey's largest insurance brokers, will acquire Gundermann & Gundermann ("Gundermann"), a third-generation, family-owned company that's grown into a top 25 New York insurer since it was founded in 1937. Both agencies offer commercial, personal and employee benefit policies to individual and business clients; Gundermann specializes in insurance for franchised car dealers and through its continuing partnership with Direct Dealer Services provides F&I (Finance and Insurance) products to their dealer clients.
This is Cook Maran's second recent partnership with an area agency, having acquired New Jersey-based Mintz, Girgan & Brightly (MGB) in January. As in that deal, Gundermann & Gundermann will continue to do business under the 'Gundermann' name, with existing management and staff continuing in their current roles. Customers will work with familiar faces in the agency's Huntington office, with the added expertise and convenience of the combined agency's 200+ professionals at six offices across the tri-state area.
"Gundermann & Gundermann has succeeded for 80 years with an unshakable reputation for customer service and support," said Len Scioscia, Chairman and CEO of Cook Maran. "In exploring this partnership with Joe and Tom Gundermann and their team, we saw potential to help them continue their growth with stronger regional and national backing, to build our core business across the region, and capitalize on their unique services to car dealers."
"Since my grandfather started the business in Brooklyn in 1937, we've made our mark as a family company that treats its clients like family," agreed Joseph Gundermann, President & CEO. "In teaming up with Len and Cook Maran, we're part of a bigger 'family' that shares our values and commitment to providing even better service to our customers."
In merging with Cook Maran, Gundermann also joins the national platform of Prime Risk Partners ("PRP"). PRP is among the industry's fastest-growing firms, building a national platform founded with leading regional agencies like Cook Maran and Gundermann that seek expansion through local management and market knowledge with access to the resources of a dynamic national organization.
"By joining Cook Maran and Prime Risk's New York metropolitan area platform, we've found regional and national partners that understand how we do business and can help us protect even more people, employers and dealerships with competitive coverage and superior claim service," added Gundermann. "It's a 'win-win' opportunity for our agency and our clients, who ultimately benefit from enhanced services and better bargaining clout with carriers."
In addition to covering the property and casualty needs of auto dealers, Gundermann also offers, through its continuing partnership with Direct Dealer Services, F&I products to their dealer customers that both enhance their relationship and generate additional revenue for their dealers
Gundermann also provides a 35-year track record of serving area non-profit organizations, addressing the exposures faced by these organizations and their boards.
"Gundermann is a great agency that brings some unique services to the marketplace, and we look forward to giving them a broader platform to do even more," finished Scioscia. "This will be a productive, positive partnership for both our agencies and the Prime Risk Partners platform."
"We're pleased that Cook Maran continues to build our New York metropolitan area presence with growth-minded, customer-focused agencies like MGB and now Gundermann & Gundermann," said Bret Quigley, Chairman and CEO of Prime Risk Partners. "Nationally, we're aiming for strong and sustainable growth that means a thoughtful strategy for finding the right partners, working with leading brokers that can reach the next level by embracing a national platform."
With regional brokerages like Cook Maran and Indianapolis-based ONI Risk Partners (acquired as a Midwest partner in 2016), PRP has seen rapid growth with a deliberate expansion strategy; PRP leapt from 86th to 50th on the Business Insurance 'Top 100 Business Brokers' ranking (2015 to 2016) and made a solid debut at 28th on Insurance Journal's 2016 list of Top 100 Property/Casualty Agencies and 23rd on its list of Top 50 Personal Lines Agencies.
For more information on Cook Maran, Gundermann & Gundermann and Prime Risk Partners, please visit www.cookmaran.com, www.gundermann.com and www.primeriskpartners.com, respectively.
SOURCE Cook Maran & Associates
Related Links
http://www.cookmaran.com
World Kitchen is a leading housewares company with a unique heritage and diverse portfolio of iconic brands including Pyrex, Corelle and CorningWare that are trusted names known for safety, quality, innovation, performance and durability. Building upon more than a century of unparalleled brand recognition in the kitchenware space, World Kitchen's partnership with Cornell Capital will enable the company to build on its deep heritage in kitchen products, accelerate the next phase of its organic growth, as well as explore strategic consolidation opportunities within the fragmented $80 billion global housewares space.
Cornell Capital was founded in 2013 by Henry Cornell, the former Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs' Merchant Banking Division, to invest in market-leading companies across the consumer, energy, financial and industrial sectors. Cornell Capital's investment in World Kitchen is consistent with the firm's strategy of partnering with strong management teams to further build businesses, both organically and through acquisitions, and will leverage the firm's unique investment experience in Asia to further develop World Kitchen's business in the region.
"Our partnership with Cornell Capital will enable World Kitchen to capitalize on our strong position in the United States, where our products are in more than 80 percent of all homes, and our growing presence in high-growth emerging markets," said Carl Warschausky, CEO of World Kitchen. "We look forward to leveraging the extensive experience, deep industry expertise and global network of Cornell Capital to continue offering enhanced opportunities for our employees and delivering superior products for our customers."
"World Kitchen possesses an unmatched portfolio of iconic brands that have been at the heart of homes worldwide for over 100 years," said Mr. Cornell. "The company creates truly differentiated and premium products for its customers and has exceptional potential to build upon its strong foundation. The Cornell Capital team is uniquely positioned to bolster World Kitchen's presence in new and existing markets, and we look forward to collaborating with the company to create a global consumer goods powerhouse."
Financial details of the transaction are not disclosed. The acquisition is expected to be completed during the second quarter of 2017. Citi acted as financial advisor to Cornell Capital in connection with the transaction. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP acted as legal advisor to Cornell Capital. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC acted as financial advisor to World Kitchen in connection with the transaction. Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP and Latham & Watkins LLP acted as legal advisors to World Kitchen.
About World Kitchen
Headquartered in Rosemont, Ill., World Kitchen and its affiliates manufacture and market products worldwide through a portfolio of well-recognized and respected brands, including under the Pyrex, Corelle, Corningware, Snapware, Chicago Cutlery, Revere, Visions, Ekco and Baker's Secret trademarks. World Kitchen and its affiliates employ approximately 3,000 people, and have major manufacturing and distribution operations in North America and Asia-Pacific regions. Pyrex and CorningWare are registered trademarks of Corning Incorporated, used under license by World Kitchen, LLC. For more information, visit www.WorldKitchen.com.
About Cornell Capital
Cornell Capital LLC is a private investment firm that focuses on creating lasting value for its investors and portfolio companies by partnering with strong management teams to build businesses. Founder and Senior Partner Henry Cornell has been an active investor for over 30 years; prior to founding Cornell Capital in 2013, Mr. Cornell was the Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs' Merchant Banking Division. For more information, visit www.cornellcapllc.com.
Media Contacts:
World Kitchen:
Ted McHugh
Edelman Financial Communications & Capital Markets
201-341-0211
[email protected]
Anna Zalas
Zeno Group Consumer Brand Communications
312-321-4860
[email protected]
Cornell Capital:
Jonathan Keehner / Ed Trissel / Julie Oakes
Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher
212-355-4449
[email protected]
SOURCE World Kitchen
Related Links
http://www.WorldKitchen.com
BELOEIL, QC, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - Demers Ambulances is proud to announce it has signed Interstate Emergency Vehicles Inc. as their new dealer to cover the counties north of highway 72 of the state of Illinois including metropolitan Chicago.
"We are very pleased to have Interstate Emergency Vehicles join our dealer network," said Benoit Lafortune, Executive Vice-President for Demers Ambulances. "With IEV's extensive experience in the fire and rescue industry, we are certain that they will provide top of the line service to existing and new Demers clients."
"The whole Interstate Emergency Vehicles team and I are excited to add Demers Ambulances to our product offering," said Ed Orolin, owner of Interstate Emergency Vehicles Inc. "Adding a leading ambulance brand to our lineup now allows us to serve the Chicagoland area with a complete line of fire and emergency vehicles. Demers shares the same core values as we do and we look forward to developing a solid partnership with the company".
Edward Orolin, owner of Interstate Emergency Vehicles has been in the fire/EMS industry for over 26 years. Interstates sales and support staff are current and/or retired firefighter/paramedics with years of experience in both sales and service. Based in Joliet Illinois, Interstate Emergency Vehicles, Inc. is a familiar name in the Chicagoland area emergency vehicle market with a service department operating from a 12,000 square foot facility with personnel led by Ted Ellison hold ASE certifications as well as EVT certifications for Ambulance, Fire and ARFF vehicles. Services include light refurbishing, service, preventative maintenance programs of fire (engine, aerials rescues) and ambulance apparatus. Interstate is the dealer & warranty center for Rosenbauer America and SVI Trucks. To learn more about Interstate Emergency Vehicles Inc., visit www.interstateinc.us
Demers Ambulances is a North American leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of ambulances, and one of the largest firms of its kind in North America. Over the past 55 years, Demers Ambulances has sold more than 18,000 ambulances to customers in over 20 countries. Demers Ambulances is accredited ISO 9001:2008 and certified by Transport Canada and the USA DOT, by the National Truck Equipment Association (NTEA) in the USA within their "MEMBER VERIFICATION PROGRAM" and recognized as a "QUALIFIED VEHICLES MODIFIER" (QVM) by the Ford Motor Company and, approved up fitter for Mercedes Benz Sprinter Customer Assurance Program. Demers Ambulances meets the highest standards in the industry. To learn more about Demers Ambulances, visit www.demers-ambulances.com
SOURCE Demers-Ambulances inc.
Related Links
www.demers-ambulances.com
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 )
Browse 71 market data Tables and 34 Figures spread through 114 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Dental Syringes Market"
http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/dental-syringe-market-42523876.html
Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report.
The report analyzes and studies the major market drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Rest of the World (RoW). Factors driving the growth of this market include increasing geriatric population, ongoing technological advancements in the field of dental syringes, and supportive government legislations to avoid needlestick injuries. However, the dearth of skilled dental surgeons is expected to limit the optimal growth of this market during the coming years.
On the basis of product, the dental syringes market is categorized into three segments, namely, non-disposable syringes, disposable syringes, and safety syringes. The non-disposable syringes segment is expected to dominate the dental syringes market in 2016 mainly due to the growing number of endodontic & periodontic procedures across the globe, significant adoption of non-disposable syringes among dental professionals for administering anesthesia, and greater affordability of these products due to their reusable nature.
Based on type, the market is segmented into two segments, namely, aspirating syringes, and non-aspirating syringes. The aspirating syringes segment is expected to dominate the market during the forecast period. The prominent market position of the aspirating syringes segment can be primarily attributed to the procedural benefits offered by aspirating syringes over conventional syringes (such as easy syringe handling, minimal operational stress, and better operational control), and longer shelf life of metallic syringes (as compared to conventional plastic syringes).
Speak To Analyst: http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/speaktoanalyst.asp?id=42523876
On the basis of material, the market is segmented into metallic and plastic-based dental syringes. Metallic syringes are expected to dominate the dental syringes market during the study period owing to their advantages (such as long shelf life, reusability, and nonreactive nature) and significant adoption of metallic syringes among dentists.
On the basis of region, the market is segmented into four regions, namely, North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Rest of the World. The Asia-Pacific market is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The growth opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region can be attributed to the presence of a large patient population for target diseases (coupled with rapidly growing geriatric population, especially in Japan and China), rising awareness among healthcare professionals related to needlestick injuries, ongoing government initiatives to modernize & expand healthcare infrastructure, and continuous reduction in product prices.
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In 2015, Septodont (U.S.), 3M Company (U.S.), Dentsply International, Inc. (U.S.), Integra LifeSciences Corporation (U.S.), Vista Dental Products (U.S.), Power Dental USA, Inc. (U.S.), 4tek S.r.l (Italy), A. Titan Instrument Inc. (U.S.), and Delmaks Surgico (Pakistan) were some of the key players operating in the dental syringes market.
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Syringes Market by Usability (Sterilizable/reusable (hypodermic, oral) & Disposable Syringes (conventional, safety, prefilled)), Material (Glass & Plastic Syringes), Type (General & Specialized Syringes (insulin, tuberculin) - Global Forecast to 2021
http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/syringes-market-34590618.html
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SOURCE MarketsandMarkets
SAN FRANCISCO, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --Digital Realty (NYSE: DLR), a leading global provider of data center, colocation and interconnection solutions, announced today it will release financial results for the first quarter 2017 after the market closes on Thursday, April 27, 2017. The company will host a conference call to discuss these results at 5:30 p.m. EDT / 2:30 p.m. PDT on Thursday, April 27, 2017.
To participate in the live call, investors are invited to dial +1 (888) 317-6003 (for domestic callers) or +1 (412) 317-6061 (for international callers) and reference the conference ID #2435204 at least five minutes prior to start time. A live webcast of the call will be available on the Investors section of Digital Realty's website at http://investor.digitalrealty.com.
Telephone and webcast replays will be available one hour after the call until May 27, 2017. The telephone replay can be accessed by dialing +1 (877) 344-7529 (for domestic callers) or +1 (412) 317-0088 (for international callers) and using the conference ID #10104221. The webcast replay can be accessed on Digital Realty's website.
For Additional Information:
Andrew P. Power
Chief Financial Officer
Digital Realty
(415) 738-6500
Investor Relations
John J. Stewart / Maria S. Lukens
Digital Realty
(415) 738-6500
[email protected]
About Digital Realty
Digital Realty supports the data center, colocation and interconnection strategies of more than 2,200 firms across its secure, network-rich portfolio of data centers located throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Digital Realty's clients include domestic and international companies of all sizes, ranging from financial services, cloud and information technology services, to manufacturing, energy, gaming, life sciences and consumer products. https://www.digitalrealty.com/
SOURCE Digital Realty
Related Links
http://www.digitalrealtytrust.com
SAN FRANCISCO, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) today released the Draft Plan Bay Area 2040. After two years of public discussion and technical work, the draft Plan Bay Area 2040 is an updated long-range Regional Transportation Plan and Sustainable Communities Strategy for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. This document discusses how the Bay Area will grow over the next two decades and identifies transportation and land-use strategies to enable a more sustainable, equitable and economically vibrant future.
The effort grew out of the California Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act of 2008 (California Senate Bill 375, Steinberg), which requires each of the state's 18 metropolitan areas including the Bay Area to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cars and light trucks. Plan Bay Area 2040 is a limited and focused update of the region's previous integrated transportation and land use plan, Plan Bay Area, adopted in 2013. View the draft Plan Bay Area 2040 at www.2040.planbayarea.org
MTC and ABAG have scheduled open houses in each of the nine Bay Area counties for comment on the draft Plan Bay Area 2040. Residents are encouraged to attend a workshop where they can view displays, ask questions and offer comments on these documents. The full list of open houses is as follows:
County Location Date and Time Alameda County
Open House Fremont City Hall City Council Chambers 3300 Capitol Avenue Fremont Thursday, May 4 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Contra Costa
County Open
House Embassy Suites Hotel Contra Costa Ballroom 1345 Treat Blvd. Walnut Creek Wednesday, May 10 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Marin County
Public Workshop
and Open House Mill Valley Community Center 180 Camino Alto Mill Valley Saturday, May 20 8:30 a.m. Reg./ Open House 9 a.m. Presentation Open house continues until 1 p.m. Napa County
Open House Elks Lodge 2840 Soscol Avenue Napa Monday, May 15 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. San Francisco
Open House Bay Area Metro Center Yerba Buena Conf. Room 375 Beale Street San Francisco Wednesday, May 17 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. San Mateo County
Open House Sequoia High School Multi-Purpose Room 1201 Brewster Avenue Redwood City Thursday, May 4 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Santa Clara
County Open House Marriott Hotel San Jose Ballroom IV-VI 301 South Market Street San Jose Monday, May 22 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Solano County
Open House Solano County Events Center 601 Texas Street Fairfield Monday, May 15 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sonoma County
Open House Finley Community Center 2060 W. College Ave. Santa Rosa Monday, May 22 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Three public hearings also are opportunities for interested residents to comment on the Draft Plan and its Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for Plan Bay Area 2040, which is slated for release on April 17, along with a Draft Transportation-Air Quality Conformity Analysis for Draft Plan Bay Area 2040 and Amended 2017 Transportation Improvement Program on May 1. The full list of public hearings is as follows:
Public Hearing Location Date and Time Public Hearing in
San Jose Martin Luther King Library, Room 225 150 E. San Fernando Street San Jose, CA 95112 Tuesday, May 16 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Public Hearing in
Vallejo Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum 734 Marin Street Vallejo Thursday May 18 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Public Hearing at
Joint Planning/Adm.
Committees in SF Bay Area Metro Center Board Room 375 Beale Street San Francisco Friday, May 12 9:40 a.m.
Members of the public also are encouraged to view and comment on the draft plan online at www.2040.planbayarea.org. Comments will be reviewed by officials from both agencies as they consider the adoption of the final Plan Bay Area 2040, slated for July 2017. Written comments will be accepted at the open houses; via mail to MTC Public Information, 375 Beale Street, Suite 800, San Francisco, CA, 94105; via fax to 415.536.9800; or via email to [email protected].
The comment period for all documents will close on Thursday, June 1, 2017, at 4 p.m.
Questions? Visit www.PlanBayArea.org, email [email protected], or call 415.778.6757.
Accessible Meetings
Do you need an interpreter or any other assistance to participate? Please call 415.778.6757 or 415.778.6769 for TDD/TTY three days in advance.
Necesita un interprete u otra asistencia para participar? Por favor llamenos con tres dias de anticipacion al 415.778.6757 o 415.778.6769 para TDD/TTY.
.
ABAG is the Council of Governments and official regional planning agency for the 101 cities and towns, and nine counties of the Bay Area. MTC is the transportation planning, financing and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.
SOURCE Metropolitan Transportation Commission
LEXINGTON, Ky., April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Fazoli's announced today it has completely removed all artificial sweeteners, flavors, preservatives and colors from its entire food menu. America's largest fast casual Italian restaurant is the first national brand under 1,000 units and the third restaurant overall behind Panera Bread and Chipotle - to offer a completely clean food menu. Fazoli's and its franchisees operate nearly 220 locations in 25 states.
Fazoli's supply chain is currently 80 percent clean of all artificial ingredients, and on June 19th, will be completely clean of all artificial sweeteners, flavors, preservatives and colors. To achieve this important milestone, Fazoli's has invested more than $1.5 million.
"Fazoli's is proud to take the lead among national brands under 1,000 locations to offer a completely clean food menu. We credit Panera and, recently, Chipotle in doing the same, and are surprised that other larger restaurant systems haven't done so as well," said Carl Howard, President and Chief Executive Officer of Fazoli's. "We began this effort over a year ago with a commitment to our guests to deliver the best tasting, highest-quality food as possible and going clean was the only option. They deserve to enjoy delicious, clean food and our size was not going to get in the way of us accomplishing this significant milestone."
As part of its "Naturally Italian" initiative, Fazoli's worked closely with nearly 50 suppliers to guarantee that a total of 81 artificial ingredients, colors and preservatives were eliminated from its food menu. A few of the additives being removed from menu items include Calcium Propionate, Nitrates and Sodium Benzoate from its proteins, salad dressings and signature breadsticks, as well as artificial flavors, colors and high-fructose corn syrup from all desserts. Several of Fazoli's menu items were already clean including all unfilled pastas, its signature marinara sauce and fresh salads. Fresh brewed tea will be clean, as well, and made with pure cane sugar.
Starting June 19th the brand will also be rolling out a new premium menu in its 122 company-owned locations across the country. The remaining 91 and all new franchised locations will feature the newly upgraded menus in January 2018. Fazoli's has refined its menu offering to bring more flavor and customizable menu options to meet ever-changing consumer tastes and preferences.
The brand will introduce a modernized menu using premium ingredients and offerings such as tableside grated parmesan, upgraded plateware, as well as new dishes such as "Create Your Own Lasagna," "Spicy Sausage Rigatoni," and "Brownie Gelato Sundae."
Fazoli's clean eating initiative is a significant part of the company's brand turnaround, which has been fueled by its strong financial performance, underscored by 15 consecutive quarters of positive same-store sales growth. In addition, Fazoli's franchisees are experiencing nearly three times the industry average growth rate with new franchised restaurants continually setting new systemwide sales records.
Building on this financial success, Fazoli's will begin remodeling select locations with a new, contemporary look and feel to create a better customer experience for its guests. Several locations are scheduled to be remodeled through this summer and will feature textured white brick and other natural materials, as well as Wi-Fi bars and communal dining tables.
Fazoli's is currently seeking single- and multi-unit operators to join its growing, successful franchise network and is targeting new markets across the United States.
Most recently, the brand launched a multi-unit franchise development incentive program available through June 30, 2017. New franchisees that sign a new multi-unit agreement for three or more locations will receive reduced franchise and royalty fees for the first two years of operations. A reduced franchise fee is also available for new multi-unit agreements for three or more non-traditional units, including college campuses, airports and casinos.
For more information about franchise opportunities, visit www.ownafazolis.com or contact Sam Nelson, Vice President of Franchise Recruitment and Development, at 1-800-446-4368 or [email protected].
About Fazoli's
With nearly 220 restaurants, Fazoli's is America's largest Italian fast-casual brand serving freshly prepared entrees, Submarinos sandwiches, salads and pizza. One of the New York Post's five breakout fast-casual restaurants and a Fast Casual.com Brand of the Year, Fazoli's franchisees are experiencing record sales growth.
Contact:
Elayne Jacobs
Fish Consulting
954-893-9150
[email protected]
SOURCE Fazoli's
Related Links
http://www.ownafazolis.com
FCA US LLC is exploring an innovative way to poke holes in conventional vehicle engineering.
Weight reduction, a key contributor to improved fuel economy, can be achieved by using less material. The challenge is determining which components can withstand weight reduction and by how much while still satisfying customer expectations for vehicle durability and performance.
FCA US engineers have developed multiple algorithms to quickly and precisely determine the optimal size and shape of "lightening holes." The new process is one of 24 topics Company engineers will discuss during WCX 2017, the SAE's annual international gathering at Cobo Center.
"Such exchange is vital to the industry's continuing mission of developing vehicles that deliver greater and greater efficiency," said Bob Lee, Head of Powertrain Coordination, FCA Global, and ranking SAE member on the Company's management team. "FCA is proud to support SAE in this ongoing endeavor."
The Company is also co-sponsoring the Leadership Summit at WCX 2017. The featured event is a forum where various industry stakeholders engage in discussions that cover a wide range of topics, including the growing importance of weight reduction.
"FCA US is committed to designing and producing lighter, more fuel-efficient vehicles that still meet the demands of our customers," said Phil Jansen, Head of Product Development, FCA North America. "The all-new 2017 Chrysler Pacifica meets these criteria. Not only is it 250 pounds lighter than the vehicle it replaced, the Pacifica is larger and stiffer.
"Such progress bodes well for our ongoing investigation of strategic material placement," Jansen added.
The algorithms developed by FCA US engineers may be applied to any component. Simulations on virtual truck-frame components saw weight savings of three percent to five percent.
With such a tool at their disposal, vehicle development teams can accelerate their work, which benefits customers by reducing the time required to bring new products to market.
Lee and Jansen will participate in Leadership Summit panel discussions on Thursday, April 6. Their topics, respectively, are product expectations in the next decade, and the current state of industry innovation.
About FCA US LLC
FCA US LLC is a North American automaker with a new name and a long history. Headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, FCA US is a member of the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (FCA) family of companies. FCA US designs, engineers, manufactures and sells vehicles under the Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram and FIAT brands, as well as the SRT performance vehicle designation. The company also distributes Alfa Romeo vehicles and Mopar products. FCA US is building upon the historic foundations of Chrysler, the innovative American automaker first established by Walter P. Chrysler in 1925; and Fiat, founded in Italy in 1899 by pioneering entrepreneurs, including Giovanni Agnelli.
FCA, the seventh-largest automaker in the world based on total annual vehicle sales, is an international automotive group. FCA is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "FCAU" and on the Mercato Telematico Azionario under the symbol "FCA."
Follow FCA US news and video on:
Company blog: blog.fcanorthamerica.com
Company website: www.fcanorthamerica.com
FCA360: 360.fcanorthamerica.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FiatChrysler.NorthAmerica/
Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/chryslergroup/
Media website: media.fcanorthamerica.com
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/fcacorporate
Instagram: www.instagram.com/FiatChrysler_NA
Twitter: www.twitter.com/FiatChrysler_NA
Twitter (Spanish): www.twitter.com/fcausespanol
YouTube: www.youtube.com/pentastarvideo
SOURCE FCA US LLC
Related Links
http://www.fcanorthamerica.com
HONOLULU and TOKYO, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Waikiki Yokocho, a Japanese-themed food alley in the center of Waikiki, announced that the openings of its five newest restaurants completed its first phase with 14 restaurants. All of the first-phase restaurants chose Waikiki Yokocho to be their first locations in the State of Hawaii while 11 of them are new to the U.S. market.
(Photo1: http://prw.kyodonews.jp/prwfile/release/M104098/201703290422/_prw_PI1fl_25a4VRyu.jpg)
(Photo2: http://prw.kyodonews.jp/prwfile/release/M104098/201703290422/_prw_PI2fl_9723LUdm.jpg)
(Photo3: http://prw.kyodonews.jp/prwfile/release/M104098/201703290422/_prw_PI3fl_i4lTRs6z.jpg)
(Photo4: http://prw.kyodonews.jp/prwfile/release/M104098/201703290422/_prw_PI4fl_K90V6irt.jpg)
The five new restaurants are:
- Tsujita, voted for Best Ramen Award in Los Angels for consecutive years, known for its tsukemen style. New to Hawaii.
- Ramen Bario is known for its creamy "tonkotsu" pork bone broth, unique thick al dente noodle, and char siu roast pork. New to USA.
- Baikohken from Asahikawa, Hokkaido, was listed in Michelin Hokkaido 2012 for its authentic shoyu ramen. New to USA.
- Kaneko Hannosuke's world-famous tempura bowls will be highlighting its fresh, authentic, made-to-order tempura. New to Hawaii.
- Nin Nin showcases its Japanese-style curry and popular soup curry, using imported Japanese rice and multigrain mix. New to USA.
"With these new five restaurants, Waikiki Yokocho completed its first-phase openings of 14 restaurants that are all new for this State of Hawaii. We are proud that most of these well-known brands chose Waikiki Yokocho to be their first locations in this country," said Waikiki Yokocho CEO Frank Clark. "All these fantastic 14 restaurants are showcasing not only their quality food but also Japanese-style detailed hospitality called 'Omotenashi' as Japanese culinary experience. I strongly believe that guests from all over the world will enjoy this unique experience together with the local community in Hawaii."
Other nine restaurants include:
- Tonkotsu Kazan Ramen (volcano ramen), known for its sizzling hot pot ramen with steam charging out of a red metal funnel -- just like a volcano. New to USA.
- Nana's Green Tea is a modern-day Japanese tea house popular in Asia with green tea matcha parfait, green latte, and a wide selection of hojicha, Japanese dark roast green tea. New to USA.
- Sizzle from Osaka offers Japanese yakiniku-style barbeque and hot pot including sake shabu shabu using the finest Japanese wagyu beef and U.S. beef. New to USA.
- Kushikatsu Tanaka serves Osaka's soul food kushikatsu, a variety of deep-fried cutlet skewers with panko crust. Its 26-variety kushikatsu menu includes pork, beef, chicken, vegetables, pineapple, Oreo cookies, and more. New to Hawaii.
- Umami Teppan Kingyo's food look like a work of art. Using a flat iron grill, dishes are created to both taste and look amazing. Together with teppanyaki meat and seafood, guests will enjoy okonomiyaki, popular Japanese-style pancake. New to USA.
- Beniya's authentic sushi is made from an award-winning chef's creativity and fresh local and imported seafood. Its daily chef's special Omakase course features seafood from Hawaii's ports, fishing ports from Japan, and all over the world. New to USA.
- Pour is a lounge space perfect for special events and parties. Food and beverages can be catered to the lounge from Yokocho restaurants. New to USA.
- Shichimusubi features Japanese authentic rice ball, or musubi, with organic rice imported from Japan. Together with brown rice and ancient multigrain mix, guests will enjoy real rice quality in Japan. New to USA.
- Nomu is a stylish bar featuring well crafted original cocktails, whiskies, and selections of beer and wine.
For more information, visit Waikiki Yokocho online at www.waikiki-yokocho.com. Also follow Waikiki Yokocho on Facebook at www.facebook.com/waikikiyokocho, on Instagram at www.instagram.com/waikikiyokocho and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/waikikiyokocho.
About Waikiki Yokocho
Based on the dining alleys popular in Japan, Waikiki Yokocho is a gourmet dining alley featuring a selection of 16 first-in-Hawaii eateries. Located in the basement of Waikiki Shopping Plaza, the 23,000-square-foot space is sectioned into three distinct areas -- Ramen Road, Noren Street, and Engawa Terrace. Waikiki Yokocho opened in December 2016. For more information, visit www.waikiki-yokocho.com.
SOURCE Waikiki Yokocho
Related Links
http://www.waikiki-yokocho.com
CHICAGO, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Jeremy K. Flack, CEO of Flack Global Metals, and Greg Underwood, President of Kenwood Painted Metals, have announced the merger of their companies, effective April 1, 2017. Mr. Flack will retain his position as CEO of Flack Global Metals, and Mr. Underwood will join the company as executive vice president. Flack has realized considerable recent gains that are reflected in its 34 percent year-on-year revenue growth and 30 percent gross profit increase in 2016. The merger will help Flack sustain its growth trajectory moving forward.
"As Greg and I considered this opportunity, it became evident that Kenwood's painted materials experience, strong brand recognition, and wide customer base in concert with our revolutionary approach has the potential to create a compelling presence in the metals industry," stated Mr. Flack. Ben Bucci, Flack Global Metals president, said, "This merger represents two strong companies coming together to further our capabilities for execution at even higher levels. With combined capital and scale, our companies create a compelling offering that is galvanizing the iconic US steel and metals industry. We believe this is exactly what customers and vendors expect from The Next Generation Service Center."
Kenwood will expand and enhance Flack's network of North American processing partners and global network of resources. "The merger is a great opportunity for us to expand our product offering," said Mr. Underwood. "Kenwood adds extensive coil coating expertise to Flack's impressive processing capabilities. Flack's pivotal convergence of its metals market expertise and international networks allow us to capture new opportunities and service clients from purchase through delivery."
Flack and Kenwood share an asset-light business model, forgoing physical assets in favor of developing the flexibility and geographic reach to deliver customized solutions. Both companies work primarily with OEMs in transportation, automotive, HVAC, construction, doors and lighting.
Founded in 2010, Flack designs and fulfills supply chains for OEMs using flat rolled steel, aluminum and stainless. Each metal is prepared to all value levels including coating, embossing, blanking, slitting, and sheeting. The company's market experts help customers make informed purchasing decisions and mitigate risk through long- and short-term pricing solutions that support budgets and provide increased efficiencies with greater returns. Logistics teams develop strategic programs that optimize customers' supply chains to mitigate volatility and uneven inventories.
Kenwood has been a leader in painted metals for over 30 years. The knowledge and technical expertise behind its success augments the integrity, durability, and functionality of the original material. Also joining Flack's leadership team will be Kenwood's Aaron Underwood, as vice president of construction products, Rick Sutkus, as chief operating officer, and Jeremiah Porter as vice president of business intelligence. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Flack will add Kenwood's suburban Chicago, Illinois and Atlanta, Georgia offices to its existing locations in Chicago, Scottsdale, Arizona and Columbia, South Carolina.
Contact:
Aaron Schultze
Chief of Staff
312-690-8004
About Flack Global Metals
Flack Global Metals takes price volatility out of the steel industry and adds agility and real-time responsiveness to processing and supply chain management. When the power of our asset-light business model, metals market expertise, and global resource networks meets your go-to-market strategies the result is a renewed ability to focus on your business growth with confidence in price, quality and service. Learn more at http://www.flackglobalmetals.com.
SOURCE Flack Global Metals
Related Links
http://www.flackglobalmetals.com
Currently Dinesh is President of TiE London, part of a worldwide organisation that fosters entrepreneurship. He is Chairman of CEO (Chief Executive Organisation UK) and is a member of the Federal Board of the Liberal Democratic Party and advisor to the leader of the party on Enterprise.
In 2006 Dinesh graduated from the President's Programme in Leadership at Harvard Business School. He has won a number of awards over the years including Entrepreneur of the Year from Management Today Magazine in 2003 and the GG2 Awards' Asian Man of The Year in 2004.
"We are very excited to welcome Dinesh to our highly respected board of advisors," said Fineqia's CEO, Bundeep Singh Rangar. "His unprecedented experience in building a successful online platform and investment background will be very important to us when building out Fineqia."
Fineqia's board of advisors and its members are not officers or directors of the Company. The Company's board of advisors now consists of: Dr. Tryggvi Thor Herbertsson, Rudra Dalmia, Julian Costley and Dinesh Dhamija.
About Fineqia International Inc.
Fineqia's business model is to provide an online platform and associated services for the placement of debt and equity securities, initially in the UK. The platform will transparently highlight the risks and objectively outline opportunities involved. For more information, visit www.fineqia.com.
NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATORY SERVICE PROVIDER HAS REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THE CONTENT OF THIS NEWS RELEASE.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Some statements in this release may contain forward-looking information. All statements, other than of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future (including, without limitation, statements regarding potential acquisitions and financings) are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by use of the words "may", "will", "should", "continue", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "believe", "intend", "plan" or "project" or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's ability to control or predict, that may cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, without limitation, the inability of the Company to complete the Change of Business, failure to obtain sufficient financing, and other risks disclosed in the Company's public disclosure record on file with the relevant securities regulatory authorities. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and except as may be required by applicable securities laws. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement.
SOURCE Fineqia International Inc.
Related Links
www.fineqia.com
ATLANTA, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Global media leader, philanthropist, producer and actress Oprah Winfrey will deliver the commencement address for Agnes Scott College's 128th graduation ceremony on Saturday, May 13, at 9:30 a.m. Winfrey will receive an honorary degree at commencement.
"We are educating our students to become global change agents who have the courage, compassion and commitment to make a difference in the world. Oprah Winfrey is a phenomenal model of leading a purpose-driven life with her impressive legacy of leadership, philanthropy and service. We are honored and thrilled to welcome her to our college to share an inspiring and empowering message with our 2017 graduates as they embark on the next stage of their life's journey," said Elizabeth Kiss, president of Agnes Scott College.
For 25 years, Winfrey was host of the award-winning talk show "The Oprah Winfrey Show." As chairperson and CEO, she is guiding her successful cable network, OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, is the founder of "O, The Oprah Magazine" and oversees Harpo Films. In 2013, Winfrey was awarded the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.
An Academy Award-nominated actress for her role in "The Color Purple," Winfrey has appeared in a number of notable productions including the upcoming HBO Films' "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" and will portray "Mrs. Which" in Disney's "Wrinkle in Time" film adaptation scheduled for release in April 2018.
Winfrey is also one of the most active philanthropists in the world, donating more than $20 million to the creation of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture. The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa, to which she has contributed more than $100 million to educate academically gifted girls from disadvantaged backgrounds, will celebrate its 10th anniversary this year. A member of this year's senior class is a graduate of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls.
Deborah Bial, president and founder of the Posse Foundation, an award-winning national youth leadership and college access program, will also receive an honorary degree at commencement and offer remarks to the graduating class.
Since its founding in 1989, the Posse Foundation has helped to send nearly 8,000 young people of diverse backgrounds to partner colleges and universities. Posse Scholars are recruited from cities across the country and placed in cohorts of 10, called "posses," for training and mentorship support. Each receives a four-year, full-tuition scholarship from their host institution. Posse Scholars currently graduate at a rate of 90 percent, with many rising to leadership positions on campus and in their professional careers. Bial has been honored with many awards for her work with Posse including a MacArthur Fellowship from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Agnes Scott has been a Posse partner college since 2013, enrolling Posse Scholars from Chicago.
"We are delighted to award Deborah Bial an honorary degree at this year's commencement ceremony, as we celebrate the graduation of our very first Posse. A visionary educational leader, she has touched the lives of thousands of bright and promising students by pushing the doors of opportunity open so that they can achieve their dreams," said President Kiss.
Agnes Scott's Baccalaureate Vespers service will be held on Friday, May 12, at 4:30 p.m. in Gaines Chapel on the campus. The Rev. Pam Driesell, senior pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, will bring the message to our graduates this year. Baccalaureate is a multifaith worship service providing an opportunity for graduates and their families to pause and reflect as they prepare to begin the next chapter of their lives.
Driesell earned a Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary, where she was awarded the James T. Galloway Prize in Expository Preaching. At Trinity, her focus areas are visionary leadership, preaching and worship, pastoral care and empowering excellence in education and mission.
About Agnes Scott College
Agnes Scott College educates women to think deeply, live honorably and engage the intellectual and social challenges of their times. Students are drawn to Agnes Scott by its excellent academic reputation, exceptional faculty and metropolitan Atlanta locationoffering myriad social, cultural and experiential learning opportunities. This highly selective liberal arts college is known for its diverse and dynamic intellectual community. Through SUMMIT, it provides every student, regardless of major, with an individualized course of study and co-curricular experiences that develop leadership abilities and understanding of complex global dynamics.
SOURCE Agnes Scott College
Related Links
http://www.agnesscott.edu
ATLANTA, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Joe DeLago, CEO of Good2Go Auto Insurance, Inc., has announced the company will be joining the National Safety Council in its mission to make roads safer.
Good2Go Auto Insurance, Inc. and Good2Go Auto Insurance is a good fit for the National Safety Council, considering its ongoing commitment to preventing distracted driving. Last year, DeLago called out CEOs of major American auto manufacturers, pleading for them to eliminate further technological distractions from new vehicles.
"With thousands of people dying and hundreds of thousands more becoming injured, distracted driving is a huge threat to public safety," says DeLago. "It is imperative that we do something to decrease that threat."
The National Safety Council kicks off Distracted Driver Awareness month this week, in an effort to garner attention to the dangers of distracted driving, and empower drivers to put their safety first. By becoming a member of the National Safety Council, Good2Go Auto Insurance pledges to continue to advocate for safety through education and by offering its Cell Phone Safety Discount. To learn more about the Good2Go Auto Insurance Cell Phone Safety Discount visit www.good2go.com.
About Good2Go Auto Insurance: Based in Atlanta, GA, Good2Go Auto Insurance is a member of the family of American Independent Inc., dba Good2Go Auto Insurance. Good2Go Auto Insurance was founded over a quarter of a century ago on the simple premise that getting car insurance shouldn't be difcult. Good2Go Auto Insurance specializes in offering minimal liability limits car insurance, while also offering collision and comprehensive coverage, to underserved drivers.
Its mission is to make it easy for all drivers to be an insured driver by giving them access to fast, easy, and cheap car insurance that will get them behind the wheel for less up front with low down payments and convenient payment plans that t any budget. For more information, visit www.good2go.com.
SOURCE Good2Go Auto Insurance, Inc.
Related Links
http://www.good2go.com
BRUSSELS, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Gigabit Access -- Greenlee Textron Inc., a Textron Inc. (NYSE:TXT) company, today announced the release of its G.Fast solution under the Greenlee Communications brand, which will be on display at the 2017 Gigabit Access Conference & Exhibition; April 4th-5th, Brussels, Belgium.
With gigabit becoming the gold standard in broadband, service providers are looking at the many options to deliver on that promise alongside the many challenges with each approach. Fiber to the Home has got a lot of press but is breaking the bank in terms of cost. Telco's are seeking solutions that can maximize their existing copper infrastructure while delivering on the Ultra-fast speed promise. In response to the need, Greenlee has just released the very latest Ultra-Fast technology in G.Fast to its leading SidekickPlus product line.
"The best part about this technology is that it works over regular phone lines and coaxial cables. Which means it can be deployed in most cities without having to throw huge amounts of cash at new infrastructure, simply using the copper that's already available to the service providers," commented Mark Barmettler, Vice President & GM for Greenlee Communications. "Service providers' strategy to deploy a copper technology that feels like a pure fiber optic connection to the user is delivering on the Ultra-Fast promise without the large expense of Fiber all the way. The Sidekick Plus- is a must for service providers rolling out this ultra-fast G.Fast broadband service to subscribers."
"The Sidekick Plus test set provides technicians with an intuitive handheld solution with a broad copper fault finding capability as well as the ability to install, turn up and maintain G.Fast, VDSL2, and ADSL2+ deployments all within a single test set, no modules needed." In addition to supporting G.Fast, the Sidekick Plus has also added crosstalk TDR and even faster time to results as well as extending the battery life of these critical solutions.
For more information on the G.Fast solution, visit G.Fast or call 1(800) 642-2155 / +1 760 510 0533.
About Greenlee Communications
Greenlee Communications offers a complete line of innovative and industry-leading test and measurement solutions for the communication service provider industry. Our expertise and innovative solutions address all stages of network deployment enabling the development, installation and maintenance of xDSL, fiber, cable and wireless networks. It is a leading brand of test and measurement solutions in the global communications industry with a long track record of delivering high quality innovative solutions. For more information, visit Greenlee Communications.
About Greenlee Textron Inc.
Greenlee Textron Inc. is known as a global leader in the professional tool category. The Rockford, Illinois- based company develops high quality innovative products distinguished by customer-driven design and differentiated by supply chain excellence. It also leverages its powerful brands such as Greenlee Communications and Greenlee Utility in the electrical, construction and maintenance markets worldwide. More information is available at www.greenlee.com.
About Textron Inc.
Textron Inc. is a multi-industry company that leverages its global network of aircraft, defense, industrial and finance businesses to provide customers with innovative solutions and services. Textron is known around the world for its powerful brands such as Bell Helicopter, Cessna, Beechcraft, Hawker, Jacobsen, Kautex, Lycoming, E-Z-GO, Greenlee, Textron Off Road, Textron Systems, and TRU Simulation + Training. For more information visit www.textron.com.
Certain statements in this press release may project revenues or describe strategies, goals, outlook or other non-historical matters; these forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update them. These statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
PR Contact:
Andy Fritts
fh group
(814) 459-2443 ext 113
[email protected]
SOURCE Greenlee Communications
(Adds details on growth forecasts, monetary policy outlook)
SANTIAGO, April 3 (Reuters) - Chile's central bank cut its forecast for gross domestic product growth in 2017 to a range of 1.0 percent to 2.0 percent, it said Monday, warning that a long strike at the world's biggest copper mine would likely shave off 0.2 percentage points in the year.
That compared with a previous growth estimate of 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent.
In its quarterly monetary policy report (IPoM), the bank said the 43-day-long strike at BHP Billiton Plc-owned Escondida, which ended without a clear resolution in March, would take an entire percentage point off growth in the first quarter.
Escondida produced over 1 million tonnes of copper last year, about 5 percent of the world's total, and significantly more than any other individual deposit.
Outside of the strike, persistently weak economic activity and investment in Chile has led the bank to cut the interest rate 50 basis points so far this year, and the bank has left the door open to more stimulus.
"The base case assumes that the monetary policy rate will continue to be expansive," said central bank head Mario Marcel in a speech to senators on Monday as he presented the report. (Reporting by Antonio de la Jara and Gram Slattery; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
"For tourists, the tea culture expo during the spring provides the opportunity to experience the best tea. It is also ideal to explore the tales of longjing tea, as they trace back along the history of tea, and experience every step in making and brewing it," said Zhao Hongzhong, deputy director of the Hangzhou Tourism Commission.
Longjing Village is a perfect destination to experience Chinese green tea during the expo. It's one of the few places where people can enjoy authentic longjing, which is made from the tender tea leaves that are harvested in early spring. Visitors can also watch how it's roasted by hand and join local tea masters to turn, press and spread the tea leaves to make their very own tin of longjing.
Tourists can also visit the China National Tea Museum to learn about Chinese tea through vivid exhibitions and tempting tea houses. The museum is one of Hangzhou locals' favorite places to go, as visitors are immersed in the tea field surrounding the village while tasting fresh tea.
"Hangzhou welcomes all visitors to join the 2017 Hangzhou Tea Culture Expo in this perfect season for longjing. Through a journey in the urban tea villages, we hope they can enjoy authentic longjing tea and Hangzhou's laid-back lifestyle," said Zhao.
About Hangzhou
Host of the most recent G20 summit, Hangzhou is a city praised by Marco Polo as the finest and most splendid in the world. Home to tea and silk, it continues its legacy from the flourishing dynasty's capital to a vibrant and dazzling metropolis with World Heritage sites, scenic natural vistas and profound Chinese culture. Located 50 minutes from Shanghai by high-speed rail, Hangzhou offers a 144-hour visa-free transit.
SOURCE Hangzhou Tourism Commission
It is the Holiday Inn brand's priority and personal promise to go above and beyond to bring smiles to guests' faces, making their stay even more memorable than expected. Whether guests are catching up with family, relaxing after a long day of exploring new sights or celebrating a big win while traveling for business, the Holiday Inn brand's friendly service delivers the same result Smiles Ahead.
Eric Lent, Vice President, Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza Brands, Americas said: "The Holiday Inn brand has been on a journey over the last few years, introducing a new guestroom design, as well as new on property experiences and food & beverage concepts, while driving even greater guest satisfaction through increased service levels, delivering a more enjoyable travel experience for all. With this ongoing evolution comes a continual opportunity to showcase to travelers the welcoming, full-service stay experience our hotels offer. We developed the Smiles Ahead campaign to bring these benefits to life and to highlight how Holiday Inn hotels go above and beyond to give our guests even more to look forward to during their stay with us. The Smiles Ahead campaign is the perfect representation of what the Holiday Inn brand stands for."
Smiles Ahead television advertising, launching today, features a young girl traveling with her family and her beloved stuffed bear, which the hotel staff embrace as a special guest putting a smile on the girl's face throughout her stay and long after. The multimillion dollar television, digital and experiential campaign, developed in collaboration with Ogilvy & Mather, Weber Shandwick and Mindshare, will appear on network TV and cable, Spanish language cable and across the Holiday Inn brand's various digital platforms, including the brand's Joy of Travel blog.
The song featured in the commercial, "You've Got a Smile," is written and performed by Nashville artist Daniel Ellsworth, whose band Daniel Ellsworth & The Great Lakes was named by Esquire magazine as one of "15 Bands to Watch" following their latest album release. The song will be released in the near future via Soundcloud, Facebook, Bandcamp and YouTube as well as on Spotify and iTunes.
See how the Smiles Ahead campaign is coming to life across media by visiting the Holiday Inn brand's blog, Joy of Travel, at joyoftravel.holidayinn.com.
About the Holiday Inn Brand
The Holiday Inn brand, which offers nearly 1,250 hotels and resorts worldwide, has helped millions of travelers discover the joy of travel since its inception in 1952. Designed to meet the needs of both business and leisure travelers, Holiday Inn hotels deliver memorable experiences through warm and welcoming service, contemporary design that blends the familiar with the new, and a sense of comfort unique to the brand and its iconic green sign. At Holiday Inn hotels, guests can find amenities to help them work and play, including full-service restaurants where Kids Eat Free, meeting and business facilities, bright swimming pools and comfortable lounges all designed to help guests relax and refresh, making travel more enjoyable for all. For more information about the Holiday Inn brand, visit www.holidayinn.com or call 1-888-HOLIDAY. Find us on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/holidayinn or Facebook www.Facebook.com/holidayinnhotels.
Notes to Editors:
IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global organisation with a broad portfolio of hotel brands, including InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, Hotel Indigo, EVEN Hotels, HUALUXE Hotels and Resorts, Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites.
IHG franchises, leases, manages or owns nearly 5,200 hotels and 770,000 guest rooms in almost 100 countries, with nearly 1,500 hotels in its development pipeline. IHG also manages IHG Rewards Club, the world's first and largest hotel loyalty programme, with more than 100 million enrolled members worldwide.
InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group's holding company and is incorporated in Great Britain and registered in England and Wales. More than 350,000 people work across IHG's hotels and corporate offices globally.
Visit www.ihg.com for hotel information and reservations and www.ihgrewardsclub.com for more on IHG Rewards Club. For our latest news, visit: www.ihgplc.com/media and follow us on social media at: www.twitter.com/ihg, www.facebook.com/ihg and www.youtube.com/ihgplc.
SOURCE IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group)
Related Links
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And so the Coalition created #WriteYourScript to help close that gap.
The #WriteYourScript experience takes users through a "script-writing" journey, which serves as a metaphor for making decisions about care. The engaging, positive approach is intended to make the process accessible, as almost half of Massachusetts residents have never discussed their wishes for serious illness care with a loved one. And, only 15 percent have had conversations with their doctors. Additionally, while 80 percent of people nationally would prefer to die at home, only 20 percent doa result of not communicating preferences. With #WriteYourScript, the Coalition is working to shift from the current status quo into more active conversation.
The #WriteYourScript experience also provides users with actionable advice and resources, such as guidance on how to complete an advance directive. It is designed for anyone, at any age.
"People usually don't recognize the value of advance care planning until it's too lateuntil a loved one with a serious illness is no longer able to speak for themselves about their wishes for their care," said Atul Gawande, M.D., M.P.H., co-chair of the Coalition, executive director of Ariadne Labs, a joint center of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and author of the New York Times bestseller, Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End.
"When care is not aligned with our priorities for the quality of our life, the result is suffering. This campaign encourages people at all stages of life to think about what matters most to them now so that any future treatment aligns with their values and wishes. We hope that awareness will get people talking and inspire them to complete advance directives. The goal is not a good death; the goal is a good life all the way until the end."
"Advance care planning isn't top-of-mind for people, especially when they're healthy," said Maureen Bisognano, co-chair of the Coalition and president emerita and senior fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. "But, unfortunately, we never know when we might face a serious illness. We need to think about what we want for care, communicate those wishes, and document them so we're prepared. #WriteYourScript is raising awareness for a topic that can be uncomfortable--thinking about our own potential serious illness--by introducing the advance care planning conversation with an engaging, informative exercise."
We all have simple pleasures that bring joy to our lives. Advance care planning compels us to consider, "What makes life worth living?" For instance, if I'm unable to watch my favorite team on Sundays, or enjoy my favorite food, am I willing to endure extraordinary treatments that might extend my life, but don't preserve my quality-of-life priorities?
Communicating and documenting each of our answers to these types of questions ensures our preferences for care are honored, particularly when we are unable to advocate for ourselves.
To take part in #WriteYourScript, visit www.maseriouscare.org/writeyourscript and join the conversation on Twitter by following @MASeriousCare.
In addition to National Healthcare Decisions Day, the #WriteYourScript campaign coincides with Massachusetts Healthcare Decisions Month. The broad awareness effort is designed to encourage people to speak with their loved ones and their doctors about their wishes for care, and to identify a healthcare proxy who can ensure those wishes are respected. A component of the larger effort will be "Before I Die," a global public art project that invites people to reflect on what's most important to them in life. Several Boston-area organizations will participate in the installation.
About the Massachusetts Coalition for Serious Illness Care
The Massachusetts Coalition for Serious Illness Care includes a diverse set of organizations committed to ensuring that health care for everyone in the Commonwealth reflects their goals, values, and preferences. Each member organization commits to tangible initiatives to help advance this collective mission. These groups include physicians, nurses, hospice workers, counselors, clergy, hospital and health plan administrators, social workers, attorneys, policymakers, researchers, and other health professionals. The Coalition is funded by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and the Rx Foundation. To learn more, visit maseriouscare.org.
Media Contact:
Brenna Fitzgerald
[email protected]
857-300-2060
SOURCE Massachusetts Coalition for Serious Illness Care
Related Links
http://www.maseriouscare.org
ALBANY, New York, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Since the global Human Microbiome Market is in a nascent stage, a large number of players are entering into this market on a regular interval, which resultantly, is expected to intensify the competition within this market over the forthcoming years, finds a new research study by Transparency Market Research (TMR).
The leading companies are concentrating on technological advancements and product innovations in order to strengthen their position in the global market in the near future. Mergers and acquisitions will also be a preferred strategy among participants looking for further expansion, reports the market study.
According to the research study, the worldwide human microbiome market will worth US$2.2 bn in 2020 is anticipated to expand at a healthy CAGR of 9.80% during the period from 2020 to 2024 and attain an amount worth US$3.2 bn in revenues by the end of the forecast period. Diagnostics and therapeutics are the two main component of the worldwide human microbiome market. Rising at a CAGR of 9.20% between 2020 and 2024, the human microbiome therapeutics market is expected to register significant growth over the next few years. Similarly, the human microbiome diagnostics market is anticipated to rise at an impressive CAGR of 8.60% from 2018 to 2024.
Browse Market Research Report @ http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/human-microbiome-market.html
Increasing Pool of Venture-cap Funded Startups to Ensure North America's Lead
The research study further presents an exhaustive report on the geographical analysis of the worldwide human microbiome market. North America, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, Europe, and Latin America have been considered as the prime geographical segments of this market in this report. North America has emerged as the leading regional market for human microbiome, thanks to the early adoption of technology and the presence of a state-of-art medical and healthcare industry.
This North American market is expected to remain on top over the forecast period on the ground of the increasing pool of venture-capital funded startups and the escalating investments by leading players for research and development of drugs in this region. The North America human microbiome therapeutics market is projected to rise at a CAGR of 9.10% between 2020 and 2024, whereas, the market for human microbiome diagnostics in North America will proliferate at a CAGR of 8.80% from 2018 to 2024, notes the study. The Europe market for human microbiome is projected to retain its second position over the next few years, thanks to the high investments by companies in this domain France.
Fill the form for an exclusive sample of this report @ http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=3999
Rise in Clinical Trials for Gut Health-based Diseases to Boost Market
"The global human microbiome market is mainly driven by the rise in clinical trials for gut health-based diseases and the rising investments by angel investors and venture capital firms/individual venture capitalists in the research and development of human microbiome-based therapies," states the author of the study. With human microbiome being a relatively new and highly potent domain, drugmakers across the world have put a keen eye for it, which is materializing into increased capital investments. This, as a result, is likely to boost the worldwide market for human microbiome over the next few years.
Although the opportunities in this market look rewarding, the current lack of certainty over the performance of these drugs in the long run over different individuals and the regulatory hurdles for approval are likely to create obstacles in the growth trajectory of this market in the near future, states the research report.
The study presented here is based on a report by Transparency Market Research (TMR), titled "Human Microbiome Market (Indication - Gastrointestinal and Metabolic Disorders, Women's Health, and Cancer; Technology - 16s rRNA Sequencing and Metagenomic Sequencing; Therapeutic Area - Gastrointestinal Disorders, Metabolic Disorders, Women's Health, and Skin Disorders) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2018 - 2024."
Browse Press Release: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/human-microbiome-market.htm
The global human microbiome market has been segmented as follows:
By Indication
Gastrointestinal and Metabolic Disorders
Women's Health
Cancer
Others
By Technology
16s rRNA Sequencing
Metagenomic Sequencing
By Therapeutic Area
Gastrointestinal Disorders
Metabolic Disorders
Women's Health
Skin Disorders
Others
By Geography
North America U.S. Canada
Europe Germany U.K. Rest of Europe
Asia Pacific China Japan Rest of Asia Pacific
Latin America Brazil Mexico Rest of Latin America
Middle East and Africa UAE South Africa Rest of Middle East and Africa
and
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About Us:
Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a U.S. based provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMR's global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.
Contact Us:
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SOURCE Transparency Market Research
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140310/673848 )
"Mary Ellen brings to IDTechEx over 20 years' exhibition and event experience" says Christine Clare, Exhibition Director at IDTechEx. "We are delighted to have her lead our global exhibition sales team."
Most recently at Reed Exhibitions, Mary Ellen was responsible for 14 international events in 7 industries within 10 international markets. She won the 100% club award for achieving over 100% of her portfolio target 16 times and won Sales Person of the year on four occasions.
IDTechEx hosts one of the world's fastest growing events on emerging technologies, with attendance increasing by over 15%. The IDTechEx Show! event uniquely brings together end users seeking solutions to problems, or with a need to differentiate, with the hottest emerging technologies. The event is devised by analysts, removing the hype and covering the true opportunity.
"We are thrilled to have Mary Ellen - an event 'rock star' - at IDTechEx to contribute to our event growth, especially with her focus on customer service and creating a great event experience which is one of the most important ways we differentiate our events" states Raghu Das, CEO of IDTechEx.
Mary Ellen Guerrlich reports, "The IDTechEx team have created a strong, rapidly growing event brand which I'm delighted to be a part of."
The IDTechEx Show! connects emerging technologies with global brands and presents the latest emerging technologies at one event. If features nine concurrent conference tracks and a single exhibition covering 3D Printing, Electric Vehicles, Energy Harvesting, Energy Storage, Graphene, Internet of Things, Printed Electronics, Sensors & Wearable Technology.
Over 3,000 attendees and 200 exhibitors will attend the next IDTechEx Show! in Berlin on 10 & 11 May, 2017. The following IDTechEx Show! will be in Santa Clara, CA on November 15-16 2017. This is the largest event on emerging technologies in the world with an anticipated 3,500 attendees, 225 exhibitors and 250 speakers. For further information visit http://www.IDTechEx.com/Events
About IDTechEx
IDTechEx holds the world's leading events on emerging technologies. Events are organized by analysts who structure the conference program to cover the most pressing topics, with insights on emerging technologies from potential users without the hype. Learn more at http://www.idtechex.com/events
Mary Ellen Guerrlich
VP Business Development, Events
+1-617-577-7890
[email protected]
SOURCE IDTechEx
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 )
Browse 145 market data Tables and 41 Figures spread through 161 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Metering Pumps Market"
http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/metering-pump-market-949.html
Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report.
The market growth is attributed to the increasing demand for metering pumps in the water treatment, petrochemicals, oil & gas, chemical processing, pharmaceuticals, food & beverages, pulp & paper industries.
The diaphragm segment led the Metering Pumps Market in 2016
Diaphragm type of metering pump is used for dosing and chemical injection applications. It can handle fluids with some solid materials without any corrosion or damage to the pump. It is estimated to be the leading metering pump type in the market due to its safe, precise, and efficient operations. Furthermore, in diaphragm metering pumps, there is no moving part in direct contact with fluid except valves. Additionally, this type of metering pumps can be operated mechanically and hydraulically.
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The water treatment industry accounted for the largest share of the Metering Pumps Market in 2016
The water treatment industry accounted for the major share of the Metering Pumps Market, followed by petrochemicals industry. Metering pumps are used for the purification of drinking water and treatment of wastewater in the water treatment industry. These pumps are also used for dosing acids and alkalis for pH-control, transfer and injection of flocculent, suspensions breakers, chemical reagents, and sludge removers. Increasing demand for pure drinking water and government regulations for water disposal are the major drivers of the water treatment industry.
The rising demand for metering pumps from Asia-Pacific is expected to be a key factor driving the growth of Metering Pumps Market in the region
Asia-Pacific is estimated to be the leading market for metering pumps. China was the largest and also projected the fastest-growing market for metering pumps during the forecast period. India, Japan, and South Korea are the other main countries contributing to the growth of Metering Pumps Market in the region. The increasing demand for metering pumps from the end-use industries such as water treatment, petrochemicals, oil & gas, and chemical cessing is expected to drive the Metering Pumps Market in these countries.
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The key companies profiled in the Metering Pumps Market research report are IDEX Corporation (U.S.), Injection Technical Control Incorporation (Spain), Lewa GmbH (Germany), Mcfarland-Tritan LLC (U.S.), Milton Roy Company (U.S.), Prominent Dosiertechnik GmbH (Germany), Seko S.P.A. (Italy), Swelore Engineering Private Limited (India), Seepax GmbH (Germany), and SPX Flow Technology Norderstedt GmbH (Germany).
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"I know that God is going to use me in a powerful way to continue to help Wesley Seminary grow," she said. "The team that envisioned Wesley Seminary gave birth to this beautiful place. Dr. Schmidt's leadership propelled us from zero to 500. And I'm excited about playing a part in the future of the Seminary. I feel passionate about our role in kingdom building."
Derr succeeds Jo Anne Lyon, who has served as the interim president since the departure of Wayne Schmidt, D. Min., the first president of Wesley Seminary, which opened in 2009. Schmidt left after being elected General Superintendent of the North American General Conference of The Wesleyan Church in 2016.
"Dr. Derr has earned a reputation as an advocate and resource for an array of church ministries, an effective administrator and a wise and dynamic leader," said David Wright, Ph. D., president of Indiana Wesleyan University (IWU) in announcing Derr's appointment to the IWU community. "We are grateful that God has prepared Dr. Derr for this work and look forward to her leadership."
In addition to chairing the Seminary faculty, she has served as a member of the University Faculty Senate and has been active on numerous university committees. She is currently part of the team developing a
Doctor of Ministry in Formation, which is scheduled to launch in the fall of 2018, and she was an integral part of developing the Master of Arts in Children, Youth and Family Ministry.
Wesley Seminary serves more than 500 students in 34 states and 11 countries. The Seminary, which offers programs in Spanish, has a diverse student body that is almost 40 percent ethnic minority.
"Wesley Seminary is a special place that has developed quality programs and faculty since it opened in 2009 on Indiana Wesleyan University's Marion campus," Wright said. "It is being used by God to engage and equip pastors to lead their churches and reach individuals for Christ."
Derr has a Master of Arts in Ministry Leadership from Indiana Wesleyan University and a Doctor of Education in Christian Education Leadership from Regent University.
She is married to Wayne Derr, and they have four adult children, Jerica, Zachary, Tyler and Anna.
About Indiana Wesleyan University
Indiana Wesleyan University (IWU) is a Christian comprehensive university of The Wesleyan Church that is committed to global liberal arts and professional education. The university system includes IWUMarion, where about 3,000 students are enrolled in traditional programs on the main campus in Marion, Ind.; IWUNational and Global, which includes more than 10,000 adult learners throughout the world who study online or at 15 education centers in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio; and Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesley University, which offers a practical and student-centered approach for busy, working ministers. IWU's DeVoe School of Business, the School of Nursing, the School of Health Sciences, the School of Educational Leadership, the School of Service and Leadership, and the Division of Liberal Arts are all housed within the National and Global campus.More information is available at www.indwes.edu.
About Wesley Seminary
The Indiana Wesleyan University Board of Trustees formed Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University in April 2009 so that the university has a seminary with a practical and student-centered approach for busy, working ministers. The Wesley Seminary model allows ministers to stay in their current ministry setting while attending seminary. In addition to a Doctor of Ministry, the seminary also offers Master of Divinity, Master of Arts, and a Master of Practical Theology, as well as certificate programs in church revitalization; children, youth and family ministry; and church planting and multiplication. More information is available at www.indwes.edu/seminary.
Indiana Wesleyan University Contact:
Jerry Shepherd, Associate Vice President
Adult Enrollment Services
765-677-2285
[email protected]
PR Contact:
Michele Lemmon
GREENCREST
614-885-7921
[email protected]
SOURCE Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University
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CHARLESTOWN, Mass., April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Indigo, a company dedicated to harnessing nature to help farmers sustainably feed the planet, announces today the appointment of three new senior executive leaders reporting directly to Chief Executive Officer and Director David Perry. Indigo also announces the appointment of John Gehring, former Chief Financial Officer of Conagra Brands, to its Board of Directors. New team members bring deep and diverse experience, and strengthen the organization capabilities in agriculture, technology, and food.
New members to the Executive Committee
The three seasoned leaders that have joined Indigo's Executive Committee include:
Paul T. Dacier as General Counsel
as General Counsel Ponsi Trivisvavet as Chief Operating Officer
Gerard Keating as Chief Technology Officer
Paul T. Dacier joins Indigo as General Counsel. Previously, Mr. Dacier served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel at EMC Corporation. He was responsible for the worldwide legal affairs of EMC and its subsidiaries and oversaw the company's internal audit, real estate, and facilities organizations, as well as its sustainability and government affairs departments. In 2015, Mr. Dacier was appointed chairman of the Massachusetts Judicial Nominating Commission by Governor Charles D. Baker, Jr. In 2013 and 2014, Mr. Dacier also served as President of the Boston Bar Association, one of the oldest bar associations in America that has more than 10,000 members.
Ponsi Trivisvavet joins Indigo as Chief Operating Officer (COO). As Indigo grows from an R&D- focused company to one that is solving problems for growers of multiple different crops around the world, Mrs. Trivisvavet will play a key role in scaling the organization to meet those evolving needs. Mrs. Trivisvavet comes from Syngenta, where she was most recently President of Syngenta Seeds North America. She has held leadership positions in Europe, Asia, and the United States.
Gerard Keating joins Indigo as Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Gerard oversees the engineering and software product organizations, ensuring seamless integration across software platforms and data systems. Most recently, Mr. Keating worked at analytics technology company DataXu as EVP of Products, where he held the company's engineering, operational, and product functions from inception, in 2009, through 2016.
New Director
In addition to the executive team new members, Indigo is also pleased to announce that John Gehring has joined the company as Board Member and Chair of the Audit Committee. Mr. Gehring most recently served as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Lamb Weston Holdings, a nearly $3 billion spin-off of Conagra Brands, Inc. Prior to that, he served as (CFO) of Conagra Brands since 2009. Conagra Brands is an $8 billion company whose best-known brands include Healthy Choice, Hunt's, Slim Jim, Alexia, Blake's, Frontera, Bertolli, P.F. Chang's, and Marie Callender's.
"Indigo is focused on addressing significant global problems and building a valuable company in the process," said David Perry, CEO, President, and Director of Indigo. "The leaders whom we have been able to attract to Indigo reflect that mission, and I am pleased and gratified that they have chosen to join us."
ABOUT INDIGO
Indigo is a company dedicated to harnessing nature to help farmers sustainably feed the planet. The company utilizes beneficial microbes residing within plant tissues to optimize crop health and improve productivity. Indigo is partnering with twelve research institutions and has tested beneficial microbes on more than ten different crops across three continents in six growing seasons, with trials consistently showing significant yield increases under target stress conditions. The company intends to consider a wide range of stresses, including environmental and biotic stresses. The company's first two commercial products are Indigo Cotton and Indigo Wheat, both of which improve water use efficiency. Indigo is planning to launch products derived from the plant microbiome in several other crops in 2017. To date, Indigo has closed $156 million in funding. The company is headquartered in Boston, MA, with commercial and customer service based in Memphis, TN. Indigo was founded by VentureLabs, the innovation foundry of Flagship Pioneering, a firm that conceives, creates, resources, and develops first-in-category life sciences companies. www.indigoag.com.
MEDIA CONTACT
Indigo
Natacha Gassenbach
[email protected]
+617 852 86 09
Lauren Ashbrook
[email protected]
+617 909 93 90
Bloom for Indigo
Serra Saridereli
+ 1 212 715 1604
[email protected]
SOURCE Indigo
Related Links
http://www.indigoag.com
ATLANTA, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of Trustees of each of the Invesco closed-end funds listed below today declared the following dividends.
EX-DATE 4/11/17 RECORD DATE
4/13/17 REINVEST DATE
4/28/17 PAYABLE DATE
4/28/17 Name of Closed-End
Management Investment Company Ticker Monthly
Dividend
Amount Per Share Change From
Prior Distribution Invesco Advantage Municipal Income Trust II VKI $0.0547 - Invesco Bond Fund VBF $0.06901 - Invesco California Value Municipal Income Trust VCV $0.0535 - Invesco Dynamic Credit Opportunities Fund VTA $0.0710 - Invesco High Income 2023 Target Term Fund IHIT $0.0500 - Invesco High Income Trust II VLT $0.08401 -0.0060 Invesco Municipal Income Opportunities Trust OIA $0.0344 - Invesco Municipal Opportunity Trust VMO $0.0639 -0.0039 Invesco Municipal Trust VKQ $0.0614 - Invesco Pennsylvania Value Municipal Income Trust VPV $0.0521 - Invesco Quality Municipal Income Trust IQI $0.0546 -0.0039 Invesco Senior Income Trust VVR $0.02351 - Invesco Trust for Investment Grade Municipals VGM $0.0636 - Invesco Trust for Investment Grade New York Municipals VTN $0.0571 - Invesco Value Municipal Income Trust IIM $0.0620 -
1 A portion of this distribution is estimated to be from a return of principal rather than net income. The Section 19 notice referenced below provides more information and can be found on the Invesco website at www.invesco.com.
Form 1099-DIV for the calendar year will report distributions for federal income tax purposes. The Fund's annual report to shareholders will include information regarding the tax character of Fund distributions for the fiscal year.
The final determination of the source and tax characteristics of all distributions in 2017 will be made after the end of the year.
In order to comply with the requirements of Section 19 of the Investment Company Act of 1940, each Fund will provide its shareholders of record on the record date with a Section 19 Notice disclosing the sources of its dividend payment when a distribution includes anything other than net investment income. The Section 19 Notice is not provided for tax reporting purposes but for informational purposes only. If applicable, this Section 19 Notice information can be found on the Funds' website at www.invesco.com
The amount of dividends paid by each fund may vary from time to time. Past amounts of dividends are no guarantee of future dividend payment amounts.
Investing involves risk and it is possible to lose money on any investment in the funds.
For more information, call 1-800-341-2929.
About Invesco Ltd.
Invesco Ltd. is a leading independent global investment management firm, dedicated to helping investors worldwide achieve their financial objectives. By delivering the combined power of our distinctive investment management capabilities, Invesco provides a wide range of investment strategies and vehicles to our clients around the world. Operating in more than 20 countries, the firm is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol IVZ. Additional information is available at www.invesco.com.
Invesco Distributors, Inc. is the U.S. distributor for Invesco Ltd.'s retail products. Invesco Distributors, Inc. is an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Invesco Ltd.
Note: There is no assurance that a closed-end fund will achieve its investment objective. Shares are bought on the secondary market and may trade at a discount or premium to NAV. Regular brokerage commissions apply.
NOT FDIC INSURED l MAY LOSE VALUE l NO BANK GUARANTEE
SOURCE Invesco Ltd.
Related Links
http://www.invesco.com
BOSTON, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The five John Hancock closed-end funds listed below declared their monthly distributions today as follows:
Declaration Date: April 3, 2017
Ex Date: April 11, 2017
Record Date: April 13, 2017
Payment Date: April 28, 2017
Ticker Fund Name Distribution Per Share Change From Previous Distribution Market Price as of 3/31/2017 Annualized Current Distribution Rate at Market HPI Preferred Income Fund $0.1400 - $21.25 7.91% HPF Preferred Income Fund II $0.1400 - $21.10 7.96% HPS Preferred Income Fund III $0.1222 - $18.44 7.95% PDT Premium Dividend Fund $0.0975 - $15.91 7.35% HTD Tax-Advantaged Dividend Income Fund $0.1380 - $24.63 6.72%
John Hancock Premium Dividend Fund
Premium Dividend Fund (the "Fund") declared its monthly distribution pursuant to the Fund's managed distribution plan (the "PDT Plan"). Under the PDT Plan, the Fund makes monthly distributions of an amount equal to $0.0975 per share. This amount will be paid monthly until further notice.
Distributions under the PDT Plan may consist of net investment income, net realized long-term capital gains, net realized short-term capital gains and, to the extent necessary, return of capital.
The Fund may also make additional distributions (i) for purposes of not incurring federal income tax on investment company taxable income and net capital gain of the Fund, if any, not included in such regular distributions and (ii) for purposes of not incurring federal excise tax on ordinary income and capital gain net income, if any, not included in such regular monthly distributions.
The Board may amend the terms of the PDT Plan or terminate the PDT Plan at any time.
John Hancock Tax-Advantaged Dividend Income Fund
Tax-Advantaged Dividend Income Fund (the "Fund") declared its monthly distribution pursuant to the Fund's managed distribution plan (the "HTD Plan"). Under the HTD Plan, the Fund makes monthly distributions of an amount equal to $0.1380 per share. This amount will be paid monthly until further notice.
Distributions under the HTD Plan may consist of net investment income, net realized long-term capital gains, net realized short-term capital gains and, to the extent necessary, return of capital.
The Fund may also make additional distributions (i) for purposes of not incurring federal income tax on investment company taxable income and net capital gain of the Fund, if any, not included in such regular distributions and (ii) for purposes of not incurring federal excise tax on ordinary income and capital gain net income, if any, not included in such regular monthly distributions.
The Board may amend the terms of the HTD Plan or terminate the HTD Plan at any time.
*****
A portion of a Fund's current distribution may include sources other than net investment income, including a return of capital. Investors should understand that a return of capital is not a distribution from income or gains of a Fund. As required under the Investment Company Act of 1940, a notice with the estimated components of the distribution will be sent to shareholders at the time of payment if it does not consist solely of net investment income. Such notice will also be posted to the Funds' website at www.jhinvestments.com . The notice should not be used to prepare tax returns as the estimates indicated in the notice may differ from the ultimate federal income tax characterization of distributions. After the end of each calendar year, investors will be sent a Form 1099-DIV informing them how to report distributions received during that year for federal income tax purposes.
Statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined by the United States securities laws. You should exercise caution in interpreting and relying on forward-looking statements because they are subject to uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond the Fund's control and could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.
An investor should consider a Fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing.
About John Hancock Investments
John Hancock Investments provides asset management services to individuals and institutions through a unique manager-of-managers approach. A wealth management business of John Hancock Financial, we managed more than $135 billion in assets as of December 31, 2016 across mutual funds, college savings plans, and retirement plans.
About John Hancock Financial and Manulife Financial
John Hancock Financial is a division of Manulife Financial, a leading Canada-based financial services group with principal operations in Asia, Canada and the United States. Operating as Manulife Financial in Canada and Asia, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States, the Company offers clients a diverse range of financial protection products and wealth management services through its extensive network of employees, agents and distribution partners. Funds under management by Manulife Financial and its subsidiaries were C$977 billion (US$728 billion) as of December 31, 2016. Manulife Financial Corporation trades as 'MFC' on the TSX, NYSE and PSE, and under '945' on the SEHK. Manulife Financial can be found on the Internet at manulife.com.
The John Hancock unit, through its insurance companies, comprises one of the largest life insurers in the United States. John Hancock offers and administers a broad range of financial products, including life insurance, annuities, fixed products, mutual funds, 401(k) plans, college savings, and other forms of business insurance. Additional information about John Hancock may be found at johnhancock.com.
SOURCE John Hancock Investments
Related Links
http://www.jhinvestments.com
UTRECHT, The Netherlands, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Faster and easier IT innovation at life and pension providers' fingertips
Keylane, supplier of SaaS solutions for the insurance and pension industry has acquired Schantz, a recognised leader of software solutions for financial institutions. The combination of resources and capabilities will ensure that both Keylane and Schantz clients will benefit from the delivery of future-proof solutions.
Continued market developments in the financial industry, like the need for more customer centricity, cost reduction and digitalisation, requires today a lot more flexibility of core IT-systems.
With Schantz, Keylane has acquired a modern and innovative software platform that can be used in the transformation of the international life and pension market. The combination will provide a solid base for future international growth and will accelerate R & D.
More strength in a consolidating market
Ronald Kasteel, Executive Board Member at Keylane believes that "Combining our companies will accelerate the Keylane company strategy of becoming the leading European supplier of software to the insurance and pension industry. This new scale provides us with more strength in a rapidly consolidating market. Moreover, it gives us a stronger presence in the Nordics. Schantz will also extend our product portfolio with holistic financial planning services to the European financial industry."
Combine innovation with best of breed
Jesper Essendrop, CEO at Schantz said: "We went about a detailed search to fulfil our internationalisation strategy and found a perfect match with Keylane. With a strong cultural fit and shared values this deal fast tracks our vision of extending the reach of our products on an international basis. The Netherlands and Denmark operate the world's most extensive life and pensions services. The acquisition enables us to offer advanced solutions to deliver comprehensive services across the full life and pension value chain based on the combined offerings from Keylane and Schantz."
The products Schantz Life, Schantz Valuation and Schantz Advice will be incorporated into the Keylane Software Suite.
The transaction is expected to be completed in the second half of April 2017.
About Keylane
Keylane is a leading European supplier of modern, customer-centric, SaaS software to the insurance and pension industry. Our in-depth knowledge and expertise allows us to help our clients transform the way they run their day to day technology and operations. By implementing our state of the art solutions we help companies to reduce cost, deliver new and innovative products to market fast and increase customer satisfaction. Keylane's products include modular non-life, life and pension solutions for support of all core processes. Headquartered in Utrecht in the Netherlands, Keylane employs over 600 people and delivers services to over 100 Insurance companies across offices in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK.
About Schantz
Schantz is a recognised leader in providing innovative financial software solutions designed to streamline the business processes of life and pension providers and the banking industry. Since its establishment in 1994 Schantz achieved rapid growth and today more than 100 Danish financial institutions are using Schantz software. Schantz products include Schantz Life, a core standard solution for life and pensions that covers both individual and group life. Schantz Valuation enables insurance companies to make fast and reliable risk calculations. Finally, Schantz Advice - financial planning tools for life and pension providers and banks for a holistic and compliant financial overview that ensures improved customer experience. Schantz employs over 160 people from its office in Copenhagen, Denmark.
SOURCE Keylane
Liulishuo is a world leading AI-driven education technology company. It was jointly established in September 2012 by Yi Wang, an expert of the 1,000 Talents Program who received a PhD in IT from Princeton University and was a former Google product manager, with his two friends, Zheren Hu and Hui Lin. The Headquarters of Liulishuo is in Shanghai. With an industry-leading AI technology team, Liulishuo is making the study of English more efficient by using AI technology and big data to provide individualized education and equity.
Within four years, Liulishuo has gained more than 40 million users, having the highest number of users in the industry. It was awarded as one of Apple's annual "Selected Apps" and "Apps Essence". Liulishuo has the world's largest speech corpus for Chinese people learning English, the most advanced speech recognition technology in the world and the most active language learning community in China. In July 2016, after 2-years of research and large investment, Liulishuo introduced the leading AI tutor, called "Dong Ni Ying Yu" (tutor that understands you). It provides users with personalized learning content and a study plan. Seen as a revolution in language learning within the industry, it can triple users' learning efficiency.
Liulishuo has completed the round B of funding. Investors include well-known international VCs like IDG, GGV and TBP.
Within the industry, 2016 is known as the first year of the AI Era. AI technology has been applied to several aspects of daily life with rapid speed. As a result AI has become increasingly used as a tool for education. Although many companies claim to apply AI in their products, following the AI+Education model requires surpassing high technical barriers and R&D requirements. Only through acquiring a massive amount of data, using an advanced calculation model and continuously evolving AI, is it possible to make full use of productive force and improve users' learning efficiency.
Liulishuo is a pioneer in this field. With over 40 Million users, 419 million minutes of recorded data and 8 million dollars in investment, Liulishuo has created the first and only Deep Learning AI technology after two-years of development. This technology was first applied in Liulishuos Placement Test and its first commercial product Dong Ni Ying Yu. With a high degree of accuracy, and using the European Common Framework as a reference, it can determine users English level in just 5 to 15 minutes.
When discussing the "black technology" in the AI based core course "Dong Ni Ying Yu", Hui Lin, a former Google research scientist, an expert in Speech recognition and speech technical processing and co-founder of Liulishuo said "adaptive learning is the cutting edge of AI technology and "Dong Ni Ying Yu" has no pre-designed knowledge graph. The deep learning mode of RNN technology allows for 'self-learning', automatically connecting the user with the most suitable content".
Liulishuo has revolutionized the field of AI with its Speech Recognition technology (a fundamental part of AI). A comparison of data from other prominent companies shows that Liulishuo has become the industry leader in speech scoring technology. This has been proven by its multi-dimensional and multi-granularly oral speech evaluation and feedback, not only on phonetics and semantics but also on logic and coherence. The "LingoIELTS" App, published in Nov 2016, further illustrates the effectiveness of this technology. It employs an emulation of IELTS oral testing through AI technology. Users can simulate the dialogue between the examiner and examinee and receive a score on vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar and fluency. The core technology behind the course is speech recognition, which can accurately understand English used by Chinese speakers.
The Liulishuo AI Matrix has not only gotten positive reviews from users, but from the market. It has spread throughout the international market through word of mouth. Liulishuo also provides English Training for many large-scale domestic clients like Capital Airline, Hainan Airline and Ctrip with comprehensive data tracking and prompt feedback. In addition, in the G20 Summit in Hangzhou in Sep 2016, over 4,000 volunteers attended the AI Customized systematic training through the Dong Ni Ying Yu core course.
Liulishuo has accumulated its 40 million users from over 20 countries worldwide. It uses AI technology to personalize English learning for Chinese users, allowing them to improve their English more efficiently. It also provides non English-speaking people all over the world with a more intelligent and interesting way to learn English.
SOURCE Liulishuo
KELOWNA, British Columbia, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Marapharm (OTCQB: MRPHF) (CSE: MDM) (FSE: 2M0) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement with AlphaPheno Inc. ("Alpha") of Washington state to build a laboratory on the 13.6-acre-site of Marapharm's property. Alpha, in conjunction with Veritas Pharma Inc., an emerging discovery and IP development company, will enter into a joint venture arrangement for the research and development ("R&D") business. Alpha holds a Tier 3 cultivation and processing license and therefore is permitted to apply for and hold an R&D license. With an extensive list of cannabis genetics and existing cultivation space, Alpha is applying for a marijuana research license to leverage the synergy with Veritas in the U.S. market. The agreement is conditional on acceptance of the application. The license will provide the holder with the ability to produce, process, and possess marijuana to test chemical potency and composition levels, to conduct clinical investigations of marijuana-derived drug products, to conduct research on the efficacy and safety of administering marijuana as part of medical treatment, and to conduct genomic and or agriculture research. Veritas will provide the R&D thesis, programs, equipment, and laboratory standards and protocol for a focused R&D approach. Veritas will also determine the key qualified personnel required to execute these programs. A new laboratory will be constructed within Marapharm's buildings, which are occupied by Alpha.
"The R&D laboratory will be a welcome addition to the cannabis campus and is a reason for other cannabis businesses to look to us for a facility. Veritas, (VRT and VRTHF), is a public company, of which Marapharm owns 15 million shares, so entering into a joint venture with Veritas represents another level of commitment", said Linda Sampson, Marapharm's CEO.
ABOUT MARAPHARM VENTURES INC.
http://www.marapharm.com
Construction photos and videos can be accessed through the Marapharm website. Marapharm's common shares are publicly traded in Canada, under the ticker symbol "MDM" on the Canadian Securities Exchange, and in the United States, under the ticker symbol "MRPHF" on the OTCQB, and in Europe, under the ticker symbol "2M0" on the FSE.
Marapharm has 300,000 square feet of medical marijuana licenses for its land and facilities in WA and NV. About two and a half years ago, Marapharm applied in Canada to Health Canada for a MMPR (production and sales) license and has passed the necessary security clearances. The application is currently in the in-depth screening process. In September 2016, Health Canada contacted Marapharm with a provision to amend its application to allow for the new regulations, ACMPR.
Additional information on the operations or financial results of Marapharm are included in reports on file with applicable securities regulatory authorities and may be accessed through the CSE website (http://www.thecse.com), the OTC website (http://www.otcmarkets.com), and the SEDAR website (http://www.sedar.com) under the profile for Marapharm Ventures Inc.
STOCK EXCHANGES:
Neither the CSE, the FSE nor the OTCQB has approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. Neither the CSE, the FSE nor the OTCQB accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
FORWARD - LOOKING STATEMENTS:
Certain statements contained in this news release constitute forward-looking statements, specifically with respect to the proposed joint venture arrangement with AlphaPheno Inc. and Veritas Pharma Inc. and the construction of a laboratory on Marapharm's Washington property. The use of any of the words "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "expect", 'may", "will", "project", "should", 'believe", and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumption but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and the forward-looking statements included in this news release should not be unduly relied upon. Specifically, Marapharm may not be able to complete the construction of the laboratory on the terms proposed and there is no assurance the joint venture arrangement will proceed to completion or be successful.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
http://www.marapharm.com or Linda Sampson, CEO, +1-778-583-4476 [email protected]
SOURCE Marapharm Ventures Inc.
NEW YORK, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP today announced that Margaret C. Bae has joined the firm as a Partner in the firm's Corporate practice. She brings to the firm significant corporate experience, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, corporate finance, private equity, corporate governance, and general corporate representation.
"Margaret's arrival at Olshan bolsters our corporate capabilities for clients across the board, and we are delighted that she is joining the firm," said co-administrative partner Steven R. Gursky. "She is well known as an outstanding lawyer with deep experience in the energy sector in particular, and she will be a significant addition to our already robust team of corporate attorneys."
Prior to joining Olshan, Ms. Bae was Senior Vice President and General Counsel at SoEnergy International, Inc. where she managed all legal aspects of business development and operations, focusing on acquisitions, joint ventures and financings. As part of the executive team responsible for the strategic direction and targeted growth efforts of the company, she specialized in corporate transactions in the emerging and developing markets.
Prior to that, Ms. Bae was Executive Vice President and General Counsel of ContourGlobal L.P., where she managed a 17- member global legal team and was responsible for all legal aspects of a $1 billion international power company. As the former Deputy General Counsel of the company, Ms. Bae provided legal support on all transactions throughout the company, including acquisitions, financings and development.
Ms. Bae started her legal career as a corporate associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP where she focused on corporate and financial transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, private equity, leveraged buyouts, capital markets, financings, restructurings, and general corporate representation.
Ms. Bae earned her J.D. from Cornell Law School, where she was a member of the Cornell Law Review and a recipient of both the John M. Olin Student Scholarship for Law & Economics and the CALI Excellence for the Future Award in IPOs & Deal Structure Alternatives. She earned an M.B.A from the Samuel Curtis Johnson School of Management at Cornell and a B.A. from Cornell University, College of Arts & Sciences, where she was a Meinig Family Cornell National Scholar.
About Olshan
Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP, a law firm based in New York, represents major businesses and entrepreneurs in their most significant transactions, problems and opportunities. Olshan's clients range from public companies, hedge, venture capital, private equity and other investment funds to entrepreneurs and private companies worldwide. Clients choose Olshan for innovative strategies and sophisticated, game-changing advice in corporate, securities law, equity investment and shareholder activism, complex commercial, corporate and securities litigation, real estate, intellectual property, bankruptcy and creditors' rights, and advertising. Since its founding, Olshan has offered an alternative to the AmLaw 50 law firm business model with responsive, independent and client-focused legal counsel provided by the firm's senior lawyers.
Contact: Madelaine Miller Strauss [email protected] 646.331.2691
SOURCE Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP
Related Links
http://www.olshanlaw.com
PHOENIX, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Virtua Partners announced today that Marriott International has approved its plans to build a SpringHill Suites Hotel on its property in Avondale, Arizona. The SpringHill Suites will be part of a 58-acre mixed use site that is located one half mile north of Interstate 10, and one quarter mile west of Loop 101, next to the existing Costco store. The hotel will be developed by Quyp Hospitality, LLC, an affiliate of Virtua Partners. The approved franchise calls for a 130-room hotel.
SpringHill Suites Prototype Hotel Site
"We are excited to partner with Marriott International to introduce SpringHill Suites to the Avondale market," said Quinn Palomino, Principal of Virtua Partners and Quyp Hospitality. "We believe that Marriott has the strongest reservation platform in the industry, and SpringHill Suites is one of its best performing flags."
The Virtua project is located approximately one mile from the Estrella Banner Hospital and four miles from the University of Phoenix Stadium. Other area amenities include the Phoenix International Raceway, and spring training facilities for the Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds, Chicago White Sox, and Los Angeles Dodgers. "Our proximity to Interstate 10 and the 101, the adjacent retail development, and the strong submarket demographics make this the perfect location for a mixed-use project," said Palomino.
Other proposed uses for the 58-acre site include multi-family, townhouses, retail, and high intensity single family residential. Virtua is currently processing entitlements through the City of Avondale, and expects to start construction on the hotel in November of this year.
Through its affiliate Quyp Development, Virtua Partners is currently developing 15 projects in the Greater Phoenix market, including Mesa, Queen Creek, Avondale, Goodyear, Tolleson, Peoria and Phoenix. Quyp Hospitality will be developing the hotel, and Hotel Equities will be the hotel operator.
About Virtua Partners:
Virtua Partners is a private equity firm specializing in commercial real estate. Through its affiliate, Versant Commercial Brokerage, Inc. (www.versantcre.com), Virtua restructures undercapitalized commercial real estate, providing the debt, equity, and improved management necessary to stabilize distressed assets. Through its affiliate, Quyp Development, Virtua sponsors development projects. Clear Vista Management (www.Clearvistamanagement.com) provides asset management services across the portfolio.
Our network of relationships, sophisticated analyses, and experience in deal structuring gives us unique capabilities to revitalize challenged properties.
Please visit http://www.virtuapartners.com to learn more.
Contact:
Derek Uldricks
619-764-9633
[email protected]
SOURCE Virtua Partners
Related Links
http://www.virtuapartners.com
NEW YORK, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Mesothelioma Victims Center says, "We are urging a former steel mill worker who has been recently been diagnosed with mesothelioma or their family members to call us anytime at 800-714-0303 for on-the-spot access to the nation's most skilled and experienced mesothelioma attorneys.
Steel Mill
"The lawyers we suggest should be able to quickly assess what a diagnosed steel worker's mesothelioma compensation claim could be worth. One of our most important services for a person with mesothelioma is peace of mind in knowing the legal specialists we suggest consistently get the best financial compensation results for their clients." http://MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.Com
The Mesothelioma Victims Center is primarily focused on former steel mill workers with mesothelioma in the following states:
Pennsylvania ( Pittsburgh , Bethlehem , Eire)
( , , Eire) Indiana (Gary)
(Gary) West Virginia (Wheeling)
Illinois ( Chicago )
( ) Kentucky ( Ashland )
( ) North Carolina (Charlotte)
(Charlotte) Alabama Birmingham
New York ( Lackawanna )
( ) Ohio ( Youngstown , Akron , Canton )
The types of steel mill workers who could have had the most exposure to asbestos include the skilled trades groups such as machinists, millwrights, pipefitters, boiler makers, welders, supervisors, plumbers, and electricians who worked at these mills and/or non-skilled laborers.
The Mesothelioma Victims Center says, "If we had just one incredibly vital tip for a steel mill worker who has been diagnosed with mesothelioma or their family it would be call us anytime at 800-714-0303 to ensure you really are talking to one of the nation's most skilled mesothelioma attorneys who knows his way around a steel mill.
"Having a highly-skilled mesothelioma attorney who understands how a steel mill works is critical if the diagnosed person wants to receive the best possible financial compensation as we would like to discuss anytime." http://MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.Com
For information about steel mill locations throughout the United States please refer to the following map: https://www.google.com/mymaps/viewer?mid=1l83KG05Yxac2ZL9CaqwJO1oahUk&hl=en_US
Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. High risk work groups for exposure to asbestos include Veterans of the US Navy, power plant workers, shipyard workers, oil refinery workers, steel mill workers, miners, pulp or paper mill workers, printers, factory workers, railroad workers, plumbers, electricians, auto mechanics, machinists, welders, pipefitters, insulators, firemen and construction workers. In most instances a person who has been diagnosed with mesothelioma was exposed to asbestos in the 1950's, 1960's, 1970's, or 1980's. http://MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.Com
The average age for a diagnosed victim of mesothelioma is about 70 years old. This year between 2,500 and 3,000 US citizens will be diagnosed with mesothelioma in the United States. Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer that is caused by exposure to asbestos.
The Mesothelioma Victims Center says, "If you call us at 1-800-714-0303, you will be talking directly to some of the nation's skilled and experienced lawyers, and they make house calls. When it comes to mesothelioma compensation please don't shortchange yourself because you hired a less than qualified or experienced lawyer or law firm." http://MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.Com
The states indicated with the highest incidence of mesothelioma include Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Louisiana, Washington, and Oregon.
However, based on the calls the Mesothelioma Victims Center receives a former steel mill worker with mesothelioma could live in any state including New York, Florida, California, Texas, Illinois, Ohio, Iowa, Indiana, Missouri, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Wyoming, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, Idaho, or Alaska.
For more information about mesothelioma please refer to the National Institutes of Health's web site related to this rare form of cancer: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/mesothelioma.html
Media Contact:
Michael Thomas
800-714-0303
[email protected]
SOURCE Mesothelioma Victims Center
It will be available in Q3 of 2017.
"MilliporeSigma's newest innovation, SMCxPRO technology, is part of a suite of tools for detecting and characterizing, accelerating drug discovery and improving overall lab productivity," said Jason Apter, Head of Research Solutions Strategic Marketing & Innovation at MilliporeSigma. "Detection of low-abundance biomarkers allows for quantitation of a new class of novel targets. We are committed to empowering researchers by providing the technologies needed to accelerate advancements in healthcare."
Along with the new SMCxPRO technology, MilliporeSigma offers a wide range of solutions for biomarker discovery and novel target identification including its recently released Sanger CRISPR libraries that expand the company's suite of gene editing tools.
AACR attendees are encouraged to visit booth #931 to learn more about MilliporeSigma's products and to speak with company experts. Follow us on twitter @MilliporeSigma.
All Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany news releases are distributed by email at the same time they become available on the EMD Group website. In case you are a resident of the U.S. or Canada please go to www.emdgroup.com/subscribe to register again for your online subscription of this service as our newly introduced geo-targeting requires new links in the email. You may later change your selection or discontinue this service.
About the Life Science Business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany
The life science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, which operates as MilliporeSigma in the U.S. and Canada, has 19,000 employees and 65 manufacturing sites worldwide, with a portfolio of more than 300,000 products enabling scientific discovery. Udit Batra is the global chief executive officer of MilliporeSigma.
Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany completed its $17 billion acquisition of Sigma-Aldrich in November 2015, creating a leader in the $125 billion global life science industry.
Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany is a leading company for innovative and top-quality high-tech products in healthcare, life science and performance materials. The company has six businesses Biopharmaceuticals, Consumer Health, Allergopharma, Biosimilars, Life Science and Performance Materials and generated sales of 12.85 billion in 2015. Around 50,000 employees work in 66 countries to improve the quality of life for patients, to foster the success of customers and to help meet global challenges.
Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany is the world's oldest pharmaceutical and chemical company since 1668, the company has stood for innovation, business success and responsible entrepreneurship. Holding an approximately 70 percent interest, the founding family remains the majority owner of the company to this day. The company holds the global rights to the name and the trademark "Merck" internationally except for the United States and Canada, where the company operates as EMD Serono, MilliporeSigma and EMD Performance Materials.
SOURCE MilliporeSigma
STEWARTVILLE, Minn., April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Minnesota Medical Technologies Corporation announced today that Mr. David A. Jonas has joined the Company as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Mr. Jonas will also serve on the Company's Board of Directors.
Anthony J. Conway, President of Minnesota Medical Technologies, said, "We are absolutely delighted to once again be working with Dave. He brings us years of solid finance and management experience in the Medical Device Industry. He has been active and instrumental in every major aspect of Corporate Development including Financing, M&A, Global Planning, New Product Introductions, etc. His outstanding record speaks for itself."
Conway pointed out that Minnesota Medical has made very important strides since its founding in 2014.
Including:
Construction of a new office and production facility in Stewartville, MN.
Development of a new product line (myMiracle TM ) for the management of Fecal Incontinence (FI), a problem affecting millions of individuals both at home and in long term care. This product is being developed in co-operation with Mayo Clinic under a formal Research and Development Agreement.
) for the management of Fecal Incontinence (FI), a problem affecting millions of individuals both at home and in long term care. This product is being developed in co-operation with Mayo Clinic under a formal Research and Development Agreement. Final Preparations of submission for FDA 510K regulatory clearance (scheduled for June 2017 ).
). Detailed Global Market Assessment.
Entered discussions with potential Strategic Distribution Partners in Europe .
. Key leadership positions filled R&D, Marketing, Engineering, Finance, Quality, Regulatory Production Technology, along with support staff.
In the near term, as the Company approaches market launch, it will seek to secure additional financing to support expansion of global sales and marketing efforts and also to expand its manufacturing capacity.
About Minnesota Medical
Minnesota Medical Technologies develops devices for Fecal Incontinence Care Applications.
For further information, please contact Anthony J. Conway, President, or David A. Jonas, CFO, at Minnesota Medical Technologies (507) 533-0366.
SOURCE Minnesota Medical Technologies
MOFFETT FIELD, Calif., April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Made In Space Inc. (MIS) recently celebrated the one-year anniversary (March 23, 2016) of the launch of its Additive Manufacturing Facility (AMF) to the International Space Station (ISS). Since the second-generation 3D printer was installed on ISS, 39 prints have been made for customers, ranging from medical parts for researchers, parts for NASA and commercial customers such as Lowe's and the Brazilian company Braskem, to STEM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics) projects for students.
"I'd describe our prints last year as trailblazers, since they were all made in orbit for the first time and we were exploring how best to utilize AMF," said Matt Napoli, MIS vice president of In-Space Operations. "This year, we expect more advanced prints as we push the envelope of what's possible with it. We've started to print in a new, space-suitable material in PEI/PC (polyetherimide/polycarbonate), giving us the capability to manufacture stronger, more heat-resistant structures."
With its first 3D printer aboard ISS, MIS began printing in ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) in 2014. Last summer, MIS began printing in Green PE (polyethylene), supplied by Braskem, with AMF. MIS expects to print in many different materials in the coming years, as the company perfects manufacturing techniques needed for building large and complex objects in space. Further planned materials include metals, composites and carbon nanotube-doped materials.
The average AMF print takes a few hours for completion, with longer times based on print complexity. Napoli says the largest and longest print to date was a confidential part for NASA. AMF is capable of printing up to 10 centimeters by 10 centimeters by 14 centimeters.
Several firsts were achieved for AMF over the past year: the first STEM print for the Future Engineers program sponsored by NASA; the first print for NASA was an adaptor part for an Oxygen Generating System (OGS) used aboard the ISS during monthly oxygen level testing; the first commercial print was a microgravity wrench for Lowe's; the first print for the U.S. Navy, a hydroclip part used on radio wiring; and the first medical print with the fabrication of a finger splint design for a medical researcher.
Photos of the OGS print are available here .
"Every week we're operating with AMF aboard ISS," said Andrew Rush, MIS President and CEO. "That's really amazing when you think about it manufacturing more and more complex parts with this core technology. Many people are still surprised when they learn our country is already making things in space. Our NASA customer has been great over the past few years, embracing this technology and supporting us its development. As we continue printing in stronger materials like PEI/PC, we'll start to see even more breakthrough achievements."
About Made In Space:
Founded in 2010 as the world's first space manufacturing company, Made In Space, Inc. (MIS) is the world leader in space-based manufacturing applications. In partnership with CASIS, managers of the ISS National Lab, and Lowe's Innovation Labs, the disruptive technology hub of the Lowe's Home Improvement chain, Made In Space sent the first commercial 3D printer to the ISS in April 2016, designated the Additive Manufacturing Facility (AMF). Additionally, the firm is executing on a NASA contract to 3D print and assemble structures in the vacuum of space using their Archinaut architecture. For more information visit www.madeinspace.us.
Media Contact:
Bryan Culbert
[email protected]
(321) 848-8587
SOURCE Made In Space
Related Links
http://www.madeinspace.us
VANCOUVER, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - Nevsun Resources Ltd. (TSX: NSU) (NYSE MKT: NSU) plans to release its first quarter 2017 financial and operating results on Thursday, April 27, 2017, after close of trading, with a conference call to follow on Friday, April 28, 2017, at 8AM Vancouver / 11AM Toronto, New York / 4PM London.
Conference call details are as follows:
North America: 1 888-390-0546 / +1 416-764-8688 / +1 778-383-7413
UK: 0800 652 2435 (toll free)
Other International: +1 416-764-8688 / +1 778-383-7413
About Nevsun Resources Ltd.
Nevsun Resources Ltd. is the 100% owner of the high-grade copper-gold Timok Upper Zone in Serbia and 60% owner of the high-grade copper-zinc Bisha Mine in Eritrea. Nevsun is well positioned with a strong debt-free balance sheet to grow shareholder value through advancing the Timok project to production.
NEVSUN RESOURCES LTD.
"Cliff T. Davis"
Cliff T. Davis
President & Chief Executive Officer
SOURCE Nevsun Resources Ltd.
LISLE, Ill., April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Gladson, the leading provider of product information and related services to the consumer goods industry, has named Paul Salay as the new CEO. The announcement signals the next step in the evolution of this longstanding service provider to a client-centric focus in both its solution development and customer support.
"Gladson has a great history, an enviable client roster and a recognized reputation for service," said Salay. "We know how important accurate and timely product information is to our clients and we will be hyper focused on evolving the company to better support our clients' needs in the fast moving Product Information Management (PIM) industry. I look forward to working with my management team to create innovative new solutions to address our clients' greatest needs as they run their businesses."
Salay joins the company after 25 years in the SaaS and Technology Enabled Services industry, working with a variety of companies to help them refine their go-to-market strategies while innovating and setting new industry standards for service and capabilities. "We have a very exciting opportunity to serve our clients' evolving needs in the marketplace, building forward-thinking solutions that only Gladson is uniquely positioned to do," Salay added.
He joins the team from Cision, a leading provider of media communications, technology and analytics software, where he served as Chief Commercial Officer. Prior to that he served as President of Market Track, LLC, the leading provider of subscription-based advertising, brand, and pricing intelligence solutions. While there, he led a significant period of growth and expansion for the organization, building the business into a diversified solution that is now recognized as the marketplace leader in promotional, eCommerce, and brand advertising tracking solutions.
Salay's addition to the Gladson team comes on the heels of The Wicks Group, a New York-based private investment firm, acquiring the company in January, which signaled the first step in the progression of the long-standing brand to a client-first approach.
"We are excited for Paul to lead the Gladson team in this next phase of growth, developing new capabilities that will provide additional value to the company's clients," said Thomas Kearney, Principal of The Wicks Group. "His domain expertise with retailers and brand manufacturers as well as his extensive technology and e-Commerce background are the mix we needed to move Gladson forward."
About Gladson
Gladson offers the most complete, comprehensive and personalized digital product content and retail omnichannel optimization solutions on the market today. Gladson's enterprise-ready digital product content is captured in accordance with GS1 industry standards, fueling e-commerce, space planning, category management, store optimization, marketing, advertising, supply chain, market research, mobile applications, master data management and other critical business processes.
Gladson helps manufacturers, retailers and service providers plan and execute more effectively so they can meet shopper expectations across the path to purchase. For more information, visit www.gladson.com.
SOURCE Gladson
Related Links
http://www.gladson.com
BOSTON, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- State lawmakers on Tuesday will hear testimony in favor of legislation that addresses an epidemic of violence against Massachusetts health care professionals. Registered nurses, public safety officials and other advocates will share their experiences with violence in health care and describe why a new state law is needed to prevent assaults.
What: A hearing before the Joint Labor and Workforce Development Committee on An Act Requiring Health Care Employers to Develop and Implement Programs to Prevent Workplace Violence (H. 1007), sponsored by Sen. James Timilty, D-Walpole, and Rep. Denise Garlick, D-Needham.
When: Tuesday, April 4 at 1 p.m.
Where: Room A2, State House, Boston MA
Who: Registered nurses who have been victims of assault; Rep. Garlick, former president of the MNA; Rep. Timothy Whelan, R-Brewster, a former Massachusetts State Trooper, U.S. Marine and Corrections Officer; Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early; various other supporters and health care advocates
Why: Learn more about the problem directly from Massachusetts nurses: MNA Workplace Violence Survey Fact Sheet
"Health care professionals are being assaulted at a rate four times greater than those working in other industries," said Donna Kelly-Williams, RN, president of the Massachusetts Nurses Association. "Fear of violence and actual violence is rampant in Massachusetts health care facilities. It is clear the laws we have in place are not enough to stop the violence. A hospital should be a place where patients go to heal and nurses and other health care professionals are able to provide care in a safe environment."
Nurses are assaulted on the job more than police officers and prison guards, with more than 70 percent of hospital emergency department nurses reporting being assaulted during their career. An Act Requiring Health Care Employers to Develop and Implement Programs to Prevent Workplace Violence (H. 1007) will require health care employers to perform an annual safety risk assessment and, based on those findings, develop and implement programs to minimize the danger of workplace violence to employees and patients.
The bill also provides time off for health care workers assaulted on the job to address legal issues (up to seven paid days off per calendar year), allows nurses to use their health care facility address instead of their home address when addressing legal issues related to an assault, and requires semiannual reporting of assaults on health care employees to District Attorney's Offices.
Miko Nakagawa is a registered nurse who was assaulted in January 2017 while working in the emergency department at Health Alliance Hospital Leominster.
"An aggressive patient who had already assaulted two other staff members violently shoved me over a stretcher and onto the floor when we were moving him to another room," Nakagawa said. "The assault left me with a horrible, deep bruise on my arm and a rotator cuff injury. I had surgery and have been out of work recovering from my injuries for three months."
"The culture needs to change in healthcare," Nakagawa said. "I was the only one of the three of us who pressed charges. It was hard to even get the other assaulted nurse to file an accident report. Nurses have been told for so long you have signed up for the job and that this is what happens in the profession you chose. But we did not sign up for unchecked violence and neither did our patients. When violence is so widespread, it endangers not just staff but everyone at the hospital patients and visitors included. This legislation will go a long way toward changing that culture and preventing violence. The more protection and support health care professionals have, the less violence there will be in health care."
A recent Massachusetts Nurses Association survey of more than 220 union and non-union nurses found that fear of violence and physical and verbal abuse are widespread in Massachusetts health care facilities. More than 85 percent of nurses have been punched, spit on, groped, kicked or otherwise physically or verbally assaulted. Yet only 19 percent of nurses say their employer was supportive and tried to find solutions after they experienced violence, while 76 percent said existing workplace violence policies are not enforced.
A 2015 report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) found that between 2012 and 2014 incidents of violence "nearly doubled for nurses and nurse assistants." Violence against health care workers accounts for nearly as many injuries as in all other industries combined, according to the Occupational Health and Safety Administration.
Top public safety officials have joined the fight to prevent health care violence and endorsed the legislation, including Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early and Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan.
"I believe that law enforcement best serves our citizens when we are dedicated to crime prevention," DA Early said. "To effectively tackle health care violence in Massachusetts, we need to understand the full scope of the problem. This legislation will enable District Attorneys across the Commonwealth to track assaults in health care facilities and work with nurses, other health care professionals and their advocates to limit violence and reduce harm."
MassNurses.org Facebook.com/MassNurses Twitter.com/MassNurses
Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 23,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.
SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association
Related Links
http://www.massnurses.org
WASHINGTON, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The United States has underscored the need for a refreshing approach to help change the ambivalent culture permeating the United Nations regarding the violations of human rights around the world. Organization of Iranian American Communities (OIAC) welcomes this development and applauds Ambassador Nikki Haley's efforts to place human rights at the center of the U.S. mission at the U.N.
As Ambassador Haley pointed out recently, "peace and security cannot be achieved in isolation from human rights." The long-suffering people of Iran, Syria, and Iraq bear witness that "human rights abuses are not the byproduct of conflict; they are the cause of conflict, or they are the fuel that feeds the conflict."
Nearly four decades of struggle against the religious dictatorship in Iran has imparted on our community the insight and the drive to promote human rights, equality, and women leadership- as key human assets against perversion of religion, tyranny, and inequality. In Iran, the ruling regime has murdered Neda Agha-Soltan and over 120,000 of the country's best and brightest. Today, Iranian rulers execute more per-capita than any other nation. Yet the people of Iran continue to reject humiliation, misogyny, terrorism, and abuse. Iranian people's vibrant democratic resistance against tyranny is hence a viable and vital example of the very values the United States is actively promoting at the U.N. Security Council.
OIAC also applauds congressional leaders who have called attention to mullahs' atrocities. We highlight the initiative by Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX), Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) and Ranking Member Eliot Engel (D-NY) regarding the 1988 massacre of some 30,000 political prisoners in Iran. Unfortunately, Iranian officials who committed that manifest case of crime against humanity still serve at the highest levels of the government. A key figure who was admittedly involved in the 1988 massacre, Mostafa Pour Mohammadi, is now Hassan Rouhani's Justice Minister. The 1988 Massacre is also addressed in UNSG March 2017 report.
We thank Ambassador Haley in her efforts to ensure that the U.N. Security Council explicitly links human rights with security. OIAC applauds her leadership so that the issue of human rights abuses in Iran and particularly the 1988 massacre of political prisoners would be included in the U.N. Security Council agenda.
SOURCE OIAC
Related Links
http://www.oiac.org
ATLANTA, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Preferred Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE: APTS) ("PAC" or the "Company") today announced the acquisition on March 31, 2017 of Founders Village, a newly-constructed 247-unit Class A multifamily community in Williamsburg, Virginia. "The opportunity to acquire this well-located and attractive community came through a real estate loan investment that PAC made for the development of the community over three years ago," said Jeff Sherman, PAC's Executive Vice President and Director of Multifamily Investments. Leonard A. Silverstein, PAC's President and Chief Operating Officer added, "The acquisition of Founders Village further demonstrates the success of our unique real estate loan investment program, which continues to create a tremendous pipeline of new Class A multifamily communities."
PAC acquired this community through a wholly-owned subsidiary and financed the acquisition utilizing a portion of the proceeds from a 1031 exchange transaction sale earlier in the quarter and a first mortgage loan from Berkadia Commercial Mortgage LLC, which intends to assign the loan to Freddie Mac within 60 days. The first mortgage loan is approximately $31.6 million, bears interest at a fixed rate of 4.31% per annum, matures March 31, 2027 and amortizes based on a 30-year schedule. There are no loan guaranties provided by PAC or its operating partnership.
About Preferred Apartment Communities, Inc.
Preferred Apartment Communities, Inc. is a Maryland corporation formed primarily to acquire and operate multifamily properties in select targeted markets throughout the United States. As part of our business strategy, we may enter into forward purchase contracts or purchase options for to-be-built multifamily communities and we may make real estate related loans, provide deposit arrangements, or provide performance assurances, as may be necessary or appropriate, in connection with the development of multifamily communities and other properties. As a secondary strategy, we may acquire or originate senior mortgage loans, subordinate loans or real estate loans secured by interests in multifamily properties, membership or partnership interests in multifamily properties and other multifamily related assets and invest a lesser portion of our assets in other real estate related investments, including other income-producing property types, senior mortgage loans, subordinate loans or real estate loans secured by interests in other income-producing property types, membership or partnership interests in other income-producing property types as determined by our manager as appropriate for us. At December 31, 2016, the Company was the approximate 96.8% owner of Preferred Apartment Communities Operating Partnership, L.P., or the Operating Partnership. Preferred Apartment Communities, Inc. has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, commencing with its tax year ended December 31, 2011.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may", "trend", "will", "expects", "plans", "estimates", "anticipates", "projects", "intends", "believes", "goals", "objectives", "outlook" and similar expressions. Because such statements include risks, uncertainties and contingencies, actual results may differ materially from the expectations, intentions, beliefs, plans or predictions of the future expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and contingencies include, but are not limited to, those disclosed in PAC's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. PAC undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as may be required by law.
Additional Information
The SEC has declared effective the registration statement (including prospectus) filed by the Company for each of the offerings to which this communication may relate. Before you invest, you should read the final prospectus, and any prospectus supplements, forming a part of the registration statement and other documents the Company has filed with the SEC for more complete information about the Company and the offering to which this communication may relate. In particular, you should carefully read the risk factors described in the final prospectus and in any related prospectus supplement and in the documents incorporated by reference in the final prospectus and any related prospectus supplement to which this communication may relate. You may obtain these documents for free by visiting EDGAR on the SEC website at www.sec.gov. Alternatively, the Company or its dealer manager, Preferred Capital Securities, LLC, with respect to PAC's mShares Redeemable Preferred Stock Offering and Series A Redeemable Preferred Stock and Warrant Unit Offering, and JonesTrading Institutional Services LLC, with respect to PAC's ATM Common Stock Offering, will arrange to send you a prospectus if you request it by calling Leonard A. Silverstein at (770) 818-4100, 3284 Northside Parkway NW, Suite 150, Atlanta, Georgia 30327.
The ATM Common Stock Offering prospectus, dated July 18, 2016, including a base prospectus, dated May 17, 2016, can be accessed through the following link:
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1481832/000148183216000152/atmprospectus.htm
The mShares Redeemable Preferred Stock Offering prospectus, dated January 19, 2017, can be accessed through the following link:
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1481832/000148183217000008/a424prospectus-mshares1.htm
The Series A Redeemable Preferred Stock and Warrant Unit Offering prospectus, dated March 16, 2017, can be accessed through the following link
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1481832/000148183217000061/a424prospectus-15bseriesar.htm
SOURCE Preferred Apartment Communities, Inc.
Related Links
http://pacapts.com
NEW YORK, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Qognify, the leader in big data solutions for physical security and operations, today announced the successful implementation of its market-leading Safe City solution in Navi Mumbai, a planned township that was established to handle the population overflow from the overcrowded and ever-growing city of Mumbai. Together with CIDCO (City and Industrial Development Corporation, the agency established for managing the new city) and system integrator WIPRO, Qognify has designed an integrated and holistic solution that helps Navi police to maintain law, order and safety.
As a planned township, Navi Mumbai officials have the benefit of operating in a modern environment, allowing to maximize Qognify's Safe City solution. At the core of the solution are Qognify Situator, an advanced Situation Management platform, and Qognify's Video Management Solution, which controls the hundreds of surveillance cameras throughout the city.
With the solution's implementation, the city has gained the ability to improve traffic management, deter criminal activity, effectively manage response to events, and resolve investigations efficiently:
A central command center is using the platform to monitor entry and exit points of the city, toll points, traffic junctions, accident prone road sections, subway and railway stations, schools, key residential areas, open markets, and key utility infrastructure areas such as electrical substations and the main water supply lines.
Special "Emergency Communication Boxes" act as "panic buttons" and allow people to generate alerts and communicate directly to the control room in case of emergency.
Qognify's video management solution provides high quality video feeds. Smart integration with Agent Vi's video analytics solutions enables immediate detection and extraction of security and safety incidents from surveillance cameras throughout the city. This integration enables the triggering of real-time, automatic alerts of incidents in Qognify Situator, that in turn, generates the appropriate operating procedure and response plan for the operators to act upon.
Situator provides a unified, operational view of the city by integrating all the components of the solution, while providing advanced collaboration capabilities for field personnel who are able to send real time images as well as videos to the control room with the type of the incident at hand and the GIS coordinates of the field respondent.
"The Navi Mumbai security program goes far beyond a CCTV system," said Mr. Soma Vijayakumar, CIDCO. "It is a smart solution that integrates video, emergency response, traffic control, license plate identification and more. Qognify is the core important element of this platform, providing a solution which is among the most modern and advanced available anywhere."
"Navi Mumbai has embarked on a remarkable program which will enhance the safety and security of its citizen, visitors and assets," said Moti Shabtai, Qognify's President. "We're proud to be a part of this multi-solution, multi-agency project that fulfils the vision of the city authorities to provide a security and safety to its constituents.
Qognify will be featuring its security and operations solutions in booth 9101 @ ISC West, April 5-7 in Las Vegas.
About Qognify
Qognify helps organizations mitigate risk, maintain business continuity, and optimize operations. The Qognify portfolio includes video management, video and data analytics, and PSIM/ Situation Management solutions that are deployed in financial institutions, transportation agencies, airports, seaports, utility companies, city centers, and to secure many of the world's highest-profile public events.
http://www.qognify.com/
Corporate Media Contact
Hagar Lev,
+1-845-201-5654,
[email protected]
Regional Media Contact
Graham Thatcher,
+44(0)7933-673-240,
[email protected]
SOURCE Qognify
SEATTLE, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Outdoor co-op REI today launched a comprehensive effort to advance gender equity in the outdoors, encouraging millions of its members to embrace the outdoors as "the world's largest level playing field." From gear to experiences and from nonprofit partnerships to powerful women-first storytelling, Force of Nature aims to ensure that women are just as inspired and equipped as men to embrace life outside. Force of Nature features four components: a comprehensive effort to change the male-dominated imagery of people in the outdoors; a $1 million commitment in 2017 to support nonprofits that create opportunities for women in the outdoors; a stepped-up effort to develop and offer high-quality technical gear and apparel for women; and the launch of over 1,000 events designed for women, beginning May 6.
REI Launches Force of Nature to Reset Perception of the Outdoors REI Launches Force of Nature to Reset Perception of the Outdoors REI Launches Force of Nature to Reset Perception of the Outdoors
Force of Nature is a public-facing effort that builds on nearly eight decades of REI work to create more access to the outdoors for women. The co-op has a balanced leadership team. Women hold more than 40 percent of senior leadership roles, including the current chief financial officer, chief information officer, and the heads of human resources, merchandising and strategy. One third of the REI board of directors are women.
Current CEO Jerry Stritzke, who succeeded previous CEO Sally Jewell, has publicly led the effort to advance women's leadership across the outdoor industry. One of his first acts as CEO was to launch a five-year, $1.5 million effort with Camber Outdoors that sparked women's innovation and leadership in the outdoor industry.
REI board chair, Cheryl Scott, said:
"The leaders of REI have been pushing to change the way things are done in the outdoor industry since I got on the board 12 years ago. This moment makes me proud to serve REI because it's not about putting women above men it's about creating equal opportunity and levelling-up in areas where there are still obvious gaps. I hope millions of REI members will embrace this because more balance outdoors means our kids, our families and our society will benefit."
REI president and CEO, Jerry Stritzke, said:
"At REI, we believe a life outdoors is a life well lived for all. That means we support equality from the backcountry to the boardroom. As a man and a CEO, I believe it is important for every leader in an organization, regardless of gender, to champion equality and we are doing the hard work here at REI to make that happen. This isn't about elevating one group above another or pivoting REI to serve one gender over another. This is about ensuring women are just as inspired and equipped as men to embrace life outside. Everyone should expect to get the same level of expert service, gear and experiences, and we need to get better as an industry at doing that."
REI senior vice president of merchandising and board chair of Camber Outdoors, Susan Viscon, said:
"Strong women leaders have helped REI thrive since 1938. Force of Nature is rooted in that proud heritage. We're taking an even harder run at ensuring women have access to the same high-end gear men do, which I'm particularly proud of. That's been a consistent part of my mission here at the co-op ever since I joined 20 years ago, and it's inspiring to see how our vendor partners have stepped up."
Today, REI also published a national study commissioned to better understand the role the outdoors plays in women's lives and how the outdoors is perceived today. The study revealed that 7 out of 10 women believe that women are under more pressure to conform than men, and that they also view the outdoors as an antidote to that pressure. Additionally, the study found that more than 85 percent of women see the outdoors as key to better physical and mental health, and overall well-being, and 73 percent say they would like to spend more time outdoors.
Changing the Male-Dominated Imagery of People Outdoors
The co-op has committed to putting women first and foremost in all of its storytelling for the remainder of 2017. The effort will "take over" REI's digital marketing, social media content and media partnerships, and storytelling across member communications, REI Adventures, Outdoor School, REI Adventure Projects and internal communications. REI will host a film festival this fall focused on women in the outdoors, and partnered with Outside magazine to help them create their first ever all-women's issue, due on newsstands April 11.
$1M to Support Community Organizations that Create Opportunities for Women Outdoors
As part of its annual commitment to create access to the outdoors for all, the co-op will invest over $1 million in community organizations that create more opportunities for women and girls to get outside in 2017. Roughly $500,000 will support organizations such as Camber Outdoors, GirlTrek and the YMCA's BOLD/GOLD initiative. REI also unveiled a new $500,000 fund, available through an open call submission process, for additional organizations that create opportunity for women and girls in the outdoors. Up to $300,000 of this fund will be fueled by a custom-designed bandana, an artist collaborative T-shirt and member-exclusive REI Flash pack.
Outfitting Women for Outdoor Adventure
REI will continue to work with its partners to elevate and invest in companies that are creating the world's best outdoor gear for women. For decades, REI has pushed the outdoor industry to put the "pink-it-and-shrink-it" philosophy aside and offer high performance women-specific outdoor gear. Women-specific product has improved dramatically, but in certain product categories, there remains a gap between the quality of high end men's and women's gear available. Several brands have stepped up as partners with an increased focus on world class women's gear, particularly in women-specific fit and assortment, including Osprey, GHOST, Oiselle, Arc'teryx, Terry, Oboz, Darn Tough, Outdoor Research and prAna.
Over 1,000 Events Designed to Get Women Outside
Beginning today, REI opened registration to hundreds of REI Outdoor School classes and experiences across the country designed for women. On May 6, the co-op will offer a full day of Force of Nature experiences and programs hosted by its Outdoor School's expert instructors and community partners. These events will continue throughout the summer, with more than 1,000 events, many of them happening weekly on "Force Wednesdays" in select markets.
The co-op will also host three REI Outessa retreats at breathtaking mountain settings. These immersive, three-day outdoor adventures enable women to find their outdoor community, do what they love and try something new in the country's most beautiful outdoor playgrounds. Retreats are scheduled at Kirkwood Mountain Resort in California from July 14-16, Mt. Hood in Oregon from August 18-20 and Waterville Valley Resort in New Hampshire from September 22-24.
REI Adventures has also launched a collection of 19 Women's Adventures in Africa, Europe, Latin America, New Zealand and North America. These extraordinary journeys are designed specifically for all-women groups and led by female guides.
About REI
REI is a specialty outdoor retailer, headquartered near Seattle. The nation's largest consumer co-op, REI is a growing community of more than 16 million members who expect and love the best quality gear, inspiring expert classes and trips, and outstanding customer service. REI has 147 stores in 36 states. If you can't visit a store, you can shop at REI.com, REI.com/REI-Garage or the free REI shopping app. REI isn't just about gear. You can take the trip of a lifetime with REI Adventures, a global leader in active adventure travel that runs 170 custom-designed itineraries on every continent. REI's Outdoor School is run by professionally-trained, expert-instructors who teach beginner- to advanced-level courses about a wide range of activities. To build on the infrastructure that makes life outside possible, REI invests millions annually in hundreds of local and national nonprofits that create access toand stewardthe outdoor places that inspire us.
SOURCE REI
Related Links
http://www.rei.com
ZELIENOPLE, Pa., April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Ritter Technology, LLC (Ritter), a leading distributor of industrial motion and control products, announced that it has acquired Tri-State Hose & Fitting (Tri-State) located in Munster, Indiana. This acquisition strengthens Ritter's commitment to provide fluid power hose and connector products to its customer base in the greater Indiana/Illinois region with a special focus on Northwest Indiana.
Tri-State was founded in 1982 and was owned and operated by James Smith.
"We are pleased to welcome Jim Smith and the highly talented Tri-State team to our expanding network of motion and control companies. Given Ritter's focus on providing products and services to our industrial customers in the Great Lakes Basin, Tri-State fills in our recently established Indiana footprint for hose and connector fittings. We see a great deal of synergy between our businesses and I look forward to working with Jim in the coming years," stated Tim Hall, Chief Executive Officer of Ritter Technology, LLC.
Jim Smith noted: "I have competed with, and worked closely with Ritter professionals in the past. I respect and trust the character of their organization and their commitment to customer service. Ritter has been great to deal with and we look forward to becoming part of the growing Ritter family."
Terms of the acquisition are not disclosed as both companies are privately held.
About Ritter Technology
Ritter is a multi-state, industrial distributor of Parker Hannifin motion & control systems, Graco industrial lubrication equipment, and Enerpac high-pressure power tools, along with an extensive line of other top-tier fluid power and industrial lubrication products. Ritter focuses on fluid power and lubrication customers located in the Great Lakes Basin (WI, IL, IN, OH, PA, WV and NY). www.ritter1.com
About Tri-State Hose & Fitting
Tri-State Hose & Fitting sells fluid connector products to end users and manufacturers located in the northeast Illinois/ northwest Indiana corridor.
If you would like more information about this topic, please contact Tom Patton at (724) 452-2122 or [email protected].
SOURCE Ritter Technology, LLC
Related Links
http://www.ritter1.com
FAIRFAX, Va., April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Salient CRGT, Inc., a leading provider of health, data analytics, cloud, agile software development, mobility, cyber security, and infrastructure solutions, today announced a prime contract award from the Naval Education and Training Command (NETC) Naval Education and Training for Professional Development Technology Center (NETPDTC) to provide curriculum development and maintenance services for the U.S. Navy. The contract has a 36-month base ordering period and 36-month option period.
The efforts under the Curriculum Maintenance and Development Naval Training Products and Services (NTPS) Multiple Award Contract (MAC) involve applying the Instructional Systems Development (ISD) / Systems Approach to Training (SAT) models to the development and life-cycle maintenance of curricula. The efforts support Navy/DoD training requirements and Navy Distance Learning objectives through delivery of modular, scalable, and tailored learning continuums. While the processes for development consist of interrelated phases, the basic requirements under this effort will be for courses that require updates, revisions, conversions or new development to meet the requirements identified during the analysis and design phases.
"We are excited about continuing to partner with the U.S. Navy by providing training products and services. This contract builds on our longstanding relationship with the U.S. Navy and will provide the necessary resources to support their critical mission in keeping our country one step ahead of our adversaries," said Brad Antle, Chief Executive Officer of Salient CRGT. "It allows Salient CRGT the opportunity to continue providing unparalleled value to the Navy Training community."
About Salient CRGT
Salient CRGT provides federal civilian, defense, homeland, and intelligence agencies with expert depth in health, data analytics, cloud, agile software development, mobility, cyber security, and infrastructure solutions. We support these core capabilities with full lifecycle IT services and trainingto help our customers meet critical goals for pivotal missions. The most innovative talent delivery model in the industry, scientifically providing exactly the right people for the customers' most pressing requirements, fuels these critical capabilities. Salient CRGT has earned a record of success with integration and operations of largescale, highvolume solutions. On March 1, 2017, Salient CRGT completed its acquisition of Information Innovators, Inc. visit our newsroom. For additional information on Salient CRGT, visit www.salientcrgt.com.
Click to Tweet:.@Salient_CRGT Awarded Prime Contract from Naval Education Training Command (NETC) http://bit.ly/1MGSz5l
SOURCE Salient CRGT
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Each year, thousands of migrants go missing or die on their way to making new lives for themselves and their families. IOM estimates a count surpassing more than 63,000 victims from 2000 to 2016. The GatherIQ mobile app poses critical questions about the migrant crisis that IOM needs help analyzing. GatherIQ surfaces extensive data from IOM's Missing Migrants Project , including demographics, migrant routes and locations.
Participants in the GatherIQ community will gain access to SAS Visual Analytics interactive reports via the mobile app, where they can explore relevant visualizations. They can post insights to the community that they believe address the questions, share observations and work together to validate one another's results.
The mobile app also makes it easy to share insights across social media not only to bring attention to the crisis but to attract others to the GatherIQ effort. IOM will harness the power of the crowd to better understand what is really happening to these migrants and how the organization can help them.
"The migrant crisis continues unabated. By better understanding the risks facing these people, we can do more to protect them," said Leonard Doyle, IOM spokesperson. "The more people we have analyzing the data and contributing to solutions, the more likely we are to save lives."
Interested users can download GatherIQ from Apple's App Store. It will also be available on Android and as a web app in the near future.
Use data for good, learn marketable skills
Through GatherIQ, SAS will collaborate with select nonprofit organizations to help them learn more from their data. Each project will encourage individuals to contribute their time, knowledge and analytic skills to help solve humanitarian, educational and environmental issues facing the global community.
"To everyone who wants to help solve complex global challenges, but doesn't know where to start: GatherIQ is your chance," said I-Sah Hsieh, SAS Global Manager for International Development. "We want the public to help us in our mission to improve the world with analytics and data. You don't have to be a data scientist. Just have a curious mind and a desire to help humanity."
And while they're helping to improve understanding of humanitarian crises, community members are also learning how to explore data using the latest data visualization tools. The ability to analyze data to uncover new insights is a highly sought skill in today's economy. GatherIQ offers opportunities to integrate data visualization and analysis into research projects and educational coursework.
"We encourage teachers, professors and students to integrate this project into their learning and research," said Hsieh. "Today's students want to make a difference in the world. With GatherIQ, they also gain data analysis experience that will help fill the looming data skills gap."
SAS and IOM wield data for good
The humanitarian collaboration between SAS and IOM has already helped modernize disaster response. Following Typhoon Haiyan's devastation of the Philippines in 2013, SAS analyzed data from IOM shelters to target relief efforts and identify the most critical health problems. For instance, IOM could see on a map which shelters had a dangerous combination of overcrowding, bad drinking water and problems with solid waste disposal. IOM could also quickly pinpoint sites that had a high number of families living in makeshift shelters. Both results enabled IOM to direct services and resources where needs were greatest.
In 2015, SAS again worked with IOM to address life-threatening needs in the wake of the Nepal earthquake. With the monsoon season approaching, SAS analyzed 300 million rows of global trade data to quickly identify sources for tin roofing. IOM immediately ordered 310,000 sheets and provided shelter to 45,000 displaced Nepalese families.
"SAS and IOM have proven the value of analytics and data visualization to help bring hope to the hopeless," said Doyle. "The public's involvement will increase that value exponentially."
Today's announcement was made at SAS Global Forum, the world's largest analytics conference, with more than 30,000 business and IT users of SAS software participating on-site and online.
About SAS
SAS is the leader in analytics. Through innovative analytics, business intelligence and data management software and services, SAS helps customers at more than 83,000 sites make better decisions faster. Since 1976, SAS has been giving customers around the world THE POWER TO KNOW.
SAS and all other SAS Institute Inc. product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of SAS Institute Inc. in the USA and other countries. indicates USA registration. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies. Copyright 2017 SAS Institute Inc. All rights reserved.
SOURCE SAS Institute
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CINCINNATI, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Steve Watt is returning to his Midwest roots to be vice president and general manager for KSHB, 41 Action News, and KMCI, 38 the Spot, in Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas, effective later this month. The duopoly is owned and operated by The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE: SSP).
Watt, 52, has 30 years of industry experience including the past 13 years at WKRN in Nashville. He was promoted through the ranks at the ABC affiliate where he demonstrated his ability to create a high-performing team with proven ratings and revenue success. The combination of his business acumen and mission focus makes him a great fit for Scripps.
"Steve has impressed us with his accomplishments in Nashville," said Debbie Turner, vice president, television operations for Scripps. "With every new challenge, he set high goals and created a strategic plan to achieve them. He has rallied WKRN to become a strong competitor in the market. That takes vision, persistence and leadership. He's the kind of leader we want at Scripps."
Watt arrived at WKRN, the ABC affiliate in Nashville, in 2004 as a local sales manager. Through the years, he was promoted to general sales manager, acting station manager and most recently to vice president and general manager. He guided his team through several company ownership changes, strategic planning and rebranding.
Prior to Nashville, Watt worked at several media businesses in the Quad Cities area in Iowa and Illinois. He gained nearly 15 years of experience working in media sales at a variety of different levels from account executive to local sales manager and general sales manager. With each new role, his results were the same, increased growth and new business opportunities.
Before entering the sales side of the business, Watt was a TV news reporter at WOI-TV, WQAD-TV and KDAO radio.
Watt earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Iowa State University. He has related experience in the industry as a member of the ABC Sales Advisory Board and NABEF Executive Development Program.
Watt is replacing Brian Bracco who is retiring this month after a multifaceted, successful media career.
About Scripps
The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE: SSP) serves audiences and businesses through a growing portfolio of television, radio and digital media brands. Scripps is one of the nation's largest independent TV station owners, with 33 television stations in 24 markets and a reach of nearly one in five U.S. households. It also owns 34 radio stations in eight markets. Scripps also runs an expanding collection of local and national digital journalism and information businesses, including multi-platform satire and humor brand Cracked, podcast industry leader Midroll Media and over-the-top video news service Newsy. Scripps also produces television shows including "The List" and "The Now," runs an award-winning investigative reporting newsroom in Washington, D.C., and serves as the longtime steward of the nation's largest, most successful and longest-running educational program, the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Founded in 1878, Scripps has held for decades to the motto, "Give light and the people will find their own way."
SOURCE The E.W. Scripps Company
Related Links
http://www.scripps.com
NEW YORK, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Purcell Julie & Lefkowitz LLP, a class action law firm dedicated to representing shareholders nationwide, is investigating a potential breach of fiduciary duty claim involving the board of directors of Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. (NYSE: BBW).
If you are a shareholder of Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. and are interested in obtaining additional information regarding this investigation, free of charge, please visit us at:
http://pjlfirm.com/build-a-bear-workshop-inc/
You may also contact Robert H. Lefkowitz, Esq. either via email at [email protected] or by telephone at 212-725-1000. One of our attorneys will personally speak with you about the case at no cost or obligation.
Purcell Julie & Lefkowitz LLP is a law firm exclusively committed to representing shareholders nationwide who are victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty and other types of corporate misconduct. For more information about the firm and its attorneys, please visit http://pjlfirm.com. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
SOURCE Purcell Julie & Lefkowitz LLP
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SEATTLE, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Sound Pharmaceuticals, a private biopharmaceutical company, and leader in developing novel drug treatments for the inner ear and brain, announced today that Jonathan Kil, MD, Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Medical Officer has been invited to present at the 16th Annual Needham & Company Healthcare Conference on Tuesday, April 4th at 1:40 pm EDT in New York, NY.
Dr. Kil will provide an update on the Company's R&D milestone achievements from the past year, along with the strategic objectives for its three neurotologic programs. SPI has four active Investigational New Drug applications with the FDA involving several indications including noise induced hearing loss, Meniere's disease, and chemotherapy and antibiotic induced ototoxicity. In addition, he will highlight some of the significant market opportunities within the field of hearing and balance, specifically, in the area of neurotology.
Needham & Company's 16th Annual Healthcare Conference is a high-impact forum for institutional investors and venture capital firms to hear the latest updates from senior management teams of both leading public and private companies in the Biotechnology, Specialty Pharmaceuticals, Medical Technology and Diagnostics sectors.
About Sound Pharmaceuticals
Sound Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (SPI) is a pioneer in neurotologic drug development aimed at treating sensorineural diseases of the inner ear. SPI is developing the first therapeutics that will enable doctors and patients to prevent and treat various forms of hearing loss and tinnitus including ototoxicity and Meniere's disease. Sensorineural hearing loss is the third largest disease and affects 50 million Americans. SPI is a privately held biotechnology company headquartered in Seattle, WA.
Contact:
Sound Pharmaceuticals
[email protected]
www.soundpharma.com
SOURCE Sound Pharmaceuticals
Related Links
http://www.soundpharma.com
SANTA CRUZ, Calif., April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Representing a first step into the Santa Cruz storage market, StorageMart proudly announced today the acquisition of a new facility in the beautiful Soquel neighborhood. Located on Soquel Drive, the new store offers more than 650 Santa Cruz storage units in a variety of sizes and types to meet the needs of the local community.
Just off Cabrillo Highway, the newest StorageMart is only a few minutes' drive from anywhere in Santa Cruz. "The number one feature customers want in self storage is convenience," said StorageMart President, Cris Burnam, referencing how location was a prime factor in this decision. "Our goal is to make storage easy for our customers, and a centrally located facility is a big part of that."
Formerly Store More America, the facility was recently built in 2009 and boasts several modern storage amenities like a large loading area that can accommodate cars or trucks as well as two freight elevators that make accessing a unit on any floor incredibly easy. Although the beautiful coastal weather in Santa Cruz is perfect for residents and vacationers, it's not always ideal for those looking to keep temperature-sensitive items like photographs or antiques in their basement or garage. We're proud to offer a large selection of climate controlled units among the 78,000 square feet of storage so storing keepsakes isn't stressful.
We're also setting minds at ease with StorageMart's industry-leading features like a well-lit property, 24-hour cameras, and controlled access with PIN pads. Most importantly, we're bringing our 5-star customer service to Santa Cruz and know our comprehensive manager training has prepared our employees for the task of helping our customers find the perfect storage solution.
We encourage anyone in need of storage in the area to check out available Soquel storage units on our website and see how easy the rental process can be if you have 5 minutes, you can rent a unit with StorageMart on Soquel Dr.
About StorageMart
StorageMart started with a single store in Columbia, Missouri and has grown to be the largest privately-owned storage company in the world. Family owned, StorageMart is led by the Burnam family, which has been in the storage industry for three generations. Dedicated to providing easy, clean and friendly service to each and every customer, StorageMart is also committed to giving back to the many communities it calls home. In 2016, the company donated more than $142,000.00 to charities, in addition to donating over $350,000 in free rent to local organizations throughout the US and Canada. Find out more at www.storage-mart.com.
Contact: Sarah Little, [email protected]
SOURCE StorageMart
Related Links
https://www.storage-mart.com
BANGALORE, India, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Strand Life Sciences today announced the release of version 3.0 of its flagship, next-generation sequencing (NGS) data analysis and visualization platform, Strand NGS. Benchmarked against the world's best, major enhancements in this release have led to significant improvements in accuracy, precision and speed of NGS data analysis at scientists' fingertips.
This latest release adds considerable value to the Strand stack of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered bioinformatics and text mining platform, christened "Ramanujan" after two great intellectuals of Indian origin for their mathematical and linguistic prowess. Over a period of 15 years, Strand has honed and leveraged its proprietary AI platform, which it applies in NGS data analysis, clinical variant interpretation and reporting.
The key highlight of this Strand NGS v3.0 release is a DNA-Seq workflow that is 1.5 to two times faster than the BWA-GATK best practices workflow including increased accuracy for variant calling with precision/recall rates as high as 99/ 98% on the entire call set and 97/ 92% on InDels, and powerful visualizations for each step that are not present in GATK. Other improvements include:
A 'one shot pipeline execution option' to help researchers and core facilities complete reiterative NGS analyses in just a few clicks.
Improved RNA-Seq workflow processing speed with observed speedups of up to 110% in RNA transcriptome alignment.
Full support for HGVS notation to describe variants in standard international nomenclature of variant reporting and information exchange in DNA diagnostics.
"Anticipating the latest developments in genomics and healthcare, Strand has become a global leader in providing cutting-edge platforms for scientists, clinical laboratories, hospitals and doctors. The platforms span next-generation genomics data analysis, clinical variant interpretation and reporting. Today, Strand Ramanujan is used by Strand to enable clinicians to integrate phenotype information with all other clinical reporting for more effective application in monitoring and screening of disease progression and recurrence," said Dr. Vijay Chandru, Chairman and Managing Director, Strand Life Sciences. In partnership with India's largest cancer specialty hospital network, Health Care Global (HCG), Strand Ramanujan will create a clinical genomics data bank that will advance genomic medicine in oncology.
About Strand Ramanujan
Strand Ramanujan is representative of India's ability to produce world-class AI platforms to aid in disease prevention, diagnostics, and treatment, and capable of competing with the likes of IBM (Watson HealthTM) and GE (Predix). At the core of Ramanujan, is Strand's proprietary natural language processing (NLP) platform Grammatica that powers Strand's products, including the market-leading gene expression analysis software GeneSpring (marketed by Agilent Technologies, Inc.), Strand NGS, the powerful NGS data analysis and visualization platform, and StrandOmics, enabling fast and accurate clinical variant interpretation and reporting.
About Strand NGS
Strand NGS offers highly accurate and visualization-rich workflows for alignment, DNA-Seq, RNA-Seq, small RNA-Seq, ChIP-Seq, Methyl and MeDIP-Seq experiments, with a best- in- class, feature-rich elastic genome browser. Strand NGS allows scientists to better comprehend their NGS data by using the tertiary biological interpretation features.
About Strand Life Sciences
Strand Life Sciences is a global genomic profiling and bioinformatics company established in 2000. Strand is a leader in precision medicine diagnostics, aimed at empowering cancer care and genetic testing for inherited diseases. Strand works with oncologists, pathologists, geneticists, and hospitals to enable faster clinical decision support for accurate molecular diagnosis, prognosis, therapy recommendations, and clinical trials. Strand's lab in India is a CAP & NABL accredited NGS laboratory.
For more information, visit www.strandls.com
This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com.
SOURCE Strand Life Sciences
Related Links
http://strandls.com
Subaru of America, Inc. announced today that the all-new 2018 Subaru Crosstrek will debut at the New York International Auto Show. The all-new Crosstrek is built on the new Subaru Global Platform and offers enhanced performance, safety, capability and comfort. The fun-to-drive Crosstrek combines a bold new design with a new highly capable chassis for versatility in both off-road and city driving.
The more spacious 2018 Crosstrek is the second vehicle built with the brand's new design language of "Dynamic x Solid." Multimedia features include standard Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity and Near Field Communication to simplify Bluetooth pairing. Active Torque Vectoring, first introduced on the WRX and WRX STI, is now standard on all trim levels. The system helps reduce understeer and keeps the vehicle on the driver's intended cornering path. The new Crosstrek will be available in base, Premium, and Limited trim levels when it arrives at Subaru retailers this summer.
Sporty Yet Rugged Styling
The Crosstrek's new exterior design incorporates the brand's signature hexagonal grille and hawk-eye headlights onto a more sculptural body, its rugged stance is accentuated by prominent wheel arches and flowing lines. Black side- and wheel-arch cladding, lower rocker panels and roof rails provide a sharp contrast to the body color. The dramatic new look carries into the cabin, with an outward-flow design that follows the front of the car. The 2018 Crosstrek rides on a 104.9-in. wheelbase, up 1.2-in. over the last generation Crosstrek. Just 0.6-in. longer than the outgoing model and 0.9- in. wider, the Crosstrek retains its nimble size but adds an even roomier cabin. With 60/40 split flat-folding seat seats and wider rear gate opening, the 2018 Crosstrek has a larger cargo area for greater utility. The Crosstrek delivers excellent all-around visibility, high ground clearance (8.7-in.), 17-in. alloy wheels and class-leading interior volume is a nimble compact SUV package.
Ready for the Next Generation SUV
The new Subaru Global Platform, together with the SUBARU BOXER engine; Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive (AWD); and EyeSight Driver Assist Technology, represent the brand's core technologies and constitutes the foundation of the next generation of Subaru vehicles. Crosstrek's new platform integrates new framework with optimized cross sections and highly stiffened joints between structures to significantly enhance straight-line stability, agility, and ride comfort while suppressing noise, vibration, and harshness to a degree not seen before in the small SUV class. Specifically, the new platform increases rigidity of the unitized body structure by over 70 percent.
All trim levels with the Lineartronic CVT (continuously variable transmission) now come standard with driver-selectable X-Mode to provide better wheel control on slippery surfaces and steep inclines.
A lower center of gravity and revised suspension systems contribute to the biggest-ever leap in Subaru's performance evolution. The double-wishbone independent rear suspension mounts its rear stabilizer bar directly to the body, which significantly improves body stiffness and stability compared to the outgoing model. Greater hazard-avoidance capability is another benefit of the Subaru Global Platform's inherent handling agility. In addition, the resolute straight-line stability that makes the 2018 Crosstrek more relaxing to drive is also an important constituent of the autonomous driving capability this platform can support in future Subaru vehicles.
New Direct Injection for Higher Performance and Efficiency
A revised version of the FB 2.0-liter 4-cylinder Boxer engine gains direct fuel injection and other enhancements to boost both performance (now 152-hp vs. 148 before) and drivability. The 2.0i base and Premium trims come standard with a six-speed manual transmission and are available with the Lineartronic CVT. The Limited trim come standard with the CVT featuring a 7-speed manual mode function with steering wheel paddle shifters that allow the driver to control the transmission via seven pre-set ratios.
Advancement in Vehicle Safety
Subaru designed the 2018 Crosstrek to provide even higher levels of safety than the outgoing model, which was named an IIHS TOP SAFETY PICK for six years running (when equipped with available EyeSight). The new platform underpinning the 2018 Crosstrek improves crash energy absorption by 40 percent over present models.
The EyeSight system includes Adaptive Cruise Control, Automatic Pre-Collision Braking and Lane Departure and Sway Warning. Blind Spot Detection with Lane Keep Assist and Rear Cross Traffic Alert are also available. Also new are available Steering Responsive Headlights, which can illuminate curves as the vehicle steers into them, and High Beam Assist, which automatically activates and deactivates the high beam headlamps based on driving conditions. All 2018 Crosstrek models include, as standard equipment, front seat side impact airbags, side curtain airbags and a driver's knee airbag.
The 2018 Crosstrek offers additional driver-assist technologies, including Reverse Automatic Braking and the display of steering lines for the standard rear vision camera. Reverse Automatic Braking can apply the vehicle's brakes if an obstacle is detected while reversing. A new 4-way Tire Pressure Monitoring System can detect pressure drops at individual wheels is available.
Three Trim Levels
The 2018 Subaru Crosstrek will be offered in three trim levels: 2.0i base, Premium and Limited. The 2.0i base starts with an extensive roster of standard features that includes a 6.5-inch multimedia touchscreen; Android Auto and Apple CarPlay; power windows with auto up/down on both driver and passenger sides; 60/40-split fold-down rear seat; power door locks and side mirrors; multi-function display with fuel economy information; tilt and telescoping steering column; security system with engine immobilizer; 17-inch machine finish alloy wheels; standard integrated roof rails; carpeted floor mats; and privacy glass. The 2.0i base and Premium come standard with a 6-speed manual transmission or available CVT equipped with X-Mode with hill-descent control.
The Premium trim adds leather wrapped steering wheel and shifter, shark fin antenna, SUBARU STARLINK Safety and Security features, the All-Weather Package featuring heated front seats, windshield, and exterior mirrors as well as automatic headlights. Stepping up to the Premium trim also brings wider option availability, including a power moonroof and driver assist technology systems. The Premium's interior is available in either black or new high-contrast gray cloth interior with orange double stitching.
The top of the line Limited trim looks more upscale with LED headlights, distinctive "Konoji" LED daytime running lights (DRL) and standard 18-inch machine finished alloy wheels. The Limited Crosstrek also has Steering Responsive Headlights, which can illuminate curves as the vehicle steers into them. Exterior chrome trim and turn signal side mirrors add a touch of elegance. The Limited also comes standard with the CVT equipped with X-Mode with hill-descent control.
The Limited's interior features black or new high-contrast gray leather with orange double stitching on the seats, door armrests and instrument panel. Standard amenities include an automatic climate control system, leather wrapped steering wheel and shifter, Keyless Access & Push-Button Start and 8-inch color display. A 6-way power driver's seat, which is the first ever in a Crosstrek, is also standard equipment for the Limited. The exclusive instrument panel features white gauge cluster illumination, and new harman/kardon premium audio is available in the Crosstrek for the first time. Models equipped with EyeSight also include High Beam Assist. Lastly, the available navigation system now features maps provided by TomTom.
SUBARU STARLINK In-Vehicle Technology
SUBARU STARLINK Multimedia systems offer the latest in digital music playing, Bluetooth wireless capability, iPod control, smartphone integration and more. The display screen acts as the display for the standard rear vision camera, and the top-level system includes navigation.
SUBARU STARLINK Connected Services comes with the Safety Plus package that offers SOS Emergency Assistance, Enhanced Roadside Assistance, Automatic Collision Notification, Maintenance Notifications, Monthly Vehicle Health Report, and Diagnostic Alerts. This package can be upgraded to the Safety Plus & Security Plus package that adds Stolen Vehicle Recovery Service, Vehicle Security Alarm Notification, Remote Lock/Unlock, Remote Horn and Lights and Remote Vehicle Locator.
About Subaru of America, Inc.
Subaru of America, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Subaru Corporation of Japan. Headquartered at a zero-landfill office in Cherry Hill, N.J., the company markets and distributes Subaru vehicles, parts and accessories through a network of more than 620 retailers across the United States. All Subaru products are manufactured in zero-landfill production plants and Subaru of Indiana Automotive Inc. is the only U.S. automobile production plant to be designated a backyard wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. For additional information visit media.subaru.com.
Dominick Infante
Subaru of America, Inc.
856-488-8615
[email protected]
Jessica Tullman
Subaru of America, Inc.
310-352-4400
[email protected]
SOURCE Subaru of America, Inc.
Related Links
http://www.subaru.com
MT. PLEASANT, S.C., April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Supreme Court today granted the petition for a writ of certiorari filed on behalf of approximately 6,000 persons injured or family members of people killed in terrorist attacks that took place in Israel and the Palestinian Territories between January 1995 and July 2005 against Jordan-based Arab Bank PLC. The Court, in Jesner, et al., v. Arab Bank, PLC, Case No. 16-499, will determine whether corporations may violate customary international law and whether they are immune from cases brought under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS). Motley Rice LLC, one of the nation's largest plaintiffs' firms, attorneys Michael E. Elsner, Jodi Westbrook Flowers and John M. Eubanks are counsel for the plaintiffs, along with Jeffrey L. Fisher of Stanford Law School and Mark Werbner of Sayles Werbner PC.
Plaintiffs including citizens of Afghanistan, Argentina, Canada, France, Israel, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, among others claim that Arab Bank, which operated a federally chartered branch in New York City for 20 years (from 1983 through 2005), participated in a program to pay the families of suicide bombers and other terrorists who targeted civilians in terrorist attacks. Plaintiffs further allege that Arab Bank knowingly and intentionally provided banking services to virtually every terrorist organization operating within the Palestinian Territories including groups such as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, among others.
Plaintiffs claim the bank served as the administrator for a program on behalf of the Saudi Committee for the Support of the Intifada al Quds that provided a standard benefit of $5,316.06 to the families of Palestinians, including suicide bombers, who were killed in attacks against civilians. The Saudi Committee transferred payments exceeding $100 million through Arab Bank's New York branch to be converted into U.S. dollars to allow a free flow of money to terrorists in the Palestinian Territories. The Bank also held bank accounts for such renowned terrorists as Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the founder and spiritual leader of Hamas; Saleh Shehadeh, another founder of Hamas and the founder of the military wing of Hamas; and Ismail Haniyeh, the former head of the Hamas government in Gaza. The list of accountholders at the Bank served as a "who's who" in terrorist circles in the Palestinian Territories.
Based on the alleged integral role of the bank's New York branch in providing a fungible currency source for the terrorists, plaintiffs assert that Arab Bank should be subject to suit under the ATS because the statute grants jurisdiction to federal district courts "of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States." Nevertheless, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York has determined that corporations such as Arab Bank cannot be sued for violating international laws under the Alien Tort Statute. The Supreme Court has taken this case to resolve a conflict between the Second Circuit on one hand and the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the D.C., Fourth, Seventh, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits on the other. All other circuits to address this issue have found corporations as potentially liable under the Alien Tort Statute.
"Immunizing corporations who finance terrorists from liability for violations of customary international law is wrong and inconsistent with the language and purpose behind the ATS," said Motley Rice LLC attorney for the plaintiffs, Michael Elsner. "Our clients welcome the Supreme Court's resolution of the conflict that has developed between the Second Circuit and the other Circuit Courts around the country that have decided that corporations, just like private citizens, should be responsible for violations of customary international law. This decision has important implications for the fight against global terrorism. Disarming clients from their right to bring civil lawsuits is a victory for terrorist financiers."
The ATS claims were previously consolidated with claims of American citizens asserting claims against Arab Bank under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA). On September 22, 2014, a Brooklyn jury found Arab Bank liable for 22 separate terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas between March 2001 and September 2004 in the claims brought by U.S. citizens under the ATA. A confidential settlement was reached in the American cases days before a second phase of the trial to establish financial damages was set to commence in August 2015. The ATA liability verdict is currently on appeal before the Second Circuit. The Motley Rice LLC Anti-Terrorism and Human Rights team represented more than 130 American citizens in the ATA case.
Prior to reaching the Supreme Court, the non-American cases against Arab Bank have encountered a lengthy judicial history:
On January 29, 2007 , U.S. District Judge Nina Gershon of the Eastern District of New York denied Arab Bank's motion to dismiss the claims of the non-American victims determining they had adequately pleaded allegations that Arab Bank had violated the law of nations.
, U.S. District Judge of the Eastern District of denied Arab Bank's motion to dismiss the claims of the non-American victims determining they had adequately pleaded allegations that Arab Bank had violated the law of nations. On September 17, 2010 , the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued an opinion in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. , that corporations could not be held liable under the ATS.
, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued an opinion in , that corporations could not be held liable under the ATS. On April 17, 2013 , the Supreme Court affirmed the Second Circuit's decision in Kiobel on other grounds; however, it did not explicitly overturn the Second Circuit's determination regarding corporate immunity from ATS litigation.
, the Supreme Court affirmed the Second Circuit's decision in on other grounds; however, it did not explicitly overturn the Second Circuit's determination regarding corporate immunity from ATS litigation. The trial judge dismissed plaintiffs' ATS claims based solely on the Second Circuit's decision immunizing corporations from suit under the ATS.
In December 2015 , a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit while disagreeing with Kiobel and unsure of the impact of the Supreme Court's decision on the continued vitality of the Second Circuit precedent refused to overturn Kiobel and deferred to en banc consideration or a reversal by the Supreme Court.
, a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit while disagreeing with and unsure of the impact of the Supreme Court's decision on the continued vitality of the Second Circuit precedent refused to overturn and deferred to consideration or a reversal by the Supreme Court. The Second Circuit refused to hear the case en banc on May 5, 2016 , stating that the record was clear enough, and the issue divisive enough, for the Supreme Court to take up the issue.
on , stating that the record was clear enough, and the issue divisive enough, for the Supreme Court to take up the issue. On Oct. 5, 2015 , plaintiffs petitioned the Supreme Court to hear the case.
Arab Bank is headquartered in Amman, Jordan, and is one of the largest financial institutions in the Middle East with a global network of more than 600 branches and offices in 30 countries, including the United States.
Read more about the litigation.
About Motley Rice LLC
Motley Rice is one of the nation's largest plaintiffs' litigation firms. With a tradition of representing those whose rights have been violated, Motley Rice attorneys gained recognition for their pioneering asbestos lawsuits, their work with the State Attorneys General in the landmark litigation against Big Tobacco, and their representation of 9/11 families in the ongoing lawsuit against terrorist financiers. The firm continues to handle complex litigation in numerous areas, including securities fraud; antitrust; consumer protection; mesothelioma; environmental contamination; prescription and over-the-counter drugs; other medical devices; human rights; aviation disasters; and wrongful death. Motley Rice is headquartered in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., and has additional offices in Connecticut; Louisiana; Washington, D.C.; New York; Missouri; Rhode Island; and West Virginia. For more information, contact Motley Rice attorney Michael E. Elsner (NY, SC, VA) at 1.800.768.4026 or visit www.motleyrice.com. Connect with us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
SOURCE Motley Rice LLC
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Through a secure application, in.control allows users to tend to their production lines remotely, from a simple mobile interface. The solution allows customers to extend the flexibility of their existing automation equipment by enabling their robots to read and respond to HMI screens, perform QA inspections, monitor part status, and more. Analytic dashboards provide a real-time view into the status of robots, machines and specific jobs ensuring that plant managers have control and visibility over their production lines at all times.
According to Tend CEO Mark Silliman, Tend in.control takes a unique approach that can leverage basic USB cameras to allow robots to interface visually with machines, without the need for networking or integration. "The one thing that all industrial machines have in common is that they were designed to interface visually with human beings," Silliman explained. "So while we're all looking forward to the day when machines can communicate more directly with one other, visual cues provide the best way for us to make those connections today, while creating a path forward to an IIoT reality."
Tend is introducing in.control at the Automate 2017 show in Chicago, April 3-6. Visit booth #2802 or www.tend.ai to learn more.
About Tend
Tend has introduced the first hardware-agnostic, smart cloud robotics software that enables manufacturers to remotely control, monitor and analyze the performance of their robots and production equipment from their mobile devices. Tend in.control has made smart manufacturing simple and accessible for companies of all sizes, allowing them to monitor and control any robot, tending any machine, from any location. Visit booth #2802 at Automate 2017 to see the world premiere of the in.control application, or go to www.tend.ai to learn more.
SOURCE Tend.ai
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WASHINGTON, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The American HFC Coalition strongly endorses the President's Executive Order directing Customs and Border Protection to examine the use of extra bonding requirements and other measures to address non-payment of antidumping duties. The order also directs the Attorney General to prioritize the prosecution of trade law violators. The U.S. Department of Commerce has imposed antidumping duties on imports of Hydrofluorocarbon Blends from China (November 2016) and R-134a from China (pending publication in April 2017). Having obtained these antidumping orders, it is critical that the duties be imposed and collected.
The American HFC Coalition has already uncovered significant evidence that unscrupulous importers are avoiding antidumping duties and continue to sell HFC refrigerants from China at unfairly low prices. Requiring these importers to fully comply with U.S. law is the only way to remedy the impact of unfairly traded goods on U.S. manufacturers and their workers.
In the case of HFC Blends and R-134a, certain importers have avoided payment of antidumping duties by misstating the country of origin of imported goods, importing HFC blends or R-134a under an incorrect tariff heading, and other fraudulent practices. Stepped up bonding requirements help ensure that importers cannot simply exit the market when CBP sends bills for antidumping or countervailing duties. Such requirements also ensure that importers cannot continue to sell at unfair prices despite the imposition of duties.
Under current law, relief is too often delayed even though the U.S. government has determined that dumped or subsidized imports are causing material injury to U.S. industry and workers. For example, importers will build huge inventories before duties are imposed and then continue to sell at unfairly low prices even after antidumping duties are imposed.
Friday's announcement signals that the Administration intends to enforce U.S. law vigorously. Congress has long sought to provide relief from unfairly traded imports as soon as possible. As such, the executive order is a positive step to restore conditions of fair trade in the market.
Media Contact:
James Cannon
1-202-567-2318
SOURCE The American HFC Coalition
WASHINGTON, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today the International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition (IACC) and the City of London Police, Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) announced a joint effort to take down websites selling counterfeits through the IACC RogueBlock Program.
RogueBlock, the IACC's globally renowned, voluntary collaboration with international payment providers, targets online counterfeiters by terminating merchant accounts that illicit websites use to receive payments. Since its inception, it has terminated more than 5,300 individual merchant accounts, dismantling their ability to profit from an estimated 200,000 nefarious websites. The PIPCU collaboration expands RogueBlock's impact on counterfeiters by going after the websites themselves through PIPCU's Operation Ashiko. As part of its partnership PIPCU has agreed to consider each website submission from RogueBlock that fall within its jurisdiction, such as .uk domain names.
Operation Ashiko aims to tackle the online trade in counterfeit goods and protect the integrity of the UK domain tree by suspending websites committing intellectual property crime. Since its inception Operation Ashiko has suspended in excess of 20,000 websites by working with our industry partners. This creates a safer environment for consumers to purchase genuine goods and the funding of criminals committing intellectual property crime.
"The agreement sends a clear message to counterfeiters that their illegal and deceitful actions will not be tolerated in London and beyond," said IACC President Bob Barchiesi. "It represents exactly the kind of multifaceted approach that the modern battlefield of counterfeiting requires. With the help of PIPCU, we can fight counterfeiters through their wallets and their websites."
The initiative advances PIPCU's IP enforcement objectives by providing a streamlined source of counterfeit websites that are identified by rights holders and that includes all the information required to take action against them.
Detective Superintendent, Peter Ratcliffe, Head of the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit said, "International partnerships are the key to tackling the sale and distribution of counterfeit goods and by working with the International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition we aim to make the internet a hostile place for criminals to sell and distribute fake goods."
The agreement falls under the IACC and PIPCU's memorandum of understanding (MOU), which was signed in September 2016. The MOU provides an opportunity for greater collaboration between the two organizations in intellectual property enforcement programs and initiatives.
The IACC has long worked in partnership with law enforcement agencies around the world to seek innovative ways to address the counterfeiting problem wherever needed. In addition to the City of London Police, the IACC has formalized partnerships with Europol, la Guardia di Finanza, the Saudi Consumer Protection Association, among others. The organization's training programs in the U.S., Latin America and beyond has connected and educated law enforcement in the Americas, Europe and Asia.
The IACC's work with law enforcement is part of the organization's collaborative approach, which aims to combine its strength, expertise and resources with those of its partners to advance the fight against counterfeiting. The IACC continues to fulfill its mission by enhancing existing and developing new partnerships and programs to protect brands and consumers.
About the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit
The Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit is a specialist national police unit dedicated to protecting the UK industries that produce legitimate, high quality, physical goods and online and digital content from intellectual property crime.
The operationally independent unit was launched in September 2013 with funding from the Intellectual Property Office (IPO). The unit is based within the Economic Crime Directorate of the City of London Police, which is the National Policing Lead for Fraud.
About IACC
The IACC (www.iacc.org) is a Washington, DC-based not for profit organization representing the interests of companies concerned with trademark counterfeiting and the related theft of intellectual property. The members of the IACC include many of the world's best-known brands across all product sectors. The IACC has played a leading role in the development of cross-industry voluntary agreements, to address the illicit trafficking of counterfeit and pirated goods online, including its IACC MarketSafe and RogueBlock initiatives.
SOURCE International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition
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DETROIT, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Mars Agency announces two senior-level executive appointments to reinforce the strength of its creative leadership. Suzanna Bierwirth joins as Chief Creative Officer and Jeff Stocker is promoted from Chief Creative Officer to Global Chief Creative Officer. Both executives are based at the agency's global headquarters in Detroit.
Bierwirth joins The Mars Agency from FCB Chicago and its global network, where she has spent the bulk of her career, most recently as Senior Vice President, Group Creative Director. At FCB, she was instrumental in restructuring and building the creative department at FCB RED, its retail and engagement group. She helped build the Smucker's and Brown Forman businesses from shopper duties to agency of record and led award-winning creative for Coca-Cola and other clients.
Bierwirth will be responsible for leading day-to-day creative, overseeing the creative leadership teams and product output, as well as setting the creative vision across The Mars Agency network of offices. As CCO, she will report to Rob Rivenburgh, CEO of the Mars Agency, North America.
"We are thrilled to have someone with Suzanna's rich creative pedigree and depth of big brand experience running creative at The Mars Agency, as we seek to expand our integrated approach of marketing to shoppers," says Rivenburgh. "Suzanna is a big thinker and a creative force who demands the best from her teams and never stops pushing for smart design in her work. Moreover, her success as a business owner and retailer gives her added credibility to help deliver best-in-class retail marketing results for our clients."
As one of the longest-tenured executives at The Mars Agency, Stocker has spent more than 35 years in a variety of agency roles including creative director, copywriter, art director and broadcast producer. He has a keen knowledge of shopper marketing, with expertise in identifying winning strategies and developing world-class creative that drive product sales for the agency's clients.
Stocker has received over 200 industry awards in his career, including a featured work found in Broadcast Marketing, a popular college textbook that has helped shaped the minds of future shopper marketing gurus.
"Jeff has been instrumental in delivering game-changing creative leadership to our clients for more than 30 years and is a treasured resource across our industry, as his extensive recognition and many accolades attest," says Ken Barnett, Global CEO. "His promotion to global CCO is deeply deserved and in his new role, Jeff will help ensure that we're providing the same level of distinctive, breakthrough creative for our clients wherever they do business around the world."
About The Mars Agency
The Mars Agency is a full-service, global shopper and consumer marketing leader, operating in 11 offices in North America and Europe. For nearly 45 years, the agency has been consistently recognized as a thought-leader in the shopper space, attracting an impressive client base which includes Walmart, Hallmark, Coca-Cola, T-Mobile, Campbell's and Pfizer.
To learn more about The Mars Agency, please visit http://www.themarsagency.com/
For more information, contact:
Rick Leonard
RCL Communications
[email protected]
203.434.7734
SOURCE The Mars Agency
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SAN FRANCISCO, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Marti Spiegelman, a San Francisco-based business consultant and intuition expert, is one of several thought leaders profiled in the film InnSaei: The Power of Intuition, a new 78-minute documentary that can be streamed through Netflix.
InnSaei: The Power of Intuition Marti Spiegelman
Innsaei refers to an Icelandic concept that enables humans to connect with each other using empathy and intuition. The film was made by two Icelanders, Kristin Olafsdottir and Hrund Gunnsteinsdottir and had its premiere in London in January 2016. It has also been screened in Reykjavik, Berlin, New York City, Los Angeles, and San Diego.
Two years ago, the film crew spent three days talking with Spiegelman about intuition on her seven-acre forested property near San Francisco. "Intuition is the word we use to describe our capacity to know things out of the blue. It's powerful yet most people pass it off as not real. But it is how we know and create absolutely everything," she says. "Every human being has it. It isn't dependent on language or logic."
The film is already bringing new clients to Spiegelman. For example, an international corporation has asked her to assist them in improving its corporate culture after its executives saw the movie, and a U.S. consultancy has asked for help designing new kinds of benefits they can provide their clients.
"People are beginning to understand that company culture is a matter of human consciousness," Spiegelman observes. "The film talks about human relationships and how what we know and feel about other people affects the bottom line. If we were to go into a group at any company and just teach them the difference between their own feelings and how they experience another person they would naturally shift how they work with one another. Instead of being against each other, they would start to resonate with each other, to be efficient, to be creative and supportive. Profits are made in this kind of environment."
About Marti Spiegelman
Marti Spiegelman is the founder of Awakening Value: Technologies of Consciousness and the Conscious CxO Executive Training, and was a professor at En*theos Academy for Optimal Living. She has an MFA from the Yale School of Art & Architecture and ran her own design firm for 20 years before changing careers and serendipitously receiving training from indigenous cultural leaders.
For more information, contact Marti Spiegelman, (707) 874-9578 (office), (415) 722-5521 (cell), [email protected], www.awakeningvalue.com
SOURCE Marti Spiegelman
NEW YORK, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- This year, The Wings Club Foundation, Inc., will honor Southwest Airlines' Chairman of the Board, and Chief Executive Officer, Gary Kelly, with the 2017 Distinguished Achievement Award. Acknowledging outstanding accomplishments in the field of aviation, The Wings Club Foundation will present this award on October 20, 2017, at the 75th Annual Awards Gala to be held at the New York Hilton Midtown in New York City.
Under Gary Kelly's leadership, Southwest Airlines has grown to become the nation's largest airline in terms of originating domestic passengers carried and is a mainstay on Fortune magazine's list of the most admired companies in the world, ranking eighth in 2017.
As a Southwest veteran, Kelly began his career 31 years ago as Controller, moving up to Chief Financial Officer and Vice President Finance, then Executive Vice President and CFO, before being promoted to CEO and Vice Chairman in July 2004. Gary assumed the roles of Chairman and President in 2008. Prior to joining Southwest Airlines in 1986, Gary was a CPA for Arthur Young & Company in Dallas and Controller for Systems Center, Inc.
His biggest source of pride is the fact that Southwest Airlines has never had a single furlough in the airline's 46-year history. He has pioneered the airline's transformation through several key initiatives, including the acquisition of AirTran Airways, the repeal of the Wright Amendment, and the launch of international destinations for the first time in Southwest's history; all while staying true to the Company's core values and people-centric culture.
Throughout his career, Kelly has received numerous awards and recognitions, most recently as a 2016 inductee into the Texas Business Hall of Fame, and recipient of the prestigious 2016 Tony Jannus Award. He was named to Fortune magazine's Top 20 People in Business in 2014; was twice named D CEO Magazine's CEO of the Year; one of the best CEOs in America by Institutional Investor magazine three times; and selected as Dallas Business Journal's CEO of the Year for 2011. In 2010, Kelly was honored with the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Texas at Austin, and in 2013, he was inducted into the McCombs School of Business Hall of Fame at the University of Texas at Austin. In addition, he received the 2013 Father of the Year Award; and was the recipient of the 2013 McLane Leadership in Business Award at Texas A&M University. Kelly is a current member of the Business Council and the Southwestern Medical Foundation Board of Trustees.
The Wings Club's Distinguished Achievement Award has been presented annually since 1975. Notable past recipients include Neil Armstrong, Senator John Glenn, President George H. W. Bush, Brigadier General Charles E. Yeager, Frederick Smith, Steven Udvar-Hazy, T. Allan McArtor, and W. James McNerney, Jr., as well as 13 present and former airline CEO's including, Robert Crandall, Herbert Kelleher, Gordon Bethune, Sir Colin Marshall, Wolfgang Mayrhuber, Sir Richard Branson, and Dave Barger.
The Wings Club Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Its mission is to focus on initiatives aimed at supporting scholarships for students pursuing a career in aviation or aerospace; providing programs to educate in the field of aviation and supporting charitable organizations that use aviation to help those in need. The Wings Club Foundation serves over 1,300 members including industry leaders, pilots, professionals in related service organizations and students of aviation.
Recognizing significant achievements that contribute to the advancement of aviation and aeronautics, The Wings Club Foundation presents not only the Distinguished Achievement Award, but also the Outstanding Aviator Award and the Distinguished Scholar Awards. For more information please call (212) 867-1770, e-mail [email protected] or visit www.wingsclub.org.
SOURCE The Wings Club Foundation, Inc.
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NEW YORK, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Trust, from both customers and investors, is the most important currency for financial services companies. A breach of trust can break a bank, while maintaining trust leads to long-term success. At its core, financial services customers expect their banking institutions to protect their money and their information. And it starts with the most basic of 21st century communications email.
So how are the globe's leading financial institutions doing?
The good news is that the five largest banks in the U.S. are deploying the Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance (DMARC) email security protocol to prevent their brands from being hijacked and protect consumers from data theft, according to a new study from the Global Cyber Alliance (GCA).
However, there is still much more work to be done.
Only 11 of the top 50 U.S. banks and just 9 of the 50 largest European banks have deployed DMARC to block spoofed emails or have them marked as spam. Further, NONE of the 50 fastest growing independent banks in the U.S. use DMARC at all. An additional 22 banks out of the top 50 in the U.S. and 10 out of the top 50 in Europe have not fully deployed DMARC, preventing those organizations from gaining the benefits of DMARC. Reasons for this can vary, including that a bank is only beginning the process of DMARC implementation.
"We have tested and used DMARC in monitoring mode and are moving into "reject" mode to protect the more than 60 million emails we distribute monthly," said Troels Oerting, Group Chief Security Officer, Group CISO for Barclays Plc. "We need more companies to deploy DMARC to strengthen the ecosystem. I call on my peers across the financial sector and other industries to implement DMARC as part of email security and anti-phishing efforts."
Banks that deploy DMARC can stop spammers and phishers from using an organization's name to trick unsuspecting customers and conduct cyber attacks. DMARC provides insight into any attempts to spam, phish or spear-phish using an organization's brand or name. DMARC is supported by 85 percent of consumer email inboxes in the United States (including Gmail, Yahoo, Microsoft, etc.) and more than 2.5 billion email inboxes worldwide.
"At U.S. Bank, we work to earn the trust of customers every day," said Jenny Menna, Senior Vice President and Cybersecurity Partnership Executive at U.S. Bank. "U.S. Bank utilizes DMARC, and I always recommend that our clients consider implementing DMARC to protect their brand and their clients."
"DMARC prevents the hijacking of a company's brand, protecting its reputation and its relationships with customers and investors," said Philip Reitinger, President and CEO of GCA. "DMARC is proven, and it is free. Deployment is quite simple for many small and medium-size organizations, and reasonable for large organizations especially given the significant return on investment. If a customer can't trust your email correspondence, they will be looking elsewhere rather quickly."
GCA now offers a DMARC Setup Guide that will take network security professionals step-by-step through the entire DMARC installation process at https://dmarc.globalcyberalliance.org.
About The Global Cyber Alliance
The Global Cyber Alliance (GCA) is an international, cross-sector effort dedicated to confronting cyber risk and improving our connected world. It is a catalyst to bring communities of interest and affiliations together in an environment that sparks innovation with concrete, measurable achievements. GCA's mantra "Do Something. Measure It." is a direct reflection of its mission to eradicate systemic cyber risks.
GCA, a 501(c)3, was founded in September 2015 by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, the City of London Police and the Center for Internet Security. Learn more at www.globalcyberalliance.org.
SOURCE Global Cyber Alliance
ALACHUA, Fla., April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Sid Martin Biotechnology Institute (SMBI), the leading biotechnology incubator at the University of Florida, has been awarded the Randall M. Whaley Incubator of the Year award for 2017, the highest award given by the International Business Innovation Association (InBIA). InBIA is the world's leading organization for advancing business incubation, acceleration and entrepreneurship. SMBI was named Incubator of the Year among more than 7,500 incubators worldwide. The annual award, sponsored by the Friends of the University Science Center in Philadelphia, recognizes the top global business incubation program and includes a cash prize.
The award was presented on March 28th at the InBIA's 31st Annual International Conference on Business Incubation. Accepting the award for SMBI were Mark S. Long, Director, and Merrie Shaw, Assistant Director. SMBI also received another award, the 2017 Technology/Science Entrepreneurship Center Program.
David L. Day, Assistant Vice President for Technology Transfer at the University of Florida, said, "We are honored for the Institute to be recognized as the best in the world incubator. It is a tribute to our staff and their outstanding efforts helping startups grow great innovations and new solutions into successful businesses that will make the world a better place."
SMBI has a biotechnology focus, and over the past 21 years has served more than 100 startup companies in biotechnology, biomedicine and bioagriculture. The Institute has created more than 2,200 high-tech jobs since its inception, and SMBI resident companies have accumulated over $1.62B in capital and M&A activity. There is a 93% survival rate for companies that entered the SMBI program since March of 2003, and an overall 78% survival rate for all companies served over the past 21 years.
Since becoming Director of SMBI in January 2016, Long has overseen the admission of 13 new companies, and the graduation of three companies. "We continue to see the growth of North Central Florida as a biotech hub," said Long. "As part of the University of Florida's Research Foundation, we are able to offer new biotechnology startups a tremendous wealth of resources, advisement and equipment. We are proud to be recognized by our peers as the top incubation program in the world."
About Sid Martin Biotechnology Institute at the University of Florida
The Sid Martin Biotechnology Institute (SMBI) is the leading biotechnology incubator headquartered at the University of Florida in Alachua, Florida at Progress Park. SMBI has been honored with national and international awards for incubator excellence and achievements in technology commercialization, funding access, job creation and technology-based economic development. It is dedicated to mentoring and accelerating the growth of innovative early-stage bioscience and biotechnology companies, and supporting the economic growth of the North Central Florida region. For more information, visit sidmartinbio.org.
Contact: Merrie Shaw, Assistant Director, Sid Martin Biotechnology Institute, 386-462-0880, [email protected], sidmartinbio.org
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SOURCE Sid Martin Biotechnology Institute at the University of Florida
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NATIONAL HARBOR, Md., April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Textron Systems Unmanned Systems, a business of Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT), announced today that it has received a $14.8 million contract to provide two additional fourth-generation CUSV vehicles for the U.S. Navy's Unmanned Influence Sweep System (UISS) program. The U.S. Navy intends to use these two CUSV systems as part of their comprehensive Mine Counter Measure Unmanned Surface Vehicle (MCM USV) mission, which includes mine-hunting and potentially mine-neutralization, as well as mine-sweeping.
"The Navy is excited to continue to work with its industry partner, Textron Systems Unmanned Systems, to continue to develop, test and deliver additional capability to the fleet with the MCM USV platform and systems," Captain Jon Rucker, Program Manager for the Navy's Unmanned Maritime Systems Program Office (PMS 406) said. "The craft and its associated systems will provide a modular capability that will be a key component of the Navy's future mine countermeasures efforts."
These two additional CUSVs will join the U.S. Navy's first CUSV, which is designed for the influence sweeping mission. This UISS CUSV recently completed initial testing near Textron Systems Marine & Land Systems facility in Louisiana and is currently undergoing additional testing off of the east coast of the U.S.
"We are pleased to see the U.S. Navy's request for two additional vessels to support their mine countermeasure mission and are excited to be a part of the growing adoption of unmanned technologies in support of the U.S. Navy's mission to safely secure our waters," says Vice President of Control & Surface Systems Wayne Prender, "The inherent modularity that CUSV provides will enable the U.S. Navy to complete both mine-sweeping and mine-hunting missions from a single craft, demonstrating the CUSV system's multi-mission capabilities and large, configurable payload bay."
The CUSV is a multi-mission unmanned surface vehicle, capable of carrying multiple payloads, including side-scan sonar, mine neutralization, nonlethal weapons, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) sensors. Since its first demonstration in 2009, the CUSV has successfully completed several prominent exercises with the U.S. Navy. Today, the variations of the CUSV have amassed more than 2,000 on-water operational hours. The Textron Systems CUSV team includes its Marine & Land Systems business to leverage its 48 years of naval experience and proven ship-building capability, alongside the company's unmanned systems expertise.
Delivery of the two CUSV systems is expected in 2018.
About Textron Systems
Textron Systems' businesses develop and integrate products, services and support for aerospace and defense customers, as well as civil and commercial customers including those in law enforcement, security, border patrol and critical infrastructure protection around the globe. Harnessing agility and a broad base of expertise, Textron Systems' innovative businesses design, manufacture, field and support comprehensive solutions that expand customer capabilities and deliver value. Textron Systems consists of its Advanced Information Solutions, Electronic Systems, Geospatial Solutions, Lycoming Engines, Marine & Land Systems, Support Solutions, TRU Simulation + Training, Unmanned Systems and Weapon & Sensor Systems businesses. More information is available at www.textronsystems.com.
About Textron Inc.
Textron Inc. is a multi-industry company that leverages its global network of aircraft, defense, industrial and finance businesses to provide customers with innovative solutions and services. Textron is known around the world for its powerful brands such as Bell Helicopter, Cessna, Beechcraft, Hawker, Jacobsen, Kautex, Lycoming, E-Z-GO, Greenlee, Textron Off Road, Textron Systems, and TRU Simulation + Training. For more information visit: www.textron.com.
Certain statements in this press release may project revenues or describe strategies, goals, outlook or other non-historical matters; these forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update them. These statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the risks related to U.S. Government contracts as described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
CUSV is a trademark of AAI Corporation.
Media Contact:
Public Relations Team
Textron Systems
(978) 657-2020
[email protected]
SOURCE Textron Systems
Related Links
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"Preparation for the opening of Viceroy Palm Jumeirah Dubai has been an unforgettable journey," comments Bill Walshe, CEO of Viceroy Hotel Group. "I remember my very first meeting with Kabir Mulchandani of SKAI Holdings, the developer, owner and visionary behind the entire development, and now, four years later, we have opened an incredible new experience for Viceroy guests, one where Viceroy Palm Jumeirah Dubai has redefined modern luxury hospitality in this vibrant destination. I am extremely proud of General Manager Mikael Svensson, and the entire Viceroy team for how they have launched this incredible hotel."
The opening of Viceroy Palm Jumeirah Dubai marks the next step of VHG's aggressive and expansive growth strategy over the next few years, with forthcoming properties slated for Argentina, Chicago, Colombia, Panama, Portugal and Turkey.
MODERN MARVEL: PIONEERING ARCHITECTURE & OUTSTANDING INTERIOR DESIGN
Viceroy Palm Jumeirah Dubai's glass cube structure creates a sense of anticipation. At center, a first-of-its-kind glass cube towers at 15 meters by 15 meters, an engineering feat. The cube seemingly floats in front of the hotel, allowing natural light to flood in and provides a direct view through to the resort's runway like 60-meter pool, the ocean and beyond.
Viceroy Palm Jumeirah Dubai's interiors feature clean lines, natural materials and a standout design. Glamorous interiors feature a calming palette of neutral colors alongside Viceroy's signature teal, with brushed bronze finishes adding a warm glow. Light and dark wood contrasts with layers of marble, creating balance and refinement, while a recurring honeycomb hexagonal pattern runs throughout. Contemporary furniture and rich fabrics similarly contrast with Greek and Italian marbled bathrooms that feature hand cut mosaic tiling and bronze sculptured standalone bathtubs.
DECADENT DINING & VIBE
Home to eight spectacular food and beverage outlets, Viceroy Palm Jumeirah Dubai is a true feast for the senses:
BLVD on One: A vibrant, global brasserie led by executive chef Robert Nilsson
A vibrant, global brasserie led by executive chef Elevate: The 13th floor's elegant wine bar and hideaway with an unpretentious, youthful vibe
The 13th floor's elegant wine bar and hideaway with an unpretentious, youthful vibe Maiden Shanghai : A contemporary, authentic Chinese menu with Cantonese, Sichuan , Shanghai and Beijing influences
A contemporary, authentic Chinese menu with Cantonese, , and influences Quattro Passi : Founder and two Michelin-starred chef Antonio Mellino brings an outpost of his highly-acclaimed London Mayfair institution and Nerano restaurant off the Amalfi Coast offering culinary theater and innovative Italian cooking inspired by the fresh flavors of Campania
Founder and two Michelin-starred chef brings an outpost of his highly-acclaimed London Mayfair institution and Nerano restaurant off the Amalfi Coast offering culinary theater and innovative Italian cooking inspired by the fresh flavors of The Beach Club: Light bites, drinks and seductive tunes
Light bites, drinks and seductive tunes The Delisserie: The buzzy, neighborhood cafe with light meals such as Danish open-faced sandwiches and modern high tea
The buzzy, neighborhood cafe with light meals such as Danish open-faced sandwiches and modern high tea The Lobby Lounge: Morning coffee, afternoon tea, and light meals
Morning coffee, afternoon tea, and light meals The Pool Bar: Refreshing beverages, innovative mixes, mocktails and cocktails served from this twin outlet located on each side of the 60-meter social pool
THE AMENITIES: PROGRESSIVE SPA EXPERIENCES, EPIC EVENTS AND MORE
Viceroy Palm Jumeirah Dubai's 1,675 sq. m. spa simultaneously evokes the rolling Arabian sand dunes and golden beaches of Santa Monica. It's a fitting reflection of Viceroy's Los Angeles roots, further enhanced by a menu that combines LA infused treatments and holistic, locally-inspired massages and hammam treatments. Topline services include exclusively designed signature experiences with advanced anti-aging offerings from Natura Bisse; cleansing hammam rituals from the traditional marocMaroc line; and reinvented Hammam experiences from Terres D'Afrique. Fabulous enhancements include treatments with Knesko 24k nanogold technology, a first in Dubai. Further amenities include fourteen treatment rooms and four open air cabanas alongside a hammam, spa pool, relaxation lounge, Spa Cafe, fully-equipped gym with the latest Artis Collection from Techonogym, personal training services and wellbeing sessions.
Suspended on the 14th floor and featuring panoramic views across the Arabian Gulf, Viceroy Palm Jumeirah Dubai's 600 sq. m. Vista Ballroom serves as the perfect backdrop for any occasion - from glamorous fashion shows and photo shoots to dazzling weddings and corporate events - and accommodates up to 350 guests. Three fully-equipped meeting rooms with a combined capacity of 245 sq. m. offer views toward the coastline and Burj Al Arab.
Especially for the younger guests, there are enriching and educational experiences at Generation V, Viceroy Palm Jumeirah Dubai's colorful kids' club, as well as a dedicated children's pool for hours of fun in the water. For parents wishing to enjoy a romantic date night, babysitting services are also available.
RATES & AVAILABILITY
Opening rates for Viceroy Palm Jumeirah Dubai start from $259 USD, plus applicable taxes and services fees. To book, and for more information, please visit http://www.viceroyhotelsandresorts.com/dubai.
COMING SOON
Later this year, VHG will open the doors to Viceroy Chicago, located in the exclusive Gold Coast neighborhood of the Windy City. VHG recently announced its partnership with Boka Hospitality and the addition of Somerset, the hotel's future street-level restaurant, which will be led by executive chef Lee Wolen. Stay tuned to http://www.viceroyhotelsandresorts.com/chicago for the latest information.
ABOUT VICEROY HOTEL GROUP
Viceroy Hotel Group inspires travelers with one-of-a-kind authentic lifestyle experiences that bring together provocative design and intuitive service in sought-after locations. A leader in modern luxury, Viceroy's vibe-led hospitality is guided by the brand promise "Remember to Live," an affirmation to create lifelong memories for each and every guest. Viceroy destinations are segmented into three distinct portfolio tiers to help travelers find exactly the kind of experience they're looking for. The Viceroy Icon Collection properties include epic hotels and resorts in Abu Dhabi, Beverly Hills, Riviera Maya, Snowmass, and St. Lucia, with forthcoming openings in Dubai, Chicago, Algarve, Buenos Aires, Istanbul, Panama and Cartagena. The Viceroy Lifestyle Series hotels and resorts are found in attitude-led destinations including New York, Santa Monica, and Zihuatanejo. The Urban Retreat Collection properties in San Francisco and New York energize guests to live like locals. Viceroy Hotel Group is a member of the Global Hotel Alliance (GHA) DISCOVERY, a unique loyalty program offering exclusive benefits and experiences to its members at over 550 hotels around the world. For more information, visit www.viceroyhotelsandresorts.com. Follow Viceroy Hotel Group at facebook.com/viceroyhotelgroup and on Instagram @viceroyhotels.
Press Contact: LFB Media Group
646-455-0042
Erin Brunner | [email protected]
Crystal Ramirez | [email protected]
SOURCE Viceroy Hotel Group
Related Links
http://www.viceroyhotelsandresorts.com
BOTHELL, Wash., April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Vioguard, Inc. and Channels Business Group-Channels Medical Solutions (CMS) announced today an agreement for CMS to act as an Authorized Representative in Saudi Arabia. This means that CMS will partner with Vioguard to get the American company's patented self-sanitizing keyboards approved by the Saudi Food and Drug Authority and to represent Vioguard in the Middle East.
The two companies signed the deal at this year's Arab Health Convention in Dubai.
"We have been looking for ideal overseas partners to get our technology to the rest of the world," said Dave Schultz, Chief Executive Officer and President of Vioguard. "Channels Business Group-Channels Medical Solutions will help us make strong inroads in the Middle East."
Vioguard's flagship product is a self-sanitizing automated keyboard and mouse system that uses high-powered germicidal ultraviolet light, known as UV-C. This system, which has been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, effectively kills 99.99 percent of all bacteria, viruses, fungi and drug-resistant pathogens that have been proven to be responsible for millions of Hospital-Acquired Infections (HAIs) worldwide. Additionally, Vioguard holds patents in the UV-C space for sanitizing surfaces such as touch screens, telephones, escalator handrails, writing implements, and various other surface and input devices.
Hesham Al-Falah, Chief Executive Officer of Channels Business Group of Saudi Arabia, described the Vioguard keyboard as a revolutionary infection control product. "The device is a high-technology system with numerous positive features: constant sterilization with guaranteed output, no human mistakes or interference, and it is environment-friendly," he said. "It is exactly what we are looking to showcase at healthcare fairs and exhibitions worldwide. The benefactors of this great solution will be both healthcare and non-healthcare organizations, as they will be able to provide their staff and patients with a better, safer use of shared computers and workstations."
Al-Falah said the timing of the agreement is critical, especially because of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus, a severe respiratory illness that was first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and has since spread to several other countries in the Middle East the last few years. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, most people infected with MERS-CoV developed severe acute respiratory illness, including fever, cough, and shortness of breath. Many of them have died. The virus spreads from ill people to others through close contact.
Vioguard and Channels Business Group benefitted from the services of the U.S. Department of Commerce office in Riyadh throughout the negotiations.
"We were extremely pleased to be involved in the process of assisting Vioguard and Channels Business Group to reach this agreement," said Maher Siblini, senior commercial specialist of the U.S. Commercial Service group in the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. "The infection-fighting technology that Vioguard brings, along with the business expertise of Channels Business Group, is a huge win for healthcare in the region."
About Vioguard
Vioguard was established in 2008 by technology professionals interested in combating Hospital-Acquired Infections (HAIs). The company is passionately committed to developing products and solutions designed to enhance the effectiveness of infection control strategies without compromising productivity or accuracy. Vioguard's mission is to save lives, reduce sickness and stop the spread of deadly pathogens by developing products for infection prevention by working with industry professionals. Learn more at www.vioguard.com.
CONTACT:
Dave Schultz
425-318-7900
[email protected]
Facebook: facebook.com/vioguard
Twitter: @Vioguard
SOURCE Vioguard, Inc.
The agreement provides access to health care services from Catholic Medical Partners providers and at all Catholic Health facilities, including hospitals, labs, diagnostic imaging centers, primary care clinics, and home- and community-based care services.
"We are excited to partner with Catholic Health which shares our focus on providing quality health care for our members," said John J. Burke, WellCare's state president in New York. "This agreement demonstrates WellCare's ongoing commitment to improving the health and well-being of our members."
"Catholic Medical Partners is pleased to join WellCare's provider network to help serve Medicare Advantage and Medicaid members in New York. This partnership will help provide access to nearly 1,000 primary and specialty care physicians in western New York who are committed to achieving better outcomes, lowering costs and improving the patient experience," said Michael Edbauer, DO, MBA, president and CEO for Catholic Medical Partners.
"With four hospitals situated on five campuses and a wide range of ancillary care facilities circling the region, this relationship provides WellCare members with access to some of the most advanced and highest quality care in the region," said Jim Dunlop, executive vice president and CFO for Catholic Health.
As of Dec. 31, 2016, WellCare of New York serves approximately 238,000 members in New York, including 130,000 Medicaid members, 43,000 Medicare Advantage plan members and 57,000 Medicare Prescription Drug Plan members.
WellCare (HMO) is a Medicare Advantage organization with a Medicare contract. Enrollment in WellCare (HMO) depends on contract renewal. The provider network may change at any time. You will receive notice when necessary.
About WellCare Health Plans, Inc.
Headquartered in Tampa, Fla., WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (NYSE: WCG) focuses exclusively on providing government-sponsored managed care services, primarily through Medicaid, Medicare Advantage and Medicare Prescription Drug Plans, to families, children, seniors and individuals with complex medical needs. WellCare serves approximately 3.9 million members nationwide as of Dec. 31, 2016. For more information about WellCare, please visit the company's website at www.wellcare.com or view the company's videos at https://www.youtube.com/user/WellCareHealthPlan.
SOURCE WellCare Health Plans, Inc.
Related Links
http://www.wellcare.com
NEW YORK, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Z Capital Partners, L.L.C. ("Z Capital"), the private equity management arm of Z Capital Group, L.L.C., a leading global alternative investment manager focused on opportunistic, value-oriented private equity and credit funds, today announced the successful completion of the acquisition of Atmosphere Annealing, L.L.C. ("AA") and NitroSteel, L.L.C. ("NS"), collectively known as Premier Thermal Solutions, L.L.C. ("PTS"). Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
With plants in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana, AA provides metal heat treating and related services to various end-markets, including automotive, trucking, oil and gas, agriculture, heavy construction and military. With a plant in Wisconsin, NS provides environmentally friendly, cost-effective, long-lasting and superior-performing ferritic nitrocarburized ("FNC") steel bars that are utilized primarily in fluid power applications in the agricultural, construction, mining, marine, utility and automotive end-markets.
With Z Capital's financial and operational resources, PTS plans to expand its metal heat-treating service offering by adding capabilities organically, through strategic acquisitions and by diversifying into additional end-markets.
"The closing of the acquisition of PTS signifies our continued success investing in the industrial and automotive sectors and I am thrilled to officially welcome the company into the Z Capital family," said James Zenni, Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Z Capital Group. "Over the years we have refined our expertise by investing in numerous companies in these sectors including Bayou Steel, MSDP Group, PTC Alliance and Wise Metals Group and we look forward to leveraging our knowledge to help PTS continue its rapid expansion."
"We are pleased to have closed the acquisition and are excited about the growth opportunities ahead for PTS," said Rahul Sawhney Senior Managing Director of Z Capital. "The company's high-quality product and services offerings, coupled with Z Capital's specialized sector knowledge and operational expertise position PTS for long-term success. We look forward to partnering with their outstanding leadership team to accelerate the company's growth both organically and through strategic acquisitions."
About Atmosphere Annealing
AA was started in the late 1970s with its first plant in Lansing, Michigan. Today, AA has four plants in Lansing, Michigan, Canton, Ohio and North Vernon, Indiana. AA has substantial metallurgical expertise and provides metal heat treating (including annealing, normalizing and quenching & tempering) and related services primarily to the automotive, light and heavy truck, agriculture and energy sectors. Parts processed by AA provide durability and dependability required for mechanically strenuous jobs. AA is on the approved vendor list for a vast majority of OEMs, Tier I and II suppliers.
About NitroSteel
NitroSteel is the only domestic provider of nitro-carburized bars and tubes in the 13-24' range. NitroSteel's nitro-carburizing process is a "green" alternative to chrome (i.e., no hazardous by-products) and provides improved wear resistance, better lubrication retention, dent resistance, increased service life and can last up to three times longer. Products are used in machinery and equipment in outdoor settings in the agricultural, energy, industrial, mobile equipment and military end-markets.
About Z Capital Group
Z Capital Group, L.L.C. is a leading alternative asset management firm with $2.3 billion in regulatory assets under management across complementary private equity and credit businesses. Z Capital manages both opportunistic, value-oriented private equity and credit funds with offices in New York, NY; Lake Forest, IL; and Zurich, Switzerland.
Z Capital's investors are some of the largest and most sophisticated global institutional investors in North America, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East including, public and corporate pension funds, university endowments, foundations, sovereign wealth funds, central banks, and insurance companies. For more information, please visit www.zcapgroup.net.
Contact
Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher
Jonathan Keehner / Julie Oakes / Tim Ragones
212-355-4449
SOURCE Z Capital Partners, L.L.C.
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The 300-year old dispute between Spain and the U.K. over the peninsula of Gibraltar is casting a shadow over Brexit talks even before officials have begun discussing how the U.K. is set to leave the EU.
Former conservative leader Michael Howard said during the weekend that Prime Minister Theresa May would be prepared to go to war to protect Gibraltar as Margaret Thatcher once did for the Falklands. The comments follow the publication of the EU's draft guidelines for Brexit negotiations, which said that any new agreement with the U.K. that applies to Gibraltar will need to be approved by Spain.
"Nobody wants to talk about going to war," Fabian Picardo, chief minister of Gibraltar, told CNBC on Monday.
He added, however, that "the way that Spain has behaved is really quite abominable."
The sovereignty of Gibraltar has been a contentious issue between the U.K. and Spain for centuries. The territory is self-governed in all matters excluding foreign policy and defense, which are decided in the U.K. This means, for instance, that Gibraltar conducts border checks because the U.K. is not part of the EU's passport-free area.
The paragraph in the EU's guidelines has offended Gibraltarians, who in 2002, said no to the idea of shared sovereignty between the U.K. and Spain by 99 percent in a referendum.
"If we re-run the Brexit referendum, given the way the council has behaved and other European partners have behaved in allowing Spain to get this just into the draft I think they would be hard pressed to get a better result here than they did in Sunderland," Picardo told CNBC, referring to Sunderland's strong support for Brexit.
However, officials in Brussels have told the Guardian, the EU will not back down in its support for Spain over Gibraltar in Brexit negotiations.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Theresa May called the Chief Minister Fabian Picardo to say that she will fully include the peninsula in the Brexit process.
"She reiterated our long-standing position that the UK remains steadfastly committed to our support for Gibraltar, its people, and its economy. The Prime Minister said we will never enter into arrangements under which the people of Gibraltar would pass under the sovereignty of another state against their freely and democratically expressed wishes, nor will we ever enter into a process of sovereignty negotiations with which Gibraltar is not content," Downing street said in a statement.
Story continues
Spain's surprised
Alfonso Dastis, the Spanish foreign minister, said Monday that the government is a "little surprised" at the U.K.'s attitude.
"In this case, the traditional British composure has been notable for its absence", Dastis said at a conference in Madrid, Reuters reported.
Boris Johnson, the U.K.'s foreign secretary, said on Monday that "the position of the (U.K.) government is very very clear which is that the sovereignty of Gibraltar is unchanged, and is not going to change, and cannot conceivably change without the express support and consent of the people of Gibraltar and the United Kingdom."
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Dhaka, March 29 : Security forces, in an ongoing raid that began early on Wednesday, have cordoned off two houses in Bangladesh's Moulvibazar district where at least 10 suspected militants were believed to be holed up, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said.
Kamal told media that a SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics) team was on its way and the Army would also be called in, if required.
The security forces have surrounded two houses in Borohat and Khalilnagar areas of the district, which were believed to be used as militant hideouts, reported Bdnews24.com.
Bursts of gunfire and explosions could be heard from the two houses, media reports said adding that militants were hurling grenades at the police at intervals.
The minister said that security forces had cordoned off the houses on the basis on intelligence inputs.
"They came under fire and faced grenades while trying to enter the houses, which have now been sealed off. SWAT and bomb disposal units are on their way, after which the next phase of the operation will begin," he said.
Kamal said: "There might be three-to-four terror suspects in the house in Moulavibazar town. The other house may have more than that.
"Reports suggest that there might be one or two female operatives. Bombs are being hurled from inside. An operation will start once the (SWAT and bomb disposal) unit reaches," he said.
Both the houses are owned by an expatriate Saifur Rahaman, currently living in Britain.
Local administration imposed prohibitory orders in several areas, including Borohat and Kutumbagh areas of Moulvibazar city, from 2 p.m.
The prohibitory orders were also imposed in a 2-km radius of the Khalilpur union complex area, Moulvibazar Deputy Commissioner Tofail Ahmed told the Daily Star.
The police took the measure in these areas to avoid any untoward incident, said the report.
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.
Montreal, March 29 : Expressing concern at the US and UK governments' restrictions on carrying electronic devices onboard inbound flights, global airlines association IATA on Wednesday said that better coordination on security measures and sharing information between the global aviation industry and governments would yield better results to stop terrorists at airports.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said the the US and UK governments' move may create "commercial distortions".
"While governments have the primary responsibility for security, we share the priority of keeping passengers, crew and aircraft secure. To do that effectively intelligence is king," Alexandre de Juniac, Director General and Chief Executive of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said in a statement.
"And it needs to be shared amongst governments and with the industry. It's the only way to stop terrorists before they get near an airport, let alone aircraft."
The statement said the IATA has long called for better information sharing and coordination on security measures among governments and with the industry.
IATA expressed concern that the aviation security measures adopted by the US and the UK to restrict the carry-on of large electronic items on flights inbound from certain countries of the Middle East and North Africa were not an "acceptable long-term solution".
"The current measures are not an acceptable long-term solution to whatever threat they are trying to mitigate. Even in the short term it is difficult to understand their effectiveness. And the commercial distortions they create are severe," de Juniac pointed out.
"We call on governments to work with the industry to find a way to keep flying secure without separating passengers from their personal electronics."
The global airlines body also expressed disappointment at the process used by governments to put in place the security measures.
"The industry came together quickly to implement the new requirements. That was a challenge because there was no prior consultation and little coordination by governments," said de Juniac.
Earlier, the UK government had announced changes to aviation security measures on selected inbound flights to the UK that restricted the size of electronic items that may be carried by passengers in the cabin, affecting the inbound flights from Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Tunisia.
Similarly, the US government announced restrictions on the type of electronic items that may be carried onboard flights to the US from certain airports.
The data from IATA calculations had reflected that the ban would impact about 393 scheduled passenger flights per week, equivalent to about 2.7 per cent of the total international scheduled passenger flights to the UK, and about 350 scheduled flights a week, equivalent to about 2 per cent of total international flights to the US.
"The current situation is not acceptable and will not maintain the all-important confidence of the industry or of travellers. We must find a better way. And governments must act quickly," de Juniac said in a speech to the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations, highlighting the need to maintain public confidence in the security of the global aviation industry which operates an average 100,000 flights a day.
The IATA represents 265 airlines comprising 83 per cent of global air traffic.
Ranchi, March 30 : A Maoist camp was destroyed by the security personnel in Jharkhand's Giridih district and one of its commanders arrested in Khuti on Thursday, the state police said.
The arrested Maoist commander, Soma Munda, carried a reward of Rs 50,000 on his head. The police have seized Rs 48,000 from his possession collected as levy.
According to the police, the Maoist camp in Madhuban in Giridih was destroyed in a joint operation of the police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
The police had received information about the presence of Maoist guerrillas of Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand at the camp.
Police sources said a group of Maoists was holding a meeting, but they escaped when the camp was raided.
The police have seized Maoist literature and other incriminating documents.
Maoist guerrillas are active in 18 of the 24 districts of the state.
Agartala, March 30 : Opposition parties in Tripura demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in the recruitment process after the Supreme Court upheld the state High Court order terminating the jobs of 10,323 government teachers.
Trinamool Congress on Thursday announced launch of a statewide stir from Friday to highlight the state government's "irregularities in giving jobs to 10,323 people" and to press its demand for the resignation of Chief Minister Sarkar and Education and Law Minister Tapan Chakraborty.
"We also demand publication of a white paper detailing providing government jobs in Tripura since 2014. An all-party meeting must be called by the state government to discuss the issue and how to deal with the situation arising out of the Supreme Court judgment on Wednesday," Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Sudip Roy Barman told reporters.
Accompanied by Tripura TMC President Ashish Kumar Saha and other leaders, Barman alleged that to "acquire political mileage the Left Front government provided the teachers' jobs illegally".
Demanding a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), opposition Bharatiya Janata Party state president Biplab Kumar Deb and observer (Prabhari) Sunil Deodhar in a joint media conference demanded the resignation of the Chief Minister and Education and Law Minister.
"It has now been proved that the Left Front government in Tripura gave the jobs to 10,323 teachers through corruption and irregularities," BJP leader Deb told reporters.
The ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), the dominant partner of the Left Front government, in a statement termed the Supreme Court's judgment as "inhuman".
"The Supreme Court's order would directly affect the lakhs of people and students in Tripura," the CPI-M statement said.
In a major setback to the Tripura government, the Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the Tripura High Court order terminating the jobs of 10,323 teachers but allowed them to continue in their jobs till December 31.
The Court also asked the Tripura government to initiate a fresh recruitment process by May 31 and complete it by December 31 in compliance with the obligatory qualifications as mandated by the NCERT (National Council for Educational Research and Training).
The Supreme Court order came on three special leave petitions filed before it separately by the Tripura government, aggrieved job seekers and terminated serving teachers.
Tripura Law and Education Minister Tapan Chakraborty said in Agartala that the state government would take its next course of action after receiving the certified copy of the Supreme Court judgment and after the return of Chief Minister from Chennai on Friday.
"The government will stand by the serving teachers. The court did not find any irregularities in giving jobs to these teachers. The Tripura High Court only challenged the state's three-and-a-half decade old employment policy," Chakraborty told IANS on Thursday.
"We have given some jobs according to need based and considering the economic conditions of the families of the serving teachers, but the court opposed these criteria," the Minister added.
A division bench of the Tripura High Court, comprising then Chief Justice Deepak Kumar Gupta (now elevated to the apex court) and then Justice Swapan Chandra Das (retired on March 16) had passed the order on May 7, 2014 and asked the state government to frame a new employment policy within two months.
Tripura's Left Front government recruited 1,100 post-graduate and 4,617 graduate teachers in 2010 and 4,606 under-graduate teachers in December 2013.
New Delhi, March 30 : Japan has evinced interest in investing in Punjab and partnering the state across key segments of growth and development.
A high-level Japanese delegation, which included the Japanese envoy to India, Kenji Hiramatsu, and Mitsubishi Managing Director Kazunori Konishi, met Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh here on Thursday to discuss a range of possible areas of investment and collaboration.
A spokesman for the state government described the discussions as preliminary but added that it will pave the way for more intensive discussions in future.
Mitsubishi officials made a presentation to the Chief Minister, listing several important areas for possible investment.
These included Power, Smart Cities, (Automated Guideway Transit), Industrial Parks and Captive Power Plants, besides strengthening of some existing projects.
The Chief Minister showed interest in having a rapid transportation alternative for easy commuting for people in congested cities like Ludhiana, Amritsar and Jalandhar.
Amarinder also discussed development of roads and highways as a key step towards improvement of Punjab's infrastructure.
"Another important area that came up for discussion during the meeting was improvement in agriculture and horticulture, with the Chief Minister noting that despite small land holdings, Japanese farmers were able to deliver high yields," the spokesman said.
The grave problem of stubble burning in Punjab was also discussed, with the Japanese team offering solutions, based on their own experience of destroying stubble in a safe and eco-friendly way.
Punjab has been witnessing exodus of industry from the state in the past over one decade owing to tax holiday offered in neighbouring states like Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand.
Kolkata, March 31 : A shopkeeper was arrested here on Friday for allegedly selling "artificial eggs" to a woman, police said.
"A shopkeeper named Md. Shamim Ansari was arrested on Friday morning from Park Circus Market for allegedly selling artificial plastic eggs to the complainant Anita Kumar," an officer from the Kolkata Police's Enforcement Branch said.
Kumar lodged a police complaint at Kolkata's Karaya police station on Thursday evening after she discovered that she was sold "fake eggs" that had a strange "plastic-like quality" when they were spread out on a pan.
"I tested my suspicion by putting a match to it and it caught fire. The shell also looked plastic. I was sure that this was not natural and, being a mother, I felt I should alert the public," Kumar said.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation ordered an investigation into the matter.
A team from the civic body, headed by Mayor-in-Council (Health) Atin Ghosh, raided various city markets and seized similar samples of artificial eggs on Friday. According to Ghosh, the eggs sold by Ansari were procured from a wholesaler in the city's Muchipara area.
"We have seized a crate of eggs from the wholesaler who sold the eggs to Ansari. We will also collect at least three more crates of similar samples from other shops in the market and send them to the concerned department for analysis," Ghosh said.
Accused Ansari bought eggs worth Rs 1.15 lakh from the wholesaler.
"According to the Food Safety and Standards Act, food adulteration is a punishable offence. If these eggs are found to be life-threatening then offenders may face major punishments like life imprisonment and a huge fine," Ghosh added.
New Delhi, March 31 : The Supreme Court on Friday refused to hold an early hearing on petitions challenging the 2010 Allahabad High Court verdict on the title suit of the disputed Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site.
Telling BJP leader Subramanian Swamy that there were too many things to do right now, the bench headed by Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar said that as of now it did not have time to hear the petitions.
The bench also told the MP: "We came to know from the media that you are not a party in the matter."
Swamy told the court that his writ petition seeking an early hearing of the matter as his right to pray at the Ramlala temple at Ayodhya was being affected had been converted into an intervention application.
Swamy had on March 21 urged the court to hold an early hearing of the matter as it was pending before it for last so many years.
The top court had on March 21 said the settlement of the Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute through negotiation was a better course than insisting on a judicial pronouncement.
The bench headed by Chief Justice Khehar had said this on March 21 after Swamy urged the court to set up a bench to hear a bunch of petitions challenging the 2010 Allahabad High Court order as the matter was pending before it for six years.
The Allahabad High Court order said that there should be a partition of the disputed Ayodhya land amongst the claimants.
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court ordered that the land around the disputed site be divided into three parts -- one for the deity (Ramlala Virajmaan), another for Nirmohi Akhara, a Hindu sect and an original litigant in the case, and third for the Muslims.
The Supreme Court had put the Allahabad High court verdict on hold in May 2011, describing it as a "rare judgment whose operation has to be stayed".
Bengaluru, March 31 : Manipal University has been rated first in innovation and research quality while Visvesvaraya Technological University tops in the improvement in research category, in a new comprehensive assessment of all universities in Karnataka.
The Karnataka State Higher Education Council (KSHEC) on Friday released the inaugural edition of the Karnataka State Universities Rating Framework (KSURF), which is a detailed audit and evaluation of all the state, private and deemed universities in the state.
In the established universities category, Gulbarga University was rated at the top for research productivity, Bangalore University for research citations and KLE University for industrial memorandum of understandings.
In the young universities category, JSS University and NITTE University score high in teaching excellence and international diversity.
Among the universities established in the last five years, M.S. Ramaiah University has been rated very high on patents, PES University for domestic diversity, Reva University on infrastructure.
In the specialist university category, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, is rated at the top for inclusiveness and social impact whereas Kannada University and University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, score high on the faculty with Ph.D parameter.
"The assessment of universities will help Karnataka government to prepare a plan for providing infrastructure for the state government universities. It will help the students to select good and efficient universities for higher studies," state Minister for Higher Education Basavaraj Rayaraddi told reporters here.
In an effort similar to the Central government's National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), Karnataka is the first state in the country to undertake a detailed evaluation of the universities.
"We have engaged ICARE Ratings, the research and analysis division of the Indian Centre for Academic Rankings and Excellence. The work began in last July. There are 51 universities in Karnataka, of which around 40 universities were assessed. Twelve universities are yet to submit the required documents for assessment," Executive Director of KSHEC S.A. Kori said.
The KSHEC would annually rate universities under regionally-relevant yet globally-flavoured parameters such as research excellence, innovation, teaching excellence, employability, infrastructure, inclusiveness and social impact.
Kolkata, April 1 : 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.
Bogota, April 2 : Mudslides killed more than 200 people after heavy rains caused rivers to overflow in Colombia's Putumayo province, authorities said.
Gabriel Umana, a spokesman for the Colombian Red Cross, told CNN on Saturday 234 people have died and 220 are missing.
He said at least 202 people were injured and 300 families displaced. Twenty-five houses were destroyed.
President Juan Manuel Santos said it was impossible to predict the number of deaths.
"Unfortunately, it is possible that the number of deaths will go up because we have a lot of missing people," Santos told TV channel Cable Noticias.
"We don't know yet where they are. Many people are coming to us saying, 'My son is missing, my father is missing, my mother is missing'. We are working on putting a list for the total number of people missing."
Santos said 130 mm of rain fell in the area on a single night on Friday, setting off the deadly torrents, CNN reported.
The monthly average is about 400 mm, he said.
The President has declared a state of emergency.
Three rivers in the area, including the Mocoa and San Boyaco, overflowed and unleashed muddy waves into homes, over cars and onto bridges.
Travis Kalanick Anthony Levandowski
Google says its self-driving-car lead Anthony Levandowski made $120 million in incentives while secretively building Otto, a competing company eventually acquired by Uber, according to an arbitration demand filed by Google against Levandowski and another employee on Monday.
The arbitration demand is the latest turn in the bombshell lawsuit Google filed against the ride-hailing service in February. Waymo, the self-driving-car company owned by Google's parent company, is suing Uber over claims that it stole the design and intellectual property for its lidar system, a key component of self-driving cars that allows them to detect obstacles.
The suit claims Levandowski stole the lidar technology while working on Google's self-driving-car project in order to launch a competing venture, Otto. Uber later acquired Otto in a deal worth $680 million.
Levandowski made $120 million in incentive payments for his contributions to Google's self-driving-car project while building Otto, a company meant to compete with Google, the arbitration demand says.
Levandowski's alleged side ventures
Google claims Levandowski began working on a competing venture as early as 2012.
Levandowski developed two competing side businesses, Odin Wave and Tyto Lidar, while working at Google, the arbitration demand claims. Odin Wave was incorporated as early as August 2012.
Google questioned Levandowski about his affiliation with Odin Wave in mid-2013 after it ordered a custom part that was similar to one used in Google's laser tech for self-driving vehicles, according to the document. Google became suspicious Levandowski was involved in Odin Wave after the order was placed, but he denied any ownership in the company.
Odin then merged with Tyto to develop a lidar module in February 2014, the arbitration demand reads. Levandowski even participated in Google's investigation as to whether to acquire Tyto for its self-driving-car project, according to the document. Tyto eventually merged with Otto in 2016 just a few months prior to the Uber acquisition.
Story continues
Levandowski began convincing employees from Google's self-driving-car project to quit and join Otto in fall 2015, the arbitration demand claims. Levandowski then allegedly hid these efforts from Google during that time in order to be eligible to collect his incentive payments totaling $120 million for his work on Google's car project.
Levandowski quit Google after to nine years to found Otto in January 2016. Uber did not immediately reply to Business Insider's request for comment.
NOW WATCH: Uber finally released their diversity report here's how it compares to Facebook and Google
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Chennai, April 2 : Megastar Rajinikanth was among the first stars on Sunday to cast his vote in the Tamil Nadu Film Producers Council election here.
The voting for the office-bearers for 2017-19 began from 8 a.m. and will go on till 4 p.m. here.
The counting will take place at 5 p.m. and results will be announced subsequently.
Gautham Vasudev Menon, K.E. Gnanavel Raja, A.L. Azhagappan, A.M. Rathnam, Prakash Raj, Mysskin and S.A. Chandrasekaran are among producers and directors from the Tamil filmdom who are contesting for various posts.
Actor Vishal, producer T. Siva, R. Radhakrishnan, Kalaipuli G. Sekaran and Kothanda Ramaiah aka KR are contesting for the post of president.
The election is being conducted under the supervision of Madras High Court's Justice (retd) S. Rajeswaran.
New Delhi, April 2 : The central government on Monday will release the second edition of India Rankings 2017 of the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), a methodology adopted to rank all institutions of higher education in the country.
The rankings would be released by Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar, a release said.
The NIRF was launched in September 2015 and the maiden rankings were released on April 4, 2016.
The ranking methodology is based on developing a set of metrices for ranking of academic institutions, based on the parameters agreed upon by a core committee set up by the Ministry of Human Resource Development.
The parameters broadly cover "Teaching, Learning and Resources", "Research and Professional Practices", "Graduation Outcomes", "Outreach and Inclusivity", and "Perception".
In the last edition of the rankings, the Indian Institute Of Science, Bangalore, was ranked as the top university, the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, as the top engineering institute, and the Indian Institute of Management, Bangaluru, as the top management institute.
Islamabad, April 2 : A "mentally unstable" shrine custodian in Pakistan's Sargodha city killed 20 disciples, including women, with machetes and batons in a bloodbath inside the shrine, police said on Sunday.
According to Sargodha Deputy Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chatta, custodian Abdul Waheed of the Ali Ahmed Gujjar shrine, told police his disciples would have poisoned him had he not killed them on Saturday night.
Waheed was arrested along with five of his associates who mercilessly killed the people after drugging them and stripping them, a police official said.
The deceased, four women and 16 men, hail from different areas of Punjab, Geo TV reported.
An injured woman, one of the survivors, managed to flee from the site and reported the incident to police.
The 50-year-old Waheed had phoned the victims, telling them to come to the shrine.
Waheed claimed the devotees had poisoned his spiritual leader Ali Muhammad to death two years ago, Geo News quoted a senior police official as saying.
"The suspect appears to be paranoid and psychotic, or it could be related to rivalry for control of the shrine," he said.
Six of the deceased belonged to the same family.
One of the victims included the son of Waheed's spiritual leader.
"Asif Pir Ali was the son of Muhammad Gujjar [the spiritial leader]," said a family member of the deceased.
Asif was working with the Islamabad police and was in Sargodha on leave.
Earlier the official said Waheed has claimed that his victims underwent 'spiritual cleansing' after being tortured.
The custodian worked for the Election Commission in Sargodha. According to the Election Commission of Pakistan, Waheed retired from service a year ago.
One of the locals told Geo News that Waheed used to go to the shrine and beat people after which he took their clothes off and burnt them.
Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif has asked for a report into the incident within 24 hours.
Kabul, April 2 : At least 10 militants were killed overnight when Afghan security forces repelled an attack by Taliban in northern Takhar province, police said on Sunday.
"Dozens of militants stormed Darqad district centre at mid-night (on Saturday)," Tolo News quoted a military official as saying.
He said three policemen and nine militants were injured in the attack in the district bordering Tajikistan.
Several security towers around the district office building were damaged following the clashes in the province, 245 km from here.
Dhaka, April 2 : Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, who is leading the Indian Parliamentary Delegation to the 136th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Dhaka, called on Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday.
Mahajan said that India attaches the highest importance to the relations with Bangladesh and believes that a strong, stable and prosperous Bangladesh is in its best interest, an official statement said.
She also said that India stands committed to strengthen this relationship on the basis of friendship, trust and understanding for the mutual benefit of their people and collective prosperity of the entire region, and partner its economic development.
Mahajan said India fully supports Bangladesh's policy of zero-tolerance against terrorism and stands by its fight against the forces of militancy and terrorism.
Sheikh Hasina, the statement said, hoped that Bangladesh's close and historic links with India would continue to guide bilateral relationship in times to come.
Earlier on Sunday, Mahajan addressed the delegates at the debate on the meet's general theme "Redressing Inequalities: Delivering on Dignity and Well-being for all".
Noting many existing inequalities have global linkages and solutions are possible only through sustained global efforts, she emphasised that the world community can address inequality effectively and efficiently.
Referring to Indian philosophy's inherent assertion that the individual should grow to benefit the society and encompass the whole universe, Mahajan emphasised that human dignity cannot be ensured merely through constitutional means and "has to be embedded in the basic Sanskaras -- the value system of the society".
Mentioning that a number of legislations have been enacted from time to time to end discrimination against vulnerable groups of people, the Speaker said that India has established many institutions for the welfare and protection of the rights of the disadvantaged groups.
She also said that the recent endorsement by India of the ambitious 2030 Sustainable Development Goals would further help bridge the gaps and supplement the efforts for equitable development by addressing the key challenges such as poverty, inequality, and violence against women.
Referring to the South Asian Speakers' Conference held in Indore recently, Mahajan said that the participants had unequivocally agreed to work in tandem to address the regional issues of inequality among the citizens in different spheres.
Chennai, April 3 : Tamil Nadu Police are investigating the alleged rape of a German woman tourist near Mamallapuram beach, police officials said.
"The investigation is on. We are trying to track the culprit based on the description given by the German tourist," a police official in Mamallapuram told IANS on Monday.
Mamallapuram, famous for its stone sculptures, is around 60 km from here.
On Sunday morning, the 24-year-old German woman took a stroll from the beach resort where she was staying.
"She had walked a long distance away from the resort where she was staying. According to her, two persons dragged her into a casuarina grove and one of them raped her," the police official said.
Panaji, April 3 : Princess Jodhabai, often referred to as one of Emperor Akbar's wives and the mother of his son Jahangir, whose life was portrayed onscreen by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in Bollywood film "Jodha-Akbar", could have been a fictitious character, necessitated by convenient historical narratives during the Moghul era, a new book has claimed.
Goa-based author Luis de Assis Correia in his book "Portuguese India and Mughal Relations 1510-1735" has claimed that Jodhabai was in fact a Portuguese woman, Dona Maria Mascarenhas, who while travelling in a Portuguese armada along the Arabian sea, could have been captured along with her sister Juliana and subsequently offered to a young Emperor Akbar as a gift by Sultan Bahadur Shah of Gujarat in the mid-1500s.
"When Dona Maria Mascarenhas arrived at Akbar's Court, he fell in love with her. He was 18 years old and he was already married. She was 17 and he said, 'This young lady is for me' and her sister Juliana, both of them were lodged in Akbar's harem," Correia told IANS on the sidelines of the book release function in Panaji.
"The Portuguese and the Catholics were loath to accept that one of their own was living in a Moghul court, in a harem. On the other hand, the Moghuls could not accept that a firangi, a Christian, who fought the Moghuls right from the Crusades, was the Emperor's wife. This is why the myth of Jodhabai was created by British and Moghul chroniclers of that era," Correia said, adding that writings of Akbar, as well as Jahangir do not acknowledge the existence of Jodhabai.
The 173-page book, published by Broadway Publishing House, suggests that Maria Mascarenhas could have been the mother of Jahangir and was often referred to as Maryum-ul-Zamani and at times, as Jodhabai or Harkabai in popular lore.
Maryum-ul-Zamani, Correia says, has not been mentioned anywhere in Moghul records as Jahangir's mother.
"It is indeed a mystery why Mughal chroniclers: (Abd al-Qadir) Badauni and Abu'l Fazal do not mention Jahangir's mother by her name. Had Jahangir been born to a daughter of a great Rajput kingdom, surely he would want to boast the fact considering that the Mughals were eager to forge a strategic alliance with the Rajputs," Correia argues in his book.
The 81-year-old writer, also quotes historian and Aligarh Muslim University professor Shireen Moosvi as saying "there is no mention of Jodhabai in Akbarnama or in any Mughal document of the period. Akbar did marry a princess of the Kachhava clan, the daughter of Bha Mal, but her name was not Jodhabai".
Correia also says that Emperor Jahangir's patronisation of Christianity and Jesuit missionaries were more leads which suggested that his lineage stemmed not from a Rajput queen, but a Portuguese woman.
"It is indeed a mystery why the very candid memoir of Jahangir does not mention his mother by name. Was she not a Muslim or Hindu of noble name? Was she not a Muslim or Hindu of noble birth or status? Is it, therefore, that Jahangir glossed over her name as Maryum-ul-Zaani or was it because her mother was a firangi lady..." the writer says.
(Mayabhushan Nagvenkar can be contacted at mayabhushan.n@ians.in)
Jammu, April 3 : India and Pakistan traded gunfire in Poonch district of Jammu when the Pakistan Army on Monday resorted to unprovoked shelling and firing at the Indian positions along the Line of Control.
"The Pakistan Army initiated indiscriminate firing of small arms, automatics and mortars at the Indian Army posts along the LoC (Monday)," Defence Ministry spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Manish Mehta told IANS here.
"The Indian side is retaliating strongly and effectively," he said.
The exchange of fire is still on, he added at 11 a.m.
Chennai, April 3 : Actor Vishal, who has been elected president of the Tamil Nadu Film Producers Council, says one of his main priorities will be to curb piracy and address the grievances of farmers.
Vishal scored an emphatic win over R. Radhakrishnan and Kothanda Ramaiah by a margin of 143 votes on Sunday.
"We will take Tamil cinema forward. Our immediate priorities are to address farmer's issue and curb piracy which has plagued the industry," Vishal told IANS.
Not long ago, Vishal along with actors Prakash Raj and filmmaker Pandiraj participated in the farmer's protest in Delhi for the lack of drought relief in Tamil Nadu.
Vishal had met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and even submitted a petition in support of the farmers.
Commenting on the piracy issue, he said: "It has become a menace. It is eating into the revenues of the producers. We will do whatever it takes to curb it."
He also said that he will ensure that subsidy is increased for small budget Tamil films.
Washington, April 3 : US President Donald Trump's senior advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner is currently visiting Iraq as the American military is aiding a fight to retake Mosul city from the Islamic State (IS) terror group, the media reported.
A senior administration official told The New York Times on Sunday that Kushner, 36, is visiting the war-torn country on the invitation by General Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.
However, the purpose of Kushner's visit was not immediately clear.
Kushner has been acting as a shadow diplomat, and his portfolio includes China, Mexico, Canada and the Middle East, The Washington Post said.
The President, in fact, has specifically tasked Kushner with brokering peace in the region.
He also recently emerged as the head of the Office of American Innovation, a team tasked with bringing a more business-minded approach to overhauling the federal government.
Since taking office, Trump has spoken infrequently about Iraq or his policy there, a CNN report said.
His comments last week that the US is "doing very well in Iraq", which remains besieged by violence, drew particular notice and criticism.
The visit by Kushner comes after US military officials acknowledged that Washington was likely behind an airstrike that killed scores of Iraqi civilians in Mosul on March 17.
The incident renewed concern about civilian deaths in the wake of the US-led air campaign against the IS.
Kabul, April 3 : At least four security personnel were killed when their vehicle was attacked by Taliban militants in Ghazni province on Monday, an official said.
"The deputy to National Directorate of Security for Paktika province, Abdul Wahab, and three others were killed when militants targeted their vehicle in Sultan Bagh area," Xinhua news agency quoted the official as saying.
Zabihullah Majahid who claims to speak for the Taliban outfit claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the attack had killed six persons.
Kabul, April 3 : At least 24 militants were killed in a military operation in Uruzgan province of Afghanistan, police said in a statement on Monday.
Many villages were on Sunday cleared of militants active in the province, Tolo News cited the statement as saying.
No civilian or security personnel was injured in the operation, it said.
The statement did not provide more details about the operation.
Madhusudankati (West Bengal), April 3 : Deep wounds and white patches on their skin are common among people in this tiny West Bengal speck bordering Bangladesh. The disease turned deadly for many, and the culprit was drinking water that contained arsenic -- a toxic substance that can lead to chronic poisoning once it enters a human body.
Many of the 2,000 villagers living here were forced to migrate to nearby places before they tried, in vain, every attempt to rid the water of poison. The cost was high. They had to pay for every drop of purified water they would fetch from distant towns or cities.
But life started changing for them two years ago when Sulabh International Social Service Organisation (SISSO), in collaboration with a French company, 1001 Fontaines, installed a Rs 20-lakh pond-based water treatment plant in this village of North 24 Parganas district.
Gopal Krishna Das, 56, was one of the hundreds of victims with deep white wounds and shinny patches on their skin.
"We have seen the worst. Not just diseases, arsenic has even claimed the lives of our people, especially when we didn't know what this exactly meant. The water from the treatment plant... has given us a new hope," Das told IANS.
Now, every villager in Madhusudankati gets purified water for free. But those from other nearby villages -- Teghoria, Bishnupur and Faridkati -- pay 50 paise for a litre and Rs 11 for a jar of 20 litres. The money collected is used to pay salaries to local employees for maintenance of the plant.
Brindeshwar Pathak, 74, the founder of SISSO, said the entire problem of arsenic-contaminated water was widespread in the state and could be solved if the West Bengal government took interest and replicated the model.
"The uniqueness of this project is that the water from the plant is affordable. The 'Sulabh Jal' project converts contaminated pond water into safe drinking water and can be sold at only 50 paise per litre in villages and nearby cities along the Bangladesh border," Pathak told IANS, adding that they could afford 20 more similar projects in other parts of the country.
According to SISSO, the water from ponds or rivers is pumped into an overhead reservoir. It is then collected in a tank where a chemical, alum, is mixed at a desired rate.
The settled water is then passed through a slow sand filter, before being collected in a clear water reservoir. The water is then passed through activated carbon filters and membranes of varying sizes.
"This removes the finest contaminants from the water which will be treated with UV rays to make it totally bacteria free. The resultant treated water, which is free from all pathogenic micro-organisms, is then poured into 20-litre bottles and sealed. The consumers either collect the bottles from the kiosk or it is delivered to their houses," said Pathak.
SISSO has initiated similar projects in four other parts of West Bengal -- Suvasgram, Bangaon, Murshidaba and West Medinipur. All the plants are maintained by village-level committees, who have also employed locals for the maintenance and home delivery of water bottles up to a radius of 15 km on e-rickshaws.
Dilip Sarkar, a veterinarian who developed skin cancer due to arsenic water, said villagers earlier used to buy water bottles from the nearby town. The cost was high and travelling daily was tiresome.
"We tried several measures earlier to get purified water from towns which had helped in the reduction of skin diseases," Sarkar told IANS, recollecting how many in the villages who were unable to travel daily and buy water caught the diseases.
"With the discontinuity in the intake of filtered water, the skin diseases relapsed," he said, showing his wounds that "are getting better now".
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), arsenic is a natural component of the earth's crust and is widely distributed throughout the environment -- in air, water and land. It is highly toxic in its inorganic form.
Long-term exposure to inorganic arsenic, mainly by drinking contaminated water, eating food grown or even prepared with this water, can cause skin lesions and cancer.
WHO says inorganic arsenic is naturally present at high levels in the groundwater of a number of countries, including Argentina, Bangladesh, Chile, China, India, Mexico, and the United States.
(Rupesh Dutta was in Madhusudankati at the invitation of Sulabh International and can be contacted at rupesh.d@ians.in)
New Delhi, April 3 : The India-Malaysia bilateral trade dwindled to a little over $10 billion in the last fiscal and it is to reverse this fall that Prime Minister Najib Razak is here, a Malaysian Minister said on Monday.
Razak is leading the largest ever delegation with 11 ministers, Malaysia's Minister of International Trade and Industry Mustapa Mohamed said.
Bilateral trade with Malaysia, which was worth $16.9 billion in 2014-15 and $12.8 billion in 2015-16, fell to $10.8 billion in 2016-17, Mohamed said.
"One third of the Malaysian cabinet is here, that is 11 ministers, led by the Prime Minister who is making the longest visit to India by a Malaysian PM," Mohamed said.
The Minister was addressing the 'India Malaysia Business Forum' organised jointly by industry chambers Ficci, Assocham and CII along with the Malaysian Investment Development Authority.
"The Prime Ministers have expressed their aspiration to see this trade increase to $15 billion in the immediate future," he added.
The Malaysian delegation also included a number of corporate leaders.
The India-Malaysia CEO's Forum on Saturday called for a balanced Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and its conclusion at an early date.
The Malaysian leader is on a five-day visit to India.
Patna, April 3 : President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday visited the ruins of Vikramshila University, an ancient seat of Buddhist learning, in Bihar's Bhagalpur district.
Mukherjee reached Bhagalpur on Sunday evening. He began a three-day visit to West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar on April 1.
The President also visited the university museum.
Vikramshila was among the most important centres of Buddhist learning in ancient India but the remains of the university have been neglected for years.
Now, its ruins would be conserved on the lines of its older counterpart Nalanda, according to authorities.
Vikramshila University was founded in the late 8th century.
It was intended to complement the world class universities at Nalanda and Takshila. It lasted four centuries before being destroyed during an attack by Bakhtiyar Khilji of the Delhi Sultanate.
Seoul, April 3 : Search operations continued on Monday to locate a South Korean cargo ship and its 22 crew members after it was reported to have capsized in the South Atlantic, authorities said on Monday.
The search for Stellar Daisy began on Saturday, a day after the ship's crew sent a text to their South Korean employer, saying it was sinking, Yonhap News Agency reported.
The Marshall Islands-flagged ship, carrying eight South Korean and 16 Filipino sailors, was sailing off Uruguay when it made the distress call, according to South Korea's Foreign Ministry.
A C-130 aircraft of the Brazilian Air Force on Sunday searched inside a 500-km radius area, including the scene and a point where the two Filipino crew were picked up in a raft. But it detected only fuel and debris believed to have come from the ship without finding other missing sailors, the official said.
The Stella Daisy with 260,000 tonnes of ore departed a port in Brazil on March 26 for China.
New Delhi, April 3 : External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday met Omani Foreign Affairs Mninister Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah here.
"Meeting a close partner from Muscat," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay tweeted.
Abdullah, who arrived here on Sunday, is also scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Vice President Hamid Ansari later on Monday.
Oman-India trade exceeded $3.86 billion in 2015-16. There are around 688,000 expatriate Indians in Oman.
The Omani minister earlier visited India in February and June 2014. Sushma Swaraj paid a return visit to Oman in February 2015.
Chennai, April 3 : A court on Monday sent MDMK leader Vaiko to 15 days judicial custody for speaking in favour of Sri Lanka's now vanquished Tamil Tigers.
Vaiko declined to apply for bail.
Vaiko reportedly made the speech in support of the outlawed Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009, the year when the Sri Lankan military crushed the group.
The LTTE, which fought for an independent Tamil state in Sri Lanka, remains outlawed in India.
Washington, April 3 : A US-based foundation has launched a "livelihood and income generation" programme in India's Kerala state, a media report said.
The programme by the Javad K. Hassan Foundation, which involves local stakeholders, has been launched initially in two villages in two suburbs -- Kuttamasseri and Chengamanadu -- of Ernakulam district, The American Bazaar said in a report on Sunday.
In Kuttamasseri, which is roughly 20 miles (32 km) to the northeast of Kochi city, the foundation is working with a local group that helps paddy farmers.
The foundation is helping the group with seed money to scale farming in Kuttamasseri, Moustafa Mourad, president of the foundation, told The American Bazaar.
The funds from the foundation will be used for preparing the land, planting seedlings, paying for the workers and also for harvesting, post-harvest processes and marketing, he said.
In Chengamanadu, the foundation has established a local bag manufacturing unit to produce paper bags.
The goal is to diminish the use of plastic bags by the local communities and, at the same time, empower local women to earn their livelihoods, said Mourad.
The foundation, based in McLean, Virginia, was started by prominent Indian American entrepreneur and technology leader Javad K. Hassan.
The two programmes are part of the foundation's recent shift in focus from charity to development.
Hassan said the focus was shifted with the goal of leveraging Information Technology to help underserved communities find income generating opportunities, move up and out of poverty, and join the economic mainstream of society.
"Not by donating money, but by equipping them with the capacity to be more self sustaining and more self reliant," The American Bazaar quoted Hassan as saying.
New Delhi, April 3 : Former Delhi Congress MLA Ambrish Gautam and his son Avinash Gautam on Monday joined the BJP, saying the Congress had ignored senior leaders.
Gautam, a three-time legislator from Kondli in east Delhi, accused the Congress of giving election ticket for the upcoming civic bodies without consulting them.
"I left Congress because my area and workers have been ignored and tickets are being distributed without consultation with us. I felt neglected," Gautam told reporters after joining the BJP.
Bharatiya Janata Party'S national Vice President Vinay Sahasrabudhhe was present on the occasion.
Praising Narendra Modi, Gautam said: "I am impressed with the functioning and policies of the Prime Minister."
* Portugal/Germany 10-year yield spread hits almost-four week high
* German yields fall on global politics, policy uncertainty
* Euro zone periphery govt bond yields http://tmsnrt.rs/2ii2Bqr (Writes through)
By Dhara Ranasinghe and Abhinav Ramnarayan
LONDON, April 3 (Reuters) - German government bond yields tumbled on Monday after a subway explosion in Russia's St. Petersburg, boosting demand for safe-haven bonds just as a reduction in ECB asset purchases kicked in.
At least nine people were killed and 20 injured in the blast in a St.Petersburg metro tunnel, and Interfax news agency said the cause may have been an explosive device hidden in a briefcase.
Caution before a meeting this week between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, after Trump comments about North Korea, and concern that the British overseas territory of Gibraltar was becoming an early source of Brexit tension added to a feeling it was best to start the second quarter holding high-quality German paper.
"There is a bit of a grab for safe havens at a time when investors are positioning more defensively towards risk assets," said Peter Chatwell, head of European rates at Mizuho.
Yields on German government bonds, regarded as among the safest assets in the world, fell 5-6 basis points.
Ten-year Bund yields hit a one-month low around 2.76 percent , while two-year yields were set for their biggest one-day fall since the day after Britain's referendum on membership of the European Union last June.
British gilt yields and U.S. Treasury yields also tumbled.
ECB SCALES BACK
With the European Central Bank's monthly asset purchases falling by 20 billion euros to 60 billion euros from April, analysts said the fall in Bund yields showed safe-haven bonds remained well supported even as the ECB steps back from its ultra-easy policy.
Still, lower-rated bond markets felt some pain from the reduction in ECB asset purchases.
Though policymakers last week stressed that rate rises are not on the cards in the near future, Italy and Portugal are seen as the biggest beneficiaries of stimulus and most vulnerable to any hints of policy tightening.
Story continues
"We are now in the new environment of only 60 billion euros (of bond purchases), and though this was well telegraphed it seems to be negative for peripheral spreads," said Commerzbank strategist David Schnautz.
With manufacturing data in the euro zone hitting a six-year high in March, and factories across Europe and Asia posting solid growth for the month on Monday, the argument for "normal" monetary policy is growing, analysts said.
The yield gap between Portugal's 10-year government bond and the German equivalent hit an almost four-week high of 368 basis points, up 4 bps on the day.
Italy's 10-year borrowing cost gap over Germany hit 203 bps, its highest since March 24.
A broad fall in bond yields in late trade allowed yields in Portugal and Italy to pull back from their highs.
DZ Bank analysts say this divergence between higher and lower-rated countries within the bloc could continue as French presidential elections loom.
"As the first round of the French presidential elections will take place this month, reduced ECB purchases should lead not only to generally rising yields in the euro area, but also to wider cross-market spreads, which should weigh above all on the periphery and France," the analysts said in a note.
French and peripheral bond yields have risen in recent months on the outside chance that far-right leader Marine Le Pen wins the keys to the Elysee Palace and pushes for a French exit from the single currency.
(Editing by Hugh Lawson)
Madrid, April 3 : A UK politician's comments suggesting his country would go to war with Spain to protect Gibraltar were downplayed on Monday by the Spanish Foreign Minister, who suggested the topic was blown "out of proportion".
The spat over Gibraltar's fate ahead of Britain's exit from the European Union (EU) has dominated media reports in both Madrid and London, with rhetorical exchanges intensifying when a former Conservative leader said that, if required, UK Prime Minister Theresa May would go to war to protect the overseas territory, Efe news reported.
"It seems to me that someone in the UK is freaking out over nothing," Forein Minister Alfonso Dastis said.
Former Conservative Party leader Michael Howard told the British media over the weekend that May would emulate former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who went to war with Argentina to retain British rule over the Falklands Islands in 1982.
His comments were widely criticised as inflammatory.
"Bringing up events from the past with the Falklands is taking things a little out of context," Dastis added.
The fallout erupted when several politicians criticised the UK's Conservative government for failing to mention Gibraltar in the six-page Brexit letter sent to the European Council, the institution which then gave Spain apparent veto powers over any final deal that would affect Gibraltar.
May has since spoken with the Chief Minister of Gibraltar Fabian Picardo, to reassure him of the UK's steadfast support ahead of the two-year negotiations period.
Picardo, rather than blaming May for the debacle, pointed towards the Spanish government, claiming Madrid had lobbied the Council to include the veto clause in order to exert its influence over the Peninsula.
Dastis again brushed those accusations aside, saying he wanted the Spaniards who worked in Gibraltar -- of which there are thousands -- to be able to continue doing so.
Gibraltar, located on the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, has been a British territory since 1713.
Although its has consistently rejected any notion of shared UK-Spain sovereignty -- as proffered by a slew of Spanish governments -- some 96 per cent of Gibraltarians voted to stay in the EU.
New Delhi, April 3 : African Heads of Mission posted in New Delhi have strongly condemned last week's attack on Nigerian nationals in Greater Noida and said such attacks were "xenophobic and racial in nature".
A statement issued after a meeting of the envoys following the incident and dated March 31 said: "As regards the recent unfortunate incident in Greater Noida, the African Heads of Mission strongly condemn the incident and express their deep concern and also take note that these reprehensible events both outstanding and unresolved cases against Africans, were not sufficiently condemned by the Indian authorities. The meeting unanimously agreed that those reaccumulated attacks against Africans are xenophobic and racial in nature."
The attack on four Nigerian students took place on March 27 night in Greater Noida, some 40 km from the Indian capital, following protests over the death of a Class 12 student of a residential colony there due to drug overdose. Some people who were holding a candle-light vigil for the student attacked the Nigerians suspecting them of drug-running.
The day after the incident, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay described the incident as "deplorable" and in his weekly media briefing on March 30 said: "It is clear that such criminal acts are completely unacceptable and have been condemned."
He said said that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has spoken to Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath about this while Minister of State for External Affairs M.J. Akbar spoke to the Acting High Commissioner of Nigeria.
"Law enforcement authorities of the district have made arrests and a large number of people are under watch. The investigation is on and the law of the land will prevail," he stated.
In their statement, the African Heads of Mission said they reviewed previous such incidents of attacks on African nationals "and concluded that no known, sufficient and visible deterring measures were taken by the Government of India".
"They equally expressed their expectations for strong condemnation from the highest political level (both nationally and locally) of the Government of India, as well expediting legal actions against the perpetrators," the statement said.
"They agreed to take further actions including the call for an independent investigation by the Human Rights Council as well as other human rights bodies, and also to comprehensively report the matter to the African Union Commission," it concluded.
New Delhi, April 3 : A court here on Monday extended till April 6 the police custody of real estate company Unitech's managing directors Sanjay Chandra and Ajay Chandra.
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 then did not refund the money to buyers.
The police told Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ashu Garg that their custody was required to ascertain the money trail and recover related documents.
The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police arrested the two from their residence in Gurugram.
There were 91 complaints against them in connection with the 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 police on Friday told the court that Unitech had 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 clearance in September 2013.
Even though it did not have environment clearance, the accused continued booking flats without giving the real picture to investors and thus misrepresented facts.
New Delhi, April 3 : With the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) being buried by the US, negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement should be concluded latest by early 2018, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said here on Monday.
"It is more relevant now than before that we conclude RCEP. With the TPP gone, we need RCEP as a free trade arrangement for this area," Razak said.
He was addressing the India Malaysia Business Forum here organised jointly by industry chambers Ficci, Assocham and CII along with the Malaysian Investment Development Authority.
"We should urge the negotiators to try and conclude the RCEP negotiations by the end of this year (2017), or latest by early next year (2018)," he said.
The 16-member RCEP is composed of the 10 Asean members -- Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Laos and Vietnam -- and their six free-trade agreement partners India, China, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
After assuming office on January 20, President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the TPP agreement that it had signed with Japan and 10 other Pacific-Rim nations.
TPP was described as the largest regional trade pact in history.
RCEP negotiations were launched in 2015. The 16 countries account for over a quarter of the world's economy, estimated to be more than $75 trillion.
Addressing the gathering earlier, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India was looking forward to Razak's guidance on RCEP negotiations.
"We have a great ongoing engagement with Malaysia on RCEP negotiations, in a world where TPP has collapsed and plurilateral agreements are in retreat," Sitharaman said.
"The RCEP will bring tremendous gain to the emerging economies and the entire Southeast Asian region," she added.
Describing Razak as a Malaysian Prime Minister who is "friendly, understanding and caring about India", Sithraman invited Malaysian companies, known for their expertise in infrastructure, to gain from India's plans to invest $1 trillion in developing the country's infrastructure.
"Malaysian expertise combined with Indian public spending would be a win-win situation for both countries," she said.
Razak said that though bilateral trade had increased four-fold in the period 2003-2015, "last few years have seen a decline somewhat and we need to reverse this trend."
"Hope 2017 will see a reversal."
Bilateral trade with Malaysia, which was worth $16.9 billion in 2014-15 and $12.8 billion in 2015-16, fell to $10.8 billion in 2016-17.
Razak, who has visited India many times, is leading the largest Malaysian delegation that includes 11 cabinet ministers, for the longest official visit to India by a prime minister of Malaysia.
Following official level talks here, both prime ministers have expressed their aspiration to see bilateral trade increase to $15 billion in the near future.
Bilateral relations were upgraded to the leval of an "enhanced strategic partnership" signed during the Malaysia visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015.
Razak pointed out that Malaysian investments in India had been growing and amounted to $4.5 billion worth in 2016.
The Malaysian Prime Minister also announced that business-to-business agreements worth $36 billion had been signed by companies of both countries, the documents for which were exchanged at the event.
A major MoU was signed between GMR Group subsidiary GMR Energy and Malaysia's TNB Remaco, to set up a joint venture in India for operation and maintenance of power plants.
"TNB recently invested $300 million (Rs 2,000 crore) in GMR Energy Ltd (GEL) to take up a 30 per cent equity stake in select portfolio of GEL assets," GMR Group said in a statement. here.
New Delhi, April 3 : Former Delhi MLA Amrish Gautam on Monday quit the Congress and joined the BJP while former Congress minister A.K. Walia threatened to quit over ticket distribution for the civic polls.
Former Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely also expressed concerns over the functioning of the state Congress led by former union minister Ajay Maken.
Gautam, a three-time MLA from Kondli in east Delhi, accused the Congress of fielding candidates for the elections without consulting him. His son Avinash Gautam too joined the BJP.
"We were feeling cornerned in the party. Nobody was willing to listen to our concerns. My self-respect was hurt by senior party leaders like Anand Sharma, P.C. Chacko and Ajay Maken," Amrish Gautam told IANS after joining the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The Congress had formed a committee to select candidates for the April 23 civic polls headed by Anand Sharma. Chacko is in-charge of the Congress in Delhi.
"I requested Maken many times to respect the sentiments of the workers. I even told him he was also an MLA and was quite familiar with their sentiments. I told him to take decisions in the interest of the party and its workers. But he ignored me," Gautam told reporters.
"I have left the Congress because my area and workers have been ignored and tickets are being distributed without consulting us. I felt neglected."
Senior Delhi Congress leader Walia too threatened to resign from the party saying he was not happy with the ticket distribution for civic polls.
"I am deeply pained... We keep trying their (leadership) numbers for two-three days but there is no reply. We have to answer the party workers, all the work is stalled.
"Today (Monday) was the final day (of nomination) and things have not been finalised yet," Walia told reporters.
Walia was MLA from Laxmi Nagar in eastern Delhi for four consecutive terms. He was a minister in the Sheila Dikshit government and held Health, Urban Development, Land and Building portfolios.
He was also chairman of Trans Yamuna Area Development Board.
Imphal, April 3 : Several houses were destroyed by a storm here while hundreds of others remain submerged in flood waters across Manipur, officials said on Monday.
The northeastern region has been reeling under torrential rains for the last four days.
According to the weather forecast, the rains were expected to stop by Sunday, but torrential rains accompanied by hailstorm continued to batter the region on Monday.
Deputy Chief Minnister Y. Joykumar on Monday visited some of the localities in Imphal which are submerged under flood waters.
"The collectors have been directed to submit a report so that the government could take up actions. Relief camps will be opened if need be," Joykumar said.
The cabinet has decided to set up an action committee to tackle the floods.
Minister of Revenue, Relief and Rehabilitation, Food and Public Distribution Karam Shyam also visited the flood affected areas.
"Some relief materials were given out. The available stock is for the drought affected people. However, the government is making arrangements for all."
In the absence of relief camps, many people whose houses' tin roofs were blown away are staying in community halls and local youth clubs.
Meanwhile, levels of the state's major rivers are increasing.
New Delhi, April 3 : African Heads of Mission have strongly condemned last week's attack on Nigerian nationals in Greater Noida, calling it "xenophobic and racial in nature", and kept open the possibility of taking the matter to international human rights bodies for an independent investigation if the government failed to take legal action against the perpetrators or took "sufficient or visible deterring measures" to avoid repeat of such incidents.
A statement issued after a meeting of the envoys -- representing 54 countries of the African continent -- following the incident and dated March 31 said: "As regards the recent unfortunate incident in Greater Noida, the African Heads of Mission strongly condemn the incident and express their deep concern and also take note that these reprehensible events, both outstanding and unresolved cases against Africans, were not sufficiently condemned by the Indian authorities. The meeting unanimously agreed that those reaccumulated attacks against Africans are xenophobic and racial in nature."
The attack on four Nigerian students took place on March 27 night in Greater Noida, some 40 km from the Indian capital, following protests over the death of a Class 12 student of a residential colony there due to drug overdose. Some people who were holding a candle-light vigil for the student attacked the Nigerians, suspecting them of drug-running.
The day after the incident, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay described the incident as "deplorable" and in his weekly media briefing on March 30 said: "It is clear that such criminal acts are completely unacceptable and have been condemned."
He said said that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has spoken to Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath about this while Minister of State for External Affairs M.J. Akbar spoke to the Acting High Commissioner of Nigeria.
"Law enforcement authorities of the district have made arrests and a large number of people are under watch. The investigation is on and the law of the land will prevail," Baglay stated.
In their joint statement, the African Heads of Mission said they reviewed previous such incidents of attacks on African nationals "and concluded that no known, sufficient and visible deterring measures were taken by the Government of India".
"They equally expressed their expectations for strong condemnation from the highest political level (both nationally and locally) of the Government of India, as well expediting legal actions against the perpetrators," the statement said.
"They agreed to take further actions including the call for an independent investigation by the Human Rights Council as well as other human rights bodies, and also to comprehensively report the matter to the African Union Commission," it concluded.
New Delhi, April 3 : The Enforcement Directorate has attached the Rs 27.29-crore Delhi farmhouse of Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh in a money laundering case, an official said on Monday.
The agency attached the farmhouse in Dera Mandi village near Mehrauli in south Delhi under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
"The property's purchase value is Rs 6.61 crore, though its market value is over Rs 27 crore. Singh used his illicit money to purchase it in the name of Maple Destinations and Dreambuild, wherein his son Vikramaditya (major shareholder) and daughter Aparajita (minor shareholder) are directors," the Enforcement Directorate official said.
He said the farmhouse was purchased for Rs 1.20 crore as per its registry value, and payment made by two cheques for Rs 15 lakh each and two cheques for Rs 45 lakh each while Rs 5.41 crore was paid in cash.
The official said the farmhouse was purchased by funding done through shell companies and it was the second attachment in the case.
Investigators found that the funds for the farmhouse's purchase were provided through Vakamulla Chandrashekar, promoter and director of Tarini Group of companies engaged in hydroelectricity projects.
"Incidentally, Chandrashekar's company was awarded the Saikothi plant in Himachal Pradesh's Chamba district. The money for buying the farmhouse was given through cheques from Chandrashekar's personal bank accounts maintained with Karur Vyasa, Kotak Mahindra and ICICI banks in Delhi. He had given a total of Rs 5.9 crore to Singh and his family members," the official said.
The Enforcement Directorate's move came after the Central Bureau of Investigation filed a chargesheet against the senior Congress leader and others for allegedly amassing assets worth Rs 6.03 crore.
The ED had filed a criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act against Virbhadra Singh and others in 2015 following the CBI's FIR dated September 23, 2015, against him, his wife Pratibha, Life Insurance Corporation agent Anand Chauhan and associate Chunni Lal, and other unknown persons.
The case was registered after a preliminary inquiry found that Virbhadra Singh, 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.
Patna, April 3 : President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday said he will talk to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to develop and revive Vikramshila University, an ancient seat of Buddhist learning, on the lines of Nalanda University.
"Vikramshila had guided the path for the nation and promoted research in the past. I will talk to PM Modi to develop and revive Vikramshila University," Mukherjee said in his address at a public meeting after he visited the ruins of Vikramshila University in Bihar's Bhagalpur district.
Mukherjee said Vikramshila should not be a museum and should be developed as a centre for higher education.
The President reached Bhagalpur on Sunday evening. He began a three-day visit to West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar on April 1.
He also visited the university museum.
Vikramshila was among the most important centres of Buddhist learning in ancient India but the remains of the university have been neglected for years.
Now, its ruins would be conserved on the lines of its older counterpart Nalanda, according to authorities.
Vikramshila University was founded in the late 8th century. It was intended to complement the world class universities at Nalanda and Takshila.
It lasted four centuries before being destroyed during an attack by Bakhtiyar Khilji of the Delhi Sultanate.
Lahore, April 3 : A court in Pakistan's Punjab province on Monday sent in custody three persons accused of murdering shrine devotes, including "faith healer" Abdul Waheed, the media reported.
Abdul Waheed and two others were arrested outside the Ali Muhammad Gujjar shrine near Sargodha area of the province late on Saturday after they drugged the devotees and assaulted them with batons and stabbed 20 people to death on Sunday.
Officials said the custodian gave the worshippers intoxicants before killing them with knives and batons. Some of the victims were reported to have been found naked.
The worshippers, followers of a local Sufi leader Mohammad Ali Gujjar who died two years ago, were accustomed to seeking spiritual cleansing by removing their clothes.
A number of possible motives have been suggested for the attack. The regional police chief, Zulfiqar Hameed, said: "The 50-year-old shrine custodian, Abdul Waheed, has confessed that he killed these people because he feared that they had come to kill him."
A case against Waheed and his accomplices has been filed by police who claimed that no one from the bereaved families came forward to complain.
According to the police, the bereaved families hold Waheed in high regard despite him confessing to the murder of their loved ones.
Waheed told Geo News that he had found his spiritual leader's son Asif adding poison to his food.
"I caught him and probed further, upon which I got to know a woman was also involved with him in the plan (of killing me)," he said.
Visits to shrines and offers of alms for the poor -- and cash to custodians -- remains a very popular custom in Pakistan. Many believe this will help get their prayers answered.
New York, April 3 : A test that "smells" prostate cancer from urine samples could soon help prevent unnecessary biopsies to detect the onset of the disease, suggests new research.
Thousands of men who undergo the uncomfortable biopsy procedure, prompted by a positive PSA (prostate-specific antigen) test, ultimately do not require cancer treatment.
The new test, being developed by researchers at Institute of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) in the US, may help do away with the unnecessary biopsies in the near future.
The researchers have identified the molecules likely responsible for the scent of prostate cancer, which could be detected by chemically "sniffing" urine.
The findings are scheduled to be presented at the 253rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS) being held at San Francisco, California, from April 2 to 6.
"The idea for this project started with a study published in 2014 showing that trained canines could detect prostate cancer with greater than 97 per cent accuracy," said Mangilal Agarwal, the project's Indian-origin principal investigator.
When the prostate cancer study appeared in the Journal of Urology, Agarwal's lab set out to determine what molecules the dogs might be sensing.
"If dogs can smell prostate cancer, we should be able to, too," one of the researchers, Amanda Siegel, said.
To determine which molecules wafting from urine could indicate prostate cancer in a patient, the researchers collected urine samples from 100 men undergoing prostate biopsies.
To avoid issues that similar studies have had with sample degradation, Agarwal's team developed a pre-processing step to ensure the samples would remain intact during the analysis.
Then, they used gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to identify the volatile organic compounds floating in the "headspace" above the urine samples.
With this method, the researchers pinpointed a small set of molecules that showed up in 90 per cent of the samples from patients with prostate cancer but not in samples from those who did not have the disease.
The researchers said their test could become available to patients and doctors within the next few years.
The screening test that doctors use now to determine whether to perform a biopsy assesses PSA levels in a blood sample.
The prostate gland normally produces this protein in small amounts.
Increased levels, however, can indicate many different conditions besides cancer, including prostate infection. As a result, the test is widely recognised as flawed and often leads to unnecessary biopsies.
Mumbai, April 3 : An Indian Dhow with 11 crew members on board has been hijacked by Somali pirates, an sailor's union official said here on Monday.
"The Dhow, 'Al Kausar' is said to be carrying a cargo of some edible items and foodstuffs and was proceeding from Dubai to Yemen's Al Mukala Port when it was hijacked on Saturday," National Union of Seafarers of India General Secretary Abdul Gani Serang told IANS.
He said that the vessel had crew members originating from Mandvi in Mumbai, but NUSI is not aware of their details as they don't belong to the merchant navy.
Quoting official sources, Serang said that the Dhow's master had informed the maritime authorities in Dubai and the owners of the incident and now efforts are underway to get the vessel and crew released safely from the pirates.
India's External Affairs Ministry has been apprised of the piracy while Indian maritime authorities, along with their counterparts from various African countries are coordinating the rescue efforts.
Serang termed the hijack incident as "frustration" on the part of the high sea pirates who are now under severe pressures with Indian and other nations keeping a strict vigil on the international waters and sea routes in the region since the past few years.
Hyderabad, April 3 : Andhra Pradesh's opposition YSR Congress in Monday complained to the Governor over induction of four of its legislators who had defected to ruling TDP, in the state cabinet, terming it a mockery of democracy and the Constitution.
It urged Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan to either sack these ministers or insist on their resignations.
YSR Congress chief Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy met the Governor at Raj Bhavan here and submitted a memorandum.
Narasimhan had Sunday administered oath to 11 new ministers at Amaravati, the Andhra Pradesh capital.
Jaganmohan Reddy told the Governor that N. Amarnath Reddy, C. Adinarayana Reddy, R. S. Krishna Ranga Rao and Bhuma Akhila Priya were elected to the assembly on YSR Congress ticket, but had, along with 17 other MLAs from the party, defected to the ruling party a year ago.
He also told Narasimhan that the petitions for disqualification of these MLAs were promptly filed with assembly Speaker but the party's periodical remainders went in vain.
Jaganmohan Reddy pointed out that on the last day of the recently-concluded budget session, the Speaker, while announcing the strength of various parties, showed these four MLAs along with 16 other defected members in the list of 66 members of YSR Congress.
He urged the Governor to uphold highest values of democracy by divesting these four MLAs of their ministry or insist on their resignations.
Pune (Maharashtra), April 3 : Enraged at his advances being rebuffed, a college youth attacked and injured a BJP legislator's daughter studying in a Pune college on Monday morning, officials said. The attacker has been arrested.
Accused Rajendra Bakshi, 23, accosted the 22-year-old daughter of a Bharatiya Janata Party legislator from Yavatamal district and attacked her with a sharp weapon around 8 a.m. outside the Balaji Institute of Modern Management (BIMM).
The city police said the young girl was on her way to college from her hostel. Some passers-by caught hold of the attacker and handed him over to the police in Wakad area of Pune.
Both Bakshi and the young girl are students of the college and she had rebuffed his advances to her.
Police officials said the girl, a management student, had earlier complained to the college management against Bakshi for allegedly harassing her.
Her legislator father said in Nagpur that she had suffered some injuries, besides a broken finger.
"She is admitted to a local hospital and is out of danger. We have no knowledge about the youth or his antecedents," the lawmaker said.
Vatican City, April 3 : Pope Francis will pay an official visit to Egypt this month, as he will take part in an international conference on peace in Cairo, the Vatican's press office announced on Monday.
The pontiff will be in Cairo from April 28 to 29, where he will also meet with the head of the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox church, Pope Tawadros II, and President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Efe news reported.
The Pope will then hold a meeting with Al-Azhar Mosque's leader, Ahmed al-Tayeb, and take part in the conference, but the location of these meetings has not yet been confirmed for security reasons.
The pontiff will also deliver a speech on the 70th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral relations between the two states, and will close the day with a meeting with Tawadros II.
Pope Francis will also meet Egyptian bishops and deliver a speech before the members of the Catholic Church in the Arab country.
The first and last Roman Catholic pope to visit Egypt was John Paul II in 2000.
Srinagar, April 3 : A CRPF head constable was killed and five other troopers and two civilians, including a girl,injured when militants attacked a CRPF convoy on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in the state's Pulwama district on Monday, police said. Two of the troopers were in critical condition.
"Six CRPF jawans, their civilian truck driver and a girl were injured in Sempora Panthachok area of Jammu-Srinagar highway in the attack," said a police officer here.
The injured were brought to the army's base hospital in Badami Bagh area here, where one of the injured, Head Constable G.D. Basappa succumbed to his injuries.
Cordon and search operations in the area, barely five km away from Srinagar district, were called off Monday evening as militants reportedly managed to escape after carrying out the attack.
The Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) outfit has owned responsibility for this attack.
The other injured, including both the civilians, are out of danger, police said.
The girl, identified as Zainab, daughter of Ashiq Hussain Wani of Drangbal area of Pampore town, was admitted to Srinagar's Bone and Joint Hospital.
Doctors at the hospital have described her condition as out of danger, saying she had been injured in the leg by a bullet.
The incident came less then a day after a police constable was killed and 11 other security personnel including eight policemen and three CRPF troopers were injured on Sunday evening in Srinagar's Nowhatta area when militants hurled a grenade when security personnel were being withdrawn from the area.
Militant outfit Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen had claimed responsibility for this attack.
New Delhi, April 3 : US President Donald Trump may soften his position on some of his controversial policies with time, two visiting US politicians said on Monday.
"When you govern, you have to deal with people with different opinion. I am hopeful that this President will learn... ultimately, some of those positions may be softened," Pamela J. Althoff, member of Illinois State Senate, said.
While speaking at a town hall on 'Political Process in the US' here, a question was put to Pamela Althoff on the recent shift in the US policies related to climate change and global and regional trade regimes.
On the controversial H-1B visa policy of the Trump administration, New Jersey state assembly man Raj Mukherji said: "A part of the problem with being elected on a campaign that spew xenophobia, whether or not that is the reason you are elected... if xenophobia was part of your platform, now you are stuck with having to do things that are consistent with that philosophy."
Pamela Althoff and Raj Mukherji responded to questions from a mix of students, academics and journalists at the event.
Talking about the job losses in the US, Mukherji said: "In America, one-tenth of those (jobs) were lost to overseas workers. Most of them you can attribute to technology or automation. I guess you can blame Indians for that because they are from technologically progressive country."
"These jobs are not being lost to others, as the misconception would have you believe," he added.
Talking of India-US relations, Mukherji said: "It is absolutely critical that bilateral relation must be strengthened."
Mukherji, a Democrat who represents Hudson county, said: "I am hopeful as President Trump progresses into his term as President, he will listen to sound data and leaders... he will revisit his position."
Speaking on the phenomena that led to Narendra Modi becoming India's Prime Minister and election of Trump as US President, Mukherji said: "I am uncomfortable comparing Modi to President Trump. Did media mistrust and the attention they got worked to their benefit?"
"I think, in case of Trump, it did," he said.
On the role of US media in presidential elections, Althoff said: "One of the reasons why we have such huge political divide is because of the media. I think the media has great deal to do with how regular citizens view the political process as well as politicians who represent them."
Kharagpur (West Bengal), April 3 : Announcing that the West Bengal government will no more take revenue for agricultural land, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday demanded the Central governmentwaive farm loans.
"Bengal government will no longer take any revenue for agricultural land," she said at a public meeting in this railway town of West Midnapore district, adding the decision has been taken to give some relief to the farmers, who have been hit hard by demonetisation and a bad Kharif crop.
"For this, my government will lose out between Rs 100 crore to Rs 200 crore. But this step is needed in the interest of farmers," she said.
Banerjee said the farmers will no more have to face harassment for paying the agricultural revenue. "You don't have to pay the revenue."
The chief minister said the Central government should waive farmers' loans.
"I tell the central government - waive farmers' loan. Lot of farmers are committing suicide in India," she said.
New Delhi, April 3 : The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore is the countrys top ranked higher educational institute while the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad is the top management institute, as per the NIRF rankings released here on Monday.
The rankings released by Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar lists the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in the national capital and Kolkata's Jadavpur University (JU) -- which have been in the eye of storm over alleged anti national sloganeering -- among the top universities of the country.
As per the "India Rankings" under the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), JNU is the second best university in the country after IISc Banglore while JU has been ranked fifth.
The University of Hyderabad, which hit the headlines in 2016 over the suicide of its PhD student Rohith Vemula, has been ranked seventh in the lists of universities.
Javadekar hailed both JNU and JU for their contribution to research work and said the rankings were aimed at creating a competition for the educational institutes to strive for excellence.
"JNU or Jadavpur University have not been ranked for raising (pro Parliament attack convict) Afzal Guru slogans. They have not been ranked for confining the Vice Chancellor, but for their research work in science, biotechnology and other fields," said Javadekar.
While the JNU was at the eye of massive political storm last year after anti-India slogans were raised at an event marking the anniversary of the hanging of Afzal Guru, similar "anti-national" slogans were also allegedly raised at the JU as well.
The Indian Institute of Technology-Madras has been ranked as the top engineering institute; deemed university Jamia Hamdard in Delhi is best in pharmacy category while Miranda House in the national capital has been ranked the best college in the country.
The rankings were made under five heads -- overall, university, engineering, management and pharmacy.
As many as seven IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology) are in the top 10 educational institutes (overall) in the country.
Banaras Hindu university (BHU) is ranked third in the university list and 10th in the overall list.
Over 3,300 institutes participated in the second edition of the India Rankings. Only centrally funded institutes and those having over 1000 students enrolled were eligible to participate.
While the participation of the institutions has been voluntary, Javadekar said the government might make them compulsory in the future.
The minister said higher the rankings, greater will be the government's grants and funds to the institutes.
Launched in 2015, NIRF is a methodology adopted by the HRD Ministry to rank all institutions of higher education in India.
The parameters used for the rankings were under five broad heads -- teaching learning and resources, research and professional practice, graduation outcomes, outreach and inclusivity, and perception - employers, academic and public.
New Delhi, April 3 : Former Delhi legislator Amrish Gautam on Monday quit the Congress and joined the BJP, while former Congress Minister A.K. Walia threatened to quit over distribution of party tickets for the April 23 civic polls in Delhi.
While AICC spokesperson Manish Tewari refused to comment on matters related to civic polls, senior Delhi Congress leader and former Delhi assembly Speaker Subhash Chopra admitted to "some resentment", but said "true Congressmen will not desert the party".
Chopra also said Walia did not threaten to quit and that words were put in his mouth.
Former Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely and former Minister Haroon Yusuf also expressed concern over functioning of Delhi Congress headed by former Union Minister Ajay Maken.
Gautam, a three-time legislaor from Kondli in east Delhi, accused the Congress of not consulting him on candidates. His son Avinash Gautam too joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.
"We were feeling cornered. Nobody was willing to listen to our concerns. My self-respect was hurt by senior party leaders like Anand Sharma, P.C. Chacko and Ajay Maken," Amrish Gautam told IANS after joining the BJP.
The Congress had formed a committee headed by Sharma to select candidates for elections to Delhi's three municipal corporations. Chacko is in charge of the Congress affairs in Delhi.
"I requested Maken many times to respect the workers' sentiments and to take decisions in the interest of the Congress and its workers. But he ignored me," Gautam told reporters.
"I quit because my area and supporters were ignored. I felt neglected."
Senior Delhi Congress leader Walia too threatened to resign. "I am deeply pained... we keep trying their (leaders) phone numbers for two-three days but there is no reply."
He told media persons: "Today (Monday) was the final day (of filing nominations) and things have not been finalised yet. If they think they don't need us, they should tell us. Earlier, such things never happened in our party."
Walia said he had conveyed his anguish to the Congress high command.
Walia, a legislator from Laxmi Nagar in east Delhi for four consecutive terms, remained a minister in the Sheila Dikshit government.
Lovely said: "It is very unfortunate that Amrish Gautam left the Congress while senior leader like Walia has threatened to quit. We need to respect senior leaders. If Walia leaves the Congress, it will be a major setback."
He said the party high command needs to address the issues.
Yusuf said: "I will also raise my concerns with the party high command. Whatever I feel, I'll speak on the party fora."
"The local Congress leadership, including me, was ignored during ticket distribution. However, Walia ji can never go against the party," he added.
All India Congress Committee spokesperson Manish Tewari said: "It is an issue concerning the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee. We do not deal with corporation elections from this podium. All queries on MC elections should be addressed to the DPCC."
Senior Delhi Congress leader Subhash Chopra said: "There is some resentment, which is natural. Those who did not get tickets, or senior leaders whose candidates were not given tickets, are bound to feel somewhat unhappy. But that does not mean they are quitting."
He said Walia did not speak even once of quitting the Congress. "I have spoken to him just now and he said he did not say anything about quitting," the Congress leader said.
Chopra said Amrish Gautam quit as his son was not given a Congress ticket.
"A candidate's winnability and workers' choice were the criteria (for giving tickets). As many as 39,000 Congress workers were contacted over phone before making the final choice," he said.
President Donald Trump 's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, will help shape the trillion-dollar infrastructure package that has become one of the centerpieces of the administration's economic agenda, a sign of his increasingly visible role in setting public policy.
The new Office of American Innovation, which Kushner leads, is among more than a dozen agencies involved in drafting the proposal to rebuild America's roads and bridges. A White House spokesperson said National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are spearheading the effort. But Kushner's involvement is being closely watched both inside and outside the administration to see how his personal relationship with the president translates into the nuts and bolts of policy.
On its surface, infrastructure seems like a natural fit for Kushner. His nascent office is tasked with working with the business world's brightest minds to break logjams in the federal government. As a real estate developer himself, Kushner is likely to understand the frustration many companies have expressed over the permitting process. Trump has also highlighted the importance of public-private partnerships, and investors are hopeful that Kushner will prioritize projects that can generate reliable revenue.
At a minimum, Kushner is likely to push for an expansion of what might be housed under the umbrella of infrastructure. Trump has not outlined what his trillion-dollar proposal will include, and there is heated debate over how wide a net the president should cast.
Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said last week the package would include not just roads and bridges, but also energy and water infrastructure as well. She also said it could possibly incorporate broadband and veterans' hospitals two areas on which Kushner's office has said it intends to focus. Chao said the infrastructure proposal will be announced later this year.
"The infrastructure we all grew up with is aging," she said during a speech celebrating the department's 50th anniversary. "Technology the great disruptor is creating a new type of transport based on digital not human command and control."
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Exacerbating tensions
But Kushner's involvement could also exacerbate the infighting inside the administration. National Trade Council Director Peter Navarro had initially sought to take the lead on the infrastructure proposal, according to a former official with close ties to the administration. Instead, Cohn's office is directing the effort, leading to a recent interagency meeting on the issue. Last month, Cohn hired DJ Gribbin, the former head of government affairs at Macquarie Capital, to serve as a special assistant for infrastructure policy.
One critical unanswered question about the president's plan is how it will be financed. During the campaign, Navarro and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross who both served as Trump advisers during the election published a paper calling for $137 billion in tax credits to incentivize a trillion dollars in private investment.
But on Friday, Ross told CNBC that plan is just one piece of the puzzle. He said passing tax reform would be critical to getting infrastructure done and left open the option of using money from repatriated corporate earnings to pay for at least part of it.
Ross also acknowledged that federal dollars may need to be committed as well. Infrastructure is one issue that the administration could use to build a bridge with Democrats, who have long advocated public financing to pay for it.
"This can be the win for the country," said Norm Anderson, president of CG/LA Infrastructure, a consulting firm. "It's got 'bipartisan' written all over it."
More From CNBC
Bhubaneswar, April 3 : The Odisha government on Monday signed a Statement of Intent (SoI) with University of Chicago and University of Chicago Trust in India.
The SoI was signed with a view to facilitate new research, knowledge and capacity building in several areas.
"One of the objectives of entering this collaboration will also be to seek expertise in setting up a virtual academy for digitisation, preservation and improved access of archival material of Odia language and culture," said Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who was present at the signing of SoI.
The cooperation between the state government and University of Chicago would also deal with research, monitoring and impact evaluation and pilot project implementation in the sectors of energy, environment, health, water and sanitation.
Patnaik said these initiatives would go a long way in preserving invaluable lingual and cultural heritage and resources of Odisha and also in providing better solutions to basic needs of the people.
New Delhi, April 3 : The Supreme Court on Monday refused to hold an early hearing on a PIL seeking to debar the politicians from contesting elections for life if charges are framed against them in serious criminal cases.
Refusing to expedite the hearing on a petition by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ashwani Upadhyaya, the bench of Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar and Justice D.Y.Chandrachud said that their hands were already full.
The top court declined to hold an early hearing as Upadhyaya mentioned the matter for the setting-up of a constitution bench and expediting the hearing of the matter.
The Election Commission has earlier backed the idea of debarring convicted politicians from floating a political outfit or becoming its office bearer, saying that such a step would held in cleansing the political system.
New Delhi, April 3 : Omani Foreign Minister Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday and discussed bilateral relations between the two countries.
"Prime Minister and Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah exchanged views on the close relations between India and Oman that are making progress in diverse areas," a PMO release said.
It said that the visiting minister conveyed the greetings of Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said. Modi, in turn, conveyed his greetings to the Sultan.
Islamabad, April 3 : Pakistan on Monday summoned the Indian envoy in Islamabad over a recent cross-border firing that killed one civilian, the Foreign Ministry said.
The Director General on the South Asian desk at the Foreign Ministry, Mohammad Faisal, summoned Indian Deputy High Commissioner J.P. Singh and condemned the "unprovoked" ceasefire violation by the Indian forces along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir on April 1, the Foreign Office said in a statement.
The statement said an 18-year-old civilian, Muhammad Attique Qureshi, was killed in the firing at Chirikot sector of the LoC.
"The deliberate targeting of civilians is indeed condemnable and contrary to human dignity and international human rights and humanitarian laws," it said.
The Director General urged the Indian side to respect the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding, investigate this and other incidents of ceasefire violations, instruct the Indian forces to respect the ceasefire in letter and spirit, and maintain peace on the LoC.
The latest incident happened as escalation along the LoC, which divides the two neighbours in the disputed Kashmir, has been seen since a militant attack on an army base in the Jammu and Kashmir on September 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.
Chandigarh, April 3 : An app was launched here on Monday to make it convenient for deserving people to be nominated for the Neerja Bhanot Awards.
Neerja Bhanot Pan Am Trust (NBPAT) Managing Trustee and Neerja's brother Akhil Bhanot said that the 'Neerja Bhanot App' will be available on both Android and iOS platforms and can be downloaded for free.
"It will now be possible to nominate a deserving person for the Neerja Bhanot Awards from anywhere in the world by just entering the details on the phone and sending the nomination to the Neerja Bhanot Pan Am Trust by clicking a button," Bhanot said.
The annual Neerja Bhanot Awards were instituted in 1990 in the memory of the brave Pan-Am senior flight purser, Neerja, who saved scores of lives by sacrificing her own when a Pan Am plane was hijacked at Karachi Airport in September 1986.
"The Awards are based on the two core values of Neerja: Do your duty, come what may and never tolerate injustice or compromise on self-respect," her brother Aneesh Bhanot said. The awards carry a cash prize of Rs 1.50 lakh each, a citation and a trophy.
The first award is conferred on an Indian woman who, when faced with social injustice, overcomes the situation with guts and grit and then helps other women in social distress, while the second award is conferred on any airline cabin crew member worldwide, who goes beyond the call of duty in a difficult situation.
"Anyone can nominate anybody and the trust also accepts self-nominations. There is no nomination fee or any other sort of fees. Nominations are accepted throughout the year by the trust. The Neerja Bhanot Pan Am Trust does not accept any donations either," Bhanot said.
Beijing, April 3 : Twelve people were killed and 19 others injured in central China's Hunan province on Monday when their truck overturned, local authorities said.
The truck owned by a landscaping company was on the way back after the workers finished their tree planting work in Chenzhou City, the city's publicity department was quoted by Xinhua reported.
Eleven workers died on the spot and one died later at hospital.
Lucknow, April 3 : A five-member delegation of Samsung India called on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and apprised him of problems faced by the company as well as conveyed their willingness to partner in the state's development.
The delegation led by Samsung South-Asian President and Chief Executive Officer H.C. Hong met the Chief Minister as well as Industrial Development Minister Satish Mahana.
In response, Yogi Adityanath said his government was working to create an atmosphere conducive for attracting more investments in the state.
He said a single-window system would be set up to provide all facilities under one roof to potential investors.
The Chief Minister said efforts were on to improve law and order in Uttar Pradesh to provide a sense of security to prospective investors.
Instructions have been issued to all district magistrates and police chiefs to take seriously the law and order and other problems faced by industrialists.
The Chief Minister also instructed the Industrial Development Department to prepare and present before him a draft of the new state industrial policy.
Yogi Adityanath said the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Uttar Pradesh was committed to providing more jobs to the unemployed youths, adding it could be possible with encouragement to private investment.
Samsung officials said the company aims to create nearly 10,000 jobs in Uttar Pradesh by 2020.
New Delhi, April 3 : The Supreme Court on Monday gave Uttar Pradesh government three weeks time to respond to a petition that has challenged a state law which permits allotment of bungalows to former Chief Ministers on their request.
Giving time to the state government to respond to the notice issued to it on November 15 last year, the bench of Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar gave another four weeks to the petitioner, NGO Lok Prahari to file its rejoinder.
The top court had on November 15 last year sought the response of the state on a plea by Lok Prahari that has challenged two state laws - the Uttar Pradesh Ministers (Salaries, Allowances and Miscellaneous Provisions) (Amendment) Act, 2016, and The Allotment of Houses Under Control of the Estate Department Act, 2016.
The first had provided that "A government residence shall be allotted to a former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, at his/her request, for his/her lifetime, on payment of such rent as may be determined from time to time by the Estate Department", while the second had sought to regulate allotment of government accommodations to state government employees, their associations, political parties, journalists, trusts, officers of All India Service, lawmakers, ministers, Chairman and Deputy Cchairman of the Legislative Council, Speaker and Deputy Speaker of Legislative Assembly and Judges.
These two laws were brought to neutralise the earlier apex court judgment that had barred allotment of official accommodations to former Chief Ministers.
The top court by its August 1, 2016, verdict had directed six former Chief Ministers to vacate within two months the accommodation provided to them by the state government in their capacity as former Chief Ministers.
These were Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati, Narayan Dutt Tiwari, Ram Naresh Yadav, present Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh, who have accommodations on Lucknow's posh Mall Road and Vikramaditya Marg.
The court had said the former Chief Ministers had no right to occupy government accommodations as it held the allotments bad in law, being "largesse only to former Chief Ministers without any element of reasonableness".
It had also asked the Uttar Pradesh government to recover rent, at market rate, for the period they were in occupation of these premises.
Turin, April 3 : Italy on Monday deported three Kosvars accused of belonging to the Islamic State jihadist group and of plotting attacks on Venice's iconic Rialto Bridge and churches in St Mark's Square.
The three suspects were expelled aboard a flight from Caselle airport outside the northwest Italian city of Turin, where they had been held in a deportation centre following their arrest on Thursday.
Italian authorities deported the Kosovars after cancelling their Italian residence permits, the Interior Ministry said.
Arjan Babaj, 25, Fisnik Bekaj, also 25, and Dke Haziraj, 26, were arrested in raids on two apartments in Venice's historic centre near St Mark's Square.
Police raided a total of twelve apartments in Venice, in the nearby city of Mestre and the neighbouring province of Treviso during Thursday's operation and also detained a fourth Kosovan suspect who is a minor.
The Kosovars and "other suspects who were subsequently arrested" viewed "numerous" jihadist propaganda videos showing ways of carrying out suicide attacks and shared the videos online with other extremists, said the Italian Interior Ministry.
The arrests followed a "complex" probe in which the anti-terror squad, Digos, monitored the alleged jihadist cell members, who were involved in religious radicalisation before their arrests and were planning to travel to the Middle East to wage Jihad there, according to investigators.
Italy's Interior Minister Marco Minniti praised Thursday's operation as "an important achievement in the prevention of terrorism".
A total of 30 suspected Islamic extremists have now been deported from Italy this year and 162 since January 2015, according to the interior ministry.
Italy has been on high alert since the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris in January 2015 and has further ratcheted up security since the March 22 terrorist attack in London.
Mumbai, April 3 : A 20-year-old student from Bengaluru committed suicide by jumping from the 19th floor of a top hotel here after posting a video on social networking sites describing the step he was taking to end his life, police said on Monday.
The victim, who succumbed to the fall instantly, has been identified as Arjun Bhardwaj, who was studying in a prominent Mumbai college.
Initial investigations reveal that he hails from Bengaluru and is son of a businessman.
"We have recovered a suicide note which indicates that he was disturbed. We are investigating further," Joint Police Commissioner Deven Bharti told IANS.
The social media profile of the youth is being checked by police to asertain the motives behind the drastic measure while his family has been informed of the tragedy.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, right, speaks with the UK permanent representative to the EU, Tim Barrow, during a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the EU Council building in Luxembourg on Monday, April, 2017. European Union foreign ministers meet Monday to discuss the situation in Syria and Libya. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
BRUSSELS (AP) The Latest on Britain's impending departure from the European Union (all times local):
8 p.m.
David Davis, London's chief negotiator in Britain's divorce from the European Union, is meeting with Portugal's foreign minister, who has said he wants the United Kingdom and the 27 remaining EU members to stay close after so-called Brexit.
Portuguese Foreign Minister August Santos Silva has noted that Britain is Portugal's oldest ally, dating back to the 14th century. However, he has warned that the biggest danger for the EU is one of its 27 members breaking ranks and reaching a bilateral agreement with the U.K.
Portugal is home to thousands of British expatriates, most of them living in the southern Algarve region.
Portuguese officials said neither Davis nor Santos Silva would comment on Monday's talks.
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3:30 p.m.
Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis has met with Britain's Brexit secretary amid simmering tension over the future of Gibraltar following Britain's departure from the European Union.
A foreign ministry notice said Dastis expressed Spain's backing for the EU's position that Spain should have veto rights on any agreements regarding the British territory on the southern Iberian coast.
David Davis, who is Britain's point person on Brexit, reiterated Britain's steadfast support for Gibraltar during the previously unannounced dinner with Dastis on Sunday night.
On Monday, Dastis accused Britain of losing its cool over Gibraltar after a leading Conservative politician said Britain would be prepared to defend Gibraltar militarily.
Spain has for centuries demanded a return of sovereignty over Gibraltar, which is located on its southern tip.
Davis left Spain for Portugal on Monday. The meetings are part of London's preparations to leave the EU.
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10:45 a.m.
Spain says it's "surprised" by the tone of comments from Britain regarding Gibraltar's fate in Brexit talks over Britain leaving the European Union, in particular war references by a former Conservative Party leader.
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Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis said Monday that on the issue of Europe and Gibraltar, Britain's traditional reputation for calmness seems to be notably absent.
Dastis was referring to comments by Michael Howard, who said British Prime Minister Theresa May would be willing to go to war over Gibraltar in the same manner as the late premier Margaret Thatcher did against Argentina over the Falklands Islands 35 years ago.
The European Union has upset Britain by giving Spain veto power on any Brexit accords regarding Gibraltar, a British territory on the tip of the Iberian Peninsula that Spain has long wanted to reclaim.
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10:15 a.m.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson says Gibraltar's status can only be changed by the territory's people and U.K. citizens, as the enclave becomes an issue in Brexit negotiations.
Johnson said Monday that Gibraltar's sovereignty "is not going to change and cannot conceivably change without the express support and consent of the people of Gibraltar and the United Kingdom."
He spoke in Luxembourg where EU foreign ministers are meeting. Britain's departure from the European Union, likely in 2019, is not on the agenda.
Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis told the El Pais newspaper that Madrid insists it should get a veto over any agreements regarding the strategic enclave on Spain's southern tip, as Britain prepares to leave. Spain has long sought to reclaim Gibraltar.
9 a.m.
The EU's roadmap on Brexit negotiations leaves the United Kingdom and Spain to discuss what agreements will apply to Gibraltar, a British overseas territory that Spain has wanted back since ceding it in 1713.
This could force a dialogue in which Madrid might have the upper-hand, although the Spanish government has said it will ensure an open border for European workers that are key to both Gibraltar and the neighboring area in southern Spain.
Gibraltar has a population of 32,000 and about 96 percent of residents voted to remain in the EU last year.
Kolkata, April 3 : Facing widespread flak from the civil society and police complaint for his distasteful comments about West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, senior CPI-M leader Gautam Deb on Monday issued an apology.
Speaking at a rally organised by the Left students unions on Sunday, Deb had launched a vitriolic attack on Banerjee, calling her names and even raising questions about her personal life.
Deb's comments drew sharp reaction from writers, theatre personalities and writers, who said his comments had "shamed everybody" and asked the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) to make him withdraw the remarks.
On Monday, a complaint was lodged at Netaji Nagar police station - under whose jurisdiction Sunday's meeting was held - against Deb, a former state minister. Another complaint was registered at Uttarpara police station in Hooghly district.
Addressing a public meeting during the day, Banerjee responded by saying "One should do one's politics, but should not spread canards."
Majority of the student organisations which had convened Sunday's meeting also disassociated themselves from the remarks. "We don't approve of such indecent attacks," they said in a joint statement.
Coming under pressure from various quarters, Deb issued a statement on Monday night, expressing regret for his remarks.
Deb conceded that what he had said was "akin to a personal attack".
"It was not my objective to launch a personal attack. I am sorry for this."
The 2016 Lumiere Photography Awards, completes its fourth edition with over 500 entries from talented photographers in 30 countries around the globe. The international photography competition narrowed down the field to three major award winners and 15 honorable mentions. Due to a tie for first place, the Grand Prize Award for The 2016 Lumiere Awards Photographer of the Year will be shared by: Szymon Barylski from Ireland and Dongwook Lee from South Korea. Armineh Hovanesian from the United States was this years Mobile Photographer of the Year.
Each year we are humbled by the caliber of talent and global reach of this competition, says Chris Davies, Founder and President of The Lumiere Awards. The fact that we had a tie for first place shows just how exceptional the submissions were this year.
The Lumiere Awards is an annual open call for photographers of all backgrounds possessing an uncommon vision. The Awards call for images that are expansive, images that rupture, reveal, disrupt and free how we feel and see. With the goal of celebrating the most iconic photos taken by new and emerging talent, as well as professionals, from around the world, The Lumiere Awards is an initiative of Fabrik Media, Inc. is a multifaceted brand, marketing, publishing and experiential agency that supports artists and the arts.
The Awards collected online submissions in a variety of categories including abstract, collage, and still life from professional, amateur, and mobile photographers. Each submission was carefully reviewed and the winners were determined by an expert panel of international judges from the fields of photography, art, publishing, education, and cultural institutions.
In addition to the top three winners, the list of 15 honorable mentions includes: Jennifer Baird, Australia; Sergey Bisirkin, Russia; Peter Braunholz, Deutschland; Chris Vanden Broeke, Belgium; Paul Crampton, Canada; Alexa Coughlin, USA; Katinka Kemp, Australia; Anita Kovacevic, Austria; Alexvi Li, China; Rebecca Lodin, Australia; Erin McGean, Canada; Michelle Robinson, Australia; SameSource, United States; Felicia Simion, Romania, and Gili Yaari, Israel.
The Lumiere Awards Grand Prize winners will receive $5,000 in cash and prizes including a solo booth at the 2017 Photo Independent Art Fair. The Mobile Photographer of the Year will be awarded $1,850 in cash and prizes.
For more information about the awards and winners, please visit http://lumiereawards.com/
About The Lumiere Awards
The Lumiere Awards are an international open call for photography possessing uncommon vision. This opportunity is open to photographers of all backgrounds who capture images that make the unknowable known. Our goal is to celebrate the most iconic photos taken by new and emerging talent, as well as professionals, from around the world and award their photographic insights. http://lumiereawards.com/
About Fabrik Media, Inc.
Fabrik Media, Inc. is a multifaceted brand, marketing, publishing and experiential agency that supports artists and the arts. In collaboration with a talented and passionate network of publishers, dealers, curators and arts professionals, Fabrik Media provides artists with professional opportunities to have their work exhibited, published and represented through various platforms. http://fabrikmedia.com/
Rebar by Monkton Any commercial or custom mobile app that connects to Government networks, or attempts to access, or store, sensitive data from a FedRAMP cloud environment, needs to be NIAP compliant
Monkton has contracted with Acumen Security to perform a National Information Assurance Partnership (NIAP) Assessment of two iOS mobile applications in its portfolio. The applications will operate in two modes: offline, in a disconnected state, and online, interfacing with FedRAMP Moderate/High and Department of Defense (DoD) Impact Level 4, 5, and 6 environments.
The first app, Monkton CSfC Documents, will enable access to content hosted on Amazon S3 or Box. The second app, Monkton CSfC Forms, will enable organizations to create mobile-first user interface forms that facilitate the input, storage, and retrieval of data hosted in FedRAMP data centers.
"This move toward NIAP represents a strategic investment for Monkton Inc. We are certifying both the application software and encryption profiles, allowing us to deliver dual encryption for data at rest and data in transit," said Monkton Co-founder and CEO Harold Smith III. "We built these two apps on our development platform, Rebar, which allows agencies to develop and deliver NIAP compliant mobile apps in a repeatable process using common dev tools like Xcode and Android Studio. The NIAP validation of these apps will create a path for other organizations to rapidly build custom apps on Rebar and quickly complete the same process," added Smith. When finished, the Monkton apps will be the first true native mobile apps validated with NIAP for mobile devices.
NIAP is the National Security Agency (NSA) validation program for application software, analogous to FedRAMP for Cloud software and infrastructure. FedRAMP enables agencies to reduce risk and have a reproducible outcome. For application software, NIAP produces the same benefits it reduces risk and creates repeatable outcomes. Upon successful completion of the NIAP Validation with NSA, companies can optionally go through NSA's Commercial Solutions for Classified (CSfC) to be part of a component package for classified systems.
According to Chris Gorman, Monkton Co-founder and COO, While NIAP specifically applies to National Security Systems (NSS) and higher, the risk mitigation approach for FOUO [For Official Use Only] and SBU [Sensitive But Unclassified] content is the same. For mobile apps that store or interact with agency mission sensitive content, there is no reason to not be NIAP compliant. It is dangerous to believe our adversaries wont target mobile apps with SBU-level content. We are in a cyberwar with nation-state actors and sophisticated independent malicious organizations that are attacking our critical infrastructure and government systems. Failing to properly develop and vet mobile apps to NIAP is a significant risk. We simply cannot fight a cyberwar with waivers.
"In 2017, no AO [Authorizing Official] in the government would accept a non-FedRAMP cloud solution provider for MOD and DoD IL 2 and 4 use cases. Why should the Agency AO accept even more risk for non-NIAP compliant or certified application software? Any commercial or custom mobile app that connects to Government networks, or attempts to access, or store, sensitive data from a FedRAMP cloud environment, needs to be NIAP compliant, states Gorman.
In addition to NIAP Validation, the CSfC Documents app and the CSfC Forms app also integrate with both DISA Purebred and Entrust Derived Credentials, enabling PKI authentication and login to access content stored securely in Box or Amazon. "PKI integration allows us to leverage PKI across the entire lifecycle of using the app. The user never enters a username or password, and is validated with their issued PKI. This capability, combined with a NIAP assessed app, is a complete game changer for accessing content stored securely in the cloud with Box" said Chris Manouse, Box Enterprise Sr. Director of Federal.
About Monkton:
Monkton provides Rebar Platform to build trusted and verifiably secure mobile solutions for security focused organizations. Monkton handles the logistics of data at rest, data in transit, authentication, authorization, PKI, user management, and API management so enterprises can focus on building and delivering the best mission mobile solutions.
We handle the tedious allowing you to build the meaningful.
Managing Director, Mike Wardell
From 1st April, Mike will step into his new role after joining the company as Financial Director in August 2016. CEO and Founder Nick Marshall said, Mike has shown outstanding commercial and leadership skills alongside his financial expertise inside his first year with Giacom and has demonstrated that he is well equipped for the new role. We are privileged to have such a capable, strong and talented new leader.
With more than ten years of senior leadership experience in the IT and Telecoms sector, Mikes dynamic approach means Giacom continues to exceed its targets. As he transitions into the role, Mikes business acumen will be vital to ensuring Giacom retains a strong position as the leading platform for IT professionals to buy cloud services for their clients.
Nicks vision and leadership has created a cloud services business which continually strives to deliver simple, cost effective solutions. This has enabled Giacom to gain Microsoft 2-Tier CSP status and deliver these products, along with others, through the MessageStream Cloud Marketplace, Mike comments. As I take up the role of Managing Director, I am excited about the future for Giacom and confident that we can continue our success and deliver many more services to help our valued customers.
Giacom licences cloud services under its reseller-only brand MessageStream, which is home to more than 4,000 partners via the online Cloud Marketplace. Revenues continue to dramatically increase year-on-year, with a 74% revenue growth totalling 6.6m as of July 2016.
Company revenues are expected to double in July 2017, while EBITDA has a projected growth of almost 60%, and Giacom is targeting 30m revenues by 2020.
PHOENIX, AZ / ACCESSWIRE / April 3, 2017 / LookSmart Group, Inc. (OTC PINK: LKSTD) (OTC PINK: LKST) is pleased to announce the launching of its data center building located in Central Phoenix, AZ as a technology center called Silicon Canyon. LookSmart believes in the business of doing good and of using technology as a great equalizer for social good. Through Silicon Canyon Technology Center, LookSmart wants to be directly involved in community development with the Veterans, minorities, and immigrants.
In partnership with Clickable Institute of Technology, Entrepreneurship and Digital Marketing (www.clickableinstitute.com; https://www.facebook.com/clickableInstitute/), as well as, Richie Bello Institute of Leadership and Management (www.richiebellowest.com; https://www.facebook.com/richiebellowest/), Silicon Canyon plans to build and support a community of businesses owned by Veterans, immigrants or minorities. They will have direct access to LookSmart's search engine, machine-learning and chatbot technologies, 360 degree digital marketing platform, data center, and entire ecosystem of internet advertising. Clickable Institute will house a digital marketing school to help the Veterans, immigrants and minorities become more effective, relevant, and successful in today's entrepreneurial and/or workforce environments. Richie Bello West will provide entrepreneurship and sales training with special focus on helping Veterans become job creators in the automotive industry.
"We are very delighted to be closely working with Jose Andres Giron, a Purple Heart Veteran and artist (www.facebook.com/joseandresgiron). We will be using our Clickable digital marketing products and services to help his ecommerce site sell his exquisite, one-of-a-kind artwork to the national and international markets. We have also signed a partnership agreement with D'launte Wade of BizHero, Inc., a minority-owned company that provides web hosting and administrative solutions to startups, small and medium-sized businesses using Novatech.io, LookSmart's data center facility," explains Michael Onghai, CEO of Looksmart Group, Inc.
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Clickable Institute and Richie Bello have already established partnerships with Ms. Jennifer Hammond's Ending Veteran Homelessness Weekly SiriusXM Satellite Radio Show (www.jenniferhrealty.com; https://www.facebook.com/jenniferhrealty/) and SoldiersAngels.org for disabled veterans (http://soldiersangels.org/; https://www.facebook.com/SoldiersAngelsOfficial/), headed by Ms. Amy Palmer. Clickable Institute has also been included in the 101+ Resources For Veterans: The Ultimate Guide, authored by Jennifer Hammond and A Hero Foundation.
Clickable Institute will be at the U.S. House of Representative's Veterans' Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC and will join Ms. Jennifer Hammond's two-hour radio show on the third week of May. This radio show will include U.S. Congressmen, business and nonprofit leaders that are investing their time and money to help Veterans.
"Right next to the marvelous Grand Canyon, Phoenix can become Arizona's Silicon Canyon to California's Silicon Valley. I, myself, am the product of two fertile minority immigrants, one of whom is a World War II Vet. Hardworking veterans, immigrants, and minorities and my dogs are close to my family's heart. It is automation, not the immigrants, that is replacing American jobs. Innovation creates jobs. Armed with passion and fantastic support from our friends, our team will do our best to collaborate with innovative entrepreneurs to create jobs to Make America Great again," says Michael Onghai, CEO of Looksmart Group, Inc.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements," including statements related to our expectations related to cost savings and the use of management time. Forward-looking statements may be identified by their use of terms such as "anticipate," "believe," "anticipate," "confident," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "predict," "project," "target," "will," and other similar terms. These statements are subject to significant risks and uncertainties, actual results and future events could differ materially from those projected, and we caution stockholders not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Risks and uncertainties exist related to the Company and its business due to a number of factors, including the statements under "Risk Factors" contained in our periodic reports filed with the SEC. Given these uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. We intend these forward-looking statements to speak only as of the date of this press release and undertake no duty or obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or changes in our expectations, except as required by law.
CONTACT:
Judy Onghai
jonghai@looksmart.net
SOURCE: LookSmart Group, Inc.
Precision Discovery, Inc. announced today that they have been recertified as a Relativity Best in Service partner by kCura, achieving the Orange-level designation for providing an exceptional Relativity experience for end users.
We are proud to earn the Relativity Best in Service designation year after year, said President and CEO Jerry Barbanel. We are committed to an excellent Relativity experience for our clients, and we look forward to continued success on the platform through our partnership with kCura.
Through a voluntary audit, Relativity Best in Service partners demonstrate their expertise and experience hosting projects in Relativity. kCura evaluates these partners individual data centers in three areas: technical infrastructure, customer service, and product expertise. Additionally, Best in Service partners meet a set of requirements for duration as a Relativity Authorized Partner, size of Relativity installations, and core Relativity certifications.
kCura has two designations for Best in Service partners data centers: Orange and Blue. While both designate data centers that provide a quality Relativity experience, Orange-level sites have made additional investments in people, process and technology to manage installations with above-average user countsall while maintaining the high standards of Best in Service.
Its great to recognize Precision Discovery as an Orange-level Relativity Best in Service Partner, said George Orr, vice president of customer success and support at kCura. The designation signifies how committed they are to providing an exceptional Relativity customer experience.
About Precision Discovery
Founded in 2008, Precision Discovery, Inc. helps corporations and law firms create and implement a proactive, efficient and defensible eDiscovery plan. Precision provides a full suite of eDiscovery services including managed review, computer forensics, data processing and hosting, and software customization. Precision Discovery's employees own 100% of the company, and they have a long and successful track record of helping clients meet the arduous demands of litigation and investigations. For more information about Precision Discovery, please visit http://www.precisiondiscovery.com.
About kCura
kCura are the developers of Relativity, an e-discovery platform used by more than 12,000 organizations to manage large volumes of data and quickly identify key issues during litigation, internal investigations, and compliance projects. Relativity has over 150,000 active users in 40+ countries from organizations including the U.S. Department of Justice, more than 70 Fortune 100 companies, and more than 195 of the Am Law 200. Corporations, law firms, and government agencies use Relativity on-premises, in the cloud, or as a hybrid platformwith hosted, on-demand solutions available through a global network of partners. As a platform, Relativity also allows developers to design, build, and integrate applications that extend its functionality. kCura has been named one of Chicago's Top Workplaces by the Chicago Tribune for six consecutive years and received the CityLIGHTS Lighthouse Award from the Illinois Technology Association in 2016.
Please contact kCura at sales(at)kcura(dot)com or visit http://www.kcura.com for more information.
We progressed through the Kickstarter campaign brilliantly, and the resources are now in place for us to provide global production volume for FaceCradle.
Company officials for FaceCradle, the most-funded travel pillow in crowdfunding history, are back for a bigger and better encore appearance at the International Travel Goods Show, a three-day event from April 5-7 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Travelers, retailers and anyone who craves deep sleep on a plane are invited to visit booth 544 in the North Hall to experience FaceCradle in a real airplane seat set up at the booth -- where they can discover why this travel pillow has taken off in popularity.
The appearance at the show follows the companys tremendous success among travelers for FaceCradle, which raised $1.135 million ($1,479,231 AUD) from nearly 20,000 people on the crowdfunding website Kickstarter last fall.
We progressed through the Kickstarter campaign brilliantly, and the resources are now in place for us to provide global production volume for FaceCradle, said Dylan J. Doherty, President of FaceCradle USA.
We attended last years show with a prototype of FaceCradle, so were excited to have a larger booth during our re-launch of the production version of FaceCradle in Las Vegas, Doherty added. Were also looking forward to formalizing some relationships with retailers and wholesalers during the show.
The International Travel Goods Show showcases products from the travel and tourism industries. Show hours Wednesday and Thursday, April 5 and 6, are from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and on Friday, April 7 from 8:30 a.m. 5:30 p.m.
FaceCradle was developed by company co-founders David Scrimshaw and Roz Ruwhiu through their own experiences trying to get sleep on long, cross-country and overseas flights. Both Scrimshaw and Ruwhiu will be attending the travel goods show.
Unlike other travel pillows on the market, FaceCradle is designed for the way people actually sleep, with the head in a horizontal position. FaceCradle features five sleep modes for travelers that provide multiple options for comfort including a deep-sleep mode that simulates the natural horizontal sleeping position for the head, even while the traveler is seated in a vertical, economy-class seat.
The companys viral Facebook video, which received more than 18 million views when the product was introduced in 2016, demonstrates that FaceCradles comfort positions conform to nearly any kind of seating situation aboard a plane, bus, train or even in a car.
To find out more about the most popular travel pillow on the market today and to order, visit http://www.facecradle.me.
About FaceCradle USA
FaceCradle USA, a subsidiary of the Australian parent company Hairy Turtle Pty Ltd," was founded in 2017 after the success of FaceCradle on Kickstarter in the fall of 2016, when the travel pillow raised $1.135 million ($1,479,231 AUD) to become the most-funded travel accessory in the websites history. The parent company was founded in Melbourne, Australia in 2015 by two of the countrys seasoned Australian Entrepreneurs, David Scrimshaw and Roz Ruwhiu. Scrimshaw, the founder of Australias most innovative company (awarded by Thompson Reuters) and the founder of market-leading Power Tool Brand, Ozito, has designed, developed and marketed more than 30 consumer products globally. Ruwhiu is a Head of TV Production for a leading advertising agency behind several award-winning commercials for some of the most famous brands. The two combined their experiences to create FaceCradle, designed to help all travelers get a good nights sleep. For more information, visit the companys website.
About the International Travel Goods Show
The International Travel Goods Show showcases products from business services, logistics and transportation, sporting goods, toys and games, along with the travel and tourism industries. The 2017 show takes place at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Halls 1-4, from April 5-7. Show hours on Wednesday and Thursday, April 5 and 6, are 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and on Friday, April 7, 8:30 a.m. 5:30 p.m.
Haitian expats get an Easter bonus of 10 international calling minutes to Haiti, and a chance to win a mobile top up on Facebook. 5 stars. Great service: fast, easy. I never had a problem. (Gretchen DeVoe on Trustpilot.com)
SalutHaiti.com, the platform dedicated to Haitians worldwide, launches new opportunities to save on calling bills to Haiti around Easter. Between April 4-6, $2 bonus calling credit is automatically added on every purchase of $15 Voice Credit with coupon code EXTRAMINUT3S. There is also an Easter Facebook contest running on "I <3 Haiti" Facebook page between April 4-11. The giveaway is a free mobile top up (airtime) for a relative or friend in Haiti. The only condition to benefit of any of the two offers is to have an online account on the website, which costs zero: https://saluthaiti.com
The Easter promotion on SalutHaiti.com brings Haitians up to 10 minutes extra to call Haiti, wherever they live. The bonus applies on every purchase of $15 Voice Credit on the website using coupon EXTRAMINUT3S. The campaign lasts between April 4-6, 2017.
One of the great advantages is that the calling credit bonus never expires and can be used whenever necessary in 3 different ways:
using KeepCalling app, which costs nothing to be installed; it helps customer make direct calls.
using access numbers when someone doesn't use a smartphone or no Internet connection is available (no 3G, 4G or WiFi); it is the smartest alternative to calling cards nowadays.
using Web Call desktop app to call any phone in the world from one's laptop or PC; no download is needed, since the desktop app is already installed in one's account on SalutHaiti.com.
The regular rate to call mobiles in Haiti is 24.9 cents/minute, while the rate to call landlines there is 19.9 cents/minute. No hidden fees apply, and free features can be activated to make the international calls feel like local calls. Outside this promotion, loyalty points are added automatically on every Voice Credit purchase. These loyalty points can be later converted into gift calling minutes, that never expire and can be used to call any destination in the world besides Haiti.
The April Facebook contest celebrates the personal feeling people have towards Easter. The challenge is to leave a comment and answer the question "What do you like most about Easter?" All comments between April 4-11, 2017, enter the race for a free mobile credit load for a relative or friend in Haiti via SalutHaiti.com. At present, any prepaid mobile in Haiti subscribed to Digicel, Natcom or Voila, can be recharged online on SalutHaiti.com.
Mobile top ups to Haiti from abroad are very common with Haitians abroad. Many send mobile credit from the USA, Canada, Australia and other parts of the world to their relatives and friends in Haiti via Mobile Recharge service. The service is helpful for several reasons:
It takes few seconds online to send airtime abroad with SalutHaiti.com.
Expats support their relatives since their power of purchase is higher.
Haitians send mobile credit gifts easily this way.
Haitians spare their family members living in villages the hassle of going miles to the store and have their mobile phone loaded.
The website has the lowest processing fee on the global market of international top ups. The load is instant, and there are more benefits besides this one:
24/7 Support is available for anyone looking for some guidance.
The staff is multilingual and friendly, and their answers are prompt; they are among the services with the shortest waiting time.
Payments are 100% secure (the website is labeled with "Verified & Secure").
Several payment methods are accepted: PayPal and all major cards, no matter the currency of the bank account and the country of residence.
There are no hidden fees.
Monthly promotions are hosted on the website, and contests launched on Facebook almost every month: https://www.facebook.com/SalutHaiti/.
This Voice Credit Bonus for Easter and the Facebook contest on I <3 Haiti page, running from April 4 to April 11, are two good ways to save on international calls this April, and win a mobile credit transfer (Mobile Recharge) for someone in Haiti. It costs nothing to open an account on the website and join more promotions for gift calls and top ups to Haiti.
SalutHaiti.com is a mobile-friendly website dedicated to the Haitian diaspora in the USA, Canada, Australia, Asia and Europe. The service is a brand of KeepCalling, a global telecommunications company registered in 2002 in the USA. Presently, KeepCalling provides its services to hundreds of thousands of consumers and businesses, with a focus on customer satisfaction and transparency of service. KeepCalling was listed by Inc 5000 as one of the fastest growing companies in the USA for 5 consecutive years.
North American Title Company Logo Our new Shavano Park branch is within three miles of Interstate 10, The Rim, Fiesta Texas, the UTSA campus, the Valero headquarters and of course, the booming real estate market in northwest San Antonio.
The San Pedro branch of North American Title Co.s San Antonio operation is moving to Shavano Park, 4630 N. Loop 1604 W., at the intersection of Lockhill Selma and Loop 1604.
We are pleased to lease space in this brand new office building, said Ross Frapart, San Pedro branch manager, North American Title Co. Our new Shavano Park branch is within three miles of Interstate 10, The Rim, Fiesta Texas, the UTSA campus, the Valero headquarters and of course, the booming real estate market in northwest San Antonio.
We will be moving into temporary space on the second floor of the building on April 7, with a target date in the early fall to move into our permanent space on the first floor, he added. This move will allow us to better service our valued customers real estate and mortgage professionals, commercial brokers and home buyers and sellers.
The new office is located at 4630 N. Loop W., Suite 206, San Antonio, TX 78249, telephone number (210) 494-0092.
About North American Title
With well over 1,000 associates and a network of branches from coast to coast, North American Title Group, LLC (NATG) is among the largest real estate settlement service providers in the United States. Consisting of both agent and underwriter operations, NATG reported total gross revenues in fiscal 2016 of $360 million. The company also has the resources and stability of a wholly owned subsidiary of an S&P 500 company with over $15.3 billion in assets (fiscal year ending Nov. 30, 2016). North American Titles agency network operates nationally under the name North American Title Co. and similar names (NATC) in 18 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Virginia, in addition to the District of Columbia. Through its relationship with an expanding affiliate network, NATC provides real estate settlement services in all 50 states. NATG is headquartered in Miami, Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.nat.com
State and local security associations are working to establish scholarship programs for the children of first responders.
Mitch Reitman, president of Reitman Consulting Group Inc., and four other professionals will be inducted into the 2017 Security Sales & Integration (SSI) Industry Hall of Fame during an official ceremony set to take place at Sands Convention Center in Las Vegas on April 4, 2017. Deemed one of the industrys most prestigious honors, the SSI Hall of Fame designation denotes integrity, ambition, innovation, humility, selflessness, and exceptional career achievement.
According to SSI, its Hall of Fame calls out those in the security/life-safety industry who have made the most significant contributions to the mission of protecting people and property. Mitch Reitman has been actively involved in local, state and national security trade associations, held leadership roles on boards with ESA, AIREF, Texas Burglar and Fire Alarm Association, and has experienced over two decades of setting a professional business standard within the electronic security industry.
In addition to leading Reitman Consulting Group, Mr. Reitman uses his industry expertise to strengthen and help the broader community.
I am working with state and local security associations to establish scholarship programs for the children of first responders, said Mr. Reitman. I believe this is a great way for the industry to improve its relationship with the first responders, and it is very rewarding.
Other SSI Industry Hall of Fame Class of 2017 are Dan Budinoff, president of Stamford; Maurice Coleman, late founder and executive leader of ADEMCO; John Lombardi, CEO of Fishkill; and Fredrick Nilsson, vice president of the Americas for Axis Communications.
Serving as president of Reitman Consulting Group Inc., Mitch Reitman and his staff provide financial consulting, valuation, general accounting services, transactional services, tax compliance, and tax representation services to security companies in 23 states, Mexico, Canada and the EEC. He has participated in more than $750 million security industry transactions and prepared over 100 alarm company valuations during his career.
About SSI Industry Hall of Fame
Founded in 2004, the SSI Industry Hall of Fame now has 90 members, all of whom represent going above and beyond in professionalism and achievement. The SSI is a print and online publication that serves as the security industrys premier technology and business source of trusted content, reaching over 50,000 professionals a month. The Hall of Fame 2017 information: http://www.securitysales.com/article/ssi_industry_hall_fame_class_2017.
About Reitman Consulting Group
With headquarters in southwest Fort Worth, Texas, Reitman Consulting Group Inc. provides transactional consulting and advisory services for the security and alarm industry. Reitman also assists clients with a variety of needs like accounting and operations assistance, tax compliance and tax representation, including fine tuning financial reporting capabilities and performing valuations for estate planning, divorces and dispute resolution. As well, Reitman supports business and corporate buyers and sellers, including representing security and integration companies in marketing their enterprises and completing transactions.For more information, contact Mitch Reitman at 817.698.9999 or email him: mreitman(at)sicc(dot)us. They are on the web at http://www.reitman.us.
It is a great achievement to once again be included in CRNs annual Tech Elite 250 this year, said Paul Black, CEO of Comm Solutions. The hard work of our technical team continues to enable us to support leading solutions & best in class technologies."
Comm Solutions announced today that CRN, a brand of The Channel Company, has named Comm Solutions 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 Companys 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 designationswhich enable them to deliver premium products, services and customer supportare then selected from a pool of online applicants.
The knowledge and expertise of our technical services team is why many of our clients choose Comm Solutions and that is why we dedicate more than 20% of our engineering resources to training and certifications. It is our goal to guarantee that our technical engineering team is able to architect and implement the best of breed solutions that we endorse, as well as recommend the technology that most suits our clients.
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 changes 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 designationthe CRN Tech Elite 250.
It is a great achievement to once again be included in CRNs annual Tech Elite 250 this year, said Paul Black, CEO of Comm Solutions. Much of our success is due to our professional services team whose real world experience allows us to provide the best solutions and service to our clients. The hard work and training of our technical team continues to enable us to support leading solutions and best in class technologies.
Coverage of the Tech Elite 250 will be featured in the April issue of CRN, and online at http://www.crn.com/techelite250.
About Comm Solutions
Comm Solutions, an Optiv company, is an end-to-end technology solutions provider specializing in the design, development, deployment, and support of enterprise level solutions for security, infrastructure and storage in the corporate, education and healthcare markets. Our goal is to work with our clients to help them identify what is best for their architecture and the needs of their company.
Comm Solutions maintains excellent alliances with Best in Class technology vendors, to see a full list of our partners please visit our website. The highly skilled and certified specialists at Comm Solutions understand how to leverage these technologies to shorten deployment cycles. As advocates for clients, Comm Solutions strategically aligns their clients business and IT objectives to provide the best overall value and ROI on technology deployments. http://www.commsolutions.com
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. http://www.thechannelco.com
Copyright 2017. The Channel Company, LLC. CRN is a registered trademark of The Channel Company, LLC. All rights reserved.
We dont just sell technology to companies, we listen to them, implement solutions to meet their business needs, and work hand-in-hand with them to solve problems.
CoEnterprise, a B2B software and professional services company based in New York City, announced today they have received the Outstanding B2B Business Partner of the Year award from IBM. The honor was presented at IBM InterConnect in Las Vegas, the premier conference for cloud education and skill development.
The award recognizes IBM Business Partners based on several measures of execution including new license revenue attainment, SaaS reseller program participation, new license revenue, and technical certifications.
"We are truly honored to be awarded IBM B2B Partner of the Year two years running," said Michael Rabinowitz, Founder of CoEnterprise. "Everyone at CoEnterprise works very hard in partnership with IBM to bring value to our clients. Its part of our DNA. We dont just sell technology to companies, we listen to them, implement solutions to meet their business needs, and work hand-in-hand with them to solve problems. This award tells us we succeeded and that you value our partnership as much as we value yours. Thank you IBM!
The award was presented to CoEnterprise by Susan Reynolds, Vice President, Partner Ecosystem, Watson Customer Engagement and Adriana Robinson, Vice President, Worldwide Sales, Supply Chain Solutions, IBM Watson Customer Engagement.
CoEnterprise is the only IBM Business Partner to earn points in every category of measurement and the only IBM Watson Supply chain award winner within the Watson Customer Engagement brand.
Founded on the premise of providing exceptional software and services, CoEnterprise focuses on extending the traditional value of B2B solutions. One way they are doing that is with Syncrofy, their groundbreaking B2B solution. Syncrofy extends the IBM B2B product portfolio with self-service tools that enable businesses to work directly with their EDI data.
About CoEnterprise
CoEnterprise is a B2B software and professional services company headquartered in New York, NY. Comprised of three major divisions, CoEnterprise helps companies maximize their business potential and gain a competitive edge. CoEnterprises consulting practice is made up of industry experts who work together with their customers to solve business problems with real solutions, not just by installing software. The Support Services division provides high-touch services to support customers critical business systems. CoEnterprises flagship product Syncrofy is a flexible, B2B solution that enables companies to gain valuable insights into their data, collaborate with partners, and solve problems. For more information, visit http://www.coenterprise.com.
In the coming weeks ROK Technologies (ROK) will unveil its latest IoT and accelerated data solution; ROKs Private Cloud will now be part of Amazon Web Services (AWS) Direct Connect. Working with AWS Direct Connect will allow ROKs enterprise customers to leverage a multi-platform cloud that delivers improved connection reliability and lower latency. In the world of IoT, this means that sensor generated data can be quickly aggregated to output high impact spatial analysis tools.
The launch of this new capability will provide an optimal IoT solution for organizations in both the public and private sectors including the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community who can utilize both the AWS Direct Connect and the Linux applications soon to be available on the on AWS Marketplace.
This solution underscores the seriousness of our continued focus on expanding our Geographic Information Systems (GIS) cloud business and will lead to even more offerings related to the Internet of Things (IoT) and the virtualization of 3D software for cloud based rendering. said Jason Harris CTO at ROK.
As more of our current clients and partners delve into IoT it is our top priority that they and their consumers have the best experience possible. said Alex Coleman, EVP at ROK A direct connect to AWS assures this outcome.
ROK Technologies, LLC, based in Charleston, South Carolina, serves clients in many industries and governments globally. As an Esri Silver business partner and ArcGIS Server Application Service Provider licensee, they are able to leverage the entire ArcGIS platform, including ArcGIS for server hosting, application development, and virtualized desktop software - available from anywhere, on any device. ROK's cutting edge core competencies and secure private cloud infrastructure provide their clients the tools they need integrate their enterprise software with GIS solutions, products and services.
Connect with ROK
http://info.roktech.net/contact-us
Phone: 843.577.3192
Toll-Free: 888.898.3404
Fax: 843.225.1813
The growth of OTT has been more explosive than anyone in the industry expected. OTT now accounts for more than one third of total television viewing across 80 million households.
Are you wondering when the future of television will arrive? By many measures, its already here, as audiences continue their mass migration from linear television to over-the-top (OTT). Here are the facts:
By the end of this year, three-fourths of U.S. households will have an OTT-enabled TV in their living room;
The majority of scripted TV consumption among Millennials already occurs on OTT;
Two million more pay-TV households will cut the cord entirely in 2017, going all in on OTT.
Savvy marketers, agencies, and media companies are focusing on how to win in a new, digital TV age characterized by unprecedented consumer control over the viewing experience and a proliferation of content, channels, and devices. While the OTT revolution comes with challenges for advertisers and media companies alike, it also unlocks opportunities to reach consumers with a level of precision and personalization that far exceeds what was possible with linear TV.
In order to realize the promise of OTT, advertisers must be able to measure, segment, and target audiences across OTT screens. OTT publishers will need the data and tools to build granular audience segments that meet advertiser criteria so that they can maximize yields and compete against other digital media. Many buyers and sellers are scrambling to truly understand the burgeoning OTT ad market, and have been frustrated in their efforts to fully leverage OTTs measurement, targeting, and attribution capabilities.
The 3rd annual INFronts, a panel discussion and networking event that has become the definitive platform for OTT thought leadership, will be held on April 6, 2017 in New York City, aims to address these issues. Hosted by Tru Optik, the only audience measurement and data management platform built for OTT, the INFronts will provide publishers, agencies and marketers the opportunity to network with OTT industry leaders and hear how advancements in OTT audience targeting, measurement and attribution are enabling marketers and media companies to win by combining the power of television with the precision and flexibility of digital. Speakers include:
Robert Aksman, Chief Strategy Officer, and Co-Founder, BrightLine
Jonathan Bokor, SVP, Director of Precision Video, Publicis Media
Jessica Hindlian, TV & Cross Channel Lead, Liveramp
Melissa Kihara, Vice President, Medialink
Bill Livek, Executive Vice Chairman & President, comScore
Michael Scott, Chief Revenue Officer, Tru Optik (moderator)
Jonathan Steuer, Chief Research Officer, Omnicom Media Group
Andre Swanston, CEO and Co-Founder, Tru Optik
Seth Walters, Senior Partner, Connected Television, Modi Media (GroupM)
David Wiesenfeld, Chief Strategist, Tru Optik (moderator)
Ken Zachmann, Senior Vice President & General Manager for Digital Solutions, V12 Data
Andrea Zapata, Vice President, Research, VEVO
The growth of OTT has been more explosive than anyone in the industry expected. OTT now accounts for more than one third of total television viewing across 80 million households. Not bad for an industry that wasnt even around a decade ago, said Andre Swanston, CEO and Co-Founder, Tru Optik. As more content becomes available, including things like live sports, those numbers have nowhere to go up. But with this rapid adoption, we as an industry need to come together and understand new ways in which to reach, measure and monetize these coveted audiences.
The conference is being held on April 6, 2017 in New York City at the Crosby Street Hotel from 6 pm ET to 10 pm ET. For more information, please visit: http://www.infronts.org/.
About Tru Optik:
Tru Optik is a digital media intelligence company providing audience insight and advertising solutions that empower brand marketers and media companies to fully monetize audience and consumer demand. Armed with advanced technology, the largest census-level dataset of global over-the-top (OTT) media consumption, and unmatched focus, Tru Optik has built the only audience measurement and data-management platform that works across the entire OTT ecosystem, including Connected TV. Tru Optik is the preferred partner of many of the worlds largest media companies, brands, and agencies as they navigate the millennial-led shift to OTT.
The Paw Project Therefore, from an ethical viewpoint, the CVMA views this surgery as unacceptable as it offers no advantage to the feline
The Paw Project, a nonprofit veterinarian-led animal advocacy organization, and the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) are working to protect the paws of millions of domestic felines. The CVMA has unveiled a powerful new position statement opposing the unnecessary and painful surgery they are calling "Partial Digital Amputation (PDA)," also known euphemistically as "declawing." The CVMA crafted their document from scientific evidence and facts provided by the Paw Project, the world's largest nonprofit organization dedicated to ending declawing.
Declawing is the amputation of part or all of the last bone in cats' toes. The CVMA position statement now says, "Veterinarians strive to use their scientific knowledge to promote animal health and welfare and relieve animal suffering in keeping with the principles of veterinary medical ethics. With or without concrete scientific evidence, ethical consideration has to be given to the welfare of the animal. Veterinarians need to consider what advantages non-medically driven PDAs offer to the feline. Viable alternatives to PDAs exist. Therefore, from an ethical viewpoint, the CVMA views this surgery as unacceptable as it offers no advantage to the feline and the lack of scientific evidence leaves us unable to predict the likelihood of long-term behavioral and physical negative side effects."
Although not binding to vets, the new statement calls on Canadian vets to educate their clients on the humane alternatives to declawing and dismisses the rationalizations used by the U.S. vets that declawing is sometimes necessary to preserve the human-animal bond. Declawing a cat does not ensure that that animal will keep its home, in fact, the behavior problems caused by the painful surgery often cause cats to lose their homes and declawing a cat is never necessary to protect immunocompromised humans who live with these cats. CVMA joins veterinary medical societies in many other countries including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand in opposing declawing.
Banned in most highly developed nations worldwide, declawing surgery is still commonly performed in the United States. Estimates are that 25% of American cats are declawed in a surgery that can take fewer than 20 minutes to perform and can garner a vet over $1000. Although they adamantly condemn the declawing of wild and exotic cats, the American Veterinary Medical Association, the U.S. equivalent of the CVMA, has not been bold enough to come out against the lucrative surgery of declawing of domestic cats.
'As a member of the CVMA council, I am proud to promote our new position statement opposing partial-digit-amputation (declawing) of cats, Enid Stiles, DVM, Paw Project-Quebec Director said. The CVMA considers this procedure without medical benefit to cats and given its possible and considerable complications, it should be considered unethical. It is evident that felines suffer needlessly when undergoing this surgery as an elective measure. Furthermore, behavioural research and experience has advanced significantly and allows veterinarians guide clients in modifying unwanted scratching behavior without the completion of an partial-digit amputation.
We applaud Canada for taking the lead on this important animal protection issue, said Jennifer Conrad, DVM, who founded The Paw Project. Now its time for Veterinary Medical Societies in the United States to join the rest of the developed world in the 21st Century and oppose this barbaric procedure. Due to The Paw Projects efforts, declawing cats is illegal in eight California cities, including Los Angeles and San Francisco. Anti-declawing legislation is currently active in capitals of four states, New York, New Jersey, West Virginia, and Rhode Island.
Identical and fraternal twins offer an extraordinary combination of scientific significance and human interest, says Dr. Segal.
Exploring over 70 myths commonly held about identical and fraternal twins, Elseviers new book by Dr. Nancy L. Segal separates fact from fiction.
"Twin Mythconceptions: False Beliefs, Fables, and Facts about Twins," covers topics of twin telepathy, intellectual growth, marital relationships and sexual orientation, among other topics, by describing the myth, then providing a detailed debunking explanation. This informative and entertaining book is an invaluable resource for behavioral and life science researchers (particularly those in psychology and genetics), health professionals, twins, parents of twins and anyone interested in this fascinating subject.
Identical and fraternal twins offer an extraordinary combination of scientific significance and human interest, says Dr. Segal. Each pair is a unique take on how we become who we are, explaining why my fascination with twins has only grown stronger over the years.
Dr. Segal has identified the top 10 myths or beliefs about twins, which include:
Identical twins can communicate by extrasensory perception or ESP (False)
There is no scientific evidence that twins exchange thoughts or ideas by reading each others mindsidentical twins social closeness is better explained by studies showing that their common genes underlie their within-pair communication skills.
Older mothers are more likely to conceive fraternal twins than younger mothers (True)
Since releasing two eggs at the same time is not typical, this is possibly a reflection of the aging process.
Identical twins have identical fingerprints (False)
These features, which develop between the 10th and 25th gestational week, are affected by factors such as temperature, intrauterine position and density of amniotic fluid near the fingers.
Your consumption of yams and other dietary choices increase the chances of conceiving fraternal twins (True)
It is thought that the white yam contains fertility-inducing properties that trick the female body into releasing hormones that promote ovulation--this may partly explain the high fraternal twinning rate among the Yoruba of western Nigeria.
Dr. Segal is currently Professor of Psychology at California State University, Fullerton and Director of the Twin Studies Center. She has authored more than 200 scientific articles and book chapters, as well as four highly acclaimed books on twins. Dr. Segal received her bachelors degree in psychology and literature from Boston University, and her masters and doctoral degrees in the social sciences and behavioral sciences from the University of Chicago.
Dr. Segal has received several international awards, including the James Shields Award for Lifetime Contributions to Twin Research (International Society for Twin Studies) and the International Making a Difference Award (Multiple Births Canada). She is also the 2016 recipient of the prestigious Wang Family Excellence Award from California State University.
Read Dr. Segals recent article on rare twins born to parents of different ethnicity: http://scitechconnect.elsevier.com/rare-twins-born-to-parents-of-different-ethnicity/
In order to meet content needs in psychology, Elsevier uses proprietary tools to identify the gaps in coverage of the topics. Editorial teams strategically fill those gaps with content written by key influencers in the field, giving students, faculty and researchers the content they need to answer challenging questions and improve outcomes. These new books, which will educate the next generation of psychologists, and provide critical foundational content for information professionals, are key examples of how Elsevier is enabling science to drive innovation.
About Elsevier
Elsevier is a global information analytics company that helps institutions and professionals progress science, advance healthcare and improve performance for the benefit of humanity. Elsevier provides digital solutions and tools in the areas of strategic research management, R&D performance, clinical decision support, and professional education; including ScienceDirect, Scopus, ClinicalKey and Sherpath. Elsevier publishes over 2,500 digitized journals, including The Lancet and Cell, more than 35,000 e-book titles, and many iconic reference works, including Grays Anatomy. Elsevier is part of RELX Group, a world-leading provider of information and analytics to professionals and business customers, in a wide range of industries. http://www.elsevier.com
From left: Brian Roy, Julie Noto, and Art Murray, CMR's Managing Partners We're excited to foster that continued growth and help our current and future clients to deliver exceptional event experiences.
Convention Management Resources, Inc. (CMR), a conference registration and housing services company, has been acquired through a private sale finalized in February 2017. The new owners and managing partners are Brian Roy, who joined CMR in 1998 as Vice President and part owner, Julie Noto, CMRs Vice President of Client Services since 2007, and Art Murray, a longtime lead retrieval services partner of CMRs and owner of Expo Data Capture, Inc.
In support of the legacy created by co-founders Steve Olsen and Dave Goetz, who owned and managed CMR for 26 years, the company will continue to deliver the exceptional customer service for which it has become known. Partly due to its customer-first approach to business, 21 of CMRs current clients have been working with the company for ten or more years.
With such reputable clients as the American Diabetes Association, American College of Rheumatology, and the American Academy of Neurology, all of which hold large annual events with more than 10,000 attendees, CMR is a leader in the event registration and housing management industry. Its new managing partners, however, plan to take CMR to the next level by further investing in technology and process improvements to support continued growth.
Its an exciting time for the meetings industry, according to Art Murray, where once people were afraid that technology would eradicate face-to-face interactions, were now seeing how technology can support live events and make them better than ever before. CMR started as a housing services provider long before hotel booking websites emerged, and became a technology company as the industry evolved.
Brian Roy alluded to further change on the horizon, saying, CMR has always expanded its offering in response to the needs of our clients. Were excited to foster that continued growth and help our current and future clients to deliver exceptional event experiences. Julie Noto added, By providing a full-service solution, were able to give our clients, many of which are national non-profit associations, the support that they and their conference attendees deserve. Were very proud to play a small part in the continuing education of the doctors, teachers, researchers, and other professionals around the world that attend the meetings we manage and go on to do great things.
CMR, which employs 68 full-time and 2 part-time staff members, will continue to operate out of its San Francisco headquarters and Reno, Nevada Customer Contact Center.
About Convention Management Resources (CMR)
A private California corporation founded in 1991 and headquartered in San Francisco, CMR is a full service provider of housing, registration, and marketing services for citywide meetings, conventions, and expositions. Recognized as a leader in delivering innovative technology, creative solutions, and unparalleled customer service, CMR continues to meet the changing needs of its clients and the convention / tradeshow industry year after year. For more information, visit http://www.cmrus.com.
To have these major art shows intersect over the same week in Los Angeles is extremely exciting, said Chris Davies, Director of Fabrik Media. With so many options, there will be a show for every type of art patron.
Fabrik Media announces the launch of Spring Art Week Los Angeles. The week of April 18-23, 2017, art enthusiasts will have reason to head to downtown Los Angeles as three major art shows intersect at The Reef: Photo Independent Fair, The Los Angeles Festival of Photography, and EXPO Contemporary Fair. There will be an Opening Night event for all three on Friday, April 21, 6-10pm.
To have these major art shows intersect over the same week in Los Angeles is extremely exciting, said Chris Davies, Director of Fabrik Media. With so many options, there will be a show for every type of art patron.
Returning with its fourth edition, Photo Independent is becoming one of the most significant annual international photographic events in the United States. The three-day event, April 21-23, is produced by Fabrik Media with the mission of establishing a respected platform for high caliber independent, under-represented photographic artists who do not have an opportunity to participate in gallery-based art fairs or present their works to a global audience.
A highlight of this years Photo Independent is a solo exhibition by internationally-renowned, South Africa-based photographer Roger Ballen, one of the most important photographers of the 21st century. It will feature works from throughout his four decades long career as well as from his new series, The Theatre of Apparitions. J. Paul Getty Museum Associate Curator Paul Martineau will review all photographers and their booths at Photo Independent, and honor one artist as Best of Show 2017. The winner will be awarded a solo exhibition in the 2018 fair.
The Los Angeles Festival of Photography is a weeklong festival beginning April 18, that aims to encourage and celebrate the photographic image and those who devote their work to creating and advancing the medium. Through lectures, workshops, exhibitions, gallery tours, and networking events, the international festival will gather leading figures in the industry to discuss the current and future state of photography.
Featured events this year include Keynotes from curator and writer Charlotte Cotton, and Roger Ballen who will also lead a three-day workshop on Fine Art Photography. Other workshops include ones with award-winning photographers Susan Burnstine, Karin Apollonia Muller, and Julia Dean. The Festival will also be conducting several Mobile Photography Workshops including David Ingraham: The iPhone Darkroom; Bob Weil: Creating Conceptual Art on Mobile Devices; and Nicki Fitz-Gerald: Life in Layers Creative iPhone Artistry.
As the sister show to Photo Independent, EXPO Contemporary is an annual exhibition established to expand the art fair experience and expose audiences to a wider range of artists, media, and practices that represent the cultural, esthetic, and, conceptual diversity of contemporary art and design in the 21st century, and to function as a medium of exchange.
EXPO Contemporary welcomes a broad range of traditional and non-traditional media and materials showcasing transformative projects from painters, printmakers, book and graphic artists, sculptors, assemblage and mixed media artists, muralists, installation artists, and high concept designers. The fair will also explore alternative contexts including public art, experimental architecture, and environmental, social, and collaborative projects.
All events will take place at The Reef (http://www.the-reef.com/) in DTLA, located at 1933 S. Broadway, Los Angeles, CA, 90007.
About the Fairs
More information on each fair can and links to purchase weekend and day passes and Opening Night tickets can be found at its respective website:
Photo Independent: http://www.photoindependent.com
The Los Angeles Festival of Photography: http://www.laphotofestival.com
EXPO Contemporary: http://www.fabrikexpo.com
For additional press materials including a separate news release for each fair as well as related images, access this Dropbox: http://bit.ly/fabrikpress
About Fabrik Media
The Fabrik Media platform is a multi-faceted enterprise presenting an insightful perspective on the international contemporary art scene from a Los Angeles point of view. Among our array of publications is Fabrik, the quarterly print magazine, as well as a select catalogue of distinctive limited edition art books. Fabrik also produces an array of high profile curated independent art fairs cutting edge showcases for the visual arts. http://thisisfabrik.com/
With Earth Day around the corner, MaintenX International is encouraging businesses to make energy efficiency and sustainability a priority. As a market leader in total facility maintenance and repair, MaintenX is constantly reviewing and evaluating alternative, sustainable maintenance solutions and eco-friendly management practices.
MaintenX strives to make sustainability more than a buzzword. We are always looking for ways to actively implement new and improved levels of efficiency for our clients, said Bill Schaphorst, Vice President of Business Development for MaintenX. Earth Day serves as a great reminder that making energy-efficient improvements is not only good for the environment, but it can also be good for the bottom line.
Here are a few ways business owners and facilities managers can go green this Earth Day:
1. Replace Your Air Filters Regularly
Get in the habit of changing the companys air filters every month (or as recommended by the systems manufacturer). A dirty air filter clogged with debris and dust makes the system work harder and less efficiently. This not only increases the utility bill, but pollutes the environment with dangerous containments.
2. Install Energy Efficient Lamps and Fixtures
By replacing incandescent light fixtures with Light Emitting Diode (LED) or Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFL) bulbs, the company will use less energy. Not to mention, these bulbs have a significantly longer lamp life and will produce less heat.
3. Go Low-Flow and Hands-Free
Upgrading a companys plumbing fixtures is a great way to conserve water use. Install low-flow flush fixtures and sensor operated features in restrooms. These efficient fixtures will reduce water, sewer, and energy usage for the conscientious consumer.
4. Invest in Intelligent Lights
Intelligent lighting control systems and occupancy sensors are a great way to go green. Many systems allow you to dim the lights as daylight increases and adjust lighting patterns for overnight settings, when the business has the lowest amount of occupancy. All of these features will reduce the companys carbon footprint and lower greenhouse gas emissions.
For more information about MaintenX, visit http://www.maintenx.com.
ABOUT MAINTENX INTERNATIONAL:
MaintenX International is a fully licensed, general contracting company. As one of the largest national facility maintenance and repair companies in the U.S., MaintenX has created a wide network of knowledgeable and professional technicians throughout the country. With their own team of well-trained technicians, MaintenX self-performs and manages facility maintenance for their clients. For more than 30 years, MaintenX has been expertly serving multi-location retail stores, restaurant chains and Fortune 500 companies nationwide.
Taylor-Made Attends VRMA Eastern Conference Our team loves the opportunity for professional development and networking.
Taylor-Made Deep Creek Vacations & Sales, a leading vacation rental and real estate firm located in McHenry, MD, recently attended the Eastern Regional Conference in Savannah, GA for the Vacation Rental Management Association (VRMA).
Taylor-Made owner, Jodi Refosco, is secretary of the VRMA board and presented two sessions to a packed house. Covering topics geared towards company owners, Refosco educated peers on strategies to grow rental home inventory and marketing from an owners perspective.
Joe Refosco, Taylor-Made owner, is President of Vacation Rental Housekeeping Professionals. He was involved with two presentations that focused on housekeeping best practices and staff training methods.
Taylor-Made employees, representing various departments, also attended the conference and were present for sessions on topics that included customer service, marketing trends, housekeeping logistics and teambuilding techniques.
I have a strong commitment to sharing the knowledge that I have gained over the twenty years I have been in this industry, Jodi stated. Presenting at industry events is a natural fit for me, and our team loves the opportunity for professional development and networking.
In May, representatives from the Taylor-Made management team will travel to the VRMA Western Regional Conference in Anaheim, CA. Chris Rodeheaver, Reservations and Customer Service Manager, will lead a session that teaches communication skills to improve the guest experience. During their time in California, they will also attend a course at the Disney Institute.
Taylor-Made is family owned and operated by Jodi Taylor Refosco, her husband, Joe Refosco, and her brother Chad Taylor. Betsy Spiker Holcomb and Jay Ferguson are co-owners of the real estate company that was started in 2014.
With over 360 homes, Taylor-Made is the largest vacation rental management company in the Deep Creek Lake area. Maintaining active roles in both VRMA and the Vacation Rental Housekeeping Professionals association keeps them at the forefront of developments in the industry.
About Taylor-Made Deep Creek Vacations & Sales
Taylor-Made Deep Creek Vacations & Sales has become a frontrunner in Deep Creek Lake vacation rentals, real estate, and property services. Taylor-Made rental homes and sales listings are conveniently located within a few hours drive from Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Washington, DC.
Brian Wagner AMERIPEN represents so much of what I am about...passionate about packaging, sustainability, innovation, and making a significant difference for individuals and organizations. I look forward to this great opportunity.htt
Effectively immediately, Brian Wagner is joining the American Institute for Packaging and the Environment (AMERIPEN) as a Senior Director. His responsibilities will include the development of future-focused programs as well as member development and retention.
According to Brian, "AMERIPEN represents so much of what I am about...passionate about packaging, sustainability, innovation, and making a significant difference for individuals and organizations. I look forward to this great opportunity." Jeff Wooster, President of AMERIPEN, added that, "Brian brings to AMERIPEN an incredible knowledge of the packaging industry as well as a vision for how packaging can contribute to a better society and healthier planet. We are excited to have him joining our team."
Brians 30-year professional career as an entrepreneurial business and technical leader spanned Packaging Technology Integrated Solutions (co-founder of PTIS), Kellogg's, Sara Lee, Multiform Desiccants, Carton-Craft Corp., Burger King and General Foods. Havi Global Solutions acquired PTIS in 2011, and Wagner worked as Vice President, Consulting Services until mid 2016. Over 16 years, PTIS helped over 250 organizations globally to achieve better results by developing future focused growth and productivity initiatives, as well as consumer and market insight, design, brand innovation, sustainability and organizational strategy.
In 2008, Brian was inducted into the Michigan State University School of Packaging Hall of Fame and was recognized as 2008 Western Michigan Business Review Thought Leaders. In 2016, Wagner received the Reister-Davis-Brody Lifetime Achievement in Food Packaging.
About AMERIPEN
AMERIPEN advocates for packaging policy advancement in North America and focuses on measures that are environmentally and economically sound, as well as socially responsible. The organization, with a science-based, material-neutral approach, encourages informed decision-making on packaging and the environment by policy makers and thought leaders. AMERIPEN welcomes companies that support the philosophy of a collaborative trade and industry organization, active and cooperative issue resolution, and material and packaging system neutrality. More information is available at http://www.AMERIPEN.org.
House Industries: A Type of Learning opens May 27 at The Henry Ford The House Industries artists exemplify the kind of thinking and collaborative way of working that mirrors the process of those innovators we showcase every day at The Henry Ford,
House Industries and The Henry Ford are partnering to create a multi-sensory exhibition that will inform, teach and, most importantly, empower people from all walks of life to follow their interests and find personal fulfillment in their own creative pursuits. The exhibit will be embedded with an infectious sense of possibilitythat everyday objects can fuel monumental ideas and ordinary people can do extraordinary things.
House Industries: A Type of Learning will open in the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation on May 27 and run through September 4, 2017. This engaging exhibit will show how a love for drawing letters combined with childhood interests became a gateway for House Industries to explore everything from fonts and fashion to ceramics and space travel. Items from the museums collection along with other artifacts including hot rodder Ed Big Daddy Roths futuristic Mysterion show car, revolutionary furniture designs by Charles and Ray Eames, and an original Apple 1 computer will be paired with House Industries diverse body of work to demonstrate how different objects and experiences can inspire new ideas and creations.
The House Industries artists exemplify the kind of thinking and collaborative way of working that mirrors the process of those innovators we showcase every day at The Henry Ford, said Patricia Mooradian, president of The Henry Ford. We are thrilled to be partnering with House Industries to create this unprecedented exhibition and showcase the breadth and depth of these innovative designers to our visitors.
Known throughout the world for its eclectic fonts and far-reaching creative exploits, House Industries has been a standard-bearer for American design for 25 years. While visitors to The Henry Ford might not recognize the name, chances are they have seen House fonts on movie posters, magazine covers, websites or even cereal boxes. House Industries has worked with a wide range of collaborators including Jimmy Kimmel, Hermes, The New Yorker, John Mayer, Muji, the Estate of Charles and Ray Eames, Uniqlo and Heath Ceramics.
We built our lives around learning from what we like and applying those lessons to what we do, said House Industries co-founder Andy Cruz. We want to inspire visitors to do the same.
The exhibition will also feature a lecture series; and ongoing demonstrations in lettering, drawing, printing, music, computer programming. A Type of Learning will coincide with the release of House Industries new book, The Process is the Inspiration (Watson-Guptill/Penguin Random House), which will be available from booksellers throughout the world on May 30, 2017. The Henry Fords Emmy-award winning CBS show The Henry Fords Innovation Nation will also feature House Industries in an episode to air in April. For more information, visit http://www.thehenryford.org
About The Henry Ford
The Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan is an internationally-recognized history destination that explores the American experience of innovation, resourcefulness and ingenuity that helped shaped America. A national historic landmark with an unparalleled Archive of American Innovation, The Henry Ford is a force for sparking curiosity and inspiring tomorrows innovators. Nearly 1.8 million visitors annually experience its five attractions: Henry Ford Museum of American innovation, Greenfield Village, Ford Rouge Factory Tour, Benson Ford Research Center and The Henry Ford Giant Screen Experience. A continually expanding array of content available online provides anytime, anywhere access. The Henry Ford is also home to Henry Ford Academy, public charter high school which educates over 500 students a year on the institutions campus. In 2014, The Henry Ford premiered its first-ever national television series, The Henry Fords Innovation Nation showcasing present-day change-makers and The Henry Fords artifacts and unique visitor experiences. Hosted by news correspondent and humorist, Mo Rocca, this Emmy-winning weekly half-hour show airs Saturday mornings on CBS. For more information, please visit our website thehenryford.org
"A lot of teams might say diversity matters, but at Tyrannosaurus Tech it is the cornerstone."
Tyrannosaurus Tech Doubles Down on Diversity
After merging last fall with fellow software development consultancy, Night Sprout, Atlanta-based Tyrannosaurus Tech has emerged as a leader for diversity in the Atlanta tech community.
The agency led by founders Jason Bishop, Carlos Gonzalez and Richard Simms is comprised of a wealth of startup veterans, engineers and developers who are expertly positioned to create high caliber software, websites and apps.
Nightsprouts decision to join with Tyrannosaurus Tech came at a time of tremendous growth where, neither of our individual companies could keep up with the demand. Its was a great problem to have, according to co-founder Jason Bishop.
Richard and I have known each other for years and it just made sense for us to combine our resources, effectively doubling software development capacity, as well as cementing our rising position in the community, said Bishop, who oversaw the merger.
In addition to his role as Master Handshaker at Tyrannosaurus Tech, Richard Simms is a founding partner in the booming code school, Tech Talent South, which was the first of its kind in Atlanta. The immersive bootcamp teaches adults looking to transition into tech careers a variety of critical skills, including: web programming, Ruby on Rails, HTML/CSS, Javascript and marketing.
At the helm of one of their most visible and impressive community-involved efforts, the monthly Latino/a Developers Meetup, is co-founder Carlos Gonzalez. The endeavor is a personal plight for Carlos, who is an Atlanta transplant and native of Puerto Rico. It is Atlantas only technology-focused group for Hispanics and has seen its membership grow steadily since the groups inception in August 2016.
Rounding out the engineering team is your quintessential computer whiz kid and self-described, programming gearhead, Daniel Powell. The University of Georgia graduate, raised his profile at prominent Atlanta startup, Fullscreen, where he cut his teeth on data warehousing, analytics and social networking software.
Collectively, the team has a tremendously impressive portfolio with top-tier organizations, ranging from non-profits, like The Task Force for Global Health, to recognizable brands like Porsche AG or Ticket Alternative.
Tyrannosaurus Tech represents the very best of the Atlanta tech scene, simultaneously becoming an engine for job creation while remaining steadfast in their commitment for inclusivity. A lot of teams might say diversity matters, but at Tyrannosaurus Tech it is the cornerstone.
Dwayne Clark Aegis Living CEO "Employers really need to think outside the box about the needs and motivation that employees crave." - Dwayne Clark Aegis Living CEO
Redmond-based Aegis Living, a leader in the assisted-living industry, has found a unique way to thank its workers across the Western United States. Aegis Living will give away several all-expenses-paid trips to lucky long-term employees. Aegis Living CEO and founder Dwayne Clark wants to show employees that loyalty and commitment are valued. The longer an employee has been employed at Aegis Living, the more chance he or she has to win.
Last year, several lucky Aegis Living employees won trips to Disneyland, Maui and London. This year, eight employees will win an all-expenses-paid trip to locations that are held secretly until the giveaway. Some vacations are for couples, some for families. The locations and the winners will be announced in a live stream event at 2pm on Wednesday, April 5th from Aegis of Queen Anne at Rodgers Park in Seattle, Washington.
Dwayne Clark says, Companies really need to think outside the box about the needs and motivation that employees crave. This kind of employee benefit not only serves as a unique and innovative employee perk, but it gives families a chance at a dream vacation that some might not be able to otherwise afford. He added, Were honored that unique job perks like this are one reason why Glassdoor, the nations online employee review site named Aegis Living one of 2017s Top 50 Best Places to Work (out of 600,000 businesses nationwide). Aegis Living employees must be employed with the company for a minimum of three full years as of March 31st, 2017 to be eligible. The longer employees have been employed, the more chances they have to win.
Aegis Living CEO Dwayne Clark and President Judy Meleliat will host the event. Meleliat says, Aegis Living is committed to building employee satisfaction that is unique in the senior housing industry. But its really our precious residents who reap the benefits. We truly love our residents but our employees are what make us Aegis. The Dream Big Lottery is just another reinforcement of that commitment.
Aegis Living is an employee first company. At Aegis Living, we truly believe that each employee is the cornerstone to not only our current success, but also to our future success as a company. We have created a unique company culture that strives to appreciate and support our employees in their career ambitions and in their lives.
About Aegis Living
Aegis Living is a national leader in retirement, assisted living and Alzheimers care providing the finest in senior lifestyle emphasizing health, quality of life, well-being and community. Aegis Living is guided by our value proposition: We treat our residents as if they were our own family members. Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Redmond, Washington, privately held Aegis Living operates 28 communities in Washington, California and Nevada with 7 in development. Aegis Living is grateful to be honored during our 20-year history with awards that include: Best Place to Work by KING 5s Evening Magazine, by Puget Sound Business Journal and by Seattle Business Magazine to name a few. Follow us on Twitter @aegisliving and Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/AegisLiving.
Continuing its role as champion for individuals diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), LaSalle University will host on May 5, 2017 its ninth consecutive Annual Autism Conference: Transitioning Toward and Through Adulthood.
The one-day event held in the Union Building on LaSalles campus from 8:00 am until 3:00 pm features ten workshop and panel sessions presented by the foremost practitioners from the regional autism community. Nationally-known disability advocate Kerry Magro will deliver the keynote presentation. Dr. James Connell, PhD., renowned ASD researcher and clinician, will deliver opening remarks.
Once more, LaSalle University will be providing an excellent forum for caregivers, educators, and self-advocates to interact with autisms leading voices, stated Dr. Eric Mitchell, PhD., Conference Co-Chair and Director of the Ruttenberg Autism Center. By sharing best practices and advances in therapies, autism professionals can help those on the spectrum and their supports to better navigate school, work, and relationships and realize an optimum quality of life.
According to the Pennsylvania Autism Census (2014), the proportion of ASD adolescents in Pennsylvania transitioning to adulthood is projected to reach nearly 21% within the next three years, up from 7% in 2005. Dr. Carole Patrylo, Associate Director of LaSalle Universitys Autism Program and Conference Co-Chair, states that this increasing percentage underscores the need for the region to be one with the autism community.
It is more critical than ever for the social, medical, and educational worlds to be bridged if we want to have our greatest impact in assisting people with autism lead productive lives, stated Dr. Patrylo. LaSalles Annual Autism Conference has become an increasingly important vehicle for interconnecting these worlds, promoting vital information exchange, and strengthening bonds within the autism community.
Three-hundred and fifty attendees are expected at this years conference. Workshop titles include A Full Life: Supports to Promote Independence and Community Integration; Understanding and Facilitating Learning from the Preschool Years and Beyond; and SAP: Autism at Work.
Continuing education credits (ACT 48) will be awarded for professionals who complete conference requirements. Registration cost is $75, with limited scholarships available for self-advocates and parents/guardians who cannot afford the fee.
Quest for the Best Foundation (https://qftbfoundation.org/) provided major funding as the Presenting Contributor for LaSalles 2017 Annual Autism Conference. Ruttenberg Autism Center, Foundations Behavioral Health, and Independence Blue Cross are Contributing Sponsors.
Registration and workshop details as well as information on how to secure sponsorship opportunities can be found at http://www.lasalle.edu/autism-conference.
About LaSalle Universitys Annual Autism Conference
The Annual Autism Conference presented by LaSalle University is the areas longest-running educational event focused on advancing the lives of individuals diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Each year, it addresses themes related to the critical area of transitions, and attracts the most respected practitioners and presenters from the regional autism community. Prior conferences have featured famous self-advocate Dr. Temple Grandin as keynote speaker, and U.S. Senator Arlen Specter as Honorary Chairperson. Visit http://lasalle.edu/autism-conference.
The American Knife & Tool Institute ((http://www.AKTI.org) last week announced Governor Hickenloopers, D-CO, signature on one of the organizations top 2017 initiatives: legislation to repeal Colorados prohibition of automatic and gravity knives. The repeal will go into effect on August 9, 2017, and will remove gravity and automatic knives (referred to in the legislation as switchblade) from the definition of illegal weapons under the Colorado Revised Statues.
The bills sponsors, Sen. Owen Hill, R-10, and Rep. Steve Lebsock, D-34, contacted AKTI last year for assistance with drafting the legislation and securing its passage. Working together, and aided by long-time AKTI supporter and Colorado resident John Bloodgood, they were able to smoothly shepherd the legislation through the House and Senate with overwhelming support.
Colorado continues to show that we are pioneers and westerners, and we will give people every tool available to keep exploring and working, said Senator Hill. It has been a pleasure working with Rep. Lebsock and the American Knife and Tool Institute to repeal Colorados automatic knife prohibition.
AKTI is a non-profit 501(c)6 organization that represents all segments of the knife industry and knife users, promoting reasonable and responsible knife legislation and enforcement. We believe that law-abiding citizens should be able to carry their essential and valuable tools without the fear of arbitrary, inconsistent and ineffective government restrictions.
We were extremely pleased to work to update Colorados knife laws to reflect the modern needs of tradesmen, outdoorsmen, veterans, and westerners, said AKTIs Executive Director, Jan Billeb. Were thrilled to see SB 008 signed into law, and thank Senator Hill and Representative Lebsock for their leadership on the issue, and our member John Bloodgood for his excellent testimony in support of the legislation.
The American Knife & Tool Institute appreciates all of the other organizations and individuals who added their support for the passage of SB-008 to remove gravity and automatic knives (referred to in the legislation as switchblade) from the definition of illegal weapons under the Colorado Revised Statutes.
I very much appreciate Senator Hill and Representative Lebsock sponsoring this bill, and AKTIs support in getting it over the finish line, said John Bloodgood, an AKTI member who testified in support of the bill. I am in awe of the wide bipartisan support for this initiative in the legislature. No longer will separating or retiring military members need to fear becoming criminals for retaining knives we could legally possess while on active duty. Now I can legally carry my automatic knives, which comes in handy when back in the mountains of Colorado, responding to emergencies, and in other situations where only one hand may be available for opening a knife.
The American Knife & Tool Institute is the reliable, accurate source for knife law information at http://www.AKTI.org.
More About AKTI
The American Knife & Tool Institute (AKTI) is a non-profit organization (501(c)6) representing all segments of the knife industry and all knife users. Formed in true grassroots fashion by concerned industry leaders after considerable discussion with individual knifemakers, knife magazine publishers, and a broad section of the knife community, AKTI has been the reasonable and responsible voice of the knife community since 1998. AKTIs mission is to ensure that Americans will always be able to make, buy, sell, own, carry and use knives and edged tools. To learn more, please visit http://www.akti.org.
Contoural, the largest independent provider of Information Governance consulting services, announced that it is partnering with the Masters Conference as a presenting sponsor and will be leading Information Governance events for legal professionals across the United States.
The Masters Conference, a global legal conference which brings together leading experts and professionals from law firms, corporations, and the bench to develop strategies, practices, and resources for managing the information life cycle, has served the legal community for over 10 years and has hosted over 3,000 experts in multiple countries around the latest trends in technology within the legal community.
As a trusted advisor to more than 30% of the Fortune 500 plus mid-sized and small companies, Contoural will be leading the Information Governance segment of the Masters Conference and will be speaking on a range of topics including newer and smarter approaches to Records Retention Policy and Schedule Development that serve as a cornerstone of an effective information governance program.
We are excited to partner with Contoural, said Masters Conference CEO Robert Childress. They are the industrys leading Information Governance experts and a credible source of information. Contoural CEO Mark Diamond added about the partnership: The Masters Conference is an excellent organization that provides legal counsel with learning opportunities, he said. Our goal is to provide in-house practitioners with good, practical and useful information. We strive to make Information Governance as easy to understand and implement as possible.
Contoural will be at Masters Conference events across the country including: San Francisco (April 25th), Chicago (May 23rd), Denver (June 20th), New York (July 25th), Washington DC (October 12th), and Orlando (November 14th).
For more information or to sign up, visit: http://www.themastersconference.com
About Contoural
Contoural is the largest independent provider of Information Governance Services focused on Records and Information Management, Litigation and Regulatory Inquiry Readiness and Control of Sensitive Information. Contoural does not sell any products nor take referral fees, store any documents or provide any lawsuit-specific reactive eDiscovery services. In this capacity Contoural is a trusted advisor to clients providing unbiased advice. Contoural has served more than 30% of the Fortune 500 as clients, including those in the Global 50, Mid-sized Organizations and large Federal Agencies.
About The Masters Conference
The Masters Conference is an educational forum where a select group of speakers, vendors, and attendees convene to engage in a proactive collaboration on current challenges in the legal space. As a global legal conference, Masters Conference takes the lead to differentiate itself while consistently raising the bar. As an industry leader, Masters Conference is building its image of mastery in our field through different promotional events, conferences, membership and publications which offer innovative ideas, cutting-edge topics, and relevant solutions.
Content Panda Analytics provides a new interface to track and manage SharePoint user adoption. Content Panda believes in delivering meaningful online experiences by providing maximum flexibility for how and when users need help content to improve the SharePoint user experience.
Content Panda, the online user experience expert, today announced the general availability of Content Panda Analytics, its newest end user monitoring feature available in Content Panda for SharePoint, providing a single dashboard displaying vital usage statistics to help companies improve SharePoint adoption.
Content Panda believes in delivering meaningful online experiences by providing maximum flexibility for how and when users need help content to improve the SharePoint user experience, said Heather Newman, Co-Founder, Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Evangelist, Content Panda. However, successful SharePoint deployments need more than just a vision and a strategy. Content Panda Analytics takes SharePoint deployments one step further by giving companies the information necessary to measure, refine, and iterate their rollouts to maximize the platforms business value.
Understand How Users Consume SharePoint with Content Panda
Content Panda Analytics tracks user activity and provides reports that compare organizations data with other companies using SharePoint so they can discover ways to reach their adoption and support goals. Organizations will also receive personalized recommendations based on their statistics. Insights provided out-of-the-box include vital metrics on SharePoint and Content Panda usage.
Usage statistics:
SharePoint Adoption: Percentage of Content Panda users actively visiting the SharePoint environment versus those who are licensed to visit. The closer the percentage is to 100 percent, the smaller the gap in licensing costs.
SharePoint Usage: Number of times the average user loads a SharePoint page per month, helping administrators understand how active users are on SharePoint.
SharePoint Coverage: Unique pages the average SharePoint user visits per month, giving an accurate picture of how often SharePoint sites are being used.
Content help statistics:
Custom Help Topics: Help topics created specifically for Content Panda users, furthering understanding as to which aspects of the deployment require the most attention from administrators.
Support Activity: Number of help items the average user loads from Content Panda per month, pinpointing exactly which aspects of SharePoint require further education.
Support Coverage: Percentage of users requesting help as compared to the entire user population, enabling SharePoint administrators to accurately scope the extent to which further training is necessary.
Help Topic Popularity: Graphical representation of the Content Panda training topics accessed by users including Social, Administration, Content Management, Collaboration, and Custom Company Content providing a snapshot into the areas users need help most.
Content Panda at SPTechCon Austin
Content Pandas SharePoint subject matter experts will be on-site showing Content Panda Analytics at SPTechCon: The SharePoint Technology Conference, taking place from April 2-5, 2017 in Austin, Texas.
Heather Newman will present two brand-new sessions and participate in a lightning round SharePoint feature showcase. To learn more, visit Content Pandas event website.
4pm CST Monday, April 3: Without Change, There Would Be No Butterflies 4 Steps to Business Transformation: Clearly understand the pitfalls to avoid and proven tips to jumpstart business transformation and how to implement with your change management initiative for your Office 365 and SharePoint platforms.
1pm CST Tuesday, April 4: One Card at a Time: Leverage Office 365 Planner to Plan Your SharePoint End User Adoption Campaign: Learn how to use the tool for your teams, tips on how to best organize a large, multi-leveled campaign and a template that she will share post-session.
About Content Panda
Founded in 2011 and headquartered in California, Content Panda is a high-tech business dedicated to creating products that deliver a superior user experience that drive value to businesses. The Content Panda family of products delivers in-context help, training and support content in the user interface right where and when you need it. To learn more, visit http://www.contentpanda.com.
Content Panda Media Contact
Heather Newman Co-Founder, Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Evangelist
Content Panda
Email: heather.newman(at)contentpanda(dot)com
Tel: 206-234-4337
All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their registered owners.
Solar Power International (SPI), North Americas largest solar trade show, held this year during North American Smart Energy Week September 10-13 at Mandalay Bay Convention Center, Las Vegas Nevada, just announced its expanded footprint will include the entire smart building and microgrid ecosystems in its Smart Energy Microgrid Marketplace. They have selected EMerge Alliance, a non-profit open standards group, to technically facilitate this portion of the show floor. The Marketplace will feature a fully-functioning live microgrid and related product and services exhibits, including energy management systems, automation products, electric vehicle charging, energy storage providers, solar panel manufacturers and more ultimately making the connection between solar power and smart energy products.
Applications for building and campus level hybrid ac/dc microgrids include residential, commercial, industrial, warehouse, retail, military, remote, and critical mission power systems. The Smart Energy Microgrid will be comprised of local (site based) renewable power sources combined on a direct current bus, a grid tie-in of utility power at line voltage, stored energy support, and both ac and dc outputs. Major features demonstrated will include the combining of multiple power source inputs without the need to synchronize; grid only, grid tied and islanded modes; extremely high efficiency throughput resulting from a reduced number of ac/dc and dc/ac conversions; high quality power distribution due to isolation from external line harmonics, voltage and frequency disturbances and blackouts; and instantaneous black-start capability with seamless ride-through in the islanded mode. Operating modes will include utility grid only; site based Distributed Energy Resources (DER) + utility grid; DER + storage + utility grid; and islanded DER and storage.
We had tremendous success with our first live microgrid at SPI 2016, says Stephen Miner, President of the SPI show management company, Smart Energy Trade Shows (SETS). The inaugural Smart Energy Microgrid Marketplace featured an outdoor pavilion, fully powered by a similar microgrid during the four-day event. So, we are excited to announce that we have selected EMerge again this year as the facilitator to make the SPI 2017 Smart Energy Microgrid Marketplace even bigger and better on the show floor at Mandalay Bay!
EMerge President, Brian Patterson explained, a variety of exhibitor supplied products including on-site solar arrays and other renewable energy sources will generate power for the Smart Energy Microgrid Marketplace exhibitors. On-site energy production will also be stored in a variety of exhibitor supplied storage technologies. In addition, utility power from the grid will be interconnected with the on-site microgrid. The intention is to paint a full picture of the smart energy ecosystem, and provide attendees a live demonstration of a real smart energy microgrid in use.
Planning is already underway for this years live microgrid demonstration, which will include an education theater as an informational focal point of the Marketplace. The microgrid will be surrounded by smart energy-focused exhibitors of related equipment, software and services. Exhibit space is still available for organizations providing products and services to this rapidly expanding smart energy industry segment. Other expanded features of this years tradeshow include the co-location of Energy Storage International and Hydrogen Fuel Cells North America. North American Smart Energy Week is a gathering of energy professionals looking to grow their renewable portfolio for businesses and communities. More than 18,000 energy professionals from across the world travel to the flagship event, Solar Power International. From solar and "smart energy" products to energy storage or fuel cells, the gathering features a variety of networking and accredited educational events.
About the EMerge Alliance
The EMerge Alliance is a nonprofit, open network of more than 100 organizations reinventing electric power through the development of vanguard standards for the highly efficient use of hybrid AC/DC power in a variety of buildings. These standards focus on alternatively delivering DC power directly to digital electronics and power storage systems, simplifying the use of locally produced clean energy and making systems more flexible, resilient and sustainable, while continuing to accommodate the use of ac power as inputs and outputs where appropriate.
Learn more at http://www.EMergeAlliance.org.
About SETS
Solar Energy Trade Shows, LLC (SETS) is the management company behind Solar Power International, North America's largest solar trade show, and Solar Power Events. The company was formed in 2009 by two leading solar industry advocates, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) to help raise the bar for solar power events.
Learn more at http://www.solarenergytradeshows.com/.
About SEPA
The Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to working with electric power stakeholders through the most pressing issues affecting the growth and utilization of smart energy. We are a trusted platform for education, research, standards, and collaboration to help utilities, customers, and other players deploy and integrate solar, storage, demand response and other distributed energy resources. Through educational activities, working groups, peer-to-peer opportunities and advisory services, SEPA engages interested parties in facilitating necessary information exchange and knowledge transfer to offer the highest amount of value for our membership and partner organizations.
Learn more at https://sepapower.org/.
About SEIA
Celebrating its 43rd anniversary in 2017, the Solar Energy Industries Association is the national trade association of the U.S. solar energy industry, which now employs more than 260,000 Americans. Through advocacy and education, SEIA is building a strong solar industry to power America. SEIA works with its 1,000 member companies to build jobs and diversity, champion the use of cost-competitive solar in America, remove market barriers and educate the public on the benefits of solar energy.
Learn more at http://www.seia.org/.
CLO Symposium17 This springs Symposium program features exactly the kind of analysis, insights, collaboration and discourse learning executives need to fuel innovation in this fast-paced environment and truly lead the enterprise toward enhanced performance.
Human Capital Media (HCM), publisher of Chief Learning Officer magazine, released final program details today for CLO Symposium17, this springs premier conference for senior learning and development professionals, corporate executives and human capital management leaders from around the world. The event, slated for April 24-26 at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort & Spa in Bonita Springs, Florida, will focus on the theme: Learning: The Fuel for Performance.
Today, business moves very fast, said Mike Prokopeak, HCM editor in chief. Fortunately, learning moves faster. A strong emphasis on corporate education has become a critical factor in keeping organizations moving ahead at the right pace and staying ahead of the competitive curve. This springs Symposium program features exactly the kind of analysis, insights, collaboration and discourse learning executives need to fuel innovation in this fast-paced environment and truly lead the enterprise toward enhanced performance.
The magazines editors have developed a high-level agenda for the conference, featuring panel discussions on critical issues, powerful first-person accounts of new initiatives from L&D practitioners, more than 20 workshops on successful industry solutions, and Voice of the CLO interview sessions. Theres also an eclectic line-up of speakers offering fresh thinking on key business topics:
Workforce Transformation: Steve Pemberton, Vice President, Diversity and Inclusion and Global Chief Diversity Officer, Walgreens Boots Alliance.
Strategy & Agility: Susan Packard, Co-founder, HGTV.
Innovation: Alec Ross, Author, The Industries of the Future.
Organizational Development: Robert Kegan, Professor, Harvard University Graduate School of Education, and Author, An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization.
By attending Symposium sessions, industry professionals can earn recertification credit hours toward PHR, SPHR and GPHR recertification through the HR Certification Institute. Platinum Sponsors for CLO Symposium17 are Center for Applied Learning, DDI, DeVryWORKS, Emory Executive Education and Saba. For more information about CLO Symposium17 visit closymposium.com.
Working with veterans for more than 20 years, Omega has seen firsthand the difference complementary and alternative healing modalities can make in helping people heal, build resilience, and find hope again.
According to the New York Times and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, there has been an escalation in suicide and homelessness among veterans since the United States withdrew thousands of troops from Iraq in 2011. Today, Omega Institute announced it would offer A Retreat for Veterans of Iraq & Afghanistan, May 14-19, in addition to three subsequent retreats for veterans of any war. Scholarships are available for all four retreats, two of which are for men, while the other two will address the unique needs of women veterans.
Too often veterans face life-altering effects of post-traumatic stress and related trauma as they grapple to reintegrate, and their families struggle with how to move forward on tight resources and with limited health care, said Carla Goldstein, chief external affairs officer at Omega. She further explained, Working with veterans for more than 20 years, Omega has seen firsthand the difference complementary and alternative healing modalities can make in helping people heal, build resilience, and find hope again.
Veterans, Trauma, & Resilience Retreats at Omega in 2017:
A Retreat for Veterans of Iraq & Afghanistan (May 14-19, For Men Only), with Chaplain Steve Torgerson, Barton Buechner, and Howard Levene; by application only. Designed to help veterans alleviate the psychological, relational, and spiritual injuries of war, this program is open to eligible post-9/11 male veterans.
Veterans Yoga Retreat for Men (June 18-23, For Men Only), with Annie Okerlin, RYT, and Nicholas Caris, RYT; by application only. Research shows that yoga and relaxation practices help veterans reintegrate after the challenging experiences of military service. In this yoga retreat for male veterans, participants will learn techniques to comfort the body, ease the mind, and promote healing.
Healing From Military Trauma (June 25-30, For Military Women & Women Veterans), with Lori S. Katz, PhD; by application only. The impact of Military Sexual Trauma (MST) has lasting effects on the mind, body, and spirit. This retreat offers a safe and healing environment for participants to explore facing and releasing traumatic stress and increasing resilience.
Veterans Yoga Retreat for Women (September 10-15, For Women Only), with Annie Okerlin, RYT; by application only. In this yoga retreat for women veterans, participants gain skills to nourish and strengthen both body and mind, while also increasing resilience and promoting healing.
For more information visit eOmega.org/veterans, and follow Omega on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Google+.
About Omega Institute for Holistic Studies
Founded in 1977, Omega Institute for Holistic Studies is the nations most trusted source for wellness and personal growth. As a nonprofit organization, Omega offers diverse and innovative educational experiences that inspire an integrated approach to personal and social change. Located on 250 acres in the beautiful Hudson Valley, Omega welcomes more than 23,000 people to its workshops, conferences, and retreats in Rhinebeck, New York, and at exceptional locations around the world. eOmega.org
Quadrant CEO, Michael Macauley, discussed start-ups set to disrupt the insurance industry. Technology designed for the insurance industry, or insurtecha term virtually unknown five years agohas recently emerged as one of the hottest areas in business technology development and venture capital funding.
In late March, Neosurance, a one-year-old company developing a mobile insurance sales solution, was selected by Plug and Playsaid to be the most important startup accelerator worldwidefor its program in the Silicon Valley Tech Center. Neosurance, along with 25 other startups, will take part in a three-month program meant to give a significant boost to its business through intensive interaction with corporate partners and venture capitalists. Official corporate partners include Aviva, Allianz, Markel, Farmers Insurance, Munich Re, Swiss Re, Nationwide, The Hartford, Talanx, Travelers, Zurich, HDI, USAA, AON and numerous others.1
Michael Macauley, CEO of Quadrant Information Services, a leading supplier of pricing analytics services to property and casualty insurance carriers, said, This is just one example of a worldwide trend. Technology designed for the insurance industry, or insurtecha term virtually unknown five years agohas recently emerged as one of the hottest areas in business technology development and venture capital funding.
One indication of the level of interest in insurtech is the mushrooming number of international conferences and trade shows dedicated to the subject. In San Francisco this spring, the Silicon Valley Insurance Accelerator is sponsoring Core Systems InsurTech Fusion2; other major upcoming events include InsurTech Conference 2017 in London in September,3 and InsurTech Connect 2017 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in early October.4
In addition to Silicon Valley venture capitalists, major insurance firms are creating their own VC divisions and investing in insurtech startups. By investing in these fledgling companies, insurers hope to get an early look at technology that could change the industry and have the opportunity to experiment with new products or servicesas well as putting themselves in a position to make offers for any startups they see as particularly promising. Among U.S. insurers that have established venture arms are MassMutual, Transamerica, and American Family; overseas insurers with venture capital operations include Axa, Allianz, XL, and Chinas Ping An.5
One of the most notable, and potentially most disruptive, aspects of the drive towards new technology in insurance is the use of massive high-speed data analysisbig datain evaluating risk and assigning rates. Where an enormous amount of information on consumers is already available, the traditional qualifying insurance questionnaire may become unnecessary. Andrew Brem, chief digital officer at Aviva, commented, Buying insurance is ridiculously retrograde, with endless questions resulting in a quote. With the use of big data, we are discovering interesting and accurate predictors of risk that do not involve asking people questions.6
Macauley noted that this makes perfect sense, and in areas such as health and auto insurance, where telematics are being used to monitor policyholders fitness patterns or driving habits, its already widely accepted. There is, however, resistance to the use of at least certain types of consumer data. In late 2016, for example, second thoughts by Facebook forced Admiral to abandon a plan to use the language people used in Facebook quotes to evaluate how dangerously they would driveand thus what they should be charged for insurance.7 How social media data can and will be used in risk evaluation is a question thats yet to be resolved.
Macauley also pointed out that another unresolved question has to do with future industry staffing requirements. A recent McKinsey & Co. report, for example, estimated that automation could leave up to 25% of the insurance industrys positions consolidated or replaced over the next decade,8 a view echoed by numerous other industry observers.9 On the other hand, a recent PwC survey suggested that 77% of global insurance CEOs see the limited availability of key skills, exacerbated by the aging of much of the insurance workforce, as a threat to growth.10
As an industryand as a societywere learning as we go, Macauley said. There are very exciting possibilities opening up, andfor privacy and other reasonsthere are going to be limits to how far the exploration of those possibilities can go. We can see the general outlines of the future, but we cant be entirely sure of the details. Whats important is to understand that our industry and our world are changing. We cant just sit back and let that change happen to us; we need to be an active part of it.
About Quadrant Information Services:
Quadrant Information Services, headquartered in Pleasanton, CA, provides pricing analytics solutions for property and casualty insurance companies. Quadrant gives actuary, product development, pricing, sales and marketing personnel at its client companieswhich include all the major insurance carriers in the United Statesthe data they need in order to make accurate, data-driven decisions. An industry innovator since its founding in 1991, Quadrant has provided the P&C insurance field with a long series of technological advances, including InsureWatch, the industrys first cloud-based pricing tool, which allows the user to produce unlimited combinations of reports with the click of a mouse. For more information, and to learn why Quadrant is for insurance companies that are tired of losing the right customers and winning the wrong ones, please visit http://www.quadinfo.com.
1. Neosurance Selected for Plug and Plays InsurTech Acceleration Program, Lets Talk Payments, March 25, 2017. https://letstalkpayments.com/neosurance-selected-plug-and-plays-insuryech-acceleration-program/
2. InsurTech Silicon Valley Core Systems InsurTech Fusion, March 29-30, Silicon Valley Insurance Accelerator. http://sviaccelerator.com/insurtech-sv-core-systems-insurtech-fusion/
3. http://insurtechconference.com/
4. http://insuretechconnect.com/
5. Ralph, Oliver, Investors view insurance as staid and ripe for disruption, Financial Times, October 2, 2016. https://www.ft.com/content/9355751e-81b0-11e6-8e50-8ec15fb462f4
6. Ralph, Oliver, Insurance and the big data technology revolution, Financial Times, February 24, 2017. https://www.ft.com/content/bb9f1ce8-f84b-11e6-bd4e-68d53499ed71
7. Ruddick, Graham, Facebook forces Admiral to pull plan to price car insurance based on posts, The Guardian, November 2, 1016. https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/nov/02/facebook-admiral-car-insurance-privacy-data
8. How Automation Will Whack Up to 25% of Insurance Jobs, Insurance Journal, February 1, 2017. http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2016/02/01/397026.htm
9. Scarola, Cory, Six Jobs Automation Will Eliminate, Inverse Innovation, March 6, 2017. https://www.inverse.com/article/26965-what-types-of-automation-lead-to-job-loss
10. Re/insurers struggle to attract necessary tech-savvy talent, Intelligent Insurer, March 24, 2017. http://www.intelligentinsurer.com/news/re-insurers-struggle-to-attract-necessary-tech-savvy-talent-11454?utm_source=Insurance&utm_campaign=884cf6df04-Intelligent_Insurer_Daily_24_03_2017&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f246694353-884cf6df04-27496945
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has announced a $91,000 grant to Rochester Institute of Technology to help students focus on the historical, economic and cultural meanings of community in and beyond Rochester, N.Y.
RIT is among the first schools to receive an award under the new Humanities Connections grant program.
We are thrilled to receive this grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, said James Winebrake, dean of the College of Liberal Arts. The Humanities Connections grant will allow us to deliver new, distinctive courses, each offering our students and faculty a chance to learn about community from a number of important perspectives. It also allows RIT to deepen its commitment to community engagement through our University/Community Partnerships program.
The project, titled, Community, Memory and a Sense of Place, will have faculty designing three new courses, each examining Rochesters development as a center of immigration, innovation and reform. In all of the courses, students will examine common texts on community, memory and sense of place. Beyond classroom study, students will also work on engaged research projects focusing on Rochester neighborhoods, illuminating for students the lived experience of community and memory through time.
As students head into the world on internships and jobs, we want them to be prepared to interact with communities that have a very distinct sense of identity and place but are also dealing with myriad economic and cultural changes, said Lisa Hermsen, the project director for the grant. We believe this program will provide both rigorous intellectual investigation for students and engaged immersions in communities.
Students will use oral histories and city archives to create final projects on Rochester history and community. Working with community members, they will also create a digital community website, which will eventually be displayed at the Rochester Public Library.
NEH provides support for projects across America that preserve our heritage, promote scholarly discoveries, and make the best of Americas humanities ideas available to all Americans, said NEH Chairman William D. Adams. We are proud to announce this latest group of grantees who, through their projects and research, will bring valuable lessons of history and culture to Americans.
The grant team includes four faculty members in RITs College of Liberal Arts: Hermsen, the Caroline Werner Gannett Chair in the Humanities; Ann Howard, director of RITs University/Community Partnerships and professor of environmental studies in the science, technology and society department; Kristoffer Whitney, an assistant professor of environmental studies in the science, technology and society department; and Richard Newman, professor of history. The project will also utilize the expertise of area librarians, including Christine Ridarsky, Rochester historian and Historical Services Consultant at the Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County, and Marcia Trauernicht, the director of RITs Wallace Library.
American IRA CEO, Jim Hitt Although the blog post argues that Self-Directed IRA owners tend to be a careful and financially savvy group of investors, their nest eggs tend to also make them targets of Ponzi schemes that are never designed to pay out their investors. Past News Releases RSS American IRA Responds to Increases...
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When Bernie Madoffs Ponzi Scheme came crumbling down to earth, investors lost millions. But despite such popular warning tales, investorsparticularly Self-Directed IRA investors with a lot of wealth saved upare still vulnerable to Ponzi schemes, argues Jim Hitt of American IRA.
Jim Hitt, the American IRA CEO, recently released a blog titled How Self-Directed IRA Owners Can Spot Ponzi Schemes Before Its Too Late. Although the blog post argues that Self-Directed IRA owners tend to be a careful and financially savvy group of investors, their nest eggs tend to also make them targets of Ponzi schemes that are never designed to pay out their investors.
The post details some recent Ponzi scheme convictions, showing that Ponzi schemes are a very real threat even to todays investors. In one Ohio case, an individual was convicted of defrauding 34 people out of $4.2 million. These numbers may sound large, but when dividing them up into individual pieces, its easy to see why even non-wealthy Self-Directed IRA investors will want to keep a watchful eye out for Ponzi schemes.
The solution, according to Jim Hitt, is to watch for warning signs. These signs include the promises of unrealistic returns that defy common sense, investments with returns that are suspiciously consistent, and systems which employ complicated strategies that seem impossible to understand. Compared to traditional investments like stock, real estate, precious metals, and more, these investments should at least raise a red flag as investors weigh their options.
Its not that people are foolish, says Jim Hitt. Its that sometimes our judgment gets the better of us. By learning the warning signs of Ponzi schemes, investors can protect their Self-Directed IRA funds through careful planning. Whenever a red flag goes off in your mind, theres usually a reason for it.
Other signs, like not being able to visit an investment property, show that there is a lack of accountability with the investment that should concern anyone, even if the history of returns are solid. In following Warren Buffets number one rule of investingdont lose moneymany watchful investors can keep building their retirement nest eggs without worrying about schemes and fraud.
About American IRA, LLC:
Click here to claim one of our 7 Self-Directed IRA guide(s).
American IRA is committed to providing every client with gold-level service, regardless of account size. Experience their expertise through their certified IRA services professionals. Enjoy the value with one low annual fee of $285 with unlimited assets and unlimited account values. American IRA clients love the benefit of no charge for "All Cash" accounts. The performance of the American IRA staff is unmatched, with quick and efficient processing within 48 hours.
American IRA services thousands of clients and has over $300 million in assets under administration.
American IRA was built by investors for investors, and brings their successful investment experience to the table, providing excellent educational material showing the public that their Self-Directed IRA account can invest in a variety of assets such as real estate, private lending, limited liability companies, precious metals and much more.
American IRA is conveniently located in Asheville, NC and Charlotte, NC, and serves clients nationwide.
PriceAdvantage Fuel Pricing Software PriceAdvantage has served North American fuel retailers for more than 12 years and we fully support the nuances of the European market as well.
PriceAdvantage, a fuel price management software company and division of Skyline Products, announced today that UK-based Euro Garages has selected PriceAdvantage software to execute their fuel pricing strategies as well as eliminate manual fuel price processes among their expanding portfolio of 341 sites located throughout mainland UK.
PriceAdvantage has served North American fuel retailers for more than 12 years and we fully support the nuances of the European market as well, shared Chip Stadjuhar, President and CEO of Skyline Products. Euro Garages is the perfect example of a forward thinking retailer they are very progressive and will leverage PriceAdvantage to drive their unique fuel pricing strategies which will in turn increase fuel profits.
PriceAdvantage fully integrates with Oracle EPOS allowing Euro Garages to establish new fuel prices and push those prices to the EPOS, price signs, and pumps with just one click. This automation removes the tedious process of having staff manually update price signs. In addition, PriceAdvantage provides deep analytics and robust reports allowing EG to see daily fuel volumes as well as correlations between in-store sales and fuel volumes sold.
PriceAdvantage is recognized for utilizing customer input into product development and feature enhancements as well as providing exemplary customer service and support. PriceAdvantage provides this level of superior customer support to U.K. customers through a strategic alliance with TLM Technology Group of Bedford. TLM will provide Euro Garages with world-class support services - including unrivalled service response times from an expert team of dedicated support staff based at their 4000 sqft U.K. Support Hub.
About PriceAdvantage
PriceAdvantage creates Software to Fuel Your Pricing StrategyTM. Our easy-to-use, highly configurable, patented solution allows fuel marketers to execute their unique fuel pricing strategy faster and more accurately by reducing manual processes and human errors. PriceAdvantage enables customers to make rapid, informed fuel pricing decisions based on their unique business rules, then automatically post new prices to their POS systems, fuel pumps and price signs, and then receive price change confirmation all in just minutes. PriceAdvantage is singularly focused on fuel pricing software and is a division of a privately held U.S. company, Skyline Products, which produces software solutions and thousands of American-made electronic price and transportation signs annually. Learn more at http://www.PriceAdvantage.com.
About Euro Garages
Based in Blackburn, Euro Garages was founded in 2001 by brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa with the acquisition of a single petrol filling station in Bury, Greater Manchester. Since then, Euro Garages has established itself as one of the UKs fastest growing and most recognizable forecourt operators, with an expanding portfolio of 341 freehold-owned sites located throughout mainland UK.
Alongside an innovative approach to roadside retail property, Euro Garages has forged high-profile relationships with nationally and globally recognized retail and convenience brands, now operating in excess of 65 Starbucks drive-to and drive-thru restaurants, 145 Subway sub-stations and 96 Greggs bakeries.
Learn more about Euro Garages at http://www.eurogarages.com.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Mar 29, 2017) - North American Nickel Inc. (TSX VENTURE:NAN) (WSCRF) (CUSIP:65704T 108) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has been granted a watershed prospecting licence for the assessment and development of potential hydropower resources on its 100%-owned Maniitsoq nickel sulphide project in southwest Greenland. The Company intends to assess the watershed as a potential source of power for its Manitsoq project consistent with the emphasis by the Greenland Government on securing environmentally friendly energy sources for any industrial development, including mining.
The watershed of interest overlaps with the eastern flank of the Maniitsoq project area and is characterized by several sites with potential for hydropower development (Figure 1). The Company is currently reviewing the capacity of Greenlandic and other corporations to assist with the watershed prospecting activities planned to begin in June of 2017.
The licence was awarded by the Ministry of Industry, Labour, Trade and Energy of the Greenland Government, is renewable for a further three years and can be upgraded to an exploitation licence.
North American Nickel is engaged in the continued exploration for economic nickel sulphide deposits at its Maniitsoq project in southwestern Greenland.
About the Company
The Company is a mineral exploration company with 100% owned properties in Maniitsoq, Greenland and Sudbury, Ontario.
The Maniitsoq property in Greenland is a Camp scale project comprising 2,985 square kilometres covering numerous high-grade nickel-copper sulphide occurrences associated with norite and other mafic-ultramafic intrusions of the Greenland Norite Belt (GNB). The belt is greater than 75 kilometres long and situated along, and near, the southwest coast of Greenland accessible from the existing Seqi deep water port (see the Company's news release dated January 19, 2015) with an all year round shipping season and abundant hydro-electric potential.
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The Company's Post Creek/Halcyon property in Sudbury is strategically located adjacent to the past producing Podolsky copper-nickel-platinum group metal deposit of KGHM International Ltd. The property lies along an interpreted extension of the Whistle Offset embayment structure. Such geological structures host major Ni-Cu-PGM deposits and producing mines within the Sudbury Camp.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements
This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information" under applicable securities laws concerning the business, operations and financial performance and condition of the Company. Forward-looking statements and forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the risks facing the Company; success of exploration activities; impact of mineralogy, estimation of mineral resources at mineral projects of the Company; the future economics of minerals including nickel and copper; synergies and financial impact facilities; the benefits of the development potential of the properties of the Company and currency exchange rate fluctuations. Except for statements of historical fact relating to the Company, certain information contained herein constitutes forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan," "expect," "project," "intend," "believe," "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are based on a number of assumptions and subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Many of these assumptions are based on factors and events that are not within the control of the Company and there is no assurance they will prove to be correct.
Factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from results anticipated by such forward-looking statements include variations in metal grades, changes in market conditions, variations in recovery rates, risks relating to international operations, fluctuating metal prices and currency exchange rates, and other risks of the mining industry, including but not limited to the failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated. The Company cautions that the foregoing list of important factors is not exhaustive. Investors and others who base themselves on forward-looking statements should carefully consider the above factors as well as the uncertainties they represent and the risk they entail. The Company believes that the expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements included in this press release should not be unduly relied upon. These statements speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as required by applicable securities laws.
Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be anticipated, estimated or intended. Statements concerning mineral reserve and resource estimates may also be deemed to constitute forward-looking statements to the extent they involve estimates of the mineralization that will be encountered if the property is developed.
Statements about the Company's future expectations and all other statements in this press release other than historical facts are "forward looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and as that term defined in the Private Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company intends that such forward-looking statements be subject to the safe harbours created thereby. Since these statements involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change at any time, the Company's actual results may differ materially from the expected results. For further information on the project, please see the Technical Report, which is available on SEDAR under the Company's issuer profile at www.sedar.com, and is also available on the Company's website at www.northamericannickel.com.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Mark Fedikow, President
North American Nickel Inc.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
To view Figure 1: Location of Watershed for Hydropower Potential, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1090215a.pdf
The Ultimate Spirits Challenge has awarded Blue Nectar Tequila and iichiko Shochu with their highest honor, the Chairmans Trophy. Dubbed the worlds trailblazing spirits competition, the Ultimate Spirits Challenge is led by globally renowned spirits reviewer Paul Pacult and an expert panel of judges from around the world. The judges taste over 4 days in Hawthorne, NY, with upwards of 400 spirits to evaluate. iichiko BLU won for the Shochu category and took home a 90+ score for five of their expressions, while Blue Nectars Founders Blend won for the best Anejo within the 100% Agave Tequila category. Both of the brands are represented by Colangelo & Partners, a leading integrated communications agency specializing in premium wine and spirits.
Were thrilled that Blue Nectar and iichiko have been honored by the team at the USC, the best of the best in the spirits industry, said Gino Colangelo, president of Colangelo & Partners. We represent the highest quality spirits and often collaborate with members of the USCs esteemed panel who guide spirits and cocktail trends, and develop some of the best drink menus in the world.
Colangelo & Partners, which recently celebrated their 10 year anniversary, continues to be an important player in the spirits world by helping to build awareness for premium, entrepreneurial spirits brands. Since January 2017, the spirits team at Colangelo & Partners has expanded their clientele to include Aviation American Gin, Berentzen Liqueurs and Purus Vodka. Colangelo & Partners also represents Diplomatico Rum, Lost Distillery Company Scotch Whisky, Sombra Mezcal, TY KU Sake, Consejo Regulador de la Denominaciones de Origen Jerez-Xeres-Sherry, Lepanto Brandy, Nomad Outland Whisky and London No. 1 Gin. Colangelo & Partners focuses on four strategic pillars of expertise: media relations, social media and influencer relations, trade relations, and events.
About Blue Nectar Tequila
Founded by father and son BN and Nikhil Bahadur, Blue Nectar Tequila (http://www.bluenectartequila.com/) is a small-batch, super-premium Tequila focused on agave-forward flavor profiles indicative of the terroir of el valle or the valley of the Tequila producing region. Using estate-grown blue agaves from el valle, Blue Nectar skillfully crafts and bottles its Tequilas in Amatitan, Mexico, widely recognized as the birthplace of Tequila. Since its launch in 2011, Blue Nectar has garnered numerous industry accolades in both the United States and Mexico. Current production includes Silver, Reposado Extra Blend, Reposado Special Craft and Anejo Founders Blend Tequilas.
About iichiko Shochu
iichikos shochu (http://www.iichiko.co.jp/en/) is the #1 barley shochu in Japan. Each iichiko shochu begins with only the highest quality barley and water drawn from natural springs deep beneath the earth. The flavors of iichikos shochu are refreshing and boast a crystal clear taste, truly embodying the essence of Japanese refinement. The lush greenery, pure water and cool breezes of Oita Prefecture, famously known for their hot springs, provide the perfect setting to house the distillery where iichiko shochu is produced. It all begins with carefully selecting the finest natural ingredients and water. Advanced distilling technologies are then applied to produce the highest quality shochu. Since 1958, iichiko has prided itself on putting quality first, the way its always been done and will always continue to be done.
About Colangelo & Partners
Colangelo & Partners (http://www.colangelopr.com) specializes in premium food, wine, spirits and lifestyle brands, and has long established relationships with the key press that drive these business categories and help determine the industry leaders. Agency principals have years of experience in retail and distribution as well as communications, a rare combination that gives Colangelo & Partners invaluable insights into consumer purchasing behavior. The agency focuses on 'closing the loop' between creative communications programs, distribution, promotion, publicity and the consumer in order to maximize the efficiency of its communications programs and deliver measurable results. Founded in 2006, Colangelo & Partners was honored as one of the years top integrated communications firms at the 2013 Agency Elite Awards and for one of the best digital marketing campaigns at the 2014 Digital PR Awards.
The Hartford Gold Group Logo We cannot stand by and let retirement investors lose their hard-earned wealth because they werent able to act in time.
The Hartford Gold Group has announced an unprecedented free silver offer to IRA investors who set up a new Traditional or Private Storage Gold IRA before the April 15 deadline.
These powerful investment vehicles allow individuals to own both precious metals and traditional investments together for diversification and safe haven benefits.
Investors should not delay. Any qualifying new gold purchases and new Gold IRAs completed before April 15 will receive up to $2,500 in free silver, compliments of The Hartford Gold Group. Opening a Gold IRA before the deadline entitles the investor to maximize their potential investment success by making an investment of $5,500 (or $6,500 if the investor is over 50) for tax year 2016.
"If youve been procrastinating about your investments, there is no better time than now to get started diversifying with gold," said Sanford Mann, Chief Executive Officer of The Hartford Gold Group. "The stock market is clearly in a big bubble, our political picture is catastrophic and both professional and individual investors are buying into safe haven assets to protect their wealth during the rough ride ahead."
The company provides wholesale pricing, free silver (with minimum purchase) and other valuable incentives to clients on all the most desirable coins and bars available today. These coins also can qualify for up to 3 years of free storage for IRA accounts.
The Hartford Gold Group recently introduced a new retirement product The Private Storage Gold IRA that allows investors to upgrade their retirement strategy by storing physical gold and silver in a tax-deferred retirement account close to their own home.
"We cannot stand by and let retirement investors lose their hard-earned wealth because they werent able to act in time," said Sanford Mann. "We urge everyone to call in and get informed before the April 15 deadline is upon us."
To learn more about the Private Storage Gold IRA, investors can call 800-462-0071 or visit thehartfordgoldgroup.com.
ABOUT THE HARTFORD GOLD GROUP The Hartford Gold Group (HGG) is a Los Angeles, CA-based company that has built its reputation on helping individuals and families diversify and protect their wealth with precious metals. The companys 5-star Customer Satisfaction Rating can be viewed at http://www.trustpilot.com. Through its website, publications and expert product specialists, The Hartford Gold Group offers a wealth of precious metals market information and historicalperspective that empowers both new and experienced investors.
Leading higher education information and resource provider AffordableCollegesOnline.org has announced its list of the Best Schools with Online License Practical Nursing (LPN) Degrees in the U.S. for 2017. The ranking cites the top 12 colleges and universities for online LPN students based on an in-depth cost and quality comparison. Highest scores were awarded to Arkansas State University, Hannibal-LaGrange University, University of Arkansas at Monticello, University of Arkansas For Smith and Arkansas Tech University.
"Students who want to find an in-demand career with mobility opportunities often consider getting a degree in nursing, said Dan Schuessler, CEO and founder of AffordableCollegesOnline.org. The schools on our list not only provide quality and flexibility in their online LPN programs, but are also among the most affordable in the nation.
To qualify for a spot on AffordableCollegesOnline.orgs rankings, schools to meet several minimum requirements. Each college cited is institutionally accredited and holds public or private not-for-profit standing. To maintain affordability standards, AffordableCollegesOnline.org requires schools to offer in-state tuition rates below $20,000 per year. Each qualifying school is scored based on a comparison of more than a dozen qualitative and quantitative statistics, including financial aid offerings and graduation rates by school and the NCLEX-PN pass rate.
For complete details on the data and methodology used to score each school and a full list of ranking colleges, visit:
http://www.affordablecollegesonline.org/degrees/nursing-programs/lpn/#best-college-ranking
Top 12 Online Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) Programs in the Nation for 2017:
Arkansas State University-Main Campus
Arkansas Tech University
Florida Gateway College
Hannibal-LaGrange University
Indian River State College
Pennsylvania College of Technology
Pensacola State College
SUNY College of Technology at Canton
Trocaire College
University of Arkansas at Monticello
University of Arkansas-Fort Smith
Utah State University
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AffordableCollegesOnline.org began in 2011 to provide quality data and information about pursuing an affordable higher education. Our free community resource materials and tools span topics such as financial aid and college savings, opportunities for veterans and people with disabilities, and online learning resources. We feature higher education institutions that have developed online learning environments that include highly trained faculty, new technology and resources, and online support services to help students achieve educational and career success. We have been featured by nearly 1,100 postsecondary institutions and nearly 120 government organizations.
As it has throughout its 115 years of existence, Goodwill helps families and communities by providing tools to assist people in finding jobs and building careers
This year, 125 Goodwill representatives, including executives, professionals, volunteers and other advocates from around the country will meet with federal lawmakers and staff on Thursday, April 6 as part of Goodwill Industries Internationals annual advocacy event. During the 10 Years of Goodwill on the Hill event, representatives will be garnering support for Goodwills job training and career services, and discussing three areas of priority for the nonprofit organizations public policy agenda: funding for federal workforce development programs; the need to protect charitable giving; and the reauthorization of the Career and Technical Education (CTE) Act.
Goodwill is dedicated to enhancing peoples dignity and quality of life by helping them reach their full potential through education, skills training and the power of work. Goodwill is a network of 162 independent, local organizations throughout the United States and Canada. In 2016, consumers ranked Goodwill as the top brand doing the most good in the world, according to the Brand World Value Index, for the value and impact it has in communities both nationally and internationally.
As it has throughout its 115 years of existence, Goodwill helps families and communities by providing tools to assist people in finding jobs and building careers, said Jim Gibbons, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries International. We again call on Americas elected representatives to work with us to support those who choose to support themselves, but often lack the necessary means, skills or training.
The high-priority topics for Goodwill and the people it serves include:
Funding President Trumps budget proposal includes dramatic cuts to many programs of interest to local Goodwill organizations and the people they serve. Advocates will be asking lawmakers to protect funding for workforce development and job-training programs. Congress will be working on FY17 funding, which expires April 28. They also will be preparing for the FY18 budget and appropriations.
Charitable Giving Goodwill is also calling for Congress to protect and expand charitable giving incentives. Tax reform is a top priority for Congress. An opportunity may exist to expand the deduction to those individuals who dont itemize and take the standard deduction.
Education Goodwill seeks the reauthorization of the CTE Act, which is a top priority for the House Ways and Means and Senate HELP Committees. The CTE Act, which shapes local career and technical education programs, represents a key opportunity to stimulate Goodwill partnerships with local CTE programs to help students graduate from college and prepare for careers.
Beyond these specific priorities, the GII advocacy event provides an opportunity for lawmakers and staff to hear firsthand from Goodwill stakeholders about their priorities for the coming year. Those who are unable to make the event in person can support Goodwills efforts through social media and GIIs Legislative Action Center. Follow @GoodwillCapHill on Twitter and reference #GoodwillOnHill in your tweets. You can also share or like posts on the Goodwill Industries International Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/goodwillintl.
About Goodwill Industries International
Goodwill Industries International (GII) is a network of 162 community-based, autonomous organizations in the United States and Canada with a presence in 13 other countries. GII is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that is recognized by GuideStar with its Platinum Seal of Approval, the organizations highest rating for charities. GII was also ranked by Enso as the #1 brand doing the most good in the world, and was the only nonprofit brand rated in Forbes 20 most inspiring companies for three consecutive years. Local Goodwill organizations are innovative and sustainable social enterprises that create job training programs, employment placement and other community-based programs by selling donated clothing and household items in more than 3,200 stores collectively and online at shopgoodwill.com. Local Goodwill organizations also build revenue and create jobs by contracting with businesses and government to provide a wide range of commercial services, including packaging and assembly, food services preparation, and document imaging and shredding. Last year, local Goodwill organizations collectively placed 313,000 people in employment in the United States and Canada. In addition, more than 34 million people used computers and mobile devices to access Goodwill education, training, mentoring and online learning services to strengthen their skills. To learn more, visit goodwill.org.
For more information or to find a Goodwill location near you, use the online locator at Goodwill.org or call (800) GOODWILL. Follow us on Twitter: @GoodwillIntl and @GoodwillCapHill, and find us on Facebook: GoodwillIntl or Instagram: GoodwillIntl.
Rogerson Kratos finished the initial fifty flight hour evaluation with high grades. As part of the evaluation, the aircraft was flown by over a half dozen former US Army and Sikorsky UH 60 test pilots for avionics performance, aircraft integration, human factors, and both radio and navigation capabilities.
Satisfactory flight evaluation results allows the aircraft to move to the next phase of integration and testing. The company applied to the FAA to now increase the flight range to include the South East United States, where it will also visit industry events in Huntsville, Alabama, and Tampa, Florida.
Rogerson Kratos CEO, Michael Rogerson, applauded the whole team's efforts. "Thanks, to our dedicated team of employees and industry partners for helping us reach this important milestone in our UH-60 Black Hawk test and evaluation effort. This multi state group including certification authorities, aircraft installers, and a very talented supplier base, together with our in-house Black Hawk team have flawlessly executed the best initial flight tests I've been part of in my thirty year career."
A technical and sales team is attending Defense & Security 2017 following the very successful flight demonstrations of the modernized UH-60 digital cockpit at HAI HELI EXPO. Potential customers, press, and military personnel all had the opportunity to fly and evaluate the aircraft's improved situational awareness and new navigational features.
After the LAAD event where the company exhibit stand will have demonstration hardware, the team will travel on to several South American countries to brief government officials, military maintenance personnel, and pilots.
The Rogerson Kratos offering features the sale, or leasing, of digital modernized cockpit reset UH-60A or, L Models. Alternatively, customers may opt for in-country upgrades of their existing UH-60 and S70 fleets. Benefits include improved safety, enhanced situational awareness, common training and interoperability with Black Hawk M Models, and lower life-cycle costs with improved aircraft availability.
Rogerson Kratos is a world leader in the design, production, integration, and support of avionics and digital electronic systems for commercial and military solutions.
www.NAELA.org Were hearing more and more in the news and through statistics that Americans are not properly preparing for retirement or saving enough for possible unexpected illness or disability.
National Financial Literacy Month highlights the importance of financial literacy and teaching Americans how to establish and maintain healthy financial habits. The National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) supports this crucial goal as its members regularly assist older Americans, people with special needs, and their families with estate and retirement planning, planning for the care of a special needs child, long-term care, and other financial legal matters.
Were hearing more and more in the news and through statistics that Americans are not properly preparing for retirement or saving enough for possible unexpected illness or disability. NAELA member attorneys are dedicated to helping their clients learn more about financial preparedness for these situations, said NAELA President Catherine Anne Seal, CELA, CAP.
To learn more about financial planning for older Americans and people with special needs, locate an elder law or special needs planning attorney in your area using the NAELA Member Directory.
About NAELA
Members of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) are attorneys who are experienced and trained in working with the legal problems of aging Americans and individuals of all ages with disabilities. Established in 1987, NAELA is a non-profit association that assists lawyers, bar organizations, and others. The mission of NAELA is to establish NAELA members as the premier providers of legal advocacy, guidance, and services to enhance the lives of people with special needs and people as they age. NAELA currently has members across the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit NAELA.org.
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The lives of thousands of people are saved every year because someone makes the selfless choice to become an organ donor.
All seven Allegheny Health Network (AHN) hospitals in Pennsylvania will come together on two separate days in April to recognize the significant and growing need for more people to register as organ donors. Those special occasions are just part of a variety of events planned across the Network to celebrate National Donate Life Month.
On Step Up and Give a Hand Day, scheduled for April 4, Allegheny General, Allegheny Valley, Canonsburg, Forbes, Jefferson, Saint Vincent and West Penn hospitals will encourage employees and visitors to put a colorful hand print on a display and pledge their support for organ donation. Then, for National Donate Life Blue & Green Day on April 21, each AHN hospital will encourage employees to wear blue-and-green-colored clothing in memory and appreciation of organ donors. Additionally, each AHN hospital will host special flag-raising ceremonies on various dates throughout the month to commemorate the precious gift of life provided by organ donors.
The lives of thousands of people are saved every year because someone makes the selfless choice to become an organ donor, said AHN President and CEO Cynthia Hundorfean. We look forward to coming together as one network for these special events that will honor those who gave the gift of life, while also calling attention to the need for more people to register as organ donors.
According to Pittsburghs Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE), 22 people die in the U.S. every day while awaiting an organ, and every 10 minutes somebody new is added to a nationwide organ waiting list that is now more than 118,000 people long. That includes more than 8,000 people who live in Pennsylvania.
AHNs commitment to organ, tissue and cornea donation resulted in 111 lives being saved by organs donated at its hospitals in 2016. Additionally, there were 123 tissue donors from AHN hospitals, each with the ability to heal and save up to 75 peoples lives, or potentially resulting in up to 9,225 tissue transplants. Another 117 AHN donors provided the gift of sight through corneal transplantation.
In addition to a slate of events planned for Donate Life Month and beyond, AHN has teamed up with the Pirate Parrot to raise awareness for organ donation. The beloved Pittsburgh Pirates mascot will be featured in newspaper ads and hospital signage starting in April to promote organ donor registration. AHN and CORE will partner on National Donate Life Month recognition day at PNC Park on April 23, when representatives from AHN and CORE will have organ donation information available at a table outside of the park. Also that day, a father who donated a kidney to his daughter at AGH will join her for the ceremonial first pitch before the Pirates face the New York Yankees.
AHNs complete list of Donate Life Month-related events includes:
Tuesday, April 4, Step Up and Give a Hand Day (all hospitals)
Thursday, April 6, Canonsburg Hospital flag raising (1 p.m.)
Friday, April 7, Jefferson Hospital flag raising (1 p.m.)
Monday, April 10, Allegheny General Hospital flag raising (11 a.m.)
Wednesday, April 12, Forbes Hospital flag raising (10 a.m.); Allegheny Valley Hospital flag raising (1 p.m.)
Friday, April 14, Saint Vincent Hospital flag raising (10 a.m.); Saint Vincent donor/recipient parade through hospital units to celebrate the gift of life and thank the many dedicated healthcare professionals who make transplantation possible
Friday, April 21, National Donate Life Blue & Green Day (all hospitals); Jefferson Hospital donor/recipient parade
Wednesday, April 26,, West Penn Hospital flag raising (9 a.m.) and rose garden ceremony to honor those who have graciously saved others through organ donation
Monday, May 1, Allegheny General Hospital donor/recipient parade, followed by rose garden ceremony
Thursday, May 25, Allegheny General Hospital living donor pinning ceremony to celebrate the unique bond of life that unites kidney donors and their recipients
AGH is ranked #1 in western Pennsylvania for overall organ transplant quality, according to Quantros Inc.s 2017 CareChex National Quality Rating Database for 2013-2015. Those market claims are based on the CareChex 2017 Composite Quality Scores and Ratings for acute care hospitals serving the combined statistical area (CSA) of Pittsburgh-New Castle-Weirton.
About CORE
The Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE) is one of 58 federally designated not-for-profit organ procurement organizations (OPOs) in the United States. CORE works closely with donor families and designated health care professionals to coordinate the surgical recovery of organs, tissues and corneas for transplantation. CORE also facilitates the computerized matching of donated organs and placement of corneas. With headquarters in Pittsburgh and an office in Charleston, WV, CORE oversees a region that encompasses 155 hospitals and almost six million people throughout western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Chemung County, NY. For more information, visit http://www.core.org or call 1-800-DONORS-7.
About Allegheny Health Network
Allegheny Health Network, part of Highmark Health, is an integrated healthcare delivery system serving the Western Pennsylvania region. The Network is comprised of eight hospitals, including its flagship academic medical center Allegheny General Hospital, Allegheny Valley Hospital, Canonsburg Hospital, Forbes Hospital, Jefferson Hospital, Saint Vincent Hospital, Westfield Memorial Hospital and West Penn Hospital; a research institute; Health + Wellness Pavilions; an employed physician organization, home and community based health services and a group purchasing organization. The Network employs approximately 17,000 people and has more than 2,800 physicians on its medical staff. The Network also serves as a clinical campus for Temple University School of Medicine, Drexel University College of Medicine and the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine.
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Cohen's Fashion Optical
A fixture of Manhattan neighborhoods for 90 years, Cohens Fashion Optical is celebrating its legacy with empowerment initiatives that give back to its customers.
With the long-standing credibility of a family name and the principles of its founder, Jack Cohenwhose pushcart frame business on the Lower East Side advanced into the first fashion eyewear retail location in New YorkCohens is expressing gratitude to the city that has supported its philosophy for nearly a century.
Building upon its roots of providing sight with style, New Yorkers can expect even more from Cohens with an added level of attention this year:
Style Days at Cohens Featuring GlamSquad
With the help of stylists from the citys coveted GlamSquad network of makeup artists, Cohens is welcoming glam stations into select stores for two hours on Saturdays throughout the year. Customers will look and feel their best with makeup tips from experts who know how to make eyes shine. To complete the look, Cohens offers an array of designer frames for any face shape, personal style, or hair and eye color. Visit http://www.cohensfashionoptical.com/style-days/ for dates and locations.
Empowering Customers Through Sight
Whether its providing free eyeglasses to people who need them in communities near and far, giving free eye exams for kids, or donating to hospitals in local NY neighborhoods, Cohens has been dedicated to making a difference worldwide. This year, customers will be able to touch peoples lives just by purchasing eyewear and receiving an eye examThanks to recent partnerships with iHeartRadio, RestoringVision and EcoMedia, and the Mount Sinai Hospital Adolescent Health Centers Ophthalmic Suite complete with a Cohens Fashion Optical store, thousands of people in local communities and beyond will receive free glasses to help them live full, productive lives. Cohens wants all customers to participate in vision for the greater good: Whether its school children in their neighborhood, a veteran in the Bronx, or a craftsmen in Guatemala, clear vision can be life-changinghelping people rejoin the workforce or continue their education.
Celebrating New Yorkers
Cohens want to share a little more of its story and how it creates connections in the communities it serves. By empowering independent business owners who in turn assist thousands of New Yorkers a day, Cohens keeps commerce local. With a new ad campaign that celebrates everyday New Yorkers looking for value, style, and benefits of insurance plans, Cohens will introduce an exclusive 90th Anniversary offera pair of frames complete with prescription lenses for only $90. Its Cohens way of saying thank you.
Look for 90 Years in the windows of your nearest Cohens location, keep an eye out for panel discussions, follow 90 years @cohensfashionoptical on Instagram and Facebook, and dont forget to check out stylists and special promotions in-store.
With a rich heritage of personal attention, comprehensive care, and enterprising value as far back as 1927, Cohens is honored to express its gratitude to customers.
My Father envisioned an environment where he would help people see better and look better, too, said company President Bob Cohen. We have never wavered, but we have invested even further in his vision and we are proud to evolve it in a way that matters today.
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About Cohens Fashion Optical
90 Years of Quality Eyecare & Eyewear
Ninety years ago, our founder, Jack Cohen, pioneered a new philosophy in the retail eyewear business. His vision was, everyone who needed prescription eyeglasses wanted to look better, see better, and feel better about themselves. In 1927, Cohens became the only fashion eyewear retail location to be found in New York. Cohens Fashion Optical quickly became a New York City retail landmark. Today, with over 130 stores in the US and Puerto Rico, Cohens is one of the top ten optical retailers in the country and one of the longest operating optical franchise companies in the country.
The Delaware County Daily Times has named Raffaele Puppio attorneys Edward P. Kelly and Ernest Spiros Angelos among Delaware Countys Best Lawyers in its 2017 Reader Choice survey.
The newspaper received thousands of votes in its third annual Best Lawyers ballot, the results of which were published in a special section in the newspaper.
Kelly was recognized for his work in real estate law. Kelly is the chair of Raffaele Puppios Commercial Real Estate and Business Transactions Department. He advises business owners in a variety of corporate matters, from entity formation to mergers and acquisitions to the lease of office space or purchase of real estate. Active in local and county Republican politics, he holds a law degree from Boston University School of Law.
Angelos was recognized for his work in litigation. A skilled litigator, Angelos is well-versed in many practice areas, including municipal and educational law, business law, real property and tax assessment appeals. Angelos is active with the Delaware County Bar Association, West Chester Rotary Act Club, and Western Delaware Valley Lions Club. He holds a law degree from Widener School of Law.
About Raffaele Puppio Raffaele Puppio is one of the largest and most established full-service law firms in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Attorneys within the firm are known for their legal prowess among the bench and bar in Delaware County, having decades of experience representing school districts, municipalities, businesses and individual clients, helping to solve legal problems while avoiding future legal issues. The attorneys provide sound legal counsel in the areas of school law, government and municipal services, family law, general litigation, personal injury, commercial real estate and business transactions, elder law, estate administration and planning, and criminal law.
Behind every well-loved pet, theres a praise-worthy vet. Petplan pet insurance is celebrating best-in-show veterinarians by accepting nominations for its 2018 Veterinary Excellence Awards. As the name implies, the awards recognize excellence in the field of pet health and celebrate outstanding veterinary professionals from across North America who make it their mission to go the extra mile.
Petplan invites pet parents and veterinary professionals to visit gopetplan.com/vet-awards and bark out their pets health heroes by sharing stories of those who truly demonstrate excellence in their field. Nominations are now open for the following categories:
Veterinary Practice of the Year
Veterinarian of the Year
Veterinary Technician of the Year
Practice Manager of the Year
Receptionist of the Year
Organizers will carefully review thousands of nominations to select six semifinalists in each category who lead the pack in practicing the gold standard of care. Semifinalists will then undergo a thorough application process; finalists (three per category) will be selected by an independent judging panel of esteemed veterinary professionals and announced in October. 2017 Veterinary Excellence Awards judges included Julie Legred, CVT, Executive Director of the National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America (NAVTA); Gail Gibson, VMD, 2016-2017 President of the North American Veterinary Community (NAVC); and Michael Cavanaugh, DVM, DABVP, CEO of the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA).
Finalists will be given top-dog recognition, including an invitation to attend the Petplan Veterinary Excellence Awards black-tie gala in Orlando, Florida, where winners will be named next February. This exclusive event will be held at Orlandos Four Seasons Resort, and award winners will receive a package that includes cash, prizes and a donation to a pet-related charity of their choice.
Petplans previous Veterinary Excellence Awards winners made their mark not only because of their stellar professional achievements, but because of their demonstrated commitment to pet health in their communities. Former winners include:
2017 Veterinarian of the Year: Dr. Hilary Wheeler from The Whole Pet Vet Hospital in Los Gatos, CA impressed our judges with her personalized and wholesome approach to wellness and prevention through traditional and alternative medicine. She educates and empowers her team to meet individual pet and pet parent needs and guides the practice on her holistic vision.
2016 Practice of the Year: Metzger Animal Hospital in State College, PA received multiple nominations, but the judging panel was most impressed by Dr. Fred Metzgers leadership and investment in his staff, the variety of services offered and the practices commitment to community involvement.
2015 Receptionist of the Year: Bob Gauthier from Red Mountain Animal Hospital in Mesa, AZ was nominated by a pet parent who was impressed with his professionalism and caring manner with distraught pet parents: This clinic and Bob are heads above any of the other veterinary professionals we have visited, and their care and attitude are priceless.
To learn more about the Petplan Veterinary Excellence Awards, download our free promotional materials and submit your nomination, visit gopetplan.com/vet-awards.
ABOUT PETPLAN
Petplan has built the industrys leading pet insurance for pet parents who demand a higher pedigree of care for their best friends. Weve leveraged 40 years of global experience to create completely customizable coverage pet parents can feel confident in, and world-class claims service thats second to none 24 hours a day, every day.
Petplans innovative approach to pet insurance has been recognized by Forbes, Financial Times, Bloomberg, Inc. magazine, Smart CEO, the Communicator Awards, Ernst & Young and many others.
Petplan policies are underwritten in the U.S. by XL Specialty Insurance Company, and in Canada by XL Specialty Insurance Company Canadian Branch. The company is rated A+ by S&P. Coverage may not be available in all jurisdictions. For more information about Petplan pet insurance, visit http://www.gopetplan.com or call 1-866-467-3875.
The Trump trade, which defined the market in the weeks following the U.S. election, is over.
So now, stocks will focus on the only thing that really matters over the long term: earnings.
The earnings recovery is resilient and we remain confident in our policy neutral [earnings per share forecast] of $129 for 2017, writes JP Morgan equity strategist Dubravko Lakos-Bujas.
After S&P 500 companies delivered a record-high EPS of $31.28 in 4Q16, we are expecting growth to accelerate further to >10% in 1Q, highest growth rate since 2011. Additionally, company guidance activity has been encouraging YTD, which reflects strengthening global growth, healthy labor market as well as strong business survey data and consumer confidence.
Accordingly, Lakos-Bujas and his team maintain a broadly constructive view on the market.
Uncertainty around the upcoming French election and lack of clarity on timing of the US tax reform could continue to weigh on the market in the near term, Lakos-Bujas writes.
Setting the stage for new highs
Lakos-Bujas and his team also see the current environment, despite uncertainty related to international politics and domestic legislation, as posing a limited risk of a big pullback for the stock market.
We see limited risk of a larger pullback and recommend buying the dip(s), Lakos-Bujas writes.
The market is likely to remain resilient and supported by the Trump and Fed puts as well as the continued improvement in the fundamental backdrop both domestically and abroad. If anything, we see a confluence of conditions potentially coming together in the months ahead and setting the stage for the market to reach new highs.
Following Donald Trumps presidential election win, big bets were made by investors on stocks set to gain or lose from economic policies touted by Trump during the campaign. Namely, lower corporate taxes, big infrastructure spending, slashing of regulations (particularly in banking), faster economic growth, and more restrictive trade policies.
Story continues
But we are now a bit more than two months into the Trump presidency and so far little progress has been made by the administration on any significant piece of legislation related to these goals.
Accordingly, investors have pared their bets, as this chart from JP Morgan shows.
Many Trump trades have given up their outperformance relative to the S&P 500 since the election.
Economic activity rising
But in the background of these deflating Trump trades, along with an improvement in earnings and the smallest cut to forward earnings estimates in the last five years, global economic conditions have also improved.
Despite the political uncertainty, the backdrop of strong economic data has helped drive and sustain the equity market rally, writes David Kostin, U.S. equity strategist at Goldman Sachs.
Our economists MAP index of data surprises broke into positive territory in mid-November and this week reached the highest level since 2013. The data reflect the pace of real US economic growth rising from 2.1% in October to 4.3% in February. This marked the strongest reading of our Current Activity Indicator since 2006 and alone could explain the rise in equities to record highs. (Emphasis added.)
Economic activity has picked up in recent months.
Kostin notes and as the chart highlights that this bump in economic activity has been driven by so-called soft data, or data based more on survey responses than the collection of data from purchases and sales (which is considered hard data).
The contribution of soft data to the recent economic surge suggests that the Trump trade and growth trade are not truly independent, Kostin writes.
Survey data such as the ISM and regional Fed manufacturing surveys have driven most of the CAI improvement in recent months. In contrast, hard data have improved much less and generally continue to reflect the 2%-3% pace of growth they exhibited prior to the election. This divide suggests that rising policy uncertainty may also pose a risk to the economic data.
Readings like blockbuster consumer and business confidence, for instance, have been criticized as showing merely an intention to either spend or invest more. It is the follow-through from this optimism that creates better overall economic growth.
Strong hard data like a better-than-expected February jobs report, for example, have led some economists to argue that the focus on comparing these two types of economic data is misguided.
No one is talking about the hard vs. soft data trope today, Neil Dutta, an economist at Renaissance Macro wrote following the February jobs report.
The data comes from thousands of firms and worksites throughout the country. Aggregate hours worked are up 3.1% annualized in the last three months.
Myles Udland is a writer at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @MylesUdland
Read more from Myles here:
NEA members urge Senate to vote NO on Gorsuch because of his record ruling against students with disabilities Facts are facts, and we fact-checked his record. Judge Gorsuch has ruled against students with disabilities in eight out of 10 cases. --NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia
The Senate Judiciary Committee today advanced the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trumps nominee for the Supreme Court. The National Education Association remains troubled by Judge Neil Gorsuchs record on students with disabilities cases and his testimony about that record during the confirmation hearings.
The following statement can be attributed to NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia:
During questioning about his judicial record, Judge Neil Gorsuch repeatedly described his rulings as unanimous or based on precedent when they were not. Facts are facts, and we fact-checked his record. Judge Gorsuch has ruled against students with disabilities in eight out of 10 cases. In a rare case where Judge Gorsuch ruled for the student, he wrote separately that the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act does not provide services to help students succeed outside of the classroom.
Judge Gorsuchs record has wrongly limited the rights of students with disabilities, and all sitting justices on the Supreme Court agree. Just as Judge Gorsuch was testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Supreme Court unanimously rejected his standard for an appropriate education, which in his view is merely more than no education at all. The bottom line is that Judge Gorsuchs rulings have made it harder for students to get the services and learning environment that are most appropriate for them. Our students deserve better.
The National Education Association will continue to urge our 3 million members to contact their senators to ask them to vote NO on Gorsuchs nomination. We will continue to speak up and ask the very tough questions because our students deserve to know if their rights will be respected by someone who hopes to be a Supreme Court justice.
Follow us on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/NEAMedia
Keep up with the conversation on social media at #STOPGorsuch
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The National Education Association is the nations largest professional employee organization, representing more than 3 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators and students preparing to become teachers.
United Nations Foundation President and CEO Kathy Calvin issued today the following statement on U.S. defunding of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Calvin said,
The United Nations Foundation calls the action to cut vital U.S. support to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) unacceptable and in stark contrast to American values. The U.S. is one of the largest contributors to UNFPA, and eliminating U.S. funds threatens the health and rights of millions of girls and women around the world, particularly those in crisis situations.
UNFPA is on the front lines in more than 150 countries, often in places where the U.S. cant be, providing critical services, such as voluntary family planning, midwife training, pre-natal care and safe delivery services, and working to end child marriage and female genital mutilation. UNFPA does not fund or perform abortions or forced sterilizations anywhere in the world. Instead, the agency offers voluntary family planning to prevent unintended pregnancies which, in turn, empowers girls and women to pursue an education, earn an income, and live more prosperous lives.
UNFPA is often the first and in some cases the only health provider in humanitarian crises. Last year, UNFPA used funding from the U.S. government to reach 9 million people in crisis situations with HIV/AIDS prevention services, domestic violence counseling, pregnancy checkups, safe childbirth and other critical services.
In the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, where girls and women face extraordinary challenges such as malnutrition, trauma, and violence, UNFPA is there to make sure every childbirth is safe. In Iraq, a UNFPA clinic supports women who are survivors of physical abuse, sexual violence, and other horrific atrocities inflicted by ISIL. It is the only such clinic in Iraq and is fully supported by the very U.S. government funds that are now being eliminated.
The U.S. government played a central role in the creation and launch of UNFPA in 1969 and has been an active member of UNFPAs Executive Board over the last 45 years under both Republican and Democratic administrations. U.S. support for UNFPA embodied then what remains true today: Investing in the health and rights of girls and women and empowering them to plan their families and their futures yields direct returns to the U.S. This investment sparks a ripple effect, generating not only strong, healthy, and empowered girls and women, but more stable and prosperous families, communities, and countries.
The health and rights of the worlds most vulnerable girls and women are at risk. The United Nations Foundation calls on the U.S. government to stand up for American values and restore full funding to UNFPA to preserve its lifesaving work around the world.
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About the United Nations Foundation
The United Nations Foundation builds public-private partnerships to address the worlds most pressing problems, and broadens support for the United Nations through advocacy and public outreach. Through innovative campaigns and initiatives, the Foundation connects people, ideas, and resources to help the UN solve global problems. The Foundation was created in 1998 as a U.S. public charity by entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner and now is supported by philanthropic, corporate, government, and individual donors. Learn more at: http://www.unfoundation.org.
Joining ITA gives us a great opportunity to connect with others in the Chicago tech community and grow our business.
Stratosphere Networks, an IT managed service provider, has become a member of the Illinois Technology Association (ITA), a not-for-profit organization that focuses on scaling Illinois tech companies.
ITA has hundreds of members, including big companies like Google, Microsoft, and Gogo, as well as leading growth-stage companies like Outcome Health, SAP Fieldglass, kCura, and SAVO. The organization was founded in 2005 and evolved from the Chicago Software Association and the Illinois IT Association to serve the tech community in Chicago and in Illinois overall. Since 2013, ITA has concentrated its full energy on growth-stage technology companies in response to the changing nature of the local tech industry.
We are excited to welcome Stratosphere Networks to the Illinois Technology Association as a new member, said Julia Kanouse, CEO of the Illinois Technology Association. With 500 corporate members, ITA is committed to helping to scale local tech firms by growing their businesses, their brands and their teams.
The organization offers its members three main benefits: Access to connections that can lead to new business, partnerships and employees; resources for finding and retaining top talent; and increased visibility (e.g., through the ITA blog and newsletter).
Were very pleased to become part of the Illinois Technology Association, said Kevin Rubin, president and COO of Stratosphere Networks. Joining ITA gives us a great opportunity to connect with others in the Chicago tech community and grow our business.
Stratosphere Networks, based in Chicago, provides comprehensive IT support and solutions to businesses of all sizes and across all industries. The company offers full maintenance services, desktop support, disaster recovery, business continuity, proactive monitoring, remote and onsite support, and more. Call 877-599-3999 or email sales@stratospherenetworks.com for more information.
To learn more about ITA, call 312-435-2805, email membership@illinoistech.org, or visit https://www.illinoistech.org.
About Stratosphere Networks
Stratosphere Networks is a Chicago-based multifaceted IT managed service provider focused on delivering comprehensive technology services and solutions to meet and exceed the always-changing, diverse business needs. Since 2003, Stratosphere Networks has grown exponentially and continues to provide the best-in-class and cost-effective solutions to businesses in all industries. Visit http://www.stratospherenetworks.com for more information.
For more information contact:
Lori Leonardo
847-440-8608
LoriL(at)stratospherenetworks(dot)com
The Capriza platform allows Oracle JD Edwards users to easily create mobile applications. With Caprizas platform, customers can create mobile apps based on their JD Edwards business processes quickly and cost-effectively.
Terillium, an award-winning Oracle Platinum Partner specialized in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) consulting, announced today its partnership with Capriza, a leader in enterprise mobility for business applications. By collaborating with Capriza, Terillium can now offer a portfolio of user-friendly mobile apps to Oracle JD Edwards customers. Caprizas platform allows businesses to rapidly transform workflows from any existing applications into simple, intuitive experiences that are accessible anytime, anywhere.
As our customers look to take advantage of mobility, we need to be able to offer them a simple solution to design their own mobile apps. With Caprizas platform, customers can create mobile apps based on their JD Edwards business processes quickly and cost-effectively. The Capriza platform is easy to use, and allows companies to manage all of their mobile functions from a single access point. The rapid deployment available through Capriza will be a game-changer for many of our customers, and we are excited to offer them this solution. said Dan Barford, Vice President, Terillium.
Capriza empowers organizations to mobile-enable critical business workflows for Oracle, SAP, PeopleSoft, Salesforce, and custom-built solutions in days without coding, additional infrastructure, or disruptive upgrades. Capriza inherits all business logic, security, and customizations of existing enterprise systems, driving immediate time to value. More than 100 enterprise customers spanning 30+ industries and 500,000+ users rely on the Capriza platform including City of Los Angeles, DirecTV, Flex, The Linde Group, Titan Machinery and Volvo Financial Services.
Were pleased to partner with Terillium. Their team has an impressive track record of helping businesses successfully deploy enterprise systems. By providing the ability to quickly deploy new mobile apps that give employees access to critical business processes, Capriza and Terillium can help organizations running Oracle JD Edwards remove one of the biggest barriers in achieving value of enterprise mobility. said Aharon Weiner, Head of Business Development, Capriza.
Terillium and Capriza are hosting a webinar for Oracle JD Edwards users on May 16. Visit the webinar registration page to learn more.
About Terillium
Terillium is a Platinum level member of Oracle PartnerNetwork, specialized in Oracles JD Edwards, Oracle NetSuite, and Oracle Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Cloud. As one of the largest, award-winning JD Edwards consulting companies, Terilliums commitment to the JDE community runs deep. With 170 full-time employees, Terillium has helped over 500 businesses with Oracle solutions. Terillium helps JDE customers with implementations, upgrades, software licensing, managed services, cloud applications, special projects, and more. More information can be found on Terillium's website.
About Capriza
Capriza mobile-enables your core applications to make it easy to do business inside and outside your organization. Caprizas enterprise mobility platform empowers IT and business units to mobile-enable critical business workflows in a matter of days without any coding, APIs or integration. Capriza disrupts the speed and economics of the enterprise mobility journey by extending the capabilities of existing applications from SAP, Oracle, Salesforce as well as custom-built solutions in a simple and useable way, onto any smartphone or tablet. Founded in 2011 by former executives of Mercury Interactive, Capriza is headquartered in Palo Alto, CA and is funded by Andreessen Horowitz, CRV, Tenaya Capital, Harmony Partners, Allen & Company, Entre Capital and Vintage Investment.
For more information, visit http://www.capriza.com.
WorkWell Massachusetts Award Program 2017 The WorkWell Massachusetts Awards program honors the employers in the Commonwealth who have best in class worksite wellness programs and demonstrate their commitment to a culture of health and well-being.
The Worksite Wellness Council of Massachusetts (WWCMA) announces the launch of its 2017 WorkWell Massachusetts Awards program aimed to recognize best practices in worksite wellness programing among employers headquartered in Massachusetts. Applications are now being accepted through May 15, 2017. The WorkWell Massachusetts Awards program will recognize Massachusetts employers of all industries and sizes that are committed to creating a healthier worksite.
Applications for gold, silver and bronze recognition will require a two-step process:
1. Complete the [HERO Health and Well-Being Best Practices Scorecard in Collaboration with Mercer. The HERO scorecard assesses: strategic planning, targeted planning, program design and integration, engagement and evaluation.
2. Complete a set of supplemental questions to understand your organizations wellness program and top line areas of overall wellness programming and results.
The WorkWell Massachusetts Awards program honors the employers in the Commonwealth who have best in class worksite wellness programs and demonstrate their commitment to a culture of health and well-being. We are looking forward to organizations, large and small, that represent all types of industry sectors, apply this year, states Archana Kansagra, WWCMA Board Director and Awards & Recognition Board Chair.
A committee of independent industry professionals who have been appointed by WWCMA will review the applications. Winners will be notified in August and announced at the WWCMAs 6th Annual Conference at Gillette Stadium on September 19, 2017.
Applications for the 2017 WorkWell Massachusetts Awards are open from April 1 May 15, 2017 and accessible through WWCMAs website.
Additional resources and information:
1969 Janis Joplin Duke University in Durham, North Carolina Concert Poster The poster has an unique pinkish color scheme and features a striking photo of Janis.
Avid collector, Andrew Hawley, announces his search for 1969 Janis Joplin Duke University in Durham, North Carolina concert posters. This was Joplins solo show after leaving Big Brother and the Holding Company. The show was on March 1. According to Hawley, The poster has an unique pinkish color scheme and features a striking photo of Janis. The show was promoted by the Duke Student Union Major Attractions Committee. Joplin was back by the Kozmic Blues Band. Tickets were available in three local record stores and on the Duke campus at the Quad. The poster is 14 x 22 inches and was nailed on to telephone poles to advertise the upcoming concert. For examples of Fillmore Era style concert posters, go to http://www.vintageconcertposterbuyer.com/fillmore_era/janis_joplin.html.
If you have an original Janis Joplin Duke University concert poster, Hawley is willing to pay $3,000 cash for it. He is also seeking authentic 1967-1970 the Janis Joplin concert posters. Please call 310-346-1965 or email andrew (at) vintageconcertposterbuyer.com.
New York investment banker Suresh Varadarajan has joined Ocean Park to serve as a managing director based in New York. Suresh Varadarajans global food, beverage and ag industry mergers and acquisitions expertise deepens our team. He will spearhead our efforts in the food and ingredients sectors, and establish Ocean Parks presence in New York.
New York investment banker Suresh Varadarajan has joined Ocean Park, helping the boutique investment bank expand its food and beverage industry expertise and giving the company a presence coast-to-coast. He will serve as a managing director based in New York.
Varadarajan has nearly 20 years of investment banking experience in the U.S. and Europe. He has advised on a wide range of public, private and cross-border transactions and for much of his career has covered the food and beverage, agribusiness and consumer products industries. Prior to joining Ocean Park, he worked at Rabobank, Rothschild and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein.
Suresh Varadarajans global food, beverage and ag industry mergers and acquisitions expertise deepens our team, said Bruce Comer, founder of the company. He will spearhead our efforts in the food and ingredients sectors, and establish Ocean Parks presence in New York. Food, beverage and ingredients are a natural extension of our renewable fuels and ag processing practices.
About Ocean Park
Ocean Park is a boutique investment bank that advises on mergers and acquisitions, financings and restructurings with extensive experience in the renewable fuels, cleantech, food and agribusiness industries. The firm is based in Los Angeles, California, with a presence in Omaha, Nebraska and New York, New York. Any securities are offered through Ocean Park Securities, LLC, a member of FINRA and SIPC. Ocean Park's professionals are licensed registered representatives of Ocean Park Securities, LLC. For more information, please visit http://www.oceanpk.com or call (310) 670-2093.
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Taylor Made Farm has several options for events, including this barn at the end of a beautiful tree-lined drive. Were excited to host events and offer more people an insiders view of how a Thoroughbred farm operates, said Taylor Made President & CEO Duncan Taylor. People want to experience the beauty of the horse and our unique landscape."
For those who have imagined immersing themselves in the beauty of the Horse Capital of the World while dining or sipping their favorite beverage, there is now a rare opportunity to do just that. Taylor Made Farm, once the home of Triple Crown and Breeders' Cup winner American Pharoah and now the home of newly retired California Chrome, two-time Horse of the Year and earner of $14 million, is now accepting private events.
Taylor Made Farm is part of Kentucky's Horse Country located in the Bluegrass Region, the 1,100-acre farm gives guests a behind-the-scenes equine experience. The family-owned farm breeds, raises and consigns Thoroughbred for owners and trainers from around the world.
Were excited to host events and offer more people an insiders view of how a Thoroughbred farm operates, said Taylor Made President & CEO Duncan Taylor. People want to experience the beauty of the horse and our unique landscape. Theres been so much demand that we finally decided it was time to share our farm in this way.
VisitLEX, Lexington's Convention and Visitor's Center, confirmed the high degree of interest in a Thoroughbred farm event venue.
"We have wonderful hotels and meeting spaces for corporations and other groups planning events in Central Kentucky. But it was always disappointing to tell event managers we could not accommodate them with a farm for their dinner, reception or other event," said VisitLEX Vice President of Sales & Services Marci Krueger-Sidebottom. "With the addition of Taylor Made, we can offer conventions a venue they will find nowhere else in the world."
Taylor Made partnered with local destination management company Destination Bluegrass, Inc. to schedule and manage arrangements with event sponsors. The company helped Taylor Made create four package options named for famous stakes winners that will fit well for any private or corporate event.
"We've planned and managed events for companies and associations of all sizes all over the world. Using that experience, we developed packages that groups can use as the starting point for their events. We will help them customize everything from there," said Destination Bluegrass CEO Karla Stahlman.
The California Chrome Event Package is set within the atmosphere of the Stallion Complex. The world's most popular racehorse, California Chrome, retired to Taylor Made in January as the reigning Horse of the Year. The Stallion Complex area is perfect for private dinners or fundraiser events and overlooks the Taylor Made Farm paddocks.
The American Pharoah Package highlights the past champions raised at Taylor Made. This space is located where numerous Breeders' Cup Champions and the most recent Triple Crown Winner, American Pharoah, have grazed. A grand, tree-lined entrance welcomes guests who are free to explore barns, show areas and scenic bluegrass pastures.
The Havre De Grace Package is inspired by the 5-year-old mare that set a new record when she sold for $10 million in 2012. This venue features the historic round pin at Taylor Made Farm, where the unique training facility has helped numerous champions get their starts in the racing world. Leave your guests astounded when they gaze across expansive views of the pastures where the yearlings romp and play.
Last but not least, experience the home of million dollar horses and foals with The Ashado Event Package, This package was thoughtfully named after the seven-time Grade 1 winner that Taylor Made Farm raised and sold for $9 million in 2005. This package is filled with heritage and natural beauty and lets guests embrace the heart of the Thoroughbred industry through its mares and foals. The barn accommodates plenty of options for guests.
Justin Thompson, Editor-in-chief of The Bourbon Review, praised the farm after he had an exclusive, advance opportunity to host his publication's annual Bourbon Shindig at Taylor Made.
Our event at Taylor Made Farm can be described as nothing short of an absolute success. Their staff communicated clearly with us and was very helpful in accommodating set-up and tear-down. Their flexibility with what caterer we could work with was also a huge plus, said Thompson. But the real reason we wanted to host our event at Taylor Made, was the picturesque landscape that provided our guests a genuine Bluegrass experience. We plan on making Taylor Made our home for this event, for many years to come.
A Taylor Made "Insider Presentation" offers insights from a farm representative and a farm tour is always an option. Additional package enhancements include bourbon and wine tastings, a meet & greet with a jockey or racing aficionado, photo opportunities with a famous race horse, VIP seating at the iconic Keeneland racecourse, access to prints from famed equine photographer, Tony Leonard and much more.
We can't wait to share our farm and horsemanship with corporations and other organizations. We promise to deliver a unique and memorable experience, said Taylor.
Several price points are available to accommodate most event types. For customized packages and more information about pricing, or to schedule your event, visit taylormadeadvantage.com/events, call 859-264-7822 or email info(at)DestinationBluegrass(dot)net.
About Taylor Made
Taylor Made is an international leader in Thoroughbred breeding, boarding, and sales located in the heart of Kentuckys Bluegrass Region. Taylor Made is owned and operated by the Taylor brothers (Duncan, Ben, Frank, and Mark) and a longtime friend Pat Payne. Their father, the late horseman Joseph Lannon Taylor mentored the brothers who began working on a horse farm as children. Today, several of the Taylor and Payne children are making an impact in the industry following in their fathers footsteps. Taylor Made is responsible for breeding, raising, boarding or selling many of the industrys most prominent Thoroughbreds for over 40 years. To date Taylor Made has sold over $2 billion in Thoroughbred racehorses and has been the Worlds leading Thoroughbred consigner for 18 of the past 20 years. For more information, visit http://www.taylormadeadvantage.com.
About Destination Bluegrass
Destination Bluegrass is Lexingtons first full-service destination management company (DMC). Its team brings a depth of local knowledge and offers a comprehensive range of event planning and management services customized to provide an authentic destination experience for event planners and clients. From the starting gate to the finish line, they make sure every event is a winner. For more information, visit destinationbluegrass.net.
WASHINGTON (AP) Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, presidential relatives with powerful White House jobs, can help shape America's foreign and domestic policies.
They've also built a business empire worth as much as $740 million that has ties around the world, newly released financial disclosures show.
What happens when their government and private sector worlds collide?
Like other federal employees, the daughter and son-in-law of the president are required to adhere to transparency and ethics rules, and by law they cannot take any action in their government positions that affects their individual financial holdings.
New disclosures of the breadth and tangle of Kushner's financial holdings demonstrate why determining whether either White House adviser is violating the rules is no simple question. If they help the president on tax reform, trade policy or banking regulations, the couple are likely to face a steady stream of ethics challenges and calls for recusal, forcing them to balance their desire to work on those issues against the political impact that negative attention may bring to the president and themselves.
"The problem with conflicts is that they rarely present themselves in black and white," said Peter Henning, a law professor at Wayne State University who wrote a book about public corruption.
President Donald Trump doesn't face the same issues. The president, who broke with precedent to retain a financial interest in his real estate empire, and vice president are not subject to the conflicts of interest laws that govern his employees, although the anti-bribery statute and others do apply. Trump has said he believes he can't have a conflict.
"I could actually run my business and run government at the same time," he said in January. "I don't like the way that looks, but I would be able to do that if I wanted to."
White House officials, meanwhile, may face regular dilemmas, including assessing whether they're getting too close to crossing a legal line. That's not so simple.
It might "look bad" if Kushner helps negotiate a tax reform proposal that continues to allow real estate investors such as himself to carry forward losses, Henning said. But because so many in his industry would benefit, Henning said Kushner would probably be on the right side of the conflict laws even if there is a political price to pay.
If, however, Kushner presses for a special tax provision that only he and a few others would benefit from, "well, there you're getting much closer to a real conflict," Henning said.
Richard Painter, a former White House ethics counselor to President George W. Bush who has been sharply critical of the Trump administration's handling of conflicts issues, argues, however, that banking regulation, taxes and trade cut too close to Kushner and Ivanka Trump's interests. "I think there are pretty clear problems with the criminal statute if they weigh in on any of those areas," he said.
Kushner and Ivanka Trump will recuse themselves from advising on policies when necessary, their lawyers say, though they haven't publicly spelled out when they would do so.
Kushner and Ivanka Trump are working with outside attorneys, the Office of the White House Counsel and the Office of Government Ethics. They resigned from all positions at their companies and have divested from 58 of what could have been the most problematic businesses and investments, such as a Manhattan skyscraper seeking new investment partners.
Still, Kushner holds hundreds of remaining entities, most of them tied to commercial real estate. Ivanka Trump continues to benefit from her fashion brand, which includes clothing largely manufactured overseas and imported.
Divesting, as Kushner did with the skyscraper, is the first and, according to government watchdogs, best step in avoiding conflicts of interest.
Like Kushner, others joining the White House have sold or are selling certain troublesome holdings. For example, former Goldman Sachs executives Gary Cohn, Trump's chief economic adviser, and Dina Powell, deputy national security adviser, are divesting from their Goldman holdings, according to the financial disclosures and paperwork from the Office of Government Ethics.
Official also can recuse themselves, meaning that a government employee steps aside on issues that can help his or her individual financial holdings. Failure to do so can lead to a Department of Justice investigation.
In addition to his Goldman holdings, Cohn also indicated he is selling roughly $17 million worth of stock in the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. It was unclear Monday whether that sale had occurred. In the meantime, some government watchdogs say Cohn should have been recusing himself from all economic issues involving China including a summit being held later this week at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
"At the end of the day, there's a lot of self-policing that takes place here," said Scott Amey, senior counsel for the Project on Government Oversight, an outside group in Washington that monitors ethics issues.
It is up to the employee to share information about business relationships that may pose conflicts, and then it is up to the White House ethics counselor to take a "hands-on" approach in making sure the employee does not cross any ethical boundaries, he said.
CHICAGO (AP) An arrest warrant has been issued for a second teenage boy in the sexual assault of a 15-year-old Chicago girl that was streamed live on Facebook, and further arrests are expected, police said Sunday.
A day after announcing the arrest of a 14-year-old boy on sexual assault and child pornography charges, police said they were looking for a 15-year-old suspect in the March 19 attack, which investigators have said involved five or six males. Investigators didn't specify how many others would likely be charged, but they did say one adult male was among them.
Police were careful not to release too many details of the ongoing investigation, but they did provide some that helped illustrate why Superintendent Eddie Johnson remained visibly upset as he has been since the investigation began.
Commander Brendan Deenihan said that the victim saw one of the suspects, whom she knew, on the day of the attack. She said the suspect "lured" her into the home of one of the offenders in the North Lawndale neighborhood on the city's West Side, where she also lives.
"She was not allowed to leave and she did not consent to what occurred," he said.
Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the girl was threatened by suspects, but he would not say what those threats entailed.
Deenihan also said there were multiple cellphone videos made of the attack, not just the one streamed live on Facebook that was viewed by about 40 people none of whom reported it.
"It disgusts me that we have people who would look at those videos and not pick up a phone and dial 911," he said.
Deenihan declined to say if either of the teens who are already facing charges streamed the live video. But the charges against the 14-year-old aggravated criminal sexual assault, manufacturing of child pornography and dissemination of child pornography suggest that he shot video or took photographs of the attack, Guglielmi said.
Last month, the girl's mother told The Associated Press that her daughter received online threats following the attack and that neighborhood kids were ringing her doorbell looking for the girl, who hasn't returned to the neighborhood. On Sunday, Deenihan said police were investigating what he called "social media bullying" and that detectives have "executed social media search warrants" in the case.
He said the girl is traumatized and reluctant to talk about the attack, and that she's going to need help for a long time. After the news conference, Guglielmi said city officials and the Cook County State's Attorney's office have relocated the girl to a "safe place," but he declined to elaborate.
It was a warm summer day, 65 million years ago (we know about the weather because of the fossil record), when a comet struck the Earth and 70 percent of all living things including the dinosaurs died. When it hit, the comet blasted a 130-mile-wide crater in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico.
That collision wasnt the first. Large strikes that cause extinctions seem to happen every 30 million years and the hits seem to have a rhythm of 26 to 32 million years. The largest ones were 145 million years ago, 215 million years ago, 250 million years ago (the BIG ONE, where 90 percent of Earth's living things were killed), 360 million years ago and 438 million years ago.
Comet and asteroid strikes that killed from 10 percent to 50 percent of living things have happened as well. These include the 35-million-year-old, 40-kilometer-wide crater below Chesapeake Bay in Virginia.
Encounters with comets that do not cause large extinctions happen every 10,000 years. The smallest collisions -- such as the 1908 comet that flattened 40 square miles in Siberia -- happen every 100 years.
Comets are all around us. Some orbit near Jupiter and the sun, such as Shoemaker Levy 9, which broke into nine parts and hit Jupiter in July 1992. Others orbit past Pluto in the Kuiper Belt, such as Halley's Comet.
The Kuiper Belt orbits around our sun, starting at 30 to 50 AU (an "Astronomical Unit" is the distance from our Earth to the sun) possibly ending at 800 to 1,000 AU. It contains ice dwarfs, micro planets, asteroids and comets. The majority of comets -- over a billion -- orbit farther out in the Oort Comet Belt which begins about 3,000 AU and goes past 100,000 AU.
Something out there has been pushing comets at us every 30 million years. Several theories about the possible culprit, put out in the 1980s and 1990s, have not yet been proved. Here are three:
-- Nemesis: A companion star that orbits close to our sun every 30 million years and knocks comets out of the Oort Comet Belt. Half of the shifted comets leave our solar system and half travel toward our sun and Earth. We havent found Nemesis and we have a better list of the other stars near us and their orbits -- none of which are near enough to cause changes in Oort objects' paths.
-- Planet X: A large planet in the Oort Comet Belt. As it orbits, it affects the orbits of the smaller bodies, sending some our way. Planet X was supposed to be as large as Earth but was never found (more on this later).
-- Galactic Rotation: Our sun travels around our galaxy and as we rotate around it our path moves up and down, much like riding waves on the ocean. At some point, our sun nears other stars or thick gas fields, which change the comets' routes.
In 2015, a hidden planet was discovered in the Kuiper Belt and it may be responsible for the periodic comet strikes. This planet, dubbed Planet Nine, is larger and closer than Planet X was thought to be, but it is possible it could push comets close to us.
Planet Nine could be 10 times the size of Earth but we can't see it; it's too far out and too dim to be seen with our current telescopes.
How do we know it's there? Mathematically!
In their January 2016 Astronomical Journal article, Caltech astronomers Konstantin Batygin and Michael Brown wrote that 11 dwarf planets and large asteroids in the Kuiper Belt, including Sedna, which is 995 km in size, have orbits that cluster together. Their orbits all close together in the same area, less the 30 degrees apart, without the objects hitting each other.
This couldn't have happened by chance! The probability is only 0.007 percent. The clustering couldn't happen unless there was a large planet forcing the orbits of these 11 large bodies together.
The hidden planet may have an orbit that's 300 AU by 700 AU in size and passes through the orbits of the affected bodies. An orbit this large could take 10,000 to 20,000 years to complete.
It could be many years before our telescopes are big enough and the hidden planet is close enough for us to see it.
This unseen planet is big enough to cluster 11 large bodies but is it responsible for the periodic strikes? Only more research will tell us, so well keep looking up!
You can find information online for Planet 9. Search for "Caltech 9th Planet Kuiper Belt." For comet strikes read "Fire On Earth," by John and Mary Gribbin. For Planet X, read the January 1985 article in Nature. It was written by Daniel Whitmore and John Matese.
Dino Milani is a member of the Popular Astronomy Club which meets at 7 p.m. the second Monday of each month in the John Deere Planetarium at Augustana College, Rock Island. The club also has night-time public observing sessions the third Saturday of the month, March through November, at Niabi Zoo in Coal Valley.
G'day! It's Murray here. I've put together a little quiz to test your musical knowledge. Think you can score top marks in Murray's Magic Music Quiz? Give it a go now!
The funds are being provided through the New Building Canada Fund and the announcement was accompanied by news that more than 300 additional projects in Ontario have been approved under the Public Transit Infrastructure Fund.
The federal government says the investment is being provided as the benefits of public transit...are well understood. So too is the cost of inaction.
The RER project involves the introduction of 15-minute interval bi-directional services throughout the day on five of the seven Go Transit commuter rail corridors serving the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA), with 150km of new dedicated track, electrification, new trains, elimination of level crossings, and new and upgraded stations.
Over the last few years the province has made significant progress towards modernising the entire GO network, allocating $C 13.5bn towards GO RER and another $C 7.8bn to upgrade and extend the GO network to include a regular service to Niagara and Bowmanville, says the premier of Ontario Ms Kathleen Wynne. At $C 21.3bn, the GO capital programme is the largest commuter rail programme in Canada. It is great that the federal government is now investing in this transformation.
More families are choosing to settle in communities like Etobicoke, says Canadas prime minister Mr Justin Trudeau. These communities are growing at a rapid rate, and investment in public transit needs to keep pace. That is why we're investing in the GO rail network and over 300 additional projects in Ontario to reduce commute times, decrease air pollution, and improve the lives of millions of Ontarians.
Along with the province of Ontarios contribution to the GO RER, the federal government says this commitment will be the single largest transit project in which it has ever invested.
For more information on commuter rail projects around the world, subscribe to IRJ Pro.
The new trains will be delivered in three variants: 19 160km/h Coradia Liner trains consisting of 10 110m-long six-car dual-mode trains, and nine 72m-long four-car EMUs, both of which will deployed on main line services; and 11 72m-long four-car Coradia Regiolis EMUs for regional services. The six-car trains will accommodate up to 300 passengers, while the four-car trains will have capacity for 165 passengers.
Delivery is set to commence from September 2018 and Alstom says the order guarantees work at its Reichshoffen site, one of six French plants supplying the trains, for 2018.
The new trains will be deployed on the following routes:
Paris - Amiens - Boulogne
Paris/Bourges - Montlucon
Clermont-Ferrand - Nimes (Cevenol)
Toulouse - Hendaye
Bordeaux - La Rochelle, and
Bordeaux - Limoges
Alstom says the trains utilise distributed traction and that energy consumption is lower than previous models. The trains architecture is designed for straightforward maintenance. And with large doors to optimise passenger flow, the trains are accessible to all passengers. They also feature large bay windows and ambient interior lighting, while the reclining seats are fitted with armrests equipped with power points.
The latest order follows the introduction of the first of 34 Coradia Liner trains on Intercity routes in February.
For more information on fleet orders from around the world, subscribe to IRJ Pro.
The California High-Speed Rail Authority said construction progress continues apace on its corridor through the central part of the state.
Construction is proceeding at 11 sites in three packages, most between Madera and Fresno.
In Madera County, Route 27 is being raised to eliminate a grade crossing over BNSF and HSR tracks; barrier forms are being built and concrete poured for the Fresno River viaduct, and Avenue 12 and 8 are being realigned to cross over freight and high-speed lines.
In north Fresno construction continues on the San Joaquin Viaduct; in central Fresno State Route 99 is being shifted to make room for the HSR right-of-way. In Fresno, work on the Fresno Trench and State Route 180 Passageway are underway, to take the high-speed train beneath a rail spur, canal and highway 180.
The new, higher Tuolumne Street bridge in Fresno is getting lighting, utilities relocation and other items. When completed the bridge will carry road traffic over Union Pacific and HSR tracks.
In South Fresno work is ongoing to build the supports for the Cedar Viaduct along state road 99 in south Fresno. The viaduct for HSR trains will be 80 feet tall at its highest point.
The $2-billion Central Valley projects form the backbone of Californias High-Speed Rail line that ultimately will connect San Francisco with Los Angeles.
For more information on high-speed rail projects, subscribe to IRJ Pro.
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It's still too soon to say who is responsible for the bombing of the subway in St. Petersburg, Russiabut it wouldn't be surprising if international terrorists were responsible. Russia is fast replacing the United States as the No. 1 enemy of Al Qaeda, the Islamic State and other Sunni jihadist groups motivated by violent and puritanical Salafist ideology.
This shift is rooted in recent Russian actions in the Middle Eastincluding its escalating intervention in Syria and its moves toward intervention in Libya with the recent deployment of special forces to an air base in Egyptthat have drawn the ire of militant Sunnis worldwide and elevated Russia as the jihadists' top target. And if the Islamic State's caliphate in Syria collapses and foreign fighters, an estimated 2,400 of whom are from Russia, attempt to return home and fix their sights on the Kremlin, the situation could dramatically worsen for Moscow.
Terrorist groups have made their changing priorities clear. In an ISIS video titled Soon Very Soon Blood Will Spill Like an Ocean, an ISIS fighter threatens Russian leader Vladimir Putin directly, citing the country's intervention in Syria and its growing alliance with Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, Iran and the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah as proof that Moscow is the chief proponent of a growing Shiite axis throughout the Middle East. Forty other Syrian rebel groups have concurred, pointedly saying that any occupation force to our beloved country is a legitimate target.
Russia has been the primary force propping up the Assad regime, which has waged a bloody six-year war against anti-government insurgents, most of whom are Sunnis. The political and military alliance between Russia and Iran is also deepening as the countries work together to help Assad reclaim pockets of territory from rebels. Russian Special Forces and warplanes have served as a force multiplier for Hezbollah fighters who have bloodied Sunni militants in battle, most recently in Palmyra.
The cooperation between Russia and Shiite powers in the region has come with a price.
But the cooperation between Russia and Shiite powers in the region has come with a price. ISIS has already expressed a desire and ability to strike Russian targets, with its affiliate in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula claiming responsibility for the downing of Metrojet flight 9268 after it departed Sharm El-Sheikh for St. Petersburg in October 2015.
Russian actions in the Middle East have antagonized militant jihadists, but its actions closer to home are even more provocative. In addition to Russia's newfound penchant for adventurism in Muslim countries, its military has waged a draconian on-again, off-again counterinsurgency campaign against a patchwork of Sunni militants from Ingushetia to Ossetia in the Caucasus.
Russia has been battling various militant groups there for years, but the state of political violence in the Caucasus has changed in important ways over the past two decades. The primary ideology guiding the militants has morphed from secular-nationalist to Islamist in nature. This transformation means that the militants are even less willing to consider a negotiated political settlement than at any point in the history of the conflict. At the same time, the center of gravity of the insurgency has shifted from Chechnya to Dagestan, with the Islamic State's Caucasus Governorate holding sway in those two territories as well as others nearbyKabarda, Balkaria and Karachaywhile the Al Qaeda-affiliated Caucasus Emirate clings to its turf in Cherkessia and Nogay Steppe.
The Russian intervention in Syria has only accelerated these changes in the Caucasus region. A competition for recruits and resources is intensifying between the two dominant jihadist entities, fostering decentralization of the insurgency. As Caucasian jihadists have departed for the battlefield in Syria, violence has decreased throughout Chechnyaat least for the time beingwhile it has increased dramatically throughout Dagestan.
Russia is no stranger to terrorist violence. Jihadists have been responsible for major attacks against the Russian state, including the Moscow theater hostage crisis in 2002, the Beslan school siege in 2004, the Moscow Metro bombings in 2010 and the Domodedovo Airport suicide attack in 2011, to name a few.
And to be sure, there are several other important factors responsible for the attenuation of the insurgency in parts of Russia's periphery, including the selective targeting of insurgents and their supporters, and the infiltration and the elimination of insurgent groups. Through a campaign of targeted assassinations, Russian counterinsurgents have killed successive high-ranking insurgent military commanders, including Dzokhar Dudaev in 1996, Zelimkhan Yaderbiyev in 1997, Aslan Maskhadov in 2005, Abdul-Halim Sadulayev in 2006 and Doku Umarov in 2013.
During the First Chechen War, from 1994 to 1996, the Russian military largely pursued a scorched-earth policy ( PDF ) of destroying everything in sight. Since then, typical Russian counterinsurgency strategy in the Caucasus has been characterized by zachistkas, or mop-up operations. Other tactics have included forced disappearances and the employment of collective punishment, such as targeting the friends and relatives of suspected insurgents.
Russia's authoritarian approach to counterinsurgency has been considered effective, but it is myopic, trading away enduring stability for security in the short term.
Russia's authoritarian approach to counterinsurgency has been considered effective, if not brutal. But the heavy-handed approach is myopic, trading away enduring stability for security in the short term. In line with Russia's seeming refusal to even attempt to win hearts and minds, the insurgents' social, political and economic grievances have gone largely unaddressed, practically ensuring that future generations of militants will pick up the mantle of jihad.
Despite the fallout and subsequent competition for recruits and resources between the Caucasus Emirate and the Islamic State's Caucasus Governorate, one issue that might unite these feuding Sunni factions is a shared hatred of Shiitesand their main patron, Putin's Russia.
In the lead-up to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russian authorities actually encouraged Sunni militants on its soil to depart for Syria to wage jihad. The thinking behind that move: The militants would leave for Syria and stout Russian border controlsor the Russian Air Forcewould prevent them from returning.
But that strategy is hardly foolproof, as it takes only a few militants to slip through the system and wreak havoc. For this reason, some scholars are comparing the threat posed by the current crop of foreign fighters in Syria to an earlier group of mujahideen that came together to fight against the Soviets in Afghanistan during the 1980s.
Russia is a nation of master chess players, and its foreign policy typically looks two or three moves ahead. But its deepening involvement in the Middle East morass means that Moscow has now chosen sides in a sectarian conflict abroada strategy that could lead to tragedy at home.
Colin P. Clarke is a political scientist at the RAND Corporation and an associate fellow at the International Center for Counter Terrorism. He is the author of Terrorism, Inc.: The Financing of Terrorism, Insurgency, and Irregular Warfare.
This commentary originally appeared on Politico on April 3, 2017. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis.
Investigation into bribery case against FSB officers extended
MOSCOW, April 3 (RAPSI) Investigation into criminal case against former and current officers of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), who stand charged with taking a 5-million-ruble bribe ($77,000), was extended until June 6, lawyer Dagir Khasavov told RAPSI on Monday.
On Monday, the Moscow Garrison Military Court considers extension of detention for the defendants until the same date.
As reported earlier, Vlad Novikov, a former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), and Karen Krayukhin, an officer still in FSB service, have been arrested on suspicion of taking a bribe from the Turkish construction firm Esta Construction.
Esta Construction lawyer Valerian Kochergin, who has been recognized as victim in the case, has filed a 10-million-ruble civil lawsuit against defendants. He seeks 5 million rubles ($77,000) in compensation for property damage and 5 million rubles in moral damages.
Investigators claim that Esta Construction has been fined over 37 million rubles ($570,000) for violation of migration legislation. The companys lawyer in order to avoid payment of the fine asked the defendants for help in the termination of the case for 5 million rubles ($77,000).
Esta Construction is a contracting company established by Bahattin Demirbilek in Moscow in 2006 and operating as a general contractor and project designer in international construction market, the firms website says.
Chinese energy giant PetroChina Co. Ltd. PTR announced 2016 earnings of RMB 7,900 million or RMB 0.04 per diluted share the lowest on record compared with RMB 35,653 million or RMB 0.19 per diluted share a year earlier.
Earnings per ADR came in at 22 cents, nowhere near the Zacks Consensus estimate of 75 cents. Moreover, Chinas dominant oil and gas producers total revenue for the year fell 6% from 2015 to RMB 1,616,903 million.
The negative comparisons can be primarily attributable to the multi-year collapse in oil prices, which pummeled PetroChina's biggest unit exploration and production to a meagre profit.
PetroChina followed another big energy name from the country CNOOC Ltd. CEO in reporting dismal results. However, the third state-backed oil and gas firm, Sinopec SNP saw its profits soar on refining gains.
Despite the poor showing, PetroChina has decided to follow its state-owned rivals in boosting 2017 capital expenditure. The group pegged its 2017 capital budget at RMB 191.3 billion, up 11% from what it invested in 2016 as it focuses to cash in on the recovery in crude prices. PetroChina also expects oil production to fall around 4.5% this year.
12-Month Segment Performance
Upstream: PetroChina, one of the world's largest oil company by market value and 60% the size of ExxonMobil Corp. XOM, posted disappointing upstream output during the twelve months ended Dec 31, 2016. In particular, crude oil output accounting for 63% of the total fell 5.3% from the year-ago period to 920.7 million barrels (MMBbl). This was partly offset by marketable natural gas output, which was up 4.6% to 3,274.5 billion cubic feet (Bcf). As a result, PetroChinas total production of oil and natural gas declined 1.8% year over year to 1,466.6 million barrels of oil equivalent.
Moreover, average realized crude oil price during 2016 was $37.99 per barrel, representing a 21.4% decline from the year-ago period. This affected the upstream (or exploration & production) segment results, which posted an operating income of just RMB 3,148 million compared to a much larger operating profit of RMB 33,961 million in 2015.
Story continues
Downstream: The Beijing-based companys Refining & Chemicals business generated an operating income of RMB 39,026 million. This marks a significant increase from the year-earlier period earnings of RMB 4,883 million. The improvement in the downstream division was due to cost control initiatives, higher share of high valued-added chemical products and operational flexibility to adjust to market conditions.
PetroChinas refinery division processed 953.3 MMBbl of crude oil during the twelve-month period, down 4.5% from 2015. The company produced 9.078 million tons of synthetic resin in the period (a rise of 10.5% year over year), besides manufacturing 5.589 million tons of ethylene (up 11.1%). It also produced 86.022 million tons of gasoline, diesel and kerosene during the period against 91.933 million tons a year earlier.
Natural Gas & Pipelines: Revenue fell 12% to RMB 247,477 million on a sharp drop in natural gas prices, which was partly offset by improved pipeline transportation profitability. To combat the pricing woes, the Chinese behemoth enforced strict control in natural gas import costs, improved operating efficiency and adjusted its marketing strategy.
However, PetroChina lost money to the tune of RMB 14,884 million on the sales of imported natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Central Asia and Burma. This pulled down the Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) groups natural gas business income to RMB 17,885 million in 2016, a substantial decline from the year-earlier profit of RMB 51,231 million. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Marketing: In marketing operations, the state-owned group sold 159.11 million tons of gasoline, diesel and kerosene during JanDec 2016, a modest decrease of 0.6% year over year. Lower volumes were accompanied by a decrease in product prices due to which sales for the division were down 6% to RMB 1,301,616 million.
However, PetroChina was able to counter the adverse factors slow domestic refined products demand growth and fierce competition by exploiting numerous marketing channels, optimizing the sales structure and utilizing international trade practices to its benefit. This meant that the segment swung to a profit of RMB 11,048 million from an operating loss of RMB 500 million last year.
Liquidity & Capital Expenditure
At the end of 2016, the stocks cash balance was RMB 97,931 million, while cash flow from operating activities was RMB 265,179 million. Capital expenditure for the year was RMB 172,386 million, down 15% from the year-ago level.
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The executive orders on climate change recently issued by new President Donald Trump technically call mostly for a review of federal policies concerning climate. Thus, their impacts on the substance of federal regulation will be delayed for a considerable time and likely muted by the complexities of federal rule-making.
Still, Trumps rationale and suggested actions for dismantling U.S. efforts to slow the effects of global warming are stunning compared to previous American presidents, even ones that at times expressed skepticism about the governments role in dealing with the problem. Trumps rhetoric is so revolutionary that it will likely engender skepticism to his arguments in the courts and hasten a political backlash.
Leading figures in the movement to delay or stop government action on climate once stressed the need to wait for China to act. Now, that China has moved swiftly to limit its use of coal part of an effort to clean up urban air and slow climate change this argument has lost its punch. The skeptics have had greater success with the defense that the science is still uncertain.
The plea to wait for more certainty has some appeal on first hearing, although suspension of all doubt is hardly a common feature of scientific endeavors. It has allowed skeptics to avoid challenging well substantiated data that human activities have added to the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and that global temperatures and sea levels are rising. Using the uncertainty argument, the skeptics do not have to dispute the relatively good (but still incomplete) understanding of the various gases going into the atmosphere due to human activities. They can always find something still to be known as a reason to delay.
The statements from Trump and his key lieutenants on climate policy suggest theyre pretty sure they know what is happening without any further inquiry. As a candidate, Trump called climate science a hoax. New EPA head Scott Pruitt on Mar. 9 said he did not agree that human activity was a primary contributor to global warming. More recently, budget chief Mick Mulvaney said federal spending on climate change was a waste of money and released a budget proposal that slashed spending on climate data collection and science the very programs that would help us learn more. None of these positions mesh well with the uncertainty argument.
Such statements will likely complicate the job of people assigned to implement the Trump agenda on climate, as they slog through rule-making and inevitable legal challenges, because they will be forced to make arguments with the vast preponderance of evidence on the other side.
The Trump administration is trying to give its climate agenda the patina of an energy independence initiative. But it is difficult to regard this as a genuine concern, as opposed to a marketing strategy to mask the adverse environmental impacts of his proposals.
The year before Barrack Obama assumed the presidency, U.S. net imports of oil (the most strategically important of the fossil fuels) stood at 57 percent. In his last year in office, net imports had fallen to 25 percent. This rapid progress on a key energy metric brought with it more jobs for Americans and the ability to deal more forcefully with major oil exporters posing threats to world order. The battle to lessen dependence on foreign energy does not require getting to zero imports and has largely been won.
Besides exaggerating the urgency of the energy independence argument, Trump has adopted positions that would suggest he has little interest in achieving it. Energy independence has generally been associated with vehicle fuel efficiency; yet the new president has called for a review and eventual weakening of efficiency standards. Robust energy research and development has been a major ingredient of energy independence; yet Trump proposes to slash these budgets. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) has been an important part of lessening U.S. dependence on foreign oil; yet Trump has done nothing to stop congress from selling off a major portion of the existing stockpile. Under cross-examination, Trump defenders will have a hard time explaining the administrations commitment to energy independence.
Along similar lines, the president has argued he is leading the battle against the war on fossil fuels. During the period 2008 to 2016, the production of fossil fuels in the United States rose 14 percent. There was a shift away from coal for electric generation, but it was accompanied by boom in domestic oil and natural gas, due to the rising production of what were previously considered unconventional resources.
Traditional energy industries have complained about recent environment regulations, but if Trump argues he is resisting a war on fossil fuels, his lawyers will have a hard time coming up with the proof the industry has suffered much from federal actions. The current problems for the fossil fuels companies stem mainly from low prices that result from more production than the market can readily absorb.
Trumps view of the world imagines an intractable conflict between economic growth and environmental protection. The data from recent years, however, suggests otherwise. We can have job creation, sustained economic growth, and improved environmental protection at the same time. Investments in solar energy, wind power, and energy efficiency, moreover, are keys to future economic vitality.
In the world of politics, Trumps posture on global warming creates several major problems for his allies in Congress. Some Republicans represent coastal districts and states where rising sea levels constitute major threats. These representatives will have a hard time convincing their constituents that spending money to even learn more about climate change, let alone do something about it, is a waste.
Republicans are also facing a generational challenge. Carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for more than a hundred years. Many younger voters realize will they are the most vulnerable to the increasing impacts of climate change. They may come to regard with hostility a party that turned its back on protecting the planets atmosphere.
Since January, French presidential polls have resembled an electrocardiogram with one node attached to a terminal patient and the other to a newborn. While some of the arcs are tracing the demise of one political system, others track the birth of another. Where these arcs eventually plateau remains to be seen, but they suggest that the Fifth Republic, created nearly 60 years ago, may not reach its 70th anniversary.
Were Dr. Frankenstein watching the blue marine arc to this EKG, he would now be shouting toward the darkening sky: It lives, it lives! Across all the major polls, one of the most striking indications has been the consistent strength shown by Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right Front National. From early January through late March, Le Pen has led the pack of contenders, rising as high as 28 percent in a February Elabe survey and a March OpinionWay poll, and never dipping below 24 percent.
As a number of sociologists and political scientists argue, these numbers reveal that the FN is no longer a protest party. Rather than voting against the traditional parties, FN supporters are now voting for their party: its economic policies and its promise of renewed authority. By ridding the party of the neo-Nazi, anti-Semitic, and pro-Vichy elements that had marked it in the past, Le Pen has turned the FN into a political machine comme les autres.
This fact was rammed home two weeks ago, in the first of three televised debates among the French presidential candidates. Standing with the four other leading candidates, Le Pen attracted fewer barbs over the long evening than did the independent centrist Emmanuel Macron. And while Macron and Le Pen exchanged heated words over the wearing of the so-called burkini -- rarely has a garment worn by so few done so much to roil so many -- the skirmish has lost the existential edge it once had. While Le Pen insists she is running against the system, changing political realities suggest otherwise. By softening her partys sharpest edges, and shifting rightward the national debate over immigration and identity, Le Pen has in fact become part of the system.
A wide open field
The European Unions corruption case against the Front National -- it accuses Le Pen of paying FN staff workers with EU funds earmarked for parliamentary assistants -- underscores just how commonplace Le Pens party has become. After all, the charge of emplois fictifs, or phony jobs, also led to the dizzying tailspin of Francois Fillon, candidate of the conservative Les Republicains. In January, French voters learned from the weekly paper Le Canard Enchaine that they had paid one of Fillons parliamentary assistants, his wife Penelope Fillon, nearly a million euros over several years to do little more than open her husbands mail and opine on his speeches, and tens of thousands of euros to two of his children for their legal expertise when they were not yet lawyers. Since then, Le Canard Enchaine has revealed that powerful friends have also feted Fillon with pricey suits, pricier watches, and priceless -- i.e., interest-free -- loans.
Not surprisingly, the charges against Fillon are all the more explosive because he had presented himself not just as Monsieur Clean but also as Monsieur Austerity, insisting on the sacrifices French workers will need to make to balance the budget. Not unexpectedly, Fillon has tried to place his ethical and legal woes at the door of a left-wing conspiracy -- a black door, one assumes, since it leads to a black Cabinet within the Socialist government determined to bring down the candidate of la France silencieuse. But Fillons conspiracy-mongering has been to little avail: Since February, when a French court opened an investigation into Penelopegate, the candidates polling numbers have tanked. After having pummeled Alain Juppe in last years Republicains primary, Fillon could claim the support of more than a quarter of French voters. Three months later -- and just three weeks shy of the first round -- his support has dropped considerably. According to the RealClearWorld average of polls, Fillon now sits at about 18 percent.
In this unpredictable electoral season, Fillon might well be overtaken by his ideological nemesis, Jean-Luc Melenchon. Disenchanted with French socialisms creeping liberalization, Melenchon quit the party in 2008 and eventually founded the movement La France Insoumise (Defiant France). Not only has Melenchon defied the traditional party structure of the Fifth Republic, but he has also defied the traditional forms of political campaigning. He has explored the use of holograms and has exploited social media to broadcast his message -- a message that is unapologetically socialist or, as his many critics contend, dangerously utopian. He vows to introduce, among other things, a sixth week of paid vacation -- yes, Virginia, France already guarantees five weeks of paid vacation -- for all salaried workers, and impose a 100 percent tax on those who earn more than 33,000 euros a month.
It is not just Melenchons proposals, but also his pugnaciousness that has proved popular. Many political observers believe he gave the most convincing performance during the first debate; when not hammering away at the corruption charges hovering over the heads of Fillon and Le Pen, he was making jokes at the expense of Emmanuel Macron, who had served as economics minister under the Socialists, and the Socialist candidate Benoit Hamon. Paradoxically, while more comfortable than his opponents in front of the cameras, Melenchon also appeared to be the most authentic. The post-debate results have been telling: Polling at approximately 10 percent in January, Melenchon has now risen to 15 percent. While few observers believe Melenchon can make it into the second round, at least one bank is willing to bet on the anti-capitalist candidate: Earlier this week, Melenchon secured a 5 million euro loan for his campaign.
Melenchons rise has largely been at Hamons expense. The surprise winner of the Socialist Partys primary in January, Hamon has discovered that it was easier to be the partys leading frondeur, or left-wing rebel, than its assembleur, or unifier. While his program tacks hard to the left, especially in its promise of a guaranteed universal income, Hamon is nevertheless shackled to President Francois Hollandes less-than-shimmering legacy. Even more problematic, he represents a party divided by a deep ideological fault line. While some on the partys hard left have turned to Melenchon, many more on the hard right have been defecting to Macron. As the list of the partys most powerful figures rallying to Macron lengthens -- from former Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe through Minister of Defense Jean-Yves Le Drian to former Prime Minister Manuel Valls -- the cries of treason and betrayal deepen from those who refuse to abandon Hamon.
Despair on the left
While these imprecations might delight the disintegrating core of the Socialist Party, they will not stanch their candidate Hamons hemorrhaging in the polls. A March 30 Elabe survey revealed that Hamon and Melenchon have reversed the dynamic they held one month earlier: Hamon now attracts little more than 10 percent. The bleeding continued in the latest poll by Odoxa, which found Hamon sinking into single digits. Hamons recent call for Melenchon to make a common front with the Socialists was akin to a drowning man clinging to a bit of flotsam in high seas, inviting the skipper of a passing yacht to join him. The offer smacked of desperation and, predictably, Melenchon spurned it: I will not negotiate anything with anyone at this point, he announced at a raucous rally with dockworkers at Le Havre.
Surprisingly, Melenchon did not turn the offer around, instead calling on Hamon to drop out of the race. Were he to do so, a united left would not only outdistance Fillon, but catch up to the true singularity of this race -- and the true bete noire of both men -- Emmanuel Macron. The former investment banker, former presidential adviser, and former minister of the economy, a 39-year-old wunderkind who has never held elective office, a chameleon to some, an enigma to others, might well become Frances next president. With his economic and social proposals remaining artfully vague, Macron is clearly seeking to straddle the elusive middle of French politics. So far he is succeeding. Not only has he attracted right-leaning Socialists such as Le Drian and left-leaning conservatives such as Dominique Perben, but also centrist politicians such as Francois Bayrou, the always-respected but never-elected three-time presidential candidate.
Whether the voters will follow is, no doubt, the greatest question hanging over the first round. Over the last several weeks, Macrons polling has grown steadily; according to a March 30 Ifop poll, he has taken pole position, leading Le Pen 26 percent to 25.5 percent. But there is a crucial difference between the two leading candidates, one based on the nature of the voters. Le Pens support, which has been consistent over several months, consists of voters who have made up their minds. Macrons supporters are far more volatile. On March 28, an Ipsos poll revealed that nearly one half (47 percent) of those planning to vote for Macron declared they might still change their mind before April 23.
For a newcomer to politics, Macron has made remarkably few faux pas. His performance in the first debate, especially in his clash with Le Pen, revealed that he not only has a sharp tongue but also a moral spine when he accused the FN leader of stirring hatred and fear. The second debate on April 4, unlike the first debate, will include all 11 presidential candidates. Despite the enlarged cast, all eyes will be on three candidates -- Le Pen, Melenchon, and Macron -- none representing one of Frances traditional political parties. Regardless how the debate, and the first round, sorts itself out, politics as usual in France will be the great loser.
Geopolitical Futures 2017 forecast for Venezuela has begun to accelerate over the past five days. Our forecast stated that the administration of President Nicolas Maduro in its current form would not survive this year. The gridlock that characterized 2016 will reach a breaking point, forcing the transformation of Venezuelas government in 2017. Such a transformation would mark the end of populist, anti-American rule in the country since 1999. In addition to leading the regional populist movement that swept through South America in the decade after that, the country is also home to valuable oil reserves strategically positioned to influence control of maritime routes including a portion related to the Panama Canal entering and leaving the Caribbean Sea. A previous Reality Check on Venezuela explained in detail why the status quo is not sustainable. Recent events now offer the opportunity to discuss the different ways this transformation could occur.
Between March 28 and 29, Venezuelas Supreme Court published rulings 155 and 156, which removed legislators immunity, suspended the National Assemblys powers, usurped functions normally belonging to the National Assembly, and increased the presidents unilateral powers in certain areas. The court rulings outraged members of the local opposition, drew criticism from regional organizations, and prompted foreign governments throughout the Americas to publicly condemn the actions. On the morning of March 31, Venezuelan Chief Prosecutor Luisa Ortega Diaz said the Supreme Court rulings violated constitutional order. Later that night, Maduro met with the National Defense Council and the president of the Supreme Court, who then jointly called for a revision of rulings 155 and 156. On the morning of April 1, the Supreme Court said it had reversed the controversial rulings.
The first thing to understand in all of this is that neither the March 29 ruling against the National Assembly nor the April 1 reversal has critically impacted the dynamics of domestic politics in Venezuela. In January 2016, members of the opposition took control of the National Assembly, breaking the Maduro administrations monopoly over the four branches of government. Maduro controls three branches the executive, the judicial and the citizens while the opposition has controlled the legislature. Since Jan. 2, 2016, the Supreme Court has issued various rulings to undermine the National Assemblys power in conjunction with other government bodies to create obstacles for the opposition. For this reason, the courts rulings last week were high-profile expressions of political practices that have been in place for the past 15 months.
The recent Supreme Court controversy reveals Maduros growing weakness and declining power. It was either an attempt to grab power or a PR stunt. If it was a move to consolidate power, Maduro failed. Domestic and international backlash was too great for Maduro to enforce the court rulings. It is also possible that it was a strategic publicity stunt orchestrated by the government. In this scenario, Maduro never intended to maintain the rulings. Rather, the move created an opportunity to publicly demonstrate that he is not a dictator by returning power to the branch of the government led by the opposition. This reflects a need for Maduro to rally popular support and to renew his governments legitimacy, which cannot be done via elections. In practice, the National Assemblys status remained unchanged because the Supreme Court and other government bodies can continue to impede the Assembly from taking action case-by-case. Either scenario points to the geopolitical reality: The Maduro administration has become weaker, the underlying cause and explanation of its behavior.
As Maduros government continues to weaken, other political factors will seek to take advantage of the political space to secure their interests. A multitude of forces and players can cause a transformation in the Venezuelan government this year: opposition parties, the military, international third parties and public unrest. Geopolitical forecasting does not involve being psychic or stating the specific day and time a particular event will occur. Rather, it allows us to identify forces at play, their strengths relative to each other, the ability to determine which forces will prevail, and a general sense of how long it might take.
Early presidential elections, called for by opposition parties, in many ways present more challenges than solutions. The National Electoral Council (CNE) and a lack of unity among opposition parties create two major obstacles to presidential elections. In 2016, the oppositions main strategy to depose Maduro was to hold a public referendum to oust him from office and trigger presidential elections. The CNE prevented this from happening by manipulating bureaucratic procedures. Similar obstacles should be expected for any calls to hold elections this year. Maduro or his replacement candidate would lose, so the government will seek to prevent elections from happening rather than lose power. At the same time, the opposition remains divided over leadership, strategy and plans to solve Venezuelas economic, political and security problems. Without a unified front, it is difficult for the opposition to organize elections, agree on candidates and maintain the cohesion needed to govern.
The Venezuelan military has more to lose than gain from moves to overtly take state power from the government. The military already runs, or heavily influences, key components of the Venezuelan economy, such as border trade, oil activities and food importation and distribution. Many of the more senior officials reap the benefits of securing these segments of the economy for the government, but they are not seen as the cause of the vast economic problems facing the country. Some officers, especially those with ties to Socialist Party leader Diosdado Cabello, are linked to illegal activities including drug trafficking. The Maduro administration turns a blind eye to these activities.
The opposition has repeatedly called on the military to uphold the countrys constitution, encouraging military members to act against Maduro and in line with the oppositions agenda. This is aimed primarily at junior military officers who do not share the same benefits as more senior officers. The approach of attempting to divide or win over the military is unlikely to succeed because of the huge amount of risk involved. All would be well if a military official sided with the opposition and the opposition won. However, as the Turkish coup attempt reminds us, those who challenge the government will face severe punishment if the opposition fails. On the other hand, whoever runs the country will need a military. Even if the opposition were to take control of the government, junior military members would likely be spared from any purges of top brass. Getting rid of all of the militarys active members is not an option.
Third-party international actors the Organization of American States (OAS), Union of South American Nations (Unasur), Mercosur and individual member countries of these groups often use strong rhetoric but rarely take action that will have an impact on the country. For months, the OAS has condemned the Maduro government and threatened to suspend Venezuela from the organization. On March 30, six of Unasurs 12 members called on Venezuela to restore democratic order. And Mercosur already had suspended Venezuela from that trade bloc in December 2016. The problem with all of these gestures is that they remain only gestures. Suspension from the OAS would primarily affect the countrys image. The consequences are insignificant. Similarly, a suspension from Mercosur has not strongly affected Venezuela because the bloc continues to trade with the country. Mercosur agreements technically allow for the removal of preferential trade tariffs, closure of land borders, and suspension of trade, air and maritime traffic, communications and energy delivery. In practice, so far, these measures exist only on paper. Furthermore, any decision to ask for upfront payment or refusal to do business in Venezuela is based on companies protecting against losses. Unless these regional groups accompany the rhetoric with concrete actions, they will have little influence on Venezuelan politics.
Popular unrest and mobilizations will play a critical role in the transformation process. The public successfully mobilized last year for a series of street actions. These included protests of hundreds of thousands of people across the country. This group is the most motivated for change because they are suffering the most in the current scenario, facing daily shortages of food, medicine and other basic goods. More notably, they forced a response from the government, including an increased presence of security forces and closure of metro lines to restrict access to gathering points. Of all the groups confronting Maduro, massive popular movements have been the most successful thus far in creating pressure and forcing the administration to be on the defensive.
Any combination of these forces could bring about a transformation in government that we expect this year. The most likely scenario is a combination approach in which public unrest is the major engine driving the transformative process. As options for legal resolution such as elections become less likely and daily quality of life deteriorates, public unrest will intensify. Regardless of how these forces combine, they exist and are converging to a point of rupture this year, which will result in the breaking point for Maduro and his government. For the first time in nearly two decades, the United States and others in the region will have the opportunity to reset relations with Venezuela.
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Kim Kardashian said she was not attacked outside the Mr. Chow restaurant in Los Angeles on Sunday evening.
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E! News reported a passerby bumped into the "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" star on the street, prompting Kardashian and a friend to look surprised and uncomfortable in photos.
A bodyguard quickly rushed to their aid and prevented the situation from escalating.
"So @JonathanCheban just called me & asked if I was ok & read online I was attacked outside of Mr. Chow. Totally not true! Such weird rumors," Kardashian tweeted after the incident.
"A random guy walks near me & almost bumped into me but he hit the parking meter. Not attacked me. Hope he's ok!" she added.
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Raytheon Company RTN has won a modification contract from the U.S. Navy to procure 317 of the 17th Lot of AIM-9X Block II missiles 107 for the Navy and 210 for the Air Force.
Details of the Contract
The contract is valued at $199.8 million. It was awarded by the Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, MD.
Per the modification, Raytheon will also procure 199 Block II captive air training missiles 77 for the Air Force; 24 for the Navy; 48 for the governments of Australia; 20 for Indonesia; 20 for the Netherlands; six for Romania and four for Poland. Apart from this, the company will also provide 15 special air training missiles 10 for the government of Australia and five for Taiwan. Additionally, the company will provide 160 all up round containers 81 for the Air Force; 43 for the Navy; 15 for the governments of Australia; 10 for the Netherlands; six for Indonesia; two each for Romania and Taiwan and one for Poland.
Moreover, the contract includes purchases for seven spare advanced optical target detectors one for the Navy; two each for the Air Force and the governments of Australia; one for Indonesia and Poland, each. Furthermore, 11 spare guidance units (live battery) will be procured two for the Navy; four for the Air Force; three for the governments of Romania and two for Indonesia; 22 spare captive air training missile guidance units two for the Navy; six for the Air Force and 10 for the governments of Australia; two each for Indonesia and Romania; 23 guidance unit containers 10 for the Air Force and six for the governments of Australia, five for Romania, and two for Indonesia; four spare advanced optical target detector containers two for the governments of Australia, one each for Indonesia and Poland; one spare block I propulsion steering section and one spare block II propulsion steering section for the Air Force; and spares one each for the Navy and Air Force; and 19 lots of spares two each for the government of Australia and Turkey, one each for Denmark, Finland, Israel, Belgium, Netherlands, Singapore, Poland, Switzerland, Japan, Norway, Morocco, Romania, Korea, Saudi Arabia and Taiwan.
In fact, the deal covers purchasing 55.75% for the Air Force; 25.53% for the Navy; 8.72% for the governments of Australia; 2.64% for Indonesia; 2.46% for Netherlands; 1.51% for Taiwan; 1.08% for Romania; 0.67% for Poland; 0.53% for Saudi Arabia; 0.25% for Belgium; 0.23% for Turkey; 0.20% for Switzerland; 0.16% for Korea; 0.16% for Norway; 0.04% for Morocco; 0.03% for Japan; 0.01% for Denmark, Finland, Israel and Singapore each, under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program.
Work is scheduled to be completed by Mar 2020. Majority of the work will be carried out in Tucson, AZ; while the rest in various locations across the U.S. The contract will use fiscal 2017 missile procurement (Air Force); fiscal 2017 weapons procurement (Navy); and FMS funds.
A Brief Note on AIM-9X Block II
The AIM-9X Block II missile is an advanced version of Raytheon's AIM-9X Block I Sidewinder infrared-guided, air-to-air missile that features a lock-on-after-launch capability, redesigned fuse and a one-way forward-quarter datalink capability. Unlike the AIM-9, the AIM-9X can even be used against targets on the ground.
The Block II missile is armed with improved handling, loading, in-flight safety and enhanced ability to destroy a target. It has been equipped with new processors in the guidance section and a new fuse that has a weapon datalink, providing it with a lock-on-after-launch capability. The missiles capabilities can be enhanced with future software updates, which will leverage the speed and increased memory capacity of new processors.
Potential for Growth
Following in the footsteps of the U.S. and its allies, other countries are working on utilizing advanced technology in their defense systems. Thus, foreign military contracts are a vital growth driver for Raytheon. Evidently, the companys fourth-quarter international bookings comprised 38% of its total bookings. During the quarter, international sales were up 5.6%, representing 31% of total sales.
Why Raytheon?
Raytheon is one of the best-positioned companies among large-cap defense players due to its non-platform-centric focus. It has been manufacturing AIM-9X missiles for 14 years. Block I missiles have been delivered to nine U.S. allies, while the Block II is being used by over 40 nations.
Moreover, the company has been enjoying a steady stream of contracts from government establishments. In February, Raytheon secured a FMS contract, worth $1.07 billion, from the U.S. Air Force. Under the terms of the deal, the company will provide an early warning radar system to the Qatar government, which will be incorporated into the nations integrated air and missile defense enterprise.
Again, in the same month, Raytheon won a FMS contract from the U.S. Army to provide engineering services for the PATRIOT weapon systems program. The contract was valued at $202.2 million.
Price Movement
Raytheons stock gained about 22.8% in the last 12 months, outperforming the Zacks categorized Aerospace-Defense Equipment industrys gain of 19.5%. This could be because of rising demand from MENA or the Middle East and North Africa region, and growth in FMS contracts. The company also poses strong competition to peers including Ducommun Incorporated DCO, Curtiss-Wright Corporation CW and Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. AJRD.
Story continues
Zacks Rank
Raytheon currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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In 2012, the University of Georgia aimed to rival Georgia Tech for top engineering school in the state by creating a College of Engineering that has grown in just a few short years and has rapidly become a high demand department.
However, Adani Australia has clarified on its Facebook page on Monday that in terms of quality of the coal it is almost 50 per cent better than that used domestically.
Indian energy giant Adani is planning to supply lower quality coal with high ash content to non-premium markets like India from its controversy-hit Carmichael coal and mine project in Australia's Queensland state, according to a media report on Monday.
"The Carmichael mine will produce two coal products: product one, a low ash and moderate energy product most suitable for Asian premium markets, and Product two, a high ash or lower energy product most suitable for non premium markets, in particular India," ABC news quoted an extract from a sworn evidence to the Land Court in Queensland.
However, Adani Australia has clarified on its Facebook page on Monday that in terms of quality of the coal it is almost 50 per cent better than that used domestically.
Last week in Brisbane, Adani Australia's CEO Jeyakumar Janakara also told a forum that "the thing about Carmichael is, it will reduce the carbon footprint of existing (Indian) plants, which are using Indonesian or Indian coal today, by say 30 to 40 per cent".
Australian Resources Minister Matt Canavan had earlier said, "if Australia fails to supply India with coal from Queensland, they will get that coal elsewhere, which they're doing right now".
He said that while the coal product was of lower quality as compared to Australian benchmarks for energy contents and ash contents but "certainly the coal India uses, and they're a large coal producer in their own right, is much, much lower quality".
"Coal product is not the highest quality coal in Australia, but it was still much much higher than the coal quality in India," Canavan was quoted as saying by ABC news.
"Indian coal typically is around 3,000 kilocalories a kilogram, whereas the Galilee Basin coal roughly averages around the 5,000 mark, and that means that for every unit of every kilogram or tonne of coal you burn, you'll get more power for it, lower carbon emissions, that's a good thing for the environment," the minister explained.
"The Queensland Supreme Court itself also made the point that the Adani Carmichael coal mine itself won't increase greenhouse gas emissions, if it displaces coal from other sources," the resource minister said, adding, "That's exactly what it will do, because India will get coal from somewhere, (and) as I say, their own coal is generally lower quality than ours."
"The Queensland Supreme Court itself also made the point that the Adani Carmichael coal mine itself won't increase greenhouse gas emissions, if it displaces coal from other sources," the resource minister said.
Company chairman Gautam Adani recently said that the final approvals from the Australian government could be by May or June, after which construction could begin.
Adani Enterprises has maintained that the work on mine project would begin this year creating 10,000 jobs for the state.
The project involves dredging 1.1 million cubic metres of spoil near the iconic Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which will then be disposed off on land.
Photograph: James Regan/Reuters
Earlier, SC had given two weeks to prove Chidambaram deliberately granted FIPB clearance in 2006
The Enforcement Directorate on Monday filed a status report in the Supreme Court regarding violation of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) while stating the alleged role of former Finance Minister P Chidambaram in the Aircel-Maxis case.
The apex court fixed the matter for further hearing on May 2.
Earlier in February, the apex court gave Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy two weeks to place credible material to prima facie prove that Chidambaram deliberately granted FIPB clearance to the Aircel-Maxis deal in 2006.
Swamy was also asked whether Chidambaram knew that the limit was Rs 600 crore (Rs 6 billion).
Earlier in February, the Enforcement Directorate had moved the apex court against the special court's order in the case, which discharged Maran brothers and other accused without furnishing the bail bond properly.
The Enforcement Directorate had also urged the apex court not to release the properties attached in the case.
Earlier, Swamy presented his case of an illegality committed by Chidambaram in granting FIPB clearance to the Rs 3,500 crore (Rs 35 billion) deal in 2006.
A Delhi court had earlier in February discharged former communications minister Dayanidhi Maran and his brother Kalanithi Maran after it found insufficient evidence to prosecute them.
Maran brothers were accused by the investigating agencies of helping Malaysian group Maxis to acquire Aircel in exchange for a kickback of approximately Rs 700 crore (Rs 7 billion).
The court also discharged Kalanithi's wife Kavery Kalanithi, South Asia FM Ltd (SAFL) managing director K. Shanmugam and two companies -- SAFL and Sun Direct TV Pvt Ltd (SDTPL) in two different cases.
The Central Bureau of investigation (CBI) Court had on December 19 last year deferred pronouncing its orders against Maran brothers and others to December 22.
A special 2G court had earlier on September 17 last year dismissed the applications filed by the ex-telecom minister and his brother, challenging its jurisdiction to try the Aircel-Maxis deal case in which they have been summoned as accused.
Pronouncing the order, the court had then said, "There is no manner of doubt that by the standard of subject matter and periodicity of alleged crime, the case fairly/squarely falls within the description/ designation of the 2G scam."
The Maran brothers challenged the jurisdiction of the special 2G court in both cases lodged by the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI.
The Enforcement Directorate alleged that two firms, South Asia FM Limited (SAFL) and Sun Direct TV Private Ltd. (SDTPL), had received Rs 742.58 crore (Rs 7.43 billion) as "proceeds of crime" from Mauritius-based firms and that the two firms were then allegedly controlled by Kalanithi Maran.
Photograph: Reuters
Globally, Coca-Cola offers Fanta in various fruit-based formats. Apple, Strawberry, Pineapple and Creaming soda are a few of the 90 variants that are available in different markets, apart from orange.
James Quincey, global president and chief operating officer of Coca-Cola, is expected to apprise Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the companys initiative to make fizzy drinks nutritious during his proposed visit to India next month.
Quincey, who will take over as the chief executive officer (CEO) of the beverage giant in May, is also likely to showcase to the PM the aerated drinks, such as Fanta and Sprite, with fruit juice in it.
This is in response to Modi asking cola companies to add juices to carbonated drinks.
It would be the first time in five years, that a Coca-Cola CEO or president is meeting an Indian Prime Minister in the country. Last time, when a top official flew down from Atlanta was in 2012, when Muhtar Kent, the current CEO, met Manmohan Singh.
While Quincey is expected to discuss a wide range of issues with the Prime Minister, one of the key topics is likely to be juice-based fizzy drinks - one of Modis favourite blends.
We have extended an invitation to James Quincey, ever since he has been announced as the CEO-elect. And, we are hopeful that it will happen sooner than later, said Venkatesh Kini, business unit president, India and South West Asia, Coca-Cola.
He, however, declined to comment any further. We are yet to receive any official confirmation from the office of the Prime Minister with regard to this meeting. Were, therefore, unable to comment, Coca-Cola India said in a statement.
According to sources, the regional president had requested Quincey to visit India before he takes over as the CEO. Quinceys India visit would be a part of his Asia tour, in which New Delhi would be his first destination.
Months after taking over as the PM in May 2014, Modi had asked cola majors such as PepsiCo and Coca-Cola to add juices to its portfolio of aerated drinks.
He again proposed a two per cent blend of fruit juices mixed in aerated drinks from the two beverage majors in January last year.
Subsequently, Coca-Cola launched its first juice with fizz in the country - the Fanta Green Mango. The product was launched as a pilot project in February 2016 in select markets. Coke is now reworking the formula after taking feedback from consumers, Kini said.
Globally, Coca-Cola offers Fanta in various fruit-based formats. Apple, Strawberry, Pineapple and Creaming soda are a few of the 90 variants that are available in different markets, apart from orange.
With emerging sales of packaged fruit juices in the past few years, Coke has now adopted a project to come up with juice-based fizzy drinks in India.
The company had been working with the government- run food lab Central Food Technological Research Institute, a constituent laboratory of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, to develop such drinks since January 2016.
Local sourcing of fruit pulps remains a challenge for companies to make such products available on a mass scale. Coca-Cola, which now sources mango pulp for its non-fizzy drink Maaza from Maharashtra, had to spend years to develop the supply chain and to ensure farm-level quality and productivity.
According to estimates, it takes nearly five years to streamline the supply of pulp in large quantity when a new fruit is added to the portfolio of cola majors like Coca-Cola.
In December 2016, RBI had granted additional 60 days for repayment of certain loans
With disruptive influence at local level continuing to impact repayments, the Microfinance Institution Network (MFIN), the representative body for microfinance institutions (MFIs), is looking to seek six-month extension of repayment tenure for loans stuck on account of demonetisation.
Earlier, MFIN had sought three months extension from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
In December 2016, RBI had granted additional 60 days for repayment of certain loans, including microfinance loans, which were due between November 1 and December 31.
Later, it extended the repayment tenure by another 30 days, giving farmers a window of about 90 days extra to repay loans due within the stipulated period.
Now, with 90 days extension period expiring in the last one and two months, a large chunk of borrowers are feared to be tagged as non-creditworthy by credit bureaus.
Further, MFIs would have to factor in large chunks of NPA in their books.
Buzz of loan waiver has severely impacted microfinance repayments in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.
The spill-over effect is felt elsewhere too. In its recent rating which revised rating outlook of Janalakshmi Microfinance to negative from stable, ICRA said, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal , which constituted 25.2 per cent of the total portfolio of Janalakshmi as on January 31, registered a sharp decline in collection efficiency after December.
We made a request for an extension of tenure for certain loans hit by demonetisation. It is not exactly restructuring. For example, if loan tenure is twelve-month, it could be extended to fifteen months. We have requested for three months, but we may ask it for six months, said Ratna Viswanathan. chief executive officer, MFIN.
Microfinance loans collection has come down to around 85 per cent, against nearly 99 per cent prior to demonetisation.
Collections are down to around 85 per cent, mainly on account of elections in certain states, particularly in western UP. Ground-level political situation is affection collection. We expect collections to improve by the end of March, said Viswanathan.
According to data from MFIN Micrometer, the portfolio at risk (PAR), increased from about half per cent in the previous quarters to about 7.52 per cent at the end of third quarter of financial year 2017.
Earlier this month, ratings agency ICRA had cut rating outlook for Janalakshmi Financial Services and Satin Credit Care from stable to negative.
ICRA had said the adverse impact of demonetisation and increasing political interference in some states had led collection efficiency to dip to 78 per cent around January 2017 from about 98 per cent in September 2016.
Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Reuters
With actor Amitabh Bachchan as brand ambassador, Chinese phone maker OnePlus moves away from its digital-only ad strategy.
IMAGE: The new OnePlus ads indicate that the brand is hoping to walk the thin line between premium and mass market categories. Amitabh Bachchan as KBC anchor appeals to the masses. But the ads pitch OnePlus against Apple, Google and Samsung. Photograph: Kind Courtesy: OnePlus.
When OnePlus signed Amitabh Bachchan as brand ambassador, there was little doubt that the Chinese phone maker would jog down the beaten track with high-pitched television and hoardings-led campaigns, just like other smartphone brands.
The first ads are out and OnePlus has played to the script so far, swinging sharply away from its early days of a digital-only promotional strategy and referral purchases.
While the company says this is the best way to tap into the potential of the 25-million-plus smartphone market in India (IDC, Q4 2016), experts ask whether this will help OnePlus make the transition from an exclusive and experential purchase to a mass-market brand. OnePlus believes it can, by spreading awareness about the phone and its features.
Vikas Agarwal, general manager, OnePlus India says the brand is using Bachchan to do just that. As a mass market label, OnePlus wants to reach out to new target groups and geographies that have been left out of the brands digital net.
Bachchan is popular across income and age groups and the brand hopes to ride on his appeal. Agarwal adds, while the company has a new advertising strategy and budget, it is sticking with its online-only sales strategy.
OnePlus had created quite a stir with an invite only promotional campaign at the time of its launch. The current campaign, Agarwal says, is essentially a scaled-up version of the same referral marketing.
Bachchan and stand-up comedian Rohan Joshi of AIB have come together to launch a series of unique activations including a quiz show where Bachchan plays the role of contestant and declares OnePlus to be the best brand through an audience poll.
Agarwal says that OnePlus is the third biggest brand in premium segment ($400 or above) in India and the company wanted to leverage the positive feedback shared by actual end users for the campaign.
The Best Smartphone Contest communicates this core message and recognises the contribution of the OnePlus community with rewards that include a grand prize of Rs 1 crore along with numerous other offers and a chance to meet Bachchan in person, he adds.
OnePlus is owned by a subsidiary of the Chinese phone maker BBK which also owns the Vivo and Oppo labels. Many believe that the strategy to go big with ad campaigns could also be an extension of a larger corporate strategy as both Oppo and Vivo are big advertisers.
Agarwal looks at it differently. He explains that the referral strategy during the launch was a strategic one as is the current decision to shift into a mass market advertising plan. The company was unsure about the sales volumes when it was launching its phones and the invite system helped manage its supply chain. That it lured customers in with a unique purchase experience was a bonus.
As a new brand, we werent sure how well received our products would be. We used the referral system to match supply with fluctuating demand. Fortunately, the system worked well as it helped in keeping our inventory in check while creating a positive recommendation chain that quickly went viral. The invite system made our products exclusive and generated a lot of buzz, says Agarwal.
It is now time to scale up and improve brand awareness. Agarwal says that he wants the new campaign to educate users about the brand and the OnePlus community.
We have expanded the scope to penetrate new user groups and experiment with new marketing channels to check their effectiveness. We have roped in Amitabh Bachchan as he is one of the most consistent performers and is also tech savvy.
The new ads indicate that the brand is also hoping to walk the thin line between premium and mass market categories. Bachchan as KBC anchor appeals to the masses. But the ads pitch OnePlus against Apple, Google and Samsung, thereby positioning it within the premium category.
Bachchan walks the same line as a superstar with mass appeal and his personality resonates well with our brand mantra. With him on board, we are looking to expand our community, adds Agarwal.
IMAGE: Vikas Agarwal, GM, OnePlus India. Photograph: Kind courtesy @Vikas_AGL/Twitter.
The company has invested in improving its supply chain and production capacity and has recently started making its phones in India. It adopted a similar strategy in other markets too; in Europe it partnered with carriers like O2 (UK) and Elisa (Finland) to make demand more predictable and stable.
Now after three years with operations in over 30 countries, the company has dropped the invite-led sales strategy with the launch of the OnePlus 3 model late last year. However OnePlus plans to continue selling online, the only change being that it will now offer smartphones on its own e-commerce website.
Can OnePlus move away from being an experiential purchase and a novelty for first time buyers to the conscious choice of feature-hungry smartphone users?
Agarwal believes it can by keeping an unwavering eye on the product.
With a product first philosophy and one premium flagship smartphone a year strategy, our products are synonymous with our brand. Our constant endeavour is to offer the best device experience and improve engagement with our users. Since inception, our fans have been instrumental in refining products through constant feedback and driving word-of-mouth awareness, says Agarwal.
He is confident that the community-based brand philosophy will continue to drive sales, but then loyalty is a fickle friend in the mass market.
The Vedica Scholars Programme for Women has helped many girls move up the ladder with a business education and liberal arts and find what they really want or are suited to do.
IMAGE: Vedica Scholars Programme for Women has helped many girls find what they really want or are suited to do. Photograph: Representational image from Rediff Archives
Tania Tauro was always clear that she wanted to be in the development sector.
She worked for two NGOs, both in Mumbai, but left as she felt she needed to hone her business knowledge and understanding.
Now, after completing the 18-month Vedica Scholars Programme for Women, a unique alternative to the traditional MBA, the 27-year-old joined Tata Trusts and is working on the India Health Fund.
Her salary jumped three times from what she had earned before joining the programme. She is excited at the opportunity to work at Tata Trusts and to use the knowledge she gained through Vedica programme -- a blend of business education and liberal arts.
Similarly, Mayuri Dixit, after earning her engineering degree from BITS Pilani and working with an analytics firm in Mumbai, completed the Vedica programme. She has now joined Google in Hyderabad.
While she continues to work in analytics, she feels on her own, her chances of joining a company like Google were very slim. The programme, she says, exposed her to a whole new range of ideas and thinking that her engineering degree couldnt have.
She also reels off names of girls who have madee career switches after the programme.
Twenty-seven graduates of the first batch of Vedica scholars -- all of whom have now been placed -- have seen a sharp jump in their salaries too, compared to their previous jobs. The average salary of the incoming batch of girls was Rs 4.8 lakh, which shot up to Rs 10 lakh after completing the course. The highest salary package is Rs 22 lakh.
But more than salaries, the programme has helped many girls find what they really want or are suited to do.
For instance, Gouri Rajagopal graduated with an engineering degree from the NIT in Trichy in 2014. After working for a year with a data analytics firm in Bangalore, Rajagoal decided to go for the Vedica programme. She has now joined 9.9 Media founder Pramath Sinha to work on a project in the social sector. Till she joined the programme, Rajagopal felt that she couldnt have a full-fledged career in the development sector as engineering and various science streams were her only exposure.
Now I know its possible to have a career in the social sector -- something I have always been passionate about, she says. Rajagopal, who is single and supports herself says her salary is adequate to live comfortably on.
The 18-month residential programme is targeted at getting more women into the corporate workforce and preparing them for the inevitable challenges they will face in their careers. On successful completion of the programme, the scholars are awarded a postgraduate certificate in management practice, offered jointly by the Vedica Foundation and the Sri Aurobindo Centre for Arts and Communication.
The founders say many women who work hard to build their corporate careers often tend to leave them after marriage, particularly after having children. Thats one of the reasons one sees very few women in the corporate space in India -- especially at senior levels.
The idea is to help women sustain their careers even after these milestones," says Anuradha Das Mathur, one of the founders of the programme.
'If the management has taken hundreds of hours to effect a scheme like this, it would certainly take the markets some time to understand the transaction.'
Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com.
A $23-billion merger between Idea Cellular and Vodafone Group Plc has been announced. Soon after, Vittorio Colao, CEO, Vodafone group and and Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman, Aditya Birla group, spoke to Dev Chatterjee on the rationale of the merger, the road ahead for the merged entity and the negative reaction of Idea shareholders.
The entry of Reliance Jio has changed the telecom landscape, leading to consolidation in the sector, with Bharti Airtel buying out Telenor. And now Vodafone and Idea merging their operations. Do you agree with this assessment?
Colao: You always talk about Jio. But, what about Bharti Airtel? They are the market leader and a very strong and much bigger player.
This is not a Jio market alone.
This is a very competitive market and would continue to remain so. There would be more choice for the customers as we go together, over time, as companies that are very complementary but have a different geographic focus and spectrum will go together.
We will be present in all circles except J&K.
There will not be a single circle where our market share would be lower than 10 per cent.
The shareholders of Idea have not reacted positively to the transaction. The stock was down 9.5 per cent after you made the announcement last Monday. Do you think the investors have not understood the benefits?
Birla: I think there is some miscommunication about the price at which the Aditya Birla group would buy shares of Idea from Vodafone.
Based on my experience, I realised that when you have such a large and complex transaction, it takes the markets some time to grasp it.
If the management has taken hundreds of hours to effect a scheme like this, it would certainly take the markets some time to understand the transaction. That (last Mondays) stock correction is only a knee-jerk reaction.
Then, how do you sell this transaction to Idea shareholders?
Birla: Just look at the numbers of the merged entity.
We have compatibility in assets. Vodafone is a dominant player in metro cities, while Idea is a big player in urban and semi-urban markets.
The revenue market share of the combined entity would be more than 40 per cent. The combined customer share of the new entity would be over 30 per cent.
We hope to play a more aggressive and much more significant role in participating in Prime Minister Narendra Modis Digital India vision.
IMAGE: After their merger Vodafone Group CEO, Vittorio Colao, right, says India is not a Jio market alone. Aditya Birla Group CEO, Kumar Mangalam Birla says Vodafone is dominant in metro cities, while Idea is a big player in urban, semi-urban markets. Photograph: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters.
Vodafone once said India was a jewel in its portfolio. What do you say about India now?
Colao: Its a bigger jewel and a much bigger crown now for Vodafone. India has been wonderful for Vodafone in terms of market, brand and the customer point of view.
It has not been very good in other ways, as spectrum has been oversold and prices are too high. Competition rules were managed in a very erratic way.
But, the situation is getting better.
We will have five players with long-term points of view, with all of us having a lot of spectrum and a lot of capacity. Vodafone would continue to invest in India and we are not exiting India.
Vodafone has an income tax demand on its acquisition of the Hutch stake. Do you think this transaction would be impacted by this in any way?
Colao: This transaction will not be impacted in any way by this. The tax demand is made to Vodafone Group Plc and the matter is currently under arbitration overseas.
The consumer durables player has modified its decades-old logo as it hopes to hold fresh appeal beyond mums to include millennials, says Ritwik Sharma.
Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com
Leading consumer durables player Whirlpool has recently introduced a new logo, modifying its decades-old earlier version to reflect its modernised brand values and offer a fresh appeal that goes beyond mums to include millennials.
The multinational brand, which has been in existence for more than a century and is primarily associated with refrigerators and washing machines, is looking to tap newer categories like air purifiers and dish washers in an emerging market like India.
The developments with the new logo follow the company's foray into the e-commerce segment in India with its own store late last year.
Kapil Agarwal, vice-president, marketing, Whirlpool India, explains that the company is planning to take a more strategic stance on categories and build portfolios globally so that we are no longer or a washing machine or refrigerator company.
In the past, the logo had a swirl -- reflecting the companys washing machine heritage -- on top of the letter W, which has been removed as the company wants to be identified with a host of appliances across cooking, dishwashing, air-conditioning and refrigeration.
Secondly, the font has changed from black to a more chic dark grey.
Agarwal reasons, The millennial consumer is offering a lot of demographic dividend, particularly in an emerging market like India. The brand needs to relate and appeal to the 25-35 age bracket.
Thirdly, the ring of promise around the logo has been enhanced to be presented in a three-dimensional light. We call it the ring of promise and not reassurance, because we believe in core category (refrigerator or washing machine) performance, says Agarwal.
Whirlpool commands 25 per cent share in the consumer durables market in India, which is expected to reach a size of US $20.6 billion (Rs 1,348.85 billion) by 2020.
According to the company, it is behind the leading players and Samsung and LG. Whirlpool has been falling behind the Korean giants, but it reported a 45.09 per cent jump in net profit in the last quarter posting Rs 55.44 crore.
Although the company is not disclosing any financial targets, Agarwal claims it is targeting to grow big in India with a 2x growth in top line terms in the next three years.
The key to this business is that its important to sustain the profitability that you have. We want to grow share through offering better value products to the consumer and better innovations, he adds.
In order to do so, the company plans to focus on investments around innovation and expansion of capacity. The core business is very underpenetrated in India. For example, one in five households has a refrigerator and almost one in 10 has a washing machine, Agarwal says.
In India a category like dish washers, which commands a strong market in Europe and the US, is nascent. So, the company feels an inclusive focus would help penetrate such segments in emerging markets.
The company had long debated whether to do away with the swirl but, as Agarwal points out, in the last one year a bigger need was felt to appeal to a younger audience rather than the brand being relegated to one addressing only Whirlpool mums.
We wanted to appeal to younger audience, including newly married couples and even double-income households with no children.
Similarly, the brands communication has evolved in the last six years.
From 2005 to 2012, actors Ajay Devgn and Kajol were the celebrity endorsers. At that point, the positioning was mass and mass premium.
That changed with an attempt to make it more international and incorporate aspirational values linked to an MNC.
Between 2013 and 2016, the company tried to woo a younger audience, who are not technophobes. The messaging built around the brand is one that is designed to delight with every appliance.
The company promises to launch several high-end products this year, be it a large refrigerator or frontload washing machine.
According to N Chandramouli, CEO, TRA, a sharp logo with minimal elements is the norm today.
Be it a Samsung or an LG, their logos are simple and straightforward and they all want to appeal to everybody and not millennials alone, he says, adding that given the technology available which allows for replicating a screen logo on print, the revamp for Whirlpool was overdue.
He points out that Whirlpool earlier faced the issue of consumers linking it with washing machines purely because of the name. And although such decisions may be protracted in a big organisation like Whirlpool, a logo should always reflect what the brand wishes to communicate, he stresses.
It is a national economic problem and one that requires a political solution hand in hand with a clear government commitment to stand behind core national assets, says Vinayak Chatterjee.
Indias bad loan problem continues to keep policymakers awake at night. The most comprehensive overview of it, as well as a proposed solution, has been presented in the recent Economic Survey, which addressed a whole chapter to this twin balance sheet issue - the dual problem of tottering corporate balance sheets weakened by heavy bad debts and bank balance sheets awash in red ink.
There is no doubt that the problem is one of the most serious ever faced by Indias financial sector. The estimate of non-performing loans is now around $191 billion, or well over eight per cent of gross domestic product. This estimate has doubled since 2013.
Thirteen per cent of the gross non-performing loans are from the infrastructure sector. This level of non-performing assets means that banks are now deeply reluctant to fund infra projects and companies.
Recent specific events such as the arrest of a former chairman of IDBI have only deepened this reluctance. So, private sector involvement and consequent investment-driven growth and job creation languish.
Meanwhile, even as banks dither on solving the problem, project assets face the increasing risk of obsolescence from lack of maintenance, upgradation and, in many cases, completion.
Initiatives by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to tackle this problem have had extremely limited success. Schemes like the 5/25 (elongation of loans to 25 years by changing hands every five years), strategic debt restructuring (SDR) and the sustainable structuring of stressed assets (S4A) have not made any meaningful impact.
Another expected amelioration - that by private sector asset reconstruction companies (ARC) - has not taken off. Private sector ARCs were seen as specialists in bad loans, who could succeed in reviving such assets where banks had failed.
But banks have been reluctant to sell to such ARCs and take a haircut on their loans. In 2014, sales to ARCs slowed even further as a result of new rules requiring them to pay a greater share of the purchase price of assets upfront in cash.
Moreover, private sector ARCs have typically been thinly capitalised, thus restricting their room for manoeuvre and risk-taking. In addition, they by themselves do not have the stature to individually handle the multidimensional complexities involved.
The Economic Survey takes a different approach. It proposes a more enhanced role for the government and proposes the setting up of a centralised Public Sector Asset Rehabilitation Agency (PARA) that would buy up the bigger non-performing assets.
A single such institution set up with state backing would address problems with contextual solutions. For instance, there is a serious problem in getting different banks, who have exposure to a given project, to come to an agreement on restructuring a loan.
Centralising the debt in a single agency addresses this. Further, public sector enterprises could be asked to temporarily run such assets.
The demonstrated appetite for foreign institutional investors to pick up brownfield assets could be met, and National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) utilised as a channelling agency.
The entire capital for PARA is not expected to come from the government; it has been suggested that it could even be structured as a 49:51 entity with a majority private sector stake. The important point is to make sure that the entity has, and is seen to have, strong backing from the government, much like the NIIF.
The political establishment has been understandably wary of getting too involved, given the potential for crony and suit-boot-sarkar accusations. But over 80 per cent of the log-jammed funds belong to the people of India - through public debt and equity markets.
Such stuck infrastructure assets are national economic assets; as a result, any government has an obligation to ensure they are kept in good working condition.
There is also a false equivalence between a non-performing asset on a purely private good - such as, say, a passenger car, and one on a road asset. Under RBI norms, delayed payments on either set of loans are treated in the same way.
However, one asset is a purely private consumer good while the other is a critical investment with wide and far-reaching external effects well beyond the original costs of the project.
Moreover, the process by which a PARA can acquire a stressed infra asset can be made transparent, clear and overseen by a venerable and independent committee.
The price at which such assets are to be acquired would be set by such a committee, thus reducing the potential risk of a government being accused of malafide bailouts.
Further, any assets and the price at which they are sold to PARA could be made immune to reviews by investigation or vigilance agencies if the process of sale is clear and transparent.
Internationally, the general approach of government being closely involved in bailing out large-scale private entities has generally met with success.
In the United States after the credit crisis, for example, the government itself made large-scale infusions of funds into institutions such as AIG. In the AIG deal, the US government reduced its stake gradually and earned profits on its share sales.
In the ultimate analysis, India's bad loan problem is not a purely financial one. It is a national economic problem and one that requires a political solution hand in hand with a clear government commitment to stand behind core national assets.
Vinayak Chatterjee is chairman, Feedback Infra. vinayak.chatterjee@feedbackinfra.com; Twitter: @Infra_VinayakCh
Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com
Stars go for the loveliest holidays -- exotic locations with a lot of adventure thrown in.
So we decided to bring you their travels with a special series.
Barkha Bisht Sengupta andIndraneil Sengupta had a thrilling Thailand holiday.
Parineeti Chopra had an awesome Egypt holiday.
Sidharth Malhotra took us on an adventurous trip to New Zealand.
Bipasha Basu and Karan Singh Grover had a beautiful Bali holiday.
This week, let us explore the serene Manali, thanks to Pallavi Sharda, who will be seen next in the upcoming film, Begum Jaan.
'When you can't beat them, join them,' Pallavi captions this picture.
PIX: Ileana's FUN Fiji holiday
Pallavi enjoys a breathtaking view.
The mountain girl.
Being local.
PIX: Mallika Sherawat's FANTASTIC French holiday
A waterfall selfie at the Vashisht village.
In candid conversation with her friend, the Kookaburra bird.
Sharing this amazing picture, Pallavi wrote, 'And then the beauty revealed itself.'
PIX: Lisa Ray's LOVELY Lebanon holiday
She loves meeting local crew on film sets in faraway places. 'Meet my beautiful assistant Sanjana.. I'm waiting for her to finish studying so I can take her home with me,' wrote Pallavi along with this photograph.
This is the village square in Vashisht where she stayed for 10 days.
PIX: Malaika's lovely Maldives holiday
Happy lumberjack.
PIX: Soha-Kunal's 'sun-kissed' Croatian holiday
Rocks and cliffs in Himachal Pradesh.
Caught candid.
PIX: Lisa Ray's LOVELY Lebanon holiday
She says goodbye to the magical place with this picture.
PIX: Asin's AMAZING Italy holiday
Photographs: Pallavi Sharda/Instagram
Considering the common linkages, high-level trust, complementarities, and convergent interests between the two nations, Malaysia has the potential to become Indias key partner in Southeast Asia, says Dr Rahul Mishra.
Image: Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his Malaysian counterpart, Najib Razak, looks on as External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj exchanges documents at Hyderabad House, in New Delhi on April 1, 2017. Photograph: Shahbaz Khan/PTI Photo.
Malaysia holds a special place in Indias ties with the Southeast Asian countries.
In the formative years of independent Malaysia, India supported it on every front, to the extent of almost upsetting the other Southeast Asian countries. The relationship has strengthened over the years but not without witnessing periods of lull.
Through its Look East, Act East policy, India has rejuvenated ties with Malaysia. Prime Minister Narendra Modis 2015 visit was a major landmark in that effort.
Reciprocating that visit, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has undertaken a six-day state visit to India that ends on April 4.
He kickstarted his visit by meeting with Tamil Nadu Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao and Chief Minister Edappadi K Palanisami. He also attended a business meeting organised by the Malaysian Associated Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and met with the Malaysian diaspora in Chennai.
He wrapped up his TN visit by meeting Tamil superstar Rajinikanth at his residence in Chennai on March 31.
After spending a day-and-a-half in Tamil Nadu, Prime Minister Razak headed to New Delhi for his political engagements. He is expected to conclude his visit in Jaipur, Rajasthan, and take stock of Malaysian investments in infrastructure projects worth US$ 1.2-1.4 billion.
There have been regular high level exchanges between the two countries, and this is Prime Minister Razaks third visit to India since 2010.
From the Indian side, former prime minister Manmohan Singh visited Malaysia in 2010, when both sides agreed to elevate the bilateral relationship to the level of strategic partnership.
In 2015, Prime Minister Modi paid an official visit to the Southeast Asian country which led to the establishment of enhanced strategic partnership.
Taking place against the backdrop of the 60th anniversary of India-Malaysia diplomatic relations, the visit by Prime Minister Razak is timely and significant.
Razaks India visit is an indication of the success of Indias Act East policy and its remarkable equation with the Southeast Asian country. Indonesian Prime Minister Joko Widodos visit to India in December 2016 too is a case in point.
This year also marks the 25th anniversary of the India-ASEAN dialogue partnership. Therefore, it is vital for India to not only engage the Association of Southeast Asian Nations but also focus on relations with individual countries in the region.
Economic diplomacy has been at the forefront of Prime Minister Modis foreign policy, something which several countries including Malaysia have been appreciative of. Naturally, therefore, the prime focus of Prime Minister Razaks visit is to strengthen economic ties with India, and he is accompanied by a strong business delegation.
Malaysia sees India as a strong economic partner in the South Asian region. With two-way trade of US$ 12.79 billion in 2015-16, India was Malaysias 10th largest trading partner.
However, bilateral trade has been falling and is currently much below potential. It has gone down from US$ 16.93 billion in 2014-15, but the trade deficit remained almost the same. In 2014-15, it stood at US$ 5.3 billion, and US$ 5.03 billion in 2015-16.
With respect to investment, India is Malaysias 20th largest source of investment with a total investment of US$ 2.3 billion, against US$ 7 billion from Malaysia into India.
During Razak's visit, both sides will be deliberating upon possible options to improve investment opportunities. In addition, India wants the multilateral economic arrangement, Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, to be concluded at the earliest which would allow it to integrate further with the East Asian economic mechanism.
Knowing the standing of individual Southeast Asian countries as well as ASEAN is crucial for India.
Prime Minister Razak is sensitive to the point that Malaysia is home to seven percent Malaysians of Indian (mainly Tamil) origin, and is keen to make this a major plus in Indo-Malaysian ties.
As of 2015, there were as many as 1,70,000 Tamils living in Malaysia. This visit will help rekindle the people-to-people ties between the two countries. It will not only allow the Malaysian leadership to get closer to the Indian diaspora, but will also be help India reach out to its people in Malaysia.
In fact, Prime Minister Razaks Chennai visit and his meeting with Rajinikanth are part of wooing Indian-origin Malaysians and to highlight the commonalities between the two countries.
Both sides should finalise the much-awaited air service agreement which would boost air connectivity and tourism in India as well as Malaysia.
Both the countries are firm believers in making the United Nations a truly international forum. In the 2015 joint communique, Malaysia took note of India's aspirations for permanent membership of a reformed United Nations Security Council.
Given that the Asia-Pacific region is in a state of strategic uncertainty, with the United States changing approach towards the region and Chinas increasing assertiveness, countries such as Malaysia are looking for opportunities to deal with common challenges, traditional as well as non-traditional, in a peaceful manner.
Undeniably, given its size and image of being a benign power in the region, India is an important part of the efforts to make the region peaceful and prosperous.
Referring to freedom of navigation and urging parties to resolve disputes through peaceful means under the United Nations Conventions on the Law of the Sea in the joint statement is an indication of this.
While India-Malaysia defence ties are considerably strong, both sides need to ensure that exchanges between defence personnel are strengthened through regular joint military exercises and dialogue at various tiers. Malaysia is one of India's significant defence partners for India, and robust ties with Malaysia are vital to the success of Indias positioning in the Indo-Pacific region.
Considering the common linkages, high-level trust, complementarities, and convergent interests, Malaysia has the potential to become Indias key partner in Southeast Asia.
What India needs to do in order to improve its standing in Malaysia and in the region, is to show more sincerity in improving trade and investment ties, and fast-track the implementation of pending regional and intra-regional infrastructure and connectivity projects.
Dr Rahul Mishra is a Delhi-based strategic affairs expert.
The Dalai Lama's Arunachal visit is not likely to derail the India-China relationship but it is a signal to the Chinese that India is also willing to flash the Tibet/Taiwan card should the need arise, says Sana Hashmi.
Image: Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama being felicitated with an Assamese Japi during the platinum jubilee of the Assam Tribune Group in Guwahati on April 1, 2017. Photograph: PTI Photo.
Tibetan spiritual leader Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, will visit Arunachal Pradesh for a week from April 4, on the invitation of Chief Minister Pema Khandu. This will be the Dalai Lama's first visit to the northeastern state in eight years.
Not surprisingly, the Dalai Lamas visit is not well received by China, which claims the entire state of Arunachal Pradesh as southern Tibet, a claim that is in violation of Indias territorial integrity. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang stated recently that 'China is gravely concerned over information that India has granted permission to the Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh and it would cause serious damage to the bilateral ties and peace in the disputed border region'.
India has made its position clear by maintaining that the Dalai Lama is a religious leader and free to go anywhere in India.
Apparently, this is not the first time that China has raised objections on the Dalai Lamas visit to Arunachal Pradesh (or elsewhere); it has been responding in a similar fashion every time an Indian leader or any foreign dignitary visits Tawang.
For instance, last year, it had objected to the visit of Richard Verma, the former US ambassador to India who was a guest at the Tawang festival. The meeting between the Dalai Lama and President Pranab Mukherjee at a non-political event in New Delhi in December also led China to issue a statement.
In the past, it has raised objections over the visits of former prime minister Manmohan Singh and current Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Arunachal Pradesh.
However, this time round, India has made it very clear that by objecting to Indias domestic affairs, China is stepping on its shoes.
Kiren Rijuju, minister of state for home affairs, firmly stated that, China should refrain from meddling in the internal affairs of India.
Due to Chinas cartographic invasions in Indias northeastern states and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, India is getting increasingly concerned. For instance, though India has long given its consent to One China policy, it has been refraining from giving its affirmation to the same in joint statements since 2008.
This is partly due to former Chinese envoy to India Sun Yuxis statement on Chinas claims of sovereignty over Arunachal Pradesh in 2006, in clear violation of Indias sovereignty, issued shortly before the maiden state visit of then Chinese President Hu Jintao to India.
Secondly, in 2014, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj stated, For India to agree to One China policy, China should reaffirm its One India policy, meaning that Beijing should refer to Kashmir as well as Arunachal Pradesh as Indias rightful territories.
Although statements like these have not really derailed the relationship so far, all does not seem to be well between the two Asian giants. India and China are already at loggerheads on several issues.
First, the resolution of the border issue is yet to see the light of the day.
Second, China has been obstructing Indias membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
Third, India is concerned over Chinas activities in PoK under the framework of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a flagship project of the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative that passes through PoK.
Fourth, China has also been hindering Indias demand for the United Nations to ban Jaish-e-Mohammed leader Masood Azhar, the mastermind of the 2001 attack on Parliament and the 2016 attack on Pathankot airbase.
Though India has, time and again, raised these issues with China, it is clearly not proving sufficient to remove the irritants and convince China to not ignore Indias concerns over a range of issues.
Therefore, India has adopted a bolder strategy to counter Chinas moves. Agreeing to host a parliamentary delegation from Taiwan in February 2016 seems to be part of this strategy.
On the issue of the Dalai Lama, China has been aggressive and not just with India. In November 2016, when the Dalai Lama visited Mongolia, China closed its border with Mongolia and imposed fees on import of goods from that country.
Moreover, it levied additional charges for transit of commodities over the China-Mongolia border, especially along Chinas northern region of Inner Mongolia. It compelled Mongolia to seek an apology from China and assure China of never inviting the Dalai Lama again.
The Dalai Lamas Arunachal visit is not likely to derail the India-China relationship but it is enough to signal to the Chinese that India is also willing to flash the Tibet/Taiwan card should the need arise.
However, this will be not be a major factor in India-China relations in the longer run given that India will not compromise on Indias territorial integrity and sovereignty in the context of Arunachal Pradesh.
Though the situation is not comfortable for both the Asian giants, it signals strongly that it is in the best interests of both countries that China starts showing some sensitivity to Indias concerns while India looks for more opportunities to proactively engage China, rather than go for a confrontation.
Sana Hashmi is a research scholar at Centre for East Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University.
'This is an emotional issue and cannot be resolved by law alone.'
'This can be resolved only by creating trust again.'
'So much bloodletting has taken place, there is no point in going on and on.'
'Let us sit together and negotiate'
Shahid Siddiqui, former Samajwadi Party member and editor of the Urdu newspaper Nai Duniya, was among the many people involved in the attempt to locate an out-of-court solution to the Babri Masjid-Ram Janambhoomi dispute in the 1990s.
He was also a member of the National Integration Council in which capacity he attended many meetings to find a solution to this decades-old issue.
Following the Supreme Court suggesting that a solution to the dispute be found through negotiations, Siddiqui, below, left, tells Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf why the earlier attempts at talks failed.
How do you view the Supreme Court's suggestion for an out of court settlement for the Ram Mandir issue?
Even earlier, a lot of efforts were made and I was part of those efforts to find an out of court solution.
I have always believed that this issue can only be resolved through mutual understanding and amicably.
A court judgment means that one party will win and another party will lose.
So there is no point in going ahead with the court decision.
For example, if the Waqf board representing the Muslims wins this case, then would it be advisable or proper to remove the Ram Mandir which has existed there for so many decades?
If we do that, it will create huge problems in the country.
Similarly, if the Hindus win the case, then the Muslims will feel that they have been cheated and justice was not done to them.
The problem here is that the mosque was demolished on December 6, 1992 after which the negotiations stopped.
So negotiations must be held on mutual trust.
But Muslim groups have stated that they will abide by the court decision whatever it be in this case.
The Babri Masjid Action Committee does not exist anymore and the case has been taken over by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board.
Do you think all Indian Muslims will follow the AIMPLB's decision? It is not possible.
This is an emotional issue and cannot be resolved by law alone. This can be resolved by creating trust again.
Technically it is a property dispute or a land dispute, over who holds the title to the plot. If the court cannot resolve this, how can others be expected to do so?
It is not a technical issue. If it was a technical issue it would have been resolved a long time back.
There would not have been so many riots and so many deaths over this issue.
Let us be realistic. Only fools make technical arguments to win an argument.
Logic -- not always but sometimes -- is the realm of fools.
Indira Gandhi said she had to introduce the Emergency like a doctor to save the life of a cancer patient and that is why she had to cut the hand off.
But the Emergency is different and cancer is a different issue. You cannot compare cancer and democracy.
So if you go by logic, then logic is an ass sometimes.
Many years ago you were part of a group which tried to find an out of court solution. What was discussed at those meetings?
Local leaders in Ayodhya are ready to go along with the Allahabad high court judgment. It is only the outsiders who are not ready.
Yogi Adityanath's guru Mahant Avaidyanath, who was the BJP member of Parliament from Gorakhpur, Ashok Singhal of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and one mahant from Ayodhya were there at the meeting. So was Vishnu Hari Dalmia of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
From the Muslim side, Syed Shahabuddin, Sulaiman Sait (then MPs), G M Banatwala (the Indian Union Muslim League president) and Salahuddin Owaisi (founder president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen) and I were actively involved in these meetings, even though I was the editor of a newspaper.
I was also a member of the National Integration Council. The first meeting was held in 1990, before L K Advani set out on his Rath Yatra.
A week before the demolition of the Babri Masjid, on November 24, 1992, then prime minister P V Narasimha Rao attended the NIC meeting.
(During the meeting) Muslims came to the point and in fact they had agreed, which S Q R Ilyas (member of the Babri Masjid Action Committee) too said, that except the 'member' (a component of a load-bearing structure) the Muslims had agreed to give up the rest of the place (to build the temple).
Leave the member and at the back side we can build a mosque, they said.
They also said that the other side of the chabootra (a platform which was located outside the mosque) and all other portions should be turned into a huge temple.
But the VHP was not agreeing to the mosque being anywhere near the temple. That is where things stalled.
You mean, the VHP wanted 100 per cent of the mosque's area?
Yes, they wanted 100 per cent of the land.
The fight was over the sanctum sanctorum.
For Hindus, the heart of the temple lies in the sanctum sanctorum.
They were asking for that as they said it was at that very spot that Ram Lalla was born.
What was the Muslim objection to this?
The Muslims said that that particular place should not be touched because they were not interested in the four walls of the mosque.
They wanted only that place because the imam was leading the namaaz from that particular spot (the sanctum sanctorum).
In fact, Maulana Ali Miyan (of the Muslim Personal Law Board) too was a part of the meeting as was Maulana Qasmi of the Milli Council.
They also said that a mosque will remain a mosque till doomsday.
Did you not explain that mosques are routinely demolished in Muslim countries to build roads and highways?
I had said at the meeting that we cannot go with the religious traditions of Saudi Arabia. BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi too mentioned this.
The problem here is that psychologically, Indian Muslims have emerged from Hindu culture and for them the house of God becomes the most pious and holy place, like temples are for Hindus.
How many meetings took place to solve this issue?
Many meetings took place. The meetings were held by (then) prime minister Chandra Shekhar. Later, his home minister Subodh Kant Sahay also attended them.
When Narasimha Rao became prime minister, he had created an Ayodhya cell in his office.
The whole thing became so politicised. Nobody wanted to look like surrendering anything.
The reason being that they did not want to be seen toeing the line of the opposite party.
And after the Babri Masjid was demolished, to my knowledge, no meetings or negotiations were held.
Did you at any point of time feel that yes, now a solution would be found?
A few meetings were held by C K Jaffer Sharif (railway minister in Rao's Cabinet) in which many Hindus and Muslims met.
Post the demolition, I told Narasimha Rao look, what has happened has happened. Now you can divide the land as the mosque has been pulled down.
On one part you can build a mosque and another part a temple. That could have been an easy solution, but he had his own politics to play.
That very night he (allowed) a temporary temple (to be built). So that solution was also sabotaged.
A small mosque could have been built along with a grand temple, but no serious effort was made, which has led to 100 communal riots all over India.
In Mumbai, on January 7, 1993, more than 1,000 peopled died and it was bigger than the 2002 Gujarat riots.
What must the Muslims now do, according to you?
If I am a politician then I will not close this chapter.
In fact, it will suit a politician to pour more oil into the fire rather than solve the issue.
This is a false notion. The Kerala Muslims will behave differently vis-a-vis West Bengal's Muslims and they in turn would behave differently from other Muslims in India.
There are Congressi Muslims, Samajwadi Muslims, even BJP Muslims.
People say Muslims must give up their claim on the Babri Masjid, but how can they give it up?
Can the 19 crore Muslims be called to a ground and gather there to give one opinion?
Some Muslims will support and some will oppose.
The media talks as if Muslims behave as one monolithic group.
Who am I to say what Muslims must do?
What is your own personal opinion?
So much bloodletting has taken place. There is no point in going on and on.
Let us sit together and negotiate.
Let the Muslims get some other benefit, which they must get as citizens of the country.
The local leaders in Ayodhya are ready to go along with the Allahabad high court judgment. It is only the outsiders who are not ready.
So, let us find a way out, find a solution.
The time has come to close this chapter.
Do you think any politician in India has the vision to solve this problem?
If I am a politician and I have to contest elections, then I will look at voters and not at a solution.
If I am a politician, then I will not close this chapter.
In fact, it will suit a politician to pour more oil into the fire rather than solve the issue.
If a solution is to be found, it cannot be (from the) politician.
The problem for the court would be: Who will negotiate? That is the point.
Would be it politicians like (BJP MP Subramanian) Swamy and (MIM MP Asaduddin) Owaisi or some dharmik (religious) leaders of Ayodhya?
Or will it be the same set of people who were there 25 years ago?
No, it won't be the same people.
Most of the people from that generation are dead. Shahabuddin, Syed Sulaiman Sait, Maulana Ali Miyan, Mahant Avaidyanath, Dalmia, Singhal are all dead.
There will be a different set of people as it is a different world and a different environment now.
The court will have to find a way after calling all the parties to the dispute.
One party is the Sunni Waqf board of Uttar Pradesh which reports to chief minister, who now is Yogi Adityanath. He is the boss of the Waqf board.
Photograph: Roy Madhur/Reuters
The tourism ministry will seek legal suggestions to explore a middle path to solve problems being faced by hoteliers and restaurant owners following the apex court's order banning liquor sale along highways.
Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma, however, said the government will work within the framework of the directives of the Supreme Court in the matter.
He said this today after a delegation of hoteliers and restaurant owners met him in New Delhi on the issue of the Supreme Courts order that liquor vends within 500 metres of national and state highways will have to be shut down from April 1.
This order is also applicable to bars, pubs and restaurants serving liquor, which give rise to drunken driving and consequential fatalities.
We respect the Supreme Court order. We will take suggestions from legal experts to see whether there can be a middle path, Sharma said.
He, however, said the matter is a state subject and any decision regarding it will be taken by the state government.
We will refer the problems being faced by the hoteliers and restaurant owners, due to the ban, to the states and it is for them to take necessary actions, the minister said.
The Supreme Court on March 31 had modified its order reducing the distance to 220 metres in areas having a population of up to 20,000. This criterion is also applicable to hill states like Sikkim, Meghalaya and Himachal Pradesh.
Thousands of restaurants, liquor vends and bars, including those in five-star hotels, along national and state highways have been stopped from serving alcohol since Saturday.
Meanwhile, the affected hotel, bar and restaurant owners in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh are pinning hopes on the respective state governments to save their trade.
The owners have alleged that the order would result in massive unemployment and financial loss to the state exchequer. They, however, ruled out approaching the court to seek a remedy in the issue.
Around 25,000 people will be jobless in Haryana alone because of the ban on serving liquor (within 500 metres of highways), Hotel and Restaurant Association of Haryana president Manbeer Chaudhary said.
The tourism sector in the state will be most affected. Besides, the state revenue will also be badly hit, he said.
Terming the matter as a mammoth problem, Chaudhary said that the respective state governments should pitch in and save their livelihoods.
We have decided that we will not approach the judiciary for any legal remedy, he said, adding that it is the government which has many options to bring relief to the traders.
The HRAH representatives also met Haryana Excise and Taxation Minister Captain Abhimanyu and apprised him of the situation.
The minister was very positive and asked us to give a representation in this regard, which we have already done, Chaudhary said.
In our representation, we have told the government to take a stand in the apex court as excise is a state matter, and states should have been consulted before passing any judgment, he said.
The HRAH chief further said that there were several cities in Haryana having bypass, and that there was no meaning of state highways.
He said that the immediate fallout of the ban has come in the form of cancellation of rooms by tour operators, causing massive loss to the hotel industry.
Out of 478 bars in Haryana, 194 bars will be affected by the Supreme Court order and most of them are situated in Gurugram, he said.
In Punjab, the representatives of Punjab Hotels Association termed the ban as great setback for the hospitality sector and urged the Congress-led state government to change the nomenclature of highways.
We have requested the government to change the nomenclature of state highways to district roads. It will bring relief to at least 60 per cent of the affected hotels, bars and restaurants, said Punjab Hotels Association president Satish Arora.
We have also urged the Punjab government to file a review petition in the Supreme Court against this order, he said.
The association said that the affected hotels, restaurants and bars should have been given at least two years time to dislocate.
Meanwhile, in joint capital Chandigarh, a large number of representatives of affected hotels, bars and restaurants along with their staff today took out a rally against the order.
Banning liquor on highways is no solution. Drunkards can still travel on the highways after having drinks at bars located far from the highways. Then, what purpose will this ban serve? Vinod Dua, owner of Peddlers bar and restaurant, asked.
We have given a representation to Chandigarh Administrator V P Singh Badnore, demanding that the highway on sector 25, 35, 43 and the industrial area be declared district roads, he said.
Notably, the UT administration had denotified V1, V2 and V3 roads to save the liquor vends there from closure due to the ban.
The Supreme Court has in a recent order said that liquor vends within 500 metres of national and state highways will have to shut down from April 1.
In Maharashtra also, the members of the Hotel And Restaurant Association of Western India will take up the issue with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
We will be meeting the chief minister tomorrow (Tuesday) to discuss the impact of liquor ban on employment and other issues related to the industry, HRAWI President Dilip Datwani told said.
Maharashtra has 13,655 bars and shops, with over 500 affected ones are in Mumbai alone, said former president Kamlesh Barot of the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India.
He said, In Mumbai metropolitan region alone over 2,000 bars and restaurants are on the verge of closure while 9,925 face the risk across Maharashtra.
The state government will lose over Rs 7,000 crores in taxes, excise and license fees, while the country-wide impact on the sector is estimated at Rs 2,00,000 crore," Barot added.
This would be in addition to an estimated job loss of over one million heads currently employed in the hospitality sector.
Datwani said, unlike many other countries, the highways run right through the cities and towns in India with many bars and restaurants, hotels, malls, cinema halls, clubs and even residential apartments existing right next to the highways.
"About 50 star rated hotels in Mumbai are also expected to be affected by the ban and tourists may find themselves exposed to a scenario of severely shrinking choices," he said.
This will wreck the demand supply ratio of full service hotels in the city, and affect the tourism infrastructure, he added.
IMAGE: A closed liquor shop near a highway in Amritsar. Photograph: Shiva Sharma/PTI Photo
Food is a personal choice but one should avoid consuming what is restricted in the Constitution, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said today.
Aapko jo khana hain voh khao...par jo samvidhan main prohibited hain usko mat khaon (One can eat his food of choice, but avoid eating that food which is prohibited as per our Constitution), he told reporters in Hyderabad.
The Information and Broadcasting minister was responding to a query regarding a Bharatiya Janata Party nominee for the upcoming by-election in Malappuram in Kerala reportedly promising supply of good beef from clean slaughterhouses in his constituency, if elected.
Food is a personal choice, but at the same time there are certain restrictions in the Constitution. So, in certain areas, certain things have to be respected by one and all.
What is prohibited as per Constitution in states...follow that. What is there as per law... follow it. I am a pakka (staunch) non-vegetarian and will continue to so, and there is no restriction. I am the direct example (sic), the BJP leader said.
Naidus statement came at a time when the BJP-ruled states are pushing for stricter laws against cow slaughter, whereas in Uttar Pradesh, the Yogi Adityanath government is cracking the whip on illegal abattoirs.
Ahead of the crucial civic elections in the national capital, scheduled for April 23, the Congress has been dealt a huge blow after AK Walia has offered to resign from the party.
A health minister in the Sheila Dikshit government in the state, said he was quitting as he was upset over the ticket distribution ahead of the municipal corporation of Delhi polls.
I have written a letter to Delhi Congress President Ajay Maken, complaining against irregularities and violation of party rules in ticket distribution and if things do not change, I will quit the party, he said.
According to sources, Walia was unhappy over the party cancelling the ticket given to a woman candidate and replacing her with another candidate for the MCD elections.
Several other Congress leaders have alleged irregularities in ticket distribution with former Deputy Speaker and three-time MLA Amrish Singh Gautam on Monday quitting the party and joining the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The veteran Congressman also alleged that the party is ignoring ground efforts by party workers and fielding outsiders in his area.
Walia, who represented Laxmi Nagar constituency in his last stint as an MLA, enjoys a massive support in East Delhi.
The Congress on Sunday announced its second list of 127 candidates for the upcoming MCD polls.
The grand old party in all has announced names of 267 candidates.
The Congress had on Saturday announced its first list of 140 candidates.
There are 272 wards in three municipal corporations in the city, with 104 each in the South and North Delhi Municipal Corporation and 64 in the East Delhi Municipal Corporation.
Informal talks with people close to the Patidar leader are on to enlist the support of the Patel community, which comprises 20 per cent of the voters, reports Amit Agnihotri.
Keen to dislodge the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has been ruling Gujarat for 19 years, the Congress is hopeful of getting Hardik Patel to join it.
A popular face of the state-wide Patidar movement, Patel is expected to strengthen the party's anti-saffron party movement.
Polls to the 182-seat Gujarat assembly are to be held by the end of this year.
According to sources, informal talks with people close to the leader are on to enlist the support of the Patel community, which comprises 20 per cent of the voters.
Besides, the Congress is also trying to work out similar informal pacts with Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani and OBC leader Alpesh Thakor, who shot into the limelight recently while espousing the cause of their respective communities.
Significantly, the new player, the Aam Aadmi Party, is also trying to bring in these community leaders to gain a foothold in the western state.
Hoping to reassure the tribals, whom the BJP is trying to woo, the Congress has tweaked its strategy for the community, which has backed the opposition party for decades.
Instead of a tribal awareness foot march, the Congress is launching a reach-out programme for the community starting with the first rally at Khedbrahma, near Ambaji temple on Monday. Four more rallies will be held over the coming days.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi is expected to attend the rallies during the last leg.
Gandhi has already deputed Siddharth Patel, son of former chief minister Chimanbhai Patel, to connect with the Patel community leaders and try to bring as many of them into the fold. In areas where the community leaders owe allegiance to Hardik, the Congress would be open to let the rebel leader play.
The fallout of the Patel unrest is a cause of worry for the BJP too, though party chief Amit Shah is bullish on retaining his home state.
Miffed over former chief minister Anandiben Patels handling of the Patel movement, which turned violent, the BJP had replaced her with Vijay Rupani in 2016.
Congress leaders said, besides the widespread anger against the BJP among the Patels, the other communities too have been at the receiving end of the party for decades.
The poor social development indicators, too, are a cause of concern for the BJP despite the image of a developed state enjoyed by Gujarat for long.
After its alliance with the Samajwadi Party failed to stop the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, Gandhi is keen to disrupt the party's onward march in Gujarat as a defeat in Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shahs home state would send out a strong message nationwide.
However, that is easier said than done.
The Congress lacks a popular face in the state, needs to curb infighting and launch an aggressive campaign to reverse its fortunes in Gujarat.
In comparison, the BJP has already decided to play the polarisation card by naming Hindutva poster boy and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath as its star campaigner.
Denouncing attacks on African nationals as xenophobic and racial in nature, heads of African missions in India have hit out at the government, saying it took no known, sufficient and visible deterrent action.
In a strongly-worded press release, the envoys, who recently held a special meeting on the incidents, agreed to call for an independent investigation by the Human Rights Council as well as other human rights bodies, and also to comprehensively report the matter to the Commission of the African Union.
They said they expected a strong condemnation of the attacks at the highest political level, both nationally and locally, indicating their disappointment over lack of response from the prime minister and Uttar Pradesh chief minister, it said.
The press release dated March 31 from the office of the Dean of the African Group Head of the Missions said the meeting was convened to look into the recent attacks against African students in Greater Noida.
The meeting unanimously agreed that those accumulated attacks against Africans are xenophobic and racial in nature, they said.
The envoys reviewed the incidents that have taken place in the past and concluded that no known, sufficient and visible deterrent measures were taken by the Indian government, it said.
Condemning the attacks, they expressed their deep concern and noted that these reprehensible events, both outstanding and unresolved cases against Africans, were not sufficiently condemned by the Indian authorities.
There are missions of more than 50 African countries which are accredited to India.
Four Nigerian students were attacked by a group of Greater Noida residents who took out a candle light march on March 26 after a 17-year-old boy Manish died due to suspected drug overdose.
The protest march was taken out after the police released some Nigerians detained for questioning in connection with death of Manish, a class 12 student, due to lack of evidence.
IMAGE: Foreign students protest in Jalandhar over the recent attacks on African nationals. Photograph: PTI Photo
The Election Commission on Sunday hit out at the Aam Aadmi Party for levelling "unfair" allegations of electronic voting machines-tampering and asked it to introspect on the reasons for its defeat in the Punjab polls, a response described as "unfortunate" by the party.
In a strongly-worded letter, the Election Commission said that it was for the Aam Aadmi Party "to introspect as to why your party could not perform as per your expectations and it is unfair on your part to attribute unsatisfactory poll performance to the alleged tamperability of EVMs".
It added that so far, a total of 1,111 allegations regarding the tamperability of "ECI-EVMs" have been considered and dismissed by the commission as various high courts have unequivocally reiterated that given the effective technical and administrative safeguards, the EVMs were not tamperable and the integrity of the poll process was "fully preserved".
The poll watchdog also said that as per laws related to elections, after the declaration of results, the only option available to verify the data of votes cast was filing an election petition before the high court concerned.
The AAP claimed that the alleged EVM malfunctioning incident in Madhya Pradesh's Bhind district, where the VVPAT-enabled electronic voting machines printed the Bharatiya Janata Party's poll symbol irrespective of the button pressed during a mock trial, had made it clear that the EVMs were not tamper-proof.
"It is unfortunate that instead of taking due action, the Election Commission is issuing political statements on the issue of EVM tampering...
"The incident (of Bhind) shook the faith of millions of Indian voters in the impartiality of the EC and the entire process of elections using EVMs," it said in a statement.
"The incident of Bhind has shown that the EC has completely failed in its duty to protect the EVMs and the integrity of the election process and therefore, failed in fulfilling its constitutional obligation of conducting free and fair elections," the Arvind Kejriwal-led party said, urging the commission to take immediate action in this regard.
"Turning a blind eye to the shocking reports trickling in from Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and now Madhya Pradesh would serve no purpose and would only erode the credibility of the EC," it added.
The EC, however, maintained that "no credible material" had been brought to the knowledge of the authorities at the time of mock EVM drills in Punjab to show tampering.
It said the Supreme Court had never cast any aspersion or expressed any doubt that the election process was rigged by the use of EVMs.
"The commission strongly objects to this wrong and imaginary extrapolation of (the) Supreme Court's order. This may please be noted as a responsible political party," it told the AAP.
"Any surmise based on foreign studies or operating system-based EVMs used elsewhere would be completely erroneous. The ECI-EVMs cannot be compared with those EVMs and the ECI-EVMs are tamper-proof," it added.
The AAP had alleged that the poll authorities in Punjab had refused to accept its demand to tally the election results with paper trail audit data.
The party had moved the EC over the reliability of EVMs and the results of the recently-concluded Punjab polls.
The AAP won 20 of the 117 seats in the Punjab polls. The Congress won 77 seats to wrest power from the SAD-BJP combine.
An army jawan was on Monday arrested at the airport in Srinagar for carrying two grenades which he claimed were given to him by a superior official for transporting to Delhi.
Bhopal Mukhiya of 17 JAK Rifles, posted in Boniyar area of Uri sector in Kashmir, was taken into custody after the grenades were found in his baggage during screening at the main gate of the airport, an official of the anti-hijacking force said.
A resident of Darjeeling, Mukhiya was going home on leave.
He was to board a Delhi-bound chartered flight, the official said.
The jawan reportedly told the police that the packet containing grenades was given to him by a superior official for handing it over to someone at the Delhi airport.
A defence spokesman said action will be taken against the jawan as per the law.
A soldier has been caught carrying grenades in a packet as reported by the airport authorities. The matter is under investigation. As per the law, the army will take action against the individual, the defence spokesman said in a statement.
Director General of Police S P Vaid told reporters: He will face action according to the law. Be it an army jawan, a policeman or a civilian, everyone will have to face action.
Asked whether it was a hijacking bid, the DGP said: I cannot say anything on that.
Senior officials of the security wing of the state police refused to give more details about the case.
On the recovery of 14 mobile phones from a sub-jail in Baramulla on Sunday, the state police chief said it was a security breach.
"The mobile phones were recovered after a search. It is a security breach. We have seized them and they (inmates) will face action," he said.
Asked whether calls were made to Pakistan from those mobile phones, the DGP said the J&K Police's cyber team was probing the matter.
"Our cyber forensic team will fully investigate... will check all numbers and then action will be taken," he said.
Referring to Sunday's grenade attack in Nowhatta area of Srinagar in which a policeman was killed, the top cop said: "It is a reality that militants fire and lob grenades during stone-pelting protests. It is a way to engage the security forces."
With inputs from ANI
Image used for representative purposes only
At least 10 people were killed and 50 others injured on Monday when an explosion ripped through a subway train in St Petersburg, Russian media reported.
IMAGE: An injured person is helped by emergency services outside Sennaya Ploshchad metro station following explosions in two train carriages in St Petersburg. Photograph: Anton Vaganov/Reuters
Russia's National Anti-Terrorist Committee said an unidentified explosive device went off on a train that was travelling between two stations.
President Vladimir Putin, who was visiting the city to take part in All-Russia People's Front media forum, expressed his condolences and said investigators were looking into whether the explosion was a terror attack.
However, Prime Minister Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Facebook that it was a 'terrorist attack'.
IMAGE: An injured person stands outside Sennaya Ploshchad metro station. Photograph: Anton Vaganov/Reuters
'Those who suffered during the terrorist act in the St. Petersburg metro will be provided with all the necessary assistance. All instructions to the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Emergency Situations are given. My most sincere condolences to the families and friends of the victims of the explosion. This is a common pain,' Medvedev wrote.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, however, denied media speculation that Putin was due to pass by Sennaya Metro station around the time of the blast.
Soon after the blast, an improvised explosive device was defused at another St Petersburg Metro station -- Ploshchad Vosstaniya, while three trains of the Moscow Central Ring were evacuated after an unidentified object was located.
IMAGE: Security stepped-up outside Ploschad Revolyutsii (Revolution Square) metro station in Moscow. Photograph: Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters
Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin ordered security to be stepped up in the Moscow Metro, the Moscow Central Ring and intercity trains, the Moscow Transport service tweeted.
Social media users posted photographs and video from a subway station in the city centre, showing people lying on the floor outside a train with a mangled door.
IMAGE: Emergency services attending the scene outside Sennaya Ploshchad metro station. Photograph: Anton Vaganov/Reuters
A witness was quoted by Russias Life News saying, People were bleeding, their hair burned. We were told to move to the exit, because the movement stopped. People just fled.
My girlfriend was in the next car that exploded. She said that he began to shake. When she came out, she saw that people were mutilated.
IMAGE: A photo posted on social media shows a metro bogie ripped apart.
Seven of St Petersburgs metro stations have been closed -- Victory Park, Electrosila, Moscow Gate, Frunzenskaya, Technological Institute, Sennaya Ploshchad, Gostiny Dvor have been shut at the entrance and exit points.
Security measures in the Delhi Metro have been put on maximum alert with commuters made to undergo a thorough frisking.
Officials said the Central Industrial Security Force, tasked to secure over 150 stations of the rapid rail network with a daily footfall of about 26 lakh people, has issued orders to exercise the highest possible measure of alert by strengthening regular security drills and undertaking pat-down (complete) search of the passengers.
IMAGE: Social media users posted photographs and video from a subway station in the city centre, showing people lying on the floor outside a train with a mangled door.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed deep sadness over the loss of lives in the blasts.
Deeply saddened by the loss of lives in the blasts at St Petersburg metro. Heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims, he tweeted.
Families and rescuers searched desperately through mud-plastered rubble for victims of flooding and landslides in Colombia that have killed at least 254, including around 43 children.
IMAGE: People walk in a destroyed area after heavy rains caused several rivers to overflow, pushing sediment and rocks into buildings and roads in Mocoa. All photographs: Jaime Saldarriaga/Reuters
Several rivers burst their banks near the southwestern city of Mocoa, 500 km southwest of Bogota, in the early hours of Saturday, sending water, mud and debris crashing down streets and into houses as people slept.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, who travelled to the southern town to personally oversee relief operations, warned the toll could keep climbing.
Unfortunately, these are still preliminary figures, he wrote on Twitter.
We offer our prayers for all of them. We send our condolences and the entire countrys sympathies to their families.
IMAGE: A man searches for his belongings after the mudslide swept away his home.
Describing the horror of it all, Maria Lilia Tisoy, 37, who was looking for her two daughters, one pregnant, and a 4-year-old granddaughter in the rubble was quoted as saying, I need to know where they are, if they are injured or where to find them.
If they are dead, please God deliver them to me.
IMAGE: A woman cries as she identifies her daughter's body after flooding and mudslides caused by heavy rains in Villagarzon, Colombia
The debris left by the mudslides was everywhere: buried cars, uprooted trees, childrens toys and stray shoes sticking up out of the mud.
Santos blamed climate change for the disaster, saying Mocoa had received one-third of its usual monthly rain in just one night, causing the rivers to burst their banks.
Disaster officials said 600 people were staying in emergency housing and social services had helped 10 lost children find their parents.
IMAGE: A man walks with a part of a bed. The debris left by the mudslides was everywhere: buried cars, uprooted trees, childrens toys and stray shoes sticking up out of the mud.
The disaster came amid extreme weather across the region, including deadly flooding in Peru and drought-induced forest fires in Chile.
Families of the dead will receive about $6,400 (Rs 4.15 lakh) in aid, Santos has said. The government will cover hospital and funeral costs.
IMAGE: Gruesome scenes of devastation are all that one can see in Colombia after the mudslides.
A profoundly saddened Pope Francis said he was praying for the victims.
Colombias deadliest landslide, the 1985 Armero disaster, left more than 20,000 dead.
IMAGE: Officials said that over 600 people were staying in emergency housing.
United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Sunday said that Russia was "certainly" involved in the US presidential election last year and the matter would be addressed once the probe is completed.
Russia was "involved in" interfering in the US presidential election, she said.
"Certainly I think Russia was involved in the election. There is no question about that. I think when they finish with all of this process, yes, they need to address Russia. They need to act... We do not want any country involved in our elections ever. And so once that information comes out, I expect that will be handled accordingly," Indian-American Haley told ABC News in an interview.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied that his country meddled in the 2016 US Presidential election.
"I can tell you that in my dealings with Russia in particular at the United Nations, we beat up on them because we thought that what they did with Crimea and what is happening in Ukraine is wrong. We called them out for it," she said.
Haley, the first Indian-American to hold a Cabinet level position in any presidential administration, made her first Sunday talk shows appearance today in her capacity as the US Ambassador to the UN. She was responding to questions on the general impression that the US is being soft on Russia, which she strongly denied.
"What we have said is that they are not being helpful in the way that they and Iran are covering up for Assad. We do not think that is helpful. We need their pressure when it comes to dealing with ISIS, and we also need their pressure when it comes to dealing with China and North Korea.
"So there is certain things that we do work with Russia on and then there is certain things when they do something wrong, I have no problem calling them out on it," Haley said.
"But again nobody is talking to me about that at the United Nations. What everybody is talking about at the United Nations is what is going to happen with North Korea? How are we going to deal with the crisis that we are seeing in Syria? What are we doing to wage the war on ISIS?" she said.
US President Donald Trump and the administration agree that Russia's involvement in Ukraine is wrong.
"I think that if you listen to what he said about the elections, of course we do not want any country involved in our elections. So that is going to happen. I think that Russia is very aware that they are on notice when it comes to certain issues.
"They are very aware that we do want to try and defeat ISIS together, if that is at all possible, along with our allies. There is no love or anything going on with Russia right now. They get that we are getting our strength back, that we are getting our voice back, and that we are starting to lead again," she said.
Haley demanded more action from China on North Korea.
The US, she said, no longer takes the excuses from China that they are concerned, too.
"They need to show us how concerned they are. They need to put pressure on North Korea. The only country that can stop North Korea is China. They know that. I think that you saw when Secretary Tillerson went to Beijing, that was a way of putting pressure.
"You are going to see President Trump meet with President Xi (Jinping) and a lot of conversation and the most important conversation will be how we are going to be dealing with the non-proliferation of North Korea," Haley said.
China, she said, has to cooperate.
"This is now down to do we want to continue to see these ballistic missile attacks from North Korea or does China want to do something about it? This is all about the fact that they need to have action. And we are going to continue to put pressure on China to have action. That will be shown in multiple ways.
"What we are going to do is say China, you know that you are the only one that is doing this. We appreciate that you stopped coal going into North Korea, but we know it is going in other ways. At some point, we need these definitive actions by China condemning North Korea and not just calling them out for it," Haley said.
China and Russia play very different roles, she said.
"They both are getting involved across the world in all different pockets. Their tentacles are everywhere, she said. Russia is doing it through elections and through military actions and through trying to get involved in conversations.
"China is doing it economically. If you look at their infrastructure, they are everywhere in the world now and they want to continue to do that so that they have a stronghold," Haley observed.
"What we need to do is say that is fine, if they are going to continue to do that, they are also going to have to be accountable for the things that they are responsible for. We do think North Korea is one of those that they need to be held accountable for," said the top American diplomat.
Looming Dangers One Year after Nagorno-Karabakh Escalation
Publisher International Crisis Group (ICG) Publication Date 31 March 2017 Cite as International Crisis Group (ICG), Looming Dangers One Year after Nagorno-Karabakh Escalation, 31 March 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e1faba4.html [accessed 8 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
The room housing refugees in the former Soviet sanatorium just outside Baku was getting a much-needed facelift: new black-and-silver floral wallpaper "to make it more attractive to the future in-laws of my daughter who are not displaced like us", said Bayram, an Azeri veteran of the 1988-1994 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Bayram remained steadfast in his support for Azerbaijan's role in last spring's violent clash with Armenia. "Of course I know what war is and what the consequences can be", he explained. He pointed to his leg, maimed by artillery fire almost 25 years ago, and to the poor conditions of the refugee shelter where his family has lived for over twenty years. "But I have sent my eldest son to the army anyhow. He is an officer, and I have told him to fight - to take care, but to fight for his homeland."
Last year's escalation in Nagorno-Karabakh, which began in the early hours of 2 April, killed up to 200 people. However, like many Azerbaijanis whose families have been displaced by the conflict, Bayram's patriotic pride overtook his concern for lost lives. Bayram had hoped the fighting would result in the return to Baku's control of Nagorno-Karabakh and its surrounding districts - held by ethnic Armenian forces since the 1994 ceasefire - so he could go back home.
Across the Line of Contact (LoC), the militarised zone that has separated Armenian and Azerbaijani forces since 1994, conversations in Armenia's capital Yerevan were like stepping through a mirror. "Don't you understand that Baku lost last April?" a prominent Armenian expert remarked, challenging the mainstream analysis that Baku's gaining control over two strategic heights was a significant first since 1994, if not in military terms, then certainly in terms of Azerbaijan's posture. "We are now prepared and ready to inflict major harm on the Azerbaijanis if they attack, so they do not feel they can get away with this", another Armenian analyst said. Such sentiments are even more sharply expressed in Nagorno-Karabakh itself, where people are deeply concerned for their security.
Conversations on both sides of the divide reveal a new and dangerous situation: that renewed appetite for confrontation has engulfed a conflict once considered frozen but which - with clashes escalating since at least 2012 - is particularly dangerous now given both countries' more powerfully equipped armies, and Armenia's and Azerbaijan's respective military commitments with Russia and Turkey. In 2015, Azerbaijan spent $3 billion on its military, strategically diversifying acquisitions, with weapons systems purchased from Russia, Turkey, Israel and Pakistan, among others. This sum was more than Armenia's entire national budget that year, yet Yerevan still sought to catch up, benefiting from more advantageous tariffs and a credit from Russia.
Armenia and Azerbaijan each finds the current status quo unacceptable for different reasons. Before committing to talks, Yerevan urgently wishes to see improved security, including for people whose daily lives are severely impacted by ongoing escalations along the LoC and the international border between the two countries. Baku wants to have guarantees that there will be substantive progress in settlement talks, including the return of districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh as a first step. The prevailing dynamic, compounded by an absence of confidence between the sides or in the settlement process, lends itself to further violent flare-ups that contain grave local and regional risks.
There is a long-standing conflict settlement mechanism, the Minsk Group of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). But in the absence of a re-invigorated process with high-level backing from the three Minsk Group co-chairs - Russia, the United States and France - the conflict will remain a dangerous tinderbox in the heart of the South Caucasus, between Russia, Turkey, Iran and what the EU considers its Eastern Neighbourhood.
The Frozen Settlement Process
Bayram, the Azeri veteran, said he was disappointed when a ceasefire was brokered by Moscow four days into the April 2016 fighting. Like many displaced people and other ordinary citizens in Azerbaijan, he felt elated that some small but strategically significant land fell into Baku's hands as a result of the fighting, and that the widespread post-1994 myth of Armenian forces' invincibility was broken. But he and others in Azerbaijan were also frustrated not to see "more progress", even if it were to come with a much higher death toll and other costs.
The high pain threshold of both parties in the quest for their desired outcome in the settlement of the conflict bodes ill for finding a political solution. Russia-led attempts to broker a deal last year revealed that a zero-sum logic continues to dictate not only the approach to the substance of the settlement process but also to the process itself. The gulf between Azerbaijani society on the one hand, and the Armenian and Armenian-Karabakh societies on the other, is widened by the lack of contact between parties. Only isolated civil society actors seek the construction of cultural or political bridges. In the year that has elapsed since April 2016, space for discussing mutual concessions has by and large closed.
Yet last year's conflict did briefly revive the all but moribund settlement process, as detailed in Crisis Group's July report, "New Opening, or More Peril?". Summits in Vienna last May and St. Petersburg in June agreed on an investigative mechanism and an increase in the number of OSCE monitors, as well as on proceeding with substantive talks. Yet by late summer, the process ground to a halt and deadly incidents have recurred with varying degrees of intensity.
"We cannot talk when we are being attacked", explained an official in Yerevan. "The only way to get to substantive talks is to have months of quiet on the Line of Contact". Beyond the security imperative, Yerevan is reluctant to return lands around Karabakh unless other aspects of the settlement - including Nagorno-Karabakh's future status - are clarified, guided by a principle of "nothing is agreed until everything is agreed". Armenians fear losing strategic advantage if they do not secure their desired political outcome on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, namely its self-determination outside of Azerbaijan. Indeed, the return of even some of the districts around the contested heartland would make Karabakh much harder to defend for the Armenians.
For its part, Baku resents the current status quo on the ground and fears that any security arrangements insisted upon by Yerevan would only cement it. Officials in Baku say the increased number of monitors and the investigative mechanism agreed upon last summer are only acceptable if linked to broader substantive progress in the talks.
With frustrations mounting on both sides and the process stalled, incidents along the LoC will likely intensify. Baku in particular shows public readiness to use force to achieve its goals. Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials explain that Baku has renounced the use of force if the conflict is settled within the framework of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity. Failing that, Azerbaijani analysts say, the threat of violence continues to be a legitimate means to put pressure on the adversary.
Meanwhile, Armenian and de facto Armenian-Karabakh forces - two intertwined structures - have focused on new fortifications systems on the Armenian-controlled side of the LoC, as well as on an internal overhaul of command structures. Some Armenian voices, including inside Nagorno-Karabakh, even speak of seizing more territories if they are attacked, in order to increase the security belt and have more to trade in future negotiations.
With both sides now poised to retaliate quickly to any escalation, and without the element of surprise, renewed fighting would likely exceed the unprecedented levels seen last year.
Moscow's Uncertain Role
On the international diplomatic front, for the last decade, Moscow has de facto been the prima inter pares in the Minsk Group, and it was Moscow that brought about a cessation of hostilities in April 2016. Moscow is the only one of the three co-chair countries which currently seems to have the bandwidth and interest to invest high-level political capital into the conflict.
Diplomats talk about another push for progress in the talks, which Moscow is ostensibly preparing in the foreseeable future. A meeting of Foreign Ministers after the Armenian parliamentary elections on 2 April - coincidentally, the first anniversary of the escalation - should ideally lay the groundwork for a summit of the two Presidents. One desirable approach that is apparently being considered by the Minsk Group co-chair countries would include a combination of a possible declaration of both parties; an expression of support by the Minsk Group co-chairs; and a potential UN Security Council Resolution, according to diplomats based in the region. However, agreement on the details would still be needed at the Presidential level.
With Russia's long history of rule over the Caucasus region, and a continued sense that the South Caucasus is a sphere of privileged Russian interest, Moscow's influence has many facets. Russia is the leading supplier of weapons to both Armenia and Azerbaijan. Russia also has close cooperation with Armenia through the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation and the Eurasian Economic Union, of which Armenia is a member. While Moscow has not formally said it is interested in having peacekeepers in the region, a Russian official informally said that "of course [sending peacekeepers is in] our interest and we are pursuing it". According to a gentlemen's agreement in the context of the settlement process no co-chair or neighbouring country should provide peacekeepers.
Baku and Yerevan share a deep reluctance to accept Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh. Both see this scenario as the ultimate loss of sovereignty and a return to their once subservient role within the Soviet Empire. "We have been able to keep Russia out of our domestic politics", a former Azerbaijani politician said. "Having their boots in Karabakh would mean they would have a very different say over our internal issues". Likewise, an opposition-minded figure in Yerevan pointed out it was a paradox that while Armenia hosts a Russian military base, no one in Armenia wants to see Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh itself.
A decade or more ago, Armenian analysts often referred to the Balkans - where Operation Storm restored Croat control over Srpska Krajina though it violated the mandate of the UN peacekeepers deployed on the ceasefire line - as an example for why international security arrangements may not be reliable. Today, notwithstanding the role of Russia as Armenia's primary strategic partner, Crimea's 2014 annexation by Russia is causing concern that the use of force cannot be excluded, even if international guarantees are in place.
Baku, on the other hand, has seized on the biting sanctions imposed by the U.S. and its European partners on Russia to pursue in various international fora Azerbaijan's de jure claim to the territory it sees as occupied, referring also to UN Security Council resolutions of the early 1990s. "After Crimea, the international community's reluctance to use the term occupation and impose sanctions against Armenia is becoming untenable," a pro-government Azerbaijani analyst said.
No Alternative to Political and Diplomatic Solutions
A year on from the April 2016 flare-up, positions have significantly hardened. Both sides seem prepared to engage only on their own terms and neither society is ready to consider mutual concessions. Any discussion in Baku of the settlement process and its basic principles automatically assumes the determination of the future political status of Nagorno-Karabakh within Azerbaijan - something Armenians say is unacceptable. On the other hand, discussions in Armenia over the return of lands surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan have been difficult and, since last April, have become a non-starter. Although, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan in the past has said this remained a negotiating chip.
In fact, the distinction between Nagorno-Karabakh proper and the surrounding districts held by Armenians has been largely effaced in the discourse, especially in the months since April 2016. Armenia's former president, Levon Ter-Petrossian, remains a lone voice urging Armenians to proceed with the return of the districts around Nagorno-Karabakh, but few agree with him. The Karabakhi activist living in Yerevan explained simply: "This would lead to civil war".
Against the backdrop of political deadlock, risks of escalation on the battlefront are growing dangerously. Most Western diplomats agree that the risks are high, yet they also stress that none of the regional powers are interested in a conflict that could ultimately ensnare them. Russia and Turkey's current geopolitical cooperation regarding the war in Syria increases the chances that they would work to minimise any misunderstandings that might lead to a wider conflagration in the Caucasus theatre.
Even a medium-scale intensity conflict between Baku and Yerevan is likely to have disastrous humanitarian consequences. Given the close proximity of civilians to the front lines, heavy casualties would be likely from shelling or other military deployments. Both sides alleged that the other engaged in atrocities during the April 2016 escalation, which Minsk Group co-chairs condemned in their December 2016 statement. Humanitarian agencies in the region are beefing up their capacities and developing contingency plans.
The destructive potential of renewed conflict should compel both parties back to the negotiating table. If the mooted new meeting between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan materialises, it could help inject new impetus into the stalled process. Baku and Yerevan have already, in theory at least, committed to the basic principles for the settlement developed by the OSCE Minsk Group. The elements, as formulated by Minsk Group co-chairs countries, include: "the return of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control; an interim status for Nagorno-Karabakh providing guarantees for security and self-governance; a corridor linking Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh; future determination of the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh through a legally binding expression of will; the right of all internally displaced persons and refugees to return to their former places of residence; and international security guarantees that would include a peacekeeping operation".
In spite of divergent interpretations of a number of those elements by each party, the OSCE Minsk Group should redouble its efforts to galvanise substantive talks while pushing for implementation of the measures agreed in Vienna. Russia will likely play a leading role in this, but needs the support of the U.S. and France. Washington and Paris should back up these efforts at highest levels, despite the Trump presidency's apparent disengagement from the region and France's electoral preoccupations. The EU should use its bilateral relations with each of the countries to reiterate not only the unacceptability of the status quo, but also the unacceptability of a repeat of last April's hostilities. The EU has long sought to support pro-peace discourses in both societies. This kind of investment should be a renewed priority so that people like Bayram, as well as his Armenian counterparts, do not depersonalise each other.
A lasting settlement will mean living side by side, taking into account the needs of both parties. For now though, there is a wide gap between what outside mediators see as a fair formula and what seems acceptable to local communities. Until this gap closes, the risks of war will remain very high.
Disclaimer
This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
DR Congo: Security Council extends peacekeeping mandate, but reduces troop strength
Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 31 March 2017 Cite as UN News Service, DR Congo: Security Council extends peacekeeping mandate, but reduces troop strength, 31 March 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e20a264.html [accessed 8 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
The 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.
Incremental progress but 'we're not yet there,' UN mediator on Syria reports
Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 31 March 2017 Cite as UN News Service, Incremental progress but 'we're not yet there,' UN mediator on Syria reports, 31 March 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e20acd4.html [accessed 8 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
The latest round of the United Nations-facilitated intra-Syrian talks concluded today in Geneva where UN envoy Staffan de Mistura told journalists the discussions had been serious and the parties engaged, but "we're not yet there."
When the current talks between the Syrian Government and opposition delegations began last week, UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura said he did not expect miracles, breakthroughs or breakdowns, but hoped to build on the previous rounds with some incremental, constructive steps.
The Syrian conflict now entering its seventh year, has devastated the country, killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions.
Summarizing the spirit of the eight days of talks in the Swiss city, Mr. de Mistura said they had been "serious and engaged" on matters of substance - rather than on procedure. But he added that on the subject of real peace negotiations, many obstacles remain.
"No one can deny and I cannot deny that there serious challenges and I'm not seeing immediately this developing into a peace agreement, no doubt about that [] In any negotiations there are certain issues that need to be prepared and discussed before the real peace negotiation starts. We are not yet there."
During the talks, Mr, de Mistura said, the parties had covered all the issues on the table, including political transition, national integrity, counter terrorism, and confidence-building measures, among others.
Sometimes they'd been discussed "in depth;" on governance, security and constitutional issues - although he would have liked a little more detail on that last point, he said.
At the same time, he underscored: "There are real challenges on the ground, we are seeing them in front of our eyes, but lets be frank: in spite of them, no one threatened to walk out and every one was serious and business-like in pursuing their points of view."
He said that all the parties agreed to the next round of talks, but the details would be decided after he heads to New York late next week where he will seek guidance from the UN Secretary-General and Security Council.
In the meantime, Mr. de Mistura noted that next week, on 4 and 5 April, there will be an international conference on Syria and the region held in in Brussels, and that he hoped it would be an occasion for a better clarity of the international engagement on humanitarian assistance and reconstruction efforts.
Approval of Somalia's new cabinet a 'green light for action,' says UN envoy
Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 31 March 2017 Cite as UN News Service, Approval of Somalia's new cabinet a 'green light for action,' says UN envoy, 31 March 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e20d414.html [accessed 8 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
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.
Guterres voices 'disappointment and alarm' after latest Israeli settlement announcement
Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 31 March 2017 Cite as UN News Service, Guterres voices 'disappointment and alarm' after latest Israeli settlement announcement, 31 March 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e20e404.html [accessed 8 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
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.
In Iraq, UN chief Guterres urges more support for those who have 'suffered enormously'
Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 31 March 2017 Cite as UN News Service, In Iraq, UN chief Guterres urges more support for those who have 'suffered enormously', 31 March 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e20e864.html [accessed 8 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Highlighting the lack of resources for United Nations programmes assisting those displaced by the fighting in Iraq's Mosul Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the international community to do more to help the people who have suffered enormously and go on suffering.
This is a moment in which the Iraqi people [and] the people of Mosul need the solidarity of the international community, Mr. Guterres told the press at the Hassan Sham camp, located about 30 kilometres east of Mosul.
Solidarity with those liberating Mosul [and] with the civilians who are suffering [] to guarantee protection of those civilians and, at the same time, solidarity with the victims and creating the conditions for reconciliation, he added.
In his remarks, he also drew attention to the severe lack of funding for UN programmes assisting the displaced. Currently, the funding stands at eight per cent.
[This] shows how limited our resources are compared to the tragedy these people are facing, noted the UN chief.
According to estimates, there are about 11 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in the country. Of this figure, about three million are internally displaced. In Mosul, more than 285,000 individuals have been displaced due to the military operations to retake the city from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da'esh) terrorists, including some 122,000 over the past month. Cumulatively, more than 350,000 individuals have been displaced since the operations began on 17 October 2016.
Mr. Guterres further spoke of efforts by the regional government of Kurdistan as well as by non-governmental organizations and stressed that international solidarity is vital to improve the conditions of those affected as well as to create conditions for reconciliation within the communities and at the national level once Mosul is fully liberated.
Also highlighting that terrorism is a global threat and terrorist groups are interlinked, greater support from the international community was in everyone's interest.
Because the terrorist threats we see in Mosul are the same as the terrorist threat we see everywhere in the world, he said.
Mosul tops UN migration agency's funding appeal for Iraq
The United Nations migration agency today called for $76.3 million in its IOM-Iraq 2017 Funding Appeal. About $28.8 million, or 38 per cent, will be allocated for the Mosul Crisis Response for the first six months of this year.
The funding will go for camp coordination and management, health, protection, emergency livelihoods and related services.
In today's announcement, IOM noted that displaced Iraqis live in shelter which are inadequate for the harsh winters and summer weather conditions that vary by more than 50-degrees in temperature.
UNESCO award for Dawit Isaak 'sign of hope' to free imprisoned Eritrean journalist
Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 31 March 2017 Cite as UN News Service, UNESCO award for Dawit Isaak 'sign of hope' to free imprisoned Eritrean journalist, 31 March 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e20ee34.html [accessed 8 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
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 Mr. 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 Ms. Benko, Mr. 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, Mr. 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 Mr. 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).
UN chief Guterres welcomes announcement of adherence to ceasefire in eastern Ukraine
Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 31 March 2017 Cite as UN News Service, UN chief Guterres welcomes announcement of adherence to ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, 31 March 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e20f174.html [accessed 8 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
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 Mr. 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 Ms. Benko, Mr. 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, Mr. 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 Mr. 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).
China: 3 Activists Convicted on Bogus Charges
Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 31 March 2017 Cite as Human Rights Watch, China: 3 Activists Convicted on Bogus Charges, 31 March 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e20fb04.html [accessed 8 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Chinese courts in Guangdong and Sichuan provinces on March 31, 2017, convicted three activists on politically motivated charges that the authorities should quash, Human Rights Watch said today.
The Foshan Intermediate People's Court in Guangdong, in separate trials, convicted women's rights activist, Su Changlan, 45, and an online political commentator, Chen Qitang, 57, for "inciting subversion of state power" and sentenced them to prison terms of three years and four-and-a-half years, respectively. The Wuhou District People's Court in Chengdu, Sichuan's capital, convicted Chen Yunfei, 49, an artist who is not related to Chen Qitang, for "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" and sentenced him to four years in prison.
"Jailing activists for supporting democracy in Hong Kong or commemorating the Tiananmen massacre shows just how nervous the Chinese government is about those promoting respect for rights," said Sophie Richardson, China director. "The government should be freeing these and other imprisoned activists, not punishing them."
The Foshan court alleged that Su and Chen Qitang published and shared "defamatory" articles on the internet "attacking socialism" and "inciting subversion." One of the articles cited in Su's verdict was titled "Su Changlan: calling for attention on disappeared rights activist - Ma Shengfen." A purportedly incriminating essay Chen Qitang shared was a proposal to call for an overseas Chinese political consultative conference. While there were no mentions in Su and Chen Qitang's verdicts of their support for the 2014 protests in Hong Kong, their detentions were a result of their activism, including supporting the protests, according to their lawyer Liu Xiaoyuan.
The conviction of Chen Yunfei related to tweets critical of the Chinese government and his various performance art projects, including one in which Chen Yunfei called the police to report an "illegal gathering," which turned out to be a government conference. Police had detained Chen Yunfei in March 2015, after he organized a memorial service for victims of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre.
The prosecutions of the three activists were marred by multiple procedural violations and irregularities. The authorities denied the three access to their lawyers, subjected them to secret and prolonged pretrial detention, and denied Su adequate medical care.
Foshan police detained Su and Chen Qitang in October 2014, after they posted online messages supporting the pro-democracy Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong. The police held Su incommunicado for over six months, while also detaining her husband and brother for nearly a month for protesting her secret detention. The police held Chen Qitang, a friend of Su's, in administrative detention for 10 days, then released him. But they took him into custody again on November 25, 2014. Chen was also not allowed to meet with his lawyer until June 2015.
After over a year in police custody, both were indicted in late 2015 for "inciting subversion of state power" and tried in April 2016. The Foshan court waited nearly a year as they remained in detention before announcing the verdicts.
Su suffers from hyperthyroidism, heart arrhythmia, and tremors, and has been hospitalized several times during her detention. Authorities have denied multiple requests by Su's lawyer for bail on medical grounds.
After Chen Yunfei spent over a year in police custody, court officials scheduled his trial for July 6, 2016, but at the last minute postponed it until December. Many people had shown up outside the courthouse to support him.
Su, a former elementary school teacher, became involved in human rights activism after local authorities seized her land in Sanshan village, in Foshan, in 2005. She went to Beijing to petition, taught herself law, and later began to help other women seek land rights protection. Over the years, Su has campaigned for improving the government's response to other women's rights issues, including domestic violence, sex trafficking, and sexual assault, and provided legal advice to victims in those cases.
Chen Qitang is a former editor for various Chinese websites on which he published numerous essays critical of government policies. Chen served two-and-a-half years in prison from 2007 to 2009, on fraud charges over his activities assisting farmers in Foshan to seek redress for seized land.
Chen Yunfei participated in the 1989 democracy movement as a university student in Beijing. He had campaigned to demand that authorities investigate the killings during the Tiananmen crackdown and compensate families of the victims. Chen was placed under house arrest for six months in 2007, after taking out an advertisement in a local newspaper commemorating the victims.
Since President Xi Jinping assumed power in March 2013, his government has stepped up its hostility toward peaceful dissent, freedoms of expression and religion, and the rule of law. Many peaceful critics of the government remain locked away, including the Nobel Peace Laureate Liu Xiaobo and the Uyghur economist Ilham Tohti. Sixteen of the human rights lawyers and supporters among the 300 detained during a nationwide raid in July 2015 are still facing trial; two have been handed harsh sentences.
"Su Changlan, Chen Qitang, and Chen Yunfei should be held up as role models for helping others seek justice," Richardson said. "While President Xi positions himself as a global leader, his relentless crackdown on activists and rights defenders demonstrates his lack of confidence in China's political system."
Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch
Sisi-Trump Meeting Shows Mutual Contempt for Rights
Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 2 April 2017 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Sisi-Trump Meeting Shows Mutual Contempt for Rights, 2 April 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e210444.html [accessed 8 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's scheduled meeting with United States President Donald Trump on April 3, 2017, comes at a time when human rights are at a nadir in Egypt and under threat in the US, Human Rights Watch said today.
Al-Sisi's meeting with Trump is the first visit by an Egyptian head of state to the White House since 2009. Al-Sisi, as defense minister, overthrew the country's first freely elected president, Mohamed Morsy, in July 2013, and oversaw the brutal dispersal of opposition protests that left more than 1,150 people dead in the following weeks. Under al-Sisi's presidency, his security forces have arrested tens of thousands of Egyptians and committed flagrant rights abuses, including torture, enforced disappearances, and likely extrajudicial executions.
"Inviting al-Sisi for an official visit to Washington as tens of thousands of Egyptians rot in jail and when torture is again the order of the day is a strange way to build a stable strategic relationship," said Sarah Margon, Washington director at Human Rights Watch.
Al-Sisi, who was elected in May 2014, has presided over near-total impunity for abuses by the military and security forces and the severe restrictions on civil and political rights, effectively erasing the gains of the 2011 uprising that ousted the longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak.
After meeting al-Sisi during his visit to the United Nations General Assembly in September 2016, Trump, then a presidential candidate, released a statement declaring his "strong support for Egypt's war on terrorism, and how under a Trump Administration, the United States of America will be a loyal friend, not simply an ally, that Egypt can count on in the days and years ahead."
Since signing a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, Egypt has received numerous benefits from its alliance with the US, including US$1.3 billion in annual military aid since 1987, receipt of excess US military equipment, special military training, and the right to buy equipment on credit - an arrangement known as "cash flow financing" that was provided, until recently, only to Egypt and Israel.
After the military coup in 2013, the US limited several government-to-government assistance programs. But it was not until after security forces killed an estimated 817 people while dispersing a sit-in opposing Morsy's removal in Cairo's Rab'a al-Adawiya Square on August 14, 2013, that the administration undertook a review of military aid to Cairo and temporarily suspended the delivery of major weapons systems. The delivery of F-16 aircraft, Harpoon missiles, and M1A1 Abrams tank kits resumed in 2015, and in February 2017, the US said it would restart a biennial military training exercise. US military cooperation with Egypt never ceased, and no government official or member of the security forces has been held accountable for the mass killings.
Since 2012, Congress has conditioned military aid to Egypt on taking various steps toward supporting human rights and a democratic transition to civilian government. But in every year but one, Congress has allowed the secretary of state to waive those restrictions based on US national security interests.
Since Morsy's removal, Egyptian security forces have arrested at least 41,000 and possibly as many as 60,000 people, according to local human rights groups. Security forces arbitrarily detained many under accusations that they were members or sympathizers of the Muslim Brotherhood, the movement to which Morsy belonged. Courts have sentenced thousands for violating a 2013 law that effectively bans opposition protests, including leftists and other non-Islamist activists in addition to alleged Muslim Brotherhood supporters.
Among those currently detained is Aya Hijazi, an Egyptian-American citizen who founded the Belady Foundation for Street Children, and whose trial on allegations of human trafficking and using children in street protests has been marked by serious due process violations, including her groundless detention since May 2014.
Since March 2015, when al-Sisi appointed Magdy Abd al-Ghaffar, a veteran of the ministry's abusive National Security Agency, as interior minister, police and National Security agents have forcibly disappeared hundreds of suspects for periods lasting from days to months. Police and National Security agents routinely use torture, often against dissidents and during enforced disappearances, to make suspects confess or divulge information, or to punish them. National Security agents have also carried out likely extrajudicial killings on several occasions documented by Human Rights Watch since 2015. Courts have convicted and sentenced only a handful of policemen for torturing detainees since 2013, and those few sentences all remain on appeal. No National Security officer has received a final conviction for abuse.
Egypt's counterterrorism efforts in the Sinai Peninsula have been fraught with gross abuses. In North Sinai, where an affiliate of the extremist group Islamic State (also known as ISIS) has established a presence, Egyptian military and Interior Ministry forces have committed torture, enforced disappearances, and likely extrajudicial killings. Military air and artillery strikes have killed scores of civilians. Between 2013 and 2015, the military wiped most of the border town of Rafah off the map under the justification of eliminating smuggling tunnels that benefited ISIS, forcing thousands of families to relocate while violating their rights to forewarning and proper compensation. Yet ISIS has continued to operate even in towns ostensibly under government control. The extremist group has killed dozens of civilians it views as government collaborators and singled out Christians for attacks and threats, driving hundreds of Christian families to flee.
Both the Sisi administration and the Egyptian parliament have taken steps to cripple the human rights organizations that document rights violations and provide assistance to abuse victims. In February 2017, security forces physically shut the offices of the 23-year-old Nadeem Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence and Torture, one of several dozen human rights organizations targeted in a years-long criminal investigation based on allegations that the groups illegally received foreign funding. Under a vaguely worded amendment to the penal code al-Sisi issued by decree in 2014, anyone who receives foreign funding "with the aim of pursuing acts harmful to national interests or destabilizing the general peace or the country's independence and its unity" could face 25 years in prison. At least 20 prominent human rights defenders have been banned from leaving Egypt, and the assets of many rights defenders have been frozen. Such criminalization of foreign funding to nongovernmental human rights organizations contravenes the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
In November, parliament drafted a new civil society law behind closed doors that would prohibit independent nongovernmental organizations from operating in the country by requiring that a group's work "agree with the state's plan, development needs and priorities." The law criminalized a host of broadly worded activities, including conducting public surveys or field research without government approval, or conducting any work "of a political nature." Parliament approved the law following just two days of debate but never sent it to al-Sisi for approval following widespread international criticism.
In 2015, US President Barack Obama announced that the US would resume, in the interest of national security, the delivery of major military equipment that it had placed on hold after the Rab'a massacre. But the Obama administration also announced the end of cash flow financing and introduced specific categories to guide how Egypt could use its military aid, which was not reduced.
In fiscal year 2015, Congress conditioned significant funds to Egypt, including military aid, on democracy and human rights progress. But Secretary of State John Kerry used a national security waiver to bypass those conditions. In fiscal year 2016, Congress conditioned 15 percent of military aid until the secretary of state certified progress on democracy and human rights. A national security waiver was also provided, but neither the certification nor the waiver has been exercised. Congress has not yet passed a funding bill specifying Egypt's aid for fiscal year 2017.
Both the Sisi and Trump administrations apparently want to expand cooperation, especially on counterterrorism, despite these serious and ongoing abuses. In response, the US Congress should maintain, at a minimum, the restrictions on security assistance from previous years unless there is serious and measurable progress on human rights, such as dropping the investigation into nongovernmental organizations, repealing the law banning protests, and beginning a review of the cases of those detained arbitrarily and sentenced solely for peacefully exercising their civil or political rights. Congress should ensure that the Trump administration cannot waive these restrictions.
"Giving more money to the Sisi government is to the detriment of US and Egyptian interests," Margon said. "Neither side in this relationship seems interested in promoting human rights, but the gross abuses being committed by Egyptian authorities should compel Congress to keep limiting support."
Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / April 3, 2017 / DNI Metals Inc. (DNI:CSE) (FSE:DG7N) (OTC PINK: DMNKF) ("DNI" or the "Company")
DNI is pleased to announce the following:
1. A tax treaty has been signed between Canada and Madagascar, see details below.
2. Royalties for mining assets in Madagascar are as follows:
a) 2 percent of gross exports of raw commodities
b) 1 percent if minerals are processed locally before export
3. DNI has started the process of forming a Mauritian company, in which ownership of DNI Metals Madagascar SARL, will be transferred to the Mauritian entity. The benefits are twofold:
1) Mauritius and Madagascar have an Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement ("IPPA") in place since late 2010. See details below
2) A double-taxation treaty is in force between Madagascar and Mauritius
4. The Definitive Agreement "DA" was finalized and signed on Friday March 24, 2017 with Cougar Metals in which Cougar can earn into 50% of DNI's Madagascar Graphite Project, once Cougar
a) Completes a NI 43-101 Resource Report by June 30, 201
b) Completes a NI 43-101 PEA (Preliminary Economic Assessment) by October 31, 2017.
Tax Convention Signed Between Canada and Madagascar
A Convention between Canada and the Republic of Madagascar for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income was signed in Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar, on 24 November 2016.
The Convention limits the rate of withholding tax to 5% for dividends paid to a company that holds directly or indirectly at least 25% of the voting power of the company that pays the dividends, to 15% for dividends paid in all other cases, and to 10% for payments of interest and royalties. The Convention also exempts from withholding tax certain payments of interest and limits the rate of withholding tax to 5% on certain payments of royalties.
The Convention includes provisions reflecting the standard developed by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development for the exchange of information for tax purposes.
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The Convention will enter into force once Canada and the Republic of Madagascar have notified each other that the procedures required by their laws for the bringing into force of the Convention have been completed. The Convention will have effect in accordance with Article 28 of the Convention.
For further information contact:
Tax Legislation Division of the Canadian Government
Phone: (613) 369-4081
For information concerning the interpretation and application of Canada's tax treaties, please contact the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). Contact information is available on the CRA website. The CRA website has information concerning tax treaties and other information concerning international tax issues.
Mauritius Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements
While much of Mauritius' success as a well-established international financial center can be attributed to its continually expanding network of double taxation avoidance agreements ("DTAAs"), there is another significant advantage to investing through Mauritius. Mauritius has entered into Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements ("IPPAs") with various African countries that, while less well-known than DTAAs, are potentially of great importance to investors seeking to invest in the developing markets of Asia and Africa.
What are IPPAs? IPPAs are bilateral agreements between countries designed to promote and protect the interests of investors from one country in the territory of the country where the investment is being made. Among other things, IPPAs increase investor confidence by ensuring a fair and equitable protection of investments. Mauritius has concluded 34 IPPAs, of which 18 are in force.
Each agreement provides the following guarantees to investors:
1. Fair and equitable protection of investments
2. Fair and equitable treatment of investments and returns of investors
3. Free transfer of monies relating to investments and returns
4. Expropriation guarantee - investments shall not be nationalized, expropriated or subjected to measures (having effects equivalent to nationalization or expropriation) except for public purposes, under due process of law, on a non- discriminatory basis and against prompt, adequate and effective compensation (which shall be made without delay, and be effectively realizable)
5. Most favoured nation rule with respect to treatment of investments and compensation for losses (in case of war or armed conflict, revolution, a state of national emergency, revolt, insurrection or riot) - investors who, suffer losses in the territory of the other contracting party resulting from the following shall be accorded restitution or adequate compensation:
a) requisitioning of their property by the forces or authorities of the latter contracting part
b) destruction of their property by the forces or authorities of the latter contracting party, which was not caused in combat action or was not required by the necessity of the situation of the observance of any legal requirement
6. Provisions for settlement of disputes between investors and the contracting states.
7. Provisions for settlement of disputes between contracting states
Mauritius' network of IPPAs with various African countries makes it an ideal investment platform. In these countries, there is often pressure to redistribute wealth to local indigenous populations, which have historically been both politically and economically disenfranchised. This has resulted in a perceived threat of nationalization of assets (such as mines and natural resources) in certain of these countries. In these circumstances, it is useful to invest via a country that has an IPPA with the relevant African country, in order to take advantage of the guarantees offered by the IPPA.
Source: Conyers Dill & Pearman
Madagascar and Mauritius entered into and IPAA titled: Accord De Promotion et de Protection Reciproque des Investissements entre le Gouvernement de la Republique de Maurice et le Gouvernement de la Republique de Madagascar on 06th April 2004. The IPAA was fully ratified by both countries at the end of 2010. This instrument utilises the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) for dispute resolution. It has been proven to be an effective recourse for investors in Madagascar.
About DNI Metals
Certain advisors and directors of DNI have significant operational experience at historical hard rock graphite mines in Canada (e.g. Ontario and Quebec) and Australia. Between them, they have built three (3) processing plants and designed two (2) others; all, which were shut down in the 1990,'s due to increased Chinese competition. Keith Minty, director, worked at Cal Graphite near Kearny, Ontario.
It was our team's understanding of the high production and capital expenditure costs associated with so-called "hard rock" graphite mining that inspired DNI to search for saprolite-hosted graphite deposits.
Certain parts Madagascar and Brazil, produce graphite from weathered material called saprolite.
According to Dictionary.com, saprolite is described as:
"Soft, thoroughly decomposed and porous rock, often rich in clay, formed by the in place chemical weathering of igneous, metamorphic, or sedimentary rocks. Saprolite is especially common in humid and tropical climates. It is usually reddish brown or grayish white and contains those structures (such as cross-stratification) that were present in the original rock from which it formed."
DNI owns a commercially permitted, saprolite-hosted graphite deposit in Madagascar; located 50kms from the country's main seaport. The deposit is located less than two (2) kms from the paved national highway. DNI intends to develop the Vohitsara project, should the economic viability and technical feasibility be established. DNI has not yet established mineral resources or mineral reserves supported by a PEA or mining study (PFS or FS).
DNI has a graphite wholesale business, in which it buys and sells high quality graphite. This business has shown a steady increase in volume over the past year.
Steven Goertz (MAusIMM, MAIG), who is a qualified person, approved the technical disclosure in this news release.
DNI - Canadian Securities
DG7N - Frankfurt
DMNKF - OTC Pink
Issued: 40,558,775
For further information, contact:
DNI Metals Inc. - Dan Weir, CEO 416-595-1195
DanWeir@dnimetals.com
Also visit www.dnimetals.com
We seek Safe Harbour. This announcement may include forward looking statements. While these statements represent DNI's best current judgment, they are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to vary, including risk factors listed in DNI's Annual Information Form and its MD&A's, all of which are available from SEDAR and on its website.
SOURCE: DNI Metals Inc.
RSF asks Indonesia's president to let journalists work in West Papua
Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 31 March 2017 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, RSF asks Indonesia's president to let journalists work in West Papua, 31 March 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e212b14.html [accessed 8 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on Indonesian President Joko Widodo to keep his election promise to allow local and international journalists to operate in West Papua, the Indonesian half of the island of New Guinea, without obstruction or surveillance. RSF's appeal follows the expulsion of French journalists Franck Escudie and Basile Longchamp on visa violation grounds on 17 March.
Accompanied by a film crew, Escudie and Longchamp arrived in Indonesia in February with the government's permission to make a documentary that would involve filming in West Papua. However, shortly after arriving, the authorites accused them of displaying a "lack of coordination with related institutions" - with the result that they were deported and, for the time being, are banned from returning to Indonesia.
"We remind the Indonesian president of his undertaking to scrap the restrictions that obstruct the work of foreign journalists in West Papua," said Benjamin Ismail, the head of RSF's Asia-Pacific desk. "Indonesia is due to host the World Press Freedom Day celebrations on 3 May but, given its repeated refusals to issue press visas and the growing number of journalists on its blacklist, it falls far short of qualifying as a country that supports freedom of expression and media freedom."
During his campaign for election as president in July 2014, Widodo said he would allow journalists to visit West Papua freely, thereby raising hopes that media freedom would revive in the region.
But the visa regulations are as draconian as ever and West Papu's immigration offcials and military continue to abuse their authority in order to prevent independent reporting, with the government in Jakarta's tacit consent.
In January 2016, RSF condemned the Indonesian government's refusal to let French journalist Cyril Payen visit Indonesia after France 24 broadcast the documentary he had just made about West Papua, entitled "Forgotten war of the Papuas."
A Bangkok-based reporter specializing in Southeast Asia, Payen had nonetheless obtained all the necessary authorizations before visiting West Papua in mid-2015. The broadcasting of the documentary also resulted in the French ambassador being summoned to the Indonesian foreign ministry.
It was under Indonesia's immigration laws, which RSF has repeatedly condemned, that two British journalists, Rebecca Prosser and Neil Bonner, were sentenced to two and a half months in prison on 3 November 2015 for violating the terms of their visas. They had already spent more than 150 days in police custody when they were finally sentenced.
Two French journalists, Thomas Dandois and Valentine Bourrat, were arrested while preparing a report in West Papua in August 2014. After being held for more than two months, they were sentenced on 24 October 2014 to two and a half months in prison for violating the immigration laws.
Indonesia is ranked 130th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2016 World Press Freedom Index.
Deadly month for journalists in Mexico
Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 31 March 2017 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, Deadly month for journalists in Mexico, 31 March 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e213324.html [accessed 8 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
As Mexico becomes more hostile than ever for media personnel, with three murders of journalists and two attempted murders in March alone, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) sounds the alarm yet again and urges President Enrique Pena Nieto to find a lasting solution to this tragic situation.
In response to the past month's surge in violence, RSF joins the Mexican media in urging the government to take decisive measures to end the deadly spiral.
In one of the latest attacks, gunmen burst into freelance journalist Julio Omar Gomez's home in the city of Cabo San Lucas, in the northwestern state of Baja California Sur, on 28 March. Gomez and his family escaped unhurt but his bodyguard fought with his assailants and was killed.
Gomez has been receiving protection under the Federal Mechanism for the Protection of Journalists since last December, after his home was the target of an arson attack.
Until last year, he was the director of the news website 911 Noticias, in which he often condemned abuses by local officials, corruption and drug trafficking, which is particularly entrenched in this Mexican state. He had recently suspended his journalistic activities after being the target of several previous attacks, including the one on his home.
"We reiterate the request made to the Federal Mechanism's members to urgently reinforce the security measures for Julio Omar Gomez," said Emmanuel Colombie, the head of RSF's Latin America bureau.
According to information relayed by the federal authorities, Gomez has temporarily left the region as a safety measure.
On 29 March, the day after the attack on Gomez, Armando Arrieta Granados, the managing editor of the regional newspaper La Opinion, was the victim of a murder attempt in Poza Rica, in the eastern state of Veracruz.
According to the information obtained by RSF, gunmen shot and wounded Arrieta as he was leaving work and he is now in a critical condition in hospital. He is a veteran journalist who has spent most of his 28-year career at La Opinion.
The newspaper's director, Raul Gibb Guerrero, was gunned down outside his home in April 2005. He is one of a total of 20 journalists to have been killed in the state of Veracruz since 2000.
"This climate of terror for Mexico's journalists cannot go on," Colombie added. "Organized crime and corruption are making it impossible for journalists to work and are condemning them to censorship and silence. It is up to the federal authorities to systematically address this problem, to reinforce the protection mechanisms already in effect and to emphasize the fundamental role that the media must play in a democratic country."
This week's murder attempts came just days after Miroslava Breach, a 54-year-old reporter for the Norte de Juarez and La Jornada newspapers, was killed in the northern state of Chihuahua on 23 March. She was shot several times in her car and died while being rushed to hospital.
Breach covered organized crime and corruption, and had just written a story about an armed conflict between the two leaders of a criminal group linked to the Juarez Cartel.
She was the third journalist to be murdered in Mexico since the start of the year, following Ricardo Monlui, gunned down on 19 March in Yanga, a locality just outside Cordoba, in Veracruz state, and Cecilio Pineda Birto, gunned down on 2 March in Ciudad Altamirano, in the southwestern state of Guerrero.
Mexico is ranked 149th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2016 World Press Freedom Index.
In a report published on 2 February, entitled "Veracruz: journalists and the state of fear," RSF examined the difficulties of working as a journalist in Mexico and proposed a series of recommendations to the federal and local authorities for ending the spiral of violence.
Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda: Ability to travel from Burundi to neighbouring countries, including obstacles and resettlement (2015-February 2017)
Publisher Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Publication Date 20 March 2017 Citation / Document Symbol 20 March 2017 ZZZ105753.E Related Document(s) Burundi, Republique democratique du Congo, Rwanda, Tanzanie et Ouganda : information sur la possibilite de se deplacer du Burundi vers les pays voisins, y compris les obstacles et la reinstallation (2015-fevrier 2017) Cite as Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda: Ability to travel from Burundi to neighbouring countries, including obstacles and resettlement (2015-February 2017), 20 March 2017, 20 March 2017 ZZZ105753.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e214eb4.html [accessed 8 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa
1. Overview
Media sources indicate that hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled Burundi for neighbouring countries since April 2015, and that this is due to the violence and unrest which erupted in the country after an announcement by the President of Burundi that he would seek a third term in office (AFP 23 Jan. 2016; Newsweek 20 Dec. 2016). According to sources, the majority of these refugees have fled to Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda (FP 4 Nov. 2016), and Uganda (UN Dec. 2016, 6). UNHCR indicates that as of October 2016, there were 180,786 Burundian refugees in Tanzania, 29,975 in Uganda, 30,205 in the DRC and 81,307 in Rwanda (UN 2017).
2. Ability to Leave Burundi
In June 2015, according to UNHCR,
[r]efugees who arrived in Rwanda, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo said that roads are being blocked and people suspected of heading to the border forced off buses. Some have reportedly been arrested and others have had their belongings confiscated. (UN 30 June 2015)
Similarly, a November 2015 report on the Burundian situation by Refugees International (RI), an NGO that "advocates for lifesaving assistance and protection for displaced people and promotes solutions to displacement crises" (RI n.d.), following a fact-finding mission in September and December 2015, which included interviews with Burundian refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), states that there were
[strong indications] that Burundi is preventing civilians from fleeing the country and has been doing so for months. RI was told that this obstruction is carried out not only by Burundian government agents - including border agents, SNR [Service national de renseignement, the Burundian national intelligence service], police, and the military - but also by Imbonerakure [members of the Burundi ruling party's youth league (Human Rights Watch 19 Jan. 2017)]. (RI 18 Nov. 2015, 8)
Similarly, a November 2016 report on the crisis in Burundi prepared by the Federation internationale des ligues des droits de l'homme (FIDH), in collaboration with Ligue Iteka, a Burundian Human Rights NGO[1], states that [translation]
[m]any Burundians seeking shelter abroad are arbitrarily arrested at the [Burundian] borders with Rwanda, Tanzania or the DRC," with people reporting that they "were arrested and then tortured by police officers, SNR agents or Imbonerakure as they sought to leave the country. (FIDH and Ligue Iteka Nov. 2016, 31)
RI states that,
[a]ccording to human rights defenders and UN officials, the Burundian government started cracking down on cross-border movements in early June [2015]. From that time, the government has required all citizens leaving the country to possess travel documents and use formal border crossings. However, the IDPs RI spoke with said that because they were known to security officials, they feared that they would be arrested, if not worse, if they presented themselves before authorities to apply for travel documents or crossed formally.
Those who do attempt to cross formally face abuses which, at their most mild, can take the form of refusal to permit exit, interrogation, or extortion. (RI 18 Nov. 2015, 8)
UNHCR reports that Burundi formally closed its border for 48 hours in June 2015 in anticipation of parliamentary elections, "as per usual practice during elections," according to Burundian authorities (UN 30 June 2015). According to UNHCR, this led to refugees having to "use informal border crossings through the forest to leave the country" (UN 30 June 2015). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.
In August 2015, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), an international NGO which assists people affected by disasters and conflicts (IRC n.d.) reported that "[w]omen and children fleeing from violence in Burundi are subject to physical and sexual violence, threats, and separation on their journey to refuge" (IRC 13 Aug. 2015). Further and corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.
3. Ability to Travel to Neighbouring Countries
In June 2015, UNHCR reported that "[i]mmigration and government refugee officials in the neighbouring countries continue to register Burundian refugees who manage to get through, even if they use unofficial border crossings" (UN 30 June 2015). The same source added that "[l]arge numbers of other people, who have not registered as refugees, are also believed to have fled" Burundi (UN 30 June 2015).
According to a December 2016 report by UNHCR, Burundians fleeing Burundi are granted refugee status on a prima facie basis[2] in the DRC, Rwanda and Uganda and these countries have kept their borders open and have continued to accept new arrivals (UN Dec. 2016, 7). UNHCR also reports that in January 2017, the government of Tanzania announced the lifting of the prima facie refugee recognitions that it was previously giving to Burundian refugees entering the country (UN Jan. 2017). UNHCR explains that the decision was officially published on 20 January 2017, "meaning that all the asylum seekers from Burundi who entered the country [from that date] should undergo Refugee Status Determination," but that, in practice, "the new procedure was not yet effective on the ground" as of January 2017 (UN Jan. 2017). Information on changes to entry in Tanzania since January 2017 for Burundian refugees could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.
3.1 Ability to Travel to Tanzania
In November 2015, RI stated that
IDPs in Burundi and refugees in Tanzania whom RI interviewed said that they had witnessed Burundian police, SNR officials, and Imbonerakure arresting and/or physically abusing people trying to cross the border for protection, particularly those who were identified by the authorities as political opponents. This has forced many Burundians, including unaccompanied minors, to try crossing informally. (RI 18 Nov. 2015, 8)
The same source added that some Burundian refugees who had managed to make it to Tanzania said that they had "pa[id] merchants to drive them across clandestinely, or ha[d] the merchants bribe Burundian border officials to let them through," rather than openly approaching the border points (RI 18 Nov. 2015, 8).
Sources also state that some refugees have crossed the border on foot through the forest between Burundi and Tanzania to avoid being blocked at the Burundi border (Al Jazeera 1 Dec. 2015; RI 18 Nov. 2015, 8). According to Doctors Without Borders (Medecins sans frontiers, MSF), in July 2015, approximately 2000 to 3000 refugees per day were crossing the border in this way, with many "without belongings" and "under cover of darkness" (MSF 20 July 2015). RI similarly states that travel is "sometimes at night" and often over "significant distances" (RI 18 Nov. 2015, 8). In an article regarding refugees fleeing Burundi, Al Jazeera also notes that travel may take days and that the journey between Burundi and Tanzania is "often a dangerous one" (Al Jazeera 1 Dec. 2015). RI adds that some refugees have reportedly swum
across the Muragarazi River that forms part of the border with Tanzania, using banana tree trunks, jerry cans, or plastic sheeting to keep themselves afloat. However, even these methods may not be reliably safe, as Imbonerakure reportedly patrol along the border looking for would-be refugees. (RI 18 Nov. 2015, 8)
UNHCR reported in June 2015 that all refugees were being settled at the Nyarugusu camp, but that it had reached its capacity (UN 5 June 2015). Foreign Policy (FP), reported that in November 2016, "[t]he Nyarugusu refugee camp was already at capacity with about 61,000 refugees from Congo's various wars; over the past year, it has absorbed about 100,000 more from Burundi" (FP 4 Nov. 2016). According to sources, Nyarugusu camp is the world's third largest refugee camp (The Guardian 15 Apr. 2016; RI 7 Oct 2015). According to The Guardian, "[a]lthough the road in and out [of Nyarugusu camp] is closely controlled by the Tanzanian military, there are no fences around the camp, meaning residents can fan out into the surrounding brush to look for firewood, and outsiders can slip in unregistered" (The Guardian 15 Apr. 2016).
In October 2015, The Guardian reported that UNHCR had "started moving 50,000 people from Nyarugusu to other camps in north-west Tanzania to ease crowding," adding that the new sites in Nduta, Mtendeli and Karago had previously been used to host displaced people and already had necessary structures (The Guardian 14 Oct. 2015). According to FP, Mtendeli camp, three hours north of Nyarugusu, was opened in October 2015, after "Nduta, filled beyond the brim" (FP 4 Nov. 2016).
3.2 Ability to Travel to the Democratic Republic of Congo
In December 2016, UNHCR's Burundi Regional Refugee Response Plan for January to December 2017 indicated that "Burundian refugees enter the DRC into the province of South Kivu, in the territories of Uvira and Fizi. They cross 22 border entry points that are both formal and informal" (UN Dec. 2016, 14). According to RI, Burundian refugees have crossed into the DRC both overland and by water (RI 26 May 2016, 3).
Sources indicate that many refugees cross Lake Tanganyika to enter into the DRC (RI 26 May 2016, 4; UN 18 May 2015). RI specifies that "[t]hose Burundians who make it to the [DRC] typically travel overland into Uvira territory, or across Lake Tanganyika into Fizi territory" (RI 26 May 2016, 4). Agence France-Presse (AFP) describes the lake as a [translation] "porous" border between Burundi and the DRC, "where all sorts of smugglers are active" (AFP 23 Jan. 2017).
According to RI,
the many refugees who cross informally are required to seek out government agents in a nearby town. It is worth noting that some areas where refugees enter the country - in particular the Ubwari Peninsula - have no formal Congolese government presence, meaning refugees may have to walk for multiple days to reach the nearest outpost. (RI 26 May 2016, 5)
According to RI, refugees began to arrive in the DRC in March 2015 "and initially settled in host communities throughout South Kivu and Katanga provinces" (RI 26 May 2016, 6). The same source indicates that most Burundian refugees in the DRC are hosted at a site in Lusenda, in South Kivu (RI 26 May 2016, 4). RI further explains that
[t]hough Lusenda has all of the appearances of a traditional refugee camp, it is officially referred to as a "site" because the Congolese government is not pursuing a strict policy of encampment. (RI 26 May 2016, 4)
In May 2016, RI reported that Burundians who are officially registered and processed at transit centres may face weeks of waiting before they can move to the Lusenda refugee site (RI 26 May 2016, 6).
According to UNHCR, the Lusenda site was newly established as of 5 June 2015 (UN 5 June 2015). RI states that the camp was established in July 2015 (RI 26 May 2016, 4). AFP states that the Lusenda site is approximately 70 kilometres from Burundi by land, but only 35 kilometres through Lake Tanganyika (AFP 23 Jan. 2017).
A January 2017 AFP article cites the coordinator of the DRC's Commission nationale des refugies [National Commission of Refugees] as saying that there were no current plans to open a new refugee site as Lusenda was still under capacity and that about 30 to 40 percent of Burundian refugees in the DRC are living with host families (AFP 23 Jan. 2017). RI also states that, as of May 2016, some Burundian refugees were "living in communities throughout South Kivu's Uvira and Fizi territories," but noted that "[r]efugees who choose to live at Lusenda are the only ones with access to regular assistance" (RI 26 May 2016, 4). UNHCR states that "[i]n South Kivu, the security situation is volatile [and] marked by the presence of armed groups, by internal displacement, and refugees of other nationalities, notably Rwandans" (UN Dec. 2016, 14). According to RI,
[l]ike much of the DRC, Uvira and Fizi territories are profoundly ill-suited to host refugees. State control and capacity in these territories are limited, with local security forces often a source of insecurity for the population. Social services are barely functional-to-nonexistent, and standards of living are extremely low. Further, more than 50,000 Congolese in these two territories are internally displaced, with more than 360,000 IDPs in South Kivu province as a whole. (RI 26 May 2016, 4)
Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.
3.3 Ability to Travel to Rwanda
The Rwandan Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs issued an official notice on 24 April 2015 that the government of Rwanda would grant prima facie refugee status to Burundians fleeing Burundi, due to the "overwhelming number" of them crossing into Rwanda, noting that as of 23 April 2015, 11,000 Burundian refugees had crossed into Rwanda (Rwanda 24 Apr. 2015). According to UNHCR, "as a result of the Government's open border policies, refugees fleeing Burundi have had unrestricted access to asylum through prima facie refugee status and [enjoy] freedom of movement" (UN Dec. 2016, 22).
In June 2015, UNHCR reported that some Burundian refugees arriving in Rwanda reported "difficulties as a result of road blocks set up on the way to border crossing points in Burundi" (UN 5 June 2015). Information on the situation after June 2015 could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.
UNHCR states that refugees are hosted at Mahama Camp and that two reception centres were established near the Burundi border in 2015, while a third reception centre was established near Mahama Camp in 2016 (UN Dec. 2016, 23).
3.4 Ability to Travel to Uganda
According to UNHCR,
Uganda has seen a steady arrival of Burundian refugees despite not directly bordering the country and during 2016 the rate of arrival has been higher than initially anticipated. After experiencing a peak in arrival numbers in March 2016, the arrival rate started to decline from May onwards. (UN Dec. 2016, 42)
The same source further states that Burundian refugees in Uganda have made their way there mainly through Rwanda, as well as through the DRC and more specifically, in Uganda, the main border entry points are Mirama Hills, Mutukula and Bunagana (UN Dec. 2016, 42).
UNHCR indicates that Burundian refugees are hosted at settlements in Nakivale and Oruchinga, in the southwestern part of Uganda (UN 5 June 2015). In December 2016, UNHCR stated that some refugees were settled in urban areas, although most are in Nakivale settlement (UN Dec. 2016, 42).
Sources report that Burundian officials have encouraged Burundian refugees in Uganda to return to Burundi, citing a return to stability in Burundi, but that Uganda has said that all repatriation would be on a voluntary basis (DW 20 Feb. 2017; IBT 15 Feb. 2017).
Deutsche Welle (DW) explains that
[p]reviously, the Ugandan Minister of Relief and Disaster Preparedness Hillary Onek showed some sympathy for Burundi's demand that the refugees go home But this is causing uncertainty among Burundian refugees and has led the Ugandan government to clarify that it will stand by international law and that, at this point, no refugee will be repatriated against his or her will. (DW 20 Feb.2017)
This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.
Notes
[1] The Ligue Iteka was created in 1991 and its focus included the situation of returnees and IDPs (IRRI n.d). In January 2017, the Ligue Iteka was accused of being "'a repeat offender in tarnishing the brand image of the country and of sowing hate and division amongst the Burundi population'" and was officially disbanded by the Burundi government (Frontline Defenders 4 Jan. 2017).
[2] In a document published in 2001, UNHCR states that group determination of refugee status on a prima facie basis "means in essence the recognition by a State of refugee status on the basis of the readily apparent, objective circumstances in the country of origin giving rise to the exodus. Its purpose is to ensure admission to safety, protection from refoulement and basic humanitarian treatment to those patently in need of it (UN 19 Feb. 2001, para. 6).
References
Agence France-Presse (AFP). 23 January 2016. "En RDC, les refugies burundais du camp de Lusenda craignent pour leur securite." [Accessed 16 Feb. 2017]
Al Jazeera. 1 December 2015. Tendai Marima. "Unaccompanied Child Refugees Flee Burundi." [Accessed 2 Mar. 2017]
Deutsche Welle (DW). 20 February 2017. Jan-Philipp Scholz. "Burundian Refugees in Uganda too Scared to Go Home." [Accessed 3 Mar. 2017]
Federation internationale des ligues des droits de l'Homme (FIDH) and Ligue burundaise des droits de l'homme (Ligue Iteka). November 2016. Burundi. Repression aux dynamiques genocidaires. [Accessed 17 Feb. 2017]
Foreign Policy (FP). 4 November 2016. Amanda Sperber. "Fleeing Burundi Won't Protect You from its Government." [Accessed 17 Feb. 2017]
Frontline Defenders. 4 January 2017. "The Ligue Iteka Disbanded by the Government." [Accessed 1 Mar. 2017]
The Guardian. 15 April 2016. Emma Graham-Harrison. "Nowhere to Run: Burundi Violence Follows Escapees Across Borders." [Accessed 17 Feb. 2017]
The Guardian. 14 October 2015. Nicole Lee. "A Life of Escaping Conflict: 'I Don't Feel Like a Burundian - I Am a Refugee'." [Accessed 17 Feb. 2017]
Human Rights Watch. 19 January 2017. "Burundi: Attacks by Ruling Party Youth League Members." [Accessed 17 Mar. 2017]
International Business Times (IBT). 15 February 2017. Elsa Buchanan. "Burundi: Minister Visits Uganda to Convince Refugees to Return Home." [Accessed 2 Mar. 2017]
International Rescue Committee (IRC). 13 August 2015. "Burundi: Women, Children Face Danger on Trek to Refuge." [Accessed 2 Mar. 2017]
International Rescue Committee (IRC). N.d. "Who We Are." [Accessed 9 Mar. 2017]
International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI). N.d. "Ligue Iteka." [Accessed 1 Mar. 2017]
Medecins sans frontiers (MSF). 22 July 2015. "Tanzania: Camp for Burundian Refugees 'At Breaking Point'." [Accessed 2 Mar. 2017]
Newsweek. 2 December 2016. Connor Gaffey. "Rwanda to Relocate Burundian Refugees after Accusations of Militia Recruitment." [Accessed 17 Feb. 2017]
Refugees International (RI). 26 May 2016. Michael Boyce and Mark Yarnell. No Respite: Burundian Refugees in the DR Congo. [Accessed 17 Feb. 2017]
Refugees International (RI). 18 November 2015. Michael Boyce and Francisca Vigaud-Walsh. "You Are Either With Us or Against Us": Persecution And Displacement in Burundi. [Accessed 17 Feb. 2017]
Refugees International (RI). 7 October 2015. Michael Boyce. "Burundi's Once and Future Refugees." [Accessed 2 Mar. 2017]
Refugees International (RI). N.d. "Our Mission Is to be a Powerful Voice for Lifesaving Action." [Accessed 10 Mar. 2017]
Rwanda. 24 April 2015. Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs. "'Official Notice on Burundian Refugee Status'." [Accessed 27 Feb. 2017]
United Nations (UN). January 2017. High Commissioner for Refugees. "Burundi Situation. UNHCR Regional Update #33." [Accessed 17 Mar. 2017]
United Nations (UN). 2017. High Commissioner for Refugees. "Burundi Situation. 2017 Regional Refugee Response Plan: Overview." [Accessed 17 Feb. 2017]
United Nations (UN). December 2016. Burundi Regional Refugee Response Plan. January - December 2017. [Accessed 2 Mar. 2017]
United Nations (UN). 30 June 2015. High Commissioner for Refugees. Melissa Fleming. "Thousands of Refugees Continue to Flee Burundi." [Accessed 2 Mar. 2017]
United Nations (UN). 5 June 2015. World Food Programme (WFP). "Burundi Crisis - Regional Impact. Situation Report #03." [Accessed 16 Mar. 2017]
United Nations (UN). 18 May 2015. High Commissioner for Refugees. Celine Schmitt. "Burundian Refugees Find Solace on Familiar Shores." [Accessed 17 Feb. 2017]
United Nations (UN). 19 February 2001. High Commissioner for Refugees. "Protection of Refugees in Mass Influx Situations: Overall Protection Framework." (EC/GC/01/4). [Accessed 17 Mar. 2017]
Additional Sources Consulted
Oral sources: Independent Consultant; International Organization for Migration - Kenya Regional Office; Ligue des droits de la personne dans la region des Grands Lacs; Refugees International; UN - UNHCR.
Internet sites, including: African Arguments; Africanews; Afrique Education; Agence d'information d'Afrique centrale; AllAfrica; Amnesty International; Burundi Africa Generation; Chicago Monitor; Communaute economique des Etats de l'Afrique centrale; Daily Nation; ecoi.net; Factiva; Human Rights Watch; International Organization for Migration; International Red Cross; IRIN; Migrant Report; Oxfam International; Pambazuka News; Public Radio International; Radio France internationale; Radio Okapi; Republique Democratique du Congo - Primature; Rwanda - Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugees, Prime Minister's Office; Slate Afrique; Syfia Grands Lacs; Tanzania - Government Portal, Parliament; Trocaire; Uganda - Government of Uganda, Office of the Prime Minister, State House; UN - Refworld, Reliefweb, World Health Organisation; Voice of America.
Peru: Requirements and procedures to file a criminal complaint; requirements and procedures to obtain a copy of the complaint from within the country as well as from abroad (2015-March 2017)
Publisher Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Publication Date 17 March 2017 Citation / Document Symbol PER105758.E Related Document(s) Perou : information sur les exigences et la marche a suivre pour porter plainte au criminel; les exigences et la marche a suivre pour obtenir une copie de la plainte, de l'interieur ainsi que de l'exterieur du pays (2015-mars 2017) Cite as Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Peru: Requirements and procedures to file a criminal complaint; requirements and procedures to obtain a copy of the complaint from within the country as well as from abroad (2015-March 2017), 17 March 2017, PER105758.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e2167a4.html [accessed 8 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa
1. Reporting a Crime
Sources indicated that criminal complaints can be filed with the National Police of Peru (Policia Nacional del Peru, PNP) or with the Public Ministry's (Ministerio Publico) (Peru 14 Feb. 2017; Managing Partner 24 Feb. 2017) Office of the Public Prosecutor (Fiscalia de la Nacion) (Managing Partner 24 Feb. 2017; Peru n.d.a). In correspondence with the Research Directorate, a Managing Partner from a law firm with offices in Lima and the United States that works on immigration and criminal law, noted that criminal complaints filed with the police are [translation] "mostly" misdemeanors such as robbery, theft or fraud, whereas other crimes such as breach of trust or duties are reported to the Public Ministry or the Office of the Public Prosecutor (Managing Partner 24 Feb. 2017).
In correspondence with the Research Directorate, an official from the Embassy of Peru in Ottawa stated that the procedures to file a criminal complaint, as well as the contents of such a complaint, can be found in the Code of Criminal Procedure (Codigo Procesal Penal) (Peru 14 Feb. 2017). The Code of Criminal Procedure provides the following:
[translation]
ARTICLE 326. Authority and obligation to report.-
Any person has the authority to report criminal acts to the respective authority, provided that exercise of penal action to prosecute such acts is public. This notwithstanding, the following are obliged to make reports:
Persons expressly obliged to do so by law; in particular, this includes health professionals who become aware of offences while engaging in their activities, as well as educators in regard to offences that may have taken place in the educational setting. Civil servants who, in exercising their authorities, or for reasons of their position, become aware of the commission of any punishable act.
ARTICLE 327. Non-obligation to report.-
No person is obliged to file a complaint against his/her spouse and relatives including up to the fourth degree by blood or second by marriage. This obligation also does not apply when knowledge of the acts is covered by professional secrecy.
ARTICLE 328. Contents and form of the report.-
All complaints must contain the identity of the complainant, a detailed and truthful account of the events and, if possible, identification of the person allegedly responsible. The complaint may be filed by any means. If it is in written form, the complainant must sign and affix his/her fingerprint. If the complaint is given verbally, the respective record will be drawn up. In both cases, if the complainant is unable to sign, he/she must affix only a fingerprint, and a note must be entered on the record in regard to the inability to sign. (Peru 2004)
The Managing Partner indicated that criminal complaints can be made verbally or in writing, and that there are no special requirements regarding supporting documentation and that the evidence is not subjected to [translation] "filters" for weighing legal admissibility (Managing Partner 24 Feb. 2017). However, the same source added that the lack of either supporting documentation or legal weight of the complaint "often leads to the archiving or dismissing of complaints" (Managing Partner 24 Feb. 2017).
La Republica, a Peruvian newspaper, provides the following steps to report a robbery or theft in Lima, based on recommendations from the office of the PNP in Lima:
Call 105 to report the crime to the PNP's emergency hotline;
File a criminal complaint through a written statement at either a police station or the Office of the Public Prosecutor;
Provide evidence of the value and ownership of the stolen property, such as purchase receipts or ownership certificates;
Police officers must make a police attestation that describes the results of the investigation (La Republica 1 Aug. 2015).
Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.
1.1 Online Reporting
According to the website of the Office of the Public Prosecutor, reports of crimes can be filed online, provided that the person filing the report is of legal age (Peru n.d.b). The same source indicates that the report needs to "clearly and coherently" describe the facts, identify the place where they took place, and provide concrete information that can be verified (Peru n.d.b). The Office of the Public Prosecutor's Regulations for Online Reports (Reglamento de Denuncias en Linea) provides information on the procedures, requirements and processing of online complaints (Peru n.d.c). Excerpts of these Regulations are attached to this Response (Attachment 1). The website of the PNP indicates that reports of lost or stolen identity documents can be filed online, after which the report must be formalized at any police station in Lima and Callao (Peru n.d.d). The Managing Partner noted that complaints made by telephone or internet are treated as "administrative complaints" and not criminal complaints unless they are formalized (Managing Partner 24 Feb. 2017).
2. Obtaining a Copy of a Police Report
A document posted in the website of the PNP describes the process to obtain a copy of a criminal complaint from the PNP (Peru n.d.e). A translation of the document is attached to this Response (Attachment 2). The request form required to obtain a copy of a criminal complaint from the PNP is also attached to this Response (Attachment 3).
The Managing Partner indicated that copies of criminal complaints filed with the police and the Public Ministry can be obtained by submitting a request with the fee payment, which is set by the Public Ministry or the police (Managing Partner 24 Feb. 2017). The same source added that for criminal complaints filed with the Public Ministry, a signature of a lawyer is required in the request (Managing Partner 24 Feb. 2017). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.
The Managing Partner indicated that requests for copies of criminal complaints can be made through a lawyer, including by people living abroad (Managing Partner 24 Feb. 2017). Further and corroborating information about obtaining copies of criminal complaints from abroad, or through a representative, could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.
A November 2016 press release from the Peruvian Ministry of Interior indicates that, as established in a new legislative decree, the first certified copy of a criminal complaint would be free of charge and issued [translation] "on the spot" (Peru 9 Nov. 2016). The Managing Partner stated that, in practice, "it can be difficult" to obtain a copy of a criminal complaint made to the PNP as local police stations have insufficient resources and lack adequate equipment to register and store the information (Managing Partner 24 Feb. 2017). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.
This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.
References
La Republica. 1 August 2015. "Conoce los 4 pasos que debe seguir para denunciar un robo." [Accessed 30 Jan. 2017]
Managing Partner, Monteblanco & Associates. 24 February 2017. Correspondence with the Research Directorate.
Peru. 14 February 2017. Embassy of Peru in Ottawa. Correspondence from an official to the Research Directorate.
Peru. 9 November 2016. Ministerio del Interior, Oficina de Comunicacion Social e Imagen Institucional. "Primera copia de denuncia policial sera gratuita para los ciudadanos." (Nota de Prensa Ministerio del Interior N 383-2016) [Accessed 7 Feb. 2017]
Peru. 2004. Codigo Procesal Penal (Decreto Legislativo N 957) (Code of Criminal Procedure (Legislative Decree No. 957)). Translated by the Translation Bureau, Public Works and Government Services Canada. [Accessed 23 Feb. 2017]
Peru. N.d.a. Ministerio Publico. "Preguntas frecuentes." [Accessed 13 Feb. 2017]
Peru. N.d.b. Ministerio Publico. "Registro de denuncias por web." [Accessed 27 Feb. 2017]
Peru. N.d.c. Ministerio Publico. Reglamento de Denuncias en Linea (Regulations for Online Complaints). Excerpts translated by the Translation Bureau, Public Works and Government Services Canada. Provided to the Research Directorate by the Embassy of Peru in Ottawa
Peru. N.d.d. Policia Nacional del Peru (PNP). "Denuncia virtual por perdida de documento." [Accessed 7 Feb. 2017]
Peru. N.d.e. TUPA PNP - ENE. 2014/ Decreto Supremo No. 304-2013-EF del 11 DIC. 2013 (TUPA PNP - ENE. 2014 / Supreme Decree No. 304 - 2013- EF of 11 DEC. 2013). Translated by the Translation Bureau, Public Works and Government Services Canada. [Accessed 30 Jan. 2017]
Additional Sources Consulted
Oral sources: Instituto de Defensa Legal, Seguridad Ciudadana; Instituto de Victimologia del Peru; Law office specialized in immigration, Florida; Peru - Defensoria del Pueblo, Ministerio del Interior; two law offices specialized in criminal law, Lima.
Internet sites, including: Amnesty International; Asociacion Pro Derechos Humanos; ecoi.net; El Comercio; El Peruano; Factiva; Federation internationale des ligues de droits de l'homme; Human Rights Watch; Instituto de Defensa Legal; Instituto de Victimologia del Peru; Peru - Defensoria del Pueblo, Ministerio de Justicia y Derechos Humanos, Ministerio del Interior, Policia Nacional; Proetica; Transparency International; UN - Refworld; US - Department of State, Embassy in Lima.
Attachments
Peru. N.d. Ministerio Publico. Reglamento de Denuncias en Linea (Regulations for Online Complaints). Excerpts translated by the Translation Bureau, Public Works and Government Services Canada. Provided to the Research Directorate by the Embassy of Peru in Ottawa. Peru. N.d. TUPA PNP - ENE. 2014/ Decreto Supremo No. 304-2013-EF del 11 DIC. 2013 (TUPA PNP - ENE . 2014 / Supreme Decree No. 304 - 2013- EF of 11 DEC. 2013). Translated by the Translation Bureau, Public Works and Government Services Canada. [Accessed 30 Jan. 2017] Peru. N.d. Ministerio del Interior, Policia Naconal del Peru (PNP). "Formato N12 TUPA -PNP." [Accessed 7 Feb. 2017]
Sri Lanka: Treatment of Tamils in society and by authorities; the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), including relationship with the Tamil population (2014-February 2017)
Publisher Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Publication Date 17 March 2017 Citation / Document Symbol LKA105756.E Related Document(s) Sri Lanka : information sur le traitement reserve aux Tamouls au sein de la societe et par les autorites; le Parti democratique populaire de l'Eelam (Eelam People's Democratic Party - EPDP), y compris ses rapports avec la population tamoule (2014-fevrier 2017) Cite as Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Sri Lanka: Treatment of Tamils in society and by authorities; the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), including relationship with the Tamil population (2014-February 2017), 17 March 2017, LKA105756.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e217294.html [accessed 8 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa
1. Treatment of Tamils in Society
According to a 2015 Oakland Institute[1] report that is based on research and fieldwork conducted between January 2014 and April 2015, "[t]housands of Tamils are still internally displaced and remain without land or livelihoods" (The Oakland Institute 2015, 3). In a 2016 report, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) states that it is
concerned by the situation of internally displaced persons [IDPs], a majority of whom belong to the Tamil, Moor and Muslim ethnic and ethno-religious minority groups, who continue to remain displaced and face challenging living conditions in camps and delays in reintegration into society. Once reintegrated, those communities also face challenges in access to basic services, employment and adequate housing. (UN 6 Oct. 2016, para. 25)
According to Freedom House's Freedom in the World 2016 report on Sri Lanka, "Tamils report systematic discrimination in areas including government employment, university education, and access to justice. Ethnic tensions occasionally lead to violence" (Freedom House 2016). The US Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2016 reports that "[b]oth local and Indian origin Tamils maintained they suffered longstanding, systematic discrimination in university education, government employment, housing, health services, language laws, and procedures for naturalization of noncitizens" (US 3 Mar. 2017, 19). According to Freedom House, "[t]he status of Sinhala as the official language puts Tamils and other non-Sinhala speakers at a disadvantage" (Freedom House 2016). A 2017 report by the UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues, on her mission to Sri Lanka from 10 to 20 October 2016, states that the "language gap often places Tamil speakers at a significant disadvantage with respect to employment and access to services" (UN 31 Jan. 2017, para. 22). According to same report,
[m]any of the Tamil-speaking representatives, including Muslims in the North and East, highlighted the difficulties of not being able to use Tamil when dealing with State institutions, including provincial and local authorities, the police and the hospitals.
Similarly, law enforcement officers and members of the military deployed in Tamil-speaking areas often lack Tamil language skills. (UN 31 Jan. 2017, paras 22 and 23)
Similarly, Country Reports 2016 states, regarding services for assisting survivors of rape and domestic violence, that "[l]anguage barriers between service providers and victims were reported in the north and east, where Tamil speaking victims lacked access to Tamil speaking service providers" (US 3 Mar. 2017, 17). Similarly, the UN Special Rapporteur's report provided the example of minority women "who have suffered domestic violence" and who, in addition to "gather[ing] courage to make a complaint," "face the challenge of explaining [their complaint to the authorities] in a language they do not command" (UN 31 Jan. 2017, para. 23). Country Reports 2016 further states that "[a] shortage of court appointed interpreters limited the right of Tamil speaking defendants to free interpretation as necessary, but trials and hearings in the north and east were in Tamil and English" (US 3 Mar. 2017, 9).
According to a 2016 report by CERD,
Tamils of Indian origin, also referred to as "Plantation Tamils" continue to face the following challenges:
High levels of poverty, poor compensation for work and poor working conditions; Poor housing conditions and difficulty in gaining access to health services; Lack of quality education and higher dropout and child labour rates than the national average; Difficulty in obtaining citizenship papers or identity documents, leading to problems with owning housing, opening bank accounts and avoiding detention; aste-based discrimination. (UN 6 Oct. 2016, para. 20)
The 2017 report by the UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues states that "[a]ccording to all the socioeconomic and health indicators, including access to housing, health, education, literacy, sanitation and safe drinking water, Plantation Tamils are the most deprived group in the country" (UN 31 Jan. 2017, para. 54).
Freedom House reports that, according to the Sri Lanka-based Federation of University Teachers' Association, there is a "lack of tolerance for dissenting views by both professors and students, particularly for academics who study Tamil issues" (Freedom House 2016). Further and corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.
2. Treatment by Authorities
2.1 Media
Reporters without Borders (RSF), a Paris-based NGO founded by journalists that works on freedom of information (RSF n.d.a.), indicates that the government elected in 2015 "said journalists and cyber-dissidents would no longer have to fear for reprisals for their political views" (RSF n.d.b.). The same source adds that "[t]he Tamil media - long a target of the authorities, including after the official end of the civil war in 2009 - have seen a decline in harassment" (RSF n.d.b.). According to Freedom House, "the level of verbal and physical attacks on journalists dramatically lessened during [2015]," although "Tamil-language outlets such as the Uthayan newspaper faced greater constraints" (Freedom House 2016). The same source further reported that "[t]he blocking of online media, particularly Tamil-language news sites and other independent outlets, such as the investigative news website Colombo Telegraph, lessened in 2015" (Freedom House 2016).
2.2 Surveillance
According to Amnesty International [AI] Report 2016/2017: The State of the World's Human Rights for Sri Lanka, "Tamils continued to complain of ethnic profiling, surveillance and harassment by police who suspected them of LTTE [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam] links" (AI 22 Feb. 2017). In a telephone interview with the Research Directorate, the Executive Director of The Oakland Institute indicated that Sri Lanka is not safe for people who are seen as being linked to the LTTE (The Oakland Institute 2 Mar. 2017).
According to People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL)[2], "[t]he ongoing climate of fear in the North-East makes it difficult, and even unsafe, for civil society actors, journalists and human rights activists to work (PEARL 27 Apr. 2016). AI's 2016/2017 report states that "[p]eople engaged in activism in the north and east continued to report harassment or surveillance by security forces" (AI 22 Feb. 2017). According to Country Reports 2016 "[t]he most significant human rights problems were incidents of arbitrary arrest, lengthy detention surveillance, and harassment of civil society activists, journalists, members of religious minorities, and persons viewed as sympathizers of the [LTTE]" (US 3 Mar. 2017, 1). The same source further states that "Tamils throughout the country, but especially in the north and east, reported security forces regularly monitored or harassed members of their community, especially young and middle-aged Tamil men" (US 3 Mar. 2017, 19).
2.3 Military Presence
According to the 2015 Oakland Institute report, "a silent war continues under a different guise. One major issue is the displacement of people from their lands and homes as result of persistent military occupation of the Northern and Eastern provinces" (The Oakland Institute 2015, 3). According to the same source,
Sri Lanka's army still occupies "high security zones" in the North and East of the country. In 2014, at least 160,000 soldiers, almost entirely Sinhalese, were estimated to be stationed in the North. With the Northern Province's population estimated at just over one million in 2012, this yields a ratio of one army member for every six civilians, despite the official end of hostilities six years ago. (The Oakland Institute 2015, 3)
The Guardian cites the Sri Lanka High Commission in London as stating, in response to the report by The Oakland Institute, that the "the number of soldiers deployed in the north was 'much less' than 160,000, adding that troops were deployed in different provinces of Sri Lanka according to local security assessments" (The Guardian 28 May 2015).
In an article in The Diplomat, a "current-affairs magazine for the Asia-Pacific region" (The Diplomat n.d.), Alan Keenan, a senior analyst on Sri Lanka at International Crisis Group, states that the government "partially scaled back the heavy military presence in Tamil-majority areas in the north and east of the island" in the "first nine months" of Maithripala Sirisena's presidency, following his January 2015 electoral win over former president Mahinda Rajapaksa (The Diplomat Jan. 2017).
According to an IRIN article, "between 1990 and 2009, the military confiscated 11,629 acres in the northern tip of Sri Lanka - the Tamil heartland - to create the Palaly High Security Zone" adding that under the government of President Sirisena, "some land has been released" and that "[r]esidents of Tellipallai and other communities" were "allowed to return" in April 2015 (IRIN 19 June 2015). Similarly, according to Freedom House, policies encouraging "settlement by ethnic Sinhalese civilians" in Tamil areas and "heightened military presence" "have ended" under the government of President Sirisena, and "some land has been released," however, "displacement of Tamil civilians remains a concern, and a significant amount of land - 44,000 acres - is still under military control" (Freedom House 2016). The UN CERD report "notes efforts by [Sri Lanka] to demine and release land, but it is concerned by reports that land is also still being held by the military in the North and East " (UN 6 Oct. 2016, para 25). The 2017 report by the UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues states that "with the army's ethnic make-up being almost entirely Sinhalese and its disproportionately heavy presence in the Northern Province, the military is seen as an occupying force that is believed to be continuing to stigmatize Tamils as militants" (UN 31 Jan. 2017, para. 38).
2.4 Sexual Violence
According to a 2016 report by the International Truth and Justice Project Sri Lanka (ITJP)[3], "one year after the change of government in Sri Lanka the security forces continue to detain, torture and sexually violate Tamils in a network of sites across the island" (ITJP Jan. 2016, 9). The 2017 report by the UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues indicates that
[w]hile the incidence of sexual assaults by military personnel is said to have decreased with the downsizing of the army in the North and East, a climate of fear remains among the Tamil women in an area where the military presence has continued. (UN 31 Jan. 2017, para. 47)
The Executive Director of The Oakland Institute indicated that there are thousands of Tamil war widows with no job opportunities in the North of Sri Lanka who live in fear of sexual violence and with intimidation (The Oakland Institute 2 Mar. 2017). The same source indicated that sexual violence continues to be committed by the army, both against Tamil men and Tamil women (The Oakland Institute 2 Mar. 2017).
In February 2017 Agence France-Press (AFP) cites former President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who is the chairman of the Office for National Unity and Reconciliation, as saying to the Foreign Correspondent Association of Sri Lanka that "'Tamil women who survived Sri Lanka's civil war now face widespread sexual exploitation by officials in their own community, as well as from the army'" (AFP 15 Feb. 2017). The same source further cites Chandrika Kumaratunga as saying that "'women who were widowed during the 37-year conflict were among the victims of abuse by officials who frequently demand sexual favours just to carry out routine paperwork'" (AFP 15 Feb. 2017). In response, the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence issued a statement that the army "refutes the allegations of sexual exploitation of [T]amil women" and that the Sri Lankan army has a "Zero Tolerance Policy on sexual abuses" (Sri Lanka 18 Feb. 2017).
2.5 Treatment Under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA)
According to a 2016 op-ed in Inside Story[4] by International Crisis Group senior analyst Alan Keenan, "[r]ecent arrests of Tamils under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and continued reports of the torture of detainees have sown concern about the government's ability to rein in abuses" (Keenan 26 May 2016). PEARL reported in April 2016 that "[a]bductions and arrests of many Tamils across the North-East have been greatly increasing in recent weeks" (PEARL 27 Apr. 2016). According to Human Rights Watch, the government had "asserted that the PTA was a necessary tool in its battle against the [LTTE]", but that in early 2017, "nearly eight years after the war's end," the PTA "continues to be used to arrest and detain people" (Human Rights Watch 20 Feb. 2017). The same source states that "[l]awyers and relatives of PTA detainees told Human Rights Watch in May 2016 that police arrests were still being made in the notorious white vans used by the previous government, creating fear of a return to a culture of enforced disappearances"[5] (Human Rights Watch 20 Feb. 2017).
According to AI's State of the World's Human Rights 2016/2017, "Tamils suspected of links to the [LTTE] continued to be detained under the PTA, which permits extended administrative detention and shifts the burden of proof onto the detainee alleging torture or other ill-treatment" (AI 22 Feb. 2017).
According to the information gathered by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights' (OHCHR's) Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL), a 2015 report covering a time period from February 2002 to November 2011, in Colombo, "many Tamils" arrested under the PTA and Emergency Regulations "were held in Welikada ('Magazine') remand prison, Negombo prison, various police stations in the city, including Kessalwatta and Hultsdorf, TID facilities in Colombo (sometimes referred to as the '6th floor'), and at CID headquarters (known as the '4th floor')" (UN 16 Sept. 2015, para. 369). According to OISL, the "Kalutara prison and Boosa detention centre in Galle" were used to hold "hundreds of Tamils arrested under the PTA or the Emergency Regulations" (UN 16 Sept. 2015, para. 369).
According to PEARL, the PTA "facilitates abuses in custody, like torture and sexual violence" (PEARL 27 Apr. 2016). In its report, the UN CERD stated its concern "that the Act allows for prolonged detentions without due process" (UN 6 Oct. 2016, para. 14).
According to the same source, the PTA "has a disproportionate impact on ethnic and ethno-religious minorities, such as Tamils" (UN 6 Oct. 2016, para. 14). The 2017 report by the UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues states that "[r]einforcing the stigmatization of the Tamil identity is the continued application of the [PTA], which affects the Tamil population disproportionately" (UN 31 Jan. 2017, para. 52).
Sources indicate that the government had promised the UN to repeal the PTA (Keenan 26 May 2016) or "pledged to revoke" the PTA to the UN Human Rights Council (Human Rights Watch 13 June 2016). Similarly, according to sources, the government "pledged" to "repeal" the PTA (PEARL 27 Apr. 2016; AI 22 Feb 2017). According to AI, the government had "not implemented this commitment by the end of 2016" (AI 22 Feb 2017). The 2017 report by the UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues states that
[d]espite the heavy criticism it has received nationally and internationally for allowing prolonged detention without due process, the Government has reportedly continued to rely on the Act to make new arrests, including exiled Tamils returning to Sri Lanka. (UN 31 Jan. 2017, para. 52)
Alan Keenan indicates that "[m]any Tamils and rights activists are growing increasingly discouraged by what they see as slow progress" (Keenan 26 May 2016).
2.6 "Sinhalization"
According to the 2015 Oakland Institute report,
[o]ver the past six years, the process of Sinhalization has intensified with an aggressive government-led effort that systematically replaces Tamil culture and history with victory monuments dedicated to Sinhalese hegemony and Buddhist religion on the ruins of the Tamil homeland. The Sinhalization of the Northern and Eastern Provinces involves the establishment of Sinhala signboards, streets newly renamed in Sinhala, multiple monuments to Sinhala war heroes, war museums, and the construction of Buddhist temples - even in areas where no Buddhists live. (The Oakland Institute 2015, 3)
The same report also indicates that the army "is engaged in large-scale property development, construction projects, and business ventures such as travel agencies, farming, holiday resorts, restaurants and cafes that dot the highways in the Northern and Eastern Provinces" (The Oakland Institute 2015, 3). The Guardian cites the Sri Lanka High Commission in London as saying, in response to the 2015 Oakland Institute report, that
[t]he reference to the army being engaged in "large scale" property development, construction projects and business ventures is an exaggeration. However, it may be noted that the new government has pledged to ensure that the military does not engage in civilian areas such as commercial activities - which was permitted by the previous government - and steps are being taken in this regard. (The Guardian 28 May 2015)
The 2017 report by the UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues states in meetings with "minority representatives in the North and East [m]any"
alleged systematic, government-sponsored movements of Sinhalese settlers to the Tamil-speaking areas that are intended to change the demographics of the region, to the political disadvantage of the minorities. They spoke of the military-assisted construction of Buddhist statues and temples in areas that have no Buddhist population; new Sinhalese settlements with facilities appearing suddenly; and State confiscation from Tamil owners of land for development or conservation. (UN 31 Jan. 2017, para. 39)
The Executive Director of The Oakland Institute indicated that "Sinhalization" is still taking place (The Oakland Institute 2 Mar. 2017). Further and corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.
2.7 Civil and Political Rights
The US Country Reports 2015 indicates that in November 2015, "the government removed the ban on eight Tamil diaspora organizations and 267 individuals on the previous government's watch list" (US 13 Apr. 2016, 1). Further and corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.
According to Freedom House, "members of various Tamil political parties [in the north and east], who have faced frequent threats in the past, faced less intimidation in [the lead-up to the January 2015 election]" (Freedom House 2016). The same source adds that
Tamil civilians faced fewer hindrances in voting during both [the April 2015 presidential and the August 2015 parliamentary] polls, in contrast to the 2010 elections. In what was described as an amicable gesture to the Tamil community by [President] Sirisena, in early 2015 the newly elected president appointed a civilian governor in Northern Province, where Tamils comprise a majority; the new governor replaced a retired army commander. (Freedom House 2016)
According to Keenan, there are government "moves to improve relations between the majority Sinhalese community and Tamils" (Keenan 26 May 2016). Further and corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.
3. The Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP)
Political Handbook of the World 2015 (PHW) states that Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) is a "Tamil-based" party (PHW 2015, 1373). The same source indicates it is a government party and that it "was formed in the late 1980s by Douglas Devananda" (PHW 2015, 1377). Similarly, a 2016 report by ITJP describes the EPDP as a "pro-government Tamil party" (ITJP Jan. 2016, 41). Sources report that Douglas Devananda is the leader of the EPDP (UN 16 Sept. 2015, para. 148; PHW 2015, 1377) and the General Secretary of the EPDP (PHW 2015, 1377). According to a 2015 article by The Asia Foundation [6], the EPDP is a "Tamil party led by ex-militant group leader Douglas Devananda that has been associated with the Rajapaksa regime" (The Asia Foundation 26 Aug. 2015). According to sources, Douglas Devananda is the Minister of Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development (PHW 2015, 1377; US 25 June 2015, 5). According to the OISL report, Devananda "held Ministerial positions on a number of occasions under Presidents Kumaratanga and Rajapaksa" (UN 16 Sept. 2015, para. 148).
According to the final report of the European Union (EU) Election Observation Mission (EOM) to Sri Lanka for the 17 August 2015 parliamentary elections, the EPDP received 33,481 votes, or 0.30 per cent, of the votes (EU 2015, 45). According to sources, the EPDP has one seat in parliament (The Economist 6 Feb. 2017; The Asia Foundation 26 Aug. 2015).
In 2016, The Hindu, an Indian newspaper, reported that ten Tamil parties and groups in Sri Lanka, including the EPDP, the Tamil United Liberation Front, and the Democratic People's Congress, "have come together to form a coalition - Democratic Tamil National Front" (The Hindu 6 May 2016). In a 2016 report, International Crisis Group describes the EPDP as a "former Tamil militant group" that is part of the United People's Freedom Alliance, a "diverse coalition of parties" (International Crisis Group 18 May 2016, 35). Further and corroborating information on the EPDP's political alliances could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.
3.1 Relationship with the Military
According to a 2013 Jane's Intelligence Review article by Joshua Smith, "a Sri Lanka-based political and security analyst specializing in South Asia,"
[t]he EPDP was originally formed to fight alongside the LTTE, and was involved in the declaration of Eelam in 1990 before the entire provincial council was dissolved. However, it later allied itself with the government and operated as a paramilitary outfit supporting Sri Lankan military forces against the LTTE; it continued as an ally of the [Sri Lanka Freedom Party] after the end of the war, but with dubious credibility in the North. Indeed, many humanitarian groups refer to the EPDP as the one of the most viable paramilitary groups operating with impunity in the country. (Jane's Intelligence Review 12 Aug. 2013)
The US Country Reports 2014 states that
[t]here were persistent reports of close ties between progovernment paramilitary groups such as the [EPDP] and government security forces. Whereas during the war these groups served more of a military function, often working in coordination with security forces, in the postwar environment they increasingly took on the characteristics of criminal gangs as they sought to solidify their territory and revenue sources. (US 25 June 2015, 5)
3.2 Relationship with the Tamil Population
According to the Country Reports 2014,
[t]here were persistent reports that the EPDP engaged in intimidation, extortion, corruption, and violence against civilians in the Tamil-dominated northern district of Jaffna. Reports throughout the year especially focused on the role of EPDP members in issuing threats to opposition Tamil politicians or community members engaged in human rights cases that could bring disrepute on the government. (US 25 June 2015, 5-6)
The same source further states that
[m]embers of the EPDP were reportedly involved in harassment and intimidation of journalists in Jaffna. The EPDP increasingly used public protests outside of opposition news outlets as an intimidation tactic to promote self-censorship. Throughout the year EPDP protests in Jaffna focused on the Jaffna Thinakkural newspaper for its strong anti-EPDP stance. (US 25 June 2015, 34, italics in original)
According to the 2016 report by the ITJP,
[t]he [EPDP], which plays a key role in brokering releases of the victims, is still operating with impunity. The modus operandi for abduction, detention, interrogation, torture, sexual violence and release in exchange for large payments to the security forces and human smugglers remains unchanged. (ITJP Jan. 2016, 10)
According to the same source, in half of the 20 "'white van' abduction" documented by ITJP cases that occurred after the January 2015 Presidential elections, the EPDP "was known to have brokered the ransom for the release deal" (ITJP Jan. 2016, 22). An overview listing the ransom deals and involvement of the EPDP per case as reported to the ITJP is attached to this Response.
In correspondence with the Research Directorate, a representative of the ITJP stated that
[a] large number of victims whose abduction, torture and/or sexual violence at the hands of the security forces (police and military) ITJP has documented post war (including the specified period 2014-2016) say that EPDP was involved in brokering their release for money. In some cases the victims report that a man from EPDP is actually present at the hand over point and sometimes even hands over a bag containing cash to their captors. In many cases victims say the EPDP man at their release is known to the security officials releasing them and this is why their relatives [are] approached in the first place. The victims' understanding is that when they disappear, their families search for them everywhere and in desperation go to EPDP because they speak Tamil and are known to have close ties to the security forces. It is unclear if EPDP keeps some of the ransom money or how they are remunerated for their role. According to victim testimony, EPDP also seems to be involved in organising the smuggling out of the country of victims - handing over the individuals to human smugglers. (ITJP 28 Feb. 2017)
Further and corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. For more information about the EPDP, please see Response to Information Requests LKA105105 of April 2015 and LKA103961 of February 2012.
This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.
Notes
[1] The Oakland Institute is an "independent policy think tank," based in Oakland, California, that focuses on "social, economic, and environmental issues" (Oakland Institute n.d.).
[2] PEARL is a "non-profit organization led by human rights activists concerned about the situation in Sri Lanka" whose mission is to "end the systemic human rights abuses against the Tamil population in Sri Lanka, and promote equality, rights and justice on the island" and who advocate with US policymakers, the UN, the EU, and "other governmental and non-governmental organizations" (PEARL n.d.).
[3] The ITJP is "administered by the Foundation for Human Rights in South Africa under the guidance of transitional justice expert Yasmin Sooka. ITJP both collects and stores evidence for any future credible justice process but also intervenes where [they] can to assist victim communities in Sri Lanka in seeking accountability" (ITJP n.d.).
[4] Inside Story is an Australian website on "politics, society and culture in Australia and internationally published by the Swinburne Institute for Social Research in the Faculty of Health, Arts and Design at Swinburne University of Technology" (Inside Story n.d.).
[5] According to Human Rights Watch, following the "defeat of the LTTE" under the former President Rajapaksa, Tamils spoke of "the ubiquitous white vans, civilian vehicles used by security forces to abduct suspected LTTE supporters, who were then brutally tortured in custody" (Human Rights Watch 19 Feb. 2016).
[6] The Asia Foundation is a San Francisco based "nonprofit international development organization committed to improving lives across a dynamic and developing Asia" (The Asia Foundation n.d.).
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United Nations (UN). 6 October 2016. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). Concluding Observations on the Combined Tenth to Seventeenth Periodic Reports of Sri Lanka. (CERD/C/LKA/CO/10-17) [Accessed 6 Feb. 2017]
United Nations (UN). 16 September 2015. Office of the Human Rights Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Report of the OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL). (A/HRC/30/CRP.2) [Accessed 6 Feb. 2017]
United States (US). 3 March 2017. Department of State. "Sri Lanka." Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2016. [Accessed 8 Mar. 2017]
United States (US). 13 April 2016. Department of State. "Sri Lanka." Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2015. [Accessed 6 Feb. 2017]
United States (US). 25 June 2015. Department of State. "Sri Lanka." Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2014. [Accessed 17 Feb. 2017]
Additional Sources Consulted
Oral sources: BBC Sinhala; Human Rights Commission South Asia; Professor specializing in Tamil women's rights at Eastern University of Sri Lanka; Sri Lanka Guardian; Tamil Guardian; United Nations (UN) - Refugee Agency Sri Lanka, Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues.
Internet sites, including: ACCORD; Al Jazeera; BBC; Centre for Human Rights Research Sri Lanka; Colombo Telegraph; Factiva; Minority Rights Group International; The New York Times; Sri Lanka Brief; Sri Lanka Guardian; Tamil Net; UN - Refworld; UPR Info.
Attachment
International Truth and Justice Project Sri Lanka (ITJP). January 2016. "Bribes Paid: (100,000 LKA Rs)." Silenced: Survivors of Torture and Sexual Violence in 2015. p. 24.[Accessed 2 March 2017]
Czech Republic: Government response to neo-Nazi groups in the country, including political parties and gangs (2014-February 2017)
Publisher Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Publication Date 17 March 2017 Citation / Document Symbol CZE105757.E Related Document(s) Republique tcheque : information sur les mesures prises par le gouvernement contre les groupes neonazis dans le pays, y compris les partis politiques et les gangs (2014-fevrier 2017) Cite as Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Czech Republic: Government response to neo-Nazi groups in the country, including political parties and gangs (2014-February 2017), 17 March 2017, CZE105757.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e2198d4.html [accessed 8 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa
1. Overview
Sources mention the existence of the following right-wing extremist groups in the Czech Republic:
Narodni demokracie (National Democracy) (SIMI 22 Feb. 2017; UN 22 Feb. 2017);
Delnicka strana socilni spravedlnosti (Workers' Party of Social Justice) (UN 22 Feb. 2017; SIMI 22 Feb. 2017);
Delnicka mladez (Youth Workers) (SIMI 22 Feb. 2017; UN 22 Feb. 2017);
Pro-Vlast (SIMI 22 Feb. 2017; Czech Republic May 2016, 15);
Generace identity (Generation of Identity) (SIMI 22 Feb. 2017);
Narodni domobrana (National Militia) (SIMI 22 Feb. 2017);
Narodni obroda (National Resurgence) (SIMI 22 Feb. 2017);
Narodni ODPOR (National Resistance) (SIMI 22 Feb. 2017).
A 2016 report by the Czech Republic Ministry of the Interior, entitled Report on Extremism in the Territory of the Czech Republic in 2015, includes "National Resurgence" and "Autonom CZ" in the subsection on "Right-wing extremism" (Czech Republic May 2016, 15). The same source describes National Resurgence as a "new association" that was established by "right-wing extremist Pavel Matejny," and Autonom CZ as a "new platform" (Czech Republic May 2016, 15).
In addition, sources mention the existence of the following left-wing extremist groups in the Czech Republic:
Network of Revolutionary Cells (Czech Republic May 2016, 6);
Anti-phoenix grouping (Czech Republic 22 Feb. 2017);
Left perspective (Czech Republic 22 Feb. 2017).
According to the Report on Extremism in the Territory of the Czech Republic in 2015, the "main streams within the domestic extreme left are formed by the anarchist movement," as well as "long-term marginal Trotskyist and Marxist-Leninist groups" (Czech Republic May 2016, 18). According to the same report, the anarchist movement was "fragmented to locally active groups, cells, and individuals" while the "Anarchist Federation, formerly known as the Czechoslovak Anarchist Federation, formed the umbrella platform" (Czech Republic May 2016, 18).
According to sources, Blok proti islamu (Block against Islam) is an anti-Islamic group (GLOBSEC Policy Institute 14 Oct. 2016; Czech Republic May 2016, 10). According to the Report on Extremism in the Territory of the Czech Republic in 2015, this group resulted from the transformation of the initiative "We do not want Islam in the Czech Republic ( IvCRN)" into an association (Czech Republic May 2016, 10). In correspondence with the Research Directorate, a representative from the UNHCR office in Prague stated that in addition to "Islam v CR nechceme! (No to Islam in the CR!),"
there are several recently established political parties, such as Usvit (Dawn), Strana prav obcanu (Citizens' Rights Party) and Svoboda a prima demokracie - Tomio Okamura (Freedom and Direct Democracy - Tomio Okamura) with a similar anti-immigration discourse. (UN 22 Feb. 2017)
Without providing further detail, the same source stated that Narodni socialiste - LEV 21 (National Socialists - LEV 21) and "several home defence groups" are among "other monitored groups" (UN 22 Feb. 2017)
The Report on Extremism in the Territory of the Czech Republic in 2015 indicates that in 2015, 307 events were organized by "politically motivated extremist entities or with the attendance of individuals active in extremist entities" (Czech Republic May 2016, 6). In 2014, 291 such events were organized (Czech Republic May 2016, 6). In correspondence with the Research Directorate, Magda Faltova, the Director of the Association for Integration and Migration (SIMI), a "human rights non-profit organization ... provid[ing] free legal, social and psychosocial counselling to foreigners living in the Czech Republic" (SIMI n.d.), stated that in 2015, "neo-Nazi groups supported by tens or hundreds, joined the bigger islamophobic movements and managed together to organize demonstrations with [the] attendance of 400-1000 people on [a] regular basis" (SIMI 22 Feb. 2017). According to an article written by the same source and published on the website of the GLOBSEC Policy Institute, a Bratislava-based "think-tank" that focuses on "foreign policy and [the] international environment" (GLOBSEC Policy Institute n.d.), "the attendance at demonstrations dropped to around 20-100 people" in 2016 (GLOBSEC Policy Institute 14 Oct. 2016). In an in-person interview, an official of the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Ottawa stated that events organized by extremist groups are usually attended by "maximum 300" people (Czech Republic 22 Feb. 2017).
According to the SIMI representative, "in past years," extremist groups "mainly" targeted the Roma population in their rhetoric and activities, but "in 2015, anti-migration, refugees and anti-Muslim topics became prevalent" (SIMI 22 Feb. 2017). The Report on Extremism in the Territory of the Czech Republic in 2015 indicates that the "main highlighted topic of all politically motivated extremist groups was migration" (Czech Republic May 2016, 6).
1.1 Cooperation with Political Parties
The Czech Ministry of Interior's Report on Extremism in the Territory of the Czech Republic in 2015 indicates that Block against Islam has established cooperation with "Dawn - National Coalition(UNK)," a political party that has representatives in the Chamber of Deputies (Czech Republic May 2016, 10). The GLOBSEC Policy Initiative article written by Magda Faltova indicated that the Block against Islam
sought cooperation with political parties and individual politicians and successfully allied with Usvit and individual MPs from ODS [Obcanske Demokraticke Strane], ANO [Akce Nespokojenych Obcanu] and others. They managed to be part of and organize events in both chambers of the Czech Parliament regarding the danger of Islam. (GLOBSEC Policy Institute 14 Oct. 2016)
The Embassy official stated that the Workers' Party of Social Justice made a coalition with LEV 21 in the 2016 regional elections (Czech Republic 22 Feb. 2017).
In a telephone interview with the Research Directorate, a representative of In Iustitia, a Czech non-profit organization that aims to "protect communities at risk of violent racism and neo-Nazism," including through the provision of legal assistance to "individuals exposed to hate violence" (In Iustitia n.d.), stated that, over the past five years, the expression of extremist ideas has entered the sphere of mainstream politics and is not limited to extremist groups (In Iustitia 22 Feb. 2017). The US Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2015 and 2014 state that NGOs reported the level of hate speech increased during the year among politicians, including members of parliament, senators, and local politicians across the political spectrum (US 13 Apr. 2016, 21; US 25 June 2015, 28). According to Country Reports 2015, "[a]lthough the government publicly condemned anti-Islamic rhetoric, some politicians continued to make anti-Islamic statements" (US13 Apr. 2016, 24). According to the same source, in October 2015, "President Zeman stated that Muslim refugees will not respect laws and customs and will try to apply sharia law" (US13 Apr. 2016, 24). The Czech Ministry of Interior's Report on Extremism in the Territory of the Czech Republic in 2015 indicates that, on 17 November 2015, Block against Islam participated in the organization of a gathering in Prague that was attended by approximately 2,500 people, including the Czech President Milos Zeman (Czech Republic May 2016, 10). According to an article on the website of Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), "based on reporting by AFP and Reuters," during the 17 November 2015 rally, President "Zeman warned against immigrants who belonged to a 'culture of murderers and religious hatred'" (RFE/RL 17 Nov. 2015).
In correspondence with the Research Directorate, a representative of the Czech Helsinki Committee, a human rights organization that was initially established to supervise the Czech Republic's compliance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and that is currently dedicated to monitoring respect for human rights in the Czech Republic and fighting racism and intolerance (Czech Helsinki Committee n.d.), stated that "there are some members of Parliament who are expressing the same ideology" as neo-Nazi groups (Czech Helsinki Committee 22 Feb. 2017). According to the SIMI representative, the "[m]ajority of political parties target civil society working with minorities," whom they consider as "traitors of the country" (SIMI 22 Feb. 2017). The US Department of State's International Religious Freedom Report for 2014 states that "[s]ome government figures made anti-Semitic statements, but others held rallies against anti-Semitism" (US 14 Oct. 2015, 4).
2. Legislation
Sources indicate that hate crimes are covered by the Criminal Code of the Czech Republic, and that there is no separate law against hate crime and extremism (In Iustitia 22 Feb. 2017; Czech Republic 22 Feb. 2017).
A report entitled National Report on Hate Crimes Monitoring, published in 2016 by the Organization for Aid to Refugees (OPU), a non-profit humanitarian organization dedicated to "helping refugees and foreigners in the Czech Republic," through free legal and social counselling (OPU n.d.), states that in the Czech Republic,
hate crimes are generally prosecuted under the following sections of the Criminal Code:
defamation of nation, race, eth[n]ical or other group[s] of people [Section 355];
instigation of hatred towards a group of people or towards disrespect of their rights and freedoms [Section 356];
establishment, support and propagation of a movement leading to repression of rights and freedoms of a man [Section 403];
expression of sympathy towards above mentioned movements [Section 404];
denial, questioning, approval and justification of genocide [Section 405]. (OPU Sept. 2016)
Without providing further detail, the In Iustitia representative stated that the Criminal Code covers two groups of hate crimes: defamation and incitement of hatred based on race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, or political belonging; and crimes committed because of the victim's race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, or political belonging (In Iustitia 22 Feb. 2017). The same source indicated that "motivation for the latter group of crimes is considered an aggravated circumstance across [the] Criminal Code under provisions on murder, bodily injuries, etc.," however, it does not include crimes committed "based on age, gender, sexual orientation or disability" (In Iustitia 22 Feb. 2017). The Country Reports 2014 similarly states that Czech legislation on hate crime does not include references to the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity (US 25 June 2015, 31). A 2015 European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) report recommended that "[t]he Criminal Code provisions on violence against a group of persons or an individual, defamation and incitement to hatred" should include "specific references to the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity" (Council of Europe 13 Oct. 2015, 10). According to the 2016 OPU report, the Czech Republic "has still not implemented the recommendation from ECRI to specifically mention homophobic or transphobic motivation under Section 352355or 356" of the Criminal Code (OPU Sept. 2016). The Criminal Code is attached to this Response.
3. State Response
Sources indicate that the governmental Agency for Social Inclusion launched an initiative called the Hate Free Culture (SIMI 22 Feb. 2017; OPU Sept. 2016, 5) in 2014 (OPU Sept. 2016). According to the OPU report, the initiative's main activities include "informing the public about events related to hate crime or hate speech, disproving hoaxes and promoting tolerance and dialogue" (OPU Sept. 2016). According to sources, through this project, the government has produced a set of information leaflets containing practical information and advice for victims and witnesses of hate crime (OPU Sept. 2016; SIMI 22 Feb. 2017). Country Reports 2014 notes that "[s]ome NGOs and other governmental entities criticized the [Agency for Social Inclusion] as ineffective because of a lack of tangible progress on Roma integration" (US 25 June 2015, 30-31). Similarly, the OPU report states that, despite the Hate Free Culture initiative, "the public remains largely indifferent towards hate crime and tends to listen to various hoaxes and stereotypes" (OPU Sept. 2016, 16).
In a report submitted to the UN Human Rights Committee in February 2016, the Czech government indicates that in 2014,
the Judicial Academy organized 15 seminars on extremism-related topics or connected therewith The educational events were attended by 673 persons - judges, state attorneys, assistants of judges, trainee judges and judicial trainees for the position of state attorneys. Altogether 39 persons participated in seminars specialized at combating extremism In 2015, two seminars on extremism issues were organized with 58 participants. (UN 10 Feb. 2016, para. 8)
In comments submitted to the Council of Europe's Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities in June 2016, the Czech government, responding to the Committee's recommendations regarding hate crime, informed the Committee of the following governmental initiatives:
the "Fight against extremism strategy for 2015," that "proposed a wide range of measures related to anti-Gypsyism," such as "educational and awareness activities, crime prevention activities[and] training courses for criminal justice agencies" (Council of Europe 28 June 2016, 17-18);
a project launched in 2014 entitled "Introducing specialised police officers to police minority groups of Roma in socially excluded localities" to address the risk of "organised crime, petty crime [and] the serious risk of a growth in xenophobia, extremist activities and manifestations of racism, anti-Gypsyism, etc." (Council of Europe 28 June 2016, 18).
In a report submitted to the UN Committee against Torture in November 2016, the Czech government indicates that
[s]eminars are implemented in the context of the Campaign against Discrimination and Hate Violence focusing on the prevention of racist attacks and the detection of crimes motivated by racial hatred for the members of the Police. The seminars are carried out in regions where there is a greater risk of racist attacks. There is also an instructional movie intended for the Police dealing with two specific cases of violence of hatred. (UN 29 Nov. 2016, para. 69)
According to the Czech Helsinki Committee representative,
[t]here are existing long-term strategies and actions plans to cope with [extremism] but their impact on practical level is not seen at all. The hostility towards minorities is growing every year and the attacks of all kinds are more dangerous, thought-out [and] organised. (Czech Helsinki Committee 22 Feb. 2017)
The In Iustitia representative stated that, in her opinion, there is "no political will against hate crime" in the Czech Republic today (In Iustitia 22 Feb. 2017). Similarly, the SIMI representative stated that there is "less and less political will" to improve the situation of minorities, Roma, migrants and refugees (SIMI 22 Feb. 2017).
3.1 Banning of Neo-Nazi and Extremist Groups
The In Iustitia representative stated that the government has not taken any action against existing parties or entities since 2010 (In Iustitia 22 Feb. 2017). The same source further explained that extremist groups are careful in their rhetoric so as to avoid judicial proceedings and if there is no racist propaganda in their programmes, it is difficult for the government to take any action against them (In Iustitia 22 Feb. 2017). Similarly, the Embassy official stated that the government "very rarely" bans political parties or groups, whose leaders are conscious that they can be banned and as such "find a way to stay on the safe side" (Czech Republic 22 Feb. 2017). Without providing further detail, the In Iustitia representative noted that legal actions would not be effective for the many groups that are not registered (In Iustitia 22 Feb. 2017).
3.2 Response to Extremist Crime
According to the Embassy official, the Report on Extremism in the Territory of the Czech Republic in 2016, which is currently only available in Czech, indicates that in 2016, 143 criminal offences with extremist subtext were recorded (Czech Republic 22 Feb. 2017). The Czech Ministry of Interior's Report on Extremism in the Territory of the Czech Republic in 2015 indicates that in 2015, 175 criminal offences with extremist subtext were recorded, of which 154 persons were "prosecuted and investigated," and 114 cases were solved (Czech Republic May 2016, 25). The Report on Extremism in the Territory of the Czech Republic in 2014 indicates that in 2014, 201 criminal offences with extremist overtone were recorded, of which 157 persons were "prosecuted and investigated," and 132 cases were solved (Czech Republic May 2015, 27-28). Information on the result of these cases, including charges and sentencing, could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.
However, the OPU report states that the "actual" number of crimes with "extremist motives" is unknown due to the "lack of specific data on hate crimes" (OPU Sept. 2016). According to the same source,
[t]he reports published by the Ministry of Interior focus on hate crimes committed by persons belonging to extremists groups and absolutely ignore the existence of hate crimes committed by persons who do not belong to any of the monitored extremist groups. Due to unnecessary focus on extremism rather than on hate crime in general, there are no official data on the number, character, motives and victims of hate crime in the Czech Republic. Even those data which are available (on extremism) have considerable shortcomings In particular, the official data are collected from four different sources: police directorate, state prosecution service, courts and mediation and probation service. However, the data collection systems of these authorities are not interconnected and therefore the data used in the report do not correlate. (OPU Sept. 2016)
Concerning both hate crime and hate speech, the SIMI representative stated that underreporting is an "ongoing problem," "since victims are often from Roma and migrant communities which lack trust towards police investigation, action and protection" (SIMI 22 Feb. 2017).
Sources report that in 2016, a man had fired shots into the air at a Roma children's summer camp and the police did not come to the scene (AI 22 Feb. 2017; In Iustitia 22 Feb. 2017) despite requests for help (AI 22 Feb. 2017). Amnesty International's Report 2016/17: The State of the World's Human Rights further reports that in "September, a regional police office investigation dismissed these claims but found that the incident was not investigated thoroughly" (AI 22 Feb. 2017).
3.3 Response to Demonstrations and Marches
Country Reports 2015 indicates that
[t]he government may legally restrict or prohibit gatherings, including marches, demonstrations, and concerts, if they promote hatred or intolerance, advocate suppressing individual rights, or jeopardize the safety of participants. (US 13 Apr. 2016, 8)
According to the Embassy official, if an extremist group is present at a demonstration, the police will be present as well and intervene as soon as the demonstration deviates from its announced plan (Czech Republic 22 Feb. 2017).
The In Iustitia representative stated that the same demonstration can be banned in one place, but accepted in another (In Iustitia 22 Feb. 2017). Regarding the government's response to extremists' demonstrations, the Czech Helsinki Committee representative stated that:
[w]e consider the government response to all events organised by extremists as we[a]k and not adequate at all. The police forces are more visible during such events and also in the streets but [in] our experience, [the] majority of them are very [young], in-experienced [and have a] tendency to sympathize with extremist groups concerning Roma population and migrants. Public hate-speeches and activities like symbols of gallows during some events in 2016 and 2015 are tolerated by [the] police and by municipal authorities. (Czech Helsinki Committee 22 Feb. 2017)
3.4 Response to Hate Speech
According to the In Iustitia representative, the police do not prosecute hate speech enough and the judiciary is too permissive in this domain (In Iustitia 22 Feb. 2017). The same source expressed the opinion that there is a "decriminalization of verbal crimes," as crimes of incitement to hatred that used to be prosecuted five years ago are no longer prosecuted (In Iustitia 22 Feb. 2017). According to the same source, in 80 percent of the cases of incitement to hatred that In Iustitia has worked on, the alleged perpetrators were not prosecuted (In Iustitia 22 Feb. 2017). Similarly, the ECRI report states that "[c]riminal action is ruled out too easily and the hate speech provisions are rarely applied" (Council of Europe 13 Oct. 2015, 9).
According to the Czech Report on Extremism in 2015,
[o]verall, the speeches of representatives of [anti-Islamic and anti-migration] entities are on the verge of law, especially as regards the instigation to hatred or defamation of particular groups of people, usually on the basis of their ethnicity or religious beliefs. (Czech Republic May 2016, 7)
The SIMI representative explained that
[h]ate speech and other verbal crimes are complicated to prosecute and police tend to underestimate the problem. There is a lack of cooperation with social media, especially Facebook, which means that no investigation is conducted even if the crime is reported. (SIMI 22 Feb. 2017)
In addition, Country Reports 2015 states that
[a]uthorities were increasingly willing to prosecute hate speech on the internet, although extremists often stymied their efforts by placing their pages on foreign servers out of the reach of authorities. (US 13 Apr. 2016, 7-8)
Similarly, the Czech Helsinki Committee explained that it is difficult to prosecute the hackers associated with White Media, which, according to the source, started as "a video sharing website aimed at the promotion of primitive racism and xenophobia," because the website is operated from a server in the US (Czech Helsinki Committee 22 Feb. 2017).
This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.
References
Amnesty International (AI). 22 February 2017. "Czech Republic." Amnesty International Report 2016/17: The State of the World's Human Rights. [Accessed 22 Feb. 2017]
Association for Integration and Migration (SIMI). 22 February 2017. Correspondence from a representative to the Research Directorate.
Association for Integration and Migration (SIMI). N.d. "About Us." [Accessed 23 Feb. 2017]
Council of Europe. 28 June 2016. Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. Comments of the Government of the Czech Republic on the Fourth Opinion of the Advisory Committee on the Implementation of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities by the Czech Republic. (GVT/COM/IV(2016)002). [Accessed 17 Feb. 2017]
Council of Europe. 13 October 2015. European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI). ECRI Report on the Czech Republic (Fifth Monitoring Cycle). (CRI(2015)35). [Accessed 17 Feb. 2017]
Czech Helsinki Committee. 22 February 2017. Correspondence from a representative to the Research Directorate.
Czech Helsinki Committee. N.d. "About Us." [Accessed 23 Feb. 2017]
Czech Republic. 22 February 2017. Embassy of the Czech Republic in Canada. Interview with an official.
Czech Republic. May 2016. Ministry of the Interior. Report on Extremism in the Territory of the Czech Republic in 2015. [Accessed 20 Feb. 2017]
Czech Republic. May 2015. Ministry of the Interior. Report on Extremism in the Territory of the Czech Republic in 2014. [Accessed 20 Feb. 2017]
GLOBSEC Policy Institute. 14 October 2016. "The Czech Republic: Migration Trends and Political Dynamics." [Accessed 13 Mar. 2017]
GLOBSEC Policy Institute. N.d. "About." [Accessed 13 Mar. 2017]
In Iustitia. 22 February 2017. Telephone interview with a representative.
In Iustitia. N.d. "About Us." [Accessed 23 Feb. 2017]
Organisation for Aid to Refugees (OPU). September 2016. "Czech Republic." National Report on Hate Crimes Monitoring. [Accessed 20 Feb. 2017]
Organisation for Aid to Refugees (OPU). N.d. "About Us." [Accessed 27 Feb. 2017]
Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). 17 November 2015. "Czech President Attends Anti-Muslim Rally." [Accessed 23 Feb. 2017]
United Nations (UN). 22 February 2017. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Correspondence from a representative of the Prague office to the Research Directorate.
United Nations (UN). 29 November 2016. Committee against Torture. "Czechia." Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties Under Article 19 of the Convention Pursuant to the Optional Reporting Procedure. (CAT/C/CZE/6). [Accessed 20 Feb. 2017]
United Nations (UN). 10 February 2016. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Human Rights Committee. Concluding Observations on the Third Periodic Report of the Czech Republic. Addendum. Information Received from the Czech Republic on Follow-up to the Concluding Observations. (CCPR/C/CZE/CO/3/Add.2). [Accessed 20 Feb. 2017]
United States (US). 13 April 2016. Department of State. "Czech Republic." Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2015. [Accessed 17 Feb. 2017]
United States (US). 14 October 2015. Department of State. "Czech Republic." International Religious Freedom Report for 2014. [Accessed 20 Feb. 2017]
United States (US). 25 June 2015. Department of State. "Czech Republic." Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2014. [Accessed 17 Feb. 2017]
Additional Sources Consulted
Oral sources: Assistant Professor, Department of International Relations and European Studies, Faculty of Social Science, Masaryk University; Czech Republic - Government Council for Human Rights, Government Council for Roma Minority Affairs, Ministry of Interior, Office of the Public Defender of Rights; IQ Roma Servis; League of Human Rights.
Internet sites, including: BBC; Ceska Tiskova Kancelar; ecoi.net; European Union - Agency for Fundamental Rights; Factiva; Federation internationale des ligues de droits de l'homme; France 24; Freedom House; Human Rights Watch; Minority Rights Group International; Political Handbook of the World; Radio Prague; Radio France internationale; UN - Human Rights Council, Refworld.
Attachment
Czech Republic. 2009. Criminal Code. Act No. 40/2009 Coll. of 8 January 2009. [Accessed 17 Mar. 2017]
Burundi: The National Liberation Forces (Forces nationales de liberation, FNL) political party; the treatment of FNL members by the authorities (2015-February 2017)
Publisher Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Publication Date 16 March 2017 Citation / Document Symbol BDI105752.FE Related Document(s) Burundi : information sur le parti politique Forces nationales de liberation (FNL); information sur le traitement reserve par les autorites aux membres des FNL (2015-fevrier 2017) Cite as Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Burundi: The National Liberation Forces (Forces nationales de liberation, FNL) political party; the treatment of FNL members by the authorities (2015-February 2017) , 16 March 2017, BDI105752.FE, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e21a364.html [accessed 8 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa
1. National Liberation Forces (FNL)
Sources describe the FNL as a former rebel group led by Agathon Rwasa (ACLED May 2016, 8; FIDH and Ligue Iteka Nov. 2016, 53). In a report published in 2016 on Burundi, the International Federation for Human Rights (Federation internationale des ligues des droits de l'homme, FIDH) [1] and the Iteka Burundian Human Rights League (Ligue burundaise des droits de l'homme, Ligue Iteka) [2] state that the FNL laid down its arms in 2009 and was transformed into a political party and that some of its fighters joined the National Defense Forces (FIDH and Ligue Iteka Nov. 2016, 53). Similarly, in correspondence sent to the Research Directorate, the FNL spokesperson stated that the FNL political party [translation] "was sanctioned on 21 April 2009" (FNL 28 Feb. 2017). According to that same source, the political party [translation] "was very active in the protests against the [president's] third term" (FNL 28 Feb. 2017). That same source states that the FNL is established in [translation] "all corners of the country" (FNL 28 Feb. 2017). The joint report by the FIDH and the Ligue Iteka states that [FIDH and Ligue Iteka English version] "a branch of the FNL [led by Aloys Nzabampema] refused to lay down its arms and still operates in Burundi" (FIDH and Ligue Iteka Nov. 2016, 53).
According to Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), an Internet site that codes the dates and locations of reported political violence and protest events in over 60 countries in Africa and Asia (ACLED n.d.), FNL activities largely take place in and around Bujumbura, "though also in Kirundo and elsewhere" (ACLED May 2016, 8). The same source states that the FNL is involved in combat against the CNDD-FDD [National Council for the Defence of Democracy-Forces for the Defence of Democracy (Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie-Forces pour la defense de la democratie), the party of the President of the Republic Pierre Nkurunziza (PHW 2015, 216-217)] and the Imbonerakure [members of the youth league of the ruling party (Human Rights Watch 19 Jan. 2017)] in the provinces of Kirundo, Bubanza, Cibitoke and Gitega (ACLED May 2016, 11).
1.1 FNL Membership Card
The FNL spokesperson wrote the following about the FNL membership card:
[translation]
It is yellow and folds in half. The first page has the party's emblem (red and a green circle inside of which there is an arc with a hoe on one side, a hammer on the other and a black arrow in the middle) [].
Let me clarify that since May 2010, our permanence has been destroyed by the police and the Imbonerakure militia, [who] raided all the party's documents.
Since then, the party has not issued any party card and we are confronted with people who, nevertheless, use the cards to justify their membership in the FNL, when it is the authority that organizes this fraud by taking money. We are confronted with this type of problem [] for example in Europe where individuals applying for asylum present falsified or stolen cards. Therefore, any membership card that is dated after 24 May 2010 is a stolen or falsified card because the FNL party no longer issues them, especially since these membership cards were confiscated by the authority in Bujumbura. (FNL 28 Feb. 2017)
Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.
2. Treatment of FNL Members by the Authorities
According to an article published in June 2016 by L'il de l'exile, an online newspaper enabling exiled journalists in France to express themselves freely through the Internet (MDJ Sept. 2016), FNL President Agathon Rwasa, [translation] "was denied the ability to meet with the population in the provinces of Gitega, Citiboke and Karusi" (L'il de l'exile 6 June 2016). Similarly, an article published in 2016 by Radio France internationale (RFI) states that since May 2016, the Burundian power has [translation] "formally prohibited [Agathon Rwasa] as first vice-president of the Assembly from continuing his visits that attracted enormous crowds inland" (RFI 1 Nov. 2016).
In an article published in 2016, RFI writes that the government increased [translation] "pressure on [FNL] militants" and that "about a hundred had been arrested in the last two months, according to its spokesperson" (RFI 1 Nov. 2016). Similarly, the ACLED writes that the FNL "faced many arrests" (ACLED May 2016, 8). According to an article published in September 2016 by L'il de l'exile, the FNL spokesperson stated that heads of collines [hills], [translation] "over 60% of whom are FNL," are "abusively arrested" for "failing to collaborate with the Imbonerakure youth militia of the ruling party" (L'il de l'exile 27 Sept. 2016). Similarly, IHS Markit, a company that offers, among other products, financial, legal and political coverage across over 200 countries (IHS Markit n.d.), reports an increase in the disruption of FNL meetings and an increase in the arrests of FNL activists in March and April 2016 (IHS Markit 18 Apr. 2016). That same source states that the police and the Imbonerakure beat up FNL activists during that period (IHS Markit 18 Apr. 2016).
In an article on Burundi published in January 2017, Human Rights Watch states that [Human Rights Watch English version] "since the start of the current crisis in April 2015, members of the Imbonerakure have arrested, beaten, or attacked FNL members across the country" (Human Rights Watch 19 Jan. 2017). Similarly, an article published in 2015 by African Arguments, an Internet site that publishes analyses of African current affairs and politics (African Arguments n.d.), reports that the government used "repressive measures" to manage the opposition and that many activists and prominent opposition figures, including FNL member Pontien Barutwanayo [former administrator of the commune of Isale in the province of Bujumbura (Jeune Afrique 24 Aug. 2015)], "have been assassinated" (African Arguments 6 Nov. 2015). According to an academic commentary published in 2016 by Jurist, a legal research website led by a law professor from the University of Pittsburgh (Jurist n.d.), the government sponsored "hostile acts" against FNL militants (Jurist 19 Jan. 2016).
In an article published in January 2017 by Mediapart, a [translation] "digital, independent and participatory news medium" (Mediapart n.d.), it is written that the FNL spokesperson [translation] "reported over 150 people arrested, tortured and then killed" in the three months prior to the publication of the article (Mediapart 25 Jan. 2017). An article published in October 2016 on the website of Iwacu, a Burundian press group (Iwacu n.d.), states the following:
[translation]
According to SOS-Torture and the Ligue Iteka, the situation is particularly worrying for members of the opposition parties in a number of locations in the country. "The proRwasa FNL militants are the most targeted. [F]rom 28 August [to] 15 September 2016, at least 69 of Agathon Rwasa's FNL militants were arrested, persecuted, tortured or forced to flee." (Iwacu 18 Oct. 2016)
According to the FNL spokesperson, over 500 cases of FNL members who had been killed or who had disappeared since April 2015 have been reported (FNL 28 Feb. 2017). Similarly, according to the ACLED, in July 2015, following the President's re-election for a third term, several FNL members were killed (ACLED May 2016, 13). According to the ACLED, FNL supporters were targeted in 13 percent of the incidents of violence that occurred against civilians where affiliation of the targeted civilian was known (ACLED May 2016, 4).
In its article published in January 2017, Human Rights Watch states that women had been victims of rape and sexual violence [Human Rights Watch English version] "because their husbands or male relatives were members of opposition parties such as the FNL" (Human Rights Watch 19 Jan. 2017). Similarly, according to a report of the United Nations Independent Investigation on Burundi (UNIIB) published in 2016,
[UN English version]
Many Burundian women and girls related to males who opposed the third term, or were perceived as political dissidents, became the targets of physical and sexual violence by elements of the security forces. (UN 20 Sept. 2016, para. 58)
2.1 Incidents Involving FNL Members and the Authorities
Sources report incidents involving FNL members and Burundian authorities, including the following:
16 FNL members were arrested in March 2016 in a bar in the province of Kirundo on the grounds that they were conducting an unauthorized political meeting (Iwacu 23 Mar. 2016; RFI 15 Mar. 2016; Human Rights Watch Jan. 2017, 4). In World Report 2017, Human Rights Watch states that they were arrested by ruling party officials, police and Imbonerakure (Human Rights Watch Jan. 2017, 4). According to the same source, [Human Rights Watch English version] "many more FNL members were arrested in later months" (Human Rights Watch Jan. 2017, 4).
On 19 May 2016, Vincent Ndihokubwayo was beaten and injured by Imbonerakure in the commune of Gitanga, in the province of Rutana (Ligue Iteka May 2016, 10). According to on-site sources, the victim was an FNL member and was apparently mistreated for that reason (Ligue Iteka May 2016, 10). The victim wanted to file a complaint but [translation] "feared reprisals and the impunity enjoyed by Imbonerakure of CNDD-FDD" (Ligue Iteka May 2016, 10).
Since 29 June 2016, Jimmy Nimbonera has been reported disappeared following his arrest by an Imbonerakure, police and military in the locality of Mubuga, in the province of Bururi (Ligue Iteka July 2016, 7). On-site sources stated that the victim had been accused by police and an Imbonerakure of being an FNL member (Ligue Iteka July 2016, 7).
An article published by RFI reports the arrest of several FNL militants at the end of June 2016 in a number of provinces (RFI 29 June 2016). The same source states that [translation] "[l]ocal FNL officials were stopped in the province of Bururi and Ngozi, in the north" (RFI 29 June 2016). According to RFI, the Minister of the Interior confirmed that those measures had been taken by the governors of those provinces for security reasons (RFI 29 June 2016).
On August 26, 2016, Jonas Mugara, [translation] "a very active FNL member," was tortured and intimidated by a police commissioner in the commune of Gisagara, in the province of Cankuzo (Ligue Iteka July-Sept. 2016, 29). The population in the locality stated that the victim, who [translation] "had repeatedly been a victim of persecution" because of his political membership, had fled (Ligue Iteka July-Sept. 2016, 29).
On 26 August 2016, seven militants of the FNL under Agathon Rwasa were arrested in the commune of Kinyinya, in the province of Ruyigi, by the provincial police commissioner who stated, according to testimony, that the party was [translation] "not recognized under legislation" (Ligue Iteka Aug. 2016, 18).
On 4 September 2016, the homes of two members of the FNL under Agathon Rwasa, suspected of illegal possession of weapons, were searched by officers of the National Intelligence Service (Service national de renseignement) accompanied by Imbonerakure who tortured them and took them to the police station, when no weapons were found (Ligue Iteka July-Sept. 2016, 47).
On 20 September 2016, Abdoul Ndayishimiye, a member of the FNL under Agathon Rwasa, was kidnapped in the commune of Rugombo, in the province of Cibitoke, by some Imbonerakure; the victim stated that she was threatened for refusing to join the CNDD-FDD party (Ligue Iteka July-Sept. 2016, 109).
On 22 September 2016, a communal president and an official of the FNL under Agathon Rwasa were detained at the police station in the province of Kirundo for one week for [translation] "exchanging SMS messages about contributions to the CNDD-FDD" (Ligue Iteka July-Sept. 2016, 37). One of the messages, discovered by a supporter of the CNDD-FDD, indicated the FNL supporters were not required to pay this contribution (Ligue Iteka July-Sept. 2016, 37). The victims believe that they are victims because of their political membership (Ligue Iteka July-Sept. 2016, 37).
On 26 September 2016, five members of the FNL under Agathon Rwasa were arrested and detained in the commune and province of Rumonge, [translation] "accused of conducting an illegal meeting" (Ligue Iteka July-Sept. 2016, 35). The Ligue Iteka writes that [translation] "political reasons were the basis for these arbitrary arrests, according to police and military sources who opposed them" (Ligue Iteka July-Sept. 2016, 35).
In September 2016, a number of FNL militants were arrested in the commune of Mutaho, in the province of Gitega (Iwacu 4 Oct. 2016). According to Iwacu, some inhabitants stated that [translation] "Imbonerakure from the Gerangabo, Nyangungu, Rurengera and Kinyinya collines gather at 6 p.m. to track down pro-Agathon Rwasa FNL members or to scare their families" (Iwacu 4 Oct. 2016). Relying on testimonies, Iwacu writes that [translation] "Imbonerakure and core administrators are accused of demanding money from the pro-Rwasa FNL militants" (Iwacu 4 Oct. 2016).
On 25 October 2016, in the commune of Buhiga, in the province of Karusi, Viateur Niyongere, [translation] "accused of belonging to the FNL opposition party," was "seriously tortured by some Imbonerakure," and then taken to the police station (Ligue Iteka Oct. 2016, 14).
militant of the FNL under Agathon Rwasa was killed on 29 October 2016 and five others were injured by some Imbonerakure in the province of Kayanza following a search conducted by the Imbonerakure at the home of two FNL militants (Ligue Iteka Oct. 2016, 9; Belga News Agency 30 Oct. 2016). According to the Belgian news agency Belga News Agency, the president of the FNL in the province of Kayanza is of the opinion that there exists [translation] "a desire to punish individuals whose political membership is different than that of the majority party" (Belga News Agency 30 Oct. 2016). According to an article published by RFI on the same incident, the version of the party opposition is not the same as that of the police, which report that six men were caught in the act and beaten to death for hours by local inhabitants (RFI 31 Oct. 2016).
On 8 November 2016, in the province of Muramvya, three members of the provincial committee of the FNL loyal to Agathon Rwasa were arrested by the police for belonging to a political party not recognized under legislation and for conducting a meeting without the authorization of the local chiefs (Ligue Iteka Nov. 2016, 28). One of the members arrested stated that he was beaten at the police station because of his political membership (Ligue Iteka Nov. 2016, 19-20).
The Ligue Iteka states that in the commune of Gihogazi, in the province of Karusi, according to on-site sources, some Imbonerakure began systematically destroying homes belonging to presumed opponents of the ruling power, including two members of the FNL under Agathon Rwasa (Ligue Iteka Nov. 2016, 58).
On 11 December 2016, eight militants of the FNL under Agathon Rwasa were arrested in the commune of Mutimbuzi, in the province of rural Bujumbura, by some police officers accompanied by Imbonerakure who [translation] "accused them of conducting an illegal meeting to destabilize" the government (Ligue Iteka Dec. 2016, 16).
The FNL spokesperson reports that some educators and teachers who are FNL members were arrested, [translation] "beaten up, bound [and] humiliated" for belonging to the FNL party (L'il de l'exile 27 Sept. 2016).
This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.
Notes
[1] The FIDH [FIDH English version] "is an international human rights NGO federating 184 organizations from 112 countries" (FIDH n.d.).
[2] The Ligue Iteka, created in 1991, is the [translation] "first Burundian human rights organization to be legally recognized and to have worked openly in Burundi" (Ligue Iteka n.d.). In January 2017, sources reported that the Burundian authorities prohibited the activities of the Ligue Iteka in Burundi (Le Monde 4 Jan. 2017; Iwacu 3 Jan. 2017).
References
Armed Conflict Location & Event Dataset (ACLED). May 2016. Country Report: Burundi Crisis Year One. [Accessed 14 Feb. 2017]
Armed Conflict Location & Event Dataset (ACLED). N.d. "About ACLED." [Accessed 14 Feb. 2017]
African Arguments. 6 November 2015. Andrea Purdekova. "What Lies at the Core of Burundi's Crisis?" [Accessed 24 Feb. 2017]
African Arguments. N.d. "About African Arguments." [Accessed 24 Feb. 2017]
Belga News Agency. 30 October 2016. "Crise au Burundi - un militant des FNL (opposition) tues par des Imbonerakure." (Factiva)
Federation internationale des ligues des droits de l'homme (FIDH). N.d. "Le mouvement mondial des droits humains." [Accessed 7 Mar. 2017]
Federation internationale des ligues des droits de l'homme (FIDH) and Ligue burundaise des droits de l'homme (Ligue Iteka). November 2016. Burundi. Repression aux dynamiques genocidaires. [Accessed 21 Feb. 2017]
Forces nationales de liberation (FNL). 28 February 2017. Correspondence sent to the Research Directorate by the spokesperson.
Human Rights Watch. 19 January 2017. "Burundi : des attaques perpetrees par des membres de la ligue des jeunes du parti au pouvoir." [Accessed 24 Feb. 2017]
Human Rights Watch. January 2017. "Burundi." World Report 2017: Events of 2016. [Accessed 24 Feb. 2017]
IHS Markit. 18 April 2016. "Military Offensive Against and Arrests of FNL Militants and Activists Risk Widening Armed Rebellion in Burundi." (Factiva)
IHS Markit. N.d. "Advanced Country Analysis and Forecasting." [Accessed 27 Feb. 2017]
Iwacu. 3 January 2017. Diane Uwimana. "Ligue Iteka Banned from Working in Burundi." [Accessed 8 Mar. 2017]
Iwacu. 18 October 2016. Fabrice Manirakiza and Christian Bigirimana. "La chasse des FNL pro Rwasa continue." [Accessed 27 Feb. 2017]
Iwacu. 4 October 2016. Fabrice Manirakiza and Renovat Ndabashinze. "Mutaho : entre traque, arrestations, rancons et exil." [Accessed 27 Feb. 2017]
Iwacu. 23 March 2016. Christian Bigirimana. "16 militans du FNL pro-Rwasa sous les verrous." [Accessed 27 Feb. 2017]
Iwacu. N.d. "Le groupe Iwacu." [Accessed 22 Feb. 2017]
Jeune Afrique. 24 August 2015. Nadine Muhorakeye. "Burundi : un troisieme assassinat cible vise cette fois un membre du parti d'Agathon Rwasa." [Accessed 7 Mar. 2017]
Jurist. 19 January 2016. Pacifique Manirakiza. "The Genocide Rhetoric in Burundi." [Accessed 22 Feb. 2017]
Jurist. N.d. "FAQ." [Accessed 22 Feb. 2017]
Ligue burundaise des droits de l'homme (Ligue Iteka). December 2016. "Bulletin mensuel 'Iteka n'ijambo' n9." [Accessed 20 Feb. 2017]
Ligue burundaise des droits de l'homme (Ligue Iteka). November 2016. "Bulletin mensuel 'Iteka n'ijambo' n8." [Accessed 20 Feb. 2017]
Ligue burundaise des droits de l'homme (Ligue Iteka). October 2016. "Bulletin mensuel 'Iteka n'ijambo' n7." [Accessed 20 Feb. 2017]
Ligue burundaise des droits de l'homme (Ligue Iteka). July-September 2016. "Bulletin trimestriel." [Accessed 20 Feb. 2017]
Ligue burundaise des droits de l'homme (Ligue Iteka). August 2016. "Bulletin mensuel n5." [Accessed 20 Feb. 2017]
Ligue burundaise des droits de l'homme (Ligue Iteka). July 2016. "Bulletin mensuel n4." [Accessed 20 Feb. 2017]
Ligue burundaise des droits de l'homme (Ligue Iteka). May 2016. "Bulletin mensuel n2." [Accessed 20 Feb. 2017]
Ligue burundaise des droits de l'homme (Ligue Iteka). N.d. "Breve presentation de la Ligue Iteka." [Accessed 8 Mar. 2017]
Maison des journalistes (MDJ). September 2016. "Qui sommes-nous." [Accessed 24 Feb. 2017]
Mediapart. 25 January 2017. Elyse Ngabire, Maison des journalistes. "Burundi : la traque sans fin des militants du FNL." [Accessed 28 Feb. 2017]
Mediapart. N.d. "Qui sommes-nous?" [Accessed 28 Feb. 2017]
Le Monde. 4 January 2017. "La ligue des droits de l'homme burundaise 'definitivement radiee' par Bujumbura." [Accessed 8 Mar. 2017]
United Nations (UN). 20 September 2016. Human Rights Council. Rapport de l'enquete independante des Nations Unies sur le Burundi (EINUB) etablie conformement a la resolution S-24/1 du Conseil des droits de l'homme. (A/HRC/33/37). Unofficial translation. [Accessed 10 Mar. 2017]
L'il de l'exile. 27 September 2016. Elyse Ngabire. "Burundi : le general Ndayishimiye, 'terminator' des FNL." [Accessed 24 Feb. 2017]
L'il de l'exile. 6 June 2016. Elyse Ngabire. "Burundi. Violation des libertes politiques : Agathon Rwasa, victime de sa 'popularite'?" [Accessed 24 Feb. 2017]
Political Handbook of the World 2015 (PHW). 2015. "Burundi." Edited by Tom Lansford. Washington, DC: CQ Press. [Accessed 13 Mar. 2017]
Radio France internationale (RFI). 1 November 2016. Pierre Nkurunziza. "Burundi : la strategie d'Agathon Rwasa va-t-elle payer ?" [Accessed 27 Feb. 2017]
Radio France internationale (RFI). 31 October 2016. "Burundi : violences meurtrieres a Matongo, dans le Nord." [Accessed 27 Feb. 2017]
Radio France internationale (RFI). 29 June 2016. Pierre Nkurunziza. "Militants FNL arretes : l'opposition burundaise denonce des pressions du pouvoir." [Accessed 24 Feb. 2017]
Radio France internationale (RFI). 15 March 2016. "Burundi : nouvelles arrestations de militants d'opposition." [Accessed 27 Feb. 2017]
Additional Sources Consulted
Oral sources: Afrique Actualite; Association de reflexion et d'information sur le Burundi; PhD candidate, Universite Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne; Isanganiro; Iwacu; research assistant, University of Lausanne; university lecturer, Universite d'Anvers; university lecturer, University of Cambridge.
Internet sites, including: Amnesty International; Burundi - government portal; Freedom House; International Crisis Group; IRIN News; Jane's Intelligence Review; United States - Department of State.
PLA Theater Joint Intelligence: Organization and Operations
Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Kevin McCauley Publication Date 31 March 2017 Citation / Document Symbol China Brief Volume: 17 Issue: 5 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, PLA Theater Joint Intelligence: Organization and Operations, 31 March 2017, China Brief Volume: 17 Issue: 5, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e21c534.html [accessed 8 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Link to original story on Jamestown website
China's new theater command structure represents a major advancement in building a streamlined joint command structure. One key remaining bottleneck is intelligence sharing. Accurate and timely intelligence is always a key component of any successful military operation, and especially so for the advanced joint operations the PLA envisions. Skilled intelligence and technical personnel, and joint command and coordination regulations are required to support the intelligence process, as well as direct intelligence operations at subordinate echelons. As the PLA attempts to build an advanced joint operations capability, rapid collection, accurate analysis and dissemination of actionable intelligence is critical to support precision command, maneuver, and fire strikes with situational awareness, targeting and battle damage assessments. The PLA's current stove-piped intelligence system requires continued modernization including automated systems to assist analysis and dissemination, improved and expanded reconnaissance assets, and integrated communications for sharing intelligence.
Theater Joint Command
The new Theater Joint Commands' Joint Operations Command Centers (JOCC) contain intelligence centers, as do command posts (CP) formed at each echelon down to regiment level. [1]
The internal theater command structure, as well as the intelligence center organization are not uniform and vary as dictated by the special circumstances facing each command. Under the supervision of the theater joint command's chief of staff, the joint intelligence center consists of intelligence staff officers from the services, the Strategic Support Force and technical staff. [2] This center is responsible for preparing the joint reconnaissance plan () to support the theater's command and control center and operational forces. The joint intelligence center plays a coordinating role to lower level intelligence centers and subordinate reconnaissance forces. The center is responsible for, coordinating theater reconnaissance operations, centralized intelligence fusion, as well as coordinating with the Central Military Commission's (CMC) JOCC, national intelligence agencies and the Strategic Support Force. [3] The theater command's intelligence center can establish subordinate intelligence centers, for example, ground, air and maritime. These subordinate centers would maintain service-specific situation maps feeding into the joint intelligence center's current battlefield situation map () providing a common operating picture to all forces. The theater command's intelligence center disseminates reports to intelligence centers at lower echelons supporting subordinate forces, as well as coordinate with other theaters' centers. [4]
The intelligence centers of various operational groups () or campaign formations () conducting the theater operations and other theater subordinate reconnaissance assets transmit intelligence to the theater joint intelligence center, as well as the theater command and control center. The theater intelligence center has directly subordinate technical reconnaissance, special reconnaissance and other units collecting intelligence. The theater joint intelligence center provides guidance to subordinate reconnaissance assets based on the joint reconnaissance plan. The theater intelligence center can request space, network, and electromagnetic battlefield reconnaissance support from the Strategic Support Force, and additional intelligence support from the CMC's JOCC, as well as support from national intelligence agencies. [6]
PLA assessments note that current intel transmission and dissemination is slow, especially in a joint environment. Improvements in the intelligence system include a transition to a flatter network structure that is intended to break barriers between services and branches. Collection, analysis, and dissemination of actionable battlefield intelligence, are being standardized and automated to speed up the processing and dissemination of intelligence. This is further enhanced through the creation of intelligence databases that can be queried. [10]
Planning
Planning and organization of intelligence is crucial to support operations. The theater chief of staff supervises and manages the development of the joint reconnaissance plan, and submits the plan for the joint commander's approval. The theater command and control center provides the joint intelligence center with the intelligence requirements supporting the operational plan. The requirements can vary from one operational phase to another. The joint reconnaissance plan assigns missions to reconnaissance assets, plans missions to support various operational phases, prioritizes collection against the most urgent requirements, establishes coordination and support methods, and assigns timelines for completing tasks. Reconnaissance assets are concentrated along the main operational direction, with assets and missions adjusted as operations progress or as the situation changes. Reconnaissance operations could be increased in other regions to deceive the opponent as to the actual main direction. [11]
Intelligence Collection
According to the PLA, joint operations require extensive intelligence collection on political, economic, and military issues that can impact operations. The PLA places importance on peacetime collection, including the use of "tourists" and open sources, as wartime collection becomes restricted. Comprehensive peacetime collection can support rapid intelligence production to support an unexpected crisis. Units at each echelon down to battalion level have subordinate forces to conduct reconnaissance in their area of operations. This intelligence is shared with neighboring and subordinate units, as well as reported up the command chain. Subordinate commands can request intelligence support from superior headquarters, and intelligence centers are required to coordinate closely with counterparts in neighboring units to share relevant intelligence. Intelligence centers coordinate with the People's Armed Police, militia, and local authorities during a conflict on mainland China. In overseas conflicts, in addition to national and PLA reconnaissance assets, intelligence will come from "underground party organizations," agents, fellow travelers, prisoners of war, and captured enemy documents and equipment. The fishing fleet and civilian ships also provide valuable information. [12]
The eventual goal is to achieve a "full-dimensional" 24/7 all-weather intelligence collection capability. Theater intelligence includes satellite, aircraft, maritime, ground, electromagnetic and network reconnaissance assets. The PLA considers reconnaissance satellites an important theater intelligence means to provide long-range monitoring of ground and sea targets. Air, maritime, ground and other technical collection means are also important to present a comprehensive battlefield situation for commanders at all echelons. [13]
Intelligence Processing and Analysis
Fast-paced modern operations require rapid and accurate intelligence analysis. As the PLA adapts more complex ISR systems, the quantity of data produced is quickly outpacing analysts ability to process it. Computer-assisted processing is required for timely and accurate processing and dissemination of intelligence, however, automation levels within the PLA currently is considered low compared to advanced countries. Analysis supports updating of a digital battlefield situation map displaying a common operating picture to CPs down to the regiment level, and possibly to battalion level command vehicles. The digital display provides layered informationincluding operational plans; friendly and enemy force disposition; space, air, maritime and ground situation; geographic and obstacle information; meteorological and hydrographic situation; and electromagnetic environment. Combat statistical tables, text, audio, and visual information can also be available for display. [14]
The intelligence centers sort, validate and analyze collected data, producing finished intelligence. Critical intelligence is reported immediately to the commander, and emergency information is immediately distributed to units. PLA publications state that only trained personnel should evaluate and interpret intelligence data, including validating the collected information. Specialized personnel analyze technical reconnaissance such as satellite or aerial imagery, electronic collection, and enemy weapons and equipment performance. The intelligence centers will initially sort and categorize intelligence in various ways, such as subject (information on enemy forces, friendly forces, or the operational environment), time (historical, current, or future intelligence), and priority (critical, general, reference intelligence information). Intelligence evaluation and feedback is used to strengthen the relevance and quality of reporting. The PLA believes that development of automated systems will speed up the collection, processing, dissemination, and database storage and retrieval of intelligence. [15]
Dissemination
The intelligence centers use various methods to disseminate relevant intelligence to units. It is important to note that higher level commands restrict dissemination to intelligence deemed relevant to a subordinate's combat missions to limit overloading with unneeded information. Classification levels would also limit access. Currently, these decisions are made primarily by intelligence center staff, with automated systems assisting to a greater degree in the future. Intelligence databases currently exist in the PLA, although PLA publications indicate this will increase in the future including greater flexibility for users to query databases. PLA forces use a variety of wired and wireless communication methods, and increasingly rely on BeiDou for brief, secure messages. Ultimately an integrated approach is used depending on the situation. [16]
Information Security and Intelligence Confrontation
Information security is an important aspect of intelligence and reconnaissance. These measures include not only strict control of information and systems, but also active and passive counter-reconnaissance measures including deception, terrain masking, electronic warfare and cyber offense and defense. Close coordination between the military and local governments, and strict control over civilian communications and news media are considered important in maintaining information security. Control of electronic emanations, radio silence, and technological means such as frequency hopping, spread spectrum, and burst communications are advocated. [17]
The PLA also uses the concepts of intelligence struggle (), intelligence deception (), and intelligence deterrence () which includes deception and interference to prevent, or destroy the enemy's intelligence collection capabilities. Intelligence deception includes spreading disinformation to confuse the enemy leading to inaccurate assessments and decisions. Intelligence deterrence is the control of intelligence or feeding false intelligence to the enemy to lead the enemy to avoid confrontation or reduce the intensity of his actions. The Strategic Support Force is likely responsible for information security and intelligence confrontation actions at the strategic level. [18]
Modernization Requirements
The PLA recognizes shortcomings in communication constructionsuch as automated communication networksto meet theater joint command requirements. The PLA assesses current intelligence sharing and dissemination means as poor, requiring improved communication system integration and personnel training. The theaters rely on satellite communications for long-range communications, supported by an integrated trunk communications network as the main communications systems. China is developing quantum information technology, including a satellite communications system for high capacity, rapid and secure communications. The PLA assesses that the communications systems, for example the theater field automated communication network, require continued modernization to eventually reach the level of developed countries. An integrated, networked intelligence system is required to ensure real-time sharing of intelligence information. The PLA admits that its military reconnaissance units are not as extensive as more advanced countries, requiring greater quantity and quality. Military reconnaissance and early warning long-range capabilities are considered weak, a severe limitation for Navy and Air Force operations at greater distances, and possible expeditionary operations or support for special operations abroad. The PLA does consider its computer talent a strength to support cyber reconnaissance or computer network exploitation. [19]
PLA assessments identify technologies to support improved reconnaissance and surveillance operations. Spread spectrum communications technology provides greater security by lowering the probability of detection and interception. Detection and direction-finding technologies can, long-range battlefield reconnaissance and surveillance radars capable of detecting, locating and identifying moving ground, air and maritime targets, and passive detection systems are identified as important technologies by the PLA. Stratospheric and tropospheric balloons for early warning, reconnaissance, and communication relay are also discussed in PLA publications and advertised at arms shows. The airships can be linked with Navy vessels, AWACS aircraft, other aircraft and aerostats to create a networked reconnaissance architecture to provide greater redundancy, direction of reconnaissance operations, and comprehensive intelligence system. [20]
The current extent and quality of operational and tactical level intelligence reforms is not clear. Theater joint intelligence should eventually provide centralized intelligence fusion of service reconnaissance assets, and an entry point for strategic intelligence reporting to support theater operations. PLA press reports improvements breaking barriers allowing intelligence sharing between branches and units at the tactical level. However, tactical units are solving issues on their own, rather than high-level direction standardizing communications and the intelligence process (PLA Daily, March 3, 2015; PLA Daily, October 17, 2015). Tactical unit intelligence centers also report inundation with vast amounts of intelligence in a short time, with over 60 percent of the information worthless. Not only did the large amount of information stress the communications bandwidth, but also the ability to sort for critical intelligence. Again, units have sought their own solutions to filter intelligence. It remains unclear whether the current emphasis on high-level direction for reforms is providing standardization and uniform guidance to subordinates (PLA Daily, November 25, 2015). Tactical UAVs are allowing units to quickly conduct reconnaissance of their area of operations, overcoming difficult terrain and obstacles that would restrict reconnaissance patrol' mobility (PLA Daily, May 3, 2016). The integrated command platform is allowing greater real-time intelligence sharing, and currently providing digital battlefield situation maps to tactical units (PLA Daily, May 11, 2016; PLA Daily, October 30, 2016).
Conclusions
Rapid and accurate intelligence collection, analysis and dissemination will require numerous improvements and modernizations to support future PLA requirements for high-tempo maneuver operations by dispersed joint forces and long-range precision strikes. The creation of a theater joint intelligence structure should lead to improved intelligence fusion. New joint command and coordination regulations are required for full implementation of the theater commands, and the PLA is working to correct the problems facing joint command and intelligence operations at all echelons. Current weaknesses include the quantity and quality of reconnaissance assets, particularly long-range capabilities, as well as integrated communications and automated systems. The PLA recognizes the dangers of information overload, and intends to increase automated systems to assist in disseminating actionable intelligence to subordinates. Future PLA intelligence operations require an integrated networked system breaking service barriers, increasing speed and efficiency transmitting time sensitive intelligence to support decision-making at all command levels. The PLA is making progress, but there is much to be accomplished.
Kevin McCauley has served as senior intelligence officer for the Soviet Union, Russia, China and Taiwan during over thirty years in the U.S. government. Mr. McCauley writes primarily on PLA and Taiwan military affairs. His publications include "PLA System of Systems Operations: Enabling Joint Operations" and "Russian Influence Campaigns against the West: From the Cold War to Putin." @knmccauley1 tweets current Chinese, Taiwan and Russian military news.
Notes
The theater's JOCC acts as the main CP (). In addition, there would normally be an alternate CP (), a rear CP () and possibly a forward or direction CP (()). The alternate and rear CPs for the theaters are likely fixed and underground. The rear CP might be collated with the theaters' Joint Logistics Support Center. Each CP would have to have an intelligence center and follow the course of operations closely in the event they need to take command operation if other CPs are destroyed or inoperative. At lower echelons, this transfer of command could occur during displacement of a CP. The level of expertise and experience of the intelligence centers' staff, particularly the technical staff is not known, nor is the shift system employed to maintain 24/7 operations. It is likely that the skill levels between shifts varies in quality. The PLA security classifications include Top Secret (), Secret () and Confidential (), and dissemination of classified material is based on need to know. The classification levels available to various echelons is not known for the PLA, but would restrict dissemination of intelligence. It is likely that the PLA also has code word and compartmented classifications. Theater Joint Operations Command, (Beijing: National Defense University Press, 2016) pp. 8283, 123 and 158161 Theater Joint Operations Command, (Beijing: National Defense University Press, 2016) p. 161 156-158. Command Information System Course of Study, (Beijing: Military Science Press, 2013) p. 23 Command Information System Course of Study, (Beijing: Military Science Press, 2013) p. 27 Theater Joint Operations Command, (Beijing: National Defense University Press, 2016) pp. 116-118 Precision Operations Command, Shijiazhuang Army Command College, (Beijing: PLA Press, 2009) pp. 107112 Theater Joint Operations Command, (Beijing: National Defense University Press, 2016) pp. 168169; Precision Operations, (Beijing: National Defense University Press, 2011) pp. 141142; Military Terms, (Beijing: Military Science Press, 2011) p. 219 Theater Joint Operations Command, (Beijing: National Defense University Press, 2016) pp. 170172; Precision Operations, (Beijing: National Defense University Press, 2011) pp. 136137 Theater Joint Operations Command, (Beijing: National Defense University Press, 2016) pp. 122123 Theater Joint Operations Command, (Beijing: National Defense University Press, 2016) pp. 119, 123 and 166 Precision Operations, (Beijing: National Defense University Press, 2011) pp. 145-146; Joint Operations Command Organ Work Course of Study, (Beijing: National Defense University Press, 2008) pp. 7275; com, November 17, 2014 Precision Operations, (Beijing: National Defense University Press, 2011) pp. 144145 Precision Operations, (Beijing: National Defense University Press, 2011) pp. 140141 and 147 Military Terms, (Beijing: Military Science Press, 2011) p. 225 Theater Joint Operations Command, (Beijing: National Defense University Press, 2016) pp. 125, 158159 and 172173 Command Information System Course of Study, (Beijing: Military Science Press, 2013) pp. 6469 ; PLA Daily, February 24, 2017; China Daily, January 19, 2017
Copyright notice: 2010 The Jamestown Foundation
Taiwan's Search for Security Partners: Looking Beyond Washington
Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Lauren Dickey Publication Date 31 March 2017 Citation / Document Symbol China Brief Volume: 17 Issue: 5 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Taiwan's Search for Security Partners: Looking Beyond Washington, 31 March 2017, China Brief Volume: 17 Issue: 5, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e21cf74.html [accessed 8 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
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In November 2016, Hong Kong authorities seized nine Singaporean Terrex infantry carrier vehicles en route home after training exercises in Taiwan (Today News, November 29, 2016; Phoenix News, November 30, 2016). The carriers were taking the same route shipping containers have taken for decades as part of the Singaporean-Taiwan "Starlight Program" ( or ). [1] After two months of closed-door diplomacy, Hong Kong customs authorities announced that the shipment would be returned to Singapore in time for Chinese New Year. The message in seizing the Terrex vehicles was a resoundingly clear one: abide by Beijing's "One China" principle () or risk the consequences.
Beijing's insistence that other countries recognize the People's Republic of China as the sole Chinese government has led to Taiwan's marginalization. Though Taiwan has been able to maintain unofficial ties around the world, economic cooperation with mainland China, and regional trade agreements with Singapore and New Zealand, it continues to face challenges in identifying willing and able security partners. Rather than utilizing unofficial, largely economic ties around the world to advance its defense interests, Taiwan continues to rely almost exclusively upon U.S. security assurances. Amid the uncertainties of President Donald Trump's U.S.-Taiwan policy, Taiwan must avoid an overdependence on the United States by actively diversifying the island's portfolio of defense partners. Such efforts are particularly important as the Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense operationalizes its new "multi-deterrence" strategy (Focus Taiwan News, March 12).
Why Look Elsewhere?
The rationale for Taipei to look beyond Washington to the expertise and assistance of other partners and allies is simple. Taiwan's needs cannot be met by reliance on Washington alone; additional relationships are necessary to ensure the island has political, economic, and security ties to sustain its future. This argument may be misconstrued as a Taiwanese brand of hedging-and, indeed, Taiwan today maintains economic ties with mainland China and security links with the United States. But Taiwan will never be able to "hedge" between the U.S. and China the way other regional powers can, for there is little ambiguity in Taipei's policy decisions. [2] Instead, Taiwan should seek to strategically diversify its portfolio of security and defense partners beyond the United States. With the obvious exclusion of China, this insurance policy will strengthen Taiwan's self-defense regardless of the person or party in the White House.
To be certain, encouraging Taiwan to broaden its strategic vision for defense partnerships does not diminish the value of the U.S.-Taiwan relationship. Taiwan was the United States' ninth largest trading partner and among its top-ten destinations of agricultural and food products in 2015 (Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, 2016). Under the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), the U.S. remains legally committed to supporting Taiwan's defense, "[making] available to Taiwan such defense articles and defense servicesas may be necessary to enable [it] to maintain a sufficient self-defense capability." [3] Presidents Bush and Obama furthered this security commitment to Taiwan through arms deliveries valued at $4.5 billion from 2007 to 2014 (Congressional Research Service, December 21, 2015). Weapons packages included technology such as P-3C maritime patrol aircraft, Patriot missile systems, and F-16 A/B retrofitting aimed at supporting Taiwan's self-defense needs (Congressional Research Service, August 29, 2014). Beyond military hardware, the relationship has deepened to involve closer mil-mil exchanges and a range of track-two security dialogues (Taipei Times, December 2, 2016; Up Media, December 8, 2016).
The depth of U.S.-Taiwan ties should not, however, preclude Taiwanese efforts to diversify security partners. Due to the unique challenges of Taiwan's strategic environment and the far-reaching responsibilities of the U.S. national security strategy, it behooves Taiwanese policymakers to explore additional partnerships.
Diversifying Taiwan's Strategic Portfolio
Taiwan's sole existential threat, China, is a mere 120 miles from its shores. Military planning has shifted from a porcupine "Hard ROC" to a "multi-dilemma" strategic approach (Ministry of National Defense (ROC), October 2013; Focus Taiwan News, March 12). Despite divergent language, both concepts are focused on one and the same objective: denying the People's Liberation Army (PLA) the ability to invade or occupy the island. Such a defense posture must simultaneously operate within the limits imposed by a tight defense budget ($9.7 billion, or 1.8 percent of GDP, for 2017) and a personnel pool of 215,000 active duty troops, of which 23,000 are one-year conscripts (Ministry of National Defense (ROC), September 2016; IISS Military Balance, 2016; Taipei Times, August 17, 2016).
Strengthening Taiwan's portfolio of security partnerships must first begin by looking to other countries in similar strategic environments; namely, those small- to medium-sized countries building a robust deterrence posture amid a lack of strategic depth, tight budgetary and personnel constraints, and an intimate proximity to existential threats. Taipei should partner with countries procuring and training with the sort of innovative and asymmetric platforms the Taiwanese defense forces require for multi-deterrence-including cyber, undersea, and anti-aircraft capabilities (Focus Taiwan News, March 16). Like-minded defense partners may also serve as conduits for buying, co-developing, or indigenously procuring advanced military technologies. Such additional ties will decrease Taiwan's current reliance upon the lengthy timelines of Congressionally-approved weapons packages.
The call for rethinking Taiwan's security assistances beyond Washington is hardly new news to current Taiwanese officials. President Tsai has already begun a search for alternative economic partners, as can be best seen in the New Southbound Policy aimed at broadening business links between Taiwan and Southeast Asia as a counterbalance to China (BBC Chinese, May 28, 2016). Her administration continues to deepen unofficial ties with Japan, promising a cooperative attitude in engaging with the Abe government and pro-Taiwan parliamentarians (China Brief, October 26, 2016; Radio Taiwan International, March 20). Tokyo could build on these ties by supporting the development of Taiwan's submarine capabilities, such as in sending retired Japanese naval officers, retired defense officials, or even engineers from Kawasaki and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries-builders of Japan's Soryu-class submarines-to Taipei for dialogues with their counterparts.
Within the region, neighborhood partners offer the geostrategic proximity and foothold in intra-Asian networks which Taiwan needs. Singapore, with its long history of interactions with Taiwan and firm observance of "One China" coveted by Beijing, should be a starting point (Apple Daily, March 23, 2015). With undoubtedly the most advanced defense forces in Southeast Asia, Singaporean capabilities punch far above their weight. The city-state's defense strategy has transformed from purely retaliatory to swift pre-emptive strikes-a strategic shift captured in zoological metaphors of poisonous shrimp, porcupines and, now, dolphins. [4] Singapore also takes a holistic approach to security in adapting a total defense plan comprised of designated roles across its society in a future contingency (MinDef, 2016). As the hub for Taiwan's economic Southbound agenda, the unofficial but substantive relationship with Singapore offers a worthy springboard for expanding into closer security cooperation despite the November Terrex incident.
Beyond Asia, Taiwan has previously looked to Germany, Italy, and Israel for security assistance and arms purchases (The Guardian, February 5, 2010; Security Assistance Monitor, November 5, 2014). [5] Under pressure from China, such ties have largely been abandoned-but should not be entirely forgotten. Israel, like Taiwan, emphasizes capabilities that enable it to maintain a credible deterrent posture and strategic defense. A hefty defense budget of $18.2 billion (or approximately 6 percent of GDP) for 2017-18 and the benefits accruing from close defense ties with the United States, Russia, China, and Singapore have supported Israeli efforts to field advanced technology (Times of Israel, December 21, 2016; World Bank, 2016). The Israeli Navy's diesel-electric Dolphin-1 and Dolphin-2 submarines fall in approximately the same specifications bracket as Taipei envisions possessing, offering an alternative approach to the costly indigenous procurement currently underway (Commonwealth, June 1, 2016). The challenge with Israel, however, will be whether and how Taiwan can navigate around the cooperation, logistical support, and arms sales between the Israeli defense sector and the Chinese military (China Military, February 21; DefenseTech, December 24, 2013).
Several European countries face strategic environments that bear striking resemblance to Taiwan. Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Georgia share borders with their primary existential threat, Russia. Each lacks adequate strategic depth and must operate with limited budgets or personnel. While these countries arguably benefit from forward deployed NATO forces, they have pursued independent steps to bolster self-defense and deterrence. In response to the threat of Russian hybrid war, each country has developed its own military strategy to preserve and protect territorial integrity. Latvia and Poland have also implemented extensive cybersecurity strategies, an area in which Taiwan hopes to improve (National Information & Communication Security Taskforce, February 2013; Taipei Times, January 17).
In maritime Europe, one additional possibility for future cooperation lies in the Cypriot experience. An island divided by political recognition, Cyprus focuses on platforms and training that will decrease its vulnerability to asymmetric threats. Beginning with the 1995 Greece-Cyprus Joint Defense Doctrine, which committed Athens to consider casus beli any Turkish attempt to invade Cyprus, the Greeks have sought to expand their naval and air defense footprint in Cyprus and the southeast Mediterranean more broadly. U.S. and European governments also continue to support Cypriot defense capabilities to ensure access to the geostrategically important island. [6]
Diversification From Within Taiwan
Even as Taiwan looks abroad for additional security partners, policymakers must also undertake meaningful, credible efforts to bolster Taiwan's self-defense at home. Taiwanese policymakers face the daunting challenge of increasing the defense budget to 3 percent of GDP, a fiscal threshold impeded by the gradual transition from a conscription to an all-volunteer force (Focus Taiwan News, June 7, 2016; Taipei Times, December 17, 2016). Absent a larger budget, Taiwan will struggle to meet the demands of domestic procurement for necessary platforms such as Hsiung Feng missiles and minelayer vessels. An inability to show commitment to defense spending at home will further undermine Taiwan's ventures abroad.
Taiwan and its overseas representative offices should also take steps to make the island a more attractive defense partner. In cooperating with Asian or European neighbors, Taiwan could offer leased access to its facilities for training-as has long been the case with Singapore-or joint training in rapid runway repair, a forte of the Taiwanese military (China Post, January 14, 2014). Taipei should also pursue humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR) agreements with more countries, operations in which Taiwan has displayed extensive regional experience. Above all, Taiwan needs to demonstrate an increased resilience to Chinese espionage and psychological warfare (China Brief, December 5, 2014). Defense partners-Washington included-are less willing to sell advanced platforms to a Taiwanese military weakened by leaks to the PLA. Taiwanese military and civilians need to develop greater confidence in their troops and their own abilities, a mental resilience to China's "Three Warfares" and efforts which seek to influence and control the strategic discourse on Taiwan (China Brief, August 22, 2016).
Conclusion
The relationships Taiwan maintains with partner nations around the world have been-and will undoubtedly continue to be-placed under strain by Beijing's insistence on recognition of the "One China" principle. However, such a reality does not mean Taiwan should accept sole reliance upon the United States for its security and defense needs as a fait accompli. At the domestic level, Taiwan must allocate the money and resources necessary to support a robust deterrence and a military capable of defending the island against a potential future contingency with the PLA. Beyond the island, Taiwanese officials must think just as creatively about defense and security partners as they already have in the economic realm. While Taiwan's defense will continue to benefit greatly from the relationship with Washington, such ties should not preclude Taiwanese efforts to look elsewhere for partners in similar strategic circumstances. Prudence demands Taiwan diversify its defense portfolio and broaden available security partners.
Lauren Dickey is a Ph.D. candidate in War Studies at King's College London and the National University of Singapore, where she focuses on Chinese strategy toward Taiwan. She is also a member of the Pacific Forum Young Leaders program at CSIS.
Notes
Author interview, Singaporean government official, February 2016. Darren J. Lim and Zack Cooper, "Reassessing Hedging: The Logic of Alignment in East Asia," Security Studies 4 (2015): pp. 696-727. Taiwan Relations Act (1979), Public Law 96-8, available at: https://www.ait.org.tw/en/taiwan-relations-act.html. Bernard Loo, "From Poisoned Shrimp to Porcupine to Dolphin: Cultural and Geographic Perspectives of the Evolution of Singapore's Strategic Posture," in Amitav Acharya and Lee Lai To (eds.), Asia in the New Millennium, conference proceedings (Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Academic, 2004), pp. 352-375. Meron Medzini, "Hands across Asia: Israel-Taiwan Relations," Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs 2 (2015): pp. 237-251. Michalis S. Michael, Resolving the Cyprus Conflict: Negotiating History (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), pp. 146.
Copyright notice: 2010 The Jamestown Foundation
Al-Shabaab: Why Somalia's al-Qaeda Affiliate Wants Puntland
Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Michael Horton Publication Date 10 March 2017 Citation / Document Symbol Terrorism Monitor Volume: 15 Issue: 5 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Al-Shabaab: Why Somalia's al-Qaeda Affiliate Wants Puntland, 10 March 2017, Terrorism Monitor Volume: 15 Issue: 5, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e21d7e4.html [accessed 8 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Link to original story on Jamestown website
In contrast to the abundance of forecasts that predicted the weakening and eventual demise of al-Shabaab, the al-Qaeda affiliated group is resurgent in many parts of Somalia. This resurgence is particularly notable in Puntland, a semi-autonomous part of northern Somalia where al-Shabaab has for a long time maintained a limited presence. Significantly, over the last year, al-Shabaab has steadily intensified the tempo of its operations in the area, indicating the group is focusing its efforts on expanding its presence and influence in Puntland.
The reasons for al-Shabaab's renewed focus on operations in Puntland are three-fold. First, it is intent on taking advantage of weaknesses within the Puntland government. Second, it is determined to gain access to the sea, which it has largely lost in southern Somalia. This access will allow it to deepen its links with lucrative dark networks and strengthen its ties to Yemen based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Third, al-Shabaab is determined to thwart the Islamic State's (IS) attempt to establish itself in Puntland.
Resurgence
Al-Shabaab's forces have been driven out of many population centers in Somalia, including the capital of Mogadishu. However, it has retained its ability to attack a range of targets. On January 15, 2016, al-Shabaab launched one of its most devastating attacks to date on a fortified military base of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) forces in El Adde, near the border with Kenya (al-Jazeera, January 15, 2016). The attack is particularly significant because of its complexity and because of the number of al-Shabaab fighters involved. While the Kenyan government has not released an official death toll, Somali officials claim more than 200 soldiers died in the attack (al-Jazeera, February 25, 2016). This attack - along with subsequent attacks on smaller fortified AMISOM bases - demonstrates that al-Shabaab has not only retained but also refined its ability to plan and execute complex attacks on hardened targets despite its loss of territory (al-Jazeera, July 11, 2016).
In addition to well-planned attacks on military targets, al-Shabaab continues to attack civilian targets across southern Somalia. The group has carried out multiple car bombings of hotels and markets and continues to assassinate journalists, government officials and members of the military and security services.
Al-Shabaab's resilience and resurgence is due largely to the group's links with the Somali countryside. Such links give it strategic depth and provide it with the ability to fight when and where it chooses. The sustained AMISOM offensive that gathered force with Operation Linda Nchi in October 2011 successfully pushed al-Shabaab out of most populated areas and impeded al-Shabaab's ability to finance itself. However, despite its losses, al-Shabaab remained resilient because of its operatives' ability to disappear into rural and remote areas, in particular the dense riverine forests along the Somali-Kenyan border.
From these areas, al-Shabaab bided its time and focused on re-building its organization. [1] Like any organization intent on survival, al-Shabaab's leadership learned from its defeats and recognized the critical importance of maintaining low-density bases in remote and inaccessible areas like the riverine forests of southern Somali.
In addition, al-Shabaab benefited from refuges in Puntland's rugged Cal Madow and Cal Miskaal Mountains. Following its expulsion from strongholds like the port of Kismayo in September 2012, al-Shabaab operatives fled north to Puntland as well as south. Since that time, al-Shabaab has maintained a presence in the semi-autonomous state of Puntland.
A Mountain Redoubt
Concurrent with its resurgence in the south, al-Shabaab is now more active in Puntland. The semi-autonomous state maintains its own government and security forces whilst continuing to support the Mogadishu-based Somali federal government. Because of the semi-autonomous nature of its government and security forces, Puntland receives limited amounts of international aid and its security forces are not as well trained, equipped or paid as their southern counterparts.
The limited and often sporadic funding of its loosely organized security forces means that the Puntland government has not been able or willing to consistently pursue al-Shabaab. The government is also plagued with corruption, and its intelligence service, the Puntland Intelligence Agency (PIA), has a history of playing both sides in the conflict with al-Shabaab. [2]
The Puntland government has been unable to regularly pay its soldiers. This was in evidence on February 26 when soldiers belonging to the Puntland Defense Force mutinied over unpaid salaries and took over government buildings in the capital of Garowe (Garowe Online, February 28). [3] Most of the government's civil servants have not been paid for eight months (Garowe Online, August 18, 2016).
Roughly half of Puntlanders are nomadic, and at the same time as the government is facing a funding crisis, Puntland is experiencing a drought that has devastated the herds of livestock that many depend upon (UNHCR, February 21). The government has been widely criticized by the local media for its failure to organize an effective response to the drought.
Such disorder provides opportunities for al-Shabaab, which, like most insurgent organizations, thrives in ungoverned areas. Al-Shabaab has also, at times, excelled at providing the services, like emergency food aid, that Somalia's federal and various semi-autonomous governments have often failed to provide.
The leadership of al-Shabaab is exploiting the weakness of the government and the worsening drought by consolidating its presence in the Cal Madow and the Cal Miskall mountains that partially encircle Puntland's largest city and primary port, Bossaso.
The Puntland government has struggled to clear these mountains of insurgent forces allied with al-Shabaab since 2010. It enjoyed some success in 2014, when the Puntland Defense Force and allied militias launched a sustained offensive that succeed in evicting al-Shabaab operatives from the mountains (Hiirran Online, October 1, 2014). However, al-Shabaab has since worked to reassert its authority in the area, most especially in the Cal Madow Mountains. The mountains rise to altitudes of 7,000 feet (2,133 meters) and are riddled with caves and gorges. While the terrain is ideal, their proximity to the busy and loosely controlled port of Bossaso is likely the reason why al-Shabaab is interested in maintaining and strengthening its presence in the mountains.
Access to the Sea: Weapons and Allies
Like any insurgent organization, al-Shabaab must secure sufficient funds and materiel to ensure its survival and ability to grow, and al-Shabaab's leadership has always prioritized its efforts to penetrate and exploit the numerous dark networks responsible for trafficking in a variety of licit and illicit goods through Somalia.
Before AMISOM's sustained offensive and successful effort to retake southern Somalia's urban centers, al-Shabaab had little trouble financing its operations. The organization excelled at administering a relatively comprehensive system that taxed both imports and exports from Somalia's ports, most notably Kismayo, which al-Shabaab controlled up until September 2012.
After the loss of Kismayo, al-Shabaab maintained its involvement in the lucrative trade in aromatic charcoal and in sugar exports by imposing taxes on the merchants who traded in the goods (Daily Nation, July 26, 2014). However, the loss of Kismayo greatly diminished its ability to collect taxes. Since then, al-Shabaab has lost more of the coastline of southern Somalia, meaning the group finds it more difficult to secure weapons and materiel. Additionally, the loss of its access to ports has impeded al-Shabaab's ability to interact with its regional ally, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
Controlling territory so near the port of Bossaso and other informal ports nearby will enable al-Shabaab to tap into Puntland's already well-established dark networks, most especially the illicit trade in weapons, and to reinvigorate its relationship with AQAP.
Largely because of the civil war in Yemen, AQAP is stronger and better funded than it ever has been. At the same time, Yemen, which was already awash with arms, has been flooded with arms and materiel by external participants in the war like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (al-Monitor, August 7, 2015). It is highly likely that many of these weapons, including more advanced weaponry like anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs), will make their way to Somalia where prices for such weapons are higher than they are in Yemen.
Because of its proximity to Yemen just across the Gulf of Aden, and its abundance of informal ports, Puntland is a prime destination for arms traders who want to take advantage of higher prices.
Al-Shabaab's leadership undoubtedly recognizes that maintaining a base of operations in Puntland is highly advantageous. It can easily tap into and extract fees and weaponry from the dark networks that abound in Puntland. At the same time, the proximity to southern Yemen, much of which is under AQAP control, means it will be more able to interact and potentially exchange skilled operatives with AQAP.
It is notable that al-Shabaab chose to feature a lengthy and fawning profile of AQAP-affiliated ideologue Anwar al-Awlaki in the most recent issue of its magazine Gaidi Mtanni. [4]
Al-Shabaab and AQAP have long maintained ties with one another and have benefited from an exchange of expertise in the areas in which they excel. For example, AQAP has learned a great deal from al-Shabaab about how to set up and manage an effective intelligence wing. Al-Shabaab's Amniyat intelligence apparatus is formidable and has proved critical to al-Shabaab's ability to control its membership and plan and carry out attacks in urban areas. In turn, over the last two years, AQAP has developed a wealth of experience with more advanced weapons systems and their use in set piece battles. Al-Shabaab can, and likely will, benefit both from this expertise and from increased access to more advanced weaponry.
The vulnerabilities and opportunities that can be exploited in Puntland mean that al-Shabaab is likely to continue to prioritize expanding its presence in the Cal Madow and Cal Miskall Mountains. These same opportunities - access to the coast and the ability to tap into lucrative dark networks - have also attracted the interest of IS.
Thwarting Islamic State
The IS presence in southern Somalia remains limited. Al-Shabaab is without question the dominant militant Salafist organization in Somalia. However, al-Shabaab, particularly in 2015, did experience a number of defections to IS. One of these was Abdul Qadir Mumin, a mid-level al-Shabaab operative who pledged baya to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in October 2015 (see Militant Leadership Monitor, October 5, 2016; Somalia Newsroom, October 24, 2015). Mumin is a dual national who holds British citizenship and spent time in Sweden, where he became known for his fiery and increasingly radical sermons. Mumin left the UK in 2010 to join al-Shabaab. He is a member of the influential and commercially well-connected sub-clan Ali Saleban. Members of the Ali Saleban sub-clan are well-established merchants in both the port of Bossaso and Kismayo, in southern Somalia.
On October 26, 2016, IS fighters seized the small coastal town of Qandala, located 75km east of Bossaso (Garowe Online, October 26, 2016). The Puntland Defense Forces responded and sent troops to retake Qandala, but the estimated force of 50 IS fighters had already retreated to the northern part of the Cal Madow Mountains, which rise up behind Qandala. Rather than demonstrating its strength, the brief takeover of Qandala did more to show the weakness of IS in Puntland.
Mumin's men likely number no more than 100 and lack the ability to take on even small contingents of the Puntland Defense Forces. However, IS does have the ability to launch hit-and-run attacks. This was evidenced by an IS-orchestrated attack on a hotel in Bossaso that resulted in the deaths of four guards and two IS fighters (Somalia Review, February 10). The attack, which occurred as Somalia was preparing to hold its long-delayed presidential election, was the first major attack on a civilian target in Bossaso.
The uptick in activity by IS in Puntland will not have gone unnoticed by al-Shabaab's leadership. They acted decisively in 2015 and in 2016 to counter the threat IS posed by tasking the group's intelligence wing, the Amniyat, with tracking, infiltrating and killing those who had defected from al-Shabaab. The effectiveness of the Amniyat and al-Shabaab's size relative to IS in Somalia means that IS' influence in Puntland is likely to remain limited. It may even be brought to an end completely. Al-Shabaab's leadership in Puntland will focus its efforts on either co-opting or eliminating what is a relatively small contingent of IS fighters. The opportunities in Puntland are too important to al-Shabaab for it to tolerate a rival organization.
Looking Forward
Al-Shabaab's efforts to expand its operations and influence in Puntland are unlikely to diminish in the near future. The weakness within the government of Puntland and the increasing disorder within its poorly paid and organized defense forces have provided an opening into which al-Shabaab has inserted itself.
This, combined with what looks to be a devastating drought that the government has failed to prepare for or respond to, will provide al-Shabaab with additional opportunities to demonstrate its ability to provide "services" and implement its own radical version of law and order.
At the same time, al-Shabaab will take full advantage of Puntland's strategic location just across the Gulf of Aden from war-torn Yemen.
Due to the tightness of the market for weapons in Somalia, al-Shabaab has long struggled to secure adequate supplies of weapons and materiel. This may well change if it is able to tap into the burgeoning arms trade between Yemen and Somalia. Al-Shabaab will also benefit from an increased ability to interact and exchange expertise with its fellow al-Qaeda affiliate AQAP.
The only significant check on al-Shabaab's influence and ability to operate in Puntland would be a clan-backed effort to combat the group. At the present time, such an operation appears unlikely. The convergence of government weakness, severe drought and a war in Yemen that has strengthened AQAP will ensure that al-Shabaab continues to prioritize its operations in Puntland.
NOTES
[1] Al-Shabaab focused much of its energy and resources on refining and expanding its intelligence apparatus, the Amniyat. Amniyat operatives were and are fundamental al-Shabaab's "stay behind element". Despite the fact that it was forced to withdraw from towns and cities, the deployment of the Amniyat allowed it to maintain a covert presence in most urban areas.
[2] The Puntland Intelligence Agency (PIA), formerly the Puntland Intelligence Service (PIS), is suspected of having incorporated many former members of al-Shabaab who defected in 2010.
[3] The Puntland Defense Force (PDF) is also known as the Puntland Security Force (PSF). The Puntland Dervish Force is a paramilitary force that is nominally part of the Puntland Defense Force.
[4] See: https://azelin.files.wordpress.com/2017/02/gaidi-mtaani-issue-8.pdf
Copyright notice: 2010 The Jamestown Foundation
A "First" for the People's Liberation Army: A Navy Admiral Becomes a Joint, Regional, Commander
Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Dennis J. Blasko Publication Date 31 March 2017 Citation / Document Symbol China Brief Volume: 17 Issue: 5 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, A "First" for the People's Liberation Army: A Navy Admiral Becomes a Joint, Regional, Commander, 31 March 2017, China Brief Volume: 17 Issue: 5, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e21e664.html [accessed 8 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
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Among recent changes in the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) leadership, the appointment of Vice Admiral Yuan Yubai to Commander of the Southern Theater Command is particularly noteworthy (PLA Daily, January 23). Yuan is the first and only non-Army officer ever to command a Military Region (MR) or Theater Command (TC), one of the five newly formed joint headquarters that replaced the seven Military Regions that had existed since the mid-1980s. Consistent with Chinese practice, Yuan shares responsibility for the Theater with a political commissar, Army General Wei Liang. Nonetheless, Admiral Yuan's selection as TC commander is a major event in PLA history, and a step toward abandoning "the traditional mentality that land outweighs sea" (China Brief, June 19, 2015). [1]
Unlike the old Military Regions, which were staffed primarily by Army personnel and in peacetime directly commanded Army units in their areas of operation, the five new Theater Commands are joint headquarters composed of personnel from all services. TCs are responsible for operations (), that is "responding to security threats in their strategic directions, maintaining peace, deterring wars and winning battles" (PLA Daily, February 1, 2016).
The four service headquarters (Army, Navy, Air Force, and Rocket Force) in Beijing, on the other hand, are responsible for "construction" () (PLA Daily, December 1, 2016). "Construction" activities include functions such as organizing, manning, equipping, educating, and training the forces, and possibly may involve some service-specific operations, such as military operations other than war (MOOTW) or potentially single-service combat missions.
Theater Commands perform command and control functions of operational units through their subordinate Theater Service (component) headquarters (TC Army and TC Air Force headquarters and the TC Navy headquarters in the three coastal Theaters). [2] In addition to reporting to the TC, Theater Service headquarters have a dual chain of command back to their service headquarters in Beijing for day-to-day "construction" activities. (Rocket Force bases report directly Rocket Force headquarters in Beijing.) The Navy's three fleets (North, East, and South Sea Fleets) concurrently serve as the TC Naval components for their respective Theaters. Fleet commanders are dual-hatted Theater deputy commanders as are the commanders of the Theater Army and Air Force headquarters.
Admiral Yuan's experience may provide indications of the kind of officers who will be assigned to TC commander positions in the future. While Army officers likely will continue to hold the majority of TC commander (and political commissar) billets, a senior Air Force officer probably will be tapped to command a Theater at some point in the relatively near future.
Admiral Yuan's Biography
At 60 years of age, Vice Admiral Yuan is the same age as his American contemporary, Admiral Harry Harris, Jr., commander of the U.S. Pacific Command. Yuan joined the PLA Navy in 1976 and trained at the Qingdao Submarine Academy, located in the North Sea Fleet (NSF) area of responsibility. Afterward, he was assigned as a submarine crew member in Qingdao. In 1982, he served as the base torpedo chief and then executive officer on a submarine, most likely a nuclear attack Han-class submarine. In 1990, he became a submarine captain and apparently stayed in that position until 2003 when he was promoted to chief of staff of the 1st Submarine Base at Qingdao. Four years later he became base commander, followed by assignments as NSF chief of staff in 2010 and NSF commander and concurrent Jinan MR deputy commander in 2014. He was promoted to rear admiral in 2008 and vice admiral in 2015 (China News, January 12).
This pattern of alternating assignments among commander, deputy commander, and chief of staff is common in the PLA. According to their biographies, many officers in this command track do not spend much time, if any, as "regular" staff officers in personnel, intelligence, operations, or logistics billets (instead, specialized staff officers perform those duties and move up the ladder in their own functional specialty). Likewise, Yuan was assigned to one major unit, the North Sea Fleet, for his entire career up to his transfer to the Southern TC. This, too, is a common practice, as most officers are assigned to a single region for most of their careers, often in one corps/army leader grade level organization, before being transferred to another large organization. Once they reached corps/army leader grade, senior officers may be transferred from one region to another as Yuan was from the NSF to the Southern TC. Likewise, Yuan's replacement as commander NSF, Rear Admiral Zhang Wendan, former deputy chief of staff of the Southern TC, also crossed regions to get to his new post. Previously Zhang had spent his entire career in the SSF and also served as commander of a Gulf of Aden task force when he was deputy chief of staff of the SSF (Xinhua, March 18, 2010). Some aspects of previous PLA assignment procedures may change in the future as the force develops a contingent of joint officers capable of serving in any joint headquarters.
Recent Operational and International Experience
While working as NSF chief of staff, Yuan was given the temporary responsibility of commanding the Navy's 14th iteration of its anti-piracy escort mission in the Gulf of Aden. Even though he had been a submarine officer, Yuan was in charge of the destroyer Harbin, the frigate Mianyang, supply ship Weishanhu, multiple helicopters, and a special operations unit, which deployed from mid-February to late-September 2013. En route to the Gulf, the task force participated in the "Peace-13" multinational maritime joint military exercise in Pakistan. While on station, Yuan visited the Portuguese guided-missile frigate Alvares Cabral, flagship of the EU Combined Task Force 465 (People's Daily, July 16, 2013). Later the Harbin and Weishanhu participated in anti-piracy drills at sea with the USS Mason (USNI News, August 26, 2013). The task force made port calls in Saipan, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Djibouti and stopped in Singapore and Thailand on it way home to Qingdao (Xinhua, September 5, 2013; China Radio International September 13, 2013). Yuan's performance on this prominent mission probably was evaluated positively by the PLAN's senior leadership in Beijing as indicative of his potential for higher levels of responsibility.
Due to his past assignments, Vice Admiral Yuan is fairly well known to foreigners, and to senior U.S. Navy leaders in particular. While commander of the NSF, Yuan had additional opportunities to interact with foreigners, including U.S. Chiefs of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson and Admiral Jonathan Greenert; commander of the U.S. Seventh Fleet, Vice Admiral Thomas; the Iranian Navy commander; the Turkish Navy Commander; and Australian Defense Minister. He also attended several international conferences, including one in London in 2015 at which he is reported to have said: "The South China Sea, as the name indicates, is a sea area that belongs to China." In August 2016, the U.S. Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Scott Swift visited Qingdao and emphasized "the importance of transparency, parity, and reciprocity," noting "it is incumbent upon fleet commanders like himself and Yuan to ensure that actions at the tactical level do not have unintended strategic implications." (USNI, August 9, 2016).
In 2011, while NSF chief of staff, Yuan acted as Red Force commander for a joint defense exercise in the Jinan MR involving NSF assets supported by Army and Air Force reconnaissance and radar units (Xinhua, November 19, 2011). This event was one of the earliest examples in which the Navy took the lead in a joint exercise. In 2012, Yuan commanded a seven-ship formation during a two-week, multi-task training mission in the western Pacific (PLA Navy, November 2, 2012). As NSF commander, he oversaw another joint exercise in 2015 involving nearly 100 ships and scores of aircraft from the NSF and ESF supported by multiple battalions from the Second Artillery and electronic countermeasures units from the Shenyang and Jinan Military Regions (PLA Daily, July 3, 2015).
As a result of Yuan's experience in the NSF, he should be intimately familiar with the status of the PLA Navy's carrier program. The Liaoning is stationed south of Qingdao and its aircraft train onshore in the NSF area of operation near Huludao. The PLA's second carrier is under construction nearby at Dalian (ChinaMil, February 21). When the second carrier enters active service, it could be home ported, or make regular visits, to the Sanya Naval Base on Hainan in the Southern TC. Yuan's experience as a submariner and with surface and air operations provide the sort of background necessary for potential naval operations in the South China Sea.
Of the three fleets, the NSF has the smallest contingent of roughly a dozen amphibious vessels; the NSF has not (yet) been assigned a Type-071 LPD (amphibious transport dock). [3] Though the PLA Navy marine force is expected to be expanded during the current batch of reforms, no PLA Navy marines were stationed in the region when Yuan was NSF commander. [4] Nonetheless, the NSF's amphibious assets have trained with Army units, though their operations tempo likely is lower than the larger amphibious forces found in the other two larger fleets. As Southern TC commander, Yuan will have available to him two marine brigades (as of now, with perhaps more in the future) and a Navy amphibious force of over 20 ships and vessels, which includes three Type-071 LPDs.
Through his performance as a submarine captain and commander of surface formations, Admiral Yuan has demonstrated his tactical and operational proficiency in multiple Navy functional areas. Though he has no combat experience, he has deployed successfully on a seven-month, high-profile mission to the Gulf of Aden. Significantly, Yuan also has acted as senior leader in joint training in which the Navy was in command (compared with most joint training where the other services support the Army). Through his assignments as chief of staff and commander of multiple units, he has proven his reliability in the eyes of his superiors in the Navy and on the Central Military Commission (CMC). Moreover, he has had high-level contacts with foreign counterparts and senior military leaders from all over the world. For the PLA, Admiral Yuan is well-prepared to be the first non-Army Theater commander.
Into the Future
Vice Admiral Yuan's selection to become commander of the Southern Theater Command is truly a historic development for the PLA. During this round of reform, as the Army is reduced in size and the other services increased to better balance the distribution of forces, Yuan's assignment as TC commander is another major step in breaking the "big Army's" influence (ChinaMil, February 3, 2016). It is likely only a matter of time before an Air Force general or another Navy admiral is assigned to command another coastal Theater or perhaps even the Central Theater Command. [5]
To date, former Navy commander Wu Shengli remains on the CMC. Neither current Navy commander Vice Admiral Shen Jinlong or Vice Admiral Yuan Yubai have been assigned to that senior-most leadership and policy-making organization. The future composition of the CMC is expected to be made public around the time of the 19th Party Congress later in 2017. Currently, outsiders have no solid indicators of who will be on the new CMC, if it will keep its current number of senior officers or if there will be additions or deletions. For example, will service commanders, like Shen, have a place on the new CMC as they have for the past decade? Will TC commanders as warfighters, like Yuan, be added to the CMC in contrast to past practice when MR commanders were not included? Will service commanders and TC commanders be assigned the same grades and ranks (even if the PLA grade and rank structure are adjusted as reforms proceed)? Will TC commanders rotate among services over time or will commanders reflect the geography and potential combat domains applicable to their Theater? Will TC commanders bring to the headquarters additional officers from their own services with parochial biases?
Operationally, will the expanded CMC structure (an example of enhanced centralized control in an increasingly decentralized environment) become involved with Theater operations to "assist" TC commanders in their missions? Will services be authorized to conduct single-service missions, such as the Gulf of Aden task force, under the supervision of the service headquarters without the intervention of the joint TC headquarters?
Despite the initial answers, more changes likely will be made as the PLA attempts to implement this tranche of reforms. In the absence of actual combat, PLA officers will prove their tactical competencies in training situations both inside and outside of China and by performing MOOTW tasks, such as the Gulf of Aden escort mission, disaster relief efforts, or UN Peacekeeping Operations. Political reliability, as always, will be a necessity for promotion and retention.
Whatever his future path, Vice Admiral Yuan Yubai has already entered the PLA history books. His performance in the next few years will determine whether he is given a full chapter or simply noted with an asterisk.
Dennis J. Blasko, Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army (Retired), is a former U.S. army attache to Beijing and Hong Kong and author of The Chinese Army Today (Routledge, 2006).
Notes
To be fair, Air Force General Zhu Fuxi was assigned as the first political commissar of the Western TC, the only non-Army general to be named as a TC leader at the time of creation. However, Zhu had been an Army political officer until 2009 when he was transferred to the Air Force. Earlier this year he was reported to have been removed from that position. See "Young star tipped to become political commissar for PLA's western command," South China Morning Post, January 24, 2017, http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2065018/young-star-tipped-become-political-commissar-plas. That same report alleges that Air Force Lieutenant General Fan Xiaojun has been assigned as political commissar of the Northern TC. TC commanders and political commissars have the grade of Theater leader, equivalent to the former Military Region leader grade; TC Service headquarters commanders and political commissars are assigned TC deputy leader grades. The PLA's grade and rank system may change in the near future. The PLA Navy: New Capabilities and Missions for the 21st Century, Office of Naval Intelligence, 2015, https://fas.org/irp/agency/oni/pla-navy-2015.pdf One unconfirmed report indicates the 26th Group Army has transferred the 77th Motorized Infantry Brigade stationed near Yantai, Shandong in the Northern TC to the PLA Navy marines. See https://china-defense.blogspot.com/2017/02/long-expected-third-plan-marine-brigade.html. This report has not yet been confirmed by official sources. The landlocked nature of the Western TC and potential ground-based terrorist threats suggest that an Army officer will likely be most suitable for that command.
Copyright notice: 2010 The Jamestown Foundation
Refugees Flee into Yunnan After Renewed Violence Along Myanmar Border
Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Peter Wood Publication Date 31 March 2017 Citation / Document Symbol China Brief Volume: 17 Issue: 5 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Refugees Flee into Yunnan After Renewed Violence Along Myanmar Border, 31 March 2017, China Brief Volume: 17 Issue: 5, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e21f314.html [accessed 8 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Link to original story on Jamestown website
Violence along China's border with Myanmar is threatening yet again to spill across into Yunnan Province. According to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, more than 20,000 refugees have fled into Yunnan after renewed fighting between the Kachin Independence Army and Myanmar's Armed Forces (Tatmadaw). These refugees are the second wave after more than 3,000 fled into China in late November 2016. In response, the prefectural government has begun setting up temporary shelters (Guanchazhe, November 22, 2016). It is unclear how it will cope with the much larger, second wave.
Three prefectures border the contentious area in Myanmar: Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, Baoshan and Lincang. Together they have a population of almost six million people. A string of Border Guard Regiments sit at strategic points along Yunnan's long borders with Vietnam and Myanmar. Two guard the area nearest to the Kokang Special Region, one to the north at Mangshi ( formerly Luxi), and another to the south at Cangyuan (). A PLA infantry brigade is also positioned nearby in Lincang to handle contingencies. Local police border guards () have also been mobilized to help direct the stream of refugees.
The Kachin people are concentrated in northeast Myanmar. Further south, a separate group in the Kokang Special Region was the target of a 2015 Tatmadaw offensive that spilled over into Yunnan. Tensions have lasted for decades, but the most recent round dates to 2009 and has flared periodically since then. The continued violence has prompted PLA maneuvers and further complicated China's relationship with the new democratic government of Myanmar. Perhaps more importantly, it also casts light on how China responds to crises on its borders.
The PLA conducted joint Ground-Air military exercises near the border to improve China's ability to respond to military threats along its frontier regions (PLA Daily, March 28, Xinhua, March 30). The large exercises involved J-10 fighters, Z-9 attack helicopters, Mil-8 transport helicopters, and mechanized infantry (accompanied by ZLS 92B armored personnel carriers), 122mm artillery and air defense units (CCTV, March 28). The J-10 fighters, which bear markings indicating they belong to the 44th Fighter Division appear to be operating out of Luliang () Air Base, northwest of Kunming. [1] The units of the Southern Theater Command are primarily geared to deal with military contingencies in the South China sea or along the border with Vietnam (China Brief, July 22, 2016).
While the PLA regularly holds joint training exercises, they are usually held near special training bases-not near the border. The previous set of exercises this large were held in 2015, after the Tatmadaw dropped ordinance in Dashui Sangshu (), killing several Chinese farmers. In response, the PLA mobilized, and infantry, air defense, and fighter units were rotated close to the border in Lincang (China Brief, July 17, 2015). That set of exercises was the largest in the area in 30 years (Global Times, June 11, 2016).
In addition to mobilizing its armed forces and police units, Chinese diplomats have tried to place pressure on the Myanmar government to end the violence (MFA, March 9). China and Myanmar's bilateral trade is worth $15 billion, making it Myanmar's most valuable trade relationship (MFA, December 2016). Even so, previous diplomatic efforts apparently have had little effect, and the democratically elected government (led by President Htin Kyaw, but with Aung San Suu Kyi de facto in charge) maintains a delicate balance with elements of the former powerful military junta it replaced. It is unlikely that additional pressure from Beijing will keep the Tatmadaw and separatist movements from violence near the border.
Refugees crises, are likely to continue to be an issue on China's border. But China lacks concrete policies to deal with the issue as a long-term problem. Syria's refugee crisis has already prompted a debate among Chinese netizens regarding China's refugee policies. Phoenix Media, responding to criticism that China has not taken in significant numbers of refugees, highlighted large numbers of mostly ethnic-Chinese accepted in the 1970s (Fenghuang, September 6, 2016). Indeed, anti-Chinese policies in North Vietnam in the 1950s and again after the fall of South Vietnam in 1975 prompted many ethnic Chinese to flee to China. China's short border war with Vietnam in 1979 prompted an additional 260,000 to flee the Southeast Asian country (UNHCR, May 10, 2007).
China's densely populated northeast is also under threat from a separate refugee crisis. In the mid-1990s, catastrophic famine and a general breakdown in the economy of North Korea killed hundreds of thousands and prompted a large number to cross into China in search of food. Even today, poor living conditions prompt many North Koreans to defect via the border with China. North Korean soldiers are also known to rob and murder Chinese citizens just across the border (China Brief, January 9, 2015). With tensions rising on the Korean peninsula due to Pyongyang's active nuclear missile programs, the outbreak of war, or poor harvests could result in large numbers of Korean migrants fleeing to northeast China.
China, however, does not accept many people seeking to resettle. Between 2004-2013 China issued only 7,356 Foreigner's Permanent Residence Cards (in contrast the U.S. issued 10 million during the same period) (Sixth Tone, October 12, 2016). Refugees have even more uncertain status. Although China is a signatory to the 1951 and 1967 international statutes that govern the treatment of refugees, domestically its law is handled via its entry and exit law () and 2005 national foreign affairs emergency law () (Fenghuang, September 6, 2016). Neither law has sufficient scope to adequately handle refugees under current conditions, much less the widespread emergency a crisis on the Korean peninsula would result in.
Peter Wood is the Editor of China Brief. You can follow him on Twitter @PeterWood_PDW
Notes
Serial Marking - 50755. The three aircraft featured in CCTV footage are flying with three drop tanks and two air-to-ground rocket pods. The extra fuel is likely necessary because the border region is roughly 500km away, right at the edge of the J-10s 550km combat radius.
Copyright notice: 2010 The Jamestown Foundation
Bombed in Their Homes, Civilians in Mosul Blame Reckless Coalition Forces
Publisher Amnesty International Author Donatella Rovera Publication Date 3 April 2017 Cite as Amnesty International, Bombed in Their Homes, Civilians in Mosul Blame Reckless Coalition Forces, 3 April 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e233644.html [accessed 8 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
When they heard that there would be airstrikes on their neighborhood in eastern Mosul, Wa'ad Ahmad al-Tai and his family did exactly as they were told.
"We followed the instructions of the government, which told us, 'Stay in your homes and avoid displacement,'" he said. "We heard these instructions on the radio. Also leaflets were dropped by planes. This is why we stayed in our homes."
Shortly afterward, the bombs came raining down. As the terrified al-Tai family huddled together, the house next door collapsed on them. Six people were killed there on the morning of Nov. 7, 2016, including Wa'ad's 3-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son.
As I traveled through eastern Mosul earlier this month, I heard versions of this story again and again from families who had lost relatives in airstrikes carried out by the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State. Filled with rage and grief, Mosul residents described how they were expressly told to stay in their homes and were then bombed inside them.
Amnesty International has repeatedly documented such incidents since the beginning of the military campaign last October. Now, Mosul has seemingly witnessed a surge in civilian deaths, with reports that airstrikes on March 17 killed more than 100 residents in the al-Jadidah neighborhood of western Mosul. Iraqi authorities initially said the civilian deaths resulted from an Islamic State attack, but U.S. military sources have since stated that the United States "probably had a role" and that they have opened an investigation.
Urban warfare is always fraught with dangers for the civilian population, and it would be naive to hope that the military operation to recapture Mosul from almost three years of brutal Islamic State rule could pass without civilian casualties. The question is whether all possible precautions have been taken to minimize harm to civilians. Instructions by the Iraqi authorities advising Mosul residents to remain in their homes, even if they were well intentioned, may have resulted in avoidable casualties.
Before the military campaign it was extremely difficult for Mosul residents, estimated to number more than 1 million, to leave the city. Those caught trying to leave by the Islamic State risked brutal punishment or even death. Since the operation to retake the city began in October, nearly 300,000 Iraqis have been displaced from their homes.
Mosul is seen as the prize in the Iraqi battle against the Islamic State, but many residents told me they feel abandoned. Some Moslawis wondered aloud if these instructions were issued because the Iraqi government and the international community did not want the burden of looking after even more displaced people. This would be an unbelievably inhumane calculation but walking around Mosul, it's easy to see why people living there feel as if they are the last priority.
Life in Mosul is full of horrors. Many residents expressed acute despair at the Iraqi authorities' and international community's failure to provide support to recently recaptured areas, describing how they were left to dig through mountains of rubble with their bare hands looking for the bodies of their loved ones.
While surveying the site of an airstrike in Hay al-Dhubbat, a neighborhood in eastern Mosul, I came across a head in the rubble. Survivors and relatives at the scene said a green scarf identified it as that of a woman who was killed with her elderly parents in a coalition airstrike on Jan. 10. Elsewhere in the city, bodies of dead Islamic State fighters lay amid the rubble and on street corners, some partly eaten by stray dogs.
Mosul's residents also have to cope with the fact that much of the city's infrastructure notably water and electricity networks is in ruins. Women and children have resorted to hauling carts with water containers to distribution points, but even then residents have to use it sparingly.
"We get enough for drinking and cooking, but there is not much left for washing," one resident told me. More than two months after the area was recaptured, there is virtually no functioning medical facility in eastern Mosul. A few small clinics provide the most rudimentary primary care hardly sufficient for a war zone.
Doctors and nurses there say they are working without salaries and with a severe shortage of drugs and equipment. At one clinic, staff showed me how two out of their three ambulances had broken down. People who have suffered horrible injuries are sometimes forced to go weeks or even months without proper care.
Not surprisingly, people are furious at so much destruction and question the timing and methods of the operation in Mosul.
"The Dawa'ish [Islamic State militants] were everywhere, and there was absolutely nothing we could do about it," said Mohammed, a resident of the Hay al-Dhubbat district who lost several relatives in a coalition airstrike. "If you challenged them, they would kill you. They ran this city for two and a half years, and they were rarely targeted during all that time. Why now [are they] destroying our homes with our families inside, just to eliminate two or three Dawa'ish on the roof?"
The killing of entire families in their homes casts serious doubt on the coalition's choice of targets and weapons. The Islamic State's use of human shields is well-documented. Those carrying out strikes are aware of the risk to civilians and must take all feasible precautions to minimize harm. So why are Islamic State fighters who have forced their way onto rooftops or into courtyards of civilian areas being targeted with large bombs that flatten houses?
No wonder many people told me they feel as if they are paying for the crimes of the Islamic State. One man described the horrific moment his 5-year-old son was killed by shrapnel from a mortar fired, likely by Iraqi forces, into a densely populated civilian area: "His head was almost completely severed."
Such tragic loss of life might not have been entirely preventable, but more could and should be done to reduce the risk as much as possible. The recent announcement of an investigation into the reported 150 civilian deaths by the U.S.-led coalition is welcome but long overdue. It's crucial that this be independent, and more transparent and effective than other recent U.S. military investigations into high civilian-casualty attacks have been.
After the U.S. bombing of an MSF hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, which killed 42 and injured 43 in October 2015, an investigation was carried out as a result of intense international pressure but resulted in little more than a few administrative punishments. From the published findings, it is unclear why the attack was allowed to go ahead.
Disturbing questions continue to be raised about decisions made by Iraqi and coalition forces, and someone must answer them. If the futures of the people of Mosul, those who have suffered most under the Islamic State's tyranny, are not taken into account, "victory" would ring hollow indeed.
Copyright notice: Copyright Amnesty International
Bahrain: Disastrous move towards patently unfair military trials of civilians
Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 3 April 2017 Cite as Amnesty International, Bahrain: Disastrous move towards patently unfair military trials of civilians, 3 April 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e2344c4.html [accessed 8 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
The King of Bahrain ratified a constitutional amendment today that paves the way for military trials of civilians, in yet another example of Bahrain's efforts to dismantle access to justice and fair trial, said Amnesty International.
"This constitutional amendment is a disaster for the future of fair trials and justice in Bahrain. It is part of a broader pattern where the government uses the courts to crackdown on all forms of opposition at the expense of human rights," said Lynn Maalouf, head of research at Amnesty International's regional office in Beirut.
"Instead of moving to correct its shameful history of unfair trials and impunity for violations, authorities in Bahrain have decided to further undermine faith in the independence and fairness of the courts and of the justice system as a whole."
Amnesty International is alarmed by the vaguely worded amendment which could be used to try, before a military court, any critic deemed to be a threat to Bahrain's national security or its "independence, sovereignty or integrity", including - as has been the case in the past - peaceful activists prosecuted on trumped-up charges.
Under the measure, defendants - including civilians - could be subjected to grossly unfair military trials, including possibly closed trials and being denied the right to an attorney of their choosing.
The move also harkens back to a period of martial law imposed following mass protests in 2011, which saw Bahrain's military courts used to crack down on dissent.
Scores of peaceful opposition and human rights activists, nurses, doctors and teachers were sentenced to prison, in grossly unfair military trials that were characterised by a range of violations, including admitting "confessions" obtained under torture.
"Trials before military courts violate fundamental requirements of international law and standards for fair trial, as recognized by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Bahrain is a State Party," said Lynn Maalouf.
"To avoid a lurch backwards to the dark days of martial law, the amendment should be repealed. And the Bahraini authorities must undertake a serious reform of their laws and of the justice system, in line with their obligations under international law."
Background
Amnesty International had previously issued a public statement urging the King of Bahrain not to ratify the proposed amendments to the constitution and to abide by international standards on fair trial.
Copyright notice: Copyright Amnesty International
Returning to be Welcomed by Missiles
Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Author Roula Abdel Karim Publication Date 11 March 2017 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Returning to be Welcomed by Missiles, 11 March 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e236bf4.html [accessed 8 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
We were forced to leave our home village because it was constantly caught in crossfire between battles raging in Idlib and Hama. Many villagers were wounded and their houses destroyed.
But after a while, the pain of being displaced from one area to another was too great. My happy childhood memories of my dear village were stronger than all the worries about the bad conditions we might face.
My family and I decided to go back, despite our terror of what might happen. So we returned.
As soon as we got to the outskirts of the village, all my memories surged up in me again. My village was still dear to me and I still loved it, despite the bombing.
"Thank God we returned to our village," my family and I said to each other.
Our house had been destroyed in the shelling, so we decided to move into a building belonging to a relative who had left the village years ago.
The neighbours welcomed us and help us unpack. I was happy that I was back in the village where I was born and could breathe its air again.
But then as soon as evening fell, the shelling began again, missiles targeting our village as if they were welcoming us.
They were being fired from checkpoints in Hama's countryside, especially from the battlefront in Jabal Zayn al-Abidin. The bombardment from there had always been particularly heavy and had led to the deaths of many villagers.
The noise was terrifyingly loud. At midnight, a missile hit the centre of the village and destroyed a house full of innocent people.
Where could we go to find safety?
We ran outside the house as ambulances began arriving at the site of the bombing. Loud sirens warned us that the warplane was still in the air above and and that the situation was dangerous.
Only a few moments later, another missile hit the same place.
We ran to a nearby bomb shelter and spent the night there.
The next morning, the news listed the names of the ten people who had died that night. Six of them belonged to the family whose house had been demolished by the missile. Many others were wounded and had been evacuated to hospital, including one man who had lost both feet.
What an unforgettable night, what a reception after our return. It was a homecoming mixed with horror and bloodshed.
We had returned to the same tragedy, to fear and terror with no solution. We could only rely on God to decide our fate.
Nonetheless, we all began searching for work since the cost of living was so high. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. The situation in the village had deteriorated so much that it was almost impossible to find a job.
My father decided to go to Turkey with my brother to find work so that they could support us. My sister and I started giving private lessons at homes for a small fee; it was better than nothing.
Once again, my family members were scattered in several places. And the terrible bombardment and atmosphere of terror increased our pain and loneliness. But our faith remains stronger than the circumstances which surround us.
A new day is bound to come to dispel the darkness of these past years. Our souls will have peace and all Syrians will live in freedom.
Roula Abdel Karim, 27, is from Idlib's countryside and holds a degree in sociology.
Copyright notice: Institute for War & Peace Reporting
Brazil: ARTICLE 19 condemns censorship of protest by Facebook
Publisher Article 19 Publication Date 31 March 2017 Cite as Article 19, Brazil: ARTICLE 19 condemns censorship of protest by Facebook, 31 March 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e239524.html [accessed 8 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
ARTICLE 19 condemns the removal by Facebook of the above image from its post regarding the imprisonment of a protester in Brazil for using nudity as a form of protest.
ARTICLE 19 Brazil & South America had posted on its Facebook a link to its criticism of a court decision sentencing activist Roberta da Silva Pereira to three months in prison for showing her breasts during a Slut Walk protest in the city of Guarulhos in June of 2013 (you can read the article in question in Portuguese here).
To accompany the article, ARTICLE 19 chose an image by photographer Oliver Kornblihtt in which two women appear exposing their breasts during another Slut Walk protest, but this time in Sao Paulo. The image was also published on ARTICLE 19 Brazil & South Americas Instagram.
The decision to publish the photo was made to reinforce that nudity is a legitimate means of expression and protest, and therefore should not be subject to restrictions contrary to international human rights standards. In addition, nudity is used on many occasions to symbolise womens long struggle not to have their bodies objectified and violated.
One day after its publication, the post was removed by Facebook and the same happened a day later on Instagram, a platform controlled by Facebook.
In ARTICLE 19s view, the social networks decision to remove the post is concerning, as it restricts the ability of users to share information on cases of public interest, and of ARTICLE 19 to fully and accurately inform the public about the ruling.
In its "Community Standards" section Facebook describes some cases for which a removal of content may be applied. In it the company says it may restrict "some breast images that show the nipples but have always allowed photos of women actively engaged in breastfeeding or showing the centuries after a mastectomy." This must be broadened to include women who use nudity to protest against their subjection to systematic violence and objectification.
Although it is a private company, Facebook should comply with international standards on freedom of expression as it is one of only a few overwhelmingly dominant intermediaries of the online space for public debate today.
ARTICLE 19 condemns the removal of the image by Facebook and its flawed policy on content regulation, which is contrary to international standards on freedom of expression, and calls for this to be reviewed to better enable the publics right to freedom of expression and information online.
Copyright notice: Copyright ARTICLE 19
Following President Trump's executive order last week rolling back several Obama administration climate rules, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke lifted a ban on new coal-mining leases on federal land. As the new administration touts a comeback for coal and coal-mining jobs, environmentalists point to China as the heir-apparent to the United States as the leader in the global move to reduce carbon emissions.
It's not that simple. It is true that China is cutting its own development of new coal-fired electricity generation, but the country is exporting new coal plants. According to one report, China chopped 120,000 megawatts of planned and under-construction domestic coal-fired capacity in the second half of last year and plans to cut another 50,000 megawatts this year.
ALSO READ: Americans Pay More for Gas When It Is Cheap
But China is also building or financing at least 79 new coal-fired plants in countries from Indonesia to Pakistan and from Turkey to the Balkans. Those plants are reported to have the capacity to generate 52,000 megawatts, a total greater than the planned closures by 2020 of 46,000 megawatts of coal-fired generation in the United States.
In a September 2016 article published at Chinadialogue, Beth Walker reported that new coal-fired generation built by China in other Asian countries amounted to 68% of all new capacity built in those countries. Citing an unpublished study, Walker noted: "Worldwide, the majority of China's support to the power sector in the global south was funnelled into coal"
ALSO READ: Oil Companies Will Bear Brunt of Border Adjustment Tax
China has led the world as the leading exporter of coal equipment since 2000. Building more coal plants also has boosted China's coal exports from zero to 37% of all global exports.
Because China is shutting down coal-fired generation inside the country, the companies that operate in both the generation industry and heavy-use industries like cement and steel have been encouraged to seek export markets to boost China's export revenues.
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As Walker notes:
All this contributes to concern that China will follow developed countries' example and simply export its carbon emissions as it moves up the global value chain, threatening any fragile international progress on emissions reduction.
ALSO READ: 2016 US Solar Installation Doubles Prior Year Total
Walker also created the following map to show where China has either planned or invested in new coal-fired generation.
Varun Sivaram, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and a Douglas Dillon Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told NPR over the weekend:
China has an economic incentive to export, for example, inefficient coal power plants to other markets. It may not want to deploy them at home to reduce air pollution, but it has an economic industrial incentive to export them.
And if other countries increase their climate ambition, they won't be buying those coal power plants. So I think China has economic incentives not to push the world toward the kind of ambitious goals it needs to reduce emissions. And with China in the driver's seat, we might just see complacency following the hard-won Paris Agreement that was just a starting point, not an endpoint to where the world needs to be on climate change.
ALSO READ: States Where the Most People Have Green Cards
If in fact, the Trump administration's actions on coal and climate change are pushing China into the leadership role against carbon emissions, that new leadership is undercut by China's own duplicity. Trump may be wearing the environmental black hat, but China's hat is no better than smokey gray.
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Zimbabwe: ICRC calls on African states to honour their commitments to protect IDPs
Publisher International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Publication Date 3 April 2017 Cite as International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Zimbabwe: ICRC calls on African states to honour their commitments to protect IDPs, 3 April 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58e240e54.html [accessed 8 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
African states are meeting in Harare, Zimbabwe from 3 to 5 April to consider how to improve implementation of the groundbreaking regional agreement to protect internally displaced persons (IDPs), the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of IDPs, also known as the Kampala Convention.
Millions of individuals and families across the continent are displaced due to armed conflict and violence. Many of these IDPs spend years waiting to be able to return to their homes in safety. For others, the chronic nature of armed conflict and violence simply does not make it possible for them to return home. Eight years after the adoption of this agreement, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is calling on African states to transform this commitment into tangible, long term policies and action that protects and assists IDPs.
"More needs to be done by African states to address the root causes of displacement and to improve their capacity to anticipate and respond to the humanitarian needs that arise when people have to leave their homes due to armed conflict and violence," said Diane Misenga Kabeya, Deputy Head of the ICRC Delegation to the African Union. "Above all, ensuring respect for the laws of war is central to preventing displacement during armed conflict."
Utilizing its field presence in 29 countries across Africa, the ICRC undertook a study to evaluate progress on the implementation of the Kampala Convention. "The study's purpose is to support the African Union, its member states and their partners to identify relevant steps to move forward on translating the Kampala Convention into real improvements for IDPs on the continent," said Angela Cotroneo, an ICRC advisor on IDPs. "It provides clear, actionable recommendations, including recognition of existing positive initiatives developed by a number of States, that we hope will inspire other countries to follow in their footsteps."
The report contains 80 findings and 25 recommendations aimed at ensuring that the obligations toward IDPs are known and implemented, and their rights respected. The best practices and key challenges identified in the report are based on independent research as well as consultations with the African Union and its Regional Economic Communities carried out by the ICRC.
Donald Trump, whose Saturday mornings are apparently much freer than one might expect the presidents to be, spent a good chunk of time between breakfast and lunch yesterday rage-tweeting about news coverage of the investigations into Russian interference in the presidential election last year and possible connections between his campaign and that Kremlin-directed effort.
The President, like any other American, has the absolute right to challenge the accuracy of anything he sees in the press, and there isnt a reporter deserving of the job who would argue otherwise. But the Trump White House is looking increasingly desperate to deflect attention from the inquiry to the point where claims of innocence start to have the opposite effect of the one intended.
Related: Flynns Immunity Request May Not Be the Bombshell Everyone Thinks It Is
The president protests too much.
Trump began Saturday morning with an attack on NBC News and anchor Chuck Todd.
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
He continued, minutes later.
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
In recent days, Trump, through White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, has renewed his claim that former president Barack Obama had him under surveillance during last years election, despite sworn testimony from the heads of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Security Agency that this was not the case.
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The effort has been aided by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes who last week made a surreptitious visit to the White House to view documents that he said appeared to validate some of Trumps claims. It would later come out that the documents were provided by the White House staff, something that Nunes originally denied after making a show of hurrying down Pennsylvania Avenue to personally brief Trump on information Trumps own staff had provided him.
What Nunes appears to have been shown is evidence that intelligence intercepts targeting non-US persons outside the country incidentally picked up conversations by or about associates of the president. In some cases, he said, the identities of those individuals were unmasked in reports that were then circulated among intelligence agencies.
Related: Is Nunes Toast? White House Struggles to Explain Who Leaked Intelligence
When US persons are incidentally picked up by intelligence intercepts, their identities are often concealed in reports detailing the findings unless they are relevant to an investigation or are otherwise necessary for analysts to understand what was being discussed. Nunes complaint is that he was able to discern the identities of some of the people mentioned in the reports he was shown.
Last week, The New York Times disclosed that some of the reports appear to detail conversations that did not involve the president or his associates but were rather about them -- such as foreign ambassadors discussing plans for gaining influence or access to the Trump White House.
On Saturday, Fox News reported that the person who gave the order to unmask names in the reports is a senior member of the Intelligence Community, which sent Trump rushing to Twitter again.
Wow, the president wrote, @FoxNews just reporting big news. Source: Official behind unmasking is high up. Known Intel official is responsible. Some unmasked not associated with Russia. Trump team spied on before he was nominated. If this is true, does not get much bigger. Would be sad for U.S.
Related: House Intel Chair Says Intel Agencies May Have Spied on Trump
It was unclear why Trump placed some of the material in quotation marks because he did not appear to be quoting the Fox report verbatim. One of the reporters who wrote the Fox piece, in an interview broadcast on the network, suggested that the incidental collection of information about Trump associates had begun even before Trump won the Republican nomination, and was done for political purposes by the Obama administration.
He did not explain why information from a project ostensibly aimed at discrediting Trump, was withheld until Trump had been elected and sworn in as president.
The tweets came a day after Spicer, from the White House podium, again repeated Trumps claim that the Obama administration had targeted him for surveillance despite the claims of intelligence officials that this is not true.
In support of the claim, Spicer cited comments by Evelyn Farkas, deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Russia and Ukraine, that she had encouraged her former colleagues to preserve and disseminate intelligence about alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Related: Former Trump Campaign Chair Worked to Benefit the Putin Government
Spicer described Farkass comments as devastating evidence of an Obama administration effort to gather intelligence on Trump.
In fact, Farkas left the administration in 2015, when Trumps run for president was still widely viewed as a self-indulgent publicity stunt. Multiple fact-checkers have pointed out that Spicer had taken her comments completely out of context.
The efforts by the administration over the past week, with the apparent assistance of Nunes, appear to be an exercise in muddying the waters on the question of whether members of the Trump campaign colluded with Russia in the release of stolen emails that were used to embarrass Democrat Hillary Clinton in the final weeks of the presidential election.
The aim, to all appearances, is to create enough plausible doubt about the investigation to give the presidents supporters the ability to dismiss the possibility that there is real merit to the Trump-Russia investigation.
So far, with public opinion strongly in favor of a continued investigation, it hasnt been working. But it would be a mistake to discount President Trumps ability to ultimately bend the political narrative to suit his needs.
Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
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With the arrival of the general election, voters across Morgan County will be casting ballots for a number of elected positions.
The Wangjing SOHO (rear C) curvilinear, asymmetric skyscraper complex is surrounded by clusters of residential apartment buildings in Wanjing, a suburb of China's capital Beijing, Dec. 5, 2015.
After seven years of studying a key measure to tame soaring property prices, China's government has backed away from implementation due to fears that the real estate bubble could burst.
Prior to China's annual legislative sessions in early March, analysts and officials predicted that the National People's Congress (NPC) would enact a nationwide property tax that has been under consideration since at least 2010.
Top officials of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development indicated that the NPC was poised to pass the landmark tax law aimed at curbing speculation in the housing sector.
"It is a major task in China's tax reform determined by policymakers, and the lawmaking process will be accelerated," said Vice Minister Lu Kehua, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Feb. 23.
But one day before the start of the NPC sessions, a spokeswoman said there was "no plan to submit a property tax bill to lawmakers for deliberation this year."
"There have been a lot of discussions on this issue, as such a bill involves a wide range of interests," said Fu Ying, according to Xinhua.
The report noted that a commitment to the tax law was part of the sweeping reform plan approved by the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Committee in 2013.
"However, in a year when the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will see a top-level reshuffle at its 19th Party Congress, observers have dismissed the likelihood of such a measure for it could destabilize the economy," The Sunday Times of London said.
The reversal is important because the property tax has been seen as one of the few ways to deter speculative buying of multiple dwellings by well-heeled investors and families with savings seeking higher returns.
The practice of investing in unneeded properties has flooded the market with empty apartments and pushed home prices out of the reach of the poor.
But after years of preparation, the government has apparently balked at its own reform plan.
"This goes against the grain of what we thought way back in 2013 was the direction originally announced by the authorities," said Harvard University economics professor Dale Jorgenson.
"They don't seem to be able to carry this out," Jorgenson said in a phone interview.
Tax pilot programs
Since plans for the law were announced by the previous government of former President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, limited tax measures have been put in place under pilot programs only in the cities of Chongqing and Shanghai starting in 2011.
The taxes on high-end and multiple properties are meant to raise the cost of holding onto empty units for investment purposes. Housing speculation has been blamed for unnecessary building, double-digit price hikes and pollution in first-tier cities like Beijing.
"Houses are built to be lived in, not for speculation," President Xi Jinping said last year in a statement that has become a government slogan.
But instead of a national tax, the government has tried to discourage speculation by ordering cities to devise their own individual disincentives for buying second and third homes.
The result has been a patchwork of local rules covering higher down payments, mortgage histories and residency requirements, driving investment from one city to another.
Last month, dozens of cities took steps to limit housing purchases with a wide variety of differing rules and qualifications, according to Xinhua reports.
While property sales and building have boomed in big cities like Shenzhen, third-tier and fourth-tier cities have faced a glut with millions of unsold homes.
Local measures announced on March 17 by Beijing and three other big cities include increases in down payments from 50 to 60 percent of the sales price for second homebuyers.
The official English-language China Daily said that some buyers in Beijing would have to make a down payment of at least 80 percent for properties valued at more than 4.68 million yuan (U.S. $680,000).
In another step aimed at slamming the door on price hikes in the capital, Beijing authorities announced punishments against six projects and 15 real estate agent offices for selling "business apartments" to individuals as residences, Xinhua reported on March 27.
In another abrupt rule change to restrain prices, the southern city of Guangzhou announced Friday that sales of both new and existing homes would be prohibited if held for less than two years.
State media have cited National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data as evidence that the municipal measures are working.
In March, Xinhua reported that the market had "stabilized" after the NBS found that more than half of 70 surveyed cities registered month-to-month price declines for new housing in February or increases of less than 0.5 percent.
The tortured reading was contradicted by a Reuters analysis of the same NBS data showing that the pace of average increases actually rose in February to 0.3 percent from 0.2 percent a month before.
RFA's review of the data found year-to-year price decreases in only 3 of the 70 cities with increases of more than 22 percent in Beijing, 23 percent in Guangzhou, and 21 percent in Shanghai.
Last month, the NBS reported a surprisingly strong 8.9-percent growth rate in real estate investment for the first two months of the year, topping industry forecasts.
Investment in residential properties rose 9 percent, while floor space for new construction climbed 14.8 percent, suggesting that the local rules have had little effect.
A billboard promotes a new luxury residential home in Beijing, March 7, 2014. Credit: EyePress Li remains silent
Although the government has pushed the national property tax as a more effective measure for years, Premier Li Keqiang had nothing to say about it in his annual work report to the NPC.
"We should better regulate housing development, marketing and intermediate services, and keep home prices from rising too quickly in popular cities," Li said.
Cities under pressure from rising prices "need to increase as appropriate the supply of land for residential use," Li said.
In the past, local governments have been criticized for relying too heavily on land sales for revenues. Property taxes were originally proposed as an alternate revenue source.
Years later, the idea of adding more land to overheated property markets may only encourage the speculative binge in an economy fueled by excess liquidity.
"Most cities, including the large ones, have an extra supply of land now. It's not as if there's some kind of land shortage that is driving this up," Jorgenson said.
The removal of the tax law from the NPC agenda suggests that the government has abandoned the plan as a solution for good.
The reversal is a sign of the government's increased concern with risks and "asset bubbles" in the economy as it focuses on stability at a time of declining economic growth.
Although slowing the price hikes remains a primary mission, the introduction of the property tax raises the risk that the bubble could deflate rapidly, putting pressure on the economy.
Jorgenson says the risk is one that the government should take, since the alternative is to rely on a thicket of local measures as prices keep rising.
He notes that speculative construction and unneeded development have contributed to excess production of power-intensive products like steel and cement that have been blamed for China's smog crisis.
By relying on inconsistent local regulations, the central government is continuing to allow interference with market forces.
"This is too complicated. Every time you turn around, there's some bandage pasted on this wounded system," said Jorgenson.
"The only way to deal with this is through markets, including land markets. And once you get to that point, then I think you immediately come to a property tax," he said.
THOMPSON FALLS, MT / ACCESSWIRE / April 3, 2017 / United States Antimony Corporation ("USAC," NYSE MKT: UAMY) reports the following production estimates for Q1, 2017:
Product Q1, 2017 Q1, 2016 % Change Antimony pounds 591,942 912,841 -35 Zeolite tons 3,356 3,097 +8 Gold ounces, North America 24.6 40.0 -38.5 Gold ounces, Australia 56.3867 34.977 +61.2 Silver ounces, North America 8,639 12,973 -33.4
Q1 2017 antimony production was lower than Q1 2016 due to the end of the processing of Australian concentrates. Since the beginning of 2017, the Company has accelerated the mining at Wadley and Soyatal to compensate for the Australian supply. During Q1 2017, these two properties produced an estimated 200,000 pounds of contained antimony for the Madero smelter. The smelter has only processed 132,092 pounds of metal that is being shipped to the United States as finished metal. During this period, more furnaces were brought on line at Madero.
The Rotterdam price of antimony grade I metal has increased during Q1 2017 from $7,350 per metric ton ($3.33 per pound) to $8,750 per metric ton ($3.97 per pound). USAC will benefit from the increased prices especially with Mexican production.
Processing of the legacy Los Juarez flotation concentrates continues using the alkaline leach procedure and a furnace that is being relined in Montana. Flotation milling of the stockpiled mill feed will resume during Q2 to determine how critical a cyanide leach will be. Recent correspondence indicates that the Company could have the cyanide leach permit for the Puerto Blanco mill within 90 days.
BRZ zeolite production during Q1 2017 was up from the same period in 2016 by 8%, despite heavy snow that curtailed access from the mill to the mine.
CEO, John Lawrence, said, "All efforts are focused on increasing Mexican antimony output and starting the Los Juarez gold, silver, and antimony production."
About U.S. Antimony
US Antimony is a growing, vertically-integrated natural resource company that has production and diversified operations in precious metals, zeolite, and antimony.
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Forward-Looking Statements:
This Press Release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that are based upon current expectations or beliefs, as well as a number of assumptions about future events, including matters related to the Company's operations, pending contracts and future revenues, ability to execute on its increased production and installation schedules for planned capital expenditures and the size of forecasted deposits. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements and the assumptions upon which they are based are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations and assumptions will prove to have been correct. The reader is cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, as these statements are subject to numerous factors and uncertainties. In addition, other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are discussed in the Company's most recent filings, including Form 10-KSB with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
UNITED STATES ANTIMONY CORPORATION
PO Box 643, 47 Cox Gulch Rd.
Thompson Falls, Montana 59873-0643
406-827-3523
FAX: 406-827-3543
E-Mail: tfl3543@blackfoot.net
SOURCE: United States Antimony Corporation
Eng Chhai Eang, a deputy president of the Cambodian National Rescue Party, says the party is in compliance with its bylaws, April 2, 2017.
Cambodias main opposition party has notified the countrys Ministry of Interior that it has re-endorsed its leadership and removed a slogan to comply with newly amended party bylaws.
The Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) submitted a letter to the ministry on Monday, informing it that Kem Sokha remains the president of the party along with the three same deputy presidentsPol Ham, Mu Sochua, and Eng Chhai Eang.
The CNRP also said it had removed its slogan Replace the commune chiefs who serve the party with the commune chiefs who serve the people in the run-up to local elections on June 4.
Eng Chhai Eang told reporters that the CNRPs steering committee decided on Sunday that the partys current leadership will remain in place so that the CNRP is in compliance with Article 47 of the party statutes.
Now we are in compliance with the statute, Eng Chhai Eang told RFAs Khmer Service. Actually, our statute came into effect immediately after it was amended.
Kem Sokha, therefore, has automatically become party president, he said. The re-endorsement of his position was not necessary. However, we had to convene the meeting to follow what the ministry wanted. Now the Ministry of Interior has recognized our new statute.
Eng Chhai Eang said that the CNRPs removal of the slogan was also a compromise.
Sok Eysan, spokesman of the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) said he welcomed the move to remove the slogan because he believes it can resolve the controversy.
The re-endorsement of the CNRP leadership had to be done to be compliant with its statute, he said. By cancelling its extraordinary congress decision, the CNRP has resorted to sticking to its Article 47 of the statute.
Regarding the removal of the slogan, the CNRP had to do so to ensure that it abides by the law, he said.
On March 31, the CNRP notified the Ministry of Interior of amendments to its party bylaws after the ministry recently declared the oppositions appointment of Kem Sokha as president illegitimate, throwing its participation in the upcoming elections into question.
The ministry had claimed that the appointment during a March 2 extraordinary congress ran afoul of the CNRPs statute, based on documentation the party filed in 2013, requiring a moratorium on electing a new president for 18 months after the post was vacated. The CNRP had amended the statute at the congress before appointing new leadership.
The CNRP is one of 12 political parties competing for 1,646 commune council seats on the June 4 ballot that many see as a bellwether for general elections in 2018.
Observers believe that the CNRP could give the CPP, which has ruled Cambodia for more than 35 years, a run for its money in the June elections.
The opposition has warned that the ruling party is seeking to prevent it from standing in the elections through a variety of different tactics.
Reported by Savi Khorn and Sarada Taing for RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Nareth Muong. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Chinese rights activists and petitioners based in the U.S. are planning to protest during the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Florida for talks with President Donald Trump later this week, in spite of threats of official retaliation against their relatives back home.
After Beijing accepted an invitation from President Donald Trump for Xi to join him for informal talks at his lavish Mar-a-Lago beach resort, Chinese activists in the United States said they will greet the Chinese leader with protests highlighting their grievances against the ruling Chinese Communist Party.
Former land protester Zhuang Liehong, who fled Guangdong's rebel village of Wukan after former protest leaders were detained on "bribery" charges, said he plans to wave a placard at Xi's motorcade later this week.
"I plan to set up camp by the side of the road with my banners and a sound system," Zhuang told RFA. "I will carry a placard with the Communist Party flag, as well as a slogan complaining about the way it treats ordinary people, and about the oppression of Wukan villagers."
Zhuang has been a vocal advocate for Wukan's land protests and at times the only conduit of information about life behind a high-level police security cordon following clashes that ended months of peaceful protest last September.
He says that though police and local officials have jailed his father and threatened his mother, he won't be deterred from speaking out during Xi's trip.
"If they think that they can stop my activism here in the U.S. just by threatening my relatives, then they really don't understand my personality," Zhuang, who flung himself in front of Xi's motorcade during the president's state visit to the U.S. in September 2015, told RFA on Monday.
"The more they target my family, the more I will step up my counterattacks," he said, adding that he plans to head to Florida to intercept Xi.
During Xi's visit, the two presidents will discuss "global, regional, and bilateral issues of mutual concern," the Chinese foreign ministry said.
Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan will also attend a dinner in their honor, hosted by Trump and First Lady Melania Trump.
History of protest
Petitioner Li Huanjun said she is planning to try to halt the president's motorcade for the third time in a row, in protest over her violent forced eviction from her home in Beijing's Fengtai district five years ago.
Liu, a former primary school teacher who first became engaged in rights work during her bitter eviction struggle, has a long history of vocal and conspicuous campaigns against the Chinese government.
She was detained in 2013 for calling on the nation's leaders to reveal details of their wealth, and threw herself in front of the motorcade of President Xi Jinping during his September 2015 state visit to the United States to protest rights violations.
"The second time, I got hurt," Li said. "But I think God protects good people, and will protect me in my fight for justice."
She added: "I long ago stopped worrying about matters of life and death."
But there has been a price for Li's activism. Last weekend, authorities in China beat up her sister Li Meiqing.
"My sister was just leaving the house on Saturday, and she was set upon by a thug at the gates of our residential compound," Li said. "She was also beaten up last Nov. 9 by a person hired by the local village party committee, according to my sister."
Li Meiqing confirmed the more recent beating when contacted by RFA on Monday.
"It was when I was at the bus stop waiting for the bus," she said. "It was a young man wearing a face-mask, very tall, who approached me gradually. I glanced at him but didn't pay much attention."
"Then he walked round in front of my and started lashing out like a mad thing, punching my head," she said. "I barely had time to react before he had run off."
"I have a huge bump on my head," she added.
Attack linked to plans
Li Huanjun said she thinks the attack is linked to her plans to protest later this week.
"I think it's because of my plan to welcome Steamed Bun on April 6 and 7, to intercept him," Li Huanjun said, using a satirical nickname for Xi that has been banned from the Chinese internet. "That makes the authorities really, really mad, so I think that's the reason."
Li said she now has no real source of income.
"I am in dire financial straits right now, " she said. "Maybe I'll just follow Xi Jinping around the world from now on. Whichever country he goes to, I'll go there too."
She said she has been in touch with other U.S.-based petitioners about taking action during the president's visit.
"Everyone has a different view. Some are for it, others against," she said. "But I don't want to tell other people what to do."
Reported by Goh Fung for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Qiao Long for the Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
New rules banning the use of circumvention tools to get around internet censorship in the southwestern Chinese megacity of Chongqing could soon be rolled out nationwide, activists told RFA.
Chongqing only recently made public the new regulations, which came into effect last July and ban the city's 50 million residents from "scaling the Great Firewall."
Individuals and companies that use tools like virtual private networks (VPNs) to circumvent the complex array of blocks, filters and human censorship that limits what Chinese internet users can see online will be ordered to disconnect, while anyone profiting from such activity will be fined, according to the Chongqing regulations.
This could include anyone seeking to read news that the ruling Chinese Communist Party regards as unflattering, businesses wanting to use blocked social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Google to communicate, and academics seeking access to overseas research.
Rights activist Ou Biaofeng said he fears the Chongqing regulations are being piloted in the city and will soon be rolled out nationwide.
"I think that the government is using Chongqing as a testing ground, and then they will apply it to the whole country," Ou told RFA in a recent interview.
He said the impact would be huge.
"A lot of people use circumvention tools to access information from overseas at the moment," Ou said. "This is going to spread fear among all those people that climb the Great Firewall."
New regulations
The Chongqing rules are the latest in a string of draconian regulations issued by Beijing in a bid to exert complete control over what China's 731 million internet users can see, or post, online.
Last November, Beijing issued a raft of new measures that could undermine their use of virtual private networks (VPNs) to get around censorship.
The draft regulations would require any websites operating in China to register with a Chinese domain name, which is subject to state control and can be used to shut down entire websites within the country-level .cn top-level domain.
And state news agency Xinhua news agency suggested in a Jan. 11 report that the requirement, which sparked concerns at the time over deeper censorship and access by foreign businesses to the Chinese market, is unlikely to be dropped.
Xie Jiaye, head of the New York-based Chinese Association of Science and Technology, said he sees the Chongqing rules as part of this strategy.
"These kinds of controls on information will be of no benefit to China's economic or technological development," Xie told RFA. "In fact, there are no benefits at all to the kind of control and censorship that the Chinese government exercises over the internet."
He said he can't see any evidence that controls will be relaxed any time soon.
"That's not very likely, certainly not during the 10 years President Xi Jinping will be in power," Xie said.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) hit out at the ban in a blog post by China director Sophie Richardson.
"The Chongqing regulation is unprecedented as it places a blanket ban on the use of VPNs and other circumvention methods used to connect to the global internet," Richardson wrote, adding that previous regulatory efforts have focused on providers and let individuals alone.
"It is unclear whether other local governments will soon follow suit, but the ban has already had a chilling effect among VPN users across the nationmany netizens posted frightened or crying emojis to express their displeasure," she wrote.
'Cutting us off'
Chongqing resident Zhang Lin said the rules are aimed at ensuring that no voices critical of the government can be heard online in China.
"They want to suppress people's freedom of expression and stop ordinary people from having a voice," Zhang said. "They want to cut us off from the rest the world, from public opinion in other countries."
Fellow Chongqing resident Xu Yuanqing agreed.
"They want to oppress people, to shut us down so we can't be seen or heard," Xu said. "That way, there won't be any international pressure [on the government]."
"They shouldn't be allowed to cut us off like this; I hope people overseas will pay attention to what's happening in China."
Reported by Xi Wang for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Wong Lok-to for the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Traders in North Korea have shunned email as a method of communicating with their foreign partners because the state exacts exorbitant fees for sending and receiving messages, and their correspondence is subjected to heavy scrutiny by official censors, according to sources who do business in the region.
A Chinese merchant who spoke on condition of anonymity told RFAs Korean Service that traders in North Korea choose to avoid communicating with foreign clients via email because of the challenges they face in the notoriously closed country, despite the impact it has on their business.
In order to establish an email link with a North Korean trader, foreign partners must first register their email address with North Koreas security authorities to get approval, the source said.
Traders in North Korea must explain to authorities whether their foreign partners are friendly towards the country and why it is necessary to communicate using email, but even if given approval, the two sides face additional complications.
Even if emails addresses of foreign companies are successfully registered, North Korean partners cannot directly receive the emails that are sent to them, the source told RFA.
Pyongyangs communication center officer censors the contents and delivers only approved messages to the North Korean traders.
The traders must then pay a fee to the authorities as recipients of an email, he said.
I heard from a North Korean trader that if we send a facsimile to Pyongyang, the recipient will have to pay 4 euros (U.S. $4.26), but recipients have to pay more for emails, he added, without providing an amount.
When a North Korean trader replies to a foreign partners email, they must first submit the content of the message to Pyongyangs communication center, where an officer will censor it before sending it on to its final destination.
Replies cost even more money to send than receiving emails, the source said.
All of the expenses should be paid by North Korean trade companies, since the correspondence is part of official business, but in North Korea, individual traders must cover the costs, he said.
I can understand why North Korean traders hate communicating via email.
Foreign companies affected
A second Chinese merchant, who also asked to withhold his name, said that mainly Chinese foreign companies operating inside North Korea are also affected by challenges associated with using email and have sought to set up their own Internet service to circumvent requirements.
Foreign companies operating in the Rason Special Economic Zone can establish their own internet service and communicate with their home countries by email, the source said, referring to the warm-water port in the northeastern part of North Hamgyong province bordering China and Russia.
However, the monthly internet fee is 5,000 yuan (U.S. $726), which is a ridiculously large amount of money, so there are not a lot of foreign businessmen who do this.
Authorities have long tried to block various forms of information from entering North Korea in an attempt to keep unwanted foreign influences from seeping into the isolated nation.
Leader Kim Jong Un is believed to be particularly sensitive about news of the outside world getting into the North because of its ability to undermine his regimes propaganda efforts and threaten his support basemade up largely of the countrys elite.
North Koreans regularly use cell phones smuggled into the country from China to access telecom signals in border areas to make international calls and surf the Internet via their handsets.
Local phones and internet access are restricted to the Norths own networks, though, as Pyongyang seeks to prevent the spread of information from abroad.
Reported by Joonho Kim for RFAs Korean Service. Translated by Soo Min Jo. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
Suspected drug kingpin Sisouk Daoheuang, following his arrest in Luang Prabang province on April 1, in undated photo.
Lao police have arrested fugitive drug kingpin Sisouk Dauheuang, an associate of Xaysana Mr. X Keophimpha who had been on the run since Xaysanas capture in January, security sources told RFAs Lao Service on Sunday.
Sisouk was caught by police in Luang Prabang province on Saturday, and was taken to the capital Vientiane for investigation, the sources said.
They arrested [Sisouk] in Luang Prabang province the day before yesterday. The police need to investigate him first. Details are not clear yet; They are investigating, a senior official from the Lao Ministry of Public Security told RFA. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.
Thai police major general Pornchai Charoenwongse, deputy chief of the Narcotic Suppression Bureau, told RFA on Sunday that officials would meet on Monday to prepare a directive to travel to Vientiane to investigate him [Sisouk].
Sisouk, who had been wanted since Xaysana was arrested I January had sold used and luxury cars, and operated a horse-riding business in Vientiane. The businesses have been closed.
Sisouk is suspected to be part of a major methamphetamines distribution network in Southeast Asia operated by 42-year-old Lao national Xaysana, who was arrested on Jan. 19 in Thailand.
Xaysana, 42, was arrested on Jan. 19 at Thailands Suvarnabhumi Airport after arriving from Phuket after a five-year long investigation by Thai and Lao authorities.
Authorities say Xaysana was supplying caffeine-laced meth tablets known as "yaba" produced in Myanmar throughout the region.
Known as Mr. X, Xaysana led a lavish lifestyle that included contacts with high-society figures in the region, a fleet of exotic cars and at least five houses.
On February 15, Lao police had a press conference to inform the media of arrests of 33 drugs dealers after they operated suppression of drugs traffickers from September 2016 to January 2017.
On Jan. 10, police arrested 50-year- Khonpasong Soukkaseum, also known as Xiengther, along with three of his associates, Thonglek Mangnormek, director of the General Department of Police under the Ministry of Public Security, told that press conference. He called a major drug trader on a scale even larger than Xaysana.
Police are still seeking Xiengphet Lattana and his wife, Boua Lattana, relatives of Khonpasong.
Reported by RFAs Lao Service. Translated by Somnet Inthapannha and Ounkeo Souksavanh. Written in English by Paul Eckert.
Sain Kyaw Nyint, vice secretary of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, discusses the ethnic party's win in state parliament by-elections in Myanmar's eastern Shan state, April 3, 2017.
An ethnic Shan political party won all six seats in state parliament by-elections in Kyethi township in Myanmars eastern Shan state on Sunday, giving it a landslide victory over candidates from the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party.
The Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) contested seats in seven constituencies in the by-elections, but lost one in Kengtung township, said SNLD vice secretary Sain Kyaw Nyunt.
The NLD won only one state parliament seat in the Naungshwe constituency, and the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) picked up the remaining seat in the Kengtung township constituency.
Another ethnic Shan partythe Shan Nationalities Development Party (SNDP)did not win any seats in the state by-election.
On offer in the by-electionsthe first held since the civilian NLD came to power a year agowere seats in eight states and regions around the country left vacant by incumbents whom the government picked for ministerial posts.
Though the NLD, led by de facto national leader Aung San Suu Kyi, won only nine of the 19 seats in national and regional parliaments, the results of the by-elections will not affect the NLDs significant majority in the national parliament
They do, however, serve as a bellwether by which to measure growing dissatisfaction among ethnic minority groups with the current government administration and its failure to make significant headway in ending ethnic strife and propelling economic development.
Sain Kyaw Nyunt said that the SNLD, a federal party with local branches in most townships in Shan State and a few in Kayah and Kachin states and the Mandalay region, was satisfied with its victories in the by-elections in Shan state.
People voted well, he said of the by-elections, where races were held after being cancelled in 2015 because of clashes between armed rebels and the government army. Some came from 18 miles away to vote, and the SNLD thanks those people for this.
Shan people usually care about business and social events, but we now see they care about politics as well, he said. Although we didnt win all the seats, we are satisfied because we were able to wake up their political minds.
Several ethnic militias have staked out various swathes of Shan stateone of the most restive and unstable areas of Myanmarand periodically defend them against other ethnic armies and the Myanmar military.
But Sain Kyaw Nyunt said the SNLD didnt have any difficulties holding the by-elections because the Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA) had issued a statement saying that the SNLD could campaign in SSPP-controlled areas.
Good relationships
The SNLD has good relationships with ethnic armed groups that have signed a nationwide cease-fire agreement (NCA) with the Myanmar government as well as those that have not, Sain Kyaw Nyunt said.
Some militias engaged in hostilities with the government army in several areas, including Shan state, have refused to participate in the peace process.
It is good to have our members of parliament in conflict areas so that they can participate in any peace process and regional development as representatives of the SNLD, he said.
Aung San Suu Kyi is spearheading efforts to end decades of ethnic separatist civil wars in the country and forge national reconciliation and peace through periodic talks known as the 21st-Century Panglong Conference.
Most armed ethnic groups are seeking autonomy under a federal system in the talks, but some have opted out or been excluded from participating by the government because of ongoing hostilities.
Although we now have a one-year-old democratic government, we still dont have as much as we had expected, but we have to wait, Sin Kyaw Myunt said.
Previous governments operated under a military dictatorship, and the current government is trying to reform everything that was put in place by the military dictatorship, he said.
We know it is not easy, he said. We understand the current government and we want to urge it to make more of an effort.
The SNLD wants the NLD to invite the political groups and ethnic militias as allies and discuss with them how to rebuild the country together, he said.
Win Htein, a top NLD leader, told Reuters that the party faced language barriers and problems with armed groups in the Shan state districts being contested where residents dont understand Burmese.
Kayah state candidates removed
In a related development, the NLD removed Khin Sithu, chief of eastern Myanmars Kayah State, and Pei Du, NLD chairman in Hpruso township, from their posts because they failed to register as candidates in Hpruso constituency before the deadline.
I was removed from the NLD post because they [NLD leaders] think that it is my responsibility for failing to submit the name of a candidate, said Khin Sithu, who is also a lawmaker representing Loikaw township.
I didnt violate any rule in the party, he said. Now I am no longer party chief, but I am still a member of parliament.
More than two million voters of the countrys more than 54 million population, were eligible to vote in the by-elections.
Reported by Aung Theinkha and Kyaw Thu for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
A planned visit by the Dalai Lama this week to Arunachal Pradesh, a state in northeastern India claimed by China as South Tibet, is stirring controversy and fears of heightened diplomatic tensions between the two powerful neighbors.
The Dalai Lamas nine-day stay from April 4 will be the exiled Tibetan spiritual leaders fifth visit to the disputed region since 1983, and Chinawhich regards the Dalai Lama as a separatist seeking to separate Tibet from Beijings rulehas strongly objected each time.
Now, China has threatened that the Indian government-backed trip to the border states Tawang region will cause serious damage to bilateral ties, though the Dalai Lama has announced plans only to visit and teach at a large Buddhist monastery there.
India has consistently rejected Chinas claim to Arunachal Pradesh, former state minister and Indian parliamentarian R.K. Khrimey told RFAs Tibetan Service.
Arunachal Pradesh has always been a part of India, and it will remain a part of India, Khrimey said. Our prime minister and government have decided that [the Dalai Lama] can travel to any part of India, including Arunachal Pradesh, to which His Holiness wants to travel.
Indias open support for the Dalai Lamas present trip reflects government annoyance with China over a host of issues, former Hindustan Times editor Pramit Pal Chaudhuri said.
These include Chinas expanding economic ties to Indian rival Pakistan, blocking of Indias joining the Nuclear Suppliers Group, and veto of U.N. sanctions against a Pakistani terrorist accused of attacks against India, Chaudhuri told RFA in an e-mail on Monday.
At this level, this is par for the course in Sino-Indian relations and their carefully managed ways of needling each other, Chaudhuri said.
Concerns over succession
What is new this time is controversy over the issue of who will succeed the Dalai Lama, now 81, after he dies, Chaudhuri said.
Noting that China has already announced it will select the next Dalai Lama, Chaudhuri said that the present Dalai Lama has been working to undermine the legitimacy of any future puppet chosen by Beijing.
The Dalai Lamas visit to Tawang will be partly about ensuring that the [regions] Tibetan and Buddhist leaders will hold to his line rather than Beijings, Chaudhuri said.
Interviewed by RFA, residents of Arunachal Pradesh meanwhile voiced support for the Tibetan spiritual leaders coming visit.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama brings peace and blessings with him whenever he visits this area, one resident of the state said, adding, China cannot bear the recognition and respect that the Dalai Lama attracts in the world.
Others declared their intention never to be governed by Beijing.
We enjoy the freedom that India gives us, one said. Living under Chinese rule would be insane.
Reported by Kalden Lodoe and Passang Tsering for RFAs Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English with additional reporting by Richard Finney.
Some 50 Montagnard asylum seekers have fled Cambodia to Thailand in recent weeks amid fears of forced repatriation to Vietnam, where they complain of discrimination and persecution at the hands of local authorities, a nongovernmental organization that monitors hill tribes said Monday.
Grace Bui, a volunteer with the U.S.-based rights group Montagnards Assistance Project, told RFAs Vietnamese Service that with the latest arrival of asylum seekers from Cambodia, the number of Montagnards based in Bang Yai, in central Thailands Nonthaburi province, had reached 250.
There were only 200 people a few months ago but now there are 250 people, she said.
The reason is the government of Cambodia is very close to the government of Vietnam and it has returned some Montagnards to Vietnam. This makes a lot of people worry, so they traveled to Thailand.
According to a report by the Phnom Penh Post, the 50 Montagnards left Cambodia in several separate groups beginning on March 25 after the countrys Ministry of Interior began rejecting some of their asylum claims last month.
The 50 included some individuals with a very strong case for asylum, the Post reported, citing Denise Coghlan, director of the Jesuit Refugee Service, which has been assisting a group of around 200 Montagnards that arrived in Cambodia in late 2014 and 2015.
Only three of nearly 100 Montagnards remaining in Phnom Penh are being considered for refugee status, the report said.
Thailand is not a signatory to the United Nations' 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees and, as in Cambodia, the Montagnards have no rights regardless of their registration with the U.N. refugee agency, the UNHCR.
When reached for comment, some of the Montagnards who fled Cambodia last month told RFA that their lives in Thailand have been difficult, but said the hardships they face in Vietnam are far worse.
Cambodia rejected my case and [the government wants] to send us back to Vietnam, but we didnt want to go, so we escaped to Thailand, Y Hut, a member of the Ede minority said.
But he said that his situation in Thailand is also precarious, adding that he is now in danger of being taken into custody by authorities in Bang Yai.
Y Yony, another member of the Ede minority who fled to Thailand, told RFA that he would do whatever he could to avoid returning to Vietnam.
If we return, we will be thrown in prison for five to 20 years, he said.
The last time I was imprisoned, I promised [the authorities] several times that I would not flee Vietnam and would seek their permission whenever I wanted to go anywhere. That is [another reason] why I dont want to return.
Y Yony said he does not have a stable job in Thailand and has been living hand to mouth since his arrival.
I get jobs from here and there and get paid about 150 baht (U.S. $4.36) a day, and that is just to pay for my daily life, he said, adding that most of the work he had done was helping to farm rice paddies.
A third member of the Ede minority named Y Djom, who said he had arrived in Thailand earlier than the 50 who came in March, told RFA he was unable to work because the risk of arrest and repatriation was too high.
Ive been here since February and I have no jobI only stay at home because Im not allowed to go anywhere, he said.
But I cant return to Vietnam, because the police will arrest me there and torture me in prison. Im scared.
Persecuted people
Vietnams Central Highlands are home to some 30 tribes of indigenous peoples, known collectively as Montagnards or the Degar. The group of Montagnards who fled to Phnom Penh comes from the mountainous region of Gia Lai, Dak Lak, and Kon Tum provinces in central Vietnam, which border Rattanakiri and Mondulkiri provinces of Cambodia.
The Montagnards living in Phnom Penh are among the more than 200 who have fled their country and crossed the border into Cambodia seeking help from UNHCR, citing oppression by the Vietnamese government.
Rights groups say the Montagnards, many of whom are Christian, have been victims of persecution and repression in Vietnam. The Montagnards also backed the U.S. in the Vietnam War and some have suffered repercussions for this.
Xiu A Nem, a protestant member of the Jrai minority, told RFA she had suffered extreme persecution in Vietnam because of her faith, and only managed to relocate to Canada in 2014 after fleeing her home country for Thailand.
I was oppressed in Vietnam because Im a protestantthey dont respect religious freedom, she said.
I was imprisoned for two years, but I escaped to Thailand and got help from [rights groups] and was accepted for asylum by Canada.
Reported by Thanh Truc for RFAs Vietnamese Service. Translated by Viet Ha. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
Afghan officials say at least nine civilians from a single family were killed after an army unit detonated a cache of explosives and ammunition found in southern Helmand Province.
Omar Zwak, spokesman for the provincial governor, said soldiers were attempting to destroy the ordinance they had found when the explosion occurred.
Rasoul Zazia, spokesman for the army in Helmand, also confirmed the operation in Lashkar Gah, the capital of the province.
Two provincial officials speaking on condition of anonymity on April 2 said nine civilians, including two children, three women, and four men from a single family, were killed when the explosion caused the roof of their house to collapse.
Helmand Governor Hayatullah Hayat told the dpa news agency that nine bodies had been recovered but that another was still believed to be under the collapsed building.
He said an investigation was ongoing and could not confirm if the house collapsed because of the ordinance explosion or some other reason.
Taliban militants are in control of much of Helmand Province, in southern Afghanistan, with only Lashkar Gah remaining under Afghan government control.
Based on reporting by AP and dpa
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
A former KGB lieutenant colonel and a former Soviet collective-farm boss will meet today in St. Petersburg to talk business and hash out their differences.
They don't really like each other. But they do need each other.
And they really need to make a deal.
Alyaksandr Lukashenka needs Vladimir Putin's money.
He needs Russian subsidies to prop up his economy and his authoritarian political system.
But Putin doesn't want to give Lukashenka money for nothing -- at least not anymore.
He needs something too. He needs Lukashenka's loyalty.
He needs the Belarusian leader to stay in line and to stop flirting with the West.
He needs control over Belarus's energy-distribution network.
And he needs a new Russian air base on Belarusian soil.
And, there's another reason why Putin and Lukashenka need each other.
They're both facing down angry street protests.
They're both facing public fatigue with two regimes that have been in power far too long.
They both feel like their backs are against the wall.
So the smart money is that the KGB lieutenant colonel and the Soviet collective-farm boss will cut some kind of deal.
They may not like each other.
But they're Europe's last two dictators, after all -- and they need to stick together.
Keep telling me what you think on The Power Vertical's Twitter feed and on our Facebook page.
Hundreds of protesters staged a rally in the Australian capital as Afghan President Ashraf Ghani arrived for an official visit.
The mainly Hazara demonstrators gathered in Canberra on April 3, calling for Ghani to end what they said was discrimination against the ethnic minority in Afghanistan and repatriation of asylum seekers rejected by Australia.
Ghanis four-day visit is the first trip by an Afghan president to Australia.
The protesters, carrying banners and flags, gathered outside Government House, where Ghani met with Governor General Peter Cosgrove.
In 2011, Canberra and Kabul signed a controversial deal to send failed Afghan asylum seekers back.
Hazaras have accused Ghani's government of discriminating against the community, with several large demonstrations held in Kabul last year.
On his first day in Australia on April 3, Ghani signed with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull an aid deal worth $240 million over four years.
The two countries also pledged to cooperate on infrastructure, education, and employment of women and girls, agriculture and water management, training of Afghan civil servants, and anticorruption initiatives.
Based on reporting by AP, ABC Australia, The Guardian
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.
ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- Kazakhstan is trying fugitive tycoon and opposition figure Mukhtar Ablyazov in absentia.
Ablyazov's three lesser-known co-defendants were in the courtroom for the start of trial in Almaty on April 3. One of the co-defendants pleaded guilty and two pleaded partially guilty.
Ablyazov has been living in self-imposed exile in the European Union since 2009.
Investigators say Ablyazov and his subordinates embezzled some $5 billion while running BTA Bank in Kazakhstan. Ablyazov denies it, saying the case against him is politically motivated.
Ablyazov, who is also wanted in Russia, was arrested in France in 2013 after months on the run.
He was released from jail on December 9 after France's highest administrative court canceled an order for his extradition to Russia, saying the request had been made for political reasons.
BISHKEK -- The leader of an opposition party in Kyrgyzstan has urged parliament to hold an emergency session after a jailed former lawmaker was found in his cell with cut veins on his neck and one hand.
Butun Kyrgyzstan (United Kyrgyzstan) party leader Adakhan Madumarov said on April 3 that an independent commission should investigate the situation surrounding Sadyr Japarov.
Authorities said that doctors saved Japarov's life after he was found in his cell on April 2 with what they asserted were self-inflicted injuries. They said he tried to kill himself.
Japarov's relatives say they do not believe that he would attempt suicide.
A former opposition lawmaker, Japarov was detained on March 25 upon his return to the Central Asian country after three years of self-imposed exile in the European Union.
He faces charges of taking a government official hostage in 2013.
CHISINAU -- Moldovan President Igor Dodon has signed a memorandum on cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Union (EES), part of his push for closer ties with Moscow.
Dodon and a senior EES official, Tigran Sarkisian, signed the document in Chisinau on April 3.
"The signing of this memorandum will bring a balance to the economic cooperation between East and West," Dodon said at the signing ceremony.
He said after the ceremony that the document will not be sent to lawmakers for ratification as it is not an international treaty and does not create rights and commitments for the sides regulated by the international law.
Dodon's administration said on April 2 that the memorandum's main goal is to develop Moldova's economic and trade cooperation with the EES.
Moldovan Prime Minister Pavel Filip harshly criticized the signing of the memorandum, saying that it is aimed to undermine efforts to forge closer ties with the European Union.
Dodon "is trying to continue his personal war against the Association Agreement," Filip told reporters on April 3, referring to a Moldova-EU treaty that came to force in July 2016.
He said the move could lead to a "political stand-off and is nothing but a campaign of self-promotion."
Filip said last week that memorandum would have "no legal effect" and that the former Soviet republic's government "will not finance any measures undertaken under this document."
The EES comprises Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, and Kyrgyzstan.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has tried to use the EES to bolster Moscow's influence in the former Soviet Union and counter the EU and NATO.
With reporting by TASS and Interfax
The trial of Crimean journalist Mykola Semena, an RFE/RL contributor who has been indicted on separatism-related charges by the Russian authorities controlling the peninsula, resumed on April 3 after a two-week adjournment.
Shortly after it initially got under way on March 20, the presiding judge halted the proceedings following a defense request for a more open and accessible process by holding the trial in a larger courtroom.
Semena is being prosecuted for an article he wrote criticizing Moscow's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and expressing support for a blockade of the territory initiated by Ukrainian activists.
Two officers on Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) and the man who initially alerted Russian law-enforcement officials about Semena's article testified at the trial on April 3.
The trial at a Russian court in the Crimean capital, Simferopol, is being held amid international pressure on Moscow to drop the case against Semena, 66. He faces up to five years in prison if convicted.
The charges stem from a 2015 article he wrote for RFE/RL's Krym.Realii (Crimea Realities) website that Moscow-installed authorities in Crimea allege called for the violation of Russia's territorial integrity.
Semena says he is not guilty, contending that he has the right to openly express his opinions and that Crimea's status was and remains the subject of dispute.
In March, the European Parliament called on Moscow to free more than 30 Ukrainian citizens who are in prison or face other conditions of restricted freedom in Russia, Crimea, and parts of eastern Ukraine that are controlled by Russia-backed separatists.
The nonbinding resolution urged Russia "to allow all the above-mentioned people to travel freely, including Semena, who is being prosecuted for his journalistic work for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty."
Washington has also called on Russian authorities "to drop spurious charges against Mr. Semena and release him and all other Ukrainians held by Russia for political reasons."
Ten members of the U.S. Congress have signed a letter urging prosecutors to drop the charges, which they said appeared to be "part of a concerted effort by Russian and Russian-backed authorities to clamp down on independent media."
Russia seized control of Crimea in March 2014 after sending in troops without insignia, engineering a takeover of the regional legislature, and staging a referendum that was swiftly dismissed as illegitimate by Ukraine, the United States, and a total of 100 countries in the UN General Assembly.
Moscow has portrayed its takeover of Crimea as necessary to protect ethnic Russians and other residents of the peninsula from oppression by pro-Western officials that took power in Kyiv following the 2014 ouster of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.
That narrative has been rejected by Ukraine and Western governments, which accuse Russian-backed authorities in Crimea of rights abuses against Crimean Tatars and others opposed to Moscow's rule there.
The United Nations resumed its program to help Afghan refugees return from Pakistan. Families gathered in the Pakistani city of Peshawar on April 3, where they were given $200 per person to cover the costs of resettling in neighboring Afghanistan. (RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal)
HONG KONG, CHINA / ACCESSWIRE / April 3, 2017 / UMeWorld (OTC PINK: UMEWF) is very pleased to announce the launching of UMTang, China's first standardized, K12 Teacher Platform, which is poised to revolutionize private tutoring in China.
UMTang is an "Uber-like" tutoring platform, that matches qualified teachers with K-12 students. Unlike other online learning platforms, a qualified teacher can only join UMTang if their learning facility is physically located within walking distance of a community K-12 school. Each UMTang location typically services six to eight K-12 students, and utilizes the Company's proprietary online tools and courseware to ensure teaching excellence. The main incentive for teachers to join UMTang is that they keep 80% of the facility's gross revenue and are not burdened with the task of soliciting students for enrolment, enabling them to focus exclusively on teaching. In addition, they gain access to the Company's educational resources, academic network, and advanced technology, enabling them to offer value-added courses to their students.
According to a recent research report by the China Education Association, after-school tutoring is the largest segment of the non-formal education market in China, totalling revenues of $116 Billion USD in 2016. In that year, upwards of 8 million private tutors and 137 million students participated in after-school teaching. However, the K-12 private tutoring industry is fragmented into a multitude of individuals, as well as small and medium sized businesses, competing fiercely for market share. This competition and the lack of standardization has led to parental concerns regarding teacher qualifications and a dissatisfaction with high instructor turnover rates.
The UMTang solution is designed not only to address these common issues facing the private tutoring business, but also to offer many unique features not provided by these traditional tutoring enterprises. The Company ensures that each UMTang teacher possess a valid government issued teaching license. This assures parents that UMTang teachers have the content knowledge and communication skills to effectively mentor their children. Other unique features include weekly assessments via UMFun, on-demand student progress reports and additional proprietary curricula such as design thinking, STEM, painting & computer coding course work. UMTang teachers not only guide students towards academic excellence, but also provide additional interdisciplinary learning skills, enabling UMTang students to develop the necessary knowledge to excel in a post-secondary curriculum.
UMeWorld is positioning itself to become the largest K12 private tutoring platform operator in China. To that end, the Company plans to tap into UMFun's 14,000,000 K12 user base and convert 1,000,000 users into UMTang students.
About UMeWorld
UMeWorld is an internet technology company with a focus on the K-12 education market in China. UMFun, the Company's K-12 flagship product, is a cloud-based, adaptive learning and assessment platform that can intelligently analyze and adapt to a student's performance and personalizes the delivery of proprietary educational items in accordance with the student's learning needs. UMFun's off-school version is made available to Chinese K-12 students through China Mobile, the world's largest mobile service provider by network scale and subscriber base, serving over 823,000,000 customers.
Forward Looking Statement
This press release includes forward-looking statements. These statements may be identified by words such as "feel," "believes," expects," "estimates," "intends," "should," "is to be," or the negative of such terms, or other comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, but are not limited to: our limited operations and need to expand in the near future; the potential lack of market acceptance of our products; potential competition; our inability; our inability to raise additional capital to fund our operations and business plan; our ability to continue as a going concern; our liquidity and other risks and uncertainties and other factors discussed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including our annual report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. UMeWorld Limited expressly disclaims any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements contained herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
For more information, please contact:
Ruby Hui, Executive Vice President
UMeWorld Limited
E-mail: info@umeworld.com
Website: www.umeworld.com
Telephone: (86) 020-892-37947
SOURCE: UMeWorld Limited
Pakistan has resumed its repatriation of Afghan refugees under a controversial program by the United Nations, a UN official said.
The UNs voluntary repatriation program, which oversaw the return of some 380,000 registered refugees along with an estimated 250,000 unregistered refugees from Pakistan in 2016, was halted in December for a routine winter break.
Human rights groups say the exodus is coerced, accusing Pakistan of forcing hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees back to their homeland, which is still wracked by violence and poverty.
Duniya Aslam Khan, a spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told RFE/RL that the program restarted on April 3.
Khan said some 570 Afghan refugees based in Pakistan's Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province returned to Afghanistan on April 3, with 15 refugees returning from the Chaman border crossing and the rest from Torkham crossing.
Khan added that "so far some 24,000 refugees have expressed an intention to return in April and May."
She also confirmed that UNHCR had cut its cash grant for returnees from $400 to $200 because of a shortage in funding.
The UN doubled the grant in 2016 and said it was one of the reasons for the surge of Afghan returnees last year.
Coercion, Threats, And Abuse
But Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a February report that Pakistans use of coercion, threats, and abuse had contributed to the mass repatriation, and accused the UN of complicity.
In a strongly-worded report, HRW said the "exodus amounts to the world's largest unlawful mass forced return of refugees in recent times."
Any forced return of a registered refugee, whether it is directly done or indirectly done, is a breach of international law, Gerry Simpson, a senior researcher and advocate in HRWs Refugee Rights Program, told RFE/RL in February. Its clear that Pakistan breached international law in forcing back those registered refugees against their will.
Khan rejected that accusation, saying that UNHCR facilitated the return of those registered Afghan refugees who approached us to return.
Pakistan cited security concerns for seeking Afghan refugees' return to their homeland, particularly after several brutal attacks by militants in Pakistan's northwest, which the government linked to insurgents hiding in neighboring Afghanistan.
Islamabad has also claimed that the refugees who have left have done so voluntarily, and it has extended its deadline for all refugees to return to the end of 2017. Human rights groups say the deadline should be extended to 2019, at least.
Last year, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani told refugees in Pakistan to come home, promising them shelter, land, and job opportunities.
Ghani has been criticized for his remarks from rights groups which say the government is unable to fulfil those promises.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said the "large influx" of returning refugees was already severely testing the country's ability to absorb so many displaced people.
In a report issued in January, the IMF said more than 700,000 refugees returned to Afghanistan last year, mainly from Pakistan, but also from Iran, Europe, and elsewhere.
"This is seriously aggravating the government's capacity to absorb refugees in an already difficult environment of high unemployment and internally displaced people after decades of conflict," it said.
At its peak in the 1980s Pakistan sheltered an estimated 5 million Afghan refugees as Afghan guerrilla fighters battled invading Soviet troops.
Some 4.2 million Afghan refugees have returned to Afghanistan voluntarily under the UNHCR program since 2002. An estimated 1.3 million registered refugees still live in Pakistan.
The wave of returnees joins the more than 1 million people already displaced by war inside the country, exacerbating an already urgent humanitarian crisis.
Many returnees have come back to a country where extreme poverty is rife, security is shaky, and where the Taliban has gained more territory than at any time since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.
Dozens of Pakistani women have taken part in female-only bicycle races in major cities, part of a growing feminist movement in the country.
Meher Bano of Girls at Dhabas, a feminist group, said the April 2 races were organized after a woman from Lahore was pushed off her bicycle last year by a group of men when she did not respond to catcalls.
Riders in the Islamabad race, many of them women in their 20s, told stories of being harassed or hearing catcalls whenever they go out in public.
Bano said the purpose of such events is "simply to be visible in public spaces."
Girls at Dhabas group members say they are a new generation of Pakistani feminists, attempting to build on the gains made in the Muslim country by others in the past.
"The women's movement is as old as Pakistan, but it is not something that is really talked about or written about," Bano told the Reuters news agency.
Bano said young women in the country faced barriers in the workplace and were often made to feel uncomfortable going into male-dominated public areas.
"It's part of a much greater narrative that leads to harassment; it leads to violence," she said.
Based on reporting by Reuters
Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka says he hopes the settlement of an energy dispute with Russia can ease tensions with Moscow and bring stability to his own country, which has been hit by a wave of street demonstrations.
"We see what's happening around us, and we just want to preserve the stability of Russia and Belarus," Lukashenka said on April 3.
The breakthrough in the dispute came after talks between Lukashenka and Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg.
Putin said government officials would finalize the details of the settlement in 10 days and added that a road map had been agreed for energy cooperation up to 2020.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said the deal means Belarus would gradually pay off a $726 million debt for Russian gas supplies in exchange for Russia restarting oil shipments to Belarus.
Dvorkovich said Russia will renew oil supplies to Belarus of 24 million tons a year. Russia's Gazprom will give Belarus discounts on gas supplies in 2018 and 2019.
Lukashenka in recent months has been moving his country toward the West and has accused Moscow of violating treaties and using its position as an energy supplier to "grab us by the throat."
Minsk has said Russia at one point more than doubled the price it charged Belarus for gas, which worsened an economic downturn in Belarus.
The economic troubles helped ignite a wave of protests against Lukashenka, who has ruled Belarus for nearly 25 years.
Lukashenkas suppression of street demonstrations has heightened risks that the European Union could reimpose sanctions that were mostly lifted a year ago. Russia is also being criticized internationally for its crackdown on street protests.
"There are too few quiet, calm spots on the planet still left. So we agreed on joint measures to preserve the security of our states," Lukashenka said.
"Today, we have no differences remaining," Putin told a joint news conference. We will move ahead. We will strengthen our relations within the framework of the union state.
The meeting occurred in St. Petersburg on a day when a suspected terrorist bomb ripped through a city subway car, killing at least 11 people and injuring 51.
With reporting by AP and Reuters
A political rights group says Russian police detained at least 59 demonstrators in central Moscow on April 2.
The arrests were made at several locations after demonstrators gathered following calls on the Internet for protests. It was unclear who was behind those calls.
They come a week after more than 1,000 people were arrested during a demonstration organized by leading Kremlin critic and anticorruption activist Aleksei Navalny.
It was also unclear how many of the protesters detained on April 2 were government opponents. The website OVD-Info, which tracks police actions against protesters, said that one man who was detained carried a Russian flag and shouted "Putin is No. 1!"
In a separate incident, activist Ildar Dadin was arrested as he picketed alone outside an Interior Ministry building in Moscow, his lawyer Ksenia Kostromina said.
Dadin and many other detainees were later released.
Dadin was convicted and sentenced to prison in December 2015 under a controversial law that criminalizes participation in more than one unsanctioned protest in a 180-day period.
He was freed on February 26 after the Supreme Court threw out his conviction and ordered the case closed.
Dadin, the only person in Russia who has been convicted under the law, was considered a political prisoner by major human rights groups.
Navalny, who is currently serving a 15-day jail term for disobeying police at last week's rally, has distanced himself from the latest protest.
"He knows absolutely nothing about this," his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh wrote on Twitter.
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.
The Russian government said on April 1 that it had opened a criminal investigation against the unidentified people who had called for the April 2 unsanctioned anticorruption demonstration in the capital.
The government had reportedly blocked access to a number of Internet pages calling for the protests.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Russian Service, AFP and TASS
The head of the Kremlin human rights council is calling for a "thorough check" of reports that authorities in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Chechnya have been arresting and killing homosexuals.
Mikhail Fedotov was referring to an April 1 report in the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta that said more than 100 men had been detained in Chechnya recently on the basis of the assumption that they were gay, and that at least three of them were killed.
Fedotov said that he had spoken to colleagues in Chechnya who told him they did not have information confirming the report.
"But the signal is so monstrous that, without a doubt, it demands a thorough check," he said.
The Novaya Gazeta report cited a range of unnamed sources.
In rejecting the report, Kremlin-backed Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov's spokesman made remarks that added to the concerns of human rights activists.
"You cannot detain and persecute people who simply do not exist in the republic," spokesman Alvi Karimov said on April 1. He implied that relatives of gay men would kill them.
"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 return," he said.
Kyrgyzstan's state security service says the main suspect in the St. Petersburg subway bombing is a Kyrgyz-born Russian citizen.
A spokesman for the State Committee for National Security (UKMK), Rakhat Sulaimanov, on April 4 identified the suspect as Akbarjon Jalilov and said he was born in the Osh region in southern Kyrgyzstan in 1995.
A bomb blast ripped through a subway car in St. Petersburg on April 3, killing at least 11 people and injuring 51 others.
No group has claimed responsibility for the blast, which occurred when President Vladimir Putin was in his home city.
A deputy chairman of Kazakhstan's Committee for National Security (KNB), Nurgali Bilisbekov, told a government meeting that a Russian citizen of Central Asian origin -- but not from Kazakhstan -- is suspected of being behind the blast.
Interfax cited an unidentified law-enforcement official as saying the suspect is believed to have carried an explosive device onto the train in a backpack.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump telephoned his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, and offered "full support" from the United States after the blast.
A White House statement late on April 3 said Trump promised "the full support of the United States government in responding to the attack and bringing those responsible to justice."
"Trump and President Putin agreed that terrorism must be decisively and quickly defeated," said the statement, which echoed an earlier account from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Peskov said Trump had "extended deep condolences" to the families affected by the blast.
WATCH: Multiple Casualties In St. Petersburg Metro Blast
The National Antiterrorism Committee (NAK) said it was looking for the "perpetrators and organizers of the terror attack."
Russias health minister, Veronika Skvortsova, said early on April 4 that four of the injured were in critical condition.
The blast occurred midafternoon on April 3 as the train was between stations in the city center.
About two hours after the blast, a homemade explosive device was discovered in another subway station and defused by bomb experts without incident, NAK spokesman Andrei Przhezdomsky told state television.
Russian news media said police were searching for a man recorded on surveillance cameras.
Many of those injured in the attack suffered shrapnel wounds, according to news reports.
Law-enforcement agencies confirmed the device was loaded with shrapnel, and the Interfax news agency said it contained up to 1 kilogram of explosives.
Footage and photos posted on social media showed smoke choking a subway station and dead or injured people lying on a platform next to a damaged subway car.
Images also showed a subway car at a station with a door blown off and the interior badly mangled.
WATCH: Chaos Inside St. Petersburg Metro Following Blast
Natalya Kirillova said she was seated near the end of the subway car that was directly attached to the car where the blast took place. It seemed, she said, that the explosive device may have been placed on the platform connecting the two subway cars.
She said she had just looked at her cell phone, fearing she was going to be late to a 3 p.m. meeting.
"At that moment, it hit me. A deafening explosion. I was seated next to an iron beam, and I think thats what saved me," she told Current Time TV. "Everyone fell to the right, but not onto the floor, onto their seats."
"There were a lot of women and young children in the car. A grandmother and her child were across from me. She was lucky, though. They just fell down, but werent injured. I was totally deafened," she said.
Kirillova said that, after the explosion, the subway continued onto the next station where she and other passengers had to climb through the windows because the doors were broken. After helping the grandmother and child, she turned around and saw a "huge number of people lying down."
"Bodies. It was awful. When we got out [of the subway car], they were pushing and pulling several people out covered in blood," she said. "I saw one woman who had a huge, huge wound on her face."
Live Blog: St. Petersburg Bombing
Putin, who was visiting his hometown of St. Petersburg for a meeting with Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, said he had been briefed by security officials on the incident.
Speaking alongside Lukashenka, Putin offered his "most sincere condolences to the loved ones of the victims and the wounded."
"Law-enforcement agencies and the special services are working and will do everything to establish the reasons and the full extent of what has happened," he said.
A somber-looking Putin later brought flowers to the subway station. He walked away to his car without making a statement.
The Antiterrorism Committee said the blast tore through a subway train between the Tekhnologichesky Institut and Sennaya Ploshchad stations in central St. Petersburg at around 2:40 p.m. local time.
Sennaya Ploshchad is one stop away from a main subway transfer point in the heart of the city.
The St. Petersburg metro closed all stations in its network but opened some lines several hours later.
International Condolences
Western governments expressed condolences and solidarity in the aftermath of the attack.
Before his reported call to Putin, Trump described the incident as a "terrible thing."
"Happening all over the world, absolutely a terrible thing," he said during an event at the White House.
The UN Security Council strongly condemned the "barbaric and cowardly terrorist attack."
The 15-member council called for the perpetrators of the attack to face justice.
WATCH: Putin Reacts To St. Petersburg Blast
U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said separately that the images from St. Petersburg in the aftermath of the attack were "heartbreaking."
"You can be sure the United States will stand with Russia on defeating these extremists who continue to senselessly harm innocent people," Haley said in a statement.
The blast brought back grim memories of previous bomb attacks on the metro in Moscow and on trains and buses elsewhere in Russia.
Suicide bombers have struck several times in Russian cities in the past two decades, with insurgents based in Chechnya or other parts of Russia's North Caucasus often blamed or claiming responsibility.
The last fatal attack on a subway system in Russia occurred in Moscow in March 2010, when explosions at two stations killed at least 33 people. There had been no major attacks in St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city.
With reporting by RFE/RLs Russian Service, KyrTAG, Current Time TV, TASS, RIA, Interfax, Dozhd, Meduza, and Reuters
European Union Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn has congratulated Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic on his "convincing" victory in a presidential election over the weekend, saying he was "looking forward" to working together on the Balkan state's accession to the bloc.
Vucic, who pledged his ruling Progressive Party would form a government in the next two months as he steps down as prime minister to take the presidency, won 55.1 percent of the vote with 91.2 percent of ballots counted, according to results published by the State Electoral Commission headquarters on April 3.
The 46-year-old needed more than 50 percent of the votes to avoid an April 16 runoff against the next highest performer. Sasa Jankovic, a former ombudsman, was second with 16.3 percent, according to the commission.
Official results are expected later on April 3.
"Looking forward to working with new #President as partners and friends on #EU #accession.Serbia and EU: #bettertogether!" Hahn wrote on Twitter.
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.
He has vowed to continue leading Serbia into the EU, but he also pushed for closer ties to longtime ally Russia, even meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the waning days of the campaign.
"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," Vucic said, characterizing his victory as "crystal clear."
Some observers, however, have voiced concerns that Vucic's dominance could push the Balkan country back into the autocracy that Yugoslavia's late strongman Slobodan Milosevic symbolized during his decade in 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 Milosevic, has brought Serbia closer to Russia with increased talk of military and economic cooperation.
Putin congratulated Vucic on his "convincing victory," saying he "is known in Russia as a principled supporter of the strengthening of friendly relations between Russia and Serbia," the Kremlin said.
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.
"Is it possible that Milosevic's former information minister can miraculously turn into a European?" asks Eric Gordy of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies at University College London.
"How on earth can a person who stands behind tabloids that publish scandalous stories, not only on his rivals but on various analysts, researchers, journalists, calling many of them spies, how can such a person possibly be a European? He has never been and will never be one."
With reporting by Alan Crosby in Prague and contributions from RFE/RL's Balkan Service, Reuters, AP, and dpa
Current Time TV, the Russian-language network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA, spoke to Natalya Kirillova, who witnessed the blast:
Natalya Kirillova said she was seated near the end of the subway car that was directly attached to the car where the blast took place. It seemed, she said, the explosive device may have been placed on the platform connecting the two subway cars.
She said she had just looked at her cell phone, fearing she was going to be late to a 3 p.m. meeting.
At that moment it hit me. A deafening explosion. I was seated next to an iron beam, and I think thats what saved me, she told Current Time TV, a project of RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA. Everyone fell to the right, but not onto the floor, onto their seats.
There were a lot of women and young children in the car. A grandmother and her child were across from me. She was lucky, though. They just fell down, but werent injured. I was totally deafened, she said.
Kirillova said that after the explosion the subway continued onto the next station where she and other passengers had to climb through the windows, because the doors were broken. After helping the grandmother and child, she turned around and saw a huge number of people lying down.
Bodies. It was awful. When we got out [of the subway car], they were pushing and pulling several people out covered in blood, she said. I saw one woman who had a huge, huge wound on her face.
DUSHANBE -- Election officials in Tajikistan say President Emomali Rahmon's eldest son, Rustam Emomali, has won a seat in the Dushanbe city legislature.
The Dushanbe city election commission said on April 3 that Emomali, who was named acting mayor of the capital by his father in January, won almost 85 percent of the vote in a district by-election on April 2.
The election win was foregone conclusion in the tightly controlled country. It cements Emomali's position as mayor, because Tajik law says that only a member of the city legislature can be appointed mayor.
Emomali replaced longtime Dushanbe Mayor Mahmadsaid Ubaidulloev, who gave up his seat on the city council in February.
Several close relatives of Rahmon hold high official positions or control lucrative businesses in the Central Asian, which he has ruled since 1992.
Rights groups and opponents say Rahmon tolerates little dissent and suppresses his critics.
- By Grahamites
Valeant's (VRX) business model is predictated upon three key areas:
Use of innovative and complicated offshore tax structure to reduce cash taxes to the largest extent possible. Avoidance of high value R&D. To quote former CEO Mike Pearson, "Valeant doesn't invest in science. We invest in management." Leverage up using cheap debt to acquire other specialty pharmaceutical companies and raise the prices of the drugs Valeant acquires immediately.
Valeant tax advantage
While most investors talk about Valeant's high leverage, very few understand Valeant's tax structure as its most significant competitive advantage in the pharmaceutical business. As we all know, the U.S has a high corporate tax rate (35% at the federal level). Therefore, it is not unusual to see companies utilize tax strategies to lower the tax rate, the most famous of which is tax inversion. Specialty pharmaceutical companies have utilized this tax inversion strategy to reduce the tax rate to say 12% as is the case if they relocate to Ireland.
You would think a 35% to 12% reduction is good enough. Not for Valeant. As part of the merger deal with Biovail, Valeant took on Biovail's tax structure and moved its headquarters to Canada, which operates on a territorial tax system in which companies are taxed on domestic but not foreign income. Biovail at that time held most of its patent IP in Barbados. Valeant would domicile the product related intellectual property in Barbados and repatriate income earned in Barbados to Canada, reinvest all earnings from U.S operations and would not repatriate the U.S earnings to Canada. In doing so, Valeant lowered its tax rate to mid-single digits. This is important because this extremely low tax rate allows Valeant to improve the cash flow of the acquired entity immediately .
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Valeant's high profile acquisition of Medicis illustrated this superior tax structure. Medicis at the time of acquisition was a U.S company with an effective tax rate of 41.5% whereas Valeant's tax rate was about 5%. After the acquisition, Valeant was able to treat Medicis as a subsidiary and immediately shaved off $150 million in tax bills.
Don't invest in science; invest in management
Pearson has been famously quoted as saying that Valeant "doesn't invest in science. We invest in management."
He wasn't joking. In 2015, Valeant generated $7 billion of revenue and only spent $330 million, or 4.7% of the sales, on R&D. Daiichi Sankyo (TSE:4568) and Otsuka Holdings (TSE:4578), both of which had roughly $7 billion revenue in 2015, spent five times as much as Valeant on R&D. Allergan (AGN), with more than $18 billion in sales, spent almost $2.8 billion on R&D, or roughly 15% of sales.
If Valeant spends much less than its competitors on R&D, how does Valeant maintain its competitiveness?
The answer ties to Valeant's two other strategies - Valeant would utilize its low tax rate and take advantage of cheap debts to acquire other companies and raise the drugs of the acquired companies by an ungodly amount. One famous example was the Targretin gel, which treats lesions caused by lymphoma. A tube of Targretin gel rose from $1,687 in 2009 to about $30,320 in 2015. In another example, the list price for Calcium EDTA was raised from $950 to more than $26,900 at the end of 2014 after Valeant bought the drug in 2013.
Of course there are other factors such as rebate and chargebacks, etc., that reduce the price of the drug, but there is no doubt Valeant was raising the price of drugs it acquired aggressively even though some of the drugs save lives.
The story below in an article published by Los Angeles Times illustrates how evil Valeant was:
"The company's programs to help patients afford the drugs weren't charities, but a way to increase profits on their monopolies.
"The committee said that Valeant offered a program that covered the cost of co-pays for privately insured patients because executives knew it would reduce patients' 'incentive to complain to the press about Valeant's outrageous price increases.'
"By increasing prices rapidly, but covering patients' co-pays, the companies could still make big profits, the committee said.
"They used the example of a drug priced at $100,000 that cost $10,000 to manufacture and distribute, leaving a potential profit of $90,000. If the company covered the patient's $20,000 co-pay, the insurance company still paid $80,000 for the drug, resulting in a $70,000 profit for the company.
"The patient assistance programs were a key method that Valeant used in raising the price of Cuprimine, used since 1956, and Syprine, developed in 1969, the committee said. Both drugs are used to treat Wilson disease, a rare condition in which the body cannot process copper.
"Valeant raised the prices of Cuprimine and Syprine from about $500 to about $24,000 for a 30-day supply, the report said.
"'The committee believes that these programs were driven not by altruism, but by Valeant's desire to extract monopoly profits and then conceal that fact from the public,' the report said.
"Valeant issued a statement saying it has established a 'patient access pricing committee' and has 'improved transparency' under a new executive team."
Charlie Munger summed it up nicely during the 2017 DJCO meeting:
"It was too good to be true. There was a lot wrong with Valeant. It was so aggressive and it was drugs people needed. Take the difference between Valeant and the Daily Journal Company (DJCO). When the foreclosure boom came, we had 80% of the foreclosure business in our area. That's a big area, Southern California and Northern California. It would have been very easy for us to raise the prices and make, I don't know, 50 million more or something like that.
"All these people were losing their houses; a lot of them were perfectly decent people. The idea that right in the middle of that we'd just make all the money we could, which some of our competitors did, by the way, we just didn't do it. I don't think capitalism requires you to make all the money that you can. I think there are times when you should be satisfied with less based on just the ideas of decency, and at Valeant they just looked at it as a game like chess.
"They didn't think about any human consequence, they didn't think about anything but getting what they wanted which was money and glory, and they just stepped way over the line and of course in the end they were cheating."
The investment committee, however, looked at Valeant as a game of chess, too. Valeant's stock price went from a little more than $10 at the beginning of 2009 to $264 per share at the peak in 2015.
I am deeply disturbed by what I have found so far.
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ON MY MIND
Ramzan Kadyrov is Vladimir Putin's creation.
Putin made him what he is. He appointed him. And he's protected him.
And therefore, everything Kadyrov does and gets away with (like the assassinations of Anna Politkovskaya and Boris Nemtsov, which he is widely suspected of masterminding) is ultimately Putin's responsibility.
The horrific report in Novaya Gazeta (featured below) claiming that Chechnya is arresting and killing homosexuals is the latest example.
The Kremlin's Human Rights Council is calling for an investigation and Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said law enforcement will look into the matter.
And then what? What will happen if these allegations turn out to be true? If the past is any guide, nothing.
Because Putin fears that removing Kadyrov would result in chaos in Chechnya.
And as a result, Kadyrov is free to act like a man with complete impunity. And Putin owns him.
IN THE NEWS
The head of the Kremlin Human Rights Council is calling for a "thorough check" of reports that authorities in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Chechnya have been arresting and killing homosexuals.
A political-rights group says Russian police detained at least 59 demonstrators in central Moscow on April 2.
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.
Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are set to meet in St. Petersburg amid heightened tensions between the two countries over gas and integration issues.
Michael Flynn, the former U.S. national security adviser, did not report payments from a Russian state-backed television network and another firm with Russia ties in an initial financial disclosure, new documents released by the White House show.
Russia has accused the United States and its allies of "slander" as the U.S. top diplomat and Pentagon chief denounced Russia's actions in Ukraine and elsewhere.
Acclaimed Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko has died in a U.S. hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at the age of 84.
Russia's Investigative Committee says it has detained a suspect in connection with a March 24 attack on a military base in Chechnya.
Ukraine has strongly rejected calls from the organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest for Kyiv to lift an entry ban on Russia's entry in this year's competition.
LATEST POWER VERTICAL PODCAST
In case you missed it, the latest Power Vertical Podcast looked at last week's nationwide protests and the re-emergence of Aleksei Navalny.
NEW POWER VERTICAL BRIEFING
On this week's Power Vertical Briefing, we look ahead to today's meeting between Vladimir Putin and Alyaksandr Lukashenka in St. Petersburg.
WHAT I'M READING
Chechnya's War On The LGBT Community
Novaya Gazeta's report, Honor Killings, alleges that authorities in Chechnya are arresting and killing homosexuals.
Anatomy Of Disinformation
The Digital Forensic Research Lab has released a study of Russian disinformation in Poland and the Baltic states. The study looks at how Russian-language media portrayed NATO's recent deployments in those countries.
Networks Of Influence
Simon Kuper has a piece in the Financial Times on Russia's influence networks in the West.
History As A Weapon
The Guardian has a piece on fears in Lithuania that Kremlin attempts to rewrite that country's history could be a prelude to war and annexation.
Don't Mention The Revolution!
MIkhail Zygar, author of the book All The Kremlin's Men, has a piece in The Atlantic on how 1917 became a taboo subject in Russia
Underestimating Russia
David Gioe, a history professor at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and Michael Goodman, a professor of intelligence and international affairs at King's College London, have a piece on the War On The Rocks blog on "the intelligence costs of underestimating Russia."
Losing the First Cyberwar
Timothy Snyder has an op-ed in The New York Daily News on Russian election meddling in the United States in which he claims that the United States was the first nation "to lose a cyberwar in grand style."
Detention Of A Violinist
A video has appeared on YouTube showing Russian violinist Andrei Osipov being detained during a rehearsal for attending an anti-Kremlin protest.
Navalny's Next Moves
In a piece in The Guardian, Shaun Walker looks at how Aleksei Navalny and Russia's protest movement are planning their next moves.
Europe Awakens
Zeit has a piece cutting against the grain of conventional wisdom by arguing that Europe is not disintegrating -- it is reviving.
Thousands of Hungarian and foreign students marched in Budapest on April 2 demanding the government withdraw a bill that could force the closure of Central European University. CEU was founded in 1991 by Hungarian-born U.S. financier George Soros. Students and faculty said the legislation was an attack on freedom of education. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is an outspoken critic of Soros and liberal civil groups funded by his foundation. Orban said CEU violated regulations in awarding its diplomas, an allegation that the university has rejected as false. (Reuters)
Jared Kushner, a son-in-law and senior adviser of U.S. President Donald Trump, visited Iraq with the highest-ranking Pentagon general.
The April 3 visit came as Iraqi government forces, backed by U.S. air strikes, battle to retake the northern city of Mosul from Islamic State (IS) militants.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's office said the premier met with Kushner as well as General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, and White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert.
Abadi's office said in a statement that they discussed "the battle of Mosul and the international coalition's support for Iraq and the training and arming of Iraqi forces in addition to the [issue] of displaced people."
Dunford said he invited Kushner to accompany him so they could hear "first-hand and unfiltered" from military advisers about the situation on the ground and interact with U.S. forces.
Kushner, who has no previous diplomatic or government experience, has been involved in selecting presidential staff members and has advised on relations with the Middle East, Canada, and Mexico.
Kushner is married to Trump's oldest daughter, Ivanka.
Based on reporting by Reuters and AP
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a $1 billion loan payment to Ukraine.
The IMF is supporting Ukraine with a $17.5 billion bailout program in exchange for Kyiv implementing reforms and tackling corruption.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko wrote on his Facebook page on April 3 that the approval was "further recognition of Ukrainian reforms."
David Lipton, acting chair of the IMF's board, said Ukraine's economy was showing signs of improvement, with lower inflation and a doubling of international reserves.
But he said Kyiv still needed to tackle corruption "decisively."
The IMF had postponed the disbursement of the new loan following Kyiv's imposition of a trade embargo on areas controlled by Russia-backed separatists in the east of the country.
Ukraine received $1 billion from the IMF in October, its third tranche of money under the bailout program launched in March 2015.
Kyiv has received about $7.6 billion in total so far under the program.
Based on reporting by Reuters and AP
North Kingstown Superintendent Philip Auger reiterated the district's position this past week that it will comply with state regulations regarding the protection of transgender students from bullying and harassment.
Seven years ago, I sat in a farmhouse near Charles Town, W.Va., as snow blanketed nearby pastures, and chatted with the last surviving veteran from World War I a war that America entered 100 years ago this week.
It looks weird to even write that.
And its even difficult to imagine the math allowing that to be possible. But here it is:
Frank Woodruff Buckles, who was born in 1901, fibbed about his age so he could enlist in the Army at age 16 and make it to France a few months before the shooting stopped in November 1918.
When we met in February 2010, he just had turned 109. Not bad for someone who survived not only in World War I, but also World War II, during which he was a civilian working in the steamship business in the Philippines and was held as a prisoner for three years by the Japanese.
He told me he never forgot his first meal after he was liberated by U.S. paratroopers: Spam, sprinkled with brown sugar.
It tasted a lot better than it sounds, he said.
Hes the only interview subject I can recall who recounted a conversation with a man born in 1860: the legendary Gen. John J. Black Jack Pershing, leader of U.S. forces in Europe in World War I.
Buckles had been born in Missouri, and Pershing picked up on the dialect when the two met by chance after the war.
Pershing asked where he was born; Buckles told him the town. Said Pershing: Thirty-three miles, as the crow flies, from where I was born.
As an old man, Buckles still was proud, all those years later, that the great man had taken the time to talk to him.
At the time of the interview, the Department of Veteran Affairs said Buckles was the last known survivor of the more than 4 million Americans who served in some way during World War I.
He had become the face of a campaign to build a national World War I memorial on the National Mall in Washington. That memorial still is in the works and scheduled to be dedicated Nov. 11, 1918 the 100th anniversary of the end of the war.
Buckles died a year after our interview, following his 110th birthday.
Im sure I encountered World War I veterans as a child, but I cant say I recall. The math wasnt on my side. I was born in the late 1950s, and by then the youngest WWI veterans would have been around 60.
By the time I was old enough to have been interested in who they were and what they had to say these men who fought in some of the worst conditions imaginable, in mud and trenches without proper clothing, food or equipment most of them were too old or gone.
Fortunately for Al Barnes, hes pretty much always been interested in WWI. Barnes, 62, a command historian for the Virginia National Guard who is putting together a new exhibit on WWI at the Virginia War Memorial, grew up in Europe, where he said there was no escaping WWI.
Heck, even our landlord in Italy had been in the Italian Army in WWI and was a local hero from the battle at Vittorio Veneto, Barnes said.
His first book was on the U.S. occupation of Germany after WWI. After he got out of the Marine Corps in 1977, he went to college in upstate New York, and he got to hang out with several USMC WWI vets at the local American Legion post. Thats when he really got to appreciate their sense of humor and some of their world view.
For a lot of Americans of a certain age, their image of WWI veterans was formed by encounters with, as Barnes put it, little old men who coughed a lot because of the gas.
The gas being chemical weapons unleashed in WWI as no other conflict previously.
Barnes had one of those little old men in his own family: Uncle Ben Nemeschy.
My Uncle Ben, to his dying day, coughed every day because he had been gassed at Meuse-Argonne, Barnes said of the site of a final Allied push to victory.
The irony of it is, I remember my mother telling us (that) while he was getting gassed, his father, who was a Lutheran minister in a small town just outside Niagara Falls, N.Y., was told he could no longer preach to his congregation in German during the war because it was unpatriotic.
Heres his son hacking up a lung in the Meuse-Argonne, and his father is not allowed to preach in his native tongue. Ben was born in this country, but his father was born in Germany.
My mother was a WWII Navy vet, and she took this kind of stuff personally, and you could see steam coming out of her ears whenever she talked about it.
Barnes sent me a copy of his uncles military card just so I could see, among other things, where he was born, when and where he was wounded (Oct. 30, 1918, in the Argonne Forest), and the extent of his wounds (severely).
But Barnes also wanted me to see the card to make the point that we need to get records like this digitized in Virginia, because they are treasure troves of information. The Virginia cards were moved to microfilm decades ago, but digitization would greatly enhance their usefulness.
The Virginia National Guard is working with the Library of Virginia to get these important records digitized, Barnes said. It will greatly benefit all Virginians who had family members in the Great War.
As for Uncle Ben, Barnes said: He was a great guy. I remember him giving me a hard time when I enlisted in the Marine Corps, because he said the Marines were the best-organized bunch of thieves that he saw in France. I took that as a compliment.
That humor reminds me of my own brief dive a couple of years ago into the Library of Virginias collection of questionnaires from the War History Commission, which was created to document Virginias participation in World War I.
Returning soldiers or families of those who did not return were asked to provide facts about their service and to offer insight about the impact of the war on their lives.
I searched for Lohmann and found one from Oscar Lohmann, who was my grandfathers cousin. To the question, What were the effects upon yourself of your overseas experience? he responded, Sherman was right.
War is hell.
A 22-year-old Richmond man was charged with involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of his 22-year-old friend.
According to Richmond police, Nygel E. Williams was shot in the chest about 3:30 p.m. Saturday while visiting Darell N. Meredith of the 5000 block of Nutmeg Circle.
Police said Meredith and several other friends took Williams by private vehicle to Chippenham Hospital, where Williams died shortly after arrival.
An investigation determined that the death of Williams, who lived in the 400 block of Vevadel Drive, resulted from the careless handling of a firearm by Meredith, police said.
Separately, police were investigating after a female victim was shot in Richmonds Mosby Court on Sunday.
The shooting happened about 11 a.m. in the 1900 block of Redd Street, between Coalter and Accommodation streets.
The victim was taken to VCU Medical Center with injuries that were not considered life-threatening, police said.
The shooting appeared to be accidental, police said.
Anyone with information about either shooting is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at (804) 780-1000 or www.7801000.com.
You can also submit tips about people in illegal possession of a gun by texting Crime Stoppers at 274637, using the keyword GUN250 followed by the tip. Rewards of up to $250 are possible.
All Crime Stoppers methods are anonymous.
Hanover Countys proposed budget will soon be voted on, but not before the public gets a chance to weigh in on the flow of the countys dollars and cents.
A community meeting is scheduled for today at 6:30 p.m. at the Pearsons Corner Elementary School cafeteria. Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Angela Kelly-Wiecek will present an overview of the countys proposed budget and information on public projects.
Among the topics Kelly-Wiecek plans to address are Hanovers roads and the countys challenges in funding road improvements.
Transportation is a really hot topic right now, she said.
Theres been an online campaign to stop residential development in part because some residents feel Hanover does not have the proper infrastructure in place. The Board of Supervisors has discussed bringing back an annual car fee.
People need to understand what our options are, Kelly-Wiecek said. Citizens want to know why we cant improve our roads. Citizens deserve an answer to that.
After the presentation, those in attendance will get the chance to comment and ask questions. Kelly-Wieceks presentation will not be the only chance this week for residents to learn more about the countys proposed budget.
Hanovers supervisors will hold a public hearing on the proposed budget on Wednesday. The board will vote whether to adopt the budget at its April 12 meeting.
The countys proposed budget is $440.3 million for the fiscal year that begins July 1. The proposed budget is a 2.8 percent increase from the current budget.
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.
LOVINGSTON, Va. (AP) - A laborers union has sent hundreds of letters of support for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline to Virginia's senators.
The mid-Atlantic region of the Laborers' International Union of North America delivered nearly 1,600 letters from workers to U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner last week. It's the latest demonstration of union support for the project, which would carry natural gas across West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina.
A statement from the union says the pipeline would be "the biggest job-creating project" in Virginia in years.
The Nelson County Times reports that more than 700 of the letters are from Virginia residents.
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Henrico schools honored for revising conduct code
HENRICO The National School Boards Association recognized Henrico County Public Schools last week in Denver for its work revising the student code of conduct and boosting behavioral supports and interventions.
The Henrico district was one of five large school systems in the country to receive first-place honors in the 2017 Magna Awards, which recognize schools for taking bold and innovative steps to improve the lives of students and their communities.
The revised code was implemented in the 2015-16 academic year after two years of community conversations. The district also revamped the way it handles student discipline and added staff to provide students with more support, according to a news release.
VSUs business school awarded reaccreditation
ETTRICK Virginia State Universitys Reginald F. Lewis College of Business has been awarded reaffirmation of accreditation by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, International.
AACSB granted a five-year extension of reaccreditation to the College of Business, which enrolls about 600 undergraduate students in accounting, management, marketing, and management information systems. AACSB accredits more than 780 business schools in 53 countries and territories.
Chesterfield government
leaders to visit classrooms
CHESTERFIELD Chesterfield County political and government leaders will be in county classrooms throughout this week in recognition of Local Government Education Week, which runs through Friday.
Chesterfield government leaders will serve as guest speakers in civics and economics classes at county schools.
According to a county news release, the classroom visits are intended to:
promote civic education and engagement;
help students better understand local government;
foster a positive sense of community; and
prepare the next generation of local government managers.
Governor urges students to register to vote in Va.
RICHMOND Gov. Terry McAuliffe is encouraging eligible high school students to register to vote.
The governor has declared the week starting April 23 as Virginia High School Student Voter Registration Week.
In Virginia, 17-year-olds can register to vote as long as they will be age 18 on or before the next general election.
Any Virginia school that gets more than 65 percent of its eligible voters registered will get a certificate from McAuliffe.
FBI launches outreach program to high schoolers
RICHMOND High school students in Virginia are getting the chance to learn more about the FBI.
The FBI Richmond field office is launching a new outreach effort called the Richmond Youth Academy, which will kick off this summer. The two-day program will give as many as 50 high school students a look into the FBIs work through presentations and exercises.
The program will be held July 17-18. The FBI says the academy is open to juniors and seniors who maintain a GPA of 2.5 or above. They also must be U.S. citizens and live in Virginia. Students have to apply by May 31.
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
President Donald Trump is making good on his campaign promise to renegotiate trade deals. And, he has the strong support of both small business buyers and sellers.
Since taking office, Trump has moved swiftly to withdraw the U.S. from two international free trade deals: the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). BizBuySell recently surveyed over 700 small business owners and buyers to gauge the small business communitys support for various aspects of Trumps presidency. The survey reveals a significant majority of both small business owners and prospective buyers stand behind Trumps trade decisions. Because both groups play a pivotal role in worldwide trade, its important to examine why they support Trumps trade stance -- and what impact Trumps proposed trade plans could have on small business buyers and sellers.
Related: Can Main Street Businesses Thrive in the Trump Era?
Trump and trade: The background behind dismantling deals
On the campaign trail, Trump railed against both established and proposed international trade agreements, including the TPP and NAFTA, arguing that these measures diminished U.S. economic standing and disenfranchised its workers. As president, Trump immediately began dismantling these agreements, signing an executive order to withdraw from the TPP on his first day in office. Signed by participating countries in February 2016, the TPP would have created an economic alliance of 12 nations that border the Pacific Ocean. In supporting the agreement, President Barack Obama argued that it would empower the U.S. economy amid mounting Chinese economic growth. But, Trump called the TPP a disaster, using strong words to confirm his opposition to the deal.
After withdrawing from the TPP, Trump moved on to NAFTA, a trade agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada that was enacted in 1994. NAFTAs main objective is to ease North American trading by substantially eliminating tariffs between the three countries. During his campaign, Trump continuously referred to NAFTA as the worst trade deal -- one that incentivized companies to relocate production to Mexico and displace U.S.-based workers. Now, Trumps White House has indicated that it will begin revising the agreement later this year. In the past, Trump has discussed imposing tariffs on Mexico to fund the construction of his planned wall across the U.S.-Mexico border.
Story continues
Related: The Real Price Tag of Trump's Mar-a-Lago Trips is Sobering to Small Business
Why small business buyers and sellers support Trumps plans
According to BizBuySells survey, most owners (66 percent) and prospective buyers (63 percent) are in favor of Trumps approach to renegotiating global trade. In fact, more than one-fifth of individuals planning to buy a business within the next two years indicate theyll be more likely to buy given Trumps trade renegotiations. Heres the thought process of a few supporting respondents from the survey:
NAFTA benefits other countries over the U.S.: As one respondent put it, The NAFTA treaty is so slanted in favor of both Canada and Mexico that we need to eliminate the deal. While economists might be split on the issue, Trump argues that the U.S. has a trade deficit with its NAFTA partners, which has resulted in the U.S. importing more goods from Canada and Mexico than the countries importing from the U.S.
Tariffs enable fair trade: Another respondent highlighted the need for fair over free trade, and argued that Tariffs can help balance out trade partners who have subsidized or illegal advantages. This is why tariffs were part of the Constitution.
Trumps business acumen: Trumps decades of business experience is another reason the small business community supports his approach to trade. In the view of one respondent, [Trump] is a businessman. I believe it takes one to know that to effectively negotiate trade deals, you need to do what is in the best interest of America's businesses.
Related: What Trump Doesn't Understand About China's Entrepreneurial Culture
Trumps new vision for trade -- and the small business stake
Trumps move away from established trade deals is accompanied by a new vision for trade. While the strategy is still in its infancy -- there are currently only around 300 words of text about it on the White House website -- it promises trade deals that work for all Americans through the appointment of the toughest and smartest . . . negotiators who will push for fair but tough trade deals. Although the White House plan has yet to provide specifics, Trump has indicated that hes in favor of establishing bilateral trade deals with certain nations, such as Japan and the U.K., instead of multilateral deals like the TPP and NAFTA. Despite Trumps outward confidence, there is skepticism around how effectively this rigidly nationalistic approach to trade will work in practice.
However Trumps international trade plan plays out, small businesses have a massive stake in the outcome. As 2013 U.S. Census Bureau findings reveal, small businesses comprise 97.7 percent of U.S. goods exporters and the value of exports coming from small businesses has grown from 28.9 percent in 2006 to 33.5 percent. Clearly, small businesses play a critical role in both domestic and international trade. But, if Trump imposes tariffs on economic competitors like China, this could increase the price of raw materials for small businesses. On the other hand, the imposition of tariffs on companies that import goods from international sources could force those businesses to raise consumer prices, making pricing more competitive for small businesses that dont rely on foreign imports. International trade is a subject of uncertainty, but at least for the moment, small businesses are standing behind Trump.
Brett Robbins, MPA, the Public Affairs Coordinator for the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Salem, shares with So Salem readers how VAMC staff came to the rescue of a 14-year-old boy who fell nearly 20 feet while hiking at Devil's Marbleyard in Rockbridge County. Their rapid response and skilled nursing as well as the compassionate care they gave the young man, not only prevented further injury but also kept him calm until he could be reached by emergency medical personnel. -- Candy Long
Thanks to the fast response of Salem VA Medical Center nurses, a social worker, a contracting officer and a pharmacy intern, a 14-year-old boy received the emergency medical treatment he urgently needed.
On March 25, staff members Renee Belliveau, Tammy Angell, Katelyn Creedon, Becca Cantrell, Patrick Stultz and Sung Lee were hiking at Devil's Marbleyard in Rockbridge County, Virginia when they encountered two young boys playing on a nearby ledge. They witnessed one of the boys slip and fall 15 to 20 feet off the ledge.
Tammy Angell, a nurse in the Ear Nose & Throat Clinic, was first on the scene and went to the aid of the boy instructing him not to move so she could assess the extent of his injuries. The boy complained of lower back pain, had abrasions on his arms, a nosebleed, and a hematoma forming on his left forehead. He was able to move all four extremities but was told of the importance of not moving to maintain cervical alignment in the event of a possible cervical fracture. Angell kept the boy calm and provided reassurance while Angells daughter, a student at James Madison University and another student from Liberty University called emergency medical services (EMS) for help.
Another nurse, Renee Belliveau from the emergency department arrived to offer assistance keeping the boy still and performed neurological checks every 15 minutes to report to EMS upon arrival.
Katelyn Creedon, a social worker in acute medical surgery and Sung Lee, pharmacy resident intern provided assistance in keeping the boy calm.
Becca Cantrell, clinical nurse leader in acute medical surgery, and Patrick Stultz, contracting officer, were able to prevent additional onlookers from interfering while waiting for EMS to arrive. For the next two hours, our employees stayed with the boy until EMS could arrive.
When EMS did arrive, our employees assisted them with placing a c-collar, transferring the boy to a backboard, starting an IV and moving the boy into a basket that EMS used to carry him down the ledge. It took another two hours to get him to an ambulance for transport to meet a helicopter, which would airlift the boy to Carillion Roanoke Memorial Hospital. Because of the vigilant actions and the compassionate care of the Salem VA Medical Centers staff that day, the injured boy received the emergency medical treatment he needed.
This is just one example of how these Salem VA Medical Center employees exemplify the I-CARE values (Integrity, Commitment, Advocacy, Respect and Excellence), whether they are caring for our nations heroes or meeting an immediate need of a young boy within the community.
BLACKSBURG Virginia Tech students will have higher tuition next year, but in-state students will see a slightly smaller increase than the university originally proposed.
Tuition and mandatory fees will rise 2.9 percent or $378 a year for in-state students to $13,230 and will rise 3.5 percent or $1,039 a year for a total cost of $31,014 for out-of-state students.
Its the 16th straight year that Tech tuition has been increased.
Ultimately, the board approved the lower in-state rate representing about $100 less per in-state student than the 3.5 percent as a way of showing how efficient the university can be run, according to members at the meeting.
Were trying to send the right message to students and to Richmond, said Dennis Treacy, the university boards vice rector.
The board voted unanimously to approve the fund increase, with one abstention from member Greta Harris. During open discussion, Harris expressed reservations about the lower tuition increase. She wasnt alone.
Im concerned about shortchanging investment in the university, said Horacio Valeiras, a member of the boards finance subcommittee.
Ultimately, he voted for the lower rate after consulting with other members.
Some board members also suggested a delay might be in order so the impact of a 2.9 percent increase versus a 3.5 increase could be measured in the boards June meeting, when the body analyzes the next fiscal years budget.
Virginia Tech President Timothy Sands, though, urged members to make a decision Monday so the tuition rate would be known before the May 1 student admission deadline .
University officials also said they want to add $3.7 million for financial aid programs next year and 30 full-ride presidential scholarships.
Board members then passed a resolution to increase funding of its destination areas program. Destination areas are a voluntary educational path in which students can take core classes but also pursue multiple, cross-disciplinary opportunities.
The university will invest $78.45 million to fund facilities and operations associated with the intelligent infrastructure and human-centered communities destination area.
The resolution marks Techs most significant step toward implementing its evolving destination area plan.
The resolution, which passed unanimously, states the university has identified the funds for the program, which are all outside the general budget.
At least a third will come from a $25 million donation from a group of four donors in the construction and infrastructure industry.
Sands also said private companies will be more involved in funding research and helping students find jobs as the program progresses.
Board of Visitors Rector James Chapman said Mondays resolution will pave the way for success in destination areas.
We really believe it [passing the resolution]... will build excitement around the whole program, he said.
The university will begin construction this fall on two new buildings on the north side of campus. A new internship park by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute as well as an autonomous vehicle test area will be built as a result of the resolution.
The board also unanimously passed resolutions related to the following:
n Creating a new Bachelor of Science degree in biomedical engineering, which Chapman called very exciting.
n Creating a new School of Plant and Environmental Science in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
n Setting up compensation for graduate assistants next academic year.
n Naming engineering professor Marc Edwards, nationally known for his research involving the Flint, Mich., water crisis, a University Distinguished Professor. Power electronics professor Dushan Boroyevich also will receive the promotion.
n Completing the demolition of the Environmental Systems Laboratory, which burned down in February, destroying Techs FutureHAUS project.
March 31, 2017 Donna Schultz Phillips, 62, of Pilot, Va. passed away Friday, March 31, 2017 surrounded by her loved ones. She was preceded in death by her parents, Toby and Dove Cox and her husband, Barry Phillips. She is survived by her children, Joseph Phillips, Jason Phillips and wife, Sabrina Phillips; sister, Harriet German and Don Taylor. She proudly adored her five grandchildren, Katie Whittington, Rebeckha Phillips, Brian Phillips, Logan Phillips and Toby Phillips; and three great-grandchildren. She was also a member of The Women of The Moose Club #1470 in Christiansburg, Va. There will be a Memorial Service in honor of her life held at the Montgomery County Moose Lodge Friday, April 7, 2017 from 5 to 7 p.m. to celebrate her life. Memorials in Donna's memory may be sent to the Moose Lodge, 255 Ridinger St., Christiansburg, VA 24073. Online condolences for the family may be left at www.hornefuneralservice.com.
Your article ("McAuliffe wavers on economic initiative," March 30 news story) about the proposal by coalfield legislators to take $1.5M from the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority (VCEDA) to create another regional economic development agency for the same counties served by VCEDA, prompted me to write this letter.
In the coalfield region, energy producers are required to pay severance tax which is a small percentage of the gross selling price of the coal, oil, and gas, to the county from which it was produced. VCEDA was created in 1988 to promote economic development in the coalfield region. No state funds are appropriated to VCEDA: It is funded solely by a portion of the severance taxes collected by the member counties. The enabling legislation specifies that the Board of Directors shall made up of local elected officials and representatives of the energy industries.
By statute, VCEDAs primary purpose is to enhance the economic base of the coalfield region and encourage diversification of the economy. As noted in the article, the Director of VCEDA considers the proposal, which Governor McAuliffe vetoed, to be unnecessary and redundant. It also appears to be an effort by politicians to put themselves in charge of regional economic development efforts. If this proposal is as good as its supporters claim, they dont need to rob VCEDA for funding.
GERALD L GRAY
CLINTWOOD
The last line of Matt Chittums Feb. 16 news story ("Goodlatte declines invitation to meeting") on Representative Bob Goodlattes refusal to hold a physical town hall meeting with his constituents is revealing: Goodlatte prefers to hold telephone town halls.
After taking part in Goodlattes telephone town hall meeting on Feb. 16, I find the representatives preference quite disturbing. Goodlatte did not announce this meeting in advance of the event. Instead, I received a phone call during dinner with my family, inviting me to join a meeting already in progress.
During the meeting, Goodlatte asked two loaded survey questions to his listeners (including one that asked whether Iran and North Korea are threats to the U.S.) and used questions from constituents to launch into long recitations of well-worn talking points with a sprinkling of criticism of former President Barack Obama thrown in for good measure.
This format did not allow for personal engagement with his constituents or follow-up questions. This is problematic since many of Goodlattes statements required further clarification. For instance, in response to an inquiry about the spike in political participation that has emerged across the country since Jan. 20, Goodlatte stated Those who are used to doing things the way the last president did, may be upset.
This is a curious statement, especially given the fact that during President Donald Trumps press conference that same day, the commander-in-chief repeated falsehoods about how many Electoral College votes he received as well as the relative size of his Electoral College victory. This is of course just another example of President Trumps tenuous relationship with the truth. Surely, Representative Goodlatte is not implying that the current Presidents propensity to lie is an acceptable way of doing things.
Along similar line, former Ambassador to Russia and Stanford Political Science Professor Michael McFaul has compared Trumps dual attacks on the media and judiciary to Putins efforts in the early 2000s. Surely Goodlatte is not implying that this is an acceptable way for American presidents to be "doing things." Goodlatte needs to hold physical town hall meetings to help answer these and other follow up questions.
BRENT HIERMAN
LEXINGTON
Wonder of wonders! Did you know that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) used a scientific paper, called the "pausebuster" attempting to disprove the 15-year pause in global warming, previously announced by the UN!
Hallelujah, and Shazam! Just another "miracle" needed by President Obama and PM Cameron to get skeptic delegates to sign the 2016 Paris Climate Accord (PCA).
The PCA limits the energy "advanced" nations can use in the future, and commits them to contribute an unprecedented $100 billion annually to undeveloped nations, for their climate projects.
However, some scientist at NOAA believe the "pausebuster" paper itself was disingenuous, and a "blatant attempt to intensify the paper's impact" on climate change skeptics in Paris.
The Daily Mail announced that a NOAA "whistleblower" gave them irrefutable evidence that the "pausebuster" was based on misleading and "unverified" data.
Dr. John Bates, the "whistleblower," said that the data used "was chosen to maximize warming, and minimize documentation, to discredit the UN global warming pause."
Dr. Bates has impeccable scientific credentials -- a 40-year career as a meteorologist and climate scientist. He has been awarded Presidential Medals for his work, the most recent from Obama in 2014. As to the credibility of his "pausebuster" charges, NOAA has already decided that the data used will be replaced and substantially revised, just 18 months after publication!
You might wonder, is there no shame to these environmentalist with all the gaffes and manipulation experienced over the years. Apparently not, consider the remarks of one of the movements heroes, Christiana Figueres of the U.N. She admitted that the real objective of PCA was not to save the world from ecological calamity, but to destroy capitalism.
The PCA is environmentalism on steroids! Wall Street Journal columnist Kimberley Strassel calls It "a capstone of a unilateral Obama agenda that ignored the law, the will of congress, and the people." Many believe it follows eight years of "progressive globalist" attempts to destroy our economy by excessive taxes and regulations, opening our borders to illegals who take our jobs and increase entitlement spending, while raising healthcare costs with Obamacare.
Trump should disavow this PCA hoax.
PHILLIP W. UNGER
DALEVILLE
Dr. Strangelove, which screens Saturday morning as part of The Grandin Theatres Classic Film Series, is now more than half-a-century old.
To put that in context, director Stanley Kubricks Cold War farce which follows the frantic race to stop an unprovoked B-52 strike against the Soviet Union was released in the winter of 1964.
It came out just two months after the Kennedy assassination and a mere 10 days before the Beatles made their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
A fair number of things have happened since then, but however old Strangelove grows, it remains one of those great, rare comedies that always feels plugged-in to the present.
Thats not simply because it pokes fun at strained relations between the United States and Russia, or has jokes about leaks to The New York Times, or features an entire cast of larger-than-life authority figures.
No, its mostly because Strangelove is really about the frustration of technical difficulties and the humor of human error. Timeless themes.
It also has Peter Sellers in three iconic roles, a deeply dark ending and, in the films War Room, one of the most beautifully shot sets in film history.
But the underlying joke of Strangelove, and its most prescient twist, is that its characters are all so distracted by ego or ambition, by protocol or patriotism, sometimes just by the jobs in front of them, that they never fully grasp the gravity of their situation. Theyre bickering about the details of the picnic, for the most part, even as the tornado bears down on them.
Dr. Strangelove screens Saturday at 10 a.m. at The Grandin Theatre. Admission is free. www.grandintheatre.com
Business News Iceland Weighs Pegging Its Currency To The Euro Finance Minister Says | RobinsPost News & Noticias
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Business News New Jersey Nut Manufacturer Star Snacks To Invest 18 Million Create 115 Jobs In Georgia | RobinsPost News & Noticias
New Jersey Secretary of State Tahesha Way announced a new $500,000 grant program to boost growth and exports among businesses in underserved ... Read More NEW YORK Global asset management firm Mubadala Capital has acquired TruFood Manufacturing, a snack food contract manufacturer, from funds affiliated with AUA Private Equity Partners, LLC. Read More In addition to expanding its footprint, the manufacturer will invest more than $1 million ... this new vision for Star Turbine here in Marion." The project will create 19 new jobs in addition ... Read More We are encouraging food and beverage manufacturers from underserved business communities to begin exporting by applying for a NJSTEP grant, New Jersey Business Action Center Executive Director ... Read More EATONTOWN - New Jersey small- and medium-sized manufacturers ... never seen an investment of $35 million in an industry that's so crucial and critical." Michael L. Diamond is a business reporter ... Read More New Jersey is the only state in the U.S. that doesn't allow customers to pump their own gas anywhere. There's always an attendant on duty to pump gas for customers at these full-service stations. Read More The Deptford Township Police Department says they need your help finding a man who they claim has burglarized several New Jersey businesses. Police say video obtained exclusively by CBS ... Read More New Jersey has been named the most haunted state to live in, according to a new report from Home Advisor. The company researched the number of homes for sale in each state and the number of ... Read More I am both excited and honored to be entrusted with taking the company forward as president and CEO. Mr. Bunting has served on the business intelligence committee for PMMI (the Association for ... Read More On Oct. 7, that urn washed ashore in Ocean City, New Jersey more than 800 miles from the Georgia town of 5,000 ... newsletter to get the latest news of the day The family lives right ... Read More A former Miss New Jersey has joined NBC10 as a general assignment ... Murrow award for breaking news coverage for In the Tigers Mouth, a story about a tiger attack at a local zoo. Read More State legislators in New Jersey have proposed a bill that would, as its synopsis states, "[prohibit a] motor vehicle manufacturer or dealer from requiring subscription for certain motor vehicle ... Read More
Economy News Erdogan Says Constitutional Changes Will Boost Turkey S Economy | RobinsPost News & Noticias
President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that a constitutional amendment that his party will present to Turkey's parliament will protect families from what he called "perverse trends," appearing to ... Read More Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has laid out his vision for Turkey in the next century, promising a new constitution that would guarantee the rights and freedoms of citizens ... Read More FILE PHOTO - Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan attends a news conference during the Informal ... emergency funding to help sustain its economy as it battles Russia's invasion. Read More as it seeks to transform its economy and boost its geopolitical status in the process. Turkey has been effectively ruled by Recep Tayyip Erdogan for 20 years as president since 2014 and before ... Read More Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his government and that of Russia ... they need to be examined, he said during a joint news conference with his Qatari counterpart. Read More Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he has agreed to meet with Sweden ... meeting between Kristersson and Erdogan as positive news. We believe that close dialogue and close ... Read More Turkey will explore for hydrocarbons in Libyan waters following a recent deal with the countrys Tripoli-based government, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. Erdogan has rebuffed criticism ... Read More ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan vowed on Saturday that the ... and other editorial opinions are those of U.S. News and have not been previously reviewed, approved or endorsed ... Read More
Economy News China Greens Its Economy By Funding Massive Coal Projects In Pakistan | RobinsPost News & Noticias
Speaking at the China Economic Net (CEN) in Beijing, Pakistan's Ambassador to China Moinul Haq said the three new projects are China-Pakistan Green Corridor ... to overcome its economic ... Read More From an international perspective, China's coal policy is set to have a notable impact on driving the green transition. Last year, China pledged to end financing for building coal plants overseas, ... Read More More than any other leader of the Chinese Communist Party, Xi has sought to make the environment part of his lasting legacy ... Read More This aims to reduce their exposure to financing coal projects ... he adds. China Banks Quesang underscores that banks have an influence over the development of the green economy. Read More The central government has made green and renewable energy a central focus in its ... China Centre for International Economic Exchanges. The first half of 2022 saw 68 such underground pipeline ... Read More China is a big ... Still, coal is expected to supply 60% of its power in the near future. Authorities say they are shrinking carbon emissions per unit of economic output. The government reported ... Read More With an average annual growth rate of 6.7% since 2012, China has seen one of the fastest sustained expansions for a major economy in history. In 2021, its GDP hit nearly $18 trillion, constituting ... Read More China needs up to $17 trillion in additional investments for green infrastructure and technology in the power and transport sectors to meet its goal of net-zero emissions by 2060, a World Bank ... Read More Chinas economic growth accelerated ... virus controls and a crackdown on debt in its vast real estate industry. The world's second-largest economy grew by 3.9% over a year earlier in the ... Read More More precisely, by 2050 China and its allies will likely constitute 23% of the global economy while the U.S. and its allies will be responsible for 45%, the report states. The reason for this is ... Read More Holiday spending during Chinas Golden Week has plunged to its lowest level in seven years, as broad Covid curbs discouraged people from traveling or spending, while a darkening economic outlook ... Read More
Politics News Majority Of Americans Support Independent Russia Investigation Poll Finds | RobinsPost News & Noticias
Yevgeny Prigozhin, also known as 'Putins chef,' said Russia interfered in past U.S. elections and is still doing so today. Read More Russias meddling in Trump-era politics was more directly connected to the current war than previously understood. Read More According to polls, the number of people who support the continuation of hostilities in Ukraine has decreased from 25% to 16% in Russia. Source: Russian news website Meduza, citing the results of ... Read More Barrack also acquitted of obstruction of justice and false statements to FBI agents in 2019 about interactions with Emirati officials follow all the latest ... Read More But the monitoring map has shifted somewhat under the Biden administration, which has promised to safeguard voting rights as legislatures in conservative-leaning states try to restrict mail-in and ... Read More Duo accused of trying to disrupt DoJs criminal prosecution of Chinese telecoms giant ... Read More US midterm election is just days away, and candidates across the country are making their final pitch as early voting is underway. Follow CNN for the latest election news and updates. Read More President Biden warned "democracy is on the ballot this year" as midterm elections are just five days away. Follow Newsweek for the latest. Read More
Politics News Trump Ready To Address North Korea Nuclear Program With Or Without China | RobinsPost News & Noticias
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Elections News Elections 6 Criminal Cases Launched At Prosecutor General S Office | RobinsPost News & Noticias
On Tuesday afternoon, relatives of people killed allegedly at the hands of repeat violent offenders, free from jail on multiple felony bonds, denounced current democratic criminal district court ... Read More Following former President Donald Trumps unsubstantiated claims that widespread voter fraud cost him his re-election in 2020, there has been a wave of threats launched against ... Assistant Attorney ... Read More Candidates running for attorney general in 2022 elections who spread misinformation about voter fraud or questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election collectively raised about $27.7 ... Read More And in some cases, they are opting to retire from running elections." Earlier this month, DOJ Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr., who runs the agency's criminal ... the Jan. 6 attack on ... Read More State investigators are under pressure as election complaints continue to rise in numbers. Many of the accusations surround campaign finance violations. Read More Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launched a statewide 2022 General Election Integrity Team, his office announced Monday. Read More The Justice Department will deploy election monitors to 64 locations on Election Day to ensure compliance with voter access laws and to prevent intimidation and interference. President Joe Biden ... Read More Two years ago, a judge issued a bench warrant for Matt DePerno's arrest. Now he's asking voters to make him Michigan's law enforcement official. Read More "Every citizen must be able to vote without interference or discrimination and to have that vote counted in a fair and free election," said U.S. Attorney Clifford Johnson. Read More In theory, GOP challenger Matthew DePerno has enough baggage to help AG Dana Nessel secure an easy win. But polls show this is a very tight race. Read More Attorney General Ken Paxtons ongoing battle with a Republican justice of the peace in Medina County whom he accused of election fraud has resulted in another and maybe final dismissal. District ... Read More US midterm election will be held on Nov. 8, but early voting is already underway and candidates are making their closing arguments. Follow CNN for the latest election news and updates. Read More
Travel News Top Travel Agents Explore Veria In Greece | RobinsPost News & Noticias
The online travel agency is a gateway to Les 3 Vallees in France which offers over 370 miles of runs, 162 lifts and 7 interconnected resorts. These are among the best in Europe and include ... Read More Travel agents saw the largest spend growth per customer at almost 95% last month, followed by airlines at 60%, the latest Barclays UK consumer spending report revealed. People are more confident ... Read More She had worked as a travel agent for other companies since 2014 and developed a name for herself planning family and multigenerational trips. I felt I could better serve my clients with my own ... Read More More information here. Few countries have as much historical appeal as Greece. From the Parthenon to the peaks of Mount Olympus, the spirit of the ancient Greeks is tangible in its mythical ... Read More For the past month, the USA TODAY Travel team has been looking into how we can make the process better for everyone involved. To make the process somewhat easier, we asked travel agents about ... Read More Many travelers are using YouTube to show content regarding their travel experiences and it keeps on inspiring others. Here are the top travel channels. Expanded List To 12 Top Travel YouTubers. Read More travel insurance can save you money, time and frustration if things go wrong. We evaluated 46 plans to find the best travel insurance. Read More Have you been looking for travel inspiration as you prepare for 2023? I know already that my 2023 travel calendar is starting to fill up. Planning is key to any successful trip from Mexico to ... Read More Editor's Note Sign up for Unlocking the World, CNN Travel's weekly newsletter. Get news about destinations ... and some of the best nightlife in the western hemisphere," said Time Out's ... Read More Licensed agents can help you navigate policies and prices and determine which protections you need. Get started today! Fill out your trip information, including the dates of travel and destination ... Read More When you are planning a getaway it can be pretty hard to stay up to date with all of the latest offers and experiences out there. Luckily for you, weve picked out the most exciting travel ... 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
Us News Oklahoma Cop Says Race Played No Role In Killing Of Unarmed Black Man | RobinsPost News & Noticias
Ben lacked a rational understanding of why Oklahoma took his life today. As Oklahoma proceeds with its relentless march to execute one mentally ill, traumatized man after another, we should pause ... Read More Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz has been spared the death penalty and sentenced to life in prison by a Florida jury for carrying out the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School a move ... Read More Okmulgee County, Oklahoma, Police Chief Joe Prentice says that in his 36 years in law ... Very rare," Prentice told Fox News Digital. "I've done 36 years in law enforcement and have never heard ... Read More Oklahoma City police released body cam video of a metro man who shot at officers several times during a standoff. Read More Law enforcement officers in eastern Oklahoma fatally shot a man who fired at them following a police chase along Interstate 40, authorities said. McIntosh County deputies and Checotah police shot ... Read More Police in eastern Oklahoma say a man wanted for questioning about the ... four to hit a lick, Prentice said during a Monday news conference, but said he did not know precisely what was ... Read More Four Oklahoma men ... a business" in Morris, police said later. "Investigators are looking into how it came to be there," police said in a statement. "Currently we have no vehicle information ... Read More A new study published in the journal Population Studies found that Black college-educated women ... who did not graduate college regardless of race or ethnicity. But the study also found that ... Read More Oklahoma has executed an inmate convicted of killing his infant daughter in 2002 ... hoarding food and living in a darkened cell with little to no communication with staff or fellow prisoners ... Read More
Us News Texas Man Charged For Firing Indiscriminately At 2 Men Attacking His Fiance | RobinsPost News & Noticias
Texas man charged for killing two nurses while girlfriend was in labor Texas man charged for killing two nurses while girlfriend was in labor Texas man charged for killing two nurses while ... Read More (KOIN) Authorities arrested a man on Wednesday who is accused of firing a pistol indiscriminately ... accused of torturing his malnourished 5-year-old daughter Longview Police Department ... Read More Those involved in the dispute were escorted outside the club and, police say, the disagreement subsequently escalated and Clavel and Bravo began firing ... men arrested in Brownsville, Texas ... Read More A Texas man is in legal trouble after he scared the ... stores parking lot with a hatchet attached to the front of his pants as he screamed things that made absolutely no sense. ... Read More 21A McAlester man was charged this week for allegedly shooting at another ... The affidavit states a fight almost began between the two men when Green ran toward his vehicle and starting shooting ... Read More LINDEN, Texas -- An East Texas man has been charged with capital ... along with the new charges stemming from his escape on Aug. 29. He was arrested in Caddo Parish near Mooringsport on Aug ... Read More Two caretakers at a Texas ... 2, when someone from the nursing home called the family to let them know the man supposedly fell out of bed and he was going to the hospital. Solis said his ... Read More Three men with gunshot wounds escaped a hotel in Houston, Texas, where they were being held as part of a human smuggling operation, police said. Read More A Texas man shot and killed his mother's ex-boyfriend on Halloween, police said. 27-year-old Javon Small opened fire against Joseph Wiltz in Houston on Monday, October 31, after he witnessed a ... Read More A New York City man has been charged with smuggling three Burmese pythons in his pants at a U.S-Canadian ... according to a news release from the office of U.S. Attorney Carla B. Read More A Texas man has been charged with murder after he shot a coworker ... Grier became involved in an argument with Vincent Harris. Both men were from San Antonio and employed with ServPro. Read More
Us News Leg Found In Northern California Lake As Authorities Search For Missing Woman | RobinsPost News & Noticias
Authorities say partial remains found in Northern California belong to a woman missing from the San Francisco Bay Area since January. The remains were discovered Thursday by a resident in ... Read More A body believed to be that of a California woman reported missing two months ago was found ... Flat Lake, officials said. Tire tracks went through vegetation and off a cliff, and search and ... Read More (KSEE/KGPE) Authorities confirmed Tuesday that the body of missing California woman ... Pine Flat Lake. Officials said the discovery came after Selma Police Chief Rudy Alcaraz found evidence ... Read More The body of a missing California woman was found on Tuesday ... Get all the news you need in your inbox each morning. The single-car accident occurred near Pine Flat Lake, a reservoir in the ... Read More The body of a California woman missing for two months was found Monday inside a crashed car at the bottom of a cliff, authorities said ... said during a Tuesday news conference. Read More A Fresno County, California, woman last ... personally found the crash site. I just got lucky in finding the location where her car went off the road, Alcaraz said in a news conference ... Read More
Us News Divers Find Remains In Lake Believed To Be Missing California Woman | RobinsPost News & Noticias
Partial remains found in Northern California belong to a woman missing from the San Francisco Bay Area since January, authorities said. Read More A body believed to be that of a California woman reported missing ... remains. Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims said, "There's little doubt that we have found her." That area of Pine Flat Lake ... Read More Divers have found more human remains at drought-stricken Lake Mead near Las Vegas. A Lake Mead National Recreation Area statement said Thursday that a National Park Service dive team confirmed ... Read More Rescue divers in Arizona recovered the body of a California man who went missing ... lake bottom. Rescue crews used a helicopter to scan the waters surface and shoreline but still did not find ... Read More The discovery marked at least the sixth time since early May that human remains have been discovered as the lake shrinks due to drought. Read More A nearly 40-year-old disappearance may finally be solved, thanks to the help of a YouTuber, an FBI dive team and the work of the Gadsden and Rainbow City police departments. Read More (Gray News) Police in California said they have found a body of who they believe is a woman who ... who had been missing since August. Deputies discovered human remains and some of Fuentes ... Read More A body believed to be that of a California woman reported missing two months ... the identity of the remains. Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims said, "There's little doubt that we have found her." ... Read More Remains found in Tallahassee this week are believed to be those of a Florida ... who was reported missing last year. Winoker, who was 52-years-old at the time of his disappearance, was last ... Read More
World News Leftist Claims Win In Ecuador Election Rival Cries Foul | RobinsPost News & Noticias
According to several recent polls, a significant number of people in our country no longer trust the results of elections ... to compile that lopsided of a win-loss record. Nonetheless, the ... Read More Explainer-What Happens if a Candidate Cries Foul ... baseless claims of fraud and misconduct in 2022," said Bo Dul, senior counsel at the nonpartisan States United Democracy Center. Election ... Read More If you want voters to have confidence in the integrity of elections, you wont get there ... that True the Votes false and malicious claims were leading to death threats against the ... Read More Contrary to expectations, Guillermo Lasso Sunday surprisingly beat Andres Arauz to become Ecuador's next president ... recount of the Feb. 7 presidential election after official results showed ... Read More "Because this election denialism has been embraced by so many candidates running for these top state positions, I think we can expect to see a similar barrage of baseless claims of fraud and ... Read More "Because this election denialism has been embraced by so many candidates running for these top state positions, I think we can expect to see a similar barrage of baseless claims of fraud and ... Read More Post-election ... claims about voter fraud can be to American democracy. Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Ross Colvin and Daniel Wallis Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. World ... Read More "Because this election denialism has been embraced by so many candidates running for these top state positions, I think we can expect to see a similar barrage of baseless claims of fraud and ... Read More
World News Trump S Son In Law Jared Kushner Visits Iraq With Joint Chiefs Chairman | RobinsPost News & Noticias
President-elect Donald Trump intends to name his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as a senior adviser in the White House, according to multiple news reports. WASHINGTON (CN) - President-elect Donald Trump ... Read More But what did make it into the interview were Ye's criticism of Jared Kushner ... son-in-law. Ohio pastor Darrell Scott told Rolling Stone that he called Trump 'two minutes' after the Fox News ... Read More This came after Mr. Biden had made a bid to curry favour with the Saudis via a visit to Jeddah ... No doubt Donald Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner are taking pleasure in the turn of events. Read More An irate Roger Stone talked about ejecting Jared Kushner from Miami and called ... The video shows Stone shouting about Trump's daughter and son-in-law while on the phone, traveling in a car. Read More Jared Kushner, the Jewish son-in-law of former ... was to make money. Trump downplayed the comments and praised West in an interview with the conservative Salem News Channel. Read More Former president Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, reportedly suggested having a "healing church service" led by Kanye West to ease tensions after the killing of George Floyd, a new book ... Read More WASHINGTON: Former US President Donald Trump nearly fired his daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner via a ... who was the second of four chiefs of staff to serve the administration. Read More Former President Donald Trump refused to condemn rapper Kanye Wests anti-Semitic rant against son-in-law Jared Kushner and other ... interview with right-wing news host Larry OConnor. Read More Kushner Cos., the real estate firm formerly run by Donald Trumps son-in-law, Jared Kushner ... Charles Kushner, Jareds father and chairman of the eponymous firm, wrote a blistering letter ... Read More Jared Kushners memoir of his time serving in his father-in-law ... was Trumps political committees. He reports that weeks after the memoirs August 23 release, the Save America Joint ... Read More
World News Death Toll Rises To 254 As Aid Begins To Arrive In Disaster Struck Colombia | RobinsPost News & Noticias
Death Toll Rises to Four U.N. Peacekeepers Killed in Mali Attack DAKAR (Reuters) - A United Nations peacekeeper has succumbed to injuries sustained in an attack in northern Mali on Monday ... Read More Death Toll Rises to 41 in Turkey Coal Mine Explosion ... in the Black Sea coastal province of Bartin, hoping for news. There were 110 miners working several hundred meters below ground at the ... Read More 8 (UPI) --The death toll from an explosion at a gas station ... Britain's Home Office said. World News // 18 hours ago Martin to aim at northwestern Europe as a large, powerful storm Nov. 5 ... Read More The death toll has risen to 17 following a Russian missile strike on ... Background: Russian forces fired seven rockets at high-rise buildings in the city of Zaporizhzhia in the early hours of 6 ... Read More 15 (UPI) --The death toll from a blast at a coal mine in northern ... Britain's Home Office said. World News // 11 hours ago Martin to aim at northwestern Europe as a large, powerful storm Nov ... Read More BARTIN, Turkey , Oct 15 (Reuters) - The death toll after an explosion in a coal ... In 2014, 301 workers were killed in Turkey 's worst ever mining disaster in the western town of Soma, 350 ... Read More Turkish resident Recep Tayyip Erdogan traveled to the region Saturday, confirming the latest death toll and announcing an investigation into the disaster. A preliminary probe said the cause of the ... Read More Funerals for miners killed in a coal mine explosion in northern Turkey began Saturday as officials raised the death toll to at least ... hoping for news. There were 110 miners working several ... Read More AMASRA, Turkey (AP) Funerals for miners killed in a coal mine explosion in northern Turkey began Saturday as officials raised the death toll to at ... hoping for news. There were 110 miners ... Read More
World News Robin Shahini American Held In Iran Released On Bail Activists Say | RobinsPost News & Noticias
A fire ripped through Iran's notorious ... Images Shargi, an American-Iranian, was arrested in April 2018 and held in Evin Prison for eight months. He was released on bail that December, and ... Read More Activists said prisoners were chanting ... Neda Sharghi, sister of wrongfully detained American citizen Emad Sharghi, who is held in Iran, thank you for joining us. Read More Iran's Evin Prison is notorious for holding dissidents and political prisoners, including American nationals and people arrested during the recent anti-government protests over women's rights. Read More Iran has extended the temporary release from prison of a U.S. citizen ... Siamak Namazi, a 51-year-old Iranian American, has been held in Iran for years along with his elderly father, former ... Read More The judiciary's Mizan news ... held on theft charges. Mizan described the incident as a "fight between inmates and a fire," though it offered no evidence to support the claim. Activists outside ... Read More DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) Iran on Sunday released security footage that ... Irans state-run IRNA news agency aired an interview with an unnamed top prison guard who claimed a riot ... Read More A towering blaze at a notorious prison housing political prisoners and anti-government activists in ... Borrell said in a Tweet Sunday. Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported Saturday that ... Read More Iranian activists have called on world ... should be released unconditionally. The antigovernment protests have been met by a harsh crackdown that the Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights says ... Read More "I will speak to the Iranian foreign minister this afternoon to again demand the immediate release of all our compatriots who are held in Iran ... transfers say Iran has built a broad, global ... Read More "I hope to speak to the Iranian foreign minister today to ask once again for the immediate release of all our compatriots, who are held in Iran," Catherine Colonna told France Inter radio. Read More There are now five French nationals being held in Iran, French Foreign Affairs Minister Catherine Colonna told French radio on Tuesday, after France last week said it was looking to verify if a ... Read More
World News S Korea Japan Us Hold Drill Against N Korea Submarines | RobinsPost News & Noticias
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) South Korea, U.S. and Japanese warships launched their first trilateral anti-submarine drills in five years on Friday, after North Korea renewed missile tests this week ... Read More "As the security environment surrounding Japan grows increasingly severe, including North Korea's ... drill", without adding details. Kishida said he would hold telephone talks with US President ... Read More The United States and South Korea have decided to extend military exercises in response to a recent spate of missile launches from North Korea, offering stern warnings for North Korean leader ... Read More SEOUL, South Korea (AP) North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters on Sunday, the latest of a recent barrage of weapons tests, a day after it warned the ... Read More The US Indo-Pacific Command ... which returned to the area after North Korea fired a powerful missile over Japan last week to protest against the carrier groups previous training with South ... Read More The U.S. and South Korean militaries conducted a joint river-crossing drill Wednesday, the latest exercise in a large-scale operation designed to counter North ... name in news delivered first ... Read More As the security environment surrounding Japan grows increasingly severe, including North Koreas ... drill, without adding details. Kishida said he would hold telephone talks with US ... Read More Japan's Joint Staff said eight Japanese and four US fighter jets took part in the drill in airspace west of the country's Kyushu region. "As the security environment surrounding Japan grows ... Read More (Leah Millis/Pool Photo via AP) North Korea has been building bigger submarines including ... a joint anti-submarine drill among South Korea, the United States and Japan in waters off South ... Read More
World News Moon Ahn And A Self Described Strongman Vie To Lead South Korea | RobinsPost News & Noticias
Moon Hong Sik, acting spokesperson at the South Korean Defense Ministry, described North Korean ... is now threatening not only (South Korea) but the entire world, but I think there is nothing ... Read More Tensions between North and South Korea have risen after they exchanged ... The official KCNA news agency reported aspokesperson for the General Staff of theNorth's Korean People's Army as saying ... Read More the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said. "The forces will conduct real-world day and night manoeuvres simulated to counter North Korea's nuclear, missile and other various threats, so that they can ... Read More Tensions have soared in recent weeks, with the North conducting several missile launches and artillery barrages that have provoked South Korea ... news program on Monday, 24 October. Photograph ... Read More We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can ... Read More 8 (UPI) --North Korea on Saturday defended its latest missile tests as "self-defense" actions ... cooperation between Japan and South Korea. World News // 2 hours ago Twitter advertises new ... Read More The members of BTS will enlist in South Koreas military as required by law, the bands label said on Monday, ending months of public debate about whether the group qualified for an exemption ... Read More Moon Hong Sik, acting spokesperson at the South Korean Defense Ministry, described North Korean ... is now threatening not only (South Korea) but the entire world, but I think there is nothing ... Read More Moon Hong Sik, acting spokesperson at the South Korean Defense Ministry, described North Korean ... is now threatening not only (South Korea) but the entire world, but I think there is nothing ... Read More
World News Remains Of Ancient Pyramid Found In Egypt | RobinsPost News & Noticias
I really believe that this year and next year, this site is going to be the most important site in Egypt, said Egyptologist Zahi Hawass. Read More A century after the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb made headlines around the world, in the sweltering desert heat just outside Cairo, a small team is still ... Read More A century after the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb made headlines around the world, in the sweltering desert heat just outside Cairo, a small team is still ... Read More Egypt has long captured the imagination of the world, conjuring up feelings of mystery and images of the sands of time. By the time the pyramids were built, Ancient ... finds are found in Upper ... Read More More of Tuts story is poised to come to light in the coming years. Here are four things to know on the 100th anniversary of his tombs discovery. Read More This is before pyramids were even a glint in some king's eye." READ MORE: Egypt experts stunned as ancient 'cult' temple ... the archaeologists also found the remains of women and children at ... Read More A century on, the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb remains one of the most remarkable archaeological discoveries of the 20th century. Dr. Karin Sowada, director of Macquarie's Australian Center for ... Read More Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. Ancient Egypt exerts a ... for granted about this world of mummies, pyramids and tombs had for ... Read More We all know what Egypts pyramids look like outside ... the scenes to uncover what lies within these ancient wonders of the world. Khufu Pyramid, Giza The Great Pyramids of Giza consist ... Read More Like thousands of other daily visitors from the Balkans and around the world, this slightly ... the town the Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun, claiming to have found a form of prehistoric concrete ... Read More However, some of the pharaohs jewellery has gone missing in the century since it was discovered, despite a set of laws specifying that the artefacts in the tomb are the property of Egypt. Research ... Read More Ancient Egypt exerts a powerful pull on the imagination of every generation, refusing to stay buried in the past. But much of what we now take for granted about this world of mummies, pyramids and ... Read More
World News Guillermo Lasso Refuses To Concede In Ecuador Election | RobinsPost News & Noticias
Ecuador's President Guillermo Lasso survived an impeachment ... and by the Democratic Left. In case of Lasso's dismissal, early general elections should have been needed. The President has already ... Read More Businessman, banker and centre-right conservative politician Guillermo Lasso has been sworn ... in Quito stated that free elections such as those held in Ecuador constitute an example for ... Read More Andres Arauz and Guillermo Lasso are seeking to expand support ... play a decisive role in determining the outcome of Ecuadors elections this weekend and the two male candidates are ... Read More Guillermo Lasso had promised to remove Assange from Ecuadors embassy in London within 30 days of taking office. If there was fraud in Ecuadors election, I doubt that Assange is interested in ... Read More Ecuador's Interior Ministry has backed two generals that the country's president, Guillermo Lasso, ordered to be replaced last week, after dismissing the now former minister, Patricio Carrillo ... Read More Ecuador will be led for the next four years by conservative businessman Guillermo Lasso after voters rebuffed a left-leaning movement that yielded an economic boom then a recession during a decade ... Read More The President of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, has extended until this weekend (October 1 and 2) the deadline for the National Police to deliver the results on the location and capture of the main ... Read More There is no evidence of significant voter fraud in the presidential election, but President Trump has refused to concede ... and hurting his own legacy. NBC News Carol Lee explains the concern ... Read More told Fox News Sunday anchor Shannon Bream that she had only discussed challenges voters faced in the 2018 election when she refused to concede. I am clearly laying out the challenges that ... Read More
World News Topics Severe Storm Kills 2 In Louisiana Causes Damage In Texas | RobinsPost News & Noticias
Let's play ball...well almost! World Series begins on Friday and the excitement is building. But Mother Nature doesn't want to cooperate with a big round of rain rolling in Friday along with a severe ... Read More SHREVEPORT, La. - A Severe Thunderstorm ... of east Texas until 3 a.m. Gusty winds, heavy rain, hail and isolated tornadoes are possible. As of 11:51 p.m. on Monday, storms were approaching ... Read More SHREVEPORT, La. - A Severe ... scattered storms to the ArkLaTex as it moves through tonight. Here is the forecast timeline. Also, use #ktbswx on social media to report damage, flooding or ... Read More She was going to change the world ... line of severe storms battered areas of Middle Tennessee with Fairview being one of the areas receiving the brunt of it. Several reports of damage ... Read More Two air masses will collide today creating a risk of severe storms across the south, including tornadoes. CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam has the latest forecast. Read More AUSTIN (KXAN) The National Weather ... 9:15 p.m. Severe Thunderstorm Warning issued for several Central Texas counties, including Austin area. 9:09 p.m. Reports of damage, vehicles in ditches ... Read More Severe storms with damaging winds, large hail, and potential flash flooding are forecast throughout much Texas. Texans are encouraged to stay aware of local forecasts and heed warnings of local ... Read More bc-US-weather-south-rain-severe-storms An area of the ... Some locations from Oklahoma and northeastern Texas to eastern Missouri could see more like 1-2 inches of rain into Tuesday. Read More We'll see isolated strong to severe storms across the south this evening. Then more showers and storms form north and sweep across all of eastern Oklahoma overnight. The low drops to 56. Read More though more severe weather is possible. Forecasters have pinpointed East Texas as the area most likely to see potential tornado formation, with the possibility of a "few" twisters forming. Read More
World News Topics Lithuania Says Russia Has Ability To Launch Baltic Attack In 24 Hours | RobinsPost News & Noticias
Lithuania, along with neighboring Poland and fellow Baltic states Latvia and Estonia, has been at the forefront of support to Ukraine since Russia attacked on February 24. The invasion renewed ... Read More And the signals the global community has to draw on in monitoring the Russian nuclear weapons program, while not infallible, are robust. That means the world would likely know if a nuclear attack ... Read More (Reuters) -Russia's defence ministry said on Monday it had carried out a large-scale attack on military targets ... Russian defence ministry said. Russia has escalated its missile strikes across ... Read More Ksenia Sobchak, a Russian media figure and the daughter of Vladimir Putin's mentor, has fled her country for Lithuania, border officials in Vilnius said Wednesday, after Russian news agencies reported ... Read More Repairs quickly reconnected some homes but 150,000 people were still without electricity hours after the ... which Russia has been repurposing as ground-attack weapons as its stocks diminish ... Read More "If Russia is preparing such a terrorist attack, if it is seriously considering ... which Russia said it has annexed in violation of international law, downplayed the possibility of catastrophe ... Read More Oksana Markarova, Ukraine's ambassador to the United States, addressed President Emmanuel Macron's recent suggestion that France would not act in kind if Russia were to carry out a nuclear attack ... Read More Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of trying to wipe his country off the face of the earth after multiple cities, including Kyiv, were hit with fresh strikes. Read More (AFP) Ukraines critical energy infrastructure was extensively damaged again on Saturday as Russian ... he has succumbed to the theory that populations can be shattered by aerial attack ... Read More orchestrated the attack that partially disabled the bridge and that it has arrested three Ukrainians as well as several other Russian and Armenian citizens it says were involved. The perpetrators ... Read More Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said on Monday that Russian strikes ... cut off as a result of the attack," he said. (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff ... Read More REUTERS/Roman Petushkov Oct 17 (Reuters) - Russia's defence ministry said on Monday it had carried out a large-scale attack on military ... ministry said. Russia has escalated its missile strikes ... Read More
Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. (Mountain Province) has announced the results for the year ended December 31, 2016.
On March 1, 2017 Gahcho Kue Diamond Mine achieved approximately 70% of nameplate capacity of 8,333 tonnes per day over a 30-day period.
Mining of overburden, waste rock and ore in the 5034 open pit for the twelve months ended December 31, 2016 was approximately 23.7 million tonnes, with approximately 66,000 tonnes of ore stockpiled at year-end.
From August 1 to December 31, 2016, the GK Mine on a 100 percent basis processed approximately 565,000 tonnes of ore through the process plant and recovered approximately 949,000 carats for an average grade of approximately 1.68 carats/tonne.
Approximately 1,361,223 carats were produced prior to declaring commercial production on March 1, 2017, of which approximately 668,449 carats, or 49%, are the Companys share.
As at March 29, 2017, the Company has conducted three diamond sales through its diamond broker based in Antwerp, Belgium. The results of the Companys first quarter diamond sales will be announced with the 2017 first quarter financial results.
The approximately 340,575 carats mined prior to, and remaining in inventory at, the declaration of commercial production on March 1, 2017 will be sold in future months and the revenue will be treated as pre-commercial production sales and credited to Property, Plant and Equipment.
For the three-month period ended December 31, 2016, the Company reported a net loss of $8.3 million or ($0.05) per share and for the year ended December 31, 2016, the Company reported a net income of $4.8 million or $0.03 per share fully diluted.
At December 31, 2016, the Company had cash and restricted cash totaling $90.7 million.
Mountain Province President and CEO Patrick Evans commented: Attendance at the Companys first three diamond sales has been good, but rough diamond buyers remain cautious bidding for production from a new mine. This price discovery period is expected to extend to midyear, when our first production will be sold into the polished market. Demonetization in India also impacted both the demand for and realized prices achieved at the Companys early sales of ramp-up diamond production. As liquidity returns to the Indian diamond sector, we expect to see improved demand and pricing for our production.
Mountain Province Diamonds is a 49% participant with De Beers Canada in the Gahcho Kue diamond mine located in Canadas Northwest Territories. Gahcho Kue is the worlds largest new diamond mine and projected to produce an average of 4.5 million carats a year over a 12 year mine life.
Alex Shishlo, Editor of the Rough&Polished European Bureau in Brussels
The Baselworld exhibition will be two days shorter in 2018 after fewer buyers and exhibitors attended this year's show.
A total of 106,000 buyers took part in the event which ended Thursday, down 4% from the previous year, the shows organizers reported. The number of exhibitors fell 13% to 1,300, according to National Jeweler.
Organizers said they were responding to exhibitor feedback by limiting the show to six days next year instead of the traditional eight. Baselworld 2018 will run from March 22 to 27.
We have decided to reduce the duration of the show and adjust the prices accordingly, said Sylvie Ritter, managing director of Baselworld. The industry is enduring a challenging period, with smaller companies experiencing the biggest impact of the downturn, she added.
The show came amid a dip in the global watch industry, with exports of Swiss timepieces falling 10% in 2016, according to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry.
Easter retail sales will rise this year, as the holidays relatively late date means consumers will have longer to do their shopping, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF).
The date of Easter is determined by the moon, and therefore varies from year to year on the Gregorian calendar. This year, it falls out on April 16, almost three weeks later than last year.
Most consumers have almost an entire extra month to shop for Easter this year, and by the time the holiday comes, the weather should be significantly warmer than last Easter, said NRF CEO Matthew Shay in a recent statement.
The improving economy means consumers are in the mood to go shopping and retailers are ready to entice them with deals, Shay added.
As such, Easter spending is expected to grow 6% to a record $18.4 billion this year, according to a survey that Prosper Insights & Analytics carried out for the NRF.
Meanwhile, US consumer confidence improved 8% in March from the previous month, hitting its highest level since December 2000, the Conference Board organization said last week.
Merlin Diamonds Limited said it has raised approximately $5.5 million from an Entitlements Offer to shareholders in January.
Funds raised from the Entitlements Offer will provide the firm, which owns the Merlin diamond mine in the Northern Territory of Australia, with "the necessary financial flexibility to progress its operational and corporate objectives,".
The Entitlements Offer provided shareholders with the opportunity to subscribe for 1 new share with an option for every 2 shares held at the record date. The price of the new share with an attaching option is 1.3 cents and the option will have an exercise price of 1.3 cents.
The Entitlements Offer was oversubscribed and fully underwritten by Triple C Consulting Pty Ltd, with Triple C also placing the shortfall of 267,903,139 shares raising an additional $3.4 million.
President of ALROSA: Vladivostok will develop as a diamond center
03 april 2017 News
(TASS) - The free port of Vladivostok will develop as a diamond center, TASS was told by Sergey Ivanov, President of ALROSA following a working meeting with the leadership of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) in its capital, the City of Yakutsk.
"Just last week, Yury Trutnev held a meeting to support the Russian diamond-cutting industry, and a number of decisions were made that will help the Russian diamond-cutting industry to overcome the crisis and compete with foreign companies. The issue of developing Vladivostok on the basis of a free port was discussed at the meeting, and Vladivostok will develop as a diamond center. We have good plans, and we think there are good prospects," he said.
At the same time, Ivanov noted that one of the Indian companies was supposed to develop a diamond-cutting business in Vladivostok.
"We will welcome the emergence of one more player," Ivanov said.
Earlier, TASS reported that KGK, an Indian group of companies, intends to develop a diamond and jewelry cluster in Primorye.
With a view to develop the jewelry and diamond-cutting industry in Russia, on March 15 there was opened a diamond customs terminal in Vladivostok, the first in the Far East, which will control the movement of precious stones and metals together with controllers from Gokhran, which will permit to strengthen the supervision over legitimate operations, as well as to perform customs procedures and pass customs clearance in the shortest possible time. The customs terminal is located on the premises of the temporary storage warehouse of the Eurasian Diamond Center. The first trading session on the floor of the Eurasian Diamond Center in Vladivostok took place in early September 2016. At that time, ALROSA sold more than $ 18 million worth of rough and polished goods.
The project of the Eurasian Diamond Center includes the creation of an infrastructure cluster on the territory of the Free Port of Vladivostok, which will bring together companies operating in the diamond industry, focusing on export and import operations with the countries of the Asia-Pacific region, primarily with China, India, Japan and South Korea. The Center hosts diamond mining and diamond trading companies, diamond and jewelry manufacturers, gemological laboratories, banks, insurance companies, specialized carriers, customs brokers, as well as a specialized customs terminal and state controllers.
President of ALROSA Sergey Ivanov and Head of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) Yegor Borisov held a working meeting
03 april 2017 News
ALROSA, the world's largest diamond producer, informed on Monday about a working meeting held by Sergey Ivanov, the companys President and Yegor Borisov, Head of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), who is also First Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board of ALROSA. The sides said their views on the key issues of cooperation and further development of the company were fully coincident.
"We value the company and we always proceed from the interests of ALROSA while making fundamental decisions," said Yegor Borisov stressing the importance of social responsibility adhered to by the Group.
Sergey Ivanov thanked the head of Yakutia for the warm welcome and said, "We understand the role that the company plays in the life of Yakutia, we respect the history and traditions of the republic, as well as the mission of ALROSA aimed at the social development of this region."
Speaking about the priority patterns of Yakutias development, Yegor Borisov paid special attention to the importance of supporting local production and employment of the population permanently residing in the territory of the republic. In addition, the head of Yakutia laid stress on the issues of environmental safety, including the protection of the Vilyuy River basin, and spoke of the urgent need in building the Mirny-Suntar-Nyurba-Nakyn power transmission line.
During the meeting, close attention was paid to the preliminary results of the financial and economic activities of ALROSA Group in 2016, as well as to its plans for 2017. The sides also discussed the ways of fulfilling the obligations between the republic and ALROSA Group.
In particular, they considered the introduction of innovative methods in the companys operation and stepping up geological exploration on diamond placers and primary diamond deposits in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), strengthening control over compliance with labor protection and industrial safety requirements, as well as the need to expand and reconstruct the cement operation of Yakutcement for the needs of ALROSA.
The sides also discussed the joint comprehensive environmental studies in the area impacted by the facilities of the Udachny and Mirny mining divisions, as well as by the operations on the Verkhnemunskoye diamond field. The parties also agreed to strengthen their joint work with federal authorities on resettlement of people from the Far North.
Summing up the results of the meeting, Sergey Ivanov stressed that constructive interaction with the leadership of Yakutia will help to avoid negative consequences of possible market fluctuations.
Province of British Columbia
British Columbia will match the Canadian governments CA$2.2 billion (US$1.6 billion) in transit funding for projects in the Metro Vancouver area.
Last weeks federal budget confirmed that the Trudeau government has joined with the government of British Columbia in historic levels of funding for new transit infrastructure as they announced approximately CA$2.2 billion (US$1.6 billion) over 11 years for Metro Vancouver transit projects, said Peter Fassbender, Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development and Minister Responsible for TransLink.
He continued, With CA$4.4 billion (US$3.3 billion) in senior government funding now committed, the region is poised to make real progress in achieving the transit priorities for the Lower Mainland. British Columbia looks forward to continuing to work with our federal and regional partners on delivering the next phase of these projects.
Minister Fassbender noted the provinces recognition that with population growth comes the need to ensure communities are liveable and easy to traverse with reliable transportation options.
Todays announcement is on top of the almost a quarter of a billion dollars that we committed for Phase One projects to improve transportation in the region, including the purchase of new SkyTrain cars, a new SeaBus, upgrades to bus exchanges and SkyTrain stations and important design and early works on rapid transit projects along the Broadway Corridor and Surrey-Newton-Guildford, said Minister Fassbender. With this historic level of funding commitments from senior levels of governments for Phase Two, the province is committed to continuing to work with all of our partners to finalize important details about these new rapid transit and other projects so that we can move forward and get shovels in the ground as quickly as possible.
For more information on Canadian rail projects, visit IRJ Pro.
Crude oil futures were steady Monday, as U.S. stocks were set to kick off the second quarter with modest gains.
Supply interruptions from Libya offset concerns that OPEC's supply quota plan will flop, driving oil back above $50 a barrel last week.
There was little reaction Friday as Baker Hughes said U.S. rig counts continued to rise.
WTI light sweet oil was up 12 cents at $50.71 a barrel, improving from a recent yearly low.
On the economic front, The Purchasing Managers' Manufacturing Index or PMI for March will be released at 9.45 am ET. In the previous month, the index was at 54.2.
Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index for March will be released at 10.00 am ET. The economists are looking for consensus of 57.1, down from 57.7 last month.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Market Analysis
President Donald Trump Monday revived allegation that the Hillary Clinton Campaign accepted money to lift US sanctions against Russia.
He asked if his presidential election rival had any knowledge about it.
"Was the brother of John Podesta paid big money to get the sanctions on Russia lifted? Did Hillary know?," Trump said in an early morning tweet Monday.
Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and his brother Tony Podesta are the co-founders of the Podesta Group, a Washington based "government relations and public affairs" lobbying firm that had close ties to the Democratic Party and the Obama administration.
According to a report, Tony Podesta was paid $170,000 last year for representing Russia's largest bank, Sberbank, which sought to have economic sanctions against the country lifted.
In another tweet, the billionaire-turned politician resurfaced the allegation that the Clinton campaign was given questions prior to primary debates and town halls.
"Did Hillary Clinton ever apologize for receiving the answers to the debate? Just asking!."
WikiLeaks release of hacked Podesta emails say the Clinton campaign was given a hint about a question the Democratic presidential candidate would be asked at a town hall during the Democratic primary.
Trump's twitter messages come amid Democratic claims about an alleged connection between Trump's campaign and Russian officials and a pair of congressional investigations probing Russia's meddling in the election.
The Trump election campaign team is accused of colluding with senior-level Russian officials for hacking the emails of the Democratic Party and the campaign of its presidential candidate. Both Trump and the Russian Government denied it.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Political News
Jared Kushner, the senior advisor and son-in-law of President Donald Trump, made his first overseas trip in his new official role, to Iraq to assess the of the US-led military campaign against the Islamic State.
He arrived in Baghdad Monday accompanied by Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Tom Bossert, the president's homeland security advisor, for meetings with Iraqi, American and coalition officials.
"It is the first trip to Iraq for Mr. Kushner and Mr. Bossert," said Navy Capt. Greg Hicks, the special assistant to the chairman for public affairs. "As well as receiving briefings and updates, Mr. Kushner is traveling on behalf of the president to express the president's support and commitment to the government of Iraq and U. S. personnel currently engaged in the campaign."
During an interview with reporters traveling with him from Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Dunford said he invited both men on the trip to give them a chance "to see our folks in the field, our advisors, our guys helping out with the counter-IED fight, our guys that provide the combined arms and our special operations forces so they can see them in action and have an appreciation for what they are doing."
The chairman said he and the presidential advisors are going to meet with Army Lt. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend, the commander of Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve, to discuss operations after Iraqi forces have liberated Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, and the status of Iraqi forces as they take Mosul from ISIS and move forward. They will examine what the Iraqis need for equipment and training as they confront ISIS in other parts of the nation, the chairman told reporters.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Political News
SANA'A, March 03 (Saba) - Foreign Minister Hisham Sharaf discussed on Monday with the United Nations Resident Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs in Yemen Jamie McGoldrick the worsening humanitarian situation in Yemen and what is being reported regarding targeting the port of Hodeida by the aggression.
The meeting touched upon the issue of salaries and the lack of commitment of the fugitive Hadi and his group to the United Nations and to the Group of 18 sponsors of the process of political settlement, pointing out the need of intervention of the United Nations and international actors to end the suffering of Yemeni employees who are subjected to the policy of starvation by the aggression and mercenaries.
The Foreign Minister highlighted the importance of the safety of the port of Hodeida, which passes through it more than 70% of the humanitarian needs for Yemeni people.
He pointed out that Pledges aid to Yemen conference which to be held on April 25 in the Switzerland city of Geneva, should focus on humanitarian efforts and assistance to Yemenis and not politicized.
The Foreign Minister stressed the keenness of the Government of National Salvation to achieve peace and make all efforts to end the suffering of the Yemeni people, that fueled by the continued aggression for more than two years.
Mr. McGoldrick stressed the utmost importance of the safety of the port of Hodeida as it regarded a key lifeline for the entry and delivery of humanitarian assistance to the Yemeni people, noting that there is no way to find other alternatives for aid because it will be unsafe and useless.
HA
Saba
By SA Commercial Prop News
Greg Clarke, Chairman of Redefine International PLC
The London-based diversified income-focused property company, Redefine International, has agreed terms to restructure its VBG property assets in Germany and the associated financing facilities.
The restructuring and refinancing of this portfolio will result in the Company owning a 50% interest in the VBG assets together with a major pension fund as its joint venture partner.
As part of the restructuring, the Company has agreed to sell, for a nominal amount, 50% of its interest in the VBG holding company to the pension fund. This newly established joint venture company, together with certain of its subsidiaries, has reached agreement with the servicer of the VBG facilities to dispose of the VBG assets to new subsidiary companies within the joint venture vehicle. The proceeds from the disposal of approximately 80.0 million will be used to settle the original VBG facilities in full. The facilities have a current outstanding balance of 117.3 million.
The gross acquisition cost (inclusive of transaction costs) of approximately 84.9 million will be partly funded by the joint venture company with a new five year 57.0 million debt facility secured from a German bank, with both joint venture partners injecting 14.0 million (11.7 million) for their 50% interests. The new debt facility has been secured at a margin of 1.72% p.a. which, together with current five year swap rates, provides an indicative all in rate of 2.8% p.a. This will result in an initial yield on equity in excess of 19.0% on the Groups investment.
Contracts have been notarised to implement the above transactions and the restructuring process is anticipated to complete shortly after Redefine Internationals financial year end on 31 August 2012.
The VBG assets comprise four individual office properties situated in Berlin, Dresden, Cologne and Stuttgart in Germany, all of which are currently let to a German government-backed social insurance body. The leases have unexpired terms of between 7.8 years and 12.6 years and are indexed to 100% of German CPI. The VBG portfolio has a current rent roll of 7.6 million p.a.
The Company has now restructured or repaid 139.9 million of legacy financing facilities since its interim results, significantly reducing both leverage and near term refinancing requirements.
Greg Clarke, Chairman of Redefine International PLC, says, The restructuring of the VBG portfolio is another significant milestone in successfully implementing our strategy of reducing the Groups leverage and exposure to short term debt maturities. The establishment of a joint venture with a major pension fund also secures an alternative source of funding and the ability to capitalise on market opportunities.
By SA Commercial Prop News
Public Investment Corporation (PIC) CEO, Elias Masilela will officially step down from the Pretoria-based Africas biggest fund manager, which manages R1.6 trillion of assets, at the end of this month.
Elias Masilela's resignation as the chief executive officer of South Africas Public Investment Corporation (PIC), Africas biggest fund manager, has raised questions about the reasons for his departure.
Masilela will be joining DaMina Advisors, a frontier-markets consultancy.
Masilela will provide high-level, unique insights on major untapped African capital markets opportunities to DaMinas clients, the New York-based company said in a statement. He will officially step down from the Pretoria-based PIC at the end of this month.
As well as increasing the PICs assets by 60 percent since 2010, Masilela sought to back development projects to underpin economic growth and fought for domestic control of companies. His resignation raised questions about the reasons for his departure, David Couldridge, an investment analyst at Element Investment Managers in Cape Town, said in a phone interview May 30, when Masilela quit PIC.
There must be transparency as soon as possible as to why hes moving, Couldridge said.
Former Guinean Prime Minister H.A. Kabine Komara, former U.K. High Commissioner to South Africa Lord Paul Boateng and former African Development Bank President Babacar Ndiaye are also senior global advisers at DaMina.
Transparency had its limits, Patrick Mngcokola, the acting chairman at the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), said this week, as controversy simmered over why CEO Masilela mysteriously walked off the job with two years of his five-year contract left.
Although the process of appointing a new CEO at the giant South African investment company has begun, the PIC and Masilela remain mum on the reasons for his exit.
Mngcokola said procedural matters related to human resources had kept the PIC from practising the same degree of transparency it demanded from the fund managers and companies it dealt with.
We are saying that once the CEO is appointed we will make a public statement. Is that not transparent?
The outcome is likely to be closely scrutinised for any possible political meddling, especially as the PIC has battled to shake off the stigma of bad investment decisions such as buying 30% of the politically connected Camac Energy. The PIC paid $270m in November, when the entire firm was valued at about $150m.
But the silence since Masilelas sudden departure has left the domestic and international investment community, as well as the public and the pensioners on whose behalf the PIC invests, wondering about the quality of governance at Africas largest pension fund administrator.
The PIC, which is wholly owned by the South African government, manages R1.6-trillion in assets, which belong to about 35 public-sector pension, provident, social-security, development and guardian funds. Its largest client is the Government Employees Pension Fund whose head, John Oliphant, has been on suspension for nearly eight months.
The PIC owns about 11% of all the shares on the JSE on behalf of civil servants and the investment community is concerned that the corporation has not used its financial clout as responsibly as it should have.
By SA Commercial Prop News
Tower Property Fund CEO, Marc Edwards said the company was happy to have beaten expectations in what has been a strong year.
Western Cape-dominated, Tower Property Fund has completed a remarkably successful maiden year as a JSE-listed property loan stock and real estate investment trust (REIT) company.
Tower, which listed on the JSE in mid-2013, announced a maiden annual distribution of 74.6c per unit for the year to May exceeding its pre-listing forecast.
The real estate investment trust which released its financial results for the reporting period on Thursday last week owns a diversified portfolio of 31 commercial and retail properties valued at R2.06bn.
The properties are mainly in the Western Cape with 51% by value lying there and in Gauteng with 42% by value situated there.
Tower is committed to a greening strategy to increase the competitiveness and the values of buildings in its portfolio.
Cape Quarter a mixed-use precinct in Cape Towns Green Point area is Towers flagship property.
Green initiatives are reportedly saving Tower about R1m a year at the precinct.
We are happy to have beaten expectations in what has been a strong year for us CEO Marc Edwards said on Thursday.
Distributable earnings of R96.8m were made during the period.
The groups net asset value increased from R8.75 to R9.07 per unit over the period.
Its loan to value reduced to 37% and its fixed debt increased to 72%.
Tower is one of Grindrod Asset Managements top picks to perform well this year and is still on the firms radar. We are pleased with Towers maiden results. A property companys first set of results are always important and are an indicator of whether management delivered on what was promised at listing. Tower have certainly delivered with a good distribution number Grindrod Asset Management portfolio manager Geoff Noble said.
While we dont find Tower as attractive as we did a couple of months ago we still favour its long-term prospects and continue to keep it as one of our top picks along with other smaller listed property companies such as Accelerate Property Fund he said.
Towers management has years of experience in property and asset management having assembled listed and managed Paramount Property Fund until its sale to Growthpoint in 2006.
The company came to list with R300m worth of assets but it is looking to grow quickly. Its market capitalisation is about R1.2bn and it wants to grow this to R3.5bn by the middle of next year.
Mr Edwards said his goal was to decrease operating costs in the next financial year.
We believe we can also keep our office vacancies down as we have been doing.
This is especially impressive as the rest of the industry has struggled with office vacancies he said.
By SA Commercial Prop News
Southcoast Mall
Retail-focused property company Hyprop Investments is selling its 50% interest in Southcoast Mall to Redefine Properties for R108,5m.
Retail-focused property group Hyprop Investments (HYP) said on Monday it would sell its 50% share in Southcoast Mall to Redefine Properties (RDF) for R108.5 million.
The transaction, which is still subject to conditions precedent, forms part of Hyprop's strategy to focus on its core portfolio of premium, sizeable shopping centres.
Redefine already owns the other 50% of the mall.
Hyprop gained 40c, or 0,7%, to R57,90 while Redefine lost 1c, or 0,12%, to R8,10 yesterday.
The Independence Day Celebration for this year will be held in front of the government building in Apia. This was confirmed by the Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi.
Last year, the celebration was held at Tuanaimato.
However, this year, all the activities of the special day will be held in front of the government building.
According to Tuilaepa, this is not the first time an Independence Day celebration is going to be held in front of the government building. Back in 1991, we had the celebration in front of the government building so the idea to have it in front of government building is not new.
The reason why we are not having it at Tuanaimato is because the United Nations are moving to Tuanaimato.
This means that there will be a lot of offices and work done at Tuanaimato.
Asked to elaborate on the plans for this years celebration, he said we will have to wait until it is closer to June.
We will discuss that when its closer to the celebration but we are looking at having more games like the Sevens, weightlifting and others.
A total of 1680 students of The University of the South Pacific (USP) graduated at the Vodafone Arena in Laucala, Suva on 31 March, 2017, the highest number ever recorded in the history of the University.
Fifty- seven per cent (57%) of the graduands were females.
This year, the graduation was held in two parts, the morning session and the afternoon session.
The first session held in the morning was for graduates of the Faculty of Arts, Law and Education (FALE), Faculty of Science, Technology and Environment (FSTE) and the Pacific Technical and Further Education (Pacific TAFE).
The Faculty of Business and Economics graduation was the second part of the ceremony which was held in the afternoon.
Professor Derrick Armstrong, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research, Innovation and International welcomed everyone to the ceremony and extended a special welcome to Honourable Henry Puna, USPs 23rd Chancellor, the Prime Minister of Cook Islands. HonourablePuna awarded and conferred the academic qualifications.
The graduates were from twenty-four (24) countries, some of which are non-regional including Australia, Belize, Canada, Eritrea, Germany, Guyana, India, Korea, New Zealand, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Saint Lucia, Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom.
Professor Armstrong congratulated the graduates saying they had done exceptionally well and made a fantastic achievement at the conclusion of one of the greatest chapters of their lives.
After today, you will begin a new journey. The knowledge and experience you have gained in your journey at the University these past years will have prepared you well to step into the work environment anywhere in the world, he told them.
The essence of excellence is to continue dreaming and working towards success. The world awaits you. You have many successes to achieve through the integrity, good ethics, vision, humility and compassion instilled in you by the University, he stated.
Professor Armstrong said he hoped they maintained the network with their colleagues, which they have established at the University.
We also hope that you will stay connected to your alma-mater through the Alumni Network and be involved in University events. You now join over 47, 000 USP alumni worldwide. I wish to see all of you registered as Alumni to continue receiving benefits, he stated.
Professor Armstrong said they deserved to celebrate as they had all worked hard, sacrificed, and persevered.
Remember to thank those who have supported you so far, your parents and families, sponsors, lecturers and tutors without whose support, you would not have reached this far, he advised.
Highlighting the Universitys achievements, Professor Armstrong said USP is currently in the fifth year of its current Strategic Plan, which is guiding the University in its quest to become an excellent institution that delivers outstanding results for the Pacific Island region.
USPs current enrollment stands at around 27,000, demonstrating the recognition of its qualifications by everyone in the region and by people from outside the region, who choose USP as their University, he remarked.
Professor Armstrong said the value of the certificates, diplomas and degrees that graduates received has been increasing steadily as the University continues its efforts to improve its quality and reputation through international accreditations of its programmes.
USP has now achieved a total number of eighteen (18) international accreditations and two (2) recognitions, including accreditations for our Bachelor of Engineering programmes from the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ), the Bachelor of Software Engineering and the Bachelor of Net Centric Computing both of which have received its accreditation from The Australian Computer Society.
Pacific TAFE has also achieved accreditations in Hospitality Operations, Early Childhood Education & Care, Community Development, Project Management Practice, and Commercial Cookery.
He mentioned that some of USPs students had shown remarkable achievement and received wide recognition particularly with the invention of a mobility aid Eye-cane for blind and the invention of a Portable Wave-Solar Energy Harvesting Device, which presents the concept of a low cost wave-solar generation for Pacific Island Countries.
With regards to the 50th Anniversary preparations, Professor Armstrong said 2018 will mark a very important milestone in the history of the University and he invited everyone to be a part of the celebration of its achievements and regionality.
Finally, he acknowledged USPs member governments, development partners and friends for their continuous support. He also thanked the University Council and its Committees, Senate and Senior Management, staff and students for their support in transforming and reforming USP from a good to an excellent University.
What looked like a bleak future for a young street vendor, has turned into an inspiring story of hard work and success.
By taking risks but sticking to what he loves best, Upega Sooalo, a 23-year-old from the villages of Tufulele and Samauga, Savaii has turned his life around.
He hopes his story will inspire other young people of Samoa especially when faced with making life-changing decisions.
It all started when he was a young boy growing up in a humble family; a family which did not have much in life and who relied on selling products in the streets to get by.
Young Upega was one of the kids who was sent out by his parents to earn a living.
Even though he didnt come to Apia to do this, he went through every road of Tufulele to sell.
You name it. There were fans, peas, pumpkins, isalaelu in order to help put him through school and to earn money for his family.
Life was hard and being a street vendor has had an impact on my life - the good and the bad, he admitted.
I went to Primary School at Tufulele and then I came to Leulumoega Fou College.
But, I wasnt really into school because my heart and mind was somewhere else where I didnt know back then.
I saw my parents struggle with so many things as well as school commitments for my siblings and for me.
Upega says he remembers it just like yesterday and particularly the most difficult times of his life in school.
That was when it was time for our English class.
My habit back then was that when our English teacher would come in, I would make an excuse to go to the bathroom and I would sit in the bathroom until the period finished.
I guess my teacher knew what I was doing because sometimes she would not allow me to go and thats when I struggled badly.
When she talked to me in English it was like I was listening to a ghost and all I could see was her lips moving but I just could not understand what in the world she was talking about.
Thats how school life was for me and it kind of made me lose interest.
Upega said as the years went by, he didnt want to go to school anymore.
In 2011, I had a friend who at the time, was a fire dancer at the Siva Afi Vaelaa Iloa.
He brought me with him to Siva Afi and thats when I started to join in with the group there.
I actually felt like I had found a place where I belonged and nobody would judge me or scold me.
So I started to learn how to become a fire knife dancer, I was actually serious about something in my life for the first time.
I was learning all the basics of becoming a dancer and my mentor, Leota Lene Leota saw something in me and he pushed me hard to be the best.
Upega said learning to become a dancer was far from easy.
There were four of us around at that time but then the other two gave up so that just left me and my friend Vaelaa.
Now I would be bringing my products here to Apia to sell so that it would be convenient for me to come and practice at the same time.
It was also hard because Leota was very strict and lots of times I felt like giving up but somehow I just I couldnt; no matter how much I thought about it.
It was even harder when my parents found out I was a fire dancer, especially my mother.
She would sasa me and tell me that this would not get me anywhere. She tried to stop me but she couldnt because I was actually falling in love with what I was doing.
Before the end of 2011, I took part in my first competition. Even though I didnt win it didnt stop me, I was happy because I could see myself in the next years of my life doing this professionally.
Then come 2013. I joined the Teuila Festival competition. I was able to make it to the final and that gave me more courage and the determination to keep on doing what I was doing.
As the year went by, he started to be noticed and resorts and hotels called up for him to perform in their shows.
The first hotel that called me up was Aggie Greys Hotel. I performed there and then that led to my first trip to Australia, he said.
I started performing there and I was over the moon because who knew that fire dancing would help me travel to other countries?
After that competition I came back and then I wanted to go study in the Fitness Marine in Australia in 2015.
After my studies I came back last year, but as I was studying, fire dancing had never left me because I was so passionate about it and I knew this was the talent that I had always had in me but never knew about.
All of last year, I was dancing and then through facebook I met the love of my life who is now my wife.
So you see life has taken so many unexpected turns and it has blessed me in so many ways.
Not only has it made me famous and helped my family but it also gave me a beautiful Californian wife.
This coming Tuesday I will be competing in the Faletalimalo Siva Afi Challenge where I will be going up against Analei Faamasino.
Were both representing Taumeasina Island Resort and so I am looking forward to the competition.
And while Upega has totally embraced the opportunities that have come his way, they would never have been available to him but for one man; Siva Afis, Leota Lene Leota.
You know if it wasnt for him I know I would still be selling things on the street now, he said.
But he saw that I had potential and he took me in and trained me to be the best.
Now I have travelled the world and Im married to a palagi.
Who would have thought?
The Apia Vikaliatu visited the Home of the Aged at Mapu-i-fagalele yesterday bearing gifts and food.
The four parishes within the Vikaliatu region include, Matautu and Leone, St Anthony, Taufusi, Togafuafua, Saleufi and Vaimoso.
Father Losi Numia told the Samoa Observer the donation is an ongoing programme of their youth.
We are in Lent season, so the three pillar of Lent are, give, prayer and fasting, Father Losi said.
Having the opportunity to walk the talk and act on it is very important on our spiritual walk, for actions speak louder than words.
This is something we do every year and we pray God protect those people in care at Mapuifagalele and add more years to their lives.
The Sisters at the Home of the Aged expressed their heartfelt thanks to the Vikaliatu Apia for their generous donation.
Toeupu Faigalotu from the village of Savaii Fagasa Sataua has a dream.
He doesnt want his grown up children to continue the life of hardship he has had to bear.
Aged 29, he is now residing at Nuu Fou with his family and he has had to look for a job so that he can make a few tala to provide for his children and put them through school.
He dreams of earning money to put his 10 and 8 year old daughters through school so that they will have better lives than the one he has.
My girls used to go school in Savaii where we first lived but since we moved here they havent been to school, because at the moment we are trying to settle down first.
While we were in Savaii I worked hard in my plantation so that I could put my children through school, Toeupu told the Village Voice.
I have three beautiful girls they are everything to me, to tell you the truth, its so hard seeing them at home while every other kid in the village is at school.
Toeupu says that all he dreams about is working to put his girls to school.
My main motivation to earn money is so that my children spend time in classrooms and not around the house.
We struggle and Im trying my very best so that they will be in school to give them a good future.
He wanted his children to notice the struggle he faces.
I want them to notice how hard it is for their parents and I dont ever want to see them struggle like we do.
Thats all I wish for; I want them to live happily.
Last Wednesday Toeupu started working at the Princessa Shop at Vailoa.
I know I can do very little with the cost of living being so expensive.
I havent got my pay yet because I just started working last Wednesday and I hope I will be able to put my children next week into school.
Many young people dream of achieving high qualifications from school in order to work in a formal office.
But for Edward Sheck, he chooses to be an altar boy.
We have different roles to play in our Catholic Church congregation.
What we do is we serve our Priest every Sunday during our Sunday services, he told Village Voice.We lead the service inside our church and walk together with our Priest.
Edward enjoys being a altar boy and is aiming to become a Priest in the future.
Ive enjoy being an altar boy for seven years now. I first served when I was twelve years old, its important for me because I have to prepare myself for what God plans for me in the future.
It helps especially in our Christian lives as we grow older and we know what we want to do.
Im thankful for this opportunity to serve as an altar boy for my church and to make my family proud.
Edward is keen to share his views and motivate other young boys to become altar boys in the future.
Its not only for in the church, but you can also be a good example for others who may not want to follow in your footsteps.
What Im aiming for is to have a better job for the future caring for my family and developing my own.
Edward wants to become a doctor in the future.
As of now, I attend the University hoping that my dream of becoming a doctor will be successful so that I can help my family and my parents.
I used to be a part-time worker at Bluebird. I want to earn some more money helping out my family in any way I can.
Edward encourages others to choose what is right for them to achieve and have for the future.
Being an altar boy and a student at the same time is not easy but youve got to work hard and have a kind heart for your own good.
If you dont work and all you do is depend on others to take care of you, then you will get nowhere in this life.
A father from the village of Laulii, Adrian Faletuai told the Village Voice that the cost of living is expensive and its such a pain but work is the answer.
My family does well. We have good access to water, our electricity is good and pretty much everything is running smoothly, he said
I have seven children and they are all in school.
I worked in New Zealand at a slaughterhouse and that was basically my familys source of income and it covered the expenses for the childrens schools.
At the moment, Im on a break from my job and we are to go back in about a month.
Youve found me at this time, working the plantation to earn some money, and as you can see, this is how Im spending my break.
My work in New Zealand is not easy. I always miss my family here when Im away but thats how it should be if we need money.
So even if I really miss my children and family, I try to be patient and focus on working hard because this is all for the good of the family.
My only hope is for my children to have better futures as well as having enough money to pay for what they need for school and other things.
This father said he always looks forward to working in his plantation whenever he plans to come back to Samoa.
The plantation makes good money and its a good source of money, which is why I always work in the plantation when I come here.
I think Im also used to how life was back where we turn to plantations for everything we need.
I believe before we receive all these blessings, most people have plantations to provide for them. That is why Im spending as much time as I can here before I go back.
Im thankful to God for the strength and good thoughts he has given us in taking care of our families.
This is why I work hard, because the future of my family matters to me, especially the future of my children.
This life is not easy anymore.
Working hard is the only way to get out of a life of struggle.
The Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of a pastor of the E.F.K.S Church who took the Churchs Elders Committee to Court over their decision to remove him from a senior position of leadership.
Reverend Kerita Reupena, who is represented by lawyer Leuluaialii Olinda Woodroffe, was unsuccessful in his initial lawsuit.
Hence the appeal which was heard last week by Justice Blanchard, Justice Panckhurst and Justice Tafaoimalo Leilani Tuala-Warren.
In their ruling, the Court of Appeal said the Elders Committees decision to remove Rev. Reupena from the role in Queensland was unlawful.
We find that the Directors Committee did not conduct itself in accordance with the principles of natural justice, the ruling reads.
It did not afford Rev. Reupena a fair hearing. At the crucial meeting on 11 March 2015 Rev. Reupena was not permitted to speak in his own defence before the decision to recommend his removal was made.
It is true that the Committee followed its usual procedure but that procedure is quite unsatisfactory and creates an unfairness that is not, in our view, remedied by affording the person whose conduct is under consideration an opportunity of speaking only after the decision (to remove) has already been made.
The Chief Justice recorded at [33] of his judgment: The [appellant] was not present at the time of the discussions and deliberations because he had been excused from the meeting. So he could not have been aware of what was actually discussed in the meeting and the reasons for the decisions.
That, with all due respect to the Committee, was unfair. It may well be, as the Chief Justice found, that the appellant knew what was the burning issue but he would have had no idea about the particular allegations being raised at the meeting, which possibly he may have been able to answer.
He was entitled to hear the case against him and to respond to it. Once he had been given that opportunity it was of course permissible for the appellant to be excluded while the actual decision-making discussion occurred.
But it was quite wrong for the decision to be made before the appellant had the opportunity to be heard. There are obvious difficulties in persuading people in authority who have already made up their collective mind to change it after a decision is made.
Normally once a court has set aside a decision on such a ground it will order that the decision should be re-considered in a proper process.
But Mrs. Woodroffe advised us that her client accepted that matters have moved on to such a degree that this is no longer a realistic course.
Once the interim injunction was discharged the division of the Queensland District proceeded. New Elder Ministers have been elected and confirmed in office.
Moreover, the courts are reluctant to order reinstatement to office in a situation where it is clear that there is a loss of trust and confidence in each side, as is evident here.
The orders of the Court are as follows:
(a) The appeal in CA 11/16 is allowed;
(b) It is declared that the removal of the appellant from the District was unlawful because his right to observance of the principles of natural justice was not honoured by the Directors Committee;
(c) Costs are reserved. The parties may file memoranda as to costs within 20 working days of delivery of this judgment.
In a judgment delivered in the Supreme Court on 3 August 2016 (Reupena v Senara [2016] WSSC 140) Chief Justice Sapolu dismissed Rev. Reupenas claim against the members of the Directors Sub-Committee of the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa that he had been unlawfully dismissed from his position as Elder Minister of the Queensland District of the Church.
The Chief Justice discharged an interim injunction that had until the trial prevented the Church from dividing that District and appointing new Elder Ministers for the separate areas.
According to Rev. Reupenas appeal, he challenged the Chief Justices conclusions that the dispute between the parties was not justiciable in the Samoan Courts and that, even if it were, the Constitution of the Church permitted the dismissal in the particular circumstances and a proper procedure, compliant with the principles of natural justice, had been followed.
It is also alleged that the Chief Justice was motivated by actual bias in making his decision or that there was apparent bias.
The appellant also applied to the Supreme Court for recall of the judgment again alleging actual or apparent bias on the part of the Chief Justice. However, at a call over, the Chief Justice declined to hear the recall application and peremptorily dismissed it.
Rev. Reupenas lawyer, Leuaialii Olind Woodroffe said the ruling is very important for members of the church.
This case now affirms that church members have rights that cannot be trodden on by Church Ministers holding position of powers in church hierarchy. On behalf of Reverend Reupena, I argued strongly that Samoa Courts, do not have to follow what the Chief Justice Sapolu said the traditional approach, she said.
Samoa Courts must follow modern global development relating to Church matters. when people are mistreated by those in power, in church disputes. I said that my clients rights to natural justice were breached, and I said very clearly to the Court of Appeal that the Chief Justice of Samoas statement that Samoa follows a traditional approach in church matter is wrong.
I argued strongly that Samoa is not a country that is living in the dark ages, we are intelligent human beings, we know our rights, and we form part of the global world.
I moved on to argue that the Church Ministers who act as if they are Gods, were acting illegally, and this must stop!
I effectively argued that the archaic views that decisions by faifeaus who call themselves Elders Committee of E.F.K.S, cannot be challenged in the law of Samoa, is unacceptable in todays world .
This main argument has now changed the Law of Samoa relating to church matters. It is now accepted in Samoa that anyone who has been unfairly and unlawfully treated by a church organisation, such as what happened to Rev Kerita Reupena, can bring a legal action in Court.
The ruling will be published in full start tomorrow.
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An emergency medical team led by local doctor, now working in New Zealand, Dr. Loana Tanielu, was in Samoa last week.
They provided much-needed training and teaching for the National Health Service Emergency Department team and the final year medical students from the faculty of Medicine, National University of Samoa.
Dr. Tanielu was raised and educated in Samoa attending Samoa College before going overseas to train as a doctor.
She is now an Emergency Medicine Specialist at Middlemore Hospital, passionate about Pacific Health discrepancies and is involved in initiatives looking at ways to improve this, not only in New Zealand but here in Samoa also.
She is committed to developing Emergency medicine in Samoa and sees this as critical with the emergency department being the first contact specialty for any hospital and thus the place where people begin their relationship with the hospital system.
The care provided in E.D. is a priority for any hospital.
Dr. Tanielu has been in close contact with friends and colleagues working in Samoa, herself being a member of the Samoan Medical association and after discussions with clinical colleagues put together a team of like minded individuals to come and address some of the issues that have been shared with her.
This included some teaching with the final year F.O.M.` medical students who participated in the week long training.
Accompanying her last week were Dr. Joanne Cole, an emergency specialist at Tauranga Hospital. Dr. Cole is dual trained in paediatric emergency medicine also and has long been passionate about medical teaching, childrens medicine and development of Emergency medicine in Samoa also.
Dr. Cole lived in Samoa as a child while her parents worked here and has always wanted to come back and contribute to the community.
Also with the team was Vernon Chungson, an experienced intensive care and emergency medicine nurse who has worked extensively in this field for many years, and Julie Chamberlain, also an emergency medicine nurse.
Vernon and Julie are both of Samoan descent and passionate to support developing training in emergency medicine here in Samoa both for doctors and nurses.
The team would love to make this an annual commitment and are looking for ways to do this. For this visit they all took annual leave and paid their own fares and accommodation to give back to Samoa.
With support, either by airfares or accommodation, they all shared they would happily come back annually to teach these emergency medicine skills and they are confident they would be able to bring back more people to assist and resources to support this teaching and the skills taught for those learning, to be confident to use these after they have gone.
Some participants of this week long training commented that this training was invaluable and very much needed.
Some shared that this support is what is missing and with the department having human resource issues, having a Samoan Emergency medicine specialist come back to Samoa and share this knowledge empowered them to do their work as best they can.
All who attended were hopeful the team could come back and share these skills again.
The elderly father caught up with the Village Voice yesterday while he was doing some chores around the house.
While he said life is generally good in his village, his one concern was the road to his house.
We want this road fixed, he said.
Its been a year now since they had it fixed only because the E.P.C project needed our water for power, which were thankful for that.
However we are concerned because it hasnt been fixed properly for a long time now.
As a result, that dust coming from the road during sunny days is totally bad for our health. Sometimes hanging our washing out to dry only comes back dirtier.
When it rains heavily, its worse because of the dirt.
The elderly calls on the government to fix the road.
Im concerned because of the health of my children and the things in the house which get ruined from all the dust.
I know this problem doesnt happen in just one village in Samoa but we just really need help.
We need better access roads and if access roads are not good it will be hard for us to make a living every day.
Nguyen Linhs mother blames her daughter for an addiction that started seven years ago.
The older woman, on a visit to Nguyens home in Washington, couldnt get enough of that fresh, garlicky taste tinged with heat and sugar. She stashed five bottles in her suitcase on the flight back to Vietnam.
When Nguyens mother-in-law flew in last year, she requested it at almost every meal.
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Sriracha commands a fervent following in the United States. Fans make movies about the stuff; five-star restaurants offer it. That euphoria is spreading to Southeast Asia, where a chili sauce created nearly four decades ago by a Vietnamese immigrant in Los Angeles is suddenly filling shelves in Ho Chi Minh City. The ubiquitous American condiment, which traces its roots across the Pacific, is finally making its way back.
This plastic bottle debut tells the story of globalization, but it also speaks to the powerful melding of taste and nostalgia in a country that even more than most links identity with food.
Its one of few items that makes us feel like were at home, said Nguyen, 46, who works for the World Bank in Washington. Its really special.
The maker of the original Sriracha sauce never trademarked his product, so rivals cannot only duplicate the sauce, but also label it Sriracha. (Jessica Meyers / Los Angeles Times)
Finger-shaped red and green chilies accompany dishes in Vietnam, a nation that prides itself on fresh herbs and balanced flavors. President Obama dutifully dropped the scorching ringlets into his bowl of rice noodles and grilled pork while dining at a Hanoi street-side restaurant last year with chef Anthony Bourdain.
People eat together in the tropical air. The scents of mint and fermented fish sauce cling to outdoor tables and short plastic stools.
Such tastes influenced David Tran, who started producing a peppery marinade 42 years ago in Vietnam. A major in the South Vietnamese army, he fled the country after it fell under Communist rule and Saigon officially took the name Ho Chi Minh City.
Tran settled in L.A., where he was determined to make a concoction colorful and fiery enough to satisfy the Southeast Asian population filing into the city. He named his company Huy Fong Foods, after the freighter that sailed him out of Vietnam.
We started this because we like fresh, spicy chili sauce, Tran said, in a mission statement of sorts on the companys website.
He made his first sauces by hand in a bucket. Tran called one Sriracha, a version of the Si Racha chili sauce that traces back to a coastal town in Thailand. His had a deep red hue, a thick river of garlic, distilled vinegar and jalapeno peppers poured into a plastic bottle with a green top and a rooster logo. The rest is history.
They wanted some authentic Sriracha and all I could say was, sir-what-cha? Tour guide Vo Vu
Huy Fong Foods credits its local distributor for pushing into Vietnam. Tran, in an email, said strict agricultural regulations in the U.S. make produce more safe to eat. The company directed sales questions to the distributor, C. Pacific Foods.
C. Pacifics Caroline Chang said the Norwalk business sold more than 57,000 bottles since it started working with a Vietnamese client last April.
It is exciting to see them move this much inventory, she said.
The bottles head to places like Phuong Ha Shop, a two-aisle store in downtown Ho Chi Minh City jammed with Heinz ketchup bottles, hoisin sauce and cat litter.
Lots of Vietnamese enjoy American Sriracha because its spicier and has more taste than the Thai version, said Diep Huong, a longtime employee there who estimates the store sells up to 20 boxes a month. The shop attracts foreigners for imports such as chocolate and biscuits, but she watches more Vietnamese buy Trans Sriracha.
The bottles nestle next to rivals: a fire-engine-red Thai one whose label looks remarkably similar save for a Buddha-type figure offering lobster on a tray, and Cholimexs Tuong Ot, a fruitier, less acidic Vietnamese hot sauce.
A 17-ounce bottle of American Sriracha costs nearly $5, around $2 more than the Thai version and five times as much as some Vietnamese hot sauce brands.
Tran is unusual in that he never trademarked his product, so rivals can not only duplicate the sauce, but also label it Sriracha.
My mom bought some out of nowhere and I just liked it, said Vu Duc, a 16-year-old student who like many in the U.S. had trouble explaining exactly why. He finished his iced coffee at a cafe and started thinking about dinner. When my mom makes chicken and theres no dipping sauce, its very boring. Im going to ask her to buy more.
Chili sauce is a controversial topic in a country where homemade dipping sauces are an essential part of many meals. Vietnamese take their food seriously. Restaurants fit into alleyways and drift onto sidewalks. Northerners consider additions to pho, the staple noodle soup, an act of corruption; southerners dump heaps of garnishes into their bowls.
Viet people love eating, said Vo Vu, who runs Saigon Street Eats, a food tour in Ho Chi Minh City, with his wife. You can see people are basically eating all day here. And we love talking about eating.
And yet Sriracha has not gone mainstream in Vietnam. The sauce received more online attention when it appeared in Thailand grocery stores in December than when it showed up on shelves here. Ho Chi Minh Citys tourist stands sell Starbucks T-shirts, but few market ones with rooster sauce logos. Connoisseurs can find bottles at larger grocery stores, but outdoor markets with fresh eggs and dried noodles dont stock it.
Some people have gotten used to eating Sriracha with pho, but I dont see it pushing out the other chili options in the Vietnamese kitchen, said Andrea Nguyen, who lives in Northern California and has written several books about Vietnamese food. Sriracha is not synonymous with Viet cooking. Its a Thai condiment.
Many Vietnamese devotees first tasted the rooster sauce on trips to the United States. Tuan Le, who runs L.A.-themed Bunker Bed & Breakfast in a posh district near downtown Ho Chi Minh City, still carts Sriracha back in his suitcase.
You can get it here but people say its not the same, said Le, 31, who grew up in Los Angeles and named his hotel after Bunker Hill in downtown L.A. A California Republic bear flag greets visitors and a hipster courtyard diner offers chicken and waffles, with Sriracha available on the side.
But can a sauce whose origins come from one side of the Pacific make it big when it crosses back? Or is Sriracha an American phenomenon that Vietnamese will always view as a representation of somewhere else?
Vo, the food tour guide, first heard about the cock sauce four years ago while showing around Texans.
They wanted some authentic Sriracha and all I could say was, sir-what-cha?
Hes since found some. While Vo thinks the flavor is nice enough, he questions just how much it will catch on unless they make it more spicy.
Trans simple sauce has never followed convention. Vietnam, like everywhere else, is divided between fans and skeptics. Srirachas future success here rests on winning over some highly discerning palates.
With American Sriracha, the color is more vibrant and the taste richer, said Nguyen Ly, as she perused chili sauce bottles in the basement grocery store of a Ho Chi Minh City mall.
The 22-year-old engineering student tested a dribble in the U.S. and has hunted for it ever since. I dont use the Vietnamese [hot sauce] because it doesnt taste quite the same, she said.
Nguyen once more eyed four rows of glistening red juice, infused with everything from sweet chili to white vinegar, absent of Trans Sriracha.
She turned the cart and made her way down the aisle.
Meyers is a special correspondent.
As Mayor Kevin Faulconers convention center ballot initiative kicked off Monday, one thing was missing from the plans city control of the land where an expansion would occur.
In fact, developers of a luxury bayfront hotel proposed for the site have sued the San Diego Convention Center, accusing the city-owned nonprofit agency of interfering in their permitting process.
Fifth Avenue Landing, the company that controls the five acres along San Diego Bay where Faulconer wants to expand the citys showcase meeting space, claims in the lawsuit that convention center officials are undermining plans for a 4-star, $300 million hotel.
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Plaintiff believes that defendant has been taking actions designed to prevent plaintiff from satisfying its contractual obligations, states the suit, filed last month in San Diego Superior Court.
Faulconers November ballot initiative would raise hotel taxes to generate up to $685 million pay for an expanded convention center. Some of the new revenue would fund efforts to improve roads and reduce homelessness.
Faulconer spokesman Matt Awbrey said the ballot measure is the latest step in a yearslong quest to expand the convention center. More meeting space will help San Diego retain Comic-Con over coming years and attract other large events, he said.
Securing funding while working toward a resolution on the property can happen concurrently, and is very common for large public projects, Awbrey wrote in an email.
Convention Center officials declined to comment on the allegations, citing the ongoing litigation.
It is our policy not to comment on legal matters, spokeswoman Barbara Moreno wrote in an email. Appreciate your understanding.
The lawsuit, scheduled for an August hearing before Judge Joel R. Wohlfeil, raises the stakes in a deepening dispute between the Mayors Office and Fifth Avenue Landing partners Ray Carpenter and Art Engel.
Karen Frostrom, one of the Fifth Avenue Landing attorneys, said the mayor and convention officials had plenty of time to expand the center between 2010 and 2015, when they controlled the property under a sublease with Fifth Avenue.
She said the November vote proposal would help run out the clock on her clients lease with the Port of San Diego, which expires in just over seven years.
Our worry is that everybody is kind of lying in wait, she said. If they get it on the ballot, then they are just kind of timing out until 2024.
Fifth Avenue Landing has held the lease next to the convention center for decades and first proposed a hotel on the property more than 10 years ago.
The company secured the required permits in 2007 but was unable to finance the project during the subsequent recession.
In 2010, Fifth Avenue Landing agreed to transfer its Port of San Diego leasehold to the convention center in exchange for interest payments and a $12.5 million balloon payment in 2015.
But the expansion effort stalled after a judge ruled that the hotel tax proposed by the city then was unconstitutional. The convention center defaulted and the lease, which reverted to Fifth Avenue Landing.
A condition in the 2015 amended lease required the company to submit hotel-development plans to the port within one year, a deadline the company met early last year.
Fifth Avenue Landing has now partnered with The Robert Green Co. to build a luxury hotel rising 44 floors above the bay.
The partnership, which has invested millions of dollars in the project to date, will seek an extension of up to 66 years once building permits are approved.
The lawsuit also accuses the Convention Center of mishandling a 2016 public-records request by allowing board member Stephen Cushmans personal attorney to examine documents before they were released publicly and by improperly withholding emails he sent or received on a private account.
According to the California constitution, all people have the right to obtain the writings of public official(s) and agencies to serve the critical function of openness in government, the suit says.
Allegations in the lawsuit stem from the convention centers response to a records request Frostrom filed for her clients last year. The agency turned over thousands of pages of documents, but the Fifth Avenue Landing attorney thinks the most pertinent emails may have been withheld.
We see a lot of emails from people to Cushman, and then he responds, she said. But we see no emails originating from his personal cushnet.net address. I have nothing that would show me what he initiated.
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jeff.mcdonald@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1708 @sdutMcDonald
When UC San Diego computer science professor Yuanyuan Zhou took students to technology/academic conferences, she noticed that they often struggled to meet people, despite her urging that it was important for their job searches and careers.
That motivated Zhou, who holds the Qualcomm Endowed Chair in Mobile Computing, to find a solution. She and three former UCSD Ph.D. students created a mobile app targeted at business events, academic meetings and conventions that puts an emphasis on helping attendees link up.
We are using geeky ways to help geeks like us to know how to socialize at events, said Zhou.
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Whova, launched in 2014, now has been used at more than 3,000 gatherings with 350,000 participants in 80 countries, including events put on by the Rockefeller Foundation, MIT, Mitsubishi, the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Energy Services Companies and the American Marketing Association.
A little over a year ago, the company raised $6 million from Ivy Capital, Amino Ventures, Oriza Ventures and a few Silicon Valley angel investors. It employs about 20 full-time workers in Sorrento Valley.
Whova isnt alone in offering mobile apps for meetings, trade shows and conventions. DoubleDutch, Attendfly, QuickMobile, Guidebook and others also have apps targeting the market.
One of the things that has happened over the years is technology has taken a more prominent place at all of the shows, said Clifford Rip Rippetoe, head of the San Diego Convention Center. I would say a majority of the high-end shows would have an app that does (mapping) and lists the schedule. Fundamentally, the show organizer begins to save a ton of money on collateral material because you dont have to print all the show guides.
Like other apps on the market, Whova provides agendas, maps and logistics for each event. But the company tries to set itself apart through networking features to help attendees meet each other.
Those features include LinkedIn and other social media profiles, as well as articles published, a photo and other information, for each attendee. Event organizers simply provide the name and email addresses to the Whova dashboard. Its data analytics technology scours the Internet to provide the background.
It provides event attendees insights about each other so that they can plan in advance whom they want to meet at the event, said Zhou.
The company also lets attendees message and chat through the app before, during and after the event. Users also can upload paper business cards to the app by snapping a picture with the smartphone camera.
We focused on event engagement and networking and created a lot of unique features that competitors never had, and it is hard for them to catch up, said Weiwei Xiong, one of Whovas co-founders.
The app is free to smartphone users. Whova makes money by charging event organizers to access it. Along with Xiong and Zhou, who is Whovas chief executive, Soyeon Park and Tianwei Sheng co-founded the company.
There is no recent data about the size of the meeting market in the U.S. But a 2011 study by the Convention Industry Council and PricewaterhouseCoopers estimate that nearly 1.8 million meetings, conventions, trade shows and the like took place in the U.S., with about 205 million total participants.
Zhou previously founded three companies. Her last venture, Pattern Insight, was acquired by VMWare in 2012.
Whova has been growing fast over the past year, with about 10 times the number of events using the app in 2015 over the prior year. Jayrell Ringpis, organizer of Startup Weekend, liked the way Whova helped attendees make contact with each other.
Our favorite feature was automatically having each of the attendees profiles and pictures readily available, he said in a blog post. Collaboration between our participants has never been higher.
Bright orange shirts dotted Ballantyne Street in El Cajon as nearly 400 volunteers sweated in the sunshine with hammers and paintbrushes in hand, constructing walls and playhouses for veterans and their families.
The volunteers, some of whom came from as far away as New York and Atlanta, were members of Team Depot, employees of The Home Depot.
The men and women set up shop in the parking lot at the Heartland Masonic Temple on March 29 as part of a project for Habitat for Humanity.
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The volunteers built walls for five homes and painted 25 custom playhouses. The homes will go up in the 500 block of Ballantyne within a year. The playhouses are already ready to go, headed for the yards of children of veterans throughout San Diego County.
Volunteers also assembled 250 wellness kits for homeless veterans in San Diego County.
The kits included vouchers for two free MTS bus rides, a reusable plastic water bottle with Habitat For Humanity printed on it, toothpaste, lip balm, a sewing kit, hygiene products, sunscreen, a first-aid kit and snack bars, all inside a bright orange drawstring bag.
The kits also included a hand-written card with a heart on the front signed by a volunteer. Thank you for your service, read one. Know how much it is appreciated and admired. Thanks, Ryan.
The city of El Cajon earmarked $1 million to San Diego Habitat for Humanity toward the homes on Ballantyne, including property acquisition and development.
Lori Holt Pfeiler, president and CEO of San Diego Habitat for Humanity, said the citys financial commitment would allow an affordable price for the veterans who are approved to buy a home. She said the cost of each home would be about $200,000.
Through the project, Jonathan Olayo, his wife, Sarah, and their three children will become first-time homeowners in El Cajon. Olayo served four years in the U.S. Marine Corps during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The family currently lives in a two-bedroom apartment in Chula Vista.
My sister lives right down the street, Sarah Olayo said. It will be great living near her. Already, seeing the people come out and build these, and knowing we will be living in one of the homes one day makes me very emotional.
The Home Depot Foundation has done similar projects in other areas of the United States for years. Habitat For Humanity held a similar home build in El Cajon 2015 that featured an appearance from hometown hero and NASCAR star Jimmie Johnson. Homes were also built in the city in 2009, backed by Johnsons charity foundation.
Shannon Gerber, executive director of Home Depots foundation, said more than 35,000 of the companys associates have served in the military.
Giving back is one of our core values, Gerber said. We know theres a huge veteran population in San Diego County and a great need.
Four possible designs were unveiled last week for a new Coast Highway bridge to replace the deteriorating steel structure built in 1929 across the San Luis Rey River, just south of Harbor Drive in Oceanside.
Three of the designs are variations of a girder structure, with different numbers and styles of support columns, but all similar to the adjacent Interstate 5 bridge. The fourth design is a series of arches unlike the freeway bridge.
Anyone expecting a replica of San Franciscos soaring Golden Gate Bridge will be disappointed. All of the proposed Oceanside designs place the support structures below the surface of the road, so that most of the bridge cant be seen by anyone crossing it.
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It will be safer, whichever design is chosen, said Richard Greenbauer, the project manager for the city. The existing bridge was to have a seismic retrofit in the 1990s, but it was never done.
Now, because of the bridges advanced age, the replacement project recently moved higher on a list of priorities and federal money is available for the project. Construction alone is expected to cost $18 million to $22 million, and additional expenses such as engineering and the detours required during construction could push the total to $30 million.
Draft environmental documents are being prepared and could be presented to the Oceanside City Council this summer. Construction is scheduled to begin in late 2019 and be completed in 2021.
Two possible locations are being considered.
One is the present site, where the bridge could be rebuilt with less additional right-of-way, but would require extensive detours during the lengthy construction.
The other possibility is to build the new bridge 50 or 60 feet to the west. That would cost more for additional right-of-way, but less for the detour, because the existing bridge could continue to be used during most of the construction.
Those are among the many factors, along with public comments and opinions, that the City Council will need to consider in choosing the site and design for the bridge, said Anthony Sanchez of Moffatt and Nichol in San Diego, part of the design team. The city is the lead agency on the project.
That bridge needs to be replaced, Councilman Jerry Kern said Friday.
Kern said he hadnt seen the latest proposed designs, but hed prefer the new location to avoid any extended detour during construction.
Oceanside native John Daley, who ran the 101 Cafe on Coast Highway for 30 years, said hed prefer to keep the existing bridge.
I walk on it five times a week, so it seems OK to me, he said. Daley compared the bridge to the Oceanside pier, where the city is spending more than $1 million to refurbish the concrete approach ramp built in 1926.
Thats one of the few remaining metal bridges, he said. With proper maintenance it could last another 20 or 30 years, preserving another historic element of the city.
All the designs proposed for the new bridge are fairly standard for California highways, Sanchez said. That helps to simplify construction and keep maintenance and other costs down.
The new bridge will have two lanes the same width as those on the existing structure, Sanchez said. It also will have a single sidewalk on the western side. However, on the new bridge it will be wider.
Instead of the existing 6-foot sidewalk, the new one will be 10 to 12 feet wide with a 32-inch-high concrete barrier to separate pedestrians from vehicles, he said.
Also, the new bridge will have enclosed spaces beneath the deck to carry the water, sewer and electrical lines that are now exposed beneath the old steel trusses.
The popular San Luis Rey River trail, which goes seven miles inland along the river, is expected to remain open beneath the bridge throughout construction.
The existing bridge was at least the second on or near the spot. A 690-foot-long series of six concrete arches was built across the river in 1911. It was badly damaged by floods in 1916, and soon after that it was destroyed to make way for the present bridge.
Visitors to downtown Carlsbad someday might be able to hop aboard a trolley to get to Legoland, a nearby shopping mall, or maybe the state beach campground.
City officials say a trolley system could be a boon to tourists and locals who flood the citys coastal neighborhoods during the spring and summer, helping them avoid the downtown parking crunch and get to popular shops and restaurants, as well as the nearby beach. It wouldnt be cable car system like San Francisco or a light-rail like San Diegos colorful trolley, but something smaller and suitable for Carlsbads low-key vibe.
This is a rubber-tire type trolley, said Mayor Matt Hall. This isnt where we are putting tracks down.
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Still, that doesnt mean the city is ready to start shopping for trams. Last week, the Carlsbad City Council agreed only to spend up to $130,300 to study the trolley idea, hiring consulting firm Kimley-Horn and Associates to complete the work. The company, has offices in San Diego and across the United States.
Trolley services could address several needs within downtown Carlsbad and along the citys coast by reducing the need for parking, giving visitors a better experience, and helping to meet the need for mobility hubs, according to a staff report. Mobility hubs allow people to move from one form of transportation to another.
If we can encourage people to park once, but have options to go to multiple amenities, that can allow them to spend a whole day ... parking once, said Elaine Lukey, the citys public works director. They could walk, or they could bike, or they could use the trolley.
The only other trolley system in the county is a light-rail system operated by the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System. It opened in 1981 and now covers about 60 miles with 53 stations on four lines in San Diego and portions of El Cajon and National City.
North County Transit District operates a light-rail commuter system along the coast between San Diego and Oceanside, and inland between Oceanside and Escondido. Carlsbads proposed trolley system probably would link to that system as part of what the city has said would be a multi-modal transportation system.
Trolleys would be a great way to help tourists get around the crowded village, said Marco Briseno, a wine-tasting associate for Witch Creek Winery at Carlsbad Boulevard and Grand Avenue.
Its a great idea, Briseno said. It would be a big improvement. In any coastal city you go to it can be frustrating to move around in a car. Public transit tends to alleviate that problem.
Still, some thought the council was too quick to approve the study.
Its probably a waste of money, said Gary Nessim, a real estate agent active in the downtown Carlsbad Village Association, a nonprofit community improvement group. He said the trolley idea has surfaced before, but nothing ever came of it.
The feasibility study is intended to explain existing and needed infrastructure, equipment options, supply and demand, timing, budget, scope, and funding for a trolley program, officials said.
There are several alternatives as to how that might work, Hall said. It doesnt necessarily mean that the city of Carlsbad is going to get into the transportation business.
Council members voted 4-1 for the study, with Cori Schumacher opposed.
It seems a bit premature, she said, because the city is in the midst of a year-long study of downtown parking and the creation of a new Village-Barrio Master Plan.
Councilman Mark Packard, the citys representative to North County Transit District, said the agency has endorsed the plan, and that hes pleased the city is working on it.
The study is expected to outline an implementation plan, an analysis of alternatives, a look at existing conditions and needs, and ways to encourage public participation.
philip.diehl@sduniontribune.com
Twitter: @phildiehl
An undisclosed settlement has been reached in a lawsuit related to a November ballot measure that would have allowed more than 1,700 homes to be built east of Interstate 15 in Valley Center.
The lawsuit was filed in December by supporters of Proposition B the so-called Lilac Hills Ranch initiative seeking to recover $90,000 in attorneys fees they spent last year in a lawsuit challenging the proposed opposition statement to the ballot measure.
The plaintiffs claimed a number of facts in the ballot statement were false or misleading. After a day-long hearing in September, a judge ordered some of the wording changed but let other parts of the statement stand.
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In the follow-up lawsuit, the plaintiffs said that since some changes were ordered, the group behind the opposition argument should reimburse them for attorney fees.
On Monday, the two sides announced in a short joint statement that a settlement had been reached, but offered no further details.
With the campaign for Measure B concluded, both parties desired to resolve these claims, and have reached a settlement agreement that mutually absolves all parties from liability, the statement reads.
The campaign is over and we have no desire to continue litigating this matter, said Measure B supporter Paul Schumann in the statement.
Speaking for the other side, opponent Mark Jackson said: We are satisfied that this agreement resolves all outstanding litigation between opponents and supporters of Measure B. Its time to move on.
As a condition of the settlement, both sides agreed that there will be no additional comment beyond the written statement.
In the November election, Measure B failed in a countywide vote, 63.5 percent to 36.5 percent.
For years, Lilac Hills Ranch has been proposed for 608 acres of what is now mostly farmland roughly one mile east of Interstate 15, halfway between Escondido and Temecula.
Under current zoning regulations only 110 houses could be built on the land, so developer Accretive Investments needs an amendment to the countys General Plan in order to move forward with its project. Its unclear in the wake of Measure Bs defeat whether Accretive will return to the countys regular planning process to try to obtain that amendment.
jharry.jones@sduniontribune.com; 760/529-4931; Twitter: @jharryjones
Andrew Brennan, a young former Army pilot, got the idea while surrounded by bikers.
The Rolling Thunder motorcycle group roared through Albuquerque, New Mexico, while Brennan was there in 2014. Vietnam War veterans swirled around him, on their way to Washington, D.C., on an annual pilgrimage to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.
I was completely and utterly floored by the camaraderie of that group of veterans. It really begged the question in my mind: Whats my generation of veterans going to ride to? said Brennan, who flew combat missions in Afghanistan.
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Now, Brennan is leading a charge to build a monument to those who served in whats being called the Global War on Terror.
He and other veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars hope to raise up to $35 million, with the goal of putting a monument on the National Mall in Washington by 2024.
First they will have to buck federal law, which says a monument even wont be considered until at least 10 years after a war ends.
Thanks to the success of the 1982 Vietnam Wall memorial, they appear to have a chance. But roadblocks faced by veterans of past conflicts World War II, Korea and especially Desert Storm show that getting a new war-themed national monument can be, well, monumentally challenging.
Those struggles only further spur Brennan and his compatriots, who include former Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Mike Stevens.
We dont want to wait so long, Stevens said last week. The World War II monument was kind of a tragedy in itself. By the time we finished that memorial, a large population of those veterans had already passed. We have to learn from our mistakes.
The United States has erected monuments to its wars in upside-down order.
There was little momentum until the Vietnam Wall was erected on the National Mall with a dedication ceremony on Nov. 13, 1982.
We were the only game in town. People werent building other monuments, said Jan Scruggs, who led the three-year effort to make that memorial wall a reality.
His campaign resulted in a black, granite wall carved with the names of more than 58,000 Americans who were killed, captured or missing in action during that war.
Scruggs, an Army infantryman in Vietnam from 1969 to 1970, conceived the project as a way to heal. He was dealing with post-traumatic stress and had studied Carl Jungs theory of collective psychology.
The public debate over the look of the monument its black while other Washington monuments are white, its low-slung while other memorials are soaring installations almost stopped it in its tracks. Scruggs questions whether it could be done today, with social media serving as a bellows that pumps heat into any public dialogue.
On the other hand, Scruggs said in a recent interview with The San Diego Union-Tribune, technology may help young veterans communicate better about design issues.
These are millennials, said Scruggs, who is advising the Global War on Terror Memorial Foundation. They are so smart with technology. They will find ways to head off the problems we had.
The Korean War memorial came next.
Congress green-lighted the effort in 1986, but a federal lawsuit ensued over the design. The monument was eventually dedicated in 1995, on the 42nd anniversary of the armistice that ended that campaign.
The heart of the memorial is 19 larger-than-life statues meant to represent a U.S. platoon on patrol in Korea. The statues are dressed in full combat gear. When it snows, the tableau recalls the rugged, freezing conditions that American troops endured during that war.
Momentum toward a national World War II memorial starting in 1987 with legislation that ultimately failed to get traction. By 1993, the idea gained favor and President Bill Clinton signed the World War II Memorial Act.
But controversy arose over the proposed location for that monument. Influential opponents including several sitting U.S. senators were against disturbing the contemplative simplicity of the National Mall by adding more monuments.
On the other hand, groups such as the American Legion pledged that World War II veterans wouldnt have to settle for a second-rate location for their monument.
Finally, in 2004, the grand installation opened on the National Mall and has since attracted millions of visitors, including Honor Flights carrying World War II veterans from around the country keen to see the monument before they die.
Its 56 granite pillars represent the states and U.S. territories that sent troops to fight in Europe and the Pacific. A computer database at the site allows visitors to search for the names of those who served.
Still on the drawing board are national monuments to World War I and Desert Storm.
After much deal-making in Congress, a World War I monument is expected to be built in Pershing Park outside of the National Mall but in the District of Columbia.
Desert Storm veterans have been working since 2011 to secure their own place among the growing number of national monuments.
Last week, President Donald Trump signed a law that allows the National Desert Storm War Memorial to be located in Washingtons Area 1, which is outside the National Mall but nearby.
Now the federal monuments commission will choose a specific site, possibly one of the two spots favored by the Desert Storm committee. One is near the Lincoln Memorial and the other is across the Potomac near Arlington National Cemetery.
Organizers of the effort are feeling buoyed, said Cee Freeman, a Desert Storm veteran on the memorials board.
Having a site in hand should kickstart the groups fundraising, Freeman said. The goal is roughly $25 million, of which the Veterans of Foreign Wars has pledged $500,000.
Having recently passed the 25th anniversary of his war, the Desert Storm veteran said his advice to the Global War on Terror generation is to embrace patience.
Its very frustrating, yes, but it will be very rewarding, Freeman said. Things dont happen overnight in Washington. You are dealing with a national process.
He added, This is the biggest thing any of them will ever do, besides serving their country.
As mentioned, the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans face a unique challenge: Under current law, the monument process cant be officially initiated until 10 years after a wars close.
Backers such as Brennan said the law should bend to acknowledge the unique nature of the terrorism fight.
The war is not over. Every think tank in Washington will tell you its going to be a multi-generational effort, said Andrew Brennan, 32, who founded the nonprofit foundation in 2015.
Brennan said the important question is the intent of the law, which is the 1986 Commemorative Works Act.
The intent was not 10 years or 25 years. It was: Is this historically significant enough in the course of U.S. history to warrant permanent memorialization? Brennan said.
We are approaching 7,000 being killed, 52,000-plus wounded, over 250,000 veterans dealing with post-traumatic stress issues, and the fact that this war is our longest ... I think we have met the historic burden context, he added.
Last week, Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wisconsin, and Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Massachusetts, announced a bill that would appoint Brennans foundation as the designed group for the monument effort. It would also amend the existing 10-year rule to specify that a commemorative work can be considered immediately if a major conflict stretches on beyond a decade.
This is the second attempt at such legislation. A bill introduced last fall by former Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke, a retired Navy SEAL, died due to lack of action in the House. Zinke could, in theory, still be a powerful advocate in his new job as secretary of the interior.
Brennan said his group which includes political heavy-hitters such as retired four-star Army generals David Petraeus and George Casey is eyeing a spot on the banks of the Potomac River, not far from the Lincoln Memorial. Thats outside of the National Malls no-build reserve district. But no location is yet certain.
Similarly, Brennan said theres no way to guess what look the monument would have. He foresees a national competition to design the tribute, as is customary with past war monuments.
More than 2 million U.S. service members are estimated to have served in combat theaters since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that led to the invasion of Afghanistan. The United States invaded Iraq in 2003 to depose President Saddam Hussein and neutralize weapons caches that never materialized.
While major ground combat has concluded, U.S. troops remain behind in both places in an effort to quell extremism including the jihadist Islamic State group.
Roughly 30,000 post-9/11 veterans call the San Diego region home.
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The Legislature is poised to give Californians a chance to vote on a highly emotional and politically charged issue that has divided people across the country for decades affirmative action in higher education.
A proposed state constitutional amendment, dubbed SCA 5, would repeal portions of Proposition 209 that have banned the consideration of race, ethnicity and gender in public colleges recruitment, admissions and retention programs since 1998.
The Senate approved the measure last month, and the Assembly which also has a Democratic supermajority is set to consider the legislation soon. Passage in Sacramento would mean that voters could weigh in late this year or in 2015.
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California became the first state to ban the use of race and ethnicity in the admissions process for public colleges, as well as in state hiring and contracting, when voters approved Proposition 209. Other states followed with similar policies.
State and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have issued numerous rulings on this issue over the years. They have sometimes been at odds, with their legal arguments reflecting the main points of public debate: Critics of affirmative action said colleges should assess applicants on academic ability because thats the fairest and most objective standard, while supporters said the higher-education system has been biased against certain minority groups and needs to better value students who have overcome special hurdles in life to pursue a college degree.
The latest constitutional-amendment proposal was introduced by state Sen. Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina. He has written similar bills in the past, including one vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2010 and another vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2011. This time, Hernandez wants voters to decide the matter. His co-authors include Sen. Marty Block, D-San Diego.
Hernandez said Proposition 209 has resulted in less diversity as fewer underrepresented minority students are admitted and enrolled in the California State University and University of California systems. The senator said he personally benefited from recruitment and scholarship assistance that targeted minority students when he attended an optometry school in Indiana.
I am not proposing quota systems or preferential treatment, he said. SCA 5 simply allows our public colleges to identify achievement gaps, such as a lack of women in the (science, technology, engineering and math) fields or even a lack of men, especially men of color, in teacher-credentialing programs. Any program a college adopts to consider these factors would have to be narrowly tailored, consistent with all the Supreme Court decisions that already limit the use of race- or gender-conscious programs.
Backers of Proposition 209 said the law has actually increased representation of underrepresented minority groups. They also said taking racial preferences out of the admissions process has helped minorities succeed more in college and graduate in larger numbers because their academic credentials are better matched with the campuses they attend.
It is not good to send a student where his or her academic qualifications are going to be lower than the average students, said Gail Heriot, a University of San Diego law professor who was co-chair of the Proposition 209 campaign in 1996. To some people, it would seem like they are doing a favor to the student who is getting the preferences, but it ends up being the opposite.
UC and CSU officials havent taken an official position on the proposed constitutional amendment, and no details have been provided as to what kind of programs, if any, would be launched if voters pass the measure.
Currently, California has no racial or ethnic majority. Latinos and whites each make up about 39 percent of the states population and demographers expect the fast-growing Latino populace to become the biggest plurality by the middle of this year. Latinos also are projected to reach 48 percent of the states population by 2060, while whites are expected to drop to about 30 percent, according to the California Department of Finance.
Asians accounted for just under 13 percent of Californias population last year, and will likely increase by a percentage point by 2060, the department said.
The states black population is expected to decline from about 6 percent last year to 4 percent in 2060.
In the UC system, Asians have steadily had twice as much enrollment compared with their segment of the state population since Proposition 209 took effect. The enrollment rate for whites fell from 35.3 percent in 1998 to 27.9 percent last fall, while the numbers for black students rose from 2.8 percent to 4.1 percent.
Latinos experienced the most enrollment growth during this time period: from 12.1 percent to 26.8 percent.
In the Cal State system, the enrollment percentages for Asians stayed relatively the same from 1998 to 2012, and those for blacks declined by less than 1 percent. The rate for whites dropped almost 10 percentage points to 30.2 percent in fall 2012, while Latino enrollment almost doubled to 33.1 percent that same year.
Hernandez, the senator, gave a broader statistical context for his legislation.
He said in 1995, before voters approved Proposition 209, minority students accounted for 38 percent of high school graduates but only 21 percent of UC freshmen. By 2010, he said, the gap had widened to 52 percent of high school graduates to 28 percent of UC freshmen.
But Ward Connerly of Sacramento, a former UC regent who was an architect of Proposition 209, said it is very disingenuous to contend that the law has harmed minorities. He also said the newly proposed constitutional amendment is being pushed by members of the Latino caucus, who are counting on a surging Latino population to support the measure.
They have been floating this proposal for about five or six years now, Connerly said.
Sen. Block said he believes extending an advantage to people based partly on race is fair, and hed like to see public colleges be allowed to recruit and provide outreach to minority students who have faced distinct barriers in getting to college.
When I was at San Diego State, I saw the university shy away from successful programs they were doing because they seemed to be race-based, and probably were race-based, said Block, who served as SDSUs director of the Center for Student Rights and Responsibilities after Proposition 209 passed. All these programs were cut, and that was perhaps the most harmful part of 209. It became a hammer that a lawyer could use to sue educational institutions that gave any hint of preference in any regard, including outreach to students.
Joe Hicks, a former executive director of the Los Angeles Human Relations Commission and now vice president of the political think tank Community Advocates Inc., said it would be unfair to have California go back to the days when race was part of the college admissions equation. Although racism still exists in society, theres no need to provide racial or ethnic preferences in higher education, said Hicks, who went from being an opponent to a supporter of Proposition 209.
The notion that you are disadvantaged because of the color of your skin is ludicrous, he said. President Obamas kids are not disadvantaged.
If history is precedent, passage of a constitutional amendment could well be followed by litigation.
Since it became law, Proposition 209 has withstood some legal challenges.
At the national level, the U.S. Supreme Court addressed the issue of affirmative action in 2003 and approved a limited use of race by the University of Michigan Law School to achieve a critical mass of diversity that benefits all students. The court returned to the issue in 2013, taking on two such cases.
The justices brokered a compromise on affirmative action in college admissions by voting 7-1 to send the University of Texas race-conscious admissions plan back for further judicial review, ruling that courts assessing college policies must consider whether workable race-neutral alternatives would produce the educational benefits of diversity.
The decision stopped short of ruling out the use of race, but affirmative action opponents believe it showed that the end is near for such programs.
In addition, a high-court decision is expected this spring about a Michigan voter initiative that forbids its state universities from granting preferential treatment to applicants because of their race.
Its not hard to find a millennial who recently moved to Southern California bloviating about how much better the public transit is in New York City, San Francisco or Washington, D.C.
I just dont get it, says the smug transplant. San Diego could be so much cooler with more trolley lines and better bike lanes.
Cue the eye rolling and mumbling into a glass of IPA beer.
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So beyond the countys sprawling landscape, whats preventing greater investment in non-car modes of traffic?
Thats our Car Wars question for this week. Car Wars refers to the idea, championed by some elected officials from City Hall to Sacramento, that a key way to fight climate change and improve the environment is to limit greenhouse gases that spew from tailpipes.
If you have a question about commuting and the environment, send it to carwars@sduniontribune.com.
Cindy Breider of Cardiff asks: We live in Cardiff and always wondered why we continue to build larger highways without encouraging more mass transit? It seems like if there were more convenient buses and trains with added times throughout the day and into the evenings, plus more reasonable rates, we would have many more riders.
Car Wars: The short answer is some mix of aversion to more taxes, an agency known as SANDAG and the perennial question of whether more people really would use an expanded mass-transit system.
In November, the regions transportation planning agency, the San Diego Association of Governments, put a half-cent sales tax on the ballot. The measure was chock full of transit improvements roughly 42 percent of it as compared with 14 percent for highways. It included, for example, a new Coaster station at the Del Mar Fairgrounds and a new trolley line from San Ysidro to Kearny Mesa.
After groups from all parts of the political spectrum came out to attack the proposed levy, it failed to get the needed two-thirds approval from voters.
On one side was the Republican Party of San Diego County, which said the measure focused too much on mass transit and not enough on expanding freeways. On the other side, some environmental groups blasted the proposal as not doing enough to build out the regions system of trolleys, buses and bike lanes.
San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, who has called for an unprecedented shift away from car commuting, also came out against the tax amid significant pressure from green groups.
Without the additional revenue, the region is once again stuck funding its transportation projects with a longtime, half-cent sales tax called TransNet. Roughly a third of the money raised by that tax goes to public transit, but the tax isnt bringing in nearly as much money as officials originally anticipated.
By comparison, Los Angeles County gets funding for transportation from four such taxes, with the latest one passed in November.
L.A. residents in this most recent election overwhelmingly embraced Measure M, which is expected to help greatly expand that regions Metro rail system paying for a dozen new lines.
However, its important to note that traffic in L.A. is a significantly more powerful deterrent to driving than it is in San Diego. Adding a few more transit lines to our countys system wont necessarily ensure a huge influx of new riders, especially middle-class ones.
For example, the $2.1 billion trolley Mid-Coast Trolley extension to connect downtown San Diego to the sprawling job center that is University City isnt expected to persuade large numbers of people to give up their cars. Many of that future lines riders are projected to come from other forms of public transit, such as buses and commuter rail.
In San Diego County, finances seem to significantly drive use of public transit, according to SANDAG. Roughly 70 percent of transit riders live in families that make less than $45,000 a year and dont have an alternative mode of transportation available.
Still, experts said the usefulness and attractiveness of public-transit systems grow exponentially as they cover more and more geographical territory. People are more likely to drop their car commute if mass transit not only gets them to and from the office in a timely fashion, but also connects them to impromptu stops after work perhaps at a movie theater, restaurant or that new art gallery everyone is talking about.
Its not clear that SANDAG has broad enough public support to successfully push a ballot measure for mass transit anytime soon.
Many residents, especially in North County, strongly oppose being taxed for services they view as not benefiting them. And many environmentalists have yet to be appeased by anything SANDAG does. Theyve even sued the agency all the way to the state Supreme Court over how it addresses climate change in its long-range planning.
Beyond those roadblocks, SANDAGs public image recently took a sharp turn for the worse when news surfaced that it may have suppressed key information ahead of the November vote on the proposed new sales tax. It turns out that this proposal, called Measure A, likely would have brought in far less revenue than advertised and that SANDAG staff knew it.
The agencys board is looking for a law firm familiar with white-collar crime to investigate the controversy.
But wait. Before you sign the lease on that new hybrid or electric car, theres a new bill in the state Legislature aimed at boosting transit funding in San Diego.
Assembly Bill 805 would allow the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System and the North County Transit District to float their own tax measures, instead of going through SANDAG. The thinking goes: If SANDAG doesnt have the publics trust, perhaps MTS and NCTD do.
The bills author, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, D-San Diego, also included in her bill a host of provisions aimed at overhauling SANDAGs power structure.
The proposal would give elected officials from big cities such as San Diego, Chula Vista and Oceanside significantly more voting influence on the agencys board of directors. And thats really ticked off folks from Coronado to El Cajon.
So, transit riders, there could be a light at the end of the trolley line but theres also a chance that glimmer in the distance is an oncoming train of political gridlock.
Twitter: @jemersmith
Phone: (619) 293-2234
Email: joshua.smith@sduniontribune.com
The Department of Justice and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services both warned companies on Monday to be careful about following the rules when seeking H-1B visas to bring in highly skilled foreign workers.
The warnings came as applications opened for the federal fiscal year that will start in October.
The Department of Justice said it was ready to investigate and vigorously prosecute companies that abuse the program and discriminate against American workers. USCIS said it would use site visits to monitor companies who have a high ratio of H-1B workers to U.S. workers and those whose H-1B employees contract out to work off-site at other companies.
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Demand for the program has exceeded the number of available visas in the past several years. In both 2016 and 2015, the Congressionally-mandated cap on the visas, 85,000, was reached less than a week after the program began accepting applications.
The H-1B visa program, which provides three-year worker visas that can be renewed once, has been a source of controversy with many on both sides of the political aisle. Theres concern that companies exploit the program to bring in cheaper labor to replace American workers.
In one California example often cited by the programs critics, Southern California Edison laid off about 400 employees in early 2015 and brought in workers through consulting companies.
One of those companies, Tata Consultancy Services Limited headquartered in India has historically been near the top each year for number of H-1B applications in the San Diego area, according to data from the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation.
Edison said at the time that it was not replacing American workers with H-1B workers, but local politicians have called for tightened regulations on the program since the incident.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Oceanside, cosponsored a bill last year with Rep. Scott Peters, D-San Diego, that would have changed rules about exemptions from the requirement that employers prove they first tried to hire American workers. In a rare bipartisan effort, the entire San Diego delegation backed the bill, but it did not make it to a vote.
We should enforce existing law, but we shouldnt let Congress off the hook; Congress needs to tackle our broken immigration system as a whole, Peters said in a statement. Much of the abuse of H1-B visas stems from a broken system with far too many loopholes that can be used to outsource jobs.
Congressman Issa and I have introduced a bipartisan bill that makes much needed updates to our high-skilled visa system to protect American workers and ensure that more visas are available for the innovative companies that need them, the statement said. That would be a good start that does more to level the playing field for American workers than what the administration announced today.
Benjamin Trounson, spokesman for Tata, said via email that Tata has significantly reduced use of H-1B visas in recent years. He said Tata used fewer than 1,500 in 2016 and may use even fewer in the coming years.
He said the Department of Labor conducted an audit of Southern California Edison and found that Tata was compliant with U.S. regulations.
Tata had 72 certified H-1B applications for workers to come to San Diego in 2016, according to data from the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation, the fourth highest of any company in the region. Thats down from 103 certified applications in 2015.
There were 3,863 certified applications for H-1B visas for San Diego jobs in 2016.
At 364, Qualcomm stayed at the top of the list with the highest number of certified applications in 2016. Including affiliated companies with slightly different names, Qualcomm had 480 applications. Qualcomm did not respond to requests for comment.
Qualcomms average salary for H-1B applications in 2016 was over $100,000 per year. Tatas was under $70,000 per year.
April Hardin, a U.S. citizen who used to work for Tata, said she was laid off in December of last year after she was replaced with workers from India on a contract with Microsoft.
Hardin, 61, of Pope Valley, California, said she knew Microsoft was working on replacing some parts of her job with automation before the H-1B workers arrived to take her place.
She said she would have considered taking a pay cut to keep her job but that was never offered to her.
I just would like to see the U.S. worker protected and given opportunity before they go and put a foreigner in our spot, Hardin said by telephone.
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Monday was the beginning of a campaign to get the countys 17,000 employees to donate blood and register as a bone marrow donor. Its one of the largest annual initiatives for the San Diego Blood Bank.
Over the coming month the bank will set up collection sites at 19 county work locations, including its headquarters downtown, the operations center in Kearny Mesa, and offices in north and east counties.
The blood drive started at the County Administration Center with 40 scheduled appointments.
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Last year, 600 people donated. Each donation can help as many as three people. Supervisor Greg Cox has donated about 16-gallons of blood over the years. For comparison purposes, the human body, on the high-end, has around 1.5 gallons of blood.
The blood bank processes about 10,000 units of blood per month for hospitals in San Diego, San Bernadino, Los Angeles and Orange Counties.
An estimated 38 percent of Americans can donate blood, but only around 10 percent do so. In San Diego, only around 3 percent donate. The blood bank has about 1 million local donors, but only a small fraction of those give each year. The bank took a hit this year when the Chargers, a major partner in donation efforts, announced they would move to Los Angeles. At one point, with the teams help, the bank collected 2,500 pints on a single day from a single site, setting a Guinness record.
The bone marrow registry helps connect donors to sick people who need a bone marrow transplant to treat blood cancers and blood-related diseases. The surgical procedure uses needles to collect liquid morrow from the donors pelvis while under anesthesia. Less than 1 percent of people who join the marrow registry will ultimately donate marrow, and potential donors can change their mind at any time in the process.
Most marrow donors are between 18 and 44 years old because medical studies show that transplants from younger donors result in better outcomes for the recipients.
Twitter: @jptstewart
joshua.stewart@sduniontribune.com
(619) 293-1841
Rep. Darrell Issas opponent Mike Levin says he has raised nearly $276,000 in less than four weeks, an indication the 49th Congressional District race is getting off to a faster, more expensive start than last years high-profile contest.
Levin, a Democrat and environmental lawyer, raised $275,639 in the first quarter of this year, while the incumbents campaign says preliminary totals show Issa has raised at least $350,000 during the same period.
By comparison, Issa, R-Vista, raised $224,258 in the first quarter of 2015.
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Levin also surpassed a benchmark that the other Democrat in the race and Issas opponent last year, Doug Applegate, did not reach until after the June primary.
I think we have met and exceeded every objective for our finance goals, Levin said Monday.
When he announced his candidacy on March 8, Levin said he planned to raise $100,000 by the end of the month.
The campaign finance reporting period ended Friday, and official statements are not due until April 15. Levins and Issas campaigns revealed top-line fundraising figures on Monday. Applegates campaign did not return requests for comment.
A complete list of the candidates contributors will not be available until documents are filed with the Federal Elections Commission, but Levin said he has received more than 2,000 contributions from 1,800 donors. More than 87 percent of the contributions were less than $100, and around 40 donors gave the $2,700 maximum allowed per election, he said. The campaign received contributions from all 50 states, he added.
This is a race of national significance, said Levin, former executive director of the Orange County Democratic Party.
Issas campaign said he had received contributions from more than 2,000 donors.
Last year, Issa narrowly defeated Applegate in the closest congressional race in the country, and both the Democratic and Republican parties have focused early on the coastal Southern California District.
The heightened attention on the district has changed the nature of the race. Applegate didnt raise significant money until after last years June 7 primary. He finished the spring contest 5.3 percent behind Issa despite receiving a mere $55,315 in contributions and having little name recognition.
The upcoming campaign finance reports will include figures from Jan. 1 through March 31.
The district encompasses portions of northern San Diego County and southern Orange County, requiring candidates who run television commercials to do so in two media markets. That makes it potentially one of the most expensive seats in the country in a hotly contested election.
For the 2016 election, Issa received $2.89 million in contributions, including $870,025 from political action committees. He spent $6.31 million, including leftover funds from previous elections. Applegates campaign received $2.11 million, including $285,692 from PACs. He spent $2.01 million.
While Applegates campaign spent less than the incumbent, his effort was buttressed by $4.26 million in outside spending, while an additional $560,829 was spent in opposition to Issa. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee was the biggest financier, with some $3.4 million spent to support Applegate.
Twitter: @jptstewart
joshua.stewart@sduniontribune.com
(619) 293-1841
An Iranian-American who recently graduated from San Diego State has been released on bail from a prison in Iran, where he had been serving an 18-year sentence for collaboration with a hostile government.
Gholamrez Reza Shahini, who goes by Robin, traveled to Iran to visit family in July when he was arrested at his mothers house in Gorgan, 250 miles northeast of Tehran
Shahini has lived in San Diego for 16 years, graduated with a degree in international conflict resolution from SDSU last year and had planned to enter a masters program in homeland security at the school when he was arrested.
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Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran, said Shahini was recently released on bail of 2 billion rials, which is about $62,000 in U.S. currency.
His release also comes weeks into a hunger strike Shahini reportedly started Feb. 15. Ghaemi said Shahini was convicted at a lower court but is appealing and his release on bail is a good sign for getting the ruling overturned.
Denera Ragoonanan, a friend of Shahini who works as a foreign policy researcher in New York, said Shahini is not allowed to leave the country and is facing another trial.
We dont exactly know what is going on with the court system, she said. I dont know if theyre going to leave him or throw him back in jail.
Ragoonanan said she had spoken to Shahini, who is anxious about his fate.
Hes better now, she said. Its been a rough few months. Hes trying not to be too hopeful about things. Hes trying to take it easy. Hes quite anxious about what the verdict is going to be.
Ragoonanan also said she and others have been told not to talk specifically about the upcoming trial for fear it may hurt Shahini.
Prosecutors at his trial in Iran reportedly used pictures Shahini posted on social media showing he supported the Iranian Green Movement in 2009 and pro-democracy demonstrations.
Ragoonanan has described Shahini as a human rights advocate, but not an extremist or even mainstream activist.
Ghaemi told The Associated Press that Shahinis release on bail is a sign that there was no credible evidence to justify the charges against him.
He is an innocent man who appeared to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and his detention and prosecution was motivated by his dual nationality more than anything else, he said.
Iran does not recognize dual Iranian-American citizens, and The Associated Press reported that the arrests of Shahini and others with dual citizenship in the past year could be part of a larger plan.
Analysts and family members of people arrested have suggested that hard-liners in the Islamic Republics security agencies want to negotiate a deal with the West to free the detainees.
Shahini, 46, at the time of his arrest, came to the United States as a refugee from Iran in the early 2000s. His girlfriend of six years said Shahini came from a poor family and never had a chance to go to college in Iran.
He really appreciated the opportunities he got here, said the woman, who asked that her name not be published because she is concerned for her own family in Iran.
She also said Shahini loved San Diego and once owned a pizza restaurant near SDSU.
She described Shahini as somebody who wanted to make the world a more peaceful place, which is why he earned a degree in international conflict resolution.
He always believed negotiating the best way, she said. We dont need all this tension.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
A man suspected of attempted murder in a domestic violence case apparently committed suicide after a fugitive task force showed up at a San Marcos home to arrest him Sunday night.
The man was accused of strangling his girlfriend, causing her to lose consciousness, in Carlsbad on March 17, said Carlsbad police spokeswoman Jodee Sasway. Police obtained an arrest warrant and requested the San Diego Regional Fugitive Task Forces help to take him into custody.
Task force members arrived at the home on Brightwood Drive near Clifftop Avenue about 9:30 p.m., sheriffs spokesman Ryan Keim said.
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The 54-year-old man refused to go outside, and, sometime later, a single gunshot was heard, officials said.
When a woman emerged from the home, and the man didnt follow, the SWAT team was called.
A robot was sent into the residence. It revealed the body of the suspect about 1:30 a.m. He had apparently suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Keim said.
A neighbor told a San Diego News Video reporter that the residents of the Brightwood home had just moved in a couple of days ago.
This is a very tight neighborhood; were all very good friends, said Fabrice Lapeyre. Its quite a shock for us.
Twitter: @LAWinkley
(619) 293-1546
lyndsay.winkley@sduniontribune.com
UPDATES:
4:20 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details. This article was originally published at 9:35 a.m.
Going to the dentist can be daunting enough. Kristin Brinner never thought her visit from 2011 would result in a litigation threat six years later.
Last month the Solana Beach web developer said she received an email threatening legal action if she did not remove a critical review she posted on Yelp of the Soft Touch Dental Group in Clairemont.
My immediate knee-jerk response was Oh, I better pull that down, she said. Then I thought about it and started to question why this was happening now.
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Brinner has not received an explanation for the threat. She opted not to remove the post and instead began talking to lawyers. Then she started contacting other former patients at Soft Touch Dental and learned she was not alone.
I hate bullies and I want to push back if I feel like Im getting bullied, said Brinner, who found the dentist through a Groupon promotion but declined any work after her consultation. I want them to know they cant behave this way and expect that no ones going to call them on it.
Soft Touch Dental owner Ali Fakhimi has seen the negative reviews and responded to several on Yelp. He says he has no idea why someone is contacting his former patients and threatening them with litigation.
I dont know why this is even happening, Fakhimi wrote in an email to U-T Watchdog. These people left reviews several years ago and it is their prerogative to do so, and in fact we encourage our patients to leave reviews.
The dentist said the server on his office computer system recently crashed and suggested that may explain how someone gained access to his patient contact information and records. He said he is investigating what happened.
At this time, this Yelp issue is the least of our problems, Fakhimi wrote. We are trying to find out what other private information from our server has been accessed and compromised.
According to former patients, a person who identified himself as Alex Mendes contacted them either by phone or email, said he was a consultant for Soft Touch Dental and alerted them to the negative review.
In each case, the email reminded patients they had signed an agreement limiting their ability to disparage, denigrate, defame, slander or otherwise post, disseminate, publish, and/or distribute statements, commentary, reviews, reflections and potentially calling for $5,000 in liquidated damages.
You have left a negative review defaming and slandering this office, the email to Brinner stated. We are kindly asking you to remove your Yelp review within the next 48 hours to avoid any legal action that may arise.
The email came from an account with Soft Touch Dental in the address, but it was a Gmail account not the companys own email domain. It listed the dental offices telephone number as a point of contact.
No one replied to an email U-T Watchdog sent to the Gmail address, and the dentist said Mendes is not representing the office. The U-T could not locate anyone by that name in the county.
As far as Alex Mendes, or anyone else for that matter stating that they are representing our office regarding any reviews, that is false, Fakhimi said.
Alvin Amar of Sorrento Valley runs a small nonprofit that helps poor families access healthy food. Three years ago, he saw an ad for Soft Touch Dental in a free newspaper offering discount work and thought he could get his teeth looked at for a reasonable cost.
After a consultation that stretched to two hours, Amar said he was told he would need a deep cleaning for $1,100 and a slew of other services totaling $13,000.
Its literally like youre going through a car dealership, he said. First theres a greeter, then a bunch of paperwork, then a crazy quote rattling off all these extra things and finally they bring in a good-looking woman as the closer.
Amar said he showed several people the advertisement he had brought with him but was told the offer did not apply to the services he required. He said he was so angry he posted his unflattering Yelp review from his car in the parking lot outside.
I felt totally hopeless, said Amar, who said he subsequently completed his dental work elsewhere for half the cost he was quoted at Soft Touch. They get you hopeful with the affordable ad and then you walk in there and its literally 10 times more than what the ad actually said.
Fakhimi did not respond to a request for comment on Amars concerns.
Yelp declined to comment on the Soft Touch case. A spokeswoman noted that Yelp welcomes reports from customers who feel threatened by businesses and issues consumer alerts for companies found to have intimidated reviewers.
Mark Goldowitz is an attorney with the California Anti-SLAPP Project, a public-interest law firm that fights so-called Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation litigation aimed at quieting speech deemed unfavorable by people in positions of power.
He said both the California Legislature and U.S. Congress passed laws to protect consumers who criticize businesses.
Those gag agreements are unenforceable, said Goldowitz, who advised Brinner not to remove her Yelp post. If you cant rely on the reviews if the bad ones are driven off and the good ones stay then it really undermines the value of the consumer-protection resources.
Watchdog Videos On Now Sexual misconduct accusers worry deputy is being protected 6:16 On Now City funded $2-million waterfront bathroom 1:26 On Now Public water district charges customer for legal work, response to records request On Now Video: Tiny homes won't be reused amid housing, homeless crisis On Now Attorney General seeks documentation for Miss Middle East On Now Rep. Hunter probe covers possible fraud On Now Video: SDG&E delaying solar credit for some low-income housing tenants On Now Video: Former San Diego Junior Theatre teacher sentenced for sex with teen girl 0:24 On Now Video: Shelter volunteers believe they were fired for finding a dog a home 0:49 On Now McKamey Manor is leaving San Diego 3:35
jeff.mcdonald@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1708 @sdutMcDonald
As another Halloween approaches, the notorious terror attraction known as McKamey Manor continues to operate out of the owners house in Rancho Penasquitos, despite efforts to move to a more affordable location, and the owner has run into trouble with the IRS.
Proprietor Russ McKamey, 56, has scared patrons for years by simulating abductions, assaults and other horrors at his home, named the most extreme haunted house in the world by Tech Times and The New York Daily News.
McKamey says his manor makes no money and only accepts payment in the form of pet food contributions for animal welfare. When he lost his job as a veterans advocate in 2014, he said, he attempted to move to less costly real estate in Illinois, but public opposition there thwarted his attempted relocation.
When The San Diego Union-Tribune interviewed McKamey last year, he said he was planning to sell his home and relocate the attraction to some other more affordable site outside of San Diego.
McKamey did not answer the Union-Tribune's questions this year. But his attraction is still up and running, according to the San Diego Police Department.
A woman reported to the department that she had been assaulted with a deadly weapon while participating in the horror experience at McKameys home address on July 31. Detectives investigated and decided not to pursue criminal charges.
The victim reported that she had been physically hit with unknown objects by several males, Officer Mark Herring, a spokesman for the police department, said by email on Wednesday. The victim was notified yesterday that based on the results of the investigation, in addition to her signing a waiver, no criminal charges will be pursued.
In the past, McKamey has denied inflicting harm beyond cuts and bruises on participants. He has said the experience is closely monitored, participants get breaks if they become too stressed, and that he lets participants leave if they decide they really want to.
In June, the division of the Internal Revenue Service that handles taxes for small business and the self-employed filed a lien against McKameys house on Almazon Street, according to records on file with the County of San Diego. The lien cites $252,000 of unpaid income taxes, interest and penalties for the 2012 tax year.
Tax officials can collect money owed in a variety of ways, including eventually seizing the property itself, but, with a lien, the agency may choose to wait for the debtor to sell the property, then collect from the proceeds. The lien lasts 10 years if the taxes remain unpaid.
McKamey declined to explain the tax debt or the source of the taxable income or answer any other questions for this article unless the reporter agreed to answer any and all of his questions about coverage via a video over which McKamey would have complete ownership and control. The Union-Tribune rejected McKameys terms.
McKamey had no active business licenses on file with the City of San Diego as of Wednesday. A search of records on file at the City Treasurers Office turned up three licenses, all of which shared McKameys home address and had been canceled.
View the Video Is McKamey Manor too extreme?
Two of the business licenses both for McKamey Manor listed unpaid fees, and were probably canceled for that reason, a clerk at the office said. The third license, for Musical Excitement with Russ, was canceled before Jan. 1, 2012, city records show.
Licenses for McKamey Manor said the business provided other services and all other personal services. Exactly what those personal services entail is known only by McKamey and participants in the horror experiences at McKamey Manor.
McKamey last year told the Union-Tribune that much of what appears on YouTube videos vomiting, participants weeping and bruised, a young man crying out to be released as his head is shoved under water is smoke and mirrors, and that visitors are not held against their will.
McKamey said last month in an interview for the Frightful Failures on Film podcast that hes in the process of moving the attraction to different areas, and that there is a television show in the works.
Im never content with leaving it alone, McKamey said during the podcast. I always have to upgrade and always make it bigger than the year before. So, you know, its going to be a challenge for me to keep on continuing to do that and keep people alive.
McKamey described the current version of the attraction as something akin to a Spartan challenge, a survival horror boot-camp experience, from which everybody and I dont care who you are walks out whimpering and crying.
Participants are closely monitored during their experiences, and their safety is paramount, McKamey said on the podcast.
To be selected for admittance, participants must meet various requirements, provide doctors letters affirming their mental and physical fitness and sign a 10-page waiver agreeing that they will not be released until McKamey gives his permission, he said.
McKamey also said on the podcast that he was recently rebuffed in an attempt to move his operation to Arizona.
Arizona shut us down as well. After the city commissioner and folks went through a couple of our practice tours, they said, This is insane. We will not have this in our city, McKamey said. So people dont get that its all an illusion.
McKamey did not specify where in Arizona he tried to move.
In San Diego, McKamey said he has been working to make the McKamey Manor experience more interesting and more exciting by taking participants to different locations, including warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana.
If you were chosen to go to Mexico, that was part of your tour, McKamey said during the podcast. And thats what makes what we do so realistic, is that youre gonna actually be kidnapped by for-real Federales, and interrogated for about 90 minutes before we take you to a warehouse in T.J. And if you want to see a grown man cry, then youre going to see it.
Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, is once again leading efforts to improve Californias teacher tenure law, which allows new teachers to gain powerful job protections after just two years, earlier than most other states.
But, promisingly, this time Weber has added a provision with the potential to attract new support.
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Her bill, AB 1220, would delay tenure decisions until after three years. But it would also allow some teachers who dont gain tenure after three years to work a fourth and even a fifth year to establish their worthiness and would direct districts to make professional development funding for these probationary teachers a priority. This makes a great deal of sense. Typically, teachers initially rejected for tenure dont get another chance from their district.
That discourages young teachers from continuing with their careers and is a key factor in Californias considerable teacher shortage. Last fall, three-quarters of the states school districts struggled to fill teaching positions.
Unfortunately, there are already indications that at least one of the states powerful teachers unions will oppose Webers bill. Joshua Pechthalt, president of the California Federation of Teachers, told L.A. School Report that the bill misses the boat in terms of helping beginning teachers. Many teachers feel scapegoated for problems at struggling schools and are wary of trusting anyone who says teacher quality is an issue. But giving more teachers more time to earn tenure should provide reassurance that Webers bill is looking out for students and teachers.
Twitter: @sdutIdeas
Facebook: UTOpinion
Mark Fabiani, the longtime Chargers point man on stadium issues, has landed a new big-name client.
Political commentator Bill OReilly of Fox News hired Fabiani last week as a crisis communications consultant, reported the New York Times on Sunday.
The newspaper reported Fabiani was hired to respond to New York Times inquiries to OReilly concerning complaints from women about OReillys behavior.
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OReilly denies the claims have merit. About $13 million has been paid out over the years to address complaints against OReilly.
Fabiani has worked the past several years for the Chargers as an adviser to Chairman of the Board Dean Spanos on stadium-related issues.
For my article last week, he commented on the Raiders move to Las Vegas from a Chargers perspective.
FORTIN GENERAL DIAZ, Paraguay (AP) Dozens of caimans are on the verge of death because of a harsh drought that has hit a wide desert zone of Paraguay known as the Chaco Boreal.
Owners of the areas San Jorge Hacienda have tried to rescue the adult and newborn yacare caimans by drilling 18 wells to collect water that is then transported to reservoirs normally used for cattle. During a recent visit, Associated Press journalists found two dead caimans in the area and several others agonizing in the mud. The yacare caiman is found in central South American, including the rivers of Paraguay.
The caimans were seen about a few miles outside of Fortin General Diaz, a small community with army barracks near the Pilcomayo River, which is born in the Andean foothills in Bolivia and serves as a natural border between Argentina and Paraguay.
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The small fort for which the community is named for is about 310 miles west of the capital Asuncion and can only be reached by land by driving on an unpaved road. The waters from the Pilcomayo river stopped reaching this area after a massive flood earlier this year changed its course to Argentine territories. The entry point of the river into Paraguay remains blocked with sediment.
Everyone is demanding a final solution but theres no end in sight to this problem because the river goes where it wants to go, said Edwin Pauls, governor of the affected state of Boqueron. He added that wild animals such as capybaras, as well as the yacare caimans and other reptiles, continue to suffer during the drought.
The government of Argentinas Formosa province has been working to unclog the mouth of the river, which only receives abundant water twice a year through the melting of ice from the Andes.
Alcides Gonzalez, manager of a large farm in the area, said workers have relocated livestock to give the caimans a larger space to survive. Gonzalez said that some Mennonite communities living nearby have offered to donate food for the caimans.
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After 2008, it was all too clear that the housing crisis, the collapse of major financial institutions, and the rise of unemployment had been aided and abetted by mathematicians wielding magic formulas.
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When I was a little girl, I used to gaze at the traffic out the car window and study the numbers on license plates. I would reduce each one to its basic elements the prime numbers that made it up. 45 = 3 x 3 x 5. Thats called factoring, and it was my favorite investigative pastime. As a budding math nerd, I was especially intrigued by the primes.
My love for math eventually became a passion. I went to math camp when I was 14 and came home clutching a Rubiks Cube to my chest. Math provided a neat refuge from the messiness of the real world. It marched forward, its field of knowledge expanding relentlessly, proof by proof. And I could add to it. I majored in math in college and went on to get my Ph.D. My thesis was on algebraic number theory, a field with roots in all that factoring I did as a child. Eventually, I became a tenure-track professor at Barnard, which had a combined math department with Columbia University.
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And then I made a big change. I quit my job and went to work as a quant [quantitative analyst] for D.E. Shaw, a leading hedge fund. In leaving academia for finance, I carried mathematics from abstract theory into practice. The operations we performed on numbers translated into trillions of dollars sloshing from one account to another. At first I was excited and amazed by working in this new laboratory, the global economy. But in the autumn of 2008, after Id been there for a bit more than a year, it came crashing down. The crash made it all too clear that mathematics, once my refuge, was not only deeply entangled in the worlds problems but also fueling many of them. The housing crisis, the collapse of major financial institutions, the rise of unemployment all had been aided and abetted by mathematicians wielding magic formulas. Whats more, thanks to the extraordinary powers that I loved so much, math was able to combine with technology to multiply the chaos and misfortune, adding efficiency and scale to systems that I now recognized as flawed.
If we had been clear-headed, we all would have taken a step back at this point to figure out how math had been misused and how we could prevent a similar catastrophe in the future. But instead, in the wake of the crisis, new mathematical techniques were hotter than ever and expanding into still more domains. They churned 24/7 through petabytes of information, much of it scraped from social media or e-commerce websites. And increasingly they focused not on the movements of global financial markets but on human beings, on us. Mathematicians and statisticians were studying our desires, movements, and spending power. They were predicting our trustworthiness and calculating our potential as students, workers, lovers, criminals.
This was the Big Data economy, and it promised spectacular gains. A computer program could speed through thousands of resumes or loan applications in a second or two and sort them into neat lists, with the most promising candidates on top. This not only saved time but also was marketed as fair and objective. After all, it didnt involve prejudiced humans digging through reams of paper, just machines processing cold numbers. By 2010 or so, mathematics was asserting itself as never before in human affairs, and the public largely welcomed it.
The math-powered applications powering the data economy were based on choices made by fallible human beings.
Yet I saw trouble. The math-powered applications powering the data economy were based on choices made by fallible human beings. Some of these choices were no doubt made with the best intentions. Nevertheless, many of these models encoded human prejudice, misunderstanding, and bias into the software systems that increasingly managed our lives. Like gods, these mathematical models were opaque, their workings invisible to all but the highest priests in their domain: mathematicians and computer scientists. Their verdicts, even when wrong or harmful, were beyond dispute or appeal. And they tended to punish the poor and the oppressed in our society while making the rich richer.
I came up with a name for these harmful kinds of models: Weapons of Math Destruction, or WMDs for short. Ill walk you through an example, pointing out its destructive characteristics along the way.
As often happens, this case started with a laudable goal. In 2007, Washington, D.C.s new mayor, Adrian Fenty, was determined to turn around the citys underperforming schools. He had his work cut out for him: At the time, barely one out of every two high school students was persisting to graduation after ninth grade, and only 8 percent of eighth graders were performing at grade level in math. Fenty hired an education reformer named Michelle Rhee to fill a powerful new post, chancellor of Washingtons schools.
The going theory was that the students werent learning enough because their teachers werent doing a good job. So in 2009, Rhee implemented a plan to weed out the low-performing teachers.
This is the trend in troubled school districts around the country, and from a systems engineering perspective the thinking makes perfect sense: Evaluate the teachers. Get rid of the worst ones, and place the best ones where they can do the most good. In the language of data scientists, this optimizes the school system, presumably ensuring better results for the kids. Except for bad teachers, who could argue with that? Rhee developed a teacher assessment tool called IMPACT, and at the end of the 200910 school year, the district fired all the teachers whose scores put them in the bottom 2 percent. At the end of the following year, another 5 percent, or 206 teachers, were booted out.
Sarah Wysocki, a fifth-grade teacher, didnt seem to have any reason to worry. She had been at MacFarland Middle School for only two years but was already getting excellent reviews from her principal and her students parents. One evaluation praised her attentiveness to the children; another called her one of the best teachers Ive ever come into contact with.
Yet at the end of the 201011 school year, Wysocki received a miserable score on her IMPACT evaluation. Her problem was a new scoring system known as value-added modeling, which purported to measure her effectiveness in teaching math and language skills. That score, generated by an algorithm, represented half of her overall evaluation, and it outweighed the positive reviews from school administrators and the community. This left the district with no choice but to fire her, along with 205 other teachers who had IMPACT scores below the minimal threshold.
There was a logic to the school districts approach. Administrators, after all, could be friends with terrible teachers. They could admire their style or their apparent dedication. Bad teachers can seem good. So Washington, like many other school systems, would minimize this human bias and pay more attention to scores based on hard results: achievement scores in math and reading. The numbers would speak clearly, district officials promised. They would be more fair.
Data scientists all too often lose sight of the folks on the receiving end of the transaction.
Wysocki, of course, felt the numbers were horribly unfair, and she wanted to know where they came from. I dont think anyone understood them, she later told me. How could a good teacher get such dismal scores?
Well, she learned, it was complicated. The district had hired a consultancy, Princeton-based Mathematica Policy Research, to come up with the evaluation system. Mathematicas challenge was to measure the educational progress of the students in the district and then to calculate how much of their advance or decline could be attributed to their teachers. This wasnt easy, of course.
The researchers knew that many variables, from students socioeconomic backgrounds to the effects of learning disabilities, could affect student outcomes. The algorithms had to make allowances for such differences, which was one reason they were so complex.
Attempting to reduce human behavior, performance, and potential to algorithms is no easy job. There are so many factors that go into learning and teaching that it would be very difficult to measure them all, Wysocki says. Whats more, attempting to score a teachers effectiveness by analyzing the test results of only 25 or 30 students is statistically unsound, even laughable.
The numbers are far too small given all the things that could go wrong. Indeed, if we were to analyze teachers with the statistical rigor of a search engine, wed have to test them on thousands or even millions of randomly selected students. Statisticians count on large numbers to balance out exceptions and anomalies. (And WMDs often punish individuals who happen to be the exception.)
Equally important, statistical systems require feedback something to tell them when theyre off track. Statisticians use errors to train their models and make them smarter. If Amazon.com, through a faulty correlation, started recommending lawn care books to teenage girls, the clicks would plummet, and the algorithm would be tweaked until it got it right. Without feedback, however, a statistical engine can continue spinning out faulty and damaging analysis while never learning from its mistakes.
Many WMDs behave like that. They define their own reality and use it to justify their results. This type of model is self-perpetuating, highly destructive and very common.
When Mathematicas scoring system tags Sarah Wysocki and 205 other teachers as failures, the district fires them. But how does it ever learn if it was right? It doesnt. The system itself has determined that they were failures, and that is how they are viewed. Two hundred and six bad teachers are gone. That fact alone appears to demonstrate how effective the value-added model is.
It is cleansing the district of underperforming teachers. Instead of searching for the truth, the score comes to embody it.
This is just one example of a WMD feedback loop. Others include employers who are increasingly using credit scores to evaluate potential hires. Those who pay their bills promptly, the thinking goes, are more likely to show up to work on time and follow the rules. In fact, there are plenty of responsible people and good workers who suffer misfortune and see their credit scores fall.
But the belief that bad credit correlates with bad job performance leaves those with low scores less likely to find work. Joblessness pushes them toward poverty, which further worsens their scores, making it even harder for them to land a job. Its a downward spiral. And employers never learn how many good employees theyve missed out on by focusing on credit scores. In WMDs, many poisonous assumptions are camouflaged by math and go largely untested and unquestioned.
For years, Washington teachers complained about the arbitrary scores and clamored for details on what went into them. Its an algorithm, they were told. Its very complex. Thats the nature of WMDs. The analysis is outsourced to coders and statisticians. And as a rule, they let the machines do the talking.
You cannot appeal to a WMD. Thats part of their fearsome power. They do not listen. Nor do they bend. Theyre deaf not only to charm, threats, and cajoling but also to logic even when there is good reason to question the data that feed their conclusions. Yes, if it becomes clear that automated systems are screwing up on an embarrassing and systematic basis, programmers will go back in and tweak the algorithms. But for the most part, the programs deliver unflinching verdicts, and the human beings employing them can only shrug, as if to say, Hey, what can you do? The human victims of WMDs are held to a far higher standard of evidence than the algorithms themselves.
After the shock of her firing, Sarah Wysocki was out of a job for only a few days. She had plenty of people, including her principal, to vouch for her as a teacher, and she promptly landed a position at a school in an affluent district in northern Virginia. So thanks to a highly questionable model, a poor school lost a good teacher, and a rich school, which didnt fire people on the basis of their students scores, gained one.
Ill-conceived mathematical models now micromanage the economy, from advertising to prisons. These WMDs have many of the same characteristics as the model that derailed Sarah Wysockis career in Washingtons public schools. Theyre opaque, unquestioned, and unaccountable, and they operate at a scale to sort, target, or optimize millions of people. By confusing their findings with on-the-ground reality, most of them create pernicious WMD feedback loops.
But theres one important distinction between a school districts model and, say, a WMD that scouts out prospects for extortionate payday loans. They have different payoffs. For the school district, the payoff is a kind of political currency, a sense that problems are being fixed. But for businesses, its just the standard currency: money. For many of the businesses running these rogue algorithms, the money pouring in seems to prove that their models are working. Look at it through their eyes and it makes sense. When theyre building statistical systems to find customers or manipulate desperate borrowers, growing revenue appears to show that theyre on the right track. The software is doing its job. The trouble is that profits end up serving as a stand-in or proxy for truth. This dangerous confusion crops up again and again.
This happens because data scientists all too often lose sight of the folks on the receiving end of the transaction. They certainly understand that a data-crunching program is bound to misinterpret people a certain percentage of the time, putting them in the wrong groups and denying them a job or a chance at their dream house. But as a rule, the people running the WMDs dont dwell on those errors. Their feedback is money, which is also their incentive. Their systems are engineered to gobble up more data and fine-tune their analytics so that more money will pour in. Investors, of course, feast on these returns and shower WMD companies with more money.
But the poor are hardly the only victims of WMDs. Far from it. Malevolent models can blacklist qualified job applicants and dock the pay of workers who dont fit a corporations picture of ideal health. These WMDs hit the middle class as hard as anyone. Even the rich find themselves micro-targeted by political models. And they scurry about as frantically as the rest of us to satisfy the remorseless WMD that rules college admissions and pollutes higher education.
Its also important to note that these are the early days. Naturally, payday lenders and their ilk start off by targeting the poor and the immigrants. Those are the easiest targets, the low-hanging fruit. They have less access to information, and more of them are desperate. But WMDs generating fabulous profit margins are not likely to remain cloistered for long in the lower ranks. Thats not the way markets work. Theyll evolve and spread, looking for new opportunities. WMDs are targeting us all. And theyll continue to multiply, sowing injustice, until we take steps to stop them.
How do we start to regulate the mathematical models that run more and more of our lives? I would suggest that the process begin with the modelers themselves. Like doctors, data scientists should pledge a First do no harm Hippocratic Oath, one that focuses on the possible misuses and misinterpretations of their models. Following the market crash of 2008, two financial engineers, Emanuel Derman and Paul Wilmott, drew up such an oath. It reads in part:
~ I will remember that I didnt make the world, and it doesnt satisfy my equations.
~ Though I will use models boldly to estimate value, I will not be overly impressed by mathematics.
Thats a good philosophical grounding. But solid values and self-regulation rein in only the scrupulous. To eliminate WMDs, our laws need to change, too.
Data is not going away. Nor are computers much less mathematics. Predictive models are, increasingly, the tools we will be relying on to run our institutions, deploy our resources, and manage our lives. But these models are constructed not just from data but from the choices we make about which data to pay attention to and which to leave out. Those choices are not just about logistics, profits, and efficiency. They are fundamentally moral.
We must come together to police these WMDs, to tame and disarm them. My hope is that theyll be remembered, like the deadly coal mines of a century ago, as relics of the early days of this new revolution, before we learned how to bring fairness and accountability to the age of data. Math deserves much better than WMDs, and democracy does too.
Cathy ONeil is a data scientist and author of the blog mathbabe.org. She earned a Ph.D. in mathematics from Harvard and taught at Barnard College before working for the hedge fund D.E. Shaw. ONeil is co-author of Doing Data Science: Straight Talk from the Frontline and appears weekly on the Slate Money podcast.
This article is featured in the March/April 2017 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. Subscribe to the magazine for more art, inspiring stories, fiction, humor, and features from our archives.
Fruit Heights, UT -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/03/2017 -- Stephen Hopkins was from Hampshire, England. He married his first wife, Mary, and resided in the parish of Hursley, Hampshire. They had three (3) children: Elizabeth, Constance, and Giles; all baptized there. It has long been claimed that the Hopkins family was from Wortley, Gloucester, but this was disproven in 1998 with the discovery of his true origins in Hursley.
http://mayflowerhistory.com/hopkins-stephen/
Stephen Hopkins went with the ship Sea Venture on a voyage to Jamestown, Virginia in 1609 as a minister's clerk, but the ship wrecked in the "Isle of Devils" (Bermuda). Stranded on an island for ten months, the passengers and crew survived on turtles, birds, and wild pigs. Six months into the castaway, Stephen Hopkins and several others organized a mutiny against the current governor. The mutiny was discovered and Stephen was sentenced to death. However, he pleaded with sorrow and tears. "So penitent he was, and made so much moan, alleging the ruin of his wife and children in this his trespass, as it wrought in the hearts of all the better sorts of the company." He managed to get his sentence commuted. Eventually the castaways built a small ship and sailed themselves to Jamestown. How long Stephen remained in Jamestown is not known. However, while he was gone, his wife Mary died. She was buried in Hursley on 9 May 1613, and left behind a probate estate which mentions her children Elizabeth, Constance and Giles.
Stephen was back in England by 1617, when he married Elizabeth Fisher, but apparently had every intention of bringing his family back to Virginia. Their first child, Damaris, was born about 1618. In 1620, Stephen Hopkins brought his wife and children Constance, Giles, and Damaris on the Mayflower (child Elizabeth apparently had died). Stephen was a fairly active member of the Pilgrim group shortly after arrival, perhaps a result of his being one of the few individuals who had been to Virginia previously. He was a part of all the early exploring missions, and was used as an "expert" on Native Americans for the first few contacts. While out exploring, Stephen recognized and identified an Indian deer trap. And when Samoset walked into Plymouth and welcomed the English, he was housed in Stephen Hopkins' house for the night. Stephen was also sent on several of the ambassadorial missions to meet with the various Indian groups in the region.
Stephen was an assistant to the governor through 1636, and volunteered for the Pequot War of 1637 but was never called to serve. By the late 1630s, however, Stephen began to occasionally run afoul of the Plymouth authorities, as he apparently opened up a shop and served alcohol. In 1636 he got into a fight with John Tisdale and seriously wounded him. In 1637, he was fined for allowing drinking and shuffleboard playing on Sunday. Early the next year he was fined for allowing people to drink excessively in his house: guest William Reynolds was fined, but the others were acquitted. In 1638 he was twice fined for selling beer at twice the actual value, and in 1639 he was fined for selling a looking glass for twice what it would cost if bought in the Bay Colony. Also in 1638, Stephen Hopkins' maidservant got pregnant from Arthur Peach, who was subsequently executed for murdering an Indian. The Plymouth Court ruled he was financially responsible for her and her child for the next two years (the amount remaining on her term of service). Stephen, in contempt of court, threw Dorothy out of his household and refused to provide for her, so the court committed him to custody. John Holmes stepped in and purchased Dorothy's remaining two years of service from him: agreeing to support her and child.
Stephen died in 1644, and made out a will, asking to be buried near his wife, and naming his surviving children.
BAPTISM: 30 April 1581 at Upper Clatford, Hampshire, England, son of John and Elizabeth (Williams) Hopkins.
FIRST MARRIAGE: Mary, possibly the daughter of Robert and Joan (Machell) Kent of Hursley, co. Hampshire, prior to 1604.
SECOND MARRIAGE: Elizabeth Fisher on 19 February 1617/8 at St. Mary Matfellon, Whitechapel, co. Middlesex, England.
CHILDREN (by Mary): Elizabeth, Constance, and Giles.
CHILDREN (by Elizabeth): Damaris, Oceanus, Caleb, Deborah, Damaris, Ruth, and Elizabeth.
DNA HAPLOGROUP: R1b-M269
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Fruit Heights, UTAH General Society of Mayflower Descendant, Adam Paul Green (Ancestor Stephen Hopkins / Gen.No. 86,723) Introduces New Geneology Asset Website for Local Enthusiasts http://www.ImAdamGreen.com
Women of Early Plymouth: Governor William Bradford reported that the Pilgrims were worried that the "weak bodies of women" would not be able to withstand the rigors of a trans-Atlantic voyage and the construction of a colony. Prior to the Mayflower, very few English women had made the voyage across the ocean.
Sir Walter Raleigh's Roanoke colony arrived in Virginia in 1587, and amongst those 120 colonists there were 17 women: a baby girl, Virginia Dare, was born after arrival. When re-supply ships came from England, they could not relocate the people. The colony had mysteriously disappeared, and was never seen again. The Jamestown Colony was founded in 1607, but relatively few women had yet made the voyage and taken up residence there.
The Pilgrim husband, as head of the household, had an important and difficult decision to make. Building a colony would be hard on a woman's "weaker body." It might be safer and healthier to leave her behind, and have her come later once the houses were built, and the general safety and successfulness of the colony were better established. But that could be several years. Could he live several years without his wife? How strong was his wife anyway, could she really handle it? Was it right to put your wife's life in danger in this manner?
As the Mayflower left England for America, there were 18 adult women on-board. Three of them, Elizabeth Hopkins, Susanna White, and Mary Allerton, were actually in their last trimester of a pregnancy. All the adult women on the Mayflower were married; there were no single women--although there were a few teenage girls nearing marriageable age.
While no women would die during the Mayflower's voyage, life after arrival proved extremely difficult. In fact, 78% of the women would die the first winter, a far higher percentage than for men or children. Dorothy Bradford was the first woman to die, and the only woman who died in the month of December. While many of the men, including her husband, were out exploring on Cape Cod, she accidentally fell off the Mayflower into the bitter cold waters of Provincetown Harbor. Most of the women's death dates were not recorded, but we do know that Rose Standish died on January 29, Mary Allerton died on February 25, and Elizabeth Winslow died on March 24. Most of the women died in February and March.
The extremely high mortality rate among women is probably explainable by the fact the men were out in the fresh air, felling trees, building structures and drinking fresh New England water; while the women were confined to the damp, filthy and crowded quarters offered by the Mayflower, where disease would have spread much more quickly. The two-month voyage was long enough; the women, however, remained living on the ship for an additional four months while the men built storehouses and living quarters on shore. Many of the sick were no doubt cared for on-board the ship by the women, increasing their exposure to colds and pneumonias. William Mullins died on February 21, apparently on-board the Mayflower since his will was witnessed by the ship's captain and ship's surgeon. His wife Alice and son Joseph had not yet died, but it wasn't too long before they did, orphaning their teenage daughter Priscilla in the New World.
Only five women survived the first winter. One of the five survivors, Mrs. Katherine Carver, died in May of a "broken heart," her husband John having died of sunstroke a month earlier. Weak bodies or not, by the time of the famous "Thanksgiving," there were only four women left to care for the Colony's fifty surviving men and children. The four women were Eleanor Billington, Elizabeth Hopkins, Mary Brewster, and Susanna (White) Winslow.
http://mayflowerhistory.com/women
Since 2001, Adam has been involved in the Health and Wellness Industry as a successful Entrepreneur, Broker, Product Developer and Manufacturer of Cosmeceutical products. During his career, he has worked with some of the most recognizable Fortune 500 businesses along with many top international Network Marketing companies. Adam has consistently proven his unique ability to help his clients achieve their goals through creative Distribution-Channel Placement, innovative Product Development and custom Manufacturing. Adam currently owns three profitable businesses.
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Admittedly, Adam was not initially a fan of Network Marketing. He did not understand the business model because it was new to him. However, once he learned that the REAL focus of Direct Sales is to help average people get a taste of entrepreneurialism --- with minimal risk and at a low cost --- Adam was absolutely convinced of the potential with Multi-Level Marketing.
http://www.ImAdamGreen.com
About MayflowerHistory.com
MayflowerHistory.com, the Internet's most complete and accurate website dealing with the Mayflower passengers and the history of the Pilgrims and early Plymouth Colony. The website was first created back in 1994 (when the web was still mostly text!) as a simple, but complete, passenger list of the Mayflower. It has grown over the past twenty years as the author, historian Caleb Johnson, has researched and compiled material.
http://mayflowerhistory.com
Brooklyn, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/03/2017 -- This report on Global and United States Automotive Components market is a research study that answers pertinent questions about the emerging trends and growth opportunities in this industry. This report also identifies each of the prominent barriers to growth, apart from identifying the regional trends and trends within various application segments of the Global and United States market for Automotive Components.
This report studies the Automotive Components on United States and global market, focuses on the top players in US market and also the market status and outlook by type and application.
Geographically, this report is segmented into several key regions, with sales, revenue, market share (%) and growth Rate (%) of Automotive Components in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), covering
North America
Europe
Asia-Pacific
South America
Middle East and Africa
The major players in United States Automotive Components market include Continental Group, Bridgestone Group, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Bp PLC, Mahle Group, Mann&Hummel Group, Johnsons Controls Inc., Exide Technologies, Inc., Brembo S.P.A., Aisin Seiki Co. Ltd., Hella, Koito.
Request a Free Sample Copy of this Report @ http://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=1041948&type=E
The study segments the market by geography into: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World. It provides forecasts of revenue of the market as a whole as well as each application segment. The competitive landscape is mapped based on product and technology. This study also offers an overview of pricing trends and ancillary factors that will influence pricing in the Global and United States Automotive Components market. The market study, estimation, and market sizing have been done utilizing a combination of top-down and bottom-up approaches.
Of special value are the key recommendations and predictions by our analysts, intended to steer your strategic business decisions. The company profiles section of this research service is a compilation of the growth strategies, product portfolio, financial status, and recent developments of key market participants. The report provides detailed industry analysis of the Global and United States Automotive Components market with the help of proven research methodologies such as Porter's five forces. The forces analyzed are bargaining power of the buyers, bargaining power of suppliers, threat of new entrants, threat of substitutes, and the degree of competition.
Explore Research Report in detail @ http://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/2017-2022-automotive-components-report-on-united-states-and-global-market-status-and-forecast-by-players-types-and-applications.htm
Table of Contents
1 Methodology and Data Source
1.1 Methodology/Research Approach
1.1.1 Research Programs/Design
1.1.2 Market Size Estimation
1.1.3 Market Breakdown and Data Triangulation
2 Automotive Components Market Overview
2.1 Automotive Components Product Overview
2.2 Automotive Components Segment by Types (Product Category)
2.2.1 United States Automotive Components Sales and Growth (%) Comparison by Types (Product Category) (2012-2022)
2.2.2 United States Automotive Components Sales Market Share (%) by Types (Product Category) in 2016
2.2.3 Tires
2.2.4 Fluids
2.2.5 Filters
2.2.6 Batteries
2.2.7 Brake Friction Products
2.2.8 Lighting
2.3 United States Automotive Components Segment by Applications
2.3.1 United States Automotive Components Sales (K Sets) Comparison by Applications (2012-2022)
2.3.2 Passenger Cars
2.3.3 Commercial Vehicles
2.4 Global Automotive Components Market Comparison by Regions (2012-2022)
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Israeli archaeologists excavating near the city of Beit Shemesh have unearthed an extensive complex of ritual baths and underground refuges used by Bar Kokhbas rebels.
The newly-discovered settlement, whose ancient name is unknown, has so far yielded eight ritual baths, cisterns, refuges, and rock-hewn industrial installations.
The settlements extraordinary significance lies in its imposing array of private ritual baths, which were incorporated in the residential buildings, said Dr. Sarah Hirshberg, Dr. Shua Kisilevitz and Dr. Sarah Levevi-Eilat, excavation directors on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
Each household had its own ritual bath and a cistern.
Some of the baths uncovered are simple and others are more complex and include an otzar, or collecting basin, into which the rainwater would drain.
Its interesting to note that the local inhabitants adhered strictly to the rules regarding purity and impurity.
Underneath the dwellings and rock-hewn installations, another surprising discovery was unearthed, dating to the time of the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132-135 CE) a winding labyrinth of hiding refuges connected to sophisticated and elaborate complexes.
In some of the underground complexes, Bar Kokhbas rebels breached a cistern to provide those in hiding with access to water.
One of the caves also yielded intact ceramic jars and cooking pots that were probably used by the rebels.
The finds show that the settlement continued to exist even after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE.
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Taipei, April 3 (CNA) Health Minister Chen Shih-chung () said Monday that it was not up to him whether or not to lift a ban on imports of American pork containing ractopamine but that he was responsible for ensuring that food is safe for consumers.
[NAIROBI] Smallholder farmers in east and southern Africa could benefit from a project to innovate ways to help unlock barriers in regional soybean value chains.
The UK-funded FoodTrade East and Southern Africa (FoodTrade ESA) has awarded 1million (about US$1.2 million) to Classic Foods Limited of Kenya and Seba Foods Limited of Zambia to help farmers improve yields, access appropriate storage solutions and market for their produce.
Isaac Tallam, market system expert at FoodTrade ESA, says soybean demand has increased in Africa because of growing animal feed industry and household consumptions.
We have embarked on training and developing the skills of small-holder farmers to increase their yields. Gaurav Vijayvargiya, Seba Foods Limited
In addition to being a source of oil, soybean is used in other industrial processes, with multiple benefits for various actors along the entire value chain, Tallam tells SciDev.Net.
Some challenges the projects are meant to tackle include lack of certified seeds, and lack of ready markets, he says.
Tallam told SciDev.Net on 23 February that soybean is an important regional food and cash crop because of its industrial characteristics. It also restores soil fertility through nitrogen fixing.
About 28.6 million people in Sub-Sharan Africa grow soybean for commercial and subsistence use.
The two companies, which were selected from 90 applications from nine countries across east and southern Africa, are using the fund announced in January this year to ensure farmers get quality certified seeds, training in good agricultural practices, post-harvest crop management and provide them with a ready market.
This will ultimately lead to income diversification of the smallholder farmers engaged through contract farmingand mitigate against the effects of climate change, says Tallam.
Gaurav Vijayvargiya, global business head at Zambia-based Seba Foods Limited, says there has been increasing consumption of processed soybean products within Zambia over the last five years.
We have embarked on training and developing the skills of smallholder farmers to increase their yields. We are aiming to have more women beneficiaries, he says.
Wachira Kariuki, chief executive officer of Classic Foods Ltd, says there has been imports from South America and India to cover soybean products deficit in east and southern Africa.
Key challenges faced by smallholder farmers include lack of farming skills and technical knowhow on soy bean farming, which is compounded by unpredictable weather patterns, he notes.
His company will enhance crop production among smallholder farmers through extension services, provision of inputs as well as improve post-harvest crop management.
According to Haggai Oduori, agriculture and applied economics expert at Kenya-based Tegemeo Institute of Agricultural Policy and Development at Egerton University, the project could be successful.Our value chain players lack coherent networks and trust. If the project will address governance and logistical issues it will unlock some of the barriers, Oduori says.Farmers, he adds, need locally assembled hermetic bags to reduce post-harvest losses, and the lack of contract enforcement has kept many farmers out of markets.Supporting local businesses to contract large numbers of farmers to produce at guaranteed prices would stimulate development of agribusiness value chains, he tells SciDev.Net.This piece was produced by SciDev.Nets Sub-Saharan Africa English desk.
After a long gap, reports about the existence of the extinct creature, the Tasmanian tiger have surfaced recently. People of Australia now want to have a glimpse of that animal.
For the last few days, different reports are surfacing from different corners about the Tasmanian tiger. NPR reported that the creature is a carnivorous marsupial and the face of this animal looks like a dog. The extinct creature creates a huge enthusiasm among the citizens in Australia.
The last time this Tasmanian tiger died in 1936 at the Hobart Zoo of Tasmania. The extinct creature survived for a few years in the zoo and died. Experts thought that the death of this last one finally eliminates the species.
Interestingly, after this incident, the Tasmanian tiger became a fact of the textbook. Some aged Australians only utter words of this animal, but gradually the marsupial became an inhabitant of the oblivion. The recent plausible sightings of the creature have increased the thrust of the researchers at Australia's James Cook University to search for the details.
Sandra Abell, a leading researcher of the said university reveals that the animal has a dog-like face. Surprisingly, the backside with a long tail is similar to the kangaroo. The Tasmanian tiger has stripes on the body.
According to ABC News, Professor Bill Laurance and Dr. Sandra Abell, scientists of the James Cook University want to gather information about the Tasmanian tiger. Both the researchers want to place several cameras in the north Queensland, Australia, which is a plausible sighting for the carnivorous marsupial. The aim is to explore many important facts about this creature.
The search for the Tasmanian tiger begins with the recent account given by the former tour operator Brian Hobbs. He has recently uttered words about the presence of marsupial during a campaign trip in 1983. Sandra Abell reveals that she needs some specific data to satisfy her desire about this animal. The recent research may bring some fruitfully result about the curiosity.
Twists and surprises are the inevitable parts of the new U.S. administration. Currently, NASA is facing a huge cut for the earth science programs from the proposed budget.
Space News reported a proposed five percent cut in the fiscal year budget of 2018. The released blueprint of the budget on March 16 by the White House office of Management and Budget reveals a proposed fact for NASA. The space agency of the United States may face a huge decrement of $120 million that can affect the Earth science division.
NASA was able to acquire $1.921 billion in the past fiscal year 2016, but this time the space agency will be rewarded with $1.8 billion. This is a sharp decrement of more than $120 million. The latest development unveils that the proposed budget proposal cancels three important Earth science missions that are under development.
The three important missions are PACE, CLARREO, and OCO. The three missions are linked to the International Space station. Scientists of the space agency have already criticized the proposed cuts. Though, the NASA Acting Administrator, Robert Lightfoot, has tried to deemphasize the impacts of the cuts.
While attending a meeting of the NASA Advisory Council on March 30 Robert Lightfoot uttered that the science funding was stable. He said that some missions of the Earth science arena would not be able to see the development. He preferred to continue the study about the home planet.
Interestingly, Michael Freilich, director of the Earth science division of NASA utters the significant impact of the proposed cuts. But, at the same time plays down the proposal and describes the cancellation of four important projects. Freilich reveals that the omission of the Earth science in the bill doesn't mean the disapproval of all the Earth science programs.
Apart from NASA several other space agencies also play significant roles. European Space Agency or the ESA is also preparing for the success of the important ExoMars project, Science Times reported. The ExoMars project is approaching for a secure landing on Mars in order to trace the existence of life.
Now, it is currently impossible to uncover the way to implement the proposed cut of the budget when the four projects of NASA are facing the ultimate death. The details of proposed implementation can only be available after the release of the full budget proposal. It is now a clear fact that the space agency is facing a tough situation and they need to evolve a right plan to implement.
Elon Musk has been basking in the glow of the recent successful launch of his first reusable rocket. Keeping up with the momentum, he is already looking into a demonstration flight for the Falcon Heavy rocket, which is set to launch later this year.
Ars Technica reported that with its single Merlin engine, the vacuum-rated version of the nine engines previously used on the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket will be used for Falcon Heavy's second stage rocket. This means that it will deliver the payload to orbit after the engines are turned off. Recovery for the Falcon Heavy would be difficult. But if it is successful, this could prove to be a stepping stone toward the company's desire to reuse entire rockets.
The possibility of reusing rockets has not been proven yet. To do so, SpaceX will have to bring back the first-stage rocket, the payload and the second stage of the launch vehicle. The second stage, in particular, is questionable. It reaches a higher altitude than the first-stage launch and may have to use a combination of the engines and a few parachutes to land back to Earth.
This does not deter Musk, who said on Twitter that odds of success are low but could still be worth a shot. He also added that the vehicle can be brought back to Earth the same way they did with the Dragon spacecraft from orbit. However, a lot of calculations have to be made concerning the weight needed to get the second stage to a safe landing.
The test payload for Falcon Heavy will not be valuable, but Elon Musk told his Twitter followers that the company is planning on launching the "silliest thing" they can imagine. What could this be, nobody knows yet.
In a previous test for a SpaceX Dragon capsule, they launched a wheel of Le Brouere cheese as inspired by "a friend and Monty Python." While Musk refused to tell the press what the mystery item was right after the 2010 launch, the Los Angeles Times reported it to be the cheese upon confirmation of SpaceX the next day.
Matt Damon's The Martian may be fictional, but like his character, it seems scientists found a way to grow potatoes on Mars. With the help of a simulator that replicates environmental conditions on the Red Planet, scientists from Peru were able to grow a small potato plant.
This is excellent news as far as colonizing Mars is concerned. The experiment was not only about bringing spuds on Mars. It was also about finding the type of potato that can resist areas on Earth that were previously thought to be non-cultivable, Astrobiologist Julio Valdivia told the Associated Press.
According to WhoTV.com, Valdivia is working hand in hand with NASA's Ames Research Center in California. The agency helped him design the simulator called CubeSat that featured below-zero temperatures, high concentrations of carbon monoxide and air pressure found at a nearly 20,000-foot altitude. This is not the first time NASA attempted such experiment though. Most of the previous works concentrated on optimizing extraterrestrial environments to increase food and oxygen on Martian soil.
Forbes noted that the new experiment put crops in extreme conditions, as exposed by the CubeSat. If the potatoes can tolerate such climate, they have a good chance to survive on Mars.
The CubeSat houses soil from the southern Peruvian desert, which scientists think are the "most Mars-like" soil found on Earth. The spuds are then planted in the soil and sealed into the simulator, which delivers nutrient-rich water and mimics Martian temperatures in daytime and nighttime. It has also kept the plants under Martian air pressure. To keep track of their growth, cameras are trained on the spuds 24/7.
The result is straight out of Matt Damon's sci-fi movie, with potato breeder Walter Amoros remarking that potatoes have a high potential for strengthening food security in areas around the globe that are affected by climate change and famine. The next stage of the experiment will soon be underway.
Scientists will have to widen the experimental base to get a broader range of results. They will also have to increase carbon dioxide concentrations to bring the spuds ever nearer to Martian atmosphere.
With warm weather ahead, you cant wait to hit the trails for a long hike or pack your tackle box for a day at the lake. But does your outdoor prep get a passing grade?
Before you head outdoors, put your readiness to the test.
Q. How many bandages should be in your first-aid kit?
A. The American Red Cross recommends having 25 bandages of various sizes in a first-aid kit for a family of four, as well as roller (wrap) bandages and triangular (sling) bandages. Speaking of first-aid kits, when was the last time you checked yours? Antibiotic ointment, pain medicine and batteries can expire. Check dates and replace these items as needed.
Q. What percentage of the suns rays does a white T-shirt block?
A. According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, a white T-shirt has an ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) of 5. That means it lets in one-fifth, or 20 percent, of the suns harmful UV rays and even more when it gets wet. That much UV exposure can do real damage over several hours. For better protection, wear a shirt with a 50UPF rating.
Q. How long can grilled meat sit at room temp before its unsafe to eat?
A. Raw or cooked meat shouldnt be eaten after two hours of being unrefrigerated, or after one hour if its kept in an area above 90 degrees Fahrenheit, says the United States Department of Agriculture. If youre grilling out or cooking over a campfire, make sure uncooked meat stays out of the danger zone of more than 40 degrees. That might mean throwing away or refrigerating uneaten food.
Q. True or false: Applying nail polish to a tick that is attached to the skin is the safest way to remove it.
A. False. This and other creative methods for getting a tick to detach itself can aggravate the tick and make it latch on more firmly. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends using needle-nose tweezers to remove as much of the embedded tick as possible as soon as its found.
The sun is one of the biggest outdoor threats to your health. Keep your skin covered from head to toe, including these commonly overlooked areas:
>> Eyes: Wear sunglasses to protect your eyes and the thin, sensitive skin around them.
>> Lips: Use lipstick or lip balm with a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 30.
>> Feet: If you wear sandals, dont forget to apply sunscreen with an SPF of at least 30 to the tops of your feet.
>> Ears and head: Apply sunscreen to the tops of your ears and any bald spots, and wear a wide-brimmed hat.
Limited exposure to the suns rays benefits your health, as sunlight increases the bodys supply of vitamin D, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Even if youre prepared, medical emergencies can still occur in the outdoors. For information about our emergency services, visit CarolinasHospital.com.
Dr. Iris D. Ignacio is board certified in Family Medicine. He is associated with Pee Dee Family Physicians, an affiliate of Carolinas Medical Alliance. Ignacio is accepting new patients. To schedule an appointment, call 843-664-9696.
FLORENCE, S.C. -- Florence native Dave Hemmingsen was elected as the State Chairman for the South Carolina Ducks Unlimited State Committee for 2017-2018.
Hemmingsen has been an active committee member of the Ducks Unlimited Florence Chapter for more than 30 years and will continue his lifelong support of conservation through Ducks Unlimited in a state leadership role.
Hemmingsen and his wife Rilla have been married for 37 years and together have three children and four grandchildren. Hemmingsen is the owner of Fludds Pawn and Gun, LLC and Waters Edge Enterprises, LLC in Florence.
The idea for Ducks Unlimited was born after countless acres of wetland habitat vanished in the 1930s, taking with them the promise of generations of waterfowl. In 1937, a small group of conservationists who realized that the majority of North America's waterfowl breed in the Canadian prairies, organized to raise money in the United States for waterfowl conservation in Canada. It was the unique idea that became Ducks Unlimited.
South Carolina Ducks Unlimited has conserved more than 200,000 acres of waterfowl habit in the state with more than 70,000 of those acres being public hunting land. As of January 2016, Ducks Unlimited has invested nearly $40 million to conserve land for waterfowl hunters in the state.
LAKE CITY, S.C. A Community Action Team (CAT) was implemented last week in Lake City, and along with it comes a new sergeant and his K9. The CAT will target high-crime areas in Lake City and be actively involved in the community.
The main goal is to clean up the bad areas in the city, whether it be narcotics, weapons, car break-ins, burglary, everything, Lake City Police Chief Kipp Coker said.
Sergeant Brandon Braxton and K9 Ruin were hired together by the police department. Ruin is a narcotics detection and tracking dog. He is able to track suspects and missing individuals. Now 3 years-old, Ruin, a Hanoverian Hound, has been with Braxton since he was eight months old.
Braxton said he wants to take as much narcotics off the street as possible along with guns. He also wants to be a mentor to children and influence them to stay on a straight path.
The dog is going to allow us to locate narcotics that may be hidden very well inside a vehicle, Braxton said. Also, hes going to locate narcotics that may be inside of a drug house thats hidden sometimes in the walls or in the floors. Hes highly trained in those areas to help us make our jobs a little easier.
Ruin also is trained in tracking human odor and will assist CAT in locating individuals in several situations, including car chases where suspects jump and run from the vehicle, Braxton said.
So what we do is we start Ruin on that suspects scent and then Ruin takes us to them, Braxton said. Hes a valuable asset in locating dangerous fugitives as well as finding missing elderly people such as with dementia, Alzheimers, regular occurrence with them wandering away.
Coker said the police department needed experienced officers and a K9 to hit Lake Citys drug problem head-on.
Braxton and Ruin both have a great deal of experience. Braxton comes to Lake City from the Clarendon County Sheriffs Office, where he was assigned to the Highway Interdiction Team that focuses on large-scale narcotics smuggling, terrorist detection and human smuggling, among other things.
In 2013, Braxton was named National Highway Drug Interdiction Officer of the Year. In 2014, he was awarded for having the largest cocaine seizure in the country with 121 pounds of cocaine, and he was named the Officer of the Week for Operation Strike Force in Florence County. Later this month, he will receive an award at the 2017 National Interdiction Conference in Pennsylvania.
I am an instructor through Georgia K9, which we teach agencies across the world, not just here in the country, but Europe and Switzerland, different small countries over there, how to train their dogs and work them, Braxton said.
He is also an instructor with Dark Horse Interdiction Training, which teaches road patrol officers and deputies how to intercept and detect drug traffickers and any other type of smuggler.
During his 3 years, Ruin has located 78 people by tracking them through swamps and wooded areas. He also has located approximately $2 million in drug currency and roughly 400 pounds of narcotics, according to Braxton. Ruin also has appeared on the cover of Police K9 Magazine.
Since the team was implemented March 27, the CAT made a traffic stop and located 117 Xanax bars, a Schedule 4 narcotic, along with approximately two grams of cocaine and 20 grams of marijuana.
Braxton and Ruin are a big asset to Lake City, Coker said.
And were building upon that. Theres more to come, Coker said. And the ultimate goal is, for one, to get the drugs out of Lake City, take them off the streets, make these streets safer.
The EUs Gibraltar mistake
Spain are taking this very, very seriously. I think there is support across the board among the member states. Why not? It is not a problem that was born yesterday. It has been with us a long time and we have always listened to both sides. Now we are going to support the member state. That is the philosophy behind it. I wouldnt think any of the 26 other states will somehow try to undermine this clause.
2 April 2017The SpectatorIt was quite right for Theresa May to not mention Gibraltar in her Article 50 letter why should the future of its people be in question in our negotiations? To do so would be to introduce a dangerous notion: that Gibraltar and its people were somehow a bargaining chip. Of course, the press will have fun with the idea that the Prime Minister forgot Gibraltar but far more plausible is Tim Shipmans story in thetoday that the idea of mentioning it in the Brexit letter was raised several times and rejected.That the EU has brought Gibraltar up as part of the Brexit deals right now is strange and shows a worrying naivety on its part. Some 99pc of Gibraltar citizens have rejected Spains demands for joint sovereignty, so why put this question back on the table? An EU diplomat is quoted in the Guardian giving an answer: Worse still if the EU doing this as a negotiating ploy, a gambit intended to scare the Brits only to be dropped later in return for some concession. Its simply the wrong button to press with Brits, who are rather sensitive about the protection of fellow citizens.Tories, in particular, dont need much provocation to issue reminders of the lengths we once went to to defend the Falkland Islands which have less than a tenth of Gibraltars population.Already, the former Tory leader Michael Howard has been on television drawing parallels with the Falklands War (another small group of British people against another Spanish-speaking country). An unwise and inflammatory comparison, that reminds us why hes out of frontline politics. He meant, no doubt, to underline the strong British commitment to Gibraltar but war analogies are unhelpful in this context. That said, if Howard hadnt mentioned the F word, someone else would: on Saturday I spoke to ministers who talking about the Falklands. And listing the other (non-military) retaliation we could make against Spain if it were to mess about with Gibraltar.Of course, post-Brexit, Spain will have to consider refinements to the already-sealed border with Gibraltar, given that will soon be a non-EU territory. But that involves just one road (the wonderfully-named Winston Churchill Avenue) so its hardly Sweden/Norway. So why bring it up as a major issue now? The aim may have been to put the frighteners on the Brits, but the result has been to get a lot of British backs up. And make more in the UK wonder if this negotiation is worth it, and whether Mrs May should walk away sooner rather than later.The EU is pretty bad at negotiations. Its diplomatic corps is one of the worst in the continent look at its mishandling of Ukraine, and its stunning inability to cut a free trade deal with any of its major trading partners, ever. If it does manage to come up with a deal that Britain feels able to sign, it will be its first-ever major trade deal success. Im afraid Im not optimistic.Theresa May does not need a deal with the EU. As I argue in my latest Daily Telegraph column , the WTO protections are in place and guarantee small tariffs (averaging about 4.5 per cent) that would anyway be offset by the fall in the pound . The no deal scenario really isnt that bad. But the EU is behaving as if Theresa May is as desperate for a deal as Cameron was. It messed up the Cameron negotiation, overplaying its hand and losing the UK as a result. Its mentioning Gibraltar, a needlessly antagonistic act, suggests it is not learning very fast.
The ore carrier sent a distress call before noon on Friday saying it was taking on water. South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that the crew sent a text message to owners Polaris Shipping saying that the ship was sinking.
Two crew from the 1993-built 266,000 dwt Stellar Daisy were found drifting in a life raft, but a spokesperson from the Uruguayan Navy admitted they may be the only survivors.
"The more hours pass, the less the chances are of finding them," spokesman for the Uruguayan Navy Gaston Jaunsolo told Reuters news agency.
He said a Brazilian plane had flown over the area on Sunday morning and an Argentine war ship was due to join the search efforts. The ship sank on Friday some 3,700km off Uruguay's coast, Jaunsolo added.
Eight of the missing are South Korean nationals and 14 are Filipinos.
Keppel Corp, Keppel Offshore & Marine, Sembcorp Marine and Jurong Shipyard had been named as defendants in suit bought by EIG Management against Petrobras over its investments in Sete Brasil, which are embroiled in a huge corruption scandal.
The US District Court of Colombia dismissed the claims against the Singapore companies which had major contracts with Sete Brasil.
Revenue from the groups core ports operation rose 14% to HKD24.51bn and generated a pre-tax profit of HKD11.54bn, up 9% year-on-year China Merchants Ports said in a press release.
The group's ports posted record-high container throughput of 95.8m teu up 15% from 2015, while bulk cargo throughput rose 30% to 460m tonnes.
The groups Mainland China ports still contributed the bulk of volumes with container throughput of 71.9m teu, an increase of 17.0% year-on-year, which was mainly driven by the additional contribution from a new equity investment in Dalian Port (PDA) Company earlier in the year.
China Merchants Port's operations in Hong Kong and Taiwan saw container throughput grow 12% to 6.9m teu.
Meanwhile the group's international operations benefited from the ramp up at Colombo International Container Terminals and the additional contribution from Kumport Liman Hizmetleri ve Lojistik Sanayi ve Ticaret Anonim Sirketi in Turkey. Total container throughput handled by the groups overseas ports grew by 5.7% year-on-year to 17.0m teu.
The groups Mainland China ports handled bulk cargo volume of 453m tonnes, making up the majority of its total bulk cargo volume of 460m tonnes. And overseas ports such as Port de Djibouti in Djibouti contributed a bulk cargo volume of 6.5m tonnes, an increase of 26% year-on-year.
As HHI Group splits into four separate companies - Hyundai Heavy Industries; Hyundai Electric & Energy Systems; and Hyundai Construction Equipment; and Hyundai Robotics it announced plans to spend $3.1bn on R&D.
Of this investment $1.8bn is earmarked for its shipbuilding business to develop eco-friendly and smart ships, enhancing offshore engineering capability, and establishing a smart shipyard.
The remaining $1.3bn will be split between Hyundai Electric & Energy Systems (HEES), Hyundai Construction Equipment (HCE) and Hyundai Robotics (HR) making investments of $640m, $620m and $90m respectively.
Going forward HHI plans to spend the equivalent of 6 7% of annual sales on R&D. All four companies will appoint chief technology officers and the number of researchers will be expanded to 10,000 from 4,000 at present.
As today marks new chapter in our history, the three newly established companies will make utmost efforts to rank the global top five in their respective fields by making quality and technology top priorities, stated Kwon Oh-gap, chairman and ceo of HHI.
52% Say Clintons Should Be Part of Russia ProbeVoters are closely divided on the importance of Congress investigating whether Russia interfered with the last election, but if it does, they think the Clintons ties to the Russians should be part of the probe.A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 50% of Likely U.S. Voters think Congress should expand its investigation of any possible ties between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. Forty-five percent (45%) say Congress time would be better spent dealing with economic and other policy issues instead. (To see survey question wording, click here.)However, 52% believe Bill and Hillary Clintons private dealings with Russian officials should be included in the FBI and congressional investigation of the Trump campaign. Thirty-five percent (35%) disagree, but 13% are not sure.eat that63% Think Hillary Clinton May Have Helped Foreign Donors As Secretary of StateJust over half of voters do not trust Hillary Clinton, but even more think she used her position as secretary of State to benefit some of those who gave money to her Clinton Foundation.The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 63% of Likely U.S. Voters think its likely some actions Clinton took as secretary of State were influenced by donations made to the Clinton Foundation. This includes 42% who say its Very Likelyeat this
However, revenue fell by a quarter to MYR7.65bn in from MYR10.18bn previously.
For the current quarter ended 31 January 2017, revenue fell 19% to MYR1.81bn from MYR2.23bn previously and net losses narrowed to MYR172.9m from MYR1.29bn in the previous corresponding period, the company said in a stock market announcement.
Revenue from the engineering and construction segment MYR4.54bn fell 20% due to lower activities while segment pre-tax profit fell by half to MYR435.1m impacted by charges of MYR123m.
The key drilling segment saw revenue slide by almost a third to MYR2.02bn mainly due to some rigs coming off contract during the year. Segment pre-tax profit plunged 74% to MYR78.4m from MYR302.6m previously. Sapura Energy also took provisions of MYR160.9m in this segment.
In total Sapura Energy made impairments of MYR282.7m in this financial, a huge improvement from the more than MYR2bn hit it took previously.
President and group ceo Shahril Shamsuddin noted that the group continues to win jobs in Malaysia, India, Australia and the Americas as well as racked up notable wins in core market such as drilling in Brunei and renewal of the Pan-Malaysia T&I and IRM contracts.
"The groups continuous commitment towards re-basing of costs and increasing operational efficiency will ensure we remain competitive in winning work globally. The challenging industry environment is expected to persist in the short term, but the group believes it will remain resilient," Shahril concluded.
PLATTSMOUTH A Murdock woman will be required to pay back more than $18,000 she fraudulently obtained through a Medicaid assistance program.
Julia Burgess, 55, appeared in Cass County District Court on Monday morning for a sentencing hearing. She pled guilty in January to one Class I misdemeanor charge of theft by taking-$201 to $499. The state had originally charged her with a Class IV felony of fraudulently obtaining payment on behalf of a recipient of Medicaid assistance.
Nebraska Assistant Attorney General Mark Collins told the court in January that Burgess had been working as a personal assistance services provider in the South Bend area from March 2012 to August 2014. She had been caring for two people who were receiving Medicaid payments from the state.
Burgess had been receiving payments for hours she had worked as a personal assistance services provider. She presented two different sets of timesheets to payment providers during her time in the South Bend area.
Authorities discovered there were approximately 2,600 hours that overlapped between the two timesheets. Law enforcement officials discovered Burgess had been stopped for several traffic violations during that timespan. She had listed on her timesheets that she had been working on the same dates and times that she had been pulled over for traffic violations.
Collins told the court Monday morning that the state was willing to recommend probation as part of its plea bargain. He said the state wanted Burgess to repay $18,974.45 by the end of the probation term.
Collins said Burgess had complied with the states request to see her tax information for the previous two years. He said her adjusted gross income for 2016 was more than the median household income level in Nebraska for that year. He said he felt that would give her ample opportunity to repay the debt.
She has the kind of liquidity to make restitution in full, Collins said. Here we have a legal obligation for her to make payments. I think she can make the full restitution if she is placed on probation.
Defense attorney Michael Ziskey also asked the court to issue a probation sentence. He said his client was living paycheck to paycheck because her hours varied during each week of the year. He said she could pay approximately $500-$600 in restitution per month.
Judge Michael Smith ordered Burgess to spend 24 months on probation. She must pay all court costs by Jan. 1, 2018, and complete 40 hours of community service within two years. She will also be required to complete an appropriate decision-making course.
Smith ordered Burgess to pay a minimum of $600 per month in restitution. She will be required to repay the full amount of $18,974.45. If she pays only the minimum of $600 per month, she would still have $4,574.45 left to complete the debt. She could either post that final amount in a bulk payment or pay more than the minimum amount each month to reach the total.
Press Release
April 3, 2017 POE EXPECTS EPOWERS BILL TO HURDLE PERIOD OF INTERPELLATION WHEN SESSIONS RESUME The Senate is expected to speed up deliberations on the proposed emergency powers for traffic when sessions resume after its six-week break, following a drawing up of "common priorities" by the Palace and Congress, Sen. Grace Poe said. Poe, principal sponsor of Senate Bill No. 1284 or the proposed Traffic and Congestion Crisis Act, expressed optimism that the chamber will conclude the period of interpellation soon after the resumption of session in May and eventually pass the measure during the 14 calendar days prior to adjournment of session in June. "Ending the daily agony and sufferings of our commuters is long overdue. Any further delay in solving the traffic crisis is denying them the basic rights and due service they deserve to get from government," said Poe, chairperson of the Senate committee on public services. "While we agree to the emergency powers, we shall ensure that such will be FOI-compliant, fiscally responsible and adhering to deadlines," the senator added, assuring that the massive transportation projects will be up for public scrutiny. Recently, Malacanang and Congress officials met to list 10 priority measures which included the emergency powers to solve traffic in Metro Manila and other urban areas. "Palagi kong pinapaalala at ako'y nagsalita na rin sa plenaryo na mawawalan ito ng saysay pag hindi natin naipasa agad, kaya nga ito ay emergency," the senator earlier said. Poe had sponsored the emergency powers bill as early as Dec. 14 last year. Before the Senate went on break last month, the proposed measure reached the period of interpellation. At least five senators have already scrutinized the bill in plenary, while several others have expressed their intent to interpellate and introduce amendments to the bill when sessions resume in May. At the House, the measure has been approved at the committee level, while plenary debates have yet to start. Meanwhile, Poe called on concerned agencies to implement immediate solutions to address the worsening traffic and ease commuter woes. "Pinapaalala ko rin sa iba't ibang mga sangay ng gobyerno na nakasentro sa paglutas ng problema ng traffic na hindi naman kailangang hintayin ang emergency powers para magkaroon ng agarang solusyon sa ibang mga problema natin, katulad ng mga illegally parked vehicles," the senator stressed. The proposed emergency powers bill authorizes the President, through his appointed Traffic Crisis Manager, to use alternative methods of procurement under existing laws to expedite the implementation of key transportation projects. The measure covers land, sea and air transport that sets parameters on how to exercise the emergency powers.
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Several body parts including a severed human leg strapped to a cinder block were recovered from a Shasta County lake and are believed to be remains of a missing Shasta County woman whose husband told detectives he dumped her in a lake, but did not kill her, officials said.
A Shasta County Sheriffs Office dive team found the body parts in Whiskeytown Lake, about 10 miles west of Redding, on Friday and Saturday. The condition of the human remains appeared to indicate that 38-year-old Bridget Jacobs was dismembered, according to sheriffs office officials.
The leg was reportedly discovered around 2:30 p.m. on Friday, near the Brandy Creek Marina. Witnesses spotted Jacobs husband, Philip Jacobs, 56, in a blue boat about 100 yard from the area on the night of March 19, according to the Sheriffs Office.
Shasta County Sheriffs deputies were dispatched to Philip Jacobs home at 3875 Westridge Road in Cottonwood around 11:00 p.m. on March 15 after a woman could be heard screaming in the background of a 911 call hang-up originating from Jacobs cell phone.
When deputies arrived, they did not see anyone at the home, although they did see two dogs.
Bridget Jacobs was reported missing by her father five days later, on the morning of March 20.
Philip Jacobs did not show up to work that day, and when deputies interviewed him at his home, he said he and his wife had fought on the night of March 15, officials said. He told deputies he called 911 during the argument and that his wife left the house on foot with her purse, cell phone and dog, officials said.
During a search of the couples Westridge Road home, detectives found Bridgets phone in a safe, along with items of evidence indicating foul play, according to the Sheriffs Office.
Investigators later determined that Philip Jacobs had driven to Whiskeytown Lake on the evening of March 19 in a yellow Toyota FJ Cruiser, towing a 12-foot blue boat, Sheriffs officials said.
On March 28, Philip Jacobs interrupted detectives interviewing his mother in Redding, telling them he needed to talk about how accidents happen, according to the Sheriffs Office.
He allegedly went on to tell detectives that during their argument on March 15, his wife fell down a set of stairs at their home and died, possibly of a broken neck, during their argument on March 15.
Public records show Philip Jacobs has been a licensed nurse practitioner for more than 10 years and a registered nurse for more than 20, but he reportedly did not describe any attempt to administer aid to his wife in his account of how she died, officials said.
He kept her body in the home for four days, then drove it to Whiskeytown Lake, tied it to a cinder block, used his blue boat to dump it in the water and went home, he reportedly told detectives.
Following the interview, he was booked into Shasta County Jail on suspicion of murder. His bail is set at $1 million, according to county records.
Bridgets dog, a 4-year-old Pomeranian-Yorkshire terrier mix named Abijah, has not been found in the area or at any of the local shelters, and Philip Jacobs has refused to answer questions from investigators about what happened to the dog.
The sheriffs dive team suspended the search of the lake on Sunday due to cloudy water and high winds, but is expected to resume the search this week, according to the Sheriffs Office.
Anyone with information on the case can contact the Shasta County Sheriffs Office at (530) 245-6540.
Filipa Ioannou is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: fioannou@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @obioannoukenobi
Steven G. de Polo / Getty Image
A motorcyclist being chased by police in Petaluma was killed when he wiped out at high speed in a residential neighborhood, officials said.
The crash occurred about 5:15 p.m. Sunday when police received a call that two men on motorcycles were speeding up and down a street near Adobe Creek Drive and Ely Boulevard South, just outside an apartment complex, police said.
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As the federal government braced for Mondays avalanche of applications for the highly coveted H-1B work visa, immigration officials shifted some ground rules.
The immigration agency said Monday it will take a more targeted approach in choosing employers whose workers receive visas. And under guidance issued late Friday, a computer programmer with a bachelors degree is not automatically eligible for an H-1B visa a reversal of a 17-year-old federal policy.
The H-1B visa program, which allows foreign workers with specialized skills to spend three to six years working at a sponsor company in the U.S., has been a constant point of contention between Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C.
While Northern California tech companies as established as Google and as fresh as startups rely on H-1B visas to staff many engineering positions, critics say the program is rife with loopholes that allow companies to squeeze out American workers in favor of foreigners willing to work for lower wages. Reforming the H-1B program was one of President Trumps campaign promises.
In an attempt to deter and detect H-1B visa fraud and abuse, the immigration agency said it will continue random and unannounced visits around the country to H-1B-dependent companies. The agency will focus on companies that have a high ratio of H-1B workers, and companies whose H-1B workers work at an office other than the employers. Indian technology-outsourcing companies like Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys, which submit tens of thousands of visa requests a year, could be a target.
Too many American workers who are as qualified, willing and deserving to work in these fields have been ignored or unfairly disadvantaged, the agency said in a statement. Protecting American workers by combatting fraud in our employment-based immigration programs is a priority.
The Justice Department also warned employers petitioning for H-1B visas not to discriminate against American workers.
U.S. workers should not be placed in a disfavored status, and the department is wholeheartedly committed to investigating and vigorously prosecuting these claims, acting Assistant Attorney General Tom Wheeler said in a statement Monday.
To qualify for an H-1B, an applicant has to be in a specialty occupation, defined as a job complex or unique enough that at least a bachelors degree is required. Under previous guidance, programming was assumed to qualify. According to a memo issued by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services on Friday, employers now may have to provide additional evidence that any computer programmer job they want to fill with a foreign worker is so complex and specialized that it requires at least a bachelors degree. Its unclear how many people will be affected by the rule change.
Coding academies and education websites have sprung up in recent years that promise to teach software skills faster and cheaper than colleges.
Sharon Rummery, an agency spokeswoman, said the memorandum overturned obsolete guidelines that had not been used as a standard for years.
Stacey Gartland, an attorney and immigration specialist at the law firm Van Der Hout, Brigagliano & Nightingale, said that the original memo, crafted in 2000, was created at a time when the computer industry was newer, and the immigration office was getting lots of H-1B petitions for jobs that had not previously existed. They werent sure how to evaluate them, Gartland said.
But some lawyers argue that the new guidance, which is effective immediately, muddies the language of who is eligible for the visa and will likely target lower-paid and entry-level positions. The agency now has more latitude to question whether a foreign worker is needed for a specific position over an American citizen.
Applicants vying for an H-1B are typically required to spell out the nature of their duties, and why a bachelors degree is required to perform them.
Generally, computer-related positions used to qualify for an H-1B, but what this new memo is saying is, No, not every single computer-related position is a high-skill position, said Jason Finkelman, an immigration attorney in Austin, Texas.
According to the Foreign Labor Certification Data Center, a computer programmer is defined as someone who may develop and write computer programs to store, locate, and retrieve specific documents, data, and information. The average salary for a programmer in Santa Clara County ranges from $52,229 to $93,933 a year. There is no minimum education or training level specified.
Finkelman said some employers who filed for an H-1B application for a computer programmer Monday may get a request from the government to prove that the position could not be filled with a U.S. worker without a bachelors degree.
Depending on how (the agency) decides to adjudicate, they could deny a whole bunch of H-1Bs, even though people have a bachelors degree, said Greg Siskind, an immigration attorney.
The new provision regarding computer programmers is yet another abrupt change to the H-1B application process under the Trump administration. Last month the agency temporarily suspended its expedited processing program, used last year by 59 percent of applicants, who pay a fee for a faster decision.
With uncertainty over the fate of the program under the Trump administration, combined with a strong economy, immigration attorneys expect a surge in applications this year.
The applications, which overwhelmingly come from India, have nearly doubled since 2014, but the number of visas granted to for-profit companies has remained at 85,000 per year.
For fiscal year 2017, United States Citizens and Immigration Services received a record 236,000 H-1B applications. They began accepting applications for the next fiscal year on Monday. Several immigration attorneys expect 250,000 to 300,000 petitions this year. For a number of years, the government has received so many H-1B applications that it typically stops accepting them within a week.
Plattsmouth Community Foundation (PCF) honored longtime community servant, Merlin Olson, with its 2017 Citizen of the Year Award.
PCF member Mike Schuldt shared Merlins history with the crowd attending the organizations Annual Meeting and Recognition Dinner at St. John the Baptist School March 30.
Olson was born in Sioux City, Iowa, Jan. 21, 1940. He graduated from Central High School in 1958. During his high school years, he served in the Navy Reserves. He said one of his greatest disappointments in life came when he was rejected from going on active duty because of a health issue.
He graduated from Wayne State College in Wayne in 1964 with a degree in Secondary Education/Vocational Education. After college, he was hired at Bellwood to teach seventh and eighth grade, serve as principal and drive the school bus. During his tenure at Bellwood, he oversaw the construction of a new elementary school.
While in Bellwood, he married Ellen. Ellens main duties as a young bride were to keep Merlins white shirts ready for school and have a continuous supply of chocolate chip cookies, Schuldt said.
In 1967, Merlin and Ellen moved closer to Lincoln so Merlin could pursue a Masters Degree. While standing in the registration line, Merlin saw the principal who oversaw him during his teaching practicum.
The principal suggested Merlin come to Bellevue and interview for a position teaching shop. He landed the job, which he remained in for another 31 years.
At the time he was hired, however, there was no housing available in Bellevue, so they moved to Plattsmouth. In 1967, the couple became parents to their son Eric. Daughter Caroline joined them in 1970 and daughter Jana was born in 1982. I985, Brady was born.
Having children in the family changed the activities to include PTA and building floats for the Kass Kounty King Korn Karnival, Schuldt said.
Merlin became involved with Cub Scout Troop 477 with both boys and he became a scout leader for Troop 399.
While a member of Plattsmouth Band Parents, Merlin flipped an estimated one-half million pancakes, served buckets of yumburgers and drove the equipment trailer to competitions all over the state. Helping with After-Prom was another activity he enjoyed.
In Plattsmouth, they joined St. Lukes Episcopal Church, where Merlin served on the vestry and was elected junior and senior awarded several times. He is also a Lay Eucharistic Minister and a reader. He served as the acolyte sponsor for many years.
If church and scouting wasnt enough to do, Merlin also served on the Plattsmouth Fire and Rescue Squad for 10 years.
When the Plattsmouth Conservancy formed 40 years ago, Merlin joined. He served as president the year of the first home tour.
He and Ellen opened their home for several tours and for the Christmas Progressive Dinners many times. He really enjoyed serving as kitchen staff, Schuldt said. Merlin also helped build the railway building at Rhylander Park.
Because he was drawn to community service through many organizations, Keith Roby invited him to a Lions Club meeting in 1979. Merlin is still an active member, serving as president, secretary and on its committees many times.
With the main fund-raiser being a food wagon, Merlin has stocked the trailer for 35 years. He, the trailer and a faithful group of volunteers are familiar figures at Cruzin Main.
Merlin was elected as Lions Club District Governor in 2005. He enjoyed visiting the 46 clubs in the district to share his ideas of service to humanity, Schuldt said. At this time, Merlin is serving as the Nebraska Lions Club Foundation chair, which is the fund-raising arm of the Nebraska Lions Club. Merlins greatest pleasure has been to instill the attitude of service to his children and grandchildren. They have followed in his footsteps whether in Plattsmouth, their homes or the world.
In Oakland, 1 out of every 3 girls doesnt graduate from high school, according to Girls Inc. of Alameda County.
The nonprofit organization prepares girls from neglected neighborhoods to navigate gender, economic and racial barriers. The chasm the poor must climb out of to stand on equal ground with the rest of us needs renewed attention.
Ask yourself: Who has access to opportunities, and who doesnt?
We are here to make sure that girls in underserved communities in Oakland, who happen to be girls of color, have access, opportunities and resources so that they can also fulfill their potential, said Julayne Virgil, the Girls Inc. CEO.
Girls Inc. works with youths from kindergarten to high school. The programming, which includes education, nutrition and health modules, prepares the girls for lifes next steps. Virgil said the organization serves about 1,400 girls each year through programming. With counseling and community outreach, Girls Inc. helps about 10,000 people per year.
What were doing is intentionally creating a space here where the girls know that theyre important, where they feel that, Virgil said. They live it, they breathe it. They support each other.
For girls there isnt a wand that will magically eradicate economic obstacles, gender bias and misogyny.
But what we can do is make sure that the girls have the skills, the resources, the environment that they need to be strong and to go out and to be successful in spite of all these things, Virgil told me as we sat in her toasty 16th Street office in downtown Oakland. Our ultimate goal is to have girls feel safe, feel valued and to feel prepared to achieve their dreams.
Virgil understands the importance of reinforcements, because as a young girl, the East Oakland native took part in after-school programs.
These are the pieces that helped shape an understanding of what was possible for me, she said.
Virgil, who attended different schools than her cousins and other kids in her neighborhood, witnessed the inequity built into local education. Thats why she started tutoring at 14. She went to the University of Pennsylvania, one of the first in her family to graduate from a four-year college.
After college, Virgil got a job in New York. She had just started to run a weekend program for girls when 9/11 happened. Thats when she realized she wanted to focus her career on helping the disadvantaged.
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.
When I visited Girls Inc., I saw girls grabbing sandwiches and milk from the front desk on their way to do homework. University flags are hanging on walls, doors and columns, a constant reminder to the students of what is possible. Theres also a yoga studio and fitness center. Feminism is written on the chalkboard in the kitchen, a nod to whats always on the menu here.
Last summer, Virgil went on a mountain bike trip with some of the girls. There were several who were hesitant, because they didnt know how to ride a bike well. There were a few crashes and falls.
And the other girls were right there You got it. Pick yourself up, Virgil recalled. And theres something about that ability to know that youre going to make mistakes. Youre going to fall. What do you do? Do you have the resilience to get back up? Can you encourage somebody else to do that?
As I waited to be escorted to Virgils office, a young woman walked in to the lobby. She told the receptionist that she had gone through the Girls Inc. program and is now hoping to become a volunteer.
There was a time when marijuana merchants and union leaders were all but joining hands in the smoking circle, but stepped-up efforts by labor organizers to infuse themselves deep into cannabis commerce have caused the stewards of sinsemilla to rethink the bond.
The legalization of recreational pot in California has set off a scramble for influence in the industry, which is projected to top $7 billion in sales in the state by 2020. Tensions over what role unions should play are rising in Sacramento, in cannabis shops and at places like City College of San Francisco, which has proposed a first-of-its-kind weed apprenticeship course that would largely be run by a union.
We need a workforce that has minimum training standards, said Jeff Ferro, the director of cannabis workers for the union seeking to create the class, the United Food and Commercial Workers, or UFCW. An apprenticeship program provides people with the opportunity to earn as they learn.
The UFCW has pursued apprenticeship programs for meat cutters, barbers and cosmetologists, so training bud tenders isnt a stretch. But the colleges plan to funnel mostly dues-paying members into the program raised the eyebrows of its would-be partner, Oaksterdam University, which wants the training to be for all cannabis entrepreneurs regardless of union status.
Were meeting to see if this is something we want to pursue, said Dale Sky Jones, executive chancellor of the Oakland marijuana trade school, which was founded in 2007. One thing we are talking about is my interest in providing this to more than just union members.
Jones said the dustup illuminates a larger question among growers, retailers and distributors: Will unionization ruin the buzz?
The cannabis industry has traditionally been very sensitive to workers rights, and the people who have been working in cannabis tend to be happy, Jones said. They are not oppressed workers. So the question is, if the workers dont need representation against management, then what are they getting for their union dues?
At stake is not just a class teaching the intricacies of the indica-sativa spectrum but the shape of an industry that grew with the legalization of medical marijuana in 1996 and, starting next year, will see hundreds of recreational-use stores open and line their shelves with competing products.
I think every employer that is looking at a potential organizing campaign is going to have questions, said Gina Roccanova, a specialist in labor issues for the Meyers Nave law firm. You are giving up some control and power when there is an organized workforce.
The role of unions is under particular scrutiny as the state Bureau of Medical Cannabis Regulation works to consolidate the two linchpin laws regulating medical and recreational marijuana. The prickliest issue for legislators is a provision in the Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act that gives the International Brotherhood of Teamsters first rights to transport and deliver pot products.
The deal, negotiated by the union when the permitting system for medicinal cultivators and dispensaries was established in 2015, would require growers and manufacturers to hire a third party to deliver products to retailers, similar to distribution in the alcohol industry. The contracts would probably go to Teamsters-affiliated haulers.
Because the independent distribution model is not in Proposition 64, the decriminalization measure passed by California voters in November, legislators must decide which law takes precedence. The state Legislative Counsel recently said Prop. 64 should trump provisions in the medical marijuana law, but the Teamsters are not giving up and have gained support from some distribution companies, police chiefs and local governments.
Barry Broad, the Teamsters state legislative director, said the industry would be courting corruption by allowing growers and manufacturers to distribute their own products, which is known as vertical integration.
Right now 80 percent of the marijuana produced in California is sent to other states, which is illegal, he said. We want to organize the industry, but we want to organize an industry that is well regulated. If you have vertical integration, you are watching yourself.
Pot growers and retailers are fighting to stop the Teamsters, who they say are trying to corner the market on distribution. In the alcohol industry, they say, the model has pushed up costs, prevented craft brewers from entering the market, and opened the door to organized crime.
Mandatory distribution does not represent the interests of small growers, said Steve DeAngelo, chief executive officer at Oaklands Harborside, the biggest dispensary in the state. He said the coalition supporting the Teamsters is an unholy alliance of special interests clamoring for a cut of profits.
Leah Millis/The Chronicle
The battle has led to an unusual division among unions. The UFCW, which represents pharmacies and retail workers, recently joined a coalition urging the Legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown to allow growers to distribute products themselves.
We believe that the voters have spoken when they passed Proposition 64, said Jim Araby, the executive director of the unions Western States Council.
The UFCW carries weight in the ganja trade. The union was the first to organize marijuana workers in California and was heavily involved in the failed 2010 campaign for Proposition 19, the states first attempt to make recreational pot legal.
Oaksterdam worked closely with the union from the beginning, fighting alongside UFCW representatives when the federal government raided dispensaries. Jones credited the union, which now has more than 1,200 card-carrying dispensary workers in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Oakland and San Jose, with legitimizing the movement in the minds of lawmakers.
What they did was give us early contact with high-level elected officials and legislators, Jones said. We were embraced in Sacramento in a whole new way.
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The UFCW negotiated labor neutrality provisions into both the medical and recreational marijuana laws meaning any farm, dispensary or shop with 20 or more employees must allow workers to meet with the union and organize if they want.
Youre only afraid of unionizing your shop if you plan to treat your workers poorly or youre really small, said Lynne Lyman, director of the California Drug Policy Alliance, who supports the labor movement but opposes a special deal for the Teamsters. Unions have helped the cannabis industry over the past decade come out of the shadows. I really see it as a good thing, at least the way the UFCW has approached it. Theyve helped write all the bills and have been a stakeholder for many years.
The City College apprenticeship program is a new twist in the relationship because the UFCW seeks to not only organize existing businesses but groom a workforce that would be union-oriented from the start.
The details of the class still need to be worked out, but Jeff Hamilton, a City College spokesman, said it would fit well with the schools workforce development program, which uses city and state grants to set up training programs for a variety of jobs.
Our college is preparing for and making available workforce opportunities in this newly legitimate mainstream industry, Hamilton said.
Ferro envisions a system in which the UFCW sets training standards and provides trainees, whose union dues would help pay for the program. Students not in the program would be allowed in for an extra fee, he said.
If a cannabis retailer wants to be a traditional mainstream business, they need to be able to provide employees with benefits retirement programs, access to health and welfare and skills training programs, Ferro said. There are people in this business who are happy to work with us, and there are people in it who are angry they have to work with us, but the industry is going to have to contend with labor around cannabis in California.
This is not us versus the industry, he said. Its us partnering with the industry.
Though she said she has long supported unions, Jones wonders how organized labors combativeness will square with growers and shop owners who, she said, already collaborate with their workers and are generally known to be quite mellow.
I expect to see more workers unionized over time, but for that to happen the unions are going to have to be more responsive to what employees and the industry needs, Jones said. The Man in this industry is management, so you better learn how to play in the sandbox with us.
Peter Fimrite is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: pfimrite@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @pfimrite
San Franciscos public officials constantly say the city must remain a sanctuary for immigrants living in the country without documentation so theyll come forward if theyre a victim of or witness to a crime.
But some who have come forward have found the citys courtrooms anything but a safe harbor.
Maria, a housekeeper from Honduras living in San Francisco without documentation, called police in May 2015 to report that she had been sexually assaulted. During the investigation and trial of the suspect, she said, Public Defender Jeff Adachis office used tactics so aggressive toward her they made her trauma even worse.
A public defenders investigator interviewed her landlord, who then told Maria she had to move, she said. Adachis office included her full name, date of birth and immigration status in public court records. And in court, an attorney from Adachis office insinuated she was testifying only to try to obtain a type of visa available to crime victims.
Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle
I felt like he was trying to intimidate me, Maria, 37, said in Spanish through an interpreter of the cross-examination. (The Chronicle isnt using her full name because she fears being singled out by federal immigration agents.)
Adachi is a vocal advocate for the rights of unauthorized immigrants in most circumstances and a firm supporter of San Franciscos sanctuary city laws. But the question posed by cases like Marias is whether his staff is hypocritical in using tough tactics in court even if entirely legal against crime victims living here illegally.
Anyone whos watched Law & Order knows criminal defense attorneys can get rough its part of their job. And those accusing someone of a crime and testifying in court should expect to be challenged.
But District Attorney George Gascon says Adachis office is aggressive to a fault when it comes to cross-examining immigrants living here without permission who report crimes. Gascon said the strategy is especially problematic under President Trump, whose pledge to deport millions of immigrants has many retreating into the shadows.
Certainly it goes against the grain of what were trying to do as a city and a county, Gascon said. We tell people that their immigration status is not going to be reported, and we encourage people to go to the police and cooperate with authorities on the one hand, and on the other hand theyre in the middle of a courthouse testifying and all of a sudden their immigration status becomes the issue.
Adachi dismissed the complaints as ridiculous.
The law pretty clearly says thats part of our duty, to ask the question, Adachi said. Part of what we do is investigate the motivations for a witness to make a claim. ... The idea that were somehow acting improperly in questioning witnesses about this is meritless.
Asked whether its hypocritical to be the champion of unauthorized immigrants at City Hall he recently obtained more money to hire immigration attorneys while using tough tactics against them in court, Adachi said, In one word, no.
Thats doing our jobs as defense attorneys, he said. It has nothing to do with my support of immigrant rights.
Court records from several cases tried in San Francisco over the past few years show Adachis attorneys regularly quizzed immigrants living here illegally about a special visa available to crime victims, apparently to cast doubt on their credibility. The attorneys have pressed their questioning about the visas, regardless of whether the alleged victim had applied for the visa and even if the victim testified he or she didnt know about the visa when reporting the crime.
The U visa program was created by Congress in 2000 to encourage immigrants living in the country illegally to report crimes. Victims of more than 20 different serious crimes can apply for the visa if a law enforcement official certifies they have been helpful in the prosecution of the crime.
Under California rules, law enforcement officials must provide the certification if the immigrant asks for it and qualifies. The visa allows the holder to live and work in the country legally for three years and potentially obtain permanent residency. The visas are capped at 10,000 per year, and there is a backlog nationally of more than 60,000 petitions for them. The San Francisco district attorneys office certified 225 U visa applications in 2016 and 264 the year before. It does not track the results of those applications.
Adachis office regularly calls immigration experts to the stand to testify about the vast array of benefits, including forgiving the illegal crossing of the U.S. border and potential residency for family members, the U visa provides. His investigators interview the victims and their acquaintances about the victims immigration status and whether they know about the U visa. As in Marias case, his office sometimes enters the victims full name, immigration status and other identifying details in public court records.
In a case against Jeffrey Bugai, who in 2015 was sentenced to 65 years to life for posing as a police officer to sexually assault recent Central American immigrants, the public defenders office asked a victim about his U visa knowledge. When the victim said he only learned of the U visa on television long after reporting the crime, the defense attorney asked him what channel, what program, what time and whether it was in the morning or night.
In an ongoing case against a man accused of multiple accounts of sexual assault against an underage girl living here illegally, the public defenders office has subpoenaed the district attorney for any records related to U visa applications, including any conversations between victims advocates and the girl.
And in a case this year that ended in a hung jury, a man was accused of misdemeanor battery against a woman who entered the country illegally. The district attorney persuaded the judge to disallow a reference to her immigration status and the U visa program, which she hadnt applied for, because it can only be used, intentionally or unintentionally, to intimidate and dissuade her and to jeopardize her safety, according to court records.
Adachis tactics are unquestionably legal, and there have been no complaints made about them to the California Bar Association. Ernie Lewis, executive director of the National Association of Public Defenders, said a bedrock and fundamental part of a public defenders job is to investigate witnesses biases and motives to fabricate a story. To do less would be to provide ineffective assistance of counsel, he said.
Gascon said he has talked to district attorneys in other California counties and that Adachis tactics appear to be unique to San Francisco. Spokespeople for the district attorneys offices in Alameda County and Santa Clara County said prosecutors cant remember a case in which public defenders in those counties used such tactics.
Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement: These are members of our community who help us solve crimes and take dangerous people out of all of our neighborhoods. The trust that we must maintain with our immigrant communities is a matter of life or death.
Michele Hanisee, a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles and president of the Association of Deputy District Attorneys, had not heard of the tactics and said she had not seen them in L.A. She called their use pretty sleazy.
Jackie Ortiz, deputy chief of victim services for the San Francisco district attorneys office, said her staffers are regularly subpoenaed by Adachi to appear in court and report when a victim may have been informed of the U visa program. She said its really hard to stomach the notion that crime victims fabricate getting abused by their partners, sexually assaulted, stabbed or raped to get visas.
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Adachis office pointed to one case from 2012 in which a woman accused her boyfriend, a construction worker here illegally, with no criminal history, of domestic violence. He was charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon and other lesser charges. The jury acquitted him of all charges after deliberating for just two hours, and Adachis office believes the woman made up the story to obtain a U visa.
Peter Santina, an attorney in Adachis office, said that under the U.S. immigration system, the U visa is sometimes the only way an immigrant without documentation can obtain legal status.
Im sure 9 times out of 10, its used in a completely proper way, he said. But like anything, there is always the possibility of someone exaggerating and embellishing in order to get a tremendously important benefit. Its our job to ask about any potential benefit.
Santina was the public defender who cross-examined Maria, the housekeeper who reported being sexually assaulted in 2015. Court records show she notified the police after waking in the middle of the night to find a naked man on top of her, covering her mouth with one hand and cupping her breast with the other.
She was able to turn on the bedside light and make noise. The man fled. Maria moved out, but then her new landlord told her an investigator from the Public Defenders Office was asking about her.
My landlord said, I think youre involved in problems you need to get another room, Maria said. She moved again.
Maria was paired with a victim advocate at the district attorneys office, which reported in court documents it provided her with counseling, relocation expenses and information about the U visa program.
In the 2016 trial, Santina quizzed Maria at length about U visas, whether she watched Spanish-language television which often features ads about U visas as well as about crossing the border into the U.S. illegally in 2014 and about why she didnt want to return to Honduras.
She testified that she only learned about U visas when told about them by the district attorneys victim advocate after reporting the crime. Santina countered, But the truth is that you already knew what it was. He then asked her about watching Spanish-language television and stated, You have seen references on Spanish-language television to the fact that victims of crime can get a visa.
Maria responded, Well, I dont have an understanding, and Im not sure about anything. A reading of the transcript shows Maria cried and repeatedly said she didnt understand what was going on.
Santina is adamant he did nothing improper in his questioning and that avoiding asking Maria the tough questions would be illegal and immoral. He said Maria changed her story several times on the stand, and it was problematic that the district attorneys victim advocate had told her she could qualify for a U visa after sentencing.
The jury had a good chance to observe her demeanor, and the jurys verdict showed they found her to be not credible on the important issues of the case, Santina said.
The jury found the defendant guilty of misdemeanor assault against Maria, but not guilty of the more serious sex charges. She did apply for a U visa after the trial, but doesnt yet know if she will receive one.
Heather Knight is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: hknight@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hknightsf
President Trumps effort to repeal and replace Obamacare may have failed in Congress, but it did succeed in reigniting discussion of how best to provide health care to all Americans. California should seize the opportunity to create a unique, affordable, state-specific health insurance program best suited to meet the needs of its diverse population.
Gov. Jerry Browns actions to strengthen the Medi-Cal program and build Covered California have helped millions of Californians gain health care. However, this system relies upon federal matching funds, without which the state would be on the hook for billions of dollars to keep the program sustainable. At least six obstacles stand in the way of the state coming up with those funds on its own:
1 Californias infrastructure (roads, highways, bridges) desperately needs funding. Potholes are often given Band-Aid repairs rather than substantial fixes because cities and counties dont have the money to rebuild the roads on their own. With a renewed focus on Californias transportation needs, state leaders will feel more public pressure to use general-fund money on road repairs.
2 The call for more public education dollars from kindergarten through college will not stop, as the number of college-age students completing their degrees with substantial debt continues to grow.
3 Many middle-class Californians do not qualify for affordable health plans through Covered California, and the cost of private health insurance has grown increasingly out of reach. The Legislature cannot continue to help the poor while overlooking the middle class.
4 The mental health crisis facing California communities and schools, beginning as early as the elementary-school years, is slowly being unmasked. Over time, this will likely lead to increased pressure on budgets at the state and local levels.
5 A growing number of Californians rely upon high-cost specialty medications. While less than 2 percent of the U.S. population took these drugs in 2015, they represent 37 percent of the nations drug spending today. By 2018, the figure is expected to reach 50 percent.
6 Californias population is growing older. Lower-income seniors utilize far more services than all other age groups. Middle-income retirees are often desperate for help but lack access to affordable, community-based, long-term-care services. Elderly couples in which one spouse has a severe disability and/or Alzheimers disease often deplete their resources after decades of saving and paying their taxes.
These challenges place significant pressure on Californias state budget. But as the late Pennsylvania Sen. John Heinz often said, every problem is an opportunity waiting to happen. That is the view the Legislature and the governor should take.
If they dont, California like every other state in the nation will remain on a collision course in which the primary-care needs of the poor will do battle with the long-term-care needs of the middle-class aged and disabled.
California has a unique opportunity to lead the nation in tackling this issue, beginning with a bipartisan dialogue committed to delivering outcomes that will improve Californians health and quality of life.
For example, our state leaders could negotiate a partnership with the federal government and the private sector something no other state has attempted. The state could assume full fiscal responsibility for the primary-care needs of its residents, or for the long-term-care needs of disabled and/or of residents 65 and older. Attempting to care for both populations will not work. The needs are too great, the costs too high, and the demands for the same dollars are unsustainable.
Government has an important role to play: It must protect families from going broke as a result of rapidly escalating health care costs, help them care for aged and/or disabled relatives in their homes, and recognize that individuals who leave the workforce to care for an aging parent or relative deserve some type of tax relief for doing so.
If Congress cannot create a better health plan for America, then perhaps California can step up and find solutions of its own.
Jeffrey Lewis is the president and CEO of Legacy Health Endowment, which works to improve health and wellness in Stanislaus and Merced counties. The views expressed are his own.
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PLATTSMOUTH A Lincoln man and a Plattsmouth woman each received probation Monday morning for charges involving drugs.
Anthony J. Rushing, 27, and Jodee L. Wasco, 57, both appeared in Cass County District Court for sentencing hearings. Both accepted plea bargains in their cases at court hearings in January.
Rushing took part in the days first case. He pled no contest to one Class I misdemeanor of attempted possession of controlled substance-tetrahydrocannabinols earlier this year.
A Nebraska State Patrol trooper stopped Rushings car on Interstate 80 in March 2016 after noticing it had an inoperable headlight. The trooper soon noticed the smell of marijuana and received permission to search the car.
The trooper found three small bottles of oil and a red rubber container. The state crime lab later confirmed a substance inside the rubber container was tetrahydrocannabinols.
Deputy County Attorney Colin Palm and defense attorney Donald Schense both told the court they recommended probation for Rushing. Judge Michael Smith agreed with their recommendations and ordered Rushing to serve 24 months on probation. He must pay all court costs by Oct. 1, obtain a chemical dependency evaluation within 30 days and complete 40 hours of community service within two years.
Wasco took part in the second case. She pled guilty to one Class I misdemeanor of attempted possession of controlled substance by fraud earlier this year.
A member of the pharmacy staff at the Plattsmouth Hy-Vee received a voicemail in October 2016 that said Wasco was authorized to pick up a prescription of 120 pills of tramadol. Tramadol is a prescription drug used to treat moderate to severe pain.
The staff member was suspicious about the phone message and contacted the medical office where the caller said she had received a prescription. The medical office said Wasco was not a patient there and did not have a prescription for tramadol.
Wasco later attempted to obtain the pills when she arrived at the pharmacys drive-through window. Pharmacy employees did not fill the fraudulent prescription.
Deputy County Attorney Richard Fedde told the court the state would recommend probation. He said he felt Wasco was remorseful for her actions and had been truthful during her pre-sentence investigation interview.
Defense attorney Darren Pekny also asked the court to issue probation. He said his client immediately sought counseling after the incident and is currently in an outpatient treatment program.
Smith ordered Wasco to serve 12 months on probation. She must pay all court costs by July 1, complete 40 hours of community service and continue to attend 12-step counseling meetings.
The nightmare of an elephant, rhinoceros or other endangered species being killed for its parts to be brought into California and sold brings deep pain to David Bess, the chief of enforcement for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Animal trafficking is a terrible problem, he said when we met for dinner last week.
Over the winter, California wildlife officers intercepted ivory from endangered elephants, pieces of horn from rhinoceros and other animal parts in San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles.
In San Francisco, wildlife officers seized more than 50 small statues made out of ivory and whale teeth, and a bracelet made out of rhinoceros horn, according to the DFW. The cases are pending. The street value was $500,000, according to the agency.
In Alameda County, officers found illegal items for sale made out of protected python skin, according to the DFW.
In Los Angeles, wildlife officers intercepted 377 pieces of jewelry made out of ivory in one shipment from Indonesia and 116 small purses and wallets made out of endangered python skin in another, the DFW said.
Black-market trafficking of wildlife in California will not be tolerated, said Bess, who credited Gov. Jerry Brown for shifting funds in the state budget to create a Wildlife Trafficking Team within the agency.
According to wildlife officers, the black market for rhino horn is driven by the fictional belief in some Asian cultures that the horn, ground into powder and sprinkled on food, has curative powers. Agents said a rhino horn can sell for more than $200,000.
Salmon opener: The opening of salmon season Saturday was much as advertised, a blustery day on the briny green with a lot of searching and not much finding. The New Easy Rider out of Berkeley Marina reported eight salmon, all shakers, found south of S Buoy. Another pod of fish was located just outside Half Moon Bay. For the day, party boats had zero to four keepers over 24 inches.
Trash-strewn cells, moldy showers, broken telephones, excessive use of solitary confinement, and slimy, foul-smelling lunch meat.
These are the conditions that detainees face inside a major immigration jail in California, according to a report last month by federal inspectors who visited the Theo Lacy Facility, run by the Orange County Sheriffs Department.
For the past seven years, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been renting bed space there. The Sheriffs Department collects $30 million annually for leasing out the high-security real estate, and in exchange, ICE gets bunk space for roughly 480 of the more than 40,000 undocumented immigrants nationwide that the agency has been keeping behind bars on any given day.
The county disputes the critical inspection report from the Homeland Security Departments Office of Inspector General. Sheriff Sandra Hutchens said that although some legitimate issues were identified ... and were quickly addressed, many of the inspections findings were inaccurate.
Regardless, the news came at a bad time for defenders of the patchwork of county jails, city lockups and privately owned facilities across California that make up the states immigration detention system.
For state Sen. Ricardo Lara, the report provided a well-timed I told you so. The Los Angeles County Democrat, whose immigration detention reform bill was vetoed last year by Gov. Jerry Brown, is back again this session with SB29. It would set new rules for immigration detention facilities and would ban local governments from contracting with private prison companies to detain immigrants. On Tuesday it cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee.
While the state already regulates all detention facilities in California, Lara argues that the national standards articulated in every ICE detention contract are not being followed. His bill would not require the Board of State and Community Corrections, the agency that regulates California prisons and jails, to conduct additional inspections or adopt new rules. Instead, the bill is intended to keep immigration facilities in line by allowing current and former detainees and the state attorney general to sue any facilities that violate these standards.
But the bill also has detractors among law enforcement agencies and many Republicans, who believe that claims of mismanaged detention facilities are overblown. They also argue that the state shouldnt interfere with local law enforcement decisions, and that Laras bill could have harmful consequences for local budgets and even for the detainees themselves.
Sacramento thinks its so smart and has to mandate things to everybody, said GOP state Sen. John M.W. Moorlach, who represents Orange County and used to chair its Board of Supervisors. I dont think thats good policy in this case, and I think being uncooperative with a federal agency is arrogance at its highest.
The ultimate fate of Laras bill may rest again with the governor. When he vetoed last years measure, Jerry Brown wrote that although he was troubled by reports of conditions at privately run facilities, he wanted to wait for a more permanent solution from the federal government.
Although the U.S. immigration detention program is the largest single incarceration system in the country, its facilities are often leased. Of the 10 long-term immigration jails in California, none is federally owned. Five are county jails, one is a city facility, and the remaining four are owned and operated by for-profit companies.
Using data from public records requests and publicly available documents, interviews and site visits, the immigration rights group Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement estimates that privately run jails make up 75 percent of all the bed space across Californias long-term immigration detention system. Some of those incarcerated have criminal records, but immigration violations themselves are civil rather than criminal matters and so detainees in immigration court are not entitled to court-appointed legal counsel.
Awaiting their hearings or deportation, detainees may spend months in custody. With President Trump making aggressive immigration enforcement a cornerstone of his presidency, ICE will probably need all the beds it can get.
Since his election, the stock prices of GEO Group and CoreCivic, the countrys two largest private prison and immigration jail operators, have increased by 87 percent and 125 percent, respectively.
If theres going to be a spike in detention in a relatively short period of time, recent history shows that the only way the government can actually detain those people is if private prisons provide the beds, said Anita Sinha, an assistant professor of immigration and civil rights law at American University.
Ben Christopher is a contributing writer to CALmatters.org, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.
Affordable housing development is about to go from zero to 733 units in the Mission District.
A decade after dysfunction and political infighting brought low-income housing production in the neighborhood to a standstill, the Mission is about to become the citys busiest neighborhood for construction of new below-market-rate units, with complexes popping up along Folsom Street, Mission Street and South Van Ness Avenue over the next three years.
Six affordable housing projects, four of them within a two-block area of the Inner Mission, are set to start construction over the next two years. The projects will inject 733 units into an area that is becoming as known for gentrification and upscale dining as it is for burritos, progressive politics and Latino culture.
And more is probably coming, according to Karoleen Feng, director of community real estate for the Mission Economic Development Agency, known as Meda.
We are trying to put another 1,000 units in our pipeline, Feng said. We are looking at sites across the Mission that we can land-bank.
The coming burst of affordable housing construction would not be possible were it not for big changes occurring at two neighborhood nonprofits: Meda and Mission Housing Development Corp.
For decades Meda was focused on helping neighborhood residents mostly Spanish-speaking immigrants with everything from computer training to business development to tax preparation to English as a second language. Over the past few years, however, it became clear that housing had become the top challenge facing families. In a 2015 survey of 1,600 Mission families with children, Meda found that more than 60 percent were spending half their income on housing.
They said that their main challenge was not their kids academic success that was important but the fact that tomorrow they might not have a roof over their head, Feng said. That hit home for Meda.
Since 2000, the Mission has lost about 27 percent of its Latino population, almost 8,000 people, according to a 2015 report by city chief economist Ted Egan.
Feng, who had previously worked with the East Bay Asian Local Development Corp., was brought on board, and the Mayors Office of Housing, which controls the citys housing funds, gave Meda a chance to get into the housing business. First, the city picked Meda, together with Bridge Housing, to take over ownership and operation of 420 former San Francisco Housing Authority senior affordable units, which needed to be rehabilitated. Then, with Chinatown Community Development Center and the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corp., Meda was chosen to co-develop four properties of affordable housing.
Meanwhile, Mission Housing Development Corp. has rebounded in a big way. A successful affordable housing developer from its founding in 1971 into the 1990s, Mission Housing ran into trouble in the early 2000s when its board of directors fired a longtime executive director and most of its staff quit.
The city cut off housing development funds to the group, and by 2012 it was facing likely bankruptcy when Sam Moss took over as executive director. Moss was able to keep Mission Housing afloat by refinancing its 1,600-unit portfolio and regaining the trust of city housing officials, who tapped the group to develop two projects in the Mission, 1950 Mission St. and 490 S. Van Ness Ave., as well as the Upper Yard, a parking lot next to the Balboa BART station.
The company that we are becoming now is the company we should have been all along, Moss said. If that had been the case, the Mission wouldnt be dealing with quite the gentrification bomb that has gone off over the last few years.
The six new buildings will include 50,000 square feet of commercial space, which Feng says is almost as important as the housing. At a time when nonprofits and mom-and-pop businesses are being squeezed out to make room for upscale restaurants, Medas space will provide homes for arts, after-school programs, and affordable retailers that cant afford the high rents charged in trendy areas like along Valencia Street.
We are looking at how we can re-establish the Mission as a family-oriented, Latino culture, whereas right now its transitioning very quickly to a young professional culture, Feng said.
Supervisor Hillary Ronen, who represents the Mission, said affordable housing, along with combatting homelessness, is at the top of her agenda.
Just like we want Chinatown to be Chinatown, we want our Latino cultural district to be a thriving business-and-arts district where actual Latino people will be able to continue to live and work, Ronen said. Its a unique neighborhood in the entire world.
Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle
Getting Meda and Mission Housing into the housing development business has taken time and effort, but has been worth it, she said.
Having two strong developers in the neighborhood is exactly what we need to continue what I believe is the pace of affordable housing that we need in order to stop further gentrification of the Mission, she said.
While gentrification, and the role housing development plays in a changing neighborhood, is a politically charged topic in the Mission, nonprofit developers such as Meda benefit from market-rate development even as they often oppose individual projects.
Two of Medas affordable projects, 2070 Bryant St. and 1296 Shotwell St., will be built on parcels that market-rate developers donated to the Mayors Office of Housing. Oyster Development donated the Shotwell Street parcel to meet its affordable housing obligation on Vida at 2558 Mission St., the most upscale condo complex built in the Mission to date. Developer Nick Podell gave the city a 21,000-square-foot site on Bryant Street to satisfy the affordable housing requirements of the adjacent 2000 Bryant St., which opponents had attacked as the Beast on Bryant.
Feng said that Meda is not opposed to market-rate housing but wants to make sure affordable units are added at a similar pace as higher-end units.
The Mission has gone from being one of the most affordable neighborhoods in San Francisco to one of the least affordable, she said. San Francisco cant be a sanctuary city if nobody making less than $200,000 a year can afford to live here.
While the ground-up development projects regularly take three to five years to finance and build, Meda is also trying to stem the flight of low-income families by buying up existing rent-controlled buildings through Mayor Ed Lees small sites acquisition program, which provides funds for multifamily buildings of between five and 25 units. Meda bought six containing 44 units last year, and it has an additional eight buildings in escrow, all apartment complexes with longtime rent-controlled tenants that were on the market and seemed ripe for eviction. The program received $25 million in funding for the current fiscal year.
Keeping on top of a hot apartment building market means scouring the neighborhood for buildings that are in transition. Feng and colleague Dario Romero look for run-down buildings that are suddenly being giving a fresh coat of paint.
If your landlord is painting and asking for permission to do construction, you know they are probably looking to sell, Romero said.
In those cases, Meda tries to get to the seller before a building hits the market.
Beatriz Garduno, who lives with her teenage daughter at 3800 Mission St., said she was sure she would be evicted when she saw a for-sale sign go up. But she and the other tenants persuaded the landlord a friend and fellow Mexican immigrant to go with Meda, even though another investor was offering slightly more money, $1.9 million versus $1.85 million.
I told her, Why do you want to make so much money? You know our story. You have known me since I came here, she said. Its not my building, I dont own it, but after 24 years it feels like home.
J.K. Dineen is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jdineen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfjkdineen
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Drivers headed into San Francisco over the Bay Bridge got a world history lesson without even asking Monday when a huge banner commemorating the 1915 Armenian genocide was displayed above the mouth of the Treasure Island Tunnel.
For the third consecutive year, the 70-foot-by-10 foot banner was unfurled on the span about 9 a.m. to mark the anniversary of the genocide a historical event that has yet to be recognized by many world leaders.
The genocide is very personal to us. We are grandchildren and great-grandchildren of genocide survivors, said Alex Bastian, a member of the Bay Area Armenian Genocide Commemorative Committee. It is something that has really wounded our soul, wounded our community, wounded our people.
Nearly 30,000 Armenians in the Bay Area contributed money for the hanging of the sign that read, Armenian Genocide 1915 and genocideeducation.org.
We want to have recognition for everyone coming across the bridge to understand our story, said Kim Bardakian, also a member of the Bay Area Armenian Genocide Commemorative Committee.
The banner will be in sight for westbound commuters on the bridge for the month of April.
For both Bardakian and Bastian, the banner is significant in holding world leaders accountable in recognizing the genocide.
An estimated 1.5 million people, nearly half the population of Armenia, were killed by the Ottoman Empire.
The United States has, unfortunately, not acknowledged (the genocide) and that is why the recognition is something so near and dear to us, said Bastian, who is also deputy chief of staff for the San Francisco district attorneys office.
We really feel very strongly that the recognition of the Armenian genocide is not something just for us, but something for all of humanity, he added.
Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani
The Magnes Collection at UC Berkeley has made a major acquisition of works by Polish emigre Arthur Szyk, a book illustrator and political artist who addressed the traumatic events of Jewish life before, during and after World War II. The museum is announcing the largest acquisition in its 60-year history on Monday.
The acquisition by what is formally called the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life comes thanks to a $10.1 million donation by Taube Philanthropies, making it the largest single monetary gift to acquire art in the long history of UC Berkeley.
The holding to be known as the Taube Family Arthur Szyk Collection was purchased from collector Rabbi Irvin Ungar of Burlingame. It consists of 450 paintings, drawings and sketches from all stages of Szyks career, including the Holocaust and the establishment of the State of Israel. Most of the work has never before been publicly displayed.
It will now be exposed globally through various traveling exhibitions, said real estate investor and philanthropist Tad Taube, 86, from his office in Belmont. Im convinced that once it is exposed globally it will be known as one of the great collections of the 20th century.
Born in 1894, Szyk (pronounced shick ) was drafted into the Russian army and served on the German front in World War I. It was then, as a foot soldier, that he began illustrating the suffering of war, his comrades in fur hats and greatcoats, bandaged up and limping home through the snow.
After the war, Szyk moved to Paris where he had his first solo show in 1922. At the outbreak of World War II, Szyk, who was Jewish, fled to New York where he published The New Order, one of the first books to satirize fascists, according to the website of the Arthur Szyk Society.
It was in New York that Szyk met Taubes parents, Zygmunt (Zyg) Salo Taube and Lola Popper Taube, who had also fled Poland. Five years ago, Taube happened to be in Warsaw during a Szyk exhibit.
It brought back a lot of memories because he was a person much discussed in my family, Taube says. Not so much as an artist but as a Polish Jew who was able to escape the ravages of the Holocaust.
Taube began studying the intricacies of Szyks work. I was interested in the thematic nature of his art which is heavily oriented toward anti-Nazi depictions, Taube says. He captured all of the important figures of his time in a cartoon format.
One of these was Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who made the cover of Time magazine just two weeks after Pearl Harbor. After the war, Szyk worked on issues of Judaica and put his spin on important moments in American history.
He was still going full bore when he suffered a fatal heart attack in 1951. He was 57.
He had an ability to present detail in a form that Ive never seen anybody else do, says Taube who has a long history with the Magnes. A Taube Philanthropies donation in 2010 helped the museum convert from a private nonprofit to an asset of UC Berkeley. With that transfer came 15,000 items, making it the third-largest Jewish museum collection in the United States, before the arrival of the Szyk work.
This is the single largest contribution in the 60-year history of the Magnes, says Francesco Spagnolo, curator of the Magnes Collection. It expands the collection exponentially because of the global reach and contemporary relevance of Arthur Szyks work.
Spagnolo predicts the first major exhibition of the collection at the Magnes will be next year, but in the meantime, pieces of the collection will be at the New York Historical Society in September.
Sam Whiting is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: swhiting@sfchronicle.com Instagram: @sfchronicle_art
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) Two children and a woman were shot Sunday near a park in the Del Paso Heights neighborhood of Sacramento, police said.
An 11-year-old boy and a woman were taken to the hospital for treatment after being found near Mama Marks Park. The third victim, a 6-year-old girl, showed up later at a nearby hospital. Police believe all three victims are related to the same shooting. Their injuries are non-life-threatening.
There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.
John Holmes
There is no stipulation on age for a person to be known for helping others.
Recently, a three-year-old in the news helped save her mother by dialing 911 and talking to the dispatchers.
In an average year, Plattsmouth High School students actually donate more than 2,000 hours of community service.
Some of those students such as Sydnee Bell, however, go beyond the average when it comes to helping others and expecting nothing in return. For her selfless volunteerism, Sydnee was chosen as the Plattsmouth Community Foundation Funds 2017 Youth Citizen of the Year.
PHS Spanish teacher Monica Owen presented the award to Sydnee during PCFFs Annual Meeting and Recognition Dinner March 30 at St. John the Baptist School.
Having had her as a student in my classroom, I have had a front-row seat to watch her grow in pursuit of her dreams, Monica said about Sydnee. And I can tell you that she more than exemplifies excellence in this community. She is simply exceptional.
Through her high school years, Sydnee has proved herself a dedicated student with much academic success.
She is involved in the Show Choir, FBLA, National Honor Society and DECA and is a peer tutor. She has been accepted to Nebraska Wesleyan University in the fall and intends to study biology and biochemistry in the pre-chiropractic program.
What qualifies her for this award is the extra effort she has made to make a difference outside of the school walls, Monica said. She volunteers as a Sunday school teacher. She volunteers time to serve 40 & 8 members during their monthly meetings and she helps the American Legion with their Veteran Memorial Service on Memorial Day.
Sydnee also helps serve at the Eagles Club on Wednesday and Sundays, when they are in need of help. You can find her at our local soup kitchen one Thursday of each month, Monica said.
She has also endured adversity in her personal life. Yet, she remains focused on pursuing her personal goals as well as strengthening the community of Plattsmouth for those of us that call this home, Monica said.
In addition to the award, Syndee earned a $500 scholarship to the school of her choice.
Thank you so much. It really does mean a lot to me. My biggest fear is ending high school, but not going onto college because I couldnt afford it. This really helps, Sydnee said.
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A San Francisco police officer was fired last month after purportedly using an anti-Muslim slur in a text message, sources familiar with the case said Monday.
The officer, who was not identified, expressed regret, according to an attorney involved in the case, and attended meetings with the Muslim community while volunteering to work protection details around mosques. But he was terminated by the city Police Commission at the recommendation of new Police Chief William Scott.
The text was part of a batch of racist and bigoted messages discovered during a criminal investigation into former Taraval Station Officer Jason Lai, who was charged with misusing government databases after a woman accused him of rape. Lai was never charged with a sex crime and has pleaded not guilty to the alleged records violations.
Police Commission President L. Julius Turman confirmed Monday that the commission did fire an officer for evidence of bias, but said he could not go into details, citing state laws protecting law enforcement personnel records. The firing was first reported by the San Francisco Examiner.
The firing was a strong recommendation from both the chief and the commissioners, Turman said. The commissioners who voted on it were unanimous.
Theres no place for bias or racism in any department, he said, and when situations become identified and the commission is able to act on it, we will look into it and make the appropriate decision.
Scott declined to comment on the case. But in a March 7 presentation to the Board of Supervisors, the chief said that of 18 officers implicated in two episodes in which bigoted text messages were discovered, six are no longer with the San Francisco Police Department.
The fired officer is believed to be one of at least four officers involved in the latest set of texts, which were sent in 2014.
In addition to Lai, former Lt. Curtis Liu who was charged with obstructing the rape investigation of Lai and former Officer Keith Ybarreta were believed by investigators to have exchanged derogatory and at times threatening texts directed toward black, Latino, Indian, gay and transgender people. Liu has pleaded not guilty.
San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi released some of the messages last year, including one sent to Lai from an unidentified person that used the term rag heads in reference to Muslims.
The first batch of bigoted texts, allegedly exchanged in 2012 among 14 officers, was discovered by federal authorities looking into allegations that plainclothes San Francisco officers had divided up money found during searches of drug dealers. Two of the officers then-Chief Greg Suhr recommended be fired Michael Robison and Noel Schwab resigned before disciplinary action could be taken.
The other officers are fighting discipline, saying the Police Department surpassed the one-year statute of limitations to investigate misconduct. A judge ruled in favor of the officers in 2015, and the city is appealing.
Following the discovery of the second set of text messages, defense lawyers and victims advocates criticized the department, saying it had not sent a strong enough message that such behavior would not be tolerated.
The U.S. Department of Justice, which reviewed department practices after several police shootings of people of color, advised the agency to conduct an audit of its electronic systems to root out bias a recommendation the department was initially reluctant to put in place.
In interviews, SFPD members who were tasked with advancing the audit did not display appropriate understanding of the importance of such an audit, Justice Department officials wrote in a report. Members were more focused on explaining why such an audit was not a good idea.
The department has since launched an ongoing audit of communications on department-issued devices. Officials said emails, text messages and in-vehicle communications are monitored by programs that are triggered by certain phrases or keywords.
Since November, the programs have flagged 107 words or phrases, but upon further investigation, no bias was detected. Sgt. Michael Andraychak said the flags were false-positives hits which included triggering words captured within innocuous words.
Police declined to make public the keywords or the messages that were flagged.
Attorney Tony Brass, who is representing Liu in his criminal case, said he was concerned by San Franciscos no-tolerance policy on bias, because officers, like civilians, are learning to get past personal biases.
The officer accused of sending the text message with the anti-Muslim slur pursued rehabilitation, Brass said, seeking to forge relationships with the Muslim community.
The expression of any bias is bad, Brass said. No one is saying its OK. But my understanding is that it was just one text and the program to make it right was serious and took a lot of effort and it was something the officer took very seriously.
There was just no mercy whatsoever, he said. If you really thought it was part of his life view that he had these deep biases, then its another situation. Expressing racial prejudice is not OK. But that one can never make it right at all is a little harsh in a city known for giving people second chances.
Vivian Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: vho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VivianHo
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The bodega space at Paul Canales' Duende in Uptown Oakland was a little bit of everything over the years: coffee bar, snack bar, wine store, and most recently extra seating space for the main restaurant.
Canales is putting the bodega back to use on April 5 with the launch of Kured, a Wednesday through Friday lunch pop-up.
Just to be clear, the Duende folks are saying this is not the launch of the main restaurant's lunch service. Technically, it's a completely separate concept. It's just taking shape in the bodega, which is attached to the main restaurant, but has a separate entrance.
The menu will be based around cured meat sandwiches including the Pork-Betta ($10) made with cured pork shoulder and belly, and a chicken sandwich ($10).
On the lighter side, Kured will have a kale salad, a seasonal green salad, and a faro salad, all of which are available in half portions ($4) or whole portions ($8) with protein options for an additional $6-$8.
Canales' housemade sausages are also making an appearance the lunch spot. Right now, Canales said Kured will open with Boudin Blanc ($12), a pork sausage made with a blend of caramelized onions and spices, served with a carrot and caraway slaw and apple compote; Spicy Italian ($12), a pork sausage made with chef-foraged wild anise seed, garlic, and white wine, served with housemade giardiniera; and Merguez ($15), a sausage made with local Sonoma lamb, harissa, pimenton, and spices, topped with a bread and butter relish.
On the beverage side, there's going to be beer from the Fort Point folks, housemade tonics, wines from San Francisco's Tank18, sodas, and coffee.
Kured: located in Duende's bodega at 468 19th Street (@ Broadway) in Oakland; lunch service is walk-in only; Kured will be open exclusively for lunch Wednesdays through Fridays from 11:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.
Justin Phillips is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email jphillips@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JustMrPhillips
WASHINGTON The United Arab Emirates arranged a secret meeting in January between Blackwater founder Erik Prince and a Russian close to President Vladimir Putin as part of an apparent effort to establish a back-channel line of communication between Moscow and President-elect Trump, according to U.S., European and Arab officials.
The meeting took place around Jan. 11 nine days before Trumps inauguration in the Seychelles islands in the Indian Ocean, officials said. Though the full agenda remains unclear, the United Arab Emirates agreed to broker the meeting in part to explore whether Russia could be persuaded to curtail its relationship with Iran, including in Syria, a Trump administration objective that would likely require major concessions to Moscow on U.S. sanctions.
Though Prince had no formal role with the Trump campaign or transition team, he presented himself as an unofficial envoy for Trump to high-ranking Emiratis involved in setting up his meeting with the Putin confidant, according to the officials, who did not identify the Russian.
Prince was an avid supporter of Trump who gave $250,000 last year to support the GOP nominees campaign, records show. He has ties to people in Trumps circle, including Steve Bannon, now serving as the presidents chief strategist and senior counselor. Princes sister Betsy DeVos serves as education secretary in the Trump administration. And Prince was seen in the Trump transition offices in New York in December.
U.S. officials said the FBI has been scrutinizing the Seychelles meeting as part of a broader probe of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and alleged contacts between associates of Putin and Trump. The FBI declined to comment.
The Seychelles encounter, which one official said spanned two days, adds to an expanding web of connections between Russia and Americans with ties to Trump contacts that the White House has been reluctant to acknowledge or explain until they have been exposed by news organizations.
We are not aware of any meetings and Erik Prince had no role in the transition, said Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary.
Erik had no role on the transition team. This is a complete fabrication, said a spokesman for Prince in a statement. The meeting had nothing to do with President Trump. Why is the so-called under-resourced intelligence community messing around with surveillance of American citizens when they should be hunting terrorists?
Prince is best known as the founder of Blackwater, a security firm that became a symbol of U.S. abuses in Iraq after a series of incidents including one in 2007 in which the companys guards were accused and later criminally convicted of killing civilians in a crowded Iraqi square. Prince sold the firm, which was subsequently rebranded, but has continued building a private paramilitary empire with contracts across the Middle East and Asia.
Princes ties to Trump advisers, experience with clandestine work and relationship with the royal leaders of the Emirates where he moved in 2010 amid mounting legal problems for his American business would have positioned him as an ideal go-between.
The Seychelles meeting came after private discussions in New York involving high-ranking representatives of Trump, Moscow and the Emirates.
The White House has acknowledged that Michael Flynn, Trumps original national security adviser, and Trump adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner met with the Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak, in late November or early December in New York.
Flynn and Kushner were joined by Bannon for a separate meeting with the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, who made an undisclosed visit to New York later in December, according to the U.S., European and Arab officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Officials said Zayed and his brother, the United Arab Emirates national security adviser, coordinated the Seychelles meeting with Russian government officials with the goal of establishing an unofficial back channel between Trump and Putin.
Officials said Zayed wanted to be helpful to both leaders who had talked about working more closely together, a policy objective long advocated by the crown prince. The United Arab Emirates, which sees Iran as one of its main enemies, also shared the Trump teams interest in finding ways to drive a wedge between Moscow and Tehran.
The Seychelles meeting was deemed productive by the Arab country and Russia but the idea of arranging additional meetings between Prince and Putins associates was dropped, officials said. Even unofficial contacts between Trump and Putin associates had become too politically risky, officials said.
Adam Entous, Greg Miller, Kevin Sieff and Karen DeYoung are Washington Post reporters.
1 Deadly blast: Three people were killed and four others injured Monday when an explosion launched a boiler the size of a van through the roof a St. Louis box company and slammed much of it down hundreds of feet away in a neighboring laundry business. One person died in the blast at the Loy-Lange Box Co. and two more were killed when a large piece of the boiler crashed into the Faultless Healthcare Linen building, Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson said. The victims were not identified. Investigators are trying to determine what caused the explosion.
2 Trump donates salary: President Trump is donating the first three months of his salary to the National Park Service. White House press secretary Sean Spicer handed an oversized check for $78,333.32 to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke during Mondays briefing. The billionaire businessman turned president had promised to forgo his presidential salary. By law he must be paid, so he is donating the money. Taxpayers can write off such donations, potentially lowering their income taxes.
WASHINGTON A top adviser to President Trump has urged the defeat of a 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 Saturday 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 years primary election.
@realDonaldTrump is bringing auto plants & jobs back to Michigan. @justinamash is a big liability. #TrumpTrain, defeat him in primary, Scavino tweeted.
Amash, who began serving his fourth House term in January, responded by re-tweeting Scavino and adding: Trump admin & Establishment have merged into #Trumpstablishment. Same old agenda: Attack conservatives, libertarians & independent thinkers.
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 didnt 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 cant 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, its an official account. Labeling personal doesnt 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.
Darlene Superville is an Associated Press writer.
When Legacy Post & Beam saw the opportunity to improve its work culture making it even better than before the Fremont company reached
A man who choked to death at a Voodoo Doughnuts shop in Denver was reportedly trying to wolf down a giant doughnut during a food-eating challenge.
Travis Malouff, 42, died Sunday while attempting to down a half-pound glazed doughnut. The cause of death was "asphyxia, due to obstruction of the airway," the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner said Monday morning.
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SANTA CRUZ, Calif. Alix Tichelman, the woman who made international headlines as the "harbor hooker" and "call girl killer," was taken away by Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents after she was released from a Santa Cruz jail last week, sources told KSBW.
ICE had requested that deputies place Tichelman on an immigration hold, but they refused, because doing so went against the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office policies with handling inmates who are illegal immigrants.
Somehow, ICE agents were still able to find Tichelman as soon as she was freed and took her into federal custody, sources told KSBW's Phil Gomez.
She could end up being deported, sources said.
Tichelman is Canadian.
At the time of her arrest, she had been living with her wealthy parents in Northern California. Tichelman's father is the CEO of a California technology company. She spent most of her childhood growing up in Georgia.
Tichelman served nearly two years in the Santa Cruz County Jail after she pleaded guilty in May of 2015 to felony involuntary manslaughter and administering drugs.
Santa Cruz police said Tichelman, 29, was responsible for the death of a millionaire Google executive, Forrest Timothy Hayes.
The 51-year-old married father of five lived on the westside of Santa Cruz before he died from a heroin overdose on his yacht in the Santa Cruz harbor on Nov. 23, 2013.
Police said Hayes hired Tichelman several times for drug-fueled sex after they met on the website SeekingArrangement.com. Surveillance video from the yacht showed Hayes extending his arm as Tichelman injected him. Police said it was obvious he was dying as he collapsed to the floor, but Tichelman never called 911.
Defense attorney Larry Biggam said Tichelman injected herself with heroin before she injected Hayes, and the drugs clouded her judgement at the time.
"This case is about two adults who were engaged in mutual consensual drug usage in the context of a sexual encounter initiated and encouraged by Mr. Hayes. There was no intent to harm or injure, much less kill, Mr. Hayes. Why would she? He was a lucrative source of income to her," Biggam said in 2014. "To demonize, and sensationalize, and totally blame Alix Tichelman for his death is misplaced, unfair, and simply wrong. She's like a wounded bird."
Police originally recommended homicide charges.
She pleaded guilty to two felonies before the case went to trial, and a judge sentenced her to serve six years in jail.
According to her Facebook profile, Tichelman went to high school in Atlanta, Georgia, majored in journalism at Georgia State University, and worked as a dancer, makeup artist, and model. A YouTube video uploaded in 2012 shows Tichelman giving a makeup tutorial.
Her ex-boyfriend, 53-year-old monkey trainer Dean Riopelle, died from a heroin overdose in Georgia two months before Hayes' death. Riopelle's death was ruled as accidental.
This article originally appeared on KSBW.com
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SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)
A person was shot this afternoon near a hotel in downtown San Francisco, according to police.
Police said officers responded to the unit block of Jones Street near the Boyd Hotel around 2:30 p.m. on reports of a shooting.
Upon arrival, officers discovered one person suffering from a gunshot wound to the torso and they were taken to a hospital.
The suspects fled the scene prior to officers arriving. No further information has been released at this time.
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia At least 10 people were killed and 50 others injured Monday when an explosion ripped through a subway train in St. Petersburg, the spokesman for the city's governor told Russian television.
President Vladimir Putin, who was visiting the city on an unrelated trip Monday, said investigators were looking into whether the explosion was a terror attack or if there might have been some other cause. He offered his condolences to the families of those killed.
Russia's National Anti-Terrorist Committee said an unidentified explosive device went off on a train that was traveling between two stations. Maxim Liksutov, Moscow's deputy mayor, told Interfax that Moscow authorities were tightening security on the subway in the Russian capital.
The agency that runs the subway said several stations in the northern Russian city were closed and that an evacuation was underway.
Social media users posted photographs and video from a subway station in the city center, showing people lying on the floor outside a train with a mangled door. Frantic commuters reached into doors and windows, trying to see if anyone was there and shouting "Call an ambulance!" The explosion happened between Sennaya Ploshchad and Tekhnologichesky Institut stations.
Putin was expected to hold talks with the Belarusian president later in the day.
Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee has announced that security will be tightened at all critical transport facilities following St. Petersburg blast.
Best Westerns upscale brand, BW Premier Collection arrives in Japan. The former Best Western Premier Hotel Nagasaki has now decided to enhance its reputation even further by joining the desirable BW Premier Collection.
On March 15, 2017, the hotel re-launched as the BW Premier Collection Hotel Nagasaki, making it the brands first location in Japan and the first operational BW Premier Collection property in Asia.
This hotel has always been one of our most highly-rated properties in Japan, and we are delighted that it has now become Asias first operational BW Premier Collection hotel, said Olivier Berrivin, Best Westerns Managing Director of International Operations - Asia.
The hotels strong local identity, excellent location and extensive collection of facilities make it a perfect fit for the BW Premier Collection - our curated global selection of upscale hotels. The new branding will elevate this already exceptional hotel to a new level and cement its reputation as one of Nagasakis leading hotels, Olivier added.
A landmark on the Nagasaki skyline, BW Premier Collection Hotel Nagasaki is perfectly positioned in the Japanese citys downtown area. The 181 rooms and suites are bright, modern and well-equipped, with all guests being offered complimentary Wi-Fi. A major destination for conferences and events, the hotel features eight banqueting halls - perfect for all types of function, from corporate conventions to social soirees. And there is even a wedding chapel for the perfect big day.
Guests can unwind in the hotels serene spa and enjoy an array of different cuisines at the hotels F&B outlets, including international, Japanese and American restaurants, a lively bar and cosmopolitan coffee shop.
Officially launched in 2014, BW Premier Collection is a selection of independent upscale hotels in 59 locations around the world, including San Francisco, New York, New Orleans, Vancouver, Paris, Rome, Stockholm, Edinburgh and Liverpool. Best Western also recently announced the signing of a brand new BW Premier Collection in the popular Thai beach resort of Pattaya.
The multidisciplinary performance artist Erika Chong Shuch knows that the whole concept of For You can sound elitist and exclusionary, so low-impact as to risk pointlessness. A year is a long time to spend planning, producing, writing, rehearsing and performing a show that only 12 audience members, who have to apply to be a part, get to see.
That all depends, however, on how you measure cost and impact.
I was just curious around what happens when the performance isnt something that youre necessarily entitled to, that $20 cannot buy you access (to), she says over coffee in early February. What if instead, it takes commitment. ... It costs you something beyond $20. It costs you your time; it costs you your vulnerability. It costs you your stress, your energy, the risk that youve taken.
Those costs, as envisioned by Shuch and collaborators A. Ghigo DiTomasso, Rowena Richie and Ryan Tacata, are demanded by the application prompts of For You: to create a map of home, create a self-portrait, take a photograph of a favorite object and mail us a postcard in response to the prompt, What happened? Audience members must then give still more, during a series of home visits, where artists ask about audience members childhoods and relationships, hopes and shames and fears. Responses inform the eventual performance, about which audiences know nothing in advance, not even where its to take place, just that they have to block off the entire day of Saturday, April 1.
Though For You might sound like a sui generis experience, its also part of a growing trend of individualized theater pieces. Battersea Arts Center and Theater for One have staged on-one-one theater experiences in New York. Like the For You crew, Odyssey Works creates pieces for particular people, but their studies, each of one audience member, take months. Shuch also cites the work of Brian Lobel in Britain, one of whose pieces, you have to forgive me ... involves one-on-one watching of a Sex and the City episode.
Shuch sees For You in part as her way of resisting the Trump administration. One of the only things thats making sense to me is deep, meaningful, personal connections and trying really hard to understand people who experience the world in a different way than I do.
Its also part of an effort to make her art feel less general, she says. You put something out into the world, and theres this assumption that everyone is interested. We start to gauge success based on those numbers how many people are in the audience. As a result, we in the theater world start to get really general around demographic success. It becomes a series of boxes that we check.
Shuch supports the goal of making theater more open and democratic, but wanted to find a means that feels honest and true to me. She decided to look at what we want our ideal audience to be and find 12 people that suit that across age, gender and other spectra. The result is audience development as relationship development and a value on impact that isnt broad, but deep.
For You, as its title suggests, is envisioned as a gift. Its not art-making to serve me, says Shuch. It does serve me, but its not me processing my own grief or my own feelings or my own issues, which performance-making had always been for me.
And I was one of the lucky recipients.
As the four artists visit my house in February and March, I use photos and letters, wedding gifts and scraps of paper, song and inept dance to bring my family and work to life. I relish the uproarious visits, even though they also feel a bit constructed. When in life do you get to hold forth about yourself for so long, without ever being expected to requite with a question about someone else? Ultimately, the artists generosity, compassion and curiosity quell my misgivings. They are giving me the gift of their interest, and I must reciprocate with the gift of my candor.
The performance itself is an embarrassment of gifts, Easter eggs tailor-made for each of the 12 of us but that also, somehow, weave into a coherent whole. We stage a nonsensical public protest and drive to an unknown destination, which turns out to be the Marin Headlands. There we witness a silent dance, whose 12 dancers wear name tags of the 12 audience members; at sunset, audience members reenact the same choreography, with the aid of individualized instructions on portable cassette players.
We are sent up and down craggy peaks to witness small hillside performance pieces; I get a head scratch, my favorite thing, and a reading of Medea, my favorite Greek classic, from artist Naomi Newman. (You havent experienced the tragedy until its been read to you from behind, one hand menacingly on your shoulder.)
In a dusty barn, we get to select from a menu of short performance pieces. I motivate an original a cappella arrangement of Lesley Gores You Dont Own Me, a square-dance-inflected caricature of Buried Child, as well as many, many reenactments of the time my mother spilled red wine on my fathers white sweater.
Were served a formal dinner, with each appetizer, libation and main dish springing from a story or favorite indulgence of one of the 12. (A highlight includes self-care chicken.) At the meal, I wish we audience members had had a chance to get acquainted with each other to at least some degree that the artists had gotten to know each of us. As it was, we were at the perfect dinner party, but still seated among strangers.
On the whole, being an audience member to For You reminded me of my wedding, where all kith and kin from different sections of my life were in one place. I remember having thought, on that day, I will henceforth walk through life with a sense that I am charmed; because I have experienced this, I will forever have a well of magic to draw from. The only time since Ive felt that was during For You and I hope, long after.
Lily Janiak is The San Francisco Chronicles theater critic. Email: ljaniak@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @LilyJaniak
For You: To apply for the next round, beginning in September, visit www.foryou.productions
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MOCOA, Colombia Residents desperately searched their ruined homes and the local hospital for loved ones Sunday after a torrent of water, mud and debris swept through their city in southern Colombia, causing more than 200 deaths, many of them children, and leaving hundreds more missing and injured.
Neighborhoods were left strewn with rocks, wooden planks, tree limbs and brown muck after heavy rain caused the three rivers that surround Mocoa to rise up and surge through the city of 40,000 Friday night and early Saturday as people slept. The deluge smashed houses, tore trees out by the roots and washed cars and trucks away.
Search-and-rescue teams combed through the debris and helped people who had been desperately clawing at huge mounds of mud by hand. Many had little left to search.
People went to their houses and found nothing but the floor, said Gilma Diaz, a 42-year-old woman from another town who came to search for a cousin.
President Juan Manuel Santos, who visited Mocoa for a second straight day Sunday, declared the area a disaster zone and said the death toll stood at 210. The toll is certain to rise with more than 200 people injured, some in critical condition, and more than 200 others unaccounted for.
Dozens stood in the door of a hospital, hoping for news of family members who were not on the list of those confirmed dead or injured. Others frantically knocked on relatives doors, hoping to find someone with information about their loved ones.
The disaster seemed to hit young people particularly hard. Santos said more than 40 of the dead identified so far were under 18, perhaps because youngsters were already in bed when the floodwaters struck.
Maria Cordoba, a 52-year-old resident who was trying to wash her belongings in a river, said two of her nephews, ages 6 and 11, were killed when their house was destroyed. The mother as well was totally beaten up but managed to save her 18-month-old baby, she said.
A rescue worker in an orange jumpsuit emerged from one search area with the body of an infant wrapped in a towel. Not far away, Abelardo Solarte, a 48-year-old resident of Mocoa, held a childs shoe as he helped clear debris.
Jair Echarri, who came from a nearby town to help, also struggled to comprehend the loss of so many children. I feel an enormous sadness because its filled with kids things, toys, clothes, school books, he said. I am a father and this breaks my heart.
Santos said the avalanche of water and debris also knocked out power in half of the province of Putumayo, where Mocoa is located, and destroyed the areas water network, creating dangerous and unsanitary conditions.
Mocoa is vulnerable to flooding. It is surrounded by the three rivers in a natural basin created by the surrounding mountains. The triggering event was rainfall of more than 5 inches that began late Friday.
Rezidors midscale hotel brand announced the opening of the new Park Inn by Radisson Izmailovo. Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group now has eight hotels operating in Moscow and the Moscow region. With the new property, Rezidor has 36 hotels in Russia and more than 9,800 rooms in the Group's Russian portfolio.
Located near Izmailovo Park, the new Park Inn by Radisson Izmailovo Moscow is built by the MonolitCapitalStroy LLC. The hotel is located close to the metro station and offers complimentary shuttle service to its guests to access Moscow's major business and tourist hubs. The hotel is 44 km northwest of Sheremetyevo International Airport and just 8 km west of Three Stations Square where Yaroslavski, Leningradski and Kazanski train stations are located.
The hotel's 109 rooms feature stylish decor and work space with essential amenities for a comfortable, happy stay. The Park Cafe and Terrace and the Park Bar offer fresh, healthy food and drinks all day. The 124 square meters of meeting space provides ample space to meet and greet in the Russian capital. Resident guests will have complimentary access to the fitness center of the hotel.
Park Inn by Radisson offers free, high-speed WiFi access throughout the hotel.
Luybov Rudnykh, General Manager of the Park Inn by Radisson Izmailovo, added: "My team and I are proud to open a new Park Inn by Radisson hotel in Moscow and showcase our friendly, positive, vibrant and uncomplicated service and international standard of hospitality to our guests."
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An Australian high court has ordered a man to stop performing citizens arrests on Uber drivers.
Russell Howarth, who has been protesting the ride-share giant for several years, "arrested" nine drivers over a 10-month period in New South Wales. He orchestrated five other citizen arrests and stalked an Uber driver through Sydney, a court decision stated on Monday.
According to the New South Wales Supreme Court, Howarth would book an Uber ride, after which he would inform the driver that he or she was breaking the law. He would then call the police and wait for officers show up.
Court documents show Howarth targeted UberX because he claimed it "operated contrary to the laws and regulations of this State, in contrast to the UberBLACK and UberTAXI services and other licensed and accredited private hire vehicles."
Buzzfeed reported that Howarth claimed on his now defunct website arrestinguber.com that he was a former London Metropolitan police officer and a counterterrorism agent at MI6.
Howarth sent multiple tweets from three separate accounts (now all suspended) during the 10-month period in 2014-15, according to Justice Michael Slattery.
1 November 2014: "Whilst watching the Apprentice I have had a brainwave to seriously hurt Uber give me few days [sic]...absolute KILLER!"
10 November 2014: "Ah dear Uber I'm in another ILLEGAL UberX vehicle. Another arrest is imminent he too has been LIED to! Tut tut Uber & I will not stop!"
25 November 2014: "Uber are not happy about this all...not happy one little bit...& know this @uber I am merely warming up...time to "weaponise'"
Howarth also appears in an anti-Uber "Game of Thrones" parody video in which he defeats the masters and liberate the slaves from Uber's yoke.
"Relevantly, in the course of the footage, an image of Mr Howarth's face is also superimposed upon the male 'champion' in the footage, who helps to defeat the masters and liberate the masses of slaves from the throes of UberX, so that they may join the likes of On Tap and other UberX competitors," the decision read.
The court determined Howarth's primary motive for the citizen's arrests was hurting Uber, and therefore the arrests were unlawful.
Justices enjoined Howarth from arresting, attempting to arrest, or threatening to arrest people using Uber, driving for Uber or working for Uber. The only exception would be if the arrest were in relation to a serious offense.
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WARSAW Polish prosecutors alleged Monday that a new analysis of evidence from the 2010 plane crash in Russia that killed the Polish president shows that two Russian air traffic controllers and a third Russian official in the control tower deliberately contributed to the disaster.
Russian President Vladimir Putins spokesman quickly rejected the claims, which seemed likely to deepen already tense ties between Russia and NATO member Poland.
Polands national prosecutor, Marek Kuczynski, said there is no doubt that one of the causes of the crash was the behavior of those in the control tower. Deputy prosecutor Marek Pasionek said the two air traffic controllers were guilty of deliberately causing an air traffic catastrophe.
Polish investigators said they want to question the men and cannot reveal details about the evidence until that happens.
The crash on April 10, 2010, killed President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others, many of them top state and military leaders. The disaster occurred when the Polish crew tried to land in heavy fog at an airport near Smolensk, Russia. The plane clipped a tree and crashed.
The tragedy has since become a highly divisive political issue, pitting liberal Poles against conservative supporters of Kaczynski and his twin brother, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, a former prime minister who now heads the populist ruling Law and Justice party.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski has suggested that Putin and the Polish prime minister at the time, Donald Tusk, now a top European Union leader, bear guilt for the tragedy. He and his allies have made a range of allegations, including that Putin ordered the assassination of the Polish leader, who was deeply critical of Russia.
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BEIRUT Syrian government forces intensified their bombardment of opposition-held areas around Damascus and the central city of Hama, activists reported Monday, as they pushed to erase battlefield advances made by insurgents in March.
Theres been a major escalation north of Hama in the directions of Maardes and Souran, said local media activist Obeida Hamawi. He estimated more than 70 bombs and rockets had fallen on the adjoining village and town.
The expansion of regulatory regimes and increased budgets to enforce them may have pushed the balance of government oversight to a "tipping point" where the costs start outweighing the wider public benefits, Chapman Tripp says.
The law firm expects more proactive regulatory intervention by agencies including the Commerce Commission, Financial Markets Authority, Serious Fraud Office, Inland Revenue, and Overseas Investment Office, which have all received bumps in funding to pay for increased demands by the government to keep tabs on the market. In a trends and insights paper on dispute resolution in New Zealand, Chapman Tripp noted "increasingly proactive regulatory intervention" in 2016 was likely to continue this year.
Partner Victoria Heine told BusinessDesk there have been "some very prescriptive regimes" introduced in recent years. She expects policymakers will keep pursuing more regulation in the near term, which will ultimately lead to that regulatory burden being passed on to consumers.
"They've been given the legislation by Parliament for a reason - they've now been given the money to enforce that legislation so it's not surprising that they want to get on with it," Heine said. "We're at a tipping point and there must be a point at which regulation goes beyond what's necessary to protect markets and protect consumers and create a cost in and of itself. I think the next two-to-three years are quite critical."
The National Party-led administration has opposed increased regulation since election in 2008 and, in 2013, tasked the Productivity Commission with recommending how best to improve the design of new regulatory regimes and improve the existing frameworks. However, that's occurred at a time when there's been a worldwide push to boost regulation after the 2008 financial crisis highlighted holes in the oversight of global financial systems, demanding greater international coordination. The shift towards digital services has also created new demand for regulatory responses.
Heine said she will be watching for consistency and transparency in regulatory decision-making and wants regulators to weigh up the commercial context of their rulings rather than just pursuing technical breaches.
Reform of the country's courts including efforts to strip back the volume of paper and lift the civil jurisdiction of the District Court had gone some way to making it easier to find court time, but Heine said it was still a real issue not just in New Zealand, but in most first-world countries.
"Going to court has become so expensive that only very well-resourced litigants can do it," she said. "A very high percentage of litigants are self-represented. That puts a huge burden onto our court system."
Heine wants to see reforms in class suits, which the government has left untouched for many years, meaning representative actions were covered by court rules; and greater rigour over litigation funding firms, which she says may not share the interests of those making a claim.
"It's not a high priority, but from a practitioner's point of view I'd like to see that progressed, so we can have a sensible set of rules rather than one the courts have had to create themselves," Heine said.
(BusinessDesk)
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Australian private equity firms are lining up to bid for Mainland Poultry, whose businesses include New Zealands biggest egg producer, with the business said to be worth as much as $225 million, The Australian Financial Review's Street Talk column reports.
The Dunedin-based company is controlled by Michael Guthrie, with about 76.6 percent of the shares, while Dunedin businessman Murray Valentine holds about 18 percent, and Jeff Winmills family owns 5.3 percent. The shareholders have been considering their options for the investment needed to replace equipment to meet the requirements of the Animal Welfare (Layer Hens) Code of Welfare 2012, which calls for the staged phasing out of battery cages in favour of larger colony cage systems or free-range.
In February, Guthrie confirmed that Mainland had retained ANZ Bank to advise on options for the business, given its capital expenditure requirements. At the time, managing director and a founding partner Guthrie said the shareholders had in mind that they werent getting any younger and may want to have a pathway to liquidity.
The AFR said the required capex may be about $60 million. Among those to have reached the second stage of due diligence were Pacific Equity Partners, Navis Capital, Adamantem Capital, Crescent Capital and CHAMP Private Equity, although some may drop out, it said.
Mainland Poultry produces one-third of New Zealands eggs, through its Zeagold Foods unit, which has the Woodland and Farmer Brown caged and free-range egg brands, processes eggs products for the food industry, and produces a range of animal feeds through MainFeeds. It operates as a vertically integrated business and the feed unit had been set up as part of that but now sold to other customers and exported.
Under the Animal Welfare (Layer Hens) Code of Welfare 2012, farmers werent permitted to install new battery cages and existing ones must be phased out by 2022. Under the timetable, about 45 percent of battery cages are to be gone by 2018. At that date, any equipment installed prior to 2000 had to be replaced long before farmers would have expected to replace ageing assets.
(BusinessDesk)
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New Zealand shares gained, led by Z Energy and Spark New Zealand as a decline in global bond yields boosts the attraction of local stocks with high dividends. Telecommunications network operator Chorus fell.
The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose 28 points, or 0.4 percent, to 7225.02. Within the index, 16 stocks rose, 27 fell and seven were unchanged. Turnover was $136 million.
Hobson Wealth Partners investment adviser Brad Gordon said the market had performed well considering it is the beginning of a new quarter. According to Gordon, high yielding stocks benefitted from the fact that 10-year Treasuries "have come off quite a bit, which is is quite strong for the yield play". The yield on US 10-year Treasuries was recently near 2.4 percent, down from 2.6 percent in mid-March.
Companies with relatively high dividend yields gained, with Z up 2.3 percent to $7.12 and Contact Energy gaining 2 percent to $5.16.
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare added 1.6 percent to $9.85, likely benefiting after the New Zealand dollar lost ground against the greenback in the latter part of the quarter, said Gordon.
Spark, another company with a relatively high dividend yield, led the benchmark index higher, rising 3.1 percent to $3.61. The telecommunications group is also in a takeover tussle for the much smaller TeamTalk, offering 80 cents a share as it seeks to exert more control over its input costs by owning infrastructure assets. The application may ultimately be for nothing with the status of Spark's takeover currently thwarted by TeamTalk's plan to sell a controlling stake in rural internet service provider Farmside to Vodafone New Zealand. The transaction breaches several conditions of the takeover and would need a waiver by Spark for its own offer to proceed.
Chorus, which counts Spark as its biggest customer, fell 2.8 percent to $4.20, the biggest decline on the benchmark index.
Small cap Teamtalk ended up 10 percent at 97 cents but Gordon said the light liquidity in the stock contributed to the move. Earlier Monday the Commerce Commission outlined where it's looking for any competition issues in Spark New Zealand's hostile bid for telecommunications firm TeamTalk.
Gordon noted companies in the aged-care space were benefiting from quite a bit of publicity from the Oceania Healthcare prospectus launch. Late last week retirement village operator Oceania Healthcare said it planned to raise $200 million in a much-anticipated initial public offering in order to cut its debt and potentially buy new development sites and will list on the NZX and ASX.
Listed retirement village operators Summerset Group and Metlifecare initially fell last week as investors sought to free up some cash for Oceania but the market "may have realised the Oceania IPO is not as large as they were thinking it was, said Gordon." Summerset Group added 0.2 percent to $5.18 while Metlifecare rose 1.1 percent to $6.20 and Ryman Healthcare increased 1.2 percent to $8.51.
A2 Milk continued to gain, adding 1.7 percent to $3.04 as investors remain cheered on what looks to be a softening in China's approach to goods sold through unofficial trade channels.
The biggest loser across the main board on the day was small-cap Orion Health, which dropped 14 percent to $1.66 after the healthcare software developer said full-year sales fell but it still expects to post a narrower loss and be profitable in 2018. It has been in talks with potential investors in the business.
Gordon said investors are sceptical. He noted that while Orion supposedly has these large long-term contracts in place "they are very lumpy and if they can't bridge the revenue gap with small contracts, then it can be pretty dire."
Cavalier Corp added 1.6 percent to 63 cents. Earlier Cavalier Corp said Sarah Hipkiss has resigned from her position as chief financial officer with effect immediately. The Auckland-based carpet maker didn't provide a reason for the resignation in its statement but said a process for the recruitment of a replacement for Hipkiss will get underway shortly.
Property for Industry shed 0.3 percent to $1.61. The company announced it will pay $42 million a proposal for the industrial property investor to internalise the management contract, a deal Deloitte has deemed fair.
Looking ahead, Gordon said investors will be watching the Reserve Bank of Australia for its monetary policy decision Tuesday. The GlobalDairyTrade auction later in the week could also push units in the Fonterra Shareholders Fund around as well as other stock with exposure to the sector such as A2 Milk.
Fonterra fund units rose 1 percent to $6.12. Investors will shed rights to the 20 cents per unit interim dividend tomorrow.
(BusinessDesk)
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Former Milford Asset Management portfolio manager Mark Warminger will appeal a High Court ruling that he manipulated the New Zealand stock market on two occasions in 2014.
Counsel for Warminger, Marc Corlett QC, said in an email that an appeal had been filed on Friday. Last month, Chief High Court Judge Geoffrey Venning found Warminger manipulated the market in two trades while rejecting eight other instances brought before the court by the Financial Markets Authority. The hearing was a civil case, meaning the judge had to decide on the balance of probabilities.
The market watchdog claimed Warminger breached the Securities Markets Act by placing small trades on-market in one direction, followed by large off-market trades in the opposite direction in order to set the price, rather than for a genuine purpose.
At the time of the judgment, FMA chief executive Rob Everett said the case was about building investor confidence in the market, and that market manipulation undermined the regulator's "core objective of promoting fair, efficient and transparent financial markets".
Justice Venning sought submissions about the financial penalty the court should impose, which were to be filed within 20 working days of the March 3 judgment. The maximum penalty for a breach of the law is the greater of the consideration for the transaction, three times the amount of gain made or loss avoided, or $1 million.
Chapman Tripp partner Roger Wallis followed the case closely and has previously said it was largely about testing the law to better inform the market.
(BusinessDesk)
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On 30 March, 2017, Vietjet launched its latest international route connecting Hanoi and Siem Reap, Cambodia.
The new route operates on a daily basis departing from Noi Bai International Airport, Hanoi at 4.55pm (local time) and arrives at Siem Reap International Airport at 6.40pm (local time). The return leg departs at 7.30pm (local time) and arrives at Hanoi at 9.15pm (local time). The flight time per sector is approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes.
The province of Siem Reap is located in the northwest of Cambodia and with its close proximity to the historic temples of Angkor, Siem Reap has become Cambodias top tourist destination.
Tickets can be purchased at www.vietjetair.com with flights costings as little at $7 within Vietjett promotional hours (1-3pm GMT+8)
American Cruise Lines has announced the name of its latest vessel, American Constitution, now under construction at Chesapeake Shipbuilding of Salisbury, MD. The name was inspired by the USS Constitution, the United States Navys oldest commissioned naval vessel afloat and named by President George Washington.
This new ship will be delivered in 2018 and is the sister ship to the American Constellation which begins sailing this May.
The American Constitution is a coastal vessel with full active wing stabilization. With the capacity for approximately 175 guests, the new ship will cater to passengers looking for the sophisticated and intimate experience of a modern smaller ship. As with the other American Cruise Lines ships, American Constitution will have large well-appointed staterooms with private balconies, as well as a variety of spacious lounges.
With the addition of the American Constitution, we will continue to raise the bar for small ship cruising in the United States said Tim Beebe, Vice President of American Cruise Lines. We are committed to continue building new ships which will meet todays guest expectations for comfort, spacious staterooms, and modern amenities.
The two sister ships will elevate the standard for small ships on both coasts of the United States, cruising on the East Coast this year, and expanding to the Pacific Northwest and Alaska in 2018. Details on the 2018 schedule will be announced soon.
Reservations for the inaugural season aboard American Constitution can be made by visiting www.americancruiselines.com
Imago Venues in conjunction with Loughborough University and The Right Solution announced results of a research project for the meetings industry. The project answers questions such as the one in title of this article: Why people attend meetings?
Emma Boynton, imago Venues, Head of Sales and Marketing said, We decided to ask students, delegates and event organizers about their experiences of meetings and learning to find out if we are doing enough to inspire the leaders of tomorrow. In total, 430 responded, including students (average age 23), delegates (average age 38) and event organizers (for all types of training, meetings and seminars) from a series of focus groups, face-to-face interviews and an online survey.
Millennial meeting attendees are looking for a more customized learning experience but they, like other generations before them, place great value on face-to-face meetings. While advances in technology have affected how young professionals communicate and conduct their business, they understand the importance of attending in-person events to expand their networks and nurture their professional development.
81% of students and 82% of delegates said one of the major motivations to attend meetings is for personal career development opportunities, yet this wasnt rated highly as a motivator by organizers.
Delegates and Student groups revealed that their meeting objective is to learn from inspirational experts and gurus first hand; to gain knowledge that will help their future development and build relationships with peers, colleagues and (for students) potential employers.
The delegate cohort saw meetings as an opportunity for creative and innovative thinking, yet their feedback suggests this is often not achieved and that meeting organizers and facilitators could pay more attention to stimulating creative thought.
Just 51% of delegates and 37% of students felt fully encouraged to take part in meetings. Delegates and Students want to feel recognized by their employers and to build confidence in their ability, helping them to progress their career. Students are looking for strategic thinking and guidance and want to learn how to use their strengths to their own advantage.
The underlying message from the results paints a telling picture. Millennials want to learn something valuable and develop relationships that will benefit them. A meeting has to be linked to what they want to achieve, not the organization.
Delegates are looking for content that offers inspiration, passion and leadership before task-related content. They clearly place less value in prescriptive information sharing about the companys vision when compared to organizers.
People want shorter sessions that do not try and achieve too much but are effective and relevant. Delegates often prefer to interact more with their fellow delegates than with the speaker, so it is important that organizers and venues create enabling environments for this peer to peer interaction. Networking is considered a vital way to make contacts for their career development.
The American Turkish Society has elected its new Executive Director. Ms. E. Janset Batibay has been selected by the Executive Committee of The Society during a period in which former Executive Director, Marie Stewart, decided to leave The Society and take a position in Europe.
Prior to her role at The American Turkish Society, Batibay was in charge of marketing the Turkish and Art law practices at Herrick, Feinstein LLP, a mid-size law firm with headquarters in New York City and an office in Istanbul, Turkey. Prior to that, she worked at the Turkish Culture and Tourism Office, Turkey's national tourism board, in New York. Before moving to New York, she was representative of the Honorary Consul of Niger in Ankara, Turkey and was in charge of Turkish-Nigerian government relations. In that role, she guided Turkish business leaders in navigating their investments in Niger and connected them with various government officials. She was also personally in charge of organizing an emergency food aid ceremony during the famine of 2010 in Niamey, Niger.
Batibay is a graduate of The Hague University, in the Netherlands and holds an M.S. degree in International Communication Management. Her thesis focused on the role of communications in influencing policymakers and was presented as a communications strategy to The Bernard Van Leer foundation, a prestigious private foundation located in The Hague. She also holds a bachelor's degree in translation and interpretation in Turkish-English-French from Bilkent University in Ankara.
Finally, Batibay is truly American-Turkish. Born in New Orleans, she was raised in Texas and Tennessee and later moved to Turkey with her family at the age of 12, and returned to the USA at age 29.
She is absolutely thrilled with this important appointment, and is terrifically accomplished to take The American Turkish Society to a much higher level.
NEW DELHI: Tax evasion of over Rs 5 crore under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime would be non-bailable offence with the police having authority to make an arrest without a warrant.
The Central GST (CGST) Act provides that if the offences relating to taxable goods and/or services where the amount of tax evaded or the amount of input tax credit wrongly availed or the amount of refund wrongly taken exceeds Rs 5 crore, shall be cognizable and non-bailable.
In a 223-page FAQ on GST, the CBEC said other offences under the act are non-cognizable and bailable.
The government has set a target date of July 1 for roll out of the GST, which will subsume central excise, service tax, Value Added Tax (VAT) and other local levies.
As per the FAQ, cognizable offence means serious category of offences in respect of which a police officer has the authority to make an arrest without a warrant and to start an investigation with or without the permission of a court.
Non-cognizable offence means relatively less serious offences in respect of which a police officer does not have the authority to make an arrest without a warrant and an investigation cannot be initiated without a court order, it said.
Outlining the safeguards to be taken during arrest, the FAQ said if a person is arrested for a cognizable offence, he must be informed in writing of the grounds of arrest and he must be produced before a magistrate within 24 hours of his arrest.
If a person is arrested for a non-cognizable and bailable offence, the Deputy/ Assistant Commissioner of CGST/SGST can release him on bail and he will be subject to the same provisions as an officer in-charge of a police station under section 436 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
The FAQ provides that, if a person does not appear before a CGST/SGST officer who has issued the summon, he is liable to a penalty of up to Rs 25,000.
Also, the tax department have guidelines to ensure that summon provisions are not misused by field officers.
As per the guidelines, summons are to be issued as a "last resort where assessees are not co-operating and this should not be used for the top management.
"Also the language of the summons should not be harsh and legal which causes unnecessary mental stress and embarrassment to the receiver," it said.
Further, summons by the superintendents should be issued after obtaining prior written permission from an officer not below the rank of AssistantCommissioner with the reasons for issuance of summons to be recorded in writing.
"Senior management officials such as CEO, CFO, General Managers of a large company or a Public Sector Undertaking should not generally be issued summons at the first instance.
They should be summoned only when there are indications in the investigation of their involvement in the decision making process which led to loss of revenue," the guidelines said.
The CGST and State GST (SGST) Act have empowered the officers from Police, Railways, Customs, village officers, and any other government officers to assist CGST and SGST officers under the GST regime.
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NEW DELHI: To promote global peace and unity through an exhibition inspired by the ideals of Mahatama Gandhi, the United Nations has launched a new campaign -- 'Together: Respect, Safety and Dignity for All'.
Titled 'SANMATI', the exhibition by veteran artist Shyam Sharma, comprises of prints on Gandhi's life and philosophy, and seeks to promote respect, safety and dignity for all.
Organised by the UN Information Centre for India and Bhutan in collaboration with RPR Gallery, the show is underway at the Lalit Kala Akademi here.
The collaboration is also exploring the extreme ideas of hatred and tolerance by putting together panel displays and film screenings on 'Remember Slavery: Recognizing the legacy and Contribution of people of African Descent' and 'The State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda'.
"The exhibition displaying two extreme examples of hatred and intolerance has a counter balance of art showing Gandhi's benign principles of unity and respect for each other.
"The key reason for this exhibition is to see how close are the concepts of tolerance and intolerance, and how easy it is for one to shift and fall into the other," says Derk Seggar, Director, UN Information Centre for India and Bhutan.
Sharma, who used the indigenous process of printmaking to create fifty pieces of artwork for the 'Sanmati' series, says "technique does not matter, what really matters is that the message you intend to convey is spread to everyone".
"This is a humble tribute to the 'Father of the Nation' not just from me but the whole artistic fraternity. 'SANMATI' is inspired by his life, ideals and philosophy. It follows the artistic trajectory of Nandalal Bose's leno cut 'Bapu'," he says.
The exhibition is set to continue till April 7.
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NEW DELHI: UN green panel chief Erik Solheim has lauded India's efforts in embarking on a path to an "inclusive green economy", saying that moving towards a low-carbon future would serve its own interests well.
"What we can see in India is a country beginning to embark on a path to an inclusive green economy because it makes perfect political and economic sense," Solheim told IANS in an email interaction from Arkhangelsk in Russia, where he is attending an international conference on development of the Arctic.
Praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director said the country has the potential to unlock huge development and growth with a shift to renewables.
But India, he said, is facing multiple challenges.
"There is a need to lift hundreds of millions out of poverty, address long-term energy security and cut urban air pollution. It simply cannot afford to conduct business as usual, because the arguments for this shift are so compelling."
For Solheim, innovations in expanding solar energy in places like Tamil Nadu and Kerala send a very strong message that resonates across the country.
"We're seeing huge private sector uptake. India revolutionised the information technology sector and I see no reason why it shouldn't do the same for renewable energy."
Advocating renewable sources, Solheim said these "are the future" and fossil fuels are the past.
"Innovations in how we harness wind and solar power and energy storage is also accelerating and pushing down prices. These sectors have established themselves as providers of greater energy security with more jobs, better quality jobs and better paid jobs."
He said no country or company could afford to ignore this trend.
"When it comes to embracing a low-carbon future and building a green economy, the train has already left the station. More importantly, countries like India and China are embarking on this journey not because they wish to please others, but because they are ultimately serving their own interests," he noted.
"That means ensuring their citizens can breathe clean air. It means building resilient economies and ensuring long-term inclusive wealth," he said.
For Solheim, who has spent a lifetime fighting for the environment, renewables are a major economic opportunity and not an obligation.
"In that respect I am convinced there is sufficient momentum and a strong incentive to stay on this path," he added.
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NEW DELHI: The Election Commission is set to buy next generation EVMs that become "inoperable" the moment attempts are made to tinker with it, a move which comes amid claims by some parties that the machines were tampered with during the recent assembly polls.
The 'M3'-type electronic voting machines (EVMs) are also equipped with a self-diagnostic system for authentication of genuineness of the machines.
These will come with a public key interface-based mutual authentication system.
Only a "genuine" EVM -- manufactured either by atomic energy PSU ECIL or defence PSU BEL "communicates" with other EVMs in the field.
Any EVM manufactured by other companies would not be able to communicate with other machines, thus exposing it.
Around Rs 1,940 crore (excluding freight and taxes) will be required to procure the new machines which are likely to be introduced by 2018, a year before when the next Lok Sabha elections are due, the Law Ministry has said, quoting details made available by the Election Commission to be given to Parliament.
The Election Commission has decided to replace 9,30,430 EVMs purchased before 2006 as the older machines are nearing their 15-year life cycle, he said.
On December 7 last, the Union Cabinet had approved a fresh tranche of Rs 1,009 crore for the Election Commission to buy new EVMs so that it can phase out the ageing ones before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The Cabinet had also authorised the Election Commission to vary the quantity to be ordered on BEL and ECIL based on their production capacity and past performance.
On July 20 last, a similar Election Commission proposal to buy nearly 14 lakh new EVMs the first tranche at a cost of Rs 9,200 crore during 2016-17 was approved by the Union Cabinet.
In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on Friday, the Law Ministry had said that EC has not purchased a single new machine in the last three fiscals.
Minister of State for Law P P Chaudhary had said that the poll panel has informed the government that it had not procured any electronic voting machine during 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17.
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KOLKATA: A city based company has claimed to have launched the first bio-gas fuelled bus in Kolkata keeping a flat fare of just Re 1.
"We are the first one to launch bio-gas bus in the entire south east Asia. Now old buses which have run for 15 or 20 years, can also be given a fresh lease of life with this clean and cheap fuel, and we are in the process of seeking government approval for the same," Phoenix India Research chairman and managing director, Jyoti Prakash Das said.
Four more buses will be rolled out in the current month and another ten by the end of this year, Das said.
All buses will have a flat fare of Re 1 irrespective of the distance, even in excess of 40 km, he said.
Presently, the lowest fare in a Kolkata bus is Rs 6.
The first bus will run a distance of 17 km between Ultadanga and Garia in the southern fringes of the city and Phoenix India will run the bio-gas service from its Corporate Social Responsibility fund.
On the pricing and permit issues, West Bengal transport minister Suvendu Adhikari said "It is a welcome development. We will issue permit if the company fulfils all laws and norms of the Centre."
Das said they had conducted a three months' trial in Delhi, running a bio-gas bus to overcome teething troubles and expressed confidence in making bio-gas buses commercially viable for both short and long distance.
"In Delhi, CNG buses cannot go on long-haul due to fuel tank constraints. We have able to overcome that hurdle. The bio-gas bus can run up to 6 km on one kg," he said.
The company said they are an approved bio-gas company by the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO), having plants at Gujarat and West Bengal.
"There are several bio-gas producers in the country, but only a handful are PESO approved," Das claimed.
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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A benefit to raise money for Sunrise Day Camp programs -- which offer free summer camps for children with cancer and their siblings in various areas, including Staten Island -- is planned for Thursday at the Marina Cafe, Great Kills.
The fundraiser, sponsored by the Staten Island Advance, the Verrazano Kiwanis Club and Marina Cafe, will take place from 7 to 10 p.m. Light food will be served, and there will be an auction and prizes.
The Jewish Community Center of Staten Island partnered with Catholic Charities of Staten Island to open a Sunrise Day Camp branch here last summer. The camp is located on the grounds of Mount Loretto in Pleasant Plains.
The camp, for children between the ages of 3 and 15, is the sixth Sunrise Day Camp and the first in New York City.
The program is affiliated with area hospitals, including Richmond University Medical Center and Staten Island University Hospital, which recommend children to the camp.
Tickets for the fundraiser are $60 per person, and can be purchased here. Two complimentary cocktails per ticket-holder will be provided.
Sunrise Day Camp programs have operated since 2006 with the goal of bringing happiness and fun back into the lives of children who have faced an interrupted childhood.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A felon and convicted sex offender is sought for questioning in the hit-and-run crash that injured a 13-year-old boy in West Brighton, police said.
The man sought for questioning in connection to the crash has been identified as Tyreek Wilson, 24. Police have released a photo of the individual and describe him as 5 feet 11 inches tall and 175 pounds.
In November 2012, Wilson was sentenced to 10 years' probation and required to register with state authorities as a sexual offender after pleading guilty to attempted second-degree rape, online state court records show.
His victim was a 13-year-old girl in the July 7, 2012, incident, according to state sex offender records. Wilson was 19 at the time.
Wilson also was convicted of resisting arrest and petit larceny stemming from the alleged attack on a cop who tried to arrest him for shoplifting in Kohl's department store in Mariners Harbor on Nov. 28, 2014. He was sentenced to 10 months in jail.
Police say a 2004 black Chrysler sedan was traveling eastbound at a high rate of speed Thursday on Henderson Avenue, when the driver turned left onto Broadway and struck the boy in the crosswalk.
The driver was attempting to avoid being pulled over by police when he struck the teenager, who has been identified as Qwaddel Lovelace, a spokesman for the NYPD's Deputy Commissioner of Public Information said.
After hitting Lovelace, the driver lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a telephone pole, police said. The driver then fled the scene.
Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.
WANTED: Tyreek Wilson, 24, for hit & run collision w/injuries to a pedestrian at Henderson Ave & Broadway, Staten Island. Call #800577TIPS pic.twitter.com/nkEwAsDS8u NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) April 3, 2017
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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Roadway restoration of the old Brooklyn toll plaza at the Brooklyn Battery/Hugh L. Carey Tunnel that began over the weekend are expected to cause rush-hour delays Monday morning and throughout the work week, the MTA advised.
According to the MTA, the roadwork, which began Saturday, requires full closures of tunnel approach lanes and exits for approximately one month.
This work will restore the roadway surface on the plaza following the removal of the toll booths. The tunnel converted to cashless tolling January 4.
In order to accommodate the work, there will be a full closure of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE)-East access tunnel from Hamilton Avenue, and also a closure of the Hamilton Avenue entrance to the BQE West and Gowanus Expressway for the same period, the MTA advised.
On the plaza, four lanes of traffic (two in either direction) will be maintained, as will the morning two-way tube that receives HOV/Bus traffic from the Gowanus/BQE. It is anticipated that one lane of traffic to and from the Gowanus will be maintained during peak hours.
The work zone will progress across the plaza from the Brooklyn-bound west side to the Manhattan-bound east side and last approximately four weeks.
Motorists are advised to allow additional travel time, or consider an alternate route.
Motorists can sign up for MTA e-mail or text alerts at www.mta.info for the latest information on this planned work.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The search continues for the shooter of a 42-year-old man on the street in Elm Park, according to police.
Keith Keita, 42, of Pulaski Avenue, was shot multiple times in the torso near the intersection of Morningstar Road and Kalver Place on Friday evening, according to police.
Keita was taken to Richmond University Medical Center in West Brighton, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
Police said they are searching for two males wearing dark hoodies who fled toward Pulaski Avenue following the incident.
An NYPD spokesman said it appears Keita knew his attackers.
Police also are looking for a black SUV, which authorities described as a getaway vehicle.
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.
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On Sunday morning His Excellency Governor Eugene Holiday & his Spouse, President of Parliament The Honorable Sarah Wescot Williams and Prime Minister The Honorable William Marlin and his spouse formed the delegation of the Government of Sint Maarten that attended the Inauguration Ceremony of President of the Collectivite of St. Martin, Daniel Gibbs.
During his Inauguration Address President Daniel Gibbs said, "In my opinion our cooperation deserves more than a hug and handshake in French Quarter on the 11th of November. Let us move beyond the Protocol, let us give this cooperation a reality. President Gibbs talked about the goal of our fellow citizens who expressed the desire of a shared destiny and a common future. President Daniel Gibbs also shared his plan of establishing the St. Martin United Congress with French & Dutch representatives.
At the end of the Inauguration Ceremony members of the Sint Maarten Delegation made use of the opportunity to personally congratulate President of the Collectivite Daniel Gibbs and the members of his team.
Prime Minister William Marlin looks forward to working closely with the new administration in Marigot and to further strengthen the relationship between both governments and our people.
Photo caption HE Governor Eugene Holiday & Spouse, President of Parliament Sarah Wescot Williams, President Daniel Gibbs, Prime Minister William Marlin & Spouse & Chief Minister of Anguilla Victor Banks.
Simin, 32, an Afghan asylum seeker in Germany, feels her life has been ruined by a recent government decision.
Two years ago, the mother of four, who is reluctant to share her last name because of security fears, gambled everything on the chance to reach Europe.
But now her hopes of building a new life in Germany are being dashed as she faces deportation back to Afghanistan.
Last month, Simin received a letter from the German authorities that said her familys asylum application was rejected because Afghanistan is safe and they should go back to their country.
When we received the devastating news, we were all shocked. It was a very difficult moment for us, she told Radio Free Afghanistan. I tried hard not to lose myself in front of my children but my daughter cried a lot. She felt very bad. She kept saying to me that she did not want to go back to Afghanistan. Afghanistan is not safe, she added.
In 2015, Simin and her husband decided to traverse the nearly 7,000-kilometer perilous journey from the Afghan capital Kabul to Germany.
They wanted to find a better life for themselves and a bright future for their two daughters and two sons.
They sold their house and car in Kabul to pay more than $20,000 to the people smugglers who organized their journey.
The family traveled through Iran and Turkey and across the Aegean Sea to reach Greece.
Like the more than 1 million other asylum seekers and refugees who reached Germany in summer 2015, they were sent to the countrys second-largest city, Hamburg.
Life went smoothly in the host country for more than a year. They received more than $ 2,000 a month to pay their bills. Their children began attending a local school, and the family started to learn German.
But the family now faces the prospects of having to start a new life in the country they hoped they were leaving forever.
As a last resort, Simin and her husband are now consulting a lawyer to challenge the German governments decision to force them to go back to Afghanistan.
Since 2015, nearly 170,000 Afghans have filed asylum applications in European Union countries. They comprise the second-largest group of asylum seekers after Syrians.
But not all are welcome. Afghans make up a large part of the hundreds of thousands of rejected asylum seekers Berlin hopes to send back to countries across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.
Peter Altmaier, the German government's coordinator on refugee affairs, says the number of rejected asylum applications have increased.
In 2016, some 700,000 applications for asylum were made, and almost 300,000 were rejected, he told the Bild newspaper. We want to deport these people swiftly. Otherwise, it hurts the credibility of our country and its laws."
An agreement signed between Kabul and the EU in October 2016 establishes that Kabul is bound to accept an unlimited number of failed asylum seekers. Under the agreement, Brussels can speed up the return process of Afghan migrants whose asylum applications are rejected by host countries.
In 2015, German Interior Minister Tomas De Maiziere outlined his governments rationale for deporting Afghans. He said the EU has poured millions of euros into developmental aid for Afghanistan along with troops and police to help train Afghan security forces.
Afghans should "stay in their country," he emphasized. "The people who come from Afghanistan cannot expect that they will be able to stay."
Afghan officials say that compared with the 580 people deported last year, they have so far received 248 deportees from the EU this year. An even greater number are returning voluntarily. Last year, nearly 55,000 asylum seekers chose to leave Germany after failing the rigorous asylum tests.
Simin and her family, who follow the current situation in Afghanistan, however, are reluctant to return to their homeland.
"Afghanistan is not safe. Why should I go to see, God forbid, my daughters be sexually abused or myself or my son be killed in a suicide attack? she said. Only the presidential palace where [President Ashraf] Ghani lives is safe. So we will never go back to Afghanistan," she added.
In Kabul, the Afghan authorities are ready to receive deported compatriots. Gul Aqa Rohani, a border police commander at Kabul airport, says they welcomed deportees from Germany last week.
There were 15 people, mostly from central and southern Afghanistan. They were received very respectfully both by the police and the airport officials, he told Radio Free Afghanistan. They were taken to the guest houses of the Refugees and Returnees Ministry.
More Afghans face deportation in Sweden. Ahmad Zaki Khalil is the head of the migration committee at the Afghan Association in Sweden.
He says 10 Afghan migrants were recently sent back to Afghanistan.
Jawed, a 43-year-old father of two, is expected to be deported from Sweden.
He told Radio Free Afghanistan over the phone on March 28 that his asylum application was rejected after four years.
Jawed refused to share his last name to protect his familys identity. He said that he had followed his wife after she arrived in Sweden in 2011. The couple had spent more than $12,000 on the arduous journey.
"My wife worked at a kindergarten here but left the job after my case was rejected, and one of our daughters is crying and feeling restless, he said. I am very concerned that my family will remain here. I don't have anyone in Afghanistan. I have no future there. I was told to come back legally, but I don't know if I will be [able to stay] alive in Afghanistan."
According to the UN office in Afghanistan, more than 11,500 civilians were either killed or maimed in 2016. Most casualties were a result of escalating violence by the Taliban, the Islamic State, and other militants.
Masood Ahmadi at the International Organization for Migration in Afghanistan estimates that the country will welcome more returning migrants than any other country this year. These include up to 1 million Afghans from neighboring Pakistan.
"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 remigration."
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Friday, March 31st 2017 will long be remembered by students of Cycle 1- Grade 1 of the Leonald Conner School as they visited the New Government Building and got the opportunity to meet and greet most of the Ministers.
On the first half of the tour led by Mr. Erno Labega the students and their teacher, Miss. Elisia Lake were taken to the 4th floor of the building where they met Civil Servants and Department Heads working in the Ministry of General Affairs.
Prime Minister, the Honorable William Marlin completed the second half of the tour by guiding the students to each of the Cabinets of the Council of Ministers. Prime Minister Marlin explained the young students that the visit was extra special to him, as more than 40 years ago he became the principal of the same school. Minister Jacobs, who was in Cuba at a conference was one of his students in the 70s and she went on to become a teacher as well and several years ago, before serving as Minister, Miss. Silveria Jacobs, was also School Manager of the same school.
Each Minister took the time to welcome the students with open arms and gave them a brief explanation of their function within the Council of Ministers. As the tour concluded the students were presented with a small gift package and a handout specially prepared for them with photos and information about the Cabinet Ministers. Pictures of the students interacting with the Ministers are available on the Facebook page SXMGOV.
Photo caption L-R Minister of Justice Rafael Boasman, Prime Minister William Marlin , Minister of Finance Richard Gibson along with Teachers and Students of the Leonald Conner School at the end of their tour of the Government Building.
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